Under the bright glare of the pool's lighting at some point in the night, I had actually managed to fall asleep. Even with the frigid, light rain that had peppered my blast wounds, I didn't feel all too bad. I was lucky that the light gashes didn't bleed too much, or I would have worried that Brass might have gotten burned, but even so, I'm sure the rain was washing it out of the cage anyway.

"Backlash, we're going down." Brass whispered as he prodded me with his hoof, waking me up. I sat up quickly, rocking the cage lightly as we lowered to the street. The cold night air whipped at my mane as Brass pressed himself close to me, the both of us waiting to see what 42 had planned for us. But as we touched down, it wasn't 42 that met our gaze, it was the smiling face of Zeus Maredino.

"Hey, the next shift change for the factory is in an hour." He whispered as his horn glowed, floating a bobby pin and a screwdriver over. "If you get your things and wait, you may be able to slip out of town within the crowds."

"Thanks for this, but why?" I asked quietly, my ears perking as the padlock on the cage gave a soft click. "You could have just left us for dead, why risk it?"

"Look, I know you gave me the advice to get out of town, but I hate leaving debts unpaid." His magic tugged at the lock, opening it and threading it out of the door. I pushed the cage open slowly, Brass and I quickly stepping out. He shut it and locked it again. "Now go. If you are lucky, nopony will notice the cage is empty until you're gone." He looked over to a mechanical winch on the side of 42's tower, his magic cranking it quickly and raising the cage back up. "Quit standing and go!" He whispered hoarsely, his urgent tone making me flinch slightly.

I nodded and looked around for Brass, catching a glimpse of him already threading his way between the stools of Peppermint's Bar. I hastily galloped after him, my rear legs now well enough that I felt like the rusty braces were actually slowing me down as they chafed heavily against me. I'll just have to dump them when we gather the rest of our things, running was probably something we'd have to be doing a lot of soon.

As I made my way through the empty bar, I could hear as Brass opened the door to Peppermint's offices. Not even her bouncers were up? As I climbed the stairs, the gears in my head spun and through that maybe because she had died, they didn't exactly have anypony paying them, so they their jobs probably didn't seem important until somepony else was put in charge. I turned the corner into the room, watching as Brass had already started pulling our stuff out. I shut the door quietly, trotting over to him and looking over our bags.

"So what's the plan, Backlash?" He said before biting down on his saddlebags, attempting to swing them onto himself with little success. His voice told me he was extremely worried, but there was more than a trace of hope in it. He trusts that I can get us out, and if he believes that, then I MUST get us through this.

I hoofed his bags from him before leaning down and biting them. "We wait." I managed to get out from around the straps, hoisting them over and onto his back. "Zeus's plan is sound. If we try to slip out in the confusion of the morning shift, we can be gone before 42 even know's what happened." I swung my head over and got my own saddlebags, swinging them on easily.

"But, why not go now?!" Brass stomped his hoof on the floor, making us both cringe momentarily. "Forty two has always expected us to play it safe!" I hoofed at the buckles on the leg braces, cursing the fact that the pre war ponies never designed them for ease of use with earth ponies.

"But she still thinks we are locked up, going now would just risk somepony seeing us." I said as I eyed the B.E.L. box tucked neatly in the lid of the trunk our gear was in. I finally got the braces off, wiggling my rear hooves as I stretched them out a bit. It felt good to have my own legs back.

"Since when has Forty Two ever shown up when we expected her to?" Brass put his hoof on my side, his determined eyes looking over my own as the gears in my head tried to fight his logic. They spun for a good minute before stopping, giving me nothing.

"You're right." I sighed, hoofing the B.E.L. box out of the chest, much to brass's confusion. "But if she does show up, I want to make sure I have leverage to use." I bit down on the rope handle the box had, swinging it over onto my back. Brass hoofed my saddlebag open, guiding the long box in. To my surprise, even with the interior expansion spell most saddlebags had, it didn't fit all the way in as a good quarter of it still stuck out.

I looked back into the trunk, glancing over Xin's outfit. It served its purpose to get us inside the Pool, but getting out wasn't something it could help with as we would stick out from the regular crowd. I shut the trunk and looked over to Brass, nodding as I turned with him towards the door. "Well, here goes nothing." I muttered under my breath, opening the door slowly. We crept down the stairs carefully, making our way as quietly as possible through the empty bar, crouching low behind the last row of tables as I perked my ears, listening for any noise.

Nothing but the rain.

We sprung to our hooves, taking off at a gallop along the empty street as a small smirk crossed my muzzle. Shit, this plan might actually work! I turned my gaze from the pink tower we were running past and looked over to Brass, who returned my grin with one of his own. He glanced in front of him, momentarily going wide eyed just before I bowled into somepony, tumbling onto the pavement painfully in a mess of tangled legs.

"’Ey! watch where yer goin’!" The stallion yelled as we both scrambled back to our hooves. He stopped and looked between Brass and I before pointing his hoof at me. "Hey, wait, you're...!" He tried to say, but I panicked, spun, and kicked out my rear hooves hard, connecting them with his chest. He grunted and flew backward, smashing through the old glass doors that were fitted to 42's tower.

"So much for being subtle!" I barked as I got my hooves back under me. "RUN, BRASS!" I launched myself into a gallop, Brass barely keeping up as our hooves pounded the pavement hard. The grey cloud cover was starting to brighten as the sun rose before us, momentarily distracting me from the shouting and yelling that had erupted behind us. We bolted past the Red Lantern, my glance drifting to a stunned looking Lil' Zeus.

"RUN!" I called out between gasps, the gears in my head spinning up as Brass and I bolted toward the bridge. The sound of shooting filled the air as bullets whizzed by us, striking the old bridge like dozens of ringing bells that only served to wake more of the residents up.

"BACKLASH!" 42 screamed out from somewhere behind me, her agitation carrying even over the reports of her gang's wildly inaccurate shots. "We aren't done, Backlash!" It was hard to hear, but a slight amount of happiness came through her voice. Was she enjoying the fact that I was escaping!? "I'll see you and your friends again soon!"

As Brass and I crossed over the bridge, the shooting died down, leaving the echos to drift about the mountain side. The gears in my head shoved the notion to stop and turn around down into my brain, and as if I didn't have a say in it, my legs stopped me a few feet before the end of the bridge.

"Backlash, what are you doing!?" Brass asked as he panted heavily, skidding to a stop just past me. I shook my head and turned around, using my hoof to drag the wooden B.E.L. box out of my bags.

"Brass. I need you to keep going. No matter what, I need you to get to Red Wing." I watched as 42 and her pink masked minions walked up the street, her muzzle twisted into a malevolent grin that I could see from here. "I'm done with this stupid back and forth. 42 dies now."

"I'm not leaving you, then. This is as much my fight as it is yours." He said, watching me unlatch the tan box and swing the lid open. I felt such joy in beholding the rusty antique, the multi shaded, prismatic green glow that the single balefire egg gave off was like greeting an old friend. It was just the sight I wanted to see on a morning like this.

I was about to speak when I looked up. 42 was on her hind legs with an old hunting rifle in her hooves, aiming it at us. I raised my hooves and closed my eyes as 42's shot rang out, waiting for the sharp pain of a bullet tearing through me. But it was a pain that wouldn't come. In it's place, was the peculiar sensation of all of the gears in my head feeling like they all fell out of place at once. It wasn't painful, or uncomfortable, but it was as if the pin holding them all in simply gave way and they all tumbled down into nothingness. I opened my eyes when I felt tears streaming down my cheeks, my muzzle wore a smile that held no emotion to it. In my hooves, I for some reason now held the B.E.L. ready to fire, and was pointing it at the group across the bridge.

Time had slowed to a crawl as it does whenever I make a really bad decision, and the B.E.L. trigger clicked as I squeezed it. A single bullet cut through the air from 42's rifle and punched through my right hind leg, dropping my flank only a moment before the heavy weapon activated. The new trajectory sent the prismatic egg high into the air, my eyes following it up until halfway along its arc, observing as 42's group doing the same. But 42 herself was shrinking... no, she was dropping into a drainage pipe. Which doesn't make sense, seeing as she would have to know it would miss her and...

42's words echoed in my mind like a haunting reminder that I should have paid attention.

"The Pool contains all the magically charged flux for the machine..."

It splashed down into the pool of taint, making me go wide eyed as I turned toward a pony sized boulder next to this end of the bridge. I did my best to get my hooves to move, but a blinding light from the magically enhanced balefire egg detonation forced me to go flat before even getting close to hiding. Much like last night, I felt the blast wave hit me, but along with the force of what felt like a hundred power armored hooves, came the familiar sensation of the coat on my left side blistering and burning. The light ringing from my blown hearing was the last thing I remember before blacking out.

I blinked my one good eye as I realized I was standing on a hillside I have never seen before, and no idea how I got here. In an instant, my body also reminded me of the trauma the blast had caused, my entire left side flaring into agony as I let out a bellowing scream. My hooves gave out from under me and dropped me onto my good side as I clenched my jaw, the creaking of wood followed the uncomfortable feeling of laying on top of something odd.

"Backlash, you're alive!" Brass said enthusiastically from next to me. His voice, as comforting as it was, was off. It was as if all the hope had been sucked out of it.

I coughed and smirked through the pain, tilting my head up so I could see if he had been injured as well. "Can't die yet, I haven't taken you home." I looked up at him, his beaming smile helping to dull the pain while he looked to be completely unhurt. "How... how did we get here?"

"You have been walking for the last hour..." He sounded confused at how I didn't know that. I tried to pull myself to my hooves, grunting as my cracked and blistered coat stung against the bandages wrapped around me. "About five minutes ago, you collapsed and stopped moving until you stood up a few moments ago." He continued as I only half paid attention.

Wait... bandages? I twisted to look at them, feeling my stomach churn before I violently threw up all over the dirt. It was a mix of yellowish fluid and blood, informing me that I had more than just minor radiation sickness.

"Yeah, it took the last healing potion you had that wasn't destroyed in the blast to fix your ears and your rear leg." Brass said with a sigh. "And the bandages you had are what's keeping what's' left of your coat attached to you."

"Well, at least you patched me up." I groaned as I took a few steps forward, pausing for a moment when a spike of pain shot through my head. "Or did I patch me up?" I reached my hoof up and brushed my half melted mane out of my vision as I rubbed my forehead. I felt a weight shift in my saddle bags, looking back to see that the B.E.L. box had been placed back in it.

"You did, mostly because I couldn't have." Brass said sadly, his voice once again hollow. I looked over and looked at the scorched tip of his horn, remembering that his magic had been burned out again yesterday.

"You've helped out more than enough, Brass, you should take a break anyway." I looked around at the hills we were in, trying to find some sort of reference point to take a hold of. As I swung my vision back behind where I had been facing, I saw a large black cloud rising into the cloud cover miles behind us. That was probably from whatever remained of the pool, and hopefully 42. At least the whole fucked up incident was behind us in more ways than one.

"She ain’t dead ya' know." A voice called from in front of me. An all too disconcerting voice at that. "How many times is it gonna be before ya learn she ain't gonna go down that easy?" The desk stallion from my boat cabin dream was speaking to me, but I was fairly sure that I was awake, wasn't I? Was this actually all a dream? I looked around to where I thought I had heard the voice, but only gazed upon the skeleton of a long dead unicorn.

"No no no, you're not real." I couldn't help but giggle out, finding the absurdity of the situation uncontrollably funny. As I laughed, I winced in pain, making me think that if this was a dream, it was far too vivid for my liking.

"Why, of course we're not!" The proper sounding coatrack stallion chimed in now. "I would sincerely be quite worried if you indeed thought us to be substantial individuals." I turned again, looking at an old, dead tree stump as it finished talking.

"Backlash?" Brass's voice fell to his concerned tone again. "What's going on?"

"Nothing Brass, it's just hallucinations from my injuries or something." I tried to brush it off, seeing as I don't need him worrying over my unstable mind. "I'll be fine as long as we get going. We need to get back to Red Wing for when Sky get's there."

Brass galloped in front of me, holding out his hoof as I saw he had the look of confusion and fear in his eyes. "No, I asked because I hear voices as well." His words making me freeze mid step.

"Oh honey..." The disembodied voice of the mare spoke up from a large nearby rock, causing Brass to jump almost as high as I did. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I know how hard it's been on you this last month, but to have this happen... I don't know how you find the strength to carry on." She sounded genuine, her words giving me a small amount of comfort.

But she wasn't real, none of them were. I shook my head and stomped my hoof on the dirt quite painfully. Maybe I should use my non-cooked leg next time. "Come on, Brass, we just have to ignore them." I watched as he nodded and turned around, the two of us continuing forward as the three imaginary ponies whispered among themselves. Keeping an ear back as we walked, I waited until a few minutes after their voices faded to strike up conversation again.

As I went to speak, Brass held his hoof up in alarm and perked his ears. I stopped and turned mine forward. It was a voice, no, multiple voices, all of them shouting in anger. Brass looked back and waved his hoof for me to follow him, and I did, doing my best to stay quiet as we lowered ourselves down and crawled to the top of the next hill.

The first thing to catch my eye was the pair of large broadcast dishes that sat perched on the mountainside nearly a thousand feet away. One of them was tilted nearly straight up and had various sheet metal structures built into it, while the other looked like it was still functional, almost like it had been maintained and repaired over the years. But why would anypony do that when the only radio anypony listens too is DJ Pon3's?

As my good eye looked down from the impressive buildings, I noticed a small group of about ten ponies shouting angrily at a dark grey mare who was quickly trotting our direction. I pushed myself down the side of the hill and painfully rolled onto my back. There is nowhere to hide and neither Brass or I are in any condition to fight!

"Fucking amateurs." I could hear the mare mutter as she continued toward us. I looked over to Brass for a suggestion, receiving only a shrug. "So what if they think my ideas are wrong. I can kill off a character if I want." I could hear her hoofsteps crunch on the loose rocks from the other side of the hill. Oh crap, if she kept going... I need to move!

"They just...!" She was cut off mid sentence as her hoof caught on mine when I tried to pull it out of her way, instead tripping her. She tumbled forward and screamed out in surprise, scrambling back to her hooves. "THE FUCK DID I..." She cut herself off as she looked up at me, quickly realizing I was a random pony before backing up quickly. "What the fuck do you want from me!?" She cringed and shrunk down, putting a forehoof over her face.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to trip you, I was just curious as to what all the shouting was about." I tried my best to be quick with my response, not wanting to scare the poor mare, mostly because I needed her help. "That and I'm lost, I need to know how to get back to Red Wing, it's dire that I return."

The mare looked me over suspiciously as she lowered her hoof. "So... you aren't a crazy fan out to kill me?" She asked slowly, one of her eyes tingling as part of her grey mane drooped across her face.

A crazy what?

"A crazy what?" Brass spoke out at the same moment I thought it. "Look, we just went through hell to save Red Wing and nearly got killed when the pool exploded. We just need to get back to our friends."

She looked at me with an air of uneasiness, getting back to her hooves defensively as her body read that she was ready to take off running. "Ok, not a fan, but still a bit crazy."

"You keep bringing up fans, why is that?" My curiosity piqued, I now felt that I needed to know before anything else. I hate the way my mind never has its priorities straight anymore.

The mare looked offended at the question, dropping her defensive stance and placed her hoof on her chest. "I am Solemn." She nearly shouted, her face beamed an air of pride, shrinking down as I sat in silence. I honestly had no idea who that was, though for some reason the name sounded familiar. "Solemn, the author?" She continued, her reaction shrinking the longer I sat in silence.

She sighed and facehooved. "Solemn, author of After School Equestria: A teacher's passion? It's an extremely popular radioplay that I've been doing for years?" She facehooved as she finished.

It probably would have come to me faster had my head not been killing me but I finally remembered. "Oh shit!" I felt a smile drive across my half burned muzzle. "I love that story!" My outburst made her gaze shoot up in concern. "My buddy Ripcord had me rig up his radio to an audio log recorder so I can listen to them whenever I was in town!"

Solemn's face went from concern to a nervous smile. "So you ARE a fan then..."

Brass was bouncing on his hooves next to me as he spoke. "You bet your flank we are! Been waiting for the next chapter to be put out so we can finally hear what happened after Cheerilee's affair was aired through the school's PA system, but it's been months since the last broadcast." Brass stopped and put a hoof on his chin. "I don't suppose you can tell us when you'll be finished?"

She sighed and sat down. "There is no next chapter." Her words sounded like Brass had only minutes earlier, telling me that she felt defeated. "The others who help me with the production have their own ideas on how the story should progress. To be honest, I can't say that their ideas are even any worse than my own have been." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's too late now anyway, they just kicked me out of town."

"What? Why can't you just come to a compromise? Change things around so everypony is happy?" I said in the normal stupid way I can suggest the obvious sometimes, face hoofing as I continued. "I bet you already tried that. Sorry, I'm not normally this dumb, just completely out of my mind from the explosion."

"Don't worry, I could already kind of tell that." Solemn said with a little lighthearted note to her voice. "And it was a good suggestion, the problem is that every single one of them wanted to have it go their own way. None of them could even agree with each other!" She crossed her hooves as she sat. "It's just hopeless. I just don't get how to make my ideas any better."

"Well, did you even like any of their ideas?" Brass offered hesitantly. "I mean, if you liked one of their ideas, would you consider using it?"

She shook her head. "If I use one of their ideas, the others might take it as favoritism, which only spawns more arguments." Solemn got to her hooves again, pacing back and forth. "And in using one of their ideas, I feel like it's no longer my story to tell. I need to have that feeling in order to write the chapter correctly at all!"

"Then make them follow your plot." I responded firmly. "You can't let them change what happens because you think it MIGHT be better. You need to stick to your convictions and have them line up with you or leave." I tried to present myself boldly, to convey my seriousness. "When Cheerilee learned that she had mentally scarred Noteworthy when they were younger, did she take the easy route and not try to patch things up? No. When Berry Punch kept trying to hurt herself because she was tired of it all, did Cheerilee just stand back and let it happen? No."

With each suggestion, a faint flicker of hope in Solemn's eyes sparked up, growing brighter and brighter. "So... you think it's that easy?" She put her hoof up to her muzzle in thought, glancing intently at the ground as she lost herself in thought. "You think I just need to buck up and fight for what I think is right like Cheerilee would?"

I looked over to Brass and smiled with him, nodding.

"Well then, maybe you are right." Solemn stood tall as her confidence returned to her voice, the flame of purpose blazing brightly in her eyes. "I ran things on my own at the start well enough, and can do so again if I need to!" She looked over to me as a smile grew over her muzzle. "Thank you for giving me the kick in my flank I needed, but if you'll excuse me, I have some writing to do."

She trotted forward and around me, stopping at the top of the hill and looking over to me. "Red Wing is another days trot that way if you follow the trail." She pointed her hoof over to a set of ridges that ran along the left side of the broadcast array. "I wish you luck on your journey, and I hope your friends can get you patched up in time for the next chapter."

And with a smirk, she took off at a gallop down the hill.

We had been walking in silence for another hour, the cloud cover had grown dark again, threatening to pour down on us at any moment. My body ached and relentlessly told me to stop, but I had grown used to the pain and simply ignored it. We couldn't afford to stop here. This trail was unfamiliar to me and for all I knew, there could be hordes of manticores around just waiting to rip us to shreds.

"Backlash, I think we should find shelter." Brass said as he looked up to the sky. "Looks like the weather could be getting bad soon." He watched as I shook my head and turned my gaze forward. I had been about to answer when a loud crack filled the air from above, instinctively causing me to drop to the ground. "That's weird, if that was the thunder, where was the flash?" Brass pointed out sharply.

A low drone filled the air as an object punched through the cloud layer above us. It was an oddly shaped, off white box, a pair of long cylinders ran along its underside that trailed smoke and green flames from various impact points on it. The flying box listed to the side and banked widely as an Enclave skytank tore through the hole the smoking box had made, it's cannon letting out a roar as it fired.

The white craft avoided the shot, a red beam appearing quickly between both vehicles before the skytank erupted into flames and rolled over. The black pegasi tank dipped down and disappeared over a hill as the other craft rolled and slammed into the hillside a couple hundred feet from Brass and I.

"What the fuck was that!?" Brass cried out. "Backlash, we should get the fuck out of here."

He was right, we should have run. But if we had run from Solemn, we would never have helped her. In running from Red Wing, we would have never helped them. In running from Isaac, I would have never have helped him! "No, we have to see if they need help."

"Fuck that!" Brass screamed and flailed his forehooves at me. "What if they try to kill us? Or worse..." Brass glared at me. "What if they turn out to be like 42?"

Just the mention of her name brought my blood to a boil. "Then we will fucking deal with them like we did with 42!" I trot forward toward the burning wreck, keeping low on the off chance Brass was correct and they came out shooting. As I approached a small boulder, there was a loud bang, a rectangular section of the craft's hull shot out a few feet and flopped on the ground.

I scrambled behind the boulder, peeking over to read something that was written on the side of the white craft.

Galileo

I turned my gaze back to the thick smoke pouring out of the hole. A muffled coughing preceded a dark green unicorn stumbling out, gasping as he got a few feet from his exit point before looking over the tattered red shirt he wore. His horn glowed faintly as he levitated a small box to his muzzle.

"Security officer's log." He choked out, squinting as he slowly scanned the horizon with his eyes. I ducked down before he could catch me in his peripheral vision. "I am the only surviving member of the expeditionary team, having crash landed after encountering a hostile craft. The main drive core and flight computer are damaged, as well as the communications systems."

I decided to slowly raise my head up over the rock again. The odd pony had now levitated a second box to him, this one about the size of a saddle bag, looking at it as he talked. "I will attempt repair of the communications systems once I can put of the plasma fires. Scanners say that this land is scored with pockets of magical radiation but they are low enough that I shouldn't need to administer any med-hypos. I believe that my supplies can hold out long enough to get the emergency beacon up."

A flash of darkness flickered on the rock from above me, pulling my attention up just quickly enough that I spotted a power armored pegasi drop down in front of the odd pony. Although I have seen few suits of enclave power armor, something told me that they normally didn't come in the color of dark grey. As the pony touched down, they lined up the twin pulse rifles attached to their side at the unicorn, who in response sat down and put his hooves in the air.

"By charter of the Grand Pegasi Enclave, I order you to state your reasons for violating sovereign Enclave airspace." The mare in the power armor boomed loudly. I looked over to Brass who had covered his ears with his hooves. Yeah, not so much fun when you are on the receiving end.

The odd pony did his best to stand up straight, his orange frizzy mane drooping into his eyes as he spoke. "I am Security Officer Proton of the U.E.F., we were on a peaceful survey mission and were unaware we had crossed into..."

"You then admit to a charge of espionage against the Grand Pegasis Enclave." She cut him off. "You will be placed under arrest and submit yourself to interrogation and trial."

"Espionage!?" He replied and got back to his hooves, using his magic to levitate the box he had talked into earlier forward. "It was a routine..." He didn't get any further than that before the pulse rifles fired, striking the odd pony in the chest. He glowed a bright pink for a moment before wisping away as ash in the breeze.

She hoofed a button on her foreleg, raising it up to her helmet. "Command, this is Sergeant Granite. Incident report details that the incursion perpetrator fired upon and destroyed a skytank. Upon apprehension, he admitted to espionage against the Enclave. In my attempt to detain him, he raised a weapon and I responded with lethal force."

I sighed out and decided that this wasn't a situation where I could help anymore, looking over to Brass and nodding my head for us to get out of here. He nodded and trotted forward quietly as I attempted to do the same, tweaking my stomach again as I misstepped. Freezing in my tracks, I threw up again, more of the yellow and crimson bile spilled onto the ground as I knew I had just fucked us over.

"YOU THERE, FREEZE." She boomed, jumping into the air effortlessly and slamming down next to me. "By charter of the Grand Pegasi Enclave, I order you to state your reasons for violating sovereign Enclave airspace." She leveled her twin pulse rifles to me.

"We... we were just passing through when we saw that thing crash!" I smiled and put my hooves in the air. "We only thought that we might be able to help them if they were injured!"

"You mean you wanted to help them, Backlash..." Brass remarked snidely as he raised his hooves as well. "Leave me out of it."

"Thanks for the show of support." I shot back at him.

"ENOUGH." Granite boomed. "If you were just passing though, how did you receive those injuries?"

"When the pool exploded ma'am." Brass spoke up, giving his best forced smile. "Barely made it out alive."

I turned back to look at her, the bug eyed lenses on the helmet making it impossible to read her in the silence that followed.

"Well, you're crazy enough that I happen to believe you, seeing as no earth pony would have known yet without being there." She pointed a hoof to me. "And if you ARE lying, then don't ever let me catch you above the cloud layer. GOT IT?" She spread her wings and took off toward the cloud layer at a speed Skyline had always needed to push herself to reach. As she disappeared through it, I sighed and slumped as my racing heart could finally relax.

"Well, that was interesting! Remind me never to let you get on her bad side." Brass said as he shrugged. "Let's find a place to bed down for the night." I nodded and let out a little chuckle and turned back toward the trail. It has certainly been an odd day, but at least we are still alive. For now.

I blinked again as we trot down from the hillside that lead to the open wasteland, my legs locking up as a wave of confusion hit me. I kept my balance just enough to not fall over, but not enough to not look like I didn't know how my legs worked anymore.

"Brass, what the hell just happened?" I spun around and looked down at him, reading as aggravation crept over his face. "We were just at the wreck of that one thing, so how did we get here?" I asked as I watched his eye tweak as Solemn's had.

"Backlash." Brass face hooved as he sighed, even his anger sounded hollow now. "That was yesterday, I've told you this twice so far today." He sat down and pointed his hoof to me. "You messed up your head a lot worse than you think in the blast from the pool and it's been affecting your memory. On top of that, you have been having more hallucinations with those voices and just walked away from them again not five minutes ago."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm so sorry that I had to get blown..." I stopped talking as I saw he was mouthing exactly what I was saying. He gave a slight smirk as I frowned. "I've said this before, haven't I." He ignored me and continued trotting forward.

Before us lay the mostly flat plains that once sat under the impressive pegasi city of cloudsdale, but most importantly, we were now back on the road toward Red Wing. Remarkably, as I recognized where were were, we had managed to shave off a few hours worth of walking by cutting through the mountain path. Unfortunately for us though, we came out in the most dangerous part of the road. I twisted myself around painfully, reaching into my saddlebag to grab the closest weapon to the top. I would gladly take a manticore over what we would find out here.

"Brass, I need you to keep a lookout for packs of feral ghouls." I groaned out as my side ached for me to stop stressing my body as I felt the suction of 42's revolver on my hoof. "Skyline and I always run into them on this path, not to mention Longbow and I were lucky that Isaac lead them off and we could pick him up in the marauder."

"Backlash, about yesterday morning..." Brass started to say.

"Not now, Brass, we need to be completely quiet. Any noise and we'll have ghouls all over us." I cut him off before hoofing the revolver into my muzzle. "We only got lucky they didn't show when we went to the pool. The had all probably taken shelter from the rain that day, but they will likely still be out here today. I can just feel it."

"But, you need to remember!" He raised his voice, making me cringe.

"Shhh!" I spit out from around the grip of the gun, catching his empty gaze as he looked down to the ground. I understand that it might be important, but honestly it could wait until we were at least safe back with the others. So we walked forward in silence, scooting from one point of cover to the next, the dark clouds finally releasing their rain slowly in a light drizzle. The sound of the rain made it particularly hard to hear anypony coming towards us, but I'm sure we would be able to see them long before we could hear them anyway.

As the dirt under our hooves turned to mud, I kept my eyes glued to the horizon. With any luck, Skyline would be driving the Marauder over it and rescue me like she always had. Whenever we got back to the garage, I was going to take the next month off. Brass was right, once the Rangers are informed of Sorbet's plan, they would take care of her. There was no need for any of us to keep risking our lives anymore.

Brass could finally go back to his real home, if they'd take him. If not, he was more than welcome to stay on with us. Carlotta could continue to work for us as long as I could renegotiate her contract to a lower price (considering I didn't look at it and she is probably costing me a small fortune already). Longbow would most likely go back to being a paladin for her original contingents, though I hope I can still stop by and see her.

Just thinking about her brought a smile to my muzzle. Goddesses this last month may have sucked, but it has been the most amazing month of my life due to the incredible ponies (griffin's and cyberzebra's notwithstanding of course.) I have gotten to know. But overall, the one pony I find myself missing the most, is Skyline. Hell, I know she feels the same, but after everything I've put her through, I can't help but feel like she doesn't deserve me as a brother.

"Ya know that ain't true!" The imaginary desk stallion spoke up again, this time apparently speaking out of an old, half buried tire. "Ya should know bettah, ‘Mistah B.’, Miss Skyline wouldn't trade ya for anypony in the entiah wasteland!" As he finished, I dropped the revolver from my muzzle as I stomped my good leg down in the mud.

At that moment, I did something I knew I would regret.

"Can you please just be QUIET!" I screamed out, my voice carrying through the rain as both Brass and I froze in place. As my echo carried off into the distance, the constant noise of the light drizzle filled our ears. Maybe we got lucky again and there were no ghouls around?

A sharp scream filled the air from further down the planes, shortly accompanied by a whole chorus of growls, snarls, and howls. My legs acted on their own, pulling me straight into a gallop as panic gripped my brain. I turned my head and looked at the silver gun I had left in the mud, wanting to go back for it, but I wasn't in control of my body anymore. We had to find shelter.

As we ran, I could see the shape of the Fancy Buck snack cake skycarrage Sky and I would rest in. It may be a bit cramped, but the reinforcing on the walls from the refrigeration systems had sheltered us before from ghoul attacks. I steered Brass over toward it, waiting until he ducked inside before biting down on the handle for the heavy door. As I pulled it closed, I froze as I saw the group of ghouls that was chasing us.

There goddess damned must have been near a hundred of them, each one screaming and screeching as I could see their glowing eyes wavering as they galloped towards us. I yanked at the door, swinging it shut and giving a small sigh of relief as it latched shut. Sky and I had never been trapped by more than just a few, and even then we had our fears that the door wouldn't hold. If anything, at least it would buy us some time.

"So, Brass!" I put my hooves together and smiled nervously, trying to think of someway to get us out of this. "I wanted to ask you if were still interested in that date!" I glanced over at the door as I heard the pack thump up to it. The whole skycarrage shook as they slammed into it, a few empty boxes were tossed off the shelves and scattered across the floor. "I feel like you've earned it for all you've been through for me."

"Backlash..." Brass calmly replied, barely loud enough for me to hear him. "I... I can't. I just want to go home."

"Fine, we'll have it at your place. Whatever." I looked over to Brass, who was surprisingly calm. Just another reason the others at his base shouldn't have treated him the way they did. When we get out of here, I will personally beat the everliving hell out of anypony who suggests he was never cut out for duty, even if that happens to be his mother. I quickly hoofed through my saddlebag feeling another familiar suction against my hoof. I drew out the Party Cannon and looked it over quickly, a hairline split along its side catching my attention before the sound of dozens of hooves on the door pulled me back to the dire straits we were in.

"I had really had hoped to save this last shot for 42, but with her gone with the pool, there isn't going to be a better time to use this!" I had to shout to get through to Brass over the cacophony of hooves beating at the walls. There was a loud groan at the door as the top left of it bent inward, the screams and howls from outside flooding through the hole louder than before.

I raised my right hoof, lining the party cannon up to the failing door, the top corner bending a few more inches inward as they continued to slam at the container. "Brass, when I fire, Run out of here and don't look back, it's our only chance!" I wasn't sure he had heard me over the noise, but he seemed more interested in the fact one of the ghouls was trying to force it's head in. The flesh on it's face peeled back to the bone as it pressed it's head in, it's glowing blank eyes staring at us from the exposed sockets as it snapped it's shredded muzzle at us.

My ear flicked and perked as I thought I could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, but that was short lived as the bolts holding the door up groaned audibly over the shrieking mass outside.

The roar of gunfire beat out the crowd as the bursts from a battle rifle battle saddle punched through the hull of the skycarrage. One of the rounds bit into my flank hard, dropping my rear hooves out from under me. "BRASS! GET DOWN!" I screamed, another set of shots punched through from the other side, one of them finding purchase in my shoulder.

I screamed out and tensed up, causing the Party Cannon to go off. The spherical projectile replicated the effect of the door from the crashed craft yesterday, liberating the limbs from the feral ghouls who were unfortunate enough to be too close as it was flung away from the carriage. The world around me turned into wispy colors as I could feel blood oozing from the holes in my coat, the high pitched reports of a gauss rifle echoed oddly inside the old metal container. I turned my head to look at Brass, who was lying next to me, looking just as drowsy as I was.

He smiled as my world darkened, his bright eyes staring at me with his mouth moving, but his words took longer than they should have to reach my ears. "It's going to be tough Backlash, but you can't give up." His words accompanied my gaze as I swung it over, the sight of the ghouls at the door breaking off and the wavy form of the Marauder growing larger meant we had made it. "Backlash, you must remember. You can't blame yourself for what happened."

And with that, everything just ceased to be.

The sensation of a cold stone floor was uncomfortable as I opened my eyes. I looked around to see that I was back in the garage, a soft light was emanating from upstairs as a shadow moved in front of it. As I tried to focus on it, I could start to make out a vaguely shaped pony. It was small, gold in coat... it was Brass?

As he got closer, my mind kept insisting that something was wrong about all this, and I could feel that more than anything. He smiled as he trot up beside me and turned his gaze down, the sight of him making me want to gag. Nearly the entire left half of his face was just... gone! Bits of bloody bone and viscera coated the inside of his head as a worried look came over his remaining eye.

"Brass, what happened to your face!?! Are you alright?" I yelled as I tried to get my hooves under me, finding that I couldn't move at all.

"I'm fine, Backlash." He sounded beyond sad through the smile he forced. "Look, I know I already said it, but I'm sorry about everything. When I saw what I had done to you back when we met at the bunker, I decided that I couldn't be that pony anymore. I had run from my problems for long enough."

"Brass... Why... look, we need to get you a healing potion, or maybe some hydra!" I suggested nervously. "I don't want to lose any more family members on this stupid quest." I said, pausing at the end. Why would I say that? I didn't consider Harmony a family member, or Peppermint for that matter.

I let out a piercing scream as my head felt like it was tearing itself apart. I wanted to writhe, or cringe, anything, but my body refused to cooperate.

"I know they may seem out of place right now, but you need to trust your instincts, Backlash" Brass said with something I was honestly glad to hear back in his voice. Hope. "They will help you greatly in the weeks to come." He leaned down to me and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek, making me feel a soothing warmth that momentarily quelled all the pain in my head.

"Brass, come on buddy, you're scaring me." I cried out before another spike of pain wracked my brain, bringing the agony back with a vengeance.

"I'm sorry you had to go through everything." He turned and trotted back toward the light in the kitchen, the light growing brighter the closer he got. "But don't worry, Backlash, we will see each other again." He disappeared into the light, the brightness of it forcing me to close my eyes to escape it. I raised my hooves to my eyes reflexively as the light dimmed again, the pain of the last few days returning all at once over me.

"Backlash!" Longbow cried out from next to me, throwing her hooves painfully around my neck and pinning my legs to my head. "Oh goddesses, I was so worried about you!" She leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss. I sat in shock as she stood up off me and hit me hard across the bandaged half of my face. "What the hell were you thinking! Leaving with that monster, were you out of your mind!?"

"I'm happy to see you, too!" I mumbled out as the pain in my head spiked as I felt the gears in it try to spin, feeling like they were still out of place but still trying to help, forcing the words to form on my lips. "How is Brass doing? Is he upstairs cooking again?"

Longbow took a step back a grim look falling over her face. "Celestia... you really don't remember? But... I saw what..." She said softly. I looked at her expression, replaying her words in my head. She was showing true astonishment and sorrow. My thoughts were broken as the kitchen door swung open, Brass stood proudly at the top with the kitchen light shining brightly behind him.

I laughed and scrambled to my hooves, running over to him as he reached the bottom of the stairs and embracing him tightly. "You're alright! Longbow had me going there for a moment!" I felt tears well up in my eyes as an overwhelming sadness took over. I was so happy to see him, but why did I feel so sad? "You are the best friend a stallion could ever want, Brass!"

I was pushed back forcibly, blinking several times as I was now looking at the horrified face of Skyline, tears were streaming down her muzzle and looked like they had been for some time.

"But... I don't understand." I looked around for Brass. "Where did he go?"

Skyline wailed and took off up the stairs again, running into the waiting talons of Carlotta. She looked like she had also been crying. Longbow's hoof pressed into the good side of my muzzle as she turned my head toward her, the light from her horn flaring as she pressed it against my forehead.

I was pulled into my own memory, feeling odd sitting inside my own mind, watching Brass and I run for our lives across the pool bridge. The annoying feeling of deja vu hung over me as I had skidded to a stop, retrieving the B.E.L. box as I had done. But as I looked up to see 42 wielding the hunting rifle, I noticed something I hadn't before. She barely had aimed it before I raised my hooves and waited for the shot.

The rifles report sounded the same as it had, but instead of me firing the B.E.L. when I opened my eyes, I lowered my hooves as my ears heard a thumping behind me. I turned slowly, looking back over my shoulder to see that Brass had dropped to the dirt, the left half of his head was just... gone. His one good eye was frozen in a look of sheer terror as his blood dribbled down his lifeless muzzle.

Brass was dead. He had been dead since 42 shot him at the Pool.

"No, that's impossible!" I shouted as I shook my head hard, breaking the connection from Longbow. I looked up into her crying eyes as I felt tears streaming down mine. "He... He was right there with me the whole time! He and I made it to the skycarrage together!" My legs buckled under me and I collapsed to the floor. "We... but... she killed him?!" I broke down, sobbing on the cold concrete floor as Longbow cried with me.

"I... I'm sorry, Backlash." Longbow sniffled and brushed her hoof across the melted remains of my own. "When I found you, you were barely alive in that wreck, and after we stabilized you with potions, we drove back to Red Wing."

I was only half listening as my mind ran through everything I had done to Brass. I had unfairly stolen him away from the rangers. I had gotten him involved with 42. I got him turned into a ghoul... and now? I had gotten him killed.

"When the towns ponies told us that you had left with Brass for the pool and we didn't find him with you, I had to use my memory spell again." She continued, sounding guilty about it. "I had thought we might have learned about where Brass was... but then I saw that." She leaned down and pressed her forehead against mine. "Your mind must have created a block to keep you from completely breaking down out there. I’m... I'm so sorry."

Her words drove another spike into my heart as I wailed out again. I had stolen his life. It hadn't been mine to take, but I used him like it was, once again ignorant of the consequences of my actions. If I hadn't stopped. If I just hadn't had the FUCKING idea that she deserved to die then and there, he'd still be alive!

Even as Longbow curled up next to me, holding me tightly, I couldn't stop crying. I cried until my stomach hurt, until my head throbbed, but nothing could make me stop. Not even when I ran out of tears did I stop. I just wailed and pressed my muzzle into Longbow's neck, finally at some point passing out in her warm embrace.

And when I woke up on my mattress next to her, I couldn't help but continue. It didn't matter how long I sat there, or if Sorbet was going to destroy the wasteland. All I could think was that I had lead the only friend I had ever known to his death. I hadn't deserved to have been rescued, and should have just been left in that skycarrage to rot with the dead that had attacked me. Hours passed as I lay there, only finally looking up when Dr. Fitz came to check on my injuries.

"It's time to change those bandages, Backlash." He said as he put his hoof on them.

I twisted around and knocked his hoof away. "No. I want these injuries to stay." I snapped at him, glaring with my one good eye. "Brass died because of my failing. I need to suffer for what I've done."

Dr. Fitz rolled his eyes and shook his head, instantly bringing all of my rage to the surface. "No, if you don't change these, you'll get an infection that could..."

I pushed myself to my hooves as he spoke, spinning and hooking around his neck with my foreleg to slam him against my tool shelves. They crashed over as he fell onto them, staring up at me with fear in his eyes.

"Could what!? KILL ME?!" I screamed out. The kitchen door flew open as I heard the flutter of wings, not even having enough time to shift my gaze before Skyline smashed into me. She took me down and pinned me to the floor with a seething hatred burning in her eyes.

"YOU STUPID, FUCKING, ASSHOLE!" She spit as she yelled down at me, the agony her hooves gave me as they pressed into my burns was too much as I whimpered. "BRASS DYING WAS YOUR FAULT." Her own tears streamed down onto my chest as her anger only grew. "You shouldn't have taken him back there, Backlash! After all he had been through, how could you do that to him?"

"Don't you think I know that!?" I choked out. "That's why I need to hurt, that's why..."

Skyline hit me across the muzzle hard as she cried. "Brass is dead thanks to you, and all you want to do is get YOURSELF killed?" She swung with her other hoof. "You don't get to die!" She continued slamming her hooves into me again and again, while I didn't even have the will to flinch anymore. "You get to live with it, Backlash! For the rest of your FUCKING life!"

Carlotta stepped forward and tore her off me, looking down at me with her emotionless gaze before turning and taking Skyline back upstairs. I laid there with my head pounding as Longbow stepped up next to me.

"Why don't you come with me?" She said softly, as she held out her hoof to me. "I know you don't want to, but you need to. At least... so you can say goodbye." She gave me a soft smile as I nodded slowly and took her hoof. I walked slowly behind her as she lead me out of the garage, the soft patter of the freezing rain greeting me as the dark of night surrounded us.

I followed in a daze while her horn glowed, turning as she led me up the street, lighting the way as the strong wind whipping against us. Each step getting heavier in my mind as she led me along, knowing where we were going. We had turned past the wrought iron gates of the old war memorial park up the street from the garage, and were slowly making our way toward the small hill that was in the center.

I stopped when Longbow's light outlined the dead tree that stood on it. It... it was the same one from my dreams with Pinkie. How had I not recognized it before when Sky and I had walked past it a thousand times? My legs shook as I forced them to move closer, the urge to break down again was welling up inside me again.

"Celestia and Luna,” Longbow said sadly as she sat down, lowering her head. “I pray that you find it in your hearts to help the soul of Brass Tacks find peace with you. Please guide him safely to the everlasting meadows of the afterlife."

I stepped up next to Longbow and lay down next to the foal sized mound of loose dirt under the dead tree, the final resting place of a friend lost too soon. Looking up at the base of the tree and running my hoof slowly along the letters that had been carved boldly into it, I could only muster a whimper as I forced myself to speak anything at all.

"Goodbye, Brass..."

---------------
LEVEL UP!

Battle saddles + 7

Medicine + 8

Quest perk: Martyr - The entirety of the wasteland knows what your struggle has cost you and now has a rallying cry to avenge their fallen heroes. Random ponies will now show up at your side sometimes to aid you in fights.

New Perk: All Bucked Up (Rank 2) - You are a walking tank as you have managed to survive everything your enemies can put you through. You now gain the pain dulling properties of Med-X when you are under 25% health on top of the previous effects.

Author's Notes:

So, Chapter 16 has been a long time in the making. I had originally written in the death of Brass for the Sugar apple bombs factory, but the it just never felt right. I wanted his death to have the feeling of true regret behind it, something that only Backlash would have been responsible for, and I think I achieved it here. I would like to say that this chapter was particularly hard to write, but it wasn't, because as I said, I've been planning it for a long time. What does hurt, was seeing the chapter finished.

I'd like to thank Kkat for erecting such an amazing universe for others to blow to bits. Thank you Somber for helping me gain the will to carry on. Thank you mimezinga for showing me that even if it's silly, it's full of meaning. Thank you No_One for giving me the extra push to put myself out there and write. Thank you John Colt for sticking with it and crafting an entertaining tale (see what I did there?). Thank you Hetnu for letting your amazing story bring a bright smile to my face. Thank you Xjuan for giving me the chance to help. Thank you Sawyer, your suggestions and ideas have fueled me more than you could know. And finaly, thank you Vocal for not giving up.

I'd like to give a shout out to Bad Pun, who even though he's been busy, he still finds time to help me out with my work.

A quick shout out to Regolit, who's constant feedback had been the most uplifting to me.

To the IRC crew (Xavi- particularly) for helping me feel like I have a voice and can understand what drives me.

And lastly, to you. Without you, characters like Brass wouldn't even have the chance to shine. Thank you for letting that happen, even if it is for a brief time.