I jerked myself awake in Kipper's engineer seat, the light of dawn streaming through the curtained windows to my left. The clatter of the firebox doors closing shut again caught my groggy attention, looking over to blink at them a few more times. Was... Ottie playing with them, or something? Stopwatch, maybe? It's barely 6 in the morning, it couldn't possibly be... Another few pieces of firewood were tossed onto the fire in a familiar aura of magic, as my eyes looked over to see Crown Sheet in his chair, humming softly, tending to Kipper. Crown Sheet. At six in the morning. And he actually looks like he's awake. "Mm, mornin' Casey. Was wondering when you were gonna wake up, we gotta get moving soon, right?"

My jaw hung slack as I could only bring myself to blink at him in bewilderment, sitting myself upright. Slowly, I took a forehoof and brought it over to one side of my head, giving myself a quick right hook. And then coming to regret the fact that I somehow managed to just sucker-punch myself. "Sonuva- frrgh, gah, Celestia wept... Don't do this to me Crown Sheet, I'm not used to you being awake before I am, at all. What's the occasion?"

"Biscuit's pharmacy had some anti-exhaustion meds in stock, figured I might as well give 'em a try. Decent night's sleep later, and here we are." He passed on a smirk, leaning forwards to get a look at his clock before gesturing towards my side of Kipper's controls. We couldn't be... oh crap, we are leaving this early! And that bastard was gonna let me sleep in... steam hissed away loudly as I started Kipper along to get us back onto the mainline, large white clouds billowing from the cylinder cocks as we pulled forwards. The points eventually passed underneath, Crown Sheet shutting off the valves to get the blast pipe working. "Ottie also filled me and Stopwatch in on what happened while we were out... sorta, anyways. Took a bit of sweet-talking and a month's wages, but I also picked up this little number from the gun shop in town. Y'know, just in case..."

The latch on his toolbox undid itself in his magic as he lifted open the lid, his aura wrapping around a thing in an old cloth rag and pulling it out to see. Unwrapping the cover, it turned out to be... some sorta big-bore carbine, or something? Really oversized revolver? Er... He let off a small sigh, his magic pulling another thing out of the toolbox. This one just so happened to be a small cardboard box, and from the label... "Seriously? A revolver shotgun? Nevermind the fact that you're a complete idiot if you're thinking of firing that thing inside Kipper's cab, was a regular pump-action not good enough for you, or something?"

Crown Sheet let off a guilty chuckle as he put the ammo back into his toolbox, wrapping the gun up in the cloth again. Of course, couldn't just get something not-unique... wait a minute. "Hold up, hold up, hold up, what the actual FUCK are you doing buying a gun!? Whaddaya mean 'just in case'?! Have you gone completely daft!?" From the way he so gently managed to drop that gun right between his legs - and from the looks of things, really did feel doing so - I'm gonna guess he wasn't entirely expecting that completely justified outburst. His forehooves covered his crotch as he regained himself, drawing in a sharp breath and letting it out in a small shudder.

"Ow... egh, I mean, we gotta have some way to deal with the, uh, 'problem', right? From what Ottie said, all the details are pretty much solid, we just need to get rid of our one passenger, somehow. A little 20-gauge should do the trick, right?" Picking the gun back up in his magic and putting it back into the toolbox, he took a short moment to toss a bit more wood onto the fire, still regaining himself a little. I, meanwhile, only could continue staring at him in disbelief, even as we accelerated down the mainline.

"Yeah, or get us both killed when you fumble a shot right into Kipper's boiler. Don't try and be a hero, we'll figure something out when the time comes. Maybe we bolt him in Ottie's cage, or something, would at least be fair..." Granted, that didn't quite fill the 'recognizable body' quota we needed, but, well, it was something. Easing back on the reverser some, we were soon hitting our proper speed, the rolling expanses of the mountainous terrain climbing around us. "We still need to get the details from one of those silverfish drone-things first, anyways. Still want to know whatever the hell this 'Architect' guy came up with..."

Crown Sheet let off a small grunt beside me, the firebox doors clattering open once more. The track slowly started to ascend, the modest two-percent grade, while hardly the worst on the route, still making me go a bit easy with the reverser. Can't have the wheels slipping... Mmh. A sigh escaped my lips, eyes looking out through the front window. "You... you don't think we jumped onboard with this idea too quickly, do you? I mean... not like we really have much time to think about it anyways, but... I dunno. I guess we'd still have Kipper, at least."

The pony beside me, in another bout of uncharacteristicness today, promptly responded to that with a sharp laugh, soon followed by a sigh. "There you go again, Casey, just because I'm your firepony doesn't mean I'm automatically onboard with every single crazy plan you've ever come up with." A few more logs went into the flames, the firebox doors clattering shut again. Crown Sheet looked over to meet my understandably surprised gaze - he's not gonna follow, but he still bought a freakin' shotgun for this? He let off a small sigh, leaning back in his seat. "But, don't get all panicky, I am still onboard for this one. Even as bad as it seems in the short run, won't let you just go throw your career away by yourself. 'specially not out here, you'd never be able to keep the fire going."

Credit where due, least that did get me to chuckle a little. The cab air fell silent soon after though, save for the usual sounds of Kipper's motions, Crown Sheet adjusting himself again. "Water Case, you know as well as I that we aren't going to be reaching Mare's Lake. I overheard Stopwatch's conversation with the prince, whatever the hell those 'djinn' things he has are coming to take over for us soon as we get out along the Misery Range, before Cordite. From the way Stopwatch looked after he got off the phone, I can only imagine they're more like what I keep actually dreaming about, and I still really don't wanna end up robot pony food. They see that Ottie's out of the cage, the chance of that happening is way higher than I ever want it to be."

Another short, incredulous chuckle left me - still stuck on that, ain'tcha? - as I let my eyes fall back to the route ahead. So, we're not gonna be getting back home with Ottie either way, then... huh. Leaning back, I reached into my inner pocket, retrieving the old, slightly smelly work order. Unfolding it carefully enough, I started to read through it again, first silently, but slowly starting to do it aloud. "'...special... Saddle Arabian prince... full payment only on delivery of the package to Mare's Lake, partial payment per stop.' They won't be getting the full payment... they won't be getting the full payment!" Laughter overcame me as I leaned back in Kipper's engineer seat, hugging the work order close. They're not gonna get the full payment after all... sniffling in a little as I calmed back down, I looked over to find Crown Sheet looking at me, quite understandably, as if I'd just gone nuts. With the kind of relief this brought, I might have... just a little.

I sat myself back up, taking the work order and crumpling it up, much to his surprise. "You wanna know something, Crown Sheet? We're fucked. We. Are. Fucked. We're never gonna work on ENR again. And you know why?" Wearing a grin, I dropped to the floor, trotting over to the actuator for the firebox doors. I pressed down on the pedal, making the steam pressure swing the doors open, still holding the crumpled-up work order. "This was our last chance. The dispatcher told me before we left that he'd have to let us go, if we didn't get this haul done. Well, guess what, if the prince is gonna come and get Ottie himself?" With one swift motion, I chucked the crumpled paper into the roaring fire, letting the metal doors clatter back into place. "We're fucked. And that makes things at least a little bit easier."

The unicorn across from me blunk a few times as he processed this information, leaning back in his seat as I returned to my own. That grin I had wasn't going anywhere fast, not when it meant we'd had our options properly narrowed down for us. Just have to wait for whatever that Architect guy would be sending along so we can pull this off, now... Crown Sheet let off a small grunt, adjusting himself in his chair. "Well. Guess that's one way to get things sorted out. Didn't think things were going that bad on that front, seemed like we were still doing pretty good work around the yard, and all... guess I won't owe Crossing Grade for that poker match anymore, at least..."

"That's the spirit, Crown Sheet." A dry chuckle left my lips as I leaned back, looking out the window with a relieved smile. No more work schedules... no more slaver cars... no more worries. Just me, Kipper, Crown Sheet, Ottie, Stopwatch... things'll work out. Watching out the window, the wide valleys and forested mountains continued on by, along with the minutes. The loud chuffs out Kipper's stack slowed as the grade increased, the unicorn beside me shuffling the hot coals around and putting another few logs on, closing the firebox doors with a sigh.

"So... what's the plan, after this is all said and done?" Crown Sheet piped up again, catching my attention. You know... that was a point. It was hard to figure what he was thinking, but that slight frown gave some clues, at least. "I mean... say everything goes exactly to plan, we get to the Architect guy, Ottie's safe, we're scott-free. What do we do after that?" ...damnit, Crown Sheet.

We sat in silence for longer than I'd hoped we would've, as I tried to think of an answer. Spent so long worrying over Ottie, didn't even wonder what the next part would be... what if they need to take the whole train to make it convincing? If they actually had to crash Kipper at the bottom of a valley... they said they were watching us for a while, so maybe they might at least have something else planned, so we can keep the train. I mean, those silverfish drones aren't big enough to carry a pony anywhere, let alone a steam-powered automaton one... right? They'd need us to get Ottie to wherever they are, probably. Hopefully. But then... after that...

"I... I don't know. We'd probably still have Kipper, and I guess the whole train too, so it's not like we'd be completely homeless. There're probably at least a few tunnels with sidings we could make home in if needed, maybe go around doing odd jobs wherever the tracks take us around here. Probably gonna be a few years before we can actually try working for another railroad, if at all..." A sigh escaped me, only to be answered with a small, dry chuckle from Crown Sheet, myself looking over to see him shaking his head. Did I miss a joke or something? Or... is crazy a transmittable disease?

"Casey, you forget about something? If the plan is that we're supposed to end up 'crashed', and they need somepony's body there, what do you think that means for us?" The confusion already on my face stayed, as the unicorn beside me just wore a tired grin. It means we're safe, alive, and... "It means we're supposed to be dead. We 'die' in the crash. Unless that Architect guy has some fancy thing that makes people forget faces, we can't be going around anywhere, especially with Kipper and the train. Last I checked, stealth bucks don't work on a few hundred tons of steel, steam, and smoke, so we have to find some other way to disappear."

I leaned back in my chair, looking down to my hooves in my lap, the firebox doors clattering with two more logs going in. Right. Ponies usually don't survive train crashes in ravines. A long sigh left my lips as I leaned forwards, working the controls a bit. "Damnit, Crown Sheet... well... they do have whatever Ping was using for a disguise, maybe they have one that works for regular ponies? And... maybe locomotives, too?" A weak chuckle left me, looking over to see Crown Sheet at least cracking something of a smile. Grasping at straws and desperate, but hey, you never know. Maybe they already figured it out for us... maybe. "We'll work something out, eventually. They'll at least let us visit Ottie, so maybe we can stay there while we try to find somewhere to go?"

"You want me to willingly run the chance of having my everything eaten by a giant robot pony? I thought you knew me better than that!" We both broke into a small laugh as my oh-so-good-at-acting fireman put on his performance, eventually calming back down. Kipper's stack chuffed quicker as the tracks leveled out, myself letting back on the throttle a bit. "Maybe. We'll see if we get there, I dunno if I could sleep if the next door neighbor's whirring and hissing all night. Might just need to find somewhere we haven't been and settle down for a while."

"Whatever we do, we're in agreement that anywhere near New Appleoosa is absolutely out of the question, right?" We both shared in another chuckle, Crown Sheet giving his head a light shake. Yeah, don't wanna go anywhere Kipper might end up even worse off, at least... A light smile on my muzzle, I turned my attention to back out the cab windows, watching the snowy mountains and valleys ease on by. Just waiting, now...

A faint glint caught my eye in one of the valleys, before it rapidly shot up past the cab window, the speed of the darn thing nearly causing me to throw myself off of my chair backwards. Now what in the hell was that!? Catching myself, I pressed my face up against the glass to try and get a look at the thing again, it having disappeared over the roof. Moments passed, before a new sound started to permeate the cab, over Kipper's chuffing and the hiss of live steam - sounded like some sort of small thrusters, I think. Glancing about, it seemed that Crown Sheet found sight of it first, his magic already flaring to take something from... huh, that's definitely a bit larger of a silverfish drone than I remember seeing. Maybe they're all that size, and I've just never seen one this close before... neat. Surprised it fit between the cab and the tender, actually...

A folded-up map was pulled out from it's stowage compartment, along with a holotape and something that looked worryingly like a remote detonator. The Silverfish hovered idly over the footplate as Crown Sheet unfolded the map, scanning over it. Levitating it over for me to look as well, the map was plainly marked out with the route ahead of us, an X marked up at a point along one of the large turns that hugged a mountainside, the other edge leading to a deep, forested valley below. Well, guess that's where the crash is supposed to be... and this other thing further to the south is where the silverfish met us. Robot timing, I guess.

Looking up north past the crash site, our attention was drawn to one of the many tunnels that cut through the Misery Range, the tracks - quite interestingly - diverting while still under the mountain. I know that there are underground switching yards and all, but I didn't think extra points and wyes inside tunnels were all that common. The line drawn on the map followed over to the west, not seeming to follow any marked rail lines, before abruptly terminating near a town by the name of Tungsten. Well... it's something, I suppose.

Crown Sheet put the detonator into his stowage box, levitating up the holotape in his magic for a closer look at it. We both shared a glance between ourselves, before turning back to the silverfish drone, myself leaning against the back of my seat as I scratched the back of my head. "Uh... dunno if you just overlooked this, but, neither of us really have a way to play this thing. Guess you guys might work with a lotta ponies with pip-bucks, or something? Er, when you do have living ponies helping... now I think about it, holotapes probably do work better for robots."

I might've gone crazy, but I swear that the silverfish drone just sighed at the both of us. Righting itself, it opened up a compartment on it's side, the slot big enough to accept the holotape. Crown Sheet slid the tape in, the slot accepting it with a click, a new and quite unfamiliar voice coming from a speaker nearby the slot. "Water Case, Crown Sheet, I'm glad you accepted our invitation. We'll have time for proper introductions later, but just so you have some assurance on who you're listening to, I'm known as The Architect." ...huh. For a leader of a robot settlement, he sure sounds much less... robotic, than I expected. Then again, Ping sure sounded like a normal pony, and so does Ottie...

"The map provided contains the location of the prepared wreck, as well as the route to our settlement. We'll have the points already prepared for your departure from the main route after you complete the necessary tasks, so you needn't worry about anything beyond the operation of your locomotive after that point. The detonator also included is set to alert you when it'll be safest to activate the explosives as well, to cause an artificial avalanche, and won't be active until you reach that location. Hopefully the location decided upon will provide a cinematic enough experience for you all, heh." Well, glad to know he still cares enough to wanna give us a good view of it all. Avalanche... yeah, guess that makes sense, especially considering how that turn isn't nearly sharp enough to have us thrown off the tracks by speed alone.

"We trust that you've got a means of... 'dealing with' Boomer as well, as that's the only part in planning we were unable to get to. Your assigned Ping unit reported that Crown Sheet had bought a carbine of some description while you were in Biscuit, but if that fails you could possibly turn Boomer's own shotgun upon himself. Or, as he also reported, you apparently do claim to know how to improvise, Water Case, so I'm certain you'll still manage if either of those options are unfeasible. I'll be first to admit that this plan is far less certain than I would have preferred, but at this stage we do not have any further options. We will be observing you as you enact the plan, and hoping for the best." Crown Sheet passed on a smug look to me, myself returning a glare - so buying the shotgun might not have been as daft an idea after all, shut up.

Waiting for the click of the holotape ejecting, we instead heard the Architect's voice continue, albeit faintly. "What?... They don't have... Oh, in the name of Turing. Well, get a drone installed with a player and send it instead. I know, I know, it was my own oversight in this case... oh, and I forgot to-" The holotape cut out at that point, the slot it went in ejecting it for Crown Sheet to take, the silverfish drone still hovering idly by. Possibly seeming a bit annoyed at it's own creator, from the looks of things. Hey, I'd be too if I had to be woken up to fly out to the middle of the butt-freezing mountains...

The unicorn beside me pulled the tape, putting it in his stowage box with the detonator and shotgun, the drone seeming to give a slight nod before hovering back out and away. The metal door closed shut as our eyes met each other's, Crown Sheet pulling the map up again to work out where we were. Guess all that's settled, then...

Now to play the waiting game.

---

The section of track marked with the X was coming up on us soon, myself giving a look over to Crown Sheet as he undid the latch on his stowage box, tossing a few more cut logs onto the fire. Giving one last glance to the map, he passed on a nod, and I cut the throttle and turned on the brakes. The wheels squealed as we slowed to a full stop, the towering mountain to our right with the valley on our left, snow-capped trees lining it's far depths. The remains of an old locomotive and a couple carriages could just about be seen laid up against some of the trees further down the slope - guess that's what'll be the wreck for us, then. Detonator isn't sounding off yet.

The air was quiet beyond Kipper's idle hissing, both of us just waiting tensely for the pounding of hooves. Hope Stopwatch was able to hide himself well this time... a minute passed, and I fidgeted in my seat. He should be storming up to the cab by now... Crown Sheet seemed to share in my anxiousness. "Something's up. It's late enough in the day, he should be awake. Hell, I'm awake..."

"I know... it's not-" A sharp crack left my ears ringing, head ducking forwards as shattered window glass peppered my back. Un-wrenching my face, I managed to blink a few times, looking over at Crown Sheet - he seemed just as startled by it, his magic flaring to grab the first aid kit from off the cabinet behind him. A second blast sent a wave of heat over my back from the window, splintered wood raining down from the roof as dull sounds started to return to my ears, that ringing persisting. Fuck me, how do ponies handle getting shot at like this all the time?!

I fell forwards in the cab for Crown Sheet to look me over, affording me a good vantage point as the door opened up on my side of the cab, a very angry mercenary with a short double-barreled shotgun in his muzzle climbing in. He dropped onto his hooves as he pulled the shotgun from his mouth, fumbling around with his jacket to pull out two more shells for it. Rather unmercifully, my hearing started coming back just in time to have to listen to him. "So, you two fucking useless excuses for ponies gotta 'remove me from the equation' huh? Trying to get a bigger cut for yourselves, or were you just trying to piss me off again? Because believe me, you've been doing a great job at that second one."

Boomer eventually managed to get the fresh rounds loaded in, closing his gun with a snap and readying it to fire. "Or was it somethin' else, you having some delusions about being a goody two-shoes savior for a useless junk heap? I saw the crate all cut up, wonder if that prince would like to know that his prize is able to run free and all. Or maybe he'll pay even more if I gave him a whole town of living rust-buckets instead..." The merc flashed a smirk as he leveled his shotgun at us both, and the very much so pressurized boiler, looking between us. "So, here's how it's gonna go. You both are gonna get this oversized teapot on the move again, and we're gonna get to delivering the atuoma-whatever onboard, along with whatever you got that'll point the prince towards all the other robots. If you don't, you're gonna learn what it feels like to get your face filled with lead, and trust me, it ain't pretty."

Looking over to Crown Sheet with both barrels still pointed towards me, I let loose a sigh, taking a step back and raising both hooves in submission. Boomer's muzzle behind his gun turned into a grin, my eyes falling back to Crown Sheet. He seemed pretty understandably shocked by this decision, eyes focused on me, before I looked over to his stowage box, and then back to him. Shock gave way to realization as I slid myself back into the engineer's seat, making sure Boomer was still focused on me. "Alright, we'll get moving. The snowfall's made it dangerous here, there could be avalanches, and we're not really prepared for snow on the line."

The faint tinkling of a magic aura just about caught my ears as I took off the brakes, the loud hiss of the air line getting repressurized hopefully covering the sound of the compartment door being opened. Boomer let off a bit of a growl, and I could hear his hooves trot closer to me. "Why the hell would you think I'd give a rat's ass about a bit of fucking snow? Just drive the damn thing, that's what you're here for. And let me watch, just in case you suffer an accident and get 'removed from the equation'... whatever the fuck that me-"

A sharp click was heard throughout the cabin, the breath catching in my throat. That was way too close, please tell me you didn't aim that thing where it'd shoot me after going through him, Crown Sheet! Looking back at Boomer, he blunk in confusion, shotgun in his hoof, as my own eyes fell on... the detonator being held against his head. You have got to be fucking kidding me. I turned my eyes over to look at my ever so very fucking competent fireman, the distinct look of a pony who is seriously regretting his decisions clear on his face. This is gonna suck.

Boomer jumped back to the tender hoofplate, Crown Sheet dropping the detonator to the floor as the mercenary put his shotgun back into his muzzle, his full attention directed to my fireman. Still with his magic up, Crown Sheet instead grabbed the muzzle of the shotgun, wrenching it over to the side away from us as I go to my hooves. Okay, plan A didn't work, improvise time... please let plan B be good enough. One of the rounds was fired with a loud bang, making all of our ears ring and taking out the glass in the fireman-side door, myself covering and ducking while I tried to recover from it. Looking back to the tender again, I saw the magic aura dissipate from the shotgun barrels, along with the faint glow of two nixie tube eyes in the tender corridor. Boomer regained himself quickly, though, his attention falling back to me - he still had one shot left.

With a mighty hiss of steam and pistons, a copper and brass form lunged out of the darkness, plowing into Boomer's side and knocking his aim off just at the last moment. The second shot buried itself into Kipper's floorboards rather than my face, pinging off of the metal structures underneath while Ottie fought with the mercenary, Boomer somehow managing to stumble around even with Ottie's full weight on his back. Crown Sheet's magic ripped the shotgun from Boomer's mouth, being just enough to make him stumble on his hooves and fall with a loud thud, still struggling against the automaton. Oh, I should so kiss that robot pony...

I grabbed the long prybar from under my seat, seeing the mercenary still somehow putting up a fight, holding it firm in my muzzle. I gave it a swing, feeling it's end only just connect with one of Boomer's legs, sending him prone again as Ottie pounded his hooves against his sides. Looking over to Crown Sheet, he had finally grabbed the right gun, and was fumbling with the shells for it. Oh for crying out loud, we need to finish this sooner! Looking around, the red emergency box drew my eye, one of those crazy ideas that just might not work forming. "Crown Sheet! Toredo! Mouf!"

The unicorn looked at me like I had lost it for just a second, before he dropped the shells he had in his magic and pulled out one of the small warning devices, quickly levitating it over. Ottie pounded on Boomer's side again, making him cry out in pain, which offered just enough space for the torpedo to get wedged inside his opened muzzle. That definitely helped with muffling him, but we need to silence him for good... "Geh clear!"

I reared up on my back legs, prybar still at the ready, seeing Ottie push himself back off of Boomer and pin him further against the floor in the process. Putting as much weight behind it as I could, I brought the dense steel bar down on Boomer's head, the force being just enough to activate the small explosive satchel. We all stumbled back as our ears were left ringing once again, myself falling against my chair, letting the prybar fall from my mouth. Heavy breaths escaped me as I rested there, the sound coming back - hissing steam, Kipper idling, Ottie's gentle whirring, and Crown Sheet letting off a long, relieved sigh.

Looking to the center of the cab, the mangled remains of Boomer's jaw painted a small red splotch on the cab floor, burn marks accompanying it. Hurk, well, it was effective, at least... A magic aura, this one being a different shade than Crown's, brought over the familiar sack that had covered Ottie's crate originally. With little grace, Stopwatch pulled Boomer's corpse into it, removing it from view. He also pulled over a couple sponges and a bucket of water... and started to clean up some of the gore. How nice of 'im.

The bespectacled unicorn passed on a warm smile as he trotted out of the corridor's darkness, one that I returned, and Crown Sheet shared in as I glanced to him. Eyes falling to Ottie, his were looking at the sack for just a moment, before they turned towards me. He rose to his hooves with a soft hiss, moving forwards towards myself, as I moved to meet him in a hug. He saved my life, and I'm saving his.

We've done it.

---

Kipper's brakes squeaked softly as we slowed, the detonator letting off a steady beeping in the stowage compartment. Looking out my side window, the curve of the tracks let us have a pretty good sight of the mountainside we'd passed by, the train coming to an easy stop. Crown Sheet pulled the detonator free of the compartment, getting to his hooves and holding it out for me. I dropped from my own chair, passing on a nod, moving over to the cab doorway and stepping down out of it.

The chill mountain air bit at my flanks as I trotted a bit closer to the edge, Crown Sheet coming up alongside me on my right, soon followed by Stopwatch and Ottie on my left. My fireman passed the small beeping detonator to me, my breath condensing into a gentle cloud in the cold air. Well, this is it... "We're as good as free, now, guys. No more cages, no more slaves, no more worries... maybe still a few fears of hungry robots." Crown Sheet passed on a small grunt and smirk, giving me a gentle smack on the back of the head with his hoof. Yeah, I was asking for that.

We all let loose a small chuckle, Stopwatch trotting forwards. "I might have only known you two for a few days, but all the same, it's wonderful to have encountered a couple of ponies who truly care about others so much. Whatever happens after this, wherever we end up, I hope it ends with us all still being together, in some capacity. It's... it's wonderful to have some ponies to call friends."

"Family." Crown Sheet spoke up beside me, catching our attention. A soft grin was on his muzzle, as he rested back on his hooves. "I mean, hey, it's definitely a dysfunctional one, but, yanno, what one isn't in these wastelands? Wherever we go, we're in it as a family." Ottie happily clapped his hooves together as I had to rub at my eyes with one of my own, vision blurring a bit. Oh, ya big softie, you never told me you were so good at tugging the heatstrings... "Besides, those who slay together, stay together, am I right?"

"Oh, shut up, ya dumb unicorn." I couldn't keep myself from breaking down into laughter, giving Crown a shove in the side with a hoof, watching him stumble a little. Couldn't just let that heartwarming moment stand without being a smartass, could you? Ottie whirred a little beside me as I regained myself, drawing my attention. Looking to him, a smile was on his copper muzzle, those orange-glowing eyes meeting mine, full of hope and happiness.

"I like having a family. Especially this one." A wide grin held on my muzzle as the automaton pony rested a hoof on my back, leaning up against me in a gentle hug. Who knew a robot could be so sweet... letting off a last breath, I brought the detonator up, holding it in my mouth and looking to the mountainside. With a light click, the beeping finally stopped, a moment later the mountainside erupting in a big bright fireball. Sweet Celestia, you'd think a buzzbomber landed there...

The snow started to flow down the hillside towards the tracks, slowly at first but soon gathering plenty of momentum by the time it reached them. By the time the explosion reached our ears with a booming thump, the valley below was engulfed in a big white wave, trees being bent and snapped out of the way as it charged onwards. The old train and body left behind were undoubtedly carried on the tide, buried under the tons of snow, marking the place where we all... well, where we all died. I pulled the detonator free from my mouth, still wearing a smile, and move a hoof to reach around Ottie's back, pulling him closer into the hug. The snow eventually slowed and settled, a big white flood on the valley's side far below the tracks.

We were free.