I found myself alone when I woke up. The bed was still warm and I could hear raised voices downstairs. I didn't like how it felt to wake up alone anymore. That feeling of dread that I may not see Nyota again started to creep over me. I was still warm through and I really wanted to wait for his return.

After what was probably an hour of fighting to go back to sleep, I reluctantly crawled from under the covers. My hooves dragged along the floor towards the door. Where is Nyota? I thought he'd be here when I got up. I got to the door, my legs aching, especially in certain places. We'd nearly overdone it. When I opened the door, on the floor was a shattered talisman.

I picked up the magical device and lifted it to inspect how it was broken. Where did that come from? I discarded the device into a hallway trash tin with a twang and closed the door behind me. I really hope that wasn't anything bad to break. The stiff coldness outside made me realize I had no stable-barding on, or for that matter nothing at all. Ponies may go around naked, but I still had this feeling that was not something I could quite do. This was especially true after last night's activities. I stepped back into our room and got dressed. My modesty protected, I headed downstairs. Nyota's voice yelling stopped me halfway, “That is ridiculous! Your shotty talisman is at fault and we didn't even ask for it!”

Honey Hearthfire didn't yell back, she spoke very softly and clearly, “The other guests complained and therefore, I had to go with their complaint. Then you two broke it with her shrieking. Now pay for it.”

Nyota grumbled and started to speak again until he saw me out of the corner of his uncovered eye. He stopped himself, then reached into his pack to start counting out caps. I walked up next to him and nuzzled up against his cheek, stopping him from paying more with my hoof. I purred into his ear and enjoyed the softness while I started to count out caps. I was still flush with caps from The Roof and rearming us the last couple of days. Not to mention, I swore some of these were still from The Curator. I paid the rest without a second thought and put a bag of one hundred into his saddlebag.

“Oh, Sunrise! You've got my squeal, now you need to learn to control it.” Pink giggled in the back of my mind, bordering on bursting out into laughter. I mentally frowned at her and gave her a wary glare.

Maybe I like letting it out. I shot back with a mental smirk at her. She stopped the laughter and I swore I felt some sort of complete confusion coming off of her. I'm starting to understand why I'm funny now, too. I was in a wonderful mood, no one was going to ruin it.

Nyota nuzzled up against me, “Go on and shower, love. I wish you hadn't gotten dressed, I'll get Hearthfire here to wash your barding.”

“Okay but don't pay for too much.” I got out there and started the shower, knowing that I was on a timer. At least the water was hot, even if it made my PipBuck click. The warmth reminded me of what it was like to be held by Nyota as the scent and dirt of yesterday was washed away.

While I was waiting for myself to dry, I took a seat at the bar and watched Nyota's hot water timer. Everytime that it got low, I pushed another two caps across the table. He must have been out there for a full blown 35 minutes. Hearthfire only stopped taking caps when a shower que had formed.

Even Pink snickered at this, “He's gonna be so pruny and squeaky clean! He'll squeak like a doggy toy!” Just as she said that, Nyota's soaking wet hoof touched my shoulder.

You liar! He's stealthy even when soaked to the bone! I jumped around and looked at him. He just smirked and stroked my still drying mane. Even when I don't hear or see you; you're there.

“Thank you love, you didn't need to do that.” His hoof smelled of sandalwood against my nose. He had really scrubbed himself clean. “However, I'm going to suggest we get a better silencing talisman of our own, and ball gag, or a bridle for you in the future.”

He said this so loud that everyone in the inn turned to us with a glare. We had interrupted all of their sleep. Some of the glares were less angry and more intrigued or even showing encouragement towards Nyota. I blushed until I felt like I might explode and he just kissed my lips. I swear, I'm not sure if I like PDA or not!

There was something brushing against my leg, it felt like a cat. It forced me to break the kiss to investigate it. There at my hooves was Snuggles, the manticore. Every fiber of my being wanted a weapon right then and there to kill it. My mind raced back to the memory of its mother rushing at me. The feeling of dread as my hoof slipped and I went down a manticore's gullet. The disguist made me feel like the water upon my flesh was the stomach acids. The memory of my death and Coffee Stain's tears. I couldn't take it.

With a scream, I jumped as far away as I could. I physically impacted into the counter and it moved several paces. Every other patron's breakfast was interrupted with my squeal: “Get that AWAY!!!” All the words I could form in my mad dash as Snuggles jumped away from me. She wasn't screaming or panicking through, the small manticore was growling intently at me.

Chifundo stepped between us before anything further happened. He wrapped a hoof around Snuggles, turning his back to me. He acted like a parent scolding a child, “Shame! I told you not to surprise, the pony we call Sunrise.”

All I could do was hyperventilate and push the memories back from my mind. My heart pounded in my ears so loud, a drum section would have been quieter. I couldn't help myself, my vision blurred and the edges became pure blackness. My world was crashing down and it was taking all my willpower to not drop into a memory.

Nyota wrapped his hooves around my neck and stroked my wet mane, “Shhh, it's okay. It's just Snuggles. You're fine Sunrise, nothing bad is going to happen.” He kept whispering in my ear, doing his best to calm me down. Eventually, his voice proved to be louder and more clear than the sound of the pounding from my veins.

“Sunny, Sunny, are you there?” He looked into my eyes as I took in the world around me finally. My head slowed down and the pounding went away. The edges of my vision became clear and my breath normalized. He had been what I clung to, his words in my ear were all that kept me from taking a trip on memory lane.

“I—...I'm here.” I managed through an emotionless, shaky voice. Nyota smiled holding me gently against this neck.

“I've got you, Sunny. What was that? You looked like you were just lost in space?” Nyota's concern could have made my mother feel lacking in affection.

“A memory.” The shake in my voice retreated as I held my head and let the feeling of panic completely die down.

“That isn't normal.” Nyota paused and held me where he could look into my eyes. He was checking me like a doctor would, poking and prodding at my face, eyes, and neck through an improvised examination. “You should have your head looked at by an expert. It was like you were going into a memory orb or a recollector.”

“Well duh! She's been doing it this whole time! You just now noticed! Her head is completely screwed up worse than a corkscrew that is bent into a hairpin turn!” Pink shrieked at him and then covered her mouth. I hadn't noticed her come into view above my pulse and body indicator.

Pink, what do you know? I prodded ignoring Nyota for a moment. I was trying to draw some inkling of knowledge from the elusive ghost in my head.

“Oh! I know a bit but telling you might break a wall or four. I really would rather not ruin it for the rest of the wasteland, especially my primary audience of one.” Pink giggled hysterically as she spoke and I looked around for a moment to find her 'Audience'.

There aren't more spirits in my head are there? I asked in defeat of locating any particular audience.

“Nopie lopie dopie! You wouldn't get that yet, you may never get it! But moving on, yeah your head is really messed up from the 180 years of memory orbs you were exposed to in the stasis tank! You should find an expert to examine your noggin.” I glared at her and returned to the world around me instead of continuing this fruitless conversation.

Nyota poked and started looking around my eye sockets as well as my head under my mane. I shook him off annoyed, “Nyota, okay. Stop poking and prodding me. You aren't a memory expert. We can look at my head when we find an expert on the subject.” I pushed his hooves away and noticed our friends were gathered around a table eating breakfast. We joined them.

The silence was only broken by Quick Stitch when he looked at me and pushed the onyx cube Corners had left us onto the table. “We had a look at it, I think Chifundo can explain this better than I can.” Quick Stitch looked on rather grimly as he turned to Chifundo.

“We accessed its outer layers, within we found magical players.” He began and collected his breath then started speaking without pause. “It locked down its internal matrix when we tried to compile its helix. The spiritual markings are bold, they trap within many a creature's soul. I cannot sense who they are in the midst, only that many personalities exist.” I stared, trying to put all his words together and truly understand what he was getting it.

“There are elements of Zebrican works, earth pony built into its quirks. Pegasus and Unicorn elements are present, although their purpose is beyond my discernment. Much to my lament. There is an internal artificial spirit, it rages until I fear it. In addition, there is a memory orb interface, for new knowledge brought into its embrace.

“It is a piece of technology most frightening, but its works are certainly enlightening.” Chifundo finished and took a breath while all of us were trying to piece all his words together.

Nyota spoke up first, “So it's a soul jar and something else?”

I knew that phrase. Soul jars were created to imprison a creature or put a piece of your soul into an object. They were dangerous and self destructive! If those boxes inside us were soul jars, they were created by ponies who ignored all the rules around scientific ethics and morals. They were highly illegal! I felt physically punched by this realization.

“Yes, but so much more, and more advanced. Earth pony magic that was used to make stubbornite is there, too. They are virtually indestructible. We tried with Alguacil's gun and even an anti-material rifle Sparrow has. It didn't even scratch the surface.” Quick Stitch took a sip of coffee when he finished his words. Well if you could call the sludge that The Flophouse served ‘coffee’.

I realized that Alguacil hadn't joined us yet. I heard the scrape of talons loudly on the wooden stairs. I turned my head to look behind me and Alguacil was making his way down, fully geared up already. He looked at all of us and took a seat at the table, grabbing a skewered squirrel on a stick.

“Alguacil, why are you already geared up?” Nyota looked at him puzzled while I just had a mouth full of what they called: Applesauce. It wasn't but it was close enough.

“Another griffin lady is looking for me, so I turned in the bounty on myself while you all were enjoying your night.” I turned my head to him rather puzzled and took a sip of coffee. He patted his gun in its holster, “I got ready just in case she came calling today.”

A thought occurred to me, “Alguacil have you considered she may be friendly, or actually just want to find you like I want to find my parents?”

Alguacil snorted at that, “You don't place a bounty on folks when ya just wanna get a hug or find someone you care about.”

I shook my head and Nyota snorted, “Did you just not get hugs as a child or something?”

“My parents are the one who took my eye! My dad STABBED IT OUT! My mother complained she would have to spend caps to get me to a doctor instead of getting more drugs! You listen here, I didn't get this far being so trusting and—“ I'd had enough, and jumped up to hug Alguacil, wrapping my hooves around his neck burying my face into his chest plumage. All he could do was sit there and twitch uncomfortably.

I don't know what had come over me, but I felt some deep pain for him. I knew what a loving home was like, Nyota did too. He didn't. He had the worst pieces of the world thrust upon him from birth. He never knew what it was like to be wanted or have someone care about him beyond just being a regulator. I wanted to take his pain away for him. I wanted to see if somewhere under his anger and all that wasteland armor, he had the ability to express something besides his rage.

The more I thought about it, the tighter I held Alguacil. He was so much bigger than me; it was comical to think about holding him in place with a hug. I felt a talon on my head and looked up to see a stern yet very confused face, “What's this, exactly?”

“It's called a hug,” Nyota chimed in and approached to join in, giving Alguacil a group hug. “She wants you to know she actually cares and is worried about you and your ability to feel something outside of paranoid rage.”

Am I that much of an open book? I didn't realize I'd been tearing up or shedding tears for Alguacil while I'd been holding him. I slowly released the hug and nodded at Nyota's comment. “Alguacil, have you never been hugged by anyone else?”

Alguacil shook his head slowly from one side to the other, “No. No, I have not. It’s strange, and fills me full of a weird warmth.” Nyota and I facehoofed in unison. I couldn't believe him, he'd never opened himself up or really truly been friends with any creature else.

“Alguacil, we care about you. Don't you care about us?” I looked up at him very confused and wanted to plead with him; hoping he had an emotional side.

“Of 'ourse, someone has to keep an eye on all of you. You're capable of massive amounts of destruction. Gotta make sure ya stay on the right side of The Law.” His words told me everything. That was all he knew how to express affection or care for any creature else. He didn't know how to be soft.

I have to fix that.

“YOU!? Fix that? You can't make everyone think or act like you, Sunrise. But as for Alguacil, I think the closest he'll ever feel to your version of love will be letting some other creature wear his hat for a day!” Pink was rolling in laughter at me and cackling it up. This didn't discourage me, it only told me I had do more. I had to figure out how to get through to him.

“Alguacil, thanks for reminding me.” I took a breath and hugged him tightly. "Gotta keep this up everyday, till we find some softer side of you.” The smile Alguacil cracked was one of a truly unsure and completely panicked lost child.

I let out a sigh, he wrapped a talon around me. Finally Progress! “Ther', is that what ya wanted?” It was weirdly mechanical for him. He didn't put expression or warmth into it, just the act of putting a leg around my neck. I shook my head at him and released Alguacil, finally taking a couple steps away from each other.

“It's a start.” I felt like it was a start to helping me retrieve a piece of himself he never knew existed. I didn't know a lot about griffins, but I at least knew that they showed some sort of care for their children. He needed to find a surrogate family, and if we were gonna be it, that was all I could hope for.

“Aww, Sunrise is being a Sunrise. I wonder if this means she's gonna be screaming again later.” Coffee Stain chirped up. I hadn't realized she had entered and I turned around, shooting a glare towards her. “Oh, come on, I've seen happier and sluttier. After I’ve heard you like that, these tender moments just make it really fun to reminisce. I hope Nyota put those tricks I gave him to work.”

I let out a squeak of distress when Nyota walked up and gave me a hug. It was against his touch I felt how deep my own blush was. My stomach started to rumble as well, not in the happy or hungry way, but in an upset way. The butterflies weren't helping either.

Coffee Stain kept talking but I couldn't hear her. My ears were giving a dull ringing, like I was at high altitude and suddenly hit a pressure wave. My stomach churned and flipped twice. Whatever I'd eaten was completely not agreeing with me. I grasped onto my stomach and doubled over in pain. My throat swelled and I felt the warmth leave my face.

The first thing I heard was, “Sunny, are you okay?” The next thing I knew I was vomiting for no other reason than an upset stomach. Nyota grabbed a bucket as I emptied my insides. Everyone stopped eating to stare at me. I didn't know why I was sick, but this felt unusual. Compared to the other times I'd vomited, this was heaving until all my insides were completely emptied. The contractions echoed through my sternum and the amount of pain involved was the worst I'd ever felt. Even breaking my ribs or getting shot didn't permeate my being as much as this.

Once I stopped, I looked to see all my breakfast was gone into the tin receptacle. I wiped my mouth and washed it out with water. Coffee Stain stopped her teasing and had moved on, leaving us alone. Thank the Goddesses for that!

The first pony to find us once we got me to hold down food was Cloud Piston. He had several modified carriages around him. They had been turned into armored battle wagons with hitches for ponies that were completely enclosed and surrounded with plating. It was like a wasteland tank, powered by ponies instead of an engine. They even had rotating turrets with machine guns on top. “Hey there, Sunrise! Me opening a shop here has been one of the best things to ever happen!” I looked at him and then all his creations.

Many of the guards I noticed had improvements to their armor, or flat-out new armor. While it wasn't quite machined right out of factory, it was fairly good for someone performing blacksmithing without a blast furnace. I nodded to him with a smile when he passed me a schematic for a helmet. I looked it over and it took me a minute to piece it together. His crude drawing was proposing using a reinforced framing system to provide direct internal absorption to impact. If he was right, this could make it so armor piercing rounds would have a much more difficult time punching through a helmet.

I immediately got to work improving my own helmet. I asked Chifundo to go negotiate with the Filly Scouts to get me some heavy duty materials, as well as using the stubbornite we'd recovered from Taintwood. The other thing I did was take a .50 cal ammo box and add armor plating to the outside while putting reinforced padding inside. It replaced one of my saddlebags, but this was where I would be putting all my explosives from here on out.

Once I'd finished, I started tuning my radio for some form of music when Blackhawk's voice cracked through, “Hello! To anyone out there! Please find Sunrise, we need the Angel! The Roof is under siege! Please respond if you are receiving this!” The voice was desperate, and the radio static made me listen to the full message three time before I got all of it. I stared in disbelief. While we had been adventuring in Taintwood and securing Silver Fang Shanty, while I had been making love to Nyota for the first time, they were fighting and dying.

I bolted out and stopped my friends from all their various activities, gathering them up outside Sparrow's. Once I had access to her radio, I dialed in the frequency so I could actually talk back. The PipBuck could receive transmissions, but without a broadcaster attachment, I couldn't talk back. “Hello, Blackhawk, come in. Come in.” I waited through the static, praying we were not too late. The silence was killing me.

It took almost two full minutes before I got a very tired Blackhawk talking back. “Sunrise? Is that you?”

“Yes, you're under siege? What is going on?” I clicked off the microphone and waited to hear back.

“We're under siege by someone calling themselves The Goddess with a Gun.” The name struck me, I felt like I knew it but nothing came to mind right now. I hesitated and waited for her to finish. “Please, we need help, can you send us an army?”

I looked at Sparrow, who shook her head, “I'm not in a position with all the retraining, thanks to Alguacil, to really provide more than a token force. You're on your own here, ground pounder.”

I growled at her when Hot Cross Buns walked in and spoke up, “Well, I was saving this for something else.” Sparrow motioned for him to stop talking, and he pushed her aside with his wing. “I've got a military grade Spell Matrix, you might be able to fix up a vehicle at The Roof with it and make a wasteland-style tank.”

I heard the words and started to process what he said. Another thought occurred to me, a very dark one. Pink giggled and nudged against my mind. “You could do that with it, too.”

I'm not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. I won't do it, Pink. I growled seeing the image of the 'Granny Pie's Anarchist Cookbook'. There was a page in there, about how to convert industrial or military spell matrices into bombs; a dirty megaspell bomb. I kept the thought to myself. I was determined to use the spell matrix to possibly fix up the tank at the ranger station. Hot Cross Buns was right, we could use it to get a larger vehicle running and use that as a wasteland tank; at least until I could get back to the Sand Scorcher II.

We got packed up and hit the road within just a few more minutes, including our entire Q-Series truck to fit the Spell Matrix in it but we had a Military Grade Class-3 Spell Matrix. It could power a razor airship or a heavy assault tank. “Or it can be converted into a 50 kiloton boom boom!” I glared at Pink with daggers that should have killed her on the spot!

We were silent on the drive. We didn't truly know the situation, there were only six of us. How we could possibly make a difference in a siege likely involving more than 500 attackers laying siege to The Roof. Nyota looked at me concerned and I looked back at him. The Roof had between two hundred to three hundred creatures in it, and was a well fortified place with limited entrances. But to outright surround and keep them besieged?

How long did they call for help before I responded? How many were dead? How bad was it? Why hadn't I remembered to turn the radio on every night like I promised!? My thoughts kept racing as we drove along. The Q-Series vehicle was durable, but its suspension was rough after 180 years, to say the least . Surprised this thing still runs.

Chifundo was seated with me up front, being the smaller of the party besides me. I was using my PipBuck to guide Quick Stitch while he drove. He was the only one who had experience driving, and even then, I felt like he certainly wouldn't pass his driver's test.

A loud bang echoed off the door. I hit the deck and put on my helmet as several loud pangs echoed off my side of the vehicle. We were under fire! Alguacil rolled down his window, firing back with his revolver. Quick Stitch sped up and started to swerve evasively, but I grabbed the wheel and shook my head. “Keep it straight, the car is armored.” I looked at my weapons; none of them had any real range except one. In my PipBuck it was labelled: Noob Tube. I picked up the grenade launcher. It had been so heavily modified since Corners had given it to me. Chifundo was working his rifle, Scopola fired laser bursts over Alguacil's shoulders adding to the volume of fire coming from our vehicle.

I motioned Quick Stitch to a depression to pull over. Rounds were still scattering onto the car when I leaned out of the window. All I could target was one of the flashes from guns firing at us. The launcher thunked out the grenade. Only a couple of seconds later, a massive explosion silenced the rest of the gunfire completely.

Pink, what in Tartarus!? I loaded a regular frag!

“Oh, you did? I could have sworn you loaded a EX-High Explosive.” Pink squealed and laughed at me. The gunfire stopped from both sides. The size of the blast was Much larger than a 25mm grenade should have generated. I could feel the heat from here, rolling over us in the depression. The smoke and orange fireball rose and slowly turned soot black.

I have those!? I realize the quiet that had settled as the debris rained down from the explosion. There were some bits of creatures and charred globs of clotted blood in the rain of dirt and chunks of stone.

“You do now! Along with extra spicy cake icing!” I had no idea what she meant by extra spicy cake icing. Finally, as the wasteland settled back into quiet; a white flag made from someone's dirty underwear was raised up in the distance near where the explosion had been.

I decided to break the silence, shouting out of the window and cupping my hooves to my mouth to project my voice, “Hey, why are you shooting at us?”

There was a pause, I could hear shuffling in the distance. Finally a stallion shouted back, “We, umm... didn't realize it was you guys.”

Alguacil shouted back, “Ya mean ta tell me that you didn't realize it was The Angel and The Long Eye of the Law! You raiders, I outta come out there and put all yer heads onto PIKES!” Alguacil's accent really came out when he spoke with anger.

There was silence and I looked at Alguacil, if he was going to be bad cop again; I would be good cop. “Alright, come on out. We won't shoot if you don't.” I called out and sincerely meant it; I just prayed to the Goddesses that they would actually come out. Alguacil went to raise his gun and I reached behind the seat to lower it, shaking my head at him.

Some very filthy looking ponies in full raider hide armor came over the edge of the depression. They looked ragged and absolutely lost. Two of them were dragging along wounded; one I was pretty sure was dead, since he was missing both his hind legs. “We just thought if we dressed up like this and acted like raiders, we could take stuff and no pony would bother us.”

Alguacil growled and went to lift his gun only to find my hoof still on it, “You stupid dirt-napping pieces of garbage. I outta execute every one of ya!” He hesitated and then spat at them. “But this green pony with me won't let me do that. Now throw off that armor and throw down your weapons, all of em!”

Slowly, one at a time, they disrobed their armor and placed their weapons into a pile. I got out of the car, while Alguacil, Chifundo, and Scopola kept their weapons on them. I heard another door shut and looked around, Nyota had pulled his disappearing act. I could sense he was nearby, somehow.

“Sunrise what are ya doing? We should kill em for going raider.” Alguacil shouted at me as I walked up and counted their number. I saw eighteen ponies. Three were pegasi, eleven earth ponies, and five unicorns; four of them didn’t have cutie marks. Alguacil's coldness made me want to punch him and break his beak. No one should be that heartless, especially if creatures were willing to attone.

“No, I've got a better idea.” I filtered through the weapons picking out some baseball bats, smaller pistols, and a couple of varmint rifles. I started taking them apart. At first the group of ponies started towards me in protest, but Nyota appeared in front of them and that scared everyone back.

Quick Stitch leaned out of the car, “Sunrise, we're on the clock! Come on, we have to—“

“We have to what? Rush to The Roof? Yeah, I know, but if we compromise ourselves getting there, we're no better than those laying siege.” I took out a breaking firing pin from another weapon to replace a pistol's. “I'll be an hour tops.”

Once I was done administering repairs, I took out a piece of paper and a pen:

'Dear Sparrow,
I know you need more recruits. These ponies are more than prepared to fight they just need to be shown how. Give them a chance on me.
Sunrise'

I folded the note up and looked at the ponies around, who all shifted nervously while Alguacil kept them at gunpoint and Nyota looked like he was ready to spring at a moment's notice. They were not a threat to us. More importantly, they had surrendered. There was no point in killing them if they could be better.

“Which one of you is in charge?” I asked looking at the lot of them and they didn't reply. They nervously shifted and kept looking at each other, expecting one to speak up over the other. I let out a sigh of exasperation and pointed at the nearest pony to me.

“You, what's your name?” The orange coat and blue maned unicorn looked at me like I'd shot her. She stepped back and Nyota stopped her, shaking his head slowly.

“I, umm... I'm Magic Blaze.” She was hesitating and the nervousness in her could have made a building shake like an earthquake.

“Hi, I'm Wandering Sunrise.” I extended the note to her. “Take this note to Sparrow at Silver Fang Shanty. Follow our car tracks to get there.” She took the note very hesitantly and I pointed at the tracks to make sure she could see them clearly. “Tell her I sent you and if she doesn't believe you, tell her about the car, the fact we are on the way to The Roof, and that I spared you.”

I turned my head to the car, “Chifundo, we should give their dead last rites. Quick Stitch, get out here and patch up anyone whose wounded.” I turned around to Magic Blaze. “Those weapons, take them with you. Sparrow is always looking for recruits willing to fight and she will provide training as well as honest work. She owes me more than she will ever admit. Do not mention all of you going raider for survival.”

Magic Blaze started to tear up as she read the note and looked at me with astonishment. “You mean, honest mercenary work?”

I nodded approvingly, and I started to turn to get to burying bodies when a set of hooves wrapped around my neck and clung to me. Magic Blaze was sobbing against me and I felt a renewed warmth fill me. I knew what my mother must have felt like in that moment, everytime I said thank you to her. I stopped and let her cry it out, petting her softly and smiling to myself.

“I can't believe that just happened. You just stopped ponies going raider and brought them back from the brink of the cake oven. How? How Sunrise? This makes no sense!” Pink protested, and I mentally booped her on the nose.

I proved you wrong, Alguacil, so very wrong. I kept looking at Alguacil, who stared at me, stunned, while we slowly cleaned up the mess in the wasteland around us.

It was night before we got moving again. The wasteland was quiet around us, Scopola had Snuggles asleep on the floor in front of her. Snuggles was purring to the rhythm of the car engine. As much as the sound of the feline freaked me out, it was soothing in an odd way to see the predator not on high alert. At 8:30pm, the normally scheduled time, I turned on the radio as we drove through the night. All but Quick Stitch and I had fallen asleep. I was not sure how much rest we would get.

“Sunrise, I hope you are getting closer. We have—” There was an explosion and static for a moment. “They've got some heavy artillery, now. We're holding out but we need help before the night is out. I think they might actually be able to punch the door with those cannons.”

I reached up and started to take apart the car's radio. Chifundo stirred, “Sunrise, it is well past sundown; surely you should lay down?” I ignored him, taking the radio out and taking it apart for various bits. I just started ranting about what I was doing.

“If I take these tubes out of the radio here with the transistor there; I can convert this into a smaller two way radio.” The screwdriver broke the cassette tape player wide open, then I shoved my PipBuck connector in and jury rigged the connection, boosting the signal. Finally, I ripped open the two way radio and plugged the transmitter into the improvised wiring.

Quick Stitch stared at me like I had just committed a mortal sin of technological destruction. The rest of our party had woken from their car naps from the fury of activity and my ranting . “Blackhawk come in, Blackhawk come in,” I called into the improvised two-way radio.

There was static, and I thought I'd messed up when a voice I didn't recognize came through, “Hello? Who is this?”

“This is,” I hesitated. Wandering Sunrise was a heck of a name to say over the radio. I needed something simpler they would recognize. “This is Angel calling The Roof, Angel to The Roof. Is Blackhawk there?”

The voice was ragged and he was very strained through the waves of crackles from the speaker. “Oh, that is blood, I really need to take it... right, we're under siege. Raiders led by someone calling themselves The Goddess. I, umm...”

Chifundo reached for the radio but didn't press the broadcast button, “I must be informed through this line, what is the status of my Picline!”

I stopped him and shook my head, “I know Chifundo, I know. But one thing at a time.” I stayed on the radio and had to come up with a plan. I looked at my friends, we needed an opening. A way into the siege if we were going to help those inside.

We had plenty of ammunition between us, lots of explosives. We had so much food, water, and medical supplies, too. We were stocked for a journey enough that diving into a Stable with no way to know if we could simply walk back out would not be an issue. I scrolled through my PipBuck checking my inventory, as well as the inventory of everything in the car. Yeah, even I didn't know it could do that!

I had an idea. “Listen, is your doctor there? Anyone at all?”

A voice came over the radio, it was Picline. Chifundo looked relieved and more worried at the same time but he kept quiet for now. “Sunrise! This is Picline, how far are you?”

I looked at Quick Stitch who checked our speed, “Around forty to fifty minutes.” I thought about it and nodded to him.

“Can you promise me we will get there around that time?” He smirked and suddenly slammed him hoof down, we accelerated to dangerous speeds as I looked at all the buttons on the dashboard of this car. Whoever had modified it had done it completely mad scientist style.

“Alguacil, can you fly ahead of us? Get some recon and provide the roof with some sniper fire?” I asked him. He pulled out the old hunting rifle from the quarry.

“Alright, Picline. Listen we're gonna be there soon. Alguacil is gonna have the radio, he'll signal you. When he does, we need all the covering fire you possibly can put out at twenty degrees from true north. If we're going to get inside, we need all the cover we possibly get.” I let the static filter for a moment. “Got that?”

“I think we can do that. We'll keep you covered.” I pulled the radio from the live wires and put it back together, handing it to Alguacil.

“I've dialed in their frequency. Cut if off to keep the battery charged. I may have messed it up with all the jury rigging. When you see the car coming, call in to put out the covering fire.” Alguacil opened the door and was pulled out of the car with a loud bampf of his wings. Nyota pulled the door closed. We ate in the car in silence and just listened to the radio. There was chatter from what we assumed the other camp about a sniper from the cloud hitting some of them. Alguacil was doing work. The Roof came into view and my stomach twisted at the sight.

Surrounding it were lines of trenches lit up by torches. Huge salvaged guns, 75mm to 150mm by my estimate, were arranged around, at least six cannons. They fired in very erratic salvos as crews of ponies around them worked to keep the guns working and reloaded. I wasn't sure how many were in those trenches but they were not very far away, maybe four or five hoofball fields.

Machine guns and rifles sounded firing upon the roof, riddling it with blankets of bullets, lasers, and some sort of shot that left blue streaks in the air. Are those gauss weapons? I didn't have time to worry about it through, we had to get inside.

The Roof exploded with gunfire in our direction. Our covering fire tamped down any lights or return shots from the trenches in front of us. One of the gun batteries exploded into ash and flame from a lucky shot, lighting up the night clear as day. The flashes from the old parking-garage-turned-settlement made the building look bright as full daylight. Brighter than I'd ever seen it.

Quick Stitch stepped on the gas and reached over to hit the button that read: “Nitro”. A cap flipped open on the console leading to the fuel tank from the mess and sound. Quick Stitch pulled out the 'Rockit Fuel' we got from Sandy Claws and poured it all in.

The car lurched, protested, and the engine stalled. We heard it dying and all our fears rose that this mission would be over before it began. I saw my life flash that we'd die in a hail of gunfire when the trenches turned their guns around. My hooves started to sweat and my mouth ran dry. I said a silent prayer to Celestia and hesitated.

Chifundo, didn't hesitate. He slammed his hoof into the center console in pure anger and the vehicle sprang back to life with a vengeance. We accelerated well beyond what the speedometer could read. Chifundo didn't stop there, he kept pushing buttons and I tried to stop him.

“Chifundo, no! Stop, before you—“ I didn't get to finish the sentence, I didn't get to do anything else as he pressed the button for the emergency ejection seat. The roof opened up and our chair shot from the car. We flew high above, watching helplessly as we drifted towards the ground on a parachute. Quick Stitch and the others sped through the trench lines, jumping over the holes and anything in their way. I felt an increasing sense of dread and dismay.

Chifundo and I roughly landed and rolled into a nearby siege hole. Inside were three dead ponies, recently shot. I scrambled away from them and lunged at Chifundo, rage full in my heart. “WHY!? Why would you do that!?”

We were almost three hundred hoofs from The Roof. Our friends made it inside, but now the two of us were alone and isolated.

“I just wanted to get to my Picline, I did not know the buttons had a land mine,” Chifundo said. I rolled my eyes and growled at him.

I picked him up by the collar and leaned in close as I got nose to nose with him, “You IDIOT! We're stuck behind their lines now. Our one chance to get inside and instead we're surrounded and without help!”

“It worked once before, I saw no reason to not do it more.” I dropped his collar and pulled his helmet off his saddlebags, shoving it roughly onto his head. I did the same with mine. I started checking our gear. “What are we to do now, please answer before you beat my brow?”

I put a hoof up to his lips and shook my head. Oh I was pissed, I was enraged, but realized more shouting might draw unwanted attention. I may not be a subtle pony or a stealthy one, but I wasn't dumb. Without the sounds and distraction of covering fire, any noise would make us sitting ducks. “Keep your mouth shut. Get your gear ready, we've got to find a way inside or at least some way to communicate with them.”

What a task this was going to be. My mind already was trying to put together what to do from the officer's handbook I'd read. We had to somehow get through the siege lines, across the no-pony’s-land between the trenches and The Roof, and get through the reinforced door. I had to do all that with the pony who I always had trouble communicating with. The very one who had put us in this situation in the first place.

I saw the reinforced door to The Roof close up. Our friends were safe for now, at least. Chifundo and I, however, we were in the worst possible place we could be. All around, I could already hear the sounds of hooves and clattering armor closing in towards us.

"Chifundo remind me to explain to you, why Earth Ponies don't fly." I said as I started to take in our surroundings and figure out how to get us out of this mess.

Notes:

Level Progress: Level 10 Achieved!!!

Karma 100! You are a Paladin of the Wasteland!

Quest Perk: Artwork Bonus - For all the artwork of your character, any armor in artwork gives you an addition +1 DT and you receive +1 Natural DT.

Quest Perk: Worst Earth Pony EVER! - Anything that would cause Rairty to whine about filthy in relationship to Dirt: Sunrise will wine unless she passes a CHA -1 Check. On a fail she loses 5 in all skills till she gets clean. On a critical fail, a nearby object will act as a fainting couch for her. On a critical success, she dives so far into the dirty task that she is considered unsanitary for 1d6 days regardless of shower or bath.