Thankfully it didn’t take too long for us to get our stuff back. Really, I didn’t care that we had to wait, I was just happy that everything was fine. I still had my rifle and all our bullets, and our supplies were in one piece. And yes, I did have that celebratory smoke. I finally stopped jittering after going half a day without a smoke.

Auris-grown tobacco is strong. Seriously, kids, don’t try it. You’ll end up like me, and I guarantee you that’s a bad thing. I don’t even want to be me sometimes.

But seeing as how we weren’t ready to leave Three Rivers just yet, the five of us ended up sitting at a table on the ground floor of Lines’ inn. For now, guards kept watch over the front of the shattered building, at least to prevent looters from raiding the place. And despite the damage, Lines still had travelers to house, so he tried to keep things running as best as he could. Really, all he had to do was get the bodies out of some of the shattered rooms. Gruesome as it sounds, the mercenaries took care of it quickly, so at least there wasn’t much in the way of that death smell. Just the smell of burnt timbers.

Lines and Ace had a bottle of whiskey they passed between them that Lines had opened up shortly after we were released. I wasn’t sure if they were drinking to celebrate or to forget what had happened. I’m pretty sure it was the latter for Lines, and probably Ace as well. She didn’t need much of an excuse to try and get blackout drunk, and as of last night, I finally understood why. For once, I didn’t look on her drinking habit with disgust, only sadness.

Nova and Gauge sat side by side, each with a cup of coffee between their hooves. After letting the silence linger on for some time, Nova was the first to break it. “I’m really sorry about your inn.”

Lines scoffed and took the bottle back from Ace. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “I’m just glad that those bastards didn’t accomplish what they were hoping for.”

“It’s still our fault that they planted the bomb in the first place,” I insisted. “They wouldn’t have blown up half your inn if we weren’t here or I didn’t make an ass of myself yesterday.”

“What are you going to do?” Gauge asked. “Do you need bullets to repair the damage?”

Lines waved his hoof. “If it’s charity you’re offering me, I’ll pass,” he said. “I don’t need it from you. I have enough stored away to last, and the Bank’s always willing to put down a loan on an enterprising business. Plus, anything left behind from the travelers who died in the blast, I get to auction off and keep the profits. That’ll pad expenses some.” He took a swig from the bottle and slid it back to Ace. “The bitch of the matter’s gonna come from just fixing the damn place up. That’ll take time and the hit on my reputation will affect the bottom line, but I’ll get over it.”

“Or you could dump this place and come with us,” Ace said. “We’re doing important shit out there. Ain’t like you to just sit in a place like this with your hoof up your ass, pretending you’re a pretty businesspony.”

“Ace…” Lines tapped his hooves on the table. “I told you I’m done with that shit. We all had our adventures when we were younger, but now we’re grown up.”

“Supposedly,” Ace quipped, smirking the tiniest amount.

“I know you still think you’re a stupid teenager who’s gonna live forever,” Lines said, flickering a tired smile for the briefest of seconds. Then that expression fell away and he was just… tired. “I swore I wasn’t going to do any of that stuff anymore. I had enough of it when we were Runners. I wanted to settle down and live a peaceful life with the bullets I put away. Maybe start a family and run a business. I’m not going to give up on that now.”

Ace frowned. “How’s that going for you?” she said, gesturing to the damage all around us. “I ain’t seeing no wife or pretty children. I ain’t seeing any profits in your immediate future.”

“And who’s fault is that?” he bit back. “Ace, trouble follows you like your own damn shadow. It’s practically nailed to you like a shoe. It’s the first time I see you in years and it isn’t even a full day before ponies are trying to kill us again.” He pushed his chair back and stood up. “Z was stupid and she followed you when you convinced her you two could be big badass mercs and heroes of the wilderness. And look where that got her.”

I saw Ace pinch her wings inward and place a trembling hoof against the table to steady it. “That mare was a braver bitch than both of us put together,” she managed through her shaking voice. “And you don’t have to try to sleep knowing it’s your fault she died.”

“I already struggle to sleep because I know whose fault it was. I know that she left to follow you and I can’t help but wonder if I could’ve stopped her if I tried harder.”

Ace’s wings began to tremble. “You don’t know nothing…”

“No. I don’t. Because apparently one of my best friends died years ago and I only just now hear about it because you happened to be passing through.” He sneered at Ace, but I could tell just from looking at him that it was hollow anger to hide his own agony. “I’m not following you out there just to die like Z did. I don’t owe you anything.”

Ace stared at the grain in the table, but she kept her lips sealed. After a few seconds of looming behind her, Lines scowled and turned around without a word. Me and Nova and Gauge all watched him walk back to the staircase and disappear to the higher floors, leaving just the three of us down here with an outlaw who was struggling to maintain her composure.

Say something to her, Surge insisted.

I slid around the table and took Lines’ seat, placing one hoof on Ace’s back. Carefully setting my lit cigarette on the edge of the table so I wouldn’t get the smoke in her face, I leaned in to comfort her. “He’s just upset, Ace,” I said. “He didn’t mean that shit.”

“Yeah,” Nova chimed in. “I’m sure he’s just stressed out by all this. Give him some time to calm down.” She shot me a confused look; I’d nearly forgotten that only I really knew what happened to Ace’s marefriend all that time ago. I nodded to let her know she was at least along the right track and being helpful, but nothing more. Now definitely wasn’t the time to explain all that to her and Gauge, and besides, it wasn’t my place to anyway. Ace could do that later if she wanted.

Clumsy hooves fiddled with the bottle of booze. It seemed like it took her some effort to get the opening to her lips, and even then, enough of it dribbled down her chin to make it glisten. I noticed that I was starting to use my hoof more and more to support Ace, not just comfort her; she was starting to sway pretty badly, and it seemed like the several gulps she took from the bottle were only making it worse. I debated whether to pry it away from her or not, and ultimately decided to do so. She could get blackout drunk later if she wanted to. That wasn’t something we needed to deal with now.

She glared at me as the bottle floated to the other end of the table. “Give it back,” she demanded, trying to stretch across the table for it. “I need that.”

“You don’t need any more right now,” I insisted. Sighing, I helped Ace sit upright and wrapped my leg around her shoulders. “Listen, we’ve gotta be out of this town by nightfall. Let’s just focus on getting our shit in order, alright? You can get fucking trashed sometime when we aren’t on a schedule.”

“What do we need to do?” Gauge asked me. “We already stocked up on supplies and everything yesterday. We’re pretty set for the road, I think.”

“And I have an idea where the installation is,” Surge said, shifting my voice into her accent. “Whenever we’re ready to leave, I can guide us there.”

“I don’t want to leave without stopping by the Ruin Runners first,” I said, catching a flicker of surprise from Ace. “Mawari and Denawa pulled through for us there. They’re the reason we’re free now. We at least have to stop in and talk to them.”

Ace shuddered. “I ain’t want nothing to do with them bastards again,” she said. “I was done with them years ago. I ain’t going back.”

Nova blinked. “Didn’t you grow up with them? Were they not kind to you?”

“I got used like every other colt and filly: helping them get into small places that they couldn’t reach. I saw too many ponies younger than ten winters get killed in those places.” She shook her head. “They taught me a lot, but I survived thanks to Lines and Z and myself. Not them. I don’t owe them nothing and that’s why I spat in their faces when they tried to make us regulars when we turned fifteen.”

I touched her hoof to try and comfort her some. “If you don’t want to go, that’s fine. Just point us in the right direction and we’ll take care of it ourselves.”

Ace seemed surprisingly torn. Her eyes shifted between me, the bottle of whiskey, my friends, and the staircase that Lines disappeared up. Eventually, she sighed and slid her chair back. “It’s on the other side of town. You ain’t gonna find it without my help.” Standing up, she snatched the bottle of whiskey with her wing and took several gulps straight from the source. She grimaced, corked it, and set it inside her bags. “Let’s just get this shit over with.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Fuck it. Let’s just get moving before I change my mind.”

I glanced at Nova and Gauge, who simply shrugged back at me. “Alrighty then,” I said, standing up and collecting my things. My friends did the same, and Gauge sharply whistled at SCaR, which ceased its patrolling around the room to go fly back to his head. When we had all our shit together, I nodded to Ace. “Lead the way.”

“Right.” Ace nodded and turned around, managing to cross the floor with only a little bit of swaying. I was glad that I cut her off where I did; I don’t think she would’ve been in much condition to go anywhere had she any more to drink. And seriously, it was hardly past lunch. We may have twenty-eight hour days, but most ponies still wait until four or five in the afternoon to start drinking like that. Ace didn’t really have that restraint. I wondered how much she spent on whiskey.

…Then again, I was up to five cigarettes a day. I spent a lot of money on cigarette cartons, because who knew when the next time I’d manage to limp my way back to a town or someplace to trade for them would be? I had to stock up to feed my habit, because holy shit did I start to get the jitters if I’d gone four or five hours since my last smoke.

Which reminded me to grab the still-burning cigarette I’d put on the table earlier and stick it between my lips. There was good tobacco left in it, and I wasn’t going to waste it if I could help it.

The four of us stepped out into the sunlight, past the mercs standing in front of the fucked up inn. I couldn’t help but look around myself at the sights and sounds of Three Rivers. The Brass Bank still loomed overhead, now less wondrous and more imposing than it had been when we first arrived. It was merely a building, but it felt like it was the face and voice of the city, its heart and its pulse. The Brass Bank was Three Rivers. And the Bank didn’t want me here anymore.

“I’m glad we got to enjoy it for at least a day,” Nova said, trying to remain positive. “Even if they are kicking us out, it was awesome. Maybe we’ll be able to come back one day.”

“There’s good in this city like we haven’t seen since leaving the Sentinels,” Gauge said. “This town could be a model for the future. Minus some of the ridiculous bits, like killing anybody who starts trouble with no questions asked.”

“Yeah, that’d be good to scrap, I think,” I agreed. “It certainly almost got us executed.”

“I’m simply impressed that ponykind has been able to rebuild this quickly,” Surge said, voicing her thoughts. “Even if it did take nearly two hundred revolutions for the survivors to pick up the pieces and start putting them back together. I can’t possibly imagine the carnage being cut off from Equus could have caused.”

“Well you saw a glimpse of it when we were all trying to break into your installation and shit,” I said. I glanced at Ace, who was simply waiting for us a bit further down the stilted street, and flicked my cigarette butt into the water. “Come on, let’s get going.”

We rejoined Ace, and she started leading us toward the far east edge of town. At some point, we shifted districts or something. I’d seen a few zebras wandering around closer to the Brass Bank, but now there were a lot more of them. There were more lower bunkhouses at this end of Three Rivers than there were closer to the center of town, and the zebras seemed to populate most of them. I’d hesitate to call this the poor district of Three Rivers, but only because their poor was roughly the same as what I’d known growing up in Blackwash. Most of the ponies and zebras were vaguely dirty and spotted with grime, but they’d at least bathed themselves within the past week. They seemed like blue collar workers, for as much as blue collar and white collar really exist past the fall of civilization. I recognized the outfits of dockhooves and mechanics and peddlers, which was markedly different from the innkeeps and waiters and bankers closer to the Bank. It was just kind of amazing that the poor of Three Rivers were the same as the wealthy in Blackwash, for as much as we really had classes or anything.

“I’m not used to seeing this many zebras,” Gauge said as we walked past yet another group of striped equines talking near the edge of the platform. “Have they all just been hiding here?”

“Thatch’s got a decent population of zebras,” Ace said over her shoulder. “Mostly poor souls we can get away from Reclaimer. He and the Ivory City want to enslave or exterminate them all. ‘Ponies first’ and that bullshit.”

“Reminds me of the rhetoric at home,” Surge said through my voice. “The Synarchy rounded up most of the zebras over the course of our wars and either sent them into camps and servitude or shipped them to Auris for menial labor.”

“That’s horrible!” Nova exclaimed. “You can’t just do that!”

“I’d love to hear how you justified that, Sparky,” Gauge said.

“The Zebra Tribes were our enemies,” Surge said. “Equestria’s zebra population posed a direct threat from within. So we quarantined it and treated it before it could hurt us.”

Gauge rolled his eyes. “When I said that, I didn’t actually want you to tell me.”

“It must pain you to see all these zebras walking free,” I muttered to Surge.

“The Bank could improve its profits by several percentage points if it enslaved the zebras,” Surge said. “Then they wouldn’t have to be paid and they could be driven to work harder.”

I noticed I was starting to get some funny looks from a few of the zebras we passed. And by funny, I mean angry. Ace noticed too, even as inebriated as she was, and she cleared her throat. “I think you should keep your trap shut there, Sparky. We don’t need no trouble from the good citizens here.”

“Yeah, really,” Gauge grumbled.

Surge harrumphed but let go of my vocal chords, so I didn’t have to keep looking like a blathering racist idiot in front of all these zebras. Which is always a good thing. At the very least, she kept quiet until we found ourselves standing in front of a modest building dominating the end of a dead end street.

“That’s the Ruin Runners’ headquarters?” Surge asked in disbelief. “It looks squalid.”

After seeing the clean glory of the Brass Bank, I had to agree with Surge. Sheet metal and salvaged materials kept the two story structure together, and there weren’t any windows, only open air. The building wasn’t even symmetrical, and the whole thing looked cobbled together. Honestly, it was a lot less than I was expecting.

“Proud of their heritage to the very last,” Ace spat. “They’re scavengers and they want everypony to know it. Not like it does them any favors, looking like that when the Bank’s still in eyesight.” She angled her head toward the side, where the Brass Bank loomed over the rest of the city, plainly visible even this far away.

“Aren’t they wealthy, though?” Gauge asked. “These people make a living off of crawling around old Equestrian installations. Surely they find a lot of tech and bullets when they do so.”

“Like I said, all part of the charm.” Rolling her shoulders, Ace started advancing on the building. “Never thought I’d be back here,” she muttered to herself.

The doors to the Ruin Runners’ headquarters were open wide, so we could just walk in. The main entrance only had a single desk at the far end, placed in front of a doorway that went to the rest of the building. A few ponies and zebras idly talked in this lobby, their eyes briefly wandering over the four of us before they returned to their conversations. I couldn’t tell if they were Runners or just ponies here on business or whatever, because as far as I could tell, there weren’t any uniforms or anything to identify Runners with.

A unicorn mare at the desk set aside some papers as we approached. “Ruin Runners. Are you here on an appointment or do you have information you’d like to sell?”

“We’re just here to talk to some zebras,” Ace said, frowning at the receptionist. “Ain’t planning on being here long.”

The receptionist’s gray ears raised before her eyes followed. It took her a second to look Ace over before she blinked once in disbelief. “Ace?” she asked, squinting at the outlaw. “That you?”

“Surprised, Shady?” Ace responded. “I told you lot I didn’t need you to make it out there. I ain’t dead yet.”

The mare Ace called Shady sighed. “You know I wasn’t a part of your spat with Wayward,” she said. “I just never thought I’d see you again.” Ruby eyes quickly scanned the rest of us. “What about Zephyr? Is she still with you?”

Ace closed her eyes for a few brief moments. “No,” was all she said.

“Oh…” Shady looked genuinely hurt; it was hard to imagine her as some uncaring scavenger like Ace wanted us to believe. “I’m sorry, Ace.”

The outlaw at least had the courtesy to nod instead of throwing the apology back at Shady. “We just want to talk to two zebras going by Mawari and Denawa,” she said. “We won’t be bothering y’all none more than that.”

“Of course. They should be in.” Shady offered a brief smile. “I’m sure you know the way around.”

“Unfortunately.” Ace looked around and noted the ponies waiting off to the sides. “Wayward ain’t in?”

“He’s off doing business with the Bank,” Shady said. “He should be back soon. You want to see him? Make amends?”

“No.” It was a single word, but the venom behind it coupled with the angry glare she cast at Shady told me just what Ace thought of who I assumed was the pony in charge of the Ruin Runners. Poor Shady wilted under that baleful glare, and her eyes dropped back to the papers on her desk. Ace didn’t say anything else as she skirted past the desk and toward the door, short tail angrily flicking from side to side as she walked.

I shot Shady a sympathetic look as we walked past as well, though I don’t know if she saw it or not, focused on her work as she was. I would’ve stopped to say something, maybe ask a little bit more about what Ace’s deal with the Runners was, but I figured keeping Ace waiting was a bad idea. It was abundantly clear that she didn’t want to spend any more time in this place than she had to and wanted to leave before Wayward came back from his business at the Bank.

There was surprisingly little through the door beyond Shady’s desk. When we stepped through, we were presented with three choices: a big door on the right that looked locked, a staircase going up, and a big, open communal room on the left. Furniture, a stove, and a fireplace decorated the communal room, and a bunch of ponies and zebras sat around on the numerous couches or at the few tables in the room. There were even groups of dirty fillies and colts whose eyes had seen way too much for ponies their ages. One colt of about ten winters was missing an eye, and a filly hobbled around on three legs, her left foreleg just missing entirely. I guess Ace wasn’t exaggerating about that part. I still didn’t really know what to think of this place and these people.

Ace shuddered in the doorway. “They’re over there,” she said, pointing to the far end of the communal room where a group of zebras talked around a table. “You can go talk to them if you want. I ain’t gonna hang around here no more.”

“Are you alright, Ace?” Nova asked. “You’re really on edge.”

“I don’t wanna be here,” Ace insisted. “Have your talk and get out of here before Wayward gets back. If I see the fucker, I might blow his brains out, and we don’t need to fetch us a one-way ticket to the wall.”

“Especially not after all we went through to be standing here in the first place…” Surge muttered.

I seized control of my mouth and shook my head. “Thanks, Ace,” I said, patting her on the back. “Just go chill for a bit. We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Y’all better be,” she grumbled. Abruptly turning in place, Ace stormed out of the door, shouldering the main doors to the building open and moving somewhere out of sight. Me and Nova and Gauge looked at each other and shrugged. Honestly, this was probably just the best we could do for her right now. Hopefully she’d have some time to cool down later and maybe talk about what was up. I suddenly found myself really interested in her real reason for hating the Ruin Runners for some reason.

And it looked like our little commotion had caught the attention of a bunch of ponies and zebras in the room. I saw Mawari and Denawa watching us from the far corner of the room, their expressions equal parts surprise and bemusement. Waving to them, I decided to cut away all that arguing with Ace and everything by trotting right across the room and joining their table. “Hey Mawari, Denawa,” I said to them each in turn. “It feels like it’s been forever since I saw you two, right?”

My joke earned a little chuckle from Mawari and an eye roll from Denawa. “I could’ve sworn it was only a few hours ago,” Mawari said. Standing up, she left her brother and friends at the table to give me a hug. “It is good to see you again. After what happened at the foundry, I felt like we owed you one for helping deal with the tolan.”

Denawa didn’t seem so pleased. Baring his teeth, he hopped off of his seat and put himself almost nose to nose with me. “I didn’t want to, you know,” he said. “Not after what you did to the warehouse!”

I blinked, remembering what Ace had done to it. “That wasn’t—!”

“All of that fortune, gone!” he spat. “We could’ve lived like kings! The Ruin Runners could’ve had some solid credit to pay off the Bank with! And then you blew it up! All of it! There’s hardly anything left of the foundry other than a carbonized crater!” He hooked his foreleg around my shoulders and pulled me in close until I could feel his breath on my cheek. “Eight of us died trying to get that warehouse open, and you blew it to smithereens after you helped yourself to its armory! Fuck you!”

He shoved me back, and Nova and Gauge had to catch me before I hit the ground. Then Nova left my side, leaving Gauge to help me stand, and stood between me and Denawa. Though she was shorter than him, she puffed up her chest and held her wings out at her sides, making herself seem larger than she was. And given the metal death wing attached to her shoulder, she was definitely successful in that. “That wasn’t us!” she argued. “We didn’t even know that was going to happen until we left! Ace did that, not us!”

“She was with you!” Denawa shot back, growling and baring his teeth. “This is your fault!”

“Hey!” Mawari exclaimed, stepping between the two of them. “Cut it out! I don’t think Ember and her friends came here to start a fight.” Her eyes swiveled to me. “Right?”

I shook my head. “I just wanted to say thanks,” I said. “If you two hadn’t intervened at the trial, we’d probably be sitting in a cell right now with no certainty we’d ever walk free. I feel like I at least owed you two a visit. And you did invite me to stop by when I was in Three Rivers,” I added with a wink.

Mawari smiled and stepped forward. “Like I said, it was the least we could do to repay the favor. Though the Bank is the face of the city, the Ruin Runners carry our fair share of influence as well.” Then her smile fell into a moderate frown, like a softer, kinder version of the glare her brother was giving me. “Though you did cost us a fortune. Denawa’s right to be upset about that. There were untold thousands and thousands of bullets in that warehouse, and now they’re all gone.”

“Like Nova said, that wasn’t our fault,” I said, pointing my hoof at the three of us. “That was our friend Ace’s idea. She did it without telling us. Said that she didn’t trust anypony with the kind of firepower and ordinance that was inside of that warehouse.”

“Then it sounds like she at least has good morals, if not the best way of implementing them,” Mawari said.

I chuckled. “You’re preaching to the choir.” Then after a second, I added, “But I’ve got some good news for you.”

“Oh?” Mawari asked, raising an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“We found that place at Bluewater Gorge.”

That got their attention, as well as the attention of a few other Ruin Runners in the building. Mawari blinked and shook her head in disbelief. “You did?” she asked. “Do you mind me asking what it was and where?”

“Forget them minding,” Denawa interjected. “They owe us a replacement for the foundry.”

“Which is why I’m bringing it up, jackass,” I said, my irritation starting to wear through the thin veil of politeness I tried to wear. “Yeah, we found it. It’s—!”

Surge seized control of my mouth, stopping me from saying any more. That installation is Synarchy property, she thought at me. I can’t let you say any more. Especially not to zebras.

Better them than some random bandits, I thought back at her. Do you want civilized ponies finding your installation, or random warlords? Because I can guarantee you it isn’t going to stay hidden for long.

After a moment to think, Surge finally relented. I moved my mouth from side to side as I felt my muscles fall back under my control. Unfortunately, the pause had been long enough that Mawari and Denawa were both giving me weird works. “It’s… where?” Mawari prompted.

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t really pick out landmarks, so I was trying to remember. It’s like, a two or three day’s hike along the river into the gorges and shit. There should be an open door on a mountain along the north bank of the river.” I shot a look at Nova, whose metal wing twitched under my attention. “We found Nova a replacement wing there, and she used that thing to really fuck up the door. Trust me, you’ll know you’re at the right place as soon as you see it.”

Denawa’s eyes pointed toward Nova’s wing. “I was wondering where she found that,” he said. “That looks incredibly advanced!”

Nova blushed a bit and shifted her wings, the oiled metal feathers hissing as they slid past each other on her artificial limb. “It lets me fly just fine,” she said. “it’s a bit heavier than I’m used to, but it’s amazing. Sometimes it itches and I can’t really scratch it because it’s metal.”

Mawari offered her a heartfelt smile. “I imagine that you’re just happy to be able to fly again.”

“Yeah,” Nova said with a nod. “I don’t care if it’s metal, it lets me fly, and that’s what makes me a pegasus.”

“It’s a little bit uncomfortable when you’re trying to sleep, though,” Gauge said. Winking at Nova, he added, “And I try to keep it as far away from my junk as possible.”

Mawari rolled her eyes and Nova bopped Gauge on the nose. “Quiet, you,” she said. “Give me some credit! I figured out how this thing works!”

“Not when you’re asleep…”

I shook my head. If I let them, these two would go on and on about this all day. Clearing my throat, I moved a step closer to Mawari. “Listen, Mawari, you heard what they said during the trial. We’ve got to be gone by the end of the day. And I don’t want to seem like a shitbag, but we’ll have to get going pretty soon. We’re in a bit of a race against time. I just wanted to say thanks for everything, and I hope our paths cross again sometime soon.”

Mawari smiled and surprised me with a hug. “We may not know each other that well, Ember, but I would like to think of us as friends,” she said. “Maybe the next time we meet we can relax for a bit and actually get to know one another better.”

I returned the embrace. “I’d like that a lot.” I turned to Denawa and winked. “You too, you grumpy zebra.”

Denawa rolled his eyes and looked away.

When we separated, Mawari nodded to Gauge and Nova, then turned back to me. “Where are you going to now? To chase more pieces of that code?”

“Yeah,” I said. “The next piece is supposedly somewhere in the Spines. I’ve never been there, so I don’t know what to expect.” I flashed her a hopeful smile. “You got any pointers for us? You were really helpful when it came to the Bluewater Gorge.”

Mawari shrugged. “I’ve never been to the Spines myself. The Ruin Runners don’t usually go that far to the southwest. Most of the Synarchy’s facilities were closer to the heartland of the continent, near the mountains and such. But I can tell you what I’ve heard.”

“And?” I prompted. “What have you heard?”

“Only that there’s a group of natives that live there.” She chuckled. “It’s funny to think that there are natives on Auris, after only two centuries of lawlessness. But there are. They call themselves Feati, and they’re covered in all these weird magical tattoos. And they don’t speak our language, so good luck communicating with them.”

“Wait, natives who don’t speak our language?” Nova blinked in surprise. “That’s… fascinating!”

“Dr. Hozho’s work must’ve been more successful than I thought,” Surge thought aloud. Only too late did she realize that she’d actually made me say that.

Mawari and Denawa looked at me. “Uh… what?” Mawari asked.

I coughed and shook my head from side to side. “Nothing,” I said. “Just… things I learned at that base in the Bluewater Gorge. Apparently it’s the Synarchy’s fault that there’s a bunch of ponies gone native in the Spines with their own language.”

“Everything here is the Synarchy’s fault,” Gauge said, and when he looked right at me, I knew his antagonizing smile was meant for Surge. “You can trace every fuck up back to them.”

Just to piss Surge off, I didn’t let her retort when she wanted to, and instead nodded along.

“At least we’re better off without them,” Mawari said with a sigh. “It’s taken some time, but we’re finally putting things back together. Groups like the Ruin Runners, the Bank, hell, even the Sentinels up north from what I’ve heard are building a better future. I think by the end of the century, Auris will be back on its hooves and ready to rebuild.”

“One way or another,” Denawa grumbled. “Depends on if that Ivory City fucker has his way or not.”

“And I’m hoping that by chasing this code, I can stop him from getting what he wants,” I said. “I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Reclaimer. If even half of them are true, that stallion needs a bullet in his head as soon as possible.”

“At least Thatch is keeping him contained,” Mawari said. “If they weren’t—?”

Furious screeching cut Mawari off. Startled and confused, all of us turned back in the direction of the main lobby. After a second, I realized that Ace was the one screaming in rage. That was fucking terrifying to me; I’d never heard her that angry before. Pissed, yes, but she sounded like she was going to kill somepony.

“Do you think that Wayward fellow came back?” Gauge asked. I nodded along when I realized that was pretty much the only thing that could’ve possibly pissed Ace off that much.

“Come on, let’s see what’s happening,” I said, moving back toward the lobby. Nova and Gauge followed me, along with Mawari and Denawa and half the Ruin Runners in the room out of simple curiosity.

When I stood back in the doorway, I found myself staring at quite the sight. Ace was practically foaming at the mouth, and she’d drawn her rifle. She was balancing on her hind legs just to hold onto it, her wings out and stabilizing her, but I didn’t know if she could even see straight. I was sure she was just a second away from literally shooting fire out of her eyes. I thought she was going to turn into a blazing inferno right there, like the pegasi of ancient times, who were said to control the elements. The last thing any of us needed was Ace suddenly figuring out how to set everything on fire.

Standing across from her wasn’t a pony, but a griffon. I honestly was shocked to see another griffon so far from the quarry all the way back north. I hadn’t seen many at Hole, and I hadn’t seen any since leaving the city, so some part of me just assumed that they didn’t exist anywhere else. But here one was, dressed in something resembling formal attire, and he matched Ace’s explosive anger with an icy frown that could probably freeze the sun. He simply glared at her, but made no move to draw a weapon of his own or defend himself—even though I was certain he had a gun tucked away somewhere inside of his jacket.

I decided to take this situation apart before it got any worse. A quick burst of telekinesis popped the magazine out of Ace’s rifle and emptied the chamber before she even knew what was happening. She looked at her rifle, then at me, and I shrunk back as some of that fury fell on my shoulders. “Stay out of this!” she spat at me, even moving the unloaded rifle in my general direction.

“No, I think your friend is right to intervene,” Wayward said, and just the sound of his voice made my skin crawl. He sounded slimy, cocky, and just all around the kind of person I didn’t want to associate with. “Now’s no time to get upset. I know we haven’t seen each other in years, but I expected our reunion to happen a bit differently.”

“I should fucking kill you,” Ace said, lowering her rifle and marching up dangerously close to the griffon’s sharp beak. “I swore I’d fucking kill your shit self if I ever saw you again, and I ain’t a mare to break my word. So many people would be better off if your ass was grass.”

Wayward seemed disinterested. “I don’t see what’s stopping you,” he said, raising a feathery eyebrow. “Are you afraid of lining up against the wall if you do? Or maybe you still have a little loyalty for the griffon who raised you and cared for you and your friends for so many years. If anything, I would’ve expected an apology after you threw my charity back into my face and abandoned your brothers and sisters here in the Runners.”

I could see Ace starting to boil over, so I went to her side and wrapped my forelegs around her shoulders. “Ace, seriously, chill out,” I whispered into her ear. I gave Wayward a pointed look and shook my head. “He’s not worth it. Let’s just get our shit and go.”

Wayward dismissively waved his hand. “Yes, go, I wouldn’t want to keep you any longer than I already have.” He winked at her and slid his beak from side to side. “You always have a home here with us, if you’re ever in town again. I heard that there was an incident with Lines’ inn, so it’s probably the closest you’ll get to home until it’s fixed.”

Ace lunged forward in my grip, but I kept her steady until she stopped fighting me. “Don’t listen to him,” I said, nodding toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I shot Mawari and Denawa an apologetic smile and started to move to the door, hoping to encourage Ace to leave. While I would’ve loved to properly say our goodbyes, I just needed to get the outlaw out of here before she did something stupid. When I stopped in the doorway, I rolled my eyes and tugged on Ace’s shoulder. Ace glared at Wayward for a few more seconds, and then she swung like lightning. Her forehoof cracked Wayward across the beak, and the griffon grunted and shouted in pain, clutching his face. Ace cantered after me while Wayward was still reeling from the blow, and Nova and Gauge slipped out after her before he could recover. Thankfully, nopony pursued us.

When we made it to the end of the block, I stopped and spun around. “Ace, what the fuck is between you and him?” I asked her.

“Ain’t none of your fucking business,” she swore back at me.

“If I hadn’t have stepped in, I’m pretty sure we’d all be back in the fucking Bank and on the short track to the firing squad! Of course it’s my fucking business!”

She shot me a harsh glare that made me flinch. “You don’t know nothing about what that fucker did to me,” she growled. Her wingtips twitched and she pointedly pivoted on her hooves, starting along the path to the edge of town. “Let’s go. I ain’t gonna stay here any longer than I have to.”

Me, Gauge, and Nova watched Ace stalk off ahead of us, with SCaR buzzing around and keeping a camera pointed back the way we came. Sighing, I let my shoulders fall a little bit and shook my head. “This mare is one mystery after another,” I said.

“Her and Wayward have a history,” Surge chimed in.

Gauge rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks, Sparky. I don’t think we’d ever have figured that out ourselves.”

Surge contorted my face into a frown. “More than what she’s showing on the surface, you striped imbecile. She’s apparently known him throughout most of her childhood and teenage years. Something severe must’ve happened to turn her against him like that.”

“Whatever happened, she doesn’t want to talk about it,” Nova said. “I think we should just let her be. She’ll tell us later if she wants.”

“I don’t know about that one,” I said, watching her walk further away. “Trying to get anything out of her is a pain in the ass.”

Nova smiled and rested her feathery wing on my back. “If there’s anypony who can get it out of her, it’s you,” she said with a wink.

I felt my cheeks grow warm. “Yeah, well, we both hate talking. I doubt I’ll get more than a word about it.”

“She’ll talk about it when she’s ready.” Her eyes briefly flicked over to Ace’s retreating form… and then they went elsewhere. “Trust me…” she said after a moment’s thought.

I didn’t really know what she meant by that, so I shrugged and adjusted some of the straps holding my gear to my body. “Well, in the meanwhile, we’re kinda pressed for time. We don’t really have all that long before Yeoman finds what he’s looking for.” Smirking, I started walking after Ace. “You know where we gotta go, Sparky?”

Surge sighed. “Close enough,” she said. “I can get you to the Spines and help you find what you’re looking for. If anything, finding one of these ‘Feati’ ponies will likely lead us to the exact location of Dr. Hozho’s facility.”

“And then we find the piece of the code,” Gauge finished. “If we get there before Yeoman, then we can delete it and he’ll never be able to finish it.”

“Right,” I said, retaking control of my mouth. I cast one look back over my shoulder, where the Brass Bank towered above the rest of Three Rivers. “It’s been fun, but I guess we gotta keep moving. Maybe one day we can come back when ponies aren’t trying to kill us.”

“I’d certainly enjoy that,” Nova said. She pressed against Gauge’s side and hummed. “Maybe we won’t be interrupted next time.”

“Maybe,” Gauge said, nuzzling his marefriend’s head.

I shook my head. “I’d say get a room, but we all know how well that worked last time.” Turning my eyes forward again, I set off after Ace. “How long do you think it’ll be before ponies start trying to kill us again?”

Gauge chuckled. “I don’t think they ever stopped.”

“Yeah. Fuck us, right?”