The debriefing was as tedious as it sounded, the officer at the front of the hall had no real interest in hearing anyone’s opinion but his own. I’d sat in on countless debriefs and this wasn’t any different apart from the complete lack of interaction between the officer and everypony else. We may as well not have even bothered turning up. Let the bloody idiot stand there blabbering away to an empty room, I doubt he’d even notice.

It was still head-achingly difficult to work out what, if any, my particular role here was. I’d understood that we were part of the agency, but that our loyalties were ‘slanted’ if you like, more towards Luna and dealing with things in a more ‘pro-active’ manner. Exactly why the ‘Mistress’ had singled me out, would probably become clear at some point, but I hoped she would bloody well hurry up. I was getting itchy hooves and wanted to get back to my old life, or at least try and see what there was left of it. But if I left, what use would I be to my home, to the princesses? I had a duty to perform and my own honour wouldn’t allow me to simply walk away. If it wasn’t for having to work with such bloody miserable goons like these, it probably wouldn’t be so bad. Oh well, I’d leave matters another few days and then I would speak to Luna and see if she had any progress, after what I saw at the coffee shop, I figured I was owed some glimmer of hope. Goddesses, I hoped Shadow was safe.

Everypony stood to file out of the briefing and I headed back to my room to pick up a few things. Inside, the wall mirror taunted me with the now all too familiar blue eyed, scarred visage. With a sigh, I leaned a hoof on the mirror and looked closely at the vivid white scar. It was horribly noticeable, running from my cheek and into my mane. I supposed that if I didn’t have a black and white mane already, I’d more than likely have one by now. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not… Anyway, no sense worrying about it now, what was done was done. Grabbing my TED, I was about to put it on but paused, did I really want that thing droning away when I was off duty? The thing folded up quite well anyway, so I pushed it into the depths of my coat pocket.

Checking myself over one last time, I popped on my sunglasses and left the room. Walking down the corridor on my way to meet Tingles, I passed Wist’s quarters, the door was shut. I knocked tentatively…no reply. Slowly, I reached out a hoof and opened the door. It swung open quietly revealing the clinically clean room beyond, fresh bedding and clean floor, but no signs of life. No signs of occupation either, it was like Wist had never even been there. I suppose it wasn’t that much of a surprise considering what happened at the coffee shop, but it was Warlock who’d fired the last shot. Had it really been necessary to shoot the grandmother? I closed the door and made my way towards the sky carriage park by the landing strip, I hadn’t been bothered about a drink earlier with Tingles, but now…yeah, I needed this.

“Evening Agent Nox”, Tingles called sarcastically from her perch on top of a sleek sky chariot. She was dressed in a casual top and slim saddle bags, by comparison I looked like…well, Agent Nox-ish, I suppose.

“You do know, you’re supposed to be off duty don’t you?” she asked smirking.

I grimaced, “I know Tingles, but all my clothes come in one colour at the moment and I think we all know what that is. Come on, lets get out of here, I need a drink.” With a sarcastic bow, she waved me into the open topped chariot and hopped into the drivers compartment.

Moments later we were soaring over Manehattan, “Little Place I know Cap, you’ll like it”, she nodded down to the city below. It could have been any one of the myriad bars along the waterfront, their twinkling lights shining yellow sparks, contrasting with the white stars in the sky above.

The night air was fresh and clean, despite being over a city. I breathed it in deeply, savouring the aromas of cooking, the salt air from the sea. There was no doubt there were other things in there too, but its best not to ruin the atmosphere thinking too much!

Tingles shouted something I couldn’t hear over the wind noise and began her descent. We landed with barely a noticeable bump, something I now associated with Tingles flying skills. I stepped down from the chariot, we were in a small parking lot with several others, a street vendor on the corner and a number of outdoor tables and chairs set about.

“Here we are!”, Tingles smiled and led me to a weather beaten door in the side of a building bordering the lot, “Cap, didn’t you hear what I said earlier?”

I shook my head, “Sorry, no, I didn’t want to shout over the wind noise, what did you want to say anyway?”

“I was pointing out the fire below us, you must have missed it. Doesn’t matter really, a Pegasus has pretty good eyesight for spotting things you know!” Tingles whinnied and pushed the door open to the bar.

Inside, the room was dimly lit with mood lighting and individual stalls down one wall. The bar was a long black wood affair, a couple of mares milling around between the more open tables, serving drinks and taking food order. The place had an unusually neutral atmosphere to it, a sort of detachment, probably why Tingles had chosen it.

At the bar, my companion hopped onto a stool and waved a hoof at the bar pony, “Two wheat beers here please”. He nodded and collected two glassed from the rack.

“How did you know I wanted a…”

“The wake remember?”, Tingles laughed, ”I couldn’t forget that night, could I?”. I could feel myself blushing which only served to make here laugh even harder. Wiping a tear from her eye, she picked up both beers and we took a seat in one of the stalls.

“Sorry…I’m sorry Cap, I shouldn’t really. Anyway,” she took a sip of her beer, “you’re part of Equus now right?”

“Who?” I asked genuinely intrigued. Tingles leaned in, “We all are, Warlock, me, Wist, every pony at the facility took an oath to the Mistress. You did too didn’t you?”

I scratched my ear before taking a mouthful of the wheat beer, “Look, Tingles, we can’t discuss this outside of the facility, you should know that. Lets change the…”

“This place we’re in”, she interrupted smiling, “is a place only used by Equus ponies, the stalls are magically warded against intrusion. Carmine, the owner, is a senior pony in the organisation. He knows about you, and in fact most of us do, apparently. The mistress nearly died saving your life, so its no surprise that word got out with that carry on…”

I nearly choked, “Nearly died!?” Great goddesses! Luna nearly died to save my life, I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t worth that.

Tingles smiled and reached over to put a hoof on mine comfortingly, “I know what you’re thinking ‘Nox’ and yes, the Mistress pushed her powers to the limit to save you, but she’s that kind of pony…Alicorn, I suppose. However, you’re necessary to the plans of our organisation to deal with these smugglers.

“Does Warlock know you’re here, talking to me?” I asked her.

“No”, Tingles shook her head, “The Mistress has asked me to keep an eye out for you. Warlock is…special…to her, but he can be a bit overprotective at times. He may be warming to you, I don’t know, but she feels he may not have the confidence in you that she does.”

I leaned back in my seat, “So what does all this mean Tingles? What was the point of all that stuff about me serving Equestria? All I’ve done so far is shoot targets and go on one operation with a psychopath and watch a foal have her brains blown out. Whats next then?”

Tingles looked a little taken aback. “I’m…I’m sorry,” I apologised, “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Its not your fault.”

She shook her head, “I know Cap, I was the same when I joined, sceptical, excited, frightened, quite the rollercoaster.”

“Why did you join? How? You were a great flyer in the watch and a real asset to us”

“I know, and…thanks, that means a lot. But, Blaze…she changed when Dawn died, became ‘harder’, cold and unapproachable. She worked us round the clock on jobs that just didn’t seem to be of any real practical benefit, you know? It was all small time stuff, things that gave us higher clear-up rates, but all that did was give her career ambitions a boost until she took over Mitre’s old job.”

“What? Blaze is Watch Chief now?” I was stunned, I had no idea.

“Yeah, she became a real bitch and I had more than one row with her. I wanted to take on real missions, take on the smugglers. She felt I was being unrealistic and that the army would deal with them. What a load of crap! Those numb fuckers couldn’t…sorry, I’m going off topic a little.”, She paused to take another drink, “ I was becoming more and more disenchanted with the Watch, until eventually I was approached by a pony who asked if I wanted to ‘make a difference’. And, well, here I am”

A red light flared around us briefly and Tingles held up a hoof stopping any further conversation. One of the waitresses approached the stall, “Can I get you anything folks?” she asked politely.

“Two salt licks please Nell, some fries and a radish bowl for two” Tingles gave me a wink while the filly trotted off to fetch the order. She certainly had a habit of ‘reading’ me which was a bit disconcerting. I’d heard that observation skills were a pegasi trait, which certainly fit the bill with Tingles. Either that or she had some kind of mind reading ability I hadn’t heard about.

I wasn’t that surprised Blaze was now Watch Chief though, after all, she was ambitious, daring, similar in many ways to how Dawn had been. It broke my heart to hear that the loss of her lover had caused her so much pain, if only I could have done more for her. Goddesses knew, I understood loss all too well, but to detach herself from those around her was a very lonely, dangerous path for her to tread. Dangerous for anypony for that matter.

I watched a small bead of moisture trailing down the outside of the glass. It was peaceful somehow, oblivious of the world around it, heading inexorably down to its final destination. With a sigh, I looked back up to Tingles, “How did you end up in Equus though ? I mean, the agencies one thing but…”

“Mitre, he was an Equus agent in the Watch…”, she replied drily.

I nearly balked, “Mitre !? He was an Equus agent? Shit…it all makes sense now, Bingo…’sanitising’… all the things he knew.”

She nodded, “Yeah, he wasn’t an actual agency pony though. He was recruited into Equus years earlier, to act as a sort of ‘eyes and ears’ guy. He recommended me to the Mistress personally, but it wasn’t until he…you know, what happened to Mitre?”

I nodded.

“Well, after that, after Blaze’s behaviour, I just knew it was time to move on. They must have been watching me, ‘coz it wasn’t long until Warlock contacted me and the rest…is history I suppose.”

The light flared around us and the waitress trotted up balancing a tray on her back, “Two saltlicks ?” she chirped. Tingles smiled and nodded, the earth pony waitress deftly depositing a pink slab of the stuff in front of each of us, a small side of daisies and a couple of bowls of fries and radishes. The smell of the salt was heady and I took a taste. It was amazing, the warm richness had a depth I was surprised with and it packed a punch too. This was truly something else.

“Good?”, Tingles asked.

It was rude of me, but I couldn’t help myself…I spoke around the lick, “Oh hell yeah! That’s some good salt right there”. I took another long lick before gulping down a mouthful of my beer, I could happily live here.

“I thought you’d like it!”, She laughed, “the salt here is imported from Saddle Arabia, top draw pink salt. Kicks like a mule, so go easy. You’ve got some on your nose by the way…” She reached across and brushed the salt away from my muzzle. In surprise I jumped back almost reflexively, banging my head against the back of the stall.

“I’m sorry!”, Tingles squeeked reaching out before putting her hooves back down on the table top, “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to…”

I waved a hoof, smiling, “Its okay, seriously. By Celestia, I’m a bag of nerves, look…Tingles, there’s nothing to apologise for, its just me. Ever since Meadow was…” I stopped, goddesses I didn’t want to talk about this now. I distracted myself with a radish and munched it down with a hoofful of fries.

Tingles and I sat in silence for a while before an unbidden thought slithered into my mind, “Tingles, do you know what happened after the fire?”

She nodded, taking a mouthful of her ale, “Yeah, yeah I know. Damn it, I knew we’d have to talk about this sooner or later, but…okay, right…”. With a snort and a shake of her mane, she took a deep breath and continued,

“We were sent to the wrong address. Don’t ask me how or why, but the information we got was wrong. Blaze was frantic, eventually, we were diverted to the cabin but we were too late. The whole place had been burnt to the ground, smoke was everywhere, hoof prints from a lot of ponies and sky chariot tracks. It was only afterwards I found out the agency had beaten us to it and you had been taken to the Manehattan facility.”

She paused, scratching her hoof intently, “Meadow…her body was still there, burnt badly from the fire, but somepony still recognised her cutie mark. Mitre wasn’t far away, outside, a bolt through his chest. They’d just left him there…left both of them…”

I suspected the Equus ponies had only been after me and left the others for the Watch to recover. The thought of leaving the bodies of my wife and mentor was something I had to drive down, I couldn’t afford to become unglued in front of Tingles. I couldn’t change the past, what was done was done, and as much as it hurt, I should celebrate the time we had together. In fact, the times we’d had since she’d passed away too, but, how could I explain that to Tingles? That I’d had sex with my dead wife’s spirit? She’d think I’d had too much lick for sure. No, as much as I was terrified that the whole episode in the Withers had been a figment of my damaged mind and that damnable thing inside me, I had to keep faith that Luna had assured me she would find Shadow. She knew about her so surely it was true...wasn’t it?

“Cap?” Tingles asked reaching across and shaking my shoulder, “You okay?”

I nodded and wiped away a rogue tear that had rolled down my cheek, “I am…yeah. Bloody brains decided to torture me again, sorry. Can we…can we talk about something else?”

She smiled, a look of relief passing over her face. Neither of us should be revisiting painful memories, it served no real purpose. I knew what I knew and that was enough for me…for now at least. Anyway, there was something I needed to take care of and Tingles could help me with it, just…not tonight.

The rest of the evening passed without incident, the beer flowing and the lick disappearing along with the hours. I felt buoyed up by my time with Tingles, our night out together reminding me that I could smile and that there still was a chance for happiness in this horrible mess.

It was well after midnight when, with a huge yawn, Tingles sat up and stretched her legs. She smacked her lips in quite a comical manner and left a tip under the radish bowl for the waitress, “Come on you, I’m knackered…time for home”.

Smiling happily, not that much worse for drink I have to say, I pulled myself from the stall and followed my companion to the door. As we crossed the room, from the corner of my eye I thought I saw a pony watching me. Quickly I turned to look more closely, but the occupants of the table were heavily engaged in conversation to one another and not paying any attention to little old me. Celestia’s grace! Was I becoming paranoid now? Shrugging the thought off, I buttoned up my coat and walked out into the night air.

Luna’s stars were beautiful tonight, which wasn’t saying much as they were beautiful every night. You just couldn’t always see them for the cloud layer. Tonight however, the moon shone brightly, bathing the cityscape of Manehattan in its otherworldly glow. The stars twinkling like diamonds in the clear black sky, how I’d missed such simple sights as these in the Wither world. To think Shadow was trapped there still…In the morning, I would seek out the Mistress and ask whether there was any news, something, anything that would give me hope.

Under Tingles’ careful, if rather drink fuelled flying skills, we were soon soaring over Manehattan. The tangerine Pegasus called back over her shoulder, “Hey Cap’, I want to go past that place we saw earlier and see if the fire’s out, you okay with having a look see?”

I leaned forward and shouted in reply, “Sure! Why not?”

We didn’t have to try hard to find the place, the stink of burnt wood was heavy in the air and fire crews were still damping it down even now. The blackened shell of the building was visible in the floodlights set up to help the crew’s see, but I didn’t need to look any closer. I knew where we were…there passing below us on the overhead line was a steam locomotive, below it the place where I had stood and watched as it rumbled past, steam and sparks flying into the air like some underworld demon.

Now there was more smoke, the smoke from lives consumed by the flames of greed and misery. The agency had decided to ‘sanitise’ this place thoroughly, there would be no more foals in cages here, no more pain and suffering. Until the bastards found somewhere else to set up shop.

Tingles called back to me, “Looks like they’ve done a number on that place. Unusual to go to those lengths though…you seen enough?”

I nodded. With a gentle sway, the sky chariot altered course back to the facility.