“See, what did I tell you!” Xeno gave a smirk as shuffling hoofsteps resonated down the hallway outside of our cell.

“You said it’d be quick.” Hispano grunted. “We’ve been in here for an hour.”

“Well, quick is relative, you see...” Xeno’s smile shifted to a more nervous look as he quickly pushed himself away from the door and took to standing next to me. “the last time I was in here, it was for three days.”

“Why do I always get stuck with the likes of either of you?” Hispano groaned and dragged her talon down her face.

Xeno seemed to have a comeback ready for that, but held his tongue as the cell door squealed and swung open. The tired and very nearly elderly lime coated stallion that met us gave a disappointed huff as he tipped his old sheriff's hat up on his bald head. While the wrinkles on his face definitely spoke of a hard life, his morose golden eyes told me that he’d long since stopped caring about it. Still, he looked at Hispano and I, and gave a nod down the hall.

“Orders from the Federation obligate me to tell you that you two are free to go.” Yikes, he even sounded depressed enough to match how he looked. “I don’t know what you did for a blanket pardon from the Sky Marshal, but that shitshow in Ghost Town was a hell of a stunt to waste it on. And for the love of Celestia, please try not to shoot any more of my town up, even if it is the undesirables like yourselves. Y’all have already made this enough of a bad day.”

“Yes, sorry about the trouble.” I offered to him with my own nervous smile. But, the indifferent look he offered made me think that it might be best to just leave the poor stallion alone. Hispano and I stepped forward out of the cell, closely followed by Xeno.

“Woah there, not you, Xenophon.” The Sheriff grunted, putting his hoof out to stop Xeno just short of taking a single step outside of the cell. “You know, after I heard what happened to your ilk, I thought I’d be free of your particular brand of trouble.”

“Well, Sheriff,” Xeno clenched his jaw as he forced an annoyed smile across his muzzle. “You didn’t seem to mind last year when you needed our help during the spring bramble wolf bloom.”

“Yeah, but times change, and I’ve got three dead Talons that someone has to answer for.” The Sheriff steeled his gaze at Xeno before shaking his head. “I get it, it’s not fair, but that’s how it has to be.”

“Oh come on!” Xeno groaned up at the ceiling before bringing his annoyed glare over to me. “Hey, you two can’t leave me in here!”

“Pft, yeah, we can.” Hispano snorted and glanced at me expectantly. “But…” She sighed, “I’m afraid we might actually need him to come with us.” At her words, the one eighty that Xeno’s annoyed mood took made him grin brighter than the daylight outside.

“You’re serious.” The sheriff’s stance stiffened, and his calm demeanor started to crumble. “When I’d heard you were this great ‘Survivor’ character the merchants have been gabbing about, I expected much more from you than to go around trusting some lowlife like him.” Still, the stallion stepped aside and waved his forehoof for Xeno to come out of the cell. “But, a blanket pardon was extended to the Survivor and companions. If you say he’s with you, then I can’t do more than judge your choice in the company you keep.”

As Xeno happily trotted from the cell, I couldn’t help but dwell on the Sheriff’s disappointed look at him. Again, I got the distinct impression that there was more to him than he was letting on, but the Sheriff had said as much. So, while we were on our way to wherever Grand Finale was, I was going to have him explain to me just why exactly I vouched for him at all when so far, he’s not really done a single thing he’s promised.

In all likelihood, it was because everyone else on the convoy had been right, and I was nothing more than a naive idiot who wanted to see the best in everyone…

“So, one last question before we go, Sheriff.” I said as the sheriff gave a tired sigh. “Where can I find Grand Finale?”

“Right, the Sky Marshal mentioned you were on your way to see that ass.” The sheriff nodded to Xeno before rolling his eyes. “Though you don’t have to ask me, your ‘friend’ here already knows the way.”

“Of course he does.” Both Hispano and I sighed in unison.

Overall, the actual town of Biscuit was quaint, small, and quiet.

Stuck between three separate forested valleys, it looked more out of time than Klondike and Sanctuary had. Dozens of ponies walked the sidewalks and went about what looked to be normal days, shopping, talking, and just generally oblivious to the state of the rest of the wasteland not an hour’s journey away. Several brick and mortar shops headed the central main intersection of the old town, and thin two story homes lined the two-lane main road that swept through the middle of it. The only way I knew that I hadn't stumbled into some alternate universe, was the fact that a few road crew were milling about near their up-armored excavator, and a whole convoy of Cordite tankers had their steel behemoths parked just outside a bustling bar at the far end of the town.

“So, where to?” I asked as I watched a pair of ponies my age laugh and gallop away out of the small town diner built into one of the brick buildings. Honestly, it was weird to see ponies going about such… relaxed lives here. I mean, it was a good thing, but if Klondike and any number of other places had told me so far, this town had to be hiding something.

“Grand’s mine should be a short walk out past the train station.” Xeno pointed up towards one of the forested ridges outside of town as he worked at tightening down the straps to his armor. He fumbled with his pistol rigging, and it dropped from his flank. With a horrified gasp, he scrambled to catch his chromed hoofcannon, only to be a split second too late when Hispano snatched it up first.

“Pretty nice piece you’ve got here…” Hispano cooed as she twirled the hefty pistol in her talons. Lazilly, she pointed it at Xeno as he deadpanned at her, but cocked her eyebrow as she opened her talon slightly, revealing a large P inscribed on the grip. “Oh ho ho! I like how well balanced it is. Who’s this ‘P’ you stole it off of?”

“It’s mine, a birthright.” Xeno growled and held out his hoof expectantly. The well built zebra was certainly intimidating compared to a griff Hispano’s size. But she simply looked up at him with a grin. “Give. Baby. Back.”

“Baby?” Hispano snorted and laughed. It wasn’t so much of a loss of concentration on her part, as Xeno was just quick to snatch the pistol back from her.

“Yes, and hardly a comment coming from a griffon to name their cannon ‘my sister’.” Xeno grumbled as he quickly put the chromed gun back into its holster. As he secured it, I got a glimpse of the glyph mark I’d hardly paid attention to before in the cell. It looked like a black spiral capped by a sharp dagger-like implement. Well, that or a curled worm holding a dagger... I guess glyph marks were just as vague as cutie marks…

“Her name is Suiza. She is my sister.” Hispano snorted as she grabbed onto her sisters sling and pulled her off her back. “And unless you start showing us some fucking respect, I’m going to let her do the talking for us. And let me be clear, if you don’t stop lying, then your talk with Suiza will be very prompt, and very loud.”

“What? Lying, I’d never…” He paused as Hispano growled at him. However, a sly smirk appeared across his muzzle as he looked to me. “Come on, you trust me! Right, Survivor?”

“It’s Night Flight.” I rolled my eyes and just kept on trotting, “And you said you didn’t really know where to go up here, but that’s not the impression the Sheriff gave.” Glancing back at Hispano, it was good to see another smile part her beak. “So you best do as she says and get with the talking while leading us to Grand!”

“Again, it wasn’t a lie per se, just…” He paused as Hispano slung Suiza again and took flight to join me as we trotted down the street. With quick hoofsteps, he galloped back up to my side with a nervous grin. “Just, I’ve been here once before to deal with Grand. That… didn’t go so well. So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not exactly being honest when I’ve been backstabbed more than a few times.”

“Gee, I wonder why…” Hispano snirked. “Could be something about how you said you would backstab anyone yourself…”

“Hey! You’re all literally the reason why…” Xeno growled out and shot her a glare.

Nope, I am not having this shit turn into a fight right now. Not when we’ve got far more important things to worry about.

“While that’s understandable,” I cut him off, “if we’re going to work together, we have to be open with each other.” I sighed, really missing having Delilah around. She’d know what to do, how to make sure this didn’t turn into a disaster. “So, from here on out, no more lies.”

“Understood!” Xeno gave a lazy, half-assed salute with a smile I didn’t buy for a minute.

While I was starting to see that I’d clearly put my faith in the wrong zebra, right now, he was still our best shot. Hopefully we could get my Dad, head back, sort everything with Cora, and Hispano. Then Buck and I can just have a nice few relaxing days as we sail the Arcturus to Vanderhoof.

Except, I still needed to detox, deal with King, and patch things up with Happy…

Fuck, I needed a vacation.

“Alright, we’re here.” Xeno nudged me as we trotted along, pointing me toward an overgrown sign alongside the road.

It had only taken another half hour of trotting to get here, which to be honest, was longer than I’d thought it would take. Guess it just goes to show that I’d grown used to getting around on the convoy. But hey, at least it finally stopped raining, and the sun was trying to peek through the clearing cloud cover.

The old billboard up ahead Xeno pointed out was covered in vines and heavily corroded. It sat just off the edge of a gravel road that twisted off through the forest that looked to get sicker and thinner the further it went, which left me with a sort of ominous feeling in my gut. There was still enough paint left on the old sign that I could make out what it had once advertised to those who drove along this old two lane road. What I saw on it was mostly what I’d expected, but I had a few pointed problems with what it said.

While I didn’t like that this place had been connected to those Pentex assholes, at least they weren’t here now.

“This is my stop. All you two need to do is head up the road a bit more and you’ll see the mine.” Xeno took a deep breath before giving me a pat on the side. “Remember the plan. I’ll give you the signal once I have the detonator for the slave collars. But until then, you two need to just play along and keep them busy.”

“Yeah yeah.” Hispano grumbled, “You worry about the shit you have to do. Just don’t screw shit up for us and we’ll do what we do best.” Xenophon gave a shrug and a light wave before turning himself towards the forest and trotting off into it. Hispano and I walked forward, but both watched as he disappeared into the foliage that sat just off the edges of the old gravel road. “You sure you trust him, Dum Dum?”

“No.” I shook my head. My gut twisted as Hispano’s question took a moment to settle, reinforcing my answer. “But that doesn’t matter, we’re getting my dad back.” Pushing myself to move, I took a few extra steps before Hispano hovered ahead of me and forced me to stop.

“Look, Night…” She paused as she dropped down in front of me, holding her talons out against my chest. I wanted to tell her we didn’t have time to wait around, but just looking at her, I couldn’t move. Her eyes wandered for a moment, angry but filled with sorrow. She collected herself with a sigh and locked them on me. “I know I’ve not been the easiest to deal with, but I just want to say… I’m sorry. This isn’t what you wanted to deal with after I pushed you into a relationship, and... it’s not what I wanted either. Seems like I don’t really know what I want after all.”

“Hispano…” I reached forward and wrapped my fetlock around her talon. “Nothing that’s happened since I came down from the clouds has happened the way I’ve wanted. But, I’m happy with what I have, flaws and all.” Pulling her close, I gave her a squeezing hug that let me enjoy the feeling of her soft plumage against my neck. “Buck and I love you, and we’ll support you no matter how you feel about things. No matter who you choose to be.”

“Thanks, Dum Dum.” Hispano nodded as she squeezed me back. “I just… needed to say that, to hear that from you, before...”

“Everything’s going to be fine, Hispano.” I sighed and held her as tight as I could for another moment. Nothing ever turned out fine, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t the only one who needed to hear that lie again. “Like you said, let's do what we do best.”

“Yeah.” She nodded as she pulled herself off of me. Firmly grasping Suiza in her talons, she nodded toward up the road and flared out her wings. Oddly, she paused as she looked down at my flight harness and scrunched up her muzzle. “So, not to douse some of that confidence, but you really should think about getting a gun again, Dum Dum.”

“Well, all the ones I get always end up breaking on me…” I rolled my eyes and pushed myself to get back to walking. But, with a swift flap of her wings, she hovered just ahead of me with a deadpan. “Okay fine, I end up breaking them, but you get my point! Besides, I’m not that good with them!” Shifting myself as we walked, I nodded back to my cutie mark.

“That may be entirely true.” Hispano admitted with a grumble that twisted her beak into an odd smile. “but grenades aren’t going to be so useful if we’re stuck inside a room with a bunch of ponies who already have explosives strapped around their necks.”

“That… is a good point.” I nodded. Admittedly, I hadn’t thought about that… “Well, when we get back to the Arcturus, I’ll make a note of getting something else to use.”

As we got back to walking, I noticed a marked change in Hispano’s mood again. She seemed to slip back into her normal carefree self, and lazily wandered through the air with a smirk on her beak. I don’t know if it was part of her whole ability to shrug off things she didn’t want to deal with at the moment, but… it was just good to see her somewhat relaxed again.

But as good as it was to see, it was time to get down to business. Approaching the mine, some things stuck out to me as odd. The two century old chain link fencing that ringed the mine was mostly rusted in the parts that weren’t completely overgrown by vines and bushes. A few desiccated bodies, and more than a few headless skeletons sat scattered just outside the fence, just left there to decay.

Inside the mine, there were a few buildings. Two of them were large, sheet metal warehouse buildings where more than a couple ponies were actively working on some large mining machines. A half dozen other machines sat in the farthest one, along with what looked to be a few Road Crew ponies who were relaxing on their own somewhat mini version of Bertha. Oddly though, the third building looked like a normal two story house. White siding, blue trim, and a nearly intact roof made me feel like someone got a teleportation spell wrong and plopped it here. Still, as odd as it was, that was normal, or at least, it was somewhat expected for the wasteland.

What I truly hadn’t expected, were heavily armed observation towers at each end of the complex. The old metal structures weren’t as rusted and overgrown as the fencing, rather, they looked somewhat new by comparison. What was definitely new, were the heavy magical energy weapons mounted on each corner of the towers. I might have wondered where they’d gotten such pristine looking guns, but the big Grand Pegasus Enclave E painted onto the tower walls gave me a good idea who had left them here.

“Gifts from the federation?” Hispano asked as she glanced between the two towers with me. “Or maybe trophies from the failed invasion?”

“Does it matter?” I sighed. I know the Enclave had done a lot of fucked up shit, but I was starting to tire of the constant reminders. Then again, I shouldn’t feel bad, none of what they did was my fault.

No, I already had a myriad of other things to be blamed for that were actually my fault…

A short alarm bell rung from within the facility that echoed through the forest around us. The two of us watched as the ponies in the mines ahead whipped into a frenzy, running around hastily, almost in a panic. Ponies moved about securing several rail cars full of rocks, and several of the heavy construction vehicles they used were quickly driven right into the gaping hole in the mountain where I assume the mine itself was. A dozen ponies in combat armor sprinted up the stairways that ran around the four guard towers, rushing to get to the mounted energy weapons.

“Uh…” I paused as I had a thought cross my mind. “Didn’t Laika say she was going to radio ahead to say we were coming?” I really hope they weren’t about to start shooting at us...

“Yeah…” Hispano grumbled as she readied Suiza in her talons. “Do you think maybe your new ‘friend’ got caught?”

Another short ring of the bell struck through the air, and almost collectively, all the ponies we could see were instantly aggravated and groaning.

“That wasn’t even close! Are you slackers happy!?” The voice of a stallion came over some sort of PA system from further inside the compound. “We will run these drills every day until you morons get it right! I will not lose my compound again to those turkeys, nor the Federation! And if that means some of you spend some time in the mines to get that point into your thick skulls, than so be it! Now, get off your flanks and back to work!”

“Well, I guess just asking him to shut down his operation is off the table.” Hispano smirked as she stored Suiza away again. “Then again, if Grand Finale did agree to that, what would happen to our ‘explosive’ reputation?” I shot her a sideways glance at that. “What?”

“It’s nice to have your sarcasm back, Hispano, but we won’t always fight our way out of things.” Well, as much as I could tell myself that, my gut reminded me that wasn’t probably going to be the case. Ugh, I’d say that I long for the days where I was back in school, but… somehow that really wasn’t a better way to spend my days feeling like I was slowly dying. Even if it wasn’t literal then…

Trotting onward up the road, we stepped up to the gate as a few worn out and sweating ponies trotted down from the closest watchtower. The four ponies who split off towards the front gate were a lot worse off than I thought when they’d gone bolting by. Their combat armor, though well scuffed and worn, didn’t fit any of them properly. Their emaciated bodies were covered in patches of missing fur, especially where the armor chafed, and a few had some particularly grotesque boils on them. The lead stallion, a deep chocolate colored earth pony, made eye contact with us as he and the others trotted by. He split off, heading over to the gate and us.

“Hey there, you two lost?” He spoke with a heavy wheeze that definitely didn’t sound healthier than he already looked. “Town’s back that way, half hour or so trot.”

“We’re here to see Grand Finale. He should be expecting us.” I said, gesturing over to the out of place house. It was a guess, sure, but as Hispano had pointed out, the assholes always seem to sit in the most well kept places.

“Ah, well, don’t let me stop you.” He nodded over to the house and somewhat rolled his eyes. “Gate’s unlocked, just try to watch out as you head over. Sometimes after the drills, our equipment operators don’t pay too much attention on who they’re running over. Then again, I guess you’ve both got wings.” He shrugged and turned to head off toward one of the two large warehouse buildings. “Either way, there you go.”

“One moment.” Hispano cooed as she flapped her wings and easily propelled herself over the old fencing. I gave a hop and, with a few grunting flaps, managed to do the same. “Just an observation, but… where’s your collar?”

“What?” The stallion snorted and screwed up his muzzle. “Fuck you if you think I’m one of those lowlife slaves. I work hard to earn my pay here so I don’t get mistaken as a freeloader like those fuckers, thank you.” Turning up his muzzle with a huff, he trotted off, leaving Hispano to scrunch up her beak.

Honestly, if he wasn’t a slave, that… worried me. He was already in rough condition, so… what do the slaves look like? Goddesses, I know we’d already planned on shutting this place down, but… now I know we needed to. Right after I make sure my dad is healthy and alive.

“I know what you’re thinking, Dum Dum.” Hispano rested her talon on my shoulder and gave me a nod. “I’m sure he’s doing alright. Ghouls… are resilient as you’ve no doubt noticed. So I’m sure he’ll be alright.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and let my gaze rest on the house that I was increasingly wanting to set fire to. “And for the record, you’re right.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her scrunch up her beak again in confusion. “We wouldn’t want to ruin our ‘reputation’, now would we?”

Rather than risk getting run over, both Hispano and I took flight again for the short trip to the house. As we drifted over the busy mine yard, I watched as all at once, about a half dozen different mining machines were driven out from where they’d taken shelter. Frantic and angry shouts came from plenty of ponies as they scrambled out of the way, and their expletives were lost to the roar of the arcane engines as they moved below us.

Dropping back down onto the rocky ground, Hispano and I came to a stop at the steps of the pristine house. The front door was already open, and the light of day poured through the numerous and opulently clear windows inside, filling nearly every inch of the interior with daylight. The only windows that didn’t seem to have been kept up, were the dust and grime coated ones inset close to the ground that lead to the basement. Stepping inside, the two of us looked to the stairs as the obvious place we’d find Grand, and made a single step forward before a sharp set of hooves jabbed against our chests.

“Oi!” A mint colored mare in about the same condition as the last guy shouted in my ear from next to me. “Wipe off your bloody hooves!”

While her burning glare was meant to hold my attention, what my eyes drifted to was the leather band sitting tightly around the mare’s neck. A small box on it sat just below her jaw, where a single red light pulsed softly. A single red wire stretched from one side of the box around the leather strip, ending at either side of the delicate metal clasp that held the collar on. Huh, these were smaller than the collars that Mr. Wizard had used. Then again, I guess they only needed to be strong enough to blow a hole in your neck...

“Yeah, ain’t gonna be tracking that filth through master Grand’s floors on our watch!” The rose colored mare next to Hispano snorted as she pointed at the doormat we were already standing on.

“Sorry.” I offered as I wiped my hooves as best I could. Glancing over at Hispano’s unamused gaze, I gave her a nudge. She groaned and rolled her eyes before likewise wiping herself off. “We’re here to see…”

“Grand is upstairs, the second door on the left.” The mint mare snorted, pointing to the stairway. “He’s expecting you, Survivor.”

“Thanks…” I wasn’t sure what to think about the door guards. While this place could be different than what I’d seen from Mr. Wizard’s operation, if these slaves were anything to go off of, they didn’t seem too upset about their predicament. I know I shouldn’t judge based off a single interaction, but…

You know what? No, this is still wrong, even if they were okay with it. We had a plan to bring this bastard down, and I wasn’t going to budge from it.

“Uh, Night?” Hispano asked, pushing at my side and breaking me from my thoughts. “We going up?”

“Right.” I nodded and did my best to clear those thoughts as I pointed to the stairs. “Let’s go.”

While I climbed the sturdy steps, Hispano opted to hover up as she normally did. On the second floor, we found out the reason for the front door squad, as the floor here was completely covered with a pristine white carpet that screamed of luxury. Dear Celestia, why was it that all of the fuckers in charge in the wastes had to be exactly like Solomon?

Doubling back at the top, we followed the old wooden railing to the second door on the left, where Hispano dropped back to my side. Placing my hoof on the door handle, I took a deep breath. This was it. Inside here, I’d get to see my dad again, and hopefully not for the last time.

Pushing the door handle down, I opened the door.

Inside, I was met with the bright unfiltered afternoon light of the sun beaming in through the large bay window that sat against the back wall. The commanding view of the work yard and the mountainside beyond was only somewhat marred by the form of the darkwood desk that sat just in front of it. Behind said desk, standing expectantly with his hooves on the paper cluttered top, was a tall pristine white coated stallion.

My mind screamed at me that at first glance, it was Solomon, but the pony’s sky blue mane was tied up into a short bun on the top of his head, and it practically glowed in the sunlight. The pair of yellow tinted sunglasses that sat on the end of his long muzzle tweaked as he turned them towards us, dipping down as he cast a blue eyed gaze over them at Hispano and I.

“Ah, excellent.” He spoke with a softer than expected tone as he quickly clopped his forehooves together. “You must be the renowned ‘Survivor’. I am Grand Finale, and I’ve been expecting you. However, not so soon I must admit. Your prisoner is swiftly being retrieved, and should be brought up here any moment. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I do hope that’s alright.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” I muttered as my eyes were drawn out the large bay window again. I watched as a line of ponies with pickaxes were marched at gunpoint towards the gaping mine entrance. “Actually, no. How does something like this happen when I was told that you weren’t allowed to take in new slaves?”

“Yes, well, you see…” Grand gave a nervous smile as his gaze wandered between Hispano and my own. “We’ve had plenty of former Enclave here since the clouds dissipated and I reclaimed my business from them. So you must understand when I say that after a few escapees, when they were returned to us, we didn’t check all too thoroughly if they were exactly the same ponies who’d fled. A mistake I promise I will not repeat in the future.”

I didn’t believe that, not one fucking bit. This guy was as bad as Rofia, as Mr. Wizard and Miss Tapit. But as much as I wanted to shove a grenade down his throat and watch his head explode, I wasn’t about to do that until I had my father back.

The sound of multiple hooves coming up the stairs behind us pulled Hispano and I’s attention from the almost quivering, nervous smile of the stallion in front of us. Hispano’s talons wandered back to Suiza, ready in case this had in fact all been a setup. I swear to Celestia, if they were going to try to double cross us…

The door handle clicked as it was opened, and a ghoul was all but shoved through the doorway onto the floor.

“Alright, here’s your fucking slave.” Another emaciated guard stallion grunted as he tipped the barrel of his shotgun up before looking over at me. His eyes wandered over me before a smirk pulled across his muzzle. I half expected him to bring his shotgun to bear, but instead, he simply turned around and trotted back down the stairs.

The ghoul on the floor whimpered as he pulled himself back onto his hooves. The twisted and blistered nubs where a pair of full wings once sat shifted on his back as he reached up and rubbed at the explosive collar around his neck. The few points on his body that weren’t completely burned, were badly bruised and welted from what looked like one hell of a recent beating. But as the stallion turned his head up to look at me, I met straight on with the sharp green eyes that used to match my own.

“Night…” Even though he was a ghoul, even though he now looked almost nothing like my dad, the transformation from the blast hadn’t changed a single note of his voice. Tears filled his eyes as his four legs shuddered under him as I did my best to fight my own from doing the exact same. “Is it… is it really you?”

“Dad…” I gasped and lost the fight. I couldn’t hold myself back as I leapt onto him and wrapped my hooves around him tightly. There wasn’t a part of me that cared about how his leathery skin was squishy, or how he smelled like burnt meat. But I couldn’t believe it, he was here, after everything. All that mattered to me was that he was alive.

“Not to break up this touching moment…” Grand Finale softly cleared his throat to get our attention. As I turned my head back, I half expected to see him holding a pistol at us, but instead was only met with an almost embarrassed look on his face. “But I feel like I must inform you that until now, I didn’t know he was... um… your father, Survivor.” He let a nervous laugh slip out of his muzzle as he gestured to the door. “But if you’re satisfied, you are free to go… um, if you wouldn’t mind, that is…”

“Wait, you’re… the Survivor, Night?” My dad asked as his smile spread from burnt ear to burnt ear.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s a big damn hero and all that.” Hispano cooed as she pulled Suiza off her back and leveled it at Grand, pulling a loud whimper from him. “Why are you so eager to see us go? What exactly are you hiding?”

“Nothing! Honest!” Grand yelped as he put his hooves up at us. “It’s just… the longer the Survivor is around, the more likely I am to end up dead!” He gave a stiff shrug as he forced his nervous smile around at each of us. “You have a bit of a… reputation, you see...”

“Alright, that checks out.” Hispano grumbled as she lowered Suiza. As expected, she gave an ‘I told you so’ glance over to me that I was just too damned happy to care about at the moment.

Now, normally, that would be that. I mean, we almost got to walk away the winners for once. But as glad as I was that Grand was smart enough to give us what we wanted and push us away, we couldn’t leave yet. I may not like the guy, but I got my dad, so it was time to help Xeno get his sister back.

BANG!

Grand’s head exploded as the window behind him shattered.

“Shit, move!” Hispano shouted as she pushed both my dad and I back toward the door.

The report from the errant gunshot was quickly lost to the chaos that erupted outside as it echoed off the mountainside. Sporadic gunfire picked up from the guards in the work yard, at who exactly, I had no clue.

BANG!

Another shot punched a hole through the wooden wall just next to the doorway as the three of us scrambled through it. The fact that we were getting shot at wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but the way that the gunshot sounded filtered through my mind as we put the wall between us and whatever sniper was out there. Well, it stuck out to me...

I knew that sound.

“W-what’s happening!?” My dad whimpered as he dropped flat to the floor and put his forehooves over his head.

“Just our normal, everyday dose of excitement.” Hispano grunted as she shifted and pulled Suiza up in her talons. “Isn’t that right, Dum Dum?”

“I knew you fuckers would be trouble!” One of the mares from the front door shouted as she bolted forward towards the stairs.

BANG!

The shot came through on of the downstairs windows and tore straight through the mare’s barrel. It carried enough force to it that as she collapsed she rolled right into one of the adjoining rooms. If that hadn’t already been scary enough, the crack of the report finally hit me of where I’d fucking heard it before.

“Hispano!” I snapped at her, “I know that sound, it’s Solomon’s and his rifle out there. Or at the very least, it’s Rook.”

“You sure?” Hisapno’s plumage flared for a moment as my words sunk in. “Shit. And this place might as well be a glass house with how many fucking windows are in here!”

“Fuckers!” The other mare at the door shouted before she let out a blast from the shotgun she held in her hooves.

A section of the wooden railing next to my father was blasted away from the shot, showering him with splinters. He let out a frightened whimper that kicked me into gear.

Release.

I felt one of the grenades slip off of my harness and hit the floor. With a swift kick, I propelled the grenade down over the edge. The small explosive gave a bounce as it reached the doorway before exploding with a deafening crack. What was left of the shotgun mare dripped down the walls as quick hoofsteps approached the house from outside.

BANG!

Yet another hoof sized hole opened in the wall between Hispano and I.

“We’ve gotta move, Dum Dum!” Hispano shouted as she brought Suiza up to her shoulder and braced her barrel against the stairway railing.

“And fucking go where!?” I snapped back, pausing as a pair of stallions in combat armor made it to the front door. Suiza let off a chattering burst, tearing apart the ponies in spectacular fashion. We wouldn’t fare much better than tham the second we stepped outside into Solomon’s view, even if the others in the camp didn’t try to kill us.

“B-basement!” My dad forced himself to speak through his quivering on the floor. “T-they took me down there… when I arrived. It’s only got a few tiny windows.”

“And only one way in and out, so that might be a big mistake.” Hispano grunted as more beating hoofsteps came through the splintered and gore coated front door. “Sure, we’ll be safe from the shots, but one grenade down there and there’s nowhere for us to hide.” Spinning around, she reached out to my side and wrapped her talon around one of my grenades. “Speaking of, if you don’t mind, Night.”

Release.

My harness released the grenade into her grasp, pulling a smile across her beak. Standing on her hind legs, she set Suiza down for a moment. She turned herself side on to the door, bringing the grenade up to her breast. With a quick hop, she twisted and put her whole body behind throwing the grenade.

The speed at which she could throw it like that was really impressive, and she’d managed to aim it through almost the direct center of what was left of the doorway. The small explosive gave a hard bounce and skipped out of sight across the mud outside. The sharp blast was swiftly followed by the screams of our dying, injured, and now former assailants.

“Well, let’s make a decision already!” Hispano cooed contentedly as she plucked her sister into her talons again.

“Alright, where’s the stairs down to the basement?” I asked my dad.

“Below us!” He whimpered as he pulled his hooves from his head. I paused as I was met with the most frightened eyes I’d ever seen. It hit me harder than I’d expected. I’d seen my dad run through a dozen emotions before, but… I’d never once seen him afraid. Before all this, before everything I’d been through, I knew I’d been exactly like that.

I couldn’t fight the smirk that pulled across my muzzle. Goddesses, that is exactly what I was like on the Inuvik and the Empirica, wasn’t it? Well…

BANG!

Another round punched through the wall, and right through my right foreleg. I collapsed to the floor. My augmented vision fuzzed as immediately the right leg of the pony in my display disappeared under a ‘crippled’ warning, along with the standard medical warnings. My pain talisman strained as my vision struggled to cope with the hit, and for a moment, I could feel everything again.

“Mother fucker!” I seethed and looked down at my leg. Pulped exposed muscle and bits of shredded bone peeked out from the pulsing lines of blood that flowed from the gaping wound. My talisman was at least merciful in the fact it was quick to kick back in, blocking out the pain.

Well, it wasn’t completely gone. It looked like it had been a grazing hit, but it had torn through half of the flesh. And fucking hell, this was not what we needed happening right now.

“N-night, are you…” Dad gasped and sprung up to help me.

“You idiot!” Hispano shouted and lept through the air. She tackled my dad to the ground right before he got to me.

BANG!

Another shot burst through the wall near the round that had gotten me. It was high enough to sail over my head, but would have torn right through my dad had Hispano not pulled the both of them away.

“Stay away from the holes!” She growled before shoving herself up off of him. “Where are the fucking med supplies here?”

“I-I-I…” My dad stammered as his gaze drifted between the wound in my leg and Hispano’s sharp, expectant glare. “The kitchen, by the back door!”

“Hispano…” I grunted as I shifted my free hoof over and pressed down on my fucked up leg.

“I’ll be careful and quick.” She grumbled again, shoving Suiza into my dad’s hooves. “You. Make sure no more fuckers come through the front door.”

“But I…” Dad looked at the cannon in his hooves and shook his head. “I don’t know how to use something like this!”

“Well you better fucking learn fast.” Hispano snapped her glare over at me before sharply jabbing her talon at my leg. “Keep pressure on that and don’t fucking die, Dum Dum.”

She wheeled around on her paw again, flaring her wings as she stepped up onto a bit of the wooden railing that hadn't been utterly blasted apart yet. With a sigh, she stepped off and disappeared down onto the first floor again. I trusted her to be alright, she wouldn’t have gone if she didn’t know she could do it.

And while my gut hardly had to convince me that this wasn’t some random wastelander shooting at us, the last time my friends were on the end of that gun, most of them didn’t walk away alive.

“Night…” Dad whimpered as he did his best to hold his shaking hooves still around Suiza. “I’m so sorry…”

“I know, but we’ll talk later, alright?” I wanted nothing more right now than to hold him and tell him how much I loved him. But again, this was Solomon we were dealing with. One second of me getting sentimental, and I would lose again. And I will not lose again.

“No, it’s not alright!” He cried out and dropped Suiza. “You’ve been fucking shot for Celestia’s sake!”

“Dad,” I know the emotions with all this are overwhelming for him, but again, I didn’t need this right now! “Dad! Look at me!” I snapped at him, forcing his hollow and regret filled gaze to lock onto my eyes. “I’ve been through a lot of bullshit down here, so I need you to trust me that I’ll be alright, okay? I’ve lived through worse.”

“I uh…” His eyes wandered over me, I think finally taking in all the scars I wore now, my missing hind leg, and of course, the bits of metal bolted to the side of my skull. “I’m sorry.” Again he whimpered and shivered as tears started to roll down his blistered, burned cheeks.

But as his whimpers carried through the house, a burst of rapid fire gunshots picked up from outside. More shouting came from the workers here, and more hoofsteps squished through the mud around the house. Fuck, things were about to get interesting again.

With a sharp flap, Hispano shot up to the second floor again with a small white box in her talons. Both dad and I gave out a light scream from her startling appearance, and it pulled an annoyed look across her beak.

“I thought we got over the whole ‘screaming’ thing on the Empirica, Night.” She deadpanned as she tossed the white box to me. “And you. Why is my sister on the floor? Were you just going to invite them in?” With a growl, she picked Suiza up again and let out a burst through the doorway. She hadn’t aimed at anything in particular, but it gave the approaching ponies enough incentive to turn tail and run.

BANG!

Another sharp shot came from the mountain, but thank Celestia it wasn’t at us.

Opening the white box with my one good hoof, I found a pair of big, and incredibly dirty glass bottles with long syringes stuck through their corks, as well as a hoofwritten note. The two bottles had been marked as Hydra over whatever alcohol label had faded over the centuries. It didn’t seem anything like the nice bottles Buck had used in the past, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t something I needed regardless.

The note was just a simple message scrawled on yet another discarded label.

This is for the big bosspony only, so don’t waste this shit on the fucking slaves!

Taking one of the bottles, I smirked as I hovered it over my profusely bleeding leg. While I was still pretty fucking pissed Solomon was currently trying to kill us, I was still glad that Grand’s head exploded. If anything, his operation is going down today, so there was at least that.

“H-hydra!? Are you insane!?” Dad chimed in with another unhelpful anecdote I didn’t need right now. “Do you know how unsafe that stuff is!?”

“Sure, let’s just let Night bleed out rather than fix him.” Hispano let out a sharp laugh as I plunged the needle into my leg. “Shit’s going to kill you one way or the other, so you might want to keep that in consideration. Welcome to the wasteland, dad.”

A frigid tingling spread over the numbness my augment afforded me. A sickening multicolored pool started to flow through the blood in my leg, pushing out all of the flakes of bone and bits of shredded flesh. Like with most healing potions, I watched as my flesh began to knit itself up, but with it came an uncomfortable scratching feeling. It was like somepony was scraping their hooves across a chalkboard, but that board was my leg, and their hoof was made out of a cheese grater.

It wasn’t until my leg healed up and the flesh warped back into place that I noticed something was off. My forehoof was slightly... sideways. Lifting my leg, a sharp jolt ran through my leg as the misaligned muscles and bones pulled against each other. Oh fuck, that’s not good.

BANG!

Another shot, another hole opened up in the wall next to us. It was at the far end of the hall from where we were, but it was a good reminder that we weren’t out of this yet. Looking over to Hispano, she canted her head to the door and listened.

“Alright, you aren’t bleeding out, and we’ve got a gap before any more of these assholes feel like storming the place.” She looked back at me, and then with a frown to my leg. “We need to get to the basement. Think you can make it?”

“I’ll help him.” Dad spoke up with a firm nod as he pushed himself back to his admittedly still shaky hooves.

“Alright.” Hispano nodded and pulled Suiza against her tightly. “I saw the door when I went down there. It’s basically right below us, so we’ll only be exposed for a moment.” Nodding to her, I did my best to push myself up to my hooves, keeping in mind not to stand in front of either of the two holes next to me. I took only a single hobbling step before the bone in my fucked up leg gave a groan loud enough the three of us could hear it. “And don’t leave the other hydra. We might need it to fix your dumb ass again.” She rolled her eyes with a smile as I turned back and hoofed the bottle into my muzzle.

The three of us moved carefully up to the splintered and shattered railing. Looking over the edge, the grey light cast down from the clouds outside reflected off the thousands of bits of glass and blood that coated the old wooden floor. Dropping on that and then sprinting to the basement door was going to be tough, but…

BANG!

A hole opened up at my height further down the hallway.

BANG!

Another one split the wall just a ponies length closer.

BANG!

Okay, I could see where this was going.

“Time to go!” Hispano called out as the three of us all spread our wings and stepped over the ledge.

BANG!

Another shot burst through as we were falling. Hopefully our timing would be good enough Solomon wouldn’t be able to correct for the three of us floating down!

BANG!

A shot that was a bit lower than the others struck the second story floor above my head. It rained down splinters as dad and I came down hard on the glass covered floor. His strong grasp wrapped around me before I was ready, and I was all but dragged sideways toward the dark doorway that lead to the basement.

BANG!

The edge of the doorway splintered as all three of us threw ourselves into the hole. The comfort of the house’s brick foundation met my eyes right before we all painfully crashed down onto the concrete floor.

This time, the creak from my leg became a sharp snap as the already misaligned bone gave out and shattered, sending a spiral-like bone spike through my skin. My augment fuzzed again, overlaying a second ‘crippled’ notice over the paper pony’s leg as it greyed out once more. At least this time my augment held up, and I didn’t feel a thing!

“We all in one piece?” Hispano groaned as she writhed under my dad’s whimpering form.

“Fuck… yeah.” I said as I spat out the hydra bottle onto the floor and did my best not to look at the bloody bone threatening to jab itself into my chest. “Leg’s busted again though.” Shifting over, I looked at Hispano as she stood up and brushed herself off, then at my dad as he too picked himself up. “What about you, dad? You alright?”

“Physically?” He nodded and took a stumbling step back, sitting himself down under one of the thin dirty windows that allowed this place just the dimmest amount of light. “Mentally… I don’t fucking know.”

Hoofclaps filled the air from the stairwell. Hispano was quick to bring up Suiza, and I fully expected for her to fire. But as she held off, I arched my head to look over. Xeno stood on his hindlegs in the doorway with a smile wide across his muzzle.

“Holy shit, you really are a survivor, you know that?” He shook his head as he took a few steps down the stairs.

“Before I kill you,” Hispano spat coldly at him. “why are you working with them?”

“Uh uh, not so fast.” Xeno laughed and brought his hoof forward with some weird box tightly grasped in it. Instantly, Hispano grunted and shifted Suiza’s barrel away from him. “Ah, you do know what this is.” He dangled the box in his hoof for a moment before I spotted a blinking red light on the back of it. “Yeah, if I let go of this, then the survivor can say goodbye to dear old poppy, as well as every other worthless slave in this dump.”

“And what about your sister?” I asked. Working for Solomon I could almost forgive, seeing as he’s a merc. But what did he have to gain if he killed her too?

“Wait, you… you actually believed that bullshit?” He laughed and shook his head. Of course he’d lied. When the fuck am I going to learn. Worst thing is, I didn’t even need to shift my glance to know Hispano was giving me Celestia tier side eye right now. “No, while you may be hard to kill, you are so damned easy to fool.” Holding his hoof out at me, he scrunched up his muzzle. “I mean, even now I bet you don’t even know who I am!”

“You’ll have to excuse me, it’s a fairly common sentiment recently from those who end up dead around me.” I growled. Shifting myself to stand up, if I could only get myself stable enough to… to what? Grenade him in here? Fuck, Hispano was right, this place was the perfect deathtrap.

“The attitude, the gear, the unique pistol? We really were your mark all along.” Hispano nodded to the pistol still holstered on Xeno’s flank. “Night, meet the head of Pentex. Or at least, what’s left of it.”

Because of course he was! This whole thing was a setup from the start. Just another of Solomon’s worn out tricks trying to get at the only thing that I had left that mattered. Family.

“Smart girl you’ve got there.” Xeno only smirked and nodded. “A shame I’ll have to kill her someday soon. But lucky you, it doesn’t have to be today.” Bringing out his other hoof, he shifted his fetlock and let the pin on the end of a smooth cylinder flip off. Immediately, a hissing stream of almost black gas burst from the end of it, and Xeno gave a light toss of it across the room. “It’s been great sizing you up, but the job was to kill your father and go. And of course I’d hate to keep Rook waiting on me when he went through all the trouble to teleport me all the way out here to finally meet the pony who destroyed my legacy.”

Even before it hit me, the gas stung at my normal eye and made me feel like my lungs were about to seize up. Both Hispano and my dad nearly doubled over as it hit them too, but I had the luxury of having at least one eye that was immune to the gas, and I locked it right on Xeno.

“He’ll betray you… you know.” I forced out before the gas thickened up enough that my lungs started to burn. “Solomon, that is.”

“True, but I’ll trust you remember what I mentioned before about how I work.” Xeno smiled as his now free hoof brought an old gas mask down over his face. “Well, it’s been fun.” With a twist of his other hoof, he let go of the device.

Pop!

The collar around my dad’s neck exploded, and his entire throat unzipped right before my eyes.

As he collapsed to the floor, Xeno turned to make his way up the stairs. However, even though Hispano’s burning eyes were clamped tightly shut, she let out a feral roar and let Suiza rip. Thumping shots blasted the black gas away from Suiza’s barrel, and the explosive payload of the cannon’s shells ripped the wooden stairs to pieces.

It was absolutely perfect in all but two aspects. The first, was that while she’d destroyed Xeno’s only means of escape, she’d missed the bastard himself. The second, was that we were now trapped in this room with him.

As Hispano stopped firing, a small prompt appeared in my augmented vision. A green box highlighted the floor at my hooves, and reaching down, I felt the hydra bottle I’d dropped. With a firm grasp in my fetlock, I spun around to my dad, watching as his weakening breaths gurgled out more and more black blood by the second. With my own yell, I drove the bottle into his chest. I had no idea if this shit even worked on ghouls, but fuck it!

I would not lose to Solomon! Not today. Not ever again!

With one problem dealt with, I spun around as Hispano opened fire with Suiza again. Her shots tore apart the brick foundation where Xeno had just been standing, but he had disappeared into the dark smoke that filled this already fucking nearly pitch black basement! Fuck, where did he go!?

Something shifted in the small amount of light we had before all of the light in here left the room altogether. Turning almost instinctively to the window, I found Xeno had opened it and already managed to get half of himself squeezed through the small opening. He jerked and pushed, but while he himself could fit, his fancy pristine combat gear was keeping him caught on the old wooden window sill.

Oh, no, he was not going to run away!

“Hispano!” I shouted.

“I can’t see shit!” She coughed and did her best to keep Suiza level. “Where is that fucker!”

“Hold on!” reaching over, I grabbed the sizzling hot barrel of Suiza in my fetlock. I whimpered as my hoof burned, but I managed to force Hispano’s aim up towards the small window. “Now!”

Hispano let out a burst of high explosive rounds that kicked the barrel wildly, ripping it out of my hooves, and I swear, a good bit of my fur and skin from my fetlock. Still, the brick around the window sill exploded in chunks that rained down on us, and I watched as what looked like the back half of Xeno fell right back into the room.

Unfortunately, things weren’t what they seemed. While lines of blood dripped down the old brick, Xeno pushed himself with a scream through the window, sans only his fancy combat gear. Of course the fucking bastard had to slip away…

“Did we get the fucker!?” Hispano coughed hard before leaning over hard and throwing up.

“No…” I managed to force out before both my lungs and stomach seized up and I too threw up. Like before, while it didn’t hurt per se, it was less than uncomfortable to experience. “But… I think he’s gone.”

As soon as I’d said that, a sharp gurgling cough from behind me made me stiffen up. Spinning around, I watched my dad pull the bottle of hydra from his chest. He heaved hard, slumping himself against the brick wall behind him as a deep black growth had formed where the gaping hole in his neck had been. Thank fucking Celestia, he’d survived...

He looked up to me, straining to gaze through the dark gas at my glowing eye. I nodded to him, getting a nod in return. It was then that I knew, finally, we’d won.

“This… is Night. We’re ready for our pickup.” I coughed out as Hispano did her best to shuffle herself toward the wall where my dad was. I swear to Luna, he better not have abandoned us and flown off north again…

“Quit your bitching, I’m on route.” Scar’s voice filtered into my head. “E.T.A. five minutes. Be ready.”

Nodding to him, I groaned and kicked myself lightly in the head when I remembered he couldn’t see a fucking gesture. Still, as I shook my head and tried to not cough my lungs out, a slight shimmer on the floor caught my eye across the room. Hobbling over, I found it was from Xeno’s combat gear. With a smirk, I lifted it up to find that both his pistol and submachine gun were still firmly strapped to it.

So for once I can say that while this rescue operation went about as well as the other’s I’ve done, this wasn’t a total loss…

Hispano’s talons walked along the silver body of the large pistol while her beak stayed parted in a wide smile that had been absent on her since the fight with her dad.

“Can you believe he was running AP rounds through this thing? I’d be surprised to find out he ever actually killed anything with it.” She cooed softly as she twirled the pistol in her grasp before she firmly secured it in Xeno’s holster. “Still, I did say I wanted a baby…

“You aren’t seriously going to keep that name…” As expected, my words pulled a deadpan from her before she rolled her eyes again. “What?”

“You can judge names the moment you name one of your guns.” She lazily pointed to the submachine gun I had strapped to me. “That’s if it lasts through more than one fight before you destroy it…”

While I had no idea what kind of submachine gun it was, how it worked, or anything, I did like the feel of it. It was compact and light, and the boxy magazine on the top of it looked like it held a lot of bullets in it. I didn’t know how I was going to integrate it with my saddle, but… Hispano had been right. I needed something more than just explosives, and I couldn’t do better than just having a gun like this practically dropped into my hooves.

“Just… making sure again…” My dad spoke up as he nervously trotted back across Scar’s cargo bay, “there is a brain at the front of this thing, right? I’m not crazy?”

“Dad, it’s fine. It’s all going to be fine.” I smiled and patted my hoof on his shoulder, probably doing nothing to sooth the confused anxiety I had already lived through. “Just trust me, relax. Once we get back, we’ll do our best to get you caught up on what’s been going on, and the plan to kill that fucking Saddle Arabian bastard.”

“Caught up!?” He snorted and shoved my hoof off of him. He shook his head, looking at me like he didn’t even know the stallion sitting in front of him. “Are you listening to yourself, Night? You shouldn’t be like this!” Taking a few steps back, he planted his hooves on his head and hyperventilated. This… was new. Dad and I had a rough few days after the news of mom hit, but… he’d never been this far gone. “Celestia, Night, you aren’t a soldier! Why don’t you just leave!? Why is… no, who made all this your job!?”

“You did.” I said flatly, forcing him to stop and blink at me. “When I thought you died, I did everything I had to in order to survive. And I didn’t do it alone.” Snapping my hoof out at Hispano, I growled. “I know all of this is a lot, but Hispano will tell you that everything I’ve done has been to try to stay alive so that I can finish this fight and reclaim the Ark. Which doesn’t mean anything to you, but it fucking means a lot to us!”

“I...” Dad collected himself, stiffening up and raising his voice like he’d done at home when he had something I was supposed to listen to. But, I wasn’t the pony anymore that was going to sit and listen. It was his turn for that.

“No.” I raised my voice over him. “I have lost more than you can fucking know, Dad, and I have fought too hard to keep what little I still have just so you can pull this after I came all this way for you. To save you.”

Heaving, I felt Hispano’s talon come down on my shoulder and squeeze it. Looking over at her, she took a deep breath and nodded to me. She didn’t have to say anything for me to know that I wasn’t Delilah. I couldn’t go on and rant like dad was the naive stallion I used to be.

“Mom died, then you…” I took a deep breath and hung my head. “I know I’m not perfect. I’ve made so many mistakes. But I’ve done what I thought was right, I’ve done my best, Dad.”

“You’ve done more than me.” Dad whimpered as he sat down hard. “You were out there, and this whole time, I didn’t even look.” Tears dripped down onto the metal deck, and his forelegs quivered more than they had in the shootout. “I went back there, where our home was, hoping… that you’d ended up like me. But I never thought…”

My mind recalled when I showed up at where our house had been.

“The picture of us. That was you.” The words slipped from my muzzle as I remember finding the picture of us sitting there on our fridge. And now, more so than when I’d found it, the smiling young stallion in that photo had never seemed further away from reality. “You… did your best, Dad. You always have.”

“No…” He groaned as he let go and cried. “I left you all alone!”

“Well I’m here now.” Hobbling forward, I wrapped my broken leg gently around him. “And I’m not going to lose you again.” Looking back at Hispano, she shared a sad smile, but simply nodded. And as my dad cried in my hooves, as weird as this parental role reversal was to me, in this moment, I was just happy to have him back.

“It’s okay, dad. Everything’s going to be alright.”

Author's Notes:

As always, a huge shoutout to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in getting these chapters nice and prepped to be put up!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for setting up the Fo:E universe!