“So, you’re the mare that everycreature is calling the ‘Survivor’.”

“You are far from what I expected, I’ll admit.” Rofia purred with a smile as she walked out from behind the incredibly ornate darkwood desk in her ‘office’. A room which I’d hardly consider that, seeing as it was filled with nothing but shiny bits and bobs being displayed like trophies. “You know, you’re lucky. The avalanche you caused in your little attack? Well, it managed to save most of my shipment.” Walking with that same swagger to her hips as she’d had talking with Rook, I at least knew that I was seeing her for who she really was. “Maybe because of this, I’ll show you mercy and kill you before you and your friends become a real problem for me.”

While I’d been lucky enough to have only been stripped of my flight harness, Hispano wasn’t as fortunate. She’d been gagged and bound to one of the many plush chairs in here. I could see her doing her best to keep her calm, but as Rofia approached me, she fought against the ropes holding her talons together. The worried look across her face spoke volumes about how she hated having me on my own, and honestly, I really could have used her smarts and quick wit to make sure we both got out of here alive.

Then again, while we’ve had some close calls, I’ve yet to fail at getting us both out of a bind like this...

“You know, maybe you should kill us. The last pony I was a problem for ended up losing his city.” I spat at her, wiping the smug look from her muzzle as she walked by. From the muffled and angry words Hispano tried to say, and the burning glare she shot me, I could tell that maybe this approach hadn’t been the one she’d wanted me to take. Still, Rofia gave out a mirthful laugh as her short furred tail came around and curled under my chin.

“It’s nice to see the youth these days so energized and eager to make their mark in the wasteland.” As her tail pulled off of me, she spun around carefully on her paws and placed one of her forepaw digits on the end of my muzzle. “Their heads filled with tales of heroes like that of the dear Lightbringer, swiftly guiding them to the end of their very short ropes.” With a curl of her paw, the silver plated claw inside her digit poked out, and she carefully ran it over the fur on my muzzle. “It’s such a waste when with the right… motivation, and a little effort, they could have a carefree life of decadence. Why ruin it by trying to play the hero for the ungrateful masses?”

“You’re wasting your words, Ma’am.” Microburst spoke through the mask she wore around her completely bundled up form. From where she stood near the door, I could smell the decay on her, even through what looked like a dozen layers of clothing. Ugh, it smelled like rotting fish covered in shit stacked up to the height of a pony! It was enough that I almost wished she’d put her power armor back on... “The survivor can’t be bought.” Arguably, even worse than the smell was the creaking her body gave off. Geeze, if that’s what Rot does to your body, then that’s a hard fucking pass from me...

“Oh, I know she can’t be bought.” Rofia flicked her paw off of my muzzle sharply, but didn’t let her claw break my skin when she did. “Ponies like her don’t care about things, they care about others.” Stepping back in front of me, she moved her paw to cup under my chin. “Micro, if you would do me a favor and check in on our… other guest. See how he’s enjoying his whores.”

“At once, Ma’am.” The wrapped up mare behind me replied with the full feeling of an Enclave military mare to her. But like with Rofia, I could tell that this was all for show. This was Solomon’s game, and unfortunately for them, I’d already had a few chances to get to know the rules.

“Oh, why don’t you stay, Microburst? I’m sure our mule friend is perfectly happy right now.” The words I spat at Rofia seemed to knock her for a loop, making her tweak the short whiskers that protruded from her muzzle. “But you know who won’t be happy, is the Sky Marshal once she finds out about the Rot you were hauling on that train. That is the shipment you were talking about, right?” It was only for a moment, but from the way Rofia’s slit eyes widened at that admission told me that she was far past being off her game now. “Oh, you didn’t know that we already knew? Why don’t you ask Microburst what kind of ship it was that we flew in on?” Looking back, I found the dark lenses of the goggles she wore staring back at me with an odd slight purple glow to them. Still, she was completely silent at that. “What? You act like a former Enclave mare. So go on, tell her.”

“What is she talking about, Micro?” Rofia’s short growl was joined by the fact that her tail almost came around like a whip behind her. Oh yeah, still got that magic ability to piss others off!

“It’s a reconnaissance cloudship, Ma’am. Meant for intelligence gathering.” The glow behind Micro’s goggles flared up with each word. Seriously, just what was it that was glowing like that? “She’s saying she has proof of what was on the train, and I’m inclined to believe it.”

“And you didn’t think to bring this up before?” Rofia snapped, forcing Micro to take a shaky step backwards. With a low growl, she dragged her paw down her face and glared at the bundled up mare. “I was right, you really are just a useless addict.”

“Here’s how I see it.” I proudly let the smirk work its way across my face. “If you untie my Talon there and listen to what I have to say, then just maybe I won’t broadcast the evidence I have over to the Sky Marshal. And before you threaten to kill us again...” Reaching up, I tapped on the metal side of my head. “All it would take is a single thought to fuck you over.”

Rofia’s snarl grew louder, but her eyes shifted from me over to Hispano. With a flick of her paw, all five of her silver claws came out. With swift steps that had completely lost their smooth and confidant cadence, she strode over to Hispano and gave only a single, swift swipe.

The ropes around Hispano’s talons frayed and dropped away, letting her quickly reach up and pull the cloth from her beak.

“Bluh, you fuckers ever heard of laundry day?” Hispano spat out as she rubbed a talon at her beak in disgust.

“Now, speak of what it is you want.” Rofia growled again as she spun and planted her golden eyes right on me again.

“I was sent here to do some good for ‘your’ town. So, that’s what I’m going to do.” I watched as my words understandably sent a wave of confusion over Rofia’s face, which shifted over to Micro who just shrugged. “Raychaser told me you have a bit of a refugee problem. Why don’t we start with that and see where...”

The sharp laugh that escaped Rofia’s muzzle cut me off completely.

“Oh really, this is how she intends to repay her debt?” Rofia’s tone falling back into the same mannerisms wasn’t really something that filled me with any sort of confidence. Not to mention a single realization cropped up in my mind. One I’d thought I’d gotten past having again and again.

Because of course somepony was just trying to use me. Seriously, how the fuck did I not see it!? I swear, if she was just intending for me to fail this whole time just to clear a debt…

“Look, just tell us what we’re supposed to do to help and we’ll be out of your fur.” Hispano at least hadn’t seemed to care that we’d been roped into the same shit yet again. “Oh, and give us our shit back before we decide to burn this place to the ground for the fun of it.” Right, she really hadn’t been kidding when she said she’d been bored out of her mind. She just has to keep things interesting…

“Right. Micro, be a dear and fetch their things.” Rofia snapped her claws, making the bundled mare stiffen to attention. “So Raychaser wants to help the refugees? Then I might just have something that will benefit the both of us.” A wide, malicious grin spread across her muzzle, and her tail flicked back and forth softly as she looked down at me. “Head down to Sanctuary and speak with Gadget. She runs the show down there, so if you can get her to agree to re-open Sanctuary to the refugees, then you can tell Raychaser that her debt is as good as cleared.”

“What do you know about this ‘Sanctuary’ place?” I asked as Hispano and I soared through the cold afternoon air. A few wild clouds had drifted over the valley, bringing with it a light snow that killed the thermals below us.

“Don’t really know much.” Hispano’s hesitant voice was one I didn’t normally hear from her. “I know it’s old. And I mean that as in, one of the first-northern-settlements-founded-after-the-war, old. Which means it’s pretty much just populated by ghouls, and is probably the reason Rofia expects us to fail.”

I couldn’t argue with that. While most of the ghouls I’d met so far had been mostly well meaning, I wasn’t really sure that living around a bunch of rotting ponies would be something I could ever do. Especially if more than a few of them used that Rot stuff…

Coming down, we passed over the raised section of highway that cut across town and over one corner of the secluded community. The still intact and quite tall brick wall that surrounded the old neighborhood gave the whole place a fort-like feel to it. The hundreds of houses that sat inside were well cared for. Almost too well cared for, really. To the point that most of them still had clean glass windows in them, and their vibrant painted sidings looked almost like-new. More than a few ghouls were out and about, strolling along the sidewalks or busy shoveling the snow out of their driveways. If not for the fact that everypony we saw was rotting and decayed, you could almost be forgiven for thinking that the war never even affected the ponies here!

Hispano and I looped around over the settlement as we passed through one of the light snowfalls coming down from above. We’d figured that the larger than normal house in the center of the settlement was the most likely place to start looking for this ‘Gadget’ pony. The three story house had a pristine coat of white paint on it’s siding, and the light blue trim around it’s windows gave it a welcoming appearance overall. However, the barren oak tree on it’s snow-covered front lawn looked sickly, and the picket fence that ran around its perimeter was left in a sorry state of disrepair compared to the house.

The tired and annoyed expression of what looked like a guard pony at the stately front door, stood at odds with the house’s inviting appearance.

“I got this, Dum Dum.” Hispano cooed as we flared out wings and came down along the sidewalk in front of the house. Hispano reached up, pulling off her leather flight cap with a smile. “Hello there, we’re here to see a ghoul named Gadget? Know where we can find her?”

With a sharp push and a squeal that grated on both our nerves, Hispano opened the gate to the old picket fence. The noise itself seemed to wake the tired looking ghoul at the door, and the rust coated pony raised a rifle that was degraded enough to match his coat color. While I was sure that the gun itself would explode the second he tried to fire it, it only needed to work once to ruin our day.

“Who?” The ghoul’s scratchy and hoarse voice was softer than expected. With a creak of his neck, the ghoul made a sound like he was gargling gravel in his throat, showing me the myriad of holes in his neck that he wheezed through as it breathed. “You two lost? Ain’t nothin’ for you here.” His voice was just as quiet as before, but the determined look in his clouded eyes was joined with a spark of fear that seemed out of place.

“We’re here to see Gadget.” Hispano grumbled as I stepped through the open gate and walked up beside her. “Rofia sent us?”

“Fidget?” The ghoul pulled back in confusion. “She took a dirt nap ages ago. Probably before you skinbags were even born!”

“Gadget, you fucking…” Hispano slapped her beak with her talon and growled into it. “Who’s in charge of Sanctuary?”

“Charge?” The ghoul again seemed confused, reaching up and scratching at his peeling scalp. With a fleshy squishing that sent a shiver up my spine, his entire scalp separated from his skull as he scratched at it. “You lookin’ for Arcane, Steel, or Sparkle Charge? We’ve had a few Charges here in Sanctuary over the years.”

“This guy is fucking useless.” Hispano spoke under her breath as she forced up a smile on her beak. “We’ll just look elsewhere. Sorry to bother you.”

“Well just hold on there a minute.” The ghoul grumbled, finally pulling his hoof away from his head. His scalp stuck to his hoof for a moment, finally flopping back onto his skull with a meaty slap as he lowered his rifle. “Lemme’ go ask Miss Gadget if she knows if we’ve still got a Charge here…”

With a shuffling mumble, the stallion turned around and opened the door to the old house. Stepping inside, he left it open, revealing some of it’s dark interior to us. With a curious glance that was shared by Hispano, we both moved up to the short steps that lead onto the porch.

Now that we were closer, we figured we could get a peek into the old house. Old ornate furniture sat under yellowed sheets, and covered paintings still hung on walls that were plastered with some sort of floral patterned wallpaper. Sparkle battery powered candle light fixtures glowed dimly on the walls, keeping most of the hallway and nearby rooms shrouded in darkness. Most of the light inside came from the enormous stained glass window that sat behind the house’s central staircase. The window itself was more than a story tall, and for some reason held a picture of a green unicorn with a red mane laying on a bed of roses.

“Can I help you?” A rough and somewhat squeaky voice came from near the top of the stairwell.

It took me a moment to find it’s source, but my eyes finally landed on the small, obscured form of a young filly. Her faded pink coat was marred by dozens of small bald patches that contained oozing sores, and her blackened hipbones literally pushed through the skin on her flanks where her cutie mark would have sat. For however rough shape this ghoulified little filly looked, the pair of piercing green eyes behind her emaciated and decayed form seemed as healthy as any normal pony’s.

“We’re here to see a pony named Gadget. Rofia sent us down.” I offered, pulling a sharper and judgmental gaze from the small filly for some reason.

“Come up to my office.” She sighed before disappearing from behind the railing. Her tiny hoofsteps made the stairs creak, and Hispano and I shared another look before deciding to do as she asked.

Stepping into the old house, I paused as I walked past a sealed glass case. The case itself was in impressive condition, and it’s dust free, lacquered surface was absent of all but a few scratches from over the years. What sat protected inside however, was an odd collection of items that had fared poorly over the centuries.

A pair of cracked and old sunglasses, much the same as Delta had before, sat on a neatly folded, but frayed blanket. Next to it, sat the folded and helmet-less form of a well worn Hazmat suit that had more than a dozen patches in it’s age-cracked rubberized fabric. While I’m sure they mattered to somepony at some point in time, it was just another wasteland mystery that I didn’t have the time or care to solve.

Following Hispano up the creaking old stairs, we stepped onto the surprisingly plush off-white carpeted second floor. The furniture up here wasn’t covered in sheets like that of the first floor, and there was even a still ticking wooden clock hanging on the wall. The paintings of regal looking ponies sat with gazes that almost followed us down the hallway, which in my mind was creepy enough that they probably should have been covered like the ones on the first floor…

“In here.” The rough filly’s voice came through the cracked double doors at the end of the hallway.

Hispano and I pushed onwards, and both opened a door to the expansive office. Unlike at Rofia’s place, this room had a proper personal office feel to it. Large windows filled the room with the light from the late afternoon sun, and cast dusty rays across the large bookshelves that flanked the walls to either side of Hispano and I. A pair of desks sat against the far walls, piled up with dozens of old books and papers that actively had a pair of unicorn ghouls in glasses reading them.

“Doc, take your sister and head out for the evening. You two can pick your research back up in the morning.” The filly spoke sharply as she climbed up into the plush leather chair sitting behind the central, paper laden desk.

The two ghouls at the table looked at each other before sharing a silent nod. Almost as one, they both scooted themselves off their chairs, and silently trotted past us out of the room. As they left, their horns flashed up and swung the doors closed behind them, leaving us alone in the room with the small filly.

“So, Rofia sent you skinbags, did she?” The filly sighed as she tented her small, cracked hooves on the desktop. “Let me guess, she wants us to take in more of those Cantercross rejects, right?” I was beginning to assume that this was the ‘Gadget’ we’d been sent to speak to, but… she was just a filly. “Well, Rofia can just fuck right off. Our reputation’s gotten bad enough recently, and I don’t need to give those Federation fucktards any excuse to come and wipe us out.”

“Uh, I think we may have missed something here.” Hispano offered as she raised a single talon in concern. “You are Gadget, right?”

“Yeah?” The filly deadpanned at us before cocking an eyebrow. “What, you two draw the short straws and get stuck with this job or something?” Rolling her eyes, she flopped back against her chair with a huff. “Gotta say, every month Rofia sends less and less capable cronies to deal with us, and I’m beginning to rethink our whole arrangement.”

“And what ‘arrangement’ would that be?” I asked as her words didn’t exactly strike me as something that would be considered on the level with Laika or anypony in the Federation government. “Does it have to do with the shipments of Rot coming in to Terrace?”

“Pft, Rot, I wish.” The filly smirked in a way that torqued her nose right off the center of her emaciated muzzle. “No, as much as we rely on her for that as a side gig, I’m not really at liberty to discuss anything more with the hired help.” She paused, stiffening up as it looked like a realization came into her head. “Actually, I’ll tell you what. You help me deal with a problematic pair of residents, I’ll throw a few caps your way and maybe we’ll talk business. Sound good?”

Another side job? Really? Fine, you know what? As long as it’s quick, whatever.

“We won’t kill anypony, if that’s what you’re asking us to do.” I snorted and did my best to level a blank gaze at the tiny ghoul.

“No, I’d rather you didn’t harm them anyway, seeing as my kind doesn’t hate each other as much as you fleshy fuckers.” The small filly smiled and rubbed her tiny forehooves together. “But I need them gone. Just convince them to leave Sanctuary, sell them on moving somewhere else, anywhere, really.”

“Why? Do you need only one of them gone, or both?” Hispano snorted and folded her talons over each other.

It was odd to hear her ask for some sort of explanation, even if it made sense to ask. She’d always been so straightforward, which was something I’d heard now many times that was expected of Talons. No questions asked so long as you had the caps to pay.

“Oh for Celestia’s… okay, let me spell it out to you in a way your fragile young meatbag minds can understand. Let’s just say that they’re an inseparable pair, and one of them is hiding something that I’ve spent long enough tolerating. If you need help with my simple request, then remind him of that.” Reaching up, the small filly rubbed at the back of her neck before narrowing her eyes right at me. “If Sanctuary is to prosper in the near future, then I need them out. Get them to move, no matter what it takes. Understand, fleshbags?”

“Crystal.” Hispano nodded before looking over to me.

“Just… one quick question?” I scrunched up my muzzle in a failed attempt to keep myself from speaking my mind. “Why do I get the feeling you don’t like us? What did we ever do to you?” Come on, Night, why do you have to say things like that? She can have her opinion, you don’t have to basically call her a fucking bitch for it!

“Let me save you the long explanation.” She tented her hooves together and glared at me. “Sanctuary was a peaceful town for a good long while. Then, the traders came, and they took our broadcast antenna to build their own settlement away from us. Which was fine for about fifty years, until the Enclave came and took our observatory while trying to kill us all.” She narrowed her eyes at me and lowered her voice to a hissing whisper. “You starting to see a pattern with all this, smoothcoat? I’m as old as the invention of the fucking megaspell, and yet, it’s you fleshy fuckers who think that my kind are the violent, mindless monsters.” Clearing her throat in a way that sounded like a road crew resurfacing machine was running through her office, she feigned a smile across her muzzle before pointing to the door. “Any more stupid questions to waste my time? No? Didn’t think so.” Her smile faded and her glare looked between us and the door. “Get the fuck out.”

While I could understand the hatred behind her determined expression, the pit in my gut told me that like most tasks, this was going to be as complicated as every job we’d been on so far. She certainly made it sound simple, but I’m sure that somewhere in all this, was something meant to fuck Hispano and I over. We had to try all the same, but there was more to this all, I was sure of it.

Still, like a bad itch, now I wanted to put the pieces together. The puzzle in Sanctuary was just a part to what was going on in Terrace, and it was looking more and more like if we didn’t put two and two together, than things here were going to only get worse for those who lived here.

Hispano and I came down on the surprisingly well kept front lawn of a small, yellow painted one story house. It had taken almost a half hour of flying before we’d figured out the old world address system Sanctuary still used so we could even find the place. It sat almost dead center on one of the streets that faced the large brick wall that ringed Sanctuary. From the soft wartime music drifting out through the open front door, it seemed a generally friendly kind of place. Without an ounce of hesitation, Hispano walked up to the open door and gave a few hefty knocks on it.

“Just a moment!” The sing-songy rough voice of a ghoul stallion called out over the soft music. The sharply growing whistle of a tea kettle in the kitchen on the other end of the house peaked for a moment before it was moved off the stove, and hoofsteps came down the hallway.

Walking up next to Hispano, I was surprised when she reached her wing over me and wrapped it around my side. Looking down at her, I found a warm blush across her face, which pulled one across mine. The quick hoofsteps creaking across the old wooden floors pulled my attention back into the house.

“Sorry about that.” The gentle voice of the stallion called out as he pushed around into view. He was in… okay shape for an earth pony ghoul, and his dull orange coat was mostly intact. The few open wounds and exposed muscle and bone he had, ebbed with a soft balefire green glow that reflected off the cracked old glasses he wore. “Oh, is it that time again already? I didn’t realize we were accepting more guests! Come in, come in!” The ghoul gave an excited wave of his glowing forehoof before spinning around and disappearing back around the corner into the kitchen.

Sharing a confused look with Hispano, she gave a shrug and pushed forward. Sticking with her, we both entered the house and walked down the hallway. I glanced up at the old world pictures hanging on the walls, finding that they belonged to a family of ponies that didn’t have an orange coated stallion among them. Then again, I guess it was a bit much to expect this ghoul to originally be from here. Though, I had to ask…

“Did you know who lived here before?” The words tumbled out of my muzzle as Hispano and I rounded the corner into the kitchen just in time to watch as the ghoul tied an old white and pink apron around himself. He was on the far side of a kitchen island that definitely reminded me of the one I’d almost died behind back in Klondike. Still, we took a seat next to it and simply watched as the ghoul went about his business.

“Before as in before we lived here, or before the war?” The orange stallion flashed up a toothy grin before spinning around and sticking his head in the oven at the back of the kitchen. “I guess in either case, the answer is still the same. No.”

“Then why do you keep it all up?” Hispano asked in turn, squinting as she brought her face down to the spotless tile that lined the kitchen counters. For being this deep into the wasteland, this place was starting to remind me just a bit too much of Klondike…

“Reverence, respect? Just trying to keep busy?” The orange ghoul shrugged as he pulled his head out of the running oven, and with a light kick, shut it. With a light spin on his hooves, he spun himself over towards the counter by the kitchen sink, and twisted the knob of an old mechanical timer. “After so long, Ammon and I agree that it’s best to keep the memories of the old world around, even if they aren’t exactly ours. It… helps when our thoughts become clouded.”

“Ammon?” Again, I asked without thinking about it. “Is that the other pony who lives here.”

“Oh, I do apologize. Ammon is my husband.” The ghoul managed an impressive blush across his dull orange coat as he pulled a whole stack of teacups out of the cupboard next to him. “He’s stepped out for the moment, but should be back shortly. Now, do you take sugar with your tea?” The old ghoul flashed his smile up again as he set the teacups down on the counter, and started to pour a nearly fluorescent green liquid from the kettle.

Right, that didn’t exactly look healthy, and a small warning popped up in the corner of my vision telling me that there had been a spike of magical radiation in the room…

“I think we’ll pass on the tea.” Hispano spoke for the both of us as she pulled herself closer to me with her wing. “So! What brought you to Sanctuary?”

“Oh, just the need to finally settle down, I guess.” The old ghoul smiled as he finished pouring four cups of steaming tea. “I spent most of the last two centuries wandering back and forth all over old Equestria, helping out who I could with what little I had. Made my way up here and thought I’d stay just for a short stint to rest up. But, a few years ago my husband returned from his home country where the war had trapped him, and found me here. So, we decided to stay. While I miss helping others in the wasteland, I’ve found purpose again in helping those who show up on our doorstep.”

“That’s… kind of you.” Hispano paused as the ghoul spun around on his hooves again, effortlessly sliding the cups of steaming radioactive tea across the island to us. “But why here? Were you born up here or something?”

“Well, most of Equestria doesn’t exactly...enjoy the company of our kind. And oh no, I come from what used to be the Crystal Empire.” The ghoul offered an almost disdainful look right up to the point when he took a sip of the glowing liquid in his own teacup. “These days, the ruins of the Empire are the same as most of Equestria in regards to what they think of us, but Sanctuary has almost always been kind to ghouls. At least, they’ve been accepting of our kind ever since Gadget took over twenty years after the end of the war. But that was long before Ammon or I ever made our way this far north.”

“With what’s happened recently though, have you ever thought of going back?” I asked, watching as the old ghoul continued sipping on his tea. “I’m sure if you went now that the clouds are gone, you’d probably find it’s a whole new wasteland out there.”

“Perhaps in time Ammon and I could take a vacation to the south. Maybe we could even head back to Manehatten, see some of the sights we used enjoy to during the war.” He shrugged before downing the last of his tea. Setting down the cup gently, he canted his head to us. “The thing about the wasteland though, is that over two centuries we’ve learned that it is very unpredictable. Who knows if this new peace will last, because we sure can’t be certain.”

“Gamma, dear, I’m home!” The scratchy voice of yet another ghoul came down the hallway. Instantly, the blush that had been on the old ghouls face returned, and he all but shot onto his hooves.

“Welcome home!” He laughed as he trotted past Hispano and I toward the hallway. “Good news, we have guests again!”

“More?” The new ghoul grumbled in a way that really said he wasn’t a fan of the idea. “I’d thought after what happened to the last ones, we’d agreed we wouldn’t help with…” The rotting and emaciated form of a cream colored Saddle Arabian stepped forward and planted a soft kiss on the muzzle of the orange ghoul. He paused, blinking as he stared at Hispano and I. More than that, his gaze locked onto the metal side of my head, and a look of underlying fear crept into his eyes.

“Ammon, this is…” The orange ghoul gave a light giggle as he stepped back and held his hoof out to us. With a pause that forced him to screw up his muzzle, he looked between us again. “Again, you must forgive me, what were your names?”

“I’m Hispano,” She cooed softly before grasping around my forehoof tighter than I’d expected her to. “And this Dum Dum, is Night Flight.”

“Charming to meet such a nice couple.” Ammon’s muzzle parted into a rotten, but still obviously nervous smile as he reached up and hooked a forehoof around the orange ghoul’s back. “Gamma, may I speak with you outside for a moment?”

“Sure thing, dear.” Gamma offered with a light boop on the Arabian ghoul’s muzzle.

Hispano and I watched with a shared cringe as the two of them trotted off back down the hallway until their hoofsteps drifted out of earshot outside.

“I don’t trust him.” Hispano cooed softly as she relaxed her grip from around my forehoof. “Gadget was right, he’s hiding something.” Almost as if it was an echo, my brain got stuck on what he’d said to us. And like a slap on the muzzle, the realization of it hit me at the same time it hit Hispano.

“He called us a couple.” I spat out. Yes, she’d been holding my forehoof with her talon, but nopony would have jumped to that conclusion so quickly without being able to feel it.

“Do you really think he’s a changeling?” She narrowed her gaze and leaned out towards the hallway. Before she could stick her head out too far, I pulled her back to me.

“I don’t know, but I think I can find out.” Looking down at her, I watched as her eyes softened, and a frown pulled across her beak. “I know that look, Hispano.”

“Yeah, it’s my ‘dum dum has a plan that’ll end in disaster’, look.” She remarked flatly at me. “Just… tell me what you need me to do.”

“When they come back, keep Gamma busy for a bit.” Perking my ears, I could hear the hoofsteps of the two ghouls coming back towards the house. “I’ve got a feeling that he doesn’t know about Ammon, so I’ll see about keeping my questions to him discreet.”

“Just make sure it’s not ‘discreet’ enough he can kill you without me knowing, okay?” She offered softly, leaning forward and planting a quick kiss on my cheek. I tried to keep my own blush from flaring up too brightly as I nodded to her. The both of us had just enough time to straighten ourselves out before they came back around the corner, hoof in hoof.

“Sorry about that, just had to discuss a previously resolved household issue.” Gamma flashed up a literal bright smile. “If you’d like, I can show you two to your rooms? I’m sure with the trip you’ve had, you’re very tired.”

“That’d be great.” Hispano forced out a laugh as she looked up at me. “I think once he show’s me to our room, I’m going to take a short nap. Come wake me when you want to head back into town?”

“Sure thing.” I nodded to her and squeezed at her talon softly.

“Great, well I think I’m actually going to head into town.” Ammon flashed up his nervous smile again, already pointing it toward Gamma, who seemed somewhat surprised at that. “I know winter is coming up quick, so I’m going to take the portable generator in to be serviced one last time before the season grows too cold. I’ll be back shortly, dear.”

“Actually before you go, I’d wondered if I could ask you a few questions.” I made sure to speak faster than Gamma could. “You know, since we’re new in town, I figured I could use a local’s advice on a few things.” My words only widened the nervous smile on Ammon’s slender muzzle, and it pulled a genuine one from the old orange ghoul.

“That’s a great idea!” Gamma’s balefire glow burned even more brightly as he smiled, forcing Hispano to take a wider path around him as she headed towards the hallway that I was pretty sure headed to the bedrooms. “Ammon is a veteran of dealing with the folks in Terrace, so I’m sure he could answer any questions you have!”

“Sure thing, dear.” Ammon spoke through his smile, turning his uneasy gaze back to the augmented side of my head. Nodding back toward the front door, he accepted the fact that this was going to happen, and got himself turned around in the hallway. “We just have to head out to the shed first to get the generator.”

I gave one last glance to Hispano, watching as with a worried look, she offered me a nod of good luck before disappearing down the hallway at the other end of the house. Okay, Night, just keep your cool. Just a potential changeling who may or may not freak out with the fact that he’s been discovered.

The recording from inside Dad’s cloudship played back through my memory, and I had to try my best to force it out.

No, Salt was a good guy stuck in a shitty situation. Maybe that’s all this was as well. So with my head held high, and the hope that my hunch was right, I followed Ammon as he stepped outside and headed for the small red shed that sat next to the side of the house.

With a rough kick, the Saddle Arabian ghoul forced the door open and disappeared inside, letting the creaking spring loaded door slam shut almost right on my muzzle. Geeze, while I knew this was going to have been awkward, this guy sure was making his displeasure known. Reaching my hoof forward, I shoved the door open, and stepped into the admittedly expansive, rusty tool filled shed.

Only to find that Ammon wasn’t standing in front of me anymore…

The sharp bite of a metal chain being wrapped around my neck tightly caught me off guard. It tightened up around my throat, almost crushing it shut completely as I let out a gasp. What the fuck was he doing!?

“You fanatics are all the same.” Ammon’s voice was raspier than usual as he whispered into my ear from behind. “No matter. I’ll just keep killing you until Tephra learns to leave us alone.”

“I’m.. not… here for… you!” I did my best to force out the words with what little air I still had. While it was uncomfortable to be stuck in this situation, if Buck hadn’t made it to where I couldn’t feel pain, I might be too busy panicking right now to try to talk my way out of this. Even if I couldn’t feel it, my body was struggling, and the darkness in the sides of my vision was starting to creep in. “I’ve… been inside… hive… twenty three.”

As soon as I’d gotten that out, the chain around my neck was released, and I fell to the floor. Several hacking coughs worked their way out of my throat as I gasped for air, but… I was alive. Pushing myself over, I found myself staring up at a very large, and very angry looking glowing green changeling. His stark black carapace was cracked and chipped all over, and the same ebbing green that Gamma had pulsed through it. It even pulsed through his completely blue, hatred filled eyes.

“You lie. But I’m giving you one chance to explain yourself.” Ammon growled at me, bearing the large chipped fangs in his rotten muzzle. His horn glowed brighter, wrapping up the rusty chainsaw chain that held pricks of blood along each of its sharp teeth. “Speak, pony. If not for me, then why are you here.”

“My friend and I, we were sent to Gadget by Rofia.” I wheezed out as my lungs and heart were finally satisfied I wasn’t dying anymore. Reaching up however, I found fresh blood around my neck. Guess the blood on that chain was mine… “We’re supposed to convince you to move, that’s all. We’re not here to take you in, let alone to that fucking bastard of a dragon.”

“So, you’re not with Tephra anymore, so what.” He snorted, not dropping his suspicious glare for a single moment. “You come into my home, threaten to expose me to my husband, and then tell me you just want us to leave?”

“Look, it’s the truth. I’ve known other changelings, I have no hatred for your kind.” I pushed myself up onto my hooves slowly, keeping my movements hesitant enough that he didn’t think I was trying anything. “Besides, you’re the one who almost exposed yourself by calling Hispano and I a couple.”

“But you are, I can feel the love you radiate to one another.” He snapped at me.

“Yeah, no shit, but you were the one who said it.” I fired back at him. Okay Night, before this gets too far off track… “Regardless, we don’t want to ruin what you’ve got going on, okay? We’re just here so Gadget and Rofia can help the refugees coming to Terrace. That’s all.”

“You mean so you can help her sell them.” With a green flash of magic, the large changeling disappeared, and the emaciated cream colored Saddle Arabian ghoul stood in front of me again. “We told Gadget after the last ones that we were done. It’s no wonder she wants us to leave Sanctuary. The rest of this dump might be on board with it, but we will have no part of it.”

“Excuse me, sell them?” My brain caught on that. Uh, he couldn’t have meant it in the way that it sounded like. “The slave trade in the north is done for, it has been since the Lightbringer…”

“You think one pony could stop slavery forever?” Ammon let a short lived laugh slip out of his muzzle. “Oh, you poor, naive stallion. You probably think that all it takes is somepony like the Survivor to fix everything, and then all is right in the wasteland. Not even she’s good enough to put a stop to it.”

“Never burn the excess harvest when you can just sow it and reap a larger crop later.” Delilah’s voice filtered back through my memory like a bad dream. “There’ll be more demand again in a few months, there’s always somepony out there buying more slaves than they know what to do with.”

“I am the Survivor.” I grumbled and leveled a sharp glare at him. “And no, maybe I can’t fix everything for everyone. I’ve never been good enough to do that, no matter what you’ve heard about me on the radio.” It was almost worth it to watch a wave of realization wash over him as he finally took the time to look past the augment on the side of my head, and at the whole of me. With a stiff yank, I pulled the door to the shed open, shoving Ammon aside altogether as I stormed out. “But this is one thing I’m sure as hell going to put a stop to. Come on. We’re getting Hispano, and then we’re going to have a small chat with Gadget.”

Spinning on my forehooves, I planted my rear hoof and prosthetic against the double doors to Gadget’s office and kicked as hard as I could. The old lock on them sheared right off, and the two doors swung in and slammed against the bookshelves along the walls. Sure this was about as subtle as a hoof grenade, but I was far past considering shoving one of my own down this fucking filly’s throat.

“What the fuck!” Gadget let out a high pitched scream as the slam from the doors made her jump right out of her chair. She came down on her desk with a snarl, glaring at Hispano and I before a look of pure hatred filled her when Ammon stepped up with us. “What do I even pay you for, Tire Iron!?”

The wheezing and frantic hoofsteps of the guardpony who’d been snoozing at the front door fill the air. The heavy creaks and muttered curses drew closer until he reached the top of the stairs, only to trip and accidentally throw his rusty rifle into the wall. The barrel itself bent against the drywall, and the magazine pin sheared off, dropping the box of heavily corroded ammo to the floor.

“From the condition of his weapon, you don’t seem to pay him at all.” Hispano chuckled before stepping up next to me and leveling Suiza at the tiny filly. “But I can assure you, my sister is in perfect working order.”

“What do you fuckers even want.” While she was speaking to Hispano and I, her hate filled gaze hadn’t even budged from Ammon.

“Tell me, what happened to the refugees that were here before.” I wasn’t going to sit here and mince words or allow her to hide behind self serving justifications. “Did you and Rofia sell them as slaves?”

That finally pulled her attention to me.

“So what if they’ve moved on from Sanctuary.” The tiny pink filly stiffened as the smallest, most sadistic grin I’d ever seen pulled across her rotten muzzle. “They didn’t fit here anyway. Just like the rest of you traitors, you don’t belong down on the ground.”

“So you hate the Enclave, big fucking deal. So do I.” I growled back. “We’re all in the same boat now.”

“Like fuck we are!” She snapped back with a hefty stomp of her hoof. “Your fucking government abandoned us. My father died just trying to bring me to this fucking town. He and the stranger we traveled with didn’t need to suffer for days before the rad sickness took them from me. The blame for their deaths fell on you fucking traitors the day you sealed the skies.”

“Again, congratulations on hating the Enclave.” Hispano backed me up as she hefted Suiza up and aimed it right at the snarling filly. “Now, it was a yes or no question that my boss asked. Did you sell those ponies.”

“What are they talkin’ about, Gadget?” The guardpony finally seemed to give up on salvaging his rifle in favor of joining the conversation. Good, maybe the more ponies that hear her lies, the better.

“Maybe they wouldn’t have stayed anyway. Maybe all I did was help make the choice to leave for them.” Gadget shrugged off Hispano’s threat as her muzzle twisted into a wicked smile. With a perky spin, she again turned her gaze on Ammon. “And really, should I be surprised you’ve turned on me, Ammon? After everything I did to hide you, after setting you up with that trainwreck of a ghoul? This is how you repay me? Well, wouldn’t it be a shame if I told your husband just what you really are?”

“You fucking stay away from him.” Ammon hissed, making his eyes flash blue much in the same way I’d seen Salt’s do time and time again. “Gamma and I didn’t agree to any of this. All he wants to do is help those he can, not exploit them. We never said you could come into our home and sell off those who trusted us to help them.”

“Now hold up just a minute, there’s got to be a good explanation for all this!” Tire Iron interjected angrily. “Now I ain’t saying that Miss Gadget doesn’t have her fair share of issues, but I’ve known her damn well just about since she walked through the front gates. She’s served this community well enough for near two centuries, and that’s a fair shake longer than I’d trust any outsiders to know how things are done here.”

“Then ask her.” I seethed, watching as the smirk on the pink filly’s muzzle shrunk. Now she’ll get to see the downside of fanatical followers.

“Fine, if it’ll clear all this nonsense up...” With an exasperated sigh he spun around to face her. “Miss Gadget, are they right? Are you selling ponies off as slaves?”

The silence that hung in the air as Gadget didn’t say anything did more to erode two hundred years of trust than it had a right too. You could almost see as the foundations of it gave out as Tire Iron realized just what kind of filly it was that stood before him. It would have been a completely perfect moment had she not started to giggle.

“Oh, I see what this is!” She laughed, pointing a hoof to me. “The Federation’s sent you to pin this on me instead of Rofia.” Pulling her hoof back, she tapped at her own eye as she glared at me once more. “Well, if they’re listening in, then I ain’t saying shit. Your little ‘Federation’ has laws that protect citizens like me, and I don’t have to admit anything to you.” With a smirk, she gave a dismissive wave and tipped her muzzle up at us. “So unless you’d like to end up like those other turkeys I ‘helped’, then I’d get going if I were you.” Other turkeys?

My brain only took a moment to remember what I’d seen up on the cloudship before I completely snapped. She’d sold him. She’d sold my dad.

“Oh, don’t worry, Gadget.” A bright smile pulled across my muzzle as I leaned over against Hispano. “I promise you, we’re not with the Federation, so you have no protection.”

Before anypony even knew what was happening, I’d ripped Suiza from Hispano’s talons, aimed it at the small filly, and squeezed my fetlock around the trigger.

Funny. The last few times I’d used her, she’d kicked and wrenched at my grip in every way. But this time, against this little filly, Suiza didn’t fight me at all.

The chattering burst of twenty millimeter fire blinded even my augmented eye. The ringing that filled my ears was joined for only a moment by the high pitched scream of the tiny filly. And while Hispano had been quick to tear her sister out of my grip, I’d managed to expend a dozen rounds out of her.

The desk, windows, and half the back wall were just… gone. Nothing remained of Gadget outside of a putrid black splotch on her desk and a shredded half-foreleg. The cold, early-evening air drifted back through the gaping hole I’d made, taking away the smell of cordite as the sound of the breeze filtered through my ringing ears.

“That’s for selling my dad, bitch.” I growled out as Tire Iron sat down on the floor hard with a whimper.

“W-why?” Tire Iron whimpered out, doing his best to shakily push himself away from me as I turned to him.

“She had two hundred years, and yet she chose to hurt others.” Shaking my head, I didn’t really understand why he couldn’t see that I’d done him a favor. “If she hadn’t learned to be a better pony by now, then I needed to keep her from hurting anyone else.” Turning to Ammon, I found his eyes still locked on the splotch where Gadget had been. “And you. You need to be honest with Gamma. You won’t always be able to hide who you are, and it would be better…”

“Better to tell him than him think me a monster when he inevitably finds out.” Ammon finished for me and closed his eyes. He let out a shivering sigh before nodding. “Yes, I believe you’re right.” He laughed as he opened his eyes again, letting them drift off through the hole in the wall as if he were looking out to find Gamma in the distance. “Funny, I never thought it was possible. While I may not be the stallion he once loved, I... I’ve fallen in love with him all the same.”

“That’s great and all. Really, just fucking great.” Hispano huffed as she held Suiza close to her. “But what the fuck are we going to do now? Rofia’s expecting us to come back with a deal, not ‘hey sorry, we kind of killed the bitch’.” With a sigh, she rubbed her talon down the still lightly smoking barrel of Suiza. “Tell me again why we can’t just go in there guns blazing and kill her too?”

While I’d like to have said I had a plan for that, the fact was, I didn’t. I didn’t plan on killing Gadget, but she’d fucking sold my dad. And it wasn’t just her, this was just as much on Rofia as well.

So maybe she deserves the same fucking treatment.

“You know what, Hispano? Why not?” I shrugged, making her screw up her face as she looked at me like I’d finally lost it. “Hey, I said this was us time, where we could do whatever you wanted.” Holding my hoof out toward the hole in the wall, I watched as her expression brightened more than I’d expected. “I know you’ve been bored, so if you want to try this your way, then by all means…”

“You’re going to kill the mayor of Terrace!?” Tire Iron shouted with a flail of his hooves. “Goddesses, this is too much. I’m getting the Feds!” With a scramble to get his hooves under him, he all but threw himself back out toward the stairs. “Y’all are fucking crazy!”

“You might want to go with him.” I nodded for Ammon to follow. “Tell them everything that’s happened, and everything you know about Gadget selling ponies. Do your best to help make things right around here, okay?”

“I will.” He nodded to me as his eyes flashed blue for a moment again. “And… thank you. You really are everything the stories make you out to be, Survivor.”

“Just doing our job!” Hispano answered for me before grabbing my forehoof tightly and all but dragging me forward toward the hole in the building. “Come on, Dum Dum! Let’s find out just how many of her nine lives Rofia’s still got left!”

Kicking off the edge of the building, I beat my wings hard against the cold air. The softly falling snow whipped around Hispano and I as we pulled ourselves higher and higher. I looked up with just enough time to watch as the sky shifted from an amber color, to the soft blue hue of early night as the falling sun dipped below the mountaintops.

“Buck, I think we’re going to need you up at Rofia’s place as soon as you can get there.” I called out between heaving breaths as Hispano and I climbed further and further. Still, as my quickly beating heart was the only response I got, I wasn’t sure if I’d forgotten to think about turning on the link with him again or not. “Buck, are you there?”

“I think our comms are out!” Hispano shouted as she shifted her flight to line up at my side again. With a quick flick of her claw, she messed about with the comms unit under her flight cap. “Hello hello, are you getting this, Night?”

“No.” I shook my head and cringed as the pit in my stomach reminded me that it was still there and only growing. “Shit. Eliza, are you there?” Again, only the sound of the wind running past us met me.

“I think they’re jamming us!” Hispano growled as she looked about the sky. “Probably have been since you tipped them off that you could transmit the evidence we had on her.” Okay, so maybe that hadn’t been the smartest move, but come on! How was I supposed to know that she could even jam something like my augment!? “This just means we do this the hard way, Dum Dum!”

The both of us maneuvered ourselves to aim right for Rofia’s house in the tower. Even from the air a good distance away, I could see frantic movement from inside. Flashes and sparks lit up the interior, making me squint. Again, the rumble of my augment helping me out came through my skull, and my vision closed in on the windows and whoever was inside.

Through the immaculately clean glass, I could see Rofia swiftly dodging and jumping around her office. Her left paw was lumpy and enlarged for some reason, and it was ever so slightly throwing off her balance as she tried to avoid Happy as his haphazard sword swings sliced through her shiny trophies like they were made of paper.

“Oh fuck, Happy’s already fighting her!” I spoke up as my vision returned to normal.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Hispano growled and beat her wings even harder than before. “That asshole better not steal my kill!”

With hard beats of my own wings, I could feel the fatigue setting in as I pushed myself to keep up with the speedster griffon Hispano could be when she wanted something. Still, we both made good time as we cut through the air. I’d built up a good bit of speed as Rofia’s place approached at an alarming pace, and I was forced to flare out my wings harder than normal.

The talismans on my pack hummed to life as the harness took the brunt of keeping my altitude up, and I tweaked my forelegs to help bank me around to the landing right at Rofia’s front door. The first thing I saw however when I came in for a landing, was the fact that there had been two guards on watch earlier, each of them now bled out from the deep cuts going through their bodies.

Seriously, Happy’s been doing scarily well as of late, and I had to wonder just what changed between the lust filled stallion we’d seen just an hour ago to have gone straight to cutting up Rofia’s guards.

Hispano didn’t even hesitate or slow down as she approached the door to Rofia’s house. She simply shifted Suiza around against her and threw her shoulder forward with a screech. The slam she gave put the one in Gadget’s office to shame, and literally threw the door off of it’s hinges. As she disappeared and shifted herself to fly right up the short set of stairs to Rofia’s office, I touched down at a gallop as I passed through the door frame.

As I pushed to follow her upstairs, there was a sharp, painful scream from Happy. Panic filled my mind, and I threw myself over the last few stairs. Hispano stood at the closed office door, holding Suiza up to it with a single talon while covering her face with the other. She let off a single shot, blowing a gaping hole through the door that evaporated the handle and lock setup altogether.

Kicking open the door, Hispano and I were ready to leap right into the fight.

Instead, we found Happy heaving and bleeding heavily, standing there with the sword in his muzzle impaled right through Rofia’s head. Her body gave out a gurgle as the last traces of life left it, and she slumped down the blade of Happy’s silver sword. He gave a sharp tug, effortlessly dragging the blade through the front of her skull, and dropping her lifeless body to the floor.

“You fuckers took long enough.” Happy growled as he dropped the blade from his muzzle. Turning to his side, a stream of crimson flowed from him to the floor. He looked back across the wrecked and scattered trophies the fight had ruined, staring at a bloody log that sat over towards her desk. It wasn’t until he looked from it down towards the blood streaming from his side did I realize that it wasn’t a log, rather, his entire foreleg had been severed from him. “Bitch took my fucking leg off…”

With a wobble, he tipped over, passed out, and collapsed onto the floor next to Rofia.

He hadn’t even hit the ground before my legs pushed me to run over to him. No no no! Happy can’t… he won’t die. Pushing both my forelegs against his profusely bleeding short stump, I looked back to Hispano.

“He needs fucking help!” I snapped out at her, seemingly pulling her out of her confused daze. “Hispano… I need you to help him. I don’t know what to fucking do here!”

“Keep pressure on it!” The heaving voice of Cora came through the glass windows of Rofia’s house. I looked over just in time to see the flash of his pistol shatter the glass. With heavy beats of his wings, he shot through the now open window and dropped down next to me. “I heard Suiza go off and flew right over. What the fuck were you three thinking, coming in here and killing the mayor! Do you understand what you’ve done?”

“Lecture us later, save Happy’s life now!” I screamed at Cora as my blood soaked hooves did their best to keep as much force on Happy’s limb as I could. Come on, he can’t die now, not until after we’ve got Solomon.

“Quit crying, it’s not helping you keep control of the situation.” Cora snorted as he rummaged through his rucksack. I blinked at him, only realizing that tears had been streaming down my cheeks once he’d said it. Within those few moments, he’d pulled out a couple of odd looking potions, an adjustable ratcheting strap, and… a small propane torch. With a soft squawk, he leaned forward and looked at Happy’s severed leg before looking over at Rofia. “Well, that explains why the cut’s so clean.”

Taking a moment to look over at Rofia’s corpse, I managed to get a look at what was strapped to her paw that made it look so odd. It was a crude metal frame that held what looked like the whole hollowed out severed arm of a Snow Dog bolted to it. The blood dripping from the long, knife like claws, highlighted the artificial edge that had been ground into the bone. As if claws like Buck’s needed to be made more deadly…

“Night, I said you can move your hooves now.” Cora’s voice forced me back into the moment sharply, and I moved back. “It’s a shame, really.” He grunted as he worked quickly to get the strap around what was still left of Happy’s leg. “If we had more time and a unicorn who knew healing magic here, we might’ve been able to reattach it. He’s already lost a lot of blood, so this is the best I can do if we’re to keep him alive.” With a single talon, he popped the cap off one of the odd looking bottles and shoved it into Happy’s muzzle. “Hold his head up, make sure he drinks the whole thing.”

Carefully, I placed my bloody hooves around his face and kept his head upright. I watched as the syrup-like concoction inside the bottle slowly drained down his throat. Only when the sparks came from a small lighter in Cora’s talon did I look away. With a hiss, the small propane torch lit up, and it’s flame adjusted to a light blue color.

“Hispano, Night, I’m going to need you to hold him down.” Cora took a deep breath, looking between the two of us. “He’s going to wake up, and he’s going to fight this. No matter what, keep him pinned until the pain makes him pass out again, understand?”

Hispano and I nodded as she set up on his left side, and I held down his right stump and right rear leg. The two of us watched, wide eyed as Cora lowered the flame down to Happy’s bleeding stump. The sizzle that came from his flesh wasn’t as loud as I’d expected, and the way it blackened didn’t do much to disgust me. But it was when the smell of it hit me did I have to fight heaving and throwing up. Even Hispano was doing her best to fight back the odd green color pushing through her plumage.

It was then we felt it. Happy twitched under us, rousing much faster than either of us had expected. He screamed out, arching his back and all but throwing Hispano and I right off of him. He was much stronger than his personality let on, and while I’d normally be impressed like I’d been on the train and during the fight with the puritans, instead I was horrified. Even with Cora doing his best to practically stand on him, Happy fought him off and got to his hooves.

“Keep him down!” Cora shouted as he tackled the mule back onto the floor.

Happy let out another full bodied scream as he went down, and Hispano and I dove at him again. We struggled to stop him from writhing, watching with the same horrified look that he himself wore as Cora again put the torch against his stump. Again, he arched his back and cried out. This time however, it was short lived, as his breath left him and he slowly slumped down against the floor, unmoving.

“Alright, he’s passed out again.” Cora huffed as he looked back over to the supplies he’d set out. Quickly, he snatched up another bottle. Again, he popped the top, but didn’t even try to give it to Hispano or I. Instead, he flipped it and poured it over the still sizzling wound. It gave a crackle and burst into flame as it dribbled down onto his body.

An even worse stench filled the air, and this time both Hispano and I couldn’t fight it. The both of us twisted away from Happy and threw up all over the floor. Even through the pain inhibitor, my body did it’s best to tell me how little it cared for what was happening. Still, I was thankful I couldn’t feel it as I gave out a few dry heaves and struggled to keep myself on my hooves.

“Alright, that’s all I can do.” Cora huffed as he flicked the valve on the propane torch shut, and tightened down the ratcheting strap around Happy’s stump. “Maybe Buck can help him with the supplies on the Arcturus, I don’t know, but… he’ll live.” With that, we all sat back on the floor and just stared at him.

“He’ll live.” I repeated, nodding as I tried to thank Celestia for this one mercy. While today had been one twist and turn after another, this… this was the only thing that mattered coming up in our favor. Happy was alive, and for that, I was grateful.

“Hey what the fuck is going on here!” The angry voice of one of the Terrace guardponies came from the doorway, and we all looked over to find his horrified expression as he took in the gruesome scene. “You’re… you’re all under arrest!” His short unicorn horn flashed as he brought up a pistol, but flickered out and dropped it to the floor with a clonk.

There was a sickening snap as the pony’s skull split in half, pushed apart by the bladed scorpion tail present on Enclave power armor. The glowing eyes and masked muzzle of the pony inside said armor told me that while it had been a hell of a day so far, it wasn’t over yet. The capacitors on her orange tipped novasurge rifles whined as they charged up, and a half insane cackle came out through the suit’s speakers.

“Alright, Survivor.” She hissed as she stepped through the doorway. “Your friends stay where they are, or they’re toast. It’s going to be just you and me. Let’s see what you’re really made of.”

Author's Notes:

Alrighty, you know the drill by now!

A huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for doing cleanup in the background for me. I cannot stress enough how helpful he's been over the years, and without him, my work wouldn't shine like it does. Well, except for all the plot holes I leave in sometimes...

And of course, a big thank you to Kkat for creating Fallout: Equestria in the first place. Without FoE, the last six years would have been a lot different, and not in a good way for me. Seriously, I know it's cheesy to say, but I am thankful for even giving the story a shot.