Silence is a fragile thing, a single word no matter the volume could shatter it and while the occasional bump and the continuous sounds emitting from the engine may break the absolute silence, the silence between the two individuals was never shattered as neither dared to utter a word. Having dealt with the two White Ash members, Dea was extremely worried for not only herself but for her settlement as well, knowing that the White Ash would stop at nothing to find the ones responsible for the death of one of them.

Cyrus on the other hand was fast asleep, the exhaustion he brought to himself by dragging a heavy buggy frame finally getting to him. Dea occasionally gave a few quick glances at the sleeping griffin, somewhat admiring griffin’s toned body before shaking her head angrily. A part of her mind continually blamed him for what could very much happen to her home while the other simply wondered, why was he frozen and for how long.

She sighed, looking toward the direction in which she drove to. The endless sea of sand was all that she could see but having drove through these lands countless times before had given her a sense of direction no matter where in this side of The Great Wastes she was. It was, as the saying goes, smooth sailing for her but like all good thing, it had to come to an end when the car’s humming engine suddenly stopped, leaving Dea to step on the brakes to stop suddenly.

“No no no.” Dea said while attempting to start the engine but to no avail. She then proceeded to vent out her frustration by smacking the steering wheel. “Fuck. Fuck!” She finally shouted, planting her head onto the wheel, unintentionally sounding off the horn. Dea’s shouting and the honking of the horn had disturbed Cyrus from his rest, causing him to groan as he groggily opened his eyes as an audible smack emitted from his lips.

“I don't suppose we're there yet?” He asked dryly as he straightened up on his seat.

“Just... shut up and let me think.” Dea said through gritted teeth, raising her hands to rub her temples. Cyrus, having been told off, looked at the few dials behind the steering wheel and noticed a very small and broken dial with its needle hovering over a faded letter E.

Cyrus took a quick look at the junk behind their seats, seeing nothing of use for this situation but he did notice a rather decent looking rifle, sadly it was missing a few parts for it work. With a silent hum, Cyrus tried to think of a solution but was unable to stay in thought as he felt the urge to urinate. As if realizing something important, Cyrus opened the door and got off the vehicle leaving Dea to her own thoughts and frustrations.

“Maybe they'll come and find me.” Dea sair to herself, her tone taking a hint of hope before frowning. “No, I doubt anyone but Pa cares anyway.” She said in a solemn tone. The young tigress sighed sadly but her mood soon shifted to that of confusion as the sound of liquid being poured into fuel tank. Before she could question it, the pouring stopped and the sound of the fuel hatch closing followed suit just before Cyrus sat back into the vehicle with a bemused face before leaning toward the driver’s seat much to Dea’s dismay and turned the key in the igniting, starting the car back up as if nothing happened.

“How did-”

“Just drive.” Cyrus spoke before Dea could finish her question. The young tigress complied and continued toward her destination without another word while Cyrus felt slightly embarrassed, wanting to keep quiet for the rest of the way.

Once the silence settled between the two, after what felt like an eternity Cyrus reached toward the unfinished rifle before pulling it away from the clutter of junk and scrap it was on top of. This earned Cyrus a questioning glance from the tigress beside him.

“What are you doing?” Dea asked, breaking the silence.

“Just seeing if this is any good.” Cyrus answered simply, noticing the cracked barrel of the unfinished rifle. He also noted the half opened bullet chamber before attempting to shut it only to find it difficult to do so. “How long until we get to where we're heading?” Cyrus asked, setting the rifle down beside him. He looked out the window, finally noticing the change of scenery. Instead of seeing the seemingly endless ocean of sand, rocky hills and large cliffsides was what Cyrus saw.

“We're just about there.” Dea answered before pointing towards horizon. Cyrus looked out, squinting his eyes to see farther and noticed what appeared to be a walled off settlement. As they drove closer towards it, Cyrus could see the state of the wall made of scrapped metal sheets. It looked ready to fall at any given moment.

The car came to a sudden stop just in front of the improvised gate. Two armored individuals poked their heads out from the other side of the wall before look at one another seemingly nervous at the sight of the the stopped vehicle.

“W-what do the White Ash need now?” One of the armored guards asked outloud. Dea raised a questioning brow before remembering the stolen White Ash Monarch she drove in. Without as much as a single word, Dea opened the door to her left and stood out with both arms raised.

“I'm not one of them, guys.” Dea spoke out before she came into view. Both guards stared in shock, seeing the young tigress step into view.

“Dea, what the fuck!?” One of them shouted, their nervousness replaced with shock. Cyrus noted from the sound of their voice, that it was a female guard that spoke. Dea winced from the sudden shout.

“It's a long story.” Dea said just loud enough for both guards to hear. She silently sighed to herself before speaking. “Can you just open the gate, please?” She asked outloud.

“Alright but you've got some explaining to do, Pa ain't goin’ to be happy seeing this.” The other guard said before moving out of view. It wasn't hard to note that it was a male's voice that spoke. Just then the gates began to slowly open, the screeching of its rusted parts greeted everyone's ears. From inside the White Ash car, Cyrus looked out in the distance out of boredom after briefly wincing at the metal screeching.

But even in his bored state, Cyrus was able to notice something in the distance. Standing atop a cliff was silhouetted figure and from Cyrus’s position he was unable to note who or what it was before it simply walked out of view. Hearing the door to his side open up had taken Cyrus out of his thoughts as Dea re-entered the car.

“You seem pretty nervous.” Cyrus noted out loud, turning to face the tigress. The latter’s shoulders sagged slightly but said nothing as she drove the car through the open gates, dragging the Buggy frame past the guards.

Not receiving a reply from Dea, Cyrus directed his gaze out the dusty windshield. From within the car, Cyrus was able to see a two story building, the second floor made entirely out of metal sheets welded together. There was a small fenced off area next to the building, Cyrus could only guess that it was a garden judging by the assorted vegetables planted within the fences.

There was another, much smaller building just ahead of the other. A heavily scarred, bulky middle-aged minotaur assembling what appeared to be rifle of sorts standing beside a fully functional weapon workbench and scattered assembly tools.

Looking towards the direction in which Dea drove towards, Cyrus was greeted with an open garage door to a pre-war vehicle shop. As Dea drove in, both were greeted shocked look of a middle aged dragon man. His attire consisted of a worm, grease stained pair of overalls, a pair of old boots and an old pre-war undershirt.

Dea, having reached her destination finally, turned off the car and opened the door before stepping out of the car.

“I know this seems bad.” Dea began, breaking the silence between her and the anthropomorphic dragon man. The latter’s left eye gave a single twitch at her words. “But let me start off by saying that I was right, there's a whole other facility under that old New Canterlot Republic outpost.” Dea informed, hoping to lessen the dragon man’s anger. The latter closed his eyes with deep breath before taking a seat atop large metal box.

“That Buggy took half of my life to make.” The Dragon man muttered under his breath. Hearing this, Dea winced before seeing the man shake his head before sighing, angered expression changing to that of a dull one. “What did you find and is it worth anything?” He suddenly asked.

Hearing his question, Cyrus opened the door to his right and stepped out, revealing himself to the disgruntled dragon man. At the sight of Cyrus, his eyes narrowed threateningly.

“Easy there, old timer. I'm with her.” Cyrus said, earning a scoff from the dragon.

“You're not helping.” Dea quickly told Cyrus. The latter rolled his eyes before taking a quick look of the room.

“My patience is running thin, Dea.” The Dragon warned through gritted teeth, adding more pressure onto the poor tigress.

“She's been through alot stress today and you're not exactly helping.” Cyrus spoke threateningly, surprising him internally. The dragon man frowned further at Cyrus’ tone. The latter decided to help the struggling tigress in explaining much to their surprise, “Miles below the surface underneath the outpost is a large facility housing over two hundred cryogenic pods, each having various entities in cryogenic stasis.” Cyrus explained, sitting atop the still burning hot hood of the car, ignoring the pain he currently felt.

“And how would you know that?” The Dragon asked in suspicion. Dea, having calmed a bit, stepped in to answer.

“Because he… He was inside one of those pods.” Dea admitted, taking a quick glance at Cyrus before adding. “I would've died if I hadn't.” She said, recalling her encounter with the abomination. The dragon closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and opening his eyes again with his gaze landing on Cyrus.

“Care to explain a little further?” He asked, curious to know what Dea had meant. Cyrus shrugged, hopping down from the hood before speaking.

“One of the pods must've had a malfunction and released an Evolved Centaur. She wasn't well equipped to handle centaur, much less an evolved one.” Cyrus explained, seeing the Dragon man nodding for him to continue. “While I'm not fully sure as to why she had ‘woken’ me up but I saw that thing on the loose and just had to put it down.” Cyrus finished with his nonchalant explanation. The silent dragon nodded before standing up.

“I suppose introductions are in order, my name is Paymadyn but most call me Pa for short.” He said, offering a hand towards Cyrus. The latter looked at it curiously before grasping it and giving it a mutual shake. “Thank you for saving Dea from that centaur. I've seen what they can do to those unfortunate enough to encounter one.” He added in a grateful tone. The anger he once had seemingly faded away, leaving Cyrus to question the dragon’s easily gained trust.

“It's… not a problem.” Cyrus said, slightly confused towards Paymadyn’s sudden change of mood as he pulled his hand back. The latter turned to look at the scrapped frame of the Dea’s buggy, saddening him at the sight.

“I suppose I could take it apart and sell off the pieces, though I doubt I'll even make a single cap out of these.” Pa spoke under his breath again. Dea looked at him, about to speak but Cyrus spoke first

“I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands, I'm willing to work for it if I have to.” Cyrus said, gaining a curious look from the middle aged dragon.

“I suppose…” Paymadyn said before quietly thinking to himself. He glanced back at metal frame that used to be a Buggy.

“Why would you want a buggy frame?” Dea asked curious to know his reason. Her answer was given in the form of a shrug of Cyrus’ shoulders.

“I don't know yet. Maybe given enough time I'll scrounge up some parts and make my own buggy.” Cyrus said as his gaze landed on the frame in question before shaking his head. “But I've got a long way to go before I could think of starting.”

“Well if you're thinking of staying, you might be able to find a place to stay at the building just ahead of here.” Paymadyn said, gesturing towards the two story building just a short walk away. “You can stay for as long as you want as long as you work that is. There aren't many of us left here, so work is plentiful.” He added, walking towards the open garage door. His gaze landing on the smaller building, seeing the heavily scarred and bulky minotaur finishing up the assembly of a scoped hunting rifle. “The Minotaur over there can help you set up for scavenging expeditions, he's also the arms dealer of the place so if you need a reliable weapon, he's the Bull for the job.” Pa said, turning to look at Cyrus. The latter, still internally questioning his easily gained trust, nodded at Pa’s words in acknowledgment.

“I… thanks, for allowing me to stay.” Cyrus said, knowing the least he could do for now was to thank the dragon for his kindness.

“Just don't cause any trouble.” Said the dragon man as he walked towards his work bench. Once there, he picked up a rusted piston. Dea, having heard all this, walked up to Cyrus.

“I guess I'll show you where you'll be staying then.” She said before walking ahead of him and out through the open garage doors. Cyrus followed suit, having finished speaking with the dragon mechanic. Once outside and far enough away from the garage, Cyrus decided to ask the question that has been plaguing throughout his conversation with Paymadyn.

“Is he normally so… trusting?” Cyrus asked as he caught up with the tigress.

“He really never trusts anyone from the Wastes, you simply got on his good side by mentioning what happened back when I found you.” Dea answered, seeing the scarred minotaur giving a friendly wave before waving back.

“You two are close?” Cyrus asked with a curiously raised brow.

“I've known him since I was little, he used be friends with my parents before…” Dea stopped suddenly before shaking her head at the memory. “Nevermind, we're practically family.” She said, leaving Cyrus to wonder what had caused her to stop.

Once they reached the two story building and entered it, Dea then began to lead Cyrus towards a vacant room. It just so happened to be the first room they had come across and Cyrus noted the few items left by the previous owner.

“This is your room, like Pa said, you can keep it if you work for it.” Dea said, allowing Cyrus to walk into the room. To Cyrus, the room resembled that of a cheap motel room from before the bombs from before he…

Cyrus frowned and pushed the thought away before grabbing ahold of a rusted nine millimeter handgun. He ejected the clip and saw that it was empty, figures.

“Are there others or…” Cyrus half-asked, not finishing his question.

“We're the only ones left here. There were more but once the White Ash began to harass us, the others left soon after .” Dea explained while looking at the dirty room. “We do get some caravan visitors every week or two but they don't stay for may than a day.” Dea added before finally noticing Cyrus’s newly acquired gun. “You know, Iron Fist can fix up that old thing for you. I can put in a good word for you, make this one a freebie.”

“Who?” Cyrus asked, turning to look at the tigress.

“He's the one that can set you up on some scavenging expeditions. He's also the arms dealer.” Dea reminded him, getting a knowing nod in return.

“Alright.” Was all Cyrus said as he handed the rusted gun over to Dea before adding. “I'm going to rest for a bit, I still feel my entire body aching from pulling the buggy frame.” Dea nodded and left without another word.

Cyrus sighed, finally feeling the exhaustion overcome his entire body and turned to look at the bed, seeing that the sheets were covered in a layer of dust so he removed them without a word. He then laid atop the mattress before finally succumbing the overwhelming exhaustion.

Author's Note

While I've been slow in writing lately, this was somewhat at fault buf I finished so that means I can continue other shit.

I've also started an account on Wattpad, made my first non-mlp related fic and I'm happy with it but that means slower updates, depending if I don't suffer through writers block like I have been lately.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it and have a nice day.