“The tragedy at Littlehorn was the ignition point of the conflict. While the Zebra government denied direct responsibility, we had to make our decision based on the fact that an attack by one was an attack by the many. In the single most efficient session of delegation that equestria has ever had, war was unanimously declared against the Zebra Empire. This of course eventually lead to the exchange of megaspells that brought about the wastelands.”

Mrs. Chalk’s lecture to the class continued to be pointless and boring. Instead, my thoughts were scattered as I hoofed at the worn dogtags that hung around my neck. My eyes were lost, peering out the window at the large black cloudship that sat in the maintenance dock at the other edge of the settlement.

“Day dreaming, Miss Night?” Mrs. Chalk spoke sternly to get my attention. Instead, it only garnered a chuckle from my other classmates. “Mr. Night. Excuse me, I’m still not quite acquainted with your… peculiar looks yet.” The elderly mare looked more like she belonged in history, rather than teaching it. But that was something I wouldn’t say, because as I’ve been told, I’m too nice for my own good.

“It’s fine.” I sighed, turning to look up at her. Letting the dog tags slip from my hoof, I brushed my long bangs from my vision. “The teachers at my old school made the same mistake.” I smiled, listening as another hushed giggle ran through the others. I knew I looked like a mare, but really what did it matter to anypony else so long as I liked how I looked?

“While I’m sure it is annoying, you would do well to pay attention to todays lesson.” She swung her judgemental gaze around the class, silencing them. “Because tomorrow, I’m breaking out the paper and pencils.” A groan emit from every other student in the room. “That’s right, you’ll all have a lot to think about before the history test tomorrow.”

The school bell rang and saved the rest of the class from having to listen to any more of Mrs. Chalk’s ‘drivel’. Though I wasn’t eager to get out of school, I wanted to get out of here before Shimmer got herself in place. So, immediately I began to cram my things into my saddlebags.

“Mr. Night? A word before you go?” In the week that I’d been here, Mrs. Chalk never had students stay behind. Every moment I stayed, would be another that Shimmer and her posse could get together and scheme.

“I’m sorry.” I wanted to make this quick, but I knew I probably should have been less distracted then I'd ended up being. “I’ll pay more attention tomorrow, I promise.” I got up from my desk, and immediately found her hoof on my shoulder, keeping me where I was.

She sighed and lifted her glasses off with her wing. “I understand that things have been hard for you.” Her beige eyes looked at me in the most kind manner I’d seen in the short time I’d been in her class. “Your mother died a hero to the Enclave. You should be proud of what she sacrificed for the whole of our society.”

“They didn’t even tell me what happened.” I sighed and let my bags slump off my desk. “All we got was a mare at our door with an apology and a reparations check. My dad requested to know what happened, but we were turned down and asked never to inquire again.”

“I’ve been around for a long time, Night. You aren’t the first of my students to lose a parent.” She rubbed at my shoulder softly. “I know that the reassignment to our little corner of the Enclave doesn’t help either, but you’ll grow to like it here. I saw that you made a friend just the other day as well.” She inspected her glasses before she put them on again, turning around as she did. “Rogue Winds is a poor student, but he has a very kind soul.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I sighed. Honestly, I was pretty sure that he only hung around because he genuinely thought I was a mare. It was a bit of a blessing and a curse, really. I loved the way that I was, but a little part of me resented the fact that I'd inherited so much of my mother's looks. “Can I go home now?”

“Oh, one last thing before you do.” She grunted as she used one of her wings to start clearing the chalkboard. “It seems that your transcript wasn’t completely filled in when it arrived.” She looked back at me with a soft smile. “I’m afraid that it would be useless to give you the same test twice, seeing as I can only assume you’ve passed this class of history before at your previous school.” That was a relief. Without having to study, I could take the afternoon to practice my maneuvers!

“Thanks, Mrs. Chalk.” I nodded and hoofed at my bag, pulling the strap up and around my neck.

“Besides, the test will be useless next year, when our fantastic government decides to once again change the curriculum to fit their agenda again. I swear, nopony alive even knows what really happened back then anymore.” She rolled her eyes and gave a dismissive wave with her hoof. “Nevermind that, you have a good afternoon, Night Flight.”

“You too, Mrs. Chalk.” I turned and spread my wings, trotting toward the school doors. I lowered my head and bit down on my bag’s strap, pushing the doors open with my head as I tightened my bag to me. The warm sunlight that beamed down felt fantastic across my body, and a soft breeze filtered through my feathers. It was time to head home.

I don’t know why they’d built the schoolhouse so far from town, but it made for an annoyingly long trip home. That was even if you could fly well enough. Me though? I enjoyed walking, which came as a surprise to everypony else here. Back in Neighvarro city, it had been fairly normal and enjoyable for ponies to walk everywhere.

Settlement 262, or Four Peaks as it was called, was unfortunately now my home. Erected in the center of four near equi-distant mountain peaks, it was the last stop in northwestern equestria before you hit the frozen northern wastes. Nopony outside of new transfers or supply couriers ever visited this speck on the map, and nopony who lived here ever left without signing up to be a soldier. I’ll admit, it was a nice community, but there were only 65 families who lived here. Most everypony here worked at the shipyard, and barring military service, that’s where I’d find myself working after I graduated as well.

I found that it was always quiet in the late afternoon. Either everyone was working over at the shipyard, or they were asleep until the night shift changeover an hour from now. We were but a blip on the Enclave’s radar, only supplied enough to house and feed the working families. The schoolhouse and the security station were the only two non-residential structures here, and the schoolhouse was only so they could say they did something to prepare us for the mandatory military flight school entrance exam. Hell, they didn’t even bother giving this place a market. Everypony got their food directly from the shipyard through the meal tickets they earned.

“What took you so long?” Rogue grumbled as he trotted over to me. I’d been surprised to see him so far ahead of me, as he normally didn’t take to walking. Seeing as I’d stayed after a bit, it at least made sense to me why he was on edge. “Now Shimmer’s going to be waiting for us. She could be anywhere.”

“Ugh, I know.” I whined and hung my head. “While she is an annoying little cunt, they’re just words. They don’t hurt if you don’t listen to them.” I didn’t want to resort to name calling, but there was nopony around.

Rogue was a good guy and all, more than just a little rotund for a pegasus, but a good guy overall. Before I’d transferred here, he was the pony that everyone picked on. He was extremely sensitive about his weight, but I never understood why. At the very least, he could fly like everypony else.

I on the other hoof, was cursed not only with my mothers looks, but I was born with stunted primary feathers. It meant that while I could still fly, my level flight speed was much slower than other pegasi, and it tired me out faster than them. Though, the upside to my ‘disability’, was that my wings provided less resistance in a dive. Get me going down, and I could beat every other pegasus in speed. Unfortunately for me, down was somewhere we were always prohibited to go.

“You mean, if you were smart enough to understand words. Isn’t that right, fatass and flat feathers?” A nefarious giggle emanated from the clouds we walked across. The sky’s most annoying pipsqueak “And by the way, when my daddy hears what you called me, I’ll make extra sure that your dad works an extra shift less next week.” Shimmer Pull, the bane of my existence squeaked out. Her bright red coat did exactly what her name reflected as she buzzed into the air in front of me.

“Your father might be the supervisor, but he won’t cut shifts from anypony.” I rolled my eyes at her. “Or didn’t you hear? Neighvarro needs the raptor ready for whatever’s been happening on the east coast. They’re pulling double shifts to get it finished in time.”

Which was odd, because the raptor in drydock was Thunderhead’s, and they were the one who sent it for refurbishment. Still, my comeback made the little filly grimace. Slowly, that grimace melted away into a smug smirk.

“Even so,” Another voice chirped up from behind Rogue and I. “It must be so hard for him to know that his disabled daughter can’t even fly right.” The small blue filly that was most commonly around Shimmer popped out of the cloud layer. “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re his son, that’s right.”

“You said that those dog tags were your mother’s?” Shimmer chortled as my blood pressure spiked with those words. “She probably died of embarrassment.”

“You shut your fucking muzzle you little bitch!” I saw red and pushed myself off to charge at her, but Rogue grabbed my rear hooves and held on for dear life. His straining hooves were the only thing keeping me anchored. I angrily swung my forehooves wildly through the air at her. In a surprising move, she flew right into one. She went down with a squeak, making me freeze up in horrified confusion.

“Now we’ll see who get’s their shift cut tomorrow.” She smile and pulled herself up off the cloudlayer, her cheek darkening from where I’d hit her. “Come on, Canard. Let’s go tell my father what Night did to me!”

“Later, losers!” The blue filly zipped past us as she gave out a twisted laugh.

“Fuck, what have I done.” I sat down hard, creating a small cloud plume as I did. Holding my head in my hooves, I cursed myself for losing my temper.

The rest of the walk, we’d kept pretty quiet. Rogue’s only real dialogue had been how his mother was on her way to the security office. His mother was waiting for the reparations check that they were to receive from Thunderhead. Not unlike me, he too had lost family. Apparently, an accident at the old Rainbow Dash Skyport in Hoofington last week had killed his aunt, and his mother was given all of her things.

Once we’d entered town, Rogue asked if I was going to meet him later at our hangout. I’d begrudgingly agreed because somepony I had taken an interest in was supposed to meet us there. At least, I’d hope he’d show up.

With a sigh, I pushed open the door to our cloudhome, and lazily walked in. Our home was much bigger than the apartment we’d used to own in the city, but it felt so empty with just dad and I here.

“Night, is that you?” The voice of my father called out from the kitchen.

“Dad?” It was odd, he wasn’t scheduled to be off yet. “Is everything alright?” I trotted into the other room and sat my bags down on the couch. His silence punctuated the sound of my hoofsteps on the old tile as I entered the kitchen. He sat at our table, staring deeply into a framed picture with sad eyes. “Dad?”

“My shift was called early today.” He sighed, not taking his eyes off the picture the three of us took last year. It was back when Mom was just getting ready for her sixteen month deployment. “An anomaly in the reactor computer had some of the techs worried.” Delicately, he put the frame down and looked over to me. “Sorry, no meal tickets today.”

“It’s alright, dad.” I did my best to smile and comfort him. I trotted over and wrapped my hooves around him in a tight hug.

“So how was school?” He gave my back a pat before getting back up to his hooves.

“So… uh, please don’t be mad?” I whined as I broke the hug. He had a worried look on his face. “I punched a filly in the face.”

“You... what?” He shut his eyes with a groan. “Why on Celestia’s earth would you do something like that?” He facehoofed and ground his hoof against his forehead.

“She’s been nothing but a little bully, and... she made fun of mom.” I whined. I pleaded in the back of my mind that he wouldn’t be too angry, but if he actually did lose shifts over it, I didn’t know what I could even do to make it up to him.

“I know, that moving has been hard on you.” The tone of disappointment in his voice hurt almost as much as the look on his face. “And that you have had a hard time fitting in, but you can’t just go around hitting little fillies.”

“I’m sorry, Dad.” I sat down and hung my head in shame.

“You’re going to go over there right now and apologize, alright?” He sighed and stretched out his wings. “I’m going to head back to work. Maybe I can pick up somepony else’s shift for the night if I’m lucky.”

“I’m not even hungry tonight, so it’s fine! I’m going to go apologize like you want, but only if you agree to stay home tonight.” More and more he’s buried himself in his work, and I could see him wasting away from it. “Dad, you have to rest.”

“That’s not how it works, Night.” He turned around and walked out toward the door. “I’m sorry.”

I flopped my head down onto the table with an exasperated sigh. “Hey, Dad?” As I stared at the picture frame, I heard him stop. “I miss her too.”

“I know.” With a solemn shuffle, he stepped to the door and opened it. “Do your homework, and don’t stay up too late, alright?” He stepped through, and it creaked as he pulled it closed. “I love you, Night Flight.” He shut the door with a soft click.

“I love you too, Dad.” I muttered only to myself. Well, there goes my maneuver practice time.

“So yeah, again, I’m sorry.” Honestly, apologizing didn’t help make me feel any less regret for what I’ve put Dad through.

“Well you should be.” Mr. Airstream had been quite imposing as he stood in the doorway. He’d been casting his judgemental gaze from the moment he opened the door, and I deserved it. “I don’t know how you were raised where you came from, but if you ever lay a hoof on my little filly again, it’ll be the last thing you do with that hoof at all.” He snorted and pointed back the way I’d come. “Now get out of my sight.”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded and turned around. “It won’t happen again.”

He slammed the door shut, and I could hear him angrily stomp off. From the front window of their house, a soft knock met my ears. I perked them and turned to find Shimmer sitting there, sticking her tongue out at me. I was too old to care about foalish insults like that anymore. She’d get what was coming to her one day, and when she cried about it, they would be real tears of regret.

As I trotted through the streets, passing all of the homes of the workers at the factory, I didn’t have anything on my mind. The jingling of mom’s dog tags were like a soothing chime, and the warmth of the afternoon sun helped me to relax. Without knowing it, I felt the breeze under my wings. On days like this, I could use the thermals to hover along just above the clouds. It wasn’t too fast, just a relaxed pace, but I had the time.

The longer I traveled, the more a thought poked itself into my head. Salt Breeze, the stallion I’d found myself staring at sometimes in class, had wanted to meet up tonight. In the back of my mind, I was screaming like a filly at the thought that maybe he’d tell me he had an interest in me. The other half of me was petrified at the idea the this would all be some sort of elaborate prank.

Without thinking it, I found myself quite high up over the clouds. Looking around, I found the south peak, where the local young ponies hangout was. Carefully, I straightened my wings out, and let my forelegs hang down loosely. With the shift of my weight, and a tilt of my neck, I tipped into a shallow dive.

The wind whipped my mane back as I started to rapidly gain speed. It wasn’t much, but the northward breeze helped to keep my dive slower than normal. My tail snapped into line, helping to steer me towards my destination. Though other ponies criticized me for my form, the air resistance against my legs helped me to determine almost everything about my dive.

Approaching the cloud layer, I was positively shooting through the air. With just a small adjustment to the pitch of my wings, I leveled out. I was like a hot knife cutting through ever cooling butter, slowing with each passing moment. With the way I flew, I needed quite a lot of time to stop. Most pegasi could just flair their wings a few times, and bam! All that speed would be gone. If I did that, I’d only find myself falling hindlegs first into the clouds below.

The sharp, jagged rocks of the mountain’s peak made it look menacing and dangerous. Something that I was sure lead to it being used as a hangout in the first place. The clouds didn’t exactly form a tight seam to the cloud layer until about twenty feet down. Just above where it met the mountain, I saw the cave entrance. Landing down next to it, I hopped the few feet over to the hard rock easy enough and stopped just at the entrance to look in.

‘The Den’ as the others liked to call it, was little larger than my living room back at home. None of them had any clue of who’d dug it out or why, but this cave on the southern peak was the only one on any of the four mountaintops. It must have been used for a hangout for generations, as it was mostly furnished as well.

A bright orange, worn shag carpet lined the floor, and a few quilts were hung around the walls like the tapestries that used to hang in Canterlot before the war. It also had an old rusting refrigerator, a broken radio that hadn’t worked probably even before the war, and an old military hooflocker that they stashed their ‘goods’ in. Mind you that the ‘goods’ right now were only a couple of wingboner magazines and a hole filled shadowbolts jacket.

The worn and scratched up, rectangular coffee table that sat in the center of the room was at the focus of the whole cave. On each end of the coffee table, sat a ripped and moldy chair, while on the backside of the cave sat a large plush checkered couch. Sitting on that couch, was the stallion I’d been looking for. Sitting next to him, was Rogue, whose expression brightened the moment I walked in.

“Geeze, I’d begun to think you weren’t going to show!” He pushed himself up off the couch and trotted toward me. “Yeah, yesterday Salt told me that he wanted to hang out here, and he’d asked if I’d invite you.” He smirked and looked at the floor. “He’s seen the way you look at him, you know. He…”

He paused when an odd ringing filled the air. The two of us perked our ears and I turned around. It was an alternating wail that carried all the way to us. It sounded almost like…

“Those are the dry dock’s sirens.” He spat out in panic. “We…!”

From this side of the peak, the sky turned black. The daylight was simply gone as I stood in petrified confusion. The siren’s wail was drowned out by an ever increasing rumble, that grew into what sounded like a roar. Bright, multicolored light poured over the sides of the peak, and in that moment I knew what it was. I turned to scream at Rogue, but I wasn’t fast enough.

The blast wave slammed into the mountain hard enough that it threw me off of it. I watched as the cave entrance fractured and collapsed down on top of Rogue. My wings were pulled back by the sheer force of the wind as it curled around the mountain, and it carried the cloud layer that hugged the mountain back at an incredible speed.

Rotating out of control, the force of the wind got me all turned upside down, and I quickly found myself slammed down against the rock face on the side of the mountain. I slid across the flat surface for a few feet, headed for the dropoff of a cliff face. Panicking, I scraped my hooves along the stone, barely managing to hook my hoof onto a small crack in the rocks.

My ears rang like gongs, and even as the bright light left, the returning blue sky seemed awfully dark for the afternoon. With most of the wind from the blast gone, I flapped my inefficient wings as hard as I could. Slowly, and with great effort, I pulled myself into the cleared skies.

Four Peaks was gone.

Nothing sat where just minutes ago, everything had been peaceful and just fine. My eyes scanned around in the air, finding nothing but the opposite edge of the shredded cloud layer miles across from me. Looking down, granted me an even more horrible sight.

The peak that the skydock had been built on, had been eradicated. What sat in it’s place, was a concave crater of molten rock that sat now far below where we used to call level clouds. Twisted, melting, and strewn about the various rocky sides of the mountain, were the remaining parts of the raptor. As I stared at the horror of it all, in it, somehow the scope of it all seemed so much more real when I remembered that my father had been back at work.

Dad was dead.

I broke down. My wings folded in, and I dropped down against the mountainside in grief. The moment I landed, I screamed out in pain and immediately pushed myself away. The rocks against this part of the mountainside were like the top of a stove. From here, I could see the ones on the side closer to where town had been, glowed a fiery red.

The only safe haven I found in the rocks, was down at where the cave entrance once sat. Now, huge misshapen stones formed a tight barrier against the mountainside. Lodged in the pile, was the bloody and dust coated body of Rogue. His skull had been caved in by a boulder, and the force of them coming down on top of him, had pushed his insides through a jagged and bloody split along his broken neck.

I hadn’t eaten anything that day, but the sight of it made me recoil and dry heave repeatedly onto the ground. There, my strength gave out, and I simply fell over. I screamed out, flailing my hooves like it would do any good. The truth was that Dad, Mrs. Chalk... everypony was fucking dead!

I cried. I didn’t care if I sounded like a foal, or if it made me look more like a mare than I was. None of it mattered anymore, because everything I ever had was gone. Even I was going to die. I hadn’t eaten in a day, there was no food and water left to be found. I would just slowly starve to death up here. So I did what any seventeen year old would do in this situation, and just balled my eyes out.

Minutes turned to hours, and eventually I lost the strength to even cry. I simply laid on the rocks, and stared out into the void under the clouds. The lowering afternoon sun cast through the large plume that rose from the burning rock of the mountain. It threw an orange glow across the many trees that rose off the mountain’s sides below me, and it made me feel as if the whole world was burning around me.

But the more I looked, the more it felt like an odd thing to see. The Enclave had always deemed that there was no civilized or harmless life left below the clouds. Yet, without the orange tint, these trees looked as green and vibrant as any picture I’d seen did.

Oh, what did it matter. I was going to die up here anyway.

“H-hello?” A muffled voice took my breath away. “Is somepony out there?” It was Salt’s voice! It was coming through the rocks! “Hellooo?”

“I’m,” I gasped out as I scrambled to my hooves. “I’m out here!” I shut my eyes as I walked over and pressed myself against the rock. Both in part to focus on his voice, and to not see Rogue again. “Everything… everything’s gone. They’re all dead.”

“Don’t panic.” He sounded quite calm, but I was going to take everything I could get right now. “Neither of us can move these rocks, so I need you to go get help.”

“I…” Help? Did he not understand that everypony was dead? “There’s nopony left!”

“Below the clouds. About a half day north west of here, is a ground settlement.” His voice grew a bit quieter. My mind refused to understand what he was saying. “You need to go there and find a pony named Boxer.”

“I don’t know where to go!” I whined. I couldn’t do this alone! “How do you know it’s even there?”

“Trust me, I’ve been there before.” He sounded like he’d moved closer. How could he have been down there? Nopony was allowed below the clouds! If you did fall, then you would be dead in minutes from exposure! “Look, I know it’s tough, but you have to get there to find help to move these rocks.”

“I…” I stammered. This was all too much to pin on me!

“The land below the clouds is safe. Your government lied to you! You just need to head north west!” He paused and let out a deep cough. “I’ve seen how well you’ve done on your navigation work. I copied your test on monday and got an eighty percent.”

“But I don’t know how to survive out here!” I pressed my face against the rock harder, trying to force my frustration and anxiety into it.

“I do.” He sounded more stern. “But if you don’t go, I’ll die in here.”

“I…” I gave in. “Okay, I’ll go.” I sat there for a moment, as still as I could be. “Just, stay alive for me, okay?”

“Yeah,” He gave me a lighthearted laugh that turned into a sputtering cough. “Maybe then we can go on a date or something. I can feel that you have a thing for me.”

“Okay!” I stepped back from the rock. “I’m going to go. I will return with help!” I spread my wings as I turned, and threw myself from the mountain side. As my speed picked up, I turned myself around to the direction I knew to be north west. From that point on, I clamped my eyes shut. I knew that If I looked down at the settlement again, that I’d curl up and fall to my death in grief.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” I whispered to the wind, and pushed myself into a shallow dive.

It had only been an hour that I’d been up, and my wings were becoming incredibly tired. I’d never flown for this long before, and it showed. To make things even worse, valley after valley passed below me, rows of unending tree’s spread out as far as I could see. The greyish light that filtered through the cloud cover made everything look the same, and I’d started to worry that maybe I’d gone off course.

A high pitched noise carried across the winds to me. It didn’t take long, but I spotted several black dots floating just below the clouds. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that they must be the enclave! They must have known that something happened, and were coming to check out the scene. With a smile, and renewed hope for Salt, I pulled myself into a light climb. It killed my speed fairly quickly, but where did I need to go when they would come to me?

As they came closer however, I noticed that they didn’t quite look like pegasi. Their wings were too big for their bodies, and they only had two legs. One of the things let out a terrifying screech and turned right at me. It looked like the bats out of my textbooks, but if somepony had fed them nothing but bottles of buck!

It’s friends turned towards me as well, and suddenly I wasn’t feeling so confident that they were going to just let me fly by. I snapped my wings shut, and started a steep fall. I torqued and rotated myself so that I was falling head first out of the sky before I opened my wings.

I pulled myself up, keeping the speed I’d built in the short fall. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I found that the four monstrous bats had now fallen in on me. Each one traveled terrifyingly quickly in a dive after me, and I started to panic.

Pushing myself into a steep dive, I quickly matched speed with them. Short, quick adjustments of my tired wings kept me going fast enough that they lost speed faster than I did. Unfortunately, I was running out of diving room.

The sharp treetops bristled with needled branches, standing like a field of spikes before me. I’d hoped that maybe the speed would have been too much, or that they’d lose interest in me. With an angry scream, I knew that they were still hot on my fetlocks. I would have to do something drastic!

With a sharp pitch, I turned and dove down between the tree’s. I worked my wings, legs, tail, and even my head in concert to give me enough rotation to weave my way through the enormous plants. The sound of the air this close to the ground was different as I shot through it than above the cloud layer. Everything was slightly muffled, and even the pained shrieks I heard behind me had a different pitch to it. I was very quickly blowing all my speed just to maneuver around the trees now, and I was getting worried about going any lower to the deep brown ground just fifteen feet or so below me. The aggravated screams of those creatures sounded fairly far away from me, and I smirked with the thought that maybe I’d lost them.

During my turn around the next tree, I thought it safe to glance back to make sure they weren’t chasing me. The quick look afforded me the knowledge that they weren’t behind me anymore. Which was great, because I was going far too slow to outrun them now.

A new sound met my ears, a deep thrumming coming from the direction I was headed. I turned to look, and found an enormous blue metal wall sitting almost thirty feet above the ground. The faded word Shipping sat emblazoned across the old metal, but that was all I managed to see before I flared my wings as hard as I could, pitching myself up to stop.

I was wrong with what I’d said before. It turns out that I can stop fairly quickly. I just need a little help from a metal wall to do so. Pain gripped me momentarily, and the world dropped into a pitch darkness. As I drifted off to a dark sleep, I prayed that this had all just been a terrible nightmare I’d wake up from in the morning.