Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Fifty Two

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As I woke up, I could feel pain all over my body, but at the same time that meant that I was alive. Bolting up, the dry musty smell was the first thing I noticed as my eyes adjusting to the light. Where I found myself in a dimly lit room, surrounded by… books?

BOOKS!

It was the hidden library, under the Elysium Memorial site. We've made it back here, thank Celestia!

I then winced in pain as my head felt like it was in a vice. "What fucking happened."

"You were both shot several times and crushed by an intensely powerful magical force. If that alicorn had pushed any harder you all might have literally thrown up your own guts." Mint told me. The ghoul had removed her mask, but now had a cloth wrapped around her muzzle. "I have good news, which is that everypony is going to make it."

Sitting up, and trying to ignore the headache, I asked a question that I knew I was not going to like. "And the bad news?"

"Not all of you are going to be okay." She said with a sad tone.

"Who, and why?"

Mint then levitated a few pills and a bottle of water to me. "First take this, it should help with the pain." I nodded and did just that. "Alright, firstly we managed to save High Pressure, but her blood loss was severe, and she wasn't breathing by the time we stabilized her. It's too early to tell, but she's likely in a coma, and the chances of brain damage are not insignificant"

That… sounded really bad. The events of the fight with Tripwire flashed through my mind, reminding me how powerless I had been. The only pony who even got close to him was Cold Trails… fuck, Cold Trails! "Tell me, how's Cold Trails!"

Mint closed her eyes and let out a long sigh before looking at me in the eyes. "He'll live, but… It's better if you wait a while before you see him."

"Just show me!" I demanded, not wanting to be treated like a fragile mare.

With a sigh, she offered her hoof, and I took it, climbing out of the cot. My legs wobbled a bit, but I managed to stand, then trot. Led by Mint, we passed my other friends, all covered in bandages, but looking like they will be just fine. When we stopped, I stood before Cold Trails… and my heart stopped.

I fell back onto my flank as all the strength in my legs left me. The entire left side of his body was covered in bandages, which would have been fine if not for the stumps where both his left hooves and left wing should be. "By Celestia!"

"We tried to look for them, as with healing potions you can reattach limbs… but they were nowhere to be found. We don't have hydra either, so regrowing them was not possible. And now too much time has passed to fix it." Mint placed a hoof on my shoulder. "He will live, but he'll never fly again."

I felt weak, and light headed. This was unfair, so fucking unfair. We had won, finished the mission and won. Yet, it feels like a hollow victory. Maybe the price was too high.

"Lottery!" Mint shouted as I fell over, and everything began to fade again.

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The dream returned, the vile voices rushing to me, seeking to violate me. But I didn't care anymore. The broken bodies of my friends surrounding me, a testament to my weakness.

Rime Frost and Will-o-Wisp were with me, I tightly hugged them, as though to not lose them too.

"If you were more powerful, none of that would have happened." Strife said to me from the darkness surrounding me. "Act faster, see things better, fight harder. If only, if only."

The form of Angel seeped up through the ground, and he spoke with a mouth full of coal black teeth. "Find faith in the Goddess, she will grant you strength!"

I only held Rime and Willow harder. "Fuck off, I don't care anymore. He's too powerful, too smart, too far ahead."

Sickly black hooves wrapped around me as Strife embraced me. "Oh don't give up now, that would be too boring. And I know that you can't stop now. Not when you have suffered so much already, the things you sacrifice, and the ponies you have saved. Oh there is so much more to do. You have ponies to kill, and places to burn."

The mad god let me go. "I'll be here, waiting. If you want power, real power. All you need to do is embrace me, to accept my love and my hate. Then you can carve a bloody scare through the wasteland, and lay low all those you hate."

She then cackled, loudly at first, but it faded as though growing distant.

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"What do I do…" I heard Molo mutter as again I woke up, still feeling terrible, but as much as last time. "Do I say, hay it's me, your mother… or… or… Oh what do I do?"

"Uhhh…" I let out as I pushed myself up.

"Lottery! Thank Celestia you're awake. Aloe here told me you fainted soon after getting up." Molo said, hugging me with tears in her eyes.

"I can't believe Mint did that!" Aloe huffed out, she standing behind Molo. "She should know better. You have head trauma, and need to take things slowly. Seriously, and she's supposed to be the smarter one."

"Ya… That was a lot to take in." I said as I looked around. We were all still here, except that Cold and High Pressure were still unconscious. "You said head trauma?"

Aloe nodded. "Ya, Mint guessed that when Majestic used her magic to press you down, it had enough power to fracture all your bones, including your skull. Well when I got there it looked to me you took a bullet to the noggin actually."

"What! How am I alive?" I asked, feeling confused.

She shrugged. "It's just a guess since it didn't penetrate. It just bounced off and gave you a nasty cut and a fracture. Seen the injury a few times, and is why my pistols are either 10mm or .45 cal, not 9mm. Fucking zebra calibers."

Aloe then took a deep breath, and forced a smile. But due to her being a ghoul, the smile didn't calm me one bit since I could see the decay of her body. "Sorry, got stuck in the past there for a moment. Well afterwards, we had to quickly re-brake and set some of your legs before the healing potions solidified the bones. Thankfully those cultists and alicorns are good at following orders, or it might have been a lot worse than it turned out to be." She then trotted right up to me, her milky white eyes carefully looking into my own. "So, how are you feeling, any headaches, seeing spots, or any ringing in your ears."

"N… no, nothing like that right now. But I do feel sore all over." I told the ghoul nurse.

She smiled. "Good. Now let me know if anything strange happens, unfortunately we don't have anything to properly look you over, so there could be problems we missed. That's also why we're keeping the painkillers use at a low, best you feel something wrong before it becomes a real problem."

"Thanks, I'll do that." I said to Aloe, then asked, "how did Majestic do that in the first place?"

"I think I know." Spell Circuit said, slowly trotting over. He had dark bags under his eyes, and the spot he was stabbed was heavily bandaged. "I asked Ben Day about his aunt, and it matches up with Pentagram's notebook. She was one of the original artificial alicorns, and had been given the freedom to think for herself from the start. Which means she had two hundred years to master her magic, along with all the secrets that the Goddess knows. This would include almost everything Twilights Sparkles knows."

My eyes widened in shock. "You mean the Ministry mare of the Ministry of Arcane Science!"

Spell Circuit nodded. "It was in Pentagram's notebook, though I was unsure it was the same Majestic at the time. It was during the years Pentagram wandered around the wasteland looking for more recourse to take back home. He attempted to find Twilight Sparkle with the mare of the Ministry of Awesome, Rainbow Dash, and the Steal Rangers. They figured out where she was, but it was clear that even if Twilight had survived, there was no way to rescue her. That's when Majestic appeared and told them that Twilight had become fused with a mare named Trixie and two others. And this Trixie was the one in charge. After that, Rainbow, Pentagram, and the rangers went their separate ways, where my Ancestor returned home and never left."

"And now Majestic is under the control of Tripwire." I growled in disgust.

"Troubling indeed." Spell sighed. "But keeping her like that must not be easy, probably why she was covered in those suppresser jewelry. If we can disrupt the magic around her long enough, she could easily break herself free. But finding or making something like a anti-magic pulse grenade will not be easy…" spell began to trail off, now lost in thought.

Plasma then trotted over, looking a tad jittery. "We've been going over ways to counter the mind control spell. I suggest an AMP grenade, since overcharged plasma grenades produce a weak AMP, which is why the barrier broke and Majestic dropped us."

"That's good to know." I said.

"Well, it's more of a start." Plasma said, sounding unsure. "The ranger archive listed that AMP weapons were all of zebra designs, so it's unlikely to find any just lying around. Also, the old Ministries likely suppressed any information about how they worked, so making one would be exceedingly difficult without one to reverse engender."

That was going to be a problem. "And the only Zebra I know works in the Red Light Showroom. Well she's more of a zony than a zebra, or something. I don't really get how that genetics stuff works to tell the truth."

"Pecan, right?" Plasma asked and I nodded, but wondering how she even knew her. "Ahh, Sugar introduced her to me, and she seems more like a mutant than anything with that almost black tongue of hers." She explained before changing the subject. "Anyways, I was actually thinking of asking Rattlebones about any untouched military sights in the tribe's territories. Or if possible, asking the Steel Rangers, there is a good chance that confiscated zebra weapons could be in the bunker. This region's chapter of rangers are the tech keepers for several other chapters after all. I was actually on my way to join them when the Brain Naild captured me."

I let out a long sigh. "Thanks, we'll just need to pass all that onto Grizzly. But until then, we have other pressing matters to attend to." I then looked over to Molo, who was twittiling her hooves. "Like checking on the ponies we rescued, is that right, Molo?"

Molo looked over at me, and I could see fear in her eyes, true fear. "I… I don't know."

"It will be fine, they're your daughters, and you're their mother. No way this can go wrong." I told her.

She nodded, but Spell clearing his throat sent a shiver down our spine. "Excuse me, but can I ask a question?" We both knew what Spell was going to ask, and that things were about to get super awkward. "About what Catalyst said… about you and I… and…"

Molo scratched her arm, clearly nervous. "Ya… you see, Sparking Passion is not my sister… she's… well… she's me." Molo confessed.

Spell's eyes widened in shock. "H… how, what happened, no that's impossible, she's…"

"She was beautiful, were you going to say…" Molo said through gritted teeth. "Well beauty is worth shit in the wasteland, and it's hard to stay that way when you're forced to live as a raider for years."

The stallion fell back on his flank. "S… sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." Molo said, cutting him off. "I've long accepted that I'm not the pony I used to be."

"And the foals… when, how, they can't be mine, can they?" Spell asked.

Molo rolled her eyes. "You were from a well off family, and you trotted into pillow mares territory. What the fuck do you think was going to happen? I'm probably related to just as many families as Grizzly Deal is. But unlike her family, the pillow mares are paid to keep our muzzles shut about it!" Molo then sighed. "I was your honey trap, clean from diseases and well trained in the art of sex."

Spell further slumped. "And I didn't know. I didn't know anything about anything."

Molo reached out to Spell, patting him on the shoulder as she told him, "it's okay, I didn't even know that Catalyst was your sister, and she was in my crew for years. Likely laughing behind my back."

He lightly pushed Molo's hoof away. "You don't understand, as smart as I think I am, I've been ignorant about everything around me. I should have known, I should have paid more attention." He then backed up, looking defeated. "I'm sure Redeye figured it out, he was always good at digging out secrets and the like. And that means if I had not run away, then your life would not have become like this… but I did, making me the cause. A failure failure to the end."

"Spell, that's not true! Don't let your brother's words get in your head!" I spoke up.

But Spell didn't seem to even hear me, and just said. "I… I need some time alone."

We watched as he just trotted away, out of the room and around the corner. Plasma then followed him, "I'll k… keep an eye on him." She said before rounding the corner.

Molo then retreated into herself, holding herself tightly. "I knew that would happen, I knew it."

I hugged my friend, holding her tightly. "It will be alright, he just needs time, we all just need some time."

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After a several long minutes, Molo finaly settled down, and after some coaxing, I convinced Molo to at least go see the foals. To at least confirm that her daughters were there. When we left the room, which the archway into it had been covered by a cloth, we were greeted with ponies lining the hallway, most looking a lot cleaner since the last time we saw them. But to our shock and disappointment, many of them still looked empty inside.

Aloe helped one pony out of the way. "We did our best to help them, and though some recovered, many more haven't. The magic used on them, and the cultists brainwashing, it must be deeply rooted." Aloe explained.

"Is their a way to reverse it?" I asked.

"Probably, Coriander was well educated in psychological damage, so he may know how to help the ones still affected." Aloe explained.

"Lottery, your awake!" Ben Day called out from down the hall, and carefully trotted over to us. "I was afraid you might never wake up."

I tried to smile, but only managed the bear minimum. "I don't go down easily, how are you holding up?"

Ben Day scratched his leg with his wing nervously. It was still strange to think of this large mare as a young colt, but his mannerisms were a lot like my brothers. "I… I don't know. I want to cry, or run off to save Auntie, but she told me to stay strong and look after the other foals. I can't let myself be a crybaby right now you know."

That put an honest smile on my face. "Well your doing a wonderful job. I'm sure Majestic would be proud of you."

"Th… thanks Miss Lottery." He said, blushing a little.

"So, how are they doing, the other foals I mean?" I then asked.

Ben Day also smiled. "They're safe and doing well. I even managed to recover all our stuff from the hiding spot after the fighting stopped. It was… all I could do for them."

I gave him a light jab on the shoulder. "That's more than most of us could do in your situation, and I mean that."

"Is it okay if we… ya know, see them?" Molo asked.

Ben Day nodded. "It should be fine, I think. Though most of them aren't fond of strangers. It's been a rough few months for… well everypony."

"Ya, I understand that all too well." I said with a sigh.

We were then led down the hall, closer to the entrance. Sitting on a box was Moonlight, calmly reading a book. Seeing me she smiled and closed the book. "I got ta say, there was a piece of me that doubted you, and I'm more than glad that it was proven wrong." Moonlight looked over to one of the rooms where ponies were resting. "Sadly, the raiders didn't leave very many survivors, but I'm glad to see some of my neighbors again."

"Ya, I wished I could have saved more." I told her.

She nodded. "A peace of me still wishes you showed up sooner, then maybe my sister would still be alive. Or that I had taken her place. But we were fortunate enough that anypony even showed up at all, much less challenged the Murder Ballers." Moonlight then opened her book back up, with a sorrowful look still on her face. "My sister was a bitch, you know, but she was still my beloved sister. So I can at least take solace that she was avenged, for whatever that's worth."

"And what do you plan to do now?" I asked.

Moonlight flipped a page, and for a moment the sorrow faded. "Can't fight no more, but that still doesn't mean I can't protect others. Found this engineering book for beginners, so I think maybe I can help new settlements get better defenses. Recon I could help prevent what happened to Elysium from happening to others. Though nopony ever expects a bailfire egg launcher."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I look forward to seeing what you make." I told he

"And I look forward to seeing you rid this world of those slavers that started this mess." She said back to me.

Moving on, I caught up to Molo and Ben Day, who were just standing in the archway, looking in. Peeking in myself, the little ponies were keeping themselves busy with toys or reading books. Many of them were young, maybe less than ten years old, but a few were clearly in their young teens.

"You see them?" I asked.

Molo nodded, tears in her eyes. "Yes, that's them, no doubt in my mind it's my little darlings." Pointing at them, both unicorn fillies looked like a young female Spell Circuit, but with Molo's mane. Even I couldn't deny how much they looked like their parents, it was kinda uncanny, though the same can be said about my Ma and I.

Scanning the room, I then saw the problem foal that's likely going to piss off Grizzly Deal. A little earth pony filly that looked a lot like Wiretap, but with a Onyx's mane. Pulling out the photo I stole from Onyx's desk, there she was, the filly next to Onyx. Though I doubt it meant anything to Tripwire that we had his daughter, he didn't seem to care at all.

Then I remembered something Catalyst said before they got away, and quietly asked quietly. "Wait, which pony is Redeye's foal?"

"What!" Molo blurted out, then covered her muzzle and whispered. "you can't be serious, there is no way… no wait… that's… ya, I can guess who it is."

I raised an eyebrow at Molo. "You sure, Catalyst could have been fucking with us."

"Nope, that filly in the corner, behind my daughters, she is a dead ringer for Redeye." She then pointed to the filly sitting in a corner, who looked roughly eight or nine years old.

She was a deep crimson red with piercing blue eyes, and a dark blue, almost black mane. Her mane and tail also he had a streak of colors in it; red, yellow and blue. Which reminded me a bit of Molo and her daughters.

"Odd question, but are red, yellow, and blue coloring in the mane and tail common in your family?" I asked.

Molo sighed. "About almost all us pillow mares have that. So ya, looks like Redeye got honey trapped too."

I looked over at Ben Day, and asked. "Is it okay if I go and talk with some of them?"

He thought about it for a moment, then said, "just try and not spook them, please."

"I understand, I just want to confirm something, that's all." I told him, then looked over at Molo. "And are you okay, Molo?"

"Ya, i'm fine. I just need time, that's all." She told me.

Trotting in, some of the foals were clearly wary of me, others curious of me. Making my way to the corner, the filly we assumed was Redeye's daughter was quietly reading a book, not paying me any mind. She was rather small and thin, along with being quite well groomed, unlike most of the other foals here.

"Excuse me, might I know your name, my name is Lottery?" I asked.

She peeked up at me for a moment before returning her attention to the book.

I guess it was a bit much to expect, as I was a stranger after all.

"Hay, you leave Matrix alone!" An older filly spoke up, catching me a bit by surprise.

Turning around I saw Molo's daughter standing before me, one puffing up her chest. Molo's younger daughter was behind her, hiding.

"Oh, sorry, I was just curious, didn't mean anything by it." I told them.

The older filly scowled at me, clearly not trusting me. "Ya ya, that's what the others say. Saying they will do no harm, but it's all lies. I won't let you hurt Matrix, or any of the foals here, you got it?"

I raised my hooves up in a non threatening manner. "I get it." But this caused her to flinch and back up a step. Looking at my hooves, I noticed I still had the clawed Gauntlets on, so I lowered my hooves. "Sorry, forgot that I still have these on."

She clicked her tongue, clearly annoyed. "Typical ignorant wastelander."

That annoyed me a bit, but quickly calmed down, as she was just a foal, well more a young teen. "You mentioned the others, other ones who lie. I'm guessing you're talking about Tripwire, right?"

The filly remained silent for several long seconds before saying. "Maybe, why do you care?"

"Because we're trying to stop him, we're the good ponies." I told her.

But the older fill didn't look convenient. "They all say that, but as soon as we don't do as they say, they show their true colors." She then gritted her teeth. "So leave Matrix alone, she hasn't done anything, why do you adults hate her so much! I don't care if you hurt me, but leave Matrix and my sister alone!"

"WHAT!" An uncharacteristically shrill tone came from Molo as she trotted over. "Whoever hurt you, tell me Crown Glass and I will kill them!"

The older filly, Crown Glass, turned to Molo in shock. "H… how do you know my… you!" Her ears flattened as she made sure her sister stayed behind her. "You stay away!"

Molo froze, clearly confused and a bit worried.

"Sis, whose that?" The younger filly asked Crown.

"Nopony important." Crown answered.

Shock was clear as day over Molo's face, she a loss for words, her eyes darting around in confusion. Thankfully Ben Day stepped in, putting himself between them.

"Miss Molo, maybe it's best if you get some more rest." Ben Day suggested.

Looking defeated, Molo nodded and trotted out. It hurt to see my friend like that, and as I went to follow them. Then I saw Spell Circuit standing in the archway, he too looked confused.

As Molo and Ben Day left, I stopped at the archway, addressing Spell. "You want to see them as well?"

He rubbed his leg with his cybernetic hoof. "I don't think that would be wise."

I sighed. "Probably, everypony has been through a lot recently."

"That's putting it lightly, after what my brother has done… it's going to take time for any of us to be fine." Spell said, clearly blaming himself.

"Dad?" A young filly asked as she trotted over to Spell, tilting her head as she squinted her eyes at Spell. It was Tripwire's daughter. Her eyes then widen in joy as she hopped up to Spell. "Dad, you've finally come for me! It's me, Cable! Where's mom? Can we finally be a family like mom said we will be?"

Spell looked absolutely confused and very lost as she grabbed his leg.

It broke my heart, but I knew this needed to be cleared up quickly. "Um, Cable was it." The filly nodded excitedly. "I'm sorry, but that's not your Pa." Her ears then flopped down, clearly in shock. "But he is actually your uncle, your fathers younger brother."

She tilted her head again. "My… uncle?"

I nodded. "Yes, and we're taking you somewhere safe."

She still didn't look happy. "Will my mom be there?"

That was like an arrow to my heart. Onyx Heart was an unredeemable bitch, but to this innocent filly, she was mom… and I saw her mother die, her head getting blown open. She was going to find out eventually, but not here, not yet. "Sorry, but she's somewhere else, but where you're going, you have an older sister there."

Her eyes lit up. "I… I have a sister!"

"Yes…" Spell said, looking more calm now. "I'm her magic teacher actually."

"Ohhh, can I learn magic?" She asked, practically bouncing.

Spell looked nervous, then sighed. "Unicorn magic, no, but I know how to make a few potions, which I can teach you."

Several other foals started to gather, curiosity on their faces. One then said out loud "His eye is like Redeye's!"

That got everypony's attention as more foals gathered.

"Did you know Redeye?" One asked.

"Where did you get that leg, it's super cool?" Another asked.

Ben Day again came to the rescue, putting his wing between us and the foals. "Sorry, most of them were basically raised by Redeye, see him as like their father, so it's been a bit of a problem when he is brought up." He told us, then turned to the foals. "Hey now, don't mob the grownups, you know how they can be."

I let out a little chuckle, "you're quite mature, Ben Day, all considering."

"Maybe…" he said, sounding a bit confused. "Might be because I do remember the last two hundred years, but I only just fully remembered who I was. Anyways, I'll get them to stop bothering you."

"Actually," Spell spoke up as he gently pushed down Ben Day's wing. "If it's okay If I talk to them about Redeye. Maybe the father they know was like the friend I lost."

Ben Day tilted his head, clearly now more confused.

I decided to clear things up a little. "Spell here knew Redeye, before he became Redeye." In the lonely corner I saw Matrix's ears twitch, along with Crown looking over. So I placed my hoof on Spell's shoulder. "Go, but leave out any… extreme stuff, okay."

Spell let out a huff. "Certainly I would not do something like that! It would be irresponsible of me if I mentioned things they are not ready to hear." He then sighed and smiled. "Anyways, It might help me to think… I hope."

Folding his wing, Ben Day let Spell pass, and the foals started gathering around him.

"You sure he will be okay, they can be quite aggressive?" Ben Day asked me.

I shrugged. "Ehh, can't be worse than anything Tripwire has done to him."

"That may be, but I'll keep an eye on them for now. It's the job Auntie gave me after all." Ben Day said.

"We'll get her back, that's a promise." I told him.

He just smiled at me and then trotted off to join Spell and the foals.

It was rather strange, seeing a bunch of foals gather around Spell Circuit, all ears as he said. "Well, I first met Redeye outside of Fillydelphia, still ignorantly believing that I was superior just because I was a Unicorn. Then a strange red stable pony trotted right up to me and said…"

I trotted out of the room, leaving them be. That's when I noticed several ponies looking at me with less than friendly glares. I cocked an eyebrow at them and trotted over. "What?"

One mare rolled her eyes at me. "Oh nothing, just that you seem keen on saving just as many Redeye lackies as you are to save his victims."

Looking at her, I don't know why, but they reminded me of Moonlight right after we save her. Yet unlike the raging fire that was quickly burning away, they were like a flickering flame, barely holding on. As though they were… losing hope.

Hope, was that what drove Strife off before? Maybe… I'll talk to Rattlebones about it if there's time, but first I need to clear things up here before somepony does something stupid.

"If they are Redeye's lackies, then they will be turned over to Gwadina. I heard she's been putting those ponies and griffins on trial. But right now that's not why we're all here, and not what you need to worry about." I told the mare.

A stallion then spoke up. "And what's that? Are we to just pretend that some of these ponies here didn't throw us in front of a mind control machine? Or how they were complicit in the raiding of our homes and the murdering of our friends and family?"

Another mare then spoke up. "And the abuse, should we forget any of that. Oh, Miss hero, who doesn't know the pain we feel! those monsters deserve no less than death, we all know it!"

*Slap*

The mare stumbled back from getting struck by Plasma Cutter, who took a few steps closer, almost getting muzzle to muzzle and growling out. "Don't you fucking dare pull that card, not to her and not to me! I get it, after spending a month as a raider clans play thing, I get it. But that's no excuse for acting like them. So instead of berating her for trying to save as many ponies as possible, maybe focus on what you can do to help. This shit is why the Rangers can't trust any of you with technology, with how you are always thinking about how to drag each other down."

After a long moment, the ponies who seemed to have a problem then trotted away. Still looking unhappy, but less likely to cause a problem.

"Thanks, Plasma." I told her.

She sighed, returning to rubbing her leg nervously. "Well, It just pissed me off, that's all. Using their pain to press for revenge when we all have been hurt. Some of us more than others."

I gave Plasma a hug. "Ya, I understand."

She hugged me back. "Lottery, if you don't mind me asking, but do you think we have a chance at stopping him?"

"Stopping Tripwire? I… I don't know. But he must be stopped, otherwise he's going to hurt even more ponies." I said, feeling unsure, yet determined.

Plasma nodded, telling me. "Ya, if not us, then who?" She then shook her head, as though trying to throw off a thought. "I'm sticking with you on this, to the very end, okay."

"Thanks, it's good to hear that." I told her. Everything was draining, but knowing I had a friend watching my back, it made it all the more bearable.

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