“Just hold tight, Night.” Buck’s commanding voice resonated inside my head. “Hispano’s on her way to help.”

“As long as she doesn’t kill King!” I thought back at him. With little time, I had to make a judgement call.

Flaring my wings to slow my fall as much as I could, I swooped down into the central mass of clustered rusting hulks in the marina. Adjusting my flight, I aimed myself for a trio of old sailboats whose masts all leaned into each other. One of the boats was larger, and had two separate levels of cabins, while the other two looked big enough to maybe fit two ponies comfortably if they were standing up.

“It’s not your choice anymore, Dum Dum.” Hispano chirped over the radio. “This is a family decision and you lost, two to one.”

Then I’ll just have to fix this whole situation before she gets here!

Torqueing my wings and doing my best to swing my body around, I came down with a tumbling thump on the rear of the larger boat’s deck. Fuck, landing with only two legs sucks. The old teak decking cracked and bowed under my weight, but thankfully held together. Getting up, I did my best to hop into the lower open cabin. With heaving breaths, I perked my ears and pressed myself against the rusting interior wall and looked about.

What had once been a small bed had long since rotted away. A skeletal pony laid curled up on it, baked in the sunlight that beamed through the room’s broken porthole window. Broken and corroded fishing tackle lay scattered about the room, as well as what looked to be some sort of old emergency kit. Sticking out of the old cloth survival bag, was the grip of an old flare gun.

If I could just get to it, then maybe I could use it to somehow convince the mare inside King to give up…

“It’s no use hiding, Night!” The mare called out in a booming voice that only alicorns seemed to be able to hear comfortably without covering their ears. “Believe me, it’ll be much better to let King forget who he was. That way, he can finally move on and just be happy.”

“We both know he won’t let it go!” I called out without thinking. Oh shit, I should not have answered...

The light from the porthole darkened as the heavy thump of alicorn hooves touched down just outside of it. A flicker of light preempted King’s slender horn coming through into the room, and the single unbandaged glowing eye of the mare narrowed on me. Knowing what was coming, I pushed myself to move.

The fur on my hooves stood on end as I literally threw myself out of the small cabin. The crack of thunder deafened me momentarily, and the whole room behind me filled with light. My wings flared open, and as quick as I could turn around, I kicked myself to hop back out onto the deck.

The mare let out a laugh as she hopped through the air around from the side of the ship. She came down hard on the deck in front of me, and another thick crack filled the air. However, while the old wood had been able to hold my somewhat smaller than average body, the two century old wood snapped under the weight of the alicorn. With a panicked look in her glowing eye, King and the mare disappeared into the bowels of the ship.

Taking the opportunity to get going while the going was good, I made my way to the railing that wrapped around the deck and hopped over. Spreading my wings, I slipped into a shallow dive that put me skimming just above the surface of the water. Breathing heavily, I flapped a few times and focused myself on dashing around the various wrecks that crowded the water here.

Come on, Night. Find somewhere else to hide, just until you can form a new plan!

Coming around yet another wreck, the form of an old rusting fishing trawler sat dead ahead of me. The back hatch to it’s interior was wide open, revealing another dark interior for me to hide in and maybe find something to swing the fight in my favor. Giving a few more flaps, I pushed myself to climb just enough that my hooves would miss the railing on the back of the deck.

“Enough!” The mare’s voice boomed as the air in front of me shimmered.

A sparkling green wall formed just close enough to me that I couldn’t stop. I let out a yelp as I slammed and compressed against it. Another whimper slipped from my muzzle as I dropped down to the deck with stars dancing about in my vision. What the fuck was that!?

A few hard flaps from above me preempted King’s towering form to come down just ahead of me in the center of the old deck. The mare placed herself on top of the hatch to the cargo hold, her glowing eye burning brighter than ever as she held it on me. With another flare of magic from her horn, the green wall I’d hit warped and grew to encompass the both of us inside of it.

“No more running!” The mare snapped at me, smiling and revealing King’s sharp toothed grin. “You don’t have to fight anymore. I’ll watch over him, I promise.”

The ringing in my ears from her previous attack had just drained away when it was replaced with a new one. The sharp bark of a familiar cannon made both of us jump. A hoof sized hole opened up in the magical barrier around us, and the shield itself looked like it started to crack like glass.

With a fleshy squish, something green hit the ground next to King. My eyes drifted down to find that it was one of King’s massive sprawling wings, severed clean off of his back. The mare controlling him glanced down at it, almost hyperventilating as she looked at it.

“N-no… impossible!” She whimpered as the glow from her horn flickered slightly. For a few moments, she lost focus, and the whole bubble around us came down.

With Hispano here, I figured that if we split her attention, we’d stand a better chance of talking her down. Pushing myself back to my hooves, I turned to hop back over the edge of the ship and fly off again. However, as I hopped, I ran into another green barrier. Though I saw a few stars again, this time I slid down to the deck on the curved magical bubble’s surface with a squeal.

“No! I can’t let you leave!” The mare screamed at me as her bubble reformed around us both again. “He deserves peace!” Oh, come on!

"Seeing as you need all your focus to hold up a shield that might as well be made of paper to me, why don't you just give up?" Hispano chirped as she hovered down behind the alicorn. Hefting up her sister, she smiled her normal 'told-you-she'd be trouble' smile to me as I got my hooves under myself again.

"You don't understand what he means to me, why I need him to forget!" The mare growled as she turned herself around to face Hispano. "You'll never understand!"

She screamed and flared her horn brightly enough that both Hispano and I had to shield our eyes for a moment. It was just long enough that she could take a few steps in towards Hispano. As the light died down, I watched as she effortlessly knocked Suiza aside with her hoof, and brought her horn down in line with Hispano. With a kick from her hind legs, she dove forward and speared Hispano with her horn.

Hispano let out a breathless gasp as the long green horn plunged through her shoulder. There was a metal squeal as the mare's intense thrust pushed her horn straight through into the rusting ship's hull behind Hispano. I was powerless to watch as she let out a feral cry of pain and let her sister drop to the deck.

No, I wasn’t powerless.

Taking a step forward, I locked Suiza in my sight. If I could just get her, I could convince...

"Not one step!" The mare let out a snarling hiss. "You move and I fry her up, just like that."

"I don't move and we’re both dead anyway." I snapped back at her.

"Only you need to die, Night." She twisted her head slightly, rousing another pain filled cry from Hispano. "No one else has to die."

"Yeah, I've heard that before." The words tumbled out of my muzzle as my heartbeat raced.

Thoughts about how to get out of this without hurting King came with each pulse, and then left me with an image of how it would fail. I didn't want to do it. I made a promise to King that I was going to help him, and... I didn't want to say Hispano was more important to me, but it was true. Left with no choice, I focused on King's side and thought about shooting him.

The side of my augmented eye vibrated as it pushed out. The diagram came up in my head showing that my one-shot, last-resort option was primed and ready to go. All I needed to do was...

Fire.

The red beam lanced out from my face with an electronic whine. It scored a sizzling line across King's wingless, blood-soaked side, boiling the skin and setting the green fur it lanced on fire. King shuddered with a gasp before letting out a pain filled scream. The massive alicorn took a shaky step back, nearly falling to the deck as Hispano was pulled back from against the ship.

"Fucking bitch!" Hispano seethed as her talon flashed from her side.

There was a single moment as she pressed the muzzle of Baby against King's horn where the mare controlling King let out a whimper. Hispano fired, and amid the booming report was a resounding crack of bone. As the shot echoed off, both of them tumbled down onto the deck in nearly opposite directions.

Hispano fell with a pained scream and the now severed horn still impaling her. Blood trickled down her back from where the point pushed through both her shoulder and her wing. But she was a fighter, and though she must have been in immense pain, she used Baby to help push herself back to a kneeling position.

King however, had fallen just short of my hooves. The bright magic that had ebbed over King's one good eye flickered and faded with a few errant magical snaps from the bloody stump where his horn once was. He let out a soft cry, going wide-eyed at the sight of the stump before slumping to the ground and passing out.

"Ffffffuck!" Hispano screamed as she stumbled forward, waving Baby unsteadily at King with a shaking talon. "Fucking die!"

"Hispano, don't...!" I screamed out far too late.

She pulled the trigger with a howl. Again and again, round after round she fired in furious rage. Each shot opened up a jagged hole in the rusted deck. Each fresh hole just millimeters from the last, but only a hoof’s reach from where King's head sat. Only when Baby's slide locked back on an empty chamber did her angry bellow fade.

“The shit I fucking go through for you, Night!” With an angry toss, she threw baby at me. And like an idiot, I stood and watched as it slapped me right in the augment. “What the fuck were you thinking!?”

“I made a promise to help him! Okay!?” I flailed and pointed my hoof at the bleeding, unconscious alicorn. Yeah, things got a little out of hoof, but that didn’t mean I had to give up on him!

“You made a promise to Buck and I too!” She snapped as every bit of her plumage bristled out. “Everyone may trust you to make the decisions for our little group, Night. But for Buck, you and I, for the three of us? We’re a family, and that shit comes first.”

“I know that.” I sighed and sat down on the deck hard. My eyes drifted back over to Suiza still laying discarded on the deck. Deep down I knew that if I’d gotten to her, if the mare hadn’t stopped, then I would have pulled the trigger to save Hispano. I didn’t like that fact, but it was a fact all the same. “Believe me, I know.”

“Then fucking show it, Dum Dum.” She growled and brought her talon up against her bloody shoulder. “Look, you tie the bitch up with some chains or something. I’m going to see if one of these old rust buckets has a medkit lying around.”

Looking down at King, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d only made things worse for him. While the mare in him didn’t leave me any choice, it didn’t mean he had to lose a wing and his horn. My only hope now was that Buck could stabilize him so we could maybe get down to answering the question that I too now desperately needed an answer for.

Just who did he used to be to warrant all of this pain and suffering?

Letting Buck and Cora deal with patching up Hispano and King in the infirmary, I’d finally felt like I could take some time for myself in the showers.

It had felt good to get clean of all the hospital gunk that had gotten into my mane and fur. Even though my body still ached whenever I turned my augment off, it was worth it to feel the high pressure hot water flow across my skin again. As an added bonus, the heat soaked into the dense clouds that still floated about in the showers, and helped to keep the whole room feeling as warm as the hotsprings on Pink Mountain.

Geeze, that felt like an entire lifetime ago now. Part of me wondered how everypony there had been doing. If Short Wave had learned to live less selfishly, and if Rica’s cub was as healthy as could be hoped for.

To be fair, there were a lot of ponies we’d met that I hoped were doing well since we passed through and met them. It was almost a shame that we’d spent so little time in each place, but… I was happy knowing that we’d helped who we could, when we could. Even so… we hadn’t always been able to help everyone. But I’d learned the hard way that sometimes, that’s just how life has to be.

So why did King stick out so much to me?

Was it because Lilac had sent him to me and I still felt like I owed her? Was it because he’d helped defend us on multiple occasions? Maybe it had less to do with him and more to do with the fact that Hispano was right. I just couldn’t stop trying to help every pony who asked for it, even if I knew it would only end in trouble.

“Oh, there you are, Night.” Dad spoke up as he came trotting into the room. When I looked up to him for a moment, I had to do a double-take as in the center of his eyes, a dim yellow glow sat in them. Maybe it had something to do with the extra humidity, or the fact that he’d been working around the spark reactor so much, I don’t know. Either way, something about it made him, I don’t know, just seem a little bit less like the stallion I’ve known all my life. “I’m sorry to intrude, but it’s been a half hour since you got back, so I came looking..”

“Has it been that long already?” I asked as I reached up and hoofed at the shower controls. With a thought, my augment booted up with a flicker and showed that indeed, I’d been in here for just short of forty minutes now. “Yeah, sorry about that. Got lost in my thoughts.”

“Not to worry, I completely understand.” Dad let out a soft laugh and sat himself down at the shower bulkhead.

“Did you need something?” I asked, trying and failing to avoid looking at the glow behind his eyes. “Not to say that you have to need something to come talk with me, of course!”

“Of course.” Dad chuckled dismissively as he nodded. Then he did something he’d only done a hoof-full of times before with me. He sat down in the bulkhead and sighed, letting all the pent up stress in his body go. “Actually, I really came looking to see if you needed to talk.” It was weird to see him let go like this, of all of his preconceptions and bias he normally carried around the house back before... “You… lost one of your friends yesterday, and I know that’s gotta be tough.” Just like the day after we got the news about Mom, he was here to simply listen.

“Delta wasn’t the first, Dad.” I sighed and thought about all the others on the convoy, but mostly about Violet. “But, with everything we’ve done, he’ll hopefully be the last.”

I tried to smile for him, to show him that I could work through this like I did with the others. Well, not like I did before, at least. I didn’t have anyone to console me then, and the only way I could cope was with Chill. Even so, losing Delta, while it hurts, it’s not like when I lost the others on the Convoy.

I didn’t want to say I felt numb to it, but… it was just different. And as terrible as it sounded, as much as I wanted to grieve, I couldn’t. There will be plenty of time to mourn everyone we lost once we have the Ark and down in Brahman Beach. It’s odd, because after knowing what I went through before we rescued him, I kind of thought he’d understood that I could handle something like this.

Then again, maybe this wasn’t a conversation about how I’m feeling about Delta.

Fighting the urge to look away from him, I stared at dad’s hardened gaze. How he pushed past the uncertainty and fear inside himself to try to put up a strong front for me. No, this conversation wasn’t about how I was feeling about Delta. This was about how Buck looked at me when patching me up, or Hispano wherever I was making a decision she knew would come back to bite me in the flank.

This was my dad needing to know that I was alright, that I’m not spiraling like he is inside. Because like Buck and Hispano, right now he doesn’t know if I’m ever going to come back the next time I leave. He needs to hear that I’m not going to end up like Delta did.

He needs me to say that I won’t end up never coming back... just like Mom.

I couldn’t promise that thought, and I know that he understood that. Being the ‘Survivor’ or not, time and time again I’ve been reminded that I’m not invincible. But I know that even through all my screw ups, through all my close calls, there was one thing I could believe was true no matter what. He just needed to hear himself say it.

“Hey, Dad? Do you think… Mom would be proud of us? For making it this far?” I knew that if she were here, she wouldn’t have even let me finish that sentence before she pulled the two of us into the warmest, most loving hug she’d have ever given.

“Your mother…” Dad paused as thoughts about mom must have flooded his mind.

His muzzle quivered as expressions of happiness and sorrow dueled for supremacy. His legs shook, and tears filled his eyes as he fought to stay in control of his emotions. It was enough that I couldn’t watch it another second, and pushed myself into a hobble over to him. As soon as I had, he pushed himself up and threw his hooves around me.

“She would have been so proud of you, Night.” He whimpered as he squeezed me like I wasn’t ever going anywhere else again. And that was fine with me.

“She’d have been proud of both of us, Dad.” It had been far too long since he’d held me like this, and I squeezed him back with everything I had too. Well, all the strength I could muster with one splinted forehoof anyhow.

“Heh.” A laugh managed to slip out of Dad’s tear stained muzzle as we simply hugged each other. “Yeah, she would be. But she’d kick both our asses if she saw how we managed to get here.”

“That wouldn’t matter. I just...” The words slipped out of my muzzle before I realized how hard they turned around and stabbed the both of us. “I just wish she was here right now.”

“Me too, Night.” Dad did a better job than me pretending that didn’t hurt as much as it did, giving me a few rough pats on the back to try to distract me. “But she’d want us to move on, to focus on what we still have here and now. And you have some amazing friends, Night, who only want to see you as happy and healthy as can be. Just like I do.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I nodded and gave him one final squeeze before pulling away from him. His burned skin gave a wet shlop as I peeled off of him, leaving his chest damp and wrinkled. He gave his chest a few firm brushes with his hoof and sighed.

“I can’t wait until the environmental systems are back up and running.” He let another laugh slip out of his muzzle. “I’m tired of feeling like a wet rag the whole day because this body holds onto water more efficiently than a damn thundercloud!”

As much as I’d enjoyed walking on clouds between rooms on the ship, I think the novelty had started to wear off a little. Even so, Dad’s point threw my mind back to those ghouls back up at Destruction Bay, and instinctively I pinned my half ear back against my head. Yeesh, I’d hate for Dad to end up like one of those bloated ghouls.

“How much longer will the Arcturus need before things can get back to normal?” I asked in what was probably a more serious tone than was probably warranted. He’s not going to become one of those bloated ponies, Night. Those ghouls were made from a specific megaspell, remember?

On another note, that I think about it, the longer it took to fix, the more it was going to keep Buck smelling like a wet dog. And while I love the guy rain or shine, I think I enjoy the warm and dry version of him more. Looking up to Dad as he screwed up his muzzle, I could forecast a disappointing answer hitting me fairly shortly.

“Yeah well, you see… it’s complicated.” Dad’s tone danced around an answer with the deftness of a shadowbolt streaking across the sky. “Hey, uh, computer pony… what’s-your-name?” Dad spoke while turning his muzzle and gaze up to the ceiling. “You want to answer that for him?”

“To answer your question, Night Flight,” Ping’s voice came through the speakers in the walls with a static filled pop. “The Arcturus is a Mistral-class cloudship, or at least, what that line was based on. And while the Mistral-class was not meant as a front line combat ship, it was equipped with several ‘state-of-the-art’ for the time repair talismans.”

“Yeah, I know that much.” I blurt out. “We just need to feed those talismans with more scrap metal to get them fixing things, right?”

“While true, the onboard repair system was meant to ensure that a damaged ship had a chance at making it back to an equestrian repair and service skydock.” From the way he paused, I was guessing that’s because there were some things the repair system actually couldn’t fix. “Yes, as you have correctly surmised, the Arcturus is not fully equipped to repair the damage sustained in your final fight with Prince Solomon. Therefore, even with a selection of metals which Tofu is already out gathering from the Vanhoover ruins as we speak, the Arcturus will never again reach full mission capability unless several spare parts and supplies can be sourced and acquired.”

“Okay well, then where’s the nearest skydock that could have what we need?” I asked without thinking once again. Even before Dad jumped in with the answer, it hit me.

Once again, the Grand Pegasus Enclave ruins the day…

“As I understand, the Enclave has ‘sourced’ most of their spare parts from wasteland skydocks over the last two centuries.” He scoffed and kicked at one of the low-floating clouds still hanging about in the showers with us. “Should have known there wasn’t some cloud warehouse full of spares like they made us all believe.” It stuck to his hoof with a wet smack, and he furiously shook it to get it off of him.

“Yes, the Federation’s records of Enclave scavenging operations show that unfortunately most Equestrian skydocks had indeed been searched and stripped of all useful parts and tools.” Ping’s voice held a note of disappointment in it that I could sympathise with. “And while I could send a message to Miss Laika asking if she could source any, I have my doubts that she would relinquish any as the Federation is still looking to bolster its fleet of cloudcraft with Enclave remnants.”

“Wait, that might be the way to go!” Dad gasped.

“Well, it would be Night’s call,” Ping seemed a bit perturbed by my Dad’s, well, enthusiasm, but continued all the same, “but I would be happy to send a message to the Federation asking for the parts you require.”

“No no, not that.” Dad flailed his forehoof at the ceiling, finally flinging the clingy cloud from him. “You were saying she could source it. So, why don’t we source the parts?”

“I do believe that’s what this conversation has already been about…” Ping’s confusion mirrored my own as I looked at the smile creeping over Dad’s muzzle.

“Again, what I mean is the actual source, as in who made the damn parts!” He forced out through a groan and a wet-slap of a facehoof. “I was pretty sure that for most of the primary hull and base Mistral class cloudship systems, the Equestrian wartime government contracted the work out to the Bow-Wing corporation! And guess what, their primary production facility was at Bow-Wing Field just south of Seaddle.” Huh, I hadn’t even thought about going to whoever made the parts! “Sure they might not have everything, but it’s a start, right?”

“Please hold.” Ping’s starkly flat voice crackled with a burst of static.

The longer the pause went on, the more dad’s wide smile started to deflate. I didn’t want to say that it’d be our luck that the Enclave raided the manufacturer of Mistral class cloudship parts, but they wouldn’t miss something so obvious…

The speakers and Ping’s voice came back with a sharp crackle that snapped us back to attention.

“Enclave records show no evidence that Bow-Wing field was ever the target of a salvage operation.” Ping almost sounded as surprised as I was to hear that. “It is… puzzling, seeing as there are multiple documents referencing it as a prime location for sourcing parts. Yet, even as the parts became direly needed, the panels in charge of coordinating salvage efforts chose to raid other sources, despite them being further and less certain targets.”

“Goddess, how did the Enclave even last as long as it did?” I blurt out flatly. If not for the whole only-one-hoof thing, I would have facehooved so hard right now. “Well, whatever. So long as we get the parts and fix the Arcturus, I don’t care how stupid the Enclave was to miss an opportunity like this.”

“Course set for Seaddle, Captain. Ready to engage cloud drives at your command.” Eliza’s cheery voice chimed in with her own crackle over the speakers. “Oh, and Doctor Buck would like you in the infirmary. It seems that King is awake and wishes to speak with you.”

“Alright, tell them I’ll be by in a few minutes after I dry myself off.” Well, Seaddle and the needed parts could wait for now. It was time to deal with King, and hopefully figure out just what the hell I’m going to do with him now.

“Thank you, again.” Dad put his hoof on my shoulder and gave me a teary eyed, but hope filled look down his muzzle. “For taking the time to talk, Night.”

“Anytime, Dad.” I nodded to him and threw myself into one last light hug with him. “You know you can always come to me if you want to talk, about anything at all. I’m here for you.”

“Hey, that’s supposed to be my line.” He chuckled as he returned the hug and then let me head for the door. “Just know I’ll always love you, no matter what happens.”

“I know, and I love you too, Dad.”

Pushing open the door to the infirmary, I accidentally bumped it up against Buck’s leg. He smiled at me as he shifted himself to stand next to King, who much like with the galley booth, was far too large to be up on an examination table. My eyes followed his legs down over the sides of the table, pausing on the length of thick anchor-chain binding each one to the table’s main supports. While I’m glad I’d found some sturdy chains, now that King was here, I’m pretty sure he didn’t need to wear them anymore.

“Uh, why is he still chained down?” The words slipped out of my lips, even though I fully knew what their answer would be.

“It’s okay, Night.” King offered a nervous expression from under the horn bandages that now joined the rest of the ones binding half his face. “I asked them to keep me bound.”

“Not that we would have had it any other way…” Cora grumbled as his talons used a wet rag to wipe down the surface of my fairly clean looking rear prosthetic leg.

“Cora…” Buck sighed and ran his paws down his jagged muzzle.

“What?” Cora snorted and shot a heavy sideways glare across the room. “I’m tired of pretending that I need to trust everyone just because Night says I should.” With a flick of his talon, he tossed the wet rag onto the counter next to him with a wet plop. “This thing is clearly a danger to everyone on board.”

“I understand why you’re agitated, Cora.” I spoke up as I did my best to sit myself down without falling over. “The other pony in King stabbed Hispano, not King himself, alright?”

“And I’m sorry she did that to your daughter.” King offered with the most sincere look he could muster.

“I don’t want to fucking hear it.” Cora groaned as he pushed himself up and gave another flick of his talon. The white and black form of my prosthetic sailed through the air toward me, and I scrambled to catch it as it all but bounced off my face. Both it and I fell to the floor, poofing up the thin layer of cloud that clung to it. “You want to risk yourself, fine. But you told me you would protect my daughter, and you fucked up.”

“That’s not fair, Cora.” Buck let a static filled growl slip out as Cora wrapped his talons around the door handle.

“I don’t care if it is or not!” He snorted, yanking on the door and opening it with a squeal. “If it happens again and you bring whomever hurt her back to the ship? I’ll throw them off myself.” Pausing before leaving, he turned and jabbed his talon against my sore wings. “Then, I’ll throw you off. Got it?”

Before Buck could get another word in, Cora was out the door and had shut it behind him. Sheesh, I know I screwed up down there and Hispano got hurt, but that was what she yelled at me about. I didn’t need to hear the same shit from him when he had no right to…

“I’m sorry, Night.” King’s soft words came as he let his head flop down onto the table. He pressed his face down into it and let out a frustrated groan. “If I knew that I would be putting you and your family in danger, I wouldn’t have asked…”

“Nonsense.” Buck spoke up. With an outstretched paw, he shared a kind smile as he gave King a few soft pats on the back, making sure to avoid the bandaged stump where his wing used to sit. “Night may have difficulties turning away those who ask for help, but he understands better than any of us that sometimes helping can be painful, and that by no means makes it any less worth doing. It’s something even I still struggle with from time to time.”

I wish I could say that I believed that to be completely true. There were so many ponies who would have been better off had I just said no to them, and even more who wouldn’t have suffered if I simply hadn’t gained the nicknames I have. But even so, I have to believe that helping out is still better than doing nothing. Even if some days it goes wrong and ponies get hurt.

“Still, I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused.” King resigned himself to continue laying face down with a sigh, and shifted his one remaining wing uneasily across his back. “Maybe it just isn’t worth finding out who I was.”

“No, that’s not true.” I offered to him. “I know how it feels to not know who you are, who you are meant to be. That’s why Lilac Lace sent you to me.” Slowly, I watched him pick his head up and shift it to look over at me. “But the apprehension you’re feeling is because you’re so close to knowing. So kick the fear, and forget what that mare inside you wants. You need an answer, and I’m here to help you find it.”

“I…” King’s eyes wavered slightly as an intense battle of thoughts was fought just behind them. “I… I want…” With a whimper, the stump of his horn started to glow, throwing sparks through the tightly bound bandages. Buck took a step back, raising his paw so that it could open and present a syringe. “I want to know! Do you hear me!?” With a wrenching snap, he slammed his head down against the examination table, forcing his horn to go dark again. “I don’t care anymore, I want to know!”

Both Buck and I sat there, frozen and glancing at each other as King began to sob quietly. While I hadn’t known who I was supposed to be, it wasn’t like there was an answer being hidden from me. Well, I guess Lilac Lace had known, but she helped me get to the right answer all the same. With somepony actively fighting back, I couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for King to be able to say that.

His horn sparked again, and both Buck and I tensed up. However, as it lit up with a soft, steady glow, King’s sobs warped to that of the mare inside of him. As she raised King’s muzzle up, the magic that she projected was hardly bright enough for me to see in his one good eye.

“Empire.” She managed to get out between her sobs. “Go to Empire.”

With that, the magic in King’s horn sputtered and died. King’s sobs returned to normal, and after a moment, he blinked as he realized he was staring at me again. A look of horror claimed his expression, and he let out a gasp.

“Oh, she… she didn’t try to hurt you again, did she?” He whimpered softly.

“No, she actually…” I started to speak, but stopped myself. Why, why would she choose to help us now? Was this something to throw us off the right trail? Could I really trust the word of a mare who just earlier was willing to kill me.

“Let’s see… Empire.” Eliza’s voice crackled over the ship’s PA systems. “Empire, Empire… aha! That must be it!”

I looked around for her, but didn’t see her. Instead, my augmented vision glowed as what looked like a map was brought up in front of me. It was a map of the way Vanhoover had been during the war, with new lines drawn over it where there were now craters or destroyed buildings. After a moment, a small area near the southern shore of the bay gained a highlight around it.

“The Funland Entertainment Park, renamed Empire by those who founded it as one of the first settlements in Vanhoover post-war.” As Eliza spoke, several still images of the park popped up. “The Factory doesn’t have much from when Unit Sixteen passed through the Vanhoover area, but I’ll present what we have.”

The place looked a lot like the M.o.M. sponsored Amusement park we’d encountered up north, though this place had become a bustling settlement. The images showed crowds of ponies at a makeshift market built inside what used to be stalls for carnival games. Ponies living around and farming on the park spaces near the rusting and decaying tea cup and merry-go-round rides. Lastly, it showed a group of well equipped security ponies stationed around the park’s ferris wheel, with pairs of ponies in a few of the elevated ride seats wielding long range rifles.

All in all, this place seemed like a well set up and fortified settlement.

“What… what the hell happened here?” Buck’s voice wavered slightly as his glowing eye wandered for a moment before locking onto mine.

“Oops, sorry!” Eliza let out a sharp gasp. “I only gave Night the Factory’s files. Sorry for that, Buck.”

“How… how is this any better!?” The distress in Buck’s voice only made me worry more. “Where did they all go?”

“What are you talking about?” The words wormed their way out of my muzzle, and I was shortly answered by a new set of images popping up into my vision. From the way the dust swirled in the mid-day light, I was pretty sure these were being shown straight from the Arcturus’s cameras.

The same Amusement park sat before me, with the same old buildings and rides still decaying away. However, there were no more ponies roaming around and going about their lives. The rotting and desiccated remains of ponies lay scattered across fields of rebar spikes and ground covered in magical beam scorches. Hundreds of dead lay forgotten where they fell, with saddlebags and rusting weapons still within hoof’s reach. Whatever destroyed this place, happened fast.

The horrifying scene sparked a thought in my mind that I didn’t want to ask.

“What happened here?” Buck asked, shaking his paw in front of his eye to try to get the images out of his face.

“Unknown.” Eliza sighed as she popped a few new pictures up in front of me. “However, this type of settlement annihilation has been observed before in places that the Goddess has reportedly destroyed.”

The pictures were of other settlements. A settlement with a dome with lights on it’s roof, an old shopping mall that had been fortified, and a marina much like the one I was in earlier. However, each of these places shared the fact that the ponies who used to be there lay scattered across the ground, impaled by rebar, or turned to ash by magical beams.

“Then… it has to be connected.” I blinked as my eyes wandered over to King. “If the goddess attacked Empire, then that has to be where she took King from.”

“Or… it’s where I lead her.” King whimpered as he planted his face down against the table once more. “What if I’m the reason it’s gone?”

“Actually, that’s a fairly plausible hypothesis!” Eliza’s cheery tone was a sharp juxtaposition right now that I’m pretty sure none of us felt comfortable with. “You see, a common reported tactic was…”

“I’m sure King wasn’t responsible.” I did my best to speak over Eliza, thankfully forcing her to stop for the moment. “And wild speculation isn’t going to do us any good when we can just take a quick trip down and find out if it helps King remember anything.” My words helped King drag his face up again so that I could look into his eye. “If the answer to who you are is down there, then we have to go and find it.”

“You’re right.” King nodded with a sniffle. “No, you’re absolutely right. I… I can’t be afraid of it anymore.”

With a shift from Buck, he brought a paw down on King’s back softly, and lined his other paw up with his side. Before I could ask what he was doing, Buck’s arm opened up and a syringe plunged into King’s side. King’s eye went wide for a moment before he drifted off and passed out.

“Did you just sedate him!?” I couldn’t believe he’d do that after what we’d just talked about!

“It’s just a precaution while we move him onto the Remora.” Buck brought his paws up defensively. “I know you trust him not to hurt you, Night, but… the last time I turned my back on him…”

“That’s different!” I spat out and flailed my forehoof in protest. As I did though, I could feel a little pony in the back of my head trying to smack some sense into me. “It’s just… grrr, I know you’re right, and that he’ll understand. I just don’t like it.” Huffing, I crossed my hoof across my barrel, finding it a lot more awkward to be overly dramatic without my prosthetic helping out.

“Once we’re down there, I’ll wake him up again and everything will be fine.” The kind smile Buck wore was off. I knew it was because after everything so far, he didn’t want to cap off today with an unnecessary incident then ended in more pain and suffering.

And of course, again, I knew he was right because I didn’t want that either. In a perfect world, we could just head down there and what we’re looking for will be sitting right at our hooves. King would know who he was again, and things could go back to being a whole lot less interesting than they’d become recently.

Yes, in a perfect world, everything would surely go our way.

The Remora touched down roughly. The heavily taxed engines started to spool down early from the hit, and the shift of the chassis nearly threw me off of my three hooves and out the missing door. Oof, getting used to using my flight harness with only three legs again was going to take a little bit, wasn’t it?

Thankfully, Buck was there to help steady me. His mechanical paw gave me a soft pat as soon as I was stable again, and I offered him a small smile as the cold, salty smelling air drifted into the cabin. Still, hopefully my reflexes and balance would come back quick if we needed to fight. And of course because I couldn’t go a few hours without one, I’m sure we’d run into something intent on killing us soon enough.

We’d landed on the street just outside the ticket booth for the old world amusement park. The rusting gateway had crumbled and collapsed over the passage of time, and it’s remains had been piled neatly to form makeshift walls that still held traces of the old Ministry of Morale logos on it. Newer, but still somewhat faded signs still sat upright next to the walls, welcoming all ‘civil’ ponies to Empire Park.

From the moment the street we were on met the pavement of the entrance itself, spears of rebar began to dot the ground. Stepping out from the remora, I let my eyes wander from the closest spear, to the next, and so on until I was looking deeper into the settlement itself. What was an errant spear here or there standing defiantly pierced into the concrete covered ground, became a veritable sea of spikes the further in I looked.

Nothing inside moved. While the old world amusement rides gave off the usual creaking and groans from the light wind washing over the place, there were no other sounds. I’m not sure if it was a good thing that the decayed corpses impaled and left on the ground helped put me at ease, or if it simply felt like a warning to leave now or risk sharing their fate.

“What a dump.” Happy snorted as he trotted out onto the old, cracked pavement. The first thing he did was walk up to the nearest rebar spear and kick it. With a rattling clamber, it didn’t budge, and instead forced him to yank his hoof back with a pain filled grimace. “Maybe Hispano had the right idea to stay back on the ship. There ain’t nothing here.”

“Then stay here and watch the Remora, Happy.” I sighed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy he volunteered to come, but he could at least give us all a few minutes before he started complaining.

The shifting of the chains around King’s long legs pulled my attention back. Buck’s paws easily maneuvered the heavy nautical chains so that they fell slack enough that he could draw them off and onto the floor. As he did that, King’s unbandaged eye strained to open, and he stiffly gave a look up to the half-mechanical snow dog hovering above him.

“Alright, there.” Buck offered out a paw to King as he took a step back towards the outside. “Come on, let’s see if this place jogs your memories at all.” His voice was calm as he spoke, and the tone he used, well it wasn’t what I’d expected.

The sight of it made me pause for a moment. Buck has been hurt, lied to, used, and surrounded by plenty of others on this trip who’ve done nothing but cause us trouble. And yet simply because I trusted King, he’s decided to put his best paw forward and offer him help.

No, that’s not true at all, and fairly egotistical, Night. Buck was a kind, caring, and selfless dog far before I ever confessed that I cared about him. He may have stumbled almost as many times as I have on this trip, but it’s not because of me that he cares. That’s something he’s always done, helping others while wearing the same soft smile he always has. Because that’s who he is, and that’s the dog I fell in love with.

King carefully lifted a hoof and took Buck’s paw. With a grunt, the two of them got him back on his hooves, and both emerged from inside of the Remora. As soon as he stepped out into the open however, his eyes shot wide open, and he turned his gaze through the entrance to the settlement.

“Is it… do you remember something?” The words slipped out of my muzzle as something about his gaze unnerved me. “Or is it something else?” The cogs in my brain felt like they worked together to help bind up my gut as my eyes followed where his gaze sat.

“It’s trouble.” Buck let out a soft growl as he took a heavy step in front of King and lowered himself for a fight.

“What, I don’t see anything?” Happy spat out as he tensed up and lowered his muzzle down towards Laika’s pistol. Like my eyes, his eyes scanned over the rebar inside the settlement, looking for whatever had spooked King.

“Begone, Vestige of the Red Eyed traitor!” The amplified voice of a mare came from damn near in front of us. The air in between the ticket booth rubble shimmered, and from it resolved a deep blue Alicorn mare. Her narrowed, slit eyes were locked on me, and her horn crackled with sparking magic. “You are trespassing and are commanded to leave at once. Our allegiances are our own, we have no wish to join a new unity. We have no wish to fight you either, but we will kill you if you refuse our demands.”

That… didn’t sound much like a pony who wanted to fight us.

Well, I mean of course not, Night! She said it herself, she just wants you to leave! And if they aren’t with those other alicorns who wanted King, well, then that means there’s a chance to talk to them!

“We aren’t with that ‘Red Eye’ guy!” I offered to her, receiving a thick snap of arcane magic spiking into the air above me from the Alicorn’s horn in response. “Hey, hey! We’re here because our friend here needs help.” Shifting myself, I nodded over to King, and took a glance over to see how he was handling things.

To my surprise, he’d shrunk almost down to the ground. His long legs were quaking as he kept himself hidden behind Buck’s imposing quadrupedal stance. Well, after getting foalnapped by alicorns and having his horn shot off, I really couldn’t blame the guy for feeling defenseless.

“Yeah, we came to help our friend, so back off, lady!” Happy shouted with enough snark to knock both Buck and I off guard. “Besides, it’s three to one, so unless you like those odds, then maybe consider turning invisible again so we can all go about our day.” Seriously, he’s chosen now to grow a spine and try to intimidate his way out of a fight?

The blue alicorn laughed and shrugged off his comment with another bolt from her horn.

“Foal, you think we are alone?” She snarled.

The air throughout the park seemed to come to life. Magic shimmered and twisted at even the air above us, as the magical cloaking of multiple blue alicorns helped to shield other greens and purples as they stood in quite a few defensible spots before us. While Happy was right that we could’ve probably handled one alicorn, there were about forty more angry mares in front of us now.

“Please, they speak the truth!” King pleaded as he pushed himself around Buck’s protective form. “I… I don’t know who I am. Mother stripped that from me, and… this place, it’s all I have left to find it out with.”

The sparks on the lead mare’s head shrank as she studied King. Her eyes softened slightly as they wandered over him, but sharpened again the moment they fell on Buck. With a single raise of her hoof, the other blue alicorns focused their magics again, and just as quickly disappeared into the air as they’d appeared.

“You are one of us. One of those who were gifted with a body as Mother was struck down by the great betrayer.” The hatred in the blue alicorn’s eyes burned with a feverish passion I’m sure I’d never know the source of. But yet, even with such anger inside, her horn stayed dormant. “You are welcome to stay with us, with your sisters who share a connection with this graveyard. Those like ourselves each have a soul inside who once called this place home, so we understand what has brought you to us.” Her eyes shifted to King again, and like they’d been dropped into a river, the fire inside them was instantly doused. “And we may not have mother’s gifts, but we shall try to help you recover who you once were if it is possible. However… those not like us are not welcome in our home.”

“Okay, then this is as far as we go.” I spoke to her, looking over to Buck as he nodded to me and started to relax. Well, that was a close one. For once, I think we’d just managed to stop things before they got out of hoof...

“We came all this way just to leave him here?” Happy snorted and kicked at the ground. “And we’re just supposed to trust you?”

“Happy.” I snapped at him.

“Don’t, Night.” He growled back at me and forced me to freeze up. “We went through so much shit with those other alicorns and you’re just going to trust them now? We don’t even know who they are!”

“We are not like our sisters who wish to create a new Unity.” The blue mare shot him a glare that wasn’t as bad as the one she’d held for me, but it was a close second. “Our sister here will not be…”

“No, we ain’t leaving him.” Happy cut her off as he raised his voice and gave a firm stomp of his wooden hoof on the concrete. I swear, if Happy doesn’t shut his muzzle… “We came here together, and we’re going to goddess damned leave together.” With another stomp, there was a creak as the wood near his hoof split, and flakes of bark stripped from his leg. Still, he swallowed the pain and used it to yell out even louder. “Sure I don’t know him like Night and the others, but I’ll be damned if I’m just going to leave him behind like he’s not our problem anymore.” With a burning glare that beat out the mare’s, he swung it over through the air so all the hidden alicorns could see. “So you get this through that thick mutated brain of yours. We’re staying together. End of story.”

That… was unexpected.

Though to be honest, not as much as it should have been. While I know it took him time to work through the loss of Delilah and the others, I didn’t think about what led up to it. Of course he still blames himself deep down, just like I do. And maybe that shared perspective warranted a bit of solace from me.

“Happy’s right.” I offered with words that looked like they almost knocked Buck right off of his legs. “We have gone through too much, made mistakes that put others at risk, and relied on the trust of others to keep those we care for safe.” Looking over at Happy, I wasn’t surprised to see that his resolute expression was still locked onto the angry blue mare in front of us. But through it, I could see the pain behind his eyes, because it’s something I’ve felt before as well. “So I’m sorry I agreed to your terms a moment ago, but these are the new terms. We go with King.”

“Besides,” Happy forced out a stiff laugh as he shook his head. “You showed us how many of you there are. If your intentions really are to help him, then you have to know we couldn’t stop you if we tried to keep us out.”

“That is a poor example.” The mare snorted and grinned, revealing her muzzle of dagger-like teeth. “If our intentions were to take him, then you couldn’t stop us either.”

“But the point he’s making is that neither side wants a fight.” Buck’s snarling voice came through with a bit more static than usual as he picked himself up to his normal standing position. “So if we all have the same goal to help King, then perhaps the best way to start would be to take the risk of trusting each other.” You know, he may have spoken up late, but if that wasn’t one hell of a big final nail he’s driven into our negotiation, I don’t know what would be.

The blue mare took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes as she let another burning glare wash over us. If this didn’t work, then I know we’d have no choice but to appeal to King to leave the one place that could give him the answers he needed. And as much as that argument was going to suck, deep down, I prayed to Celestia that for once my awkward luck could be used to have things go our way.

Really, I just wanted to actually help somepony in need for once…

“That is a fair point.” She cocked an eyebrow and looked back towards where all her invisible friends were. “We suppose that a chance to prove the intentions of both parties should be given. However, the condition must be that you hoof over your weapons.” Okay, that made me a little uncomfortable, but… it was a fair request. She brought her gaze around again, it landed on Buck as it brightened. “And your dog stays outside as well. His kind is too dangerous, too unpredictable to let roam through our settlement.”

“Now wait just one moment here…!” Buck started to speak up.

“It’s non-negotiable.” The mare snarled at him. “As was once said, you may take it, or leave.”

“I don’t like this, Night.” Buck’s voice filled my mind as he sat down in frustration next to me.

“I know, but do we really have a choice here if we want to try to help King?” I offered back.

I wanted to say that this would be a temporary thing, or that it would be worth it in the long run. But the truth was, I didn’t know what we could do. Who knows if King would have to stay here for days, weeks, or months to get his memory back, or if it would come back at all. For all I know, the other mare inside King was lying for some reason I can’t comprehend and she wasn’t really hiding anything from him in the first place.

You know, this started out as such a seemingly simple request from King, but Celestia I wasn’t prepared for things to get this out of hoof...

“Yeah, sure, let’s tell the only doctor we’ve got to stay outside.” Happy snorted and took a single step forward. “We don’t even know what’s wrong with King’s head, so what’s the chances any of you oversized muties know? If you screw somethin’ up with him, are you really going to leave the best chance at fixing him sitting outside?”

“You don’t think we have the resources to take care of our own?” She puffed up her chest and slightly flared out her broad blue wings. “We were gifted with superior bodies, superior minds to utilize magic which any simple mule could never comprehend.” Looks like Happy’s words struck a bit of a nerve with her… “If you even think that your friend’s best option would be some dog pretending to be a doctor, then perhaps we should just teleport you all inside the nearest mountain and be done with your pestering demands.”

“Hey, there is no need for that!” I too took a step forward, but hesitated to go further as the mare’s horn crackled to life again. Okay, we went from hostile, to making progress, then right back to square one. Fuck, this wasn’t supposed to be this difficult! “We both have the same fucking goal!”

“You bring one of our kind, who you say needs our help, and demand that we offer it to you?” The mare’s muzzle parted into a twisted, nearly unhinged grin as her horn glowed brighter. “So go, leave this place or perish. You are no different than the red-eyed betrayer.”

“I don’t even know who the fuck that is!” I screamed at her. “I’m so sick and tired of everyone who we ask for help either turning against us, or having some fucking misguided motive, or just downright planning on betraying us from the get-go!” I was heaving in deep, labored breaths as I let my rage build up and flow right out through my muzzle. “Why the fuck is it always the same two choices of do what I say or die? I’m not doing the same to you, am I? I have a cloudship up there in the sky right now. One word from me and I could slaughter all of you!”

“Night, you can’t possibly think…” Buck’s hesitant voice filtered in through the back of my mind.

“I won’t… I won’t do it though. I can’t.” I seethed and hung my head. “Because I’m not like the other monsters I’ve met. I’m not Mrs. Tapit, I’m not Tephra or Mr. Wizard, or fucking Rofia. I don’t threaten others because I believe we could be better than that. That we should be better than that.”

As my anger dried up, my shaking legs gave out, and I flopped onto the cold pavement. I know that I shouldn’t feel so frustrated from this. Why would I have expected things to be any different the further south we’ve gone?

No, honestly that’s on me. Memories of the others in the convoy talking about the south reminded me that they’d mentioned that if anything, it was worse than the north. I’d allowed myself to slip into the mindset that because of my experiences in the north, maybe they were wrong. Maybe because of the small amount of good we did up there, the ponies down here would be more open to lending a helping hoof.

But again, it was my fault for believing that.

“That’s the Bombay?” Another voice from the sets of invisible alicorn’s spoke up.

“Yeah, you’re right! We think it is!” Yet another invisible voice gasped.

“I… I vouch for Bombay.” The amplified voice of one of the invisible alicorn’s in the settlement perked my ears. “She helped shelter one of us before, up in Mare’s Lake.”

The crackling magic around the horn of the lead mare fizzled out. Slowly, she turned her concerned gaze back as one of the other blue mares killed their spell and brought herself and the other two next to her back into the light of day. The other alicorns next to her seemed to shift away uncomfortably, but the blue alicorn stood firm.

“Isn’t she also the Survivor?” Another spoke up. “The same one who killed Mister Wizard and freed Cantercross?”

“No, I heard they were two different mares. That one of them died in Cantercross, and that another mare took up the name and kept helping.”

“We heard that Bombay and her friends saved a balefire chimera and her cub. Can you imagine?”

“I heard that she saved the Steel Rangers. She even cared for those toasters!”

“She fought the Road Crew and came out alive not just once, but multiple times.”

“We heard she even made those in Stone Town turn friendly to outsiders.”

Whispers and comments popped up from all throughout the settlement. It was hard to tell from so many voices speaking, but… they were talking about me. About us, and all the things we’d done up north.

“That’s enough!” The mare in front of us snapped and immediately silenced the seemingly out of control gossip. As an uneasy silence took over, she closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths. When she opened them again, there was something about them that had changed. I couldn’t really place it, but it was like I was looking into the eyes of a completely different pony. “So then, is it true? Are you the mare from the stories far in the north?”

“Yes.” I nodded while picking myself up again. “Some know me as Bombay, others, as the Survivor. But I don’t need those nicknames, I’m just plain old Night Flight.”

“Then why didn’t you say so?” The mare sat down hard and facehooved. “You may not know, but half of the bodies here were up north when mother… passed. We’ve all heard the stories of you, and had we known you were her, we might have gotten off on a different hoof.”

“Honestly,” Buck sighed as well, smiling as he too brought up a paw to his exasperated face. “I thought we’d outrun your reputation.”

“Me too.” Happy snorted before pushing himself to trot up to the alicorn in front of us. “Well, seein’ as we’ve got that out of the way, how about getting off on that other hoof then?” With a smirk, he held out his wooden forehoof to her.

“Sure.” She blinked a few times as she stared at his hoof. Hesitantly, she reached out her own and wrapped her fetlock around it, giving it a firm shake. “Again, we are sorry for the defensive posture. We let Rip Saw have control when we felt threatened, but he’s been subdued now. It’s hard to talk about, but like yourselves, we’ve all been through quite a lot. Most of us aren’t too sure who to trust anymore.”

“I understand how that is, believe me, I do. But I meant what I said, we need to be better.” I nodded to her, watching as a wave of guilt swept over her. “We can address all that later. For now, we’ve got somepony to help.” As I stepped forward, King finally got to his hooves and followed.

“So, you can’t remember who you are?” She let her eyes wander over King, wincing as she noticed the bandages that covered his missing wing. “How curious. Why would mother have hidden that from you?”

“I don’t know.” King shook his head, kicking at the ground dejectedly. “The other one in me, she helped to hide the memories. But she told me of this place in my search for an answer, of Empire. For what reason, I still don’t know.”

“Then come, let us see if we can help.” She offered him her outstretched wing while she shifted herself to point back into the settlement. “With so many souls inside of us here, surely one of them can find a way to do just that.”

Slowly, King turned and stepped through the crumbing entrance to the old park. As he did, the air shimmered, and all of the other alicorns emerged from their cloaking magic. They landed amongst the rebar spikes, some with curious looks across their muzzles, other with smiles filled with unbridled excitement.

“Real quick,” Happy spoke up, pressing a hoof to the mare’s side and stopping her just short of getting up to her hooves. “Not to say you’re all the same, but… you got a name or something?”

“Oh, we can see how that would be needed with us, wouldn’t it?” She offered back to him with a soft laugh as she got to her hooves and headed for the entrance. “Our name is Magnolia, and we welcome you to Empire.”

“Magnolia, eh?” Happy smirked as he kept light on his hooves and kept pace with her. “That’s a flower, ain’t it? My mother was also named after a flower.”

“Oh really, was she?” Magnolia cocked an eyebrow and looked down to him as her smile widened. “How fascinating. Was it a family name from the pony side, or...”

Buck’s paw carefully came down on my side, and I found my attention and gaze stolen by him. While he wore a contented look across his face, the admittedly shrinking fear behind his eyes told me that he knew just how close we’d come to disaster. And while that was true, I couldn’t help but meet his eyes with a grin all the same.

All the pain we’d endured, all the suffering we’d seen for what little good we’d managed to actually do up in the north. And yet here it meant something to these alicorns. I didn’t want to say it had been worth it, but even if this was all the recognition we’d ever get for it again… at least it had given us this chance to help King.

Though the job wasn’t done, I could finally say that the twist in my gut had subsided for now. I had a good feeling about this place, about what we’d find to help King with. Who knows, maybe it would take a while like I’d thought before. Would that really be so much of a problem? It would give us time to rest, to heal, and for Tofu, Dad, and Ping to get the Arcturus back into working order.

On the other hoof, it could be quick. Maybe the other alicorns knew a way to fix him and he’d be better by the end of the day. If he was, then we could move on to Seaddle to fix up the Arcturus, then go on south to the Ark. The sooner we could get it down to Brahman Beach, the sooner we could put everything else on this trip behind us, and then we could all take a long vacation.

“Ready to go in?” Buck asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah.” I nodded to him and relaxed myself. As expected, his strong mechanical arm scooped up under me and he pulled me tight against himself. “Let’s go and see if we can finally help King.”

Author's Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in going over these chapters!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating and opening up all of Fallout: Equestria to us!