Things were… awkward, to say the least.

When Ping had returned to us in Scar, he didn’t greet us with his trademark smile or upbeat demeanor. No, all I could say was that he looked quite grim. Honestly, as the four of us piled back inside our invisible ride, there was a palpable feeling of unease between us. Each of us took turns looking over to Ping, who’d simply sigh like he was a parent deeply disappointed in his foals.

That feeling, combined with the prospect of riding back to the Factory crammed inside Eliza’s rover, allowed me to ‘volunteer’ to sit up on the roof for the ride back. It was nice to have the time alone, but it felt like I’d simply chosen the more literal side of getting a cold shoulder.

But, as we all fully knew, the time to talk about what happened came up once the automated cart came to a stop. And at least, Happy and I could follow the two mercenary mares with our heads held high as we entered the Architect’s terminal command center. But that feeling of ‘at least I didn’t do anything wrong’ only held up until I saw the Architect with the same grim look across his face as Ping. Somehow, with the optics and bulky bits on the side of his head, he came across as being more disappointed than Ping had been.

“So…” The blue mare started off, shifting uneasily on her hooves and playing with her white and grey striped mane. “About what happened at the facility…” Her words dropped off as the Architect held up a single, stiff hoof at her.

“Excuse me, but I do remember specifying not to destroy the entire facility.” The agitation and raw anger in his voice felt more than real to me, and while it wasn’t the same as having disappointed Delilah, it still made me somewhat shrink back. “Do you have any idea what you have done? Those charges were a last resort, only to be used to leave the processing machines inoperable should no other way be found.”

“Hey, cut us a break.” The green mare stepped up, tipping back the broad red hat she wore over her crimson colored mane. “That blast was caused by the charges you gave us, and you know Bluejay knows what she’s doing when it comes to explosives.”

“Based on the schematics you provided, I was sure that I'd spaced them out more than enough to avoid setting off any of the stored fuel.” Bluejay spoke up again, taking a single step forward with the leg her pipbuck was on, and somewhat regaining a bit of confidence. “It’s possible we could have missed something, but with that garrison force showing up, I made the call to scrap those machines and get us the hell out of there.”

“If the whole place went up, then it was because there was something we weren’t informed of.” The green mare snorted and shifted uncomfortably on her rear cyber hooves. From the flat expression this mare gave the Architect, to the flat delivery, she seemed like a mare who didn’t take well to failure, or being accused of it when it wasn’t true.

“Perhaps PC is right, and some of the fuel was moved to a different location within the grounds.” Ping spoke up from beside Happy and I. “One which none of us could have accounted for.” He drew an angry look from the Architect for that, and he too shrunk back slightly.

“Regardless of the how, we cannot change what is to come.” The Architect gave a dismissive wave as his tracks squealed and spun him slightly back towards his terminals. The terminals themselves shifted to an aerial view of the facility, still spewing smoke and roaring flames into the sky. “The Puritan Kingdom will surely think this an act of outsider aggression, and as nopony will directly claim it, they will think themselves justified in attacking everypony equally. This incident could quite possibly have just sparked the greatest war the north has seen since the great war itself.”

While that’s what this ‘Bluejay’ had said back on the hillside, I was still on the fence about believing it. Sure, they could claim it as an act of aggression, but… starting a war? If they didn’t have enough weapons already, or chose to attack somepony like Mr. Wizard, it would be suicide for the Kingdom as a whole. If Happy and I could deal with a whole group of them between us and come out on top, there’s no telling what somepony with an army of well armed goons could do.

And while I’d love to see someone as vile as Mr. Wizard taken down, I don’t see any good that could come from a fight with the Kingdom. It would only be pointless violence, and pointless death. But then again, if they’re looking for a fight, it’s a shame we couldn’t get the Kingdom to do something productive about the rampant wildlife, or…

I gave out a loud gasp as an idea hit me hard.

“Or, and hear me out on this...” I smirked as everyone in the room turned their eyes on me. “We could just tell them who started it.”

“Oh, fuck that.” The green mare scoffed. “I’m not getting thrown under the proverbial skybus, even if it’s to avoid a full blown war.”

“No, not you.” I rolled my eyes, dropping them onto Happy’s perplexed gaze. “Remember what we saw after our fight? In the skies?”

“That’s right!” Happy let out his own gasp as he connected it. “Skyraiders!”

“Bingo.” I nodded and turned back to the Architect. “If Dj PowerColt reports that a skyraider buzzbomber was the thing to set off the blast, the Kingdom would have their enemy to blame, and the rest of the north is free of the Skyraider’s random acts of airborne terror.”

“Two birds with one stone.” Ping nodded in thought before looking up at the Architect, who himself looked deep in contemplation.

“True, but…” The green mare spoke up. “not to rain on your parade, but you'd be hoofing them enough scrap metal to forge an army’s worth of armor and weapons. Which need I remind you…”

“Was what we blew up the facility to prevent in the first place.” Bluejay finished for the other mare. Turning back to the Architect with a frown, she scrunched up her muzzle. “PC’s right. With as much scrap is still up at that old boneyard, we’d be giving them exactly what they wanted in the first place.”

“However,” The Architect perked his ears as he crossed his hooves and scrunched up his muzzle. “They still lack the infrastructure to utilize it efficiently, and that’s even if they won the fight with minimal losses. It would take time for them to gather, process, and transport it back for smithing into weapons and armor.” As he mulled it over, he rocked slowly back in forth on the mounting of his giant shell like backside. “This would not solve the issue that the Kingdom poses, but it is so far the most stable option we have.” The smile that spread across his muzzle was far from as bright as I’d hoped for when he turned it toward me, but at this point, I’d take what I could get. “I must agree with Night Flight. We shall blame it on the Skyraiders, and the Factory shall begin work on planning for another way to keep the Kingdom in check.”

“Sure thing, Architect. One special news broadcast is being manufactured as we speak.” Dj PowerColt’s booming voice resonated off the cavern’s stone walls. His smooth voice speaking so suddenly made my mane stand on end, while at the exact same time made me feel like melting into his relaxing, dulcet tone.

“Great, and seeing as that’s all you needed us for…” The green mare gave an obviously irritated grunt as she tipped her hat to us, “then Blue and I will just be needing that ride home, and we’ll be out of your mane.”

“Hold up, Mrs. Cap.” The Architect spoke up, making the green mare freeze midstep. She wore an annoyed glare frozen across her face with such intensity I could almost hear the blood in her veins turn to steam.

“Let me guess,” Bluejay sighed as she nodded her head back towards both Happy and I. “You need us to help them out with something.”

“That is correct.” The Architect nodded, lifting his hoof again and gesturing to the big terminal board. “A rescue mission, mostly.”

The images flickered again, doing the thing where they combined into one big picture. This time, it was of the thermal updraft tower in Cantercross, as well as the radio mast that stuck up from where the Science Center was. Just seeing that place again made me grit my teeth together, but only because I couldn’t help but feel terrible that Hispano was still out there all on her own.

“Wait, mostly?” Happy spat out before I could even process the Architect’s words. Damnit, I must be losing my bluntness…

“Yes, well,” The Architect cleared his throat as the big board flickered over to a new image. This time, what appeared on the screen was a location I’d unfortunately been in before. Mr. Wizard’s living room. “While you were out on your task, I commanded one of the machines inside the science center to reach out to him.” As the Architect spoke, the events unfolded silently on the screen behind him like a film. “I informed him that I was Night Flight and Happy, and you two were looking to trade the train for Cora.” The Architect frowned at the same exact moment that Mr. Wizard looked like he gave out a full bodied laugh.

“However, he does not want the train.” Ping spoke up, trotting out in front of all of before looking at the floor. “He wants me.”

“Moreso, he wants the information of how to manufacture our neural net microprocessors.” The Architect continued, pointing back at the board. It flickered once more, bringing up what looked like a basic blueprint of the facility with three dots moving along through it. “Night and Happy will accompany Ping inside to make the trade.”

A pair of dots appeared now. One along the far edge of the screen, and one inside what I guessed was Mr. Wizard’s living room. The dot along the far edge began blinking as the dot in the living room swapped with the dots that represented Happy and I.

“Once the trade has been made, Hispano will open fire at the glass.” The Architect gave a roll of his forehoof, and the dots all moved away. The three that represented Happy, Cora, and I moved back to the exit, while the one that was Ping, moved further toward the center of the complex. “Undoubtedly, Mr. Wizard will try to protect his prize, and will move Ping to a safer location. I assume it will be in his personal laboratory in the heart of the science center.” A new pair of dots flickered into place just under the middle of the map. “There, a freight elevator which the city’s blueprint archive describes as connecting down into the old subway, is our point of entrance. That is where our two operators will be able to infiltrate, bringing with them a specialized thermobaric charge to bring down the whole operation...”

“Woah, hold on one second there. That isn’t going to work.” I blurt out loudly over the Architect’s words. Nevermind, I’ve still got it! Who’s the queen of bluntness? This guy! Er… that’s probably not something to be proud of. “The air down there is completely toxic, and from what I understand, most of the stations have guards posted there all the time. There’s no way you’re getting into the subway unnoticed, and there’s definitely no way you’ll be able to get to that freight elevator.”

“And you know that how?” The green mare snorted as she glanced over at me.

“Night’s been down there before.” Happy fired back with his trademark smug look written across his face. “The only pony I know of to get in and out who doesn’t work for Mr. Wizard.”

“Is that true? Have you been down there before?” The Architect’s tracked body swiveled as he perked his ears. Something about the way he looked at me with a smile made me feel uneasy, like I was just some subject of study for him. Still, I guess I had to answer him all the same if we wanted to get anywhere with the rescue.

“Yeah, it’s where they grow all of the fruit in the city. Except he’s also getting sap out of all the trees as well. Sends up barrels of it using that very elevator.” I nodded to him, watching as both he and Ping glanced at each other in surprise. “You mean to tell me that you have drones all over the place, but you didn’t know that?”

“We could never find an open access way to get into the subway system to properly investigate it’s contents.” The Architect rubbed at his chin as he looked lost in thought. “We had assumed the fruit was lab grown through some sort of genetic engineering, or a quick cloning process.” Looking up at me, he canted his head. “How many stations would you say are meant for growing, and what are their layouts? Any information would be greatly appreciated.”

“From what I know? Thirty five total stations, each with a hundred or so grow beds.” I shrugged. “But again, there’s no way you’re getting in there without a fight, or hell, getting lost in the dark tunnels down there.”

“What I want to know if that’s true, is how the hell does he power all of it?” Bluejay grumbled as she sat down and looked to lose herself in her own head. “If we mess with the power, the rest of his goons might be too busy getting it back up to notice PC and I slip by.”

“Ever since Mr. Wizard returned from Marewaii, the city itself has been at least partially powered for decades through as yet unknown means.” Ping perked up and spreading his muzzle into his normal beaming smile. “It could be through the combined effort of dozens of still running arcane micro-spark reactors powering the grid, or he might have made the Thermal Updraft Tower more efficient in some way, but this is unlikely the sole answer. More likely, there is some unknown larger power source within the city. Even more so if you say there's as much fruit growing under the city as there is.”

“So if it's not the tower,” The green mare, ‘PC’, grumbled with an impatient tapping of her forehoof. “then what do we have to blow up or cut off? How big of a power source are we talking about needing here?”

“Wait!” Happy shouted so abruptly that, had I ever had one, I would have thrown my bluntness trophy at him from where I sat now in the air. Funny enough, PC had jumped about as high as I had from his outburst. “Would a Stable’s reactor be enough?”

“A Stable? Under Cantercross?” Bluejay forced out a laugh.

“Not a real one.” Happy deadpanned at the mare before meeting the curious look the Architect was giving. “When I was held captive there, I saw an advertisement for a Stable-Tec demonstration Stable built into the bottom of the science center. Ma' always told me that Stable-Tec reactors were more efficient and powerful than pretty much everything else still running.”

“It could perhaps be the missing power source, as we do not contain records or specifications for the demonstration built underneath the science center.” Ping’s smile dimmed as he spoke, and his ears folded back somewhat. “However, it is unlikely, as outside of the Stable-Tec Research and Development laboratory on Marewaii, no other demonstration Stable has been recorded as having had a functional reactor setup.”

“Well, the power’s gotta come from somewhere.” PC grumbled yet again as she sat back on her cyberhooves and gave a stiff ‘harumph’. “I’ve seen underground growing operations before, and that shit isn’t cheap when it comes to keeping the lights on. If this is on the scale of what you’re saying, it’s going to draw a lot of spark power.”

“At thirty five stations, with a hundred grow beds or so?” I spoke up slowly. Reaching back, I rubbed at my mane as it felt like my brain seized up trying to process that. “I can’t actually imagine how much power that would take to run...”

Of course, I’d momentarily forgotten just who I’d asked that around.

“Approximately six hundred and forty megaspark hours per month.” Ping’s bright smile returned as he looked proud for having calculated all that in the same time it normally took me to run my muzzle off without thinking, or to run into a large old world vehicle, take your pick. “Though, with this setup, the estimated harvest yield would produce enough fruit for a population of around ten thousand ponies.” Pausing, he turned to the Architect with a frown. “The estimated population of Cantercross was six thousand seven hundred, was it not?”

“Roughly, yes.” The Architect nodded slowly. “Hmm, very peculiar…”

“So what? He probably trades away the rest.” Happy gave a dismissive wave of his hoof. “Who cares what he does with it.”

“While it is possible he may stockpile a small amount, and despite the claims others make, no product is ever distributed outside of the city for trade.” The Architect’s voice gave Happy a moment of pause, and I had to wonder just how the hell we’d gotten to debating a few missing fruits instead of how we’re going to get Cora back. “There are two likely reasons for the variance. Either not all of the plants bear fruit, or there is a sizable population hidden somewhere inside the city. Perhaps, within the demonstration Stable itself.”

“Maybe that is where he keeps his slaves?” Bluejay spoke up. “I mean, he couldn’t possibly manufacture all of the drugs he sells by himself. He has to have some sort of internal labor force, separate from the labor slaves in the city.”

“Uh… wait a minute...” I felt the words get kicked out of my muzzle like always. But this was different, there was an underlying thought that struck me as she’d said that. “Mr. Wizard came from Marewaii, right? And that’s where Mirage ponies come from as well, right?”

I watched as Ping’s smile threatened to split his head in half as he followed my train of thought just before the Architect gave out a gasp. Happy and the two merc mares however just stared at me like I was crazy.

“What the hell are you asking me for?” PC gave out a growl as she shifted her annoyed glare to Bluejay. “Do you have any idea what’s going on, or what the fuck a mirage pony is?”

“If mirage ponies can passively power arcano-tech like I saw back in Destruction bay,” Looking over to Happy as I spoke, I gave him a nudge that only made him scrunch his muzzle further in confusion. “or like we know Pinstripe could do in the train garage…” At that, Happy connected it up and he let out a soft gasp. “Since you’re good at math, Ping, how many mirage ponies would it take to run his whole setup? Probably a few thousand, right?”

“It is a barbaric proposition, but it would be a safe estimate to say just over two thousand!” Ping gave out an excited giggle as he clopped his forehooves together. “I do believe we have finally uncovered our missing powersource, as well as the missing population all in one go!”

“However.” The Architect raised his voice, speaking over Ping’s giddiness, and forcing an abrupt stop to his giggles. “Now that we know this, the previous plan to destroy the facility must be scrapped, and a new one drawn up. This will take some time, but I have already started to recall assets that may prove useful.” Turning back to the board, he rose his forehoof and gave a dismissive wave to us. “I must think on this further. You all may leave for now, and I will recall you as well once we are ready.”

“Well then, if we’ve got some time…” Happy gave out a stiff stretch before giving a pat on my side. “I think I’m going to take a walk to clear my mind, maybe even get a nap in on that comfy couch you had, Night.”

“Ugh, some shut eye sounds nice right about now…” PC moaned as she hung her head and looked to finally relax a bit.

“You said it.” Bluejay nodded before waving to the green mare and turning toward the exit. “But first, let’s get some chow going. I’m starving.”

While my stomach could probably have used something to push back the nervousness that had grown from thinking about Hispano earlier, I couldn’t eat. On that, I’d slept for a fucking week, and while our short combat earlier had been exhausting to deal with, I wasn’t really tired. So then, what was I supposed to do to fill the time? Just wander around perhaps? Take some time to get to know some of the machines here? I mean, Happy had…

“Night?” Ping’s voice jarred me out of my own thoughts, and again, I’d jumped up about twice my own height. Before continuing, he forcefully stifled his own laugh as I came back down hard on my hooves. As my heart beat hard against my ribcage from yet another jumpscare, I shot him a sideways glance that I’d hoped didn’t come across as too harsh.

“I did not mean to startle you,” He giggled, “but I have good news! It was reported by Doc Groovy that a few minutes ago, Buck woke up. He is...”

Everything in my head stopped. While every errant thought in my brain jammed up with the news of Buck, my body didn’t need to be told what to do. Ping could have called out for me, but I’ll never know. To be honest, I think my ears shut off to protect themselves from the sheer amount of noise my hooves made as I scrambled across the floor.

And just like that, I was gone.

My heart was already racing from the jump scare, so bursting into a frantic gallop was more like my body coming up to pace. At least, that’s what I tried to convince myself of as I tore out into the long concrete hallways outside of the command center. Though slowly, a single, nagging thought wormed its way free in my brain.

Celestia, please don’t let me get lost in the dozens of similar looking tunnels here...

I’d only made a few wrong turns by the time Ping had managed to catch up with me and turn me in the right direction. Never before had I been jealous of a machine, but right now, I really hated the fact that Ping didn’t have to breathe. Actually, I’m pretty sure it was just my lungs and heart specifically that resented him for that. But, I was too busy heaving in gasping breaths to care as he carried me on his back the rest of the way to the surgical suite.

Instead of heading towards the normal door that lead into the observation room, Ping turned and opened a different door that revealed a short stairwell. Before he could say anything, I’d slid myself off of him and was pretty much already at the metal door tucked near the bottom of the stairs. Before I did anything more, I paused and looked up at him. Like normal, the beaming smile across his face didn’t mesh well with the nervousness I felt fluttering in my chest.

“I will stay up here.” He said softly, holding his hoof out towards the door. “Go, be with him during his time of need.”

I didn’t quite know what he meant by Buck’s ‘time of need’, but Ping didn’t have to speak twice. Nodding, I turned and pushed the handle of the cold metal door until the latch slid open with a soft click. Leaning into it, I pushed it open, and walked into the room.

Immediately, I nearly tripped over the smoking remains of the monitoring machine I’d seen Buck hooked up to. The smell of melting plastic and ozone hit me hard as my eyes trailed across the floor. Bits of metal and wire lay scattered across the sterile tiles, and the twisted hospital bed lay overturned in the middle of the room. My blood nearly froze in my veins as I tried to put together what the hell had happened.

A soft sniffle from my left forced me to pivot. Curled up on the floor in the corner of the room, sat Buck. Sparks flew from shredded and crushed bits of his metal limbs, and even his entire right mechanical forepaw lay on the ground next to him. However, even as I took in the extent of the damage to him, what must have been an industrial strength repair talisman got to work. The wires and tubes from his severed arm snaked upwards in the talisman’s magic, reconnecting to him as the other twisted metal parts on him shifted and pulled themselves into their previous shape.

Just hearing his soft sobbing made me want to sprint over to him, but I restrained myself. It was only because I was left with a reality I hadn’t really thought about. What do I tell him? What do I say about what happened? I want to tell him the truth, but…

“Leave me be, machine.” Buck’s sharp tone caught me off guard as he curled himself even tighter. “Haven’t you done enough to me already?”

“Buck?” His name slipped off my lips as my heart hurt.

“N-Night?” Buck sniffled. A small, soft whirr filled the air as his mechanical ear perked and spun.

The noises from his machine ear pitching around toward me was joined by the whines from the rest of his self-repairing mechanical body as he pushed himself over. I fought back the urge to look away as his Architect-esque mechanical eye beamed a soft, icy blue glow toward me. It was unnatural, cold and unexpressive, devoid of every ounce of love I’d once seen. But it was in his real eye that I could still see that love. Unfortunately, it also came along with the pain and despair that I’d come to understand all too well myself.

I couldn’t fight back any longer. My legs carried me forward, practically diving into his warm, welcoming fur. He let out a whimper, but slowly brought his metal limbs closer to me, stopping just short of touching me. Looking up at him, I found him avert his gaze, and he fell into soft sobbing again.

“No no, it’s fine, Buck.” I whispered softly as I pressed myself against him and just tried to hold onto him as tightly as possible. “You’re okay, and I’m here for you.” But as soon as I’d said that, a small pegasus in my head kicked out the thought that being here for him wasn’t what I needed to be saying right now. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.”

I know that I’d just damned myself to tell him the truth about what happened. But I couldn’t lie to him, not like I’d done in the past. No, I think that having come so close to losing him meant that from here on out, I couldn’t afford to keep anything like that from him.

So taking a deep breath, I looked back up at Buck and opened my muzzle.

“I didn’t mean for it all to happen. Delilah, she wanted to abandon Happy, and we got into an argument when I said we needed to get him back. I told her that if she wasn’t going to save Happy, I would. I told her that I was going to give Solomon the code for the Ark in exchange for his life.” I spat out as I tried to keep from breaking down. “I didn’t want to leave forever, I just wanted to keep her from sacrificing Happy for the Ark. She fired me, shot at and tried to kill me to keep me from leaving.” Looking down at Buck’s furred chest, I took a short breath and resisted the urge to bury my face in it and cry my eyes out. “But the Road Crew sabotaged the convoy, and they left you there for Solomon to…”

I lost control of my breath, hyperventilating as the whole sequence of events played over in my head. Tears dripped down my muzzle as I watched Delilah stare at me before going over the edge again. As I watched Hardcase die again.

“I know what happened, Night. The Architect showed me.” Buck’s soft voice was all it took for me to break down. I sobbed softly against his quickly matting fur, and I felt his muzzle come down and nuzzle at my head. “I know you tried to do the right thing, and I know how hard you tried to save Hardcase and…” He paused, letting his words die in his throat.

Slowly, I looked up at him. Tears dripped down from his remaining real eye as he held his mechanical paws up and looked at them.

“I should be dead.” His flat tone was matched with a soft but hollow forced laugh. “I hate it. Every bolt, wire, and talisman inside me. I just want to rip myself open and tear them from me, but I can’t even do that.”

“I’m sorry. I-I… couldn’t keep going, not if you were gone.” I whimpered as his words seeped in like poison, slowly but painfully working its way deeper and deeper inside my body and mind.

“I’m not mad at you, Night. I can’t be.” He sighed, slowly moving his metal paws down. With the lightest touch, he pressed the hard rubber pawpads down and held me. “It’s just… I spent all my life hating my oversized, clumsy paws. They were a reminder to me that I couldn’t allow myself to become the monster that ponies always saw me as. I never thought I'd actually miss them…”

“But it doesn't matter. It never has.” I sniffled and looked up to meet Buck’s distant gaze. “Your paws were a part of you, sure, but they weren't the part that counts the most.” Reaching up, I pressed my hoof down on his warm chest where his real, beating heart had once sat. “So long as your kindness and compassion survives, than it doesn't matter what the Buck I love has bolted, wired, or powered on inside him. You’re still the same snow dog I grew to care about more than anyone else in the whole wasteland.”

Buck’s silence as he took in my words wasn’t helping me to think that he believed any of that. So instead of waiting for him to understand, instead I decided I’d hammer my message home. Shifting myself on his chest, I leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on the end of his metal muzzle, sharing a somewhat hopeful smile that he’d at least find comfort in that small gesture of love.

Slowly, a smile parted his jagged jaw, and the spark of the old Buck I’d grown to love returned to his remaining real eye.

Only to be erased by a deadpan and a low growl.

“Ugh.” He snorted and lifted his paws to his metal skullcap. “Can’t you just leave me alone!?” As I scrunched my muzzle in confusion, a horrified look replaced Buck’s annoyance. “No, no, not you, Night.” He gave a solid tap against his head with his metal paw. “You have no idea how annoying it is to have somepony else inside your head.”

“Oh, I think I might have just a bit of an idea.” Now it was my turn to deadpan at him as he scrunched his muzzle up. Well, as much as he could scrunch it with his half metal face… but that put a smile on my lips all by itself. “You know, it’s actually nice to know someone else can understand just what that’s like.” I smirked and leaned forward to give Buck another soft kiss on the nose, and just from that, I could feel him relax underneath me. “Actually, I’m just glad to have you back period.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Night.” Buck brought his paws down from his head, and softly wrapped them around to hug me. “And… I hate to admit it, but I think I finally understand now.” His words were… oddly chosen and hesitant. Looking up at him, he offered me a reluctant glance. “The Architect, he’s shown me the necessity of fighting. I was a fool to have thought there was a better way to do things, and…” He squeezed around me tighter as he looked right into my eye. “And I’m sorry I’d judged you for not being as pacifistic as my impossibly naive ideals.”

“Buck…” I started to speak, but before I could continue, one of his metal digits had come around and pressed against my muzzle to silence me. While I was happy to have him back, that didn’t sound like the Buck I knew. I was more than a bit confused about just what had made him change his perspective, but I was damn sure I was going to ask the Architect about it later.

“I know it seems odd to you, but… truly, I understand the full extent of what’s at stake.” Nodding his head, he looked up at the glass in the observation room. The bright lighting of the surgical unit reflected off the metal mechanical bits of his head, and his expression turned cold. “I don’t like it, but I understand what we must do, Night. Solomon must be killed.”

I didn’t like that. Had I heard that from Happy, or Hispano, or even Ping, it would have been a one hundred percent accurate statement. But hearing it from Buck like this… I didn’t know what to think.

“Don’t kid yourself, Night.” The voice of Violet spoke from in the air above me. Shifting my gaze upward slightly, Violet flapped silently, casting her judgemental gaze down to me. “Deep down, part of you is a bit turned on now that you know he’ll forgive you for killing. Admit it, you can’t wait to have a murder-machine like him next to you as you slaughter countless ponies who didn’t need to die!”

“Buck…” I gasped, squeezing my own hooves around him tighter and tighter until he let out a soft whine. “I don’t care what the Architect said, or what you know now that you didn’t before. Just promise me, that we’ll still try to keep ponies alive. That we won’t kill unless we absolutely need to.”

“Of course, Night.” Buck’s tone softened again as he ran his metal paw through my mane and down my back. “Just because I see the necessity of it, doesn’t mean we can’t try to do better.”

“You’re lying to yourself, Night.” Violet’s voice whispered directly into my ear, making me shake slightly as her words felt like they jabbed right through my mind. “You felt great killing those under-equipped Puritan fools on the mountain road because, like with the case of me, you’ve got an addiction. You’ll default to killing every pony just because death is a high you can ride to numb yourself from the pain of the wastes around you.”

A sharp prick in my side forced a gasp to escape my lips. Shifting, I found Doc Groovy had floated in, and jabbed a needle that was far bigger than it should have been directly into my cutie mark. The numbing agent worked fast, and the same warm and intensely pleasurable feeling I’d had in the rover earlier washed over my body and mind.

“You’re an addict, Night!” Violet’s voice cried out as it grew softer amid the crashing pleasure inside me. “You’ll n-ever b-...” Violet popped out of my mind with the suddenness of a bursting cloud, leaving me pressing myself into the warm fur of Buck as the drugs worked their fantastic magic on my needy body.

Fuck, everything felt so damned good that I could just… fall asleep right here…

Bertha was nothing more than a wreck of burning and twisted debris. The front cab, the reactor bay, her entire front end was just… gone. Her rear frame, and what remained of her hauling bed, were scorched and twisted outward from the blast like a glowing steel flower. The containers that had once sat on her were strewn about the road and up on the valley dirt around her, most of them laying in a smoldering and twisted heap on the road behind the wreck.

“How much trouble would one bullet save me?”

BANG!

I woke from my impromptu nap to a hoof shaking my shoulder.

“You alright there, girl?” The voice of the blue mercenary mare filled my ear, and I forced back a yawn as I strained myself to open my eye. I was laying in one of the diner booths with the quilt from the office room draped over me. Staring up at her, she had a concerned look on her face. “You were whining and whimpering up a storm. Do you normally have nightmares that bad?”

“She’s an addict, Blue.” The green mare snorted from the booth beside the one I was in. “She probably just needs her to get her ‘fix’ on.”

“Incorrect, Mrs. PC.” The voice of a stallion cropped up as a set of amber colored eyes popped around the edge of my booth. The face of a portly tan stallion with a brown and yellow mane beamed an all too familiar smile to me. “Night Flight was administered a full dose of medicine one hour and ten minutes ago.”

“I didn’t ask you, Ping.” The green mare snapped at the stallion. Seriously, there was no need to be angry, lady! Ping was just...

Wait a damned minute…!

“Why the hell did you change your look, Ping?” I spat out as I pushed myself up from the musty bench seating.

“That ain’t our Ping.” Happy spoke up as he slowly walked his way into view of me. He wore the most infuriated face for some reason, and his glare burned at me just like Delilah’s had when I’d pissed her off. “That’s Unit Twenty Three, learn to tell them apart, Night.” He all but snarled as he walked past, heading for the door. What the fuck did I do to him?

“Happy Trails is correct.” The stallion nodded as he stepped out in front of my table. “Your Ping is Unit Two, and I must commend you on successfully bringing him back to the Factory.” The portly, tan coated earth pony stallion was just as bland as Ping was when it came to his ‘features’. Though, he wore a green flack jacket that was just slightly too small for him, as well as a pair of rugged looking saddlebags. Turning away, his same bright smile dimmed slightly as he watched Happy slip out the door. “However, it seems that your companion is upset with you. Perhaps you should speak with him?”

“What did I tell you about butting into other ponies problems?” Bluejay sighed as she wrapped a hoof around the stallion’s neck and pulled him away. “Come on, Ping, let’s leave the poor filly and her friend alone.”

“But Mrs. Bluejay, the Survivor isn’t…” The stallion began, but was quieted as he was dragged away from my booth.

Still, this ‘other’ Ping unit was right. If Happy was upset with me over something, I needed to find out why before we went to rescue Cora and Hispano. The last thing I need is a mule who’s too angry with me to listen to orders that will save his life.

Pushing myself from my seat, I left the warmth and comfort of the old quilt and headed for the hallway. Trotting out, I looked around, finding Happy already quite a ways off down the expansive tunnel. With a deep breath, I pushed myself up to a canter after him. Thankfully, it didn’t take me all that long to catch up with Happy, as he was practically dragging his hooves as I approached.

“Tell me why, Night.” He called back as he flopped himself down onto the floor with a long, apathetic sigh. “Why didn’t you just tell me what happened?”

“What?” Okay, where was this coming from? What did he… wait… “You mean with the convoy? I told you…”

“It’s what you didn’t tell me, Night.” He rose his voice to beat out mine, forcing as much spite into his words that it nearly bowled me off my hooves. “You’ll tell Buck the second he wakes up, but you didn’t think I could handle the truth? I was in the observation room when you confessed everything to him. Do you still think I’m some sort of walking joke or something?”

What I wanted to tell him, was that I was just trying to keep him from having a complete fucking breakdown before we could get away from Mr. Wizard’s place. What I should have told him, was that the entire situation was fucked up for all of us, and that I needed that lie as much as he did just to not give up then and there myself. But what came out of my muzzle, was both regrettable, and neither of those things.

“Can you blame me?” I spat back with a good helping of my own spite.

“Yeah! Yeah I fucking can!” Happy snapped back as he instantly rose to his hooves and wheeled around on me with rage flushing through his face. “You were going to give the Ark to Solomon! My mom had every right to shoot you on the spot for that shit!”

“And if she did, you would be dead, or worse!” I shouted, straining my voice as much as I could to force the point through his thick fucking skull. “If Delilah had killed me, Solomon still would have shot the convoy and killed everyone.”

“So then why did you lie to me!?” Happy ground his teeth and hooves, trying to contain the rage as it threatened to boil over. “You know, while you were recovering for a week, the Architect showed me what fucking happened. I couldn’t hear what you and Solomon said to each other, the recording didn’t have that. But it had enough for me to see the few ‘details’ you’d left out.” With a few heaving breaths, Happy’s head sank lower and lower until it hung just above the floor. “You want to know why I've been acting so differently, Night? I changed because I'm not worth what happened. Not to you, not to Ma’, not to the rest of them. If I’d just acted different, been better, then…”

“Then we’d both be dead right now.” I cut him off, sitting down hard. I get it. I really do understand why he felt betrayed that I didn’t tell him, but again I have to ask, could anypony really blame me? “I know that it’s fucking weird to see you act the way you have been, but honestly, Happy, I think this you is better.” His ears perked slightly at that, and he looked up at me with a tired gaze that yearned for a life outside of what we were stuck with in the north. “You don’t need to hide behind ‘the King’ anymore. You aren’t your father, and you aren’t Delilah. You’re free to be you now, and while that’s great, I need you to trust me.”

“You’re right, I do trust you, Night.” Pushing himself to sit on his haunches, he sighed and cast his gaze to the far off end of the tunnel. “But I don’t want you holding anything back from me because you think I can’t handle it. Yeah, I’ve got a lot to learn about making my own way in the wastes, but I’m not as fragile as you fucking think.”

“I don’t think you’re fragile, Happy. An idiot, maybe, but not fragile.” I let out a soft laugh at that. “A fragile pony wouldn’t have come back from that mountain road alive. And while I may not have told you everything before, again I have to ask you something. Knowing what we were faced with back at Mr. Wizard’s, could you really blame me?”

“I… I suppose not.” He sighed and finally relaxed a bit. “But from here on out, I’m serious, I don’t wanted to be foalsat when we’re out there. Just...” Looking up, he offered a weak, but somewhat sly smirk. “If it looks like I’m going to lose a leg or an eye or somethin’, then I guess it’s alright for you to foalsit me a little bit. Scars may make you look badass, but they can also make you look accident prone.”

“Alright, you’ve got a deal.” Standing back up, I held my hoof out to him. “But, you need to listen when I tell you to do something. Yeah, I won’t foalsit you, but if you’re about to do something incredibly stupid, I’m going to tell you to cut that shit out. If you don’t listen, then don’t fucking blame me for it.”

“Sure thing, Daddy-o.” Happy’s full fledged smirk returned to his muzzle as he reached out and gripped my hoof. He gave it a firm shake as he returned to his hooves as well. “But seriously, you do know how bad it’s going to look taking advice from a pony who’s more than a little bit accident prone…”

“Happy…” I shot him an incredulous sideways glance that forced out a laugh from him. Seriously? He’s a mule in a floral print tee-shirt, and he wants to make fun of the way I look?

“What? I’m only joking… mostly...” He laughed as he threw his hoof around my neck. “Seriously, maybe you should look into getting an eyepatch or something. Oh! Maybe Sierra’s got one lying around! Want to go check and see?”

Well, considering the Architect hadn’t come to get us yet, I don’t suppose why we couldn’t go and check. I mean, it’s not like getting something to protect my empty socket could hurt anyway. Not to mention, after getting a couple of crossbow bolts through my legs, maybe I can see if she’s got something I could use as lightweight armor or something…

“Y’all want an Eyepatch? Seriously?” Sierra flipped up the bulky and completely unnecessary welding helmet she wore instead of her metal cowpony hat.

From the way she shifted her featureless head towards Happy, I couldn’t help but feel like she was giving him an incredulous glare. That, or a look of confusion from how she brought her hoof up to her neck. She nearly struck the glowing element of the welder she still held in her hoof, but noticed it at the last moment and pulled it away from herself.

“I guess we might’a collected one, but I’ll have ta check for y’all in a tick. Just gotta finish this here seam.” Giving a single heavy nod, she flipped the welding hood back down before turning back toward the outstretched leg of the large bipedal machine we’d been stopped by when we arrived.

“Ah, there you both are.” Ping’s voice called from behind Happy and I as he trotted up to us. He trotted almost smoothly across the floor for having one hoof wrapped around something white bundled up in one hoof. It took my brain a moment, but the texture and gold trimmings on the object gave it away for what it truly was. “I have good news for you, Night! I do believe that I have found…”

“My dress!” I gasped, cutting him off as I all but ripped the fine garment from his hooves. Pulling it towards myself, I gripped around it tightly and brought it up to my muzzle. Rubbing it against me, I shuddered as I felt it’s silky smooth texture, and was pleasantly surprised that it only slightly smelled like fire and molten slag. “I can’t believe it survived!” I beamed out a smile as bright as Ping normally had as I moved my hooves to open it.

The rest of the dress shifted and unfurled from the bunched mess it had become, only to drop just a few hoofs lengths too short. The bottom of the dress was charred and blackened, and a massive tear sat through most of the main body of it. My smile immediately flipped to a frown as I now had to mourn for the loss of the once beautiful masterpiece.

“Well, it mostly survived.” Ping gave a knowing and soft nod. “I had hoped that given enough time, Sierra might be able to mend it.”

“Not that ah’m sayin’ ah can’t find tha time, but y’all have me runnin’ around here ta look fer things enough as it is.” Sierra sighed as she pulled the welder away from the bipedal machine’s leg and gave it a light tap. “Alright, P.B., yer good ta go. Try not ta get caught on any more tree stumps from here on out. I’m going ta go check if we’ve got any eyepatches stored in the back.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The jubilant machine boomed out through the speakers mounted somewhere inside her bulbous main body. The two magenta lights that hung under the body swiveled, converging on me. I almost had to raise my hoof to block the beaming light they gave off before she dimmed them slightly. “Ooops. Excuse me, Survivor, but why do you want to wear a dress?”

“What?” I winced as she literally put me in the spotlight. “Are you asking because I’m not a mare?”

“You aren’t a mare!?”She gasped and took a heavy step backwards. “Are you sure? You look so much like one!”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t you…” I’d begun to say when Happy nudged into my side sharply.

“P.B. here is… not up to speed on things in the factory.” Happy shot me a glare that sparked the memory of what he’d said before back into my mind. Right, just like Eliza, she couldn’t connect for some reason.

“Why did you want to know?” I forced out the words, trying to step past the social pitfall I’d just set up for myself. Seriously, I haven’t spent a week conscious here like Happy has. It’s not my fault I can’t remember all this shit!

“What is its intended function?” P.B. spoke up as her whole chassis rotated slightly, giving her body the look of being either slightly off balance, or probably more likely the intention, like she was confused. “Armor and barding is worn in the wasteland for protecting your organic parts from damage. But a dress like the one you have will only increase the probability of bodily harm by nearly three hundred percent.”

I blinked a few times before a rumbling inside me started. It came from deep down, but bubbled up as an infectious giggle. Seriously? I get that she was a war machine, but… did she really not understand the concept of just looking nice?

“Did I say something humorous?” P.B.’s eyes swiveled over to Happy and then to Ping. Before they could say anything, I raised my hoof as I tried to stem my laughter.

“Sometimes I just want to look good? And damn does it make me feel good, powerful, and most of all, free.” I managed to get out with only the tail end of my snickering keeping my muzzle pulled into a wide smile. “Haven’t you ever wanted to just… look good? If not for yourself, than perhaps for another machine?”

“Negative.” P.B. stated so matter-o-factly that I could almost feel her deadpan. “Maintenance keeps my chassis in ‘good’ shape, my fifty caliber autocannons are powerful enough to stand up against any target up to lightly armored vehicles, and I am in no way restricted or owned by the Factory. I am already as free as I can get within the parameters of my base coding.”

There was a pregnant pause that fell across the entire warehouse around us, as even the mechanical claws doing sorting and transport work froze up. Again, she’d delivered that with such seriousness, such stoicism that she couldn’t have possibly been completely serious…

“Did I say something offensive?” P.B. groaned as her eyes swiveled between us once more. “I am being completely serious. I have never felt the need to just ‘look good’.” Both Happy and I traded glances before we both burst out into laughter so intense that it actually hurt. Both he and I collapsed to the floor in gasps as Ping joined in laughing with us. “I… I don’t understand, why are you laughing?”

“It is okay, P.B., you do not have to hide your feelings around Night and Happy.” Ping’s laughter came to a sharp and abrupt stop, though his wide smile stuck around just the same as always. “I have noticed the special attention you garner to Unit Twenty Three when he is around.”

“It… it’s nothing like that!” She stammered out with a stiff stomp of her leg. Both Happy and I roared out with fresh laughter at that. Oh come on! You can at least try better than that to hide the fact that you care for someone else! “I can’t help it, it’s the form he projects himself as. Something about it is familiar to me, and I can’t figure out what it is.”

“Alright now, everypony just calm down.” Sierra called out as she trotted back with a whole heap of things balanced across her back. She stiffly turned her head up toward P.B. as the large legged machine turned to look down at the crash-test mare. “If you don’t quit stompin’ that leg, girl, I ain’t gonna fix itwhen ya bust it up again.” Turning sharply, her gaze locked onto Ping, who’s smile died out, and he gave her a wordless nod.

“And youtwo.” She rose her voice over the sporadic giggles Happy and I were still giving. “Just because we don’t understand half’a yer organic shenanigans, doesn’t mean y’all can laugh at us. We still got feelin’s of our own, and you best remember that ah don’t have ta help ya if I don’t want ta.”

“Sorry, Sierra. We didn’t mean anything by it.” Happy took a few moments to wipe the tears from his cheeks, and I figured I might as well do the same. “You’ve been nothing but swell folks to us, and at least I know that there’s going to be some things we don’t understand about each other. But we just have to remember that there’s plenty of common ground for us to share.” With a heavy thump, Happy’s hoof came down over my back and I found myself pulled right up against him. “Like the fact that Night here is probably going to lose a body part on this next job!” Oh ha-ha, Happy. Real fucking funny... “Any takers on exactly which part he’s going to lose? I’ve got dibs on his other leg!”

“Well calm yerself a bit, Happy. Ah have somethin’ here that might keep that from happenin’.” Sierra remarked as she reached her foreleg back in a way that with any organic pony, their leg would have to have been broken in several places. Carefully, she slid something quite odd looking off her back. It was a complex rigging of thin, white polymer sheeting and an articulating metal skeleton. Surprisingly, it’s a design I’d seen before years ago. “While we're fresh outta eyepatches and jump packs, ah did manage ta think up another way ta help ya out with yer... disability.”

“Really.” I deadpanned at her. “A double-wing trainer? You know that only foals use these in flight camp, right?” I knew that maybe I was letting a little bit of that trademark pegasis hubris get in the way, but seriously? “I didn’t even know these things came in a ‘full sized’ configuration…”

“Maybe that's how y’all did thing's above the clouds in the Enclave. But down here with us dirt folk, trust me when I say this thing is gonna let ya soar.” With a forceful toss, she effortlessly passed it through the air to me. I braced myself to catch it, expecting it to hit me like a truck, but it didn’t have nearly that much force. In fact, it was almost too lightweight for me to even comprehend. “It’s got a titanium frame, double reinforced bullet resistant polymer construction, and a set-a deceleron's instead-a normal ailerons means that it'll be usable as a set ‘a dive-brakes as well.”

“Decele-whatnow?” I spat out as I looked over the old metal framework, stopping when I spotted the slightly rusty looking stamping that had belonged to the Ministry of Wartime Technology. It sat just above a each wired talisman control box that sat at the end of the two forehoof braces, and sent wires out to each of the ultra-light wing modules. Faded, but still visible on those, were the outlines of the old symbol for the Pegasus airforce, as well as the designation A-10 inscribed under it. “Wait, this was used in the war!?”

“Sugarcube, units like this one were built fer divebombin’ and trench strafin’.” Sierra offered me a gruff grunt. “You ain't tha only pony in history ta git good at going down toward tha ground fast.” She froze up at that. “Uh, ah meant that inna good way, honest.” She offered a light chuckle before giving out a sigh.

“Now, Night, what do we say to the nice mare?” Happy whispered into my ear, pulling an aggravated sideways glance from me.

“This still doesn’t solve my flight problem.” I grumbled to Happy.

“Sure it does!” Sierra called out as she turned and picked up her welding gear from the floor. “Well, you've got flat feathers, and thus struggle with getting enough lift, right?” She wound up the long cable and hung it on the side of a small cart where the power source for the welder sat. She waited expressly for me to nod before continuing. “Well congrats, fer a tenth tha weight ’a your real ones, now ya got two more wings ta help with that. Y’all will still have ta flap em yerself, so it ain’t gonna be as easy as pushin’ a button, but I’d think it’s a damn sight better option fer a pegasus than bein’ stuck on the ground.”

“True…” I said slowly as I looked down at the complex harness. I didn’t know if it would really help me be able to fly like normal, but I did at least know one thing. “Thank you, Sierra.” She was right, she didn’t need to help me at all, and yet, here we were. “I’ll do my best to make it work.”

“You know,” Happy spoke up. Oh Celestia, if he has some sort of dumb comment or something… “Hispano was always riding you for being a lazy lump...”

“Happy.” I growled to him. As I tried to think of some sort of potent yet harmless retort, I had a spark of genius hit me in the form of a memory. “Remember when Hispano said that nopony can make fun of her Coltfriend but her? Yeah, it’d be a shame if I told her you’ve been doing nothing but giving me a hard time while she’s been all alone in the city...”

“Alright, alright! You win, ya’ smartass.” He rolled his eyes with a smirk and sat down. “So then, are you going to try that thing on, or what?”

I looked down at the mess of lightweight framework, and then over to him again. I don’t know why it’d taken me so long to realize, but I had no fucking idea what I was doing. Looking over to Sierra, I was met with a sigh from her as she gave off a small nod.

“Alright,” She waved for me to come over to her. “Give it here an’ ah’ll show ya how ta put it on.”

“Thanks, Sierra...” I flashed her a nervous nod. Oh Celestia, I could already tell that this was going to be oh so much fun to figure out...

Author's Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for his help in making sure the chapter is good to go!

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