I spent a lot of time not moving very much over the next few days. My body was still coming down from the effects of fatal radiation poisoning. I could hardly internalize that fact, but every time I looked at my hooves I was forced to face it again. The icy blue fur of my fetlocks had fallen out, as had patchy spots along my legs. Slowly, it was growing back in thanks to the false life Coming Storm had given me, but I couldn’t get past one simple fact.

I was a monster now.

My soul in the PipBuck, the growing fur, breathing, all of that was just covering the truth. I was little more than a flesh puppet, operating on the strings of something close to me, but no longer within me. I stared at the glittering device on my right wrist. The Diamond PipBuck was a key that opened so many doors, but now it served as a cuff to chain me to this side of death.

I let my wrist flop back down onto the bed and glanced around the empty room for the thousandth time. Visits from the others had been sparse ever since we’d found safety. Scout came in at least once a day to check on me and give a report of what was going on in the world outside. He’d apparently run into Sheriff Buckshot in town, but even though he was associated with me he wasn’t equo non grata in St. Ponysburg. He’d kept all mention of my whereabouts from conversation so as not to arouse the Sheriff’s suspicion. I just hoped she wouldn’t get the urge to search Sister’s house.

As if reading my mind, Sister entered the room carrying a tray of food in her magical grip. “How are you feeling?” She asked, setting the tray down on the bed stand.

“Would ‘death warmed over’ be inappropriate?” I said, smiling humorlessly.

“Hush with that.” She said sternly. “Your body’s working perfectly fine as far as I can tell.”

“Then I can take this off?” I said, straight-faced as I thrust my PipBuck at her face.

“The Hell is wrong with you?” She snapped at me, shoving my arm away with a hoof. “Fine, you may not be ‘alive’ the way you were before, but you’re still above ground, aren’t you?”

“For all the good that does me.” I said, returning my gaze to the ceiling.

Sister snorted in irritation and trotted away. “Eat your food and get better. I don’t want your sour attitude stinking up my house for too long!” There was a magical buzz followed by a sharp slam! as she exited the room. I wanted to childishly defy her and refuse, but my stomach growled at me after only a minute of pouting. I started eating the scavenged food with more energy than I’d displayed all day. It might not have tasted as mouth-watering as Cloud’s synthetically farmed crops, but I wasn’t about to stop. Eating actually made me feel normal.

I was halfway through the plate of two hundred year old dried apple slices and cereal when there was a knock on the door. With a mouth full of food, I made an affirmative sound and hoped they heard me. The door opened to the one pony who surprised me enough to stop chewing. “Clarity?” I said after swallowing heavily. “Are you alright?”

It was a dumb question to ask. She had huge bags under her eyes, eyes whose normally kaleidoscopic colors were swirled together like an artist’s dirty paint pallet. It was hard to tell if her colors had returned, since she was pale and shivered slightly under the thick wool blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders. The only positive change I could see was her crystalline sheen was starting to come back, though it was obvious she could use a spa trip. Her mane looked more like a rain-soaked wind chime than the solid piece of carved amethyst it usually did.

She looked at me with her tired eyes, frowning slightly. “I threw up three times before breakfast.” She croaked. “Just glad I didn’t have to clean it up this time.”

I smiled sympathetically. “Don’t worry, you’ll get better. Any side effects?”

“Nothing obvious.” She groaned, stumbling over to a chair and collapsing into it. “Sister doesn’t have the equipment here to check me internally. For all we know I could have enough cancer to kill a dragon, but we wouldn’t know until I died.”

“Shouldn’t talk like that…” I muttered, glancing down at my food. I took another few bites to avoid uncomfortable inaction.

“Been hearing that one a lot recently?” She asked. She smiled wryly at my furrowed brows. “I don’t need to have talked to Sister to know you’re being a hypocrite when you say that.”

“Did you just come in here to call me an idiot like everypony else?” I asked. “Because I’m getting really sick of that.”

“Oh, they beat me to it?” She said innocently. “Darn, I was hoping to get the pleasure of being first.” Before she could continue to snark at me, she suddenly spasmed forward, wrapping her hooves around her stomach. She looked panicked around the room for a moment before snatching a garbage can in her magic and hauling it over to her. She stuck her face in the can and retched, her whole body convulsing. I glanced down uncomfortably at my plate of food and put it back on the bed stand.

After a minute of panting, she regained her senses and sat up, eyes tightly closed. “This fucking sucks…” She groaned, spitting out thick globules of saliva into the can.

“It’ll get better once you’re body’s done realigning itself.” I said dispassionately. I was still stinging from her comments, but more so I felt angry bile rising in my throat for a different reason.

“Guess I should listen to you on this one.” She said with a weak smile. “You’re the expert of surviving radiation sickness after all.”

“Of course, none of us would actually be in this situation if you did listen to me.” I said, my tone hard and cold as a glacier.

All mirth flew from Clarity’s face to be replaced by shock and mild indignation. “Really? You’re going to use that one on me?”

“Yes, I am.” I continued before she could pipe up. “And don’t even pretend you don’t know why. You didn’t just ignore my orders, Clarity. You actively worked against me.” I didn’t bother to keep accusation from my tone.

“Sleet, I was working for the good of the crystal ponies.” She shot back.

“And what do you think I was doing? Do you think I was planning on handing you all over to Sombra at the end of it? Did I not make my intentions to destroy him clear, or have you never had any faith in me?”

“I’ve always had faith in you!” She yelled. “But it is really so shocking I had more in my own mother? I don’t know what your home life was like, Sleet, but we crystal ponies trust our parents to know what’s right!”

“Don’t talk to me about family.” I spat. “My father ordered my execution, my mother sold me out, my own brother tried to carry the sentence. Don’t tell me family is supposed to be ‘right’.” I was leaning forward, like my anger was a gusting wind I was trying to push through. “But maybe given that I shouldn’t be surprised that someone close betrayed me.”

“Betray?” Clarity yelled in surprise, or at least started to before she vomited again. “Who said anything about betrayal?”

“Oh, maybe the fact that you let mummy fuck around with my head to hide the fact that you were going to sabotage my entire plan?” I sneered. “Forgive me if that doesn’t exactly sound like loyalty to me.”

“How dare you?” She growled. “I was trying to save the last of my people. You saw how big the Empire was. There are less than 1% of us left and…”

“So you thought the best course of action was to disobey and blow up the one thing that could save them?” I cut off coldly. She froze at that eyes wide and pained, I just glared back.

“You…” She whispered. Suddenly her horn blazed with pink light as she lifted the trash can. “YOU FUCKING CUNT!” With all her metaphysical strength she hurled the can at me. On instinct I lashed out with my wings, flash freezing the can and its contents solid. The gust of wind slowed the can, but didn’t prevent it from crashing into the bed and nearly knocking me to the floor. I righted myself as quickly as I could, but by the time I could see straight, Clarity had galloped from the room.

I wanted to chase after her, but when I dropped from the bed, my knees buckled and I slammed into the floor. I laid there, seething in helpless anger as my body tingled with adrenaline but could do little more than struggle to stand. I eventually gave up, panting with exertion and sprawled out of on the cold wood of the infirmary floor. I didn’t have much time to recover before I heard hooves cantering into the room. “Sleet? What happened? I heard a crash.” Scout’s voice said as the steps grew louder until he appeared in my vision.

“Goddesses damnit, I’m trying to recover here.” I spat, still boiling internally. “It’s really fucking hard to do so with ponies coming and going every five minutes just to make me feel like shit.” The Ruin Sleet’s Day parade the whispering little voice in my head commented.

“What the Hell even happened?” He asked, leaning down and pushing his head under my arm. Once he got his own shoulders under me, he stood up, which still hurt like fuck.

“Somepony doesn’t like hearing the truth flung at her.” I growled through grit teeth. “So she started flinging her own shit.” I bucked the frozen can behind me, which proved to be a very bad idea as my hind legs went numb and Scout had to get a tighter grip on me so I wouldn’t face plant. “So now not only is our one hope of saving the world dust, but little miss crystal is gonna be a bitch about it right up until we all drown in plasma.” I huffed angrily and put more of a weight on Scout, thankful at least that he was warm after the cold floor.

“Sleet…” He began.

“No, don’t justify any of it.” I cut off, glaring into his eyes. “She fucked up. The world’s doomed. I’m dead. Everything is fucked, and I…”

“Am going to get dropped if you don’t shut up and let me talk.” He returned, tilting me just enough that I had to scramble to stay upright. After a few quickly spouted apologies, he righted me and continued. “I didn’t come in here to justify anything. I heard screaming and crashing so I came to make sure you and Clarity weren’t murdering each other.” His eyes softened, and I suddenly felt a sharp pang in my chest. “I was worried.”

I took a few deep breaths, finally letting the anger boil down to nothing. “I’m sorry.” I said sincerely. “I just don’t know what to do. Our one hope is gone, and I’m too numb to be scared…” Scout gently helped me up onto the bed. I flopped back into the pillows, wishing I could melt into the softness. “What do I do now, Scout?” I asked, looking at him. “What do we do? If Sombra doesn’t kill us for our failure, we are doomed anyway.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. All that was there was empathetic pain. “Sorry, but I don’t know. Telling other ponies what to do is your job.”

“I shouldn’t be allowed to. I send ponies either to their deaths or failure.” I threw an arm over my eyes, trying to block out the light and ignore how thin my fur was. “Goddesses, I yelled at Clarity for disobeying orders. I sound like my father.”

“It’s not like you were wrong.”

“I know! But ‘feels right’ and ‘is right’ are different things, Scout!” I flipped myself over and buried my head in the pillows. Better. This was a more all-consuming oblivion, and much softer. After a second of angrily breathing in the dust of the pillow, I felt the need to speak up. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you…”

“It’s alright.” He said. “Though, if it makes you feel better, I could try taking over.” I turned my head enough to see him with one eye. He was shrugging, not really looking at me. “I guarantee you I’ll keep us alive. You and me at the very least. Clarity if she wants, Arterial if he doesn’t piss me off.” He sounded like he was reading off a grocery list. I raised my head to look at him more fully, brows furrowed. “I can keep us alive, no problem. The rest of the world?” He shrugged again, looking nonplussed about the whole dilemma. “That’s on them.”

We sat there for a bit, with me trying to puzzle him out and him maintaining this dispassion wall on his face. After a while of silence, he got up and trotted for the door. “I have some errands to run before we get on the road again. Gotta take advantage of civilization while we’re here.” My aching neck forced me to drop back into the pillow as he closed the door.

Hello, Wasteland! It’s me, DJ Pon-3, your grand and glorious eye in the sky atop Tenpony Tower, bringing you the latest in post-apocolypita!

Here’s somepony I bet you thought you’d never hear from again. Who else remembers our little pegasus friend from way up north? You know her, the one who came surfing down from on high and has decided to stick her nose in places so dangerous it’s a miracle she can still smell? Well, when we last saw her about a week ago, she had gone and waltzed herself right into that giant snowstorm that’s been giving the mane of the world the most through blow dry in history.

Now, I’ve seen folks go in there before, and the only ones who came out were ghouls crispy enough that the snow probably felt like lotion on a sunburn. But wouldn’t you know it, our little filly’s gone and done it again. I don’t know what happened up there, but a few days ago there was a flash big enough that I thought the world was ending a second time and suddenly she’s limping her way out. Been laying low ever since, let’s all pray to Celestia the hypothermia didn’t get her!

Hey, Ice Queen, if you got a train ticket south how about you pop into the studio? I’d like to know just what in the Hell you’ve been getting yourself into. And tell me if you get my station, way up there in the snow!

Thanks for listening, kiddies. Coming up next I got everypony’s favorite old-time voice of beauty, Sweetie Belle. This has been DJ Pon-3, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.

I shut off the radio on my PipBuck before sitting up in bed. It had been a day since my argument with Clarity and talk with Scout, and I was finally getting the strength back in my muscles. Sister took that as proof-positive I should get over the whole “being dead” thing, but I was still having a hard time getting past the intensely disquieting disconnect from knowing my soul was in an inanimate object.

Experimentally I slid out of bed, and though I wobbled, I was able to stand. I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. No more time to lay around uselessly. I walked unevenly to the door and opened it, feeling something heavy swinging on the knob. Looking down, I saw my coat. The armor plates had been polished and beaten back into shape. The frays and tears throughout the stitching and canvas had been repaired, and it smelled…sterile. Not quite clean, since there probably wasn’t detergent in the Wasteland, but certainly not as filthy as it probably had been.

I pulled the coat on, feeling its comfortable weight settle on me and smiled. Even the brass clasps had been shined up, the tarnish gone, glimmering in the faint sunlight as I closed them. “At least this is still where it’s supposed to be.” I said, adjusting the right sleeve to accommodate my PipBuck.

“Cost a small fortune fixing that thing up.” A voice said. I jumped, finally taking notice of Arterial who had been standing statue-like in a corner. “Your gun’s still in the shop. It didn’t fare all that well considering what happened.”

I felt my stomach writhe uncomfortably. I had completely forgotten about Black Powder! “How’d you retrieve it?”

“Those suits were something special.” He replied. “Your gun was stored in an inside holster, it was still stuck to you when we found you.” He shrugged. “It was half-melted, but there.”

“Are you sure it can be saved?” I asked, frowning.

He tilted his head, indicating I walk with him. We started down the hallway. “There’s a good gunsmith in town. He knows magical energy weapons, and said the firing mechanism made it through with only a few loose parts. He’ll have to make a whole new barrel and grip, so you’ll have to make do with this for a few days.” He passed me a small, mouth-gripped gun with a thin barrel that looked more like a signal emitter. A pair of magical crystals encased in thick plastic poked from the gun’s “hammer” where a slot for spark packs sat. “It’s a plasma pistol. Figured you could grow out of lasers eventually.”

Taking wing, I turned the weapon over in my hooves, pleasantly surprised by its make. “How’d we afford all this?”

“Selling excess rad-supplies.” He said. “We might have just crashed the market on rad sickness cures forever. Even after all the shit you’ve been through, you still had a third a hospital’s worth of stuff.”

“Hope we kept a few for ourselves…” I murmured. I slipped the plasma pistol away into my pockets and put my hooves on the ground again. “So what are you going to do?”

“Taking stock of your resources, huh?” He snickered, somehow smiling with a beak. “Don’t worry, o glorious leader, I’m not leaving. I’m too deep in for that now.”

“Sometimes I think that that’s the only thing keeping people around me.” I sighed. Shoving that thought aside, I examined Arterial with narrowed eyes. “And since when were you such a sarcastic asshole?”

“Call it a coping mechanism for nearly dying in a balefire explosion.” The two of us came to the staircase leading to the first floor of Sister’s home. “The earth pony is down there, talking with the fussy one.” He started walking down the hall as he finished talking.

I nodded, before pausing and turning back to the griffon. “Hey.” I called out. He stopped and tilted his head to acknowledge he was listening. “If you’re going to be travelling with us, at least start using everypony’s actual names.”

He tilted his head this way and that, like he was mulling over his turn in a card game. “I’ll think about it, Sleet Gray.” He continued on his way, talons clicking on the wood floor.

As I made my way slowly down the stairs, I thought to myself I think that’s the first time he’s used my name politely. My thoughts were cut off as I heard voices drift up towards me. A small frown pulled at my lips, there were three voices, and I didn’t recognize one of them. I reached the ground floor and turned a corner into a spacey living room, ancient furniture kept clean to the best of Sister’s abilities positioned around a large, old coffee table. Sister was sitting in a love seat against the left wall, Scout standing across the table from her with his battle saddle in ready position.

The two of them were looking at a visitor sitting on the couch that faced the doorway. It was impossible to determine the pony’s age or species, as they wore a thick cloak with a hood covering their face. “…who you are?” Sister was speaking as I entered the room. I cleared my throat, diverting everypony’s attention. Sister and Scout both looked shocked to see me on my hooves, but I wasn’t paying attention to their reactions. The visitor raised their head slightly, something flashing inside the hood.

“What’s going on?” I asked innocently, quickly shifting my eyes so the stranger wouldn’t notice my scrutiny.

“This pony came knocked a few minutes ago.” Sister explained. “Said she was looking for you.”

“And who are you?” I asked, looking where I assumed the visitor’s eyes were.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Scout said. “But she wouldn’t say anything beyond needing to talk to you.”

“And now she is here.” The stranger said, a soft female voice coming from deep in the hood. “I can fulfill the purpose I came with.” She stood up and bowed to me. “Sleet Gray, I come as messenger from our Lord.”

The temperature in the room dropped five degrees, and I had nothing to do with it. Scout and I traded a nervous glance before returning our attention to the hooded figure. “And what’s your name?”

“My name is unimportant at this time.” She said, rising. “What is, is that you speak with our Lord as soon as possible.”

“We are not yet in a condition to travel…”

“That won’t be necessary.” She reached into her robe, the motion revealing inky black fur darker than the garment itself. She pulled out a simple crystal cut in the shape of a rectangle, almost like a small mirror. The crystal looked like frozen smoke, with swirling gray colors trapped inside the facets. “This will grant you audience.”

“Sister, could you please go check on Clarity?” I said, not looking at the kindly unicorn.

I felt her eyes boring into the side of my head, like twin lasers of disdain. After a long moment, she said “yeah, sure” and trotted from the room. I waited until her hoofsteps had faded up the stairs before speaking again.

“We’ll speak with the King, now.”

The hooded mare placed the crystal flat on the table and murmured quietly above it. As she did, the lights in the room flickered and dimmed, even the sunlight coming through the window became obfuscated by something. As darkness settled over the room, Scout walked over to my side, taking up position at my shoulder. “You’re looking much better.”

“Thanks.” Smoke was starting to pour out of the crystal. “Thanks for getting my coat fixed up, I really appreciate it.”

“It’s always critical to keep armor in top condition.” He said. “Besides, I hear appearances are important in moments like this, we can’t have you looking like a sick bird.”

I shot him a look out the corner of my eye, smiling slightly. “So you do think I’m pretty?”

“I answered that already. Now shut up, he’s here.”

The smoke was coalescing, hovering above the crystal as a black cloud. The cloud took the vague shape of a unicorn’s head, with those terrible green eyes with their burning iris of red glared out at us. “Sleet Gray.” The thunder of his voice reverberated off of the walls.

I had been bracing for him, but my heart still felt fit to burst as adrenaline shot through me. Flee! Run! Hide! I had to fight to keep my body in one spot, swallowing down the fear as I answered. “King Sombra.”

“Explain to me why I no longer feel the magic of the Heart permeating the land.” He rumbled. “Explain to me why, when my vassal approached the Empire he saw naught but rubble.” The green in his eyes sharpened to a toxic glow that covered my spine in ice. “I sent you to find an Empire, and instead you bring me dust. Explain that, Sleet Gray.”

I took a shaky breath and spoke. “Circumstances out of my control lead to the Heart being destabilized.” Explaining was giving me something to think about other than the aura of terror he gave off. “It was already on the verge of collapse, even under perfect conditions I almost assuredly could not have gotten to it on time.”

“Beyond your control?” I was almost certain I saw him cock an eyebrow at that. “I was given to believe nothing was beyond the control of the brilliant Sleet Gray.”

Failure. The word seeped inside my head like mold on the inside of my skull. My breathing was becoming more out of sync as I tried to spit out a response. “I’m sorry, King. There was nothing I could do. I was…outwitted.” It felt like I was tearing a bandage off my heart. If nothing else, I’d always been the clever one, and now…

I felt his laughter like somepony walking on my stomach. The psychic pressure was bowing my head, soon I was staring at the floor, unsure of why but knowing I couldn’t look up again. Unworthy.

“It’s not Sleet’s fault.” Scout spoke up. “She was tricked by ponies trying to oppose you, even though it looked like they were trying to help.”

“The exiled crystals.” Sombra said, savoring the words. “I know of them, and their little hideouts.” He smiled as my head shot back up, shock and fear warring for control on my face. “If what you say is true and it was their interference that caused your mission to fail, then I will give due blame unto them, though perhaps not punishment.” I tried not to show relief on my face, even as he amended his sentence. “For now, at least. Stewing in the loss of their Heart will be torment enough.” He paused to think, or perhaps to watch us tremble, before speaking again. “Thankfully for you, I am aware of a means that you can use to redeem yourself.”

“A new ways to heal the Empire?” I asked, curiosity winning out over trepidation.

“New, and old, in a sense.” The King’s curved horn glowed with foul energies and suddenly I felt a bone-deep chill. I shuddered, gasping as my breath frosted before me. I fell on my side, shivering and curled into a ball.

“Sleet!” Scout dropped to his knees and tried to lift me up. “What are you doing to her?”

“Hmm?” The King raised that quizzical eyebrow again before chuckling. “I merely noticed her new toy and was giving her a map. I did not expect to brush against a soul in there. Such a bright one you have, Sleet Gray. The burning light of a curious mind.”

I pressed myself against Scout, eyes wide and panicked, unable to control the shuddering. It had felt so…wrong! A cold, slimy energy passing over me, in me, through me. I felt in it every nerve, every cell. My barest essence had been, for a moment, in contact with unfiltered evil, and it left my spirit quaking in its wake.

And that was him just giving me directions.

“When she regains her senses, tell her to follow the map I placed in her new toy. That will lead you to the Empire’s final salvation, and your last chance to fix this world.” I felt his eyes on me and squeaked, shrinking into my coat. “Truly, it seems the Empire tested your bodies to the limits. This may yet prove challenging to your souls, what remains of them. Though you may not have such a terrible time of it, Scout.” My friend looked up at the shadowy king, confused. Sombra grinned that deadly snake’s grin of his. “All love a chance to see home again, do they not?” His rumbling cackles retreated as the smoke slowly dissolved into the crystal on the table, becoming faint echoes as light returned to the room.

The hooded mare was nowhere to be found.

I was wrapped in a blanket on the love seat, greedily gulping down hot tea. The chill was finally leaving my body, but I still felt a small cold somewhere deeper. I coughed as the hot liquid burned my tongue and throat, but only stopped drinking long enough to catch my breath.

“We’re gonna run out of water in town if you keep this up.” Sister said, taking my drained cup. I didn’t say anything, instead drawing the blanket closer. Clarity had come downstairs, and though she was splayed out on the couch she looked decent enough compared to the previous day. Arterial was leaning against the wall, eyes narrowed. I wasn’t sure where Scout was, he said he needed a minute and left in a hurry.

“Does talking with your boss usually do this?” Arterial asked.

“I’ve only spoken with him twice.” I clarified. “But yes, usually.”

The griffon shook his tawny head. “I’ve heard of this ‘Shadow King’ before, but no one ever told me he was an actual demon. I thought those were just stories.”

“I’d just like to know why the fuck you thought it was a good idea to make a deal with that demon!” Sister yelled from the kitchen. “I have a good mind to toss your ass on the street and lock the door!”

“He’s a means to an end.” I said. “The plan was to use the Empire’s pure light to destroy him. Then spread that light over Equestra. The hope was that with light restored, the Enclave wouldn’t be able to justify their genocide and reconnect with the surface.” I glanced over at Clarity, who was refusing to look at me. “Sadly, it didn’t quite work.”

“I’m sorry that risking the soul of my people to almost fall into the hooves of the monster who enslaved us seemed like a bad idea.” She spat over her shoulder.

I bit my tongue, and my anger back. “Either way, the plan to betray him just got a lot more complicated. We have to hope whatever this ‘final salvation’ is can do something similar to the Heart and kill him.”

“I don’t know what it could be.” Clarity admitted, shrugging. “None of our legends go back that far. We lost so much between Sombra, the thousand year banishment, and the War that our history only accounts for the last two and a half centuries.”

“Then it makes sense that somepony as old as this Sombra guy claims to be would know what it is.” Arterial said. “Seems like we don’t have a choice in trusting him.” Clarity’s shoulders tightened even more.

“I don’t like it, either.” Sister said, trotting back into the kitchen with a fresh cup of tea. “That monster has been a constant threat in Stalliongrad for the past few years. The thought of him getting more power makes me sick.”

“We’re not giving him more power.” I said firmly. “We’re killing two dragons with one laser, ending Sombra’s threat to the north and the Enclave’s to Equestria.”

Sister huffed, plunking down the cup of tea on the table hard enough to slop some over the rim. “Well, if you’re so sure…damnit!” She rounded on me, her pink eyes burning a hole through me. “When I told you to figure out a way to stop the Enclave, I didn’t mean selling your soul to do it!”

“I’m doing what I have to.” I said evenly, sick of the argument.

Sister snorted and stomped away. She didn’t have a last remark as she stormed from the room. I sighed and picked up the cup of tea, slowly drinking. I could finally feel my heart again, or at least the thump-thump it made. I still couldn’t shake the feeling of something vacant in my chest, and the chill coming out of my wrist. “It pains me to say it, but it doesn’t matter what Sister thinks.” I said, my breath disturbing the steam coming off the tea. “We have little choice but to follow Sombra’s instructions. I don’t like going without a plan, but I’ll think of something as we go. Worst comes to worst…” I paused, remembering something critical. I switched on the radio, which was currently playing a jazzy tune to a smooth stallion’s vocals, and turned on the PipBuck light. Rather than a green glow emitting from the screen, the whole crystalline device lit up with a soft blue. It was wholly pleasant and made me smile just to look at it. Nevertheless, I continued. “Worst comes to worst, I’ll just actually backstab him, or have Scout shoot him in the head, whatever.”

“You don’t have to justify to me, boss.” Arterial said, shrugging. “But do you know where Scout is? I haven’t seen him since you called me down here.”

“I haven’t seen him either.” I said, rubbing my chin. “He took off in a hurry, something about getting ready.”

“I’m right here.” Nightmare Moon entered the room as we spoke of her, or at least Scout did. On the surface, he looked fully prepared for travel, kitted out in his battle saddle, guns, and duffel bag. His face however was frozen in an odd expression, and there was something about his voice I couldn’t quite place. “I needed to…prepare myself.”

“Why?”

“You heard what Sombra said didn’t you?” As he repeated the King, I pegged what was wrong with him, disconnect. He was keeping his face and voice devoid of emotion.

I blinked once before pulling up my PipBuck’s map. The green tiled overlay had a blinking marker in the far north-east, just below the snowline. Underneath the marker was a square with a gear in it labeled “Stable 130”, the same number emblazoned across the back of Scout’s jumpsuit. I looked back up at him, brows furrowed. He just smiled listlessly. “All love a chance to see home again.”
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Footnote: EXP gained!

Author's Notes:

Alright, we a li'l bit late, but that's entirely my fault. I pushed a few wrong buttons and didn't get the draft to my prereaders in a timely manner, but that's since been corrected, and we're off to the races! I'm trying to keep up the shorter chapters since they constitute less stress on all involved in the creation process (Mobius regularly complains about how "damn long these are", the baby). Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this next installment, tell me if you did or didn't with the like/dislike buttons and shoot me a comment with some more detailed info. Special thanks go out as always to Kkat for being the mastermind of the original Fo:E, Mobius for being story sounding board, and Starlight Nova as newest prereader extraordinaire (even when I fuck up the messaging system!) See you all next time!

Oh, and uh, P.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_7mdEIp3s

FUCKING FALLOUT 4 HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!