Something nudged at Nexus side leaving a cold wet sensation where it pushed against her coat. She moaned softly and rolled over, pressing herself tightly against the wall. It was to early, her head was thick and her stomach burned. Nope, whatever it was could wait. As long as she refused to acknowledge the world it would leave her alone.

Her theory was immediately shattered by the return of the wet nudge at her side. She slapped a hoof out hoping to deter whatever was bothering her but hit only the damp wooden floor.
The nudging persisted a little longer, before something soft, wet and cloth-like slapped across her face.
With a barely audible squeal she grabbed hold of her suffocating attacker and wrestled it from her muzzle before flinging whatever it was across the room and rolling upright.

It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the surrounding room but when they did she was surprised to find herself in the bar from the night before. Her attacker lay on the far side of the room, alone and unmoving, for it is rare a mop moves without somepony holding it.

“I think you got it” the bartender dead panned from beside her, his face barely concealed the amusement at her reaction to his wake up call.

“Right… yeah” Nexus muttered in response, her head still thick from the previous night's drinking. She levitated the mop back across the room and propped it against the bar. 

“Hope the floor was to your liking? Personally I would have rented a room for the night but that’s just me” The stallion snorted “You’re still paying for a one night stay, not letting you off easy. Oh you owe me a glass as well”

Nexus groaned “But I didn’t even want to stay here last night” she protested weakly.

“Well you did” retorted the bartender “Just as well really, you were in a right state”

Not wanting to discuss the subject of her missing friends with this stranger, Nexus began to search her saddlebags for whatever caps she had left over from the night before.

“Huh” She said after rooting around for a while “I don’t suppose I could open a tab” 
she offered an innocent, pleading smile but was met with a familiar flat expression.

“Ugh, I’m sorry! I really wasn’t planning to spend the night here! ...Or drink as much as I did!” 

“Or smash that glass” the bartender added with a roll of his eyes “Alright, I’ll cut you some slack Sob Story, but don’t think I won’t remember you next time. Your tabs open and you owe me.”

“Thank you!” Nexus clapped her hooves together, happy to have found someone in the wasteland not a total ass. “I promise to pay you back next time I’m in town!”

“Sure” the barpony grumbled, once again picking up his mop and dunking it in the bucket at his side “Now scram before I change my mind”
--------

There was no sense staying in town now that she had no money, not that there were many buildings to spend it in anyway. Instead Nexus made for the thin dirt path that snaked up a short incline before joining a cracked concrete road. Looking left she could make out the distant shape of mountains far away, their white snow peaks merging in with the bleak horizon. To her right, the road stretched off into the wastes, to the unknown.

What should she do now?

The question hung in the air around her. This wasn’t how things were suppose to be. She was suppose to have met up with her friends, they were suppose to be together, free at last! Instead she was alone. Her ears drooped and she lowered her head to look at the floor.

“What am I going to do” she whispered.