Author's Notes:

Haven't read Rising Dawn in a while? Have you forgotten parts of the story and want to get caught up without re-reading it?

Then please check out the Rising Dawn Summary I wrote that summarizes the entire story thus far (Chapters 1-15.1). Enjoy!

~ Interloper

A stampede of hooves echoed behind us.

Flanked on every side was an armed Orphanage pony as we hurried down a cold, dark tunnel. My breaths wheezed raggedly from my cracked lips. The lead pony galloping ahead of me, a stallion with a green mane, didn’t even give any of us even a second to catch our breaths.

Something about haunters. More of them. And ghouls? I wasn’t really paying attention.

I just wanted to lay down.

Some of the others were luckier than I. Not too far ahead of me and laying in the back of a jostling wagon was Minnow, her head cradled between Candy Cane’s hooves. At least I didn’t have to haul her around on my back anymore.

Earth ponies were heavier than they looked. I could still feel her weight on my back. Until then, I’d never carried a pony that far in my life. I was about ready to collapse. I swore under my breath as I trailed behind that wagon, pumping my bleeding, mutilated legs through the rubble.

My pace slowed. It was getting harder and harder to breath. I felt a hoof upon my back – two more as the Orphanage ponies around me pushed me onward.

Jagged icicles blurred past the stars that flashed in my eyes. The air warmed against my face. Warmth. We were close.

There were lights in the distance at the far end of the tunnel.

Somehow. Somehow I was still running. It didn’t feel like it, and it didn’t look like it, but I was still running. Two Orphanage ponies edged closer to my sides. We were almost shoulder to shoulder now.

I heard the lead stallion yell something over his shoulder. Stars flashed in my eyes as I forced myself to gallop onward.

I did that a lot that day. That week. And the week before that. I was tired. Tired and fucking bloody. Bloody and tired. Most of it wasn’t even mine.

My pace finally slowed. It slowed to a stumble and my legs gave up on me. But I was still moving – moving at a galloping pace. My legs left the ground, and that stallion looked over his shoulder and shouted something incomprehensible.

His voice shuddered through my ears and my ears went limp.

I closed my eyes.

My vision blurred as my eyes fluttered open.

The cracked concrete ceiling of a dreary, dim room hung over me. I kicked a layer of bedsheets off my body and found my bandaged legs underneath an old hospital gown.

“Fuck…” I murmured, “Am I dead yet?”

I lifted a hoof and rubbed gingerly at my throbbing forehead.

The quiet thrum of unicorn magic hummed up next to me, and a flask levitated to my muzzle.

“Don’t say that,” I heard Candy Cane whisper, and her familiar face entered my blurry vision. I accepted the drink tiredly, not even caring what it was. “You’re dehydrated,” she said. Her eyes flicked to my forelegs. “Dehydrated – among other things.”

I looked down my chest and grimaced. My coat was a dark shade of brown, darker than it should’ve been. At least I wasn’t covered in blood anymore. Someone had apparently wiped me down, earlier.

I uttered a long and drawn out sigh and swung my hind legs over the edge of the bed. I fell forward, testing my balance as I landed on all four hooves. A dull aching pain throbbed beneath my bandages, but I could still walk.

“What about you?” I asked Candy Cane. “And Minnow?”

She cocked her head at me.

“I’m… well. And Minnow is getting operated on. They wouldn’t let me in, but they said they needed to relieve the pressure inside her cranium.”

My heavy eyelids slipped closed.

“Celestia…” I whispered, sitting back down.

“It’s a good thing we got her here when we did,” said Candy Cane, taking a seat next to me. “She almost didn’t make it.”

“We almost didn’t make it.”

She sat there quietly for a few heartbeats. Then I felt her legs wrap around me. Candy Cane squeezed me tight.

“Almost,” she murmured.

I lifted my aching forelegs and hugged her back.

“Almost.”

I pulled away gently, and looked at her exhausted, sleep-deprived face.

There was a dark streak across her muzzle where blood had settled into her maroon coat. She wore a bandage across her forehead, too. It was still tinged with a hint of crimson where she ran her head into the rubble the night we chased that… thing.

“We’re still here,” Candy Cane said softly. She closed her eyes and nodded to herself slowly. “Still here.”

I sighed and reclined somewhat painfully back into my bed.

“Where is ‘here’, exactly?” I glanced around, checking the floor on either side of my bed. “...And where the hell are my bags?”

“They… confiscated our things. And we’re at the Orphanage hospital, underground.”

I sighed, reclining my head into a lumpy pillow. I had grenades in those bags. I could see why they didn’t want me walking around with them.

Despite my lack of personal belongings, it was certainly a lot less cold where we were. I vaguely remembered running down a tunnel. A metro tunnel.

Candy Cane confirmed my thoughts. “This place used to be part of the Poneva transit system.”

I furrowed my brows. “A while back, didn’t you say the tunnels under Poneva were filled with ‘ghouls’ or some shit like that?”

Her expression turned thoughtful..

“They must’ve walled them off, somehow.” She paused for a moment, looking around the room and at the cabinets full of medical supplies. The place looked like it was repurposed, and refurbished long after the war. “Either way,” she continued, “They’ve clearly been here a long time.”

I opened my mouth to say more, but a series of knocks resounded on the other side of our door.

We glanced at the other end of the room, then at each other.

“Come in,” Candy Cane called out.

The door creaked open, and an older yellow earth pony mare with a short, white mane peeked her head inside.

“Ah, there you are,” she began, her voice tinged with a soft, sophisticated accent. Oddly enough, she sounded like a pegasus - like a well-mannered Night Sky. “I’m not a doctor and I hope I’m not interrupting – I wanted to see you two for myself.”

Candy Cane and I exchanged looks once more.

“No,” Candy Cane smiled, faintly, “It’s fine.”

She smiled and stepped inside, and as she stepped into the dim light I saw the weary lines upon her aged, matronly face. She looked sleepless and overworked. She stood there tiredly as if she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and yet, her smile did not diminish.

“I want to thank the both of you,” she said, closing the door behind her. She walked over, stopping next to Candy Cane. “You ponies saved Minnow’s life.” She gave us a slight bow. “I’m grateful that you brought her back here alive, and we are in your debt.”

The mare lifted a hoof.

“My name is Alacrity, and I run this Orphanage.” The old mare gave us another warm, yet tired smile. “They call me ‘Mother Alacrity’ – but ‘Alacrity’ is fine, too.”

“Alacrity,” I said, letting the name roll off my tongue. I sat up, took her hoof, and shook it. “I’m Red Dawn.”

Candy Cane shook her hoof, too. “And I’m Candy Cane.”

I chuckled. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to get here.”

Alacrity laughed softly. “Oh, but I do.” She smiled mysteriously. “It’s nice to meet you both in person,” she turned her weary blue eyes to me, “Especially you, Red Dawn.”

I raised a brow at her. “Me?”

“Of course!” Alacrity smothered a giggle with a hoof. “Minnow wouldn’t stop gabbing about you when they brought her in – something about her Neighponese cartoons.”

My second brow joined the first.

“Her what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she laughed. “She’s well-read. But I’ve heard your name before, Red Dawn.”

My brows were starting to hurt.

“How?”

She cocked her head and pointed to her ear. “We have these everywhere, Red Dawn. We’re always listening.” The humor faded from her face. “And I know that you’ve been looking for us.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t find anything to say.

“Surprised?” she asked. “You cannot imagine my surprise when I found that same Red Dawn carrying one of my Orphans back home.”

“It’s a long story,” I began, “But I’m sure you already know most of it.”

She slowly planted a hoof into the side of my bed and leaned forward.

“Most of it,” she said in a low voice. “I missed the part about trekking through Downtown Poneva to find us with a map that you aren’t supposed to have.”

Candy Cane and I both fell silent. Alacrity eyed us both expectantly.

“Well?”

I bit my lower lip. “I… uh…”

She pinned her ears back and her voice lowered to whisper. “There’s a lot of bad people out there looking for us too, Red Dawn. Most don’t succeed. And by most, I mean none of them have.” She cocked her head at me. “So?”

“I can explain,” Candy Cane blurted out.

Alacrity’s stare lingered upon me for a few moments until she faced her with her stern blue eyes.

“I’m a friend of Summer Smiles,” Candy Cane began, “You should know her.”

The older mare’s ears perked when she heard that name.

“Summer...” Her name brought a fleeting smile to her face. “Of course… yes, I do.”

“She led scout teams outside Poneva to the other settlements,” Candy Cane added.

Alacrity gave Candy Cane a terse chuckle and narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh filly, that’s another thing you aren’t supposed to know.”

Candy Cane was silent for a moment.

“She… told me.”

Alacrity’s expression hardened like stone. She cocked her head, leaning in closer as she looked Candy Cane in the eye.

She said slowly, in an even tone, “Summer must know you well, then?”

Candy Cane held her gaze.

“She saved my life. Twice. She’s the kindest mare I know.” Candy Cane closed her eyes and touched a hoof to her heart. “She’s family to me.”

Alacrity relented, and looked away. “Damn that mare,” she murmured, shaking her head, “She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about her work after she retired.” Alacrity opened her eyes and gazed at the ceiling tiredly, wondering what she was going to do with us. “You know what she said to me when she left?”

We both shook our heads.

“‘Sorry Alacrity. Family comes first.’”

Alacrity eyes went cold as she locked stares with Candy Cane once more. I held my breath as the second ticked by. Nobody needed to say a word. Candy Cane remained resolute.

Alacrity loosened up, and a gentle smile creased her lips.

“You must be family.”

I let out an imperceptible breath as Candy Cane nodded. Alacrity’s ears perked, and she turned to me once more.

Alacrity’s voice softened to a patient, motherly tone. “And what about you, Red Dawn? What does that make you?”

I looked at my hooves as I lay there on that bed, and sighed. I looked over at Candy Cane and she gave me a knowing stare.

“Summer and Cane are the only friends I have left in this wasteland.”

Alacrity lowered her eyes to the PipBuck around my foreleg.

“What happened to your other friends, Red Dawn?”

My heart sank as I uttered a shuddering breath.

“What do you think?”

She lowered her eyes somberly.

“Well. I think you have friends here, now,” she said, softly, “Whatever it is you came here for… we owe you for saving Minnow’s life – and from what she told me, you might have just saved many more.”

“How so?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you much, but we’ve consolidated our forces. Thanks to Minnow - we know we’re being hunted… but by what, I still don’t know.” She cocked her head at us. “I was hoping you could help me.”

“You’re being hunted by monsters,” I heard Candy Cane whisper as she lowered her eyes to the floor. We both turned to see her face frozen with fear. She said again, louder, her voice trembling with horror, “You’re being hunted by monsters.”

We all fell silent. I saw it… the blood and the gore and the empty eye sockets. They clouded my mind, suffocating it with a dark red haze. I shook my head vigorously, chasing them out of my thoughts, clearing my mind… When clarity returned, I found Candy Cane shaking uncontrollably beside me. I wrapped a foreleg around her, and her shaking stopped.

So did mine.

Alacrity nodded quietly, watching us closely with soft eyes.

“Monsters...” she began, slowly, “Only monsters could’ve done what they did. But from what Minnow described... it was our own people that did this.” She clenched her jaw tight and looked us each in the eye. “But no Orphan of mine is a monster. I refuse to believe that my own ponies would do such a thing...”

Alacrity sighed, and hung her head. “My lieutenants seem to think it might have been some kind of magical radiation that drove them mad. They suspect that it might have been the same... thing that’s been turning people into snow furies.” Alacrity paused for a while, thinking quietly to herself. “It’s a stretch, I know, but...” She pursed her lips, frowning at the wall behind us. “But… they were near ground zero, after all.”

I slowly sat forward, my brows furrowing in disbelief.

“Magical radiation?” I chuckled darkly. “You didn’t see what we saw. It wasn’t your Orphans, and it wasn’t radiation. When we left that hideout, we walked in on someone trying to get inside.” I glanced over at Candy Cane as she clenched her jaw. “We chased it –”

“It?” Alacrity asked.

“It. It was a unicorn.” I shook my head, remembering that pony – that thing. It was a mare, a mare with teal magic and teal eyes… but it could’ve been anyone. It could’ve been anything. I wasn’t sure what it was. “We chased it away, and… and there was this flash, and it wasn’t a unicorn anymore.” I covered my face with a hoof, shaking my head. “It flew away before we could stop it.”

Alacrity pursed her lips, thinking to herself silently.

“So you’re saying it turned into a pegasus?” She cracked a dubious smile. “It grew wings?”

I ran a hoof through my disheveled mane, laughing darkly. I almost didn’t believe it myself.

“It sounds impossible. It sounds like a joke, honestly.” The grim humor died from my eyes. “But that’s what we saw.”

She was silent for several moments, tapping her hoof against the floor.

“And you think it was them? They’re the ones who murdered my Orphans?”

I reclined against my pillow, and stared at the ceiling.

“They left something behind. You probably already know. Your Orphans took my bags, after all.”

Alacrity snorted, chuckling to herself. She gave me that knowing look again. I half-expected her to say more, but the door cracked open and a stallion stuck his head through.

“M-ma’am, we’ve got a problem coming our way!”

The stampede of hooves and the rattling screech of a hospital gurney echoed outside.

Alacrity eyed us both, and hurried to the door and out into the hall. I swung my bandaged limbs out of bed, and stumbled after her.

A scream echoed down the hall. I peered outside and a hospital gurney with a bloody, writhing mare screeched to a stop as Alacrity rushed to have a look.

“NO – GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY!”

The medic ponies struggled to hold her down as her safety belts tore off her body and she threatened to collapse onto the floor. Ponies on either side of her scrambled to strap her down as she kicked and punched and swung like a mad pony.

One of her hooves slammed into a medic pony’s face and he went down in a spray of blood.

“Where’s that fucking Med-X?!” he screamed, hoofing his bloody nose.

I stepped outside and my hoof met the wet floor. I looked down.

My eyes widened. My stomach churned at the sight of it.

Blood.

“What the hell is happening?”

Nobody answered as I watched a syringe stab into the mare’s thigh.

“Goddesses...” I murmured..

One of the ponies, a quiet mare clad in bloodied winter barding leaned against the side of the gurney, holding the other mare’s hoof. Her back was turned to me, but she held her head low, whispering into the mare’s ear as she kicked and screamed – struggling to pull away from the her with fading strength as the Med-X surged through her veins.

Her screams went silent for a second. The quiet mare whispered incoherently into the other’s ear.

Horror flashed across her eyes as she stared into the mare’s face.

“YOU GET AWAY FROM ME – GET AWAY!”

“Timber, you are going to be okay…” the quiet mare whispered, louder.

“SOMEPONY - GET HER AWAY FROM ME!” Timber wheezed, “Somepony… please… please help…"

The quiet mare’s shadow loomed over the other mare’s face as tears ran down Timber’s cheek.

“No more…” Timber cried. She shook her head furiously, whimpering like a beaten animal until her shaking slowed and her head fell back into the gurney. “No… more…”

Heartbeats passed in silence as her trembling limbs went limp.

The medic ponies snapped back into action.

“Go – GO!”

They yanked the gurney’s straps tight and rushed her down the hall upon its screeching wheels. The quiet remained. She watched those galloping ponies push the other mare’s gurney down the hall.

A thin trail of blood followed them as they disappeared behind a pair of double doors.

I gulped. “What the hell just happened?”

Nobody answered. Alacrity swore under her breath and called out to the lone mare.

“You – report.”

The mare turned slowly, her green eyes catching the light for the briefest of moments as she staggered around to face us.

The mare straightened out her back, leaning against the wall with a bad leg. A faint smile wavered upon her trembling lips. The white fur on her face was stained deep with splotches of dark, dried blood. I wasn’t sure if it was hers.

Her voice, gravelly and hoarse like sandpaper rasped into my ears.

“Ma’am. Kelpie – Charlie Outpost.” She uttered a long, shuddering sigh. Her eyes blinked closed for a moment, and when she opened them, her face straightened out too.

“We were attacked.” Kelpie lowered her voice to a whisper, just loud enough for us to hear. “Timber and I are all that’s left. The rest are dead.” Her face wavered briefly as she punctuated those words. The sides of her mouth twitched, and she brought a hoof to scrape away a streak of dried blood from her cheek.

The light seemed to die out of Alacrity’s eyes as blood drained from her face. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, and she stumbled back, hitting her flank against a wall.

“Ma’am!”

Two Orphanage ponies rushed to her side, holding her upright. Alacrity let out a trembling breath and shrugged them off. She jabbed a hoof at Kelpie.

“Get that pony debriefed!” she ordered, her voice wavering. The old mare planted a hoof against the wall and swallowed down her pounding heart.

“Red Dawn,” she began with renewed vigor, “You’ve been discharged. I’ll have somepony get you and Candy Cane settled for now.” She closed her eyes and exhaled as her two guard ponies separated.

One of them motioned for Candy Cane and I to follow.

“Expect to do a lot more explaining tomorrow.”

I let out a long, drawn out sigh. I sat on the floor with my back against the wall, and with my saddlebags scattered around me. I was too tired to even change into something clean enough to sleep in. Too tired to even continue standing.

My legs felt better. Those haunters pecked the living hell out of them, but at least they didn’t peck them clean to the bone.

At least we had a place to just sit down, or sleep for a while. The guard outside our door had to stand there until next morning. Poor bastard.

I scanned the small room with weary eyes: it was a lot smaller than what we had at Summer Smiles’ place. It looked like it had been a janitor’s closet at one point – small, cramped, and lit by only a single dim light bulb hanging over our heads. Now it was a bedroom.

There was one bed inside, and an ancient, rusted metal shelf. That was it.

“Ah… just like home,” I muttered.

Candy Cane’s ears perked at that, before she returned to organizing her saddlebags.

I wasn’t being completely sarcastic. We were underground, but unlike my stable, it was still freezing cold. Surprisingly, I wasn’t shivering much. My fur was feeling a little thicker. Maybe I grew out my winter coat? Or maybe, just maybe I was used to the winter wasteland… but at my very core, I knew that couldn’t have been the case...

Maybe I just stopped caring.

I pulled my saddlebags towards me and started rummaging. They were mostly empty besides a few of my stable suits, and the jacket Summer Smiles gave me. Many of our belongings were missing - namely our guns, ammo, and explosives. My body armor was missing too.

The guard told us that they were stored in their armory, and that we’d get them back once we were ready to leave. I felt kinda naked without my trusty 10mm pistol. Now I was without it, and I felt vulnerable.

I wanted to believe that I was safe in that room with Candy Cane, but I knew after we found that Orphanage outpost that nowhere was safe.

I never really knew what fear was until I stepped out into this wintery shit hole.

I sighed and hung my head.

Everything was fucked up, and if it wasn’t already fucked up, it was going to get fucked up.

I stared at the floor between my legs and leaned my head against the wall. Finally, we found the Orphanage… but after everything, it still didn’t feel like a victory to me. We made it, yes, and I was still alive… for the most part.

I thought back to those nightmares. Those dreams. What with everything I saw and did so far out in the wasteland, I really would have believed that it was all… just… a dream…

But it wasn’t. It was a nightmare, and ever since I left my stable, it seemed like I was living in one. It was a nightmare that should’ve ended a long time ago. But the only one that did was my dream of Dew Drops… my friends… the dream in which they were all still alive.

I watched them all die, weeks ago in that forest. But it was… different… different to kill them all myself. It was horrifying.

Horrifying.

I blinked, and for the briefest of moments, my hooves ran red with blood.

‘Red… Dawn…’ a mare’s gravelly, serpentine voice whispered.

I shuddered. A shallow gasp for air jolted me back to reality. My eyes darted around, trying to find the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. I stared into space, forcing myself to calm my racing heartbeat. I stared into space… blind, but calm… calm enough to sort through my thoughts and think upon the present and not the past.

I looked down, and found the floor. I looked up, and found the ceiling. I looked to my left and to my right, and I found the walls. I looked straight ahead, and I found Candy Cane.

In the corner, at the foot of the bed she stood, her horn glowed with silvery magic as she undressed, pulling down her trousers to her fetlocks and –

“…Red?”

My cheeks reddened.

“OH!” I buried my muzzle in my hooves. “Sorry – sorry! I-I didn’t mean to…”

I peeked through the crack between my hooves. Her trousers were still on the floor. “Hrk! I thought on my hooves. “I… I was just looking at your cutie mark.”

“Hm…” She cracked the faintest of smiles. “Just my cutie mark?”

I moaned into my hooves, shaking my head furiously.

“I’m kidding, Red.” I heard her zip her trousers back up. “Don’t worry about it. You know… ponies don’t usually wear clothes?”

I gulped. “We do…”

She chuckled softly, “I figured. I know how you feel about… nakedness. I just forgot. Sorry.”

“I-it’s okay. Goddesses…” I gasped, biting my lip as I realized I didn’t even notice her cutie mark when her pants were down…

I forced myself to ask, “Um… what’s your cutie mark supposed to be, anyways?”

I peeked through my hooves, and saw a silvery glow wrapped around her hinds.

“Hrk!”

Candy Cane laughed, “Don’t worry – I’m not pulling it down all the way this time.”

I let out a breath of relief and slowly lowered my hooves to the floor.

On her flank was a strange symbol: a snake coiled around a staff.

“It’s the Rod of Asclipon.”

I tried not to stare at her maroon butt for too long. She was wearing that faint smile again as she watched my eyes. I resisted the urge to blush and flicked my eyes to her face.

“So it’s a nursing cutie mark?”

Candy Cane pulled her trousers back up.

“Kind of. It was derived from the rod wielded by the ancient Equestrian God of Healing. It symbolizes medicine and health.”

I cocked a brow at her. “That’s… pretty cool. You’ve got the staff of a God on your flanks, and all I have is a dumb cog on mine.” I chuckled, rolling my eyes. “Who would’ve guessed an engineer would get a cog. How original, right?”

Candy Cane giggled, “You’re the only pony I know of with a cog for a cutie mark, Red.”

“Hmph,” I smirked, lifting a hoof as I struck a pose, “That’s because most people out here don’t know their way around a wrench.”

She scoffed at that, rolling her eyes.

I chuckled under my breath. “How’d you get your cutie mark, anyways?”

She thought for a moment, touching a hoof to her chin before taking a seat at the edge of the bed. She glanced at me, then at the open space next to her.

With a languid sigh I sat up and plopped down next to her.

“Story time?”

She nodded.

“Story time.”

Candy Cane was silent for a few seconds as she stared at the floor between her hooves. “Well… I got my cutie mark after I treated my first patient.

“Though it wasn’t a typical disease I treated. It was a psychological one.” Candy Cane sighed, “I always thought my first patient was going to have a broken leg, or a wound that needed stitching, or…”

She smiled sheepishly, “Or a bullet in the gut but… you see, my father was the doctor of our village. He diagnosed a mare with depression, and that mare fell under my care. We… didn’t have any antidepressants… so we talked. Talked for hours – about anything, really: her family, her friends, her dreams and aspirations… her problems.”

Candy Cane stared past me dreamily, smiling to herself. “She hugged me after that… and after I sent her on her way, I found a cutie mark on my flank.” Her eyes focused upon me, and her smile died away. Her voice was almost a whisper. “Red… what happened to us back there?”

I tilted my head slightly as I resisted the urge to look away.

She peered into my dark eyes. “What happened… to you?”

My eyes sunk to the floor. A palpable tremble shivered through me.

“Cane…” I whispered.

“Red… I know that look,” she said, studying my face. “I know... I know, Red.”

I nodded once more, closing my eyes.

We sat there as the seconds ticked by and my memories clawed behind my closed doors. I could hear them screaming my name.

“Red…”

I could hear her screaming my name.

“Red…”

I shook my head vigorously.

“I’m fine.”

Candy Cane fell silent and stared at her hooves.

“Okay…” she nodded, whispering, “That’s okay. You’ve just been acting so differently.”

“I’m sorry, Cane.” My ears drooped. “I’m so sorry for those things I said to you before those furies attacked. That wasn’t like me. I-I just wasn’t thinking straight –”

She was staring at me again with those soft gray eyes.

“We went through a lot, Red.”

I sighed, clenching my teeth. “I was honestly more worried about you, Cane.” I finally found the strength to meet her eyes. “When that… that thing made you fall down that hole at the Morale Hub, I was so scared… I thought you were dead.”

Her expression turned grim. “That thing… it wore my sister’s face. It tricked me. It made me see things – believe things that weren’t real. It’s like it knew me. Like it knew inside and out…

“I don’t know exactly what that thing was, Red… but it was… it was evil.”

“Evil…” I whispered, nodding as I echoed her words, “It was pure evil.”

She gave me that knowing stare again.

“You saw it too, didn’t you?”

I went silent for a moment.

“Yes,” I finally whispered, trembling uncontrollably. “Yes… I saw things. Things I can’t explain.” Horror crept across my face as I stared desperately into her eyes. “Cane… i-it knew more about me than I did...”

I felt her lay a hoof on my shoulder until my trembling slowly stilled.

“Let’s get some rest,” she said gently. “We really need it.”

I nodded, standing to my four hooves. “I’ll sleep on the floor. You can have the bed.”

She frowned, pointing a hoof at the dusty, dirty, unkempt floor that didn’t look like it had been swept in centuries. “You want to sleep on that?”

I stood up as Candy Cane laid down on the bed behind me. The old mattress’ springs squeaked and moaned, while gravelly dust crunched beneath my hooves.

I turned around, sighed, and collapsed into the bedsheets.

I vaguely remember feeling a pillow being wedged against me.

Darkness took me in an instant.

I was warm. Really warm.

And the air… it smelled… minty. Like mint candy. Like candy canes.

My eyes fluttered open.

Candy Cane was staring right at me. I blinked. Then I blinked again. I looked around and my forelegs were wrapped around her… hugging her tight.

“OH SHI-”

My back thumped against the cold, hard floor.

I groaned, curling up into a ball.

“Red!”

Candy Cane rushed to the edge of the bed.

“Are you hurt?!”

“Hrk – no – no not really,” I gasped, “What happened?”

She eyed me worriedly.

“What happened just now, or…”

“No! I snapped, “What happened last night?!”

Candy Cane looked away, blushing slightly.

“You… you hugged me last night… and you didn’t let go…”

I clenched my eyes shut and covered my face with my hooves.

“You were having a nightmare. You were whispering. Sobbing. Then you grabbed me.”

I rolled over and away from her, shaking violently.

“W-why d-d-didn’t you wake me up?”

She let out a gentle sigh.

“You calmed down afterward. I didn’t want to want to wake you.” Candy Cane smothered a faint smile with her forehoof. “I was also really warm.”

I stood to my hooves and levitated my saddlebags to my hooves, rummaging through them as I searched for a fresh jumpsuit. I glanced over my shoulder, pulled a clean jumpsuit to from my bag, and stared nervously at her.

“Um… Cane?”

She cocked a brow at me, mouthed ‘Oh,’ and lowered her eyes to the floor.

“Right. Of course.”

Zzzzipppp.

I sighed and stepped out of my dirty clothes. Then I sighed again, and stuck my legs into two pairs of fresh sleeves.

Zzzzipppp.

I felt Candy Cane’s eyes on me again.

Mine darted to my PipBuck.

0430.

Yesterday, the guard outside said we had to report to a meeting a six o’clock sharp. I had a lot of time on my hooves. What I didn’t have was time to get out of there before my blush burned my face off.

I finally turned and tried not to look at her as I started towards the door.

“I think I’ll explore for a bit.”

My horn glowed to life and enwreathed the doorknob with scarlet magic. I turned it and pulled - but it shook uselessly.

‘Shit.’

A bead of sweat formed over my brow as I tried it again. I could still feel Candy Cane’s eyes on the back of my head.

It didn’t open.

“Goddesses damnit…” I murmured, and banged my hoof against the door.

Sounds of hooves shuffling on the floor outside followed. The door creaked open to reveal a tired looking stallion holding a pair of yellow bandannas.

“Just you?” he asked.

My head tilted slightly, hoping Candy Cane wasn’t behind me.

“Yeah.” I looked down at one of the bandannas he had draped over his forehoof. “What are those for?”

“These? Well ya gotta wear one so we know who ya are. Mother’s orders,” he said, hoofing one over to me.

Mother’s orders. Alacrity was keeping us on a short leash.

I hesitated at first, eyeing the yellow rag before tying it around my neck. The stallion motioned me forward.

“Feel free to visit the hospital or the mess hall.” I nodded as he closed the door behind me. “But don’t go wanderin’ ‘round where ya ain’t supposed to, okay? The guards know who y'all are.”

“Right. Of course,” I muttered, trotting away hurriedly.

The guard called after me. “And remember to come back before six!”

I just wanted to get away from that room.

I figured I’d go check on Minnow. According to the signs I saw on the walls, the hospital wasn’t too far away. Once I left the dormitories, I found myself in the Ponevan metro system once more. In the Orphanage, the metro system was still alive, repaired and jury-rigged by talented engineers, or refurbished after surviving the balefire apocalypse. I wasn’t sure which, but I knew that it simply existing was a marvel of Equestrian technology.

Some things were built to last, it seemed. If only I could say the same about the rest of Poneva.

I found an empty subway terminal with a train idling outside. The soft hum of a spark battery tickled my eardrums as I walked down the platform beside it. It was a patchwork of steel and its original material, but without a doubt still functional. Its crew was already inside, but its doors were closed.

It was only five in the morning, and work probably didn’t start till six. I didn’t want to bother them, so I decided that I’d just follow the signs and walk to the hospital myself.

There weren’t many ponies walking around aside from the guards and the occasional morning ponies like me. As I reached the end of the train terminal, a guard with a rifle slung over her shoulder eyed the yellow bandanna around my neck and nodded as I passed her.

I kept following the signs to the hospital, and entered a dimly lit hallway just outside the train station. Flickering yellow light bulbs hung over my head from bare-wiring along the curved, tunnel-like ceiling. The hall’s cracked concrete walls, stripped bare by the ages passed me by as I walked down its length. I found a pair of double doors, and pushed past them, finding myself alone in a quiet, dark antechamber.

A single lightbulb flickered over my head as I stood there alone with my ears perked, listening. A faint noise slowly approached.

Clop, clop, clop, clop, clop…

The distant hoofsteps echoed into my ears at a trotting pace.

I looked for a sign that led to the hospital as those hooves trotted in the distance. I could barely make out the words ‘hospital’ in that dark antechamber. The dark hall stretched onward as I followed it warily, the hoofsteps echoing louder and louder, closer and closer.

I clenched my jaw and a trembling exhale escaped my lips. The trotting loudened and a black figure approached from the end of the hall. My horn sparked briefly - and I swore under my breath as I realized my pistol was nowhere to be found.

Yellow light flickered across its face. I saw its green eyes first.

Kelpie.

Her expressionless face flashed briefly beneath stray light bulbs as her gait slowed and she walked between windows of darkness and light. Her pale coat flashed white and black as she stepped in and out of the shadows.

She smiled at me as her face passed beneath another light before darkness washed over her. When she emerged, she stood beneath a flickering light bulb, expressionless once more.

“Hello, Red Dawn,” she said with a whispering hiss of misty breath, “Going somewhere?”

I frowned at her as I approached, standing a short distance away beneath the safety of the light. I gulped. She knew my name.

“Yeah. I am,” I replied, shifting on my hooves. My heart thumped warily as she studied my face. There was something off about her emerald eyes. I didn’t trust them one bit.

She saw the discomfort on my face, and for a moment I thought I noticed the faintest of smiles crease her lips. A heartbeat passed, and it was gone.

“How’s your friend?” I asked, cautiously, “What was her name… Tim-”

“Timber,” Kelpie finished for me. Her face remained expressionless. “She didn’t make it.”

I stared at her and she stared at me for too many heartbeats.

I let out a breath I realized I was holding in.

“I’m sorry.”

She said nothing. She just stared.

I eyed her forelegs.

“Looks like you can walk just fine, now.”

Kelpie cocked her head and lifted her right foreleg

“Yes... I just left the clinic,” she said quietly. Kelpie finally widened her lips with a smile, her canines glistening in the ruddy yellow light. “There are few things a health potion can’t cure.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Like Timber?”

Her grin faded away as she stepped back into the darkness.

“I’ll be seeing you, Red Dawn.”