I don’t know if it was luck or not, but the quick trip to get the two sparkle colas went without a hitch. I had to trade away the last of my blueberry pies for them, but a two for two trade didn’t seem like that bad of deal to me. In another stroke of luck, when I came back up to the Hauler’s top deck, Buck was helping Violet get settled into her own container. Using this opportunity, I snuck into our room and plopped the Medical yoke down onto the back corner of my bed and piled my saddlebags onto it.

Taking a moment to fish the two cola’s out of my bag, I tucked them under my wing and trotted up to Boiler and Gearbox’s container. Boiler was still down working on the reactor, so engulfed in her work that she didn’t even notice Hardcase and I return. Which meant I knew she wouldn’t be in here. And considering we weren’t moving, I assumed that Gearbox would be free to answer. Giving the door a stiff knock, I watched as Buck poked his head out of Violet’s container with a smile.

“You’re back!” He said more cheerfully than the tone he’d left me with before.

“What’s up, man?” Gearbox spoke lazily as he opened the door. A thin plume of rank smelling smoke escaped when he did, making me pull back from the doorway. “Oh, cool. You’re the new dude, right?” He let out another slow laugh. “Been meaning to meet you.” Okay, now this was just confusing...

“We met earlier?” I said slowly. Maybe Buck was right and whatever drugs he’d been doing was killing his brain. “You asked for the sparkle colas?”

He looked confused for a moment. “What?” Then it seemed to hit him. “Oh, right!” He nodded slowly, turning around and using his prosthetic to kick a rainbow ring pattern knitted blanket along the floor at me. “Here’s the rug I promised, cherish it like I have. Though, you might want to wash it out before you use it though. It’s got a weird aura about it.”

“Thanks…?” I didn’t quite know what else to say. Instead, I held the bottles out in my wings for him to grab, which he took so loosely in his fetlock that I was sure he’d drop them. Once they were out of my wings however, I used my hoof to drag the rug out of his room and over into mine. Funny enough, it didn’t even smell at all to me. Once the rug was out of his doorway, he gave a lazy wave goodbye and shut the door.

“Is that it?” Buck asked as he stepped out from Violet and Hardcase’s container. Grabbing it in his claws, I cringed and expected them to cut right through it. Amazingly, they didn’t. Instead, he brought it to his pointed muzzle and took in a deep whiff of it before looking quite puzzled. “Odd.”

“What? Does it smell bad?” I asked. Oh please don’t let this ruin his mood. I really want him to accept my gift without it feeling like another thing that is ruining his day.

“No, actually.” He shrugged and pulled it back from his nose. “It doesn’t smell at all is the weird thing. Must be whatever it’s made out of.” With a smile, he tossed it back to me. Everything went dark as it slumped over my head. “Come on, it’s going to be dark soon, and you still need to have those bandages off you.”

Looking down, I’d almost forgotten I was wearing them. “I don’t even feel any more pain.” Wiggling my hooves, I wasn’t quite sure why. They didn’t have the same magical sheen as magic bandages always had in the first aid kits back at home. Pulling the rug off me, the warmth it gave made me consider using it as a blanket instead of a rug.

“Good. Some of Inuvik’s best doctors made those way before my time.” He chuckled as he walked past and into our room. Turning to follow him, I watched as he stopped and stared at my saddlebags for only a moment before heading over to his side of the room. As he sat down onto his bed with a relaxed sigh, I stepped in and shut the door firmly behind me. “Alright, Night. I want you to strip and get on your back for me.”

That sent my brain to a screeching halt. “What!?” I asked, turning around to find him deadpanning at me.

“So I can remove the bandages?” He grumbled. “Can’t do it while you’re standing on them.” Which, while it was a valid point, he could have chosen to phrase it better. “I realize it’s been an exciting day for you, but don’t jump to conclusions for me, alright?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Turning around, I threw the blanket off of me and over my saddlebags. Next, I used my wings to unclasp the rear belt loops that clasped over my flank to keep the back of my battle saddle up. Next, I worked my wings to unhook the clasp around the back of my neck. With them both undone, the saddle rigging simply dropped off me onto the floor.

I think that Hardcase saying he wasn’t interested preemptively did a bit to damage my hope of ever finding a stallion I’d like. Actually, I’m pretty sure that the shit with Salt today did more than anything to kill that idea.

Still, I’d never even considered looking outside ponies as a species as an option. Buck had even brought it up, but it just felt like an odd idea to me. I mean, I just couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to be with someone like a buffalo like Howitzer, or a griffon like Hispano’s dad, or Luna forbid a minotaur like Galvin…

“So,” Buck said as he scooted himself over to me. “Tell me about it.” He spoke plainly as he pinched the bottom wrapping of my rear right hoof’s bandages. From the way he simply started to unravel them without another word, I wasn’t sure he was going to get any more specific.

“About what?” I tried to force it.

“About where you came from.” He gazed at me over my hooves for a moment before going back to unwrapping. “You said you’d explain it, and I’d like to know a bit more about you.”

Throwing my head back against my mattress with a grunt, I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes. “What do you want to know? I lived in a cloud house. I went to school. My dad worked at the skydock.”

“Well, start with your parents. What were they like?” Buck asked. As he did, I felt the wrapping slid off my leg and get pulled away.

“Dad and Mom?” I smirked, thinking about how he used to be. “Well, Dad always joked about how Mom was the tough one in the family, but he was the hardest working stallion I’d ever seen. He worked as a Skycarrage mechanic when Mom was away on deployment. He always made time to help me with my homework, and he never let anything get to him.”

“Sounds like a great guy.” Buck said sadly. He shifted his claws and started to take of my rear left leg’s bandage. “How about your mom? You mentioned deployment, so she was a military mare?”

I nodded, closing my eyes even tighter than before. Dragging my forehoof up my chest, I pressed the cold dogtags I still wore against my chest. “She was my mom…” I felt my voice die out as I spoke. Even as hard as I tried, I could feel tears welling up. “She was like you. She only wanted to help everypony.” Letting a whimper escape my lips, I tried to hold back, but memories of her laughing, singing to me, her warm smile drove me over the edge.

As the other bandage fell off my leg, I too just let go. For the second time today, I was scooped up by Buck. However, it wasn’t to take me with him anywhere this time. Instead, he pulled me into the warmest, fuzziest hug I’d ever had in my life. I don’t know why he cared, or even if he could understand how I felt this way, but he didn’t shy away from me.

“I’m sorry.” He spoke softly as he let me sob into his chest. “I know that things have been hard for you, and that I can’t even begin to understand how hard it must be.” With deep, rhythmic breaths, he held me tightly. “But if you need somepony to talk to, about anything, even the hard stuff. Know that I’m here for you, alright?”

“Thank you.” I whined. Reaching my hooves around him, I squeezed him tightly. It helped immensely to hear him say that. Someone on the ground would just let me stop and deal with how I felt. “I just miss my family so much. I never even got to say goodbye.”

The next few minutes was spent by me simply crying into Buck’s chest, eventually just devolving into sobbing whimpers. Still, Buck sat there and held me without a complaint, even though his fur was matted with my tears and I was more of a wreck than I’d ever been in my life. I hated how weak I felt right now, but sitting in his arms, I felt a little less like it even mattered.

Finally regaining some semblance of my composure, I rubbed at my wet eyes and wicked away the remaining tears. It was about then when Buck set me back down onto my bed, and I noticed something peculiar about my hind legs.

“They’re… blue.” I spoke up with a loud sniffle.

“Well, you’ve always been blue.” Buck laughed for a moment before a spark of concern made his ears shoot up. “Or perhaps you’re colorblind and you didn’t know that...”

“No, I know I’m blue, it’s just that… I wasn’t that dark of a shade before.” Pointing at them with my forehooves, I traced them up. From just below my hocks, all the way down to the tips of my hooves, my light blue coat steadily darkened to a navy blue.

“Ah, yes.” Buck nodded and looked up at me with relief. “That is a side effect of the bandages I gave you.” He nodded, reaching forward and grabbing at my right forehoof with his claws. Carefully, he started to unwind the fabric. “See, a few of the old zebra’s on board knew that supplies might eventually dwindle, so they mixed a few alchemical ingredients into a small crop of cotton.” As he unraveled the bandage, I watched as my blue foreleg steadily darkened like the others had the further down it went. “In the end, they wove together these special bandages. They work much like the magical bandages here in Equestria, though they can be reused every so often.”

“How often?” I’d never heard of anything like them before.

“So long as they bathe under the light of the full moon, their magic can be regained and reused.” Buck nodded as he drew off the last of the wrapping on my right forehoof. With a smirk, he reached over and began to unwind the last bandaged hoof. “Good thing you all cleared the sky when you did. Still, do try not to get hurt for at least another couple of weeks.”

Nodding, I brought my forehoof close and looked it over. Under the darker blue coat, I could see many many tiny scars that sat along my skin. I hadn’t quite imagined just how hard it must have been to fix me before, and I should be much more thankful than I’ve been to him.

Oh, right!

“And there we go.” He said softly. With the last of the bandage on my left forehoof slipping free, I wiggled myself and rolled over. “Okay, I didn’t realize that was so uncomfortable for you.” He sounded annoyed. Say something before you offend him, idiot!

“No no, I was super comfortable!” I blurted out before scrunching my muzzle up. “Just, I remember, I bought you something. As a thank you, that is.”

“Ugh,” He groaned and flopped back onto his own bed. “Is that what you hid under your saddlebags that smells like that place?” Even though he wasn’t into it yet, I knew he’d like it once he saw it. Hopping up onto my bed, I reached forward. Hooking my forehoof around my saddlebags, I pulled them off the Medical Yoke.

“I saw this and thought of you.” Grabbing it, I pulled it up and held it out to him. “Thought it would be something you could wear.” With that, he perked his ears again and sat up. “You know, to show that you aren’t going to tear ponies to pieces.” His ears folded to the side and he went wide eyed with the most jagged smile I’d seen on him yet. “So, I take it that you like it?”

“I love it!” He gasped and reached out, easily taking the heavy wooden ring and plopping it down over his head. “Sure, it may smell, but once I clean it, it’s going to be a great way to show I’m only here to help!” Deep down inside myself, I knew that without a doubt, I’d finally done something right around here. “Oh thank you!” With a flash of his massive arms, he reached out and pulled me into an even tighter hug that before. Without any air in my lungs, I found it hard to protest against how hard he was squeezing me.

“Ahem.” A voice from behind me spoke up just as the darkness began to claw at my vision. Without warning, Buck let go of me and I dropped onto my back on the floor with a whimper. From my new vantage point, I could see Delilah smiling at me. No, wait. Again, she was frowning, I was just upside down again. “Violet told me all about the incident.”

“Delilah, I’m…” I hastily spoke as I scrambled to get back to my hooves. If I could at least explain myself, maybe she would be a bit understanding. Instead, she held her hoof up and silenced me.

“Nopony expected you to stop some crazy mare, Bombay. Don’t beat yourself up.” She spoke plainly, stopping my train of thought cold. “I’m glad to hear that you stayed with her as well. You understood my warning about knowing your limits and respected them. Thank you for that.” She nodded to me. Okay, all of this was making my brain hurt. Did Violet lie to Delilah? “Buck. Thank you for getting Violet patched up. When might she be able to regain use of her mobility?”

“Tomorrow.” Buck answered promptly. “Though she’ll only be able to hover around. I want her to stay off that leg for the time being. A week at most. That also means that she can’t use the Dizzitron to get into the air quickly.”

“Understood.” Delilah nodded firmly. “Last thing before we go. We’re leaving at dawn, so make sure you’ve got everything locked down and resupplied up here before we do. It’s a week’s distance to Klondike, and two days travel to get back to where we found you, so that will be our next stop.” With a sigh, she brushed at her curly red mane with her forehoof.

“Also,” She grunted in what sounded almost like annoyance. “Starting tomorrow as well, I will be driving Bessy. The road will actually have turns in it, so Howitzer won’t just be able to set it on cruise control and use the turret all alone in Bessy. If you want anything from me, you’ll have to use the radio to check in. I’ll have Hardcase secure it to the table out here in the rec area in the morning.” She started to turn around, only to stop and shoot a squinting glance over at Buck. “Medical Yoke?” She gave a short nod. “Looks good on you.”

With that, she shut the door behind her as she left.

“Well, I think that’s about enough excitement for one day. Don’t you think?” Buck whined out through a yawn. He flopped back onto his bed, pulling himself into the center and curling up on top of his blanket. “I think I’m going to get some sleep. You should probably look into doing the same.”

Nodding, I figured that he was probably right. Turning around, I hopped back up onto my bed and grabbed my saddlebags. With a heaving tug, I swung them over the edge and dropped them onto the floor. Hopping back down, I shoved them under my bed along with my battle saddle, where they’d be safe. Contented they were far enough back, I stood back and perked my ear. Buck gave out a soft snore, having already fallen asleep somehow. Maybe it was a Snow Dog thing, but how I wished I could do that.

Fumbleing back up onto the bed with my now overly blue hooves, I flopped down on my side and gave out a sigh. Today had been both good and bad. I’d nearly died multiple times, broken down, gotten hurt, made some friends, hurt one of them, and been rewarded with knowing that Buck was happy with my gift. I’d wondered just how my life would be down in the wasteland now. Really, if today was any example of how it went, then that prospect started to scare me.

Looking up, I reached up and grabbed the rainbow ringed ‘rug’ and pulled it over myself. It radiated warmth down onto me, the most relaxing I’d felt in quite some time. Closing my eyes and basking in it, I wondered just what tomorrow would bring. More danger? More Friends? Who knew. Like most things on this trip so far, I guess I’d just have to find out when I got there.

Yawning and giving a stretch that felt nearly as good as the warm rug over me, I rolled over and decided that it was time to get up for the day. Giving a contented sigh, I rubbed at my tired eyes with my forehooves and squinted up at the brightly shining fluorescent light tacked to the ceiling of the container. Then like most things had on the ground, something struck me as odd.

Sitting up, I found Buck absent from his end of the container. It left the room eerily silent and sent a shiver down my spine. Perking my ears, I noted that it wasn’t just the fact that he was missing that made this place quiet, there were no noises around at all. Not even the hum of the reactor powering Bertha, or the sound of this beast of a machine moving at all.

Pushing back my rug-blanket-thing, I scooted myself off my bed and onto the cold floor. For a moment, I had to do a double-take of my own hooves. I’d forgotten what the bandages had done to them last night, and while I was glad they didn’t hurt, I’d wondered if they would be the only part of me changing throughout the trip. With as many injuries as I’d had so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended this trip just as striped as Lucky or Gearbox.

Not that that was a bad thing or anything…

Shaking the racism away from my mind again, I sighed as my mane flopped lazily over half of my face. Frizzy and unkempt, I’d really have to ask Violet how exactly a pony keeps their mane nice down here. I mean, I guess if it really came to it, I could get a mane cut. Reaching for the door latch, I frowned at the thought of losing most of my yellow and green striped locks. I flipped the latch up and over, using my wing to pull open the door.

Without warning, I was hit in the muzzle a few times by a purple forehoof.

“Oh, shit!” Hardcase gasped, pulling his hoof back. “Sorry, I meant to knock. Didn’t see that you’d already opened the door.” I rubbed at my muzzle with my forehoof, confused as to what just happened.

“Yeah, well maybe you should be paying attention to what you’re doing, not asking me all those questions then!” Boiler called out from the couch in the rec area. Looking out the door, I also found that it was indeed morning outside, and the we were still sitting in the same place outside Fort Mac that we were yesterday.

“Did you need something?” I asked, tweaking my nose a bit and giving a sniffle in the cold, arctic air. “Also, why aren’t we moving like Delilah said we’d be?”

“Why?” Boiler snorted. “Got somewhere to be?”

“I’m sure she was just curious.” Hardcase hopped in for my defence. “I’d just wondered if you’d like to help me out with something today, seeing as we’re stuck here for a bit longer.”

“Stuck?” There I go, asking questions again. I really just need to shut my muzzle sometimes…

“Yeah.” Boiler called out with a groan. With a noise that sounded like a knife against rusty metal, the large Buffalo pulled herself off the comfy couch she’d been sitting on. The relaxing springs she’d been on sounded like they’d been murdered and could finally rest in peace with her off them. “Tried to boot up the reactor this morning like normal, but the diagnostic terminal ran across an error and booted it back to safe mode. It’s most likely a false positive caused by yesterday's bypass I did, but I’m letting the system run through it’s checks again just to be on the safe side of things.”

“How long do you think it’ll take?” I asked. If it was long enough that I could still have some free time after doing what Hardcase wants, maybe Violet could help me in getting my saddle set up.

“Eh, another hour, normally…” Boiler trailed off and rolled her eyes. “Though, who knows, might be a few if it comes back showing anything I need to take a look at.” She flashed a nervous smile and rubbed at her neck. “Wouldn’t want to miss something important and overload the poor girl on the road, you know?”

“Yeah…” I nodded, the images of the flashback at four peaks looked before it was destroyed. Before I could get too lost in the memory, I felt a heavy hoof come down on my shoulder.

“Well, that’s something for you to worry about, Boiler.” Hardcase said, giving me a firm pat. “Bombay and I have a job to do!” Pulling back from me and turning around, he nodded for me to follow.

“Alright, you two have fun.” Boiler sighed as she went back over toward the couch. I’d been wrong about the sound before. The tortured screams that the springs gave as she sat down on them sounded much more like they were dieing now than before. With a sigh, she silenced the whining springs as she relaxed on them and closed her eyes. Trotting past her, I wondered just how she could be so relaxed when she had to maintain the one thing making sure this machine had to move. From what I understood of dad’s work, spark reactors were very complex devices, and needed round the clock watchfulness. Then again, I knew nothing about how they worked, so maybe the ones on Raptors were more complex than the ones found on the ground.

Trotting down through the Ice hold, I followed close behind Hardcase. I stopped behind him at the door down here, and perked my ears when I heard movement around the ice. Poking my head around the corner, I was met with Happy Trail’s smiling muzzle poking around the opposite end. Before he could even say anything, I turned and nearly forced Hardcase out through the door.

“Eager to get going I see!” Hardcase muttered with a smile as I pulled the door shut behind me with my wing. Looking back at him with a very blank expression, I didn’t even want to answer him. Really, it was because I knew that I had exactly nothing good to say about Happy at this time. What I did have for him, was a different question.

“So, where’s Buck?” Following Hardcase over to the stairwell to the ground, I found him seem to get lost in his thoughts for a moment before answering my question.

“I believe that there was an accident in the living Hanger this morning, a few ponies were injured when one of the cables holding up the old fuselages snapped. Anyway, he offered his help to the local clinic staff in dealing with the injured.” Nodding like it was a sufficient answer, Hardcase looked back up at me as he started down the staircase to the ground. “So, speaking of help, there’s a reason I need your help today.” With a hop that splashed some mud onto his legs, Hardcase jumped down the last few steps into the mud.

“Unless you want me to slam my head against something, or cause a problem somewhere by accident,” I offered the only two things I’d been good at since getting below the clouds. Gingerly stepping down the steps and into the mud, I cringed as I reached out and stepped down into it. The sheer chill I got from the squishy mud pressing into all the bits of my unbandaged hoof made me wish that I had some boots for this or something. “Then I’m not sure why you’d need my help.” Met by only silence, I looked up to see Hardcase giving me a very nervous looking grin.

“Well…” He said, darting his eyes about for a moment, “I need you because I kinda needed to cause a commotion. Preferably in a way that would make it look like an accident…”

“Why would I do that!?” I spat out. Stopping where I was in the freezing cold mud, I had half a mind to turn around and walk back up to my warm blanket and go back to bed for now. “The last thing I need to do is get into trouble again.”

“Well, it’s not what you think!” Hardcase waved his forehooves quickly. “No, it’ll be worth it, I swear.”

While I wanted to trust him, I had a different kind of image flash into my mind again. This time, it was Delilah’s very angry looking face focused on me. It wasn’t something I was very keen on seeing again so soon, so as much as I needed to shut up sometimes with my questions, I needed to speak up.

“I won’t help unless you tell me why you need me to do it.” I said, adding a firm stomp. I cringed as I felt the mud under my hoof squelch and splatter against my other forehoof.

“Look,” He lowered his voice, stepping closer and leaning in to me. “Yesterday, I didn’t go to Hangar Two just to ask about that giant plane in there. Delilah sent me to negotiate a trade with one of the ponies inside.”

“A trade?” I asked, making Hardcase go wide eyed. Reflexively, he wrapped his green aura of magic around my muzzle and shut it firmly.

“Yes, but keep it down.” He whispered to me. “That’s why the reactor had a ‘malfunction’ earlier. I need more time to acquire the item than yesterday. The bastard wanted to double the price, and I didn’t want to fork that much over.” Slowly, he dissipated the ring of magic around my muzzle, letting me speak again.

“So, there’s nothing wrong with the reactor.” I whispered, watching as he nodded promptly. “What is it that Delilah needed?”

“She wanted us to procure an acetylene tank from them, preferably a full one.” Hardcase whispered, nodding for me to once again follow him. Reluctantly, I followed after him. “She says it’s imperative that we get it, and I’m not leaving here without one.”

“Why? What does she want it for?” I asked, still keeping to a whisper as we trotted away from the Hauler and toward the front gate. This morning, there were quite a few less guards on duty than there had been yesterday. On top of that, it looked like there were all still just waking up as well, and one of the stallions had fallen asleep while standing, using his rifle to prop himself up as he snored.

“I can’t say more now, and you can’t tell anypony what’s going on except Delilah.” Hardcase whispered back, not taking his eyes off me. “Just trust her that we need it, and trust me that you’ll know what I need you to fly into when you see it, okay?”

“Okay…” I whispered back, straightening myself up when Hardcase did. We both flashed smiles to the sleepy guards, not even getting a look of acknowledgement in return. Trotting swiftly past them, I felt a pit in my stomach start to grow. This was all so sudden, and it felt… wrong. Still, most of the ground had felt wrong to me so far, and if I was ever going to become friends with ponies like Hardcase, then I just had to trust him a little, right?

Quickly and without anypony taking too much notice of us, we’d trotted past the Armory, made it around the front of the ‘living’ Hanger where I’d run into Salt yesterday at, and promptly stopped outside the opening of the ‘flight’ Hanger. It was then that Hardcase hooked his hoof around me and pulled me down the small gap between the hangers to get out of sight.

“Okay, look. You’re going in there alone because they’ll see me a mile away if I go in with you.” Hardcase spoke at a whisper again. “So once you walk through that door, go ahead and start the distraction at any point. But make sure you make it look like an accident, understand?” He eyed at me. I gave him a short nod, still unsure of how I felt about all this. “Just keep their attention for a bit, and I’ll do the rest.”

As he turned away from me, I reached up and grabbed around his neck with my hoof. “Wait!” I hissed. “What do I do after that?”

He shrugged and gave me a smirk. “Whatever you want for the next hour until the diagnostic finishes.” He reached over and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “I’ll see you back on the Hauler when it’s time to leave.”

Letting go of him, I watched as he turned and trotted down the gap between hangers. As much as this all sat wrong with me, I still felt that I needed to take this leap of faith with him. I don’t know how reliable anything that comes out of Hispano’s beak is, but so far her advice to make myself useful has proven to be fruitful. Well, fruitful enough with the exception of Delilah being angry about the Yaks, that is.

Turning around, I stood up straight and got trotting back to the door inside. Okay, Night, you can do this. You’ve had exactly zero problem so far getting into trouble without trying, so you’ve got to be able to find someway to do it applying any effort to it at all. Turning to face the door, I took a deep breath before reaching out for the handle. Gripping it in my fetlock, I yanked the door open and stepped inside the cavernous building.

I nearly misstepped as I went inside. A line of rusty Vertibucks sat lined against the back wall, each one had a few ponies in maintenance barding tinkering with them. Set up on a hydraulic lift closer to me, was the stripped hill of a skytank. From the ones I’d seen undergoing retrofits back at the sky docks in Four Peaks, they must have been doing a complete rebuild of this one.

There were all manner of odd aircraft stored and being worked on inside here, along with dozens of ponies running about and working on them. Among them were cloud based craft, jet turbine aircraft, and even a few propeller ones like the one on the Inuvik! Seeing all of it filled my head with a sense of awe. Along with it, came a deep regret that stabbed at my heart with the realization that Dad would have loved this place.

The resonating clang of somepony dropping a tool on the floor somewhere in the place pulled me back out of my thoughts and toward my objective. Sitting near the slightly open hangar door, was a vehicle sharply out of place with the aircraft stored inside here. A squat looking metal box on tracks sat before me. I’d seen a few examples in my history books of rudimentary early war Equestrian tanks, but only a few that shared a resemblance to this one. The squarish turret that sat perched toward the front of it was covered in metallic blisters, and a very stout cannon sat pointing out of the hanger and toward the horizon outside.

Without a doubt, that must have been what Hardcase was talking about.

Trotting over towards it, I wondered just what the hell I was supposed to do to cause a problem involving it. I couldn’t just fly into it and cause a commotion around here as it’s a tank for Celestia’s sake! Come on, Night, use your head! Or rather, don’t use your head.

“Oi! You there, missy!” The annoyed voice of a stallion came from behind me. “Stay away from me tank, ya hear?” Turning around to look at who’d called me out, my eyes stopped on the stallion around me who looked the angriest. Damn near as big as Boiler, this stallion was a musclehead of an earth pony. A dark brown coat ringed with a bright orange beard looked mean enough until they were paired with crimson red eyes set under a flannel flat cap that felt like they could murder me with just a glance. Yeah, this stallion wasn’t to be messed with.

Spreading my wings, I flashed him a nervous smile before looking back to his tank. Squatting down, I beat my wings hard and jumped up. With less effort than I’d assumed it would take, I hopped up onto the back of the tank and walked toward the turret. Oh goddesses, don’t let him kill me for this…

“Oi! Ya fuckin’ deaf, mate?” He shouted, stiffly starting to walk over to me.

Panicking, I looked around the top of the tank. Spotting the handle for the turret hatch, I quickly reached over with my forehoof and flipped it open. Momentarily gazing into the interior, I found it much more cramped than I would have assumed it would have been. Quickly scrambling to get in, I had only a moment to watch the angry stallion break into a gallop toward me before I closed the hatch. A sharp click behind me made the cabin inside the tank light up, and a small light buzzed to life from on the wall.

“Back already, Guinness?” Another stallion spoke sharply through a yawn behind me. It was so unexpected that I let out something between a squeak and a gasp as I turned around and pressed myself against the insides of the turret front. My odd noise must have tipped him off, because the slate coated stallion behind me sat up quickly with wide eyes.

If I’d thought the pony out there was large, then I had obviously been misinformed, even compared the the bruiser I’d just seen. The pony in here had to be just under twice the height of the stallion out there, even if he was far less muscled. His crystal clear blue eyes sat there looking over me as I too studied him. The scruffy black beard that ran around this stallion's longer than average muzzle was just as out of place as the odd white and red checkered cloth wrappings he kept around his head. That was about as much of an assessment I could make before a loud slam from outside ripped both of our attentions to the roof.

“Zibar, wake up ya bastard!” The muffled, still very angry sounding voice of the other stallion came through the thick armor. “Some stupid git is in our tank!”

I offered a nervous smile as the other stallion looked at me for a moment. Unsure where to go, I pressed myself further back against the turret front. Shit, I hadn’t thought this far ahead. The stallion growled and reached out for me, crawling his way from the rear of the tank into the turret. I panicked and flailed at him, but I wasn’t a strong pony. At least, not strong enough to fight somepony his size! Still, I did my best to kick and yell, and it wasn’t until I accidentally hooked my hoof around a handle in the front that he stopped, wide eyed in fear.

There was a click from behind me not unlike the lightswitch. However this time, the light that flashed on was much brighter. Oh, and it happened to be accompanied by a bang that sounded uncomfortably similar to the shell I’d dropped on the yaks. The whole tank shook, and part of the mechanical workings inside recoiled and threw a heavy brass shell against the chest of stallion assaulting me. He grasped his chest and went down in a heap, drawing in pained breaths from the floor. I stopped panicking when he did, the worried thought shooting through my mind that I might have just seriously injured this stallion.

Oh goddesses, I didn’t mean to kill him! I mean, I hope he didn’t die from what I did! It was an accident, I was just supposed to cause a distraction!

With my mind preoccupied on how to best explain why I probably just murdered this stallion, I hadn’t noticed that the hatch above me had been opened. A very strong and very tight forehoof wrapped around my neck and in one smooth motion, yanked me out of the tank and slammed me down on top of the tank next to the turret.

The angry bearded stallion was yelling at me furiously, and honestly I’d never been more afraid in my life. However the ringing in my ears and the pressure from his forehoof on my neck was quickly dulling the fear I felt from his yelling, and reminding me that air isn’t just something you need in order to fly…

As my vision began to darken from the lack of air, I flailed and kicked at the pony furiously. Though none of my pitifully weak flails managed to deter him, the numerous ponies who ripped him off of me were stronger than even he seemed to be able to handle. Though, it wasn’t for a lack of trying as he still tried to rip himself away from them as I gasped for breath.

A unicorn mare in round glasses wearing a ministry of peace labcoat quickly hopped up onto the tank and peeked into the turret. She barked some orders I still couldn’t hear before levitating up a stretcher. She pointed at me and then to somepony I couldn’t see before wrapping her magic around my head. Gently, she turned my head to face the turret of the tank, and I was suddenly hoisted up onto another stretcher. While I was looking at the turret, I noticed that it had an inscription recently painted on it. As the medical mare used her magic to bind a medical brace around my neck and order me carted off out of the hanger, I wondered just what ‘Remember El Alemane!’ even meant.

“I’m disappointed in you.” Buck’s words hurt as the medical mare finished using her healing magic on my ears. “I mean, what were you even thinking, Night?” He huffed, crossing his massive forearms across his chest. “Had he been any closer to the gun when it went off, and you could have killed that stallion.” I wanted to tell him that I had a reason for it, that Delilah and Hardcase wanted me to do that for them. However, I couldn’t. Hardcase said no one could be told, and that meant Buck as well. “I know it’s been hard for you, Night, but I’m starting to think you want to go looking for trouble when you’re out.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” I tried to say, but found my muzzle shut between Buck’s massive claws.

“Is that really necessary, Dr. Buck?” The medical mare sighed as she turned to a cabinet to pull an odd looking device out in her magic. Turning around to me, she quickly pressed the odd device into my ear and leaned in to look at it. “Besides, The Saddle Arabian hurt in the scuffle only had a cracked rib. Of the two of them, Night here had two blown eardrums and a bruised larynx. I’d say he was the one to walk away worse off.”

Removing his claws from me, Buck deadpanned at that. “While your medical opinion is valid, Dr. Fibre, Night here has had a propensity to find himself in trouble more often than not.” The way he looked at me when I said that made his words feel sharper than any knife. Reaching up, he adjusted the yoke around his neck that I’d given him, shifting his expression as he did. “Still, I see your point. Thank you for your help, Dr. Fibre.”

“No, thank you for the help earlier, Dr. Buck. It means a lot to have an extra set of hooves… er, claws, around here.” She smiled and glanced over to me. “Okay then, you’re good to go. Though, try not to stand right next to any more cannon shots for the next few days, alright?” Nodding, she used her magic to replace the tool she’d had into the cabinet it came from and walked out.

Again, the room I was in was left in silence. Only this time, Buck was still here, and the disappointed look he gave me spoke volumes about what he thought of me now. I’d screwed up in his eyes, no matter how justified I assumed that Delilah and Hardcase were in all this. Though, maybe when I talked to Delilah I could ask her to at least convince Buck somehow that he shouldn’t hate me for this.

Putting his forepaw to his head, he cupped his claws around it and gave out a sigh. “I don’t hate you, you know.”

For a moment, I searched for the right words to say, but they weren’t there. I’d screwed up, and somehow was going to have to make up for it again. And something tells me it was going to take more than a simple trinket at a market to do so. Lost in my thoughts, the silence that had fallen between Buck and I hit me hard.

You know, there's an old saying among the pegasus that exists from the time before we'd reigned in most of the wild weather in the old world. They’d said that you'll see the storm coming far before it reaches the horizon, only when you notice the calming of the air around you. A knock on the door to the room preempted both Delilah and Hardcase entering the room. The look on Delilah's muzzle when it came through the door? It was the meanest damn storm I'd ever seen in my life.

Trotting forward the bed, I could tell this wasn’t going to be fun. “Okay, Night. First off, I want to thank you.” Delilah’s tone was colder than the outside air, and sharper than any knife.

“I…” I moved to speak, but Delilah quickly and erratically waved her forehoof at me.

“No no no.” She scolded. I could see the burning fires of rage twisting inside of her. She was like a thunderstorm, growing, brooding and waiting for the perfect moment to let lose everything it was all at once. "I wanted to thank you for reminding me just how wrong I could be by putting my faith in somepony who doesn't understand the meaning of their actions. Because you see, I had the audacity to presume that you could learn from your mistakes.”

Hot off the hooves of the medical mare who scolded him for being hard on me, buck stiffened up. He raised a claw to call Delilah's attention, but only drew her fury.

"Don't even get me started on you covering for him on what happened with Violet. I’m not stupid. I chose to ignore it for the time being." She snarled and stamped her forehoof so hard that I thought that either the tile under her would crack, or her hoof would. "The only reason I agreed for you to come along was because we are in sore need of a medical expert on this journey, because by Celestia above as my witness, I know we'll need one." Turning her furious gaze back to me, I stiffened up and hoped more than anything I could just turn invisible right now. "By the goddesses, you don't even have the slightest clue what you've done, have you? The ponies in that tank, the ponies I explicitly instructed Hardcase to stay away from? They're one of the Merc bands that Solomon has hired.”

“I didn’t…” Instinctively I spoke up. Again, it was met with a furious waving of Delilah’s forehoof.

“And that’s just your problem, isn’t it, Night? You don’t think. You don’t know.” Delilah looked like a spring that just kept winding tighter and tighter. All I could do was cringe and wait for the sickening snap not if, but when it came. “I’ll spare you the ‘I could have left you behind’ speech and cut right to the heart of this little offence. The next time you have a single thought in that head of yours, I want it to be these words resurfacing and scaring you shitless.” Drawing in a deep breath, I waiting for what was going to be the hardest thing in my life to listen to. Deep in my heart, I already knew what she was going to say. “If you screw up again? If you so much as step one hoof out of line from where I want you, I swear to Celestia, I will drop you on your flank out in the middle of nowhere without a second thought.”

Shutting her muzzle, a long pause filled the air. It took me a moment, but I realized that she was waiting for some sort of response from me.

“I understand…” I forced myself to speak, but it only came out at a whisper.

“You understand.” Delilah shook her head and scoffed. “That’s another problem with you though, isn’t it, Night? You say the words, but you don’t understand the meaning of them.” Closing her eyes, she pressed a forehoof to her forehead and grunted like she was trying to physically force out the migraine she probably had gained due to our actions. “Whether or not Hardcase told you that was one of Solomon’s group, I don’t care.” Reaching out, she prodded me on the chest sharply and drawing a whimper from me as I pulled away. “We don’t ever stoop to his game. We don’t ever fire the first shot. Because all he’ll need to get what he wants is one excuse, one damn good reason to call this a war. If that happens, we’re all dead, because there is nothing we could do to stop the army he could afford to hire.” With the fury in her eyes having mostly expended itself, her tired, stern eyes locked onto mine and held their attention.

“That’s what’s at stake here,” She lowered her tone as she spoke, seeming to decompress all at once as she spoke. “So I expect that the next time you do anything outside of your own damn bed, that you will wait for me to tell you exactly what you are going to be doing.” With a final sigh, she looked between all of us. “I expected more from the three of you. As such, you all just volunteered your time for our stay at Klondike.” Delilah snorted and turned away from us. She’d mentioned that place before as the next place we’d be going, but I had no idea just what she was talking about.

“What!?” Hardcase objected with wide eyes. “I got what you asked for, didn’t I?” He pointed his hoof over to me. “I get Buck didn’t speak up about Violet, and even my own sentence, but why do you have to drag him down with me when it was my mistake?” Okay, if Hardcase didn’t like it, the punishment wasn’t something I should just shrug off then. I guess I’d have to ask him about it later.

Eyeing me from over her shoulder, the frown on her sagging muzzle seemed to hang lower than normal. “To teach Night just what happens when you screw up down here on the ground. Others always end up paying for your mistakes.” Turning her gaze back to the door, she walked forward. “I expect the three of you back on the hauler in ten minutes, secured and ready to move.”

As Delilah turned and left, the silence between the three of us in the room was deafening. All three of us were lost in our own thoughts, either of regret, disappointment, or outright shame. Mostly for me, I felt sorry for what I’d done to those who had shone me nothing but kindness so far down here. Again, I was reminded of another saying that came from us Pegasi. It wasn’t some age old proverb, or a thousand year old metaphor. It was from one of our greatest heroes lost with the old world at the end of the war. She was the Ministry mare for the Ministry of Peace, and their motto was something I should really have learned to take to heart.

I must do better.

For about an hour, curled under the rainbow rug on my bed, I lay in silent compilation of the events of today so far. The vibrating hum that Bertha’s reactor gave off bled into the constant shifts and bumps that rocked the vehicle as it rolled down the old muddy road away from Fort Mac. With my eyes locked on the door to the container, I wished that more than anything, it would open and I’d see the most disappointed look on my father’s face I’d ever seen in my life. And I’d be perfectly fine with that, really. Curling my hoof up against my chest, I hoofed at the cold metal tags that still hung around my neck.

Buck shifted uneasily over at his desk, stretching out slightly as he got up from it. “I’m going to go check on Violet. Stay put.” He muttered with such a noncommittal grunt that I couldn’t tell if he was angry at me, or just everything in general. Stepping across the room, he unlatched the hook on the door and stepped outside. I was left to my own yet again.

Part of me wanted to follow Buck over there, even though I was pretty sure he didn’t want me around. I couldn’t help but think that every single time I’ve been left alone, something bad has happened. It’s like I’m jinxed. Doomed to fail at everything and find trouble no matter what I do. The worst thing about it is that I keep dragging down everypony else with me.

As if to mock me, the door to the container opened up without warning, and Happy Trails stepped inside.

“Hey.” Was all he said as he shut the door behind him. Unlike the last few times I’d seen him, I noticed right off the bat that he was acting differently. He wore the same red and white flower print, button down shirt that he had down in the ice hold, even though it seemed far too light for the cold weather we’d been in. The other feature to him that caught my eye, was that his mane was a little more disheveled than it was when I last saw him.

“What do you want?” I grumbled. Seriously, if he hits on me again…

“I wanted to apologize.” He spoke up. “Violet told me that maybe I was being a bit too forward with you.” Leaning back against the door, he reached into the pocket on his shirt and fished out his comb. Pushing it through his mane, he fashioned it into the poofy pompadour he’d had before effortlessly. “I also wanted to apologize for what mama said to you.”

I sat, confused at just who was standing before me. The last few times I’d seen him, he was either drunk, a creep, or just down right annoying. I get that Hardcase said to give him a chance, but this is the first normal thing I’d seen Happy do since getting on this trip. Granted it’s only been a day… or two. Really, I couldn’t remember after everything that’s gone on in my life since I came below the clouds. Still, Happy wasn’t speaking with the same accent he’d had, he used normal words, and seemed generally like any other pony I’d seen so far. It was… odd. Like there was a whole ‘other’ Happy that I hadn’t seen walking around here yet.

“Look, we got off on the wrong hoof.” Happy shrugged and put his comb away in his pocket again. Holding his hoof out to me, he gave me a sincere smile, staring at me with his purple eyes.

Rolling my eyes, I turned myself over. I didn’t want to deal with him, even if he’d come to say he was wrong.

“I know I haven’t made the best impression on you, but it’s the only way I know to keep safe in the wastes. I’m sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable.” He spoke up, his voice annoyingly reverberating in the container. “I also know that mama can be harsh sometimes.” His tone took a different, more somber turn, and it made me twist my ears back to listen. “But she means well, really, she does. You’ll never find a more honest and upstanding jenny than her. Why? Because she knows what’s right, and she’ll fight for it.”

“Jenny?” I asked, turning back over.

“Female donkey.” Happy chuckled lightly, seeming to relax a bit. “Like the word mare for ponies.”

“Oh, I see.” Shifting my gaze up to him, something that Buck pulled to make me open up struck me, and I couldn’t imagine a better time for it. “Tell me about her.”

“About mama?” Happy nearly recoiled in confusion. “Why?”

“Because I know hardly anything about her, even though she’s gone out of her way to take care of me.” Like most of the rest of the world, there was so much that I needed to know about things. Understanding how Mrs. Delilah thought, where she was coming from on things, could better help me not to screw up this badly again.

“Look,” Happy shifted on his hooves, darting his eyes around anywhere but me. I don’t know why, but the thought about talking about his mother made him really uneasy. “I don’t know what she’s told you so far, so I’d rather not make things confusing for you.”

“What? Why would I be confused?” That wasn’t at all what I’d expected…

“I’ll just leave that to her to explain.” Happy gave me a nervous smirk that died almost as soon as he’d had it. “Let’s just say that it would be best for you to leave mama’s past out of your mind for now. She isn’t too happy with you at the moment, and I wouldn’t push her.” With a shrug, he eyed me again. “And trust me when I say that mama isn’t someone you should push.” Pulling down the collar to his shirt, he showed me a deep and jagged scar that ran from his barrel to his shoulder.

“Mrs. Delilah did that to you?” I asked, wide eyed. While she seemed to exude anger and annoyance, she didn’t strike me as someone who would hurt her own foal…

“Nah.” Happy said while he got his shirt buttoned up. “My father though was a mean drunk after I was born.” Shaking his head, he looked down at the floor like he could see into the past through it. “He pushed her a bit too far on one of his benders doing this to me. That night was the last time I’d ever see my father again.”

“She kicked him out?” I had a feeling that maybe that was why I was such a big deal to Delilah. It may have been a leap, but maybe I was somepony who reminded her of her husband, and she wanted to keep me from making the same mistakes?

“Nope.” Happy shook his head with a smirk, looking back up to me with eyes that hid more sadness than I could comprehend. “She shot him dead.” Well, that absolutely destroyed my theory. “Bastard deserved it too.”

“And… you’re alright with that?” Losing mom and dad? That hurt. But having one of my parents kill the other? Or hell, me having to kill one of them? That’s… no, just no. I’d be broken beyond fixing if that had happened.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “If she hadn’t, if he kept going on benders like that? He’d have ended up killing either me or her. She did the whole town a favor that day.” Giving a sigh and sitting back on his haunches, he pointed to me. “Enough about me, I want to know a bit about you.”

Well, so far this chat hadn’t drifted anywhere I didn’t want it to go, so what could possibly go wrong in telling him about myself? Stiffening up, I knew I shouldn’t think that way. No, Night. Give him a chance like Hardcase asked. “Like what?”

He didn’t get a chance to answer before the door behind him was shoved open. Without warning, Happy was thrown against my bed as Buck pushed through the doorway. I gave out a surprised squeak as Happy was basically shoved on top of me. It was obvious from the yelp that he gave, he wasn’t quite expecting it either.

“What’s going on…” Buck began, cutting himself off as he looked over to find Happy ontop of me. His eye twitched, and a low, guttural growl bubbled up from inside the enormous Snow Dog. “Really. I told you to stay away from him.” Reaching over, he grabbed around Happy tightly and pulled him up into the air.

“Buck, wait!” I called out, throwing my rainbow rug to the floor. “You pushed him onto me when you came in!”

“I… what?” The explanation seemed to snap Buck out of his anger. Now, on his face, was the expression of profound confusion. Funny enough, it matched the one on Happy now. Dropping the mule to the floor, Buck stammered and tried to get his thoughts in order. “I didn’t realize… I’m sorry.” Looking down at Happy, he quickly moved to help him back onto his hooves.

“Wait, you’re a guy?” He spat as he got up.

“Does it make a difference?” Buck asked, crossing his massive forepaws and giving Happy a judgemental look. “What were you even doing in here?”

“He came to apologize.” I spoke up in Happy’s defence. It was odd to do, seeing as how he’d treated me before. But if doing this now made the rest of the trip easier, than I was something I needed to do. Turning my gaze to happy, I gave him a short nod. “Yes, I’m a stallion. Always have been, just… I look a bit like a mare is all.”

“Eh, it’s cool, daddy-o.” In an instant, the ‘other’ Happy was back. “I ain’t got a problem with it. Just that this guy?” He pointed to himself proudly. “He only digs the chicks. Got it?”

“Sure.” Buck rolled his eyes and sat down on his bed. “I only ask that you go do that anywhere but here.

With a wink, Happy pushed his hoof across his pompadour lightly. “I hear ya, big guy.” Turning to me, he shot me a sly look. “Good talk. See ya round, Bombay.” Opening the door, he paused halfway through it. Looking back to me, he still wore the mask of his ‘other’ self, but I could see the real him in his eyes. “Remember, don’t push mama. Just lay low if ya have to and everything will jive eventually.”

Nodding to him, he gave a waggle of his eyebrows and shut the door. I don’t really know what made him act that way, but the shift in his personality was jarring. Still, his advice about Mrs. Delilah was probably the best I’d get, and I needed to listen. I’d been so caught up in what I should be doing to fit in, that I hadn’t considered simply observing first.

Having the knowledge that Delilah wouldn’t stand for being pushed around was actually a bit comforting to know. No is still a word in my vocabulary, and if anypony got angry I didn’t do something they wanted me to, they could take it up with her.

I was wrong in how I’d been going about things, and oddly thanks to Happy, I had just one more piece of the puzzle in place now.