“Is… Is that…”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Dashie’s back! Look everypony!”

“Give ‘er some space, girls!”

Through a swirling vision and murky senses, Rainbow Dash could make out a series of blurs in the colors of her friends. Her vision bounced, turning the surrounding ponies from her friends into vibrant orbs before returning back into their whole shapes. She tried to speak, tried to give any acknowledgment to the friends she thought were gone forever, but her body wouldn't allow it.

“Please don’t go again!” A yellow blur suddenly appeared dead center in Rainbow’s line of sight. “Wake up, Rainbow!” The sweet, heartbroken voice made Dash’s heart shatter with each pleading word.

A single drop of something wet splattered on Rainbow’s cheek. She could imagine the tears pouring out of her friend’s aqua eyes despite barely being able to see her. More droplets fell, some of which landed on Dash’s eye, forcing her to squint on instinct. Upon opening the eye, the mare noticed something horrifying. The droplets weren’t tears. They weren’t even clear with that hint of blue.

They were more viscous, with a dark red bordering on black.

Suddenly, the crimson-absent side of her vision cleaned itself up with a single blink. The thing standing over her wasn’t Fluttershy. Those things behind her weren’t her friends. Whatever was wearing Fluttershy like a fur coat forced Rainbow to look eyes with the cream-colored mare’s dead ones. Blood continued to drip from the corpse’s nostrils down onto Rainbow’s face.

Dash’s heart was spinning in place, trying to jumpstart her body into reacting in any way possible. ‘Fluttershy’ leaned in closer, allowing Rainbow to smell the decay. The creature opened its mouth to reveal it’s teeth and tongue were gone, cuts and scars dotting its mouth as if someone yanked them out.

A gurgling sound came from Fluttershy, followed by a rush of blue liquid. Rainbow attempted to turn her head to the side, but her body was still unresponsive. The thick substance splattered onto her muzzle, seeping in through her nostrils and lips. It sparked in her mouth, no in her head, as if each slosh sent a warning message to her brain to try and throw the stuff up.

The blue torrent began to thin out as the first Plexer head peeked out from inside of Fluttershy’s throat. It was followed by two more, which scurried through the corpse’s mouth before leaping at Rainbow. The other ‘girls’ began to howl in a choir of moans and growls as the insects burrowed into the blue pegasus’ eyes. Rainbow’s head was on fire. The sharp rear ends of the Plexers sunk into her head. Each spindly leg dug into her socket as the creatures rotated themselves like power drills. Strangely enough, Dash’s vision wasn’t cut off like she expected upon feeling the piercing sensation. Instead, it seemed to be replaced with a throbbing blue filter, allowing her the displeasure of seeing her friends watch it all.

Fluttershy seemed satisfied with its job, getting off of Rainbow to stare down at her with the others. Dash was hardly paying them attention as the battering ram inside her head wouldn’t relent. With each pound, static-like veins moved in closer from the corners of her vision, threatening to overtake her every second.

Suddenly, Fluttershy’s head exploded, sending crimson and blue bits everywhere. Her crimson caked body dropped to the ground in an instant as the others faced a direction out of Rainbow’s sight. Various screeches rang out before the remaining four charged out of sight.

All she could do was listen and wait.

Bone clanged against steel, a deep growl of a warcry clashed with monstrous roaring, with gunshots in between being the only intermission. After what felt like hours, the chaos died down with one last thud. Silence filled the white space until it was replaced with slow, heavy hoovesteps in her direction.

Finally he came into view.

The stallion in jaded blue armor stopped in the middle of Dash’s vision. His hooves were coated in blood and his shotgun’s barrel still had a smoke trail escaping it. The stallion turned his helmeted head down to look at Dash, his purple visor’s glow hiding any expression behind it.

Both of them were silent as they stared at one another. Rainbow struggled to keep focused on him now that the veins had almost dominated her entire vision. However, she was coherent enough to watch as he lowered the shotgun to her face. Dash tried to scream, but her mind was torn between a call for help and begging to end it.

He loaded a shell. Rainbow felt tears, or rather some thicker substance leaking out of her sockets. She didn’t know if its release was out of her control or whatever had nearly taken her over. It didn’t matter to her.

He squeezed the trigger.

Rainbow Dash shot awake. Her coat was matted with sweat, along with the worn out mattress she had been lying down on. The mare’s eyes darted around the two room building to confirm her surroundings. The same crummy apartment-sized place? Check. Still in the apocalypse? Check. Still living? She put her hooves up to her face, half expecting to feel the writhing insects, only to flinch her eyelids shut once her hooves made contact.

Still alive! Everythings cool, everythings cool...

Slivers of orange rays broke in through the boards on the windows, but a good portion of the home was still shrouded in darkness. Suddenly, a soft seafoam glow from Clear Sky’s horn illuminated the rest of the house, forcing shadows to curl back like beasts retreating into the corners. The elder mare had bags under her eyes, which could have been either from sleep deprivation or crying, either was a fair guess to Rainbow.

Not wanting to make her nearing breakdown known, Rainbow Dash let out a faint chuckle to clear her raspy throat. “I guess nopony can really get a good night's sleep on these things, huh?”

Clear returned the gesture with a weak smile. “It’s not that… I just… I see my Wind Sprint every time I close my eyes. I… I can’t stop thinking about what could have happened to her out there… or in here! I tried getting her to stay in Ponyville, but she wouldn’t leave if Gutterball wouldn’t! I fought so hard to get them to join me and now look what happened!” Her tired demeanor melted into a budding hysteria.

“Hey,” Rainbow reached over to the unicorn’s mattress to place a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t think like that! Now is not the time for pointing hooves and laying blame! We need to make a game plan for today!”

Tears began to form in the corner of the pink mare’s eyes. “D-don’t you get it, Rainbow Dash? She has no idea how to use a gun or even a knife for that matter! She’s probably terrified and not thinking straight! Out there with those monsters or in here with perverted brutes at every corner! She could be right under us being… taken advantage of, and… and I-I’d never fucking know it!” Clear Sky broke out into full blown sobbing, crumbling into her forehooves.

Rainbow’s features dropped upon hearing the picture painted for the filly’s chances. “But what about Strongheart, the sheriff? She has officers or guards - or whatever you guys have - to make sure that doesn’t happen in here? Right?”

“The g-guards? They aren’t here for us…” Clear sniffed, doing her best to gain composure. “They’re here to watch the walls, make sure nothing gets suspicious of the camouflage spell around the town. There aren't enough of them to go on a manhunt, even more so now that what little she spared is looking for Ponyville survivors every morning…”

“Then we’ll do it ourselves! C’mon, we’ve had our rest. Let's go knock down every door until we get someone to talk! If that doesn’t work, I’ll go back outside and turn that forest upside down!”

“Why do you care so much?” Clear whispered, rubbing at her eyes. “Nopony except Gutter ever has.”

Rainbow pondered the question a moment. She didn’t have to think long or hard at all as the very first memories of arriving in this raped world flooded back in. “I dunno, somepony did the same for me, so it's only right that I return the favor.”

The pink mare’s stunned expression was the only answer Rainbow received. Clear swallowed her emotions just in time to find her voice. “Wow… I haven’t heard like that in forever…”

“Heh, where I’m from, “forever” feels like only a day or two ago. Literally.” Dash reminisced before jumping up to her hooves gracefully. The cyan pegasus extended a hoof for Clear Sky. “C’mon, we’re wasting daylight!”

After one final sniffle, the unicorn’s faint smile returned as she accepted the hoof. “You sound just like her. I know you both would have been best friends if none of these circumstances happened…”

“You mean, we will be best friends. No more moping until we know for sure. We need to have clear heads and be ready to kick flank if it comes to that! Now, Strongheart said somepony might have seen Wind Sprint yesterday?”

“Yeah, right, the sheriff mentioned a witness seeing her head in our direction. But with all the chaos from Ponyville, it could just be false information. A part of me really hopes it is. There are some… nasty townsfolk in these slums, but Wind knows not to get anywhere near them!” Clear swallowed a lump in her throat before continuing. “Even if she… she was caught off guard by some stallion or whoever, there isn’t any place to hide a foal-napping! All these shacks and tents are too crowded for that! One of the wall guards would have seen it and-”

“Woah, woah, slow down.” Rainbow attempted to console the elder mare with ill effect. “You don’t have to paint that picture. I get it. So we start in this crummy neighborhood then?”

Panic flashed across the pink unicorn’s eyes. “No! We can’t - I mean, not yet! We need a way to defend ourselves first!”

Rainbow gestured to the machete strapped around her hindleg. “Already ahead of you.”

“A knife?” Clear trailed off. “Against armed residents, some bigger and stronger than us, many outnumbering the two of us, and you want to go in there with a knife?! How are we supposed to protect my little filly when we can’t even protect ourselves?”

The prismatic pegasus shrugged. “Relax, we won’t even need to use the blade. I know a thing or two about roughing up bad guys with or without weapons.”

“I was just thinking maybe we should see Gutterball before searching. He’s pretty big and that counts for a lot when dealing with thugs. And he knows this town better than both of us too.”

Rainbow fought the urge to groan, fed up with the thought of needing an armed stallion by her side twenty-four seven. “Alright, fine, let’s just swing by and get him so we can make this reunion happen!”

Just a few blocks away, in the center of the western town sits a jaded purple building. The heart and bed sign embedded into the wall above the entrance is blacked out by a painted cross symbol. To the right of the double doors, a sign reading “hospital” is nailed in loosely. Inside one of the hospital’s many faded rooms, a female buffalo wearing a star badge sits across from a young violent pegasus while a doctor finishes stitching up her wounds.

“A cave in?” Sheriff Strongheart asked, her dry tone betraying her skepticism. “And a stallion caused it by punching the cave wall? A single punch?”

Wind Sprint nodded. “Yeah, he started going crazy, ripping those Damned apart with his bare hooves! He must’ve taken down a dozen!”

“Then what happened?” A grey suit wearing mare asked from her leaning position in the doorway. As usual, her helmet and tinted visor blocked any semblance of a facial expression.

“I dunno, he… passed out or something. We tried carrying him, but that was a no-go. Then your guys showed up and that's about it.”

Strongheart leaned into the backwards facing chair she was sitting in. “Listen, Wind, I know you’ve been through a lot, but I need you to really think about this next question…” The blank look on the young mare’s face fizzled into fear at the thought of being held to something of this magnitude. “Are you one-hundred percent positive nothing or no one was watching when Seeker’s group teleported you in? A survivor, a Damned monster, an animal - anything?!”

“Yes, I am, uh, sure - ma’am!” Wind stuttered, unsure of why she had become so uneasy. “They have more ways to leave the cave, but nothing could see or get out of the one we were in!”

“Okay. Good. Thank you.” Strongheart retracted herself, standing up from the chair and walking past the armored mare in the doorway.

“Wait! What about my mom?! Is she here?!”

“Clear Sky is fine.” The masked mare calmly interjected. “She’s at Gutterballs. We’ve had to divert wall guards for refugee rescuing so it's not safe to go through the Slums alone. I’ll get one of the scouts to escort you there once everything is wrapped up here.”

With that promise made, Strongheart waved her enforcer out of the room. Once they were out of earshot with only the medical staff and wounded groans echoing into their hallway, the buffalo turned to face the armored pony.

“What do you think?”

“She’s telling the truth. You can’t expect someone to survive a near death experience and be trapped by authority to be calm about it.”

“I saw that. What I mean is, do you think she could have anything to do with Ponyville or our situation here?” Strongheart replied, looking over their shoulders. “What about this Storm? Is he a threat to the town?”

The enforcer was silent for a moment. “The girl isn’t a murderer or slaver. I may not know her personally, but I know a killer. Storm… Storm’s unconscious and getting an infection cut out of him.”

“You didn’t answer the question. I remember the last conversation you two had before he ran off. He might’ve been just a colt at the time, but that was then. This is now, and now I have a town to protect. So I’ll ask again, is he a threat to us?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“And what if he is? Will you be able to handle it or should I stick one of our guards in his room just in case?”

“No!” The masked mare practically growled, before clearing her throat. “I mean, no, I'll handle it. If something does go wrong… better it go wrong in the room with just me and him.”

“Just do what you have to. You know the routine. Ask him the questions, keep yourself in between him and his gear. Give it back only if you know we can trust him! I’ll admit, I wasn’t thinking clearly when Rainbow arrived - that was on me. I have no reason to suspect she has any ties with the Wranglers, but Storm is a possibility.”

“Are you fucking serious?!” A mechanical hiss came through the helmet's filter. “Storm would help us cut the balls off of every single one of them! He’d be the last pony on this planet to join them!”

“I don’t need to remind you what time does to us, do I? Everything changes with it! Look what you, what we, had to do just to survive them! You have no idea what's happened to him after all this time and neither do I! So until proven otherwise, he isn’t cleared.”

“Understood…”

Strongheart nodded a reluctant thanks to her second-in-command before a beep resounded from her earpiece. She turned away to have a short conversation with someone on the other end before spinning back around to her enforcer. “We’ve got more refugees. I’m needed at the station. Just please, for your sake, don’t let emotion cloud your judgement.”

With that final piece of advice, the buffalo was off down the hallway and out the door, leaving the armored mare in the hall alone. The enforcer turned to face a closed door on the other side of the hall. She placed a hoof against the knob, but couldn’t find the strength to turn it initially. Her limb was starting to shake, forcing her to shove everything in her mind down and twist.

Then she saw him.

He saw her.

Storm Surge eyed the fully armored newcomer from his position propped up against the bed’s headrest. He sat up immediately while watching her freeze in place the second his eyes locked onto her vision. The next thing he noted was the revolver strapped to her hindleg. Storm felt his heart skipping now. Zecora was finishing up applying more of the pink potion to his stitched abdomen, placing the zebra in the line of fire should this stranger attempt anything. He snuck a side glance at his weapons and suit lying in the room’s corner, mentally cursing himself for his previous physical state of being unable to retrieve them until now.

Neither one of them spoke. Without any immediate course of action available, Storm was forcefully content with holding his indifferent expression until the stranger acted. Then he noticed something strange. Her legs had a faint wobble, the kind one got from standing still too long while their mind was preoccupied on other matters. Zecora noticed her friend’s stare, prompting the striped mare to turn around and address the masked pony.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, looking up at the taller mare. “It seems like something has you in a state of fright.”

“I… I’m fine,” The armored mare stumbled, unable to take her eyes off of the recovering stallion as she noticed the bandage around his abodmine. “I uh, just need to ask you two a few questions. Is the doc done with him?”

Zecora nodded. “He is, indeed. My potions only go so far with internal injuries. It’s a miracle you have such skilled physicians in our time of need.”

“So everything is good? No permanent damage or-”

“Who are you?” Both mares froze as the stallion finally spoke, interjecting into their conversation.

“Well, I-I…” The masked pony stumbled as her tongue knotted itself in her mouth. She put a hoof to her helmet in embarrassment, then a light bulb clicked on in her head. “I… I don’t know how else to do this…”

Her hoof moved down to the chestplate console, clicking the helmet disassembly button. Mechanisms began to whine loudly as the steel plating folded over itself before retracting to the armor’s backplate. The ashen grey face of a middle-aged unicorn mare revealed itself to the world. Her sweat-laced black and white mane was done up in a ponytail, allowing her watering apatite eyes to connect with the pegasus stallion’s.

Storm couldn’t breathe. All he could do was stare into her eyes. Their blue color was complemented by the tears starting to stream out of them. Her lip was quivering with what he assumed was relief or perhaps joy. It looked like this mare had been waiting for this moment for a lifetime. And he knew she had.

Then why could he only see red now?

“Hey, kid…” She could barely whisper through her emotions.

Suddenly, the stallion clutched his head. It felt like a needle had just pricked his brain. Then the whispers started. He could hear muffled voices, cheering, then shouting as the image of the last time he had entered the town played through his crimson vision. Storm practically threw himself off the bed, knocking over a bucket of bloodied rags in the process. Zecora and the helmetless mare watched as he had begun to close the distance in record time.

Storm passed them, leaning down to grab his discarded suit. Without a word more, he shoved the thing over his body and strapped it down, paying little regard for how harsh he was treating the old equipment. Once everything but the helmet was on, he swung the Sweeper onto his back and grabbed the revolver with his tethered hand.

The helmetless mare’s eyes went wide. She knew this was coming, but couldn’t bring herself to draw her own. The unicorn squeezed her eyes, severing the watery trail as she waited for what was coming, no, what she deserved...

It never came. The sound of metal scraping against leather filled the silent room, prompting the armored mare to open her eyes. Storm had holstered the weapon on his flank. The stallion had equipped every piece of gear, but his emotionless expression remained trained on the floor where all of it had been. A few moments of dreading silence later, he turned to the zebra.

“You’re going to stay and help the doctors?” He asked, his voice sounding even more lifeless than usual. His question earned another nod from the striped mare. “Okay, I’m going to find Dash. I’ll get back to you when we’re leaving.”

With that, the suited pegasus strode past her, stopping at the armored mare in the doorway. Suddenly, the unicorn dove in, wrapping her forelegs around the significantly taller stallion. Their suit plating clashed together, creating an awful clanking sound as she clung to his neck, sobbing against it as if she had just received the news that a loved one had passed. A string of “I’m sorrys” came out in the choked sobbing then. In the same frame of time she had embraced him, Storm shoved her off roughly, finally putting his eyes to her level.

“Don’t touch me.” The venom in his words forced both mares to recoil. He walked past the two grumbling about this being the last thing he needed now.

“Storm, wait!” The maskless unicorn called as she chased him down the hall.

Storm stopped in his tracks. Put a hoof to his brow before turning around to face his chaser. Both girls froze upon noticing his eyes shared the tear-stained appearance, however more faint than the mare’s. “Remember the last time we saw each other? Remember what I said?!”

She nodded, shaking droplets everywhere. “You… you said… you promised you’d shoot me the second I showed myself…” The mare choked as a realization hit her harder than their reunion. “But you didn’t! You’ve changed-”

“Circumstances have. I haven’t.” Storm’s expression resembled an overfilled air canister about to explode, with the tears being a whistle of air escaping through the cracks. “You aren’t worth the bullet anymore, Leadwall.”

After the gut-punch of a statement, nopony dared to speak again. Not even the medical staff passing by the commotion, every mare or stallion resolved to look elsewhere as if making eye contact with Storm would provoke something fierce. The armored mare, Leadwall, broke on the spot. Her tear-stained muzzle remained frozen with her mouth hanging open ajar. Her pupils shaking were the only sign that her body was still alive. Storm blinked once to clear his vision before facing away, leaving the hospital as fast as possible without full on sprinting.

Storm couldn’t get out there fast enough. He wanted to run for it, but he knew the sign of weakness an act of retreat would show. The stallion knew all too well he couldn’t afford anything like that anymore. He angrily stamped a hoof against the sand, mentally damning himself for nearly bursting back there in front of everyone. All it took was one look and he was back, not to the night at his mothers, but to the horrific runner up.

No matter how hard he tried to shove the memories down, the can had already been opened and the worms were spewing out too quickly for him to put back inside. Storm could feel the judgmental stares cast his way as he attempted to catch his breath. Suddenly, the sound of screaming broke the pegasus out of his trance. His eyes shot up, revealing nopony else had reacted to the noise. They were all going about their usual business as a group of stallions strapped a young mare down to a public humiliation device in the town’s center strip. Storm couldn’t make out the details of who was being subjected to a soon-to-be gangrape or snuffing, but he had his revolver drawn before his brain had even registered the action. Some of the stallions in the outer circle noticed him, one of them nodded his way as they all drew their weapons, but nopony said a word.

Time appeared to have been frozen as Storm pulled back the hammer. He couldn’t rationalize why he was ready to get gun downed for this random, indiscernible pony, all he felt was the emotions fueling his aim.

“STORM!”

A familiar, scratchy female voice called out. The tone was a concoction of overjoyed relievement and surprised horror. Now everypony else noticed, many turning towards the shout while a few gasped in horror. The few in shock weren’t looking at the sound, they were staring at the stallion with a loaded revolver pointed at his own temple. Storm finally registered the cold steel against his head, prompting him to recoil in surprise, staring at the gun before shoving it back into the holster.

The next thing he knew, someone had barreled into him from the opposite side of his nearly attempted suicide. Storm managed to catch himself as a rainbow blur slammed into his front. His muscles tensed on instinct as her hooves wrapped around his neck. His mind hadn’t caught up with the present, his eyes still locked onto the empty street where he swore a mare was about to be brutalized, but nothing was there. The feeling of a heartbeat carried throughout her body pressed against his neck brought him crashing back down to the now.

Rainbow Dash pulled back from the hug, allowing their eyes to finally meet. Dash was only granted a glance at his heavy eyes before she felt herself become pulled into another embrace. Storm buried his muzzle in her mane as tears poured out freely from his thousand yard stare past the both of them. That feeling returned in his gut. The one that seemed to crawl its way back inside no matter how much shit the world tried to clog his senses with. That feeling which only came back when in the company of his friends after scavenging all day.

“Is this your friend, Rainbow Dash?” Another mare’s voice called from the pegasi’s side. Storm turned to see the same pink unicorn from the Heart’s Desire spell. Her face went up in flames with a blush upon realizing how into the embrace they were.

Storm and Rainbow pulled apart, allowing the cyan pegasus to notice the steel-toothed device on the stallion’s forehoof. “Woah! You got a chainsaw?! What'd I miss?!” She squealed, the embarrassment of the moment vanishing entirely.

Oh nothing, just reason four-thousand and six of why we are fucked, is what Storm wanted to say, but his filter caught the words before his lips could. “A lot, I had some questions about the Damned answered and a million more that I don’t want answered.” He eyed Clear Sky before lowering his voice for Dash. “Can we talk about it later? Don’t want to start a panic and I’m struggling as is to keep it in…”

Rainbow’s ear-to-ear grin faded in favor of a more serious facial expression. “Gotcha…” She subtly replied before motioning to the pink unicorn beside them. “Clear, this is Storm. Storm, Clear.”

The stallion gave a nod alongside his usual expression of indifference. “You’re Wind Sprint’s mother, right?”

Clear’s aquamarine eyes inflated at the mention of her daughter’s name. “Yes, Yes! I am! Do you know-”

“MOM!”

Everypony’s attention was redirected to the hospital’s entrance, where a young violet pegasus had just shrieked in delight. Wind Sprint soared down to the trio as her mother closed the gap on hoof. Both mares embraced with tears leaking from their squeezed eyes. Wind nestled her head into the crook of Clear’s neck. As mother and daughter shared their own tender moment, Storm Surge and Rainbow Dash were left awkwardly waiting on the sidelines.

“Did we look that sappy?” Rainbow whispered, nudging the stallion’s side.

Before he could respond, the mother-daughter duo broke apart as Clear Sky looked up to the stallion with glistening eyes. “Thank you so much… I… I don’t know how to ever repay you - both of you - for this!”

“Can you teleport us out of here when the time comes?” Storm asked, wiping away a streak of blood from his nostril.

Clear nodded. “Of course! But, is that all you want? I can’t recall anyone wanting anything other than trade salvage or… you know…” She finished with an uncomfortable blush.

“No, none of that's necessary. I just need to repair a few things and then Dash and I will be gone.” Then he turned to the mentioned prismatic pegasus. “Have you been able to contact Twilight Sparkle’s ship? My Tethertech is fucked from the ocean.”

“I can’t reach Twi either.” Rainbow replied, removing her own earpiece and holding it up for him to examine. “Heh, you’d think we would have waterproofed these by now with all the other cool stuff the guard has.”

Storm tethered his sketchbook in front of him before scribbling something down. A blue blur shifted to his side in the corner of his eye, prompting him to snap the book shut, look up, and see Rainbow’s smug grin. “What?”

“What?” Dash repeated with a snort. “Nopony slams their diary shut like that for no reason! You like my idea, don’t ya?”

“It's a notebook.” Storm corrected, his slight irritation bubbling to the surface in an instant. “There’s... personal shit in it… but, yeah, that idea might be useful if we could ever find the parts or time. Enough about the book, we need supplies. Are any of the older shops still open, Clear?”

“There is the general supply store down the street, but it doesn’t open until later.” Clear Sky replied, pointing to a shop which Rainbow had become recently familiar with. “The trading system is more lenient than ever right now too. Something has those monsters all stirred up outside, making it nearly impossible for the town scouts to scavenge new material.”

Storm let out a strained breath, gazing back to the middle of the street. “How much later? I need to get us out of here as quickly as possible.”

“It opens at ten or whenever the owner opens it.” Wind Sprinted added. “Oh! But if you stay until noon, we usually have traders come in. They’ll probably have some exotic stuff!”

“Exotic?” Clear mused at the word, nuzzling her daughter’s side. “So you have been reading those old books!”

“Mom! Please, not in front of h- them!” Wind whined, caughting herself upon nearly spilling the beans before muttering under her breath. “Jeez, I’m twenty and you act like I’m twelve!”

“Nonsense, there is no shame in improving your vocabulary.” Clear Sky chuckled before putting a hoof in front of her lips to whisper at her daughter. “Besides, I’m sure your crush over there would find an educated mare attractive.”

Wind’s vibrant face made it impossible to sink out of existence after yet another embarrassing comment. Clear and Rainbow, however, weren’t shy about their playful snickering. The youngest pegasi snuck a glance at Storm, hoping he was sharing a similar blush, but his eyes gazed off distantly as if he was a million miles away from the conversation. Wind Sprint followed his stare to the hospital building they had emerged from prior.

With the exception of two guards, a single pony in a grey ATS suit stood in the hospital entrance. This pony was looking in their direction before swiftly averting their gaze. Wind looked back to the stallion in front of her, revealing a mood change which a blind pony could see. His blank expression was now strained, veins were visible through his light grey forehead. Overall, his appearance matched that of a boiling teapot with a loose lid.

“Well,” Clear Sky continued, transitioning from her and Rainbow’s private conversation. “We still have a few hours to kill. Why don’t you two join us for a celebration at the tavern? I’m sure Gutter is dying to find out his little girl is safe and sound!”

“Yeah, sure.” Storm answered gruffly. Only Rainbow noticed him peek over his shoulder at the hospital. “I need a change of scenery anyway.” Without further elaboration, the stallion led the way.

Clear Sky and her daughter followed suit, but Dash took a moment to investigate what her companion had been unsettled by. Immediately, the cyan pegasus felt her eyes lock with the helmeted mare’s indiscernible ones. Before she could notice anything else, Rainbow heard Wind Sprint call her name, prompting the prismatic mare to gallop to catch the others. As they made their way through the center street, Dash continuously took side glances at Storm, noticing his expression of indifference wasn’t natural. It was the forced kind he had shown to Rarity and the Solstice crew. It was the “something is about to go down” look that always made her stomach drop into a bottomless pit.

Whatever it was, she hoped this tavern would grant them a moment of peace which everypony walking beside her had definitely earned. No matter how small the salvation, anything would be adequately welcomed before stepping back into the shitshow of a world. As the group walked, Rainbow was knocked out of her trance by the sound of pounding thunder above. Lightning bolts raced across the rolling clouds of a flare, Rainbow opened her mouth to warn the seemingly unphased group, but her voice was silenced upon seeing the rain droplets bounce off an indiscernible barrier above.

“Gold Talon Tavern” was painted onto a massive wooden board nailed to the building’s roof, while an icon of a griffon claw curling over a mug rested underneath the blocky letters. A sudden flash from above illuminated the dark lettering, reminding one of the travelers of a past adventure involving a derelict castle shrouded in the same elements.

Every instance of uncertainty was swept under the place’s red carpet floor the second the group entered through the saloon doors, or it at least eased the minds of all but the one male traveler. The atmosphere outside sizzled into serenity, aided by the scarce placement of lights and antique nicknacks dotting the interior walls, which popped against the makeshift mood lighting. A pool table made up of boards with a smooth platform for playing was nestled in the tavern’s center, surrounded by barrel-like tables with a quad of chairs around each one. Literal sofas were used for the booths along the entrance wall. Continuous metallic clanging resounded from the furthest corner, where two stallions were playfully berating one another at a game of horseshoe toss. Finally, the bar was crammed into the back wall with hoof-crafted stools made from scrap metal and couch cushions.

Behind the bar counter, a changeling fluttered in place as his hooves fiddled with a dysfunctional ceiling light. Upon hearing the wooden doors slap together, he looked down at the newcomers. With a curved smile and a voice border lining on irritation, he acknowledged the group. “Welcome to the tavern, ladies and gentlecolt! I’ll send one of the girls to be with y'all in one moment-” He was cut off by sparks flying at his face. The changeling went into a cussing fit, muttering about the power needing to be cut before finishing his task. “Take any seat you like!”

Clear Sky led them to a booth along the front wall, far enough away from the rowdy horseshoe game. She slid into the seat with Wind Sprint scooting in beside her mother. Storm stopped in front of the makeshift seat before gesturing to let Rainbow Dash go first.

“Gee, Stormy, first you aren’t afraid of showing sappiness and now table manners?” Dash quipped, sliding into her spot, while the other two giggled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you swapped places with that Changeling over there!”

Storm Surge rolled his eyes before shuffling his armored body into the booth. “It's more efficient to jump out of the seat from here if something goes wrong.” Then he glanced over to the bar counter and back at Rainbow. “That guy? That’s a Changeling?”

“Uh… yeah?” The prismatic pegasus replied before the realization hit her. “Wait, you’ve never seen a Changeling?!” She practically shouted, causing the bartender and a few others to glance at their booth.

“No, honest to God, I thought it was a Damned at first. I nearly took it - his head off and I would’ve if he hadn’t said anything.” Storm attempted to shrink away from the prying eyes around them.

“No way! You’re like what, fifty, and you’ve never seen one?!”

“Thirty-nine,” Storm corrected, turning to face the pegasus mare. “And no, for the second time, I’ve never seen one! Can you please keep it down, you’re drawing attention to us-”

“Welcome-” A cheerful female voice greeted, before an activated blade stopped directly in front of her face. Her shaky brown eyes met the stallion’s crazed purple ones as he realized what had startled him wasn’t hostile.

“Shit! I’m… didn’t mean to… I’m sorry!” Storm immediately deactivated the blade before putting his foreleg down slowly. The young mare, who was wearing a tight custom made fishnet suit of golden fabric, had started to shake in tandem with her eyes at the near death accident. Everypony else shared similar looks of horrific shock as they too had to calm down from the sudden incident. The waitress blinked a few times before swallowing a lump in her throat to compose herself.

“It’s… you’re fine, sir.” She cleared her throat before levitating a clipboard in front of her. “What, uh, what will everypony have?”

“Four alcoholic ciders, on the house.” A new male voice rang out from behind the waitress. Everypony glanced towards the approaching griffon. He sported pure white feathers that made his golden beak and talons pop, and was roughly around Storm’s height and age, but nowhere near the build. However, he seemed to be well-fed, with his stance being healthy and prideful. His eyes were blocked behind a pair of aviator shades resting atop his beak. Finally, his clean, brown jacket adorned with golden patches seemed to bend the mood lighting as he leisurely made his way to their booth.

The waitress tensed as the griffon’s arm wrapped around her neck in a friendly gesture. With a spiked grin, he chuckled before addressing her. “Don’t worry, Glimmer, this ain’t a test of company rules or nothin! They’re Gutterball’s family and friends! Comes with the employee discount!” He let go of the startled young mare, allowing her to rush away, before forming his claw into a fist in front of Wind Sprint. “There she is! My best horseshoe toss player! Y’all had me worried for a sec after comin’ outta that hospital!”

Wind bumped his claw with her hoof while a contagious grin emanated from her face. “Hey, Mr. Bling! I’m fine, really, just have a couple of cuts and bruises!”

“Ah shucks, well, I could think of worse things to happen!” The griffon, Bling, laughed. “Say, would you be stayin’ for Friday night’s tournament? You’d be doing this old bird a big favor by all those hotheaded suckers losing to ya! Maybe with them, I’d have a decent janitorial staff for a week!” He clutched the table before leaning in with a warm grin, eyeing the pegasi on the booth’s opposite side. “Whadda we got here? Some fresh meat to Appleloosa? I don’t recall seeing y’all two around these parts!”

“What do you mean by having janitor workers?” Rainbow Dash spoke up, raising a brow at the overly friendly griffon.

“Ya really ain’t from here, huh pretty lady?” Bling pulled back from the table before putting a single finger to scratch at his chin. “Well, let’s see - the best way to explain it is like a temporary job! As you know, bits and currency is about as useful as a tetherless rifle for an earth pony, so my customers buy food and drinks with trades that myself or my bartender over yonder deem appropriate for the price, or ya can offer your services here at the tavern for “x” amount of time!”

“It’s indentured servitude.” Storm dryly added, refusing to pry his indifferent stare off the avian’s pistol grip peeking from the interior of the coat. “Putting a sugar-coated title on it doesn’t change that.”

“My, my, so he does speak!” The griffon playfully swatted Storm on the shoulder plate, prompting all the mares to freeze in anticipation of what comes next. Despite the previous incident, nothing happened. The two males resumed their staredown, one friendly behind shades, the other cold and emotionless, as Bling continued. “Well, ah suppose that's one old fashioned way of putin’ it! Now ya see, little lady, say you were a griffon like myself, and you wanted… the fish fillet! Ya’d either have to trade that machete on yer flank for the meal and a couple a’ drinks or ya could dress up like Glimmer and take customer orders and cook for a day!”

“Psh, yeah right!” Rainbow scoffed, looking at the retreating waitress’ sexually-appealing outfit. “I’d never, and I mean never, never, ever be caught in something that degrading!”

“That’s nonsense right there! Style brings in business, afterall! A pretty uniform for a pretty, filly like yourself would look drop-dead gorgeous! And the pay - let me tell ya - is worth any doubts about the apparel! Ya get two square meals a day and all the cider ya could ever ask for! It is grown in our orchards after all!”

Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves across her chest. “Call me “pretty” or “little” one more time, buddy! I’ll give your janitors a reason to earn their pay!”

Clear Sky and her daughter’s faces displaced the horrified reactions of the newcomer’s threatening mannerisms. Only Storm could tell from his prolonged facial examination, but the griffon’s smile drooped ever so slightly as Clear took the reins to the conversation-to-be-confrontation.

“Maybe we should change the subject!” The elder unicorn peeped, placing her hoof atop the avian’s only table-bound claw. “Thank you for your concerns about Wind Sprint, Bling. I’m sorry about… all this… it’s - it’s just that we all have been through a lot in the last few days! Ponyville was overrun and we were all in the area at the time of it’s collapse…”

“Ah shucks, Ms. Sky!” Bling replied, moving his claw from Storm’s shoulder to embrace the pink unicorn’s own hoof. “Ah heard about that tragedy, but ah had no idea y’all were at the blunt end! Besides, no amount of rough housin’ comments are gonna influence my decision on y’all’s drinks! Welp, that’ll be about it! Just wanted to say howdy!”

After excusing himself, the griffon tilted his glasses towards the mares before striding away to a door in the back of the establishment. Storm clicked the holstered revolver's safety hammer back on while watching Bling disappear from sight. He heard the floating voices of Wind trying to gain permission to attend the tournament alongside Rainbow muttering about the griffon being a creep.

It was that moment when Glimmer the waitress returned holding a tray of wooden cider mugs in her magic. She passed the drinks around, asked if they needed anything else, then timidly excused herself as well. Clear Sky and Wind Sprint shuffled out of the booth, informing the pegasi they were going to find Gutterball and then would return.

Rainbow downed her cider no later than the mares had disappeared around the corner to another room of the establishment. With a satisfied smack of her lips, the cyan pegasus placed her mug down, leaned back on the sofa and shut her eyes.

“Ya know, minus that creep, this place doesn’t totally blow.” Rainbow commented as a burp escaped her lips. When she got no response, Dash shot a glance Storm’s way to discover he was fixated on a nearby window, where a flare was pounding against the town’s magical shielding. His drink hadn’t been moved since it was placed on the table either. A concerned frown donned on her face as she tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re more grouchy than usual.”

Storm refused to meet her concerned gaze as he answered while looking past her. “I… just don’t like this place. The town - I mean. I promised myself I’d never be back and I really thought that until now…”

“I know somethings wrong, something more than just not liking this place. This isn’t the same as Ponyville. You wanna know how I know? Because the Storm I know would be ready to clobber anything ugly, not freaking out over a waitress and shying away from creepy assholes. What’s really going on?” Rainbow replied, directing his chin with her hoof, finally connecting their eyes. The stallion’s electric iris glimmered as if he was moments from a breakdown. “C’mon, Storm, you can’t just spoon feed me and leave it at that everytime we talk! Just say what's on your mind! I won’t tell anypony if that's what you're afraid of!”

“Ever feel like you’re stuck in quicksand?” Storm replied rather bluntly, his tone edging between forced and shaken. “No, wait, ever feel like you stumble upon a wall built between your foalhood home and you - then the ground becomes quicksand? You can’t move, can’t run, and every movement hurts and drags you down. Now the wall starts to erode and fall in pieces around you, some of the pieces you try and catch but their weight and your struggling only makes you sink faster. As it crumbles, you can see more of your home, but by the time anything worth glancing at appears, your head has already gone under in the sand. If somepony magically appeared to try and pull me out of it, they’d end up being dragged into the pit with me.” His eyes turned fierce before the next statement. “I won’t do that. I refuse to drag anypony else into my quicksand. I’m not… I won’t be like.. ”

Clear Sky and Wind Sprint returned to the booth at that moment with a dark pegasus stallion behind them. Gutterball stepped in from between the mares to arrive at the larger pegasus’ side. Storm slid out of his spot to stand at full height.

“Are you Storm?” The dark pegasus asked, his voice quivering with barely dried tear stains on his muzzle.

“Yeah… why-” The addressed stallion started before he was pulled into a half-hug. The bulky suit and shorter male made it awkward for every party except for the relieved family, but Storm managed to break free of the embrace without hopefully appearing rude.

“Name’s Gutterball. Thank you for bringing my little girl home!” Gutterball choked, shaking his hoof.

“It wasn’t a problem.” Storm calmly replied, doing his best to stay composed likewise. “Just don’t let anyone in your family leave these walls. Shit is getting much worse outside of them.”

Gutter let out a gruff chuckle before wiping his eyes free of droplets. “It's hard to believe it never stopped getting worse. But seeing as we’ve got ponies running around with crystal saws on their hooves, I’m not surprised. Thanks for the warning regardless, and I want you to know that you and your friend over there can stay at our place as long as you need.”

“We’ll be gone after the stores open and this flare passes. Thanks anyway.”

“Wait!” Rainbow interjected from getting out of her seat. “What about your guns? Aren’t you going to work your egghead magic before we go outside again?”

Fuck…

“Right…” Storm sighed, mentally smacking himself for his nearly emotionally slip-up. “Looks like we might have to take you up on that offer. What's the fee?”

“There is no cost.” Clear Sky added. “You two have done enough for us as it is! Our family is back together and I’ve found hope for the world with ponies like the both of you.”

With that decided, the group exited the tavern with the shack in mind. As they walked under the downpouring sky, a particular sight caught Storm’s eye. In the alley in between the general store and hotel, a group of armored ponies and a female buffalo were crowded around something. Suddenly, he heard a feminine shriek from the crowd. It almost sounded feral, making his blood freeze in place upon seeing who the scream came from.

Slumped back into the store wall was a frail young mare - no older than Rainbow or Wind - clutching a board with nails in her shaky forehooves. She was trying to disappear into the wall as shown by her shuffling movements to gain as much distance between herself and the guards or scouts. Her mane was practically shaved, only a buzzed trail of black fuzz remained above her head, allowing Storm to see the single letter carved into her head right beside the right ear.

“W…”

Author's Note

Well, it seems my promise to not take 3 months for another chapter fell through. Adult life has decided kicking me in the balls repeatedly is amusing, so it continues to do so, leaving little time or energy on my part to write. Anyway, enough about the production excuses. Let's discuss the future of this story (and a few other possible projects) instead.

I don't know the cause, but I seem to be healing slowly from my person loss and situation. Whether or not this story's themes and characters have helped me, such as writing about them being my equivalent to getting it off my chest, or if time itself and a whole lot of emo rock music (that these chapters are named after) but I feel I might be getting better. Hell, maybe its just the overall positive reception this story has received despite my novice writing skills. My favorite thing in the world is bringing joy, entertainment, or reactions from others through my creations. Its why I love drawing, writing, and game design. I get to create worlds for all of you to explore with me as I expand upon them. That is one of the reason Diplomat's pacing is all over the place at times. As I learn writing techniques, create plot lines, and add to the world. You might also have noticed the main plot itself is moving faster while retaining that sense of vagueness. I'm learning to move forward without regurgitating information and trying to balance downtime/character building in between. Essentially, the former is what this chapter is. A break from the action of the previous chapters, where a lot of juicy information was revealed about the Damned, while setting the stage for this current subplot. Speaking of, the decision to leave out a lot of crucial info in this chapter is made consciously to even out the pacing and avoid info dumping. There is much more to learn about post-Damned Appleloosa, these Wranglers, and Storm's past at the start of the apocalypse. I can assure you not all of it is this character conversation heavy though, there will be tension, action - the works, as it progresses. Why am I telling this to you? To bore you to death? Nah, its because I believe in transparency when it comes to design. I want you to know what I am thinking on a level that doesn't spoil the story and your experience. Chances are most readers won't care or make it this far into this authors note, so this is more for those like me who can't get enough of design and its process in general.

This rant leads me into the next topic; future projects. I plan on doing a full "developer commentary" style for Diplomats in my blog section either when the story reaches the halfway point or end. This way I can talk at length at the story's creation, my writing process, the full meaning of chapter names, character relevance to my personal life, and even give you full scrapped ideas for characters, weapons, Damned, and even entire chapters. Additionally, I even have sketches and unfinished artwork of many scenes and Damned variants that would also be posted here. The next project involves my second story, Dead Embers, which is essentially Supernatural in the FiM universe. I've only got the first chapter published and a rough draft of the second chapter written. I have long since finished the actual Supernatural show, and despite some shortcomings of covid-19 ridden season 15, it remains a special show to me. However, I can't find the same drive to write for Dead Embers that Diplomats has. Maybe its originality, but Diplomats is just my favorite aspects of FiM, Dead Space, Gears of War, and more all compiled into my take on dark sci-fi. So Embers being just Supernatural in my flavoring shouldn't cause an issue, right? Apparently not. I have no interest in continuing Dead Embers at the moment, but I do plan to leave it up on this site in case I do return to it in the future. And the final project is a story idea that hit me over the past few weeks. It's effect was actually what drove me through late night writing sessions of chapter 23, believe it or not, and I got brainstorming down for this new idea as well. Diplomats is essentially a big soap opera in an apocalyptic future with downcast themes, so what about a smaller scale, light hearted, soap opera in a high fantasy version of Equestria before it was... well, Equestria? Its not much to go on, but the characters I have are inspired from various real life D&D experiences.

Whew, that was a long one. Anyway, for those of you still not driving a nail through your skull at the sight of my metaphorical voice, I look forward to sharing the next chapter with you shortly. Fingers crossed its not another three months before that, but I do plan to pay attention to the finer details a lot more than Ponyville's mess of an arc, so no promises on the deadline!