Daughters, please do not think poorly of your father and I for what I am about to share with you. Know that the two of us fought, argued, and wept over this decision. Keeping quiet was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. I spent years hiding the truth from you, believing it was the best path for me to walk. But now that my end is so close at hoof I find the desire to retrace my steps and choose a different direction unbearable. By both the Goddess and my ancestors, I can only pray that you will forgive me.

It was such a burden to keep this knowledge from you, but the two of you were already ostracized by your peers. Your father and I feared that, should you repeat these things without comprehending the weight of your words, you would certainly never have the opportunity to make friends. Nopony in the Stable would trust you. It is my hope that given some time to mature and learn the value of discretion the two of you may be ready for these teachings. This truth is simply too dangerous for you to know right now. It will be up to your father to choose when the time is right to teach you, even if my heart yearns to let you know now.

I never intended for this to be a secret I would carry to my grave. I wanted to tell you. Fooled myself into thinking that I was waiting for the appropriate time. Knew that I would share the truth with both of you as soon as I was able… but... now I never will. I am so sorry, daughters. Please forgive me. And learn from my mistake. Secrets are like poison, girls; more vile and insidious than any venom. Do not carry them in your hearts.

I have already risked much with what I have written, and I don’t dare make this message any clearer. Even now should I write the entire truth out for you, I know that this book would never find you. That you might never read any of the words passed from my heart to yours. I fear that not even your father’s pull in the Stable would be able to keep this book in safe keeping. So instead of leading you directly to the truth I shall simply point you in its direction, and remain confident that your own inquisitive natures shall help you decipher fact from fiction.

I have a task for the both of you. It is a simple task, but an important one: question everything. Do not be content to take words at face value, for you shall never know their worth unless they have been tested. Leave no truth unturned and no belief untested. Who knows? You may already carry the clues you need and the experiences required to notice them. Peer into the darkness, daughters, and you will find the way.

Seven years is what your father and I agreed upon in our last discussion of this topic. Everything would be revealed to you both when you joined your father and I for The Caravan. Life, of course, had other plans for our family. Even so, Dream will find a way to pass this on to you, I’m sure of it. Nopony has ever been able to stop him once he puts his mind to something. I believe I alone was capable of that. So please girls, promise me this one thing. Make sure that when your father speaks, you listen.

I know what he will have to say will be hard to hear, and even harder for you to believe. Sometimes the truth has a way of blindsiding us.

And sometimes it isn’t an altogether pleasant experience to learn it at all, but not everything in life is.

Life can be cruel and unpredictable at times. It can toy with us in the most excruciating of ways. Eventually though, I promise you this pain too will pass.

Forgive your mother, she’s rambling again. I simply want to impart one simple truth about this world: do not trust easily. Many will seek to lie to you, and they often cloak their secrets in shadow, but you already know where you can find Honest things.

Of course, even as I write this, I know some words must be taken at face value. At some point, you will simply have to trust someone.

When that time comes, trust yourselves. And trust those whom you love. But do not trust anything that is simply understood as undeniable truth.

And lastly, trust that your father and I love you. We always have, and we always will.

Nohta, Lily, and I had left Mareon behind us as a barely discernible blur on the horizon, venturing north into the San Palomino in much the same direction as my stable’s caravan had taken weeks ago. The sun was just slipping underneath the imposing mountain on the other side of the river to our left, painting the wide open canvas of clouded sky and barren desert before us in a series of warm crepuscular shades. The scene promised a lovely evening for the beginning of our travels, and I was eagerly awaiting the hour of true nightfall that would bring the possibility of seeing a glimpse of Luna’s holy orb once more. The night’s impending victory over the day was almost beautiful enough to wrest my attention from Mother’s book, but the memory of Half-Moon’s words had kept me incredibly focused thus far.

I allowed the heavy and determined hoof-falls of my winged companion and the softer patter of my sister’s slinking gait to guide me along the crumbled highway while I kept my muzzle buried in the tome. Reading a book by the light of the magic that held it aloft was comfortably reminiscent of trips from my stable’s library after new books from the surface had been cleaned. And though the broken path which we now tread offered a few more potholes than the smooth surfaces of my old home, the threat of a sprained ankle wasn’t enough to divest my attention from the text. I had to understand what my parents had deemed necessary to keep from my sister and I. The curiosity was already beginning to eat at my memories and twist them into foul mirages of their former selves, tainted first by suspicion and then by guilt.

I didn’t want to believe that either of my parents would hold something so intrinsic to who I was from me. The mark gracing a pony’s body is personal and intimate; considered by some to be a glimpse of a pony’s true self. Mother had said the same was largely true for zebras, even if the glyphs appeared foreign and exotic in comparison to the typical pictures adorning a pony’s flank. She had said I was a healer, and that my mark meant I would make others whole. Half-Moon had said something else.

Shamans, witch doctors, medicine mares… and necromancers? What? It didn’t make sense! Mother had only ever referred to herself as an alchemist, an assassin, or a warrior. She had only made mention of necromancy when telling me of the vile poison the zebras had concocted in order to slay The Goddess. The same pink poison, I quickly realized, that she had always carried vials of within her cloak…

I shook my head, turning another page in the book as I skimmed past a simple recipe for an adhesive Mother had dubbed “Grammy’s Gummin’ Goop,” and tried to stifle the anger I could already feel towards this mysterious zebra that had twisted my mind so. The very idea that Mother might have been a practitioner of anything even remotely related to The Goddess’ demise was sickening! She had prayed before the statue just as I had! Just as Father had! Mother was… She wouldn’t have...

I sighed, and rubbed my tired eyes while I walked. I wasn’t making any headway with Mother’s book. Despite poring over the tome in agonizing scrutiny, and coming back to the same passage about secrets many times, I couldn’t quite piece together what Mother had been hinting at. And now that Father was gone as well and whatever plans my parents had worked out had been dashed, I wasn’t sure whether my only route to the truth lay with the infuriating defiler of memories named Half-Moon or with my stablemates that were currently located in the approximate vicinity of… somewhere. The curiosity to know more itched, but I was woefully incapable of scratching it.

Back then, I wasn’t ready for any of the things my parents had hidden from me. I would have shied away from so much of what Mother could have taught me, and been disgusted with what Father would have tried to convince me was necessary. I was still comfortably ignorant in my assertion that the height of moral ambiguity I would ever face was as simple as pulling a trigger or stealing supplies for survival. I hadn’t yet learned the capacity for cruelty the wasteland is capable of.

I opened my eyes, readying myself to read through the confusing opening of Mother’s book once more, but paused when I heard Lily and Nohta laughing. It was only the playful insults and boisterous guffaws ahead of me that finally provided the distraction from my troubled thoughts I so desperately needed.

Nohta’s hood was lowered over her face, but her abrasive tones carried easily on the gentle desert wind. “So what’s with all that shit on your face?”

Lily snorted underneath her cowpony hat, “That’s rich. The girl that looks exactly like a zebra is making fun of my tribal markings…”

On the one hoof I was glad Nohta had found somepony she could be comfortable around, easily trading lighthearted insults and playful verbal jabs as a prelude to the physical blows planned to come later that night. On the other hoof I still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of our new companion. Lily was most assuredly odd, and depending on the time of day and whether she had remembered her “medicine” one could even say that she was nearly insane. But there was something about being in the presence of an able-bodied fighter that put my mind at ease, especially when she seemed so driven to act in my favor. We needed her knowledge of the surrounding terrain as well. And though I was loathe to admit it, she was already proving much more knowledgeable in certain topics than myself.

Nohta, however, seemed mostly interested in determining how best to get underneath Lily’s skin. “You know I’m gonna kick your ass, right? Especially after what you said about Candy.”

Lily adjusted the brim of her hat with a wing. “What? That she’s got a flank that won’t quit?” Nohta made a retching noise underneath her hood, and I rolled my eyes behind Mother’s book. Lily continued a moment later, her evil smirk plainly audible in her voice. “Or that she puts a little more sway in her hips when she knows I’m looking?”

“Ugh!” Nohta groaned, “I hate that! But she does that shit all the time, it’s not like you’re special!”

The book dipped a few inches, allowing me to peer over the pages as I stammered to defend myself. “I-I do not!”

Lily adjusted the black stetson sitting atop the wild mess of her silvery-white mane, and grinned back at me. “Sweetie, you’re giving out all the signals. You even made eyes at Dry Wells, and his face looks like it got hit by a balefire bomb! Seriously, when was the last time you got laid?”

The book snapped closed as my muzzle rose in the air. “I am not having this conversation! Ladies do not discuss such things! Hmmph!”

“if you say so…” Lily’s wings flapped once at her sides while she shrugged. She directed her gaze to the mountain in the distance, and continued speaking in an even voice. “We’re losing daylight anyway, we should get off the road soon and find a place to set up camp. We don’t want to be in the open desert at night.” Lily paused, allowing me to catch up to her and my sister, and nodded her head in the direction of a small valley between two hills on our right. “Let’s go this way. There’s a hidden cave over there that we can sleep in.”

The sound of Nohta’s voice made her smirk clearly evident. “It was your idea to leave town just before night, feather-brain. What’s the matter? Afraid of the dark?”

“Me? Scared? Pfft… I ain’t scared of shit out here. This desert’s like… the least dangerous place I’ve ever been.” Lily’s wings flapped quickly at her sides while she hooked a hoof in their direction. “But you two don’t have wings. We run into a pack of ghouls and they’re gonna surround us in minutes. I’m pretty fucking good, but I can’t stop that many ferals all at the same time.”

“G-ghouls?” Try as I might, I was unable to keep a slight warble out of my voice.

Lily turned, leading our advance down the valley. “Yeah, I’ve never really understood why but this desert’s lousy with ‘em. You usually only find ghouls around really badly irradiated places, like bombed out cities or whatever. But this place is practically rad free and…” Lily shook her head before continuing with a gruff shout, “fuck, they’re everywhere!” Her profanity echoed off the surrounding hills before she added, “Some real nasty ones around the big towns, too.”

Nohta’s voice lacked its usual aplomb as she walked closely beside me. “Like banshees?” Lily paused long enough to turn her head, arching an eyebrow at my sister. Nohta corrected herself a second later, “Or uh… screamers?”

Lily’s wings flapped rapidly as she stomped a hoof on the ground. “Oh, fuck those things! They hurt my head with all that screeching!” She turned back around and continued walking, shaking her head as we took a turn past a few short mesquite trees. “I’ve only seen those out by Coltsville though, so we don’t need to worry about them. The ramblers are the worst ones, but out in the desert you only gotta watch for the big packs of normal ferals.” Almost as an afterthought one would make when stating the obvious, she shrugged and added, “And Bright Eyes, of course. She goes wherever the fuck she wants.”

Nohta asked the question for me. “What’s a rambler?”

Lily adjusted her hat and just barely quickened her pace as she elucidated for the two of us. “Alright… so, imagine the biggest and muscliest pony you’ve ever seen. The kind that looks like he could actually snap somepony else in half. But he’s a ghoul, so he’s looking all zombified and shit.” Her wings were beginning to flare out slightly as she trotted, as if the mere thought of these abominations was toying with her fight or flight instincts. “Seriously, these things have muscles so big that their skin is actually ripping and peeling away from their bulky biceps. It’s fucking gross, but that’s why they’re so hard to kill.”

She slid her rifle off of her back and cradled it in her hooves, taking to the air while her wings caused the few scattered stalks of desert flowers and shrubs of hardy grass surrounding us to sway in her wake. Peering past the sparse foliage and immense boulders in our path, she continued, “They’re fucking fast, stupid strong, and hard as hell to put down. Your best bet is to shoot ‘em in the head, and that’s a really fucking small target to hit when they’re charging at you like an angry freight train and knocking motorwagons out of their way like toys.”

My brow furrowed as I quickened my pace to a small bush and grasped dozens of tiny red berries in my magic. “I-I thought you said this desert wasn’t dangerous? That sounds terrifying!”

Lily shrugged at my statement. “Well they’re not really too bad unless you piss ‘em off. Most of the time they just walk around with this big dumb expression on their face; like they forgot how to get to the gym or something. It’s only when they see you fighting other ghouls that they get violent, then they’re hard to stop.”

I could feel my ears folding against the sides of my head as I questioned her. “Is there no other way to deal with them than a well placed shot?” I suddenly felt even more hopeless as I realized this was an enemy I was dangerously ill-equipped to face.

She turned in the air, still scanning our environs with squinted eyes as she admitted, “Well, I guess you could blow ‘em up or something. How many grenades we got?”

I didn’t have to check my Pipbuck or my packs to know the answer. “Three.”

Lily grimaced in the air before landing in front of us. “Fuck… And we’re heading right for Spursburg, too.”

An idea occurred to me, almost a call to action rather than a passing thought. Still, I wasn’t entirely sure of how my sister or our new companion would take it. I looked away from the bush and nearly whispered, “Actually, if the two of you wouldn’t mind a small delay in our schedule, I’d like to find what remains of...“ My eyes found the ground in front of my hooves as I voiced my request, “of The Caravan.”

Both of them stopped in their tracks and turned to stare at me. Lily’s expression was inquisitive, and Nohta’s was unreadable in the gloom. I stood still, bearing their scrutiny as my hoof toyed with the new leather armor above my Pipbuck.

Nohta’s response was quiet in the darkness, barely discernible over the low wind. “Yeah, we should at least try to…” She stopped herself, and started over while nodding her head, “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Lily sat on her haunches, her gaze wandering towards a mass of reddish-brown rock. “We’ve got a good lead on one of the raider leaders. If we get sidetracked for a day or two then we might miss our opportunity to take him down. You sure?”

I nodded solemnly, doing my very best to keep the pain out of my halting voice. “I’d like to pay my respects to the ponies that I”—that I had left to die—“wasn’t able… And I’d like… to give Father a proper goodbye.” In spite of my attempts to quell their rise, tears welled in my eyes as I explained. “I can’t bear the thought of him being left to… to…” Nohta’s hood brushed against my neck as she wrapped a hoof around me. I leaned into her, taking comfort in her strength once again.

Lily shrugged, the blades on her wings catching the moonlight as they rose behind her. “You’re the boss, sugar. I’m following you.”

Nohta pulled away, but remained silent. I wiped my eyes and glanced at our companion. “Thank you, Lily. It would mean a lot to the both of us.”

A sly grin stretched the dark lines on Lily’s face, “No need to thank me, babe. I’m here because I want to be here. Besides,” She added as the grin turned into a full on smirk, “following you means the scenery is always gonna be good.”

My brow wrinkled as I looked all around us, “Well, I suppose that if you’re a fan of rocks and desert flora the surroundings should certainly suit your taste.”

Nohta slapped her forehead with a hoof, knocking her hood behind her as she groaned at Lily. “I am going to hurt you. A lot.”

Perplexed by the sudden turn in conversation and the impish grin spreading across my indigo friend’s features, I mentally replayed our conversation as we resumed walking before stark realization drilled its way into my brain. I gasped, taken aback at the lewdness and flippancy with which the blue monster in front of me had spoken, and stomped a hoof against the ground to produce a satisfying thud. “Lily! Really!?”

She held her hooves up in a devilish mockery of an apologetic shrug, all the while continuing to smirk in my direction. “Would you rather feel sad or angry? At least if you’re angry you might try to shut me up.” She winked, flapping her wings playfully at her sides. “Preferably by mashing our lips together.”

My horn flared, bathing the three of us in a crimson glow as I tested my magic. Feeling satisfied with the effects Mother’s potion had produced I lifted my muzzle in the air and made a request of my sibling. “Nohta darling, I think my horn is almost entirely healed. Will you do me a favor and beat her senseless during your little sparring match? Don’t worry about breaking anything. I’ll attend to that as I see fit. Thank you, sister.” Nohta grinned in response and ground her front hooves together in a menacing display, eager to carry out my wishes.

Lily continued to grin, but otherwise recoiled as if I had wronged her. “Ooooh, ouch! I thought we were friends, Candy!”

I pursed my lips in a vain attempt to conceal the grin on my face and waggled a hoof dismissively in her direction, “Oh we are, Lily, by a certain definition. But now you have to make friends with my sister!” I couldn’t suppress the satisfied smirk that leapt across my features as I taunted her in my best impersonation of Nohta’s antagonizing sing-song tune. “Good luck!”

The “cave” turned out to be nothing more than a convenient recess in a tall outcropping of rock, deep enough to provide cover from the winds yet shallow enough that one never quite lost sight of the sky. The stratum jutted from the soil like a stalwart fortress far too proud to be hidden away in its little corner of desert. Judging by the ash pile and smattering of opened tin cans upon the thick stone slab and coarse soil that would serve as our sleeping space, this was a well known camping spot.

I had laid out my new bedroll in what I believed to be the prime sleeping location, absentmindedly stirring a bubbling brew at my side and flipping through the first few pages of the gifted teleportation tome that lay in front of me. The basics of the spell seemed easy enough to grasp; focus magic, concentrate on being somewhere else, release magic… Truly, I was already feeling confident enough to test it out despite Father’s many assurances that the spell was beyond complicated. But the pained grunts, gasping breaths, and occasional wet smack from bloody globs of spit hitting the ground just a few pony-lengths away were enough to convince me that I should save my strength. I’d have quite a lot of healing to do at any moment, just as soon as my violent companions came to their senses and abandoned their barbaric contest.

Nohta had shed her cloak, draping it over her saddlebags with her various weapons laid out on top of the fabric. Lily had likewise removed her blades and hat, laying them in a neat little pile alongside her revolver and rifle against the rock wall. I found myself rather intrigued by the way the blades had lost their indigo hue and assumed the bland color of grey steel as soon as they were no longer adorning her wings. Clearly there was more to the weapon than I had initially suspected. However, my eyes were quickly drawn to a clearing beyond our shelter as the sounds of fighting vied against the potion and spell book for my attention.

Nohta and Lily were, ah… in the zone as it were. I knew my sister loved fighting, and I had seen firsthoof how Lily had reveled in bloodshed, but I hadn’t imagined their little duel would drag on for the better part of an hour. Honestly I was surprised neither of them had simply fallen over due to exhaustion. The dust that had been stirred up by their scuffling hooves had matted and caked against their sweaty coats, leaving the both of them absolutely filthy. They were also both sporting angry bruises and welts from blows that hadn’t been dodged or blocked properly.

I suppose I should have just been thankful the two of them hadn’t actually been fighting, because I was quite sure I wouldn’t be able to pry them away from one another should their sparring match devolve into something more serious. As it was, I simply had to accept the fact that they were going to ignore my repeated pleas for them to stop before either of them got anything worse than a bloody lip.

The temperature had dropped a staggering amount with nightfall, allowing tiny wisps of steam to snake away from their manes and little puffs of breath to be illuminated in the moonlight. I scooted a little closer to my warm cookpot and sighed. Rolling my eyes, I called out to them once more, “Are the two of you going to be finished anytime soon? It is getting rather chilly, and I would appreciate a proper campfire!”

Nohta wiped a trickle of blood away from her grinning muzzle, never taking her eyes off of Lily. “Just a little bit longer, Sis. This is the tie-breaker!”

The dust was still settling as Lily licked her lips, no doubt getting a good taste of blood and dirt, and spat into the desert before grinning back at Nohta. “You’re not too bad. This is actually a lot of fun, kid.”

“I’m not a kid!”

“Oh, my bad. You’re just really short, got ya.”

“Alright, that’s it!”

“That’s what you said the last seven times, squirt!”

I shivered next to my potion, raising my voice in an attempt to hurry them along. “Hello! Cold!”

Nohta snorted and reared back on her hind legs, extending her forehooves in front of herself in one of the poses Mother had assumed so often during her daily training exercises. “Candy’s right. Quit stalling, feather-brain!”

Lily snickered behind a hoof, running her eyes up and down Nohta’s striped body. “You look ridiculous! What are you doing?”

Nohta scowled at her. “I… This is a zebra stance!”

Lily was still chortling under her breath as she mocked my sister with a dismissive wave of her blue hoof. “Right… Right… So why are you trying to fight like a zebra?”

“Uh…” Nohta raised an eyebrow as she stared at Lily, and pointed at herself with a hoof, “Duh.”

Lily’s wings rose above her as she cocked her head to the side and smirked. “Well there’s your problem, Short-Stack! You should stop trying to fight me like a zebra, and fight like a zony instead.”

“The fuck are you talking about, now?”

“Look… Zebras have a certain way of fighting.” Lily’s hoof gestured in all of our directions as she continued, “Unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi have different ways of fighting, too. But that cutie mark means you’re not a zebra, so why are you trying to limit yourself to fighting like one?” Nohta could only cock her head to the side in response.

Lily’s wings fluttered beside herself, blowing tiny clouds of dust away from her hooves. “You sure as shit don’t have a horn or wings, so that means you’ve got a little earth pony in you, right? Earth ponies are tough. They’re usually not all that fast, compared to me,” Lily’s grin grew as she complimented herself. “But they’re strong.” The black lines splayed across the left side of her face evened out as she set Nohta with a stern look. “You should be a lot stronger than this, kid. You’re holding back, like you think this is a fucking game or something.”

Lily took a step forward as every trace of mirth fled from her features. “People die out here every fucking day. All it takes is one bullet in the right place or a blade that’s just a little too quick for you to dodge.” Lily tapped the side of her face and gave Nohta a knowing look. “Guess you were too slow for that one, huh? You can’t ever go easy in a fight, because you only need to fuck up once.”

Nohta growled in response, “This is just a sparring match, dumb ass. You want to get hurt?”

Lily snorted before extending a wing in my direction, “Look at your sister. You think she can take care of herself out here? Fuck, I already know she can’t shoot for shit! How the hell is she gonna defend herself if we get killed?”

I wanted to say something about how beneficial S.A.T.S. had proven, or how I was sure my aim had improved since I left the Stable, but it would have just been an attempt to save face. At the time, I was nearly worthless with my pistol and only just attaining a real desire for proficiency with the device. Up until The Caravan I hadn’t imagined ever needing it for more than show. But now I was walking directly into harm’s way, and doing so willingly at that. I was still weak, but I had no intention of staying that way forever.

I had found a relative safety only by shielding myself with fighters more capable than I, all the while trying to drown out the insistent voice in the back of my mind nagging at me to do more. It was easy enough to allow myself to be delegated to the role of “healer,” but to be honest I couldn’t help but look forward to the next opportunity I’d have to, shall we say… fix a problem personally. Whether that urge came from a desire to prove myself to Lily, my wishes to give Nohta the revenge we both craved, or something deeper and darker within myself, I wasn’t sure. At any rate, the scrutiny of Nohta’s gaze stilled my tongue, and I allowed Lily to continue her uncomfortable reasoning.

“What if I was a raider, huh? Or one of those griffins? What if all I had to do to get to her was go through you?” Lily’s voice dipped low as she whispered, “There’s nopony around for miles out here. No one’s gonna come running no matter how much she screams.”

Nohta’s troubled eyes returned to Lily as the pegasus flared her wings and cocked her head, “Come at me like you mean it this time, Short-Stack. ‘Cause maybe I’m not just fucking around here. Maybe this is what I wanted.” Her eyes flashed a quick predatory glance in my direction, causing an icy chill to run down my back as my tail curled around my flank. My hoof found my lips as my thoughts raced. Wait… No, she wouldn’t… Would she?

A malicious grin crept over Lily’s face as she continued, “Maybe I was just trying to get the two of you away from town so I could—”

Nohta closed the distance between the two of them before I could even register she had moved, throwing a straight jab at Lily’s face that was neatly deflected with a sweeping motion of Lily’s foreleg. Nohta had thrown too much weight into the attack, leaving her off balance as Lily pivoted on a hind leg and turned to control Nohta’s motion.

Flaring her wings to maintain balance as she rose to her hind legs, Lily kicked out with her free foreleg and sharply smacked Nohta in the back of her head. My sister went face first into the ground, scrambling to her hooves in the rocky soil while Lily casually fluttered away on relaxed wing beats.

As Nohta turned back to the hovering Lily, I caught a glimpse of her face. She bore the same blazing hatred in her eyes I had witnessed just before she had slain the griffin.

Lily smirked and landed a good distance from her. “That’s bett—”

She didn’t get a chance to finish. Nohta was a blur of motion once again, the stripes on her coat seeming to blend together with the movements of her limbs. She galloped straight for Lily, kicking up little puffs of dust as she charged ahead with alarming alacrity. Lily reared back, as if she were going to meet Nohta’s charge head on, but a single flap of her wings sent Lily flying backward and swept a gigantic cloud of dust before her. The gust of cloying filth flew into my sister’s surprised face, and she was left coughing and clawing at her eyes in a desperate bid to see. Lily didn’t give her that opportunity.

She dove into the quickly dissipating cloud, her outstretched hoof connecting squarely with Nohta’s scarred cheek. My sister was knocked to the ground once more, scrabbling at the crud in her eyes as she coughed and grunted. Lily zipped upwards through the moonlight unbelievably fast, tucking her wings into her sides and rolling over in the air in a graceful arc. At the apex of her ascent she flipped head over hooves and plummeted out of the sky, dashing at my sister’s prone form while I stared on in wide-eyed trepidation.

Nohta twisted her body on the ground, staring through one glaring eye as her limbs struck out like lightning. In one smooth motion her fetlocks grappled with Lily’s legs and jerked hard on the pegasus’ limbs. Lily was caught in the trap before she could react, her own momentum used against her as Nohta’s quick actions slammed the pegasus into the ground beside her. The breath exploded out of Lily’s lungs as she landed on her back, her powerful wings looking incredibly delicate now that they were left flapping ineffectually in the dirt. Nohta had all the time she needed to scramble on top of her and pin Lily’s wings underneath her striped legs.

Memories of coming across Nohta’s scuffles in the hallways of the Stable flooded my mind as Nohta’s attacks devolved from elegant and practiced zebra styles to brutally powerful brawling. The first blow was quick, meant more to disorient than hurt. Lily’s head snapped back sharply against the soil as Nohta’s left hoof collided with her face. The stripes lining my sister’s body twisted as she retracted her hoof and raised her Pipbuck high above her head. Lily sucked in air, her dazed eyes regaining their focus, and barely succeeded in raising her own hooves to block the Pipbuck from hammering into her muzzle.

I had seen Nohta use this feint before! I was already rising from my bedroll, the words just on the tip of my tongue, but I was too slow. While Lily was thoroughly distracted by the Pipbuck grinding her hooves into her face, Nohta pressed her advantage and threw all of her considerable strength into a blow that caught Lily squarely in the ribs.

Lily yelped in pain as her body tensed underneath my sister. “Gah! Fuck! I give!”

“What?” Nohta paused, her hoof already lifted for a follow-up attack.

Lily’s hind legs kneaded at the loose soil as she tried to twist around. “I give! You win! Fuck, I think you broke my rib!”

I was on my hooves and trotting towards the both of them, carrying one of our few healing potions in my magical grasp. “Okay, that’s enough! Will the two of you please stop fighting now?”

Nohta leaned over the grunting pegasus, placing her lips just beside Lily’s bone-pierced ear and whispering quietly enough that I couldn’t hear her words. She pulled her hoof away from Lily’s face and stared coldly down at her.

Lily winced as she answered, shutting one eye tight in an agonized grimace, “Yeah… Yeah that’s cool. Won’t happen again, I promise.”

I finally reached the pair as Nohta clambered off of Lily’s prone form. My sister walked away without a word, making her way up one of the hills while I sat beside Lily and reached out with my spell.

Lily clutched her side as she watched my sister leave. Between shallow breaths she nodded at Nohta and spoke. “She’s stronger than she looks.”

I glanced in Nohta’s direction while I sat the potion on the ground. “She always has been. She takes after Mother much more than I do.” Little aches and pains had already bloomed across my body, their cries nothing more than dull background noise in comparison to a single excruciating note. I turned back to see the pained and pensive expression on Lily’s face that matched her labored breathing.

My brow furrowed as I regarded my new companion, “You wouldn’t really have done anything like what you were talking about, would you?”

She opened her eye in a shocked expression, momentarily forgetting her precarious condition as she tried to sit up. “What? No! Fuck no! Argh—” We both winced as her rib shrieked in protest, and my hoof quickly darted out to find her shoulder. I forced her to lay still while she continued to explain herself. “I just… ow… I needed to piss her off to see what she could do. She seemed really fucking protective of you, so…”

My tail curled around my haunch as I avoided Lily’s eyes, casting my gaze to the top of the hill where Nohta was staring at the relatively bright patch of clouds separating us from the moon. Lily’s voice adopted a soothing tone as she clutched her barrel and whispered. “I’d never… fuck, that smarts… I’m trying to be one of the good guys here!”

I gave her pleading eyes a sidelong glance before closing my own and concentrating on her ribcage. “It’s a small fracture, but nothing too serious.” I gingerly laid my hooves on her torso to keep her still, and tried to reassure her. “Try not to move, but don’t worry. I’ll have you back on your hooves shortly.”

“How do you—” Lily’s pierced ear flopped around erratically for a moment before she asked, “Are you sure it’s not broken?”

I arched an eyebrow and huffed, “Trust your doctor, Lily. I know what I’m doing.”

“Right, sorry, doctor knows best. It’s just,” Lily’s ear bobbed up and down as she winced. “Can you give me some Med-X or something? This hurts like a bitch.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh suck it up you big baby! What happened to all that boasting about not feeling pain from last night?”

“I was drunk! You can’t count that! Besides,” her pained grimace broke into a mischievous grin as she looked up at me. “You try getting your shit rocked in front of a girl you’re trying to impress. See how you like it.”

She was nothing if not persistent, I had to give her that. “You… are unbelievable. I could apply just a couple pounds of pressure to your rib and you’d be shrieking in agony! And what’s worse, I’m not entirely sure if that wouldn’t be warranted given what you just put Nohta through!”

The pointed tresses of her silvery-white mane splayed out on the ground as she rested her head and gazed up at the sky. With a small smile, she sighed, “No pain, no game.” I lifted a hoof to my temple as I shook my head at her words. Her absurdity was giving me a migraine.

“Besides,” she said, pushing out her bottom lip in a comical pout, “you wouldn’t really do anything like that, would you?”

The corner of my mouth curled upwards at how quickly she had reversed my words. “Keep testing me and you might find that the answer isn’t to your liking.”

Her face broke out in a wide grin as she chuckled, “Heh heh, oh—” But her mirth was abruptly interrupted by a stabbing pain that shot through her torso. “Oh shit, ow. Ow ow ow.”

I shook my head, and returned my hoof to her rib as I tried to wipe the smile from my face. “Try to stay still, Lily. This will only take a moment.”

Her head flopped back to the ground as I focused my magic, and her next words left her mouth as a breathy whisper. “Shit, I remember you said she could kick some ass,” she tilted her face to look me in the eye and continued, “but I didn’t think it’d be my ass that got kicked.”

My dying smile was reborn as a smirk as I pounced on the opportunity she had given me. “Your rib I can deal with, Lily. But I’m sorry, I don’t know how to heal your wounded pride.” The sharp echo of pain from her laughter was completely worth the little jab.

The look she gave me was… curious. Like a little mix of curious amusement and weary optimism. I could tell she wanted to speak, but for whatever reason she held her tongue. I raised an eyebrow at the expression, but quickly chastised myself for squandering time at a patient’s side.

The spell I was utilizing demanded my full attention. One slip up and she’d be left with a malformed bone in her side. I shut my eyes and spoke over the awkward silence, hoping she’d revert back to her normal behavior with a little ego boost. “My sister and I are in need of your counsel as much as we require your protection. The two of us haven’t even been outside our home for a month, and already we’ve nearly died several times; mainly on account of our ignorance of the local dangers.” I paused in my ministrations long enough to look her in the eye. “We need your help, Lily.”

“You need my help, babe.” I pursed my lips at the comment as her face resumed its default smirk. She nodded in my sister’s direction a moment later, “Nohta just needs to get in a few good scrapes and she should be fine. She’s got the basics already, but I think she’s just too worried about you getting hurt.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Well hopefully you’ll be able to allay her concerns rather than antagonizing her further?”

She snorted, “Yeah, I could probably try that. I am pretty awesome, huh?” I simply rolled my eyes and continued working the spell.

Furrowing her brow, she glanced between my horn and her side. “That feels really weird, by the way. How are you doing this without tools or potions or whatever?”

I wrinkled my nose as I shot her a quick glance. “Are you referring to Hydra? As if I would resort to such desperate measures for this little accident! I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly capable of healing a simple hairline fracture with my magic, thank you very much!” I sighed as memories of my training rushed back to me. “A procedure such as this was fairly commonplace in the Stable, after all.”

“Did you guys have like, pit fights or something down there?”

“As much as my sister would have absolutely loved that… no.” Magic poured through my horn as I explained. “The other doctors and I simply had to contend with an overabundance of patients due to our stable’s propensity for doling out injuries at every possible moment of inconvenience. The many faulty systems left us with no lack of opportunity to practice dealing with broken bones, burns, contusions, lacerations, the occasional case of mild chemical poisoning-”

She cut me off by shaking her head and grinning unapologetically. “You’re losing me, sugar.”

I took a deep breath, licked my lips, and steeled my nerves as I tried to explain. “Our stable was falling apart. Despite our maintenance team’s skill and incredibly taxing work schedule, they barely managed to keep it functionally habitable. We often had to resort to, er…” I scrunched up my nose as I remembered the lofty term one flustered repair pony had used years ago, “creative use of non-optimal materials’ to keep many of the systems running.”

The fracture had been reduced to a seam. I evened it out while I continued to elucidate. “And since two-century old pipes are not meant to be held together with duct tape, glued on scrap metal, and baling wire… And since I was one of only three doctors trying to keep hundreds of ponies healthy… I’ve been healing various forms of traumatic injuries since just a couple years after I got my glyph mark. Which,” I added, completely incapable of keeping the smug grin from my face, “I was first in my class to earn.”

I was expecting her to grin and brag about herself some more, possibly with some absurd story about how she had gotten her cutie mark earlier than first. Instead, she turned her head to stare off into the distance with a morose expression as she whispered. “You got your mark early too, huh?”

I removed my hooves from her side as I severed the magical bond, opening my mouth to apologize for inadvertently upsetting her. She kept speaking before I could get the words out. “Fuck, Candy… That,” She patted her hoof against her barrel experimentally, “...Huh, that doesn’t hurt at all.”

I nodded and gripped the unused healing potion in my levitation, stepping back to give her room to stand up. “The rib is still slightly weaker than before, so you’ll need to take care not to stress it too much. But it shouldn’t hinder your ability to walk.”

She rose to her hooves, stretching her wings wide at her sides. Her eyes shot open to match her wings as she quickly asked, “Can I fly? I can’t use my rifle if I can’t fly.”

I raised an eyebrow, “That… seems like a design flaw.”

She was quick to laugh off my incredulity, grinning wide like an excited school-filly as she talked about her weapon. “it’s an old zebra-model lever-action rifle. Got it from one of my tribe’s shaman after she went on and on about how she had blessed it or something. It’s a great weapon, way more powerful than my six-gun, but I gotta use two hooves to hold it, and I gotta fly to do that.” She shook her head as she added, “I don’t have your sister’s balance.”

“Well,” I began, “I wouldn’t recommend that you fly at all tonight. You can see how you feel tomorrow, but don’t strain yourself tonight.”

She cocked her head to the side and gave me a mischievous wink. “So… Take two Med-X and call you in the morning?”

“Two!? Goodness no! That would surely lead to an-” I caught myself when I noticed the cocky look on her face. “That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

She nodded, and gave her wing a slow experimental flap before she voiced her approval. “You’re really good at this doctor stuff, huh?” I brushed my mane out of my eyes as I simpered at the compliment. Her grin broadened as she gestured at me with a hoof. “Hey, there we go. You should smile more often. It’s pretty.”

I cleared my throat and hurried to conceal the blush on my face, my eyes landing on Nohta as I turned my head. “I believe that you should probably be quick about apologizing to my sister. You don’t want to allow her to stew over something for very long. Trust me.”

“Eh, I don’t know.” Lily rubbed her rib with a hoof as she glanced at my sister’s back. “She was pretty pissed. Letting her cool off for a couple more minutes couldn’t hurt.”

I nodded in acceptance. There was something else I wanted to ask her anyway. “You mentioned a shaman? Your tribe has zebras as well?”

“Oh totally! We got all kinds of folks. Mostly buffalo and pegasi, but we have a few dozen zebras, some earth ponies, couple of unicorns… There’s even Old Lady Palm Fronds. She’s practically a fossil of a minotaur, but she makes like, the best cinnamon rolls.”

Part of me was curious about how somepony that had no understanding of fish could grasp the concept of a fossil, but I held my tongue in favor of a much more relevant curiosity. “Are there… Is there anyone in your tribe like…” My hoof rose shakily to my chest as I gazed curiously at her.

She smirked and batted her lashes. “I got my first kiss from a colt with stripes on his wings.”

Ugh! Did she have to be so… persistent? I quickly averted my gaze and changed the subject. “What did my sister say to you?”

“Uh… Heh. I don’t think you wanna know.”

I turned back to see her face twisted in worry and doubt. “Lily?”

A pained grimace was curling the black swirls on the left side of her face as she tried to avoid the topic. “I’d… rather not say.” She continued to dawdle pointlessly, scratching at the loose soil with a hoof while I pursed my lips and stared her down.

When she finally relented, her voice was anxious, like a filly that was frightened to fess up for stealing from the cookie jar. She rubbed her leg and winced as she whispered, “Threaten Candy again and I’ll kill you.”

My hoof met my temple as I sighed. “Oh for the love of…” Pointing to the top of the hill, I continued, “Go. Apologize to her now before she has a chance to work herself up over this. I don’t want the two of you to be at each other’s throats for this entire trip.”

“Right.” Lily turned to solemnly trudge up the hill, yelling ahead of herself. “Hey, Short-Sta—” She paused, shook her head, and corrected herself. “Er… Hey Nohta!”

I shook my head at their antics, lamenting that I was destined to be the voice of maturity once again, and turned back to our little campsite. The brew in my pot had spoiled from overcooking, and was giving off a burnt odor.

Disappointed that I had just wasted several precious herbs and a fair bit of time, I sighed and emptied the cookpot on the ground near some desert greenery. The runny goop was quickly soaked up by the thirsty soil, seeping down into the earth to make contact with the root structure of a nearby saguaro cactus. The poor plant was immediately stricken with an awful cough, hacked most of its spines off, shook its arms at me in outrage, and fell over in a sudden and pitiful death.

No, I didn’t make that up. It really happened!

I was understandably confused by the vehement outburst, but the damage had already been done. I eyed what was left of my newly discovered cactus-killing-concoction with a weary expression, giving it a tentative sniff as I wondered what hellish brew I had inadvertently crafted. Some potions are harder to make than others, and if you aren’t careful the ingredients just don’t mix properly.

The dried shrubs and twigs that Nohta and Lily gathered in the moonlight were soon fueling a healthy flame. I had managed to sneak away and shrug off my leather barding while my two companions were otherwise occupied, and was now simply enjoying how the heat of the fire washed over my body. The low howls of wildlife and the occasional report of distant gunfire joined the crackling and popping of the wood, but a full belly and a comfortable sleeping bag did wonders to allay my concerns.

For once I didn’t feel like reading, and was content to simply lay in the soft fabric by the fire and allow my mind to drift. Nohta and Lily had joined me beside the flame, though Lily’s occasional wince and Nohta’s guarded squinting in her direction left me curious as to how much rest either of them would actually get that night.

After Lily lit the brush she had pulled out a cigarette and reclined against the rock wall, allowing the tobacco smoke to lazily climb up the side of her face and roll past the brim of her hat while she sipped from a bottle of whiskey. She hadn’t yet replaced her blades, instead opting to cautiously stretch her wing and leg in order to test her injury. Every so often a puff of smoke would billow through her nostrils as she shook her head and tittered quietly to herself.

The siren call of turning pages called my attention back to my sister. Nohta had purloined Mother’s book while I wasn’t looking, and was reading quietly in her bedroll. Despite my concern for her well being, she repeatedly groaned and told me to stop fussing about how the low level of light would ruin her eyes. Rather than the liquor favored by our indigo companion, my sister was drinking water; a decision I was quite grateful for when she finally got fed up with my insistent pleas and threw the empty bottle at my head. The lightweight plastic bounced off my horn and rolled along the stone slab while Lily laughed boisterously at the two of us.

My sister was as stubborn as a mule! I rolled my eyes and gave up after saving the plastic bottle from the open flame. Lightly prodding the stuffing in my pillow, I lay on my stomach in my new bedroll beside the fire and resigned myself to trying to catch some shut-eye while the opportunity presented itself. Lily, of course, had other plans.

The bottle of whiskey thunked against the rock as she wiped her muzzle and grinned. “So that’s a hell of a kick you’ve got.”

My tail swished over the bedroll as I shot her a warning glance. “Lily, be nice.”

She pulled the brim of her hat back, openly displaying her tribal markings in the firelight as she grinned in my direction. “This is me being nice! I’m just trying to figure out how such a short gal from a stable got such a mean left hook.” I raised an eyebrow at that, and she raised her hooves in front of herself before continuing. “It’s a compliment! Really! She’s good!”

Nohta’s voice was reserved as she glanced over the pages of Mother’s book. “You really want to know?”

Lily snatched up her bottle of whiskey and raised a toast in my sister’s direction, beaming all the while. “Campfires are made for stories. Let’s hear it.”

I groaned into my pillow. “Oh please, don’t get her started.”

Nohta gently folded the book closed and smirked maliciously over the flames, speaking slowly in an attempt to give her words impact. “Two black eyes, three missing teeth, one dislocated shoulder, one broken jaw, a broken nose, and a chipped horn.” I rolled my eyes. Of course she would have the details memorized...

“Uh… but you don’t have a horn.” Lily pointed out the obvious before taking another pull from her whiskey.

Nohta shook her head once before continuing, “Those were the other five guys. I got a bloody lip, a few good bruises, an epic black eye... and my cutie mark.” My sister’s hoof swept over her flank, putting her tornado on display.

Lily craned her neck to see past the fire, and nodded appreciatively. “Five on one? Nice.”

“Please don’t encourage her, Lily,” I huffed.

Lily scrunched up her face as she inhaled. A plume of smoke wafted towards the flames as she replied, “What? Fighting might not be all proper or decent or whatever underground, but up here that’s cool. And with odds like that? Kick ass, kid!”

My head rose from the pillow as I gave her a stern look. “Flying off the handle because of one foalish insult isn’t proper, decent, or… ugh, cool. It’s immature.” I lifted my hoof and thumped it against the fabric of the bedroll, only to be disappointed in the fairly anemic sound produced by the gesture. “Those little heathens were trying to upset her and she gave in to it!”

“Oh stop acting all indignant, Sis.” I turned to find Nohta rolling her eyes at me. “You looked like you were ready to do the same thing after I told you what they said.” She did have a fair point. I lowered my head back to my pillow, using the soft foam padding to muffle my grumbles.

Lily took another sip of whiskey before setting the bottle down. “So what’d they say?” She grinned awkwardly and patted her barrel at Nohta’s dangerously raised eyebrow. “You know, just in case I ever feel like I need another busted rib.”

Reaching towards her packs, Nohta procured one of Mother’s horseshoes. She held it between her hooves, spinning it around to inspect the metal while she explained. “Mom had just come back sick from The Caravan. They called her a ‘filthy stripe.’ Said she deserved what she got.”

“Note to self…” Another plume of smoke drifted out of Lily’s grinning mouth as she continued. “Seriously though, I’d have done the same thing. Someone insults my folks and they get what’s coming to ‘em. Good on you.”

I fiddled with my Pipbuck, unable to look Lily in the eyes as I muttered, “You wouldn’t be saying that if you were the one that had to heal all of those injuries…”

“Aww boo hoo. So you had a little more work to do.” Coarse soil scratched at the whiskey bottle as Lily lifted it once again. “What’s the big deal?”

I pursed my lips. If she honestly didn’t understand then I’d tell her! “The ‘big deal’ is that—”

“Candy felt all of it too.” Nohta’s hard voice cut me off.

Lily paused halfway through raising her bottle to her lips. “What?”

Nohta fitted the brass shoe onto one of her hooves absentmindedly while she spoke. “That’s how her magic works. She feels how you hurt just like she got hurt the same way. Then she knows how to fix you.”

Lily’s eyes darted to my own, and I felt myself shriveling under her scrutiny. Her face twisted in an apologetic and confused grimace as she whispered, “You didn’t tell me that.”

My hooves hugged the pillow closer to my face as I avoided her eyes. “I didn’t think it was important.”

“The Overmare decided that the best course of ‘corrective action’ was to make me watch Candy heal the other colts and fillies,” Nohta continued a moment later. I was grateful that Lily’s attention wasn’t on me anymore, but I couldn’t help but wish the subject were more cheerful. “Dad or Pearl could have done it just fine, but that bitch insisted on Candy doing it.” Nohta ground her shod hoof into the stone, obliterating tiny rocks into nothing more than chalky powder as she spoke. “Dad and I had to watch her suffer for what I had done.”

The last thing I wanted that night was a sulking little sister. I raised my head to steer the conversation down a less volatile path. “I never was able to convince Father to translate what he said to her after that. It must have been truly awful.”

“He was always doing that. He’d never cuss in Equestrian; only in Fancy.” Nohta snorted as a wry smile contorted her scar, and put her brass weapon back in her packs. “It was like he was trying to protect our oh-so-sensitive ears or something.”

“Yeah.” A weak smile graced my lips as memories of Father flitted through my mind. “He was always trying to protect us.” By teaching us, by arming us, by telling us to run…

Nohta’s agonized grimace matched her voice as she continued, “I still feel bad about that, Sis. I got my mark and you had to pay for it.”

“Oh… I’ve been through worse, darling,” I shrugged, hoping to put her at ease. I reached out a hoof to her and put on the best smile I could muster. “If nothing else, it was worth it to see the look on your face when Father stole the recording from security later that day.”

“Oh yeah! When he rigged up that terminal and we watched the fight again with Mom in the clinic? And then she started giving me pointers?” She was smiling. By The Goddess, she was smiling! How long had it been since I had seen her happy?

A completely undignified noise of pure bliss reminded my sister and I that we weren’t alone. “D’awww. You two are so adorable! When I heard I was gonna be working with a couple of sisters I thought I’d get to see a lot more sibling fights, but you two are just so cute!”

Nohta recoiled from my hoof, glaring daggers over the flames at our gently swaying companion. I, too, shot a stern look at our newest comrade, but quickly rearranged my features to give her a mocking grin. “Oh, we certainly have our disagreements, Lily. But we’re much too smart to fall for bait like that.” Nohta and I shared one more quick glance before we both nodded primly in agreement. Lily clutched her liquor and chuckled in resigned defeat, and that was good enough for me.

Nohta though, she always liked to push her advantage. My sister dredged up a tiny fraction of her powers, letting loose with her exasperating tone. “Alright feather-brain, you got my cutie mark story so let’s hear yours. What’s the deal with your pansy-ass flower?”

The bottle of whiskey stopped just before the glass brushed against Lily’s lips. Giving a weak smile, she stared down the neck of the bottle and whispered, “Thunderhooves put them on the graves of our dead.”

An awkward silence descended over our camp before Lily addressed my sister and I. “You’re good at fighting. And you’re good at healing.” She took a healthy swig from her bottle, sighing quietly before whispering, “I earned my mark by putting ponies in the ground.”

Revulsion and concern twisted together in my gut like a knife. “Lily… that’s...”

Lily shook her head and chuckled, staring me down. “I’ve got a reputation as the best merc in this desert for a reason, babe.” Holding her bottle in front of her, she gazed into the flames and explained. “When you need somepony really fucking dead, you go to Lily Belle. Just as long as they deserve it, she’ll take the job.” A quick snort of wry laughter matched the forlorn smile on her face. “Fuck… sometimes she doesn’t even charge you.” She took another drink before cradling the bottle between her hooves and barrel. “Maybe I’ll give you two the whole story some other time. That’s not something I like to talk about with just anyone.”

Nohta’s voice was tinged with annoyance. “We can pay you. For the job, I mean. It’s not like we’re a charity case.”

Lily chuckled in response, “No you can’t. Some of the bullets I use cost about ten caps each. And Candy already let slip that you guys were broke.” She shook her head again, her hoof gently brushing against the wing-blades lying on her saddlebags. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not here for money. I’m here for blood.”

My brow furrowed as I contemplated her words. I couldn’t comprehend how she could be so cheerful. I had devoted my entire life thus far to saving lives, and I was a near-constant wreck of emotional distress. Yet she… She laughed so easily! I had only seen her take a hoof-full of topics seriously, and nearly every one of them had involved killing; an act I had once thought completely taboo. Had I not remembered a few acts of kindness, or how eager she had been to assist me, I would have thought her completely callous—a husk of a mare broken by the hardships of living with the wasteland and taking pleasure through the suffering of others.

But there was something more to her than all that. I suppose there is in each of us, really. If ponies were to judge you or I based solely off of our actions, I imagine the accusations would be harsh indeed. Without the proper context, one can never truly understand the motivations of another. And with that context, even the most callous or self-serving of actions can be seen as an act of overwhelming kindness and generosity. Or at least, that’s how I’m hoping you’ll see all of this.

An unexpected yawn reminded me of the lateness of the evening. “Well, on that cheery note…” I trailed off, peeking first at the clouded sky and then at the digital clock in my Pipbuck. I sighed when I saw the little white numbers. “It is getting rather late. We’ll need our rest for the long walk ahead of us tomorrow.”

“True that. We’ve got a ways to go.” Lily screwed the cap back on her whiskey and placed it inside her packs. Taking one final puff from her cigarette, she threw what was left of it into the flames and slid into her own sleeping bag. She smirked at me as she zipped herself in, “I really hope you guys don’t snore.”

“I don’t, but Candy does.” Nohta had rolled on her side, facing away from me, but I was sure that I could hear the evil smirk on her face.

My jaw dropped. “Nohta! No I don’t!”

Lily rolled onto her stomach and pulled her hat over her eyes. “Oh great… and it’s too late to go back to Mareon for ear plugs…”

“Lily!” I was clearly the easy target here. Something that didn’t bode well for how the next few days would play out.

I made sure I had placed all my things back in my packs and snuggled into my bedroll, wondering for the first time whether it was a good idea to be in the company of a pony whose special talent was killing. What was there to separate a mare like that from a raider? Her cutie-mark was a flower, a far more visually pleasing symbol than some of the other marks I had seen in the wasteland for sure, but still… if it represented the same thing… Who exactly was I sharing a campfire with?

I nestled my cheek against the pillow, as close an approximation to shaking my head as I could muster, and tried to remember the happier times in my life. The times in the Stable when Nohta and I were still little. When Mother and Father were still with us. When the worst thing I had to worry about was an off comment spoken in a hushed voice, or news about Nohta’s latest scuffle with underaged ruffians.

What came next was rather disorienting. Dreams often can be, but for reasons I didn’t comprehend this one felt… forced. It is natural to slip into the comforting waters of slumber peacefully, or even eagerly. It is not natural to feel as if one has thrown you over the side of the boat and left you to drown in memory. I believe I should communicate this moment to you exactly as it occurred, as it is rather important to the both of us. You’ll understand shortly, I’m sure.

I’m in the Stable again, but the walls are taller than I remember. My world is hazy, and the edges of my vision ripple like oily smoke. The ceiling lights are far enough away that I can’t feel their heat upon my mane. I’m… naked. Why am I naked? I should be wearing my labcoat. Where is my Pipbuck? Wait… Who’s laughing?

I turn to see a small beige face locked in a furious glare… Caramel, my closest friend, is between me and a miniature gang of miscreants. She’s telling them to leave me alone. She’s trying to stand up for me. She’s so tiny… Why am I being simultaneously accosted and defended by foals? Why does my height match theirs?

A rough smack sends her to the floor. Spicy is older than her, and his hooves are hard. A trickle of blood dribbles down her muzzle. She cries out, telling me to run. Run… The simplest of commands… The one we always regret… But they’ll leave her alone if they’re chasing me.

I am a filly locked inside a dream, and I am running. I don’t dare to imagine the fate waiting for me should I stop. My hooves beat upon the cold steel floors; four little panicked beats that perfectly match the rhythm of my racing heart. I’m scared. The small herd jeers behind me. Cruel names and crueler promises shouted by excited colts. I glance over my shoulder to see Spicy Salsa leading the pack. Memory begins to replace confusion.

I’m seeing… Goddess, of course I was seeing that day. Lily and Nohta were just discussing it…

They called themselves “The Cave Eels.” A long-standing nuisance within the Stable’s walls, with newer and younger members constantly replacing those ponies who had outgrown their pitiful little gang. Despite their vehement claims to the opposite, they most certainly did not “rule.”

Their taunts and jests have turned violent. They are no longer content to simply hurl insults and amuse themselves with my tears. They mean to hurt me.

Running. The lights flash past. Why are there no adults!? There is always an adult! Seeking refuge, I turn down a hallway and open the door.

The door. Not the giant, fallen cog that was Stable 76’s Stable Door. No. This one was much more important. This was the door to the cafeteria.

Oh, hush. I didn’t mean it like that.

That door changed my life when I was a filly, running from a foalish coalition of thugs and bullies. That same door saved my life when I was a mare, buying my sister and I precious seconds to collect our wits as we ran from The Pyro’s gang. It was only then, as I was still slipping into the cloudy haze of sleeping memory, that I realized how much of an impact a single and incredibly mundane object has had on my life. I couldn’t help but dwell on that slab of steel as I accepted where the dream was leading me. I soon felt the last vestiges of consciousness fade away as I slipped fully into Luna’s chosen realm.

I hurry through the door, panting and out of breath. There are ponies in the cafeteria; mares and stallions. They can help me! They turn their heads at my entrance, and I feel a glimmer of hope. My troubles are gone! I’m safe! The ponies resume stuffing their faces and droning on about their boring days, heedless of my cries for assistance. I stomp my hooves and yell, vying for their attention. Their faces scrunch up in the placating expression of adults far too familiar with the tiresome antics of the little.

Tiny hooves beat against the floor just behind me. The click of a button precedes a whooshing noise. An electric crackle and pop mingles horribly with the clinking of utensils on plates.

A single face, blurred by memory, yells through a mouthful of noodles, “Get away from the door!”

Mechanical malfunction… A common occurrence in 76. Even as a filly, I knew the meaning of those words. It meant somepony was about to get hurt.

I hear the thick steel plate crash down a second later, ancient gears and rusted safety locks snapping like dry twigs under multiple tons of hydraulic pressure. The deafening screech of metal biting into metal like a nightmarish beast’s maw clamping down just behind me. And then… silence.

I hear an agonized scream coming from a familiar voice. Not an amused taunt or a contemptuous joke, but a truly horrendous screech of agony The rest of the expressions in front of me transition from bored to shocked as forks and spoons clatter to the floor. I turn to see Spicy being crushed; his eyes bulging in terror and anguish.

I blink once, processing this turn of events. Something tugs at both my hooves and my heart, and I run back to the door. I don’t think because I already know. I don’t wait because there is no time. I feel because that’s the only thing that makes sense. Something surges in my chest, bubbling up from my core to rise behind my eyes and leap into my horn. I seize hold of that sensation, my reaction coming as easily as breathing, and I cast a spell.

My horn flares scarlet, working a magic I’ve never known before. It doesn’t trickle. It doesn’t pour. It gushes. There is a rampaging river of energy cascading through my horn. For one moment I feel as if all the magic in all the world is being channeled through my being. I… can’t control it. It controls me.

Blood-red light floods my vision, painting the world in a thick blanket of crimson effulgence. Where is all this coming from!? What am I doing!? I slam my tiny hooves into the emergency latch, heaving my panicked body against unfeeling steel in a vain bid to set Spicy free. I scream as I hopelessly exert myself. The spell connects, and for the very first time, I truly know another. My spell makes the unthinkable happen. I become we.

The tingle of magic floods our body as we lie prone on the floor. Magic rushes through our horn as we stand upright and wrestle with the latch. Our back is being crushed! It hurts so much! Tears run down our face. We can’t feel our hooves! Our other’s hooves keep pushing and shoving. We keep fighting against the door. Our mouth fills with warm, wet copper. Desperation fills us. We use all our strength; more than we knew we had. The door’s emergency latch activates. The door relents and rises with a reluctant hiss as the beast is denied its meal.

Pain! It hurts! Oh Goddess, please make it stop! The red fades to grey. No! Luna wait! Sounds become distant. Not like this! One of our heartbeats slows and grows weaker. We begin to stretch apart. The threads fray. The rope clings by a single strand. We sink into the abyss, and the gentle leviathan of death stirs in the deep.

No! We’re not ready! Not like this! Not so soon! We dive into the void, trying to reach our other. We will not let this happen! We can stop this! We… We have to! We struggle against the tide, tumbling helplessly in the undertow, but we find our other in the dark. We cling to ourselves. We don’t know what we’re doing. We fight to hold on. We embrace our other as the deep crushes us both And then… we remember warmth, and forsake the cold. One candle lights another. We choose to live.

My consciousness slams back into a single skull as my brain tries its very best to leak out of my ears. My magic sputters and dies. I recast the spell, but I can’t muster the raw strength of my first attempt. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never heard of a spell like this! Spicy’s heart beats again in my chest, and I feel his blood trickle over my lips. He moans in agony, and I feel his wet voice reverberate through my throat. I sweep my mind over his body. His bones are broken. His insides are crushed. He’s bleeding on the inside, he can’t feel his back hooves, his lungs are collapsed and filled with blood… How do I know these things? This doesn’t make sense!

I feel it all. It hurts… SO much! I have to make it better! Have to make it right! I have to fix this! The spell helps me. I don’t know what I’m doing. I shouldn’t be able to do these things! No one should be able to do these things!

I mend the bones, stop the bleeding, reconnect and fuse the nerves, heal the organs… But how? I’m just a filly… How am I doing all of… Why am I so tired?

I slump over on the cold floor, collapsing from exertion as my face lands in a shallow pool of still-warm blood. Only now do I hear the excited yelling; the panicked screaming. Only now do I see the colorful ponies running and shouting, unsure of what to do. Only now do I notice the oily shadows rippling through the world…

Through the encroaching darkness I see Spicy lying beside me, his eyes open and blood still in his mouth. His eyes turn to me, close enough and wide enough that I can see my reflection in his pupils. Spicy isn’t confused like I am. He isn’t grateful or ecstatic or even mesmerized.

He is afraid.

The inky black consumes my vision and permeates my mind. “Candy…” A voice in the dark calls my name. “Candy? Sweetheart, can you hear me?” My eyes flutter, but do not open. I feel… small. And weak. It is all I can manage to listen to the familiar voice. I reach for the sound, but my hooves might as well be clutching smoke and vapor.

“F-Father…” I try to shake the confusion from my… from my… What’s the word? I’m so tired… “D-Daddy?”

“Can—” The voice fades in and out like a wave, too quiet for me to hear all the words. “—right here. Everything will be…” I can’t hear anymore. It’s too quiet.

I want to wake up.

I open my eyes. The clock on the wall tells me that hours have passed. I know because it’s past my bedtime. I’m in Daddy’s clinic, lying on my side in one of the beds. Everything is… fuzzy. I’m really tired, but I don’t know why.

There are ponies arguing and shouting. I recognize the red one as Spicy’s dad. But Daddy is here, too. He’ll help! He’ll make it better! Daddy can fix anything!

He’s standing in front of me, blocking my view of the other ponies. Why is he doing that? I want to see! Daddy staggers backwards, bumping into my bed. He looks back at me quickly, and I see the blood on his lips. It’s dripping to the floor and staining the bedsheets. Spicy’s father just… hit him? Why are they fighting? Daddy’s horn glows, sending a bright blue light across the white walls. His laser gun jumps out of his holster as he turns back to Spicy’s dad. Daddy looks angry.

The Overmare and two stallions in funny looking black armor walk into the clinic. There’s more shouting and more yelling. One of the security ponies raises his club. The door opens, and then everypony gets really quiet.

Mommy steps into the room. She looks angry too. She’s wearing her cloak. She speaks to the room, but I think she’s only talking to Daddy. “Who is threatening my daughter? What is going on?”

Daddy answers her in that funny way he talks sometimes, but doesn’t take his gun away from the red stallion’s neck. “Je suis dans la merde, mon chère.”

Mommy moves into the room. The ponies back away from her, but they look angry. The clink of Mommy’s horseshoes echoes off the walls. She walks over to me, smiles, and whispers into my ear, “Be still little one. You have made your father and I very proud of you.” I giggle when her breath tickles my ear.

One of the stallions is angry, “That little abomination nearly killed a foal!”

Mommy’s face gets sad. She kisses my forehead and turns around, tapping the small pistol sticking out of one of her pockets. “You speak in ignorance, yet you should watch your tongue. Or should I add to my notches, another one?” Uh oh… Mommy only rhymes when she’s upset…

The Overmare doesn’t look happy, “Enough! I’m having enough trouble trying to eke out the details of what happened without several of my little ponies… and my little zebra… trying to tear each other’s throats out! Dream Chaser! Lower your weapon and release Cayenne at once!”

Daddy’s pistol is still under Spicy’s father’s jaw. Daddy glances to Mommy.

“Your little zebra?’ Do my ears deceive?” Mommy talks to the Overmare, “If not, then tell these fools they need to leave.”

The same angry security stallion glares at Mommy underneath his funny looking helmet. “You’re interfering with official security business, stripe. You don’t get to decide what happens here. I ought to teach you a lesson in authority right now.”

“If you believe you are made of sterner stuff…” Mommy’s head tilts towards the security pony, and a glint of metal shows by her hoof when she stomps her leg on the floor. “But by now, I believe I have had enough.” Something sharp on Mommy’s leg is scratching against the tile as she narrows her eyes and speaks. “I will not keep you from testing your luck. Truly, at this point I don’t give a—”

“Nadira,” Daddy cuts her off, “Candy’s right here.” That’s not fair! If I ever interrupt Mommy she just gets upset!

The room is really scary right now! I know Mommy told me to stay still but I just want to hide. The Overmare looks almost as scared as I am, but everypony calms down a little when Mommy looks back to me and nods at Daddy.

Mommy takes a deep breath before she talks again. “Then please forgive my alarm and my threatening anger,” she shakes her head slowly as she continues, “But I’ll stay until my daughter is not in danger.”

Cayenne still isn’t happy. He’s yelling again, “Your little bitch nearly killed my son!”

“Ferme ta putain de gueule.” Daddy doesn’t yell, but his voice is more scary because he seems so quiet. “Do you have any idea what a Trottz 1000 can do to exposed flesh at this range? Insult my daughter one more time and you’ll have to be swept up with a broom.”

The Overmare’s mouth drops, “Dream Chaser! You can’t be serious!”

Daddy’s blood is dripping off of his blue muzzle, but he doesn’t wipe it away. “My family is the most precious thing in this entire stable. I’ll not stand idly by while this… this… pièce ingrate de merde threatens my firstborn!”

The Overmare’s eyes move between Mommy, Daddy, and Cayenne really fast. “Cayenne, back away slowly. Dream Chaser has the right to protect his daughter.”

Cayenne’s eyes meet my own. He looks angry. And not angry like when Mommy caught me drinking Sparkle-Cola after my bedtime angry. Cayenne looks… scary. His teeth are grinding together as he growls at me. “His daughter is the one that hurt my son!”

The Overmare stomps a green hoof on the ground and yells, “And what would you do if that were the case? Hmm? Harm a child?” Cayenne’s mouth opens a little bit while his ears droop, and his eyes wander around the room. He decides to glare at Daddy instead of me. I don’t think he’s having a good day.

The Overmare waits for a second. Everypony gets really quiet, and she keeps talking. “That’s not what the initial reports are telling me, anyway. I need more time to figure out exactly what happened, and as long as this situation is still inflamed you’re keeping me from doing exactly that.”

She turns back to Daddy, “And right now I don’t think I can trust you to help little Spicy.”

Daddy is surprised enough to let his weird little gun dip a little bit before he catches it. “What!? I’d never hurt a foal! That’s just barbaric!”

The Overmare shakes her head and swishes her pretty white tail, “This is not up for discussion! You can look after your own daughter, but Dr. Patches or Dr. Grey will be healing Spicy Salsa.” The Overmare looks around the room, just like Daddy does when he can’t find his favorite book. “Where is Dr. Grey?”

Mommy answers, speaking slowly. “Pearl is busy watching little Nohta. I couldn’t leave her alone while I was busy… defusing this situation.”

Cayenne snorts and and sneers at Mommy. “Defuse the situation? The striped bitch? Right… you’ll try to defuse it… when Luna bows to the sun.”

Daddy is getting angry again. I can tell because he’s speaking very softly. “Get out of my clinic. I won’t say it again.”

Cayenne looks really really angry, but turns to leave. Daddy puts his gun back in its place on his leg and turns to me, “It’s okay, Candy. Everything is going to be okay.”

Cayenne turns around. He’s breathing really heavy, but I don’t know why. He charges at Daddy, but Daddy doesn’t see him because he’s sitting next to my bed. Oh no!

A black blur moves in front of Cayenne. Mommy stopped him. Mommy is fast!

Cayenne’s hoof is pinned against the cabinets by Mommy’s hoof. There are little cracks in the wood behind his leg that look like spiderwebs. I hate spiders because they’re icky. Mommy’s other hoof is by his neck. Something sharp-looking is attached to her Pipbuck, with a glowing pink goop dripping off of it. Cayenne looks scared. Everypony is staring at her and Cayenne, and the security ponies are trying to grab their weapons, but Mommy and Cayenne are being really still.

Mommy’s voice is so quiet I have trouble hearing her. “Thirty-six minutes. Each one a lifetime of pain. Nothing could save you.” What’s Mommy talking about? I’ve never seen her get this mad!

Cayenne is yelling again, “You bitch! You broke my hoof!”

Mommy’s eyes are scary as she talks again, just a little louder. “I’ve killed better ponies for less than this. Do not mistake my mercy for weakness.”

The Overmare’s eyes are wide as she shouts. “Nadira! Let him go this instant!”

Mommy grinds her hoof against Cayenne’s leg. “You might live through my blade slitting your throat. But Pink Kiss has only one antidote.”

“NADIRA!” The Overmare is screaming now! I cover my eyes with my hooves, but I peek just in case I need to watch.

Mommy shoves Cayenne away. Cayenne stumbles backwards, sniffling and holding his leg. One of the other stallions holds him up as he limps towards the door, but the Overmare isn’t happy with him.

She’s yelling at him, and she sounds really angry! “Cayenne, you foal! We only have so many doctors in this stable! What do you hope to gain by assaulting one of them?”

Daddy looks back to me and wipes the blood off of his chin. Daddy’s already been attacked.

I sit up and brush a hoof against his face. “Daddy? You’re hurt.”

The room is quiet again. I think everyone is looking at me, but I’m only paying attention to Daddy’s face. My horn lights up. This magic is so easy! I can feel Daddy’s lip like it’s my own. It’s split. I don’t have to do much. I just mend the cut, and Daddy’s all better.

Daddy’s eyes are wide. It looks like he’s about to start crying. “Candy… By The Goddess… “ His clean hoof pulls me into a hug. Daddy hugs are the best!

The Overmare is glaring at Daddy, but she talks to the other ponies instead. “Leave us. All of you. I need to speak with them alone.” She keeps looking at Daddy as she adds, “And close the door behind you.”

“Ma’am?” A security stallion gets a really mean look from the Overmare and mumbles quickly while he and the other guard pony help Cayenne out of the room. “Er, yes Ma’am.” The door whooshes shut behind them.

The Overmare sounds frustrated, “Dream Chaser, Nadira… Work with me here, will you? I’m trying my best to keep the peace. I am. But these incidents have got to stop!”

Mommy turns to her. Mommy’s lips are just a thin line on her pretty face, but she doesn’t sound too angry anymore. “If the ponies of this stable would simply let go of their hatred, they might find that I can be quite amicable.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” The Overmare speaks softly to Mommy, “Dust has informed me of how generous and capable you have proven yourself in The Caravan, and most of the regular members of the expeditions have vouched for you as well.” The Overmare’s voice gets rougher as she continues, “But The Caravan is only one part of life in Stable 76! I can’t keep trying to bend the rules for you two! You’re going to have to let go of some of your pride.” The Overmare shakes her head and keeps talking. “Nadira… you can’t be threatening everypony, or worse, every time one of them makes an off comment.”

Mommy opens her mouth to say something, but the Overmare keeps going. She talks a lot!
“I’m not saying that what they’re doing is okay. I’ll try to speak to them about it.” She takes a step towards Mommy. Not many ponies will do that after Mommy gets angry! “But Nadira, surely you must realize… You’re scaring us with how you react to insults.”

Mommy finally gets a chance to speak, and she doesn’t sound happy when she does. “Insults? Insults!? You call threatening the life of my eldest daughter an insult? It is a fair bit more than that!” I don’t like it when Mommy yells, but I’m sure she’s right because she’s Mommy.

The Overmare shakes her head, “What Cayenne did was unquestionably wrong, Nadira! You’ll find no argument from me on that matter. But the reason he was driven to that point was because of how the Stable feels about you. I’m sorry, but… you’re proving to be a rather heavy burden to accommodate.”

Daddy turns away from me. “What are you saying, Wintergreen?”

The Overmare says a lot of words very quickly. “I’m not saying anything other than trying to remind and warn you of the likely continued and ever increasing repercussions of your attitude towards, and treatment of, the rest of the Stable’s population.” She sighs and turns towards the door. “I have a Stable to calm down and gossip to quell. Tend to your family Dream. We’ll speak in The Temple later.” The door to the clinic opens and closes behind her. It’s just Mommy, Daddy, and me now.

Mommy turns back to Daddy, “I am not as accustomed to the social mores of this stable as you are. Did she just threaten me?”

Daddy looks confused and scared. He starts talking to himself while shaking his head. “I… I don’t know. Possibly? Would she do that? We’re both in the… She knows about… “

Mommy holds a hoof to Daddy’s lips, “Calm down, Dream. We can sort this out. It is the height of stupidity to openly threaten an assassin. Surely the comment was meant to be taken at face value.”

Mommy keeps talking after she lowers her hoof. “But just in case it was not, perhaps we should seek temporary refuge in Mareon? We can stay there for some time while Candy and Nohta gain the years necessary for travel on the road. Afterwards we could seek out my family?”

Daddy shakes his head, “I’d be just as distrusted there as you are here, love. And there’s no telling how they might feel about Candy and Nohta.”

“Then we shall stay in Mareon permanently?”

“Mareon? That junkyard? There are a few decent ponies there, but… I don’t think they’d be very welcoming of you either. Not with their history.” Daddy glances back to me before he continues. “And I’d be worried about the girls if we stayed there for too long. They wouldn’t get an education in anything other than fighting the other foals in the town.”

Mommy frowns, “Then we are forced to stay here. Where I am reviled by most and feared by nearly all.”

Daddy’s ears lie flat against his head. I don’t like it when he looks like that. He looks sad and angry all at the same time. “You don’t deserve this treatment, Nadira. And neither do Candy or Nohta.” Daddy looks angry as he stares towards the clinic’s door, and speaks in that funny way again. “Avec la lune comme mon témoin… I will bathe you in light…” Daddy talks really funny, but he sounds really angry when he does it. I’m not sure what to think about that.

Mommy kisses Daddy, and he stops making his angry face. I giggle because he always looks surprised when she does that. She speaks softly, “You’re letting your emotions get the better of you again, my love. We should stop spending this day with worry in our hearts. It is a good day.”

Mommy steps closer to me, and rests her hoof against my back leg.

I giggle again. “Mommy! That tickles!”

“The People know this symbol well. It decorates the huts of medicine mares, witch doctor’s, shamans, and… ” She stops talking, but looks at Daddy. His eyes get wide again. I wonder how they talk to each other without saying anything.

She turns back to me, smiling as Daddy puts his leg around her shoulder, “Our daughter is a healer, Dream. She bears the mark of one who will make others whole.”

Mommy and Daddy are both smiling at me. And I’m up way past my bedtime! It’s a really good day!

I woke with a start. Goddess, why was I dreaming of such things!? Mother and Father had nearly killed somepony right in front of me! I hardly remembered anything from that far back; let alone with such clarity. Time had muddled my memory of the day I had aquired my mark, so why was my dream so much clearer than my own recollection? Father had said… Goddess, what an awful thing to say! I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and calm my heart.

“Can’t sleep?” The dark and unfamiliar voice caught me off guard and left me feeling like a cornered animal trapped by a hungry predator.

My eyes darted towards the sound, finding a lumpy object in the dim glow of the dying coals. The “predator” in this case turned out to be an alert and hopeful pegasus mare trapped within the restrictive confines of her sleeping bag. I had to blink the sleep from my eyes to be sure I hadn’t seen that incorrectly.

Lily was lying on her back with an uncomfortable grimace twisting her features as she struggled with the fabric wrapped around her. “Uh… Can you help me out here?” She rolled a little from side to side like a sausage on a hot griddle, completely incapable of extricating herself from her rather novel form of captivity.

She was pouting as she stared at me with wet and pleading eyes. “Sleeping bags are hard.”

Fear died and was replaced by a fleeting moment of concern, which abruptly transformed into amusement. “You… How did you manage to...” I had to cover my muzzle with a hoof to hide the very unladylike snort that escaped my nose.

She hissed at me in a hushed whisper, “Hey! Whoever designed this damn thing didn’t think about what wings do at night, okay? The inner lining came loose and got all tangled up in my feathers and—” I was convulsing in barely suppressed giggles, trying with all my might not to wake Nohta from her undisturbed slumber. And of course, as anyone who has tried to keep their laughter quiet will attest, that only made it worse.

Lily only grew more agitated, and coincidentally, more comical. “Oh sure! Let’s laugh at the pegasus who zipped up her sleeping bag and got stuck! She’s a fucking riot! What a joker that Lily is!” In her hushed rage, she managed to gently roll onto her side.

I shook my head and held a hoof to my mouth, trying to whisper so that only Lily would hear. “But if you knew what was going to happen, why did you zip it up to begin with?”

She flopped over onto her stomach and smiled brightly. “Hi, my name’s Lily. I don’t usually make the best decisions when I’m drinking. And I drink a lot.” She was positively beaming as she added, “It’s nice to meet you.” I didn’t need the years of experience dealing with Nohta to spot the blatant sarcasm, but it certainly helped.

Well if she was going to be that way then I was perfectly within my rights to needle her a little further. “And what, pray tell, do wings do at night that would cause you such distress?”

She huffed, blowing a lock of her disheveled mane out of her eyes. “Oh come on… You’re a doctor. Do I really have to explain the concept of a wing-boner to you?” I blinked innocently, even if the amused smirk on my lips was anything but, and waited for her to continue. She rolled her eyes and sighed, “Okay… so whenever a pegasus gets all hot and bother—”

“Oh, no! That’s fine!” I shook my head and waved her off with a hoof before she could keep going. “I’m rather acutely aware of basic equine physiology, thank you very much!”

She stared pointedly in my direction. “Then I’m guessing you have an idea of how much this sucks?”

I stuck my nose primly in the air, and tried my best not to giggle too much at her expense. “Well if you were having one of those dreams, then perhaps your predicament is your own fault!”

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me. “Ohhh, just you wait! I’m gonna waddle over there and bite the shit out of you!” Sure enough, she began rocking herself back and forth, gaining an inch or so with every furious wiggle and frenzied bounce.

The sight of her advancing towards me like an irate and possibly inebriated caterpillar was too much to handle. I was blinking back tears of mirth, completely sure—despite my medical knowledge proving me wrong—that I was going to break a rib by suppressing my laughter. “Stop! Haha! Please stop!”

She had closed perhaps half the distance between us when her sideways momentum carried her a little too far, and she found herself lying on her back once more. I couldn’t hold it any more, I had to bury my face in my pillow to keep from waking my sister.

She allowed me to get it out of my system before pleading in a sincere whisper. “Uh… please? This is actually really uncomfortable. I hate being tied up.”

The corner of my mouth curled upwards as I twisted the proverbial knife just a teensy bit further. “Based off of many of your previous comments, I find that rather hard to believe.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re hilarious and witty and I’m completely at your mercy.” She scoffed at my accusation, and huffed as she added, “Will you please help me out now? I can’t reach the zipper.”

I wouldn’t have seen the zipper in the gloom had her bobbing left ear not drawn attention to the small bit of metal beside her mane. A quick bit of magic and she was was set free.

She rose to her hooves, and immediately stretched her wings as far as they could reach while sighing throatily. “Oh geez, that feels so much better. Thanks.”

I shook my head and whispered softly as the last spasms of laughter ebbed away. “I should be the one thanking you. I needed that.”

“Bad dreams?” She took to the air, blowing a gentle breeze across the coals as she added the last few bits of our kindling and dried brush to the fire.

I rested my chin against my pillow as I nodded. “Memories of my parents that I would have rather forgotten.”

Lily poked and prodded at the sticks and blew gently against the coals until a small flame took hold, then turned back to me with a quizzical expression. “Why would you want to forget anything about your folks?”

Nohta rolled over in her sleep to avoid the growing light of the small fire, mumbling incoherent gibberish in her sleep. “S’every life. I-some. For?”

Using my magic to pull Nohta’s covers back up over her shoulders, I rubbed my eyes with a hoof and yawned. “It’s… complicated.” Nohta quieted a moment later, and resumed her quiet snores.

Lily was nearly silent as she flew back to her sleeping bag. She laid back down on the fabric and gave me a sympathetic grin. “Complicated sucks. I prefer simple.”

I just couldn’t help myself. I raised a taunting eyebrow as I replied, “You must love yourself, then.”

She pursed her lips and glared in response. “Are you always this snarky when you’ve just woken up?”

“Er, my apologies. I’m not terribly fond of mornings.” I sighed deeply as I rubbed a temple with a hoof.

“Heh, I hear ya on that one.” She scratched at her mane and reached over to her saddlebags. “Hey uh, I did have something I needed to ask you. Think you can show me whereabouts we’re headed?” Pulling out a crudely rendered map of the local area, she moved to lay down beside me and pointed at a couple of brightly colored islands in a sea of tan. “This is Mareon… and this is where we’re at right now. Where are we going?”

I furrowed my brow and wrinkled my nose as I examined the wax-covered paper. “Did you color this with crayons?”

“Shut up! This map is the shit!” She shrugged off my insinuation, sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry in my direction, and nudged the map a little closer to me. “I know you said it was north of here, but there’s a lot of ‘north of here.’ Maybe tell me how fast you guys were going or something? Any landmarks you passed up?”

“The wagons and carts slowed us down quite a bit, but I don’t remember much in the way of any noteworthy places of interest.” I studied the map closely, attempting to spot something I would remember, but only wound up shaking my head in defeat. In the end I had to guess, and simply hoped that I had made a decent approximation of our destination.

“Assuming your skills as a cartographer are as superlative as you believe them to be, I’d venture to say… Here. Somewhere just past this green smudge.” Lily pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at my word choice, and I raised a hoof to hide my sheepish grin. “I’ll stop.”

“That green smudge is our next stop then. It’s an old apple orchard. There’s probably nothing left worth scavving, but we can at least use the barn for shelter.”

A tiny vibration from my Pipbuck drew my attention to my hoof. The small screen had just registered a new point of interest: Brother Belmont’s Big Fruit Farm. I shook my head in confusion, “How did we miss that? The Caravan walked right past it and I never saw a single tree.”

“All the trees are dead, but you still should have seen them. Were you following the road?” Lily rolled the map back up in her hooves as I nodded my head.

“Mostly. Occasionally we veered away from the highway at the behest of the Caravan Leader, though. I don’t remember the reason why.”

“It’s a pretty well known spot. Sometimes raiders or bandits like to hole up in the place for a couple days before moving on. Maybe… uh, what was his name again?”

I frowned and glanced over at my sister. “Dust. He and Nohta appeared to be getting along fairly well, until the ambush. He seemed fairly knowledgeable about the wasteland, as well.”

Lily cocked her head to the side quizzically, “What’d he look like?”

I was too tired to wonder why she had asked. My eyes drifted across the cave absentmindedly while I recalled Dust’s features. “Err… Earth stallion. Tan coat. He had a little grey creeping into his mane. Why?”

Lily shook her head and ruffled her feathers. “Nevermind. He was probably just trying to avoid as much traffic through the desert as possible. You guys were trying to keep your stable secret, right?” I nodded, and Lily stuffed her map back into her packs. “We’ve still got a couple hours. Get some more sleep if you can. We’ve got a long walk tomorrow.”

I yawned as I nodded, and laid my head against my pillow. I was just about to drift off when the sound of a pen scratching against paper caught my attention. Lily was huddled over a worn book, taking notes by the light of the fire. It actually made me feel better, knowing that she could at least take one thing seriously. I shut my eyes again, content in the knowledge that my new companion was doing her best to assist my sister and I in our endeavor, and allowed myself to fall asleep once more.

The morning came abruptly and much too soon for my liking. The sky outside our cave had lightened from a lovely black to a depressing grey, and the air was too cold without the fire to stave off the chill. Nohta, curse her, was already making an abominable racket by stuffing our belongings into our packs. Breakfast was simple; a can of corn that was still sweet and satiating despite being centuries past its expiration date. Lily smoked one last cigarette before taking her “medicine,” and the three of us left the cave behind to travel north.

After the dream I couldn’t help but notice how much better the cloak concealed Nohta’s body than it had Mother’s. My little sister might have been an adult by the standards of the Stable, but it was easy to see why some would consider her younger than her years with her small stature. A few more months and she wouldn’t even be a teenager anymore. I made a mental note to begin looking for a suitable birthday present. We might have been out of the Stable, but there were many traditions I had no desire to leave behind.

For the first hour or so the trek was boring, and I was grateful for it. It gave me time to identify and collect a few herbs and wild peppers growing by the side of the road. I assumed that both Nohta and Lily were as tired as I was, and were therefore content to let the morning pass in blessed silence save for the muffled plodding of hooves on dirt and rocks. But of course, that couldn’t last forever. Lily eventually took to trotting jauntily ahead of my sister and I and then hovering in the air while waiting for us to catch up. After the third or fourth time this occurred, Lily decided it was the opportune moment to shatter the silence.

“Arrgh! Don’t you two ever listen to music? Turn on your Pipbuck radio!”

“Lily, the only signal I ever received on my Pipbuck was the Stable’s broadcast. And that only ever worked sporadically at best. There is no music in this desert!” My answer might have been a bit more testy than was called for, but in my defense I was still quite groggy.

“Oh come on! I know that DJ Pon-3 comes in out here!” She dragged her hooves down her face in an impressive display of her exasperation. “There’s nopony around for miles and I’m bored! I need some tunes!”

Nohta’s ear twitched underneath her hood. “Would you shut up already? You’re gonna give our position away!”

Lily flapped one of her wings a little faster than the other and rolled over in mid air. I couldn’t help but wonder exactly how she was capable of hovering upside down as she blew a raspberry at my sister. Or exactly how her stetson was capable of defying gravity by staying atop her head.

“Pfft… The only thing we have to worry about right now is dying of boredom!” With a quick mid-air twist and a rapid descent, she landed on her haunches on the road and raised a fetlock to her brow in a melodramatic display. “Here lies Lily Belle; a trusted friend, a good fighter, and a connoisseur of fine headwear. Done in by two sourpusses that didn’t like music.” Holding her hat in front of her chest and closing her eyes, she wiped away an imaginary tear before continuing. “Bury me with my guns and give me two caps for the boatmare.”

I rolled my eyes, sensing where this conversation was headed. “Stable 76 typically cremated the deceased in order to save space. I’m sorry Lily, but if you continue to be dead then it looks like we’ll just have to incinerate you.”

Lily’s ear bobbed up and down as her brow shot upward. “Well that’s weird. The zebras in my tribe always bury bodies so the spirit can ‘return to the earth’ or some crap.”

We still had a long walk ahead of us… I opened my packs and pulled out a bit of reading material to help pass the time, hoping that Lily would take the hint. “Yes, well… As much fun as it is to listen to you deride Mother’s people for their customs, perhaps you should take more mintals and listen to Nohta’s advice.” The book opened before me, and I followed the sound of hooves to guide my steps.

A gust of air blew my mane from side to side as Lily hovered behind me and peered over my shoulder. “Whatcha reading? Is it a cookbook? Sometimes I like to read cookbooks and wonder what fresh apples must have tasted like.”

I floated the book to the side and buried my muzzle a little further in its pages. “I imagine they tasted very similar to the preserved variety, Lily.”

Another gust of wind preceded the indigo hoof that poked at the paper in front of my eyes. Lily was now slowly flying backwards in front of me and giggling. “This book has a lot of funny words and none of them are ‘corn.’ I don’t think it’s a cookbook.”

I sighed as I stared at her excited red eyes. Reading was obviously not an option with Lily around. “No, it isn’t. It is the teleportation tome that Cabernet gave me yesterday.”

Nohta was now leading our little herd. She looked back over her shoulder when I mentioned the mare’s name. “She gave you a spellbook?”

The memory of that chain of events twisted my gut in uncomfortable ways, and with Lily still holding the book hostage I was forced to hide my blush behind my mane. “I… think it was something of a peace offering. She gifted it to me after I apologized for… well, for how I acted when we were in Coltsville.”

Lily finally released the book, which came dangerously close to smacking me in the face before I caught it in my red bubble. “For someone that’s supposed to be super smart, that was really dumb. How’s come you didn’t realize she had the hots for you?” She chuckled into her hoof as I glared at her.

Nohta’s exasperated groan was audible underneath her hood. “Fuck… I’m actually agreeing with the idiot.” Nohta stopped in the road and turned towards me. “I told you, Sis. Your ideas about the ‘proper’ way to do things don’t mean shit out here.” Pointing at Lily, she added, “Surfacers are fucking weird.”

I pursed my lips and huffed. “Well I can hardly be faulted if I only just found out about… er, relations between… ugh… Can we please change the subject?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that. That shit weirds me out.” Nohta turned around, walking past one of the old road’s many mile-markers. She glanced over her shoulder and past the sign to ask, “Do you think you can teleport yet?”

“Ooh! Do it now! Teleport!” Lily pumped her hooves in the air excitedly, flying a little higher above the road.

My ears dropped to the sides of my head as I rubbed a hoof against my leg. “It’s not exactly as if this is a simple levitation spell…”

Nohta shrugged under her cloak. “It could be pretty helpful if you knew how to pop behind a corner in a fight though. Have you tried it out? Might as well get some practice in while there’s no one else around.”

Lily began chanting like an excited mare encouraging her friend to imbibe a dangerous amount of alcohol. “Do it! Do it!”

I had wanted to see if I could manage the spell, but I hadn’t imagined that I’d be cursed with an audience for my first cast. “Well… Alright. I’ll see what I can do.” The cloud around the book faded away as it rested in my hoof. Staring at the rusted sign just a few paces away, I squinted my eyes and focused as I gathered energy in my horn.

Teleportation is… odd. Traveling instantaneously from one place to another defies most every law of the natural world in existence. To be able to do so flawlessly is a skill that requires either quite a lot of practice, or a special knack for magic of that specific subset. From what I have been able to gather, it takes most unicorns an exorbitant amount of time to master the spell, and an even greater number of aspiring mages simply give up after a few disastrously failed attempts. I was determined not to be one of those unicorns. I knew that I could teleport. I knew that I understood the concepts of the spell. And I knew that Father had placed enough trust in my ability to promise to teach me such advanced magic. I closed my eyes, and focused for all I was worth.

The magic gripped my body tightly, and I felt both a shove ushering me forward as well as a tug pulling me in the same direction. It was quite a lot like falling, to be honest. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I was swirling down a drain? The experience was rather disorienting, but whatever the case the spell did work. Technically speaking.

I was rewarded with my efforts by a small pop, a bright flash, an electric tingle that raced through my body, and a drastically changed perspective of the world. The road sign was still directly in front of me, close enough that I could easily make out all of the little bullet holes that pockmarked its rusted face, and the rocky hills and valleys that surrounded the road were off to my sides just as they had been before. But Nohta and Lily were now directly in front of me; their eyes shocked and amused, respectively. I was given the most fleeting of moments to ponder exactly why Lily was flying upside down again, and why the road seemed to be above me, before gravity decided it had endured my shenanigans long enough.

“Oof!” I landed hard on my back with my legs wobbling uselessly in the air above me. A sharp pang bit into the back of my skull as the book fell on my face and I heard my packs open up to spill my belongings over the road. My only saving grace was that the world couldn’t see the mix of pain and embarrassment that crept over my face as I groaned into the pages.

Raucous laughter mingled with hurried hoofbeats as I rolled onto my side and flung the book away disgustedly, not caring where it landed. Nohta was already at my side, bless her, though she seemed completely unsure of what to do. Lily landed on the road beside her a moment later, not even bothering to cover her mouth as she guffawed at my mishap.

“Sis, you alright?” Underneath her hood Nohta’s eyes were darting back and forth hurriedly, checking me for signs of injury.

I winced as I brought a hoof to my mane. Luckily it came away white instead of red, though the oddly familiar scent of singed mane came with it. “I think I’ll be fine, sister.” Lily was still in the middle of a tittering fit, but she did at least have the decency to look away after I shot a stern look in her direction. I spoke to Nohta while she helped me up. “Be a dear and help me gather up my things, would you? The next time I try this spell, I think I’ll need a mattress, or a pile of pillows at the very least.”

“Or a really big tub of jelly,” Lily pointed out helpfully before snatching up one of my scattered shotgun shells and dusting it off on her chest like an apple. For the life of me, I couldn’t detect a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

I blinked blankly in response. “I… What?” Nohta audibly sighed as she shook her head, but Lily just stared at me with filly-like innocence. I rubbed my temple with a hoof as I sighed, and went to retrieve the book I had cast off.

I would have missed it, had I used my magic. In that sense, I suppose I was lucky my headache had dissuaded me from the use of my horn. The meagre amount of light pulsing underneath the canopy of paper was almost too dim to see in the daytime.

As I gathered up the spellbook with a hoof, the tiny garnet Nohta had retrieved from the restoration laboratory in our stable’s library rolled out from underneath the pages. The barest hint of magical glow emanated from its depths and reminded me of its purpose. Had it been cleaning the book?

Simple curiosity drove me to raise the tome to my eyes but, much to my puzzlement, the pages were still worn and faded. Little spots and old coffee stains still ran through the paper. The binding was still loose and the pages were still dogeared. In fact, the only noticeable change at all nearly escaped me completely. I had to double check the text to reassure myself that nothing was amiss.

Nohta had dutifully gathered the rest of my things whilst I was busy and, no doubt curious as to why I had left her the task of cleaning up my mess, asked in a voice that was just a bit peeved. “What’s wrong?”

I offered the book up to her in my hooves, “I could have sworn this passage was phrased differently.” Nohta’s shoulders slumped as her ear twitched underneath her hood.

I shook my head and stuffed the book and the gem back inside my saddlebags, realizing how foolish I must have sounded. The likely possibility that I had inadvertently made such a monumentally foalish error as to invert the arcane power flux was too embarrassing an admission to make. Father would have simply shaken his head and groaned at such a simple mistake. Instead I simply proffered a much more relatable excuse to my non-magical sister. “Nevermind, I must have hit my head a little harder than I thought.” She snorted irritably at that, but left me to my own devices as I double-checked to make sure my things were in order. Due to the sheer amount of tiny objects in my packs, I was left blessing Luna’s name for the auto-sorting spell installed in my Pipbuck.

We continued walking shortly afterwards, with only the occasional short break for food or drink. Much to my relief the sight of the abandoned orchard came into view on the horizon just as the sun was beginning to dip behind the mountain to the west. Sitting prominently in the center of the fields was a barn with horribly faded paint and an equally miserable looking squat farmhouse.

The lands were enclosed in a long stretch of wooden timbers cobbled together into a crude fence. Even before we had reached the front gate I could tell the fence was simply for show; either a designation of the borders of the property or simply decorative in purpose. It was a relic of an earlier time; those lost halcyon years when fences and walls didn’t need to keep bandits and thugs from trespassing on one’s property so much as they were meant to provide excited visitors a clear spot to line up when awaiting the fruits of the latest harvest. It caused me to wonder about the behavior of ponies before the war, but what stood upright in the fields left me unnerved with an oddly primal fear.

Every tree was dead and dry, with greyish brown gnarled branches that reached upwards to beg the sky for liquid sustenance. It was as if we had stumbled upon a long-forgotten holy site to witness an entire congregation of faithful practitioners preserved in that horrible moment they were left disappointed by their false goddess. The same wind that tugged at my mane galloped through the trees with a low and otherworldly howl, as if the boughs and trunks were cursing the sky and earth in some ancient language incomprehensible to mortal ears. I was exceptionally grateful when Nohta broke the lull in the conversation.

Her cloak fluttered in the wind as she braced her front legs on the fence to stand at her full height. “You said this was an orchard? Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to grow apple trees in the desert?”

“Earth ponies.” Lily shook her head dismissively and held her hat in front of her face to block the breeze while she lit a cigarette. “Probably some poor bastard trying to stake a claim in the new farmland opened up by the tower.”

Nohta climbed off of the fence to face Lily, “The what?”

Lily turned to the west, and raised a hoof at the lonely mountain dominating the horizon on the other side of the river. “See that smooth white bit on top of all that jagged rock? That’s one of the towers the pegasi built before the war to help Equestria farm crops. Margie told me the damn thing almost got taken out by a bomb in the war. Hasn’t worked right since.” The smoke she exhaled existed for only a fraction of a moment before the wind stole it away from her lips. “That’s why the clouds out here are all fucked up. They don’t stack right. Everywhere else in the wasteland the clouds are nice and smooth, but out here they clump together and you end up with patches of sky still visible.”

“S.P.P. Tower 52,” I nodded. At the inquisitive looks from Lily and Nohta, I hastily added, “The archives in Coltsville had an article pertaining to the tower.” They both seemed content with that explanation, and Lily ruffled her feathers before trudging up the dirt path towards the farmhouse. Neither of them heard me as I scratched my chin and whispered, “And all this time I thought it I was simply lucky to see Luna’s moon.”

“Hurry up, Sis!” Nohta and Lily were already well on their way up the path.

“Oh! Coming!”

>We’ve only been here a year and we’re already having a heck of a time with the vampire fruit bats! I’ve tried darn near everything to get them out of the south field, but they’re stuck in there like a hair in a biscuit. I’m at my wit’s end, and Sweet Potato sure ain’t helping with all her nagging. It’s like a hungry stallion can’t even take a peek at what’s in the oven without getting smacked in the head with a ladle anymore! I’ll try paying the ministry types up in Spursburg a visit tomorrow. I ain’t so sure about the rumors I been hearing about the labs up there, but I reckon if it might save my apples then it oughta be worth a shot.

The lovely green glow of the terminal washed over the darkening interior of the farmhouse as the sun slunk behind the mountain. Nohta was busy going through drawers and cabinets, occasionally pausing to pocket small items or look behind paintings for hidden safes. Lily had opted to lean back against a wall beside a large window, cradling her rifle in her hooves and calmly observing the dirt path outside through a wary sideways glance.

Making sure the abode was safe had been a quick endeavour. Our Pipbucks’ ability to detect potential threats through walls had all but guaranteed we were alone, and the solitary radroach that had occupied the kitchen was now nothing more than an unpleasant stain on the tiled floor. We were all taking the opportunity to catch our breath while trying to ignore the scattered bones of the Belmont family strewn about the house.

The terminal I had spotted immediately upon entering the domicile had only possessed the barest notion of security. Obviously Mr. Belmont hadn’t ever seriously believed anyone would want to peruse his journal if the best password he could come up with was “apple.” Nohta wasn’t sure why I cared about the long-dead pony whose home we were invading, and Lily seemed completely indifferent to the matter with her eyes inches away from the window pane, but I wanted to know more about the old world. And if the only way to learn was by invading this stallion’s business logs and personal musings then I would simply have to hope that he and Luna would forgive me.

>Had a couple of strange types poking around the farm today. Twitchy as all get out at first, but they calmed down a might bit when Sweet Potato whipped up a batch of her lemonade. Said they worked for Stable-Tec. Wanted to do some tests or land surveys or some darn thing. Now, I was all set to try and be polite about catching these two snooping around my barn. Bruising your fruit don’t make for good pie, momma always said. But there was something off about these fellers. They didn’t blink enough, as far as I could tell. And they talked funny. Not funny like most city-folk, neither. I mean they talked like… well, like they weren’t from Equestria, I guess. I would have taken them for some of them crystal fellers up north, but I didn’t see any sparkles. Don’t they all sparkle? Isn’t that a thing? Why am I asking my terminal questions? Anywho, I told them they oughta check with the government folks out in Coltsville. If I gotta pay all these taxes on my trees then I reckon I shouldn’t have to deal with these two shady fellers in my mane.

“There was a roll of bandages and a bottle of something underneath the bathroom sink.” Nohta placed her findings on the desk beside the terminal. “All I found in the kitchen was one dented can of asparagus and a half-empty bottle of ketchup. This place has been picked clean.”

I unscrewed the bottle’s cap and wafted its aroma toward my nose. “Rubbing alcohol. Thank you, Nohta.”

Lily leaned forward and stretched, drawing a series of sharp cracks and pops out of several of her joints. “Told you we wouldn’t find shit in here. I’ve gone through this house plenty of times myself.” She adjusted her wings and nodded towards the window, “We should head for the barn. If we get any company in the night then they’re gonna check the house first.”

I waved her off with a hoof as I selected the next entry. “Just a couple more minutes. I’m nearly done reading.”

>Went to Spursburg today. Asked them folks up at the agricultural labs if they knew a good way to get rid of my infestation. Now, I figured I’d be a lucky son of a goat if anypony at all would offer so much as some friendly advice, but I sure as all Tartarus didn’t expect what I got!

>There’s armed security ponies crawling all over my fields! Protection for that ministry mare. I forget her name, the yellow one. Buttershy? Shutterfly? Something like that. But that ain’t the worst of it! The rumors about Spursburg were true! There’s zebras on my farm! Dozens of them! The stripes are poking at my trees and pouring some kinda crazy potions over the roots! One of them even strung up some sorta evil-looking doohickeys between a bunch of my branches! Sweet Potato ain’t never gonna let me hear the end of this one. I thought Luna promised that this sorta thing wasn’t gonna happen!?

Lily sniffed as she gave me a blasé look. “Can we go already? The only thing out there right now is a dumb bloatsprite that keeps flying into the same tree branch over and over. If we go now we can set up in the barn while we still have time to see what we’re doing.”

Nohta snorted behind me, “We’d be better off in the house. We’ve got windows with good views of the road and doors with working locks.”

Lily nudged the brim of her hat with a hoof, raising an eyebrow in a questioning gaze. “Sure, you say that now. But what about when some raider decides he’ll just burn the house to kill us?”

“So you’re worried about fire, but you want to bed down in a giant tinderbox?” Nohta moved beside the window, pointing her hoof out the window. “What about the storm shelter?”

Lily shook her head. “We don’t want to stay in the storm shelter.”

“Why not? We can probably hide the entrance with some brush. Chances are good that no one’ll even notice we’re there.”

Obviously Nohta and Lily were going to butt heads about every little thing they possibly could. I would have been perfectly content with staying in the house, but neither of them seemed the least bit curious as to my opinion. I rolled my eyes and selected the last entry while the two of them continued to bicker.

>I gotta say. Humble pie don’t taste near as good as Sweet Potato’s baking. Turns out them zebras got rid of my bats overnight, all cause Fluttershy asked them to. Now I’m still a patriot, and I still think The Empire’s gotta go, but I reckon maybe they ain’t all bad folk. Fluttershy explained what all that mess earlier was about, some sorta fancy mumbo jumbo about alchemy tests, nonlethal repellents, and better healing potions for the troops, but I couldn’t concentrate on much of what she was saying. Her little demon of a rabbit was giving me the stink-eye during the whole conversation. I swear, I never thought I’d say I was afraid of a bunny. I’m just glad cider season’s right around the corner. After all this excitement I need a drink.

I tapped my lips with a hoof as I pondered what I had just read. “There was an agricultural research station in Spursburg? I wonder if that was what Holly was referring to?” My questions fell on deaf ears, however, as both Nohta and Lily were too engrossed in their little debate to pay my queries any heed.

Lily flared her wings at her side as she scowled. “Look, you’re doing everyone a favor if you just go ahead and kill them.”

Nohta shrugged, “Why risk getting hurt? We’re after the leaders, not the whole damn gang.”

“Says the girl that wanted to go to Coltsville.” Lily nodded her head in my direction as she continued to glare at Nohta. “Yeah, Candy already told me about that, squirt.”

Nohta pulled her hood back and shook her head, “That was different. We were about to starve, for fuck’s sake! But this… this feels more like business. Like what Mom used to do.”

Lily raised a hoof in front of herself defensively, “Hey, I never said you made the wrong choice going to Coltsville. I’m just saying you’re wrong now. Every raider we kill is one less asshole that Mareon’s gotta deal with later, and more caps in our pockets.”

“Ahem!” I cleared my throat loudly, “Are you two really going to argu-”

Nohta’s enraged shout cut me off. “Well who gives a fuck about Mareon? They don’t give a shit about us, so why should we care about them?”

Lily rested the barrel of her rifle against her shoulder as she sat on her haunches. “Don’t forget that Margie lives there too, Short-Stack. And Half-Moon. And Purple Haze. And—”

Nohta threw her hooves in the air, “Fuck! Fine! Whatever! Let’s have Candy decide.” Two sets of eyes were suddenly staring in my direction, awaiting a response.

I pursed my lips and arched an eyebrow, “Oh, so now you’ll pay attention to me?”

“Tell your sister that there’s no reason to hole up in a small confined space with only one exit when there’s a perfectly good barn with lots of open space and plenty of elevated firing positions.” Lily cast a sideways glance at Nohta as she grumbled, “Who’s been doing this shit longer? Huh?”

Nohta’s voice rose into that perfectly impertinent pitch as she scratched her chin in mock confusion. “You mean convincing Candy to do what she needs to do? Gee, I wonder…”

I chose my words carefully, hoping that the two of them would take the hint. “Well, wouldn’t we be better off avoiding confrontations for as long as possible?” Garnering nothing more than blank stares, I sighed and explained. “Perhaps just a quick peek into the shelter is warranted? There could still be something of value in there.” I may have, ah… neglected to mention that I was still hunting for information. “We shouldn’t waste an opportunity when one presents itself.”

“Told you she’d side with me.” Nohta’s smug grin was absolutely insufferable. Lily’s only response was to groan into her hoof and light another cigarette.

Between the farmhouse and the barn was a flat wooden door set into a slightly raised mound of dirt. Nohta cleared away the thick layer of dust that had settled on the entrance before gripping the handle with both of her hooves and heaving, causing the rusted hinges to protest for all they were worth. Ancient oxidized metal and partially rotted wood proved no match for her brute force, and soon after the old latches had snapped we were staring at a set of stone steps leading into pitch black darkness.

“This is fucking retarded.” The smoke puffed out of Lily’s mouth with every word; almost as thickly as the disgust.

I smiled innocently at the pegasus. “Why the sudden aversion to taking advantage of such a seemingly innocuous and potentially fortuitous discovery, Lily?”

She glowered in response, and blew a plume of smoke out of the side of her mouth. “You use too many big words, Candy.”

Mother’s horseshoes clanged against the stone steps as Nohta boldly strolled into the darkness. I spared Lily a quick glance, noting the uncomfortable cringe on her face and the odd posture of her slumped wings, and followed my sister into the gloom.

“There’s food down here!”

“Nohta, how can you tell? It is entirely too dark to see!”

Nohta snorted, “There’s probably something wrong with your eyes, Sis.” I faced the direction of her voice and activated my Pipbuck’s lamp. She was already huddled over a hooflocker, pulling out her screwdriver and bobby pins.

The shelter was not very spacious, but somepony had clearly put their heart into creating a homey atmosphere between the concrete walls. A small table with a checkered linen tablecloth sat next to wooden shelves holding canned food and dozens of jars of apple preserves. Books and magazines shared the limited space on the shelves with faded photographs. There was a large, sealed barrel of water beside a pair of thin looking bunk beds. A record player sat in the near corner, with a collection of old albums still in their sleeves just beside it.

The far wall was dominated by a work desk covered in oil and grease stains as well as tools and a simple, albeit non-functional, radio. Several empty magazines for calibers of ammunition I wasn’t familiar with were stacked neatly under the workstation. Above the desk an obnoxious wartime poster declared, “Better wiped than striped.” Having read his terminal entries, I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Belmont had truly despised Mother’s people or simply lacked the time to redecorate this little sanctum. Although given that the storm shelter had been outfitted like a survival bunker in preparation for the war I could understand the sentiment; even if I was perturbed by the villainous depiction of zebras in the propaganda.

Lily warily crept down the stairs at the entrance to the shelter after me; her wings flared wide enough for her blades to etch short lines in the walls nearly every other step. With each scritch and scratch she recoiled slightly and re-aligned herself to the center of the stairs. I arched an eyebrow in question, but Lily was too busy biting her lip and casting nervous glances at the ceiling to notice my puzzlement.

I had trusted Lily so far, and something was clearly putting her off about the shelter. Seeing the normally confident pegasus in such a state of unease was forcing me to question the wisdom of my earlier assumption. I grimaced at the poster while I whispered to Nohta, “Are you positive that you want to spend the night down here, sister?”

She pulled away from the locked box to set me with an exasperated glare. “If you want to trust that feather-brain then it’s your call. But there’s a locked chest right here and-” Nohta finally caught my expression, and turned to the poster above the workstation.

She got up without another word and walked calmly to the poster before digging the edge of her hoof underneath the poster. The sound of ripping paper grated against my ears as she tore a strip out of the propaganda. Crumpling the section she had torn away in her hooves, she tossed it nonchalantly in my direction before declaring, “There, now we have something to start a fire with.” When she returned to the hooflocker I noticed that the poster now only read ‘Better- -striped.’

Lily flapped her wings once, nearly toppling a photograph from its perch on a shelf as she gestured over her shoulder. “Hey, uh… the barn is over there!” Nohta grumbled through the screwdriver in her teeth and rolled her eyes.

Lily took a cautious step forward and bumped into a shelf, knocking a precariously placed vinyl record to the floor. “I mean, come on! This is underground! It doesn’t even have any windows!”

“Now that you mention it, it does have a certain familiarity to it…” My left hoof rose to my chin, and my Pipbuck’s lamp caused Nohta’s shadow to race across the walls.

Lily extended her wings once more, causing her blades to punch a hole clean through one of the shelves. Cans of food scattered and rolled across the floor as she groaned, “Fuck! I can’t even stretch my wings down here! You stable-dwellers are crazy! Let’s just go to the barn!”

I pursed my lips and glared at her. “And what exactly do you mean by that?”

“You stay cooped up in one of those places for too long and you start getting weird ideas!” Lily trotted up the stairs, yelling back down at us, “You probably think it’s normal to want to live underground!”

A soft metallic click preceded Nohta’s cocky whisper behind me, “Twenty caps says she’s afraid of the dark.”

I rolled my eyes and glanced back at her, “You know better than to ask me to gamble, sister. And besides, we share all of our money. I’d be winning what’s already mine.”

“Whatever,” Nohta rummaged through the contents of the chest, carelessly throwing bundles of pictures and tiny wooden figurines over her back. “Looks like this was a bust. I’m gonna grab some of those cans of food and go mess with your friend some more.”

I rubbed a temple as I groaned, “Please don’t antagonise her, Nohta.”

“Just because she’s helping us doesn’t mean she’s a good pony, Sis. You heard what she said last night.”

My tail swished behind me. “Yes, and I also know what you said to her.”

“And I meant it, too.” She didn’t even bother to look me in the eye as she said it. Grasping the least-rusted cans from the shelves, she read the labels and grimaced. “Ugh… I’m fucking tired of beans and corn. Why didn’t anyone ever stock some oranges or something?”

Nohta gathered as much food as she could stuff into her packs and trotted up the stairs, leaving me alone in the cool darkness. Picking my way past the scattered cans left by Lily’s outburst I peered into the hooflocker and levitated a ringed binder up to my muzzle. Photographs of a… well, I’d never call a lady “overweight,” but faded photos of a mare with ample proportions standing next to a slender red stallion with a bushy beard and straw hat decorated nearly every page. It appeared that Sweet Potato had been quite the scrapbooker.

I took a seat at the table and hoofed through ancient history one page at a time. Sweet Potato and Mr. Belmont grew older with each picture, and the filly and colt at their sides grew taller with each photograph. I smiled as I noted the dates, and realized how quickly the younger mare in the photo was maturing; she must have been going through a late growth spurt just like my sister. As I flipped through the years of a seemingly happy family of farmers, something curious happened. An audio recorder fell from the book to land on the tablecloth.

Hoping that I might hear this stallion’s voice, I turned the device on without a moment’s hesitation. But instead of the playful and agreeable tenor my imagination had conjured up to fit the terminal entries, a familiar and tired mare’s voice met my ears and sent a chill down my spine.

“Took me a year. A whole… fucking… year… But I found him. Dredged out of the wisps of dreams and hallucinations to be thrust head first into my path on a moonlit night. I found him running for his life. I found him giving up.”

“I saved him.”

I knew that voice. I had heard it utter Nohta and I’s names in Coltsville. Memory and instinct bade me to check over my shoulder and peer into the shadows of the room. I whipped my Pipbuck’s lamp around frantically, searching for somepony that had evaded detection. But I was still alone. The only blips on my E.F.S. were those of Lily and Nohta outside the shelter.

I calmed an infinitesimal amount, and the voice croaked on. “I was so excited to have finally gotten to that point that I didn’t even bother to waste the time checking if he was the right pony. I just cast the spell.”

“He followed, but… I’m not sure if it was because of what I did.”

“His name is Elegy. He must have had some truly fucked parents to get that name.” I heard the mare spit out her disgust. “The wasteland makes me sick.”

This was just like earlier. She was describing something. But… why?

“Some of Trail Bla— The Pyro must have rubbed off on me. The group of traders had what I needed, but I didn’t even think to barter or ask for it first. I just took it. And their lives with it.”

“Then I found out why my new friend is so deadly. He compelled me. I can’t use my rifle anymore. Just holding it makes me want to puke. Fucking hell… He can turn magic back in on itself. Reverse a spell after it’s been cast. I’d love to see what he could do in a fight with that. Maybe against a shield spell? How messy would that even be?”

Wait… The first time I had found one of these, this mare had described The Pyro. Was she doing that again? My heart leapt into my throat as I recalled where I had heard the name before. Dry Wells had said that The Bard’s name was Elegy…

I heard her sigh through the recorder. “Now that he’s with me, the inky blots in the sight are gone. I don’t have to deal with those fucking annoying-ass tar-covered dancing bloatsprite… things. He… helps me see. The vision is clear, except when I look past that day. It’s like looking into a cracked mirror that’s reflecting more cracked mirrors. Fractures. Shards. Slivers. Nothing is whole, it’s just… broken. That makes sense, I guess. Everything gets decided when that bitch makes her choice.”

“Anyway, I’m glad to have finally collected my second-in-command. He’ll take care of the more delicate operations that I can’t attend to myself. Handsome fucker can turn ponies to his way of thinking as easily as he can turn a phrase. Not sure what he sees in me, but it’s not like I can do anything about it. I want to, but… She won’t let me.”

“Fuck… The pull again? It’s just like last—” The low tinkle of magic played through the recorder as I gathered my thoughts. First she had described The Pyro… But now she was speaking of a pony that could convince others to do his bidding? And he was her ‘second-in-command?’ Was The Bard actually that dangerous?

Just like before, the mare’s voice took on a straightforward directness. The introspective monologuing that dominated the earlier portion of the recording had vanished, replaced by a conspiratorial tone that begged for my attention as surely as it sent fresh shivers throughout my body. “Good… You’re alone. I don’t want the other two to hear this. Neither of them is smart enough, or calm enough, to do what we need right now. I aided you in Coltsville because I need you alive, girl. I don’t often do that. Don’t expect me to be so nice in the future. That would just make you softer than you already fucking are.”

I winced at the remark. Whoever this was had provided me with the bomb that had saved my life, but that didn’t mean I felt like being berated for my own shortcomings.

The voice didn’t seem to care. She spoke quickly, “Nohta’s about to check up on you. Tell her you’re fine.”

Nohta’s voice, perfectly on cue, echoed off the concrete walls. “Hey, Sis! You alright? Get out here already!”

It was absolutely surreal. I nearly took too long to reply. “Ah, yes Nohta, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a moment.”

She called down from the entrance once more. “Don’t take too long! You’ll miss Lily being a wuss!”

The mare continued as soon as Nohta was out of earshot. “Good. Trust is a two way street, after all. I’m also trusting that you’ll keep quiet about this.”

I shook my head, “How are you-”

“Don’t you know who I am yet?” The recording had just interrupted me!. Or rather, the mare in the recording had interrupted me. At the time it was all very confusing and quite rude. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter. You’ll figure it out soon enough if you haven’t already, but I need you to do something.”

My mouth worked silently, my mind unable to fathom the proper words to match the absurdity of the situation. I knit my brows together in befuddlement, but the mare’s voice persisted in spite of my lack of comprehension. “When you come face-to-face with The Bard, listen to what he has to say. His tongue is like pure silver, and he lies as easily as he breathes, but hear him out. This one time he will speak nothing but truth. And you desperately need to find the truth, even if you can’t understand or appreciate it.” The mare’s voice took on a wicked quality that unnerved me greatly. “And speaking of ‘truth,’ I’ve already got a spot picked out for the show. Tonight, this desert listens to you, girl.”

My jaw was threatening to unhinge itself. “Wait… What?”

The voice relished her next words, “We are going to save a lot of lives, and I’m going to get exactly what I want in the process. My plan hinges on you. But I already know you won’t disappoint me, Candy Stripes.”

My hooves shook as the recording went silent, and my racing heartbeat thudded heavily in my ears. Given how the mare had spoken, I had to double-check to make sure I was holding a recording instead of a transmitter. The intimate yet callous nature with which she had used my name left the leather barding covering my body suddenly feeling so very thin and useless. How did she know I would dig through the hooflocker? When did she put the audio log in the photo album? What in The Goddess’ name was going on!?

Nohta’s voice called down the steps once more. “Candy! Hurry up! You’ve been slow as hell all damn day!”

“I…” The mare in the recorder had asked for my secrecy. Should I honor that? She did save my life with the bomb… But she was also speaking as if she were associated with The Pyro and The Bard… I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and shouted up the stairs. “Yes, of course. I’ll be right out!” Whatever was going on, I simply didn’t have enough information to make a decision.

I buried the recording underneath the rest of the contents of my packs and took a deep breath before ascending the steps. Nohta and Lily were squabbling over whether or not to light a fire to stave off the night’s chill, but fell quiet as I rose from the shelter. My brow wrinkled above my wide eyes when they both turned their heads to stare in my direction.

“Nevermind, just light the damn thing,” Nohta grumbled. “If she’s that fucking cold we’re gonna need a fire.” Only at my sister’s words did I realize I was still shaking.

Lily smirked and purred in a husky voice, “I can think of another way we could all keep warm.”

“Don’t fucking test me, Lily. Just do it.” Nohta turned with a swish of her tail and stormed off, stomping inside the weather-beaten barn without another word.

Lily’s smirk died as she pursed her lips and waited for me to catch up to her. Hooking a hoof behind her in Nohta’s direction, she asked, “What’s up with her?”

I winced apologetically and rubbed my leg with a hoof, using the convenient lie Nohta had provided me to hide my shock. “We found some old propaganda in the shelter. ‘Better wiped than striped?’

“Oh. Ouch.” Lily frowned, glancing back at Nohta. “Well at least I know you aren’t gonna go off the steep end like her.”

I held a hoof to my temple and sighed, “Lily, that’s not… Nevermind.”

“I’m just saying. She’s kinda hard to get close to, y’know?”

“I would take it as a personal favor if you tried.” I looked past Lily to see Nohta breaking a feeding trough apart with her hooves. This was quickly becoming a problem, but I was too exhausted and frazzled to deduce how to fix it. “Let’s just settle down for the night, hmm?”

It wasn’t long afterwards that the three of us were seated around a small flame. Nohta and Lily had managed to come to a silent arrangement to not pester each other whilst they cleared any flammable material away from our fire, and I was immensely grateful for their lack of bickering. Even if the silence was a bit awkward, it was immeasurably more preferable to dousing another flare up of emotion. Both Nohta and I had disrobed in preparation for bed, and Lily was busy fiddling with the clasps holding her blades on her wings.

Nohta had borrowed Mother’s book once more, flipping between pages as she lay on her sleeping bag beside the flame. She bore a focused look; re-reading the same pages several times over in silence. If the intensity with which she were studying Mother’s journal was any indication, she was probably trying to glean details and tips from one of the more action-oriented stories Mother had left us. Personally, I was always partial to the philosophical musings and potion recipes, but Nohta was far too engrossed in the tome for me to pester her with recommendations in reading material.

Lily finally managed to undo the fastenings holding her blades in place on her wings. She held the weapon before her with what I could only perceive as a spiritual reverence, closing her eyes and whispering under her breath as she allowed the thin chain links holding the cutting edges together to dangle freely below her outstretched hooves. I watched in fascination as the deep blue that matched her feathers perfectly bled from the blades and was replaced by the neutral grey of polished knives, but the indigo sheen in the metal ringlets never dulled. As she finished her quiet recitation she opened her eyes to catch my enamored stare.

She smirked as I averted my gaze, and propped her wing-blades up against a nearby wall. Leaning against one of the barn’s thick wooden support beams, she sipped from a bottle of amber liquid and lit a cigarette. I had lost track of how many she had gone through that day, but made a mental note to gently suggest she ease up a bit. At any rate, curiosity regarding another matter would not allow my tongue to rest easy.

I laid my pistol and its holster beside my pillow and curled into the fabric of my bedroll. Stretching out upon my bed, I raised a hoof to gesture at her weapon and inquire, “Those blades are actually very pretty. May I ask how you acquired them?”

Lily nodded and cast a wistful gaze at Love and Tolerance. “Sure. I inherited them from my mom.” So Nohta and I weren’t the only ones with precious heirlooms, then. My own eyes darted to my little laser pistol lying beside my pillow, before I glanced back to Mother’s alchemy set. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Nohta doing the same thing with her cloak and horseshoes.

Lily, oblivious to the feelings she had just stirred in my sister and I, continued, “They’ve been passed down in my family for a long-ass time. All the way back before the war, even. They’ve even got a few enchantments on them.” She smirked again as she looked back to us. “Heh. Only the best weapons for Celestia’s royal guard, right?”

I shook my head, smiling blissfully in ignorance. “Beg pardon?”

“Huh? You don’t know about The Royal Guard? Well I guess it was a pre-war thing.” Lily sniffed and elucidated, “I think the guard was more for show than anything else. I mean, I imagine the princess could probably take care of herself, but who would want to hurt Celestia in the first place? Still, those soldiers got some pretty kickass gear. And now it’s mine!” Lily beamed proudly, taking up her beverage to drink once more.

Nohta and I shared a confused glance before I looked back to Lily and shook my head. “No, not the guard. Who was Celestia?”

Lily’s eyes shot wide. She nearly spat out her whiskey before swallowing it down and convulsing in a fit of laughter. “Oh! Oh shit! Haha!” Nohta and I shared another glance, my sister rolling her eyes and groaning before returning to Mother’s book.

Lily finally came down from her giggling fit, and wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes as she chuckled. “Oh shit… I’ve gotta watch out for your sense of humor! First it was ‘Mares don’t do that with each other!’ Now it’s ‘Who was Celestia?” Lily took a quick puff on her cigarette before pointing her hoof in my direction. “You’re a laugh, Candy Stripes!”

Was that a compliment? I smiled awkwardly, unsure how to receive her words. “Er… I’m being serious. I’ve never heard the name before. Why did you call her a princess?”

Lily finished off her cigarette, tossing the butt into the fire before exhaling a plume of smoke and raising an eyebrow. “Okay, okay. You got me the first time but the joke’s getting stale.” Her smile faded as she added, “Props on the delivery, but you’re dragging it out now.”

“Just let it go, Sis. She’s being stupid again.” Nohta flipped back a page in Mother’s book, trailing her hoof over the written words as she spoke. “Dad said some of the surfacers were weird, right? She’s probably just messing with us.”

“I suppose…” I speculated, scratching my chin, “but that’s hardly a joking matter.”

Lily pursed her lips and adjusted her hat before admonishing me for my supposed frivolity. “Okay, seriously. You can stop. You’re starting to freak me out.” Lily groaned at my apologetic shrug, and gesticulated her hooves wildly as she spoke in an excited rush. “Princess Celestia! Basically an immortal alicorn goddess? Ruler of Equestria for… fuck, I don’t know, like, forever?”

Sweet, blessed realization washed over me like warm bath water. “Oh! I understand now! You mean—”

“That’s the weirdest way I’ve ever heard somepony pronounce ‘Luna,” Nohta chimed in, correcting Lily before I had the chance to do the same. “How dumb do you have to be to screw that up?”

Lily’s face contorted as her jaw dropped and her brow furrowed. “What? No, Luna was her sister! Celestia was—”

“Luna didn’t have any siblings, or biological family at all for that matter. Only The Children!” I tried so very hard to keep the mirth out of my voice, I really did. But I will admit to covering my mouth with a hoof to conceal my grin. “And even then, that was just an organization from the days of myth and legend! No history scholars could agree on who they were, but none would argue that Luna had any family beyond those she adopted!”

“Just give it up, dumbass.” Nohta flipped a page in Mother’s book as she added, “Nobody knows more about Selenism than Candy.”

Lily raised her front hooves in front of herself as she sat on her haunches. “Alright, hold on. What in the actual fuck are you talking about?”

I couldn’t help it any more. I knew Lily liked to laugh and joke, but this was too rich! “Princess Luna, of course! I’m not sure why you’re calling her by a different name, but I suppose a little mix-up like that might have happened over the course of the last few hundred years. She did have more than one name, after all.” Lily only stared at me, seemingly unable to comprehend how to continue her little charade. Eager to see what she would do next, I gave her a little more time to think by explaining what I was sure she already knew. My hoof rolled over in the air, ticking off a few of Her Preeminent Majesty’s most popular names and titles. “Lady Luna, The Dark Mother, Princess Luna, The Goddess… I’m sure that I don’t really need to go on, you must have heard at least one of those.”

Nohta added one final moniker in a surly grumble. “The Alicorn.” Holding her place in Mother’s book with one hoof, Nohta rolled her eyes and waved her other hoof impudently in the air. “I don’t know who the fuck Cholesterol was, but she definitely wasn’t an alicorn. Luna was the only one that ever existed, feather-brain.”

I couldn’t help but giggle uncontrollably at Nohta’s derisiveness. Despite the sacrosanct subject matter there was just something so delightfully hilarious about our little exchange in that aged structure. I could only hope Lady Luna would forgive me for indulging in a bit of harmless laughter, even if she was indirectly the subject of the joke. Truth number three, after all.

It was only as my laughter died down that I realized the rest of the barn was silent save for the popping and snapping of the campfire. Nohta had resumed quietly poring over Mother’s journal, but Lily was staring at me as if I were a madmare. The mix of incredulity, pity, revulsion, and shock she wore on her face seemed completely alien, but it was her silence that most moved me. For the first time since I had met her, she was completely lost for words.

Embarrassment warmed my cheeks as I tried to alleviate the tension in as lady-like a manner as possible. “Ahem. Lily? Are you alright?”

Her scarlet eyes scanned the dirty floor between us as she moved her mouth silently. Seemingly remembering how to speak a moment later, she slowly mumbled out, “I, uh… Fuck… I don’t even know where to…”

She shook her head sharply, placing a hoof forward to exclaim, “Princess Luna wasn’t the only alicorn! And she wasn’t the only princess!” Her wings shot out at her sides to stretch wide, proving an intimidating display when she was so close to me. “You’ve got this all wrong!”

Nohta flippantly refuted Lily’s claim, not even bothering to dislodge her eyes from Mother’s book as her bored voice dubiously proclaimed, “Right, right. ‘Cause that makes total sense. How many were there then?”

Lily’s wings folded slightly, giving her an appearance similar to a young filly who had just been scolded. “There were three.”

Being privy to the hurt look on Lily’s face, I tried to let her down easy with some sound logic. “Three Princesses? How would that even work? I’m sorry Lily, but everybody knows that Luna was the only one.”

An indigo hoof covered a tattooed face as Lily groaned in exasperation. “Shit, seriously? If you two don’t believe me then you’re gonna wind up…” Lily’s face brightened quickly as her eyes shot wide. “Wait! I can show you!”

She hurried to her packs and started pulling out all manner of objects. Soon her section of the barn was littered with Dash inhalers, boxes of ammunition, half-empty bottles of Buck, tins of Mintals, partially eaten and probably very stale Fancy Buck cakes, a trio of bottles of Sparkle-Cola—that most certainly didn’t tempt me in the slightest, how dare you insinuate that—various vaguely familiar magazines of, ah… questionable content, gun oil and brushes, empty liquor bottles, a pre-war military MRE that looked as if it had probably been inedible before the war… and several small spheres I assumed were made of glass. The tumult of her searching had succeeded in divesting Nohta’s interest from Mother’s book, and the two of us shared an uncomfortable glance as we recognized the magazines we had scavenged from the coyote cave and sold off later. Nohta sniggered into her hoof while I hid my embarrassment behind my own.

With a triumphant shout, Lily surfaced from her excursion into the seemingly bottomless pit of her saddlebags holding a small metallic circlet in her hooves. “Found you!”

In the hopes that I might afford Lily an attempt to retrieve her shameful publications if we advanced through this nonsense quickly, I pointed at the circlet and asked, “That’s what you snatched away from the ear pile in the sheriff's office, isn’t it?”

Lily shook her head, flew directly to my bedroll, and yanked the lone orb held by the circlet from its setting. “That doesn’t matter right now. Just watch this.” She thrust the tiny bauble towards me, not bothering to wait for my response.

I backed up to give the intruding pegasus some space, furrowing my brow as I took the ball in my hooves. “Er, and what am I watching it for?”

She was completely sincere as she said, “It’ll prove I’m right.” The conviction in her face and voice was immediately recognizable. It was also enough to worry me greatly. I knew Margarita had considered Lily unstable, but I hadn’t thought to see such a clear example so quickly.

She bore the same desperate assuredness one might have seen in those members of The Caravan Father and Pearl had diagnosed with “Surface Shock.” Those poor souls that had to be heavily sedated lest their anxiety spread to the Stable’s other population. The only treatment that ever seemed to work for them had been a strict chemical regimen and lots of prayer with Moonglow. I had never been allowed to see them before they were cured, an argument Father had made for my safety due to their volatile behavior, but I still remember praying for them on my own.

I knew that this would be a delicate matter, but I was unsure of what to do. I stared at the diminutive bauble in my hooves, a small and hopefully comforting grin curling the corners of my mouth upwards, and humored her request. Staring at the tiny orb, I offered up my opinions regarding its behavior. “Well… It is, um, pretty, I suppose. I don’t see much else, however.” Nohta was rising from her bedroll, evidently stirred to cautious action by Lily’s antics.

Lily smacked her face with a hoof and groaned. “No… Ugh! You’re a unicorn! Use your magic on it!”

I nodded, mentally adding ‘self-injurious behavior’ to my checklist, and attempted to placate her. “And what, pray tell, will that accomplish?” Nohta had gotten close enough to peer over my shoulder, furrowing her brow as she stared at the sphere in my hooves.

“You’ve never seen a memory orb?” Lily’s features fell, and she scrambled to explain herself to me. “It’ll kinda put you to sleep for a little while, and you’ll see what somepony from the past saw.” Lily added one final plea in a distraught voice as she backed away from me over her combined supplies and refuse. “Just trust me. Please. You need to know.”

She was desperate to tell me something and, Luna help me, I did want to know what she was going on about. My horn flickered to life as I peered into the depths of the bauble. “Oh, well that does sound rather intere—” I never finished the sentence. Instead my magic connected with something completely alien, and the world dissolved and swirled away from me like water down a drain. All I saw was black. All I heard was silence. And all I felt was terror.

The world reformed around me one sense at a time, each milestone of elementary perception taking an uncomfortable amount of time to fully realize. Hearing came first; a hideously incongruent cacophony of repetitive trills, screeches, chirps, clicks, and pops that scratched painfully at my ears before finding a harmony as abruptly as it had found existence. The discordant noise abated as each sound discovered its proper place and rhythm, giving way to the muffled plodding of hooves on a carpet of grass accompanied by the midnight cries of woodland creatures. Though not a tune I was entirely familiar with it did strike a natural chord I could comprehend, and I latched onto it with all my might in the hopes that my disorientation was coming to a close.

Smell came next; a wonderfully floral aroma that thrummed with the energy of life. It was damp but crisp, colorful and smooth, and absolutely exhilarating compared to the bleakness of a world without scent. I sought to inhale deeply of my second perceptual anchor, but to my horror I discovered that my lungs obeyed another’s call. I could no more control my breathing than I could command dominance over the passage of time.

My body, so alien to me now, moved of its own accord as I remembered Lily’s explanation. Reason struggled with panic in my mind as I gave in to the experience and tried to focus my mind solely on this pony’s existence. A stiff and uncomfortable uniform was wrapped tightly around this body’s sturdy frame, the coarse fibers brushing against tightly corded muscles completely unlike my own. The pony whose memory I was experiencing gently strode forward on soft ground, each diligent step bending verdant stalks of grass underhoof as the dew of night kissed our fetlocks and clung to our fur. The wetness was brisk and playful, a stark contrast to the enveloping warmth of the still air that threatened to intoxicate my already confused senses as my, ah… host… advanced through a churning and recessing fog of darkened hue.

Goddess... What a relief it was to finally attain sight from blindness! Colors bloomed and danced like ink swirling in water, gradually coalescing into hundreds of red and white petals, tufts of hanging moss, and slender tree branches, all of which were bathed in soft shadow. I, er… perhaps it should be we? We were in a garden on a summer’s night, slowly walking along a low hedgerow filled with stunningly beautiful flowers.

I only recognized the flora from the few horticultural textbooks Mother had kept alongside Father’s much more impressive collection of medical essays and clichéd science-fiction stories. While the disappointingly low quantity of faded pictures within Mother’s books had never seemed to be a serious problem before, now that I was seeing these petals for myself I couldn’t help but feel... robbed. It was only then that I truly understood how the sundering of the world had subtracted some ineffable and pure joy that can now only be witnessed through torturous glimpses into the past via hijacking some long-forgotten soul’s experiences.

Many of us wear armor over our hearts. Some of us choose resolve. Others utilize hope. But my protection, my armor, was ignorance. It wasn’t barding I had chosen to wear, but it was there all the same. And as the saying goes, I was in relative bliss, unknowing of the beauty of a world I had never lived in. That is, until the night I saw roses and moonflowers in a magnificent pre-war garden. The sight of delicate scarlet and ivory petals struck my heart like a lance, leaving me with a chink in my armor and a bruise upon my heart. Had I been in control of my eyes I would have wept, for my birthright had been stolen away long before I ever drew breath.

But all of this simple majesty, so different from what I had experienced in the wasteland of the desert or in the confines of my stable, paled in comparison to the epic splendor just above us. Our eyes lifted upward past the dew-laden boughs, and soon we were staring at the moon in a cloudless sky. I must confess that I have borne witness to very few things which matched the beauty of that magnificent orb hanging within the heavens. It was surrounded by a thousand, thousand twinkling lights; a glittering ceiling of celestial magnificence enshrouding the world in the perfect balance of light and dark. It was romantic and mysterious, holy and mesmerizing. The armor cracked and fell away completely, washed away with an excruciating level of joy and reverence.

“Do you like the moon tonight?” A playful yet dignified voice brushed our ears with the sweet caress of an honest and simple query.

We breathed out, our words coming as a curt whisper, “It is breathtaking, your majesty. There are no words to give it justice.” My voice was a completely unfamiliar tenor; the voice of a stallion. Being in a stallion’s body was… well not exactly unpleasant, per se, but very distracting to say the least.

My magic had given me quite a lot of experience in sharing the sensations of another’s body, and not all of my patients had been mares. The only real difference between this memory orb and my spell was the complete lack of connection with my own body. I was familiar with greeting another’s feelings. I was not familiar with leaving my own behind.

I tried to keep telling myself that I had gotten used to this sort of thing, hoping that my medical training would take over. But to be honest, in the back of my mind I knew this wasn’t a patient of mine. That simple realization was, at the time, enough to suppress my ability to share this body’s sensations with a clinical mindset. And that was more than awkward enough to distract me from how my host had just addressed the mare before us.

The sweetly playful voice turned sour with melancholy. “I have always enjoyed the little craters that pockmark its surface. They remind me that even imperfect things can be beautiful.”

Our gaze dropped quickly as a frown fell upon our features, but our tongue lay still in our mouth. We were standing near a long stretch of blooming flowers that was broken only by a delicately filigreed arch of ebony leading over a path through the surrounding garden. Hanging moss and flower-bearing vines stretched from the boughs of the trees; just enough moisture clinging to their surface to cause them to glisten in the dimmed light like strands of emerald-laden silk.

I couldn’t help but find it odd that my host wasn’t completely entranced by the sheer amount of floral majesty surrounding him. Surely even before the war had ravaged the world in destructive light, decadence of this magnitude must have been seen as extravagant. But despite the rapturous beauty that lay before me, something else called to my heart more than mere petals and leaves. I desperately wanted to return my gaze to the moon, but no matter how I tried to force it this stallion wouldn’t lift his head to look in its direction. Memory orbs, I soon realized, could be quite frustrating at times.

A tall cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows cast by the moonlight, walking towards us with an air of grace and dignity. Her ebony hood cast a nearly complete shadow over her face. “Do you hate me, Ruby Valor?”

“No.” The answer was instant, as if my host had been expecting the question. There was conviction in his voice, even if his tense muscles told a different tale. “My brothers and sisters fight for Equestria.”

“Do not lie, Captain. Not to me.” She was getting close to us now, close enough for me to see the slender horn and dark-blue muzzle underneath the hood. “It was my decision to make, and not everypony is pleased with my judgement. Do you truly harbor no resentment for me?”

Ruby was silent for a long moment as he stared into the shadow underneath the ebony fabric. When he finally answered, it was only after I felt him loosen his clenched jaw. “Yes, I do.” Our gaze fell, and I caught the barest glimpse of polished metal on the other pony’s hooves.

We ground our teeth together for a moment before continuing. “Princess Cadance did nothing to deserve that.” Wait… Who? Princess Cadance? That must have been a mistake. Possibly a nickname? Ruby raised his eyes to glare at the pony before us as he spoke. “She is the rightful ruler of The Crystal Empire, not you.” Had my host been stricken with madness? None of this was making sense! Vexation set in once more as I vainly willed my lips to cease spouting gibberish.

The cloaked figure raised a foreleg aloofly in the air, allowing the polished silver adorning her hoof to glint in the moonlight. Her voice was measured, calm, and coldly apathetic to my host’s rising ire. “I have done far worse things in the name of protecting my little ponies than dethroning a spoiled child from her seat of power.” H-Her little ponies? No. It couldn’t be… My ardent heart raced away on the wings of a fleeting possibility, leaving me stunned on the ground as I struggled to reason with zealous hope.

I suddenly felt so very caged; my inability to whisper even one reverent question exacerbating my frustration to staggering new heights. Evidently my host did not share my opinions or my concerns. Stalks of grass ground together underneath our irate hooves as we practically snarled. “The 7th and 8th legions were at our doorstep! You could have sent aid!”

The mare’s laconic answer held no emotion whatsoever. “I did.”

“After the zebras had laid siege to the palace!” We were shouting at her now. How I despised this impudent stallion! Even worse was how I was being dragged along for his foalish behavior!

The cloaked figure before us continued to explain in a calm and collected voice. Perhaps a voice fit for royalty? “Cadance refused my support but could not defend her own borders. It was appropriate for me to act.” Was that flutter of the fabric at her sides the movement of wings? Please be wings, please be wings, please be wings…

We raised a hoof before us, only to stamp it on the wet grass as we yelled. “She was trying to negotiate peace! You used the enemy’s attack to further your own aims!”

Again, her voice was serene and detached. “Yes, I did.”

Ruby balked at that, and was stunned into silence as his brow furrowed and his jaw dropped ever so slightly. It was an expression I was becoming increasingly familiar with; shocked confusion, with just a hint of revulsion. None of this mattered though, when a dark blue hoof shod in silver reached up to gently peel the ebony fabric away from perfection herself.

It was her. The Goddess-Princess. The Dark Mother. The Lady of the Night. She who subdued the sun. She who brought order from chaos. She who broke the nightmare. She who was both mortal and divine.

Luna.

To gaze upon her visage was to witness beauty in its truest sense. Not a single imperfection marred her dark blue fur. Her flawless coiffure, speckled with the all the sublimely subdued radiance of the night sky, and trapped by the jet black cloak wrapped around her elegant frame, escaped its bonds to unfurl and billow in a tranquil nonexistent wind. A tiara of purest black onyx was perched gracefully behind the slender and regal horn that held dominance over the heavens themselves. Power radiated from her body, seeming to fill the dead void of the still night with the excited and lively presence of incomprehensible arcane energy. But it was her eyes, those translucent cyan windows to a soul that dwarfed all others in existence, that nearly crushed me under the intensity of her gaze and held my attention like a vice.

I was as a moth gazing helplessly transfixed at the moon. No… less than that. I was the dust clinging to the moth’s delicate wings; undeniably ignorant and altogether unworthy of being in the presence of one so magnificent, yet completely incapable of pulling my attention away from her. I was filthy, unclean, unfit to steal away a precious glimpse of anything so pure. My shame was only matched by my reverence.

I would have cried out in both exaltation and misery. I would have thrown myself prostrate upon the ground to honor she who saved all of equinity from the unrelenting sun. I would have done many things, had I been in control of my actions. Instead I was cruelly forced to endure this foolhardy stallion and his blasphemous ways as he arrogantly refused to bow his head in subservience.

The Goddess held her head high, speaking complacently in a wonderfully rich voice befitting her position in this world. “Ruby, I am the princess of the night. Are you truly surprised I work in shadow?” Curiosity as to why she would entertain this fool’s impertinence tugged at the back of my mind, but I quickly ignored it and berated myself for questioning her wisdom.

Ruby collected himself, and stared coldly at the supreme being who allowed him to live in her world. “I wish I could say that I am. But you have a history of stabbing ponies in the back, don’t you?” I… I felt the words leave my mouth, but I couldn’t believe them. I wanted nothing more than to smack this pony! Such arrogance and blasphemy!

The Goddess’ eyes flashed briefly, hinting at the untold power at her beckoning, and the distant rumble of thunder played backdrop to an otherwise composed voice. “You speak of things you do not understand.” Part of me wished to suffer the pain of being smote by her wrath, both as penance for my own transgressions and in order to see just punishment brought down upon this fool stallion. But The Dark Mother’s kindness and mercy were legendary. Princess Luna endured this flare of emotion, as the darkness is wont to do. “Cadance endangered more than herself when she allowed zebras to march unchallenged through her lands. I will always do what must be done. Those who stand in my way will be dealt with.”

Ruby finally averted his gaze, providing me with a sense of relief from The Princess’ penetrating eyes. I felt him shake his head as he whispered to the grass at our hooves. “My princess only understands love, and the prince is destined to protect ponies. Neither of them is cold-hearted enough to win a war.” Wait… what? There was a prince now? That didn’t make any sense! There was never, in all of recorded history, a prince! There were dukes and duchesses. There were counts and countesses. There were lords and ladies. There were mayors, governors, generals, admirals, and eventually overmares. But true royalty had always been a station reserved for her grace!

Ruby lifted his head to glare at divinity once more, and I felt myself dreading what he was about to say. “Neither of them are as cold-hearted as you.”

The Goddess was quick to reply, elegantly shaking her head in order to reassure and console this impetuous idiot. “It was not an act I took pleasure in, Ruby.” Lady Luna tilted her head gracefully, inquiring in her calm tone. “Are you perhaps concerned that I aim to consolidate power solely under myself? I assure you, that will not happen. I have already borne witness to the aftereffects of such a tremendous error in judgement.” Beautiful cyan eyes bore into Ruby’s, and I felt a pang of jealousy ripple through my heart. Her lovely voice continued a moment later, “No. I will not sit the throne forever, Ruby. There are ponies far better suited to rule this nation in times of peace than I.”

Ruby fell silent, furrowing his brow as he contemplated Princess Luna’s words. I too was perplexed. How could The Goddess not be the perfect ruler of this world? Delegating regional responsibilities I could understand. After all, even the moon could only look upon half the world at any one time. But to speak of stepping down from her rightful position of supreme power? What in her name was I witnessing?

Ruby continued to stand silently. Princess Luna however, had much more to say. She breathed deeply of the night air, and I was horrified to admit to myself that the action looked suspiciously similar to a sigh of exhaustion. “Thank you for being honest, Ruby Valor. It is refreshing to be in the presence of one who does not hide things on account of my station. Especially when so many still fear me.” Ruby’s expression grew darker and more vexed as he pointedly stared at one of the roses adorning the hedgerow beside us. I took the opportunity to wonder exactly who would fear The Goddess, but couldn’t think of any people that should have beyond the ancient zebra empire.

The Dark Mother’s voice was as soft as shadow when she spoke again. “You stood between my niece and I on that day, Ruby. But now I need to know,” she took a single step forward, and tilted her head as she inquired, “to whom does your loyalty belong?”

Niece? The Goddess had no family beyond the… Wait, perhaps it was an adoptive moniker? A title given to those ponies whom she had chosen to elevate above their kin and grant governing powers over the rest of us? And perhaps those ponies had come to falsely believe that their regional hero had been lifted to Goddess-hood? That would mean the history books from my stable’s library were woefully incomplete. But… perhaps this was a relatively recent change in governmental titles. If the texts had not had time to be written and published, then that would account for why this inconsistency was missing from the records! Of course! I was witnessing, possibly for the first time amongst all those who had dwelt in my stable, a forgotten moment in the pre-war history of both Equestria and The Goddess’ personal life! This memory orb was a veritable treasure trove of historical information!

Ruby licked his lips and shook his head. It took him a great deal of time to find his words, but when he spoke it was with absolute assurance. “The zebras will kill us all if they’re given the chance. The Crystal Palace cannot be allowed to fall into their hooves. Allowing them to take the city would have given them a clear staging area against all of Equestria.” He stared into those perfect cyan eyes once more, but his hard expression softened a little more with every word that left his lips. “Deposing Princess Cadance from the throne and garrisoning Equestrian soldiers in The Crystal Empire was wrong. But it needed to happen.”

The Goddess inclined her head, staring directly into our eyes, and asked one simple question. “If you found yourself in my position, would you be able to do the same?”

I knew the answer I would give. I knew the answer I was hoping Ruby would give. After an uncomfortable moment of deep contemplation wherein Ruby furrowed his brows and ground his teeth, he finally indulged my wishes with one word.

”Yes.” His answer burst out of him like a repentant sinner’s whispered admission, causing him to clench his eyes shut from the sight of the glorious alicorn before him. I had absolutely no idea why it took him so long to say that, or why it seemed to pain him so greatly.

Princess Luna pulled away from us, standing regally in the moonlight as she asked. “Would you like to know the real reason I ousted Cadance?” I felt my head nod up and down ever so slightly while Ruby’s chest heaved with emotional exertion. The Goddess acknowledged this with a simple nod of her own, and made an offer to this stallion. “Then let us work together.”

Ruby’s bewildered eyes questioned Princess Luna, giving her ample opportunity to step closer to him. Beautiful blue wings flared past the length of the ebony cloak, adding a magnificent sense of presence to an already imposing and majestic figure. What happened next was nothing short of rapturous. Through Ruby’s memory, I felt The Goddess’ hoof brush against my chest. She stared into his eyes, but I dared to entertain the notion that she spoke directly to me. “You will be an instrument of my will when I cannot act. You will be my scythe now that I no longer wield it in battle. You will strike fear into hearts I am unable to reach.”

Princess Luna retracted her hoof and her wings, allowing the dark fabric to fall back into place at her sides as she spoke softly in the stillness of the night. “You were brave to stand against me, Ruby Valor. I need that bravery now. Equestria needs it.”

I would have leapt at this opportunity. I would have given nearly anything to have been in this pony’s horseshoes. But he had one final question, voiced with all the implicit trust a foal would place in his mother. “Will this end the war?”

The Goddess’ eyes closed as she nodded solemnly. “It will. My victory will be so complete that ponies will never war again.”

I knew differently of course. To bear witness to the sole moment in all of Equestrian history that The Goddess had been wrong was… unnerving. But to see the conviction in her eyes, to hear the confidence in her voice, to know that she believed… If I hadn’t been taught that the world had been destroyed long ago, and seen the evidence with my own eyes, I could have accepted her promise as undeniable truth.

Ruby sighed heavily, and gazed into her eyes to make his vow. “Then my life is yours.” The corners of Lady Luna’s mouth turned upwards at that. It was a smile that warmed my very soul. But it was far too brief.

The Goddess inched forward, whispering in an almost conspiratorial manner, “What if I told you I would require more than just your life?”

Ruby’s brows furrowed in confusion once more, “Princes-”

“Luna?” A third voice entered the memory. A warm, motherly voice, full of concern and surprise.

The Goddess and Ruby both turned their heads sharply. I remember the blurred images of trees rushing through my vision. I remember the scent of the flowers and the dew-laden grass wafting past my nose. I remember the sound of an owl calling to the darkness. I remember the warmth and stillness of the night. I don’t think I could ever forget the crystalline clarity of that one final moment of blissful ignorance.

There in a clearing between the trees stood a pony. Where she stood, shadows and hope died. Her coat was nearly a pure alabaster white, somehow even paler than my own. Her hair was colored with all the pastel hues of the unholy morning sky and undulating in an obscene and blasphemous mockery of Lady Luna’s own resplendent mane. Even the moon seemed to retreat at her presence, giving her all the more impact as she stood as a lone beacon of light amidst a sea of shadow. She… She was beautiful in the same way as a flame; terrifying, hypnotic, and deadly.

My jaw would have dropped at the sight of her, had I been in command of it. Instead I was forced to watch helplessly as my world came crashing down. It was if I were a passenger on a runaway train; I could see the disaster coming, but could do nothing to prevent it.

A long and elegant horn, glowing faintly with a golden yellow light that forced the shadows to recede away from her, jutted out of her forehead like a spear. Enormous wings were folded primly against her sides, giving her an air of terrible regality despite the exhaustion spread across her features. It was only as my stunned brain caught up to what lay before us that I realized a second alicorn stood in the same garden as The Goddess. It… It didn’t make any sense! How could there be two!? I was still processing that dread realization when my attention was drawn to the mare’s cutie mark. What I saw there was both incomprehensible and terrifying. It was the sun.

Anypony with any decency at all would have covered themselves in order to hide their ill fortune had they been cursed with such a symbol. Anypony with any love for the moon would have begged The Goddess every night to cleanse them of that wicked stain. I could think of no worse fate than to be forever branded with a picture of the sun upon my body, yet this mare bore her mark without the faintest notion of shame.

Emblazoned for all the world to see upon her flank was the accursed bringer of light and heat. The relentless and unforgiving orb that had nearly doomed all of equinity before The Goddess had intervened and brought the blessed night. It was the unholy symbol of everything Luna stood guard against, and that she shaded us mortals from.

No… No no no… this couldn’t be! The stallion in the memory orb refused to move, despite how I struggled to shake my head and back away. This didn’t make any sense! The horror and revulsion I felt never found my face. Instead I only looked on in plain and subservient silence as the image of divine perfection conversed with the unclean vision of heresy.

The Goddess’ sweet voice sounded nearly as surprised as I. “Sister!? What are you doing up at this hour? You should be resting.” Wait… No… What did Luna call her!?

The other one cocked her head slightly, and spoke in a manner more befitting a good pony than a bringer of death and hatred. “You were late for the dream. I grew worried.”

Our lips finally parted, and to my horror Ruby and I bowed to the other mare. “Princess Celestia. An honor.” P-Princess? But…

This… None of this was making sense. There was only one alicorn! And there was only one princess! There could only be one Goddess! The teachings were undeniable! I knew that to be true! The memory felt more like a prison with each passing second. I desperately wanted out, but no matter how I struggled the shackles fettering my mind would not release. I was trapped inside a cage with blasphemous affronts and heretical evidence. There was no way out but forward, and my battered sanity had already taken all it could stand.

Celestia smiled warmly, taking notice of us as if for the first time. To see her eyes meet my own was… horrifying. “Oh, Ruby Valor? You served in Princess Cadance’s royal guard, did you not? A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

I was too stunned to fully comprehend what was being revealed to me. I felt my lips move, and I felt the breath leave my body, but I could only just barely hear the words. “I did. And the pleasure is all mine.”

She grinned at us, the corner of her mouth turning upwards in the barest hint of a smirk. “Meeting my little sister in her private garden during her favorite time of night? Is this what it looks like?” L-Little sister? Luna was the younger sibling? But…

Every fiber of my being rebelled against what I was hearing, but my body was not my own. All the turmoil I experienced was kept bottled inside while this stallion commanded my actions. I wanted to scream out in protest. I wanted to thrash in revolt. I just wanted to move in accordance with my own will once again…

I couldn’t take this anymore… I needed out.

Lady Luna was stirred to speech. “Sister! Surely you jest!”

We spoke again, the reverence on our tongue juxtaposed against the phantom revulsion that should have twisted my gut. “I am here at Princess Luna’s request, your majesty. I am not entirely sure why, as of yet.”

“Oh really?” The white one smirked playfully at that, and finally turned to leave. “I’ll leave you to it,” a wicked grin flashed across her muzzle, “but I’ll expect some details in the morning, Lulu.”

The Goddess sighed, lifting a beautiful hoof to her face. “Go to bed, Tia. I will meet you in the dream.”

Our brow furrowed as we offered a halting apology. “A- a thousand pardons, if I have offended.”

Celestia calmly smiled back at us, “You have caused no offense, Ruby Valor. Do not worry.” Turning to The Goddess, she continued, “Good night, Luna. I’ll see you shortly?”

To my uncomprehending horror, Luna bowed her head to the false goddess. It wasn’t a gesture of subservience, but one of love. At that point, I honestly wasn’t sure which was worse. “I will make certain you rest well, Sister.”

Celestia gave us one final tired grin, and retreated behind the stone wall. The shadows regained their strength as she turned the corner, and the moon shown all the more brightly in her absence. Darkness had once again won out over the light, but I couldn’t help but feel this was a pyrrhic victory at best.

I silently pleaded with The Dark Mother to grant me reprieve from this hell. But no matter how I begged and prayed, I remained locked inside my mental prison. The futile struggle was infuriating, and only served to further incense my outrage at the nonsensical visions I was being subjected to as well as exacerbate my panic.

The Goddess watched the white alicorn leave, making a hushed admission that only just barely reached our ears. “Living in her shadow is a constant exercise in humility.”

Our head nodded, “Elder siblings will do that to you.”

Luna gave us a sideways glance out of one eye, turning the corner of her mouth upwards in a nearly imperceptible grin. “We will continue this conversation later.” Turning to face us head on, she continued in an icily serious tone. “From this moment forth you will take orders only from me. You answer only to me.” Inclining her head, she resumed whispering to us in a conspiratorial hush. “More hinges on my plans than you can imagine, Ruby. I require your discretion in this matter.”

“I understand.” We swallowed, nodding our head in acceptance. The motion felt hollow and devoid of meaning. Luna, please, just let this end!

“We will gather your new brothers and sisters tonight when you sleep, firstborn.” There was something odd about the way she emphasized that last word, but in my emotional distress I failed to make the connection.

“Princess, why me?” Our brow furrowed as this stallion asked one final question. “Surely there are better soldiers at your command.” I was ready to scream from frustration and confusion. Instead my host calmly stared at The Goddess in a simple and inquisitive manner.

She smiled again, her visage both beautiful and completely at odds with how I felt. “Let us simply say that I came to it… in a dream.”

“—uck did you do to her!? Answer me or I'll blow your fucking head off!” Nohta’s enraged shouting was immediately followed by the smooth mechanical sound of one of the immense rounds used by The Worm sliding into position within its chamber.

“I fucking told—” Lily was cut off abruptly, grunting in sync with the sound of something heavy thudding into one of the barn’s wooden beams. “It’s a memory orb! She’s just asleep!”

I snapped my head upright as I found myself lying on the sleeping bag, nauseous and gasping for breath. My wide eyes scanned the barn, finding Nohta holding an incredibly flustered Lily at gunpoint. Lily’s hooves were raised beside her in a gesture of compliance as Nohta stood them both upright against a support beam and held the barrel of her pistol inches from Lily’s chin. They both turned their heads in my direction as I shrieked and jumped to my hooves. The little orb rolled away from my bedroll to join several more just like it.

I couldn’t get the words out fast enough. They spilled over my tongue in a jumbled heap of confusion and panic. “That… She… What was… That wasn’t…”

Nohta was still staring wide-eyed in my direction, too distracted by my startled waking and incoherent babbling to notice the blue hoof careening towards her jaw. Lily’s attack landed with a heavy smack, knocking The Worm from Nohta’s mouth and sending the pristine weapon thudding against the dirt floor. Blood flew from Nohta’s lips as she staggered backwards, and Lily flung herself into my sister before she could recover.

“Luna… G-Goddess…” I couldn’t focus. I raised a hoof to my racing heart as I tried desperately to regain my bearings and comprehend the scene that was playing out before me.

Lily’s weight and speed sent the two of them rolling over each other in the dirt before Lily flared her wings and righted herself on top of Nohta. “Calm down! She’s okay!” Indigo hooves held my sister firmly in place, but made no move to attack. A detail I overlooked in my panicked state.

Hushed and frantic whispers spilled out of my mouth as I shook uncontrollably. “The m-moon… The sun… T-Two alicorns…” I backed into one of the wooden support beams and yelped in surprise.

Lily locked her bewildered eyes with mine as Nohta grunted and struggled underneath her, “Candy? Are you—”

Blood-red light flooded the barn as I gripped my pistol and whipped it in Lily’s direction. “No! Stay back! Stay away from me!” Shock washed over her face as the shaking gun dipped and swung wildly in my faltering magic.

There could only be one… Only one… How were there two!?

Nohta freed one of her hooves, kicking out at Lily’s exposed stomach as she screamed in outrage. “What the fuck did you do to her!?” The sound of an already weakened rib breaking within Lily’s chest was almost lost amidst the shouting.

Lily grunted, clutching her barrel and flapping her wings rapidly. She managed to half-lift herself away from Nohta, but only staggered a few steps backwards before crashing into and breaking an old ladder propped against the barn’s loft. The rotted wooden rungs crashed all around her as she covered her head and shouted, “It’s just a memory orb! Just like I told you! I didn’t—”

I don’t think I meant to do it, but in all honesty, I’m not sure. A lance of crimson energy punched a smoking crater out of one of the barn’s thick wooden support beams, blowing charred little splinters out of the wood just inches from Lily’s face. Her stunned eyes met mine even before all of the splinters had landed.

I realized what I had done a moment later. My pistol thudded to the ground as I held my hooves in front of my mouth and gasped at my actions.

Two voices called out in unison. “Candy?”

That was all I heard. I turned tail and bolted from the barn, too scared to look back and too confused to concentrate on… whatever it was that had just happened. It was too much for me! I needed help! I needed guidance!

I needed Luna.

The cold night air bit through my naked coat as my tail flowed behind me. The pounding of my hooves reverberated off the tree trunks that rushed through my blurred vision. It was so similar, but so opposite… Just like…

NO! Why would Luna do this? She wouldn’t be this cruel! Not to one as faithful as myself! The irony was so thick as to be nearly palpable. To first be given a vision of life and beauty in a perfect and uncorrupted world, only to realize that world held… that THING... and now to return to my own wasted hell of death and repugnance where Luna had… She was...

The clouds danced playfully across the heavens to lance the ground with beams of racing moonlight, like cruel tricksters offering enticing lifelines to those of us in need before teasing them out of our flailing grasp. From tree to tree I chased the moon; tripping over roots, scrabbling through the dirt, stumbling every panic-stricken step of the way and dirtying my sweat-slicked coat with the soil, no longer caring if I was running to or from. Wetness streamed down my cheeks, yet I ignored the twin stings of cool air and hot tears as I held my eyes wide and sought the holy glow of The Dark Mother.

I knew in my heart there was only one thing that could save me, and in my desperation I sought it out like a mare singularly possessed of a one track mind. That is… until the clouds finally ceased in their sadistic ruse and parted fully to allow a flood of moonlight to cascade over the desert. Only in the memory orb had I ever been privy to such an unobstructed view of Luna’s holy orb, but with the thoughts clouding my mind I was no longer sure if that boded well or ill.

I halted to stare anxiously at the sky, panting for breath in the middle of the ancient orchard. All around me the dead trees hailed and begged the moon for succor and relief, and bereft of any option or notion otherwise I followed their suit. But of course, none of our prayers were to be answered that night.

I craned my neck, lifting my voice to the heavens, “LUNA!” It was at once both a terrified scream and choked sob. My salvation depended on this! I couldn’t hold back!

I believed my wail would pierce the sky, reaching The Goddess in a way all the branches of all the trees around me never could. Those decrepit trunks simply lacked true conviction! My faith was greater; my need more substantial! I was more deserving of her aid then than any! I knew it to be true!

“Luna, please!” The shriek bounced off the trees. A low wind chilled my dampened cheeks and muzzle. The night was silent, save for my voice. My shaky legs gave way as I slumped weakly against the nearest trunk, latching onto the nearest physical anchor I could find as I drifted through a sea of emotional strife. The dried bark scratched at my chest and neck, but still I clung to it with all the desperation of an abused filly in a broken home.

This was all so wrong! That orb couldn’t have held the truth! My free hoof ground the dry soil beside the dead roots, mixing dust with the liquid falling from my shaking muzzle and chin. “Goddess… please…”

I babbled desperately, reaching out for an explanation. “It was a test, wasn’t it!? A sun goddess is heresy! She wasn’t real! She wasn’t…” My voice cracked and faltered, threatening to give out at any moment. I ignored it. The truth was more important. “Luna, tell me that vision was false! Give me something! Anything!”

The moon stared down at me, placid and unfeeling, and for the first time in my life… I could not feel her presence.

Every avalanche begins with a single falling stone; every flood with a single drop of water. The smallest of sparks can birth hell if given enough time and tinder. But those disasters… they are all impermanent, ephemeral, weak… Faith is a bulwark far, far greater than any cataclysm or calamity; able to weather any storm that should batter against it. Yet all it took to utterly break mine was that single moment of doubt.

“Luna?” My whisper quivered as it left my lips. “Goddess? Please… I need you…”

Goddess… I had uttered that word so many times and for so many reasons, absolutely certain that she always heard my prayers. Certain that she helped carry the burden of my sorrows. Certain that she reveled in my joys. Now her silent response echoed off the hollow cavity that had been rent through my heart, each reverberation the same fretful tune as my impending and horrible realization.

Doubt urged my mind to rationalize; to bring understanding. But as the pieces finally came together, so too did they crumble apart. The more I stitched the threads in place, the more everything I understood unraveled at the seams. In a span of minutes all those things which I held in highest regard had been smashed to pieces before my eyes.

“No…” I squeezed my eyelids shut, trying to wring the tears from my face that I might see the moon a little clearer.

All the knowledge I had accrued over the course of my life was rendered useless by doubt and untruths. The garnet had changed the words… What good was a library if all the books had been altered to perpetuate a lie? The history I knew was suspect. The truth… unknowable. I had dared to flippantly suggest that I was “ignorant” in the ways of the world, as if anything I didn’t already know was inconsequential. Only at that moment did I finally understand the meaning of the word “ignorance.” Only then did I understand that I truly knew nothing.

I choked on my own voice, begging the wind to carry my words. “…please…”

I had raised one pony above all others my entire life because that was how I had been taught, and it was the only thing that made any sense at all. Luna was the one placed upon that altar, but now I was questioning the wisdom of venerating her, and struggling to comprehend just what I had sacrificed to elevate her so. I had witnessed undeniable proof that the teachings were false. Selenism, the bedrock of my life, was left broken and shattered. The “truth” of the wasteland was now seeping into the cracks in the stone, filling the fissures little by little with the painful mortar of understanding.

“Goddess, no…” I reached out towards the moon with my free hoof, still not daring to let go of my tree. Tears had splattered across my Pipbuck, distorting the colors of the display and pooling in the corners of the screen. They caught the moonlight as they fell to the ground, like little stars racing towards the earth. Like everything I loved being dashed to the ground...

I felt my faith slipping like sand over my hoof. Every irritating grain was a memory of prayer, or of singing a hymn, or of reading the texts. Every one now filled with horror and regret. Every one as pointless as the last…

I shouted once more, indignation tinting my voice with harsh tones, “Luna! Help me, please! I was your most faithful! I followed you even when Father didn’t!” My hoof stamped on the tree’s exposed roots. Why was she being so quiet? She had answered my pleas before! Why wouldn’t she now when I needed her guidance more than ever!?

It was infuriating! Why would she choose silence when the last of her faithful begged on bended knees? All I needed was a whisper! All I wanted was a sign! I screamed again, curling my tail around my hooves. “Why won’t you help me!?”

With every passing moment of her silence my ire rose a little further. I was not content to simply allow this change to take place, not after her refusal to give even the simplest of signs. I wanted more than that. So much more.

Every ounce of incredulity, disappointment, and frustration finally burst forth. I glared furiously at the moon as I committed unspeakable heresy, screaming for all I was worth. “Was it all a lie? Was it all a fucking lie!? ANSWER ME!” My voice was as a gunshot in the night; violent, sudden, and terrifying. My profanity echoed off the forsaken trees, coming back to my ears a hundred times over in a slowly fading chorus of indignant fury. As I scorned the divine amidst all those dead trunks, I could imagine that I had finally given them a voice. Hearing my own sentiments repeated back to me so many times only served to lend credence to my outrage and cement the resolve in my voice. I was no longer pleading. I was not begging as a subservient and faithful child. I demanded.

The mere thought that anyone should disrespect The Goddess as I was doing would have raised my hackles an hour prior. But as I stood amidst the dead trees and shrieked at the moon, it only seemed natural that I deserved the truth; that I was owed for a lifetime of falsehoods. Peering into the darkness, the only honest things I discovered were that my ardor had been betrayed, my zealotry had been meaningless, and my rising ire was completely vindicated.

Uncomfortably sharp bits of bark dug into my coat as I gripped the tree at my side and scowled at the holy orb. “You were supposed to be the only one! Her existence is BLASPHEMY!” My throat ached with the force of my screeching. “You called her SISTER!” A throbbing ache spread through my neck as my vocal chords finally gave out.

The other mare, the alicorn with the sun for a cutie mark, had acted nothing like the sun of the stories. How much of what I had been taught was a blatant falsehood? Was the sun even something to be feared and reviled? Father had once claimed…

NO! He was wrong when he said those things! Luna was testing him! Just as she was testing me now! Even Mother had converted to the faith once she had been shown the wisdom and compassion of The Dark Mother!

I gasped for breath, hyperventilating as my mind raced. I clung to what remained of my beliefs, doing my best to rationalize and explain the existence of the other one… But no matter how I struggled to reconcile the dissonance between my heart and mind, I simply could not find harmony. My desires, hopes, and emotions were all stacked on a scale, weighed and compared against cold and unrelenting facts that grew more numerous with each passing second.

The tenets were clear and absolute. Luna was the only alicorn. She was the greatest pony to have ever lived! None were her equal! She was a living goddess, walking amongst mortals to provide them guidance and protection out of the goodness of her heart!

But… that wasn’t true. There was another; I had seen it through a stallion’s eyes. Could there have been more? Lily had claimed… three? Three princesses!? My jaw dropped as I remembered the conversation in the memory. It backed Lily’s assertion; Luna, Celestia, and… Cadance, was it? And Father… The hateful things he had said after Mother’s passing… Queer notions that the sun was not horrible and terrifying…

The list compiled itself in my mind as I stared blankly ahead, too stunned to bother trying to still my quivering lips. Father’s hurtful ramblings in our family’s time of grief, and how they mirrored the few troublesome snippets I had caught from the mares and stallions with “Surface Shock.” My stable’s preacher, Moonglow, overseeing the delivery of books from the surface to our library before anyone could even glance at their covers. The talisman Nohta had taken from that same library, and its effects on my teleportation tome. The personal debriefings from the Overmare to all those who served in The Caravan. The reaction of the Steel Rangers to my word choice. Lily and her memory orb. Mother’s people’s beliefs standing in direct conflict with Selenism... All of the evidence was damning, but none more so than the alien feeling of loneliness I experienced under the moon’s cool glow.

The scales tipped. My balance shifted. I leaned against the tree, dumbstruck. The dissonance had died. The evidence stacked against my faith was too much. I had finally found the truth, and I hated it with all my heart.

The hollow cave in my chest iced over as a single abhorrent realization rose to prominence in my mind. If the teachings were false… and everyone that had ventured outside with The Caravan was privy to that information… then that meant…

My free hoof found my lips as I stared forward in dumbfounded silence. The revelation rippled through me, inexorable, sweeping every other thought from the forefront of my mind. Trapped between the rock and the hard place, there was nothing I could do to avoid being crushed by epiphany.

They had lied. Mother and Father had lied to me. Selenism was false… and my parents had known all along. They had lied to me my entire life. They hadn’t even trusted their own daughter with the truth, and now they were gone; leaving me clueless, frightened, confused, and above all… alone.

They were dead, and there was no moonlit paradise where they waited for me to join them. My heart skipped a beat as I processed that. It skipped another when I remembered all the times Nohta and I had just barely slipped from the jaws of death. We could have perished so many times… and then there would have been… nothing.

Nothing at all…

With my throat as good as useless, and with lightheadedness threatening to render me unconscious, I clutched the tree tightly as I tried to steady myself. I gripped it harder as the final levee broke, and my heart was wracked with wave after wave of anguish. My horn scratched against the wood as I buried my face in the tree trunk and clawed at the bark.

Little by little, inch by inch, my heaving sobs robbed me of the last of my strength. I fell to my haunches and leaned against the tree as the grief flowed over me. My shoulder slipped on the tear-slicked bark soon afterward, and I landed on my side in the dirt, only able to make pathetic little mewling whimpers as I cried and shook.

I… I don’t know how long I lay there on an uncomfortable tree root; alone, without a single article of clothing or item on my person. I had lost track of everything else, why should time have been of any further concern? I only know that I lay there long enough for the dirt to mat my mane and the fur upon my cheeks. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry at the futility and hopelessness of my entire life, and so that’s what I did.

I lay there—hollowed out and used up—and stared vacantly at the dry soil that had greedily soaked up my tears. The truth was cold and ruthless, and like a wave crashing down on a once blazing inferno it had extinguished every notion I previously held of goodness and decency. My fire had withered and died, and in my grief I was ready to follow its example.

But despite all odds, there was still an ember smoldering within my heart… It was not pure. Nor was it good. No… It carried the memory of a different flame. And in the freezing catacomb of my soul it was now the only heat left to be found. It warmed my bones just enough to stave off the freezing despair. It gave me strength when I forgot the meaning of the word. And it burned hotter with every passing second of my growing contempt.

No… No, I wouldn’t let this be the end of it. I was better than this. I deserved more than the lies I had been given! I had tools at my disposal and a mind to use them!

Pushing myself to a single hoof, I lay on my flank and leaned against my tree. Brushing the wetness from my eyes and scowling at the moon, I activated my spell to heal my exhausted and irritated throat. I nearly threw up from the ensuing vertigo and nausea, but steeled myself by staring sternly at Luna’s so-called holy orb. It was as if my defiance and anger safeguarded me from displays of weakness, though I had to wonder at exactly what my wrath was directed toward.

I was still grasping at snippets of thought, my mind flailing in every possible avenue for an explanation. As my magic faded and the nausea died, the physical discomfort caught my attention. I was abruptly wondering why my spell always made me feel sick when I used it on myself.

I had thought Mother and Father honest. I had believed that their word was truth. A zebra living in a shack in a shanty-town had called that faith into question. Now realizing that they had been untruthful about much more serious matters, I couldn’t help but wonder what else had been kept from me.

I turned my head from the tree, and examined my glyph-mark. Mother had only ever said I would make others whole, but this mark meant something to the zebras. Was the buck from Mareon telling me more truth than Mother?

Half-Moon had been the one to explain the meaning of my mark, rather than either of my parents. They had lied about that as well. Shamans, medicine mares, witch doctors, and… necromancers. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I acknowledged what my mark truly described.

Necromancy: Death Magic. There was no blissful afterlife. There never had been. The zebras knew far more of death than any pony. And with all the empty lies I had been forced to swallow, I craved answers now more than ever. My return visit to Half-Moon’s hovel could not come quickly enough.

I relit my horn, and focused the bubble of my magic into a tiny ball above my upturned hoof. The cloud of energy sparkled and pulsated brightly, bathing the immediate area in my familiar scarlet hue. Mother and Father had kept so many truths to themselves, but why? Why from me?

The question Mother had asked me on her deathbed came back to haunt me. “Candy, are you a zebra with a unicorn’s horn? Or are you a pony with pink stripes?”

The magic winked out of existence as I lowered my hoof to the ground and asked the tree in a tired voice, “What in Luna’s name am I?” The name felt strange on my lips. It lacked the compassion and security I normally associated with The Goddess. Now it only itched and burned with the sting of betrayal.

My ears lay flat against my head as I stared numbly at the moon, the sight of the orb reinvigorating the chill around my heart. In my desperation I sought my goddess one last time; a hopeless shot in the dark carried by an exhausted whisper. “Why are you doing this? Why test me now? Did I not pray enough?” My eyes scanned the tree branches as I searched for an answer. “Is it because of Mother and Father? Would you blame me for their actions?”

I shook my head, feeling my teardrops splatter as they fell next to my hooves. Through choking sobs, I asked the most painful question of all. “Have you for-forsaken m-me?”

No. No, I knew the truth. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I found enough strength to raise my head one last time and glower at the divine. “Or were you ever there at all?”

For all my efforts I received naught but silence. The moon hovered in the night sky, slowly being covered by rolling clouds, and for the first time in my life I neither cared nor regretted that my time with her was waning.

My entire life had been a lie. But why? Who would go through all that trouble? I couldn’t comprehend how it served any purpose or benefit to anypony. Why take all the steps to ensure the secret remained safe from all of the Stable? What was the point of it all?

An excellent question, I realized. What was the point of anything anymore?

My shoulders slumped. Lies. My ears drooped as my breath hitched in my throat. All lies. I slouched against the tree, uncaring of how the bark scratched and dirtied my coat as I convulsed with my grief. How? Why? My hooves slipped on the loose soil, and I fell hard on the dirt. Dear Luna… Dust from the trunk matted on my stripes and lips, carrying a bitter taste to my tongue with every shaking breath.

Loyalty, Honesty, and Laughter. Her revered Three Truths. I had done my best to live by those tenets whenever possible, seeing them as virtues to be upheld and honored. But in the end I was betrayed by hundreds, taught to believe lies, and all I had gained was this endless heartache. Even the Three Truths, a concept as nebulous and open to interpretation as I could possibly imagine, held no wisdom for me.

My lips quivered as I clenched my eyes shut to wring out the wetness still blurring my vision. As my gaze rose from the earth, a haunting glow between the trees caught my attention; like a moonbeam dispersed through the silken strands of an ivory mane. The pony kept her distance, staring haughtily through the orchard as her ghastly-pale magic washed over the dead wood like a thick rime of frost. Her horn painted everything around her alabaster, such that I was unable to even discern her basic colors. She wore no barding, and held no weapon, yet she radiated confidence just like the dazzling light that surrounded her. She had come, just like the recording had foretold. My mysterious benefactor was a unicorn; apparently possessed of a penchant for watching me suffer.

Her mouth twisted in an arrogant smirk as she lifted a hoof to her side and exposed the Pipbuck on her leg, turning to leave as her pristine tail flowed behind her like a pennant. I had just enough time to recognize her cutie mark, a single open eye, before the intense light wrapped around her body. She grinned condescendingly as the brilliant pearlescent light of her horn encapsulated her body in a thick cocoon of white, and vanished in a flash of magic as I stared on in uncomprehending and detached silence.

How long had she been there? Why had she come in the first place? Was my anguish nothing more than entertainment for her!?

“Candy!?” Nohta’s voice cleaved through the silence of the night, echoing off of the trees and startling me from my daze.

I saw her gallop into the receding moonlight, heading my way. In an emotionless dead voice, I asked, “Sister? What are you doing out here?”

Her eyes cast nervous glances around us as she inched closer. “You just took off, and then you never came back. Then I heard the yelling and… Shit, Sis, you don’t ever cuss… You had me worried.”

My jaw quivered as the heartache returned. Why hadn’t I thought of my sister earlier? Nohta didn’t know. Mother and Father had lied to her as well. I’d have to be the one to tell her…

Lily fluttered to a halt, barely managing to kick up a small dust cloud as she gently touched down near my tree. Still clutching her barrel and favoring one of her wings, she spat out her question in a pained whisper, “Nohta? Fuck, I’m sorry! Is she gonna be okay?”

“Shut up, Lily.” Nohta only spared her an irritated glance, hissing through her teeth. “You’re the one that started this whole thing.”

Lily grimaced as she accepted the rebuke. “I… kinda did, didn’t I? Look… this isn’t what I wanted.”

Nohta turned to glare at her fully, “What are you even doing out here?”

“Nohta…” I shook my head, allowing the remaining wetness to roll freely down my face. “You don’t need to be angry at her. It’s not her fault.”

Lily glanced between us quickly, her face contorted in an awful wince. “Look… You needed to know. I just didn’t think you’d take it this hard.”

“Whatever.” Nohta cast one last threatening scowl in Lily’s direction before cautiously stepping towards me. “Alright, Sis, If you say so. But,” she paused, licking her lips nervously, “How about you tell me what’s going on?”

I finally released my hold on my long-dead deciduous anchor and staggered away from the tree, rocking from side to side on unsteady legs until I was inches from Nohta’s beautiful amethyst eyes. My bedraggled and filthy mane swung freely before my face as I tried to summon up the words to tell her what I had learned. She tensed as I threw my forehooves around her, never relaxing even as I pulled her into a desperate embrace.

I nearly choked on the words as they left me. “I love you, Nohta.”

She started to protest, struggling against my grip. “Sis—”

“No! Listen to me!” I shook my head, muddy rivulets streaming down my cheeks, and held her face between my hooves. I forced her bewildered and frightened eyes to stare at my own as I explained, “No matter what you think of anything else, you need to know that. I need you to know that.” The tears poured over her shoulder as I sobbed into her mane, holding her stunned form tightly to my chest. “It’s the only thing that I’m certain of anymore, sister.”

Footnote: The Party Levels Up!
Welcome to Level 8!
New Perk!

Living Anatomy: Your years spent studying equine physiology have given you great understanding in just what makes living creatures tick. Through your Pipbuck’s interface you are now able to discern the Health and Damage Threshold of any target, and gain a +5% damage bonus against all ponies and non-feral ghouls. Try to keep it together, Doctor!

Nohta gains a Perk:

Strong Back: There are certain words you don’t want to use around Nohta. Like “packmule.” With this perk Nohta gains a considerable amount of carry weight. How many pockets does that cloak have, anyway?

Lily gains a perk: “You better give me a good one after putting me through all that shit, asshole!”

Flower Filly: Lily is no stranger to addictive substances. She has half the normal chance to get addicted and only suffers half the normal withdrawal penalties when she does. “Oh fuck yes… I could really use some Med-X right now.”

Author's Notes:

Special thanks are in order for my crew for all the help they gave me on this chapter. These guys are great, and I’m lucky to have them helping me out.

Wr3nch was a constant source of support, encouragement, and advice, all the while somehow managing to kick my ass into gear when I did something stupid or was working too damn slow. I say it every time, but seriously, I owe that guy a lot. Sisters wouldn’t be half the story it is without him.

Stevepoppers, while not having been around as long as Wr3nch, is also undeniably awesome. He’s more than just a third set of eyes to spot my goof-ups, he’s got some good suggestions to boot.

Thanks for all the covering fire, guys!

Another big thank you to KKat, for giving all of us this amazing sandbox for our imaginations. And of course, thanks to all the folks who have worked on MLP or Fallout. FALLOUT 4 IS COMING! WOOO!