An object in motion will be heading in the wrong direction.

I’d managed to get a few hours of sleep, but honestly, it really didn’t feel like it.

Instead of trying to sleep more, I found myself sitting in the core systems room of the Arcturus, mindlessly scrolling through the info that the Architect had left for Hispano. I wasn’t really looking at anything in particular, which in the back of my mind I knew was missing the point of being here. But… I couldn’t bring myself to focus on it, or any particular thought really.

I think I knew why I couldn’t sleep today. The fact that I can’t dream anymore had started to wear on me. Sure, I was technically getting enough rest from naps and the varied medical comas I’m in every few days from my injuries. But... I don’t think it had to do with getting sleep at all.

Dreams had offered me a comfort I didn’t realize I’d miss quite this much. Without them, all the days had started to bleed into one another. Whenever I’ve closed my eyes and gotten any sleep, well, the next thing I’d know, I’d open my eyes and it had been eight hours. Now that I consider it, outside of the times my augment’s been down or from Jynx’s mind-fuckery, I don’t think I’ve really had a ‘pause’ from my own thoughts.

Even though my body felt recharged and ready to go after my varied rest periods, my mind yearned to be left alone for a while. With all the fancy tech that was shoved into my head, the one thing it turns out I can’t switch off, is my own mind. My mind was telling me it needed a vacation, but it was begging me for it at exactly the wrong time.

A soft knock on the bulkhead behind me broke my concentration.

“Morning, Captain.” Double Delta offered through a yawn. “Did you just get up?”

“The Captain has been awake since five AM!” Eliza’s cheery voice came through the room’s loudspeaker, making both Delta and I cringe from it’s abruptness.

“Morning to you too, Eliza.” Delta grumbled through the smirk on his muzzle. He glanced at me and pointed a hoof to the door. “I’m going to make some coffee. You care to join me?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. The terminal had proved to be a terrible distraction, but with how I felt right now, I wasn’t going to get anything done with it anyway. Plus, with how yesterday went, what I really needed to do was formulate a plan for going after Solomon.

Following Delta, we wound through the bulkheads toward the galley. I paused as we walked past the bunk room. Inside, I saw dad fast asleep and wrapped up under a thick blanket that must have felt like heaven since he’d lost his coat.

On the bunk above him, Cora snored softly with one of his talons hanging down over the edge. I wasn’t sure how someone could sleep in such an uncomfortable looking position, but then again, all I had to do was look at the adjacent bunk to see Happy. He was curled up under a blanket like dad, but with his ukulele tucked and hugged between his legs. He shifted as Delta and I passed, and I hope we hadn’t woken him up.

Pressing on, we made it to the galley, to predictably find it empty. While Delta wasted little time in getting right to brewing up a pot of coffee, I made my way to the same table I’d been at last night. The uncomfortable crunch of a few loose apple bombs under my hooves sent a short lived spike of guilt through me for not cleaning all of them up. Then again, there would be plenty of time to clean the whole ship once we were at Brahman Beach.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Delta inquired as he stepped out from the kitchen and took a seat across from me. “If you or Happy end up heading down to Hopeville, just a warning, you should probably watch out for the stallion who runs the desk at the local hotel. Concierge, I think he said his name was.”

“I wasn’t planning on going down there.” I shrugged before my mind caught on to part of what he’d said and forced me to speak up. “Wait, why? Did he threaten you or something?”

“Oh, no, nothing of the sort.” He chuckled and rubbed at his chin with an awkward glance. “He uh… seems to be pretty forward with his interest in stallions he’s only just met.”

“Right.” Well, I guess that makes sense to warn... wait! No it doesn’t! “Why would you assume he’d be into me!?” Waving one forehoof across myself, I used the other to hold my luxurious mane up to him. I really should have done more to thank Singer for giving me my mane back. “Unless you think my mane and battle dress doesn’t make me look mare-like enough.”

“No no! I’m not saying that.” Delta’s nervous grin met my narrowing gaze. I mean, come on! How could anypony think I’m a stallion at first glance!? “It’s just that, well, if he hits on Happy, then Happy might spill the beans about you.”

“Ugh, that’s true.” I didn’t want to say that Happy would throw me under the skybus like that, but… I’m sure he’d give me up in a minute in a case like this. “But it doesn’t matter, because assuming you and Tofu got what supplies we needed yesterday, we don’t really have any business going down there.”

“Well, Tofu was busy working most of the afternoon on that Numbers Station.” Delta sighed and leaned back with a short smirk on his face. “So I ended up heading down for the supplies with your dad.” From the way he perked his ears and brow, I knew my dad must have shared something embarrassing with him. He and Mom had always done that whenever we had guests over at home.

“Goddesses.” I let out a long sigh. Might as well get this over with. “What did he tell you about me?”

“Not a whole lot, really.” He shrugged and brought his hooves down softly onto the table. “Actually, I didn’t get the chance to ask many things, as he was busy asking about my time with the Skyraiders. Specifically, the last few months I was running them.”

“What? Why?” That doesn’t really seem like something Dad would ask about at all. Maybe he was interested in some of the old skycraft they used?

“Well, he’d wondered just how far we could fly, and if we’d ever met up with anypony from the Enclave.” Delta’s answer sounded to me like he was just as confused as I was about all this. But still he shook his head and smiled. “He asked me if we’d ever been down south in Central Equestria, or if we’d seen any Thunderheads there before the clouds came down.”

Oh. Okay, now that made sense. Which means…

“He was asking… about my mom then.” I knew that she was gone, that the Lightbringer had killed her. “She used to serve on a thunderhead, before she died.” Some part of me had just assumed that he’d have accepted that fact as well. “Maybe there is still some part of him inside that thinks she could be alive. And I can’t really blame him for that hope.”

“Do you think... there’s a chance she survived the collapse?” He reached forward and offered his forehoof for me to grab. “Your dad lived when you thought you’d lost him, so who knows, right? Maybe the Enclave said she died because they actually kicked her below the clouds before the shit hit the fan. That’s a thing that was more common than you think, you know.” I know Delta wasn’t trying to open up still healing wounds, but because he’s a friend I could forgive him for it.

“No.” I shook my head and stared at the table. “As much as I wish she ended up a dashite, or a ghoul like my dad, I know she’s gone. It doesn’t matter anyway, I’ve got a new family now that I need to care about. And right now, that means tracking down Solomon and dealing with him once and for all.”

“Not to butt in, Captain…” Eliza’s voice came in through the intercom. Looking up, I found her digital self bouncing lightly on her cartoon hooves just next to our table. “But while you and the others rested, I took the liberty of scouting around the south for any sight of Solomon’s convoy!”

“You what?” I simply blinked at her again. “How…?”

“With the Remora of course!” She giggled into her forehooves before continuing to bounce lightly on her hooves again.

“You just… flew it out on your own?” I can’t believe… could she even do that!?

“Well yeah.” She rolled her eyes at me like it wasn’t a big deal. “Who exactly did you think was flying you all over the place in it since we left the Factory?”

“That’s an oddly good point.” I had to admit, I didn’t really think about that. I just figured that Ping had control of it or something. Then again, we’ve been out of contact with him more than a few times… wait, we’re getting off track. “Anyway, did you find anything when you were flying around?”

To answer that, a map of the greater Vanhoover area opened up in my augmented vision. There was a marker for Hopeville, with a little cloud symbol under it to show where we were. To the south was a marker for another settlement named Bridleshade. Just to the north west of it, another marker shaped like a star popped up.

“It was at the extreme range of the Remora, but I was able to confirm that Solomon’s convoy was headed for that settlement. However, I was only able to track them for a short time before they completely disappeared, so it is uncertain if it was truly their destination. But given that they drove all yesterday and through the night, it would be an optimum place to stop for a rest.”

“What... settlement?” Delta said as he looked around himself for a moment. Oh, right! He can’t see.

“They’re headed for a place to the south called Bridleshade.” The moment I’d said that name, the memories of my talks with Violet about her and Jess flooded my mind. That’s where she’d come from originally, and the home I’d assume she’d have returned to after she quit working with Solomon. I wonder if she’s back yet, or if Solomon will try to get her back on board.

“Say, Night,” Happy’s abrupt arrival made both Delta and I nearly jump from our seats, “isn’t that the place Violet said her ex came from?”

“Oh, Happy.” Delta let out a light laugh as he pushed himself up from his seat. “I’m making some coffee. Care to join us?”

“Sure, why not.” Happy grumbled as he let out a yawn and trotted through the bulkhead to join us. The dark bags under his eyes said enough about the quality of sleep he must have gotten, but the glare he held on me for a moment was worse. Guess he’s still pissed we left when we did yesterday. “So, Night? Isn’t it the same place?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, remembering something else about it that was a bit more recent. “Sergeant Blue Bolt also said that it was one of the towns that the Enclave attacked. And of the few settlements we’ve seen in our journey who have been attacked by them…”

“Riding through there on a cloudship might not be the best idea.” Delta helpfully finished for me as he trotted off into the kitchen.

“Who fucking cares?” Happy laughed as he plopped himself down in Delta’s vacant spot. “We’re there to kill one asshole, then we’re out of there.”

“And if he takes a hostage?” I asked as I tried to give him a Delilah-like tone.

“Then Hispano brings the non-explosive stuff, and she shoots him in the face.” Happy answered flatly as my tone made him visibly uncomfortable.

“And what if she can’t get a shot?” I pressed, trying to make my point clear.

“Celestia, Night!” Happy slammed his hooves on the table between us. “It’s like you want to find any excuse not to kill him!”

“No, I just don’t want to kill anypony we don’t have to!” Seriously, we got lucky in Maple Creek. How couldn’t he see that going in half-cocked again wasn’t going to work out. “You know I want Solomon dead as bad as you, but we do this right, or not at all. We’ve been over this, Happy.”

“Yeah, and I’m just getting sick of it.” Happy’s dismissive tone was amplified by a dramatic slump from his seat. “Every time we’ve had a shot, we’ve hesitated and lost our opportunity.”

“As much as you are right, feeling bad about missing out the last few times was no excuse to rush in headstrong.” I joined him in slumping back a bit. “We just need a plan, that’s all I’m suggesting we figure out before we get there.” Glancing over, Happy thought about that for a moment before opening his muzzle. “And...” I cut him off, “it needs to be more than ‘we find and shoot him’.”

With a huff, Happy closed his muzzle and nodded at me begrudgingly.

“Hey, Eliza?” Delta called out from the kitchen. “Lay in a course for Bridleshade and get us going.”

“Course plotted and laid in, aye, Sir!” Eliza again bounced through a few delighted hops next to me before popping away like a bursting bubble.

“Now then.” With slow steps, Delta walked out from the kitchen with a tray of steaming coffee cups balanced on his back. “I figure it’s going to take a few hours to get there, so we’ve got plenty of time to hash out a plan.” He smiled at me and shrugged. “But first, let’s just all relax and have a nice cup of coffee to get our brain’s running this early.”

“We have reached the designated coordinates, Captain.” Eliza’s smiling cartoon mare popped up across half the bridge’s control screens.

“Good.” I nodded and glanced over to Delta as he intensely looked over the weather readouts. “Any update on that incoming weather system?”

“Well, barometric pressure has dropped another four percent, and the wind speed has picked up. The storm to the south is coming in a bit faster than we anticipated.” He shrugged as he shifted consoles to one of the radar arrays. “But it’s still too far out to put a damper on the plan.”

“Alright, I’m going to see if Tofu is ready.” Spinning around, I pointed myself toward the core systems room, pausing before I stepped through the bulkhead. “See if you can get a look at Bridleshade. I need to know if we’re looking at another ‘Maple Valley’ type situation.”

“Aye, Captain.” Delta nodded back and returned to staring at the screens. “If I need any help going over this, I’ll get King to give me a hoof.”

The last few hours had gone by in a flash. The back and forth we’d had over coffee had been fairly intense. Actually, it was alright up until Hispano had joined in with some fairly… unique suggestions that I’m still iffy about. But I think the plan we settled on was the best and safest option we could all agree to.

“Oh, hey! Are we ready?” Hispano squawked and scrambled to follow me as I passed the open door to our room.

“Yeah, I’m heading back to see if Tofu’s ready.” I called back to her as we passed the bunk room.

“It’s about damn time!” Happy groaned as he rolled off his bunk and grabbed his gear.

“So do we know how they’re set up?” Hispano’s gleeful tone was actually fairly comforting to hear, throwing my mind back to the way she’d been back on the Inuvik. “Don’t tell me they were actually stupid enough that we won’t have to hit them more than once.”

“I don’t know. Delta’s looking in on it as we speak.” Pushing past the empty galley, the sounds of machinery working in the weapon’s bay ahead of me filtered through the hall.

Stepping through the bulkhead, a whirring from my right caught my attention. A blur from my side forced my legs to give out and I dropped to the floor. The tip to one of the cloud-to-ground missiles swung over my head before the mechanical arm holding it came to an abrupt stop.

“Sorry, Night!” Tofu let out a short 'eep' before her magic frantically worked at the arm’s controls. With a stiff shudder, the arm continued on it’s path and brought the missile towards the closest launch tube. “Just getting the last of the missiles I prepped loaded up. It’s safe to come in now, I promise.”

“I’d hardly call this room safe.” Hispano chuckled as she took the liberty of hopping over me. She looked and gestured around to each of the missiles already hung up in launch position over four of the launch tubes. “But given all this hurt is going to be hitting that bastard soon enough, I’m okay with it.”

“Me too.” Happy snorted as I felt his hoof hook around under my flight harness. He grunted and gave a stiff yank that pulled me right off the floor and back up to my hooves. “There ya’ go, Night.” He offered me a smile before shoving himself past me into the weapons bay. “Now, let’s get this luau started!”

“What the fuck’s a luau?” Hispano asked before the same question could worm it’s way out of my muzzle.

“Once this last missile’s in place, we’ll be all good to go!” Tofu called back as her hooves diligently danced across the weapons control board. “All I need is the targeting information from Delta and we’ll be ready for you and the Remora to depart, Captain.”

“Excellent.” For having thrown all this together pretty much last minute, things were really coming together! Only one last team member to check in with… “Buck, are you ready to go?”

The infirmary door squealed as it opened up, and Buck’s perked ears leaned out for a moment before disappearing again.

“Just a moment!” Buck called back in a sort of static filled sing-songy tone. Glad to see he was in a good mood this morning! “Alright…” He sighed as he stepped through into the hallway. For a moment as he stood there, I could see into both of his mechanical arms. A dozen little articulating mechanisms folded, tucked, and otherwise retracted as they brought all of his medical tools and supplies neatly inside before the metal outer casing folded over them. “Good to go.” He gave me a nod as his normal soft smile pulled across his jagged metal jaw. “Cora is on standby here and ready to go as well.”

“Oh, right!” Tofu gasped and spun around on her hooves. “Your dad has given the all clear on the reactor, and is ready to help effect repairs should this at all become a two-way fight.”

“You mean when it becomes a two-way fight, am I right?” Hispano asked as she nudged Suiza’s barrel against my side. “That’s pretty much everyone ready to go though, right? Feels good to have a plan for once.”

“Actually, yeah, it does.” I couldn’t help but smile. As she happens to be fairly often, Hispano was right. “Okay, let’s see what Delta has for us…”

“We’ve got a sort of… unique problem, Captain.” Delta’s voice came through the speakers around the room.

“Of course you didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” Jynx whispered in my ear as she popped into existence beside me. “Of course not. You know better than to get your hopes up, Night.”

“What is it, Delta?” Tofu asked as she spoke into the intercom at her station.

“Well, Bridleshade’s not there anymore.” Delta’s hesitant voice came through before he paused. Wait, what the fuck? Not there? “I think the Enclave really did a number on the town when they came through. It looks like they’ve flattened most of the place with their artillery and left only one building standing. Given what you went through yesterday, you aren’t going to like what it is.”

“No, don’t fucking say it.” Hispano seethed as she clamped her eyes shut.

“It’s a Molly Manticore’s Pizzeria.” Delta sighed.

Of. Fucking. Course it is.

“Can we please just blast it with a missile?” Hispano groaned as she looked to me with a pleading glance. I swear to Celestia, if she pulls the sad eyes trick on me again…

“It took me a half hour to get each of these five missiles ready.” Tofu commented as she leaned back against the launch console and put her forehooves on her hips. “You go wasting them and we may not have enough to finish what we came here in the first place for.”

“Fine.” Hispano slumped.

It’s a shame really, because it would’ve made this a fantastic day to see that place get blown to bits. But, even with as disappointing as that was, Tofu was right. We had more important things to deal with today.

“Alright, well is Solomon there or not?” I didn’t even know why I was asking. There’s no way he and his goons would ever hold up in a place like that Nightmare building.

“No, but there is someone still down there.” Delta again seemed to pause with what I’m sure was even more bad news. “But… I can’t see them, and the Arcturus’ sensors can’t get a solid read on them. Whoever it is seems to be invisible.”

“Another Pentex agent with a stealthbuck?” I asked as I glanced up to Buck. He gave me a shrug as we both perked our ears for an answer.

“I don’t know.” Delta gave the answer I think we’d all expected. But that gave me an idea.

“It might still be worth going to Bridleshade for.” I glanced over at Happy, fully accepting the annoyed and disappointed look plastered across his face. “Hey, if it’s a scout for Solomon, he can tell us where to head to next.”

“Huh, yeah, maybe.” Happy scrunched up his muzzle before a small smirk found its way back across it. “That jerk can’t have gotten too far ahead of us.”

“That’s the spirit.” I gave him a pat on the side before turning to Tofu. “Alright, keep those missiles ready incase this is some sort of trap.”

“You’ve got it, Captain!” Tofu threw up a hoof in salute before she turned and went back to entering commands on the terminal.

“Everyone else, get settled into the Remora. We’re going to Bridleshade.” I smirked, pausing as Hispano cupped her talons together with a pleading look across her beak. Oh fuck, she really was going to press this ‘experiment’ of hers, wasn’t she?

“Come on, Night!” She let out a whimper and did her best to quiver her beak. “If I ride on the outside, I’ll be able to start scouting way before the rest of you land!”

“Didn’t Night say he wasn’t sure it was safe?” Happy snorted as he waited for the hatch to the Remora to finish opening. “He rode on top of the Ouroboros, and that wasn’t remotely safe.” At least he had the decency to back me on this insane plan of hers.

“This isn’t a train, it’s the Remora.” Hispano chimed in before I could even open my muzzle. “And it was safe enough for Okona!”

“I’m not sure that’s a good metric to work off of.” Buck answered with the same thing I was just thinking. Oh come on! I know I normally get on my muzzle’s case about this, but give me a chance to speak up for once! “Sorry, I didn’t mean to steal your thunder.” Buck gave me a bashful glance as his cheeks glowed softly.

“It’s fine, but I’m not sure this is a fight we can win.” I offered to him before flatly staring back at Hispano. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, was she? “Alright, but please, please be careful. I don’t want Cora to shoot me because you got sucked into one of the Remora’s turbines.”

“Geeze, lighten up a little, Night!” Hispano gasped and jumped over to plant a kiss on my cheek. “You’re the one with the curse, remember? I’ll be fine, you’ll see!”

“How are you doing out there, Hispano?” I asked over the radio as we closed in on Bridleshade.

Neither Buck and I wanted to gloat over being right, but she’d been pretty damn quiet since we left. Had she fallen off, I’m sure she would have called us. But given her silence, perhaps it wasn’t so easy to hang on like Okona had after all.

“It’s… been… awesome!” Hispano’s excited squeal brought Buck and I to share the same confused look to each other. That… was not the response either of us had expected. “I can see everything so much better out here! Why didn’t we do this before?”

“Aren’t you cold?” Buck asked the next question that had similarly popped into his mind as well. Shifting, he pulled his white cloak around himself with a frown. “Maybe you should still consider riding in here with us.”

“My talons are a bit stiff, but I’m doing fine.” I could almost hear her roll her eyes through the radio. “Geeze, you two need to relax a bit, ya know? Plus, we’re basically here! I’m going to get into position, I’ll radio if I see our ‘friend’ appear anywhere.”

Looking over to Buck, we both shared a shrug. If she says she’s fine, who were we to argue? So long as this ambush works, and we get Solomon’s location without a needless fight, then if she wants to ride on the outside of the Remora from now on, so be it.

The Remora shifted under us, the extra weight pushing on my hooves as we decelerated.

“Alright, you good to go, Happy?” I asked as he pushed himself to his hooves.

“You know it.” He nodded before he flicked his hoof across the holster for Laika’s pistol. Gripping it in his muzzle, he stood ready at the door.

We touched down softly, and the doors opened. I was forced to squint as the midday sunlight pierced through the patchy cloud cover. It washed over the charred and broken building that sat before us, making parts of it glisten from the rain that must have passed through not too long ago.

The three of us stepped out onto the broken and melted remains of an old road. Gouging, melted lines ran crisscross across the old asphalt, the telltale sign of Anti-dragon magical beam fire. Each of the scorching lines lead to some of the melted ruins around us, while avoiding other demolished buildings entirely. Those other buildings had been blasted to chunks by explosives, either from cloud-to-ground missiles, or from the large caliber artillery cannons some of the older Raptors still used.

We walked in silence down the road, taking in the sight of the town. Past each branch of the road, around every pile of rubble, there was only more destruction. Though, some streets were worse than others. The months old corpses of those who used to call this place home still lay scattered where they fell. Mares, stallions, even foals, abandoned and left to rot in the rubble.

“There’s… so many.” Buck could hardly speak at more than a horrified whisper. “How could they do this? How could the Enclave just leave them out here?”

“They didn’t care.” I spat. It was hard enough to stomach the idea that I once believed in the Enclave, let alone to see what they were truly like. “It probably made them upset to see so many not have the decency to just turn to ash as they murdered them without a second thought.”

“Yeah, but they’re gone now.” Hispano called down over the radio. “There’s nothing we can do for these ponies now, so save that anger for when we find Solomon.”

It was so cold and detached how she said that, but… she was right. It wouldn’t do me any good to hold onto my hate for the Enclave now. We had other things to worry about.

“Have you found our ‘friend’ yet?” Buck asked as he stood higher and glanced around.

“No, no sign of them yet.” She radioed back. I glanced up, seeing her circle around the far end of the small ruined town. “I found the Molly Manticore’s building. There’s no movement from it either, and it looks pretty dark inside. Still, I’ll keep an eye on it for now, just in case.”

“Fumph.” Happy mumbled as he craned his neck and holstered Laika’s pistol. “You know, you really had me going there for a moment, Night.” Coming to a stiff stop, Happy wrapped his hoof around a piece of rubble. “Just another waste of fucking time.” With a huff, he tossed it over toward the rubble nearest to us.

“What the fuck are you doing, Happy?” You know, I was getting really tired of his flip flopping attitude these days. “Are you seriously doing this again?”

“Sure, let’s come all this way and waste all this fucking time!” Happy let out a frustrated yell before he sat down hard on a section of melted roadway. “But no, I had to listen to you. Maybe there will be somepony here we could use! Somepony who we could capture!”

“Betrayer!” The angry amplified voice of a mare made Happy jump right back to his hooves. All three of us turned our attention to the rubble across the road from us. A blue alicorn stepped up on top of some of the rubble, wielding a pair of junky looking submachine guns in her magic. “We’re not going anywhere with the likes of you, Red Eye!” Her burning glare sharpened on me as she whipped her guns down. “Leave us alone!”

Before I had the time to move, Buck’s mechanical paws had wrapped around both Happy and I. The long bursts of inaccurate fire from the alicorn scraped the road around us as Buck made a mad dash for the nearby rubble. A few of those poorly aimed rounds impacted the three of us. My dress caught most of them, but both Buck and Happy let out muffled cries.

With a heavy snarl, Buck’s mechanical legs sprung us up and over the majority of the rubble. We hit the dirt hard, and as soon as Buck’s paws were on the ground, he let Happy and I go. Happy winced and favored the shallow flesh wound on his flank, while light trails of blood seeped through the three holes in Buck’s cloak.

“There, you’re fucking welcome!” Happy grumbled as he pushed himself back up to his hooves.

“Yeah, and what the fuck did you do!?” I snapped back at him as I flared my wings out. I needed to get in the air, now.

“Every time we argue, shit hits the fan for us.” Happy spat back at me. “So instead of wasting more time, I forced them to come to us!”

That… was actually pretty smart, for Happy, at least. Still, I needed to get in the air and coordinate with Hispano. I flapped my wings, and...

“No!” Buck’s mechanical paw came back down on me hard, forcing my wings shut. “The moment you fly up, she’ll unload on you. Let Hispano deal with it.”

“Already on it!” Hispano’s excited squeal was promptly followed by a long burst of fire from Suiza. Even though I couldn’t see the results of her fire, a few light pebbles came over our rubble to let me know that those 20mm rounds were doing some good work! “Alright, I’ve got her head down! Coming around for a second pass…”

Getting back to my hooves, I turned and climbed my way to the crest of our pile of rubble. Just peeking over, I could see the weary look on the alicorn’s face as she pointed both of her junky subguns to the sky. I needed to distract her to let Hispano get a clear shot…

Trying to stand, part of the rubble collapsed under me. I let out a short lived squeak that unfortunately pulled the heavily armed mare’s attention to me. Not the distraction I wanted, but I’ll take it!

I threw myself back down behind our rubble as the alicorn sprayed it down with her guns. For a lackey of Solomon, she seemed pretty damn gullible! Now all I needed was for Hispano to…

“What was it she’d said?” Jynx’s voice whispered into my ears.

Wait, she screamed for us to leave her alone.

“Alright, time to put you down for good.” Hispano’s cold tone snapped my back to my hooves.

“Wait!” I screamed out. “Don’t kill her!”

“What!?” Hispano squawked for only a moment before Suiza let out a short burst.

“Wait!” Turning, I again scrambled up to the edge of our pile of rubble as bits of her pile sprayed out from Suiza’s shots. “We don’t want to fight you!” Bursts of dust obscured the mare, and though the wind above was helping, it wasn’t fast enough for me to know if she was alive. “We came looking for somepony else!”

“Lies!” The mare screamed from across the way. Celestia, her voice was like a fucking megaphone on it’s own! Like a blue bolt, she came charging through the smoke of Suiza’s shots, horn forward and eyes clamped shut. “Leave us alone!”

Several more shots from Suiza came in as Hispano swooped down low. A line of asphalt in front of the mare was upended as each of the heavy slugs dug in and tore through it. Either from the shock of the close hits, or from the jarring booms from Suiza, the alicorn’s legs locked up mid charge and she skid to a stop. Her slit-like pupils disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving a normal looking pair of blue eyes that matched her coat. She panted heavily as she looked around in confusion, a feeling I shared.

What the hell just happened with her?

“That… that sound…” She sputtered weakly as her legs looked like they were about to give out under her. “It’s so… familiar… to me.”

A blue beam pulsed from beside me, striking the mare square in the barrel. She let out a sigh as she went limp and collapsed onto the pavement. Turning my gaze, I found Buck’s energy weapon lower back into his arm before he went back to favoring one of the wounds on his side.

“What the fuck was that about, Night!?” Hispano called out as she swooped in and flared her wings. She dropped down next to the unconscious alicorn mare and leveled Suiza’s barrel at her. “She could have killed you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think she’s working for Solomon.” I know that I’m once again taking a leap of faith on that being true, I just… thought about King. “Plus, you saw that, right?” I turned and looked up at Buck. “Her eyes changed.”

“Yeah, and who fucking cares?” Happy snapped at me before turning and showing his lightly bleeding flank. “The bitch fucking shot us, what more do you need?” He froze up for a moment, scrunching up his muzzle before a seething hiss formed in his throat. “Wait, you’re not going to fucking take her along like King, are you? Because we’ve got enough shit to do already!”

“She said to leave her alone. Does that sound like someone either working for Solomon, or asking for our help?” I know I ask them to trust me a lot, but this was one of the times I wasn’t going to budge on this. Seriously, how did Delilah ever put up with me questioning her orders so often? “While I’m not willing to take on any more jobs from random alicorns, it doesn’t mean we can just outright kill any who might not want anything to do with us in the first place.”

“You’ve got a point.” Buck spoke through his own gritted teeth. “But so does Happy. If she was the invisible pony we were looking for, then Solomon doesn’t have anyone here.”

“So what, we just… leave her here?” Hispano grunted before lowering suiza down to the mare’s head. She gave it a nudge, brushing the barrel through the alicorn’s surprisingly normal looking blue mane. Huh, I thought that alicorn manes were always that weird, wispy-ethereal look. Guess that changed as well...

The alicorn parted her muzzle, letting out a light groan.

Hispano squeaked before taking a step back and pointing suiza right at the mare’s head again.

“Hmm, how interesting.” Buck gasped as he too scrunched up his muzzle as best he could. “With the stun setting I used, a normal pony would have been out for a half hour.”

“We… I am no normal pony.” The mare spoke softly as she stayed prone on the ground, but brought her eyes up to Hispano. Well, more to Suiza, but anypony in her position would. “And that is no normal gun. It is a twenty millimeter anti-cloudcraft weapon… how does someone your size wield it so effectively?”

“Uh, sure.” Hispano scoffed and glanced over to me like she wanted me to somehow fix how uncomfortable we’d all become in the last five seconds. “Because that's a normal question to ask after you attacked us. Which I’m sure by now, you know was a mistake on your part.”

“Yes. Forgive me.” She nodded her head before turning her gaze to me. “You are… not with the Betrayer? You do not work for Red Eye? I don’t want to go back, I… I can’t.”

“Red who?” Buck asked as he brought his paws up to his hood and pulled it back.

The fur on the back of the Alicorn’s neck stood on end, and while she didn’t get to her hooves, she pulled herself further back from him. I’m not sad to say it pulled a smirk to my lips, because Buck definitely had that effect on ponies the first time they met him. But it helped me to realize that maybe she was like King in the sense that she was as new to everything out here as I had once been.

“Don’t worry, he won’t harm you. He’s our doctor.” I offered a friendly smile to her, as well as my hoof. Seeing as how she didn't seem to still be violent, or actively trying to gain our trust immediately, I'm guessing this was all some sort of misunderstanding. “We don't work for anypony, and the reason we are here is because a convoy we've been following came through a few hours ago.”

“So… you aren’t here for me?” She asked, seeming more perplexed than anything. Either she was a more convincing liar than anypony who’s tricked me before, or she really had no idea who we were.

“Lady, we don't even know who you are.” Hispano smirked before scrunching up her beak. That, is exactly the amazing deductive reasoning I expected from you, Hispano! “Wait, do you know who you are?"

“Of course. My name is Aerith.” The alicorn smiled softly before she reached up and took my hoof. Slowly, she pulled herself back up to her hooves. Just like King, she was a hell of an imposing mare up close, but her body language said that she was probably still pretty unsettled by all this.

“Hispano.” She smiled proudly before hefting up Suiza in her talons. “And since you were so interested in her, this is my sister, Suiza.”

“Your… sister?” Aerith screwed up her muzzle as, amazingly, she seemed even more confused than before. Yeah, she was definitely new around here.

“It's a long story.” I answered for Hispano, but drew an annoyed look from her in return. “Hey! It was my understanding that you didn't like it when I went on long tangents with others!” I thought to her over the radio. "It's not my problem when the shoe's on the other hoof now, is it?"

In return, I got about the reaction I expected in the form of Hispano sticking her tongue out at me.

“Well, now that we're not trying to kill each other,” Buck spoke up quickly, trying to get ahead of the fury boiling under Hispano's frustrated expression. “What brings you out to the ruins of Bridleshade?”

“I was in the north, and fled from some of my sisters days ago.” Aerith stopped and sharply shook her head at that. “No, not sisters any longer. There were three of them, they wanted to make a new Unity. They tried to lock away who I was… who I am, just like before. But I escaped. It was... bad enough with the Goddess, I couldn’t bear the thought of…”

“Oh, those three?” Hispano cut her off with a smug smirk, and a casual shift of Suiza so that she propped herself up on the barrel. “Yeah, we took care of them.” She brought a talon up to her plumage and rubbed at it coolly. “It was a tough fight, but we took ‘em down.”

“It was a frantic fight that we barely won.” Buck mumbled through a long sigh before both of his mechanical ears shot up stiffly. They worked back and forth before locking on to something. Oh… that can’t be good. “There’s noise coming from the east. Multiple vehicles.”

“Ah, well, that is certainly good news then.” Aerith’s muzzle shifted to a more nervous grin as she flattened her ears to her head. “Seeing as how they won’t be getting paid, perhaps then the slavers my former sisters sent after me will listen to reason and not persist in chasing me again?”

“You came here to hide from Slavers!?” Happy blurted out, breaking that amazing record of being quiet he had going. “You couldn’t have fucking lead with that!?”

“Yes, they came after me this morning as I rested.” Aerith's horn lit up, and she levitated over the pair of subgun’s she’d been using. “They got the jump on me and stole my rifle. But I got the advantage on a few and stole their weapons when I made my escape. They should be adequate to fight them off again.” As she floated them to her, bits of gravel fell from their bent and banged up forms, as well as what looked like a few broken parts of their receivers. “Well… that is unfortunate.”

“Yeah, Suiza will do that to weaker guns…” Hispano offered a nervous laugh as she ran her talon across the back of her neck.

The thrum of a few vehicles drifted through the air. Hoots and hollers from those riding carried as well to announce that we didn’t have much time to figure out what we were going to do.

“So we getting out of here, Night?” Happy asked as he stepped up and pointed down the street we’d come down. Though his hoof was pointing away, his expectant glare was trained right on me. “This isn’t our fight, and you know it.”

“Yes, I won’t ask you to stay.” Aerith nodded as she tossed the two busted subguns over her shoulders. “It is fine, I can hold them off long enough for you to take your leave.” She took a deep breath and wrapped her magic around a few chunks of debris.

“Yeah, she’ll hold them off.” Happy nodded and waved to us as he turned down the road. “Now come on!”

“Hold it.” Hispano grunted with a sigh I knew all too well. “I swear you’re rubbing off on me too damn much, Dum Dum.” With a step over to me, she reached between my legs stiffly. I barely had time to blush before there was a soft click from my flight harness. “We’re staying to help. Here.” When she pulled her talon away, she had my IF-90 held loosely before she tossed it to Aerith, who caught it in her magic. “Night here is going to want that back after this. But for now, let’s kill ourselves some slavers.”

Hispano was right, I was rubbing off on her. And I couldn’t hide the smile across my muzzle because of it. She gave a glance back at me that I knew was expecting to see me beaming an ‘I-told-you-so’ prideful beam. An exasperated sigh escaped her beak as she deadpanned and brought her sister up in her talons again. She may want others to think she doesn’t care, but I know she’s got a warm heart willing to do the right thing.

“What!?” Happy growled in protest. “I thought we were leaving!”

“It’ll take five fucking minutes, Happy!” Hispano snapped back as she removed Suiza’s large drum magazine to quickly check it. “You can wait on the Remora if you want, but we’re not leaving yet.” Seating the drum again with a click, she looked over to me again. “Right, Night?”

“It’s just a few slavers, right?” Buck answered with a crackle of static coming through his throat. He stepped forward and shirked off his cloak, letting it fall to the rubble. “Compared to what we’ve fought to get here? This should be fairly simple.” Lifting his mechanical arm, he popped out his magical energy weapon again. Aerith simply stared at his limbs for a moment, blinking as she took it all in. “After all, we did come all this way, and get all dressed up for a fight.”

“Literally in Night’s case…” Hispano snirked and waggled her eyebrows at me. Oh fuck off, Hispano. You know you like the dress you picked out for me.

“Don’t worry, Aerith.” Buck’s tone shifted once more to his soft, kinder voice. “This sort of situation isn’t exactly something we’re new to.”

“I um… can see that.” She gave out a nervous nod as she leaned back from him again. Guess she really wasn’t all that comfortable around even friendly snow dogs. Then again, not much about what she just saw would convince anyone Buck was ‘friendly’.

“Right! Night and I will hit them from the air.” Hispano nodded as she turned to me. “Night, aim your grenades for their vehicles. You remove their means of escape, and I’m sure they’ll either scatter on hoof, or bunker down together. I’ll use Suiza to take out whichever of them looks the toughest.”

“That makes sense.” I nodded to her before turning to Buck. “You and Happy should find somewhere to hide for now. Once Hispano and I hit them, then you two hop out and take advantage of the chaos.”

“Exactly.” Hispano let out an excited squeak as she practically bounced on her hindpaws. However that stopped when she spun toward Aerith. “So you can still turn invisible, right?” To which, Aerith gave her a quick nod. “Great, because I need you to not do that for now.”

“Umm… excuse me?” Aerith let a nervous chuckle slip out of her muzzle.

“Yeah, you’re going to sit where you can be seen. Maybe use that super-alicorn voice of yours to get their attention.” Hispano nodded as she looked around for a moment. With an elated gasp, she gave a short, fluttering hop and landed herself right in the middle of the street. “Somewhere around here would be great.” She paused, waiting for Aerith to open her muzzle just so she could cut her off. “Why, you ask? Great question. Because when Night and I hit them hard, that’s when you disappear and take flight.” With another bounding hop, Hispano hovered up over all of our heads. “You’ll keep an eye out for any stragglers or marksponys they have setting up outside of the ambush point.”

“Then I come down and deal with them?” Aerith shrugged. “I guess that could work well enough.”

“See, you’re already onboard with how we operate!” Hispano puffed up with pride as she said that. You know, despite that’s not at all how we normally work…

The rumble of approaching vehicles was too loud to miss now.

“Alright, everypony take their places.” I called out as I flared my wings.

“I wanted to say thank you.” Aerith spoke up, pulling a smirk to my muzzle. I looked over to her to speak, but found that she hadn’t been talking to me at all. No, her attention was solely on Hispano. “If not for you and your sister, I might not have snapped out of the old me.”

“No problem.” Hispano smirked and offered a sloppy salute with her talon. “But we can chat all about how my sister did that later. Right now, we’ve got some slavers to murder.”

Kicking off with heavy beats of my wings, the talismans in my flight pack started up and helped me fly. I climbed into the air alongside Hispano, banking slightly as we headed for the closest treeline at the edge of the ruined town. Our best bet was to get up and over it before the slavers rode into town.

With minimal effort, we’d climbed up high enough and leveled off into a glide. We skimmed over the treetops for another moment before she brought her talon up to her flight cap and pulled down her flight goggles with a wide smile across her beak. I broke off and began climbing again, flapping hard and pushing myself to gain as much altitude as I could.

“We’re in position. Here they come.” Buck’s voice came through my mind with a hushed tone to it.

With each beat of my wings, I climbed higher. With each second, the rumbling engines of the slavers vehicles grew louder. The altimeter in my vision ticked upward as I panted and heaved. Excited yells and howls came from the slavers as they transitioned from the forest path they’d been on, to the torn up streets of the ruined town.

With a tweak of my wings, I leveled myself off. I stuck my forehooves down in front of me, smirking as my prosthetic leg helped me once again fall into my own unusual flight style. My tail snapped to my side as I rolled my body and brought myself back around toward the town.

Three vehicles had come to a stop just up the road from Aerith, who was using her magic to project several large, billboard-esque signs above her. Each of the signs had some sort of taunt on them, like ‘Fresh slave right here!’ along with a large arrow pointing directly to her. Huh, never seen a spell like that before. But honestly, it was kinda neat, even if it only had a niche in being used to piss off slavers!

The two in the lead were lighter vehicles that had been stripped down to just their frames. Even so, about a half dozen ponies stood, sat, or clung to each of the vehicles until they stopped. The two groups of ponies spread out, keeping their weapons trained on Aerith as they headed for any bit of cover they could find along the road.

The larger, slower vehicle that pulled up let out a sharp hiss as it’s compression brakes brought it to a stop. It was a heavy, six wheeled Equestrian army transport truck with a flatbed on the back that had been converted into a cage thanks to a healthy amount of rebar and bar stock welded onto the frame. From inside the cab, two shapes stepped out. One was a fairly well armored unicorn with a boxy looking shotgun held in his magic. The other was a sizable brown griffon who wore a pair of light machine guns on a battle saddle.

I had gained quite a lot of speed in my glide, and I was heading for the convoy faster than I’d planned. Okay, it’s time to commit then. Tweaking my wings, I figured that the truck and it’s two guards would probably be the best initial target to get rid of.

Release.

With a crisp snap, one of my grenades fell away from my harness. Shifting myself again, I corrected my aim for both of the lighter vehicles. If these bastards wanted to run once this starts, they’d have to do it on hoof.

Release.

Another grenade fell away.

Release.

The final grenade slipped away from my harness and I torqued my wings to maneuver away. I’d only have a few moments to get out of range and sight again. If the plan worked, I could repeat my run and help with mopping up the last of them. With the edge of the forest around Bridleshade coming up quickly, I pulled myself up and turned off to regain some altitude. Now, it was up to Hispano to hit a few of the spread out slavers and keep them pinned down for the others.

My flight was cut short by a rapid burst of fire from the town. The air around me filled with red tracers, and something hit my prosthetic hindleg hard. There was a soft pop, and my weight shifted as the leg was torn right off. With a gasp, I could only glance as it tumbled down into the woods below. Shit, that griffon must have seen me coming!

I turned once more, losing more of my precious speed as I braced myself for a second burst of fire. A tremendous blast from inside of town flashed a prismatic burst into the sky, announcing the success of my initial grenade. Good, with any luck, that’ll have killed that fucking griff. The other two blasts followed, and I felt confident that even with that Griff firing back, we’d be...

“Night!” Hispano’s voice came in through my head with a note of panic. “We’ve got company!”

I pulled myself up into a climb as Hispano darted past me. Suiza chattered in short bursts, but was answered by another set of faster fire that again sprayed the air around me in red. My right wing went limp, and medical warnings flashed about half of my body. I let out a breathless gasp as I stopped climbing, and started falling.

My momentum carried me forward through the treetops. I flailed my legs and flapped my left wing as hard as I could to gain some modicum of control. The lighter branches toward the tops of the trees scraped across my body, stealing what remained of my forward momentum fairly quickly. In a last ditch effort as I began to fall, I reached out with my forehooves for any branch I could find.

My hooves managed to find one, and my whole body was whipped to a near stop as I gripped it tight. There was a sharp snap as the branch itself broke away, and I again started to fall. I let out a cry as my back slammed into another branch, and again I reached out for anything.

My forehoof hit a thick branch, and I clamped my fetlock around it as tightly as possible. For a second time, I was whipped to a stop. The branch itself didn’t break, but the odd crunch that came from my shoulder made my forehoof go limp, and I fell again. Thankfully, I’d already been near the ground, and I came crashing down after only a moment.

My lungs seized as the wind was knocked out of me. The trees and world above me spun as I laid there staring up at the cloudy skies above. The multiple flashing warnings in my vision were worrisome, but, for as much as that sucked, I was alive.

“Night!” Buck’s worried voice filtered through my mind as I took a moment to steady my breathing. “You’re badly hurt. I’m coming to help, just stay put and I’ll fight my way to you!”

“I’m… alive for now.” I groaned and closed my eyes. As I did, the gunfire and screams of slavers drifted to me. Well, at least the rest of the plan was going well. “Keep fighting.”

Looking over at my shoulder, I found it sitting at the wrong angle, and there was a bloody bone jutting through my upper leg. Glancing down over my body, a pair of gaping and burbling holes sat in my barrel, and my stomach did a flip as I could see my insides again. Did it actually do a flip? No. How could I know that? Because I could see my stomach.

“Still, maybe finish the fight as fast as possible…”

Thank the Architect for pain talismans...

Author's Note

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan! Not just for his normal help this time either, but for loaning me Aerith to give Hispano another friend. Seriously, if you want to read some more in depth adventures the two have, then feel free to give his story Empty Quiver a shot!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat as always for creating and letting us all use this wonderful wasteland setting!