“But that doesn’t make any sense!”

To say that Rose is livid right now is an understatement, given the fire in her eye as she glares at Diamond Shard. In fact, the cool weather outside is probably the only thing keeping her from bursting into indignant flames as we stand outside the main entrance of the Lunar Institute.

Diamond, for her part, either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care as she looks back at Rose with what can best be described as ‘professional disinterest’. The reason might be because she’s already proven that she can win a fight against Rose. Or, more likely, because there are four Steel Rangers behind her pointing guns at us.

“Of course it does,” She says in a very matter of fact way that causes Rose’s eye to twitch. “You attacked my Knights, some of whom will need medical attention that will cost us caps to provide. You fired off one of our rifles, using our ammunition in the process which costs caps to replace. Not to mention the damage your partner did to my power armor,” she gives me with a very unamused look. “You’re lucky your ghoul friends left behind a generous sum of caps that will cover the damages both of you have caused. On top of the few items we had to confiscate from you, of course.”

Rose bares her fangs while snarling “We bleed and nearly died for all of that, you slimy little-”

I immediately grab onto Rose and hold her back, a feat I barely manage to pull off given how physically worn-out we both are. Getting into a fight is the last thing we should be doing. Especially with four Steel Rangers point their guns at us. With that in mind, I smile nervously at Diamond. “I’m glad we were able to settle things in a civil matter.”

“I should have you both shot for the stunt you pulled,” Diamond answers back.

And given that we spent the night with armed guards pointing guns at our heads, it is surprising that we weren’t executed on the spot. But I’m not going to argue with having us and our stuff unceremoniously dumped outside. Well, some of our stuff, anyway; my saddlebags appears to have been one of the items they ‘confiscated’ along with my PipBuck.

Diamond lets out a sigh. “But you were telling us the truth. As hard as it was to believe it at the time. And as reckless and dangerous as it was, you did dispose of one of the most destructive weapons the Pre-War world ever created.”

“It wouldn’t have been reckless if you didn’t get in our way,” Rose mutters. A statement I full-heartedly agree with.

“Please don’t push it,” Diamond threatens calmly before clearing her throat. “Now, Intrepid Scholar. Winter Rose. By the power invested in me, you are hereby banished from Green Bean and the surrounding area. Unless told otherwise, you will be shot if we find you trespassing on these lands again.”

“What?!” Rose shouts before struggling to break free from my grasp. “You can’t do that to us!”

“I am the law in these parts,” Diamond states dryly. “I can do whatever I need to in order to keep the peace around here.”

“But Green Bean is the only town for miles!” Rose says vehemently, though she thankfully stops trying to murder Diamond at this point. “You know we can’t survive out there without the supplies you stole from us!”

Almost as if on cue, the double doors burst open and Salt Cube, now wearing a Steel Ranger Scribe robe, walks out with my saddlebags on his back. “Sorry, I just finished going through this bag,” He says to Diamond before walking around Rose and I to the pile of stuff behind us and places my saddlebags on top of it. Rose gives him a dirty look when he nervously smiles at us and, as he walks back to Diamond’s side, he gives me a subtle wink.

Well, subtle to him maybe. It’s obvious that Diamond sees it too, though it seems like she’s pretending that she didn’t as she motions towards my saddlebags. “Are the supplies I ordered for them in there?”

“Yes sir, err, ma’am,” Salt Cube gives her a salute and quietly leaves when she nods and motions for him to go back inside.

“There. That should be enough to get you back onto your hooves again,” She says to us. “Now we’re having issues with the radio, so it may be a few weeks before the Rangers in Green Bean learn about what happened here and about my verdict. It will take some time to thoroughly search this place and I don’t plan on leaving until it’s completely cleaned out of every last bit of Pre-War Tech. If you catch my drift.”

A smile creeps onto my face. “Thank you,” I say sincerely. “And I’m sorry for everything that happened between us.”

“I’m not,” Rose mutters to herself.

Diamond stares at me in disbelief for a few moments before shaking her head. “That is what you say to me? After everything I’ve put you through?” She then turns around and says softly, “You really are too much like him. Just get out of here before I change my mind.”

With a gesture of Diamond’s hoof, two of the Steel Rangers present enter the facility while two flank the entrance, their guns still trained on us. She then walks to the doors and stops. “Send my regards to Flint Striker and Violet Sage.”

“I will,” I say. It will be interesting to see if Dad or Mom will remember her and how they will feel about how I met her. Assuming that detail isn’t lost among the mountain of other past events I will have to write to them about. “Take care, Star Paladin.”

Diamond glances back and briefly considers me for a moment before quietly disappearing into the facility. Her two remaining guards follow close behind, shutting the doors behind them and locking them with a faint click. Thus ends our incarceration by the Green Bean Chapter of the Steel Rangers: A life-threatening series of events that was painful, infuriating, and, oddly enough, enlightening at times. All to launch one simple rocket to the moon.

And Luna be willing, we will never have to do anything like that ever again.

Rose tilts her head at me. “Treppy, I don’t get you,” She says while I let go of her and back off. “Did you really mean any of that stuff you just said?”

“Well, considering the alternatives, we did get off with a rather light sentence in the end,” I move over to the pile of stuff and start putting on my riot gear. “The least I can do is show some gratitude for that and make peace with them as best as I can. Not that I’m excusing what they did to us, mind you. We did get a very raw deal in the end,” I glance at my duster. “But there’s enough hatred in Equestria already without me adding to it.”

Right, it’s long past time that I finally buried the past and let go of my anger towards them. No good ever came from holding on to it, anyway. To continue to hold onto that hatred, after being subject to how those feelings feed into my blood magic and warps my mind, is just asking for a disaster to happen.

“Sure, I get that. Kind of,” She says. “But they still kicked us out after taking our caps,” She then sits down next to me and, taking a quick glance at our equipment pile, her face sours. “They probably took that hairpin you gave me too. Jerks.”

“I heavily doubt they’re that petty,” I point out, though that doesn’t get rid of the growing anxiety that my book isn’t with my belongings. Pulling my saddlebags to me, I note that they’re pretty heavy and begin to wonder exactly what Salt Cube actually put in here. A quick glance reveals my PipBuck inside along with some foodstuff. Is this why Salt Cube winked at me? If so, then Diamond probably knew he was smuggling my PipBuck back to me. Which also means that they decided it wasn’t worth keeping in the end. I’m not sure if I should be insulted by that or not.

Putting that thought off to the side, I look inside the other saddlebag and, to my surprise, find a set of books tied together by Rose’s red scarf. With a white rose hairpin holding a dirty looking piece of paper to the scarf itself. Well, holding isn’t really the right term here, the hairpin looks more like it’s skewering the paper to the scarf. Still, I remove both items and the scarf and watch as Rose’s face light up when I give her back her stuff. The way she grins as she carefully slides her hairpin into her mane brings a smile to my face.

While she wraps her scarf around her neck, I open up the paper and read the hastily written note on it:

I know I can’t make up for what I put you two through, but this is the best I can do. Hardwire wanted you to have his books and I trust them with you more than with my new ‘employers’. And sorry, I had to use Intrepid’s scarf to bribe a Scribe to look the other way while I got all of this together. At least you got all the important stuff back, right?

Luna Bless,
-Salt Cube

Looking back in my saddlebags, I recognise the book with the gold emblem of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, along with nearly all of the other books in the pile, from Hardwire’s office. However, I move all of them aside as I search for my book, the only book in the world that matters, and find it buried at the very bottom of the bag. Relief washes over me as I quickly pull it out and hug it tightly.

Dear Luna, thank you for making sure this didn’t get lost somehow. I don’t want to think about what I would have had to do to get it back.

Rose glances over at me and lets out a sigh. “Ok, so maybe they’re not as petty as I thought,” She says then starts putting the rest of her gear on. “They’re still a bunch of jerks, though.”

“I won’t argue that point,” I put my book and note back in my saddlebag and throw my duster on. “At least, they’re willing to let us come back here one day.”

“Pfft, yeah, after we’ve grown all old and wrinkly maybe,” Rose rolls her eyes and gets her leather armor on. Then a frown creeps onto her face. “Would have rather left on a better note. You know, after I got my reputation fixed. Not like Ms. Snooty there will tell anypony about what we did here.”

“Still doesn’t change what we managed to pull off,” I point out while putting on my PipBuck.

“Yeah,” She sighs. “But it still sucks, having my reputation dragged through the mud, spending two years trying to fix it, and all I have to show for it is getting banished by stuck up tin cans. It is going to be even harder to recover from that.”

I shrug. “Only to those that actually like the Steel Rangers. And let me say, the jerks that do are a minority out in the Equestrian Wastelands. I think the rest will be impressed once they find out. If they actually believe us when we explain how we did it, I mean.”

That managed to bring a smirk to Rose’s face. “Yeah, that makes sense,” She says before slipping on her legguards. “So what did the note say?”

“It was Salt Cube’s apology for being a dastard,” I answer while double checking the contents of my saddlebag. Just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. “And explaining that he had to trade my scarf in order to get a few things passed a Scribe.”

“What?” She asks, catching my attention enough for me to look up at her as she adds “Lemme see that note.”

As requested, I hover over the note and silently pray that she won’t overreact as she takes it and looks it over. That prayer gets cut short when she crumples the note in her hooves. “Those dirty rotten little-”

“Oh no you don’t!” I grab onto her to keep her from going back inside.

“Treppy, let me go!” She says while trying to push my forelegs away. “All the other crap I can deal with! But this! I am not letting them get away with this!”

“Like hay you are!” I answer back. “It’s just a scarf!”

“No it isn’t!” She yells then breaks free from my grasp. The intensity and passion behind her glare when she turns to face me almost makes me back away from her that instant. “It’s more than that! It showed that we’re partners and without it, you… you might…”

“I might, what? Leave?” I say calmly while holding my ground and meeting her glare with a more level-headed stare. “Do you really think a scarf is the only thing keeping us together?”

“No! That’s not what I mean!” Rose answers before looking away from me in frustration. “Look, it’s like I was saying before. I’m just sick and tired of working so hard only to have stuff taken away from me everytime, ok? Especially with everything we went through with this job! Can you blame me for wanting to punch their smug little faces in?”

It feels like there is more to this than she is letting on, but I set that feeling aside for now. Implying that she isn’t being forthcoming when she’s obviously in need of comfort just isn’t right.

“Well, sure, I understand that,” I say before rubbing the back of my neck. “But it is not like anypony can take away our friendship, right? And if that’s the only reward we’re going to get for this job, then I think it was worth it.”

That statement causes her ears to perk up and she quickly looks back at me as I continue. “Not that I’m saying this isn’t a frustrating turn of events. I mean, I’m certainly not happy with being banished from a town I’ve never been to yet,” I stop rubbing my neck and give her a more serious look. “But let me make one thing clear: When I said I was going to be your partner, I meant it! Losing out on a reward, having a tarnished reputation, missing a scarf. None of that will change what we have in the slightest. So until you decide to end it, I’ll stick with you regardless of what happens.”

Rose’s eyes widen as she quietly stares at me. This isn’t really the response I was expecting and I clear my throat before things get too awkward. “What I, umm, I’m saying is that we should be content with what we did get out of this and look forward to the next adventure.”

It takes another second before Rose chuckles, breaking the tension in the air. “Yeah, you’re right, Treppy. I’ve wasted enough time in this boring old dust bowl as is. Time to go somewhere exciting like… New Pegas!”

“The holy city for bounty hunting?” I ask before shaking my head. “No thanks, I don’t want to go there and find out there’s a price on my head because of one of the stunts Silverwing pulled in the past.”

She playfully jabs at my side. “Come on, think about it! The lights, the casinos,” She gives me a sly look. “The mares.”

“Proper stallions don’t fool around with mares they’re not married to,” I say flatly before raising an eyebrow at her. “And casinos? Losing one game of poker got you into this mess. You don’t think there’s a high chance of another poker game getting us dragged into a similar situation in a city famous for these kinds of things?”

“Ok, ok, we won’t go to New Pegas. Yet,” She teases. My only response to that is to roll my eyes and go back to putting on the rest of my gear. She appears to be doing the same thing when she asks “How about Hoofington? There’s always high paying jobs to deliver stuff to that place.”

I give her a very unamused look. “It’ll be faster to go back inside and ask to be put in front of a firing squad.”

“Fine, where do you want to go then?” She says while sticking her tongue out at me. Thankfully, she doesn’t sound annoyed with me for shooting down all of her suggestions so far.

Turning my attention towards my saddlebags, I begin to redistribute the weight while giving the question some serious thought. “First off, I want to go to the nearest post office. I have an apology letter to write to my parents after all these years.”

“We could just go there, you know,” Rose points out. “See them in person. Sure, the Twilight Society might not be happy with you disappearing on you. But we could just meet your parents somewhere nearby instead. I wouldn’t mind meeting them.”

“Maybe once I get a response back to my letter and I know they are still there,” I say before a thought comes to mind. “Think there is a chance we’ll run into your father while we’re out here?”

“Who knows,” She says rather curtly before pointing a hoof at me. “Now don’t you change the subject on me, I asked you where you wanted to go.”

Right. Of course. Although, to be honest, there really isn’t all that many places that I want to go to that I haven’t gone to already with Silverwing and the others. Well, except for one particular place: “Canterlot.”

Rose gives me a confused look. “Canterlot? Didn’t the Enclave blow that place up?”

“Yes, but there’s always a chance that something of value survived its destruction,” I throw on my saddlebags and instantly regret the decision when my back aches from the extra weight I’m putting on it. Sleeping on a hard floor really didn’t do me any favors after I ran myself ragged these past few days. Still, I hide my discomfort behind a smile. “That and I’ve always wanted to go there when I was a colt. No better time to do that than now, right?”

She considers me for a moment then shrugs. “Ok, I guess it wouldn’t be any different from a normal scavenge run anyway. Now that the pink cloud stuff is gone, anyway. You think we’ll find anything to cure that curse of yours?”

“Only one way to find out,” I take in a deep breath and start walking forward. “Now let’s get to Green Bean and stock up on what we need before word gets around that we’re no longer welcome there.”

“Right behind you,” She says back.

I nod and pull one of Hardwire’s books out of my saddlebag as I follow the broken path leading away from this place. With danger now firmly behind us, it is about time I got back to the time honored tradition of reading. Assuming Rose doesn’t have any issues with me doing that. With a quick glance behind me, I notice her watching me walk away for a moment. Then she slings her rifle onto her back and follows after me with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Wincing a little from the pain shooting through my horn, I levitate the ‘The Science Behind Advanced Rocketry’ book in front of me and start reading. Though a part of me can’t help but wonder what Rose is thinking about as we pass by the rocket models and ruined motorwagons on our way out. As we approach the granite sign for the Lunar Institute, Rose asks “Soo Treppy, out of curiosity, how would have our little adventure ended if it was in one of your stories?”

That is an odd question. I glance over my book at Rose as she walks by my side. “Well, for starters, everypony would have been a lot more grateful about us getting rid of that rocket. And we definitely would have kept all those caps we were promised by Rocky and the others. Instead of having to give them over for entirely stupid reasons.”

“Is that it?” She asks, her eyes looking intently into mine. Though, why that is is beyond me.

“Well, it depends on what kind of a story this would fall under,” I say before looking back to my book. “For example, in the Literary Tradition of a typical hero’s journey, the hero, usually a mare, would sometimes be rewarded with a kiss from a love interest. On top of getting fame and fortune for completing the quest and thwarting the bad ponies, of course. But honestly, that’s not going to happen here-”

Suddenly, Rose presses her lips against my cheek. My mind goes blank, my cheeks burn, and my heart beats out of my chest as she backs off and gives me a playful smile. “There. Can’t have you go unrewarded for everything you’ve done now, can we hero?”

W-Wait, what just happened?! D-Did Rose just kiss me?! N-No, no, no, this isn’t happening! W-Why did she kiss me?! W-Well it was just on the cheek. So this has to be her teasing me again, right? Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never actually been kissed like this before and, wait, where did Rose go? And where’s my book?

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I look around for both Rose and the ‘Advanced Rocketry’ book before a whistle catches my attention. Further down the path, way past the granite sign and with the sun shining brightly behind her, Rose playfully waves the book at me and shouts “So how long are you planning on standing there like that for?” She then holds the book in her mouth and winks at me, practically challenging me to come take it from her.

A challenge I’m all too eager to accept as I begin running towards her. However, as I pass by the granite sign, I stop and look back on last time at the Lunar Institute and everything I am leaving behind.

I really have come a long way, haven’t I?

With a smile, I turn back to the path ahead and start running forward again. Towards Rose and the sunlit horizon in the distance.

And this time, I’m not going to let anything distract me from achieving my dreams again.

Level Up!

Gained Perk: Just Lucky I’m Alive

You’ve had a lot of close calls. And somehow, despite everything that has happened, you’re still alive. Somehow. This insane amount of luck has given you a near immunity to critical hits and has made your own critical hit harder. Somehow. Also, should you end combat with just under a fraction of your health (which is likely), your luck will increase by four (as if you need any more, you lucky son of a gun!) for a few minutes. Just don’t go tempting fate too much, ok?