Author's Notes:

This was really hard to write. I'm gonna be honest; that is why it took so long. I kept having to pull away from it.

My body felt warm, too warm for the cold concrete. I shifted and kicked my sleeping bag off me. It was too hot and I realized I was lying on a bedroll that smelled of Nyota. My eyes were still closed, my stable-barding was still on, and my armor’s shoulder plate pressed in uncomfortably. I did not want to wake up. “Sunrise, hun, you can’t just sleep the day away. Get up and get your confection whipped at least.” Pink teased me and I could feel her hoof nudging my shoulder.

For the first time, I pushed back against it and threw Pink off from touching me. I don’t wanna. I whined back. Pink was not about to be deterred. She grabbed onto my shoulder and yanked hard. My eyes were suddenly focused on Pink.

“That isn’t how this works! You don’t throw in the towel the moment you mess up the cake!” Pink slapped me, she slapped me so hard my eyes shot open and I could feel the bruise appearing upon my cheek, somehow. Pink stroked the place where she slapped. “Now, listen to me: get up. You’ve been asleep but I will not allow you to just sulk. Call it tough love from an angry baker.”

Pink, dad’s gone. I failed utterly. Explain to me what to do next? I groaned, trying to fight back tears as I woke up to the reality that my dad no longer lived in. I slid up from the bed roll to sit on my haunches and look around the room. A cup of cold coffee was on the table; three in fact. The fourth cup was still hot. Next to it was soup in a ceramic bowl, sitting on a hotplate turned to simmer with a steel plate covering it, small bits of steam escaping here and there.

Who did that? And why didn’t they just remove the cold coffee? I drug myself out of my seated position and reached up to the old rickety table to take the hot coffee and took a long sip of it. The liquid was definitely fresh. I removed the soup from the hotplate, very gingerly rolling my Stable-Suit sleeve over my hoof to properly touch the heated liquid. Then I placed the coffee cup onto the hotplate and turned it up to the 5 setting out of 10. Now I see why, I can just reheat it.

The black nectar was helping remove my grogginess and make me more aware, while the bitter bite took my mind off my sulking emotions. I knew the caffeine was going to kick in soon. I took another long sip of the coffee and looked at the soup. Canned vegetables mixed in a mushroom broth; it smelled nice. The hint of butter in it told me why. I took my time eating while working through all four cups of coffee and a trip to the bathroom attached to this room.

I got a good look and started to realize this used to be a locker room. The dust on the walls betrayed where the lockers once stood. I finally finished eating and got up from where I had been laid down. There used to be a wooden bench here. Now it was just two steel bars, which my sleeping bag conveniently fit between. I took a breath and pushed out of the door into the living area.

The canteen was busy, many ponies were still wearing fresh bandages. One in the corner was washing the old bandages clean to be used again. Scopola Mina walked up to me and without saying a word hugged me. I blinked in disbelief as she smiled, “The Scouts haven’t called me yet. You doing okay? You’ve been out for almost two days.” It was then that my stomach grumbled, the soup and coffee not exactly being sufficient to nourish me.

Scopola laughed at the stomach growl and I frowned. “I guess the seance took it out of me. Is Chifundo okay? Where is Soot?”

Scopola shook her head and sighed, “Always worried about others first. Soot is fine, she has been inventorying all the parts we brought. Chifundo has just been meditating on whatever it is you two saw.” Pink was still there, occasionally she would rub her cheek or the back of my head. I looked up at Scopola and tilted my head to the side in confusion.

“You were the one who was, well, in need of rest. Want to tell me what happened?” I looked at Scopola Mina for answers and she just remained quiet, looking at me with an expression that was just as dumbfounded as mine. Patiently she waited for an answer but I had none to give. My eyes were slowly tearing up, the pain of what I knew welling inside me. I felt myself ready to burst, I could not make my mouth move. I could not make it more clear what was wrong. I could not say it outloud, I could not admit it.

“Sunrise, you have to say it. You have to get it out. It will consume you if you don’t.” Pink whispered to me reassuringly and I shut my eyes in pain. My heart felt like a knife was stabbing it. My head felt like a bullet was trying to pierce it, but slowly; as though it were a drill bit instead of a bullet.

I felt Scopola put a hoof onto my shoulder and she shook her head. “No, it’s okay, Sunrise. You don’t gotta tell me about it. Why don’t we go help Soot work on the tank?” I looked at Scopola and all I saw was the reflection of my pain in her eyes. The feeling of desperation for something in this world to be right. The feeling of having lost myself less than a week ago in Stable Phi. Even I had to admit, there was only so much I could endure.

Scopola Mina led me over to the tank which was being washed by Soot. Some of the extra parts we had brought she had rigged into a pressure washer and she was pumping the unfiltered water at the tank, removing decades of rust and grime. Scopola waved at her and Soot turned the washer off. “Hey Soot, look who finally woke up!”

Soot waved back at us and walked up with a smile, “Man, you guys actually have more than enough to fix this thing. I couldn’t figure out why you brought glass road-wheels though.” Soot picked up a piece of the crystal treads and the road wheel she pointed at. I nodded to her and tried to wipe the tears from my eyes.

Scopola and Soot exchanged a look of understanding, “I am not gonna ask what you and that shaman of yours saw or did, but here, why don’t ya help me fix this thing?” I looked at the work ahead, I grimaced while looking between it and Soot. I now understood what my father went through every time he had to fix a carriage or a tank. Having to analyze what was wrong, figure out what was wrong with it; then piece-by-piece fix it.

Machines are not creatures. You do not have to compromise with a machine. You simply give it what it needs and it does what it was made for. I approached the tank, placing a hoof against the sloped frontal plate, rubbing where the hole was punched in its front armor. The two penetrations would require the most work. I’ll have to cut out the sections with holes and replace them all together. I hope we have enough power for cutting torches.

I turned to Soot, “You sure you are ready for this? It is going to be a very long task.” Soot gave me a coy look of disbelief then rolled her shoulders. I looked her over, “And you are going to have to take a bath again when we are done.”

Soot stopped and gave me a shocked look, the same one your cat would give you when you hold it over the sink to bathe it. “But why?” She whined and pouted.

“Because you do not want the rust to get into your food or into an abrasion and give you lockjaw.” I booped her dirty snoot when I finished speaking. “So bath every night.” Scopola giggled and started to flat out turn into a cackle of laughter as she held her side.

“Oh, Sunrise! Y’all gonna make a beautiful mother!” She pranced off still mockly laughing as she tried to operate her chemistry set near the canteen.

Soot and I got to work. This was going to be something that was going to take a ton of work. Every moment I was cleaning rust or turning a screw today, I was reminded of my father’s shop. Scopola Mina would come over and act as our magical crane anytime we need something bigger than Soot or I could lift. Bodda Pett kept appearing randomly when I needed a different tool or some other small intricate part.

I had no idea how Bodda Pett knew what I needed or when. At one point, I heard his chirping above and looked up to see a pair of tweezers falling which landed right in my mane. Once I found them, I realized why I needed them to fix the gun sight and clean the O rings used to create the seal inside the sight.

All of this combined put me back in the mentality of being in my father’s shop. I noticed a pair of zebras with bandages on their bodies in different places. I had not seen them during the fighting and one of them had burn marks across his side. They approached me.

“Hello, I am Mea,” The mare introduced herself. Her stripes were very different, no curves unlike Nyota’s more spiral style ones. Instead her coat had completely straight ones. Her entire legs were black save for some white stripes and there was a splotch of white across her back, covering her spine and upper rib section. While her glyph mark was pink.

She pointed at the stallion zeebra next to her. “This is Captain.” He was old, very old. A long white beard extended from his chin with a single black stripe across it.

He had the same black sock stripes and big splotch on his back, save for it wrapped around with black all the way to cover half his chest. His muzzle was also obsidian under the beard as he stroked the beard. “I am ZB, I understand you wish to offer us some assistance?”

Soot nodded to the two of them. “Hey you two.” Soot called out from on top of the turret. “Shouldn’t you be resting? Especially with that flamethrower burn?”

The two of them shook their heads, “That doesn’t mean we can’t plan a caravan trip to these places that might be interested in trading with us.” I nodded to them and smiled.

“Yes, of course.” I put down my tools and used a rag to clean off my PipBuck screen while bringing up my map. “Here, I suppose you will need to copy this.” Mea took out paper and pencil then started to trace the map in detail.

“What are the things they need, my small filly frenemy?” I looked up at Z.B. I did not enjoy being called small or frenemy, but in this case both of those things were true. He was stroking his beard looking around the room.

“Weapons, scrap metal, armors, basically anything you can defend yourself with. They have the ability to make their own food, no radiation. Oh and they can take your armor and there is a pegasus there who can make some of the best stuff.” I pointed at Stable Phi’s location. “They really need scrap electronics and anything that functions like rocket fuel.” Mea nodded as she kept working on the map. Z.B. smiled broadly in response.

“Good! Yes, we do have several old rockets that aren’t safe to use. But I am willing to bet you could extract their fuel.” He pointed at a section of the underground hideaway with piles of crates and a big danger sign over them. The sign was duct taped to the boxes to keep it there and several of the crates were duct tape closed.

“Remember,” I took a good long look at each of the zebras. I wanted to watch their faces and judge their intentions. “Trade with them; no need for anything aggressive. If you say I sent you, they will be surprisingly nice to you.” They both looked surprised to start with and then nodded back to me. Once Mea finished with the map, they trotted over and started putting stuff together to be transported.

I was reminded now that Nyota was off doing courier work, and a worry he may not come back started to creep into my head. Pink popped up and shrugged, “I mean you could always just kill whatever comes out of his box till he comes back then slap the recollector on his head and let him see your memories of him.” My jaw dropped in shock at the very idea. I wanted to smack Pink so very hard.

Excuse me? I do what?

“Well he is your lover boy, you telling me you would not kill to get him back?”

I now had to realize the true horror of the boxes inside us. These recombulators that regenerated us when we died. A pair of small zonies with wings ran by me. Zony pegasus children? I looked a little confused and they had matching stripes to Mea. I was now given two very real subjects. The children in me, the twins we were expecting, would be zonies. What type I did not know. My parents were a unicorn and a pegasus. I was an earth pony because of my grandmothers. They could be any type of zony. That and the very real horror that I would be around for them, but Nyota, Nyota might be lost in his box. He would be replaced by some other creature.

Pink, I don’t think I could kill some innocent creature to get Nyota back. That is just wrong.

“Is it killing? Are you really dead if you get back up in a couple of days?”

I don’t know that! Look, Quick Stitch is the only link we have that says that happens and I personally have huge gaps in my memory. So no, we do not know how this works. I’ve only seen it work with Hallow Feather. I stared off into space. Trying to figure out these existential moral questions. I couldn’t process it all; I needed to do something.

Machines! Machines don’t have emotions. I mean, they do, but they work for you so long as you put the proper liquids and parts into them. Let’s do machines instead. I left the questions floating about how I would teach my zony children to be functional in this world that would hate them. On top of the possibility of finding Nyota or if our theory held; what came out of Nyota’s box and dealing with his possible death.

All of that pushed aside to work with all fervor. My dad’s lessons on how to fix machines and vehicles coming to me as naturally now as walking. Soot looked at the sides of the tank, “Ya know, we could take the side skirts and make a pillbox for Upsville instead of using them as—” I put my hoof against Soot’s mouth and shook my head.

“That kind of thinking is how you get your tracks blown off by some random rocket that isn’t even Anti-Tank. No once it’s all said and done, and we are finished making it up to you, we’ll need those skirts to keep the tank rolling.” I explained while removing my hoof and wiping it off on my mechanic rag.

Soot grinned, “Then you will help me use this mobile pillbox and prove my birthright!” Soot’s exclamation caught me off guard.

“Your birthright?” I tilted my head a little confused.

“Yes, I was not born the maste— unicorn race. I am the subser— earth pony like you. I umm… I need to prove myself to claim what is rightfully mine.” Soot tapped a hoof on the tank. “If you are willing to use this tank to prove my worth and get that right back, I’ll let you roll off with it; no questions asked.”

I raised an eyebrow and took a seat. “Soot, why do you refer to unicorns as the master race and earth ponies as subservient?” This was a conversation I did not want to have but it needed to happen.

Soot tilted her head like I had asked an obvious question of why my hoof was wet while standing in a river. “Well it is the way of the world. Unicorns have the power of magic and can levitate, shoot, or otherwise create things with just their mind. Pegasi control the sky. Earth ponies are just... well, slaves as they should be; they serve no real purpose.”

I wasn’t sure what shocked me more. The implications that she was raised this way or that she genuinely believed it. I scratched my head, searching for a way to disprove or answer her. I looked at the tank and thought about it. “You see that tank?”

Soot nodded. I held up my hoof, “Designed and created by General Crunchy Carrot, an earth pony in the Equestrian Army. The entire vehicle is designed to be made by earth ponies, operated by earth ponies, and centered around lack of wings or unicorn magic.” As I talked it was Soot’s turn to have the expression of pure disbelief.

“Bullshit, no earth pony could design this. It’s too impressive, too great! You can’t—” I held up my hoof and shook my head.

“I designed all our armors. Quick Stitch, who is a unicorn, helped me implement the designs but I made the designs, worked on them for hours, and was the lead engineer to make them all. It’s why the six of us could take on your entire town on our own. I customized them for each of us to help our specializations and our abilities.” I pointed at each of the plates on my armor hanging what used to be a locker rack, highlighting all the different places I had been shot, stabbed, or hit with shrapnel while we were fighting them.

“Earth ponies are creators. We have an innate ability with our magic to create technology to overcome anything.” I put a hoof up to her nose. “You are that, Soot. You should learn to embrace it and not allow that garbage of inferior or superior race fill your head.” I leaned down and pulled out a wrench, “Now back to work for us.” Soot kept giving me a queer look as we worked. It was like she was trying to convincingly tell me I was a liar but could find no argument to disprove what I told her.

We worked all day and well into the night. I finally got too tired, and by our third bowl of semi-warm soup that we almost forgot about, Soot was unconscious on top of the tank. Her little jumpsuit was covered in grease, grime, rust, and paint. I put a pillow under her head and let her sleep on the tank engine deck while I moved back into the locker room and crawled upon my sleeping bag.

It was difficult to sleep at all without Nyota and without crying myself to sleep. I had not bathed as I had instructed Soot either. Eventually exhaustion would take me but for now I was stuck debating with Pink over the ethical concerns of killing whatever creatures regenerated from his recombobulator to get Nyota back. No, I won’t. I will not kill the innocent to get him back.

“You all have pasts and histories! Where you are NOT innocent in the slightest. You know that.”

Yes but I will not murder them in cold blood. That isn’t right at all, I couldn’t live with myself. How would I explain it to him? How would I justify releasing prisoners who tried to kill us and that to him at the same time?

“Why should you have to?” The third voice, the one we did not want to address, called out.

Both Pink and I turned in its direction and with a hiss we barked in stereo at it, “You butt out!” Then we looked at each other, I stared into Pink’s eyes and closed mine. Within just a few moments, we were back to arguing and Pink put her hoof in my face.

Without Nyota it was difficult to sleep but with Pink screaming at me, it was even harder. Eventually I passed out when our circular argument finally wore out my adrenaline.

It took me quite a bit to wake up in the morning. No Nyota to gently wake me up and I had set no alarm, I was sure I was having a nightmare, not a memory. I thankfully did not remember it or Pink had blocked it. I would never know which. I awoke on the rough sleeping bag and concrete floor with aches in my bones. Okay, from now on, I’m finding something more comfortable than this floor. My softer body would never get used to this. No matter how hardened I made it. My sensitive eye was okay with the dim room, as it felt like it was getting better. I slid my patch back on before I went into the much brighter common room.

Soot was already trying to work on the tank with Scopola Mina, having helped move it’s turret off the hull. From there we could work on the internal gears and ball bearings inside. I discovered there were several of the ball bearings that the turret was supposed to sit and rotate on missing. I had not made those in Stable Phi, without all of them the turret would rotate unevenly or be prone to jamming. I walked over to a workbench frustrated and angry. This morning was not going well at all.

I grabbed some scrap metal and put on my armored rubber gloves. Before, they were useful for operating a crane and preventing an electrical shock in case of faulty wiring. Now it was protecting my hooves from a metal grinder I was spinning with my foot. I had to use the scrap metal to recreate the ball bearings, one at a time.
This was boring, monotonous and frustrating work. Soot was too far away to talk to with the loud sound of the grinding. One piece of scrap metal wasn’t steel, it was aluminium and I could feel my frustration building. Then the piece just gave way and my hoof bounced off the grinder. Even through the leather, rubber, and the stubbornite armor plating, it felt like stubbing my hoof a hundred times in just a full second. I cried out in pain and grabbed the piece of crumpled bent metal before hurling off into the distance with a loud frustrated cry as the whirling grinder slowed to a halt.

The entire community under here looked at me, offended and upset. I winced in pain as I held my hoof. I wasn’t upset, I was ragingly mad. There were so many reasons to be mad. The misunderstanding that had caused so many deaths. This piece of scrap metal. The tank missing parts I did not know about. Soot’s upbringing being so horrifically wrong. My father being dead was certainly bigger than any of those.

“Why do I even try! All this work and yet I could not save you!” I shrieked out and felt the presence of my father near me somehow. It did not make me feel better. I couldn’t hold it together anymore. I fell to my knees and began to weep. Scopola Mina was running in my direction, as was Chifundo. I had not seen Chifundo in a couple of days, but he was running out to me.

“My short friend bright and green there is no need to be so mean. Perhaps instead of letting the wound fester, you should take some time in sequester?” Chifundno spoke and I shuddered; wheezing as I sobbed. Today was not going to be my day.

Scopola Mina silently held the crumpled piece of aluminum in her TK. I had not realized it was aluminum from all the grime and rust on it. I looked up at Chifundo, my eyes bloodshot, even tears streamed from under my patch. I was at complete loss. Bodda Pet appeared on my back, crawling about and I reached behind me, letting my tail guide him to me. Pink knew to help and be quiet for once.

Chifundo looked up at Scopola, “I see now in her emotion, a very conflicting commotion. Please Scopola, would you be a daring scout, and lead our wounded Sunrise out?”

Soot walked up to Chifundo. “What is her problem?”

Chifundo looked down to her. “She is from before the big war, her place in this world is a bit sore. Her father taught her all she knows about machines, in a shop that was so very clean. During our seance a few days ago, her father I tried to show. She found out she was too late, she hasn’t found a way to bear this weight. Our great quest was to save ‘em, I fear both may have succumbed. Drastically different fates I fear we will find, for the Wasteland has never been known to be kind.”

The rest of what Chifundo said was lost to me, locked behind a door to the locker room as I clung to Bodda Pett, the soft warm bunny reassuring me and helping my tears come out. My head ached with new pains physical and emotional. While Scopola kept a foreleg draped across my back. “There there, Sunrise. Y'all just need some time to grieve. It’s okay, we’re your friends. You don’t have to always be strong. Sometimes we need to be strong for you.” I noticed a new merit badge on Scopola’s sash. One for holding a friend; I wasn’t sure when it got there but it was new today.

The rest of my day was spent incoherently weeping and lost in between sleeping. I did not eat, I just held onto Bodda Pett and cried till my eyes were too dry to cry anymore. At some point, I was out for the night. Lost to the timeless embrace of sleep.

I awoke again, my throat dry. How do I help you now? Dad, please, tell me?

Pink was petting my head and smirked, “Your father would be very proud! That is all you can truly do for the dead.” She reassured me with a hug.

What are you saying? I was uncertain of the hug, just passively sitting there. It was always strange to feel her hugging me. When she slapped me it was just one point of the body. But when she hugged me, it was all over, all at once. It was like the touch of a blanket but warm and alive at the same time. It was never something natural, just something I got used to. It set my fur standing on end but so much had this happened by now I associated it with Pink being nice to me. Bodda Pett perked up, giving a chirp and then purred as I held him close. He had not left me all night. How? How do I show my dad I cared? That I listened? That, I tried? That I loved him?

Pink took a deep inhale, “There are no words I could say to ease your pain or help you understand. A great wise stallion once told me something. Would you like for me to share what he cooked up over the course of his life?”

I nodded as I held Bodda Pett very close, trying my best to be gentle with the bunny in my hooves. “When all you know have passed away but you still draw breath, everything they are is in you. Everyone you touch becomes a part of them, a tiny breadcrumb of the legacy that says they existed. All you can do is hope that if those gone before you were to stand beside you; they would be proud. It matters not why or how, only they would be proud to say you are their legacy.” I silently cried into Bodda Pett’s fur. I knew she was right. I knew I had to push on. I knew that tank outside was now my challenge.

I looked up at Pink, So help me through it. Show me the way. I said as my eyes dried. I had lost so much. Buddy was the first time I felt The Wasteland steal something from me. Something truly special. Pink was helping me remember his face and a single word popped into my mind. Kindness. Pink smiled and nodded.

“You have been so very kind to every single pony you have met. That light Buddy saw in you never died did it? Even to your worst enemy, you have shown mercy.” I winced as I remembered Buddy holding me in that cave. I remembered him saving my life on our first day.

Corners came to mind next, along with Picline. I had to focus upon them, I had to understand why I was thinking about them. I couldn’t put it together and Pink placed a hoof upon my shoulder.

“Determination and Patience. They taught you those things, by putting you through hell and they themselves going through the fires of Tarturus. Without them, your friendship with Chifundo would have faltered. Without them, you would not have the depth of soul you have.”

I nodded and let out a contented sigh. Finally my father, the wound still fresh. My mind staring at his face as I remembered it. Before the war, before he was on the bridge. That day I was fixing the Sand-Dog 3500. Everything that has helped us. I remembered working on our armor in The Roof the first day and when we came back from Las Pegasus. Working on it in Stable Phi, building Scopola Mina’s weapons. All he had taught me, all the things I had used to create the armor and weapons that kept us alive.

“Sunrise, you are alive today because your father saw to it to prepare you. He did not know he was preparing you for this place. But you were trained to shoot by Chroma Slip. He held you after those nights of torture. He made sure you could use every tool to fabricate parts, work upon armor, weapons, that tank. If you want to honor his love and his efforts; if you want him to be truly proud of you. To show you have become your own mare, you should go out into that oven you call a mechanic’s shop and finish baking that tank.” I listened to the words, hanging on every single one of them.

Pink, how did you go on? After… after…

“After the bombs? How did I do it? I was stuck with you. I could choose to not help you or I could choose to maybe help you find a way so we could cross that bridge one day. Once I realized that you dying wasn’t the answer, I have hope again for once. You have made it further than any of your previous tries. Please, don’t end this here. You are my only hope of ever seeing my friends again, of even being able to apologize to Twilight.” I heard those words now and understood what was riding on this. Pink’s life was in my hooves and there was nothing she could do about it.

I looked at her. “Not just my life. Those two inside you. Those heartbeats you hear in your quiet moments.” Something inside me shifted, a kick perhaps? Like they knew they were being talked about. “Nyota’s too, all your friends who follow you; you are their hope. You brought something to this Wasteland, Sunrise. Everywhere you go, ponies see it in your eyes, they see it in you. Do not let this loss take it away from you. Do not lose your spark. Show them even in your darkest hour, you can be your own Sunrise.”

I held Bodda pett close and released him slowly. I took a very determined step and rose to my hooves. Okay, Pink, just walk me through it. The next days were a blur of activity. Every time I became frustrated, everytime I wanted to stop. Pink would remind me to keep going. There would be a kick from inside me, the sound of another heartbeat besides my own. Chifundo bringing me food, Scopola making sure I had coffee. I worked through the pain and tears, Soot took note. Even as I would cry, my hooves worked to repair the behemoth. The baths were cold and I decided to do something a little different.

“Hey Soot, do you mind if I fix you up a water heater? Something to help with baths?” Soot looked at me very upset with the concept. Her face riddled with disbelief as we were preparing to put the turret back on.

“Seriously? Why would we waste resources on that? Hot baths! I swear, next your stable dweller suggestion is gonna be for us to have lights that don’t flicker,” She paused as she tried to think of something else. Then her mind got a very eureka face, “Spend our days reading books and listening to DJ Pon3 on the radio.”

“Soot, let me tell you a story; about a Sand Dog.” I began and just started to talk about Buddy. We were derailed this day from working on the tank. Instead we worked upon a busted pressure washer and oven to improvised a hot water heater. I told her about Buddy, I told Soot about Corners, Picline, and my father, Rainbowrise. All while we built a stable water heater. I tried to teach her a lesson with each of them. Buddy’s was simple, “Hats are not helmets.”

Picline’s lesson was, “Never let love compromise you; in the Wasteland you cannot take care of someone else if you're dead. So always figure out how to get you both out alive.”

Corners. Corners was the hardest one to explain, “Your sins of your past do not make your future.” I had to have Pink guide me through the later two while we were talking. I knew I had to make sure that soon enough, we had a working hot water heater. It wasn’t clean water, still had some rads in it. But the water was at least hot and provided everyone with a much needed morale boost.

I leaned down to whisper in Soot’s ear, “Sometimes just a little hot water can do a world of good for everyone. Happy workers are the best ones when it comes to getting stuff done.” Soot looked at me rather puzzled. “If you are to be their leader, you must lead by example and you must see to their needs first.” I turned to look at the snower currently in use but standing beside Soot so she could see me beaming at a job done well. “Even if you do not always agree with the things they want or need.”
Soot looked up at me and the expression on her face was like I was a magical wizard coming down from a mountain to share wisdom. “I had not realized stupid things like hot water were this important.”

I smiled at her, “It is not the big goals that eat at us. It is the little pieces that pick away and eat at you. Keep that in mind moving forward.” I smiled at her, remembering how my father taught me that a mechanical noise is annoying even if it isn’t something you need to worry about. Solving something as simple as a noise can restore your faith in any vehicle. I had learned on the road the difference in hot water and hot food versus cold was the difference in our camp having a productive night and an irritated fight.

We spent the rest of the night working on the tank. The turret was finally in place with all its missing ball bearings.

Scopola Mina found the mosses outside around the building were scrubbing the area of radiation. It was why my PipBuck wasn’t even picking up the normal background radiation through here. She was using it to make us more Rad-B-Gone as a substitute for the mushrooms.

Mea approached and looked at Scopola as she offered both of us a cookie. We tilted our heads and Scopola tried one first. She nodded her head, “Yeah, no drugs here, but man are they delicious!” I took a bite and made a murph noise as I enjoyed the taste of sweet chocolate and delicious baked dough rolling around my teeth.

“Yes, I was in the scouts, like you.” My eyes went wide as I was now fully awake; I knew that accent.

“Wait, you are from Stalliongrad, like me?” Mae looked at me and raised an eyebrow, then shook her head.

“No, I am from St. Petershoof, I was in the Filly Scout Chapter No. 33 - Zebras against Caesar.” She replied with a sharp salute to me and Scopola. We both saluted back and she trotted off leaving us with a few of the cookies.

I was waiting for welds to set on the tank as I enjoyed my cookie when I felt a familiar weight on top of my head. Snuggles, the manticore I was desperately trying to ignore, walked up and meowed at me. Bodda Pett responded with a chirp. I could not understand a word but they went back and forth for several minutes. Chifundo staring at them with wide eyes with an expression of ‘What in Tartarus?’ across his face. I was just glad that somehow Bodda Pett was keeping Snuggles from approaching me any further.

I softly reached over to the canteen counter and took a piece of lettuce, the chirping soon followed by interruptions of munch munch munch in my ears. Chifundo snapping his head back and forth, clearly able to Dr. Doolittle their conversation together while I was just happy to have a warm bunny on my neck again. There was a pause in their conversation and Snuggles looked upset. The manticore storming away, I had not realized the tension in my muscles or hair standing on end till it stopped when Snuggles was storming off. Snuggles kept giving a defiant hiss back only to receive an angry scream in return from Bodda Pett that was so high pitched it echoed in my ears.

Chifundo approached me and sighed, “Snuggles believes your bunny is your age, I cannot fathom a history with such a page.”

I looked up at Bodda Pett now more curious just where this bunny came from and was hit with a wave of nostalgia that I did not understand. I could not piece a memory together to truly get it. Chifundo cleared his throat to get my attention. “Bodda Pett, were you alive when the Angel was in stride?”

There is some chirping from Bodda Pett a top my head between the munching of lettuce. Chifundo nodded to me and I understand that meant yes. There was a lot more chitting, churring, and chirping from Bodda Pett along with a few happy purrs. Chifundo let out a sigh and looked up at me, “He is only a couple of generations post war, he is magically enchanted to endure.”

Chifundo let out an exasperated sigh, his face getting very grim with something he feared to speak of. “Bodda Pett is a warrior that last stood by your side, when you fought against the Eye Of Terror’s Pride. They are mutants laced with taint, whose goal is to infect all with their paint.”

I looked at Chifundo confused, “What is the Eye of Terror?”

Chifundo cleared his throat, “A magic storm of the wastes, it has existed since the bombs aftertaste. The storm is said to be sentient, just as you or I think independent. It has a will it uses to strike, to bring more into its tainted like. You faced it and fought a storm, till the battlefield left us all to mourn.”

I blinked repeatedly trying to fully understand what he was saying. I looked up at my head and sighed, “Right, remind me to make a rabbit translator that I can carry around.” Bodda hopped off my head and in the dust wrote the words: ‘Hi, Sunrise.’ My brain took a second to process that. I could feel it breaking under the weight. I looked up at Chifundo and then wanted to be somewhere else. Somewhere that my simple rabbit did not teleport or talk.

“Well if that is the case, perhaps if I could get some scrap computer pieces and a small battery I could make a text to speech device for you to plug into my PipBuck.” I turned up to Chifundo and cleaned my head. The possibilities of sentient animals and sentient storms were enough crazy for one day. I wanted to talk about something sane. “Chifundo, that bridge we were on, is that, Tartarus?”

Chifundo shook his head, “No, my battle sister, it is the point between life and death, where souls go as they draw their last breath. Your father is staying upon that bridge, his soul I can sense upon the ridge. He clings upon the faint hope, that perhaps he can see you before he crosses that slope. I am sending him some of my power, to give him relief every hour.”

Bodda Pett returned to us and started to speak in his chirps and a few murrs. “Chifundo, I honestly do not speak rabbit; this is on you.”

“He wishes to know if for your grin, if he should send his family to look for your kin.” Chifundo took a moment to look me over and analyze my face.

I shook my head, “No, him being near is helping me more than any effort he could give right now. Where did he learn to teleport?”

Bodda Pett churped a few times and Chifundo let out a chuckle, “A side effect from the Eye of Terror, when you saved him as his stretcher bearer.”

Before I could ask anything else, there was a commotion; Alguacil had returned with several ponies and regulators in tow. I got up to go find out exactly what was going on, seeing Quick Stitch poking his head from the stairs above.

Alguacil had returned not only with regulators but settlers from Silver Fang and a caravan loaded with trade goods. Quick Stitch rushed forward to check on ponies that had been injured. He first stopped with me and put a shroud over my head, pulling my eyepatch back and I got the very real and scary experience of a needle dripping a healing compound into my eye. Oh god, why? Why is this getting normal for me? Why is it still terrifying? I kept wanting to twitch away or flinch back but I knew that if I did; I might be blinded in the eye permanently. He pulled the eyepatch back.

“Sorry we took so long, the caravan insisted we clear every plant on the way here to make a proper road.” Quick Stitch stroked my head and helped me calm down. Snuggles was standing off with Bodda Pett again, the feline creature with a ‘I Hate You’ stare at Bodda Pett. I swore for a moment that Bodda Pett had a sword and shield out. I blinked and the armament disappeared.

The place was full of hustle and bustle as Alguacil talked with Soot about the situation while the new regulators got to know the townsfolk. At least a dozen other ponies and two zebras also were among them. Soot was a little overwhelmed, trying to take all the information and I took part helping find bunks and jobs for everyone to get done to help put this settlement up. I checked my PipBuck to make sure and explained their new home was called Upsville.

Chifundo laughed at me, “Perhaps I should teach you to speak rabbit, then you can talk to Bodda out of habit.” I stared at him and shook my head towards him with a smirk upon my lips.

“No, I like it better when you’re around to do it. Your reactions to Bodda Pett are priceless to watch.” I looked around the ponies and creatures present then something struck me. Nyota wasn’t among them. He was still not back, and my worries escalated very quickly.

Progress to Level 15 - 39% of the way to Level Up! IE No XP Gain, I just gave you XP! Complete a quest or something.