It had taken all of ten seconds flat for everypony on the Arcturus to spring into action. I left Buck to manage the infirmary, passing Cora in the galley as he made his way to join Buck. Even as I made my way through the bulkheads towards the front of the ship, I could hear vague vulgarities shouted by Tofu as she got the weapons bay launch systems warmed up.

After having to fight my own body all the way here, I think Buck was right. There’s no way I’d be going anywhere off the Arcturus during this fight. Not that with what we’d had planned, we’d need to do anything other than sit back and watch the fireworks anyway.

This was it though. It was really happening. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I had to force myself to take slow, deep breaths to stay calm. We were going to get the jump on Solomon, and we weren’t going to hold back.

Today, Solomon would pay for everything he’d taken from us.

“Talk to me, Delta,” I grunted as I took a stiff step through the bulkhead into the bridge. Every terminal screen was alight with either images from below, or of data of one sort or another. For a moment, I could have almost believed I’d stepped into the command position of an active Enclave cloudship. “What are we looking at?”

“The Arcturus sensors confirm a cluster of vehicles just about two kilometers south of our current position.” Delta called back as he remained crouched over a console that constantly scrolled across new information that was far too complex for me to comprehend. “Additionally, there are three teams of two located just under our present location, and fairly well camouflaged in the forest. They seem to be spread out to monitor the road we’ve followed here, so I’d say they’re probably scouts watching for anyone heading south.”

“It’s at this point I’d like to bring up a slight complication, Captain.” Eliza’s voice came out of the speakers in the bridge, but her ghost-like form shimmered to life in front of me. “We’ve encountered Solomon farther south and later than previously anticipated, and as such, the approaching weather system has forced us to deviate from our planned operational altitude.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” I asked as Delta pushed himself over to a separate set of monitors that had been giving readouts on the weather. “If we don’t approach from where we were going to, chances are Solomon could miss us.”

“Unfortunately, the crosswinds from the coming storm system have forced us to cut our altitude almost in half just so we can safely launch the missiles.” Delta sighed as he pointed to the bulging storm-cell on the Doppler sensor readout. Almost to punctuate this poor turn of fortune, a rumble of thunder pushed through the hull of the Arcturus. “I’d wager that if those are Pentex scouts under us, there’s little chance they missed us coming, so chances are we’ve got two minutes before they scramble so Solomon can get away.”

“Well, that won’t matter if we can confirm Solomon is in that camp ahead before then.” I tried to brush off the awkward twinge in my gut as a symptom of my anticipation for this moment. “Any way we can confirm that?”

“I’ll bring it up for you, Captain.” Eliza’s mare smiled as she bounced on her hooves. With a flicker, a few of the monitors next to me switched from their normal displays, over to an image of the forest below us. “Alright, now tuning the observational lensing system to the specified coordinates, and…”

The image on the screens tilted, raising up towards the horizon before everything in it fuzzed out to a blurry mess. After a moment, the mess started to resolve, and a different part of the forest came into view. Just off the side of the old, overgrown four lane highway, was what looked like a small rest stop. Around a dozen vehicles were parked and set up as a makeshift barricade on the road itself.

Those must have been the rest of the Pentex mercs that were supposed to ambush us in Saddlebrook. Nearby, a number of tents held the crews to said vehicles, who were all busy lounging around and generally not seeming at all ready for a fight. Still, they were set up ringing around exactly what I’d expected to see parked in the center of the small rest stop.

Solomon’s nice and shiny motorhome.

A pair of ponies stood on the top of it with binoculars and rifles, while a third worked on setting up some sort of antenna. The wires of which ran down from the roof of the vehicle and into the interior of Solomon’s wheeled home. One of the ponies on lookout gave a few stomps on the roof as he shouted something.

The door to Solomon’s RV swung open, and out stepped…

“Rook.” I seethed under my breath.

The camp around him whipped into a frenzy as ponies and zebras in Pentex uniforms scrambled to get to defensive positions. Guess Delta was right, they’d seen us coming. No matter, as there wasn’t a thing they’d be able to do to stop what we were about to throw at them.

“Hey, Eliza?” I glanced over at the Cartoon mare to see her smile brighten. “Do me a favor and see if Tofu’s ready to launch yet.”

“The system is still warming up! I know we don’t have it, but I just need literally five minutes, Captain!” Tofu’s voice came back over the intercom promptly. “It would have helped to have had literally any heads up before hoof.” Glancing at Eliza, her cartoon expression shifted to a fairly over-the-top bashful look. “Good news though, I managed to get a few spare missiles ready to go in the past few hours. But if it’s alright, I’d still like to suggest that we not miss this chance in the first place!”

“Captain…” Delta gave a stiff tap on my shoulder to pull my attention back to the monitor.

Stepping out from inside of his mobile home was the bastard himself. His white skin all but glowed under even the storm dimmed afternoon light, highlighting the tightly wound bandages around his barrel. Rook’s teleportation magic produced an elegant and military-like blue jacket which he then draped over Solomon. Another small, black object floated over to Solomon’s muzzle, but I couldn’t quite tell what it was...

“Is that you, Night Flight?” Solomon’s voice crackled over the speakers.

“They’re broadcasting on a short band radio set that I’ve tuned in to, Captain.” Eliza spoke up as her mare went and pointed to the hoofset that hung on the console next to me. “You can use that to speak to him if you wish.”

You know what? Tofu still needs a minute or two, so why not? Leaning over, I used my prosthetic to lift the receiver up to my muzzle.

“Hello, Solomon.”

“Ah, yes, it is you.” He let out a small chuckle that made my heartbeat spike again. “And how very Enclave of you. A pegasus arriving on a chariot of clouds. Well this certainly is a wonderful surprise.” Not nearly as wonderful as you might think, pal… “Actually, I’m quite pleased to have run in to you again, as I wanted to renew my ‘one-time-offer’ with Delilah’s crew… oh, excuse me. I apologize for that slip of the tongue.” He paused for dramatic effect, but it didn’t work, as he was simply wasting time he didn’t have left. “I guess what I meant to say is your crew. Is that correct? I hope I didn’t offend you too terribly with that...”

“Offer?” Delta scrunched up his muzzle as he whipped his eyes over to me. “What the hell is he talking about, Night?”

“I’ll take your pause to answer as a sign that your new compatriots listening in didn’t know?” Solomon let out another infuriatingly haughty laugh. “It hardly seems fair for me to be the one to tell them, but you’re asking them to die for you when we don’t have to be enemies. Just name your price, and we can put all of this behind us. I’ll get the Ark, and you’ll have saved Delilah’s quaint little town.”

“There’s nothing you could offer that will ever make me not want to kill you, Solomon.” I hissed through the receiver. Please, he must be desperate to bring this up. We’ve got the drop on him and he must know how fucked he is right now.

“You do understand how terribly mad you sound right now?” Another laugh crackled through the speakers as he seemed to be enjoying himself more than I was. “You’re willing to throw away your friend’s lives just to keep an opportunity for my country to flourish, out of my hooves?”

“You killed everypony I cared about!” The words snapped out of my muzzle with every bit of rage and pent up frustration from this whole damned trip.

“To benefit tens of thousands in my homeland!” Solomon came back with exactly the same growling frustration in his voice that I’d just held. “I offer you this chance because I have grown tired of your constant interference. The game was fun when Delilah followed the rules. Then again, she understood them and respected them. You have a distinct lack of both when it comes to just what the Ark could mean for my people.”

“Don’t lie to me, Solomon.” I wouldn’t silently let him lie to me when Delilah and everypony else had deserved so much fucking better. “The Ark is nothing more than a prize to offer up so you can be King. Don’t try to bullshit me and pretend this is about doing the right thing, Solomon.”

“Oh, but it is, Night. Once I am crowned king, I will institute sweeping reforms. Ponies and halfbreeds will no longer be second class citizens. We’ll begin reconstruction of the Capitol, ensuring room to house everyone who could ever want to live in peace and safety. Slavery will be outlawed, and the raiders will be hunted down to extinction. Once I take the throne, I can start to right the wrongs my people have suffered through for two centuries.”

“Yeah? At what cost.” I spat at him. “You’re building an empire on the corpses of innocent wastelanders. Don’t those you’ve wronged here deserve justice?”

“You seek to bring meaning to their deaths, however their sacrifice will mean nothing if I cannot reclaim the Ark!” Solomon roared back through the hoofset in front of him. His heaving, heated breaths drove bursts of static through the speakers as he took a moment to calm himself. On the terminal screen, Rook spoke at him, pulling a devilish smirk across the Saddle Arabian’s muzzle once more. “I apologize if our discussion has drifted a little from my intent. But as Rook has so rightly pointed out, a factor of it may be with how… impersonal our meetings have become. Perhaps you would do me the service of negotiation in person.” Hah! Fat chance. “If it helps, I give you my word that Pentex will not harm you or your party while we speak.”

Then again…

“I have your word that we’ll be safe?” I asked as flatly as I could. Glancing over, both Delta and Eliza’s jaws had hit the floor. Literally in Eliza’s case. “We come in, talk, and leave. No weapons for either party.”

“You have my most sincere and honest word.” Solomon nodded and even went so far as to give us a little reverent bow for show. “No weapons while we negotiate an honest and fair deal for both parties.”

“Fine, it’s agreed.” I couldn’t help myself but to smirk as the words slipped out of my muzzle all too easily. “We will depart for your camp in one minute.”

“Don’t keep me waiting, Night Flight.” The radio set flashed away in Rook’s magic before the two of them retreated back into Solomon’s bus.

Turning, I placed the receiver on the console again, and found Hispano standing in the bulkhead with her talons crossed and her own sly smile across her beak.

“Excuse me, but what the fuck are you thinking, Night?” Delta finally managed to spit out as he clamped his hooves around his head. “You can’t trust him!”

“Hey, Tofu?” Hispano chirped as she pushed herself off the Bulkhead. “The Remora will be freeing it’s launch tube in about thirty seconds. Once it’s out of the way, you think you can start loading a sixth missile?”

“Uh, sure. You’ve got it, Hispano!” Tofu came back through the system with a puzzled tone to her voice.

“That pretty much what you wanted, Dum Dum?”

“Yeah.” I nodded to her and turned to Eliza, who was just now literally rolling her jaw up from the floor with her hooves. “Solomon’s words were chosen carefully, but we know him better. If he wants no weapons at the meeting, then I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to make it there at all.”

“You think they’re going to try to shoot the Remora out of the sky?” Eliza tilted her head and scrunched up her cartoon muzzle.

“Bingo.” I nodded. While I admire that Solomon is still attempting to fool us, he has to know by now there’s no way we’d fall for it. “Think you could make a good show of dodging their fire before faking a convincing crash? I don’t want them looking anywhere near us when we launch our strike.”

“Ehh, I dunno, that sounds pretty tough…” Eliza cringed and paused before her smile returned. “Guess we’ll find out though!”

“Alright, Delta. I need targets.” Turning to him, my words seemed to snap him out of his stupor.

“Aye, Captain.” He nodded and just like that, I was face to face with the confident King of the Skyraiders. “Now, normally I wouldn’t suggest hitting such a soft asset with so much, but I think we should send two missiles at the RV.”

Reaching up, he tapped his hoof on the RV as it was displayed on the terminal screen. To my suprise, a red outline highlighted the pristine bus. A few lines of code streamed through a box that popped up beside it before a three digit number popped up with 100%.

“For the next two…” He paused and leaned close, mulling over the dozen different vehicles sitting on the road. “The two scout cars should get one a piece,” Again he tapped the screen on the two ‘scout cars’ we’d faced off against in Maple Valley. “That’ll keep their response to our strike just a bit slower.” The same highlights flashed up over them, but this time each one came back as only 65%.

“And for the final two...” Hispano cooed as she stepped up and highlighted a pair of runner-like armored cars with what looked like miniguns attached to their roofs. The scrolling code came up again, but labeled their chance of being hit at only 23%.

“Wrong.” Delta sighed and pushed her talons away from the screen. He tapped at the two armored cars to remove their highlights, and instead tapped a couple of boxy trucks that sat parked together near the center of the formation. “We hit these.” The scrolling code came up again, but surprisingly left only a 25% chance to be hit.

“So a collective four percent means I’m wrong?” Hispano huffed and deadpanned at Delta. “My targets at least have the chance to pull two guns from their forces!”

“And my choice eliminates their ammo supplies completely.” Delta offered Hispano a grin as he gave her a few degrading pats on the head. Hispano did a double take at the screen before letting out a soft squeak from her beak. “It’s okay, we all make mistakes when learning to plan out airstrike target priorities. But this isn’t exactly my first rodeo, and I’m sure it won’t be your last.”

“It’s not a competition, you two.” I did my best to offer a smirk as my eyes were locked on Solomon’s RV. “So long as Solomon dies, then we all win. Simple as that.”

“The Remora has departed.” Eliza chimed in over the speakers.

“Good.” I nodded and got myself comfy on the floor. Well, as comfy as I could be with one hoof in a sling and a body wrapped in gauze. “This is it.”

“Alright, notice to all stations;” Delta called out as he pressed down on the intercom button. “Report in on ready status.”

“Missile six is being mounted and armed as we speak!” Tofu called out with a sing-songy voice. “In ten seconds, all tubes will be clear and ready to fire on your command!”

“Reactor room is green, combat protocols are being observed.” Dad called up next.

“Buck and I are in the Infirmary, and are ready to assist with injuries.” Cora’s unenthusiastic voice came through the speakers.

“This is King, ready to help with repairs to the forward sensors should you need them.” King’s voice came through as a nice surprise. Huh, well I’ll take all the help we can get for this.

“Captain!” Eliza gave out a gasp as she practically threw herself in front of me. “Ground-to-cloud lock on the Remora!”

On the screen, the top of Solomon’s RV moved. What had originally looked like some sort of climate control unit on the roof, spun and opened up, revealing a pair of missiles inset inside of it. With a flash, both missiles streaked outward toward the Remora.

“It’s showtime.” Delta smirked as he leaned forward toward the intercom. “Eliza, draw their attention with the Remora! Bridge to launch commander, fire all tubes!”

“Firing all tubes, Aye!” Tofu’s ecstatic voice came through before a tremendous static filled the speakers. A roaring picked up below the ship as each missile dropped out and ignited their engines. “Tubes one through six, reporting positive launches! Missiles show greenlights for guidance and propulsion. They will impact targets in eight seconds!”

Two panels on the side of the RV flipped open, and a pair of bulbous turrets raised out of them. They spun and immediately began firing a blistering amount of pink magical beams out towards the incoming missiles. My gut twisted as one of our missiles exploded mid-air from the fire. Geeze, what the hell even was this RV? Was it designed by the same fucking ponies as the Oroborous!?

“That’s one hell of a recreational vehicle…” Delta muttered as we both leaned in and watched the last missile track closer and closer.

With a blinding flash, the missile impacted into the side of the RV, and the image disappeared from the screen. With a quick refocus of the lensing system, the expanding fireball from the strike engulfed the camp, and flattened the rest stop building nearby. The crack of the blast was swiftly followed by each of the other missiles reaching their targets and similarly evaporating them.

Both Delta and I practically had our muzzles pressed against the screen. Time had stretched out as we watched the flames die down, leaving thick, obscuring smoke to slowly rise over the target sites. Come on, there’s no way he avoided that.

The smoke cleared just enough that both Delta and I could make out the twisted, gutted frame of Solomon’s stupid RV on fire and melting. It was gone… we’d actually done it! Solomon was dead!

“Captain, movement from below!” Eliza gasped as the images across the monitors flashed from the carnage of Solomon’s camp, to the forest below us.

The camera focused on one of the scout teams as they hastily pulled obscuring camouflage netting from what looked like almost nothing. With a shimmer, a boxy vehicle came into view below us. The trailer that was attached to the rear of the vehicle came to life, and a long tube resting on the top of it began to elevate to aim at us.

“Three vehicles have emerged from some sort of advanced camo-netting!”

“Tofu!” Delta called out as his hoof slammed down on the intercom button. “We need those next shots loaded! Eliza, pull the Arcturus back and get us some fucking altitude from these things!”

“Incoming fire from the remnants of the main group.” Eliza’s worried tone mixed with the feeling of the Arcturus itself shifting under my hooves. “All hooves, brace yourselves!”

At first it sounded like heavy, pelting rain against the hull under us. The squeals and slams picked up in hits that rattled the floor and walls. There was a sharp zing as one of the monitors nearby blasted outward. Another rattling bang shifted one of the floor plates as one of the shots punched through into the bridge.

I scrambled to push myself back to the bulkhead door with Hispano, moving just in time for another shot to pierce through the floor plate I’d been on. With a squealing bounce, it arced off of the terminal next to Delta and punched through the console beside him.

“Eliza!” Delta shouted as he jumped up on top of a few of the center consoles in the room and held onto them for dear life. “Get us out of their range!”

The whole ship shook from a thunderous blast. Alarms rang out as smoke and sparks pushed in from the front compartments of the Arcturus. What the fuck was that!?

“We’ve been hit by a rocket! Outer hull breach in the forward sensor compartment!” Eliza’s ghost-like form shimmered and disappeared completely as her voice was broken up by static over the speakers. “Long range sensors are down, and King is… well he’s not moving, Captain!”

Another blast rocked the ship, this time from behind. Both Hispano and I braced ourselves on the bulkhead as we turned. A secondary explosion shook us even worse, and I watched as the thin hallway leading back literally torqued and rolled slightly with the blast.

“Hull breach in the secondary reactor compartment! The primary helium storage tank has ruptured. Secondary systems and backups have come online, but automatic fire suppression systems are failing to respond!”

“Main Reactor still shows as stable!” Dad’s frantic voice was accompanied by even more bursts of static. “I’m working on containing the fire, but this ship wasn’t built to take hits! And she definitely can’t take another hit like that!”

A louder thump than before emanated from below, and instinctively I braced myself for the hit.

My ears rang as the bridge itself turned into a sea of smoke, sparks, and shrapnel. There was no explosion, and when I opened my eyes, a large, barbed spear sat pierced right into the console Delta had been on. Thankfully, the strike had shoved him off to the side, and he was just now picking himself up.

“Captain, those v-vehicles down below have f-fired anchors through our hull.” Eliza’s voice stuttered as sparks and smoke continued to pour out of each of the damaged consoles on the bridge. “Port side rear cloud drive has been breached.”

What few screens were still working all changed to pictures of those vehicles down below. Each of the three boxy vehicles had the same trailer hitched up to their rear and hastily secured to the forest floor. Thick, trailing wires linked the spears in the Arcturus down through the elevated tubes and wire spools, shifting lightly in the wind.

“Captain!” Tofu called out with a growl through her intercom. “There’s a metal spear sitting in the side of the weapons bay, and it’s jammed up all the hydraulics to the loading mechanisms for tubes four, five, and six!”

“I’m moving to assist Tofu!” Buck’s voice crackled over both the intercom, and into my head. “I’ll see if I can push it back out!”

“Eliza, we need to reverse course now!” Hispano gasped as she pressed herself against the bulkhead and held a talon out against me to help both of us stay steady. “Get some distance! The sudden strain on their anchor lines might rip them out, or outright snap the cables.”

“Fuck retreat!” Delta growled as he hugged around the console in front of him. “Go for maximum assent thrust. Let’s take them for a little flight.”

“Adjusting al-altitude.” Eliza’s voice, though filled with static, also held something to it that I hadn’t heard from her before. Fear. “Cloud d-drive elevation thrust set t-to war-emergency-power mode.”

The whole ship groaned as it pushed up from under us. Even the bulkhead Hispano and I were sheltered in let out a few deep creaks before the lines from the anchors went taught. The sound the cable made as they were strained was unlike anything I’d ever heard. Momentarily, the hum of the overtaxed cloud drive systems and groaning cables drowned out the alarms going off throughout the ship.

There was a sharp bang from the rear of the Arcturus, followed by a twang that emitted from closer still. But the barbed point of the spear in the bridge simply groaned in protest as it dug in and bent the metal console it was lodged in. Then without cause, the line simply went slack, and the spear remained still.

“The spear in the weapons bay has been removed!” Tofu reported back.

“Sensors s-show that the spear in the r-rear cloud drive compartment has likewise been t-torn out.” Eliza’s stuttering voice had a slight relief to it, but even as she talked, my eyes were still locked on the barbed spear still lodged in the bridge. “We’ve leveled out at just under a kilometer and a half, and have moved out of combat range of the remaining Pentex forces.”

“What about this one?” The words slipped from my muzzle as my gut doubled down on acting up.

“It seems rather than be lifted into the sky like the previous two vehicles, the crew which launched this cable chose to cut it from their end.”

“Did they cut it, though?” Jynx’s voice whispered into my ear. I whipped around, tearing myself back and dragging Hispano with me into the Core Systems room.

“What do you mean!?” I snapped at Jynx, looking around for her.

“Night, what’s going on?” Hispano’s firm talons gripped around my shoulders, helping to ground me again.

“It’s Jynx, she said they didn’t cut their line.” I didn’t like this. “Why would she tell me that?”

“Easy,” Jynx laughed as I blinked and she appeared to be laying across the top of the Silverfish drone in the center of the room. “Because you’ve seen one of those launchers before. Or don’t you remember?”

Her words kicked my brain into gear, searching my memories for any sort of similar vehicle. My mind jumped from place to place as I tried to think of all the vehicles and crews I’d seen on the way here. From Road Crew, to Cordite, to…

“Wait!” I gasped and spun on my hooves, practically throwing myself back through the bulkhead. “Eliza, show me the vehicle that launched the line!”

The one still working terminal screen near me flickered over, showing that it was a boxy vehicle with the normal Pentex logo emblazoned across it. However, the trailer hooked to the rear of it looked out of place for them, and in fact, had the Cordite logo on it. It wasn’t a harpoon meant to anchor us down, it was one of the stolen Mine Clearing Line Charges!

Before I could even open my muzzle to speak, there was an intense flash.

A terrific crack, followed by a wave of force stronger than the previous two knocked me flat off my hooves. It felt like the whole floor to the Bridge twisted upward under me before buckling. Half the consoles, wires, and pipes in the bridge fell out into the forest below as the ship itself gave out a strained groan.

Only the consoles against the walls and a few pieces of the floor around me had been spared, and even then, only just. The alarms and speakers of the bridge cut out with a burst of static, dropping us into an awkward silence that was replaced by the sounds of the open air below the ship.

"External explosion detected!" Eliza's panic filled voice came through the speakers in the core systems room. “Massive structural damage to the bridge compartment!”

"N-Night! A little help, please!?" Delta cried out. I couldn't see anything through the smoke, but as it cleared, I could see his hooves desperately clinging to the console he'd been perched on. It had miraculously survived the blast, but now dangled precariously under the ship, suspended only by a few sparking wires.

I scrambled to get back to my hooves. The floor between Delta and I had been blasted upward. Twisted bulkhead beams, live sparking wires, and jagged metal plates created a cage in front of me that impeded my every attempt to get around.

I hammered my forehooves against some of the still heated metal, but it didn’t budge. Taking a piece of pipe into my hooves that had been severed from above, I tried to use it as a prybar on one of the thinner pieces of bent metal. A sharp zap from the electrified beam literally threw me back against one of the shattered consoles.

That’s fine, I’ll just go up and out through the top hatch! Looking to the conning tower ladder, the hatch itself was buckled inward at an odd angle and pinned by what had once been a conduit of some sort. Like parts of the cage in front of me, a set of sparks from inside the tube meant it would probably not be a pleasant climb, even if I could find a way to get the hatch open.

I... I couldn't get to him.

"What the fuck was that!" Hispano called as she pulled herself back into the bulkhead doorway with a growl. She winced as a small line of blood trickled down from a gash just above her eye, and her talons pressed against the dark bruises coloring her side.

"Hispano, get to the weapons bay doors and get to the underside of the bridge,now!" I snapped back at her. "Delta's hanging on, but I don't know how much strain those wires can take!"

"On it!" She shouted back as her wings fluttered. Before I knew it, I was left with the sounds of sparking wires, groaning steel, and the painfully strained wines of Delta as he tried to climb up.

"Just h-hold on, Delta!" There had to be something I could do,anything!

"Oh, if only there were." Jynx shook her head at me as she appeared on the other side of the twisted metal cage I was trapped in. "Then again, maybe Hispano will get here in time. I mean, Delilah did say that you needed to trust in your crew, right? Because if they care enough, they’ll move mountains for you, right? Hah, how pathetic."

"Now is definitely not the time!" I spat at her and hammered my hoof at the twisted metal. The sharp bits of it slashed at me, but right now, I didn't care. "You can either fucking help Delta or you can get the fuck out of my head!"

"Night!?" Delta called out as one of the wires holding him snapped. "Who you talkin' with, Buddy? I... I need you to keep it together for me!"

"See, I told you, Night." She shook her head at me with that same, incessant, smug smile she modeled off of Solomon. She flared out her wing and curled her flight feathers with a sultry laugh. As she opened them again, the pair of scissors she'd stolen from my room appeared in her feathered grasp. "I told you that you'd know when things came to balance out. The pendulum always swings back."

"What? No..." She wouldn't... I wouldn't let her. "No, you fucking help him or you're gone from my head! Understand!?" Okay, I'm at home now. I'm at home, and she can fucking go to hell! I know who I am, that this is where I’m supposed to be, so she can...

Why…! Why was she still here!? Staring at her, her smile only widened, becoming impossibly unhinged.

"That's not how this works anymore, Night." She sighed as she turned and walked along one of the hanging beams toward where Delta was hanging. "You gave me permission to stay, remember? Thanks to that itty-bitty thing called consent, it doesn't matter what happens, or how strong a will you have."

Her eyes went wide as her expression emptied itself of all care, and her smile turned hollow.

"We'll be together, forever."

With a single swing of her wing, she arced the scissors down. The bundle of wires severed cleanly, sparking for only a moment as the weight of Delta dragged the console free of the Arcturus. Delta's panic filled words were drowned out by the sickening laughter pouring from Jynx's muzzle.

“Delta!” Hispano’s static filled voice screamed through the ship’s intercom system.

As Jynx’s laugh trailed off, she stood there staring. She was waiting for me to blink. When I did, she disappeared without another word. The pair of scissors dropped, following Delta down to the forest below.

And like that, I was left with nothing but the noise of the wind outside.

"Hispano..." I whimpered as my legs gave out from under me. "Did you...?"

"I couldn't... there wasn't enough..." Hispano's hollow, stunned words came through the radio to give me my answer. "I'd just needed a few more seconds... to get to him. I’m so sorry, Night.”

“Oh goddesses, Delta..." The words fell from my muzzle with a whimper as I collapsed to the floor and curled myself up.

Today was supposed to be a win. We finally fucking killed Solomon, but… Delta didn’t deserve to die. And worst of all, it was because of me. He was gone because I thought it would be worth keeping Jynx around to help kill Solomon. I’d traded a crewpony’s life, a friend’s life, just so I could get revenge. What sort of fucking leader does that?

I shifted on my bed and looked around my empty cabin, glaring daggers into anything and everything out of the corner of my eye.

Figures. She wouldn’t show up now, not when she’s won. She’s here to put me on the ground, not kick me while I’m already there. No, why would it be her job to do that when I’m the one who needs to kick my flank more than anypony else.

But she was right, I let her stay. That made it ultimately my fault, and as the pony who was stupid enough to take over, it’s my fucking job to take responsibility. Delta… Delta had trusted me, and I betrayed him.

Grinding my teeth together, I wished I could just… go back and...

The door to my room rattled for a moment before a soft pair of knocks came through. My glare swept over as the door cracked open, and Hispano’s bandaged head poked in.

“Can I just have some time alone?” I forced myself to speak through my clamped muzzle.

“Buck thought it best if you weren’t.” She squeaked as she pushed herself the rest of the way through the door. At the very least, she shut it behind her. “We don’t have to talk… if you don’t want to. We can just sit in silence.”

Like always, I could tell this was a fight I wasn’t going to win with her. Even if every fiber of my being wanted to scream, flail, and rage for her to leave. If anything, that would just draw Buck into this, and I didn’t want to deal with that shit right now. No, this was my problem, and it would stay mine.

“Fine.” I grumbled.

Hispano offered me the smallest of smiles as she made her way over to our bed. She didn’t climb up on it, instead, she opted to spin around and sit on the floor next to me. She took a moment to make herself comfortable before leaning over and laying her head against my side.

I settled for what I hoped was a long stretch of silent contemplation again. It didn’t matter that she was here, it didn’t change the fact that…

“You can’t blame yourself.” Hispano’s cold, blunt words sent an electric tingle through my body. It made my blood boil, and a snarl escaped my muzzle.

“Oh, and why not?” My teeth chattered as I spoke, doing my best not to lash out and push her away from me. Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with her?

“Simple.” She quipped with the same starkness as she lifted her eyes up to me. “We all knew the risks. We went into that fight knowing that Solomon might once again have some last trick up his sleeve. We followed the plan, and Delta died.”

It wasn’t that simple and she knows it. A thought ran through my mind like a bolt of lightning. And like lightning, it flowed out through my muzzle before I could even blink.

“He died because of you.”

Hispano went stiff against me. Her eyes sank, and she went back to sitting in silence. It wasn’t until then, like with thunder, that the sound of my words came to hit me moments later.

“Wait, that’s not…” My mind picked up from my misstep and connected the disparate words with the ones that should have followed the original thought. “I mean, you couldn’t get to him in time.”

“Yeah, so you fucking blame me. I get it.” Hispano’s tone had sunk. The normal confidence in her voice was gone, and now, I was betting she understood a little bit more of how I felt. But bringing her down like that wasn’t what I’d meant to do at all.

“I blame me, Hispano.” With a grunt, I threw myself back into my bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I sent you, when I should have been the one to go. I’m faster in a dive, so I could have…”

“Could have what?” Hispano let a hollow laugh escape her beak as she smacked my good hindleg with her talon. “Fallen to your death with him? You can hardly fly after Bridleshade, Night.”

“If it meant saving him...” I snapped back.

“No, you listen here, Dum Dum.” She let out a growl of her own as she pushed herself up off the floor. Within a few seconds, she was leaning over the edge of the bed and prodding at me sharply with her talons. “You think you can argue the laws of physics here? There is no way that in your shape that you could have even slowed him enough to have given him a sliver of a chance, and you know it.”

Her words swirled around in my mind, and I imagined just how wrong she was. I could have swooped in and grabbed him. And…

My thoughts sidetracked as I imagined both of us plowing through the treetops like I did earlier today in Bridleshade. No, that’s not right, I could pull us up in time! Trying to re-imagine it, I tried to force myself to think about how I would have grabbed him and saved the day. But even as I imagined it, like any fantasy, it just felt so… off.

I wouldn’t say it, but she was right. Even if I’d gone, I might have caught up to him. But Delta… there’s no way I could have saved him.

“You're so eager to carry the burden of this crew on your shoulders that you're letting yourself get weighed down by this.” Pulling her talon back, she shifted it and pointed back to the door. “You’re not the only one being an idiot, and I can prove it.”

She gave a fluttering hop across the room and practically ripped the door open. As soon as she had, the whimpering and teary eyed form of Happy spilled into the room. An empty bottle of some sort of booze scattered across the floor, coming to a stop at the end of my bed. Buck let out a tired sigh as he stood behind the miserable mule, only to glance up at me with his own pain filled gaze.

“I’m sorry!” Happy whined as he struggled to pull himself to his hooves. His unfocused gaze swung across the room as his body protested and wobbled. “Please, I didn’t mean to…” With a lurch, he paused and threw up all over the floor. The foul stench of whiskey and bile filled the already stuffy room. “Fuck… you have to believe me, Night. I didn’t mean it...”

“What the hell are you talking about, Happy.” It’s not even that I was disappointed he’d gone through a bottle of booze after quitting it. Today I could forgive the lazy mule for that. But he couldn’t possibly think Delta’s death was on his incompetent hooves.

“It was because I fucking pushed, and pushed, and pushed.” He whimpered as he collapsed in a drunken heap onto his own puddle of sick. “Solomon took everyone from me. And now? He just had to take one more pony before he went, didn't he? So it’s my fault! If I hadn’t wanted to kill Solomon so bad… then maybe Delta would be alive.”

“I’m the one who made the call to keep my stupid fucking curse, Happy.” Pushing myself up, part of me wanted to get off the bed and kick him out for this pitiful display of bullshit. But the more civil side of me won out like always, and I settled for just telling him like it is. “So you’re safe, because as usual, somepony else gets the blame today. Go sober the fuck up and quit whining.”

“Night.” A static filled snarl slipped through Buck’s muzzle as he bared his jagged teeth at me. His sharp gaze made me stiffen up, and again helped to shock my mind into hearing the words I’d just said. “Solomon was the bad guy here, and now he's gone. He’ll never hurt anypony again.”

As much as deep down I knew Buck was right, it still didn’t make today feel like it should. Opening my muzzle, I moved to say the only thing I could without arguing further. Unfortunately, Happy groaned and said it first.

“It wasn’t worth losing somepony else.”

“That’s only true so long as you both sit here and make it that way.” Hispano sighed and ran her talons over her face. “Look, no one is saying it was a fair trade, but Solomon was right about one thing.” That brought both Happy and mine’s gazes up to her. “Delta’s sacrifice, along with everypony else he killed, was all for nothing unless you two get off your asses and make sure that isn’t true.”

“I agree one hundred percent with Hispano.” Buck’s static filled growl echoed down the hall. “Maybe, and I’m not saying it is or isn’t your fault Night,” He nodded as he softened his expression to me. “but if it was your curse that got Delta killed, then perhaps our next step should be in finding a way to remove it.”

“Hah.” I scoffed and threw myself back against my bed. “I can’t. I had the chance to get rid of her back in Maple Station, but I let her stay. I was convinced that I could control her.” Lifting my hooves to my face, I pressed down hard. “But because I invited her to live in my fucking head, I can’t just magic her away anymore!”

With shaking hooves, I pressed hard enough that I could see stars in my eyes. Maybe with any luck, I’d crack my skull open and Jynx would just seep out. Hah, if only…

“Well, maybe you can’t…” Hispano said with a snap of her talons. “But didn’t my Dad mention that one of the ministries had a way to get rid of them?”

“Yeah, he did. Both he and I talked about it at length.” Buck perked up and brought a paw up to his chin softly.

With a blink of my eyes, Jynx’s frowning face popped up staring right up at Buck.

“You know, before you get your hopes up, Night.” She gave out a shrug as her normal, oily smile pulled her muzzle back. “There’s no guarantee that any of those machines survived the last two centuries. And even if they did, do you really trust that some unlicensed dog pretending to be a doctor could run them correctly? Some husband he’s going to be if he’s so willing to put your life at risk like that.”

“Get out.” I seethed to her. “You don’t get to speak about Buck like that when you aren’t even real.”

“Night…” Hispano chimed in, but stopped when I raised my hoof to her.

“Jynx here is trying to talk me out of it.” My eyes were locked on hers, and I could feel my heart beat faster as my whole body wanted to throw myself into beating her into nothingness. “She says that even if the stuff is still there, it probably won’t work after so long.”

“She’s lying.” Happy groaned through half a laugh from the floor. “Take it from somepony who spent most of his life living off his mother’s caps. You know that before she died, I did plenty of things, said things, all to avoid putting myself at risk.”

“True.” Hispano snirked and crossed her talons. “But this is different, Happy.”

“And it’s sad, really.” Jynx shifted positions to mirror Hispano while standing upside down on the ceiling above her. “The lengths he’s willing to stoop to try to take the blame for something, anything, today.”

“Is it... different?” He paused as he lurched again, giving a few dry heaves and whimpers. With a gasp, he turned his gaze back to me and hardened it. “You know… I sold out Ma’ time and again on this trip for what? Some tail, or for a few drinks?” With a twinge, he gasped and gave a few more retching heaves. “What do you think I’d have done if they threatened my life?”

“Yeah, that’s enough out of you.” Jynx sighed and waved her hoof at Happy, who devolved in a fit of choking coughs. “Next time maybe he’ll think before he drains a whole bottle of booze down his worthless muzzle.”

“Maybe we should get you to the infirmary.” Buck grumbled as he stepped in and plucked Happy right off the floor. Without wasting a moment, the casing on his arm swung open and a small articulating syringe popped out. It stuck into Happy’s side, and his fits started to trail off as he passed out. “You know, again, he’s right, Night. Maybe she’s telling you what she needs you to hear so you don’t go through with it.”

“Ugh!” Jynx let out a frustrated groan. “Why are we still talking about this? You’re stuck with me, forever, Night!”

With that, Buck turned and headed for the infirmary.

“Think of it this way, Night.” Hispano said as she gave a fluttering hop over to the door. With a swing of her talon, she shut it once more, leaving just the two of us alone. “If like you say, and she is just a voice in your head, then what makes her different from the hallucinations you said you had of Solomon talking to you?”

“Well, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, as the phrase goes,” Jynx let out one of her infuriatingly sultry laughs as she deadpanned at me. “But those jokes could hardly control the fabrics of probability like I’m able to.”

“Don’t listen to her, Night.” Hispano snapped at me, bringing my attention back to her. With a few steps, she brought herself to stand at the end of the bed in front of me. “She doesn’t care about you, not like I do, or Buck does. Or like anyone else on this ship for that matter.” With a few light flaps of her wings, she leaned down and laid herself on top of me. Her talons wiggled and pushed under me as she squeezed me into a warm hugging embrace. “So it doesn’t matter what she says, or how believable it sounds. You can’t listen to a word that comes out of her mouth.”

Of course, Hispano was right, as usual, I might add. But even so, she didn’t understand just what Jynx was. What she could do. Fighting her would just be asking to put everyone else in more danger. It would risk me losing any one of them when Jynx just… made it happen.

“Bingo, my feather-brained friend.” Jynx let out an excited squeal. “I’m glad to see that you finally understand and accept that outside of constant misery, I’m the only certainty in your life.” With a softer smile than she had any right to have, she hovered up above me and hugged herself with her hooves. “But hey, it won’t be all bad either! With Solomon out of the picture for now, and Delta boosting up your good karma meter to way in the positive again, I can help you help so many other unfortunate souls out there. The two of us, we’ll make your ma’ma so proud!”

Then again, me playing it safe didn’t save Delta.

“Eliza.” I said as I pretty much watched the blue drain from Jynx’s smug fucking face.

“Night…?” She let out a nervous laugh. “Come on, didn’t you hear me? I can help you more than ever now!”

“Yes, Captain?” Eliza’s voice came through with a crackle, and she appeared above me standing on the ceiling. Her normal smile was gone, and as much as it could be, her cartoon muzzle was matted down with big, sopping tears that rained down onto the floor of my room.

“It’s time we get rid of my curse for good." I knew the words coming from my muzzle sounded hollow, but I held hope in them. I had to hold onto it, or Delta died for nothing. "Take us to Vanhoover."

"Aye, Captain." Eliza’s cartoon mare shared a soft smile across her face. "The course to Vanhoover Veteran's Memorial Hospital has been plotted and laid in. We should arrive there by tomorrow morning."

“We’ll figure this out, Night.” Hispano cooed softly as she pressed her beak against my neck and made herself comfortable. “I know you may not want to for now, but I'll be right here beside you if you want to talk."

I snorted and reached up, wrapping my hooves around Hispano.

“Oh, you are making a big mistake, buster.” Jynx snarled as she swung a hoof at Eliza. Eliza’s form fuzzed as her hoof past through it. After a moment, Eliza popped away like a bubble, pulling a snarling growl from Jynx. “I gave you a chance, and you blew it.”

No, you blew it, Jynx.

You could have been like me and simply done what you had to in order to survive. I thought we had an understanding before, and I of all ponies can respect someone just wanting to live. But you made the same mistake Solomon did when you killed my friend.

“Ah, but remember? You were the one who got him killed.” She laughed and crossed her hooves in a huff. “Me? I’m just following the cosmic rules that your puny pony brain can’t even begin to comprehend. I told you at the start of this, the pendulum had to swing that hard because you got greedy.”

You broke my rules, Jynx. You want to talk about shit coming back around? I won’t even dance around what’s going to happen to you tomorrow. Before the end of it, you’re going to beg and scream for me to save you again, and this time it will be me laughing as you become nothing more than a bad memory.

“How can one pony be so stupid!” She clapped her hooves as she hovered around in circles above me. “There’s so much I can do to your friends before you even get close enough to use that hospital machine. This isn’t a fight you can win, Night!”

“So there is a working machine.” My muzzle pulled into a smile.

“What!?” Jynx blinked at me as she scrunched up her muzzle. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?” Hispano shifted and perked up.

“Nothing.” I sighed and rubbed my hooves along Hispano’s back. “Just telling Jynx to fuck off.”

“Good.” She sighed and squeezed around me tighter. “Tell that bitch I’ll kick her ass if she doesn’t.”

“Fuck you, Night.” Jynx snapped as she stuck her tongue out at me. “We’ll see how fucking brash you are when there’s a reactor problem and… oops! There goes your Dad! Or a short in the wires around his heart and, whoopsy daisy, there goes your husband!”

That sent a spike of fear through me. Shit, she wouldn’t… she couldn’t. Wait… she actually couldn’t!

“Oh, like fuck I can’t!” She smiled like always, but there was a twinge to it. “I’ll fucking do it, you’ll see! When you wake up husband-less and father-less tomorrow, don’t come blaming me!”

Nah, see, I know you can’t do anything, Jynx. What was that about some cosmic rules I can’t understand? You said it yourself you narcissistic bitch, I’ve got great fucking karma. You’re powerless for now!

“Goddess fucking mother fuck…!” Jynx roared and flailed herself through the air with all the same rage I’d wished I could have turned on her. “Oh, you’re fucking asking for it. And as soon as you need help again? Oh, it’s coming back to bite you hard. This fight isn’t over.”

Of course it isn’t, Jynx, that’s fine with me. That’s exactly what my friends reminded me they’re here to support me with. After all, since you haven’t done me any favors since you murdered my friend, I’ve taken the liberty of deciding I don’t need your help anymore. And, after all, if I’m the one pulling your punches, what makes you even think any of us will pull ours?

“Hehe, oh this is going to be fun, Night.” She shook her head as she started to drift away from me. “You think it’ll be easy to get rid of me without my help? You have no idea what’s in store for you.”

Well that’s really something for me and my friends to worry about, isn’t it? You think some cryptic bullshit is going to stop us? Maybe it’s you that needs to remember something. Only one of us has earned the nickname of the survivor. The ponies who tried to take advantage of me so far are pretty much all dead.

I mean, Solomon’s dead now too, so what’s one more adversary to bury with him?

Author's Notes:

Once more, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailfan for his continued help with editing these chapters. Seriously, you're invaluable, man.

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating and allowing us all to run around in this fantastic pony-wasteland!