I woke to the sound of birds. It was an odd, delicate melody that in all of my travels, I’d never experienced before. One that was completely unfamiliar in the dry, dead parts of the wasteland. I flicked my ear as I listened to the light tweeting, grateful that the morning came without Blackjack’s predicted firefight. The scent of pancakes wafted in from somewhere. Blackjack must have opened the window last night, letting in the smells from the saloon in town drift into our room. The bed was warm, and cozier than I’d remembered it being. Maybe I was just too tense last night to appreciate it.

Or maybe beds just always felt better when you first woke up, because honestly, who wants to get out of them?

I felt Blackjack’s lips moving across my cheek. A slow line of kisses trailed their way up my muzzle, to my forehead, to my temple. I opened my eyes as her warm mouth wrapped itself around my pinna. Well that was… different. Not bad. Just different.

“Good morning to you, too,” I said airily, barely able to keep my eyes open at the lovely feeling of her mouth on my ear, her teeth lightly nibbling their way along its sensitive rim. I felt like I was wrapped in a comforting blanket. Was there a blanket on the bed last night? Or had Blackjack put one over me?

Why was I thinking about blankets when she was nibbling on my ear? Shouldn’t this be relaxing? This was what ponies who liked each other did, right?

“I figured you needed a better wake up call than the sun hitting your eyes,” She purred, pressing her chest down against my back in such a way that it pinned me to the bed.

Momentary panic fluttered in my chest as I realised I couldn’t move. “Why... is... ears?” I asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of my voice. She felt amazing. Her mouth felt really nice, but I didn’t like being pinned.

At once, the aroma of pancakes became a sickeningly sweet reek. The soothing birdsong rose to a cacophonous symphony of skull-splitting disharmonies. The soft blanket started to catch and constrict, like the belt that Blackjack had strapped my wings down with all those days ago.

“You use them the most,” She said simply, planting a kiss on my left ear. Her mouth moved to my right ear, and as she shifted her weight, more pressure pressed me down into the bed.

This was the opposite of what I wanted! I coughed as her weight upon me made it hard to breathe. I tried to flail my wings, wiggle a hoof, anything just to let her know that she was very, very slowly crushing the life out of me! But she didn’t move. She never moved. Why didn’t she just get off of me?!

“Little heartmenders always listen too much. Yes, too much,” She cooed.

It felt like the weight of the mattress was sitting on top of me. There was no way Blackjack weighed that much. She wasn’t a cyberpony anymore. Why did she feel so heavy? Why was she doing this!?

I looked up at Blackjack as best I could. That didn’t sound like Blackjack at all. My eyes searched hers, and for the briefest moment, they shifted from her familiar red to Peculiar’s mismatched orange and purple.

I tried to scream. I tried to say something to get him out! But my mouth was made of cotton, and the Blackjack he puppeteered smirked as his hoof ran up my cheek.

“My, aren’t you a fun little toy? Seems like those mental shields don’t work when you’re asleep, do they, toy?”

I awoke breathless, and found myself flailing out of bed and into the corner that Blackjack had instructed me to hide in. I curled up as best I could, wrapping my wings around my small frame as I struggled to steady my breathing. I needed to be as small as possible. Then, just maybe, whatever horrible creature that had entered my dreams wouldn’t see me. What was I running from? All I knew was fear, and fear kept me in my corner of safety.

“Threnody,” Blackjack said softly from somewhere above me. I felt myself curl tighter into the corner at the softness of her speech, flinching at the sound of my name. Confusion and hurt rippled over me, and I lifted my head from beneath my wing as she peered down at me with what I interpreted as a mix of concern and understanding. Seeing her red eyes made me duck back down beneath my wing again. I was awake. They’d stay red. I was awake. I was awake!

“I am awake, right?” I asked, my voice quavering far more than I’d intended it to.

Blackjack nodded, staying rooted where she was. “You want to talk about it?” She asked, folding her forehooves over each other as she rested her chin on the back of her left hoof. “Sometimes that helps get a nightmare out of your head.”

I wanted to cry. I wanted to run. I didn’t want to be in the room with the monster from my dreams. I shook my head. “Just… stay there for now.”

Hurt and self loathing rolled off of Blackjack in waves, but she obeyed. I tucked my head between my hind legs as I hid under my wings. Eventually, my heart rate slowed, and my breathing steadied. When I could finally think again, I met her concerned red eyes. My heart began racing again as I looked deep into those sanguine orbs, waiting for them to shift from battlefield to nightmarish circus.

“That bad?” She asked.

I swallowed, and nodded. “I… saw Peculiar’s eyes show up in my dream,” I admitted, surprising myself with my honesty. “Well, rather, I saw his eyes in your eyes. That’s what scared me the most.”

Blackjack’s cinnabar eyes turned hard as I spoke, and I found the familiar shooty look all the more comforting. I allowed myself a moment to put up more emotional defenses. It might make it harder for me to get a read on other ponies today, but right now, I wanted to be a fortress against what the world could throw at me. I relaxed my wings as Blackjack’s emotions of concern and righteous anger ebbed away to nothingness as my defenses rose.

“So was this a nightmare, or was it something more?” She asked calmly, though even without my 6th sense, I could tell it was a little too calmly. “Do you think Peculiar was doing something in your brain?”

I didn’t want to think about it. It made my stomach twist to remember it. “I think so. In the end... he talked about heartmender shields. That... I don’t think that’s a coincidence. It felt off.”

Blackjack nodded slowly. “Have you ever fought in a mindscape before?”

“A what?”

Blackjack gave a little laugh. “Shit...” she muttered shaking her head. “It’s like a place inside your head, symbolic of your mind and stuff.” she gave a little, crooked smile. “Scary that I have vocabulary for this, isn’t it?”

“Probably not nearly as scary as your mindscape. I can see it now: a wasteland of whiskey bottles, dildoes, and porno mags,” I said with a small, teasing grin. Surprisingly, I felt a little stab of hurt from her at my quip, and quickly moved on. “But in all seriousness, yes, it’s a little scary that this is something you know about and I don’t. It’s… probably because you’re a unicorn and I’m not. Heartmenders… feel? But we can’t see into the mind. Well, maybe Sandalwood could, but she’s got magic for that.”

“Actually, it’s more like I’ve dealt with a lot of weird shit. Like a computer locking me in my own mind. Or the Eater,” she said evenly, all mirth gone. “Good news is that Peculiar’s either sloppy, arrogant, or stupid. Or you’re tougher than he thought. Anyway, you can fight in a mindscape, if you’re aware of it. If you want it enough.”

It took me a moment to process the idea of being trapped in one’s own mind for any period of time. Mine was not a place I wanted to be for any longer than I needed. That’s why I solved other pony's problems. It meant I could avoid mine for that much longer!

“I became aware of him being there rather slowly. It was like he wanted me to keep believing in the dream. Until everything seemed to be… too much? I just thought it was… er…” I blushed bright red. “I just thought it was real.”

“That’s the first trick, and I’m glad you noticed that it wasn’t. Most of the time I was attacked, they tried to make it seem normal. Like a dream. Something I wanted to believe, but there were always little mistakes and flaws. If you notice them, you have to start pushing back. That’s the second step.” It was a little scary how coolly she was taking this. And she hadn’t teased me for what I dreamed. I narrowed my eyes at her, not sure if I was pushing or not, but I was giving myself a doozy of a headache. Then she leaned in and licked my nose. I staggered back and fell over and she chuckled, “I’m real, Thren.”

Her being real wasn’t the issue. Not really. I was getting to know Blackjack well enough to realise that there was much, much more to her than she wanted to let on. But at the same time, the lack of teasing was disconcerting. Then again, would I want her to be teasing me? I wasn’t even sure I’d wanted her nibbling on my ear in my dream. There was a part of me that was screaming ‘what the fuck’ when she’d mentioned how her mindscape duels had always started out with things that she’d desired. But… Blackjack? Did I want her? I wasn’t so sure of that.

I shook myself, then wiped my nose off with the back of a hoof. “Okay, fine. I know you’re real. Dream Blackjack would have tried to woo me with pancakes or something.” I said, trying to subvert my fear with humour. “So… how do I fight back? I’m an empath. I mean, I guess in theory I could push emotions back on other ponies. But I’ve never done it. Is it anything like that?” I asked, cocking an ear to the side.

“Maybe. I had to do it two ways. First is just wanting it more, and asserting yourself over the mindscape. It's your head after all. You should be in charge of it. A hoofkick in a dream is a rejection of what you’re dreaming. Reject them till they’re out of it.” She said soberly, “But if you’re not stronger, and you can’t get control, then you have to be smart. You have to find a way out, or use who they are against them. It’s not easy, but the more you can assert your will and undermine theirs, the more control you have. Eventually you find a way to kick them out, or wake up.”

Assert my will? How the hay was I supposed to do that? I could barely assert my will in the waking, real world! “I… I don’t know if I can do that directly,” I fretted, fidgeting my wings. “I mean, what I know of treating ponies with trauma is that the idea is to take your power back. But… I never really understood how to do that. How ponies did that. I just, hoped they’d find a way.” I paused a moment, then looked her in the eyes. “After what happened on the Seahorse, how did you get your power back?”

She pursed her lips a moment. “I never quite lost it. I’m lucky I’m a pervert,” she said with a little shrug. “I wanted them to rape me, because then they weren’t doing it to Scotch. That would have broken me, if they’d found her. So that little victory was something that kept me together. Still, I was... sensitive to stallions. I kept overreacting. Lashing out. I didn’t want to kill them just because one looked at me wrong. I found a nice stallion that seemed amenable and I deliberately, willfully, had sex with him. When I proved to myself I could do that without killing him, I put most of what happened on the Seahorse behind me.” She took a deep breath. “Now what happened after I gassed 99... that’s power I’ll never get back.”

It made a sick sort of sense that Blackjack would find some healing power in somepony’s cock. But I also knew it was more than that, and let out a sigh. “I… see. That’s the unforgivable sin, eh?”

“99 was the first failure where I lost something that was mine. I’d screwed up before, but the loss was always something else, or someone else. But 99,” she paused and shook her head. “I can rationalize it, but it’s not something I’ll ever be over. I think if I ever am, I’ll be a real monster.” She gave me a half smile. “I’ve learned to deal with it. I think that’s the best I’ll ever manage.”

That was surprisingly insightful, all things considered. “I… think the Heartmenders can live with that, if you can,” I said with a small smile. “To be honest, I can see why you’d never get over something like that. Like you said, you don’t want to become a monster and let the wasteland win.”

She sighed and I felt those toxic emotions returning. She swapped topics before I could. “About Peculiar...”

Ugh, not something I wanted to return to. “Is avoiding him like the creepy plague he is an option?” I asked, hoping to defuse the situation with humour.

“Maybe. I don’t know how he got in your head, or how powerful he is. If you can’t fight him off, we’re going to have to do something.” She paused, rubbing her chin. “Do you want me to take him out?”

I shook my head. Good old Blackjack, eliminating threats first before thinking of the consequences. “No,” I said, my voice quavering again. “We need to figure out what his role is here. Yes, he is a creepy motherfucker. Yes, I’m scared that he can actually get into my head and that it was not just a nightmare. But we don’t know what his angle is. I don’t want him in my head, but I also don’t want him hurting more ponies. You saw how he threatened Basalt Breaker the other day. ‘One can only have so many accidents’.”

Blackjack nodded, then smiled. “So, what do you want to do, Captain?” she asked, smirking at me as she reminded me of the weight on my shoulders.

“I want to make sure that Bubblegum and Glitter are okay. Then I want breakfast. And… we should probably check in with Basalt about what we can do to solve the sabotage mystery. Maybe talk to Buzzsaw about the ‘saboteurs’. Maybe we can interview them ourselves.”

“And do what, exactly?” Blackjack asked.

I frowned. I wasn’t sure. “Maybe hear their side of the story? Nothing in this place makes any sense. Why the Timberjacks are putting up with the Family. Why the earth ponies are starving. Why a carrot costs 100 script!”

“Fear, greed, and greed?” She offered, rolling off the bed. Her horn sparked to life as she levitated her barding onto herself. “Probably not that simple, huh?”

I shot her an irritated look. “Why are the earth ponies letting the unicorns be in charge? Most of the workers look like they’re lucky to get one square meal a day. If that! And if the exchange rates between caps and script is as bad as I think it is…” I shook my head. “I just want to know more about what is going on. What I see – and what I feel – I don’t like.”

“Maybe it’s as simple as ‘unicorns rule and earth ponies drool’?”

“...”

“Didn’t think so…”

With that, we headed outside. The world outside of the hotel room was still there, but it was less sunny and bright than it had been in my dream. Somehow finding an overcast waking world made it easier to forget about my nightmare. At least some things didn’t change. I followed Blackjack down the flight of stairs we’d taken to get to our rented room. As usual, our other two intrepid partners in crime were sleeping late. Or maybe Blackjack and I were just up early. Without a pipbuck, it was kind of hard to tell.

“Five more minutes!” Glitter Bomb whined as she tried desperately to bury her face under Bubblegum’s side as we opened the door and let the day in on the pair. Bubbles just threw a pillow in our direction.

“You say that every morning, Glitter!” I said, trotting into their room as I tried to find edge to the hotel’s faded curtains. Instead of curtains, I found a very, very angry radroach. Shrieking, I dove away from the hissing mutated insect.

Squish.

Without opening his eyes, Bubblegum had managed to hit the end of his grenade rifle, causing it to flip end over end and come down hard upon the radroach, crushing its carapace with a sickly crackle as the heavy weapon landed.

Blackjack snorted. “Earth ponies,” She muttered, frowning as she lit her horn. “Come on you two. You can rut yourselves unconscious later. Day’s a wasting.”

“I’ll have you know that I have been a perfect gentlecolt,” Bubblegum said, groaning as he rolled off of the musty old bed and onto all fours. If somepony was really quiet, they would have heard the sound of an exasperated mare coming from Glitter.

Blackjack and I exchanged glances, and chuckled as Glitter moaned and schlepped herself out of bed. “I hate mornings. Luna is the best princess. Down with Celestia!” She muttered before pressing her massive forehead against mine.

“Come on, sleepyhead. Let’s get breakfast. We’ve got a big day ahead of us,” I replied, patting her right cheek.

“Plans, boss?” Bubblegum asked, zipping himself up into his leather barding. The earth pony retrieved his grenade rifle, and used the moldy curtains to wipe off the bits of mushed radroach off of it.

“Well, Buzzsaw wanted us to find out what was going on with the saboteurs. I figure we offer to look into it ourselves. I mean, we’re outsiders. Maybe we’ll see something other ponies missed!” I offered.

Blackjack leaned in close, causing me to jump as her breath washed over my ear. “And what if the saboteurs are actually doing good things for the camp?” She asked, looking a little hurt when I’d flinched.

“Then we do what I do best!” I said, pressing my left hoof to my chest.

“And that is?” Blackjack asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.

We lie to them about it and tell them that everything's A-okay! “We tell them that there’s nothing to worry about. And we improvise, we’re good at that, right?”

“You need what from us?!” I shrieked an hour later in Buzzsaw’s office. Peculiar was there, standing like a rotund statue next to Buzzsaw’s lithe grace. His mismatched eyes never seemed to wander far from me as we spoke.

Buzzsaw quirked an eyebrow at me as I’d clearly spoke out of turn. “It’s all standard for new members. Just part of our hiring process, as it were,” She explained to Blackjack.

“Yes, yes. Just part of making sure everypony who works for the Timberjacks is healthy! And hearty. And wholesome. Yes, nothing the matter with asking for a little blood sample,” Peculiar added.

Blackjack’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the portly unicorn. “That’s some rather particular brahmin shit.” She asked, looking about a hair’s breadth away from giving Peculiar a shooty look, before glancing at Buzzsaw. “What the hay do you do with it? Put it all in a cup and gargle?”

For some reason that set off a string of giggles from Peculiar that made me reconsider Blackjack taking him out.

“It’s something we’d like to have,” he purred, his mismatched eyes boring into hers. “For science. Wonderful, wonderful science.”

Glitter Bomb shuddered. “I don’t like pokes,” She said, glaring at Peculiar.

Peculiar raised a hoof. “My little ponies. Don’t worry! Nothing but a little poke and a little bleed. Blood. You know. I mean, for a mare such as yourself, Glitter Bomb, it might reveal some excellent secrets! Yes. Excellent! Like the breed of pony you were before you became the majestic alicorn you are now!”

Glitter frowned. “I used to be a unicron like you, Mr. Pickles.”

Peculiar’s mismatched eyes lit up, and for the first time this morning, he looked away from me. “My my! A unicorn? That changes things! Why, my dear, did you know that as a unicorn, if were we to get a blood sample from you, we could see how close to the Goddess you were?” He asked, his eyes shifting slightly. I had to look away from him, it almost felt like his eyes were glowing. Or was it his horn? Argh! I just didn’t want to look at him.

Glitter seemed to mull this over for a moment, before finally nodding. “Okay, I guess,” She said with a slight pout. “If it means it might prove I am a princess! I just don’t want it to hurt too much!”

“My dear, I think it may prove something very interesting indeed,” Peculiar replied, his grin broadening to almost inequine proportions. I shuddered.

“Do… we get a say in this?” I asked, gesturing toward Bubblegum and I.

Peculiar blinked. “Oh, well, I mean. I guess you don’t have to. Our poor stable is only trying to find a way to save the wasteland through gene therapy. Genetic purity in spite of the radiation that plagues our poor, darkened world is the only goal of the Family! But, if you don’t want to give us some of your rare pegasus blood. Or the blood of one of the strongest specimens of a worker horse I’ve ever seen…” He said, trailing off.

Buzzsaw snorted. “What he’s saying is all y’all give a sample. ‘Less you don’t want to, Miss Fish. I figure that you’re ‘bout the only one they may not need.”

“That’s good, because he’s not getting a drop from me,” Blackjack looked the rest of us over. “Up to the rest of you if you want to.” She said with a definite frown of disapproval.

“Gene therapy?” I asked, wariness warring with hope.

“Indeed. Increasing resistance to taint and radiation. Increasing stamina. Fertility. ...intelligence,” he added after a smug pause. “The greater the genetic samples we can employ, the more good we can do for the wasteland. Why, thanks to us, the mill’s workforce has been disease free for over a year!” I glanced over at Buzzsaw, who just gave a tiny shrug and nod of agreement.

I took a deep breath. “Fine,” I muttered. “I just hope this won’t blow up in our faces.” I certainly hoped it wouldn’t.

A few pokes later, and some uncomfortably close encounters of the fat unicorn kind that left me wanting to take a bath, Buzzsaw was scowling at us again. “I need you all do look into the acts of sabotage that have been happening around camp. Now, I know I hired you, and you all look like skilled mercs. Now it’s time to prove it. Fish, which members of your team are skilled at interrogation? We have some prisoners that have been… reticent to speak up.”

Blackjack pointed a hoof at me. “Thren. She can talk a Hellhound down, if given the opportunity. You need questions answered, she’ll get it out of ‘em. Course, she works well with me. I can play the scary security mare,” She said with a slightly unhinged grin. Or maybe it was her normal grin. Oh wasn’t that concerning…

Buzzsaw shook her head. “Not you. Just the pegasus. Sweetness would like you and Glitter to meet her in the saloon. Said she had some business to discuss with you. Family business,” she snorted derisively. “Thren will go talk to our prisoners. See if she can’t undo the damage our… ‘bad cop’ did to them.”

“Right. Then Bubblegum can go with her. Distract them with a kind smile... firm flanks... broad shoulders...” she murmured. A rolled up newspaper in a purple levitation field appeared and smacked her firmly upside the head. She blinked in shock. “Damn,” she muttered, “Anyway. He can watch her back.”

“Be rather conspicuous... two outsiders asking questions,” Peculiar opined. “I think it’s a bad idea. Don’t you, Boss?” he said as his eyes bored into Buzzsaw’s.

She didn’t answer for a few seconds, then muttered, “Yeah. You’re right.” Buzzsaw looked the earth pony stallion up and down. “You’re good with hauling stuff, right? Near as I can figure, best way to make sure we don’t have a discipline problem round here is to put someone on the inside. You don’t mind bucking trees for a bit, do ya?”

Bubblegum rolled his shoulders - his gloriously well toned shoulders - and shook his head. “Hard work never hurt before. Want me to turn the charm up to eleven?” He crooned, giving Buzzsaw a heartstopping leer.

Buzzsaw seemed unimpressed. “Sure. Just get the damned job done. Thren, you stay here till Basalt comes to get’cha. The rest of you, git.” She said, waving a dismissive hoof toward the door.

I sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes as Buzzsaw did paperwork. Only after I realised that Peculiar wasn’t coming back, did I let my mental shields down a touch. I let my mind and senses wander toward Buzzsaw.

She was… very stressed at first pass. Made sense, considering she ‘ran’ a gang, ostensibly, but there was something under the surface. She had that same desperate aura about her that seemed to cling to this town like a particularly muggy day.

Her grey eyes flicked up at me, and her muzzle shifted into an even more deep frown. “What? Never seen a mare do bullshit paperwork before?” She asked, turning away from me a moment as she spat into a spittoon that sat next to her desk.

I chuckled. “No. I used to do a lot of it back where we’re from. Fishie isn’t exactly the paperwork type,” I said, continuing to watch the strange earth pony mare. “I know you run this place, right?”

“Somepony say I ain’t the one in charge?” Buzzsaw shot back defensively. Oh. That hit a nerve.

I flailed my forelegs in front of me as I shook my head. “No no! Nothing like that. Er, at least, nopony’s said anything.” Buzzsaw’s grey eyes flinted as she looked me over. “It just seems like that Peculiar doesn’t like to… take no for an answer?” I offered.

Buzzsaw spat into her spittoon, wiping her muzzle with a red forehoof. “All you pegasi so damned perceptive?” She growled, though I got the sense that my words hit harder than I’d intended.

“I just know ponies is all. He’s… pushy, if you catch my meaning,” I offered, hoping that would suffice as an explanation for why I was talking about it.

I was saved by a knock on the door.

“What do you want?” Buzzsaw snapped as Basalt Breaker pushed the door open.

The grey earth pony rolled her eyes. “To take Thren here down to see the prisoners. Like you asked, remember?”

Buzzsaw waved a hoof. “Look, just take twinklehooves here and get her out of my tail. See if she can’t get them to talk. Maybe the little carrot’ll work better than the giant steel rod that Peculiar is. Now git.”

I followed Basalt out of Buzzsaw’s office, and back down the ramp into the lumber yard. As I looked across the yard, I saw that Bubblegum was fitting in well. Or he seemed to be, given that he appeared to be in a flexing contest with another strong, dapper looking earth pony stallion. Mmm, earth ponies…

Basalt coughed beside me. “You know, it’s kinda obvious that you like what you’re seeing when your wings do that,” She said, a mirthful expression on her muzzle. I smoothed my wings down and blushed. “That said, goddamn if that Bubblegum isn’t the prettiest thing you ever did lay your eyes on.”

I giggled, then mentally chastised myself at the fillyish sound. “Just don’t say that in earshot of Glitter Bomb. She’s liable to toss you up into a tree and not help you down!”

Fear washed over me like a rogue wave as Basalt stared at me. I waved my hoof in front of myself as I tried to explain. “N-no! Not like how Sweetness was! She just once tossed Fish and I out of a hotel because we were both staring really hard as Bubblegum took a bath! She’s always very gentle and kind. She’s just… crushing really hard. You know?”

Basalt didn’t look convinced, but I felt her relax slightly. “I really don’t. Most unicorn mares around here are complete bitches that’ll strangle you with their magic if they think you’re so much as thinking about looking at their stallion.” She explained, though fear rose up in her as she looked around, as if trying to make sure that no unicorns had heard her words.

Strangle was a bit harsh. Maim more easily came to mind. Though I didn’t want to give Basalt any more of a complex than she had about my friend. “Um, well… think of Glitter as a big filly. She’s really sweet, but sometimes she has trouble with being jealous. Bubbles really does care about her, she just is kinda… insecure about it.”

“Huh,” Basalt replied, waving me down the ramp and out of sight of Bubblegum. “We just… have a different way around here I guess.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s a better way,” I muttered to her as we approached a door guarded by a pair of unicorns. The door itself was unassuming, and built solidly into the side of the hill that Buzzsaw’s office sat upon. Why it was originally built, or what purpose it originally served, I didn’t know. But it did look like the only way in or out was through the pair of unicorns in front of us.

The yellow mare with a light blue mane smiled as Basalt and I approached. “Going to see the prisoners, Basalt?” She asked, levitating a set of keys out from her saddlebags. “Who’s the new filly?” Filly? Seriously?!

“Thren. Just came in with a new group of mercs. Rumour has it this one is quite the talker, so the boss wants her to try to get some info out of our prisoners. You know how Buzz can be about being thorough,” Basalt replied with casual ease.

It struck me as odd that this mare and her stallion partner didn’t seem to elicit the same fear response that all the other unicorns did. Then again, unlike a lot of the Family ponies, these two unicorns were armed with battered looking hunting rifles, not the fully automatic assault carbines we’d seen on the other unicorns. Weird. You’d think for ponies guarding high profile prisoners, they’d want to make sure they didn’t get away!

The bluemaned mare arched her back as she stretched. “Well, good luck to you, Thren,” She said, giving me a wink. “I think that Peculiar did a number on them. Honestly, I think they were telling the truth about them not being saboteurs, just ponies trying to open up trade. But the boss got suspicious, so…” She trailed off as guilt and regret pooled gently around her hooves.

Basalt shot the mare a look, and my mental radar pinged slightly. Though for what, I couldn’t readily say. “Look, Blue Belle, just let us in, okay?”

“Yeah yeah, Basalt, I’m goin’,” Blue Belle muttered as she unlocked the door behind her. “Just… be careful with them, okay?” She said, her light blue eyes full of concern as we trotted into the dimly lit warehouse. The door locked with a click behind us as my eyes struggled to adjust to the gloom.

That’s when I suddenly found myself slammed up against the wall, Basalt’s hoof at my throat. “Who the hell do you work for?” She demanded, her purple eyes like jagged amethyst. “Because you sure ain’t from Ticklemoose. Tell me!”

I struggled as the strong mare held me off my hooves by my throat. “Not...Family!” I rasped. Basalt’s eyes flicked over me with suspicion, then she dropped me to the floor, where I collapsed in a small heap. I coughed, trying to clear my throat. I forgot how strong earth ponies were!

“You said before you were a Follower,” Basalt said, pulling a pair of horseshoes with steel chisels welded to them. “Tell me what you meant by that, or I start rearranging the bones in your wing,” She said with a low growl.

I swallowed, panic welling up in my throat as I realised she fully intended to pin me to the wall if I didn’t talk. So I did something that I rarely did.

...I told the truth. “We’re not from Ticklemoose, no. Go Fish, Bubblegum, Glitter, and I are from Hoofington,” I explained. “I said I was a Follower, as in a Follower of the Apocalypse. They’re a-”

“I know what they are. We encountered one of your missionaries before,” Basalt snapped. “Why did you come back up here?”

Oh, that was the ten million cap question wasn’t it. My tongue threatened to turn to lead in my mouth, my selective mutism choosing an inopportune time to rear its head. How to explain why we were here. We spun a bottle on it?

“We’re… on a walkabout?” I offered, then waved my hooves quickly as Basalt raised a chisel-shoed hoof like she was going to hit me. “I don’t know how to explain it better. Go Fish has gone through a lot, Bubblegum has never had a family, Glitter needs to experience the world without other alicorns mothering her, and I’m the moron that spun the bottle to give us the direction we needed to go!” I said, spilling the words as rapidly as I could. “We didn’t know what we were doing, but we decided to go north, and it was better than figuring out why when I spun the bottle it landed on Go Fish cause I don’t know if I like mares or colts or neither and please don’t hurt me!”

Basalt blinked in confusion at my rapid fire explanation, then threw her head back and laughed. She slipped off one of her hoofshoes to wipe her eyes, tears rolling down them. I didn’t think the explanation was particularly funny!

“You’re telling me,” She wheezed, “That you’re up here because you played spin the bottle and you didn’t want to kiss a mare? And you expect me to believe that?”

“Well, I guess I did leave out the whole bit about me meeting a dragon and ultimately going this direction to avoid dealing with a horrifically traumatic event that happened to me in Junction City. But um… yes?”

Basalt gave me a look that was pity mixed with humour. “You… really aren’t lying, are you? You have no connection to the Family?”

“No.”

“Or Stable 9?” She asked, quirking a brow at me.

Again, I shook my head. “No. I mean, I know that there is supposed to be a pony out in this area that the Followers thought might live in Stable 9, but no. I am a Follower of the Apocalypse, and a-” I froze, not sure how to explain what I did. Would this pony know what I meant when I said heartmender?

Basalt raised her chisel bound hoof. “No lies. Are you a spy?”

“No. I. Am. Not. A. Spy,” I said plainly. “I’m a heartmender. And not a particularly notable pony otherwise,” I admitted sardonically. “Just a boring pegasus. Nothing to see here.”

Basalt relaxed, and put her chisel horseshoes away. “Alright. Though, a heartmender, eh? How did you…” She trailed off, looking down at the healing leg that Sweetness had snapped the night before. “How?”

I frowned, not wanting to give away all my secrets, but also not wanting to get my wings pinned to a wall. Well, the word of the day was ‘honesty’, so I guessed that was where I was going with this lovely chat.

“Heartmenders are… empaths? If you will? We feel the emotions of other ponies very strongly. We can also take those emotions onto ourselves with our inner magic. You were in pain. I took your pain,” I said simply.

Basalt’s purple eyes widened. “So… the bleeding?”

My jade eyes met her amethysts. “Side effect. But it stopped your pain.”

Basalt wriggled her right foreleg. “I… suppose I shouldn’t be looking over a gift for a price tag, huh?” She asked, giving me another one of those awkward grins of hers. She really did have a pretty smile, when she actually smiled.

I shrugged. “I… sorta do my own thing. Go Fish is our leader, but, only because we knew this town wasn’t going to listen to a rogue mini pegasus that looks half starved. She’s a fighter. I’m the talker.”

“That make Bubbles the lover.”

I wished, but no. “N-no. Bubblegum and Glitter are… just our friends. Well, Glitter has been my friend for the past two years. We sort of found Bubblegum and adopted him. He’s stuck around for his own reasons,” A thought struck me. “I really, really should get around to asking him why that is…”

Basalt chuckled. “You mean it isn’t just because he’s a handsome young stallion who likes to follow around pretty fillies? Cause that’s a good enough reason for most boys.”

I laid my ears back and gave her a flat look. “I… would like to think that Bubblegum is capable of thinking with more than his p... pride, thank you,” I said with a huff. Honestly, the colt was rather sharp. Cute fillies were probably just an added bonus. Well, the two cute fillies there were in the party. Two cute fillies and a lumpy tato.

The grey earth pony finally relaxed, tension running down her hooves into Equus’ embrace. She looked me over. “Look, we all know that the ponies I am about to take you to aren’t the saboteurs. Do you think you can help them, like you did me?” She asked, looking hopeful. “Peculiar… did horrible things to them. Buzzsaw wanted to send down a doctor, but she also can’t look weak in front of him.”

I bit my lip. I wasn’t a field surgeon. I could do a few things, like set broken bones, but nothing major. “I can try to help. I know a little bit of medicine,” I said, sure that my knowledge in that area would have barely let me pass the medic’s qualification at the Followers’ Headquarters in Tenpony Tower. I dug through my saddlebags, frowning at my meagre supplies. Blackjack hadn’t packed us much, and I only had a pair of healing potions and a few bandages left. “All I have are what’s on me. And that’s really not much.”

Basalt breathed a sigh of relief. “Look, what you have and are willing to do is more than I could possibly ask for,” She said. Her sudden wash of sincerity brought my head out of my bag. What was she playing at?

“I just told you I was a Follower,” I said, frowning at the big grey mare.

“Which means absolute shit to me,” Basalt snapped back. “I don’t know you. All I know about the Followers is that they’re weird and try to help everypony. The last one to visit didn’t stay long. The Family more or less let them know they weren’t welcome.”

I logged that bit of information away under ‘things to ask Heartshine about when we get back to regular wasteland Equestria’. The list was getting a bit long. “Wait, the Family let them know that?”

“Yeah,” Basalt said, turning to lead me across the dimly lit room toward what looked like an old freezer door. “The Family. Damned shame, too. We’ve been needing a good doctor for a while.”

I put a hoof on Basalt’s foreleg as she reached for the odd door opening mechanism. “Wait. Why would the Family make a call like that. Isn’t that Buzzsaw’s call?”

Basalt’s expression told me that my question was naive. I’d be inclined to agree with her, if it weren’t for the fact that I was trying to get answers. “Buzzsaw is in charge only so much as Peculiar lets her be,” She explained, shuddering. “The Family has their leashes around our necks here, and they keep’em short and tight.” She sat down on her haunches, leaning down to look me in the eye. “Look kid, the Timberjacks may be gangers, but we knew how the cards were being laid. Buzzsaw’s goal was to get the timber mill up and running so we all – and I do mean all – could make a living out here. The Wasteland may still be the wasteland, but there’s some good left in ponies. Buzz got that in her own crotchety way, and wanted to change things for the better. Then the Family moved in and everything went to shit.”

I got the slightest sense at the edge of my perception of the sound of shuffling cards. I flicked my ear before replying. “So if the Family weren’t around?”

“We’d be opening up trade with the NCR and Commonwealth,” She sighed. “Y’all’re building. Gonna need wood for that.”

I couldn’t fault her logic there. “Ugh, all this politics and weirdness is making my head hurt. Let’s just help the poor ponies you’ve got locked up here.”

Basalt gave me a wounded expression. “I don’t want them locked up here! Right now it’s the safest way to keep Peculiar away from them!”

“By keeping them in an old freezer?”

“Hey, we made it into a jail of sorts. Just… help me, please?” She asked, her purple eyes pleading. It felt weird, watching the strong mare beg. But I felt the small spark of another emotion inside of her: hope.

“I never said I wouldn’t,” I said with a reassuring smile. “Let’s… figure out what damage I can undo.” A thought struck me. “Oh shit, are my friends going to be okay?” I asked, panic making my voice crack.

Basalt nodded. “Well, okay as they can be. Bubbles should be fine. As long as Glitter and Fish don’t buy what the Family is selling…” She shrugged. “Not all the unicorns do. Blue Belle’s a good example of that.”

I couldn’t see Blackjack wanting anything to do with the Family. Glitter either. Unless they were super nice and offered her snack cakes. I shook my head as well. “I… don’t see that happening either. What Sweetness did to you left an impression, and not the good kind. But anyway, um, let’s get this over with.”

Basalt pulled the door open, revealing a surprisingly brightly lit walk-in freezer. Or what would have been one, had the cooling elements not been burned out. Now it was simply a pair of cells, and little else. The air was stale, and the entire place whiffed of unwashed bodies and sewage. Considering nopony had been considerate enough to provide so much as a waste bucket, it wasn’t really that surprising.

The first cell’s occupants caught my attention as they flinched toward the back corner. The small teal earth pony mare gave us a terrified look as Basalt and I trotted into the small prison. Even though she was small, she was still taller than I was, and didn’t appear to have any obvious injuries. The other occupant of the cell was a pretty palomino pegasus, who stared back at me defiantly.

The occupant in the other cell wasn’t moving. The dapple grey unicorn stallion looked like he was barely breathing. Dried blood covered much of his body, and his hind leg was in horrible shape. I rushed over to his cell, ignoring the mares.

“Get this open right away. Oh my goddess, what did he do to him?” I asked, stamping a hind hoof impatiently as Basalt fumbled to get the cell open.

“I don’t know!” Basalt replied defensively. “He wasn’t this bad last night!”

I swore quietly under my breath, cursing Peculiar’s existence, the Family’s existence, and for all the cruelty that the wasteland brought. The sound of shuffling cards yet again flickered through my ear as Basalt hauled the door open. I was at the stallion’s side a moment later, checking his vitals.

The stallion was still breathing, but it was shallow and slightly laboured. I set my hoof on him, only to recoil as pain flowed from his body to mine like an electrical spark. Okay, well, that told me what was hurting, unfortunately everything wasn’t quite specific enough to be useful. Shaking myself, I trotted over to his leg, and very, very gingerly began to feel along it. His tibia and ulna felt intact, and most of the pain radiated up near his hip. That wasn’t a good sign. Pressing my hoof lightly into his hip, the stallion and I both grunted in pain as a blindingly sharp pain shot through my left hip, just below the joint.

Basalt put a hoof on my shoulder, causing me to start. I looked up at her concerned face. “What?”

“Your nose is bleeding. Is… what’s wrong with him?” She asked, offering me a rag to wipe my nose.

I ignored the rag. “I think Peculiar managed to break his femur. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened, based on where this guy’s pain is. It doesn’t feel like a compound fracture, since there’s no bone sticking through the skin, but… I’m honestly at the end of my medical knowledge.” I bit my lip, looking the stallion over. Well, not doing anything could cause his death. “We can give him the healing potions, but honestly, he might walk with a permanent limp, depending on where his bones are and how the potion sets his limb.”

Basalt Breaker closed her eyes as she thought, then turned to look at the now confused looking mares in the adjacent cell. “What do you think he would prefer?”

“Why the hell do you care?” The palomino mare spat, pointing a white socked hoof at Basalt. A twisted part of me in the back of my mind said that Blackjack would find her super cute. “You ponies did this to us!”

“Cynthi, I don’t think they’re like that scary pony,” The earth pony replied, tugging on the pegasus’ lavender tail.

I raised a hoof. “Hi. Heartmender here. Trying to keep a pony from dying, and definitely not a fan of the Family,” I sighed. “Look, what’s happened here is awful, and I want to help fix it. But I can’t if I don’t know how to treat this buck.”

“He’s got a name!” The yellow mare spat back.

“Then what is it?” I asked, meeting her light blue eyes.

The pegasus paused, giving me a puzzled look. “Why do you care?”

The little teal earth pony rolled her maroon eyes and stepped out from behind the pegasus. “His name is Solidarity. I’m Puddle Splasher, and this is Hyacinth. Or Cynthi,” She cocked her head to the side, her curly seafoam green mane bouncing slightly. “Why are you helping us?”

Her name is Puddle? I thought to myself before responding. “I’m… a Follower of the Apocalypse. And I’m a heartmender. I help ponies where I can. Basalt said you needed help. So that’s what I’m here to do.”

Hyacinth didn’t look convinced. “Why would a heartmender be helping out the ponies who put us in here? Don’t you know what they’ve done!?”

Basalt and I exchanged glances. I really didn’t know what they’d done, but at this point…

“Look, I don’t know what’s happened to you. Whatever it is, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it. But I’m not a wasteland hero. I’m just a little healer. Basalt is asking me to help Solidarity now, and before we get too off focus, do you think he would want complete healing, or should I try to give him as best help as I can for now?” I asked, boring into Hyacinth’s ocean eyes. “I don’t want him to die because that monster got at him.”

Hyacinth and Puddle Splasher exchanged looks and shrugged. “I would want you to heal Mr. Solidarity,” Puddle Splasher said after a moment. “I mean, he came with us to keep us safe. If healing him helps keep us safe, please do it.” She said, her eyes pleading.

“I’ll make sure he’s helped as best we can. I don’t want him to die over this,” Basalt said, putting her hoof up to the bars that separated the two cells. “He doesn’t need to die for my mistake.”

For the second time today, I mentally logged away something. “Okay. It’s settled then. Basalt, I need you to help me lift his head. I can bring him out of his sleep slowly, but we want him to drink the potion, not aspirate on it,” I ordered, pulling the potion out of my saddlebags.

As Basalt gently lifted Solidarity’s head into her lap, I laid my hoof on his forehead. I closed my eyes, searching for a sign - any sign - that he wasn’t braindead. What I got in response was just more pain, but the stallion groaned slightly as his dark green eyes fluttered open.

Confusion flared in his eyes as he looked at me, and I gently stroked his cheek with my hoof, trying to calm him. “Solidarity? I’m here to help you. I have a few healing potions for your wounds. Do you think you can drink?”

The stallion groaned, but nodded, dried blood flaking off of his swollen cheek as he moved. Basalt and I helped him drink down the first potion, then the second. Within minutes, the bruising and cuts on his body began to lighten and heal. I grabbed an extra blanket that lay just outside of the reach of the cells, and lay it under Solidarity’s head like a pillow. The stallion quickly went back to sleep, but his breathing was much more even and steady than it had been when I’d helped him.

Which turned my attention to the two mares in the cell next to us as Basalt locked Solidarity’s cell. “Are either of you hurt?”

Both Puddle Splasher and Hyacinth shook their heads. “Are you really a heartmender?” Puddle Splasher asked. “You… seem really young to be one.”

Says the shortie named Puddle! “I’ve been a heartmender since I was 8. And I do want to get you out of here. So does Basalt.” The big grey earth pony nodded as she stood behind me.

Hyacinth didn’t look convinced. “Well, you make sure that when you get us out of here, I better get a blade. I want to cut off that heterochromatic freak’s horn and shove it up his ass!”

Puddle Splasher looked horrified. “But… Hyacinth, that’s not what Rhiannon-”

“Fuck Rhiannon. Fuck her and her stupid fucking friendship is magic bullshit. All of my friends are in Stable 9. I don’t want to be friends with wastelanders if I have to worry about them being like these creeps.” The pegasus replied, stalking to the lone cot in the cell and flopping into it, facing away from us.

Puddle Splasher’s ears drooped as she looked back at her friend. Strangely, the little curly poofs in her mane and tail seemed to straighten a little as well. “It’s… been hard.” She whispered to me. “I just want to go home. I wanted to make friends with everypony here, but… I don’t know why they’re all so mean!” She said with a sniffle.

I felt Basalt’s presence beside me as she knelt down to place her hoof against the bars. “I never wanted anypony to get hurt. Nor did Buzzsaw. We’ll fix this. Somehow. I promise.”

“Promise promise?” Puddle Splasher asked hopefully.

Basalt nodded. “Cross my heart and hope to cry, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She said, going through the motions of the old filly promise that it seemed everypony knew.

I dug through my saddlebags and pulled out one of the two boxes of snack cakes that I’d carefully hoarded throughout our trip, and slipped it through the bars. “Here,” I said. “Share it with Hyacinth. Don't worry. I'm not with the Timberjacks.”

“And not all the Timberjacks are with the Family,” Basalt added.

“So we’ll figure this out. My friends and I will find a way to make it so that everyone makes it out of here okay.” I said, slipping my hoof through the bar. Puddle Splasher took my hoof and pulled it close to her heart. Hope and friendship radiated through me with each pulse.

“I believe you,” She said with a smile that seemed to brighten the room. “Though I don’t think I caught your name.”

“Threnody,” I said simply. “It’s Threnody.”

“Basalt, I have some questions,” I said after Basalt and I closed up the prison door. The big grey earth pony mare looked at me with a panicked expression.

“What kind of questions?” She asked, swallowing.

I sighed. “Look, why do you want to help these ponies? Do you even have a plan to deal with the Family?”

Basalt Breaker bit her lip, then motioned me to come closer. “Yes. We do have a plan. I don’t know if it’s a good plan, but if you and your friends can help, it might work.”

“We?”

Basalt nodded. “Yes, we. There’s very few ponies from Fold who are happy with way things are. And those that do like it, well… they aren’t Timberjacks anymore.”

“So you and Buzzsaw have a plan to take back Fold then? With the help of the unicorns that are still loyal to the Timberjacks?” I asked.

“Well…” Basalt gave me a sheepish look. “Buzzsaw doesn’t know about it. I know she’d back it, if she did. But… if things go south…” she trailed off.

“You don’t want her taking the fall for your actions.” I finished, mentally giving Basalt another point in her favour. “I see. Well, I know that Fish and my friends would be willing to help. If you’re willing to trust us, that is.”

Basalt frowned a moment, then shook herself. “I suppose I should get over my fear of unicorns and trust that you know what you’re talking about.”

I smiled at her, and patted her big hoof. “I understand. You’ve been through a lot here, what with the Family taking over and things changing. I can see why you might be a little untrusting of outsiders.”

“Less outsiders, more like unicorns,” she explained, idly scraping a hoof along the concrete floor. “My best friend was a unicorn. Or so I thought. Then she started hanging out with the Family mares and now…” She shuddered. “She left Fold to go up to Seaddle. I’ve not heard from her since. That… hurt. And the abuses that the unicorns regularly put us earth ponies through? It ain’t right. And I aim to misbehave until it stops.” She said, her conviction warming me like the noonday sun.

“I want to help you, Basalt. Let’s get together this evening, talk it over with Fish and company, and we’ll see what we can do,” I said with a grin. My grin faded as I heard a dry chuckling coming from somewhere in the room. I looked about, but it wasn’t Basalt that was laughing. “Did you hear that?” I asked.

Basalt looked around the nearly empty room, alarmed. “Hear what?”

The dusty, dry sound of cards shuffling rang in my ears distinctly now, but nopony was playing cards. I shook myself.

“Sorry Basalt. All this talk of secrets is making me jumpy.” I started toward the door, then stopped. “Wait… Basalt? Do you know who the real saboteurs are, then?” I asked.

“Of course I do. One of them is me.” She replied, that lopsided grin on her face. “Why?”

I wanted to give a smart reply, but I was fixated on the dusty corpse of a pony who floated just beside her head, holding up a quintet of playing cards. An insane, inverted Jack of Clubs with Peculiar’s eyes. Blackjack as the Queen of Spades. Buzzsaw as the King of Diamonds. Basalt as Buzzsaw’s Queen.

… and me as the Queen of Hearts. The ghoulish dealer smirked at me, then vanished.

“Threnody, you okay?” Basalt asked, looking concerned. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t. I ruffled out my wings, then blinked several times. “Sorry. Maybe it’s the mold down here. Making me a little woozy.”

Why can’t I shake this feeling that it’s something so, so much worse?

Author's Notes:

Oh my gosh. I am so, so sorry that this took so long to get out. Like I said in my blog post, my job as a mental health therapist had a massive uptick in work over the past two months, which has kept me away from writing. I honestly want to write, I just haven't had time!

That said, I hope this was worth the wait, and I'm hoping to update on the regular from now on.

Oh! And for this month's fic recommendation, I've been hearing super good things about Kyler's Fallout Equestria: Stable Scout. Check it out once you're done with chapter 10!