Don't fix something that ain't broke, 'cause you'll break it and you still can't fix it.

“What do you mean he just left?”

You know, I’d thought being in a town full of alicorns was scary, but admittedly, we’ve seen worse. Facing down a ten story tall timberwolf? Yeah, no sweat. A set of advanced Pentex razorcats? Tough, but still not quite the worst thing ever. Staring into the unbelievably immense fireball of a megaspell? That was pretty scary stuff, but nothing, absolutely nothing like what I faced down right now..

No, you haven’t felt true fear until you’ve got a young griffoness with a twenty millimeter cannon for a sister angry at you because her father left and told you not to say anything.

“Calm yourself, it’s not his fault, Hispano.” Buck tried to come in with the save, but the moment he brought his paw down on her shoulder, she spun and brought the full force of her glare down on him.

“Calm myself? Really, Buck?” She rolled her eyes at him before flopping back onto our bed with a huff. “In what universe has saying that ever helped anyone?”

“You know we’re just worried about him too, Hispano.” I didn’t like saying it like that, it sounded too much like we’d relegated ourselves to doing nothing about it. “I promise that as soon as we’re done fixing up the Arcturus in Seaddle, we’ll go find him.”

“You think I’m worried about him?” Hispano forced out a laugh. With a firm push, she sat herself up on the bed and glanced between Buck and I. “And here I’d thought you’d finally spent enough time around him to learn what he’s really like, Dum Dum.” She stretched out toward me and gave my head a few firm pats with her talon. “Let me guess? You two were worried he’s going on a ‘suicide mission’, right?”

“Well, we simply thought…” Buck mumbled through a nervous gaze as he brought his mechanical paws together. He cast a glance at me, pleading with his eyes for me to give him a helping hoof here.

“We thought that if he wanted you to stay here, it was likely because he was in over his head with something.” While our worries may not have been as irrational as Hispano seemingly thought them to be, I knew that deep down, Hispano would understand and realize that there’s a chance something was wrong.

“You dolts.” Hispano chuckled again, slapping her talon across her face with an exasperated sigh. “My dad’s not ‘in over his head’. We’re a half-day’s flight from ‘Claw!” As she said that, both Buck and I looked at each other.

“Your home.” Both Buck and I spoke at the same time. “What about it?”

“What do you mean what about my home?” Hispano put her talons on her hips and canted her head with a flat gaze. “He’s going to the one place in the wastes that still has some semblance of unbiased law and order to it, and you two are worried about him? There’s nowhere safer for him than HQ.” She paused, screwing up her beak a bit. “Er, well, as long as Captain Gavi isn’t trying to feed him any more of her family’s ‘traditionally made’ griffon scones. Those things are like rocks.”

“So… why didn’t he want you following him?” I had to ask. It was the only thing that still didn’t make sense, and remembering how he said it to us still made my stomach uneasy.

“Well, he’s going back to HQ empty clawed.” She shrugged before flopping back onto our bed again. “I mean, with all the work we did for Solomon, then for Delilah, and now you? How do you think the Captain’s going to take it when he shows up after all this time with nothing to add to the company coffers? He probably said for me to stay so he could save me from one hell of an epic flank reaming and disciplinary hearings.” Again, my stomach twinged at how even she wasn’t sure.

“Probably?” I asked flatly.

“I don’t know! I’m not fucking psychic, now am I, Dum Dum?” With a forceful twist of her body, she threw her talon up along the bed and gripped one of our pillows. With no warning, I found it thrown right at my muzzle. I was caught off guard, and with a soft pomf, the old pad bounced off my nose and flopped back onto the bed next to her. “Can we not talk about dad? We’re about to head to Seaddle, the only place with decent amenities since we were up in Cantercross.” She glanced up at me with a growing grin as I rubbed at the end of my muzzle softly. “Why don’t we have a day off? You know, take a vacation, maybe spend the night on the town!”

You know, I would argue that we had something better to do, but… Solomon was dead, my curse was gone, and King was where he was meant to be. So with reclaiming the Ark pretty much all that was left on our to do list, I couldn’t really say no.

“I don’t see why not.” I shrugged and looked over to Buck.

“Well, we really do have to restock the medbay once we’re there. And I did want to stop by the Inuvik and see how they’re all doing...” Buck brought his paw up under his metal jaw and tapped his digit on it. Slowly, his own jagged grin spread across his muzzle and he nodded to himself. “Though I do suppose after that, we need some time to recover… and I do recall that I am owed a dinner of my choice.”

“Don’t worry, I know just the place with the best Salmon in town!” In one speedy arch of her body, Hispano had thrown herself from the bed and straight into a hover. “But before then, there’s some pretty neat places in town I want to show you!” She paused for a moment as her eyes looked over Buck slowly. “Well, actually, until Buck grows some wings, I suppose we can go to maybe half the cool places.”

“I am fine right here on the ground, thank you.” Buck laughed softly, pulling similar chuckles from Hispano and I. “Though, if you really want to, you could take Night to some of those places, I don’t mind.”

The fact that Buck couldn’t fly wasn’t something I’d really given much thought to on this trip. I mean, why would I? And by no means did it make him any less of a fantastic husband in my eyes! But… it did mean that when Hispano wanted to do something, then sometimes in this relationship there were things he wouldn’t be there for.

“No.” Hispano stated starkly before hovering forward and kissing him right on his broad nose. “I’ve asked you to compromise with Night more than enough on this trip. So I suppose that if the three of us are going to make this family work, then it’s only fair that I do the same.”

“Hispano…” Buck said softly as his eye watered up. With an electric whine and a silver blur, he reached up and wrapped his paws around Hispano in a tight hug. “That means so much to me!”

With my own sense of awe and pride, I stepped forward and threw my hoof and wings around the two. They really were more than I could ever ask for as a family.

The door to the captain’s quarters squealed as it was opened.

“Hey, uh, Night?” The three of us turned our gazes as Happy stepped inside. He paused as he spotted the now incredibly awkward family hug going on, and a nervous grin spread across his muzzle. “Oh, uh, sorry. Don’t let me interrupt whatever… thing you’re doing…” He took an uneasy step back toward the door.

“Boys?” Hispano cooed as she narrowed her eyes on the nervous mule. “Didn’t we decide that Happy was technically part of our family?”

While I wouldn’t be marrying him, Happy was definitely a part of our family now. Between the four of us, there were no more secrets. And while sometimes we could get on each other’s nerves, when my back was against the wall, I knew they would never leave me. From the wide eyed gaze on Happy’s face as Buck’s paw became a blur again, the funny thing was, I knew that he understood we were family too.

And in this family, you don’t get to say no to a group hug.

As the Remora detached from the hull of the Arcturus, and it’s engines took over the duties of flying us, the clouds shrouding us were pushed back. Descending through the patchy cover of the ship, I was forced to shield myself from the bright sunlight that beamed through the open cabin of the small skycraft.

The sun trekked across the sky toward the horizon, casting longer shadows toward us from the somewhat uneven blanket of dark grey that seemed to stretch out over the entire Seaddle area. And while I couldn’t strictly feel it, as we descended into the cloud cover below, I knew exactly what to expect the weather to be like.

Thin sheets of rain washed across the skies as we broke through over the outskirts of the old world city. It draped the landscape in a grey haze that already made me long for the sun again. Though I didn’t know if it was how it normally looked, it also turned the ground between the burned and twisted rubble into a near endless mass of brown mud.

“So this is Seaddle?” The words slipped out of my muzzle as my eyes wandered across a crater lake that pressed up against the back of a fairly large hillside. The ruins around the old bomb crater were melted and black, while the water of the lake itself still held a balefire green tint to it. However, as I turned my gaze west and over the hill toward the coastal city’s waterline, I couldn’t really understand what I was looking at.

It was somewhat like up at Cantercross, only on a smaller scale. The buildings that had once resided on the top of the hill had tilted over, and were melted into somewhat of a steel wave stretching toward the western grey waters of the salt water sound. Past the initial buildings clustered on the hilltop however, there was a sharp break where nothing but mud and rock stretched downward for nearly a half a kilometer. Which… I don’t really remember existing in the few Enclave pictures of the place in our school textbooks.

The city itself however sat at the bottom of this muddy hill. Most of its buildings were still mostly upright, and looked to still be inhabited by the fact most of the broken windows had been sealed up by various bits of junk. Though, somehow the buildings felt off, like they were all just a bit too close to each other. Some were pressed right up together, while others had toppled over fallen skyscrapers to create perilous archways of rusting steel over the old roads that outlined each compact city block.

The closest buildings to the waterline had outright sunk into the silty waters, or toppled straight over, and stretched out into the sound like long piers. Those who lived in this city had simply built on top of the fallen giants, transforming the old skyscrapers into bustling waterfront districts that allowed what must have been hundreds of old boats to come in and dock right up next to them.

The elevated seaside portion of the local highway had mostly survived the falling buildings, and in fact created a somewhat natural bridge between them that separated the waterways from most of the 'new' inner city. Various sections of the highway that were too damaged to shore up, were removed, and cranes were built to create draw bridges that allowed the many ships and boats here to come and go in safety.

“It’s amazing…” Buck gasped as he took in the sights along with me.

“It’s mediocre at best.” Hispano huffed flatly. “Some of the city is cool, but most of it’s still a shithole like everywhere else in the wastes, so don’t forget that.”

Right. With her reminder, I sat down and ran another check to make sure the straps to my flight pack were on tight over my dress, and that my subgun was ready to go. Just because I’d gotten dressed for our day off didn’t mean I was going to go relaxing unprepared! Looking over at Buck, he lifted his mechanical arm and popped out his weird energy weapon and made sure it came on like normal.

As he closed his arm back up, he glanced over at me and his muzzle shifted to his normal, kind smile he always shared with me. But something else caught his attention, and the smile disappeared as his muzzle dropped. The blue mechanical eye on the side of his head shifted and popped forward as his gaze lingered on something out in the city. Turning to follow it, I pretty quickly spotted what had caught his eye.

She was the largest ship sitting down at the end of the longest pier of the city, and her red coloration was more striking now than it had been all the way up in the north. Though she had a few hastily repaired battle scars in her hull and upper decks, the Inuvik sat as proudly in the water as she had frozen in the arctic ice. They’d made it here safely after all.

“Home.” Buck whimpered as a wide grin pulled itself across his jagged muzzle, and he all but began to vibrate with pure unbridled joy. “It’s only been months, but it’s felt like forever. I… I can’t believe I’m going back.” Before we could even react, Buck’s paws had scooped both Hispano and I up and pulled us tightly into his furred chest. “Oh, this is going to be great! I can introduce you to my parents, and you can meet all my brothers and sisters, which I just know are going to absolutely love you two…”

I enjoyed being this close to Buck, and I was overjoyed to see him so happy and excited for once. Hispano… well I think she thought a bit differently.

“Woah… easy there...” She groaned and pushed back against Buck’s aggressive affections. “We’ve got time, and there’s a lot of cool things in the city I want to show you both.”

“And there will be plenty of time for that.” Buck responded as the Remora shifted it’s flight sharply, turning us right toward the Inuvik. “I just… I want to stop by first and make sure they all made the trip safely.”

“Fine.” Hispano relented and deadpanned right at me. “Like I said, so long as it’s quick. Today’s a day for us, alright? We all agreed to that.” From her grumble and semi-slump, she knew that there was little use in arguing further with him about it.

“Thank you for understanding.” Buck offered a kiss to her forehead that made her blush brightly enough you could have probably seen it from the ground. He turned a hesitant gaze to me. “Are you alright with that too, Night?”

“Of course he is.” Hispano spat out with a roll of her eyes. “Lets just go and meet your family like you want, okay?”

I don’t know what really had Hispano so annoyed by all this. It was a perfectly reasonable thing after months of being away for Buck to want to visit his family again. Even more than that was he wanted us to meet them. Which now that I thought about it, meeting a whole family of Snow Dogs wasn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park.

Especially… when Buck was so eager to tell them that he wasn’t moving back in because he was in love with a pony and a griffon.

You know, maybe I shouldn’t feel too calm about this after all…

The Remora sank lower and lower, swinging around toward the backside of the old world icebreaker. The aft of the ship came into view, and the large rectangular flat landing pad with a white ‘V’ on it was almost perfectly sized for the Remora to land on. Swinging down for our final touchdown, a few fluffy coated Snowdogs that were near an open hatch shielded their eyes with their paws as the engine wash hit them.

The three of us braced ourselves as the Remora landed, and almost immediately the engines started to spool themselves down. As soon as they had, I looked across the deck toward a different hatch that opened up on the back of the ship. From it, stepped a large, angry looking black furred Snowdog with a spanner wrench bigger than I was held in forepaws as big as Buck’s used to be.

“Hey! Who the hell do you think you are?” The dog barked at us in a gruff, but still vaguely feminine voice. Even with the slow, rage filled steps she took towards us, something about her felt familiar to me. “This isn’t some private landing pad, get that heap of junk off our ship or I’ll…”

“Cheyenne?” Buck said as in an instant, his mechanical paws retreated from both Hispano and I. His words stopped the dog cold in her steps, and as her ice blue eyes went wide, I could finally place why she felt familiar. Despite wearing all black fur and sporting a bit of a wider waistline, she was nearly a spitting image of Buck in all other respects. “Oh goddesses, it’s so good to see you again!”

“Buck, is that you?” She gasped, letting the spanner in her paws drop to the deck with a heavy clang. Her eyes ran over his metal limbs, not hiding one bit of the pain and pity she felt for him. All the same, she basically sprinted forward with paws out and wrapped them around Buck. “You’re alive. And you… you came home!”

“Of course I did.” Buck whimpered through a sniffle as the two hugged it out on the deck.

“Are you okay?” She asked him as she stepped back and used one of her oversized claws to wipe a few tears from her eye. “We heard so many stories about that convoy you left on! We heard… we all thought you were dead. What happened to you out there?”

“I… I’m fine.” That was probably the worst lie Buck’s ever told anyone, and part of me was glad it wasn’t meant for me. “It’s… a long story, one I hope to share with our whole family.” With that, he turned back to the Remora and held a paw out. “And speaking of, I want you to meet some new members of it. This is Night Flight, and Hispano,” As he spoke, I glanced over to Hispano with a proud, beaming grin, only to have her simply shrug and step out onto the deck. “I know it’s not really traditional for a Snowdog to want a non-dog family, but… I don’t care what anybody here thinks. They’ve been there for me, and they truly love me for who I am.”

“You idiot.” Cheyenne chuckled and shook her head. “Didn’t I tell you that the second you stopped sabotaging yourself you’d find it easy enough to make some friends?” With a swing of her massive forearm, she wrapped it around Buck’s head and pulled him into a hunched position. With her other paw, she ground down against the fur on his head as he struggled against her. “And now you’re telling me that not only are you finally over that obsession you had with Saxon that went nowhere, but that you found two girls out there to actually let yourself love? Please, you’ve only been gone for a few months! Don’t lie to me, my little brother can’t have grown up so much in that time.”

“Cheyenne, stop it!” Buck whimpered and tried to pull away from her. I was about to step in when I noticed his spiky tail wagging. “I’m not a pup anymore!”

“Like hell you aren’t!” She laughed and finally let him go. “You still can’t tell when your older sister is just messing around with you!”

“You’re two minutes older than me.” He deadpanned as he got himself steadied on his hindlegs again. With a huff that contained more stress than he let on, Buck’s gaze drifted back to the deck for a moment before turning back to Hispano and I. “And it’s… not been easy to get back here. It’s become harder to tell when someone is genuine anymore or not.”

“That’s the understatement of the year.” Hispano snorted before hefting her sister up onto her shoulder. “But Buck’s right, it’s been tough, so maybe give him a bit of a break. He’s had it worse than most of us on this trip.”

Cheyenne’s eyes narrowed as she looked over Hispano. Her nose twitched, and she gave out a few sharp snorts before turning her attention to me. Her brow furrowed, and her muzzle twisted slightly as she raised a single claw.

“You. You’re not a mare, you’re that stallion who was brought in with the convoy up north. Bombay, or whatever.” With a huff, she crossed her paws and stood tall, looking down at me in the most imposing way she could present herself. Were I not used to that with Buck by now, I had to admit, I might have been somewhat frightened by her. Slowly, a smirk pulled across her jagged jaw. “If the stories about you all are true, then I guess Buck could’ve done worse. Though, I like your griffon-friend better. She at least spoke up in his defense.”

“Buck doesn’t need Hispano or I to speak for him. He’s a smart, strong, capable dog who knows that if he needs it, we’ll back him up on anything against anyone.” The words pushed out of my muzzle with more force than I meant, and they forced Cheyenne to blink a few times. A chuckle built up in her throat before she let it come through her muzzle as a hearty laugh. “Something funny about that?”

“Nah, you know what? I’ve changed my mind, you’re both alright by me.” She turned herself around and threw her arms back around a still stunned looking Buck. “I mean, you know I’ve always trusted your decisions, Buck, but it’s mom and dad you’ll have to convince, of course.” She gave him a few hard pats on the back which probably would have broken my ribs, but Buck seemed to weather them fine. “It’s good to have you back home though. And… I’m happy that you could finally find a love in your life that wasn’t some sort of work.”

“It’s still been work of a different sort, but thanks, sis.” Buck nodded and gave her a soft hug back.

“Come on, let’s go tell the rest of the family you’re back!” She nodded as she spun Buck around to face the door she’d come from. “Plus, I know that Rosie is going to be particularly happy to hear you’ve returned! You would not believe the pushback she’s had about being paired up with that freeloading mutt, Zap...”

With a long, overly dramatic sigh, Hispano slumped and hung her head.

“This better not take long, Dum Dum.” Throwing a sideways glance to me, she adjusted Suiza on her shoulder, shifting her sister’s long barrel over her neck. “I know Buck’s excited, but can’t he spend time with them later?” With a hook of her other talon, she held her sister tight and stretched her neck back until it gave a soft pop against the barrel. “I thought this was supposed to be a day just for us to relax together.”

“I know, but…” I didn’t really know what to say to her. On one hoof, I know where she was coming from. But on the other, she and I have at least had our Dad’s around recently enough. Buck’s been away from his whole family, and I didn’t want to take him away from that. It just felt… selfish to ask that of him.

“Look, I know you love the guy more than you love me.” She rolled her eyes as she turned to me.

“Hispano, you know that’s…” I tried to jump in, but had her snap her talons together near my face.

“Hey, I’m not saying you don’t care.” She sharpened a piercing glance at me for a moment before letting it soften. “Just… that sometimes you prioritize how he feels over anything. Even if it ends up hurting you the most.”

I wanted to say she was wrong about that, but I couldn’t. How could I blatantly lie to her when she had experienced the results on multiple occasions, even before I was willing to give her a chance with us. No, this whole thing came about because I am still ashamed to admit to her that I blatantly care for him more. Not because he’s better in any way really, just that… well, because I think between them, he needs it more.

But how am I supposed to say that? How exactly can I tell her that? ‘Hey, Buck’s more important to me because I think you’re tough enough that I care less about your well being?’ With that, even in the best case scenario I sound like a complete and total fucking asshole!

“You know what, nevermind.” Hispano shook her head and maneuvered her sister so she held her on her shoulder between us. The last thing I saw was her disappointed gaze being blocked by the cold steel of her sister’s receiver. “Let’s just go and get this over with.”

This wasn’t exactly going how any of us thought it would.

Both Hispano and I were sitting in a cramped hallway for nearly the last hour, on the far side of the sealed hatch outside of Buck’s parent’s cabin. Buck had wanted us to wait to come in, wanting to give his parents time to understand and adjust to his half-mechanical body. But from the moment he and Cheyenne closed that hatch, that’s when the shouting started.

I stared down at the old, worn deck plating under my hooves. I tried my best to focus my real eye on some of the finer scratches along it’s pitted surface, but without my augment on, I could hardly see half of what I’d expected. Part of me had wanted more than anything to boot up my augment and ask Buck how things were going, but every time I felt like I should, the shouting just gets louder again and I decide to leave them be.

The worst thing was that sometimes, even through the thick metal walls, I could just barely make out what they were shouting about. Buck was on the defensive about his choice to leave, and he admitted that they were right in saying the wasteland would tear him apart. His mother yelled back that he was more machine now than her son, and that she could hardly stand to see him like this. I’d only heard his dad once, but he seemed to only take issue with the fact that it was too dangerous to leave now, and that he should just settle down with a good bitch on the ship.

“You know what? Fuck this.” Hispano grumbled as she pushed herself up from the floor. With a firm grasp, she grabbed her sister and turned down the hall. “You can stay here if you want, I’m going to the wreck room to see if there’s a fight going on or something.”

“Hispano…” I spoke up, but only got a single raised talon from her as a response. “We can’t just leave Buck right now.”

“This is exactly what I was talking about, Night.” She called back over her shoulder. “Come find me when this shit gets sorted out and you two want to actually do something.”

Ugh, why Hispano? Why did you have to make things difficult? I know it’s been boring, but I mean, we can’t just bust in there and explain ourselves. Our only choice was to sit outside and wait for Buck’s family to calm down. Slumping against the wall, I wrapped my forehoof around my head and sighed. How could she just choose to walk away like that? I mean, it’s not like I didn’t want to do other things today too, but I chose to put that aside to... spend time… with...

She was right, I was doing it again.

“Ugh, fine.” I grumbled and reluctantly got to my hooves. Glancing over at the still firmly sealed door, I took a moment to think about what I was going to say. With a thought, my augment booted up, and I took a deep breath. “Buck? Hispano and I are going to take a walk about the ship for a bit. Just reach out to me when you’re ready for us, alright?”

A moment passed with no response, just more yelling from inside the cabin. In that time, the part of me who wanted to stay nearly forced my back legs to give out and plant my flank on the floor again. A quick burst of static through my mind however made me stiffen up.

“Alright. I’m… sorry it’s taking so long.” I always loved hearing his voice, but I hated the clarity our augments provided to his words. It wasn’t hard to hear the pain, anger, and disappointment he held. My parents just don’t understand what I’ve been through! I just… I want them to understand!” But it was almost worse to hear the pure, almost cold determination he had. I hoped that for his sake, they gave in and realized they should be glad to have him back before they ruin any chance of him wanting to come back again.

“I know they may not still see it under your metal parts, but you’re the kindest soul I’ve ever met, Buck.” I offered back to him, imagining myself wrapping my hooves around his warm, fuzzy form in a tight hug. “Though it might take time for them to see that again, remember that no matter what happens, Hispano and I will always love you.”

“Yeah… you’re right.” Buck’s words drifted into my mind with a bit of a softer, more relaxed tone to them. “Don’t worry about me, Night. You and Hispano go have some fun for now, I’ll reach out to you later.”

Another quick burst of static pushed through my mind as I’m sure he turned his own augment off this time. However, with him informed, at the very least my mind was more at ease with heading out for now. See, Night? It wasn’t so hard to actually switch things up for once and choose to spend time with Hispano!

With a smile pushing across my muzzle, I turned down the hall to follow Hispano and got hobbling. Now, where did she go? She wasn’t straight ahead, so she must have turned down one of these cross sections and…

“Bah!” Hispano shouted and nearly scared me half to death around the first corner.

As I fought with my three legs to not tumble to the ground, Hispano devolved into giggles that were at the very least nice to hear. I just wish I got to hear them when I didn’t feel like I was having a mild heart attack…

“Hah! You should have seen your face, Dum Dum!” She snorted and pat my side with hard, slapping hits. “Oh, fucking priceless. But, see? I knew that you could pull yourself away from him for a bit!” Forcing a bit of a deadpan over her expression, she reached up and adjusted her flightcap stiffly. “Now, if you’d only do that without me forcing your hoof, then I’d feel like I was on somewhat even terms in this relationship.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m working on it.” I sighed as my thundering heart rate finally started to slow again. It was right about then however that my stomach gave a loud growl, and almost in response, Hispano’s gave out an even louder one.

“You know what? Fuck the Wreck Room.” Hispano huffed as her talon tightly wrapped around my forehoof. “Let’s find some grub.” Without what felt like any effort, she yanked my hoof right up off the floor. “Now, if I recall, the cafeteria was somewhere on the next deck…” She gave out a few effortless beats of her wings, propped me up on just my hind legs, and started to fly forward. “Come on, keep up, Dum Dum!”

Oh, this day was just going to be one thing after another, wasn’t it?

While it wasn’t anything more fancy than we’d normally had back on the Arcturus, it was really the environment that I think helped me to relax.

Even though it hadn’t been tough to find an open booth when we came in, we must have just beat the rush. In the last fifteen minutes, what felt like half the ship had filed in and gotten food. Ponies, Snow Dogs, and even a pair of Yaks sat and talked about their day onboard the ship around us. It helped me to remember that there was more to the rest of the wasteland than just ugliness and violence between its inhabitants.

“You already done?” Hispano murmured through one final slurp of the thick noodle dish she’d ordered.

Looking down at my own plate, I blinked as I realized I’d actually already downed the whole bowl of fish stew I’d gotten. While I still wasn’t a big fan of meat, I suppose I could see what Buck saw in eating fish. I mean, food like this had become so normal that I’d hardly noticed eating it! Nodding to Hispano, she laughed and gave a firm pat of her belly as she leaned back.

As she did though, she stiffened up as her eyes locked on the door to the cafeteria. Turning, I found her staring at a Laika sized Snow Dog that had wandered in. His coat was mostly white outside of a pair of brown splotches over his eyes and ears that were split up by a line of white over the top of his head. His jagged muzzle grew into a smile as his eyes narrowed at Hispano.

“Oh fuck.” Hispano muttered under her breath. “What the fuck does he want.”

“Well, well, well.” The diminutive dog laughed as he made his way over to us. “Been a minute, Hispano.” His glance shifted to me for a minute, and his eyes wandered over my dress before landing on the subgun strapped under me. “And here I thought you said you’d never be back. Called this place a ‘rusting frozen shithole’ if I do recall.”

“Yeah, well plans changed, Jack.” Hispano faked a smile as she pushed herself to sit up in her seat. Along with herself, her talon slid over to Suiza and made sure she was sitting upright next to her. “Don’t you have some comics to go read or something?”

“And here I thought you were a talon willing to do anything for some caps.” Leaning closer, he gave a lick along his muzzle as he let his eyes do all the insinuating he needed. Not that it stopped him from pouring it on... “And believe me, I’ve got some ideas, because I can smell on you just how much you enjoy us dogs...”

Honestly, it made me feel a bit conflicted inside. On one hoof, I didn’t like the idea of feeling jealous of a dog like him hitting on Hispano. On the other, I knew Hispano well enough to know it’d eventually end up with Suiza’s muzzle in his if it went anywhere at all.

“Oh, I will do anything.” Hispano cooed softly, leaning in and batting her eyebrows at him softly. “However… you should remember from last time that any undersized rewards generally leave me unimpressed and unhappy. And when I’m unhappy, Jack...”

Wait, Jack as in a name, as in Buck’s brother?

“Yeah, yeah, you get out your gun.” Jack rolled his eyes and dropped his lusty attitude. “Look, I’ve got an easy, few hour job that’ll pay one fifty. You want it or not?”

“If this is about stealing another comic…” I blurt out. My words were cut off however by a swift kick under the table by Hispano, as well as her cutting me off with a nervous smile across her beak. I whimpered as intentional or not, she had fantastic aim, and hit me where it counted...

“Pay no mind to the mare, she’s just here for a free meal and some fun in the bedroom.” She offered as she shot me a sideways glance. Okay, okay, geeze! For all the talk about it, the least she could do was go a bit easier on my nethers if she ever wanted a kid. “But she’s right, this isn’t for another collection of scraps, is it?”

“No, and the job’s not for me. Rather, it’s going to be a gift for a… future friend of mine.” Jack smiled and tented his tiny paws in front of him. “You see, she’s coming back into town tomorrow, and is supposed to be a collector of old world music. It so happens to be that I have it on good authority that a pony on the city outskirts has accrued himself a small collection. See, the problem is that he refuses to see reason and sell to me, so I need you to convince him to part with his collection… preferably in a way that doesn’t have him coming to look for it.”

“You want her to kill him?” I snapped at him. Like, seriously!? I know Buck was disappointed to hear he’d hired Hispano to steal, but murder was a whole different thing!

“No, not kill. Nobody said kill here.” Jack sneered and jabbed his tiny paw at my face. “I simply want him to not want to ever see them again. How she goes about that is her prerogative, and definitely not something some local whore needs to concern herself with.”

“Well my rates have gone up since last time.” Hispano snapped her talons to draw his now soured expression back to her. “Five hundred for the job, with two fifty upfront.”

“The records aren’t even worth two hundred, and you want five?” He laughed in her face, only making the grin pulling across Hispano’s beak grow wider. “I could hire half a dozen pieces of muscle in this city for the job at that price.”

“Yeah, but you came to me.” Hispano crossed her talons and relaxed. “So either you’re out of options, or you think you can pay me less because you think I’m easy. But let me tell you, if it is the latter,” She paused, letting Jack’s eyes follow her talon as it slid down Suiza’s barrel slowly. “I think you’ll find I’m less agreeable than others once I know you’re trying to get cheap on me.”

“You fucking bitch.” Jack uttered a growl as he clenched his small paws tightly. “Fine, four hundred. Come to my cabin before you leave for the upfront, but you better deliver on this.”

“Four hundred, deal. I’ll swing by later tonight for the upfront, and you’ll have your records by evening tomorrow.” Hispano cooed softly. We both watched as Jack turned to walk away, but he stopped as she called to him. “You know for what you’re offering, she must really be something.” She smirked as he turned and threw a sideways glance back over his shoulder. “I hope she’s worth it in the end.”

I wanted to say that none of this was my business, and that Hispano could still take on jobs that she wanted. But this? I wish I could just look the other way, but this just felt wrong.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to do it.” My muzzle spat out the words before I could stop myself.

“What? Like you care.” She rolled her eyes at me and smirked. “Look, we don’t have to worry about it now.” She shifted her eyes into a glare as my muzzle opened to protest. Her sharp glance made me pause, but I was glad to see her expression soften again after a moment. “Will you get off my back if I promise I won’t hurt anyone?” Crossing her talons across herself, her eyes shifted over to her sister. “It’s just a box of records, so worst case is I take a hit in my profits and buy the stupid things off of him. That, or if Buck and you wanted… well I guess I could just turn him down...”

“You’d… do that?” Maybe it was because she’d always been so adamant on being a talon, but I never thought I’d really see a time where she’d cancel a job. “You’d do that for us?”

“Don’t act so surprised, Dum Dum.” She scrunched herself up and sank a bit towards the table to hide the blush flushing across her face. “Besides, I’m sure if I asked, Buck would be right behind me to personally make sure he didn’t complain much about it.”

“Heh, he does make a nice imposing figure to have standing behind you.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I imagined Jack’s reaction to his half-machine big brother showing up at his doorstep.

“Well duh, he’s a snow dog, they’re all intimidating as fuck.” Hispano squawked before forcibly stuffing her talon into her beak. She winced with a forced smile as a particularly hefty brown dog walked by with her cropped ears perked, and a glare on us nearly as piercing as Delilah’s used to be. “But it’s more than that, Night. It may be hard to believe, but… I know you two are a package deal, and I’ll admit, Buck’s grown on me. I trust him almost as much as I trust my dad, and… well, you two are the only other ones I’ve ever trusted like that.” Looking over to me, her eyes wavered before a look of shame dragged her expression down towards the table between us. “I just wish you’d grown to do the same with me.”

“Even though I’d started to feel comfortable around Buck fairly quickly, Buck had feelings for me far before I ever realized that I cared for him back.” The thoughts and memories of how Hardcase offered up hints to how Buck felt came to mind. I felt bad to have missed such blatantly obvious signs back then, but in the end, it all worked out. “While I latched onto those feelings stronger and faster than with what I feel for you, it doesn’t mean that I care about you any less, Hispano.”

“I know that, Night.” Again, she forced up a smile to hide what she really felt, and pushed herself to say what she needed to. “And I shouldn’t have said what I did earlier. I know you and Buck love me back, and normally I wouldn’t have grilled you for not showing it the way I wanted you too. But it was the thought about what Buck was coming back here for, knowing what you told me he was planning on doing…”

“This… it’s about having a child again?” I asked far too bluntly for my own likes. However, it didn’t seem to affect Hispano, and she simply gave me a nod.

“Even though we talked and I told you that I needed to think about it, it’s almost like since then, I’ve been avoiding it.” She bit at her lower beak, and tapped her talons on the table lightly. “I just haven’t been able to make myself think about it at all. And now it’s right here in front of me, and it’s still not something I can decide on, even though I know I need to decide one way or the other!” Grabbing at the flaps of her flight cap, she grumbled and pulled it down over her head tightly. “I feel like such a fucking idiot! Why can’t I just not care so fucking much?”

“Hey, hey! It’s nothing to get angry about!” Again, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing slightly at the irony. However, she shot a steeled gaze out from under her cap and made me trip over my next few words. “The thing is… you know… I only mean that now you know how I’ve felt with you.”

“Oh? And how’s that?” She snorted and deadpanned at me.

“I mean, you know I never thought I’d love a girl. This is pretty much the same thing!” Again, I laughed a little, but I had to force it out as she let out a huff. “Look, you said you’d think about it when you were ready, and you’re still not. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.”

“Tell that to the voice in my head.” From the way she looked down at the table, she seemed to be about three seconds from slamming her face into it in frustration. However, thankfully she hesitated. “And partly, maybe, me taking the job from Jack was just because I needed a distraction. You know, something to focus on while Buck does his whole thing with some other dog.”

“That makes me feel a little bit better about how you reacted earlier.” I offered to her. “You know there’ve been times I’ve needed a bit of a distraction as well, so if you need it, you need it. No big deal.” Though I still didn’t feel like this was a job she should have accepted in the first place, it didn’t mean I couldn’t at least try to be flexible about it.

“Regardless, we don’t have to worry about it right now.” Her confident smile returned to her beak as she sat up in her seat, and a burst of energy seemed to make her plumage bristle a bit. “We’ve still got plenty of time to hang out together, and so much of the city to see after all! So, where do you want to see first?” I was caught off guard as her talons stretched across the table and tightly grabbed around my hoof. “There’s the top of the old space tower restaurant we could go hang out on together, or there’s the old library that’s got some cool old world artifacts still on display in it. Oh! Or we could go down into the underground city, and…”

“Sorry to bother you, Night.” Ping’s voice broadcast into my head, surprising me enough that Hispano noticed and cut herself off. “Miss Tofu and I had a request, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead, Ping.” I offered to him, watching as my words wiped Hispano’s smile away like I’d smacked her across the beak. “What do you need?”

“Well, Miss Tofu has inferred that the party in charge at Bow-wing Field is another contingent of Steel Rangers.” Ping replied starkly, though wavered his voice at the end. “Though it is clear at some point they controlled the airfield, Eliza and I could find no current basis for her findings.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, pausing for a moment as Hispano pulled her talons back and slumped in her seat. “How do you know the Steel Rangers used to control the place, but not know if they’re there now?”

Just the mention of the Rangers forced Hispano’s brow to perk up, but from the look of disgust across her beak, it wasn’t hard to tell her feelings on heading into another Ranger airbase.

“It seems that all Steel Ranger iconography has recently been forcibly scrubbed from everything.” He stated rather matter-o-factly. Now that was weird then. “It is quite strange indeed. Tofu has suggested that maybe there was a fight, but again, Eliza and I could find no solid evidence to corroborate that theory. As such, I am requesting that you join us on our trip there. If the rangers still hold it, Tofu is sure she can convince them to help us repair the Arcturus. However, if it is no longer in direct control of the Rangers...”

“Right, they’ll want who’s in charge to take up the negotiations.” I sighed and literally watched as the last spark of hope left Hispano’s now nearly blank gaze. “Alright, maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll be a fast meet and greet. Hispano and I will head back to the Remora, and…”

“Fuck off, Night.” With a huff, Hispano grabbed her sister and slid out from our booth. “You want to prioritize other shit and brush me off again, then fine!”

“Hispano, you know it’s not like that.” I didn’t want to say she was wrong, but why couldn’t she just understand that repairing the Arcturus was more important? That it was something that needed to get done, and that our little vacation could wait.

“I don’t care, Night. Do whatever the fuck you want.” She grumbled as she slung her sister over herself and gave a few sharp flaps of her wings. “I’ve got my own job to do.”

Without giving me a chance to talk again, she kicked herself up into the air and took off through the cafeteria door.

Slumping back in my own seat, I wanted to scream out in frustration. Instead I slammed my hoof onto the table hard enough to chip it, and the whole room grew quiet for a moment. A hundred eyes glanced over at me, and for once, I didn’t want to disappear from their judgmental gazes. I wasn’t in the wrong here! The Arcturus is more important than all of us, and it needs to be fixed sooner than later.

Celestia, this must have been how Delilah felt more than a few times with Happy, and all I could think about right now was how childish she was being…

Then again, that’s not exactly wrong, was it? Maybe it’s because she’d always felt so mature ever since we met, the fact that she’s younger than me had gotten lost in my mind somewhere. Could I really be that angry with how she was acting when so far, she’s been right on the money with how I’d treated her compared to Buck?

I didn’t want to even think I had a justifiable excuse, because that shouldn’t have mattered. Today wasn’t a day I was going to hang out with Buck and Hispano, rather, it was going to be a day Hispano got to hang out with us. And between Buck and I, we’d both basically said she wasn’t even close to being important.

“I apologize, Night, for pulling you away like this.” Ping’s voice came through my mind again, reminding me that we were still connected. “If it means anything, I do think she will get over this. Hispano has seemed quite resilient when it comes to dealing with how she feels.”

“She shouldn’t have to be, Ping.” I shook my head and started to shift myself out of my seat. “And she has every right to be upset. So after we’re done at Bow-wing, I’m going to make sure Buck and I do something to make up for today.”

“Seeing as I’m partially to blame, I’d be happy to help.” His voice came across in a way where I just knew he was wearing his awkwardly bright smile across his muzzle right now. “What did you have in mind for that?”

“I have no idea.” I shrugged as I got my hooves under me again and started to hobble towards the door.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about her, Night.” Happy offered as he sat just far enough away from the opening in the Remora’s cabin that only the tips of his hooves were sprinkled with rain. “Hispano’s a tough gal, I’m sure she can handle herself on any job she happens to get.”

The magnetic seal to the Arcturus let out a soft hum, and the Remora detached from the underbelly of the ship.

“I don’t believe that’s why Night’s upset, Happy.” Ping frowned to Happy, wincing as a wave of rain whipped against him and the rear cabin wall.

“Of course it isn’t, it’s cause she’s pissed that the big guy is down there getting laid!” Happy smirked and waggled his eyebrows. “After all, it’s not like she can just go ask Night here to scratch that particular itch.”

“It’s not like that, Happy.” I grumbled and deadpanned at him. As much as I wanted to boot him right out of the Remora, I knew he was only trying fairly poorly to keep my mind off of things. “Look, we should focus on the task ahead.”

“Right,” Tofu squeaked and meekly nodded. “Something just feels… off.” She paused and shoved her hoof against her muzzle with a whine. “Then… again, maybe that’s just because... this ship won’t stop moving…”

I didn’t want to laugh, but it had been quite some time since I’d seen her turn the shade of green that comes with a bit of light turbulence. She’d done so well acclimating to the Arcturus that her airsickness had hardly been a problem anymore, or so I’d thought. Then again, I wasn’t there when she’d gone down to the radio mast up north near Hopeville.

“Look, Night, buddy.” Happy lined up beside and slung his hoof over me, pulling me close. “I’m telling you, she’s upset because she’s pent up! Why not let her have a chance to let off some steam?”

“How? Let her sleep with you?” Again, I deadpanned at him. Seriously, now I know exactly how Delilah came to have a permanently exhausted look to her. Just why was he pushing so hard for this?

“No!” He recoiled sharply, “fuck, I am not looking for that kind of special pain in the bedroom.” With a snort, he smirked and nudged against me again. “I mean, I’ll sleep with any chick really, but I’m not that crazy ta sleep with your girl, ya dig?” I don’t know what exactly he expected me to say to that, but from the way he cleared his throat, it was obvious he wanted to move on. “I’m just sayin, I know this joint here in town where maybe we could all go and find a stranger’s bed for the night. They aren’t too pricey, and last time I came through, their mares weren’t too bad looking either.”

And there it is. The real reason behind all his begging. Luna, stay my hooves so I don’t use them to throw him overboard.

“I believe that would be called a brothel.” Ping chimed in with an oddly excited tone. Glancing over at him, he wore a creepier than average beaming smile. “The thought of visiting one is intriguing. Even a short time there may help the Factory further understand average pony behavior and mannerisms.”

“Heh, for a few caps, you can always do a bit more than just look.” Happy glanced over at Ping with his own wide grin before twisting his muzzle for a moment. “Wait, can you even do more than just look?”

“We aren’t going to a brothel!” I huffed and carefully separated myself from his side. “Besides, I thought you were going to stop giving in to those sorts of behavior.”

“I did!” Happy spat as he wheeled around on me again. “I haven’t slept with anypony in I don’t even know how long now, and that’s basically a record for me!” He flailed his forehooves dramatically before crossing them against his barrel with a snort. “Plus, I practically gave up drinking for the most part, so I think I’m entitled to a little reward as well, okay?”

I hated to admit it, but... he was right. After our talk in the Factory, he has pretty much been on the up and up, especially given we’d hit some rough patches along the way.

“I… could always go too.” Tofu squeaked, surprising both Happy and I as she jumped headfirst into the conversation with a green-tinged smile. “You know, so Hispano isn’t alone the whole night.” She was hesitant to look, but once she’d caught my gaze, she went wide eyed and offered up her best, pleading look to me. “Please? I know it would really help her relax, and… it would really help me relax too.”

Damnit, Hispano, did you have to teach her how to do that?

“Fine.” I turned my gaze out toward the grey, rain filled skies above Seaddle. Just because I gave in didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. Though, if it did help Hispano at all, then it would be worth it in the end. “We’ll see about finding Hispano and asking her, but only after we deal with getting the parts for the Arcturus.”

“I knew you’d come around, Buddy!” Happy let out a short, satisfied whinney as he wrapped his hoof around me tightly again. “Trust me about this, I know this place is going to knock your socks off! Oh! Plus, while I’m not really the guy who looks into it, I’m pretty sure they’ll have a decent selection of stallions for you if you’re feeling up to it.” Really? The urge to throw him out of the Remora was rising again… quite quickly. “Just think about it, alright? If Buck and Hispano are going to get laid, then why shouldn’t you?”

“Hey, I think that’s it.” Tofu moaned as she craned her neck to look out of the Remora’s open cabin.

Ping, Happy and I all turned our attention out and down to the sprawling ruins down below. The Bow-wing airfield was bigger than I’d expected, with the oversized runway alone almost as wide as the whole Galloway compound had been. It was the longest runway I’d ever seen, it had to be nearly three kilometers long, with it’s north tip sunk partially into the murky waters of the Seaddle waterfront. Sixteen or so massive hangars sat lining the western side of the runway, crammed close enough side by side that it was hard to tell where some of them started and others ended.

The hangars toward the southern end mostly had their main doors open. They looked absolutely packed full of different and odd looking fixed wing planes, vertibucks, various skycraft, tanks, ground equipment, you name it. Dozens of repurposed skycraft fuselages and concrete bunkers sat scattered all around, with various vehicles and shipping containers spread out between them as well. The whole place was like a collection of every oddity from the past, but none of it mattered to what stood out of place most here.

Nearly directly below us on the east side of the runway, there were hundreds of ponies moving about what looked like a dozen concrete bunkers and a large, hastily constructed camp. A large hospital tent with the Ministry of Peace logo sat near the center, and had a line of ponies wrapping around it. Opposite that, was a different line of them that looked to be standing around a makeshift canteen that was regularly doling out food to the ponies waiting.

“Wait… what symbol is that?” Tofu scrunched up her muzzle as she pointed her hoof back towards the large hangers. “That’s not anything I’ve seen allowed on Ranger buildings.”

The largest and most central Hanger had a few ponies lowered down from the roof on a platform where they were painting something. The Remora shifted it’s flight, and skewed us slightly closer as it started to slow us down. In a bid of good timing, the ponies lowered their platform to continue painting, revealing a mostly complete set of three bright red apples.

“Huh, that wasn’t here when we came through before.” Happy scratched at his head as he stared as well.

A burst of static filled my head, and both Ping and I perked up.

“Unidentified Skycraft.” The sharp, barking voice of a stallion came over the radio with the focus and cadence of a strict Steel Ranger. “This is a restricted flight zone. Unless this is an emergency, we ask that you please adjust your course and heading to vacate the area. Thank you for your cooperation.” Okay, since when did the Rangers start requesting things nicely?

“This is definitely weird. Those look like civilians down below us.” Tofu grumbled before the Remora changing direction again made her cover her muzzle with both hooves. “We need to get down there, Captain. I’m sorry, but I literally need to figure it out before it bugs me to death.”

“This is the crew of the Remora,” Ping’s voice called back over the radio, but as usual, he didn’t physically speak up next to us. “We are badly damaged and need to set down to assess and affect repairs. Please provide a cleared landing zone for us.”

“This is Bow-Wing tower.” A deeper voice of a stallion came back over the radio, speaking in a way that sounded either like he was incredibly depressed, or just not wanting to deal with emotions today. “Adjust your heading to zero four one and make your altitude one zero zero. Vertibuck pad four is cleared for landing, and our ground crews will be waiting to secure your craft.”

As the pony said that, Happy and I turned our sights on a small group of ponies in jumpsuits spring into action across the field. They hopped into a small square truck, with all but the driver turning their gazes up to us as we approached. They smiled and waved, but the pile of standard issue equestrian army rifles in the back with them gave me pause.

“Alright, looks like your standard Steel Ranger armed welcome.” I offered to Happy and Tofu as the Remora’s engines shifted to slowly stop us over the small concrete landing pad. “Remember, we want to have a friendly talk with them, so be nice.”

The small truck pulled up to the edge of the pad as the Remora touched down, and each of the five inside hopped out. While one of the ponies from the back wrapped one of the rifles around themselves, the others instead grabbed a few toolboxes and tools instead.

One of the group in particular caught my eye as her toolbox split open and dumped her tools across the ground. She was a grey colored, long eared donkey with a set of old world, thick framed square glasses on her muzzle. The other ponies around her laughed as they practically stepped over her, but didn’t help as she scrambled to pick up her tools. Though it was weird to see a donkey in the Rangers, the fact they didn’t care to help her did seem par for the course...

As the Remora’s engines spooled down and the wash from them drained away, the forest green colored mare who’d been driving the truck trotted over.

She was a shorter mare, about my height and build, which seemed strange for an earth pony. A tight bun of bright yellow mane was pulled back just under a red and white polka dot scarf and a set of dark welding goggles that sat strapped to her forehead. Her bright pink eyes wandered over the Remora’s rain soaked body like it was a gorgeous stallion after a hot shower. However, more than her gaze caught my attention, and I found myself staring at the same three red apples sitting painted across what had once been the logo on a standard Steel Ranger’s jumpsuit.

“Wow, this is one interesting machine you’ve got here.” She laughed before turning her attention down to Happy. With a cant of her head, her smile widened and she held her hoof out to him. “Can’t say I’ve ever met a mule with such a unique piece of tech before. My name is Captain Fowler, but you can just call me Ducky if you’d like.”

“At least they didn’t have any tin soldiers here to greet us.” Happy muttered under his breath to me before stepping forward himself. I had to hoof it to him, he had me there. Being under the guns of power armored rangers had definitely been the low point of hanging around at Galloway. Happy smiled and held out his wooden hoof to the young officer, and quickly received a hesitant glance at it. “Not to worry, it’s not contagious.” He smiled wider to her, and after another moment, she took it lightly in her fetlock and offered a quick shake. Happy let out a laugh as he looked over at the Donkey finally making her way over to us. “Yeah, our craft here is one of a kind, and let me tell you, she’s pretty amazing if I say so myself.”

“Hi there,” I offered, doing my best to hobble forward. “We…”

That was as far as I’d made it before Tofu all but shoved me out of the way.

“Okay, enough’s enough!” She blurted out as she stomped her way forward, doing to Happy the same as she’d done to me. “Yeah, so, what the hell is going on here? Those uniforms aren’t regulation, you’ve stripped all of the logos from everything.” Flailing her hoof towards the other side of the runway, she let out a deep huff. “And while I’m all for helping out the locals, you literally don’t even have the civvies cordoned off in a secure area! You’re just asking for the scribes to start bitching about missing tech if you ask me. Are they sleeping on the job, or just literally that incompitant?”

As she spoke, the other rangers who’d been in the process of setting their tools down, stopped and looked at each other. One by one, I noticed that each one glared needles at Tofu before turning and heading back toward their truck. As soon as the first one had, I felt my stomach drop out.

“Tofu, I’m sure it’s nothing.” I offered, reaching forward to Happy. I did my best to guide him to take a step back, and from the way he glanced back at me, I think he knew something was up too.

However, both of us stopped when we heard thumping. Even Tofu seemed to go quiet for a moment as we listened to heavy hoofbeats coming from the backside of the Remora. Unsurprisingly, a pony in a suit of power armor came trotting around toward the other rangers, with its occupant heaving and wheezing through the helmet mic.

“Sorry…” The stallion panted and heaved in the suit, holding his massively armored hoof up as he caught his breath. “I… ran from hanger two… as fast as I could.” Weirdly though, their power armor didn’t look like the other ranger armor I’d seen. It was… painted.

“What the fuck is this?” Tofu gasped and held her hoof out at the armor. “Red trim? A painted tri-apple cutie mark? I’m not even literally a full scribe and even I know you’re violating at least three whole sections of chapter tenants! You might as well have literally painted a big bullseye on him while you were at it! Has your elder gone mad? I know that the codex can be interpreted loosely sometimes, but what sort of sad excuse of a Ranger base is this!”

“Oh, I take it you haven’t heard then…” Ducky winced and bit her lower lip as the rangers coming up behind her grabbed their rifles, and swiftly leveled them at us. “There was a slight disagreement on ethics between Elder Pilaf and Head Scribe Fenestron, and well… there’s been a change in management. You see, we’re the Applejack’s Rangers now, and while we’re more than willing to help anypony in need, we don’t take kindly to threats.” With a smirk she reached over and gave Tofu a quick few pats on the head. “So why don’t you calm yourself down and come quietly. We have some questions we’d like you to answer for us.”

Author's Note

Yet another big thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in going over these chapters!

And of course, thanks to Kkat for creating FoE and letting us all run around with our own stories in this fun little universe.