Everything must go.

The soft wartime tunes floating through the air of a stallion and mare duet was a slower pace than the usual DJ Powercolt music pumped out everywhere I went. It wasn’t a bad song, but it definitely wasn’t as danceable as the stuff that’s normally on the radio. But with the atmosphere of the diner Hardcase had taken me to, a song like this from the jukebox in the corner kinda worked as a good change of pace.

The old diner that was built within the station felt like it was definitely part of this part of the city. It felt two centuries old, but it was in impeccable condition. From the neon blue stenciled shapes on the obnoxiously yellow wallpaper, to the cherry red cushions on the stools that lined the old stainless steel countertop. Even the portly apple green waitress who was on duty wore an old polkadot dress and white apron that I’m not ashamed to say I was jealous of. I mean, polkadots aren’t my thing, but even my own dress didn’t look that new.

Which reminds me, I need to pull my dress out of my bags and wear it about during our next stop, wherever that’ll end up being. I feel like with all the shit I’ve been dealing with because of Delilah, it would be good to go out for once to just feel pretty for a bit. Plus, I’m pretty sure Buck and Hispano wouldn’t mind it either, and it would be good to air it out at least once in a while...

“Is everything alright, Night?” Hardcase asked, both ripping my attention away from the window I’d been blankly staring out, and making me realize that I was still hungry. The scent of his all but untouched bowl of boiled green beans hit me hard, and my stomach gave off another pained gurgle. “If you’re still hungry, you don’t have to ask...” He offered his kind smile as he scooted his bowl across the small table we were at.

“No, I’m…” I was about to do the polite thing and refuse, but a thought jumped into my mind, and then straight out of my muzzle. “You haven’t even touched your bowl. Aren’t you hungry?” Hardcase forked over like forty caps for our food and he hadn’t even eaten a bite!

“Nah, I’m all good.” His smile widened as he stretched himself back into the old dining chair, forcing out a chorus of creaks from the protesting two century old wood. “I’ve gotten plenty to eat since we arrived in the station.” He gave his belly a contented rub.

But that didn’t make any sense! If he was more talking about how changelings feed off emotions, then… maybe? But the only thing around here that the crowds seemed to exude was impatience and annoyance, and I wouldn’t think that would be very good food. Hardcase again derailed my train of thought with a stiff laugh.

“You remember how I said that my love of, well, big engineering projects, was more complex than just being that simple?” Hardcase dropped his volume a bit, leaning forward to me and waving his hoof for me to come closer. I sat up and perked my ear, looking around and finding nopony close enough to hear us. “Let me start off with a question, Night. Have you ever heard of a soul jar?”

“No, I don’t think so…” Frowning, I don’t think I’d ever heard of anything like that. I mean, I’m pretty sure I hadn’t drifted off into a daydream and missed it during arcano-tech 101 back in Neighvarro. Still, I shook my head to him. “Sounds painful, whatever it is.”

“Soul Jars are objects imbued with a piece of a pony’s soul. For example, the fabled Crystal Heart was kindof a type of soul jar, albeit a very, very complex one.” He reached over with his magic and grabbed the fork out of his green bean bowl. “But for simplicity’s sake, let’s start with a basic one. Let’s say, this fork is a soul jar I made with a small piece of your soul.” He twirled it around in his magic before presenting it to me. Then surprisingly, he bent it in half. “You would not be able to bend it like this, as a soul is so strong and resilient that it makes the item it imbues almost indestructible. But more than that, just by anypony simply taking hold of it, they would be able to feel that part of the pony that soul belongs to.”

“I don’t understand, why would anypony want to do that?” If anything, his explanation left me with even more questions so far.

“Well, sometimes it’s unintentional on the when it happens.” Setting the fork back down, he pointed out to the window. Looking, I didn’t find anything other than the myriad of shops along the insides of the station. “You see, sometimes when you care about something so much, you can accidentally attach part of yourself to it. Master artists can imprint themselves into their masterpiece, ensuring that their art can be enjoyed for all time. A fisherpony with an unrivaled passion for the sea can imbue their boat or rod, ensuring that it never breaks apart, even in the roughest seas.” He let out an elated sigh and propped his head in his hooves, staring lovingly out the window.

“Uh… that’s neat and all…” I guess it was my turn to knock him out of a daze, as he stiffened up a bit at my words. “But what does that have to do with being here?” Pointing at the bowl of green beans, I felt a smirk pull across my muzzle. “What, were your green beans the ‘masterpiece’ of the cook here, and that’s why you aren’t hungry?”

“Oh, no, nothing so simple.” He chuckled and directed my gaze back out of the window. “You see, this all goes back to the idea of an engineering challenge as I’d mentioned. Enormous projects like this involved thousands of dedicated ponies, pouring their hard work and effort into building it. But once it’s done, and all those ponies finally behold the wonder they’ve constructed with their own hooves? Well, if just a teeny tiny sliver of each of them gets left inside, it adds up.”

“So… this whole station is a soul jar?” The words slipped out as a sense of uneasiness washed over me. Maybe it was the thought of being surrounded by the fragmented souls of long dead ponies that made me feel that, but anypony would have to admit being pretty unnerved to hear something like this.

“Sort of?” Hardcase shrugged and wavered his hoof a bit. “Remember how I mentioned the Crystal Heart before? It’s.... still a bit too complicated to explain without teaching you a bunch of advanced magical theories and spells, but it’s somewhat similar to the way the heart works. This station radiates the love, passion, and ambitions of the ponies who built it, but is nowhere near as powerful as the heart itself was.”

“Oh, I see.” It was hard for me to grasp the scale of what he’d just implied. I couldn’t imagine what sort of complex magics it involved, and honestly, maybe I didn’t want to. Of course I was glad to know that he wouldn’t be starving while we were in the city, but I’m not sure I was happy to know why anymore.

“Anyway, short story long, that’s why I’m not hungry!” Beaming a wide smile, he carefully shoved his bowl of green beans to me and nodded at it. “Alright, I’m betting we’ll be leaving the city soon, so eat up, Night.” My stomach gave out an impatient gurgle as the wafting scent of the beans hit me hard again. “But from how you sound, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to tell you twice.”

“Are we enjoying ourselves today?” The portly waitress chimed up as she stepped up beside Hardcase and I. “Can I interest either of you in some Punga Pie? It’s hot out of the oven, and I can assure you, it’s the best pie in the city.” Her wide smile was supposed to present genuine happiness, but it was just as fake as the vibrant atmosphere of this diner.

“No thank you,” Hardcase groaned as he rubbed at his belly. “we’re just finishing up before heading back out onto the road.”

“You sure?” The mare changed her fake smile into a genuine frown. “It’s non-hallucinogenic if that’s what you’re worried about.” As soon as it had arrived, the frown was gone with a quickly forced chuckle. “Unless of course you’re going to give it to a griff. Shit’s like catnip to them.”

“Well...” Hardcase sighed before turning his gaze to me. He couldn’t seriously be suggesting that as a good idea, right? “Maybe Hispano might want some then?”

Yeah, he was seriously suggesting this…

“Really? Giving her drugs after what happened in Mare’s Lake?” I cringed and let out a shudder as the thought of what would happen ran through my mind. “I’m not sure who’d kill me first, Buck or Cora.”

“Right, good point.” Hardcase nodded and forced his own smile to the waitress. “Sorry, but we’ll pass.” The waitress gave a disappointed nod before turning and almost shuffling back off to the counter as I dug into the beans in front of me. Part of me knew it was a last attempt at a pity purchase, but it didn’t make me any less happy to see somepony as disappointed as she was. “Speaking of hallucinations,” that last word in particular ripped my mind back to Hardcase. “Are you going to tell Buck?”

I nearly choked on a muzzles-worth of green beans because of that one simple sentence.

“Gah!” I coughed and took a few gasping breaths as my throat burned from that. “Tell him what?”

While it may have caught me off guard, my mind knew exactly what he was talking about. But if we play dumb, maybe he’ll overlook it. No, the Bombay part of me was grasping at straws to hide behind while the conversation steered away from this. Still, even though it was wrong, a bit of the rest of me knew that’s exactly what I wanted Hardcase to do…

“You have to tell him about how much Chill you’ve been taking.” As expected, Hardcase didn’t even beat around the bush. “At the very least, you’ve gotta tell him about seeing Violet.” He frowned at me as I could see his own pain come up behind his eyes. It wasn’t the same kind of pain as the one in my socket, but that didn’t make it any less real for him.

“I… I don’t know.” The words tumbled out like always, trying to buy my brain time to sort out something to say as Hardcase frowned. But that’s not how I worked at all, and I knew that. Once my muzzle was open, I couldn’t stop myself. “Hey, it’s not like I don’t want to tell him. It’s just… I can stop taking so much on my own. He’s already going through a lot right now, and he doesn’t need this piled on top of everything else, you know?”

“That’s not how this works, Night.” Hardcase sighed and crossed his forehooves. “You need to let him know about this if you’re serious about getting this painkiller thing under control. Addiction is a serious thing, Night. There’s little we can do if you run out on the road, miles from the next stop, and you start to suffer from withdrawals.”

“I…” I huffed at him, but found my mind come to a sputtering stop.

Honestly, I wanted to scream again that I wasn’t an addict, but my mind replayed what happened at the doctor’s office. That… that wasn’t me in there, I do have a problem. But my point still stands, I don’t want to stress Buck out with something like this, and it’s because he’s the only one on the crew who can’t afford to be stressed out.

“Fine.” I sighed and hung my head. “I’ll tell him. But, only once we get back on the road.” I knew it was the right thing to do, because Hardcase was my friend, and honestly I need to be listening to my friends more than ever these days. Even if they’re acting a bit off like Buck had been.

I blinked a few times before facehoofing as my terribly slow mind finally worked out why he’d been weird earlier...

“Actually, I’m pretty sure he already knows.” The passive aggressive comments about accidentally kicking my bag under the bed? Yeah, he had to know. But if he did know, why didn’t he just talk to me about it? Maybe he’s been as afraid to admit I’ve got a problem as I’ve been... “Still, once we’re on the road I’ll have a talk with him. The last thing I want is to ruin his time off for now.”

“Alright, that’s fair enough.” Hardcase’s stress seemed to melt as he let out a relieved sigh. “But…” He smirked as he scooted his chair and moved back a bit from our table. “If you don’t tell him, well, I’ll just have to take the liberty of being you and tell him myself.” If it were anypony else but Hardcase, I’d have been annoyed at that suggestion, but it was fair enough I suppose. “Now, you finish up your beans while I wash up a bit. Delilah’s gotta be anxious to get back on the road again, and we don’t want to stress her out more by being the ones to hold her up, right?”

Yes, we don’t want to stress her out more. Hardcase could punch her in the face and she’d still be perfectly happy with him as a crew pony. Still, I’m pretty sure Hardcase only phrased it like that to try to keep my mind off of how she’s been treating me, which was surely nice of him to do. But the terrible feeling I still had in my stomach wasn’t from the green beans I started munching on again.

No, I had a feeling that this new Delilah was here to stay, and that I was going to regret it if I messed up another time.

“By the way.” The waitress spoke up over my shoulder without warning and nearly made me choke on my beans again. She kept her eyes on Hardcase as he disappeared into the restroom, continuing once the door closed behind him. “A certain… mutual friend of ours wants to remind you to bring him what you owe.” Of course she had to be an informant for Solomon. How many fucking ponies does he pay off anyway? “You’ll find him waiting for you on the highway just outside the city, and he was specific that you don’t keep him waiting.”

I nodded to the mare, watching as she smiled and turned back to start cleaning the countertops. Great, Solomon was the last thing I needed, but maybe if I can discuss it with Cora and Hispano, we could get the drop on him and… kill him. No, that’s the Bombay side of me trying to take the easy way out. We force him into giving up his pursuit with the threat of killing him, and… I don’t know, we’ll figure out something I guess. I just hope that Hispano and Cora have some ideas, because I’m not exactly getting any at the moment.

“I thought I told you to finish up.” Hardcase sighed as he reappeared from the restroom and trotted toward the table. “Aren’t you still hungry?”

“Sorry.” I shrugged and frowned at the green beans before looking back at the waitress. “I lost my appetite.”

“Who the hell are these bricks?” Hardcase lowered his voice as we both trotted out of the alleyway from the markets, and back toward the Hauler.

“I don’t know...” I kept my voice low as we turned towards Bertha. A group of tough and scarred up ponies stood ringing Bertha like they were guarding her from something. They all gave off the same sort of ‘vibe’ as those stallions back at the Inn had, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what they’d be doing around the hauler. “I don’t like this one bit.”

“Wait… these might be ponies who work for Mr. Wizard.” Hardcase whispered as we dropped to a walk. A few of the ponies around the hauler eyed us, but none of them gave us more than a passing glance or a sneer. “Might be worth it to get geared up…”

“No, not unless Delilah tells us to.” Most of me was right there with Hardcase on getting armed, but the rational part of my mind said that if they weren’t already attacking us, then we probably shouldn’t look like we wanted to start a fight.

“I have an idea.” Hardcase dropped his voice to a whisper, but had a stupid grin across his face. “Why don’t you ask the nice stallion’s what they’re doing here?” I deadpanned at him for even suggesting that. “What?” He gasped lightly and looked offended. “Most stallions will tell anything to a pretty mare so long as they ask nicely enough.”

“You know that I know that, right?” I blinked at him a few times. “The whole shit that went on with Happy giving up info to the whore back in Mare’s Lake? I’m not like that, I can’t just get things out of ponies.”

“Oh come on, just try it.” Hardcase rolled his eyes. “I have to act like a pony literally every day. Trust me when I say it’s not that hard to get something like this out of somepony.” I cocked my eyebrow as I wondered just what part of that was supposed to make me comfortable with this. With the silence that fell between us, he gave a nervous laugh as he noticed my look. “Uh… that’s not… it’s not as bad as it sounded just then?”

“Fine.” I didn’t really see the point, but whatever, I guess it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot. Turning back toward the hauler, I straightened myself up and forced a light smile across my muzzle. Okay, just take it slow, Night. Why not start with that… interesting looking unicorn by the stairs?

Trotting up to him, I felt his twitchy gaze turn toward me, and at twice my size, I did my best not the feel too intimidated by him. Why was he twitching? Was this guy nervous or something? He looked so strung up that he could snap at any moment. His disheveled and ragged dirt brown mane drooped over part of his face as he stiffened up a bit, and sparks momentarily sputtered from the jagged crack in his stubby horn. Geez, I wonder how he got an injury like that…

“H-hold it right there.” The stallion’s voice was sort of pitchy for being as big as he was. “What’s y-your business?”

“Oh, I was uh… just wondering...” I forced myself to smile as I kicked at the ground. I tried to think about how the ‘popular’ mares in school would act around guys, but the moment I did, my mind blanked. “Well… maybe…” Come on, Night, just force out words if you have to. “Maybe you could tell me why such a strong and handsome stallion such as yourself is standing around here?”

“I’m w-working.” The stallion sputtered out as his eyes twitched a bit. “Get… get lost before the boss gets back.” He rubbed at his foreleg roughly, drawing my attention to the numerous welted puncture wounds he had marking up it. Okay… maybe he wasn’t nervous, and instead was just a super drugged out pony. “I said move, B-bitch!”

His shouting voice was like a hoof on a chalkboard, and came out of him with the force of an out of control skycarrage. I was startled enough that I almost tripped backwards on my prosthetic and ended up on my ass. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best pony to choose for my first time…

“Celestia, what’s the problem down there?” A familiar voice peaked my ears, and I looked up Bertha’s stairways. The neon pink coated stallion I’d helped in the library glanced over at me as he started to walk down the stairs. “Well well, I wasn’t expecting to see your pretty face again. I hate to disappoint you, but with your shitty performance this morning, I’m not really feeling up to finding you any more work.”

Without the bulky lemon colored suit or gasmask to cover him up, he seemed all the more aggressively neon pink to me. It didn’t help that his mane and tightly bound tail were also the same shade of obnoxiously bright pink. This however made his bright blue eyes stand out, as well as a cutiemark of a blue pill bottle with what looked like a tab of Chill in it.

“Yo, bitch.” He snapped at me. “You even listening to me? What are you doing here?”

“I work on this convoy.” I snorted at him. My words must have caught him off guard, because he nearly tripped as he got down the final few steps from the hauler. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Not so high and mighty when the other pony can talk back. “What are you doing here?”

“Just business.” He recovered from his near fall fairly flawlessly, turning and trotting over to me. He lowered his voice as he approached, and the megaspell strength glare he held on me helped to prepare me for what I knew was coming. With it, I did my best to put on the guise that was Bombay. “You tell anypony else out in the wastes what you saw down there, and I’ll fucking kill you myself. Consider this your last warning.” I gave him a small smirk as he stepped past me. Oh come on, Night, you can do better than that!

Turning around, I lifted my hoof to my muzzle, gave him a wink, and blew a kiss at him. Yeah, that was much better! You should be proud of yourself, Night.

“You wish, bitch.” He grunted and waved his hoof. “Come on, everypony. We’re heading back to the lab.”

Seriously, he’s warning me that he’ll kill me himself? Hah, he can get in line behind Solomon. Why is it that while I might not want to go out of my way to kill anypony, I seem to be attracting more and more assholes begging for it?

Regardless, as the gruff group of scarred up stallions peeled off from around Bertha, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Hardcase’s soft hoofsteps joined me as I walked toward the stairwell. He gave a little squeal that felt out of place from him, but his own smile across his muzzle made mine grow bigger.

“That was awesome!” He trotted in place excitedly for a bit. “I mean, I’d thought you’d blown it with that first stallion, and come on, you’ve gotta admit you botched that one pretty hard…” He was speaking so fast that it was hard to understand him. Just why was he so excited? “But wow you really came back around hard on that other guy! I didn’t even know you had that in you...”

“Night.” Delilah’s voice came down from above as I stepped a single hoof onto the stairwell. Looking up, I found her standing in the open door to the ice hold. Her face looked like it was positively boiling with anger. “My room. Now.” Spinning around, she disappeared inside the ice hold, leaving Hardcase and I to exchange a quick glance.

“Woah, there is so much anger coming from her right now...” Hardcase whispered to me as I blinked a few times. “She feels like she’s about to snap and kill somepony. What the hell did those stallions say to make her so pissed off?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out.” Turning back to the stairwell, I started my climb up with a sigh. “Not like I have a choice though.”

“Well, that’s not the case for me!” Hardcase gave out a forced laugh, causing me to pause on the way up. Turning, I saw him rub at his neck and nod back around the hauler. “I’m going to let you deal with that for now. I might head back to Doc Sunshine and try to see if I can’t explain myself a bit to her, if she’ll even open the door for me...” Giving a wave, he didn’t even let me speak before he turned and trotted off underneath Bertha. “Don’t get murdered by Delilah, Night!”

Yeah, thanks for that…

Turning back, I continued up the stairwell. I paused when I reached the top, looking around. The driver’s cab door was still open, and the pungent smoke-scented seat looked lonely without Gearbox sitting in it. Likewise, the reactor deck was quiet without Boiler mulling around Bertha’s silent engine. Perking my ears, the whole of the hauler felt silent to me. It must have just been Delilah and I for the moment, and while I wasn’t afraid she’d kill me, being alone with just her still made me nervous.

Glancing at the box of grenades amongst our other armaments, I had a fleeting thought of grabbing one just to be on the safe side. I shook my head and turned toward the ice hold. No, Delilah wouldn’t do anything to hurt me other than yell at me. I don’t know why, but Hardcase’s words had dug in hard when they should have been brushed off.

Seriously, there was no way Delilah would have kept me on this long just to hurt me now. Happy, sure, but not me. Then again... with how her mood had shifted over the last few days, I hoped that simply yelling at me would be the case. Still, there’s been far too many times were having any sort of weapon at all would’ve saved me a whole lot of trouble, and I was supposed to go see Solomon after this...

I slipped one of the spare grenades into my bags and made my way up through the Ice hold into the rec area. All but Delilah’s containers had open doors, as well as quiet, dark interiors. The softly flapping tarp above me was the only noise to greet me past the small amount of shuffling that came from my destination. Taking a deep breath, I walked up to Delilah’s container door, and knocked on it.

“Come in.” Delilah snapped at me.

I extended my wing and slid it between the door and container, flipping up the latch on the inside. Pushing open the door, I found that like all the others, the interior to her container was still dark. I stepped in, feeling as my hoof crumpled a set of papers that had been strewn across the floor. Looking around her room, papers and her belongings had been tossed everywhere, and behind her desk, a tense and angry looking Delilah glared at me.

“What happened?” The words slipped out, and I immediately braced myself for the worst.

“Mr. Pink was here to inform me that Happy screwed up. Again.” Delilah slammed her hoof onto her desk. There was a thick snap as her hoof bounced slightly the wrong way, but if it had hurt her, Delilah didn’t show a single ounce of care. “So, I’m done with him. I need you to go and find everyone else, Night. We leave in fifteen minutes, so get them back here or I’m leaving them here to rot as well.”

“Wait, what do you mean you’re leaving him?” She was done with Happy? Did… did she really mean that? “You’re just going to leave Happy here? In Cantercross!?”

“You will go get the others, Night.” She gave a guttural growl as she leaned forward over her desk. “You say ‘yes, ma’am’ and run off. No more questions.”

“This is wrong, ma’am. You can’t just leave him here.” I knew I was risking her wrath, but she couldn’t be serious. “Unlike with the shit I said about Lustre, which I apologize for even saying by the way, this isn’t right.”

Unsurprisingly, she simply fumed and glared at me in response. Okay, that wasn’t enough to get my point across? Fine, she could have it her way.

“You want to teach me to be a leader, Delilah?” I spat and waved a foreleg to the door. “How is leaving everypony behind leading? Solomon’s going to find out you left Happy here, and then what’s he going to do? He’s going to use him as leverage to get the Ark!” That… was a good point! For once, the ability to say shit without putting it together before hoof actually helped! “So if you want to save Happy, as well as this whole fucking trip, we leave nobody behind. We have to get Happy back.”

“No! He fucked up when he messed with Mr. Wizard’s business.” She was basically frothing at the muzzle as she ground her forehooves into her desk. I’d never seen anypony so angry before, and this was way above and beyond the anger I saw when I spouted my thoughts about Lustre and the Road Crew. Hardcase was right, she was going to completely snap at this rate, and it was clouding her judgement. “He chose his own fate, and I will not pay a ransom for a son who has been nothing to me but a mistake! Especially not if it forces us to lose any more ground to Solomon than he’s already cost us.”

She had the bigger picture in mind, I’ll give her that, but I had a feeling that like Happy, that’s not what this was about for her anymore. If I’d learned anything from her about being a leader, it was still that I had to at the very least follow my instincts. And those instincts told me that right now, she needed to hear how misguided this decision was.

“No, you are lying to yourself!” I forced my words out, straining my own voice as if raising it would physically make them sink in. “This trip may have started out with your town in mind, but you don't give a crap about them anymore, do you? I don’t know what’s changed in the last few days, but you aren’t the same Delilah who I met up north. Who was simply a kind hearted jenny who wanted to save her town. This trip has become only about one thing to you, and that's beating Solomon at his own game. That's it, isn't it? You think this is some fucking game that you can win by sacrificing others who look up and care about you, don't you?!”

“What do you think you can do? You can't fix Happy, and I'm done trying. Solomon can have him, and hell, he can kill him for all I care. He’d be doing me a fucking favor!” She slammed her hoof down against her desk again, forcing out another crack. Though this time, she’d splintered the edge of the old wood, as well as her hoof. “And I swear to Celestia, Night. One more fucking word out of you and you’redone too. Off this convoy, forever.” She gave out a heavy whine before favoring her cracked forehoof, not able to so easily shrug off the pain this time.

“No. You’re wrong about abandoning Happy.” I shook my head. “I’ll get him back on my own if I have to, but we aren’t leaving him behind.” Seriously, just like back at Filly Crossing, it looks like I was going to have to risk everything to even get my point across. And just like at Filly Crossing, she’d see things the right way soon enough.

Turning around toward the open container door, I froze as I heard Delilah’s desk open behind me. The crisp click of her pistol’s hammer being drawn back was all the sound that existed in that moment on the silent and empty hauler. I turned my head to look back at her, and I found her painfully using her shattered forehoof to prop herself up. In her other fetlock, she had her pistol aimed right at me.

“You’re done, Night.” Her rage was gone from her expression, leaving only her cold, hollow words. Even the tears that stained her cheeks felt like they didn’t carry any sort of weight to her. “I need the code around your neck, and then you will get the hell off of my convoy.”

She… couldn’t be serious.

“You’re fired, Night.” She spoke up as her trembling injured forehoof struggled to keep her propped up. “You will hoof over your tags, and then leave.” She shifted her aim up slightly and pulled the trigger. The gunshot left a ringing in my ears as a hole in the ceiling opened up above me and let the daylight in. “I will shoot you and take them if I have to. No more second chances, and I won’t ask again.”

Fuck, she really was serious then? This… was it for me. I’d come all this way, fought as hard as I did to find a place on this convoy. And while I’d eventually made a home for myself, and found another family to call my own, this is how all of that comes to an end? Being forced to listen to a mare who’d been pushed to the brink by stress, and who was making a mistake she’d regret for the rest of her life?

No.

“Before I go, and I mean this when I say it.” I spoke up slowly as I glanced back up at Delilah’s flat and uncaring gaze. “You wanted me to be a leader, Delilah. My conscience is clear about what I must do.”

I watched as those words wormed their way into her head. I could see the agitation grow across her expression again, her frozen and hollow form slowly coming back to a quite visible boil again. But with that came the strain and tenseness that she normally carried, and that made her injured foreleg shudder again. I let out a deep breath before my body took over.

I kicked off towards the open door, dropping myself low as Delilah was momentarily stunned by my rapid movement. She squeezed off a shot from her pistol, but only to where I’d just been standing. As I pushed myself out of the doorway, I rounded the corner and jumped up into the air, aiming to come down on the rec area railing.

In the back of my mind, I knew it hadn’t been luck to catch her off guard like that. She hadn’t really wanted to shoot me, so she’d hesitated. Hell, she probably was going to regret trying later and apologize when I brought back Happy!

Another pair of shots came through her container. This time they were low, splintering the old plywood around me. Okay, maybe she really did want to shoot me! Throwing my hoof up against my chest, I slapped the start button for my jump pack. It let out another whine as it spooled up and I perched myself on the rec area railing. Another shot came through the container, and this time, she didn’t miss completely.

I screamed as the round skimmed across my left shoulder, and my forehoof slipped off the rec area railing. Thank the goddess for pegasus reflexes as my wings caught me and dropped me into a glide. I whimpered as the sound of Delilah scrambling to get out of her container was drowned in the whine of my jump pack. Carefully, I turned myself into the alleyway that Hardcase and I had used as my speed lowered enough that I could get onto the ground.

As I touched down, my left leg gave out, and I cried as I tumbled to the ground. Looking down at the wound, the round had only skimmed the surface, leaving a bloody but shallow channel across my shoulder. She could have fucking killed me had she aimed just slightly further to the right...

Why! Why did she have to do this!? My mind was awash in a million unanswerable questions as I did my best to pick myself up. What would happen to Buck now? What about the rest of the crew? How could I fix this? Looking down at my mother’s tags, I pressed my hoof against the cold metal.

Could I even fix it at all?

My ear perked as the rushed and offbeat hoofsteps on Bertha’s stairwell caught my attention. The pained grunts of Delilah drifted to me as my watering eyes begged for her to call out that she was sorry. As I sat up, I waited, and hoped that she’d come around the corner of the alley to say she was sorry.

Of course, when she did appear, she held her gun in her muzzle, and a distant, uncaring look in her eyes. I looked to the skies and closed my eyes as she lined up her shot. And with a pinch of my fetlock, I knew in the back of my head that there was no coming back from this.

With a crack, my hearing disappeared as my jump pack rocketed me into the air, and out of Delilah’s convoy forever. Even though this hadn’t worked out like I’d thought it would, I couldn’t afford to be distracted now. If anything, this was the only chance I’d get to protect the convoy, even if I wasn’t ever going to be welcome on it again.

Looking down at my mother’s tags as I leveled out in the air, I knew it was time to go make a deal with Solomon for the Ark.

Regret.

That was probably the only constant thing in my life since I came down to the wastes. And I regretted more about what I’d done today than any day before, because all of it had been so avoidable in the first place. Of course, I’m talking about more than just getting fired and thrown off the convoy.

I regret that of course. But, it was nowhere near as much as the fact I could have tied Happy to the couch when I’d thought of it. He did bring this upon himself, out of everything Delilah said today, that’s the one thing I can agree with. But that didn’t mean we could just leave him here. I had to have faith though, that the others on the crew would see things like I did, and would stand up to her.

But not tieing up Happy wasn’t the biggest regret I’d had. More than the things I’d said to Delilah, it was the things I hadn’t said to Buck and Hispano when I’d had the chance. They had become family to me, and I’d had the chance yesterday to remind them of that. And like an idiot, I was too focused on trying to spare them my cursed luck. While it might not have been the last chance I’ll have to tell them, the damage of leaving like this might have removed every bit of meaning it could have ever held.

A half hour had passed by the time I’d flown clear of the city, and I was currently following the highway south. It was mid-afternoon now, and Delilah would undoubtedly already be back on the road. Hell, for all I knew she could be following five minutes behind me if she’d gotten everyone to get back onboard fast enough. If I had any chance to get ahead of them and end this stupid ‘game’ for good, I’d have to be quick about this.

So with the wound in my shoulder, and the knowledge that I needed my game face on, I stopped only long enough to take a few more Chill pills to push back the pain. Yes, I knew it wasn’t healthy, but I could deal with that later. I was on a mission to save the convoy, and I couldn’t risk failing now.

The further out of the city, the bigger and deeper valleys the old road wrapped through as the rust red Misery range loomed ahead. Eventually a couple of miles out from the edge of the city, the roads split into elevated and stilted ribbons. Both the north and southbound routes ran twisting, lonely paths that hugging opposite sides of the steep and barren valleys.

The hillsides were far from the lush forest that sat on the south side of the city, as poisoned and dead as the barren flats we’d seen heading into it. They were lined with patchy outcroppings of sickly trees and dead plants, and punctuated at their bottoms by rivers of glowing yellow wastewater. The off color, grey dirt that sat under them reminded me of rotten and diseased flesh, just waiting to slip off and leave nothing but smooth lifeless rock, like it was the skeletal underside of the mountains they sat at the base of.

It was on the northbound side of these roads that I eventually found Solomon’s luxury bus. Pitching myself downward, I flaired my wings to offset my acceleration as I started a long glide down towards them. The freezing headwind however buffeted me and felt to me like it was actively trying to stop me from setting down at all. As much as I wanted to believe that the wind itself knew how poorly this would all go, I needed to do this. It was far too late to turn back.

The old roadway was empty around Solomon’s pristine travel bus, and as far as the northbound roads could be seen until they disappeared around the edge of the next mountainous hillside. On the southbound highway on the other side of the valley, Solomon’s small tracked car sat facing toward the city. The black motorwagon’s headlights sat on, but the vehicle itself looked abandoned. I had to wonder what Solomon was up to with it, but I didn’t have long to wonder.

Movement ahead of me pulled my attention back to my landing zone, as the bulky shield and large stature of Jess appeared from the front of the bus. The old armored cart door was raised up in front of her, and she had her dual barreled gun trained on me. She didn’t shoot, but to her credit, she didn’t let her guard down either. Okay, so, I needed a plan that would ensure that they wouldn’t just shoot me before we could make a deal. Because unlike before, I don’t have shit to defend myself…

Right, that’s not true because I had a single grenade!

It wasn’t ideal, but it would be enough to let me make a deal with Solomon. Yeah, I’d die if I had to actually use it, but that didn’t matter because the convoy was more important than me. Buck and Hispano’s lives were more important than me.

Closing my eyes, I tried to think about how Bombay would act in this case. But unlike every other time, I couldn’t bring her out. I couldn’t really explain it, other than for some reason, I had no idea what anypony would do in this situation, let alone Bombay. So, with nothing to go on, I guessed that the first step would to just be rude and to feign as much confidence as I could...

“Hey, bitch!” I shouted as I dropped to a skimming height just above the cracked and worn highway pavement. “Quit pointing that shit at me and get your boss. I’m here to make a deal.” Yeah, that’s probably rude enough to work.

I tilted my flight from side to side, bleeding off speed as I wobbled through the air. As I fell to a pace that would be matched at a gallop, my hooves came down on the pavement. I winced and bit my lips as the fleshwound across my shoulder burned and protested, but I didn’t want to crash land this time. Presentation would be everything, and I couldn’t afford to show any weakness. I slowed to a walk and stopped myself next to the backside of the bus.

“Stay right there, asshole.” Jess snorted as she tipped her double-gun up away from me. She stepped back around the corner for a moment until I heard a banging knock on the bus. Without another word, she stepped around the front again, and brought me under the sight of her gun once more. “Come on, just do something stupid so I can fill you with more holes than you put into Lamia...”

“Now is that any way to greet a guest, Miss Jessibelle?” The grating arrogance in the voice that filled the air even made the eyes of the trigger happy minotaur flinch. But I already knew that Solomon’s voice had that effect on everypony eventually, even if they were on his payroll. Though, the high and mighty way he walked around the front of the bus and into sight however, that was new. It’s like he already thought he’d beaten me.

“So lovely to see you again… you.” Solomon still couldn’t remember my name? Really? “I’m glad you could make time to come all the way out here for little ol’ me.” The wide smile plastered across his muzzle was as fake as any sort of hope that he’d let this go down smoothly. “I do hope you enjoyed your lunch at the diner. Rook brought back the most amazing slice of pie I’ve had in simply ages.”

“Enough with the pleasantries, I came with the book. As asked.” I rolled my eyes as I sat down and turned toward my saddlebags.

Reaching in, I gripped my fetlock around the grenade. Wiggling, I loosened the pin on it just enough that as I drew it out, it dragged along the fabric of my saddlebag and flipped out over the lip of it. It tumbled to the ground with an audible ping as I tightened my fetlock around the compressed spoon. With the lovely noise of the pin bouncing on the pavement, came a very distressed look across Solomon’s face.

“Oh, R-rook? Would you kindly…?” He stammered as he took a step back. Though, he hadn’t even finished speaking before a magical flash came from my side.

“No no, Rook! This is just insurance.” I snapped as I could see his horn begin to glow out of the corner of my eye. “You're all going to hear me out, and then we're going to make a fair deal for what Solomon want's. No tricks, no lies. Just business.”

“Oh?” Solomon gave out a surprisingly genuine laugh for being within the lethal blast radius of a live grenade. “And what if I told Rook to take the book and teleport you away from here? Why would I ever deal with you?” At that, I felt the cold muzzle of a gun press against the back of my head. Okay, he wasn’t just going to keep this easy. Alright, I can work with that.

“Who said I didn’t hide the book?” I smirked and held out the grenade toward Solomon. “Even if I’m lying and the book is on me, well…” Turning, I showed my best shit eating grin to a quite unnamused looking Rook. “Even if I don’t kill you with the blast, Rook here won’t be so lucky. Oh, and of course I’ll blow up your precious bus, as well as any chance you have to find the Ark.” Looking around, I laughed as the breeze that ran through the valley buffeted us all a bit. “And in this wind, are you sure you could find all the bits of the book?”

“Very well.” Solomon gave a chuff and waved his forehoof toward me dismissively. “Need I remind you that you begged to work for me.” I felt the gun leave the back of my head, but I knew Rook wouldn’t keep it too far off me. “And while it’s downright insulting to have an employee try to change a verbal contract, I’m listening to your offer.”

“In exchange for the location of the Ark, you are going to leave everyone who you've ever seen up here in the north, alone. You will not kill, maim, or attack anyone. There will be no retribution for anything that’s happened.” I wanted to cover my bases with Solomon. Yeah, I held all the power in this negotiation at the moment, but I already knew I was a terrible negotiator. Even if by some miracle Solomon agreed and kept his word on this, I wasn’t sure he couldn’t find some way around any of it. So, I had to make this count. “You won't go after Delilah, her crew, me, or anyone else. Not even the Sun Dogs, got it? You get to go after the Ark, and we all get to live happily ever after.”

Silence fell between Solomon and I, and I watched as he mulled over my words in his head. As it did every time he opened his oily and slimy lips, a smile drew across it as he gave the softest and most gentle of nods. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was going to tell me I’d asked for too much.

“Of course, that is an agreeable compromise.” His words hit me like a slap in the face, and they knocked the grin I’d had straight off my muzzle. “What? You thought your demands might be too much? On the contrary!” He put a hoof to his pristine white coat and let out another laugh. “Once I have the Ark, then I wouldn't possibly think of hurting any of your precious convoy…”

“No!” I snapped at him, startling him as I felt Rook press his gun back against my head. In retaliation, I turned my fetlock over so the grenade would fall if I so much as relaxed for a moment. “Not once you have the Ark. The moment I hoof the information over is when our deal is struck. You’ll have the location, so you won't have to keep up this game you're playing with her. You can run off ahead and find the Ark before she even has a chance to catch up.”

“And what proof do I have that you'll be giving me the real location?” Solomon narrowed his eyes as his whole posture changed. It was… odd, to say the least. His ears were pointed to attention, his legs had tensed up and held him stiffly, and his back had a slight curve to it, like he was waiting for something to happen. “You speak of games, so how do I know this isn't one she's playing on me? Who’s to say you aren’t lying to me now?”

"Because I no longer work for Delilah." Reaching up, I hoofed at my mother's tags and gave a stiff yank. The clasp at the back snapped off, letting the chain fall against my hoof. Part of the old Night that I still was died right then, I could feel it. Glancing at the cold steel tag in my hoof, I didn’t want to let go. But I’d moved on from my past, and I had the futures of Buck, Hispano, and the whole crew to think about.

"You want proof? There is no book, not anymore.” I turned my other hoof over and let the tags dangle on the end of the necklace. “Delilah knew you'd do whatever you could to get it from her, so instead she had the location of the Ark inscribed on my mother's dog tags, and then she destroyed the book." If it was the price to pay for the lives of everyone in the north, then I'm sure my mother would have forgiven me for giving them to someone as disgusting as Solomon. "The answer you've been looking for is right here in my hoof. So tell me, do we have a deal?"

"One final question, if I may." He eyed me suspiciously, which I couldn't really blame him for. I still didn’t trust he’d live up to the deal at all if he agreed, but what choice did I have now? "Why decide to do this if you no longer feel any loyalty for her?"

"Her son was taken by Mr. Wizard. She was going to let you kill him to keep the location from you. I can't allow her to waste his life like that." I shook my head and pulled the tags back toward my chest, while keeping the grenade out in front of me. "I may have lost my faith in Delilah, but everypony else deserves to live. So tell me, do we have a deal?"

"Very well. I will agree to those terms." He sighed and waved his hoof to Rook, who sharply pushed his gun off the back of my head. "However, should you have lied to me about the location, I will kill all of them just because you asked me not to.” The glare his expression dissolved into was as burning with anger and hatred as Delilah’s had been only a half hour ago. “But you understand that, don't you? I may be a stallion of my word when it comes to business, but only so long as others are as well."

“Of course.” I grumbled as another magical flash blinded me momentarily.

When I blinked away the blinding light, Rook stood with his cybernetic hoof outstretched to me. I took a deep breath before lowing my mother’s tags down. There was a voice of reason in the back of my mind screaming to me the closer they got to his hoof, telling me not to trust them. It screamed that I should just throw the grenade at them and run, that this was all a huge mistake.

But after having listened to that voice of reason since I came down, and seeing where it had gotten me? Well, needless to say I smothered that voice in the dark recesses of my mind. I was done with reason. I was going to do whatever needed to be done, period.

So I let go, and dropped the tags into Rook’s hoof.

With another quick flash, Rook teleported over to Solomon and carefully laid them into his waiting grasp. The grin across Solomon’s face the second the metal touched his bare skin made my own skin crawl. It felt wrong to have helped him, but as he brought the tags up to his face and scrunched up his muzzle, I couldn’t help but smile.

“What is the meaning of this!?” He shouted as he angrily threw the tags back at me. Halfway through the air however, Rook caught them with his magic and pulled them back over. “Where is the location!?”

“I don’t know. Even Delilah didn’t know what that code meant. She couldn't decipher it in the city library, and the Steel Rangers at Galloway couldn't figure it out either.” I shrugged and became acutely aware I was still holding a live grenade in my hoof. Right… I hadn’t really thought what to do with it through. If I were a unicorn, I could have just put the pin back in, but no, I don’t have cheater magic. I could just toss it in the forest when I took off again or something… I guess? “Anyway, that's all that was in the log book they pulled out of the ice. But hey, it’s your riddle to solve now, and that means it's none of my business.”

“I see.” I could hear just how disappointed he was with that info, and I watched as he ground his clamped jaw while he spoke. “You have done well for me, Night Flight.” Wait, he actually remembered my name? Also, why did it feel like him uttering it just punched an even bigger pit in my stomach than I’d had all day? “Knowing I would hold her son ransom may have been predictable, but I must admit that I hadn’t thought you so clever as to even consider it.” Looking down at Rook, he gave a snarl and nodded to me. “Dispose of the weapon, would you?”

Rook’s horn flashed before I could react and ripped the grenade out of my hooves. I stared at it in horror as his magic tossed it in a short arc. It sailed through the air, dipping down just over the edge of the elevated roadway before detonating. The ground under my hooves shook, and my hearing disappeared into a sharp ringing for a few moments before it started to drain off.

Honestly, in that moment I was expecting to be cut down by Solomon or Jess. But as I cupped my hooves over my ears and looked at the smug bastard, he just stood smiling at me. He tapped his hoof at me, as if he were impatiently awaiting the ringing in my ears to stop trying to drill into my brain.

“Now that we’re back to being civil...” Solomon’s words were fuzzy and distant, but they were all I had to focus on past the slowly dieing ringing. “as I said, I am a stallion of my word when it comes to business.” As my hearing started to come back, I noticed something different about Solomon. His ears had shifted again, like instead of listening for something random, he was following something specifically. Twerking my own ear and a half, I pitched them around and tried to listen for what held his attention. “But you see, Night... things would just be so much easier as long as I knew Delilah wasn’t following me and getting in my way.”

Just past the ringing, across to the other side of the valley, the deep thrumming of a massive archano engine coming up the southbound stretch of highway met my ears. After a moment, the familiar zebra striped APC and massive rolling form of the hauler came around from a bend, and into sight.

No, she’d been just minutes behind me after all...

“We had a fucking deal!” I shouted at him, turning to charge. But instead of doing something incredibly dumb and impulsive, I found myself slam right into Jess’s massive armored shield. She swung it back, almost knocking me off of my hooves before she pointed her twin barreled SMG at me. She’d come up on me far faster than I’d expected a minotaur could move...

Solomon simply shared his grin again as he leisurely walked up to Jess and I before turning to face the gap that spanned between the northbound road, and the southbound one. Rook stepped around him as his horn flared with magic, and I cringed with racing thoughts of just how this was all going to play out. With a pop, the massive rifle Rook had held on me when I stole the car, apperated into the air next to Solomon.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him!

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head, Night. I won't hurt them. I’ve never wanted to, and have only had to in order to make sure I come out ahead in this little game of ours.” Solomon spoke as he sat down, taking the large rifle into his right forehoof. As he did, Rook’s horn gave another flash, making a boxy looking remote with a large fetlock trigger appear next to Solomon. “You see however, I already had an arrangement with the Road Crew. When I push this trigger, the hydraulics and brakes on the entire convoy will be overridden, and that will bring them to a stop. They won’t be able to move or defend themselves until I see fit.”

“I was fucking right that the Road Crew had sabotaged us!?” The words tumbled out of my muzzle, but unlike the now dim ringing in my ears, I was still deaf to them. I’d been fucking right, and now the convoy was helpless to stop Solomon...

Solomon’s eyes were glued to the convoy as they slowed down slightly at the sight of Solomon’s car sitting ahead of them. That was why it had been parked over there, really? I flinched as he took the remote from Rook’s magic, and squeezed down on the trigger.

Squeals emit from both Bertha and Bessy as their wheels locked up. The massive machines slid along the road as both Delilah and Gearbox did admittedly amazing jobs at keeping the vehicles from going out of control. But as much as Solomon had planned ahead, that wouldn’t stop them forever. He had to be planning something else.

“And now they won’t be able to stop me.” Solomon lazilly tossed the remote to the ground before looking back at me. “Don't look so surprised. Motor Grader was too easy to pay off, and his crew did a wonderful job at installing that little override." Solomon laughed, nearly vibrating with the pride he was beaming out through his wide smile. Goddesses it was disgusting. "I just had to convince them that I'd help them take down Mr. Wizard after I acquire the Ark. Once I’d put the idea in his head of getting revenge against Mr. Wizard for killing his wife, well, he almost offered to help me for free!"

“But I thought you were working with Mr. Wizard.” Even as I spoke, my eyes kept jumping from Solomon’s despicable face, to the large rifle in his hooves. If I could only just get it away from him…

“Oh don’t misunderstand me, I am working with Mr. Wizard.” Solomon laughed as he tightened his grip around his rifle and turned his gaze back to Rook. He gave the stallion a quick nod before raising his large rifle to the convoy. “You see, Mr. Wizard is far more influential than the Road Crew could ever hope to be. But what Mr. Wizard lacked, was a reason to fight and overthrow the Road Crew. Turns out, the majority of the wasteland actually likes having them around, and that’s not conducive to the plans Mr. Wizard has for the north.”

There was a ratcheting set of clicks as the copper tubes that made up Rook’s cybernetic limb rotated around on his joints. He stuck his hoof down onto the ground in front of Solomon, and after a moment, a small hiss emit as his leg detached from his body. On it’s own, the leg stood up straight as it’s parts began to shift around.

The pipes around the hoof section spread out and pressed down in three opposite directions, while the longer pipes on the back spun and extended a single rod upwards from the middle of the leg. With a whir, the rod in the middle opened at the top, and a small curved rubber stop extended upward, coming to a gentle stop as it all but kissed the underside of Solomon’s large rifle.

Rook’s leg was nothing more than a fancy tripod for Solomon’s oversized gun!? What the fuck!?

“Soon though, Mr. Wizard will control the entire north of Equestria. Just you wait.” Solomon spoke up as he brought his head to rest on the buttstock of his rifle. Carefully, he took his time adjusting his head against it. “After everypony learns that the Road Crew double crossed an innocent convoy, well, public opinion will be in favor of a change in road management. And after he takes over, Mr. Wizard will be the only ally I’ll need to help me secure the Ark, and win my father’s throne.”

“You’re a fucking monster.” I spat at Solomon’s hooves, quickly getting the cold barrels of Jess’s guns pressed against my neck.

“Why must you be so petty?” Solomon snorted and rolled his eyes, letting them fall back in line with the clean and clear lense of the large optic that sat bolted to the top of the rifle. “I could kill them, you know. And I should, after what you did to my dear, sweet Lamia.” That caused a subtle shift of Jess’s gun as it ground harder against my neck. “But I won’t, because we made a deal. However, what was it that other dead pegasus from your group had said? One tire or axle and their trip is over?" His grip ever so slightly shifted the aim of the rifle on the seat of the tripod, lining it up with Bertha. "Well, let's test that theory, shall we?”

“Sir? If I may remind you, at this distance,” Rook spoke up calmly, giving a single stiff hop on his three legs to get closer to the concentrating stallion. “the velocity of the fifteen point two millimeter projectile alleviates your need to adjust...”

“Yes, yes, Rook. I know how to aim my own hunting rifle.” Solomon cut off the unicorn before giving off an annoyed sigh. “Really, it’s almost as if you’ve forgotten that the most important thing about shooting, is concentration.” With that, Solomon fell silent, taking a few more slow breaths before pausing as he let out one last one.

BANG!

The shot was as loud to me as Howitzer’s fucking cannon was. The muzzle flare from it alone was almost blinding. But even that couldn’t hide the sharp flare the round gave as it burrowed through the thick armor of Bertha. It wasn’t the armor on the wheel, or from an axle, but from the metal plate that protected the reactor above the front tire. There was a sharp crack that answered the gunshot as a burst of superheated steam shot out from the bullet hole. A billowing cloud of steam poured out into the air from the open other side of the Hauler, ripping a gasp from my muzzle.

No… Boiler…

Maybe she wasn’t standing near the reactor! Yeah, maybe…

My own thoughts were shattered as my vision went white. My hearing disappeared as the combined blast of all the armaments stored in the cage next to the reactor cooked off. I didn’t see the blast wave, but it ripped my wings back and picked me right up off the ground. I screamed out with a cry I couldn’t hear as I slammed back against Solomon’s bus. The impact however was somewhat mitigated by my jump pack caving in the side panel of the bus before my weight dumped me back onto the ground.

No… that didn’t just happen!

I scrambled to get to my hooves, trying furiously to blink away the blinding afterimage of the Hauler being torn apart by the blast. Standing up, I almost collapsed all over again as my breath was stolen from me.

Bertha was nothing more than a wreck of burning and twisted debris. The front cab, the reactor bay, her entire front end was just… gone. Her rear frame, and what remained of her hauling bed, were scorched and twisted outward from the blast like a glowing steel flower. The containers that had once sat on her were strewn about the road and up on the valley dirt around her, most of them laying in a smoldering and twisted heap on the road behind the wreck.

A groan came back as the first sound I heard. My tearing eyes were pulled to the hanging form of Bessy as she teetered precariously over the edge of the elevated roadway. She was scorched badly, and all of her tires were either shredded or in the process of melting off. I gasped again softly as the front hatch opened, and Delilah stuck her head out of it. She turned her gaze across the valley, looking over towards us all.

Though, I knew in my heart, she was looking directly into my eyes with nothing but disappointment, anger, and regret.

With a final groaning rock, Bessy slipped from the edge of the highway. She hung in the air for a moment, letting it be etched in my memory forever before she dropped out of sight. I whimpered and shut my eyes as she hit the valley floor, and disappeared in another powerful blast.

They were gone.

Buck, Hispano, Hardcase, Cora, Lucky, Gearbox, Boiler, Howitzer and Delilah...

They’re all gone.

My ears perked as I heard a clatter of metal and polymer hit the ground. I opened my tear filled eyes to see Solomon’s rifle laying on the concrete at his hooves. Looking up, even through his all white coat, it was easy to see how pale and afraid he looked in that moment. Across his muzzle, a wavering smirk found its way onto it before he took a single shaky step backwards.

"Heh… uh, whoops..."

Author's Note

So yeah, that just happened! I've been waiting for two years to get to this point of the story. By now, most of you know that I like to take everything away from my protagonists at some point, and just get rid of their 'safety net' per se. I'm sorry about doing it to you all, but then again, most of you knew this sort of thing was coming. Still, I hope you all can take the next few weeks to come to terms with these events, because there's still a lot of story to go from here.

A huge thanks to TheFurryRailfan for helping to get this chapter into presentable condition. Seriously, he's a fantastic friend, author, and artist, and I'm so grateful for his help.

Lastly, of course many thanks go to Kkat for allowing us all to use the Fo:E universe in our own stories.