Foalhood. New life. I don't pretend to know too much about this subject, to be quite honest. As far as I can remember, I never was a foal myself. If I had been, my memories would at least give me something to work with. I often find myself wondering... what was I like before Unity? Was I different before I became an alicorn? I've been like this for so long now that I can't even consider anything else.

I wish I knew. The only memories I seem to have of the deep past are of Twilight. I can remember only bits and pieces, but a particular memory of a young filly in Canterlot learning magic beneath the gentle hooves of the Princess rings quite clear through the void of my mind. How did such a wonderfully bright and talented young pony become the Ministry Mare that guide Equestria on its path to destruction?

Was the war truly so corrupting that even the innocence of foalhood was tainted by its influence? The old adage that war never changes certainly rang true for Equestria. War did however, change us. We changed into a race born into a destiny of hate and balefire. We were destined for destruction from the get go. We're only waiting for it to take us away from this land of insanity and death.

“Patch!!!” I shouted, throwing my weight underneath the ailing mare and lifting her onto my back. I looked up at Sunshine. “We need to get her to a doctor.”

“Follow me,” Sunshine simply replied, motioning to the door.

I followed behind her, Patch being held in place by my remaining good wing on one side and Steeljack on the other. The stallion had a concerned look on his face as he kept his gaze solely locked in on his love. We shuffled into the tiny elevator, leaving the others to get our things ready to go. Patch groaned as she tried to turn over on my back. I grimaced, lighting my horn and using my magic to secure her in place.

“Lemme down...” she whispered softly. “I'm... I'm fine...”

“No, you're not fine, Patch,” I said sternly. “You're not well at all. Don't worry, we're taking you to see a doctor.”

“The... the foal... “ Patch said hoarsely.

I grimaced. Did that have something to do with what was going on? Was the foal alright, or was her body rejecting it and causing a reaction? I didn't know for sure. I was not smart when it came to these kinds of things. I sighed as the elevator came to a stop and we funneled into the main lobby. Ponies were still cleaning up, but for the most part the tenants of the Tower were back out in full force. We received all sorts of looks as we marched forward. I didn't care. All I wanted was to make sure my friend was alright.

The primary physician's office came into view and I flung the door open, stepping inside to a very bewildered looking receptionist.

“Doctor. Now,” I said angrily.

The receptionist nodded frantically, motioning for us to follow her. We made our way down the hallway, pushing our way into a tiny room with a bed in it. I laid Patch down on the bed carefully with my magic. The green mare groaned and grunted, rolling over as the door behind us opened up, revealing the doctor, a tan unicorn.

“I understand that you needed to see me,” he said.

I glared at him. “It's my friend. She's not feeling well,” I said, motioning to Patch.

The doctor stepped up next to the green mare, placing a hoof to his chin. Patch rolled over, and the doctor sighed. His horn lit up, bathing the mare in a soft light. Within several seconds she was beginning to snore. The light covered my friend for several minutes more before retracting. I raised an eyebrow hopefully.

“Your friend is experiencing some form of negative reaction related to her pregnancy. To be honest, Miss Star... I'm no expert at this sort of thing. I've applied a sedation spell to help her sleep, but she needs to rest and recuperate. I’m sorry, I’m not an obstetrician. I'm not sure what else we can do here,” he said softly.

I stamped a hoof angrily. That was not the answer I needed to hear.

“That's not good enough,” I said. “You said yourself, you're not an expert at this. We need an expert, we need Dry Rot.”

“And what do you plan on doing? Bring him here? Dry Rot is a ghoul. His kind is prohibited within Tenpony Tower,” the doctor replied casually. Before I could respond he lifted a hoof to continue speaking. “Conversely, your friend is in no shape to be moved. She needs rest. Moving her is only going to make her condition worse.”

“Sitting around here waiting for her to get worse isn't going to help either!” I shouted. I became acutely aware of the fact that the door had opened behind us and that the others had filtered inside the tiny hospital room. I didn't care. I wanted to save my friend. She couldn't get worse. If she got worse... she could die. And it would be my fault. I'd already had enough deaths on my hooves. Images of Dusk Blue exploding ran through my mind. No, I thought. I can't be responsible for any more death. Dusk... all those ponies who died in the battle. No matter what anypony says... I made that happen, that was my fault.

“She needs proper medical attention,” the doctor argued, his voice edging closer and closer to anger.

I growled under my breath. I was too upset. I was letting my anger get the best of me.

“And what exactly have you been giving her?” I snarled.

“Star, that's enough,” Violet said softly, stepping up next to me and placing a hoof on my shoulder. “I know you're angry, but yelling at him isn't going to solve anything.”

“Thank you,” the doctor said, straightening his smock. “I'm glad somepony here sees reason.”

Violet glared at him with the force of one hundred of my own evil glares. Even I was scared. The doctor gulped loudly.

“Oh, I agree with Star,” she said casually. “Your medical care has been rather... lacking. You have nopony on staff that knows anything about pregnant mares? I'm amazed you manage to even reproduce. Or do you do it asexually, by budding like other lesser organisms?”

The doctor huffed loudly. “I... I never,” he said. “Fine. Take your friend, do whatever you want. She can stay here for as long as you would like. We will not deny her care, no matter how rude you are.”

The doctor turned and pushed open the door. I glanced down at Patch. The green mare was still quite profoundly asleep. Our loud outbursts thankfully hadn't woken her. I sighed and looked at the other. Steeljack was standing on the other side of the mare.

“I think we should take her to see Dry Rot,” he said softly. My eyes widened. “She's only going to get better if we know what's happening, and he's bound to know what is going on if he's any good at this stuff.”

“I agree,” Violet said. “However, some of us should stay behind here. We can't ignore our obligations to the ponies here completely. Only a few of us can go and take Patch, while some of us stay behind to help with repairs and anything that could be needed.”

The others nodded in agreement. I breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was on board with this plan. Everyone wanted to do what they could to save Patch.

“It's decided then,” I said, pointing a hoof at Sunshine. “Sunshine. You know this city fairly well. Do you know where Duskhoof is?”

“It's... it's deeper in the city,” the mare replied. “It's located inside an old Ministry of Peace hospital. Duskhoof is... it's a ghoul settlement. They've been isolationist for quite some time.”

“I see... I suppose then we shouldn't try to scare them too badly,” I said, placing a hoof to my chin.

Steeljack coughed, interrupting my train of thought. “If it's all the same to you, I'll be coming. I'm not going to leave Patch, not now.”

“I sort of expected that,” I said, smiling softly. “I will go as well. I'm seeing this through to the end.”

“We can probably rig up something so that you can just carry her,” Violet said, glancing down at the sleeping mare. “Either way, I'm going to stay behind. My medical spells can probably help around here, given the… questionable quality of medical care they have been giving ponies.”

“I wish to stay as well,” Nixis said. The hellhound lumbered in the corner of the small room. “My strength and claws may be of some assistance.”

“I'm coming with you,” Lilith said, bristling her wings as she looked down sadly at her friend. “I want to help as best as I can.”

I smiled softly. “Alright. Sunshine, Steeljack, and Lilith will accompany me to Duskhoof,” I proclaimed. “Once we have Patch better, we'll return.”

The others filed out of the room one by one, until it was just Steeljack and myself. The dark gray stallion grimaced as I looked down upon the mare he loved. She was sleeping peacefully at least. I reminded myself silently to ask the doctor nicely if he could re-cast the sedation spell before we left. It would make things much easier if Patch wasn't trying to climb off my back.

“Star?” Steeljack asked. I looked up at him, cocking an eyebrow. “Are we sure everything's going to be alright?” He didn't look good. His mane was ragged and I could tell that he was nearing his breaking point.

I lifted a hoof, placing it on the stallion's shoulder. A smile crept along my face as I remembered an old rhyme that Twilight had once said.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” I said, miming the motions of the Pinkie Promise. “I will do everything in my power to see Patch get better, Steeljack. Now go on, get your things together. I'll be along shortly so we can get something rigged up.”

The stallion hesitated for a moment, almost not daring to leave his love's side. Finally he relented, nodding as he brushed past me and exiting the room, leaving me alone with the sleeping mare. I sighed and looked down at her.

“You were wrong,” I said to the air. “I am to blame. For all of this. For letting Discord out, for the battle, for Dusk.... for Dusk Blue. And for you. I wish... I wish it wasn't true, but it is.” I hung my head over the sleeping earth pony. “I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry. If I hadn't... If I'd been stronger... you wouldn't be like this... You wouldn't be sick.”

But she is sick, I thought. Something’s gone wrong with her pregnancy, she's sick, and possibly dying. And it's all your fault.

I stood, groaning. The road ahead was not going to be pleasant. But I had to do something. I wasn't going to let Patch die. I was going to do what I could do to save her life. I turned, determined to keep moving forward, pushing open the door and heading into the hallway. I stopped by the receptionist's desk, letting her know that we would be returning to retrieve Patch and to see if the doctor could renew the sedation spell. I made my way back into Tenpony proper, trudging along amidst the high and mighty elite of Wasteland society. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't notice almost running into a familiar unicorn. I tripped over myself, nearly tumbling into him as I came to rest on the ground.

“You alright there, Star?” Captain Kirby said.

I glanced up. “I'm... I'm okay,” I said softly, grunting as I pushed myself back to my hooves. Kirby extended a hoof of his own, helping me get all the way up. “Thanks.”

“You look... distraught,” Kirby said. “Is something wrong?”

I hung my head, looking away from him.

“It's... It's Patch. She's not doing well,” I said. “We're getting ready to take her to a doctor in Duskhoof. He's supposed to be an expert on pregnancies.”

“I... I thought that something like that was going on,” Kirby said calmly. “If you'd like, I can send along any troops you might need to get you to this place. Anything I can do for Patch.”

“No need, we should be fine... I'm just... I'm worried about her,” I said. “She collapsed in our room, and the doctors here don't even know why. I fear... I fear I've caused more harm to her than good.”

Kirby cocked an eyebrow at this. He motioned for me to sit next to him at a nearby table.

“Star... you've got to get a grip on yourself. What happened to Patch is not your fault,” he said. “I need you to trust me on this. Now, what did the doctors say exactly?”

I sighed. “They want us to leave her here, but this doctor in Duskhoof... he might be able to help her. I have to take that chance, Kirby. I can't let Patch die,” I said. “I've got to do something.”

“I understand. If you need anything, Star... please let me know. It was by your hoof that we were able to end this silly conflict, and I will do whatever I can to lend aid,” Kirby said with a nod.

“I... Thank you,” I said softly. “How are things going with the effort to restore order?”

“Well, better than we'd hoped. The Twilight Society has been working rather closely with some of our top scientists to get a better understanding of Celestia One. They've been quite accommodating,” Kirby said. “Much more than I'd hoped for. In return, we're helping them care for any of the refugees and helping to restore building efforts.”

“That... that sounds pretty amazing, actually,” I said, blinking. “I wish I could have helped more. I feel like I've been so helpless since things went to shit.”

“Star... you helped us all in a big way. By defeating Dusk Blue, you lifted the veil on the rest of us,” Kirby said, resting a hoof on my shoulder. “We all appreciate what you did.”

I grimaced. “I don't,” I said softly. “All I did was get a bunch of ponies killed. I was responsible for Discord, and for Dusk Blue.”

“From what I hear, Dusk Blue was a bad egg all around anyways. You didn't cause him. He chose to be the way he was, and that was something you couldn't change,” the unicorn replied. “Now... I'm holding you up. I'm sure that you have to get ready for your journey. Remember what I said, though. If you need anything... just let me know.”

“I will... thanks,” I said as the unicorn stood and made his way back into the throng of ponies. I grunted, standing myself and stretching out my neck. I made my way back to the elevator and up to our room, where it looked like Steeljack, Lilith, and Sunshine were all ready to go.

“Let's get moving.”

We stepped out onto the Luna line, the midday sun resting comfortably above our heads as we walked. Thanks to the doctors having an old stretcher, we were able to fashion together a crude harness that strapped to my back. Patch lay inside of the harness, secured so that she couldn't roll out. My wings itched from the leather straps as well as the bandages that covered my damaged wing. It was just as well that I still could not use it. I wasn't relishing the thought of having to fly with Patch lying on my back.

The mare in question shifted a bit in her makeshift bed before murmuring in her sleep. I breathed a sigh of relief that the doctors were able to recast the sedation spell before we left. Even if the one doctor was giving us the stink eye the whole time, he still allowed us to leave. I couldn't understand why he cared so much, but then I remembered that he was a doctor. That meant was supposed to care for his patients, regardless of what he could actually do for them. He was only looking out for Patch's well-being. I grimaced as I let my mind wander. Were we doing the right thing? What if Dry Rot couldn't help her?

“Based on my knowledge of the city, Duskhoof is... this way,” Sunshine said, interrupting my train of thought as she pointed off to the left. “The hospital is deeper in, a little closer to the balefire crater but not in any of the dangerous zones. The ghouls that live there visit the crater occasionally for radiation healing.”

“Have you ever been there before?” Lilith asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I... I haven't. No,” Sunshine replied. “I've only ever been outside of the Twilight Society a very few times. Dusk Blue... he...”

I grimaced even more. I knew what Dusk Blue wanted Sunshine for. He had been planning on using her body to bring Twilight's spirit back into this world with the resurrection spell. The same spell that had made Twilight’s connection to me draw Spark into this whole mess.

“Do you know anything about the ghouls living there? Are they nice?” Lilith pressed forward, seeing my expression and moving to change the subject.

Sunshine shrugged. “I know they will let normal ponies into their settlement, but usually not for very long. Most normal ponies wouldn't stay anyways, not with that many ghouls in one area,” she said. “It's nothing against them, they just... kind of smell, is all.”

“Oh, I know that one all too well. Sloth smelled like dead fish sometimes,” Lilith said, bristling her wings.

I winced at her statement. Cranky hadn’t been the most pleasant smelling donkey, but the old ghoul had proven to be dedicated to his lover. Those thoughts gradually led my mind back around to the warm weight strapped to my back. I had to do whatever I could for Patch.

“Sloth?” Sunshine said, cocking her head.

“Long story, old friend. Canterlot ghoul,” Lilith said. Sunshine nodded in response. Lilith grimaced, glancing back at me. “You holding up okay there, Star?”

I met her gaze, sighing. She was beginning to see the cracks in my armor, I could feel it. I had to come up with something fast.

“Yeah... Yeah I'm alright,” I said. “I just want to get there and find out what's wrong with Patch, is all.”

Lilith smiled, pulling back to walk next to me while Sunshine and Steeljack trotted ahead.

“There's something else wrong, and both you and I know it,” Lilith whispered. “Now spill it.”

“It's nothing, really Lilith, I'm fine,” I said, trying to shrug her off.

Lilith's wings flared angrily. “It isn't nothing. Now talk to me. We've been through too much together for you to ignore my help, Star,” she said. “You've been off ever since Dusk Blue. So spill, or we take Patch ahead and send you back to Tenpony Tower.”

“You wouldn't dare,” I said hoarsely.

Lilith's eyes lit up like fire. She was definitely serious about it. We had seen each other at our worst, and I could tell she would do whatever it took to get me to open up.

“Try me. I most certainly would. I'm far faster than you on any day,” she said. “If you can't handle this...” She motioned up at Patch on my back. “Then you most certainly don't deserve to be here.”

I grimaced. She was right, of course. I didn't deserve to be here, but I was going to do it anyways. I had to help Patch. I had to make sure she was alright, that she didn't... that she didn't die.

“I can handle this, Lilith. Trust me,” I said, my voice raising. I glanced past her to see Steeljack and Sunshine. They were watching patiently while Lilith snarled loudly.

“Trust you? Really? You're not telling us a damn thing, I don’t even know what to trust you with?!” she shouted.

I sighed, shaking my head. “It's not... we don't have time for this!” I said. “Patch could be... she could be dying!”

Lilith's eyes widened and she halted immediately. She looked away for a brief moment.

“That's it, isn't it? You think you're responsible for her,” she said softly. “Just like Diamond. Just like... like Cranky.”

“And Discord, and Dusk Blue,” I said, tears beginning to fill my eyes. “I'm responsible for them all, Lilith. I caused all of this to happen. So many ponies... they all died because of my fuck ups. I don't... I don't want that to happen to her...”

Lilith sighed deeply, stepping up to me and placing a hoof on my shoulder. She smiled brightly, it was a smile that I was so glad to see.

“Star... none of that is your fault, and neither is what happened to Patch. Now come on, you are right about one thing... we do need to get her to Duskhoof, the sooner the better,” she mare said. “But listen to me right now... we're going to see about getting you some help, there, at Tenpony, wherever. You are not responsible for this. You saved a lot of ponies lives, Star.”

I hung my head, letting the tears fall to the ground below. Lilith wrapped a foreleg around my neck, pulling me into a quick embrace. She patted me softly.

“I just... I'm so sorry... I thought I was past all this, but it keeps coming back...” I choked out. “And now with Patch... I just can't help it...”

“Shhh... I know, I know,” Lilith said. “But we've got to focus on the present. Patch can still be helped, after all. And you do want to help her, right?” I nodded. “Good. Now let's get going. We've still got a ways to go to get to Duskhoof.”

We began to walk on, in silence this time. Patch stirred slightly on my back, but didn't wake up as we made our way down the streets of Manehattan. Tenpony Tower was far behind us now. It seemed so far away, yet so close at the same time. As we walked, my mind was wracked with though. Despite what Lilith had said, I couldn't pull myself away from the fact that everypony was wrong about one simple truth. I had caused Discord's freedom, that was something I was responsible for. In a way, I was also responsible for what Dusk Blue did.

I sighed. Maybe I really did need psychological help. It would certainly have explained my frame of mind. I was a mess, plain and simple. My mind was fractured and broken, between Twilight's memories and my own shattered recollections. I couldn't tear my thoughts away from the deaths I had witnessed in the past week alone. Dusk Blue's demise kept replaying itself in my mind over and over. I glanced back at Patch, and grimaced. She was still sleeping soundly, but how long would that last? What if we didn't get her the help she needed in time?

I allowed my mind to work its overdrive as we found ourselves in what appeared to be a massive open square, leading off in three different directions. Several large buildings dwarfed the clearing of broken rock, towering over us and preventing us from seeing beyond. They were covered in billboard signs, namely Sparkle Cola and Ministry advertisements. Twilight Sparkle's face looked out from one of the massive signs, sitting next to an open book. The words Reading! It's a hoot! were emblazoned on next to it with a picture of a cartoon owl. Massive pieces of rubble and debris blocked off the exit in front and to the right of us.

“Duskhoof is just beyond this square of the city. The hospital is on the other side of that barrier,” Sunshine said, pointing out across the clearing.

“How do we get over there?” Steeljack said. “It looks like we're making a big circle.”

Sunshine nodded, grimacing. “We need to be very careful. This area is a well known habitat for manticores,” she said. “That's why we need to go around and approach from the other direction. There's a reason we call this Claw Pass.”

“Manticores? Great...” I said, grimacing.

My mind went back to when I was captured by Discord. Manticores were not fun. We continued forward, keeping an eye warily on the surrounding buildings. The side street we were forced into was like a tunnel, the concrete towers on each side dwarfing the span of asphalt beneath our hooves. One of the buildings had fallen over, resting comfortably across the street on top of a smaller building. I glanced up at it as we trotted beneath, worried that today would be the day that it would topple down to land on somepony's unfortunate heads.

Without much to do or say, I slipped my earbud into my right ear and turned my PipBuck's radio on. The smooth sounds of Sweetie Belle's voice filled my mind, giving it a much needed break from its current thought track. Was I going crazy? Had Discord somehow invaded my mind and was slowly driving me insane? No... That one was right out. If he had there'd be more chocolate milk involved. After assessing the airtime properties of chocolate milk and the lack thereof, I tossed that idea out the door. It would have been too easy to blame him, after all. The real blame lay solely with me.

We found ourselves nearing the end of the long street as the music wound down and the smooth voice of DJ-PON3 came onto my radio.

“Good afternoon, Wasteland kiddies! It is I, DJ-PON3 with the greatest news show in two hundred years!

Now I know you all are probably wondering, what in the heck is going on in Manehattan? Well, kiddies, it seems that the problems between the NCR and the Twilight Society were all due to one unicorn, by the name of Dusk Blue.

Y'see kiddies, Dusk had this plan to force the NCR and the Society into a war, one that would have inevitably ended with the utter obliteration of everypony in the city. Dusk wanted to use Celestia One as his own little private sun cannon, and manipulated everypony he could into achieving his goals.

Weeeellll... that didn't exactly go too well for the old chap, because our friendly neighborhood Ministry Mare put the smack down on him! After sending Blue sailing into next Tuesday, the Ministry Mare managed to convince the NCR and the Twilight Society to set aside their differences and find a way to work together! Isn't that simply beautiful, children? By working together, we can accomplish just about anything.

Now, some of y'all out there are wondering what happened to yours truly while all this was going down... well kiddies, that's what we like to call a 'secret' in this business. Sorry to get your hopes up!

Thanks again to the Ministry Mare for all her help. If ya see this pony on the mean streets, think twice before shooting and offer her some love. She needs it.

And I'm out for a while! Have some music, kiddies.”

I grimaced. DJ-PON3 made me sound downright heroic. No mention at all of Discord and his freedom, and no mention that Dusk Blue actually blew himself up. Just... lavish praise draped over a pony who didn't deserve it, shaping a hero that didn’t exist. I wondered when I had begun to separate the Ministry Mare of legend from myself. I certainly wasn't that mare anymore. I wasn't the good pony who fought for truth and justice. I just wanted to get rid of these memories, these emotions, and stop Spark from doing whatever it was that she was up to.

We made our way around the corner, stopping cold when we found that the path had been blocked by a large field of debris scattered all over the ground.

“Great,” Sunshine said softly.

I noticed that she had tensed up. Something was off, and somehow she knew it. How did she…?

“What's wrong?” Lilith said.

Sunshine put a hoof to her mouth. “We're being watched,” she said. “Have been since we started down the last street.”

I blinked as the mare motioned for us to follow her. We huddled down behind some rubble on the side of the street, trying to obscure ourselves.

“How do you know?” I said.

Sunshine grimaced. “I can feel it in my hooves. My special talent relates directly to earth magic. Plants, natural soil, you know what I mean,” she whispered. I nodded, having used some of her spells while inside her body. “It's a very unnatural talent for a unicorn to have, but I can feel through it. Makes me more aware of my surroundings. Something, and I don't know what has been following us.”

“Can you tell what it is?” Steeljack asked.

“It's too unclear. But given this area's reputation, probably manticores,” Sunshine said with a shake of her head. “However, we should be ready for a fight.” Her horn glowed, levitating out her tiny beam pistol.

I unlatched Stargazer, while Steeljack let Tempest's visor slide back into place, obscuring his face entirely. Lilith did the same with her helmet, her wings bristling at the chance of real action. As one we stood, moving forward carefully towards the square's exit. We were roughly twenty feet from the exit when I heard a guttural growl that stopped me in my tracks. I looked up, seeing the burly frame of a manticore climbing out of a window of one of the skyrises. The beast looked gaunt, like it hadn't eaten in days, but still strong enough to take down a pony. It roared, staring right at us.

“Everypony, run!” Sunshine shouted, breaking into a gallop.

I started running too, splitting my magic between holding up Stargazer and keeping Patch's makeshift harness in place. The roar got louder, accompanied by the crushing sound of rocks as the manticore pounded the rubble into dust beneath its massive paws. The beast leaped from the wall of debris it was running along, landing on the street in front of us with a *crash*. Sunshine stopped dead and ducked as a large set of claws soared above her head. Her horn ignited, summoning a patch of vines that struck out and snagged the creature's arm, giving the mare enough time to leap away from the chimeric creature.

It wouldn't last that long, unfortunately. The manticore lifted its other claw, severing the vines completely. It flexed its batlike wings, snarling and roaring. Steeljack jumped to the side of the creature, firing off several bullets from Tempest's rifle. The rounds slammed home in the manticore's leg, which only seemed to infuriate it off even more. The thing stomped forward, extending it's forearm in a slash that caught the stallion across the chest, throwing him into a pile of rubble.

“Steeljack!” I shouted as the monster turned back towards me and Sunshine.

Lilith snarled loudly, flaring her wings and taking to the sky, prepping herself for a charge. A shadow cast over the airborne mare, another roar coming from above her. Lilith spun about, the second manticore barely missing her as it crashed to the ground. Sunshine's horn flared, covering the beast in vines. It struggled to remove itself from its predicament as the first manticore disregarded it and instead opted to charge at me instead. I tucked in to the right, lifting Stargazer with my magic and dropping into E.S.A.T.S. I queued up several disabling shots and dropped the spell, letting my gun take aim and do what it did best. The bullets struck home with unnerving accuracy, striking the creature's back legs as it reared up to attack. The beast howled in pain as blood poured from where it had been shot. Almost as if sensing that I was a bigger threat, the manticore took the sky and flew away. I let it go. There was no sense in chasing after if we'd managed to scare it off.

The other manticore however, did not. It snarled and snapped its way out of Sunshine's prison, a claw catching the pink mare in the side. It knocked her to the ground, but thankfully didn't pierce her barding. I turned quickly to intercept the creature. Just as it was about to come down on Sunshine, Steeljack's hooves came down, striking the beast in the back of the neck repeatedly. The manticore roared, flapping its wings to try and get the stallion off. Eventually, the creature got mad enough that it grabbed the earth pony with its tail, tossing him to the side. I lifted Stargazer and pointed it at the beast.

“Leave us alone!” I shouted. “Or I use this!”

The creature snarled under its breath, glaring at me. For several tense seconds I thought that it wouldn't listen. After moments however, the beast's wings unfurled it and flew off. I looked back at Patch, checking on her. She was still asleep. That sedation spell must be working quite well, I thought, silently thanking the doctors for at least making that happen. I made my way over to Sunshine Sky, who was being helped up by Lilith.

“You alright there?” Lilith asked.

Sunshine nodded. “This sort of thing happen to you guys often?”

“You have no idea,” Lilith replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Not all the time.” I snorted in derision. I looked up as Steeljack rejoined us. “Steeljack, are you alright?”

“I'm fine. Just a little bruised and sore,” he said as his visor retracted. He lifted out a potion bottle out of his bags, taking several draughts of the liquid inside. He sighed in relief. “Much better. What about Patch? Is she okay?”

“She's fine. Slept right through the whole thing,” I said, looking back at the mare again.

“Do you think those things will come back?” Sunshine asked.

“I don't know, but I'm not about to find out,” I said. “Let's keep moving.”

We started forward again, watching for any signs of the two manticores that had attacked us, as well as any other threats. The trail of blood left behind by the one I'd shot indicated that it had made its way back inside one of the abandoned buildings. Almost as if we had been gifted with a kiss of luck, we made it out of the square without any other issues. The next corner we turned presented us with what we'd been looking for this whole time.

A large hospital sat at the far end of the next street. It was surrounded by makeshift walls of steel and skywagons. The hospital itself looked like it had seen better years, the very top floors of the place having been crushed into rubble and debris. Several ghouls patrolled alongside the walls, keeping a close eye on the Manehattan Wasteland. The emblem of three butterflies, Fluttershy's symbol of hope and peace in a dying world, was emblazoned on the side of the hospital's outer walls. The colors of the Ministry of Peace's symbol had been changed however, to a muted gray tone with black background.

We continued moving forward, raising our hooves to make our intentions known to the guards on the wall. One of them leaped from the wall, spreading his... his wings? No... that's not quite right. They looked like wings but they were tattered remains of leathery appendages. It was a wonder they could even fly on them. The ghoul landed in front of us twenty feet away and flashed a sharp grin. I could see fangs beneath his rotting lips. His eyes flashed a bright blue and his ears tapered off into sharp points.

“Welcome to Duskhoof. Please, come in.”

The town's gate lifted, a screeching sound of steel upon steel as the massive doorway allowed us to enter the courtyard. Our escort, who hadn't said anything beyond his initial welcome, led us to a guard station. After depositing our weaponry with the gate guards and the promise of getting it returned when we left, he motioned for us to follow him. The ghoul stopped before the main doors of the hospital.

“I'm sure you'll understand, we don't get a lot of smooth skins like yourself around here often,” the... creature said, his voice gravelly. “But that doesn't mean that we don't treat em fairly. Stay out of trouble and you'll be fine here.”

“We're here to see Doctor Dry Rot,” I said. “We have a friend who is very sick, and needs his expertise.”

The ghoul nodded, his expression darkening. Something wasn’t right. I nearly grimaced. Something was never right.

“Well, I can take you to see the Mayor. He'll explain everything,” he said. “My name is Silmetra. If you need anything else while you're here, just ask.”

“If I may be so bold, what does the Mayor need to explain? Why can't we just see the Doctor?” I asked as Silmetra opened the front doors of the hospital. The lobby / waiting area had been converted into what looked like a common area for the denizens of the small community. Several ghouls sat around, playing games or reading books.

“I apologize, but the Mayor will need to tell you what is going on. We're not to discuss it outside of his office,” Silmetra said as he motioned for us to follow him to the elevator at the far end of the lobby.

“I... I see,” I said. “Alright then. Second question... what are you? I've never seen a pegasus ghoul like you before.”

Silmetra flashed a toothy grin. “That's because I'm not a pegasus. Well, not exactly, anyways,” he said.

I cocked my head at this. “Huh?”

“Not a pegasus? Could have fooled me,” Lilith said, bristling her wings.

“I am... I am a duskhoof,” Silmetra said with a nod. “The common Equiish translation of my race's true name is 'bat pony'.”

“Bat pony? I didn't even know there was such a thing,” I said.

Silmetra smiled as the elevator dinged softly. I went in first, moving to the far back and cramping in so the others could get in as well. Sometimes, I hated being bigger than other ponies.

“I assure you, we do exist. There are very few of us in the world that are alive, many more of us are ghouls, like myself. There are even a few Canterlot varieties,” Silmetra said.

“You're very well spoken for a ghoul,” Sunshine said.

Silmetra offered a smile. “Thank you,” he said. “I was a graduate from Trottingham University, after all. Let it never be said that old T.U. didn't know how to educate its ponies!”

“So you were alive during the war?” I said, looking up at the ghoul.

“I... I was, yes. I was a contractor for the government. I studied engineering, you know... made quite a living off of it, until the very end. I was stuck in Manehattan on the day the megaspells dropped,” he replied. “The rest is... well, history.”

“Interesting,” I murmured as the elevator dinged softly.

The bat pony pushed open the door, allowing us to filter out. We walked down the hall into another waiting area. Silmetra pointed at an empty room.

“You can set your friend down here,” he said. “Then we will go see Mayor Ichor.” I raised an eyebrow at this. Silmetra smiled softly. “Don't worry. Your friend will be well protected here. We all mean you no harm.”

“It's fine,” Steeljack said, glancing up at me. “Star, let's get her down here.”

I nodded, flaring my horn and reaching out with my magic to lower the mare onto the floor in her harness. She flopped over, yawning as her eyes opened. She glanced up at me and I smiled.

“Star? Where are we?” she said.

“We're in Duskhoof, Patch. You're going to be alright. How are you feeling?” I asked.

She let her hoof run down to her stomach, and sighed. “Better... but still not a hundred percent,” she replied. “I was out for a while, huh?”

“Sedation spell. We had to make sure you wouldn't move around until we got you here,” Lilith said, stepping up next to us. “You gave us quite a scare, sweetie.”

“Sorry... The, the foal? Have we seen Dry Rot yet?” Patch said.

I shook my head, motioning at Silmetra behind us. “Silmetra here is going to take us to the mayor. Something's going on here. We don't know where Dry Rot is yet,” I said. “We're going to find him, Patch. I'm going to make sure that we fix this, and find out what's wrong with you.”

Patch smiled and nodded, laying her head back. She sighed loudly.

“Well if it's all the same to you, I'm still pretty tired. I'm gonna lay here,” she said.

Silmetra's wings bristled as he stiffened to attention. “Stay here as long as you desire,” he said. “If you require anything, do not hesitate to ask. We have food and water if you need it.”

“Thank you, Silmetra. Let's go meet the mayor,” I said.

The bat pony nodded, motioning to us to follow. We left Patch and started down the hallway towards a sign that said Administration. It made sense to me for the mayor to be there. Silmetra pushed open the door, waving us inside.

“I will remain here while you speak with the mayor. When you are ready, I will take you back to your friend,” he said.

I nodded, wondering just what exactly was going on here. Why all the secrecy? What was the problem keeping us from seeing Dry Rot already? I shuffled inside the Administration office behind the others. The office itself was sparsely populated other than a few broken bookshelves along the walls and an oak desk in the center of the room. Behind the desk sat a earth pony ghoul who looked like he'd seen better days. He looked up as we entered.

“Ah, hello. You must be the normies that Silmetra allowed into town,” he said jovially. His voice didn't certainly sound Manehattanite. “I'm Mayor Ichor Sludge. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Radiant Star,” I said. “These are my friends Lilith, Sunshine Sky, and Steeljack.”

“Ah yes... the Ministry Mare. Now I recognize you,” Ichor said, smiling. “It's not every day we get a visit from a celebrity.”

“Let's cut to the chase here, Mayor,” I said. “I need to find Doctor Dry Rot. I've got a friend here who desperately needs his help.”

“Yes... I'm afraid that the good doctor will be unable to see your friend,” Ichor replied. “Unfortunately, Doctor Rot has gone missing. We fear that he is no longer among the living, or rather... unliving as it were.”

“What do you mean, missing?” Lilith said.

Ichor sighed, motioning to a map laying on the desk. “One of the major issues we've always had with living here in Duskhoof is mapping out the whole hospital. It is a large place, one of the largest in all of Equestria, I'd gather to say,” he said. “The ferals don't make it easy for us, after all. We've been determined to scavenge any medical supplies we can out of the place, but they have been attacking our expeditions recently.”

“I thought feral ghouls never usually attacked lucid ones,” I said.

“Yes... that is normally true, but there is something about these particular ghouls,” Ichor said, grimacing. “They work in groups, very fast, and they seem to show some form of intelligence. Intelligent for a feral, that is.”

“You think somepony is controlling them?” Sunshine piped up.

“I do, and I believe I know who. When we first set up shop here in Duskhoof, we did so because of two ghouls. The first was a unicorn by the name of Blind Faith. He was everything that ponies looked for in a leader, fair and just... and friendly. He believed that we rotters deserved a place in the world where we could be ourselves, and that we should open ourselves up to the ponies of the Wasteland,” the mayor explained. “The other... he was a pegasus ghoul by the name of Red Death. I don't know what his original name was... he never told us. I do know he was alive during the war, like most of the ghouls here are. Red Death thought that Duskhoof should cater only to ghouls, and opposed Blind Faith's friendly outlook. Ghouls were ghouls, he had said, and we have to stand together.”

“I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with Dry Rot?” I said, narrowing my gaze at the ghoul. I was getting impatient the longer Patch wasn't well.

“Right, getting to that. Red Death wanted to experiment with our feral brethren, applying science to try and help them regain their memories. He used collars to try and fire synapses in a feral ghoul's brain. He thought it would help them become lucid. In a freak accident, his test subjects escaped and murdered Blind Faith. Of course, it looked like Red himself let them out to destroy his most hated rival, but then a few days after he himself disappeared. He hasn't been seen since,” Ichor said. “The attacks that have started up recently bear a striking resemblance to Red's work, as those that have survived report that they were wearing collars.”

“So... Dry Rot went missing during one of these expeditions?” Lilith said.

“Doctor Rot was a firm proponent of finding more medical technology to assist in studying the general ghoul condition. He thought Red’s experiments were risky and unethical, and the right way was to advance medical science as a whole. He'd picked up little bits here and there, but nothing major. This expedition was going to delve deeper into the hospital than we'd ever gone,” Ichor said with a nod. “Nopony has heard from anypony in the expedition since then.”

I grimaced. If Doctor Rot couldn't help Patch, then what could we do? Just make her comfortable until we found somepony else? She couldn't travel, not in the state she was in. An idea struck me.

“What if we go into the hospital and find him?” I said aloud. Everypony glanced over at me. Ichor had an expression of surprise painted on his face.

“You can't be serious,” he said. “It's dangerous. The feral ghouls won't let you that far in, and who's to say you'll even find him alive? He's most likely dead.”

“I don't care. I still need to try,” I said. “Patch is a good friend of mine, and if Doctor Rot can help her, I'll do whatever it takes.”

“Me too,” Steeljack said. “I'll join you, Star. If you'll let me.”

“If you're going to do this, then I will remain here with Patch,” Lilith said. “I can keep an eye on her, and besides... I'm really getting sick of enclosed spaces.”

“Understandable,” I said. “Sunshine, why don't you stay with Lilith? That way if anything happens you can send a message to the others.” The pink unicorn nodded, smiling softly. I turned to Mayor Sludge. “Show us where the expedition went missing, and we'll take it from there.”

“Are you... are you sure? I mean, we'd greatly appreciate it... the good Doctor was very helpful to have here,” he said. I nodded, confirming that I was indeed going to do this. Ichor sighed. “Alright... I'm sending Silmetra with you. He knows a lot about this hospital's layout and he can help navigate better than any other ghoul here.”

“Let's get this over with, then,” I said, unlatching Stargazer from its harness. I narrowed my gaze at Ichor Sludge. “I've got a friend that needs saving.”

“Are you certain this is the right way?” I asked, gulping as I glanced down the gloomy hallway in front of us.

Silmetra stood to my side, a sly grin on his face. “Frightened, Ministry Mare?” he said.

My eyes widened. I was being made fun of by a centuries old bat pony!

“I'm not scared of a scary looking hallway,” I exclaimed. “I just want to make sure that we're headed in the right direction, is all.”

We had been walking forward for a half hour through the part of the hospital that still had some power. Based on what the bat ghoul had told us, we were just about to pass the point at where the expedition had stopped communicating. The last report that had came in was before they started down this hall.

“Both of you, be quiet,” Steeljack's voice resonated from inside Tempest's helmet. “We don't want to be caught by any feral ghouls before we're ready.”

I nodded, carrying Stargazer along in my magic. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from finding Dry Rot, for Patch’s sake.

“Steeljack's right,” Silmetra said. “We should keep moving, and quietly. I can feel that we are being watched.”

My eyes widened as I glanced about our little group. There didn't seem to be anypony else here but us. The bat ghoul moved forward with confidence that I didn't have, making his way to the end of the dark hallway. It ended in a large set of double doors with a broken electronic sign above them. Lining the walls were gurneys and shredded and bloody sheets among other various broken medical tools.

Silmetra pushed open the door slightly, peering inside past it. He motioned to us to follow him and stepped through. The hallway on the other side of the door was more of the same, except for the fact that there were doors leading to large rooms on each side. Each door bore the familiar three butterflies of the Ministry of Peace. The hallway curved to the left at the end.

“What is this place?” I whispered to Silmetra.

The bat ghoul pushing open a door to one of the rooms. It had a table inside of it with two chairs. Two pony skeletons sat across from each other.

“War-Time Stress Disorder. This is where they treated it,” he said quietly. “The Ministry of Peace was devoted to trying to help ponies cope with war, that this wing of the hospital was designated solely to treat ponies with the disorder. The expedition was supposed to have stopped in here and mapped the whole place before leaving with whatever they could find.”

We kept moving down the hallway, checking each room as we went. Many of them held tables and chairs with skeletons, while others were solid white (or would have been solid white if they were clean) and padded. At the end of the hall, we made the turn and found ourselves in a large open area with tables and chairs all over. Tiny offices branched off from the main area and two hallways could be seen at the far end.

“What do you think happened to the expedition?” I wondered aloud.

Silmetra frowned. “I believe that the majority of them perished,” he said coolly.

“How do you know?” I asked.

Silmetra pointed at the far end of the large hall.

“Because I believe we just found them,” he said.

Before the two hallways forked off was the makings of a tiny camp. Several bodies were strewn about, appearing to be ghoul in nature. Silmetra's eyes scanned the dead bodies, his tongue clicking as he looked them over.

“It appears our friend the Doctor is not among these,” he said.

“Then he's not dead?” I said, feeling hopeful.

“That means he's not here. This is definitely the expedition though... but he's the only one of the group that's missing,” Silmetra replied. “Still... they were attacked by feral ghouls, alright. See the bite marks and the scratches?”

I nodded, following his motions. The scattered chunks had clear bite marks on them, equine bite marks. Silmetra's ears perked up as he was looking down at the campsite.

“What is it?” I asked.

The bat ghoul's eyes flashed. “Company,” he said.

Shuffling sounds emanated from the hallway on our right. Two feral ghouls came into view, growling loudly. The first thing I noticed is that they weren't immediately just charging at us. The second thing I noticed were the silver collars around their necks. The one on the right grunted, tapping the other ghoul. It snarled, starting forward at Silmetra. The bat ghoul craned his neck and opened his mouth and began to screech. I immediately slapped my hooves to my ears to stop the sound, wincing from the pain of hooves striking my head. In retrospect... the headache that followed wasn't entirely the fault of the sound.

The feral ghoul stumbled, falling to the ground. It writhed in pain as the other ghoul watched. It reached up with its bloody and rotted hooves, ripping off its own ears. It roared, charging at Silmetra. The bat ghoul closed his mouth and leaped back, enabling me to remove my hooves from the sides of my head. I grimaced, lifting Stargazer with my magic and clubbing the earless ghoul with it. It went flying into the wall with a *thud*. A sharp retort from behind us caught my attention. I turned about to see Steeljack firing on three more ghouls who had appeared out of nowhere.

“What the...?” I said, more snarls and snapping drawing my focus back on the hallway. Four ghouls were coming down it, each one wearing one of those strange collars. “Silmetra... We need a plan here!”

The bat ghoul extended his wings, leaping out of the way of a feral attack. He opened his mouth again, screeching loudly directly at the feral, whose head promptly exploded. I blinked at the sight of it. Remind myself to never piss off this pony, I thought. His blue eyes flashed again and he grimaced.

“Down the other hallway!” he shouted. “We'll get them on one side of us and try and make our way to the upper level!” He lifted into the air, flying towards the left hallway. I nodded, swinging Stargazer like a baseball bat at each ghoul that got close. More sharp retorts indicated that Steeljack was holding his own. I glanced back at the stallion.

“Steeljack, we gotta move!” I called out.

He nodded, kicking out with a hoof to push back a ghoul that had gotten too close. The ghoul slammed into a wall, snapping at air. The collar on its neck caught the light for a second as Steeljack turned his rifle on it and blew its brains out. He turned tail and followed after Silmetra while I stayed back. I grinned, an idea forming in my mind. My horn ignited, casting the anti-gravity spell as fast as I could on the ghouls in the room. Each one went soaring upwards to the ceiling above, grunting and growling as they tried to get down.

I galloped down the hallway, nearly running right into the others. I panted, spinning about and tossing as much hospital gear in the path as I could with telekinesis. It made for a nice pile, blocking the hall from any pursuing ghouls.

“Star, you alright?” Steeljack said.

I nodded, breathing heavily under the load of the magic. “I'll be fine,” I said. “Let's keep moving and process what we know.”

“Well... we know that Dry Rot is most likely not dead,” Silmetra said as we continued forward.

I could still hear the ghouls in the other room until we made it to the far end of the hall, where there was a set of doors leading to a stairwell. A set of broken elevators sat off to the side.

“And we also know that whoever is controlling the ghouls knows we are here. I wonder though, what he wants with Doctor Rot. Arcane technology of this nature isn't his forte,” he said.

“Maybe that's the problem,” I said. “Maybe whoever is controlling the ghouls is trying to figure out how to fix the collars, but its not working the same old way. A more natural, biological means makes sense.”

“Regardless, we're going to need to move up,” Silmetra said. “There doesn't seem to be much more in this section besides the offices and waiting area. If we can reach the security core of the hospital we might be able to re-activate the camera system and find out where Dry Rot really is.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Steeljack said. “Do you know where that is?”

Silmetra grinned sheepishly. “I... I only have vague information to go on,” he said. “I've only been here for a few years at most. A drop in the ocean for a ghoul, really. The Duskhoof hospital has been here much longer. The best we know is that the security core is located up, and deep within the hospital's administration offices.”

“Then up we'll go,” I said, hearing the snarling and snapping of the ghouls down the hallway. Crashing sounds indicated that my gravity spell had finally worn off and that the monsters were trying to bash through the barricade. I grimaced, flinging open the door to the stairwell with my magic. “Come on, I'll bar the door after we're through.”

The two stallions nodded, making their way up the stairs. I stepped inside, slamming the door closed and focusing in the back of my mind for something that could help us. A flicker of memory shot into the forefront of my thoughts. I grinned, casting the spell that Twilight's memories had granted me. A part of me wondered why I had been able to find it as quickly as I had, but I had no time to complain as a beam of light shot forth from my horn, melting the seams of the door so it wouldn't open.

I pushed on the melted door hard and it wouldn't budge. It'll have to do. We're definitely not leaving this way, I thought. I turned tail and started up the stairs after my friends. The stairwell seemed to go upwards for forever. I cringed at the amount of stairs. What was it with prewar ponies and all these stairs?! I groaned, taking step after step. At the very least, my wing was starting to feel a little better even with all the strain of moving around. I could rotate it a bit without pain screaming through my side, so that was a plus.

We stepped onto the first landing and checked the door. Just on the other side of it there was a hospital map plastered on the wall. It was faded, but a giant red arrow pointing to a location with text saying YOU ARE HERE could be made out clearly on it.

“Well, now that's helpful,” Silmetra said, scrutinizing the map. He turned his head and opened his mouth. A shrill cry emanated from it. I winced at the pain it was causing me, causing the bat pony to notice and stop. “Oh. I'm sorry for that. I was just getting an idea of where things were.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” I said, glancing over at Steeljack.

The other stallion was busy reading the map, and hadn’t reacted to Silmetra’s cry.

“My guess is that being an alicorn, your hearing is slightly enhanced?” Silmetra said. I nodded in response. “I thought so. We duskhooves have a special talent that we can use to fight as well as to determine our locaton. It's all in our voice. Being a ghoul for as long as I have, it doesn't seem to have diminished that talent.”

“So wait... you can just... open your mouth and know where you are?” I asked, feeling very confused.

Silmetra smiled. “Yes... but the sounds we emit are typically too high for a normal pony to hear,” he said. “It seems that with your enhanced hearing you can actually hear me.”

“What about the feral ghouls? They certainly reacted to your screech,” I said.

“Yes... when used for combat, a duskhoof can project force with their screech. It can be used for many applications, but fighting it the most common one,” Silmetra replied. “It was a weapon unique to my kind, and frequently used by the Night Guard of Equestria. Princess Luna herself trained many of our kind to fight for her, and so we did.”

“So does that mean you know where we are?” Steeljack said. “Cuz I can't make heads or tails out of this silly map.”

“It means I know where we need to go,” Silmetra said. “Our destination is here.” He pointed at a location on the map, its designation slightly smudged by the wear of time. Still, I could make out the word Administration over it. It was up four more levels and across the ER wing of the hospital.

“Great... more stairs?” I groaned. Steeljack chuckled as we shuffled back into the stairwell. “That's not funny. I swear, the Goddess of Stairs is punishing me for something.”

“I do not recall there ever being a 'Goddess of Stairs',” Silmetra said casually.

I glared at him, but decided to drop it as we made our way up the cursed stairs once more. I decided after several minutes that the silence was killing me.

“So... Silmetra?” I said, catching the bat ghoul's attention. “You said you worked for the Military. Did you ever meet Luna? Or any of the Ministry Mares?”

“I... I met Luna several times, actually. Of the Ministry Mares, I only ever met Twilight Sparkle, and that was once,” he said.

“How did you meet Luna?” I said, scratching my head.

Silmetra smiled. “I was a duskhoof, and a contract engineer for the military. We met several times over the course of the war to discuss our involvement in military projects,” he said. “I believe that the Princess of the Night trusted those she kept closest to her most of all, and no other race were closer to her than the duskhooves.”

“Do you know anything about a project called Stargazer?” I said, curiosity getting the better of me.

“Yes... the ultimate weapon for the Princess herself. It was said that it never finished completion,” Silmetra said.

I grinned sheepishly, pointing to the minigun slung off my harness. “That's... not exactly true,” I said. “You're looking at that weapon.”

Silmetra's eyes widened as he scanned up and down the minigun. I could tell that he had recognized it finally.

“I... I see,” he said finally. “It is an impressive find. Where did you locate it?”

“It was under the Mall of Equestria,” Steeljack interjected. “Just sitting there.”

Silmetra frowned.

“What's wrong?” I said.

The bat ghoul waved it off, smiling. “Oh, nothing. Just amazing to see that it was actually completed. Many wondered about the possibility of using starmetal in weapons, but the risk and the costs of it were too high,” he said.

“I've wondered myself about how this even exists,” I said, glancing down at the minigun. “It seems like it's a technological impossibility to me. It's... it's very special. I can see why Luna wanted it to be completed.”

“Luna had nothing to do with it really. The gun was actually Twilight Sparkle's idea,” Silmetra said. “She believed that the Princess would need to be able to defend herself, and commissioned Star Gazer to build it secretly. I don't believe Luna even knew that it was she who came up with it.”

I stopped in my tracks cold. Twilight knew about Stargazer? Something wasn't right there.

“Twilight? How did you know...?” I said, as the other two realized I'd stopped walking.

“Duskhooves have excellent hearing, Radiant Star,” Silmetra said. “I overheard Miss Sparkle discussing it with Star Gazer the day she commissioned it. Of course... she caught me eavesdropping. I was trying to get a better idea of what the Ministry was up to. Twilight's work had devolved at that time, and she was... troubled, I'd like to think.”

“What did she say?” I said, narrowing my gaze at the bat ghoul.

“That I shouldn't worry about it, and that if I told Luna... she’d… well...” he replied. “It wasn't pretty. It was the first and thankfully the last time I'd ever meet Miss Sparkle. Several months later... well you know the rest.”

“I do,” I said calmly. “Thank you Silmetra. We should keep moving.”

The bat ghoul nodded and we continued up the stairs while I tried to process things. What did Twilight knowing about Stargazer mean to me? Was the weapon my back merely an extension of Twilight's power in this world? Was that why it could damage beings like Discord or Nightmare? I wasn't sure. The gun had been built for Twilight, not by. A gun named Stargazer made by a unicorn named Star Gazer? I had to smile at that.

I woolgathered my way up the stairs, thinking back to Patch and wondering how she was doing. I was sure that Lilith and Sunshine were doing their best to care for her, but I was upset that I still didn't know how to really help her. I sighed to myself, letting my thoughts drift to my discussion with Patch and the later talk with Lilith. We'd all been through so much. At what point did I tell my friends to leave? To stop following my insane path of destruction that had left so many sacrificed or dead? Regardless of what Lilith had tried to beat into my brain, I was not feeling better about any of it. I'd put on a brave face for the others, but she had seen through it, having gone through far worse than I could even imagine.

Still... the fear gnawed at me. I feared that my friends might not make it away from all of this alive. I feared that I would be left alone. I feared that I would lose Violet and everything I ever cared for. I feared. It was unsettling, trying to contain it while we walked ever closer into what was certainly a death trap for us all. I only hoped I could maintain the courage necessary to press forward, for Patch's sake.

We eventually stopped four landings above where we had started from, finding two massive oak doors with the sign that said Administration over the top. I stepped forward, trying the door and finding it locked. I grimaced, flaring my horn in anger. A hoof gently touched my shoulder and I glanced over, seeing Silmetra. He shook his head and smiled, producing a bobby pin and a screwdriver.

“How about you let me deal with this?” he said softly.

I sighed and nodded as the bat ghoul went to work against the lock. It took several minutes, but he managed to get it open. We pushed the door open and peered inside.

The hallway was much different than the rest of the hospital that we'd seen so far. Instead of off-white dirty linoleum the floor was hard wood, as were the walls. Pictures of happy ponies and fields of flowers, half blown apart by balefire and worn by the ages adorned the walls. There were no skeletons or anything to speak of, but the far end of the main hallway had collapsed onto itself. We made our way down it, noticing several hallways branching off deeper into the Administration offices. Many of the offices were closed, while a few were wide open. None of the lights were working either.

I grimaced, lighting my horn to provide some illumination while we walked. We turned down the first hallway, finding our way to a large open waiting room next to an even larger office. The name plaque on the door was unreadable for the most part, the only words that were legible read Hospital Director. I pushed open the door while the others checked around the immediate area. The security offices were somewhere in this maze of hallways, and maybe the director's office would provide some information.

The office was filthy, with papers strewn everywhere. Thankfully, the terminal in the corner was still lit. Sitting in the chair in front of it was a skeleton. I guess we know what happened to him, I thought as I gently lifted the chair with my magic and moved it aside. The terminal itself was still active and logged in, so I didn't need to hack it. I began to tap through the messages on it, rolling my eyes. The director had apparently been having some form of illicit affair with one of the senior nurses, and many of the communications were rather... vivid descriptions of their trysts. I was about to give up when I noticed a function on the main menu called OPEN SECURITY DOOR. I blinked, moving down to the option and selecting it. A soft hiss emanated from the other side of the room and I looked up, seeing a door embedded in the wall opening. From what I could see, there were rows and rows of monitors and lights inside.

I stepped inside the tiny hidden room, confirming what I had seen from the outside. The room was basically a square box stuffed full of security and surveillance equipment. I scanned the monitors that were working, looking for something, anything that I could use to find out where Dry Rot was. I was a little frightened when I noticed there were plenty of cameras showing Duskhoof. There was even one showing the room Patch was in. The mare was laying back in a bed while Lilith and Sunshine sat nearby, occupying themselves with a game similar to Nixis and Steeljack's pastime. But still no sign of Dry Rot, anywhere.

A gunshot echoed through the air, taking my attention away from the screens. Steeljack's rifle was firing at something. More ghouls? I thought as I moved to leave the security room. I stepped back into the director's office and stopped. The pony sitting at the desk was best described as the ugliest pegasus I'd ever seen. His coat, what was left of it at least, was blood red and rotting, resulting in what appeared to be pure muscle and sinew in pony form. The soulless eyes of the ghoul glanced up at me from the desk, a sharp grin appearing on his face.

“So... you've come to my little abode,” he croaked with his gravelly voice. Shouts and gunfire echoed from outside the office. I noticed then that the door was closed and worse, locked. Two feral ghouls with the collars on them stood guard. The ghoul noticed my attention to the door and chuckled. “No worries, there'll be no need for the lock soon enough.”

“Open it, right now,” I said, growling as I unlatched Stargazer. “Or so help me, I'll--”

“Do what, alicorn? Kill me? That would do your friends a lot of good, wouldn't it?” the ghoul interrupted me. “Besides... I know why you're here. You're here for Doctor Rot, am I correct?”

“Where is he?” I hissed, pointing my minigun at the ghoul. Pounding on the door. I grimaced. I needed to save the others, and fast. I couldn't let Steeljack die, not if his foal was going to live. I wouldn't let that happen.

“He's around,” the ghoul replied. “I daresay he's rather comfortable, working for me. We've made so much progress here.”

“By killing other ghouls? By attacking the town you helped found? You are Red Death, aren't you?” I said angrily.

The ghoul snorted. “The others, they did not understand the process of science. Sacrifices need to be made,” the pegasus ghoul replied. “But you brought me exactly what I really needed, and at a perfect time.”

“And what's that?” I said.

“A perfectly healthy pony brain. Of course, we'll have to extract it from him, but he is an excellent specimen,” Red Death said.

I scowled. More gunshots on the other side of the door. I wanted to move, to throw open the door, but I didn't know what this ghoul would do if I did, let alone his two guards.

“Let them go,” I said. “All we want is to talk to Doctor Rot.”

“I'm afraid I can't do that,” the pegasus ghoul said casually, returning his attention to the papers at the desk. “You see, I need Doctor Rot. He's going to help me cure the ghoul condition.”

“Cure... what?” I said, trying to process this. “But can't you do that... without killing anypony?”

Red Death groaned. “Oh... you're just like the ponies in Canterlot, when I worked as a Ministry of Peace doctor,” he said. “Too extreme you are, Red. Why does nopony understand that sacrifices must be made to progress the world?”

“Because they don't always need to involve sacrificing pony lives,” I said. “There's too much death in this world already. You're trying to cure what you are? That sounds brilliant. But the way you're doing it? You need to take a long hard look and figure that out.”

“You don't understand... They never understood me!” Red Death shouted.

The door opened suddenly, revealing a gaggle of ghoul guards guiding my friends inside. Steeljack's visor was retracted and he had a grim look on his face, while Silmetra focused immediately on the pegasus ghoul.

Red Death sneered at the two. “Excellent. Execute the ghoul, and leave the earth pony. He and the alicorn will prove useful in my experiments.”

“Don't do it, Red Death. I do understand... You want to make things better... I get that,” I said forcefully. “That's all I've ever been trying to do. I have a friend who needs Doctor Rot. She's pregnant and very ill, and he's her only hope. You can give her a chance... a chance to bring forth new life.”

Red Death snorted. “I always hated that name. Care was my name once. But, Red Death… I accepted that title because I didn't want anypony to know the wrongs I'd done to pony society,” he mused. “But enough of that. My experiments are more important. I'm very close to curing ghoulism. I'll be able to save hundreds of ponies with it.”

“Some of us don't want to be 'saved', Red,” Silmetra said quietly.

Red snarled, turning towards the bat ghoul. His face lit up with anger.

“I want to be saved!” he roared. “Do you think I like being like this? Do you think I like my body parts falling off and my skin rotting?! Do you?!”

“I know that this is our penance, Doctor Care,” Silmetra said. “We should have died in the war. Life is punishing us for our sins, for our involvement in that senseless conflict. We can only deal with what we are.”

“Please... Doctor Care... I've seen enough death recently to know that I don't want to see anymore of it,” I said. “You have an opportunity to do the right thing here... please... help us.”

The ghoul dropped his head to the table, moaning as he clutched it with his tattered hooves.

"Punishment, penance, death, I'm so SICK of it, Radiant Star! I regret every one of my fallen brothers, and it kills me to use these poor mindless fallen as... Shock troops!" Red Death straightened, waving his hooves angrily. "The ‘right thing’ is to cure my condition, to cure all of us! And I can't make any sort of progress in this sort of environment, I just want to be left alone! Left alone to do my work... "

“Then do better,” I said. “BE better. Help us. You don’t have to be the bad guy. You can do the right thing.”

“I... I will help you,” Red said. “But not because I want to, not because it’s the right thing, but because I want something from you if I am to let you go.”

“What is it?” I said. “Nothing gross like a live pony brain, or nothing, I hope.”

“No... there is a portion of this hospital that I can't get into. The morgue. The door is locked tightly by a security system. Inside of it is enough unspoiled tissue for me to continue my experiments unfettered,” he said. “Help me, and I will allow you and Doctor Rot to leave.”

“We'll do it,” Silmetra said. “And the raids on the expeditions?”

Red Death sighed. “I won't attack your little groups, if that's what you're asking,” he said. “I am a civilized stallion after all. All I will request in return is that you stay away from this part of the hospital. This is my domain, and I will not have anypony interrupting my experiments.”

Silmetra narrowed his eyes at the doctor, but nodded all the same. Red Death nodded in return, and motioned to one of his guards.

“Retrieve Doctor Rot and bring him here. As a sign of good faith, I will allow him to go with you,” he said.

The ghoul left the room. Red picked up a device from the table, passing it over to me. It was a broadcaster, designed to go into a PipBuck.

“What is this?” I said.

“This will let you contact me to let me know that the morgue is accessible. Use it when you've opened the place, and you're free to go,” Red replied. He waved his hoof, and the guards hovering over my friends scattered instantly. The door opened again, revealing the ghoul guard from before and a grizzled unicorn ghoul. He looked at me and Silmetra, blinking.

“This some kind of joke?” he said, grunting. “Silmetra. Ichor Sludge send you?”

“Yessir, Doctor Rot,” Silmetra said.

The unicorn grunted again. “Right then. Red?” he said. The pegasus turned, meeting the unicorn's gaze. “I'll be in touch. We can make this happen, I know we can.”

“Wait...? You're actually working with him?” I said, feeling very confused. Dry Rot glanced over at me.

“Who are you?” he said.

I grinned sheepishly. “I'm... I'm Radiant Star. I came here to see if you could help my friend. You see, she's pregnant and...” I started to say.

“I'll look at your friend, for a moderate fee, of course,” Dry Rot said, raising a hoof.

“This one is to open the morgue for us, Rot,” Red Death interjected. “You'll go with them to the morgue and then back to the town.”

“What about you?” Dry Rot inquired.

The pegasus motioned to the other ghouls in the room. “I can't leave, you know that. I have to help these unfortunate souls. It's sheer luck that the collars stave off their base urges, you know that. I need what is in the morgue to continue my work,” Red said.

“Alright, Red. But I will be back, to help - and to visit. It’s not healthy to stay alone all the time,” Dry Rot said, looking over at us. “So... where to?”

“I guess we need to find the morgue,” I said. “Doctor, do you know where that is? I'm fairly new here after all.”

Red Death nodded, motioning to my PipBuck which beeped softly as it picked up a new marker.

“I've sent the marker to your PipBuck,” he said. “Again, once you find it and open it, then just send me a message on the broadcaster.”

I nodded, turning to follow the others out of the director's office. I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that we were doing the right thing. I didn't want for Red to be a problem. I'd had enough of maniacal masterminds for several weeks. I hoped that letting the pegasus ghoul to his own devices would actually do some good, rather than harm.

I sighed as we started down the hallway back towards the stairs. All we had to do was get into a morgue. What could go wrong with that?

“You've got to be fucking kidding me,” I said, staring at the giant metal door. Since leaving Red Death, we'd made our way down to where the morgue was. Traveling through the hospital without fear of feral ghouls was quite frankly boring.

“Yeah... it's a fuckin' door, alright,” Dry Rot said without skipping a beat. “Our mutual friend has been trying to get in there for some time, but he can never crack the security.”

“Well, we're fucked,” I said aloud. “I cannot break into terminals. I'm horrible at that.”

Dry Rot chuckled as I stepped up to the terminal.

“I like you, you know that?” He said. “But unfortunately we don't have a choice. We've never had anypony around with access to a PipBuck, so we couldn't properly hack the thing. Now, we do.”

I sighed, nodding. “You're right,” I said, connecting my PipBuck to the terminal.

It came up to the security menu, providing me with a list of several words that could possibly be the password. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what the password could be. I was absolutely not the smartest pony to be doing this. Still, I had to try. Violet wasn't here, and I had to get into this terminal now, or risk going back on my deal with Doctor Care. I picked the first word I saw death, and received an error. I grunted. Wrong choice, I thought. Three left.

I scanned the word listing, feeling more and more confused. I hit another word - broken, and received another error. I growled under my breath. How does Violet make this look so easy? I thought. I hit a third word, hoping that it would get me into the terminal. Wrong again. The terminal flashed, pronouncing that I only had one attempt left. I snarled loudly.

“Dammit!” I shouted, ready to give up and smash the terminal to pieces in my normal fashion. Just as I was about to blow the terminal sky high, Steeljack place a hoof on my shoulder.

“Star, breathe. Back out of the terminal and try again, fresh,” he said.

“You’re right,” I said. “I’m such an idiot. Thanks, Steeljack.”

The stallion grinned as I flipped off the terminal and back on. The device went through its security reset, and redisplayed a fresh list of possible passwords. I gained entry on the word trauma on my first try, which made me snort. A soft ding echoed from the terminal as I received a success message. My eyes gleamed as the menu came up. This hacking thing wasn’t so difficult, when I had the time to back out and be patient.

“I'm in,” I said, grinning. “Now let's see what we have here...” I moved my way down the menu, looking for the option to unlock the door to the morgue. I found it all the way at the bottom and selected it. The door began to hiss as it started to open. I disengaged my PipBuck and stood next to the others.

“Excellent,” Dry Rot proclaimed. “With the tissue contained inside, Doctor Care should have enough samples to continue his work for a very long time.”

“Do you think he can actually do it?” Silmetra said. “Cure ghoulism?”

Dry Rot shrugged. “It's a hell of a lot better than the alternative,” the unicorn said. “Let's just have a looksie --

Dry Rot's words trailed off as the door opened wide enough, revealing two massive ceiling turrets that each fired blasts of energy towards the old ghoul. I reacted without thinking, using my telekinesis to push Rot out of the way as I leaped in to deflect the blasts with my shield. The purple barrier shuddered beneath the force of the laser fire as the guns wound up for another round.

“Everypony, get down!” I shouted, lifting Stargazer and taking aim. I dropped into E.S.A.T.S., queuing up shot after shot at the two turrets. Dropping the spell, Luna's mighty weapon launched a payload of destructive fire that rendered both defenses into piles of molten slag falling to the ground. I heard a grunt as Dry Rot stood.

“Geez,” he said. “I didn't think there'd be active security after all this time.”

“Neither did I,” I said. “Wonder what they'd need to protect here?” I lifted the broadcaster that Red had given us and slapped it into my PipBuck, turning it on. “Doctor Care? We've managed to open the morgue. There were active turrets just inside the door, so we're just going to go in real quick and make sure everything is safe inside.” A burst of static emanated from the device as the pegasus ghoul's voice came on its speaker.

“Excellent. Just... don't touch anything useful,” he said

I chuckled as I cut off the connection. “No worries there, Doc. I'm ready to get the hell out of this place, myself,” I muttered, taking a step inside of the old morgue.

Dry Rot followed with a laugh. Surprisingly, besides the slag on the ground from the turrets, the room was fairly clean. Rows and rows of metal cabinets lined the two walls on each side, extending to where there were several terminals along the back wall. Gurneys sat neatly in spaced rows in the middle of the room, each one with the body of a pony on it.

I blinked, turning to Dry Rot. “So... how are these things still preserved after so long?”

“Well... I'm not an expert in this end of the life cycle, but I know a little bit. This hospital was the place of my residency after all,” he said. “The morgue was magically sealed to preserve ponies who were coming in from the war. With so many deaths, it was imperative that the bodies be preserved so that they could be buried appropriately.”

“I... I see,” I said. “So all those cabinets?”

Dry Rot nodded. I gulped. That was a lot of dead ponies. I made my way towards the back where the terminals were, finding that they were still intact and working. There wasn't much to speak of, really. E-mails here and there to the mortician about scheduled pickups and a death record database. Whatever the turrets had been protecting certainly didn't seem like much.

“Well, it seems like everything is in order here,” I said finally. “We should get back to Duskhoof.”

The others nodded and we started out of the room and into the hall. I fell back behind Silmetra and Steeljack to walk beside Doctor Rot.

“So... you said you used to work here?” I asked.

“Before the war, I did, yes,” the ghoul replied casually. “I was the premier specialist in the region in fertility and pregnancy studies.”

“So that's why the unicorns at Tenpony said you could help us,” I said, more to myself than anything.

Dry Rot chuckled. “Yes, it's nice to know that my reputation precedes me,” he said. “While we walk, though, tell me a bit about your friend. It will be nice to have some information, don't want to go in cold, after all.”

I nodded and started talking about Patch as we continued down the hallways. It seemed like it took forever, but we finally arrived back in the main hall that led to the lobby area where Duskhoof was situated. As we trotted back into the town proper, we were stopped by none other than the mayor himself. He nodded at Dry Rot.

“So... it seems you were successful,” Ichor said. “We were beginning to get worried. Doctor, are you well?”

“Better than ever, you old muck-bucket,” Dry Rot replied.

Ichor's gaze narrowed at the old ghoul. “And what about the feral ghouls?” he said.

“Ah, I'll field that one,” I said. “The feral ghouls won't trouble your medical expeditions any longer. Doctor Care has promised to keep them contained to the Administration offices and the Morgue. As long as your expeditions don't bother them, they won't bother you.”

“Doctor... you mean Red Death?” Ichor said. I nodded. “And you actually let him live? He's a monster! He's building an army in there!”

Dry Rot snorted. “Please. Care wouldn't know how to build an army if you gave him instructions,” he said, striding past Ichor. “Just leave him alone, Sludge. He has what he wants, so leave it be.”

The mayor stammered as Dry Rot kept walking. I gave the earth ghoul a pained smiled as I walked past myself.

“Best to listen to him, I think. He is a doctor after all,” I said.

Ichor grimaced and pushed past Silmetra, heading towards his office. The bat ghoul had an amused expression on his face.

“I believe Mayor Sludge is going to be unhappy for some time,” he said.

“Yeah... sorry about that,” I said.

Silmetra waved a hoof. “That's no problem,” he said. “If it isn't one thing, it's something else. He'll come around. Now, let's go see your friend.”

I nodded and we made our way after Steeljack and Dry Rot as the unicorn pushed open the door to Patch's room. The three mares inside looked up, rather surprised. Dry Rot grunted.

“Which one of you is Patch?” he said. The green mare raised a hoof. “Excellent. All of you, out. I don't work well with others. Go wait in the lobby, and I'll come out when I've finished.”

I was about to protest until the old unicorn's horn lit, picking all of us up in a bout of telekinetic strength I'd only ever witnessed on a pissed off Violet and depositing us comedically outside the door in a heap. The door slammed shut and I groaned as I felt something furry resting across my cheeks.

“Can somepony get their hoof off my face?” I said.

“Uh, sorry about that,” Lilith said as I felt the offending appendage remove itself. We managed to untangle ourselves quickly enough and I glanced at the door. Sighing, I pulled my gaze to the others.

“There's not much we can do now, Star,” Steeljack said. “We've gotta trust in Dry Rot to find out what's wrong with her.”

“I'm going to take my leave. I have duties to the town to patrol our borders,” Silmetra announced. “I will meet you all later, under hopefully good tidings.” The bat pony raised a wing and took off down the hall.

Lilith grunted. “Well, I don't care what that old hornbag says,” she said, plopping down next to the door. “I'm staying right here and guarding them.”

Steeljack turned to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. He smiled widely.

“Thanks,” he said. “I know she'd appreciate that, Lilith. You're a good friend.”

The black mare beamed at the stallion's compliment.

Steeljack looked up at me. “If it's all the same to you, I'm gonna stick around myself. You two go on, check out the rest of the town.”

I nodded, walking past the two with Sunshine as we made our way to the main waiting area.

“So... what do you want to do?” Sunshine said.

I grimaced. With no time frame as to when Doctor Rot would be finished, I had to think of something. A tug in the back of my mind told me that I still hadn't looked at the memory orb that Discord left me.

But you promised Violet you wouldn't do that, a voice said from my mind.

Violet's not here, I thought.

So? That doesn't mean you should just break your promise like that.

What she doesn't know won't hurt her, I thought back. Having internally justified my plan of action, I turned to Sunshine.

“Actually, I think I'm gonna go get some rest,” I said shakily. “I could really use a breather.” Sunshine nodded, taking her leave of me. I sighed, thankful that I didn't know the pink mare well enough yet for her to be suspicious. I trotted along, finding a room off the beaten path from the rest of the town. I plopped in the middle of the floor, setting my bags next to me. I rolled the memory orb out, and activated it, taking the plunge as darkness filtered into my vision.

I blinked, not recognizing the body I was in. I looked down at myself, seeing the body of a blue stallion. Oh... no, I thought as I realized who I was. Dusk Blue looked up, walking down a hallway that was very familiar to me. It was the main hall of the Manehattan harbor military base where I'd found Discord. The stallion made his way into the main hangar, stopping in front of the robots patrolling the path.

“Take me to Discord,” my host said. The robots beeped and turned towards the compartment crate. It hissed, opening softly and revealing the spirit of Chaos and his statue. My host sneered. “It's done.”

“Oh? Is it now?” a deep and dark voice rumbled from around the stallion. “Does she suspect anything?”

“Not a thing,” my host replied. “She will come to you when she is ready.”

“Excellent,” Discord's voice emanated from the statue. “You have been completely loyal to me, Dusk Blue. Your loyalty shall be greatly rewarded.”

“Thank you, Discord,” my host said. “The other thing you asked about... it's done as well.”

“The shard? It has been hidden appropriately?” Discord replied. My host nodded in response. “Good. Spark will never suspect my involvement in this. This should delay her sufficiently until Radiant Star can find her.”

From the back of Dusk's mind, I blinked several times. Discord wanted me to find Spark? What sense did that make? Was the shard he was talking about the shard that Twilight had sealed Spark into?

“Forgive me, but what was the purpose of hiding the shard? Why not take it for yourself, and become the ultimate power in this world?” my host said.

Discord snickered. “Because... that would be far too predictable, Dusk Blue,” he said. “Our little Star has a destiny to meet, and she's very important to what's coming next. And I do not want to miss being in the front row for that.”

“I... I see,” my host said. “You have what I asked for?”

A rumbling laughter emanated from the stone. One of the Ponitrons rolled forward, a glinting metal amulet hanging off of the thing's hoof. It was the Alicorn Amulet.

“This was very easy to acquire, after the Twilight Society left Tenpony in search of the alicorn from those attacks,” Discord said. “Spark gave us the perfect distraction.”

Dusk Blue grinned, his horn igniting and grabbing the amulet. He wrapped the chain around his neck, feeling the power of the amulet filling his horn with its magic.

“Excellent...” my host said, his eyes flaring red. He grinned widely as the voice of the spirit of Disharmony cackled madly.

“Once our little Star has freed me, you will be poised to reveal yourself to her,” he said. “Just like you've planned to all along, right... spell caster?”

My host's eyes widened. “You... you know?” Dusk Blue said.

Discord cackled again. I could feel the madness in his voice.

“Yes... I know of your part in this game, Dusk Blue. That is why you were selected for this little soiree of mine. You are of great importance to our little Star,” he said. “Isn't that right, Radiant Star?”

I blinked, glancing behind me and seeing the form of the spirit himself. The memory faded to black, leaving us to our own devices.

He chuckled loudly. “You have that look on your face again, it's killer you know that right?”

“Discord... what's your game? Why show me... this?” I said.

“Because I felt like it,” he said, crossing his arms. He snapped a claw, making a fancy lounge chair appear out of nowhere. “And because I thought it would have been funny.”

“The shard. You had Dusk Blue hide it? Why?” I said.

The spirit put a paw up to his chin, thinking for several long moments.

“Balance. Spark represents an upset in the natural order of the world. Order and Chaos must exist at the same time,” he said. “And I hate Order... more than anything. Chaos is sort of my thing, after all. Spark wants to control everything.”

“But I thought you wanted that power?” I asked.

Discord grinned at me. “I've got front row tickets for everything, so I can't really complain, Radiant Star. After all, you do have a destiny to meet,” he said.

“I... I don't get it,” I said.

“You see, Star... I really was reformed so long ago. And I've got an old friend to visit, the one who helped with my reformation. There's nothing more important than that,” Discord said with shrug. “Friendship... they say, really is magic. You're doing a fair job of that one.”

“What do you mean?” I said angrily. “I'm doing just fine with my friends.”

“And yet, you are breaking the promise you made to your lover right now,” Discord sneered. “You are pushing away your friends, and why? For some misguided ideal of how you're to blame for everything?”

“That's not fair. Who are you to lecture me?” I said angrily. “I am to blame for what happened to all those ponies out there, and for what happened to Patch. I'm responsible for Dusk Blue.”

“I hate to point out the brahmin in the room, but I'm responsible for him,” Discord said, grimacing.

I glared at the spirit, considering his words. He was right about that. All this time, I'd been pointing hooves at myself for what had happened, but it was Discord who'd manipulated me. It was Discord who'd pushed and pulled every step of the way. And yet… he looked remorseful for it. I found that I didn’t care. He was still to blame.

“That's right,” I said, snarling. “You are responsible. You did all of this. And when I find you...”

“Oh, but you won't find me, Radiant Star. I'm no longer here, of course. I'm off, busy doing whatever it is I do best,” Discord replied. He snapped a claw, producing two golden tickets. “Biding my time until I can cash these in for the greatest fight to ever grace the Equestrian Wasteland.” He snapped another claw, disappearing into nothingness. “We'll be seeing each other again... Radiant Star. Arrividerci!!”

I groaned, opening my eyes to the dark room as I remembered where I was. The thoughts of the contents of the memory orb filtered through my mind. Discord... he had manipulated Dusk Blue, and all for what? To try and force me towards Spark? I wondered about what he had said about balance. Did that truly justify what Discord had done? He tried to use chaos to enforce balance? It didn't make any sense to me.

I silently cursed to myself. He was right about one thing. I'd just broken my promise to Violet. Who knows what could have happened while I was stuck in the memory orb. I sighed. Violet was right. I was addicted to these things... I needed some help.

“You're awake,” a voice said.

I became aware that I wasn't the only pony in the room. I looked up, seeing a set of bright blue eyes in the darkness. Silmetra flashed a toothy smile at me as he appeared out of the shadows.

“Silmetra?” I said, cocking my head. “What are you doing here?”

“I was asked to keep an eye on you,” the bat ghoul said.

“I'm not a foal,” I said angrily.

Silmetra frowned. “No. You most certainly are not,” he said. “But even I can tell when a pony is hurting. So tell me, what ails the Ministry Mare?”

“What are you, a psychiatrist when you're not a guard?” I challenged.

“No... I'm a friend. A friend with excellent listening skills,” he said, flipping his ears a little as he sat next to me. “So speak, and I shall listen.”

I sighed, dropping my head. “I've done some bad things,” I said. “I released an evil spirit of chaos... I nearly caused a war... I let the spirit of Magic out into the Wasteland... I'm fucking addicted to memory orbs and I couldn't even keep a simple promise to the one pony I love.”

“And you came all the way here because you wanted to save a friend. You chose to speak to Red Death's good side rather than attack him. From what I've heard on the radio of you, you're a hero,” he said.

I chuckled, looking down at my hooves. “I'm no hero,” I said. “Heroes do awesome things for everypony. Everypony looks up to them. I'm just a hot mess with a wagonload of problems.”

“Problems... that in the scheme of things mean absolutely nothing,” Silmetra said. “Life... it comes and it goes. I've witnessed at least two hundred years worth of it... and if there's anything I've seen is that even the ordinary can do something extraordinary. You are meant for something, Radiant Star. Something... fantastic.”

“Lately, it seems all I'm meant for is screwing things up,” I said, sighing. “Sorry, Silmetra. You're trying, I know that.”

The bat ghoul shuffled his wings. “You will find your role, Radiant Star. You will find what virtue drives you,” he said. “This, I know. Now... I also have come because Dry Rot has finished with your friend. I am to take you to them.”

“He's done with Patch?” I questioned, standing. The bat ghoul nodded silently. “Well why didn't you say so?”

“Because it was you who needed the help,” Silmetra replied. He motioned with a wing. “Follow me.”

I nodded, following behind the bat ghoul as we made our way towards where Dry Rot's offices were. Silmetra held the door open, allowing me to enter. I blinked as I noted the lack of the unicorn ghoul, while the others sat in the middle of the room around Patch. The green mare waved happily.

“Star! You're here!” she said.

“Hey Patch,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

The earth mare beamed at me. She looked happier than I’d ever seen her.

“I'm feeling a lot better,” she said. “Just waiting for the doctor.”

A cough from behind me caught my attention. I glanced back, seeing Dry Rot. The unicorn ghoul had a grim expression on his face. I moved aside, allowing him to enter the room. He stepped forward, setting a folder onto the desk in the corner. He turned to us, and his face twisted. It took me a second to recognize the expression as a smile, and one that went all the way to his eyes.

“Well. I surmise you wish to know what is going on with your pregnancy?” he said to Patch. The mare nodded. “I'm happy to report that you have a very healthy pregnancy.”

“Then why did I... you know, fall over and faint?” she said.

Dry Rot nodded. “You haven't exactly been taking good care of yourself, and your foals were taking what strength they needed from your body. They are developing at a slightly faster rate than normal, but still healthy. We also had to purge a fair amount of radiation from your system,” he said casually.

“Did... did you just say foals? As in... plural?” I said.

The ghoul nodded again.

“I'm going to have two foals?” Patch said, looking up at the old doctor.

Lilith squeezed her friend's shoulder, smiling brightly.

“Indeed. You have two healthy foals inside you. I'm absolutely sure of it,” Dry Rot said. “I'm an expert in the field of fertility, however, not radiation. After what you told me, the only thing I can guess is that the developing cells split due to the amount of radiation you took in. Its... not a perfect explanation, as I am only guessing at this point.”

“Could you... could you see what race they were? Gender? Were there any problems with them? Extra hooves? Mutated bodies?” Patch said frantically.

Dry Rot chuckled. “Easy there. Both of them are fine. Based on my analysis, you have a unicorn and a pegasus, female and male respectively,” he said. “And they are both normal and healthy, as long as you take care of yourself.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

“I mean... she needs to eat a little better, as best as she can at least, and rest,” Dry Rot said.

Patch grimaced. “But... I want to keep going on with Star,” she said. “I can't just stop that.”

“I know. I'm not going to keep you from your friends, but you do need to take care of yourself,” Dry Rot said. “I don't have much, but I can provide you with some medicine to help regulate.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” I said. “I... you have no idea how much I am happy to hear that.”

“No big deal,” he said, waving a hoof. “You did a great service to this town by helping with the expeditions. Now... if you'll excuse me. I have some business to attend to with the mayor.” Dry Rot made his way out of the small room, leaving us alone. I glanced down at Patch.

“I'm... I'm gonna be a mom,” the green mare said, tears streaming down her face as she looked over at Steeljack. “Steely... our foals... we're gonna be parents...”

Steeljack smiled softly, taking his love's hoof. “I know. I never doubted it for one minute,” he said.

Lilith wrapped her wing around her friend in a spine-crushing hug. I stepped over to the others, catching Patch's eye.

“Star...” she said, reaching out for me.

I nodded. Nothing else needed to be said as she reached out and pulled me into the group hug. I started to cry, letting everything out. Despite everything that had happened, the prospect that life, as Silmetra had put it, would go on got to me finally. I let it all out, and didn't feel bad about it.

As long as I had my friends, as long as I was surrounded by their love... Maybe... maybe there was hope for me yet.

Author's Notes:

And here we go... another chapter for your perusal! We finally get to learn what happened with Patch's pregnancy in this chapter, and I was well pleased with how it turned out. I've been planning and plotting all of this for several chapters now, and it's great to see it hit the pages.

Starlight is well on track to hit the end of this little shindig in 7 chapters (plus Epilogue) as of this chapter. It's strange to think of just how far I've come, and how far there is still yet to go.

My story plug of the week goes to the double-trouble author combo of Stonershy/Pacce for their uproariously fantastic FoE fic, “Anywhere But Here”. This chapter contains a bit of a homage if you will to one of Stonershy's earlier and more significant works, a little thing called “Blood is Thicker Than Friendship”. Many people don't know that it was him, but it sure was, and the introduction of Silmetra as a “duskhoof” was a direct tribute to Mr. Shy and his vampire fic, which is an absolutely incredible fic that you should all go read.

Also, be on the lookout for an awesome project, 26 authors including myself, lending their craft to a community project led by G-Man64 of short stories using the letters of the alphabet for their titles. Trust me, it's going to be exciting.

Much thanks and love to Wirepony and McMesser for their editing and pre-reading respectively. You guys are completely awesome, and I'm very happy to have you both on board.

I’d also like to welcome a new addition to the Starlight pre-reading team. She’s been quite the encouragement, and an awesome person in general. Let’s give it up for Heartshine, everypony’s favorite raider filly! It’s awesome to have you aboard!

Again, big thanks to Kkat for her creation of the Equestrian Wasteland!