“Fucking Celestia, doesn’t that hurt?” Jynx cringed as she popped into being next to me.

Seriously? She couldn’t leave me alone to bleed in silence, could she. Well, at the very least the gunfire in town sounded like it was draining off, so hopefully Buck will come find me soon. Until then, I just needed to endure. No big deal, Night! It’s only been a few minutes, and you’ve survived worse.

And yet, Jynx was just making it that much more unenjoyable.

“No, it doesn’t hurt, and you know that.” I grumbled as I slowly and carefully dragged myself to lay against the base of the tree I came down from. The moment I pressed myself back I had to stifle a scream. Both of my busted wings flopped uselessly against my back, but I managed to get them mostly out of the way so I could prop myself against the metal of my flight harness. “Look, can you fuck off? It’s not a good time right now.” I used my prosthetic to put pressure on the wound that exposed my stomach. It’s okay, Night. Just gotta hold out a little bit longer...

“Well, I did come here to tell you where I made your leg drop...” She hung on that as her normal oily smile pulled across her muzzle. “But if you don’t want it…”

“Fine.” I didn’t really have the patience to deal with her bullshit right now. But, once I was back on my hooves, I’d need my leg, and I didn’t feel like spending half the afternoon combing the forest looking for it.

“Great!” Jynx sat down and rubbed her hooves together. She opened her muzzle to speak, but paused as she looked at the slowly pulsing streams of blood coming from the holes in my barrel. “Oh, right. I should probably also mention how, without my help, those rounds would have gone through your heart and spine instead.” She shrugged and brought a hoof up to brush at her mane lightly. “Figured that your stomach and some intestines would be a better trade off. So, you’re welcome.”

“You couldn’t just make them miss?” My remark probably came across as more snide than I intended, but I couldn’t really care at the moment. I mean, if what she said was true, I should just be glad to be alive.

“Yes, you should be glad. Literally anypony else on your crew falling that far at that speed, say, Double Delta for example? They’d be dead, and you can trust me on that.” She groaned and dragged her hoof down her face. “Do you think you could ever grasp how complex the job of tweaking universal probabilities is for just one kinetic projectile, let alone hundreds at a time? Because it’s hard enough for me to do it and I was literally made for this shit.”

“Fine, I get it. Thank you. Now, what about the leg?” I tried my best to deadpan at her, but a fit of coughs interrupted me. Flecks of blood coated my mechanical foreleg as a bit of soreness started to ebb through my augment. Shit, what if it shuts down on me again?

“Right, right.” she nodded and waved her hoof at me dismissively. “If I recall… I let it come down next to an old oak tree.” An… oak tree… in a pine forest… “I know! I mean, that’s why I chose it! You can hardly miss it, what with it’s thick, long branches. Perfect for tying a rope to…”

Heavy hoofbeats thumped through the underbrush ahead of me. The gasping pants of a pony came through with whines of fear. Jynx disappeared as the heaving form of one of the slavers tore through the bushes almost a hoof’s reach from me. They immediately spun around and paused, looking through the gap they’d made in the bushes.

The horn poking through the rusted metal plate armor that adorned their head glowed softly, and a fairly well kept hunting rifle floated up beside them. I held my breath as they did, and prayed to Celestia that they didn’t turn around again.

“Buck.” I thought out to him. “There’s a slaver here.”

“Where?” His response was quicker than I’d expected, but full of as much worry as ever.

“Right next to me.” I tried my best to keep my breaths slow and quiet, but with my injuries, I was quickly losing the fight to keep my body under control.

“Just hold tight, Dum Dum.” Hispano’s own worried voice filtered through my head. “I just… need to know where you fell.”

“I’m under a tree near the outskirts of town.” Yeah, I know that didn’t exactly help, but how else was I supposed to describe where I was?

“I can track where he is, Hispano. Leave him to me.” Buck’s grunt to her was sharp enough that it pulled a wince from me. Which of course, tweaked at my wounds enough that my forehoof slipped from my side.

I let out a gasp as my mechanical hoof accidentally thumped against the forest floor. With a sharp shift, I pulled it back to my wound and pressed against it hard. Which of course only shoved some of the wet mossy dirt into the gaping and bloody hole.

“Well well…” The slaver stallion let out a soft laugh as he turned his rifle on me. Fuck. “Now be a good little birdie and be quiet. You’re my ticket out of here, and if you want to live, then you’ll do as I say.”

A sharp burst of fire poured through the bushes. Leaves and branches were sheared apart as a torrent of bullets tore through the stallion. He wobbled as his body gave out and dropped to the ground in a bloody heap.

The bush shifted, stretching apart on it’s own. A soft glow enveloped the hunting rifle the stallion had been using, and it was plucked up off the ground. A shimmer pulsed in the air next to the rifle, and the towering blue form of Aerith emerged from under the cloak of her magical invisibility. She wore a wide smile across her muzzle as she inspected the rifle she’d claimed.

“Ah, together again at last. And they didn’t get a scratch on you! How wonderful.” She let out a light squeal as she brought the rifle against herself and hugged it like Hispano hugged her sister.

A small orange warning popped up in my vision and flashed a few times. I’d only caught the word ‘overheat’ for it’s final flash before my augmented eye shut off, and with it, my painkiller talisman. I let out a breathless scream as it felt like I was being flayed alive. I’m pretty sure I’d lived through worse pain, but somehow, it never seemed to get any fucking easier.

Mercifully, after what felt like an eternity, I was pulled into darkness.

There was something so serene about this place. A warmth that I’d always wanted, but never knew how to obtain. It had hardly been noticeable originally, but the longer I’ve stayed, the more it’s grown. I think I understood it now, why Delilah fought so hard for this town.

Letting out a long yawn, I stretched myself out. My stumps ached like they always did, and my scarred body protested the same as it had every morning. But as it had for the last ten years, the ebbing sound of the ocean waves across the shore helped to wash all that away from me.

I opened my eyes, taking in the morning light as it streamed in from the balcony. Rolling over, I was hoping to find Buck next to me, but all I found was a cool depression on his side of the bed. From behind me however, a particularly warm set of talons wrapped themselves around my side. I couldn’t help but press myself back into.

“Mmm, goodmorning.” Hispano chirped as she worked through the same steps of waking up that we always did. “Any chance I can convince you to stay in bed with me all day?”

“You know, I would love that.” I moaned as I felt her talons run up my sides and around my barrel. “But I’m sure Happy’s going to want some help today with that proposal the townsponies put together.”

It was hard to bring myself to move, but I managed to pull away from my little slice of comfortable heaven, and slid myself over to the edge of the bed. My prosthetics sat on the end table, ready and waiting to take me forth to the day ahead. Like the dress I’d worn years ago, slipping them on helped me to relax and focus myself on being the pony I was supposed to be.

“Fine, jerk.” Hispano groaned as she rolled herself beak down into her pillow and let out a long sigh. “I guess I’ll get up too.”

As I moved my prosthetic forehoof around to make sure it’s joints were all functioning, a light set of knocks came from the door to our room. With a soft click, the dingy brass handle turned, and it opened with a soft creek. A set of sky blue head feathers poked into our room, and a pair of emerald green eyes looked over at me. Our daughter opened her beak to speak, but all that came out was a hesitant squeak.

“Hey, is everything alright?” I asked reflexively.

“Did you have another bad dream?” Hispano asked as she carefully flipped herself over in our bed. With a light touch and a soft smile, she gave our mattress a pat. “Why not come nap for a while with mommy, alright?”

Our daughter nodded her head softly and walked in, her hind hooves clicking softly on the old hardwood floor, and her broad wings fidgeting across her back. She climbed up onto our bed without a problem, and quickly found herself in Hispano’s loving embrace. Truthfully, I still couldn’t believe we’d made something as amazing as her. But even before she’d been born, I’d always been adamant that Hispano would make a great mom. A fact I remind her about almost every day of our happy lives.

“I’ve got this from here.” Hispano said softly as she ran her talons through our daughter’s feathers. “Go, Happy’s probably already waiting for you.”

I nodded to her and carefully slid myself off of our bed and onto my hooves. The old floor creaked as I got myself balanced on all fours. Right, ready for yet another day in paradise.

“Oh, Night?” Hispano spoke up right as I moved toward the door. “When you see Buck today, remind him that the clinic will still be there tomorrow, but family dinner only happens at dinner time.”

I couldn’t help but smile and nod. It’s true that Buck probably worked himself too hard at the clinic most days, but it made him happy. Plus, after all we’d been through, I didn’t want to take that away from him. Though, Hispano was right in that maybe he could take a break for an hour and join us at dinner for once.

With each step down the stairs to our wonderful home, my muscles warmed themselves up. Of course, as they did, each of the myriad of little pains my old injuries caused flared up. Once down the final step, I reached up to my head and gave it a little tap. My augment whirred to life, and like I’d flipped a lightswitch, the pain went away, and I could see more of the world again.

I reached out and grasped the handle to the front door and opened it, letting a wave of warm, salty air run across my now numbed skin. Taking a deep breath, I took in the smell of the ocean and smiled as the sounds of everyday life in Brahman Beach met my ears.

This was it, the point each morning where I knew that my life was finally how it was supposed to be. The reward for all of the pain and suffering we went through all those years ago. And though I couldn’t have known then, Celestia, was it all so worth it.

“Hey, you’re finally awake.” The light hearted tone of one of my best friends in the world came from just down below my front porch. Stepping through my front door, I walked to the porch railing and looked over it to find Happy waiting for me. “I know that mediation is one of your least favorite activities as aide to the mayor, but sleeping in isn’t going to mean I’ll just go ahead without you. You know that as much as I want to, I can’t run this town alone, Night.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes and smirked as I stepped down off of my porch and left my humble home behind. Glancing over at Happy, my eyes froze on the neatly pressed off-white suit he wore today. “Wait, that’s the suit you chose for this meeting?”

“What? You don’t like this one?” He shrugged and ran his hoof over his grey streaked mane in a vain attempt to look suave. “Would you rather I wear something more tropical? Perhaps I could pull out one of my old Marwaii floral shirts if that would be more to your liking?” You know, some days, I almost missed the ‘rebel’ like nature he used to hold over his strictly fake ‘business’ persona he wore now. Still, we both shared a light chuckle at that and he shrugged. “I just... felt like a change, you know? Brown and grey get tiring after a while.”

Still, even I had to admit that he’d done well since we arrived home. Sure Brahman Beach had to invest and work to get to the level of prosperity we’d achieved, but with the Ark at his disposal, Happy had never once let those here down. I’m sure Delilah would have been proud to see the mule he’d become after all these years.

“Yeah, I really don’t see it.” A familiar voice spoke up from behind me. A voice that I hadn’t heard in a long time. One I thought had disappeared forever, even before we got back to Brahman Beach. It was my voice.

Turning myself around, the unchanged and pristine form of Jynx stood before me.

“What? But… how?” No, this didn’t make any sense at all…

“You’re welcome, by the way.” She shrugged at me as she sat down on the gravel road that ran from my house on the hill all the way down through town to the beach. With a long deep breath, she smiled. “It was hard to get the feeling of this fresh ocean air just right, but I think it was worth it. Don’t you?”

“No, you… you’re gone.” I took a step back as my heartbeat picked up, and my own thoughts started to race. She couldn’t be here, I’d gotten rid of her years ago! “Happy, tell me you…” I paused as I turned to my friend, only to find that he was missing. Oh, this can’t be happening… “What did you do to him!?”

“Uh, nothing?” Jynx snorted and scrunched up her muzzle. After a moment of staring at me like I was the crazy one, she gasped. “Oh, wait! Right, you must still think this is all real.” But, that’s because it is! “No, it most definitely isn’t.” She laughed in my face as she got to her hooves again and trotted around me. “Just this morning, you were lamenting on your lack of dreams lately. So when your augment overheated, I took a few liberties and helped you out with this little escape.”

“That… that’s not true.” As I said that, my augmented eye fuzzed with static for a moment, flashing up two dozen medical warnings before fuzzing back to it’s normal look. “No, this couldn’t be fake. It’s been ten years! I remember that…”

“If it has been ten years,” Jynx squinted at me and prodded her forehoof against my side. “Then what did you have for breakfast, let’s say, yesterday morning?”

“I… I…” Okay, Night, you’re just flustered. Think!

But… there was nothing that came to mind. I remembered flashes of events of the last ten years. The day we got back here, when Buck, Hispano and I got married, my own daughter’s first steps. But there was just… nothing specific I could pin down recently.

“How about this?” Jynx’s muzzle curled into the smile I’d thought I’d left so long ago in the past. “If this is real, then what’s your daughter’s name?”

That’s easy! It’s…

I… I don’t know.

“Right, how could you know?” Jynx shrugged as she reached over and gave me a few pats on the side. “None of this has been real, I’m merely showing you what you want to see happen. A vision of the future you want so desperately to build.”

“Why?” I… maybe she was right. Maybe this was all just some sort of dream. But why she was showing it to me didn’t make sense.

“Because you wanted to keep me around, and I’m ever so grateful for that.” Jynx stepped up and wrapped her hooves around me in a surprisingly warm hug. “But…” She leaned forward with that one word, whispering it into my ear as her grasp around me tightened uncomfortably. “This is only to soften the blow, Night. The pendulum has begun to swing, and no matter what, you can’t duck out of the way this time. You are going to understand that to work for the future I’ve shown you, it comes with a heavy, but balanced toll. So buckle up and get ready for the inevitable, because I warned you about what’s coming. In fact, I went so far as to explicitly tell you what to expect, so it’s all on you now, pal.”

Her hooves squeezed around me harder, crushing my barrel almost effortlessly under them. My augment fizzled out, and I screamed as once more pain ripped through my torso. But as I had so long ago, I was pulled down into a deep, cold darkness that welcomed me like the old friend it always was.

There was a familiar warmth to the darkness. Something that helped to numb the feelings coursing through me that I hadn’t felt in what seemed like years. It was like as if Buck was holding me close in his fur, but if he could hold the entirety of me, down to my aching bones.

“Night?” Buck’s voice drifted to me from somewhere, and my mind followed it. “Night, you’re going to be alright.”

I could feel the warmth of the air on my fur, the scratchy bark from the tree I was still propped up against. But oddly enough, there wasn’t as much pain as I’d expected. I opened my eye slowly as the rest of the world came back to me. Buck and the others sat hovering over me with varied looks of concern. Even Happy had an uncharacteristically deep frown on his muzzle.

“You gave us all a scare.” Aeirth was the first to speak up as she glanced at the others and smiled. “It is good to see you are stable. And your doctor says that you will make a full recovery, in time.”

Well, that was nice to hear. Looking down, I found my blood stained torso had been tightly wrapped in magical bandages, and the various cuts and bruises from my crash landing had been mostly patched or sewn up. However, my broken foreleg had been slung and splinted tightly. Guess it was going to take a bit more time to heal.

“I never had any doubt he’d make it.” Hispano forced a smile across her beak as she took a step back and rubbed her talon across her face. “Injuries like that? Night’s had them so many times he’s pretty much immune to them.” From the matting of the plumage on her cheeks, it wasn’t hard to see she was putting up a front. “I’m going to do a sweep and make sure we didn’t miss any of those bastards.”

“Well make it quick.” Happy snorted as the attitude he’d held before helped push his worried expression from his face. “We’ve still got an appointment with Solomon to keep.”

“Well, while Night will be stable enough to move about the ship, I don’t want him going anywhere during the fight itself. He needs time to heal.” Buck turned to Happy and shared a light growl at him. “But I agree, the sooner we leave, the better. We don’t want anypony else nearby coming to investigate the fight here.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Happy rolled his eyes at Buck as he spun himself around. “Whatever, I’ll be back on the Remora waiting.”

With an unceremonious swing of his mechanical limbs, Buck effortlessly scooped me up from against the tree. A few fonts of pain stabbed through my body, and I gasped from it. But the cold metal from Buck’s arms was quick to help soothe the burning, and I took a few breaths to get through the bulk of it.

“If it would help, I can join your other companion in the sky to look for stragglers.” Aerith flashed up a nervous smile as Buck tucked me up against his warm, fuzzy chest.

“That would be greatly appreciated.” Buck nodded to her. We watched as she flared out her wide blue wings, taking off up into the clouded skies. The moment she disappeared over the treetops, Buck let out a long sigh. His paws shifted themselves, and a sharp pain ran through both of my wings. “Oh, sorry, Night!” Buck gasped and pulled me away slightly. “Like your leg, the bones in your wings are going to need a day or so to heal. I’ll try to be more gentle with them until we get back to the ship and Cora can get you on some stronger bone mending medicine.”

“Thank you, Buck. For everything.” Reaching out with my prosthetic, I did my best to hug him with only one hoof.

“I’m just glad you’re alright.” He spoke softly as he leaned forward and gave my mane a light nuzzle. “I’m just sorry you lost your leg in the fight.” Wait, what did I lose? “But maybe Tofu can build you a new one to replace it.”

Pulling my prosthetic back, I looked at it. No, it seemed to be all there. The only one I was missing was…

“Right!” I gasped and wiggled my hindstump. “I know where it fell!” Sharp pain stung through me from the short movements. Right, maybe I should keep myself from being too excited...

“What?” Buck stiffened up and glanced around us. “But, Hispano did a look around the area. Admittedly it was only a cursory look, but…”

“It fell next to an old oak tree. We should be able to pick it out pretty easily.” I blurted out, watching as Buck’s glances around stopped and his augmented eye locked on to an area of the forest somewhere closer to town.

“I remember seeing an old oak behind some of the old residences on the edge of town.” Buck nodded to himself as he carefully tucked me against him again. “I only made note of it because they don’t normally grow this far north.” A small smile tugged at the ends of his jagged jaw as we turned and started the walk over to it. “But what makes you so sure it fell near there?”

“Because… Jynx told me it did.” I know that every time I mention her to the others I sound somewhat crazy, but it was the truth.

“Night…” Buck stopped cold midstep, and his mechanical ears flattened to the sides of his head. “I don’t want you to worry about it, but… you can’t really trust what you’re seeing right now.”

“What? I thought that you believed me when I said that she was real.” I didn’t want to hear him say that he thought I was crazy, but I didn’t know what else could bring this on.

“It’s just…” He hesitated to say anything, and for a moment, he let us sit in silence. The sound of the breeze filtering through the trees washed through my mane and his fur. It filled the air with the scent of fresh rain, probably rolling in from the storm system that was still tracking our way.

“What’s going on, Buck?” The words slipped out of my muzzle.

“I gave you a dose of painkiller.” He said slowly. “Your augment is off, and your injuries are still too extensive to risk turning it on again.”

As soon as he’d said that, I realized what I’d been missing since I woke up. I could feel things again. The wind, his warmth, and the aches of my body.

“Heh.” A laugh slipped out of me, pulling a look of concern down from Buck. “It’s just, I thought after having it on all this time, that I’d never really go back to knowing what everything felt like. But before you told me, to be honest, I hadn’t even realized that I had been missing anything at all. I won’t make that mistake again.” Knowing that now, I was going to use this time to its fullest. Leaning forward again, I pressed myself against his chest and closed my eyes. “Thank you, Buck, for still being here for me.”

My injuries flared up through the painkiller, going from a dull ache to sharp stabs. But I could grin and bear it for as long as I needed to. Nothing was going to steal this moment from me.

“I’m glad you’re still here with me too.” Carefully, he brought his free paw up and combed his digits through my mane. “I’m sorry for having to put you through this again.”

“I’m not.” I shook my head and let myself rest in his hold. “Like everything else, I’m so lucky to have you, and we’ll get through this together.” Looking up at him, he and I shared hesitant but knowing nods to each other. “Now, let’s go grab my leg.”

Turning back towards the tree, Buck once more started us on the path. He pushed us through a few more bushes, and around a dense collection of pines that dampened the muted sunlight above. But as he pushed through another set of thick bushes, we finally reached the wide clearing that was sheltered by the long and twisting branches of an old oak tree.

The base of the tree itself was nearly wide enough that Buck himself could fit inside the trunk were it hollowed out. The hundreds of sprawling branches above us shifted in the wind, letting alternating rays of weak sunlight down through them to the moss covered forest floor below it. A few small bushes grew around the gnarled and thick roots at the base of the tree, including a patch of healthy and vibrant violet colored flowers that gave me pause.

And resting just next to the violets, was my prosthetic hindleg.

Slowly, Buck carried us over to the tree. He stopped and carefully lowered me down, letting me get my hooves back down as his free paw reached out and grabbed my leg. As he did, his digits accidentally dug into the moss, tearing up a small patch of it that sat next to the flowers.

It revealed a rounded river rock, one that seemed to have been left here years ago. It was dirty, but it had writing of some sort carved into its surface. Staring at it, the best I could make out was the letter J and the letter V.

The soft and familiar tug of suction returned to my stump as Buck helped to get the prosthetic on. I let myself put pressure on it, relaxing slightly as it felt like it always had. Glancing down at it, about the only damage I could see on it was that there was a small bend in the edge of the metal from where it took the hit.

“Aright, looks like we’re clear.” Hispano cooed as she gave a few flaps and lowered herself down through the tree canopy. “What are you two…” She stopped talking as her flight paused and she hovered there staring at the other side of the tree from us.

“Hispano? Are you alright?” Aerith called down as she too dipped through the oak tree’s canopy. Like Hispano, she too seemed to freeze up, but a deep frown spread across her muzzle. “Oh dear, that’s unfortunate.”

Both Buck and I looked to each other before we made our way around the tree to whatever had so captivated their attention. But instead of looking down, both of us had our attention drawn upward as a large form came into view above us. An old rope creaked from one of the thick oak branches, and the limp body of a female minotaur swung from it. Not just any minotaur though…

“Jess…” Hispano meekly whispered as she came down and joined Buck and I on the mossy ground.

The hanging minotaur’s sad and lifeless eyes stared down at what felt like me and me alone. I knew she was gone, and that there’s no way she would have ever known I would be standing right here under her. But still, I felt like in her eyes I could still see every bit of anger, hatred, and remorse for Violet. Like she’d wanted me to see how much Violet had meant to her.

“The stone.” Buck let out a soft gasp. “Near the violets… it was from when the two of them...”

“I don’t understand.” Aerith spoke up softly as she too joined us on the ground. “Did you all know this minotaur?”

“Yes. Well, no.” I nodded, but scrunched up my muzzle at that. “Somewhat, I guess. I mean...”

“It’s… complicated.” Hispano stepped in to save me from my own awkwardness. “She and one of our friends used to be together when they lived in Bridleshade.” Hispano blinked a few times, finally able to tear her eyes away from Jess’s corpse. “I’d suggest that maybe Solomon did this, but her body looks like it’s been here for a few days. I guess she took Violet’s death and the loss of her hometown more than we could have thought.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Aerith hung and shook her head.

“It’s fine. There’s nothing we can do for her now.” Hispano offered the alicorn a soft smile as she turned back towards the ruins of Bridleshade. “Why don’t you walk with me back to the Remora? We can talk more about how you know things about my sister that even I don’t know.”

“Sure.” Aerith nodded to Hispano and shared the soft smile back.

Part of me couldn’t help but feel like there was something between the two of them. But other parts of me were torn between reading too much into it, or that it was just the part of me liable to jealousy. And you know, maybe I shouldn’t be feeling jealous about Hispano making a new friend when standing next to someone who’d lost everything in her life and decided to end it.

So, instead, I leaned over to Buck and pressed myself against his side.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

After a good long talk, Hispano and Aerith said their goodbyes and we’d headed for home. The whole ride back, Hispano had seemed preoccupied with her thoughts. She’d seemed worried, but there were moments where I’d caught a smile pull across her beak as she held her sister close to her. I had no clue about what her and Aerith had ultimately talked about, but so long as it made Hispano happy, then I wasn’t going to worry about it.

Speaking of Happy, he seemed antsy the whole way back. It wasn’t until the Remora had docked with the Arcturus and opened the hatch that he finally looked like he relaxed. I know that this drive for him to get after Solomon had become his obsession, but it wasn’t easy to watch it. Sure, I wanted Solomon dead as much as he did, but at this rate, Happy was going to wear himself down to nothing.

Honestly, part of me wondered what exactly would happen the minute Solomon was gone. Who would Happy be then? Would he return to the lazy and carefree stallion he was when we first met? Would he pick up Delilah’s mantle and become the responsible mayor of his home city? Or would he end up the hollow shell of a mule who felt like now that he’d won, he had no one else to blame for his life but himself.

“Are you okay, Night?” Buck’s question pulled me from the depths of my mind, and I realized that it was just the two of us now still inside the Remora.

“Yeah.” I nodded to him and tried to smile as I pulled myself to my hooves. Sharp pains ran through my barrel and wings as the waning painkiller in my system couldn’t keep up with the extent of my injuries anymore. I bit back a whine and managed to hobble my way under the hatch. “Can I get your…” That was as far as I’d made it before Buck’s careful paws wrapped around me and helped me climb up into the weapon’s bay. “Thanks.”

“Oh, Night!” Dad gasped as he turned from where he and Tofu were working on one of the control panels. “Are you okay? What happened down there?” He all but sprinted across the bay and wrapped his hooves around me. I fought back a scream, but I hugged him tightly all the same.

“We ran into some slavers.” I offered as I leaned into his hooves. The added pressure against my barrel wasn’t great, but it felt nice to have him close. “Don’t worry, Buck patched me up as well as always, and all of the slavers look way worse than I do now.”

“Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary.” Dad offered as he helped to turn me towards the bulkhead door. “Once you’re in there, we… we need to have a talk about something.”

My legs almost locked up at that. Fuck, whenever Mom or Dad wanted to ‘talk about something’, it generally meant they were dissapointed in me. I glanced back over my shoulder as Buck effortlessly hoisted himself up and out of the Remora, and even though he wasn’t looking at me, he wore the same look he’d had when Dad had objected to us in the first place. I knew it was something that still weighed on his mind, but I loved Buck, and I meant it when I said that Dad would just have to get over it.

Buck himself didn’t follow us, and the last I saw of him was when Dad pushed the hatch open and helped me over to the infirmary bed. Cora perked up from behind it, rubbing at his eyes like he was just waking up. Then again, as Dad helped me onto the sterile bed, the thick stench of whisky wafted through the room from the griffon’s direction.

“So, what are we looking at here?” Cora grumbled as he pulled himself up and stiffly turned his neck. A few stiff pops from it were followed by a relaxed sigh, and he turned himself toward the cabinets to pull out some supplies.

“Two shots to the barrel,” I grunted as I carefully laid myself forward on the bed, doing my best to untuck my foreleg from it’s sling. “a broken shoulder,” This time, I couldn’t stifle the cry I let out as I moved it, but as soon as it was out from under me, the pain mercifully dulled again. “and a few fractured bones in my wings.”

“Is that all?” Cora groaned as he pulled a few half-filled healing potions from the infirmary drawers, as well as a surgical and suture kit. Spinning himself around, he looked over me again before his eyes stopped on my augment. “Your headpiece is off, and with it, I’m assuming your talisman. I’m surprised you’re managing the pain this well.”

“Yeah, not... really.” I wanted to tell Cora the truth, but Dad was standing right here. If I said I’d had painkillers again, Cora might scold me and Dad would be furious with me. But… then again, he already wanted to talk, which was never good. So, I guess since my life is a never ending string of Night Flight disappointments, then what’s one more to add to the pool? “Buck gave me a Med-x, but it’s already wearing off.”

“Thank you for at least admitting it.” Cora nodded before turning around and plucking the syringe from the surgical kit. With a flick, he tossed it back into the shelf he’d pulled the kit from and shut it inside. “But that means what you’ve got is all you’ll get. So when I open your wings to set the bones and apply the brew, it’s going to hurt like hell. If it means anything, take comfort in the fact that I won’t be enjoying it either.”

So he was going to just, cut me open while I could feel it? Fuck that! That was not a fun prospect, and honestly, a bit fucking bullshit.

Wait, that’s just how he wanted it, isn’t it!? This wasn’t about protecting me from my addiction, it was about making me suffer because I was in love with Hispano! Buck knew more than anyone else what painkillers did to me, and he still gave me some. Why? Because he was at least trying to spare me some unneeded pain despite the risk!

“Is Cora doing it on purpose though?” Jynx popped up with a giggle as she stood behind my dad. “Because accusing him without any real proof is exactly the rational thoughts of somepony who’s definitely not still addicted to painkillers.” If her voice were any thicker with condescension, I could strangle her with her own words.

I let out a growl and leveled my best Delilah-like glare at her. What the fuck does she know? It’s not like…

“Not like I lived through your addiction? Because I’ve been here the whole time.” She lifted her hoof and tapped the side of her head with a devilish smile. “Or has the Med-X in your system already started to bring back your memory problems?”

That’s not fucking possible. Not after one Med-X. And even if I’d had another, there wouldn’t be side effects, not… Wait, was I really arguing the case for more… against Jynx? Maybe… I was still addicted.

“Don’t worry, Night.” Dad spoke softly as he sat down at the end of the table and carefully took my forehoof in his own. “I’ll be right here the whole time.” Be it because Celestia answered my prayers or not, I’m just glad he wasn’t angry at me.

“Thanks, Dad.” I sighed and tried to force the impending agony out of my mind. As far as a distraction could go, I would have prefered Buck or Hispano. But if it had to be anypony else, I could do worse than my Dad. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Ever since… I found out you were still alive.” Dad’s normal, confidant tone he used when he was disappointed turned on its head and disappeared completely. “And finding out all that you’ve been doing, I just… I feel like there’s some things I need to tell you about.”

Cora let out a grunt as he shifted the surgical kit from the counter to beside me. With a pluck of his talon, he pulled out one of the shiny chrome scalpels and carefully worked a cloth over it. Oh, this was going to suck.

“What about?” I forced myself to look away from him and back at Dad.

“It’s about... your Mother.” As soon as he’d looked into my eyes, he tore them away and looked at the floor. “Years ago we had debated about telling you when you were older, at some point before you eventually enlisted for Enclave service. Then her redeployments came more and more often, and we could never quite find a good time…”

Cora brought a bottle up behind me. His talon squeezed it, and a few spritzes of cold fluid sprayed over my wings and part of my back. Almost immediately, a light numbing sensation took hold.

“A year or so before you were born,” Dad began with a long sigh, “your mother was in a… training accident. Officially, it was because of engine problems with the Vertibuck her team was in. Unofficially… they were shot down while investigating what she said was a conflict on the surface.”

“She went… under the clouds?” No, this… this didn’t make any sense. “Where? When!?”

“As I said, before you were born. Back when your Mother and I had just gotten married.” Dad squeezed my forehoof gently as a weary smile pulled across his burned skin. “They crashed into a mountainside somewhere around central Equestria. Most of her team was killed outright, but her and her superior were only wounded.”

My eyes went wide as Cora moved his talon behind me. I bit my tongue as the surgical blade pressed into me and split my wing open. For as much as it hurt, and as much as I strained to keep myself still, Cora’s movements were slow, controlled, and methodical.

“Night, I know it hurts, so just focus on my voice.” Dad spoke up, bringing his teary eyes up to meet mine. “Your mother, she and her superior went to the settlement that had been fighting. She said that the ponies there were barely alive, living off what scraps they could pull from nearby ruins. But, she was able to exchange some of their gear for the medical supplies to patch themselves up, and have a place to rest for the night. The two agreed that they’d go back to the wreck the next day and activate the emergency rescue beacon.”

The soft squelches from my own wings were accompanied by lightning bolts of pain striking my body. Muffled whines slipped from my muzzle, and in an effort to quell them, I brought my prosthetic forehoof up and used its strength to hold it shut. My heart was thundering in my chest, and my lungs felt like they were starving. But I simply looked up at Dad and tried my best to focus on him.

“The raiders that had attacked before, supposedly came back the next morning.” Dad continued as he brought his other forehoof up to rest it on mine. “She said her superior wanted to stay and help them fight. She argued that they stick to the plan and go get rescued. It wasn’t their fight after all.” Dad paused as he shook his head. “So they split up. She went back and activated the beacon. She was rescued an hour later, and… she never saw her superior again.”

“Fun story.” Cora grumbled before he leaned in closer to me. His talon shifted slightly against me, and there was a distinct scraping feeling like a hoof on a chalkboard, but from inside my wing. “Your wife sounds like she was a smart gal.” He paused and looked over to my dad with a frown. “Sorry about what happened to her.”

“No, see, she knew she’d made the wrong choice.” Dad snorted and smirked. “When she came up, a dozen Enclave psychs blamed ‘wasteland fumes’ for her ‘belief’ that there were still ponies under the clouds. And when she was cleared for duty again, she found herself transferred away from any active maneuvers, to a Raptor on reserve duty that guarded Neighvarro. But she knew the Enclave had lied about below.”

“And let me guess, she tried to tell you as well?” Cora snorted as he continued to work. The agony in my wings only let me focus on the words, and left my mind struggling to do anything else. Please, please Celestia, let it be over…

“She did tell me.” Again, Dad’s expression sank into a deeply troubled frown. “I… I wanted to believe her, but deep down I’d bought into the lie the Enclave sold. I was an idiot back then.” He shook his head and once more squeezed at my forehoof. “She talked about going back down, to prove there were ponies there, and to help them. As much as I didn’t believe her, I knew how dangerous it was if anypony heard her say things like that. So I did my best to support her, but…” He stopped and sighed. “I needed to give her a reason to stay, to anchor her above the clouds.”

Cora froze up at that. Even from the corner of my eye, I could see the somewhat shocked look across his face. I didn’t understand what was so surprising about that. At least, not until he took a momentary glance down at me.

“You were my anchor, Night.” Dad sniffled, pulling one of his forehooves back to rub at the matted fur under his eyes. “And my plan worked. After you were born, she settled down with me, and forgot all of those plans to go down below. But that’s what I wanted to tell you, Night. I was wrong. Your mother, she was the kindest, most caring pony I’ve ever known. Trying to hold on to her didn’t save her. And yet, here you are, doing exactly what she wanted to, helping anypony who needs it despite the risks.”

“Now, I’m not saying I’m on board with you and my daughter, Night.” Cora muttered under his breath as he gave a particularly rough yank that made my vision go white for a moment. “But even I have to admit, you’ve turned out to be somewhat competent as a leader.” With another scraping feeling through me, he shifted his talons and paused. “Well, not a leader in the normal definition of the job. I guess I’m saying you’ve unified everyone in a way I’ve only seen once before, in the way Delilah ran her convoy.”

If I didn’t feel like he was intentionally dragging out the agony of working on my wings, I’d take that as a compliment…

“The reason I wanted to tell you this now, Night,” Dad squeezed at my hoof softly as he tried his best to keep himself composed. It was a losing fight for him, but that’s how I knew that this was coming from a part of Dad that I’d rarely seen. “It’s because of what you’ve done. What you’re trying to do. It’s everything your mother would have done were she down here with you. She’d have been so proud...” His fight inside him flooded over and he broke down into sobs.

My own body shook as I tried to hold back from breaking down with him as well. I was fighting all of the feelings I’d pushed down ever since I left the ruins of Four Peaks behind months ago. I’d forced everything down into a little box inside my head and locked it shut to help me make room for the new life I’d made with Buck and Hispano. But the fact was, some feelings never left me because they couldn’t be filed away.

How do you bottle and pack away a hole where something used to be in your life? That hole however, seemed a little less empty once I’d found Dad. I had something of my former life to hold onto again, but having him had cracked that box of feelings I’d tried to hide. And now, he’d basically taken a sledgehammer to the lock.

“I… I miss her so much, Dad.” I whimpered as I let go and wailed as I grasped at his hooves tighter.

“Look, I know this ‘namby-pamby-bullshit’ is something that’s built into you ponies,” Cora groaned as one of his talons pressed down hard onto my back. “But if you don’t keep still, this is either going to take a lot fucking longer than it needs to, or be a lot more painful than it has to be.”

“Just fucking get it done, Cora!” I snapped back at him. Yeah, I know that it was a less than ideal time for him to be working on me, but that didn’t mean he had to be fucking heartless.

“Suit yourself.” He muttered as he ground his beak and dug into me with the scalpel again.

I let out a full bodied scream as it felt like he was tearing my wing apart. The tears of sorrow flooding down my muzzle were replaced again with ones of agony. The squelch of flesh and scraping of bone made my vision go white as I realized the mistake I’d made. Maybe… maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have snapped at him.

“Night,” Dad spoke as he rested his head on my hooves again, “listen to me.” As my vision returned, I did my best to keep my one good eye locked on his hope filled gaze. “I know that I’d said some things before, but… you were right. You aren’t a foal anymore, and… if being with a dog and a griffon makes you happy. Well, then I’m happy for you.”

I opened my quivering muzzle to tell him how much it meant to me to hear that. But the moment I did, another stab in my wing brought out a scream. A seething gasp from Cora made me worry, and the fact that he all but tossed the scalpel down to scramble for some other tool made me panic. Though, as much as I wanted to panic, it was getting harder to do just that. In fact, it was getting harder just to focus on my dad’s eyes.

“Oh, that was, uh…” Cora stammered as a few tools clicked together in his talons. “Nothing to worry about! Just… nicked the artery…”

His voice was growing softer as the sound of my own beating heart took over in my head. The rhythmic thumping of it pushed back all my other thoughts and worries, even going so far as to dull the agonizing pain in my wings. Closing my eye, I focused solely on the soothing sound, and let it take me away into the painless and emotionless void of darkness once more.

The soft hum that filled the Arcturus slowly guided me back to the waking world. The smell of copper and disinfectant clung to the air around me, and the feel of the old, stiff infirmary bed under me pressed warmly against my sweat covered coat. The sound of my own breaths had replaced the beating of my heart I’d been swept away in, and the almost oppressive fluorescent lights above me began to replace the darkness.

The second I opened my eyes, my augmented vision flickered and came back to me. The familiar soothing numbness sat across my body as the talisman in my head did it’s job once more, freeing me from the hell I’d been through. I thanked Celestia for that before pausing to also send out a small prayer of thanks to the Architect as well.

As my mind reoriented to the waking world again, another odd thought cropped up. I’d somewhat expected to have had another dream while I was out. Something nice, like another look at what my life might be like down the road. Then again, I’d rather not owe Jynx any favors, and if I did have another dream, it wouldn’t necessarily have been a good one. I mean, it could have been another ‘perfect day’ to live though that I know would never come to pass.

That thought turned on itself in an instant. What if it hadn’t been a perfect day, but a conversation with my dad where he told me something I’d deep down would have loved to hear about my mom? Did… did that actually happen, or was it…? Oh, I needed to talk to Dad right now.

The moment I tried to move, my body stiffly protested, and my augment fuzzed. My lungs seized, and even though I couldn’t feel it, I knew my body was still healing. Looking over myself, I found that my heavily bandaged wings were bound down to me, and my barrel was even more heavily bandaged than before. Even my forehoof and shoulder had been re-bandaged, and tucked into a sling even tighter than it had been before.

The moment of panic in my mind faded as I took a few deep breaths to help calm my lungs again. It gave me the moment I needed to notice the matted fur on my forehoof and muzzle had dried, but was all the evidence I’d needed. It hadn’t been a dream.

The bulkhead to the infirmary squeaked as the latching on the door shifted from it’s locked position. With a groan, the old metal swung open, and Buck stepped inside with his gaze locked on the floor. Closing the door behind him, he paused to sigh before looking up at me with his normal, kind and soft smile.

“Hey there, Night.” His words came out of his muzzle as a static filled whisper, but just hearing them sent a tingle of joy down my spine. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” I answered as I fought with my body to sit a bit more upright. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to push myself up, but I guess I couldn’t really expect myself to be ready for any daring acrobatic displays for a while.

“Cora said there had been some… complications when working on your wings.” Buck’s volume grew slightly as he stepped up to the edge of the bed and carefully took a seat. “I should have been here for you, with you for it.”

“I’m fine.” I did my best to share a smile with him, as well as reach out to him with my prosthetic leg. He looked at it for a moment before taking it carefully in his paws and finally returning his own smile. “I know you will always be here for me, Buck. No matter what...” My words trailed off as I thought about the dream Jynx had shown me. Yeah, he hadn’t been in it directly, but at the same time… I think I was okay with that. “Actually, you won’t be.”

My words seemed to hit him like a slap in the muzzle, and he released my forehoof almost in shock.

“No, no!” I scrambled to correct myself before he thought I was going crazy. “I mean, in the sense that I know that sometimes you won’t be around when I need you to be.” Again, it hit him in a way that made him scrunch up his muzzle, and it took my mind a second to listen to what I’d just stupidly said. “No, that’s not what I meant either…” Quick, just open your muzzle and tell him that he’s his own dog, and that it’s okay if he’s not around every second of every day because sometimes he needs to step away! How hard is that? Just…

My mind was blindsided by Buck leaning down to me and pressing his muzzle against the end of my own. Every thought in my head faded away into nothingness as he kissed me. Somehow, even though my words had come out as a train wreck, I knew now that Buck already understood what I’d been trying to say.

As he pulled away, we both sat in silence for a good minute. My brain took a moment to reboot itself, as I’m sure his did as well. But as we both got our thoughts back in order, there wasn’t even much left to say. He knew that despite how banged up I was, I’d recover from it and move forward. And I knew that no matter how much he was pushed around and tested by things every day, he was strong enough to take it.

The last few months had been one hell of a test of our relationship. And while it had been strained, battered, and changed in ways I’d never even conceived, here we were. It made me grin like a giddy foal, which Buck’s jagged muzzle did it’s best to mirror as I knew he felt the same. After everything, now I knew without a single doubt, we’d always be together.

Leaning forward, I pressed against his muzzle again and tried my best to get lost in my love for him.

“Oh, you’re up, Captain!” Eliza’s cheerful voice crackled through my head. Both Buck and I stiffly paused mid kiss to shift our gazes over next to us. The fuzzy, ghostly form of Eliza’s cartoon mare sat with her head cradled in her hooves as her eyes were replaced by a pair of hearts. “Sorry, I didn’t know you two were having a sentimental moment! I could give you two lovebirds another minute if you need it.”

“It’s fine, Eliza.” Buck chuckled as he blushed so brightly I’m sure I could almost feel it through my numbed skin. Then again, maybe that was just my own blush…

“Yeah, it’s fine.” I spoke as my muzzle split into a permanent grin. “What did you need?”

“I just popped in to make sure you were awake before I made the announcement!” She giggled as her heart eyes were replaced with her normal ones. Wait, announcement? “May I have your attention.” She gave a quick clap of her hooves as her voice came through every speaker on the ship loudly enough it resonated through the walls. With a cough, she cleared her non-existent throat and sat herself up straight. “Good news, everypony! Let me be the first to inform you that after a few hours of tireless searching, we have in fact, located and caught up to our target!”

The fur on both Buck and I’s bodies stood on end, and we could both do nothing other than turn to each other and blink.

“That’s right, this is not a drill!” Eliza giggled as in the air next to her, a weird brass bell popped into existence. She gave a knock at it with her hoof, and it rang out like the bells they used to use for those old boxing matches they had during the war. “The Survivor versus the King-to-be, Bombay versus the Saddle-Arabian-Bastard, Night Flight versus Solomon! Whatever nickname you choose, it’s slated to be the fight of the decade! So cancel your dinner plans everypony, and get to your battle stations, because this slug fest is about to begin!”

With another crackle, the speakers on the ship fuzzed as they turned off, and the words finally began to sink in.

“So, are you ready for this, Captain?” Eliza smiled at me as she crossed her hooves with a proud look across her face.

Buck’s paw slowly came down against my side as he shared a nod with me.

“This time, we are.” I nodded back. We all knew what we needed to do. All that was left, was to do it.

This time, we were going to win.

Author's Notes:

As always, I need to give a lot of thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in going over these chapters. It means a lot to me to even have a second pair of eyes, and I can't begin to repay all of the help he's given me over the years.

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating and letting us all use this fantastic wasteland setting!