Patriots are the easiest ponies to deceive, and the hardest to defeat.

“Goddesses, don’t you ever wash these things?”

Hispano took the words right out of my muzzle while I was too busy trying not to gag. Thankfully, our captors complied, and we found the burlap sacks pulled from our heads.

“Finally!” She grumbled and immediately wrestled against the hoofcuffs binding her to an old metal chair. “Now if you’d just let us go, I’ll pretend like you all didn’t make a huge mistake tonight.”

“Keep quiet.” The unicorn mare who’d removed our hoods grunted as she stuffed them into the saddle bags she wore over her burlap robes. I couldn’t make out any features of the mare wearing them, but what I did see was the wide smile across her muzzle as she turned away. “Because speaking out of turn with Red Velvet will be the real mistake.”

The Ranger turned and left, using her magic to shut the door to the small office behind her. In the light that pushed through the half-mold covered window, I could barely make out the word ‘Metro Security’ written in it.

While deep down I was afraid that Hisapano’s haphazard antagonizing might get us into more trouble with the rangers, the fact was, we were already deep in it. That’s why I didn’t fight my own bindings, and instead looked around the small, dimly lit room we’d been escorted into.

The damp walls around us were painted a neutral grey-blue, and held a few tarnished old world documents and awards on it. A few old, curled posters from the ministries still clung to the walls, as well as a few posters detailing Seaddle Metro Security procedures that were at best barely legible. Blinking, I turned my gaze on the rusty desk in front of me and found a busted terminal on it, along with an old rolodex and moldy leather bound log books.

A steady set of drips came from the many cracks in the ceiling, showing that even where we were underground wasn’t entirely safe from the relentless evening rain in the city above. Each drip pooled in the rusted bottom of the half remaining wire mesh wastebasket next to my hindleg. Sitting in the puddle, was the tarnished remains of an old police badge. A fitting representation of the joke that any semblance of honest authority had become in the wastes.

“You know, Night?” Hispano huffed as she continued to struggle with her cuffs, “I’m getting real tired of being a ‘guest’ of the Rangers. It’s not fun anymore.”

“Funny, I thought the exact same thing at the airfield.” Hanging my head, I wasn’t really surprised by this. Sure we’d made progress, but I guess they hadn’t taken the whole ‘mailmare’ ride well if they went out of their way to find and capture us.

Still, something about it didn’t sit right with me, and the more I thought about it, the less this made any sense. How did they find us so quickly? Why’d they jump on incapacitating us rather than negotiating? Sure, Ducky had been harsh in her treatment of us at first, but by now, all the other rangers would’ve been told...

“Specifically, were you speaking of the Bow-wing ones?”

The voice of that power armored stallion popped up in my head again. The way he’d phrased that, if he was asking us about the Bow-wing Rangers, he wasn’t one of them. And that means… these are Pilaf’s Rangers.

“Oh fuck.” I groaned and wanted to slam my face down on the rusty desk before me. Either thankfully or unfortunately, the chair I was cuffed to made that incredibly hard to do. On top of not wanting to spend time with any more Steel Rangers in the wastes, I was starting to understand why Hispano didn’t like those Zebra mystics. And she just had to be right about me always showing up at the ‘right’ place and time.

“What, Night?” Hispano sighed and deadpanned at me.

“The Rangers at the Airfield split a few weeks ago. Some sort of pseudo-civil war.”

“So these guys aren’t the same ones you talked with?” I could literally see a bit of her smugness die off in that moment, only to be replaced with a more stoic and serious look about her. “Tell me what you know of them.”

“How rude.” The voice of a mare called out through the door. With a flash of magic and a slight ‘pop’ from the air, the mare teleported herself inside. Immediately, she glowered at Hispano and wagged a forehoof at her. “That is my question to ask the two of you. I am Sentinel Red Velvet, and I’ll be asking the questions here.”

The mare who’d appeared was smaller than I was, and wore a nicer set of robes than any Ranger I’d seen yet. The lush red fabric was perfectly matched to the coat of the mare underneath, and the spotless white trim matched the bit of braided mane that hung out from under its hood. A thick rimmed pair of round glasses sat tucked up high on the mare’s slightly grey-tipped muzzle, almost magnifying the strawberry red attentive eyes sitting behind them.

“Oh… oh dear.” Her gaze softened as she whimpered and let her eyes wander across my body. “What have they done to you? I’m so… so sorry.” Carefully, she stepped forward toward me with a disheartened frown, but a kind tone in her voice. “But don’t you worry, I’ll get you out of here soon enough.”

Oh thank Celestia somepony here could see something had gone wrong with this whole situation.

“Please, I don’t…” As soon as those words left my muzzle, I was struck right across the muzzle by the mare. My mind and body recoiled from the instant aggression she displayed, making me question for a moment just what the hell had even happened.

“You will be quiet!” She snapped with a sharpness to her words that could have taken my head right off.

What the hell!? Did she, or did she not care that we were wrongly taken prisoner?

The distressed mare sat down in front of my chair and carefully brought her forehooves up. I watched them skim over the hoofcuffs binding my foreleg, and I held my breath as it looked like she was going to let me out. But her hooves kept traveling upward tracing along my skin until they came to rest on the cold metal of my augmented eye.

“What a shame.” She whispered like she was lamenting the death of a dear friend. “Why did a masterpiece like you have to go and be wasted on a pile of garbage like a pegasus?”

Oh, well… that sounds a bit harsh. Now, I get that not all ponies were fans of us pegasi after what we apparently did, but this mare didn’t even know me!

“Look, I think there’s been some sort of mis…”

“I said QUIET!” She seethed as she brought her hoof down against my nose hard. It snapped my muzzle shut and pulled a whimper from me. “Do not speak again or I will give the order to flay the skin from your pathetic muzzle.” Between the way she’d looked at my eye, and her hollow tone to me, I came to a fairly quick understanding. This was definitely going to turn into another whole Coconut Curry thing.

Actually, given what I’d heard from the Bow-wing rangers, this was sounding more and more like the type of rangers Boiler and Howitzer talked about existing. I guess we had to run into their kind at some point. Though while I’d thought those two might have embellished their stories like most other ones they’d told, this being the exception... was not quite what I’d expected.

“Don’t worry, I will free you from this rotting flesh prison.” With a light touch, the hint of a smile tugged at her cheeks as she stared into my metal eye. “As soon as I get the answers I require.”

“Like hell you will.” I mumbled and glared at her.

To her credit, she shifted just enough under her robes that I never saw the hit to my gut coming until after it impacted. A breathless gasp left my muzzle as my sight fuzzed and I doubled over in my seat. Goddesses she’s strong.

Glancing up at her with as sharp a glare as I could muster, I realized why. Unlike most of the robed Ranger’s we’d met, this one wasn’t a unicorn. Sure she had a horn and magic, but… she hit me harder than even Happy could, and he’s freakishly strong when he wants to be...

“You don’t even realize what you’ve got clinging to your worthless body, do you?” She got to her hooves and took a step back from me. “The best minds ponykind ever had created perfection to help the true patriots of Equestria. And you think some traitorous bird like yourself has the right to use it like a toy.”

As I finally got control of my lungs again, I forced myself to sit up again. Well, at least she had the same love of hearing herself talk that some of the other monsters I’d had the fortune of encountering on this trip. Hell, now that I know Solomon’s alive, maybe I should introduce them. I bet they’d have a blast seeing which one of them could expel more bullshit than the other…

“You turkeys are just like any other wastelander.” She smirked and glanced over at Hispano for just a moment, but then let her eyes come right back to my own. “You think that just because something's been sitting on a dusty shelf for a century or two you think it's yours. But then somepony from where you’re from could never appreciate old world tech, could you?”

“What’s that supposed to…?” The words tumbled from my muzzle, leaving it wide open by the time the mare’s strong swing came in at my gut again. My vision fuzzed more, and the medical warning flashed up for only a moment before disappearing again.

“She thinks you’re Enclave.” Hispano spat out.

“Points for the hatchling.” The mare smirked, turned, and then hit Hispano across the beak. Again, her swing was faster than I’d expected, but it exposed her just long enough to see that she wasn’t using a power hoof, and her leg wasn’t all that impressively muscled under her robe either. “However, you are done speaking unless I ask you a question.”

Hispano did her best to shake off the hit, and tweaked her beak as she shot a burning glare at the mare.

This was going to get me hit, but it’s worth it…

“Leave her alone.” I growled out. “You want someone to abuse? Then take your anger out on me…”

“No.” The mare swung her hoof up and pointed at me. Her muzzle twisted into a crooked smile as she leaned forward and gave my nose a light tap with her lithe hoof. Definitely not somepony who should be that strong... “I'm not angry at her. Why should I be when it's in their nature to lie, cheat, and take whatever they can?” She pulled her hoof back as she sat down again, but this time took a more ridged stance as her words turned cold and empty. “See, the thing about all you feathered types is... you were born to fly, not to think. Built to chase shiny things that aren’t yours and horde them in some filthy nest.”

“So…” Taking the chance of getting her to lash out again, I smirked. “Is being racist just your thing, or are the rest of your…”

To be fair, I’d made it farther than I’d expected.

“It's not racism, it's a fact of science!” She growled as she sprung up and hammered me across the muzzle. I could have sworn that somewhere, between the blinding stars in my eyes and the pain bleeding through my nose and talisman, that something was terribly wrong with this mare. “You don’t deserve to be considered part of ponykind. And the real Steel Rangers will soon enough wipe your impurities from the face of Equestria.” Shaking her hoof, she snarled at the sight of my blood sticking to her fetlock. “You may be filth, but I really do wish you’d be able to see that fight happen, and just how easily we’ll crush every last one of you.”

Goddesses, she really was like a miniature Coconut Curry wasn’t she? I guess I really didn’t appreciate how lucky we’d been to not run into more Rangers like these in the north. Then again, if there were more than just Coconut at Galloway, then I’m not sure there would even have been a north at all.

Still, she had the same problem as Curry, in that she was just so damned sure of herself.

“You’ll lose that fight.” I offered to her with as much of a bloody smile as I could manage. “Just like you lost the airfield.”

That got to her. Her legs trembled, and the longer my words sat with her, the more it looked like it literally worked its way under her skin. Finally, with a roar, she reared up to strike, and I did my best to cringe for the coming onslaught.

With a twist, she spun mid-swing and her hooves missed me, instead blindsiding Hispano. The first hit was hard enough that it snapped her head sideways with enough force that she nearly pulled her chair over onto the floor. The second and third hit made sure it tipped, and Hispano crashed down onto the damp carpet.

“Stop!” I didn’t know what else to scream at her. “Please, stop!” She… she shouldn’t have turned on Hispano. Why would she?

The mare screamed again, and just… kept swinging. My gut twisted and turned every time her hooves connected with Hispano, and after the first dozen hits, Hispano just… stopped flinching. It was all over in maybe twenty seconds, but… watching each furious swing made it feel like it drug on for hours.

Taking a single staggering step back, the mare sat down hard with blood coating her fetlocks. No… no way some skinny mare could beat Hispano to death. She was tougher than that.. tougher than me.

“Whew…” The mare sighed as she took a moment to breath deeply in and out a few times. “Sorry about that.” She smiled and lifted her bloody hoof up to brush back the parts of her white mane that had worked its way free of her robe’s hood. “I just… couldn’t stand staring at such an offensive face anymore.” As she shoved her hair back however, she inadvertently pushed her hood down, and I could see the fact that her ears were longer than normal. Longer than any pony’s ears.

“You’re a mule.” I couldn’t believe it. No wonder she was stronger and faster than I’d expected, I should have fucking guessed it! “You’re not even a real pony! You’re a goddess damned hypocrite!”

“No.” She lashed out with her words, but beamed a more profoundly twisted smile than before. “I am a Steel Ranger, like any other. A tool of righteousness to correct the corrupt hearts of ponykind by cutting away all that could drag it down into the darkness again. To my last breath, I will build our future. One of your kind will never understand our work.”

Shifting on her haunches, she picked herself up and carefully pulled her hood back over her head. Turning away from me, I could see her muzzle relax back to a neutral expression, like nothing she’d done even mattered.

‘You’re right though, I am a hypocrite.” She sighed before wrapping her hoof around the door handle. “But I’d still rather be a hypocrite half-pony with a dedicated and noble purpose, than a mutant like you.”

“I’m still a pony.”

“Are you though? Let’s review.” Even from where she stood, I could see her eye tick slightly. “Darker coloration on your… remaining lower hooves than your normal coat color is wrong. Stunted feather growth boosted by artificial means, along with signs that you’ve outright regrown a wing, which is wrong. Mottled skin pigmentation indicates exposure to radiation and chaotic magics extensive enough to have compromised your very cells. Which again, is wrong.” Pausing, again, she wore the smallest of smiles. “You used to be a pony. Now? I’m fairly certain I’ll be doing you a favor tonight by ending your wretched existence, mutie. But first, I need information.”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything?” I didn’t know how far I would be able to push this crazy mare, but I had to risk it. We needed some sort of opening I could take advantage of to get the upper hoof and get Hispano and I the fuck out of here.

Opening the door, she waved in a ranger. The stallion wasn’t particularly big or mean looking, but did wear painted over equestrian army combat armor over his robes. He gave a satisfied grunt as he stepped past the mare and used his hoof to draw a long, thin baton with a pair of metal tips forking out at the end. With a grip of his fetlock around a button, the rod crackled with magical sparks.

“Best answer Sentinel Velvet’s questions, girl.” The stallion’s sharp tone gave me the feeling that, like the mare, he didn’t care about us at all. With a smirk on his face, he pointed the shock prod at me and pressed it up against my augment. “Or don’t, I don’t give a shit. Just means more fun for me.”

“Wait, don’t...!” Sentinel Velvet called out as she basically leapt across the room at the stallion.

The sharp jolt the prod gave as he squeezed it’s grip again only lasted for a second, but it forced my back to arch and my wings to flare out hard against the chair I was in. My augment fuzzed and flashed up a dozen warnings that I couldn’t even focus on. Honestly, the pain sucked, but a small saving grace was watching as the Ranger mare decked the stallion right across the muzzle.

“You moron!” She snapped at him, tearing the prod from his hoof and turning it against the reeling stallion. “You could have permanently damaged the tech! And you call yourself a scribe.” With a merciless scowl pressed across her face, she gave the stallion a pair of long shocks with his own tool. “Fucking pick yourself up, stand at the door, and wait for me to finish, you incompetent oaf, or I’ll have you demoted back to file clerk duty tomorrow morning!”

“Y-yes, sir!” The stallion whimpered and scrambled to pick himself up.

My attention shifted back to the mare, who had closed her eyes and was seemingly trying to focus and calm herself.

We had a small problem now. This wasn’t a mare who would provide an opportunity for me to exploit. From that display, I got the feeling that she wasn’t the type to slip up in situations like this. No, our best bet of getting out of here alive meant waiting to try to convince somepony who could still be sympathetic to help us out. But that would take time, and it meant we’d have to go through this interrogation first.

“Now,” Sentinel Velvet straightened herself out and put on a small, but empty smile. “I’m owed some answers…”

And if the worst came to pass, and I couldn’t find an opportunity? Well, I just hope that Buck and the others would come charging in to save us. Yes, because having them assault an entire base of Rangers just to save us is definitely an option that wouldn’t end in disaster...

Please, Celestia, don’t let it come to that...

Stuffed back under the cover of the headsack again, I was led through the winding metro complex by more Ranger soldiers. I couldn’t be sure, but I’d hoped that one of the two guarding me had picked up Hispano. Wherever they were taking me, I probably wouldn’t have long to figure a way for us to get out of this place.

More so, we had to get back to the Rangers at the airfield. I don’t care how well intentioned the Elder was, these rangers made Coconut Curry look sane by comparison. No matter what was offered, if Sentinel Velvet was anything to go off of, these rangers weren’t ever going to listen to reason. Goddesses, why the fuck did we always have to stumble into these sorts of ponies?

Oh right, because it’s your destiny, Night! Not a curse, but destiny.

Though I couldn’t see anything outside of my hood really, a wave of cold air hit me as we turned a corner. What little light that bled through dimmed as whatever room we’d entered was kept fairly dark. The smell of rust, rot, and decay crept in under the hood, and I had to fight myself not to recoil on the spot.

“Hey, keep it moving.” One of the stallion’s escorting me snapped and shoved me forward.

I barely made it another few steps before something grabbed me by the neck and hooves and pinned me in place where I stood. Fuck, did they want me to move or not!?

The sound of a heavy latch flipping, along with the squelch of old metal filled the air. The pressure around my hooves and neck disappeared, and for a moment, I was left wondering what to do.

“Get in there.” The guard snapped again from my side.

Something slammed into me. I tried to keep on my hooves, but they caught on something and I came down hard onto the cold, concrete floor. The soldiers laughed as my head slammed down and again filled my vision with stars. Before I could pick myself up, the bag was ripped off my head just in time for me to see a magical aura holding Hispano’s unconscious form above me.

The soldier’s magic cut out, and she came down right on top of me.

“You fucking featherbrains have fun rotting in there for the night.” One of the soldiers called out as his horn glowed. The metal barred door I’d tripped through swung shut hard, and latched. A lock floated into view and was quickly snapped in place. “We’ll see you bright and early, so don’t go anywhere!”

“Fuck, don’t tell me they want us up early to deal with this garbage.” The other Ranger sighed as they turned away from the door. “This shit’s already taken me past my normal bunk time, and now we’ve got the early shift?”

“Hey, so we drew the short straws on this one, so what? You afraid you’ll miss all the action tomorrow?”

“Kinda?” The stallion sighed again as their voices drifted back out the door to the larger room these cells were in. “I just want to hit them where it hurts, you know?”

As their conversation became too muffled to hear, I finally took a long, deep breath to try to relax. Pushing whatever they were talking about aside, I focused on what was more important right now. As carefully as I could, I shifted Hispano off of me and onto the floor.

Her breathing was slow, and there was a soft wheeze to it, but she was alive. The light of wherever we’d been stuck wasn’t good enough for me to see more than just the outline of her face. What I could see of it was so bruised and matted with blood that it was hard to see just how bad a shape she was in.

“I’m sorry, Hispano.” I whispered to her as I reached over and pulled myself tightly against her.

“Me too…” She whispered back to me, followed with a soft groan as she reached up and gripped my hoof tightly with her talon. “Oh fuck that sucked…”

“You… you’re awake!” Thank Celestia above, she was going to be okay!

“You know I’m tougher than that. She hit like a wimp.” She moaned as she moved to push herself up. As she did, her talon slipped and she collapsed against me again. “A fairly strong wimp…”

“Hey, take it easy. You’re tough, sure, but not invincible.” I offered to her as I did my best to help her prop herself up again. “I’m just… glad you’re alright.”

“I’ll be alright when we get out of this nightmare.” She winced and nearly flopped over again, but held onto me tight instead. “The question now is… where are we?”

A soft gasp came from behind the two of us.

“Oh thank you, Celestia!” The raspy ghoul behind us pulled himself to his hooves as Hispano and I noticed the room tinting a bright balefire green. “They stuck me in this cell two days ago without anypony else, but now I won’t die alone! My name is Beam Bright, but my friends just call me Bright!”

We both shifted ourselves as the glowing Unicorn stepped towards us. Unlike the few glowing creatures I’d seen so far, this guy was slightly different. Mostly because the glow wasn’t coming from his veins or exposed muscle. Rather his bones and joints glowed so intensely that they showed right through his body. The only part of him that wasn’t glowing, was the nubby horn that stuck up above a tightly clamped anti-magic ring. If it weren’t for the excited pair of green eyes darting between Hispano and I, I might have accidentally thought he was a Rot addict.

Hispano acted quickly, holding out one talons towards the stallion while trying to pull the two of us back.

“Hey, hey, that’s far enough, buster.” She hissed at him. “Keep your glow over there with you.”

“Wait… you aren’t like me?” The ghoul blinked a few times before looking down at his own glowing hooves with a note of panic. With an energetic spring, he took a few steps back until he had pressed himself up against the wall. “Oh, oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you weren’t ghouls. I didn’t mean you any harm, I swear!”

“It’s… it’s fine.” Hispano grumbled as she pulled herself shakily up onto all fours. “No, we aren’t ghouls, and we’d like to stay that way.” Spinning around slowly, she and I took a look at this ‘cell’ we were in.

Just from what I could see, I could tell that this room hadn’t been here originally. The hasty job somepony had done on using a plasma torch on the steel walls and ceiling had left gaps between the poor welding job that somepony else had followed up with. The quality spoke volumes that the Rangers here must have built these cells in a hurry. Just enough work to hold a few ponies inside no matter how strong they were, but nothing more.

“If only Buck were here…”

“Where’s Buck when you need him?” Hispano sighed at the same time I spoke.

The two of us froze up, glancing at each other as light, but painful smiles pulled across our bruised faces. Despite everything that happened today, despite the bruises we wore, either on our skin or mentaly, that’s the one thing that hadn’t changed. The three of us knew we needed each other.

“Alright, Dum Dum.” Hispano sat down and crossed her talons across herself. “We need a plan.”

Pushing myself to my hooves, I made my way toward the barred door of our makeshift cell. Running my hooves along the poorly cut metal, I gave it a push, finding it as I’d figured, more solidly constructed than it looked. Instead, I pushed my gaze outside our cell to see what else we had around.

The room the cell had been constructed in was dark, but the few still humming fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling gave me some sense of size and purpose. What looked like an old fashioned pair of steam boilers sat along the far wall, behind another set of cells just like ours. Hundreds of old, rusty and leaky pipes ran out from the boilers, up along the walls and across the ceiling like a giant spiderweb. Okay, we were in a boiler room. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

My eyes wandered back to the other cells I could see. While theirs seemed to be as hastily constructed as ours, maybe one of theirs had a flaw they could exploit. That is, if any occupants of those cells could be convinced to help, which as I’d slowly learned in the wastes, was a big ask...

The closest to us held a few ‘normal’ looking ghouls in it. Though, with the blank expressions on the faces of the few I could see, they were either incredibly tired, or had gone feral at some point.

The next closest cell seemed to be empty, or at least whoever was inside was seated far enough away from the slatted door that I couldn’t see them.

The farthest cell however, made me freeze up. A set of eyes peered through the shadows just beyond their door. The turquoise eyes that had locked onto me were tired, and from the steady glare they gave, they sent a chill down my spine. It was a gaze filled with a rage unparalleled by anything else known to me, or ponykind for that matter. The eyes shifted slightly closer toward the door, letting the dim room lighting illuminate the heavily bruised white coat and anti-magic ringed unicorn horn of the pony they belonged to.

“Rook.”

The one, seething word slipped from my muzzle as a black-hearted grin pulled across his muzzle.

A million thoughts raced through my head as my hooves wrapped around the barred door of our cell.

How do I get out of this cell? How do I get into his? How good will it feel when I strangle the last bit of life out of his smug fucking muzzle? My hooves squeezed at the bars unbearably tight as the last thought finally had it’s turn to come to light.

Why was he here in the first place?

“Sir, you are not going to believe this.” The venomous words slipped through Rook’s muzzle as it looked like he spoke in a way as to not disrupt the ear-to-ear grin threatening to split his head in half. “Guess who's likewise become a guest of our esteemed captors?”

I could feel my body pull myself against the door, muscles tightening in anticipation of once more seeing the one living being in the wastes I wanted to tear apart more than anything. Of course, Solomon strode up to the door of his cage like he wasn’t a prisoner. My hoof squeezed at the iron bars of my cell as he stood tall and proud, like he was still royalty. Worst of all, the moment his eye caught sight of me, the infuriating smug look he always wore spread across his slightly bruised muzzle.

“Well, what a pleasant turn of events.” Solomon’s words sent my pulse through the roof, and my body pressed against our cell door. If I could just get out of this cell, I would tear him apart with my own hooves. “It seems there is justice in the world after all.”

“Don’t you dare talk about justice.” I snapped at him and slammed my hoof on the door. “If there was any, you’d already be in the dirt ten times over.”

Solomon’s smug look diminished from that, and he let his sad gaze soak in my rage.

“Ah, no witty comeback? No calm and collected retort? After all we’ve shared, you offer just petty insults? Such a pity.” He shook his head and looked back at Rook who mirrored his look of disappointment. “It seems these Steel Rangers have beaten the adventurous adversarial spirit I so admired right out of you. I have greatly overestimated you as an adversary, Night Flight. Mrs. Delilah would be so disappointed…”

“Don’t fucking say her name!” I screamed at him and slammed my body against the door. “You don’t ever get to say her name you fucking bastards!”

“Oh look, sir,” Rook stifled a chuckle with his hoof, “I do believe you’ve touched on a nerve.”

I slammed myself against the door again with every bit of anger I still had left, and my augment fuzzed out for a moment. Pain lanced across my wreck of a body, and I nearly tumbled back onto the ground as I felt completely spent. If not for Hispano’s strong grasp catching and holding me up, I might have been fine with collapsing into a heap and giving up.

“If you’re not going to fuck off and die, then the least you could do is shut the fuck up.” She seethed through her beak as she held onto me as if a light breeze would cause me to fly away forever. “I don’t fucking like it, but we’re all in the same situation. So maybe for once, instead of antagonizing each other, we should try to work together to find a way out of it.”

“This is perfect!” Beam Bright spoke up in a sing-songy voice, "We're off, on the road to friendship!"

“We’re not FRIENDS.” All four of us shouted at nearly the same time, forcing Beam Bright to whimper and shrink down to the floor.

When he did, I watched as a glowing, red-hot outline of him in the back wall slowly faded away, and it sent a realization through me.

“How did I not see it before? Bright’s hot.” I blinked and turned my attention back to the rushed weld job securing the door to our cell.

“Night, now is not the time to add another weird fetish to your list.” Hispano groaned as she let go of me, nearly letting me fall to the floor again.

“No, no!” I gasped as I caught myself with my forehoof and nodded to Bright. “His glow creates heat, even with the anti-magic ring on his horn.”

“Y-yeah?” Bright nodded as he shared the same confused look plastered across Hispano’s face right now. “Those of us who are oversaturated with magical radiation attenuate our body’s glow to help ourselves maintain our health. The ring just stops me from casting spells.”

“So you can change how bright you glow at will?” I asked as I pushed myself to my hooves and did my best to coax Hispano towards Bright.

“Well, yes, but it would put you both in danger if I got much brighter.” He frowned deeper with each step I took closer to him. “S-stay back, I already can’t dim myself any further right now.”

“Night, what are you doing?” Hispano huffed and grabbed around my wing with her talon, dragging me to a stop. “Do you want magical radiation poisoning?”

“No, I want to get us out of here.” I offered and wrenched myself from her grasp. With another step forward, Beam gasped and pushed himself along the back wall to try to keep distance from us. “Look, we’re going to sit by the back wall, but I want you to stand by the door.”

“Okay, but… why?” Beam Bright nodded and quickly worked his way along the wall towards the front of the cell.

“Wait, that’s your plan?” Hispano gasped, this time grabbing my wing to drag me towards the back wall as she pressed herself up against it. “You think he can melt through the door? It’s made of steel, Night. We’d sooner catch fire if he could put out that much heat.”

“We don’t need to melt the door,” I sat down against the wall and used my hoof to point at the edges of it. “He just needs to weaken the welds holding the frame to the walls.”

“B-but,” Beam gasped with a horrified look across his face, “I can’t direct my glow! Putting out that much will irradiate you two far too much. It could kill you!”

“You think the Steel Rangers won’t?” I shook my head at him. “We can deal with the rad sickness once we’re out of here. But we’ll never get out without your help, Beam.” I could see the conflict behind his eyes. He wasn’t about to die in this cage, but even with our consent, he wasn’t about to so easily condemn a couple of strangers to a painful death.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” He nodded and sat down hard in front of the door. “But only if we free everypony.” With a sharper than expected glare, he stared right into my eyes. “Everypony works together to get each other out. Agreed?”

“Master Solomon and I find those terms, amenable.” Rook called out. A few of the ghouls in the cages around us likewise chimed in with affirmations as well.

Honestly, if anything, it was at least nice to see another pony defying the wasteland in favor of trying to do better and work together. It’s just a shame that’s not the kind of pony we needed right now.

“We all get out.” I nodded to Beam.

With a nod of his own, he closed his eyes and looked to focus himself. It didn’t take him more than a few slow, deep breaths before his glow started to brighten. The dampness in the air, and the cold numbness of the concrete under my hooves began to disappear as things started to heat up. A magical radiation warning came up in my vision, which I tried my best to ignore.

“You got a plan once we’re out, Dum Dum?” Hispano asked as she held onto my forehoof tightly.

“I hadn’t given any thought to it,” I muttered and scrunched up my muzzle. “but figured we’d get out first and then… I guess create a distraction?” Shrugging to her, I figured that like usual, we’d just wing it. “Can’t be hard to pull their attention away for a bit, right?”

Though, I guess it also depended on how much time it takes to get through the door, and how sick we are on the other side. Which, now that I think of it, might be a problem. What if we’re too sick to fight if we need to? There’s a whole base worth of rangers down here, and they aren’t just going to let us walk out of here.

Looking over at Hispano, I realized that if there was any chance to fight us out of here, she’d couldn’t be busy throwing up from rad sickness.

Shifting myself, I pushed away from the wall and spun myself out in front of her. Even only one step forward, I could feel the difference in the strength of Beam’s radiance on my wings and back. Yet another radiation warning popped up in my eye, this time flashing bright red. Planting my hooves on the concrete as the heat behind me intensified, I leaned in and pinned her back against the wall.

“Night, what are you doing!?” Her talons grabbed around my sides as she tried to shove me over. “Get your flank back against the wall!”

“I’m going to shield you as much as I can because you need to be able to fight.” I whispered to her. Even though I could see her frustrations worming under her skin, I knew she couldn’t disagree with that.

“This better not take more than one try then.” She huffed and hit me with a guilt filled sideways glance. “I’m not going to carry your ass out of here if you get too sick.”

My augment fuzzed out completely as the room tinted completely to a sickeningly bright green color. The warmth I’d felt on my skin grew into a torturous inferno. My hind leg and wings shook as I could all but feel the fur and feathers on them curling from the blistering energy pelting them. With a final flare as bright as Celestia’s great sun, the glow finally began to dim, and my augment booted back up. The sharp burning sensation dimmed down into a stiff, ebbing uncomfortableness in my back, but it allowed me to let out a breath I’d been holding.

“That… that should be good.” Panting and heaving, I could hear as Beam Bright stumbled back from the door.

“My turn.” Hispano huffed as she carefully moved me to the side. With a sharp flare of her wings, she knelt down onto the concrete and tensed herself up. “Here goes...!”

She shot forward like a compressed spring while giving her wings one single, hard flap. I was barely able to turn my head in time to watch her slam shoulder first into the glowing door like a cannonball. Her feathers sizzled against the bars for a moment like she’d landed in a hot skillet as both the bars and the welds holding the door bulged and sagged.

She whimpered and spun in the air, kicking with her hindpaws to throw her straight back into the cell. The effort finally stressed the weakened welds enough that they tore away, and dropped the bent frame forward onto the cold floor with a slam. At the same time, Hispano flopped onto the cold concrete with a cry, sending out a puff of smoke from under herself.

A small flame crackled on one of her longer head feathers, and she quickly reached up with a talon to snuff it out.

“Once again, griffon might saves the day.” Hispano grumbled from the floor. Honestly, I was just glad she managed to actually do it. “Still, that fucking sucked.”

“Yeah, but…” That was as far as I’d made it before my stomach twisted in my gut. With a stumble forward, the radiation in me threw a glowing thin line of yellow colored bile out of my muzzle. “Ugh… that’s new.” I’d never had glowing bile before, but it can’t be good…

“It… it worked.” Beam gasped as he stepped out through the still glowing, but empty door frame. “I can’t believe it.”

“Yes, now hurry and free us next!” Solomon demanded sharply.

I opened my muzzle to tell him to shut his mouth again, but as soon as I had, my stomach once again twisted in my gut. Along with the glowing bile this time, came a purplish-black grainy goop. After heaving a couple unhealthy helpings of the stuff out, my head had started to spin.

“Come on, we need to move.” Hispano’s voice in my ear was a welcomed distraction, along with the feeling of her talons helping me back to my hooves. “I don’t think we have long to find you some anti-rad meds.”

I nodded to her and let her help me step out over the swiftly cooling door of our makeshift cell. With each new step my muscles protested and felt stiffer than they ever had been, and even the dim lights above seemed to swirl slightly.

But as much as I felt like I just needed a moment to rest, Buck had warned me about this. He’d said the moment I laid down to rest in this sort of condition, I wouldn’t ever feel like getting up again. So I needed to keep moving. For his sake, for Hispano’s. For all three of us.

Still, as she turned us toward the door out of this makeshift prison, I pulled against her lead.

“Wait.” I managed to get out from my now sore throat. Turning my gaze back, I winced as the bright glow of Beam picked up next to Solomon’s cell door. “Beam…” Swallowing the feeling of needing to puke again, I was thankful to see he looked over at my call. “Thank you.” I wanted to say more, to tell him to be wary of helping Solomon, but I clamped my muzzle shut just short of throwing up.

“It won’t take long to free them all, but we’ll wait until you’ve distracted them.” Beam smiled and nodded. “Be careful out there.”

Relenting to Hispano’s helpful lead, we worked our way over to the door leading out to some bright metro maintenance hallway. With a slow and light touch, Hispano turned the handle and cracked it open. As soon as she had, the loud noise of construction and machinery echoed through the old tiled tunnels.

“This noise is good cover for the escape,” Hispano muttered to me as she adjusted her grasp to again make it easier for me to walk with her. “But, noise isn’t going to keep them from seeing us.”

“We just need to find a way out.” I offered again, feeling like my throat was on fire with each word I forced out.

“We’re not leaving with my sister.” She huffed and used her hindpaw to drag the door open for us. “No, what we need now, is a disguise. And I made certain to mentally mark a certain bitch’s office when they were dragging us here.” She pushed us out into the hall and into a slow walk. “Come on, I promise it’ll be quick.”

Honestly, I didn’t have the strength to complain, or fight. But I also didn’t want her to leave her sister here, and who knows if we left if we’d ever be able to get Suiza back. So with stiff steps and her leading the way, I kept my head high, and did my best not to look like I was about to keel over from severe magical radiation sickness.

After what felt like hours of wandering these halls, Hispano pulled us to a stop outside some rusty metal door. The inside of my head was thrumming like an arcane reactor when she brought her talon up and tapped at my sweat drenched cheeks. Just that little bit of muzzle-shaking did wonders to turn the various medical warnings in my eyes into unfocused, soupy red mush.

“Hey, you still with me Night?” Her voice barely beat out the pounding of my skull.

I opened my muzzle, but again, only soupy colors spilled out.

The world flopped end over end as I felt a solid warmth under me holding me up. Blinding radiant light filled my vision as my tired body tried to relax. I had no idea what was going on, but I was just glad to get a bit of a break.

Even though… what was I thinking earlier about breaks? Celestia, I can’t even remember because everything just feels so bad. Whatever, I’ll just lay here until I start to feel a bit better. Shouldn’t take long…

I was drowning.

Everything hurt, and I couldn’t breathe.

Coughing helped to push the liquid out of my lungs, but it also made every muscle and bone in my body feel like it was about to be torn in half.

“Suck it up, Night!” Hispano’s voice was stern as I felt an incredible pressure form around my muzzle.

The bitter taste of old plastic mixed with the copper of blood, and the retching taste of bile. With a sharp snap, my muzzle was forced up, and more liquid flooded my torn up throat. At the same moment, I felt a knife stab me between the ribs.

I couldn’t fight it and cried out, which only let the liquid in my muzzle flood my lungs again.

Wrenching her talon free of my muzzle, I doubled over and threw up. I forced out as much as I could between hacking coughs, but finally got control of my lungs. Only then did she pull one of her bloody talons back from my barrel. Fuck, what the fuck was she doing, trying to kill me?

I used my hoof to pull the packet of Radaway from my muzzle, and to wipe my teary eye clear enough to see I was in a small office-like room, laying under Hispano on a wet, velvet red carpet.

“Let’s not do that again, alright?” With a sigh, She took a deep breath and relaxed slightly. “Though I hope you’re done passing out, because we need to get moving.” With a shift of herself, she stood up and walked over me.

My eyes drifted from her, to the rest of the room. It at one point had probably been a respectable office, but it looked like the apocalypse had hit it a second time. Broken furniture, blood spatter, files strewn everywhere… this place had been through a hell of a fight.

I blinked as my eyes finally found Red Velvet slumped against the wall next to her desk. She’d been badly beaten, and half her face was nothing but a bloody, pulpy mess. Next to it was an open medkit, complete with a few empty healing potion bottles and roll of torn bandages.

With a flutter, something heavy came down through the air and covered my face.

“Come on already!” Hispano cooed roughly as I flailed at what turned out to be one of the Ranger’s crimson robes draped over me.

Holding the fabric in my hoof, I turned my gaze up toward Hispano, who quickly disappeared underneath Red Velvet’s silver trimmed robe. Before she pulled the hood up, she smiled at me through her jaundiced eyes and blood coated plumage, still slurping the last of the radaway I’d nearly choked on. Behind the fatigue in her eyes, there was a certain level of pride I don’t think any non-Talon could have ever understood.

“I know I look better than you do right now,” She adjusted the hood up so it hung over her beak enough that she could somewhat hide it. “But I don’t think these toasters will believe a griffon is their superior, let alone part of their ‘chapter’ in the first place. So I need you to do the talking for me, okay?” Carefully, she leaned and put her head to the wall as she tied off the robe with enough slack her wings wouldn’t show through. “Just try to act like I’m in a bad mood and rush us through, okay?”

“Alright…” I groaned, feeling my stomach churn with just that one word. Oh Celestia, why can’t I just be done with feeling terrible…

At that, my augment flashed on, booting up and at least dipping the pain in my body back into a cool and fuzzy nothingness. It wasn’t perfect though. With every muscle I stiffly moved, I still felt like my stomach pushed itself up into my throat.

“Oh, and Dum Dum?” Hispano twisted her beak as she caught my attention with a snap of her talons. “Try not to throw up all over the robes, it’s the only disguise we’ve got.” Going back to listening to the wall, she paused for a long moment. “Okay, I don’t hear anypony nearby. What’s the plan?”

“Well,” I grumbled as I finally managed to stiffly pull myself off the carpet covered in bile, sick and blood, and onto my hooves. “I… I figured we hit these rangers somewhere it hurts to pull their attention away from the cells.”

“That’s pretty much distraction one-oh-one, Dum Dum.” Hispano sighed and deadpanned at me. “But we’re already going to the armory. What could these toasters find more important than guns?”

Even though my head was still a bit fuzzy, glancing back at the slumped form of Red Velvet, her own words filtered back into my head.

“I’ll have you demoted back to file clerk duty!”

“I can think of one thing…”

My barrel pulled up into itself, and I again expelled a good heaping of bile out onto the floor between Hispano and I. With my augment once again stifling the pain, it was... uncomfortable to lose control of myself like that. But, to be fair, I’d rather not feel myself melting from the inside out, so I’ll deal with it. Plus, I had at least managed to mostly miss the bottom of my own robes with it, so at least I had that going for me.

“Remind me to give my thanks to a Ministry of Peace ghoul if we ever find one.” Hispano cooed as she studied the helpful Seaddle Metro maintenance tunnel diagram the M.o.P. had left plastered on almost every tunnel wall. “These posters are a lifesaver.”

The whole of the metro complex was bigger than I’d expected. The diagram showed whole interconnected sections of the old metro that had larger rooms spaced out evenly between them. Entire halls of bunks, storage warehouses, various cafeterias, medical rooms, and even a set of classrooms had been built down here during the war.

Now however, half of it had been painted over and marked as ‘impassible’, and a set of new tunnels had been hoof painted on, connecting at a few points with where I assumed the Seaddle Underground was. The main metro train tracks looked to be on the far side of the tunnels, and where most of their cargo and vehicles were being kept. It also happened to be near where the bunks, or ‘barracks’ as they’d marked it, was.

Good, then most of the Rangers would be as far from where they’d marked the ‘detention zone’ was as possible. Though, while that was true, the Armory wasn’t too far from them, and the ‘Archive’ room was even closer.

“Right… so, this way then.” She prodded her robe covered talon at a painted marker of a book on the old poster. “Archive’s just down the next tunnel.”

While the whole layout was something to behold, I was actually thankful the Rangers had left updates on the poster since they’d arrived.

I took the lead, letting her fall in behind my limping gait. As we got moving again, a pair of ponies in light blue coverall jumpsuits trotted around the corner ahead and paused when they saw us. Both Hispano and I dipped our muzzles down slightly as we approached, hoping they wouldn’t be too curious.

The two ponies both sat down hard and stiffly saluted.

“Evening, Sentinel Velvet!” Both ponies spoke in unison. “Looking forward to tomorrow’s operation.”

Looking as we passed, the jumpsuits they wore weren’t like any I’d seen any Ranger wear before. They were old and nearly ragged, but still held a logo of a smiling yellow pony silhouette, along with ‘Hoof It!’ printed in yellow letters under it.

Once Hispano and I had turned the corner, I could hear as the two ponies got to their hooves and got back to trotting down the hall away from us. Only then did I feel safe enough to tip my muzzle up again and look ahead. Several other rangers were milling and loudly chatting around a pallet jack loaded with rusty barrels down at the far end of the tunnel, but the blue painted door to the Ranger’s makeshift archive room was thankfully unoccupied and unguarded.

Trying to hurry but keep a low profile, I hobbled up to the door and quickly opened it. Of course, the two century old hinges let out a soul rending screech. It was so jarring that it almost tripped up Hispano as she turned into the open doorway. As soon as she was inside, I blinked as I realized that the hallway was completely quiet.

Giving a hesitant glance, I looked over to see the three ponies around the pallet jack staring over at me. As best I could without falling over, I used my hindleg to prop the door open and gave a light wave to them with my foreleg. My stomach chose that moment to do a few flips inside me, and as soon as they went back to chatting, I dove through the door, shut it, and promptly threw up on the carpet.

“Good job, Dum Dum.” Hispano smirked as made her way around a few stacks of boxes and a table covered in box after box of rolled up blueprints. She headed right to the back of the room, where a dimly glowing personal terminal sat crowded by yet more file-stuffed Ranger marked boxes. “Now give me a minute or two to set this up, and then we’ll double back for my sister.”

As Hispano got to work typing away at the small terminal, I wiped the sick from my muzzle and hobbled towards the cluttered nearby table. The same sort of boxes sitting on the table were stacked up ceiling high along the walls, as well as on top of rusting file cabinets that still showed the faded logo of the Seaddle Metro on them.

From what boxes were open around me, the only thing I knew for sure, was that the move into the metro must have been fast, because no box contained similar looking papers. Each box looked like they held technical diagrams, graphs and charts way too complex for me to begin to speculate what they were on. Others were pages filled with words printed in ultrafine print that I’m sure required some sort of magnifying glass to even read, mixed in with random pictures from the old world.

I cringed as a sharp, scraping sound filled the air. My attention shifted over to Hispano, who was twisting her spread talons around across the terminal screen. After gouging a rough circle into it, she pulled her talon back, balled it, and punched the screen. With a crunch, the center of the screen cracked inwards, and she quickly widened it into a nearly uniform hole.

“Alright.” She nodded, contented with herself before turning to me. “Hey, can you give me some of those scrolls?” With a snap of her talons again, she pointed at one of the open boxes on the table.

“So...” I offered as I hobbled over and pulled a few of the fairly large paper scrolls out. “How exactly is destroying a terminal screen going to start a fire?” Struggling to get my hoof securely around the five or six scrolls, one slipped out onto the floor. Hoofing the few I managed to get over into her waiting grasp, I leaned down and picked up the one I dropped.

Staring at it, I realized it was a blueprint for one of the bunkers over at Bow-wing field.

“I told the terminal to run a self diagnostic after a power cycle and talisman stress test.” Hispano spoke as she folded the scrolls over themselves before shoving them into the hole in the terminal screen. “A test which will begin in roughly five minutes, and that will bring the terminal systems to a nearly overheated state in just another minute or so after that.” With a few rough shoves, she made sure those papers were really wedged in the screen.

“That’s… pretty novel, actually!” I smirked and nodded, rolling up the blueprint in my hoof. “Did you learn that trick during Talon training?”

“Yeah, actually.” Hispano nodded as she joined me at the table. “I can show you how to do it later if you want.” With a bruised smile, she gave me a light pat on the side with her talon. “For now though, we should get moving.”

I tossed the scroll from my hoof onto the table, but paused as I looked at a blueprint that had already been pinned flat under some boxes. Like the one I picked up, it too was of Bow-wing field, but was for the layout of the main cargo container area where we’d seen all the ponies gathered for food on our way in. It was covered in marks and notes, as well as times and designations like ‘Simmer’, ‘Stew’, ‘Boil’ and ‘Bake’.

“Hey uh, what do you make of this?” I asked as she started to turn.

With a huff, she spun back around and gave a glance over the notations on the blueprint.

“Looks like a plan for an exercise, or attack.” She shrugged and began to turn, but stopped herself short. With a scrunch of her beak, she spun back and looked at the notes again. “Though… this is weird.”

“What is it?” The words tumbled from my muzzle shortly before a grumble from my stomach pushed it’s way up. Before I could even dry heave, Hispano’s talon had gripped my muzzle shut tight again.

“Do not throw up on this, Dum Dum.” She grunted while continuing to study the notes. Her eyes darted about, as if following some invisible guide. “See, that doesn’t make sense.” Releasing my muzzle, her talon swung up to a marked point in the center of the airfield map. “This is marked as the attack starting from here.”

“Yeah? Is that weird?” While I’d been able to pick up and work with a few ideas of how to plan out attacks in the wastes, I was hardly what you could call a strategic expert on the level of a Steel Ranger, or even a Talon merc.

“Yeah, I’ll say it’s weird.” She nodded and brought a talon up to her chin. “Who plans an attack from a location that you’d already have to control to be there in the first place?” Turning to me and pausing, I could tell she was waiting for me to pick up on something important she was laying out. But... I still didn’t get it, at all. With another huff, she deadpanned at me. “How is she going to attack the other rangers from inside their own own defenses?”

That, was a good point that my head was still too out of it to really think about at the moment.

The door to the room rattled hard as somepony knocked on it.

“Sentinel Velvet? Are you in here?” The dry voice of a stallion called out.

“Quick, get them to go away!” Hispano hissed at me and shoved me toward the door.

I stumbled from her shove, trying my best to hobble to the door quickly and get it open just enough that I could stick my hooded head out.

Again, the hinges screeched, making the brown coated stallion in Ranger combat armor outside it, cringe as much as I did. He was nearly twice my height, which made the armor look almost comically small as my eyes traced up his form towards his helmeted head. As soon as he nervously smiled down at me, I brought my muzzle down so he couldn’t see my face.

“Uh…” I tried to speak up. “Sentinel Velvet is occupied requisitioning an important file and is not to be disturbed.” With each new word I forced through my muzzle, I could feel my stomach inch further and further up my throat. “What do you need?”

“Doctor Prune wishes to speak with her.” The stallion replied stiffly as he leaned forward to look over me. “About the procedure she scheduled for an hour from now.”

“Procedure?”

I gasped and bit my tongue as I realized I’d fucking gone and done it again. Why couldn’t I just keep my muzzle shut for once!?

“The one she requested?” The stallion answered, letting himself hang there for a moment as I seriously thought about physically clamping my muzzle shut. Don’t ask what one, Night. In fact, don’t even fucking move. Just sit and wait for him to realize he needs to elaborate on his own. “The removal of a piece of prewar tech from a prisoner?”

“Oh right, that procedure.” I nervously forced out a sharp laugh from my muzzle. So sharp that it nearly made the guy jump back onto his hooves. “A procedure… that she ordered, yes. The procedure.” I swear I could feel Hispano’s burning gaze being cast on me. A gaze so forceful that it could probably turn the room into an inferno all on it’s own. Get on with it, Night. “Tell the good doctor that she’ll be by in a few minutes.”

“Ten minutes.” Hispano’s harsh whisper was just loud enough for me to hear, but sharp enough that it sent a large chill running down my spine.

“In uh… ten minutes, actually.” I forced out at the stallion. “If that will be all…?”

I let my words trail off as I stared at the large stallion’s unmoving hooves on the floor. Every second that ticked by without an answer or movement from him made my own legs feel like they were about to give out on me.. Which of course also made my insides feel like they had permission to start acting up again!

“She uh… okay in there?” The stallion leaned in and asked with a whisper. No no… don’t make me talk anymore. “This is a fairly last minute requisition notice, and the Sentinel is normally pretty forthright in scheduling requisitions...”

Something about how he asked that made something click in my head. This actually might be something I can use. Maybe I can talk my way out of this!

“Hey, between you and me, I wouldn’t bother her right now.” I lowered my voice to a whisper as well, which let me tell you, was hard to do with as sore a throat as I had. “She’s in a foul mood today. I don’t want to name names, but... another scribe nearly scrapped some tech during her interrogation, and I’ve been catching shit for the last hour because of it.”

“Shit, oh yeah! I’d heard Pot Roast screwed up earlier.” The stallion whispered as he took a small step back from the door. “You know, it’s still better than patrol duty among the muties in the city, but even so, I don’t envy the job you scribes have. No idea why Pot Roast felt the need to transfer, but… he’s your problem now.” Throwing one of his hooves up into a salute, he got to all fours and gave a light wave. “Anyway, I won’t keep you longer. Just make sure she gets to the doc.”

“Will do.” I nodded to him, giving a light wave to him as I slunk back inside and shut the door again. As soon as the latch clicked, I felt like I could relax again and took a deep breath.

Turning around, I found Hispano’s stern glare right in my face.

My reflexes kicked in, as did hers, and as I jumped back in fear, her quick talons kept my surprised yelp bottled up inside my muzzle.

“Leave out any of the latest hot ranger gossip, or you think you covered it all?” She grumbled as she pulled her talons back. “You fucking pen-pals with that guy now? We are on a time limit ya’ know.”

“You told me to cover because I’m the pony, and I covered, okay?” I fired back at her and sat down with a huff. Honestly, I was rather proud of the fact that I didn’t puke at all that whole conversation! Though, thinking about it now made my stomach do a flip. “Plus…” I did my best to quell the urge to puke once again, “it is my first day as a Ranger, so I think you could give me a bit of a break. Not all of us were raised to be mercenaries you know.”

“What did you just say?” Hispano snapped at me with a gasp. I looked up at her expecting a burning sideways glare, but instead saw a wide smile pull across her well bruised face. “You know what, you’re right! I should start teaching you!”

“That’s… that’s not what I meant…” Oh fuck, what did I just do?

“Can’t argue, it’s happening now, Dum Dum.” Her eyes sparkled with a unique sort of joy that I knew was just going to end up leaving me this sore every day for the rest of my natural life. “But, since this will start happening in a few minutes…” She gestured toward the back of the room before making sure her hood was back up over her head. “We should probably get to the Armory. Oh! Where I can start by teaching you how to prioritize and identify threats!”

“Alright, let’s go then.” I sighed, hoping that by this time tomorrow I didn’t regret becoming the newest Talon recruit in the wasteland.

That is, if we even made it out of here to be alive by this time tomorrow...

Author's Note

Like always, a huge thanks goes to TheFurryRailFan for helping me get the chapter out on time!

And of course, a huge thanks to Kkat for getting this whole party started!

And actually, a special thanks this chapter goes to RDFan628 for reaching out. It meant a lot, and our talk really did help me feel better about some of the decisions I'll have to make with the rest of the story. You're a true fan, and I'm so glad you've stuck through everything with such dedication.