“Oof!”

I tripped and fell into the Remora, shivering at the feeling of the near freezing metal floor against my side. My head bounced off the floor, but thanks to either the talisman in my augment, or the alcohol, I didn’t feel a thing! While I felt far too good right now, I did have one question, and that was how the hell did anypony get around after drinking!? My legs felt like the noodles Hispano and I...

No no, Night, focus!

“Eliza?” I grunted as I did my best to push myself back onto my unsteady hooves.

“Yes, Captain?” Eliza’s voice was followed with the smiling form of her cartoon mare popping sharply into my vision. It fuzzed for a moment, shifting to the mare with an unsure and somewhat concerned look across its face. “From the data I am receiving, it seems that while you only imbibed a small quantity of alcohol, you are fairly inebriated...”

“Yes, yes, that’s not important right now.” I deadpanned at her. Wait, she wasn’t actually in front of me… “Get everyone ready, we need to go.”

“That is not advised, Captain.” Eliza responded as the doors to the Remora closed and sealed. The soft humming of the engines permeated through the walls as they whined to life and pulled the skycraft off the landing pad. “Repairs are not yet completed. If I may suggest at least a few more hours, then…”

“No, Solomon is going after my Dad.” I couldn’t lose him, not again, not after everything I’ve already lost. “We leave now.”

“Aye, Captain. I will inform the crew and begin preparations to undock.” Eliza’s mare fuzzed back to the smiling version of itself. Though, the more I looked at it, the more I started to wonder if it had always looked that way. For some reason, now it looked somewhat… sad behind the smile. Yet another thought to file away to deal with later.

Using Suiza to help me stay propped up on my unsteady hooves, I took a moment to try to push out the fog that had crept into my mind. I closed my eyes and focused on him. It wasn’t hard to recall the laugh Rook gave before he teleported away, but it was enough to send a shiver down my spine. But it was how he looked at me, how he stood there and presented himself just long enough for me to focus on him. That reminded me of something deep down, something I’d done myself too many times.

Rook could have left without saying anything. He hadn’t needed me to see him. It was an act, the whole thing, he made a show of it. Solomon wanted me to run off after my dad, either to buy time to get ahead of us, or to set something up as a ‘surprise’ for when we got there.

Knowing this, I had a choice. I could either play into Solomon’s hoof, or ignore his games for now. Either way, I was getting my dad back, period. I wasn’t going to lose him again.

What we needed was a way to catch Solomon off guard, to get ahead of him.

“Hey, Eliza?” I asked softly as a plan started to form in my mind. I waited for the small smiling mare to pop up in my vision before smiling back to her, again forgetting she couldn’t see it. “Don’t launch the ship just yet. Seeing as this is very time sensitive, would it be at all possible to just take the Remora down to Biscuit?”

“Unfortunately, the Remora wasn’t built with that sort of flight range in mind. She’s meant to be a short range shuttle from the Arcturus.” Her mare flicked over to the frowning face for just a moment before immediately flipping back. “However, if you ask him nicely, Scar may be able to come down from the Factory and take you where you would like to go.”

“Can you do that for me?” I replied quickly. I know it would be short notice, but that’s exactly what Solomon wouldn’t expect. He may have known we were flying in a cloudship like the Arcturus, but there was no way he’d expect us to get there ahead of him in something else!

“Look, you already know I don’t like being bothered.” The sharp and oddly vindictive voice of a stallion filtered into my head. “What do you want.”

“Uhhh… who’s this?” I’d hoped the voice in my head was a real voice, but… I’d never heard this one before. Had the alcohol actually messed with my augment…?

“This is Sharan?” The stallion growled through my head. “Typical of a pony to waste my time. You know, I’d expected better of the ‘Survivor’ than to just drunk dial me.” But I didn’t call anypony! “Oh, now you didn’t call me to ask for my help! Again, more typical pony bullshit. I didn’t sacrifice my body to live in eternal shame and still have my time wasted by your race, okay?”

Sacrifice… wait a minute!

“Scar?” I asked, cringing slightly as a heavy sigh came through my head.

“Yeah, fine, call me by that degrading name. Not like I have a real one you could use.” He grumbled. Oh, well now things kinda made more sense... “Look, you need a pickup or what?”

“The Captain needs a quick ride to Biscuit while the Arcturus is still undergoing repairs.” Eliza chimed in as her smiling mare reminded me that she’d been here the whole time.

“Then why didn’t you just lead with that?” I could almost feel how hard Scar rolled his eyes at me, even though he didn’t have any eyes… and I didn’t know what he looked like before the whole brain in a jar thing… “Yeah, thanks for the reminder, asshole.” Shit, I forgot they could hear my thoughts! “Whatever, kid. I’ll be there in twenty minutes, so be ready. Sharan out.”

I crawled up into the weapons bay of the Arcturus, finding Buck standing before me with a large cloud-to-ground missile held under each of his mechanical arms. Tofu gave out a grunt from beside him as she pulled herself up into the storage rack where the missiles had been, and wiggled into the gap. Sparks and the smell of ozone filled the air as she got to work repairing some system back there.

“Hey, Buck?” I asked, startling him to the point that he almost dropped the highly explosive missiles from his grasp.

“Oh, Night!” Buck winced as he steadied himself and made doubly sure his limbs were tightly wrapped around the bodies of the weapons. “How’d your farewell with Laika go? Things here haven’t gone all that well, and we’ll need to talk about what we’re going to do.” The odd and almost sad look that pulled across his jagged muzzle faltered as he squinted at me. “Wait… have you been drinking?”

“Yeah, Laika insisted.” I rolled my eyes at him. “But now’s…”

“Do you understand how dangerous that is, Night?” Buck barked, stiffening up and doing his best to glare at me. “With the painkillers you’ve been given, any amount of alcohol could cause severe problems with your already weakened body. I thought we’d gone over this when we were still living on Bertha.”

“I know, but…” I tried to speak up over him, raising my voice to try to get over the crackling noise of Tofu’s welding work.

“And weren’t you the one who told me that you wanted to detox, and I quote; as soon as we are back sailing south again?” Buck’s sharp snort and tapping metallic paw against the weapons bay floor played on my nerves in a way that I hadn’t quite thought would be so bad. But like always, my own anger took hold of my muzzle.

“And I fucking will if you’d fucking listen to me!” I snapped at him. The sparking from within the missile rack stopped, and Tofu’s curious gaze poked out just long enough for me to shoot a glare over at her. “Solomon is going after my Dad, right now. So while I don’t need this bullshit, what I do need is for you to put down those missiles and come with me.”

“I can’t go, not yet.” Buck frowned at me as he carefully set down one of the missiles onto the floor.

“What? Why the fuck not!?” Seriously, how didn’t he get that this was just a bit more fucking important than anything else at the moment!

“Because I have to monitor Cora’s condition!” Buck’s volume beat out anything else in the ship, echoing down the hall as he shouted. “I know that saving your father is important, but right now? I’m the only one who can make sure Hispano’s will still be alive tomorrow.”

“What? What are you talking about?” I mean seriously, offering an excuse like this, right now of all times? What the hell had gotten into him?

“That would be my fault. I should have brought it up to you, Captain.” Eliza’s voice came both into my head, and through the ship’s P.A. system. “Shortly after you left, there was a slight weapons malfunction in your cabin, and Cora was critically injured.”

“Just call it what it was, Eliza.” Buck snarled as he kept his burning glare on me. “Cora shot himself, Night.” Heaving, he practically let the other missile in his arm drop onto the floor with a loud clang. “Honestly, it’s a miracle that I managed to keep him alive, but he’ll only stay that way if I’m here to monitor his condition.”

“I didn’t…” Looking down at the straps that held Suiza tightly to me, I’d realized the mistake I’d made.

Hispano would never have shot her Dad. How could she when she believed in him too much to ever give up on him completely? But I’d thought I’d lost everything before, and I was right in that same place, ready to give in. Back when I’d thought Galina was going to kill me, when I’d thought I’d lost Buck? And here I’d left Cora alone, convinced that he’d lost the last member of his family.

What the fuck did I expect would happen when I left him alone?

“I’m sorry, Buck. He was my responsibility.” I sighed. I know it’s not my fault, but... I could have stopped this.

“His actions were his own, Night.” Buck sighed as well as he stepped over the missiles at his hindpaws, moving toward the infirmary hallway. “But Hispano is our responsibility. So if you want to make things right, make sure she knows what’s happened because… she doesn’t know.” He paused as he reached the bulkhead. “And if there’s anything I can say for certain, it’s that she’s going to act like she doesn’t care, but she will. You need to be there to remind her it’s not her fault, Night.” Turning back slightly, he offered me a frown as he shook his head. “I’m sorry I can’t go with you, Night, but please, take care of her, and don’t get into too much trouble.”

“I’ll do my best, and we’ll try not to get in over our heads.” I offered him a weak smile. It hurt, knowing that Buck wasn’t going with me because I fucked up once again. But, with his help, I know Cora would pull through, and I’d have to make sure to talk to him when he did. For now however, I had a different father to worry about. “Eliza, where’s Hispano?”

“Hispano has been stationary three meters away from the dorsal entry hatch for the last hour.” Eliza’s frowning mare popped into my vision. “Again, I’m sorry, Captain, for not mentioning Cora’s condition sooner.”

“It’s fine.” I sighed. I wanted to hide the fact that my words were a lie, but I just couldn’t care right now. Even when Eliza’s mare changed over to the one with the frown and teardrop, I couldn’t care. “I don’t know how long this rescue is going to take, so if we’re not back by then, once the ship is fit for travel again, I want you to head down after us.”

“Aye, Captain.” Eliza’s tone had a note of sadness to it, sharper than any other time I’d thought I’d heard some small variance in her voice. Again, I filed that away in my brain somewhere as shit to deal with later, and pushed my hooves to move.

Making my way through the hallways, I pushed past the captain’s quarters without a thought. The thick smell of blood permeated through the open door, and I wrestled against the urge to stop myself to take a look. Instead, I forced my eyes shut hard, and used my momentum to help carry me right past.

I didn’t need a reminder of what I’ve already seen far too much of on this trip. What I needed to do was focus if I wanted to save my dad before Solomon got to him. And…

I walked right into the bulkhead for the core systems room. Giving out a soft whimper, I rubbed at my forehead and opened my eyes. Pausing, I took a few breaths. Okay, I just needed to calm down. I wasn’t going to let Solomon get under my skin, and my worries about the others needed to take a backseat for now.

Pushing myself forward again, I found the hatchway ladder already extended and waiting on the bridge. Looking around as I walked in, both Delta and King were nowhere to be found, and none of the newly repaired screens currently held Eliza’s mare on them. With a squeeze of my forehooves, I pulled myself up onto the ladder, and climbed towards the top hatch.

A hydraulic whine came through the walls as the locks on it swung to the open position, and the hatch started to tilt back. The frigid mountain air swept down over me again, fighting at the warmth that Laika’s drinks had offered me. With a few stiff steps, and a long grunt, I managed to get up and pull myself out from the hatch.

“Leave me alone, Night.” Hispano grumbled from her lumpy tent that she’d constructed from the cloud that enveloped the Arcturus. “I don’t want to talk right now.”

“Hispano, we need to talk.” I offered to her as I reached over and put my hoof on the open hatch. With another whine, the mechanisms inside pulled it back down and sealed it. “It’s… about your dad.” I braced myself for the coming overreaction from her.

“I don’t care.” She huffed and pulled the cloud tent down around her until it was just a large lump. “I told you, I don’t want to talk, Night.”

“That’s fine, you don’t have to.” I walked my way over towards her lump, taking a seat a hoof’s length away from it. “But I do need to at least tell you…”

“Ugh, don’t do this to me.” Hispano let out a painful groan from within her small cloud sanctum. “The whole not talking thing means you not talking to me either. I’m not one of your ‘charity cases’, Night. Why can’t you just get that through your skull?”

“Fine, we don’t have to talk, Hispano.” Sure, we didn’t have to talk now, because we’d have plenty of time to talk later if need be. Still, I shifted myself and pulled on Suiza’s sling. “But I do need you to shoot for me, because I need your help.” As I swung Suiza around, I watched as a talon poked through the lumpy cloud next to me and tore a hole in it.

“Who.” She snorted as she stretched her talon out, grasping blindly until I brought her sister in range of her. Faster than you’d have thought possible, Suiza was pulled right into Hispano’s cloud, disappearing inside in an instant.

“Solomon knows about my dad, so we’re going now to rescue him first.” I offered her, watching as Hispano’s curious gaze peered through the shrinking hole her sister had made in her cloud. “Buck is… busy, and Happy is… still recovering.” Yeah, neither of those things were quite true, but they weren’t complete lies either. The way Hispano squinted back at me however, said enough. “Look, I know things are rough, but I need your help on this, Hispano.”

“Fine.”

Hispano clawed her way out from the cloud in a huff, quickly getting Suiza wrapped around her again. It was a brief moment, but I could see where her plumage had been matted down from her tears, and the broken compass that hung around her neck swung freely until she quickly stuffed it back under the confines of her feathers and her sister’s straps.

It wasn’t the best response I could have hoped for with her, but it wasn’t the worst. It was a start. Now, I just needed to hope that Scar could get us there in time.

At the very least, I’d managed to mostly sober up on the trip to Biscuit. It had only been a half hour or so, but I could feel as my mind unfogged and I was left with my own terrifying thoughts about losing my dad again in perfect clarity. Thoughts which admittedly, I was perfectly happy to try to push away in favor of literally anything else right now.

Hispano however seemed lost in her own head. She’d spent the majority of the trip next to the rear ramp just cradling Suiza in her talons. As much as I knew I needed to, and as much as I needed the distraction, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about Cora.

“Not that anyone cares for my opinion, but you two will both need to focus if you’re looking to rescue someone.” Scar’s voice intruded on my thoughts in the unnatural clarity my augment provided me. “Anyway, I’m going to drop you off on the outskirts of town.”

“On the outskirts? Why?” I asked without even thinking, shifting against my flight harness uneasily.

“Because I don’t know where the fuck anything is out here? That’s your problem, hero boy.” Scar’s sharp retort helped to reinforce the fact it was just Hispano and I out here, and we had no backup for now. “Yeah, so settle in, because once you’re out, I’m heading home.”

“Woah, woah, woah! What?” Okay, now that was not cool. “I need you here for when we get my dad out of there.”

“Look, kid, I feel for you, I really do.” Scar said without an ounce of believable compassion. “But when it comes to you specifically? The longer I’m around, statistically, the chances that I never take off again skyrocket. That’s just how it is with you, and I’m not sorry for saying that.”

“Who are you talking to, Night?” Hispano called out across Scar’s cargo bay. I didn’t even have to look at her to know that while she sounded concerned, it wasn’t going to show on her in any way.

“Hey! Don’t you dare tell her we’re talking.” Scar snorted into my head. “I don’t need anyone else knowing I can still talk. It’s bad enough Eliza blew this shit by connecting you. I trusted her to keep this between us and the Architect, but I guess that was before she had other friends...”

“Okay, well make sure you’re here to pick us up and maybe no one else has to know!” I thought back with a glare at the glowing brain case in the front of the fuselage. “It’s just the Factory, nothing to worry about, Hispano.” I feigned a smile that none of us cared to believe. “Park outside of town far enough that you feel comfortably ‘out of the way’, but you will be back to pick us up, understood?”

“Fucking ponies. Fine, but this is a special case.” The skycraft under my hooves shifted slightly as we started to decelerate, and the altimeter plastered in the side of my augmented vision started to show us drop. “I’ve been extorted enough by your kind, and yet, you still ask for more! Unbelievable.”

While I couldn’t quite understand how it’d been for him for two centuries, he hadn’t lived my life either. I’d lost enough already, too much to care when this was about saving the one pony I still had from my old life. Until my dad’s safe from Solomon and Rook, nothing else matters.

The hum of hydraulics filled the cabin as the rear ramp split and lowered. The dim daylight from outside flooded in, pushing back the darkness that filled the interior of Scar. Along with it came a rush of moist, cold air, and the sound of intense and heavy rainfall.

The near torrential rains turned the wide, cracked pavement on the ground into a collection of muddy puddles. The various pinetrees and lush bushes that lined the old road streamed water off of them, while the smaller of them even slouched from the added weight of the water coming down. That is, until Scar’s engines pushed them back, wicking the water off of them sharply.

Hispano didn’t even wait until Scar had touched down before she walked down the rear ramp and hopped down to the ground. Following her lead, I decided to do the same, stepping out into the rain with my wings flared. The rain pelted me, but the updraft caused by Scar’s exhaust was enough to let me hover down to a nearby small patch of the old road that wasn’t a puddle.

As I came down onto the pavement, the exhaust from Scar’s engines picked up. I spun around, easily finding a roughly Scar shaped outline in the rain. Fuck, I’d forgotten he could go invisible like that! At the same time, with the rain as bad as it was, I’m not sure it really made any difference at all… no wonder he wanted to just get out of here.

Still, he couldn’t leave, not until I had my dad.

Looking up the road, I could see what I assumed was the small town of Biscuit. As far as wasteland settlements went, it wasn’t all that impressive. A dozen buildings lined each side of the old road, each of them in fairly poor condition with flaking paint and missing bits of siding here and there. The only vehicle in sight was an old flatbed truck that sat parked out front of a small square building at the far end of town, and even that looked like it had seen far better days.

“Alright, what’s the plan, Dum Dum?” Hispano sighed as she brought Suiza’s barrel up to her shoulder, and used her wings to help cover her head from the rain. “You do have some sort of plan, right?”

“We’re looking for a pony named Grand Finale.” I followed Hispano’s example and used my wings to shield myself from at least a small amount of the rain. “Supposedly he owns a mine around here, but that’s really all I know about this place. Tail End didn’t exactly have a ton of information to give me other than that Laika would send word that we’d be coming for my dad.” Partially that was my fault because I left in so much of a hurry, but I don’t think anypony could blame me.

“Alright, well let’s try the local bar or sheriff's office. Always good sources of information.” Hispano sighed as she pointed to a fairly run down looking two story building with a double doored entrance. “A name’s not much to go on, but it should be enough to get us somewhere to start looking. Somepony around here has to know something useful.”

A magical pop filled the air, and the thick snap of a branch behind Hispano and I forced the both of us to spin around. She leveled Suiza at the side of the road as one of the larger bushes next to it shook. We watched as with a stumble, a fairly large zebra in well worn combat armor all but tripped out of the bush. He took a moment to brush a few wet leaves that had stuck to him off of his armor before pausing and offering a hesitant glance over to us.

The hammering rain filled the awkward silence between us, but it passed in an instant as I was lost just taking him in.

Now, I hadn’t seen a lot of zebras on this trip, but this guy put every single other one I’d known to shame. The scuffed and worn black combat armor he wore barely fit over his rippling muscular frame that didn’t have a flaw or scar on it. His long, flowing jet black mane was bound up behind his head into knobby braids, and a short, well groomed beard sat under the nervous smile he flashed up to us.

But the oddest thing of all, were his stripes. They weren’t straight lines like Gearbox and Lucky used to have on them. Rather, they zigzagged together as they ran down his incredibly built body. Honestly, I didn’t even know Zebras could have different types of stripes!

“Um, hello there!” The seemingly surprised zebra offered with a light wave of one of his large hooves. A move that made Hispano bring Suiza’s sights up so that she was aiming right at his face. “Woah now, I’m not here to fight. I’m just a traveler who happened to see an invisible cloud ship drop off two strangers.” He shifted himself to point at the bush he’d popped out of. “I jumped in there because I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but… can you really blame me for that though? Gotta say, I’ve seen some interesting things in my travels. A giant flying invisible cloud ship that spawns some well armed kids? That’s a new one, even for me!”

“Hey, we aren’t kids. You certainly have a lot to say for a stallion I can blow away at any moment, and I’ve yet to hear a good reason why I shouldn’t just pull the trigger.” Hispano offered to the stallion coldly. “Why should I trust a goddess damned thing you’re saying.”

Her words were off to me, missing the spark she’d held before when pointing Suiza at someone. It was weird to say, but… it was like the griffon who I’d met on the Inuvik, the bubbly and excitable young girl, was missing. I understood why, but it didn’t make it any less of a stark difference to me. I didn’t know if she and Cora would ever work things out between them again, but I sure prayed to Celestia that this detachment to her work wasn’t permanent…

“Uh… how about because I could have jumped you two, but I didn’t.” The zebra offered back, carefully pointing to the small, black boxy submachine gun strapped to his back, along with a fairly large pistol holstered on his rear hip that covered his glyphmark. “Look, I’m telling you the truth. I was on my way back into town for a job, and hopped into the bush when I saw something in the rain. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, you shouldn’t.” Sitting himself down hard, he held his hooves out to his sides and turned his head to the sky. “But if you strike me down, know that you have murdered an innocent lone mercenary just trying to make a living around here.”

I didn’t really know if there was such a thing as an ‘innocent’ mercenary, but at the very least, he was right that it would be murder. As much as I wanted my dad back before Solomon got to him, I wasn’t about to compromise myself to do it. Unlike that bastard, I at least had standards.

“I really don’t think he’s going to be a problem, Hispano.” I offered to her with a glance, finding that my words only toughened her resolve as she kept Suiza trained on him.

“And I think you’re far too trustworthy, Night.” Again, Hispano’s words were off to me. So much so that I was wondering if she was looking for a fight. “Okay then, mister merc. If you’re telling the truth, what’s this ‘job’ in town you’ve got?”

“I…” He paused for a moment, looking between us before glancing down at the ground again. “I’m here for my sister. She was taken months ago, and I tracked her back to being owned by some guy from this town named Grand Finale.” Again, his nervous smile flashed up onto his muzzle as he glared right back up at me. “But you see, I’m… not really from here, and so I’m hoping to find someone in town to tell me where he is.”

Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one who needed someone back!

“Funny, we’re actually here for the same thing.” I spoke up to him as a smile pulled across my own muzzle. The unsatisfied grunt that came from Hispano starkly opposed the barely contained relief in my voice, but she did lower Suiza from aiming right at the guy’s face. “Maybe we can help each other out? What’s your name?”

“It’s Mark.” He spoke back as a full fledged smile spread across his muzzle. “I know it’s odd, but my dad wasn’t much for traditional names.”

“Mark the merc. What a ridiculous name.” Hispano snorted as she brought Suiza up at him again. “Just remember that Night and I are here for a job, not to be your friend.” The spite in her voice caught me off guard almost as much as the annoyed sideways glance she shot at me. “Both of you should remember that. Now come on, we don’t have all day.”

“I agree, I’m just as eager to get my work done as you two are.” He offered a smirk and gestured to the skies above. “Still, it’s not like we could get any more wet, right?”

Hispano tipped Suiza up again with a grumble, bringing her sister to rest on her shoulder as she spun around. Walking purely on her hind legs, she splashed through puddles without a care as she headed towards the building she’d pointed out before. With a sigh, I turned and followed her. The quick splashes behind me grew closer, and I was shortly joined by the towering zebra merc.

“I’m not one to normally judge the company a pony keeps, but… she certainly seems like a fun traveling companion.” Mark kept his voice down slightly, speaking just loud enough to beat out the rain and the sound of our hooves pushing through the fetlock deep puddles. “Then again, with a gun like that, maybe you simply keep her around for the firepower.”

“She’s not normally like this, it’s just been… a bad day for Hispano.” I offered back without thinking. My carelessness pulled an angry growl from Hispano, and forced her to pick up the pace. “I know we just met and all, Mark, but just give her some space, alright?”

“Again, not judging or anything.” He nodded as kept his eyes locked on her. “Trust me, I get it. We’ve all had bad days.”

Trotting past most of the rundown buildings in town, we headed for what was clearly the local bar, with it’s old world beer logos plastered all over it’s walls. The other buildings here looked boarded up and mostly unoccupied, and the old shop fronts that most of them held seemed long unused. Though it was hard to see in the heavy rain, I thought I’d seen a few curious eyes peering through the second story windows of some of the buildings.

Dim, but still lit, old world neon logos of the beer brands hung in the clouded glass windows, and a humming bug zapper swayed gently next to the yellow flickering light that sat above the buildings heavy double front doors. The sound of a jukebox inside playing one of DJ PowerColt’s bass heavy electronic tunes drifted out, as well did some casual conversation held by a few inside.

“For the love of… would you shut that fucking thing off already, Gary!?” A commanding, yet squawky voice came from inside the bar, beating out both the song and the rain around us. “That fucking noise isn’t music!”

The three of us stopped in our tracks as a single gunshot came from inside, and the DJ’s tunes were replaced with the sound of the heavy rain.

“Oh fuck.” Mark groaned and ran a mud covered forehoof down his muzzle with a sigh. “I know that particularly annoying voice…” Pushing up past Hispano, he trotted up to the bar doors and easily yanked both of them open.

Stepping up to the open doors after our new Merc friend disappeared inside, I glanced around the dark old bar. Instantly I reeled back from the stench that filtered out from inside. The smell of old beer and wood varnish was so thick I could almost chew on it.

But as much as that annoyed me, as my eyes scanned the interior, I found the place was mostly empty. Dozens of heavy and robust wooden tables dotted the bar, and the glow of neon lights behind the bartop cast an odd sheen across the polished wooden floors. Still, sitting at the bar next to the smoldering remains of the jukebox, were three other occupants.

Three gryphons, each wearing stark black armor. Each one’s armor glistened in the dim bar lighting, but contained a starkly white painted talon on their sides. Of course, while it was a surprise to see three talons here, what surprised me even more was the fact that all three of them were pretty much identical looking. Each of them had flat brown plumage on their top halves, and black and orange tiger stripes on their bottom cat halves.

“Oh, great.” Mark sighed as the three of them turned to look at him. “It’s the flying tigers.” Uhhh… the who?

“Xeno… is that you?” One of the three griffons called out. “It is you, Xenophon! You fucking bastard, how’ve you been!”

“Hey there, Gary.” Mark groaned as he trotted up to the central griffon. “And how many times do I have to tell you, the name’s Mark.”

“Ah! I get you.” The griff chuckled, tapping a single talon on his beak a few times before extending his claws to Mark. “Still, it’s good to see you again! How’s life treating you? Heard your group got the absolute shit kicked out of them recently.”

“Oh you know, just living the good life.” In a surprising move, the large zebra reared up and wrapped his fetlock around the griffon’s talon, giving it a tight squeeze as the two smiled. “Say, you three are a long way from Vanhoover and the rest of your kin. Why’s that?”

“Yeah well, we were brought in as backup for a job that didn’t pan out. Stopped at this shithole Ghost town to grab a quick drink before flying south again.” The griff shook his head as he let go of Mark’s hoof. “Which is a shame, because it would’ve been good caps.” Turning back to the bar where the other two griffons were sitting, I noticed that one of them was steadily nursing a beer, while the closest to the entrance… had his eyes locked on Hispano as she stepped through the door. “Ah well, maybe you’ll have better luck on your job.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Mark shrugged before glancing back at me with a smirk. “While I’d love to stay and drink, the job comes first, you know?”

“Woah, and who’s this?” Gary laughed and practically shoved Mark aside as he turned his attention on Hispano. “A young chick all on her own, and in Talon territory nonetheless? What is this world coming to.” Turning back to the other griff who’s eyes hadn’t left her, Gary smirked. “Tell me, little lady, have you ever considered joining up with the company? I’m sure we’d be happy to show a little chick just how to properly handle a weapon like that cannon you’ve got there.”

“Oh gee wiz that sounds swell, mister Talon sir!” Hispano squealed as she rapped her talons along Suiza’s receiver. “Would you show me? I’d love to get tips on being a proper Talon from three washed up nobodies!” She deadpanned at them, pulling a smirk from the one who couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “How about instead, you mind your own damn business.”

“Oh, she’s got spunk.” He spat out as he set his beer down. “Well, since you asked, I’ve got a tip for you right here little girl.” He wrapped his talon around his crotch and gave a vulgar thrust that took the friendly mood right out of the whole damned room.

“Oh fuck off, Gary.” Gary grunted as he spun around and smacked the other griffon right across the face. “She’s like ten or something. What’s wrong with you?”

“Same thing that’s always been wrong with him.” The third griffon mumbled as he finished off the beer he’d been nursing with a loud belch. “You know Gary’s always been a goddess damned nest robber.”

“How about you three just lay off them, alright?” Mark offered before turning and glancing at Hispano. “In fact, maybe you can help us. We’re looking for Grand Finale. Any of you Gary’s wouldn’t happen to know where we could find him right now, could you?” Wait, they were all named Gary? Here I’d thought Hispano wasn’t being so serious about griffon’s liking their G names, but… here we are.

“Hah, that racist asshole, don’t remind me.” The center ‘Gary’ huffed as he crossed his talons across his armored chest. “He’s the reason we’re drinking in Ghost Town in the first place. That asshole won’t even let ‘our kind’ into Biscuit.” Wait, this isn’t Biscuit!?

“Yeah!” The Gary who’d been content with his beer grunted before hopping up onto his paws. “You know this town doesn’t care for our kind, or yours, Xeno.” With a spin and a few flaps of his wings, he hopped back over the bar and dipped under it for a moment. The clinking of beer bottles filled the air, and he quickly set another few beers up on the bartop. “But lucky for us, the moment they see us coming here, they run for Biscuit’s precious sheriff. It means that the service is lousy, but hey, I can’t argue with free beer!” Wrapping his talon around one of the bottles as he stood up, he offered it to the unimpressed looking Mark.

Er, was it ‘Xeno’?

While my gut told me that he’d used a fake name on us because he was hiding something, part of me wanted to say he’d probably had a good reason for it. That, or maybe he’d made the mistake I had, and was using ‘Mark’ to try to be someone he wasn’t. Either way, I’d need to find out sooner than later, preferably before it became a problem.

“Alright, we’re blowing this joint.” Hispano grumbled and headed back for the door.

With a brown flash, Suiza was plucked right off of Hispano. The dexterity and speed the creepy Gary had used to effortlessly pull the gun from her was impressive, but it was a bad move. Before my muzzle could even open, Hispano spun around on a paw and shot a glare at the griffon.

“Woah now, little chick…” Gary chuckled as he stood tall on his hind legs, holding onto Suiza tightly as he raised it above his head. “Why don’t you stay for a while? Such a pretty little thing shouldn’t be out in weather like this, don’t you think?”

“Are you fucking serious with this right now, Gary?” The central, obviously in charge Gary sighed and dragged a talon down his face.

“I’m going to give you one chance, asshole.” Hispano growled and held out her talon. “Give me my sister back.”

“Give the girl her gun.” Mark grunted as he reached his hoof back and drew his pistol out, pointing it at the central Gary’s head. Hell if I knew how he planned to hold on to the hefty chrome hoofcannon if he fired it, but I’d seen stranger things in the wastes. Still, it was nice to at least know he wasn’t going to stand idly by on this.

“Put the gun down, Xeno.” The third Gary pulled up a drum fed light-machine gun from behind the bar. The circular venting that ran along the length of the gun’s barrel jacket was overshadowed by the large spider-type anti-aircraft sight that was now directed at our new zebra friend. “No one needs to get shot today.”

“Everyone just relax.” The creepy Gary smirked. I took a single step forward at the guy, and his talon shot out to point at me. “You stay right there, pony girl. This is between her an’ me.”

“You know what? You’re right.” Hispano grunted as she dismissively waved a talon at me. “Stay back, Night. I think… maybe I will take him up on his offer. Been feeling a bit pent up, no thanks to you.” Her words were sharp, but more than that, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! This… this had to be a joke… “But, Gary, I’m going to need a beer.” Holding out her talon expectantly, she cocked her eyebrow at him with a smirk. “If we’re doing this, there’s no way in Tartarus I’m doing it sober.”

“Fair enough.” The creepy Gary chuckled, reaching the talon that had been pointed at me over to grab the beer he’d been drinking when we came in. With a light grasp, he held it out to Hispano. To my surprise, she snatched it right out of his claws and brought it up to her beak. In an instant, she’d finished off the half bottle that had been left, turning it over to show it was empty. “Impressive for someone your age.” The sadistic smile that stretched across his beak made me want to hammer it off of him with my hooves.

“Thanks!” Hispano chirped before letting off a short but loud belch. “Now, how about we get started?” With a light flip of her talon, she grabbed the bottle by the neck, and swung it hard.

The glass shattered across Gary’s beak, and before any of us could react, Hispano had taken the jagged bottleneck, and shoved it under his plumage.

Every single one of us in the room, including the other Gary’s, stood in shock as crimson blood flowed out from the gaping gash in the griffon’s neck. The shocked look on the creepy Gary’s face faltered as he stumbled back, letting go of Suiza as he brought both his talons up to the wound. He let out a panic gurgle as Hispano’s waiting talon’s took ahold of Suiza once more.

“G-Gary!” The Gary behind the bar gasped and called out, shifting his attention away from Mark. Mark took advantage of that and shifted his aim from central Gary.

“Fuck you, Xeno!” The central Gary shouted as he tackled the merc to the floor. With a clattering bounce, the large pistol he’d had in his hoof skittered across the floor right to my hooves. The two of them traded blow after blow, grunting and duking it out with hammering hits to each other.

The sound of the bolt on bar Gary’s light machine gun being pushed into battery forced me to act.

I wrapped my fetlock around the large pistol, screaming out as I pointed it at the griff and squeezed my fetlock around the long hoof-trigger mechanism. The gun barked and recoiled hard in my hold, but I found it easier to keep in my grasp than I’d thought it would be. One of the neon signs behind the bar shattered, flinging sparks through the air.

Still, it made the bar Gary flinch as his own gun chattered, throwing his aim up and away from Hispano. She took the opportunity to roll to the side, bringing Suiza up and aiming at the bar. For just a moment, Hispano’s beak twisted into a smile again.

Unlike the high rate of fire from her full auto mode, Hispano fired three measured shots from Suiza. Each one blasted an entire chunk from the bar, and showered metal and wood splinters across the floor. Still, either through sheer luck or skill, the griffon behind the bar did his own roll out from behind it.

Both Hispano and I unloaded shot after shot as the griff bolted for the open door. With each reverberating report from Suiza and my gun, a chunk of the wall behind the griffon was removed, and an impressively sized hole was drilled through by Mark’s pistol. I wasn’t particularly accurate with any of my shots, but who could be with a pistol this large!?

Of course, who needed accuracy when all you needed was a grazing hit by a twenty millimeter round? The griffon’s muzzle parted into a horrified gasp as one of Suiza’s rounds turned both of his wings into a gaping hole in his back. The striped griffon collapsed to the floor, skidding along the polished surface with a muffled scream into the wood.

Hispano shoved her sister’s sizzling form against me, almost knocking me over. I scrambled to grab onto her as Hispano calmly snatched Mark’s pistol from me and walked over to the pair of writhing and bleeding griffons. With a cold detachment, she raised the pistol in her talon and shot Bar Gary right through the back of the head.

The creepy Gary was still holding on to life, if just barely. His panicked and gurgling breaths sent drops of blood to mist up over Hispano’s face, and his wide frightened eyes could only watch as she turned the large pistol on him. Again, with another squeeze of her talons, she blasted a round right through the creepy Gary’s eye, and he fell silent on the floor.

“N-no!” The last Gary screamed as he pushed himself up off of Mark. He was in rough shape, missing plumage all over his head, and his left brow had a deep cut on it that had already swollen his eye shut. Mark had fared just about as well, having a dozen deep lacerations across himself and countless quickly darkening bruises.

Hispano brought Mark’s gun up to the griff, making the panting and heaving merc hesitate for a moment.

*Click*

The gun failed to fire as Hispano squeezed the trigger. For a single moment, a look of panic washed across her. It was gone as she let out a fierce scream, pulling her talon with the gun back before throwing the hefty pistol at him.

With an unnatural dexterity, the battered Talon caught the gun right out of the air. Shifting it in his talon, he brought it up and cycled the slide, ejecting the faulty cartridge. With a smirk, he shifted himself to aim right at Hispano.

Lifting up Suiza, I held her tight in my hooves. Again, like the last time I’d used her, she didn’t fight me. Her trigger depressed with a smoothness that was unnatural, and her recoil didn’t at all feel like something her size should give.

The first shot went wide, hitting the bartop just past him. But, like with the Gary who’d been behind the bar, it made him flinch. His right eye shifted to me, and he’d started to shift his aim. But again, I fired Suiza.

This time, I didn’t miss.

The round tore a hole straight through the stark black torso armor and the Talon who wore it. But the round must have been defective, because it didn’t burst on impact. Rather, with a fleshy pop, the round severed the griffon in half from the inside. It washed a ring of gore out across the entire bar, and sent the two separate halves of the cat-bird to opposite ends of it.

Still, as the ringing in my ears was once again replaced by the sound of the heavy rains outside, all three Gary’s were dead, and we were safe.

“Ugh…” Mark groaned as he picked himself up off the floor. “I don’t know about you two, but after that, I need a drink.” With a slight hobble, he made his way over to the only remaining intact barstool and sat down on it. He grabbed one of the fresh beers that Gary had left up on it and proceeded to down half of it at once.

Again, Hispano shared a cold, unamused look across her face as she walked over to me. At least, that’s what she wanted to present to me. Unfortunately for her, I knew her too well to see that she was trying to hide behind her stoic gaze, but for now, I couldn’t blame her. Still, she stepped up and snatched Suiza from my hooves, checking over her for a moment. Satisfied with her cursory inspection of her sister, with a light spin on her paws, she turned and leveled Suiza… right at Mark.

“Okay, Xeno, cut the bullshit.” Hispano growled as Mark blinked a few times as he glanced over his bleeding shoulder at us. “Who the fuck do you think you were fooling by setting this all up? I mean, please, Mark? Could you have been any more obvious that we were your mark? Pretty shoddy work for a merc if you ask me.” Oddly, that brought a smirk to the zebra’s bruised muzzle. And hey! I’d bought into that whole thing! “Give me one good reason not to blast you to pieces like your talon friends here for lying to us.”

“Alright, you got me.” He nodded before bringing the bottle to his lips and sipping at it again. “My name isn’t Mark, it is Xenophon. But everything else I said was true. I am looking for my sister, and well… I might have had the idea to use you two as my easy in to get to her.”

“So everything you said, besides your name, was true?” I asked, glancing over at Hispano, who simply shook her head. While I was obviously still the gullible one here, I should have trusted my gut. “And why should we believe you?”

“You don’t have to, and you really shouldn’t. But in about oh… a minute and thirty seconds, the sheriff is going to arrive, and he’s going to want answers about what happened here.” Spinning around on his barstool, Xeno offered us a smirk and a shrug. “And while he owes me a favor or two, he doesn’t owe you two anything.” Tipping the glass bottle up in his hoof, he brought it to his muzzle and downed the rest of the bottle. With a belch, he tossed it toward the door, and managed to flip it right through one of the gaping holes Suiza had left in the wall. “So, if you two don’t mind sticking your necks out looking for Grand, then I won’t mind helping you two get off the hook.”

“You said everything else was the truth, that includes the fact you were new up here. But now the sheriff owes you?” Hispano snarled and shifted herself uneasily on her paws. “What’s going to come out next? That you’re Grand Finale?”

“Oh, well…” He rolled his eyes and gave a nod of admission. “maybe not every little thing I’d said was true, but most of it was! Seriously, do we have a deal or not?”

“Grrrrr, I don’t like this, Night.” Hispano grumbled, but again, didn’t shift her piercing gaze or Suiza’s barrel from the smug zebra merc. “We can explain what happened here. If they don’t buy it, then we’ll just shoot our way out.”

“Yeah, but if you do, then your marefriend there can’t find her father.” Xeno brought up his forehooves, tapping one on the other like he had a watch on. “Thirty seconds.”

Perking my ears, I could hear quick and numerous hoofbeats coming through the rain. Fuck! I didn’t know how to feel now. I know Hispano was right, and had I trusted her intuition five minutes ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess! But if we don’t work with him, then I’ll never get my dad out of here before Solomon ruins everything.

“Fine, we’ll do it.” I know we shouldn’t, but my dad is too important. I will not lose him again.

“Haha, excellent!” Xeno clopped his hooves together with a smile and pushed himself to stand up.

“Night!” Hispano growled as she spun around and glared at me.

“What!?” I snapped back at her. “I know you just went through issues with your dad, but mine’s still alive. So even though you don’t like it, unless we work with him, then both of us might have lost their father’s forever!” The moment those words left my muzzle, and a look of profound confusion crawled across her face, I knew I shouldn’t have said that. “Hispano…”

“What… do you mean at least yours is still alive?” Hispano took a step back, nearly dropping Suiza from her talons.

“After your fight, he... ” I really shouldn’t have said that. “I promise that I’ll explain everything, just please...” As I reached out to try to comfort her, she pulled even further back from me.

“Yeah, can you two work all this out later? Because our time’s up!” Xeno sighed as he raised both his hooves into the air.

“This is the sheriff! Come out unarmed and with your hooves up!” The voice of a grizzled stallion came through the holes in the wall.

“Ugh, I’m so fucking sick of all this!” Hispano groaned and shoved my hoof away. She dropped Suiza to the floor, letting her sister come down hard for once. With a rough shove, she pushed her way past me and made her way to the doors.

It hurt me. I knew she was hurting more than I could even imagine, but it was my fault. All of the things that had happened to her had always been my fault. And for Hispano’s sake, I prayed to Celestia that Cora would pull through. She didn’t deserve to lose her dad, not after everything she’s been through.

Who was I kidding? It was for my sake that I wanted him to live. That way, maybe Hispano wouldn’t hate me forever. And as wrong as that was, as selfish as that was, well, I didn’t care. Nothing is more important to me in this world right now than her, and that meant I needed to make this right. No matter what it took.

“I thought you said this guy owed you some favors?” Hispano growled as she banged her head repeatedly on the solid jail cell door.

We’d spent the last half hour locked in a room labeled as the ‘drunk tank’ for some reason. However confusing a name it was for a room without any tanks in it, the only slightly moldy mattress for the bed in here had given me a good place to collect my thoughts. Thoughts which constantly drifted back to the fact that Hispano’s father may or may not be dead, and rather than being back there with him, she’s stuck in a jail cell with me.

“Yeah, well that may have been a bit of an exaggeration…” Xeno spoke with a light laugh and a gentle nervous rub along his bruised neck. “But, before you said I lied, again, just trust me, we’ll get out of here soon.”

“Whatever, I don’t care anymore.” Hispano groaned before she spun around and tossed herself onto the small rotting cot in the corner of the room. A distinct zipping sound emitted from the old fabric as even the weight of someone as light as her forced the two century old fabric to tear. With a thump and a grumble, Hispano hit the floor and resigned herself to it.

You know, part of me really wanted to tell her to just suck it up, to just deal with it. She’d certainly been just as blunt with me on plenty of my bad days. But that part of me who wanted to take this rare opportunity to flip it around on her was the small, insignificant part of me that still existed from before the clouds came down. Before I not only lost everything I’d come to know, but before I’d found one of the only friends I could see myself living with forever. And while I still didn’t know enough about living in the wasteland to make it on my own, I knew that despite everything, I wanted her to stay with me for it all the same.

I knew what I wanted. It hit me that I’ve been thinking about what happened today all wrong. Hispano, while frustrated, wasn’t angry just because Cora said she wouldn’t be a talon. She’d told me exactly why she felt this way at the noodle stand, and like an idiot, I’d brushed it off.

“Hispano?” Slowly, I stepped over to her as she fumed under the rusted frame of the old cot. She didn’t answer me, and simply shifted her gaze to the stained wall next to her. “What… is it that you want?”

“I told you, I don’t want to talk.” She crossed her talons tightly and huffed. She curled her tail around the frame of the cot, and with a stiff shove, tipped it over towards me to stop me from advancing any closer. “Just leave me alone.”

“I know that, Hispano, but… what do you want?” I asked again as I reached forward to scoot the frame away. Her tail whipped around and smacked my forehoof before she shifted herself onto her side, rolling to face the wall.

“Why do you keep asking me that?” She sighed as she pulled her wing up over herself. “What the fuck does anyone care what I want?”

“I know this is going to sound harsh, but… I think Cora was right.” I winced as she froze up, and I waited a moment for her to jump up and wring my neck with her talons. But instead she curled herself up tighter on the floor. “You’ve lived so long with the expectation of being a talon that until now, you haven’t considered anything else you might want to be. There’s nothing wrong with that, Hispano. It’s okay if you don’t want to be a Talon.”

“It’s okay?” Her voice was muffled by her wing as she covered her curled form with most of it. “How can you say that when you have no idea what it’s like? My family have always been Talons, that’s who we are. If… if I’m not a Talon, then who am I?”

“The same Hispano who I met on the Inuvik.” Stepping around the cot frame, I reached out and ran my hoof down her back softly. “The same Hispano who wouldn’t take no for an answer from me. The same Hispano who I’ve come to realize that I can’t live without.”

“The same Hispano who killed her father.” She sniffled and pulled herself from my touch. “That’s what you meant at the bar, isn’t it? He’s dead.”

“He’s... not dead… at least, not yet. He was stable when we left.” I sighed and lowered myself down to the floor next to her. It’s fine if she didn’t want me to comfort her, but I wouldn’t leave her to herself and her thoughts. “But while I don’t know if he’ll pull through, that’s not what’s important right now.”

“Right, only your father is important right now.” She shook her head and curled her tail back around and smacked it against the floor. Okay, I know she’s frustrated, but that stung a bit. “I’m… sorry, Night, I didn’t mean…” With a huff, she pulled her wing back off of herself and pushed herself to sit back up. “It’s just, what if Dad was right? What if I don’t have to be a Talon? I thought it’s all I wanted in the world, but after Mom… after Suiza, I have a chance to get out of this life before it kills me. Before it kills you.”

“Hah.” Xeno spouted out a laugh that made me deadpan. Right, he’s still here too. “I’ll tell you both a little secret, you’re both going to die here.” Spinning around to look at him, I’d almost expected him to be pointing some sort of weapon at us. But instead, he only held an overconfident smirk across his muzzle. “Well, maybe not here, per se, but the wasteland will get you one day. It always does, because no one outruns death forever.”

“You know, this was sort of a private conversation.” I understand that I’d basically invited him to come with us, but still, he hadn’t needed to weigh in on this.

“Yeah, but you see, as a highly successful Mercenary, I felt like I might as well share a few nuggets of wisdom I’ve picked up over the years.” He leaned back against the cell door on just his hind legs and crossed his forehooves, nodding to the wall that faced outside. “Out there, it’s not just survival of the fittest, or strongest, or smartest, like most think. Oh no, that’s just what ponies who stay safe and snug in their little towns will tell you. Out there, it’s just two things, kill or be killed. If you aren’t the one to put a knife in their back, then they’ll come to put one in yours eventually.”

“That’s funny, I thought you said you were a Mercenary.” Hispano growled as she turned and cast a glare over her shoulder at the smug zebra. “Talons don’t backstab, we only do two things. What’s asked of us by the contract holder, and what’s needed to survive, in that order. Nothing more.”

“And that is a luxury Talons have only so long as they stay together. Companies are the only way Talons have survived in the wasteland, that’s their edge.” Again, he stifled a laugh, “You wanna fly solo? Well, no one is going to hesitate to shoot you the moment you let your guard down.” He paused, scratching at his chin for a moment while staring up at the light in the center of the cell. “Of course, sometimes things go wrong, the wasteland is like that. The merc’s life is a rough one, but moreso if you’re freelance. That’s why if you choose to not be a Talon, you’ll still need someone there to watch your back.” His glare sharpened, and he brought it down upon me with the weight and force of an exploding grenade. “Someone you trust is a good start, but ponies can change… or die. So even if they are the worst the wasteland has to offer you, you take their hoof to shake it, but always keep the other hoof on your blade. Trust me on that, I assure you that I am speaking from experience.”

Cocking an eyebrow, I got the feeling in my gut that there was more to his opinions than just simply offering them...

“If you’re so successful, then why the fuck are you in here with us?” Hispano growled at him, turning to deadpan at the wall again. And just like that, any progress I’d made with her mood had been lost.

“Like I said, sometimes things go wrong, the wasteland is like that. I’m not normally freelance, I only recently lost most of my band.” He smirked and shrugged as he tore his glare from me. “But this isn’t about me. No matter what you end up choosing to do, what path you go down, sometimes there’s nothing you can do but watch everything you’ve cultivated burn to the ground.” Shifting himself off the door, he pointed to Hispano. “But if you are who I think you are, then you are no stranger to misfortune, are you, Hispano? Or should I say, Survivor?”

Uh… what…?

I facehooved hard.

“Are you really that much of a moron?” Hispano chuckled. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to hear her laugh, but just… what!? “The Survivor is a pony. Don’t you listen to the radio?”

“Eh, I don’t see things like race. I’ve had enough preconceptions ruin contracts for me to look past that.” He shrugged and scratched at his mane. “As for the radio? One, not a fan of electronic music. Two, I’ve not really been the biggest listener since they signed on to be your biggest fan. No offense, of course.” His glance bounced to me for only a moment, and I thought he’d correct his mistake, but instead he just… passed me off.

“I’m the Survivor, not her..” I grunted and deadpanned at him. Seriously, everypony else could see it!

“I knew it!” He giggled and excitedly lept off his hooves at my words. He jumped so high that he actually knocked his head on the ceiling and came down on his hooves with a wince. But as he rubbed at his head, his curious glance looked me over again like he was seeing me for the first time. “I mean, coming in on an invisible cloudship gave me some idea about it, but it wasn’t until you offered to help me that I actually knew it was you.”

“What?” That… didn’t make sense at all! I waved my forehoof at him and shook my head as I tried to arrange it in some way that made everything fit together. “Sure, the cloudship I can’t argue with, but…” I paused. No, no it couldn’t be… Hispano couldn’t be right.

“I told you,” Her talon came down on my shoulder as she stepped up beside me with a sort of regret filled look. “you go after every charity case, and soon enough, wastelanders will start to take advantage of it.”

Celestia fucking damnit!

“Look, this is perfect!” Xeno clopped his hooves together excitedly. “You two are going to be the perfect distraction! With the Survivor knocking at Grand Finale’s door, nopony is going to be paying attention to anything else!”

“So you, what? Sneak in while we have them distracted?” Hispano brought her talon up under her beak and tapped on it. “Then what? How do we find Night’s Dad and your sister? It’s not like they’re going to have their names plastered on their cages or anything.”

Putting all this rescue talk aside, I simply stared at Hispano. The upset and depressed griffon I’d been trying to console was just… gone again. She looked calm, focused, and ready to move out on this if Xeno told us the door would magically open in ten seconds. How she could just put her emotions on the back burner sometimes was equal parts maddening, worrying, and most of all, it made me jealous.

“My mercenary band specialized in finding whatever you needed,” Xeno pridefully put his hoof on his chest and stood tall. “so you leave the finding of them to me. Don’t worry, I’ll get it done.” He cocked an eyebrow and leaned in slightly. “For you two however, I have a different idea. How would you two like a once-in-a-lifetime shot at taking down Grand’s whole slave-run mining operation?”

Author's Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all of his help in squaring away the chapter!

And of course, a big thank you to Kkat for writing Fo:E in the first place.