“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.”

Turns out, that Cottage didn’t mind Gauge’s idea. Even though he wasn’t a fan about everything else we’d discussed, I could tell that the idea of having any sort of advantage took a lot off his mind. He ordered that Gauge and I head out to the TransEquestria tower down at the waterfront to get it set up. Along with that, I was supposed to confirm the collapse of the Elder’s tower whenever it happened to come down.

With that all sorted out, both Predious and I headed down one level to get ourselves treated for our wounds. For me, it was more bruises and a few cracked ribs from the fighting than life threatening injuries. Predious however, was kept a bit longer for one of the ghoul doctors to look him over. He didn’t seem thrilled with staying behind, but I left without telling him, so he should only be slightly annoyed when I get back. Heading downstairs, I wanted to talk to Harmony before we left. If we used her car, we could cut the trip time in half. While, the tower was only four blocks away, any time saved was usefull.

“Oh, hey Storm!” Gauge cheerfully called out as I walked out into the ambulance garage. “I just came back from seeing mom. She couldn’t say if they’d brought any of the smoke shells, which was a bummer. Anyway, somepony else had informed that we’re supposed to go set up that Jamming signal I suggested. Funny that Cottage finally got off his flank for one of my ideas.” She smiled at me and trotted off toward the outside. “I’m just going to grab some spare supplies for the job real fast, find out where grumpy is, and to the tower it is! So don’t you move!” She smiled and didn’t even let me get a single word out before she nearly galloped off around the side of the building.

“Ah ain’t one ta say this normally…” Harmony spoke as she popped up from the other side of her armored car. “Sumthin’s wrong with a young mare who takes ta talkin’ that much.”

“I don’t know,” I said, glancing back toward where she ran off toward. “Something felt… off with her earlier.” In fact, I knew that she was avoiding letting us talk. I know that she felt close to Tasteless, but I’d never seen anypony take a loss this hard. “She just hasn’t had time to cope with everything yet. This has been a lot for all of us to deal with.”

“An don’t ah know it.” Harmony grumbled, tossing the wrench in her hoof aside. “Ah ain’t sure what ta tell Short Staff about all this.” She gestured to the monstrously armored vehicle in front of her. “She ain’t goin ta last tha night as is, but she’s gonna need more armor if we’re plannin on throwin’ her at tha arena.”

“Throwing her?” I asked, not sure why she’d chosen those words.

“Well, yeah!” She shrugged. “Y’all are going ta need some way ta break through tha gate.” With a firm tap, she smirked and ran her hoof along the rusty and bent fender. “Hook a chain up ta the rear axle, an she’ll damn near pull anything yah need down.” Looking up to me, she deadpanned. “That’s if she can make it past all the bunkers an rangers out there.”

“Well, Gauge actually had an idea for how to even the odds for the fight.” I offered, taking a seat on the cold concrete floor. Honestly, it felt good to just sit for a minute. “See, she said she could…” The stairway door behind me burst open with a bang, cutting me off.

“Gauge!?” Diesel called out, looking around franticly as both Harmony and I stared at him. As he walked out and looked around, he shucked off the damaged suit of power armor he’d had propped up on his back. His frantic and scared eyes latched on to me and he rushed over. “Have you seen her?” I pushed myself back a few steps as he ran up to me. “Tell me she’s still here!”

“I uhh....” I stammered. Putting my hoof up, I pushed back against him a bit. “She said she’d be right back, that she was going to get some supplies for the job real fast.” As I spoke those words, Diesel’s coat went from green, to white.

“And that she was going to get grumpy?” Diesel spoke out with a quivering whimper.

“Yeah, why?” Okay, he was really freaking me out now. “She and I are supposed to head out to the tower to get the radio beacon up.”

With a heavy grasp, he put his hooves on my shoulders and nearly screamed at me. “Get your things, we’re going after her!” Letting go of me, he scrambled to turn around and head back to the armor. Skidding to it, he hoofed it back onto himself with ease. “She told me the same thing when I left you alone with her.” He sniffled and pushed back tears. “She’s gone off on her own again. I shouldn’t have left her alone in that room, seeing mom was too much.”

“What?” I asked as he trotted past me. Without so much as asking Harmony, he tossed the banged up armor in the backseat of the car and opened the door. “I don’t understand why she’d do this!” Had the fighting on their end broken her? Maybe everything had just gotten to be too much, and none of us had even cared enough to sit down and support her. “Maybe… maybe she said something to Frosty when she’d gone to talk to her?”

Diesel froze at that, sighing as he sat halfway into the car.

“Mom is dead.” His voice was cold, and it hit me harder than any artillery barrage could have. “A sniper hit her after the tower came down. Sent the round right through her helmet and into Gauge’s side.” As he slumped down into the seat, my rear legs gave out and I sat down again, hard. “Sis passed out from the pain, she almost didn’t make it either. But she didn’t know until after we got her back and patched up. When I turned my back on her after telling her, she disappeared again!” He whimpered and curled up. “Please, she’s all I have left…”

“Then what are Y’all standin’ round for!?” Harmony yelled, kicking her toolkit aside as she galloped around the car. “We gotta go find her before she gits herself killed out there!”

Galloping over to the car, I jumped and slid myself across the armored slab on the hood. With a quick spin, I turned and threw the passenger side door open. As Harmony smashed the engine start button, I pulled myself in and shut the door behind me. Even before I could get myself oriented, Harmony changed gears and sent the tires squealing as we peeled out of the garage. The whole car bounced as she slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop only long enough before she threw the car into drive and slammed her hoof on the pedal.

“Dun worry, sugar.” Harmony spoke through grit teeth. “Ain’t nopony goin’ ta hurt her on our watch.” She turned and glared at me. “Ain’t that right, Storm?”

“R-right.” I stammered.

“Where are we goin?” Harmony said as she turned her gaze back to the road ahead. The bright headlights of the marauder peeled back the night. With a sharp tug, she yanked the wheel and turned us out of the way of an old skybus wreck in the road.

“The… TransEquestria tower?” I answered, not sure what else to say. I really wish I knew where this place was. Gauge was supposed to be the one to lead us there, and it’s not like I could just ask Pai, seeing as she was still with the mare.

“The tallest building on the skyline.” Diesel chimed in from the back. As he did, a set of whirrs and clicks met my ears. I climbed up over the seat to find part of the power armored suit opening up. He looked to me with watering and worried eyes.

Harmony hooked her hoof around the wheel again and pulled, turning us around the end of the block. “Now, she ain’t got that much of a head start on us. So I reckon we’ve gotten ahead of…” She stopped, squinting as she looked ahead. “Well ah’ll be plum stuffed.”

“Huh?” I turned around to see what she was talking about. Up ahead, three red glowing orbs hovered through an old parking lot before turning onto the street we were on. As we followed closer to them, they resolved into the shape of Grumpy. On top of his round armored form, sat a very surprised looking Gauge. They were traveling at a quick clip down the sidewalk, headed in the same direction.

She yelled something angrily at us, but it was lost in the constant thrumming of the Marauder’s engine. Grumpy’s eyes dimmed for a moment, and from where we sat, the exhaust of his levitation talisman grew red hot for a moment. With the same whine as a Virtibuck, the two of them picked up speed and pulled ahead of us. Harmony stepped on the accelerator, and the Marauder’s engine roared out. Slowly, we picked up speed as Harmony growled out next to me.

“She ain’t goin’ ta keep up this speed fer long!” She yelled out over the roaring engine. Even for only having gone for a few moments, parts of the hood began to glow a dim red and sizzle the melted snow on it away into steam. The car must have hated having this much weight on it, and I was genuinely worried that we’d lose Gauge if we fell behind now. However, I remember that she’d talked about Grumpy’s boost ability before, and how it too could only work in short bursts.

“We have to keep up!” I shouted back at Harmony. “Just a little bit longer!” Grumpy’s talisman grew brighter, but their speed slowed. Harmony kept pushing us to speed up, and we finally started to close the gap. With my eyes glued to Grumpy’s lights, Harmony was the only one with her eyes on the road.

“Shit!” She snapped and slammed on the breaks. She swerved us to the side, and the tires squealed before we slammed against the side of an old taxiwagon. The impact threw me hard against the door, and I saw stars as my head smacked into the metal reinforcements.

“Gauge!” Diesel yelled as he used the power armor to kick his door straight off of it’s hinges. With a whine, he tore out into the street after her. “Wait!”

“Yah alright, hun?” Harmony groaned, now laying where I had been seated.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Just tired of losing ponies.” With a groan of my own, I pushed myself back up. Looking over at my door, I hoofed at it to get it open. Unfortunately, with the way it was bent, I wasn’t sure it’d ever open again. “Come on, we have to go.”

“Go on ahead.” Harmony said as she too pushed herself up. “Ah got mah work cut out fer gittin this gal unstuck. Ah’ll meet you all at tha base of tha tower. Should be just up ahead.”

“but...” I tried to say.

“Go, already!” She snapped at me. “Y’all ain’t gut ta give up on her, alright?” She glared at me in a way I’d never seen her piercing yellow eyes stare. “Yah damn right we’ve lost enough, so Y’all are goin’ ta do whatever it takes ta get some sense inta that mare’s head. Yah understand meh, Storm?”

“Y-yes.” I nodded and pushed my hooves to move. “Stay safe.” I uttered to her as I pushed myself past her. Throwing her door open, it too gave a soft crunch and fell off it’s hinges as well. Hopping down into the snowy street, I hit it running. I took off into a gallop, looking ahead for any sign of where they might have gone.

“Storm!” The amplified voice of Shadow called down from up above me. “What’s wrong? Why did you all just take off?” I locked my legs and skid myself to a stop in the snow. He swooped down low, flaring his wings and looking at me through the odd bug eyed lenses of his helmet.

Looking around, I let my vision run to the building that we were standing right next to. The imposing tower ran far up into the night, looming over us with the ever watching storm above it. With a flick, I shot out my hoof and pointed to the top.

“I need you to fly me to the top of that tower.” Turning and looking to him. “Like, right this fucking moment.”

“Okay, hold on!” He nodded and lunged at me. With what felt like being tackled by a brahman, he smacked into me and wrapped his hooves under mine. In an instant, I was airborne, being carried straight up into the night at an alarming speed. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Frosty died and Gauge isn’t handling it well.” I cried out, pulling myself closer to him. “She ran from us, and…” I didn’t want to think about it, but I’d seen other ponies give up for less losses than Gauge has gone through. “I don’t want to lose her, Shadow.”

“We… we’ll stop her.” He offered, flapping harder as he spoke. “I don’t know how, but we won’t abandon her. We’re her friends, we’ll find a way.” Looking up at him, I could feel the flames of hope in him grow. Each bright flicker of it sent a surge of strength through my limbs, and I knew that he believed what he said.

The cold air whipped at me, and for the first time in a few hours, I shivered in the cold. As we raced upward past the broken windows and rusting girders that still clung to the old building, I looked at the clock that had been sitting nearly unused in my vision over the last month. The numbers spelled out 11:23pm, and all I could think was that if we didn’t stop Filius by midnight, then we wouldn’t last until morning.

With a grunt, Shadow slowed his climb. The lipped edge of the roof dropped towards us ever slower, and even so, my heart only beat faster. The tall radio mast that shot into the night sat at an odd angle. With an ease only afforded by flight, Shadow looped us up over the roof, circling it for a moment. The old rusted equipment on it still hummed as it ran. A dull and flickering light sat above a small doorway that lead onto the roof. As we hovered in the air, it burst open with a light yelp from Gauge.

Quickly, she looked around the roof. With a panicked jump, she lunged at a pipe that was still connected to one of the old ventilation systems. She gave a few good tugs at it before slamming it with her cyberhoof. The old pip sheared off, and the coolant hissed away into the night. With pipe in hoof, she ran back to the door and shut it, propping the pipe against it to keep it from being opened. Once she found it secure enough, she stumbled backwards. With a wail, she collapsed against the side of the ventilation unit and sobbed.

“Take me down there, Shadow.” I asked in a hushed tone. “Then I want you to go get Harmony, alright?”

“Are you sure?” He looked down at me. “I’m here to help, you know.”

“She doesn’t need everypony to hold her down and tell her it’s alright all at once.” I sighed. “Once you get harmony, bring her here. I just want a moment to talk to her myself.” I looked over to him. I could tell that he didn’t like the idea of leaving me up here with her, but he nodded anyways. “Thank you.”

Slowly, he dipped us down through the air, and down towards the roof. He flew me in low, setting me down gently before letting go. With a few quick flaps, he was back into the air again, and zipping away into the night.

“Just… leave me alone.” Gauge whined between sobs.

“I’m not going to leave you, Gauge.” I sighed, getting up to my hooves. As I did, Gauge pulled her muzzle out of her hooves and looked at me. Where in Shadow I could see hope, Gauge’s eyes were full of nothing but sorrow and anger. She held a void inside of her where the flames of hope had once been, and I could feel it. The small gem in the pocket of my coat even felt colder to me as I stared at her.

“Go away, Storm!” She snapped at me. “I… I don’t want to see you anymore! Ever again in fact!” She screamed and slammed her hoof on the roof. “You can stop pretending to care about me like I’m just some little filly!”

My pipvision flickered to blue, and I was about to comment on it. However, a scrolling line of text popped up in my vision, along with Pai’s frowning face.

Don’t say anything. Pai shook her head as tears came from her big digital eyes. She’s not well in the head, Storm. She wants to die.

“That’s enough, Gauge.” I sighed. “You’re not thinking straight right now.”

“How the fuck would you know!?” She screamed at me. Her horn flashed, and in an instant, she’d snapped my revolver from my holster. “It’s you all who aren’t thinking straight! You’re the ones who have just shrugged off everypony's death around you!” My revolver wavered in her grip as she pointed it at me. “I’m not like you, Storm! I can’t be numb to it like you. Not anymore!”

“You’re right.” I could deny it all I wanted, or twist her words around until she relented, but she was right. I didn’t feel anything anymore. It was either because of the element, or the fact that I could feel the hopes of others, I couldn’t be bothered to hurt like it had when we lost Chasm, or Pallet, or Sky, or Tasteless. “Do you know why?”

“The fuck do you want me to say?” She giggled between sobs. “You’re the most fucked up pony I’ve ever fucking seen, Storm.”

“I’m not a pony.” With a stomp of my hoof, a small flicker of flame escaped from under it. “I’m not normal, Gauge. I never had a ‘real’ family, because I’m not real.” Looking at her, I knew that the flames inside me were growing brighter. “Everypony who knew who I was, died over a century ago. The ponies who found me? Who claimed to be my parents?” I seethed at the thought of blaming the two ponies I’d loved more than anything in my life, but it was true. “They lied to me. Told me I was their family. They raised me, helped me to become the unfeeling, uncaring mare that I am today. But you’d know what that feels like, right? You never had a ‘real’ family who was there for you, or a ‘real’ sibling to watch over you, right?”

“Don’t you fucking dare turn this around on me.” Gauge grunted and angrily slammed her cyber hoof against the ventilation system. “I loved them more than anything!” She screamed out as the rusty metal dented in, but didn’t give out as she sat there. “And now because of me, they’re gone! I watched in silence as she pulled the gun back over to her, and levitated it under her muzzle. “I can’t stand it anymore, Storm! I got mom and dad killed by finding them for you in Sunshine city. If I hadn’t have met up with them, they’d still be alive.” Using her magic, she pulled the hammer of the gun back until it gave a crisp click. “If I’m still around, I’ll just end up getting Diesel killed too.”

“Fine, but you’ll have to shoot me first.” I snapped at her. That pulled her watering eyes over to me faster than anything I’ve said yet. “I was the one that brought Tasteless into our group.” I stepped forward towards her. “I was the one who set you down this path. I was the one to bring Fruit along with us to that fucking island.” Another step forward, and Gauge started to quake as she tried to hold back her tears. “I don’t want to die, Gauge. I need to live so I can see Filius destroyed for everything he’s done. But if you want to place blame on somepony for what’s happened? Then you might as well shoot me!”

The cold trickle of my own tears rolling down my muzzle caught me off guard. I sat down in front of gauge, watching as they rolled off my cheeks and onto my coat.

Gauge’s voice was meek. She spoke at barely more than a whisper. “You didn’t ask to be who you are, Storm.” Pulling the gun down from her chin, she whimpered softly. “I had a choice to go with you. I chose to go because even now I still think you can beat Filius. But somewhere down the line, I chose wrong. As much as you say it wasn’t, it was my fault. All because I loved them too much to leave them behind.” Her magic flickered and faded, and the gun clattered to the ground. She looked up to me again, and even though there was hope in her words, it was hollow. “And look where that got them. That’s why I have to make sure I can’t hurt anypony like that ever again.”

In a silver blur, her cyber hoof landed square under my jaw in a solid uppercut. I was sent pedaling backwards as she pushed herself up to her hooves. Before my brain could even sort out what had just happened, she had already made it to the edge of the building. A heavy thumping came from the stairway behind the door Gauge had shut, and through it, I could hear Diesel shouting for her.

“I’m sorry, Storm.” She called back, looking at me as my head finally stopped spinning. “Take care of Diesel for me. He’ll forgive me one day...” As she spoke, Diesel smashed through the door, the power armor easily shredding it into rusted metal scraps. “Goodbye.” Was all she said before she tipped herself over the edge, and disappeared into the night.

“Gauge, wait!” Diesel cried.

“SHADOW!” I screamed out as the two of us raced toward the edge.

There was a short scream, and the sound of smashing glass before there was only the sound of the wind pushing up the side of the building. Both Diesel and I pressed ourselves against the lip of the building, and looked over. Even before I could see them, the sound of sobbing made me let out a breath that I’d been holding.

“I’m sorry!” Gauge whined, curled up in Shadow’s hooves as he rose up through the air. “I… I don’t want to die…” Staring into the face of death, and going willingly was something that would make anypony rethink their stance on life. I’ve had my fair share of moments when I’ve wanted to give up, and each time, I’d been lucky that somepony else had been there for me.

However, sometimes a pony just needed to see for themselves how even though things hurt, it’s still not worth ending it all.

The power armor Diesel wore let out a quick, successive set of hisses, whirrs and clicks as it opened. With a bit of work, he managed to tear off most of it by the time that Shadow had brought the whimpering form of Gauge back down onto the roof. With an angry grunt, he stormed over to Gauge and pushed Shadow aside.

“You selfish little shit!” He screamed and swung his fore hoof across her muzzle. “How could you leave again like that!?” With his own tears heavily matting down the coat on his muzzle, he raised his hoof again, and brought it down on her. “We’re all we have left anymore! Doesn’t that matter to you at all!?” Gauge could do nothing but cry out and whine as Diesel literally smacked some sense into her. Like Gauge, he needed to get it out of his system, so both Shadow and I didn’t stop him.

“I’M SORRY!” Gauge cried out, balling like a filly as she curled herself tighter. When she did, Diesel changed tactics and reached down. Without any hesitation whatsoever, he grabbed around her sides and pulled her up to her hooves. Then, he pulled her close, and squeezed her against him. The two of them broke down together, sobbing into each others necks as they held on to each other.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Sis.” Diesel whined, rocking back and forth as he held her. “And don’t you think that I’d ever forgive you if I lost you forever.”

I wanted to say that this was a win for me, that I had come through for her. But, I had failed her. Without Shadow, Gauge would be dead, and I wouldn’t have been able to save her. If that had happened, I don’t think I could have filed it under Aunt Rarities advice. Ponies died in war, yes. Frosty was the example set out for that, but I almost couldn’t save Gauge.

Warmth surrounded my shivering body as Shadow reached over and draped his wing over me. Even if it was colder against his armor, I still leaned into him. Like the remnants of a bad dream, my thoughts drifted away in his hold, leaving me back on the rooftop where my mind should be.

An annoyed grunt came from my left.

“Oh…” Shadow muttered. “Right.”

“Ah git why yah threw meh. Ah really do.” Harmony’s voice came across as just a bit more than peeved. “But if Y’all are plannin’ ta toss meh through a window forty stories up again, a lil’ warnin’ would be nice.” She winced and rubbed at her flank softly. “An maybe aimin’ fer somethin a little softer than a terminal.” She sighed as she looked up over the canted radio mast before her. “Now, Y’all said somethin’ about fixin’ this thing?” With a smile, she reached back into her saddlebag and pulled out a large, heavy looking wrench. “Just like Miss Gauge there, all it needs is a little TLC...”

Harmony’s definition of tender loving care, included hammering something until it worked, testing live connections by licking her hoof and touching it before screaming obscenities at it when it shocked her, and applying plenty of duct tape and apologies when something sparked and died.

In the ten minutes that Harmony had been working, Gauge and her brother seemed to have settled down a bit. While they had both stopped crying, they still held each other. I however, had been enjoying this pause in the night to sit with Shadow and just be held. I prefered the warmth he gave without his armor, and he seemed to enjoy me the same way without my coat. Together, we sat at the edge of the building, and looked out into the night.

This place was amazing. The two of us stared out from the rooftop, overviewing the whole ruined city from here. As fighting and gunfire still flashed from various points in the city, I found myself wondering just what this place had looked like before the end of it all. Had there been enough lights in the city to rival the daytime sun? Was the harbor full of calm blue waters, and full of ponies enjoying a stroll along its docks? The sight was amazing, yes, but it was depressing. Seeing what we as a race had once achieved, only to smash it back down into the ground in a single day.

“Ah think ah got it!” Harmony called out, as she clung to the side of the tower. Tossing down one of her large screwdrivers, she looked over to me with an eager smile. “Go ahead, Storm. See if Y’all can tune in.”

With a shift of my forehooves, I reached up and flicked the radio switch on my pipbuck.

“...pony hear us!?” The voice that came through was Longbow’s, and she didn’t sound happy. “We’re pinned down at objective bravo, we need fire support at the grid points of Echo one, Delta three, Charlie nine.” Harmony’s color drained from her coat as she listened to her.

“This is Cottage, we read you, Longbow.” The uppity star paladin’s voice came across the air as sounding quite relieved. “Good to know you are still with us. What’s the status of the objective?”

“Maple and I are at our designated positions, but we're under heavy fire!” She responded. “We’ve lost our escort, and we’re both down to our last magazines.”

“Alright, you two sit tight.” Cottage came back across. “I'm going to be repositioning delta unit to rendezvous on your position! Just hold out until they get there.”

“Negative.” Longbow practically screamed into the mic. “We are…”

The transmission cut out as a set of heavy booms trailed through the dark city. From where we were, we could see the flashes as several large explosions tore through the block where they’d been fighting. Harmony whimpered as she hastily climbed down the tower. As soon as she hit the roof, she ran right for the door. She would have made it too, however Diesel held out a hoof and tripped her.

“What are you doing?” She screamed out at him.

“You’d never make it into that district! It’s too heavily fortified, even for your vehicle.” Diesel snapped. “That’s why we sent only armored rangers in there.”

With a crackle, the radio came back to life with noise. “Cottage?” Longbow’s voice was sharper than before, and her breathing came across as ragged gasps. “They got Maple with a rocket attack.” Harmony gasped at that, sitting down hard. “I repeat, Elder Maple is dead.”

“Paladin Longbow, I’m recalling you back to base.” Cottage replied in what sounded to be the first decent decision he’d had so far.

“Negative.” Longbow groaned. “The shot brought part of the building down on me. I’m pinned in the rubble.” She gave a pained whine, and a hacking cough for a few moments that made me want to just reach over and turn off my radio. “My suit stopped everything but the rebar, but I can feel it through my legs. Geeze this hurts like hell.” She let out a pained grunt before panting lightly. “I’m not getting out of here. My suit is bleeding coolant, and power, estimated one minute to complete spark generator failure.”

“No!” Harmony cried out. Twice in the same night, I was helpless as I watched one of my best friends lose their mother.

“What about your objective? Did you set the talismans?” Cottage came across cold as he spoke. “Paladin Longbow, did you set the talismans.”

“I can confirm both talisman are set on their targets. Targeted barrage is ready on your command.” She whined out, sounding less focused with every word. “You're in command now, Elder Cottage. Do what you need to finish this fight.” Her breathing slowed to a rasping whine, and she cried softly over the radio. “Tell my kids… I love them.”

“No, mom… please!” Harmony cried and screamed as she slammed her hooves against the rooftop. “Yah can’t leave meh…”

“Battery control, primary target whiskey bravo is green lit.” Cottage’s voice came over again. “Fire when ready.”

With a soft click, I pushed the radio off again. With a whimper, both Gauge and Diesel walked over to Harmony and embraced her. They’d paid the price of this war, and even now, I knew that with the sacrifices that Frosty and Longbow made, it won’t be enough. Finally, for the first time in awhile, I felt it again.

As the thunderous reports of the artillery barrage rolled across the horizon, my legs wobbled, and I too collapsed onto the roof. So much pain, so much anguish. I screamed out my hatred for into the cold night, hoping that in some way I could make the goddesses above regret what they’ve allowed to happen.

Longbow didn’t deserve to die. Frosty didn’t deserve to die. I’ve lived my entire life, watching as ponies fought the wasteland and lost. Hundreds, maybe even thousands who left the town or tavern I was in, and were never heard from again. These last two months, I wasn’t fighting the wasteland anymore, no pony was, and they didn’t deserve to die.

“Shhh.” Shadow said, leaning down and pressing against me. “We’ll get through this, Storm.” He pulled me closer to him, rocking softly as I let loose. I cried for Pallet, for Skyline, Fruit, Tasteless, Frosty, and now Longbow. I cried for the friends I still had left, who suffered because of what they had lost.

The flames inside me sparked, and sputtered. It sent a wave of pain through me that pulled me back from my sorrows. Sniffling and whining, I put my hoof to my chest, and felt as it grew colder. Part of me worried the that curse had returned, but deep down I knew what it was. I was losing hope. This was my moment, the moment that would either turn me into a monster like Filius, or let me continue to try to be the pony everypony needed me to be.

So I reached my forehoof out again, and flicked on the radio.

“...porting back with confirmation.” A sorrowful mare’s voice filled the air. “The objective is down.”

“Copy that.” Cottage spoke up again. “It’s time to call in the Nautilus. You have a green light to send the signal to Captain Doppler.”

“Copy that, command.” The mare answered before a short staticky crackle filled the air. “This is Paladin Kutia calling asset Frogger. You are go for your operation.”

With another static filled pause, I wiped away my tears and hugged Shadow tightly.

“This is Frogger.” The sorrowful tone of Doppler’s voice made me wonder if she too had listened to what had happened to Longbow and the Elder. “We are in position in the Harbor.” With that, I sat up and looked over with Shadow toward the Harbor. The glowing clouds of ash and dust that rose from various points of fighting in the city reflected off the calm and discolored harbor waters. “Preparing to offload assault teams.”

Like a monolith, a slender tube pushed itself up into the air, and rested on the surface. The bulbous form of the Nautilus’s prow gave it an odd look in the nighttime lighting. As we stared at it, Shadow wrapped his hoof around me again to pull me tight. When he did, he accidentally rolled the tuning dial away from the Ranger’s radio frequency.

“...please say hello, to the folks that I know. Tell them I won't be long!”

The hopeful mare on the radio sang out into the lonely night around us. Something clicked in my mind when I heard it. Everything had been going so well for us, something had been bound to go wrong. I’d already expected that my night could get worse, and I had let it hit me far too hard. We needed to keep our chins up, to keep on fighting. The flames inside me surged with the song, and I knew that I needed to be just as hopeful as the mare singing.

“They'll be happy to know, that as you saw me go, I was singing this song.”

A flash on top of one of the warehouses next to the docks caught my eyes, and I tried to focus on it. A small plume of smoke rose from what looked like where the roof access to the warehouse was, and if I squinted enough, I could see something still flashing. Wait… now it was just a solid, unmoving light? Like a dart, that light shot out from the rooftop toward the Nautilus.

“We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when,”

With a blinding flash, the prismatic balefire egg blast tore the Submarine’s conning tower apart. Before the sound of the blast could even reach us, another, brighter flash filled the night as the rest of the submarine erupted in fire. The second cacaughinous explosion echoed through the night as Shadow and I watched in muted horror as what glowing scraps remained of the Nautilus began to sink beneath the waves.

“But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day.”