“While we are examining into everything, we sometimes find truth where we least expected it.”
-Quintilian

Soot looked at me, stunned; she then looked at Nyota and Chifundo before turning to Alguacil. She turned back to the older unicorn defending the ripped stable-suit-wearing pegasus with very pointed, almost deer-like ears. Each of my friends had made a reaction to me pointing them out. Alguacil and Nyota sticking their chests out proud. Scopola Mina looking like her hoof was in the cookie jar. Chifundo had only stopped petting and reassuring Snuggles long enough to give a simple nod.

Soot finally nodded and frowned, “Well, I see. If you are going to take our wounded with you, I simply ask that you give them to a slaver who will treat them well.” I recoiled in shock and horror. The very idea of a slaver making my stomach curl.

“Slaver? What? I… Who… what?” I was even more confused now. Were prisoners in The Wasteland—

“DUH! What did you think you did with them? You either shoot them or turn them into slaves! You’re the exception to the damn recipe here! Seriously, you’re like a banana inserted into a vanilla cake. No one sees it coming, and when it hits, they just want more of it!” Pink huffed with a nicker of her lips. I blinked, still reeling and trying to recover from this stunning revelation.

Was this why they listened to me? Because I offered an option for both sides that helped everyone?

“No, you twit! You are the very definition of Be Better, and guess what? It’s a better everyone dreams of, and no one gets.” Pink slapped some sense into me, literally. While my head was whipped to one side. “Now get that through your thick skull before a bullet figures out how to!” I returned my attention to Soot, who was standing there, looking just as confused as I was. Nyota stroked my mane, and I nodded to him, removing my helmet.

“Soot, was it?” She nodded and started to speak, raising her hoof. Then she stopped herself and shut her mouth, thinking better of it. She motioned for me to go on. “I am Wandering Sunrise, The Angel with a Shotgun. I have no interest in slaves, once we are no longer on fighting terms,” I took a breath and looked at my friends for approval. I removed my ballistic goggles and the lower face shield. “I would release them after their wounds are treated, without any strings attached.”

Soot’s jaw dropped to the floor before she stared at me, then at each of my party members. She walked up to a crate and smashed her head against it with such force it sent wooden splinters towards the ceiling. I rushed to her and caught her head before she slammed it a second time. “You came back looking for your tank, and shot at us!” She shouted at me.

“I wanted to trade for it, negotiate and work out a deal. Your guard shot us, and then Minty Fresh came out guns blazing.” I replied with my own expression of shock.

“Wait, Minty Fresh was still here?” Soot was even more confused now as she sat on her haunches.

Nyota held up a hoof, “Umm, yes, she came out and fired at us. We did not hesitate this time.” Chifundo nodded in agreement.

“Our leader, the small angel with a shotgun tried to appease many with humor and fun. Yet they took her as delirious, and never once accepted the plea as serious.” Chifundo had stopped petting Snuggles and started to put her onto her back but realized the manticore had gotten too big for that anymore.

Soot went to smash her head into the crate again, but Nyota’s training kicked in, and I stopped it cold. I realized how much smaller she was than me, and how dirty her coat was, leaving a smear of grime on my armored sock. “Hey, no more of that. There has been enough death and violence today.”

“I fired Minty Fresh when she fucked up that trade deal with the car and stubbornite!”

I paused and thought back to it, “You mean the Q-series loaded with scrap that was owned by a Dr. Brown at one time?”

Soot turned to me with an expression of pure mad pony, her eyebrow twitching. Her body twitched along as though she had been placed inside a large bell, and someone rang it one good, hard time. “That was you!” She shrieked out at the top of her lungs.

Chifundo and Nyota both looked at each other and burst out laughing. Alguacil snickered and put his face into his hat. The helmet he wore under it dropping to the ground with the thud of metal on concrete. I winced and bit my lip, “Would it be worse if I said all you had to do was reconnect the ignition wire and add a little fuel to make it run?”

Soot’s groan was so full of lament it could have satisfied the sorrow for an orphanage closing on Hearts Warming Eve. “I should have had Minty Fresh forcibly removed from the premises!” I put up a hoof and shook my head. Soot started to walk off.

“Hey, wait, the other one is alive, he shot at us first. Lunar Spice, I think his name is.” Soot turned on a heal listening intently. “Then Minty Fresh bum-rushed us. We kept trying to talk the others down,” I looked at my friends for help, but they were recovering from the other outburst. Nyota looked at me with an expression that could only be described as ‘You’re Gon’ Say It.’ I gulped and turned back to Soot, who sat on her haunches and waited for the rest of my explanation.

An idea hit me, I pulled out the Equestrian Officer’s Field Manual, “Going by this, it says that if your enemy is unwilling to disengage or be talked down; at that point, you must press the attack in order to subdue or gain the breathing room you need to withdraw. So, that is what we did.” I winced on the last words, hoping it was enough to convince Soot this had been one giant misunderstanding. Soot continued to twitch for a moment as I put the book away, as soon as it was out of sight, the twitching stopped.

I pointed at the tank barrel she was using for a baseball bat, “So anyway, that symbol on that tank barrel; I think I draw that to indicate safety.”

Soot expression turned to pure disbelief, “What?”

Chifundo pressed a hoof to my flank, “Go on, one of sunshine, show her your sign.” I nodded and started drawing, putting the pony angel with a shotgun hovering in front of a sunrise. Then I added the wonderglue to seal it in and prevent the chalk and marker from being worn away. Chifundo stood next to me, letting his cloak cover most of his features but keeping his head exposed.

All I could think of while drawing was desperately wishing I could undo the damage we had caused. The dead ponies here did not need to die, and there was nothing I could do to take back my actions. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, cooling them. I had not realized I was crying until I finished the drawing and turned to Soot. I finished with every single pair of eyes on me. Wincing, I looked over my shoulder, then slowly turned around to stand next to my work. I wasn’t the best artist, as far as I remember, I never had been.

The meaning of why I had been drawing was sinking in. Now I was seeing the effects of this symbol, a group of would-be raiders now forming an honest settlement. And I just turned it into a massacre. How many died because of this misunderstanding? How many could we have saved? The guilt weighed on me so much, I could not smile at my work. I felt another tear burn on my cheek and watched it drop to the floor.

Nyota put a hoof up to my chest, and I snapped out of my staring off into space. I felt like I had just been wrenched from a memory a split second before it began. “Sunny, you okay?” I blinked at him and felt equal parts of confusion and affection from his statement. “You’re crying, and haven’t responded to Soot for like a solid minute.”

I had been so lost in thought that their words never registered. I shook my head slowly from side to side, “What did we do here?”

Nyota held his head up, “We defended ourselves. Sunrise, come on, Soot wants to go sit down for a meal, and I have no interest in watching you skip because of a very bad day.” Nyota put a leg around my neck and started to lead me towards the elevator.

“But I, the corpses need to be buried, everyone needs medical attention and to be put to rest. I can not—” Nyota shoved the hoof around my neck, into my mouth, and shook his head.

“We will take care of all that. You took far too many bullets, grenades, and you need to negotiate our stay with Soot. I’m not going to have you skip a meal and a chance to rest because of things being a little corpsey.” Nyota turned to look at our friends. I saw them snap to, moving around towards various tasks.

Alguacil snorted, “I’ma gonna go check on Quick Stitch an’ make sure ain’t no one else’s dying today.”

“This is the Angel?” Soot asked someone behind us.

Scopola Mina giggled and shook her head, “‘Never meet your heroes’ applies here. She is never what everypony we meet says she is.” I looked over to Scopola Mina, who stopped outside the elevator. “I’m gonna go gather up the dead and start arranging burials for ‘em.” She said this as she saw the look on my face. An expression of sorrow plastered my front, but I felt like my eyes might actually cut her low if I looked at her too hard.

Chifundo stepped onto the elevator with us, his words were more reassuring. “That one is both hero and enigma, she carries with her hope and stigma. She cares not for either, Sunrise is a mare who just wants a breather.”

I felt relieved that someone understood exactly what I was going through. Even Pink was strangely observant and silent. The elevator doors closed, and started to take us down.

Downstairs, it was vastly different. The elevator opened, and I saw a secondary service elevator made for carriages and heavy vehicles next to the one we were in. A spark battery generator twitched and let out an electrical discharge into a grounding coil nearby. I noticed it was surrounded by glass and placed upon concrete, just to ensure that no random pony passerby would be electrocuted.

This wasn’t a small room, the underground section of the garage had been converted into a kind of communal town. Several stacked bunk beds with privacy screens made from old blinds and curtains racked the walls. There were four additional generators, all in the same setup. Using old Glass windows and improvised scrap metal tesla coils for grounding to keep on dozens of lights.

I wasn’t sure how they got all the electrical cable, or where they had managed to get all this material. Opposite the bunk beds, through a kitchen and canteen—which included working electric stoves—was our tank. It was partially disassembled, and several pieces were being worked on by a pressure washer and a scrub barrel to get the rust off of it.

“Why don’t you two get comfortable and talk about stuff, instead of shooting at each other. I’m gonna go get to work in their kitchen.” Nyota poked my shoulder with a weary smile.

Soot poked me, “Hey, while your zebra friend there goes about making food, how about you and I disarm?” Soot placed the tank barrel against the wall and padded down her mechanic jumpsuit to show she was unarmed. I began the process of removing my weapons.

The obvious first, Sunray, Celestia’s Hammer, and Newb Tube. Then my holdout weapons, Buddy’s Last Gift and Rainbowrise’s Protector. Then my explosives and even taking out the brass shoes from my armored socks, with Soot's help unzipping them. Soot was staring at me, stunned. I was only a head and shoulders bigger than her. Maybe in two or three years, she would outgrow me. Yet, everything laid out before us was easily her entire body weight.

“You.. you carry all of that into combat?” I turned to her and nodded. She put a hoof up against my armor and repeatedly tested. The sound of her hoof smacking kevlar-covered crystal echoed in the room. It was like listening to glass being tapped through a blanket. Soot raised an eyebrow, “Glass? Your armor is made of glass plates under there.”

I shook my head, “no, depleted gem-crystal. It is harder than stubbornite; and just like stubbornite, requires an earth pony’s magic to craft and work with properly.” I smiled at soot as she explored my armor.

“Just, I knew the Angel was armored, but this, this is truly new to me.” Soot picked up my shotgun and started unloading it. Out popped 7 different shells, despite me loading it with only buckshot this morning. It even released a bean bag and warcrime-marked round. I groaned.

“Pink!!! Did you…”

Pink shot her head and pushed her hoof up against me, literally tapping me on the head, “No. I. Did. Not! Your gun does that on its own!”

Soot looked at me while I was wincing from the tapping. “Who is Pink? Are you okay? Wait, is there another pony here? Who is the unicorn who designed this armor and modified these weapons?”

I looked at Soot, rather surprised, and shook my head slowly from side to side. “I modified all these weapons and designed my own armor as well as the armor of all my friends. I used to work in my dad’s mechanic shop before the bombs fell. All through the war, I learned how to build with him.”

“So he was a unicorn, right? The clearly superior race?” I stared at Soot, dumbfounded. Not only by the question but by the implication of her statement. She said all of that, deadpan serious.

“No, he was a pegasus. You do understand that an earth pony designed that tank? And that there is no superior race among ponies, right?” I was questioning where she came from. Where did she get this idea? How and who seeded that in her to think of herself as lesser?

Pink shook her head, “It’s the wasteland, Sunrise, and some of the surviving civilizations might have some very strange ideas. I mean, without proper farmland, even earth pony magic can’t grow crops very well. Without proper manufacturing techniques and facilities, you’ve seen how hard it is for you to turn metal batter into proper gun cake and armor pies.”

I nodded, realizing how, after over a century, you might be able to embed this idea into an earth pony. Soot was looking at me expectantly, and I reached up to give her a hug. She shied away and harshly batted my hoof. She gave me the angriest glare I had seen in a long time. “The hell are you doing? Trying to strangle me?”

Nyota leaned up with a bang of a pot, “Hey! No! She is trying to give you a hug.” My hoof felt suddenly slimey and wrong. I Looked at my hoof Soot had batted away; it was covered in grease, rust flakes, and muck, probably from work she had done with the tank.

“Yeah, I was trying to give you a hug. I do not know who gave you such ideas about earth ponies, but we are far from unequal with unicorns or pegasi. Yes, unicorns have magic and pegasi can fly. But we can grow crops better, we have a kind of spark of ingenuity that allows the creation of stuff like my gear, and weapons.” I motioned past her and pointed at the tank. “Equipment like that tank. All the various pieces of technology I remember came from earth ponies. Guns, tanks, stoves, unicorn inhibitor rings for their horns, and hoof and hoof; we helped unicorns create the laser and plasma rifles using spell matrixes to capture and emulate incineration and disintegration spells.” I reached into my back and discovered a couple of the random books we had gathered were history books.

Two were classroom books for math and ‘The History of Equestria,’ but they were not the only useful books here. There was a book on basic mechanics with a picture of the earth pony writer on the cover. I remembered reading it so dad would take me to the shop, ‘A Beginner Mechanics Guide.’ “Here, see, you can read these, once you’re cleaned up.”

Soot waved a hoof at me dismissively then paused as she started to speak, “Wait, that mechanic’s book was written by an earth pony?”

I nodded, with a nervous smile, “Yes, it is how I learned to work on stuff like this. There are also some details I am willing to show you while we work on fixing the tank up.”

Soot looked at me, stunned as if I had pulled a veil from her eyes, and revealed a rainbow held in my hoof. I set the books onto the nearest coffee table, which was screwed into the concrete to compensate for it having only 3 legs. The drawer had been replaced with one from a toolbox that conveniently fit into the wood.

Soot followed me and poked my flank, then she poked my head where a gash was, I winced feeling it. “Did you have your horn cut off?”

I shook my head, “No, I am an earth pony. Your sniper got a piece of shrapnel through my helmet, and it cut my forehead pretty badly.” I raised my mane, still feeling a tear roll down my cheek, and looked at her sorrowfully. I had been reminded that there was no way that sniper had survived the onslaught.

I lowered myself down, laying on my belly, letting Soot get a look at my wound. “See, no horn. All Earth Pony, no stub either.” Soot looked at the wound then at me very perplexed as the blood had dried across my face.

Soot sat on her haunches, “With you, maybe I can get them to give my birthright back.”

“Your birthright?” It was my turn to be confused as I leaned up to listen. I took out a water canteen and put some in my hoof, gently rubbing it across the wound in an attempt to clean it. It wasn’t much, and it did make it burn with a piercing sting again, but it would be a start.

“Hey! You can’t waste water like that!” Soot grabbed the canteen from me and resealed it. I grabbed it back and snarled at her.

Then I stopped myself before I slapped her, “Wait a minute, are you saying you do not have a source of clean water?” Soot shook her head, and I took a step back from her while standing up. They don’t have clean water? This is a first, where are we now?

Pink rolled her eyes, “You didn’t think that maybe you just turned up in one of the luckiest places in the wasteland? The ground itself is irradiated, and it rains radiation. Yet you’ve been taking clean water for granted, haven’t you? This is the bloody wasteland! All that food Nyota cooks, he gathers and scavenges. Chifundo trades for it in town in addition to your weapons and armor!” I felt a tug on my arm and lifted my PipBuck, which Pink was manipulating with my tail. “Those medical supplies and clean water, Quick Stitch has to use his clean spell every day to keep clean, or to clean himself. Those medical supplies, he and Nyota have to scavenge the basic components to create! Yes, even your magical potions and bandages, they make them. Good grief, it’s like you are oblivious, or something!”

Pink, I know they do all those things. I am surprised that Soot here does not have that option or luxury. I have never done them myself, so I was unsure how much work it actually takes. Soot was staring at me, and I smiled nervously, feeling incredibly self-conscious, having been lost in an internal monologue with Pink. “Sorry about that, Soot, perhaps we can fix that for you. Ya know, helping make up for our rather rough meeting.”

“All that in addition to the tank?” Soot put a hoof on her flank as it to dare me to challenge her words. Her tone could be described as complete doubt.

I smiled brighter, genuinely now, and glad to not be under Pink’s piercing gaze. “Yes, I can get the machinery working, and Quick Stitch, along with Chifundo, should be able to get a talisman set working again.” I looked over at the various pieces of rusting gears and metal around us. I noticed a busted water heater as well. “I could even get a water heater and storage tank setup with a couple of valve-controlled pumps; you all would have hot showers.” I turned around, and Soot’s jaw was halfway to the floor.

Bunny, the pegasus next to her that had been silent the whole time, reached over to put it back up and close her mouth. I only know your name is Bunny because my PipBuck says so! I nodded to Soot. “Yes, before you ask, I am dead serious. So long as when all is said and done, and you are satisfied, we can use the tank to protect us in our travels.”

Soot slowly took the words in, I could see the gears turning in her head. Then she snapped to fury in her eyes and stomped her hoof, “Now! Hold—”

A heavy metal door creaked and groaned in protest, Lunar Spice, the guard from the gate with an arcane cold pack against his head, limped down with Quick Stitch in tow. Quick Stitch was carrying one, stretcher and right behind him, Scopola Mina pranced down all proud of herself. Her TK spell was holding three stretchers at once, perfectly level with an injured creature on each.

Quick Stitch set his heavy load down and approached me while Lunar Spice walked over to talk to Nyota. I could see them laugh out of the corner of my eye, Lunar Spice winced in pain from laughing, and then Lunar Spice directing Nyota to find what he needed in the kitchen.

“Sunrise, I am going to bring the wounded down here. Alguacil and I have come to terms with all of them and are working to make them understand we did not mean harm. It is difficult… to say the least.” Quick Stitch explained and turned to Soot. “You have my sincerest apologies for anyone who I could not save.” He gave Soot a deep bow, and I smiled at Quick Stitch, walking up to him and placing a hoof on his shoulder. The metal plate meeting my bare hoof made a rather unique glass-like sound.

“Quick Stitch, it will be okay. We are going to make it better now; talk to Chifundo once the wounded are stable about making talismans for their water supply. I know it will be hard but,” I hesitated, and Quick Stitch let out a snort. He looked at me like I had insulted him.

“I studied those burnt-out water talismans with Chifundo while you were trying to mend the bridges and plant those trees.” I looked all offended at him and took a step back as though I might have actually done something wrong. Quick Stitch deflated and laughed. “Oh, you should see the expression on your face, Sunrise.” He kept laughing even after I swatted his shoulder for it.

“Yes, Sunrise, while you were tending to the heavy artillery and rebuilding The Roof, Chifundo and I picked those burnt-out talismans apart. I would relish the chance to try to make one.” I blinked a few times and realized just how far behind I was on certain subjects.

“Right, well,” I bit my lip and sighed. “We are going to be here for a couple of weeks. We have to fix this misunderstanding and that tank.” Quick Stitch nodded and got very serious in his expression.

“With how some of the wounded are, yes, I wouldn’t let you leave here till I was certain they will pull through.” He paused and turned to Soot. “With your permission, of course.”

Soot blinked a few times, like a deer in the headlights. “Wait wait wait, the two unicorns listen to the earth pony, and she leads them, but they are allowed to protest her decisions?”

I nodded, “I am not the best at everything by a long shot. The few things I have expertise in are explosives, combat tactics, and well, making sure we do not need any combat tactics. I rely on my friends for their thoughts on everything else, and we never take a direction till we agree on that direction.” I smirked at Soot as she still stood there slack-jawed. Bunny went to fix the jaw again, but Soot put her hoof down to the floor, preferring to keep her jaw agape.

This is going to be a very long day.

We had brought all our gear, equipment, tank parts, and wounded down to the basement. I moved away to Chifundo and allowed Soot to sort the equipment. Quick Stitch, Scopola Mina, and Nyota were tending wounded and helping feed them. We had decided to not let me help just in case some were traumatized by my performance in armor, considering one patient looked at my helmet sitting on my hip and shirked away from it like it was a shark about to bite him in the ocean.

I had an idea, and it might’ve helped us out quite a bit. I approached Chifundo, “Chifundo, I do not know much about spirit magic or how they work.” Chifundo stopped preparing the meals to be served; he made a motion to Lunar Spice and Bunny, who both nodded and took over.

I walked with him away from anyone’s earshot and looked at him. “Chifundo, can we use some sort of sympathetic connection with my father’s pistol to locate him using any spirit magic you know of?”

Chifundo’s face brightened up as I offered him the Colt .45 with the word ‘Protector’ engraved on its handle in welding torch burns. He took the weapon in his hoof and nodded very slowly with a few tisks of his lips. “Yes, there is enough of his essence, that I can figure out his current presence.”

I smiled and raised up on my tippy-hooves as, for the first time, we had a real lead. Chifundo snorted, “I will have to take time to prepare, such a journey is precarious for a mare.” Chifundo leaned up and nudged my neck. “Sunrise, I must emphasize; do not get too excited, we do not know the condition or place he will be sighted.”

I smirked, realizing we might be rubbing off on Chifundo a little bit with his rhyming being off. “How long do you need?”

Chifundo put a hoof up to his chin and stroked at his braided mane-end. “It may require a few days, before I can see through the haze.” I gave him another hug and then went to join Soot, who was messing with the tank. The first thing I noticed was the commander mounted heavy machine gun was missing.

“Hey, Soot. Where is the Maud Deuce?” I turned to her, using the nickname for the M2 Brownflank .50 caliber machine gun.

“The what?” Soot turned with an expression of pure confusion.

“The commander’s heavy machine gun, where is it?” I leaned up and pointed at the mounting it should have been on. Now getting closer to the tank, I could see some mangled metal there, like something has been ripped or blown off.

“Oh, some raider with an old bazooka blew it apart while we were towing it here. The missile launcher still works through.” I groaned and sighed. I had made parts for the machine gun. Without the base and other mechanisms that I assumed might be salvaged, there was no using those parts to make a big machine gun.

“Anything else that might make these parts unusable?” Soot looked at me with a nervous smile and shook her head very slowly.

“I umm… I don’t think so. You were pretty thorough, we even have spare tracks and road wheels in case those get busted.” She held up a piece of semi-opaque armor plating I had made from the depleted crystal. “I’m just trying to figure out what these are for.”

I smiled and took the piece of armor plating, placing it over the hole on the side of the tank, it was an exact fit to cut out the hole and place the plating in its place. “They are armor plating. Like what I wear. It is much harder than steel or stubbornite; just if it does get destroyed, it will shatter. So most anti-tank weapons are useless.” I held up the crystal and reached over to a plasma torch. I hoofed Soot a pair of darkness goggles while I put on a pair myself. Then I applied the plasma torch to the crystal and let it burn against it. I even held it with my bare hoof.

I watched the clock on my E.F.S. waiting a full minute to tick by before I removed the torch, showing my hoof hadn’t suffered any burns, and the crystal was intact. Then I removed the goggles, “Most anti-tank weapons use heat and shaped charges to penetrate. So they will be useless against this. They will need to get a real tank cannon or anti-tank gun with a solid shot round to punch it. Much rarer in the wasteland.”

Soot removed her goggles and stared at the crystal plating like it was some holy grail. Scopola Mina giggled and looked at me, “I mean if you want a heavy machine gun, you could always just use me.” Soot turned to her with a very upset glare. I laughed and shook my head.

“You know what, Scopola, you are right. A couple of submachine guns and your horn, then we would be golden.” I patted her on the shoulder, while Soot and I began our work. We started with a hose, some rust removing lime, and scrub brushes. This was going to be a very long two weeks, at least, to fix this metal beast.

Alguacil came down with an angry squawk that stopped all of us from continuing our work. Snuggles yelped from the squawk and jumped up onto the tank, then ran inside to hide. I rolled my eyes, Great I’m gonna have to deal with that later when I find her. I turned around to see what Alguacil was so angry about.

“Listen here ya stubborn-assed featherweight. I ain’t interested! I got’a bed ta call my nest, an’ yer lucky Sunrise is here with me.” We all saw him coming down the stairs carrying various tank parts, and the griffin from earlier that had tried to put a gun in my mouth was following with two black eyes from being punched. Alguacil turned into the room and stared down every single creature in the room one at a time. “Ya here me the lot of ya! I’ma regulator, an’ ya bastards are lucky to have Sunrise here. ‘Cause if Minty Fresh’s impression had stuck, yall woulda been classified raiders, an’ I don’t let raiders live!”

I groaned, and all of our group in unison facehoofed. Well, at least we agree on that. Way to make friends, Alguacil, threaten their lives into being our friends. I walked up to Alguacil and shook my head. “Alguacil, no. Threatening them and expecting them to improve does will not work. We have to show them how to be better and treat them with the same respect we want.”

Alguacil snorted and growled, then deflated as he looked away from my stern gaze. “One day, Sunrise, you’re gonna be nice to somepony ya shouldn’t be. It’s gonna bite us all in the ass, and I’m gonna be there to say I told ya so.” Alguacil started to walk away.

“So it’s gonna be what, f’er or five days, a week at most?” Alguacil pointed at the tank.

I turned to it, and then back to him. “Something like that?”

My PipBuck suddenly squawked out a radio message, “Agent Scopola Mina, this is an official order from Filly Scout headquarters. We need you to report to designated coordinates 7 for a mission as soon as possible. You will be returned to Sunrise and crew upon completion. This is a direct order from Eternal Scout Council. To disobey is treason.”

I looked over at Scopola Mina, who hung her head and groaned. “Yeah… sorry, y’all, but I gotta go. Not sure what they want, but I should be back shortly.” Scopola Mina started gathering up her things as we all gathered around her.

“On your own? Alone?” I looked at her, very concerned and worried. Scopola Mina gave me a hug and shook her head slowly side to side.

“Not at all, miss Sunrise. There’ll be some scout ta meet me on the way there. Don’t worry, I’ll be back with y’all as soon as I can.” She turned to each of us and gave us all a hug, one at a time. Nyota smiled and playfully smacked her chest.

“Come back to us with some good stories, ok?” Scopola Mina nodded as Chifundo approached for his turn.

“This is never a goodbye motion we mime, it is always until next time,” Chifundo smirked while leaning up to kiss Scopola Mina on the cheek. I have never seen yellow turn beat-red so quickly.

Alguacil took his turn and just tipped his hat. Scopola wasn’t having that and jumped onto him with a tight hug around his shoulders. “Dammit, I was hopin’ ta get away without all the mushy mushy stuff.” He rolled his eye and chuckled. “Fine, Scopola, you get your hug.” He wrapped a claw around her neck and then finished the hug.

I groaned and hung my head as Quick Stitch and I approached, “Not sure how we’ll get all the work done without our living crane. I suppose we will just have to make do.” Quick Stitch mused with a smile and punched my shoulder. I turned to him, with a glare that immediately softened. Quick Stitch was crying, I felt my own cheeks burning with tears.

I turned to Scopola with a nod, “Okay, well. Come back to us in one piece, please? I know Filly Scout missions are usually dangerous.”

Scopola Mina just hugged us both silently, “I promise it is as Chifundo said, not goodbye; until next time.” Scopola trotted up the stairs out of sight.

Quick Stitch did not allow the moment to last too long, “So about this tank, how about we make it a flying tank?”

I turned to Quick Stitch then felt my own sadness evaporate as I smiled up at him. Soot groaned, “Are any of you creatures the least bit sane?” She grumbled.

Nyota leaned in with a smile, “I mean there went just the mare to work the gems just, but I’m sure Stitchypoo here and Chifundo could make those flight talismans sing again.” Soot’s jaw dropped to the floor as Nyota completely dismissed her concerns.

Quick Stitch took out several notebooks from his pack and showed it to me. They were covered in notes and documentation for making gems and talisman-infused enchantments. So far, there were only two types, the water talismans for purification, and the flight talisman. He was still only partway working through how to make the shield talismans work, which meant we only had Nyota’s working shield. I blinked a few times as I scanned the notes.

“Well, you are a genius. This could work, and if anyone could get it to work,” I passed him the note back. “The crazy alien-loving genius would be the one to do it.” He took the notes and nodded. “See what you can do to make a flight talisman between repairs.”

Nyota turned to Soot, “I imagine we know a mare who can get the crystals to work too.” He said, pointing at me with his hoof. Soot was stuttering and staring at all of us in wide-eyed horror. I wasn’t sure which revelation shocked her the most. How we worked together, the fact aliens were real, or the possibility of creating technology not seen for over 180 years.

Soot turned to me, “You’re not suddenly going to turn white, right? And show me that you can shift colors at will, right?”

I shrugged, “I have no idea why I am green or if it is even possible to shift back to my original colors.”

A voice within my mind, that voice, chuckled and chilled me to the bone. “Oh, if only you knew how to get me out. Then I’d have a real fun time with all of them.” My skin crawled, and I shuddered, staring off into space before Nyota nudged me.

“Shut it 17! Right now, and get back in your cage!” Pink slammed a door just out of my vision and started heaving sandbags towards it. Before I could ask her, Nyota brought me out of my headspace.

“Sunny, love, you okay?” I nodded, trying to shake it off as Nyota suddenly grabbed me into a deep embrace. His lips meeting mine sent fireworks through my body and made me shudder. I felt him drawing in it tight as my whole body got hot, especially between my flanks. I could feel the deep white blush coursing throughout me as my lover held the embrace for just a bit too long.

When he parted, I was panting for air and because I could feel a certain need. “See! I can make her turn white for just a bit.” The entire room erupted in laughter, I looked at Nyota, wanting to smack him. Then I felt the butterflies in my stomach, and my glare softened. In this moment of clarity, this moment of absolute crystal-clear senses, I felt something else. A second heart pulsed with my own, and it made me shift slightly uncomfortably. Then a third, and my heart leapt up into my throat at what that would mean.

Wait, three!? Did he? I could only smile and keep the secret as I leaned up to kiss him softly and less aggressively, this was the more loving embrace we were both used to, as we held each other for the longest moment and let the world slowly calm down around us.

Soot snorted, and I could hear her talking to Alguacil, “Are they all this crazy?”

Chifundo, while laughing, corrected her, “This lot is not of the crazy brand, they are the most sane in the wasteland.”

Soot turned to Alguacil as we broke the embrace, “Correct me if I am wrong, but don’t regulators stop crazy?”

Alguacil growled and snapped his head towards her, “Now listen here, missy! We stop criminals, and even then, only after they have committed a crime or if we can prove they were about to. We don’t stop y’all stupid ponyfolk from being crazy! Gosh darn varmints are already more batty than a thestral.”

Soot raised her hoof, like a student in a classroom. I looked at Alguacil and then at Soot. Nyota turned to me for directions. I pointed at Soot, with the most confused look on all our faces. It was an awkward feeling to call on her like a teacher in a classroom, “Yes, Soot?”

“What’s a thestral?” Soot mused to all of us.

“They are bat ponies,” I replied and smiled at her reassuringly. Soot looked horrified.

“What!? There are bat-pony mutants in the wasteland!” I held up a hoof to stop her from panicking and shook my head. I had to fight with a memory, something of a bat pony who was much larger than me, and I could see the edges of her Ministry of Awesome power armor in my vision.

“No, they existed before the war. Some felt like they did not belong in Equestrian society in those days. It was how the zebras got their flight magic to make into talismans, it is why their flight talismans create bat wings instead of feathered ones.” I explained and held my head, the weakness of my body as everything suddenly went distant and disconnected. I struggled to stay standing till Nyota helped steady me. I should not keep fighting these memories like this, I know this is not normal.

Nyota and I walked over as I debated on how to start. He pushed a plate of food up to my chin. I noticed that Lunar Spice was passing out more food for everyone else. “I know you haven't eaten a full meal yet. You’ve got more than you to eat for now.” I groaned and leaned down to taste it. The rice and curry were flaming hot, and I loved it. The spices in my mouth felt like I was singing to the stars. While I munched, Nyota rubbed a hoof against my head, “I am also worried about Scopola Mina. She doesn’t have a box; if she dies, she is gone. If we die, I mean, in theory, you could just keep shooting the creature that comes out till you get the one you want.”

I paused and dropped the mouthful of food back onto the plate. “I am sorry, what!?” The thought had never occurred to me; that we could kill innocent creatures, who never knew what was going on, to get the one we wanted the recombulators to generate to come back out.

Nyota winced and shook his head, “I mean it would be a sorely evil action to kill innocents, but the thought has crossed my mind if, well, we were losing each other, that would be how we got each other back.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I was completely stunned and staggered back, dropping the plate to the floor. Nyota caught it with both of his forehooves and tilted his head. “Sunny, I’m sorry I suggested it, but surely the thought…” He stopped and shook his head. “No, it wouldn’t have, would it? You couldn’t bring yourself to do that.”

I slowly nodded my head and winced, “Nyota, I love you, but I could never bring myself to kill an innocent for you. I hope you can understand that.” Nyota smiled at me and offered my plate back.

“Sunny, that is the very reason why I love you, you want everyone to be better. To do better than they ever thought of doing.” Nyota leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I would never ask you to change that, and I am sorry I brought it up. You are my angel, I am your demon.”

I finished eating listening to Alguacil and Quick Stitch’s debate about staying to help. “Alguacil, the reason why I am staying is because they fought the law, and the law won.” Quick Stitch nudged past him to tend to a patient, and Alguacil squawked, rather stunned at the revelation.

Once everyone had settled into their various routines, I went to put a hoof to Soot and ask her where she wanted to start on the tank. I noticed just how dirty she truly was. “You and me, bath, now,” I told her, and Soot suddenly looked horrified.

“NO! I refuse! You’ll never take me alive!” So the chase began! Over every single surface and gateway I could get past. I galloped around, chasing Soot. Then reality blinked, again.

During this, I slipped on some curry that had fallen, and went sliding across the concrete. I bounced off the tank with a hard smash of my shoulder. Then I slipped on grease glide, sending me toward a table which had one side of its legs broken, turning it into a ramp that catapulted me into the air. Alguacil tried to catch me but missed before I went headlong into what was supposed to be dinner. In this case, cold pancake batter that was being used to make pancake noodles for pasta.

I slowly rose my face from the pancake batter, covered in it from forehead to my collarbone. Lunar Spice burst into laughter while Nyota grimaced. “Fine, Lunar Spice; you’re making the new batch of pancake batter since that one has tank grease in it now!”

Lunar Spice didn’t stop laughing as he tried to talk, “Oh, but it will be so worth it! I can’t believe that earth ponies can really fly!”

Soot was rolling on the ground in a fit of laughter herself. I stomped up to her and grabbed her by the collarbone, “You and me! Bath! NOW!” I said while holding her eye level with my face that was still dripping with pancake batter.

If getting her to the bath was a battle, the bath itself was a WAR! I had to use mechanics lava soap on her, and every single time, she splashed half the water back out of the tub. She kept declaring that we were wasting water, and I had to point out on numerous occasions she now had a functional water talisman and a backup. Over and over again, we kept washing her, and over and over again, she fought like a demon.

Ya know what? If this is what motherhood is gonna be like, I am going to really enjoy it. Some both motherly and sick sense of satisfaction coursed over me with every single blackened grease part I managed to scrub white again. Soot was getting cleaner by the second, and I felt so refreshed as I struggled in the bath with her. Admittedly, I did enjoy being cleaned up myself, and any amount of fighting that Soot did resulted in the water and soap doing just as much work for me as it was doing for her.

When we finished, Soot was no longer covered in soot. Chifundo walked into the private stall where the bathtub was setup. He could only burst into laughter as both Soot and I were covered head to hoof in suds. “Sunrise, I am ready when you are composed, but at present, I can only imagine you need to be hosed.”

Soot and I looked at each other. I had a sud mane and scarf while she had a sud beard down to her chest, below the waterline. “Right, just give us a minute to rinse off.” So the great bath war ended, and Soot was no longer black as tank grease but white with a gray mane; not quite the pearl white I had been, more a pure white. I envied her color just a little bit. At least the relationship with this place was starting to repair.