> Duet in the Dust
>  by David Silver
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 - Heavy Performance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia walked at a sedate pace, an island of calm in a rising sea of chaos. This was not her place. The ponies around her excitedly chatted, danced, drank, and lived as hard as they could. She was happy savoring life, rather than gulping it down as if any moment may be her last...

The music crashed against her, another aspect of the chaos, threatening to throw her off-target, but she made her way through it, her eyes on the one that she had come for. She smiled faintly, gazing up towards her roomie and friend, Miss Scratch, stage name DJ-Pon3.

She could see Vinyl's hooves moving in sync with the music. Sometimes they would gesture and pump as if she could emphasize the harsh beat of her 'music'. Other times they danced over the round discs that controlled the music, taking direct control of the audible attack on her senses. It was a lot of noise, so far as Octavia was concerned, but it was Vinyl's noise, and that made it tolerable.

It wasn't that she was entirely blind to the... appeal... of it. It had its... charm, but it was not appealing to her. She nodded lightly in response to her own thoughts. Let other ponies enjoy it. They lived for the harsh electronic sweeps, the constant thumping bass that beat like a living heart locked in the chest of a pony running for their life. It was music that was hard to ignore, and perhaps that was what drew people to it. They didn't want to be ignored. They didn't want to be forgotten, perhaps.

Octavia found her seat at a small table, sliding into the wide-bottomed chair. There was some trace of moisture, perhaps a spilled drink or who knew what. She tried to ignore it. She wasn't there for that. She could see Vinyl making her own moisture, sweat flying when she swept her head in dramatic arcs. Was that part of why she wore goggles, to keep her eyes clear?

She doubted that. She just liked the look of them. They were part of the aesthetic, just as Octavia wore her bowtie. Sometimes little touches were important, to emphasize the mood of the music. Octavia felt her subtle smile returning. Those glasses also let her be one of the few ponies intimately aware of the true colors of those eyes.

The music suddenly grew quiet. It was still there, faintly, as if Vinyl has turned the volume down to 1/10. Octavia could feel tension building in the room suddenly. Everyone was waiting. A shout went out, "Drop it!"

"Drop!" came a second cry.

"Do it!" insisted another.

Vinyl did not seem bothered by their calls, nodding her head in time to the quiet music before she made a sudden pull with her hooves, triggering the music to return. Octavia cringed as the intense music washed over her ears, back with vengeance in its electronic heart.

However much it hurt in her ears, her attention was not on the music, not then. A sudden sensation of pressure rolled across her from a different direction than the music. She glanced across to room and her ears fell at what she was looking at. A purple crack was running across the walls, and the air, as if reality itself was breaking. Two thin lines met and the world caught between them fell away to chaotic swirling colors.

She was not the only one to notice it. Screams echoed as ponies fled away from the growing break in reality. Octavia was ready to join them, and rose to her hooves so quickly she knocked the table over, though its crash was almost missed in the still deafening music and the riot of ponies fleeing.

She would have joined them. Would have, but she saw Vinyl was plying her trade, unaware of what was going on. "Vinyl!" shouted Octavia, shoving her way through the panicked crowd towards her performing friend. "Vinyl, blast it all, look at me!" She did not prefer to raise her voice, but if not at that time, when else would be more fitting?

Vinyl seemed entirely unaware of the trouble, working her magic, both literally and figuratively, to keep the music thrumming. It seemed to be actively expanding the disruption, the spiderweb of broken reality spreading across the dance club. 

Octavia burst free of the crowd, most of it heading in the opposite direction. As they escaped the calamity, she scrambled up the short flight of stairs towards her friend. She and Vinyl were rapidly becoming the only ponies left in the building. "DJ-Pon3!" she tried, hoping the stage name might make a difference, but Vinyl was absorbed in her music, even as it seemed to encourage the growth of whatever terrible effect was reaching towards them.

She had no choice. As she reached her friend, she swept out with a hoof, knocking Vinyl's headphones right off of her. "Vinyl!"

Vinyl blinked behind her goggles. "Hey, Octy! You did come!" She reached to give Octavia a hug, still unaware of the rifts that had grown to cross the entire room, cutting off their possible escape.

Octavia laughed nervously as she was hugged. "Yes, yes, it's nice to see you... Now can we get out of here?" She pointed a quivering hoof at the nearest of the expanding and congealing portals to Celestia-knew-where. 

Vinyl's headphones returned to her head, glowing with her magic. "Woah..." She looked around quickly before pointing to a small door in the back. "Come on!" She led the way, her music abandoned in favor of a hasty retreat. She jumped down from the stage with a clop of her hooves on the cement floor of the back stage.

They ran in a wild gallop, Vinyl's magic grabbing the doorknob ahead of them and wrenching it open. What was beyond the door had them skidding to a halt. Another rift was inside with the same riotous swirl of power. It grew out of the open door immediately as the rift in the room rushed to join it, merging.

Octavia stepped back away from what had ceased to be an escape path. "I'm afraid we're... in more trouble than I originally thought, and my estimation had already been quite high."

Vinyl threw out a hoof. "Don't worry, Octy. I'll protect you!"

Octavia's lip twitched, as if a smile had been considered, but died in birth. The thought was lovely, but how Vinyl could protect either of them seemed suspect at best. She reached out and pulled Vinyl close. "Whatever happens... I'm happy we could go... together at least. It has been a distinct honor and pleasure to make music alongside you."

Vinyl pointed into the oncoming disturbances. "Don't be like that! We don't even know for sure if they're dangerous. I mean, they look pretty weird..." Her eyes followed as a rift ran over a chair. The chair was ripped apart and pulled inside the chaos, soon lost to sight. "Well, alright, that doesn't... look friendly. We have two choices. We can sit here and wait to be torn apart like that chair, or..."

"Or?" She hiked a brow at Vinyl, wondering what the second plan could even be.

"We jump in." Vinyl nodded with certainty. "Maybe we won't get ripped up if we aren't sucked up. I don't see any other options. You?"

Octavia took a shuddering breath, looking around. The chaotic energy had crept all around them. "No... No I do not..." Not that the thought made her want to leap into what was likely to be the death of her. Still, other options seemed to be in short supply. "Very well..."

"Let's do this." Vinyl took a firm step forward. "On the count of three! One!" The DJ equipment was consumed in a great rending and tearing, bits of electronics sparking wildly as they were all torn asunder. "Two!" The roof groaned as the portals seemed to press against it as if trying to absorb the building itself into the maelstrom. "Three!"

She jumped at the nearest portal, her magic holding Octavia and pulling her right along. The noise of destruction was gone, replaced with a swirling rush of what sounded like sand all around them. They were falling, plummeting, but they weren't being ripped apart, so that was a plus.

Octavia squinted her eyes, soon forced to close them entirely against the grit that was flying around them as they fell. It was at that moment that she was jealous of her friend's eyewear. Perhaps it did have some utilities. She could hear screaming. Oh, that was her. She closed her mouth, blushing. Screaming was doing her little good.

Vinyl was laughing wildly. "I don't know what's happening, but this is kinda cool!" She could see the driving... dirt? No, it wasn't dirt. She reached out a hoof into the stuff and pulled it back, even as it swirled all around the both of them. She peered at her hoof, ash? It was ash. She could feel it clinging in a sooty kind of way.

"Vinyl?" called out Octavia, locked in a world of darkness. "Please tell me you're there."

"I'm here, Octy." She wrapped a leg around Octavia, pulling her closer. "Don't worry, we'll be f--" She was cut off as she landed in a big pile of that sooty ash. On the positive side, it seemed to absorb the worst of the impact, leaving them sprawled out in the stuff, dizzy, but not terribly injured.

"<What was that?>" asked a low, deep, and male voice in a language neither of them understood. "<It could be edible, but be on alert. Maintain positions.>"

Octavia sat up first, coughing wildly. Some of the ash had gone into the wrong place, upsetting her insides as she tried to get it out.

"<A pony,>" remarked a strange bipedal creature wearing clothes and holding a long spear in its hands. Sounded female. "Hello," she said in perfectly understandable words. "We were here first, pony. Do not interrupt our hunting." She sounded firm about her warning, but Octavia detected a hint of fondness. Did that biped like ponies?

"<Ponies are edible,>" remarked the deeper, original, voice. "<Still, we're not that desperate. Let's not eat anything polite enough to ask us not to.>" Octavia looked past the female to a male wielding some strange device meaningfully. She couldn't place what it was though. Whatever it was, she felt certain it was a weapon. The male was significantly taller, with olive-toned skin visible where dirty clothes didn't cover it. She noticed he wore thick goggles, so did the female biped.

Vinyl suddenly popped free of the ashes, her magic clearing off her goggles. "Hey! Where are we?" She looked left and right wildly, taking in the situation.

The female smiled thinly. "A herd of ponies; I don't see those often, especially so large."

"<Stop talking with them and focus.>" The male turned and stalked away, leading two others males with him. "<The town is counting on us.>"

Vinyl looked over at Octavia and back at the female biped. "Uh, are we big for ponies? What are you doing?"

Octavia nodded lightly. "We don't mean to interrupt you, but we are..." Her words trailed off as she looked away from the people towards their surroundings. She felt her voice being stolen as she beheld the stretches of ashen terrain. Thin and tough-looking plants desperately clung to life, but most of it was rocks and debris.

As if to challenge her original impression, when she stood up, she brushed the ash away to reveal a flower. It was a dash of color in the grey-brown, soft purples with a bit of red in the middle. Octavia's attention slid off of it, looking up towards the sky. There was no sun. It was a dense and unrelenting cloud cover through which only enough light to see by came through. "What manner of place have we found ourselves in?"

Vinyl pointed at her friend. "What she asked. This place looks wicked." She emerged from the pile of ash onto the dirty path the others were on.

The female nodded at the two confused ponies. "I do not know where you came from, but please, just stay out of the way. I can talk after we have some food to bring back." She tightened her grip and hurried to catch up with the others, but barely got three steps when the ash exploded upwards closer to the central mass of their hunting group.

With a horrible screech, a great and serpentine length slid free from the ground below, but it was no snake. Like a great worm, its flat end ringed with grasping tentacles where razor-sharp teeth weren't busy gnashing in preparation for its next meal.

"<It moves, we can eat it,>" ordered the tallest, leveling his device at it. It made the sound of an explosion, and blood sprayed from the worm as if it had been struck, but neither of the ponies quite grasped what had happened.

Octavia leaned in closer to Vinyl. "By Celestia herself, I would advise running, but I am terrified there could be more of those things, just waiting for a chance at us."

Vinyl shook her head. "Don't be like that. Our new friends need our help."

"Since when were they our friends?" challenged Octavia with a raised brow.

While they talked, the great worm crashed down on the leader. He barely got a grasp on two of its longest teeth, holding it open and preventing himself from being snatched up. Blood ran from his hands where he was cut by those sharp teeth. The rest of the hunting party had surged into action, the reports of their strange devices filling the air where they weren't engaging in melee, jabbing at the worm desperately to get it away from their leader.

"Since they started fighting the big worm thing." Vinyl broke into a trot, leaving Octavia as she reached up a hoof and turned her headphones from headphones to speakers even as her magic flipped their muffs to face outwards. She was ready to perform.

She reared up onto two hooves even as the worm did the same. She raised a hoof high and brought it down as if slamming down on a guitar, also in sync with the worm's movement as it lunged at a weaker member of the party. Even as the man's scream lifted into the air, Vinyl's voice rang with it. Her voice was deep and, with a little digital assistance, distorted as she launched into her death metal ballad.

"Fighting in the ash, survival begins to crash."

Though uncertain why, the female they had spoken with stepped in and lunged with her spear, striking true against its thick and scaly hide. She roared in triumph, only adding to Vinyl's song.

"Body's twisted in the struggle, Now is not the time to huddle!"

The man who bled from where the thing's jaws had found purchase in his side fought on, throwing off the pain like an inconvenient hat. "<The pony is helping, we can do this!>" Filled with new vigor despite his pain, he fired wildly with his one-handed device, smaller than the other, but it made the same sounds. Vinyl could see from that close that it shot pellets out into the flesh of the worm.

"Ribbons of blood flow out freely, Flowing in spurts so thickly!"

Octavia approached with wide eyes, darting between the intense battle and her friend, singing her ballad towards it. Was her friend actually helping? She could feel the pulse of the music trying to get into her, urging her to fury, but she didn't want to fight. She rejected the power, but she felt it. What was Vinyl doing?

In the temporary reprieve of his people fighting with newfound savagery, the leader moved a hand over his device, speaking words that sounded strange even for them. Floating runes of power gathered around the thing, engraving themselves along its length with some alien power.

"<Hold it!>" cried the female, her knuckles whitening as she struggled to hold it still with the sharp end of her spear. "<He's almost ready!>"

"Dawning of the final strike, climax to end the fight." Vinyl wasn't sure of it, but the meter of the fight felt right. She could see the male readying his clearly enchanted weapon at the worm. The others were holding it still just for him. Something was about to happen, she felt sure.

The worm twisted to face the male and reached with lightning speed, grabbing him with several grasping pseudopods and wrenching him up into the air. With a grunt of pain, he crashed into the ground, his shot ruined before it was taken.

Vinyl's teeth clenched as she sang on, "Fading embers of the battle, life and death, the line we straddle!"

The female biped suddenly swiped with the sharpened end of her spear, cutting into the tender flesh of one of those stretched out grasping tendrils. It didn't sever, but the worm shrieked in intense pain, turning to face her fully. She widened her stance and lowered her spear, ready to receive its attack.

The worm lunged for her, graspers spreading out wide to close off her escape avenues. Its teeth were spread wide, revealing the depths of its mouth in a daring move to consume her entirely.

A deafening bang sang out across the wastes, louder than any of the others. The worm stiffened and fell, landing at the feet of the woman, its blood flowing freely from its newest wound. The woman gave a powerful cry of victory and brought her spear down on the prone enemy at her feet. "<Don't let it get up!>"

Rough jabs and loud bangs came in rapid succession, finishing off their vicious foe. The leader approached, his weapon held in one hand at his side. "<Excellent work, everyone. The pony's helpful, take it.>"

The woman frowned at him. "<'It' is a her.>" She smiled, face splattered with blood, at Vinyl. "You were amazing. Please, come with us."

Vinyl nodded easily as she flipped her headphone muffs back over and turned the volume down to listening levels. "Yeah, sure. What is he saying anyway? Why doesn't he talk normal?"

"<She will come willingly,>" the woman quickly reported, leaving the others to dress their catch as she approached Vinyl. "Once we have it butchered and ready to move, we'll return to the camp and then it'll be time to eat. Are you hungry?"

Vinyl leaned to the side, eying what might be dinner. "Uh, can't say I've tried that before."

Octavia moved to stand besides Vinyl. "Where are we going, precisely?"

The woman glanced at Octavia, then Vinyl. "She was the one invited." She pointed a finger at Vinyl. "As thanks for her help during the fight."

Vinyl threw a leg over Octavia, grasping her by the withers. "Where she goes, I go. If she can't go, well, you're down one DJ-Pon3."

The leader glanced over at the woman. "<Why isn't 'she' secured?>"

The woman grit her teeth. "<Because she is coming willingly, I just said that. She wants to bring her friend though. You know how ponies are, herds. She won't leave it.>" With a nervous little laugh, she switched to a language the ponies knew. "I'm asking if she can come too."

Octavia pointed at the woman. "Pardon me, but I am curious. What languages do you think you're using? Precisely, what do you use when you speak with him, and with us?"

Vinyl brought a hoof to her face, no longer wrapped around Octavia. "That's a great question."

She smiled at the two. "Northen Everglow," she reported, gesturing around at the other bipeds. "It's what most humans speak around here. You are speaking sylvan, but you know that...? You really don't know that. Where are you two from?"

A hand came down on her shoulder. The leader had joined them, his sharp eyes looking between the two ponies. "<Bring them both if we must. You speak their musical language, tell the other one she gets fed if she helps.>"

She jumped with a brief bit of surprise before she recognized whose hand it was. "He says you can come along, both of you. <Do you need help with the kill?>"

Octavia inclined her head faintly. "You are quite skilled with both languages, to switch between them without even a pause."

Vinyl ambled towards the long corpse, torn open and being hacked into easily-moved pieces. "Wicked... Do you really eat that? Is it good?" She leaned in over the stinky mess, peering into the gorey remains as if answers were hidden within.

The leader shook his head. "<We're moving quickly. We'll need help with carrying.>" His vision suddenly locked on Octavia. "<If she isn't good at fighting, she has a back and four legs, she can help carry this haul.>"

The woman smiled a little awkwardly. "Miss?" When Octavia seemed to be fully focused on her, she rolled a hand. "We'll need all the help we can get moving this catch back to the camp. Do you mind carrying some of it? We can strap it to your back."

"<What are you saying to her? That sounds like a lot of words for 'You will pull your weight'.>" He turned away even as he talked, moving towards Vinyl. "<As for you, you are a prized addition, pony.>" He patted her pointed head like a dog that had done well. "<Keep it up.>"

Vinyl accepted the petting without complaint, but Octavia watched it with a more discerning eye. "We are behind in introductions, miss? I am Octavia Melody. She is Vinyl Scratch, stage name DJ-Pon3."

She put a hand at her chest. "I am Sandy Fortune, and I feel that's come true today. I only learned this language to speak with ponies, but we rarely get the chance to use it." She leaned in a little. "The leader, Randal, doesn't think highly of the fey races. He won't even come along when we trade with them, but that just gives me more time to speak with them."

Octavia felt Sandy's words were truth. But she also felt she was being eyed like a wondrous creature, rather than a person. "I am a pony, not a 'fey'." Her mind swam with old mare's tales of fantastic beings that would fit the title. "As for carrying things... That is not a task... I normally perform, but I can help a little..." She forced a little smile. "I am a performer by trade."

Vinyl trotted back to the others. "Oh no!"

"What?" Octavia looked over with concern.

"You don't have your instrument." Vinyl shook her head. "At least I have my speakers." She tapped at her headphones lightly. "How are you going to show them your amazing music without one of those guitars?"

Octavia's expresion deepened into a scowl. "It is a cello, and you know it."

"I'm just playing with ya, 'Tavi." She laughed as she turned to face Sandy. "You're Sandy, huh? Nice to meetcha." She thrust out a hoof.

Sandy met the hoof with a balled fist, bumping firmly. "Where are you two from? You don't seem local."

One of the other hunters, a male, approached with several large bundles of carved meat. He set it down beside Octavia and grabbed some leather straps. "<Easy there, girl. Easy. Now...>"

"What is he saying?" hissed out Octavia, her eyes on the male as he began running the straps around her. "What is he doing?!"

Sandy put out her palms quickly. "Easy, easy. He's just attaching your share of the load."

Vinyl turned to the carved up beast. "Am I getting a load?"

Sandy called out towards the leader, who was shouldering a heavy-looking backpack, "<Is the other pony also carrying something?>"

"<Carrying things is something ponies are good at.>" He rolled his shoulder, checking the balance of his burden. "<If she's ready, do it. Everyone does their part.>"

Vinyl nodded softly. "That sounded like a yes." With a twinkle of magic, she grabbed one of the hunks off the stack, letting it float beside her. "Alright, let's get this meat train rolling!"

Octavia took an uncertain step, weighed down with several large slabs. "How can you be so cheerful about this?"

As one, the hunting party, plus two ponies, began moving, heading for the hunter's camp.
> 2 - Hospitality in Ash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia advanced in the group that had formed. The hunters with the weapons still held them at the ready, clearly ready for an ambush. Vinyl was trotting with a smile and her one slice of meat, looking like she was happy to be there.

Octavia shook her head, looking away from her irresponsible friend towards the horizon. Grey, that was the primary color, but not the only one. She could see a few twisted and gnarled trees. Despite being too light to be night, there was no sun in sight. It was all cloud cover, likely the same ash as they trudged through.

They marched through eternal twilight, it felt. Octavia shuddered softly, her shoulders chaffing slightly under the new weight of her larger load of meat. Meat... They were in the 'care' of predators. Would they become a meal if a hunt was not successful?

She shook her head slowly, dismissing the thought for the moment. She had nowhere else to run, and Vinyl was... unfortunately pleased with the situation. 

As they crested a hill, Octavia could spy a glint. Water. There was a river, cutting through the tortured landscape. Octavia had to smile just a little. On either side of its flow, the plants seemed to be taking advantage of the situation. Grass covered the area, a stripe of life. It was, perhaps, proof that the world had not given up. "What... happened here? Was this world always like this?"

Sandy slowed to be closer to Octavia. "I've heard stories that it used to be very different. I saw a picture, once, in a book." She smiled awkwardly. "But that's about it. It's been this w--"

"Stay focused," commanded their leader, Randal. "We are not home yet."

Sandy lowered the volume of her words, but did not stop entirely. "This is the world we know. There are some who work to return it to its health."

Octavia stepped to the side, veering off to be closer to Sandy as her volume lowered to a gentle whisper, "What made  it not healthy? I fancy it must have been... something dramatic."

Sandy was quiet a moment, hiking along the ash-caked ground. Unlike the mound they had landed in, it was only an inch or so in depth, crunching beneath clad feet or naked hoof. "It was a war. Fey and humans. Everyone lost."

Octavia's ears pinned against her head. "Wars rarely have winners, I do suppose... When you say 'fey', do you mean other creatures like us? You did refer to us as fey before."

Sandy glanced aside at her pack mule of a companion. "Where did you two come from that you have no idea of any of this?" She gestured ahead, "We're arriving. You'll be able to put those down soon."

Octavia looked up and ahead to see a small town. It was a collection of houses constructed of rusted metal and plastic, much of it looking recycled from some past, more prosperous, era. She could see other bipeds roaming between those buildings. It was their home, where they lived. "What do you call yourselves?"

"Didn't I just say?" Sandy reached over and almost patted Octavia, but the motion aborted at the last moment, hand hovering before retreating. "Humans, 'Cept Randal."

Octavia looked to Randal. He looked as human as the rest, but she did note he seemed taller. It wasn't just a male thing. She was no expert on such things for bipeds, but their voices were hint enough. There were other males, and he was taller than them too. An alpha human? "What is he, if not human?"

"Oh, he is human, but more of it," explained Sandy with a quirked smile. "He's an 'enhanced human'."

Octavia squinted at the male, trying to examine him better, but he was striding away faster than she was going, ruining the chance. "I... see. Am I slowing you down?"

"A little." Sandy shrugged her own heavy backpack. "It's alright. You two came from the same place, right?"

Up ahead, Vinyl kept up with Randal, trotting into the town, her eyes wandering behind her goggles. "Rad. This place looks just how I imagined it."

Randal gestured wide. "<Drop off the meat at the smoking hut, then get some rest. Tom, see the doctor. We don't want that becoming infected.>"

"<Right, Boss.>" The one likely named Tom, who had gotten a good bite from the worm, went to get medical attention.

Vinyl looked around curiously. There were other people there. Some of them worked on their weapons, others were talking quietly. One had a little guitar across his front and was strumming the chords. Her attention settled easily a moment before yanking away to where the other hunters were headed. She hurried after them, half-tossing the meat she held onto the pile they were creating.

With her load taken care of, Vinyl broke into an eager trot towards the human musician. She only made it two steps before a hand came down on her shoulder, holding her firmly. "<You have shown value, but you are a pony,"> spoke Randal.

Vinyl looked over her shoulder at the towering human speaking to her in his funny language. "Yeah, glad to help," she replied, assuming he was thanking her. She raised a hoof and pumped it. "Let's do that again sometime. Now, lemme say hi." She pointed the hoof at the guitar player.

Randal glanced over towards where the hoof was pointed at. "<George, the pony wants to hear you play.>" He looked back to Vinyl. "<Don't wander away.>"

Vinyl only heard 'Go ahead', and smiled, trotting up towards the guitar player. "Hey! Nice guitar you have there."

The human she approached had chocolate brown skin and midnight-black hair. He smiled back at her. "I speak only little." He held up two fingers close together. "Not talk ponies very."

"S'cool," assured Vinyl as she sat beside him, eyes on the guitar. "So, you play? Let's hear it."

George ran his long fingers across the strings, producing a melodic twang from the motion. "Yes. Play little." He launched into a song, cheerful and warm. Despite the hardship that surrounded them, his song was uplifting, hinting of happiness and celebration.

Vinyl bobbed her head along to the beat of the song. Whatever their language, the music spoke clearly enough.

Elsewhere, Octavia was just reaching the smoking hut. "Please get these off of me." She was certain she could feel some of the... juices... leaking onto her. The sooner she could take a shower, the better. 

Sandy got to work pulling each heavy slab free of Octavia and storing them inside. "Welcome to our home," she said as she worked. "Home camp, our little oasis from the wastes."

Octavia glanced around, mostly standing still for unloading. "It appears peaceful, but I see only humans. You mentioned there are ponies here, right?"

"Not here here." Sandy grunted as she lifted the largest slice free of Octavia. "They don't live here... We chased them off before I was born." Her face soured, clearly not approving of the idea. "They live in other towns."

Octavia perked an ear at a sound that she could not ignore. Turning her eyes and soon the rest of her body, she saw Vinyl bobbing her head beside a human playing a guitar. "How delightful." She smiled gently. "It's good to see music is present in some measure. I don't suppose you have a cello I could borrow?"

Sandy slapped the door shut on the food storage before rubbing one palm against the other. "Phew, hm? What's a 'cello'?"

Octavia's smile faltered. That did not speak well for her chances. "It's like that." She pointed to the guitar being played across the street. "Significantly larger, requiring it be played while standing. It is played with another string dragged across its own rather than plucking them, though that can be done in addition."

Sandy's eyes lifted to the approach of Randal. Rather than answer Octavia, she addressed him, "<Meat's stored, waiting for smoking.>"

"<Good.>" He looked down at Octavia. "<This one hasn't shown any value, other than a beast of burden. Put her in Rex's house.>" He hiked a thumb in the desired direction.

Sandy's jaw tensed. "<When she's tired, I'll lead her there.>"

"<Now.>" He clapped his hands for emphasis. "<If she wants more, she'll have to help. Human or pony, everyone earns their keep.>"

Sandy gently brushed the tips of her fingers against Octavia's shoulder, getting her attention quickly. "Randal wants me to show you to your house."

Octavia's mind swam with visions of a little house, with a shower, and couches, and a bed. "That sounds positively delightful. Tell him I said thank you."

Sandy smiled awkwardly. "<She says thank you.> Let's go." She gestured forward and headed down the street, trusting Octavia to follow.

Randal nodded approvingly. At least the useless pony was polite, he couldn't fault that.

Octavia fell in behind Sandy, following her. "Vinyl," she called out without turning her head. "I'm going with Sandy to a place to rest."

Vinyl may have nodded, or she might have just been bopping along to the lively music. At times, it was hard to tell the difference.

Sandy nodded to other humans they went past, though one of them seemed... different. Tall, with lighter skin tone than the others. Their ears were pointed, unlike the round ones that most of the others had.

Octavia watched the odd person, but they were going in opposite directions and they were soon past one another. Was that a female? She felt certain it was. "Was that also an enhanced human?"

"Shiela? Elf." Sandy turned down into an alley that cut in the narrow space between two buildings. "Here we are."

Octavia made the turn, expecting to see a door leading into either of the buildings the alley was adjacent to, but there was no door. There was a small dog house instead. Actually, as dog houses went, it was reasonably large, but... "Is it on the next block?" she asked hopefully.

Sandy gestured ahead towards the little structure of crudely shaped plastic. "This is it... Go on, check it out."

Octavia hiked a brow at Sandy, but approached despite that. "Is this some manner of jest? I am not a dog." Just in case magic was involved, she lowered her head to peek inside, but, no, there was no magical house hidden inside. It was just the dark interior of a doghouse. The back of her neck was touched, the front of her throat was pulled against, and a loud click had her jumping in place.

Sandy had leashed her. A metal cord ran from her bowtie's ribbon to the side of the house, securing her to it. Octavia's eyes went wide. "What are you doing?! Release me this very moment."

Sandy dropped to a crouch. "Look, I'm really sorry... Randal's word is law, and he says this is what you get until you prove your worth."

Octavia thrust a hoof beyond the house to the wastes past the buildings. "And if I decide to take danger and freedom over this degradation?"

Sandy crossed her arms and her brows fell as one. "You don't want to die, Octavia. Please don't... ask that. I don't want you hurt."

"You're already causing me injury, Sandy," grumbled Octavia, reaching up a hoof to pull at her bowtie. "Seriously, have I been anything but accommodating?"

Elsewhere, the music came to a stop. Some of the people who had paused in their walking gave polite applause. Vinyl joined them, clopping her hooves together with approval. "Very cool. I never learned how to play acoustic."

George seemed disarmed. "Play what?"

Vinyl pointed at the instrument. "It has no power, no amp. You know? It's all natural."

George ran his fingers along the neck of his prized tool. "Given by father. He get from father. He get from father. Priceless. Not make."

Vinyl leaned forward, examining the instrument that apparently had history. She could see centuries of little nicks and bites along its otherwise smooth wood. This was an instrument that survived the end of the world. Vinyl smiled, an expression that only expanded slowly the more she looked at it. "That is so awesome I don't have words. May I...?" She sat down and held out her hooves. "I'll be careful."

George held up a hand, the other cradling his precious guitar. "No mad, but not know that well."

"S'cool," assured Vinyl, letting the denial roll right off her back. "We just met. I suppose I'd be nervous if you wanted to get your fingers all over my DJ equipment." She tilted her head a bit. "Then again, I wonder what you could do with it... Nevermind, if we get the chance, I'm totally letting you take a crack at that bad boy, see what kinda crazy music you make."

It took a moment for George to sift through the rapid-fire sylvan. He masked the awkward moment by tuning his precious guitar. "You make music. The others talking about it before. Where music maker?"

"Music maker?" Vinyl perked up. "Oh!" Her magic flipped her headphones around and started the built-in player. Electronic notes began spilling out from her head. It wasn't as loud as it normally was, with the speakers facing away from her ears instead of towards them, but it was enough to get Vinyl nodding her head to the beat.

George peered, not at Vinyl as a whole, but at those headphones. "Where find? Battery or magic?"

Vinyl used her magic to turn off the music, and take off the headphones. With a quick flick, she popped open a compartment and out spilled two batteries. "Ta da! I can power it with magic, but that's a pain when I'm busy putting on a show, so I keep batteries stocked."

George nodded appreciatively. "Is good. Music maker history." He offered a hand towards her.

Vinyl wasn't 100% on his meaning, but that didn't stop her from thrusting a hoof out to match his hand. Her hoof slapped against his palm in a moment of camaraderie. "Yeah! So, hey..." She looked around the dusty town curiously. "Where's the nearest dance club? Where's Octie go trotting off to?" She snorted softly. "As if that mare trots. A stately walk, or something's wrong, get me?"

George shook his head slowly. "Dance club?" He echoed the words without meaning. "Only talk pony little," he reminded, holding up those two fingers, pointer and thumb, close together. "You are nice pony. Glad to meet. Make music?" He stood up, letting the strap of his guitar hang over his front, the instrument dangling in easy reach and sight.

"Yeah, totally," easily agreed Vinyl. "We'll put on a slamming show for everycreature." She waved a hoof widely at the sparse traffic that was mostly ignoring them. "Now, really, where's Octavia?"

"Octavia?" He changed his stance, looking ready to begin moving. The words had come awkwardly, doing his best to reproduce the word Vinyl had said.

"Yeah, grey, mare, got music on her back end?" She pointed back at her own musical destiny. "You'd like her. She's good at strings."

Elsewhere, Octavia glared at her 'friend'. "I am not a pet."

Sandy huffed softly. "I know you're not. This isn't my idea, I swear. Please, put up with it just a little while." She clasped her hands together, smiling in a pleading way at Octavia. "Eventually, Randal will want me to make a trading run to Turves. It's a great place! You're safer here until then, and I'll be sure to bring you when I go."

Octavia cleared her throat softly. "Very well... since you... seem to not be the one in charge of this affair, I will not hold it against you in particular." She lowered to her haunches. The alleyway was clear of ash, swept down to the dirt. "Can I request a glass of water, at least? That hike has left me parched."

Sandy made a quick assurance as she sprang to her feet and dashed off, leaving Octavia to her new accomodations.

Octavia tapped the thing lightly, listening to the faint echo it made on striking the empty container of a house. "How far have I fallen?" Her eyes stung, but it wasn't ash. She raised a hoof and wiped away the tears. "Now is not the time, Octavia Melody. Keep your wits about you. We will persevere and find our way home." 

She tapped at the metal clasp that held her collar. "Ridiculous." As if she couldn't get out of her own bowtie. The very idea was absurd... But breaking free held limited options. She could flee out into the blighted wasteland, hoping for the best, and likely to be eaten by something like the worm, or worse.

She could just trot around town as if nothing was wrong, until Randal noticed and became incensed, possibly punishing Octavia and Sandy, one for breaking out, and the other for failing to secure her.

Sandy was guilty, though of a lesser crime. She... seemed nice enough, in the peculiar way of these humans.

Octavia took a slow breath, trying to calm her racing insides. She was in some kind of small town of aliens struggling against a hostile world. They saw her as useless baggage, little more useful than an unspeaking beast of burden. To most of them, that was precisely what she was. She didn't speak their language, and they didn't care to learn hers.

"<Pony!>" came the excited cry of a young human. Octavia looked up in time to see a little boy racing towards her, his hands spread wide. "<Pony pony! Are you magic?>"

Octavia could not understand a word that spilled from his excited lips, but he seemed happy with that big grin on his face. "Greetings," she offered, uncertain about the small one.

"<You talk magic!>" exclaimed the boy with building joy, giggling as he got within reach of Octavia, which was also time for him to begin reaching for her. He grabbed at her with all the delicacy of an excitable child, pinching her cheeks and petting her neck and babbling a thousand questions she had no hope of understanding.

Octavia went tense all over. She wanted the child gone, but hurting it only promised to worsen her situation by far. "Please, stop it... There is no need to be so rough." There was no need to touch her at all, but children were... children. She raised a hoof and pushed the child ever so gently. It was a slow motion, but she did not accept refusal. She was an earth pony, she was not weak. Years of practice as a musician had taught her restraint and control. She nudged the child back with all the care such a mare could show.

A sharp whistle echoed down the alley. Both Octavia and the child looked to the mouth, where Sandy stood. Sandy had a bowl of water in one hand, the other at her hip. "<You get out of there and leave Octavia alone!>"

"<That's her name? Bye bye, Octavia.>" He waved eagerly at the pony he had been ordered away from, retreating in the direction he had come. "<I'll visit later.>"

Sandy swatted the boy away with her free hand before moving in towards Octavia. "I'm sorry about that. He wasn't too much of a pain, I hope?"

Octavia sighed out in relief. "I'm glad you arrived when you did, miss Sandy." Her eyes fell to the bowl. "Is that a local custom? Do you not employ glasses?"

"Glasses, to drink from? Maybe a mug." She set the bowl down in easy reach of Octavia. "Ponies don't have fingers though, and you're not a unicorn."

Octavia perked an ear at Sandy, a brow rising with it. "I can drink from a glass just fine. It does require some practice, but that is a skill I certainly have."

Sandy dropped to a crouch, coming closer to Octavia's level. "They'd yell at me if I brought you a mug. Please, just enjoy the water. It's fresh and clean."

Fresh and clean water, and its mention, made Octavia's tongue feel all the more dry. She wanted that water, in a bowl or not... "Tell me, do you know any way of leaving this world?"

"Magic?" Sandy proposed without conviction. "Most of us only leave the world once, and that's usually not a happy time."

Octavia winced at the idea. "I shall refrain from taking that exit... Thank you." She put a hoof on the far end of the bowl and drew it closer. "Thank you," she repeated. She really did want a sip.

Vinyl had gotten no real answer out of George, so she settled into getting it herself. She trotted along the dusty roads of the town, looking left and right as she went. "She doesn't go that fast, how far can she be?" She quirked a smile as she picked up the pace. "She probably found some amazingly refined place. If anypony was gonna find one out here, it's Octie."

In her ears, music played quietly, her horn glowing in the act of providing it power. George had made it clear he thought batteries were valuable enough to not throw away, and Vinyl wasn't even sure if the local batteries would fit her headphones.

"<Pony!>" A boy rushed for her, dashing across the street to reach her. Other humans glanced up at the exclamation and watched the interaction.

Vinyl perked an ear at the child curiously. "Hey, little dude. Have you seen another pony around?"

"<Pony pony!>" He looked around cautiously for Sandy, but with no sight of her, he grabbed for Vinyl, pulling at one of her ears in a rough petting.

Vinyl burst into laughter, her magic wrapping around the young one and lifting him away from her ear. "You are adorable, but those aren't handlebars or control knobs, I promise."

"<Magic pony!>" shrieked the boy in amazement and wonder, his limbs flailing around from his levitated position. "<Put me down, magic pony.>"

Vinyl could not understand the word, but she heard a request, and the shrill squeak had tempered a little. "Promise not to pull?"

"<Please...>"

"Alright then." She gently set him back on his feet, still grinning. "Nice to meet you, whatever your name is. Have you seen another pony around? I think we're the only ones, so--" Her words were cut off as the boy came right back in and started feeling and rubbing over her cheeks. "Uh, hey..." He was too busy exploring her to pay much attention. "Hey!"

The boy bounced back, startled by the loud sound perhaps. "<Sorry.>" He didn't look that sorry. 

"I." Vinyl pointed at herself. "Look." She directed at her eyes. "For." She pointed ahead of herself. "Another pony." She pointed back at herself. "Are ya getting me?"

The child stepped forward, hands behind his back. "<What magic pony want?>" Vinyl started going through the pantomime again, but he advanced on her, grabbing her goggles.

"No! Uncool!" blurted Vinyl, yanking her head away. For better or worse, the child had a stronger grip than she expected, holding onto the goggles just long enough for the band that held them to go taut. They snapped back against her face when his fingers slipped. "Aw hell!" she cried, collapsing to her haunches and rubbing at her suddenly sore face with an arm, trying to ease the stinging pain.

She heard the boy make a squeak, but couldn't see the source. "Are you alright?" asked a familiar female voice. Sandy.

Vinyl cracked open an eye to see Sandy had shooed the boy away and was crouched before her. "Hey, Sands, nice to see you. Where's Octavia at?"

Sandy reached forward and gently set the goggles straight once more. "Octavia has been seen to her home."

"Oh, that's cool." Vinyl nodded firmly. "She looked a bit tired. Where is it? I'll crash with her."
> 3 - Pull Your Weight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy didn't reply with words, instead just pointing the way and following along after the excited Vinyl. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I mean, it's kinda crazy," spoke Vinyl in agreeable terms as she trotted along. "But it's also an awesome kind of crazy, you know?"

Sandy smiled, a thin gesture, perhaps worried about how the pony would react on seeing its fellow. "I can feel that way when I visit other towns. Everything is so different, and I want to see it all."

Vinyl nodded her head, one bob stronger than the usual bobbing to the beat of her music. "Yeah, exactly that." She reached the alley and was about to ask where to next when a familiar voice called out.

"Vinyl!" Octavia sat up from where she had sank to the, relatively, clear ground. "Thank Celestia! Don't let..." She trailed off as Sandy came into view just behind Vinyl.

Vinyl was hurrying for Octavia. "Octie! Miss Melody, you had me worried. Why are you taking a nap out in the open? It's not your style at all, mare."

Octavia lifted an ear at Vinyl. "You never cease to amaze me, Miss Scratch. I am here because this is the home they decided I deserve." She turned and tapped at the doghouse she was attached to. "It's a roof, and little more than that. All the amenities I deserve, isn't that right, Sandy?"

Sandy's hands were in her pockets. She watched the two, but didn't immediately join the conversation.

Vinyl trotted right past Octavia, running right into the cord that bound the mare to her new home. "What the?" She reached out to poke the thick wire she had run into. "What's this?"

Octavia raised a hoof to cover her face a moment. "That is the lead to keep me secured, because, as their pet, they are afraid I will wander away and get into mischief."

Vinyl propped up her goggles for a clearer view of the situation. She looked to the house, the cord, and lastly Octavia and back again. It clicked. "What?! No way!" She turned on Sandy. "What's the deal? Are you putting me in one of these too?"

Sandy shook her head. "I haven't been told where you will be housed yet, but it won't be a dog house."

Vinyl raised a hoof to her chest. "Well whereever that is, she's coming." She thrust the same hoof at Octavia. "We are roomies, and just because we're in a new world ain't no excuse to go changing that."

Sandy couldn't help but smile. As alarming as it was one one level, on another it was a pony standing up for its herdmate. It was adorable, and heart-tugging. "I have nothing against you two staying together. It's just Randal--"

"<What about me?>" Randal was at the mouth of the alley and approaching with a large stride. "<The useful pony isn't staying here. Besides, that's only large enough for one animal at a time.>"

Sandy visibly flinched. "<Octavia is not an animal.>" She turned to face him. "<We were just discussing that. She doesn't want to be seperated from her herd.>"

"<Tell her to encourage her friend to be useful then.>" He pointed back out of the alley. "<Until then, this way. Let's show her where she's staying.>"

Vinyl frowned from behing her goggles. "I don't know what he's saying, but it doesn't sound like 'Hey, sorry, let me fix that for you'."

Sandy shook her head at Vinyl. "He wants to show you to your home. Octavia is to stay here."

"Nope." Vinyl's horn glowed as she grabbed the end of the cord and undid the clasp, removing it from Octavia without hesitation. "She's with me." She yanked the mare over and threw an arm around her possessively.

Randal scowled at the rebellion. He showed no understanding of her words, but her actions were quite clear enough. "<Ponies.>" The word was as much a growl as a statement. "<Tell her if the other one is her pet, fine, but she will have to share her food and her space, just as anyone else in the town would have to do.>"

Sandy's expression ligthened as she echoed the statement in the musical language the ponies know, finishing it with, "You did it."

Octavia colored softly. "I am unsure I enjoy the idea of being called Vinyl's 'pet'."

Vinyl squeezed Octavia gently. "Aw, why not? I'll treat you right, Octie. Now be a good girl and let's ditch this dump."

Octavia bopped Vinyl right on the head with a hoof. "You will not address me like that."

Vinyl burst into laughter, taking the hit without a hint of actual distress. "You know I'm joking! Miss Melody, will you do me the honor of accompanying me?" She pulled her arm off Octavia and pointed the freed hoof out of the alleyway.

"I would be delighted." Octavia rose to her hooves and the two walked side-by-side.

Randal watched them a moment before looking back to Sandy. "<The helpful one should go in bunk 8.>"

"<With the other inhumans,>" finished Sandy, moving to catch up with the ponies.

Randal's hand came down on her shoulder in a firm grip, stopping her. "<That is the only logical place to put her. It is not a bad place. Do you object?>"

Sandy shook her head quickly. "<No! No, it's fine.>"

"<Good, just be sure her pet does not get its own bunk. We don't have room to spare for useless ponies.>" He released her and reached for the abandoned lead attached to the house. "<Poor Rex. He was good.>"

Sandy sighed gently. "<Yeah, he really was. That wasn't a nice way to go.>"

"<Few ways are.>" Randal abandoned the lead and the empty doghouse. "<I have other things to do.>"

They parted ways, Sandy breaking into a sprint. 

Just outside the alleyway, Octavia stretched as subtly as she could. "Where exactly are you to stay?"

"Where exactly are we to stay," corrected Vinyl with a bright grin.

"Thank you, for that. I did not want to be there." Octavia looked left and right slowly, but an ear perked up and behind herself at the sound of rapidly approaching feet. They both turned in time to see Sandy rushing out of the alley.

Vinyl clopped her forehooves together. "There's our guide. So where are we staying?"

Sandy's breath was rapid from the sprint, but recovering quickly. It hadn't been a long dash. "This way." She walked past the two into the town proper, though she seemed to be heading towards the edge of it. "I hope you don't hold this whole thing against me."

Vinyl waved away the thought. "Why would I? You've been pretty cool so far I've seen. That Randal guy needs like the hugest chill pill they have though."

Octavia arched a brow. "While I don't agree with the image my compatriot summons with her words, I can't argue the basic idea. Your leader really doesn't seem to like us."

Sandy waved to a lone human male walking the opposite way of them as they went. "<Welcome back.>"

"<It's good to be back,>" agreed the fatigued-looking male. He wore brown and fluttering clothing with big goggles over his head. One of those weapons was slung over his back, jostling with a backpack he also had. "<Just finished the day's scouting. Where's Randal?>" It only seemed then that he really focused on the two equines she was guiding. "<What's their story? Surprised Randal would let some random ponies walk around town.>"

"<They aren't local,>" assured Sandy with a quirked smile. "<I'm showing them to the inhuman house, Randal's orders. He's running around, like he usually does. Last saw him that way.>" She pointed the way.

"<Thanks. See you later, Sandy.>" He swung a hand towards her with an open palm and she met it, their palms striking one another with a firm slap. The exchange of familiarity given, they parted ways.

Vinyl grinned at the exchange. "That was like a hoofbump."

Octavia nodded. "Little reason other races can't use similar gestures for some things, though I should imagine there are things you do that would be awkward for us to imitate."

Sandy walked around them, taking the lead back as she pointed to a one story but long-looking structure. "That's the inhuman house, where those who aren't human, but are part of the town, dwell."

"Like the elf?" asked Octavia, following after Sandy.

Sandy started faintly. "You're a fast learner." She smiled though. "Yes, like the elf. Can you write?"

Octavia blinked at that. "Of course I can write. Of course, it is in the same language we are speaking."

Vinyl raised a hoof. "I learned my ABCs too."

Sandy's smile diminished slightly. "A scribe that only works in sylvan is of less use. I was trying to find a way you can stop being 'that useless pony'. Look, I don't like the way he thinks about you either, but he does have a point. Everyone here pulls their weight." She spritely hopped up the few cement steps to the house's entrance. "Here we are."

Octavia shook her head slightly, but ascended the stairs with Vinyl, the both of them advancing into the building as Sandy opened the door for them. The inside was dimly lit, a few candles doing their best to chase away the gloom and doing a minimal job. 

"Welcome," spoke a female voice.

Sandy's smile returned, but there was a strained note to it. "Shiela, can you see these two get one bunk?"

Vinyl turned to Sandy. "One bunk each?"

Sandy raised a finger. "One bunk. People with pets share space and food with their pets."

Octavia darkened rapidly. "I am not her pet!"

Shiela emerged from the gloom, a tall and slender vision of elfdom. "I will do this." Her words were just a little off, coming across with a thick accent that neither Octavia nor Vinyl could place. "Go on. I know this place upsets humans."

"Don't be like that," defended Sandy. "You know I'm not like that."

"You don't change it." Shiela waved a few fingers. "Go on. I will care for them."

Sandy backed towards the door. "Be good, please. Shiela's a great person. Shiela, this is Vinyl and Octavia." She gestured with two fingers at each pony as she named them. "They are guests, even if Randal awaits a role for Octavia to play."

Shiela regarded Octavia, her eyes scanning the grey mare piercingly. "Yours is a musical soul."

Vinyl pointed at herself. "What, and I'm not?! I live for da beats!"

Sandy wrapped her fingers on the knob of the door. "Get along." She closed the door gently. "Please." She walked away from the house with a little sigh.

Shiela crossed her arms, regarding the ponies. "Are we a collection for them?" Both ponies perked at her. "All female," she said as if it should be answer enough.

Vinyl lifted her shoulders in a way no normal horse could. "We were female before we got here, ya know? Don't think they went looking for it or anythin'."

Octavia nodded in agreement even as she slowly scanned their sorroundings. "Besides, from the way we've been treated, I should imagine they have no interest in us beyond a utilitarian one." She could see the bunks, one atop another in sets of two. At either side of them, a small box, perhaps to store possessions? To one side of the building, she could see what looked like it could be a kitchen.

Just as Octavia was about to go wandering, Shiela crooked a finger at one of those bunks. "We can share a space. Do you prefer to be elevated, or grounded?"

Vinyl broke into a gallop towards the bunk that Shiela had come from in the first place and made a spirited leap up onto the top bunk. "Dibs!"

Octavia smirked at her friend before regarding Shiela. "Most of the people in this town haven't shared our language, but you have. Is there a reason behind that?"

Shiela nodded lightly. "Have you not met an elf before?" When Octavia shook her head, Shiela gave a thin smile. "That is alright. We speak our own language, but it is close to Sylvan, which you are speaking. If you know one, to know the other is not too hard."

Octavia's ears shot up. "I thought your accent was thick, miss, but I can understand you remarkably well if it is another language entirely."

A subtle frown appeared. "I worked..." She aborted the thought, waving a hand. "I know Sylvan. Your friend has claimed the skyward bunk. Will you join her?"

Vinyl waved eagerly. "Yeah, come on up!"

Octavia's ears were pinned on her head, realizing her error. "Please, forgive me. I didn't mean to insult you, Shiela." Mentally, she berated herself on even mentioning an accent. "Thank you for welcoming us into your home." She folded a hoof in front of herself and dipped her front in a bow.

Shiela folded an arm across her front just under her curiously-shaped chest and bowed, returning the gesture. "It is as ash, blown away before it can trouble. There are others who stay here. Two halflings, a gnome, and a dwarf, all female, as I said."

"Did someone mention me?" A short humanoid came dashing towards them with all the energy of the child they had encountered. Her hair was a fiercely bright blue in color in clear defiance of the age itself. "Woah ha! I thought I heard hooves but thought I had just lost it! Ponies!"

Shiela gestured to the gnome. "This is Quarter Inch. She is the gnome I mentioned."

Quarter clapped her hands together, laughing. "This is great! I never thought they'd let ponies join us." She ambled up to Octavia, her grin wide and brilliant. "Are you the one?"

"The one?" Octavia arced a brow, examining the gnome. She had tools on a belt. A hammer, a screwdriver, and other such things. "Are you a repair pony?"

Quarter blinked softly before she guffawed with deep amusement. "I'm not a pony anything, except maybe a knight, but that's up to you."

Vinyl leaned from her top bunk. "How do we make you a knight?"

Quarter pointed at Vinyl. "That is exactly the right question!" She cried with all the triumph of a won battle. "In order to be a knight, I need a steed."

Octavia's ears spun back against her head. "First a pet, now a steed? No, thank you. I am not an animal."

Quarter staggered back, a hand clutching her chest. "What?! No! No no no no! I didn't mean, bugger it all. I'm already failing and we just started." Both of her hands rose to either side of her head. "A pony steed is no animal, no no no! You're magic and wise."

Shiela suddenly put a hand on Quarter's head, joining the gnome's own hands. "Silence, little one. You are overwhelming our new guests."

"Oh, sorry." Quarter smiled awkwardly up at her elven room-mate. "So... uh... if you change your mind, you let me know, alright? We'll become legends across the land!" She took off in a dead sprint,  her animated footfalls receeding into the darkness.

Vinyl waved at Shiela. "Hey, are all the houses this dimly lit?" She pointed at the nearest candle. "What's up with that?"

Shiela wobbled a hand, free of the gnome as it was. "Only a few buildings have electricity, and with them, light. This house is considered least for it, as everyone who lives here can see better in the dark than a human could hope."

Octavia walked towards the kitchen, examining things as she went. Though it was dark, she could see functionally. It was, perhaps... somehow better than she could remember seeing in such dim light. When had she gained such a talent? She couldn't answer, but she didn't begrudge a small gift on an otherwise unpleasant day. "Do all ponies have better vision?"

"As far as has been told to me." Sheila glanced back at the lower bunk, but decided to follow Octavia instead. "Where are you looking for?" Her stride was not quite a match for the four-legged trot of a pony on the prowl, but she followed sedately.

Vinyl hopped down from her bunk. "What she said. What're you looking for?"

Octavia poked her head into the kitchen and quickly saw that it used to be a kitchen. The oven looked clearly broken, its top rusted and warped. With no power, she doubted the fridge that sat there was useful for much other than storage space. Her eyes lifted to the cupboards, wondering a moment. "Is there any food in this kitchen?"

Vinyl laughed as she hurried to catch up. "Oh, is that all? Looking for some snacks? Actually, I could use some too. I haven't eaten all day and fighting huge worms can really bring an appetite out in a mare, ya know?"

Shiela caught up with and passed the two talking ponies. "It is not yet meal time. Since we are new friends, I will share." She reached up to a cupboard that only she could easily reach and it opened with a metallic pop. She reached into the darkness and her hand emerged, a small burlap sack held in it. "I remember ponies prefer vegetables, but I do not have that to offer. You can eat meat, even if you would rather not." She bumped the door close with the back of the same hand before she lowered the bag into their reach.

Vinyl trotted up curiously and poked her nose right inside, sniffing. "What is this? Don't recognize it."

"Jerky," replied Shiela, gently nudging Vinyl out of the bag before pulling out a shriveled and dried slice of meat. "It is tough, chew it slowly, but it is far better than nothing."

Octavia sank to her haunches. "Why is everything so... I'm sorry, that's... unbecoming of me. Thank you." She pressed her hooves together. "You are very kind to share your food with us and we have no right to complain."

Shiela waggled the strip she held in Vinyl's direction, though her eyes were on Octavia. "Where are you from, that this is a mystery to you? Are you from Murrage? I am told they have many luxuries. Lighting through their entire city, fresh food at any time of the day... It is a paradise, if you are a cat, which you are not."

Vinyl's horn glowed as she took the slice. "Thanks." She regarded it curiously even as she opened her mouth to give it a try. "We're from Ponyville, Equestria. Nice place." She bit down on the meat roughly, but it didn't break off. She chewed harder, working at it as she suckled. "Salty..." It was a new flavor, but it wasn't stopping her from chewing away at the offered treat.

Octavia had half an eye on her friend, but most of her attention was on Shiela. "As she said, we are from Equestria. Do you know of it, perchance?"

"Is that a pony city?" She pulled a second strip from her bag and offered it towards Octavia. "I haven't heard of it, I confess."

Octavia stepped forward and sat down so she could bring a hoof up to the jerky. The elf released it and the jerky slid along her distressingly non-sticky hoof and flopped to the ground. Octavia frowned as she gathered it up between her hooves. "This world gives one thing, just to take away another." Despite that, she bit into it and learned the truth of its tough and dry nature. "It is a pony nation," she sighed out. "We really are in a whole other world, aren't we?"

Vinyl raised a hoof. "You didn't get that from the swirling vortex or the crazy attack worm?"

"I recognized the worm," countered Octavia with a huff, nibbling at the edge of the meat. She was able to work off little bits at a time without looking like an uncouth barbarian, which her friend was quite merrily doing as if she was born to it. "I don't entirely recall its name. Tats something?"

Vinyl waved the same hoof. "Whatever it was, we got it, and now we got lots of meat. Will they make this with it?" She lifted the jerky in her magic.

"Likely." Shiela nodded. "Only the highest ranking of us get to enjoy the meat before it is preserved. Perhaps Randal will have a slice, him and his partner."

"Sandy?" asked Vinyl curiously.

Shiela smiled at the idea. "Oh, no. Sandy is a good warrior, and faithful to him, but she is not his wife. They share no relationship beyond being kin of this town. His wife is a spellcaster, the best of the town."

Octavia's ears went up, abandoning her jerky a moment. "Can she send us home?!"

Shiela's smile faded. "That sounds beyond her, but I am not as experienced as she is. You will have to ask her yourself, and she does not speak sylvan, or enjoy speaking to non-humans, which we both are. She is an ideal partner to Randal. They can stew in their bigotry together."

Vinyl blew a raspberry in a rude gesture. "Forget 'em! Sandy said there's a nice town she goes to once in a while, right?"

Octavia nodded quickly at that, watching take out a last strip for herself and tuck the bag away in that high cabinet. "She did mention that. She said she would endeavor to take us with her."

Shiela shook her head. "Randal will not allow that." She pointed at Vinyl. "You're useful, or you wouldn't be here. He doesn't let useful ones leave, because any sane person wouldn't stay here, given the option." She waggled the same fingers at Octavia. "Your chances are better. You are a pet. Pets can go wherever their owner wishes."

Octavia darkened. "I am not--"

"--I know this." Shiela bit off a chunk of her jerky. "But it is how they see you. You cannot argue this."

Octavia sank in place. "So I could get away, but I'd be leaving Vinyl behind. That is entirely unacceptable."

Vinyl bobbed her head fiercely. "Yeah, we're together like PB and J!" She tried to imitate Shiela, but her teeth weren't as good at rending. She bit down harder and harder until the pressure alone was enough to break it, the jerky flying back with the sudden lack of pressure. "Yeah!"

Shiela smiled at the two. "It is good to see such loyalty. I can think of many that would not hesitate to leave behind one they once called 'friend' if the chance for better came along."

Octavia rose to her hooves, the jerky dangling from her maw. "For now, I'm staying at your side, Vinyl, even if they call you on another of those ghastly hunts. I will not be regarded as some simple beast of burden."

Vinyl hopped up and moved to Octavia's side. "You're the best, you know that? I'm sure we'll find something. You'll make me look like a chump when we figure it out."

Shiela began to walk past them, back into the main collection of bunks. "What talent do you possess? It must be something for them to bring people who are not even 'like' humans to live here."

Octavia pointed at her friend beside herself. "She can sing and play,  and the act of it seems to invigorate those around her. I always thought that was just the tendancy of those who frequent your 'clubs', but I couldn't deny its effect on the warriors today."

Shiela moved to her bunk, sinking onto the lower of the beds. "And yet, I felt music from the other. Perhaps I am losing my touch, or the flow of ponies is just different enough."

Vinyl shook her head. "No way. Octie here loves music, it's just slower music." She reared up, pantomiming the act of playing a cello with sweeps of a hoof. "It's all fancy, just like she is."
> 4 - Into the Ash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mealtime came around. This was announced by a single knock on the door. It opened a moment later without time for anyone to answer it. The others seemed to accept this, though Octavia and Vinyl perked their ears towards the sudden disturbance from the relative comfort of their shared bunk.

A human stepped in, an unfamiliar one. "Dinner." Male, with a considerable beard. He set down a bag of... presumably food. "Later." And he was gone. No hello, no goodbye.

Octavia inclined her head towards the bag. "Is that really the manner they break bread here?"

Shiela swung out from the lower bunk beneath the ponies. "I don't know how the rest of the town handles it, but we are not welcome to dine with the others." She crossed the floor to the bag easily. "For now, we should divide our take."

"Food!" came an excited cry from further in, Quarter Inch dashing towards them in an excited scamper of her short legs.

Vinyl hopped down to the floor. "Hey, where are the other people you said lived here?"

Shiela kneeled down, picking up the bag and raising it up onto a table as she rose back to her feet. "They are on a task for the sake of the community, together. It is normal for us to be sent together."

Quarter waved the whole thing off. "The humies don't want to hang out with us, we're too amazing for them." She hopped up onto a chair, standing on it rather than sitting on it. "What's for dinner? Is it jerky? What is it jerky of? Any vegetables? Any fruits?"

Octavia slid down behind Vinyl, the both of them trotting up. Vinyl nodded towards the bag. "Not much you can put in a bag like that and wouldn't make a mess, right?"

Shiela nodded in kind, reaching inside and pulling out the bounty. Three potatoes, still steaming, but clearly not cooked entirely with the way it didn't get smashed on the way. She produced a few tough looking stalks of some kind, and a collection of tough, jerked, meat that she spilled across the table in a bounty of basic sustenance.

Quarter did not hesitate, scooping up a third of what was offered. She stuffed a small bit of the jerky into her mouth, chewing it even as she hopped back to the ground with her food. "Alrighty! No starving today!"

Vinyl reared up to get a better look at things. "Hey, didn't she take more than her share?"

Shiela shook her head. "Octavia has been deemed a pet. There is no share for her, only for you, Vinyl. You have to share with her. Those are the laws of this town." She began to divide out half of what remained, separating Vinyl's share from her own. 

Octavia flinched, shrinking a little, but Vinyl didn't seem fazed. "Pfft, as if sharing with Octie would bother me," she declared confidently. With a glowing horn, she gathered up what food remained. "Time to eat!"

"This isn't right..." Octavia ran a hoof across the floor. "I'm not doing my part, and it's costing you what you would otherwise have gotten."

Vinyl snorted in an equine fashion. "So? You're my best bud. Ain't letting you starve even if you busted all your legs forever, uh, don't do that. It's hard to play music with busted hooves."

Shiela smiled at Vinyl even as she returned towards the bunk. "You are a fine friend. It is a pleasure to know you."

Octavia followed after Vinyl. "Yes, you are fine. You're helpful. You're handling this all unreasonably well, Miss Scratch."

"Huh?" Vinyl peeked over her shoulder. "What do you mean by that?"

Octavia leveled a hoof at Vinyl. "From the moment we arrived, you've smiled and gone along with it, like battling horrible monstrosities is just a thing you do. Like being swept up in an entirely alien culture is just a thing you do. Like being told to live in an unlit longhouse is just a thing you do! You haven't shown the slightest reaction to anything outside of amusement!"

Vinyl crashed onto her haunches, a hoof lifting up to thrust at her own chest. "What? I should shout some more? Would it be better if I was crying about it?" Octavia winced, remembering her own tears, but said nothing. "We're here, it happened. We can mope about it or live with it. I'm on the live with it side, dig? Now, this is dinner." She pointed up at the floating mass. "I'm going to eat some, and I'm saving some for a musical pony that can make things peaceful. If you run into her, send her on after me."

Octavia watched Vinyl walk back to the bunk, sagging with a sigh. "That went excellently," she muttered to herself. Without further word, she slunk back to the bunk and climbed up to sit across from Vinyl. Vinyl had broken the potato in half and was chewing on her side. The rest was scattered across the mattress. Octavia reached for one of the scraggly looking veggies. It was some kind of root, she figured. She gave it a nudge. Hunger was eluding her at that specific moment. "Mmm."

Vinyl hiked a brow behind her tinted goggles. "You know I'm not angry with you, right?"

Octavia smiled warily. "You are not known for your temper, dear Scratch. Look... I am dreadfully sorry, but this is a most unreasonable situation... Worst of it being that I feel so helpless." She nudged one of the tough plant stalks. "I am nothing but a burden to you, and that is unacceptable. I'm a grown mare, and used to earning my own way."

Vinyl waved it away. "Ain't no thing, really. Come on, eat with me. I hate eating alone." She grabbed the other half of the potato in her magic and floated it over to Octavia. "You'd think the harder part in the center would be a turn off, surprise, it actually works out. Try it."

Octavia peered at her friend. They looked content, but that was a fairly normal expression for them. She raised a hoof and the potato floated onto it before being released, just to roll right off onto the bed.  Octavia swore, even as her cheeks went a deep and angry red. "E-excuse me! That was most unladylike of me, but..." She reached for the rogue spud, grabbing it between her hooves. "Being an earth pony had its limitations, and those seem to have redoubled."

Vinyl put a hoof to her chest. "Look, Octie, calm down. I'm totally serious. You have magic." She pointed the same hoof down at the elf below them. "Shiela could feel the music in you before she even noticed mine. Did she ever notice mine? Whatever, not important. You have the music." She tapped her chest. "Right here, er, here." She reached across to tap Octavia's chest instead. "You know it. I know it. You just have to find it. I know it's going to be awesome, once it comes out."

Octavia smiled gently, her tension ebbing with the kind words of her companion. "How can you even be sure of that?"

Vinyl rolled the same hoof as a bit of jerky floated up towards herself. "Look, the way I see it, we're in an awesome death metal rock cover, right? We both have to have the power to rock out, just the way that works. I mean, sure, doom and gloom, but we'll play so hard, we'll blow away the problems. It'll be great, just trust in the flow of the music."

Octavia's smile deepened a little. "That is entirely unreasonable... and yet entirely you, Vinyl. Thank you." She pulled up the potato, cradled in her hooves, and sank her teeth into it. It wasn't spiced. It wasn't buttered. It was, in fact, the worst potato she'd ever had. Still, it was food. She was tired of complaining, especially in the face of her resilient friend. She forced herself to wolf it down, just so she wouldn't have to taste it for long.

Vinyl took it the wrong way. "Atta girl! Not so bad, right?" She smiled, teeth displayed. "I knew a little food would help cheer you up. This stuff's a bit tough, but it has an interesting taste." She nudged over one of the scraggly roots. "Once we find your music, we'll be able to get what we wanna eat instead of what we're given."

Octavia blinked at that. "Wait, what? Whatever do you have in mind?"

"I echo that question," spoke Shiela from below. "Do you have a plan?"

Vinyl shook her head lightly. "Tonight, we eat. Just keep it cool and take it as it comes. We'll handle this." She grinned at Octavia. "First we have to see how awesome your music is. Show me up, mare. Make me jealous." She lifted a hoof. "I'm looking forward to it."

Octavia couldn't help but smile a little in return. "You sound like one of those crusaders, trying to convince a pony their cutie mark will be exciting and grand."

"Same difference." Vinyl shrugged. "We just have to find yours, and stressing about it won't help."

The conversation petered off into eating. They eventually found sleep on the crowded bed. Vinyl didn't seem to mind Octavia's proximity, leaving Octavia to bear it quietly, lest she be the complaining one, again.

She just had to prove her worth.





"<Pony, it's time.>" Randal was pointing to a map that hung on the wall. "<We're on the hunt, but not for food. We're raiding an abandoned town for salvage.>"

Vinyl looked towards Sandy without a word. Sandy took the hint, repeating in a language that could be understood what Randal had just said.

"Gotcha. So what are we looking for, specifically?" Vinyl rolled a hoof. "Oh, and Octavia's coming too."

Randal crossed his arms as Sandy relayed the pony's words. "<Take it if you wish, it is your pet to do with as you please.   You will be accompanied by a few trained salvagers. Your primary role is that of support, as is your specialty. Stay alert. Their success is your success. Their survival, is your survival.>"

Vinyl bobbed her head lightly as Sandy translated the words back. "You got it. Go to a bunch of worn down buildings, take everything that looks cool, make sure everyone gets back in one piece." She thrust up a hoof with a smile. "I can do that."

Sandy shook her head. "I'll be with the team. I know what will be useful or not, and you know I can fight."

"Sure do." Vinyl nodded in easy agreement. "We'll come back with a big haul."

"<It is more important that you ensure the hunters return safely.>"

Vinyl paused a moment, ears pricked at Randal. The statement, once translated, was one of genuine care for his people. "Thanks for trusting me. I'll do my best." She put a hoof at her chest. "We got this."

Randal dismissed them, moving right along to the next matter on his plate. Sandy escorted Vinyl out of the small office. "Be prepared, we depart in an hour."

"That soon?" Vinyl raised a brow behind her goggles. "Alright, not like I was doing much in the first place. I'm kinda looking forward to it. I'll go tell Octie. Where do we meet up?"

Sandy pointed down the main road as they emerged out onto it. "Just at the edge of town. We'll go with carts in case we find anything worth taking that's too heavy to shoulder in a pack. If you're taking Octavia, she could help with that."

Vinyl flinched just faintly. "Let's, uh, not insist she be the pack pony?"

Sandy sighed softly. "I know you care about her, and that is good of you,  but she does need to do her part, as do the rest of us. If she can't help search, or battle, at least helping pull the cart is better than nothing."

Vinyl started to trot towards the inhuman longhouse. "Don't worry about it. She'll help, promise. Besides, she's, you know, my pet, right?"

"You don't mean that."

Vinyl didn't pause. "Nope." She left, not even looking back at Sandy.

Sandy shook her head at the departing pony, a wry smirk on her face as she turned away to get her own things in order.

Vinyl opened the door to the inhuman longhouse with her magic. "I'm back!" she sang as she stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind her. "Did ya miss me?"

Octavia looked over from where she was seated on a chair at the table the food had come from. Quarter and Shiela were also at the table. It was like they were sharing a meal, except no food was present. Octavia smiled gently at Vinyl. "What did he want from you?"

Vinyl waved it off like it wasn't a big deal. "They just want us to go watch the other people search for stuff. I'll help them if trouble starts, and if you can lend a hoof, that'd be great."

Quarter Inch clapped her small hands together. "Salvaging? Why didn't they send me?! I love salvaging! Oh, the things you can do with the right parts..." She crooked a smile, head full of visions of gizmos. "Bring me back a little something? I'd love to have a tinkering project to keep me busy."

Octavia reached to the right, setting a hoof on Quarter's shoulder. "If I see anything that would perk your interest, I will be certain to secure it for you."

"Really?! You are the best pony!" Quarter jumped at Octavia, suddenly hugging her. At least there was no pinching or pulling involved, unlike the child.

Vinyl laughed merrily. "Making friends, eh? You want anything, Shiela?"

The elf shook her head. "There is little that I need from a salvaging journey. I use my people's traditional weapon."

Vinyl perked an ear. "What's that?"

She inclined her head towards something at the bunks. "I have a bow, and I am trained in its use. I know most use firearms these days. They are easier to use... But it is tradition, and I've already put in the effort at becoming skilled at its use. It brings me joy."

Octavia sat up, Quarter dangling from her. "I... know that feeling precisely. It is part of what drew me to play the music I do. When you play with classic instruments, you can feel the weight of those who came before you... It is comforting, and humbling. I can feel... It's like they're with you."

"Exactly so," agreed Shiela with a smile. "I knew I felt something in you. As your friend says, you will find your music, and I hope it will be something grand and wonderful." She rose to her feet and crossed an arm over her chest. "Good luck, both of you. Travel as safely as you can. I would be saddened to lose you as quickly as I learned of you."

Quarter slid free of Octavia. "What she said! You two better come back in one piece or I'm gonna be so mad! Randal's gonna have to kick me out because I won't stop screaming!"

Vinyl turned around, pointing back the way she just came. "Alright, alright. We'll take care of ourselves, promise. Come on, 'Miss Melody', we have a job to do."

The two ponies trotted out of the darkened interior into the slightly brighter conditions of the outside world. Even during the day, it wasn't that much brighter outside, with the perpetual cloud cover keeping things from getting much brighter.

Octavia caught up with Vinyl. "They want me to carry things again, don't they?"

Vinyl wobbled a hoof. "They won't be upset if you could. Don't worry about that until we have plenty of loot needing to be brought back. In fact, forget it. Show your pretty eyes are good for finding things."

Octavia's cheeks darkened swiftly. "Vinyl!"

"What? You're going to argue that?" Vinyl turned to her friend with a grin. "Miss fancy has lovely eyes, just a fact. That's why I hide mine, they look cheap compared to yours." She waved the thought away. "Hey, maybe the talk you had was onto something. That's kinda... your thing?"

"My thing?" Octavia's eyes followed the path of two people hauling some heavy object between them. "What thing is that, precisely?"

"Tradition." Vinyl clopped her hooves together. "I mean, there ain't a bit of our tradition here, but there is tradition, you know, history. That's your thing. Find it, and I bet your music will come out."

Octavia raised a dubious brow at her friend's insight, but didn't argue as they began to walk. They were there first, but another person came not long after. It was a male with a scraggly half-beard, not grown in thick enough to call a proper one, but nowhere near clean shaven. The man was unusually pale compared to most of the others, his skin a light peach color. "Hi."

Octavia nodded towards him, looking over his rugged overalls that led to sturdy shoes and back up to a cap that adorned his head and concealed much of his mane. "Do you speak our language then, that's quite nice."

He shook his head quickly. "Only little speak. Sorry."

Vinyl waved it away. "No big deal. You ready to go get some salvage?"

"Go get, yes. It good." He gave an emphatic thumbs up. "You magic pony?" He was looking at Vinyl as he asked.

She nodded quickly. "She's just as magic," She pointed at Octavia. "We just haven't figured it out yet."

"Magic?" He looked doubtful about that. "Wait." He leaned against a post, eyes set towards the interior of the town.

Octavia sighed gently. "Thank you for the support, Vinyl, but I don't think he was won over by your confidence."

Vinyl nudged Octavia, though her eyes were on the town with the human. "I don't care what he thinks. You're the important one."

Sandy approached after a few quiet minutes, another human male with her. That one was hard to make out the details of. He was garbed feet to head in clothing, with goggles even covering his eyes. It was all an ashen grey, camouflaged to fit in with the terrain. Sandy waved to each, "Tim, Hank." She pointed to the ponies. "Vinyl, Octavia."

Greetings were exchanged, but the fully hidden human spoke little but a soft grunt of acknowledgement.

"You all know me, Sandy. Let's go get some supplies." She hefted up her spear and began to use it as a walking stick as she stepped forward. "I know you two have been here before. Randal--"

Tim shook his head. "<You know I don't speak that very well.>" Hank nodded, but said nothing.

The party began to move as one with the squeak of wheels. The fully-concealed man was currently charged with pulling a wheelbarrow-like device.

Sandy let out a little breath. "<It is unfortunate that they don't speak our language, but we work with what we have.>"

Tim nodded easily at that. "<With what we have. You're our translator. It's not usual Randal takes in people that don't talk right.>"

Sandy hiked a thumb at Vinyl as they walked. "<He appreciates her talent. It can turn around a fight, and we're fairly sure she has other magics besides that. She's also cooperative, other than wanting to remain close to her friend.>"

"<I'd like to be with my friend too.>" Tim smiled wryly. "<Can't even fault a person for that. Tell them where we're going, I can wait.>"

Sandy gestured up ahead, transitioning to sylvan without a pause, "We've raided this town before, many times. Randal is sure there are still things to be found. It just means we'll have to dig harder and deeper than a casual glance at the surface debris."

Octavia raised a brow skeptically. "When you say 'raid', I pray you don't mean to the detriment of another group of people?

"No one's that alive anymore," assured Sandy as she began to descend a steep hill, using her spear to stabilize herself as she half-slid down the ash-dusted surface. "Everyone who had right to it is long dead. We're just glad there aren't ghosts to go with it."

Vinyl bobbed her head, possibly with the music her horn's glow allowed to play in her headphones. "Right off a death metal cover, like I told you. If we see a ghost, totally gonna say hi, jus' sayin'. Running just makes them chase you, ya know?"

Octavia shook her head slowly. "Anything we should bear in mind, besides taking care in where we step if these are aging structures?"

"That's the most important part," agreed Sandy as she hit the bottom of the incline and resumed her hike. "Don't assume any floor is safe. Don't assume any wall is safe. Check twice before you move. Better slow than dead, in this case. Let's get back with everyone we left with."

Hank suddenly grabbed Sandy at the shoulder as his other hand thrust forward and to the right. Sandy looked without a word as the atmosphere around the humans seemed to change instantly. Danger was present.

There was a lazy curl of smoke raising in the distance. Sandy dug out a set of binoculars. Sure, one of the lenses had a huge crack in it, but that just made it a heavier spyglass. She raised it up and peered through the good lens, staring at whatever was out there. The ponies watched her and looked to the two males, who seemed ready for trouble, but were still.

"<Travelers, grave tenders.>" She let out a breath of relief. "Harmless."

The other two humans let out sighs of their own, sharing in her relief. Tim clapped Hank on the shoulder. "<You have the eyes of an eagle. Glad you're with us.>"

Hank nodded, but did not reply.

Octavia watched Sandy put her binoculars away. "Who are they? Are we going to greet them, or avoid them?" A thought occurred to her. "Are they ponies?"

Vinyl raised a hoof at that. "Great question! Are they?"

Sandy threw her backpack around her shoulder, getting it back into place. "Pretty sure I saw one. Grave tenders tend to not be racially divided. Death comes for us all, hooves or feet, fingered or not."

Vinyl grinned, unphased by the grim topic. "Do they rock for the dead?"

Sandy blinked at the question, resuming her hike. "I have no idea what you mean by that. They give them proper burials and try to ensure their spirits arrive in the afterlife properly. It is good job, if a somber one. I don't envy them, no one does, but no one stops them either. We all hope a grave tender attends us, just once..."

"Soft Whisper," spoke Tim suddenly. "They sing Soft Whisper."

Sandy nodded in agreement as she walked. "Soft Whisper is the goddess of death, a pony. She is a good goddess, and yet one no one rushes to see."

Vinyl leaned towards Octavia as she trotted. "They worship the pale horse of death. Tell me that isn't wicked as all get out! Death metal record cover, called it!"

Octavia shook her head. "They may... but they'd still..." She trailed off, glancing at her human companions. She slid in as close to Vinyl as she could. "At least they accept everycreature."

Vinyl shook her head even as it bobbed in time to her music. "Don't be like that. Let's focus on what we're gonna get done. How far to the place we're digging around in?"

Sandy glanced up towards the faint brighter spot that was the sun, a thing she may never have seen without the clouds in the way. "We should arrive within the hour. The grave tenders being here is good news. If there was trouble, it would have fallen on them first. They are not being stealthy."
> 5 - Relics of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The jagged and rough lines of the former settlement rose from the gently rolling hills. Those buildings may have once risen tall and proud, but they were barely more than the faint reminders. The concrete of the sidewalks they walked along were shattered, mostly worn away. The roads had survived no better, beaten and destroyed by the elements.

Octavia looked up at a sign, stubbornly refusing to be worn away. "Yield," it read, though its paint had worn away. Its indents were still present, forming the letters. She pointed up at the sign. "Is the human language identical to the pony one when written down?"

Sandy glanced towards it. "We should be so lucky. That's Sylvan, same as we're speaking."

"<Quiet,>" spoke Hank, brief and with gravity. He stalked forward, crouched as he approached the remains of the age passed.

Vinyl nudged Octavia, whispering, "I don't know what he said, but I can guess. Less talkie, more lookie. Let's find some neat stuff." With all the stubbornly positive energy she had, she trotted down the ash-speckled and broken sidewalk towards the first building.

Octavia turned instead for a building that had been knocked almost flat. From the supports that stood and the rubble that stood in it, she guessed it was never a large building, perhaps a single family home? She stepped towards it even as the others pressed for more impressive looking buildings.

Let them, she silently decided. She would look where they didn't, and find what they could not.  She stepped over the threshold of the ruined building and felt... something. The taste of the old and gone. The feel of... safety. This had been a home, loved and cherished.

Then its owners had died, lost to the great... thing... that had destroyed the world. Octavia shook her head, freeing herself of the impressions she had felt, but they were still there, calling her. She turned left and right, slowly looking around. They came from a specific place, a specific... thing... She walked right into a pile of broken wood, collapsing onto it. The wood splintered and disintegrated, weakened with countless years.

She scrambled up to her hooves with a quiet swear. She quickly brushed away the wood splinters from her pelt, then reached out to do the same to the ground, brushing away the wood further and further. The decay wasn't complete, and she found where the soft wood became hard. She had to nuzzle under it and lift it up. With a great heave, she flopped it up and over, sending it crashing just to the right. The room exploded with dust, the impact shaking loose all the remaining rotten wood in a cloud that had her coughing and gasping for breath.

Footfalls approached swiftly. "Are you alright?" asked Sandy just as her hand appeared, grabbing a still erect slab of wood and pulling the rest of her into view. "Octavia?"

Octavia waved a hoof wildly, warding away the dust as her coughs slowly ebbed. "I'm... I'm fine. I was just searching."

Sandy waved around the dismal remains of the small building. "In here? There's barely room for anything. Did you find something?"

Octavia turned to the wood pile. "I have... a good feeling. Please, one moment." She began to nuzzle under the next slab of hard wood to get it out of the way.

Suddenly, the wood lifted faster than she did. Sandy had grabbed hold of it and lifted it with her. "We're a team, and we can be quieter together than throwing things around." Octavia smiled gently and accepted the help. They began clearing the way, taking the wood slabs outside instead of tossing them aside. "Some of this is usable. If we don't find anything else, a little wood is better than nothing."

Octavia nodded, pleased she had found something, but the feeling hadn't faded. She resumed digging in the rubble. The hard wood was gone, only soft bits of rotten wood, ceiling tar squares, and smaller bits of broken wood remained for her to work through. She ran into what might have once been a cushion. The years had not been kind to it. Even lifting it was enough to cause it to fall apart, bits of fluff and fabric cascading down in a mess.

There was something beneath it. Octavia reached for it, only for Sandy's hand to suddenly dart past her outreached hoof, grabbing a small object from the fluff pile. Octavia's eyes followed the motion, frowning.

"Better safe than sorry," explained Sandy. "Assuming things are harmless is a good way to get hurt." She turned the thing in her hand. Once the fluff was dusted away from it, it became more clear it was a toy, a toy car. It was long and sleek, a toy racecar. "Cute. I wonder..." She set it on the ground and flicked some hidden switch on it. It suddenly raced ahead with the sound of a tiny motor until it bumped into some rubble. "Still works!"

Octavia's frown eased. She had found something. She had pulled her weight, hopefully... "Is that worth taking back?"

"It sure is." She quickly grabbed the car back up. "Small, and..." she shook it lightly even as she turned it back off. "It probably has a battery in it, and it clearly works. The parts aren't useless either. A perfectly valuable little trinket. You have a nose for this." She tucked the car away for carrying. "Let's go."

Octavia shook her head slowly. "I still feel... something." She turned back to her target, brushing the debris out of the way. In one of her brushes, she knocked something aside. It made a plastic sound as it struck the floor. Octavia coiled to find it. It was a pony, a doll of a pony, made of plastic. She reached for it and gently lifted it. There was... history in it. She could feel the faintest hint in it. She couldn't make sense of what it was... trying to say? She drew it close. It defied the years, a bright blue and yellow, like a pony wearing some kind of form-fitting suit. Beige fur and blond mane and tail to go with a bright, almost cocky, smile on its little snout.

"What'd you find?" Sandy crouched down for a better view. "Oh, it's... one of those..." She snapped her fingers repeatedly, trying to remember it. "Sally! Sunset Sally."

Octavia lifted up the doll carefully. Despite being made of plastic, it had several points that could swivel, making it very flexible and adjustable. "Sunset Sally... Is it... worth anything?"

Sandy shook her head. "I mean, it's plastic, sure, but that shape? Not much we can do with it. Just a trinket, but it's in great shape. You really do have a knack for this." She reached out. "May I?" Octavia nodded and Sandy brushed off the doll without taking it from Octavia, seeming to admire the bright colors of the doll. "You could probably trade it. I bet it'll make someone very happy to own it."

Octavia considered it a moment. She could... No. She pulled it closer again, wrapping her arms around it. "I'd prefer to keep it. May I?"

Sandy stood up as she nodded. "Nothing saying you can't. Only practical trinkets and finds have to be turned over to the town for use." A smile split her face. "Guess I was right." When Octavia looked up at her, Sandy gestured at the doll. "It's making someone very happy. I don't think I've seen you smile before now like that."

Octavia pulled a hoof away from the hug to feel her cheek. It was straining to hold the smile on her face. She had never been... so attached to dolls, and it was of a pony she knew nothing about. And yet... She tucked the doll away, feeling just a little lighter. "Thank you." She could feel her expression gently ebbing to a more refined state. "We should continue. A battery is well and good, but I imagine Randal--" She couldn't help the momentary sourness on her face. "--is hoping for more than just that racecar and a single stretch of wood."

"Right you are." Sandy turned away, but hesitated from leaving. "You know, maybe I'll stay here. It's safer to explore in groups." She gestured to where the doll vanished to. "By the way... are you going to tell me what spell that was, and when you learned magic?"

Octavia rose to her hooves. "Whatever do you mean?" She looked back to near her rump where the doll was secured. "I simply placed it in my pocket. That is no act of magic."

Sandy shook her head as she pulled out the lips of her physical pockets in her pants. "These are pockets. They are sewn." She pointed to Octavia's rump. "That is skin and flesh. It should not have pockets, and I don't even see a bulge where the doll went. I so very much want to just reach and start looking for it, but I'm fairly certain that would be rude."

"Very much so," hastily agreed Octavia, taking a step back away from the human, lest she be groped at by questing fingers. "I am glad you have more manners than the human foal. Let's... focus on the task at hoof."

In another building, a tall one that still stood a few stories tall, Vinyl looked around with the other two humans. She bobbed her head in time to the music that filled her ears, her horn glowing with the effort of keeping her device working without draining its batteries.

Fitting with the theme of the world, Vinyl bobbed to the beat of the heavy metal that filled her senses. There she was, picking through the bones of an ancient society, blown apart in some, probably awesome, display. She grinned a little as she knocked a rock aside, peeking under it, nothing.

Of course, even if she didn't find anything, she'd still be considered 'useful'. She frowned a little at that. It wasn't that she minded being handy to have around, but just for fighting? Her music was meant for more than that. She picked her way around the debris, fallen cement and tiles from floors that had once been above them. A faint draft made her ears go up. 

It wasn't coming from the wastes, or even towards it. She turned and faced the debris she had just gone around. With a commanding wave of her hoof, she began tossing bits and bobs aside a little at a time to the same energetic beat of the music in her ears. She smiled as stairs leading downwards came into view. "This place has a basement."

She descended onto those stairs without a hint of hesitation. "Let there be light." Her horn was already glowing, just increasing in intensity to scare away the darkness as she descended the narrow stairs.

"What you find?" Tim appeared at the lip of the stairs. "Wait. Vinyl."  She wasn't waiting, so he hurried to catch up with her, racing down the stairs and slapping a hand down on her shoulder. "Danger."

Vinyl stopped when she was grabbed, but waved the warning away. "There's two of us, we'll be fine!" She directed the same hoof at the metal door at the end of the stairs. "Don't you want to see what's past it?" Visions of piles of gold, or electronic bits, or maybe a really metal-looking monster all danced equally in her mind. "Let's see it."

Tim did not seem to have the same enthusiasm, but he did not stop Vinyl from advancing. She waved a hoof at the door, willing it to open. It rattled, the handle-knob jiggling about but not turning. "Huh, locked..."

He advanced around her. "<Give me a moment.>" He pulled out several slender bits of metal and crouched in front of the very door he had advised against. He peered into the depths of its key slot as he prodded inside it. "<I know my way around a lock...>"

Vinyl watched him, head bobbing. In the darkness, her head motions made the light of her horn dance and sway.

"<Hold it still.>" When that failed to get a response, he switched to his more clumsy Sylvan, "No move."

Vinyl shot up a hoof in affirmation and stopped her natural bobbing. She played with her headphones with her magic, changing what was playing from a rocking metal anthem to a more sedate but tense spy jingle. "Dum dum, duh-dum," she sang under her breath with a smile.

He gently felt and raked the tumblers, trying to jostle them into the right position even as he turned and twisted the knob. It was a brute force method, but usually fastest by far. "<Almost...>" He felt the tumblers falling back to reset with his failure. He could have sworn he felt it almost give way. He just had to try harder, and he resumed his raking. "<Do you know how to handle a pick?>"

"No idea what you're saying, but that sounded like a question."

"<It's alright. Not many do.>" He sighed as the tumblers fell back down. Close...  "<It takes patience.>" He stuck out his tongue just a little as he tried his hands once more. "<To get that... feel...>" The handle was turning, he just had to...

With a firm twist, the door swung open, only to bash directly into his face. The deep and diseased canine howl ripped through the narrow space as some kind of fetid canine... thing... lunged to be free of the darkness, snapping wildly at the space provided. Only Tim's body held the door shut enough to prevent the thing from escaping, and he was being shoved away by its desperate scrambling claws on the cement floor.

A shot rendered both Tim and Vinyl deaf a moment, both raising their hands to cover their ears. The thing was shot directly in the head, Hank on his knees at the top of the stairs, his rifle pointed down at them. "<Get out,>" he ordered in his terse way, shouting at them.

It wasn't dead. Any creature should have been dead, but this one was not. Stunned perhaps, but already recovered, and shoving against the door. "<I can't run.>" Tim threw himself against the door, bashing the thing with the metal. "<It'll get out!>" His nose was bleeding from where the door had struck him first, but his focus was on the monster.

Vinyl suddenly felt her music was wildly inappropriate, but there was no time to adjust it for better. She had to help, but she was just a pony. A magic pony. A magic pony of rock! She hopped forward, almost sliding down the steps with her clumsy landing. "In the name of every awesome vinyl I've listened to, I banish you!" Her horn began to glow with a newer, whiter, glow.

Hank took the next shot, but, besides hurting ears, he only impacted on the heavy door, adding a dent. Fortunately, the bullet didn't ricochet off of it.

Tim flinched away from where the shot had landed, which was enough space to let the beast free. With a sudden shove, it threw him back against the wall and burst out, decayed looking jaws open unnaturally wide as the decaying hound lunged for Vinyl, ready to make her its first meal in quite some time.

A not-small part of her mind screamed for her to run as far and fast as she could, but she instead lowered her head, directing her horn at the beast. She recited the name of all the death metal bands she knew, as if calling on them to assist her in that time of need.

It was on her, its fetid claws digging into her front, its jaws closing around her, and coming into contact with her brilliant horn. The magic flashed and the thing staggered back, its body betraying it. "Y-yeah!" cried out Vinyl, happy her spell had worked, even if she felt pain  to go with it, numbed as it was by the adrenaline.

She felt the wind of a bullet streaking too close to her face from behind. It impacted the rotten head of the thing and it exploded like a bashed old pumpkin, falling to mush and bits at their feet. "Yeah!" She called out again. "We won! Yeah!" She turned towards Hank. "Aw yeah, that was a great shot!"

Tim pushed the door away, sliding the corpse enough to get out from behind it. "Pony--Vinyl, alright?"

"Dude, you're the one bleeding." Vinyl cocked a brow from behind her goggles before looking down at herself. "Oh, so am I..." Several angry lines were blazed across her white pelt, blood flowing freely. "It's, uh..." It was worse than Tim had gotten, by a good measure. "Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't Panic." She was stuck in repeat, trying to keep herself calm.

Hank shouldered his rifle and rushed down the stairs. Without a word, he suddenly shoved Vinyl to the ground. Before she could even finish a good yelp, he jabbed something into her neck. "Dude! Not... cool." She faded from the waking world, going limp.

Tim nodded stiffly. "<She mighta hurt herself more.>" He looked into the darkness they had gained entry to. "<I'll check for... more.>" He pulled out a flashlight, clicking it on. Without Vinyl there, it had grown all the more oppressive.

Hank was not paying attention to Tim. He crouched down beside his patient and began cutting away the fur immediately around the injuries, cleaning them, and applying bandages to the injured pony. The worst of them, he began to thread carefully, conducting field surgery without hesitation. It was crude, but it held the injuries shut to minimize the odds of infection or continued blood loss.

He sprayed the affected areas with an anti-microbial concoction, then stood up. She was as bandaged as he could manage.

"<What's going on over here!?>" came the concerned call of Sandy just before she and Octavia appeared at the top of the stairs, both looking down with equal fear.

Octavia saw the limp form of Vinyl and took off in a flash, almost hurling herself down the stairs as her franting steps missed a step or two along the way. "Vinyl! Vinyl, are you alright?!" She hurried to Vinyl's side and reached for her, hesitating when she saw the bandages that covered her front. "Dear Vinyl... Please be alright..."

The light from deeper inside swung around. Tim lowered it to face Octavia. "Hank gave her a quick field dressing. She should be alright. We found this room and that... thing in it." He waved the cone of light towards the ghastly corpse.

Octavia flinched away when her attention was brought to the corpse that looked like it had been slain a few times. "What is that... thing?"

Hank stepped over it, pressing onward to join Tim. Silently, he pulled out a flashlight of his own and began to investigate what looked to be a standard basement.

Sandy reached them, less haphazardly fast than Octavia had been. "<That looks undead as all get out. Figure it has any diseases we should be worried about?>"

Tim shrugged his shoulders. "<Couldn't say. It's dead now, don't touch it.>"

"I can't understand either of you." Octavia took a slow breath, nose wrinkling against the foul stench of the creature. "I'm going to take Vinyl away from that... whatever it happens to be." She nuzzled under Vinyl and slid her up onto her back. "Come on. A little fresh air will help..." She retreated back up the stairs, leaving the humans to their work.

The sound of a knuckle rapping on something metal drew Sandy and Tim towards Hank. He was kneeling beside something. Sandy closed quickly. "<Is that what I think it is?>"

Tim whistled softly. "<That's a generator, isn't it?>" He circled around to come at it from the opposite side as Sandy. "<Looks like our trip was worth it.>"

Hank hefted it, gauging its weight with a low grunt of effort before he let it back to the ground softly. The fact that he had lifted it at all was hint enough. Sandy came in from one end as Tim grabbed the other, and they grabbed a bar each, lifting it up easily with a spot of teamwork.

Sandy waved around with a free hand. "<See if there's any fuel around to go with it, likely bad, but worth the shot. It'll tell us what kind this thing takes.>" Once Hank nodded, she moved towards the stairs, Tim following behind. They ascended towards the light with their precious cargo.

Octavia set Vinyl down gently with a sturdy slab of cement to support her. "Now then, you are permitted to awaken, Miss Scratch. Your performance is not yet concluded." She clopped her forehooves. "We can't have you sleeping on the job, much as I am aware you enjoy your naps."

There was no response from the sleeping unicorn. Octavia reached and did just as she had said not to do, plunging a hoof into Vinyl's pocket and rooting around. She felt something small and metal bump into her hoof and carefully pulled it free. It was a little figurine of one of the superhero mares Vinyl had read about in one of her comics. Octavia smiled at it, thinking of the goofy happy expression Vinyl tended to wear when she was reading a comic that really tickled her fancy. "I seem to be magnetically drawn to false ponies." She tucked the figurine away into her own pocket. "I pray you will not mind that I hold onto that for now."

"Mmm?" Vinyl's eyes opened a crack behind her goggles. "Nnng, what happened?" She suddenly started awake, sitting up. "What happened to that... oh yeah." She calmed down, her heart rate dropping back down. "Hank shot it, pow! You have any idea how loud those things are in closed spaces?"

Octavia answered with a sudden hug, squeezing Vinyl tightly and silently.

Sandy emerged from the basement, the generator coming up behind her, held with one hand on a bar. "Vinyl, Octavia?" Behind her emerged Tim, holding the other and of it by a bar much like she was. "We've found something worth keeping. You two alright?"

Vinyl bounced to her hooves, or tried. Octavia was not releasing her. "Oof, uh, hey! Great! What is that? Looks like... a camping generator?"

Sandy set the generator down, prompting Tim to do much the same. "It is exactly that. I'm glad to see you're awake. How do you feel?"

Octavia finally released Vinyl, nodding at her. "Yes, how are you feeling? You... I was worried..."

Vinyl flashed a bright grin at her partner. "You shoulda seen it! I blasted that thing with the power of rock! I mean, sure, woulda been nice if I coulda done that before it started using me as a scratching post or whatevs, but I did it!"

Octavia patted her friend's shoulder gently. "You did it," she agreed. "Please don't do that again. They have weapons, let them use them. Getting yourself torn apart will hardly improve the situation for anypony, especially yourself."

Vinyl nudged at Octavia laughing merrily despite the dangerous situation. "You're just being worried, and I appreciate it. You're like a mom I don't mind living with."

Octavia's cheeks warmed rapidly. "I am nopony's mother!"

Sandy gestured down the stairs. "There are other things down in that basement. Who found it?"

Vinyl's hoof shot up. "Me! Tim helped though. He got the door open, totally deserves credit."

Though he may have missed some of those words, he could pick up that Vinyl was sharing the glory and smiled. "<We worked as a team, and survived as one.> Thank you." He emphasized the last bit with a nod towards Vinyl. "Pony magic is good."

"Yeah it is," easily agreed Vinyl with a grin. "So what else is down there?"
> 6 - Pack it Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cart they'd brought was burdened with the generator and a wealth of other bits and bobs they'd pulled from the basement. Though they'd appear of little value to a modern person, each of them contained valuable metals and parts that could be turned to other ends.

Vinyl reached with her magic, plucking up the round bubble of an electrical meter. "Trippy, what even is this anyway?"

Octavia was, with a look of satisfaction, not the one pulling it. That went to Sandy. Octavia shook her head at Vinyl though. "I'm afraid I'm not skilled on those levels. I couldn't discern what manner of function it once served."

Tim intercepted the bubble of glass and metal from the air, grasping it in his hands carefully. "Tell how much power," he explaining in his strained sylvan. "Use for parts." He carefully set it back in the wagon to join the others.

Octavia looked ahead of the wagon to see Sandy stoically bearing the weight as they trundled back through the ashen fields towards the camp. "I'm certainly not complaining, but one wonders how I avoided even being asked for that duty? Did Miss Scratch request it?"

Vinyl threw a hoof over Octavia suddenly. "You know I would."

Sandy smirked a little. "Actually, in this case, I just got the least stuff. Everyone pulls their weight, and I pulled the least, so I get to help haul it home." She hiked a thumb back, pausing her walking just long enough for the act. "Vinyl and Tim won this by far, Hank assisted in them not dying, hard to argue that. Even Octavia secured something of value." Her shoulders rolled as she took a step. "Sometimes you win, sometimes less so. Nothing to get stressed out about either way, seeing as we're all going home intact."

Tim hurried up to her side. "<If you want me to take a turn, I'm alright with that.>"

"<You're a good person.>" She smiled at him as she worked over a bump. "<How about you take one and I'll take the other?>"

She released one of the two handles and Tim came in to grab it. They walked side-by-side, cutting the burden in half with the power of teamwork.

Vinyl smirked softly and leaned closer to Octavia, even if she was forced to swerve around a jagged bit of concrete. "Do you think they're, you know, interested in each other?" She waggled her brows salaciously.

Octavia's refined eyes rolled skywards. "If they are or not is none of our concern." She looked towards Hank. "I'm more curious about that one... He has entirely kept his feelings to himself."

Vinyl leaned around Octavia to get a better look. "Yeah... I wouldn't sweat it though. He's a kind of roadie. Strong, reliable, quiet. He's totally cool. Hay, I'm always happy when one of him shows up for a tour, 'cause I know he won't mess it up."

Octavia suddenly remembered something. "Before I become a rogue... I borrowed a figurine of yours, Vinyl. I hope you don't mind too terribly."

"Huh wha?" Vinyl patted herself down with a hoof as she walks. "I had a what now?"

Octavia reached back, producing the figurine of the super-mare and held it up on the end of a hoof carefully, balancing it on her stubbornly-not-sticky hoof. "This one. May I keep it?"

Vinyl relaxed as she saw it. "Oh, figurine! That's not a figurine, that's an 'action figure'." She stuck out her tongue. "And if it makes you happier, it's all yours. I hope she uses her awesome action move to hoof-chop your sad days away."

Octavia smiled, deep but not silly, an expression of her genuine thankfulness. "She has an action move?" She looked closer at the mini and saw a little lever near her rump on her back. She paused to mess with it, but Vinyl's magic wrapped around the figure.

Vinyl plucked it way. "We have to keep up, but here." She pulled the lever in her magic and the super mare's left hoof shot forward as if trying to punch or kick something. "She's a hoof-fu master! And now I bequeath her to you." She floated the figuring towards Octavia's waiting hoof.

Octavia stuffed it back in her pocket as soon as it touched her hoof. "I'm only sorry I waited this long to ask. I admit, I was scared you might insist on having it back."

Vinyl bumped up against Octavia. "How long have we been buds? How many things of yours have I busted?"

"Too many?" ventured Octavia with a wry smile.

"Exactly, what kinda pony would I be to say no the one time you ask for one of my things? 'Sides, you ain't breaking it, just want to hold it. What's the harm in that?" She grinned brightly. "Besides, imagining you playing with it is too cute to say no to."

Hank suddenly thrust a hand out in front of Sandy and Tim. It was just in time for figures to emerge from a dune of ash, the sooty stuff tumbling around them. A human and a foal. The foal wasn't shaped... right. Both were grey from the ash that clung to them.

The maybe-not-foal raised a hoof, speaking in some new language, "(Hello!)" They sounded happy to see them. "(We're not raiders, promise.)"

Sandy let the cart come to a stop, releasing her side of it. "(Gravetenders, what can we do for you?)"

The unknown human gestured back where they'd come from. "(The smell of death clings, but you have lost no members.)"

The not-foal came forward, bright brown eyes dancing from one person to the next. "Ponies!" Apparently he did know sylvan, and switched to it when he saw the two ponies with the group. "Since when did they have any of those? Hi!"

Vinyl waved at the little pony. "Hey there little colt."

The not-foal blinked through his own goggles. "I'm not a colt. They'd never let a colt wander away into the ashes, not even for Soft Whisper."

Tim hiked a thumb back at the ruins they had left. "(Does undead count?)"

"(Ah. We will tend to it.)" The human clasped his gloved hands together. "(Even the undead deserves a proper burial, that their souls may return.)"

Octavia looked over the curious not-foal. He had short legs that had to pump quickly to get the rest of his body in motion. He had one of those weapons, though smaller, attached to his side. He didn't give off the feeling of an immature pony, just... odd. "I hope this will not offend greatly, but what are you?"

He raised a little hoof to point at himself. "Me? I'm a grave tender, one word. Name's Goodnight Hug. What are your names?"

Vinyl's smile was wide enough to force a squeak from her cheeks. "This is adorably messed up! Heya Goodnight. I'm Vinyl Scratch, that lovely mare is Octavia Melody."

"Musical," spoke Goodnight with a happy smile. "Are you performers?"

"(We should go,)" called out the other human. "Goodnight (We have dead to tend to.)"

Goodnight fixed a great pout on his friend. "(But I just met two friends. They're musicians! I think the white one's interested in me...)"

The human walked past Goodnight, heading towards the ruins. "(You think most ponies are interested in you. We have a duty to Soft Whisper, let's go.)"

Goodnight sighed wearily. "I have to go. Maybe we'll meet again?" He turned to follow his friend. "Be safe, I don't want to be tending you anytime soon." He raced off in a flurry of short legs to catch up with the human.

Octavia waved lightly as they walked off. "He was an interesting one."

"Kinda cool," agreed Vinyl. "Why can't everyone be more like that?"

Octavia moved ahead to be at Sandy and Tim's level. She watched them share the burden of the wagon before gesturing with her head back at the others going down the road. "What language were they speaking? It didn't sound like yours."

"A trade language." Sandy lifted her shoulders. "It's a little miracle it exists. Blame the merchants mad enough to walk the ashes, and the gravetenders. They keep the language going."

Octavia looked away, then ambled closer to them with a subtle sideways leaning to her walk. "I know I don't have to... but I will take my turn now."

Sandy smiled at that. "You're coming around. Thank you." She swung around the handle and tim did much the same, giving space for Octavia to step between the handles. They threw a strap over the top and lowered it onto her back, allowing her to support the weight and walk normally. "My hand was getting sore. Let us know when you want a break."

Vinyl hurried up as Sandy and Tim broke away from Octavia. "Hey, I thought you didn't want to, you know, do that?"

Octavia walked forward, unimpeded by the burden on her back. "They did have a point, but... I think I feel better for knowing it was a choice on my part, rather than being forced to. I do have the strength needed to make this task reasonable."

Vinyl suddenly smirked. "It's easy to forget that my classy mare is also strong enough to twist me into a pretzel if I make her angry enough."

"I would never!" gasped out Octavia, scandalized.

"Yeah, probably not." Vinyl nodded in agreement. "I can think of worse ways to go though." She bumped sideways into Octavia. "Tell me if you want me to take a turn, since we're sharing the chore today."

"Vinyl, dear..." Octavia's lips twitched with the hint of a smile. "This would crush you."

"Harsh!" called out Vinyl, though her own smile didn't diminish. "Now you're just rubbing it right in my face, and I love it! Are you feeling better then?"

"You know... I believe I am." Octavia's eyes turned forward, focusing on each step coming down on sturdy patches of the ground and keeping herself and the haul moving at a good pace.

The trip back to the town was free of further interruptions. Almost as soon as they passed the first building, other people emerged to examine their haul, though none dared to actually take a piece.

Quarter was there, bouncing up and down to get a good view of it. "Did you find a thing for me?"

Vinyl grabbed the gnome in her magic, hefting her up for a better view, which only made the gnome burst into righteous laughter. "Yes! I knew you'd come through for me, my awesome magic steed," she cried, eyes hooked on the haul as it rolled along. "Which one's mine?"

Vinyl reached up and poked the floating gnome. "Not in there, now shhhh."

Quarter got the hint quickly and fell uncharacteristically silent.

Randal approached on long legs, the distance devoured, his eyes on the wagon. "<You are all safe, an excellent start. Your wagon overflows with finds, making your return all the sweeter. Tell me what you've found.>"

Sandy waved over each part, rattling off what she thought it could be used for. "<But you know I ain't the expert on this. The grand-daddy of them though is this.>" She knocked on the generator. "<Looks almost intact. It'll need patching, sure as anything, but once it's working, we have power.>"

Octavia gestured back at the cart attached to her. "Even I found something."

Randal glanced at her, but his attention was on Sandy. "<I see she's hauling. Is that all she did?>"

Sandy put up her hands dismissively. "<I'm the one that didn't find a thing.>" She reached into a pocket and pulled out the small racecar in one hand, and the batteries in the other hand. "<It works, when the batteries are in it. I took them out on the way back.>"

Randal hiked a brow at the find. "<A small find... Better than nothing.>" He turned away from it. "<Add it to her owner's tally. How did she do?>"

Tim slapped the side of the cart. "<She found this, shoulda seen it. She pushed aside a pile of debris and found a basement we haven't been in before.>"

Randal nodded appreciatively. "<She is a very useful pony.>"

Vinyl could tell she was being talked about, what with Randal looking at her and speaking his funny language. "Hey, don't forget to give Tim some of the credit, and Hank saved our flanks." She pointed to each of them as she called their names."

Tim gave a nervous half-laugh. "<Yeah, I had to crack the lock, then Hank helped us not get killed by the undead wolf hiding in there.>"

Randel crossed his arms with a firm nod, a foot tapping. "<A successful hunt by every measure. You and the pony look injured, go visit the doctor, just to be sure. You're both invited to a celebratory dinner afterwards.>"

Hank was not invited, but didn't seem upset by it. His duty done, he departed into the town without a goodbye.

Sandy translated, "He says go visit the doc, then you're eating with him and his wife as a sort of 'good job' dinner."

Vinyl glanced aside at Octavia. "Yeah, thanks, but Octy's invited too, right?"

Octavia set a hoof on Vinyl's shoulder. "Go on. No need to ruffle their feathers by insisting on my presence." She leaned in a little closer. "Give me whatever Quarter's waiting for, she looks like she may suffer a fit."

Vinyl suddenly pounced Octavia, hugging her tight, and slipping her a little something in the act. "You're the best. I'll be back afterwards, alright?"

Tim led Vinyl towards the doctor. The crowd was starting to thin, the goods being distributed to where they were needed most. One man was already sizing up the generator for repairs before he grabbed one of the handles attached to Octavia and pulled it free. "<Time to get to work.>" And off he went with the cart and the generator.

Quarter hopped up to Octavia with a smile. "Good job, they didn't look so prickly about you today. Where'd Vinyl go though? She had... you know."

"Actually, I do not know. Let's find out." She turned for the inhuman house and they left together.

She held open the door for Quarter before kicking it shut to latch with a soft click. "Now then, shall we?" She sat down and reached into her pocket to find what Vinyl had slipped in there.

"Welcome back," called Shiela, cross-legged in the middle of the room. "Did things go well? You seem... less burdened."

Quarter waved a hand wildly. "Shhh! Vinyl left me a treat and I, Oooo!" She clapped her hands together with a loud sound, eyes shining behind her goggles. "Wouldja look at that! It's amazing! It's stupendous! It's... what is that?"

Balancing on the flat of Octavia's hoof was a mess of parts that seemed to be connected as if all part of some device of unknown origin. Octavia gently set it down. "I couldn't even hazard a guess, but I should imagine Vinyl wished for you to have it."

Quarter was fast to snatch up the collection, cradling it in her hands, eyes shining. "Look at this tube, and that gear! And... Ooo... This is gonna take some 'me' time, if you know what I'm saying." She scampered off with her prize. "Tell Vinyl she's the best magic pony ever in the history of all things!"

Shiela watched Quarter race past before her gaze returned to Octavia, silently awaiting a reply.

Octavia smiled gently at the elf. "Things went well, aside of one terrifying moment... Vinyl outperformed me, again, but I did not come in last. That privilege went to Sandy this time."

Shiela wriggled a few fingers before she rose up to her feet smoothly. "I am certain Randal will forget that swiftly. He likes Sandy, but he has no favor for you. Do not hold it against her; she is truly a hard worker and a good soul."

Octavia nodded softly before she pulled free her Sunset Sally doll, or action figure if Vinyl had any say, which she did not. "Do you recognize this?" She held up the plastic figure.

Shiela raised a brow. "Propaganda. It was used by the ponies to convince one another that the war would end soon, favorably for them." She crouched down near Octavia, peering at it. "It is in excellent condition. Did you find it?"

"I did..." Octavia considered the doll in a new light. "What was she like? Do you know?" She pulled the doll closer, hugging it without thinking about it. "Was she aggressive or kind?"

Shiela shook her head at that, sinking back into her cross-legged stance to converse with her low-set companion. "I've heard of her, but the war was many generations ago. Even I was not born at that time."

Octavia perked an ear at that. "The way you say that implies you expect to live an especially long time."

"Such is the way of elves." She smiled thinly. "When violence does not force the matter, which it often can, in this day and age. I have not even seen another of my kind, aside of my mother, and I already know she is gone."

Octavia shrank away from that. "I'm most terribly sorry for bringing up such an uncomfortable topic."

"It is not you who caused it." Shiela reached out a hand but did not touch Octavia, inches away. "I live as I am. If ever I get... that urge, I could select a human to raise a family." Her face darkened with a frown. "I do not know how they do it, to willingly bring life into misery."

Octavia's ears perked up. "It's not all bad, dear. We met two on our way back from the ruins. One was an especially short pony that seemed quite chipper really."

Shiela quirked a smile at that. "Ah, yes, the short legs. The war was a chance for freedom, and they took it. They are numerous and their goddess is close at their side. These times are as much a blessing for them as they are a blight for me. I envy him." She waved it as she took slow breaths. "I am becoming sullen, pardon me..."

"Think nothing of it." Octavia coiled, mounting the doll on her back to ride her as she stood up. "If you need to let it out, I am here for you."

Shiela smiled gently. "Whatever that doll's origins, it has brought a fire to your spirit. I like it. I doubt anyone here will tell, but you should know that what Vinyl did was against the town laws."

"Hmm? Whatever did she do?"

The elf gestured to where Quarter had run to. "Those were usable parts. Quarter was not given leave to have them. I will not speak of it, but if I am asked..."

Octavia's ears flattened. "Fortunately, they have very little reason to come seeking what they don't know is there. Provided Miss Inch does not display whatever she constructs too boldly, we should have little issue."

"Provided," Shiela softly agreed. "Where is your companion, Vinyl? It is not oft I see you two seperated for any time."

"She is being tended to." Octavia pointed to the door of the inhuman house. "She was injured during the hunt, but she seems to be in well-enough health. I'm still glad she didn't resist the idea of seeing a doctor though. I shouldn't want her to become infected, or worse."

Elsewhere, Vinyl sat on a table made for human patients. Still, a table was a table, and it held her just fine. "How's it looking, doc?"

"<Remain still, please.>" He made a soft patting motion to emphasize the idea of staying put. With careful fingers, he peeled the bandages free of Vinyl, inspecting the injuries. "<You're not bleeding, good...>" He cleaned the wounds carefully and got to redressing them.

Vinyl flinched as the efforts pulled at the injuries enough to send a lance of pain through her. "Easy there, doc. I'm still living in this body." Not that he understood her. Not that she understood him. Talking was still better than silence. "You don't sound upset. That's good, right?"

He gave her chest a soft pat before moving to her side to continue his treatment. "<This could have been much worse very easily. You are very fortunate.>" The gauze he applied was cleaner and more sterile than the bandages Hank had carried with him. They could have been cleaned recently, still stiff from whatever cleanser he had used.

"Yeah, it was amazing," she agreed. "Big ole dead dog came rushing out, woofing and biting. I slapped the thing with the power of rock and Hank put a new hole in its head." She raised a hoof to her head before cocking the hoof back and jerking her head to the side as if she had just been shot. "Bang, like that."

"<I'm glad you were treated before coming back here.>" He said, mostly for his own benefit. "<You could have bled terribly without these stitches.>" He stood up tall. "<You'll live, and maybe learn to be a little more careful?>"

"Thanks, Doc." She hopped up to her hooves. "You're the best. I'll come back if I get torn apart again." She hopped to the ground, ignorant of any of the words he had said. She gave him a sharp salute, then trotted out onto the street. She spotted Tim on the way. "Hey, your turn."

"Thank you." He rose from his chair and headed inside. "<I'm back.>"

"<Again?>"

Vinyl left them to their business, looking around. "Now where's that fancy dinner supposed to be?" She didn't know where Randal's house was. Would it be the biggest one? Nah. Randal struck her as way too utilitarian for that. The biggest house would be big because it had to be big. Maybe storage?

She shook her head free of distraction and looked around for a familiar face. She heard it before she saw it. The soft twanging of someone plucking at a guitar. Vinyl trotted towards it with a happy smile, her tail swaying with each step. "Hey!" she called out as soon as she saw the human with his guitar in his lap. "Nice to see you again."

"Vinyl, Good see again." He tipped his head towards her and let his fingers run across the strings, teasing a gentle note from them. "Come play again?"

"I'd love to!" Vinyl sat and clopped her forehooves together. "I'm supposed to go to Randal's. Do you know which of these houses is his?"

He looked surprised at that. "Randal want you? There." He pointed between two buildings, to a third. Vinyl peered at it. If she hadn't been told, she would never have guessed. "Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks!" She held out a hoof and he met it with a balled fist. "We'll play later." She turned and got to an energetic trot. Dinner awaited! A thought tickled at her. If Octavia was still her 'pet', then her having special dinner meant none would be given to Octavia. "Mental note, get a to-go bag." She nodded to herself, happy with having thought of it ahead of time.

The home of their leader was entirely unremarkable. There wasn't even a special guard or two standing in front of it. It was just another house. Vinyl approached the structure of wood, sheet metal, and clouded glass curiously. Was there a proper way? Hay if she knew. She went for the default, approaching the door and knocking on it with a hoof. "Hey, Vinyl's come to rock your house! Let the party mare in."

The door creaked inwards and a new face emerged into view, female, not as tall as Randal. She was about Sandy's height, but she was not Sandy. Her skin was a pale olive tone, with her hair done up in a bun on her head. She eyed Vinyl strangely. "<There is a horse at our door,>" she said with clear disgust.
> 7 - Pass the Gravy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"<Today, the horse is a warrior,>" came Randal's voice from inside.

His wife gave only the briefest hint of a smile, but backed away from the door, allowing Vinyl inside, but not pulling open the door.

Vinyl had to nudge it herself, but did so without thinking about it, the insult missed on her. "So, what's for dinner? Is it grilled worm chunks? Wonder what that tastes like..."

The interior of the building was as spartan as the outside. Everything there looked like it had a purpose for being there. A single hanging picture of a sunrise appeared to be the only thing present that was there for aesthetic purposes. That sunrise was painted with bold colors, the brilliant sun chasing away the deep ashen clouds of the age before its burning brilliance.

Vinyl found herself looking at it. "Rocking. Do you guys ever have one of these?" She pointed at the depiction.

"Sit." Randal pointed to a chair, a simple thing made of hand-carved wood. It was also clearly made for a humanoid, not nearly wide enough for a pony to sit on their haunches on it. There were several such chairs besides the one he sat in, spread around the generously-sized table.

"<Does it know how to eat like a civilized being, or can I spare the silverware this humiliation?>" His wife walked purposefully towards the kitchen. "<It's early; the food will be ready in fifteen.>"

Randal's eyes were on Vinyl, examining her. "<Today, she is a warrior. She did well, and bled for us. Whatever she is, we don't ignore that. Show respect.>"

"<Yes yes,>" placated his wife without sounding sincere as she grabbed a wooden spoon to resume her cooking efforts. "<It will eat what I make and I had best not hear whatever passes for a complaint. If it wants whatever it normally eats, it can leave.>"

Vinyl hopped up into the chair he had pointed to and awkwardly turned around to face him before she eased herself into the unnatural position of a human sit. It wasn't the default, but a pony could do it, if they wanted to. "Nice to break bread with ya." Her head softly bobbed, as it tended to do. "This is going to be a little awkward if you can't understand me though."

Randal spread his hands across the mostly empty table that separated them. "<There is a natural order to things, even in this frayed age. While you are not a human, you have a part in it, and you have chosen to contribute towards the greater good.>"

Vinyl perked an ear at the gibberish. He sounded serious, but was speaking at her directly, and he didn't sound angry. She decided to assume she was getting a congratulations. "Hey, when you're doing something, do it right, yeah? Besides, I wanted to find something great, and I did. Say, why isn't Hank coming along?"

"<Why are you wasting words?>" She came in, bearing a heavy-looking tray with both of her hands. "<Move.>" She placed the main course, covered as it was, directly in front of him, forcing his hands to vacate for it. "<There is to be one more, yes?> Tim?"

Randal nodded at her before returning his attention to the bobbing Vinyl. "<She is an excellent chef, and a fierce fighter. I apologize on-->"

"<Don't put words in my mouth,>" she fumed with a furious expression. "<I tolerate it at your word only.>" She aboutfaced and marched back for the kitchen.

Vinyl watched her go. "She doesn't dig me, huh?" She wobbled a hoof a little. "Whatever she made, smells interesting." It had the scent of fat and muscle. There would be meat involved, she was certain, but she had been pretty sure even before it came out. "Oh yeah, is it alright if I bring some back to the house, for Octavia? Mare needs to eat like everyone else, and she did her part."

A knocking drew both of their attentions. The door cracked open. "Randal?" came Tim's voice from outside. "<Alright to come in?>"

Randal made a come hither flip of his fingers. "<You are a warrior today, proven with blood. Enter and sit with us.>"

Tim slipped inside, closing the door carefully before he started to approach. He spotted the back of Vinyl's head, taking in how she was seated. "Is that comfortable?"

Not exactly, she thought. "S'cool." She gestured at Randal. "Maybe you can translate?"

Tim sank down on the chair next to Vinyl. "<Thank you, Sir. I was just doing my part, for the town.>"

"<As we all try to do, but success is not assured. Today, you found it.>" He clasped his hands together with the soft pop of human flesh meeting human flesh. "<You recall the mountain worm, do you not?>"

Tim's eyes went to the covered platter. "<Is that what that is?> The mountain worm."

Vinyl perked. "Is that what that thing's called? It wasn't on a mountain, but whatever." She heard steps approaching. Randal's wife was coming with two smaller plates that she set out on the table, adding their soft fragrances to the offering. One of them was temptingly vegetable-like in its hint. "Today, we find out what it tastes like."

Randal glanced at Vinyl, but his focus was on Tim. "<What do you think of her?>"

"<Who? Oh!>" He realized just a moment after starting to speak who he would be referring to. "<Eager, has tricks, and she has a good attitude.>"

The wife returned with one more sizable tray. She set it down only to pull the lid right off, plucking off the others right after it. "<It is good the horse performs tricks well.>"

"Tanya," Randal hissed. "<Feign indifference, if you cannot respect those that share our struggle.>" He forced a smile, looking at Vinyl. "Eat." He nodded at her, then Tim. "<With those that stand in blood, we dine.>"

Tanya hefted a carafe, pouring out into heavy metal cups a dark brown fluid that smelled of alcohol of some unknown variety. She served Tim, Randal, and filled one other glass that was nowhere near Vinyl.

"Hey, pass some this way." Vinyl tapped the table with a hoof. "Party mare can handle a little happy juice."

Randal said nothing, he just spread a few fingers in Vinyl's direction. It was enough of a hint for Tanya to approach with the booze. She muttered something too low to hear as she poured for Vinyl, filling her metal cup to the very top, uncomfortably full in an act of defiance. "<Eat. It's best before it cools.>"

Vinyl took hold of her mug in her magic and spread out her forelegs wide as if balancing as it rose perfectly straight. "Come to me, my vessel. Let not a drip spill until you are on the lips of your rock goddess." Despite the tension, she was smiling, amusing herself with her antics as she bade the cup float closer carefully.

Tim chuckled softly as he reached to cut off a section of something gooey and get it to his plate. "<It's been a while since I warranted a meal at your table, Randal. I'll have to work harder.>"

Tanya proved she was capable of a real smile, shaking her head at Tim. "<You work very hard, Tim, don't think otherwise. Success, as my husband says, comes with a combination of things, but effort is not one you lack. Thank you.>"

Randal lifted his own cup to match Vinyl's. "<I cannot speak with certainty, but this is twice you have been called on> Vinyl Scratch <And twice you have risen.>" He held out his cup expectantly.

Vinyl aborted the approach of her cup. "Uh, hey, appreciate, but, you know, kinda full?" She sat up as tall as she could and leaned forward, quickly sucking a precious inch of the fluid away into her mouth. It tasted foul and bitter and she let out a loud wheeze that broke into laughter. "Oh wow! This is gonna knock me flat if I don't take it easy, I can tell." With some room made, she hurriedly floated her cup over to Randal. "To future awesome gigs!"

Tim rose his metal cup to hover near the other two. "<To success.>"

Tanya hesitated before raising her own cup. "<To the future of the town.>"

Their cups collided with the slosh of the brew inside and the metallic collision of the containers involved.

Rather than take another sip right away, Vinyl set her cup down and reached with her magic for what looked like the main platter, largest, greasiest, and most gnarly in appearance. There was her cut slice of roasted worm. She grinned at it as she hefted up the serving knife in her magic and got to cutting. "I don't care how good or bad this tastes, I need to try it." She helped kill it, with a bunch of death metal cover warriors, it was time to sink her teeth into it and maybe do some crazy screaming... If they did it first.

Tim was starting in on the unidentified goopy stuff he had served himself. "It's good, especially fresh. <Compliments to the chef.>"

Tanya demurely waved at Tim. "<Stop that, you flatterer. You'll give Randal the wrong ideas.>"

Randal snorted out a brief laugh. "<Tim is not that sort of man. Don't fill yourself on the sides.>" He gestured at the main dish. "<Even> Vinyl <is enjoying her portion. I did not think a pony would. I confess, I urged Tanya to make what you're eating for her.>"

Tanya frowned at that. "<You said this was for Tim.>"

Tim raised his hands. "<I do like it, and thank you for making it. It's a rare treat I get to enjoy.>"

Vinyl was trying her slab of meat, slain by the most grungiest of warriors with a backup singer she knew very well. "Awesome..." It was a strange and new flavor, but strange and new were both positives in her book. Her face was becoming a mess as she tore into it without much concern for etiquette in the process, using a fork only to jab and hold the meat up to her mouth.

Tim slid a portion into his mouth much more sedately than Vinyl. "<She's really liking it. Aren't ponies herbivores?>"

Tanya squinted a little before a faint smile appeared. "<She is a freak of a horse, which may be why she's getting along so well. Maybe she's forgotten she even is a horse, though she has the manners of one.>"

Randal's brows raised together. "<At least you have acknowledged her.>" He cut his share of meat in half easily and then that in half again before taking the reduced portion up at the end of his fork. "<Smells delightful, as usual.>"

"No idea what you're saying." Vinyl set down her meat, or the good portion still left. "But that was good." She pat her belly for emphasis. "I'm gonna save this for Octie, alright?"

Tim took a sip from his powerful drink. "<She wants to save the rest for her friend, Octavia.>"

Randal hiked a brow. "<Her pet, it is her decision what to do with her own food. Is she full?>"

Vinyl answered that unwittingly. As her magic tucked the meat away in her pocket, to the confused expressions of all the humans present, she washed it down with some of the potent drink just to move smoothly for one of the side dishes.

Tanya made a little wave at Vinyl. "<What did she just do? Does she have a second mouth, even more voracious than the first? What strange creature have you brought into this town?>"

Randal, though polite, was not much slower at demolishing his food. He was larger, to start, and each bite made his share diminish quickly. "<They are fey, do not forget. Such things should not be entirely unknown.>"

"What is this?" She jiggled her metal cup in the air. "I might regret asking, but I'm too curious."

Tim gestured at it with a few fingers as part of his own enjoyment. "Honey wine."

"You have bees?" Vinyl flashed a bright smile, messy as that was. "Life ain't so bad."

Elsewhere, Octavia watched as the food was divided between her bunkmates, but she was given none. "Of course... I had thought... I found something today."

Quarter inclined her head slightly at her disappointed equine friend. "Wait, were you the one that found the you-know-what I'm working on?"

"Not that, I'm afraid." she waved a hoof. "I found a small mechanical racecar with working batteries."

Shiela was laying on her cot, chewing on a tough root slowly. "You have gained a title, a poor one. It will take more than one small find to change the momentum of their thoughts. To them, you are little more than a pet dog who found a useful thing in the dirt."

Quarter frowned at the elf. "That's harsh. I mean, not entirely inaccurate, but still harsh! Ease up on the pretty pony." She produced a long tough root from her collection and held it out. "Here."

Octavia eyed the morsel being waggled at her. "I do not wish to deprive you of your own meal, Quarter, though the thought is--"

Quarter popped the root into Octavia's flapping lips. "Less talking, more chewing. I won't starve sharing a little with you, and your friend will bring more later, right? This'll take the edge off while you wait."

Octavia's teeth clenched around the intruder a moment before she relaxed and began to chew the offered food. "When she offers whatever leftovers she has, I will give some back to you, in return for your generosity."

Quarter clapped her hands, dropping some of her food in the motion. "Kindness pays for itself, sometimes nice and fast. Randal's just never invited me to have some of the good stuff."

Octavia raised a brow. "Has Vinyl done such a good deed that you've never managed to top?"

Quarter shrugged at that. "They don't usually trust me with the scavenging missions, even if I'm good at that."

"She finds much, but returns with little," provided Shiela.

Octavia imagined the gnome excitedly darting from find to find, hurrying to smash them together into what she hoped would work, or just getting distracted by the next shiny thing. "I see... What do you do then, if you don't mind the asking?"

"I'm a mean shot with a pistol." She drew out one of those, though it looked like it had many more parts than was strictly required for a pistol to operate. "Custom made and constantly refined to make anyone daft enough to cause trouble to regret it really fast."

Octavia slowly nodded. "I... see, well... I don't think I will win any favors with my fighting ability." She smiled thinly, looking away as she chewed on her root. "I would much rather avoid conflict as opposed to rushing into it."

Shiela sat up on her cot, leaning to the side to give enough room between it and the bunk above it. "Have you found your music? I hear Vinyl is revelling in hers."

"Don't remind me." Octavia set a hoof against her head a moment. "I found a few things that I like, but they have no... function. They just look nice." She pulled free her Sunset Sally doll, a smile spreading without being asked for. "Like her."

Quarter bounced forward, peering at the plastic pony. "I like it!" she called triumphantly. "I've seen her before. She's a her? I never knew that. Great! Does she have any action moves?" She tilted this way and that, searching with her eyes for levers or catches to try,

"I'm afraid not." Octavia carefully lifted up the doll's arms and waved a plastic hoof at Quarter. "She's very mobile and flexible. You can pose her in all manner of possibilities. While delightful, I don't see how this will help me, or anyone else for that matter."

Quarter sheathed her pistol smoothly. "It's still pretty great. Got any others?"

Octavia set her doll down gently before reaching for the smaller, less flexible, little figurine. "Well..."

Elsewhere, Vinyl sagged against the table. "That wash all kindsa good." A hiccup tore through her and she tried to sit up, but the whole world was spinning in a slow but purposeful way that made her stagger. How strong was that drink?! "I... should probably go sleep this off... I'm gonna be useless tomorrow if I push any further."

She raised a hoof and waved at Tanya. "Hey, uh, thanks for the grub. I'm sure Octie will love it too."

Tim rose to his feet, not looking nearly as inebriated. "<I should take her to her home. Thank you, Randal, Tanya.>"

"Hey!" suddenly blurted Vinyl, fixing her eyes, mostly, on Randal. "You never said why Hank wasn't here. He... was great." She flopped her head to the side, her muscles refusing to work smoothly.

Randal nodded at Tim. "<See that she gets there safely, and get some water in her before she passes out.>"

"<You may want to bathe her while you're introducing her to water,>" added Tanya in a clear barb. "<She looks almost as filthy as the meat itself.>"

"Oh yeah, let me..." Vinyl reached out a hoof just for it to flop on the table.  Her magic proved slightly more coherent, snatching some of the side dishes and feretting them away quickly into her pocket. "Got it... Alright, let's... go." She fell from her chair in an ungraceful dismounting.

Music began to play. It was loud enough to hear clearly, but just barely so. It took a moment to realize they were coming from Vinyl's headphones, clearly playing at an entirely unhealthy volume. Tim reached for them, casually brushing the volume knob down until people couldn't hear her music without wearing the headphones.

For better or worse, Vinyl didn't notice, staggering towards the door. "The rock queen's gotta catch some major Zs to lay down the rock--" she tripped over her hooves, crashing to the ground in a heap of disheveled pony limbs.

Fortunately, Tim was right there, gently helping her back to her hooves and getting her moving again. With a drunken cheer, Vinyl was led out of the house, leaving Randal and Tanya behind.

Randal rose and took hold of the main platter, to assist with clearing the table. "<That was an excellent meal, thank you.>"

Tanya stood up to join in the cleaning activities. "<Almost perfect.>" She eyed the space that held the pony. "<What do you see in her?>"

Randal set his platter down on a counter in their small kitchen. "<She may not be human, but humans are only first, not singular. She has accepted her role with energy and competence.>"

Tanya rolled her eyes  as she set the dishes away in the sink to be cleaned. "<She was rude and dirty. Even as a human, I would find her presence trying at best.>"

"<She is a strange one, I will not argue that.>" He twisted a knob, allowing water to flow, having such water was a luxury, and one he put to work by using his large hands to clean used plates and utensils. "<But she was not rude. She spoke highly of your cooking, and was only cheerful, even in the face of your petulance.>"

Tanya scowled at that. "<You turn this around on me?>"

"<Is there a reason I should not?>" He turned to her. "<If I invite a dog into my home to dine with me, I expect my family to treat them as a guest. Times may be hard, but we are not savages. She did not forget this. While the other inhuman guests scowl and scheme, she raised her cup without hesitation to join us in celebration. Why should I not turn this on you?>"

Tanya threw a hand aside, anger etched on her face. "<I am a warrior too, just as any of them. You, of all people, should understand not wanting to sit across from a horse as she fills her ugly face with the food I worked hard to prepare!>"

Randal turned back to the dishes, giving them attention instead of his angered wife. "<She cannot change what she is. If she could, she would be quite the power. I will not turn away anyone who commits themselves to the success of the town.>"

Tanya slid in just behind him. "<And what makes you so certain she's done that? Mark my words, the moment she catches the wind of another opportunity in those big nostrils of hers, she'll gallop away and not look back.>"

"<And we will be harmed for what we have shared so far?" He set some dishes in a crude rack to dry. "<I expect little from inhuman guests, but she has done well for us. Let us not sink as low as we expect she may. If only her companion was half as useful.>"

"<Is she as coarse?>" Tanya moved for the drying dishes with a rag and started to dry them. Despite her anger, their cooperation in the kitchen came almost instinctively.

"<From what I hear-->" He paused to push leftovers in a glass container for later, then resumed his cleaning. "<--She is well-mannered, just useless, as if she were the opposite of her friend, or lover.>"

Tanya burst into laughter at that. "<Do you think? They have no privacy in the, ew, do you think they do those things where the others can see?>" She wrinkled her nose, but kept right on drying and putting the dishes away. "<I don't understand them, any of them.>"

Elsewhere, Tim had to walk directly aside Vinyl, a hand over her to keep her steady as she ambled her way home in anything but a straight line. He pulled and pushed gently, correcting her course as she sang her drunken shanties with vigor despite her clear stupor.

She fell against him. "Hey... Hey man... I never told you, but... You're awesome."

"Thank... you," replied Tim, unsure how to take it. "We are almost there. You get some sleep."

Vinyl broke into rough laughter, taking a single step forward. "Oh! Oh! Wow, Oh! Really? Wow..." She staggered forward unevenly, forcing Tim to catch her and set her back on the path. "Really?"

"Yes, really." He smiled nervously as they went, hoping she didn't pass out. She was heavy for her size and he didn't look forward to trying to drag her anywhere. "You like honey wine."

"Yyyyeahhhh, of course I did." She stopped a moment as if having a profound thought. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"You know what!" She headbutted him, prodding him uncomfortably with her horn. "Ya wanna sleep with the DJ Master? Bold, dude, real bold. Most stallions get too nervous before they can ask."

Tim colored, but tried to keep her going. "Your companion waits."

Clarity suddenly rushed back to Vinyl's eyes. "Aw shoot! Octie! She hasn't eaten!" Vinyl rushed ahead towards the inhuman house, though she was miserable at going straight, she wove her way in generally the right direction, scrambling to get home. "She's gonna be so... so... mad with me..."

Tim hurried to her side, just barely catching her as she began to list to the side dangerously. Her significant bulk threatened to knock him off balance, but he kept her from the ground and reached out, barely managing to knock on the door. "It's Tim and Vinyl," he called out in his inexperienced sylvan.

There was a sound, a hurried clip-clop, then the door swung inwards, revealing the concerned face of Octavia. "Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to worry for you... Are you drunk?" She raised one of her refined brows, peering at her staggering friend. "You get one dinner out and you rush to get sloshed? Vinyl Scratch!"

"Yes'm, Sorry'm," muttered Vinyl as she staggered forward, half-falling into Octavia. "Sorry... Sorry... I'm... kinda tired."

Octavia wrapped a foreleg around Vinyl, holding her gently as she slumped. "Thank you." She was looking at Tim. "For seeing her home safely."

"You are welcome. Good Night."

The door gently closed, leaving Tim alone. Not nearly as hammered as Vinyl had been, he set off for his own home.
> 8 - Another Day in the Ash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl woke from her drunken state with a squint. "This is the first time I am legit glad they keep this place dark." She grabbed for Octavia, but the mare wasn't there. "What the?"

"Are you awake?" came her soft voice.

Vinyl rolled over, spotting Octavia sitting in one of the chairs with the others at the small table. "Oh, hey, uh... I brought leftovers."

Quarter bounced to the ground. "What'd you bring?! Where is it? You don't have pockets."

Octavia stepped down with a soft nod. "Quarter kept me from hunger last night, unlike a certain drunk pony."

Vinyl's left ear swung back, the right not caring to keep up. "Hey, don't be like that... They kept me there until the end." She pulled herself forward a little towards the edge of the bed, her horn glowing as the various bits she had snuck away in cloth wrappings came floating out of her pocket, emerging from seemingly nowhere into existence. "Ta da..."

Shiela smiled softly at Vinyl and her hovering offerings. "You should be kind to your friend. The gods of alcohol are exacting their revenge in your place."

Octavia approached the groggy Vinyl with a little smirk. "Our elven friend has a point. Your forgiveness will be given--"

"--score," weakly celebrated Vinyl, raising a hoof.

"On the condition that we eat right here." Octavia hopped up onto the bed beside Vinyl.

"You are a cruel mare." Vinyl stuck out her tongue as she rolled away, leaving the food to drift to the bed, her magic leaving each as it touched the cot.

Quarter scaled up the side of the bunk to take her spot beside Octavia. "Let's see what we have!" Her energetic voice convinced Vinyl's other ear to collapse, doing a poor job of shielding itself against the sound. "Oh wow, it's fresh..."

Octavia nudged one of the bundles open even as Quarter got another. "I do not feel right eating this in front of you, Shiela, without offering. Would you care to join us?"

Vinyl's soft groan marked the start of a perfectly lovely breakfast for the inhuman house.





It was a fine day. Vinyl and Octavia were outside, the soft light of the ashen 'day' giving enough to see, but never reaching the level of being actually 'bright', like an overcast day, which it was and would likely always be.

Octavia perked an ear towards Tim. "Does the sun ever come out, by chance?"

Tim shrugged. "Rare, not never." He pulled out some beaten binoculars and peered through them, slowly sweeping across the horizon. "What fight with?"

Vinyl tilted her head. "Man's gotta point. How are you planning to fight if this guard duty actually ends up being needed?"

Octavia poked Vinyl on the shoulder. "I'm only here for your sake, Miss Scratch.  I'm still your 'pet', so they aren't officially expecting a thing out of me but keeping you happy."

Vinyl threw a foreleg over Octavia. "Well! You're doing a fine job then."

Octavia gently pushed Vinyl's leg free. "If an attack were to occur... I would improvise, I suppose."

"Here's to hoping nothing happens then." Vinyl turned back away from the town, out into the wastes they were in charge of watching. "Even if that is kinda boring..."

Octavia turned her eyes to the glow in the clouds, where a sun might be. It was a hint, a warm presence in the grey carpet of ashen clouds. "Who raises the sun? The job is surely done." She raised a hoof to point at the brighter spot in the sky. "There it is."

"Raise sun?" Tim glanced aside at her before looking back at his binoculars. "Sun raise sun."

Vinyl looked up at the spot in the sky, the faint brightening of the clouds. "The sun raises itself? This world is trippy." She was only smiling though, amused at the different rules the world she was in played by compared to what she was used to. "Say, uh, do you guys have a princess?"

"What?" Tim leaned forward a little. "What princess?" He said the latter word like a new word, perhaps beyond his sylvan vocabulary. His eyes remained on the wastes.

Octavia shook her head. "Nevermind that. Of course they don't. How often are there... things worth spotting out there?" She pointed out past Tim.

"Now." He lowered his binoculars and stuffed them away into a bag at his belt-line even as his other hand pulled free a pistol, a word they had learned, into readiness. "Be ready."

The ponies looked to where Tim had been gazing to see dust being kicked up, obscuring clear view of what was coming in the distance. Vinyl reached up and ran a hoof along the outer edge of her goggles. "And they said this was a waste of bits." Her view zoomed in, allowing her to make out the forms of approaching people mounted on strange equine creatures.

"They're like ponies, kinda, but really very not," postulated Vinyl articulately. "Freaky..." The ones riding the strange creatures were more diverse than the not-ponies they rode on. Two were actually ponies, little ones like the gravetender they had encountered. There was no mistaking them for foals with the battle-ready look in their eyes and the guns clenched in their teeth.

Three were humans, one was larger and a bit greener than the others. All of them human or pony, wore scrapped together armor to protect them from the fight they looked ready to start. While three of them were armed with guns, two had two-handed cudgels fashioned out of heavy-looking cement and metal, as if someone had just taken a passing street sign and made that a weapon.

Vinyl wound her vision back to normal. "We got incoming and they don't look friendly. Alright to draw?"

"Draw, yes." Tim reached over and began to rattle a bell beside him, striking its sides with a dangling weight that made it ring with each motion, alerting the town to trouble.

Octavia shrank away, watching Vinyl draw the pistol that had been trusted to her. Eyes on the hovering gun, Octavia shook her head. "Are you going to fight?"

"Why wouldn't I?" countered Vinyl, spinning her pistol with a smirk. "I'm the death metal rock goddess, descended from on high to help our new friends." She pointed in the direction of the closing bandits. "Besides, I doubt they'll play nice if we try to hide."

"A few practice sessions with Sandy is barely enough to look half as confident as you do." Octavia pointed at Vinyl, then at the closing threats. "One hit with one of those..." She could start to make out the great bludgeoning devices some of them held. "Those! They could... Please."

"Ain't nothing for it." Vinyl flipped her headphones around in her magic, facing outwards as music began to blare in heavy riffs, preparing for the battle to come. "We're living the cover life, Octie, that means we have to rock it like it might be our last day, 'cause it might, if we don't rock hard enough."

Tim raised a hand to his head. "Hank is here. <He'll snipe them.>"

As if to announce his presence, the sharp crack of a firing gun rang from behind them. One of the small ponies caught a bullet in the chest and was knocked free of their mount. The mount seemed to have no inherent loyalty at that moment, careening away and galloping off without their rider.

The other riders broke apart much like the mount, spreading to give fewer targets than the mass offered. Their approach became erratic, trying to foil the attempts of the sniping defender. Vinyl hopped up onto the small metal wall. It wasn't meant to keep people out, it was barely eight feet across, but it gave some vital cover. With her gun hovering, she barely peeked over the top. "Come and get it..."

The remaining little pony fired on them, their gun belching out a rapid series that blew little holes in their wall, drawing a line towards Vinyl but failing to reach her in its three-round burst. The larger, green, human directed their mount right over the wall. It obediently made the jump even as Tim began to unload as quickly as his pistol allowed.

The mount hit the ground, screaming in equine pain, but the rider had jumped free, coming down on Tim with the bar of his weapon, knocking the defender prone beneath him.

Vinyl scrambled back as she brought the gun to face the bandit on their side of the wall. By the time she lined up a new shot, the big thug was already raining heavy punches on the pinned Tim, each impact striking with the dull thud of abused flesh.

"(Don't move.)" The little pony with the gun was up against the wall, pointing her mouth-held pistol at Vinyl.

Hank's gun barked its presence, the green person slumping over on Tim, seeming to only enrage the hulking brute into pummeling all the harder. In the blind panic of a rage, his weapon fell off to the side, laying beside them both.

"(Shit!)" She stuck out her tongue, pressing the trigger of her device. The gun fired, rocking her head back slightly, though not nearly as far as one might think a gun in someone's mouth might.

Vinyl hissed like a tire with a leak in it. "Not cool!" Even as she staggered back, her pistol directed itself in her magic, firing with a loud crack. The little pony found her teeth closing, her gun shot away in a surprisingly accurate shot.

Cocky despite, or because, of the pain distracting her, Vinyl was blind to the approach of another human, weapon ready to cave her head in with his massive cudgel. Tim was fighting off the hulk, but there was no way he would do it in time to save Vinyl.

Octavia had spent those precious starting seconds staring with horrified eyes, but she saw the figure approaching Vinyl with death in his eyes. Her mind jumped along a strange logical pattern. Her doll was a symbol of hope for ponies. It was a symbol of fear for humans. A human was threatening Vinyl. 

She pulled out the doll in a frantic scramble and held it up like she was awkwardly presenting a last minute gift for her foal. "Stop!" she screamed. "Go. Away!" An almost unseen ripple ran through the air, the eyes of the doll glowing darkly as if fixating on the human. Octavia could feel a power thrumming inside of her, flowing through the doll. Was that what a unicorn felt through their horn? She didn't have time to contemplate it.

He was bringing down his weapon, but his grip weakened, making him stumble in place. "(W-what? What... Oh gods above! Get it away!)" He suddenly pushed off Vinyl like a support, breaking into an abject flee away from her and the town.

Vinyl turned towards the sudden shove. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" She fired wildly at the retreating figure, many shots going wild, but some blood being shed to water the ashen ground when her aim found favor. It was Hank's shot that took care of the man just as he started to slow, recovering from whatever magic Octavia had used just in time to provide a clean shot.

That left only two. The remaining pony was smiling awkwardly, no pistol in her mouth anymore. "(Not too late to make friends, maybe?)" She raised her hooves in a surrendering position. "Mercy on a fellow pony, maybe?"

The other human had already diverged off and away, retreating into the wastes rather than try to press the already poorly-going battle. The fight suddenly fled the bruiser, slumping against Tim. He shoved shoved off the form of the big green person, heaving for breath. "Can you make magic? Please... it hurts."

Vinyl blinked at that. "What? My magic zaps things. You don't want me to zap you." She pressed a hoof to where she had been shot in the side. "Aw dang, that'll leave a mark." She grit her teeth, looking up at the pony. "So, hey, you talk right?"

"Yes." Her eyes went up towards where the sniper's bullets had come. "Please tell your ally to not shoot me, please..."

Octavia made a lowering gesture with a hoof even as the other moved to tuck her doll away. "Get off that whatever it is and lay down on your belly. Vinyl, Tim, please, go see the doctor, right now."

Tim approached Vinyl rather than going to the doctors. "Zap me."

Vinyl cocked an ear at him. "You're crazy, but hey, you heard him." She clapped her hooves together. "With the power of rock, I smite you!" White power gathered around her hooves before she pressed them to Tim.

He was not hurt as the undead hound was. His bashed face popped back into place, broken nose righting itself as the blood began to flow more slowly. "<Not today, Soft Whisper,>" he sighed out in relief as the worst of the pain faded.

Octavia pointed at Vinyl urgently. "Zap yourself!" She marched past Vinyl, approaching the small pony in a circle around the wall. "You, why did you attack us?"

Tim fetched his gun and pulled back the top, making sure it was ready to fire. "(Time for you to die.)"

"(No!)" The little mare scrambled back. "Please, don't let him. I gave up, right? Please!"

Octavia shook her head as she advanced over the little mare, standing over her. "Enough! Enough... there's been more than sufficient amounts of violence for one day."

"This isn't a zap at all," lamented Vinyl, realizing her power wasn't strictly for the purpose of smiting things. Still... "Rock gods, you can hear your loyal saint, bless me." She tapped the injury with a hoof and with a most disquieting sensation, she could feel the bullet be expelled from her, the injury sealing over. "Awww, yeah, I am the magic pony!"

Tim leveled his pistol at the little mare. "She is outsider, already attack. She dies."

Octavia frowned at Tim and his gun. "I will not permit it. She may have acted in a most unseemly fashion, hurting my friend... but she has surrendered."

"<What is this?>" The heavy steps of Randal approached quickly, other guards coming with him. "<Was the bell rung in error?>"

Tim lowered his gun, waving a hand at Octavia. "<That's the last raider standing, under Octavia. She won't let me finish the job.>"

Randal rounded the side of the wall to see Octavia and the small pony. "Get away from it," he spoke in clear sylvan.

Octavia turned quickly, eyes wide. "You can speak?! I mean, no! She has given up." She closer her legs a little as if to act as a better shield for the little mare. "I am a pet no longer."

Randal hiked a brow at that. "And what makes you say that?" He crossed his arms, looking suddenly amused. "<She claims she is no longer a pet. Did you see her perform some great act?>"

"<I spent most of the fight pinned under that damned orc,>" admitted Tim, looking crestfallen. "<Vinyl undid the worst of it.>"

Octavia glanced between the two. "I have magic too, I saved Vinyl with it." She suddenly smiled. "Ask Hank, he would have seen it. I fought."

Randal fixed his eyes on the little mare. "(The larger pony is claiming you as her pet. Do you accept that?)"

"(Wha? Yes! Yes, a thousand times yes.)" She sat up, bumping her head on Octavia's belly. "(I like breathing, one of my favorite things to do. I won't cause trouble, promise!)"

Randal clapped his large hands. "<Get her a collar and tether her in the inhuman house. She is not to be trusted.>"

Vinyl came around to join the others, grinning easily as she did so. "Hey, Randal! How long were you planning on keeping that secret? Nice trick." She took in the situation, blinking. "Hey, it's the pony that shot me."

"Sorry," muttered the little pony. "(sorry,)" she repeated in the other dialect she seemed to know.

Vinyl approached directly at a trot. Though some of the other humans whispered, wondering if she would exact revenge, Vinyl answered that quickly with a soft bop on the little pony's head. "Don't do that, huh? That hurt! So what's going on?"

Tim holstered his gun. "<We got lucky today. They were probably more desperate than anything else, coming at us that unprepared.>"

Randal frowned at Tim deeply. "<It is a welcome reminder that we are not prepared. If that had been a serious attack, all you would have managed to do is inform us before you made a corpse of yourself.>"

"<Yeah...>" He glanced aside at the little pony the other ponies were speaking to in their lyrical tongue. "<You're alright with this? The first two weren't raiders.>"

"<She stays until we get rid of her. She'll accompany them to Turves and you can turn her over to their 'sheriff' there. I hear she accepts caught raiders.>" Randal waved at the little pony. "<Until then, she is Octavia's responsibility. Let her prove she is worthy of responsibility. I need to speak to Hank.>"

Octavia smiled with doubt at her new 'pet'. "So, what is your name? I am Octavia Melody, and this is Vinyl Scratch." She waved to Vinyl as she mentioned her. "Though you are nominally my 'pet', I insist on treating ponies with the respect they deserve. Don't expect demeaning chores from me."

"That's real nice of you." The little mare bobbed her head quickly. "I'm Dim Flash." She pointed at herself. "I'm not bad with a pistol, when it's not shot out of my mouth like that. Where did Vinyl learn how to shoot like that?" She looked to Vinyl, then back at Octavia. "Was it whoever was shooting at us first? Took my coltfriend out... just like that." Her energy seemed to quell, growing quiet. "Stupid jerk... I told him this was a bad idea..."

Vinyl patted Dim gently on the head. "Sorry, yeah... You came rushing at us and, you know, we defended ourselves. Still, harsh. I wouldn't want a coltfriend to go out like that."

Octavia let out a slow breath. "Nor I. I am sorry for your loss. You almost returned the favor to my friend." She pointed at Dim. "Those 'guns' are very dangerous for all involved."

One of Randal's guards approached, reaching for Dim. She squeaked and tried to hide behind Octavia, but he was faster, snatching her by the scruff and lifting her just enough for her legs to come free of the ground. He snapped a collar around her neck and let her back to the ground, a lead trailing off of it. "Here." He offered the lead to Octavia.

Octavia eyed it uncertainty. "Thank... you." She opened her mouth and closed her teeth on the end of the leash. "I suppose they mean it this time."

Vinyl nudged Octavia. "At least I got you off the hook for being treated like that, huh?"

"And I am grateful, but even moreso for no longer being called a pet." She turned towards the inhuman house, her new leash going taught in her mouth. "Dim, let's go. I'll show you where we sleep and who your new roommates are."

"Speaking of that." Vinyl got to walking, Octavia beside her. "What did you do? I didn't see it."

"Thank you." Tim caught up with them. "For healing me. Be careful with pet, alright?"

Vinyl saluted at Tim. "Sure thing. I think we can handle this little pony."

Octavia pulled Dim closer protectively. "She is my little pony right now, and I will see she is treated properly."

Dim's eyes followed Tim as he went off to other business. "So... I mean, not complaining, but... what are you planning on doing with me, and my horse?"

"Horse?" Octavia peeked over her shoulder at the mount that stood there passively. "I have no idea what to do with that. I assume the people here will figure something out. Is it intelligent? I have heard no words from it in any of the countless languages this world seems to have."

Dim blinked with wide eyes. "This world?" She looked between the two ponies. "Are you two not from around here? (Do you speak common?)"

Vinyl tilted her head. "Not from around here, yup. What did you say at the end there?"

Dim shook her head, turning her gaze forward in the direction they were going, her little legs pumping twice as hard to carry her at the same rate as the other. "I was just checking. That's common, the trade language. Not good for, you know, heavy stuff, great for strangers. Which we kinda are?"

Octavia shook her head. "You are now my ward, which would make you not a stranger to me, I should think. I would like to know more of you, Dim Flash. How did you come to be involved in that disastrous attack attempt?"

"Vinyl!" came a shout from behind them. Tim was waving for Vinyl to come back. "Watch not over!"

Vinyl's eyes rolled, largely unseen behind her goggles. "Oh yeah, guard duty. I'll go back in case we get attacked twice in a day. Wouldn't that be something?" She turned back and got trotting to rejoin Tim.

That left Octavia alone to approach the house, Dim a little behind, the leash attaching them. "I will do my best to see to your needs."

"I bet you would," spoke Dim, sadness in her tone.

Octavia perked an ear. "Would?"

Dim jumped up, smashing the top of her head against Octavia's jaw. In surprise, Octavia drew back and the leash dropped. "Good luck." She fled like a bolt, little legs pumping wildly.

"Wait!" called out Octavia, reaching out a hoof. "Please, there's nothing out there for you..."

Octavia could but watch as the small figure retreated into the distance, running as far and as fast as Dim's little legs would take her. "So much for having a pet." Not that she had been looking forward to having a pony, of all things, as a pet, but she did not favor the images that came to mind as to what might befall the little Dim, alone, in the wastes.

She retreated into the shelter of the inhuman house, to share the tale of her almost pet.





Hank had his gun at his back, slung against him. He saluted as Randal came into view.

"<At ease. Did you see the pony Octavia do anything out of place?>" Randal rolled a hand. "<Speak honestly and directly, not that I need to remind you of that.>"

"<No sir.>" Hank pointed down from his vantage point to where the fight had started. "<She did little at first. She pulled something out and shouted at a raider about to attack Vinyl. I was still lining up the shot when she spooked him somehow and he fled. I managed to clear the shot when he stopped running.>"

It was quite a speech for Hank, and Randal nodded appreciatively. "<Did you recognize what she did?>"

"<It felt like a fear spell, but I didn't recognize how she did it. It worked.>"

Randal turned away, ready to descend the stairs. "<Thank you, and for your defense. You saved lives today.>"

"<Proud to serve, sir.>"

As Randal retreated, his voice echoed up, "<Swing by later. Sorry for making you wait this long.>"

Hank's passive face broke into a small smile. "<With pleasure, sir.>"

Randal had other thoughts in mind. He strode for the center of town at a rapid pace, considering as he went. "<Sandy,>" he spotted her performing upkeep on a rifle. "<Spread the word, Octavia is a guest, not a pet. If a small pony is seen, that is a pet, and should be returned and tethered at the inhuman house.>

"<Got it.>" She didn't stop working on her gun. "<I'll tell everyone that I see.>"
> 9 - Goodbye, Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia was strapped onto a cart of considerable size, loaded with covered packages. Vinyl was frowning at it. "That's not cool. She literally just earned the right to not do that if she doesn't want to."

Randal was paying neither of them mind, speaking to Sandy a short distance away, "<When you arrive in Turves, conduct the trading as normal. Restock on firearms and munitions. We need a gun in every hand.>" He clapped her on the shoulder. "<Do not return with them, either of them.>" Sandy's expression turned to shock and he pulled her closer. "<Leave them there, among their kind. They will be happier for it. They deserve more, both of them, than living with the broken husks of the inhuman house. That is a place for those we protect out of pity. They can be more than that.>"

Sandy took a little breath, forcing herself to nod. "You really stepped in it, Octavia." She turned from Randal and approached the wagon with the earth pony attached. "Letting that raider go is just asking for them to come running back with revenge in their eyes, and that's a threat to everyone else."

Octavia shrank a little. "I didn't intend for that to happen. She... I'm sorry. It was my responsibility and I failed." She glanced towards Vinyl. "After so many years, you'd think I would know how to handle one uppity mare."

Vinyl burst into laughter, throwing a foreleg over Octavia. "Good to see your sense of humor's still intact. So, what do we have to do to get Octie out of time out? She's not going back to being a pet, is she?"

Sandy glanced back at Randal, who was already leaving. "No, she's a person, and a person gets punished." She pointed at the cart. "Not much different than a pet, there. You do bad, you pay for it." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Besides, this gets you two to Turves, which is where I wanted to get you two anyway, right?"

Octavia's ears perked up, hope shining, but she said nothing, lest she interfere with a misplaced word.

Vinyl had no such reservation. "Oh yeah! What's that place like? Do they have an appreciation for rock there?"

Sandy hiked a brow. "You'll explain what rock is on the way there. Shall we begin? The way is relatively safe." She turned and pointed out of town. "There's even a road after a day's hike. They upkeep it."

They set out, marching away from the village, one human and two ponies. Octavia's eyes wandered over the still-eerily flat land they were passing through. "It must not be far away if they trust just you and two ponies to handle this." She looked back to the wagon she pulled and its various packages. "If I were a bandit, which I am not, this would be an ideal time for an attack."

Sandy shook her head. "I've done this loop dozens of times. We're close enough you can barely even count it as waste traveling." She stuffed a hand into a pocket as she swept her vision across the horizon. "We spend almost no time outside the protection of one town or the other. A bandit making a dive on us would be being braver than most care to be."

Vinyl snorted softly. "Unlike the ones that came rushing directly for us?"

Sandy rolled a hand. "That was just stupid. Stupid they do. Now, let's not tempt the gods any further with such talk. We will arrive safely and laugh at why we were so scared."

Octavia drew the wagon along with her strength, finding reasons to be thankful for the flatness of their corner of the world, though that made her think. "Is it flat everywhere?"

"Mm?"

Octavia raised a hoof to wave about. "Flat. Are there mountains and hills and valleys somewhere?"

Sandy nodded with an incredulous noise. "'Course there is, just not right here. I hear told there used to be a lot more of them before The Blaze went and knocked most of it down and filled in what went down. 'The Great Equalizer', that's what some people call it."

Vinyl trotted up next to Sandy. "That's not a cool name. What did it, you know, look like? I bet I could come up with a better name."

Sandy hiked a brow at the grinning pony. "I was not there personally, as you can imagine. This was some time ago. None alive in the town is ancient enough to have seen it with their own eyes." She kicked a stray pebble out of their path as she hiked, eyes turning to the thick cloud cover up above. "They say it was like the universe itself had gone mad."

Octavia quirked an ear. "That sounds a bit dramatic. Are we speaking 'Discord's bored' levels of strangeness?"

"Couldn't say what that means," admitted Sandy with a shrug. "Sheets of fire that could encompass from one horizon to the next, lakes of acid, thunderstorms strong enough to pulverize entire buildings..." Her right hand clenched a little. "For every hundred souls, one made it still breathing."

Vinyl tapped at her chin as her other three legs carried her forward. "That sounds pretty cool."

"Cool!?" blurted Octavia, giving her friend a skeptical peering at.

"It was," agreed Sandy. "Cold and hot and everything else it could be." She hopped up on what may have been a tree stump at some point but was little more than a faint memory of the idea. "The only mercy was it was over as quickly as it began. But that's enough of that. I don't even know enough to answer more questions about it anyway."

Vinyl pushed on with a smile. "What started it? I mean, the world doesn't usually just, you know, end, because it feels like it. Crazy magic meteor? Insane cultists?"

Octavia bit at Vinyl's tail and yanked her back. "Have you no manners at all? This appears to be an uncomfortable topic, and yet you insist."

Vinyl cocked a brow at Octavia before returning her goggled eyes to Sandy. "I'm not bothering you, am I?"

Sandy was quiet a moment, hiking through the ashes. The conversation died awkwardly, Vinyl silencing herself for a little while before the urge became too great. "So, uh, you know I didn't mean anything, right?"

"I am aware." Her hand reached out and landed on Vinyl's head, her horn poking up between two of Sandy's fingers. "What you lack in manners, you also lack in a mean spirit. It's hard to think about, that something happened you weren't there for, that you have no say in, that gets to decide all of... everything." She lifted her shoulders, softly running her fingers through Vinyl's mane. "I guess that'd be true even if it was a happier thing."

Vinyl nodded, the hand not leaving her head, not that she complained. "I suppose that would kinda suck. I guess it's different visiting the rock cover versus being born and raised there." She raised a hoof to her chin. "I never thought of it like that. I guess it's a lot less cool from that angle. Damn, blowing my mind."

Sandy crooked an awkward smile as they approached the beaten remains of a road, faint scatterings of black where the paved road once stood proudly. The effect of its presence was still felt, making things smoother, especially for the wagon that Octavia drew. "You know," spoke up Sandy as they followed the street. "Normally I'd make this trip with another human or two. I'd usually be gushing about visiting Turves."

Octavia pulled forward closer to Sandy. "Why not do that now? We'd love to know where we were heading towards."

Sandy went quiet again, withdrawing.

Vinyl trotted with a lean, bumping into Sandy lightly. "What has you down, Sandy? You're not your usual cheerful self?"

She smiled, but it wasn't a joyful expression. "I'm thinking too much. Turves is a nice place." She turned, walking backwards a moment, eyes scanning the direction they'd come in. "Mostly little ponies, some bigger ponies, like you. Some panda people, Big Mao they're called."

Octavia's ears pricked up. "Pandas?"

"I'm not kidding," she assured, hands up held up in deflection. "Griffons, foxes, and even humans to round out the mix. It's a blend of races, all living together, surviving."

Vinyl tilted her head. "If you have an awesome place like that just a few days hike away, why not go there?" She shook her head. "Is it a rundown shack or something?"

"No..." Sandy hastened her steps. "Farming town first, but they have guns enough to keep raiders away, bigger than our dot in the ashes, but not by much. They have a working generator."

Octavia glanced at Vinyl as she hastened to keep up. "While I think my friend may be prying a little... it does beg the question. If it's better, why haven't you migrated?"

Sandy went quiet, marching on in sullen silence. Octavia dipped her head. "Please forgive us if we are speaking out of turn."

"You are," she said with more acid than she intended. "Sorry... Look, that's my home. It may not be the best, but it's my home, alright? We got parts I don't like, but that doesn't mean I just give it up the second I see better." She crossed her arms under her chest as she walked. "I try to make it better. I want our place to, you know, improve, not leave it behind, alright? Don't you two have a home?"

Octavia's ears fell at that, almost stumbling under her load before her hooves got back to walking. "I miss our home terribly. Working electricity, running water, no... ash everywhere... Meals were an assumed thing, and... I'll stop. This isn't fair. That's a world away."

Vinyl reached out a hoof, patting Sandy on the side. "Hey, it's cool. I can appreciate that." She bobbed her head in a firm nod. "That's some loyalty. You stand by your family, right?"

Sandy's tension cracked, a little genuine smile forming. "Right." She re-hastened herself. "But we're not your family."

They made small talk as they walked, but the day passed peacefully. They made camp and chewed on their tough trail rations. Vinyl laughed as she ate. "Somehow, it tastes better after a day's hiking than when you're sitting around in that house."

Octavia gave an unsure nod. "Work makes any food all the more pleasing."

They settled in to sleep as the overcast light of day faded into the pitch dark of night. There were no stars and no moon brave enough to peek through the unseen clouds above them.

Octavia woke with perked ears. She heard something. It was coming closer. She couldn't tell what it was. "Vinyl, Sandy..." she harshly whispered as she dug in her pocket for something, anything. She found her hoof bumping into Vinyl's miniature. She drew it into the darkness.

"If only I could be so impervious," she sighed to the super pony. "Clad in the force of superheroism, nothing could stop me." She smirked, but also felt power flowing. A field of force blinked around her, shimmering in the darkness. "Or... that will work, I suppose. Sandy?" Force field or not, the waking presence of a warrior was called for.

"Mmm?" called a sleepy Vinyl.

Octavia scrambled backwards before she could even see anything, not that she could see anything in the darkness.  She had felt and heard the presence of countless scuttling things. Her shriek echoed out across the plains as she fled the unseen presence.

The sound of shattering glass, then a bright flare of light. Sandy was on her feet, having just thrown something. The flames burned at the creatures unfortunate enough to be where the bottle she had hurled happened to be, but the others were rushing around it, seeking out their meal.

"Who ordered the cockroaches?!" demanded Vinyl as she woke up in a scramble, joining Octavia with pinned ears. "Not cool!"

Octavia took a step forward, emboldened by her magic. "They're just... bugs." She drove a hoof down, squashing one, but behind that one were countless others, swarming up along her hoof without delay. "Oh, oh! Oh! Get them off of me!" She flailed her foreleg as she scrambled away, shrieking in dismay. "They're getting inside!"

Vinyl tackled Octavia suddenly, brushing at her with her hooves wildly, sweeping the angry bugs free of her. "Got 'em, got 'em!"

Both looked up as an explosion lit up the darkness and washed heat over them. "Grenades out," announced Sandy a bit too late to make much of a warning of the fact. She was already drawing another deadly little ball as she backed away from the angry insects. "Seperate, don't let them swarm you," she urgently instructed along the way.

Vinyl did not seperate from Octavia, shivering at the gloomy vision of the oncoming cockroaches that seemed to favor the idea of horse flesh. "D-do you... nevermind! Octie, do something!"

Octavia perked an ear at her stricken companion. It was a far cry from the usual shout into battle she had seen. She reviewed her options as best she could. She could try to make them scared, but did insects know fear? She already had the armor of force, but they could crawl into that if they wanted. Still... if... maybe?

She nudged Vinyl back, keeping them ahead of the oncoming swarm as she dug out her miniature. Even as a fresh explosion tore apart  what looked like a large portion of them, and they kept coming, she lifted the mini to her chest. "I implore you, whatever it is, come and save us!" She could feel her power surging, something was happening, she was doing it. "Yes, like that! Do it!"

With a rushing suction, power fled her, converging into the form of a pony. Not a pony like Vinyl or Octavia. It was a small horse, with glowing white eyes. With an immature whinny, it charged at the swarm with no reservation for its own safety. Unfortunately, ponies were not built for battling angry swarms of insects, and the cockroaches were soft in scuttling up its legs even as it stomped on them wildly.

Flames engulfed it, and the roaches, and everything else in the area. The moment of relative stillness, with the pony distracting them, was enough for Sandy to hurl one right in the center, engulfing them in force and fire to match her fouled mood. "And stay down!"

There was nothing left of the pony but a singular hoof, and even that was fading away, blowing away as if comprised of energy itself. The faint echo of its whinny drifted over their ears as it vanished as if it weren't there to begin with.

The darkness had returned. They could hear the occasional scuttle of a roach, but they weren't coming to attack. Their swarm blown apart, it seemed their bravery had gone with it. "Are you alright?" called Sandy. "Vinyl, some light, please?"

"O-oh yeah... sorry." Her horn began to glow, letting them gather around the campfire they had abandoned. "I... don't like roaches..."

Octavia pat her on the shoulder. "There there, I didn't like them either." She shuddered with memory. "And they were on me!"

Vinyl winced away. "Sorry..."

Sandy settled back down, her breath slowing. "No one was hurt. We're all alive and whole. As things go, that went well. Vinyl, how did you summon that glowing horse? Are you learning new spells?"

Vinyl pointed at Octavia instantly. "She did it! I was... too busy freaking out... Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry," sighed out Octavia. "You've been nothing but a champion so far. You're allowed to panic just once." She nodded at Sandy. "That was me... It didn't help as much as I was hoping."

Sandy slowly laid down, pulling her thin blanket over herself. "It was just what we needed. Thank you. Get some sleep."

Sleep did not come swiftly or easily, but as the adrenaline ran its course, fatigue slowly pulled them into its embrace, and day returned, clear of any angry insects.





The first they saw of Turves was two people, one a small pony, the other a tall bear of a person. They had rifles slung on them, the little pony's strapped to her side in some elaborate harness.

The bear raised a brown pawhand towards them. "Hey, traders?" he called in clear sylvan. "Oh, is that you, Sandy? Welcome back."

The little one tilted her head at the group. "Sandy doesn't usually come with ponies. Something new?" She sounded suspicious of the idea of something new.

The bear patted her small head. "Don't be like that. They're guests." He stepped forward with confidence, a smile on his face.

Sandy met him, putting out an arm. "Little Rose, good to see you're well."

"As if I'd have it any other way." He accepted her offer for a one-handed embrace, the two squeezing on another briefly. "Introduce us to your friends." He looked to the two ponies curiously.

Sandy did just that, gesturing to each, "This is Vinyl Scratch, battle bard and self-professed 'goddess of rock'. That is Octavia Melody, also fancies music, but her magic is harder to define."

Octavia dipped her head towards the two guards. "A pleasure to meet you both. Where should I be bringing this?" She hiked a hoof back at the cart she had hauled.

Sandy grabbed the harness that attached Octavia to the wagon and pulled it up and off. "Actually, I'll take that from here. I'll go get the trading done. Go ahead and have a look around. You'll like it." She smiled with a tinge of something else, but fled rather than face any questions the two had for her, the cart rolling behind her.

Little Rose, who was not little, nor delicate looking, waved in a grand gesture. "Let me show you into town. It gives me an excuse to get a drink." He turned and began leading the way.

The little pony peered at him and then the two strangers. "You trust too easy." She kept her eyes on the two new people, but followed along.

Vinyl looked up and down across the broad back of the bear. "Well aren't you a big one!"

"The biggest," agreed the bear with an unseen smile. "That's why we're the Big Mao, just like our grandma. Never saw one of us before?"

Octavia strode ahead, her steps easier without a cart strapped to her. "I must confess you are the first. I've seen other interesting species, but not a bear that preferred clothing, nor whose fingers were quite..." Her eyes darted from the bear to the rifle slung on his back. Firing it would require proper fingers, she figured. "I'm sorry, I must seem so rude."

"Nah," he assured. "Everyone's curious the first time. Welcome to Turves." He gestured up ahead at a town, a real town, with people and buildings and farms and people moving about as if they lived there, rather than scrabbling for survival when not hiding away. "I'm gonna get that drink I mentioned." He hiked a thumb towards the center of town. "There's a well there, feel free to stop by if you get thirsty."

"Wait for me!" The little pony rushed after him as he left them just standing there at the edge of town.

Vinyl cocked a mostly unseen brow. "Huh, they don't seem upset to have us, you know, just kinda here."

"It is a bit of a difference," agreed Octavia, slowly taking in the town. "This place feels... alive."

"You say that." Vinyl was facing a new direction, peering at something. "I don't think that is."

"What?" Octavia turned in the same direction to see a filly rushing towards them. She was sized properly for a pony filly, but she was not a pony filly, not entirely. Metallic legs kicked up dust as she rushed towards the two, her electronic eyes fixed on them.

"Hello!" Sang the mechanical filly, her voice a strange synthetic thing that slid in octave even as she spoke as if being autotuned far too eagerly. "My name is Bullette Belle and it's very nice to meet you!" Her voice dipped up and down in registers wildly, a grin on her metal face.

Vinyl raised a hoof to her face, trying to hide her snickers very poorly. "Oh... wow... a real robot pony!"

Bullette shrank away at that. "I am perfectly standard for my life phase!"

Vinyl tilted her head. "You are perfectly awesome is what you are."

Octavia shoved a hoof out in front of Vinyl. "Nice to meet you, Bullette. That's a very nice name. I'm Octavia Melody, and this is Vinyl Scratch."

A soft tremble lifted both of their eyes to the sight of an equine shape approaching them rapidly on heavy hooves. Its eyes were on Bullette, lumbering towards her. "You know you're not supposed to do that," sang one of its snakes.

Speaking of those snakes, it had several, dangling from its mouth as if they had just decided to take up residence there. The one speaking sounded like a concerned schoolmarm. One beside it spoke like a biker, "And you've gone and started talking to strangers? What'd we tell ya about that?"

"Sorry, Papa No Name," sang out Bullette, not looking very sorry for her actions. "Introductions: This is Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch." She noticed only a moment later that she had pointed at the wrong ponies. "Error in operation order, reverse please."

Vinyl tilted her head at the monstrosity that appeared to be the robot pony's... parent? Owner? "Uh... hey?" The beast certainly looked the part of a death metal rock album, she decided, so he/she fit in with the world. She felt increasingly confident, placing No Name right in the 'belong here' camp. "We're visiting with Sandy, from the human town."

The big beast never spoke. Its snakes did, even if its face conveyed expressions, smiling or frowning appropriately as its snakes spoke for it. One in a neutral male voice seemed to stretch forward a little. "Nice to meet you both. A human town? They don't usually like us around those kinds of places."

"Affirmative," agreed Bullette in a sad downturn of her melody. "You are better at human diplomacy. What is your secret?" She bounced forward, metal joints tinking with each spring.

Octavia put a hoof out, keeping some space between herself and the metal filly. "It was a rough introduction, but we lucked out. I don't think we can blame any specific action we took, save for being polite and helpful."

Vinyl grinned. "Also being awesome helps." She nodded towards Bullette. "Like you are. Don't know why they wouldn't want a super cool robot pony around."

No Name frowned at Vinyl, a snake whispering in a harsh whisper everyone could hear, "Ix-Nay on the Obot-Ray!"

Vinyl extended a foreleg as if offering a hug. "Why? I mean, wow, if I could be a robot, sign me up! I'd make the most wicked electronic music ever, and forever! Just keep fixing the parts that wear out and I could rock out through the centuries!" Her horn glowed as she made her goggles show an electronic mimicry of eyes much like Bullette had, sharing in her smiling expression.

Bullette tilted her head with some confusion before she approached Vinyl. "You are not a robot," she pointed out before giving Vinyl the hug she offered, squeezing and being squeezed as the two reached some kind of understanding.

Octavia sighed at the exchange with a little smile. "And that's Vinyl for you. My apologies, this is just the way she is. She means nothing offensive by it. If it helps, I am fairly sure she is sincere in her admiration of Bullette."

No Name shook his head, though his snakes remained facing Octavia, stationary in the air despite the movement of his head. A paternal male spoke, "I'm just watching after her, you know?"
> 10 - Welcome to Turves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hulking form of No Name turned  as one of his snakes looked into the center of the town. "Are you staying or just visiting?" it asked in a pleasant male voice.

Another quickly followed with a feminine cast, "No pressure. You just don't look like the wandering kind."

Octavia glanced off to the side where Vinyl was engaged in trying to be more robotic than the robot that wasn't trying to be robotic. "We're just here to help our friend do some trading, but I imagine that takes some time. She will come find us when it's time to head back." That was when it caught up to her.

Did she want to go back to that town?

She frowned softly. "No, don't think that way," she spoke to herself. "She's expecting your assistance. At least--"

Bullette perked an ear at Octavia. "Error, dialogue target not found."

Octavia startled back into awareness. "Oh, nothing, sorry. I was just thinking poorly."

Bullette reached up to pat at Octavia's side. "This happens to us sometimes too."

No Name laughed, a curious sound as all his snakes laughed in their own ways, like a crowd laughing rather than a single person. "Welcome to life. There will be bad thoughts, and some good ones we hope."

Vinyl huffed softly, her attempt to dance the robot ignored. "What are you all going on about? Where can a mare get a drink around here? Didn't that guard say there was a well or something over there?" She pointed into the center of the town. Without much of a pause, she trotted right past everyone towards her goal.

Octavia rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her, she sees what she wants and she tends to go for it. Harmless in this case. I do presume this town is safe?"

Bullette bobbed her head quickly. "Probability of hostile encounter below 20%!" she chimed happily. "Danger level: Green. Octavia."

Octavia's ears perked up as her name was spoken. "Mm?"

"What do you do?" asked the robotic filly with a curious look on her face.

One of Octavia's ears flipped back. "Before I was brought... here, to this world, I was a musician."

She looked Octavia over curiously. "In what fashion did you create pleasing harmonies?"

Though she had not meant to, Octavia flinched. "Oh, well..." The thought of how long it had been since she could practice was brought to the fore and she shrank beneath that weight. "I used to play a cello, carved from... the loveliest wood by a pony that really knew the art and loved it..."

No Name put a hoof on Bullette's back, gently tapping at her. "That looks like a sensitive topic," he said in a soft masculine tone, a little reedy as it half-whispered.

"No no, it's alright." Octavia righted herself, taking a soft breath. "It was a harmless question from a curious filly." Robotic or not, she silently added. "I'd love to show it to you, but that was left behind with the rest of my life. Where did Vinyl get off to?" She felt the urge to have a drink herself, even if water seemed too mild for what she was feeling.

She nodded to her two new 'friends', or at least acquaintances and began wandering towards where Vinyl had rushed off to.

"Error," spoke Bullette in a sad tone, echoing with a low warble. "Should I pursue?"

No Name shook his considerable head, speaking in a more certain tone, "Nah. She needs a minute. If we see her again, you can hug her then."

Bullette perked at that, clopping her metal hooves together in a rapid little beat. "Saving permissions!" She bounced up to her hooves. "Let us continue seeking fun."

Octavia looked around as she went, taking in the rustic homes. They were, at the core, not much different than those in the human town, but there was a hint of personality in each one. The people who lived in them, when visible, were far more varied, and their houses matched. One had a yin-yang mounted over the door, and the next a horseshoe. She saw a colt pounce on a vulpine creature that appeared just as young, the two shrieking in delight in their wrestling.

A little smile touched her lips. It wasn't an awful place, so far she could see. Sure, it was still in the same ashen wasteland that was the world, but... better, a little, so far. She tempered her good spirits, reminding herself that she was just looking in, peering through a window at the neighbor's house and saying it looked better than what she had. That was easy to do, it came natural. The grass was always tastier on the other side of the fence and all that.

"New in town?" She looked up towards the new male voice and saw a griffon. The griffon was propped up against a wooden railing, watching her intently. "You new in town?" he casually repeated, as if she might have missed it.

"Oh, yes, very much so," she confessed easily. "I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"Nah." He pushed off leaning on the rail to standing bipedally easily. "Just thought it was odd. If you just came in from outside, where's your weapon? You one of them 'my body is my weapon' kinds?"

Octavia shook her head rapidly. "I am a musician by... trade." Her teeth clenched, realizing the lie of the statement at current. "I can do a little magic..." But it wasn't that much magic. "I'm good at finding things?" It all sounded increasingly lame to her own ears and she stomped a hoof, frustrated with herself.

"Hey, hey, not trying to pick fights." He held up a single hand as he came closer. "Just figured there may be business I need tending to."

"Mmm? I don't have money," she quickly warded, feeling a sales pitch coming on. "So if you were--"

"--Ain't looking for it," he replied with a sudden spit to the ground. "Only the larger cities try to make money. With each one making a different one, pfft. Anyway, hey. The name's Lunarquills, nice to make your acquaintance and all that. Now, are you ready to stop being naked?"

Octavia glanced behind her, her face pinkening. Sure she only wore a bow, and that was more than enough on Equestria. Lunarquills was dressed entirely. He had a hat on his avian head and a jacket that seemed worn over cobbled armor that shielded the rest of his form. He was ready for a scrap. Compared to him, she was very naked. "You're a tailor?"

"Huh? No." He drew out a pistol easily, but didn't hold it properly for firing. "I make little beauties like this one. Tune them up real nice, to fit the owner. This one's not made for ponies, but I know how to make those."

Octavia remembered the little raider she had let go. That small assailant had wielded a gun in her mouth. She hadn't actually examined the tool. "How does that even work?" The idea of holding something like that in her mouth sounded a little terrifying, and she didn't get the mechanism that would allow it.

"I'll show you." Lunar waved towards a stone building. "Smithy's in there, where I do my work." He led the way with a soft whistle. "Grab an apron on the way in. Ain't the place for being literal naked."

Octavia followed him curiously. A rack of aprons was hanging just inside the door and she availed herself of one, nuzzling into the loop at the top. "Little help," she called, unable to easily tie it off on her back.

He chuckled softly as he grabbed the two dangling strings and brought them together , securing the apron to her in a firm knot. "Most ponies I know would sooner die than admit tying something takes them 'least twice as long as someone with fingers."

Octavia ignored the warmth in her cheeks. "It would be rude to keep you waiting. You're only here for my benefit."

"Thanks for the consideration." Lunar turned back for the flames of the forge. "Now, when I can, I avoid heating metal." He hiked a thumb at it. "We're not here for that. Now..." He reached up to a tall shelf and rooted around for something even he couldn't see. "It's around... here!" He pulled something small into his hand. It looked similar to the first pistol, but the back of it was dramatically different. "Now, see here? You bite this part." He ran his finger along the handle, large enough for a pony's teeth to chomp on easily. "See that rod in the center? That's for your tongue. You press it forward, bang! You just shot the gun. Easy."

Octavia tilted her head left and right, considering the weapon. "And it propels the bullets..." She reached for it with her hooves, awkwardly feeling over it. Lunar did not stop her from taking it as she pawed at it gently. "It holds six of them. How do you replenish them?"

Lunar grinned, his beak capable of the motion despite being a beak. "I had a feeling you'd like the feel of a quality piece. That one has no bullets, which is the only reason I'm alright with you handling it like that. You'd have shot  something a few times by now." He had an amused tone as he spoke. "Now, reloading can be tricky for ponies. You only really have one grasping point." He tapped the side of her snout for emphasis. "Best I've seen is to grab the gun between your forelegs real tight and hold it still while you load."

"Sounds awkward," murmured Octavia, though she still held the gun, turning and examining it. "Awkward... but functional. I would be... just as strong as anything else if I learned to use this, yes?"

Lunar slapped the outer thigh of his right leg. "The great equalizer, yeah, that's how that works. The only thing you need is aim, and that comes with practice. Well, that, and a quality piece. This really your first gun?"

"Absolute first," agreed Octavia easily. "I saw my friend use one, but she's a unicorn, so she cheats."

"Lacks a little something, doesn't it?" he agreed with her. "Just floating it around and thinking about shooting things. What's the grace in that? Nah, you'll shoot them the right way." He pointed at the gun she was still flipping about. "Like it? Why don't we use that as the base?"

"Base?" Her exploration slowed. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean--" He leaned in and took the gun, hefting it easily. "--that this is just the shell of a gun. I'm going to customize it, just for you. Think of this like a cute little chick, full of potential and eager to please. Give it a little in my care, and I'll make a proper bird out of it."

Octavia tilted her head at him, processing his griffon-flavored sayings. "I see..."

"By the way," he noted as he set the gun aside. "How's my sylvan?"

Octavia blinked softly. "It's just fine. That's what we're speaking, right?" It sounded Equestrian to her.

"Huh, good. Most people speak common around here, but you're a horse, and they speak sylvan as a rule." He grabbed a small tool and began working it into the joints of the gun,  popping out the drum that held the bullets suddenly. "Seemed a safe bet to try a conversation."

"You're doing quite well," assured Octavia. "If you hadn't mentioned, I wouldn't have known it wasn't your first language... Which one is 'common' again?"

"(This one,)" he replied easily, his eyes not leaving the gun he tinkered with. "(I'll focus on balance, since you're new. You can switch over to power later, when you've got your aim centered.)"

"Ah..." She recognized some of the rise and fall of the trade language. She had heard it once or twice, but... "Could you switch back please?"

"Hm? Sure." He tapped the gun with the end of a screwdriver. "This'll take time. Guns don't grow in a day. Buzz off and I'll find you when it's ready."

Octavia shrank back a step. What a dismissal. Still, the griffon was literally giving her something for free. She wasn't sure how much room she had to complain. "I'm just visiting," she warned, starting to wriggle free of the apron as she returned to the rack it came from. He made some noise, but didn't really respond. She hung up the apron, the knot still tied, and fled into the street.

There was a princess. Octavia's jaw hung slack at the sight of the grand alicorn. Her wings were unfurled and the ponies around her seemed to defer to her in exactly the proper way a princess should be treated. She was addressed Vinyl, who was busy looking irreverent as always. "Greetings," spoke the princess in a loud voice that demanded attention. "I formally welcome you to my kingdom. Turves is ever pleased to enjoy the presence of traders and artists, of which you are both."

She had pink fur, like Cadance or so Octavia decided. Her mane ran in soft waves with the color shifting as it went, with areas of deep red and vibrant green and blue. Worn on her front was a star, a golden star. It was attached to the dress she wore as if it held it in place, though Octavia doubted that was true. That star seemed familiar... Oh, yes, it was a sheriff's star. Why was she wearing that?

"Nice to meet you too," replied Vinyl, bobbing her head lightly. "Long Shot, huh? Are you good with guns then?"

Long Shot, the princess, smiled gently. "That used to be my profession, a lifetime ago." She leaned in, voice lowering, "and that is Queen Long Shot. Mind that."

Octavia jumped as something poked her rump. Turning to look she saw a human standing there. "She's the sheriff, but don't argue it. She's a good one," advised the human, nodding towards the exchange.

Octavia nodded softly before approaching her friend and the large authority figure. Long Shot saw her coming long before she arrived. "The number of visitors grows! And another with a musical mark. Are you two related? I, Queen Long Shot, welcome you to Turves."

Vinyl closed the distance, throwing a foreleg over Octavia. "This is Octavia Melody, a classy mare. She puts up with me because she's actually a saint in disguise."

Long Shot stepped closer at a leisurely rate. "Is that so? Well, Miss Melody, it is a pleasure. You are also visiting, we trust?" She raised a clad hoof and did a slow sweep with it across the area. "Welcome, and avail yourself of what we have. The locals are eager to trade if you would wish it." She suddenly lifted her head, shouting in the common tongue, "(These are our guests, treat them well so long as they return the favor. If not, you know what to do.)"

Octavia entirely missed the last part, nodding towards the princess/sheriff. "This is a lovely town you have here."

Long Shot smiled brightly, looking personally complimented by the idea of her town being a good one. "We all work very hard to keep it just that way." A small pony rushed up to her with a tray balanced on his little back and on that, a mug of water. She gestured to Octavia. "Take it to her, she looks thirstier."

Octavia's ears perked as the small pony rushed towards her. "Oh, thank you." She sat so her hooves were free, carefully working a hoof through the large handle that seemed made for pony convenience. Her other hoof kept it from tipping over and she had refreshing water at last, mmm. "Lovely. If you don't mind asking, does this town have a specialty besides survival?"

Long Shot looked baffled at the very notion. "To survive is barely the minimum," she said, shaking her head. "We are a farming community." She extended a wing to the west side of the town, then the east, swapping wings. "We act as a trade hub. Where many cities fear merchants and strangers, we welcome them with open arms and a pinch of common sense. Most of them want the same things we do, don't they?"

A vulpine assistant that shadowed her nodded softly as he checked over a clipboard that was strapped to his side. "Your Highness, it's time for the patrol check."

"Ah, yes." She turned from the two new ponies. "If you need anything at all, you simply let us know. Duty calls!" She began to walk away with her gathering, talking about patrol routes as they went.

Vinyl whistled softly. "Now wasn't that something? And she calls herself a queen, not a princess, and she runs this little place?" She chuckled with obvious amusement as she let Octavia go and moved to be in front of her. "What a backwards world, huh?"

Octavia nodded numbly, still processing things. "Yes... Is she capable of magic? Could she get us home?"

"Nah, already asked that." Vinyl waved the thought away as if it were not important. "They don't have any big magic people around here." She leaned in suddenly. "Did you know that mare used to be a stallion?"

Octavia blinked slowly. "That is... fascinating, but how is it any of our business? She appeared to be quite well adjusted to what she was."

Vinyl shrugged softly. "I thought it was interesting, sue me. One of the townies whispered it to me while she was going on this big welcome speech. You're not wrong though, I mean... If she's comfy being a she, go her."

"I don't even think alicorns can be anything but," mused Octavia, though she had no qualification to say one way or the other. "A noble sacrifice, if she did it just to help the town."

"Decided to stay?" asked a familiar male voice. The Big Mao that they had met before was lumbering towards them, padding his sides as he went. "Can't blame you. This is a nice place to be. Not the best, but far from the worst."

Vinyl perked an ear. "Huh?"

Octavia rolled a hoof. "As she said. We're just giving time for trading to complete, then we'll be on our way."

Little's brows went up together. "Your human pal's already taken off." He hiked a thumb towards the east. "Took the cart with her, loaded with what she traded for. Uh, you..." He trailed off, both ponies taking off in a gallop as he spoke. "Oh, uh, good luck?" He gave a mighty shrug, moving to resume his patrol.

They scrambled side-by-side, galloping down the mercifully clear street. It may have been the ashen age, but the people of Turves swept their property and kept it clean, giving a nice runway for them to run as quickly as they could.

"Whatever possessed her?" gasped out Octavia as she ran. "It's not safe for any one pony to go wandering off alone."

"Yeah, she needs the rock goddess to keep her safe." Vinyl flashed a grin, but it faded quickly, focused on running as she was.

Octavia's run was abruptly stopped by a bullet. It was a bullet the size of a small horse, crashing into her and knocking her to the ground. It began hugging her as she flailed. "Hug attack successful," sang Bullette, who had acted as her name sounded like with great pride.

Vinyl circled around, laughing wildly despite the situation. "You got her good!"

"Vinyl!" Octavia struggled to her feet, the filly still attached to her in eager hugs. "She's getting away!"

"Who is getting away?" asked one of many snakes, No Name catching up with his rambunctious mechanical companion. "What's wrong?" he asked with an old man's voice.

Vinyl pointed in the direction they had been running. "Sandy, the human that was with us when we came here. She left without us."

No Name went still a brief moment, a look of something in his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry... Bullette, lost puppies."

Bullette released Octavia with a gasp that ran through octaves wildly. "Lost puppies! Oh no! Where?! She looked at Octavia with new eyes, digital tears building in the corner of her eyes. "Nooooooo," she called, voice even more unstable then usual, warbling chaotically as she wailed. "Do not panic!" she suddenly said, voice snapping to almost stable. "You are adopted."

Vinyl blinked softly. "Were we just 'adopted' by the coolest little filly I've ever met?"

No Name shook his head. "Don't feel obliged. She just hates it when people get abandoned like that. Ain't the first time we saw it." He spoke in a friendly male voice, what seemed closest to his 'default'.

Octavia blinked softly. "Abandoned? This must be a mistake. Why would she?"

No Name shrugged in a mighty ripple of muscle. "Couldn't rightly say. People have their reasons." Another snake darted ahead of the first, speaking in a female tone, "still, she isn't all wrong. We'll help if we can. You're not in a bad place."

Bullette bobbed her head with the speed only a machine could manage. "Your assimilation begins now. Prepare to be loved!"

Vinyl's horn glowed as her headphones began to play music loudly enough for others to distantly hear. "Well, alright then."

"Alright then?!" Octavia huffed at her friend. "There you go again, just taking what comes. We just... finally earned our place, and... here we are again, at the bottom, and nowhere closer to getting home, and I should be happy with this?! Why are you so..." She turned away suddenly, trying to calm her breath and her hammering heart.

No Name reached a large and heavy hoof, giving Octavia the gentlest of nudges. "Hey, this ain't the bottom," he spoke with a foal's voice. "I've been there... this isn't it. We'll help, however we can, promise. I know we just met, but we met for a reason, ain't that right, Bell?"

"Yes!" She bounced in place. "You are now project A232-Qi-Beta! Success parameters have been set, preparing to engage." The noise of a starting jet engine began to come from her despite no visible fans or other sources of the noise.

Vinyl snickered at the mechanical filly. "You are so cute I think I die a little of sugar overdose every time you talk."

Bullette gasped in alarm. "We must adjust your diet to lower your sugar intake!" She leaned towards Vinyl, squinting at her. "Please begin a list of your staple foods."

Octavia looked aside at No Name. "Thank you for your concern... I just need... some time." She rose to her hooves. "Please, make sure Vinyl doesn't get herself into trouble, if you would."

No Name didn't stop her from wandering off, giving her space to process her feelings. He turned back to Vinyl going over what she ate as Bullette produced the noise of a dot matrix printer, dedicating the facts to her memory quite loudly. "I don't think her diet's wrong, Bullette, she was just joking in the first place."

"Oh." The sound stopped within her and she perked up, forgetting the attempt to diagnose Vinyl almost instantly. "We should inform the local authorities to the change in your citizenship."

"Say what now?" Vinyl hiked a mostly hidden brow at Bullette. "Care to translate that?"

No Name nodded softly. "She ain't wrong. You're part of this town now, unless you plan to start wandering, and I don't recommend that. It isn't your life. Leave that to... stronger people."

Vinyl looked up at the big strange pony that was No Name. "Hey, dude, you know, if you want to talk, I'm open for that, right?"

No Name blinked in surprise. "I'm here to help you."

"And I totally appreciate that, really." She put a hoof to her chest. "And it works both ways. I've had roadies like you, strong, reliable, torn up inside. If you don't say anything, they just move on, being broke. So, uh, yeah, you want to talk sometime? You just lemme know, anytime." She held out a hoof that was quite small compared to his. "It's what friends do, right?"

"Friend status accepted!" cried Bullette with joy, her hoof clopping against Vinyl's far faster than No Name could have even had he been rushing to accept it.
> 11 - New Patterns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You changed your mind," spoke a smugly satisfied female, a gentle smile on her regal face. Long Shot stood beside the lumbering form of No Name. "I thought you might."

No Name watched over Bullette as the robotic filly chatted eagerly with Octavia, trying to lift her spirits. "I couldn't just let her," he sighed out with an older voice. "She needed someone." He looked aside without turning his head, though one of his snakes faced Long Shot. "These are hard times. Sometimes people have to adjust on their own."

"Most of the time," Long Shot readily admitted. "But when a friendly face can be there, it is a little miracle."

That produced a bitter cacophony of laughter. With all the acid of a spurned teenaged girl, one snake demanded, "You call this a friendly face?"

Long Shot waved it off as if it were nothing at all. "You are a father, despite anything else you might be. Where did the other one go?"

"Vinyl?" His voice returned to a soft male cast. "She's already earning favors and winning hearts with her performances. That mare doesn't seem too upset."

Long Shot turned away. "I'm afraid I've evaded my duties for too long. Royal demands are unending, as you know."

"Yeah. Seeya." He didn't watch her go as she set off.

Bullette rose to two legs and threw her forehooves wide. "And that is why they call them tumbleweeds."

Octavia blinked softly at her mechanical companion. "Was there a purpose to that little story?"

"It was meant to elevate your happiness. Was I successful?" She dropped back to all fours with a hopeful little smile.

Octavia reached forward and booped the filly on the nose. "Your attempt was well-intended, and I appreciate that. Bullette, can you help No Name, when things get troubling?"

Bullette tilted her head softly, her eyes going funny a moment at the boop as if that created some interference with her circuitry somehow. "In the event of hostility, I am equipped with a number of defense mechanisms." She raised a hoof to her chest. "I am not permitted to use them without permission." She glanced toward No Name before leaning in closer. "That is a rule that has been broken before."

Octavia perked an ear curiously. "So you don't have to follow your programming?"

Bullette pointed at Octavia. "Do you?"

Octavia blinked, struck wordless a moment. "I'm not certain, having never seen my own programming before." She inclined her head slightly at Bullette. "I couldn't even say with confidence that ponies like me even have that."

"Incorrect," sang Bullette in her digitized voice. "All things have programming. Some are simpler, some are more complex." She thrust a hoof forward at Octavia. "Smart things have the best programming line." She moved the hoof perfectly from left to right. "If you don't like some programming, you can change it."

Octavia shook her head slowly. "I never considered it that way before. What if I like my programming but everything around me keeps changing instead?"

Bullette fell to her haunches, a soft ticking noise revealing that she was considering that deep thought. "Two options," she suddenly sang. "Change what is around you to match your programming. Change your programming to match what is around you." She tilted her head. "Third option not found."

"Hey," came a new male voice. Lunarquill was approaching them at a good pace, a small bundle held in his left hand between his talons. "It's finished."

Octavia's ears perked as she hopped up to all fours, looking at Lunarquill excitedly, her tail even wagging a little without her realizing it. "Let me see!"

Lunar laughed softly. "I didn't expect you to be that happy to see me, or her, I suppose." He brought his other hand in and they seperated, one taking the wrapping as the other held the polished gun as it came into view. "Ain't she something?"

Octavia reared up, trying to grasp at the gun with her hooves, but he warded her away easily. "Calm yourself. This ain't for your hooves except for reloading anyway."

"Show me how to do that," she insisted. "Please," she quickly added, coloring faintly. "Oh, Bullette, this is--"

"Lunarquill, profession: Gunsmith. Reputation: Positive. Classification: Friendly Acquaintance. Friendship Status: Uncertain. Hello!" She waved excitedly at Lunarquill. "You fabricated that firearm for Octavia?"

He waved the gun in his hand, his talon holding it around the drum of ammunition. "Not from scratch, but what is these days? It's ready for action, which is what's important." He dropped to a crouch, suddenly more on Octavia and Bullette's level. "Suppose you don't have to worry about that."

Bullette looked befuddled, trying to parse that statement.

Octavia reached anew for the firearm. "Will you show me how to use it?"

"Everything alright over here?" asked No Name in his default voice, trundling towards them on heavy hooves. "Bullette didn't make a mess in your workshop again, right?"

Lunarquill gave a warning look at Bullette before snorting. "Not this time. She's just trying to look cute and innocent. Nah, I'm here for her." He hiked a free thumb at Octavia. "She's ready to be armed, and I'm gonna show her how to do it."

Octavia bobbed her head. "Yes, certainly. When can we begin?"

No Name directed an ear at Octavia, though his eyes remained trained on Lunar. "Treat her right. If she wants to defend herself, I won't stop that."

Octavia opened her mouth, looking ready to argue, but it faded before forming. "Thank you, for your concern." She inclined her head. "I am, however, not a foal."

"Course yer not," agreed the massive beast of a pony. "But from where I stand, everyone's a foal. Just the way I see things."

Lunar rolled the gun in his hand. "Well, now that this charming little interaction is done with, can we get on with it?" He rose up to his feet and shrugged his shoulders in a direction. "There's a clear area just over there people use for target practice, and you'll be one of them."

Bullette clicked and whirred as a heavy rifle unfolded from her back, its barrel extending only after it emerged from her metal frame. "Permission to engage in targeting calibration?" She smiled at Octavia. "Mutual practice can increase friendship ratings!"

Octavia looked back and forth between her would-be teacher who was already walking away and the eager death robot to her other side. "I don't see any particular harm in it, if you don't mind?" She looked to Bullette's apparent guardian, No Name.

"Nah, she knows which end's which with that thing." He started for the clearing himself. "Like the back of her hoof, considering it's part of her. Don't mean she don't appreciate some practice some when she has the chance."

They moved as a loose crowd and found the clearing was not empty. There were two ponies standing side by side, taking shots at some target dummies down the line. The dummies were as varied as the people of the town. One human outline stood beside a pony, then a draconic shape and something whose pattern Octavia couldn't discern, though it had clear tentacles reaching out in various directions.

Vinyl was one of the two, and she looked over when they started approaching. "Hey, Octie! You're looking pumped! You come to see me shoot a few?" She twirled the gun she held in her magic. "I'm getting better at it, though good music really gets me going. What can't music fix, huh?"

Lunar turned to face Octavia. "Now the first lesson on owning a gun is to assume it's armed at all times. You'll shoot yourself, your friends, and things you happen to like a lot less often that way."

Vinyl looked up at the griffon before looking back at Octavia. "You're shooting? I mean, no offense, but how?"

"Second rule, don't point a gun at anything you don't want a hole in." Lunarquill seemed to be entirely ignoring Vinyl. "Related, if you are pointing your gun at something, be ready to press the trigger. If you aren't ready, well, don't go pointing it."

Bullette bounced up to Vinyl, her gun bobbing on her back. "Greetings! We are here for targeting calibration, as are you? Are your sensors working in acceptable parameters?" She leaned forward, peering into Vinyl's shaded goggles with her electronic eyes. "Systems appear functional. Shall we begin?"

Octavia had her attention on Lunar, nodding softly with each bit of instruction given. "I understand the care needed for such a dangerous instrument. When do we begin using it?"

He smirked at her. "That was the most polite 'get on with it' I've heard in a while. Alright, here." He finally held the gun where she could get it. "There aren't any bullets in it, triple checked."

Octavia leaned up and forward, snatching it in her teeth. A deafening bang sent her to the ground, the gun clattering at her hooves.

"Not even a second, and you proved my point." He gestured at the gun. "Blanks, but more than enough to teach a lesson, right? You don't know how to hold it without setting it off yet."

Vinyl pointed at the blob of a target down the range. "I'll blow off one of its tentacles, watch." She lined up the gun, music playing in her ears. "Just like..." The gun barked in fury, sending a bullet down the range, but the tentacle remained, no new marks on it. "Aw shoot."

Bullette shook her head. "Aiming error, fifteen degrees left." She planted her four hooves on the ground firmly and began staring at the human target. "Identified, calibrating." She subtly began to pivot left and right, the gun moving with her, attached to her back as it was. "Calibration complete. Boom!" The gun kicked back at her, but her sure footing just dug her slightly into the ground instead of throwing her away.

The right hand of the target gained a hole down the field. "Success," sang Bullette, seeming quite pleased with her performance. "Try again. Repetition is key."

Vinyl chuckled softly, shown up. "Outgunned by the most awesome filly. I can live with that. Alright..."

Lunar reached for the dropped gun and lifted it back in front of Octavia. "You have to put your teeth here." He ran a finger along the groove meant for her teeth. "You have to keep your tongue back. Learning to talk while you're holding one of these is another bit of practice. This is why it's loaded up on blanks, so you can try that without becoming a menace to the town."

Octavia took the gun a bit more slowly than the first time, her tongue down against the bottom of her mouth. "Fank you," she got out, her pinned tongue not so good for talking. She dared to rise the muscle, feeling the trigger in her mouth ever so carefully. It was a simple rod of metal, but it didn't need to be complicated to work.

"Now, I built this for you," he insisted. "All you have to do is look straight at what you want a bullet in, then fire. Go ahead and try. Now, you won't put holes in things, blanks and all, but you should learn what it feels like to have something making that kind of noise and a bit of kick when you're using it."

Octavia turned towards the targets with a solemn nod. She fixed her eyes on the human target, wondering who could bring themselves to shoot a pony, even a fake one.

"Stop."

She looked to the side at Lunar, confused.

"You're looking with your eyes." His warning seemed to only confuse her more. "Look." He reached for her cheeks and pointed it at the target. "You have to look straight ahead, and turn your head and body. Keep your eyes straight or my magic won't work."

Octavia nodded, her vision bobbing with the motion as she forced them to remain straight ahead.  The effect was unusual, her eyes wanting to track what she was actually looking at.  She moved her head instead until her eyes felt relaxed, she was facing what she wanted to hit.

The second explosion of her gun made her clench her teeth harder instead of releasing it. Her gun didn't drop to the ground, and she hadn't exploded nor combusted. She felt unreasonably proud of her accomplishment. "There," she muffedly announced. "Can I try with a real bullet?"

The ringing of a bell, like someone beating on a bell with a hammer, rang out through the settlement. Those practicing looked around, but none of them hurried to action. Vinyl lowered her gun and lifted an ear. "Is that this town's raid bell? Shouldn't we be going somewhere?"

No Name waved a hoof slowly. "Nah, they get irate with us when we try to nose in on that."

"Affirmative," spoke Bullette sadly, but she quickly perked up. "The defense mechanisms of the town are more than sufficient."

Lunar huffed, arms crossed over his front. "Better be, I keep their guns working proper, and serve on the watch for my share of the time. That reminds, if you learn how to show that thing decently, Sheriff Long Shot may give you a watch detail or two."

Vinyl put her gun in her holster, looking at Bullette and her rifle. "You're already set up to go. Why wouldn't they want you on patrol?"

Bullette raised her hooves over her eyes. "Unpleasant memory!" she sang out in horror. "I apologized exactly fifty-two times."

No Name gently pat her back with a large hoof. "It's alright. She was having a, uh, miscalibration. She didn't mean to... Anyway, 'least we didn't get kicked out of the town."

Bullette bounced up suddenly, bouncing off No Name's hoof. "Yes, this is very good. I like Turves and would not wish for it to become an unauthorized area."

The sound of distant gunfire made every ear in the area turn towards it. Vinyl turned the rest of herself towards it. "You sure we just... sit here?"

Lunar pulled the gun out of Octavia's weak grip. "Yeah, we're sure. Let the patrollers do their job. If they need us, they'll call for it. Now, let's go over how to reload." He held the gun where Octavia could see what he was doing as he pressed the barrels clear. He turned it and the unspent bullets spilled out into a waiting hand. "No reason to waste them, even blanks. Side note, desperate? A blank'll still do some damage. Don't start there though."

Vinyl trotted over to Octavia's side. "You gonna bring some class to gunslinging? Can't wait to see it." She looked at the strangely shaped gun. "So that's how an earth pony can use a gun, huh?"

"I'm learning," grumped out Octavia. "Now, how do I do that?" Her hooves were stubbornly not sticky in the world they were in.

He turned the gun and placed it on Octavia's waiting hoof. It was still empty, the barrel that the bullets would go into empty. "Hold the gun nice and tight without blocking where the bullets go in." When she began clamping it between her hooves, he plucked up a single bullet and placed it beside her on the ground. "Pick it up, put it in."

Octavia glanced between the gun and the bullet on the ground as her ears danced. She could still hear what sounded like a fight going on. "Just pick it up," she muttered to herself. "Simple enough." She leaned over and tried to get her mouth over to it, but the gun slipped as her attention lapsed on the gun. She righted herself with a squeak, pulling the gun back upright.

Vinyl pointed a hoof at the gun. "Want me to hold that steady?"

"No! No. I can handle this." Octavia took a slow breath. "If I can't even arm this device, then what right have I to use it?" She leaned over and mouthed the bullet from the ground. Her skilled tongue turned it around to face out of her teeth and leaned in, kissing the place where it belonged. She felt the bullet slip free into its compartment. She had loaded a bullet! "See? No trouble at all."

Bullette clapped her metal hooves in a rapid little drumbeat. "Success!"

"Yeah, good work." Lunar set down five more bullets in a loose pile. "Now finish the job. You get them all loaded and I'll even let you take a few shots today before we take a break."

A soft chime sounded from the direction that the shots had been coming from. Lunar nodded softly. "That's the all clear, they did their job."

As Octavia resumed her chore with renewed vigor, Vinyl looked to Lunar. "Hey, so, did she ask for a gun?"

"Nope."

"Did someone tell you to give her a gun?" Vinyl hiked a mostly hidden brow.

"You have a problem?" asked the griffon. "You're using one. You don't want your friend learning how to defend herself?"

Vinyl waved her hooves wildly. "No No! I mean, of course not. If Octie's having a good time, I'm not gonna be the one to tell her to stop." She looked aside at her friend struggling to get each bullet in the gun. "Just figured people paid for things, you know, somehow, and..."

"And you don't think she can pay it." He nudged Octavia on the shoulder, making a bullet fall from her mouth to the ground. "Your friend doesn't seem to have much confidence in you."

Octavia grunted with annoyance. "Sod it all." She reached for the fallen bullet with her teeth. "Vinyl, my being armed makes this place safer for him as well. It's in his interest to have well-armed neighbors, provided they are pleasant sorts that will take action when the time requires."

"See? She has the right of it. If she's defenseless, that's someone I have to watch out for."

Bullette turned back for the targets. "We have not completed our calibrations. Friend Vinyl, would you wish to continue?"

Vinyl hesitated, but turned away from Octavia with one more glance back. "Yeah, alright."

Left to her peace, Octavia got all six bullets where they needed to be. Sweating from the effort, she smiled with triumph as she nudged the compartment closed with a hoof, it clicking into place in a satisfying manner.

"Well." Lunar pointed down the range. "You're holding a live gun now. She's a monster, and you should treat her like one, so be wary what direction her teeth's pointed in. Handle her right, and she'll treat ya right in kind."

Octavia rose the gun carefully before she got her teeth into the groove, hefting the gun up and looking around. Knowing the gun was properly loaded was a powerful sensation. She could dispense pain or even death with the mere flick of her tongue. There was just the matter of practice... "May I thire?" she asked, her tongue depressed to prevent any accidents.

He pointed to the blob, the biggest target. "Go for some center of mass shots. You just want to hit the target, not be fancy. We can save that for after you've got the basics down."

Vinyl was taking shots with Bullette. "Say, noticed something..."

"What is it?" asked Bullette with a curious electronic hint just before her gun fired firmly into the chest of the pony target.

"You fire real good." She squeezed off two shots in rapid succession, leaving two holes in the shoulder of the human target. "But you always take a while between each shot."

"Affirmative. I am calibrating each shot." She began to swivel slowly, zeroing in her next shot. "Miscalibrations have only caused trouble in the past."

Vinyl shook her head. "That's good and all, but if you take forever to shoot, the thing you're aiming at coulda already moved, right?"

"Affirmative," repeated Bullette, not sounding as confident.

No Name suddenly put down a hoof just in front of Bullette's shoulder. "Aim. No shortcuts, especially in town," he said in a stern lecturing voice. "Out in the wastes, you can try to be fancy." He looked to Vinyl, one of his snakes flicking its tongue before whispering, "Don't even hint she should take wild shots. That never ends well."

Octavia looked the blob over before fixing her eyes on its center and aiming the rest herself to match. "Firing," she announced though no one had asked. Her tongue pressed forward and the gun jumped in her mouth harder than it had with the blank. A hole appeared in the target. She had really fired a bullet. "Not bad," she declared to herself, noting the bullet wasn't too far off from where she had been looking.

"Not bad," agreed Lunar. "Watch your eyes. They like to stray, and you'll end up missing. Finish out the bullets you have there, then today's over. Think about what you did and why, and we'll get some practice in tomorrow. For now, I'll hold onto your gun. You'll earn the right to keep it once you've got the basics down."

Octavia glanced aside at where Vinyl appeared to be taking two and three bullet bursts, squeezing her trigger repeatedly to create patterns with the bullets in her target. If Vinyl could do it, surely she could as well? She looked the blob in the eyes, or where its eyes belonged as far as she was concerned.

Her tongue darted forward and even as the bullet came free, she pulled her tongue back and jammed it forward. The gun jumped in her mouth, the kickback seeming to double with the rapid fire. She heard a scratching noise from down range, and saw at least one hole where she had intended.

"One hit, one graze," provided Lunar. "Don't be fancy. One shot at a time until you have it down. Two misses are nothing compared to one hit. Clear your mind, be like the metal filly over there. There's no hurry during practice."

"Yes, right," murmured Octavia as she lined up her next shot. "Thank you, for your assistance." She was learning where to put her tongue, allowing a bit more elegance in her speech without approaching that sensitive trigger. 

"When I get to spend a day working instead of patrolling, you'll be paying me back." He nodded towards the target. "Go ahead. Feel for how the gun moves, where the bullet goes. It's alive, and you're its master. When it misses, that's your fault. When it hits, that's your fault too."

Vinyl stopped trying to convince her metal buddy to fire faster, contenting herself to getting out two bullets for every one that Bullette managed. When she ran low on bullets, she reached with her magic to a bowl apparently set aside for the task, full of dented but functional bullets. They didn't quite fit her gun, but, again, did so 'good enough'.

Pow. Pow, she shot as she kept half a concerned eye on Octavia. Po-click. Her third shot  seemed to grind to a halt. "The hay..." She lowered the pistol and turned it to look down the barrel when she was tackled by Bullette.

"Error!" bellowed Bullette in an angry tone. "Your life should not be terminated so easily. Consider the happiness levels of your friends. It will get better," she urged, her tone modulating wildly as she spoke.

No Name gently nudged Bullette off. "I don't think Vinyl was doing what you thought she was, but it was about as dumb. Don't ever look down the wrong end of a gun. Lunar?"

"Yeah?" He looked up from watching Octavia practice. "Oh, nasty." He jumped around Octavia and approached in a light jog. "Problem with scrap bullets, they don't always go down smooth. You have to clear them out. Coulda been worse. If you'd forced another bullet down there, coulda been ugly."

Vinyl surrendered her gun to the outstretched talons of the griffon. "Can you fix it? I was just getting in the groove."

"Yeah yeah, won't be... a problem." He pulled out a few tools and got right to work clearing the gun out, after he removed the remaining bullets it had loaded.
> 12 - Imperfect Score
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl and Octavia lay in their beds. They had separate ones, in a small house. It had belonged to someone they had never met once, but that person had met their end, as people do, and the house was available.

"Kinda crazy, huh," spoke Vinyl in the darkness of the evening.

"Hm?"

"That we get our own place, just like that... I mean, Long Shot didn't even hesitate."

Octavia perked an ear at her friend she couldn't see. "The way she talked about it, it sounded like this place wasn't... fresh on the market, so to speak."

"Yeah... Do you think they're alright?"

"The previous owner? I should imagine not, all things considered."

"Not them! The folks back at the human town."

"Worried about Cindy?" Octavia sat up a little, though it didn't help her see in the dark.

"A little, but more about the inhumans we were living with, ya know? Woulda been nice to rescue them if we were leaving..." Vinyl sucked some air through her teeth in a quiet hiss. "I really didn't see it coming that she'd just ditch us like that."

Octavia thought about the elf and the gnome, frowning unseen. "They are in a relatively safe place. Neither showed much actual desire to move on... Maybe that's why we were dropped off."

"Wha? That's crazy." In the dark, hooves clip-clopped towards Octavia. "You really think they wouldn't run if they could?"

Octavia flopped down onto her pillow, facing the incoming Vinyl. "I don't think the inhuman door was locked. I don't think this place is that far away. I don't think anything keeps them there but themselves."

Vinyl reached up and booped Octavia, pressing her hoof against Octavia's nose, scrunching it a little. "Answer me this then, miss smarty pants. Why wouldn't the gnome come running, if she wants a pony to ride around?"

Octavia wriggled her besmirched nose lightly. "Well... To start, many of the ponies in this town are of the smaller variety. It is, perhaps, quite rude to ask that of the larger ones. Perhaps she tried before and was rebuffed just as effectively as we had."

Vinyl stuck out he tongue, unseen as it was. "Aw shoot. If I'd have known that, I would have given her a few more rides. She gets so happy about it..."

"You were giving her rides?!"

"Why wouldn't I?" Vinyl reared up and put her hooves on the edge of Octavia's bed. "She'd get so excited... I just kinda... you know?"

"We can't save everyone," sighed out Octavia. "We haven't even saved ourselves, but I haven't given up hope on that."

Vinyl pulled herself up, standing on the bed. "Yeah, I mean, I get that, up here." She raised a hoof to her head, though Octavia couldn't see it. "But not here." The hoof lowered to her chest. "What kind of rock goddess just boogies on without saving all the ponies in need?"

Octavia reached up into the dark and found the furry form of her companion. "You realize, you have your own bed."

Vinyl sank down, half on top of Octavia. "Yeah..."

Octavia smirked softly as she was partially pinned. "Is this your way of requesting permission?"

"Yeah..."

Her smirk faded and she reached around, pulling Vinyl closer. "I'm sorry..."

"Yeah..."

Octavia bumped her nose against Vinyl's. "You need to say more than one word."

Vinyl wriggled herself under their suddenly shared blanket and snuggled up with Octavia in the dark. "Look... I'm just really glad you're here, with me, alright?"

Octavia's ears pinned back a moment, without words a moment before she recovered. "I am pleased that you are with me as well, Vinyl, not that I would wish this on you." She wasn't used to Vinyl being anything but relentlessly optimistic. "Are you alright?"

Vinyl squeezed closer to Octavia. The conversation died, but the contact continued. Soon the soft breathing of a sleeping mare was all that Octavia could hear. She smiled a little. There were worse fates than being clung to by her dear friend. Soon she descended into sleep herself.





"Anomaly detected," reported Bullette with a tilt of her had, looking over Octavia and Vinyl critically. "Signature unverified."

Vinyl pointed at herself. "A what now? Do I have something on my face?"

"You have something on your everywhere." Bullette stepped forward, a thin red line passing over Vinyl from herself. "I don't know what it is. Insufficient information."

Octavia considered the words of the metal filly. "Is there anyone around that might have that information?"

"An excellent idea!" She took off at a metallic gallop without hesitation, leaving them behind.

No Name shook his head at the sight of the retreating filly. "We'd best follow her." The two mares didn't argue with him and all three wove through the town to see where Bullette had run towards.

His large presence cut an easy path through the others moving along the road, few wanting to be in the way of the stampeding pony-like creature of such size, leaving Octavia and Vinyl to trot along easily behind him. It didn't take long to find themselves at a building that had a sign over the door that read, 'Sheriff's Office' in bold letters with a star displayed that matched the one that Long Shot wore.

Octavia quirked a brow at the sign and the building attached. "She went to Long Shot?"

No Name stepped forward at a slower pace. "She went to the person in charge." His voice shifted to a younger one, "The people in charge should know things, right?"

Without having to go inside, Long Shot emerged, Bullette bouncing around her. When she saw No Name, she smiled. "I believe this belongs to you, does she not?"

No Name nodded softly. "As much as she 'belongs' to anyone at all. I hope she wasn't causing trouble?"

Bullette pointed at Octavia and Vinyl. "Aetheric anomaly detected. Please advise."

Long frowned mildly. "I can't say I know for certain what that is, little Bullette, but that sounds urgent enough to find out."

Octavia cringed softly. "Did we do something wrong?" Her heartbeat began to pick up. "You aren't about to kick us out again, are you?"

Long shook a hoof in the air. "Perish the thought. You haven't done anything wrong, my dear subject. It falls on me to see to your well-being, not immediately banish you." Her eyes swept to Vinyl and back to Octavia. "Allow me to summon some help."

As Long trotted off purposefully, Vinyl slid up beside Octavia. "Hey, no need to panic."

Octavia raised a fetlock over her eyes. "Unlike some other pony in the dark?"

Vinyl colored just faintly, but was still smiling. "We all panic once in a while, but that's what friends are for, right?"

Octavia glanced up at No Name, who was speaking quietly with Bullette. "Right." She turned to face the other two fully. "Do you have any idea what this is about? We're not in any danger, are we?"

Bullette raised a hoof to her chin. "Probability of immediate danger only 12.4%. Status: Green."

No Name nodded softly, one of his snakes extending a little to speak, "It's better to be safe, so we'll let Long dig into this a little."

The rapid pitter-patter of a smaller pony approaching took their attention to a little stallion galloping up to them with a nervous smile. "(Oh, hello!)" He excitedly said in the trade tongue.

Octavia shook her head. "Do you speak ponish?"

"I do that too! I never heard it called 'Ponish' before though, that's not a bad name." He bobbed his head with satisfaction. "Anyway, I couldn't help but notice you come into town and you two seem like nice mares."

Vinyl nodded, hoof raising. "Nice to meet you, mister...?"

"Wanna go out!?" he blurted with a big smile.

The two mares stared at him, befuddled.

"My treat," he continued as if not reading the atmosphere. "It'll be fun. I know a really romantic place to run off to."

Octavia shook her head slowly. "I'm afraid we're--"

"--an item!" lied Vinyl, throwing a foreleg over Octavia and pulling her tight. "We don't swing that way, sorry little dude."

"Oh..." His ears sank with defeat a moment before they perked right back up. "Have you tried before? Maybe you just haven't met the r--"

Octavia popped a hoof into his mouth. "Let me cut you off right there. My friend has attempted, politely, to turn down your advance. Making it is one thing, pressing against refusal is another. Kindly depart."

He backed away from the mouth-blocking Octavia. "But..." The two mares were not giving him any kind looks, and No Name was starting to join in. "Well, uh... if you... change your mind?" He dashed away, rather than face their continued scorn.

Vinyl burst into laughter the moment the little stallion was out of sight. "If he'd come on maybe a little smoother, I mighta given it a try."

Octavia blanched audibly. "With... He's half your size!"

"You don't know that's true." Vinyl smirked devilishly, tail swaying. "Maybe he's a big boy where it counts."

"Vinyl, that is quite enough of that topic, thank you."

Bullette blinked slowly. "I don't compute. What are they saying?"

"I'll tell you when you're older," spoke No Name in a feminine voice, but it shifted to his more standard male, another snake taking over. "Meanwhile, if anyone offers anything 'romantic', you tell them to talk to me first."

"Parameter accepted." Her voice warbled in its digital way before she pointed. "Long Shot returns."

Long was returning with a Big Mao at her side. The bear appeared to be of the panda variety and wore a lab coat reinforced with visible bits of hardened plastic and metal sewn into it to make a functional but rugged-looking set of armor. "Those two," spoke Long, indicating Vinyl and Octavia. "Please examine them."

The bear ambled forward with a nod, clapping his hands together. "Hello, new patients. I've heard about you. Full-sized ponies are almost as uncommon as us Big Mao." He smiled as he lowered to one knee to look them more in the eye. "Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Octavia shook her head. "We're not experiencing any difficulties. Bullette seems to be seeing something is more the matter at hoof."

Bullette jumped in place. "Affirmative. Aetheric anomaly detected."

"Can you give me more details?" He sank down, sitting fully on the ground. "The more you share, the more I can figure out." He chuckled softly. "Never figured I'd be coming to you for a medical diagnosis."

"I am being helpful," sang out Bullette in a happy tilt of voice. Her eyes blanked out a moment before a wave pattern appeared across them, wobbling up and down in a pattern. "Unusual length detected."

He leaned in to get a better look at what Bullette was reporting. "Huh... I've seen something like this before..."

Long Shot raised a hoof to the sitting panda's shoulder. "Excellent news. I knew I was seeking the right source of information. Where and what is it then?"

"Couldn't say the what," he admitted with a shrug. "This signal shows up south of here, by the big lake. Most travellers avoid the place. No one wants their counters jumping in any pattern."

No Name perked up, his snakes hissing before one spoke, "Radiation?"

"Not a ton." The doctor? stood up and pulled out a curious little device. He clicked it on with a twist of his furry fingers. "Nothing in the area right now, that's good. Maybe it isn't radiation at all, just gets picked up? Whatever it is, you got it, little mares."

Vinyl stuck out her tongue. "You just finished saying we're not little."

Octavia took a step towards the panda. "Does that mean it may be a way home?" When he looked confused, she rolled a hoof. "We're not from here, this world. We're from somewhere else. If something has our 'pattern', couldn't it be a way home?"

He flashed a toothsome smile. "Could be! I wouldn't go on your own though. Wandering out past city limits is dangerous to say it mild." He waved to Long Shot. "Our Queen works hard to make sure the inside of the town's safe, but her kingdom ends with the town."

Long Shot nodded in solemn agreement. "My reach is limited. If you intend to go..." She looked to No Name. "I would ask you to accompany them. They know and trust you, I feel, and you will protect them." It wasn't much of a question. She seemed quite sure No Name wouldn't allow harm to come to them.

Bullette raised a hoof, waving it wildly. "Adventure detected! Bullette Belle is prepared for action at 110% efficiency." She grinned at the mares. "Prepare for fun and increased friendship ratings."

Vinyl quirked a smile. "Well, if that's where we need to be, I say we get to it. With a huge guy on one side--" She waved up at No Name. "--and a little wonder-filly on the other--" She waved at Bullette. "--what could go wrong?"

Octavia put a fetlock over her eyes. "Is that a challenge? The universe is all too happy to oblige if you ask it so kindly."

Long nodded to the bear. "Thank you for your assistance. You've served your queen, and the kingdom as a whole, well."

"Anytime, ma'am." He tipped his hat and ambled away from the scene at a relaxed rate.

Long turned her attention back at her would-be adventuring citizens. "If you succeed and leave, I will miss having you around. I wished to hear your music, Octavia. If you do not make it back, perhaps I could hear some?"

Octavia's right ear twitched, trying to parse that. "I don't have the instrument, Your Highness. Unless you have a cello laying about, I'm afraid I'm powerless to provide any music at this time."

"Mmm. Well, for now, take care of yourself. Wherever you go, you travel with my well-wishes." She started to walk past, towards her office. "Come visit if you have any need of me."

Vinyl poked Octavia in the side suddenly. "Hey, you never really got to pay back the bird dude for the gun he gave."

"He's a griffon," corrected Octavia. "And he has a name too. I should... talk to him, yes."

As Octavia trotted off in search, No Name sank to his haunches. "Feels like you just barely arrived."

Vinyl shrugged. "No promises this will be a door sitting there waiting for us to walk back to our world. Maybe there's like a huge maze of dangerous traps! Or maybe there's nothing at all and we just come back, mildly annoyed."

"What is your world like?" asked Bullette, leaning forward. "Is its atmospheric composition comparable?"

Vinyl tilted her head at the eager filly. "I, uh, think so? I mean... I'm breathing, right?"

"Affirmative," easily agreed Bullette, accepting the logic. "Please define key differences."

No Name put a hoof down in front of Bullette, blocking her view for a precious moment. "Don't pester her."

"Nah, s'scool," insisted Vinyl. "My world's pretty radical. It's filled with ponies like Octie  and me, to start." She waved a hoof in Octavia's general direction, as out of sight as she was. "So, uh, where are we going?"

"Insufficient data." Bullette hopped forward with the faint jingle of metal on metal. "Please continue exposition. How do the ponies in your world live?"





Octavia clopped a hoof on a sheet metal door. "Lunarquill, are you at home?"

"Mm? (Who is it?)" The door pulled open to reveal the angry and sleepy face of the gunsmith griffon. "Oh, you. What is it, gun jammed?"

Octavia reached to pat the holster that held her gun. "No, I am quite pleased to report it is in good repair. I've been told by Long Shot that I'll be going south, near a large lake of some kind."

"Huh, the big water? Dangerous." He seemed to wake up a little, stepping out of his house and closing  the door behind himself. "Be careful, right? But why are you knocking on my door about it."

"There is a chance that I will find there a means to return to my original world. If I do, then I shant return, and..." She looked guilty, glancing away and back. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"You've barely covered a shift on guard duty," sighed out Lunarquill. "Look, if Long Shot said to do it, then you're not reneging. Go on, find what you should find. You ain't going alone, I hope?"

Octavia shook her head quickly. "Vinyl, No Name, and Bullette are all accompanying me." She frowned briefly. "That name is quite curious. If he has a name of 'No Name', then he has a name, making the name somewhat invalid, don't you think?"

"Ain't my place to argue it," confessed Lunarquill with a shrug. "He's big enough to pick his own name as he likes it, or take up another if he prefers. The name must work for him, and who else really matters when it comes to that, right?"

Octavia nodded as she tried to get a peek behind him into the house he had just emerged from. "Well, I wanted to thank you. I really do appreciate the time and effort you've expanded, showing me how I can defend myself and those that are precious to me."

He flicked up a thumb in a motion a pony couldn't match easily. "No sweat. If you don't find what you're looking for, you're welcome back here. You still owe me more patrol time." He snorted in a good-natured way as he crossed his arms. "Don't get killed in either event. Just because you have a gun doesn't mean it's always the right answer."

"Of course, yes." She pat the holster gently. "A tool is not to be used at every opportunity, or one becomes quite myopic at best. I should get back to Vinyl before she gets herself into new trouble."

"Hey, she isn't as scatterbrained as you peg her for."

Octavia took a step away, paused, and looked over her shoulder. "I know... She is a dear friend. Can you blame me for worrying about any friend in this world?"

"Nah, suppose I can't do that." He pointed in the direction she'd come in. "Think I see her blue tail from here. She's brightly colored, let me just point out. Tell her I said good luck, and to come for repairs and upgrades if you swing back this way."

"I will do just that. Thank you." She bowed without turning back to him, then scurried away down the road towards her friends.

"(The favors I do for 'royalty',)" he sighed, retreating back into his home. "(She better give up some good scrap when I want it.)" His door closed with a gentle click of the latch.





No Name looked between Vinyl and Bullette as the former went on and on about this paradise world. "This is fascinating," reported a bored older voice. "But, we have a trip to prepare for. Bullette can go whenever she wants, but I, and the rest of you, need specific supplies we should get." His voice recovered towards his default tone as he went, another snake taking over about halfway through the statement. A female voice rose, another snake looking at Vinyl, "Do you know how to prepare for a journey?"

Vinyl lifted her shoulders. "How hard can it be? I've been on tour a few times."

"Vinyl!" Octavia was returning, trotting towards them. "Glad you all didn't wander away while I was taking care of things."

"Exposition received," reported Bullette, sounding pleased. "I want to see this world. In order to do that, we must succeed in this mission, as friends." She sang the last word with obvious joy, voice warbling in her cry. "Begin sub-mission supplies!" She pointed a hoof at Vinyl. "I will take charge. You must have a low-sugar diet. I have not forgotten."

Vinyl burst out into laughter, flopping onto her haunches. "Oh yeah, I need to counterbalance your dangerously high levels of adorableness."

"Precisely," agreed Bullette. "I will secure a low-sugar supply of rations." She turned precisely to No Name. "Please insert currency to proceed."

No Name snorted softly. "They don't do that in this town. Just tell them you're doing a favor for Long Shot and they should cooperate," he assured in his default tone. "Why don't you take Octavia with you, she looks like she'd like to spend some time with you."

"Affirmative," cried Bullette as she bounced over to Octavia's side. "Begin operation. Are you prepared?"

Octavia smiled gently at the robotic filly. "There's no time like the present. Let us be off."

"Correct, there is no-- error! Present has elapsed." She sat down and clapped her hooves against the sides of her face. "We have lost the present. There is no other time like it! What do we do?!"

Octavia gently pat the back of the metal filly. "There there, we'll just have to make do with this inferior second-grade present. Come along, no reason to keep wasting them."

Vinyl watched the two wander off before looking up at No Name. "Why'd you send her with Octie? I woulda gone with her in a flash."

"I'm sure you would have." A snake flicked its tongue at Vinyl, watching her even as No Name fixed his larger eyes on her. "I'm also sure less would have gotten done. She cares about you too much. That goes both ways. Octavia likes her, but it's a cooler thing, ya get?"

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "That's Octavia as a rule. Cool as ice and twice as lovely." She hopped up to her hooves. "Tell me we're doing something while we wait. Just sitting around sounds too boring."

"Actually," spoke a snake with a younger tone. "I should check in with someone. You're on your own. Let's meet back here in an hour." His voice shifted to a stern father. "Got it?"

Vinyl sighed explosively. "Yeah, daddy." She stuck out her tongue. "I'm gonna rock out a little. This place is nice and all, but way too quiet."

"You do that." He began to trot away, the ground rumbling softly under his motions.





Octavia tilted her head left and right, looking over the shelves of supplies. "You certainly do stock quite an amount of goods. Do people travel that often?"

The pony behind the counter smiled as a vulpine tail swayed behind her. "This is a trade hub. People need food, coming and going. I do good business. Are you going to trade?"

"Yes, we've come to trade with you."

The fox-tailed pony shook her head, vulpine ears twitching. "Not with me, out there." She waved a pony leg that terminated in a paw in a vague direction. "That's why you need food, right?"

Bullette shook her head quite precisely back and forth at exactly the same angles. "Incorrect. We are searching. Operation doorway! We are in preparation mode. Do you have low-sugar supplies for a pony?"

The shopkeep drummed her chin with her stubby little claws. They weren't long enough to call fingers or even serve as them. "Sure, but most of them use a little sweetness to bind the packages together. Mmm, maybe something more starchy." She hopped up onto the counter with the clop of her hindhooves, just to jump back down on their side and trot up to a shelf. "Like these."

Octavia approached quickly, reaching a hoof. "May I try one?"

The vixen-mare raised a brow. "Just one."

"Of course." Octavia grabbed a bag in her teeth and pulled it down to root in it and pull out a single brick. "This is one meal, I gather?"

"Yep, each one is good for one person. You probably don't even need the whole thing." She reached out and quickly snapped the brick in half, held clumsily in her paw. "Here you go."

Octavia bit into it and munched it in her mouth. It had hints of the same tough roots they were fed in the inhuman house, but fresher and yet more preserved all at once. "Mmm, this will work."
> 13 - To Leave a Welcome Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was no grand party for the event. Long Shot had shown up though. "Succeed or fail, I command you to come back, if you can, and know you are welcome here."

Vinyl made a flowery gesture with her hoof even as she lowered her front, bowing far more elegantly than she had to. "As you command, Our Queen. Even if we may end up leaving."

No Name was facing out of town, looking out along the faint road that cut a path into the wastes. "I'll keep them safe," he promised in his default tone. Another snake was facing the girls. "As if we'd do anything else," sighed the second.

"I know you will," agreed Long Shot. "Take care of yourself too. You are a beloved subject as well, worthy of protection."

No Name looked over his considerable shoulder at Long Shot. "(Ya don't have to lie for their sake.)"

"(I am not in the habit of speaking falsely,)" retorted Long Shot with an irritated huff. "(You are my subject. I forbid you from coming to harm.)"

No Name shook his head, snakes dancing in a light bobbing in the motion. "(You can't 'forbid' that and you know it.)"

"A good queen at least tries..." Long sighed to herself as she turned away. "(Please.)"

Octavia looked between the departing queen/sheriff and No Name. "I will assume what you spoke in another language was for your ears only. Are things alright?"

"Yeah," he said, though in a mildly feminine tone. His pitch swung back to his default as he rose and took the first step. "We should go. It ain't getting any closer."

Their procession began. Unlike the last times Vinyl and Octavia went traveling, there was no cart involved, and neither of them had much attached to them. No Name had heavy saddlebags filled with their food and water. He was the largest, and seemed to be able to hold it all without complaint.

Bullette had a smaller set of bags on, likely worn despite any amount of complaining from her large caretaker. Her bounces didn't seem to make them bounce as if they held much, as if she had put them on just for the sake of wearing them and matching No Name. "Adventure begin!" she sang out as they left the town borders. "Danger level: Yellow. Permission to disengage safety locks?"

"Yeah, you do that," agreed No Name, though he didn't sound happy about that. "Keep in my sight though. I have to keep you safe, and we both have to keep them safe, right?"

"Affirmative," sang Bullette as a series of clicks and pops came from inside of her. "Safeties disengaged. Combat mode accessible."

Vinyl hiked a largely unseen brow. "That huge gun coming out of your back wasn't 'combat mode'?"

"Negative." Bullette appeared to be as excited as No Name was sullen, singing each word with a smile. "I have many other armaments that are not permitted for use within settlements."

"Fer the best," agreed No Name. "That's how we got chased out of a few towns we've been in."

Bullette skid to a halt. "Error! I have caused you sadness."

No Name reached out a hoof, booping his metal ward on the nose. "You ain't done no such thing. C'mon."

Apparently satisfied, Bullette bounced forward, resuming her enegetic pronking along the dusty road. The ashes of the waste seemed to grow thicker as they went, away from the fastidious cleaning of the town increasingly distant behind them.

Octavia swerved mildly to walk alongside No Name. "I gather no such mishap has occured in Turves?"

"You'd think that." He was smiling awkwardly. "But that ain't entirely true... We caused some trouble there, but Long Shot chastised us plenty instead of gathering up an angry mob to chase us out. That mare's a little... not there, up here." He gestured upwards but didn't bring his hoof to his head, perhaps too busy walking. "Not that I mind it. We're all a little something these days, and at least her broke's a nice broke."

Bullette shook her head. "Sad Time 90-Alpha-Beta. It ended with a gift." She nodded firmly to cap  it off. "Long Shot is the best queen."

"She's the only queen you ever met," corrected No Name, facing forward. "And I don't think she's even one of those."

"Error. She desires that title. It has been accepted by the people. She is a queen," spoke Bullette in a slow processing of the points in her debate. "Long may she reign."

Vinyl snorted out a half-chuckle. "She's also a sheriff. Queen sheriff! There's a title. Any idea why she's, uh, that? I mean, did she run for sheriff, then go for queen?"

"The way I heard it," spoke No Name, eyes scanning the horizon as he walked. "She wandered in out of the wastes a long time ago. Thin, hurt, barely there, but she went and declared herself Queen of Turves right there on the spot. Starving, she began barking orders and telling people what to do."

Octavia inclined her head faintly, imagining the strange sight of a malnourished alicorn rambling out orders in a starving stupor. "And they accepted her?"

"I wasn't there for it." No Name lifted his large shoulders. "They musta liked what she was saying. They said the town turned a corner. It stopped shrinking, then started growing. Once she was cleaned up and given the sheriff's star, she took to it eagerly, and Turves ain't doing so bad, right?"

Vinyl shot a hooves up mid-step. "Nah, not a bad place at all. It's kinda like Ponyville, with all the different kinds of people living together all nice and cozy."

"Ponyville is mostly ponies," corrected Octavia. "Turves had--"

"--Mostly ponies," cut in Vinyl. "Sure, most of them were the smaller ones, but they were still ponies. I rest my case."

Octavia perked an ear at her companion, noticing she could hear music coming from her headphones, but her horn wasn't glowing. "I thought you were saving your batteries?"

"Turves has a generator, and it works. I plugged it in and let it charge up." Vinyl reached up to tap at her headphones. "I got plenty of juice. If it runs low, I can switch back to horn power." Her horn did glow then, snatching out a small cylinder from her pocket. "I got a flashlight while I was there." With a click, a faint light appeared, shining out into the ashen daylight.

Octavia nodded at the small device. "Not a bad idea. That may come in handy, especially if we're attacked at night again."

Bullette popped up between them. "You were attacked?! I will not permit a repeat of this event."

Vinyl reached over to pat Bullette on her lower back. "You're a good little metal filly. I feel safer having you around. I bet you'd know how to handle a crazy doggy or a bunch of insects, right?"

"Countermeasures online," easily agreed Bullette. "Lighting situation will only slightly impair effectiveness. Have no fear, Bullette Belle is here!" She began to sing towards the end of her report, looking happy about her combat ability.

Octavia's eyes spotted and followed a lonely tree sprouted out of the flattened land. They were not approaching it, passing it at an angle. "When there are so few of them, only one really stands out." She couldn't help but watch the tree as they slowly moved past it. "I wonder what it would grow, if it could grow something..."

Vinyl looked to where her friend was focused. "Is it even alive?" It looked thin, skeletal, and had only a spattering of leaves dangling from it to capture what counted as sunlight. "Not sure it ever made any fruit at any time."

Bullette's eyes clicked over to join the crowd, peering at the tree. "Error. Tree species does not produce fruit."

"You recognize it?" asked Octavia with some surprise."

"Affirmative. Oak." Bullette nodded with confidence. "Food source, minimal."

Vinyl stepped to the side, closer to Bullette. "Say, do you eat?"

No Name's hoof came down between Vinyl and Bullette, answering for the temporarily flustered filly, "Only when she wants to."

"Correct," agreed Bullette, going with the answer No Name provided. "As a standard and healthy filly of my age and development, I eat perfectly standard amounts of ration and water for optimal health and operation."

Octavia shook her head at the exchange. "So, No Name, I notice you have no gun?" She glanced at her own, strapped in a manner as to be quickly reachable with her mouth. "Vinyl and I have one, Bullette... has several from the sounds of it."

"Guns ain't fer me," agreed No Name. He opened his mouth wide and the snakes within hissed softly before one resumed speaking, "The snakes are too small to hold a gun, no room in my mouth to do it. It's alright."

"If you don't mind my asking... how do you fight then?" Her eyes wandered over No Name. "Do you stomp things?"

"If I have to," he agreed, admitting that was a real possibility. "Barring that, this sign on my back ain't armor."

"Sign?" Her eyes darted over him, noticing there was a sign strapped to him, which she actually had assumed as part of his armor. It was a dirty red near the top and had words on it. SLOW CHILDREN AT PLAY is what it read. "I see... You swing that?"

"If I have to," he repeated. "I usually don't have to do it more than once or twice."

Octavia imagined the heavy metal being swung around by the large pony and felt quite certain she wouldn't want to be the target of that agression. "You've done this longer than we have, I presume?"

"Been around." His voice did not imply he was an eager participant in the talk.

Octavia picked up on the hesitation and let it die an ignoble death between them.

The first night away from town, Vinyl set up the tent they had brought. She pulled it free of No Name's bags with a glowing horn and quickly had it propped up. It had plenty of room inside... except for the pony who had carried it.

Octavia frowned at it, then No Name, and back again. "This will not do."

"Ain't no big thing," assured No Name, settling down beside the tent. "Anything sees me, maybe they'll think twice about bothering the rest of you."

Vinyl's still glowing horn reached with her magic, plucking out a blanket. "You can at least have this." She snapped it in the air, then let it fall over No Name, draping him in cold-warding softness. "Much better."

The three females withdrew into the tent, but Octavia still looked unsatisfied. "It's not fair, and don't start telling me I should accept that. We're not in a town, we get to decide what is fair and what isn't."

Vinyl lifted her shoulders. "I gave him our blanket, and where are we going to find a bigger tent out here? I thought he'd bring his own tent with him."

"As did I," sighed out Octavia. "Or I'd have gone ahead and gotten a larger one."

Bullette looked back and forth between the two. "I do not require sleep. I should wait outside." She rose smoothly. "Enter!"

"Mmm?" came from the outside. "Are you talking to me?"

"Affirmative. We are trading places."

No Name's head poked into the tent, though his eyes were closed. "Bullette, that won't work. There's not enough room."

"There is sufficient space," assured Bullette as she walked out under No Name's head. "I will watch for trouble. Scanners online. Sleep well."

No Name's head pulled free of the tent, his eyes opening to see Bulllette sitting quite resolutely in the growing darkness of night. "You don't have to do this..."

"I have already chosen. I do not require sleep." She pointed to the tent. "Bring the blanket."

He sighed, pulling the blanket close, held in the little mouths of several snakes at once. With very careful shuffling, he was soon inside, Octavia on his left and Vinyl on the right. None of them had much room, his considerable bulk pressing them against the sides of the tent.

"It's warm," noted Vinyl, rolling onto her side. "G'night."

Octavia rolled her eyes and looked to her large companion, her voice lowered to a whisper, "Why didn't you argue with her?"

"Nah... When she admits... she ain't a normal filly, it means she's serious. It hurts her." His ears pinned against his head. "I ain't gonna take that away from her." He sank entirely, eyes closing. "She prefers being a filly... That means sleeping and at least pretending to eat and drink."

Octavia gently pat his side with the flat of a hoof. "You're a good father."

"Doubt it." He smirked faintly. "Only she has though..."





"Sufficient light for activity resumption," sang out Bullette in a curious wakeup call.

The tent lurched to the left as voices muffedly escaped it. Vinyl was the first to tumble free, sleepily laughing as she picked herself up and started dusting herself off. "By the power of rock, I dismiss bedtime mane!" She ran a hoof through her frazzled mane and it was clean of the grit of hiking and sleeping, resuming its normal shape without complaint.

"Mm?" Octavia was the second free of the tent. "Were you casting one of your spells?"

"Yeah, a little but awesome one." Vinyl was grinning with pride as she turned around. "Where's Bullette?"

"I am here," sang out a pile of ash digitally.

Vinyl's horn glowed as she brushed away the ash in broad sweeps, revealing a safe but buried Bullette. "Begone, bed-time ickies," bid Vinyl as the ash was repelled from the watchful robot filly. "See? Best rock magic."

Bullette stood up, shaking despite there being little left to shake free. "Thank you for your assistance. Did you sleep well?"

Octavia poked at her friend. "May I impose on you to turn some of that 'rock magic' my way?"

"Nope." Vinyl grinned at the surprised look on Octavia's face. "Use your own magic. You have that, remember?"

"Well, yes..." Octavia curled on herself and pulled her two implements free. The doll of the old age, and the little super hero mare figurine. "Mmm..." The doll had brought fear, and felt heavily of the emotions of the old age. It was a tie to things that would not help her clean herself. She tucked it back where it had come from.

With the sound of canvas being pushed aside and something popping free of the ground, No Name emerged from the tent even as it collapsed around him, leaving it as a dissheveled mass of cloth on the ground. "Good morning," several of his snakes spoke at once in a shared sleepy chorus.

Octavia was peering at the super heroic mare. She poked the super heroine lightly. "If you wanted something to happen, you'd just want it to happen, and it'd happen. But I'm not a super hero."

Vinyl hiked a brow. "Hey, morning big guy. And says who? You're pretty super in my book. You can't do it because you never tried before."

"That is curious logic at best." Octavia felt the miniature between her hooves, closing her eyes. She tried to imagine herself clean and groomed, but no such simple magic came to her.

She heard Vinyl gasp and opened her eyes. Her brush was floating in the air, plucked from her pocket. It was not glowing with Vinyl's magic. It came at her and she shrank away, but it came faster than she moved. It began to brush her mane. Blinking in surprise, Octavia sank to her haunches, submitting to the seemingly aware and capable brush. "Did I do this?" she asked to no one in particular, eyes watching the brush as it worked through her mane fastidiously.

Bullette bobbed her head. "Sorcery detected. Alias: Unseen Servant. Power level, 1.3. Danger level: harmless. Manifester: Octavia Melody. Congratulations!" She brought her forehooves together in her rapid-fire clapping.

Vinyl stuck out her tongue. "Damn mare! You just showed me right up. I just did it the boring way, and you made a brush treat you like a queen? I'd say that's a step up." She reached up a hoof to tap at her own horn. "And you're muscling in on my territory. Earth ponies making things float. It ain't right." She laughed despite her words, looking far more amused than angry.

No Name was trying to fix the mess he made, clumsily gathering the tent. Just as he managed to get it somewhat folded, Vinyl snatched it and began re-folding it in the air, cheating in the way that unicorns did. He shook his head and turned to Bullette. "No trouble?"

"No danger detected within acceptable perimeter," agreed Bullette. "Mission resume?" Just a brief moment was all it took for her to perk up. "Error, breakfast required." She pointed at Vinyl. "Ingest low sugar rations for increased health."

"Yes, mom," snorted Vinyl as she tucked the folded tent into No Name's saddlebags.
> 14 - Into Uncertainty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several days passed. Travel was as fast as a light trot could take them across the quiet landscape. Octavia frowned as they went, looking around. "I really don't like how quiet it is out here."

"You?" Vinyl perked an ear. "I thought quiet was exactly what you liked."

"As a contrast to the rest of the day." She shook her head as she trotted. "As a constant thing, it loses its appeal. There are so few animals or birds. It's like this place is... dead."

"Nah." No Name gestured with a toss of his head. In the distance, three birds flew in a small formation, though they were sailing nowhere close to them. "Planet ain't dead, just sleepin'."

Bullette bobbed her head, still pronking along with seemingly endless energy. "I have seen proof of life. I have seen the sacred lemon."

Octavia hiked a brow at the metal filly. "Sacred... lemon?"

No Name chuckled softly at that. "I remember that. They got a lemon tree to grow and even make more lemons. They guard it somethin' fierce, but yer allowed to look at it, from a distance. I don't think they ever got another lemon to grow from the lemons, but I bet they're still trying."

Vinyl pointed up at the overcast sky. "Must be one tough lemon tree, if it can grow with all this not-sun going on."

Octavia squinted a little. "To think, a lemon... Did they allow you to taste one?"

"Negative." Bullette pouted as she bounced. "They claimed to require all lemons for their attempts to make more lemons. 60% chance authorized individuals have tasted the lemon." She paused mid-air, going still as if she froze her joints for just a moment. "Revision, 80%."

Vinyl snorted at that. "That's a safe bet. Still, a lemon tree? Sweet and sour all at once. Still, good. Nice to hear there's some fruit out here, even if it's just one tree."

Octavia looked side and up at No Name. "Would you believe that in our world, we have acres and acres of trees that grow so heavy with apples they occasionally sag under the weight?"

No Name's nose wrinkled a little. "If anyone else told me that, I would give them a shove for making things up." He glanced towards her, his large tail swaying behind him with mild interest. "Musta been nice, having an orchard."

Octavia blinked in surprise. "You know what an orchard is?"

He didn't reply, walking on silently.

Vinyl shook her head as she walked, an odd motion as she never stopped bobbing along with the music the others could only dimly hear. "Say, since you're hurting for some music, I could turn this on for everypony?"

Bullette  clopped her hooves together mid-jump. "Yes! Proceed with plan music track!"

Octavia opened her mouth but closed it without speaking. Could a robot appreciate music? Asking felt rude. "Can you play something less... jangly?"

"Just for you, Octie." She floated the headphones up and turned around the earmuffs to face outwards before hanging it over her neck instead of on her head. Soon soft classical music began to pour from them, filling the air with gentle tunes. "That more your style."

Octavia let out a thunderous sigh. "Yes, that's... lovely... Thank you."

"Analyzing..." Sheets of music played across Bullette's eyes as she pronked along, seemingly recording the complex arrangement being played.

The music seemed to soften the terrain around them in some hard-to-quantify way. The barren stretches felt more artistic than desolate in some way. Octavia watched them pass slowly with a faint smile, pleased to be at home with the music that had inspired her so many moons ago. "If I had my cello..."

"You wouldn't be pulling it around," finished Vinyl with a faint chuckle. "That thing's your baby, and it's really not portable."

"Well, yes..." Octavia smiled a little deeper. "Still, if I could hold it again... I do hope it's alright while we're off gallivanting around in some strange world."

No Name perked an ear at the two. "Don't reckon an instrument's going anywhere without you. Soon as we find a way to get you back where you belong, you can go back to making pretty music and forget this whole mess."

Octavia frowned a little. "I'm sorry. I must sound so... Your world isn't that bad."

"Sure it is." He waved a hoof around. "We messed it up pretty good. Maybe we'll fix it, in time, right? But it ain't that yet. Turves is a little slice of normal life, but that normal life still has regular attacks and gunfights to hold onto it. Ain't right. I can't blame you for wanting to get away from it."

Bullette crashed into him suddenly, plowing into his side. "Error! Initiate rotation of facial muscles."

No Name laughed in a half-snort, pushing Bullette away as he recovered from the stagger of her weighty impact. "Yeah yeah, I ain't getting mopey."

Vinyl veered to be a little closer to Octavia. "They're cute."

Octavia looked them over. One was a robot designed for battle with the mind of a filly. The other was a scarred brute of a pony that towered over them. He spoke with sadness through the snakes in his mouth. She spoke like a broken machine with a smile. They were a pair... "How did you two meet?"

"Permission denied," sang Bullette, sounding chipper and happy despite her complete denial. "Insufficient friendship rating. Please continue to amass friendship points to unlock this exposition."

"You heard her." He extended a forehoof, walking on his other three legs. She seemed to notice it quickly and hopped up onto his leg, then sprang athletically up onto his back. She sank into position, sitting upright upon her mighty steed. His voice softened to a feminine cast, "I don't argue with Bullette about this."

Vinyl waved a hoof up at Bullette eagerly. "How many friendship points do we have?"

Bullette tilted her head down at her new friend. "You are one of the few to inquire. Calculating... You have precisely 129 friendship points. Octavia Melody has 86 friendship points." She raised a hoof suddenly. "Addendum, Octavia Melody is registered as 'responsible adult'. Permissions adjusted accordingly."

Vinyl burst into renewed laughter, drowning out the music that played from her headphones. "So you like me more, but you trust Octie? I can see that. She is pretty reliable."

Octavia was coloring at the statement, looking away to hide her face. "I try to be responsible... You are my friend as well, Bullette."

"Affirmative," she cried with joy, clip-clopping her forehooves together rapidly. "Danger detected," she said without her usual happiness, dropping to a robotic monotone. Her clopping stopped instantly and her head turned precisely thirty-four degrees to the right. "Aggressive life-forms approaching. Weapon systems online. Prepare for combat."

No Name wheeled in the direction Bullette had turned. "Stay back. I know you both know how to shoot, don't mean you need to rush in. We'll clear them out in no time." He coiled back and grabbed up the great sign by its pole, his snakes slithering out around it as his teeth clenched it powerfully, pulling it into ready position.

The ground began to divot upwards, visible through the bulging ash, as something made it push up from below, approaching rapidly across the ash-covered ground. No Name charged forward even as Bullette began to unfold. Her original longarm sprang free,  but it had company. Her left forehoof began to rotate as a belt of ammunition fed into it, uncoiling from her side. Her right forehoof ejected a small gush of flame. Her eyes no longer showed the music she was listening to, turning a dark and angry red. "Target acquired."

Just as the bulge and No Name were about to meet, he slammed down his sign, pole first. It rang with a dull thump as he was pushed back several inches. Whatever it was, it had crashed into the sudden obstacle and shoved him and his sign back with the force of it.

Bullette's gun-hoof pointed just beyond the sign and with an almost eerily-quiet thwip-thwip-thwip the ash and dirt began to fly as she sent high-speed bullets into the spot she had determined the monster to be. "25% accuracy confirmed, calibrating." No Name said nothing, pulling free his sign and backing up just in time for the beast to emerge.

It was like a giant bipedal crab, a great pincer at the end of either of its arms. It was a mix of browns and greens on its thick carapace. Bullette's attack had scored a few hits, oozing its thick purple blood as it roared in defiance, moving for No Name without delay, but he was already dodging around it in a deceptively agile sprint despite his bulk. Its eyes twitched, one directed at No Name, the other at Bullette with equal intensity.

"We should help," suggested Octavia as she grabbed for her gun and pulled it from her holster into her mouth.

Vinyl drew hers with her magic. "Yeah yeah, let me switch to something more fitting." With a twist of her magic, she had the classical music banished and some heavy death metal thumping loudly. "Yeah! Go get em, guys!"

No Name swung his sign in a great arc, the air rushing to get out of the way of it as he grunted with effort. The creature brushed the sign away, snapping at it as if it were equally an enemy. Its other princer lashed out at No Name, grazing his left shoulder in a ragged line of red.

"Error!" barked Bullette Angrily, directing both hooves at the thing. "Negative friendship points." Flame and bullets disgorged from her extended hooves. It dove with a pained screech, retreating to the relative safety with dirt  between it and the angry metal filly, but she was following it with her bullet-spraying hoof, tearing up the ground and ash with her unending fury. "Error error error!"

"I'm fine," barked out No Name as he wheeled around, trying to get a bead on where the thing was hiding. "Help me find it."

The bullet belt detached from Bullette's hoof suddenly as the flame died down in her other forehoof. Her gun withdrew into her back. "Radar contact lost. Battle status: Clear." She suddenly played a victorious jungle as she returned to her usual state. "Danger level: Yellow."

Octavia frowned a little as she slipped her gun back into its holster. "Are you.. sure?" She dared to approach the two at a light trot. "It could be waiting to come back when we've dropped our guard."

Vinyl trotted up, her gun still held in her magic, bobbing along with her. "I bet little Bullette there will tell us if it dares to come back, right?"

"Affirmative," she sang, her good cheer returning before her electronic eyes rested on No Name's injury. "Error! Vinyl Scratch, administer medical treatment."

Vinyl blinked softly. "When was I a doctor?"

"Initiate routine 'Rock Magic,'" helpfully explained Bullette, pointing at No Name's shoulder gash.

He kept trying to turn, to hide the wound. "It ain't nothin' serious, Bullette. Stop worrying."

"Negative." She pointed at Vinyl. "Begin application!"

Vinyl snapped a sharp salute as the rock music faded in volume from her headphones. She holstered her gun and reached up for No Name. "In the name of rock, I banish this injury, to trouble someone who's less awesome." Her music blared just at the last moment, coinciding with her burst of healing magic, patching over the wound and stopping the bleeding. "There you go."

No Name stopped turning in place, sighing softly. "Yeah, thanks." He looked to where the creature had dived. "It ain't dead, so it could come back, but just as likely it was hopin' for an easy lunch, which we ain't."

"Affirmative," sang the robotic filly on his back. "Combat efficiency acceptable."

Octavia shook her head. "It all happened so quickly, we didn't have time to help. My apologies."

"Ain't nothing." No Name waved it away before starting forward. "Let that be the worst thing we run inta."

The creature did not return, nor did another come to challenge them. The next day they began to see some small signs of real life. Shrubs grew, clinging to life as they reached timidly for the grey sky. Some had even bloomed, dots of bright color defying the dull shades they had seen up to then.

Octavia moved up to one with a little smile. "I am not one to 'stop and smell the roses', as it were, but this..." She leaned in towards the plant, sniffing gently. "Mmm, what a unique scent." It was off from what she knew of roses, but clearly floral, and vibrant, and so very alive. "Why are they growing here?"

No Name pointed ahead of them. "We're getting close to the lake. The water must be helping them out. We'll probably be seein' more plants the closer we get."

Vinyl shrugged softly. "If it's so good, why not put your town over there, where you can grow stuff?"

No Name shrugged, but Bullette had a reply, "There are settlements along the river." She pointed into the direction, likely in exactly the right direction. "We are barred from the closest river settlement. River settlements have additional issues. Flooding is a constant concern due to unstable river levels."

Vinyl snorted softly. "Great, flooding or starving. I'll take the flooding. It can't be that bad, right?"

"The settlement remains," replied Bullette as if that should be answer enough.

Octavia reached out for one of the flowers, but hesitated. "No... I shouldn't." She turned away from it. "It's already working so hard just to be here, just for a pining mare to come along and pull it?" She took a step away from the bush and its flowers. "When we get back to Equestria, I'm filling my side of the house with flowers, fair warning."

"Warning received," robotically replied Vinyl before bursting into giggles. "S'cool."

"Be careful around flowers," grunted out No Name. "Especially bright red ones, but don't have to be."

"Mm?" Octavia perked an ear at the large pony. "What will a flower do?"

"Suck you dry of blood and use the rest for fertilizer." He lifted his heavy shoulders. "Best to assume they're not friendly."

Octavia blanched, paling around her nose. "How terrible... I'm glad the bush I had approached..."

"No promises it wasn't one." He glanced back at the bush they left behind. "They can understand you. They have a brain, sorta, however plants do that. Maybe it appreciated you not trying to pull a flower. Maybe it just decided there were too many of us around you for it to be a good idea. Or maybe it was just a bush and I'm worryin' over nothin'."

Bullette bobbed her head quickly as she pronked alongside No Name. "If a bush does not initiate hostile activity, we see no reason to attack. What were you doing with the flowers?"

"Smelling them?" She raised a hoof to tap at her nose, even if that almost made her sneeze as the smell of ash flew up her nose. "Mmmf, yes, a very nice smell."

Bullette suddenly smiled brightly. "Olfactory scanning! You enjoy that?" She sniffed quite loudly, her metal nostrils flaring as little fans inside pulled in air for analysis. "No harmful contaminants detected above acceptable levels, please continue breathing."

Vinyl stuck out her tongue. "I was going to stop, but since you say I should keep going, I guess I'll breathe."

"Acceptable," sang Bullette, looking pleased with herself. "Olfactory scanning is very useful for avoiding harm. Did you fear contaminants from the bush?"

Octavia shook her head a little stiffly. "I enjoyed the scent." She perked an ear at the robotic filly. "When you, um, scan something, do you notice anything besides the potential harm of what it is you're smelling?"

Bullette looked confused at the idea, a loading bar slowly filling her eyes. "Contents of air:" She began rambling off a dizzying array of molecules she had detected and their concentrations, along with each's optimal and maximum safe levels.

Vinyl pushed up her goggles a little. "That is a lot of information, but it doesn't tell us what it smells like." She turned up her nose and sniffed softly. "I can smell flowers, maybe some water? It's a bit fresher than where we were, but I miss the smell of nice things cooking in Turves. Rations is boring."

Bullette frowned a little. "Processing... What portion of the report contains the 'smell'?" she asked, tilting her head as she bounced.

Octavia lifted a hoof to gesture vaguely. "Smell is the mix of everything you detect. It's... more of a pattern than any individual thing. Try to scan, but instead of looking really close, admire the whole thing at the same thing, as a greater picture." She smiled a little. "You can appreciate art, right?"

Bullette's confusion suddenly lifted in a growing smile. "Affirmative. Smells are the art of olfactory sensing. My error. I was looking at each dot of painting instead of seeing the picture. I do that sometimes." She clonked the side of her head with a metal ring. "Initiating broadband olfactory scan." The little fans in her nose whirred as she drew in the air. "Mmm..." She analyzed the air in her new way. "Storing pattern for later comparison. This is a good 'smell', yes?"

Octavia struggled to describe it. "New scents are appealing. Sweet ones, without going overboard, can please. The scents of things we like are what draw us. If you enjoy the taste of apple, the scent of apple will be appealing."

Vinyl suddenly buried her nose into Octavia's side, speaking muffedly, "the smell of a pony you like works too."

Bullette bounced in on Octavia's other side, her fans spinning up as she tried to get a closer smell of Octavia. "Storing pattern for later comparison!"

No Name turned an ear towards the mares and filly. "Not going to get mine?"

"Negative," sang out Bullette. "Your olfactory pattern is already stored."

No Name colored faintly at that. Before she even knew what a scent could be, she had known to store his. "Oh... Um, good."

"Very good," she called out, her voice wavering in happy digital wobbles. "Now I understand why I feel better when I detect your pattern during an olfactory scan. Thank you, Octavia Melody. You have earned friendship points."

Octavia couldn't help but smirk at that. "You don't need to inform ponies when they earn friendship points. The thank you is sufficient. Most ponies don't keep such meticulous track of the friendship points others have earned, and you may confuse them."

Vinyl waved it away. "You can tell me if you want. It's like a videogame with an awesome metal friend as the boss and prize all at once. I'm totally alright with that."

No Name reached for Bullette, stopping her from bouncing back up. "What is that?" He sat down to point with his other hoof.

Ahead and to the left of them rose the remains of a building. It was no small hut, or even a hollowed out larger building. It was, relatively, intact as they all peered at it. It was about three stories tall, made of dull grey materials that had withstood the forces of nature arrayed against it. Though vines had crept up over it, showing that nature would not surrender until it had won, the structure was free of holes and seemed entirely without any obvious damage save for a lack of any surviving signs on its outside.

"Scanning." A small dish popped free of Bullette's head, wobbling in the direction of the building. "Pre-Blaze architecture detected. Salvage-Use: 4%. Salvage-Present: Unknown. Electricity detected. Warning, Danger level: Red. Permission to engage advanced combat mode?"

No Name shook his head as he squinted into the distance. "Not yet. We're not there, and I doubt whatever's inside is coming out to say hello just yet. You keep a lid on that until we go inside."

"Affirmative." Bullette turned to the other two. "Please exercise caution. The remnants of pre-Blaze technology in working order can be extremely hazardous to one's continuing functioning."

Vinyl and Octavia peered at Bullette, who was a pre-Blaze technology in working order. Still, her advice was hard to argue. Vinyl gave a sharp salute. "You got it. We'll be behind you two."

Octavia waved a hoof at the building. "We're not that close. How much further will we go before we camp for the night?"

No Name scanned the horizon. "Let's get to that." He pointed to a collection of bushes. "It'll give a little cover. Keep your eyes open for signs that anything else has been in the area."

Their pace slowed faintly, perhaps cowed by the building they were approaching.

Vinyl stumbled with an oof before turning back around. "Hey, what's this?"

No Name was the first to lumber over. "Tire tracks, great." He followed the line, but it cut left to right, not going directly for the building. There was only one line, indicating the vehicle was one or two wheeled. "Someone or something else was here not too long ago, I bet..."

"Permission to--"

"--Not yet," hissed out No Name, cutting off Bullette's request. "Let's get out of direct sight and try to get a little rest."

They hastened themselves, hurrying to the closest gathering of brambly bushes and pressing inside, much of the outside world become obscured behind the scraggly branches that coiled around them.

They set up camp without a fire, sipping water and chewing their rations as it grew dark around them.

"Danger level: Red," reminded Bullette Belle. "Resting mode: Disabled. Scan: Active."

No Name gently pet the back of his little metal ward. "I'll stay up with you."

Bullette pointed to the tent. "Negative. Retire for optimal performance."

He snorted softly. "If you can stay up a night, so can I. Don't underestimate me. Besides, the mares deserve a night alone for a change without me crowding them apart."

Vinyl threw a leg over Octavia, drawing her towards the tent. "You heard the big guy. Tonight's our night."

"W-what are you implying?!" Octavia was dragged despite her objection, it growing all the darker inside the tent. "Vinyl Scratch, what do you--"

A hoof pressed to her lips. "Shhhh." She was guided to the ground, then she felt the weight of a head come down on her side. The sounds of Vinyl's snores began to fill the area. There would be nothing more tawdry than being used as a pillow.

Octavia rolled her eyes before reaching, curling with Vinyl and trying to relax.

Outside the tent, Bullette's ears rotated slowly but completely, each doing full rotations without end. She sat like a sphinx, ready to leap into action, but regally posed in the meantime.

No Name was half on his side, looking out into the darkness for the enemies they could not see but feared were present. "Hey, Bullette."

"Affirmative?"

"Thanks."

Bullete's ears perked towards No Name. "Receiving of friendship points noted. What action prompted this?"

He reached for her, gently petting her metal mane. "For being you. For not leaving. Mostly for being you."

"I will continue to be me," spoke Bullette in a soft but happy tone. "Your identity is also pleasing to me. Please continue to be yourself."

He smiled faintly in the dark, though he knew she could see him just as clear as mid-day. "I'll do my best, even if I don't get what you see in me."

"I see a pony of exceptional size and empathy. I detect my caretaker and #1 ranking friend. I detect a pony that is as bad as I am at conveying and understanding emotions."

"Hey!"

"I speak only what I detect." She tilted her head a little. "Am I incorrect? Do my sensors need calibration?"

"Nah..." He pulled her closer. "You're perfect just the way you are."
> 15 - Sheltered in Metal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day came in the gentle way of the ashen age. There was no harsh glare of the eager sun, just a soft diffuse glow that came from the sky, casting even and gentle light across the stretches.

No Name snorted as something poked him on the cheek. Bullette was prodding him with the flat of a hoof silently, waking him up. He rolled upright just in time for her to sing out that it was time to awaken to the others. She had spared them knowing that he had fallen asleep.

Octavia was the first to emerge, a brush working through her mane diligently as another ran across her form, soothing all the tangles in her pelt. "Good morning. I trust there were no issues?"

"No dangerous lifeforms detected within acceptable range," agreed Bullette with a happy warble to her words. "Are your batteries recharged?"

Octavia lifted an ear. "I feel... I am within an acceptable range of energy for a mare of my age and health."

Bullette blinked rapidly. "Are you adjusting your vocal routines for my benefit? That is not required." She clopped a hoof on her metal chest. "I will endeavor to speak closer to the standard accepted by those around me."

"Nah." Vinyl slipped free of the tent, already clean, though not as nicely brushed. "Octavia's being silly, and you're being awesome. You do you, Bullette."

"I wouldn't give it no big thinkin'." No Name shrugged as he turned for the factory. "We all talk our own way." His voice deepened into an ominous rumble, "We should prepare. It's time." A snake coiled to look at the others despite his face trained on the building. It spoke in a lighter tone, "Be careful, and stay near me."

Vinyl's glowing horn made short work of the tent, folding it up quickly and stuffing it in No Name's saddlebags. "Breakfirst first, right? Even a rock goddess needs a few cals to get going."

"Affirmative." Bullette's legs extended a little, letting her reach No Name's saddlebags more easily. She rapidly procured the rations and tossed them with a flick of her head, one to each of the mares. The last she held in her mouth as she came around in front of No Name.

As they all munched on their breakfast, Octavia looked over No Name. "You are looking rather energetic for not having slept. You are very resilient."

No Name folded an ear back. "With Bullette, anythin' feels possible. Like wandering into an old, active, building probably filled with war tools like it ain't no big thing."

Bullette shook her head. "While I am pleased that my presence inspires confidence, this activity remains danger level: red and proper caution must be taken. Permission to enter advanced combat mode?"

No Name looked to the building once more, a heavy sigh escaping him. "Ain't no use putting it off more... Go ahead."

"Affirmative," she said, her tone lowering as armor sheets rolled out over her legs. Her eyes began glowing an eerie red shade as targeting reticles in sickly green swept over them, seeming to take in everything around her all at once. The belt of ammunition from before sprout from her side to click into her left arm as the nozzle of her flamethrower poked free of her right hoof. Despite this, she seemed able to walk, though was slowed by it.

No Name grabbed her by the nape of the neck and tossed her up onto his back, ready to be his personal turret.  "Be ready in case of robots."

"Robotic countermeasures: Online." Her large gun popped free of her back as an arc of electricity ran through her from the top to the bottom with the promise of other ways to inflict pain. "Accessing archives. Countermeasure tactics loaded: Robots, Cultists, Spirits, Bandits -- Error."

Vinyl waved up at Bullette. "Error?"

"Tracks match known bandit profile."

No Name rose to his full height, looking towards where the tracks had been. "They won't be inside." He began to walk towards the building in the great steps his form provided. "Let's get moving."

Octavia spared a glance towards where the tracks had been, but that paled before the more immediate threat of the building they were approaching. It seemed wholly unnatural. After seeing nothing but the remnants, skeletons of structures, to see one that stood in outright defiance of the 'natural' order made her skin crawl.

Her brushes floated in front of her, obediently making it known that they were done grooming her. "Anyone else want a brushing?" she asked, knowing the floating would continue for some time.

Vinyl hurried up and pushed her nose against one of the brushes. "Hit me with that classic magic of yours."

As they marched towards the building and their potential harm or death, they would at least do so looking properly cared for.

The entrance was partially obscured, hidden from casual sight until they had practically run into it. Covered with vines and growth, the metal double door seemed intact beneath it. "That's encouragin'," noted No Name. "If you could see it, you'd have to ask who was keepin' it open."

Vinyl waved her shining horn, plucking at vines one by one.

"Initiating defoliant treatment." She raised her flamethrower-equipped hoof and with a great rush of fire began to burn the side of the building and the plants clinging to it. "Incineration complete in 68 seconds. Monitor for uncontained fire."

Octavia winced at that, taking a step back. "What do we do if the fire spreads?"

No Name shrugged from beneath Bullette. "Running works."

"Incineration complete in 40 seconds."

Vinyl tilted her head left and right. "Huh, the vines aren't dead, so they aren't catching as easy as I thought." Her eyes traced where the burning vines withered and died. The fire did not spread eagerly past where Bullette was directly setting on fire. "Hey, BulBul, you can stop now I think."

Bullette blinked her eyes, red as they were. The flames cut off abruptly. "BulBul? That is not my designation."

Vinyl grinned as she pointed at herself. "I'm cashing in some of my friendship points."

Bullette tilted her head with growing befuddlement. "Please state the transaction being performed."

"I know the rules." Vinyl nodded to herself. "It probably takes... maybe 30 points, but I'm giving you a personal nickname, BulBul. I'll earn those back because the name is picked out of, you know, good feelings, not, like, a mean nickname or anything. You'll like it."

As Bullette seemed to grapple with the name being given to her, Octavia advanced on the door. The flames were already dying away, leaving shriveled and charred vines behind. The flowers that had clung to them were basically little more than ash to join the rest. "I should imagine this was not one of the hostile plants, or it would have reacted."

"Wager it would have." No Name reached out and hoofed at the door handle, trying to get it open with little success. "Hey, Vinyl. If you're done confusing Bullette, can you get this?"

"Huh? Sure." Vinyl's horn glowed as she felt around the handle. "There's a catch." A loud click echoed in the area as she pressed it. "And..." She gave a firm pull and the door swung outwards. The inside was dark for only a moment before lights flickered to life, illuminating what looked to be a sizable entry hall of sorts.

No Name scowled. "I don't like that. A fancy lever right there means it was made for unicorns, or bipeds. My money's on bipeds..." He lowered himself and wriggled through the wide enough but perhaps slightly short set of double doors, winning access with his rider. "No way but forward."

Octavia and Vinyl hurried inside. Vinyl pulled shut the door behind them. "If whoever shows up, they're out of luck if they can't find the switch." On the inside, the doors had a clear bar for pushing, which seemed simple enough to operate even for a pony with hooves alone. "Now, just in case." She pulled free her flashlight. "Just because it's all light now doesn't mean it'll stay that way."

Octavia was gaping at the wall, where a poster was hanging, defiant of the years. Its colors were faded and the ink gone in places, but the picture could still be made out. It showed the pony icon of defiance, Sunset Sally, but there was a big red circle around her with a line through it. Words were written, but they were worn with time and not even in proper Ponish, or was that Sylvan? "Your assumption of bipeds feels more likely..."

"Designation accepted!" suddenly cried Bullette in defiance of what was going on around her. "Friendship point total updated."

Vinyl pumped a hoof victoriously. "Alright, BulBul, let's check this place out. What's that about bipeds? Like the bears?"

No Name nodded as he walked slowly across the tiles. "The bears are harmless. Watch out for humans. They were one of the major sides in the war." He approached a metal desk that dominated much of the right side of things, walking along it slowly. "Trans-Tech," he read outloud from a plaque that rested on the desk. "Name of the place?"

Octavia's ears perked. "That sounds like a place that may know how to reach another world," she excitedly noted as she rushed for the desk. "Do you see anything?"

"Nah." He reached out a hoof, brushing old papers aside, but most of them fell apart as soon as he began touching them. "Wanna look behind?"

Vinyl hopped up onto the desk without further prompting, then down on the other end of it. "Oh hey, what's this?" A fattish object floated up and rested on the desk. There was an image on one side of it, and it was not still.

"Welcome to Trans-Tech," it read with a swirly image of a portal icon beneath the worlds, perhaps their logo. It all faded away with a new prompt, "User:" and "Password:".

No Name pointed at the keyboard that wasn't far away. "You have to use that, which I ain't doin'. Typing with hooves these large is just not a thing." He wobbled his mighty hoof for all to see.

Octavia pulled herself up onto the desk to peer down at the keyboard. "It has far too many buttons, and they're too small." She frowned a little with thought. "Fingers, that must be they key to it." She waved a hoof at the board. "Brushytime--"

"--You nicknamed it? Brushytime?" Vinyl was grinning with mischievous joy. "I'm remembering that one."

"Ahem, yes. Well, try it. Hit... that one." The unseen presence that had brushed Octavia was still present and it obediently pressed the key she had indicated. The same character appeared on the screen under the user name. "I see.. It's a 1:1, that's good... Shame I have no idea what... the user would be?"

No Name hiked a brow. "I'm more impressed a human place has things written in sylvan. Humans have lots of names, could be anything. Maybe we don't want to just try random things."

"Affirmative." Bullette raised a hoof as the bullet feed popped free of it. "Exiting combat mode. Please place me within operational distance of the computer."

No Name huffed softly with clear displeasure at the idea, but he looped back on himself, grabbing Bullette and placing her gently down on the desk beside Octavia. "Be careful."

"I will use all standard precautions," assured Bullette, her voice warming as her armor pulled away and she finished exiting combat mode.

"Use some extra ones," urged No Name. "Don't get hurt."

Vinyl clopped her hooves together with  building excitement. "Tell me you're gonna... oh you're doing it! You are earning so many friendship points right now."

Bullette did not reply. Her eyes were on the screen as her hooves divided then divided again and again, becoming a fine weave of wires and hard points that began to click at the keyboard at a dizzying rate. The user name cleared away and filled in only to clear away and fill in before any of the others could even see what was typed. It was a mess of characters forming and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

"Exploit found," sang Bullette. "Accessing backdoor." The sound of a creaky wooden door played from deep inside her.

Octavia leaned towards Vinyl. "Do you have any idea what she's doing?"

"Nope," exclaimed Vinyl. "Doesn't stop it from being awesome. Show that thing who's boss!"

"Countermeasure d-d," her head slumped and the lights of her eyes went out.

The room became still a moment, all three faces locked on the still form of Bullette.

"Gods damn it!" roared No Name in a cacphonous chorus, hisses rolling out between the syllables as all his snakes joined the cry. "Save her!" His hooves trembled, clearly wanting to yank her away, but just as afraid that would cause more harm.

Vinyl held up a hoof straight up, her foreleg bent. "Stop. Wait... Wait for it..." She was watching Bullette along with the other. "Wait for it..."

"Vinyl!" exclaimed Octavia, shaking her head rapidly. "Just... tell me you know something."

"I know I have more friendship points to earn. Have some faith. She's, I dunno, saving all her power to fight. We have to be there for her." She floated her headset up to flip around the headphones, some electronic music starting up. "Go on, we're with ya, promise!"

Octavia took a slow breath. "That... makes no sense, but there is little else we can do. Bullette, if you can hear us, we're here, and we're waiting for you. Come back, please... when you can. Be safe."

No Name rose to his full height. "If she so much as twitches, you let me know." His voice was strained and weak, his rebellious snakes revealing how hurt he was as he turned and walked away slowly. "You can't leave me..."

"Don't be like that. Go on! Get 'em--what was that?" One of Vinyl's ears perked up at the distant but approaching sound of something striking metal in quick click-clacks.

Octavia held out a hoof and her unseen presence grabbed her miniature and set it on the hoof. Soon a field of energy snapped into being around her. She was already reaching with her mouth for her gun.

Vinyl floated up her gun. "I'm ready, got the music already going. We have this."

"Have wha--" His question was unfinished. With a crash, a balcony one story up was broken wide, a creature that looked like a great predatory cat version of Bullette had been made. There was no kindness in its dark red eyes.

"Intruders detected, initiating removal," it spoke, though it did not pause to speak it, already jumping down from above and landing with surprising agility, not a mark left for its plummet. Its voice did not modulate wildly with Bullette's energy, instead it was a low monotone. It sprung right off the landing to bound towards No Name, apparently going for the largest available target.

Octavia pushed her tongue forward, the fury of the song flowing through her. For a moment, she couldn't hear the song, but she wasn't actively paying attention to it. Her shot was true, the scrap  bullet digging into the side of the metallic beast and knocking it just off track enough.

No Name roared with fury, catching the beast and its great metal claws. The shot had thrown it off a clean and direct show, half-sliding from No Name as he quickly drew his great pole free into his mouth.

A second bang rang through the cavernous entry hall, Vinyl taking her shot and catching the thing near its mechanical tail. "Buzz off! We got more important things to worry about than a hunk of junk!" The thing barely had time to register the first shot when Octavia fired another, and another, not even pausing between her bullets save for the time it took to draw her tongue back and forth.

Its attention was secured, abandoning No Name for sake of charging the two gunsmares. "Minor damage detected," it noted without pause as it devoured the distance between itself and the two mares frightfully quickly. It leapt into the air as Vinyl's second shot sailed over its shoulder.

With a tremendous crash, No Name came down on it, driving his sign's pole right through its back hard enough to plant in the concrete floor beneath it, shattering the tile that was in the way. "Severe damage detected," it spoke with all the same severity of its last statement. Though a living creature would have been suffering shock or surprise, quite possibly killed outright with the savage strike, the robot had less care for its material form.

It pulled itself free in a shower of sparks, its gait roughened by the severe damage, but it was not stopped. Octavia's gun was clicking wildly, her bullets already spent. "Reload," hissed Vinyl as she squeezed out a third shot, catching it on the rump as it resumed its charge. "Reload!"

"Yes, yes, reloading." She started to release the gun to get it into reloading position, but Octavia could see the mechanical thing would be on them before she finished the still laborious process. "No." She hopped down from the desk. "Not an option." She stepped towards the oncoming cat-machine with only the unloaded gun in her snout.

"Octie!" Vinyl's gun jumped in the air, causing sparks to jump from where it hit the thing's right foreleg to no real effect. "Get back here!"

No Name was charging after it, but it was faster than he was, and it was putting more distance between them with every powerful feline stride. It jumped for Octavia, its jaws wide and claws poised to tear into her and remove one of the intruders of its protected area.

"Protect me!" She slammed a hoof on the ground, the miniature in her pocket growing warm. A ripple of space and time opened between her and the robot. Disgorging from it without delay was a pony. Not just any pony, but what seemed to be the precisely same pony that they had conjured that night when the insects had swarmed them.

The robot crashed into the pony, angrily tearing it apart in a great shower of blood and viscera. The gore was short-lived, fading into the same sparkling aether it had sprung from, its form fading back to whatever realm it had been copied from.

It was enough time for No Name to catch up. With a bellowing hiss, he swung his sign from right to left, catching the mechanical beast in the side. Its clawed paws leaving the ground as gravity was freed from it with the force of the impact. With a mighty heave of his neck, he sent it flying. Though it righted itself as it flew, it crashed against the far wall, hitting the ground with new pieces sparking. "Get behind me,"  he huffed, advancing on the thing.

Octavia dropped to her haunches. "Reload..." She set about reloading, her eyes hazy and unfocused. Vinyl still had shots. Lining up her gun at the thing, she fired twice in rapid succession. 

The first went wide, but was close enough to make the thing jump right into her second shot, striking it across the snout and knocking one of its metal teeth free. "Aw yeah, feel the power of rock flowing through you!" With her cheating unicorn magic, she began to reload quickly, eyes never leaving her enemy.

"Yeah..." He could feel it, Vinyl's music filling him with power and fury in equal abundance. "Gonna tear this thing apart. Stay back." No Name stampeded towards it as it returned the favor. It must have been programmed to leap at its targets, as it did not waver from its tactic, surging at No Name. "Batter up," he grunted out, swinging his sign left to right, catching it with the pole between its teeth as he followed through, sending the thing crashing through the desk into the wall behind it, leaving a mighty crater where it smashed into the concrete.

"Terminal damage detected. Shutting down for repairs." It slumped to the ground and went still, even the sparks ceasing as if it had never moved to begin with.

Vinyl holstered her reloaded gun with a loud sigh. "You hurt? Need a little rock love?"

Octavia nuzzled her gun back closed and looked up, only then noticing that the combat had ended. "We won?"

No Name approached the fallen form of the robot. "Let me... be sure." He prodded at it with his make-shift polearm. "Yeah... it ain't moving. How's Bullette doing? She... she alright?"

Vinyl turned back to where Bullette sat facing the screen. Both it and she were dark and unmoving. "Nothing's going on... that we can see." She floated up her headset and popped it onto Bullette's ears, turned back around to face inwards. "You need this more than us. C'mon!"

No Name walked over to Octavia's side. "Thanks."

"What?" Octavia inclined an ear. "I barely accomplished a th--"

"--You stop that right there." He snorted as a few snakes hissed. "Your little shooting spree got it off of me to respond. Your little summoning trick stopped it long enough for me to get into position, see? You weren't there, things mighta gone bad." He reached a large hoof for her, booping her right on her refined nose. "Accept a compliment, damn you."

Octavia colored faintly, a little smile on her face. "Then... I won't argue that any further. I am glad we were all there."

Vinyl raised a hoof high. "Exactly! All for one and one for all and all that. Now let's all be there for Bullette. She's probably fighting something even worse than that whatever it was." She clopped her forehooves together. "You can do it!"

No Name shook his head. "You're better at cheering than I am."

Octavia rose to her hooves, sliding her gun away. "Be that as it may, you are the one that she knows and cares for the most. Your presence will have the most difference. Please, let her know you're behind her."

"I don't even know if she can hear us..." Despite his reserved words, he came closer to the counter, leaning over the desk to look over Bullette's darkened and still form. "I hate seeing her like this... Like... she ain't alive... I..." A tear spilled from his large eye. "It ain't right... She don't deserve this. Why can't it take me instead?"

"Illogical," suddenly spoke Bullette, without the usual mouth movements to go with it, simply emerging from within her. "You are unequipped for this form of combat." Her eyes flickered to life and her mouth turned to a smile as she sat up. "Operation: successful!" she sang as a victorious jingle played from within her.

"Bulette!" No Name reached over the desk and grabbed her up, yanking her and her wires into a fierce hug. "Don't do that again!"

Vinyl clopped her hooves. "BulBul! I never stopped trusting for even half a second."

"You had doubts for approximately 1.29 seconds," argued Bullette from No Name's hug. "Your recovery and faith are noted. Friend points assigned."

Octavia quirked a little smile. "I wasn't sure, but Vinyl seemed so certain..."

Bullette poked No Name suddenly, though the boop was foiled with all the wires still dangling out of her un-whole hoof. "Why did you not believe in my combat abilities? The power of friendship would not permit me to lose."

No Name looked away shamefully. "Yeah yeah... I mean... You know..."

"I do know." They hugged gently in the quiet, understanding one another's injuries.

Vinyl pointed at the screen that had recovered, showing some sort of interface she did not grasp. "So, uh, can you make it do whatever it does now?"

"Affirmative," sang Bullette. "Please place me within operational distance to resume operation."
> 16 - Exposition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Bullette Belle was set down beside the computer, she reached out, her wires reaching into the spaces between the keys and her strange protrusions striking the keys rapidly. "Initiating exposition dump!" she eagerly cried, gesturing with her head at the screen that responded to her near-silent commands.

"Here at Trans-Tech," spoke a voice as the words appeared on the bottom in common. "--we search for a better world, literally!" A spinning sphere appeared, though it undulated and stretched in odd ways. "While war ravages dear Everglow, we realize that the future is in cooperation. Started by ponykind--"

The image on the screen shifted to three ponies of the primary tribes, earth-bound, pegasus, and unicorn. "Trans-Tech was overwhelmed by the moving warfront." The ponies displayed ran off the screen with panicked expressions, little primitive explosions following them. "This was not the end! Human engineers took interest in the facility."

Cute little human icons came in from the right side of the screen, wearing labcoats and goggles. "They became so enamoured with what was already done, they even secured some of the old staff from the internment camps and secured their freedom." Two of the ponies that had run away were brought back onto the screen in chains. The humans bounced over and wiggled. The chains vanished and everyone, human and pony, did a little happy dance. "Work resumed!"

"Even as word of incoming calamity frightened others into wild actions, we at Trans-Tech pushed on with our project. We would find another world, a better world, to call our own." The image of Everglow returned, and another sphere appeared beside it, though it did not bend and pull, it was nicely spherical and calm. "We would bring our technology and seed a new civilization free of the flaws that is bringing our current one to an end."

Vinyl shook her head slowly. "Woulda been better with some popcorn. Kinda cliche don't you think?"

Octavia rolled her eyes. "They were living it, Vinyl. I don't think they were too worried about seeming 'played out' in any literary sense."

No Name leaned towards the screen, peering at the two worlds. "If they detected you-vibes, doesn't that mean that--" He pointed at the second nicely-round world. "--is your world?"

"Partially correct," chimed in Bullette as she stopped the video display. "Records indicate they located several possible choices. Odds of retreat: 65%. Unable to locate records." She lifted her shoulders. "Network compromised, information not present." She suddenly grinned all too wide. "Good news!"

Vinyl tilted her head at the eager filly-boy. "What's the good news?"

"Location of equipment!" The screen flickered, bringing up a map of the building they were in. It zoomed in, breaking through the floor several times. "Basement level 4, room b422" The map showed basement 4 and the spoken of room glowed softly. It was one of the larger ones on that level. "Location of Trans-Tech inter-plane-a-tary device."

Octavia pointed at the glowing room. "Well then, shall we be off? The sooner we reach it, the sooner--"

"Caution," spoke Bullette sternly. "Elevator shaft damaged, unsafe for use. Recommended Detour: stairs." While the room glowed green, the stairs began to glow yellow.

Vinyl shrugged. "Well, alright. Four flights of stairs is hardly the end of the world." She hopped down from the desk to the floor with a light clop. "No reason to wait."

No Name nudged Bullette gently. "If you're done, go ahead and pull all your parts back inside."

"System explored," sang out Bullette triumphantly as the wires began to draw back into her and her hooves pulled back together in eery sync, closing up the very instant each cord had pulled back far enough to not be caught in the motions. Soon her hooves were complete and whole. "They did not construct the defenses." She pointed at the non-functional defense robot that had attacked them.

Octavia raised a brow at it. "Did they... buy it? Were those things just sitting in windows?"

Vinyl burst into giggles. "I can imagine that. Act now and we'll throw in a custom coloring job at no additional cost! Buy two and the third death machine is free!"

Bullette did not rise to the humor. She slid back into combat mode, armor and weapons deploying as she sat beside No Name.

Octavia paused, watching No Name pick her up. A wince overtook her features. "We're being jerks. Sorry, Bullette. You're not... that."

"Friendship tally adjusted," spoke Bullette in a trembling sad warble.

Vinyl pushed up her goggles. "Wait, what? I didn't mean anything!" She threw herself at No Name's hooves. "That thing wasn't an awesome little robot I want to be friends with!"

No Name casually stepped over her. "We should get going. Which way were the stairs from here?" Bullette pointed the way with her flamethrower-equipped hoof and he started off at a light walk, navigating the eerily intact hallways.

Vinyl and Octavia hurried to keep up. Octavia tugged at her bowtie gently. "We really didn't mean to offend. We don't see Bullette as--"

"She isn't even close to the same thing," cut in Vinyl. "Besides, how can she be? They aren't fillies, and they aren't our friends."

Bullette looked down from her lofty perch. "You were quite insistent on my being a robot," she spoke in a petulant reverb. "Only now do you claim there is a significant difference. Your logical is as faulty as your emotional indicators!"

Octavia perked an ear. "Your logic?"

Bullette threw up her forehooves wide. "Do not correct my distressed speech!" Her voice modulated wildly in emphasis. "Besides... you wouldn't buy me." She sank down on No Name.

Vinyl blinked softly at that. "Are you joking? If I saw you in a storefront, I'd go broke making sure I gave you a great home." She sprang forward. "But it wouldn't be the same."

Bullette quirked an ear at that. "What would the difference be?"

"It'd be some robot that looked kinda like you, not you you. You're special. They can't make another you." Vinyl nodded confidently. "Not in a million years. While another sorta-you would be... alright, the real-you is the best you."

Octavia smiled gently at that. "Vinyl is speaking sensibly there. You are a unique combination of everything you've experienced from the moment you were even started to be assembled to this very instant. This conversation is part of what you are, and any copy would be missing those things."

"Awesome things," threw in Vinyl with a grin. "And don't you go thinkin' that's a 'robot' thing, because it's true for any of us. A copy of me without the important bits wouldn't be half as fun." She cocked a brow. "She may decide her calling in life was... I dunno, bungie jumping or something and never get into music."

"Heaven forfend," agreed Octavia with a small smile. Her eyes swept over the cubicle maze they were navigating. "It's like a museum..." She could see faded hints of the life that was being led before the end of things rendered the place silent. In one cube, a horseshoe hung on the wall, while a pair of shoes dangled in the next in a strange showing of solidarity between the bipeds and quadrupeds.

Bullette sat up on No Name. "This is where they kept their accountants and HR."

"HR?" Vinyl looked up at Bullette.

"Humanoid Resources." Bullette nodded in a rapid bobbing, her voice recovering from her previous distress. "They did not rename it after the addition of ponykind employees."

No Name snorted at that. "Doubt they were much worried about it." He pointed up ahead as they drew close to the end of the room. "Stair's just up ahead." He led the way as he already had been, Bullette riding high on his back. "Don't hear no more trouble..." With an extended hoof, he nudged the door open with a creak, allowing sight of the fire stairs that led up and down through the building. "Don't look too bad..."

They descended the cement stairs, a riot of clips and clops created in the motion. There simply wasn't a way to avoid it that didn't involve proceeding at a snail's pace, and none of them even suggested the idea. As they passed the first door, Bullette rang like a bell before speaking. "Basement 1, cafeteria, lounge, and leisure activities. 20% of exercise machines are still operational. Soda fountain operational."

Vinyl perked at that. "Hey, can we--"

"--No," cut in Octavia, pointing down the stairs. "Let us proceed. Besides, can you imagine the state of whatever is inside the fountain?"

No Name softly chuckled at that as they pressed on. "Doubt it'd be worth callin' soda in the end. Wouldn't mind a sip though..."

Octavia turned an ear towards him. "Have you tried soda before?"

No Name fell silent.

Octavia shook her head a little. "We are in no position to cast judgements on--"

"--Cease!" interrupted Bullette suddenly. "Do not continue. You are losing friendship points with him."

No Name softly snorted. "Yer a good filly, you know that..."

"I endeavor to be," agreed Bullette with a smile.

"But it's alright... She ain't no idiot." He shook his head as he rounded the corner, descending the next flight. "And she already knows things I ain't used to hearing talked about."

Octavia looked up at his stoic face. "Tell me... Were you there? I mean... it seems fanciful, but then, here we are, in another world, it would hardly top that. Did... you see it?"

Vinyl perked up, picking up what was being hinted at. "Wait, what?! You saw the big boom everyone's talking about?! Hey, good going, you barely look a day over, uh, do ponies age the same in this world?" She looked suddenly unsure, her joke awkwardly aborted.

Bullette leaned forward and to the side dangerously. "You are not required to answer," she reminded with an out-thrust hoof. "Octavia is classified 'Responsible Adult'. She will accept a negative reply."

No Name glanced between Bullette dangling on one side, and Octavia looking at him inquisitively on the other side. "I'm sure she would, yeah... Yer gonna be gone soon... Guess it ain't hurtin' no one for you ta know." He drew a deep breath through his nostrils.

"Basement 2," interrupted Bullette as they passed the second door. "Storage of hazardous materials. Office of chief executive officer. Child care facility."

No Name went right past it without delay. "Don't like to think about it..." He sank down to the next step with a huff. "That's when I was born. The old... He died, wiped out with all the other good people. I shook out of the ash... didn't even have the decency to sit down and die like most of the others." He drove a hoof down on the next step, the sound echoing around them. "Let's stop talkin' 'bout it."

Bullette hugged him tightly from above and behind, her unwieldy weaponized arms wrapping around his neck. "You are a good pony," she sang eagerly. "Better than most. Number one friend located!"

Octavia reached an uncertain hoof, patting him on his great side. "I'm sorry you had to go through... that. It must have been quite difficult, and even that feels hardly sufficient to describe it."

"Basement 3, Classified," suddenly announced Bullette as the door out of the stairway passed them by on their descent.

No Name seemed to lift from his funk. "Classified? I thought you learned everything there is to learn?"

Bullette shook her head quickly. "The information was not present."

"Huh..." He pointed ahead as they descended the last flight. "There it is, the way to your home. Since the power's working, we shouldn't have any problems."

"This is not entirely accurate," admitted Bullette like a child caught with their hoof in a cookie jar.

Vinyl quirked an unseen brow. "Yeah, what's in the way now?"

"Full status of Trans-Tech portal unable to be verified. Visual confirmation required before we proceed." She suddenly sat up. "Will ponies from your world greet me like Vinyl?" She pointed at Vinyl.

Octavia suddenly stopped. "Wait, when were you coming?"

Bullette pointed to herself. "When I decided," she spoke as if it were obvious. "No Name and Bullette will accompany you to your world and explore it. The friendship adventure never has to end!" she concluded her statement with a joyful song of modulation, a smile on her face. "Your safe arrival in your world means that all current obligations are complete. We will then, responsibly, exit Everglow."

No Name stepped towards the door that led towards what they wanted. "Put that thought aside. There are problems with it, but we'll go over that later."

"Thoughts stored for later processing," agreed Bullette as she raised her hooves, directing both weapons ahead. "Basement 4. Security online. Danger Level: Purple."

Octavia shrank back at that. "I thought red was the top level."

Vinyl clopped her hooves together before hopping forward. "As if! Let's show them a thing or two." Her gun lifted into view, held in her horn's magic. She cocked the revolver, ready to begin a battle. "Let me get my music going and we'll blow through that door."

No Name took a slow breath as he leaned in for the door's handle. "Everyone ready?"

"Affirmative." "Yeah!" "No..."

He took firm hold of the handle and twisted his head.

The light beyond the door was red rather than the off-yellow shade the rest of the facility had. "UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY," noted a booming voice. "SECURITY DEPLOYED. ERROR: UNITS UNRESPONSIVE. 23% ACTIVE."

Vinyl's headphones were already flipped around, filling the air with deep metal thumps. "As they march forth," she began. "Baddest mothers from south to north." She shouted the last word as she jumped through the doorway after No Name.

Trouble did not wait for them. With the sound of mechanical movement, a turret that hung on the ceiling swiveled towards No Name and began to disgorge an entirely unhealthy volume of bullets at him in a cacophony of gunpowder, smoke tinting the red air. He dove for cover, a darker spray of blood arcing up from where he failed to move quite fast enough.

"Target Acquired." Bullette pivoted despite the movements of her mount, leveling her own firearm at the turret and returning fire. The bullets crashed in the air between them, hot shrapnel deflected out in wild directions, leaving holes in the ceiling, walls, and everywhere else. The turret lurched, some of the bullets finding true. Bullette was not immune to the same treatment, her flamethrowing hoof jerking back, sparks escaping from where a bullet had penetrated her metallic hide.

A shot rang out from their side of things. Vinyl popped a shot at one of the guard beasts that had just turned the corner in its rush at them. It snarled, looking ready to charge its attacker when a second bullet knocked its robotic tongue free. Octavia smiled around the gun that filled her mouth.

"Red in the air, death giving a stare," sang on Vinyl. "Blood pumping, combat thumping!"

Bullette's attention seemed to be entirely on the turret, but despite not looking towards the beast, her body suddenly flashed brightly, electricity jumping from her in a crack-thoom of thunder. The dazzling arc struck the beast. It staggered mid-step before stumbling forward, smoke rising from it and its fried electronics. "Recharging, 5%"

Metallic scuttling caught Vinyl and Octavia's attention. Coming down another path through the cubicles was a small swarm of rushing spider-like robots. Each had a menacing red eye, peering at them as they hurried on razor-sharp talons.

No Name twisted on himself, plunging his snout into his bag and coming out with some small object he held in his mouth. One of his snakes grabbed the pin and tossed it as another pulled tight, activating the grenade. With a mighty heave, he threw it ahead, not at the spiders, but at the troublesome turett.

Octavia lined up her shot, which was harder than she had hoped with their erratic scuttling motions. She pushed her tongue forward and missed the spider, but struck one behind it right where one of its legs met its torso. It staggered and slowed a moment, but seemed to rapidly adjust to its new gait.

"Metal above as there is below. Only thought allowed is do we have ammo." Vinyl shot wildly at the oncoming spiders, suddenly wobbling as an explosion erupted from the thrown grenade. The spiders burst out of the corridor of cubicles, springing in their stride with no seeming effort.

Octavia backed away, fanning her trigger wildly and running out of bullets with the loud click of her gun failing to fire. One landed on her back and dug a sharp leg into her side like an angry surgeon making an incision. Her gun dropped free of her mouth, giving room for a pained shriek to escape her.

With the sound of metal on metal, No Name brought down the flat end of the sign, crushing several spiders into spasming robotic pieces. "Bloody hell, get it off of her," he grunted as he pulled the sign back, ready to press his assault.

Vinyl was on it, throwing herself at Octavia and crashing into the metal spider. Both of them fell free of her, crashing to the ground, hooves and talons flailing in the impact.

"Unable to safely fire." Bullette directed her gun-arm at the less entangled spiders, her near-silent ammunition shredding another where it had been leaping at Vinyl's back.

"Third time's the charm." Octavia closed her eyes. "Please, help us!"

Space and time warped as that pony stepped free of it, the same that had been destroyed by a grenade and had been torn limb from limb by an angered robot minutes before. It snorted, glaring at Octavia with what could have been annoyance. Without delay, it neighed wildly and two more distortions formed, two other ponies stepping free, one with wings and another with a horn. The three greeted one another with an energetic meeting of hooves.

"ADDITIONAL INTRUDERS DETECTED. TARGETS IDENTIFIED." It was only at that instant that the spiders seemed to notice the three ponies that had joined the fight. Their little visual stalked turned to regard the animals in time for the CHILDREN AT PLAY sign to sweep across them, catching four and crushing them against the wall that had been behind the pony combatants.

"Clippety-Clop, when will it stop?" Vinyl kicked powerfully, sending the spider she was wrapped up with flying away. "One two three." She squeezed the trigger of her gun, taking out the eye of the thing with a spray of shattered glass and metal. "Won't you dance with me?" She smiled victoriously, despite the many gashes she had received from her brief wrestling match.

The pony stomped down on one of the spiders just in time for its winged friend to kick it vigorously away. The unicorn lashed out its hindlegs, catching the thing as it flew past and sending it bouncing off a wall, wobbling as if dizzy. "Target Acquired." Bullette calmly dispatched the dazed spider in the moment of its stillness in a hail of bullets.

"DEFENSES EXHAUSTED. SEALING AND BEGINNING TERMINAL SOLUTION." The door they had come through slammed shut, crushing the last twitching spider along the way. A loud hissing sounded from the ceiling.

Bullette's eyes flickered from red to their normal expressiveness. "Danger! Danger danger! Please place me within operational distance of a terminal!" Her armor and armaments were withdrawing rapidly as she exited combat mode.

Octavia looked around wildly. "Where is one of those?" She looked to her new pony friends. "Do you know where a terminal is?"

They snorted at her softly and faded away in reply, offering no solutions.

Viny thrust a hoof down the corridor between cubicles the spiders had come from. "Two bits says it's that way. Go... get em." She flopped over, huffing for breath. Her injuries were catching up with her.

Octavia hurried to her side. "Go! Go go, I have her. Vinyl, you big dummy, heal yourself! Rock magic!"

"Rock... magic? Oh yeah!" Her ears perked with memory. "This isn't a cool enough way to buy it. By the power of rock, I demand I die in a way more dramatic way." She crashed her hooves together, healing energy surging from them into herself with a jerk, the worst of her wounds sealing over. "That still... hurts."

"It's alright..." Octavia curled with Vinyl in the redness, trusting in No Name and Bullette to find the terminal, or they'd at least die together.

No Name surged forward despite the fatigue that pulled at him. Coming down from Vinyl's inspiring songs was a tough crash, but they had no time to wait it out. He shoved cubicle panels aside as he lumbered into motion. "If you see it, tell me." He thundered into the space between the cubicle rows, charging in the direction the spiders had come from.

"PURGE INITIATED. ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL COMPLETION, 45 SECONDS."

No Name frowned at the directionless voice. "Oh, sure, give me plenty of time." He skidded around a corner and saw it, a door that hung open. Was that where the spiders had come from? There was no time to second guess himself. He lumbered forward like an out of control train, shouting without even realizing it as he went. He crashed through the half-open door, slamming it open with his weight. It was a closet. He could see a mop and a broom. He had chosen incorrectly. "Damn it... Bull--" He turned his head and stopped, realizing she wasn't there anymore. "Bullette! Belle! Where are you!?"

"INTRUSION ATTEMPT DETECTED. C-C-- 20 SECONDS."

No Name threw himself out of the closet, almost falling over in his hurry. "Bullette!" He awkwardly climbed back to his hooves and staggered back where he had come from. Everything was getting hard to see. His legs didn't want to work. He tried to walk despite it, but collapsed, dizzy. "Bell..." He lost consciousness.

Seated quietly a few cubicles away was a small filly robot. She had leaped free of No Name when she spotted the terminal and plugged herself in directly. She was no longer aware of the world around herself.

She was in the world of machines. Though she appeared as one of them, her heart, her soul, was not that. In the electronic world, it was clearer than usual. She appeared as a smiling tree, her branches holding all manners of tools and weapons. "Cease purge," she demanded.

"NEGATIVE." A pony appeared before her, made of chrome with eyes of red glaring at her. "INTRUDER."

"The power of friendship demands your defeat," argued Belle as the largest gun began to spin its barrels. "Friendship cannon activated!" A bright rainbow engulfed her cybernetic foe. It jumped free of her attack, even if it was sparking from contact with her assault.

"COUNTERMEASURES ONLINE." Guns popped out of it from impossible angles, all directed at Bullette Tree. "INITIATE." A riot of lights and beams fired from it towards Bullette, but she wasn't there anymore, simply ceasing to be and appearing several feet to the left. As it swept its armaments at her, she kept jumping and her gun span back up, forcing it to jump and duck to avoid the return fire.

They were both moving with dizzying speed, trying to catch the other off guard, but neither were gaining ground, only managing glancing blows that hurt but did not disable.

"Initiate Program No Name." The tree that was Bullette Belle suddenly charged at the defensive AI. The lasers did not stop, biting into her bark and stripping great bits of it clean. Blood, sap, and sparks few in equal abundance, but it did not stop her.

She crashed into it, grabbing with her branches, taking hold of the metal pony's hooves and wrenching apart in four directions at once. "CEASE OPERATION! IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO--" It was too late. Bullette was not listening and kept savagely pulling, tearing apart the enemy machine until it gave away, quartered into four uneven parts that she threw into the cyberspace as they fell apart into the 1s and 0s they  had formed from.

"Cease purge," she panted out, shuddering with pain. She faded away, the damage she had received too great to hold onto her connection.
> 17 - Are You Still There?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia was the first to awaken, coughing and sore. Her back ached where the spiders had pressed their hard metal legs into her, but she could force her way up with a soft groan to her hooves. Her lungs burned, but she was still breathing. She sniffed the air once and didn't smell... what did horrible toxins smell like?

"Vinyl?" She reached out a shaking hoof, nudging the form of her friend. "Wake up." If she survived whatever the gas had been, she reasoned Vinyl was alright. "I could really use a little 'rock magic' about now." Vinyl was not stirring at the shaking, a fact that had Octavia frowning. It was far from the first time she had been unsuccessful trying to get Vinyl awake in her life.

"Lazy bump, rise and shine." She gave Vinyl a rougher shaking with two hooves. "I really must insist." But the way Vinyl flopped was just a little too loose for comfort. "This isn't funny." She leaned her head in close, listening. There was breath there, but she didn't like how it sounded. How hurt was Vinyl?

Of all the tricks she had learned, restorative magic was not among them. "Wake up so you can heal yourself!" She barked at her unresponsive friend before flopping to her haunches. "No Name? Bullette? Are either of you here?" she called out, holding a hoof to the side of her snout as of to direct her cry. "Please tell me either of you know basic first aid."

But there was no reply. Octavia rose to her hooves, looking around the quiet of the basement they had intruded on. "And this is how it ends, alone, in the middle of... whatever this is..." She sighed as she began to walk down between the rows of cubicles, hoping to find someone and praying that it wasn't a body she'd find.

Not that there weren't any bodies, but dead machines usually weren't called 'bodies' per se. She nodded at the downed spiders. One of them had survived, bumping sightlessly against a partition with a soft click each time it tried again. Octavia considered leaving it be, but visions of it finding Vinyl made her cringe. She approached it slowly and reared up on two legs, an act she was quite practiced at.

She came down with both forehooves with a low grunt, smashing the thing in a fit of sparks that singed at her hooves and burnt some of her fur, but it stopped moving. Silence returned. "If this is to be my resting place, at least it's peaceful..." She turned away from the crushed machine, eyes slowly panning left and right, trying to find someone, anyone. "No Name? Bullette Belle? One of you has to be here..."

Someone had stopped them from being gassed, unless... Had they simply run out of gas, or whatever released the gas had a malfunction? Had they been saved by years of neglect? Octavia snorted softly as she walked, amused at the idea that perhaps the only reason she was alive was that the toxins had decayed over time. "No Name?" He was large and strong. Surely he'd be alright, she reasoned. It took more poison to hurt something that was larger. If she could weather it, surely he would as well.

Bullette was a robot! she reminded  herself. You can't... gas a robot, can you? She was no expert on mechanisms, but the fact that they don't breathe seemed a simple enough idea. Why would a robot breathe. They'd be powered by magic or coal or something or other, not by breathing and eating.

Octavia gasped sharply. She had found Bullette, slumped over beside a box, a wire running from her into the box. One of those panels was on a desk beside it. It displayed a lot of nonsensical characters in some other language. She had no time for that. She rushed for Bullette. "BulBul!" She only realized her error a moment later. "I mean, Bullette!" She reached out and gently nudged her metal companion. "Please be alive."

A mechanical voice replied, but it was not Bullette's. It spoke in a deep baritone, "Damage: Critical. Electrical damage in systems 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..."

It just kept right on counting as Octavia took a wavering step back. "No... No no no!" She took a step forward. "Wait, it can't be all the, uh, systems, or you wouldn't be talking to me. Tell me what systems are working instead of the ones that are damaged."

"Systems online: Diagnostics, life support, dock control," replied the male-sounding voice.

Octavia tilted her head. "Dock control?"

The limp Bullette's tail gave a little wag.

"Oh..." Octavia put a hoof over her face. "Wait, life support?" Why would a machine have a system for life support?"

With a rough series of clicks, a small hatch on Bullette's back seemed to be trying to move. Octavia reached for the spot and gave a helping hoof, allowing it to swing open, revealing the end of what appears to be a root. It ran upwards along Bullette's spine right into her head, which did not open up. "She's... a plant? Is she alive?"

"Life support online," unhelpfully reminded the male voice.

Octavia crashed to her haunches. Bullette was alive, sort of... "One step at a time, one step..." She released her breath slowly. "You, uh... keep doing what you are doing." Was the machine trying to heal itself? She had no idea. She couldn't help it one way or the other. She still had to find No Name, or what was left of him.

"No Name?" She pressed on past where Bullette sat. "You're scaring me..."

"Didn't mean to scare no mare." His head came up into view with a slow motion as if he was sitting up, his snakes looking as tired as the rest of him. "Did you get the number of the train that smashed into me?"

Octavia broke into a bright smile. Finally, she wasn't alone! "No Name! I am so glad to see you right now. Please tell me you know first aid. Vinyl and Bullette need--"

"--Where is she?!" he barked in an angry voice, rising fully to his hooves and lumbering towards her. His wounds were scabbed over, still raw and painful looking, but he didn't seem to be still bleeding. "Where is Bullette?!"

Octavia's ears pinned against her head. "C-calm down, please." She pointed where she had come. "Third cubicle on the right."

He rushed right past her, storming to Bullette's limp and darkened form. "Goddamnit," he grunted, leaning his head in close. One of his snakes grabbed the end of the cord that attached Bullette to the box she was next to and yanked it free. It withdrew into Bullette without prompting. He noticed the hatch that hid her root was open and quickly raised a hoof to close those hatches. "The heck are these doin' open."

Octavia followed after him. "She suffered electrical damage to basically everything. Her--"

"How do you know?!" He spun towards her. His voice was a mess, as if the different snakes were trying to speak all at once. "What do you know?!"

Octavia shrank back a half-step. "Her, um, body spoke to me. It said her life support was still working."

He sank suddenly. "Good... um... anything else?" His voice was a little softer, one snake taking the reigns from the chaotic mess.

"Diagnostics, and her dock controls."

Just naming them was enough to make the limp Bullette's tail wag.

He broke into a cough of a laugh. "God... damn... Alright, alright... Just keep it togetha."

Octavia had to smile a little. It was somehow comforting knowing that even a huge pony like No Name had to go through the same calming motions she did in a tense situation. "Will she be alright?"

"She ain't gettin' worse." He nuzzled under her slowly, working her up onto his back. "Where's Vinyl?"

Octavia pointed where she had left her friend. "I was hoping you knew first aid? She isn't waking up."

"She ain't alone." He began lumbering towards her. "'Least the two of us are moving. Bloody Hell, that was rougher than I figured."

They returned, together, to where Vinyl lay in a half-curl. No Name winced at the sight of her. "She still  breathin'?"

Octavia hurried in and extended an ear, leaning in and going quiet a moment. "Still breathing... Vinyl, don't you go. This isn't nearly cool enough of a way to do it." She shook a hoof at her unconscious friend. "You wouldn't accept it, so don't."

No Name smirked as he carefully settled beside Vinyl and Octavia. "Reach into my right pouch. I got a little something to wake her up. She's all, you know, flesh n' bones, so it'll work on her." Unlike Bullette, he silently added.

Octavia reared up and nosed into his saddlebag. "What does it look like?" The big pony had a frightful amount of things tucked away in there.

"A flask with a cork on the top. Red-purple color?"

She saw it and grabbed it free, clenched carefully in her teeth. "This one?"

"Yeah that's the one." He nodded towards Vinyl. "Feed it to her, nice and slow. Don't want her chokin' on it or nothin'."

"Right." Octavia hurried over to Vinyl's side and sat beside her. She cradled her hooves and spat out the vial into the cup they made, which allowed her to bite into the cork at the top and work it free. She spat it out to the side and brought it close, but Vinyl's mouth was quite sealed in her slumber. She considered her options. No Name was just as hooved as she was. Bullette was unconscious, unable to assist.

"Make do with what one has," sighed out Octavia. "Never tell her of this." She leaned in and planted a kiss on Vinyl's unresponsive lips. It was not an amorous gesture, even if her tongue did dart forward. She worked the unicorn's lips open and managed to work her own lips in place to hold them, running her tongue over Vinyl's teeth with a frown of concentration.

Little did she know her first Prench kiss would be in the name of medicine. She had to snort to herself as she slowly worked those teeth apart, thankful for the moment that Vinyl was so limp, even as visions of Vinyl suddenly coming awake and biting her tongue haunted her with a painful possibility, though Vinyl waking up would be a lovely part of that injury.

At last, she felt confident there was enough room. She worked up the vial between the junction of their mouths, pouring it between both their lips into the crack in Vinyl's teeth. "Drink..." She could smell the bitter hints of whatever thick syrup she was pouring mixing with the scents of Vinyl's weak breath. The latter faded a moment and Octavia went tense. Was she choking her friend with it? 

She thumped Vinyl with a hoof on the chest. "Swallow!" she hissed. With a great gulp, the breath returned, only for it to peter out as more poured in. "Keep going," She urged, tapping at Vinyl as she leaned back the vial just enough to not flow until a swallow was felt. "There you are, hang in there..." There was no hurrying it. If she had to spend all day nursing down the drink, Octavia knew she would do it. "You have to drink it..."

No Name watched the two of them quietly, glancing once in a while back at the still form on his back. "Hey, uh... if I could do that for Bullette, you know I'd already be doin' it," he said at last, breaking his silence. "Yer a good friend."

"T-thank you." She would have smiled, but her lips were busy. "Almost... You can do it..." She tipped the vial, but nothing seemed to be coming free. She sat up with a confused expression, Vinyl's lips popping shut. She could see the vial was empty. "Oh. How quickly does it... do whatever it does?"

"Should be right away." He nodded softly. "If she's still breathing, it did what it does. She sound any better?"

Octavia cocked an ear, going quiet. She could hear that soft  breathing, but it did seem... "I think she'll be alright." She smiled softly up at the big pony that had provided the curative. "Whatever was that? Do you have more of it? Does it--"

"Easy there." He held up a big hoof. "I only had the one, and you just used it up. She needed it more than we did. Yer a tough mare. Whatever that stuff was, it still hurts to breathe." He thumped the same hoof against his chest. "But we're breathin' and here we are."

Octavia rose to her hooves, letting the vial clink to the floor, empty and useless. "I'll blame that on being an earth pony." She tilted her head at No Name. "Which you are too, I think?" Large, but still an earth pony, she figured.

No Name shook his head slowly. "Nah. Maybe I was? Ain't now.." His voice shifted to a different male voice suddenly, "Whatever I am, only the Jester knows." His voice shifted back. "Enough like a pony at least." He stood up with Octavia. "We came here for a reason. Any idea what we're lookin' for?"

Octavia put a hoof to her face. "I think only Bullette could answer that. How is she doing?"

He looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Diagwhatsit. She alright?"

"System online, left pinna," explained the baritone male mechanical voice. Bulette's left ear swiveled left and right before clicking back into its original position. "External repair requested."

No Name tensed. "Who are you requestin' help from?"

"External repair requested," repeated the diagnostic unhelpfully.

He grunted softly. "The diagnostic ain't so swift. All it knows is keeping her workin'. Least it's doin' that. Look, can you carry her?"

"Of course." Octavia nuzzled under Vinyl much as No Name had done for his friend and soon had the limp musician across her back. "But where are we going? We don't know what we're here for, and I'm not sure leaving this place would be any safer. At least there are no strange monsters in here that we haven't already dispensed with."

"You got a point there." He stepped slowly past her, deeper into the cubicle maze. "I'm hopin' whatever it is happens to be kinda obvious. Something big and flashy-like. If we can get you two back home, that'll be somethin'. I can carry Bullette back to town on my own."

Octavia frowned as she followed at his side. "While I appreciate your concern, abandoning you in this... dire strait hardly seems a proper way to end our time together."

"Yeah, ain't perfect, but it is what it is." He nudged open a door leading into a clean  hallway. "Better to get you home. You two ain't fit for this world."

"I won't argue that part." She took a moment to adjust Vinyl's weight on her back. "But that's still wrong..." She veered off to the left and nudged the door open. It swung easily, having no latch of any kind. "What... is that?" She pointed even as No Name peered over her shoulder. The room was spacious, with wires running in a haphazard mess in defiance of the cleanliness of the hall they were still standing in.

In the center of it all was an orb on a pedestal. Many wires ran towards it, but only two actually made contact with it. No Name stepped over Vinyl as if she wasn't there. "Well, that there's obviously a world-travel thingamajig, I think..." He stepped around the wires, making his way towards the strange black orb. "Just haveta figure out how it works."

"System online: Audio."

The diagnostic voice was replaced with a weak and warbling synthesized voice, "Am I functional?" Bullette's lips did not move with the words. She was just as still despite the words coming from her.

No Name froze in his tracks. "Bullette! You alright?"

"It is dark. Am I functioning? I do not like this. Is this what it is like to be inoperational?"

She called for help, but it seemed she could not hear No Name, her words becoming increasingly fearful whimpers. He shook his head, tears stinging at the edges of his eyes. "This ain't right..." But he could think of nothing he could do to help his poor metal friend. "Diagwhatever, can you work on her hearing?"

"Top priority," added Octavia, at his side.

"Priority set," spoke the diagnostic, drowning out Bullette's upset little voice a moment.

No Name stomped the floor, making the wires around his hoof jump from the violence. "We can't do anything..." He stomped forward, his little ward crying for help on his back, so close and yet she may as well have been on the other side of the world for how much he could reach her.

"Will I be stuck here for an indeterminate amount of time?" asked the sad warbling voice. "I should have fought better. It is my fault I am here. He might be dead. At least he would go to an afterlife. I have heard living things have nice afterlives. Why do I not get one? I hope he is not dead! If he is dead, it is my fault. Maybe this is my afterlife for failing." The last word was spoken with a downwards turn in octaves.

No Name's ears pinned against his head, trying to put Bullette's frightened words out of his thoughts for just a moment. "So... how does this thing work?" He was sure Bullette would have figured it out in a snap, but that was not an option. He raised both hooves carefully, straining to hold himself steady for his passenger. It felt smooth under his hooves, but he could feel subtle ridges that ran along it.

"Welcome to Trans-Tech," the sphere spoke and he dropped it in surprise. It bonked on the pedestal then rolled right off, its wires trailing behind it. It didn't reach the ground, one of the two wires going taught as it dangled there. "Please enter the coordinates of your destination," it requested as if it had no idea it had fallen.

Octavia raised an ear at the curious thing. Was it that easy? "Do you know the coordinates of Equestria?"

"Searching, record not found." The search seemed basically instant. "Please enter the coordinates of your destination."

Octavia tilted her head at it a little. "Before we get to that, come to think. Are you fully, hmm, operational?"

"Initiating self-diagnostic... No errors detected. Warning: Power level: Minimum. Insufficient power for portal creation. Please increase power. Error: Battery offline. Removal of power cord will result in unit shutdown. Please command shutdown before proceeding to avoid improper shutdown."

Part of the sphere glowed red. It was highlighting one of the two cords. Octavia pointed at it. "This is your power cord then?"

"Correct."

Octavia nodded. She knew what a power cord was. "Alright then..." She followed the cord away from the sphere, tracing it through the wires away from the pedestal and No Name until it ended at a powerstrip that then ran to the wall. "Hmm..." She turned back towards the sphere and No Name. "I don't think the building itself is making enough power for it."

No Name reached a hoof and carefully lifted the sphere back up until it rolled back into place. "Figures. Already a miracle it's workin' at all. Suppose we can't expect a hundred percent or nothin'." He glanced over his shoulder at the sad voices of his friend. "We have nothing but broke stuff everywhere..." Part of him was tempted to ask the diagnostic to cut the audio, but that felt... He couldn't do that. Even if she didn't know, he had to hear her, to be there...

Octavia perked up. "Vinyl said there was a working generator, back in town! Why don't we take this there?" She trotted up, Vinyl bouncing gently on her back. "Excuse me, do you need that other wire?"

"The network cable is required for information gathering but not basic functioning. If you have the coordinates of your destination, a portal can be created without it."

Octavia frowned softly. "How much... can you remember without the connection?"

"Downloading database..." A soft green light pulsed in and out on its surface, but it said nothing further.

No Name nodded. "Good thinkin'. If it takes the mess with us, then we aren't leavin' anythin' behind."

"Download complete." The green light faded away.

Octavia took a slow breath. "If you are shut down, how do we wake you up again?"

"Restore power, then issue a verbal command to power up, turn on, or to awaken. Do you wish to set a command word to be spoken before the command to ensure authorized use?"

Octavia hesitated a moment. Had they forgotten to set such a password in the first place? Had it forgotten it? Either way, she was silently thankful for that. "Yes. Command word... By Celestia."

"Command word accepted. Speak 'By Celestia'--" That phrase was in Octavia's voice. "--before the command you desire. Password set for all commands."

"Alright... shutdown."

It did not respond.

Octavia laughed, a small tense noise. "Oh, right. By Celestia, shutdown."

"Shutting down." The green light returned, but slowly faded away.

No Name reached with his mouth, popping the cables free of the orb without too much difficulty. He soon had it stuffed in his left saddlebag, bulging it impressively with its presence. "Let's get out of here. Turves has some talented people. Maybe one of them can help fix her, and get you two on yer way."

"Right." Octavia nodded with certainty, moving for the exit. "At least we found the blasted thing after all that." She glanced around as she went. "I bet more than a few ponies would kill to get in here, and take a lot more than we're taking with us."

No Name frowned softly. "This place is lucky it was us that showed up. We'll leave it mostly as it is." He snorted softly. "As if we have time for looting."

They returned to the elevator, cutting through the building. It would have been a quiet journey, if not for Bullette's sad monologue. "If this is where I am to be, perhaps I should consider the better sides of it... processing... better side not found! If he was here, it wouldn't that bad. We could exist in darkness, but we would have each other. That is not an unbearable infinity to consider."

No Name colored faintly at her words as he plodded on. "I hope her hearin' stars workin' soon."

Octavia tilted her head. "From her perspective, wouldn't that be you coming to be with her in the darkness?" She put a hoof over her mouth. "That would apply to me too, come to think."

"Responsible Adult detected! Octavia Melody!" spoke Bullette suddenly very excitedly.

"System online, auditory senses," droned the diagnostic, washing out Bullette's excitement a moment.

"--did you get here?" asked Bullette, her voice returning when the diagnostic stopped talking. "Are you also inoperational? Did we all die? I am sorry for my failure."

"No, no!" exclaimed Octavia quickly. "I'm fine, and so are you, mostly."

"Bullette," barked No Name. "You're knocked around but intact. You're on my back."

"I am operational? Success!" she sang out joyfully, though her lips did not move. "What is the state of Vinyl Scratch? Is she also operational?"

Octavia glanced over her shoulder. "She's injured, like you are. She's unconscious, but she can't talk to us while she's like that. She'll be alright, I hope, like you."

"I did not fail," sang Bullette, her tone only growing more joyful. "Were the neurotoxins kept to a tolerable level?"

No Name snorted softly. "We're still breathin', so I'm gonna guess yes on that one. Hold on, we're getting out of here."

"I cannot hold on," replied Bullette truthfully. "But I trust you."
> 18 - Coming Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had what they came for, and some of what they had not. Their friends adorning their backs and tenuous hope in their hearts, they ascended the stairs. "This is worse than coming down," noted Octavia as they climbed, though she felt certain No Name was handling his burden better. Then again, he was larger, and stronger built on top of that. "I'll just pretend she's a cello."

She smiled at that. "She does like to make music, and sometimes I can succeed at playing her, but she is a finicky instrument. Perhaps she is in need of some gentle tuning to coax the sweet notes from her."

No Name kept his eyes forward even as he chuckled at Octavia's words. "Do you have any idea how wrong what you just said sounds?"

"I await your legal action," huffed Octavia as she drew herself up onto the next platform. "Maybe if you drank a little less, miss 'Rock Queen' you'd be easier to carry." She began up the next set of stairs. "I've lost track, how close are we?"

"Almost there," said No Name without conviction, trundling along beside Octavia."'Sign of a true friend. Anyone can talk kind if'n they want to. Not many will carry your body up a few flights of stairs."

Octavia burst into a melodic fit of laughter. "I needed that, thank you. Yes... Silly mare. If I didn't know she would do the same for me in an instant, I would be far more irate." She gently shuffled Vinyl into a more secure position on her back. "She would move mountains if she thought it would protect me. Silly mare..."

They arrived at the ground floor, the door hanging just a bit open. It hadn't ever had the strength to close itself entirely, whatever function that caused it to close itself given out over time. No Name nudged it open with a hoof and held it open with his bulk as Octavia slipped beneath him and both resumed their trek through the cubicles towards the lobby.

Octavia glanced up at her waking companion. "The plan is to get back to Turves, get treatment for our friends, and after they're both up and being annoying in their different ways, we--"

"You consider me annoying?" asked the stricken voice of Bullette.

Octavia winced. It was so easy to forget Bullette was entirely aware, or at least listening, despite being also completely limp on No Name's back. "That was a joke. That's also part of what friendship can be, somepony who presses you out of your comfort zones and forces you to think in new ways."

"Have I forced this on you?" inquired Bullette, sounding more curious than sad.

"You have, at times." Octavia raised a hoof to her chest. "Though you are not... entirely a pony--" She paused with Bullette gasped loudly, despite not having lungs. "You are something equally as wonderful, and deserving of love and friendship. You have a heart, figuratively speaking, and it can be hurt, or nurtured just the same as anyone else's. Bullette, I am glad, and proud, to call you a friend."

Bullette went quiet. No Name softly snorted. "Yer lucky... Say, uh, nice to meet you two, even if it led here." He brushed into the main lobby, looking around. "Door's still closed, figure that's a good sign?"

"Friendship!" suddenly piped up Bullette in a burst of flowing octaves, breaking her brief moment of quiet. "I apologize that my injuries do not allow me to cry properly. When I am entirely functional and operating within the standard limits of a filly my age, I will do something nice for you."

Octavia accelerated towards the door. "Let's get you both somewhere safe so we can enjoy that." She nudged the bar with her face, depressing the bar. She felt it click, the latch pulling in and the entire thing swinging outwards. "Why can't they all be bars?" She sighed as she emerged from the building entirely. The smell of ash returned swiftly. It was a stark reminder of what world she had been rushing to get back into. "Right."

No Name stepped out as soon as she was through, squeezing himself out easily. "Let's get away from here, don't need people asking questions." He turned and pushed the door securely shut. "Get movin'."

"You don't have to tell me twice." She was already trotting away as he spoke. A gust kicked up the ash in the area. As if emerging from the plume, a worryingly large collection of ponies, humans, griffons and other creatures stood. Some were parked on motorcycles, grinning at them. Most had guns, some had great clubs and other improvised weapons. None of them looked friendly. "Oh, um... hello?"

The ash just to the left of Octavia erupted with a bang as one of the many creatures fired a shot, a short male pony. "You can stop right there," he sneered with a growing smile. "Looks like it was rough for you in there. Why don't you just drop the weights, huh? Put down whatever you found."

"Or we can kill 'em," pointed out a gem gnoll female with a shrug. "That works too." She lifted a frighteningly over-engineered gun at Octavia and wobbled it towards No Name. "Don't like the look of 'em!"

No Name approached, but no closer than Octavia's side. His teeth were clenched, but he did not charge. There were over three dozen bandits, many armed. He wasn't armed, and they had injured.

"Killing them would make this easier," agreed the original male, biting down on the grip of his gun that had too many barrels. "Make it qui--"

"Wait!" A small form burst free of the crowd. "I know her!" It was Dim Flash, the short leg raider. She pointed at Octavia. "Don't wax her. She's alright."

The male short leg frowned at her. "What'd she do that's worth not filling her full of metal?"

Dim shrugged softly. "She had the chance to do me in proper and she didn't. 'Least I can do is return the favor. C'mon, she ain't worth a damn thing dead, and we can take her stuff anyway." She turned to Octavia. "Hey, we're taking your stuff. You ain't gonna stop us, right?"

Octavia considered her options in a flurry. A summoned pony hardly seemed to be the answer. She could scare some of them, perhaps, and be riddled with holes in the next moment. She could try to conjured her armor, and... maybe survive a few seconds longer. "I suppose I cannot..."

The male waved his gun in No Name's direction. "What about him?"

"What about him?" Dim asked with a raised brow. "Who cares, just take their stuff and stop wasting bullets. Like they're free or sumetin'."

The male strode forward, his swagger fit for a pony twice his little size. "Alright, let's get to the chase. What'd you find in there? Give it up."

No Name glanced at Octavia, asking without words. Both knew what they were being asked, and what it meant to either of them. Octavia simply sighed before gesturing forward. "Give it to them."

"You heard her, give it." His attention was on the form of No Name, sneering at him. "Don't think just 'cause yer big it means nothin'!" No Name was four times as wide and tall as the little raider, yet the raider held all the cards. "Nice and slow and we all get on with things."

Dim trot up casually to Octavia, glancing up at the limp form of Vinyl. "Rough time, huh?"

Octavia's ears perked at the visitor. "Are you genuinely trying to strike up a conversation as you rob me of my chance of returning home?"

"Hey, business is business, ya know? Don't mean we have to be bitter about it." She shrugged her little shoulders. "So how are things, ya know, besides the being robbed thing?"

"I've had better days," spat out Octavia through clenched teeth. "And yourself?"

"I found a new gang to roll with." She gestured at the impressive collection of thugs. "They're way more togetha than the last set of knuckle-heads. Hey, uh, really, thanks for not waxin' me when you had the chance." She rubbed her chin softly. "Guess this makes us even."

"That's the stuff," gushed the male was the orb was pulled free. "Put that, whatever it is, down right here." He pointed just in front of himself. "Hey, Swift, take it! We're gettin' out of here."

A human emerged from the crowd and hefted up the orb without challenge from No Name. "Pleasure doin' business."

Octavia reached out and thumped Dim Flashes' chest lightly. "You don't understand what you're doing. That is very important to me. I cannot say we are 'even'."

"Hey, don't be like that." Dim frowned at Octavia sharply. "You were gettin' robbed whether I was here or not. All I did was keep them from filling your pretty hide full of bullets. Show a little appreciation!" She suddenly snorted out a giggle. "Well, whatever. If we meet a third time, then it means something. Take it easy." She turned to return to the bandit group.

The apparent leader rejoined them as well. "Let's get the hell out of here. They ain't got anythin' else worth takin'."

"What about their guns?" asked another bandit, gesturing with a small hoof at Octavia's clearly visible piece.

"Hey, we ain't killin' em. Taking that and you may as well be doin' it. Dim asked us not to take 'em out, that means not waiting for the waste to do it fer us." He gestured to the west. "Let's get out of here. I wanna know what that thing does."

The motorcycles and other vehicles were deceptively quiet. Electric or magic, they had no explosions to make the noises one might expect from a vehicle. They simply rolled off with only their excited calls and celebrations of their robbery to announce their passage.

"It'll be alright."

Octavia looked up at No Name when he spoke and only realized at that instant that her eyes were full of tears as things went fuzzy and she couldn't see. She raised a hoof and wiped them clean with her fetlock. "It's not fair..."

"It ain't," he quietly agreed. "Let's get out of here."

"I am sorry," spoke Bullette in a sad downturning octave-shift. "If I were operational, I would have shown them the power of friendship... Did I hear that one of them was a friend of yours, Octavia?"

Octavia pinned her ears back. "That's being generous. She was a bandit last time I met her and I asked that she not be killed. I was going to... own her for a little while. I had hoped to protect her, but she got away from me fairly swiftly, only to show up here and take what we came for..."

No Name heaved a soft sigh. "She weren't all wrong. We were gettin' robbed one way or the other. All she did was stop us bein' killed too." He took a step past her. "C'mon. We ain't getting closer to Turves standing here. Let's get back, then we can think of somethin'."

"Something..." she sighed as she began to follow him, her tail dragging on the ground. "All of that..." She drove a hoof onto the ashen ground. "Why did we... We need to get back." She glanced over her shoulder at her injured friend. "Let's focus on that."

"Yeah..."

The trip back was far more quiet than the trip out. Neither of them were feeling very talkative. In the dark of night, Octavia laid Vinyl gently up against No Name, then pressed herself against her other side, sandwiching Vinyl between them for warmth.

No tent was used. With Bullette being blind, it was up to Octavia and No Name to keep an eye out for trouble.

The male voice of the diagnostics woke them in the morning, "sphincter #3 online."

No Name sat up with a soft snort. "Mmm? What part is that?"

"It means I can speak better!" Her lips were moving with her words, making it much easier to hear her words. "Octavia, are you conscious?"

"I am." She nuzzled under Vinyl and stood up. "And I'm ready to keep walking. The sooner we get back... the better."

No Name grabbed Bullette's limp form and stood up as well, setting her down on his back. "Anything else come back overnight?"

"Negative. Have any of your processes returned to full operation?"

No Name rolled his shoulders as he walked. "Actually, yeah, I do feel a little better. Still burns a little, but less than yesterday."

Octavia smiled thinly, but did not join the good-tidings of healing. "We should go." And they did, resuming their hike. She spoke to her unconcious friend as they went. "I'm sorry, Vinyl. You bled for this, practically died for this... and I let it get away. If you never forgive me, I'll understand..."

"Error!" sang out Bullette in a harsh buzz. "The failure you speak of was communal. We all performed at the optimal of our rated abilities."

No Name softly snorted at that. "Curious way you have of cheering her up. Even our best wasn't good enough."

Bullette quieted, her one working ear pinning down. "That is not what I meant..."

Octavia swerved towards No Name, reaching up to gently poke at one of Bullette's danging hooves. "It's alright, you were fine... You saved us. I can literally not hold any of this against you, Bullette. You're a hero."

"Receiving of friendship points acknowledged." Her cheerfulness was muted, dulled by the downturn of her companions. "You are also working very hard." Her voice suddenly shifted in pitch. "New idea!" she sang. "I wish to spend friendship points."

Octavia quirked an ear at her disabled mechanical friend. "I can't promise to oblige, but I'll listen and decide at least."

"This is acceptable. How many friendship points does it cost to make you smile again?"

Octavia flinched away. "You... can't even see if I am smiling right now."

"Error. A smile can be detected without visual confirmation. You are not smiling."

No Name shook his head. "She has you there."

Octavia snorted softly at the large pony. "Right, well... it's... not that easy. If it helps, just being asked that, in the way you do... It makes me a little happier. Thank you, for caring about how I feel, but I still feel how I do... I think I need time, a thing this world isn't keen on giving me. Time and a little peace."

"Do you wish me to be quiet?"

"No! No... you're fine, Bullette." Octavia pressed forward a little faster. "And you'll be better once we get you all fixed, just like Vinyl here." She suddenly snorted, smiling a little. "Imagine if she could talk right now? She'd complain the entire way about things. Hey, Octie, I can't see, can you try opening my eyes for me? No? Put my headphones on and turn it to this song. Oh yeah!" She tried to imitate Vinyl's accent and burst into giggles. "I miss you, stupid mare... be alright."

The next day, Octavia woke to the sound of metal crunching into something. She scrambled to her hooves and saw No Name bashing a giant bug with his sign, crushing its shell and forcing it to stillness. "Oh, thank you."

He slung his sign back up into storage. "Thing thought we'd make a good snack. How about we eat it instead?"

Octavia wrinkled her nose at the great roach-like... thing. "I'm not sure I want to try that. We have enough supplies to get back to town."

"Yeah. Come on, Bullette. Let's go." He reached for her and she squealed as he tossed her up onto his back with a twist of his neck. "Huh, can you feel that?"

"Yes, those sensors are operating minimally. Movement can be detected. It is nice to feel you again."

No Name blushed faintly. "That sounds weird."

"Do not make it weird," sang out Bullette. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah, should be."

They resumed their hike towards Turves. Roads started to emerge from the ash, and the ash itself thinned as they came closer to it. The town was still cleaning itself of any ash that blew in, making it easy to notice as they emerged from it.

"Hey," cried a familiar bear. "You're back, oh..." He noticed the injured swiftly as he approached at a jog. "Crap. Let's get you to the doc's." He gestured a great paw-hand towards the town proper. "We'll save happy welcome-backs until after that."

Octavia's burden was taken from her, the bear gently cradling Vinyl and hurrying off with her. No Name broke off in another direction. "A doctor ain't gonna help Bullette."

This left Octavia alone, wandering into town with an empty heart, a still stinging back, and nothing to do. "I'm stuck here," she sighed out. Though she had less pushing down on her physically, she felt crushed, as if the world itself were trying to force her into the ground with every step. "I'm stuck here..."

"Octavia Melody," came a refined female voice. The sheriff/queen approached with a smile and spread wings. "Just the pony I was hoping to see."

Octavia waved weakly as she crashed to her haunches. "I'm afraid I will not be very good company today."

"I assume your trip did not go as planned... Please, tell me what happened." She flinched, as if the failure of the mission were somehow a personal failing. "Tell me everything." Her teeth clenched, trembling with some intense emotion that confused Octavia.

"You did nothing wrong," assured Octavia. "You've been nothing but k--"

"No." Longshot shook her head. "It doesn't work that way, my precious subject. I told you to do something, and it didn't work. Tell me what happened, exactly. Please."

Octavia sat up at that, her ears perked at Longshot. "We found what would send us home, but it needed more power than we had there. At that point, Bullette and Vinyl were both injured badly. We took the thing with us, to bring back here, but bandits were waiting for us to come out. They took it and went off with it to who knows where." she waved vaguely with a hoof. "And here we are, with nothing but new injuries..."

Longshot set a hoof on Octavia's shoulder. "Unacceptable. You may not have won your way home,  but you are not without a home." She waved a hoof over the town. "We are here, and you are one of us. I know it... doesn't always feel that way, but you are. People talk to me, they ask about that mare that always has that... look. Tell me, what would put a smile on your face, even if just for a little while?"

Octavia's ears flicked back before slowly raising. People talked about her moping about? Figured... "Well..." A ticket home? Longshot didn't have that. "I would... very much like to have a cello. Do you have one of those? I would... very much... like that..." The thought of having her beloved instrument back forced a little smile on her face. Of course, even if another were offered, it wouldn't be her lovely baby, but even another would... "Yes, do you have one of those?"

Longshot inclined her head. "I will see what I can do. Many traders come and go through Turves, and we are certain at least one of them will have this instrument. If it will ease the pain in you, it would be a pleasure to get one. Meanwhile... I will check in on your friends." She took a step past Octavia. "Please, don't forget you are welcome here, even if it is not ideal. You are a Turves citizen, even if you long for your home."

Octavia watched her march off purposefully. "She isn't a bad queen," she decided, shaking her head. "Or sheriff, come to think." Not that either helped her terribly, but she stood up and turned in place, looking for something to distract her from the unfortunate present. Surely there was something she could do, perhaps?





"I specialize in guns."

"Ya don't think ah know that?" replied No Name. Both were speaking common, with no ponies in sight. He gestured a hoof at the prone form of Bullette. "Do what you can, please," he begged the griffon gunsmith.

Lunarquills threw up his hands with a heavy sigh. "And you'll get upset at me if this goes bad. Like the Jester's personal little joke." Despite his words, he turned to the broken filly and grabbed a hanging screwdriver off his tool rack. "Let's see if there's anything obvious I can put to right. If it looks like I don't know what it does, I ain't touchin' it."

"Yeah, that sounds fine..."

"Initiate repairs," sung out Bullette in a happy voice. "I believe in you, Uncle Lunarquills!"

Lunar quirked a smile on his beak. "My guns don't usually tell me I can do it." He pulled up a stool and sat down, starting the slow work of trying to help Bullette's body restore itself. "What'd you do? It looks like you went dancin' out in a thunderstorm."

"That is not an inaccurate report," she agreed, still sounding happy. "I was engaged in combat with the defense systems of a pre-Blaze facility. I was victorious with the power of friendship!"

"Yeah, sure...."





A small stallion leaned over Vinyl's limp form. She had been bandaged up where she needed it, but mostly, she was just laying there, sleeping. "Whatever she experienced, it has taxed her system terribly."

Longshot nodded softly. "See that she's taken care of."

"As if I'd do anything else." The shortleg surgeon smiled brightly. "She's a patient, and I'll be sure she remains that way until she asks me to cut it out." He pat the bed she rested on gently. "I don't think there are any real complications, she just needs time and care, and we'll give her both of those."

"How was her companion, and No Name?"

He perked up. "I haven't seen either of them. They didn't come in. I assumed they were alright, since I wasn't told they... hadn't come back, just that they hadn't come here, specifically, you know?"

Longshot frowned softly. "No Name can be very stubborn when it comes to seeking medical assistance. Damned stallion could be missing a leg and swear he'll sleep it off, then tell you to stop bothering him for bringing it up."

The doctor chuckled softly in agreement. "That sounds like him. He wasn't, uh, that hurt, I hope?"

"We don't believe this is the case, but it would please us if they were both looked at, despite their own lack of care for their health."

"I'll try to be subtle." He hopped up and hung his stethoscope while standing on his desk to reach it. The hook for it was too high for him to reach otherwise. "How about you, your ladyship? You're overdue for a little inspection. Just because you don't feel anything doesn't mean you shouldn't do the usual upkeep."

She smiled gently at the small doctor. "While we have no doubt it would please you to have us at your hooves, our schedule will not allow it..." she paused a moment. "Actually, are you available in four days?"

"For you, I can be without hesitation." He dipped his forebody down, bending a hoof over his front.

"I will arrive at dawn then." She turned to depart. "Check on both of them. We do not want harm to befall either, more than what has already happened. Poor things..." She was gone just after that, leaving the good doctor to his work.

He shook his head softly. "What does she see in you?" He trotted over to Vinyl's bedside. "You're pretty enough, but she's not usually distracted by any one pony..."
> 19 - This for That
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia sat in the town square. Small ponies, some normal sized one, and other interesting creatures moved about, most looking quite busy in one way or another. There was always something to do to make ends meet and keep the town going.

Everyone had something to do. Except her. She had no job, her friends were absent or injured, which was just a more specific version of absent. She had no skills that were particularly useful or even usable.

She could encase one of them in a suit of energy? She doubted that would make carrying things easier.

She could summon a pony that'd only linger for not even a minute and likely give her an odd look.

Or she could scare them all away? No, all terrible ideas.

Octavia sighed softly, but stopped mid-sigh at the sight of something new. She perked as two large animals, yaks? They lacked the light of intelligence in their eyes and appeared to be attached to a wagon they were pulling. Two pegasi, no, not pegasi. Their wings were leathery and their ears ended in tufts. They were bat ponies.

Octavia tilted her head. "I thought those were just stories..." And yet, there they were, driving their yak-pulled wagon into the marketplace. She watched the people of the town gather around with loud talks going both ways. Things were taken off the wagon onto the backs of small ponies, the arms of bipeds, or dropped onto waiting smaller carts to take away. Just as surely, things were brought, loading up the wagon with new things.

A creature with pony back end and a fox-like front, multiple tails swaying, quickly approached the well and began filling a barrel with water, one bucket at a time. Had they traded for a refill? Octavia could imagine that easily. It was never so obvious as that moment of intense activity just how cosmopolitan the little town really was, with so many species working together without prompting.

Something needed doing, so they just pitched in and got it done.

One of the many boxes was tossed into position and the noise had her on her hoof. It had jangled in a particular way, a twang of an abused instrument. She started towards that box even as it sped away. She soon lost sight of the square, following the cart as it went down a side street.

It pulled to a sharp halt in front of a building that had the same golden star that Longshot wore everywhere. The little pony that had pulled it there darted away from the cart up to the door and began knocking excitedly. "We found one!" she called, bringing her hooves together in a clapping.

Longshot opened the door from within, stepping out just as Octavia approached curiously. "What felicitous timing." She reached to pat the small pony gently once on the head. "You are a most loyal subject. Thank you. Go on."

"Yes, ma'am!" The little mare rushed away, leaving the cart and the box it held behind.

Longshot had seen Octavia, but did not look at her. She was walking easily towards the cart. "I see you noticed it. How did you see it so quickly?"

Octavia flinched faintly, feeling awkward a moment. "Well... They threw it, and it... Once you've been around them for so long, you learn their sounds, when they're happy, or not."

Longshot rolled her eyes. "Typical, throwing a musical instrument." She reached out a hoof and ran it over the box that held what Octavia hoped it did. "Hopefully no harm has befallen it. That would defeat the purpose, would it not? Now, I have an order for you, my uncertain subject. Are you ready for it?"

Octavia internally winced. Of course, a trade, that was the nature of things. What manner of dangerous or dreary work would she have to perform to pay for what she hoped was in the box. "I'm... ready." She wasn't entirely ready, but life rarely waited until one was.

Longshot smiled gently at Octavia. "You are to see to the upkeep of this. Ensure it is repaired and working in fine order. In order to verify this has been done, of course, you'll have to perform with it. I expect to hear a song of your choosing by the week's end. Am I clear?"

Octavia's ears perked up. Was that all? "I'd be... happy to do that." She suddenly scurried up. With permission basically given, she reached for the box and pulled it closer after some pawing at it. Why were her hooves so slippery in that world? Regardless of that, she worked the latches free in her teeth, cracking open the box at last and pulling the cover up and open.

Inside was a faded grey-brown instrument. It was a cello, and it had a bow. Both looked like they could have been over a hundred years old. She inhaled softly through her nose. Spruce? Traditional. The sides and back did not smell familiar though. An exotic local tree? She shivered softly as a smile grew. This was an instrument with a history, and it was hers.

"Who owned you?" she asked the cello, though it was powerless to answer her. Regardless of that, she very carefully worked it free of its container and held it close a moment. "What wonderful music did you produce?" She reared up onto her hind legs, letting the cello lean against her. She grabbed the bow in her teeth, her hooves unable to be trusted. That was when she saw the condition of the bow. It was a mess of frayed strands. Time had not been kind to it. She would not play that cello, not that day.

At least, not the normal way. She set the bow down and grunted. She would not be stymied, this close... She set her hooves on the cords. "Just this one time... work for me." She plucked at the strings, and a warbly note emerged. The thing was badly out of tune, criminally so, but she couldn't have cared less. Her hoof, it was working! She began to pull and press, easily doing everything she knew how to do. However helpless she had been at everything else, playing that instrument was working exactly as it should. She was restored.

Longshot suddenly coughed, catching Octavia's question. "Do not forget the first part of my order, my eager subject." She turned in place. "It pleases us, your expression. Ask around, you will find craftspeople that can help you."

Octavia nodded quickly as she gently set the instrument back in the case it had come from. "T-thank you! I mean it, this is... You don't even understand how vast..."

Longshot set a hoof gently on Octavia's nose. "You are a subject in need. It is my duty to see that need met. Go, see it repaired. It will not fix all of the wrongs in your life, but at least, I hope, it will allow you to face them."

"You really are a good queen." Octavia closed the case and sealed the clasps that held it shut.

"Have you had one before?" she asked. "You sounded like you had. Tell me of that."

Octavia blinked before looking over her shoulder at Longshot. "Oh, yes. The country we come from, the kingdom of Equestria, is ruled over by two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They are sisters."

"Sisters," echoed Longshot, looking curious. "What a lovely way to do things. And they are just rulers?"

"I have no complaints about either, though Luna has much to learn of statesmareship, I am told. Both are eager to do right by their people." She set a hoof on her chest. "I felt safe knowing they were there." She smiled thinly. "Come to think of it, I have performed for Celestia at times. It is only fitting that I perform for the queen of these lands."

Longshot leaned towards Octavia gently. "Your kingdom sounds like a lovely place, and I hope to it you return in time. I will do my best by my people." She lifted a hoof to gesture at the town as a whole. "They need me. Just... be wary. If someone else offers you the chance to be royalty, leave as quickly as your hooves will carry you."

Octavia blinked at that. "Why would someone offer that? And what sane pony would want it?" She held up a hoof. "No offense intended, I assure, but I do not envy royalty for their duties. It is a position that requires much if one intends to do it properly. No, I am quite satisfied as a performer."

"You are wise." She turned back to her office. "Come, when it is ready for that performance. We eagerly await your performance. For now, I should return to my duties."

Octavia nodded at the retreating rump of their ruler, not facing it. Instead she was focused on picking up the cello and getting it up onto her back. The case lacked a strap. She'd have to get that fixed too. Still, she had it.

It wasn't as heavy as Vinyl  had been. That was a painful thought. She hurried off with it, promising to visit Vinyl right afterwards.

There were woodworkers in town, craftspeople who knew how to work with different materials to fashion the things people needed. They were, unsurprisingly, specialized in what people needed, and not so much musical instruments, but one accepted her cello. "If the queen wants music, I'll make it happen. I don't know how to tune this thing, but I can make sure all the parts are in the right places."

Octavia nodded at the human with a smile, tail swaying with her eagerness. "Yes, please. And if it isn't too much trouble, a strap for the case, so I may carry it more easily."

"Not a problem."

"And don't worry about tuning it. I can accomplish that, once it is in good repair." She looked forward to it. Tuning an instrument was, in some ways, a bonding experience with an instrument. You learn the sound it makes while requesting the sound you desire. A negotiation on both sides in a sort of musical haggling until both sides are satisfied with the result. "Thank you."

"I'm on the case." He set the instrument aside and started collecting tools from his shelves. "I'll send word when it's ready for your hooves." He glanced aside. "Never figured out how ponies played instruments with their hooves."

Octavia perked her ears. "Wait, do they all do so?"

"Mm?" He sounded confused by the question. "You're a pony, wouldn't you know? I've seen ponies playing all kinds of things with their hooves. Give them an instrument and they can figure it out. Nothing breaks the mind more than watching a pony playing a piano, each key smaller than their hoof, but they're playing delicate pieces without a pause. Another, like you, is pressing their hoof that's too wide to catch just one string, but they're making their stringed instrument play exactly how they want it to."

Octavia held out an arm, her equine hoof crowning the end of it as she turned it left and right, looking at it. "What's it like, with those fingers you have?"

He smiled at that. "What's it like having a hoof?"

She returned his smile. "I suppose that is a difficult question to answer. If it is all one's ever had, what does one compare it to? Thank you, again. I look forward to it."

They parted ways and Octavia let out a little sigh. She looked forward to having her instrument, but there were other things... She hurried towards where they had told her Vinyl rested.

She knocked on the sheet-metal door. "Hello?"

"It's not locked," came a male voice.

She nudged it open and stepped inside the medical office. It was easy to identify as such, with all the tools of medicine she could see strewn about, to say nothing of the box with a red cross on it. It was missing the hearts though, curiously. The source of the welcome was a small pony. He was watching her through thick glasses and he was smiling a little. He wore a doctor's coat sized for his small body and a stethescope of equally small size dangled around his neck.

Octavia tilted her head. It should not have been surprising, considering the small ponies were the majority of the town's populace. "Nice to meet you, Mister..."

"Doctor Time. Stitch in Time." He nodded towards her. "And you are Octavia Melody. Come to visit your friend?" He gestured towards one of two beds in the small office. "She's right there. Her vitals are good and I think she may awaken soon."

She nodded towards him. "Yes, that's me." She trotted past him towards the prone form of Vinyl. It looked like she had wriggled in her sleep, her blanket in a bit of a mess, half-tangled around one of her hindlegs, the rest of her just as sprawled about. "She looks comfortable." It was a pose she had seen before. Vinyl did not sleep in any one position for long. "It's... comforting, in a way, knowing she can bend herself like that." She perked an ear back towards the small doctor. "I don't blame you for not trying to keep her covered. I gave up long ago."

He chuckled at that, though out of his smaller form, it sounded dangerously close to a giggle. "I tried my best at first, but she is quite the fidgeter. That is why I am certain she is recovering and will awaken soon. She's been through something quite trying." He hopped up on another chair, allowing him to be eye-to-eye with Octavia. "What was it, if I may ask?"

Octavia turned to face Stitch. "We were trying to find a way home."

"A way? Are you lost?" He reached up and tapped at his glasses, held in place by a band that went around his head.

"In a matter of speaking. We're not from here, this world, at all. Along the way towards a device that could get us there, we were shot at, cut, and gassed."

He winced at that. "Are you alright? I haven't had a chance to examine you yet, and I wouldn't want you getting an infection."

"I wouldn't worry about it." She waved it off. "Whatever else I may be, I remain an earth-pony and I won't be taken down like that."

"You can't always be sure. Where were you cut?" He smiled brightly. "A little peek won't hurt, promise."

She was still and silent a moment before she huffed softly. "Looking should be harmless." She turned away from him and sat down, exposing her back to him and the cuts that the spider-like robot had made into her. "It still hurts a little, but much less than it had originally."

He rocked in place, forcing his chair closer to Octavia. "Let's see..." He reached out. "I'm going to touch you. Tell me if it ever hurts and I'll stop right away, I swear."

"I'll hold you do that." Despite that, she didn't order him to stop when he first placed his hooves on her, despite it stinging on contact. She was no foal, and she knew there was no avoiding a little discomfort. "Does it look bad?"

"It got you good, Miss Melody. I'd really like to do a full scan if you would oblige me." He patted carefully over her back, following the lines of pain. "The surface looks like it'll mend, but I can't  be sure there aren't problems past them. With a little work, I could minimize the scarring." He could have done more if she had come sooner, but he had the sense to not bring that up. "A performer shouldn't bear scars, unless it fits their motif, which I don't think it does for you."

"I should imagine not." She huffed softly but nodded. "Fortunately, my back is rarely presented when I'm working... Still, do what you can. I'm already here."

Stitch smiled. He had hoped it would work that way. Octavia was not an uncommon kind of patient. Once they were talking to him, he could proceed. They just didn't wander into his office if they could help it. "This will tingle a little, and may sting." He hopped down and hurried to get his tools, returning just as swiftly. "I'll make it fast."

May sting? That meant it will sting. Octavia tried to calm herself and take soft breaths as she listened to the doctor moving around behind her. "Tell me, if it's not a rude question, but does your stature make your work more difficult?"

"Right for the heart of things?" he replied, washing the wand over her back. A wire ran from the end of the wand back towards a computer tucked in the corner. It was a constant chore to keep the thing working, but what it allowed him to see was more than worth the cost. He could see when she flinched, especially when the light of the wand went over the worse of her wounds. He didn't like that, but he kept on. He had to know what they were working with. "I can't help what I was born as, and I'm not sad at being a short leg. My parents were wonderful and kind, and being small has advantages at times." He worked down to her tail slowly. "My marefriend seems to enjoy me just the way I am."

Octavia looked over her shoulder.  For all how many short legs had acted around her, she thought they didn't even have such relationships. "Are you two a... permanent thing?"

He set the wand down gently from his mouth, the glow fading. "We're as close to married as you get without a formal declaration. She's too afraid to do it... The last two stallions she did it with died... She figures getting married to her is bad luck, the worst kind. So... the way I see it, we are, but we won't say we are, just for her sake." He smiled gently. "I do love her though..."

Octavia turned to face him, pivoting in place. "I'm sorry for her loss...es. It must be terribly difficult. Did... you?"

He shook his head quickly. "She's my first and I hope my last. We'll have some foals and raise them as best we can. What more can you ask for?" He suddenly grinned. "She's heavy with the first two."

Octavia's ears perked. "Two? Twins?"

"We are blessed," he sighed out. "It'll be a lot of work, but we'll do our parts. Now, let's see what we can tell about your injuries."

Octavia felt better. The doctor was not eyeing her. He had a wife, and he loved her wildly. It was nice to know that the amorous little ponies were quite capable of forming families and not just making awkward passes.





"You owe me." Lunarquills turned the sharp point of the tool he was holding just faintly to the left. "I could have worked on dozens of guns by now."

"Yeah yeah, but they wouldn't thank you when you were done."

"It is true," sang out Bullette joyfully. "You are very skilled at your work. I--"

The male drone of the diagnostic system suddenly talked over Bullette, her voice fading away. "All limb subsystems online."

Bullette stood up, knocking Lunarquills' pointy tool away. "I can move!" she sang in a triumphant crescendo. "It is your fault! Friendship points assigned."

Lunar grumbled as he leaned over to retrieve his device. "How about you keep yer points and just sit still. I ain't done yet, you tin can."

Bullette sat on her haunches but snorted digitally at Lunar. "I am not comprised of a significant portion of tin. My shell is constructed with--"

"--Yeah yeah,"  he cut in, trying to resume his work. "I don't need the breakdown, thanks. We're almost done, so you just sit still a little longer, then you and Big and Scarred here can go off and do whatever you two do together."

Bullette's eyes were restored, looking around in their digital display. They zeroed in on No Name. "What is the status of Vinyl Scratch and her responsible friend?"

No Name shook his head. "I ain't left this room since he started working on you."

Bullette frowned at that, though one of her brows was not operational, deforming the expression. "You should check on them. I am in good hooves. Error, hands. Error, talons?"

"Hands works just fine," assured Lunar as he pulled his tool free.

"Weapon #12 online," remarked the diagnostics in its bland tone.

"Right. I won't even ask why you have at least twelve of the things. I've only seen a few." He tapped at Bullette with the tool. "How many do you have crammed in there?"

Bullette tilted her head left and right. "I am not aware what weapon #12 is. Some I only use when I really need to. I don't... think about them, it just happens. When all the power of friendship is required to resolve a situation."

No Name snorted softly. "Don't even think of trying to get one of them to work. If she doesn't know how to use it normally, it shouldn't ever be used inside a town we want to keep around." He rose to his hooves in a great rising of pony flesh. "I'll see if I can't check on the other two. Shouldn't be hard to find Vinyl at least if she's still laid up."

"I hope that is not where you find her," argued Bullette.

"There are worse places I could find her." He lumbered from the building, his heavy hoof-falls receding into the distance.

Lunar sighed as he swapped to a large screwdriver. "This may tickle or something." Not that he understood how the senses of the mechanical apparatus he was working on worked. He shoved it right into her, slamming it into a screw that had come half-loose in whatever attack messed her up. With a powerful pressure, he pushed forward and to the right, slowly turning the screw back into place.

Bullette was watching him working, an intent that no gun had ever expressed as he worked on them. "I really... aren't a filly..."

It sounded like an admission, not to herself, but to Lunar. He hiked a brow at it. "Did you think I thought you were?" He turned all the more savagely, working the screw past a stuck point. "You're a whatever you are."

"Am I a machine?"

"Machines don't ask that question." He pulled the screwdriver free and tapped her nose with the end of his screwdriver. "You're you. As lame as it sounds, you're pretty fine just as you are." He tossed the screwdriver and it was caught on a magnetic strip along some of his other tools. He grabbed a set of pliers from the same strip. "This could sting." He wasn't sure that was true, or not, but he had to bend some things that were clearly out of place.

"I will remain still," she assured. "Could you not tell the others that I am not a filly?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure, ain't no one gonna hear it from me." Not that he thought many people were fooled about her nature for very long. "You know, if you wanted, you could change up your look just a little, be a short leg adult instead of a filly." He closed the pliers around the crooked metal and started roughly working it back into position. No Name's absence was a large part of why he chose then to work on those. The big guy would not have let him do that part if he was there.

"But I do not comprehend so much." She tilted her head at her repair-griffon. "It confuses me. As a foal, they let me ask questions. As an adult, they would be angry. Would I be better as an adult?"

He paused in his pulls a moment. "Huh..."
> 20 - To Dance in the Ash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Coming in," came a low bellow before a large head peered into the office size for more standard issue ponies and humans. "Octavia," exclaimed one of his snakes, sounding almost cheerful a moment. "Everything alright?"

Octavia felt her face reddening. Even though nothing was exposed more than usual, she was being examined and it just felt off. "Doctor Time here is just giving me a checkup."

"It's a tad more than that," admitted the small doctor. "Hello there. You're next, so come in and sit down if you would."

"I am?" queried another snake in a confused tone as the rest of his bulk began to carefully enter. "I didn't have no appointment. Did I?"

"You do now." The little doctor smiled as he hopped up and bounced up from the counter to reach a cabinet where a bottle was stored. He fell, but landed on his hooves, the bottle in his mouth. "Now, Miss Melody, I'd like you to take one of these every day, starting right now. You have a mild infection, but it's nothing you can't fight off." He spat out the bottle beside her. "You are a tough earth pony, right?"

"Right." She reached for the bottle only to remember her hooves were still damnably slippery. She grabbed the lid of the bottle in her teeth and worked it free before tipping it just enough for a pill to spill free. It was not one of the small neatly packaged things she was expecting. "Did you make this yourself?" It was like a tightly bound little package of herbs. She could see where leaves started and twigs ended. A smooth medical pill it was not.

"I did." He was looking at No Name. "It's fresh, I check every day. Go on. Now, you, big fellow. Where does it hurt?"

"May I chew it?" asked Octavia as she carefully balanced it on the end of her rebellious hoof.

"You may." Doctor Time was circling the quiet No Name, inspecting him as best as he could. "You've been through no small number of scrapes, but we both knew that. What a brave pony you are."

"You should know better than that." No Name's nose wrinkled a bit. "Ain't much of a pony."

Doctor Time grabbed a chair in his teeth and sent it rolling skidding towards No Name. "You may be a curious pony, but, as a doctor, I feel confident in classifying you under our genus, if not our species." He scrambled up onto the chair. "If you won the favor of a mare, I feel certain viable offspring would result."

No Name snorted explosively at that. "Well, sure, but a damn human could do that if they wanted to jus' fine."

Stitch in Time wobbled a hoof. "But the result would not be either of the parents. You and a pony would make a pony. Maybe a big one, maybe not, but still a pony. Now, we're not here to discuss your breeding outlooks. Show me where it hurts."

Octavia swallowed her pill, having chewed it up into a mashy paste in her mouth. It was a little bitter, but it was also medicine, so she didn't make a fuss about it. "He means only well, No Name. Please answer him."

"You too?" He sighed, all his snakes sighing at once even as a sigh rolled out over the snakes from within him in a strange chorus. "Alright, fine." He raised a hoof to point at his shoulder. "Caught one here. And here." He pointed to a spot on his side. "Pretty sure I got a few back there." He pointed back at his rump. Got a nick on my ear, but it ain't even hurt no more."

Stitch's eyes widened as he began counting all the places he had been hurt. "You poor thing! And you were just there to help them. Thank you." He hopped down from the chair and quickly looped around to his rump, a more easily reached portion. "Mmm, you look alright here." He gently pat the area. "Nothing stuck inside, no sign of infection here, good..."

No Name looked over his shoulder at the small doctor poking at him. "Yeah, ain't not enough to put me down. You got somethin' or burnt lungs?"

His little hoof dropped to the floor. "Burnt lungs?"

"Oh, yes." Octavia nodded quickly. "I had forgotten all about that."

"How do you forget a thing like burning lungs?!" He hopped up onto his chair only to rebound up onto a counter. "How badly does it hurt? Can you describe the pain?"

"Like sandpaper," noted a new voice. All eyes turned to Vinyl sitting up in bed, wobbling a bit. "Uh, hey." She raised a hoof a moment before it fell. "I feel like I've been asleep for ages, and I'm still tired. What's up with that?"

Octavia bounced to her hooves and galloped towards the bed. "Vinyl!"

"Yeah..." She didn't get much else out before she was tackled right back onto the bed under Octavia. She weakly laughed as she was hugged. "Well, shoot, I gotta get hurt more often if I can wake up like this. Uh, nice to see you too girl."

Octavia squeezed her weak friend close. "Don't you ever do anything like that ever again!"

"I promise... nothing." She weakly laughed as she tried her best to return the embrace. "It isn't, you know, like me, but can you..."

"Certainly." Octavia gently set Vinyl down, smiling at her still recovering friend. "I'm just... It's good to have you back with us."

"So, uh, like she said." No Name gestured towards Vinyl with a toss of his head. "Still in there. Kinda annoying."

The little doctor hissed with alarm. He nosed into a drawer and pulled free a book, starting to flip through it as quickly as he could. "I don't like the sound of that, not at all." He turned it with his little nose, nudging it from one page to the next. "Do you feel any trembling or other muscular issues?"

No Name shrugged softly. Octavia shook her head. "I feel fine, outside of what we just reported."

"Alright, alright, good..." Stitch let out a little breath, looking visibly relieved. "Gross lung irritation... I can... perform much more extreme surgery, or..." He looked up at his three guests. "I can admit magic would be better suited for this. This sort of fix isn't free, even from the most kind cleric. It literally can't be. The gods demand sacrifices." He wobbled a hoof. "I don't understand it. It's not like Lashtada would want her children suffering, but it is the way it works."

No Name hiked a brow at Stitch. "You sound like you could fix it."

"I think I could." He bobbed his head. "You'd be down for a while... Lungs are not easy to reach, for obvious reasons. There's no such thing as perfectly safe surgery..." He tapped his little hooves together softly. "But I am ready to do it, if that is the best path. I'd prefer you at least looked for a cleric before I set this path down."

No Name rose with a low snort. "Callin' in all mah favors lately... Let me see what I can't shake loose, alright?"

"Please." He turned to Octavia. "You don't have to stay here. I'll keep an eye on Miss Scratch and we'll call you if anything changes."

Vinyl weakly waved a hoof. "Yeah, don't just sit here watching me be lame. That's no fun, and I don't want that anyway. I'll come tackle you when I can. You owe me one."

"I do," admitted Octavia with a little smile. "Stay strong." She offered up a hoof. "The  Rock Goddess isn't going to let a little gas come between her and victory."

"Got that right." She weakly pressed her hoof to Octavia's. "Just need a little me time."

Octavia hopped down gently, looking back at Vinyl once more before proceeding towards the exit. "Let's go."

"Bullette's alright," noted No Name as he departed with her. "She's already back to her usual self."

Stitch watched them go before looking back to Vinyl. "You, least of all, do I want to risk this with. You've just woken up. Your friends seem... durable. I'd rate them--"

"--Yeah yeah, I get it." She rolled over, facing the little doctor. "I'm better at partying than this. Just my luck. Not your fault though."

"How do you feel?" He hopped right up onto the bed, looking down at her, a thing he didn't get to do  very often.

"Like I was run over, but I'm not giving up that easy, little doc." Vinyl reached out a wobbling hoof to press it right on his nose. "Boop. You are the cutest little doctor I ever saw."

He smiled around her hoof. "I'm glad you're in good spirits. Your goggles are over there." He pointed to a small nightstand near the bed. "I didn't want them to bother your rest."

"Nah. They power me up." Her horn glowed faintly as she picked up the goggles, forcing them to lethargically gravitate towards her. "Once I get these bad boys back on my face..." The goggles slapped up against her face,  but she didn't notice. She had passed out in the effort, already starting to snore softly.

Stitch leaned in, taking them carefully between his teeth and working the band around her head. Soon she had them adorning her eyes as she seemed to want. "Sleep well." He hopped down and returned to his chair.





Octavia walked alongside No Name. "Where is she?"

He gestured with a hoof. "She's being... seen to, like Vinyl."

"I imagine not exactly like her, but I'm glad to hear that." She nodded firmly. "The doctor was... right. You've suffered a great deal, for us... And we've nothing to show for it. Why are you even... here?"

No Name hiked a brow. "Tired of bein' wit' us?"

"No! No... I mean... you should be tired of being with us. What have we given you, but pain?" Octavia ran a hoof over the other leg in a nervous fidget. "Just... why?"

"Because it's right?" He gave a great shrug, watching her placidly. "Ponies come and go... They live little lives, then they dead... Doesn't mean you don't... get involved none." He cracked a faint smile. "Do you just walk past a lost puppy?"

Octavia blinked softly, silent a moment. "Do you see us that way? That is... unnerving in a sense... Still, most would not go through this much effort, even for a 'lost puppy' as you put it."

He reached for her, bopping her on the nose lightly. "Hey, I ain't so good at this. You're more than that. You're a friend now. I ain't leavin' friends behind."

Octavia rubbed at her mildly sore nose, smiling despite it. "That's a reason I can understand. I mean, even if we're trying to... leave?"

He hiked a brow. "So? A friend helps a friend get where they want, even if that's away. I'm gonna check in on Bullette, alright?"

"Tell her I said hello, and wish her a speedy recovery." She glanced in the direction No Name seemed to want to go. "And tell her I can't wait to see my favorite little filly." Her voice dipped down, "Remind her that would be her, in case she gets confused."

Her friends were in recovery, which was good, and they had lung damage, that was less good. Damage the doctor was afraid to even try to treat. That was even less good. Octavia let out a heavy breath and went for a determined trot. She nodded towards the other Turves-citizens she saw on the way, but she was focused. She raised a hoof and knocked on a door. "Are you in?"

"'s not locked!" came a call from inside. "Is that the player?"

Octavia nudged the door open and entered the woodworking studio. "It is I, Octavia. I was wondering how the..." Her voice trailed off, seeing the cello in the firm grip of a vice that held it still. It looked polished, shining in the dim light. She hurried towards it, ears pricked.

"She's looking a lot better now," assured the craftsman, slapping his hands together firmly. With a firm grip of the vice's handle, he popped the instrument into his other waiting hand. "Would you do me the pleasure of testing it?"

Octavia reached for it, cradling it close with a soft sniff. It smelled of the polish and cleaning chemicals, but she could also smell the wood that made it, and some new wood. "Is the bow ready?"

"Bow? Oh, this?" He pulled the bow free from behind some tools on his bench. "Didn't know what it was called, but I figured it needed new strings. The ones it had were beyond worn out. I didn't have a perfect match, but..."

Octavia reached up for it and drew the bow away in her hoof, sticking there without a problem. If she could only use her hooves for music, was that so bad? "I'm certain it will change the sound, but, still, no matter. I am eternally grateful." She brought the bow to the strings, standing upright with an uncertain expression.

There was a moment of silence before she drew the bow slowly across the strings. A soft unsure note sounded, as if the cello was just as scared as she was. She smiled as she adjusted her grip and reached with her mouth to the great knobs that held the strings of the instrument in place. With a firm twist, the note became higher mid-pull. She began to tune it. The bow was not one she had used before, with an alien string. The cello was constructed of strange wood.

Neither of these things mattered. It was time for her to get to know it. With soft raises and lowers, she moved from knob to knob, working to adjust it gently towards a sound that pleased her practiced ears. It would never be entirely perfect, that was a thing that did not exist. Harmonies did not properly exist in perfectly equal instruments.  The imperfections were the perfection. She gave a last twist, drawing her bow across the strings.

The cello was no longer uncertain and scared. It was saying hello, in the way a cello could. It was ready to sing and dance with her. With a growing smile, she lowered the hoof that held the bow. As if somehow telling she wasn't playing anymore, the bow slipped free of her hoof and clacked to the ground. "It's ready. Thank you."

"You're forgetting a part." He reached behind himself without looking, taking hold of the case it came in. A new leather strap dangled from it as he placed it in front of her. "You need something to put it in."

"Marvelous." She placed the cello inside carefully and had the bow loaded up a moment afterwards. "Wonderful... I'll... I need to practice. It's been too long."

"An artisan without work collects rust," agreed the woodworker, gesturing for the door. "Go shake that off. I'll be by to hear it later when I don't have other projects needing my attention."

"Thank you, once again." She dipped her head low. "You are truly a gentlepony."

"I'm not a pony, but I'll take it as a compliment." He rose to his feet. "Don't mean to kick you out, but I'm doing that. Plenty of other work to do."

"Yes, right. Take care." She slung the case over her back and started for the exit. "Take care."

"You take care of that, but if it gets dinged, bring it back here." He grabbed a bow, the sort more applicable to hunting. "An antique like that shouldn't be lying around broken."

"Of course." She slipped out as she had come in, though the door swung inwards, making it impractical for her to draw it shut behind herself. Though it had a knob. She reared up and grabbed it in her mouth, pulling the door shut with a satisfying click.

She ambled towards the well, it being in the center of town. She stood up near it, working loose the clasps of the case to work her cello free. "Hello, new friend. Shall we sing a song for the town?"

She ran a hoof along the wood of the cello as she grabbed for the bow with the other. "Let's start slow..."

She was not trying to play a particular song. Octavia just played. She let her soul out down along her arms and it came out through the cello. It was a soft and haunting melody, speaking wordlessly of her loss and struggle. Small upticks echoed the happiness of seeing Vinyl stir, of knowing Bullette would be alright. But her song was a sad one. She had many negative emotions to process, and playing the cello was a fine time to let them come free, to channel them into wonderful notes.

Passing people paused at times, watching her play her sad little song. Despite the sadness of it, she had a little smile on, which seemed to confuse them.

"Excuse me," came a high pitched but male voice. "Are you happy or sad?"

Octavia blinked, looking to the source. They were a pony, a full sized one. Their coloration was like that of a duck, with a green head, a white band, and even a yellow snout that could approximate a beak, though it was clearly a muzzle. "Oh, hello?"

"Hi!" piped the male, ruffling the wings on his back. "Nice to meet you! I'm Duck."

"Hello, Duck." She tilted her head faintly at the new pony. "That is a very fitting name."

"It's the best," he easily agreed. "So are you sad or happy?"

"It's a little complicated, I must confess." She tapped her cello with her free hoof. "Did you want to hear me play?"

"Yes please!" He plopped down on his haunches. "But only if it makes you happy."

"I think it does." She drew her bow across the cello, resuming her soft playing. "Do you like--"

She didn't get to finish. He had pulled free a guitar with a duck's head at the top. He began playing with her, matching her soft melody but seeming to try to lift it, playing the upscale to her downturn relentlessly. His music was as eager as he seemed to be and he smiled brightly as he played, hooves dancing over the strings in that way that confused humans and Octavia shared.

Octavia felt challenged on some level. Her song demanded a downturn, and she pressed harder, but he was right there, never clashing, matching, but lifting, working into her notes with the work of a practiced musician. He just wasn't letting her wallow in her emotions, and she was both smiling and infuriated at the work of the eager little duck-pony. "You don't give up, do you?"

"I try not to," he chimed eagerly. "What's your name?"

"I am Octavia Melody." She gestured at herself with the bow.

"That's a pretty name." He released his guitar, letting it hang off his neck by its strap. "I'm Duck," he noted as if she could have forgotten since he last mentioned it. "I'm a baker and I play songs and I run a radio show." He suddenly gasped, his eyes going wider. "I just had the best idea!"

"What idea would that be?" She sank down to all fours, starting to put her cello away in its case. "You live here, I imagine?"

"Oh, yes! You do too, right?" He tilted his head left and right rapidly. "Sorry for not saying Hi to you before! I was kinda busy, but I met you now and that's good right? I'm duck!" He suddenly quacked, a noise that could have come from any proud avian of his name. "Oh yeah, the idea!"

"You were saying?" she prompted gently as she shouldered the case.

"Yes, you should play on the radio." He pointed firmly into the town. "It's over there. Did I mention I bake? Wanna bun? It'll help you smile!"

Octavia's expression diminished faintly, smile easing. "It sounds like you have many professions."

"Yes! Wait, no, just three." He held up a hoof, then the other forehoof, then flopped over, likely trying to raise a third hoof without much success. From the ground, he was looking up at her. "How many do you have?"

"Approximately zero at this moment." She sighed gently. "I have nothing I do for the betterment of anyone around me, in the end."

"That's not true." He sat back up and pointed at her, then her cello. "You play nice music. It's kinda sad, but it's pretty. Do you like playing?"

"I do... but I doubt anyone here is rushing to hire me to play my cello."

"What if I did?" He reared up so he could point at himself with both hooves. "I run a radio," he reminds. "I need stars! I mean, besides me. You could be a star. I bet people would like hearing you play. You could help put smiles on lots of people's faces. Wanna?!"

Octavia reached for him, poking him in the belly since  he was standing up. "Pardon me, good sir, but you don't... can you show me the radio?"

"Follow me!" Instead of moving towards the supposed radio, he approached her. "'xcuse me. Can I hug you?"

Octavia had to blink. That was a sudden detour in the conversation. "We don't know each other that well, I'm afraid."

"Oh, well, you looked like you needed one." He walked past her, trotting along with a smile. "This way, Quack." He looked over his shoulder at her. "If you want one later, don't even ask, nope, don't. Just hug me. I'll be so happy."

Octavia smirked faintly as she follows the strange duck-pony. None of the others in the area seemed concerned for her, so she decided to have faith that he was just an oddball, not a dangerous person to be around.





Lunarquills looked back at the knocking. "That you, Has Name?"

"That ain't my name." He nudged the door open with his snout and wriggled inside. "Belle, how're you feelin'?"

"I am operational," sang Bullette with a little hop. "He has returned me to 90% operational. I can finish the remainder of the repa--healing on my own." She bounded down from the counter she was seated on. "I am ready to depart. What is the status of Octavia Melody and--"

"Not even a goodbye?" Lunarquills smirked softly. "Figures."

Bullette pivoted a little too perfectly. "Error! I am grateful for your work, Uncle Lunarquills. I hope to see you again when I am not in need of medical assistance."

"Yeah, let's do that." He hung up a screwdriver on his magnetic strip. "Maybe some day you can show me a few of those secret weapons of yours, if you get in the mood."

"I'm going to hope she never gets in that mood." He offered a hoof and she bounced right onto it. Soon he had her placed on his back, ready to be his loyal turret once more. "Thanks again. If you need something--"

"--I'll ask for it. For now, git out of here, both of ya. Like a guy doesn't have things to do."

No Name emerged from the building he had practically lived in for a few days. "We're gittin'"

"Status report," repeated Bullette.

"Oh, right." No Name looked over his shoulder at Bullette as he started to walk. "Octavia said she can't wait to see her favorite filly soon."

Bullette gasped in a warbling tone. "Who is her favorite filly? Can I meet her?!"

No Name felt a smirk forcing its way free. Octavia had called that one. "You already met her. She was talkin' 'bout you, Bullette."

Bullette squealed, clapping her forehooves together. "Receiving of friendship points acknowledged! Let's go to her now."
> 21 - If Television Died, Can Radio Be Reborn?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duck led the way, quacking softly with every other step. "You're gonna love it, promise! You ever play on a radio before?"

"Once," admitted Octavia as she followed. "In Manehattan. They were broadcasting the entire symphony, of which I was a small part."

"Wow!" He looked over his shoulder at her. "You were part of a whole bunch of people, all playing at the same time?" He hopped towards a closed door, grabbing at its handle in his wings. "I hope I can try that someday. Was it a lot of fun?"

"It was a challenge." She nodded softly as he opened the door. Inside was lit with small panels and things. It was more of a closet than a full building, at least the accessible parts. There was a large microphone sitting on the counter, and two chairs beside that. "This is where you broadcast then?"

"Yup!" He hopped up onto one of the chairs and started rapidly patting the other. "Come on! I'll introduce you to everyone!"

Octavia set her cello down carefully just inside the door before hopping up on the other chair. It was more of a stool, soft beneath her haunches. "I presume you would want me--"

"Hello Turves! Hello everyone!" cried out Duck joyfully in the direction of the microphone. "It's D U K, Duck on the air and ready to bring some smiles to all the faces that need it, Quack!"

Octavia flipped her ears back. "O-oh, are we already--"

"With me is a special nice mare. Say hello!"

"Yes, well, hello and greetings." She nodded towards the microphone as if it could see it. "I am--"

"This is Octavia Melody, and she's gonna play some amazing music for you all, so you're in for a real treat! I heard it before and it was really good. A little sad,  but good. Good sad. Quack! Ready?" He waved at her dramatically.

As it turned out, Octavia was far from ready. Her instrument was propped up near the door and she was on the stool. Being put on the spot had her scrambling back to the ground, teeth clenched in surprise.

"She's getting her instrument, so while we wait, I'll go over a few boring things, like the weather! It's overcast." He leaned to the side, peering back outside of his radio station. "Maybe the sun will come out today? Wouldn't that be amazing?! It's not too hot and not too cold. Feels nice on my feathers, quack. The wind is kinda mild, so no ash in your eyes today."

Octavia stood up, her cello cradled against her, bow in hoof.

"She looks ready now. Are you ready?! Don't actually answer, I can't hear you, silly." He stuck out his tongue at the microphone. "Here she is, Octavia Melody, playing, uh..."

"A song written by a pony long since passed." She let out a slow breath. "He left us with wondrous music, and through it, he still lives. This is from his first suite." She began to play, her face turning to one of tranquil concentration as she slid the bow across the strings, summoning the lively tunes that made up the song.



Duck began to clap along to the beat of the song. To his credit, it was mostly silent, the clop of his hooves purposefully kept quiet to let her play her piece for all the wastelands within reach of his radio tower to enjoy. His smile looked painfully wide, enraptured by the music that spilled from the refined pony and her stately instrument.

Soft thuds shook beneath her hooves. She glanced in the direction they came from,  but did not pause in her playing. To interrupt a suite mid-playing? That was not something she would do easily. She wove from one part of the composition to the next, faithfully rendering it from her memory to play through the increasingly familiar instrument at her hooves.

Was the song she played even known to the world she was sharing with? There was a good chance it was entirely unknown, and the thought excited her a little. She was sharing something special, something grand. Some of those who heard it may never hear it ever again, but would they ever forget it? Perhaps it would stay with them, in their hearts, through the hard times. 

The thuds had stopped, good. Whatever had caused them had hopefully passed by, leaving her to play her piece for however many souls were listening to their broadcast. Was it only a few? Dozens? Hundreds? She wished for a moment she could know, but that seemed impossible. The radio could only sing out into the void, and never hear a reply. She would touch the wastelands with a dash of grace, and would have to be satisfied even if no one heard it at all.

That made playing the entire suite important. The longer she played, the higher the odds that some tired soul would find their broadcast. Perhaps a smile would be gifted to a weary face. For just a small time, they would forget their troubles and pains and just listen. They would be with her, in the dance of her and her instrument. They would be transported to another time, and another place. She would free them for a little while, and it would be good.

She felt a presence all too close. Arms were wrapping around her. They didn't get in the way of her own arms, as if specifically trying to not get in the way, outside of the gross violation of her personal space. She cracked an eye open to see Duck was hugging her. He was hugging her, and crying, and smiling. She wasn't sure how to process that, but a little pride stirred in her. She had moved at least one person, impressed on them some of the spark of the work she reproduced. Of course, that didn't mean he should have been embracing her, but she had a song to play, and she meant to complete it, for anyone else that may discover her playing for as long as it remained.

The sensation redoubled. She was being hugged, again, from the other side. She switched which eye was open to see Bullette Belle had grabbed onto her, hugging tightly but silently. She wasn't sure how the metal filly had snuck up so silently, but then, perhaps her own playing had provided more than sufficient cover for the stealthy little one to creep up on her. Beyond the little filly was an awkward No Name, sitting patiently. Thankfully, he wasn't trying to join the others in grabbing at Octavia. She wasn't sure she could have pressed on if he had done that.

As she drew the final note free of the cello, she dipped her head towards the microphone, taking a soft breath as she did so. "Thank you for listening. I may never see you, those who are listening, but know that I hope your day is a little better."

"My day is!" eagerly piped Duck, rushing back for his chair. "I'm gonna try to get her to come back and play more often, Quack! So stay tuned to hear more great music. Don't worry, I'll play too! For now, bye bye!" He slapped a button with a wing and pivoted back towards everyone else. "Oh gosh, that was great! Thank you! Um, oh! Belle! Hi hi hi!"

"Hello, Duck," musically chimed Bullette. She leaned in closer to Octavia, whispering, "His operations are not at 100%, but he is friendly. Danger level: green."

Octavia nodded at that, agreeing with the assessment. "No Name, nice to see you again. You don't have to hide out there."

"You say that." He poked his head into the small space. "There literally ain't enough room for the rest ah me."

Duck waved a hoof eagerly up at No Name. "Hi hi hi! Howya doin'? Did you hear the music?"

"Yeah." He nodded towards Octavia. "That was... nice. Who gave you that?" One of his snakes, the one speaking, pointed its head at her cello.

"The queen," admitted Octavia as she tucked the cello back in its case, resting its bow in with it. "I really should check in with her. I owe her a performance. Does she listen to your radio, Duck?"

Duck bobbed his head. "Sometimes. She's, like, super busy, so not all the time, but that's alright." He bounced down to the floor, landing on his hooves lightly. "You already know each other? Great! All my friends are friends of my friends, quack!"

No Name reached with a hoof for Duck, which proved easier as the pony rushed up to accept the pat on the noggin. "Hey, Duck, do you know any full-up healer sorts?"

Duck tilted his head without moving it away from the patting. "I can heal a little..."

"More than that I think." He shook his head. "Big time stuff."

Bullette turned on the conversation. "Error. Information not present. For what reason would you require a healer?" She gasped dramatically. "Is Vinyl still hurt?!" she exclaimed in a warble, her octave shifting wildly.

Octavia shook her head at the small metal filly. "She's fine, relatively, but we all breathed in that awful gas, and it's still there." She pat herself on the chest gently. "And removing it is something that apparently requires something called a 'cleric'." She raised a brow. "Do you even know what that is, precisely?"

Bullette sat up, clearing her digital throat. "A cleric is a specific variety of spellcaster, powered externally by devotion to an extraplanar being of considerable power. There are other varieties of spellcaster that wield magic in this same, divine, classification of magic. Clerics are notable for their flexibility, being able to prepare a wide variety of spells daily to meet the requirements of the day." She said it all as if she were reading from a dictionary, looking quite self-pleased as she sat up so very tall and straight. Professor Belle was ready and present.

Duck thrust a hoof at her. "Yeah, that thing. I'm Duck. I play music." He bobbed his head with clear pride in his profession. "I also bake bread. Anyone want some?" He suddenly booped Bullette right on the end of her snout. "You need bread!  Little fillies need lots and lots of bread."

Bullette bobbed at him, looking quite pleased. "Then I should consume large quantities of bread."

"Yes, yes you should," Duck agreed easily. "Come with me!"

He took off in a scramble of galloping hooves, quacking the entire way. No Name ducked to the side, giving room for the pony to squirm out around him and dash down the street. "Huh... You following him?"

Bullette shook her head. "He will return, and leaving the radio like this is unrecommended."

Octavia glanced at the microphone. "An excellent point. We really should lock this place up if we're not using it." She shouldered her instrument over her back. "And we still have to find one of those 'clerics' of yours. Are they common? I'm not sure how much I favor the idea of a pony getting magic from... something else like that."

No Name shrugged softly at that, backing away out of the doorway. "There are nice gods, and not so nice ones. The people who go bowing to th' nice ones ain't all bad. 'Hear my voice and obey, be nice to yer neighbors,' ain't such a bad message. Just got to watch out fer the messed up ones."

Bullette put a hoof to her chest. "I follow a greater power!" Both of the others peered at her skeptically. "I am a loyal follower of friendship and the mighty power it contains." She pointed the same hoof at No Name. "Do you accept friendship into your life?"

No Name's lips tugged into a bit of a smirk. "Well, ah guess ah can make room fer that, of all thin's. But yer gonna call me out like that? Really?"

Octavia dipped her head. "That is a force I could accept as well." She stepped past Bullette, emerging onto the street beside No Name. "We pay heed to elements much like that, in my world. The Elements of Harmony, all facets that a pony should strive towards to make the world more harmonious and everyone in it happier."

Bullette half-pronked out after Octavia. "Please tell me more! Did you have a favorite? What was it? What was your least favorite?"

Octavia considered the filly that had been crippled a few days previously. She seemed to have recovered, from the way she was bouncing around. "How did it go... Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and a little Magic to bind it all together. I am uncertain if I could be considered a living embodiment of any of those, but that is just as well. We have ponies that are, and perform a more than adequate job."

"You have magic," noted Bullette with a nod.

"You're plenty kind from what ah know of ya." No Name joined in the nodding.

"You are very loyal to your friend, Vinyl Scratch," continued Bullette.

"Your generosity is the only reason we weren't filled with bullets." No Name hiked a brow. "Really, only thing yer missing is a bit of laughter. You save that for special occasions. Ain't nothing wrong with that."

Octavia's cheeks were burning. Being called a fine example of the elements was a high compliment, even if she was certain neither of them were trying to do it specifically. "I... thank you..." She remembered the little bandit mare she had spared, who in turn had spared Octavia and her friends. "That could have gone better... Beside that, laughter is more about making those around you happy, more than constantly being happy yourself."

Bullette thrust a hoof at Octavia. "Then you are even better! You are a source of morale." She changed the aim of her hoof to indicate the case draped over her back. "You are very skilled at the operation of that musical instrument. Its frequencies were most pleasing. I would like to hear more."

No Name gently pat Bullette on the head. "Didn't figure you were much fer that kind of music?"

She bounced away from his hoof, frowning at him. "Why would you think that?! It was a musical composition of great complexity and depth." She bobbed her head. "Listened to as a whole, it was pleasant. The more one examined it, the more there was to see. It remains art even upon investigation. That is something I can appreciate."

Octavia wondered just how much Belle could examine classical pieces. "It's a great relief to have a cello once more." She patted the tucked-away instrument. "I'll have to play it more often... I still owe the queen a performance." She sighed softly. "I mentioned that already. I really should go see if she's available."

"Waaaaaiiiiit!" Duck came rushing back, quacking along the way. Bouncing on his back were two large baguettes. "Bread's  here," he triumphantly announced as he came to a skidding halt, dust kicking up from his rough and sudden deceleration. "Here ya go." He reached back and grabbed one end of a loaf in his mouth and pulling savagely, tearing it right in half. He offered it towards Bullette Belle. "Fillies get first dibs."

Belle sat down on her haunches and reached out with both forehooves, accepting the loaf between them and drawing it close. "You are very kind, D-u-k."

"Yes, that is me, D-u-K, Duck! Quack! Eat eat!" He pulled off the second half of the same load and held it out towards Octavia.

Octavia reached out a lone hoof, just for the loaf to flop to the ground. The loaf was, alas, not enough of a musical instrument to qualify for her hooves to work properly. She brought in her other hoof to scoop it up. The smell tickled at her nose and she smiled. It was bread, real bread. It was a small piece of a normal world. For just a moment, she forgot everything else and took a big bite out of the bread, sinking past its crunchy exterior to its soft and warm innards.

It didn't taste of loss, decay, and desperation. It was warm and soft and melted on her tongue where it didn't demand to be crunched. It was... lovely. Surely, she knew on some level, it would not satisfy what she needed to live, but as a treat, she savored it, sighing gently into the bread before she went for another mouth-watering bite of its fluffiness.

Duck watched Octavia savoring her bread, struck silent for a moment. "Wow... She likes bread almost more than me. Almost." He pulled free the other baguette and began tearing and pecking at it like a starving duck, getting an impressive half of it into his mouth, the other half scattering over the ground as he quacked joyfully. It was only after several large inches of bread were destroyed that he remembered. "Oh yeah!" He ripped the remaining bread in half and offered the remainder towards No Name. "Your share!"

No Name leaned in, several snakes grabbing the bread away from Duck in a communal snatch. They proved more cleanly eaters than Duck, chomping down mouthfuls of the bread. One of the snakes abstained, looking instead to Octavia. "You wanna go find Longshot? Bet she's makin' the rounds or somethin'."

"Ah, yes." Octavia rose to her hooves, tucking the bread between herself and her instrument, held to herself by the weight of the instrument. "Thank you, all of you. You've all contributed to what has been... a relief of a day."

"You're welcome! Quack." Duck stuffed the last of his share of the bread down his throat before looking to Bullette. "Wow, you finished it already?!"

Bullette was no longer holding any bread. There were no hints of it ever having existed anywhere around her. "It was prepared very well. Thank you."

"Aw, you're welcome." He bounced over to give her a warm hug, oblivious to the hard shell of metal that covered her. "If you want more bread, come by any time, Quack. Bu-bye, new friend." He waved frantically at Octavia as she started to leave. "Come back tomorrow to play again. I bet a lot of people really liked that!"

Octavia inclined her head lightly at him as she began a trot. "I may do just that. Take care, all of you." She sped away from the radio station, her hooves feeling lighter than they had before. Sure, they were still in need of so many things, but it wasn't all bad. Perhaps... she could, even if all the chips fell, at least improve things in her own little way.

Speaking of that, she had a queen to entertain. Octavia thought back to the times she had played for Celestia. She couldn't imagine Longshot would be the same. While Longshot was a queen, she was also a sheriff. She did not have the detached majesty of Princess Celestia, nor did she really seem to try to do so. She was a pony, an important one, worthy of respect, but still just a pony.

"Nice song." There stood Little Rose. For once, he didn't have a gun slung over his shoulder. He didn't appear to be on-duty for guard patrol. "That was you, right? Just making sure I didn't get names confused."

Octavia smiled brightly. "You heard it?" The smile faded softly. "How?"

He tapped at the side of his head and lifted a subtle earpiece. "When I'm on duty, I'm listening for other guards. Off duty, I listen for what's out there. Sometimes that crazy duck pony puts on something, usually better than nothing. Today, it was you." He pushed off the wall he had been against, lumbering across the road towards her. "You're really good at that, whatever it is. What was that?" His eyes fell to the large shape on her back. "Is that it?"

Octavia shied slightly, as if to protect the cello from him, but she felt silly for doing it. The guard bear meant her no harm, and had been nothing but kind since she had met him. "Yes. It's called a cello. It's... my favorite instrument."

"I could tell." He smiled toothsomely. "I never learned anything fancier than'a  harmonica, and that's already kinda complicated if you get into it."

Octavia lifted an ear. "I never learned how to properly play one of those." She knew there was more to what seemed like a simple instrument, especially at the hooves and mouth of a true player. "There's no shame in that. Perhaps, some day, I will get to hear you play it."

His cheeks had lit up, darkening under his fur as he crouched down more to her level. "Aw, don't be like that. I know nothing I do will match up to whatever that was you were doin' on the radio. Where'd you learn such a fancy song?"

"A world away," she sighed out. "But... that means I get to bring it here, and that is a distinct honor."

"I bet." He stood up, slapping his leg with a big paw. "Don't figure I'll get far away from here unless they put me on a trade caravan, but even then I'll be right back here. Turves is my home." He waved at the humble houses. "Ain't a whole lot, but it's ours."

"It's a perfectly lovely town," disagreed Octavia. "I've seen smaller with less pride in itself, and that's a good thing. Your... community is strong and whole. You all... know each other, and smile about that. I haven't heard any nasty rumors floating around, and people chip in where it's needed."

"Rumor mongering?" His big nostrils flared in a snort. "That can get someone thrown in the stocks to reconsider things if we catch 'em."

Octavia blinked at that. "Really?"

"If it's bad." He crossed his arms. "Like you said, we're a big family. We can't have people talking bad about each other. Glad t' say we don't have to do that much. So, where you headed with a big instrument and one of Duk's treats?"

That reminded her that she still had a baguette stuffed between herself and the cello's case. "Oh, he gave that just now... Do you know where Longshot is, by the way? I owe her a performance and I would like to make good on it."

"Yeah? What'd she do?"

She tossed her head towards the cello, smiling at Little Rose. "It is her work and word that enabled my playing this instrument. Were it not for her considerable sway, I would still be useless."

"Now, don't say that." He waved it away. "Worst comes to worst, you could always help with manual labor. Always plenty of that. I like the music better though, so keep on playing that." He hiked a thumb further into town. "She's up ahead, take the first left, in her office. You been there?"

"I have." Octavia started forward. "I wasn't sure if she'd be there or not."

"She finished her route, saw her earlier. Go on." They shared waves, moving on with their prospective days.

Octavia hurried along, eyes distracted a moment by a full family of little ponies. A mother and father, she assumed, walking along proudly despite being as large as a foals each. Behind them, four actual foals, half again as large, followed after them in a big laughing crowd, excited about where they were going, though Octavia wasn't sure where that was.

Longshot's office came into view, its big golden star easily spotted as she approached it. "Here we are." She hoped nothing exciting was going on that would distract Longshot from the performance. "I do wonder what manner of music she prefers." Perhaps she had heard the radio broadcast, but it seemed easily likely she had not, busy handling the town instead of listening idly to whatever radio happened to be playing at the moment.
> 22 - Rise for the Queen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia hurried to the door of the office and knocked gently. She heard someone saying the door was open, though they sounded more surprised that someone was knocking. She pushed in past the door and saw a small office with a desk. The desk came pre-installed with a tiny little officious mare. She was an adult, just one of the smaller ones, and an expecting one, her sides bulging.

The new mare smiled at seeing Octavia. "Ah, Her Majesty mentioned you'd be around eventually."

Octavia dipped her head at the stranger, taking in her details. She wore a silver star to match Longshot's gold one, and had a fancy hat on her head. "I'm afraid we haven't met before, I'm Octavia Melody, a performer."

She pointed at herself. "And I'm Miss Demeanor. I help the sheriff keep this town straight."

Octavia's ears perked. "I..." It would be dreadfully rude to inquire how a pony was called 'miss' and heavily swollen like that. She bit back the question.

Miss leaned forward. "That was the name I came with, and I didn't change it," she responded to the unasked question, looking amused at Octavia's reaction. "I have a stallion, two actually."

Octavia's eyes widened. "Is that normal?"

"No, no it is not." She sat back on her seat. "One of them lost his mare in a... terrible way, and me and my boy took him in, trying to coax life back into him. By the time he recovered, we had both decided we like having him around, and he didn't object, so he became part of our family." She sat up. "Now, the way I hear, you're not from around here, so this must all feel kind of off to you. The way Longshot talks about it, you're from some place where nobody has to suffer, like some kind of dreamland."

Octavia frowned softly. Her world, a dreamland? "There is more to do than simply luxuriate in the perfection of it all. We have problems... Just, typically, less immediately deadly ones."

Miss Demeanor leaned forward up onto the desk she was behind as far as she could with her belly as it was. "What's the worst you've had to deal with?"

Octavia lifted an ear, considering a moment. "Well, there was this one time a maddened centaur-like creature was stealing all the magic out of everypony, even the earth ponies like myself, leaving us helpless husks in a path of destruction."

Miss crashed back onto her seat. "Oh... That was not what I expected, I'll admit that much. So did any of your ponies get desperate enough to kill each other during the crisis?"

Octavia's eyes widened at the idea. "I should hope not!"

"Then it isn't so bad." Miss shrugged softly. "Enough of that. Turves ain't so bad as places go. We avoid most of the worst bits of the wastes, and I'm happy to be here. Now, you looking for the big mare?"

Octavia felt ruffled, her tail giving a fitful swish. "We had our sun stolen from us for a time."

"You have a sun, huh? Must be nice." She glanced towards a small window and the gloomy sky that hid behind it. "You get held at gunpoint before you came here, to our world?"

Octavia shrank back at that, deflating. "I... had not been..."

"I'm not trying to 'win' the 'I have a crappy world' contest." She rolled her eyes. "It might be rough, but we can make it better, and I'm doing my part." She climbed up onto the desk, standing on it easily with her small stature without knocking things off. "Now, once more, you're looking for Longshot, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Octavia noticed that, perched on the desk, the small pony seemed larger, but also comically tiny all at once. "Do you know where she is?"

Miss Demeanor pointed down a hallway to Octavia's left. "First door on the left side. That one you should knock on before you burst in." She hopped down back to her chair. "And remember, she may officially be a sheriff, but treat her like a queen. She prefers it, and she earns it. I don't want to hear you made her upset over something so silly."

Octavia shook her head as she began down the hall, hooves clopping on the wood floor. "I wouldn't dream of it." Besides, so far she could tell, Longshot was, at the least, a local princess. If she preferred the title of queen, there was little harm to it that she could tell.

Arriving at the door, she knocked on it gently. "It's Octavia Melody," she called softly through the closed door.

She heard something moving, then the door swung inwards, revealing a smiling Longshot, seated at her own desk. Her horn was glowing gently, likely the cause of the opening door. "Do come in! I hear my investment has already turned dividends."

Octavia stepped past the door that closed behind her, its knob glowing with Longshot's same hue. "I come with good news, yes. Did you hear my performance, by chance?"

Longshot shook her head as she gestured at a bowl. The doorknob stopped glowing, then it resumed around something in the bowl, lifting up into view. It appeared to be some fashion of candy. "I'm afraid I did not, but I already heard about it. Some of my guards, who should have been listening for one another, were tuned into Duck's station, and word quickly spread." She pushed forward gently with a hoof, as if nudging the candy away with the force of the wind. Glowing with her power, it floated towards Octavia. "And I have you, my melodious mare, to thank."

Octavia felt an ear twist back on its own. "I hadn't intended to distract them. Did it--" Her words were cut off suddenly, that approaching candy popping right into her mouth. It was rich and sour, rather than sweet. Still, it wasn't a completely unappealing flavor, just one she was not used to.

"I will chastise them properly, have no fear. That was not your fault, dear. No, I would actually rather like that you continue to return to that radio and tolerate the manic jubilations of its operator." She pressed her forehooves together just under where her head was. "I want your music to be heard across the ashes to any that may care to listen." She gestured to a small stool. "But, for today, if you would oblige us, let me hear it."

Octavia's ears suddenly went erect, having a thought. "Excuse me if I am pressing where I am not wanted, but... you were not always a queen, were you?"

Shadow crept over Longshot's face, her smile fading, dashed. "I don't like thinking about then. It was a long time ago beside..." She sucked through her teeth in a hiss that ended with a cluck of her tongue against her teeth. "Let's not... Look, just... if anyone makes an offer to become royalty, stay away from them, far away." She raised a hoof to her chest. "I know I make it look glamorous, but it is not a fate I wish on anyone. You are..." She glanced away a moment. "You are just the right kind of pony. Earth-bound, strong, smart, regal... Just stay away from them."

Octavia shrank back a little, but curiosity gnawed at her fiercely. "Who should I be staying away from? A vague warning does little to protect me. Please, we are both adults, let us approach this rationally."

Longshot took in a slow breath, her sides expanding under the deep inhale. "Alright, yes. We are both... adults. You don't seem prone to flights of fancy." She leaned forward towards Octavia. "They are mad, every last one of them, but they don't show it, not at first. They're called the Faithful Subjects, but it is we, the False Queens that are the true subjects. They place a crown on our head and whisper how grand we are to distract us from the heavy shackles they place around our legs."

Octavia could see it was a deeply personal, and troubling, topic for Longshot and she wilted, feeling guilty for forcing the topic. "Alright, we can--"

"--No." Longshot held up a hoof. "You were right. You need to know. I had hoped you would have left, back to that wonderful world of yours, back to sunshine and where ponies smile and don't kill each other. Far away from here..." She shook her head, ears flopping a moment before they jerked back upright. "They look for ponies of the three 'pure' tribes. Earth-bound, such as you, pegasi, and unicorns. They tell them of grand possibilities and pamper them, raining presents and jewels." She wriggled her hooves in a facsimilie of the rain of riches. "Then comes the coronation... That is when I stopped being Long Shot--" She said the two words with a clear space between them. "--And became Queen Longshot."

Octavia tilted her head softly. "You were... a stallion before then, I hear?"

"People still remember that?" she reared up a bit, looking surprised. "I don't even recall what it was like." She shook her head softly. "That is the least of things, truly. When you are coronated, the maddening urge to rule is placed deep inside." She thumped her chest. "I must, simply must. I... It's just what I am. They tried to use it, to bind me to their cause, but I got away..." She shook her head slowly. "I got away from them, but not the urge. I will always be a ruler, even stripped of all title and thrown away, I will desperately cling to it. I have little choice. Knowing my orders brought such pleasure is... a delight for me. That is why I was so happy when you entered."

Octavia lifted one ear as the other tilted to the side. Longshot had looked quite joyful, though she had ruined that nicely. "I see. I will... do my best to avoid such people."

"Please, see that you do." Longshot nodded softly, relaxing a little. "Now, you brought it with you." She pointed to the case on Octavia's back. "And a snack. Is that bread? From Duck, we presume?"

Octavia looked over her shoulder and grabbed the bread in her teeth, pulling it free. "Would you like some, Your Highness?"

Longshot looked pleased at the title, some of her easy smile returning. "I will bother that baker when I desire it, and he will gladly surrender some. Let us not diminish his happiness. Is it as good as the treats in your honeyed realm?"

Octavia would not call Equestria 'honeyed', but she opted against arguing that fact. "It's very good, surprisingly so."

"I will tell him what a compliment that is, considering your origin. 'Your baked goods are good even to angels from heavenly realms.'"

Octavia darkened swiftly. "I am no angel, Your Highness."

"I disagree." She clopped her forehooves together once firmly. "You are very much like a being of the celestial realms, unused to the coarse nature of our humble mortal plane. You now wield a fitting instrument to carry hints of the Good Word to those who take the moment to hear it. Please, let me hear it. For a moment, I wish to be transported away from all of this." Her eyes half-lidded. "There's plenty of work yet to be done, and I will not delay it too long, but for this, please."

Octavia was quickly on her hindlegs, pulling free the cello from the case. So long as she intended to play it, she had no trouble grabbing the cello in her hooves like she used to always to. She cradled it lovingly as she grabbed the bow. "This cello is constructed of new woods. The bow, of alien strings. Despite that, it is a wonderful instrument, ready to sing for me." She ran the bow over the strings in a long steady note. "This is an adventurous piece that spins a tale of dangerous lands and the people who are, one hopes, strong enough to meet the challenges ahead of them."



With firm strokes up and down, wavering and her hooves dancing over the strings to change notes rapidly, she began to play her piece. There wasn't a sound in the room but the deep notes that the cello produced, echoing off the walls of the relatively small room. A concert hall it was not by far. Even the radio station had more attempt made to be a better acoustic fit for her performance, but it didn't matter.

She went into a spritely portion of the song, her eyes closed, but she could feel Longshot. The queen was relaxing, washing gently along the tides of the song that promised danger, but perhaps victory? Perhaps not. It left as many questions open as answers it teased at. Music was like that, at times. It was an uncertainty, quite suited for the uncertain world they were in.

As she hit the final note, she opened her eyes and saw Longshot watching her intently. She bowed towards the queen, though the bow fell free of her hoof mid-motion, causing it to clatter to the floor. "I do wish that was less... unreliable." She gently set the cello back in its case. "I hope that was to your liking?"

Longshot gestured at the bow and it floated up and over to rest in the case with the cello. "It was. More than that, you appeared to enjoy playing it. You look... happy." She cracked a smile, gentle and wispy. "It's a curious thing. People around here smile more than you, but they have less to smile about. We learn to enjoy what simple pleasures are allowed us." She flipped a hoof and the case closed, starting to fasten itself securely. "I do not envy you, melodic angel. In your head is knowledge of much better places."

Octavia stood up all the taller, still on two legs. "I do not intend to mope about. That is hardly my... usual habit. I apologize for doing so to begin with, but my friend was terribly wounded, and I am told all three of us have serious lung damage that needs tending to. It's been... a trying week."

Longshot waved to the ground and Octavia felt something gently nudge at her shoulders, but not nearly hard enough to force the issue of her standing. "You held in your hooves the key to salvation, only for it to be stolen from you. Imagining it makes our blood boil..." She huffed softly. "I have not been idle on that front. As reward for completing our task so admirably, we will share this information with you."

Octavia perked an ear, taking note of Longshot's sliding singular and plural person. Was that part of being a queen? She fell to all fours, slinging the case over her back, then reaching for the bread carefully. "What have you heard? Did they already break the sphere into pieces and use it for decoration?"

"That would be a cruel gift." She shook her head. "No, I don't mean to make a show of giving you bad news. We have received word that the artifact taken from you is being used as a show of power and wealth." She gestured off. "It's in Trash Heap, a despicable place of lost souls, bandits, and thugs. One of their more influential citizens is quite proudly holding onto it. They've done nothing with it of note, save for the display of it." She raised her brows as one. "But that means it has not been torn apart."

Octavia's eyes widened just a moment before it ended. Did she dare to hope? "This Trash Heap sounds like... a dangerous place."

"It is." Longshot sat up. "And it's not a place I will send anyone with lung damage towards. Did Stitch already suggest a means of healing the harm that has come to you?"

Octavia swallowed what was left of the sour candy in her mouth. "I'm afraid not. He said he did not wish to attempt it, and recommended we find a 'cleric'."

Longshot's eyes narrowed at that. "He is being timid. I know he has the skill to see this through. No matter, we will not risk you with a doctor not confident in the procedure. We will confer with him to see how severe he believes the damage to be, and seek out the proper help." Her hooves fell to the desk. "You sound quite fit for someone with this manner of harm."

Octavia could feel the sting in her chest, but she was not the sort to complain if she could avoid it. "I do my best, Your Highness. Should I wait then?"

"Yes, please." Longshot gestured to the case that held the cello. "For now, play that. Play it for yourself. Play it for us. You will please Duck immeasurably if you return to him, we should imagine. He does delight in company, especially of the musical variety. In his mind, he dwells in a world not much unlike the one you came from. He will not speak of harsh truths. Perhaps this can be a comfort."

Octavia felt a wry smile twisting her lips. "I do not wish to run away from the situation I am in." She shook her head firmly. "I will deal with it, one step at a time. Right now, that means having faith in you, Your Highness. Then we will face these ruffians and see if we can't recover the sphere, by polite word, subterfuge, or outright theft if need be."

Longshot blinked softly. "We did not imagine you would be so ready for that course of action." A little smile spread. "Please don't ruin my view of you, musical angel. We would prefer to imagine you as clean snow, pure and delicate. Spare me the harsh truths and allow me this one thing, to think that a precious thing lives, for a time, in my domain."

Octavia waved a hoof defensively. "I would rather not stoop to that immediately, but the brigands we encountered seemed... plain and clear in their lack of wish to work things through reasonably. I do not wish them harm, but I do want that back, and accepting a 'no' hardly seems a viable answer."

"Where I saw a delicate flower, you contradict me with an angry angel, ready to bear her sword if evil should stand in her way." Longshot pressed her hooves together. "I was being idealistic and unrealistic, forgive us. For now, you are dismissed and ordered to play your music. That is now your job."

Octavia hesitated a moment. She had a job. She had lacked one since coming to that strange world. "I... accept." She glanced to the door. "Payment is indirect, I gather. I will accept your efforts in seeing to our health, more than fair for the services rendered, Your Highness."

Longshot leaned forward over her desk. "You are one of only a few that speak my honorifics without hesitation. It is a pleasure to speak with you, dearest subject. I will do my best to serve you, even as you serve me." She gestured a hoof back and forth. "That's how it works, you know? We all work for each other, fer a better place in the end."

"I understand." Octavia turned for the door, glancing at the curious trophies that dotted the bookshelves in the room. There were precious few actual books, instead strange artifacts that she guessed Longshot had collected during her long reign as sheriff. "One thing, how long have you been here, ruling as their queen?"

Longshot smirked viciously at that. "How rude, prying into a mare's age like that. I thought better of you, Miss Melody."

Octavia's ears fell. "I meant no slight..."

Longshot laughed gently. "You have not insulted me, I assure, but I'll keep that answer to myself, if it suits you. Author willing, I will serve at the hooves of the good people of Turves until the sun comes back, or quits even giving us the little light it does." She leaned dangerously far over her desk. "I must rule. It's the gift they gave me. It's the curse I bear, but one I intend to handle gracefully. Now, shoo." she waved with both hooves. "You've taken up enough of my day, even if I would like to spend more of it with you, I must not. Begone."

Octavia slipped out the door, one ear turned back to hear Longshot already speaking to someone else, over a radio, she assumed. She closed the door, grabbing the handle in her mouth and drawing it shut, leaving Longshot to her work. She walked back to the entry foyer to see Miss Demeanor still at her own desk, writing with a pen clutched in her snout.

"Hey," she said, slightly mumbled around the pen before she spat it out to the side, clattering to the desk. "I heard the song, very nice." She reached out a hoof. "You going to play more now?"

"Not right this moment," Octavia tossed her head towards her instrument. "I'll be sure to visit Duck and his radio."

"Yeah?" She climbed up on the desk and nosed a squat box that began to emit soft static. "There we go. Next time he broadcasts, I'll hear it. I'd like to see more of that. It ain't like a guitar or harmonica or even a piano." She hopped back down onto her seat which slid under the force of her impact. "I heard from someone that soft music like that is good for growing foals." She gently rubbed one hoof against her swollen midsection. "I think it might be good for moms too."

Octavia did not resist the soft smile that overtook her features. "It would be a pleasure, to know that both of you are listening. Do you know if they are a filly or a colt yet?"

"A bouncing baby filly," admitted Miss Demeanor with a grin. "How many do you have?"

Octavia blinked at that. Not even if she had any, but how many? "I'm afraid I never had the... specific honor."

Miss Demeanor looked mildly confused before it cleared away. "I forget sometimes bigger ponies are not like us. You'll have one when you want one. We just usually want one." She grabbed a stamp in her mouth and brought it down with a smart thump. "Anything else I can help you with today? By the way, do you only speak Sylvan? Her Ladyship insisted I only speak it around you."

Octavia's ears fell softly. "That 'Sylvan' you speak of is the only language I required where I came from... I never learned other ways of speaking."

"You should fix that." She pushed the paper out of the way and started scribbling on the next one. "(Most people speak common.)"

"I didn't catch that," admitted Octavia.

"Did you want to?" She turned the pen in her mouth, the point facing Octavia. "I could teach you, if you want. You'll owe me, but I doubt you'll be too upset with what I want out of a musical pony."

Octavia glanced towards the door before back to Miss Demeanor. "I... would like that. Perhaps we could have lessons later in the day, after I perform for Duck's radio?"

"It's a date," chimed Miss Demeanor, looking quite pleased. "And bring that with you." she pointed at the cello directly. "Don't think you're getting something for free. Ain't nothing free, but that don't mean we have to be mean about it."

"Of course." She dipped her head low, then fled from the building with new intentions and information. She felt far more ready to take on Everglow one more time. "And I'll win this time," she promised herself as she firmly trotted through the town.

Until that came, she had bread to enjoy.
> 23 - A Soft Crescendo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright, Doc." Vinyl sat up, leaning against the wall beside her. "I'm done just sittin' here."

Doctor Stitch swiveled his chair towards her. "You're hardly in a state to do much else, miss."

"That's where you're wrong." She tapped at the side of her goggles. "You made a rookie mistake, letting me get these. I'm bolstered now, and ready to go." She started to rise, shaking as she did so. "I don't care if I got a little slow, but I'm not sitting in idle anymore."

The small doctor considered it, his ears trained on his patient. "A little movement may be good for you, but I must insist, beg if I must, that you do not strain yourself. If you feel uncertain, there's no shame in stopping and waiting." He hopped down from his chair lightly, landing spritely on all fours. "You are still very hurt."

Vinyl reached for the floor, hoof jittering in the attempt. "I'll be fine once I get back into my element. All sleeping and no music makes for a dull pony." She fell the remaining inch,  her hoof sliding on the floor and sending her into a rough tumble beside the bed. "I got it," weakly complained Vinyl, stubbornly working to pick herself up. "Say, Doc, if you wanna help, charge these." Her horn glowed, picking up her headphones just for them to fall to the ground a foot away.

He shook his head at his patient, sighing loudly. She had passed out from the effort. Using her horn seemed to tire her out quickly, which left him with a patient on the floor where she shouldn't be, sprawled and likely to become cold. And she had the nerve to be twice his size.

There was nothing for it. He wouldn't abandon her there. He skirted around her and grabbed the scruff of her neck in his teeth, pulling at her slowly, working her up to the edge of the bed. He just had to get  her up onto it instead of beside it. No... problem. Or so he hoped.

"I'm awake!" she suddenly gasped out, jerking out of his grip and rolling to her hooves. "Tell me that'll quit it. I don't like going out like a light without having had a lot of drinks to cushion the fall first."

Doctor Stitch smiled a little with relief. He wouldn't have to wrestle her back up into bed just yet. "You are in a very delicate position. Please... It would be best if you just--" He trailed off, seeing her stubbornly working towards the door, leaving her headphones where they had fallen. "Will you at least wait while I fetch a friend?"

Vinyl looked over her shoulder, ignoring the swimming the world was doing around her. "What friend?"

"You have several." Doctor Stitch smiled at that. "I'll fetch whichever I see first. Miss Melody or Mister Name?"

Vinyl crashed down to her haunches. "I want Octie. Get her." She thrust a hoof at the doctor, which would have been far more meaningful if she hadn't missed by about ten degrees. "Bring her to me and appease your rock goddess."

"As you wish, my liege." He dipped his head towards her, a wry smile on his little snout as he hurried from the office. "At least she's not trying to move," he muttered to himself as he searched for Octavia. It struck him mid-step and he pivoted, scurrying towards the tall radio tower that thrust free of a small hut.

He was suddenly on his side. "Pounce successful," declared Bullette Belle, sitting on him with a big grin.

Doctor Stitch flailed a moment before he processed what had happened, peering at the mechanical filly that was about his size, holding him down. "Uh, excuse me..." He was never sure how to approach the automaton. He couldn't perform medicine on her, but she was self-thinking. "I need to find someone."

"Friendship mission: accepted." Bullette bobbed her head at him eagerly. "Please identify the target."

"I think you know her." He wriggled, trying to get out from under her with limited success. "Miss Melody? Octavia?"

Bullette pointed a hoof in an abrupt snap. "Current position. Activity: Public performance. I wanted to hear her play, but I wanted to get No Name so he could hear it too, then I saw you."

Doctor Stitch smiled faintly. "And you decided pouncing me was more important."

"Affirmative." She bounced once in place, on him. "It has been too long. Without regular contact, friendship points can decay." She leaned in close, touching her metal nose to his warm one. "We are still friends?"

"Um, yes, of course." He pushed against her with a little squeak. "And friends let friends stand up."

"Error." She hopped free of him and landed with deceptive lightness for being made of metal. "We will continue our missions."

"That we will." He scrambled up to his hooves and looked where Bullette had pointed. "Thank you." It wasn't towards the radio tower, instead it was more towards the center of town. He started for it, ears perked for the sound of music. He didn't hear Bullette scurry off, his mind on finding Octavia.

He found it beside the well, where Octavia stood up, her cello crossed over her form as she teased out a stirring ballad that sounded like a preparation for a battle. There were people gathered around, about a dozen, give or take, watching, listening, and being still while she played.

Doctor Stitch hesitated a moment, not wanting to interrupt the show on one hoof, but on the other, he felt sure she would want to know that Vinyl was awake and wanted to see her. He rocked on his unsure hooves, watching and listening a moment.

"Doctor?" She noticed him before he had dared to approach. "I trust everything is alright?" There was a clatter, her bow falling free of her hoof with her delay in playing.

It was too late for second thoughts. He rushed up towards her. "Yes, just fine. She's still weak, but awake and asking for you."

"Then I should see her." She nodded towards the crowd. "I'll return, but I must pause for now." There were some grumbles and sad noises, but none of them tried to stop her. She had the cello put away quickly with the bow atop of it before she sealed her case. "In your office, Doctor?"

"Yes, this way." He hopped up and came down facing his office. "Let's get to her before she tries something unwise."

Together they departed. Bullette arrived moments later with No Name, but there was no performance, or crowd. "Error!" she cried in dismay. "She was performing."

No Name gently pat Bullette's head with a careful hoof. "I don't doubt you. She musta got called by sometin'."

Bullette perked. "Likely direction deduced." She turned towards Doctor Stitch's office. "He was seeking her attention. Begin revised mission: Music of friendship." She began to walk determinately towards his office, tail wagging eagerly.

"And I'm a part ah that mission, right?"

"Affirmative," sang Bullette with building joy. "It is only a proper friendship mission when my #1 friend is present." She looked over her shoulder, walking at full speed despite it. "Do you think there is good news about Vinyl Scratch?"

"Or bad news," he grunted. "We'll find out."

"And assist," continued Bullette with a grin before she bumped right into the door of the office. "Error..." She shook her head, focusing on the door that wasn't polite enough to get out of her way.

Inside, Octavia was holding Vinyl, squeezing the tired-looking unicorn carefully. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." She stood up, shaking but supported by Octavia's presence. "And I hate it. I'm tired of laying around. Sleeping is boring, and I can't do it so good anyway. I want to get out of here."

Octavia circled around, throwing a hoof around Vinyl from the side instead. "If you want to take a walk, slowly, I'm right here."

Doctor Stitch quietly pretended he heard nothing, figuring Octavia would be responsible about it.

"You're the best, Octie." She nudged against her friend gently before trying to walk toward, staggering. "I need the practice..." She suddenly twisted her head to look at Octavia. "And you're gonna make me do it. Even if I collapse again, you slap me until I wake up and we keep going."

Octavia raised a brow. "That is not a promise I can make, Vinyl. I will see to your safety first."

Vinyl grunted at that. "Fine, give me pass out snuggles until I wake up, then we keep going."

Octavia nudged into her, working her shoulder a little under Vinyl. "I can't promise those either, young lady. Let's go."

"No fun," groused Vinyl as they started towards the door. Their walk was interrupted by a soft thump on it.

"It's open," called Doctor Stitch, sitting up.

The door swung open with a small metal filly bouncing in the moment it was out of the way. "Friend detected!" she sang in an excited reverb. She pointed at each of the ponies present, in case they weren't sure who she was referring to. "What has your diagnostic reported?" She was looking at Vinyl as she asked that, focused on her.

Vinyl quirked a smile. "Oh, wow. I wish I had a diagnostic. Do you? I'm so jealous right now. How do I get one of those?"

Octavia shook her head. "You do have one. Tell us how you feel, Vinyl."

"Is that what she meant? I feel weak as all get out and I hate it. I feel like my lungs hate me and my legs hate me and my hooves double hate me." She shook a weak leg, hoof wobbling. "I'll show them by reminding them they have to work and stop giving me sass."

The doctor reached up onto the desk he was seated at and pulled down a sheet of paper. "Her body reacted least favorably to that toxin. Any word on getting clerical assistance?"

Vinyl snatched at the paper with her magic, getting it to reach her hoof before she had to give it up, her consciousness fading rapidly with the effort. "No! Not sleeping... dang it..." She shook her head, trying to banish the lethargy. "Don't let me..."

"I'm right here," gently consoled Octavia, giving her friend the softest little shake.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm alright. Say, where's the big guy?"

"Right here." He poked his considerable head into the small building, snakes looking around independently. "Feeling better?" asked one of many of his snakes.

"Hey, lookin' good," she complimented, raising a hoof slowly to thrust it upwards. "Now that the whole gang's here, I'm doing way better. Let's get going before the doctor changes his mind and straps me to the bed."

Bullette scampered over to Vinyl's other side. With a soft clicking, her legs extended until she was pushing up against Vinyl's side, supporting her much like Octavia had already been doing. "Initiate new adventure."

No Name nodded to the small doctor. "Take it easy." He ducked out, leaving room for the girls to come spilling out of the office, leaving Doctor Stitch to quiet. 

Doctor Stitch hopped down and reclaimed the sheet of paper that Vinyl had dropped and forgotten so quickly. "This wouldn't have helped you anyway." If they found a cleric, what it hinted at wouldn't matter anyway. And if they didn't... He shook his head. They would. He would have faith in the sheriff.





Vinyl smiled a little as she was helped into the bustle of the town. "Aw yeah," she breathlessly sighed out, eyes darting from motion to motion. "This is what I needed..."

"Fresh air?" ventured Octavia.

"Well, sure, that, but people... Hardly nopony goes in there." She pointed weakly into town. "Onwards, my people... ah wait. I don't feel my headphones."

Octavia glanced aside, noticing that Vinyl's head was strangely exposed with no earphones adorning it. "Mmm, you must have left it at the doctor's. No Name, can you help while I fetch it?"

"Sure." He reached out a hoof, replacing Octavia as she sped away, leaving Vinyl to No Name and Bullette's care. "So, real talk. How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," sighed out Vinyl. "Is this what dying feels like? Sucks. I won't do it sprawled on a bed for weeks. I'll do it standing and maybe listening to some sweet tunes." She nodded firmly, even if that motion hesitated and jerked, little pains making her hesitate. "Ain't going out like that, you know?"

Bullette bumped Vinyl lightly. "Error! You are not permitted to die. You may apply again, in writing, in sixty days time."

Vinyl choked out a laugh at the response. "Really? Why sixty days? In writing?"

"If that's too inconvenient, then I am afraid to inform you that you may not die." She shook her head sadly. "Perhaps this will change in the future. Until then, we regret the inconvenience while you continue living."

Vinyl snorted at that. "Stupid rules. Leave it to the man to make them, trying to pin me in. I'll show them! I'll live so hard, they'll wish they had let me die the first time." She took a step forward before hesitating. "We should wait for Octavia."

"She's coming back," noted one of his snakes as he pointed. "And she has them."

"Right here." Octavia hurried into position, headphones in her teeth. With a flip of her neck, she hung them right over Vinyl's head, capping her ears with them. "Are the batteries still good?"

"Nope," grunted Vinyl. "Worst part of sitting there, really. They ran out, and trying to power them with my horn made me conc out more often than I liked, so I had to live without music!"

Octavia gasped dramatically, putting a hoof over her mouth.

Detecting the need for drama, Bullette gasped in three octaves at once. "Unacceptable! Initiating charge." She reached up and snatched the headphones right off Vinyl's  head in her teeth and sat on her haunches.

Vinyl suddenly listed to the side without Bullette supporting her. "Woah!" Before she could hit the ground, a large hoof came in to the rescue. "Thanks."

"Ain't nothin'," assured No Name. "What are you doing with her headpiece?"

"Charging," reported Bullette as she raised a hoof that split apart twice, allowing fine wires to escape from within her recesses, reaching to insert themselves into the charging port of the headphones. "Charging initiated. Progress: 1%. Estimated Time: 2 hours."

Vinyl shook her head. "You don't have to do that, you awesome little filly you." She looked around blearily. "Where's the generator? Plug it in there and don't sit around for hours just for me."

Bullette stood up awkwardly, one of her hooves occupied. "I know where that is."

"Go on," encouraged No Name. "Come on back once you have it plugged in."

She saluted sharply, an effect ruined by the wires dangling from the unfolded hoof.

Octavia's eyes followed the retreating form before pointing at the well. "That is where most people seem to gather. How about we go there?"

"Sounds good." Vinyl nodded once before slumping against Octavia. "Thanks for coming for me. What've you been doing without me around to hassle you? You bored too?"

No Name snorted at that, moving with the girls towards the well. "She's gone and become a radio star."

Vinyl's ears pricked up at that. "You're messing with me." She nudged against Octavia, her tone turning into a soft whine. "You were waiting for me to get out of the picture, then rushed right for the top! You slinging dope-ass classical jams they can't say no to?"

Octavia met the pressure easily, keeping Vinyl upright. "I was only warming the seat for your return. They seem to enjoy the calm nature of the music, living in a life in such constant threat."

"Oh, huh..." Vinyl squinted a little behind her goggles. "That kinda makes sense. If you live on a rock cover, you get used to it, huh... Wow, to get bored of rock? Maybe we really do need to get out of here." She shivered as if in fear of the idea of getting bored of rock. "Hey, does that mean they won't like my music?"

"Nonsense." She leaned over and nipped one of Vinyl's ears. "Balance in all things. A little spirited music from you will go over just fine, I should imagine. First, we need to get you up on your hooves."

"Yeah..."

No Name suddenly put out a hoof, slipping it right under Vinyl's legs, lifting her up  by her belly away from Octavia. "Yer gonna be fine," he noted as if it were simple fact. "Don't act like that. Now, ya wanna drink?"

"Uh... yeah...?" Vinyl tilted her head, looking around from her suddenly lofty perch. "Could you... put me down? I think..." She never finished the sentence, the meager contents of her belly rushing up her throat and making a mess on No Name's leg.

He hissed with several snakes as he put her down carefully beside the well, shivering and obviously unwell. "Just sit there." Ignoring the mess, he fetched up the water bucket with a turning of the handle there and got a ladle-full of water from that. "Here."

Octavia pulled free her miniature. "We need your help," she whispered, willing her unseen presence into being. "Help them clean up," she ordered, and it moved to do just that, tidying at Vinyl's messy snout and No Name's besmirched legs.

A few tears stung at Vinyl's eyes. "This isn't how I wanna go... I don't want to be remembered as a sick mare that couldn't rock... This isn't half as cool as I wanna go..."

"It ain't nothin'," assured No Name, nudging her with the water-filled ladle. "Drink."

Vinyl pushed the ladle away with a hoof. "What's it matter? Look, let's just be outright, yeah? I'm dying. The doc's trying to make me all cozy, and I hate it. I'm dying and I want to do it where I can see people." She sat up as tall as she could, which wasn't as tall as it normally was. "I hope the headset finishes soon..."

Octavia suddenly thumped Vinyl in the center of her chest, almost knocking the sick mare over backwards. "You stop that right there! Are you going to let me outlast you after a daring mission?"

"You think I want this?!" suddenly shrieked Vinyl, her cool shattered before she sank, sniffling. "This ain't how it's supposed to go... Some rock goddess... Going out like a chump... Just bury me somewhere out of the way, don't bother with a marker, not like I des--"

Octavia failed to restrain herself, punching Vinyl  right across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground. She heaved as if it had been quite a marathon, breathing deeply as she looked down at her downed friend. She could feel eyes, so many others that were passing by stopped to stare at her sudden violence. They were judging her, and she perhaps deserved it. "Vinyl... are you alright?"

Vinyl weakly raised a hoof. "Is that... the best you have?" She pressed the hoof to the ground, slowly pushing herself upright onto her haunches. "Damn... girl... someone needs to teach you how to swing one like you mean it."

Octavia felt her cheeks burning brightly. "I don't want to hurt you, Vinyl. Please, you must know that."

"Well, you didn't."  huffed out Vinyl. Her horn glowed in a spastic little shudder as she took the ladle at last, taking a big gulp of water before it fell from her weak magical grip. "Huh, tastes better fresh... Thanks, Big Guy."

"Yeah..." He put a hoof right on her head, holding her steady. "Look, you know she just cares, right?"

Vinyl wrinkled her nose. "When Octavia's mad enough to wimp-slap a pony, you know you done messed up." Her eyes darted up to meet Octavia's, tears still spilling free. "But I'm scared, Octie, right? I'm scared and I feel... Help me. Just... I don't even know."

No Name gently tussled her mane, running his hoof over the top of her skull. "Hey, I've been there. I had hurts so bad, was pretty sure I wouldn't be comin' back. I've had sharp things prodded in me in ways you don't wanna know, figured my time card was already punched, just waiting for it to end..."

Vinyl reached up, pulling her goggles free and sliding them up. "Those things are just awful for crying into, lemme tell ya."

Octavia sat down beside her friend. "Want some fur instead?"

"Since you're offering." She flopped against Octavia and buried her face into Octavia's neck. "I'm not even mad..."

"I'm glad to hear that,  but I don't want you losing hope either." She reached around Vinyl, gently patting her. "We'll get some help, fix you right up."

"You promise?"

"I swear." Octavia raised her other forehoof over her chest before starting to do a move that only those who have lived in Ponyville had much chance of knowing. "Right in the eye. Can you imagine?"

"You, a cupcake? Never." Vinyl slowly sat up. "You'd do anything to stop that. Alright... a promise..." She smiled in a wry expression before looking back to No Name. "Hey, big guy, can you pick me up carefully? I wanna ride you."

"Phrasin',"  he snorted, but he did reach for her, carefully scooping her up in a combination of snakes and hooves, working her up onto his back. "Please keep your insides on the inside while yer up there."

Octavia rose to her hooves, looking up at her friend. "Suddenly you're quite a bit taller."

"That's me, lord and rock goddess." She smirked a little, looking around from on top of No Name. "Yeah, not a bad view.  I can see why Bullette likes it."

"Error!" cried the metal filly as she raced back towards them. "That is my position!" She pointed accusingly at Vinyl. "Surrender the position i--"

She didn't get to finish, being plucked up by Octavia's teeth and tossed onto Octavia's back. "There you are." She shuffled a little to make sure Bullette was settled properly. "A touch heavier than I imagined,  but I can manage a little while, at least as long as Vinyl is enjoying herself."

Bullette tilted her head left and right with some confusion. "I accept this compromise." She pointed at the radio tower. "I saw Duck on the way to the generator. He desires your presence when it is convenient."

Vinyl hiked a brow at that. "You made friends with a duck? What did I miss?"

Octavia gestured towards the radio. "Shall we go? You may like him. He's very nice, and a little loopy, but mostly nice." She turned and began walking with her new heavy burden on her back. "Please get my instrument for me."

"Yeah." No Name grabbed the strap with a snake and ambled after Octavia, easily keeping up with her. "Maybe he can put a smile on her face."

"Someone needs a smile?" asked the mallard-colored pony they were approaching who had saw them first. "Hi hi!" He looked between the two mounts. "I know you." He pointed at Bullette. "I don't know you." He pointed at Vinyl. "Hiya! I'm Duck, Quack."

"Hey Duck," greeted Vinyl with a tired little wave. "I'm a little sick right now, so--"

"Oh no!" he cried with all the drama that Bullette had at times. "Did you bring her for some of my healing bread?"

Octavia hiked a brow at that. "You have healing bread?"

"Wait here." He scurried off, only to return almost as soon as he was out of sight, a great kaiser roll bouncing on his back. "Eat up and get better."

Vinyl reached for it weakly, but he had to shove it up towards her for her to get it properly. She cradled it between two hooves and took a great bite out of it. "That's a real crust," she mumbled as she tried to chew on what she had. "Mmm."

Octavia doubted the roll had any healing powers, but Vinyl looked like she was approving of it, and that wasn't a waste of time, she decided.
> 24 - Friendship is Medicine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duck half-bounced in his step towards the radio station. "So do you like music?"

Vinyl swallowed down some bread, letting out a sigh. "I don't know how you made this, but... It's everything I ever needed."

Duck paused, looking back at her, his face brightening like the sun had failed to do for so many days. "Thank you! Um, but yeah, you like music?"

Bullette tilted her head. "Are your diagnostics reporting increased system efficiency?"

"Exactly that." Vinyl thrust a hoof at Bullette, barely wobbling for the effort. "Still ain't right, but... I feel a little alive." She tore at the bread with her teeth, ripping another chunk out with crust and fluffy core mixed. "And it's not all rushing back up, praises for that."

Octavia shook her head. "While I would normally question the veracity, its effects seem plain to see. Thank you, friend Duck. Are we to play today? Perhaps Vinyl would like that?"

Vinyl flopped down against No Name, her valliant mount. "Actually, yeah... It's been a while since your soft notes teased my ears. Lay it on me thick."

No Name pointed to the small building with the large tower projecting from it. "Well, this is the place. Ah ain't goin' in though, still ain't room fer that."

Vinyl lifted her shoulders in a shrug between chews. "S'all good. Not like I can't hear it, 'specially if they leave the door open."

Octavia huffed softly. "Not the best acoustic arrangement, but we work with what we have." She sank to the ground. "Last stop for adorable fillies."

"That is me!" cried Bullette with joy, sliding down from Octavia to the ground. "You have accomplished your task. I rate this ride 4 out of 5 stars, would ride again."

Octavia tilted her head at that. "What kept me from a five?"

Bullette pointed upwards. "Insufficient height." She then spread her hooves apart. "Insufficient width." She then pointed at No Name. "You are not him."

No Name shrugged gently. "Can't argue that, really."

"I suppose not." She circled around No Name to grab her cello case. "Now let's play some music. Are you in the mood for any particular genre, Vinyl?"

Vinyl sat up a little, still working on her bread. "Mmm, something with some metal, but sweet, like you."

"Mmm..." Octavia strode away with a thoughtful expression.

Inside the small radio building, Duck was already enthusiastically speaking to any listeners. "Quack! Hey hey hey! It's D U K Duck in the house! And the string tickler with a classy smile is with us." He waved dramatically at Octavia even if that couldn't be seen. "Her friend is sick, so this song is devoted to her. Spoiler: She can hear us, 'cause she's right outside!"

Octavia deployed the foot of her cello, leaning the instrument against herself, bow already held in hoof. "Hello, everyone who may be listening. My friend prefers a harder kind of music, so I will play something I hope she, and you, enjoys. Not written by any of the great classics, this one is more a call to how things are, rather than how we distantly remember them being."



She began playing her somber tune, imagining the wastes stretching out so far. She imagined the bandits that could attack, the monsters that could burst free from a pile of dead ash, intent on making you their meal. The struggle, but also the hiding beauty in it. Life was still there, still rising, growing, and even loving.

The world they had ended up in was an injured world, but it was not a dead world. She thought of Vinyl, sick herself, but struggling against it. She would not give up on Vinyl, did the world not deserve the same? She would recover, and so would the world. Her music picked up as her heartbeat rose with it. They would not give up! Though it would be long and hard and the struggle fierce, they would win, and the world would get a little better.

It was not dead. Nor was Vinyl. With a firm strum, she completed the song and bowed towards the only one actual person there staring at her. "Keep up the fight, those who are listening. The world is not dead, and neither are you. We will win in the end."

Duck clip-clopped his hooves in obvious enjoyment. "Nice song, Octavia. Isn't it great when she visits? Oh, I forgot the weather." He leaned in his chair to peek outside. "Still overcast, oh, Uh... If you aren't outside, you gotta go now! Now now now now!"

Octavia perked an ear at Duck, confused at his suddenly frantic message. She leaned her precious instrument against the radio equipment, abandoning it just a moment to peek outside and be blinded.

It was bright. So bright. She squinted her eyes open just a little, pupils narrowing as they had not had to for weeks, or was it months? She had lost track. There was a sun, peeking out from behind the clouds. It was grand and glorious and so very bright.

It was also gone, hidden behind the clouds an instant later as if it had never happened. She fell back against the building she had emerged from, a hoof to her heart to feel it thumping wildly. She was in bipedal mode still, hunched forward a little, panting deeply.

Vinyl was laughing, so very loud and wildly. "Wooooah, you saw that right? You literally rocked the sun into coming out! You won! You so won! Oh, wow, woah!" She clapped her hooves, but she was not alone, Bullette Belle clapping alongside her with her digital cries of joy.

No Name let out a slow sigh. "Ain't the first time ah saw it, but it still gets you..." He reached a hoof for Octavia, but she was stunned too far away to get to without moving. He started walking on his other three hooves. "Hey, thanks fer bein' here."

"You're... quite welcome." She fell to all fours, feeling less unsteady. "I... don't think I caused that." She had some magic, surely, but nothing quite like that. "I feel like I had been sleeping and just woke up."

"Yeah..." He gently brought down a hoof, stroking through her mane once. "It is like that... but ain't sure I'd call this a dream."

Octavia's nose wrinkled. "I disagree. You get to be with Bullette."

He jerked back with surprise before looking to the grinning little metal filly. "Huh, yeah... forgot to think that way. 'Course this is a dream." He waved a hoof at her and Bullette sped towards him quickly to receive gentle pats. "Yer too good to be true."

Bullette extended her metal tongue. "That is factually incorrect. My veracity is over one hundred percent!"

Vinyl snickered from atop No Name. "How can somepony be more then a hundred percent real?"

Bullette pointed a hoof at herself. "With the accrual of friendship points. Veracity is partially subjective. The more people know and desire your attention, the more real you must be."

Octavia blinked softly. "That's an interesting philosophy. Let me get my instrument." She turned back into the radio room to see Duck already standing on the ground instead of sitting in his chair. "Oh, the broadcast is over?"

"Yeah. I doubt people are doing anything but talking about how cool the sun-peek was." He reared up to clop his forehooves. "It barely ever happens! That's a good way to end a show. Can you do that next time too? Please! Please please please!"

Octavia went for her abandoned Cello, gently stroking it to remind it that she still loved it as she set it in its home and parked the bow in with it. "I can't make that promise. Today seems to be a fine day for unreasonable requests."

"Aw..." Duck came closer with a big grin. "Don't even worry about it. I mean, it would be super cool if you could, but I'd want you to come even if you never did that again. Quack! Ducks need sun!"

A small yellow face peeked out from his saddlebag, a young duck, not yet grown into its adult colors.

Octavia backpedaled in surprise. "I didn't know you had a pet?"

Duck looked to the side. "Oh! You never met Dolan? That was silly of me. Silly Duck. Quack. Dolan, this is Octavia."

Dolan tilted his head up at Octavia. "Charmed to meet you, Miss."

Octavia had to blink at the little bird that spoke more eloquently than its... owner? "Likewise. Do you usually remain in there?" She pointed at his saddlebag.

"I was just taking a nap, apologies." He slipped free of the bag and stood on Duck's back before settling on his belly. "Now then, I hear you are a performer? I apologize for missing your--"

Duck suddenly thrust a hoof up. "Wait!"

Dolan peered at his mount. It was quiet as Octavia slung the instrument case into position.

"What? Oh yeah, I said wait." He giggled to himself, pleased. "That was my fault. Some people get nervous around Dolan. I don't know why. You like Dolan, right?"

Octavia tilted her head. "He seems perfectly reasonable." The duck that acted like a pony was, in some ways she determined, less troubling than a pony who acted like a duck. "Does... he also like bread?"

"Yes!" shouted Duck.

"No," more quietly refuted Dolan. "Too much bread can be bad for you. I prefer more variety in my diet if it can be helped."

Octavia nodded to Dolan. "You should pay attention to him, he seems to know a thing or two."

Duck rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mother."

Octavia's cheeks lit up instantly. "Only Vinyl gets to call me that!"

Duck tilted his head. "I thought..." He trotted right past Octavia, pushing the door open to go outside. "Hey, hey hey! Vinyl?"

Octavia felt her lips peel back in horror as she rushed for Duck.

"Is Octavia your--"

Octavia jumped on him from behind, tackling him to the ground. Dolan flapped free of the mess, taking off before Octavia finished her pounce.

"Oh... my gosh... Hug time!" he giggled with growing joy, detecting no malice in the sudden tackle. "You even remembered to not tell me. You are one of the best friends I ever met, wow."

Vinyl pushed up her goggles. "What's a mare have to do to get tackled by an Octavia around here?"

Bullette Belle suddenly hopped up to all fours. "Longshot."

"Aw, don't be like that." Vinyl stuck out her tongue at Bullette. "Really, calling it a long shot? I thought we were cool."

No Name reached up towards his back as best he could, limited as that was. "She's not... Look." He decided pointing was better. Queen Sheriff Longshot was approaching, a vulpine pony trotting alongside her, taking notes on a large-looking scroll.

Longshot smiled brightly. "Well, look at this, some of my delightful citizens, enjoying the day. Did you see that spot of sun? Wasn't it delightful? I hope no one's eyes were harmed?"

Duck scrambled up to his hooves. "My peepers are A OK!" He saluted sharply. "Miss Longshot, Ma'am. We were just doing a show and Octavia played the sun out. It was amazing!"

Longshot nodded at that. "I have little doubt that the sweet notes of an angel could summon the sun for a time should she wish it." She smiled at Octavia briefly before her attention fixed on Vinyl. "And you, the other half of the holy duet. Are you still hurt?"

Vinyl's happy expression faltered, reminded of her situation. "Yeah... It... Well, Duck's bread helped a little, but it ain't fixed..."

She shook her head at that. "Doctor Stitch informed me somewhat, but seeing you paints a more clear picture." She leaned in and nudged Vinyl with her snout, watching as Vinyl flopped atop No Name's back. "Unacceptable... You must be seen by a healer, now, not later. Waiting for one to happen by is not an acceptable strategy."

Vinyl held up a weak  hoof. "Hey, c'mon, I mean... I don't... want to die, but I know how this works too. I haven't paid for so much. I owe you and everyone else in this town everything..."

"And you will owe us more." She tapped Vinyl right on the nose. "Which is why it is in our best interest to see that you live long enough to start putting a dent in that."

No Name snorted at that. "Oh, sure, make helping someone sound shady."

Bullette shrugged her shoulders. "Initiate friendship mission?"

Dolan suddenly landed right on her head. "A mission, certainly. I would not classify it as a 'friendship mission', however."

"On the contrary." Longshot turned and directed to the northeast. "I'm sending you back to old friends, because they have answers. The human town has a trained healer, the magical sort. I feel certain they can cure you, and a written promise from me that we will repay the kindness and materials will go a long way to making sure they agree to render services."

Octavia bowed to the regal mare. "You are too kind by half, but we will not turn--"

"Don't be accepting things for me, Octie." Vinyl sat up on No Name's back, huffing softly as she met Longshot's eye. "How can we be sure they'll even let us in the town?"

"We cannot," easily admitted Queen Longshot. "And yet, you must go. You are too weak for us to accept waiting as the course of action. You did not leave them on too bad of terms, we hope?"

Octavia put a fetlock over her eyes. "I let a bandit go and was being punished for that. Other than that, not particularly?"

Vinyl huffed softly. "Your 'punishment' was just pulling the goods here that we traded and got ditched for. Barely a punishment. I bet he did it to look mean."

Dolan hopped with a flap of his wings, easily landing on Duck's head. He leaned in, whispering something quietly to the duck-colored pony. "Oh yeah, great idea," Duck replied with a big grin. "We'll help!"

Longshot turned an ear to Dolan and Duck. "You are both very brave, but this is not your battle. Why are you eager to join them?"

Duck put a hoof to his chest. "I am a bard." He pointed at Vinyl. "She wants to play music, but she's too sick, so if I can help her do that, I'll feel better." Dolan leaned in and whispered something. "Oh yeah! She'll also have to play on my radio a little, you know, for fun. I bet she'll have a great time once she's better again."

Vinyl weakly waved a hoof. "You got it, little duck."

"Just Duck. D U K, Duck. Quak." Duck bobbed his head eagerly. "So, yes?"

Queen Longshot looked to No Name silently. He knew what question was being asked of him. Having Duck along meant another body to watch carefully, and he already had Vinyl and Octavia and Bullette to watch carefully. "Yeah yeah, I'll keep 'em all in one piece."

Bullette saluted sharply. "Weapon systems are ready. No harm will be allowed to those with the designation of friend."

Longshot peered down at the small metal one. "Do we have that designation?"

Bullette sat up at that. "You are a respected adult. We have had insufficient opportunity for friendship point exchange. Would you like to begin?" She hopped forward, pronking on all fours in one big bounce. "We can start by exchanging information about our likes and dislikes."

Longshot gently set a hoof on Bullette's metal mane, holding her in place lest she bounce forward again. "I appreciate your energy, Little Belle. Use it to keep your friends safe. Can you do that, please?"

"Command accepted," sang out Bullette as if she had just been given free candy. "Danger level: Green."

Octavia inclined her head softly at Bullette. "You never asked me for my likes and dislikes."

Bullette tilted her head. "We broke that barrier of familiarity in other ways." She gestured to herself then at Octavia. "We are friends, yes?"

"I like to think so," agreed Octavia with a little smile. "Well, when do we... make this trip? The human town isn't that dreadfully far, about a day and a half of a hike to my recalling. We had to sleep out once, and we were pulling a cart at the time."

Vinyl patted the side of the large pony she rode on. "I don't feel scared of no stupid bugs with big guy here to watch our backs."

"I'll watch your front," bravely volunteered Duck, springing in place with all the energy that Bullette had. "Friendship trip!"

"Yes, friendship trip!" sang out Bullette in obvious agreement. The two began to pronk around each other, bouncing with a joy that only seemed enhanced with the presence of the other.

No Name shook his head a little. "You'll help me out, right?"

Octavia's smile turned wry. "Of course. Us 'responsible adults' have our weight to pull." She nodded to Longshot. "Well, we'll gather the supplies for the trip and, with any luck, it'll be far less harrowing than our last."

"I would hope as much." She sighed softly, but it turned back to a gentle upwards curl of her lips. "But put that thought aside. The humans, though cool, are friendly towards us. We've never had problems trading with them. Come respectfully and leave the same way, and there should be no issues." She unfurled her wings, stretching them wide as she turned to the right. "For now, my town needs me. Please travel well, and return safely, that is an order."

She departed to a collection of waving hooves. Vinyl's cheeks bulged suddenly, but she grimaced and swallowed it right back down, panting. "Huh... your bread ain't... entirely bad the second time."

No Name shook his head. "That sounds like a good sign we should get going. Octavia, want to handle the shopping?"

"On it." She took off in a gallop, Bullette chasing after her.

Duck was left looking confused. "When is bread ever bad?"

No Name pat Duck on the head. "Hey, Dolan. You're a member of the responsible team, right?"

"Undoubtedly, Sir." Dolan bowed and swept a wing aside in a proper bow. "Someone has to watch over him."

Duck looked back at the duck bowing on his back. "You're so silly. I take care of you." He leaned towards No Name. "He likes to pretend he's in charge, shhh." He was not at all subtle in his loud whisper.

Vinyl snickered softly before pointing vaguely eastward. "Let's head to where we'll have to leave town, then you can put me down a little. If I want to lose anything, at least it won't be on you, No Name. I mean, thanks, really..." She ran a hoof gently through No Name's fur. "Ain't too many people I'd figure would carry me like this, knowing I'm a ticking time bomb."

He turned an ear towards her, but he was facing away from her, ahead of himself. "Ain't no thin'." He began to lumber towards the East side of town, making sure Duck followed along. "It was kinda my fault anyway. Couldn't even protect you, or her... Ain't no excuses fer that."

"Don't be like that." She slumped against him, watching the world go past blearily. "I fought with you, remember. At worst, you didn't outshine me too much."

"And I should have," suddenly hissed out a snake.

"Sorry," whispered another, glancing around. "Sorry... We're seasoned adventurers. You are both... innocent. We should have protected you, and I failed. I failed to protect either of ya and I let her get... Look, ah'm gonna put it right, okay? You just hang in there, and enjoy the ride."

"Can I get a ride?" asked a hopeful Duck.

"No."

"Aw..." Duck stuck out his tongue at the big meanie that was No Name. "You're lucky."

Vinyl snorted softly. "Yeah, wanna trade? You can have the lung crud and I'll walk. Sounds fair to me."

"Ooo, can we, can we?" Duck bounced as he walked, looking dangerously eager to accept.

Dolan bopped him with the flat of a wing. "No."

"Why is everyone telling me no today!?" cried Duck, looking scandalized. "I gave bread and everything. I'm a good duck. Stop being mean to me!"

Dolan gently patted Duck as he walked. "Don't worry, perhaps on the way back, when Vinyl's feeling better, No Name will consider, but you shouldn't ask until at least then, and you'll have to deal with Bullette."

"Deal with her?" He looked back at Dolan, walking/hopping blindly. "Quack, why would I need to do that, not that I mind talking to her. We're like best friends!"

Dolan tilted his little yellow head. "Then it may be easy, but be sure to ask her too, or she'll get grumpy and mean. That is her ride."

"It's true," agreed No Name with a nod. "If she could, she would attach a little sign to my back, 'Property of Bullette Belle'."

Duck gasped loudly with a quack. "You must be super besties with her then." He was gazing at Vinyl with newfound amazement. "What's your secret? I wanna be besties with her too!"

Vinyl shook her head slowly. "Dude, love your energy, but being sick sucks, and blows, usually in a messy way. Uh, can you tone it down a few notches? I can't believe I'm asking that of anyone... Cure me or kill me, please. This is not how a rock goddess lives."

"Aw, don't be like that." He bounced up, his own wings giving a flap to life him just high enough to nose at one of Vinyl's dangling hooves. "We're on the case! We're gonna visit the humans, and say hi, and give them... Oh no!" He came to a sudden and complete halt. "I gotta go get bread to bring!" He hurried away, Dolan barely hanging on for dear life as Duck dashed through the town.

No Name kept going forward, nodding. "Wish granted, a few minutes of peace."

"Woo... Gonna pass out now, alright?" Before he could reply, her soft snores could be heard, turning off as readily and easily as someone brushing up against a light switch.

He snorted softly. "Wish I could do that..." Sleep did not always come easily to his troubled mind, but he didn't spend much time considering it, plodding forward with care to his sleeping passenger.





"Oh, it's you." The shopkeeper grinned softly. "I heard your last trip went... oddly, but I hope the supplies were good?"

"They were quite fine," easily agreed Octavia as she looked around the shop. "This will be a shorter one. I need food for... 3 normal sized ponies like myself, 1 duck, and one pony that is significantly larger." She held up a hoof high. "And water for the same. We still have the sleeping equipment and such from before. Plan for 4 days."

"Where are you headed, if you don't mind the prying?" The shopkeep busily started stacking rectangular cubes of rations on the counter, making several seats as they counted them under their breath. "Going with little Bullette here?"

"Affirmative," sang the little robot as she sprang right up on hydraulic pistons, firing herself in a little arc that landed with her standing on the counter perfectly. "I will ensure that no harm comes to her while further accruing friendship points. Humans are resistant to most attempts, but I feel ready to try again."

The shopkeep patted Bullette on the head. "You keep at it. I know you'll win through eventually." They pushed the cubes together firmly and began wrapping them up tightly for moving. "Here we are, all ready. Let me get some water skins filled up for your trip. You be careful, alright? I don't want to hear our neighborhood angel got hurt."

Octavia turned bright red swiftly. "Who told you that name?!"

"Longshot mentioned it to someone, who told someone else, you know how it goes." The shopkeep waved it off as they went to get the water. "Be right back."
> 25 - Back to Square One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They all gathered by the edge of town. No Name's saddlebags bulged with renewed supplies of food, water, and camping supplies. On his back rode a sleepy but hopeful looking Vinyl. "Which of them was a healer, anyway? I don't remember magic healing around there besides me, and my healing doesn't do it, I tried."

Octavia raised an ear. "I had thought you were too tired to be attempting it, but good to know you managed."

"The hurt is too deep," grunted out No Name. "Basic healing will put a cut right, set a bone that needs settin'" He started out away from the city, along the road that the town worked to keep clear from ash. "When the hurt goes that far, ya need somethin' stronger fer it."

Vinyl waved a hoof weakly. "Well, teach me that magic and I'll fix it myself."

Duck emitted quite the quack. "Don't think it works that way. Um, like good music can make the hurts less, um, hurty. We're not, you know, doctors or anything like that."

Bullette nudged Octavia on the side. "Danger Level: Yellow. I will not request a ride at this time." She looked to No Name. "Permission to unlock weapons?"

"We ain't in town no more, go ahead." He looked ahead as he walked, focused on the hike ahead. "Ain't never been to this town, not much reason to. They like them with two legs and less hair."

Octavia thought back to the town. "They were particular about that... I wasn't given much opportunity to excel there."

"Which is why when we're done," proudly spoke Duck. "--we'll go play a great piece on the radio, with you, and Vinyl, and me too! Quack!"

Dolan looked to the others from his perch on Duck's back. "I feel I should warn, he has taken a liking to explosive weaponry."

Octavia winced at the idea even as her eyes wandered over Duck. "I don't see--"

Duck drew free a pistol with a comically huge barrel, a grenade already stuffed into it, ready to fire. "Ta da! Fireworks make everyone happier, and it works everywhere! I've tried."

Vinyl choked out a wheezing laugh from atop No Name. "Let's see those stupid bugs try that again."

They made good progress through the day, though the road became a distant memory, the ash creeping in to cover it as they went, forcing them to start swerving around the great piles of it to continue towards the human town.

"(Stop,)" came an order. The one who spoke it was holding a pistol in either hand, an ammunition magazine of great size dangling from either in clear promise of many bullets. "(Put down yer valuables,)" demanded the near-human, if one discounted the little horns on his head and ignored the whipping devil's tail.

Duck waved excitedly. "(Oh, hello friend! I'm Duck, Quack!)"

Octavia frowned at the biped. "(If you remain in our way, we will end you.)"

Vinyl blinked at Octavia's words. "I don't know what you said,  but you sounded badass while you said it."

No Name softly snorted. "(She isn't wrong. Ya picked the wrong group, bucko. Wanna just pretend we ain't met?)"

Duck looked sad at the talk. "(But we could be friends...)"

The would-be robber reconsidered his odds. Octavia already had her gun out and none of them looked particularly scared of him. He lifted the end of his guns away from them. "(What, just a joke. A little something to take the edge off a boring hike.)"

"(Yay!)" Duck rushed towards the quasi-human. "(Nice to meet you, Friend. What's your name? I'm Duck. Quack!)"

Octavia shook her head softly. "He says quack in other languages..."

Vinyl pointed at Octavia. "And you speak other languages. Since when?! I mean, not complaining..."

Dolan did his best to calm down his would-be owner/mount, but there was little to be done as Duck enthusiastically greeted the robber as if they had been friends for years. They bid farewell to the robber, sending him off with more than he feared. At least he had gotten a bread roll out of the exchange.

Vinyl was snickering as they continued on. "Why can't all the fights end like that?"

"If only," sighed out Octavia, holstering her gun. "Still, I shan't complain for this reprieve."

Duck skipped along with the others. "He seemed like a nice person. I hope we meet again."

Dolan let out a sigh, but did not try, again, to correct Duck.

As the sky began to darken, they pitched their tents. The ponies, the moderately sized ones, all settled in the tent, with three mares and one stallion. Duck did not notice any problems and was lightly bouncing in place with only joy. "Ooo, like a sleepover. This is, like, my third favorite part of adventuring." He waved a wing at the mares. "Let's play a game!"

Octavia drew the sleeping roll tight around Vinyl, tucking her in. "We should focus on sleeping, friend Duck. We have more hiking to do tomorrow, and hopefully we'll put Miss Scratch on the path to recovery."

Vinyl burst into a short-lived laugh that turned into a rough cough. "Oh, excuse me. Can you call me Miss Scratch one more time?"

Octavia gently booped her on the nose. "After you're healed, perhaps. For now, we sleep."

"Sleep mode initiated," agreed Bullette, her head sagging forward and her eyes going dark, just turning off it seemed.

Duck pouted at the lack of games, but soon curled and began sleeping with little quacky snores. When all was still, Bullette's eyes dimly lit up and she peeked around. She rose quietly and crept from the tent to find No Name standing guard. "I will join you," she announced as she sat beside him. "We will protect them."

"Yeah? Better than last time, I hope."

She poked him with the edge of a hoof. "The parameters of this mission do not include as high a danger level. There should be no issues." She tilted her head a little. "Duck is the highest danger level detected so far."

He snorted out a half-laugh at that. "Got that right. A musical pony what thinks he's a duck when he ain't slingin' grenades around like it ain't nothin'? Good thin' he likes us."

"Danger level: yellow," agreed Bullette. "He is a good pony who desires friendship points." She set a metal hoof to her own chest. "I can understand him. Sometimes, I wish I could be more like him. I did not think to make friends with that bandit."

No Name shook his head slowly. "There's a limit to things, ya know? Treatin' random bandits like they're buds ain't a good habit t' make, jus' sayin'."

"Error," discordantly droned Bullette. "The power of friendship is vast. Octavia's friendship with a bandit secured her life." She waved a hoof softly. "There is nothing that is not improved by being a friend with it."

He settled a little before looking aside at her. "You know, she ain't up there right now."

"It's alright." Bullette tilted her head. "I was upset at first..."

"Now you ain't?"

"Now I am not." She stood up smoothly. "She needs it more than me. We will fix her, then I will take my place back." She reached up and gently tapped at the underside of his chin. "Do you miss me?"

"Yeah..." Another snake perked up. "Kinda strange, but I'm used to it."

"That is one of the foundations of friendship," spoke Bullette in an educational tone. "Accustomed practices with those you know. We have faced greater dangers. We will survive a few days like this." She bounced in place, metal jingling. "Our friendship will only become stronger!"

"Ain't sure it could be much stronger." He reached for her and pulled her close, cradling her between all four legs. "For now, we rest, and make sure they ain't bothered none."

"Affirmative," she agreed with a cheerful tone.

The night passed, broken with a sudden coughing fit. Octavia was awake in an instant, gently hugging Vinyl. Vinyl could not appreciate the affection, wracked with terrible coughs. "D-damn," she hissed out, raising a fetlock to wipe her mouth clean of spittle and small flecks of blood. "Actually the best sleep I had in a while."

Octavia sat up. "That was your best? It's still dark!"

"Affirmative," came Bullette's agreement from outside the tent. "Sunrise scheduled in: 2 hours, 13 minutes. Resume sleep."

Vinyl waved it off. "That's all the sleep I'm getting for now, so relax." She slowly began to pull herself free of her blanket. "Sleeping next to my Octie was great, don't get me wrong. Like I said, best sleep."

Duck yawned widely, an action imitated in perfect sync with his actual duck companion, Dolan. The two looked over blearily. Dolan was the first to speak, "Are we rising early?"

Duck hopped up to his hooves, almost shaking Dolan off. "Okay!" He got to preparing breakfast despite the question not even being answered. He took the rations as a starting point, not an end, and emerged from the tent to start a fire. "Gonna make somethin' tasty!"

Octavia emerged next, walking slowly with Vinyl leaning against her. "You sit near the fire, Vinyl. I'll get the tent put away."

"Yes, Mother." Her insult lacked even the play barb as she staggered over and flopped beside Duck. "What's cookin'?"

No Name had risen up, roused with the others. He lent a hoof to Octavia, helping to get everything packed away. "That fire'll draw attention this early in the day, but whateva'." He perked an ear towards Duck. "I agree with Vinyl's question though. What are you makin'?"

Duck hummed a cheerful tune to himself as he set a pan over the fire and began adding crumbled bits of the rations with some other ingredients he had in his own saddlebag. "Just making it more tasty and even betterer!"

Dolan rolled his eyes in the firelight. "You're adding breadcrumbs, aren't you?"

"No! I mean, not just that..." He shook the pan lightly, keeping things jostling around. "Besides, hot food is better, even with bread. Hot is better, yes, quack. Almost ready..." He turned back and pulled a bottle of something clenched in his teeth. He worked off the cork and shook some out onto the pan, creating a new burst of sizzles. "A little kick, just a little. Wake up, wake up, quack!"

Octavia finished stuffing the last bit of things into No Name's saddlebag before drawing out her instrument from its case. "A little accompaniment, to offset our unusual method of awakening." She played a soft peace, a gentle hello to the day as Duck began serving up food to each present, Belle included.

"Little fillies need food to grow," he said in a mildly admonishing way. "Eat up!"

"Thank you." Belle pulled the plate closer, which became empty when Duck was busy feeding others.

No Name chomped into his food with many small mouths working together to get it into his belly. "Not bad..." Whatever he had added lent a new flavor to the usually salty but bland taste of rations. "And you made more of it."

"Well, yeah." Duck served himself last and buried his face in his little makeshift plate, pecking at it like a very messy bird. "Mmm. Add stuff, mmm... Makes more of it, mmm... Quack."

Dolan shook his head. "You know, ducks don't eat that messily."

"This duck does," argued Duck with a messy grin. "Everyone happy?"

Octavia set her instrument aside carefully  back into its case before sampling her plate. "My compliments. Vinyl, how are you holding up?"

"Can we keep him, as a chef?" She licked over her lips lightly. "I don't feel like projectile hurling when he makes stuff. Besides, he's funny."

"Aw, I like you too." Duck resumed his eager devouring of his food, soon polishing it entirely and looking ready to continue. "It's kinda dark, but it's, uh, that way right?" He pointed a wing into the darkness.

No Name looked to Belle, who pointed with authority in another direction. "You heard her." He reached with his mouth and plucked up Vinyl like she was a lost kitten. Soon she was up on his back, sprawled and fed like a primed grenade. "Let's get goin'."

They began a new day's treading, pressing on through the dark ashes. "<Stop>," came a bark in the distance ahead of them. "<Stop or be shot.>"

No Name shrugged softly. "Don't know that language. You?"

Octavia shook her head. "Perhaps common? (Hello?)"

"(Is that you, Octavia?)" There was a pause. "(It is! And you have... friends?)"

Duck hopped forward. "(Yes, friends! Quack! What is your name, new friend? I'm Duck, quack.)"

Lights suddenly came on, blinding them a moment in the harsh glare. Standing just ahead of the lights, Sandy was looking at them oddly. "Is that Vinyl up there?"

Octavia waved back and up at the collapsed Vinyl. "The one and only, and she is why we're here."

Duck trotted forward with a big grin. "I'm Duck, quack, and this is Dolan." He pointed with a wing at the duck on his back. "What's your name?"

Sandy's attention was on Vinyl. "She looks awful."

"Nice to see you too," half-laughed Vinyl, though she didn't move from where she was.

No Name nodded at that, approaching at a casual pace. "We were told there were healers here. Sheriff Longshot agreed to trade supplies for some help."

Sandy drew in breath with a hiss only to be interrupted with a soft  hoof-tapping at her leg. She looked down to see Duck beside her, his tail wagging eagerly. "Hello, Duck," she finally greeted, patting him on the head like the lost dog he seemed to be imitating. This only pleased him. "I'm Sandy, and I'm the guard on duty at the moment. You're lucky it was me. Most of the others wouldn't have been so nice to people just marching up out of the dark like that."

Vinyl wobbled a hoof. "You can blame that one on me. I woke everyone up. Hey, miss me, you ditcher?"

"Ditcher?" Sandy hissed softly. "Look, I was told to leave you two in Turves. You're happier there, aren't you?"

Octavia waved a hoof. "Look, let's focus, please. Vinyl needs medical attention, the magic kind. We all breathed in some kind of toxin that's harmed our lungs, and it's hurt Vinyl the most."

Sandy didn't come much closer to No Name, eyeing him oddly. "The shaman isn't used to dealing with ponies, or much of anyone outside the village."

No Name hiked a brow. "But they'll do it if you ask them to?"

Sandy lifted her shoulders as she turned back towards the darkened town. "That'll be up to Randy. You came willing to trade, that'll help. Look... for now, why don't you head up to the inhuman house? You remember where it is, right? Don't surprise them too  badly."

Duck tilted his head a little. "I'm not a human. I'm a duck. Quack."

"That is why she is telling us to go to the not-human house," noted Dolan with a little nod.

"Exactly." She nodded. "You'll lead the way, Octavia?"

Octavia started forward. "You can turn off those lights. I imagine there's only so much power, and we all know each other now. Duck, No Name, after me."

The lights were turned off with a heavy sound of metal against metal, returning things to darkness. It wasn't pitch, and as eyes re-adjusted, things came into faint view under the slowly brightening sky. Daylight was coming at a sedate rate. They went around the town rather than through it, approaching the house that sat on its edge that two of them knew well.

Vinyl snorted softly. "Wonder how they're doing..."

"We will find out. These were our friends while we were here." She raised a hoof and knocked twice before reaching with her mouth for the knob. The door swung open just before she could get a hold on it. Shiela stood there, curiosity turning to shock.

"My friends," she greeted with a growing smile. "And you have brought others? Are you... returning? Vinyl, what has happened to you." She stepped out of the house, approaching Vinyl directly with no concern for the others. "What cruel fate have you found?"

Bullette Belle tilted her head at the elf. "She is in need of medical assistance. Are you capable of administering?"

Shiela shook her head without actually looking at Bullette. "I don't have that talent." She gently ran a few fingers over Vinyl's cheek. "Is that why you're here?"

"Precisely." Octavia stepped up into the door. "We were told to wait here while Randal considers our offer and approaches the town shaman about a cure."

Duck went past everyone, stepping into the dimly-lit house. "Oh, hello," he said to someone only he could see. "I'm Duck, nice to meet you, quack!"

"They got another pony!" came the excited cry of a familiar female. "Hello, friend Duck. Do you have experience in being a mount?"

Vinyl weakly chuckled from atop No Name. "Quarter Inch hasn't changed..."

Shiela shook her head. "She has not... Not much changes around here." She backed away and gestured inside. "We should retire within, where we will bother the rest of the town less."

As they went inside, Quarter Inch, the gnome, came into view, already deeply surveying Duck and Dolan. "You say you don't, but the evidence speaks otherwise." She hiked a thumb at Dolan. "You're giving him a mighty fine ride."

Dolan shook his head quickly. "There is a terrible price to be paid for this ride. You do not wish it."

Quarter hiked a brow. "And you're used to giving rides to people that can talk, perfect! Come on, we can share." She thrust a hand forward towards Dolan. "Don't be mean."

"Yeah," agreed Duck. "Don't be mean." He stomped a hoof as he said that. "I don't like it when people are mean."

Dolan hiked a feathery brow. "So you do want to give her rides?"

"If she wants one?" He looked up at her inquisitively.

"You heard Duck." Quarter Inch threw a leg right over Duck, swinging up just behind Dolan. "See, sharing is alright. Onwards, mighty steed!" She nudged at Duck with her heels. "To adventure!"

Shiela casually ignored them as they started meandering the room. "Why did you leave?"

Octavia perked an ear. "Not by choice. Sandy left us in Turves without warning."

Shiela mouthed a silent 'oh'. "I see... A compliment."

Octavia blinked at that. "How is being abandoned a compliment?"

"She would not have done it if she thought you could not survive it." She reached out and put a hand on Octavia's shoulder. "It means they thought you two could thrive on your own. It will be with some bitterness that you return in pursuit of aid."

Vinyl huffed softly, the action turning into a lone cough. "We were doing just fine until we had a little incident."

"Little incident," barked No Name. "Not what I'd call it. It hit me too. Vinyl gets first in line, but I'd love a turn getting this fixed."

Octavia nodded firmly. "I can agree with that. Vinyl first."

Vinyl blushed faintly, waving their words away. "I ain't that important."

No Name turned an ear back at her. "You're closest to death. Octavia and me could just be uncomfortable forever. We ain't dead."

"And we don't want you to be either," continued Octavia with a soft nod. "I'm glad this house is large enough to fit you." She nodded towards No Name. Though he had to squeeze in, he fit inside without too much difficulty. "I had wondered why this place was so large... Have they housed larger inhumans before?"

Quarter Inch pat the side of her new and magical mount. "Now that I have a proper steed, I can set out too! Shiela, they'll let me go, right?"

Shiela raised a fine brow, considering the gnome and her pony mount. "I don't believe this is the case, dear friend. You'll have to let your 'proper steed' return to his own responsibilities. You do have things you need to do, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, many things." Duck bobbed his head. "I have to bake bread, and play on the radio, and help Vinyl not die." He quacked softly before raising a wing to point at Dolan on his back. "I have to take care of Dolan too." Dolan rolled his eyes at the claim. "Duck does a lot of things, but making friends is one of the best parts. Are we friends, Quarter Inch?"

"Yes!" she squeezed with her legs, which prompted him forward, almost crashing them into a wall. Two out of three of them were laughing about it. Dolan took flight, landing on one of the unused beds where it was safer.

"You give funny hugs," noted Duck with a grin, seemingly pleased with his new friend.

Octavia set her instrument case aside and had it popped open. "I was given a tremendous boon."

Shiela gasped loudly. "An instrument. Is that the one that you prefer?"

"It is indeed." Octavia pulled the cello free. "I would like to show it to you, if you would hear it."

Shiela was soon seated on her bed. "Please... You spoke so wantingly of your lost music. I would hear it now."

Vinyl pumped a hoof. "Time for a concert. Knock 'em dead, 'Tavi."

"I will do no such thing," she assured as she pulled up the bow of her instrument. "Let us begin." She started a gentle melody, soft and cheerful. She was happy to see her friends, Shiela and Quarter Inch, alive and well and she channeled that happiness into the song.

More music came in to join it. Duck had pulled out his guitar and joined her, playing in a lively accompaniment despite the song being made up as she went. The two instruments sang together, calling out joyfully to fill the room. Shiela nodded her head along with the beat, a little smile on her lips.

Vinyl stuck out her tongue softly, whispering to No Name, "Man, and here I am the only musician in here not in the piece. Sucks."

No Name considered what a sudden burst of electronic blare would do to the sound of the two wood instruments making their soft happy sounds. "You'll get your chance." He didn't sound that upset that she had missed that particular opportunity. "Let's get you fixed up first."

"The sooner the better."

A rough knock came from the door. "Breakfast," came an unseen voice. The playing had stopped, her bow falling from her hoof as soon as she wasn't focused on actually playing her cello. "Oh, do you eat the same things?"

Shiela sighed as she rolled her eyes. "That hasn't changed."

Duck bounced to his hooves. "Allow me!" He rushed for the door, opened it in a flash and grabbed the bundle of food.

Quarter Inch held on firmly as he moved in quick darts. "Noble steed, where are we going? We need to split that food fairly."

"Nuh uh." He dashed into the kitchen and got to work, coaxing the stove to life and whistling as he got things together.

Octavia started putting her instrument away. "Have no fear. He's a talented cook, and will only improve the quality of the offered food. Duck, refrain from eating more than a taste. There's only enough for them."

"Okay!" he called out from the kitchen. "I'll add a little to it, don't worry! You're gonna be so happy when I'm done." The soft sounds of cooking food began to filter from the kitchen. The smells that rose were familiar, still of the same dry food, but they had a texture they didn't before. It was nothing short of a miracle what proper cooking could do to make food more appealing.

"Quack," said Duck with a smile.
> 26 - Judgment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"<They're back?>" barked Randal. He was standing by the guard posting, having arrived to relieve Sandy. "<Where are they?>"

She hiked a thumb. "<I sent them to the inhuman house to wait for your reply. They've changed.>"

"<How do you figure that?>" He crossed his arms. "<They've come slinking back to our care.>"

"<Octavia had a gun, and their friends were equally dangerous in feel. They have come to trade, not hide between our legs. She did not speak like a lost child.>" She gestured as she spoke, emphasizing her words. "<It's plain as day. Vinyl's the one that's in a bad way.>"

"<The battle bard?>" He raised a brow at that. "<Not what I would have guessed, but life can be like that. Releasing them together was the right thing to do. So are they hoping for...?>"

"<Healing, deep healing.>" She shrugged softly. "<The kind Ole Breeze can give. They're ready to trade for it with promises from Turves.>"

"<Ah.>" He pat her on the shoulder once, a firm motion. "<I'll send another to take my place.>" He left her there, her shift extended. That made her cross her arms, but she accepted it. She was pretty sure she knew where he had gone off to.

He strode purposefully through town, nodding to those who were awakening with the rising of the sun. "<Go relieve Sandy at the guard post, west side.>" With that request,  he knew Sandy would get a chance to relax. It was time for him to work.

He arrived at a small house and wrapped the back of his hand on the door. "<Seer?>"

"<That is not my name,>" came the reply from within. "<What is it, Randal?>"

"<Your services are required.>"

A soft sigh, almost inaudible through the door, came with quiet. "<Come in.>"

He opened the door without resistance. The inside was dimly lit with only barely-open blinds allowing a sliver of growing daylight to penetrate the room and chase away the darkness. "<Are you still hiding?>"

A mound of blankets moved, an elderly female face emerging. "<We have much to hide from.>"

"<It is not time for that.>" Randal gestured widely. "<We have visitors who wish to trade for healing. They have wounds only your magic can reach.>"

"<A pity for them. Who are they? Some Soledin guards?>" She sounded a bit bitter, a grimace on her face.

"<We should be so lucky as to have visitors from our allies. No, these are fey folk. Pony folk.>"

Ole Breeze perked up, but then looked all the more hesitant. "<I told you...>"

"<We need what they offer, and they have proven themselves allies before.>" He crossed his arms, taking a strong stance. "<I will not turn them away.>"

"<Good, then you can mend them. I will not face them.>" She pulled up a bit of blanket, becoming lost to sight in the pile.

Randal snarled softly. "<Stop acting like a child, esteemed elder. They will not cause you pain.>"

"<That is a lie.>" Her response was muffled by the cover. "<The poor blood, the angry spirits will not be quelled.>"

"<I care little for spirits at this time.>" He clenched a fist with obvious irritation. "<I will bring the injured one here, and you will fix her, because it is what must be done.>"

"<Don't!>" But her cry only echoed off an empty room, the door slamming shut across from her. "<Stubborn fool...>"





Shiela set down her plate, a contrivance she did not always have a use for. "That was quite good, friend Duck. I feel ashamed for forgetting what a difference preparing one's food can make."

Quarter gestured broadly at the duck-colored pony. "Look at my pony, he is amazing. He is full of all kinds of tricks!"

Duck giggled with a little blush. "Aw, don't be like that. I just wanted to make people smile." Which he had, which made him smile in kind.

No Name nodded towards the door. "How long do you figure we'll be waiting?" The transition to sylvan had happened without anyone really noticing. They all knew the language, unlike the common tongue that left Vinyl in the dark.

Octavia adjusted the straps of her instrument case. "I could not be certain of that. I hope sooner, as opposed to later. We have arrived quite without warning, so I don't feel we can be too irate just yet."

Vinyl leaned a little from her living perch. "Hey, at least it's time spent with friends." She gestured to No Name and Bullette. "New and --" She waved at the two humanoids. "--Old. Kinda nice, like a great big reunion. Band's back together."

Bullette tilted her had up at Vinyl. "Are we a band? I will require a musical instrument."

Vinyl shook her head. "Nah, you could totally take it home with your vocals. Sing us a sweet little number."

Bullette's ears pivoted in place as she frowned a moment. Just as quickly, she bounced up to all fours. "Initiating song!" She emitted the sound of a deep breath, though it was not certain she was actually breathing. Prepared, she began to sing. Her voice sounded like an artist that had just discovered what autotune was and planned to use it everywhere, but she was eager and chipper, singing about their strange little community of misfits and the trouble they could get into. The beat was rapid and lively with a few electronic instruments playing out from within her to accompany her words.

Duck could not refuse the call. He pulled his guitar around and began to play along with the song Bullette was making, dancing around with wild joy.

"Let go the fireworks, watch out for public works," sang out Bullette, her own music adjusting subtly to accept Duck's input.

"Yeah, she got mad that one time," confessed Duck, still playing happily. "Gotta be careful with them fireworks!"

Quarter snickered at their song. "Isn't he precious? What kind of fireworks does he have?"

Shiela held up a hand. "I feel you would be better in not knowing, my enthusiastic friend."

A knocking came from the door. "(Send the injured.)" It was Randal, speaking gruffly.

Octavia rose to two legs, reaching up for Vinyl and drawing her down into a soft hug. "I'm going with you, like it or not."

"Ain't complainin', uh, but you ain't..." Despite her concern, she was worked around and soon draped over Octavia's entire back. "Huh, that works... You alright?"

Octavia only answered with a nod, trotting for the door. She left her precious cello behind, but it was soon taken up by No Name to replace Vinyl's presence. She pushed open the door, revealing Randal. "(Nice to meet you.)"

"(You can speak the trade tongue? You're learning.)" His eyes lifted subtly to look at Vinyl. "(Was she hurt protecting you?)"

Vinyl squinted a bit. "Don't know what he said, but I don't like the way he said it."

Octavia ignored her friend for a moment. "(She was injured fighting alongside me, for something we both wanted. I was hurt as well,  but not terminally. Let us go.)"

"(Can she not walk? We only require her.)"

"(Group deal. No, she can't walk. I will serve as her legs.)" Octavia turned in place, looking around. "(Lead the way.)"

He did not question her further, simply walking ahead with his usual severe look. A few others noticed them passing by. The local guitar player was strumming softly when they were going across the road. "Vinyl? Is sick?"

Vinyl twitched up an ear, looking over. "Oh, hey man! I'll be better soon, I think." She pointed at his instrument as she was carried right on past. "Keep playing!"

"I will," he promised before they were beyond easy conversation.

"(Ponies like music. It's in your blood, sure as your tails.)" Randal was approaching a small building. "(Be respectful. She has seen more than most of us, and experienced more than even her life could contain.)"

Octavia lifted an ear, trying to discern how one could experience more than their own life could hold. "(I will be on my best behavior. Shall we knock?)"

"<I am back,>" he called through the door. "<We are coming in.>"

"<Stubborn mule! Do as you wish.>"

Octavia glanced at Randal. That elderly female voice didn't sound happy to see them, but he just casually opened the door and went in, so she followed him, carrying Vinyl along the way. "(Terribly sorry to intrude. We'll be on our way as soon as we can be.)" But there was no person there, or pony. Just a stack of bedding. "(Where is she?)"

"<Leave us,>" commanded that pile, a wrinkled hand pointing out through the door they came. "<I will speak to them.>"

"<See that you do.>" He left them, closing the door gently despite his obvious irritation.

Octavia nodded softly. "(I'm afraid--)"

The shaman held up that hand, flat to Octavia, bidding her for silence. And there was silence. The silence was thick and unforgiving. The two ponies stared at the pile of bedding, waiting for the next step.

Vinyl lightly sniffed the air, taking in the odd scents of age and incense in almost equal quantities. Ash, however, seemed mostly absent from what she detected. "Is she there?"

"I feel certain she is, and she asked us to be quiet, so shh." Octavia stood still, watching the pile patiently.

They went quiet, one atop the other, waiting for something to happen.

"You are not leaving," she spoke in faltering Sylvan. "As if I would be so lucky..."

Octavia tilted her head softly. "I'm dreadfully sorry if we--"

"Randal brought us here," argued Vinyl before a cough ripped through her. "Oh, oh, sorry Octie, sorry..."

Octie could feel her futile attempts to fix the mess she made. "Don't even worry about it, Vinyl. We're here to fix it."

"There are things you cannot fix." The pile rustled before a head came into view. "The blood between us is bitter and deep. The sins of man against the fey, countless. The sins of the fey in kind, unforgivable. We are terrible creatures."

Octavia inclined an ear. "I have heard some... of that, but we are actually not from here."

Ole Breeze frowned at the two of them. "Being from another part of this blasted world changes nothing, little pony."

Octavia raised a hoof towards Breeze. "Not from here, this world, at all. We're from another place. We don't have ash blowing regularly. There are no bandits as ready to shoot you as speak to you. It's a gentler place."

The pile flowed, some of the cloth falling aside as she sat up. "And yet here you are. Another place. Are there humans there, little pony?"

Octavia shook her head quickly. "I am not aware of any. I met my first when I came here. It was quite the surprise."

"I should think so..." Breeze pointed at Vinyl. "What has struck her down?"

Vinyl wobbled a hoof. "We were trying to find a way home, found it, lost it, got hurt for it. Kinda sucks, ya know?"

"Curious sylvan slang... Bring her closer." She patted the bedding in front of her with a shaking hand. "If you are not from here... the blood has not collected yet. Perhaps... it is a little forgiveness."

Octavia stepped up onto the bedding, getting close to Breeze before sinking and slowly sliding Vinyl off just in front of the elderly human woman. "Can you help her? Please..."

She placed two wrinkled hands on Vinyl's cheeks, slowly examining them before working back. "Mmm... Perhaps you speak truly. She lacks marks... Hmm... The rift between the fey and humans of this world will need more than this to mend..." She gently ruffled the top of Vinyl's head, petting her like a lost dog. "Are you certain you wish to be treated by a human? We hurt so many innocent ponies. So many not innocent ponies as well. We did not care..."

Vinyl weakly hoofed at the hands feeling over her. "Hey, that was, what... like a jillion years ago. You weren't there."

"Wasn't I?" Her brows raised as one. "I may as well have been. The spirits of the land whisper our sins clearly in my ears. It's impossible to ignore, to forget... Will you forgive me, just to be better?"

Octavia rolled a hoof. "It's easy for us, since we weren't here, nor were our ancestors. Despite that, would it not be proper to do right, now, rather than to lament the mistakes of yesterday? We will carry word of your good deed back to Turves."

Her expression brightened a little, a smoldering ember in the darkness. "Would you? I hear such stories... Do they truly have so many, so close? They avoid us, as is their right, as should be their desire..."

Vinyl tilted her head. "There are humans there too, ya know."

Octavia set a hoof on her friend's back. "It's true. Humans and fey, getting along fairly well."

One of Breeze's brows fell into a suspicious peering. "What fanciful tales. Surely they hear the whisper of their grudges. The screaming of their mistakes. How can they bear one another's presence?"

Octavia raised the same hoof and directed it at Breeze. "You are clearly a special person, who can hear these things, and I am terribly sorry they torture you so... but others do not, and cannot. They don't hear these things, and can only act on what is in front of them."

Vinyl shrugged a little. "And I happen to like some humans. I'll take it on a person by person case, ya know? I wouldn't want someone judging me because something my dad did. That'd be lame as all get out."

"Lame..." Her hand withdrew into her bedding. "Is that what you see, an old and lame woman, rambling about things you cannot see?"

Octavia sat down with a thump. "We are quite certain--"

"--Just a little," cut in Vinyl. "But everyone has their bad days."

A wry smile split her wrinkled face. "I appreciate her honesty. What is your relationship?" She thrust a finger out to wag between the two ponies.

Octavia pointed at herself, then Vinyl. "We are roommates, and musicians. We find an unending supply of frustration, and inspiration, in one another."

Vinyl snorted softly. "Just because you like things all proper and I like to cut loose... Well, alright, sometimes we get on each other's nerves."

"And you would stand at her side, despite this." Breeze pushed up to a full sitting position. "You, the healthy one--"

"Octavia, ma'am."

"Yes, fine, get me the yellow container there, the one that glistens."

Octavia hurried over to the shelf she was pointing towards and stood up to get high enough. She grasped the container between two hooves and carefully pulled it free. She began fall backwards and curled around the sealed pot, crashing down with it in a loud thud. She cracked open an eye a moment later. The pot was still closed, and she hadn't broken anything. "Here we are."

"If I had known..." She accepted the pot when offered, working the lid off with some working back and forth. It ground open, revealing something that glittered within. "While money is a past thing, gone and dead in most of the land, the gods have not forgotten the value of things. To do great works in their name requires equal sacrifices." She plunged a gnarled hand into the pot, coming out clutching ground diamonds glittering and filtering through her grip.

Vinyl tilted her head left and right. "Fancy, but how's that help?"

"Your life force has been cruelly impeded." She reached out, pinching Vinyl's nostrils. "Dangling by a thread between life and death, you await a gentle push to tip you across into the abyss."

Vinyl weakly struggled, breathing awkwardly through her mouth as she hoofed at the human's hand, but she could do little in her weakened state.

"Calm yourself... Calm, and listen to this song. Ponies appreciate music, do they not?" She began to intone, deep and imposing words, calling out to her screaming patrons. She brought across her other hand, dusting Vinyl with the minerals and forcing her into a fresh series of savage coughs, struggling and crying, but the intoning continued unabated.

Octavia was tense everywhere at once. She wanted to help her friend, but would interceding actually help? The woman was supposed to be able to assist, and was clearly doing... something. She started silently counting to ten, promising to do something if things had not improved by the time she had finished.

One.

Tears streamed from Vinyl's eyes, her lashes glittering with diamond dust.

Two.

Breeze held Vinyl's nostril's shut, calling out firmly to whatever strange powers she obeyed.

Three.

Vinyl's struggles were slowing, her coughs weaker, but not in a peaceful way, Octavia decided.

Four.

Breeze made a broad gesture across Vinyl, burning streaks of light washing over the prone pony.

Five.

Her calls increased in volume as if in a shouting contest with those screaming spirits.

Six.

The diamonds  began to glow dimly, as if more light were spilling into the dim room to reflect off of them.

Seven.

She released Vinyl's nose, but the unicorn flopped weakly to the ground.

Eight.

Staring at her, she saw the glow was growing more brightly, casting new shadows across the room.

Breeze spoke the last word with a slap of a hand on a naked part of the floor with a loud slap. Vinyl sat up as if it had surprised her awake. She was heaving for breath, eyes darting around wildly. "The, I mean, and you... Am I dead?"

Octavia pounced Vinyl without thinking it through, hugging her dear friend close. "No! No... How do you feel?"

"I..." She took a slow and deep breath, held it a moment, then let it go in a slow wheeze. "I... feel like I need to go for a run or three, but... I... my insides aren't made of broken glass, so, uh, thanks?"

Vinyl climbed up to her hooves and took a step, only to wobble dangerously and almost collapse. "The hay... I can breathe, but I still feel like things aren't doing what I tell them to."

Breeze nodded softly. "The rot  in you attacked in two ways, sapping your connection to life itself, and your ability to move. It is pithy perhaps, but I shall blame the love of your friend that kept you so shy from that razor's edge. By most rights, you should have died, if not then, than to remain in a coma until help arrived, if ever it did. We will need to repeat the ritual to banish the lethargy in your limbs and return you fully to working order."

Octavia bowed low towards Breeze. "You have done us a great favor. I will be certain to inform Randal, who I imagine will make his demands of Turves."

"About that..." She reached for more diamond dust, taking it up in her left hand. "Why are they paying for this? Have you done them some great favor?"

Vinyl tilted her head. "I mean, that's actually a good question. Octie? Also, no nose pinching. That was seriously the worst part of that. I mean, thanks and everything, but no more of that, for real." Her horn glowed and her headphones began to play for her. "Oh, thank Celestia... My horn doesn't knock me out anymore!"

Octavia glanced away in thought before shaking her head. "We have committed no great deeds... but played some music for their local radio..." She smiled uncertainly. "While it has been a pleasure to perform for them, I... am uncertain... How valuable is that?" She waved a hoof at the diamonds she was applying to Vinyl.

Breeze did not reply, not at first. She had a new calling to do, and got to it vigorously. She beseeched the spirits in her strange language, demanding they remove the thickness from Vinyls limbs. It went on for about ten seconds or so, the diamond speckles fading away as the power of divinity rushed through Vinyl, carrying away the toxins that had plagued her.

She took a few easy steps, wiggling a hoof with each motion. "Aw yeah... this is more like it. You're a miracle worker."

"That is my profession," agreed Breeze with a soft nod before turning her eyes to Octavia. "You hide your pain well, and yet, I feel Turves would like you restored as well."

Octavia set a hoof on her chest. "Oh, yes please. There is one more in need of your assistance. He's large." She held up a hoof high to give an impression. "He may not even fit in here very well. His name is No Name and he's--"

She placed a fingertip on Octavia's nose, silencing her. "When I awaken in the morning and their cries are at their loudest, I beg them, filling my heart with their songs for the days ahead. I must decide what songs I will carry with me, heavy and painful. Restoration is a useful trick. I pray I never need it, but to not have it when times are dire is worse, so I always keep some close at hand. However, three, four, or even the six you truly require in total? It is not what I planned for today. You were right and good to bring your friend first. She was most desperate for the touch."

She gestured between Octavia and Vinyl. "I trust none of you will perish, if I impose on you to wait one more day."

Octavia shook her head quickly. "No! No, it's perfectly fine, more than that. Thank you." She dipped her head towards the elderly human. "You have been quite kind."

"I doubt Randal will be kind in his demands." She placed the lid back on the jar, sealing it with grunts of effort. "He will take all that he can get from Turves, and they will suffer for it, I feel certain. This is not a small thing. This dust does not come easily. If they happen to have some, that will lessen their burden, but we cannot be sure they have that."

Vinyl flinched away. "Aw man... Isn't there something we can do? I mean, this is... for us. We did it. We should pay, not them. They've been nothing but cool to us."

She held up a pruned and shaking hand. "I am afraid there is little, unless you think your performances will work as well to Randal's ears."

Vinyl sagged. "He wasn't impressed with mine." She perked up suddenly, turning on Octavia. "Hey, you're the one with the music people around here like for whatever reason. Maybe if you try?"

Octavia considered that with a tapping of her chin. "I'd be happy to help, but I will not assume it will pay the debt. To assume that would be rude, especially since he did not request it. Still, if it can reduce Turves' debt, even a little, then it will be worth the time."

As Octavia wandered towards the door, Vinyl nodded at Breeze. "Hey, thanks again. Uh, I know my music isn't... as popular, but I feel like sharing. Wanna hear some?"

"If you would like." She waved a few fingers.

Vinyl floated over her headset to the wizened shaman, parking them on her ears. "Comfy?" When Breeze didn't complain, she casually turned down the volume, then began the music, starting a deep electronic rhythm playing in Breeze's ears.

Breeze began to nod to the beat, then her fingers tapped at the floor, following the thumpa-thump of the song. "You may raise the volume a little," she instructed as her eyes drifted close. "This is... I like it. The shouts are silenced for a time, but I can still feel the heartbeat. What powerful music you wield."

Vinyl grinned with renewed confidence, nudging the volume up a little. "Isn't it? I love it!"
> 27 - Prepare Your Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Octavia opened the door, Randal was nowhere to be seen. She peeked left and right as Vinyl walked out past her.

Vinyl nodded softly to the beats playing from her returned headphone. "Looks like they trust us to see ourselves back to the house, but if you don't mind, I want to say hey to my friend." She pointed to where they had left the guitar player. "Don't want him thinking I'm still looking like barely warmed dead pony meat."

Octavia's snout wrinkled at the image summoned. "Go on then. I'll report your recovery to the others. Come back after you've finished."

There, they parted ways, one for the inhuman house, the other going through the streets with a smile. Vinyl found her target sitting in a chair, strumming his instrument in a wistful melody. "There you are!"

He perked up at her. "You... better?" His expression brightened. "Good. Hurt?"

"Not anymore." She reared up onto two just to put her forehooves at her hips. "Vinyl's back, baby. Did you miss me?"

He played quietly a moment, perhaps unpacking her quick sylvan words. "Yes," came his eventual reply, his eyes on his instrument however. "Good you not hurt. Friends." He gestured towards the inhuman house.

"I have one right here." Vinyl tilted her head faintly as she fell back to all fours. "Figured I'd say hi while I could. Hey, I didn't plan to leave, by the way, they just kinda dropped me off. Poof, like that." She clopped her forehooves together. "I wouldn't have gone without at least a goodbye if I had known, you know?"

"Randal." He ran is fingers across the strings in a strum. "It alright. Go, before someone is upset. You not us anymore."

Vinyl tilted her head with a little squint. "I was never, uh... you know, human?"

"Us." He raised a hand to twirl it around. "Here." He pointed in the general direction of Turves. "Other."

Vinyl cringed at that. She was literally 'the other'? "Dude... I'll be at the inhuman house. You can come by, you know, if you want. Maybe we can make some music?" She turned away though. "You don't have to."

His fingers began to work the strings, playing an actual song instead of the aimless strumming they had been doing. "You friend, but not here. Not us. Good to see."

Vinyl looked over her shoulder a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Good to see." She smiled a little and hurried off to rejoin her newer friends.





Octavia reached the inhuman house long before her friend. She knocked once, a clop of hoof on wood, then opened the door. "I return."

"Quack!" greeted Duck eagerly. "We were just playing cards."

No Name rolled his eyes. "If you can call what he does cards."

Bullette tilted her head at Octavia. "Vinyl Scratch not detected."

"She paused to visit a local friend." She smiled a little as she kicked the door shut behind herself. "The operation was a complete success. She has full movement and can breathe without impediment. The shaman said she would treat us after she's had some rest."

Bullette perked her metal ears at that. "Good news," she sang out. "Please allow No Name to be next. Though he is strong and tough, he is also too stubborn for his own good."

No Name's snakes hissed as one. "Yer gonna do me like that?"

Octavia raised a hoof. "It's quite alright. Please. You've already given so much for us. You may be next."

No Name huffed softly as he rose to his hooves. "Ah'm barely hurt anyway. You go next."

Bullette raised a lone hoof. "Initiative 7."

No Name frowned at her. "Really, over this?"

"Affirmative." She nodded from her seated position, laying on her belly as she was.

The argument died, just like that. Octavia rubbed at her cheek softly, sitting beside Bullette. "If you don't mind the asking... what exactly is 'initiative 7'?"

"That is confidential." She crossed her forelegs in a clear X. "Access denied. Please continue to accrue friendship points." She took a card in her mouth and her neck extended so she could place it in the middle area between them. "I believe this is a fortuitous play."

Quarter Inch threw down the cards in her hand. "Are you cheatin'?! You can't be that lucky!"

Shiela more calmly set down her own cards. "Her luck has limits."

Bullette gasped in several octaves at once. Shiela's revealed cards were better than what she had revealed. "I am slain." She flopped over and her little metal tongue poked free. "Dead."

Duck tilted his head at the sight. "Is that all that being dead is? I can be dead too." He flopped over, forcing Dolan to take a brief flight to not be squished. "Now I am dead." He stuck out his tongue. "Bleh."

Dolan folded  his wings forward as if in prayer. "Oh, Duck, we hardly knew ye before fate cruelly snatched ye away. Who's dealing the next hand?"

Octavia looked from card to card. "How does one play this game?"

Before she could be answered, the door swung open. "Guess who's back!" It was Vinyl, grinning triumphantly. "Yeah! Let's get the party going up in here." She kicked the door shut behind herself and ambled towards the cards. "Whatcha playing? Poker?"

No Name lifted an ear. "I hadn't heard that word in a long time... We were playing conquest." He set his cards down and nudged them with a hoof towards the others for shuffling purposes, which Quarter Inch began without prompting. "Wouldn't mind a hand of poker."

Duck suddenly perked up, still laying on the ground but with his head craned  around. "How do you play poker? Do you have to poke her?" He reached and pressed a hoof against the shuffling gnome. "I win!" He burst into happy giggles, the clear champion.

Shiela shook her head softly. "I have not played it myself, but I have heard of it. It does not involve poking, friend Duck."

"Then why is it called poker? Maybe someone forgot the rule with the poking in it. Ever think of that, huh?" He sat up properly, Dolan landing on his head. "Teach me!"

So the rules of poker were explained, some parts of it repeatedly when someone fell behind. The best way to learn the game, as it turned, was to play it. Hands were dealt and everyone present began to play. There were no wagers, simply the limited prestige of winning or the sting of losing a round.

Shiela smiled gently. "We have two masters of deception." She set down a card. "One who need not display any emotion if she does not wish it, and another who has perfected the art." For the first, she looked to Bullette. For the second, Octavia was in her view.

Octavia hiked a brow lightly. "I am not that unflappable." She set down a lone card and got one to replace it. "Since coming here, to Everglow, I've felt anything but that."

Quarter Inch slapped down the vast majority of her hand, apparently trusting in luck to give her a better hand. "Don't sell yourself short. Except the worst parts, you always look fancy and collected. I can't do that." She took up her new cards and her grin widened. "Oh no, what a terrible hand," she lied unconvincingly.

Vinyl nudged up against Octavia. "Stop selling yourself short. You just needed a chance to get out from under me, though you're welcome back any time." She waggled her brows with filthy intents, getting herself a bonk on the head for her trouble. "Worth it. But yeah, the moment I wasn't, you know, there doing it all, you rose up to the challenge like a boss. I'm so proud of you, Octie."

Octavia looked uncertain about the praise being heaped in her direction, but the game continued along.

It only paused when a knock came from the door. "Dinner." It was Sandra. "I've brought enough for our guests. We don't get traders very often, but we won't have them starving on our doorstep either." She opened the door instead of continuing to speak through it. Clutched in her right hand was a large sack of what could be safely assumed to be various dried foods. "Playing cards?"

Bullette bounced up to her hooves. "I am the victor with a 35% win ratio."

Sandra's eyes darted from person to person. "With how many people there are in here, that's quite a feat... uh..."

"I am called Bullette Belle." She gestured up at No Name. "He is No Name." The hoof swung down at Duck and Dolan. "That is Dolan and his ride, Duck."

Dolan seemed pleased. Duck perhaps less so. "Hey! I'm his caregiver and, like, an adopted dad or something? We're friends! Quack!" He waved a wing at Sandra. "Thanks for the food. I'll cook it right up. He advanced on her and the sack.

Sandra wasn't instant in letting it go, looking to the others, but Shiela and Quarter both looked alright with it, so she surrendered it to Duck. "How do you cook already dried food?"

"Carefully." He ambled off, quacking along the way. "Gonna make it extra tasty!" With a happy cheer, he got to work in the kitchen.

Vinyl gave Sandra a little poke. "So, now that I'm not in the middle of dying, what's up with ditching us like that?"

"Oooo, you poked her," came Duck's voice from the other room. "I thought we were taking a break!"

Sandra looked confused a moment. "Your chef friend is very curious... That aside, I was told to leave you there, where you'd be happier." She lifted her shoulders. "Was he wrong?"

Vinyl snorted softly. "He? Who, Randal? Figures..."

Octavia set a hoof in front of the agitated Vinyl. "He was not wrong, in that way, but you could have also simply explained this to us before doing it, as if we were dogs you wanted to leave behind in some forest somewhere, even if it was a nice forest the dog would thrive in."

Vinyl bobbed her head. "What she said. We're not dogs. We're ponies. There's a difference between those two things."

Octavia smiled a little, a faint curl of her lips. "Had you presented it as an opportunity, we may have taken upon it without any hard feelings to be had. In fact, had you offered it to us, quietly, as an act of disobedience against Randal, we may have thought we were being quite clever as we did exactly what you had wanted."

Shiela's brows rose in unison. "As I said, she is a master of deceit, when she chooses it. Be wary with that one. She wields subtle music and a skilled tongue."

Quarter Inch sighed longingly for the most dignified mount she would never have. "Hey, Duck. How's dinner coming along in there?"

"There's lots of it." A rattle of a pan against metal was heard. "Give me a moment!"

"Everything is in order," assured Dolan, with Duck in the kitchen. "He is assembling it into a group dish."

Sandra waved a hand. "Well, I wasn't that clever, alright? I never promised I was a clever woman. I just try to get things done, and I try to be a good person. I was pretty sure you'd like it in Turves, and it sounds like you've made some great friends there... Part of me was jealous." She put a hand on her chest. "You think I'd be sad living with the fey? I wouldn't be, but I can't give up things here, so I had to leave the fey to the fey and go home. I hated it."

No Name tilted his head. "I usually don't stick around anywhere. These two have me here for now." He waved a hoof at Vinyl and Octavia. "Once I'm done with them, we'll probably mosie on."

Bullette Belle nodded rapidly. "Project Lost Puppy!" she cried eagerly, bouncing in place as she did so.

Octavia gestured at the two other humans in the room. "Speaking of that, what about them? Why aren't they allowed to leave if he was so eager to be rid of us? Was it our tails and fur? Too alien and different?"

Sandra waved at Shiela.  "Who, her? The lost elf that barely understands herself? She has nobody else, and the wastes would chew her up and spit out the bones." The same hand pointed at Quarter, a deep scowl on her face. "Or her, Missus Nuts? I think part of it is a gnomish thing, so she has that going for her, though that also explain why there aren't a lot of them. We keep them both safe, alive, and..." The hand fell. "It's a kindness, a little one..."

Quarter folded her arms, looking quite pouty. Shiela did not argue the insult thrown at her.

Duck poked his head out from the kitchen. "It's cookin'. Whatcha all talking about in here all loud and stuff?"

Dolan's wing was visible, reaching out from behind Duck's head to bop him on the noggin. "They are discussing the situation of the others. It's boring adult stuff."

"Sounds important," argued Duck, stepping further out.

Quarter hopped to her small feet and hurried to Duck. "You! I'm taking you as my mount. I promise to take good care of you forever."

Duck blinked softly at the gnome. They could look in one another's eyes easily thanks to her small stature and he tilted his head slowly. "Is that like being friends?"

"That is exactly like being friends," Quarter agreed with a big grin to go with it. "We will be inseparable friends!"

"Yay! Quack." Duck danced in place from hoof to hoof, looking very pleased with the world. "Oh, gotta check the food." He hurried back into the kitchen.

Quarter threw up one hand, the elbow of the same arm held in the other hand. "There. I'll be going, with him. I trust that won't upset anyone, and if it does, too bad."

Octavia nodded softly before looking towards Shiela, who was still reclined on her bed, not arguing, not doing much... "And you?" She pointed at the elf. "Will you--"

"I am staying." She folded her arms across her front. "While her words are harsh, they are the truth... I will remain here, and help where I may, but I have no place out there." She sat up against the headboard of the bed. "I know it can be difficult for you to know, but I am far older than I appear. I was here when there was not a Randal. His predecessor was the one to welcome me, not as a burden, but as a guardian. I gave my word I would always lend my bow to this town and its short-lived people." She extended a hand towards Sandra. "Even if they forget it."

Sandra took a halting half-step back. "I didn't know..."

"{How could you?}" she spoke in the language of elves, which sounded like sylvan with a strange and thick accent. "I remain. This is final." She frowned a little. "<I stay.>" she repeated in the language of the locals, just to be abundantly clear.

Sandra looked confused, reeling from the argument and new information. "You're... older than me? I..." She shook her head, refocusing on Quarter Inch. "You know the world out there's not nice, right? You won't be able to just rush at your problems, no matter how nice he is, and expect them to go away."

"Maybe with that kinda attitude." She called out towards the kitchen, "hey, Duck. We're gonna solve everything with friendship, right?"

"Yes! Quack!" came the enthusiastic reply. "Did you hear that?" he spoke eagerly but less loudly. "She likes friendship too, oooo, this is gonna be fun!"

Sandra put up both of her hands, surrendering to the situation. "Well, fine! Just... don't get hurt, alright?" She gave an unsure smile. "I don't want news of some manic gnome hurling herself into the mouth of some angry beast, alright. I care about you, you nutball."

"That's Sir Nutball to you." she waggled a finger. "Now that I have a proper mount, I can get my adventuring done properly. There'll be no holding me back."

Bullette bounced in place. "The importance of a good mount cannot be overstated." She gestured at No Name. "I had to give up mine for a time. It was terrible." She suddenly threw herself at him, hugging. "Now our adventures can continue!" she sang, her voice modulating wildly with her joy.

Vinyl tipped the hat she wasn't wearing. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to take him from you, but I was really out of--"

Bullette popped a hoof in her mouth, silencing her. "The situation is understandable. Friendship points have been redeemed and earned by different parties. We are still friends." She drew the hoof back and spread it out with the other. "Accept hugs?"

"Hug accepted," replied Vinyl in a faux-robotic tone, half-pouncing Bullette. They fell to the ground, laughing and hugging.

Octavia considered Quarter a moment. "I am fairly certain when a female achieves such a rank, they are not always referred to as a 'Sir'. You would be a 'Dame' or a 'Lady'. However, there is a small matter in the way."

Quarter turned in place, pivoting on one shoe to face Octavia. "What stands in the way of my being a knight?!"

"You need a ruler, of course." Octavia nodded softly with confidence. "A knight must be in service to someone of higher rank. Like a baron or duke or even a princess or king or something of the like. A knight without one of those is hardly a proper knight at all, even with a truly inspiring mount."

"She called me inspiring." A soft quack followed the words from the kitchen.

No Name softly snorted. "It's a hard life."

Shiela noticed his attention and words. "None of us live easily."

"Yeah, more... you know... the specific part."

"You are not an elf."

The conversation died as awkwardly as it began. Sandra shied towards the door. "Well, delivery's done... I'll tell Randal you plan to leave... Good luck, alright? Please don't get yourself killed." She was gone in a moment, door closed gently behind her.

Quarter hiked both of her thumbs at herself. "You heard her! I can go! Now, I need a proper liege, you're right... Who..." Her eyes darted from person to person in the room, skipping past Shiela quickly.

"Dinner's served!" Duck came in with a large tray balanced on his back. Served on it was something of a casserole, a baked dish with everything worked into it into a big rectangular mess. "Everyone gets some and it'll be super tasty, promise!"

Dolan landed beside him. "I talked him out of adding sugar. You're welcome."

Octavia tilted her head faintly at the idea of dusting their dinner with sugar. "That can wait for dessert, should we have any. For now, let us enjoy this fine meal that our friend has provided for us."

"Gladly" Vinyl sprang forward, her glowing horn claiming a plate, carving out a share and floating the mass over to her to enjoy. "Yum yum yum, right in my tum tum tum."

No Name waited patiently, and Duck set a plate before him without asking. "Thanks. Did they figure fer me? That looks like a lot of food."

"I think so." Duck bobbed his head before looking towards Quick. "Oh, if I am the mount, what are you? I mean, besides a friend. Being a friend is good."

"I am a knight," she proudly declared before deflating a little. "But I need a liege..." She took her plate in her hands, sitting beside a bed to try it. "Mmm, you're really talented in this. How many knights can say their mount is a fantastic chef?"

Duck considered that a moment as he pecked at his own food in a messy affair. "You're the only one I know."

Dolan rolled his eyes. "You are also the only knight he is aware of in any capacity."

"Nuh uh!"

Dolan frowned a little. "Who or whom are the others then?"

"The ones that tried to save the egg after it broke." He bobbed his head. "So many of them, but none of their horses could do anything with eggs, so they were not chefs, not like me. I am best mount, yes." He firmly nodded once more.

Quarter threw an arm around Duck, hugging him closer, food in her other hand. "Best mount!" she cried in agreement. "We're gonna have so many adventures."

The food was devoured and savored by all in attendance. There was plenty there, apparently the portions decided on were guessed a little high, likely due to No Name's presence, and the thought that Bullette counted, which she did not.

Shiela gestured to Duck. "I will miss your presence. You made the meals here bearable."

"Aw." He tilted his head. "Your friend's gonna come with us, why don't you come too?!"

"I may not." She crossed her arms. "I acknowledge the kindness of your offer, but just because one frail human dies does not absolve me of my word. I will stay and perform as I must."

Quarter nudged Duck lightly. "The others are due back soon, she won't be alone in here."

"Oh, phew. Just imagining her all alone in here...  That is too sad!" He bounced in place. "I wouldn't want that for you."

Octavia rolled a hoof. "She is an adult, capable of making her own decisions. She seems quite adamant on this point, and it falls on us, as her friends, to respect and support her."

"Well said." She tipped a glass of wine she was not holding. "I will miss you too, wielder of soft music. I hope you find your way to your true home, where such rough thoughts can be set aside."

Quarter was peering at Octavia, looking thoughtful as she gave a soft 'hmm'... "I... think I know what I need to do."

Duck looked over at his new rider. "What's that?"

Quarter marched up to Octavia and crashed to one knee. "Lord and master, will you accept me as your humble servant? Knight me, so that I may serve loyally at your side."

Octavia blinked slowly, stunned a moment. "A female--"

"--Oh, yes! Sorry." Quarter clapped her hands together. "Lady and mistress, will you--"

"--Yes yes, I know--"

"--Excellent!" She sprang to her feet. "I will serve you forever, or until you banish me or something, but you won't need to do anything like that."

Octavia reached out, putting a hoof right over Quarter's nose. "I was not agreeing. If you respect me, you will allow me to finish speaking before interrupting."

Quarter nodded, shivering with nervous energy but managing to be quiet.

"Very good. Now, pray tell, what exactly do you think you are offering me?" She drew the hoof away to roll it at her. "You may speak."

"I will be your loyal knight." she slapped a hand over her heart. "I'll do what you say, heroic things, like facing dangerous monsters or carrying urgent messages, maybe winning a war or two. You know how it goes."

Octavia softly nodded, her eyes meeting Quarter's directly. "But you barely know me. You know not what manner of task I would put before you. Would you be pleased were your 'grand objective' were to escort Miss Scratch home after she's had too much to drink--"

"--Hey!--"

"--, or to assist me with getting my musical equipment into place in time for a performance?" Octavia stood up smoothly. "Would that really be the life you desire? Good knight, you should think long and hard before you pledge yourself like that. It is a vow, an oath, and one not easily dissolved once formed. Even more binding than the promise you made to your loyal steed, you must find the right liege and know it with every bit of your body and soul before you make such an offer again."

The room went quiet, all eyes on Octavia and her would-be Knight.
> 28 - All Good Things
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quarter took a half-step right. "By the gods above, you're not wrong." She huffed a soft sigh. "I need to think about this extra hard. Alright, I have a mount. I'll find a perfect liege... One step at a time." She walked her fingers up against one another. "I'll do this."

Duck leaned in, his snout near her ear. "I know a princess."

Quarter's eyes widened and she turned to Duck. "Where?!"

Duck pointed vaguely. "Back where we came from and where we're going, and she likes having people that follow her orders, and she's super nice too! Quack." He pointed a hoof at Octavia and her friends. "She's the one that sent us here to get them fixed."

"She's already a liege!" Quarter clapped her small hands with rising joy. "Of a prosperous town no less, full of fey. You know gnomes are fey right? I mean, sorta, halfies? Close enough! It's just another reason for me to love my wonderful steed." She hugged Duck tight around the neck, an expression he eagerly accepted and returned with loud quacks.

Shiela gestured towards the door. "With dinner served and savored, we should retire. Our visitors have healing to be done in the morrow, then you will all be on your way."

Vinyl flipped her headset around on her head. "Nothing doing. This may be our last night here, and we don't say goodbye to friends without seeing it out properly." Music emerged, thick and throbbing from her ears as she reared up onto her legs. "Good thing I'm here to set the mood."

Octavia smirked faintly even as she reached for her previously abandoned case hanging from No Name. She soon joined Vinyl's song with her more melodic overtures. Not to be outdone, Duck soon joined in, turning it into a three pony band, making music as the ponies seemed driven to do when given the opportunity.

Sleep did not come easily to the inhuman house that night. As it turned, Shiela had a stash of spirits she saved for just such rare occasion, and they passed a bottle around in a communal toast as best they could, with no real cups to go between them.

The next morning saw them tired, but not entirely displeased with their decision. It was not long after dawn that a village resident arrived. It wasn't someone Octavia or Vinyl knew, but he gestured to  be followed and they did so. Octavia, Vinyl, and No Name plodded along with Bullette restored to her rightful place atop her own prized steed.

They went to the shaman's house. The villager knocked once, then retreated without another word. "Is that you?" came her voice from within. "Come, quieter of shouts."

Octavia pointed at herself. "Are you referring to me? I've brought my friends, including the one that is too large to fit through this door. How would you like us to proceed?"

There was some soft grumbling heard through the door and the faint rustles of movement. "I've done enough moving for one life-time," she mumbled from behind the door.

Vinyl waved at the door as it opened with her magic. "We can lend..." She trailed off, seeing an unclothed human for the first time. "Oh, uh..."

"You can close it now," barked the old woman, grunting. "Damnable fey with no sense of space." She grabbed a stick that leaned against the wall and used it to swat the door shut. "Give a lady a moment..." The sounds of her shuffling resumed.

Octavia lowered the fetlock she had set over her own eyes. "Vinyl, really... That's no way to treat an honored elder."

"I was trying to help!" she cried in defense. "You saw me!" She turned to No Name for backup.

"Ain't touchin' that." He shook his head resolutely.

Bullette tilted her head faintly. "Humans are sensitive to light. This is why they wear clothing." She seemed satisfied with her explanation, nodding to herself.

Octavia cleared her throat. "Be that as it may, we will wait for her patiently."

It took another agonizing five minutes before the door moved without Vinyl's magic being involved. A wrinkled hand came into view next, clutching to to the same stick that served as a walking cane. Cradled under her other arm was the jar of diamond dust. She wore a leather outfit with bits of cloth and bits of metal sewn together where holes had formed. "Here I..." 

She trailed off, looking up at the massive form of No Name. "They make ponies in all sizes.. and shapes." Her eyes darted, following the flicking motion of one of his snakes. She looked on to the mechanical passenger. "Mmm... There is blood there, but it is faint, hmm, where..." She set the jar down. "Where do you trace your lineage?"

"I am a perfectly standard filly," she reported with an upbeat beat to her voice. "Nice to meet you. I am Bullette Belle."

The shaman frowned at her. "You may hide your name, but I will not tolerate denials of the blood." She raised a freed hand, shivering in the air as she clenched it. "The blood... mmm... Should I say sap? Yes... The steelhearts. Their blood runs in you, not that of ponykind."

Bullette shrank back, going deathly quiet. No Name raised a hoof. "We're not here for her. She's a perfectly healthy little filly. It's me that needs your touch, and if you have it after me, her." He waved over at Octavia.

"You may hide from yourself, if you wish. But not from me." She grumbled as she worked at the lid of her jar, just as firmly stuck as the day before.

Vinyl's magic glowed around the jar as she popped it free in a jiff. "Ta da! I knew I could help. Sorry, about that before."

"We shall consider it even." She smiled thinly as she reached inside and fetched a handful of the dust. "Now, come closer, large pony. Come and forgive me."

He took a lumbering step closer, eyeing her oddly. "What am I forgivin'? Callin' out little Belle? Sure, if you promise you ain't doin' that again."

She cast a glance towards Octavia before matching eyes with him. "Humanity did many wrongs to the fey, to ponies. That is a matter still not put to rest."

He perked an ear. "Ain't your problem."

She smiled crookedly at that. "Oh, would that it were not. Forgive me, and humanity. Do you? Can you? It was in part our fault the world is in its sorry state. Not in whole, but an undeniable part was played, unforgivable..."

Bullette leaned forward. "It was a bad time," she said in a downturning tune. "But we're getting better," she rebounded into high notes. "You are being good and helping ponies."

No Name nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if you can give Turves a discount, that'd be nice, but it's still  not your fault.  Shoot... I don't blame any human that's still breathin' for none of that. None of the ponies neither. We're just alive." He reached a hoof up for her shoulder, "You're alright. Keep on, you know, helpin' people. All I can ask."

Breeze was still and quiet before slowly sinking as if her strength just wasn't quite up to the task. She released the dust back into the container and let out a tired sigh. "How?"

No Name tilted his head. "How... what?"

Octavia waved at him. "As I said, the mistakes of our past don't need to be dwelt on in the moment when there are better things to be done."

"Not that." Breeze looked up at No Name, a line of tears running from her left eye. "The screams have quieted... A whisper, a sweet whisper. You... Who are you that your word could carry such weight with them? Are you an ancestor of these spirits?" She frowned, trying to rise once more. "No, no... that is not..."

She got up to her feet and pointed down. "Lay down where I can reach you. We will begin."

He blinked at that, sinking. "Jus' like that?"

"There is work to be done." She grabbed a fresh handful of glittering dust. "Tell me, strange pony... How old are you?"

"Old enough." No Name huffed softly, a few snakes giving a soft hiss.

"Did you watch the world break?" She began to paint him with the dust, not yet singing the spell. "Did you survive the fire, weather the cold? Did you ride lightning and survive the quiet times? Have you seen all that we can do, the good and bad? Have you seen it all?"

Bullette raised a hoof that unfolded as she did so, allowing a flamethrower to emerge smoothly. "Danger level: Yellow. Permission to engage?" She was looking directly at Breeze, her back-mounted gun starting to unfold.

Vinyl threw herself in the way. "Woah! Easy there!"

"I would perhaps deserve it." She circled around him, ignorant or uncaring of the threat Belle presented. "He saw it, he was there. He is one of the few that could offer true absolution." She quirked a little smile. "You've earned yourself a discount. I will badger that damn fool Randal until it is done. Now, I sing." She began her spell properly, still painting with the dust.

Bullette kept the flamethrower trained on Ole Breeze, but she survived her casting without being incinerated. With the final cry, No Name took a sudden deep breath with lungs that stopped aching sorely in his chest.

"Once more." She returned to her jar to fetch another batch of dust. "Soon you will all be put to right, just as I am, for the few years I have left in me. A kindness for a kindness, though there will be a price to pay. Kindness is without measure..." She held up the dust. "Diamonds, however, do not share that quality."

No Name looked up over his shoulder. "You can put that away."

"Danger Level: Yellow," she said in a whiny electronic beat. "I do not like her."

"Yeah yeah, we can't kill everyone we don't like." He nodded to Ole Breeze. "She ain't all that bad, just ain't got room for no shit."

"Damn right," Breeze agreed, starting the ritual anew and bidding the lethargy in his limbs be removed. Bullette slowly returned to her non-combat form, flopping on top of No Name and allowing her to do her work without being roasted to a crisp.

When he was put to right, she turned her gaze to Octavia. "You were the first to come bearing the most ill, and wait to be the last. Did you not tell him on purpose? I feel this is so... It would have cheapened it, had he been told to do so instead of deciding on his own." She dabbed Octavia's nose with some dust. "Let us begin."

Octavia stood still, but that did not stop her from speaking, "I am quite glad that worked out. I must confess, it was in part out of respect for your privacy." She did not expect a reply, not yet. Each casting took quite some time, but she could be heard. "Thank you, again. We are quite thankful, even little Belle up there."

"Do not speak for me!"

"You'd rather your friend's chest hurt for the rest of his days." She arched a fine brow up at Belle. "I think he would disagree with the notion."

Belle crossed her hooves, grumbling petulantly.

With a slap of her side, the spell was done and she coughed up the last of the hurt within her lungs. "O-oh, yes. That is much better." She danced from leg to leg. "Can you tell if I even need the second one? I don't feel lethargic."

She reached and ran a wrinkled hand over Octavia's sides, then along her undercarriage. "Mmm... There is a touch, but only a touch... If you are satisfied, that will be that much less dust to use."

"Compared to that chest pain, this is nothing." She raised each leg in turn. "I have already played my instrument without impediment. I feel if we can avoid using rare resources for my comfort, that would be good."

"Then we are done." She returned to her container to find it was already closed and sealed. She glanced over at a grinning Vinyl. "Thank you." She had it under an arm and was moving as quickly as she could, which was not very fast, back into her home. "Tell that fool, Randal, to come visit. We have words to share, and arguments to echo across the plains, I imagine."

As one, the group departed back towards the inhuman house, with a brief stop to get the message moving towards Randal.





Randal rapped his knuckles against the door. "<Shaman, you have called me?>"

"<Come in. I'll not shout through the door, again.>"

He stepped inside and closed the door behind lightly. "<Are the traders tended to?>"

"<Five castings. Their life essence was not tainted.>" That was sufficient to explain how much had been used. "<However... They have repaid part of their debt.>

He scowled at that, images of what he would trade for fading. "<How, and how much, precisely? We must replace the dust that has been used, at the least.>"

"<Then do that, and no further. I will not require compensation for my time, and I sent no injured or ill man home because of it.>" She was seated on her blankets instead of buried in them, glaring at him with even eyes. "<They have given me back my last years to be my own. I owe them nothing but thanks.>"

"<What years they give you, they may be taking from another.>" He crossed his arms with a weary sigh. "<Damned be the entire lot. Very well, if that is your wish...>"

Though he had spoken properly, she could read him easily and the frustration he felt that he would be getting nothing but the dust that had been spent in return. "<If you feel anger, direct it towards me. This is my choice and my choice alone... I will not complain the next time you bring foreign soldiers, should you wish.>"

His frown eased a little. "<You... seem happier.>" He stood straight them, extending a hand. "<If you are rejoining us, as a part of the family, then maybe I am being foolish for not seeing the value in that. Welcome back, Spring Breeze.>"

Spring smiled gently, a gentle but true expression. "<It's been too long... Now, go and see our guests away. Tell them I wish them well.>"

He nodded towards her and left, without pulling the door violently. "<I will return.>"





The new party gathered at the edge of the town. Octavia and Vinyl stood next to one another. Duck had Dolan on his head and Quarter on his back. No Name towered with Belle, completing the group.

Across from them stood Randal. "(The trade is concluded. Present this to your pony queen.)" He held out a slip of paper with common words written on it. "(We will only need the dust used to be replaced. We require nothing further.)"

No Name perked an ear, knowing a sweet bargain was being offered. "(Mighty kind of ya.)" He dipped a head and snatched the paper in a snake's little mouth, another speaking despite it, "(Give a kind word to Breeze.)"

"(She wished to do the same for you. Travel well and truly. Avoid needing her attention again.)" He folded his arms, two fingers tapping lightly. "(Are you certain?)" He was looking at Quarter then. "(You are safe here.)"

"(I'm not safe anywhere.)" She waved a hand wildly. "(But I'll have more fun and do more things with him.)" She squeezed with her legs, making Duck happily quack. "(Better a life actually lived, I think.)"

He cracked a faint smile. "(Just as you leave, you speak a wise word. Go well, but do not return.)"

Vinyl waved lightly. "Next time, why not just try asking, damn man." She turned and started walking off, prompting the others to get to moving with her.

Octavia dipped her head lightly before scrambling after her friend.

Randal watched them go off into the wastes, heaving a soft sigh. He had other business to tend to, and he got to doing that.





Vinyl swerved towards the gnome. "Hey, why did you choose Duck?"

Quarter tilted her head. "You didn't have room for me, just like Octavia there. You have too much to do to be my mount, not that... I didn't try..." She put a hand behind her head a moment before shrugging. "Duck likes it." She squeezed with her legs, getting a fresh quack out of him.

No Name veered mildly towards Octavia. "Now that this is handled--"

"--We pay back Turves," she cut off.

"Don't you want to get your portal thing back?" he asked in a higher pitched voice. "I know you want to go home."

"I want to set things right." She glanced over at Vinyl. "Do you agree? Turves has been nothing but kind to us. We shouldn't leave them in a lurch, no matter how gracious they're feeling."

Vinyl cracked a wide smile. "There's my Octie, preach it sister!"

"That is neither a yes, nor a no..."

Vinyl rolled a hoof as she walked. "Yeah yeah. I'm with you, Octavia. We'll do what it takes to end this on the right side of things, instead of limping home with our tails firmly tucked away."

Octavia rolled her eyes. "What an unsightly mental image, but no, we will avoid just that. As Belle would say, this project 'steal the orb back' is delayed. The sheriff is a good pony, and we shouldn't leave her in a weaker position for our benefit."

"Sheriff?" Quarter looked over. "She works for the queen?"

No Name barked a laugh at that. "In a matter of speakin', yeah. She is the queen. Sheriff Queen Longshot, the pony in charge of Turves, an' damn fine at it."

"She did not eject us," reported Belle with a bright smile. "She is a good pony," she echoed in a musical song.

Duck blinked softly. "Why would she do that? You're an adorable little filly that needs more hugs and pastries, not to be kicked out of anywhere. Besides, you're super nice!" He bounced mid-step, causing Dolan and Quarter to bounce on top of him.

No Name shook his head, hi eyes forward once more. "We made some mistakes, happens. Sometimes, gets us kicked out, but not Turves... She yells and one time she hit me with a stick. She makes us fix our mistakes, but she hasn't kicked us out."

Quarter leaned forward a little against the back of Duck's head. "She sounds like someone I wouldn't be sorry to serve. Fair and even hand... hooved? Even hoofed. Is that a thing? It is now."

"It is now," echoed Duck, quacking with joy at his friend that liked to give hugs. "Oh, uh, once we get back, I have to bake some bread, oh, and do a radio show! They mighta thought I got hurt, and we don't want that. I  have to tell all my fans that I am alright, and I am a mount now. And then they have to meet you."

Quarter leaned to the side a little, looking at Duck's face from behind at an angle. "Do you think they'll like me?"

"Nope!" Duck burst into giggles. "They'll be too busy loving you!"

The two continued with smiles. Dolan landed lightly on Octavia's head. "This will require some getting used to," groused the bird. "It's not that I don't enjoy Duck being happy, and his infatuation with her seems refreshingly harmless as these things go."

Octavia crossed her eyes mildly, looking up at the bird perched on her noggin. "If it helps, this is a struggle that Belle had to contend with recently. You could exchange notes on the matter?"

Dolan snorted softly. "I would rather speak with a fellow adult. It's not jealousy, just habit. I will develop new ones, I feel certain. This is... could be... a good thing, or a terrible thing." He tilted his head. "Do you suppose the queen will accept her?"

"I can think of few reasons she would not." Octavia glanced without turning her head at Duck prancing along. "She is well behaved for the most part, and pleasant to speak with. She likes ponies, and already has a friend, perhaps a few in town?"

"Just the one," retorted Dolan before he jerked up a little. "Oh, yes. I suppose at least two." He leaned forward,  head turning all the way to look at Octavia upside-down. "This is not a jealousy thing. If she is not accepted by the queen as her 'vassal' or whatever else she has in mind, she will drag Duck out of town, into danger."

Octavia nodded gently, so slightly as to not throw off the bird. "Then it falls on us, responsible adults, to ensure she is accepted and put to good work within the town, so she has no reason to want to leave it. Then Duck remains safe and everyone is happy."

Dolan's head jerked back upright and he ruffled his feathers. "Yes! Yes. I knew you would understand. It's so nice having a pony that understands this, and isn't busy being... tested by Duck."

"Tested?"

He wagged a wing aimlessly. "This is not the first group he has journeyed with. His... peculiarities can grind against some, especially when they try to be violent and he would rather any solution but that. It can be quite trying for him and them both."

Octavia frowned at that. "I should think one wouldn't wish a violent end."

"This can be a harsh world, and violence may not be the best answer, but it is one, and one people know how to deal with." Dolan tilted his head, quacking in a way only a true duck could. "I don't favor it, myself, but Duck absolutely hates it."

Vinyl suddenly burst into laughter. "Does she know that? Miss Knight over there has a pacifist for a mount? How's that gonna work out?"

"What are you talking about?" Quarter had heard them talking. "What's wrong with my magic mount slash friend? Nothing, that's what." She crossed her arms petulantly. "I won't have you slandering Duck."

"Yeah! No slandering!" agreed Duck with a little quack. "What is that?"

Vinyl shook her head firmly. "Hey, Quarter Inch, are you planning on slaying monsters and, you know, killing tons of people who upset your liege and stuff?"

Quarter blanched. "Why would I do that?"

Duck nodded in agreement. "Why would she do that?"

"Friendship."

"Friendship." He raised a hoof and she slapped it from above in a show of consolidarity. They were united behind the force of friendship.

Dolan let out a slow breath. "Well, that's one worry down..."

Vinyl grinned brightly. "Twilight would love to meet the two of you, Pinkie too, come to think of it." She tapped at her chin. "Wonder how they're doing. I bet they'd fall apart if they had to come to a place like this. Could you imagine them?"

Octavia imagined Twilight with big thick glasses, clutching a book to her chest as a worm big enough to swallow her whole came barreling down on her. "That would not end well..." It was not a flattering image of Twilight, but she did not know Twilight well enough to form any other opinion of the bookish royalty.

Vinyl bumped against Octavia. "You wouldn't have thought you would end well, but you're doing it, Octie. We're gonna kick this entire place into line." She lashed a hoof out into the air for emphasis.

They completed their trip without being attacked by anything more fierce then a curious bit of wildlife. Turves would have to deal with the lot of them.

It didn't stand a chance.
> 29 - Long May She Reign
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Little Rose, the large male bear guard, raised a furry hand at the lot of them as they hiked towards town. "Good to see you all back, and looking better than when you left."

Vinyl lifted a hoof high. "I'm back and ready to rock!"

He nodded as his gaze shifted to Duck's rider. "You're new..."

Duck quacked with a big smile. "I'm her mount!"

"That's the first time I heard someone that happy to be ridden..." He shook his head softly. "Suppose it ain't against a rule if he likes it."

Quarter waved a small hand. "Greetings. Where is the resident queen? I need to petition her."

"Hm?" His brows raised together. "Mighty fast aren't you? She's in her office. Your friends know where that is. Go find her there if you want." He nodded to the rest. "Have a good day. Stay safe."

They moved past him into the relative peace of Turves. It hadn't changed much while they had been gone. The people went about their daily lives, getting things done. They noticed the new person as surely as Little Rose had. Unlike in the human settlement, this was met with cautious curiosity. Some greeted Quarter, and when she smiled and waved eagerly, the warmth only raised.

Friendly visitors were a thing to be enjoyed in Turves.

Octavia led the way towards Longshot. "We should deliver the trade manifest, and express our desire to help pay it."

No Name glanced down at the slip of paper held in one of his snake's mouth. "Yeah, she'll want that, maybe both of those. Or maybe she'll tell you to calm down and play some more fancy music. I ain't sure which."

Bullet Belle wobbled a hoof. "Twenty-three percent chance of dismissal, with a fifty percent margin of error." She tilted her head a little. "I am not good at reading her. Sorry." The last word had a downturn of octaves to express her guilt properly.

"Quack." That was all that Duck had to add, and all that he felt was needed. "She'll love you." Nevermind.

No Name inclined his head lightly. "We'll be around. Find us after you're done." He surrendered the slip towards Octavia.

She cocked a brow at him. "Aren't you coming with us? She'll want to know you're better as well."

"Ain't no need for it." He dropped the paper in easy reach. "Jus' come find us after."

Vinyl's horn glowed as she tried giving No Name a pull, but he was so large she could barely nudge him in place without actually forcing a single hoof to move. "Come on, big guy! You're not kicked out of there, are you?"

"No..."

Bullette sat up on No Name's back. "If he does not wish to proceed, then he does not have to."

Octavia reached for the slip with her mouth. "Well, no... If you're sure... You are a part of this team, however strange we may be at times."

No Name's nose wrinkled and he heaved a deep sigh. "Calm and mature, that's how they get ya... Fine." He took a step forward and rejoined the group as they entered the office.

The doors were double, making his squeezing in much less of a display than it normally was entering a building. Miss Demeanor looked up at their communal arrival and tilted her head. "Welcome back, plus one." Her eyes settled on Quarter Inch. "Are you joining our community or just passing through?"

Quarter waved eagerly at the lawkeeping, and bookkeeping mare. "I'm here to talk to the queen, if she's here and available for a little chat."

Demeanor cocked a little ear. "Huh, well, guess I don't need to tell you then. She likes being called a queen, so do that, kindly. A happy sheriff is a happy town." She suddenly hopped up onto the desk she had been working at, the vantage point allowing her to look down at most of them, except No Name, who was still taller than her little body on the desk. "Feeling better?"

Octavia quickly pointed to herself, then Vinyl and back at No Name. "We are fully restored, and had hoped to speak to Longshot about that. Speaking of that." She reared up and released the paper onto the desk. "That is the trade slip they wanted us to deliver, presumably with a manifest of what, exactly, they wanted in return."

Miss Demeanor grabbed it in her own mouth as she turned around and hopped back into her chair, causing it to swivel in place wildly a moment. When it came to a rest, she pulled herself back up against the desk and let go of the paper. "Huh, hmm... This is pretty reasonable. They're only asking for a replacement of the stuff they materially used. No service charge? That's generous." She reached for a stamp and grabbed it in her teeth, bringing it down on the slip with a firm thwap.

"Bring this to Longshot." She nudged the slip forward once more. "I have no reason to deny it."

No Name reached over the desk as he was equipped to do, taking the slip back. "We did a favor for them already to make up that part of the price. Still ain't a hundred percent on what we did, but we did it."

Duck bobbed his head eagerly. "Let's not be sad for good things. They were nice in the end, and now we're friends!"

Quarter pet Duck's neck gently. "I'm not sure it works quite like that, loyal steed, but I choose to accept your idea."

"Yay!"

As one, they mosied down the hall. Miss' voice  drifted after them, "I'll expect a play session tomorrow."

Vinyl hiked a brow. "You give her personal performances? What's a mare have to do to get that?"

Octavia cleared her throat softly. "(Teaching a language is a start.)"

Vinyl tilted her head. "I don't know what you said, but I'm going to go on a limb and assume it's her fault." She stuck out her tongue. "No fair."

Duck reached the door to Longshot's office first, with the big golden sheriff's star prominently displayed on it. He reached up a hoof and clop-clopped on it. "Hello! Your favorite baker is back!"

"One of the only bakers," came a muffled reply through the wood. "You sound well. Come in. Are they with you?"

Vinyl grabbed the handle in her magic and had the door open, revealing them all.

Longshot smiled gently. "Oh, yes they are. You are back, and I trust my commands were followed?"

No Name quietly nodded.

Octavia raised a hoof and lowed her head in a standing bow of sorts. "We are all restored, and we have a trade slip in return, already verified by Miss Demeanor."

"I thought I heard her speaking loudly." With a glowing horn, Longshot took the slip away from No Name and floated it over. "This is less than I expected, no wonder she approved it without hesitation. What manner of smooth tongue did you employ to melt the hearts of the humans? We should know this trick, for the future."

No Name tossed his head towards Octavia. "It's her fault."

"I am not surprised." Longshot rose from her seat to her hooves, clopping towards them on the hard floor. "My sweet angel, did you play them a song and give them a taste of the divine?"

Octavia's cheeks warmed as she shook her head quickly. "He's lying. It was No Name that made the difference. When he forgave their shaman, she was truly affected. I'm not entirely sure of the how or why, but the effect was vast and deep. We left her a little happier than we had originally found her."

Vinyl nodded softly to the tune of the music playing for herself. "Respecting elders and getting discounts, what's wrong with that gameplan?"

"Not a thing." Longshot's attention had shifted to No Name. "You are a mysterious pony at times, are you not?" She set a hoof on one of his shoulders, standing tall enough to manage it without it looking too awkward. "Thank you. We can consider that incident paid for."

Octavia looked between the two, the question burning in her mind, but she dared not ask it.

"Yay! What incident?" asked Duck without nearly as much reservation in his body.

Longshot set her hoof back down, leaving the quiet No Name to turn her attention on Duck and his rider. "And who is this that has mounted you so casually?"

Duck twisted his head to look back at his rider. "This is--"

"Quarter Inch, Your Highness." She dipped her head  and bowed formally as best she could while still mounted.

Longshot smiled brightly. "How polite! Tell me, my little knight, what brings you to our court?"

"I am a knight without a liege." She balled a fist and slapped it against her own chest. "I am told that you are a mighty ruler, fair and kind. Would you... have need for a servant, ready to ride at your behest? Me and my mighty steed will carry messages of friendship and go where you might have need of us."

"Messages of friendship?" She arched a fine brow, considering Quarter Inch and Duck carefully. "Those can be very important, and not always received well. Are you willing to sacrifice and risk much for these tasks, for the betterment of your liege and her people?"

Dolan fluffed up dramatically, but was quiet.

Duck and Quarter were too busy nodding to take notice of it.

She lowered her head, tapping her horn on Quarter's left, then right shoulder, only to repeat it on Duck. "Then I recognize you as a knight of this realm, Turves. You will carry my will where I wish it. Duck, we trust you will see to her lodging and feeding?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" He saluted sharply before he emitted a happy quack, prancing in place.

Quarter hugged Duck fiercely about the neck from behind. "Did you hear that?! We're official knights now!"

"Yay!" They both danced in place, equally happy with their promotion.

Octavia slid closer to the queen when there was some small distance to the two. "I trust they will not be told to do anything truly dangerous?"

"No more than living during this time," she assured with a soft smile. "I can see them for what they are, and would not want either coming to harm. They can help the town without undue risk."

Vinyl suddenly coughed into a hoof. "You're all forgetting something." Eyes turned to her. "We're not leaving Turves on the hook for that bill. What can we do to raise a few bits towards the cause?"

"Bits?" She frowned a little. "They have requested diamond dust, enough to replenish what was spent. That is a fair request and one we will honor. We will have to trade for it. Turves is a trade hub, so this should not be too trying, but we will have to trade away things of equal value. Most traders are aware of diamond dust's unique uses and demand much for any amount of it."

Longshot waved the thought away. "But put that aside. You are all well, as I ordered, and we have no further requests from you."

Octavia sat and raised her head tall and straight. "Be that as it may, we have a request that we are not willing to change. We wish to provide some of the bartering material to pay for this expense. We've done nothing grand enough to deserve such a sacrifice from the town. Besides, you have a lovely community, and we will not leave it worse than we found it."

"What she said," agreed Vinyl with a smirk. "Just point us at the good stuff and we'll go get it before you even know what happened."

Longshot looked from one eager face to the next. The only one in the room not looking excited was No Name. Belle was almost bouncing on him, ready to go off with Vinyl and Octavia. "We see... Duck, Quarter Inch, we want you two to focus on settling in. Quarter Inch is new in town and will need to be shown about and more permanent lodging prepared. That is your duty."

Both saluted and Duck began walking off with Quarter Inch, already rambling about the better parts of the town, which seemed to be all of the town. Dolan landed lightly on Quarter's head, using her as a mount as she had used Duck.

Vinyl smirked at that. "Now that the immature people are gone, where do you want us to go for the prize?"

"I would prefer you didn't go anywhere..." Her glowing horn pulled a map free of  her desk and unfurled it in view of everyone. "But we know better. If we do not give you a direction, you will make one of your own, and your risk will only grow. None of you are craftsponies, so I cannot suggest you create things of value, and I do not imagine being told to help farm would satisfy."

Vinyl saluted sharply. "No, Ma'am! Try harder, Ma'am!"

Longshot rolled her eyes at that. "You are an impudent one. Good to see you better again." She tossed her head at the map. "There are ruins within a day's travel of here. They have been picked clean by many generations of looters, but they were not you. New faces, free of preconceptions, may see what others failed to."

Octavia thought back. "It worked once before. Which do you recommend?" Her eyes darted from dot to dot near the one labeled 'Turves'.

A thin line of light fired from Bullet Belle's horn, like a laser pointer. "I suggest this one. Probability of successful trade acquisition: high!"

Longshot looked at Bullet Belle curiously. "What draws you to that conclusion?"

"Just a hunch," she sang. "I am 80% certain!"

No Name lifted his shoulders. "If she's that sure, there should be something there worth finding. We'll head out that way."

Longshot put out a hoof. "Tomorrow. There is no need to travel in the dark if it can be avoided. Rest, eat, and go with the rising of the sun."

With plans set, they began to depart. Octavia was blocked from going by a hoof coming down on her right shoulder. Longshot smiled gently and silently until the others had departed. "I wished to speak with you, my angel, if I may?"

Octavia dipped her head. "We are in your debt, Your Highness. Of course we can talk. How can I help?"

She pointed to the case attached to Octavia. "When you leave, I would have you return that. But before that occurs... Can you show me how to play it? I would like that very much, and I think Turves would enjoy it in kind. A little music to take the edge off of our harsh lives would do well, and the sweet sounds this can make do just that for me."

Octavia's ears perked right up. "I... would be honored... I confess to not having instructed another in this venerable art, but I will do my utmost to see it done." She turned away. "If that is all?"

"Can we begin?"

Octavia blinked softly, not having expected that. "I suppose there is no reason... we can't start. Miss Demeanor demanded my presence later."

"She can wait." Longshot nodded with certainty. "Besides, this is only the first lesson, which means you have to return, to continue, so be safe, My Angel. Be safe."

Octavia felt her ears rolling back against her head. "I'll do my best... Now..." She coiled to undo the clasps that held the case shut and soon had the cello out into view. "The first thing you need to keep in mind..."





Vinyl noticed Octavia was not with them and softly snorted. "Octavia has a way with princesses. Not that she's the only one." She put a hoof on her chest. "Princess Celestia absolutely loves the sick beats I make! She won't admit it where ponies are watching her, but she can really cut loose when she can get away with it."

Belle tilted her head at Vinyl. "She sounds like a fun princess. Is her mother as nice?"

Vinyl blinked. "I never met her mother."

Belle tilted her head the other way. "If she is a princess, she must have a mother, a queen. You never met your queen but you've performed for her daughter?  Oh! Is it a king? I am silly for assuming."

Vinyl shook her head slowly. "Never met a pony king either... Don't think we have either of those. No kings, no queens. Just princesses, like four of them. They're all cool in different ways."

"Huh," offered No Name insightfully. "Your world is funny." They went to gather supplies and rest for the evening. There would  be adventure to be had the coming day.
> 30 - Supply Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roused and ready, the party set forth. Duck and Quarter and Dolan remained behind, waving as they departed.

Quarter called out, "I'd come with you, but the queen demands my presence. You know how it is."

"Quack! Have fun!"

They left them for the ashen wastes, pushing into the less friendly yet familiar stretches that went out beyond the clean area of Turves. Vinyl walked just to the left of No Name, bumping into him casually. "Hey, Big Guy. When're you gonna spill that story? The kids are safely tucked in."

"Mm?"

"C'mon. What was that 'incident' Longshot talked about? We wanna know." She waggled her brow with salacious meaning.

Octavia was on his other side, shaking her head. "You can keep that secret if you prefer. Stop badgering him, Vinyl."

"Ain't nothin' in it that dirty." He snorted softly. "Just a bit of stupid breedin' more stupid, is all."

Bullette sat up on top of No Name. "Story Mode detected!" Her ears perked up and she clip-clopped her metal forehooves. "Ready!"

"It involves you doing something bad." He looked over his shoulder partially, casting an eye towards Bullette. "You sure you want to hear it?"

"Affirmative." She bobbed her head. "If you are willing to share it, maybe I should think about it."

He sighed softly. "You've gotten better, Little Belle. But this was a while ago..."





We were still relatively new in Turves. The people there didn't much know what to make of us, but we weren't attackin' no one, so they tolerated us, like most towns really. Longshot was there, of course. She was the nicest one of the bunch, trying to insist we'd found a home.

I knew that was a big fat lie, but it was a nice lie, from a nice pony, so I didn't argue with her. I just knew we'd have to move on eventually. That's just how it works.

Why? Look, this is my story, let me finish.

Now where was we? Right, so we're doing odd jobs to put food on the table, as it were. An attack happens. I mean, lookin' back on it, kinda funny almost. A big gang of like a dozen angry folks came ridin' in, guns blazing.

They gunned down one of the guards in a flash. I blame that on their leader havin' an electrocycle. He was fast and silent, got on top of the guard before anything was noticed. The gunfire was the alarm bell...

It was chaos. Guards from the other side of town were hurrying to meet the attackers while others were runnin' away, tryin' to get anywhere that was safe. What's a safe place when yer bein' attacked by guys wit' automatics? Nowhere, that's where.

I was next to the well at the time when it started. Bullette was on top of me, of course. Where else would she be? She spotted the trouble almost before it happened. She was liftin' a hoof just as the first shots went off.

"We are mandated to assist them," I think she said. Somethin' like that. "Weapon systems online." That part I was very sure of. Now, uh... She has a few more weapons than you've seen her with. She became a gun platform that I happened to  be wearin' rather than a little pony with a few gun bits.

I pulled out my sign. This one? The one strapped to me. Same one. I pulled it out and charged towards the trouble with it held tight in my jaw. The baddies were reinforcing, the rest of them filtering in after their leaders and buildin' the noise with the rata-tat-tat of automated fire.

They saw me comin' and they hesitated, just a moment. Most towns you might raid don't have a guard as big, or ugly, or wearing Bullette. They knew, I think, that they'd messed up.

That didn't stop them from opening on me. I got a few new scars that day, peppered with bullets as I advanced on them like an angry train.

Yes, that's when you helped. Bullette saw I was gettin' hurt and she was mad, real mad. More mad than either of you ever saw her.

With a soft 'twip' of a sound, their leader just fell over with a new hole in his head, just like that. One of his cronies pushed the body off the cycle and hopped on to claim it. She shot something, a wire I think, at the cycle and it was like lightning hit it. It sparked and smoked and stopped workin' ever again.

"Concentrate fire!" They knew what the biggest threat on the field was. They spread out and aimed all their guns at us, unleashing everything they had to get us out of the way.

So don't blame her. I don't... It was stupid, but it was, you know, a good stupid? I can understand why she did it. I hope she never does it again, but she ain't bad for doin' it.

She unlocked one of the bigger weapons. The kind that could fight them all at the same time. We exploded. It was all light and roar as heat just... rolled away from us in all directions. Even the bullets coming at us were melted and turned away in the rushing fiery fury.

They screamed. There wasn't much more they could do. They burned. They burned and died, just like that. Everything they held was reduced to scrap. Their bodies were reduced to scrap.

An entire block... also reduced to scrap.

The invasion was off. There we were, standin' on a small island of untouched ground and flaming ruin in all directions.





Vinyl blinked softly, imagining the scene in her head. "Bullette! You are... awesome, and terrifying. Awesomely Terrifying!"

Bullette shrank a little. "Do you wish to terminate friendship point accrual? I will understand."

"What? No way!" Vinyl waved it off. "Besides, like he said, you got better. I mean, that's... amazing, just never do it again."

Octavia cleared her throat softly. "I should imagine that is not the conclusion of the story. What did they do? The people of Turves were... surely of mixed thoughts on how the situation had been resolved."

"That's puttin' it mild..."





The people were startin' to come out of their houses, others were kinda groaning from under the rubble they were fortunate enough to be pinned by and not crushed or just buried right there.

Longshot was already there. She was singed... all over. I felt kinda, you know, awkward... She stormed up to us, her wings spread wide. "What were ya thinkin'!" She hollered, or somethin' like that. "That was..." For all the destruction, she took a slow breath. "Blaze would be proud, and she is not a goddess I look favorably on, how about that?"

She put a hoof to her chest, visibly tryin' to calm herself. "That was a victory, but a hollow one."

I was ready to be given the royal boot right on my rump. "We'll be out of here by the end of the day..."

"You are not going anywhere!" she shouted, teeth clenched. "You think you can just destroy a city block and just... wander off?"

Or maybe we'd be thrown in jail. That had happened before too. Or maybe they'd try to murder us. That was also on the table.

She leaned in close enough I could smell her exasperated breath. "You. owe. us. Until you pay us back, you're stuck here." She tapped the ground softly. "As for you!" She levelled a hoof at Bullette Belle just as she was reforming into a little pony again. "The majority of the blame for this could rightly be put on your small shoulders. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Now, like I said before, Belle got better since then, but this was past Belle. She just looked at Longshot, not really gettin' what was wrong. "Threat terminated." That was all she had to offer in an even tone.

Longshot threw a hoof wide. "Along with dozens of innocents. They hadn't hurt you, or anyone else! They were just... living their lives until you happened to them. Do you have any remorse?"

Belle tilted her head left and right. "They are alive." She pointed to the injured but still living ponies that were being pulled free of the wreckage. "Mission accomplished." I swear she played a little victory jingle.

Longshot's horn glowed as she just yanked Belle free with an angry cry. "Those are the best of them. Come here." She stormed right into the still smoldering wreckage and kicked over a bit of sheet metal, revealing a mangled body of, uh, what was it... a bear? Mighta been a pony. It was a while ago, give me some slack. Either way, they were very dead, missin' an arm where the ceiling pinched it right off of 'em.

She threw Belle to the ground, panting for breath. Belle is not light, let me remind. "Go on and tell me they're alright. Go on and even tell me this one is even alive. They are dead. You killed them."

Bullette knew what death was, mind you. She's caused it no few times. When you live in this day and age for long enough, ya kinda have to... Even Duck managed it a few times. But... like Duck, she was living in her own bubble. Her defenses didn't kill good people, or so she figured. They were for killing bad people.

She approached the body and began poking and nudging it. "Wake up." She felt for a pulse and tried to revive them, but they were very gone. "This does not compute!" She slumped down beside the body. "I did not attack him... Why is he dead?" Her ears perked up. "Wait. Was he injured by a stray bullet? They were not--"

Longshot pointed to the severed arm. "Bullets don't do that."

"Error..." she said in the saddest little tone. "Error!" She scrambled back away from Longshot. "I am not a bad guy! I am a good guy! I defend good people!"

Longshot put a hoof on her trembling head. "Good people can hurt other good people when they aren't careful."

"Then I am not a good person," sadly sung out Belle. I hated seeing her that way.

"That is not true." She bonked Belle right on the nose with a hoof, making a metal clang. "Now... Now that you are aware of what you have done, are you sorry for doing it?"

"Regret protocol is overwhelming!" Belle threw up her forehooves high.

"Then there is a thing good people must do in this situation."

"What is that?"

"Learn." She gently set a hoof on top of Belle's head. "Promise me, and the rest of the people here, that you will never use such weapons where they can hurt innocents. Promise you will always be mindful of your power and only direct it at those who deserve it."

I set a hoof on her back. "Look, don't be too angry wit' her. I'm the adult here. I shoulda handled it better, and I didn't."

Longshot snorted at No Name. "You will be working off your debt to the community. I hope you're ready for that." She turned to the crowd then. "There will be no motions for revenge. They fought off the attackers, but in a... less... let's be real, it was a shitty way to do it." Her face went flat a moment. "But it's done, and they will learn from it. Kicking them out, or jailing them, won't bring the dead back to life, or heal the wounds caused. We'll make them work. They'll work and sweat and pay back their crimes. Then, we will forgive them, provided it never happens again."

"Never!" sang out Bullette, waving a hoof wildly. That was about the time that we got yellow and red danger levels. Yellow was when she used her smaller weapons she could more easily, you know, control. Red was when she took out the larger guns.

We don't talk about purple level.





Bullette shook her head quickly. "Purple level is very dangerous. In the event of a purple danger level, you are to flee immediately."

Octavia perked an ear. "You called a purple danger level just before we... went in..."

"And got gassed," finished Vinyl with a soft huff. "Sounds like it was pretty accurate to me. That place was super deadly."

Octavia rolled a hoof. "Yes, true, but you didn't activate any... new weapons, despite it being a purple level. Why is that?"

Bullette tilted her head. "Because there were good ponies nearby." She smiled a little, looking between Octavia and Vinyl. "Good ponies do not hurt other good ponies. If I had... you might have been hurt, even more than you did... I did not want to do that." Her tone lowered the further on she went, only to rebound. "Now we are all better! Mission success!" She clopped her fore hooves happily.

Vinyl smirked wickedly. "But you were ready to torch that old human lady."

"I would not have..." Bullette's ears sagged. "I was... I... She made me uncomfortable."

"She didn't give any shits about boundaries." No Name nodded softly. "But she wasn't a bad person."

"So I did not attack her. I was hoping maybe... she would stop. She was not scared of me."

"Don't think she was scared of nothin'." No Name softly snorted. "She lived long enough she's not afraid of the last breath, just waitin' for it really."

Octavia slowly nodded as she followed along. "I see. Thank you, Bullette, for having restraint. Using too much force could have brought down the entire building on us, destroying the portal generator and possibly us along with it. That would have been a poor decision."

Belle smiled happily, joyful at the compliment. "If the option is available, do not remain close in purple danger levels."

Vinyl perked an ear. "What about red ones?"

"Stay very close." She raised a hoof. "I will protect you. No Name will help!" She hugged him from above, nuzzling his back.

He cracked a little smile that faded all too quickly. "Trouble." He tossed his head forward. Up ahead of them, a wagon was leaning dangerously to one side. One of its wheels, a great cobbled together thing of wood and metal, was broken clean off, laying separated from it.

There were a few figures around it, though it was hard to see what they were doing from that distance.

Belle perked her ears at it. "They could be bandits, or traders trying to repair their vehicle."

Octavia nodded. "Let's not assume everything we meet wants to harm us. Perhaps they are simply in need of aid that we could easily provide."

Vinyl snorted gently. "Duck would be proud. So, what's the plan? Do we just walk up?"

No Name shook his head. "Traders or bandits doesn't matter much. Out here, we keep away. We go around them, the long way. If they start following, then we fight. If not, we move on, all friendly like. They'll be happy, and we'll be happy."

"Affirmative."

Octavia frowned gently. "That seems so... inhospitable."

"Welcome to the world we've almost died in a few times." Vinyl rolled a hoof lightly, veering to the right. "You're a peach, Octie, but this isn't Equestria."

Octavia did not accept that answer. She swung her cello about and rose to two hooves. She began to awkwardly play it even as they walked, despite the instruments large size and bulky weight. She played a gentle song as they circled around, her eyes closed and her hooves working the instrument as best she could in the circumstance.

Vinyl rolled her eyes but joined in the set, her headphones flipped around to add an electric beat to the song that Octavia was playing. "Won't hurt anything." Her horn glowed, powering and controlling her headset as they went.

They were about half way around, furthest they were going to be before looping back around to get on their trail. The unknown people were watching them, it seemed certain, or maybe listening. They didn't approach.

The group got to the far point, back on their trail, with the broken wagon behind them. Octavia put her cello away carefully. "They weren't bandits at least."

No Name shrugged softly. "They mighta decided we were not a good target. We don't know one way or the otha."

Belle lifted her shoulders in an emphatic shrug. "Odds of banditry, 37%."

Vinyl flipped her headphone back the right way. "They were probably headed for Turves, considering the direction and all. We can ask about them when we get back."

Octavia smiled gently. "I'll do that, excellent idea." She glanced back at the diminishing form of the wagon. "Looks like they've gotten into motion." The wheel was properly attached, and the last they saw of the wagon was it rolling along. Two caravans in the wastes, passing peacefully.

No Name's lips curled just a little. "That was a nice thought. Woulda surprised me if it was enough to make them want to come chat in the middle of the wastes, but it was nice. Bet it made their days, even if they had no clue why you did it."

Octavia rolled her shoulders. "Couldn't be certain myself if I'm being frank. I just hated the idea of passing by people who may have genuinely needed a helping hoof and just... ignored them."

Vinyl raised a hoof to her goggles, adjusting them idly. "Sometimes, that's all you can do. Some people don't want to be helped. Some people are scared of being helped. Either way, you gotta respect the space sometimes." She waggled her brows. "Unless they're at one of my parties, 'cause there ain't no personal space there."

Bullette clip-clopped her hooves. "I would like to attend one of your parties. How do you celebrate the removal of personal space?"

Vinyl waved downwards. "Come on down from there and I'll show you how to dance. Beats just hiking any day."

"Be mindful." Octavia hiked a brow lightly. "Her 'dancing' is not what I would refer to by the same name. The ponies who frequent her shows are more brawling to the tune of her music. It's... fascinating, but not dancing by my view."

"You just defined dancing." Vinyl rolled her eyes as she walked. "You move to the beat and you don't stop. That's dancing. Ponies love to dance to my music." She glanced sidelong at Octavia. "Your music, not so much. They... put on a play or whatever. They're all slow an' practiced. Like there are specific moves you're supposed to do and junk? How do you call that dancing?"

No Name gave a mighty shrug. "Both sounds like dancin' to me, jus' different kinds, is all. No problem there."

"I wish to learn both kinds!" Bullette bounced a bit atop of No Name, grinning as she did so. "We will initiate learning routines upon return to green danger level area. I hope you are ready to dance!" The words leading to dance curled upwards in octaves in a flowery crescendo of meaning.

Octavia inclined her head lightly. "If we are being honest, I haven't much experience with dancing, performing it that is."

Vinyl tossed her head towards Octavia. "'Tavi's too busy playing her music at fancy balls for other ponies to 'dance' to."

Octavia scowled a moment. "Basically true."

"Which is where I have the advantage." She pointed at hoof at herself as she reared up onto her hindlegs, ambling along. "Hay, I'll dance along to my own music while I play it half the time. I'll go to other shows and slam it down right alongside everypony else. I survived a griffon mosh pit and I'm still here to talk about it."

"Barbaric..."

Bullette's eyes were wide, sparkling, literally, with wonder. "You must share this secret technique!"

No Name waved the whole thing away. "Calm down, all three of you. We'll get to dancing lessons when we're not out in the middle of frickin' nowhere."

Bullette bounced atop No Name. "You will dance as well. We can dance together! We are good at brawling, we should be excellent at dancing! Our friendship will power our moves and all will behold it and be amazed!"

No Name frowned at Vinyl. "I blame you for this."

"Guilty as charged," sang Vinyl without remorse. "I'll get you both making some sweet moves and everyone in Turves will be clapping along, if they don't jump right in too. That town could use some action that doesn't involve guns or knives."

Octavia's frown lightened softly. "Actually, that sounds wonderful. Yes, please do that."

Vinyl perked an ear. "I mean, yeah, great. Glad to have you on board with this, but what changed your mind suddenly?"

"You are correct." She nodded softly. "While I offer a moment of peace and tranquility, they are living ponies. They deserve to know they can be excited... for something that isn't a threat on their life. They deserve to move quickly, but not because a threat is chasing them, or calamity approaches, but because they want to, for fun."

Vinyl blinked slowly as she veered over to Octavia's side. "Well, shoot. There you go, taking my rebellion and making it sound... wholesome." She bumped against the proper mare. "I love your prissy butt, just so you know."

"My butt is no more or less prissy than anyone else's." She rolled her eyes lightly. "But thank you. When we return, you do exactly that. I feel certain Duck would assist in securing the supplies you need."

"You think he has a big speaker?"

"I would be shocked if he did not." Octavia rolled a hoof. "He seems fascinated with music and would be the one to have technology related to it. Seek him out and he will likely provide. Be warned, he will want to participate as well."

"Duck is totally welcome." She thumped her own chest with a hoof. "We'll put down some sick beats and knock everyone off their hooves, or paws, or whatever they got. Does it matter? There are no races when you're getting your groove on!"

Bullette was literally vibrating with excitement, metallic jingles coming from her shaking form. "I cannot wait for this event. Let us complete the current mission with maximum haste!" She pointed ahead with a firm hoof. "Target sighted!"

Ahead of them about half a mile ahead was a small gathering of buildings. They might have once been a small suburb or town of some sort. The tallest buildings were two stories tall, and none of them were intact. Even at a distance, they could see the buildings were wrecked skeletons of their former glory. 

As they approached, they could feel a road beneath them, remnants of the highway it might have once been, reduced to bits of pavement barely felt through the ash they trudged through. It was sign enough to know they were approaching the dead remains of the last era.

Closer, it became obvious that it had been picked clean, as Longshot had reported. Where there wasn't ruin, it was clean. There was no debris that wasn't a solid bit of rock. All the actual scrap had been taken over the years, gone over by generations of looters hoping for a small bit of anything at all to take and repurpose for modern survival.

"Danger Level: Yellow," warned Belle, despite the fact that all of the wastes were that color in danger. "Be advised."

Octavia nodded softly. "Even if there is nothing here, something may have taken shelter in these buildings. They are potential dens, if nothing else at all."

Vinyl hopped forward, ash flumphing upwards from where she landed. "Sure, and there could be some awesome loot. We just have to be clever about looking for it."

Octavia moved up alongside Vinyl and reached for her goggles. "Where did you originally get these?"

Vinyl shied back, blinking. "That's kind of out of nowhere, 'Tavi."
> 31 - Significant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia peered at Vinyl, looking her in the eyes, and yet, not.

"Octi? You alright?" It was a bit unnerving, having Octavia seeming to be staring through her so intensely. "Seriously, cut that out."

"Just answer the question, kindly." She nodded, her eyes still trained on not-quite Vinyl. "I hear something." Her ears did not move, nor did her vision waver.

"My... dad got them for me, alright?" She backed away a step. "Stop it! This is not cool at all."

No Name's hoof came down just in front of Octavia, forcing her to blink with his leg in the way. "Use your words, Octavia. Yer not makin' a whole lot of sense right now."

Octavia shook her head vigorously as if to clear it. "It's... Did your father purchase them in a store, or did he acquire them from some other place?"

"He got them at an auction, alright?" Vinyl looked at Octavia out of the corner of her eyes, not willing to face her that moment. "He said the people were gonna just, you know, toss it, but he knew it was awesome, and he gave them to his favorite little awesome filly."

She cracked a little smile. "It used to be so big on me..."

Octavia returned the smile. "Of all the things, that you manage to take care of."

"Why wouldn't I?! they're... you know, special... Anyway, why?" She raised a hoof and felt her goggles a little possessively. "There's nothing wrong with them, right?"

"Just the opposite... Vinyl, I know... you won't like this, but can I borrow them?" Octavia extended a  hoof towards Vinyl. "I will take the utmost of care with them."

Vinyl's eyes narrowed. "There are a few problems with that idea. #1, ash, it's everywhere. I enjoy having some eyewear so I'm not squinting all the time like the rest of you whenever the wind picks up." She stomped a lone hoof down. "#2, it's mine! You could ask for almost anything else, Octi, you know that. I wouldn't even think about it. We're tight! You know that! But not this..."

Bullette tilted her head. "Insufficient friendship points. You may wish to amass more before attempting again."

No Name drew his hoof out of the way. "At least we know what ya want, but why?"

"Yeah, why?!" Vinyl wheeled towards Octavia fully. "That's a rather sudden question to have. The only thing I'd rate as high as these goggles are my headphones."

"Those won't help." She made a little proper dismissive gesture towards the headphones. "Your goggles have history, and with them, I'll be able to see."

Vinyl blinked softly. "Wait what? Oh! Ohhhhh! This is special Octavia-blend magic? Girl, why didn't you say that to start with? I mean, I'm still not reaching to take these off, but at least I don't think you're trying to hurt me." She narrowed her eyes a little. "These are mine, Octi."

"I am perfectly aware of your ownership, Vinyl." Octavia took a slow breath. "That is why I am asking. They will help us, I'm certain. Just... even for a day?"

"An entire day?!" Vinyl stomped with all four hooves, dancing in place in a tantrum that ended with her plopping on her haunches. "Look, fine... Fine! One day, then never again..." She reached up towards her goggles. "Find your own, Girl." She peeled them up off of her head, eyes squeezed shut.

"It's not that bad, Vinyl, you can open your eyes."

"Dun Wanna." She held out the goggles in her magic, floating there as she trembled, looking ready to cry.

Octavia reached for them, carefully getting it onto her own head. She didn't pull it down over her eyes, apparently satisfied with it resting on her forehead. "It's... yes, yes, this is just perfect." She turned in place, frowning as she pawed at the ash. "I feel ready. Let us begin the search."

Vinyl felt around with her closed eyes until she bumped into No Name. "There you are. I'ma just follow you."

No Name snorted softly. "Seriously. Ya ain't gonna spot much with yer eyes shut."

"Affirmative. Sound-based location is sub-optimal in this scenario." Bullette reached up a hoof to bat at her flicking ears. "Please resume use of light-based receivers." She leaned towards Vinyl a little. "I would like to see your eyes as well."

Octavia arched a brow. "Is that what this is about?" She turned to No Name. "I don't suppose you have some backup goggles, preferably tinted?"

He ducked back on himself and pulled out a ratty pear of smokey goggles. "It used to protect against the sun, but ya don't need that kinda protection much these days."

Octavia hurried towards it, peering. "Oh... Well, nevermind then."

Vinyl jumped as something bumped into her. Her magic wrapped around it. "Huh? Already done?" She got her goggles back on her face and blinked open her eyes. "Sweet relief!" She arched a brow at Octavia, seeing she had a ratty old pair on her head. "You mean I didn't even have to make a sacrifice for the team?!"

Octavia tapped at her head. "These are hundreds of years old, they will suffice. I didn't feel their presence in No Name's bag. I do appreciate you--"

Vinyl suddenly tackled Octavia to the ground, her forehooves on either side of Octavia's  head. "Nothing doing. I demand a sacrifice in return."

Octavia tilted her head. "Besides getting ash all over... everything... what can I do for you, Vinyl?"

Vinyl leaned in and down, her voice dropping to a whisper, "Just a little kiss."

Octavia began to blush terribly. "Vinyl! No! I will not sell my affection in that way."

Vinyl took a quick back-step, almost tripping in her retreat. "You're making it sound like I'm... I'm not that way, Octi."

Octavia climbed to her hooves, gently brushing at the ash that clung to her. "Nor am I."

Bullette tilted her head left and right. "We are in agreement? Yay?" Her voice warbled with her confusion.

Octavia smirked softly as she trotted over to No Name. She reared up on her hind legs and kissed Bullette on the cheek. "Don't change."

"Mission accepted!" sang Bullette with a bright smile.

Vinyl huffed softly. "Really? You're doing it like that?"

No Name started to march further into the ruins. "Maybe we should focus on what we came here fer?"

Vinyl followed along after him. "Yeah yeah. I'll find something, just you wait." She suddenly hurried ahead and hopped over some low rubble into a building, grumbling as she went.

Bullette pointed at Octavia. "Initiate improved scanning techniques."

"I plan to..." She reached up and tapped at the old goggles on her forehead. "I just have to... focus..." She closed her eyes a moment, just breathing. "Alright, now... what do we want to find?"

No Name arched a brow at that. "What, you... I don't even want to start askin'. I dunno, something we can sell?"

"More specific," she prompted. "The more specific, the better, though if it isn't here, then we won't find it."

Bullette hummed electronically to  herself a moment. "My hunch was that there was a cache of weapons. Attempt to detect automated firearms."

"Aren't all firearms... automated?" Octavia shook her head slowly. "What makes one--"

No Name coughed softly. "She means the kind that can fire over and over really fast, instead of havin' to keep pressin' the trigger."

"Oh!" Octavia frowned softly. "Yes, those... You mentioned them during your story, didn't you? That makes... that situation all the more clear... I hadn't understood that matter properly before."

"And you didn't ask about it?" He hiked a brow.

"It felt like a delicate subject." She turned and began walking slowly into the ruined town. "I didn't want to cause discomfort. Now then..." She went quiet and still, her face one of concentration, but there was no action that any of them could see.

"Magic detected," suddenly noted Bullette with a curious tilt to her warble.

Octavia directed a hoof downwards and to the west. "That way. I can't... really say much more than that. The impression is so... weak, but I feel it."

No Name's snakes hissed softly  before one nodded at Octavia. "Can you do that again?  Not here. If we have two spots--"

"Triangulation routines online!" sang out Bullette, looking excited at the idea.

"It's... tiring, but I will try." She looked around in a slow circle. "Where should we try for another?"

"Any idea how far away it is?" He hiked a brow softly. "That would be a big hint."

"That it did not reveal, just that way." She pointed down and westwards. "It's under things, which is sensible enough. Anything on the ground or above it would have been located long ago. It may be buried with no way to reach it."

Bullette clopped her forehooves. "Incorrect! We can create a way to reach it."

No Name nodded at that. "Hey, Vinyl?!" he shouted out in a chorus of snakes. "Get back here!"

"No!" came her distant shout in reply.

Bullette tilted her head. "I did not expect that response..."

Octavia lifted her shoulders. "Then we had best go find her." She turned in the direction the voice had come from and started forward. "We don't want her getting into trouble."

They all set out for her. No Name called out, "found somethin'?"

"Yeah," came the muffled reply. "Just wait a second..."

They heard something rustling, falling bits of brick from above. Octavia peered up at it with everyone else. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah yeah." With a sudden bang, a solid wedge of stone hit the ground a few feet ahead of them. Vinyl climbed to her hooves from where she had been pinned. "Got it!"

Bullette clopped eagerly. "Congratulations! What did you get?"

Vinyl grinned triumphantly as something floated up beside her. It looked like a little metal box, dinged and caved in.

No Name squinted at it. "Ya sure whatever's in there isn't busted apart?"

"Nope!" She hastily began to climb down from her perch, hopping from one platform to the next. "But I'm ready to find out." She set the box down in front of everyone and gestured at it. "I present..." Her magic glowed around it and she just frowned, grunting softly with some unseen effort. "It's locked, figures."

No Name casually knocked it over with a kick of a hoof. "More than one way ya can get in..." He glanced back at Bullette. "Any reason I shouldn't?"

"None detected." Bullette nodded rapidly. "Proceed!"

He put his considerable mass behind it, the metal groaning and buckling under the pressure.  With a sudden pop, the case's latch came loose, the box falling open and his hoof almost falling in, pulled back at just the last minute. "There ya go."

Vinyl grinned triumphantly. "Let's see what hides within!" She lifted up the box and held out a hoof, turning it upside to spill out its contents.

A broken strand of metal spilled out over her hoof, some of it falling off into the ash. Among the tangled coils was a centerpiece. "Huh, pretty." She held up what had once been the center ornament of an amulet. It was a soft blue color, cut into the shape of a heart.

Octavia sighed gently. "I imagine that once brought a pony a great deal of happiness..."

"And now they are dead." Vinyl casually stuffed it into No Name's saddlebag. "And now it will bring us some happiness."

Bullette suddenly played a victorious little jingle from deep inside her. "Mission not complete." She pointed at Octavia. "Firearms detected."

Vinyl cocked a brow at Octavia. "You're hiding guns on us now? When will the shady dealings end?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Octavia pointed in vaguely the direction she remembered. "It's down there, somewhere. Maybe one, maybe more. Belle seems to think there should be many available."

Vinyl tilted her head. "Is that what the goggles were for?"

"Error!" Belle pointed in a subtly different direction, but her hoof kept wobbling left and right along a precise horizontal line. "The first record is along that direction. A second record is required for triangulation. Let us begin!"

Octavia nodded at Vinyl. "In reply to your question, yes. These goggles allow for... knowledge. I am starting to understand it now. Old things, weighty things. They have power in them that I can draw out." She reached turned and poked her nose in her bag, coming out with her doll and figurine. "One of these is a bridge between places, of callings and responses. A pony once held it dearly, dreaming of reaching out to exotic places, and drawing them close."

Vinyl shook her head. "You're sounding like Pinkie after a few too many drinks of the good stuff. You sure about that?"

"Absolutely." She lifted the doll a bit higher, balanced on her hooves. "This one echoes the struggle of life and death and the flow of both. For some, she was fear, for others, salvation. This duality echoes in her magic and what I can draw from her."

"Searching databanks." Bullette frowned a little as little clicks emanated from within her. "Magic type detected: occult." She brought her hooves together in a metallic clang. "The rarest type! Congratulations!"

Vinyl pointed a hoof up at her own face. "Hey, what kind of magic do I use then?"

"Arcane," replied Bullette without a delay.

"Is... that rare?"

"Negative." Bullette shook her head softly with a sad downturn in her voice. "Apologies."

Vinyl wrinkled her nose. "Well, whatever. My magic heals people and makes people rock harder." She turned to Octavia. "Rarity isn't everything."

"Don't let her hear you say that." Octavia smirked a little.

"That... was awful." Vinyl laughed despite it and shook her head. "I didn't think you had it in you. Alright, let's have that magic and find our way to those guns."

Octavia set her other implements away with a soft nod. "Very well. This one has the advantage of not needing to be constantly put away." She glanced up, though she could only see part of the goggles from her vantage point. "Wearing them seems to work just fine."

"Show us how good they are." Vinyl wobbled a hoof. "I already found something. Your turn, Tavi."

Octavia took a slow breath and went still. As they watched her, Vinyl glanced up at No Name. "Hey, how valuable is the thing I found anyway?"

No Name seemed to consider it a moment. "Well, kinda low on the utility sida things, but it's shiny. Shiny's still a value."

Bullette bobbed her head. "Merchants will trade for it to trade to people with too much influence and insufficient logic ability. Estimated value in diamond dust, 3 grams."

"Boo-yeah!" She pumped a hoof in victory. "How much did we use getting everypony all healed up?"

Bullette began ticking with calculation. Octavia woke from her trance before the answer came. "That way." She pointed in a new, still downward, direction.

Bullette shook her head. "Initiating triangulation." Her previous calculation was rudely cast aside. "Plotting point... It is..." She pointed. "That way, 300 feet."

Octavia smiled gently. "Three hundred? Well, we'd  best be moving then."

Vinyl walked with the others towards the theoretical goodies. "So, it's, uh, all underground? Think there's a basement we have to get into or something?"

"Or somethin'" agreed No Name. "It's probably buried. We'll haveta dig, or find something that ain't want t' be found. Don't like it. If she could cast a spell to find it, why wouldn't no one else do it? Has to be a reason."

Bullette clopped her forehooves. "Magic file #283-AF-6. Certain materials can interfere with the operation of divination magic. Lead is the most notable and effective of materials. A thin foil of lead is sufficient to interfere with most attempts at divination."

Octavia nodded softly as she followed. "Alright, so... why was I able to find something?"

"I can answer that." Vinyl had a big grin. "And I ain't even an expert. It's still metal, metal that's, you know, hundreds of years old. It probably just peeled away a little, just enough for little Octavia's magic to slip in through the cracks and bam! Guns!"

No Name arched a brow. "Huh, that could explain it. It was all nice and safe from thieves... until it wasn't no more. Let's get it before the next group shows up to claim it."

They arrived at a broken plate of cement that was, at one time, the foundation of a building. It was razed to the ground, with not even the remnants of walls remaining. Bullette was pointing directly down.

Vinyl frowned at the pointing hoof, then the slab of broken concrete they had to work with. "Yeah... So where's the way in?"

No Name pulled free his stop sign. "Reckon it's right here."

Octavia blinked softly. "Will you just... begin digging, through cement?"

"Nah." He walked to the edge of the slab and drove the sign into the dirt there, starting to slowly make a hole. "Either it keeps going," spoke a snake, unimpeded by his busy mouth. "Or, you know, it doesn't. Kinda hoping it doesn't."

Vinyl thrust a hoof at Bullette. "You have a gun that can punch through the dirt for us? You have all kinds of weapons, right?"

"Negative." She shook her head quickly. "Any weapon that would be of assistance in this matter is locked to purple level threats. Access denied!"

Octavia drew out her figurine. "Please lend your assistance," she begged, holding it aloft. Little bits of dirt began to lift and toss themselves aside, an unseen presence silently helping No Name if one discounted the sounds of the dirt itself.

"Yeah yeah, I'm on it." Vinyl moved up next to No Name with a glowing horn and began scooping out dirt with him, allowing the hole to grow deeper all the faster. The cement slab continued down as the hole got deeper and wider. Bullette joined them, digging like a dog with paddling forehooves to help dislodge and move the earth. Octavia was the only one not actively digging.

"I'll keep a watch." She looked around slowly. "You wouldn't want to be surprised."

"Yeah, sure..." Vinyl rolled her eyes behind her goggles. "We could be jumped at any moment..."

"Probability low... but not zero." Bullette nodded. "Sensory data obscured by activity. Continue monitoring, Octavia."

Octavia smiled gently. "I thought my idea had some merit to it, hmm?" She settled on the slab, seated on her haunches as she looked around, scanning the horizon for trouble.

No Name brought down his sign in a terrific swing and it hit the dirt and kept right on going. He stumbled forward with the momentum, giving a chorus of a yelp as he crashed through the hollow dirt into the darkness below. A great thud emanated a moment later. "Ow..."

Bullette hopped up and down in place. "Error! Initiate rescue protocols." She circled in place without getting much done.

Vinyl set a hoof on Bullette's metal back. "Hey, calm down. He's alright. Ain't ya?" she shouted out the last part into the hole he had found.

"Yeah... fine..." drifted back up, sounding pained but awake and coherent.

Octavia rose to her hooves. "Do you have rope down there?"

"I do, but it needs to be up there!" came his bellowed voice. "Any ideas how to get it from one place to the other?"

"I do." Octavia gestured downwards. "Go get it from him," she spoke more gently, only to raise back into a shout, "Hold out the rope. Something will take it from you."

Her unseen force promptly stepped into the hole. There was a new smaller thud a moment later. Octavia blinked softly. "I thought it floated..."

"It landed on me," complained No Name from below. "Uh, it took the rope, but it's not going anywhere."

Octavia put a hoof to her face. "If it can't fly, it can't return... so much for that idea."

Bullette leaned in over the darkness, squinting into it. "Objective sighted. Initiating retrieval." She held out a hoof a moment before flames rocketed out of the hoof towards her, propelling the hoof down into the darkness. She twisted her entire body as if leading the arm in its journey and a moment later it came zooming out, split in half with the rope dangling on the metal connection between the two halves of her hoof.

She held out the stump of her arm and the hoof landed where it began, clicking into place as the rope fell in front of her. "Mission success!" she sang out in a joyful tune.

Vinyl's glowing horn took hold of the rope and passed it up towards Octavia. "Go tie it somewhere nice and secure."

"On it." She grabbed it in her mouth and hurried away She found the corner of the next house and ran around the projection of cement, securing the rope as quickly as she could. "Alright, can he climb out?"

"Why would he do that?" Vinyl shrugged before she hopped right in, sliding down the rope with an enthusiastic 'Whee!' that grew lower as it descended into the pit.

"Fun detected!" Belle was only a moment later, sliding down the rope with an excited, "Whee!" to accompany.

Octavia returned to the hole to see the rope dangling down into the darkness, with none of her friends in sight. "Well... that's... one way. How do we plan to get back out of there when we're done?"

Vinyl's voice echoed from below, "you  just keep your pretty eyes out for trouble. We'll go get the guns and be right back. Won't be any trouble."

"Ah like how you just, ya know, assume that." No Name huffed softly. "Speaking of that, spare a little touch up, in case we run into something that really wants a piece?"

"Yeah yeah." She placed a hoof on his side. "By the powers of rock, be restored to adorn the cover of future records!" With a bright pulse, some of the hurt of his tumble was eased away.

Belle scrambled back up to her usual spot on his back. "Resume adventure." She pointed into the darkness. "The next stage is there."

Vinyl frowned a little. "Next stage?" She stepped forward into the gloominess that became utter darkness, bonking her nose right up on a metal door. "Oh, found it! Hey, No Name, could you open this like you opened the box?"

"I can try." He let out a soft breath as he lumbered forward. "Can't make no promises or nothin', but I'll give it a shot."

"Just be careful down there," came Octavia's worried tones. "If I see anything up here, I'll give a call, otherwise assume I'm just fine."

"You got it, Tavi!" She nudged against No Name lightly. "It's our turn to be heroes. She had her shot finding this place."

"Yes! Friendship is equal responsibility." Belle bobbed her head rapidly. "Initiate opening!"

No Name leaned in and felt around a moment. "It has a knob, pony style." He closed his teeth around it and gave it a slow turn.

The door exploded towards him, blown free of its hinged in a great exhaust of flames and force. The door slid over him, crumpling with the impact even as he shouted in pain. With a low thud, it crashed to the ground, half-wrapped around him, but with no force remaining in it.

"Be wary of traps," noted Belle unhelpfully. "Probability, 78%."

"Yeah, thanks." No Name took a slow step back, letting the metal fall completely to the ground.

"That looked like it really hurt... Stay still and let me help make that better." Vinyl shoved the metal away with a grunt of mental effort before she placed her hooves on No Name, bidding him to be restored with the power of rock.

They had just barely gotten into the secret cache, and already they were burning through their healing resources.

Surely it couldn't get worse.
> 32 - Adventure!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Before we go further." He reached into the darkness and lightly bopped Vinyl on the head. "Use that horn you have and get some light in here. It ain't just fer show."

"Oh yeah." Light blue light began to fill the room from her glowing horn. "There we go."

Bullette's simulated irises narrowed slightly. "Deactivating high-sensitivity sensors; color detected."

Vinyl perked an ear at the metal pony. "How? I mean, sure, things get more grey in the dark, but that didn't sound like that."

"Negative," agreed Bullette, pointing ahead from the back of her mount. "Proceed!"

"You heard the filly." No Name dared to advanced, looking around suspiciously. With the light he could see that they were entering what appeared to be a shelter of some sort. "Someone thought they could ride out the worst of it..." He glanced to the left. "Guess it worked, sorta."

"It did?" Vinyl slipped in under him, easily scooting between his massive legs to get into the room. "Woah." There was a dead pony, not skeletal, but not fully fleshed either. Like a mummy, it was shriveled and dry looking, curled with one hoof reaching out for something it would never actually get to. "Yeah... guess it did..."

"Weapon detected!" Bullette pointed to a rack that seemed to hold a small collection of rifles fitted for equine use.

"Ain't touchin' that." No Name shook his head. "Guy was nuts enough to trap the door headin' out. Why wouldn't he trap his guns?"

Vinyl advanced on the rack. "That's easy. He was probably scared someone would try and come in and get 'em. They never did, but he'd want to be able to get these." Without fear, she grabbed a gun in her magic and yanked it off the rack. Nothing exploded. "See?" She turned back to No Name, holding the gun high. "Now we have sweet loot."

No Name wobbled a hoof in her direction. "Check if it has any bullets. Bullette, is this what you were predicting?"

"Negative! While valuable, there should... be more."

He didn't ask how she knew. He just nodded softly. "Right. Keep lookin' around."

Vinyl began poking and prodding at the gun, eventually getting it open. "Nothing." She grabbed the other two and flipped them open. "Nothing. Empty." She floated them towards No Name. "Still valuable, right?"

"You have no idea." He gestured towards his saddlebag. "Don't try to cram those in there, just tuck them under the straps."

"You got it." She soon adorned No Name with the three rifles. "So how many grams are we talking here? 10? 20? You never told me how many we owe."

"Estimated usage: 15 grams." Bullette tilted her head. "I am not aware of the value of these firearms."

"I bet my friend back in Turves would know." He thought of the griffon that had repaired Bullette. "Still, they're new, not made of junk, and don't look rusted. Gotta be worth somethin', maybe a lot of somethin'."

Vinyl hiked a brow at the set strapped to No Name. "Are you saying we did it? We have enough?"

"Good chance."

Vinyl shrugged. "Well, great, but..." She gestured further into the bunker. "Whatever we leave is probably getting taken before anyone we know comes to check it out. So we either finish checking this place out, or give it all up."

"Well, ah wasn't gonna say otherwise." No Name stepped around the body lightly, glancing around. "Shoot... They could send a whole team that knows what they're doing and probably get so much." He nudged against the cold display of something electronic on the way past. "We don't even know what we're lookin' at. I'd guess that's a radio though. Wonder what he was listenin' to."

Bullette tilted her head at the dessicated body. "Gender non-confirmed. Power required for proper identification." She suddenly bounced down from No Name and sprang right back up to grab the little box. "Initiating power transfer."

Vinyl thrust out a hoof. "Hey, careful! I don't want my favorite little filly getting hurt."

No Name's snout wrinkled a bit. "What she said. You sure that's safe?"

"No." A wire slipped free of her hoof and plugged into the box on the side.

It's front panel glowed softly as numbers appeared. Static emitted from it in a soft hiss of snow. "Identity confirmed. Radio detected. Initiating sweep." The display showed its station changing rapidly from one side to the other. It stopped quite suddenly. There was  no static, but also no music or someone talking.

It was beeping. Soft and steady beeps at different lengths but the same tone and everything else.

Vinyl squinted at it. "Why's it beeping horse code at us?"

No Name cocked a brow. "I wouldn't have guessed you'd know that."

Vinyl snorted up at him. "What, just because I like to rock I can't know things?"

Bullette was not replying, tapping a hoof in time with the beeps. Vinyl noticed it with a tilt of her head. "Is she translating?"

"Translating?" Bullette seemed to come around, bouncing to her hooves. "Is it not a song to be enjoyed?"

No Name reached to put a hoof on her little head. "Suppose it could be, but it also means somethin'."

Bullette set the radio down carefully and it continued beeping despite not being connected to her. Vinyl smiled a little. "It had a battery? Great."

"It does, but it is of minimal functionality." Bullette gestured at the radio. "Expect no more than ten minutes of operation."

"Huh, that might be--" No Name didn't get to finish his thought, the radio suddenly smoking dangerously before catching on fire in a cheerful little bonfire of melting plastic.

Vinyl grabbed it with her magic and tossed it in a barren little corner where nothing else could catch fire by the blaze. "Maybe it was more worn down than you thought."

"Incorrect voltage used," sadly intoned Bullette. "It's battery was unable to withstand the strain. "

No Name inclined his head towards it. "No selling that then, but do you have the beeps it was making memorized by chance?"

"Affirmative. Beep beep ... beep ... beep beep," Bullette began reciting the beeps and pauses faithfully. "Then it repeats. I thought it was the refrain."

Vinyl kicked the flaming radio until it was out, smoking fitfully. "Good job. That means we can still translate it... if we knew the code. Hey, Bullette, do you have a radio?"

"Affirmative." From within her came Duck's excited voice.

"That was a D U K special, Duck in the house! With his new and awesome co-DJ."

"Quarter Inch, turning the bolts on your heart!" came the gnome's excited voice.

"Quack! As guardians of Turves' friendship quota, we'll start a little song that'll bring warmth to the coldest hearts."

"It's really cheerful!"

Their voices were gone, replaced with the peppy and rapid-tempo music.

Octavia's voice drifted in from above, "did I just hear Duck down there?"

"Just a radio," shouted Vinyl back at her. "How are things up there?"

"Just fine. Nothing's moving, just the way we hope it continues. Everything alright down there?"

"Affirmative!" Bullette bounced in place before focusing on Vinyl. "Why did you inquire on my radio abilities?"

"Can you send, or just receive?" She brought her forehooves together. "Could you send something to Duck? I have a hunch he or his duck friend may know the code."

"Negative," she sadly denied, head sagging for just a moment. "Radio does not operate in that fashion. Any signal sent will be received in all directions."

"Oh, right." Vinyl tilted her head. "Well, just saying hi shouldn't be so bad, right?"

"Affirmative!" There was a brief moment of static from within her. "Broadcasting initiating... now. Hello Duck! Can you hear us? Broadcast end. Playback initiated:" The music from before filled in the space.

The music abruptly stopped. "Woah! We have a broadcast buddy! Quack!"

"I didn't even know we could have those!"

"We can! I bet they're listening. Hiiiii!!! Quack. It sounded like Bullette, my favorite little filly. Are you eating enough bread?"

"Oh, Bullette? Hiya!" greeted Quarter Inch just about as enthusiastically. "Go ahead and talk."

The audio cut off. "I can only receive or transmit, not both at once. Hello! This is Bullette Belle. I am transmitting all detected audio."

Vinyl caught the hint. "Hey Duck, Quarter! Great to hear you two. We have a puzzle for you."

No Name nodded at Bullette. "We'll say 'over' when we're done talkin'. That's how you do that. Over."

Bullette switched to receiving mode at No Name's prompt.

"Oooo, a puzzle?!" excitedly gushed Quarter Inch. "Lay that brain teaser down on us."

"Yes! We are ready to help friends in need. Also hello Vinyl and No Name. Double Quack!"

There was a moment of awkward quiet before Dolan's voice came through. "Over."

Bullette swapped to sending mode, her eyes turning a bright green to help signify the swapping. 

Vinyl stepped over to Bullette. "Go ahead and play back the code for them."

"Affirmative." The beeps began to play in faithful reproduction, echoing out for both those around her and across the radio transmission.

Vinyl nodded when it ended. "That's it. What's it mean? Over."

Her eyes flipped from green to yellow. Duck's voice gasped audibly. "Oooo, you found the Wasteland Beep. There's all kinds of them. That one's not far from here. I've heard it before, yes, quack."

"Yes yes! I've heard that one." Quarter Inch clapped eagerly over the broadcast. "'Situation Normal, please send additional canned meat.' They say it comes from military bunkers. Are you near one? Exciting!"

"Over," helpfully supplied Dolan, seeing as the other two would never admit to being done talking.

Yellow turned to red as Bullette Blinked despite having no organic eyes to need such things. "That message is less than optimal for analysis. We are lacking in canned meat."

No Name rolled a hoof a bit. "Alright, so that's really close?"

"Affirmative." Bullette bobbed her head quickly. "Based on signal strength... calculating... within 100 feet."

Vinyl clopped her forehooves down. "Then we have to find what's making that! And it can't be this." She waved around the tiny one-person bunker they were in. "Oh, over."

Red turned to yellow. "--going to find it?!" came Duck's voice, already speaking before the switch-over. "Woah! Be careful, but have fun! Quack."

"I wish I was there," sighed out Quarter. "But a knight must be faithful to her queen, and she had ordered my services elsewhere. I'm with you in heart." There was a low thump. Had she beat her own chest?

"Over."

Yellow turned to red. "Ending transmission. It was nice to hear from both of you. Thank you for your assistance. Friendship points earned." Her red eyes became normal, the radio within her going silent. She looked to the others and held up a hoof. "I must advise against proceeding. A military bunker is danger level ultra-violet."

Vinyl slowly blinked. "I thought purple was the highest."

No Name tilted his head. "We thought that too," spoke one of his snakes in a milder voice in his confusion.

"Military facilities house the most pressing hazards." Her voice wildly modulated in her worry. "I will be unable to protect any of you. We are not prepared for such danger." She thrust a hoof at Vinyl. "This warning is doubled for the lost puppies. Severe injury or death is guaranteed. Do not proceed."

No Name chuckled softly. "Not even 'really likely' or nothin', just 'yeah, this is gonna happen'. I see how it is." He shook his head as he turned for the exit. "If it's that bad, maybe we should just take whatever we can find in here and call it a day. Not like there ain't things worth takin'."

Vinyl wrinkled her nose. "We're sitting on top of a bunch of real treasure and we're just... backing out..." She looked to the shaking Bullette. "Well... alright..." She sighed as she cast her eyes about the room. "You two have put your necks on the line for us plenty already. I won't get snippy that you don't want to do it some more."

Bullette nodded in a single firm motion. "Affirmative. Before the Blaze, they made things that could cause great harm." She went quiet a moment before raising a hoof to direct at herself. "They made me... I am relieved that we will not attempt this action."

Vinyl suddenly tackled Bullette to the ground, hugging the little metal filly tightly. "Don't you even dare to start thinking like that. You're made of 100% awesome!"

No Name casually pulled Vinyl free, sweeping her away with a powerful hoof. "Besides, you ain't 'made'." He set the same hoof on her back. "You were raised by a pony that didn't know what he was doin'."

"You did an acceptable job." She bounced up against No Name, her smile returning. "Now we are stuck with one another. This is an acceptable fate."

"Yeah." They shared a little smile of known hurts.

"What's this?" Vinyl was lifting a mechanical device in her magic. "Is this a can opener?"

"That's exactly what that is." No Name nodded at it. "Take it. It's metal if nothin' else. Someone may want it fer what it is. Any cans around here? That pony had ta eat somethin'."

Vinyl casually tossed  it into No Name's saddlebags. "Only empty ones." She kicked over a small pile of them in a great clatter.

No Name frowned a little. "Guess we know how they died then..."

"Insufficient nourishment," agreed Bullette. "Cans have a low weight to value ratio. Seek higher values for optimal carrying capacity use."

"She ain't wrong." No Name stepped through the relatively small room, squinting at what lined the dusty shelves. "No bullets? Guns don't work without 'em. Not much reason they'd be out."

"Pre-Blaze bullets are within optimal value ratio," sang out Bullette as she bounced around, searching for the lost munitions.

Vinyl turned her magic from one curious thing to the next. Many were so old and decayed that they were fairly valueless, crumbling into bits as soon as she handled them a moment. Some were not. With curiosity perked and her eyes wandering, she didn't even notice when her hoof went into a little hole and she toppled over with a pained yelp.

"Aw that hurts..." She muted any curses she might have had in mind, slowly pulling her hoof free of the little hole. "Who puts a hole in the middle of the floor?"

Bullette bounced away from it. "Do not interact!"

No Name hiked a brow. "Why are we scared of a hole?"

Bullette pointed at it. "Likelihood of entrance to ultra-violent danger, 75%"

No Name rolled a hoof. "Or it might be just where they were hiding the bullets."

"Risk reward ratio is unfavorable." Bullette crossed her little arms, squatting on her hind legs. "Do not proceed."

No Name turned away from it with a huff, searching the shelves with his large hooves. "Pity the radio broke, woulda been worth somethin'."

"Just melted junk now." Vinyl nudged the smoldering pile of parts. "Oh well. We can't be that upset; not like we didn't get stuff worth taking. Speaking of that..." She moved over to the body that was just there. "Are we just going to keep pretending this isn't here? I mean, shouldn't we bury it or something?"

No Name hiked a brow. "Time we spend doin' a favor for someone beyond carin' is time we could get jumped."

Bullette nodded in agreement. "That would not be logical."

"Ain't nothing 'logical' about it, just..." She squinted at the long-dead pony. "I wouldn't want to just be left there... just... like this... Least we can do is put them somewhere better. Hay, set them on fire or something. Anything other than just... let them rot in the middle of the floor."

"Don't think there's no rottin' going on."

"Affirmative." Bullette nodded firmly. "Moisture content critically low. Value detected!" She leaned in over the expired pony and reached with her mouth, casually grabbing something attached to the pony's wrist and working it free. "Mission complete!" she sang, the armband, or legband in the case of ponies, dangling from her teeth.

"Hm?" No Name turned to get a better look. "Holy crap on a stick. Is that what I think it is?"

"Affirmative." She paused. "We should confirm our thoughts are in sync. This is a Luminated Assistance Piece, otherwise known as a LAP." She let it drop onto a held out hoof. "Value: Error."

"Error?" Vinyl squinted a little. "The way you were acting, it was... really valuable."

"Affirmative! Its price is beyond known scales."

No Name started moving for the door. "It's time to go."

"Affirmative." She was soon on top of him, dropping the LAP into his saddlebags. "How do we leave?"

There was only the rope still dangling down to leave through.

Vinyl followed them out of the bunker. "Woah, hold on a step there. Why are we leaving all of a sudden."

"This confirms my suspicions." Bullette bobbed her head. "Evacuation is recommended."

"What, did only military people have one of those... whatever they are? What is it? Tell me something!" Vinyl went up to the rope and grabbed it in her teeth, working her way up it as if it wasn't a big deal. "Come on. Ain't they ever made you climb a rope in gym before?"

"Vinyl," came Octavia's relieved voice from above. "You're just in time..."

Bullette tilted her head at her ascending friend, then looked down at her mount. "Proposed action?"

"Didn't figure I'd run into a pony that knew what a gym class was." He snorted softly and grabbed the rope in his mouth. "I'm going to climb by walking," spoke one of his snakes, unbothered by the rope in his mouth.

"Position secured!" sang out Bullette.

Just as he started to try to walk on the wall, placing a hoof up against the dirt, something grabbed one of his ankles. "Give it back," croaked a voice dry as dust. Behind them was the body of the pony that they had left behind. It teeth  were on his ankle, not piercing it, but holding it steady. "Give it back..."

"Aw hell no!" He stomped down with his other hind hoof, crushing the head of the thing into so much grit and dust.

Bullette squinting down at it. "Probability of defeat, 25%"

"Really, only 25%? I damn exploded its head and only 25%?"

"Give it back," croaked the voice as the rest of the body fell into the same dust, gathering together into an equine figure, just as thin and emaciated as the original body, its eyes glowing a baleful red shade. "Give it back."

Bullette's hoof began to expand as the attachments to allow it to operate as a flamethrower slid into position. "Initiate combat!"

"What's going on down there?" Vinyl poked her head in from above. "The hay is that thing?!"

"Give it back." It lashed out at No Name's exposed rump with a dusty hoof, leaving razor-like lines of blood in a cruel rake. "Give it back."

"Aw fuckin', I heard you! Damn it all." He released the rope and twisted around to face the thing. "Keep it in yer pants." Not that the thing approaching him had pants or many other things a pony should have. Just spiteful anger.

Octavia pointed to where dust was being kicked up in the wastes, approaching them. "We have our own problems. We either try to hide and hope they pass, or we meet them, or...?"

"Give it back." It struck with surprising swiftness, bashing No Name across the face with the texture of an aggressively thrown bowling ball covered in sandpaper.

Bullette screamed in defiance. as the last tube plugged into place. With a soft click, the flames began, washing over the sandy creature in a great plume of heat.

"Give it back." It did not seem harmed by the fires that lit it up, some of the sand that comprised it fusing into glass and its attack continuing unabated, only growing sharper for the heat applied to it.

"This ain't workin'!" No Name pulled his sign free and brought it down on the sandy foe, forcing it back a precious foot, but causing no lasting injuries that he could see. "Shoulda listened."

"You should have," agreed Bullette. "Danger level: Purple. Permission to unlock?" Her eyes turned to the peeking Vinyl. "Withdraw to a minimum safe distance."

"Mini... Octi, we gotta go." She gave a magical tug at Octavia as she broke into a gallop away from the hole.

"What are you..." Despite her confusion, Octavia got to her own hooves and dashed after Vinyl, trying to catch up to  her with a growing frown.

"Give it back." It attacked his sign, abrasing great gouges of the abused paint along with the metal that hid underneath it. No Name did all he could to keep the thing at a distance, slowly edging around it, though there was nowhere to run towards.

Above, both could see the dust drawing close. Vinyl slowed a little for Octavia to catch up. "Look, we're gonna have to deal with that ourselves. They're busy down there, and there isn't any pause on that track list, if you get my meaning."

"No, but I understand enough." Octavia let out a soft breath. "We'll have to handle this reasonably. With any luck, they're just travelers, like us, and they won't want trouble."

The sound of hooves became audible in the air. Not that there weren't already hooves hitting the ash. Whoever was approaching was riding a horse, a real horse. Big, powerful, and not so smart. It bore an equine rider. Attached to the pony's side was a strange pole. A spear? It didn't look like a proper spear, or lance. It was a weapon, they were both fairly sure of.

The pony was female, with flowing pink hair, brown fur, and blue eyes that were partially hidden behind goggles. "You there," she called out in the sylvan tongue. "I am not a brigand. What are you doing here?"

Octavia's expression brightened into a smile. "I'm glad to hear that, miss...?"

"Shadow. Fast Shadow." The mare nodded softly towards Octavia, then Vinyl. "Pleasure to meet you both."

"Uh, hey," greeted Vinyl with a raised brow. "What brings you out here?"

"That voice! Yes, you were talking to Duck, weren't you?" She slid off her horse easily, patting the beast with a gentle pat of her hooves and a few soft words.

Vinyl blinked softly. "You heard that?"

"One of the better things to listen to out here." She approached, her horse trailing behind her. "I heard someone was close to this beep and had to come look. It's dangerous. I'm glad you're both alright."

Octavia glanced back towards where they had left their friends. "We are growing intimately aware of that fact. Our friends are locked in combat with... something."

Fast Shadow scowled at that. "Then we haven't any time to lose. Where are they?" When both mares pointed, Fast Shadow bolted towards the trouble in a spirited gallop.

They were left standing there with Fast's horse. The horse snorted softly, looking at them as if just as annoyed at being left behind as they could be.
> 33 - We Need a Hero
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fast Shadow's charge came to a sudden halt. She hadn't stopped. She was, in fact, moving faster than before, but it was straight down. The ground beneath her had given out as earth exploded upwards as if the world had detonated beneath her, leaving her to fall between the disintegrating chunks of rocks.

She desperately pedaled her hooves before she found a larger rock on the way down. It crumbled as soon as she tried to push off of it, but she ran right through it into another, larger rock that didn't collapse under the pressure. She jumped just before it struck the ground that was thankfully there.

She landed with a heavy grunt, having survived the fall, The stones were coming back down, raining in a pelting of earthen hail. "By Blaze's fiery beard..." She pushed ahead through it, towards the other noise she could hear.

No Name was not mounted by Bullette. He wore her as the weapons platform she was designed to be. He ducked around a lashed tendril of debris and junk, the thing they fought casually incorporating bits of dirt and stone into its furious assault.

"Innocent detected," spoke his half-armor. "Heavy weapons disabled."

"Aw, damn it. This really... isn't the time." No Name scrambled away from the calmly pursuing equine figure.

"Give it back." It had not changed its approach, coming closer with those glowing red eyes born of nothing but the petty fury that comprised it.

The bunker they were in was reduced to a burnt shell. It was clearly resting on a much larger structure. Whatever it was made of resisted Belle's explosion, standing as a metal cube in the revealed crater around it. "Give it back."

"Do you think this counts as 'minimum safe distance?" Vinyl stood at the lip of the new crater. "Looks like it to me."

Octavia shook her head softly. "Are you making a joke at a time like this? They look like they're in real trouble down there."

Fast Shadow closed the distance at a hurried scramble, swinging her strange spear up with a casual twist of her side as she came. "Not sure what that is or what you did to get it going, but I won't let it join the wastes. We have enough horrors out here, thank you."

The spear sparked and crackled violently as Fast's eyes flared just as brightly as if she were powering it with some kind of internal power. "Go back to Hell and tell them we aren't interested!"

"Bloody hell, she's unhinged!" No Name backed away from her just as quickly as he had the undead monster pursuing him.

Fast Shadow paid no mind to his worried call, crashing into the sandy creature spear first. The electricity flared and exploded against it. The creature shrieked and backed up a step. "Give it back," it moaned as if in bitter cry against an unfair world.

"Elemental vulnerability detected," noted Bullette as she began to reform into her filly shape, pulling back together on top of No Name. "Employ electrical attacks."

"Oh, sure, I'll just... ask the clouds to get with the lightnin'." No Name frowned at the two fighting. "Or we could get the heck away?"

"Invalid tactic." Bullette crossed her arms. "We must assist!"

"Can you zap it?"

"Affirmative! Get closer." She struck her hooves together, power crackling between them powerfully. "Ready!"

Vinyl squinted through the dust to where the action was. "She's pretty good..." She watched as Fast drew out a shield just in time to deflect an incoming spray of glass and rocks. She was holding it clenched tight in her teeth and twisting about to drive her strange spear at the creature.

Neither side was surprised by the other, causing the fight to become more of a dead lock as both parried and swung, trying to find a weak point to attack.

A soft whicker got Vinyl's attention, glancing up at the big horse that Fast had left with them. "Oh, hey there. It's alright, she wouldn't have wanted you falling down there." The horse chuffed softly as if agreeing with the idea.

With a roaring hiss, No Name charged the thing. The creature paid him no mind, confident in his lack of ability to deal any real damage.

That opinion proved incorrect as Bullette clopped her hooves on either side of the thing's head on the way past, electricity lighting the battlefield in a deadly display. Bullette flopped against No Name as he charged past. "Recharging," she weakly noted, riding him limply.

"Give it back." The structure that made it up wasn't as complete as once it had been, bits of dust falling away even as others were grabbed as if it were desperately trying to keep its insides in the right place and only partially succeeding.

"I'll give you back," grunted out Fast as she drove her spear into the chest of the momentarily staggered beast. Light and crackling flared across the battlefield as she pressed forward, preventing it from backing away and keeping the electrified spear in contact with it. "There's nothing for you here. Go away."

With a wordless howl, the equine dispersed. Fast turned away from the beast towards No Name. "It's not often I rescue something your... size?"

"Ain't so sure I'm 'rescued' just yet." He pointed past Fast.

Behind her, the dispersed glass and dirt was coming together in a whirling maelstrom, a tornado of pure malice that began to swirl towards her. "Give it back." Its words were literal whispers on the wind, easy to miss among the more pressing noises of its angry swirling. "Give it back."

"What did you take from the thing?" squeaked out Fast as she danced away from it before she could be drawn into its violent eddies. "Stubborn tornado, we're not giving you anything!"

"Affirmative," cried Bullette, looking recovered. "Resume electro-therapy!"

"Yeah yeah..." No Name circled the thing in a spiraling approach, trying to put the monster between himself and his 'savior'. "Can you even pin a tornado?" He wasn't sure, but he tried anyway. The closer he got, the more grit began to be kicked up, abrasing against his every softer portion harder the closer he came. "Sure wish I had some damn goggles about now."

Octavia nudged Vinyl gently. "Shouldn't you be singing them some sort of battle song?"

"Oh yeah!" She hopped over the lip of the hole, her magic flipping her headphones around to face outwards. "I'm comin'! You can't fight properly without a slamming soundtrack to do it to."

Fast lifted an ear as a new noise  joined the struggle. Electronic music was approaching rapidly. As it came close enough to hear clearly, she could feel a new power welling up in her. She smiled viciously at the swirling eddies. "It seems we have more allies." She didn't bother to offer a chance to withdraw or flee to the seemingly mindless opponent, instead charging directly for its center with her crackling spear at the ready.

No Name chuckled wryly as the sound of Vinyl's music reached him. "Cavalry's here." He charged ahead towards the center of the thing. "Do your thing, Bullette!"

"Affirmative," she cried, voice warbling wildly as she reached out with two crackling hooves. She shoved them into the body of the living tornado and seemed to be jolted, ears twitching. "Electrical interference detected!"

The electricity angrily pouring from her hooves met and mingled with Fast's thrust polearm. The entire tornado began to glow with the combined and mingling power. Electricity arced wildly in different directions as if it were being swirled about as readily as any speck of glass or stone.

"Give... it... back..." sighed out the voice, fading as the air began to calm and disperse. Bits of dust fell to the ground around them, leaving them heaving, but victorious.

Fast twisted herself, her spear ceasing its crackling and sparking. "Alright... So... what did you do?" She pointed over at the exposed cube. "That's going to kill the first curious person to come to the area. Who are you all?"

Vinyl turned down her music and flipped it back onto her ears. "Yo. We already met. I'm Vinyl Scratch."

No Name raised a brow. "And you're unhinged."

Fast snorted softly. "And you have literal snakes in your mouth that talk for you. You have so little room to be eyeing me like I'm the freak here. Now, your name?"

Octavia slid down the edge of the crater, the horse following after her with seemingly more sure hooves than she had.

Bullette raised a hoof. "Fast Shadow, searching..." She frowned a little. "File found?"

"That ain't so sure." No Name arched a brow back at his companion. "What's with that?"

Vinyl waved at No Name. "Big guy's No Name. The cute filly there is Bullette Belle, a perfectly normal filly for her age."

Fast's brows went up together. "Perfectly normal," she echoed with uncertainty. "Nice to meet you now that our lives are not being directly threatened. What are we doing about that?" She gestured at the exposed piece of military bunker. "That will kill people, no doubts about it."

Bullette pointed at Fast. "I remember a poster. You were on it."

Fast tilted her head a little. "A poster? That's flattering..."

"This was before the Blaze." Bullette frowned, her voice lowering in octaves. "Error..."

No Name shrugged softly. "I don't remember no Fast Shadow."

Fast shrugged softly. "I didn't pick my name. Anyway, that isn't getting us out of this hole. Sure Step!" She smiled as her horse came close. "Big oaf, you could've waited for me." She closed the distance and gently hugged her horse, making the little nonsensical happy noises pet owners were known to make when around their beloved animal.

The horse seemed content to accept the affection and return a few nuzzles and nips, tugging at her mane and ear in a way that could have been painful, but Fast didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Bullette clopped her hooves. "Friendship detected. Friendship file created for Fast Shadow. Friendship file created for Sure Step."

Octavia caught up with Sure Step, breathing a little harder than usual. "Is everypony alright?" She looked from person to person before nudging Vinyl. "Do you have anymore healing power?"

"Tapped out." Vinyl shrugged softly. "Even us rock goddesses can only jam out so much in a day. It takes it out of you. I vote we get away from here and back towards town."

No Name snorted softly. "Look, this ain't our problem, and beyond what we can fix. I say we get out of here." He pointed back towards Turves. "We tell them what happened. If someone with more experience and power wants to come storming in here, well, they'll do it pre-warned. Otherwise, not our problem."

Octavia frowned at the exposed segment of the cube. "Is there some... way we could bury it again?"

Fast snorted at that. "I should think not, without weeks of effort, or countless years of natural action." She sighed softly. "I'm afraid No Name here is correct. We either push ahead and explore it, or we get out of here, and I came here to check on you all, not go nose-first into danger, which I did anyway." She rolled her eyes. "Why do you two seem... familiar." She looked to Vinyl and Octavia. "There's something about you two..."

No Name stepped between the two mares and Fast. "They ain't from around here. Anyway, you did your good favor. Thanks."

Bullette suddenly bopped him on the head. "Incorrect friendship behavior."

"She's unhinged, dangerous, and--"

Vinyl lifted a hoof. "This is the part where you tell us what 'unhinged' means. So far I know, it means nuts, and she hasn't really struck me as nuts besides being willing to come save your big butt."

Fast let out a slow breath. "The unhinged are those touched by the power of Everglow itself." She bumped her spear with a hoof. "It lets me power my electrolance here." It crackled to life a moment. "It keeps me from being ripped to shreds too easily. It also makes me dangerous."

No Name nodded. "Emphasis on that last bit. It's power, pure and simple. You know what power does."

Bullette proceeded to bonk him once more, striking him with her hoof. "I am powerful."

"Yeah, but I know you..."

Bullette pointed to Fast. "Begin accruing friendship points!"

Fast smiled thinly. "Let's get out of this hole. I think we can all agree with that goal." She reared up onto two legs just to jump up, swinging herself into position on top of her horse. She ran a hoof gently along his neck. "The crater's not too steep, we should be able to just walk out."

The group began to move, ascending the walls of broken stone. They knew they had reached the top when they began to step on ash instead of pulverized stone and dirt. They had returned to the ashen wastelands. Octavia was the first to pull herself back up over the lip. "Despite the words of my companion, I am quite grateful for your presence, Miss Shadow. Thank you for your timely assistance."

"A pleasure to help such a polite mare." She glared at No Name, her eyes about equal with his while mounted on her horse. "Did I get your name?"

"Octavia." She dipped her head. "We were just trying to pay back a debt we incurred with the town of Turves."

Fast perked both ears. "How did you end up in debt to an entire town rather than a given person?"

Sure Step snorted as if in agreement of that being surprising, or perhaps in response to his rider's emotional state.

No Name shrugged softly. "They sprang for our medical bills. These two insist we even that ledger out right away, so here we are."

"I can appreciate that thought." Fast smiled gently at the two mares. "Are you going back to Turves then? Just as well. I had meant to resupply."

Vinyl lifted an ear as she began to trot towards Turves, leaving the bunker's secrets behind. "Do you live there?"

"I should imagine not." Fast tossed her head in No Name's direction. "People get nervous around the unhinged. I can only help from the outside. They let me come in and trade once in a while, so long as I keep moving afterwards."

Octavia frowned at that, walking along aside Sure Step. She didn't try to look at Fast Shadow, far above her. "That's not reasonable at all. You're a hero and a good pony. People should be delighted to have you as a neighbor."

No Name shrugged softly. "If it wasn't fer Long Shot being there, I woulda been kicked out too. She didn't stand up for you, Fast?"

"She might have wanted to." Fast arched a brow. "If I let her, that is. I don't want to strain the town, and I don't need to settle down."

No Name chuffed suddenly. "That's what I said! She got me anyway..."

Fast suddenly smiled naughtily. "Maybe she likes her stallions large." Sure Step snorted softly.

Vinyl broke out into laughter. "While that's funny, I doubt it. She, uh, they don't do... anything?"

"Not that it's your business," grumbled No Name as he walked along.

Octavia shook her head softly. "Let's not linger on the relationships of people who are not ourselves." She glanced aside at the big horse. "I... what is that? They are... not a pony, I gather?"

Fast gently stroked Sure Step's neck. "Sure here? He's a horse. Related to ponies, not as... clever, but faster, bigger, stronger,  and more delicate. I keep him healthy and fed, he carries me around and helps protect me. We're partners, right?" Sure Step whickered in reply, sounding affirmative.

Vinyl circled around the back of Sure Step. "He's a whole lot of equine. Sorta like No Name, minus the snakes and not as talkative. Heya, Sure Step."

Sure Step leaned over and lipped Vinyl's ear the moment she was in range, drawing a squeal of giggles from the mare. "Oh, wow! He's affectionate too. Where can I get one?!"

Fast raised a brow. "Have you ever had a pet before? They are a tremendous responsibility. If you get one solely for what it may bring you, you are consigning it to misery. Caring for them is an unending task." She squeezed with her hind legs gently, steering her mount. "It is rewarding, but to see it as less than a duty will not suffice."

Octavia smirked at her friend. "Do you remember the plant you purchased?"

"You're gonna bring that up?! It's not my fault!"

Octavia rolled her eyes. "You watered it approximately twice over the span of a month. If Fluttershy hadn't seen it wilting in the window, it would surely have perished."

Bullette raised a hoof just to level it at Vinyl. "Irresponsible."

Vinyl gasped dramatically. "You too?! Aw, everyone's against the Scratch getting an awesome horse..."

"Horses are expensive," noted No Name, glancing aside at the beast that rivaled him for size. "Expensive to buy, expensive to keep. Miss Shadow here must be doing pretty well for herself if she can have one."

Fast twitched her pink tail lightly. "I work hard for the continued ability to do that. Fortunately for me, there are many wrongs to right, and scraps of decency that cause trade goods to fall into my hooves. When that fails, there are places like the one we just left. Speaking of..."

She looked aside at No Name, veering her horse in closer. "Those guns you have attached to you appear to be suspiciously... mint. Pre-Blaze?"

"Yeah..." No Name edged a little further away, but Fast casually kept her horse veering to keep up. "What about 'em?"

"I risked my hide saving the lot of you. One of those would be a perfectly equitable trade?" She rolled a hoof towards the three guns. "That leaves two for the rest of you. Not an unreasonable trade, I should think."

No Name looked ready to unleash into an angry torrent, but Bullette beat him to the punch with a thrust hoof. "Unacceptable!" she sang, smiling. "We should liquidate the goods into more easily traded materials, then shares can be alloted."

Fast raised a brow. "You're lucky I prefer smaller guns to big long arms like those." She leaned over, peering at the guns. "Gorgeous... Make sure you get a good price on them."

Vinyl bumped into Sure Step, almost getting stomped on for her trouble. "Woah! Hey, you use that big... spear thingie, why do you like small guns?"

Fast shook her head. "It's not obvious? Small guns I can hold in my mouth. Large guns are harder to  use. The electrolance works just fine resting on my side as it does. I have a friend who prefers large guns attached to themselves, the larger, the better..."

"She sounds like my kinda mare." Vinyl grinned at the mental image. "Is she around here?"

"Her name is Sonja." Fast nodded softly. "You never know exactly where she is, much like myself. Perhaps the Author will decide our narratives will cross, but the odds are against it."

Octavia narrowed her eyes a moment. "Author?"

"Another pony god," provided No Name with a shrug. "They got a lot of them. Not as many as humans though. Humans make them up for every little thing. Kinda crazy if you ask me. Like we need that many."

Vinyl tilted her head. "Make them up? If they're gods, aren't they the ones making things up?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Or do I got the idea of gods backwards or something?"

"Dawn Event would love this conversation..." Fast smiled wistfully as she rode along. "That is a heavy topic that you could debate for a lifetime with scarcely any progress found at the end of it. I prefer to place my faith where I feel comfortable. I walk in The Brilliance's warmth, hoping for a return of the sun. The Author weaves an interesting life for me. She decided I should meet you four, and here we are."

Octavia scoffed at that. "You decided to meet us, and that decision is one I am personally grateful for. It seems demeaning to negate that decision by saying some other force beyond us made it for you."

"That I can agree with." No Name nodded lightly. "Ya decided to come check things out. That's on you, not anyone else."

"Friendship points accrued," agreed Bullette with a happy bobbing of her head. "What is your favorite color?"

Fast blinked at the sudden question. "I find myself partial to shades of red. Why?"

Bullette bobbed her head. "Red is a pleasing portion of the spectrum," she agreed with hesitation. "I like pink." She pointed at Fast's bouncing mane. "Your mane is a nice shade."

Fast colored faintly, laughing at the compliment. "Thank you, Bullette was it? Your mane is... very aesthetically appealing."

Bullette gasped in several octaves at once. "Thank you!" She looked positively radiant at the precise praise she received. "What do you enjoy doing when survival requirements have been satisfied?"

Fast considered that with a frown. "It may feel counter-intuitive, but I enjoy sparring. I especially love teaching. If I can beat a few educational bruises into some young warrior so they don't get murdered later, that's a day well spent." She patted her spear with her left hoof. "Better a rude jolt from me than being run through or filled with bullets."

Vinyl made a face. "Wait, does that thing come in settings other than 'electrocute the snot out of it'?"

Fast nodded. "I can strike to stun. It's painful, but leaves no lasting harm. Would you like to try it?"

Vinyl hopped away. "Thanks but naaaaahhhh."

The dim light of day began to fade. Night was coming and the group slowed. Fast slipped down from Sure Step and began the process of feeding and watering her beloved horse.

Octavia and Vinyl worked together to get the tent erected, with No Name driving in the stakes that would keep the tent from blowing away in the case of strong winds.

Not to be left out, Bullette got a small fire going in a circle of stones. She clopped her hooves when the fire started properly. "You may initiate the processing of edibles," she sang joyfully.

Fast settled beside Bullette. "I don't often bother starting a fire, it draws trouble. Still, since it's here... why don't we pass the time amiably?"

Vinyl tilted her head a little. "How do you figure we do that?"

"We can tell ghost stories." Fast nodded softly. "You two look like you may have a new one or two." She glanced between Vinyl and Octavia. "I'll start, to be polite."

Evening became night as they shared tales of creepy things. They were not tales of direct threats. They had enough of those in the waking hours. No, ghost stories appropriate to share in the wastes were of more subtle menaces that stalked and unnerved.

Octavia stroked her instrument case gently. "That was when she realized, gazing into that mirror, that there was no monster. She was the monster, and she could see in her own eyes that she was still hungry."

Fast clopped her hooves lightly. "Delightfully intimidating. I would not wish that fate on anyone. No Name, do you have a story to share?"

He huffed a little sigh. "None I want to repeat. Belle?"

"Yes!" She bounced up to her hooves. "Initiate background music." From within her came eerie and warbly music to set the mood.

Vinyl laughed at that, her horn glowing as she switched tracks. "Here." She flipped them around and filled the air with better quality spooky music. "There you go."

Belle's music faded. "Thank you. There was once a little colt..." She began her exactingly precise tale, her little hooves waving wildly.
> 34 - Cashing In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They reached Turves mid-morning the next day. It hadn't been a long trip out to begin with, and coming back was, in many ways, the easier leg of the journey. They passed a guard on the way in. The purrsian cocked a brow, his hands on his shotgun and a twitch in his tail. "Welcome back," he offered to most of them, but his eyes were on Fast. "You just passing through?"

Fast snorted softly. "You know the deal. Just fetching some supplies, and finishing business with the rest of them."

Bullette bobbed her head. "We are doing the same. Are the traders present?"

The guard shook his head. "No out of town ones if that's what you mean." He pointed with a lone finger into town. "The local market's open though, so have at."

"Affirmative," she sang joyfully, pronking forward on her own little hooves. She did not require a ride within safe places.

Vinyl sidled up next to Fast, who had slid down from her horse. "You know, you could read the guard as being suspicious of you."

"And I do," she casually agreed.

"But I don't see it that way."

Fast Shadow quirked an ear towards Vinyl. "Go on?" she prompted with mild curiosity.

"He isn't scared of you." She smirked a little. "He's thinking 'Oh great, here's the mare that just won't stick around. Why does she keep throwing her life away in the wastes? She must be crazy.'"

Fast snorted at the very idea. "An interesting theory, but it will remain as only an untested one, I should think."

Vinyl shrugged at that. "Not like my rock magic lets me peek in people's heads, though that would be pretty awesome."

Octavia hiked a brow, hearing the discussion. "I would not trust you with those powers, dear Vinyl."

Vinyl's smirk deepened into a grin. "Afraid I'd find out just how wild you are under that calm shell of yours? Your secret's safe with me, 'Tavi."

Octavia rolled her eyes before moving towards the market. "Come, let's sell those guns for something more easily divided. Then we can pay back the town and our brave savior here." She tossed her head towards Fast.

"Speaking of that, what about the--" Vinyl didnt get to finish her words.

A forelock had been thrown over her mouth and she was pulled right up off the ground into a sudden embrace by No Name. Her words became muffled  and lost as she squirmed and fought, but he was as strong as he looked, and she was as weak as one might have guessed.

No Name laughed awkwardly. "Let's get to selling the three guns we found in the bunker."

Fast cocked a brow at the display. "If you have secrets, keep them, but don't insult me with paper thin bluffs." She shook her head as she advanced. "Since you obviously have something you don't want to split, I'll take the full value of one of the guns to not ask questions. You could just give me a gun, it'd be easier."

Octavia held up a hoof. "Wait. Bullette?"

"Yes?" She stopped mid-hop, landing and pivoting towards Octavia.

"If we gave Fast Shadow one of those guns, would we have sufficient remaining value to pay our debts?" She pointed at the guns, then Fast Shadow.

"Processing..." Bullette tapped a hoof slowly. "Complete. Affirmative."

Octavia turned to No Name. "Then I nominate we do just that. Her help was both timely and selfless. She didn't even ask for payment until she saw we had something we could pay with. I believe she would have not complained had it turned out we had nothing to our names."

Fast Shadow did not agree or disagree. She calmly looked to No Name, her horse watching him as well over her shoulder.

No Name hissed softly through several snakes at once. "Fine. Pick one, enjoy." He turned to the side, making it easy to see the guns strapped to him.

Fast stepped forward. "You really should relax. I don't know how you keep the company of these two--" She tossed her head towards Octavia and Vinyl. "--with that attitude." She looked over the three before selecting one with a nod. She grabbed it in her teeth carefully and pulled it free of the straps that held it down. "Gorgeous. Best of luck to you all."

Vinyl watched Fast as she slid the gun up onto her horse much like it had been strapped to No Name. "Hey, are you going?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Fast smiled a little. "I'll get supplies and move on. You all have your own story to write, and you don't need me making it awkward. Good luck getting home." She swung up onto her horse with a practiced motion. "Until next our narratives meet."

Octavia softly cleared her throat beside No Name. "That wasn't very welcoming."

"Friendship error," agreed Bullette. "I was getting close to level two friendship."

Vinyl burst into laughter. "Wait, they come in levels now?" She leaned towards Bullette. "What friendship level are we?"

"Four," merrily reported Bullette, bobbing her head. "We cannot progress further."

She blinked at that. "Huh, why not?"

"Because you are leaving.  Do not worry, I have plans." She bounced in place. "Friendship points will continue to be accrued."

Octavia shook her head mildly. "Let's get to the market, without a potential new ally." She led the way.

"Ah ain't apologizin'," insisted No Name as he followed behind everyone else.

Octavia twisted an ear back towards him. "Then explain this; why are you alright with us and our strange magics? Bullette said that mine was especially unusual. Shouldn't you be just as wary?"

"Nah." He advanced on her, easily closing the distance. "I'm protecting you, and her." He looked to Vinyl. "Protocol 'Lost Puppies', remember?"

Bullette bobbed her head in quick agreement. "Statute 22, any abnormalities in lost puppies is to be ignored if not utilized for the protection of the lost puppies. Statute 23. If any abnormality cannot be ignored due to safety conditions, consider rescinding lost puppy status."

"You didn't have to mention the next rule," noted a different snake as No Name huffed.

Octavia smirked softly. "Well, I can understand that, in part. You gave us a chance because you were protecting us. So long as we don't turn out to be ready to explode violently, you'll put up with our quirks."

Vinyl suddenly reared up just to cross her arms in what she assumed to be a striking pose. "We are ready to explode!"

Bullette shook her head. "Your application of sonic weapons has already been deemed acceptable."

Vinyl fell back to all fours. "Oh, sure, just take all the wind out of my sails."

"Sails not detected." Bullette tilted her head. "Are you wind powered? Should we obtain sails at the market?"

Octavia smiled at the two's antics, but was turning her gaze onto No Name. "Alright, here we are. Time to trade, yes?"

"Yeah, actually..." He coiled back and looked at the guns, considering. "I think we're in the wrong place."

"Error!" Bullette looked around the market they were on the edge of. "Market detected."

"Yeah, sure is, but Lunarquills should have first crack at these. We owe him that much, and I bet he'd love to get his talons on these."

Bullette bounced, a smile on her face. "Affirmative! Uncle Lunar!" She began in a new direction, pronking with obvious joy.

Vinyl tried to match Bullette's bouncing, even managing it for a bonce or two before she fell back to trotting. "How do you even do that? It's so tiring! Anyway, Uncle Lunar, isn't he the one that got Octavia her gun?"

Octavia raised a hoof to her holster. "He showed me how to use it as well. I have no objections to selling these to him if he wants them."

They soon arrived at the workshop of one Lunarquills, griffon gunsmith. He was at home and was facing the door as Bullette bounced through it. "There you are, I heard you coming a mile away."

"Your audio sensors are working at full capacity," spoke Bullette in complimenting tones. "We have come with gifts!"

No Name poked his head in. "Ya can't call it a gift if ya want somethin' back fer it."

Lunar waved towards No Name. "He has a point. Still, what've-- Oh, hey." Octavia and Vinyl were filing into his workshop as well. "The gang's all here. You're all lookin' better than before, good to see."

Vinyl grabbed a gun with a glowing horn, yanking it free of No Name easily. "Look what we have!"

Lunarquills was on his feet in an instant. "Holy hell!" He rushed across the workspace to place his talons on the gun in a reverent caress. "A touch of rust, but I can clean that... Mmm..."

Octavia smiled softly. "Just imagine his expression when he realizes we have two of them."

"Stop it! You'll kill me." He looked to the second. "A shotgun? Wonderful!" He soon had a gun held in either hand, looking unsure which he should be worshipping first. "I don't even know where to start..."

Bullette shook her head. "You should sit down. Causing you harm was not our intention."

"I'm fine, promise." He returned to his workbench and carefully laid both guns down. "These were bottled up somewhere relatively dry. Did you bust into a bunker to drag these out?"

Vinyl shrugged softly. "We didn't get into the bunker bunker part."

Lunar dropped the small tool he had just about to start using. "There's more?"

No Name squirmed his way in carefully. "Full military bunker, exposed and ready for lootin', if you want to face the obvious danger of that."

Lunar tapped several claws together with a soft grumbling. "Time to get the boys together. You owed the town, right? Tell 'em I say you're even. Assuming we don't all die, we'll owe you by the time we get back." He hopped to his feet, leaving the gun behind and instead grabbing another off the wall. "This is worth a trip into the ashes."

His retreat was stopped by a metal filly clinging to one of his legs, wailing electronically, "Nooooo! Danger level: ultra violet! Do not proceed!"

Lunar reached down to give Bullette a little pat. "I won't be alone. We'll take it slow and careful. The boys and I can handle this, or run like hell was chasing us if it goes wrong." He winked at her. "Remember, ain't gotta be fastest, just not the slowest."

Vinyl snorted at that. "Cold, dude, cold."

"But true." He gently pulled his leg away from Bullette. "See you when I get back, if you're here. Don't touch my damn stuff!" He stormed out, eyes full of the fire only an adventurer with potential loot in front him could have.

Octavia rubbed behind her head lightly. "Hmm, not what I expected... still, it does mean we've done our part. This also means that... what was it? Lap?"

"L. A. P.," corrected Bullette, bouncing back to all fours. from a compartment, it spat out onto the floor for her to grab it up in her mouth, then drop it onto a hoof. "I cannot use it."

Vinyl hiked a brow behind her goggles at that. "Why not? You have an arm, two of them in fact. You just... put it on one, right?"

Bullette nodded quickly. "Affirmative, but it will not activate without... a pulse. Life signs are required to begin its function. The cessation of life signs will end its function. That is why we could remove it."

Vinyl snorted loudly. "It's loss. It could have been on the arm of the best filly ever, but nooo, it's gotta be stupid. Whatever." She strolled up to bullette and bumped noses. "More Bullette for me!"

Bullette smiled brightly, the sting of admitting she was not really alive insofar as the average pony was concerned fading rapidly. "You could have it." She held it up towards Vinyl.

Vinyl eyed it curiously but looked to No Name instead. "Before I go grabbing that, your thoughts?"

No Name looked surprised in a pleasant way. "You're growing... That thing's priceless, but once you put it on, it stays until death do you part. It, uh... charges itself. Don't ask how, dunno. Pretty useful, last I heard." He shrugged softly. "We could sell it for a lot, trade it for something big, or a lot of small shiny thin's."

Octavia lifted her shoulders. "You have done so much for us; I'd be hard pressed to feel even slightly upset if you were to want it, or whatever you bartered it for." She gestured towards No Name. "These 'lost puppies' as you refer to us, are grateful for your help."

"Should I not have put it on then?"

All eyes turned to Vinyl who had the LAP strapped onto one of her arms. "Ow," she hissed. "It just bit me, is that normal? Ack, tight, tight tight!" She bounced around in place. The devilish thing squeezed quite hard a moment but relented, finding just the right amount of pressure to apply to be securely attached.

The same pony whose doll Octavia had appeared on the screen of the LAP, giving a confident wink at the user. Below her displayed 'Luminated Assistance Piece: Operating System 2.03.4h' The image faded to instead show a profile of an alicorn in a circle, a scroll floating in front of her. That too faded, leaving a blank screen.

Octavia put a fetlock over her eyes. "Vinyl... We just agreed to not take it, and you just put it on?!"

Bullette tilted her head. "Issue closed."

No Name huffed. "Yeah, sure is... Unless we want to cut it off of Vinyl, it's her's now. Whatever. I ain't meant to be rich anyways." He turned and wriggled his way out of the workshop carefully. "We should leave his stuff alone."

Vinyl shrugged a little as she followed, glancing constantly at the new adornment on her front left arm. "He said it was useful and he wasn't reaching for it, so--"

Octavia bopped her over the head with a hoof. "We--" She gestured between herself and Vinyl. "--will go home, where we don't need that--" She pointed at the LAP. "You just stole from two dear friends that have sacrificed so much for our benefit, and for what?! You don't even know how to work that thing! I am... very disappointed." She strode past Vinyl with a little frown.

Vinyl frowned back at Octi as she departed. "Yeah whatever. I can learn how to use it." She reached with her right hoof to poke at the LAP. A touch was enough to make the screen come back to life. It showed an outline of a pony. Lines pointed to various parts of the pony, reading 100% on each of them. The pointer at her head read 97%. "Huh... health meters? Awesome! I have health meters!"

She hurried after the others, quickly discovering that using her horn allowed for faster manipulation of the device she had strapped to her arm. "Woah..." She found a selection of the spells she knew, though their names were far less cool than the ones she'd come up with. "Cure light wounds? There wasn't anything light about the wounds I was curing." She shook her head, but was smiling the whole time, captivated at the marvelous piece of information strapped to her arm.

Octavia was next to No Name and Bullette. "I don't even have words... Please, know that I understand what she did... was wrong. I can't even properly express how mortified I am right now. This is not... what Equestria should be presenting itself as."

Bullette perked a metal ear. "Equestria... That is the name of your home world?"

"A country within the world," corrected Octavia with an unsure smile. "We don't... normally just steal things like that. If it wasn't... attached to her I would rip it away from  her right this very moment. This... isn't right."

No Name shook his head. "Don't even worry about it. Wouldn't know what to do with that much stuff anyway." He put an arm around Bullette, drawing her closer with a happy squeal from the filly. "I have her, not much else I need anyway."

"Happiness rising!" sang Bullette, clopping her metal hooves. "Vinyl has lost friendship points. Cause: Selfishness. Friendship not terminated." She tilted her head a bit. "If she had asked, we would have said yes."

No Name nodded. "Really... Ah ain't gonna walk around with that on my arm, makin' me a target. I woulda thought the same fer her, but at least you two are headin' to a place where you won't get mugged for having a nice thing."

"Yes!" Vinyl raised her left arm and waved it as it began to play her music. "It can connect to my headphones without a wire! Oh Celestia yes! What, copy the music? Yes yes yes!" She could not hammer the proceed button fast enough, giggling wildly in joy with her new toy.

Bullette smiled at Octavia. "It is pleasing to know she is having fun with it, even if she was rude getting it."

"There is that." No Name nodded a little. "So let's look forward again. We've arrived at square one. We don't owe anyone nothin', and they don't owe us nothin'."

Vinyl trotted forward to catch up. "That isn't true, big man." She grinned as he looked over at her. "He said it, he owes us for pointing the way to a huge treasure trove. We can use that favor, right?"

"This is D U K!" came over Vinyl's LAP, clearly playing the radio. "I hear my friends are back in town, Quack! Be sure to give a big welcome back to them!"

"Yeah," agreed Quarter Inch. "You can't miss them. One's a huge pony the size of a horse with snakes for a tongue."

"Another's the most adorable filly ever," added Duck.

"And then there are two mares. They're usually all together. Hey, if you're listening, swing by!"

"Quack! Oh, over."

Dolan's voice joined them, "you don't need to say over, they're not broadcasting to you."

Vinyl shook the arm with the LAP attached. "Have I mentioned how much I love this thing? It even has a map!" She willed the selection and a map of the area appeared, buildings included. None of the buildings were marked with what they were, but their outlines were clearly visible. "How awesome is that?!"

No Name smirked at the little thief. "You make it hard to stay angry at you. You have a point. We can call in that favor, so we ain't all out. Alright, so, we do have somethin' we need to be doin'"

Bullette nodded quickly. "Begin the next phase!"

Octavia frowned a moment before it struck her. "Right, we have to get the portal generator back. It's... in... Trash Heap was it?"

"Affirmative!" Bullette pointed in the direction that was likely their target.

No Name nodded as he trundled towards the market they had left not long ago. "Then I'll let you shop for supplies. This'll be the longest trek we've made so far, so go for a solid two weeks for each of us."

Octavia winced softly. "That is a great deal of food and water. Will you be comfortable carrying it all?"

"You have another idea?" He shrugged softly. "Beats starvin' to death out there. If we're lucky, we can pick up some more on the way, or even when we get there."

"Affirmative. Trash Heap is a city." She tilted her head. "Not a good city, but commerce is possible."

"What she said. We can trade there if we keep our guard up. Consider is as bad as the wastes, with more bathrooms and warm food available."

Vinyl glanced up from her new toy. "We're getting ready for the next adventure? Sign me up! What's my job?"

"Stay out of trouble," grunted No Name, plodding away from the rest of them.

Bullette tilted her head at Vinyl. "You lost more friendship points with him than originally estimated."

Vinyl watched him go. "I... wasn't trying to."

Bullette patted Vinyl on the shoulder gently. "He will recover and more opportunities for friendship point accrual will present themselves." She leaned in. "You are not tagged as a responsible adult, I expected something like this, causing your friendship point loss to be lower than it could have been."

Vinyl suddenly crashed to her haunches. "Woah harsh... You're literally telling me 'I didn't expect any better out of you'?"

Bullette tilted her head left and right, considering the words. "Affirmative."

"Ow..."

Octavia snorted softly, looking between Vinyl's stung face and Bullette. "If you want ponies to expect more responsible behavior, you can start by behaving responsibly! I swear... Bullette, would you care to go supply shopping?"

"Affirmative!" She pronked over towards Octavia, the two of them heading off to shop.

Vinyl was left alone. A soft chime caught her attention. The LAP was flashing a warning about some fancy thing being too high. "You don't need to tell me that I'm sad." She rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'll go visit a friend..." She headed towards Duck's radio station. As she got close to it, her LAP chimed once more. "What is it?"

She looked at it as she walked along on her other three legs. 'Radio source detected. Do you wish to set a waypoint?'

Vinyl blinked at that, smiling. "Hey, that's kinda cool... Yeah sure." She willed the yes button and the map flipped up, with a little tag on Duck's building and a blinking cursor. "Oh, do I have to name it?" Those words appeared on the tag. "Aw crap, erase that!" The words vanished. "Duck's Radio." New words appeared. She pressed the same affirmative button and the cursor stopped blinking, the waypoint saved properly. "Aw yeah..."

"Is that who I think it is?" asked a female voice just a moment before Quarter Inch scrambled into view, half-dragging Duck behind her. "It is! Vinyl!"

"Hey!" she eagerly greeted in kind. "Mind your faithful mount there, not sure he's getting his air."

"Quack," he got out when she released the cord that had gotten caught around his neck. "Hi hi!" He bounced forward, smiling happily. "Did you hear us asking about you? Welcome back!"

Quarter nodded in solidarity. "Good to have you back. Did you find what you wanted?"

"Didn't get hurt?"

"Find priceless artifacts." All eyes turned to Dolan's head peeking out of Duck's saddlebag, who was staring at Vinyl's new LAP.

Vinyl tried to hide it behind her other arm. "We did great, all taken care of."

Quarter Inch would not be so easily dissuaded, approaching with naked curiosity. "I heard about those! My grandpappy on my mother's side saw one of 'em once." She dropped to a knee in front of Vinyl. "Wow, and it even works! His was all busted, but he kept it anyway."

Duck trotted up next to Quarter. "Looks like a funny bracelet. Looks good on you, Quack!"

Vinyl arched a brow. "If he 'saw' it once, how did he have it?"

Quarter blinked slowly. "Do you usually have things you don't see? That's weird. Stop being weird, Vinyl." She gestured at the LAP. "Since yours is working, you can tell me, what's it do?! Grandpappy went on and on about how it could do everything, but he never had specifics."

Duck bobbed his head. "Yes, I would like to know too." He tilted his head then. "Just curious, you know, quack."

Dolan folded a wing over his face. "That depends on the attachments and expansions installed, but even a minimal LAP can do many things to make life more convenient for the person wearing one."

Vinyl's fear of showing off her LAP faded away as she thrust forward her left hoof so they could gawk at it. "Look, it has a map." She pulled it up.

Duck's eyes went wide. "Look look, it has the radio on it!" He pointed with the end of his nose at where it was clearly labeled.
> 35 - Riding Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You can't leave." Longshot inclined an ear at Octavia. "Not yet, the way I figure. You owe me lessons and I will have them... You may not return."

Octavia shrank back. "How morbid..."

The taller sheriff/queen snorted. "Because you'll ascend back to your heavenly realm, untroubled by our petty struggles. And I want you to! But before then..." She pointed to the instrument. "You will turn that over, and I will know how to play it."

Octavia reached for the instrument, gently cradling it. "To give you full mastery would take years. I can only start you down the path and leave some sheet music to practice with. Let's focus on reading it, so you can work on that even without my presence."

Their departure was delayed on account of Longshot's demand that none had the heart to deny.

No Name shrugged when he heard it. "Never figured she was into music, but sure. Seein' as you paid back for the dust, she is payin' you, right? She owes you."

Vinyl nodded firmly. "Don't let her take advantage of you, even if she's nice."

Octavia waved the objections away. "I can handle myself, thank you."

Bullette bounced in front of Octavia, springing in from the side. "You should request supplies for the journey. She will agree due to friendship level attained."

Octavia twitched an ear at that. "You can tell what friendship level two other ponies have?"

"I can estimate." Bullette tilted her head left and right. "My scanners are not always certain. I can only speak with 100% accuracy when measuring my own friendship levels." She suddenly raised a hoof. "Warning: Friendship levels can be different in return. Optimal friendship performance is had when levels are in close proximity."

Vinyl snorted at that. "Longshot is all over you, 'Tavi. Talk about uneven friendship levels."

Octavia darkened red at the accusation. "I have not allowed any... such thing, nor has she requested it."

Vinyl wobbled a leg burdened by a LAP. "Yeah yeah, you're too proper and she's too polite, so that'll never happen. Doesn't mean she isn't completely bewitched by the 'Tavi. Can't blame her, she has good taste."

Octavia shook her head. "I'll complete what I promised, then we head out, and that's that." The group seemed to agree with her outline, and the topic was mercifully dropped.





She moved through the town in the early hours of the morning, when it was still just about as dark as night. With the sun hidden behind clouds, true day was slower in coming. Still, she could see just about good enough in the gloom to slowly make her way towards Longshot's office.

"Hey."

Octavia glanced to the left to see a pony, a mare, smiling at her. They were a full-sized pony, dressed in the makeshift clothes of the period. 

"Sorry to bother you. You're the leader of that group, right?" She wobbled a hoof. "And a musician, and a spellcaster?"

Octavia did not know the pony, but she did not know most of the people who lived in Turves. "Most of that is correct, but I wouldn't call myself the 'leader' of our group. How can I help you, Miss...?"

"Modest too." The mare smiled brightly. "I represent some nice people who want to reward hard working wonderful ponies just like you."

Octavia hiked a brow at the stranger. "Reward?"

The mare nodded quickly. "Yes. In these tough times, ponies don't get what they deserve. You're such a good pony, we've heard the rumors."

"We?" She took a step forward past the mare. "I really should be going. I have an appointment with the sheriff."

"Of course."

Octavia moved past, feeling some relief before a sharp sting had her jumping away from the mare. She felt something painfully in her rump. A glance showed something protruding from her in the dark. "W-what?! Help!" she called out, knowing guards were scattered through the town.

"Shhh, just take a little nap," assured the mare as she stepped towards Octavia slowly. "It's time for rewards for good ponies."

Octavia staggered and collapsed in place, the drugs forcefully hoisted on her robbing her of thought. The mare smiled happily as she advanced to work the unconscious mare up onto her back. "Up and away. Let's get you where you're most needed."

With a happy little giggle, she trotted away from the crime scene with her ill-gotten gains.





Vinyl woke, stretching each limb in turn. She could see it was well and truly day, as far as day went in the ashen age. "Good morning, or afternoon, whichever it is."

"Time: 10:37 am," noted Bullette with a precise nod. "Your sleep schedule is not congruent with optimal health."

"Yeah yeah, little mom." She reached over to ruffle Bullette's metal mane, not that it moved much. "Where is No Name and 'Tavi? I don't expect to see you without one or the other."

Bullette's ears swiveled in place, doing a full 360 turn in a way an organic pony could not hope to replicate. "No Name is doing a sad thing. Octavia departed at 6:00 am to engage in educational activities."

"See, that right there? That's the 'not healthy' schedule. 6 in the morning? No thanks!" Vinyl cleaned her goggles as she talked, using her magic to work a rag carefully. "If she went that long ago, shouldn't she be back?"

Bullette considered that. "You are correct. She may have visited Duck to perform?"

Vinyl lifted her leg and willed her LAP into action, pressing the buttons to call up the radio.

There was some soft music playing. Vinyl waited impatiently for it to end as she went about getting a nibble to eat and finish waking up.

"If you're hearing this, Quack, it means I'm not at the radio station. Sorry! I got called to a scary adventure where I'll be needed to keep up spirits and stop my friends from not being too unfriendly. Good luck! Wait, I'm the one adventuring. Wish me luck! Now back to more music." The music resumed. It was the same track, Vinyl quickly noticed.

Vinyl pointed a hoof at the LAP. "She's obviously not there. Hey, wanna walk with me and we can track her down?"

"Affirmative!" Bullette bounced in place, looking eager to begin the hunt.





Octavia roused with a soft murmur. She was on something soft. It was warm. She blinked, coming alert. Was she ho-- no. She was in a clean room with a bed she was on, but it was not her bed, nor her room. The walls were metal, polished steel at a glance.

She slid from the bed, her hooves clopping lightly on contact and as she took a few uncertain steps. "Where... am I?" She could distantly remember how she got there. That mare... Did she dare call for help, when that could summon unwanted company?

Her gun was gone, as were all her other possessions. She was a spellcaster, in theory, but with her focuses taken... She sank in place, ears falling as she considered her seemingly few options.

"Alright, keep it together," she counseled herself. "Let's... be sneaky." She crept up to the door, each step slow as she could be, especially when her hooves were about to touch the floor, to keep them quiet.

The door had no handle. It had a great wheel that looked like it needed to be turned. She reared up and put a hoof on two of its spokes as she grabbed closer to its center with her teeth, giving a great heave of effort. At first, nothing, but as she kept pulling, it began to turn slowly, clicking every few centimeters until it hit something and came to a stop with a soft, yet still far too loud, thump.

The door opened towards her suddenly, permitting two smiling ponies to enter. They were a male and a female, full sized, and not quite... right. Their proportions were just... off. Their eyes bulged a little and they looked sickly despite their sunny smiles. The male's eyes were a cloudy grey with no clear black or white or other color to be seen.

"You're awake," greeted the male. "Welcome, Queen."

"Shhh." The mare lifted a hoof to her lips. "She isn't that until the coronation, you know that."

The male shrugged. "But she will be, and will be." He wobbled a hoof with each will. "You're Octavia, right?"

"Y-yes..." She backed away a little from the ponies, but they just advanced to be with her. "I am Octavia Melody, and I don't care to be here, if we're being honest. Please show me the direction out of here, now, if you don't mind?"

The mare moved in on Octavia's left as the stallion went for the right. "Now now, don't be nervous. We're your friends and assistants."

"Subjects," noted the stallion with a nod, blinking those bulging eyes of his. "We want you to be happy."

"I'll be happy when I am returned to my friends." Octavia tried to step past them, but they moved with her.

The mare shrugged softly. "We are your friends, and you're grumpy because you haven't eaten. What would you like to eat?"

Octavia cocked a brow. "I would like a slice of toast, lightly buttered with a cup of coffee." She expected none of that. "A light assortment of fruits and a fresh carrot."

"I'm on the case," announced the stallion as he ambled away, his gait also just... not quite right.

The mare coiled on herself, drawing a brush from a saddlebag. "Now you just sit down and let me work out that bed mane. You deserve to look your best."

Octavia peered in the direction he had fled. "Is he... actually going to get any of that? Do you even know what half of that is? I've seen no--"

The mare gently pressed a hoof to Octavia's lips. "Shhh, relax. You're in good hooves." She began brushing Octavia dutifully, working her pelt first in long firm strokes. "Octavia Melody, that's a pretty name... Queen Melody. I would be delighted to serve that name."

Octavia's eyes widened. "Wait, you're..." she petered off, statement dying on her lips. "Let me go. I don't want to be your, or anyone else's, queen." She hopped away from the mare, glaring at her.

The mare shook her head softly. "You already are a queen, you just forgot it. Now be calm. We're not going to hurt you, promise." She rose up to her hooves, brush dangling from her teeth. "Oh, your poor hooves."

Octavia glanced down at her raised hoof. She had been eyeing the exits, considering escape plans. "What... about them?"

"They're all ragged." The mare set down her brush. "You just lay down and let your servant take care of them."

"Breakfast," sang the male, returning with a lidded tray.

Octavia glared at the tray and its secrets. "There's no way you prepared all of that so quickly."

"Observant," he noted with a smile, seeming proud. "I brought what we had ready. The rest will arrive as soon as possible." He allowed the tray to slide carefully off his back to an ornate little table. "For now, enjoy." He grabbed the handle of the lid in his teeth and pulled it away, revealing strawberries in a heaping pile.

Octavia's eyes widened. It wasn't as  if she'd never seen a strawberry before, but they seemed so incredibly out of place in the world she'd found herself in. So... colorful and bright and... She wandered closer, eyes locked on the pile of impossibility before her.

She dared to reach out and scoop one up onto a hoof, carefully bringing it to her face. It smelled of strawberries, sweet and potentially tasty. "I... see..."

"I have a hunger." She set the strawberry down. "For information."

"Remarkable," sighed out the female.

"Very regal," agreed the male, nodding softly. "How can we serve you?"

She gestured at it. "If you have access to these sorts of things." She threw a hoof to the inset lighting that chased away the darkness of the room. "You have power, fruit, and I'm... guessing coffee as well. Why aren't you sharing it with everypony else?"

They glanced at one another before the stallion shrugged softly. "We want all ponies to have these things, but we are just servants."

"Yes, just servants," agreed the female, nodding quickly. "We need someone who can see the larger picture."

He pointed at Octavia. "A right and proper queen that can put us on the right path."

"And chase away the invaders," agreed the mare, smiling.

"And restore the pony nation." The stallion nodded lightly.

Octavia quirked a brow. "And you think I am your queen... why? I have no experience in commanding anything much larger than my section in an orchestra. I don't care to expand my leadership abilities."

The stallion set a hoof on her shoulder. "Greatness is always intimidating."

"Frightening," agreed the mare. "But you could change the world."

"The entire world." The stallion smiled gently. "Just imagine it, all that suffering, brought to an end..."

"So many ponies." The mare clapped her hooves together in a smart clop. "They could live without fear. All they need is a proper--"

They spoke together, "queen." Both pointed at Octavia with conviction.





No Name looked between Vinyl and Bullette. "You lost Octavia? How'd you do that?"

"Hey, I was sleepin'! You can't even try to blame this on me." Vinyl shook her head firmly. "And before you ask, I tried asking the lappy here." She raised the arm that had it attached. "It doesn't track people, apparently, just buildings."

Bullette tilted her head at the object. "Buildings do not move, usually, making their tracking significantly easier. In this we agree." She nodded with solidarity with the LAP. "Where can we find Octavia?"

No Name put a hoof to his face, sighing through a few snakes. "Have you tried asking Longshot? They're close, and she was going to her office, right?"

Bullette bounced up on her hooves. "Excellent suggestion!" She started trotting towards Longshot's office without delay.

Vinyl followed along, No Name next to her. "She probably found something interesting and we'll find her playing some soft music or something and we'll laugh about being worried. She is the 'responsible adult' around here, right?"

No Name huffed softly. "Still hopin', but I don't like my puppies going stray."

"That is undesirable," agreed Bullette with a tense shift in her voice. "We should ascertain the precise location of Octavia as soon as possible."

They never made it into the building. Longshot was just outside of it, barking orders at some of the local militia, her wings fidgeting restlessly. She perked up when she noticed them coming. "There you are. Tell me you know where Octavia is, I command it!"

She rushed for them, but did went right past Bullette, who had  been in front, going for No Name specifically. "Where is she?!"

No Name fell back on his haunches. "We were hoping you'd know. She was coming here, right?"

"She never arrived here," hissed out Longshot, scowling. "She's been perfectly punctual everyday! I have the militia searching everywhere for her, but not a single sign... Error: No Name! I trusted you!"

Vinyl quirked an ear. "Did she just pull a Bullette?"

No response came to her question. No Name waved his hooves wildly. "I figured she was safe in your town, just walkin' from where she slept to your own office."

Longshot shrank back as if struck. "Yes... yes, my town... An angel has been lost, in my town. All my protections, for nothing." She sank to her belly, eyes going distant. "I couldn't protect her... I couldn't protect anyone.. Maybe I'm... not a very good queen. My poor angel, where are you?" She collapsed entirely, flat on the ground, tears stinging at her eyes. "If only I had been a better ruler!"

Bullette leaned towards Vinyl, speaking very loudly despite the whispering tone it took, "she is experiencing a mental break. She is in need of a person whom she holds at a high friendship level to assist in recovery."

"Maybe I should talk to Octavia," shrieked Longshot, sitting up. "But I can't do that, not because she's gone home, safe and secure. Something's taken her, maybe eaten her, maybe worse than that. She may be suffering or dead or... just lost. She's not here! I can't talk to her and... I failed. I failed!" She covered her face with both forelocks, sobbing into her ankles.

"Shh..." A new pony had arrived, with a big sheriff's hat and a silver star. Miss Demeanor had an arm around Longshot. "Shh... It'll be alright."

"It's not alright! My angel!" She buried her face into Miss Demeanor's chest, Longshot's horn narrowly avoiding skewering her assistant as she cried piteously.

Miss looked past the crying form of her boss, gently patting her. "She's no help to anyone when she's like this. She needs time to recover. In the meanwhile, find Octavia."

"My angel!" she cried, freshly triggered with the mention of the missing pony's name.

"Quickly would be nice..." Miss Demeanor murmured soft nothings to Longshot, gently encouraging the much larger mare to start moving back towards their office.

That left Vinyl, No Name, and Bullette. Bullette inclined her head. "We must find her."

Vinyl let out a slow breath. "I'm with you, but how? Shoot, wish I had gone missing. Octavia can find things, remember? She'd already be leading the way to me."

No Name started for the house they were staying in. "Let's assume she walked straight here, because why wouldn't she? There has to be a few clues or somethin', so start lookin'."

"Increasing sensor sensitivity to maximum safe level." Bullette began sweeping her eyes across the ground, small fans in her nose whirring as she pulled in air to process. Even her ears were rotating wildly in search of any clue that there was to be found.

"Huh, didn't know you could--"

Bullette clapped a hoof over one of her ears. "Please lower the volume of your speech."

"Oh," she whispered, blushing. "Let's search."





"If you want me to be your queen, you have to follow my orders." Octavia nodded as she spoke, confident in her logic.

"Of course," easily agreed the mare.

"Without hesitation." The male smiled, his bug eyes trained on Octavia. "What does our queen demand?"

Octavia raised a hoof to her mouth, coughing softly. "We would like a tour of these facilities. Show me the lay of my castle."

Both ponies perked, bouncing up to all fours with matching smiles. "With honor," gushed the male.

"Right this way." The female gestured to the door, bowing her head low.

Octavia strode past them, unchallenged. She dared a little smile as she went. Perhaps she could talk her way free of the problem before anything terrible happened... "How many ponies are stationed here? We would know of our tactical strengths."

The mare and stallion rushed to keep up, just behind her. The mare gestured at the doors they were passing in the narrow corridor. "There are five other potential queens here. Each has a pair of Faithful to see to their needs. We are yours."

The stallion nodded in agreement. "They will be jealous to know we received the best candidate of the lot. We are deeply proud to be your servant, Queen Melody."

'Queen' Melody arched a brow as she trotted along. "Well, we have no need for inferior products, release them."

The two shared glances. "That is quite the ambitious order," noted the stallion.

"Very fitting," demurred the mare. "We don't have that kind... of say. We'll pass it along, Your Highness."

The stallion raised a hoof. "Before you can be a proper Queen, you do need your crown, and there are steps before that."

Octavia felt her teeth setting. She had hoped she could at least improve the lot of others who had been captured. "Let's resume the tour. You did not finish numbering the ponies. Are there more beside the two per queen?"

The mare gestured expansively as they emerged from the narrow hall into a great well-lit hall. "This is one of our sacred places. There are, at this time, one thousand two-hundred and fifty... three faithful present."

The stallion put a hoof that was just a little too large to his chest. "There are fifty outside agents, loyal to the cause, but not true Faithful, in attendance. Including the one that found you, Your Highness."

Octavia's ears went up. "We would like to speak to her, alone."

"As you wish," both agreed easily, starting off at a brisk trot.

Octavia followed them across the open space. Other faithful were there, each deformed in subtle ways, sick in other ways. None of them were entirely... right, and they stared. They peered at Octavia intently, judging her quietly. Whenever their eyes met, they bowed their heads and tried to look subservient, but Octavia could see out of the corner of her vision that they were staring.

One of them walked in front of them, hoof raised. "Where are you going with that candidate?"

The stallion gestured to Octavia. "She has issued us a command."

"She wishes to visit one of the loyal," finished the Mare with a nod.

The one in front of them scowled. "Take her back to her quarters and have the loyal brought. She is not to leave her room until she has been confirmed to stage two."

Octavia took quick note that the new 'Faithful' seemed sharper than the other two, and was clearly above them in hierarchy. She looked to him curiously. "What is your rank and name, Sir...?"

The Faithful's ears lifted, or tried. His right ear was entirely limp from the middle point up, another casual imperfection. "When you learn your place, you will learn who I am. For now, 'Your Highness', you need to go back to your room." He pointed back in the direction they had come from. "Until you are coronated, do not think you can order any save these two."

His gaze went to them, a withering stare. "And don't think there are no limits to what they will follow, or they will suffer."

Both cringed, cowed by the casual threat. "Right away!" yelped the stallion, turning around.

"Without delay! I'll go get the loyal." The mare scuttled away, leaving them all behind.

The stallion nudged Octavia gently. "This way, please."

Octavia considered her odds. She could try to make a run for it, but she had no idea where the exit was. They were underground, she determined, or in some great building. Just running wildly would hurt her long term options. "Of course..." She started back to her room, not making a fuss.

They had to trust her for her options to remain open...

When they arrived at the room, there was more there. Namely adorning the platter of berries was a slice of gently toasted bread with some butter spread on it. Beside it was a cup of black coffee, steam rising gently into the air.

Octavia shook her head as she approached. "I would not have believed it... No carrot?"

The stallion dipped his head low. "I accept responsibility, Your Highness. I'll go see what's delaying it." He was gone in a flash. There was a heavy sound of metal on metal. They had locked the door. 

Octavia was trapped. She reached with her neck and chomped some of the toast. "At least... breakfast is prepared decently." For the first time in what felt like years, she had a perfectly pleasant little breakfast. She could leave no good comments about its ambiance, however.

The strawberries were each a delightful explosion of sweetness with every little bite into their soft cores. The butter tasted good and fresh, melted just enough to soak into the bread without becoming entirely lost.

It was, perhaps, good to be queen. Not that she wanted it.
> 36 - Biding Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia softly moved her forehoof back and forth as if playing a cello that wasn't there. "Just when I got one back..." It was far from the stately perfection of her original, back in Equestria, but still... It had been hers, and far better than nothing.

Her eyes lifted at the sound of heavy metal sliding on metal. The wheel on the door began to turn around and she fell to all fours to watch it open inwards. Her male caretaker ambled in with a happy smile. Behind him, the mare that had drugged her and took her to that place.

"Here she is," he cried with obvious joy. "As you commanded."

The mare looked a bit scared. "'Y-yeah... Look, shouldn't I be... getting back?"

"No no, no no no." The male shook his head with each word. "Our potential queen has requested your presence."

Octavia approached, considering. The mare was beneath even her caretaker? Fascinating... "Only a few questions, really..." Trying to attack the mare would be uncouth, ineffective likely, and result in her punishment and the narrowing of her options. No, she would not leap at the mare. "Would you care to have a seat?"

The mare smiled awkwardly. "Look... It wasn't a personal thing. I hope everything goes well, yeah?"

"Tell me more about that." Octavia gestured to a cushion. "Sit, please."

The mare peered at Octavia a moment before crossing the room for the cushion, setting herself on it. "I'll explain then, if it gets me out of here faster. They're looking for a queen, a real queen, to lead the ponies." She rubbed behind her head. "You're pretty queen-like, and they offer a bounty on every good candidate you bring in."

Octavia lifted an ear, that... fit with what she had seen so far. "I see..."

"She has good taste," threw in the male. "Well, this time. The last three weren't nearly as good as you. The first one kept screaming and made a mess. We didn't even bother with her."

Octavia felt her jaw tense. Should she have been acting up? "What did you... do with her?"

"We couldn't just let her go..." He shrugged softly.

Octavia felt a shudder force its way through her. Maybe acting up wasn't the wisest action. "I see..." She returned her gaze to the awkward mare that had captured her. "Do they pay well?"

"It varies, depending on how good the candidate is. Uh, that's you."

"I gathered." Octavia sighed gently. "Then... I assume you are paid some small basic amount." She rolled a hoof. "With a promise of more, later, if they turn out to be agreeable?"

"Yeah..." Her eyes wandered the room. "Nice place... I never actually saw the inside before..."

The stallion stepped forward. "Do you like it?"

"Huh, yeah? I mean, it's kind of comfy looking." She shrugged softly. "See, no harm, right? You're cushy here. You'll like it!" She smiled brightly suddenly. "I'm doing you a favor."

Octavia glanced between the eager faithful and the hopeful loyal that was apparently hoping for her forgiveness. "Are you hoping for a proper queen?"

"Huh, oh, I mean, sure?" She lifted her shoulders. "If there was a real-time pony queen again, maybe life would stop sucking as hard as it does. You listen to the stories? A whole nation full of ponies.... It's hard to believe, but would I want it, sure."

"And you work for it," agreed the faithful, bobbing his head. "Such a good mare you are." His eyes wandered over her. "Acting independently, and so well... Queen, have you finished your questions?"

Octavia pointed at the mare. "I would know your name, at least."

She crookedly smiled. "My mother had a cruel sense of humor. Sunny Day, a name that is a lie." Sunny dipped her head. "Pleased to meet you, Queen Melody."

"Very well, Sunny... Go on then. I hope what you get helps you." Octavia gestured for the door. "You can take her now."

"With pleasure." He advanced on her and threw his head towards the door. "Come on, come on. We have places to be."

"Yeah, out of here." She rose to her hooves. "Have fun. Let me know if you go fixing the world."

They walked out together, the door sealing behind them. Octavia settled down with a sigh. A shout broke the forming silence. She could barely make out the words, but it was an angry female. Sunny?

"I'm not a queen!" came muffedly through the walls.

Octavia was unsure how to feel. They had found another candidate, apparently. She wondered how good of one they'd measure the money-hungry mare that had sold her into the situation.

A soft rapping on the wall made her ear twitch. She approached the wall, smooth and steel. The tapping came again. "Hello?" Her words were seemingly heard by none. Octavia raised a hoof and tapped on the wall in return, two firm strikes.

Three came back.

Octavia tilted her head. Another candidate? She found herself wishing she knew horse code... She clopped once more, at least she could assure someone out there that she was there, and they were not completely alone.

It was comforting that the same reflected back to her with their reply.





They found where Octavia was taken. A splash of blood, the smallest amount really. On one hoof, it spoke of a terribly minor wound, on the other, it meant there was a wound at all. The tracks leading from the area had been purposefully obfuscated, brushed and scoured in multiple directions to befuddle the trail, to say nothing of the fact that other ponies had already started to come and go, doing what they had to do.

Vinyl put a hoof to her face. "This is so uncool..."

Bullette looked around, still searching. "That is the problem. The trail is not sufficiently warm."

"If they hurt a hair on her body..." Vinyl heaved a powerful sigh. "I don't know what I'll do..."

No Name patted her once on the withers. "Let's keep lookin', alright? The least we can do is not give up."

"Affirmative!" Bullette bounced ahead several inches, eyes wandering wildly in search of clues.





The door opened. It was neither of her servants that entered, instead the faithful that seemed of superior rank. He nodded back towards the door he had just walked through. "Wait there until I say to open it."

"Yes, Sir," replied the unseen but heard voice of her female caretaker. The door closed and locked, sealing Octavia in with the higher-ranked individual.

Octavia looked him over, considering. "How can I help you?"

"Tell me." He approached at a slow walk. "What is it you want most out of life?"

Octavia's teeth clenched softly. "A cello to play would be a fine start."

"You summoned the sun with one, did you not?" He circled around her at a slow pace. "Queen Melody, the sunbringer, a very noble title. Tell me, what do you feel when you look upon your fellow pony?"

Octavia safely assumed he meant ashen ponies, not Equestrian ones. "Pity, but a touch of admiration. They live in harsh times, in harsh ways, but they survive and many even thrive."

"You speak so detachedly, as if you did not live in the same world." He approached closer. "Touched... I have a gift for you."

Octavia lifted an ear. "What manner of gift?"

He coiled on himself, nuzzling into a saddlebag to pull out a massive pendant, a bold and brilliant purple gem set in the center. "A small bauble. It will shine all the brighter with your brilliance to reflect."

Octavia was unsure what to think about it, but she allowed him to casually slip it around her neck, hanging across her chest with some weight. "That is... very kind, but I feel I have done nothing to earn it."

"But you have. You have. Now, shall we begin the education? I am certain you would care to know where you are, who we are, and what you are to do."

Octavia gestured at herself. "You want me to be your queen."

"That much you have gathered, good, but that alone's just part of it." He clopped his forehooves, sitting back on his hind-legs. "The old queen was an earth-bound pony mare, built to run across the prairies. Blessed by the sun, she began to reflect the other tribes, becoming both winged and horned. She was our queen, and led the ponies for hundreds on hundreds of years..."

Octavia lifted an ear, considering that. "Is that a myth?"

"Fact," he stated with utmost certainty. "Recorded, tracked, known. This is no fable. And you..." He reached out a hoof to rest on her left shoulder. "You could be the next. Blessed by the sun, tough, soft spoken, with magic at your command and inspiring others to follow... You could be a queen, and save an entire world."

Octavia frowned, face creasing with thought and concern. "Even if I were to take that mantle, how would that save the world?"

He gestured grandly. "The world's ponies are scattered and lost. They need a beacon to rally under, to unify. If you would take up the banner, Candidate, you could lead them to better times, when ponies ruled these lands without question."

"I have a question." She sat up on her haunches as tall as she could, a little taller than the slightly disfigured male. "What seperates a pony who is a queen from a pony who is not a queen?" If they meant to just slap a title on her, that wouldn't be so bad...

"A coronation, of course." He nodded once softly. "With the placing of the crown, you become a queen to rule and lead. The full potential of your unicorn and pegasus blood will awaken and you can take your rightful place. Does that not sound enticing?"

Octavia, an alicorn?! She controlled her expression, remaining stoic. "I see..." She could remember Longshot talking about it. She was a he when they had set that crown on his head, and then Long Shot became Queen Longshot, and that was that.

She didn't have to worry about that part at least, but that did not make her eager to sprout wings and a horn... "And you think I have leadership material?"

"If the loyal who brought you in spoke the truth, yes, much of it. Even when the temptation to be wicked reared its face, you remained proper." He snorted and turned for the door. "Keep an eye out. If you remain good, more gifts will arrive, suitable for a queen."

Was that good? She glanced down at the dangling pendant around her neck, considering it. 

"Open it," he firmly ordered through the door and it began to cycle open.

"One thing." Octavia raised a hoof towards him. "Are all candidates taken from their homes?"

He paused and turned to her. "No. A good number come here of their own volition, hoping to make the world better. Some we trade for. Some, like you, come a bit... less politely. I apologize for that." He departed, his sorrow not sufficient to consider letting her go.

The door did not close right away, the female slipping in and closing it behind herself. "Hello again! Oh, that looks lovely on you." Her eyes were on Octavia's new pendant. "What an honor... It normally takes a few days before big gifts like that happen."

Octavia rolled her ears back, unsure if that was good news. "What is your name?" Thinking of her as 'the female' was too awkward.

"I am nothing before a queen, even a candidate." She dipped her head low. "I am your faithful subject."

"I would know the name of my subjects," Octavia gently argued. "None should be entirely faceless, or what sort of ruler am I being?"

The mare sat up at that, looking thoughtful. "Well... if you really want to know... I'm Tunnel Runner." She put a slightly-too-small hoof to her chest. "It is nice to share that with you, Queen Melody, long may you reign."

Octavia nodded softly. "Yes, charmed... Now, tell me, you say I received this early?" She nudged the dangling jewelry with a hoof. "What is the usual progression of things?"

"Usually a ring or a bracelet to start." Tunnel nodded firmly. "Just a little something. If the candidate shows promise, they get bigger things. If they were a volunteer and it's not working, we send them home with the little gift." She held her hooves close together. "No harm. Good on them for trying, but we can't all be queens, right?"

"Certainly not," easily agreed Octavia. "Imagine that, an entire kingdom of nothing but queens."

Tunnel burst into titters. "That would be something, wouldn't it? Wow... I'm not a queen though." She shook her head. "Look at me... No, I'm a faithful, and that's alright. We have important jobs too. You could be a queen." Her eyes fell to Octavia's heavy pendant. "Probably soon... What can I get you, Queen Melody?"

Octavia stood up, feeling restless. "Can you get something for me?"

"Of course." Tunnel bobbed her head. "With pleasure. What can I get for you?"

"Do you have musical instruments? I would like a cello." And a free ticket out of there, but Octavia detected no opportunities just yet. "If they don't trust me alone with one, see if I can't perform somewhere public." She gestured vaguely towards where all the faithful had been in the large room. "I can play for all of them." And maybe learn more of the lay of the land...

"I'll check on that." She turned for the door. "Shall I send the other back in here, or would you rather be alone?"

He quirked an ear. She had choices... "Send him in." Solitude was grating, even if the faithful were curious ponies to share space with. "Thank you."

"With pleasure." She soon had the door open, apparently not locked just yet. The male came in just a moment later, smiling.

"You called for me, Queen Melody?" He closed the door firmly behind himself, but did not lock it either.

Octavia pined for not being more... barbaric. If she could subdue the pony before her and rush the door, she could escape... her room. She would then be in the middle of their base with no idea which way to go. "Yes, do come closer, and tell me your name, I insist."

"Crown Shine," he declared proudly as he came closer at a mild trot. "Sometimes they let me touch it... Just to clean it, but I'm good at cleaning it. I keep it sparkling so it can do its magic."

Octavia glanced towards his rump, where a crown rested with a rag touching it, likely in the act of shining. There was a pony that was happy with his purpose. Octavia had to smile a little, bemused. Not that her own mark was any more subtle in the end. "I imagine you do a very good job of it. I would like to see you do it sometime."

He gasped, eyes widening with amazement. "I wish I could show you! They don't let me take the crown out of the vault. Only the more important people can do that, for coronations... I'll get to see it, when you're coronated." He pointed at Octavia with a bright smile. "They always invite the attendees to those."

Octavia nodded softly, filing that information away. "Of course, of course. You wouldn't want to risk damaging the crown... How do you have so many?"

"So many?" He tilted his head ninety degrees to the right.

"You have a crown for each queen, do you not?"

"Oh!" He righted his head. "The crown is special, only one. Only one. Smaller crowns, we have those, less special, for each queen."

Octavia raised a brow at that. "I thought you just need one queen?"

Crown frowned at that, looking suddenly perplexed. "Yes, one good queen... best queen. The one that... gets it right..."

"So... what are all the other queens?" What did Queen Longshot qualify as, Octavia wondered quietly.

"Not perfect queens, but queens." Crown shrugged softly. "They work with us, protect us, and look for the perfect queen. They are false queens, but it was not their lie. We aren't angry at them. We have to find the true queen. You understand?"

That made... "Hmm, what if a queen was imperfect, and was too sad and left?"

"That's not good." Crown shook his head. "I'm glad you look perfect. That won't be a problem. Will you remember me?"

"Remember you?" She looked him over lightly. "Why should I forget you?"

"When you're big, and important, and have a field of loyal subjects... will you remember me?" He suddenly hopped to his hooves. "Sorry, that was a rude question..."

"Stop, no... I..." She sucked air softly through her teeth. "Have you been forgotten before?"

"I am just a subject, Queen Melody. It is not a queen's job to remember a lowly attendant." He dipped his head low. "I was rude in bringing it up. Please forgive me."

"No, no... you're fine." She lifted a hoof, hovering a moment before she set it on his withers. "You deserve to be remembered." She didn't feel angry at that particular pony. He was just a part of a larger problem. If he was by himself in a better place, he might be even a perfectly happy and productive member of society. "Crown Shine?"

"Yes, my queen?"

"Are we permitted to send letters?"

He sat down lightly. "Yes." He pointed to a desk. "Writing stuff is in there. Write what you want, then give it to either of us."

Octavia considered. Dare she hope she could write a letter for help? She trotted over to the desk and pulled open a drawer in her teeth. Inside was a notebook and a pen. She set the notebook down and grabbed the pen in her mouth. It was time to write.





"She wrote a letter." Crown bowed before the higher ranked faithful. "Here it is."

"Good." He took the letter and set it down on a low platform for reading. It wouldn't do to have un-censored letters from the candidate going anywhere, least of all from those who didn't come on their own hooves.

"I'll take it from here, dismissed."

"Of course." Crown bowed once more then scurried away, likely back to Queen Melody's side.

The superior drew out a thick marker and clenched tight, making it sparkle gently with the magic to erase writing completely. "Let's see..."





A trade caravan arrived in Turves. This would not have interested Vinyl, No Name, or Bullette, except they had a letter. "Someone paid us to drop it off here," explained the griffon that held the envelope, extending it towards Vinyl. "Here you go. It's already been paid for."

Vinyl quirked an ear with confusion. "Huh... I didn't think anyone in this entire world would be mailing me..." She wandered off to the others, and they read it together.



Hello,

I am alive and whole, I feel I should note before we go any further.



"Yes!" Vinyl pumped a hoof.

Bullette tilted her head. "How can we be certain this is her writing?"

"It's her mouthwriting. I'd recognize it anywhere. Look how fancy she makes the Is." Vinyl bobbed her head, completely confident.

No Name continued reading, silent for the moment.



	...I have been [empty space] by the [empty space]. They have not mistreated me, but I [empty space] what will come next. I cannot tell you where I am, because I don't know. I will do my best, and I hope you are all well... I am afraid I cannot furnish an address to reply with. I will assume and trust that you receive this.

Yours,
Queen Melody



No Name drove a hoof down so hard right into the middle of the page that it crumpled up around the hoof, barely resisting having a great hole punched through the paper. "No!"

Bullette bounced away from the flaring of anger. "We do not know a Queen Melody," she noted, tilting her head. "Do you?" She was looking at Vinyl.

Vinyl rubbed behind her head. "Melody is Octi's last name. Octavia Melody, just as classy as she is... She isn't a--"

"--Don't you get it?!" He shoved the paper away, snakes hissing. "The Faithful have her! The faithful have her! Damn all the gods and damn these psychos to the deepest pit of hell." He thumped the ground as if it had a part to play in it. "Damn it..."

"The who now?" Vinyl hiked a brow up at No Name.

No Name sank with an exasperated huff. "They mess ponies up, lookin' for somethin' that may not be there. They leave ruined wrecks behind. I knew two of them, still know one of 'em... God damn... I can't tell her this... She'd break down all over again..."

"Break down?" Vinyl pointed off. "You mean Queen Longshot? She was involved with these guys?"

"You're gettin' it." He frowned at her before looking to Bullette. "Let me be clear; the Faithful Subjects are ultra violet. You can hit them with whateva you want and I won't stop you."

Bullette saluted sharply. "Enemy configuration saved. Shall we proceed to rescue plans?"

No Name waved at the crumpled paper. "That doesn't tell us where she is! She's alive and breathin', that's good and all, don't get me wrong... Don't... But this doesn't get us closer t' savin' her."

Vinyl shook the arm that held the LAP. "Hey, you. Do you know anything about the faithful subjects?" She had to press a few buttons to get her query going.

An image of the alicorn with the floating scroll appeared, but she was looking at Vinyl with a sad expression, shaking her head before fading away. "Huh, guess that's a no. What do you know?"

The image of the cocky mare re-appeared, winking at Vinyl before gesturing. Her image slid off to the left as words came in to replace her with a wide variety of keywords. "Huh..."

"Lemme see that." No Name casually leaned over, a hoof moving to her shoulder to pin it in place a moment. "Huh... Guess it was over a military site..." He sat back and pointed a hoof. "Pull up the map and ask it to show where all those things are."

"You got it! But don't go grabbing like that, man, rude." She stuck out her tongue and summoned up the map. "You  heard the man, show us on the  map where all those things are."

The map drew back, zooming out to give a view of all of Everglow. Dots began to appear on it as if the continent itself had gotten a bad case of the measles. "Huh... Now what?"

"Get it to show the closest ones." No Name thumped the ground. "There's a good chance they're hiding in one of those."

Bullette bounced with joy. "Operation rescue is go!"

Vinyl zoomed the map back in, showing Turves and the closest dots. "Hey, correct me if I'm wrong, but what we're looking at... it's like... stupidly valuable, right?"

No Name rolled his eyes. "There are ponies that would cut your arm off to get that LAP. You put it on, you don't get to look so surprised about it." He started to move. "Get the supplies you bought with Octavia. We have bunkers and silos to inspect."

"Ultraviolet," warned Bullette, racing after him. "You should not proceed."

"We proceed, or we give up Octavia for dead. Which is it?" He glared at Bullette with unusual harshness.

She shrank away from the terrible glower. "Ultraviolet," she weakly protested, barely a whisper. "We should... at the least, leave the other puppy here."

"So she can be snatched? Fuck. That." He turned to Vinyl. "You're a troublemaker of a pooch, but you're mine. I'm not lettin' you out of sight."
> 37 - Queens Do Not Scream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl's face was lit up with every fire as she filled the strange creature with her shots. They were too deep for just her songs to suffice; she had to lend a hoof with every fiber of her being. They were all struggling.

Each point on the map led to horrors that needed to be examined, and each with it came a fight for survival. Vinyl kicked the great thing to its side and fired once more into its skull, muting its weak thrashing. "Any signs of the Faithful around here?"

"Negative," sadly downturned Bullette as her flamethrower cleared out another direction of skittering hunger. "The search continues."





Tunnel Runner and Crown Shine were both there, smiling in that way they had that wasn't precisely right. "Today's a big day," they announced together as if they had practiced it.

Octavia flipped her ears back. Had she run out of time? "I'm being allowed to perform?"

Tunnel nodded. "Yes." She pointed out of the room. "In the main hall."

Octavia barely resisted the urge to collapse with relief. "Very good, do lead the way." She rose to her hooves.

Crown looked ready to go, but was at her left rather than ahead of her. "Will you summon the sun again?"

Octavia inclined an ear at him, glancing to her right to see Tunnel Runner was finishing the flanking maneuver as they walked. "I cannot assure that." Not that she could even see the sun from inside... nor could they, she reasoned. It was a silly request that a musical instrument move heavenly bodies. You needed a princess for that.

They entered the hallway of candidates. From one door came a banging, muffled by metal, but still audible. Tunnel shook her head as they passed it. "Sunny isn't very ideal, they may let her go."

Octavia twitched an ear. "In what manner will she be... released?"

Crown shrugged. "She found you, she could find other good candidates. They'll probably just let her go."

Octavia smiled gently. She held no love for the one that put her in the situation, but that didn't mean she wanted the mare dead. "Good. I'd rather she wasn't injured."

Tunnel and Crown shared a glance, but didn't slow, leading Octavia away, into the main hall with all the other faithful. Eyes turned, as they had the first time, but the sensation of simply being in the wrong place wasn't there.

They were watching with interest. Some sat up, others sat down, all eyes were on her with interest. The superior was there, standing beside what appeared to be a cello in a case. He gestured to it as Octavia and her attendants approached. "It is not common that candidates make such a request."

"I don't seek to be common," replied Octavia, unsure of herself even as she said it. "Is this the instrument?" She was pretty sure it was without asking, approaching it directly.

"It is ready for you, Candidate. Show us your talent." He bowed his head and backed away, leaving Octavia free to close the distance.

She gently hefted up the case in her hooves, working free the latches that secured it. The cello was... amazing. As if it had been sealed away for some time, it lacked much of the rugged degradation of the last she had played. She was fairly certain it was the same wood combination. That must be a popular construction in Everglow, she quietly decided.

She turned the instrument to lean against her as she stood up with it. With the bow held in one hoof, she drew a soft little note. No. It wasn't tuned. She frowned a little and began the laborious process of negotiating with the cello, teasing how it would play its notes while adjusting them with twists of its knobs between her teeth.

The eyes were set upon her the entire time. Tunnel squirmed in place, glancing around. "Is something wrong, Your Highness? You're not... playing a song."

Octavia lifted an ear at that. "Hm? It wasn't tuned. Now it, and I, can begin." She drew the bow with a sweet note, smiling. Transitioning smoothly into the next, she began a song. It was one she had played for Celestia once, soft and cheerful, but also proper and dignified. Octavia liked the song, and it was what first came to her mind and her hooves.

The never-quite-right faces of the Faithful were on her, watching her play. She kept her eyes closed, mostly. As subtly as she could, she took in the general order of things. She eyed each tunnel and hallway; where people came and went, even if traffic slowed when they heard or saw her. She took note of where their supplies were set that she could see, and what ponies were present. There were many of them, but she had been told that.

She could only inspect the main hall, but at least she did that. As she drew the final note and paused, soft murmurs spread through he audience she had gathered.

The elder stepped forward from behind her. "Tell me, Candidate, why did you want to play that?"

Octavia turned an ear to him. "To play is my calling. If I can share the music with others--" Even if they happen to be foalnapping her at the moment. "--all the better. I hope it was enjoyed."

"Do you seek recognition?"

Octavia arched a fine brow at that. "I am no foal. I'm not hungry for fame, I simply do what I can." She gently set the cello back in its case. "May I keep this?"

"You may not," he bluntly replied.

"I had assumed as much." She closed the latches and stepped away from it. "Let us be off then."

Tunnel Runner and Quick Shine hurried to her sides to escort her back to her room. "That was pretty," complimented Quick with a bobbing of his head.

"I heard music like that," added Tunnel. "My parents had a music player, they liked music like that... Makes me miss them..." She shook her head. "Apologies, Your Highness."

"You should not feel bad for missing the dearly departed." Octavia frowned slightly at the idea. "That is perfectly normal."

Tunnel smiled with a gentle hope. "Can you play the one... mmm, what was it." Her smile turned to a scowl of thought. "That's right, On the Midnight Hill. That was their favorite. Please?"

Octavia felt her heart lurch. "How I wish I could..." She was certain the request was so very genuine and she had no desire to withhold the comfort of the memories of lost ones. "I don't know that song. If I did, I would gladly."

"I know you would." Tunnel nodded with complete confidence. "Come on, Quick, we have to report."

"Oh right. Ring the bell if you need anything, Your Highness." As one, they  bowed, then scurried out the door.

She didn't hear it lock. Were they testing her? Was it worth a try? She could... slip from the room, and make her way to the main hallway, where too many other faithful would spot her instantly. She would have to... run, faster than all of them, hoping they couldn't just... shoot her.

She sank to the floor with a huffed sigh. "No..." That didn't seem like a wise decision.





The superior nodded slowly. "You are certain?"

Tunnel bowed her head. "As certain as I can be. She really cares about me."

"And me," squeaked out Crown Shine. "She's not even... mad... you know, about taking her."

Tunnel pointed off at a wall in the direction of the candidate's hall. "We left her door open."

"She won't use it," continued Crown with a smile on his face. "She's a queen!"

"Not yet..." The superior rose to his full height. "It is perhaps drawing sooner to fix that. I will attend her. Follow." He grabbed glittering things off many racks, pocketing them in his saddlebags. "A final test."





Octavia looked up as the door swung open. The superior was first, making her sit up straight, eyeing him curiously. "Good day."

"Good day," he echoed, though the term seemed unnatural to his tongue. "Candidate, I have a question for you." As he spoke, Tunnel and Crown scurried in and closed the door, locking it from the inside; which always felt silly for keeping her in, since the inner lock was quite accessible.

"If I know the answer?" She doubted there was much she could tell them that would change things.

"You are with six other ponies in the wastes. They are starving, as are you. What do you do?" He spoke in slow deliberate tones, watching her face intently.

Octavia inclined her head faintly. "What else is there to do? We would, together, look for food. If somepony knows how to hunt, the rest would assist, same for foraging for fruits or vegetables to dine on."

"You fail," he stated simply. "One of the ponies expires, collapsing from thirst, their last gasp beyond them. What do you do?"

Octavia's ears perked. "How terrible..." Her expression darkened, thinking over the situation. "Can I smell salt?"

"Salt?" The elder inclined his head. "Finding the sea will not secure you water."

"No, but it would increase the odds of finding anyone else, and following the shore, food should become available at least. If we can find a river, water is secured." She lifted her shoulders softly. "One thing is certain, we mustn't lose hope."

"Hope will not secure your survival."

"Without hope, you've already died," countered Octavia with a little frown. "And... if that didn't work, I'd at least perish knowing I never stopped trying, and that is a small comfort. Now... are we done with that barbaric line of thought?"

"A fight breaks out," he continued as if she had never objected. "'I should be the leader', argues one of the ponies, though they've had no good ideas so far. What do you do?"

Octavia stomped a hoof. "This is no time for that sort of argument. If you have a suggestion for a course of action, speak, otherwise you're only arguing about who wears the biggest hat when they perish." Octavia huffed softly. "I know ponies who would gladly make that argument, and fight on that bitter hill to the end."

"And you are not one of them?" he pried, watching her with sharp eyes.

"I'd rather proceed. It's not... proper to bicker in the first place."

He coiled on himself and drew out a pair of slippers, then another, setting them down. They were made of glittering silver and gold, with gems across the front in a sun-like pattern. "These are yours. Help her into them."

Tunnel and Quick scurried up to grab the slippers. Octavia sighed as she lowered to her haunches, offering a hoof. Fighting with them about it seemed like a fruitless show of futile resistance. "You realize, shows of finery does not a proper queen make."

The superior started, seemingly startled by the very idea. "The queen was always resplendent in finery. Her wealth was a reflection of the prosperity of the people she led. Don't say such outrageous things."

Octavia switched which hoof was lifted for the next slipper to be worked over her hoof. "What of a queen that gave her wealth to her people and kept little of it for herself, save what was being used for public projects? Would a queen be inferior for dressing plainly, if her policies were just and effective?"

The superior huffed at her. "How... naive." He reached back for a ring. It was far too small to fit on any body part Octavia had, making her raise a brow. "This is for your horn," he answered the unspoken question. He offered the glittering gem-encrusted silver band. "Keep it until it fits."

Octavia blinked at the ring resting at the end of her adorned hoof. It was... "This is too much. Why don't you spend this money on ponies, instead of me?"

Tunnel suddenly pressed  against Octavia, side to side. "You are so good I could... mmmf."

Quick bobbed his head. "She only thinks about other ponies. What a good queen."

He drew out a dagger that shone with magic. "This is for your enemies." He laid it out just in front of Octavia.

She fancied a mental image of suddenly grabbing up the blade and cutting her way to freedom. She didn't even reach for the thing.

"This is for your subjects." He set down a scepter, capped with bright red and gold, a crown displayed at the end in royal splendor. "That they recognize when the gods speak through you."

This was all happening too quickly. "Wait, are you...?"

"This is for your will, that it may be known." He set down a bedazzled pen, looking far too ornate to actually be good for writing.

Octavia clopped down her free forehoof. "Stop it, please."

"Mm?"

"What are you doing?" Octavia gently set down the ring that had occupied her other forehoof. "I don't deserve all of... this. Ponies need this. Ponies are desperate for help, and here we are."

"You will help them," he counseled. "See her to the throne room. We will begin immediately."

Octavia's eyes widened. Her time was officially up. "N-no!"

"Don't be nervous," counseled Crown Shine, nudging her to her hooves. "I'll be with you."

"I'll take your things." Tunnel began gathering the treasure to bring along.

Octavia felt tears stinging at her eyes. She couldn't hold them back. She had failed completely. They were going to... "No," she weakly whispered as she was nudged along. "Please..."

"Good Queens walk with dignity," offered Crown with a smile. "Like you usually do, please."

Octavia smiled, or she tried. Her expression was haunted with fear. "For you..." She really didn't hate Crown Shine. She felt nothing but pity for him and Tunnel Runner. Part of her wished she could snatch them up and spirit them away to some better place... But perhaps that applied to all the faithful.

Perhaps they were all misguided youths in the bodies of adults, not knowing what they did, or why they did it, just doing it, desperate for an answer.

She pitied them all, but that would not save her.

For Crown Shine, she stood properly and began to march with dignity. They marched through the grand hall and it seemed the steps of the superior that had gone ahead of them had already spread.

She was not being stared at. Not a single eye was on her. They were too busy bowing. Every head was pressed to the ground, their fronts to the floor, waiting patiently as she strode past them. Not a single eye. Not a single one. The only eyes not pressed to the floor were her own, and those of her attendants who looked straight ahead, not at her.

Octavia was alone in a sea of ponies. She marched past them, her adorned hooves making solid striking noises on the metal floor. Clang. Clang. Clang they went as she crossed the wide room towards one of many hallways she had spotted while playing.

Was it too late to run? She could... She swallowed heavily. "No," she faintly whispered. The time for escape had, well, escaped. She would have to focus on what was to come. They would put a crown on her head of immense power.

The power to force ascension. Many had approached it, giddy with the idea of becoming a queen, or lured into thinking it meant wealth, or status, or even the chance to wield righteous wrath... They were led there for so many reasons... And they had all broken.

Octavia did not want to shatter. Two guards in gleaming armor stood on either side of double doors. As they approached, the horns of the guards glowed softly, willing the doors to open into a brilliantly appointed and brightly lit throne room. At the far end of that room stood a pedestal, and on that, a crown.

"That's it," whispered Crown Shine with a joyful smile. "I polished it this morning."





They emerged from the bunker in a frantic gallop. No Name kicked a beam on the way and the whole thing came crashing down behind them, sealing it in rubble. Coming to a slow halt, the group heaved for breath. Even Belle was huffing, despite not actually having lungs. "Target... not found," she sadly reported.

Vinyl grunted softly. "Yeah... no Octie... Are you sure she's in one of these?"

"She has to be." He raised a hoof to rub at his nose lightly. "What's the next one?"

"Next one." Vinyl lifted her arm and soon had the map back up, potinging the way to the next military site that either held Octavia, or another harrowing adventure. "On the bright side, I'm getting the hang of this."

No Name frowned, but said nothing. The search would continue.





Ponies filed in silently, as if each already knew where to be. Octavia was at the front of the room, in front of the throne, but behind the crown. Her attendants were not allowed to come up there, down with the others, their eyes locked on her.

The elder was there, but he was not the one approaching. There was another queen. The queen was dressed finely, with gleaming metal along her wings and rings on her horn. Her shoes were clad in metal and a smile was on her pretty brown snout. "We are gathered here today to welcome a candidate to the next step. That she may guide us, and we may find the True Queen."

The others all murmured in agreement, bowing their collective heads.

"Octavia Melody, today you discard that name." She took a slow step towards Octavia, the crown lifting in her magic. "You discard your old life. You make this sacrifice, knowing it will help so many others. Do you understand?"

"I... do..." She didn't want it! She liked her name. She liked her life. She would not allow the crown to take either away from her. She was a musician and she would play her cello.

"Then I bow my head towards the old queen, that she may be reborn." She was an inch from Octavia, the crown floating all the closer. "I recognize you, Queen Melody." she set the crown down on Octavia.

Nothing happened, and Octavia wondered if her being an Equestrian pony had saved her. The glowing began. All the gifts she had been given, arranged around her, and worn by her, began to glimmer, then shine with rapidly blinding light. Octavia had to squeeze her eyes shut. All the other ponies pressed their heads to the floor, bowing to what they hoped and prayed would be a true queen.

Strange and terrible magic began to force its way into her, permeating her from the crown, from everything she had been given, piercing her flesh from all directions. She could feel it, writhing and burrowing, changing her. Queen Melody, a fitting name. No! No! She was Octavia Melody. Octavia... Melody... Not a queen.

But she was a queen. She could feel the room shrink around her as she grew with the stature of royalty. She could feel blinding pain as naked wings burst from her back, rapidly developing as tears shed from her clenched eyes. She was a queen, to rule ponykind.

Would they stand in awe of her majesty?

No! Octavia struggled against the magic, trying to hold onto her sense of self. She was a musician. She enjoyed lightly buttered toast for breakfast with strong black coffee. She had an annoying roommate that she actually adored when she didn't want to inflict harm on her.

Would they fear her wrath?

No! She didn't want to hurt anyone at all. She grunted as blood spilled across her right eye. A new horn had broke free of her flesh, extending rapidly and painfully, causing her fur to be stained.

Would they be comforted by her presence?

Octavia could not immediately fight that thought. She tried to be a good pony, and a good presence, queen or not.

Would she guide them?

Octavia felt her wings spread out on their own, feathers grown in. They felt powerful,  and alien magic throbbed in her skull, her horn ready to be used. She was changed. She was Octavia Melody!

"All hail, Queen Melody," echoed the entire room at once, and they began to clop and stomp.

Octavia opened her eyes. The bright glow was gone, as were all the gifts given to her. All that remained was the crown on her head, and her altered form. Queen Melody... that had a nice ring to it.

No! Octavia cringed back, resisting that comfort. Octavia... She was Octavia...

Tunnel and Crown turned away, leaving with the others. Octavia took an unsure step forward. "Stop!"

Everyone stopped at Octavia's command. Her voice had deepened, perhaps with her size. They were all frozen.

It felt... good. Octavia winced at that. No no no no! "Tunnel Runner, Crown Shine, why are you two leaving?"

They looked over their shoulders but did not turn. "We have done our duty," spoke Tunnel.

Crown Shine nodded softly. "We are no longer your attendants. Long may you reign, Queen Melody."

Octavia felt her jaw work quietly. "I... would prefer you two stay."

"Do you command it?" asked Tunnel Runner.

Octavia frowned at that. "I command it."

"Then we obey," they spoke together, turning and bowing towards her. The others began to clop and stomp as if some great thing had happened.

It felt nice. In that moment, Octavia felt good. She had given an order, and it was obeyed. That was what a queen should... Octavia winced back, the crown falling from her head.

The other queen caught it in her horn's magic. "Careful with that, Queen Melody." She carefully set it back on its podium. "I have subjects to oversee. Best of luck in your training." The other queen departed, having never given her name.

The others were starting to depart again, leaving Octavia with the three ponies she knew. Tunnel Runner, Crown Shine, and the elder. Which reminded her. "What is your name?"

"It is your right to command that from me." He dipped his head towards Octavia. "Do you wish it?"

"I do."

"As you command." He bowed low. "I am Cloudy Quartz."

Octavia perked an ear even as the shudder of goodness of another obeyed command teased at her. "That is a... curious name." He did not appear to be a crystal pony, nor was his cutie mark related to jewelry.

"The blood of the ancient times, before we... even had the queen... I lost my shine when I was ten. I took up the name then, Queen Melody." He raised a hoof to cough into lightly. "Your new, old, attendants will see you to your room."

"I know where it is." She felt her alien wings fidgeting on her back. The motions of her head felt off with the new weight set on it. Her body was... strange.

"Oh no, not there. You are not a candidate any longer, Queen Melody. You will be trained as a queen, and we will learn how true you are... or are not."

Octavia took notice of how they had shrunk. Rather, how she had grown. It was only by inches, perhaps 4 or so. She took a step forward, testing her hooves. The slippers had been absorbed by whatever strange magic was at work. "When do you know if I am 'the' queen, or simply another false one?"

"Even a false queen is a force for change, to bring forward a better age," Cloudy assured. "Tunnel, Crown, see to her needs. Another attendant will arrive soon who understands what the next steps are." He gestured to the two existing attendants. "They only know the first few, that you have now passed. They are capable of seeing to your needs for now."
> 38 - Rescue Attempts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia gazed in a mirror. Crown Shine was holding a brush in his mouth and was calmly working it through her pelt.

What looked back at her was a pretty pony, but was it her? Tall with thinner limbs, a princess, or as the locals would call, a queen, looked back at her. The eyes were the least changed, their shape and lashes exactly as she remembered them, gazing at her stoically.

Atop her horned head, a smaller crown of brass rested, glinting in the light. Crown Shine had been sure to... do exactly as he was called, making her new crown gleam brightly. He had been so very proud to present it to her. She could hardly deny it, complimenting his skill. He was fairly good at shining crowns.

The figure gazing back her was... striking, but was it her? Octavia turned to Tunnel Runner, who was quietly sitting, watching her. "When does Straight Path arrive?"

Tunnel looked across to a clock on the wall. "Soon, I think, She may already be on her way, Your Highness."

Octavia clucked her larger tongue softly. "I have a name I prefer. As a friend, I would hope you would honor that."

Tunnel's ears flipped back, her expression becoming confused. "But... I mean... we're not friends?" She tapped her forehooves softly, looking away.

Crown nuzzled under her chin suddenly. "You are the best," he sighed out with a dreamy smile. "If calling you Octavia makes you happier--"

"--you will do no such thing," sternly cut in a new female voice. Straight had arrived, a unicorn whose horn was bent slightly towards the tip and whose spiral did not flow quite right. She was a faithful, deformed in the way shared by their people. "Queen Melody, stop instructing your servants to perform such unseemly behavior."

Octavia turned to Straight with a frown. The way she figured it, it was too late. They would not simply kill her; she was, at worst, a false queen. "If I am a queen, I will do as I please, and that begins by having my friends see me as friends. Who are you to push into this room with such rude words on your tongue?"

"If you are a queen, then why do you hide from the name?" Straight Path cocked a brow at Octavia. "You are Queen Melody. There is no 'Octavia', that is a dead name, gone."

Octavia waved at a book and it flopped weakly to the ground, spilling open. "Do you even read what you decorate the room with, or are you under the impression that knowledge is gained by some measure of osmosis?"

Straight glanced at the book, but her eyes were on Octavia largely. "I am your tome, Queen Melody. I wish you would read me more often."

Octavia snorted at that. "Phrasing, dear..." She thrust a hoof at the discarded book. "I have little to do but to read, and what I have found is fascinating."

Straight perked at that. "How lovely. It's rare that a queen takes an active interest in history. What have you learned, Queen Melody?"

Octavia grunted softly. Why did she have to keep repeating that unwanted name? "That queen you lauded, she did not like her name either. She was no Queen."

Straight sputtered, blinking rapidly. "What?! Of course she was. Queen Illiana, all remember and pine for the days she ruled. This is fact!"

"Yes it is, but she was not a queen." Octavia took a step towards Straight. "She ruled an empire. That makes her an empress. She demurred on the title, instead taking on the mantle of queen. If she can rule so well while denying a title, I would ask the same privilege be extended towards me. I am Octavia; Octavia Melody if you wish to be formal. That is my name."

Straight wavered in place. She struggled to remain as her name implied, straight and unbending. "D-do you command this?"

"No!" Octavia drove a hoof down with a loud clop. "Nor should I have to. Those who are my friends will accept the name I desire. Those who do not, clearly have no interest in further dealings with me. This is a basic thing; even the lowest pony should have their name respected."

Straight turned stiffly for the door. "I... see... Today's lesson is cancelled. I must go." She minced out the door, trying, poorly, to hold herself properly.

When the door closed behind her, Tunnel Runner began clopping her forehooves wildly. "All hail Octavia Melody! That was... That was great! You are such an amazing queen."

Crown Shine bobbed his head in agreement. "I am so proud to be your servant, Queen Octavia." He threw himself prostrate before her. "I will follow you anywhere."

Octavia's ears perked. Queen Octavia... somehow that didn't make her skin crawl quite as much... No! No... She shook her head quickly, trying to banish such thoughts. "Just Octavia, or Octavia Melody, will make me happy. Please, rise."





"She is impossible!" hissed Straight at Cloudy. "She resists every lesson I try to give her. A failure! Another false queen!"

Cloudy sighed softly. "She seemed so full of promise... You saw it, didn't you?"

"A false light leading us astray." Straight huffed with indignance. "She does not even accept the title! Never have I met a queen so refusing to let her old name die. Queen Melody is such a nice name too..." She sank to the ground with an angry grunt. "Working with her is a new torture."

Cloudy perked an ear. "Even if she is false, she must be trained, and it falls on you to perform that."

Straight sat up at that with a low groan of pain. "If I must..."

"You must," he sternly reminded. "We all have our duties, and must see them through."

"Of course." She dipped her head. "I hope the true queen comes soon..."

"As do we all," he gently agreed, reaching to set a hoof on her shoulder. "Be strong, knowing she will come."

"As you say." She rose to her hooves. "Apologies for my moment of weakness. We must await that blessed day."

"For the queen."

"For the queen."

Their convictions restored, she departed his office back to her work.





Vinyl cheered as she slid down an ashy hill on a slab of metal, guiding it around almost-concealed rocks. No Name was making noise as well, but it was more of a shout of terror than an excited cheer. He was on a different platform, awkwardly trying to avoid crashing into things as he came down that hill.

Bullette was on his back, cheering with wildly shifting octaves as she clung tightly to his back, clearly having a good time.

The ground beneath them jolted powerfully as fire erupted into the sky behind them, spewing molten rock from the caldera they were fleeing.

They hadn't found Octavia that day, but Vinyl refused to see it as a complete loss.





"Octavia."

Octavia sat up. It was dark. The lights came and left over time. She had been told they were in sync with the flow of time outside, though she wasn't sure how true that was. That voice sounded familiar. "Straight Path?"

"Shh... You've convinced me."

Octavia blinked rapidly at that, rising to her hooves. "What is it I've convinced you of?"

"You're not a queen. I'm going to help you get away."

Octavia inclined an ear at the soft whispering. Could it... be true?

"No!" Suddenly a new pony threw themselves against her, clinging.

"Crown Shine?"

"Apologies, Oct... Your... Um..." He slid down off her leg in the dark. "I wanted to sleep near you... I, uh... I feel safer?"

Octavia smiled gently at the stallion. "You did nothing wrong, though I would have preferred you simply asked. This room is certainly large enough to contain the two of us without issues."

Straight frowned at the other faithful present. "Crown Shine, go away!"

Crown took a step back. "W-what?"

"Go. Away," ordered Straight, her teeth set. "If anyone asks, she ran away, snuck out, and that is that. Do you understand? If you disobey, I will see you are punished severely."

Octavia put a leg over Crown. "No. I took him, foalnapped him away in the middle of the night, very tragic."

Crown's eyes went wide, bulging in his not-quite right sockets. "Oh my!"

Straight scowled. "You are a cruel mare... You are sentencing him to misery, but I'm not here to argue. Follow me, or resign yourself to this fate." She turned and strode purposefully from the room, leaving the door open behind her.

Octavia took a step after her but paused, glancing towards Crown Shine. "You can follow me, and I will accept you, as a friend and protect you as best I am able, or stay here, where it's safer. I will not force you either way, but I will support you, as a friend."

Crown rushed to her side even as a few tears slipped from him. "I trust you," he squeaked softly. "Please keep me safe."

Octavia smiled gently. Was it Stockholm syndrome, or just that little good feeling at being treated like a queen? She had grown to like Crown Shine, as a pony. Perhaps, away from the others, he could become a better pony. "Let's hurry then." She slipped from the room and raced down the hallway as quietly as she could. At least her hooves were not adorned with metal coverings.

She could hear Crown ambling behind her, and Straight darted ahead of her, moving from cover to cover. Octavia tried to copy the movements, rushing from corner to cover to niche, making their way through the dark hallways.

"Here." Just as Octavia was passing an intersection, Straight shoved something against her. "Put it on, take it."

Octavia lifted it weakly with her horn magic. She still hadn't perfected that art. Even having one was strange... but useful. She could barely make out that it was a holster. It was her gun! She strapped it on with a nod, noting she had to use a different loop with her larger size. "Thank you."

She heard something hit the ground lightly and saw some things had been attached to the holster and fell off. Her goggles and other effects were there, strewn on the ground. She quickly gathered them up and stuffed them away with a broad smile.

"Shh." Straight pointed off into the dark. "Let me distract them, then get out and never come back." She galloped down the hallway, making no attempt at stealth. "Help! There's a queen trying to escape!"

Octavia went as stiff as a board. Was she being betrayed?!

"Where?!" asked the unseen pony in response to Straight.

"She went that way!"

Octavia could hear hoofsteps, drawing closer. Light spilled in her direction, only to turn away just as quickly. Straight and the guard went down a side hallway, leaving the way forward clear.

Crown gently bumped into her. "Time to go?"

"It is. Last chance, are you with me?"

"Forever." He bowed his head low.

Octavia smiled awkwardly, but focused on flight. She trotted forward down that cleared hall. She could smell it. Ash. They were getting close to the exit.

There it was.

She could see an open door and beyond it, emptiness, dark emptiness. She was leaving some kind of building or bunker or something. Did it matter? She fled out the door, wings fluttering behind her. They wanted to fly, but she hadn't had a chance to even try them yet, and dared not make a midnight jaunt her first time.

She heard a frightened mewl. Crown was next to her, pressed tight and shivering with utter dread. "It's so large..."

Octavia inclined an ear down at him. "Wait until the sun comes up... For now, we should get further away."

"I'm scared."

"Shhh, I know you are..." She leaned down and nuzzled him between the ears. "But we're together. We're together, so it's not that bad, right?"

"N-no..." He slowly stood up properly. "Thank you... I know... you don't like being called it, but you are a really good queen..."

Octavia smiled gently in the dark. "Let's talk about that when we're somewhere safer."

She began to lead the way away from the Faithful's little hole. She had friends to find, and a world to return to.





Clouded Quartz sighed softly. "Another escape... We must improve security. How many were on watch when it happened?"

"Just one," reported Straight. Of course, she had worked to ensure that. "I enlisted his help, but we couldn't find her anywhere. We've searched every inch there is to search, she's gone."

"Such a pity... I really had such high hopes in that one... How are the others doing?"

Straight smiled, feeling confident in her deception. "Sunny is coming around, surprisingly. You should inspect her for the first stage; she should be ready for it, or released if she fails it."

"Excellent news." He nodded,  his expression brightening. "I'll be down later today to see how she reacts. Anything else?"

"Ah, right, I think she had an accomplice."

"What?!"

"Crown Shine." She waved vaguely. "He's gone too, no body. He must have left with her. Maybe she took him hostage and made him guide her out, or maybe he fled with her. Either way, he's gone."

"He was a most faithful of Faithful Subjects... We lost a good one there..." He grunted softly as he stood up. "We should hold a parting ceremony, he deserves that much. Be sure Tunnel Runner is invited, they were close. I was certain they would become a couple. She must be devastated... See that her duties are lessened."

"Of course." She dipped her head softly. "I will see to this. For the Queen."

"For the Queen." He waved her away, pulling over some papers to work on something.





Octavia was wearing the goggles, not on her forehead, but across her eyes, keeping the stinging ash from blowing into them. She was guiding Crown Shine along, who had his eyes squeezed shut. "Just stay with me," she cautioned, pressing against the wind.

There was no shelter that she could see, not that she could see much of anything. Then it struck her; she had magic, and her things. "Wait a moment."

She closed her eyes and focused. The goggles had seen many things. That echo she called on, bidding that her own eyes find shelter, a home, a house, anything to be free of the driving ash for a moment.

Octavia could feel a longing, a draw. "Yes... This way." She weakly nudged him with her still developing horn magic and changed course in the storm. "I think I know a safe place."

"I trust you," he shouted over the wind. "I trust you!"

She was becoming convinced his trust in her was the only thing he had to cling to. She could feel him still trembling with fear. The outside world had given him little so far to be happy about. She felt a pang of regret. Maybe she should have left him behind... He was safe there, even if they were all a little crazy...

"Crown?" she tried to speak softly, but it was a storm, she had to shout. A soft shout was a hard thing to do.

"Yes, My Queen?"

Octavia smirked at that, but didn't chastise him, not in that situation. "It gets better."

"I hope so..."

Following her magic, the blowing ash suddenly parted. There was a building between her and the wind. She rushed for it with a smile, setting her hooves on the old metal. "Thank Celestia! Find a door." She could lower her voice a little, the wind not quite as howling.

The door was just another sheet of metal, with something of a handle grafted into place. She tried it, but it wouldn't budge, just rattling a little.

"(Go away,)" came a common-speaking voice from inside, male.

Octavia lifted her ears. "(Thank goodness. Please, open the door. We're not here to har--)"

"(Go away. I am not that stupid.)"

Octavia frowned softly.

Her companion, Crown Shine, dared to step towards the door. "(Please, Sir. It's really bad out here. Let us--)"

The door slammed open and a gun's barrel came out in the open space, a grizzled human holding the other end of the device. "(Go away and die!)"

Octavia took half a step back. "(Please, we mean no harm... As soon as the wind settles down, we'll leave you in peace.)"

The man squinted at Octavia, then down at the misshapen pony cowering beneath her. "(Damn it all... You got something to trade?)"

Octavia considered a quick moment. "(Here.)" She plucked the crown that rested on her head free and offered it to him.

"No!" Crown scrambled to put himself between the human and the crown. "No, please, not that! That's yours, Octavia, yours... Keeping it shining is... what I do, please..."

"(I don't speak fey, but he sounds upset. Whatever, get in here and stop letting in the ash.)" He backed away, gun still trained on them.

They made their way into the dim interior of the metal hut. With a soft kick, she knocked the door closed behind herself.

"(Lock it.)"

"(Right.)" She turned and soon had the latch properly in place, keeping the wind from knocking it open again. "(Thank you. We'll be as mindful of your space as we can be.)"

"(You do that.)" He sank down onto a chair that had long lost its legs, the gun still pointed in their general direction. "(You a wanderer?)"

Crown Shine did as he was named to do, first producing his rag and cleaning agents to start polishing the crown back into a proper shine. He seemed content, for a time, simply doing as he was good at doing, in a place that was safer than the middle of the storm. It was even comfortably compact and cozy.

Octavia smiled at the sight, knowing he was far more comfortable than he had been. "(We're trying to get to Turves. How far are we?)"

"(Turves?)" He hiked a brow at Octavia. "(You're a trek, but there's a road at least.)" He laughed softly, a tired noise. "(All roads lead to there, what ain't leadin' ta Murrage or Trash Heap.)" His eyes fell to Crown, watching him a moment. "(I ain't an expert on ponies, but he... doesn't look quite right.)"

Octavia inclined an ear towards him. "(I suppose he doesn't... He is a good pony, but a little lost. I'm lost as well, in a different way.)" She extended a wing, glancing off at the strange alien limb. "(I don't feel very normal myself, all things considered.)"

"(Ain't nothin' normal these days.)" He set the gun aside lightly, still within easy reach. "(Mom told me never to eat in front of someone without offerin' some, or you got only yerself to blame when they stab ya.)"

Octavia's ears went up. "(How dreadful! I mean, you don't have to...)" Her enlarged belly grumbled with other ideas, forcing a blush into her cheeks.

"(Figured.)" He stood up and dusted himself off. "(Ash everywhere, damn...)" He made his way to some cupboards and pulled out something in a bag. "(Let's eat. I'm starved. You showed up just ahead of lunch time.)"

Crown Shine perked an ear up at him. "I'll clean up, as soon as I finish with the crown."

"(What's he sayin'?)"

Octavia perked an ear. She was sure she had heard him speaking common before... "(He says he'll clean the room after the crown.)"

"(Good.)" He sank back to his bottom and pulled open the bag. "(You like jerky? All I got.)" He started pulling out strands of dried meat, biting into the first voraciously. "(Got some water too.)"

"(That sounds heavenly...)" It wasn't her favorite food by far, but her hunger refused for her to be selective. "(Tell me, if you would, have you had to deal with... other ponies in the area?)" They couldn't have gone very far, she reasoned. A day, at most.

"(I see 'em, sometimes, let them go past.)" He held out another strip for Crown, who took it with an awkward smile. "(Don't bother them, they don't bother me. Then you come bangin' on mah door.)"

Octavia dipped her head. "(Apologies. We don't--)"

"(Stow it, I understand.)" Things grew quieter with the sounds of chewing and sipping. It was a companiable meal-time, the tension fading. It seemed he had grown certain they were not there to harm him.





Vinyl pointed ahead. "We're getting closer," she shouted over the roar of the wind. "Maybe we should set up camp?"

No Name perked an ear towards her. "Hey, Bullette, do you see any places to camp nearby?"

He said 'see', but he didn't mean it, and Bulette knew it. She reached out with her various sensors, trying to penetrate the driving ash. "Building detected," she declared, sitting up on No Name's back. "Technology level, minimum. Integrity... passable. Electricity not detected. Heat detected. Current weather prevents further analysis."

"You heard her." He turned in the driving ash, moving towards the theoretical shelter. "Any idea if anyone's inside the thing or not?"

Bullette said nothing, perhaps trying to sift through her sensors.

Vinyl broke into a lively trot. "Whatever, I'll be glad to get out of this storm. Never so glad to have goggles."

"Yeah, I had one set of those..." No Name sighed gently. "Wonder if she still has them... That'd be nice."

They almost bumped into the building as it emerged quite abruptly from the storm. Vinyl pumped a hoof. "Yeah! Now we're talking!"

"Vinyl?" came a voice from within. Hoofsteps sounded before the door of the hut swung open, permitting a familiar yet alien pony into view. "Vinyl Scratch!"

Vinyl took an uncertain step forward. "O-Octavia? O. M. G. Girl!" She charged forward and tackled the alicorn, dangling off her neck. "It's you!  It's you! We found you!"

"Friends?" meekly asked Crown Shine, peeking out from behind Octavia.

"Ultra Violet threat detected!" Bullette's hooves began rapidly unfolding and remodeling into lethal weapons as her back belched out the long barrel of a gun. "Unlocking weapons."

"(Bloody hell!)" thundered from within the hut. "(Close that damn door, with you on either side of it. You're letting the damned ash in again and I'm too tired!)"

Bullette blinked softly, her unfolding pausing as she tilted her head, looking confused.

No Name advanced. "You have a lot to explain, later. (Sorry for the trouble.)" He wriggled into the small hut and folded into a corner as best he could to not take up any more space than needed.

Vinyl slid down Octavia's front to her own hooves, pressing into the hut with her eyes on Crown, peering at him. "So... are you the one that took Octie away?"

"He is not." She closed the door and latched it securely with a twist of her magic. "He fled with me, away from them. He is to be treated with respect and kindness."

"Friendship file created," sang Bullette, looking happy suddenly. She hopped down off of No Name and trotted right up to the confused Crown Shine. "I am Bullette Belle. You are?"

"Crown... Shine. I shine crowns." He reached for the crown he had finished and offered it towards Bullette.

Bullette tilted her head left, then right. "Cleaning efficiency, 99.21%. Commendable." She clip-clopped her hooves in applause.

Crown blushed softly with an awkward smile. "Never been... complimented like that before, uh... thanks."

Vinyl looked less sure. "I'm not opening a friendship file just yet... So, you're a Faithful?"

"Yes! No? I mean..." He glanced towards Octavia. "I'm faithful to her."

"(This is why I avoid fey,)" grumbled the poor human that owned the hut, unable to understand most of what was being said.

"(Sorry.)" Crown bowed towards the man, suddenly speaking common.

Octavia cleared her throat. "(He is my responsibility, at least for now. Please, accept that.)"
> 39 - It's Nothing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl was pressed close to Octavia. Crown Shine was on the other side of her, pinning the mare between two ponies that had more than enough affection for any one pony each. Vinyl nuzzled into the larger form of her friend. "Does it hurt? You alright? I mean... really... You're huge, girl."

Octavia's cheeks darkened, her voice low in response to be mindful of those who slept, "Are you calling me fat, dear? I am not in pain, thankfully, though it did... sting as it happened." She could still remember when the horn had erupted from her head. Her wings twitched with the echo of agony at their birth.

Vinyl noticed the movement and her nuzzling moved to a wing. "Do these work?"

"I haven't much chance to test that." She inclined an ear towards Vinyl. "Perhaps when we are in a safer place? Why were you all out here?"

"Duh. I mean, duh... Seriously, girl, you know why. We were looking for you." She prodded Octavia with a hoof. "We went from place to place getting into all kinds of trouble." She laughed softly, leaning against Octavia. "But we found you, finally."

Octavia smiled quietly in the dark before her head came down, resting on the floor. "I wish you had been... perhaps a week or two sooner..."

"Are you alright?" Vinyl sat up, concern on her face. "Really, does it hurt?"

"It's nothing." She snorted softly and closed her eyes. "We will return to Turves, see that Crown Shine is given a good home--"

"What?!" Crown sat up suddenly. "I have a home, with you."

A low groan escaped from Octavia. "Why aren't you asleep? Everyone go to bed."

"As you wish." He went quiet.

And she felt good. Give an order, get results. That was.... ugh... She shook her head with a scowl, trying to shake those thoughts away.

Vinyl nuzzled in under one of her arms, nestling with her, but being blissfully quiet. Octavia decided to allow that, fading away between two ponies that adored her for very different reasons.





The wind died down, and faint light began to show through the little cracks in the building. Day had come, as well as it ever did most times in the wastes.

Bullette was the first to rouse, having never actually slept. "(Thank you for your hospitality,)" she sang at the human. "(And for your trust.)"

"(Yeah.)" He gestured towards the door. "(Think you can get that big one out of the way?)"

"(Affirmative!)" She pronked towards the slumbering No Name. "Error, doorway inaccessible!" she sang cheerfully.

"Yeah yeah." He yawned widely, his snakes joining in the motion in a chorus of yawns. "(Hey, thanks fer not tryin' ta stab us in the night or nothin'.)"

"(Yeah, see ya.)"

No Name got the hint, rising to his hooves and nudging the pony pile that was Octavia. "Time to go."

Soon many sleepy ponies were outside, and a very energetic Bullette, pronking around them in little bounding trails, ash kicked up with each bounce. "Mission accomplished," she sang as she went. "Lost puppy retrieved."

"Yeah..." No Name looked Octavia over. "But I think she caught some local bug."

Octavia's cheeks warmed as she backed up a step. "Nothing for it. I'm still Octavia Melody, not 'queen' anything."

"So my mare's gotten hornier with age, don't see me complaining." Vinyl wagged her brows, knowing full well the double entendre she was spinning. "Seriously, an alicorn?! That's awesome!"

No Name started away from the metal hut. "Use that damned thing on your arm to point the way to Turves. We're done."

Octavia huffed at Vinyl's outburst. "Were it possible, I would trade it with you, Vinyl, if you covet it so dearly."

"She isn't nearly as deserving," cut in Crown Shine with a smile. "Not queen material at all."

Vinyl blinked at that. "What? Hey! I can be very queen-like!" Her cheeks puffed out with indignance as she raised an arm and soon had the map pulled up, banishing the points of interest in favor for Turves. "It's, uh, that way." She pointed the same hoof onwards.

Crown Shine remained in Octavia's shadow, always within inches of her, though he seemed less dazed than he had before the others arrived, as if the presence of more ponies was somehow comforting to him. "The large one," he whispered. "Is he actually a pony? He isn't, uh... a proper pony."

"I can hear you," grunted No Name through one of his snakes. "Ain't like they asked me for this to happen or not."

Crown squeaked in horror, hiding under Octavia.

Octavia nudged him forward. "He won't harm you. He is a dear friend and stalwart defender. He has sheltered us from so much since we arrived, we owe him our life several times over."

"O-oh..." Crown twisted an ear at No Name, looking his scarred form from top to bottom. "Oh, um... well... um... if my queen finds favor in you, I do too!" He started to smile a little, as if he was just coming to that conclusion out loud, and seemed particularly happy with it. "Y-yes, thank you, for keeping Octavia safe. You... are very, um... smart, actually... I mean..." He put a hoof behind his head, ambling on the other three hooves.

"You knew she was worth protecting... long before we did. I... We... only just met... but she is so special... so... um... special enough to leave..."

Vinyl suddenly crashed into him from the side, barrel to barrel. "Yeah, we're all here for 'Tavi. Welcome to the club. So, what's your story, besides shining crowns? We got that part."

He almost toppled, caught entirely by surprise. "O-oh, um... Vinyl was it? You are... also her faithful subject... right?"

Vinyl looked up at the regal walking Octavia and back at Crown. "For her, sure, I'd faithful all over her. We're roomies, actually. We met each other by playing music, even if it was very different kinds of music." She nodded confidently. "Oh yeah, you do know we're not from here, right? Like... this world, at all."

Crown blinked, eyes bulging a little. "What? I mean... How? I... oh... Oh..." He flopped into the ash suddenly, looking defeated.

Octavia lifted him into a sitting position with her horn. "We have to keep going, Crown, what's wrong?"

Crown looked up at her, tears brimming in his eyes. "You aren't... one of us... No... wonder you were so different... You can't be the true queen. I was so stupid!"

Octavia's teeth set, backing a step.

No Name grunted as he turned to the stop in the procession. "Look, Crown whatever, you get up and you get moving, or we leave you out here to die. Do you think the next bandit or hungry beast will care how broken your heart is? Get up."

Octavia frowned at the acidic pep talk. "I promised I would protect you, and I mean to do that, but I need you to stand up and walk, Crown Shine. I am the same Octavia you knew yesterday."

"But I didn't know." He rose to his hooves and started ahead, head hanging. "I don't know much, I suppose..."

Vinyl glanced sideways at him,  head forward. "Who does?"

"She does." He tossed his head towards the large form of his queen. "She knows... a lot. It was me that was dumb, not her... She... even tried to tell me to just stay where I was..."

Vinyl threw an arm over the mildly deformed pony. "Yeah, but you came anyway, because you wanted to. How's it feel, doing what you want? I get the feeling you don't get to have that often where you're from."

"Scary."

"Yeah, it is that." She squeezed him even as she crashed into him, jostling him. "But you get so much better things afterwards. You have a big, scary, world just waiting for you to reach out a hoof and have it. Now lift that chin, bucko." She brought her arm back around so she could put her hoof under his chin, lifting it up. "It isn't that bad."

Octavia smiled gently, listening to the two. "She isn't wrong," she gently counseled. "Vinyl may seem a bit... interesting, but she is a good pony." Her wings fluttered on her back. They really wanted to move, even if the idea was mildly concerning to Octavia. She hurried to be beside No Name. "Pardon, I know this is... unlikely, but have you any experience with flight, or wings in general?"

He inclined an ear towards her. "Probably comes natural. You got the hang of your horn fast enough."

"That's... different." Octavia's nose scrunched as she trotted beside him. "The horn doesn't involve throwing myself into the air and somehow getting back down without breaking a few bones in the process. How do pegasi deal with this? Do they set out nets?"

He snorted at that. "That would be cute, but I ain't ever seen that. I think they just tough it out."

"Tough it out," she echoed with a little sigh. "Right..." She cleared her throat, keeping up with him. "That aside, thank you, for seeking me out. I'm certain it wasn't an easy task."

"It was somethin'." He perked an ear at her, but his eyes remained forward, walking along at a steady rate. "Your friend really took to it."

"What? It was fun." Vinyl had caught up, trotting with a cocky grin. "We ran into all kinds of crazy things. Anyway, we have you back, so let's get that portal thingie and get home already."

"Ah, yes... We were about to do that, weren't we?" Octavia looked out ahead, but Turves was not in sight yet. "I would dearly like to get home."

"Yeah? What're they gonna say?" No Name frowned a little. "Neither of you are the ponies you were before coming here."

Vinyl shrugged softly. "Says you. I was an awesome rock goddess on arrival, and I will leave exactly that. My fans will love the Everglow stories I have to share. I bet I could work them into some of the songs, hmm..." She tapped at a chin thoughtfully.

"I'm afraid that--"

"You're leaving?" came a sudden small voice. Crown Shine was there on the other side of Octavia, looking up at her with fearful eyes.

Octavia let out the air in her lungs in a slow sigh. "Not before you are safe and secure, Crown. I promised you."

"Have no fear!" suddenly chimed Bullette. "All will be dealt with in accordance to operation [Redacted]!"

Everyone looked to the metal filly on No Name's back, but she had no further input on the matter.

Octavia ruffled Crown's mane with her magic. "I won't leave you in a poor position. I didn't forget that promise."

"Y-yes, of course..." He moved in closer to her, walking in her shadow. "It's so large and... scary. I feel stupid saying that so many times."

"Then you should cease saying that," helpfully added Bullette, nodding her head confidently. "You have at least three friends. That is a greater number than others. Be happy."

"Three?" He looked between those present. Octavia, surely she counted? He hoped... Vinyl seemed to be alright with his presence, though he didn't really grasp where she was coming from...  he'd... have to work on that. The strange metal pony robot had quite vocally declared him to be her friend.

She seemed nice,  if a little scary.

But that was all of the world, a little scary...

"At least I have friends," he softly agreed, remaining close to his anchor, the queen that would not rule him. "I hope she's alright."

Octavia's ears danced at that. "Who?"

"Tunnel Runner... We... were friends... and now I'm gone..."

"Friendship malfunction!" sadly cried Bullette. She bounced down off No Name and was at Crown's side in a flash. "It is never good times to leave a friend, but they would not want you to be sad if they were really your friend."

"Really... of course! We were great friends... She knew what... We understood each other so well... I was always happy when they put us together on a task." He smiled in fond remembrance of working alongside Tunnel Runner. "She wasn't as good at polishing crowns. I wasn't as good at running through tunnels... I showed her how to do it better, she showed me... I miss her."

Bullette Belle's ears sagged. "Enemy designation adjusted."

He blinked at that. "What?"

"If the faithful can have such good friends, they can't be all that bad."

No Name snorted loudly at that, easily hearing the exchange from closeby. "They're trouble, Little Belle, you know that. Shoot first."

"Error!" She pointed at Crown Shine. "I am pleased to have hesitated. Good pony detected."

Octavia smiled gently. "It's growing darker, but I agree. The faithful are not made up of bad ponies, just terrible ideas, and desperation. They are doing... bad things; out of some..." She trailed off, seeing Crown looking so vulnerable and worried at her chastising the faithful. "It's a big mess, is what it is. I feel certain if you took each individual pony out and set them somewhere kinder, most would become perfectly happy and productive ponies."

With the coming of the evening, they settled down. Crown curled beside Octavia. Vinyl was not content for that, diving right for the center of her altered friend and climbing her until her horn touched Octavia's. "Hello, horn sister. What's it like? I mean, I always had one, default state. Tell me what having a horn is like."

Octavia's ears were pinned on her head, frowning slightly at the presumptuous scaling. "It's... very strange. I want to reach for something with my mouth, but if I keep my head back, the horn reaches to do it instead if I focus on it just so..."

"Huh, I never thought of it that way." She rubbed behind her head with a hoof. "But yeah, that makes sense. Can you do any magic with it?"

"Not that I am aware of... It can glow." Her horn began to shimmer with purple magic, shedding gentle light across the area and chasing away the gloom. "See?"

"Ooo!" Vinyl focused, drawing up her own light. "We're color matching!" Their purple colors were curiously similar. "If you're, you know, alright with this, I'm way alright with this. All hail Queen Melo--" She was suddenly thrown to the ground, Octavia's hoof holding her down with a scowl on her face. "O-oh... Um... did I say something wrong?"

Octavia lifted her hoof lightly. "Do not call me that... I am not a queen. I am Octavia Melody."

Vinyl sat up, shaking herself as she did so. "Why are you still wearing that crown then?"

Octavia glanced up towards it. "Because it makes Crown Shine happy to see it on my head after he works very hard to make it shine. Any pony can wear a crown and that does not make them a queen or king or princess or anything."

"I mean, it is a nice crown." Vinyl shrugged softly. "All shiny and purple, like your magic. It looks sick in the light." Her eyes fell to the quiet but watching Crown. "Hey, can I have one?"

Crown blinked at that, eyes bulging a little. "Oh, um... I... don't have others. They gave her one, and I take care of it, but they don't let me collect them..." He sat up slowly. "Do you want to be a queen?"

Octavia's hoof came down between them. "No she does not. She would be a terrible one at that."

"Harsh!" Vinyl stuck out her tongue. "I'm already a queen... of rock. And the queen demand--"

A crown was suddenly dropped on her head, let go by Octavia's magic. It was a bit oversized for her, listing to one side. "Oh, uh... yeah, I guess this could work."

"No!" Crown was up on his hooves in an instant. "Please stop doing that, please... That crown is for you, not her." He advanced on Vinyl purposefully.

Fortunately, Vinyl willed the crown up and off, hovering it towards Crown Shine. "Hey, wasn't my idea. Friends do that, rib each other. We're just messing around."

Crown accepted the purple brass crown with a happy sigh. "Please lower your head."

Octavia made a little annoyed noise but did lower her head to be properly crowned once more. "All better?"

"Much better." Crown smiled with a heart put at ease. "Please don't give that away... Please."

Peace began to settle on the camp, and soon sleep came to those who desired it.

Crown woke with a start. Bullette was firing her back-mounted rifle at something in the distance with sharp cracks. He followed the direction of the barrel to where some great beast was being warded away, eventually losing interest in the camp under the continued barrage of bullets.

With the threat handled, Bullette casually folded the gun back into herself, resuming the appearance of a harmless filly robot. "Good morning," she sang towards Crown, apparently knowing he had woken up. "Breakfast." She pointed to a small bag. "Water." She pointed to a hanging skin.

"Thanks." He climbed to his hooves and went to find a ration, a thing he'd never eaten before. "This is food?"

"Affirmative. Eat one to satisfy your nutritional needs."

"Right, um..." He chomped into it, breaking off a wedge and starting to chew at the tough dried food. "Oh..." It wasn't as nice as proper faithful meals usually were, not by far... "T-thank you." Despite that, it was more than nothing, right? He was fairly sure the metal filly owed him nothing at all.

"You are welcome." She bounced towards him. "What is your favorite color?" she asked, eager to earn additional friendship points.

He blinked at the question that felt like it was out of nowhere. "I like purple right now."

"Right now?" Bullette tilted her head with obvious confusion.

He pointed to the purple crown resting on Octavia's head, then down to her cutie mark. "Purple is nice, and comforting. It protects me."

"Oh! Affirmative! Then I like blue and purple as well." She pointed at the slumbering form of No Name, blue as he was, purple eyes hidden. "Friendship points earned." A little victorious song emitted from her. Suddenly she gasped despite having no lungs. "All of our friends have purple. It is all of our favorite color!"

Crown dared to reach out, setting a shaking hoof on the purple part of Bullette's shell. "You too."

She gasped all the louder. "Affirmative! We are purple." She  bounced up and down with a big smile. "Oh, you are not purple," she noted, looking over his more faded-yellow colors. "It is not a bad color."

"Not purple though," he admitted with an off-smile. "Are we... still friends?"

"Affirmative." She jumped forward and touched nose to nose with the pony she had been ready to murder not long ago. "The others are waking up. Good morning!" She began to point the way to the food and the water to each of them, despite at least two of them already being very aware of where to get both things.

Vinyl yawned widely, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Heyhey, Bull. You and Crown getting along?"

"Affirmative! Level 1 friendship almost attained."

"There are levels?" Crown tilted his head. "What are we now?"

"Level 0 with hopes of level 1." She nodded confidently. "We are progressing well. What is your favored edible object?"

He blinked softly.

Octavia leaned in and whispered, "she means food."

"Oh! Yes. I like honey-glazed oats." He licked over his lips, thinking of it. "With a side of cantaloupe slices and a big glass of grapefruit juice."

Vinyl quirked a brow at that. "I can not wait until things like that become an option again. Octie! Seriously?! You were enjoying things like that while we were trying to find you? Girl! I'm so jealous right now."

"That sounds great," claimed Belle, despite likely having never experienced any of it.

"What's yours?" he asked curiously, unsure of what exactly metal fillies ate.

Vinyl was suddenly between them. "Bullette's favorite things are friends and partying. She also likes teaching bad things to leave her friends alone."

"Affirmative," cried out Bullette with complete agreement. "I also enjoy music."

"Let's get some going." Vinyl soon had some electronic tunes thumping out of her headphones for all to enjoy, the topic of what she ate run right over.

Octavia set a hoof on Vinyl's withers as she chewed at her floating ration. "Vinyl... That was kind of you to intercede, however, I would deeply appreciate it if you did not treat my time spent... as any manner of vacation."

"Oh, yeah, sure." She flattened an ear off to the side. "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm so glad you're back, Octie. I missed you... a lot. I mean a lot a lot..."

"I missed you too." She smiled gently, the small anger within her fading away. "I will admit... having a horn isn't... terrible. I'd rather have my own mane flow, but... it isn't that bad."

Vinyl grinned up at Octavia. "Just you wait, I'll show you some great tricks. Having a horn is great!" She bounced in place. "Speaking of that, hey, you still, you know, an earth pony under all that? Shoot, how can you even tell that..." She pointed at Octavia's wings. "Those are super obvious." the hoof moved to point at the horn. "If you don't notice that, you'll get an eye poked out. Earth ponies are, uh... Shoot,  I'm sounding racist. I'm not trying to be, I swear! I love my earth pony friends, you still among them. Can somepony tell me what really makes an earth pony, outside of things they don't have?"

Octavia hiked a brow at Vinyl. "Yes, you are sounding rather tribist right now, Vinyl... It was thanks to my lineage that I walked out of the same trap that required extensive expenses to recover you from." She poked Vinyl in the chest softly. "I can only hope that vitality is still burning bright within me, but I will admit, that is hard to easily determine. Some earth ponies feel a connection to plants or animals, or even both. I'm afraid my interests were elsewhere."

No Name shoved Vinyl suddenly, almost sending her sprawling. "You can't even argue that. She was the only one of us beside Belle that walked out of that in one piece."

Vinyl regained her footing, snorting in annoyance. "Aren't you an earth pony?"

"Hmmph, no... I'm not even technically a pony? Not anymore...  It's complicated, whatever, not an earth-bound."

"He is a friend," argued Bullette Belle, as if nothing else really mattered. "My best friend, top ranking in friendship score by a considerable margin."

"Proud of that." He offered an arm and she bounced up onto it. Soon she was mounted on his back. "Everyone ready? We have plenty of ground left to cover before we're back at Turves."

"Affirmative!"

"Certainly."

"Let the rock train roll out."

"Y-yeah..." Crown tucked in close to Octavia, and the procession began to move towards safer places.
> 40 - Returning Royalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey!" The bear guard they had met several times was the first to notice them. "You're... all? back?" His eyes were on Octavia, larger, winged, and horned. "What happened to her? Is it the crown she's wearing? Some kinda magic thing?"

Vinyl shrugged softly. "Sure yeah, just not the crown. I tried it, and no wings." She stuck out her tongue at the bear. "Were you hoping to become a pretty queen yourself?"

The guard blushed softly at that, laughing. "I don't have the hips for that. Still, welcome back."

"It's good to be back." Octavia inclined her head. "I apologize if my... absence caused issues."

He hiked a thumb into Turves. "Go see Longshot, she was totally out of it when you went missing."

Octavia tensed, thinking of when Longshot was warning her about the faithful. "I... suppose I should do that... Thank you."

Vinyl bumped into her, which wasn't as effective as it usually was with Octavia's gained height. "Want me to come with?"

"No, I should imagine that would only make it more awkward..." She looked towards No Name. "I will visit her, but we should move on as quickly as possible. How soon would that be?"

He lifted his shoulders. "Part of that depends on if Lunarquills is still in one piece, and what they found in the bunker."

Vinyl slowly blinked. "Wait, what bunker?"

"I didn't mention?" He shrugged ponderously. "I thought I had. It had been a while, but whatever. They went to the bunker we found, to get rich or die trying. Brave lunatics." He relaxed a little. Turves was good for that, a safe place, relatively. "Now, I hope you don't take this the wrong way or nothin', but I am walking you to the office."

Vinyl pumped a hoof. "Yeah! We lost you once already, no repeats on that."

Octavia smiled gently. "Very well, but I will proceed inside without you, dear friends. I trust you can have faith I will make it through the building to Longshot's desk."

"What would you have me do?" Crown circled around in front of Octavia, though his eyes kept darting to the other people. "Is this... where... Is this where you'll leave me?"

Octavia's jaw tensed, but she held  back any noises. "We'll talk about that. For now... you should stay with everyone else." She tossed her head towards the others. "I think Longshot would... react poorly. She is a 'false' queen, like myself. Seeing you will only remind her of... bad times."

"Oh..." He rubbed a hoof behind his head softly. "I... Does she have a crown?"

Vinyl suddenly grinned. "Her crown isn't a crown."

"What is it then?" Crown's head tilted to the side, looking quite baffled.

"It's a big gold star." She pointed at her own chest. "She wears it right there. She's the sheriff, and queen, of the town."

Crown's nervousness abated. "Oh! I would like to shine that, if she let me. If you treated it like a crown, I bet it would shine nicely..."

"Affirmative," agreed Belle from atop No Name. "Perhaps you could earn friendship points?"

Octavia lifted an ear. "I will broach the subject, but I feel it would still be better if I were to mention you before she first saw you."

They proceeded as one to the sheriff's office, but Longshot was not inside. She was outside. As they came closer, they could hear her speaking with authority.

"Bandit activity's increased across the entire region. It's a matter of when, not if, they make a try at raiding our town, and we won't let them." A rough cheer of agreement rippled through the gathered guards. "It is extra important at times like these that we adhere to the policies that keep us safe. Always let at least two people know when you come on duty, or leave duty. Always have your radio close at hoof, or hand, and keep it on! I don't care if you're tired of two other guards arguing, we need to be in contact."

She fixed her eyes on two specific guards. "Speaking of that, stop arguing! You can do that off-duty, and off the radio! You two getting married soon or what?"

The two guards paled as others laughed.

Longshot's gaze shifted, spotting movement and with it, Octavia. "I... Dismissed." The crowd seemed confused, shuffling in place rather than dispersing. "Dismissed! Get back to work! The bandits won't wait while we're here gabbing, will they?!"

Her more impassioned order got results and they began to disperse away. Longshot approached Octavia directly, eyes darting across Octavia's form. "My... angel... they... My little angel..." She stopped herself, swallowing heavily.

Octavia hadn't said a thing, suddenly unsure of what exactly to start with.

"What is your name?" asked Longshot, drawing herself tall. "Tell me what you call yourself."

"I am Octavia," replied the new false queen with a little frown of determination. "Octavia Melody, and I am nopony's queen!"

Longshot smiled gently at that. "You say that, but you already rule over a few hearts... Are you alright?" Her eyes finally broke away from her to see the others there. "They found you?"

"Affirmative!" Belle bounced atop No Name. "Lost puppy retrieval is a success."

No Name softly huffed, but added no words.

Vinyl perked an ear at the sheriff and queen. "Yeah, about that, we got more than just Octie back."

"Oh? What else did you get?" Her eyes fell towards Vinyl's arm and the LAP resting on it. "I had heard of that, but you had that before you left. That is not what you refer to, is it?"

Octavia's horn glowed as she pulled free Crown Shine. The stallion had been cowering behind her, out of sight. "When I fled, a Faithful joined me. He is a good pony, and I wish to see that he is treated as one. He is a hard worker and used to following orders, so I don't think he will be trouble for you."

Longshot's eyes widened at the sight of the Faithful, taking a step back.

"She... is a queen," he quietly verified, looking her over. "There's her crown."

She raised a hoof over her star, a glare forming. "That's mine."

"Oh, uh, of course." He dipped his head towards her. "I'm Crown Shine, your ladyship. I shine crowns, or whatever else is asked of me, but I'm really good at shining crowns." He pointed at her star. "May I, please? I'll make it shine."

Longshot lowered an ear off to the side, the other actively pinning to her head in nervous agitation. "You are testing me, Angel... I want to strike him. I want to shoot him. I want to hurt him..." Crown was paling, looking ready to flee if not for the comforting grip of Octavia's magic. "I want to do terrible, awful things... but seeing you there, with that calm look. You're testing me. Will I be a monster under that gaze? You are giving me a terrible choice, to be good, or evil." She turned away with a loud huff. "Angel..."

No Name frowned softly, but did not argue with Longshot's spoken thoughts.

Octavia raised a hoof to her star-less chest. "All I ask is that you look at him as the pony he is, and not the ponies he came from. You would ask the same for yourself, would you not?"

"I suppose I did just that." She looked back to Octavia. "Sweet angel, forcing the filthy ponies of this filthy world to consider how foolish their thoughts are from the perspective of the celestial." She raised a leg, putting her fetlock over her eyes. "Testing me... I see they have not changed who you are." She set that hoof down on the clean-swept ground. "You, Crown Shine was it? What can you do, besides polish and clean?"

"I'm good at those." He bobbed his head softly. "I can tidy and organize and do chores. If you need something brought here or brought there, I can do that. I can take care of ponies, even confused ponies that need a lot of help, I'm used to that. I... helped Octavia. I was her attendant."

Longshot's jaw tightened hard. "Angel... You brought me the very pony that pushed you... And you demand I forgive him? You say you are not a queen, but your commands are terrible and vast. Your reach, pervasive and total... Angel, my sweet little Octavia... I will miss you dearly..." She sunk a little then. "Show  me what you can do." With a softly glowing horn, her star came free and floated towards Crown.

He accepted it with due reverence and sat down on his haunches, starting to draw out his cleaning supplies. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Longshot quirked a little smile. "Damn it all... He'll call me exactly what I want to be called... He'll never forget to,  I can tell. Why would he? It's..." She shook her head. "When are you leaving?"

"Me, Your Ladyship?"

"Not you, Crown, keep working. Octavia, Vinyl, you two are not made for this world. When are you leaving?"

Vinyl tossed her head towards Crown. "You aren't going to make him polish stuff forever as a job, I hope? You guys don't have nearly enough stuff that needs polishing, just sayin'."

"Of course not." Longshot rolled her eyes. "The doctor could use a nurse, and it sounds like he could fill in that role. A doctor's tools must be kept meticulously clean and organized, and he will have patients that need personal attention."

"Cleaning efficiency meets or exceeds requirements," noted Belle with a firm nod.

"See? I know these things." Longshot looked quite confident with a little smile. "Besides, the little guy could use a helper that has a bit of... stature. He'll never admit it, and I won't bring it up to him, but he'll enjoy having someone who can more easily reach the top shelf." She cleared her throat softly. "Now, to the question, when are they leaving? Tell me."

No Name glanced away and back. "Can I talk to you? Private like."

Longshot quirked a brow. "With or without your metal attachment?"

"Implication received." She bounced down to the ground. "I will accompany Octavia and Vinyl to the resting area and we will await your arrival." Belle saluted before starting to pronk away.

Octavia perked an ear towards  Longshot. "If we do not leave immediately, I'll come by tomorrow morning to resume the lessons."

Longshot went rigid a moment. "I... would appreciate that." She turned away sharply. "This way." She led No Name into the office, away from the others.

"You realize she is so hard in love with you, I'm surprised she hasn't proposed." Vinyl had a bit of a lecherous grin on her face as she followed after Belle. "The way you act like it isn't there just makes it so much worse."

"That would never work out." Octavia shook her head softly. "We're leaving."

"And she isn't. You think she doesn't know that?" Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Girl, you are as sharp as a razor, until it comes down to pony's feelings. Hey, you coming?" She looked back to Crown, who was still cleaning the star to a perfect shine.

"I'm not done. I'll give it to Her Highness after I'm finished. Does she know where you live?"

"Affirmative," sang out Bullette, pausing in her fleeing a moment.

"Then I will ask her how to find you." He resumed his task of bringing that gold sheriff star to a loving brilliance.

Vinyl wrinkled her nose. "Or you could just follow the big guy; not like he'll go anywhere else. C'mon, let's go."





Longshot led No Name to her office. "I'm glad you made it back, though you seem even more sullen than usual. What's wrong?"

No Name kicked the door shut behind them. "They aren't going back."

Longshot arched a brow at that. "Of course they are. That's what you're going to do, is it not? Was that not your goal from basically the start?"

"They've seen too much." He sat down with a heavy thump and an equally heavy scowl. "They've gone native."

"Listen to yourself." She reached out a hoof and casually booped him right on the nose. "Octavia's friend, Vinyl, yes that was it. I feel certain she will forever cherish her visit to this world, even the terrifying parts. Even the parts that made her sad or hopeless. They will all become a part of a fantastic life she has led, and she will not regret even a moment of it."

"When she hears a sudden noise, she'll wonder if she's being shot at again, or a monster is going to eat her. She'll lose her friends. They won't understand it."

"You're describing yourself, and it's adorable in a fashion..." Longshot shook her head slowly. "She will tell her friends in meticulous detail what she's been through, and laugh the entire time. That is the pony that she is, and it is her strength. She will not be ruined by this."

He drove a hoof against the wood floor, denting it mildly where he hit. "You can't say that's true of Octavia. This isn't something she'll just 'laugh off', so don't even start with that!"

"No... No it isn't." She let out the air in her lungs in a slow shrinking. "She was dealt an unfair hand, one I am familiar with, but she is already... She is already stronger than I was... She is not a queen. Return her home. That angel does not belong here." Her fur started to bristle as she stepped towards No Name. "Error No Name, that angel does not belong here. If you stop that angel from flying home... I don't think I can ever forgive you... and that would make me very sad... Please, don't do that, to her, to me, or yourself..."

"Look..." He rose to his full height. "There's no way you can argue this part. We can't let no one get there. Ain't nobody in this entire world that should get to that heaven."

The smile that appeared was bitter, Longshot turning towards the window. "I know this... Heaven is for angels, to play their sweet songs, away from us impure mortals... I trust you will close that pearly gate, to keep the angels safe from us."

He had won that part of the argument. Why did he feel so bad? "Look, uh... it'll take a few days for us to get supplies for the next trip... I'll walk with her each day, but she'll get in a few more lessons."

"Thank you," she spoke in a small voice. "Her music will remain, at least... I will play it as best I can, but what am I, but a mortal pony." She smiled gently, sitting up. "See them home, please... And don't run away! I swear, you are beyond hopeless at times... You keep making problems that wouldn't be there if not for your insistence. Just... stop running."

"You know I can't do that."

"I know you won't do that..." She pointed to the door. "Good luck, and return safe, that is an order."

He moved a hoof towards the door, but hesitated, glancing between it and her. "Look... I..."

"Why must a queen do everything herself?" She suddenly advanced on him. He took a step back, but she was coming in far more quickly than he was retreating. She pressed her lips to his.

It was no magical moment. They didn't melt into each other, and the world didn't fade away. It was awkward, but she kissed him softly a moment before drawing back. "Obey me, just this once. Return them home, then you come back, safe and whole."

"I... never was whole." He started for the door.

"And you think I am? Stop fighting your own happiness, damn you!" It was with those words that he left her.





"Hey." Vinyl walked alongside Belle. "We should see if Lunar's alright."

Bullette pivoted almost mid-air, pronking in a new direction. "Affirmative. We should ensure the safety of our friends."

"That would be lovely," agreed Octavia with a nod. "I do hope he didn't get himself hurt chasing whatever was in that dreadful place."

They arrived at the gunsmithy to hear the soft sounds of sparks from within, as if someone was employing some kind of welder or blowtorch of some kind. Vinyl cantered for the door. "Sounds like our boy's home. Hey! Lunar! You in there?"

"(What is--) Oh!" He emerged, the sounds gone from inside. "Hey... uh..." His eyes went to Octavia, blinking softly. "Uh... Well crap... Do I need to start calling you--"

"--No!" Octavia raised a hoof quickly. "Octavia will do just fine, thank you."

"Good, good... So, hey, thanks." His eyes returned to Belle. "Your tip paid off. Duck almost got his stupid wings shot off, but we're back."

Belle clip-clopped her hooves eagerly. "Excellent! Did you find good things?"

"And bad things, and some stuff in the middle." He shrugged softly. "Sold some of it, working on some of it, and keeping some of it. You know how it goes right?"

"Affirmative! We wished to verify your safety and wellbeing. Mission complete!" Happy music played from within Bellee in a little jingle.

Vinyl nodded once. "Hay, just remembering, we're headed to this place called Trash Heap. You got something a little more... serious?" She lifted her gun in her magic and floated it towards Lunarquills, the barrel pointed downwards.

He casually reached past that gun, plucking the one that hung on Octavia free of her before grabbing the floating one. "Sure. I owe you both that much at least, and I got the parts to do it. We'll make these babies hum with the power to put bad people in their place, six feet under."

Octavia softly blinked. "I hadn't asked,  but... thank you. We do need to be able to defend ourselves until we get home."

"Home? Huh, I'm already there. Now, if you'll excuse me." He withdrew into his workshop, the sounds of work resuming with soft muttered curses.

"Friendship responsibility: Complete. Shall we proceed to the specified meeting area?"

Vinyl's horn glowed as she adjusted the playing music in her headphones that only she could hear besides muffled thumps. "Shouldn't we stop by Duck and see how he and Quarter did on their first real adventure together?"

"Affirmative!" She began bouncing towards their fowl friend. "Scanning radio... station not found."

"He doesn't play his radio all day," admitted Octavia. "Though I though he left it in a loop of some sort when he wasn't there?"

"Affirmative." Belle nodded quickly. "Loop detected."

"But you just said the station was not found?"

"The station without Duck does not count," she countered.

"Can't argue that." Vinyl shrugged and bumped into Octavia from the side. "Think he'll even notice you changed?"

Octavia smiled gently at that. "Now that you make me think of it... there is a good chance he will not notice. Don't bring it up, and we'll see if he does on his own or not." She spread her wings wide and gave them a testing flap. "Does he know how to fly? I would... like to try these, if I have them."

With a glow, Vinyl drew one of the wings towards herself. "I really want a set of these bad boys. I'd be the full rock queen!"

"Don't let Crown Shine hear you go on about that." She yanked her wing out of the magic that held it. "Vinyl, I know I can scarcely do it properly, but I really must insist that you abandon that notion. The... process is both painful and uncomfortable, on a physical, emotional, and general mental level."

"It wasn't that bad." Vinyl cocked a brow under her goggles. "You look fine."

"I will take that as a compliment on my fortitude... Every time... I feel things, Vinyl. It calls, tempts... These wings." She spread them, catching in the light. "This horn." Her eyes crossed, looking  up at them. "They want me to be a queen, to stand up and try to lead, or even just be admired for it. To protect, shelter, lead... All the things that make up a queen, they urge me. Any time... I don't want it, but it just feels right..."

Vinyl's happy expression dulled. "Look, if they're bothering you that much, why don't we... get rid of them?"

Octavia smirked softly. "I doubt the crude mutilation of my form would address the problem, since these are simple symptoms of the disease I've caught, not the disease itself." Her walking was abruptly brought to a halt. There was a Belle shaped roadblock in front of her that she had not been expecting and she tripped right over the metal filly, sprawling out in an ungainly mess.

Belle was quick to wriggle out from under Octavia and race to be in front of her again. "Are you unhappy?"

Octavia sat up, looking down at Bullette curiously. "That's a vast question, isn't it? I'm happy I got away from those zealots. I'm happy I'm back with my friends." She gestured a hoof at Vinyl, then Belle. "Those things make me happy. That doesn't negate that I am unhappy this happened to me, nor is it negated by it. I can feel happy and unhappy at once, and I do right now. Right this moment, I am hoping Duck is in a good mood, and doubt he knows how not to be. It should be a delightful visit."

Vinyl nudged against Octavia. "We're complicated people, ya know?"

"Life is complicated," agreed Belle, tilting her head a little. "Sometimes I am glad to be a little simpler."

Octavia reached for the filly, gently feeling over her hard mane. "You are not simple, Belle. You are wonderful, and complex, and wickedly complicated in ways I will never match. I wonder at times what really goes on in your mind, but that is not for me to pry."

Belle took an unsure step away. "What? I am a perfectly standard pony for a filly of my age."

"Of course you are." She kissed Belle right beside her metal horn. "And I wouldn't have you any other way then how you are, and will become. You are a lovely person, and don't think you have to hide that."

Vinyl snorted softly. "Hear that? You have the 'Tavi seal of approval. Bam!" She drove down a hoof in imitation of the stamp coming down. "Ain't no takin' that back."

Belle sat still a moment, perhaps considering. Her forehooves rose and she brought them together in a sudden rapid clopping. "Celebration commenced!"

"You are just the best," laughed Vinyl as she walked past. "Let's go see how Duck's doing."
> 41 - Side Story: Clean Tools
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doctor Time inclined his small head, regarding the larger pony. The pony was easily twice his size, but looked far less certain. The... stallion was nervous, clearly. He was also a bit malformed. The short leg doctor coughed into a hoof. "Well, good afternoon... Mister Shine was it?"

"Yes, Sir." He dipped his head down so far he went flat on the ground. "They said you had things that needed cleaning. You... aren't a queen." He sounded a little sad at that observation.

"I'm not." Time smiled a little. "But I work for one, and so do you, if you work for me." He stood up, his small tail wagging behind him. "You want Queen Longshot to be happy, don't you?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, very much so." He sat up onto his haunches, looking at Time intently. "What must I do to gain her favor?"

"All you have to do is keep me happy, and I don't require too much." Doctor Time hopped up onto a stool with a little scramble of his short hind legs. "Do you see these jars?" He pointed to a line of them, each with a variety of medical tools. "Do you know how to clean them? They must be entirely spotless and free of even the tiniest speck of dirt. I will use them, and they will become dirty again, and you will clean them again."

Crown's ears lifted as best they could. "I love shining things, Sir. I'll be happy to do that."

"I'm Time. Stitch in Time. You can call me Doctor, or Time, or Doctor Time, if you prefer. What shall I call you?" He hopped from the stool up to the countertop, finally standing over his new assistant. "I'm told you also have experience helping ponies who need it?"

"Yes, yes. Oh, I'm Crown Shine. You can call me Crown." He set a hoof on his chest. "And you're a doctor... They never let me speak to the doctors, unless I was hurt. It's... an honor, Doctor Time. I will help hurt ponies feel better. I will get them water, and help them stay clean. I will let them lean against me if that helps."

"Delightful." His smile grew, feeling Crown's words were sincere. "Some ponies, and not all of them will be ponies, I should add, will be confused. They may say unkind things, or even try to hurt you. What will you do?"

Crown ran his fetlock over his chin with a thoughtful murmur. "That happens, I mean, it happened. I had to take care of candidates, and sometimes they were very angry, and they would hit me... but they were just scared, so I didn't get angry..."

Time softly hummed. "I see... You've already been a nurse, in a fashion. I should note, no pony will be here that is not being helped."

Crown blinked. "I always helped ponies too."

Time let that topic just die quietly. He would not be going through trying to convince Crown how he had been involved in a terrible thing. That was another topic for another day. "Good, then you understand. I will try to help them, to restore them. You are my assistant."

"And extra hooves." He reached up towards the doctor with his subtly wrong hoof. "Should I start cleaning?"

"Not just yet. We have to go over organization." He started going over what had to be exactly where, and his student listened, and watched. He really was a faithful subject.





"Stitch in Time." The door nudged open with a faint glow, allowing Longshot inside. "I saw him trotting away. He looked very proud of himself. Did he have reason to  be?"

Time nodded at Longshot. "I think he'll work out." He gestured over his tools. "He polished the entire set and found a few things I had put away in the wrong places. Cleaning is something he seems to take very seriously, which I can appreciate."

"Good, but... be honest, is he difficult? I understand he has... unusual origins."

"To put it mildly." He hopped down to the stool. "He has a good heart...  I should verify that physically. Speaking of that, you're here, let's do a checkup."

"Doctor!"

He held up a stethoscope balanced on his hoof. "I don't get the opportunity that often, and we don't want our beloved queen becoming ill."

She huffed, but sank down onto her haunches in front of him, allowing him to do as he pleased. "I feel fine, but do as you will to ensure that remains the case." She drew a slow breath. "She's gone..."

"Hmm?"

"Octavia... She's gone. With any luck, never to return, ferried safely back to her heavenly plane, far removed from our ashen lives."

He quirked an ear up at his large boss. He pressed the cool ring of metal against her chest. "Mmm, I can hear a bruised heart. I hear sharing one's feelings can help put that on the mend. I recommend 14 cc of snuggles and approximately ten minutes of shared feelings."

She burst into laughter. "I do not normally expect such talk out of you, Doctor, though I am aware of your people's... reputations. Still, you're married."

"Marriage does not preclude holding a dear patient and letting them cry. Lock the door, and whatever you tell me will die with me. You deserve that much, Longshot. May I give you this?"

Longshot considered him a moment. "If you try anything, I will tell her, and she will tan your hide and I will let her."

His little ears pinned to his head. "A little faith, please. I will not betray her trust, or yours."

She fixed him with a steely gaze, but her glowing horn did lock the door. "I wish to start by saying that I am damn proud of this town, and my role in its success.  It's a lovely place... getting better, I think, one little step at a time."

"You've done so much for us," he easily agreed with a smile. "But that doesn't stop you from hurting."

"No, it doesn't..." She sighed, her head coming far closer to him. "She was so innocent, but so elegant. She was a pony that simply cannot exist in this world, and my heart breaks, but... But!"

"But?"

"But I will keep working, damn it all. I want this world to be worth that again, to raise little foals like that..."

He tilted his head. "You could raise foals right now."

"You're edging close to that line..."

The topic shifted back towards safer waters.
> 42 - The Call to Adventure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They visited the radio station first, but the door was locked. Vinyl knocked, but there was no reply.

Belle bounced past it without much delay. "This is logical."

Octavia nodded in soft agreement. "If he was here, he'd be broadcasting in all likelihood. You know where he lives?"

"His bakery." Belle gestured grandly at a building made of bits of stone and metal sheets. Hanging over the front door was a large sign with a crudely drawn duck wearing a chef hat and balancing a great pile of loaves of bread that appeared to be moments away from toppling over.

Vinyl leaned her head back to admire the sign. "That is adorable. Hey, I remember his bread, only thing I could keep down for a little while there. I'd like to try some when I can actually enjoy it."

"That was a rough time." Octavia strode for the door purposefully. "I doubt he will keep you waiting as soon as we--" She had a hoof raised, ready to knock, but the door opened without such crude measures being required.

Quarter stood there with a smile. "Hey! Duck! They're here!"

"Yay!" came from the back. "Who?"

Quarter rolled her eyes even as she gestured for the guests to come inside. "Your musical friends and the metal filly are all here, probably to see you, knucklehead."

Octavia dipped her head towards Quarter as she walked past. "I hope things have been going well?"

"Are you kidding?!" She put her hands at her hips. "I'm doing great! I can't believe I was ever worried about leaving that snores-ville. How about... hey... did you get a haircut? Or would that be a mane cut? Either way... something's different."

Octavia managed to restrain her amusement, just smiling gently.

Vinyl was less successful with a brief guffaw. "Yeah, looks good on her, right?"

"I like the crown," agreed Quarter with a nod. "Duck, you coming out?"

"Quack?" Duck poked his head free, face matted with flour. "Hi hi hi! Good to see you're all back. Give me a moment." He vanished back into the kitchen.

Belle pointed up at the menu. "We will have two mini loafs."

"Two minis!" echoed Quarter.

"Two minis!" replied Duck from the back. A moment later two little rolls fell down a chute and landed behind Quarter, who grabbed them fairly instantly.

"Here you go." She held out the two buns towards Belle, both warm and fresh looking.

Belle sat to accept them balanced on her forehooves, but she pivoted her midsection, turning to her companions. "For you."

With a glowing horn, Vinyl snatched the one to the left and floated it right up to her mouth to chomp a piece off. "Oh yeah! This is the stuff. Duck, you hear that? You are the queen of baking."

"Aw, thank you. Wait, can I be a queen?" He emerged from the back, patting his wings together along the way in small clouds of flour. "Hello!"

Octavia's smile dimmed a little. "You would not wish it." The smile returned as she willed the other bun up  and took a smaller bite than Vinyl. "Very nice, I will agree. Have you any butter?"

"Oh, um... not really." He rubbed behind his head. "Milk is kinda hard to get, and you need that to make butter, so... I'd love to have butter! Butter and bread goes together super good!"

Quarter lifted her shoulders. "We'd need a cow or three, then we'd have to take care of the cows. Then you can get milk, then you have to make butter out of it. That sounds like a whole new job on top of the ones we already have." She started counting fingers. "Baking. Radio Stars. Proud Knights of Turves. Our schedules are really full."

Duck moved right up to Octavia. "Glad you're back! They said something bad happened to you, but you look alright... Even better! Ooo, nice crown."

"That's what I said," protested Quarter with an extended tongue.

Octavia shook her head. "You two... Did you really not notice these?" She spread her wings out in either direction.

"Oh I have those!" Duck imitated the gesture with his own wings. "I keep forgetting I have them, but there they are. Isn't it fun to... wait a second..." He squinted at Octavia suspiciously. "You're trying to change the subject! You're back, it's time to celebrate!"

"Affirmative!" easily agreed Belle, clopping her metal hooves.

Quarter joined in on the clapping, though her bare-skinned hands made a very different sound than hooves banging together. "Alright! We threw a party when we got back, why not one for you guys too? Hey, where's the big guy?"

Vinyl snorted softly. "You notice No Name not being here before you pick up that Octavia's a flipping alicorn? You guys are precious, never change." She pointed back into town. "He's chatting with Longshot last I saw  him."

Quarter leaned forward a bit. "You're going to have to tell me what an 'alicorn' is, to start."

Duck tilted his head. "I don't know that word neither."

Belle joined in the motion, lifting her shoulders as she stood up. "Designation mismatch. Alicorn, noun, the horn of a unicorn." She pointed at Octavia. "You are not an alicorn."

Octavia blinked softly. "I hadn't expected that... In Equestria, where we're from, alicorn is a commonly accepted term for ponies that have both wings and a horn. What a curious shift in meaning, considering most other words didn't suffer from such shifts."

Duck blinked softly, his eyes moving between Octavia's horn, to her wings, and back. "Ohhh! Yeah, you do. Did you always have them both?"

"I did not." Octavia reached with a wing to pat Duck gently. "Now, since you have wings, and I presume you know how to use them?"

"Yep! I forget I have them, but I can use them." He lifted into the air and soared across the room to land next to the door. "Ta da!"

Octavia brought her hooves together in a polite little clop. "Very good, now would you be inclined to show me how to do that?"

"Oh! Ohhhh, oh! Okay." He bobbed his head quickly. "Quarter, cancel all appointments!"

"You don't have any."

"Good job!" He thrust a hoof into the air. "It's time to learn! Onwards!" He pointed outside before marching out of his bakery. "Oh, keep an eye on the bread."

"What? I don't get to watch? Bah." Quarter remained behind, willing to make that sacrifice even if she complained.

Vinyl followed Octavia and Duck out. "No way I'm missing this. Spread those wings, girl!"

Belle pronked along after them. "Proper care should be employed to minimize injury chances."

"I would appreciate that." Octavia nodded lightly. "Any ideas?"

"Be careful." Duck nodded softly as he looped around the bakery to a ladder and propped it against the bakery itself. Its rungs were spaced just so and its steps were deeper so an average pony would be able to basically walk up the ladder, which he did. "Come on up!"

Octavia scaled up after him, with Vinyl hurrying up just after up, giggling.

Belle remained on the ground, watching them.

Duck extended his wings. "It's easier to fly with a little height, see?" He walked right off the edge of the building, vanishing from sight a moment before he came back up, soaring in a lazy circle. "Now you try," he shouted from above.

Octavia wrinkled her nose. "Do you not have more... advice?"

"Not really. You kinda have to do it. Quack." He clopped his free hooves eagerly. "C'mon!"

Vinyl nudged Octavia on her rump. "Go on. You have them, use them. I would if I could, trust me."

"Yes, I feel certain you would..." Octavia stepped closer to the edge and peered over the side. The ground seemed too far away, even if it was a one story building. "Perhaps--"

As she turned to flee, Vinyl shoved her with both forehooves and a fiercely glowing horn.

"Vinyl!" She yelped as she began to fall. Her wings flapped wildly, trying to stop the descent, which they failed to do, but Octavia struck the ground just a little slower than she should have, grunting with the impact. "Vinyl Scratch! When I get back up there, I will have stern words for you!"

Octavia was back on her hooves and circling around the building rapidly. "I swear, you have not an ounce of manners or decorum; shoving me like that!"

As she arrived at the ladder, there was Belle, clopping joyfully. "You look... strangely excited."

Belle bobbed her head. "You flew!"

"I did not." She frowned at the metal filly.

"Incorrect. It was not graceful, but you moved through the air without injury. Flight: Successful!"

"You heard the filly," called Vinyl from above. "Get up here and do it again."

Octavia scowled at Vinyl as she ascended. "Perhaps we should first ascertain how well you fly."

Vinyl danced away from the edge. "No thanks. You're the one learning. Go on, you did great."

"You did great!" came from above, Duck circling them. "Way better than my first time, trust me."

Octavia deflated with a heavy sigh. "No more shoving, I insist..." She spread one wing, then the other. "I will move at my own rate, thank you."

Duck did a lazy circle before veering down, swooping just past Octavia. "Stop thinking so hard and just do it," he called as he went past.

Vinyl tossed her head towards the retreating form of Duck. "You're not going to let that birdbrain beat you, are you? I know you can do better."

"This isn't a contest." She brought her wings down in a measured flap, feeling the air move around them. "Let's approach this carefully."

"You're thinking, Quack."

"Yep. He's right. More moving, and falling." Vinyl rolled a hoof. "Go on."

Octavia raised a hoof to her face. With a glowing horn, she took off her crown and floated it towards Vinyl. "I don't want to be poked by this on a  bad landing."

"Got it!" She tucked it away safely. "Now go!"

Octavia counted just under her breath, "one, two... three!" She jumped forward, wings out. Gravity began pulling at her swiftly, drawing her towards the ground. She flapped wildly a moment before she felt her wings catch something. She went stiff and started to go forward as well as down. She hit the ground with a skidding stop with two forms of momentum to come to a halt. "Ow..."

"Wooo!" cheered Duck from above. "You did great! Wow! I didn't get off a glide like that until like a week. You're a natural!" He clapped eagerly as he flew around above.

Vinyl brought up her hooves to her face as she cheered. "Yeah girl! If you kept your hooves down, you could have hit that landing. Come on back up here and do that again!"

Octavia rose to her hooves with a grumble and circled back to see Belle was still there, smiling at her. "You can't see much from here. Why don't you watch from the front?"

Belle shook her head. "Someone has to be here to offer encouragement when you ascend. I have accepted this task. You are doing well! I can only fly for very limited definitions of the word. Jealousy 110%!" She didn't sound jealous, smiling and clopping.

Octavia shook her head softly as she began walking up the ladder. "Thank you. Now if I could just avoid the crash at the end."

"Oh, that's easy." Vinyl offered a hoof to help Octavia up the last step. "Stop flailing your hooves and act like you're jumping down." She danced from hoof to hoof. "Land on these, not your belly." Her ears suddenly pricked. "But don't be stiff! You have to  bend your knees." She dipped down as her legs all bent at the same time. "See? Like a jump." She straightened out fast enough to propel herself up into the air a few inches, then came down into the same crouch. "See?"

"Vinyl... Why do you know so much about landing?" She had a fine brow raised towards Vinyl as she approached the edge that promised pain and perhaps... freedom?

"I have friends, some of them fly, and I watch them." She stuck out her tongue. "I told you I'd totally be down for wings. I mean, not for a trade. I like my magic thank you very much."

"Right..." Octavia took a slow breath. "On three... One... Two..." She just jumped instead of saying the last number. She angled her wings in the way that seemed to catch last time and instead of just plummeting, she began to move forward and down, accelerating as she went. "This is..." Her teeth were clenched but she tried to keep Vinyl's advice in mind, hooves down to catch herself. "Just a jump, just a jump, just a--"

She hit the ground with her forehooves and bent at the knees. The rest of her body kept moving and she began to tip forward dangerously. She quickly scrambled forward, dancing awkwardly, but coming to a halt, still standing. "I did it!" she laughed, a strained smile on her face. "I did it! I flew!"

"You flew!" agreed Duck, clapping wildly over her. "You did great!"

Sudden new applause broke Octavia's moment of joy. Others had been watching her and were politely clapping and cheering. She felt blood rush towards her face but she fought against it, turning stiffly towards the building she just jumped from. "T-thank you, all of you. There remains far more to learn."

When she arrived at the stair guardian, Belle, the little filly was stomping the ground with celebration.

"Thank you." She paused to kiss Belle beside her horn. "There's more to do." Up she went back to the roof. "Alright, Miss I Know How to Fly but Have No Wings, how do I actually ascend instead of just falling with class?"

"Doing things with class is your specialty, no wonder you picked it up quickly." Vinyl nodded confidently. "Hey, Duck!" she called up towards him. "Get down here!"

"Okay!" He circled downwards and landed beside the two mares. "Quack?"

Vinyl pointed upwards. "She's got landing down, now how does she go up?"

"I learned falling first. If you think you have that?" He looked to Octavia questioningly.

"Perhaps a few more times to be sure." She moved to the edge and looked around. "This time I'll try to... aim a little." She pointed down the road. "I'll try to land in front of that house if I can." Both of her would-be instructors clapped in approval and she nodded, confidence building.

She jumped into the yawning void, her wings catching her. She leaned her body and she banked quickly, slapping right against the side of the building and coming tumbling down. "Ow..."

A paw grasped at her and another came in opposite it, helping her back up to her hooves. A random citizen had assisted her, a smiling fox pony. "Thank you." She smiled awkwardly, folding her wings back in. "Turning is not as easy as it... seemed."

"What's going on?" No Name was approaching the crowd, pushing through it fairly easily. "Octavia, you alright?"

"I'm mostly fine. These are learning bruises." She smiled a little awkwardly. "Good to see you again. I trust your visit went well."

"Yeah fine." He looked up to where Duck and Vinyl were peering down off the roof. "Did they push you off?"

"Only the first time." She huffed and started circling back to the ladder. "I'm learning, really. Would that there was a shortcut, but life rarely works that way. If I wish for these limbs to be more than ornaments, proper time, and a few minor injuries, are the price."

"Vinyl," bellowed several of his snakes in chorus. "Heal her when she comes up."

"You got it," came her shouted reply. "You're doing great, 'Tavi."

"Affirmative," agreed Belle as she bounced towards No Name. "Welcome back. Learning progress: 6% Progress Rate: Meeting or Exceeding Expectations. Grade: A." Soon she was on top of No Name, taking her favorite perch. "Join me in encouragement duties."

"Yeah sure." He pointed to the ladder. "Don't get hurt."

"Too late for that, but I'll keep it to a minimum if I can." She dipped her head, then walked back up to her teachers.

The day went by. Octavia threw herself from the rooftop over and over again, though her crashes became less frequent, and her airtime slowly evened out. She was falling with class, able to soar on stiff wings for some distance before gently touching down on ready hooves.

"They adapt."

No Name heard the thump of a larger-than-average but still smaller-than-him pony beside himself. "Hey Shot."

"Longshot," she corrected, watching Octavia fly past. "She resembles an angel even more now... But that is not what makes her an angel, you realize."

"Mm?"

"Do you think that a pet name, or perhaps a couching for some... baser desire?" She hiked a brow. "She is beyond such things.  I would not... besides, I happen to enjoy the company of stallions, so there is that."

Belle tilted her head down at Longshot, ears erect.

"Don't stare at me like that. I know you're not a filly." She reached up and booped Belle on the nose. "And I'm alright with that."

Belle wriggled her nose, raising a hoof to it. "I am a perfectly standard filly for a filly of my age."

"You are the only filly your age, which  makes you perfectly standard for such a filly, it's true. Again, it's alright, Belle, now... Error, are you thinking cross little thoughts as she practices?"

"She's learning how to be unnatural..."

"She did not control what body she had. Few of us do. She has it, and she will use it. This is the very basic of nature. A bird has wings, and it flies. A cat does not, and it does not pine for wings it will never have. It races on speedy paws a bird will never know."

"Yeah..."

Longshot huffed softly. "Be happy for her achievements. She is smiling, and happy. No matter what else, is that not worth being happy for?"

"Affirmative! The happiness of friends increases personal happiness ratios without diminishing the happiness level of anyone else involved. If only we could create happiness in sufficient quantities of friends to create a happiness loop."

"Ain't how it works," noted her mount.

"He's got that part right." She glanced down at her gleaming star. "He did a right good job, just to note." Her accent seemed to shift, becoming more Western as she considered her sheriff role and the star she wore. "Got it up to a right mighty shine."

"Looks good." No Name lifted an ear towards her, but his attention was on Octavia, returning for another jump. "Hey, have you tried just... flying from the ground?"

Octavia stopped mid-step. "You can do that?"

"Yes!" came Duck from above. "But it's harder. Let's go to the next step, Quack!"

"You heard the teacher." She smiled sardonically as she ascended the ladder to try the next leg in her aerial journey.

Bullette inclined her head at Longshot, examining her. "You have reigned for--"

"--a long time," completed Longshot with a little smile. "Like you, and your friend there, I don't quit easily. Many of the ponies here don't even remember the first time you two washed up on our shores."

"Error: There are no shores within a 24 hour traveling radius."

Longshot squinted at Bullette. "There are times I swear you do that on purpose. Error, you really should teach her better."

"Ah ain't never promised ah was any good at this." He shrugged ponderously, though it did not dislodge Bullette. "So we're the old pony club."

"Can we be?" She reached a hoof for his shoulder. "It would be nice having someone I know has a decent chance of still being there... What's even out there that keeps you wandering away? You just come back with new scars, and new reasons to frown."

"You know it don't work like that."

"And I will continue resisting it." Her eyes followed as Octavia flew in almost a straight line for a time before starting to dip. "Just as she struggles against gravity... She is getting better. I can only hope I will eventually win as well. Is the thought of peace that frightening?"

"You know there ain't no peace in this world."

"I know Turves comes as close as most places gets." She stood up slowly. "I know you like protecting things. Why can't you help me protect this little spot? Shelter other people who need a safe place, so the world can be just a little better. Doesn't that sound nice?"

But he did not reply.

She watched him silently for a time, but she eventually moved on with a little sigh. "I have to get back to work. Return safely, remember that order." And she was gone.

"She's setting herself up for a break if I get hurt..."

"She values her friendship points with you more than her mental wellbeing." Belle tilted her head. "That is unwise."

"Yeah... relationships are like that sometimes. I'd do some pretty stupid things to keep you safe."

"I would also be stupid for you!" she cried in a sharply modulated voice, bouncing once atop him. "I prefer to be smart for you."

"Feeling's mutual." He smiled a little. "Here she comes."

Octavia was trotting back from her latest flight. "Still here, I see. Thanks for guarding the steps for me."

"Your flight is improving," sang Belle. "You will soon achieve acceptable mastery."

"I do hope so... At least I don't feel like I'm about to hurt myself each time." She began ascending the stairs. "I almost wish I didn't have quite so many witnesses. Is my flying that interesting?" She vanished up onto the roof out of sight. They could hear her sharing some words with Vinyl and Duck.

"The angel takes flight," spoke a snake with a voice similar to Longshot.

"Angel, Type: Outsider, Alignment: Lawful Good." Belle tilted her head left and right. "Octavia is not from this plane and she is the required alignment. Is that what she means?"

"Yeah, but nah, not entirely... There's more to it than that."

"Many angels have flight capability. Her angel rating has increased!" Belle clopped her hooves. "Some angels like playing instruments."

"Angels come from clean places, without dirt, filth, or ash." No Name wrinkled his nose lightly. "They don't worry about mortal things like eating or shitting."

"Invalid! Octavia's digestive tract is working within acceptable variations. Physical excretions occur every 12 to 18 hours."

"Thanks for that mental image." He hiked a brow with a wry smirk. Thinking of Octavia's bathroom habits had not been the goal. "That isn't what I meant. The place they come from, you don't have to think about that. You're hungry, you just get some food. Thirsty? Plenty of water... Here, it's a bit more complicated."

"I am unequipped to judge that..." It wasn't as if she needed to eat, drink, or find a place to use a bathroom.

"Because you're my little angel." He smiled at that. "And you aren't flyin' away from me, right?"

"Negative!" She hugged him from above tightly, clutching to him.
> 43 - Into Danger, Prepared
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"(Here you go.)" Lunarquills held two guns by their midsections. They were familiar, and yet...

"Awesome!" Vinyl grabbed her gun in her magic. "What did you do? I mean, besides make it look even more  metal."

Octavia willed her own to float towards her holster, but it didn't fit anymore. "Hmm..."

"I mighta got carried away a little bit." He held up two fingers close together. "Anyway, it's worth it. Vinyl, yers can belch out a carpet of bullets." He gestured the curious attachment to the side of the tumbler. "It holds more bullets too. If ya keep the trigger down, more bullets come out. Be careful wit' that, right?"

He reached into a pocket and pulled out several packets of ammunition. "Yer gonna need more of these, especially if you don't measure how long you hold the trigger down."

"You're awesome, did I mention that?" She took the offered ammo and had them tucked away for later use. "I may not have guns in my arms, but I can spit out bullets like I do anyway. Good enough!"

Octavia was examining her gun, brow raised. "Did you do something similar with mine?"

"Nah." He waved a hand left and right. "Not your style. I went for better shots instead of more shots. Ya went and got more, uh... What the bears call it, chi or whatever, so it'll pull from there, and it's rigged to use slightly bigger bullets. Less bullets, but they'll feel each one." He drew out new boxes of ammo, but each one held fewer bullets, each one a little larger than Vinyl's collection.

Even as Octavia took her ammo, he was reaching for her, casually pulling off her holster and replacing it with a new one. He was invading her personal space, but he seemed more like a doctor, doing exactly what needed to be done, and she tolerated it. Soon a new holster was strapped around her, and she could fit her new gun in without issue. "Lovely. I don't intend to be a useless weight on this journey."

Vinyl spun her gun in place, making it go about wildly in place in her magic. "I'm feeling way more ready! Thanks again, Lunar."

"Yeah, see, don't do that." He hiked a thumb towards the shooting alley they had used once before. "You may wanna get some practice in with the adjustments before you go running off."

Vinyl raced off to do just that, leaving Octavia and Lunar behind. Octavia nodded towards him. "I presume that is why you did not also give her larger or more lethal munitions."

"In part." He smirked faintly. "Also there just ain't enough room t'do it all. The more you want to cram into a gun, the harder it gets. Making it hold a mess a' bullets and spit them all back out is already a lot. Yours I focused on each one instead. They're both good, and I hope they match who's using 'em."

Octavia rose to  her hooves. "There is only one way to be certain. I'll join Vinyl. Thank you once more. You've done well." She took one step but no more. "If we do not return, know that I will not easily forget my time here. Thank you, for being a friend."

"Ain't nothin'." He lifted his shoulders in a vast shrug. "Go on and try it out. Let me know if anything doesn't feel right."

When she had trotted away, he took a slow breath. "Ain't never good at byes anyway." He turned for home.





With a flick of her head, she sent a small package to join the others on the small wagon. "Still light enough?" called Vinyl towards the front.

The wagon was secured to No Name's sides and he took a ponderous step, testing its weight. "It's far from nothing, but it ain't bad. Real trick is if we hit deep ash."

"Sensors online," reported Belle dutifully from top No Name. "Are all supplies loaded?"

Octavia shuffled in place. "I feel strangely exposed, leaving Turves without the instrument I only so recently acquired, but that belongs to Longshot, and I suppose it always had. We are ready."

Vinyl flipped her headphones around, starting up a pumping electronic ballad. "Time to get marchin'!"

They set off, leaving Turves and its comforts behind.  The road was soon lost to mild ash, the true sign that they had left civilization, where people actually cleaned things.

"Course correction." Belle nudged at her brave mount, guiding him around holes and hazards concealed by the ash.

"What's that?" Vinyl pointed into the distance. It was hard to see through the ash they were kicking up, but it looked to be a collection of people approaching on horseback.

Octavia drew her weapon free. "Be prepared."

Vinyl whistled at that. "Shoot girl, you're getting into it." She pulled free her automated monstrosity. "Hopefully they'll just go around."

"Ain't goin' around," grunted No Name with a frown. He reached back and pulled free the massive 'children at play' sign that he favored as a weapon.

With a muffled roar that grew louder, A rocket flew towards them. "Bloody hay!" shrieked Octavia, diving to the side with unfurled wings.

Vinyl levelled her gun at the incoming thing and pulled the trigger, squeezing it as it began to rapidly empty itself of bullets. A great explosion filled the space between them and their assailants, the rocket detonated before reaching them.

"Excellent performance. Battle mode engaging. Danger level: Red." As deadly as she was, it took Belle a moment to unfurl her gun arms.

Cracks and pops of firearms filled the air. Flying, Octavia was the easiest to see and target. She wheeled and twirled, trying to avoid being perforated, but a bullet found one of her hind legs. "That's... it, no more playing," she grunted, aiming her gun down at her assailants. "That didn't hurt as bad as getting these wings."

With a deep thump that seemed far too low for such a small gun, she caught the first bandit, a small pony, in the side of his torso, drawing a scream of vulgarity. He collapsed off his larger horse and the beast ran off without him, leaving him in the ash.

No Name shook free the harness of the wagon and charged forward, sign raised and ready. "You picked the wrong victims!" The other snakes that weren't speaking hissed in unison.

The remaining bandits spread out, trying to get around their would-be victims, firing wildly as they went. Vinyl's music joined the confusion, playing loudly as she trotted forward to the beat of her own music. "Time to lay down the law, people!"

A great plume of fire engulfed a rider and their mount at once, Belle's terrible arm pointed in their direction. Even as elf and equine screamed in anguish, No Name was on another, bringing down his sign. An arm went flying off, his sign bloodied, but the rider moving past. "Shoot, missed," he grunted as he turned in a broad circle towards other victims.

"(Demons!)" hissed one of the riders, a feline with grit teeth. "(Get out of here!)" He nudged his mount into action away from the losing battle.

"We can't have that," softly spoke Octavia as she flew towards him from above, taking aim as she did so. She fired just with a beat of the song. She wasn't sure if she intended that, but her aim was true, perhaps assisted by the battle music of her friend.

The cat slumped against the back of his horse's neck. She turned in her flight, hoping to get the one other she could see getting away, but they were far out of her easy range, and moving far faster on the horse's hooves than she did with her wings. "Blast it..."

No Name brought down a hoof with a loud thump right beside the head of the original small pony that had fallen from his horse. "You can answer some questions, or I'll make it quick."

The little one raised his hooves wardingly. "Don't kill me! Uh, pony to pony, right? I'll do anythin'!"

"Danger level: Yellow." Her arms began rescinding to their less deadly versions. "I advise cooperation."

Octavia landed just beside Vinyl, wincing and tipping momentarily to one side. "That stings a little when you put weight on it."

Vinyl perked an ear towards her friend. "Put weight on-- Oh woah, hold on!" She rushed forward with healing words on her lips. With a touch and a glow of rock magic, she banished the hurt. The bullet popped free of the sound and fell to the ground. "That's never gonna stop being weird."

No Name was scowling down at his captive. "You from Trash Heap?"

"Who, me?" squeaked the little pony. "Um, no, no, why would someone innocent like me be from there?" He fixed No Name with a pouty look, lower lip trembling.

"Oh, wow..." Vinyl was staring at the little pony. "He's so cute..."

"Affirmative," agreed Belle. "Cuteness levels are aesthetically pleasing. Analyzing." She was also staring.

Everyone was staring at the little pony, except one. Octavia was approaching him directly with one raised brow. "I don't know what you did to them, but I'm neither fooled, or unarmed. As harmless as your particular tribe may be, you, in particular, are a bad pony. You shot me!"

"They forced me," he squeaked in defense, his ears down and his forehooves clopped together pleadingly. "I'm innocent! I don't want to hurt anyone!"

Octavia reached out and bopped him on the head. "You realize, you're holding the one pony that could make you stop bleeding, yes? Stop that."

He looked past Octavia to Vinyl, the one that had tended to Octavia's wounds. "Oh, um... promise me the big guy won't squish me."

"Don't give him reason to want to," she countered. "Which you are currently doing. The sooner you let him go, the better."

He rocked left and right with an adorably uncertain face. "Mmm, ahh... It... Fine..." He sagged, his cute face becoming his normal bandit'y expression as he flopped forward. "I'm tired and bleedin' anyway..."

"Cuteness levels decreasing." Belle tilted her head left and right, simulated pupils adjusting.

Vinyl blinked softly. "Huh?"

No Name's hoof came down on the prone pony's back. "Time for you to go."

"Stop!" Octavia's wings shot out as she took a firm stance. "He has yielded."

Vinyl huffed a snort as she circled around to be opposite No Name. "This little guy was ready to fill us full of lead. He did fill you with lead, I remind."

Belle clopped her reformed hooves together as she slid down from No Name. "Octavia wishes to earn friendship points. This is admirable, but the target of points has shown little desire to return the sentiment."

No Name pressed a little more firmly on his captive. "What she said. He'll gut you the moment he can."

"Would... not," he wheezed out, laboring for breath under the large and crushing hoof. "You... promised healing..."

"I did not do that," argued Octavia, but she moved a wing against No Name's chest. She had no chance of forcing his motion, but the gesture was enough to make him back away. "But I will, provided you divest yourself of all weapons. If we find a single one you don't drop, right now, that's it."

With the acrid stench of one of his former friends, cooked horrifically, he sat up and started pulling things free in a hurry. In a rain of small metal things clattering to the ground, he created a pile of little daggers, multiple guns, and a few, almost cute, grenades. "There, that's, uh... everything... Do these count?" He held up his hooves at Octavia, showing the shoes he had nailed to them.

"They do, but I will forgive you not dropping those. Vinyl, if you please, see to the worst of his injuries?"

Vinyl nodded in tune with the music only she could hear fully. "Yeah sure. Angel's decided to give you mercy, don't blow it, or the rock goddess is going to come down on you." She reached out and booped the injured pony on the snoot. With a bright glow, the bleeding stilled, the wound closing and mending under her self-declared divine might.

His little eyes went wide. "You're a literal angel?! Woah..." His eyes looked over Octavia in a whole new light. "I can see it. Woah... Oh by the gods I attacked a literal angel! They're going to drag my poor soul to the deepest pit of Hell and--"

Octavia popped her hoof over his face. "Calm yourself. There is still a chance for salvation, if you listen to what I say."

He nodded with a shaking head, tears stinging at his eyes, focused intently on Octavia.

She just smiled gently. "You will go where we came from. There is a town there, Turves. You will tell them that you saw an angel, and she ordered you to settle there. Then you will be good, and they will accept you. Do this, and all past sins will be forgiven."

"T-Turves, y-yeah, I know that place..." He sat up, still shaking. "We were gonna raid it, um... then we... saw you and thought we could... that was dumb, I guess..."

Vinyl barked out a laugh. "With that team? Turves would have torn you apart. We're not the worst thing in there."

No Name knocked the little pony over with a casual nudge of a hoof. "Who were you going to raid with?"

"Eeek! I dunno! I'm not the boss, other people, um, like 3 gangs worth!" He scrambled to his hooves a little further from No Name and closer to his seeming savior. "Should I... go?"

Octavia nodded in a smooth motion. "You should, and tell them exactly what you had in mind. Tell them so they can defend themselves better. It would not do for your new home to be put to the torch, would it? Do this, and you will be happier, in this life and the next."

"Thank you!" he blurted, bouncing in place. "You are the nicest angel I ever met!"

Octavia felt... good. She had taken charge, avoided needless violence, and possibly netted Turves an advantage to help pay off the debt she still felt she owed the community. "Go on then. Stay on the path of goodness. Oh, tell Duck, when you find him, that the angel insisted you be treated to a treat. You will like it."

"Duck, yes, right." He began trotting towards Turves, weaponless in large, seemingly satisfied that following the words of the angel would keep him safe. "Thank you!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Belle nudged against No Name. "Error, false testimony given."

"Yeah, but it was a nice lie." He reached for Belle, pulling her up onto his back and turning away from Turves. "You know, he'll probably fall off the wagon you just put him on."

Vinyl moved to Octavia's side, the two walking along together. "I'm more impressed at how gullible he was."

"Was he?" She inclined an ear at Vinyl. "He saw me as a savior, and I did save him. He saw his path led to pain and destruction, and I offered an alternative. It may not have involved exactly what he thought, but it was true."

Vinyl glanced over her shoulder at the shrinking form of the hurrying little pony. "I just want to know why so many ponies are so... small. Is that from not eating enough?"

"Nah." No Name smirked faintly. "You think they'll all just get your size the moment food's more common?"

"You can't say that's not possible." She stuck out her tongue as she skipped, clipping her hooves together mid-jump. "So what is it?"

"Tribal designation: Short leg. Variant: Physical."  Belle's pupils vanished, instead showing images where her eyes once were. On one side showed the three 'major' tribes of earth, pegasus, and unicorn. On the other was the smaller short leg. "Due to variance, there are no pegasus or horned short legs. Due to variance, there are clockwork, doppelganger, and crystal short legs." Images of each type appeared, each circled. The ones that could happen had bright green circles. The ones that could not were red with a cross through them.

Vinyl burst into joyous laughter. "Oh wow, I want to see a gem short legs. That has to be... three times as adorable, and shiny." She threw an arm over Octavia. "Tell me you want to see one too."

"Mayhaps we shall." Her eyes were forward as they walked, one ear turned to hear the rattle of the wagon No Name was attached to once more. "Short legs seem capable of banditry, so they may inhabit Trash Heap in numbers."

Vinyl turned her gaze upwards to Belle. "Hey, what about big short legs?"

"Valid." An image appeared of a larger outline of a short leg, though it was still shaped like a little pony, just a bigger one. As if someone took a shire pony and simply enlarged it without changing the proportions. "They are not as large as normal anteans."

"Anteans?"

"Tribal designation: Antean. Variant: Spiritual." Belle did not have more to add.

"Huh..." She shrugged softly. "So you put big and small together and you get a funny looking medium. Sure, why not." She flashed her flat teeth as she trotted along at a lively rate. "I want to see one of those too."

Octavia raised a fine brow. "I confess surprise to  hear you are not somewhat curious how they are... created."

Vinyl gasped with faked shock. "Octavia! Is that an angel speaking of such... base things? I'm scandalized!"

Octavia shoved her friend away with a roll of her eyes. "You know you were thinking it."

"Maybe."





Well-equipped and prepared, the group made its way across the wastes with few things to stop them. They fought off angry beasts and greedy raiders with equal grace.  A road began to emerge from the endless ash, a hint that they were approaching civilization, of a kind.

Vinyl lifted the hoof with the LAP attached to her arm. "Whatever this is, it's not on this map." She shrugged softly. "Considering the map was made like a jillion years ago, I guess that makes sense."

No Name pointed at it mid-step. "Ask it if there are any radios in range. That might be useful."

"Good idea!" She willed the button presses until an image of the alicorn appeared. A knob was in front of her and with a glowing horn, she seemed to be turning the knob around and around.

"Scanning..." it said beneath that, the periods building and vanishing as the knob turned slowly.

A male voice suddenly starting speaking, "--oudy with a fair chance of ash storm, so get your sorry asses inside before it gets dark. Coming next, a message from the big man, Locunt, so keep that radio tuned in if you know what's good for you." The voice faded and placid music began, more like elevator music than anything meant to truly entertain.

"This on?" asked a new voice. "Ah, good. Greetings, fellow Heapers.--"

The voice suddenly paused, a prompt appearing asking if Vinyl wanted to save the radio station.

"Yes, get back to it!" She quickly swatted the agree button.

"--are ready," resumed the voice of Locunt. "Get your things, be there, and we'll make this a hit that the wastes won't forget. If you don't want to go, that's fine. That's fine. We'll remember."

The voice went away and the placid music came back.

Belle pointed at the LAP. "Bad person detected. Friendship file creation: Denied."

Octavia leaned over, peering at the LAP, but it had little to display but the frequency of the radio they were listening to. There was a title, 'Bandit Radio'. "Did you select that?"

"Do you have a better name?" Vinyl shrugged. "I just wanted to hear what that guy was saying. So... hey,  if we wait for this guy to go do his thing, that'll be less people for us to sneak around, right?"

"Good idea." No Name nodded softly as he veered to the right. "Let's not approach from the road. That way makes sure we get 'tolled' on the way in. I don't feel like dealin' with that right now."

Octavia followed the redirection, but a frown was on her face. "They are going to do something unfavorable, possibly to people we know. Even if it wasn't... if we are in position to assist, shouldn't we?"

"Good person detected!" musically chimed Belle, pointing at Octavia. "Probability of assistance: Low. I am ill-equipped to combat an entire city of bad people. Odds with innocents present, 0% with rounding. Would you like a more specific figure?"

"Yes please." Vinyl grinned as Belle started rattling off the very small number with precision. "Belle, you are an amazing filly, let me remind you. Hey, are we--nevermind." They  had just gotten to the top of a small hill, allowing them to see the city up ahead. It wasn't a vast metropolis by any measure, but it was a city, dwarfing the town of Turves . "Hay, anyone notice how we keep seeing bigger and bigger places. What's the next one on the list?"

No Name pushed past Vinyl, shoving her lightly on the way past. "We ain't visiting Murrage, sorry. Let's find that portal thingie and get this over with."

"Mission is go!" Belle squeezed at No Name from above. "Your navigation is out of alignment. You collided with Vinyl Scratch." She started applying soft nudges to guide No Name, presumably to avoid future impacts.

Vinyl smirked softly, unfooled by Belle's innocence. She veered towards Octavia. "You know you're not going to be subtle. I doubt there's a ton of alicorns up in there."

"I should think not..." She drew down her goggles with her magic and squinted at the city. "I see more... two legs than hooves. We will all stand out to one degree or another. You are the most normal in appearance of us all, Celestia have mercy on us."

"Hey!" came a new female voice. Approaching them on an electric motorcycle was a woman with a gun held in one hand, and a handlebar in the other. "Trying to avoid the tolls? Nice try, but you have to be a lot sneakier than that." She sounded far more amused than angry about it. "Who the hell are you and who are you with?"

She was human, dressed in what appeared to be a haphazard mesh of leather, plastic, and metal. Worn for protection, it did little to accent her figure, instead hiding it in a smooth shape. She had bright pink hair and her fingers, clutching bike and gun both, were painted at the end with a sparkling mixture that seemed to be her nod towards more classic femininity. "Don't even try to tell me I forgot this circus of freaks."

Vinyl suddenly stepped forward. "Hey, what's the happs? We're here because we heard it was a cool place to be, and I'm ready to throw down some sick beats on any ears ready to rock with me. Are you up for it?"

The women shoved her gun to a strap that held it at her hip. "A performer and her freak show? I've seen worse just today." She leveled a finger at Vinyl. "Performers still have to pay, sweets. Unless you got an invite from someone important, that's just the way it goes. You'll make it back if you're any good."

No Name grunted softly before tossing his head back at the wagon he was attached to. "We have traveling supplies."

Belle clopped her hooves loudly. "You can have the front row when Vinyl performs!"

"Bribery huh?" She clucked her tongue against her teeth. "I'll consider it." She circled around No Name with a smooth acceleration of her bike. "Let's see what you have here..."
> 44 - Trash Diving
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Divested of some of their travel gear, it seemed they were allowed to just walk into the city without further challenges. "Watch yourself," warned the woman guard, holstering her gun at her side. "If they think you don't know how to defend yourself, they'll take advantage, and it's just my job to stop fights out here, not in there."

"We got this handled," assured Vinyl with a cocky smile. "I mean, really, look at us. Who in their right mind would want to tangle with us?!"

The woman snorted softly as she sped away. "In their right mind," being the last words they heard from her.

"She ain't wrong." He resumed his walk towards the city. "Ain't the reasonable people we gotta worry 'bout. 'Least the guard was one of the reasonable ones."

"Friendship file creation: Denied." She tilted her head a little. "File creation access restricted for the duration of this visit."

Octavia took a slow and even breath. "We are not here to make friends."

"That is what I said."

Vinyl smirked as she broke into a more speedy trot. "Just in that cool BulBul way you have. Now... Oh, hey." She lifted up her LAP. "Time for a landmark!" She casually registered the location of Trash Heap. "Pity it doesn't come with quick travel."

The cocky mare appeared on the LAP. A dialogue box appeared over her, asking, "Do you want to hear about the Quick Travel Pack?"

Vinyl blinked at it, coming to a stop. "Uh... yes?" She pressed the button.

A movie began to play.





"Are you tired of commuting to work?" asked a smooth male voice.

On the screen, a trotting pony turned to the camera with haggard eyes, nodding with a defeated sigh.

"Don't you wish there was an easier way?"

The pony pointed at a car that came into view.

"Cars are big, noisy, and expensive. You can get into accidents with them, and they still take so much time and effort. There's a better way!"

The pony pointed at herself, then at the camera, shrugging.

"Yes, much better! With the Quick Travel Pack for your LAP! Just decide where you want to go."

The pony held up her foreleg that had a LAP attached and the view zoomed into a crude version of the map as they selected one that was labeled 'WORK'.

A new dialog box appeared: Do you want to quick travel here?

"Go ahead, click yes!"

The pony pressed the button and promptly vanished.

The scene shifted to a new place in front of a large building. The pony appeared with a comical pop of a noise. "You did it!"

The pony pumped a hoof in victory.

"With the LAP Quick Travel Pack, never have to spend precious moments of your life traveling when you could be getting things done instead! Order now!"





Bullette inclined her head down at the ending little commercial. "The probability of successfully ordering is 0% with rounding. Do you desire a specific number?"

Vinyl lifted an ear towards that. "Wait, you mean there's actually a not zero chance of ordering that?"

"In the correct location and circumstances."

No Name rolled his eyes lightly. "Which is not here or now, so let's focus. Can that thing detect the orb we're lookin' for?"

"Uh..." Vinyl began navigating menus, looking for anything that might help. "Hmm..."

"Let's not assume." Octavia moved to the front of their group, leading the way. "I propose we do as the guard thought we are here to do, perform. If we succeed at that, we will stop being strangers and our movements will be easier."

"You lack a key item." Bullette pointed stiffly at Octavia as they entered the city proper, ramshackle huts all around, packed tightly together, some on top of other huts, on top of yet others, creating haphazard looking buildings that formed alleys on either side of themselves as they walked.

Octavia wrinkled her nose. "There's nothing to be done about that, unless you happen to spy a cello."

"Hey." Vinyl waved her LAP-burdened arm about. "It found a radio station, but not for, you know, radio?"

She turned in place, letting them get a better look at what she was seeing. Apparently something was putting out a signal in the language of machines, ones and zeroes. "Could be it, right?"

"It could be many things," grunted No Name. "Fer now, put that thing away and let's try to be performers."

Vinyl trotted forward, looking around curiously. "This place is... metal as hell..." She had to veer suddenly to avoid tripping over a human slumped over into the road as if they were passed out. "Uh, excuse me?"

"(Fuck off n' die,)" grunted out the human, but he wasn't moving.

Octavia scowled at the crude speech, nudging Vinyl forward. "We need to find an appropriate place to perform."

"(The hell is this?!)" A human was approaching them, male, dark skinned, and hands open in a grand gesture over the entire crew. "(Snake horse, metal pony, a false queen and a random unicorn with no gang colors in sight. This has to be a good story.)"

Octavia lifted an ear at the human, examining him. He had a stud in his right ear, glinting with steel. At his hip was a small firearm, though her expertise was not enough to say what manner of weapon it was beyond that. "(You seem confident. Perhaps you can be of assistance.)"

"(Oh shit, really? What an honor. Your Highness, how can this humble servant assist?)" He did a bow with all the sincerity he didn't have, looking far too amused.

Octavia's teeth clenched. "(Do not address me that way,)" she hissed softly. "(Putting that aside, we want to put on a show, where do we do that?)"

Vinyl's ears danced between the two of them. "So when do I get to learn what you're saying?"

No Name tossed his head into the city. "(Look, where do we go that we won't get shot for making some noise?)"

"(It ain't that bad,)" assured the human with a throwing of a hand at the big pony. "(Kinda freaky how your snakes do the talking. Look, what kinda show do you plan to do?)"

Octavia inclined her head faintly. "(While I do appreciate that you are offering a kind... hand, I do have to ask what is in this for you? I am not so idealistic as to believe you have no goal for yourself.)"

No Name quirked an ear at that, but said nothing.

Bullette bounced up to her hooves on top of No Name. "(We will sing!)" she sang out in wildly warbling tones. "(We will dance as well. We are fully equipped for entertaining purposes.)"

"(Yeah, no doubt...)" He turned away from them and began leading the way into the city proper. "(Look, I'm just a small guy around here. I got a nice crew, but we ain't nothin' big. If I can help somethin' interesting happen, great! I'm bored as hell waiting for that big, uh, thing, they keep goin' on about. A little show would be nice.)"

Octavia's aversion seemed to lessen a bit as she strode behind him, the others following her. "(If you don't mind my asking, how did you come to be here?)"

"(Born and raised.)" He flashed some kind of symbol with a twist of his hand that Octavia had no clue about. "(Mostly us humans around here. Glad you don't all speak fey-fey.)"

Octavia frowned softly. "(We do all speak that, but some of  us speak other things as well.)"

"(Yeah.)" No Name caught up, walking at Octavia's side. "(Probably don't need to remind none, but we survived the trip here, we know how to fight.)"

"(Cool, cool.)" He didn't turn towards them, weaving through the narrow streets. "(Welcome to the Maze, where you can find anything, except the way out!)" He spun about, walking backwards as he gestured wide at the confusing labyrinth of buildings they were in. "(Ain't no big gangs in here, we're all the little people. Now, you may get more money from a big guy, but he's more likely to get angry over somethin' stupid.)"

Bullette tilted her head left and right with soft mechanical noises. "(We are going to attempt to gain less money from more sources. Parameters accepted!)" she sang the last sentence, bouncing on top of No Name.

Octavia smirked faintly. "(That is reasonable.) Vinyl, we are to entertain the masses, to avoid altercations with the local movers and shakers."

Vinyl hopped up onto a fallen bit of sheet metal. "Found a stage! Let's get the party rockin'!" She had her headphones flipped, but her music came from her LAP as well as her headphones in a curious acoustic arrangement. "Yeah!"

No Name backed himself up to park the wagon closeby but divest himself off it, shaking the harness free with a grunt. "Comin' comin'."

The human gave an emphatic thumbs up. "(I got you here, I'm calling dibs on the front row. Hey, people! Stop bein' bored and let's enjoy ourselves,)" he called out in a sudden shout.

"(Shut up!)" was the first response from inside a building. But others did start to approach and emerge. As promised, most were humans. Some were mostly-humans, in the form of elves or a dwarf, but most were the classic variety of human.

A few ponies were there though, perhaps 2 out of ten sitting on their haunches in a gathering circle of curious faces, watching and listening to the music Vinyl was emitting.

Their human guide had claimed a spot near the front, as he had claimed the right to do.

Octavia strolled towards Vinyl, walking with purposeful grace and poise, as if the very walk were part of the performance. "Vinyl," she whispered. "Do you have some cello tracks in that collection of yours? Can you mix some in as I pretend to play?"

"Buck. Yes." Vinyl reared up onto her hind legs. "Ladies and gentleponies, prepare to be dazzled by the cello angel!"

The reaction from the crowd was mixed. Some of them knew Sylvan, and others did not. Thankfully unspoken questions were answered when Octavia rose up quite tall on her enhanced legs. She curled her arm into position and began to play a cello that wasn't there, her eyes mostly closed, though she dared not close them entirely in the bandit town.

Sweet hints of a cello's song joined the rhythm that Vinyl was weaving. With the unicorn working both sides, she incorporated the two together expertly, trusting that Octavia would make the proper motions to keep up the stage illusion. She did just that, working her arms in rhythm with the playing cello's pattern, her wings spreading wide as she did so.

Bullette dove off of No Name's  back, hitting the metal of the platform with a loud squeal of her own metal sliding against it, coming to a stop on her knees, her forehooves spread wide. "(Have you completed the preparations for musical performances?!)" she demanded in stern and melodic notes.

Vinyl reached out a hoof towards Bullette, the one with the LAP attached. She made a show of pulling a small wire free of it and pressing it against Bullette, not that there was any input jack where she casually pushed against Bullette's neck. "Let's upload some rock routines! Beep boop... Upload complete! You're on BulBul!"

Bullette quirked a metal ear back at Vinyl, but recovered swiftly with a melodic clearing of her throat. "Upload complete. (Initiating dance routine 29 z, revision 2.)" She bounced up from her knees and came down on one of her forehooves just to bounce off of that onto her hind legs and begin shuffling around with the beat of the song, showing a perhaps surprising amount of skill at moving herself in a musical fashion.

Clapping began to come from the crowd, following the same beat that was forming the base of Bullette's movements. Some cheered, some jeered, but they were all invested in one way or another. The square was filled with interested people. Some began to join in the dance, though there was little order to it, just a lot of people that decided they wanted to move, and so did.

The only thing that brought their movements together was that they were doing to that same beat, all moving with Vinyl's music.

No Name huffed softly, standing beside their wagon. "Ain't got a clue what I'm supposed to be doin'..."

"Hey, s'cool," assured Vinyl as her glowing horn adjusted the music in fine details as it flowed, working her DJing skills. "You're our roadie, remember? Be big and in charge and you're doing great!"

Something rolled up against her hoof and she looked down. It was a bullet. An unspent bullet, bumping against her hoof. Another bounced off of her and flopped to the ground. They didn't have bits, so... ammunition? Vinyl had to laugh at the absurdity. "Thank you, thank you!" She bowed as she brought the music to a dramatic swell. Their performance was not yet over.

"(I said shut the everloving hell up!)" The deafening bang of a shotgun overtook the music a moment. All eyes turned to the scowling man on the second story of building. He hadn't fired down at the performers, but he almost could have for how suddenly things paused.

Octavia turned to the man. "(Good sir, a little music is balm for the spirit. I bid you to relax and savor this small distraction.)" With each movement of her hooves, Vinyl faithfully made the sound of a cello, making her all the more like an angel, music simply accompanying her presence. "(We will dedicate this next portion to you. May we have your name?)"

The man's rage sputtered with some confusion. "(What?)"

"(He's Angry Steve,)" provided their human guide. "(Steve, they're gonna make a song for you!)"

"(I don't need no song...)" He sat down there at his window though, seemingly not interested in shooting his gun again. "(Better be good,)" he grunted, mumbling but allowing the performance to continue.

The song started up as Octavia whispered towards Vinyl, "make it a gentle but uplifting one. He needs it."

"You got it." Vinyl worked her magic, adjusting the sounds coming from her speakers. "Let's keep the party go--oof!" Something larger than a bullet had bounced off of her. It was an unactivated grenade. "Eesh, guess they like us..."

Octavia lifted from the ground as the music began in earnest, playing her supposed cello as she slowly made her way towards the grumpy soul she was playing for. She said nothing to him, but she played and moved gently in his clear view, slowly circling near his window. She had a gentle little smile on that she shared with him when he met her eyes.

They shared no words, but he began to relax. As the song began to come close to an end, she reached out a hoof, and he met it with weary fingers. They touched a moment, the music fading away before she flew back down to the stage, leaving him looking a little baffled but far less grumpy than when he had started.

Bullette suddenly bounced up, landing on Octavia's back without warning. She squeaked and slumped a moment, appreciating once more how strong No Name was for tolerating the presence without seeming to even notice. "(We thank you for enjoying our performance! Please give freely for supplies and repeat performances.)"

A small hail of little things rained down on them. No particular one thing was worth a grand amount in the greater scheme of things, but the small people were all giving what they could, and it all seemed to add up to an impressive display of generosity from what would be called bandits.

Their guide was clapping as he stood up. "(Good show, good show. Now I don't feel like a moron taking you this far. You have a place to stay yet?)"

"(We got a tent,)" grunted No Name, approaching with the wagon.

"(Nah. Tents ain't safe. I know a few places you could go. You got the trade for it.)" He nudged at the pile of thrown stuff with a sneaker-covered foot. "(Makin' a man jealous.)"

"(Jealousy leads to avarice, which leads to violence.)" Octavia hiked a fine brow at him as her horn glowed, gathering what had been thrown and filing the wagon with it. "(You should take care.)"

"(You're playing your angel schtick a little hard there, Lady. Anyway, you want the hookup or not? There are a few places in town that'll take outsiders with the trade and keep them safe when they close their eyes. Better than a tent, promise you that.)" He threw a hand to his right, pointing down one of many alleys. "(This way.)"

Vinyl bumped against Octavia lightly. "Ugh, you need to not leave me out. Being the only one looking stupid isn't fun, you know?"

Bullette hopped down off of Octavia right onto Vinyl, driving the unicorn right to the ground. "I will initiate teaching!"

"How... about we... initiate... project get off of Vinyl before she dies?" She wheezed, though it turned into a laugh as Bullette climbed off of her. "Damn girl, you are a lot of girl to love the pants off of."

"I do not wear pants." Bullette perked an ear. "Should I?"

No Name grabbed Bullette, hefting the metal filly onto his own back. "You don't need to learn that if yer goin' back, do ya?"

"(Keep up,)" came Octavia's gentle chastisement as she hurried to keep up with their guide. "(What do you get from this? I feel certain you hunger for some payment for these good deeds.)"

"(Look, I am a lot of things, but stupid? Don't think so.)" He half-turned, though still walking forward on his long human legs. "(You aren't random performers, and you are far from bandits. I want to know what's up. I want to hear more.)"

No Name suddenly ambled forward, the wagon groaning at the stresses put on it from the abrupt motion. "(Nothing that concerns you a bit.)"

"(He is curious, that is not... bad in itself.)" Octavia lifted an ear. "(Do you know of any--)"

Bullette was on her back, slowing her motion severely as she slapped a foreleg over Octavia's lips, quieting her.

Vinyl blinked at the antics going on. "Yeah, see... maybe some magic? I got that. Magic can do this... Maybe a song..." She scowled as she began quickly slipping through her collection, trying to find one that could bring meaning to the gibberish her friends were speaking.

"(I already told you.)" He held up his hands towards them. "(I don't roll with any of the big boys, so if--)"

"(So you'll run straight to 'em if you heard something they'd want to hear,)" practically growled out No Name. "(As you said, I'm not a damn idiot. Stop treatin' me like one.)"

He kept his hands open wide, an easy human gesture for non-agression. "(Easy easy. Most of them would as soon stick me as thank me for doin' them any favors. I'm just a curious asshole, is that so hard to grasp?)"

"(What I ain't graspin' is why we should care?)" He pointed ahead. "(I can see the inn, thank you for the help.)"

Octavia shook free of Bullette, sending her to the ground. With a glowing horn, she gently helped Bullette back up to their hooves. "Please don't do that, now... (Sir, I would have your name?)"

He looked past No Name to Octavia. "(Your angel has the right of it. Why can't we be a little polite sometimes? They call me Four-Finger Dan.)"

Octavia's eyes were drawn to his exposed hands. Each had five fingers.

Dan saw where she was looking. "(Just a nickname. Don't even really know how it started, but it stuck. Better than being called Five-Finger but only having four, the way I see it.)"

Vinyl nudged against Octavia. "What are you all arguing about?"

"(It's difficult to argue that logic.)" She turned her head to Vinyl. "Say hello to (Four-Finger Dan)." She pointed at their human guide. "He is curious how we came to be here, and what we plan to do. Honestly, I think he's as bored as he claims and wishes to be part of something interesting."

Vinyl's ears lifted. "Hey Dan!" She waved a hoof at him eagerly.

"(You have to tell me, is that thing real?)" His eyes were on her waving LAP. "(Part of me says there's no way, or you'd be hiding it more. You'd have to be entirely insane to wander into the heap with a LAP on your arm and so few guns.)"

Octavia smiled gently. "(You are correct. Only the dangerously insane would dare attempt such a thing. You are very perceptive.)"

"(Yeah... Figured, uh, anyway, lemme introduce you, get you the local discount.)" He pushed open the double doors leading into the inn. "(Dan's in the house!)" Soft grunts that ranged from welcoming to annoyed echoed in reply.

No Name slowed, looking to his companions. "Look, you two are... full of ideas, and I know I must feel like a wet blanket, but could ya listen a little more? I'm trying to protect you two and yer makin' it 'arder!"

Bullette thrust up a hoof. "Probability of linguistic interception, 64%. Assumption of privacy: False."

Vinyl strolled towards the door. "Privacy nothin'. Some of us don't talk that other funny language. I'll have it figure out soon though, don't you worry."

Octavia lifted an ear. "You were always quick to adapt, Vinyl. Impress me."

"Consider yourself impressed." Vinyl grinned with a triumph she had not yet earned. "Just you wait."

They pressed into the poorly-lit room. Their sharp fey eyes could see further than a human might have, but it was still gloomy and dark. Dan was speaking animatedly to someone standing behind the counter, the keeper of that inn? Octavia approached at a casual walk. "(Has Dan spoken well of us?)"

"(He's been spinning a wild yarn.)" The man shrugged lightly. "(Huh, a FP? I didn't expect that. You want the royal suite?)"

Some small little part of Octavia wanted to demand just that. Surely she deserved it! "(A simple room for us all will suffice.)"

No Name tossed  his head back at the wagon that followed him. "(Make it for five, we want the wagon in there.)"

"(Smart man.)" Even if No Name was not a man. The keeper made a quick scribble on a paper. "(You have something to trade, I trust? The way he went on--)"

"(Right here.)" Dan casually snatched some things from the wagon, things that had been thrown at them during the performance. "(Should keep them sheltered for a few days right?)"

The keeper snatched the collection away, eyeing it critically. "(Should be charging th' tourist rates... Yer gonna drive me poor, Dan.)" He shoved the goods away despite that and slapped down a key. "(There, third floor, second door.)"

Octavia tossed her head towards the wagon. "(Is the third floor wise if we will be bringing the wagon up and down to it?)"

"(You want enough room? You take the third floor.)"

Bullette shook her head quickly. "(We only require two beds and space for the wagon.)"

"(Shoulda said that in the first place, damn...)" He made new scribbles, taking the key back and replacing it with another. "(Down that hall, third on the right.)"

"(My thanks)" Octavia lifted the key with here new horn. "(If you wish to speak, Dan, this is the time to do so.)"

He took the invitation, following them towards their room and some amount of privacy.
> 45 - Devil's in the Details
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The room had two queen sized beds and enough room, barely, for the wagon to be parked and still have space to move about. Vinyl hopped up onto one of the two, humming something to herself as her glowing horn flipped through different sound bits she had, searching for something.

Octavia casually took the space next to her, safely assuming they would be sharing one of the larger beds. "(Now, Dan) We can speak 'fey-fey'."

Dan huffed softly. "That obvious?"

Vinyl gasped in alarm. "What?! You mean you understood me the entire time?! Not cool, man."

No Name carefully slid up onto the other bed. It complained, but did not collapse under him and Bullette's combined weight, a testament to its construction. "Ponies live here, even if the humans have the majority."

"Exactly that, you know?" Dan hiked a thumb at No Name as he leaned back against a small end-corner desk that held a pitcher of water, empty at the moment. "I'm too small to play elitist. Knowing the lingo just seemed like a good idea."

Octavia leaned forward with a little smile on her face. "But you didn't wish to make it public that knowledge. Very well, we are in private. Now, let us speak of the matter directly."

"This is a bad idea," grunted No Name, but he didn't move.

Dan inclined his head towards No Name. "He's not stupid. Trusting people can be tricky business around here, and you barely know me."

"Both true," agreed Octavia. "But I have a good feeling."

Vinyl stuck out her tongue as she magiced up the thin blanket over herself. "I'm still sore you just let me flail like that, man..."

"Regardless." Octavia gestured at Dan. "Have you heard of an interesting artifact? Round, like a ball, gotten from a place that survived the Blaze?"

"Nope," he answers simply, hands lifting in a shrug as he did it. "Sounds like something one of the big boys would have. Any small timer flashing that would get in trouble." His eyes drifted to Vinyl's glowing leg, still visible with the thin blanket in the way.

"Hey, stop staring." Vinyl tried to hide one leg with another, succeeding partially at muting the glow of it. "Jealousy doesn't look good on you."

Dan cocked a hand as if a fake gun, pointing at Vinyl. "I ain't the one you should be worrying about. Doubt I was the only one noticin' that. If that's what I'm pretty sure it is, you could get all the wrong kinds of attention." His faux-gun spread out as both hands separated in a fake explosion. "Anyway, you looking for the big guys?"

Octavia nodded swiftly. "Yes. Can you direct us to them?"

"Ain't hard." He hiked a thumb to the roof. Humans, or at least that one, loved using their hands to express themselves. "Go on up there when it gets darker. If you see lights that aren't torches or somethin', you found one. The people with power have, you know--" He laughed as he said it, "--power."

Bulette's ears sprang up. "I get it!" She looked quite proud at understanding the joke. "One friendship point awarded."

No Name grunted softly, rolling over in place. Bullette walked on top of him, keeping on top of him despite his movements. "I thought you said no new files while we were here."

"He made a joke I could understand. An exception has been permitted." She bobbed her head quickly. "I will conduct a scan for high probability locations." She bounced off of No Name to the floor and trotted right past Dan.

Dan leaned over to the side, grabbing the door's handle and getting it open in time for Bullette to walk past and close it behind her. "You have a LAP and a working android... wait, no..." His expression was queer, somewhere caught between a frown and a smile in a wry mixture. "Equidroid?"

"She ain't that," almost growled No Name, a few snakes hissing. "She's a steel heart."

"Huh? They don't usually... Whatever, not my place. I'm gonna make myself scarce." He pointed for the door as he turned for it. "I got my answers and my welcome's running dry."

Octavia inclined her head slightly. "You were a help. Thank you, and walk safely. As much as you worry for us, you are not immune to the dangers of this place, your home or not."

"That's too true." He was gone moments later.

"Probability of attack: 36%" Bullette was not there. Vinyl was smirking viciously, barely resisting a giggle.

Octavia reached to pat her shoulder, then hopped down, trotting for where a window should have been. "I suppose it makes sense that they would be missing... It's terribly dark in this building."

"We're just here to sleep." No Name rolled until  he was upside down, eyes on Octavia. "Ain't much need fer light fer that."

"True... Are we eating rations tonight then?" She moved towards the wagon, trailing a hoof over it before her wings spread, carrying her up onto the edge of the wagon.

Vinyl lifted her shoulders. "Wanna check if our stay includes dinner? Oh! Yes!" She pumped a hoof with a victorious look on her face. "Perfect."

No Name turned over, flopping towards Vinyl. "What's so perfect?"

Vinyl turned her speakers around, inverting her headphones. "I got it. This is the song that'll do it." A song began to issue from in her, a song about understanding a pony. It seemed to be more about a lost love connection than any literal linguistic issue, but that hardly mattered to Vinyl as she bobbed her head. "Alright, hit me with some of that crazy stuff."

Octavia hiked a brow as she returned from where a window should be to be beside the bed. "(Do you mean this?)"

"Yes! Yes!" She jumped down off the bed just in front of Octavia. "I understood that!"

"(Then why didn't you answer in it?)" She tilted her head a little at Vinyl, curiosity in her eyes.

"Oh, uh, no idea... I can't talk it, just understand it? Kinda weird. It's like you have subtitles. I get what you're saying, but in normal language." She shrugged and looked over to No Name. "You get it?"

"(I heard of magic like that.)" He sat up ponderously. "When Bullette gets back, why don't we order up some real food?"

Vinyl clopped her hooves with a silly grin. "Today is looking up!"

Someone was at the door, or so a thump revealed. The handle jiggled without a word, then went still again.

No Name was the least worried of them. "Get that for Bullette."

Vinyl grabbed with her magic, pulling the door open. "BulBul! Welcome back!"

"It is good to be back," sang their metal friend as she trotted into the room. "Likely locations have been noted. Permission to interface?" She pointed a small hoof at Vinyl's LAP.

Vinyl willed the door shut, one ear skewed. "You can do that? Yeah go ahead."

"Authorization obtained," Bullette declared confidently, looking at the LAP.

"Authorization confirmed," agreed the LAP silently, words on the screen.

Bullette clopped her hooves. "My theory was correct! With proper permissions, probability of harm reduced to 4.292%!" She lowered on hoof as the other reached for the LAP, splitting just enough to let one cord slither free. "Initiating contact." She plugged the cord right into a port on the side of the LAP and suddenly went still. Her eyes darkened before being replaced with a box that slowly filled up, showing the progress of her connection.





Bullette landed in a dark place.

A pony was standing in front of her, grand and powerful. Like Octavia, she had a horn and wings. She had a kind little smile, also like Octavia.

Bullette decided, like Octavia, this must be a good pony. "Hello!"

The other pony did not speak, instead nodding gently.

"Can you show me where the map is?"

The other point raised a hoof, but did not point. Just before a point could begin, Bullette found herself floating over Everglow. The world came rushing up at her suddenly, zooming in to where a great bright marker read, "Trash Heap," in bold letters.

Bullette reached out her hooves and spread them, causing it to zoom in further. "Initiate!" she sang as she began pointing to reach place she had seen light. "Place a marker here. Here. Here."

One marker labeled 'Here' appeared, and a second marker appeared with a blinking cursor.

"Error! Undo Undo!" The two markers vanished. "Place a marker here. First Light. Place a marker here. Second Light. Place a marker here. Third light." With better instructions, three markers were added to the map about the town where she had seen lights. "Excellent!" She clapped her virtual hooves, pleased at her efforts.





Bullette blinked her eyes back into existence. "Markers added!" she joyfully sang, her wire withdrawing and hoof sealing up. "Exploration can now begin."

Vinyl turned her arm towards herself to see what the LAP displayed. "Hey cool, new points. That was awesome! If you could do that before, why didn't you?"

Bullette shuffled in place a moment. "I was scared," she admitted sheepishly.

"Aw." Vinyl threw herself at the little metal filly, hugging her tight. "Forget I even asked. You're super brave, BulBul!"

"Vinyl." The pony named looked towards No Name. "Why don't you go get us something to eat?" No Name leaned over the side of the wagon, reaching with his head. His snakes made up the small distance, snatching up a few things. "Here, for trading."

Vinyl's eyes began to sparkle as she took the items in her magic. "You got it!" She hurried off in a flash.

Octavia frowned a little. "Was that wise? She does not speak the common tongue, and she's wearing the LAP..."

"She needed it." No Name settled back down slowly. "We have to, you know, show a little trust. You two puppies need your walks... Sorry for tryin' to keep you tied up all the time."

Octavia hiked a brow softly. "As charming as that comparison is, you really don't need to keep referring to us as 'puppies'. We aren't even lost, exactly... We know exactly what we need to do, right now... After that... things get a little fuzzy. At least for the time, we know where we must go. Thank you, regardless. You  have been... I don't even have the words to express how good of a friend you have been."

"You understand," sang out Bullette, bouncing in place. "This is one reason of many that he is my #1 friend with far more points than anyone else."

Octavia set a hoof on Bullette's head just next to her horn. "You are entirely correct."





Vinyl pranced down the hallway towards the front of the inn. "Hey." She was looking at the guy behind the counter, the one that seemed to be in charge. "Please tell me you speak normal."

"(Don't you speak common?)" asked the man, watching Vinyl. His hands were on a rag and a glass, cleaning one with the other quietly.

"I can understand it right now, but I can't talk it."

The man set the glass down with a sigh. "(Speak. Sylvan. Little.)" Each word was halting and slow.

"Awesome! Like I said, I understand you." She paused and pointed at herself. "I. Hear." She tapped at her right ear. "You." She pointed at him. "No talk."

"(That's a bit weird, but whatever. Fine, if you understand me, what do you want? Dinner's not served for half an hour.)"

Vinyl blinked, that worked. "Great!" She pumped a hoof, then directed the same at their room. "Bring it there?" She floated over some of the bullets and junk they had gotten.

The human snatched up the floating ammo. "(Room service is extra, so I'll be keeping these. See you when it's ready.)"

"Awesome." She turned back for the room then hesitated. "Can I play music?" The man didn't seem to grasp her words, just sort of looking at her. "One way to find out..." She flipped around her headphones and moved to the corner of the room. "I hope you're all ready for some wubs!"





Bullette raised an ear. "Unexpected vibrations detected."

The volume rose enough to reach their room a moment later. Vinyl's electronic music was hard to mistake, thumping softly. Octavia's teeth set. "I hope she isn't making trouble..."





"(I'm tired,)" complained one of the humans, waving Vinyl away. "(Can't you play something softer?)"

"Softer," repeated another human in sylvan.

"Huh? Yeah sure." With a glowing horn, Vinyl changed tracks. Sure, she preferred high-energy, but she could do gentler music. Soon she became a source of a gentle tune. The room began to relax with it. Conversation picked back up. She was part of the background.

She wasn't sure if she liked being the background, but being something that people actively didn't like seemed worse, right? She stuck out her tongue a little, but kept the music going, focusing her magic on her headphones to keep them powered properly as she tapped her hoof slowly. 

A human casually crouched in front of her and set down a plate of still hot food. Sure, the woman had already eaten some of it, but Vinyl saw it as a tip for her song. "Hey, thanks." She nodded to the woman, not one to be averse to nibbling what's already been nibbled. 

"(Good night.)" The woman moved to the stairs, ascending to a room that likely awaited her.

Vinyl casually pulled up the plate to get her teeth into it. "Mmm." The local flavors were different than what she had experienced in the human town or in Turves. No matter the world, the changing flavors of food was a constant, and she enjoyed making a bit of a mess as she gobbled up the offering, filling her belly to contentment.

"(Dinner's on,)" bellowed the human, causing a flood of people coming from their room to get their vittles

Vinyl squeaked. She set her plate over on the counter as she rushed past back to the room.

Octavia looked up when she entered, a sudden smirk on her face.

"What?" Vinyl kicked the door shut behind herself. "They should bring the food soon."

"I see you couldn't wait." Octavia's horn glowed as a bit of goop from Vinyl's food lifted free of her snout to hover before her eyes.

Vinyl snapped up the morsel with a chomp. "It was a tip for the music." She ran her tongue over her lips and snout, cleaning herself a little. "Oh yeah." She raised a hoof. "By the magic of rock, I banish away the dirt!" With a glow that swept over her, she became as clean as if she had taken a bath. "Ta da!"

Octavia turned her hoof towards herself. "My turn, then get No Name."

"Yeah yeah." Vinyl rolled her eyes as she banished the filth from each of them. "And one for Bul Bul." Poking the metal filly right on the nose, returning her to a shiny finish. "Magic is pretty nice, just saying."

"It has its advantages," agreed Octavia with a lifted ear. "Did anyone give you trouble?"

"Nah, nothing big."

A soft rapping preceded the barkeep coming in. "(Dinner.)" He set down a big platter of food and some plates stacked up beside it for their individual use. He took their empty pitcher and replaced it with one that actually had some drink in it. "(Enjoy.)"

Octavia dipped her head towards the man. "(Most appreciated. See you in the morning.)"

The food, Vinyl quickly noticed, was not exactly the same as what had been shared with her by the female human. "She ordered separate," she reasoned out loud, moving to secure herself a plate.

Octavia hiked a brow. "You worked up a powerful appetite, I see."

"Rocking hard means eating hard," agreed Vinyl with a grin, filling her plate with a second dinner. "That magic doesn't come from nowhere, Octie. You should know that now.."

Octavia considered that a quiet moment, her horn gathering herself a plate of food. "There is truth to that. Even if my hooves are not engaged, it does take effort."

Bullette was next at the food, assembling a plate of equal parts of each available thing in cleanly segmented potions with a glass that was precisely half full. "Meal assembly complete!" She balanced the tray on her back as she trotted over to No Name, the glass held in her mouth.

No Name sat up and took the drink first, freeing Bullette's snout. The metal filly twisted around, grabbing the plate from her back and setting it right in front of him. "Yer too good." He offered a hoof and she hopped up onto it, soon carried up onto his back to watch them all eat.

The evening passed without interruption. For the first time in a little while, they slept comfortably in a room that was warm and secure. Though the blankets were thin, the air was comfortable against fur and the beds were soft.





Vinyl awoke in hooves. She was being hugged. She swiveled an ear around. She could hear soft breathing of one pony, and the curious chorus of breathing of a collection of snakes as well as the deeper breathing of a pony behind them, which only raised questions.

"Good morning," whispered Bullette melodically. She was perched on No Name, watching the room with sleepless eyes. "Status: Stable. Danger Level: Yellow."

"Yeah..." She was being hugged by Octavia and she relaxed into it. "It is a good morning..." It wasn't a kiss, but one could argue it was even better.

"Mm?" Octavia's hug became stronger as she began moving, clutching Vinyl tight before she began stretching out, the hug broken. Her eyes blinked open and she squeaked, realizing she was not hugging a pillow close. "Vinyl!"

"You started it!" Vinyl bounced to her hooves.

"Confirmed," noted Bullette quietly.

Octavia took a slow breath. "Right... Sorry. I apologize if I was untowards."

"You can... It was fine, really." She smiled and pointed to the door. "Let's get going if No Name's awake."

"I'm awake," sleepily announced a snake as its kin yawned in time with the rest of No Name's mouth.

"Should we take the wagon?" asked another snake. "It makes us mighty conspicuous."

Octavia considered it a moment. "The humans here have shown no strange intents. Perhaps more importantly, we mostly bore them. If we secure the door, they will likely leave it be."

Vinyl nodded softly. "Sounds right. Let's go!"

And so they left, locking the door behind them with the key they were trusted with. The barkeep nodded towards them as they went past, but no words were exchanged other than Vinyl's, "later."

They crossed through the dense city, following the first marker set on Vinyl's LAP. They came into a large open square filled with too many people.

Three of them were up on a platform. A human and a short pony had a rope around their necks. The shorter pony was on a tall chair to bring them up to the level of the human. One other human stood in front of them, less noosed. "(You all know the rules,)" he shouted out in an angry roar.

The crowd jeered and called out.

"(They broke it, and we don't have so many.)" He threw a hand expressively at the two.

The little pony was wriggling in place, whimpering obviously. "(I'm sorry! I'm sorry!)"

The human doomed one was standing stoically in place.

"(We caught them with their hands in the guard's ammo. Stealing from the guard? We don't even have cops, just a few brave idiots willing to fight people that try to mess with us.)" He swiveled onto the little pony, scowling at him. "(Any last words?!)"

"(I'm sorry!)" wailed the little pony, frantically prancing in place. "(I'll never do it again!)"

The man looked to the other human. "(You got anything?)"

"(If you didn't want it stolen, you shoulda hid it better.)" The man spit off to the side, facing death without fear it seemed.

Octavia slid in closer to No Name. "(We aren't going to... let them do what I think they're going to do, are we?)"

"(Ain't our problem. Don't make it one.)"

Vinyl scowled up at the stage surrounded by so many people cheering for the chance to see pain and death. "Not cool..."

Bullette bounced down off No Name between the other two mares. "I am in agreement with your assessment. The possibility of intercession without exceeding the death prevented and compromising our own objectives is too low to consider. I must advise continuing."

They edged around the crowd, working their way towards their goal.

"(Please, please please! I'm harmless, just ask my friends!)"

The executioner brought up a foot and savagely kicked away the small pony's chair. The little one fell free for a precious moment before coming to an abrupt stop. His body went suddenly still with a soft snap. "(I... can't feel anything,)" wheezed out the short leg. "(I... can't...)" He couldn't breathe either, hanging there limply and suffocating slowly.

"(Your turn.)" He grabbed a lever. "(Tell the demons to keep my spot warm.)" He wrenched it hard and fast, opening a hole under the small pony and the human. The hole under the pony did little, the pony already dangling over the hole. The human was less lucky, falling through the new opening, the rope biting viciously into his neck. His neck didn't break as the small pony's had.

"(See you there,)" he managed to growl out.

No Name was suddenly between the rest and the stage. "Ain't nothin' to see. Keep walking." He walked firmly, keeping himself there in the way of that ghastly sight.

Vinyl shook her head rapidly as she walked with a faltering stance. "That is so... uncool..."

"That scarcely describes it." Octavia clenched her eyes shut as she hurried along with Vinyl. "There are ways even my own suffering seems small..."

The crowd was going wild, apparently finding the scene quite exciting, not horrible. "(That's what you get!)" shouted one of them, whooping and jeering, as the crowd watched eagerly for the signs of life to fade from the two prisoners.





The public execution quieted the city. It was far from still, being a city, but even they, as newcomers, could see that it was a bit quieter than it usually was. The first of the marks came into view. A four story tall building with a softly vibrating generator sounding from the back, smoke trailing upwards.

Bullette pointed. "Confirmation! Power located!"

Vinyl nodded. "Yep, good job. Alright, so... we walk in there or what?"

No Name hiked a brow as he kept walking. "We don't do that. We need to approach this a little more subtly."

"Octavia!" came a voice from up above. "Oh by the gods, is that you?!"

Looking up, they saw Dim Flash waving wildly at them, the little short leg mare that had robbed them once before. "Stay right there!" The window she was hanging out of slapped shut.

Vinyl tilted her head a little. "Isn't that the pony you  had as a pet for a little while?"

Octavia sat a hoof over her face. "One and the same. She's amazingly not very upset about that."

Bullette pointed away. "Should we flee?"

"Octavia!" Dim burst out of the front door. "Wow! Woah. I mean... Woah..." The short leg bounced up to Octavia. "Oh, and your friend looks better today." She looked at Vinyl. "Heya." She waved a hoof excitedly at Vinyl. "What are you doing here?! You're going to get in so much trouble. Get out of here!"

Octavia blinked softly. "It is... good to see you?" Her teeth set. "Ah... does your boss still have what you took from us?"

Her eyes widened. "You're here for that? Go go go! Please go!" She waved wildly for them to go away, glancing over her shoulder as if fearing attack.
> 46 - Hi! Now Go.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A deep and dangerous male voice barked, "(what are you doing?!)" A larger human was in the doorway, his eyes on Dim Flash.

Dim squeaked, going stiff. "(Just sayin' hi to some people.)"

"Guard. Duty," he said each sylvan word slowly and purposefully, hiking a big thumb upwards. With an angry snort, he vanished back inside.

She laughed nervously. "Ah, yeah... kinda have to get back to that... but, really, you came here?! Are you nuts?! You're... also sporting wings these days." She reached a hoof up, but was too short to reach Octavia's folded wings.

Vinyl suddenly came between Octavia and Dim, pushing the smaller pony away easily. "If you had let us go, we might have avoided that. You helped her have to become a False Queen or whatever."

Dim flopped onto her haunches, but didn't stop, falling over entirely backwards. "I didn't do that." She rolled over onto her belly and bounced back up. "Looks good on her though. Ugh, you are the hardest friend to keep out of trouble."

Bullette inclined her head with a click. "Friendship file detected. Do you consider Octavia a friend?" She looked between Octavia and Dim Flash.

"Huh? Yeah. 'Course I do!" She threw her forelegs wide, rearing up to do so. "She saved my sorry patoot when any normal pony would have filled me with lead and kicked me into a ditch."

Octavia reached over Vinyl, pressing her hoof to Dim's raised nose. The poor thing flopped over, unbalanced by the soft touch. "I have a favor to ask, then we will be properly even, and all crimes you committed will be forgiven."

"Look... uh... guard duty." She scrambled back up onto her hooves. "We can talk later?"

No Name tossed his head. "Come find us. We'll talk, catch up."

"Yeah catch up!" agreed Dim Flash excitedly, bouncing in place. "Yes!" She scurried back towards the building in a bundle of energy, looking happier about the day in general.

Bullette perked her ears at her mount. "I thought you did not like her."

"Still don't," agreed one snake as another took over, "but she might be real useful."

Vinyl nodded towards Octavia even as she began to turn away from the building that held their goal in theory. "I think Octie had the same thought in her pretty head." She clucked her tongue. "You know, cool stuff to talk about not in the middle of the street."

There was little argument for it. The group started towards their temporary home.

A shot rang out, dirt kicking up a precious inch from Vinyl's left forehoof. "(Don't move,)" barked a new female voice.

Bullette quickly found the source of the shot, a figure with a longarm in an elevated position. A sniper. The one that spoke was approaching them directly, two firearms already out, one in either hand and a smirk on her face. "(We can make this fast and painful or slow and painful.)"

No Name suddenly charged without warning, drawing his massive sign as he moved, the pole clenched in his mouth, snakes hissing around it. Bullette's hooves began to unfold into weapons along with her back, her personal longarm coming into being.

Vinyl was the first to react between her and Octavia, crashing into her larger friend and bowling her into an alleyway. "Aw fricken ow!" A second shot had caught her in the leg as she dived into cover, but they had a building between themselves and the sniper.

No Name brought his sign down in a cruel slice, gouging the ground where the gun-woman had been standing an instant earlier.

"(Ready to fight?)" With a sharp flurry of shots, she unloaded from her right gun into him, leaving a peppered trail across his front in a display of what an automated pistol could do. "(Slow and painful it is.)"

Octavia shoved Vinyl with a thought against the wall of the alley. "They are likely after you. Stay." Her gun floated free into ready position.

A sharp pop announced the next shot of the sniper, followed by a loud ring. Bullette squealed in a discordant mess of notes, a new hole punched into her metal body right between her eyes. Fortunately for her, that was not where her brain was.

Her mount drew his sign forward from the ground, throwing dirt wildly at his attacker. She waved a gun as if trying to ward the grit spray, but his sign hadn't stopped its move. He wasn't aiming to just throw dirt. The sharp edge of the sign caught her at the elbow and kept going, sending the still-loaded gun sailing in a fine arc of its own. The human screeched in pain, staggering back away from him.

With a satisfying final click, Bullette unleashed flaming torment on the woman, changing the tone of the human's cries from agony to frantic death.

Octavia lined her shot and with an uncomfortably loud bang that left her fuzzy ears ringing, the sniper drew back. She wasn't sure if she scored a hit or not, but she made them hesitate, and that was enough for the moment. "Vinyl, are you alright?"

"We're moving," grunted No Name, charging past their alley. "C'mon."

They were not chased by anyone, and any new person they ran into shied well away from the battle-ready group. Few seemed eager to throw themselves at the giant with a bloody sign or its mount that had far too many weapons already drawn and brandished.

Octavia's comparatively graceful revolver seemed quaint in comparison.

That didn't make the people they hurried past happy to see them; expressed with shouted curses and interesting insults involving unlikely anatomic feats and dubious genealogical facts. Despite this, they got away from the ambush and as they approached the maze, began to wind down. Bullette had returned to her adorable default, with the addition of a hole. "That was extremely unfriendly. Negative friendship points assigned."

Vinyl slowed to let No Name catch up. "Let me help with that. You look messed up."

He snorted like an angry horse. "I thought I heard you get shot."

"Already handled it." She blew on a hoof, walking on the other three. "Rock goddess, remember? Now it's your turn." Though he grumbled,  he didn't stop her from dispensing with healing music and restorative pats with her rock-blessed hooves. He began to rain little bits of bullets as his wounds closed under her power. "Much better. What a bunch of mooks, all they got was one of their own incinerated."

No Name rumbled like an idling engine, his narrowed eyes focused on the winding street they worked along. "The sniper shouldn't still be breathin'."

Bullette softly bopped him on the head. "Remember the mission!"

"Yeah yeah, we left didn't we?" He looked up as best he could at his rider. "You alright?"

"I am operating at 97.48% efficiency," reported Bullette with a smile. "Damage was largely cosmetic. Minor damage to internals detected."

"I'd like to damage their internals," growled out No Name with seething fury.

"I'm batting..." Vinyl tapped at her LAP with her magic. "99%? I thought I healed it all. Whatever, close enough." She shrugged softly. "Anything we can do to help, Bulbul? You know my magic doesn't, uh, work on amazing fillies that are standard for your age."

Octavia hiked a brow as they came up on their inn. "I should imagine that a skilled smith is required."

"Negative." Bullette reached up to tap at her hole. "Self-repair has been initiated. With a continued healthy diet, recovery will complete in 14 hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds."

"You have a healthy diet?" Vinyl blinked as she pushed into the building. "We're back!"

"(Hey,)" grunted the barkeep, just tossing a rag onto a hook and slapping down two glasses. He filled them with different colored liquids and slid them towards waiting clients.

No Name nodded softly as he stormed past. "(Hey,)" he shot back with the same lack of any real commitment to the statement.

Soon they had returned to their room. Octavia perched on a bed, Vinyl next to her. "That was... productive, if also troubling."

"That was kind of horrible." Vinyl stuck out  stuck out her tongue a little, nose wrinkled.

"Being shot?" asked Bullette, ears perking.

"Nah, I got over that. I meant those two getting, you know... hurt like that."

"Killed," corrected No Name. "Hurts you get better from. Pretty sure the only medicine they're getting is a shallow grave."

Octavia winced, teeth bared a moment. "I would rather not consider that. Let us turn our attention back to the present. We have made contact with someone already on the inside. They could help us get to the sphere much more easily. They will likely not just hoof it over, but they could arrange for eyes to turn away for just long enough..."

"I get yer meanin'." No name climbed up onto the other bed, making it squeak under his and Bullette's weight. He leaned to the side, tilting Bullette towards the lip of the wagon. "Go ahead and eat what you want."

"Yay!" melodically sang Bullette as she dove into the pile of assorted rations, bullets, and other bits of junk. With loud crunching sounds, she began consuming metal to replace what she had lost.

Vinyl watched Bullette go to down. "Go Bulbul! You really do have an appetite when you want to have one."

Bullette's head popped up from the side of the wagon. "A healthy diet is required for the upkeep of your health."

"Even if your diet is a little different than mine," added Octavia. "I am very glad to hear you can do that. I was... worried we'd have to wait until we made it somewhere safer before seeing to your repa--injuries."

"Thank you for your concern." Bullette sprang up onto the lip of the wagon, balancing there. "Repairs are underway. Initiate idle mode until arrival?"

Vinyl grunted and hopped up to her hooves. "I'd rather be doing something, but yeah, guess just waiting is the best option until Octavia's little girlfriend shows up."

"We do not have anything remotely close to that relationship," hotly defended Octavia. Vinyl was wearing that smug look that implied she said it just to get a rise, and it only made Octavia all the more incensed. "She is a pony I took pity on, once, who repaid me by not killing me as her friends stole our goal away."

"That's still a good deed," argued Vinyl. "I mean, not, you know, perfect or anything..."

Bullette sprang from the wagon onto the back of her #1 friend. "Entering idle mode for optimal repair time." Her eyes closed, not that they were even actually her eyes. Soon she was emitting little snoring sounds, curling up on No Name.

No Name smiled faintly, perking an ear back at the sleeping form on his back. "Nice shot, by the way... I don't think you nailed the guy, but still, a good shot."

Octavia floated her gun into view. "He was concealed, and withdrew when I fired. I couldn't see how good of a shot it was."

"Still..." No Name lifted his shoulders, but it was a meek shrug, lest he bother Bullette. "You've improved a lot since the first time you fired a gun out of your mouth."

Vinyl threw an arm over Octavia, hugging her with a grin. "My girl's a beast when she wants to be. Now, I think Bulbul has the right idea. Let's chill out and wait for your little friend to show up."

The room became quieter as the occupants relaxed and time began to pass, broken by a sharp knocking on the door.

Vinyl jerked upright, having actually dozed off. "Huhwhat? Who's there?!"

"Dan," came the reply through the door. "Open up, got some news."

No Name rose and stepped down from the bed that squeaked with relief. Bullette was already awake and sitting up on his back. "Ain't in the mood for shit today." He grabbed the handle of the door and jerked it open, "What do you want?"

"Afraid t' say I'm the deliverer of shit." Dan had his hands up, no guns held in them. "You know a Dim Flash, right?"

Octavia's ears flicked towards Dan. "What of her?"

"She got in trouble and couldn't make it today. Something about 'letting a LAP just walk away' or something like that? As if anyone would do that." He smirked as he said it, eyes on Vinyl's leg. "Anyway, she asked me to tell you."

Vinyl drew her leg back protectively. "They tried to take it."

"Those were competitors, not even on their own turf. When all the noise started, all sorts of attention showed up." He closed the door behind himself. "They scattered, but a few of 'em were caught and grilled, which is how she got in trouble."

No Name bared his teeth, his snakes hissing in angry agreement. "I knew there were others."

"There were." Dan nodded as he pedaled his hands emotively. "But, you see, noise like that? It makes opportunity. It let me go see what trouble you all were getting into, just another curious person butting their nose in. They told us to buzz off, sure, but not before I learned a thing or two, and got a word in with Dim."

Octavia pointed at him directly. "You were following us."

"Maybe."

"Enough." Octavia brought her forehooves together. "You will tell us what you want from us, precisely. We have a value to you, and I would know that measure."

No Name suddenly barked a laugh. "No, no, I get it."

Vinyl blinked towards the larger pony, perched on the bed as she still was. "What do you get?"

"You--" He poked the human with the flat of a hoof, nudging him. "--ain't got a damn person. You ain't with no small gang, or a large gang. You ain't with anyone."

Dan looked ready to argue the fact, but after a moment, he sagged with a huff, spreading his hands wide. "Caught me. Dan's only got Dan, and that's been enough."

A sudden smile spread on Vinyl's face as she sat up. "That actually makes me trust him more."

Octavia rolled a hoof. "Perhaps. Very well then, you approach us as Dan, and only Dan, with no others attached, but 'Dan' is mystery enough, I should think. You want something... Is it Vinyl's adornment?"

Bullette clopped her metal hooves suddenly. "You have earned one friendship point and opened a file. You could earn more." She leaned forward dangerously, almost toppling from her tall mount. "Do you wish to continue?"

"Hey, hey, glad you're all havin' a great time." No Name sat down facing Dan. "But this guy could be the end of  us, or not. I'd rather be sure, 'right? The way I see it, someone called four fingers when they got five means someone else thinks they should have lost a finger."

Octavia's smile was less grand than Vinyl's, calculation behind her eyes. "I see. That makes you valuable."

"Valuable? Huh, here I was worried you'd start gettin' nervous. Look, I ain't trying to mess with ya none." He waved the palm of his hand at each pony present. "Life's a bit of a shit show, you know? Somethin' interesting and not trying to tear you a new one shows up, I gotta check it out."

No Name leaned forward. "You love sticking your naked little nose in business, I'm figurin'. She already knew you, didn't she? I bet you and she have history."

"Who?"

Vinyl tossed her head towards Octavia. "Her little buddy."

"Dim Flash," finished Octavia. "You knew her, before yesterday."

"Huh, yeah. She's interestin' and doesn't try to rip people in half. I ain't got that big of a standard, you know?" He propped himself against the wall, looking at the others there. "So, alright. You got that figured out, now what?"

"Now," spoke Octavia with authority. "Now, we make use of our newest friend. I have a feeling you're just as curious as we are. We want the orb they took from us. You can help us get it."

Vinyl wagged a hoof with a wry smile. "And no running off with it, man. That'd be uncool, and you don't get to have friends if you steal from them."

"Which is exactly why I wouldn't do that." He waved his hands left and right wildly. "If they catch me even looking at that thing, I'm toast. If I do it while Dim's on duty, I'm making her toast."

Bullette clopped metallically with a broad smile. "Correct answer."

Octavia wrinkled her nose. "I can't say that I comprehend her motivations clearly, but Dim appears to hold me in fond regard. She is... like a few others I have met, who would be good, in better surroundings. I fear she has little comprehension of how her actions truly impact those she victimizes, however."

"Eh, yeah, fair cop." Dan shrugged softly. "She never did seem to 'get' that. I ever tell you how we met?"

Vinyl bounced up to her hooves. "No, but you're going to tell us. Wait a second, let me get snacks." She bounced over to No Name's bed, empty at that moment, then onto the wagon, willing some scrap free. "Be right back!" She hurried from the room, giggling softly the entire way.

No Name moved to ascend onto his bed, but Belle hopped free, her eyes on the human. "You have had friendship. I was 74.23% certain!" She clip-clopped her hooves. "And not in a strictly utilitarian fashion. Do you enjoy accruing friendship points?"

"Uh, yeah." Dan didn't have anywhere to park his butt, so leaning on the wall had to do. "I prefer friends that don't owe you shit, and that you don't owe. You hang because you want to, ya know?"

"I do know!" sang out Bullette, looking overjoyed. "However shit makes a poor bartering tool. I cannot recommend it."

Dan snorted out a laugh at that, reaching for Belle. Under the glare of No Name, he succeeded in petting the metal filly without losing any important parts. "You're alright."

"She is much more than that," argued Octavia with a soft smile.

"Snacks!" Vinyl had arrived, the door swinging under her magic. She set down a big platter where the two beds met, allowing any of the ponies to treat themselves. The door slapped shut behind her as she hopped up next to Octavia. "Alright, hit us with a story!"

Dan smiled sheepishly as he pushed off the wall. "Well, I'm treatin' myself if you're gettin' a story out of the deal." He snatched a gooey bit of savory snack and the story began.





So, there I was, just hanging out, minding my damn business. Yeah I was watching other people too, that is my business. So anyway, there I was, it was early afternoonish, and this gang comes rolling in, lookin' mighty high and mighty off a raid or ambush or whatever.

One of the captives they had was a little pony you know, but she wasn't kicking or screaming. They had her all tied up, but she was going along with them with a smile and even trying to talk with them, but they didn't look like they were having it.

They slapped her hard enough to send her skidding, and I was pretty sure they'd keep right on it until she shut up when another little pony got in the way, wearing their colors. He told 'em to buzz off, that she was his. Now, she looked like she done found her hero, but I saw the way he was looking. He was claiming her like property, not out of the kindness of his heart.

He got her up off the ground and led her away, and soon she was wearing their colors too, looking happy about it. Now, don't get me wrong, going from meat to even a low-ranking member of a large gang? That's still an upgrade, but still... I saw her every once in a while, doin' chores or whatever.

One time she was lookin' mighty lost so I figured, why not? I pretended to cross her path accidental-like. Now some people get really angry when you cut them off, she was all smiles.

"Hey!" she chimed. "Do you know where to find a medical kit?"

She had been sent shopping, but she didn't know her way around the heap like I do. I offered to take her to where you could find a kit or two, and we had a chance to chat it up along the way. I learned her name, she learned mine. I asked her if she was, you know, happy, being owned like that.

"Don't be stupid," she wrinkled her little face and spat away from me. "We're a couple. I own him too. We're already expecting. I'm gonna be a momma." She got the damndest little dreamy smile. "And he'll be the daddy. I'm gonna tell him tonight, actually... He'll be so excited!"

We got her kits and I sent her home with a promise to chat some other time. She didn't care that I wasn't part of her gang, and never asked what gang I was with. It just didn't matter in her little head. I put it out of my own mind and got back to business, at least until I next spotted her.

It was only the next day, and she was by one of the wells, the side of her face swollen up something nasty. She had bruises  all over that you could see even with her fur in the way, and her face was a mess of tears. She was trying to wash herself and doing a terrible job.

Part of me just wanted to keep walking. It rarely paid to get involved when someone was roughed up that bad, but a choked sob froze me in place. She was hurtin', and I just couldn't... ignore it, so I gave up what I originally had in mind and 'accidentally' wandered past her. "Hey Dim."

"O-oh! Hello, Fingers." She smiled, a fake fake smile. "Nice to... see you." She kept wiping at her face with her legs, trying to compose herself, badly. "Isn't it a nice day?"

It wasn't. There was an ash storm predicted to be on the way. It was dark and the air tasted that special ash sour. "Yeah... You get into trouble?"

"No!" She turned away. "No... I'm... I'm fine." The tears started with the last word and she began shaking. "I'm fine!"

"You don't..." I was goin' to say she didn't look fine, but I thought better of it. "What happened?"

"I... told him the good news."

And that had caused that? The way I saw it, when one of those alpha types claimed a random girl, them getting heavy was exactly what they wanted. I was going to ask about it, but she was crying again, and we were drawing a crowd of people peering at the sad little pony and the human schmuck.

I took her hoof and pulled her away. Now, mind, she's a little thing, but she could have made a big fuss. She didn't. She came with me, following my lead with dazed eyes. Even her crying got a little quieter as we worked back to my turf, you know, the Maze.

Once we were there, I got her to a quiet little dark place, and I sat her down and I let her get it all out. She got her cry on for... I want to say it was an hour, but I don't have no watch, so good luck guessin'. Either way, she started to come around. "Thank you," she had weakly stuttered, sitting up. "For being a friend."





"You earned many friendship points," congratulated Belle, clopping her hooves. "Friendship points assigned for good behavior."

Dan smirked a bit at that. "I wish everyone gave 'friendship points' so easily. Anyway, so there we were...





I asked her what happened and brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"He said I was his... toy, not his mare. He said his mare would be furious. He hit me, a lot... He said he'd keep hitting me until I was 'fixed'."





Food fell from Vinyl's arcane grip to splat on the platter it had come from.

Octavia slowly blinked. "How... utterly barbaric. How... completely cruel..."

"You don't know the half of it."





So I asked her what she thought she had been in his eyes. And how she smiled. It was a haunted smile, as if she knew she was retelling a dream, a lie she had told herself. She had thought she was his mare, his partner for life. She thought she had found a partner to live with, die with, raise little ones with. She had been so very perfectly happy, so damn happy.

That had been literally beaten out of her. He made it as clear as the weeping sores on her that she was a toy, to be used and discarded, as he pleased. She wore the gang colors just so other members wouldn't touch her, and other gangers wouldn't dare go near her, but she was his and his alone, and she was property, less than even a slave, just a sex toy that happened to breathe and needed an unfortunate amount of food.

Now, mind, you're probably thinking, Hey, Dan, why didn't you rescue her?

Well, for one, thinkin' you can just 'rescue' people is how you end up dead. For two, I did ask her. I told her she could just run. Run and never stop until she was anywhere else.

She declined. "Stupid jerk," she finally got out, standing up. "I'll show him. He thinks he's in charge..."

She marched right back to the gang, and she took her place back, but some of that innocence was gone. She manipulated him, and he was not a hard one to work, or so she told me later. She eventually had him wrapped around her hoof, and she never put herself in the position to be beaten again.

Last I heard, she even managed to get him to ditch his old mare, making her the only mare he has, even if he isn't about to call her his mare, ever. She doesn't care. She went back there, and she took him. He does what she wants, always thinking it was all his own idea. She learned how to suggest things, how to say things so the pressure was put on him and it never seemed like it was just 'his toy acting up.'

But she's still there.





Octavia shook her head slowly. "That is beyond horrible. Are you certain she would be entirely opposed to being... rescued?"

No Name shoved a hoof between Octavia and Dan. "I wouldnt even try. She made her decision."

"She did... with what she had." Octavia huffed softly. "Regardless, she does not sound like someone entirely aligned with her gang. She may yet betray them, were a worthy cause presented."

Vinyl rubbed behind her head. "I feel super bad for her now. Nopony should... ever have to deal with that. At least if you get munched by a monster, it wasn't personal. It was hungry, and, surprise, you're meat." She looked Dan in the eyes. "Tell it to me straight, if you were suddenly a superhero, what would you do with Dim?"

"I ain't no hero," he started, holding up his hands. "But if I could get away with it; I'd get her far away from here, somewhere with lots of little ponies that would never dream of hitting her. She's... a nice person, even now. You saw her expression when she saw you, Octavia. She... I dunno. It's her life."

Belle inclined her head left and right with soft little metallic clicks. "I wish to learn more of Dim Flash. Do you have other stories?"

Dan smiled at that. "Hey, hey. I don't try to be no gossip none. I fed you plenty of her personal business. At least wait a bit before you go pumping me for more info." He dusted his pants lightly. "Now, she'll be in trouble for a day or two, then we can talk again. It's just a matter of what you plan to ask. Mind, if it involves leaving her out to hang, I'll betray the lot of you long before I hurt a single hair on her little body."

Octavia felt a gentle smile spreading. "That was the kindest threat I have been delivered in some time..."

Vinyl thrust out a hoof, hanging in the air. "Lay it on me. You're an alright guy."

He met the hoof with a balled fist. "Don't claim to be nothin' but Dan, an' that's plenty, I figure."
> 47 - Grabbing Small Things
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had to wait another day before Dan or Dim came back, but they did come back, together. An excited clopping on the door was the cue. Vinyl waved a hoof as her glowing horn opened the door to see Dan behind a grinning Dim. "Hey, the double-Ds are here."

Dim blinked at that. "What?" Despite her moment of confusion, she was bouncing into the room. "Octavia! Nice to see you again."

Dan gave a thumbs up as he bumped the door shut on the way in. "She didn't know where you guys were exactly, so I brought her over."

"Thanks." Dim smiled back up at him before bounding up onto the bed next to Octavia. "Now tell me how you got these." She reached for Octavia's wings without a moment of reservation, casually feeling up the new limbs. "Can I get wings?"

Octavia's wings fluttered in place in a ticklish sort of motion. "Be at ease... I would not suggest you try that. They were forced on me by people who wanted me to be something I am not."

Dim's eager little groping suddenly stopped and she flopped onto her haunches. "Oh... Yeah... I know what that's like... Glad you're alright then. I have a question though!"

"Didn't you just ask one?" Octavia smiled faintly. "Go ahead though."

Bullette leaned in close to one of No Name's ears. "If she were engaged in a more friendly profession, friendship points would be awarded."

"I heard that!" Dim bounced up and down on the bed, eyes on Bullette. "A girl has to eat. Hmph."

Vinyl snorted at the display, looking towards Dan. "Thanks for showing her over."

"Ain't no thing." He propped himself on a wall, the beds quite occupied with horse flesh.

"Your question?" Octavia sat up on her haunches. "What did you want to know?"

"Oh, uh, forgot, what was it...?" Dim tapped her hooves lightly together. "Oh yeah, what did Dan tell you?! He was supposed to not tell anyone anything!"

Vinyl suddenly reached past Octavia and booped the incensed little pony on the nose. "He told us that you are an amazing little mare that's had it rough since we first met you."

"He told us--" Octavia set her hoof down on Dim's head, mussing her mane gently. "--that I failed you in ways I would never have known when you escaped me."

Dim shied away from the mussing hoof. "Stop that! I'm alright."

Octavia hiked a brow down at the little pony. "Is that true?"

With gesticulating hooves, Dim shook her head with it. "I'm fine!"

Octavia flicked an ear back. "You lost a child to a stallion that doesn't deserve to draw breath, Dim Flash. I am sorry that I didn't hold on a little tighter."

Dim toppled from the bed as if the statement had shoved her. "What?! I mean... ugh! Dan!" She suddenly clip-clopped in a manic gallop to his side and began beating on his leg with her hooves in a frantic biffing. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone!"

Dan accepted the buffet of little strikes with angry hooves. "They seem to care about you, real care, real talk."

Dim span to face the other ponies in the room. "I'm not a little foal that needs protecting, thank you very much." She glanced away suddenly, voice lowering to barely a whisper, "woulda done the same thing anyway."

Octavia's ears went rigidly erect as her horn glowed, plucking Dim from the ground. "I will tolerate a great many things, but not that. Dim Flash, I had never any intention of such barbarism. If I had... continued to 'own' you, it would have fallen on me to raise you from the position as quickly as possible, so we--" She drew Dim close enough that they were snout to snout, looking into one another's eyes. "--walked side by side."

Vinyl gestured at Octavia in a grand sweep. "You are talking to Angel Octavia here, she isn't lying. Besides, wings or not, I can assure without a doubt she'd never go hurting another pony, especially not like that. That isn't her thing, or mine either, unless you count encouraging someone to drink a little too much at a wild party."

"That counts," suddenly informed Bullette with a knowing nod.

"There's a reason she isn't the responsible adult." No Name's snakes softly chuckled at Vinyl's discomfort.

Dim pressed a hoof against Octavia's nose, as close it was, that wasn't a challenge. "Then maybe I should have given it a chance, but I didn't, and here we are. You don't get to go back in time or stuff, so whatever."

"Whatever indeed." Octavia set Dim down just in front of her own legs. A brush floated over and began to work through Dim's pelt. "That does not mean I do not regret actions. That does not mean I cannot work to improve the future."

"I did that!" defensively squealed Dim. "Lashtada be praised, I have a new one baking in there, and this one's going to be just fine." She crossed her little arms. "I'm not telling anyone this time."

"Except us?" Vinyl had the most vicious little smirk on her face.

"You get used to that." Dan shrugged lightly. "She doesn't have a filter around friends."

"Am I your friend?" Octavia worked the brush gently across Dim's small form. "I'm glad. You've been dealt some unfavorable cards, but you refuse to fold. Good. You're a special pony, and one I would help, if you let me."

Vinyl nodded softly. "We know a town full of little ponies like you and they're nice folks."

Dim trembled softly. "Not for long," she whispered, fidgeting in place.

"Hmm?" Octavia slid the brush under Dim's chin and raised it so their eyes would meet. "What do you mean by that?"

Dan slowly swept a hand out. "She's talking about the raid everyone's in on. They're going to burn Turves a new one and take everything they can get their hands on."

Bullette raised a hoof suddenly. "Imprecise language detected. Please specify 'everyone'."

"Yeah." No Name's snaked hissed softly. "How many out of this city's marching out on the place?"

"'Bout half?" Dan shrugged softly. "Going to get real quiet around here for a few days, then there won't be a Turves."

Dim nodded towards Dan before turning back to Octavia. "So if you were planning that town with little ponies, forget that."

Octavia went still a moment, slowly breathing and little else before she slowly nodded. "I see... Very well, then you have two things to accomplish, to secure your redemption."

"I don't need no redemption!" She bounced in front of Octavia with a scowl. "Girl you're annoying me. Stop that, because I think you're cool and you're going to ruin that image."

Octavia's careful expression broke with a blink, softening. "Sorry. Still, yes, two things." She raised a hoof. "You will help us take the sphere while most of your gang is gone. Then we will save Turves. Then we will save you."

Vinyl pumped a hoof suddenly with a big grin. "Aw yeah! You heard her, we're going to be heroes!" Her headphones suddenly flopped around, filling the room with lively heroic electronic beats.

No Name grunted softly before two snakes spoke at once.

"We're in."

"We can't do that."

The two snakes looked at one another and No Name appeared baffled himself.

Bullette softly bonked him on the head, as was her singular right. "We will not abandon Turves. They have accrued too many friendship points with us."

Dan pushed off the wall he had been leaning against. "If you don't mind, I'm going to become scarce. I'd rather not even hear about this kind of thing. Not good for your health."

Vinyl lifted her shoulders as she bounced up to all fours. "Hey, you did a lot. Be cool, Dan. Maybe we'll meet again?"

"That'd be nice." He made himself scarce, off to find something less perilous to be around.

That left Dim squinting at them. "They're my gang. Why should I help you steal from them, or hurt them?"

Octavia gently pressed a hoof to Dim's nose, as they had apparently taken to trading the act of. "Because you care more for the life within you than the mockeries of friends you've made there among people who see you as useful, at best, and often not even that. I would give you a better life. More importantly, I would give your child a better life. Don't they deserve it?"

"Anyone can say that." She crossed her arms as she flopped back onto her bottom. "Stop making promises you can't keep."

Vinyl reached over, patting the little pony's shoulder. "Hey, we're not lying. That's what the sphere's for. When we have it, we can figure it out, then skip out of this entire universe." She wibble-wobbled a hoof. "Back to where we came from."

No Name clopped down a great hoof, making the bed squeak in protest. "You are not bringing her there."

"I can and I will," argued Octavia in a tone that implied she wasn't interested in counter arguments. "She will divest herself of all weapons, as will the rest of us, but she is going. Equestria has more than room enough for one more small pony. I've seen ponies her size before, nothing even unusual there."

Dim blinked softly at Octavia. "Are you... an actual angel?"

"Basically." Vinyl shrugged softly. "She is from a really nice place that's not this world where ponies treat each other nicely and the worst fights are usually over who gets the last scoop of ice cream. We do have the occasional big monster, but those get taken care of, so eh. I like it." She shrugged softly. "And so will you."

Bullette whispered something in No Name's ear so quietly even he had to struggle to hear it. "Huh? Oh... Alright." He seemed less tense suddenly. "So, are you in?" His eyes were on Dim. "We proceed either way, not much choice there. You could really make it a lot less painful... for them mostly."

"For them?!" She squinted at No Name. "We've already mugged you once."

"Yeah, with two of us down and the other two worn down." No Name shrugged. "If you make us charge in there on our own... Hmm, maybe half of them won't be there the next day."

Bullette tilted her head left and right. "I estimate only 25% casualty rate required to achieve objectives."

No Name shrugged mightily. "I'm bein' optimistic. I don't like these guys."

Dim cringed back at the numbers being casually thrown. "Some of those guys are my friends!" she squealed. "You can't... Stop it!" She suddenly charged No Name, beating on him as she had once done to Dan, flailing her little hooves at him in a frantic display. "Don't hurt them!"

Octavia gently lifted the little pony and pulled her back. "Then help us. We don't want good people being harmed. That is why we must retrieve that orb, and why Turves must be saved. It's full of good people, just trying to live. They don't deserve to be hurt either."

"That's not fair!" She threw her forehooves wide. "Help you hurt them or don't help you hurt more of them?"

Octavia suddenly smiled. "Think of it this way instead... You could put the people you especially don't like in harm's way, and keep those deserving of mercy out of the path."

Dim blinked softly. "Oh. Ohhhhh. Oh... Huh..." She sank down to all four hooves, rocking in place. "Oh..."

"She is analyzing the proposal," helpfully noted Bullette, smiling from atop her mount.

Vinyl shrugged softly. "She isn't wrong. We have to go in. We will be an incoming storm, you get to decide how bad it'll be and get out of the way before it comes in, if you don't want to, you know, join it."

Dim wrinkled her nose, glancing at where Dan had once stood. "I don't know. Look... I get it. I do... I get it... They're not all... good people. A lot of them are jerks. Jerks with guns." She coiled on herself and drew her own gun just to let it flop to the bed in the same motion. "Just like me."

"You don't have to be." Octavia smiled gently at her would-be ally. "Join the good side. We have cookies."

Vinyl burst into sudden laughter. "You stole that from a show!"

"I refuse to answer that." She pointed at little Dim. "The question remains. You are welcome at our side, or you can simply move to mitigate our passing. I will understand either way. All I ask is that, as a final favor, you do not prepare them to stop us. Do that and our debts are cleared."

"Yeah..." Dim slumped to the floor. "Yeah..." She staggered away, wobbling on her hooves. Vinyl opened the door for her to depart, ears drooping.

No Name huffed softly. "This place ain't safe no more, you realize."

Bullette nodded in agreement. "26% likelihood of location being compromised resulting in attack. 50% likelihood of directional information being given resulting in restructured defense."

Vinyl perked an ear at Bullette. "Yeah? So what are the odds she comes around and helps us burn the place down?"

"6%"

"Huh, that ain't high..." Vinyl hopped down from the bed. "Well, are we moving, or attacking, or what?  We have a whole town to save."

Octavia was soon next to her. "You may be right. While I will hold out hope that she sees the light, we shouldn't assume it to be so."

And so they moved, leaving that inn behind for another, dirtier, place that didn't have the decency to include dinner with the price of the room. That didn't slow their plans. They had all agreed silently that it would soon be time to strike, the moment of the activity of the city began to lower.

A soft knock came from the new door. "Hey." It was Dan's head that poked in. "Just figured I'd let you know--"

"How did you find us?" asked No Name with a frown, rudely cutting off the human.

Dan shrugged softly. "Keeping track of my friends is kind of one of my talents. You also aren't half as subtle as you're trying to be. I mean, really." He pointed up at Bullette. "You." Then down to her mount. "You. And--" He pointed over to Octavia. "You. How hard do you think it is to get someone who noticed this specific combination moving past them? Hard to miss."

Octavia raised a hoof from where she lay on her belly. "What did you come to tell us, Dan?"

"The raid. It starts tonight. By the light tomorrow, half the city will be gone. Biggest raid in the last century I figure. I wouldn't want to be in Turves anytime soon, and I guess I won't have the option afterwards."

Octavia frowned at that. "Once we have secured what we came from, we will move to assist."

"Yeah... I mean, sure, you guys are great, but we're talking thousands of armed people. You aren't that amazing. Still, props on ya." He shrugged lightly as he turned back for the door he had come from. "This place is a shit-brick by the way. Even staying here free is too expensive."

"Halt." Bullette hopped down from No Name. "Your assistance is required, please." She pointed precisely at the base they would storm. "Inform us when they have moved exactly."

He huffed, an exasperated sigh. "Look, people can already connect the dots. I'd like to survive this little show. I've already done too much."

No Name shrugged. "If you already did too much, maybe it's time to get out? We know a nice place."

Vinyl pumped a hoof. "Turves has humans too, and we know a human town not that far off if you don't want to hang around us fuzzy sorts, but that isn't a problem, I don't think."

"Nah..." He suddenly thumped a wall with the side of his fist. "You know it ain't that. Damn it all to every layer of Hell they have. Whatever, wait here." He angrily stormed off.

No Name slowly closed his eyes. "You'd better make sure your guns are ready and loaded."

"Initiating self examination." Bullette's hooves split into pieces as they fell before her. She started looking over all the various bits and pieces that made up her arms, presumably searching for any damage that would cause issues later.

Octavia and Vinyl looked over their own weapons, but neither of them were smiths, so looking for obvious problems was all they could do other than making sure the guns and their spare magazines were filled with all the bullets they could safely contain.

"Another LAP advantage." Vinyl held up an arm. "It shows how much ammo I have, in the gun, in my magazines, how many of those I have, and even what's stashed away. Isn't that neat?"

"Very," agreed Octavia simply. "You realize, when we get back, we will have to have that removed. I feel certain a talented doctor, or wizard, can manage it. Perhaps Princess Twilight Sparkle will do it. She owes us a favor."

"Pfft, that mare's nuts, but she gets things done." Vinyl shrugged softly. "Or, you know, I could keep it?"

"You will have no further need for it." She booped her friend on the nose. "And you know it."

"Need and want are very different things, Octie. Are you going to turn in your wings and awesome unicorn magic?" She raised a brow high. "You do that and I'll give up my LAP."

"Hmph." Octavia floated up her gun and shoved it into its holster. "I am as ready as I ever will be."

"Diagnostic complete." Her various wires and supports drew back into herself as her forelegs became whole as if they had never split in the first place. "Operating at 99.28042%"

"That percentage is a lower than normal." No Name shook out his massive body, but there was no bed to complain about it. That inn had straw mats and little more. "Somethin' wrong?"

"I am nervous," admitted Bullette. "Are you certain you will not stay behind?" Her eyes were set on Octavia and Vinyl. "If you were not present, I could engage fully."

Octavia raised a hoof towards her little metal friend. "There are innocents, even in this dirty town. There are people who aren't on that raid, and maybe never will be, or ever were. They're just trying to survive. Flattening the entire block around what we're after will hurt them."

"You are correct," sighed out Bullette. "This information is inconvenient. Ultraviolet armaments remain locked."

Vinyl flipped her headphones facing outwards, but no music was issuing from them. "I mean Dan's not the only alright person here, just the one we happened to run into. Flattening the city into the dirt isn't the answer."

"Information's inconvenient sometimes," agreed No Name. "But I can wear you today."

"Yay!" sang out the metal filly, bouncing up on top of No Name eagerly. With unfolding metal noises, she seemed to spread out across him, becoming a metal sheath over his massive form, her back-mounted gun becoming his back-mounted gun and small turrets protruding from each of his legs. "You are warm," she sang with happy little tones, despite having no real mouth or face at the moment.

"Yeah, one of my tricks." No Name took a few steps, checking his stride with his living armor. "Now we wait for Dan's word, or we destroy whoever comes knocking. Either way, that's the sign to start moving."

Vinyl whistled at the appearance of the great metal behemoth that was No Name. "I'd run in the other direction if I was one of them. Bad guys are rarely that smart though in the movies."

"This ain't a movie..." He paused a moment. "You have movies? Damn, I remember what movies are... It's been a while."

Octavia looked towards the closed door. "When we get back, I look forward to a movie. Perhaps a silly comedy to drown the sorrows of this world away. I should like an innocent laugh, with the laughter of other ponies around me, many of whom I will never actually see, but I'll hear them, laughing with me at something absurd on the screen... That sounds nice."

"It's a date!" Vinyl grinned as she stepped up beside Octavia. "We'll go see something so stupid we'll have no choice but to laugh for days."

"A date..." Octavia shook her head softly. "There are conversations we must have, later, but for now, I accept your proposal. When we return to Equestria, we will laugh together and rejoice at having weathered this. I think we could both use it."

Vinyl casually leaned against Octavia as they waited, the room going quiet. Time passed with tortuous slowness. She glanced at her LAP, which had a clock, showing its glacial progress.

At 5:03pm, everyone jumped at a knocking at the door.

"Hey, they're buzzing off," informed Dan through the door. They could hear his footsteps leaving. He hadn't even come inside.

No Name took a great metal-thump of a step. "Time to go. By the time we get across town, they'll be nice and far out of the city."

With mutual nods and one auto-tuned cry of joy, they set out. They wove through the alleys of the city and it became obvious immediately that the city was in a torpor. Though it had felt slow during the execution, that was nothing compared to how still it became with half the fighting force out on that raid to wipe Turves off the map.

Those who remained did not dare get in the way of their group. Guns drawn and metal armor worn, anyone with sense used that to not be in the way.

Their target came into view, looming a little larger than the buildings around it and allowing it to be seen from a bit further away. The alleyways were empty, they checked as they went. There were no snipers on the upper floors that they saw on the way in.

It was time to take what was theirs.

There were two people out front. One of them was a small pony they knew. The other was a human in cobbled together armor, a shotgun held in his two hands.

Dim drew her little gun and wheeled on them. "So you did come..."

"You knew we'd be here." No Name approached without slowing down. "I'm more surprised you're here."

"(Friends ah yers?)" The human drew up his shotgun at the oncoming invaders. "(Say bye.)"

"(Bye.)" Dim sounded sad and withdrawn, a faint tremble in her small form.

A shot rang out, loud and echoing across the street.

The human fell to his knees, then collapsed forward, a shot blown into the back of his head. Dim's gun fell from numb jaws and she ran to her friend, the same she had just shot, sobbing wildly.

No Name marched past them towards the building, not even pausing to look at the scene.

Octavia hurried to Dim. "I..."

"Tell me you weren't lying!" hissed Dim. "You owe me now! You... owe us... Tell me you weren't lying!"

Vinyl set a hoof on Dim's trembling shoulder. "Come on. You're one of us now."

"I did not lie... I will see you to safety, where you and your child can be happy." She licked over her lips. "I'm so sorr--"

Dim threw a punch suddenly, catching Octavia's sagging snout and snapping it to the side. "Don't you tell me you're sorry! It's too late for that! He's dead! He isn't coming back. Make that worth it... Please..."

Vinyl cringed away at the sudden violence, but Octavia did not flinch more than the small punch had forced. She forced her head back to face Dim, spitting out a little blood from where she had bitten herself. "Let's."
> 48 - What's Ours
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They marched on the headquarters of the gang, with No Name far ahead of the others, wearing his Bullette armor. This act was less incredible than usual, most of that gang already departed.  Its two primary defenders already neutralized in a sudden display on the street out front.

"Do you know where the sphere is?" Octavia strode into the building, her small turncoat at her side. "The sooner we can get it and leave, the better for all involved I should imagine."

"He keeps it where he can admire it." She pointed ahead and to the right. "Up the stairs, with his other goodies."

Vinyl pranced, veering towards the stairs. "Treasure vault, got it. Is it locked, or do they just assume nobody would be nuts enough to come for it?"

Dim huffed with unclear emotions. "He'd rip anyone that took something from there in half."

No Name was moving in the right direction, clearly hearing them despite the mild distance. "That sounds like the latter." Ascending, they came into what was the bandit equivalent of a living room and display area. It seemed many interesting artifacts had been carefully set on counters or hung on walls to bedazzle and impress those that lounged around on the available chairs and sofas. There was even a pool table there, balls set for a new game.

He didn't care for much of that. The one person in there was more interesting. "Fight or die?" He already had a flamethrower-equipped hoof raised at the human that was scrambling to his feet. "Too late." Without any seeming communication with his suit, the flames began.

His companions came up in time to see the figure crash to the ground, feebly trying to extend their dramatically shortened life expectancy with inarticulate flails and pained screams. Octavia winced away from the sight, turning her eyes across the room in a quick sweep. "Now where is... There." She strode across the area, pointedly ignoring the pain their presence had caused.

"Over here." Vinyl pointed at where their sphere had been used as a decorative base for a flower vase. "Seriously? That thing can do a little more than hold up a vase..."

No Name casually knocked the vase clear with a toss of his head, shattering when it hit the floor and scattering the flowers and water it once held.

"Soft Whisper please guide my friends." Dim had her hooves pressed together and her head bowed. "I know you'll have words for me when it's my time, but don't take it out on them. They deserve your help. Get them to where they need to be."

As Octavia lifted the sphere up in her magic, Vinyl looked to Dim curiously. "Who are you talking to?"

"I'm praying," angrily muttered the little pony. "That's two people I basically murdered... I told them I could handle it, that no one would be stupid enough to make a move. They believed me, trusted me..."

No Name turned as soon as the sphere was tucked into his saddlebag. "Alright, let's get out of here before that count goes up."

"Yeah..." Dim followed behind them, ears downcast, but keeping up with them.

Vinyl nudged into Dim gently from the side. "I'm not going to pretend I know exactly how this feels, but you're not alone, promise."

"I've never been so alone since you killed my last crew." She suddenly laughed, a pained noise. "You are bad luck for my friends. Every time I run into you, I lose them..."

Octavia closed in from the other side. "I'm certain it feels that way... but let's put a stop to that unfortunate pattern right here."

"Yeah..."

It was almost too easy, just taking it. The city was mobilized, and its home was undefended. No Name coiled around the building, coming up towards the still purring generator. "Let's get this plugged in and send you home."

Octavia hiked a fine brow. "Surely you are jesting."

Vinyl snorted powerfully. "What she said. We have a town to save first, or did you forget?"

No Name turned towards them slowly. "I didn't forget, you did. This is my job; get you all home. Now. Saving Turves? Not your problem. Your little adventure? It ends, now. No arguments. No discussion." He drove a metal-clad hoof into the ground in a great stomp. "Plug it in and go."

Octavia grit her teeth and backed away a half step. "I will not abandon Longshot."

"Hey, Belle, what are the odds the sphere gets damaged or destroyed if we go runnin' off to be heroes?"

"60%"

"What are the odds one ah these ponies gets hurt?" He waved an armored hoof at the three of the smaller ponies that were his wards.

"89%"

"What are the odds one ah these ponies dies?"

"46%"

"Yer goin'." He nosed up the flap of his saddlebag. "Plug it in."

"I advise compliance," spoke Bullette in far less cheerful a tone than she usually had. "You have expended many friendship points in previous compliance requests."

Octavia glared at the sphere she could easily see, lifting it in her horn. "So this is how you would end it? We'll never even know if Turves survives, or any of the people there."

Vinyl shook her head. "I... no... We know."

No Name perked an ear towards her. "What do you know?"

Vinyl smiled a little. "We know you two will do it. We know you can do it, and we know you'll make it look good too. I'm just sore I can't be there to watch it, and cheer you on. You're being a real jerk about it, but you're also protecting our crazy flanks, and I get that. I do! Really... You better make it super awesome though. They should sing stories about how much back end you punted across the countryside."

No Name turned to Octavia, watching her examine the sphere. "Belle, she needs your help."

"Affirmative." She unfolded from No Name in a great clatter of metal, rapidly becoming her filly self and bounding over to Octavia's side. With a smile, she got to plugging the sphere into the generator.

"Please speak the pass phrase," spoke the familiar tone of the sphere the moment it was connected.

Octavia's sides swelled before letting it out in as slow a sigh. "By Celestia."

"Sleep mode terminated. How can I assist you?"

Dim's torpor broke with a perking of her head. "You really know how to use it?" She took an unsure step forward. "I knew you found it... but I wasn't sure... You really do know how to make it work? To go somewhere... far away?"

"That is the idea..." But how, ah... "If you would, use my companion here." She gestured at Vinyl. "Can you determine what world she came from."

A thin green line swept over Vinyl from the sphere, casually scanning her in some strange way. Vinyl blinked at Octavia. "Why not have it scan you? You were already standing closer and you're the one talking anyway."

"I do not wish to even chance that whatever process put wings on my back altered whatever it may be searching for. You are whole, and I don't think your accessory will change things."

"Dimensional frequency tuning." A soft strange hum emanated from deep inside the orb, tuning higher and lower until Vinyl began to vibrate with it, so very softly. Only she could really notice it, as if it was shaking her from the inside out. "Frequency located."

"Woah, that was a freaky feeling!"

Octavia had not felt it, and said nothing.

Dim's eyes were going a little wider by the moment. "You really can... You weren't just lying to the stupid little pony to get her to do what you wanted... You... aren't looking for a convenient ditch to toss me after this."

Belle tilted her head at Dim. "If that was your belief, why did you cooperate? That is not logical."

Dim rubbed one foreleg with another. "I figured there was, what... maybe 4 out of 5 odds I'd get what I deserved. I'd turn on my friends, then you'd turn on me, and I'd get... what I deserved, and that would be that... Then maybe a three out of five chance you'd ditch me as soon as you could, leave me to rot, alone..."

"Then why did you proceed?" Belle tilted her head off to the left. "It is not logical."

"Being a mom isn't logical..." Dim smiled faintly. "It was a small chance... but if I can give him, I know it's a him, I can feel it! If I can give him a better place to grow up... A chance to never know what I had to know... I had to. I just had to... I failed my first child. I will never know her smile... I failed a lot of people that should have been able to trust me... Please... Tell me I didn't do that this time."

Octavia's eyes were on the sphere. "If you have the frequency, can you use it?"

"Please provide a name for storage."

"Ah, yes." Octavia lifted an ear. "Equestria."

"Equestria frequency stored."

No Name set his hoof on her shoulder. "Hey, before you go on, tell that thin' to let me do what I want with it."

"Hm? Certainly." Octavia perked an ear at the sphere. "If I'm not here, assume he is in charge." She pointed at No Name.

"Registering user. Setting permissions. Complete."

Vinyl was seated next to Dim. "That's pretty heavy, but good on you."

"Good on me? I don't feel 'good' right now."

"You're being super brave for someone who can't protect themselves, sounds good to me." She set a hoof on the small pony's shoulder. "You're totally invited, by the way."

"To?" Dim rose up to all fours. "What am I invited to?"

"Well, first, to my 'welcome back to Equestria' dance blast. I'm going to raise all the roofs in Equestria super high and dance until I pass out. It'll be great, and you can come. We'll keep the drinks clean, for your, uh, you know."

"And second?" Dim perked an ear. "Is there a third?"

"There could be." She leaned in suddenly, touching nose to nose. "Second is a funny movie, maybe with Octavia, maybe separate. Either way, you need some good laughs too."

Octavia's attention was on the sphere. "Alright, can you open a portal using the Equestria frequency?"

"Please stand by... Power: Low. Minimal portal aperture size. Please step with caution. Touching the sides can result in grave bodily harm." The same green line that had scanned Vinyl instead lashed out into the air away from them, forming a circle that was barely a pony wide and tall, going a bright green all the way through before the center fell away, revealing a green pasture with a few idle flowers and a bright blue sky.

It was Equestria. Where on it? Who could say, but its bright colors were almost painful to look at compared to the dull tones of the ashen world they had been forced to dwell on.

Dim drew in breath in a sharp sudden gasp, eyes wide. "It's... so green..."

Octavia scowled at the hole. "It's Vinyl Scratch and Dim Flash sized, you two go on." Her additional stature made her just large enough to not feel confident in trying to pass through it without touching the sides. "Now, before the generator decides it doesn't want to continue working."

Dim did not need to be told twice. She scurried forward, trailing tears in the air. She tossed her gun aside, letting it clatter into the dirt. With a great leap, she was through the portal, landing neatly on the other side of it and turning around rapidly to look at them from the other world. "It's so fresh!" she cried with amazement, breathing perhaps too hard as if rushing to fill her lungs with crisp air that had long been denied her.

Vinyl nudged Octavia. "Get your flank through that portal Young Mare, or you're not getting any dessert. You know I'll do it."

"Vinyl, dear... I don't know what happens if you touch the side, and I don't care to find out, to be honest. I will search for better power sour--"

"--No." Vinyl reached for her goggles and pushed them up a little. "Octavia, look me in the eyes, right there, yeah, like that. You reach deep inside you. You find the rock princess that sleeps in there, breathing awesome with every little puff. You find her and you fix this, now."

Octavia looked left and right before noticing something abandoned on the ground. It was Dim's little gun, sized for her small mouth. "Dim, where did you get this from, originally?" She willed the gun up and over.

Dim squinted at the gun from the other side of the portal. "It was a gift... An old short legs gave it to me, said he got it as a gift, said never to throw it away..." She huffed softly. "You had to remind me of one more time I let someone down?"

"No... no... You did not let someone down." She could feel the history gently seeping from the gun. It was an implement she could use. Hidden in it were tricks to change the world. Sure, guns usually changed the world in one very specific way, but through that they protected, fed, and helped other things to change. She could feel that sympathetic magic and she smiled. "It'll be alright."

"Yeah! Now we're talking. Now get through there." Vinyl thrust a hoof at Dim through the portal.

With a look of concentration, Octavia glowed softly as she brought the gun closer. She got her teeth into place, fitting perfectly as she became as small as its original owner. With the little gun held in her jaws, she scampered forward. No matter how dignified she cared to be, her little legs didn't seem to want to allow that, but she hopped through the portal, landing beside Dim.

"Yay!" cried the original small pony. "But you said no weapons."

"And I meant it." Octavia drew out all the bullets from the gun and tossed them back through the portal, leaving her with a mouthful of an empty armament that could hurt no pony.

No Name tossed his head towards the portal. "Go on, they're waiting for you."

"Well, yeah..." Vinyl glanced at them, then back at No Name and Belle. "Hey, thanks, both of you. You two were beyond great people... And... uh, visit sometime? Get this thing plugged in somewhere better, come say hi... We'd love to have you, right?"

"Yeah." He reached for her, patting her back. "Go on."

"This little puppy's going home, but you better save Turves in a super awesome way or I swear I'll come back." She lowered her goggles back into place and with a scampering leap, she was through, tumbling onto the soft Equestrian grass with her friends. She felt something be pulled away from her. "Hey!"

Octavia had snatched her gun and looked ready to toss it bodily back through the portal.

"Just the bullets, c'mon! You kept the other one..."

Octavia raised a diminished brow before nodding. She unloaded the bullets from Vinyl's and her own firearm, tossing them all through the portal. They would enter Equestria without the means to do terrible things.

No Name stood up. "End that portal."

The portal closed with a pop. Their mission was over. They were left in the grey ashes, their puppies returned to their home, mostly intact.

Belle bounced forward. "I will--" She looked ready to grab the sphere. She didn't get the chance, No Name's hoof coming down in a brutal stomp, denting it badly in a fit of sparks.

He didn't stop, coming down again and again, battering it to pieces without pause, tears streaming down his face as he did it.

Belle flopped back on her haunches. "But..."

"It's my turn to ask you to accept this."

Belle had used that friendship command all too recently. She nodded sadly and moved to assume her place atop his back. "We will save Turves now? Permission to fully unlock?"

He smiled a little at that. "I think we'll need every little bit you have. We have a whole army to convince they made a bad decision." He turned away from the thoroughly smashed portal device. "Let's get to it. We have to beat them to Turves first."





Vinyl set a hoof on the head of the two ponies she was with, both smaller than her. "You know, I could get used to this. My little ponies."

Octavia and Dim managed to raise opposing brows in sync, peering at their friend before looking over at one another. Dim smiled softly. "You do look even nicer when we're eye to eye. I didn't know you were that magic. So... This is your home?"

With a moment of concentration, she began to expand rapidly, assuming her larger form. "Yes, this is Equestria, somewhere." She turned in place, looking around. "Ah, there." She pointed to where some rail tracks ran across the plains. "If we follow those, we'll arrive in a town, assuredly."

"Or we could head to the big mountain with the castle on it." Vinyl hiked a hoof towards where Canterlot could be seen above them, though quite some distance away.

"Too far," argued Octavia. "I motion we follow the tracks."

"Hey, Lappie, which way?" She pressed at its buttons, conjuring up the map, but there was no map, just text.



Data file not found for this plane. Please download the correct map file to enjoy map functionality on this plane.



"Uh, what if we are never going to find that file?"



Do you wish to create a new file?



"Yes'm!" She pressed the yes button eagerly.

A map appeared! It had nothing on it, save for a point that was them, in the middle of the nothing. "Good enough." Vinyl set her hoof down. "I can start adding points as I go and it'll keep track of it."

Dim had her nose pressed to a small flower, sniffing it softly. "It's... like a dream..."

Octavia smiled gently on the pony they had delivered from the ashen world. "It is like that, in comparison, is it not? It is not all peace and happiness, I assure. Come, let's find the way."

"I have to try something." She opened her mouth and chomped off the top of the flower, crushing the petals and their base in her teeth as she chewed thoughtfully. "Wow... You really can just eat them..."

Vinyl plucked up Dim Flash in her magic and set the small pony on her back. "You get to ride Belle style. Let's go." Carrying Dim was far easier, that little pony made of flesh and bones instead of steel. It was like carrying an actual filly around, and Vinyl did that with a happy expression. "We did it!"

"We did... Tell me, after all that, do you have any bits?" She walked through the field at Octavia's side, but her eyes were distant, on the future. "I feel I shall need to shop for a few things."

They had appeared close to Our Town. The ponies there were glad to help them. It was there that Octavia found what she wanted in the form of a crystal hanging from a pony's mane. "What is that and where did it come from?" she asked, following the mare, eyes locked on it.

The mare, Night Glider, glanced back at Octavia curiously. "A keepsake, from when Starlight used to be in charge."

"It feels... important."

"It was a piece of the big wall that held our cutie marks." Night Glider turned to face Octavia, looking over the alicorn curiously. "Huh woah, what's with this town and attracting royalty."

Octavia smiled nervously at that. "It must be destiny... Tell me, are you... attached to that?"

"Get your own." She pointed up into the hills. "Should still be some others up there. Big cave, can't miss it. Wall, lots of cubbies, and broken glass."

Octavia wanted that one right there, but... "Very well, thank you. You've been a great help."

"Sure no--" She trailed off, watching Octavia take off in flight for the caves. "Strange mare..."





Vinyl was at the tracks, waiting for the next train with Dim on her back. She smiled as Octavia came in for a landing, only to realize something was off. "How did you... Where are your wings?" Despite that her friend has just landed, there were no wings in sight. No horn either. "I have so many questions!"

"Hidden, not removed," counseled her friend, back to her usual height. "I will perhaps look silly when I duck beneath things that appear large enough for me, but I will not draw as many stares for it."

"Almost back to normal," agreed Vinyl. "Except one little detail."

"Hm?"

Vinyl pointed back at Octavia's cutie mark, altered by her contact with the queen-making magic. The note was still there, but great angelic wings spread from it in either direction, a crown floating just over it.

Octavia put a hoof over her face, knowing magic that tried to hide cutie marks tended to work poorly. "Not much I can do about that... Dim, you look pleased."

"I am... I'm still trying to take it all in. I... All those ponies, they were all happy and smiling and none of them had a weapon. There were no guards. Everything was clean. I can't smell ash. I never thought I'd miss it for even a second, but I'm a little lost without it. No ash, no grit. No... thing but smiles and happy people..."

Vinyl mussed Dim's mane with her magic. "Welcome to Equestria, but trust me, we have attacks, we just don't get stressed about them usually. Scream and run, maybe, but it gets fixed, and you go back to living it up. You'll like it."

The train pulled up gently, parking there at the literal end of the tracks. A conductor leaned out the side. "You coming aboard?" There was no station there, so they had to pay the conductor directly and got hoof-drawn tickets for where they were headed.

They had made it, to Equestria, to safety. They were being borne safely across the countryside. Vinyl watched the scenery pass by. "They better have saved Turves."

Octavia inclined her head faintly. "I thought you had faith in them."

"I do! But they better. With fireworks. I'm tellin' you, if they don't get stories for this, I'll be so mad..."

Dim was seated beside Vinyl, sipping on a can of fizzy drink slowly, unable to withstand a whole mouthful of carbonation due to a lack of exposure to its ticklish effects. "I'll write a story."

"Yeah?"

"About you, both of you, and your adventures..." She sipped softly. "I need a name..." She glanced between her two saviors. "Oh, of course... Of course. I'll call it 'Duet in the Dust'." She nodded with satisfaction.





And so I wrote this tale. I had to ask Octavia and Vinyl so many questions to get the details of the parts where I wasn't there. I hope I didn't make some parts seem... overdrawn or dramatic. They felt like that in the moment, I promise.

I hope you enjoyed this horrific tale. To you, dear reader, this must seem like a tale of dark fascination, of a thing that cannot be. Dear little pony, I assure you it is the truth. I mayyyy have embellished a little, here and there... But the events are true.

Don't believe me? If you dare, try to touch Octavia's back, and you'll feel her hidden wings. Do it gently and quickly, or she'll notice. She can be an angry angel, but also a deeply loving one.

I write this to remind you of what a wonderful world you live in. Thank you for allowing me to join it.

--Dim Flash