After having stripped down from all my gear in the storage cage, I cantered up through the hauler and back to my room. As I stood outside the container door, I looked out the back of the rec area. The city beyond it had grown as we plunged inside of it. Weary looking ponies gazed through the open windows of some of the buildings around us, silently watching as the Road Crew led us through the winding city streets.

Still, on the face of everypony I saw, I could see something they all shared. There was a sense of serene calm here that didn’t exist anywhere else we’d been so far. The city itself, while bright and whole, was filled with ponies who didn’t seem worried in the slightest. One who I watched as we drove by, walked along the streets alone and without barding for protection. One a little ways further on, stood drinking from a near empty booze bottle under a street lamp that flickered on as the skies tinged with the hues of night.

Still, even though this place didn’t feel at all threatening, I couldn’t relax. More so than ever before, I felt like here, I truly was an outsider. Well, that’s not exactly right. This place felt to me like it was out of time, as fake to a wastelander like I was as the set of ‘Attack of the Fifty Foot Mare’ was on the silver screen. It all felt fake to me, and I couldn’t fight the all too familiar feeling that something terrible was behind the nearly flawless image of the city.

Opening the door to my container, I was greeted with the sleeping form of Hispano. She was curled up on her bed, talons tightly hugging around Suiza. Seeing her like this was nice though. She’d been through a lot recently, and she deserved to finally get some rest. I wasn’t going to lie, my body wanted rest as well after the day I’d had, but it wouldn’t get it now. Not until we were out of danger from the Road Crew.

“Hey.” Buck’s hushed voice was equally as relaxing as the warm gaze he held when I looked over at him. He gave a soft groan as he turned from his desk to look up at me. “She just fell asleep.” My eyes looked down to his paws, and I found them holding tightly onto his medical yoke. His own gaze dropped to it before it drifted off towards our bed. “You should get some rest too. You’ve been through a lot today.”

“Not yet.” I used my own quieted voice to answer as I shut the door softly behind me. Latching it, I gave a soft sigh as I turned back around.

Buck stood from his seat, walking and reaching his paws out to me. Again, I won’t lie in saying that as he wrapped his arms around me tightly, I felt like I wanted to stay in his warm embrace forever. Still, as he held me, I looked back at the medical yoke on his desk. I’d seen it off him quite a few times now, though I’d noticed something different about it this time around. A small grey metal flap had appeared on the inside curve of it that hadn’t been there before.

“Your yoke… what happened to it?” I found the words tumble from my muzzle, as always.

“Hardcase helped me with it.” Buck spoke as he removed one of his paws from around me and gripped around the wooden yoke tightly. Bringing it closer, his claw flipped open the metal plate to reveal a small cavity that had been carved out of the wood. “After what happened to Violet, I… thought it best to keep some important things close and safe.” Inside, sat the photostrip that the three of us had taken in Lil’ Canterlot. Not only that, but the picture I’d recovered of my parents and I also sat carefully tucked away in the small space. “This way, you’ll always be close to me, no matter what happens.”

“I’m sorry for the way things have been, Buck.” My mind flashed back to all the times recently that Buck had been disappointed in me. As if to make a point of it, it also replayed what I’d done to Lamia, and how he’d surely have felt if he knew what really happened. Sure she’d wanted to kill Hispano, but… that didn’t mean I couldn’t regret what I did to her. “You deserve better than the way things have been...” My words drifted off as I pressed myself into his warmth.

With as much poise and care as always, he scooped me straight up off the floor and held me tightly. Turning towards our bed, he walked us over and sat down on it. Carefully, he laid us back, keeping me warmly wrapped between his massive arms. I had to fight the yawn that wanted to claw its way out of my muzzle. But as hard as I fought, I couldn’t stop Buck as he opened his jaw and let out a long yawn of his own.

“It’s okay, Night.” He offered as his eyes drifted toward the ceiling. “I know things have been very different than to what we both expected to find in the wasteland. And while it’s been a lot to deal with, we’re a family now, right?” His own ice blue eyes came back down to me, and a peaceful expression fell across his face. “So long as we work on dealing with things together, then that’s all that matters to me.”

Together, he says. There hasn’t been much of a chance to even be together recently. From me taking off after Galina, to going alone to stop the Buzzbomb fleet, I haven’t exactly been able to be supported or helped. Not to mention, the curse that still followed me just meant it would be better if they kept themselves at a distance. At least, until I found ‘the home I know is mine’, or whatever Madame Mystic had meant by that.

The soft flutter of wings behind me preempted the light touch of a talon over my side. Turning, I moved just enough that Hispano could squeeze herself down between Buck’s warm grasp as well. She gave a short, but contented yawn as she settled back in and closed her eyes again.

My mind flashed back to Hispano pushing me into the launch tube in the Arcturus, as well as back to Buck telling me how it was dangerous to use the Med-X. Another flash brought me back to Drake Pass, where I’d been so adamant to go after Galina. But both Hispano and Buck were there, trying to stop me from the mistake I was determined on making. Every time I’d been in trouble recently, they were there for me. Yet, all I kept offering them was more and more stress and mistakes to help me clean up.

Huffing into Buck’s chest fur, I closed my eyes and held onto him tightly. I wanted to make things better for the both of them. Only with my parents had I ever wanted to make somepony happier than Buck and Hispano could ever dream to be. But with the way everything was on this trip, that was becoming more impossible by the day. I wish I could shirk off the responsibilities that Delilah had given to me, but more than just Buck and Hispano would suffer if I did.

More than anything, I felt trapped now. Trapped between the promises I’d made to Buck, the commitment I’d made to Hispano, and the duty I had in protecting this convoy. It was a lopsided tug of war that felt like every pull had gotten stronger. And soon, I felt like something was going to give, and either all three of my responsibilities would give way, or I’d be torn apart altogether.

“I love you, Night.” Buck softly tipped his muzzle down and planted a kiss on my forehead.

“Mhmm.” Hispano nodded groggily in agreement as she scooted herself a bit closer to me on Buck’s chest. “Me too.”

I should have offered back my own confirmation. I sincerely wanted to. But no power in the wasteland could have forced the words from my muzzle. No. Instead, I took slow, deep breaths as I basked in Buck’s warmth, and pretended to have already fallen asleep.

It hurt not to say ‘I love you too’ back. The words wouldn’t have changed anything that had already happened, and they wouldn’t do anything to protect them from what was yet to come. Saying it wasn’t going to stop my curse, it would only help me to fool myself that somehow they’d be unaffected by it when it struck again. But more than that, part of me was afraid that the moment I said those words to them, it would make them a target for the curse.

And in a city as strange and filled with unknown dangers as Cantercross most assuredly would prove to be, my curse was unlikely to be as forgiving as it had been today. And make no mistake, it had been forgiving today.

“Get up.”

The voice behind me was unfamiliar and sharp. A stranger’s voice that came out of nowhere to me, and brought my mind out of the haze it’d been lost in. Since when had someone come in?

Giving a stiff yawn, I had to force open my eye. Right. In doing my best to pretend, I must have actually fallen asleep. Well, it couldn‘t have been for all that long, because I was still tired as all hell. Buck tightened his grip around me and sat the three of us up.

“Holy shit!” The pony at the door spat out in what felt like a panic. A single gunshot sounded out, ringing through our container and making sure both Hispano and I were wide awake. Buck jerked and snarled as he stiffened up. “Oh crap… I didn’t…” the stallion whimpered.

The warmth of Buck’s arm disappeared for a moment as he effortlessly shoved me into the tight grasp of the arm that also held a stunned looking Hispano. By the time I’d gotten my neck around in a position to see with my one good eye, Buck had already swung out his other paw. Wincing, Buck brought his outstretched paw back to his side, which dribbled crimson down onto the floor.

“Why would you shoot at us?” Buck growled at the intruder.

“I… I...” The bright red earth pony stallion stuttered as he stood in the doorway, legs shaking and now half a rifle in his hooves. Taking a step back, he bumped into the doorway and knocked the orange hardhat he wore straight off his head, revealing a short, sky blue mane. “I’m so sorry… I panicked…?” He dropped the rest of his rifle and held his hooves up. “I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!”

“We were never going to hurt you in the first place.” Buck groaned as he sat himself down. Carefully, he loosened his hold on Hispano and I and let us wiggle out from his grasp.

“Why the fuck does everypony have to shoot at us?” Hispano snorted as she arched her neck, eliciting a small set of pops from it. “Shit like this is exactly why Talons shoot first and never surrender. It leads to too many problems.”

“It was just a misunderstanding, wasn’t it?” Buck spoke as he shot a burning glare to the stallion at the door. “One that you’re going to turn around and go explain to your boss now.”

“Y-yeah, a misunderstanding!” He nodded frantically as more hoofsteps came up through the ice hold. Another pair of Road Crew ponies came up and rushed over to the door, where they skidded to a stop and almost shrank back at the sight of Buck. Okay, this was getting a bit annoying.

“We can find our way off our own vehicle, thank you.” Turning, I shot my own glare at the three ponies. “You’ve already done enough damage, so maybe you can give us a minute to patch up his wound.” Hopping off the bed, I walked to the door with stiff steps. As I did, I kept cycling my angry gaze between them, forcing the three of them to take a few steps back. “We’ll be down afterwards.” Was all I said as I hooked my hoof around the open door and threw it shut with a slam so hard, that the latch flipped up and slipped into its hole all on its own.

The moment it was shut, I sighed and hung my head. Why the fuck does this shit always happen to us? Oh, right! I’m cursed.

Shit, Buck!

“Are you alright!?” I gasped as I spun around to him. Please don’t let him be too hurt, he doesn’t deserve shit like this.

“I’ll be fine, Night.” He offered me a dismissive and painful smile as he spun himself on the bed and opened one of the drawers to his desk. Carefully, he drew out the odd battery powered magnetic contraption he’d used on Howitzer earlier. “Though, I wish ponies would at least give any of us a chance to speak before judging us dogs.”

With a whimper, he pushed the device against the bloody hole in his side and depressed a button on it. A thick snap emit in the air, and Buck cringed hard. He chewed at his jagged lip, looking like he was fighting back not to scream out from that. However, as he sharply pulled the device from his wound, a deformed and copper colored lump came with it.

“Yeah, good luck with that.” Hispano chuffed as she dropped down to the floor and walked over to her bed. With as much care as she could, she took the rainbow rug from the end of her bed and wrapped it lovingly around Suiza. “Pretty much every time we’ve run into the Road Crew, some shit like this happens and we end up paying the price.”

“True, but this might end up working in our favor.” I nodded as I turned around and watched as Buck pulled out a roll of basic gauze bandaging. “This at least gives us leverage.” Buck deadpanned at that. “No, I’m serious!” I waved a hoof at his side. “Do you think they would have ever listened to us when we tell them what happened with Double Drum or Knuckle Boom? This gives our claims legitimacy.”

“Granted…” Buck growled as he tightly wound the gauze around himself. “But no one should require another to be shot to be believed. They do have radios, you know. They should already know what happened with us before.”

“I said I was sorry!” The stallion who’s shot Buck cried through the wall before bursting into what sounded like actual crying.

“Ugh.” Hispano groaned up at the ceiling in frustration. “Let’s just hope this stop is quick. I’ve had enough of the Road Crew messing with us on this trip.”

Yeah, so had I. And while I was willing to talk this out with them, I hoped it didn’t take all that long either. Not because I was eager to get back on the road, but the longer we were here, the more likely it was going to be that something would go wrong, and we’d have yet another incident on our hooves…

I stood next to Buck, offering him a nervous smile as he kept pressure on his bandaged side. Like with the Rangers, we’d all been lined up out in front of Bertha. The only thing different this time around, was the fact that ponies in construction uniforms held us at gunpoint, rather than ones in flat grey combat armor.

Though it was in an unfortunately similar set of circumstances, we weren’t inside the protective walls of some fortified base here. Instead, we stood on what had once been an old four lane road that served this part of Cantercross. Now, the cracked traffic-striped pavement was alone, surrounded by nothing but compacted dirt and the cracked foundations of buildings that had since been scrapped and hauled away.

Oh, and of course, there was the enormous machine that loomed over us. It’s bucket wheel ate through the empty skyscrapers at the edge of the old city, chipping away slowly at the steel wall bit by bit and floor by floor. The pulsing of the spell reactor that powered it could be felt even through the ground itself, while each gouging turn of the massive wheel came with a metallic screech that sent a shiver up my spine. It easily beat out the numerous other industrial vehicles that moved around this place, carrying equipment or moving dirt around.

Were it under different circumstances, I’d have been in awe about all this. Sadly, we had more important things to deal with, and my amazement would have to wait.

“Not bad.” The voice of a commanding stallion came from the dark underside of Bertha. Stepping out into the fading light of sunset, a mountain of a yellow stallion looked up as he ran a hoof as thick as a tree stump over one of Bertha’s front tires. “It’s been a good long while since I’d seen a Stable-Tec model thirty three nineteen, let alone one in running condition. Such fragile machines for their size.”

“Though, last I checked,” Turning towards us, the stallion stepped further into the light. “My crew were the only ones who owned and operated any such massive machines.” His voice and the slight greying black mane on his head must have meant he was somewhere in his mid-forties or so, but it was hard to even tell while he wore his armor. Needless to say, I’d been mistaken before. While his coat was indeed yellow, he was nowhere near as big as I’d thought he was.

Instead, he wore a massive set of power armor, like somepony had taken the ones the Rangers had and made an ‘industrial sized’ version of them. It was painted the same yellow as his coat, which now that I think about it and look around, was the same yellow as most of the local Road Crew vehicles seemed to be. The oversized armor was more boxy than the Ranger’s model, and looked like it had additional hydraulic pistons mounted onto it that must have given it immense strength.

It’s bulky construction probably also meant he could take any amount of punishment thrown at him, with the added benefit of giving him the same size profile as someone like Buck. Attached to each of his forehooves were a pair of heavy steel digging buckets that folded back like giant armored gloves. Overall, it looked less like power armor to me, and more like a wearable bulldozer.

“I’m Motor Grader, King of the Road Crew, and second only to Dozer, my Wife.” He spoke up, sweeping his ruby red eyes across the whole row of us. “But you already know that. At least, you should.”

“Of course.” Delilah took a step forward towards the towering armored pony. “My name is Delilah Burro, the head of this convoy, and CEO of Burro Industries.” Turning her gaze up at the gigantic digging machine working on tearing down the steel buildings, she smirked. “And while you can admire my Hauler all you want, last time I checked, your headquarters was bought and paid for by my family. So can we skip all the theatrics and get straight down to business, or is the next precious thing you want to steal from my family nothing more than my quite expensive time?”

Alright, that was a bit stronger of a stance than I would have opened with. Cause you’re a pussy, Night. The Bombay part of my mind pushed at me, which slightly irked me. While it was true that I probably would have been nicer than I had to be to open talks with the Road Crew, I would still be stern enough. No, you’d just screw everything up. Again, true, but I didn’t need the Bombay part of my head telling me to already know that much.

Motor Grader let out a roaring laugh at Delilah’s words.

“Oh, that’s definitely some of that legendary Burro stubbornness my wife’s gone on about for years. She speaks quite fondly of you and your family, I’ll have you know.” Well, at least he sounded amused rather than insulted. Though as if on cue, the massive machine that hung above us went silent, prompting Motor Grader to turn his gaze up toward the boom that had the enormous sawblade on it. “Ah, must be break time. I’m sure Dozer will be down in only a moment.”

“A moment?” Hardcase spoke up hesitantly. “I’m sorry, but there must be a thousand stairs on that monster. It’d take anypony fifteen minutes to climb down from there at the very least.”

Pretty much all of us had our gazes turned to the machine, but I think Hispano and I were the only ones who noticed the door open on the large shack perched on the boom. A jet black shape in road crew gear didn’t hesitate as it hopped over the railing thirty stories up, and took flight on a pair of wide wings. Whoever she was, she was fast for a flyer, having easily gotten to the same speed I’d gotten in my last dive.

“Or of course, she could fly down…” Hispano let her words drift off as we just stood and watched the fast approach.

It was about the time she flipped herself over and flared her wings to stop that I realized that she wasn’t a pony. She came down so hard on the compacted dirt and old pavement in front of us that it sent spidering cracks through it. Slowly raising to be twice the height of all of us here other than Buck, she uncurled a thick scaly tail half her height out from behind her. With a snort that shot jets of black smoke out of her pointed and aggressive looking muzzle, she scanned over a few of us with an amber colored judgemental gaze.

Fuck being intimidated by Sun Dogs or Minotaurs, I could handle anyone like that. She may not have been the same towering height of Tephra, but she was definitely a dragon all the same. Here’s to hoping she was friendlier than he’d been...

Smooth black scales ran over most of the length of her body, and plates the same amber color as her eyes formed a sort of crystalline armor that sprouted out along her extremities like flashy glass fins. A softer grey underbelly stuck out from between the large set of construction gear she had on, and her oversized hardhat wore full sized Equestrian flags on it that flapped in the breeze. Even standing next to Motor Grader, she was taller than he was in his power armor.

“You know for every ten seconds this machine isn't scrapping that eyesore of a skyline, we lose one hundred caps. So this better fucking be worth it.” She paused as her eyes fell upon Delilah’s frizzy mane. She scrunched up her scaled muzzle, blinking a few times as she met the unchanging apathetic gaze Delilah wore. “Delilah? Is that... you?”

“Hello, Lustre. I’m glad to see that you eventually made it back up here.” Delilah snorted before turning back to Motor Grader. “What are you trying to pull? Where’s Dozer Blade?”

“Dead, ten years ago, ” The dragon snorted, pushing out another cloud of black smoke out of her muzzle. “At about the same time I was on my way back north from the great migration, and during the time where Mr. Wizard began his conquest of New Cantercross. She was killed holding the west bend of Highway Five, but she gave her life to secure it. She’s the only reason we still have the entirety of the highway today.”

“Ah yes, I remember when you were in town. It’s not easy to forget the last time a dragon visited, let alone a visit by a friend like you.” Delilah smirked and shifted her glasses up her snout with her hoof. “Still, why did you change your name to hers?”

“Ever since I was just a colt, Lustre’s always been there for me as a friend.” Motor Grader rose his voice a bit, forcing himself to try to speak through the empty tone he’d taken up. “After Dozer died, she returned to me and continued to be there like she always had been. So a few years ago I felt it was only right to ask her to be my new queen.”

“I took up Dozer’s name when I married Motor.” Lustre’s voice wavered as she looked at the armor clad stallion, looking to relax a bit as she smiled to him. But after a moment, she broke off her longing gaze and in turn gave us a guilty one. “I knew I could never replace her, but it felt like the best way to honor her memory. Other than killing the bastard of a ghoul who took her from my sweet Motor, of course, but that isn’t happening anytime soon.” As she shifted her sad look over each of us, as she stopped on Delilah, a smile crossed her muzzle again. “Also, don’t think I’ve forgotten the hospitality and... kindness you offered me those years ago, Delilah. If I’d known it was you who’d been wrecking our union representatives...”

The way she emphasized that was weird to say the least, but what was even weirder was the way Delilah didn’t seem to be bothered by either of them anymore. She almost looked… relaxed.

“You’d have considered it a fair trade.” Delilah rolled her eyes as both Motor Grader and Lustre traded confused looks. Delilah simply continued without missing a beat. “Screed Grader was the one to lead us back here.” At that, the two of them nodded and shrugged to each other. “So, not that this reunion hasn’t been fun so far, but do you mind if we get down to business?”

“You really did take to all that business stuff, didn’t you, Delilah?” Lustre gave a small laugh as she reached out and placed a claw on Delilah’s mane. She gave it a messy rub that made Delilah shoot back an annoyed glare. Still, at the edge of her muzzle, a smile crept up on it. “First off, why don’t you tell me why your doctor is injured? Or, at least I assume he’s a doctor from that yoke he’s wearing.”

“Finally, someone gets it!” Buck grumbled and winced as he still held his bloody side. “Some red pony was a bit trigger happy to get us off of Bertha, and we’re running a bit low on medical supplies after the last few days.”

“Red, you say?” Lustre raised a claw to her chin and tapped it a few times before looking over at Motor Grader. “That’d most likely be Corf.” Sighing, she shook her head dejectedly. “It was my mistake then. I’d assumed from how hard he worked this last year, he’d be ready for a supervisory position. I’ll have a talk with him after his shift about just how much we’ll be docking his pay for this.”

“No need, he already told me what happened.” Motor Grader smirked and dismissed her words with a slow shake of his forehoof. Wow, I guess he really did follow what Buck said and went and told his boss about it. “I’ve taken him off of his duties for the moment, and put Rumble on his shifts for the day.”

“You really think demoting Rumble Strip to his station is the best use of his talents?” Lustre cocked an eyebrow at her husband, getting a nod from him. “Alright then, he’s your friend. So long as he’s alright with working maintenance for a bit, I guess it’s fine.” Holding out her claw, she pointed us all to a small set of sheet metal buildings set just in the shadow of the massive mining machine. “Still, please feel free to head out to our union physician to get yourself patched up. I’m so sorry that he shot you, and though he’s off the hook for now, I will be having a chat with him later about this misunderstanding.”

“On that,” Motor Grader cleared his throat and stepped forward again. “With as many misunderstandings as you and your crew have had with mine, let me be the first to apologize. While what happened both with Double Drum and Knuckle Boom was unfortunate, I guarantee there will be no ill will or hatred among the Road Crew for you. An old friend of Lustre’s is a friend of the crew as a whole.”

It was odd, because he sounded sincere about that, but from the way that asshole outside the Mare’s Lake tunnel had made it sound, we were supposed to be hated by the Road Crew right now. And as much as it looked to help, I was pretty sure that Delilah and Lustre already knowing each other wouldn’t be enough to keep that hatred down. As always, something felt… off. And this time, I was pretty sure it wasn’t something as simple as hiding freed slaves around here.

“Thank you for that assurance. We certainly can use all the breaks we can get on this trip.” Delilah nodded and looked around. “Now, not to sound like we’re in too much of a rush, but I insist on finding somewhere we can negotiate a few things.”

“Not a problem! You can follow me into our headquarters inside Large Marge and we can discuss things in private.” Lustre pointed her claw up at the main boxy body of the massive digging machine. “All of you are welcome to join, or feel free to wander about the worksite. Just be careful to pay attention to all the safety rules and you should be fine. It would be unfortunate if we broke our two week long safety streak because somepony didn’t watch their step.”

I couldn’t help but feel that somehow that was indirectly meant to be a warning for me. It also didn’t help that pretty much everyone else on the crew turned and shot me an incredulous glare as well. What!? It’s not like I asked to be cursed!

“While we discuss things, I do feel like there is something we can do to repay you a bit for your troubles so far.” Motor Grader smiled and shifted his massive armor to point at Bertha. “Our maintenance shift can do a full tune and workup of your haul truck and have her working like new in just a few hours.”

“That’s quite kind of you to offer…” Boiler predictably gave a forced laugh, but her expression didn’t look amused in the slightest. Still she was silenced as Motor Grader raised a massive bucketed hoof and shook his head.

“I insist. It’s the least we can do.” He smiled, keeping his gaze locked on the large truck for another moment. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of her.”

“I don’t know…” Boiler offered hesitantly as she scratched at her neck nervously.

“It’s alright, Boiler. I know you weren’t old enough to remember her, but I know and trust Lustre. Bertha will be alright if someone other than you looks her over for once.” Delilah spoke, sighing as she turned to us. “Alright crew, you’ve all got three hours of free time. Use it wisely, but stay out of the way of their maintenance ponies and let them do their job.” She paused and glared at Boiler for a second. You know, it felt good to not be the pony under her glare for once. “They’ll come to us if they have a problem.” She spoke blandly before turning to me. She glared even harder than she did at Boiler. Of course she had to glare at me after I thought that... “Night, you’re with me for now.”

“Alright.” I nodded and stepped away from Buck. Hispano flared her wings slightly as she stepped forward with me.

“No.” Delilah snapped at her, forcing Hispano to freeze midstep. “Only Night.” She turned her gaze up from the shocked griffon to Cora’s stern expression. “I need both you and Hispano to keep an eye out for trouble. If you so much as see Solomon on the horizon, you come get me.”

“Understood.” Cora nodded and flared his wings.

“Completely unnecessary, I assure you.” Motor Grader gave another booming laugh that forced my ears back with a sharp cringe. “But if it would put your mind at ease, do what you must.” Slowly, he turned and began to walk towards ‘Large Marge’. Lustre however, stared at him oddly for a moment before turning to follow.

“Thank you.” Delilah offered as she slowly began to follow after him. With a sharp nod, she motioned for me to come to her side. As I approached, she lowered her voice. “We have much to discuss, and while I may be unimpressed with your recent performance, it may still benefit you to see just how a leader negotiates.” Oh, is that why she wanted me to tag along?

A few weeks ago, part of me would have enjoyed the prospect of learning more. Now? I wasn’t quite sure any of this would make a difference in the long run. Still, the hanging pit in my stomach tugged me along, pushing me to figure out just what the hell felt so off about all of this.

“With all due respect, Ma’am? Something feels off here.” I at least had to know if she shared that feeling. Though, I was pretty sure that for as used to this sort of thing as she was, I knew what her answer would be.

“Oh, hush. You’re just being paranoid, Night, seeing dangers that don’t exist.” She snapped in a harsh whisper. “Lustre is an old friend, so you can believe that I trust her. The Road Crew headquarters is probably the safest place in this damn city, especially from Solomon. So just keep your muzzle shut and let me do the talking before you create a real problem and screw everything up like you always do.”

That was more than a bit harsh, and was definitely not the answer I’d been expecting...

Two of the most commanding and respected leaders I’d ever seen in my life laughed in unison, as the thick smell of scotch wafted throughout the sealed board room.

White drywall panels that were speckled with mold held old and faded motivational posters and long past due notices about wartime projects that would never be finished. While the small room looked surprisingly business like for being the converted inside of a massive digging machine, it couldn’t convince me that something about all this was wrong. While I normally would trust her word on it, Delilah’s oddly off putting remark earlier hadn’t at all helped to ease my concerns.

Delilah however, had a smile plastered across her face from the moment we’d walked in. And while it was nice to see her happy again, it felt just as wrong on her as this whole place felt to me. It wasn’t that Delilah wasn’t allowed to be happy, it’s just that she looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen her. With some of her questionable choices recently due to stress, I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d let her guard down and had missed just how wrong all of this felt.

“Oh, those were some wild nights we had.” Lustre groaned as she sat up and set her empty glass down onto the old wooden meeting table the three of us sat around. “It’s hard to believe that it’s been over forty years since then.”

“Yeah.” Delilah sighed, using her hoof to swirl around the small amount of scotch that still sat at the bottom of her glass. With a frown, she shook her head. “Where does the time go.”

“What? Forty years!?” I blinked as my muzzle spat the words out. Was I really to understand that Delilah and her were friends from forty years ago!?

“You’ll have to excuse Night, he’s adjusting, but sometimes he’s a bit too curious.” Delilah shot me a glance that felt almost too casual, and I immediately felt even further off put by it. “Still, I suppose I owe you a bit of an explanation. It’s time someone else knew about us anyway.” She spoke softly before bringing her glass to her lips and throwing her head back, downing the rest of her scotch. She had become too relaxed, hadn’t she? “You see, Lustre first visited Brahman Beach when I was just an eighteen year old jenny bent upon impressing her father.”

“Yeah, I didn’t exactly help with that, did I?” Lustre gave out a short snort that sent a plume of black smoke drifting across the room. “We were both young though. We were allowed to have some fun. And oh the fun we had...” She bit her lip with a wide grin that looked like it beamed only for Delilah herself.

“Young my ass. You were fifty two.” Delilah deadpanned as she snatched up the bottle from the table and started to refill her own glass.

“I was young at heart. Plus, fuck off! Fifty two is young for a dragon, you know that.” Lustre rolled her eyes and flicked her large forked tongue out from her narrow scaled muzzle. “Still, despite how things worked out between us, I have to admit that there are still plenty of days where I miss it.”

My mind just about broke listening to all this.

“So… you two…?” I sputtered and tried to wrap my mind around everything. Now of course it made a ton of sense that Delilah had let her guard down as much as she had. I would be exactly the same if I was in her horseshoes. It shouldn’t have been this hard to grasp that Delilah had once been my age, which came with a lot of figuring things out like I’d been doing with Buck, but still! “What happened?”

Night! For the love of Celestia, stop asking personal questions before Delilah decides you’re easier to leave behind than wasting her time answering your shit!

“Oh, he’s curious alright.” Lustre snirked and rapped her heavy claws along the tabletop. She closed her eyes, letting an almost forlorn look drag it’s way across her face. “What happened was that even though both of us had enjoyed our time together, we both wanted different lives.”

“Back in those days, as much as I wished I could have bucked my responsibilities and run off with Lustre, I couldn’t bring myself to.” Delilah looked down into her scotch like it held all the answers to her biggest problems. But how she said that, it was exactly what I’d been thinking about earlier. “I was the only foal my parents had, which made me the heiress to Burro Industries. I couldn’t abandon the responsibilities that gave me.”

With how much I could relate to that, maybe there was something to the idea that she wanted me to follow in her hoofsteps afterall...

“And when I came back home a few weeks after we first met, Motor Grader was born to my best gal pal, Queen Country Lane.” Lustre leaned back against the old drywall in such a way that I was absolutely certain she’d damage it, but oddly, she didn’t even put a dent on it. “King Road Drag asked me to stay with them, to help to watch over Motor when they were too busy with the Crew. So as he grew up, Motor and I grew closer and closer, and before long we weren’t just friends anymore. The rest, as they used to say, is history.”

There was a knock at the door the pulled all of our looks over to it. Slowly, it opened, and the broad yellow muzzle of Motor Grader stuck itself in.

“Hope I’m not interrupting.” He smiled as he pushed himself the rest of the way in.

Without his armor, he was definitely a lot smaller, but hot damn if he wasn’t built like a fucking tank anyway. Even at an average size for a stallion, his muscles rippled as he walked across the room and took a seat. They were so toned, so… incrediblydefined, that I almost couldn’t stop staring at them. He almost looked like he didn’t even need that power armor to lift whatever the fuck he wanted!

“Night?” Delilah cleared her voice. “You’re staring.”

“What?” I sat up, scrunching my muzzle as I pressed myself back in my chair. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to.”

“No worries, kid.” He simply laughed and dismissed it with a lazy hoof wave. “Once you get used to all the attention you get as a king, small things like that stop meaning so much.”

“Uh…” Lustre gave an awkward snort as she shifted to sit up, accidentally bumping her head against the metal roof. “You literally exiled Chain Lift last month for sneaking a peek at you in the company showers. And you outright ran Tender Mixer through her own machine as an example not to ever touch you outside of your armor. You’re probably the most paranoid pony I’ve ever met when it comes to even just looking at you wrong...”

“Yeah, but they were with the union, and even you admitted that Mixer was a bit forward with her advances. Like all our employees, she’d been warned, so she knew the risks.” He rolled his eyes as he plopped down in one of the seats at the far end of the table from us. Giving a sigh, he put his rear hooves on the table and planted his huge forehooves behind his head. “And while nopony on the crew is allowed to touch their king, or queen, under any circumstances, I figure we can give our guests a little leeway on some of the rules.”

“Well,” Lustre blinked a few times before shrugging off his words. “It seems that you've caught my dear Motor on one of his rare good days.”

“Oh, come on now, dear.” He rolled his eyes as his cheeks pulled his muzzle into an even wider smile. “I’m not that terrible to deal with, am I?”

“Some days I enjoy thinking about how big of a crater you'd leave if I dropped your stubborn ass from the top of Large Marge.” She deadpanned at him and gave another cloud-snort that flew right over his head. Turning, she gave a small laugh to Delilah. “No offense to any other present stubborn asses, mind you.”

“None taken.” Delilah smiled, swirling her drink around in her glass some more before glancing to me. “I'm sure some of the time my crew thinks about doing that exact same thing.” Well, she’s not wrong there! “Still, ready to get down to it?”

Sitting up, the happy and relaxed Delilah I’d witnessed disappeared in an instant. While she didn’t really change her expression, I could see the stress return to her almost all at once. Alright, pay attention, Night. This is why you’ve been sitting here listening, so keep your muzzle shut, because it’s time to learn.

“You bet.” Motor Grader nodded as he dropped his hooves down and forced himself to sit upright in his chair again. “Though you are someone with a background as highly regarded for trustworthiness as the Burro Industries, and while I have to make some attempt to be lenient, this is going to be a negotiation with a fair outcome. The Road Crew is a business after all, and we do have overhead costs to keep in mind. You understand, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Delilah nodded and put on her forced smile. “My proposition is simple. There is another convoy coming, one which you may already know about. It’s run by a certain rival of mine, a Saddle Arabian prince named Solomon Roan...”

“Ah, yes.” Motor perked up sharply, cutting off Delilah and planting a confused look across her muzzle. One which, like mine, quickly soured. “Prince Solomon had stopped by some months ago. He mentioned that he would be quickly coming into possession of something quite valuable.”

“That something is rightfully the property of Burro Industries, and he will not lay one hoof on it if I have anything to say about it.” Delilah’s sharp tone returned as she ground her hoof against the rim of her half full glass. As she did, Lustre gave a short gasp.

“No. I thought it was just a story...” She snorted, putting her claws over her muzzle as she looked down at the agitated donkey. “You can’t mean… the Ark, it’s real?” She gave a delighted squeal that felt fairly out of place from someone her size.

“Yes.” Delilah shot a glare up to the black dragon next to her. “And only we have the location for it.” Looking back at Motor Grader, she narrowed her gaze. “I’d like to keep it that way as well by having you derail his pursuit of me. As you may well know, he’s well connected, and will more than likely be hard to bring down. But I have the utmost confidence that the Road Crew can finally stop him in his tracks, even if you have to put the bastard in the dirt for good.” Tapping her hoof on the table, she let out a small huff before relaxing a bit in her seat. “I can compensate you greatly for the trouble, of course.”

Just hearing Delilah say that put the image in my mind of Solomon being torn to shreds by the same sort of junk cannon that killed Violet. That thought alone sent a warmth through me that was positively divine. When Delilah had said she wanted to hire an army to fight against Solomon, this was admittedly an army that I hadn’t even thought of using. While we’d been lucky against the Road Crew so far, Solomon didn’t have the pony power at the moment to fight back, or even access to something like the SFG to level the playing field.

We had to get them on our side.

“Is that so?” That pulled a devious look from Motor Grader as he sat forward against the table and cupped his hooves together. “Well, it seems we have a bidding war between you and the offer that the esteemed Prince made to us about stopping you for him.”

“I’m prepared to offer up a quarter of my current fleet of stored vehicles, a total of fifty of them. Most of them are in running order or can be serviced and brought up to running order within a matter of weeks of our return.” Delilah tapped at her glass, pausing for a moment as she studied Motor Grader. “On top of that, you will get ten percent of the worth of whatever is inside the Ark.” That alone caused Motor Grader to cock his eyebrow. He opened his muzzle as if to say something, but Delilah beat him to it. “That ten percent however, is non-negotiable. Other commitments and obligations, you see.”

“Of course.” Motor Grader nodded and looked over across the room to Lustre. “I don’t know, her offer sounded a bit low to me.”

“Well, I have seen her family’s fleet.” Luster tapped at her chin with one claw, while rapping along the tabletop again with the other. “Perhaps if we were to be able to pick out what pieces we could use...”

“Out of the question.” Delilah snorted and slid her cup a few inches away. “I can’t have all my best equipment cherry picked out from under me. I can guarantee I won’t send you any duds, and as an extra incentive, I can send enough spare parts to be able to service each vehicle for at least the next decade.”

“Still, twenty five percent is a bit low.” Motor sighed as he sat back. His eyes wandered about the room in disinterest, like the conversation bored him. “Forty percent of your total fleet, spare parts for two decades, and ten percent of the worth of this mystery ‘Ark’.”

“Thirty percent of the fleet, with ten of them hoof chosen by Lustre herself, or any Road Crew representative you choose. Parts for twelve years, and ten percent from the Ark.” Delilah steepled her hooves as the hint of a smirk drew up on her lips. “But, you have to front the cost to ship the pieces back up here.”

“What do you think, Motor?” Lustre smirked and leaned back against the wall again. “Didn’t we owe Buckeye a favor? You know that the ENR has been struggling against the NERPC these last couple of years, and this would be a big help to his railway.”

“It’s better, but still a bit low to me…” He spoke up, hesitating as he looked across the table at Lustre, who simply narrowed her eyes into a burning glare at him. “But alright. Because she’s your friend, I guess I can live with that.” Standing up, he reached his forehoof across the table. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Mrs. Delilah.”

Of course, that’s when my muzzle had to open up.

“What’s the ENR and NERPC?” Goddess damnit, Night!

“The Equestrian National Railway and the Northern Equestrian Railway and Power Company. The two biggest railway operators here in the north?” Motor Grader spat out with a mix of confusion and amusement. “You must have come from above the clouds, didn’t you, kid?”

“He did.” Delilah snorted and tightly took Motor’s hoof, shaking it once before letting go and turning to Lustre. “I will send you a message once I have the Ark in my possession, and we can set up plans for someone to come down to Brahman Beach to collect the fleet.”

“I look forward to personally making the trip down when the time comes.” As Lustre spoke, she reached down with one of her claws and took Delilah’s hoof tightly. Delilah let off a warm blush and smile that instantly dropped her guard and relaxed her again.

Motor slammed his hoof down hard on the table, causing it to crack and buckle a bit where he hit. He blinked a few times before smiling as the three of us looked at him in confusion.

“What are we doing standing here!?” He laughed, stepping back from the table. “This is a wonderful and monumental deal between our two companies! Let’s celebrate! Please, I know you must be anxious to leave, but stay the night and have your crew join us for a party!” Looking up to Lustre, a smile wide enough that it almost wrapped around his head crept over his muzzle. “Dear, why don’t we give the headquarter employees an early night off?”

“Sure, I guess we can afford a few hours of lost productivity.” Lustre smirked and nodded. “It’s been awhile since we’ve given out any sort of vacation time, so maybe we can lump it into that.”

“Great!” Motor Grader laughed and headed for the door, though he stopped just short of it. “However, I’ll make sure to keep those on the maintenance team working on their haul truck. We’ll set them up with overtime pay as compensation.”

“Sure thing, dear.” Lustre nodded to him as he slipped back out the door.

“So, I guess that means we’ll be here for the duration of the evening. I’ll inform my crew.” Delilah turned to me and prodded at my side. “Night?” Her speaking to me caught me off guard and pulled my attention back to her still slightly blushing cheeks. “Learn anything from this negotiation?”

“To be honest, Ma’am?” I blinked a few times as part of me tried to pick anything out of the quick back and forth that had gone on. “I don’t have a fucking clue as to how you managed any of that.” Predictably, she deadpanned at me for that.

“Well, maybe one of these days it’ll just click for you.” Lustre spoke up, speaking in a softer tone as she reached her wing out to Delilah, carefully wrapping it over her back. “Delilah told me last time I stopped by that it was how she’d finally learned to conduct business.” With a smile, she gave a nod to the both of us toward the door. “But that’s neither here nor there. We’re off the clock now, and I hear there’s about to be quite the celebration going on, so we don’t want to miss it.”

“Ugh…” I groaned, feeling like my stomach was trying to beat up the rest of my internal organs and losing. “Fuck.”

Pushing open my eye slowly, I whined as even the meager amount of fluorescent light that filtered through my sunglasses felt like it was a stabby thing stabbing into the back of my head at the same time someone was hammering it with a… hammer. Ugh, metaphors weren’t really my thing right now. Shifting myself, a few glass bottles clinked together, before falling off of my bed with a clatter.

“Good morning.” Buck grunted from across our container. Looking over, I found him stretched out and yawning as he woke up on our bed. Wait, if he was there, then I was...

“Too loud… keep it down you two.” Hispano groaned as she reached around my barrel and pulled herself closer against my back. I won’t lie, the warmth she gave off was so damn comfortable. I wasn’t sure how I’d ended up in bed with her, or even what happened at all last night in the first place. “Five more minutes...” She muttered before drifting back off into a calm sleep.

“What happened… last night?” I let out a grumbling whimper as I raised my forehoof and wiped the crusty bits from both my good eye and my prosthetic one. The pounding in my head however was something I couldn’t just wipe away unfortunately, at least, not without some Chill. Though thankfully, the gunshot wound in my leg didn’t hurt more than just a dull ebbing under the bandages anymore...

“There was quite the party in the Road Crew barracks.” Buck rubbed at his own eyes as he sat himself up, reaching over to his desk and pulling the yoke from it. Oh goddesses, I didn’t do anything stupid there, did I? “And before you ask, I don’t know what really happened there, I didn’t attend it. I was busy helping out in their infirmary dealing with workers who drank far too much.” As he brought the yoke around his neck and wiggled it to make sure it was nice and snug, he smirked as he looked over to me.

“Though,” He continued with a sigh, “from what I heard from Hardcase, you and Hispano became rather well acquainted with a couple of bottles of old Jennet Burro Tequila, and then with just about any stallion you could both talk to. In fact, Hardcase pulled the two of you out of there when a few of their crew offered to ‘show a couple pretty girls like you a good time’. Shortly after that you passed out and he brought you back here to sleep. Hispano surprisingly didn’t pass out until after she’d polished off both bottles and collapsed onto her bed.”

“Ugh…” I groaned at the same time my stomach did. Alright, note to self, no more tequila in the future if it makes me wake up feeling like shit. “Never again…”

“It’s good you’ve learned your limits, Night.” Buck nodded with a smirk as he stood up and stretched himself out a bit more. “I’m not against drinking in moderation, but make sure you remember this for the future.”

With a low rumble, the reactor to Bertha kicked on below us. At almost the same time, there was a knock at our door. Buck lazily reached over and flipped up the latch with his claw, letting the door swing open on its own to reveal Howitzer.

“Hey, Night?” He grunted, keeping his voice low. It was still weird to see him with bloodied bandages covering half his face, but even so, I could still read the concern he held in his good eye. “Have you seen Delilah? She uh… isn’t in her room.”

She’s missing? That’s… odd. Pushing myself to stand up, I slid myself onto my hooves and walked to the doorway. It took a lot of squinting, but staring across the rec area, I found that the door to Delilah’s container was open, and it was dark inside.

“Maybe… she went for a walk?” I offered, not really sure what to think. She’d never traveled far from the convoy whenever we stopped. But, it was about at that point that the pit in my stomach reminded me that while I may have forgotten last night, the fact that something was off about this place still clung to me.

“Yeah, not likely.” Howitzer shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for almost an hour to talk to her about today’s driving route.” Turning and looking out the back of the rec area, he sighed. “From what I can tell, either she left quite early, or she didn’t come back here to sleep last night.”

Pushing past him, I trotted out of out container. As I did, I nearly tripped over the outstretched leg of Happy as he snoozed on the rec area couch. I say nearly, because I only clipped him and forced his leg to smack the couch frame quite hard.

“The fuck?” He grumbled groggily as he pulled his leg back to rub at his eyes. “Watch your step, Night.”

“Your mom is missing.” I offered as I walked up and propped myself on the Rec area railing. Looking out, the morning sunrise backlit the tips of the steel wall to the east of us, but kept the Road Crew site in relative darkness. Thankfully, they had plenty of work lights set up that allowed me to see pretty much the whole camp from here. Even so, other than a few dozen hungover looking work crew, nothing caught my attention.

“What do you mean she’s ‘missing’?” Happy perked up, pushing himself to join me at the railing. As he propped himself up, he sat there scanning across the site as well. Please, if I couldn’t spot her as a pegasus, then he… “See, she’s right up there.” Waving his hoof, he pointed up to one of the upper areas on Large Marge.

Sure enough, Delilah sat propped against a railing at the top of the central boxy structure that comprised most of the middle of Large Marge. Behind her, sat a pretty large backlit doorway that looked like it led downwards into the main part of the boxy machine. Even from here, I could see the glowing ember of the cigarette she was smoking as she looked up at the steel wall that hung nearly overhead.

“What the hell is she even doing over there?” Happy snorted as he turned himself around and lazily propped himself back against the bars. “I thought she finished all the negotiations yesterday.”

Pretty much as he spoke, the large form of Lustre appeared in the back lit hallway behind her. The two offered a shared glance before Lustre quickly leaned over and looked like she said something to Delilah that made her stand stiffly on her hooves. As quickly as she had leaned over, Lustre turned and started walking along the railings of the massive machine towards the control room she’d come out of yesterday. But as Delilah went back to leaning on the railing, she carefully brought her hoof to her cheek, and I had a funny feeling that I now knew exactly why she didn’t come home last night.

“Huh, I guess you two really do have some things in common.” The words slipped out of my muzzle all too easily, much to the confusion of Happy. “Don’t worry about it.” Giving him a pat on the shoulder, I pushed myself to turn around.

“Hey, what the hell is that even supposed to mean?” He snapped at me. “Night? Do you care to explain?”

“Yeah, I’m confused.” Howitzer snorted as his squinting gaze drifted up to where Delilah and Lustre was. After a moment however, I could see that he’d put two and two together and figured it out. “Ooooh! My parents once mentioned it, but it’s been years...”

“Can one of you please fill me in!?” Happy grumbled and facehooved himself with an agitated fineness that Delilah would have been proud of.

“Just drop it, Happy.” Howitzer laughed as he headed for the kitchenette. “Trust Night and I, you don’t want to know.”

“Don’t want to know what?” Hardcase perked his own tired gaze out of his room. He gave a few sniffs at the air before his gaze was immediately pulled up to where Delilah was. “Oh, wow… never in my lifetime did I expect to feel that from her again.” Giving a quick whistle, he couldn’t hide his smile. “Good for her. She needed to de-stress a bit after the way things have been going.”

“You…?” Happy muttered as he turned and looked up at his mother again. A kink formed in his neck, running all the way down to his tail as I think he finally figured it out. With a huff, he stomped at the floor. “No, you are not telling me that my mom just got laid!”

“Her and Lustre apparently go way back to before she met your dad.” With a yawn, I flopped away from the railing and headed back to my room. “But hey, Howitzer said you wouldn’t want to know.” Might as well go and get myself ready for the day with a couple of Chill pills to get ahead of the pain.

Stepping into the room, I found Buck sitting at his terminal, quickly typing away at it. With a flick of my tail, I shut the door behind me, blocking out the various tortured whines Happy gave out in the rec area. With a sigh, I sat down on Hispano’s bed and reached my hoof underneath, hoping my saddlebag was under here still.

“Alright, alright, I’m up.” Hispano moaned as she reached out and squeezed her talons around me quite tightly. Her feathers were pinned down across her face as she moved to get herself up with another yawn. “Was five more minutes really too much to ask for?”

“You’ll live.” I offered as I came up empty on my quick search under the bed. Had I thrown it under Buck and I’s bed last? Standing up, I was about to walk over to it when something painfully pinched me in the flank.

“Jerk.” Hispano snorted before turning herself over to snuggle with Suiza. Hey, what the hell did I do?

The hammering inside my head picked up a bit again, insisting that I get back to looking for my Chill pills. Though, at least the rest of me didn’t feel like the terrible bundle of aches and pains it had become over the last few weeks. Then again, none of that even matters as long as I’ve got some painkiller to keep fighting it back…

“What are you looking for, Night?” Buck asked, finally turning away from his terminal to cock an eyebrow at me.

“My saddlebags.” lowering myself down, I spotted the old bags tucked against the corner underneath the far end of Buck and I’s bed. Flattening myself to the floor, I did my best to squish myself under the bed to reach it, but found that my stupid wings kept me from getting in too far. “Nevermind, I found them.”

“Oh? Planning on going somewhere?” He asked in a sort of nonchalant way before turning back to his terminal.

What? Why would he even ask that? He knows that we’re going to be back on the road soon. Rolling my eyes, I pushed his odd question back behind the stabbing pain in my head and stretched my hoof to reach the bag. Seriously, how the hell did it get pushed all the way back here?

With a whining gasp, and my wings uncomfortably compressed by the bed above me, I just barely managed to get my hoof wrapped around one of the back straps. Carefully, I began to drag it further into my grasp, and once it was close enough, I reached around and flipped open the flaps. Inside, was the small bottle of white tabs that Cora had given me.

The pain behind my fake eye spiked up as I looked at the bottle, pushing me to quickly reach up and put pressure on the glass orb. It dulled the pain temporarily as always, but again, it had refocused me on numbing it completely. Popping open the cap, I counted out four of the numbing tabs and slipped them into my hoof before I quickly stuck them in my muzzle and swallowed.

“You alright down there?” Buck’s concerned voice came through the old mattress above me. “You didn’t get stuck, did you?”

“No, I’m not stuck.” I shook my head and swallowed the chalky numbing drug. Sealing the bottle again, I tossed it back into my bags and closed them up before wiggling myself back out from under the bed. “Sometimes I forget I’m lucky that I’m not exactly as bulky as other stallions.” Standing up, I found myself met with Buck’s worried gaze drifting over me. Holding the bags up, he looked down at them and offered a forced smile. “It had gotten itself shoved all the way under the bed for some reason. I’m not quite sure how it ended up back there.”

“Ah, yeah, that is quite peculiar.” He nodded as he turned back to his terminal in what felt like a fairly dismissive gesture overall. “I probably accidentally kicked it under there earlier, I’ll try to keep more of an eye on it.”

His tone was off to me, like he was holding back on something. I was about to ask him about it when there was a soft knock on our door. Both Buck and I turned to see who it was before an aura of magic flipped up the latch and Hardcase stuck in his head, levitating in a pair of steaming ceramic mugs towards Buck and I.

“Morning you two.” He offered, floating a cup to each of us. “I’ve got coffee for Buck, and hot cocoa for Night. I don’t quite know what Hispano likes, so I’ve left a bit of both coffee and hot water for her to choose from.”

“Ooooh! Thank you.” Buck’s ears perked as he got a deep sniff of the dark roast hanging in the air next to him. Looping a single claw through the cup’s handle, he guided it down to his desk. “I think I’m just going to let it cool for a bit first while I get some work done.”

“Thanks, Hardcase.” I nodded as I reached up and grasped around the hot mug. Looking over to Hispano, I wasn’t surprised to see that she’d fallen back asleep again.

“Don’t mention it.” He smiled and nodded out to the couch. “I’ve got the toasters heated up if you want to join me out here and leave Hispano to rest, while Buck gets to his work.”

Looking back at Buck, I found him eagerly typing away at whatever it was he was doing. My stomach grumbled as I looked at him, and while it had probably been because of last night, part of me felt like it was something to do with the feeling that now he too was feeling just a bit off.

“Alright, I can join you.” I forced a smile to Hardcase, turning toward the door.

Heading into the rec area, I wrapped my tail around the door behind me and tugged it shut. As soon as it was closed however, I let out a sigh, as the pit in my stomach only felt like it grew deeper. As it did, I found myself wondering for a moment just how deep that pit could go, and if there was some sort of rock bottom to it. Then again, I didn’t have to wonder very long to know that I never wanted to find out...

Author's Notes:

As with every chapter, I give huge thanks to FurryRailFan for all his hard work in helping to clean up the chapter and make it presentable!

And of course, many thanks to Kkat for creating the world of Fallout: Equestria, and letting us all run around in it to blow it up!