Titan nodded towards the guard who stood before us, a worried look on his face.
"Let's go see what Lightstep knows then. Cherry, you want to come with us? You don't have to, but it's up to you. If you're going to be helping us out like you are, then there's no room to tell you that you're not allowed to hear it too."

Did I want to go? Hear the bad news? Yes, yes I did. As much as I wanted to be back with Crimson and Prince Snugglebums, I needed to hear this. Titan was right, if we were going to be helping out the PLAC then we had to be a part of it for more than simple guns for hire.
True, that's all we were and all I ever had been, that right now we were helping out for our own benefit so Titan would help us retrieve the water talisman... but Coltchester still deserved better.
I wanted to make Coltchester better, if it could be helped.

"Sure, Titan. Though we'd better take Storm out over to medical or something first though, shouldn't we?"
Before Titan could respond, the guardpony trotted up to my side. "It would be my pleasure, M'lady. I take it this colt is Storm?"
Sandstorm looked up at the buck standing by him before looking back at me, utterly confused and a little emotional.
His eyes welling up, he began to whine. "I... I... I wanna stay with you. I don't want you to be taken away!"

The look on his face hurt my very soul, the colt had only recently lost his parents and now it seemed as if I was going away too, how thoughtless of me.
Brushing my hoof against my muzzle to wipe away the tears creeping up on me, I quickly brushed his away and cuddled him tight.

"Please, just for ten minutes? Do you want me to take you to my buckfriend first? He's really, really kind... and funny... and caring. He'll let you talk about whatever you want and look after you until I've just heard about what's happened, that's all. Is that okay?"
"Are... Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. I'll be back really soon, and I'm entirely sure that my Crimson will make you smile a little."
He pouted at me and held that saddening look for a moment before slowly nodding his head in agreement.
"Okay, but you gotta take me to him. Nopony else, you."

A small smile slipped onto my face as I cuddled Storm and lifted him onto my back.
"You heard the little buck, Titan. I'll be back in a minute, okay? Don't start the party without me."
"Course not. Want me to come with you to make sure you don't get lost on the way?"
Thinking about it, if I said no I'd probably head off in the completely wrong direction to begin with and make a mule out of myself, so I agreed.

The walk down to medical wasn't a long trip at all, and already a small part of it became familiar to me as I made my way through the corridors, following Titan's lead.
Some of the ponies turned their heads as we walked past and greeted us as we made our way, though none of them directly demanded Titan's attention like I'd seen with Crimson back in Stable 58.

As we made our way through the last hallway, I could hear Crimson laughing away along with some other ponies.
"Wonder what has him so happy, huh?" I remarked.
"We'll find out in a second, won't we?" Titan replied, a smirk across his face.
As we made our way through the doorway, Titan's smirk turned to a look of utter horror as Crimson sat round a table with three alicorns, all playing cards as Crimson sipped down a bottle of 'Admiral Pip's Rum'.

Looking down at him as I stood next to him, I spoke to Crimson in a inquisitive tone. "Uh, Crimson, what's going on here?"
"Me and the mares are having some fun!" The smile on his face and the way he spoke told me he wasn't completely drunk, far from it, though he had quite some amount to drink already.
Titan's face now changed from shock to annoyance. "Helios, Selene, Eos. What the hell is this?"
"Oh, don't be so stiff, Titan." The dark purple one said. "Eos assured us he's okay, didn't you, Eos?"
Now the dark blue one of the three spoke. "Yeah, it was my idea anyway. You should know I've been in his head already, Titan."

Upon hearing this, the smile fell of my face too. "YOU WHAT?"
"Please, don't feel threatened, Cherry Sundae. I have done nothing harmful nor intrusive."
My voice barely contained itself from a shout. "You went through his head!"
"To see who he was and whom the pony within is. I couldn't risk my life by revealing myself before I was sure he would be friendly."
"Through. His. Head."
"And yet, I do not know his past or his deepest thoughts unless he chooses to share them with me. Our method can only tell the strongest of thoughts, the clearest of memories, what kind of person the pony is."

At this point, Crimson lifted himself up off his chair and hobbled over to me before nuzzling into my neck and softly kissing my lips and nuzzling into me yet again. Within an instant, I felt the anger within me melt as I felt his coat pressed against mine.
"It's fine, Cherry. I promise, it's fine. We've been speaking and having fun, playing games of cards while Helios over here decided that a bottle of Pip's Rum would suit the mood.

My voice became stronger as the embrace ended and I came back to myself.
"Well, I'm gonna have to ask that you stop your game for now. Titan obviously wants to talk to the three mares you've had the pleasure of having accompany you and there's someone who I want you to take care of while I go to find out what news there is."
"Oh?" Crimsons face straightened up now. "Who may that be, then?"
"Sandstorm."

Meekly, Sandstorm made his way out from behind me, the poor little colt absolutely frightened by what had just happened.
Leaning my head down I encouraged him out further to little effect.
"Come on, please? I promise it's okay, Storm." Even pleading with him had no effect.
Crimson outstretched a wing as he shook himself off and suddenly Storm bolted out from behind the furniture he'd taken to hiding behind and ran straight for Crimson before sitting under his wing and gazing up at the feathers.

Crimson looked down at him in a moment of confusion before realising what Storm was looking at.
"Sandstorm, huh? You're interested in my wings, hey?"
"They're really real? Can you fly?"
"Well, normally I can, but right now I got a pretty nasty wound to my wing that's stopped me flying for a few days, perhaps a week."
The disappointment in Storms face and voice ran strong as he pouted upon hearing this. "Awh... but... but... they're still real, right? You can fly when you get better?"
"I can do more then just fly, I can do all sorts of spectacular aerial stunts and tricks. Check out the cutie mark, pair of wings, see?"

Once more Sandstorm's face lit up and the two began talking about all things to do with wings and flying. This really was a world where pegasai were highly valued, their wings were just too exotic not to get excited over. Hell, I had to admit that even I myself gave in a little easier then I otherwise would to Crimson's advances thanks to his wings.

Walking up to Titan, I gave him a little nudge as he questioned the alicorns on what they were doing putting themselves at risk like they had been.
"Come on big guy, let's go to the debriefing room and find out what's up, yeah?"
"Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't freak out like I am."
The mares smiled at me as he made his way out and led me to where we'd find Lightstep.

As we made our way along, I started to ask Titan about what was just said.
"So, we're really that big a threat to the top of your order, huh?"
A stern tone of voice met my question, an obvious distaste to the answer he was giving to begin with. "Order? No. My order was the Steel Rangers, I've long since left them. You're a possible threat to the revolution that's taken roots in Coltchester, though with your actions I'm beginning to trust you a little more."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but smile a little. Trust was good.
"You are? Good. Look, you've got the upper hoof here because we're after a water talisman first and foremost, though the plight of the peoples that live here is extreme and if it wasn't for our current mission, I would request full force recon on the city to determine what we can do."
The curiosity in Titan's voice peaked. "So what was it you were doing earlier on the radio?"
"What was the information all about on that computer before we left earlier?"
"The base status? Pretty obvious, isn't it?"
"What about the projects. You don't see stuff labelled 'Project Steelpony' and 'Project Iron Giant' very often now, do you?"

That caught Titan's attention rapidly as he turned to face me and stopped in his tracks, an obvious shock in the way he looked at me.
"They... they are from my past, we'll leave that there for now, shall we? Perhaps when there's more trust, perhaps if..."
"If what?"
"If I'm ever ready."

Well, what a disappointing answer that was, though I couldn't really hold it against him to have some things in his past that he wasn't overly keen to talk about. From the way he reacted, it wasn't anything of shame though, nor regret.
As we continued to trot off to the room, I muttered to myself beneath my breath. "Wonder what it could be..."

"Ah, Titan, you're here!" Lightstep announced as we walked through the door. "Oh, you have a friend?"
"Yeah, her name is Cherry Sundae. She's from Four Ridges, she's here to help."
Lightstep gasped in shock and had a look as if he was taken back by the revelation. "Four Ridges... you're serious? You're from Four Ridges?"
"Yes, I'm from 'The Four'. Now, I heard you have some information to tell Titan? Well, I'm here to hear it too."
"Yes, yes. I suppose it's only ideal that you hear it straight from the horses mouth. Very well. I have some news regarding one of our contacts, Pony Joe."

Before he could speak further, I put my hoof in the air. "We already know, he's been captured, presumably by the DZC. We went to the Coltchester Courier Service building, found the place trashed and Pony Joe missing. Some zebra accused us of being the perpetrators until we made her see sense."
An appreciative look filled Lightsteps eye as he nodded. "Quite so, indeed. Well, I have yet more news. He's waiting to be killed."
Again, I nodded. "That we heard rumours of, too. Same source, the zebra whom approached us."
"Ah." He began. "But do you know why they wait?"
I shook my head. "We've heard something about them waiting for an executioner, but that makes no sense... why wait when any one of them can do it? Is the executioner some kind of special rank?"

Lightstep shook his head and bowed down with a sombre expression upon his face.
"The Executioner is not a rank within the DZC, but rather, a pony. More so, a pony not within the ranks of the DZC, but instead, a pony within this very facility."
With that, Lightstep pointed towards the doorway. I turned my head to see Crimson ever so casually walk into the room and pick up the pack of playing cards in his mouth that Titan had previously confiscated from the alicorns prior to the meeting.
"Him."
Crimson raised his head to look at us all before shrugging and walking back to the medical wing.

Titan's face dropped as Crimson walked out the door. "Where the hell do you think you're going with those?"
Crimson put the cards down for a moment to speak. "Back to the wing to play some more cards."
"I took them away for a reason!" Titan shouted in return, though Crimson just ignored him and walked off with the cards once more.
I couldn't help but giggle at how relaxed Crimson was about it all.

Once more, Lightstep spoke. "He is The Executioner... the one they wait for, the one they wish to execute more then any. To prove a point and reinforce their rule."
My face dropped the smile I wasn't consciously aware of with the end of his sentence, the realisation that the DZC wanted my Crimson dead had hit me.
"So, they want him dead? They'll have to take me first. By my duty as his bodyguard and my strength of will as his lover, I would sooner destroy the DZC than let them kill him in such cold blood."

A pain filled Lightstep's eyes as I finished my sentence. "Yes..." Lightstep began again. "Well, unfortunately, there is more, unpleasant news."
Titan spoke up this time. "What else?"
"Three more of our supporters have been captured, sources say that they may very well be being tortured right this very moment even, no doubt to find out the location of our HQ if that is so."
"Any leads on where we'd find them?"
"Not this time, not yet. We were close to finding a solid lead, but as myself and Crasher were speaking to somepony who knew..." Lightstep take a moments pause as he drew in a breath only to hold it for a second. "We were ambushed."

Titan lowered his head, the tone of voice that had befallen Lightstep had already made the outcome obvious.
"Crasher died, along with the source. We both fought valiantly but they'd killed the source on the opening shot. We did what we could to get out, both of us, but we were surrounded. He sacrificed himself by charging the enemy to give me a chance to make my way through, saying one of us had to get back. Right now the only reason I'm feeling so calm and collected is because it hasn't quite hit me yet, I suspect it won't until later."

Titan put his hoof on the bucks shoulder and nodded.
"You know where to find me, should you want to. I won't ask any missions of you for a week, I know you and Crasher were close friends."
"Thank you, Titan."
"Now, stop holding up the mental barricade and let the emotions loose. It'll do you no good to bottle it up, as much as I appreciate you being able to tell me this without breaking down, as much as I appreciate you leaving it until last. I know how much it hurts, you're a strong pony. Stronger then most."
"Not strong enough, it seems."

With that, Titan held the now weeping Lightstep and I felt an uneasiness in the air.
Not really knowing what to do, I simply bowed to them both and thanked Lightstep for the news, wishing him the best in recovering from his loss.
Though I'd been through the same too many times myself, I found myself speechless and knew this wasn't my place to be.
Lightstep needed the ponies he knew and trusted, not some random who he'd barely seen before.

Instead, I made my way out and headed towards the medical bay where I would find my Crimson.

When I arrived, I found him alright. Once more he played cards with the alicorns, a grin on his face and the bottle of rum by his side once more.
Storm was carefully pouring him another shot as he snuggled up into Crimson's good wing that wrapped around him as they all sat round the table, cards graciously flying to each player before five being laid down onto the table, five face down.

"Oh, hey there babe!" Crimson called out to me. "We're playing poker! Appleoosa hold'um! Wanna join in on next round?"
My eyes rolled and I couldn't help but giggle, as much as a bad environment as it probably was for Storm, he seemed to be happy now he was snuggled up to Crimsons feathers and Crimson wasn't causing any trouble, so I figured why not.

"Sure, you play this round and then I'll join in on the next."

"Cool! Now, girls." Crimson turned his head back to the table. "Two cap buy in?"
Each nodded and levitated two caps each onto a pile, as Crimson used his other wing to deftly pick out two caps and add them as well.
Despite not playing myself for this round, I thought it would be unsporting to look at anyone else's hoof, though saw nothing wrong with watching Crimson with his hoof.

Using their magic, one of the alicorns lifted the first two cards. King of hearts and seven of clubs. Crimson had a king of spades and two of spades. "Pass." "Pass." "Pass." "Pass."
Everypony had passed, not a stupid move for the opener.
Another card lifted up and revealed itself, this time a five of spades. Crimson had nothing special, even still. None of the alicorns really responded and nor did Crimson.
"Pass." "Pass." Pass." "Pass."
The fourth card revealed itself, another king. Now Crimson had the advantage, three of a kind. Crimson frowned a little for a split second, though straightened up his face not even a moment later.

The first two alicorns spoke, their usual response sounding almost automatic at the moment. "Pass." "Pass."
However, come the dark blue alicorn, a different sound was made as she hesitated. "I'll raise, one cap."
"Oh, wanna play like that do ya, Eos? Two caps." Crimson replied immediately.
"Three."
"Five."
"Match."
The two looked at one another before looking to the other two alicorns, both of whom gave in and put their cards to a side.

A stern, toneless voice came from Crimson's mouth, one I'd not recognised. "So, Eos. Five more caps, cough up."
"Of course. You too, Crimson."
Both of them placed their five caps into the pile and continued.
Now the fifth and final card was shown, a two of clubs.
Crimson answered first. "Pass."
"Pass. Show your hoof, Crimson."

Suddenly, a smile came across Crimson's face. "Oh, mares first. I've got to be a gentlecolt, after all."
Eos showed her hoof, a pair of sevens and a pair of fives. "Can you beat two pairs, Crimson?"
Now the smile turned into a smirk as he laid out his hoof. "Full house. Mind if I take the caps?"
The other two alicorns snorted at Eos' flabbergasted expression as Crimson had Storm pull the caps over and took another drink of the rum that sat by his side.

"Oh," Eos began. "you are so evil, Crimson. So very evil."
"Silver tongue of the devil, what can I say?" He gave her a wink and watched her turn rosy, much to all of our amusement.

Pulling up a seat not far from Crimson, I joined in the fun and games. One of the alicorns shuffled a new deck as Crimson went to give me a reasonable amount of caps to play with.
Instead of accepting, I declined. I had my own caps to play with and I'd be damned if I wasn't allowed to do so.
"Hit me with a hoof. One cap buy in?"
The others nodded.

Two cards flew towards me, I studied them briefly to find I'd gotten a five and six of hearts. Not a bad start!
"Pass" "Pass" "Pass". Now came Crimson. He looked at me with a smug face and slowly mouthed the word 'raise' at me before passing himself.
Following the lead, I too passed. Too early to raise, we'd either look foolish or scare the alicorns from betting.

Four of hearts and nine of hearts unveiled themselves, I felt a small twitch in the corner of my mouth though I did my best to contain it. It was a good hoof so far but still, the odds were against me with no solid winner.
The dark green alicorn began. "Bet, two caps."
"Match."
Then it came to the deep purple of the trio, whom broke from the trend. "Fold."

With that, there was one less opponent to try and figure out, for this round.
Crimson's turn. "Match."
The pressure was on now, I had four cards of the same suit but to get the fifth? My best odds were around one in ten...
"Raise. Four caps."
Crimson immediately looked at me with a questioning face to which I just repeated I was sure.
"Fold." Began the green one once more.
"....Match." The dark blue one said, much to my pleasure as she shifted four caps into the pile we'd made.
Crimson didn't even try to hide his reaction now as he spoke. "Match, of course."

Another card overturned, ace of spades. Crap, this wasn't any good for me. Crimson took another shot of rum as he brushed Storms hair with his wingtip, the colt enjoying the whole experience of learning how to gamble, from the looks of things.

"Pass."
"Pass."
My turn."pass."
We'd all passed, thank Celestia. I didn't want to push it.

The fourth card overturned, ten of diamonds. Really really really not good for me.
Eos looked at us both before calling. "Bet, five caps."
My eyes widened with worry, that was a high bet for what I was risking right now.. One card left to upturn, was it worth the risk?
"Match and raise. Another five caps."
I looked at Crimson in horror as he smirked away, damn him.

Taking a gulp, I didn't want to lose out on this... as much as the risk was, something told me to go for it anyway. I really needed a drink, it seemed to be doing Crimson some good at keeping calm.
"Match."
Levitating ten caps onto the pile, there was nothing more to do but wait.
"Match."

Finally, the last card overturned... it was a seven of hearts.
My heart-rate soared into the sky as I saw it, the glorious card that made it all worth it.
Eos started the rotation as she had before. "Pass."
Crimson looked at me before nodding. "Pass."
Really? After all this, he was just going to pass? I could've kissed him right then.
"Pass."

Crimson threw his hoof into the table, showing two absolutely useless cards. He'd only had a two of spades and three of diamonds! He was betting on a bluff!
Eos however, wasn't. She revealed her pair of aces, diamond and clubs, which along with the ace of spades, made three of a kind.
Her smile was soft but confident, she was clearly looking at me to confirm that she'd won the game, but I wasn't going to let her have that moment of glory, not right now at least.
Showing my cards, I'd won and it had been with a nice and strong flush. Crimson let out a tiny chuckle as Eos' face dropped and pouted at the outcome of the round.

With a smile across my face, I pronounced my intention to really wind down and relax with the games. "I think I need to have a drink myself, to celebrate. Do you have any I may have?"
The dark green of the three nodded. "Of course, does cherry wine sound nice to you?"
Crimson snickered as I flushed. "I hope you're not trying to tease me!" A pout across my face showing my displeasure to the idea of that being the case.
She chuckled in return. "Of course not, it's just much nicer than the others we have. Here."

With that, she handed me a bottle of cherry wine and a glass to pour it into.
The night had only just begun as I took my first sip and the alicorns joined us with a bottle for themselves too.

Almost an hour had passed and three quarters of the bottle of wine had been drunk between myself and Crimson, who took the occasional sip from my glass. Even Storm had a little sip after snuggling up to me and giving the most adorable wide eyed look I'd seen in years.
Now he sat by my hooves, head resting against my side, eyes slowly closing as he watched us play our games.

Crimson had proven to be pretty good at bluffing, his luck and ability to speak to people had converted well into being able to play poker, though I shouldn't have been surprised with the scoundrels touch that he had.
The three alicorns had fared well, winning their fair share of hooves too.

Another round came along and I was doing well, Crimson seemed pretty confident in his betting but something told me he was trying to bluff again, something about the way his wings twitched ever so slightly when he was bluffing made me sure of that.
As for the mares, I'd learnt their names now. The green one was Helios, purple was Selene and I'd already sort've known Eos was the blue one.

Discussing random things as the time passed, as the alcohol made our inhibitions loosen, the beginnings of a friendly bond became to show itself between us all.
Eos was the most talkative of the three, though none of them had been cold, just cautious.
Who could blame them in a world so destroyed and fucked up that ponies would fight with one another so freely?

As the last of the betting came into play, Titan walked into the room.
"What the hell... what in Hades is going on here?"
Crimson waved his hoof in Titan's direction. "Oooooooh shush, metal pony. We're having fun and you can't stop us... you can join us though, next round!"
"Crimson, are you drunk?" Titan looked down at the empty bottle of Admiral Pip's Rum and shook his head. "well, at least you're drinking the quality stuff. Wait... speaking of which, isn't that..."

Helios stretched her wing out and lifted Titan in her magic, bringing him to her side before laying her wing on him.
"Calm down, Titan. It's fine, really. We're playing games and getting to know the newcomers, this pair are very friendly. You should join us."`
"Fine, what's the bets for? Caps?"
"Currently? Yes."
"Wanna make it more interesting? Crimson, Cherry, how about we go for information instead. No doubt there's stuff you'd like to know about me or stuff I know... and there are some things I'd like to ask you, given the chance."

Looking at Crimson, I wondered what the outcome of this could be. Before I had a chance to voice my concerns though, Crimson clumsily raised a hoof into the air.
"Rule number one, no access codes to any high security zones, that goes for all of us. Rule number two,.."
He paused. We all went quiet as the moment hung and Crimson sat there with a smirk slowly growing across his face.

Finally, it was Titan who broke the silence. "Uh, Crimson?"
"Yeah?"
"What's the second rule then?"
"There is none, I just wanted to see you all sit still waiting for me to speak, see how long I could keep it going."
Titan's face hit the table as Eos burst out laughing and I couldn't help but playfully slap him and give him a kiss for his antics, he really was too cute sometimes.

"One more thing, got any more rum?"
Selene teleported from her seat over to the cupboard, taking one more bottle of rum and two more bottles of wine.
Teleporting back, she moved the bottles into the middle of the table before passing one to me with her magic.
"The rum goes between you and cranky pants soldier stallion here, this wine for us and that one for Cherry."

Astonishment was the only emotion I could feel as she said that, they were so free and friendly with us, not at all how alicorns had usually been. True, they weren't hostile on sight, though they had the tendency to be rather frigid at the slightest of things.

"Do you want anything in return for all this, Selene? I mean, it's such a generous offer."
"You're helping this revolution, are you not? Besides, we have not had this much fun in quite a long time, we enjoy this fun."
Crimson smiled with glee as he opened up the bottle and poured himself another shot before passing the bottle to Titan.
In the sweetest little voice he could muster, as though he were a child, Crimson said a soft thank you to the alicorns.

Another round began. Titan began the betting as we looked at our cards.
"Subject I'd like to know about is something personal."
One by one the alicorns agreed that they could think of something to ask and were happy being asked anything if they lost.
In his confident tone, Crimson accepted. "Sure, hit at me, old buck."
With a nod, I did too. "Sure, why not."

The round went smoothly, I had a pair of nines and there was a queen high card on my side.
Crimson didn't try to bluff this round and he hadn't been betting high, so I assumed he'd nothing to try win with and nothing of physical value to gain.
The three mares each did their usual poker face routine, they were damned good at it too.
Titan was the only one who didn't have a poker face, instead, he couldn't help but show tell-tale little signs of when he was happy, even if they were subtle.

The last card overturned, I'd still only had a pair and high card, drat.
Crimson had nothing, like I'd predicted. The mares all had nothing too, but Titan had a pair of kings.

"Okay." I began. "Who do you want to ask and what?"
"You."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. What do you see in Crimson? I've seen you two travelling together since Coltshire Town, yet you've both proven to be different in so many ways. He's happy to go and end violence with violence, even if it is for a good cause. You? You've shown yourself to be the type who would like to get through life avoiding it in any other way possible, if possible. What is it that you see in him, that means this difference doesn't tear you two apart?"

Titan had a good point there, me and Crimson were indeed different. I watched Crimson's face casually look towards me as I took a breath and collected my thoughts, now was my chance to try and give back to him all the effort he'd given to me.

"Well, I'm really not good with words and expressing exactly how I feel and why I feel that way, sometimes. However, I can tell you that the reason I stick with Crimson so closely is more then duty. It may be my job that initially had me shadowing him, but the way he's treated me like a true mare... the way he gave me so much attention from the very start, even after getting what he wanted."

Titan looked at me with a raised eyebrow at that. "Getting what he wanted?"
"Well uhm... I hadn't had any... fun... in quite some time and uh... well..."
"And so I gave her just that." Crimson replied for me. "Of course, it was something for myself, too. I mean, how could I not want to try my luck with someone as beautiful as she is?"
My heart melted as he leant in and kissed me, one hoof on my cheek. Just like how he had when we first kissed, only this time, with a lot more tender passion in it rather than the heat of the moment.
My eyes fell shut and only opened again once the kiss broke off, my top lip quivering for yet another as he pulled away.

"That... that is why. Oh Celestia, he makes me feel so...alive and wanted and special."
Looking down at me with a smile, he kissed me again before kissing me between the eyes.
"That's because you are special."
Once more I melted, literally spreading out onto the floor in pure bliss.
Two of the alicorns giggled away, but I couldn't care.
Between the alcohol and the way Crimson was, my heart pounded heavily in joy.

Once more blood rushed to my cheeks.
"When I met Crimson personally, not as the special ops soldier but as any other pony, I'd been feeling a little lonely after having spent so long without somepony to care about. Crimson changed that, from the start he made me laugh and brought me a gift and made me happy. That's why even though we're so different in some ways, it doesn't matter. I honestly believe he loves me, and I love him."

Gazing upon his face, I could see the pink of his blushing cheeks as he looked down towards his hooves, going shy. It wasn't easy to make him shy, though I presumed part of it to be the alcohol in his system, something told me that he very much enjoyed hearing what I thought about him.
After a quick kiss to Crimson's cheek and another moment of nuzzling into one another, we got back to the game.

Selene shuffled the cards and passed them out to us before laying out the five 'stable' cards.
Taking a quick look at my hoof, I liked the odds. A pair of eights would do me plenty fine.
Crimson, looking at his pair, pushed them away from himself, which came as a shock to me.

"You're backing out of this round?" I asked.
"Yeah, don't like the cards I got. Gut feeling, tells me to drink some more rum instead."
I shook my head and laughed as he smirked while Storm passed him up his glass and he downed another shot, not letting it touch his tongue as it flew down his throat.
Really, I couldn't understand the point in drinking if you weren't even going to spend a moment tasting it!

Selene also backed out with Helios following her in doing so, though Titan and Eos were game for it.
Titan looked at us both before nodding for the first two cards to be revealed. "Only myself, Eos and you huh, Cherry? I'm fine with that, got something I could ask either one of you."
"Oh, is that so?" Eos began. "What could you ask of me?"
"You'll hear it when I win, don't worry."
Psh, he was cocky. "You sure about that?" I began to ask before taking another sip of wine. "I mean, you're far from victory yet, mister."

Another card revealed itself, we all nodded in silence and another came to be shown.
Now I was starting to worry, I'd still only had my pair of eights with nothing more to prop me up for a win, at this rate perhaps Titan would win.

With a voice confident in itself, Eos looked up from her hoof to smile at Titan. "I say, Titan, that it will be I that is asking you a question."
"Nuh uh!"
"Uh huh!"
"Nope!"
"Yep!"

Staring at the pair, I was in utter shock. Never in all my time had I seen a alicorn so laid back and... happy? Hell, never in my time had I ever seen a Alicorn drinking alcohol and playing cards, so something had to be going on here that I wasn't aware of.

The fourth card revealed itself, another eight! This one was in the bag for me! Three of a kind was a sure winner!
With only one more card to go, I was feeling damned confident and jumping straight into okaying the last card to be revealed...
...To which Titan smirked and began to chuckle upon its showing.

My ears perked up in curiosity as I couldn't help but raise my brow at him. "What's got you so happy, mister cranky hooves?"
His smirk grew larger as he answered. "I get to ask Eos why she's changed so much so recently."
Eos' raised her brow in disbelief until Titan showed his hoof... four of a kind.
My ears flopped to the side of my head in disappointment. Four of a kind did indeed beat my three, even if all he held were twos.

With a voice as smooth as sandpaper, Titan began his question. "So Eos," His eyes casually glazing over as he smiled with intent. "What has happened to you, to all of you three, but you in particular, to change the way you act? You never were so open with yourselves to anyone but me until very recently. Why is that?"
Before Eos could respond, Helios spoke up. "The reason we have changed is... a significant one. However, we do not yet feel ready to speak of the experience, though I assure you, none of the ponies here have harmed us in any way."

Titan sighed upon hearing the response, knowing pushing the subject would get him nowhere and possibly ruining the fun of the night.
"Okay, I understand. I won't ask again."

In the corner of my eye, I saw Crimson slyly smiling himself silly as he had another shot poured out for him by Storm.
That little colt really needed to stop being so adorable as he poured Crimson out those shots, he was going to give Crimson one hell of a headache at the end of this night.
I just thanked Celestia that the bottle was almost finished.

At this point, we all took a five minute break to use the little ponies' rooms and stretch our legs, though Crimson stretched his a little too far once or twice, resulting in him falling over and laughing at the result.
Storm laughed his little head off too and Crimson seemed unhurt so all was fine, it seemed.

Another round of cards began as we all settled ourselves back down.
Crimson had ever so generously given the last shot of rum to Storm, though the reaction of his face when he tasted the drink was beyond hilarious.
"EUGHHH, HOW THE... WHY DO YOU LIKE THIS SO MUCH?" His little voice cried out.

Crimson just chuckled as he finished what little was in the glass.
"Easy, kid. I just do. The kickback is harsh at first, especially when you're new to it, but once you've had a few you don't notice it at all and it gets you messy, fast."
With a teasing smile, I nodded. "With the way you were all over the floor back then? Yeah, you're messy alright. Won't be getting messy with me tonight though, not in that state."

Crimson swung his head to me, pouting like there was no tomorrow.
"but... but... awh, Cherry! Please?"
"Nope!" Shaking my head, making my point set in stone. "You're too far out of it, your performance would be terrible and you wouldn't even be able to remember it tomorrow, so you can wait."
Crimson just huffed as he crossed his hooves, groaning some inaudible nonsense before I gave him another kiss on the cheek to perk him up. Silly pony.

The round of cards had almost come to a close, I was on a sure win with a straight. Everypony had stayed in this time, though I knew exactly what I was going to ask of who.
As the last card was upturned, my victory was almost sealed. I just had to know what everyone else had, make sure there was no tricksters out there waiting to outdo me.

Without any warning, Crimson blurted out something that none of us expected to hear. "Anyone got a two?"
In a moment of quick thinking, I responded. "Go fish."
"Awh! Such a buzzkill babe! I was gonna win with another two!"
Giggling my head off, I waved my hoof at him. "No you weren't, a pair doesn't beat my straight."
Crimson paused as he looked at me and making a foalish voice. "...Awh, screw you then! I don't love you any more!"
"Yes you do." I countered.
"Yeah, you're right. I really do, I do I do I do do do!"
Now even Titan couldn't help but chuckle as Crimson grinned at me, leaning over the table.

"Anyone got any better hooves then my straight?"
One by one, the others shook the heads. In that case...
"Crimson?"
"Hmm?"
"Why do you love me? We've heard why I love you, but why do you love me? What makes me different than another notch on your post?"
In a flat, sarcastic tone of voice, Crimson immediately responded.
"Oh no... not that question! I'd backed out of the last round just to avoid that! Oh no..."

As I pushed him, Crimson fell back into his chair, recovering instantly before putting one hoof up to his chin and began making a humming sound.
The pout came across my face before I could help it. "Oh, is it really that hard to tell me why?"
"Not hard, no. I just want to find the right words to explain, though that's hard enough sober, seeing as there are no words that could ever truly explain what you mean to me."
My lower lip quivered upon this alone until I steeled myself once more and continued to pout.
"And while being drunk? Makes it a little harder... but..."
Crimson took a deep breath before continuing to speak.

"Cherry, you already know that I feel from the very moment we met, that there was something different about you. Something about the way you looked and talked, the way you challenged and teased me for more. Your beauty is astounding and yet you act as if you were any other pony. Something about how you're so humble and how you're so lovingly gentle."
He took another breath as he looked into my eyes and put a hoof to my cheek again.

"You make me feel different than the others did. Everypony else was always just the bit of fun to be had, somepony to sleep with for relief, or at times, bragging rights. There was nothing like that with you though. The fact we went to bed the first time we met on a personal level doesn't change that. There was always something different about you for me. From the first night together, the first gift I gave you and how you accepted it, to the way you treat me and how you've been there for me through so much."
At this point, he gave me a soft kiss that only lasted a moment but left me wishing it had been an eternity.

"My heart longs for you, I've never felt this way for anypony else, not like this. I love my mother, I love my late father, I love Melony and a few other ponies back in the stable as friends, but I've never loved a pony like I love you. I've never felt like any other pony has been a special somepony to me, let alone being the pony I hope to be my very special somepony. Every moment that passes, I hope you'll be that very special somepony for me. I can't explain the way I feel for you because like I say, there are no words that can compare to you. I could spend all day calling you stunning, beautiful, humble, amazing, exhilarating, wonderful, alluring, enchanting and more... but none of those cut it. The only way I could ever show you what you mean to me and why, is to be faithful to you forever and always and do my best to be all you could ever want."

My heart pounded as I felt my knees tremble, he was really making it hard one me now. Tears began to well up in my eyes as he spoke further.

"Cherry, all I ask in return is that you carry on being yourself and that you trust me when I tell you that you are different, that I do love you. You mean more to me then I could've ever realised before I met you, you're not even close to being just another notch on the post, you make me want to remove the post entirely because you're all I need. All I want."

The tears were now well and truly running down my cheeks with full force, I'd never had any stallion be so caring and sweet towards me, it all felt like too much, like I didn't deserve it... yet I still loved every moment of it and let him lavish me with every word that came out of his mouth.
I may not have deserved all that, but it made me feel too good to reject.

Before I could do a thing, his hooves were around me, pulling me close to his chest and he stroked my mane and rubbed his cheek on my ear.
I'd never thought that he was lying about how he felt, though this only reinforced my curiosity as to why he would love somepony like myself like he did.
No, that was a lie, it also made me feel like I was special, like I was somepony worth something, like he really did feel that way. Did I trust him? How could I not? What would he gain by lying?

Placing his hoof on my chin and raising my head up ever so slightly, I felt his tongue slip into my mouth as I welcomed it with my own, The warm after-taste of rum on his tongue made it all the more exciting as the world around me melted.
There was nothing else to me right now, just his embrace and the kiss we shared. If I could've had this moment kept forever, I would.

Once the moment of utter bliss had come to a end, as unfortunate as it was, we got back into the game, which the others had decided to continue on without us.
Helios won the round, asking Titan something that I couldn't quite catch, though I doubted it was anything that would be of any importance to me.

Now a new round started back up, and we were all back in the game.
"Augh! No! My rum! I'm out of rum!"
We all looked at Crimson as he held the empty bottle of rum sombrely, as if he'd just lost a child.
"My second bottle of rum! Why did it have to be so! Why!?!"
Eos burst into fits of laughter over it all while the rest of us all sat there in a state between amusement and confusion.

"Come on, Selene, deal already!" Titan called out.
With a roll of her eyes, the cards went out to each player. My hand was nothing worthwhile to begin with, though you never knew what it could be turned into when the cards turned over.
Titan was raring to go, the joy obvious in his face, for once. "We all good?"
"I'm in." Crimson coughed up.
"Same."
"We three are in."

Good. I liked a full game.

The cards weren't treating me nicely when the first two were overturned however, nor the third.
Titan's eagerness for the round had diminished as the cards went by, though Selene seemed pretty okay with what she had.
Crimson just sat there crying over his empty bottle of rum, which I had made sure was his last when Helios offered him some more.
No more rum for Crimson tonight, that was for sure.

The fourth and then fifth cards turned over. I had nothing, sadly. No matter how much I hoped that the next card was going to give me even two pairs, the only thing I had was a pair of fours and I knew that was going to do absolutely nothing.
Titan had given up by this point, put his cards down for the round and given in, the coward.
The alicorns were all game still, though I could tell that Helios had nothing and Eos didn't have a particularly strong hand either, by the way she acted.
Selene could've had something, though as for Crimson? I couldn't tell what he had, he was STILL feeling sorry for himself over the bottle of rum rather than paying attention to the cards on the table.
At least it kept Storm amused to see him acting so ridiculously.

Selene looked down at her cards with a smile before laying them out before us. "So, Cherry. Got anything to beat a straight?"
Showing my pair of fours, I shrugged as I spoke. "Nope."
"Crimson?"
"M... my bottle of ruuuum!"
"Cards?"
Suddenly Crimson stopped acting as if he had just suffered a major loss and put on the straightest face I'd ever seen him wear as he spoke with a eerily still moment of clarity. "Oh, yeah. Straight flush, read it and weep."

I was taken aback as the charcoal tinted buck sat there, grinning splitting from side to side, proud over his win and ability to hide such a hoof of cards from us all this time.

"You... you cheeky buck!" I cried out. "You put that whole act on just so you wouldn't laugh or cry out of joy!"
He nodded. "Yep. I knew it was too good to be true, had to distract you all somehow and make it seem like I was more interested in my rum... oh, my poor poor rum."
I knew he had the devils tongue, but damn that was clever even for him!

Laughing away, Crimson pointed towards Eos.
"Eos, mind answering a question for me?"
"Well, you did win, with the strongest hand possible. I don't see why not, what would you ask, Crimson?"
"You're probably going to say no to this... but..." Crimson paused as he took a breath, making the sentence feel more tense. "Would you please, please tell me what has happened to you? I would like to hear, not for myself, but for you. You've been there for me, I want to return the favour."

Eos looked at him in shock before lowering her head. The other two alicorns looked to one another before giving a big sigh almost in perfect unison.
Slowly, Eos raised her foreleg and began to speak.
"Before I can answer you that, I must ask one thing of you first, Crimson. Not that you tell me something, but instead, that you do something for me."

Tilting his head in momentary confusion, Crimson urged her to continue.
"I would ask... if it is fine with Cherry, that you..."
"That I what, Eos?" He asked in return.
"That... you hold me, as I held you. I feel immense pain just thinking about it, and would like to feel the comfort of-"

Before Eos could even finish her sentence, Crimson had already gotten out of his seat and sat down next to the large alicorn, nuzzling his head up under her chin before wrapping one of his wings around her the best he could and using the other to tenderly lead her face towards his chest.
He hadn't asked my permission, but he didn't need it for something like this. After all, this was a part of why I loved him, he was always so very capable of handling situations like this, something I never was any good at, despite how I tried.

With a soothing whisper and gentle hum, Crimson spoke. "It's okay, I'm here for you. You saved my life once and saved my soul once more. Of course I'll be here for you and let you rest into me. Feel free to compose yourself before you tell me."
Eos sat there, almost laying upon Crimson when she decided that laying would indeed be easier, and spread herself out across him as she began to cry.
The tears running down her face spoke volumes of how terrible the experience must've been, for to see an alicorn show any emotion besides anger and slight happiness was unheard of for me until tonight.

"Crimson, thank you." She whispered. "It's... it's something that happened to us alicorns."
Crimson just nodded in understanding, allowing her to speak and be uninterrupted.
Titan sat closer to hear what she was saying better as the other two just lowered their heads in obvious emotional pain.

Starting again after a moment to regain composure, Eos continued.
"We once were connected in something we called Unity. Unity was a place unlike any other, for it was not physical nor mental, but spiritual. The souls of almost every alicorn were stored in unity, our memories and experiences with them. It was a part of the process that made us what we are... what we were. To understand Unity, it was simply a pool of our own essence, with myself and my two sisters being some of the very few exceptions."

Crimson gently stroked her mane with a hoof as she nuzzled against his chest, making me feel the tiniest bit jealous, but only because I knew how soothing listening to his heartbeat was after a horrible experience.

"Amongst us all in Unity, was an overarching presence known as The Goddess. She was once a pony, who become The Goddess by being the first successful pony to transform. Her power over us all was absolute, if she so chose. For most alicorns, she held almost absolute control. Though they could walk and talk freely, if there was ever an issue she would immediately take control over as many as needed and resolve any situation, by any means necessary."

And that explained the actions of the alicorns, I supposed, no wonder they were always all so alike...

"Though myself, Helios and Selene were exceptions to the rule, along with one other whom we knew, Lacunae being one of the very few others."
Titan interrupted at this point, putting his hoof into the air like a school foal.
"Excuse me, but do you mean to say there's a fourth of your kind here?"
"No... no, she resides in the region of Hoofington, do not fret." Eos said before letting out a sigh. "Though I am away from the point now, trying to avoid the pain it brings."

Crimson soothed her once more, though this time it took her a minute before she was ready to speak once more.
"Then, in the last few days, our Goddess was attacked by The Destroyer, the one known as the Stable Dweller to many. She planted a balefire egg below The Goddess and detonated it with herself in the vicinity. When The Goddess had realised, she screamed in fear unlike we have ever known. The..."

Eos broke down once more, unable to continue. Instead, Helios spoke up in her place.
"The pain of hearing our Goddess in such distress was unimaginable. This had been the pony whom we all entrusted our lives to, the pony whom we had to thank for being as powerful as we were, for being alive, perhaps. Many of us would have died without her Unity. The Goddess was somepony who never knew fear, never let us feel the terror even as we were attacked with the worst the wasteland could dare throw at us."

Eos sniffled as Helios stopped, looking as if she was ready to speak again.
"Though we could have never been ready for that loss. We could have never been ready for the sheer terror we all felt, the pain and harrowing feeling of imminent chaos as she realised what was going to happen. She was unable to get away, so she made sure we all were as far gone as possible in order to save as many of us as she could. The indescribable feelings of her last moments shattered us, we felt true loss and pain when she died. Unity is now gone from us, we are unsure of what is going to happen, though us three seem unaffected, perhaps we only had our own souls within us at the time? I do not know, I could not know. What will happen to our powers is beyond us."

Crimson held Eos closer as she sobbed into him, one of her hooves wrapping around his waist holding him close.
The experience of Unity alone perplexed me, though the idea of having a single force that could control all, guide all, be all, care for all... the idea of losing that so abruptly.
Now I understood why she needed Crimson to hold her, such an experience was surely beyond my comprehension, though I could see clear as day that this troubled her greatly.

Twenty minutes had passed since, and Crimson was still soothing Eos as she wept. Helios and Selene answered our questions about Unity and The Goddess, though one thing seemed to trouble Titan more than any.
"Helios, or Selene, either or. May I ask why you are here in the first place? Why you want to revolt against the current system, to rebuild? You had Unity, why try change Coltchester?"

The two of them looked at one another for a moment until Eos began to answer the question for him.

"We had been tasked with going to Coltchester and finding out what the situation was. For the longest of times, none of our kin had ventured out this way, our needs never demanded it to be so. This was before the days of the DZC, you see, before Stable 78 opened, before the scouts came from the lands beyond the sea. At first she saw nothing but the ruins and the poor ponies clinging to them for life, not deeming the city worth trifling with due to the state of the ponies. Few would live the travel to unification, there was no cause for concern with what there was."

In a soft voice, Crimson spoke to her as he kissed her ear. "What happened? To change all that, I mean."
"The Stable opened, the scouts arrived. While it had initially been a slow change, there was a change in Coltchester. Piece by piece, the mines and farms began to work and grow again. We came back to watch it change into what could be a new power in the wasteland, to which The Goddess would have been very interested to see happen, especially if it had meant our own benefit. Instead of our benefit though, the DZC soon came to be, spreading like wildfire, taking power from those who had been able to restart the fires of civilisation by coercion or force, it didn't matter which. At this point, The Goddess assigned us three to try and change this, to keep an eye on the situation and do what we could to stop it, if possible."

Titan spoke now, nodding his head in understanding. "And so, you started the revolution."
"Indeed."
"Why not simply use force?"
"Against a small army? No. We may have magical abilities that surpass any normal unicorn, though we are not without physical weakness like any other."

Quizzically, Titan slowly began to ask something more. "So, what now that The Goddess is no longer around? Do you plan to stick around?"
Eos nodded. "If we were going to leave just because of that, we would have done so sooner. The Goddess never took full control of us out here, she simply maintained contact with us instead. She entrusted the duty onto us and we still feel honour-bound by both her wishes and the peoples of Coltchester, to try make this a better place. The wasteland is a dark place to live, we do not wish for it to continue to be so when we may help."

At this point, we all understood. Eos sighed once more as she closed her eyes and presumably listened to Crimson's heartbeat. The other two alicorns nuzzled him briefly in appreciation before getting up and walking off to their own quarters, though Titan stuck around at the table with us.
Storm had fallen asleep on my lap, my hooves gently holding him against me as he gently nuzzled against me unconsciously.

"Titan?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"Can we talk about some stuff still? Without having to win a game of poker, I mean."
Taking a moment to reflect, he nodded. "Sure, information trade, sign of trust, yeah?"
I nodded and Crimson murmured to the affirmative.
"Okay, so what do you want to ask? I'll let you go first, seeing as Crimson managed to get that out of the alicorns."

Thinking about it, there was something in particular that Titan hadn't answered me earlier in the day.
"I know you said it's your past and you don't want to talk about it." I began in the sweetest voice I could. "But with what Eos just went through and admitted to, I'm hoping you can do the same."
"Projects Steelpony and Iron Giant, right?"
I nodded.

Titan sighed before looking down at the table, then back up to me.
"Project Steelpony is, was, a government program to integrate cybernetic parts into ponies to help with the war effort. My eye? Steelpony. I was one of the very first volunteers to the program, offering my body over to the surgeons to improve after losing a lot of focus in my right eye after a bit of explosive fragment flew into it. The procedure was a success, I could see in total clarity in both eyes once more. As time went on, they offered me an experimental upgrade, to prove that cybernetic parts could be replaced if damaged, not that mine was. Again, a complete success, thus, my night vision and thermal vision. The technology was supposed to be implemented into all power armour, though that proved too costly to refurb old units, and thus only the newer, experimental units received such treatment."

Crimson nodded his head in utter awe of it all, and I had to admit even I was a little astonished at the idea of cybernetic implants being so easy to add and change about once integrated.

"Now, before I tell you of Iron Giant, I ask that you tell me about Four Ridges. Specifically, what population and security do you have?"

Crimson eyed Titan warily for a moment before slowly nodding.
"Population? We have, well, let me figure out roughly... hmmm... carry the two... add another three of those... somewhere akin to one thousand three hundred and fifty ponies with twenty brahmin, roughly. Over five different portions."
"Five?"
"Angel, Tank, Gummy, Opal and of course, the Stable. Five."
"What about the security?"

With this, Crimson tapped his hoof to his nose. "You answer the second half of Cherry's question, I'll let her answer the second half of yours. After all, she's just as qualified to answer that one as I am."
I looked at him in shock, was he really going to trust me to let out such important information? Then it hit me... yes, yes he was. He trusted me, he really did trust me.

"Fine." Titan grunted. "Iron Giant is what came before Steelpony. Before the cybernetic implants were tested on anypony, they were tested on another race. Sentient beings, not the griffins or zebras, though. Not even diamond dogs came first. Something else, something far bigger... supposedly. I don't know for sure, but I heard rumours That's all I know though, I was never a part of that, so that could be a lie for all I know."

Scouring Titan's face with my eye for detail, I could tell he was bluffing, holding back something, but it wasn't worth pushing for. He'd answered with enough honesty and perhaps he was telling the truth, perhaps he'd not trusted his memory for something from so long ago.
With that, I nodded, he'd answered the question and now it was my turn.

"Four Ridges is guarded by the Tank Mercenary Group, an elite band of mercenaries who all come from Tank. We're highly trained and well armed. The Stable also has it's own security force which again, is well trained and armed for any kind of emergency from mutiny to large scale invasion, though the perimeter is surrounded by a large, thick security wall making invasion... practically impossible. It's not within the best interests of Four Ridges to give you exact details of numbers or the area itself, though to say we are wholly capable of holding off over one hundred and fifty raiders in a single large scale assault is something we can pride ourselves to."

"One hundred and fifty raiders in a single assault? What kind of force were you going up against to have an army that large? Who had you pissed off?"
"An organised foe, to be sure. They'd been terrorising the west-south-west villages and so we managed to lure them into a trap, to attack Four Ridges head on."
Titan nodded in one part amusement and two parts understanding. Though death had never been something enjoyable, there was something about precise military planning that just felt... good.

With that though, Titan stood up as he yawned. "Well, I'm off for a quick nap. An old buck like me needs some rest, even if it is only a little, being a ghoul and all. Do you both know your way to the residential rooms yet?"
Myself and Crimson nodded, we'd been shown where they were a little earlier when we had our break and I remembered the way, if Crimson didn't.

"Well, I'll leave you all to it. As for Eos? You might want to wake her up, if you want to want Crimson to get some sleep in a bed, that is."
Crimson shook his head in response. "She needs me right now, even though she sleeps. Even if I have to go to sleep with her like this, I would prefer that she know I'm here for her and appreciate what she's done for me, it's my turn to pay her back."

"Okay." I said, sleepily myself as I slowly lifted Storm with my magic. "I'll take Storm to bed with me then, let him sleep next to me tonight instead. I'll leave all your gear by your medical bed still, no point in making a big noise moving that while everypony is asleep. Have a good night, Crimson."

As I got up, Crimson quietly called over to me. "Wait, one second Cherry."
"Hm?"
"Come over here a sec."
Trotting over to him to see what he wanted, he slipped his tongue into my mouth for the last time of the night. Staying in that position, we enjoyed the kiss as quietly as we could.
A smile broke out on my face as it ended.
"I love you, Cherry."
"I love you too, Crimson." I said back. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."

With that, I made my way off into the hallways and down to the residential area with Storm across my back, to the room I'd been told we could have.
Ah sleep, how I needed thee.

As promised, I'm going to keep advertising the fact that the head picture came from WavemasterRyx, who can be found:http://ask-the-waves.tumblr.com/ !

First of all, I'm ever so sorry that this chapter has taken me so long to write & release. Most of the work (practically all of it) has been done over the last two or three days, but I've just been so damn unorganised and unmotivated to write that it's slowed me down horrifically.
The good news is, I've gotten myself organised fro the next chapter and I already have four or five pages of my notebook written out for it -- which is as much in notes as I do for most chapters, yet I'll be writing more notes tomorrow, I think.

So yes, with any luck, chapter fifteen won't take more then a week if I can keep myself writing.

Secondly... If anyone has any comments about this chapter being boring, too long or too filler, PLEASE let me know. Seriously! All feedback is welcomed, I'm really sorry if I ever pushed anyone away from wanting to give feedback. It means a lot to me when I do get it as it lets me know my story is good enough for a response of some kind. Even if you only say it was good / bad / could've been better, just something to encourage me is always loved.

If there are any grammar or spelling errors or incoherent pieces, again, let me know. I've written the majority of this over two stints and there is BOUND to be something that I've completely overlooked, despite the best of my ability to not just fix any errors in my mind as I go along. (A common problem with self editing, your mind knows what it's supposed to say so you don't even realise the error to begin with.)

Thirdly, thank you for following me. It's all of you that makes this story what it is, that keeps me from simply saying that it's a dream I'll never be able to realise, because it's all you that make me see that this dream CAN come true.
The story has a long way to go and I want to make it special for all of you, with it's highs and lows.
The story and characters themselves are what makes me want to do it, but you're the reason I can bring myself to make it so.

Lastly, as usual, my greatest thanks to Kkat for writing the original FoE and giving me something to focus my life on while I was going through some rough times and for giving birth to the universe.
Also, my greatest thanks also goes to Somber who inspired me to write my own story with his story. Project Horizons kept me alive when FoE by itself wasn't enough during those rough times. It's been a long time since those, but even still,. Horizons means a lot to me.
Good luck with the job you've just got, Somber. I know you don't read this, but you did well.

Thank you everyone, and goodnight.