I stared out over the nursery, ponies fussing about like mad, foals scurrying around under the tables and spriting around. It felt amazing to see them so calm, so happy and free while I was subjected to treachery at every turn. It meant I was doing my job, and seeing them happy gave me the energy to get through each day. It warmed my heart, kept my sane, and watching them grow from the toddlers they were into functioning kids felt euphoric.

"Daddy- daddy- uh- uh daddy!?" A foal shouted, grabbing my leg and running in a tight circle around me. "Daddy, he's he's my daddy!" I looked down, spotting Castor, the white and blonde filly sprinting a figure eight between my legs. A trail of unfamiliar foals forming up around me. "See, I told you! You said I was a faker, but he's here, he's here, he's--"

"Castor who's this?" I waved my hand to the foals, ducking down and letting the filly run into my hand. I scooped her up by the belly, waiting for her to flare out her wings and letting me raise her up.

"I'm flying!" She shrieked, thrusting her forelegs out as I swung her around at arms length. She continued to giggle as I tucked my arms under her forelegs and held her upright. "Um...these are my friends!"

I looked down at the tired looking foals. I had no recollection of them, their faces shaped differently, more sharp, eyes sunken slightly, they looked native. "Hmm, baby-girl, can you go get mommy?" I asked Castor, setting the blue eye'd babe down. I'd kept things together enough to leave the foals thinking everything was fine, and for the most part, inside the walls they were. The world that lay beyond this bastion was hard, surprisingly cruel and muddled with untranslatable plots and factions.

Castor spun around, lashing my ankle with her tail and sprinting towards the next room. "Mommy!?" Soon enough I would be forced to look Foxglove in the eyes again, after her mother was crippled and banished, after I pushed my will on the people, after everything I still needed to force myself to look at her. I had to, because I was dead, I was dead the second I stepped off the train, I was dead the second I met her, now all I could do is make sure they were safe, happy, and that they had a home by the end of this.

I ducked down, staring at the multicolored foals. "...Who are you, because I can tell you're not from Canterlot."

The foals took a collective step back, mumbling amongst themselves. "We--"

"Which one of you speaks Equestrian?" I asked, pointing a finger around the small herd. "You...green mane, it's you isn't it?"

The green maned colt stepped back, "I don't understand...please don't hit me."

A blue maned filly stepped up, "I can...sir...."

I turned to the filly, waddling towards her and spotting something strange on her ear. "Alright, and your name?" I asked, running my hand over the filly's cut ear, gently rubbing the slash between my fingers. "Does it hurt?"

The foal brushed my hand away. "Baux, and no...it--"

I stood up, looking around the room and spotting a passing nurse, "Hey, bandaids and disinfectant!"

The nurse nodded her head sharply, flying off and leaving me to tend to the new foals. The bravest, blue maned one started to back off. "I don't need your help." She hissed, her wings held up slightly, "I'm fine!"

I reached out, grabbing the filly by the back of the head and pulling her closer. "Oh stop it." I scooped the filly up by the rump, causing her to panic and sink her teeth into my arm, only a single fang puncturing my skin. "Oh that's not good." I pulled the filly back, lifting my finger to her mouth and pushing it past her lips. "Let me see."

The filly tried to bite through my fingers, the tiny herd throwing themselves against me, trying to free their leader. "Put her down!" "Monster!" They shouted in broken Thestrali, trying to move me free of their friend.

I kept on, lifting the filly's lip and spotting a chipped fang on the right side. "That's not terrible...." I pulled my hand back, wiping slobber on my pantleg. "Not good, but not terrible." I tucked the filly into my lap, holding her in place as the nurse I'd sent for started trotting over. "Over here, I need a soaked cloth or something."

The mare nodded, undoing the cap on a bottle of disinfectant and wetting a cloth. "Here." She held it in her hoof, leaving me to take it and get ready for the hard part. "Did you--"

"I've got it." I mumbled, digging my fingernail against the fresh scab. "Gonna hurt...but I got it." I pet the filly's head with my wrist. "Bite down." I mumbled, offering up my arm. "It's gonna hurt."

The filly pushed hard at my arm, "Get off me!"

"I offered," I mumbled, digging my fingernail against the cut and tearing off the scab, "Oh...that's bad--"

The filly let out a terrible howl, causing the group to back off and give me some space. "Ow, no no no! Help me!" She cried, burying her head against my wrist and prying at my arm. "Mommy, daddy, help!"

I felt my usual instincts kick in, the word daddy had become hardwired into my brain by now. "I got ya." I pressed the cloth against the cut, cradling the foal's head as she screamed into my arm. "Hold on baby girl." I looked up, spotting the nurse struggling to get a bandaid open. "Here, leave that...go get me something sweet, okay?"

The nurse nodded, bolting off and leaving me to rip open the bandaid and wrap the cartooned patterned mess over her cut. "There we go...there we go." I pressed hard, rubbing the bandage flat and tracing a circle over where the cut had been. "You okay?" I moved the filly about, cradling her in my arms.

Her hooves shot up, protecting her face. "You're bad! Go away, just leave me alone!"

I shook my head. "Ya'll are gonna hate me when it's time for shots." The nurse ran back, dropping a wrapped sweet into my palm and bolting back off. I carefully unwrapped the sweet, bouncing the filly in my arms as she sobbed. "It's okay, I got ya, I'm here." I held the candy for her, humming softly as she wiggled around. "Come on...you're okay." I pressed the sweet against her lips. "Open."

The filly shook her head, "Go awa--" I took the opportunity and popped the candy into her mouth, "Bad!" She hissed, trying to claw out of my arms, her wings pressing against my forearm. "You're bad!"

"Shh," I whispered, leaning back and bouncing the filly in my arms. "It's okay...you're okay, you're safe." I stood up, causing the remaining foals to step back. "I got ya baby girl, I got ya, no one's gonna hurt you." I cooed, tucking the foal against my shoulder and holding the back of her head. "Talk to me...how old are you?"

The whimpering filly started to chew loudly, "...Five...."

I bounced the filly in the crook of my arm. "Five? That's pretty big, too big to be crying over a little cut." I shifted the filly to my other shoulder. "How'd you get here?"

A soft, fiery voice caught my attention. "That was me, Ben." I swung myself around, spotting Foxglove standing before me, "I brought them here."

I stared at her, hiding my frown with the filly's back. "Who are they?"

Foxglove walked past me, corralling the remaining foals and sitting behind them. "Orphans, bastards, foals nopony wanted to keep around." She looked up at me, scanning the filly in my arms. "And I was right."

"About what?" I hissed, leaning against the filly's head and letting the motion of her jaw force through my cheek. "You using me again?"

Foxglove shook her head hard, "No, Ben, I knew you'd care." She walked around the foals, stepping onto my toes. "I knew you'd do something like this, I knew you'd jump up like the stallion I've come to expect from you."

I frowned hard, "I wish I could say the same." I mumbled, turning away. "This is something I'd love to say I expected from you, and it's something I'd expect from you back in Canterlot. Now...now I just--"

"Ben, I've been nothing but honest with you!" She shouted, grinding her hoof against my shoe. "Please...if I could take it all back I would, if I could have just been honest I would have! But I didn't know, and I- I've been burned to many times before!"

"Not by me!" I shouted, leaning away from the filly's ear. "I was always ready to help you, and I had the energy, like a damn caffeine addict I was ready all the time."

Foxglove kept pace, swinging around and keeping us face to face. "Ben...please," She ran a hoof along my elbow. "You asked me for help, you asked me to help you figure things out, but every time you turn around and refuse to look me in the eyes."

I shook my head, nose brushing against the filly's wing. "It's hard okay!" I held the foal tight. "Moving on is hard, trying to get over this is hard, and you pestering me--"

"Daddy...." Castor appeared under Foxglove, eyes wide and starting to glisten. "Why are you mad at mommy?"

I felt a jagged frown draw over my face, the filly swallowing hard and stopping her sniveling. I took a deep breath, controlling my face and setting the filly down amongst her friends. "Foxglove...you want me to move on?"

Foxglove looked up at me, expression similar to the filly beneath her. "I'd give anything--"

"Give up this place." I mumbled, "Give up this place!" I shouted, stomping the ground and causing everyone in the room to stop. "Come back with me! Come with me, back to Canterlot, help me raise these kids right while the others sort out the laws I've given them!"

Foxglove looked shattered, her eyes hurt, her mouth agape. "Ben, we can't leave!"

"See," I shook my head, waving my arm around the room. "What here can't be rebuilt in Canterlot? What here isn't already there!?"

"Ben--"

"The castle!?" I shouted, presuming her response. "Foxglove, it's always been the castle, I get it! It's been this, piece of rock you used as a status symbol! It's big, it's powerful, but it's just a rock!" I ducked down, face to face with her. "Now please-" My expression fell, my mouth heavy and my eyes pained. "-come home with me...I want to move on, but I don't think you can while we're here. And if you can't...if you, the mare I love, the girl who brought foals in from the street, can't move on, how am I supposed to!?" I shot upright. "I need you to be strong too! I can't do this on my own anymore, that's why I asked you for help, and that's why I'm asking you now--come home with me?"

Foxglove stared at me, eyes darting around the room, the foals, and me. "Ben...I'm scared. I'm scare if we leave here, I'm scared the moment we step away everything will come crashing--"

"Foxglove...come home with me, to Canterlot, to Vermont." I reached down, slowly crouching down. "Help me take the foals, and show them a world beyond these walls, while the people I trust make this place safe. I grabbed her hoof, turning up upright and pressing it against my chin. "Please...come home with me, help me raise our children."

Foxglove took a deep breath, hyperventilating slightly. "Some of them can't speak Equestria--"

"They'll learn."

"It's going to be hot ou--"

"We'll keep them cool."

Foxglove stared at me, eyes burning through my head. "What if we can't come back?"

I pulled her closer, "Foxglove...we've done what we can, and I don't want to hate you, I'm so tired of hating, I just want to feel happy again." I pulled her against me, digging my fingers in against her mane. "Please...help me love you again."

Foxglove dug her hooves against my chest, pushing free and lowering her head. She bit her lip hard, opening her mouth before pulling her head up. "I've never been to earth...we're gonna need passports aren't we?" She croaked out, half crying from a mix of worry and pain. "We're gonna need a lot of passports...." She laughed, leaning her head against my shoulder. "Oh gods I'm scared. My stomach is fluttering so bad...."

I held her against me, spotting the foals sitting there gormlessly. "...Yeah, we're gonna need a lot of paperwork." I looked around the room, word spreading from Castor about the word Canterlot. "...We should make Moon Light do it. She's a bitch...."

Foxglove sputtered a soft laugh. "Ben...how do you do it?"

"Hmm?"

Foxglove nuzzled my shoulder. "I don't know how you keep going, after everything that's happened, after everything that could have happened."

I took a deep breath. "Friends, love for my children, and hope." I pulled in a hissing breath through my teeth. "Lots...and lots...and lots of hope." I looked around the room, foals starting to hurry over, "Oh god...I'm gonna have to rent a hotel. Can you even do that? Rent an entire hotel?" I watched as the bright faced children started to surround me. "Guess we'll find out."