We didn’t have time for Steel Ranger shenanigans.

I groaned as I flopped back against the admittedly comfortable folding cot in the ‘holding cell’ I was in. We’d been placed in separate rooms of a small managerial building for the old theme park and were being ‘held for questioning’. My only guess was that I got the manager’s office because I was the ‘leader’, and I guess that meant I got a cot to rest on.

But while I was in here, I had no idea where the others had been taken. Still, every moment we’re in here, I bet some ranger scribe out there was eagerly starting to take apart the Remora to find out how it worked. At least I could be glad that they weren’t trying to take Buck apart, or trying to pry my eye off. Yet...

“You are listening to Radio KAOS. That's K.A.O.S., Vanhoover's local news source.”

At least they’d let me use the radio in the room to help pass the time until Eliza could get the Arcturus in range to try to explain some things to them. Namely, how we’re friends of the rangers and weren’t here to interfere with them. Whether or not they believed us however is what’s going to either make this a bad day, or a terrible one.

“Here's the local news. Just when you folks thought things were getting back to normal around here after the clouds came down, the first blizzard of the season has come early for those in the area of Gemdale and Maple Station. Not that you need a reminder, but stay warm out there, as it seems we'll be in for a particularly cold winter this year. But hey, if those pegasi who've joined us down here want to pitch in and help push the storms away early, you'd win over more than a few grateful unicorns and earth ponies, heh.”

It might just be me, and this guy was no DJ PowerColt, but that sounded sincere. I know that Hispano had mentioned that the further we moved south, the worse things got, but… that didn’t sound right anymore. We’d come so far, and yet down here ponies seemed to be doing their best to do better. Sure, we’d run into more than our fair share of bad apples, but most folks seemed genuine in their attempts to be nice.

“Moving on, we've got some unconfirmed news out of the north. It seems that for some wastelanders, the great war wasn’t yet over. A series of megaspell detonations followed what I'm told was a very brief conflict between some of the factions in the greater Cantercross area. While the details are spotty, it seems that for some, the mistakes of the past will always repeat themselves. The best we can do from here is hope that one day they'll learn, and hope that a conflict like that doesn't grace our own fairly peaceful part of the wastes.”

Now that I envied them for. We lived through that hell, and only just now are they hearing about it. Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all, at least, once we got things sorted with the rangers of course. Then again, things were nice and calm in the north right up until the point where Solomon and Delilah came through…

“For now however, sit back and relax. Our next selection is from the Roger Trotters album Dark Side of the Moon. A slower track to help you chill out, so enjoy it, and let the smooth tones of it help you to take a pause, and Breathe…”

What came across the radio was… odd. It wasn’t like the music I’d heard up north with DJ PowerColt, and nothing like the pre-war tunes that the Enclave had let us hear. It was calm and relaxed, with a slow pace that lulled my mind into a more blank state. It wasn’t bad at all, just… different.

There was a set of incredibly soft knocks on the door.

I sat up and quickly flicked the radio off, perking my ears to listen for a clue as to who was outside. Silence met me, and I’d started to think that maybe I’d imagined it. However the sound of clicking against the door’s locking system gave me a small hint of what was going on. I felt a small smile pull across my muzzle as I realized that it must be Hispano and her lock picking skills. She must have gotten out and…

The door clicked and opened slowly to reveal… nothing.

I blinked and slowly pushed myself up off of the bed. Looking out through the open door, the sounds of normal Ranger activity drifted in. The moment I got it in my mind to move toward the door however, it shut on it’s own, and I was left even more confused than before.

The air shifted, and I tensed up as a pair of strong but invisible hooves wrapped around me. One pinned my wings down, and the other held my muzzle shut completely. The warm breath of somepony breathing along my neck sent a shiver down my spine as I started to panic.

“Buck, there’s someone in here with me!” I called out in my mind, letting a whimper slip out of my clamped muzzle. “They’re invisible, and they’ve got their hooves around my muzzle!”

“Have they hurt you?” Buck’s voice filtered back with more concern than I felt, and I was the one at some stranger’s mercy!

With a magical shimmer, the forelegs around me became visible. I did my best to gasp as they were the heavily scarred legs of a zebra, whose pipbuck was shining it’s glow right into my face. Oh fuck!

“Shhh.” Okona’s voice was a soft whisper that again sent a shiver down my neck. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you, but you need to stay quiet. Understand?”

“Night?” Buck’s voice came through my head again. “Night, please tell me you’re still alright!”

“It’s Okona.” I thought back to him as I felt Okona’s hooves slowly release themselves from me. “The Pentex zebra from the bar. But… he says he’s here to help, not hurt me.”

“Don’t trust him, Night.” Buck’s voice was uncomfortably resolute with that, and it felt more like a command than an opinion. “We haven’t had any tricks from Solomon lately, and a Pentex merc showing up now seems too good to be true.”

“You must forgive me, I assumed your party might need some help in these parts, but…” Okona flashed up a smug smirk as he took a step back. “From what I saw you do to those alicorns, I can already tell you are going to be a hell of a fun client to work with.”

“If that’s true, how did you get here so fast?” I wasn’t in the mood for being jerked around if he was telling us the truth. “How did you follow us here?”

“You should know, I came with you.” He shrugged. “Your skycraft is remarkably fast, but you should check more often for stealth-buck’d hitchhikers hanging onto its roof.” A shiver worked its way across his body, pulling a wider smirk across his striped muzzle.

“You’re not really selling me that you’re here to help.” If he was going to cause trouble, if Solomon did send him here to kill me, then I’m sure a few things as simple as old walls wouldn’t slow Buck down very much. Still, was it something I could risk? “Tell me what you want or I’ll have my friends in here to kill you faster than you can activate another stealth-buck.”

“Fair enough.” The wide smile that pulled across his graying muzzle didn’t give me any amount of confidence, but he raised his hooves defensively. “I’m on your side. Well, at least I can be. I just need you to make me a satisfactory offer, and I’m all yours.”

What the hell was he up to with this? To me, this smelled of a setup, though I don’t know by who. It was far too convenient for us to get captured by the rangers, and suddenly he’s here to help us out. I didn’t like this, but… to be fair, we needed all the help we could get. I just needed to figure out what constitutes a ‘satisfactory’ offer.

Peering out from around his backside, I caught the glance of my Jynx, and I knew what to say.

“Anything you want.” The words slipped out of my muzzle before I could think about how stupid they sounded. My Jynx’s muzzle split into a beaming grin wider than Ping’s normal exuberance as all I wanted to do was facehoof.

“And here I thought you would make things interesting for once...” Okona sighed and reached back for the small bag he had strapped to his combat armor.

“And the name’s not buster, it’s Okona.” My mind brought back the words he’d said in the Roundhouse. “Freelance problem solver, challenge seeker, and friend for hire, at your service.”

“Wait! You want a challenge, right?” I blurt out a bit louder than I probably should have. The both of us cringed as we realized it, but at the very least, it didn’t seem like anypony outside was coming to check on us. “Well, if you give me a minute to explain everything, maybe you’ll find my offer challenging enough to take on.” Okona’s muzzle parted into an oily grin again, and it told me everything I needed to know.

If Solomon and Delilah’s rules said they could buy as many friends as they needed, then if I’ve got the chance, maybe that’s part of the book I should start taking notes from.

“Now that is more what I expected.” He let out a soft giggle as he reached into his pack and pulled out a small square device that looked like a radio detonator. “But I would hardly say this is the place and time for sorting out the details.” He showed off the device to be exactly what it appeared to be. “Allow me to display just what services you are buying by eliminating those pesky power armored ponies outside…”

“Wait!” I practically shouted as I dove for the device. If anything, my outburst caught him off guard long enough that he didn’t hit the detonate button, but he moved it out of reach in an instant. “If you’re going to work for me, you’re not going to kill anypony outside of who I tell you to.”

“Fine.” He sighed and easily stashed his detonator away once more. “I suppose that is part of the challenge you’ll be offering then.” Again, he flashed up a smile across his striped face that seemed a bit too genuine. With a hard seat on the floor, he turned toward the door to the room and raised his hooves. “But should you wish it, know that they will not find the detonator on me, so we may escape at your command.”

Well, now that he knew I wasn’t going to blow them up, why even bring it up? This whole exchange stunk of Solomon’s doing, even if I don’t know why he’d rope in the Rangers. Still, I intended to find out just what he was trying to accomplish with this. That, and given the chance, maybe we could end up using him against Solomon somehow.

“Prisoner!” The amplified voice of a power armored ranger easily resonated through the door before a massive steel hoof pushed it open. “Since you cannot stay quiet, prepare yourself for interro-…” The ranger paused as he looked over at the still smugly smiling Okona. “I don’t know what trickery this is, but you are both going to come with me. The head Paladin has questions for you.”

Now that I looked at this place, it was kind of… creepy.

Not in the same sense as the Mare’s Lake to Galloway tunnel type creepy, either. Rather, it was more in the sense that rot and decay were all that was left in a place meant to be filled with nothing but foals’ laughter and happiness. The creaks and groans of the rusting wooden amusement ride superstructure that the Rangers set up next to seemed to keep their whole camp in a restless quiet. But whenever a louder than normal creaking came through, the ponies sitting at the perimeter sandbag barricades would turn their rifles toward it with a nervous look.

All over, it was odd that the rangers would have a camp here in the first place, but now I knew something else had to be going on. Were they after the Alicorns like we were, or was it something else? Guess there was only one way to find out.

The paladin behind Okona and I had directed us to the largest of a set of tents inside the hastily constructed ranger camp perimeter. As I hobbled closer, I could hear the heavy mechanical steps of power armor inside. Alright, Night, time to negotiate. You’ve got this, just need to figure out who you’re dealing with. Will it be another Soursop, or another Coconut?

“Does it really matter?” Jynx asked as I damn near jumped right out of my skin. “They’ll be dead by the end of the day anyway if you stay here.”

“Are you okay?” Okona gave a nervous chuckle as he studied me again. Hopefully he doesn’t second guess himself and retract his offer to help me...

I did my best to ignore Jynx’s smiling muzzle, as well as Okona’s nervousness in favor for just pushing my way into the old tent.

Like every other set of power armor I’ve seen used so far, the bulky metal plates in front of me shifted as though it were a second skin. The stallion inside seemed incredibly at ease, holding an open book in one of his massive armored hooves as he studied it. Similarly to the scuffed and scratched up armor he wore, his grey coat was similarly worn down with what seemed to be the results of countless fights. The almost glowing blond mane he wore in a short and stiff fashion matched the almost triangular point he held to an equally short beard on the end of his muzzle.

“Ah, welcome.” He spoke as he turned his gold colored eyes on us, pausing as they shifted between Okona and I. “To the both of you.” His eyes shifted once more to the ranger who’d lead us here, and he gave a dismissive nod before smiling at me again. “Sorry for the delay, but I’m Lance Gunner, a Paladin of the Mountain Springs Steel Rangers A Company, and Operations supervisor for this mission. From what your Talon has told us of you, which isn’t much, you are the leader of this group? May I have your name?”

Well, on the surface, he didn’t seem that bad. Still, while giving my name would do little harm, I was going to have to be careful not to give up too much here. At least before I know if he’s a Coconut or not.

“I’m Night Flight, the head of our group.” I offered as I sat down. I lifted my hoof and pointed to my new striped ‘associate’. “And this is one of my mercenaries, Okona.”

“So many mercenaries, you must take your personal security very seriously.” He offered a feigned smile as his eyes sharpened on me for a moment. Before I could respond, he shifted his gaze over. “Odd however, I didn't see him with your group when we detained you. I presume you were using that device on your hoof in conjunction with a stealth buck?”

“Quite an observation, for a Paladin.” Okona smirked as he looked over his pipbuck. “There may yet be hope for all toaster-like appliances all across the wasteland.”

“Well, now that introductions are settled, on to a different matter.” The Paladin rolled his armored forehoof and set the book down on a small table beside him that was straining to hold up the sheer amount of other documents and books already on it. “That's quite a cloudcraft you have out there, I’ve never seen anything like it in fact. I almost had to restrain my best scribe from tearing it apart to learn it's secrets.”

“Thank you for not dismantling it.” I wasn’t going to give him any leeway because he seemed nice and hadn’t yet destroyed the Remora. He was hiding something, or holding back for some reason.

“Night?” Buck’s voice filtered through my augment. “I heard them bring Hispano back to his room. Are you still okay?”

“Where by chance, did you... acquire such an exotic machine?” Lance smiled genuinely to me, but once more turned his observant gaze down on me.

“I’m speaking with the Steel Ranger leader.” I thought back as I fingered my own smile to the Ranger. “I'm not at liberty to say, but have you heard of the Spectrum Federation, to the north?” If they’re interested only in the tech, then they can leave us alone and go get it for themselves.

“Yes, we are aware of a faction by that name.” Lance nodded before pausing with a thought that forced him to screw up his muzzle. “You imply they built it? On the reports we’ve received, we had thought any manufacturing beyond their current capabilities…”

“Oh no, they didn’t build it.” I laughed, oddly pulling an intrigued smile across Okona’s muzzle. “However, they have the full schematics for it if you wish to negotiate for your own copy.”

“I see.” Lance nodded as he brought his armored hoof up to stroke his stiff beard. “And so now we get down to something more important. What is your business in coming here, Miss Night Flight?

“We came in search for our missing crewmate, an alicorn. He was stolen off our ship by a trio of other alicorns, whom I assume were the ones we killed before you captured us.” I stated simply.

Too simply, in fact. My words had more of a relaxed tone to them than I’d expected, and it hit me harder than I’d thought. This whole journey after King, had I heard it from anyone else down here, it would have sounded normal for them. And now, for having spent my life above the clouds, I think that I’d finally become a wastelander because I hadn’t even thought twice about it.

Jynx let out a giggle from the depths of my mind that sent a shiver down my spine.

“A ship, you say?” The uptick of interest in Star Paladin Lance’s voice told me that in being so relaxed, I’d just fucked up. “Tell me, what sort of ship is it, and how far off the coast? What’s it’s size, crew complement, and any weaponry on board?”

Okay, Night, you gave him that, and now he’s not going to be satisfied without an answer. What would Delilah do in a situation like this?

“She wouldn’t be in a situation like this because she’s not an idiot like you.” Jynx offered unhelpfully. She’s right, Delilah wouldn’t. Yet here I am, so rather than a Delilah answer, I need a Night answer. “Oh, a Night answer you say? Sure, you opening your muzzle has never made anything worse.”

It may not make things better, but I needed to be honest. That’s what I do.

“It's a cloudship.” I let the words spill out of my muzzle as it curled into a smile. “One even your Rangers might know of. Ever heard of the Arcturus?” If Galloway wasn’t lying about having contact with the southern Rangers, then there’s no way they hadn’t heard of it.

“The Arcturus.” Lance’s eyes narrowed on me with an almost piercing glare. Oh yeah, they definitely knew about it. “Word came that it had been lost, shortly before we lost contact with the northern chapter.” With a snort, he stiffened his posture, and thus, his armor. “You are telling me that you in fact, stole it from our northern brothers and sisters?”

“We didn't exactly steal it, and I can assure you, that Elder Frescas knows and supports the fact that we have the ship.” Even though it was the truth, none of my words hit his judgmental gaze with any force at all. “In fact, we used it to help Galloway recover after the megaspell strikes in the north.”

“Megaspells?” That got him to take a step back. With a stiff shift of his armor, he turned directly towards me and shot his hoof in my direction. “Is that why we haven’t heard from them? Tell me, why did you attack them? What warranted that level of response!?”

“Woah, it wasn’t us.” I leaned back on my haunches and raised my forehoof defensively. “Like I said, we helped them after it happened. Why it happened… is not really important.” I sighed as more than part of me wondered just how Frescas and Pastell were doing right now. I know we’d needed to get back on the road after Solomon, but… maybe we could have done more to help… “Look, we didn’t come here to fight, we came to get our friend back. If anything, I should be asking what a whole team of rangers is doing out in this place.”

He seemed to take my question and think on it for a minute. His eyes wandered to Okona, to me, and then to the ground before returning to me again. I could see the suspicion in his eyes, and I get it. Were I in his position, I probably wouldn’t trust us either.

But I have a feeling that he’s more like the Galloway rangers than he’s willing to admit. That his suspicion isn’t anything more than wondering if we’re here to hurt anyone under his command. And it’s with that feeling, I have a hope that he’ll be willing to do exactly what everyone else I’ve met has done with me, and ask for our help.

“A week or so ago,” He spoke with a stiff reluctance to his words, but as he did, his eyes softened and relaxed softly. “A skycraft was seen bound for the nearby Airbase. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t make it and instead crashed on the other side of this ruined park. Our Elder deemed it worth salvaging what we could, so I put together a team and came here.”

A skycraft coming through a week or so ago? I felt a particularly cold shiver run down my spine as I wondered if they were yet another group of Skyraiders from their exodus. If they were, then the Rangers down here wouldn’t know at all what they were capable of.

“I’m guessing with how you responded to my client arriving,” Okona stifled a chuckle as he nudged me, “you haven’t had a single successful attempt in getting to the wreck?”

“You could say as much.” Lance nodded and pointed past us. “Anytime I try to send a team in toward the wreck, we’ve had to deal with multiple raider-like ambushes. There shouldn’t be any locals out here who must have reached the wrecks first. But, whoever they are, they aren’t interested in an all out fight.” He shook his head and look over the armor that encased his hooves. “We haven’t received more than incapacitating injuries from them, and I’m not sure what exactly they are hoping to achieve. They’re only still up there because that blizzard the last few days kept us waiting on a load of supplies to arrive. It’ll be here in two hours, and after that, we’re going up there in force.”

Okay, so maybe they aren’t Skyraiders. Or at least, maybe they’re not the ultra-raider side of them as Delta had put it. And if that was the case, well, maybe there was some hope here.

“Have you tried talking to them?” I offered, immediately perking the armor clad stallion’s ears.

Both Lance and Okona turned their perplexed gazes to me, staring at me like I was fucking insane or something.

“Look, I’ll tell you what,” Lance let out a soft laugh as he shook his head, “if you want to risk having a friendly chat with them, be my guest. But my two hour timetable stands.”

“And if they want to talk, will you give them a chance?” I couldn’t afford to miss a beat with my response, and from the stiff shift Lance’s armor gave with my words, I don’t think I did.

“If they are willing to meet here to discuss salvage rites, then I would be willing to negotiate.” He nodded before looking up at me with a cocked eyebrow. “However, if they aren’t peaceful, then what they do to you will be all the excuse I’ll need to go in and wipe them out.”

“Sounds fair enough to me.” I nodded and smirked. If I’m right, they’ll want to talk. “If they don’t want to talk, then you won’t need an excuse. Between my team and I, I’m sure there won’t be any of them left for the Rangers to ‘wipe out’.”

“Be that as it may,” Okona took a step forward and almost moved to place himself between the Paladin and I, “we’ll be dealing with your problem, and I say that warrants some sort of reward, don’t you?”

“The Rangers don’t normally contract with outsiders, even if you’ve heard we follow the codex a bit more loosely than other chapters.” Lance sighed with a chuff of his metal hoof. “However, while I can’t grant you a physical reward, if you help us, then I can see what assistance we can render in helping you locate your friend within the park.” With a step toward me, he raised his massive armored forehoof and held it out. “A favor for a favor is the only offer I’m giving you.”

“Then it sounds like a deal.” I smiled and took his hoof in mine.

“Wait, that’s not…” Okona started to speak but bit his tongue as he seethed just under his skin. He took a moment to take in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “Okay, it’s fine, wave our pay. You’re the boss.”

“Damn right I am.” I shot a sideways glance at him, finding his burning gaze land right back on me. Something in my gut says I still shouldn’t trust him, but so far he seemed genuine. Still, genuine won’t cut it anymore. He has until Buck and I can work out a plan, to prove his sincerity. “Now, Paladin Lance, about releasing my friends…”

“I’m going to ask you this again, Night.” Hispano grumbled as he kept Suiza’s barrel pressed right up against Okona’s side as we walked past the rusting fence around the backside of the old and rotting water slide near the rear of the park. He ruffled his larger than normal wings uncomfortably across his back, and even though Buck had did an amazing job fixing it, his healing talon squeezed around Suiza hard enough I fear he’d break those bones all over again. “Do you really think he’s telling us the truth?”

I understand that Hispano was under a lot of stress. I know that he’s uncomfortable being male for the moment, and adding in yet another side job and stranger? Yeah, I owed him a break after this. Even if Hispano was worried over nothing, I still wasn’t about to let Okona find a way to get the drop on us.

I just wish we had a better set of circumstances to work with. If the snow wasn’t already bad enough, the thickness of the encroaching forest was incredible. A few meters past the treeline and it looked like we had a quarter the amount of light under the canopy as normal. No wonder these raiders could ambush the Rangers so easily.

It reminded me a lot of when we recovered Laika’s pod. Almost reflexively, I glanced back to Buck’s paws. His claws had been so helpful back then, and now…

He clenched them shut as he caught me watching them. He was probably thinking about that exact moment as well. But while I doubt we’d run into anyone as friendly as Laika here, I knew he still shared my hope that this would end up resolving without having to resort to violence.

“I say we gut him.” Happy smiled as he got a firm not from Hispano. Without slowing his stride, he craned his neck down and mouthed over the grip to his sword. He stayed like that until Okona shot him a heavy helping of side eye, which Happy had been waiting for. “Slowly.”

“Nopony’s gutting anyone.” Buck groaned before looking to me for confirmation.

“Yeah. Everyone just calm down.” I offered my own version of Delilah’s stern glance to both Hispano and Happy, only to have both of them roll their eyes almost at the same time. “Buck, I still don’t trust him. If my gut is right, it won’t take long to prove he’s working for Solomon. If that happens, I want you to stun him with your magical energy weapon. He can’t tell us what he knows if he’s dead.”

“Sounds like a good idea. So long as we can keep Happy from murdering him first.” Buck nodded to me before turning his jagged metal muzzle towards Okona. “If I may ask, were you actually willing to destroy the Ranger’s encampment?” It was funny to watch as Buck’s question sent an odd look across the zebra’s face. “You would’ve!”

“What use is an empty threat?” Okona simply beamed a smile at Buck and shrugged. “I don’t do half jobs.” Yet you turned to our side fairly quickly. Too quickly.

“Alright, let’s just move on, please.” I groaned as I pushed into the thick and snow-covered underbrush. “Nopony got hurt, and I’d like to keep it that way.” In fact… “Hey, Eliza? Can you put Double Delta on the line?”

“Of course.” Eliza’s smiling cartoon mare popped into the corner of my vision. “Connecting you now, Captain.” Before she popped away, I could swear the mare gave me a wink…

“You rang, Captain?” Delta spoke with a bit of a hopeful tone to his words. Wow, that was fast. “Need something done? Because let me tell you, I am just about up to my mane in boredom here.” Ah, now it made sense.

“We ran into the Local Rangers out here at the theme park.” I thought to him before looking up at Buck. He was busy scanning his eyes across the treeline ahead, but I’m sure he was listening in. “From the description they gave, it sounded like some Skyraiders may have crashed just north of where we are. Do you think you could look into it for us?”

“Sure thing, just one moment.” Delta paused as I could hear his hooves typing on the console next to the mic. “Eeyup, there she is. Eliza’s used the observation projector to lens a look at the wreck.” Observation projector? I guess it was one of the Arcturus’ many many over-engineered sensor systems. “A condor class transport, tail number E-404. She’s definitely one of ours, but… it’s odd. That bird was lost a decade ago in the original purge. Back when the Skyraiders pushed out all the ‘softies’ and ‘eggheads’. I was still new to being King and… I should have fought harder to let them stay.”

That pulled Buck’s attention to me. He perked his ears and seemed to think for a moment.

“That doesn’t make sense.” Buck thought out, pulling a sharp and quick squeak from Delta over the radio. “I don’t mean to jump in, but the Rangers did seem fairly certain it just crashed.”

“Captain?” Eliza’s mare popped back into my vision with her beaming smile. “I can’t quite confirm it, but from our initial observations, deterioration of the craft’s outer hull would not be consistent with a crash from a decade ago. It indeed seems to have had regular maintenance up until fairly recently.”

Okay, now this job was just getting weird. I mean, that’s normal for us, but still. What the hell did we stumble into now?

“Keep trying to figure it out on your end, we’ll do the same.” I thought out again before pushing further into the dark forest. “We’ll get back to you once we have something conclusive.”

“Aye aye, Captain.” Delta sighed, but sounded confident enough in us. “Be careful out there.”

With that, the radio call ended, and I was starkly reminded of how loud the crunching of snow under hoof was.

“Alright, we head for the wreck.” I tried to keep my voice down, but something told me that under the cover of the dark canopy here, we were already being watched. “Keep your eyes open. Remember, we want to talk, not fight.”

Here’s hoping whoever these ponies were felt the same.

“You know that’s not going to be how it goes.” Jynx giggled as she hung down from a lower branch of one of the nearby pine trees. I shot an unamused glare over to her. “For example…”

Buck let out a whimper as the snow around one of his mechanical hindpaws burst up. Sparks shot out as what looked like a crude metal animal trap ground against his now bent metal leg. Thank fuck his legs are more durable than the rest of…

“Everybody stop.” I called out, freezing in place as everyone else did the same.

“I’m okay.” Buck grunted as he leaned forward and easily used his forepaws to snap the makeshift trap in half. Lifting the smooth metal pieces to his eye, he looked it over before frowning and tossing them aside. “But now I see why the rangers have had such a hard time getting in here. A broken leg all the way out here would be no joke.”

“Hey, I’d like to keep the rest of my legs intact, ya dig?” Happy snorted before looking over at Okona with a smile. “If he’s so loyal, I say we have the new guy take the lead.”

“Do you really want to use our med supplies on him, Happy?” I grumbled and looked over at the mule who seemed to mull it over in his mind. “As much as it sucks, Buck, you’re going to have to take the lead here.” He nodded to me with a smile and pushed himself to wade forward through the snowdrift. “The rest of us are going single file behind him. Happy, you’re pulling up the rear.”

“Aww, really?” He grunted and kicked at the snow so it showered down on an aggravated Okona.

“You’d rather have Okona behind you?” Hispano flashed up a bright smile across his beak. Flaring his wings, he brought Suiza up and nodded to me. “I’ll keep hovering along, if it’s all the same to you.”

With that sorted out, I took up my place right behind Buck as he waded by. I won’t lie, having him shove most of the snow aside was a nice change, but between the crunching and the whines his legs gave out, I couldn’t hear anything else in these woods. Again, I was beginning to feel quite jealous of his augmented hearing.

That being said, I didn’t need better hearing to catch the snap a wire gave from beneath Buck’s hindpaw.

The tree to our left creaked as something big swung down from it. Thanks to his quick reflexes, Buck dove forward as an enormous log swung down. It’s edge was blunted, and probably wouldn’t have been fatal to anyone in power armor. But it was becoming clear to me that whoever set this up wouldn’t have cared if they knocked the head right off some pony, or caused them to bleed out in a trap.

“Is everyone alright?” Buck said as he gave a vigorous shake of himself, shedding all the snow his impromptu dive had coated him with.

“Yeah.” Happy called out as he took a half step back. “How… much further did you say this wreck was?”

“Not far.” I sighed and looked at Buck. He shared the same frown I wore, but still turned back to push onward. “We’ll take it as slow as we need to.”

“Are you always so cautious?” Okona gave a light giggle as I turned and shot a glare at him. He paused, looking over my body for a moment before nodding. “Ah. I guess experience has taught you to slow down.”

“Yeah.” Hispano cooed as he hovered up next to me. “You could say that.”

As we pushed through, the traps became less condensed, and more aimed at just making noise. The last one we’d hit dropped an old frying pan out of a tree and onto a hanging pot. It rang out like a gong, and while Hispano was quick to silence it, I’m sure even the rangers would know where we were now.

However, the dark path through the forest had begun to lighten. Rays of afternoon sunlight poked through the thinning trees as a large open clearing lay ahead of us. At first I thought it was a meadow, but the closer we got, the more I could see the twisted remains of toppled and splintered trees. The broken trees and churned earth carved a path through the thick forest, and pointed us right to our objective.

The downed condor was still mostly intact. The outer halves of each wing had been sheared off in the crash, and it’s tail section had been ripped cleanly from the rear fuselage. But the survivors of the crash hadn’t let anything go to waste. Parts of the plane had been stripped and reinforced with the downed trees and brush, and had been fused together into a perimeter wall that had a few ponies peeking over it. A call came from within the camp, and immediately a dozen different heads joined the few lookouts.

“Well, so much for the element of surprise.” Hispano muttered as he came down into the snow next to me with a few flaps. “Well, you’re on, Night.”

Nodding to her and Buck, I took the lead.

Winding around the broken ground and twisted trees, I did my best to make sure to keep in sight of the ponies defending the wreck. While I hope they weren’t simply waiting for an easy shot, I still eyed each bit of cover before I passed it just in case. I wouldn’t put it past Jynx to find some way to ruin this for everyone…

“That’s far enough!” One of the mares behind the wall called out as I was about to turn onto a straight stretch that lead right up to it. “Leave now or die.”

“We came to talk!” I called out. Well, at least they didn’t start negotiations by shooting at us, so that was something.

“No, you came for salvage.” The mare called out again. “Just like those tin cans out there. So again, I’m not asking. Leave or die.”

“Holy shit, Captain…” Delta’s voice came through my mind with a jarring suddenness to it. “That’s Riddle!”

“Who the fuck is Riddle?” I thought back as I pressed myself against the large rock I’d stopped next to. “And will she talk with us?”

“She’s one of the few natives the raiders… conscripted as a fawn.” Delta’s voice wasn’t exactly enthusiastic, but if she wasn’t a true Skyraider, maybe there was a chance to solve this peacefully. “She spent most of her life with us, and was one of the best Condor pilots we ever had. It was a shame when she left in the purge, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like she’s aged a day since then.” He let out a sigh that to me said that there was more to this than he was willing to divulge right now. “I... bet she still hates me too.”

That’s right, there’s still that oddness about all this. But while we could speculate all day, we didn’t have the luxury of the time to do so. I’m just going to have to trust that she’s not the kind of Skyraider to act without thinking.

“Well!?” Riddle called out.

“I came to talk, nothing more.” I called back. “I can come unarmed, if that’s what it takes.”

“Night, don’t.” Buck’s protests right into my mind were joined with a light growl from his position behind a downed tree not far from me.

“Fine, you want to talk? Then you talk from there.” She shouted, pulling a wave of worried murmurs from those behind the wall beside her. “Step out where we can see you with your hooves up!”

Okay, Night, just take it slow.

I pushed myself off of the rock and hobbled around into the open. Looking along the makeshift wall, I found a dozen old rifles and pistols following my every move. But in the middle of all the hostility being pointed my way, was a glare that would have made Delilah proud. I just wasn’t expecting it to be sitting on the face of a deer.

“Talk.” Riddle snorted as she aligned the glowing end of a magical energy rifle with me.

“I have heard that you left the Skyraiders. Is that true?” I was going to take a risk in bringing this up, but I had to trust that they were who Delta had believed they were ten years ago.

“I won’t answer that.” Riddle snarled and flipped a switch on her rifle. It began to glow a pale yellow and let out an audible hum to it. “If that’s all you came to ‘talk’ about, then I suggest you leave.”

“Why did you leave?” I blurt out sharply. As I did, I watched Jynx’s smiling muzzle creep around one of the snow covered fallen trees up ahead of me. “From what I know, most Skyraiders would have never opted to talk at all. So why am I still here?”

“I can still shoot you anytime, asshole.” Riddle called back as she stood up slightly from her place on the wall. She held her gun firmly in her hooves, but lowered it’s aim from me. “We all had our reasons.” Her gaze left me as well, turning over to those who sat with her on the wall. “We were tired of our work going unnoticed, unrewarded. Tired of being stuck in a life with no progress that’s headed for an unrecoverable stall.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Tired of fighting for those who refused to even hold on to what they say they care about.”

“And now that the Skyraiders are gone, what will you do?” I asked. If they were willing to try to be better, I’d be willing to help how I could. However, if they simply wanted to start over in the south and continue to hurt ponies…

“Gone?” Riddle snapped at me. “Hah, it wouldn’t be like Delta to just let someone like us go. He’s gotta cement that loyalty he’s cared more than anything about after all.”

“Night?” Delta’s voice came through my mind with more than a hint of apprehension, and an odd mechanical whining behind it. “Eliza and I have a theory. We… think they don’t know when they are.”

“What do you mean, when?” I thought back as I screwed up my muzzle. Of course, Eliza’s smiling mare popped into view with an answer at the ready.

“It’s a rare phenomenon, but it would explain the perceived inconsistency with their arrival.” Eliza’s mare shifted smoothly to one who seemed unsure of what she was saying. “We believe that they may have been pulled forward from the past to ten years into our present.”

“Time travel?” I spat out without thinking. “You can’t be serious.”

“Hey, who are you talking to, asshole?” Riddle snapped at me. With a raise of her own gun, everypony along the wall did the same. “If this is some sort of trick…”

“The Factory has observed several occurrences of it in the past.” Eliza’s mare spoke over Riddle, and shifted back to the beaming smile her cartoony mare normally wore. “If you could ask, did they happen to run into any magical anomalies on their flight away from the Skyraider airbase?” Well, I mean, they didn’t seem in much of a mood to chit-chat about other things… “Please, Captain, just ask.”

“When you fled the Skyraiders, did you happen across a magical anomaly?” I asked with a sigh. Seriously, if this gets me shot…

An almost panicked murmur picked up along the wall. Riddle let out a soft gasp as she grit her teeth together, watching as her comrades started chatting among themselves. She leveled her gaze into a beaming glare again, and one by one those on the wall fell silent again.

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” She snorted and turned her eyes on me. “Did you have something to do with it and the voice that took over and crashed our skycraft?”

Voice?

“That… sounds like it was a machine.” Buck grunted into my head.

“Not a machine that the Factory knows about.” Eliza almost held a concerned tone in her voice. “A time traveling machine at that… the Architect is going to want to know everything he can about this. If you can recover it from the skycraft, that would be even better.” That’s if we could even get closer than this...

“We didn’t have anything to do with it.” I gave Riddle an answer that I’d hoped she would believe. Ping and Eliza were going to have to fill us in on a lot after this was all over however. “I have some friends who are going to look into it. But we came here to see if we could help out in another way.”

“Don’t bother.” Riddle tipped her gun up and smirked at me. “We don’t care, and we don’t need your help with...” She paused as her ears perked. Her eyes turned skyward, looking across the open ground toward where we came from. It took me a moment to hear it, but the muffled engines of the Remora preempted the craft peeking over the edge of the forest. “What the fuck is that!?” She and the others scrambled to point their weapons up at it.

“It’s my transport!” I called out, flailing my hoof at her. “It’s unarmed, don’t fire!” What the fuck, why did Eliza choose now of all times to bring the Remora to us!?

“I was simply following Double Delta’s orders, Captain.” Eliza replied far too promptly.

“What the fuck do you mean!?” I snapped back a thought at her. “Is he…” My train of thought derailed in a brilliant explosion as I realized what was going to happen the moment the Remora’s door opened. “Don’t let him out, Eliza. Not until I fucking say so, got that?”

“Of course, Captain.” She smiled at me before popping away once more, leaving me to stare up at Riddle’s cracking expression.

Now that that worry was out of the way, I could get back to my impossible task of making friends with Riddle and her comrades. Let’s say Eliza’s theory is right and these Skyraiders are from ten years ago. How the fuck am I supposed to explain that Double Delta is here because he’s changed and the Skyraiders are all but exterminated. At least, how am I supposed to do that without her shooting me because she thinks I’m crazy?

“Didn’t you say the truth would work best?” Jynx offered with a mirth filled laugh. “Why not start there?”

You know, why not?

“Look, this is going to be hard to believe,” I called out as the Remora lowered itself down, hovering just behind me over a few downed trees. “But that anomaly you flew through sent you ten years into the future. Double Delta was overthrown by Foul Line, then he started a fight with the Puritan Kingdom and lost, which resulted in the loss of the airbase and half the north getting megaspelled again.”

“Bullshit.” She snapped and pointed her magical energy rifle at me once more. “This has obviously been some sort of set up, and I’m not going to fall for any more shit.”

There was a sharp click from above me that made the hydraulics on the Remora whine. With a hum, they powered up and the side of the Remora opened up. Without any hesitation whatsoever, Double Delta jumped out and landed in the snow not too far from me. Standing up, he brought his scar covered smile to bear on her as he pushed his sleek sunglasses up on his muzzle again.

“Delta?” She squinted at him with an odd look. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Hey there, Riddle.” He called out, “Long time…”

ZOTT

He was cut off by a red flash that drew a line through the snow right at his hooves. Riddle’s gun emitted a whine as it began to recharge, and she shifted her aim right for Delta’s still smiling muzzle.

“I fucking knew this was some sort of trick.” She laughed as again she flicked a switch on the side of her rifle. The pale yellow color it held shifted, changing to a nearly neon blue color. “We aren’t going back, Delta. We’d rather die here.”

“I know you would.” Delta let another laugh slip from his muzzle. “You always burned the brightest, Riddle. That’s why as much as I wanted to hold onto you that day, I let you go.” Delta’s smile sank as he walked himself up next to me. “I’ve had… time to think about if I made a mistake that day or not. But…” He paused and glanced down at me, offering a weak but sincere smile. “I know that while I should have fought for you to stay, you were better off flying free.”

“Give me one reason not to call you on your bullshit and put you down right now.” Riddle spat out, getting eager cheers of agreement from her companions.

“Because Night here is right, Riddle.” Delta sighed and looked up at her again. “You almost couldn’t recognize me, could you? That’s because you did leave ten years ago, and a lot has happened since then. The Skyraiders are gone now, and I’m just trying to do my best to be better than the pony I was when you left.” With a shudder and a grunt, Delta sat down and held his hooves out wide to each side. “If that means letting you kill me now so you can start to move on, then so be it.”

A bit overly dramatic, but… I could understand where he was coming from. I may not have known the ‘Skyraider king’ Delta, but the stallion I saved at Galloway was far different than the picture Riddle had painted of him. Different even from the one Frescas had painted him as. He’d come a long way to try to be a better pony, and that, I could respect.

I didn’t expect Riddle to understand, but what she did do, I wasn’t expecting all the same.

“Alright.” She sighed as she lowered her gun. With a flip of the switch on it’s side, the blue glow it held turned to yellow again before fading completely. “Either this is the most elaborate operation you’ve ever arranged, or something did happen and the Skyraiders are gone.”

“No tricks, just… it’s good to see you again, Riddle.” Delta mirrored her sigh as he lowered his hooves down again.

“Oh, trust me, I know it’s not a trick.” She smirked as the others along the wall started to pull their weapons back. “You’ve never been that smart, and...” She paused as she looked over at me, “the fact that she came first shows that you aren’t running things anymore. You never could trust others to get something done.”

“I did like to stick my hooves in everything, didn’t I?” Delta laughed before looking over to me. “But you’re right, Night here saved me before the fall in more than one way. Since then, I figured that for once I’d try out this whole ‘following orders’ thing I’ve never been quite fond of.”

“Says the pony who wouldn’t stay inside the Remora.” I deadpanned at him, forcing a slight twinge of guilt across his muzzle. While his interruption did manage to buy us some goodwill, there’s still work to be done. “But the important thing is that we’re all friends here, and we’re here to help.”

“Well, your little stunt was idiotic, but you’ve at least bought yourself a chance to speak.” Riddle snorted before clopping her cloven hoof on the wooden wall fairly hard. With a metallic shriek, one of the metal plane parts was dislodged, revealing a small passage through the wall. “Now get your group inside before the Toasters think it’s a good idea to come knocking as well.”

While the cockpit of the crashed Condor was not exactly spacious, it managed to fit us all in. Well, outside of Buck and Hispano. Snow and ice caked most of the flight instruments near the broken cockpit windows, but overall they looked mostly undamaged. The interior however was coated in branches and splinters of wood. While the navigators seat was mostly untouched, both the pilot and copilot seats were torn up. The copilots seat had seen the worst of it, and had almost been ripped out of it’s mounting. A gaping hole had been torn through its center, and dried blood coated the fabric.

Riddle however tapped her hooves on the navigator’s station, as the mare under her worked away.

“All good to go, ma’am.” The red and white striped mare under her said as she dragged a cable over and hooked a hefty orange box up to the wreck. “It should automatically index to two minutes before the crash.”

“Excellent.” Riddle nodded and practically kicked the mare away. “Now, go get started on an inventory of our cargo. If we’re getting out of here, I don’t want to leave a single box, wire, or scrap of cargo behind for those steel dolts.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The mare nodded and quickly made her way down the stairs at the rear of the cockpit and into the cargo hold.

“You’re a regular queen, Riddle.” Double Delta snorted. His words sent a visible tick down Riddle’s form, and she shot him a glance that I’m sure he wouldn’t soon forget. “Sorry.”

“You had your chance, Delta.” She snorted as she worked over a few of the radio controls. “You chose to be king over me.”

I blinked a few times as I think something obvious finally hit me. When Delta spoke of her before, he hadn’t meant she’d still hate him for being the Skyraider king. He meant that she’d still hate him.

“So wait, you two were…” I blurt out, immediately pulling a cackling yell from Jynx. Her obnoxious laughter disappeared as my vision turned into a blur of movement, followed by me hitting the floor.

“That’s not really any of your goddess damned business.” Riddle seethed through her angry heaving breaths. “Now shut up and listen.” With a flick of her cloven hoof, a small amount of static played over the radio before the buzzing hum of arcane cloudship engines came through.

“Are they still on our scope?” The voice of Riddle came in with a note of panic.

“Negative.” The voice of a stallion came through. “No buzz bombers or interceptors in sight, and we’re moving out of their range, ma’am.”

“Excellent.” Riddle sighed on the recording, “We did it then. We’re never going back.”

“Are you alright, ma’am? Are you… crying?”

“No, of course…” Riddle snapped, but paused for what seemed like an uncomfortably long time. “Do you see that out there? What is that ahead of us?”

“Looks like a storm to me.” The stallion responded flatly.

“With purple lightning?” Riddle said as it sounded like she flipped a few switches. “I’m adjusting our heading to avoid it.”

“Ma’am?” The voice of the red mare who was in here before came through the recording. “My scope is showing that it’s tracking us. We’re still on an intercept course.”

“That’s not possible.” Riddle growled as we could hear as the whine from the engines picked up and the metal fuselage creaked. “Adjusting speed and altitude. We’re going to dive under whatever it is.”

As we all listened, Riddle shook her head. She stared off through the radio, undoubtedly playing through the events in her head as they happened. But it was in her violet eyes that I could see the same regret I felt after we lost Violet, after Solomon killed everyone. That feeling that maybe if she’d just acted differently, then maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened.

“It’s matching our corrections, ma’am!” The red mare called out again.

“What the fuck is this thing!?” Riddle basically screamed as she sounded like she put the skycraft through its paces. Whines and groans from parts of the plane we shouldn’t be able to hear came through. “It’s no use, all hooves, brace for impact!”

A rattling shudder came through the recording, along with a burst of static and feedback that made all of us recoil. But as abruptly as it had begun, it ended, dropping the recording back into the static hum the skycraft gave off. With the normal noise however, came an odd ringing that was just faint enough that it was almost lost in the background noise.

“Hmmm, what’s this then? A cloudship?” The voice was that of a mare that we hadn’t heard before, but… it didn’t sound like it was recorded with the others, more like it was coming from the recorder itself. “Intriguing, but… too fragile a form for my likes.”

“What the hell? My controls are dead, ma’am.” The stallion from before whined lightly.

“Mine too, but… who’s the mare speaking?” Riddle growled. “Did you do this? What have you done to my ship?”

“Oh me? Well, I’m nopony.” A mirthful laugh that sounded a bit too close to Jynx’s came through the recording crystal clear. “Just a traveler, a fragment trying to find her whole. As for your ship however, you may have it back shortly. I simply needed a temporal anchor point until I could align myself with my next destination.”

“Anchor point… what are you talking about?” Riddle’s frustration came through with a slam on the instrument panel. “Damnit, give me back my ship!”

“A feisty one, with plenty of zest for life, yet so little anger in her heart.” The mare laughed again before the whole skycraft seemed to shudder again on the recording. “Had we not met only in passing, I may have taken it upon myself to correct that flaw.”

The shuddering of the plane stopped, and things sounded like they calmed down for a bit.

“The cloud is clearing from around us, ma’am.” The red mare called out. “We’re… wait, where’s the rest of the cloud cover? Navigation is... malfunctioning and refuses to give us a position, but there is an equestrian transponder signal coming in from the east. It’s… it’s the Vanhoover airbase, ma’am!”

“You haven’t traveled far, in a manner of speaking. However…” The mirthful mare paused as if she were waiting for something. I could almost hear the grin spreading across her muzzle as even I could feel the tension in the recording build like a rubber band.

There was a blast, and several alarms rang out in the cockpit.

“Shit, report!” Riddle cried out.

“We’ve lost all engine control, and the rear stabilizer isn’t responding!” The stallion groaned out as it sounded like the both of them struggled with the controls. “We’re locked in a dive!”

“Attempting to trim us out!” Riddle called back as the red mare sounded like she devolved into a series of panic filled sobs. “Shit, it’s not working!”

“Well, thanks for the ride, but this is where I get off.” The mirthful mare laughed again before her voice faded away like an echo in an empty room.

“We’re losing altitude too fast!” The stallion called out, “Deploying flaps and gear!”

There was another series of shudders before the shearing of metal came through.

“Flaps and gear are gone!” Riddle called out through her own whine. “On three we cut fuel flow and pull up as hard as we can!”

“We’ll never make it through all those trees!” The stallion cried out.

“We will!” Riddle screamed, “One, two, three…!”

Riddle reached up and flicked the switch again. The recording cut out, and once more we were dropped into silence. With a crane of her neck, she looked at the blood stained copilot's seat with a sigh.

“There you go.” Riddle crossed her hooves across her barrel as she swung her glare back to me. “That’s all we’ve got.”

“Well, it didn’t sound like a machine. My limited analysis has concluded it defies explanation, and seems unquantifiably unnatural.” Eliza’s voice came through my mind as her mare popped in. “I’ve sent the recording to the Architect. Perhaps the Factory can unravel the mystery of whatever it was.”

“Thank you, Riddle.” I offered and nodded to her. “I don’t know if we can find out who exactly that was, but my friends are on it.” She gave me a puzzled look that I answered with a swift tap to the side of my metal augment. “But with that out of the way, we do have some other things to discuss.”

“Right, I suppose you want us to cut that ‘deal’ with the Steel Rangers.” She snorted. “Well fuck that. We didn’t haul this shit all the way from home just to have it stolen and hoarded.” Her cloven hoof shot out and pointed to the busted copilot’s seat. “Toggle Lock didn’t die just so we could give up on starting over.”

“They aren’t asking for all of it.” Happy grunted as he pushed past Delta. “And you can’t even take all of it to…” He paused and scratched at his chin with his wooden hoof, “Where were you all tryin’ to get to?”

“The airbase, so we could start over and tinker with our craft in private.” Riddle sighed and dragged her cloven hooves down her muzzle. “Look, was your offer to help genuine, or are you simply here as a mouthpiece to the Rangers? Because if so, you have my answer.”

I cringed as the thought of committing to helping them move everything and everyone here added even more time for King to go unfound, as well as for Solomon to get ahead of us. No, we weren’t going to do that. But that didn’t mean we were out of options here, at least, if the Rangers would be willing to hold out a bit longer as well. And well, if I could convince a friend to help out another time.

“Hey, Eliza?” I thought out as I stared into the expectant eyes of Riddle. With her usual promptness, the smiling cartoon mare showed up again in my vision. “Can you send another message up to the factory? As thrilled as he’s going to be, I need Sharan’s help with this job…”

Author's Notes:

As with every chapter, I must share my absolute thanks for all the work that TheFurryRailFan does in helping get these chapters ready to post. Plus, I need to thank him for letting me use all of his locations from his story!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating FoE, and allowing us all to muck around in the setting to help make it our own.