Okay, so maybe I wasn’t dying.

And while it definitely wasn’t as bad as I‘d made it sound, Jean’s hug did make me feel sore through my talisman. Which, believe me, was impressive in its own right! Goddesses, it was good to see Jean and the others from Destruction Bay again, but I did not miss the hugs. And seriously, was it moose magic or something? How the fuck could someone her size still sneak around with wind chimes in her ears!?

“Hey, quit hogging all the fun!” Banana Bonanza snorted as she pushed her hulking yellow form up off the mattress that was set up in the corner of the clinic’s waiting room. “I want in on the hugging action as well! Come on, little guy…” As much as I remember her being the softer hugger, this wasn’t what I needed to be doing right now...

“Maybe we can give Night some space?” Buck’s soft and lighthearted tone flowing into the room was a lifeline for me to hold onto in this time of need. And like an unnatural force swept through her, as Buck stepped out from one of the patient rooms, Jean released her grasp on me. “While I’m sure he appreciates the kindness, he’s been through quite a lot.”

As I got back to remembering what it felt like to breathe, Hispano put her talons on her hips and looked around the admittedly quiet clinic.

“You know, with all the problems, I thought you’d be busier than this?” She scrunched up her beak with a look at Buck. “Just a couple of days ago it was absolutely packed wall to wall.”

“Yeah… about that…” Banana frowned as she wrapped one of her massive hooves around her neck. “The thing about that is… well, we’re kinda…”

“We have no medicine.” A flat, dull voice spoke up from behind me. Spinning around, I was met with the nearly blank expression of the third of the Destruction Bay group. The dull looking mare still peered out with one eye from under her limp mane, but it was a more tired expression than I remember her having when we left Destruction Bay.

“Well, it’s not like we don’t have any medicine, Hemlock.” Jean tried to interject a bit of hope into a message that was received dead on arrival. Still, Jean reached up and removed her saucer-like metal helmet and held it gently in a hoof. “With the daily shelling, we just… don’t have enough to go around.”

“Did something happen up at Destruction Bay?” I spat out without thinking. “Can’t they just send you more?”

“Well, word came down that there was an explosion in Whitehorse.” Banana sighed, chuffing her hoof at the floor with an even deeper frown. “The mainline railway tunnel there collapsed, and the Road Crew won’t be able to clear and repair it for who knows how long.”

“Wait, an…” I started to say, but manage to literally bite my tongue to shut myself up. The sight of the prismatic megaspell orbs on the horizon the night the Sky Raiders fell played through my head. Fuck, Whitehorse had been one of the targets, hadn’t it?

“We’ve managed to make due though.” Hemlock sighed as even her more normal, blank expression seemed all the more vacant. “Balmy managed to catch a ride down south to some old airbase. He chartered some pilot from Seaddle who knows the route to run us supplies from home once every other week, for now. But even with that helping, we always seem to run low a few days early.”

“You didn’t mention they were a pilot from Seaddle.” Buck’s mechanical ears perked. “Do you have a name? Or at least a description of their plane?” As much as I wanted to believe that the Skycaptain from the Inuvik was helping them out, and as much as I wanted Buck to be happy, I wanted to be realistic in saying that it could have been anyone.

“Sorry, I can’t say.” Hemlock shook her head. “Maybe you can see in a few days when Balmy gets back with them.”

“We’re most likely not going to be here that long.” Buck sighed, but even that still didn’t damper the spark of hope in his eye. “Are you sure there’s nothing you can remember?”

“Well, unfortunately none of us have seen them because they can’t land with all the rubble here.” Banana shrugged as she looked up to Buck curiously. “You should ask the Road Crew. They bring us the supplies from Lake Platinum where the deliveries are made.”

“If the supplies are dropped off on a lake...” Buck’s muzzle split into a smile wider than anything I’ve seen recently outside of our time together in private. “It must be the Skycaptain then!”

“Hold up on that enthusiasm.” Hispano rolled her eyes as she took a seat in a particularly musty smelling floral print chair. “Seaddle had a dozen seaplane pilots last time Dad and I were there. Besides, like you said, it wouldn’t matter if it was her because we’re not staying.”

As much as I agreed with Hispano, and for as annoyed as it was going to make her, I think after everything, Buck deserved a little hope.

“I’m sure it’s her.” I nodded to Buck, feeling the warmth of his beaming smile as he all but vibrated with barely contained joy. “But,” I spoke up sharply, catching the back end of Hispano’s side eye to me, “we just came from the Road Crew camp, where we spoke with Queen Lustre. She said that if we can convince the Cordite crew in East City to stand down, then there won’t be any shelling anymore.”

“That… that should be easy.” Buck struggled to grasp with words as he seemed somewhat torn between looking surprised or overjoyed. “The Chief said that we were owed a Cordite favor, so we could stop the violence! All of it!”

“That was our thinking.” Hispano smirked and crossed her talons. “But it’s not going to be as easy as that.”

“Whatever it is, we can pull it off.” Buck stood up straight and placed a mechanical paw across his chest proudly. His smile and gaze met mine, brightening before he shifted it to Hispano. Her deadpan to him made his smile falter a bit. “What?”

“Right now, the Road Crew ceasefire will only last a week.” Hispano shifted uneasily in her chair as she glanced between Buck and me. “We need to convince both mayors to cancel their contracts, or nothing is going to change.”

“Uh…” Raising my hoof, a thought ran through my mind. “Why are they fighting in the first place?”

“It’s because…” Jean started with a pause before I got to see what a deeply confused moose looked like. “Gee, yah know, I can’t for the life of me say why.”

“Because we’ve always been fighting East City.” The powerful voice of a mare came through the hallway outside the clinic with heavy, thumping hoofsteps. I already knew the voice from my dream, and turned around to watch as Mayor Thunderbolt rounded the corner in her multicolored power armor. Her almost green eyes narrowed, falling on Buck and then down to me as if to study and size us up. She gave an almost dismissive tip of her muzzle as she brushed back her short, electric yellow mane over her ears. “All of us, every single citizen of West City bears scars from Eastern aggression. It is an injustice that must be corrected.”

With a hiss, her power armor plating split apart. The armor opened up, allowing her to step out, which pulled a gasp from both Buck and my muzzle’s. The mayor’s purple body was covered in old, healed scars, but all four of her legs… they just weren’t there. Instead, she walked on four completely bark covered wooden legs. I watched in amazement as she stepped forward, and her wooden legs seemed to bend without stiffness, just like a normal flesh and blood leg would.

“I’m here for my checkup.” The mayor almost snarled, forcing Jean and Banana to shrink back a bit. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to get it over with quickly because I’m quite busy.”

“Of course, Mayor.” Hemlock nodded and held her hoof out toward one of the patient rooms down another hall of the clinic. “This way, if you will.”

The mayor snorted, forcing me to shrink back a bit as she walked past me as well. She tipped her muzzle up in indifference, and ruffled her mane as she passed, like she was above us all. However, as she did, I managed to catch a glimpse of the knotted wood that stuck out just under her mane where her spine was. Seriously, how much wood was in this mare...?

Pausing and blinking, I chuckled to myself. Oh, if Happy was here and I’d said that out loud, I…

Wait a second!

“If she’s here, then where the fuck is Happy?” I blinked and looked up at Buck, who only turned his gaze over to Hispano. Okay, this was not good.

“What?” She shared a shrug. “He promised me that he’d stay with the mayor! Don’t look at me like it’s my fault!”

“And you trusted him!?” I grunted. Goddesses, what sort of trouble was he going to have…

“Pft, typical.” Happy’s voice came in from just outside the door. “Even after all that shit about being my friend, you still don’t trust me, Night.”

Turning the corner, he shot a glare at me that I knew I didn’t deserve. Stepping into the room, he walked with a normal cadence while wearing his leather jacket and sword. With a raise of his forehoof, he beamed with pride as he showed off a new wooden leg that matched the mayor’s.

“The mayor took me to see the Doc, and she fixed me up, good as new.” He smirked, inspecting it’s bark coated appearance before shooting a sideways glance at me. “Seems like some ponies out there still actually help others in need. Something you’ll understand soon enough.”

“Oh quit with the melodrama.” Hispano groaned as she pushed herself out of her seat. “If you’re just going to stand there and berate Night, then maybe you should find something else to do.” Seriously, not that I needed defending, I was happy to have Hispano back to her mostly, old self.

“You know, you’re right.” Happy leaned against the doorway with a shrug. “I mean, now that Solomon’s dead... oh wait, he’s not because you let him go.” Oh for fucks sake…

“Happy, if you’re not here to help...” I snapped at him and pointed my hoof back toward the stairwell. “Then go wait on the Arcturus and quit being a fucking ass.”

“Yeah no, fuck you, Night.” Again, he shrugged.

I was beginning to remember exactly why Delilah had wanted to leave him up in Cantercross.

“Happy. Go to the Arcturus. Now.” I snapped at him. “Don’t feel so confident that I can’t make you do it. You’ve got a fancy new leg, great. That won’t help when I tell Buck to give you enough sedatives to keep you down for the rest of the trip.”

That wiped the smirk from his muzzle.

“Ugh, fine. I hope you fucking die.” He growled and sharply pushed himself off the doorway.

I waited until his hoofsteps were far enough off that I was sure he was out of earshot before letting out a long sigh and sitting down hard. Goddesses, I thought we’d gotten past all this shit! Why the fuck did he just suddenly go back to being an immature asshole? Whatever, I just needed to sit down with him and have yet another talk that hopefully wouldn’t devolve into a shouting match like last time.

I shuddered as I felt Hispano’s talon come down lightly on my shoulder.

“It’s not your fault, Night.” Hispano’s kind words helped, but they were a fresh bandage on an open wound. A start, but not nearly enough to fix it. “He’s a grown fucking stallion older than all three of us, you shouldn’t have to treat him like a foal.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Buck crossed his mechanical paws as he frowned.

“He’s afraid.” Banana said bluntly. The three of us looked at Banana, who seemed out of it for a moment. With her own blink, she flashed a nervous smile across her muzzle. “What?”

“What do you mean he’s afraid?” I asked. If she had any insight on how to deal with that insufferable mule, at this point, I’d take it.

“While it’s not the whole problem, part of it is wartime stress disorder. I’ve… seen it plenty of times already, in the younger colts and fillies that are brought in.” She shivered and shrunk down on her hooves. “The depression, the sudden bouts of anger, irritability, and irrationality? Just looking at him, beneath all the attitude he put forward, I can see all those things, and they point to being WSD.”

“I thought that too at first, but the loss of Happy’s leg doesn’t seem to bother him.” Buck shook his head as he used a digit to scratch at the end of his muzzle. “He hasn’t complained about having nightmares, or that he’s suffering from extreme panic attacks. So I’m not sure I agree with your diagnosis.”

“Most suffering from WSD, don’t report the more personal symptoms.” Jean brought her helmet up over her heart and hung her head. “Banana’s right. While it’s hidden pretty deep, you can read it all over him. Did you see the way he showed off that leg? He’s convinced himself that he’s fixed, that things will be normal again when they’ll never be that way. And when he ends up realizing that, he’s going to completely break down.” With a whimper, she brought her helmet up and put it on slowly. “I know that he may not want to admit it, but he’s hurting inside. He needs help, for you all to be there for him.”

My first thought was to say fuck that, and to let him suffer for once.

But… I can’t. It’s not even about me promising Lustre that I’d watch over him, or that I would feel like I was letting down Delilah by turning my back on him. It was worse than that because Happy… he was my family too.

“Alright, well, let’s go have a talk with Cordite, and then we’ll have a talk with Happy.” Looking over at Hispano, I got a firm nod from her. Buck however, flashed me a nervous smile before reaching up and anxiously ruffling his neck fur. “Is something wrong, Buck?”

“Well, we might have to make a stop back home. That, or, you know what? Let’s just not get into a fight…” He cringed as he brought his paws together, softly tenting his digits in the air in front of him. “Because I uh… don’t have anymore supplies to patch you up with.”

“How is that possible?” Hispano deadpanned hard enough that both Jean and Banana shrunk back even further yet. “You practically carry a whole fucking hospital in those fancy arms!”

“Because ah…” Banana muttered anxiously.

“Yah see, it’s so gosh darn funny that yah’d ask…” Jean muttered as well.

“You gave it away.” I nodded. It wasn’t that I was disappointed, far from it in fact. I know that the supplies will be put it to good use. It’s just, I was most definitely not going to think that the next time I got shot. “It’s fine, we’ll avoid fighting.” That pulled a sharp laugh from Hispano. “Hey, we’ve already met the mayor of East City, right? He seemed pretty agreeable to me!”

“While he’s a whole different ordeal, you shouldn’t worry about him right now.” Banana stiffened up and rubbed nervously at her neck. “If I were you, I’d worry about that nut-job alicorn ‘Increadimare’ who guards the no mare’s land between the cities.”

“Ugh, her.” Hispano groaned and dragged her talons down her face.

“Excuse me, did you say Increadimare?” Buck’s question caught me off guard. “As in, the old world comic book hero?”

“That’s her.” Banana nodded, for some reason pulling a look of dread from Buck. “You know about her? Er, the mare she’s impersonating?”

“Well, not so much, no.” Buck cringed as he offered only a glance over to me. From the way he blushed and shrunk back further, I could only guess he was embarrassed about something. “My younger brother, Jack, he was really into those comics as a pup. Increadimare, Shadow Spade, Silver Shroud, Captain Andromeda, you name it, he loved their stories.”

“Wait, ‘Comic’ Jack was your brother?” Hispano smirked and crossed her talons.

“You’ve met him?” Buck’s apprehensive tone gave me pause. Why did he act like that wasn’t a good thing? Then again, with how she was back on the Inuvik, I’m not sure meeting Hispano would have ever been as... casual as it was for me.

“I mean, I’ve never seen anyone more obsessed with old world foal stories than him.” She shrugged and glanced over to me. “He hired me for a quick job the day Night and the Convoy arrived. Wanted me to steal issue number nine from somepony else so he could complete his collection.”

“What!? Steal!?” Buck gasped. Heavy metal clanks accompanied his paws coming up and squeezing at the sides of his metal braincase. “That… that’s not like Jack! He’d never…” Buck paused as he narrowed his eyes at Hispano. However, she simply shrugged again, pulling a low, static filled growl from Buck’s throat. “Grrr, I guess I’ll have to have a talk with him once we get down there...”

“Getting back to the topic at hoof…” I offered. Not that I didn’t enjoy learning more about Buck’s family and what Hispano was doing before I met her, but we still needed to do our job. “Is there anything you know about this ‘Increadimare’ that can help us?”

“Well…” Buck’s mechanical paw scritched at his metal jaw as he thought to himself. “Honestly, I don’t recall much from the comics Jack got me to read. It was because she was just so cliched as the perfect hero archetype.” Shrugging he sat on his haunches and frowned at me. “I mean, I found the main villain, Doc Vile, much more well thought out and written. She was the only reason I read as much as I did...”

“You mean Doctor Clouded Vial? The cybernetically enhanced pegasus scientist with the tragic backstory and the genetically mutated monster sidekick she’s madly in love with?” Hispano spat out with a smirk before letting out the loudest gasp in the world. “OH FUCK! Is that the reason why you love Night so much!?”

“No, that’s… that’s not it at all!” Buck’s own gasp of horror made me blink as my mind connected the dots that eerily fit together a bit too well. “I-I mean, I loved Night before he got his implants. It isn’t because of some silly foal’s story I read as a pup! That’s absolutely ridiculous.” With that, a look of abject horror fell across his face. “Goddesses… did that lead me…? Maybe some sort of subconscious bias…?”

The burning blush across his face told me that there was more truth to Hispano’s words than he would ever be willing to admit. It was definitely a can of worms that I’d have to explore further in private, but there was something here I’d almost missed an opportunity to jump on. Something that ruffled Hispano’s plumage as she prepared herself for the question that was about to come out of my muzzle.

“Did you read those comics too, Hispano?” While I normally wouldn’t care to be as blunt as this, this time, I let my words slap her across the face.

“Pft, no.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Only losers read Ol’ Bookbeak’s cruddy comic collection.” Both the flat stare I gave her, as well as the one from Buck, convinced her to drop the obvious act. “Fine. Yes, I read them, but only because ‘Claw is incredibly boring when training isn’t going on and all the wings are deployed on jobs! You’re not the only one who happens to be entertained by ‘larger than life’ mares, Night...” Wait, did she mean...

“Hey, attack of the fifty foot mare is a cinema classic!” I spat out. “You can hate the movie, but even you have to agree that Lilac Lace was the perfect actress for the part!”

“Nothing against your ‘perfect’ miss Lace,” Hispano rolled her eyes at me and folded her talons over herself. “But until the fifty foot mare measures up to the countless feats of Increadimare, I think I’ll settle for a real superhero. Even if it is just some crazy alicorn...”

“Not to break this up, but do you have any insight on this alicorn, Hispano?” Buck sighed and palmed his paw down his face to try and hide the still burning blush he wore.

“Well, like you said, she’s incredibly cliche, always making a last minute split second decision that saves the day.” She bit her beak for a moment as her eyes wandered over Buck and I. “And… unfortunately that means I’m certain she’s going to think you two really are Doc Vile and Mutant V13.”

“Well then!” Jean gasped and gave an excited light hop which I could feel through the floor. “You’ll just have to prove her wrong, and show her just who yah really are!” I winced as once more a large hoof wrapped around me and pulled me into a tight hug. “Besides, with all the good deeds the three of yah have done, it makes yah pretty much real life superheroes, don’cha know!”

Oh, we were definitely going to get into a fight with her, weren’t we?

You know, it would have been a fairly impressive sight had I not seen so many walls on this trip already.

As the three of us approached a check-pointed tunnel that led through the wall itself, I couldn’t help but look up at those defending the city dividing wall. They were in as rough condition as any of the other ponies in the city, with one small exception. Every single pony on guard here had at least one of their limbs replaced with one of those wooden prosthetics.

The tunnel itself looked purposefully built into the wall, and held a sturdy and imposing ribbed design. It was probably meant to withstand any number of direct blasts during an attack, and it was only large enough so that one Road Crew or Cordite vehicle could fit through at a time. The pair of heavy caliber weapons emplacements looking down into the old tunnel weren’t as impressive as the cannons Pentex had, but I’m sure they were big enough to make anypony think twice about coming through for an attack.

“Hold up.” A stallion in combat gear and a metal helmet that sat lower than his eyes trotted up to us from the tunnel’s entrance. Besides the scuffed and worn combat armor he wore, he had a rusted combat rifle slung to his side where both his wooden front legs could easily get to in a hurry. “This is a restricted area for West City citizens. I’m going to have to ask you to turn around and head back. It’s not safe out near the wall.”

“We’re not with the city.” I glanced up at Buck, and then over to Hispano. I don’t know what kind of other races were here in the city, but I hadn’t seen any other Snow Dogs or Griffons yet. Still, maybe it was simply a formality to state that. “I hope you…”

“Not with West City!?” The Stallion gasped and drew his rifle, pointing it right at me and prompting Hispano to pull Baby out from it’s holster. “You’re fucking East City spies!”

“We’re outsiders.” Buck’s tone lowered with a growl that I swear almost rattled the old combat rifle out of the stallion’s wooden hooves. “We are here to help solve your city’s conflict, so I suggest you lower your weapon, and move aside.”

“Here to… solve?” The stallion took a shaky step back. He lost his hoofing for a moment, almost tumbling onto his flank, but managed to catch himself on his hocks before doing just that. “I see. Then you must be here to help West City win the fight! Yes, it all makes sense now!”

“That’s…” I began to say, but paused as Hispano caught my attention with a burning glare. “...why we’re here!” She nodded to the wall and gave a small nod that sent me a message, loud and clear. “Yes, one hundred percent our job.” While that pulled a sigh of relief from Hispano, it earned me one hell of a disapproving glance from Buck. “Now if you’ll excuse us…”

“Of course, ma’am!” The soldier nodded and scrambled to move aside. “Just remember that all checkpoints close to travelers at sundown. Be sure to return by then.” With a stiff raise of one of his wooden hooves, he clonked it against his metal helmet as he brought it into a stiff salute. “Good luck, ma’am. West City is counting on you!”

Offering my own lazy salute, I stepped past the stallion. I mean, it wasn’t really a lie or anything, we were going to help the city. Plus, this isn’t even our problem, and yet here I am trying to help. At least this time Hispano doesn’t seem to mind that fact.

“Did either of you two happen to notice something weird about the wall guards?” Hispano offered as she hovered up next to me, lazily flapping her wings as the three of us entered the concrete tunnel.

“All of them have wooden prosthetics.” Buck nodded and slightly lowered his staticy voice. “I wonder how they work, or who creates them.”

“That’d be the ‘miracle healer’ I’d mentioned earlier.” Hispano shrugged as she slightly pushed herself ahead of Buck and I. Flipping herself over, she hovered on her back with a concerned look across her beak. “But the soldiers of both sides almost exclusively have them. I hadn’t noticed it until Night and I were on our ride through town, but… why only the city guards? Why not help everypony?”

“Perhaps…” Buck began but paused in thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s for the same reason that the Destruction Bay Volunteers can only do so much. It could be too resource intensive for them to effectively treat so many, so they prioritize based on what job the ponies hold.” That would make sense. Defenders would be fairly high on the hierarchy of needing to stay mobile...

“I don’t think it’s an issue about resources.” Hispano frowned and glanced over to me. “When I did a quick flyby of her facility, it wasn’t more than a small, unassuming bunker in the woods. I mean, I hate to bring it up Night, but I really got the feeling that this is another one of those kind of bunkers.”

“You think it’s the same sort of thing like what was up in Cannon City?” I shuddered midstep just thinking about that place again. I’m sorry, but getting yet another memory alteration talisman in my head was a big no thank you in my book. “Well, we’ll just have to stay away from any large turrets this time.”

“Actually, I didn’t see one.” Hispano’s tone shared my feelings that it was both a comfort and a concern that we wouldn’t have to deal with that again. “But…” She sighed and slowed her flight, flipping herself around to where she landed on her rear paws again. “There’s some really weird plants around that place. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

“Plants?” Buck perked up at that. “Huh, now you’ve really piqued my...!” With a pause, his ears folded, and he let out a long sigh. “Right, all of my research and records were on Bertha when she went.”

Stepping out from the far end of the tunnel and back into the sunlight, I took a look around. Like it’s namesake, this place really was a no-mare’s land. Rocky, uneven snow covered the ground that didn’t have a single speck of green. The thin strip of land that both walls guarded wasn’t completely empty however. Little yellow road crew flags extended out from each of the tunnels in the wall, running in straight lines that connected the tunnel ends in both cities. The only other thing that broke up the flat nothingness here, were the concrete pylons that held up the old Highway that stretched across the sky far above even the height of the walls.

“So, just so the both of you are aware,” Hispano cleared her throat with an unsettling note of concern in it. “please keep your paws and hooves inside the flagged lines as we cross.”

“Surely they wouldn’t shoot us for stepping outside them.” Buck chuckled, forcing a grumble from Hisapno. “There’s not even anything out here anyway.”

“No, of course not. Nopony’s supposed to be out here.” Hispano growled. “Besides, why would they waste bullets when the magnetic mines will be sure to blast you to bits.”

“I… see your point.” Buck stiffened up and pulled his mechanical paws to his sides. “Stick to the center, understood.”

A light whistling picked up through the air. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to get me to stop. Looking up, I managed to get a peek at a large shape speeding downward toward us.

Before I could even open my muzzle, the large green alicorn came down hard onto the snow-covered soil. She didn’t crash, rather, she came down on all fours hard enough that the air pressure alone was enough to clear a small circle of snow from under her. But rather than try to figure out how she hadn’t broken all of her legs with a landing like that, I was busy looking at something else that didn’t make sense.

A glowing, crackling yellow magical field wrapped around the mare in the shape of a skin tight outfit. It covered most of her body, only leaving her expansive wings and a V shaped portion of her green chest open. Sitting over her eyes and just under her long pronounced horn, was a similar magical field that obscured her eyes from us. Large glowing white ovals sat over where her eyes would be, which were surprisingly expressive as they narrowed into a sharp glare that she leveled at the three of us.

“Doc Vile, I should have known it was only a matter of time before your brand of filth came crawling back into the light!” Her voice was as loud as a megaphone, and I had to wrestle my own urge to cover my ears up. “Ah, and V13 as well! Good to see that you will make it easy for me to put an end to whatever plot you two are sure to have!”

“We are not who you assume we are.” Buck stepped forward, lifting his paws slowly and defensively to her. “We are travelers from out of town who seek nothing more than to stop the senseless fighting between…”

Buck’s voice was beat out by Increadimare’s as she belted out a stiff laugh.

“You expect me to believe your lies?” She snorted and stiffened her stance, looking over Buck with a healthy smirk across her toothy muzzle. “I am disappointed, V13. After all our battles, that you would assume I would fall for such a foalish deception is amateurish at best!”

“Then perhaps you’ll believe me when I tell you that Buck is telling you the truth.” I’ve put on an act too many times to not see an opportunity here to try to see just how far she was willing to take her ‘character’. “Look, I don’t know what it is you want, but we’re trying to stop these two cities from destroying each other. You can either keep up this superhero act, or you can help us.”

“Help you? Why would I ever make that mistake when you two are clearly the ones in need of help!” Again, she belted out another impressively loud laugh. “The light of goodness shines inside all ponykind, and I work to bring justice to ponies who have been so wronged by those who have forgotten that!”

“Here we go…” Hispano groaned and slapped her talon across her face.

“For it is I, Increadimare, who shall put an end your nefarious plans, Doc Vile!” The large alicorn flared her wings out as far as she could, and a glowing aura of magic enveloped her. She shone with a radiance that nearly matched the sun, and it forced the three of us to shield our eyes. “I am incorruptible, and you, Doctor, should be smart enough to know that. Now, why don’t you make it easy and just surrender? I’m sure the mayor can arrange a comfortable cell for the two of you where you can contemplate how many lives your numerous crimes have ruined!”

“This has gone far enough, don’t you think?” Buck called up to her, but his words didn’t seem to get to her at all.

“I uh… don’t think she’s acting.” I muttered under my breath. “I think she really does believe she’s Increadimare.” Well, that’s… unfortunate.

“Wait!” Hispano squawked and shot into the air, spreading herself out as she placed her body in between Increadimare and Buck and I. “I know you don’t trust them, but they really are trying to save the city!”

“Impossible! You must be mistaken, or worse, believe their nefarious lies.” Increadimare snapped back. “These two only know evil, and they must be brought to justice! I am sorry if you have bought into whatever plans they have in motion, but I will allow you this chance to leave before you get further involved!” She gave a heavy flap of her wings, pushing herself further into the air as her horn again charged with magic. “If you choose to stay however, I promise you that you will share the same cell as these two.”

“No!” Hispano snapped and again placed herself between us. “Do you remember the time you, Silver Shroud, and Filly Second saved Gallop City from General Zaxx’s invasion?”

“Of course I do, but that is irrelevant…” Increadimare gave off a short lived laugh as she again tried to move.

“It’s far from irrelevant!” Hispano shouted over her as she mirrored the mare’s movements again. “Who was it that you relied on in the team that helped you to bring down the magical field barriers around the confinement camps? Who was it that helped you to sabotage the arcane either generators for his doomsday weapon!”

First of all, more than a part of me was really glad that Hispano was here. Second, I think she may have played her time reading comics off a bit lighter than she’d insinuated before. Still, thank Celestia that she was a bigger foal at heart than she liked to let on!

“It was… Doc Vile, of course.” Increadimare snarled, but dimmed her horn and body enough that the three of us could at least stop shielding ourselves from her radiance. “But both she and V13 had previously allied with the General, and only turned to us for help because…”

“Because destroying the city served no pony’s interests.” Hispano again spoke up over the large mare. “Now take a look at them again and tell me, if they are trying to save these two cities, that there isn’t something bigger going on here.”

“You… may be correct.” With a stiff few flaps from her enormous wings, Increadimare came back down to the ground. However, as her glow faded completely, she leveled her glare not at Buck or I, but solely on Hispano. “I will tolerate their presence only so long as they do not step one HOOFSTEP out of line. That is already far more lenient than I should be with the likes of those two. For despite whatever nefarious plans they may be scheming to hatch, I will be there to stop them every time. Because justice…!”

“Will always prevail! Yeah, I got it the first few thousand times in the comics.” Hispano groaned and flapped her wings. She gave a stiff wave for Buck and I to follow her as she hovered forward and past the obnoxious alicorn. “What we need you to do is to help us convince the mayors to break their contracts and stop the shelling once and for all.”

“That is… not possible.” Increadimare sighed. She lowered her head, and let her wings hang at her side as a dejected look crossed her face. “I have tried to convince them, but ever since the day of clearing months ago, they seem more resolute than ever to tear each other’s cities down.”

“Since the clouds came down?” I asked as the small pegasis in my own head kicked a question straight out of my muzzle. “Why? What about the clouds clearing made them feel like they needed to take up a more aggressive posture?”

Something about that didn’t sit right with me. While I knew I was still missing a lot here, I felt like I was missing something incredibly obvious. While I was glad this feeling in my gut gnawed at me, I couldn’t help but wish that I had a lil’ Delilah in my head to knock some observational sense into me sometimes.

“Who knows?” Hispano shrugged as she hovered and waved impatiently for us to follow. “But we’ll never find out if we don’t actually talk with the Mayor and Cordite. So quit burning daylight and come on!”

“Hah!” The large tan dragon spit out a gout of green flame as he laughed. It lit up the dark captain’s office of the old city police station, highlighting the stacks of old files and records strewn about the small square room. Mayor Sheriff may not have been as big as Lustre or Tephra, but he certainly wasn’t any less intimidating. “A ceasefire is one thing, but to surrender? To West City!? You must be joking!”

But unlike a few months ago, now, I knew how to handle talking to a dragon.

“It’s not surrendering, you’re both going back to not shooting at each other every day. That’s all.” I sighed and facehooved hard against my muzzle. Why couldn’t they understand that this was just a small step towards resolving their conflict?

“Sure, that’s how it starts.” The sheriff snorted and brought a large claw up to scratch at his wooden horns. “But after a while, we’ll get used to the quiet. We may even entertain the idea of rebuilding. And before you know it, that becomes the new normal.”

“And what’s so bad about…” I tried to speak, but watched as my words made his reptile like eyes narrow into angry burning slits.

“Because that’s when they’ll strike!” He roared out, slamming his clenched claw down onto his desk hard enough that it outright broke in half and collapsed onto the floor. “You’re asking us to sacrifice innocent lives to the West on some promise of peace they have no intention of keeping!”

“But you don’t know that!” Buck fired back, sharply jabbing his paw at the huffing dragon. “You can’t know that for sure!”

“Sure I can.” With a flick of his scaled claws, Sheriff easily brushed his desk aside and leaned forward. “Mayors of West City have come and gone, but I have always been the mayor of my city. And through every successive generation of Thunderbolt’s family, they have always sought to keep their abundant riches with their magical fabricator, and to take what little the East has for the West’s own gain.” The thick smoke trailing from the edges of his toothy maw poured out and over my hooves as he locked his eyes right on Buck’s. “The uneasy peace we had never changed that fact. The last few months are all the proof you need that Mayor Thunderbolt intends to take East City once and for all!”

“On that,” I stepped up, forcing the dragon to turn his head to me. “Why now? What changed the day that the clouds came down?”

“Why don’t you ask her? The mayor of West City?” He snorted and sat back with a smirk. “I’m sure Thunderbolt will tell you exactly what I’ve told you, and that is that she intends to take everything East City has for herself.”

“Something still doesn’t make sense.” Hispano chirped as she leaned against the doorway to the small office. “You two want to duke it out over each other’s pile of rubble, fine. But you’re a fool if you’re going all in without a way to win this war.” She pushed herself back onto her paws, narrowing her eyes as she studied the dragon’s face. “You’re far too confident in yourself to not have something planned, to have some advantage over West City.” That was a bold assumption to make, but I can’t deny that I was at least a little bit surprised when the dragon in front of me simply smiled at that. “So then, what is it?”

“You would like to know, wouldn’t you?” He chuckled, sending out puffs of smoke that slapped both Buck and I directly in the face. “So you could go running off to the Mayor of West City and tell her exactly how to defeat me? Ha! You will get no answer from me.”

“We aren’t choosing sides here!” I spat out without thinking.

“Yes, we are, Night.” Hispano growled and shot me a sideways glare as she turned herself toward Buck. “Mr. Sheriff, we have a wartime cloudship with a veritable arsenal of missiles onboard. What we are here to do is size up which City deserves to be the side that prevails.” What the fuck was she talking about!? This wasn’t at all what we came here to do! “So we simply need to know if you’re worth spending the resources on to secure your victory when the time comes.”

“Hispano!” Buck snapped at her. “Night, what is she doing!? Is this something she mentioned to you!?” His voice resonated right into my mind.

“No, but I think she has an idea.” I thought back at him. “We have to trust her on this, Buck. Let’s see where this goes.” Stiffening up, I tried my best to force an aggravated tone out from my muzzle. So it was down to even more acting, my favorite thing to do around entitled and stubborn leaders. Might as well make this believable. “What my Talon so bluntly explained is correct. We’re here to size you up, so I suggest that if you want our help, you tell us why exactly we should guarantee East City’s victory over the West.”

“I don’t like this, Night.” Buck’s sigh came through my mind, and I couldn’t help but sigh with him. “This is too risky. If he thinks we’ll back him with overwhelming force, he may attack West City outright rather than buy us time to do anything helpful.” He was right, so we had to play this carefully.

“Our advantage then…” The Mayor smirked and somewhat relaxed against the cluttered wall behind him. “A few months ago, the day after the clouds cleared, I received a generous offer from Doctor Chirality, which I accepted.” Reaching up, he gave a sharp flick at the wooden horns growing out of his head. “She donated hundreds of her limb replacements to the soldiers of East City, helping my wounded soldiers recover, and replenishing our numbers to the point that we must at least double the fighting size of West City’s forces by now.”

“But that’s what Thunderbolt said to Happy and I…” Hispano scrunched up her beak as she looked at me. “She’s playing both sides? Why?”

“Impossible.” Sheriff snarled and gave a dismissive wave of his claw at us. “Chirality has pledged to help only East City with her unique prosthetics. You should know, as your companion came through earlier to get one of his own from her. The first to receive one who wasn’t part of my guard ranks. I have no reason to question her loyalty, and I will not entertain the speculation that she is anything less than honorable in her intentions.”

“Obviously, this ‘Doctor Chirality’ has something to do with all of this.” Buck’s voice resonated through my head.

“True, but what does she have to gain from East and West city going to war?” I thought back. “Mayor Sheriff said she donated the limbs, so it can’t be for money. So why then?” Something in my gut said that even if it was about the money, there’s still something deeper she wanted by playing both sides. “I have an idea.”

“I would like to speak with this ‘doctor’, if you don’t mind.” I spoke up. My words forced Sheriff’s scaled muzzle to twist into a long frown, and I watched as he leveled a more than suspicious glare at me.

“No. The doctor is busy with her work.” He gave a stiffer dismissive wave at me, but I could tell I’d hit a nerve with that. Now I definitely needed to have a little chat with her. “She doesn’t need visitors distracting her from ensuring that my ponies will be strong enough to win the day in the coming battle.”

“If I may, how is that fair to us?” Buck surprised me by taking a step forward as he spoke. His mechanical paw rotated and extended out to my prosthetic leg expectantly. “You have seen how Night here has suffered from injuries similar to those your own soldiers have had. Surely you would not deny an ally the same treatment your own soldiers are receiving. Especially not to an ally who will undoubtedly and wholeheartedly endorse the fine city which provided it to him on our journey south.”

“Oh Buck, I could kiss you so hard right now!”

“I expect you to do much more than that to me later.” Buck thought back to me as an ever brightening blush grew across my face. Oh Celestia, I hadn’t meant to actually think that at him!

“Very well.” Mayor Sheriff snorted, sending a plume of smoke rolling across the old ceiling. “You must head East into the forest to find her, and follow the path laid out to the bamboo gardens. There you will find Monk. He will guide you to Chirality’s laboratory.”

“Alright, we’ll do that.” I nodded to him, pausing as he looked over my blushing muzzle for a moment. He cocked an eyebrow before glancing over at Buck, which was about when I realized he was blushing about as brightly as I was. “But uh…” I tried to force the awkwardness away with my words, because you know, that always worked. “first we’ll be stopping in to see Cordite.”

“Yes, I will need them to ready themselves for the opening salvo.” Mayor Sheriff nodded and pointed to the door. “That is, once your ship is prepared to join in on the attack. I would hope that wouldn’t take too long to get in order.”

“No, not at all.” I answered without thinking.

“A day.” Hispano squawked out loudly. “We wouldn’t want to leave anything to chance, so we will prepare multiple salvos for you. By this time tomorrow, we will be ready.”

“Excellent.” Sheriff brought his claws together as an all-too toothy smile spread across his muzzle. “Then tomorrow, we will bring Mayor Thunderbolt and West City to their very knees!”

“I don’t like this, Night.” Buck’s apprehension to this was undoubtedly shared with Hispano, and he’d get no argument from me on that either.

Walking through the tents that clustered around the heart of the ruins of East City, I could almost believe we hadn’t even left West City. Both sides seemed to be stuck right in the same conditions, with a few central buildings left standing, and all of the unfortunate citizens left to fend for themselves on the outskirts. Ponies with missing limbs, bandaged wounds, and emaciated bodies watched us as we walked, but kept their distance once they caught a glance at Buck. Even with his white cloak covering him, I’m sure they knew that berating us as we passed like the ponies in West City did, wouldn’t win them any favors.

“Well, we’ve got a day to work with.” I nodded to him, glancing over at Hispano. “So long as this doctor can give us some real answers, then maybe we can figure out just what’s really going on here.”

“You mean if she gives us any answers.” Hispano sighed as she hovered along ahead of Buck and I. “Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think that both Mayors are working with the Doctor, but I still don’t know to what end.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked. While both of them were acting like stubborn asses, and both had obviously gotten help for their soldiers, nothing seemed to suggest that all three of them were working together.

“I… don’t know.” She shrugged as she shared an uncharacteristically concerned expression with both Buck and I. “I just feel like they’re the ones causing all of East and West city’s problems.”

“Well I’ll be!” Buck chuckled, reaching up under his hooded robe and rubbing at the metal yoke around his neck. “If it isn’t miss ‘you can’t go around helping everypony who asks’ finally wanting to do just that.”

“No, you misunder… ugh, it’s not like that!” Hispano blushed and quickly flipped herself over, giving Buck a different kind of bird to look at. “I just detest assholes who use mercenaries to do all the heavy lifting, as well as to indiscriminately kill.” At least she flashed up a smile as she rolled her eyes. “But I mean come on! You have to agree that something weird is going on here.”

“You’ll get no arguments from either Night or I!” Buck laughed again as he turned to me. “Right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded as my muzzle pulled in to a smirk. “Besides, Hispano, I’m sure that while whatever is going on here would have thrown itself in our face eventually, I would never have gone so far as accusing you of caring about helping others.”

“Oh fuck you!” She snorted as her smile widened and shared yet another bird with me this time. “I…”

KLANG!

The frantic shouting of panicking ghouls followed a horrendous metal ringing and screaming from ahead of us. The noise and activity ripped our attention from each other, and we all picked up the pace. Past the barricades that surrounded the Cordite camp, we stopped and watched as dozens of tankers rushed to the front of a central, massive self propelled artillery tank.

A crane looked to have been used to hoist up a cannon barrel that looked like it would have been more at home on a naval ship than a tank. However, whatever chains they’d used had broken, dropping the barrel back down onto the tank, and from the looks of it, right onto one of the crew ponies. The tanker ghouls crowding around the massive boxy green tank gave groans of frustration as it quickly became clear that the pony still trapped under it wasn’t going anywhere.

“Step back!” Buck called out to the ghouls as he all but charged ahead of us. With heavy stomps through the mudded ground, he approached as the crowd parted. Without an ounce of hesitation, Buck made his way to the front of the tank, and placed his paws underneath where the massive cannon sat across the hull.

“It’s useless! Full Bore is a goner.” One of the ghouls in the crowd called out to him with an accent not to far off from Captain Poppy’s. “The B13 weighs twelve tons, you couldn’t possibly...”

Buck gave out a roaring yell, cutting off the ghoul and amazingly, forcing the barrel up off of the hull. From here, I could hear as the mechanical parts in his paws and legs strained, and I couldn’t help but stand there and watch in silent awe. And from how everypony else stopped moving, neither could they.

“Fucking fine!” Hispano groaned as she swooped down towards the tank. “If nopony else is going to pull him out, I’ll do it myself!” She grunted as she landed on the boxy tank and quickly pulled the still screaming injured stallion out from under the end of the barrel. “Clear!”

Buck gave out another hefty roar as he let go of the barrel. Stepping aside just in the nick of time, he avoided the barrel as it dropped back onto the tank with another loud ringing klang. Then as if time itself had resumed from some sort of pause, the ghouls around us whipped into a frenzy. They tore the injured stallion from Hispano’s grip and rushed him over to one of the nearby tents.

Buck took a single step towards the tent before a bulky and fairly intact Cordite ghoul stepped in front of him and held out a hoof.

“I don’t know who you are, but that was bloody reckless, and just about the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen a stranger do!” He shouted with the same voice as the one who had declared his comrade a ‘goner’. He was an earth pony with a soft olive colored coat that nearly matched the old fatigues he wore, and a few strands left of what was once a crimson colored mane poked out from under his tankers helmet. “I for one don’t know why in tartarus you would do something so outright foalish!” With a heaving grunt, he stomped his hoof down into the mud. “But either way, I owe you a debt of gratitude for saving my driver’s life, so you have earned my respect.”

“He’s not out of the woods yet.” Buck grunted, taking a single step around the pony, but was stopped short as the ghoul again moved in front of him. “I’m a doctor, I can make sure he pulls through, but only if you allow me to.”

“With all due respect, I have no idea who the three of you are, or why you’re here.” The ghoul snorted and glanced to the three of us. “This camp is a restricted area, and East City civilians aren’t allowed in here.”

“Then tell me,” With a tug of his robes, Buck stripped and let the afternoon sun shine off his metal limbs. Leaning forward, he let out a low growl that forced the ghoul to take a step back. “Do we look like we’re from East City?”

“Wait, you…” He paused as a look of shock washed over him. His eyes hopped from Buck over to Hispano, and then to me. “You three are the chaps who helped out the Chief!”

“Good, you understand.” Buck snorted and reached out with his paws, easily gripping around the surprised ghoul. With a single swift motion, he picked the ghoul up, and then set him aside in front of me. “Then you’ll forgive me when I say you need to stay out of my way and let me save your crewpony.” With quick, heavy stomps, Buck headed off toward the tent that all of the other ghouls had crowded around.

“Don’t worry, Buck will take good care of your friend in there.” I spoke up as I approached the still somewhat bewildered ghoul. “My name is Night Flight, and I need to speak to whoever is in charge up here.”

“Charge? Why yes, that’s me!” The ghoul shook off his confusion as he spun around to me. With a stiff swing of his hoof, he raised it into a salute and locked his ruby red eyes on me with a smile. “Captain Bitter Charge, of her late Majesty's fourth Royal Armored Regiment!” With another stiff movement, he brought his hoof down and extended it to me excitedly. “We’ve only recently received word on your exploits in helping Cordite exterminate those Pentex hooligans up north. If only you’d gotten the ones who passed through here days ago. But alas, I suppose you’ll find time to get them yet! Captain Gardner speaks very highly of you and your crew, Miss Survivor.”

“Yeah, not as ‘once and for all’ as we’d hoped with Pentex, but it’s good to know that at least someone knows us down here!” Hispano snorted as she landed next to me and wrapped her wing around me to pull me close. “I was beginning to fear that we’d started to outrun our reputation!” Yes, because that certainly wouldn’t be a good thing right now, Hispano.

Honestly, I hope that there will come a day that we meet up with somepony who has no clue who any of us are, and doesn’t try to kill us because of what we’ve done...

“While I’m sure the other crews would love to get to know you better, I’m quite certain that you’ve arrived with more to do in mind than recount the battle of Bunker Valley!” Captain Charge let out a chuckle before reaching back and pulling out an old wooden box from his pocket. With a flick of his forehoof, he opened it and pulled out a pipe that wasn’t all that different from the one Poppy was always smoking. “The Chief has cleared all Cordite commanders to accommodate any request you may have, and I will gladly put her in touch with you if you so wish.”

“That would be great,” I offered him a somewhat nervous smile, “because what we’re going to ask of Cordite is going to stretch the generosity of the Chief’s offer.”

“That’s a hefty request indeed.” The Chief’s static filled voice sounded as hesitant as I’d expected for my request, but I was confident that she would honor it. “I’m sorry, but if they have a contract, I can’t break it. Only the Mayor can call it off.” Oh for the love of…

“You know,” Hisapno cooed as she ripped the radio hoofset from Captain Charge’s hooves. “that’s exactly what Queen Lustre of the Road Crew said. But you’re going to break that contract, Chief, and I’ll tell you why.” She paused as a collective gasp came from the tanker ghouls who’d gathered around the tent. “Your operation here isn’t hitting hardened targets, they’re shelling civilians. And while I can expect as much from the likes of the Road Crew, I didn’t think you’d stand for that, seeing as this sort of business is something I’d expect out of Pentex.”

Every pony around us, including Captain Charge, gave out another horrified gasp at that, followed by angry muttering. A long, static filled sigh came through the radio, and every Cordite member fell silent once more.

“Is this true, Captain Charge?” The Chief’s tone had shifted from hesitation, to full on frustration. “It is not the policy of Cordite to hit civilian targets, even at the request of the contract holder.”

“Uh…” Captain Charge quickly snatched the mike out of Hispano’s talons and offered a nervous smile as he spoke. “You see, Chief, the Mayor, well… he only sends grid coordinates to us without any sort of target data. We have no way to know what we’ve been firing at.”

“And I’m telling you, it’s ponies.” Hispano growled and glared at him. “You’ve seen what the Road Crew attacks have done, and we’re telling you that you’re doing the exact same thing to West City.”

“Give me to Night Flight.” The Chief’s voice came over the radio sharply, and I quickly found the mic shoved into my face. “Night, I’m going to trust your assessment of the situation, and I’m going to honor your request. As of now, the East City Cordite camp is to pull up stakes and return to headquarters.”

That’s great! If Cordite leaves, then the Road Crew won’t have any need to stay either! And with them gone, then maybe these two cities could finally find some peace! And all without having to go through some sort of song and dance that would’ve inevitably gotten ponies killed.

But… that’s not what Mayor Sheriff wants at all, was it?

“Actually, I need Cordite to stay for now, at least for the next twenty four hours.” I spoke into the hoofset. “Chief, there’s something bigger going on here that we’re trying to figure out, and having Cordite pull out of East City might jeopardize solving it.”

“Very well.” The Chief acknowledged with another, longer burst of static. “Captain Charge will coordinate with you on when to begin clearing out of East City, and anything else you may need. For now, I wish you luck in solving your mystery.”

“Thank you, Chief.” I replied with a smile, glancing over and visibly watching as the tension in Hispano’s body left with a soft sigh. “Night Flight, out.”

Alright, now that Cordite was onboard, it was time to get to the bottom of all this and find out exactly what this Doctor had to gain by playing both sides.

Author's Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in making sure these chapters are given a good look over before they go up. I can't thank you enough for all your hard work, bud.

Of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating FoE and letting us all use it. It's changed the last six years of my life, and will continue to change me as I continue to write, and I look forward to every moment of it.

And lastly, a thank you to Hasbro and DHX for giving us Friendship is Magic. The show has changed countless lives, inspired brilliant things, and generally made us all better people. Thank you for the journey, and I look forward to the next step of it.