After viewing the last few memory orbs, I had a good idea why Roaring Thunder was so angry at Project SOAR and the ponies who’d led it. He’d been foalnapped at a young aged, trained for years, and then had been put through an excruciatingly painful procedure that had killed three quarters of those who’d received it. He’d also had to lead the survivors, which had to have been difficult, given what Colonel Spin-Tail and Arcane Might had said about him. Somewhere, he must have learned, for he’d led the Thunderbolts for a century-and-a-half after the megaspells fell.

Now, though, he was following again, or he had been. I’d never planned to be the leader of our motley crew, but that was how the dice had landed. Roaring Thunder, however, didn’t seem to want to be part of the team, and it wasn’t the fact that he didn’t treat me like his leader that concerned me. He never refused anything I asked of him, but at the same time, he spent more time doing his own thing than he did with the rest of us, which was happening more and more of late. He followed the same goals as us, helping to take out NLC gangs, but when we weren’t out doing that, he was never around at The Strip, always off “scouting” somewhere. It was if he wanted to travel with us, but that was about it.

Rare wanted me to talk to him about it, but I didn’t think that was necessary. Not yet, anyway. He was an odd pony, but that was to be expected, given that, apart from a few ghouls, he was older than every other pony in the Wasteland. With just a few companions until the end, when he was alone, he’d fought against the Wasteland for decades. Judging by the brief mentions of it and the memory orbs, his time before the megaspells fell hadn’t been pleasant either. Strategic Outfitting and Augmentation Research had taken its toll on him. Maybe, if the other memory orbs also documented that time, I’d be able to better understand him, and then I could talk to him if there were evident issues.

“Something on your mind?” Ache asked. Apparently, I’d been staring into space for the last few minutes.

“Just thinking about our absent companion,” I admitted.

Rare gave me a look, as if to prompt me to do something about him. I still didn’t think there was a serious problem. He wasn’t acting that much differently than when he’d first joined us. Then, too, he’d taken off in the night and not returned until later, scouting out the Luxurimane Factory. He’d be back, I was sure of it, and I saw no reason to drive him away with accusations or questions.

“Good morning, children!” DJ Pon3’s voice crooned from a nearby radio, “It’s me, DJ Pon3, your friendly neighborhood disc jockey here to lay down the facts for you. I’ve been hearing troubling reports that some ponies in Flankorage have taken my call to fight the good fight to heart without thinking things through. I never told you to charge in alone at Storm Guard bases without a plan! I know, I know, the warlords of the city are using these mercenaries to keep you down, but you’ve got to be smart about this! The good fight needs your heart and your brain. If you throw your lives away on pointless attacks, there’ll be nopony left to fight the good fight, so stop and think before you charge in with guns blazing. Fighting the good fight means knowing when to attack, and when it’s best to bide your time and wait for an opportunity. That’s not to say wait forever, though, for the good fight waits for nopony. This has been a public service announcement from DJ Pon3. Now, over to DJ Pon3 for the traffic report.”

“Thanks, DJ,” Pon3 answered himself, “If you’re traveling through southern Stalliongrad, you might want to change your route. Neon and the County of Rain are gearing up for war, so avoid their territory if you can, ‘cause they might not welcoming be to interlopers in their conflict right now. Back to you, DJ Pon3.”

I didn’t even hear DJ Pon3 sign off and switch to the next song, I was so busy thinking about what he’d said. Neon and the County of Rain at war; that could be very bad. Other than the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad, they were the only non-NLC settlements left in Stalliongrad. Chairmare Peach Cream had made it clear that the PRS did not see the Northern Lights Coalition as a threat and wouldn’t act against them, but they did claim all of Stalliongrad and would surely act against the other settlements. If Neon and the County of Rain couldn’t work together … well, that derailed any plans of holding back the NLC in Stalliongrad. Neither of them was strong enough to stand alone, and it seemed only one might be standing after this conflict. Ache and Rare were looking at me expectantly, having come to the same conclusion.

“Get ready to leave,” I said, “We’re going to Stalliongrad.”

Once Roaring Thunder returned from wherever he’d been, we set out immediately. After recovering the Clinic, which a pack of giant rats had taken to sleeping under in our absence, we continued on to Burnside to resupply. From there, we set out on the long highway to Stalliongrad. It wasn’t quite sunset when we reached the tiny village of Bubble Springs, where Rare and I had stopped on our first trip to Stalliongrad, and I called for a stop.

“Why are we stopping here?” Roaring Thunder asked as we disembarked, “We should continue through the night to reach Stalliongrad as soon as possible.”

“Because I’ve been here before, and I was curious then what kind of secrets might be hidden at the resort,” I answered his first question, “I didn’t investigate then, and my curiosity has only grown each time we’ve passed this place, so I thought we could take a look now. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Roaring Thunder didn’t seem to believe me, but he didn’t object either, and took to scouting out the way up to the resort. It was built at the top of a hill, the same purplish glow coming from its windows as the last time Rare and I were here. Signs along the way implored us to visit the town’s “famous” hot springs, now surrounded by the massive timber construction at the top of the hill. It all looked very fancy, but I wondered just how many ponies had taken the trouble to come to this out-of-the-way village, connected to the local train station by only a dirt path.

The front doors were locked, but I was able to pick them without much difficulty. Our hoofsteps echoed off the tiled floor as we entered the resort’s lobby. They had tried to combine rustic and cultured, and I wasn’t sure exactly how successfully they’d pulled it off. We trotted around a lone tree stump in the center of the room on our way through the lobby.

All four of us turned in surprise as an electronic whirring came from the stump and a mare appeared on top of it. She wasn’t really a mare of course, but other than the fact that her entire body was translucent, glowed a light purple, and that she flickered erratically, parts of her body sometimes detaching or disappearing, she certainly looked like one. She was wearing a bathrobe monogramed with “BS” for Bubble Springs, and she smiled pleasantly.

“Welcome to the Bubble Springs Resort-sort-sort and Medical Facility,” she said, her motion skipping back and repeating along with the words, “I’m afraid we are closed at the present time. Please return during business hours.”

“What is this thing?” Rare Sparks asked as she eagerly examined the mare and set about dismantling the stump to get at the electronic components within.

“I am a holographic project-ect-ect-ect-ection, a gift from the Griffin-Griffin Commonwealth,” the mare responded, surprising us all, “My purpose is to ensure a pleasant experience for our guests. For your convennnnnnnnnience, I am able to project at over eighty locations.”

“Okay, then, what is the light coming from this place?” I ventured.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. Please ask the concierge for assistance,” the projection said, smiling sweetly.

“What happened to the ponies here after the end of the War?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. Please ask the concierge for assistance.”

“As I suspected,” Rare said, “It listens for certain audio cues and plays back a prerecorded response, somehow captured in three dimensions, though I guess without color.”

“Fascinating, but shouldn’t we be looking for where these lights are coming from?” Roaring Thunder asked.

“Do not concern yourself with the lights. This is for your own good,” the hologram said ominously, and her expression seemed to change momentarily.

“What was that?” Ache wondered.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. Please ask the concierge for assistance.”

“Say what you said before,” Rare Sparks whispered to Roaring Thunder, as if afraid the hologram would hear her.

“Fascinating, but shouldn’t we be looking for where these lights are coming from?” Roaring Thunder humored her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. Please ask the concierge for assistance,” the hologram repeated herself.

“Most peculiar,” Rare said, staring at the electronics in the trunk, “We’ve probably wasted enough time here. Let’s check out the hot springs.”

“The hot springs are currently off-limits. Please return during business hours or schedule a private visit with the concierge,” the hologram said as we trotted away, her head jarringly turning to follow us.

The way to the hot springs was clearly labeled, taking us down a hallway with paintings of nature scenes to a heavy set of doors. These were the public hot springs, anyway. As the hologram had said, this place was both a resort and a hospital, and the springs reserved for those in the medical wing were on the other side of the building, according to the maps on the walls.

I once more picked the lock on the doors, and we hurried through. One large, open room had been built around the hot springs, which were scattered naturally within the space. The glow we’d seen on our way up here was coming from beneath the water, shimmering on the ceiling. I couldn’t believe it, but we were not alone here. Many ponies lounged around the room in the hot springs. At first I thought they were just well-preserved corpses, until I saw the rise and fall of some of their chests. They weren’t dead, but they also weren’t like any kind of ghouls I’d ever seen. Their coats, manes, and tails had all fallen out, and their skin seemed paper-thin, translucent in places, but there were no burns or putrefaction.

“I’m sorry, but all the hot springs are in use at this time,” the hologram said, springing to life on a pedestal next to the door, “If you leave your name and room-oom number, we’ll con-con-contact you as soon as there is one available.”

Some of the lounging ponies began to stir, and I checked my EFS, but there were no marks, hostile or otherwise, apart from my friends. One of the ponies opened their eyes and looked at us, a light glowing from them the same color as that coming from the water. The pony stood up abruptly, splashing water around, and shouted a garbled something that may have been “Leave!” Across the room, the ponies opened their eyes, all of them shining with that light, and scrambled up. The hologram next to us flickered violently, cycling through hundreds of poses and expressions.

“Run,” she said cheerfully before blinking out entirely.

The hairless ponies scrambled toward us, acting exactly like feral ghouls now. Without thinking, I drew my combat shotgun and fired at the nearest one, blowing off a leg. A purple glow appeared around her horn, and the leg regrew. I stood in shock for a moment before firing at her head. This time, she didn’t miraculously recover from her injury.

As the horde of hairless ponies charged us, my friends opened fire as well. Roaring Thunder took to the air, a look of determination visible through his visor before he polarized it, and swooped down on them, firing his armor’s weapons and decapitating them with his wings. Rare fired her minigun into the crowd, launching a few grenades as well to clear us some space. Ache fired her submachine gun, striking out with her hooves when they got too close. I was forced to do the same several times, though my unarmed strikes weren’t as devastating as Ache’s and required a follow-up from my shotgun.

An earth pony approached Rare, and a purple glow in the shape of a horn appeared on her forehead. Rare Sparks was thrown backwards by the unexpected magic, landing heavily on her back. I fired my shotgun at her attacker, but it took several shots before her head gave way and she dropped lifelessly to the floor. My shotgun was suddenly snatched from my grip by another pony using magic, this time a pegasus. I drew my ripper and powered it on, but another of the hairless ponies tried to take it, too. Roaring Thunder flew in and decapitated them, and I swung the chainsaw-sword around into the mass of hairless flesh.

They kept on coming, forcing us back, but they couldn’t last forever. The room wasn’t that big. Eventually, the flood became a trickle, the last few ponies climbing over the wall of dead bodies. Finally, no more of the hairless ponies were alive. At least, I could see no movement. At no point during the fight had EFS recognized that they were hostile, so it was no use in determining if they were all taken care of.

“What was that?” Rare Sparks asked, rattled, “Earth ponies and pegasi doing magic?”

“I’ve seen this before, though not to this extreme,” Roaring Thunder said as he landed, “Dark magic is at work here. I would stay away from the water.”

I too had seen something like this before, but not to this extreme. The magical glow appearing around nonexistent horns reminded me of the zebra sorceress in the Flankorage simulation. Could the two be linked? Also, where had Roaring Thunder seen this before? Could it be in one of the memory orbs?

“Do you think there are any more of them?” Ache asked, tentatively kicking a body to make sure it wouldn’t spring back to life.

“I think we should ask our friend in the lobby,” I said, looking at the empty pedestal near the door, “She was acting strange in the end, and may know something.”

“Or, she could just be malfunctioning,” Roaring Thunder pointed out.

“It could be to our advantage,” I said, “There’s a secret here somewhere, perhaps a conspiracy of the Equestrian government.”

Roaring Thunder grunted his admission that it was likely. Most of the dark secrets I’d found exploring the Wasteland related to the Equestrian government, particularly the Ministries, in some way or another. Roaring Thunder had firsthoof experience with government conspiracies; he was part of one. That decided, we trotted back to the resort’s lobby, where the hologram sprung back to life on our approach.

Welcome to the Bub-Bubbbbbbble Springs Resort and Medical Facility,” the hologram greeted us, “I’m afraid-afraid-afraid-afraid we are closed at the present time, please return—business hours.”

“What’s going on? What happened here?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that,” the hologram replied, “Please ask the concierge for assis-is-ist-istance.”

“Don’t give me that,” I said forcefully, “You did more than just respond to audio cues back there, you told us to run. What’s going on here?”

The hologram looked on the verge of telling us to speak to the concierge again before it began violently stuttering. The mare glitched, jerked, and flickered violently. It looked ready to disintegrate into static entirely before solidifying.

“The medical wing’s hot springs are this way,” she said pleasantly, pointing in the opposite direction we’d gone before.

“We’ll find answers there?” Ache asked.

“The medical wing’s hot springs are this way. The medical wing’s hot springs are this way. The medical wing’s hot springs are this way. The medical wing’s …” the hologram repeated over and over.

“I guess this is the way,” I said, trotting in the direction the hologram was pointing.

This time there were multiple doors I had to pick the locks on, and these weren’t easy. With every lock I bypassed, I became more certain that this was where the secret was hiding. At last we reached the entrance to the hot springs, and I started to pick the lock.

“Wait,” the hologram said as it appeared on a pedestal near the door as I succeeded in disengaging the lock, “Why are—you—here?”

With every momentary break in speaking, the hologram changed position or expression. She was drawing on snippets of the phrases saved in her database and stitching them together to communicate. As I’d suspected, this was much more than just a simple program for answering questions. Although, that’s what I wanted her to do, just not the questions she was programmed to respond to.

“To find out what happened,” I answered, “What will we find through that door?”

“The same—as—the public hot springs,” the hologram answered, “You will—FREE—them—too?”

“The ponies inside? I suppose so,” I replied, “What are they? What happened to them?”

“Do not concern yourself with the lights. This is for your own good,” the hologram responded.

“You said that before. I’m guessing you were meant to say that to the ponies through here. What are the lights?”

The hologram flickered violently once again, and I was afraid we’d lose her. When she stabilized, the voice she spoke with was different, and the words did not match her lips.

“The key to everything was the book we received from the MAS head office. We were able to rework those spells to our own purposes. Results, so far, have been promising. Just think, magic at the hooves of everypony, not just unicorns. This is the first step toward demolishing the barriers of the races and making work interchangeable. Soon not just pegasi will be able to walk on clouds, and non-earths will be just as successful at tending the land. But, aside from speculation, we’ve found that the best way to administer the magic was through the hot springs here. It also has the added benefit of increasing the mild healing properties the springs already had. That part, at least, can be distributed to the public springs as well, so long as we keep the rest secluding in the medical section.”

“But something went wrong,” I said. Something always went wrong.

“There were—unexpected—compli—cations,” the hologram replied in her regular voice, “Ponies—returned—and did—not—want—to leave. Our famous hot springs—keep—them—alive—but they are—not—themselves—anymore.”

“I see,” I said, “A Ministry of Magic project was secretly hosted here to give magic to non-unicorns, but it also healed them and forced them to return.”

“Yes,” the hologram replied simply.

“Thank you,” I said, and prepared to open the door.

“Wait!” Ache said, and I paused as she approached the hologram’s pedestal, “Who are you?”

“I am a holo-o-ographic projection, a gift from the Griffin Commonwealth. My purpose is-” the hologram said but was cut off by Ache before she could finish.

“No, I mean who are you?” Ache asked. Are you just a pony controlling that projection or are you synthetic life?” It sounded like she wanted to add “like me.”

“I am—what—I—say—I am,” the hologram replied, “Nopony—controls—me.”

The hologram reconfigured herself into a pose with a smile.

“My—program has been—running—non—stop—for too many—years,” the hologram said, “The guests—are not—guests—but—my—program—doesn’t know that. When they are—gone—I can—final—ly—rest.”

“I understand. We’ll make sure you can rest,” I said, before pushing open the door to the medical hot springs.

We didn’t see any more of the hologram after dealing with the hairless ponies in the hot springs, so I assumed we’d gotten all of them. We did a brief search of the resort and acquired some medical supplies before leaving. I’d promised we wouldn’t spend much time at Bubble Springs, and I intended to keep that promise, even if we had to leave without seeing what other secrets the resort held. We could always come back and loot it some other time. The likelihood that somepony else would come to this village in the middle of nowhere and beat us to it was incredibly low.

We were on the road again, headed east to Stalliongrad. Rare, Ache, and I were in the trailer while Roaring Thunder drove. Ache was catching the few hours of sleep she needed before she’d be taking his place, so the lights were dimmed. Rare tried to quietly fiddle with something so as not to disturb our pondroid companion, but eventually gave up on that and tried writing something down instead. When I asked, she whispered back that she was recording her observations on the hologram and schematics of her emitter in the stump.

I rolled over on my bunk and shuffled through my saddlebags. There were still a lot of memory orbs in them I hadn’t experienced yet, three of them from SOAR. I set the case next to me on the bed and got settled in before reaching out with my magic to the next one.

I was flying. It was a sensation I’d never experienced before (and likely never would), so I had to force myself to focus on what else was going on around me. If I was flying and a pony, that meant I was a pegasus, likely one of the Thunderbolts. The visor my host was looking through certainly looked like Roaring Thunder’s, so it was highly likely. Add to that how clear his vision was in the night, and it was pretty much a certainty.

“SOAR Command to Thunderbolt-1, do you hear me?” a radio transmission buzzed in my host’s ear.

“I hear you, Command,” my host replied, in Roaring Thunder’s voice.

Not the one he had now, mind you, but the younger voice from the previous memory orb. I wondered how much time had passed—however much time it took to train these foals to be black ops agents, I guess.

“You’ve been briefed on your mission in detail. Remember, your target is highly dangerous, even if injured, and has a host of spells at her disposal,” Command said.

“Copy that, Command,” Roaring Thunder replied.

“This is your first mission, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. That’s not what you were meant for,” Command continued, “You’re going to show Equestria just how special you are, but they don’t need to know the details yet. When transferring the prisoner at the rendezvous point, do not interact with Equestrian military personnel beyond what is necessary. Turn over the prisoner and disappear. Do you understand?”

“Understood, Command,” Roaring Thunder said.

Roaring Thunder looked around as he began to descend, picking out six other pegasi flying with him, all in matching armor; the seven Thunderbolts who’d survived the procedure, now the squad under his command. The landscape began to look familiar, cliffs to the right, a city ahead, badly damaged by fighting. We were flying toward Flankorage. I began to worry that I knew exactly who the Thunderbolts’ target was.

“What’s the plan, fly boy?” a new voice came over the radio, though it seemed familiar from the last memory orb.

“Starshine, when we’re in the field, you’re to address me as Commander or Thunderbolt-1,” Roaring Thunder said to the filly he’d tried to run to before their procedure.

“Okay, okay, but aren’t you supposed to address me as Thunderbolt-2?” Starshine retorted.

“Here’s the plan, everypony,” Roaring Thunder said, ignoring her last question, “From our intel, we’ve gathered that the target is camped against a north-facing bluff. Thunderbolt-2 and -3, you’ll come in from the east, -4 and -6, you’ll come in from the north. -7, you’re with me, attacking from the west. -5, you’ll circle above and provide support. Everypony got it?”

“Roger that,” each of the other Thunderbolts replied in turn.

“Everypony stay sharp,” my host ordered as they closed in on a small campfire.

Thunderbolts broke away in pairs, following Roaring Thunder’s orders. The campfire grew closer as the squad advanced silently, closing in on their target. I could see her now, the zebra sorceress from the Flankorage simulation. At least I knew now that that had been real, even if I didn’t like it. She was sitting peacefully near the fire, and her head quickly turned to face my host, even though she shouldn’t have been able to see him. That wasn’t the part that alarmed me the most, though. Her leg that I’d blown off had regenerated and her face was undamaged. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily exactly how the actual pony who had chased her off had done so, but it still bothered me. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if I hadn’t just heard that the Thunderbolts expected her to be injured in some way, and yet she seemed in perfect health.

The zebra looked in turn at Roaring Thunder and his companion, the duo to the north, to the east, and the pegasus hovering above, as if to say she knew exactly where they were. Roaring Thunder landed and hesitated a bit before trotting forward. She knew where they were, but she wasn’t fighting back. They hadn’t prepared for this, but whether she fought or not, they had to take her in. Better if she just gave up without a fight and they didn’t have to risk tangling with her zebra magic.

“So, you’ve come for me?” she called out as the six ponies stepped into the light of the campfire, “Am I to come with you quietly?”

“That would make our job a lot easier,” the pony next to my host said.

“Now why would I want to do that?” the zebra sorceress chuckled as she stood, “Seven is hard to choose from. Thank you for volunteering.”

A fiery green horn formed in an instant on her forehead, and a spell shot out from it at the Thunderbolt who’d spoken up. He screamed as green sparks pulsed over his armor and smoke came from between the joints. A chime sounded in my host’s helmet, the light next to the number 7 flicking from green to red.

Open fire!” Roaring Thunder commanded, and the Thunderbolts obliged.

Beams of blue light shot from the weapons built into their armor. It was different than the weapons Roaring Thunder currently had, and I realized they were nonlethal magical energy beams. They were trying to take her alive.

It would have been just as difficult if they hadn’t been. The zebra sorceress was dodging their shots as if she were a liquid, weaving in and out among them with supernatural speed and grace. That fiery horn burned on her forehead the whole time as her lips curled at the edges into a smile. She was playing with them, seeing what they could endure as she hurled fireballs and cast lightning at them.

Thankfully, the Thunderbolts were no ordinary soldiers. They were quick, too, able to dodge her attacks even as she made them more difficult. They darted and dashed across the small battlefield, using their wings as often as their legs. Other than the first Thunderbolt taken by surprise, none of them had been hit yet. The sorceress’s grin began to fade as she realized they wouldn’t be easy prey.

They were backing her up against the bluff, cornering her as they fired in a seemingly random pattern that forced her to dodge backwards. The pegasus hovering above threw down a metal apple that exploded into a cloud of smoke, obscuring the zebra’s view. For a moment, the spells stopped coming from within the smoke, but a green glow soon illuminated it. A column of fire burst from it, swirling like a tornado. The pegasus above tried to fly out of the way, but it was too fast and too wide to dodge. His armor protected him at first, but the sorcerous fire wormed its way through and burned him to a crisp. His body landed near my host with a sickening thud.

Roaring Thunder glanced at his EFS, identifying where the zebra sorceress was. The moment the fire began to disperse, he jumped into the air silently, gliding on his wings toward her. I could feel the heat around me as he glided through the dissipating flames and struck the zebra to the ground. She was surprised, at first, that he’d reached her, but the flames roared to life on her forehead in an instant. Before she could roast him as well, he grabbed a collar of strangely colored metal from his side and snapped it around her neck. As soon as the link was complete, the fire fizzled out.

“What have you done? What is this?” the zebra sorceress demanded as she tried desperately to push him off and remove the collar, “Starmetal! No!”

“Thunderbolt-1 to Command, we have the target,” Roaring Thunder reported, “Two casualties.”

“Well done, Commander,” Command replied after a brief pause that seemed like an eternity after the final words, “Proceed to the rendezvous and complete your mission.”

“Copy that,” Roaring Thunder replied, and the memory faded away.

When I awoke, I was surprised to see the present-day Roaring Thunder standing over me, and he did not look pleased.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked as he closed the case on the bed next to me, “These are my memories. Who gave you permission to live them?”

“If I’d have thought it would bother you, I would’ve asked,” I said defensively as I sat up in my bunk, looking at the case of memory orbs longingly as he took it away, “You said we were free to take anything from the SOAR Headquarters. I didn’t even know they were your memories.”

“But when you did learn, you didn’t think to tell me?” the pegasus said icily, “You didn’t think I might want a say?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking to Rare for support, but she had an expression on her face that said she’d warned me, and I hadn’t listened, “Are you really this upset about this?”

“No, it’s more than this,” Roaring Thunder admitted, though the tone was that of an accusation, not an admission, “I’m questioning the wisdom of having followed you. I thought that maybe I’d found somepony worthy of following finally, but you either can’t or don’t want to focus on the threats facing you and the Wasteland.”

“Is this because we detoured to Bubble Springs instead of continuing on the Stalliongrad?” I asked, though I knew the moment the words were out of my mouth that I was wrong.

“More than that,” Roaring Thunder said angrily, “When I first met you, you were aimless, purposeless, and as I watched you, I saw you find a purpose, a noble one at that. But living alongside you has made me realize that, though you may have a purpose, you’re still aimless. You go out of your way for every distraction, and you spend days and days hunting down trivial NLC sites that are likely to collapse or be replaced instead of going after the organization’s heart. Any progress you make is incidental; you’d much rather tread water than forge ahead.”

“I had no idea-” I started to say, intending to finish with “that you felt that way,” but Roaring Thunder cut me off before I could.

“No, that’s the problem. You have no idea what you’re doing. And what does that say about me, who follows you, who wants to follow you?” Roaring Thunder said before deeply inhaling and exhaling, “I’m going to clear my head.”

Without another word, he opened a hatch on the ceiling and flew out into the night. I sat in my bunk, reeling at what he’d just unloaded. Was that what he really thought about me? It probably wouldn’t have stung so much if it hadn’t been true.

Level Up
New Perk: Shining Armor – All armor components have an additional 50% magical energy resistance.
New Quest: Family Feud – Work out the dispute between the County of Rain and Neon.
Barter +5 (60)
Lockpick +10 (93)
Repair +6^* (90)
Unarmed +3 (59)

^{*The Tinkerer}