Some of the ponies looked at him with respect and a hint of reverence. That was the first thing the Courier noticed as he looked over the stage.

Was on a hilltop nearby, more towards the Cherry Hill Ranch than Dodge. Seated in a shabby plastic lawn chair. He could tell that every now and then, one, two, even half a dozen ponies would stare up at him at times.

The only ones who approached reliably were the old-timers. Some asked for a hoofshake, and he’d deliver. Though rarely he’d get a curious tourist who asked for a picture. He obliged but didn’t make much of an attempt to smile for the camera… Not that it’d change anything of course.

The human for his part just overlooked everything. He’d had a minor amount of rest and a “meal” of a few rats now, and was back to basically full power, albeit with a faint limp and a pain in his arm where his flesh had been gouged out earlier. Both should be gone by the end of the night, at least.

Every bit of debris been picked up, cleaned as best as possible by this point. Given it’d now been a good several hours since the great brawl, it wasn’t a major shock. He might’ve helped out the cleanup had he not been exhausted.

Can’t do much now anyways now that the majority of the work had been done. Six leaned back in his lawn chair, giving a sigh. Below the reporters had started rolling in, taking notes and interviews. While they were initially here for the concert, it seemed the brawl between pony, monster, and human was a lot more of a scoop for them.

“Feeling alright?” Cherry asked, sitting nearby on an old tree stump. She was faithful to him, at his side the entire time, even remaining silent when he was.

“I’d feel a lot better if the .308 put that bastard down last night,” the human said. “Now I gotta worry about deliveries and an evil necromancer running about.”

“Not the first time Equestria’s had an evil, power-hungry tyrant running around,” chuckled Cherry.

“That supposed to make me feel better?” Six snarked. “The roast rat was better at doing that than you.”

“Oh quit it,” the mare eye rolled. “We’re supposed to be having fun, hanging out like you said! Not worrying about some old saggy-butt donkey!”

“Well I’d have fun hiking out into the desert and collecting water from cacti and living off the land for the day,” Six began, rolling his own eyes, his tone turned from annoyance to a playful tease as he continued, “but somebody said that was ‘two hawd!’”

“I’m an aviator, not Daring Do!” the mare groaned. “Besides, there’s nothing interesting out there to see. Just a couple of old rocks and plateaus.”

“One man’s rock is another man’s lifesaver, I learned that in the wasteland. You never know what you can find in a good hollowed out rock,” Six pointed a gloved finger at the mare.

“Whatever,” sighed Cherry, as she pondered what to do. After a moment, she had an idea. “Hey uh… since the show’s not until tonight, maybe we can try to fix up my chopper? Cherry helped me tow it into her barn.”

“I doubt we’re gonna get much done until we get back to Ponyville, but sure,” Six shrugged, before taking a swig from his trusty Vault 13 canteen and standing up. “Personally though, I could skip the show; no Marty or anything worth hearing.”

“Actually…” Cherry pondered. “I think we might be able to get a lot further than you’d think.”

“Lead the way,” offered the human.

He followed the aviator into the town proper from there. He got the glances back at him, as he did basically any other time he was in a public area. As with earlier at the ranch, the occasional pony would ask for a hoofshake or a picture.

The Courier and Cherry soon arrived at the blacksmith though, which was obvious as the building had several anvils out front. The building was as old and dusty as the rest of the town. Had an air of age about it, with the wood being partly worn and the windows with the occasional crack in them.

“A blacksmith?” Six asked, recalling seeing anvils in the several old magazines and comics he’d read. “How is that going to help?”

“I figured if I give him the specifications, he might be able to forge some new parts from my chopper!” Cherry Berry smiled up at the human.

“You sure about that? Does he even have a mold to work with?” Six asked.

“We have magic to help, remember?” she pointed out.

“Hopefully this works. For your sake, anyways,” he shrugged. “Otherwise you’ll be down a couple of bits.”

“Well, I was thinking you could help on that as well,” she said slyly.

“Oh yeah?” he cocked a brow under the helmet, looking down at her. “How?”

Cherry Berry looked behind Six, seeing a small crowd of reporters having followed the two the entire time. He just looked back, and then turned towards the mare once more.

“Corporate shilling?” he asked.

“Corporate shilling,” she replied confidently.

“I can’t even keep my dignity in this place,” huffed the human, putting his gloved hands on his hips.

“Come on Six, please!” she squeaked.

“Get woken up early and now this,” he complained.

She was on her knees, giving him a puppy dog face.

He stared down at her with a scowl.

She quivered her lips back.

He leaned down, his mask a few inches from her face.

She just made her eyes go bigger and cuter.

He grunted, straightening back up.

“Ah fuckin’ fine, whatever…” he growled, crossing his arms.

“Yay!” she squeed, reaching up and giving him a hug with her forehooves. Given her shortness, her cheek was awkwardly pressing into his stomach as she hugged against him.

“Hey no need for that shit,” he growled, gently pushing her away. “Fuckin’ hell… you owe me for this one!”

She nodded with a smile at that. From there, the old-timer blacksmith was decently easy to convince to give a heavy discount. Business for him surely would be booming if the two-legged “hero” of Dodge Junction would shill his shop to the numerous news reporters that flocked to the human like seagulls to a mound of trash.

In truth, the Courier felt like an obnoxious crier for the Atomic Wrangler or the Silver Rush.

Either way though, business was business. And a friend was in need. And so on and so forth…

“Sir, where did you come from?” asked a unicorn, a notepad magically held up to write down any detail the human had to give, along with a camera.

“Uh… The Everfree near Ponyville,” wasn’t technically a lie.

“And what exactly are you?” was the follow up from another reporter.

“I am a human,” the Courier said simply, almost robotically. Not the best interviewee.

The crowd scribbled several words down in their notepads. Some even took pictures, which slightly pissed off the human, making him look away or squint due to the glares of the numerous flashing cameras.

“And what exactly are these hoomans?” asked another one, pressing her pen to her lip in thought.

“They’re… what I am?” he said back. “What kind of question is that? Do you want me to sit here and explain the entire origin of humanity to you?”

“Woah that’d be a scoop! Do go on!” the mare replied.

He blanked at her for a second, before shaking his head.

“Look, listen…” he said, with the crowd perking up. “All that matters is that I’m here, and I helped protect Dodge.”

“Why did you do it though?” asked another. “Do you have some secretive origin? Did your parents die tragically? Did your uncle tell you the importance of great power?”

The Courier blinked.

“What in the fuck are you talking about?”

From there it was a continued inpouring of questions. Ultimately, he tried to steer the whole thing back on track… That track being shilling of course!

“So would you say that your victory over those monsters attacking the stage was due to Brass Cannon’s Smithy shop?” a stallion questioned.

“Uh… sure, yeah,” nodded the human, “let’s go with that...”

It was about an hour or so later and the parts had been forged. The Courier sat with Cherry Berry back in the orchard, looking down on the stage one last time.

“You know I came here for the concert and everything but now… I guess I don’t really care about seeing it as much,” she mused.

“Dealing with an army of evil pig demons will do that to you,” Six said, a large backpack filled with rattling metal pieces on his back. “Come on, let's get to the barn. I’m sick of lugging this shit around.”

“Right,” nodded the earth mare.

It was a bit later they were inside the barn in question. In the center of it sat the aviator’s barely held-together helicopter. The tail rotor was almost fully broken off, and many chunks of the exterior plating had bowed out, snapped off, or dented immensely.

“Sure did a number on it,” the human said, sitting down the large backpack.

“Tell me about it,” the mare sighed, grabbing a small toolbox from the corner. “You know how to use a wrench?”

“I’m the only one here with fingers, you numbskull,” the human said, flexing his gloved digits.

Cherry just rolled her eyes at that, giving a small smirk.

“Prick,” she shot back.

She popped off an exterior panel, and soon enough the two were looking intently at the internals of the large, pink machine.

“This is what I get for not taking flight lessons with the Boomers,” Six grunted. “I can barely recognize any of this shit.”

“Come on Six, you’re the smartest… human I know!” Cherry Berry confided.

“Oh well that’s a reeaal relief,” he spat, turning on his Pip-Boy’s light to get a better interior view of the machine.

He began to try and break it down mentally. Work on the very basics of it all. The sprockets, the chains and the cores of the machines. He’d worked with more advanced shit, fixed a damn food processor with a bunch of bobby pins and a pocketknife; surely he could do something here! The Courier’s gloved hands danced across the machinery inside. He traced over a piston here, screwed in a bolt there. Slowly and steadily everything small coalesced together.

Cherry herself was working it over with him. She used a wrench to tighten a bolt, working expertly and deftly with her hooves. A minor amount of sweat dripped down her face, and she wiped her brow with a nearby rag as she and the human continued.

They would occasionally speak, though little words were needed due to the expertise of their repair process. Took a few hours, but the internals were coming together somewhat, with several parts replaced. There was a big, long chain that the Courier had to set inside. Reminded him a bit of an old bicycle he’d seen in the magazines he’d read.

Before long, the barn door opened, and Lyra poked her head in. Her horn was alight with magic the whole time.

“Yo Six, Cherry Jubilee told me you’d be in here,” she said, as she trotted inside. Four bottles of chilled sarsaparilla were levitating in her golden grasp. “Wanna come watch the show with me and Bonny? It’s about to start properly.”

“I’m gonna finish fixing this big piece of shit up first,” he said, grabbing one of Lyra’s condensation covered beverages.

Cherry Berry herself stepped back; more concentration induced sweat coating her brow. Before she could do much though, she tensed up, as something extremely cold pressed into the back of her neck, causing her to scrunch up.

“Gah!” she huffed, turning around to see the Courier was the cause, with him having pressed the icey soda against her fur. “You prick!”

“What? I’m just cooling you off,” snickered the human.

“Cherry, you wanna come?” offered Lyra with a snort at the display. "Bon Bon wouldn't mind catching up."

“I would... but I’m not just gonna leave Six here to screw everything up,” eye rolled the pink mare as she took another one of the soft drinks from Lyra’s magical grasp, popping it open and taking a swig a moment later.

“Well, suit yourselves,” shrugged the unicorn, turning to leave.

“Thanks for the drinks,” the human offered, tossing a few bits from his satchel at her.

Lyra caught them, giving a wink and a devious grin.

“Don’t worry, they were free,” chuckled the minty mare as she left, the door soon shutting behind her.

“Pfft, what a scumbag,” Six said, taking a sip from his fizzy drink.

“You’re just mad you got ripped off,” Cherry winked.

“I’ll rip that smirk off of your face if you don’t zip it,” he grunted, sitting the soft drink on a nearby wooden crate. “Now help me finish this.”

“I’ve been the one leading you this whole time!” Cherry retorted.

“Yeah fuckin’ right,” he snorted.

It was a minor squabble, bickering and grunting and growling from there. He twisted a bolt into place, she snapped a gear back on, he tightened it, she rotated the machinery to make it move. Both were a team, themselves being like a machine in a way, working effectively with only the occasional insult being thrown at one another.

Another hour had passed, and the sarsaparillas didn’t last. The machine was close to complete on the internals anyways, but even still, the Courier didn’t have any answer to fix the destroyed exterior panels… outside of hitting them with a hammer to ding them back into place, of course.

He took another sip of his soda, the last one left, as he looked on in thought. Cherry tapped at his thigh, and he looked down at her with annoyance as she held out a hoof.

“Aw come on,” he grunted.

“Just give it to me, cowpon-… human,” she managed.

He hissed but handed her the drink and she took a deep swig of it, downing a fourth of the soda. Wasn’t as cold as it was an hour or so ago, but it helped moisten her lips and slightly parched throat.

“Ah,” she said, giving the classical satisfied sigh to sipping a good beverage.

He shook his head in annoyance, grabbing the bottle from her grasp. She gave him an annoyed pout as he took a deep swig of his own from it and sat it off to the side, with it being on a crate that was just slightly too large for her.

“You prick!” she repeated the insult once more.

“Shut it,” he shot back, adjusting his helmet.

She just blew a raspberry at him, crossing her forehooves with a scowl.

“You mad you look like an oversized vulva?” he insulted.

“Jeez, no need to get lewd about it,” she shook her head with a grunt.

“What? It’s funnier than any of your standup routines,” snarked the human, pressing a bolt back into place.

“That is low,” she growled.

“So is your helicopter,” he replied. “Now get into the damn pilot seat.”

She rolled her eyes but did so, hopping in and putting her bottom hooves to the pedals.

“Watch your uh… pokey, bendy things,” she said.

“Fingers?” he grunted back.

“Yeah those!” she agreed with a nod.

As she slowly turned the bike-like pedals of the machine, he examined it. Nothing seemed out of place, as the gears and the pistons and the chains inside moved about. He looked over it in thought, nodding to himself as he did.

“Look good?” she asked.

“Yeah, you double check though,” he replied.

Minutes later, he traded places with her, with him slowly working the pedals as she examined the machinery inside moving this way and that.

“Smooth like butter! Exactly what I wanna see!” she snickered, pumping her forehoof in victory as the human hopped out of the chopper seat, his jacket billowing as he did.

“Alright,” he nodded, adjusting his jacket, “let’s get some snacks, I’m fucking famished.”

“As long as it isn’t rat, we’ll get whatever you can pay for,” she snickered.

“Think you’re slick, eh?” the human retorted. “You aren’t gold-digging me.”

“Pfft, a girl can try,” she winked, before the two made their way out the barn door.

An hour or so later and the show was about eighty percent over, but even still, Cherry Berry barely managed to convince the human to sit down and watch it with her. The two were at the edge of the orchard, sitting back in the plastic lawn chair and stump they’d used prior. Only this time, the Courier held a large pretzel in his hand, along with a tub of mustard he’d occasionally dip it in as he snacked. Cherry sipped at her extra-large soda as he did.

While technically the two weren’t supposed to be watching the show without having bought a ticket, it wasn’t like anypony was going to stop them, especially after the night prior.

“I don’t know how you can stomach that bitter crap,” she said, taking her mouth off her bendy straw to speak.

“What, mustard?” the Courier asked, his mouth partly full.

“Yeah, it’s all tart and nasty,” she said, scrunching her face at the thought.

“Hey shit on it all you want, a pack of crackers and a bit of mustard helped me through the desert once. Kept the saltines' taste from being too bland,” he said. “Only condiment to last for years in the desert heat.”

“What?” she blanked. “In a situation like that, taste’s not that important.”

“Look,” he pointed a mustard-coated, gloved finger at the mare. “Flavor’s an easy morale booster. They gave chocolates and sweets and shit to the soldiers in World War 2, helped give them a small thing to look forward to.”

“Good thing I’m not a soldier then,” she mused. “That sounds awful.”

“Yeah…” he nodded, looking away, back towards the stage.

Fireworks danced above it, with the music blaring as he just sat, still partly unsure of what exactly to do next. Delivering mail was obvious, that would never change, but he still had that ass to deal with… The donkey. He'd kick that ass’ ass when needed.

Alright, enough of that!

He shook away the buffoonish thoughts and finished his pretzel. While he could do little at the moment, when he got back to Ponyville, he’d have to make some plans. Cherry Berry just sipped noisily on her soda as he pondered, her eyes wide and reflecting the lights and colors of the stage and fireworks.

The morning sun’s rays beamed down as the Courier hoisted up a large duffle bag and sat it in the back of Cherry Berry’s helicopter. He’d gotten a new one after the uh… explosive fate of his prior bag. Regardless, given there was far less to hold now, he was able to fit everything inside it, Laser RCW, stripped down Garand, and the meager scraps of ammo he had left. He even kept the remnants of the lunchbox!

“That everything?” the aviator mare asked, cocking a brow.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” he snarked.

“Always gotta get a one-liner in there, huh?” she huffed back.

There was a pause.

“...Why wouldn’t I?” he grinned, making her snort in annoyance.

A small group of stallions walked away from her and the human, having helped them tow it out to a barren portion of the field. Cherry Jubilee herself approached.

“Well I must admit I’d wished ya folks would stay for a bit longer,” she smirked. “Especially given all you’ve done for us.”

“Ah it’s fine. I’ve got deliveries to attend to,” the human said, adjusting his gloves.

“Ya sure ya don’t wanna stay for just one last meal?” offered the mare. “I made a couple o’ cherry pies.”

“I’m-”

He was interrupted by his squeaky earth mare companion.

“I wouldn’t mind!” smirked Cherry Berry, making him sigh. “It’ll be a few hours before we get back to Ponyville!”

Jubilee looked up at the human with a warm smile.

“I’m still full of the rats I got last night,” he nodded. “But you two Cherries go on.”

The two mares chuckled at that, and before long, they headed back to the farmhouse. Six himself just examined his luggage as the left. A few minutes later, heard hoofsteps coming up behind him. He soon turned, seeing a white unicorn mare trotting over.

She had a prim and proper disposition about her. Hair was done up in a bun, both her mane and tail. White collar around her neck with a red ascot connected to it. Given that she was magically holding a large quill and set of papers, he knew she was likely here to ask questions, so he spoke first.

“Look, listen toots, I already did the local shilling and interviews yesterday, alright?” the Courier huffed.

“I’m not here on account of any frivolous magazine or tabloid,” huffed the mare. “I’m here on official Canterlot business.”

“Uh huh?” he nodded.

“I am Raven Inkwell, official secretary and aide to Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she elaborated, puffing out her chest a bit, as if she wore the title like a badge of honor. “I am here to get an official record of events from first-hoof witnesses.”

“Why don’t you go ask everyone else then?” he grunted, leaning against Cherry’s helicopter.

“Who do you think led me to you?” pointed out the mare.

He rolled his eyes, groaning in annoyance.

“Mister Six, this is serious!” she said, her tone raised. “Mrs. Heartstrings and Mrs. Drops say that you’ve seen the villain who caused this ruckus. You’re the only creature here who knows the most about him!”

“Mrs. Drops?” he asked.

“Ah yes, you’d know her as Bon Bon,” the mare said, before suddenly rushing forwards. “That’s not important right now! What is important is the safety of Equestria. Please, is there anything you might know that no pony else would?”

The Courier huffed once more, shaking his head and looking around at nothing in particular, as if in thought.

“Please, sir,” she pleaded. “All I know is that this menace is a donkey, but beyond that, the others had little to offer.”

He finally nodded.

“I didn’t get a name or anything, alright,” he said. “All I know is that asshole is a donkey, but he walks on two legs. Even had hands, claws, sort of like me.”

“Impossible, no creature like that has ever walked Equestria,” said the scholar.

“Well guess there’s one now,” Six grunted. “Do you want my statement or not?”

“I’m sorry, please do continue,” she said, scribbling down what he said with urgency.

“The bastard himself looked like a damn zombie, skull was visible and everything…” the human thought back, remembering glaring up at the monster’s glowing green eyes. “No eyes in the sockets just… green blobs of fire or something.”

Inkwell didn’t speak, nodding as she gave an unsure, curious gaze at him.

“Had a large glowing staff, glass orb on the end of it, had the same green as his ‘eyes’ I think,” Six continued with a shrug. “Used it to do magic and shit, summoned a shield that blocked my bullets. Even created those pig fucks with it.”

“Yes, the monsters the others talked about. He must have some type of magical artifact,” Inkwell said, still writing.

“Whatever it was, he seemed to run out of juice whenever I killed enough of his guys,” Six added.

“Strange… a magical artifact like that shouldn’t have a limited energy pool,” she pondered to herself with uncertainty.

“The weirdest part of all of this is uh… he knew what I was,” nodded Six. “Knew I was a human, I mean.”

Inkwell stopped, looking up at him in bewilderment.

“I… the only creatures to know about humans are the current and former princesses and a few other well-trusted officials,” she explained. “It is a very closely guarded secret in Equestria.”

“Not guarded enough it seems,” the human replied.

She frowned, her brow furrowing in deep thought.

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” she requested.

“I wish I did,” he said. “You guys ever dealt with necromancers before?”

“Necromancy is an extremely taboo and unknown magic, every instance attempting it in Equestria’s past has failed,” Inkwell pondered. “I’m not as gifted in magic compared to Princess Twilight or her former student, but to create creatures like that on such a scale… he must be an immensely powerful sorcerer or have an immensely powerful artifact.”

“Well, whatever it is, you’re dealing with a bipedal donkey zombie who’s also got an army of equally undead pigs,” the Courier summarized. “He seems weak to bullets, at the least.”

“Bullets?” she questioned.

Six just pulled a .357 round out of his satchel, one of the handful he’d managed to scrounge up after the fight.

“Bullet,” he pointed at it with his other gloved hand. “Guess even he couldn’t outsmart one.”

She furrowed her brow even further, scribbling a few final notes down.

“I suppose he’d be weak to physical combat then,” she nodded. “Arrows, swords, magic… at least he’s not invincible.”

“I could’ve put him down,” Six nodded, putting the bullet away, “if I’d been a bit more accurate.”

Raven Inkwell remained silent.

“Princess Twilight will definitely want a follow up meeting with you, especially after all of this and your prior visit to the castle,” mused the mare after a few moments. “Can we trust you to come? Your dealings with this creature could help save Equestria and numerous other countries from heartaches in the future.”

“My schedule’s a bit busy with my job at Ponyville Postal but uh…” Six shrugged, looking down. “Give me a shout, I guess.”

She nodded at that.

“Do you have a home address?” she asked. “For us to send mail to?”

Ironically, the mailman didn’t, though he soon had an idea.

“Just send it to Lyra and Bon Bon in Ponyville, that or any of the uh... former Element Bearers?” he nodded. “They’ll make sure it finds its way to me.”

With that, she nodded, and within a few minutes, the secretary mare was gone.

He had a smoke break while he was alone, running a bit low on cigarettes, but he’d grab more back in Ponyville. He looked around as the breeze picked up, causing his jacket to billow a bit. Felt decent, though after the talk with Inkwell, he wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. Killer donkey being the obvious reason.

It wasn’t much longer before Cherry Berry arrived back, carrying a small pastry basket in her mouth. She sat it into the chopper and smiled up at the human.

“You really should’ve had some of her pie,” chuckled the mare.

“I’m ready to get back to the post office,” he grunted.

“Now are you sure you wanna ride with me?” she asked, hopping into the pilot seat. “I thought Lyra and Bon Bon were gonna take you.”

“Change of plans and all that,” he shrugged, looking around. Soon though, he saw the two mentioned mares trotting up. “Speak of the devil…”

“Six, our train leaves in the next half hour, ready to go?” asked Bon Bon.

“Of course… just not with you two,” he chuckled.

“You’re taking the helicopter, aren’t you?” Lyra deadpanned with a face of minor annoyance.

“Absolutely,” he replied, hopping in beside Cherry, who slowly began to pedal, lifting the machine off the ground a few inches.

“Wait, I already pre-purchased the ticket!” the minty mare shouted up at him in annoyance.

“Consider it payback!” he laughed back at her, reminding her of the bit he’d given her last night.

The chopper was several feet off the ground now, and Cherry was almost ready to chuckle at the exchange.

“You motherbucker!” Lyra huffed, with Bon Bon herself holding back a giggle.

“Later losers! Catch you on the flip side!” he teased as his airborne ride ascended, leaving the two mares in the dust below.

“A guy does one good deed, and it goes to his head!” Lyra rolled her eyes as the two flew off into the distance.

Bon Bon just snorted.

“Maybe you’ll get him next time,” she offered with a smile, patting her wife on the back.

The minty mare managed a small, devious smirk of her own at that.

The town got smaller and smaller as the human looked down at it. His jacket billowed in the wind as he hung halfway out of the helicopter, with the breeze rushing by him.

“Now be careful, Six,” grunted Cherry Berry, her goggles now on as she pedaled. “One wayward turn and you’ll be a pancake by the time you hit the ground.”

“Yeah, yeah…” he nodded. It wasn’t that he was writing her off, but instead his mind seemed clouded, as if it were somewhere else.

He enjoyed the sights, the feeling of being so high. Unlike the fight back at the stage, there was no franticness, no hectic battle, just… the wide-open sky and the clouds and the air and the ground below and the beautiful sights…

Must’ve been why Daisy loved her Vertibird so much and the Boomers their plane.

“I can see why you like flying,” he nodded.

“Hm?” she questioned. She was unable to turn towards him properly, but she flicked her head back for a split second before refocusing her vision on what was ahead.

“Feels serene…” the mailman elaborated.

“You guys never had anything like this?” she asked. He was silent, as if pondering how to answer.

“Humankind spent millions of years grounded, Cherry,” he spoke, his voice shockingly soft. “Almost all of them throughout human history; they never saw the world from this view. Best they could do before the invention of aviation was look off cliffs and mountaintops. They eventually got it right. Had it in their hands, the ability to soar... and they just fucked it all up…”

The earth mare continued pedaling, frowning as she did.

“Sorry to hear,” she offered. He nodded silently at that.

As they flew, he was silent for several long minutes, still using his impressive strength to hang partly out the side of the helicopter. They soon soared by a small patch of low-hanging clouds, at which the human reached out a gloved hand. He watched in wonderment as the watery vapors parted from his palm. It was ethereal, seeing the ripples and the condensation droplets press against his skin.

“This… this is something special,” he said to himself.

The mare pilot’s smile drifted into a minor smile at her friend’s happiness. He was happier now than he had been snacking on that family of rats he’d found earlier!

As she continued pedaling and focusing on what was ahead, the human soon reached his hands up to his helmet…

Cherry Berry couldn’t see it, she only heard a minor click echo out, but soon brushed it off, thinking it was likely some internal component of her helicopter popping or creaking. Her goggles also blocked her field of view, making it harder to see anything from her peripheral vision. It did keep her focused on what was directly ahead though.

Had she not been wearing them… she might’ve noticed when he sat the riot helmet aside and leaned out of the side of the chopper once more. He felt the breeze, the vapors, the air and the water all press into his face, against his skin. The horizon ahead, and the sun above, and the trees and the grass and the lively world bellow. It billowed against him, made him feel like he was gazing on something bigger, which he was!

Made him feel good, feel… free.

Only lasted for a few minutes though…

By the time Cherry Berry turned back around to glance at the Courier a few minutes later, his same helmet-covered face just stared back into hers.

“What?” he questioned.

“Nothing just thought you did something I guess,” she shrugged.

“Nah… Nothin’ important anyways,” was the simple response, his voice muffled from the mask.

Same as it always had been.

Author's Note

Hey guys, this update was a bit later than intended due to me working on my AU one-shot for Lucky Seven's Non-Pony contest! If that interests you, feel free to check out my other fic and even do your own entry for his challenge!

Shameless promotion aside, new chapters hopefully won't take as long to arrive!