“Now that the road crew are on board with the plan, I think we’ve actually got a fighting chance at this.” Double Delta flashed up a smirk as the group of us trotted back into the Arcturus’s command center. With a light hop, he stepped away from the dozen or so screens that had been monitoring every bit of what had gone on down with the Road crew. “However, your computer friend who’s stuck in our ship did have a bit of bad news.”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Looking back at Ping, he gave me a soft nod as he spoke. “We have received word back from Mrs. Cap and Mrs. Bluejay. Their Celestia’s angel contacts in the city have agreed to help out in the coming fight, with the exception of the Cantercross Police Department.”

“But that…” Buck started to say, but was cut off by a loud clang as once again his metal skullcap struck the small bulkhead that lead in from the Core Systems room. Rubbing at the metal, he frowned and glared at the doorway. “As I was saying, that’s a shame, as the police force has the numbers that would easily swing the fight in our favor.”

“Unfortunately, they will not join in the fight.” Ping’s out of place smile swung around to face the monitors as they all flickered over to show various displays from the Silverfish drones currently flying over the city. “However, they will abscond from defending Mr. Wizard’s employees as well. It seems that they will sit out the fight until one side has a decisive advantage.”

“Then we better make sure it’s us.” Pastel spoke up as he squeezed past Buck through the open bulkhead. “And don’t call them ‘employees’, that’s too nice of a word for his goons.” Turning, he threw up a quick, stiff salute to me. “Captain, I’m happy to report that Scribe Tofu has green-lit all weapon systems. They will be at your command for the fight.”

Ugh, I didn’t like that. I’m not the ‘captain’, I didn’t deserve to be. And I definitely don’t want to be ‘in command’ for a fight that’s going to be one of the most hectic ones I’ll have been in yet. Then again, maybe I don’t have to be.

“That’s going to be your job, Buck.” Turning to him, I didn’t like dumping this responsibility onto his shoulders, but in my defense, it had several advantages. He’s connected to the factory, so he’ll be able to coordinate better, and he’ll be out of harm’s way! It’s a win win.

“I can do it, Captain!” Eliza’s bright cartoony mare popped onto literally every screen in the command center. “Use of all independent assets will raise the probability of success, and I am an asset uniquely positioned to maximize the utilization of this cloudship’s arsenal. And remember…”

“I’m here to help.” Nearly everyone but me repeated her phrase as she spoke it.

“You have no idea how often she says that.” Pastel deadpanned at me before he had his attention pulled to the bulkhead behind Buck. After spending only a few days with Eliza, yeah, I think I did know how they felt. Not that there’s any problem with Eliza expressing a willingness to help!

From behind Buck, Frescas stiffly walked out with her frizzy mane looking more unkempt than ever.

“Frescas, you’re awake.” Delta stiffened up as she glared at us through her tired eyes.

“You’re about to go to war in my ship. How could I sleep?” She spoke through a yawn that threatened to lean her so far to her side that she’d collapse. However, she straightened herself up again and threw me a lazy salute before groggily walking over to the monitors where Delta was standing. “Give me something to do, Captain. I won’t sit idly by in a fight.”

“Why the change of heart?” The words slipped from my muzzle, and I cringed at just how terrible that made me sound. Why, Night? She’s on board to help, why the fuck couldn’t you just let that be?

“Really?” She perked her tired expression as she shot me an incredulous glare. “This ship is my life. You have my word that I’ll help you protect it, but only as long as the others are on board to help as well. You understand that, don’t you, Captain?”

Something about that… the words she chose, the way they sounded. They felt like a painful echo in my mind. Where had I heard that before? Or at least…

“What… did you just say to me?” I asked almost reflexively as a sharp pain picked up behind my empty socket.

Blinking, everything around me shifted, and once more I was standing on the overpass and looking directly at Solomon. He held my mother’s tags in his hoof, glaring at me just like he had on that day. With a smirk, he glanced between the tags and myself.

“But you understand that, don't you?” Solomon’s voice was like a sledgehammer being thrown about inside my head. It hit all of my thoughts, crushing any and all rationality from my mind and forcing my bruised and battered mind to fill the void of those with nothing but rage. “I may be a stallion of my word when it comes to business, but only so long as others are as well.”

No... Solomon wasn’t going to kill them. Not this time.

My hooves pushed forward, and I lunged at the pretentious Saddle Arabian. With a howl of pure rage, I came down on him hard. I didn’t care if Rook or Jess shot me to stop my assault, not if it saved the others. But somewhere in the depths of my mind past all the rage and sorrow, I knew the truth that all of this had happened before. I just… didn’t realize it until it was too late.

“Night!” Buck’s voice ripped me back to reality, and with yet another blink, the scenery of the highway was replaced with the interior of the Arcturus. “Calm down!”

His voice gave my mind the foundation to pull itself back together on, and as his mechanical arms wrapped around me and pulled me away, I realized that what I’d seen was just another hallucination. Looking down, Frescas pulled herself up off the floor with a trickle of blood streaking down her nose. The glare she held was worse than any Delilah or Solomon could’ve held at me. Not because she was more angry than either of them had ever been, but because this time, I actually deserved the anger she held.

“I uh… I’m sorry.” I forced myself to say as Buck pulled me tightly back against his chest.

“Fucking whatever.” Frescas grumbled before putting a hoof to her nose to wipe away the blood. “Just stay the fuck away from me.”

I couldn’t blame her for that. It wasn’t enough for me to just say ‘sorry’ when I should have more control over things. She didn’t deserve to have this ship stolen from her, and she didn’t deserve to be roped into helping us. But we’d come too far now to apologize and just let things be.

“Night, what’s going on?” Buck asked as he picked me up off the floor and held me in his mechanical paws. He held the same worried look as always in his organic eye, and the frown stretched across his muzzle sent another wave of guilt through me.

“It’s getting worse, the hallucinations.” I had to tell him the truth, that my visions were becoming more intense. “It happened down with the Road Crew as well. It was… it was like I was there again, with Solomon.”

“The neurological degradation of his condition is developing more rapidly than anticipated.” Ping spoke as he trotted past us toward one of the consoles near Double Delta. Pulling it up, he hoofed at it and wrote dozens of lines of code into the machine. “I must send this data back to the Factory. Doc Groovy might be able to synthesize another formula to help stem the visions. For now, I recommend that we have Night sit out the fight in order to recover.”

“I would agree, but there’s no time for that.” Buck sighed as he looked over to Ping. “If Night doesn’t show up for the deal, you know that Mr. Wizard will know something is up and will call it all off.”

“Night’s condition must be reassessed.” Ping retorted without sparing a second to let Buck’s words sink in. “The risk of permanent irreversible damage raises with each hour he is not being treated with the proper formula.”

“I know that, Ping.” Buck sighed, “but we’re nearly ready to begin the rescue operation, and we don’t have the equipment on board to synthesize a new formula.” Turning his attention back to me as he spoke, something about the way Buck’s expression grew more vacant made me think that he was forcing himself to hide how he really felt about this from me. “Until this is over, you must do your best to suppress what you see.” With a shift of his cybernetic arm, I felt a sharp jab just underneath my right wing. Immediately, the numbing feeling of the medical cocktail flooded through my body and I felt a smirk pull across my muzzle. “I’m sorry, Night.”

“Why are you sorry?” I felt a giggle escape my lips as I felt better than I had in hours. “This feels too good for you to be sorry.”

Seriously, why couldn’t he just keep me this way through the whole job? It would make it so much easier for when things started to fall apart like normal. Also like normal, sadly, the warming numbness that the drugs spread through me started to wear off, and I found my bliss evaporate away far too quickly. As much as I tried to hold on to that feeling, it was like trying to keep a pile of sand in your hoof, and eventually, it all slipped away forever.

I blinked as something wet hit my muzzle. Looking up, I watched as tears rolled down Buck’s cheek and dripped down onto me. Why… oh goddesses, what is fucking wrong with me?

“I’m so sorry, Night.” He sniffled before he pulled me up tightly against his warm and fuzzy chest. His expression had cracked, and I could see through the hollow and vacant sadness he held. For all the strength that his cybernetics gave him, the one thing that he couldn’t hold back, was showing me how much he was actually hurting inside.

“It’s okay, Buck.” I whimpered as I wrapped my hooves around him and pulled myself tighter against his fur.

No matter how good the medication felt to me, there wasn’t a single thing in the world that would numb the pain Buck felt. He’d had to watch as I became the addict I am, and to change from one perceived monster into another. Even still, I know that what he’s had to experience hurts him more than he could ever bring to words. That’s why after this fight was over, I was going to be done with taking these meds, with taking small steps to get better.

I needed to get clean for good so I could be there for him, like I always should have been.

With a click, the musty flight cap on my head gave a burst of static as the radio talisman in it booted up.

“Coms check.” Captain Pastel squawked into my ear sharply. “Arcturus to operational team, come in.”

“Yeah yeah, I can hear ya.” Happy snorted from beside me.

With a metallic ‘thunk’, the magnetic seal released, and the Remora dropped off of the Arcturus and into the air. Happy admittedly did his best not to whimper, but even quieted, it came through my headset crystal clear.

“Do not be afraid.” Ping’s words meshed as terribly as always with his beaming smile as he looked between Happy and I. “The plan will work.”

I’d love to have believed that, but with my curse? Not a chance this goes even an ounce right. All I can hope is that it doesn’t go completely wrong fast enough that we can’t get Cora out of there safely.

“Alright, the Arcturus will be in position over the city center in fifteen minutes.” Buck’s voice came through the radio with a slight amount of fuzz to it. “The Remora is going to land right in the center of the Station District. From what the silverfish drones have surveyed, Hispano has been staying at the hotel inside the station itself. Get to her, fill her in on the plan, and then get to the Science Center.”

“I feel that this may not be the time to bring it up,” Ping retorted as he looked over directly at me. “But why do you refer to the surveillance units as ‘silverfish’?”

“Cause they look like fish… that are silver?” Happy stole the words right out of my muzzle before I could even blurt them out. Looking over to me he shrugged. “Am I wrong?” I offered him a noncommittal shrug that seemed to be good enough an answer for Ping.

Honestly, I already had enough to worry about to care to talk about this right now. Taking a deep breath, I hoofed over the straps of my double wing trainer, making sure they were secured tightly. I paused for a moment to look at the six odd looking grenades tucked under my left wing. Each was a sleek black cylinder with a single painted ring sitting around the front end of it.

Five of them had red rings painted on them, which Tofu had informed me were actually Ranger designed and manufactured micro-grenades. They were normally supposed to be shot out of a standard forty millimeter grenade launcher, but she said she modified them so that they’d arm their impact fuse the moment they were dropped from my harness. As it turns out, the Rangers aren’t really fans of blowing up their own squads in indoor operations, funny that. To me, that seemed like an almost too rational thought for technophiles obsessed with big guns to have had. Especially ones that out of anyone ‘civilized’ in the wastes so far, have had no care about leaving a few too many unintended casualties in their wake.

And well, as much as an asshole like Mr. Wizard deserved it, I’d think it would take away from a rescue mission if I were to accidentally blow up the entire room.

The one grenade on my gear with the blue ring on it however, now that grenade was a special case. A modified version of the standard Mk II pulse grenade, it was something I’d expected from the likes of the Rangers. Developed by them to knock out even pulse hardened systems, the modification sacrificed the standard capacitor as the means for producing the pulse, in favor of, if I’m to believe it, half a bottle of Sparkle-Cola Rad wrapped in copper wire and high explosives...

Yeah, I may not be the smartest pegasus when it came to weaponry, but I couldn’t even attempt to wrap my head around using a bottle of soda as a weapon. Still, Tofu said it would work, and far be it for me to tell her she’s crazy. And if the Architect’s info was to be believed, if they brought in power armor to use against us, well, I’m pretty sure the power of this grenade could turn the tide of the fight.

“If I may, Night.” Ping spoke up and pulled my attention off the grenades under my wing. I turned to him to find a more nervous than usual look across his muzzle, while his eyes were completely locked on the blue ringed grenade itself. “I do not know if I need to tell you this, but pulse weaponry of that magnitude will destabilize my internal spell circuitry, and completely burn out my core processing units.” Ping’s flat tone eased up on it as his eyes still didn’t leave the grenade for even a moment. “Under no circumstances are you to use it if I get outside of thirty meters of you.”

“Excuse me, what?” I blurted out and narrowed my eyes at him. “Once the trade is complete, and we started fighting, I was going to save it for if any Power armor showed up.”

“Negative.” Ping shook his head with a deep frown. “If you must, use it at the start of the fight, before I am taken too far away to be affected by it.”

“What are you saying, Ping?” I forced out a laugh at the ridiculousness of what he was asking me to do. “That you want me to kill you?”

“If it comes to a point where I am not able to stay within range, then yes, that is correct.” He nodded as his bright and beaming smile pulled across his muzzle once more. “I am glad that there is no confusion.”

“The fuck there is no confusion!” Happy snapped at Ping before spinning around to nearly pin me back against the hull of the Remora. “Night, you are not going to use that grenade.” With a growl, he looked back and shot a narrow eyed glare at the artificial zebra. “This wasn’t part of the plan, Ping.”

“Actually... it was.” Buck’s hesitant voice came over both Happy and I’s headsets. “Should we fail to kill Mr. Wizard and topple his operation, we cannot allow Ping’s components to fall into his hooves intact. The damage he could do if he reverse engineered Ping’s processors would be almost immeasurable.”

No, that didn’t sit right with me.

“Then we’ll just have to make sure Ping isn’t taken at all.” I snapped at both Buck and Ping. Flaring my grenade wing out, I reached over with my hoof and wrapped it around the blue grenade. With a soft click, I forced it out of it’s mount and kept my fetlock tightly gripped around it. Needless to say, both Ping and Happy had a look of pure horror as I held the live weapon in my hoof.

“Night, just be careful with that now…” Happy muttered as he took a step back away from me and toward Ping. All I gave him in return was a glare that I felt was completely deserved on his part. “Don’t want to crash this thing and kill us all, you know?” He forced out a nervous chuckle as he took yet another step back.

“Night, what are you doing?” Buck’s strained voice came over the headset in a way that didn’t help me feel like he was at all going to say anything constructive. “You need that to make sure that Mr. Wizard can’t make his own machines. This isn’t the plan!”

“No! You had hours to bring this up when you went over ‘the plan’.” I snapped at him as I fought back the urge to just throw this stupid fucking grenade as hard as I could against the wall in an attempt to break it. “Why didn’t you bring this up?”

“Because we knew you wouldn’t want to do it.” Buck’s sigh over my headset told me that he was frustrated, and believe me, I get it. But he had no fucking right to just omit something as big as this. “Night, this isn’t something we can debate. Trust me, I feel the same way, you know I do. But the Factory, they’ve shown me what will likely happen if Mr. Wizard wins.”

“Fuck that!” Giving a firm stomp on the metal floor plating, I didn’t understand why Buck didn’t get it. This wasn’t about what might happen, it’s about what will happen. ”I will not be asked to kill Ping. I’m happy that you see that the Factory opened your eyes to the need for violence, Buck. But I don’t care how necessary you say this is, I am not going to do it.”

With a light thump under all of our hooves, the Remora came to an abrupt stop. The hydraulic systems in the walls unsealed the cabin doors and rolled them back slowly. The crisp, cool outside air rushed into the stuffy cabin, and the soft morning light gave the dull cabin lighting a slightly blue hue to it.

“It is alright, Buck.” Ping’s expression softened as a sad smile formed across his muzzle. “The Architect had thought this might be a likely outcome.” Stepping forward toward the open air, Ping looked up and out into the collection of wild clouds drifting across the morning sky and took a deep breath. “I do not blame you for this, Night. I am thankful to know that you consider me with such regard. But know that the well being of the many is far more important than the one.” Casting a slight glance over to me, he nodded toward the station itself as his normal smile returned. “For now, let us go retrieve Hispano.” With that, he stepped out into the morning air and disappeared around the front end of the Remora.

Taking a deep breath, I did my best to try to calm down. Twisting my hoof to look at the blue ringed grenade in my fetlock, I again lifted my wing and looked at the empty spot that sat in the grenade rack. I know that the many take priority over the few, that was the whole lie the Enclave sold us.

This was selfish of me, I got that much. But however ‘necessary’ this was, it didn’t mean it made it any easier to accept. And in looking out at the early morning skies, I closed my eye and tried my best to do just that.

“Night?” Happy’s voice interrupted me, and before I could be frustrated at it, I felt his hoof press down on my back. “Look I… I think you’re right.” Opening my eye again, I turned and glanced at what I could call a sincere and pleading look. “We can’t let them take Ping, and we can’t kill him.” Giving me a solitary nod, he forced himself to flash his overconfident smirk up on his muzzle. “So we’ll just have to kill them all first, right?”

“Right.” I nodded back at him before looking down at the grenade in my hoof. No, I wouldn’t accept that Ping had to die. There had to be another way. “Why don’t you and Ping head inside? I’m going to find somewhere to dispose of this.”

Flaring out my wings, I hopped out of the cabin of the Remora. A crowd of onlookers had gathered around the sleek skycraft, and hushed murmurs swept through the crowd as both Happy and I emerged. The moment we were out, the hydraulic systems in the ship hummed to life again, and the panel doors slid shut once more.

Taking a moment to look around the plaza again, it felt… different this time around. Maybe it was because in the early morning, there wasn’t the massive crowd of ponies moving around the outskirts yet. But I don’t think that was it, not even close. Honestly, this place felt different because the one who’d appreciated it more than anypony else was gone now. Knowing how much Hardcase had enjoyed his time here, it just felt all the more hollow to return.

A feeling I was all too eager to push out of my mind and get away from as fast as possible.

I flapped hard, kicking myself up into the sky. I could feel the dew wick along my wings in the cold morning air, and the smell of the saltwater bay was thicker than I remember it being last time we were here. As I pushed myself up higher and higher, eventually matching the height of the enormous dancing mares of the Station itself, I reoriented myself and searched for somewhere to get rid of this grenade.

In my search, I ended up facing the south end of the city. The overgrown buildings reclaimed by the encroaching forest seemed different from in the air. Something about this perspective just made the advance of the flourishing greens seem all the more inevitable to me. Like for as pristine as inner city Cantercross still was, it was only a matter of time before it all crumbled to nothing.

But as I contemplated flying over there to dump the grenade down where it wouldn’t harm any machines, I paused for long enough that I nearly fell out of the sky.

Sitting above what I think was Doc Sunshine’s house, was a cloud. Not just any cloud, but a small and fluffy cloud that was just inconspicuous enough that it would be missable to most. Looking back down a the station, I wondered just what Hispano and Cora’s cloud was doing all the way out here in the first place.

Had Hispano put it up after she returned from getting the book? Did she stash it over here as a quick hideout for when she got her father out? There were too many questions to ask, but yet I found myself aim in that direction and glide.

It was a short flight, but as I approached the small cloud, I noticed that it’s consistency had been well kept. Maybe Hispano was going to use it as a hideout as I’d thought. Perhaps…

*Clack*

The sharp sound of a heavy bolt from the interior of the fluffy cloud made me freeze up momentarily.

“Whoever you are, you have ten seconds to get the fuck away from my cloud.” Hispano’s stressed voice was telling of just how much she’d been through, but… oh goddesses it was good to hear it again.

“Hispano, it’s me.” I couldn’t spit those words out fast enough as my spreading grin could probably be seen through the white cloud. “You have no idea how good…”

I was cut off as an olive and brown bolt tore through the side of the cloud. The wind was knocked from my lungs as a pair of tight talons locked themselves around my barrel. I flailed and flapped my wings to keep the sudden extra weight attached to me airborne as a squeal of joy reverberated through Hispano and sunk into me.

“You’re alive!” She gasped as she squeezed around me even tighter than before. So tightly in fact that I wondered about the tensile strength of the titanium struts for my wings…

“Yeah…” I wheezed out as I gave her a few firm taps on the back. I’m happy to see you as well Hispano, but… “I need air…”

“Sorry!” She whimpered as she let go of me. With an excited flutter of her wings, a grin like mine spread across her beak, and tears formed in her eyes. She nearly vibrated with pure, unbridled happiness. “I just… when I got back and you were gone, and then Buck was missing, and then I found out about dad, and…”

“It’s alright, Hispano.” I laughed and brought my hoof up to rub at my neck, only to remember it’s got a quite live pulse grenade still held in it. “Trust me, I know how you must feel, but there’s a fight coming, and we’re going to need your help. It’s time somepony did something about Mr. Wizard and his drug empire.”

“You had me at ‘trust me’, Dum Dum.” With a sniffle, Hispano brought her talon up and grabbed her flight cap. After a quick rub of it across her face, she’d wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked tired and stressed, but just as enthusiastic as ever as she brought Suiza around on her sling. But with words and a curious glance that I should have seen coming, she pointed her talon at the grenade still held in my fetlock. “So uh… what’s that for?”

“Oh, nothing. I just came out here to get rid of it.” With a shrug, I gave it a lazy toss down towards the buildings below.

Both Hispano and I watched it arc through the air, dropping between two of the nearby overgrown buildings. With a flash and a crackle of thunder, the improved pulse grenade detonated. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t impressed as I could feel the static electricity from it wash over me even up here in the air. Thank the goddesses that most of my mane and tail were too short to be frizzed out of it, or I’d probably look ridiculous.

“Really, Dum Dum? A pulse grenade?” Hispano’s deadpan prompted me to glance over at her just in time to watch the old compass hanging around her neck finish spinning wildly. Her feathers had bristled out, puffing up around her face and out from under her flight cap like she’d been hit by a giant blow dryer. And I couldn’t help myself from letting a giggle escape my lips. Goddesses, she looks like the griffon equivalent of when Buck had his blow-dry up at Fort Mac. “Do you have any idea how long it’s going to take to preen this all back down?” She let out her own giggle as she rolled her eyes. “Anyway, where exactly are we going?”

“The Hotel.” I turned myself to point toward Gateway Station. “Happy and Ping are already there, looking for you, actually.” Which brought up a very interesting point, “By the way, why were you staying in your cloud?”

Hispano gave an indifferent shrug as she tried to pat down the feathers around her face with mixed results. “Those silverfish drones that had been following us? Well, for some reason they were constantly watching me, and it was giving me the creeps. Figured I’d give them the slip as I tried to plan out dad’s rescue.” Cocking a freshly fixed eyebrow at me, she looked over my double wing trainer. “So now I guess it’s my turn. What the fuck took you so long, what happened to your magic gem-eye, and where’d you get the new stuff?”

“Well let’s just say there was a good reason that the silverfish were watching you.” I flashed her a nervous smile that I’m guessing didn’t exactly fill her with confidence. “Trust me, it’s a long story that’ll make sense once Ping explains everything to you.” Lining myself up with the station, I was about to dip myself into a glide when Hispano’s talon pressed against my chest and stopped me.

“One… last thing, Dum Dum.” Hispano’s words were hesitant, and when I looked at her, she held a sadly vacant look in her eyes. “What happened… to Buck?”

“Again, I’ll have to let Ping explain that…” I cringed as I said that. Great, I’d gone off on the Architect and Ping for being vague, and now I was the one being vague about things. “Let’s just say, he’s going to be a bit different from now on...” Yeah, what a great idea, Night! Because that line worked so well when used on me.

“Different how.” Hispano narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her talons across her floofed breast.

Oh Hispano, how much I’ve missed you.

It was odd being back in this room. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d been lost in the numbing warmth of a bottle of Chill as I did my best to forget about how Solomon had stolen my family from me. It feels like so long, but it’s just because I’d learned about how wrong that was in such a short amount of time.

It hadn’t taken much time to fill Hispano in on the adventures that Happy and I had been through. Funny thing was, she took it a whole lot better than I’d thought she would, really. She didn’t believe us when we’d told her what the Factory had done to Buck, at least, not until I asked Ping to reveal himself to her.

With a flicker of magic, Ping’s striped form returned to normal, and he showed a very tired expression to me.

“I understand the necessity of revealing this knowledge to Hispano, and to some extent, to the Rangers aboard the Arcturus.” The frown Ping’s muzzle drooped too said more about his apprehension than his words ever would. “But please, the true nature of this physical body is something that must not be revealed to everyone we encounter.”

“Yeah yeah, your secret’s safe with me.” Hispano waved her talon dismissively in Ping’s face as she pretty much pressed her beak right up against his body. “Geez, this is the most detailed disguise spell I’ve ever seen. Truly remarkable… and you said this ‘Architect’ guy made this?”

“He built my physical body, however, a ping unit crafts the details of their own illusion.” The pride that had been held with that info before was gone as Ping’s tone shifted to one of more urgency. Turning to me, I could see now that it wasn’t just his tone that had changed. Ping looked nervous to me, which to be honest, made me nervous to see. “That however can be explained more in depth later. The Arcturus is in position and waiting, and we must initiate the deal as soon as possible.”

“Alright, what can I do?” Hispano didn’t even skip a beat as she spun Suiza around on her sling and grasped her sister tightly between her talons. With a light tap against the large drum magazine sticking out of the gun, Hispano gave a squeal of delight as she cycled the heavy bolt.

“The plan is for Night, Happy and I to initiate a trade for your father.” Ping fired back with the same urgency as Hispano’s response. He flashed a frown to her that seemed forced to me, but it was hard to tell with how off he seemed to be. “Unfortunately, you are not part of the rescue plan, so you must stay out of the way to ensure there are no outside variables. Perhaps you could be utilized in another facet of the operation...”

“What!?” Hispano squawked and nearly flailed her sister out of her grip. “He’s my dad. You can’t just ask me to sit back and do nothing!”

“Hispano,” I took a step toward her and pressed my hoof against her side. “I understand how annoyed this must make you feel, but it’s going to be alright. We’re going to get him back.”

“No, I’m not sitting on the sidelines for this!” She huffed and shot me a painful glare. “Dad always made me sit out on his jobs. Hell, you had me run an errand only to come back and find everything had gone wrong. I am not sitting this out just so things can go to shit again!” Turning back to Ping with a growl, she prodded at his chest with an outstretched talon. “Find someway for me to help with this, or I swear that I will go after Mr. Wizard and get my father back on my own.”

Wow, it was so odd hearing that from someone else’s lips. But that’s exactly why I knew she was right. And to be completely fair, after all the extra time we took to even get here today, Hispano had waited long enough to get her father back.

“Alright, change of plans, Ping.” I watched as my words threatened to have Pings frown sink down to his neck. “She’s coming with us. Mr. Wizard will have to deal with the fact that she has a right to be there when her father is returned.”

A moment of silence filled the small hotel room that was so thick that Happy probably could have cut through it with his Sword. And from the incredibly awkward look he held on his face, I could bet he’d have done just that to save himself from it. But hey, at least he’d had the decency, or the intelligence, not to get involved in this whole back and forth so far…

“As you wish.” Ping broke the silence with a sigh and a slump that made him look like he’d been beaten up and utterly defeated. “She can perch herself on the building where we’d viewed her before. Her autocannon should make for an adept distraction once the trade has been made.”

“Thank you.” Hispano let out a sigh of relief for the both of us before she set her sister down on the floor. “I just want to help, even if it’s providing fire support.” Turning to me again, she pushed herself up against my side and hugged me tightly. “Just please, make sure to get him out of there in one piece.”

“I think Cora can handle himself, but I’ll make sure he gets out alright.” I smirked as I reached over and hugged her back. She gave off a blush I could feel through my coat as she nodded.

“Yeah, it’s really Night who you should be worrying about losing pieces of.” Happy spat out with his trademark sly grin pushing across his muzzle. Yeah, you didn’t have to say anything, you know…

“Again, we must return to the Remora now.” Ping’s voice rose enough that it nearly reverberated off of the hotel room’s walls. “Time is running short, so you must all revel together later.” Turning to the door, Ping walked over, opened it, and left without another ounce of hesitation in his steps.

“Well isn’t he just a barrel of laughs…” Hispano grumbled as she let go of me.

Happy and I traded worried glances before nodding to each other. While I’d both dreaded and waited for this moment, today was the day, and now was the time. For better or for worse, Mr. Wizard’s empire was going to fall.

The three of us headed out the door and after Ping. We trotted back through the lobby just in time to see him dip through the double doors that lead back out to the wide open Plaza. Looking over at the concierge desk, I’d wondered where Ritz Tabard was. I hadn’t seen him when we came in, and while it wasn’t imperative, I did feel like thanking him for letting us use his room.

Shrugging off the unfortunate missed opportunity, I pushed ahead of Happy and Hispano to the door. With a grunt, I threw it open and stepped through into the cold and quiet morning air. But with the next few steps I took into the open plaza, I felt my momentum drain as something about the outside struck me as wrong.

If he’d just walked through the doors, where the fuck was Ping?

Looking around over the wide plaza, I was immediately hit by the feeling of loneliness I’d felt before. But this wasn’t triggered by the thoughts of Hardcase this time, rather, it was because this place was entirely empty now. Even the small crowd that had gathered around the Remora was entirely absent, and that fact alone sent alarm bells ringing in my head.

“Wait a second.” I muttered as Happy and Hispano stepped up on each side of me. “Ping?” I called out across the plaza, hoping that I’d see his beaming muzzle pop out of the Remora. But only stark silence answered my call. “Buck, Ping’s missing.” I tapped at my headset as I waited for a response. “Hello? Buck?” Again, only silence came. “Something’s not right here.”

“Yeah, no shit something seems up.” Hispano cooed softly as she reached back to grab Suiza. “This feels like an ambush to me.”

“Oh come on.” Happy rolled his eyes and pushed himself to trot ahead of me. “You guys are too paranoid. Why the hell would Mr. Wizard…” Happy’s words were abruptly cut off as he ran straight into something that didn’t exist. With a grunt, he turned himself to look up at the air as it shimmered.

With a flash of magic, the towering form of a set of construction power armor just like Motor Grader’s appeared. The bright orange and yellow suit was just as robust as Motor’s, but held a large minigun on the right, and a box that looked oddly similar to the jammer Pinstripe had built on the left. Streams of pink cloud drifted out of every damn metal seam and joint of it, and it’s hydraulically powered limbs whined as the pony inside turned the glowing headlight-esque eyes of it’s helmet on me. Across the armored forehead of the helmet, I could barely read a single word between the beaming eyes.

Dozer

“Well well.” The amplified voice that pumped through the speakers in the power armor helmet was too familiar for both Happy and I to not cringe at it. Of course it had to be Tall Tale in the suit. “So nice to see you two again.”

Happy turned to me with a panicked look. He’d hardly had a chance to even open his muzzle before Tall Tale’s heavy armored forehoof kicked upward under him. Happy let out a breathless scream as he was tossed through the air like it was nothing, coming down hard behind Hispano and I.

“Be smart, don’t get up.” Tall Tale let a chuckle slip through his words as his massive suit of power armor lorded over us.

“Or do. It’d be a lot more fun to watch you get your flanks hoofed to you after what you did to Tall.” Messy called out as he trotted around the backside of the Remora. “You know, I’ve gotta hoof it to Tall Tale here. He really knows how to pull off a surprise heist, doesn’t he?”

Flanking him on each side was a pair of armed goons. With the exception of the pink stallion in the center and Tall Tale, they were all armed with basic Equestrian combat rifles. But while this turn of events was troubling to say the least, it still didn’t answer what had happened to Ping.

“So, are you idiots going to stand down and come with us willingly, or what?” Messy called out before nodding to each of the goons at his side. “Mr. Wizard doesn’t have all fuckin’ day to wait for an answer.”

“Alright, alright!” I called out, flaring my wings out and sitting up on my rear hooves. “We’ll come quietly.” Looking over at Hispano, I watched her shift a sideways glare at me like I’d just betrayed her. “Oh come on, Hispano. This is just like what happened with those mercs from Whitehorse.”

It took all of a split second for Hispano to get what I was saying and let out a gasp. In near synchronicity, both Hispano and I pushed off the ground and took to the air. Please Celestia don’t let me make the wrong call here!

“Oh for the love of…” Messy nearly screamed out. “Fucking murder those two turkeys already!”

I pumped my wings hard, soaring through the air as I pulled off around over the left side of the Remora. Barking gunshots filled the air, and while I had no idea if they were shooting at me or Hispano, I simply focused on keeping up my speed as I climbed. A pair of heavy booms gave me a small reprieve as Suiza opened up in a burst that let me flick my forehoof up just enough to press my trigger bit into my muzzle.

Alright, Night, this is just like every other fight you’ve been in. Stiffening my forelegs out in front of me, I twisted my wings. The world inverted as I reached the apex of my short climb, and I snapped my tail in line as I pushed myself into a dive. The cool morning air rushed over me while I shot downwards, picking up speed as I searched for my first target.

A short buzzing filled the air as Tall Tale stiffened up and sent a line of red tracers through the air after Hispano. The burst was short, but he practically drew a circle around her as she zipped and dodged the cloud of fire. More than anything, Tall Tale had to be taken care of or we wouldn’t last long enough to get the others.

I flicked the triggers on my belt, letting one of the grenades under my wing detach. A short burst of red magical energy sprayed across the heavily armored suit as my gun let loose a dozen or so shots. Unfortunately, they did little more than just leave small singe marks on the thick metal, but I hadn’t expected to do anything with them.

As I focused on pulling myself out of my dive, I kept my ear perked. I flapped hard as I leveled off and pulled back up, smirking as I heard the familiar gong like noise of my grenade slapping Tall Tale right in his face. A delightful explosive pop filled the air as I traded my speed for altitude and readied myself for my next dive.

However, before I could reorient myself, another buzzing burst filled the air.

A line of red tore across my right wing. I cried out as the burning rounds punched holes through the polymer surface of my second wing, as well as the flesh of my real one. I struggled not to reflexively close my wing, and instead I forced them out stiffly. Thanks to the incredibly sturdy construction of the flightsuit, I was able to stay in the air, but oh Celestia did it fucking hurt.

Suiza let off a few more thumping shots just before another buzzing filled the air. The sporadic shots that came from the other goons were the icing on the annoying cake to me, and when one of those shots finally found a home in the polymer surface of my left wing, I resolved to remove those annoyances first.

Rolling myself over into another dive, I started to build speed and search for the best place to plant another grenade. But the faster I went, the more the air pressure pressed against my injured wing. The worry of it giving out and slamming me into the ground at an incredible speed had to be push to the back of my mind. I found one of the shooting goons firing from right beside Messy, and smirked to myself. The pain of moving to correct my aim was worth it as I bit down on the trigger bit and released another of my grenades.

The scream I gave from around my bit however tipped Messy off, and he all but used his hooves to place his goon between my grenade and himself.

As I struggled to pull up into level flight again, the sharp pop from my grenade filled the air. And as I zipped past Hispano as she went in for her own strafing run, I managed to turn my head and get a look at the results of my bombing.

A messy red splotch of body parts sat where the gun goon had once been standing, but a bloody and injured Messy was limping himself toward an open station maintenance access hole not too far away. It was just like an asshole like him to fucking run from a fight, and I didn’t intend to let him off so easily.

Torquing my wings, I arced my flight upwards again. I banked around as another buzzing burst rang through the air. This time, I didn’t see where the line of red had gone, but so long as it hadn’t hit me, I guess it didn’t so much matter.

Coming back around, I rolled myself over and angled myself to drop one of my grenades right down into the sewer. Messy himself held a fear filled look as he scrambled to climb into the hole, and I loved it. Each moment that I grew closer, my heart beat faster in wicked anticipation for the moment that I would end his life. With what felt like had only been a split second, the time came, and I pulled the trigger on my bit.

With a crisp snap, a grenade from my side was freed from it’s restrictive bonds under my wing. Arcing my head, I pulled myself up into the air once more. The silence that drifted throughout the plaza as my grenade sailed true, left me with a serene feeling of pride as I floated upwards into the warm sunlight that crested over the eastern mountains of the misery range. For just a moment, all was well in the world.

Gong!

The sound of my grenade striking something metal filled the air just a split second before it exploded with a sharp crack. Turning my attention downwards, I watched as the dust and debris from the small explosion cleared, and a blackened blast mark sat scorched across the sealed up metal lid.

That fucking pink asshole stole my perfect moment from me!

A scream from closer to the Remora brought me back into the fight. Banking around in my flight, I searched until I found the source. Happy kicked off the chest of one of the gun goons, ripping his silver sword out of the gaping chest wound he’d left in the hired gun. A buzzing burst of fire ripped across the Remora’s side, forcing Happy to dive in order to take cover from the rapid fire line of death.

“It’s just the big guy left!” Hispano called out as she momentarily joined me at my side. “Shit, watch out!”

We both rolled opposite directions as Tall Tale sprayed a line of fire up to separate us.

Okay, there had to be a way the three of us could deal with Tall Tale. My grenades weren’t going to do anything against that armor, and I doubted if even Suiza could do any permanent damage to the suit or to Tall Tale. And while we could wait for him to run out of ammo, he’d already gotten lucky against me once. I banked around through the air again as another short burst from the minigun filled the air.

You know what would have really helped in this fight, Night? Some sort of advanced pulse grenade! Gee, it’s almost like you’re a fucking idiot!

I watched as Hispano’s strafing run hit home in return, and whole chunks of Tall Tale’s helmet and head were torn off. Pink cloud spewed from the gaping wound, but the ghoul simply kept on going as both his body and armor repaired themselves. It was no use! Like Happy had explained, unless you removed their head completely, you just can’t stop a Canterlot ghoul. And there was no fucking way we were going to get access to his head without that armor being nothing more than dead weight.

As Tall Tale let out another burst of fire that kept Happy pinned behind the Remora, I knew there had to be something we could do…

“I’m running low on ammo!” Hispano panted out as she flew up to me again. “Four shots left, so you better figure some way to bring this asshole down!”

“I’m working on it!” I snapped at her before we were once again forced apart by another line of minigun fire.

Come on, think, Night! You have to have learned something from your previous fights to know how to take this fucking walking tank down! All you need to do is think.

What about the fight with the Cordite ghouls? Maybe I could shove a grenade between his Minigun and his armor to disable it. Which would be great, but then he’d stomp me to death for getting too close. Okay, what about the fight with Galina? Maybe I can lure him away, get him to somewhere I can use the environment to my advantage?

Looking around, the wide empty plaza was devoid of anywhere I could feasibly lead him to other than the station itself. And the last thing I needed to do is trap myself inside somewhere that’s just a bunch of hallways where Tall Tale could easily mow me down. So that’s out of the question.

Okay, what about the fight with Double Drum? Pretty much the toughest thing in the north, and I managed to crack that nut with a little bit of effort. But the big difference was that I at least had some sort of weak spot I could exploit on that machine. I mean, it’s not like there’s an exhaust port on Power armor or something I could…

I let out a gasp as a realization hit me hard. Rolling, I aimed myself right for Hispano. If this was going to work, I needed her to know just what I was planning.

“Aim for the head!” I screamed out at her as I forced myself to fly past and arc myself upwards to prepare for a dive.

“Why!? It doesn’t do anything!” She screamed back at me as she pushed herself into a similar arc upwards on a mirrored flight path.

“Just do it!” I snapped as I stiffened my legs and rolled myself over. We’d have one chance at this. “Open up a hole for me!” I called out as I lined myself up before biting down on my bit. I had barely begun the dive as I felt the grenade rig release one of my two remaining grenades. Goddesses, I hope I’d lined this up right...

Suiza roared out next to me as Hispano followed me into a dive. Three of the four shots hit home, and sparks and pink cloud once again erupted from the helmet of Tall Tale. I narrowed my eyes as I picked up speed and kept myself aimed right at the massive armor. Again, I bit down on my trigger and let the last grenade fly before pulling up.

Rather than trade all my speed for altitude, I rolled myself onto my side and let my lifting body get to work. The G forces from the tight turn drained all the color from my vision, and darkness started to seep in from the edges of my eye. But as I turned and slowed myself enough to recover, I had just enough time to watch as the second, and faster moving grenade slammed home against the repairing helmet and blast most of it away again. While the explosion hadn’t done much damage to the stupid rodeo clown mask Tall Tale wore under the helmet, it had ensured that there was a hoof wide hole in the helmet itself for the next few moments.

Before the smoke could clear, the first grenade I’d let off zipped through the cloud of pink that drained out of the gaping hole in the helmet. With another sharp crack, the grenade went off, and this time the whole helmet blasted apart from the inside out. The massive power armor wobbled for a moment before tilting over and dropping to the ground with a heavy thud.

“I can’t believe that actually worked, Dum Dum!” Hispano laughed as she fluttered her wings and pulled up beside me. The two of us had our eyes locked on the crumpled form of power armor as pink cloud poured out of it like a fountain. “That was a hell of a shot.”

“Hey!” Happy called out as he trotted out around in front of the Remora. He waved us down to him, and both Hispano and I slowly circled ourselves lower. As we came in for a soft landing beside him, Happy’s bloody and sweat covered smile was something I was more than relieved to see. “I know I basically told you to throw that grenade away before, but in my defence, you told me you were going to call me out on my incredibly terrible ideas.”

“Yeah, well it worked out anyway.” I rolled my eyes as I took a deep breath. Looking over at the wrecked power armor again to take in the fruit of my labor, my blood nearly froze in my veins.

A single glaring eye pierced through the shattered clown mask that dripped a thick cloud of Pink from between it’s cracks. The half-headed Tall Tale slowly picked himself up off of the ground, unsteady as even now his skull started to reform. Sparks flew from the destroyed and damaged bits of helmet that ringed his torn up neck, and already the power armor’s auto repair talisman was starting to rebuild the base of his fire control systems around his reforming jawline.

“Oh, fuck off!” Happy shouted as he wheeled around on his hooves. Before Hispano or I could even tear off after him, the angry mule had galloped all the way up to the healing ghoul.

Happy let off a chilling howl as he pushed in through the flowing pink cloud, and raised his silver longsword high. Either because Tall Tale had been too weak, or the power armor had been damaged too much, the small distance that he’d tried to dodge with hadn’t been enough. With a smooth single swing, Happy brought the sword down hard enough that it sparked straight through the still repairing armor and embedded the tip of the blade into the concrete below himself.

With a slump, the massive construction power armor toppled once more, and Tall Tale’s half regenerated head rolled out of the cloud with a meaty splat. Coughing and nearly choking on the pink cloud, Happy screamed out again before wildly hammering his sword down against the battered power armor. Sparks flew as he sliced into and cut up systems on the side of the armor, and his swings dissipated what was left of the pink cloud inside the armor. With his anger taken out, and the talisman covered box on the side of the armor utterly destroyed, Happy stumbled his way back towards us with a confident, if tired look across his muzzle.

“There, he’s fucking dead.” He grumbled as he walked his way over to the side of the Remora and slumped against it. Taking a few heaving breaths, he let out a soft laugh before looking up at both Hispano and I. “So now I don’t ever want to be called lazy ever again, got it?”

“Yeah, that’s fair enough.” I nodded and looked over to Hispano, who simply shrugged as she set Suiza down. Without any hesitation, she pulled Suiza’s magazine out and started to feed in new shells from her saddlebags.

“Great. Now how about a five minute break?” Happy offered with a look that told me that he knew what my answer would be.

Before I could even answer, several booms filled the air from the city. Plumes of fire rose up from through newly formed holes in the thermal updraft tower’s glass skirt. Moments later, another series of blasts came from the other end of the city, out from where the railway maintenance warehouses were.

“That’s the Celestia’s Angels starting their attacks.” I sighed as I turned my gaze back down to Happy. “Unfortunately, that’s our cue.”

“H-hello?” Static broke up Buck’s voice in my ear. “The jamming signal seems to be dying down, are you there, Night?”

“Yeah, we were ambushed by Messy and Tall Tale.” I spoke up, looking down at Happy before glancing back to Hispano. “We killed Tall Tale, but Messy got away, and more importantly, Ping’s gone.”

“His systems went offline moments before the jamming signal went up.” Buck’s worried tone didn’t help me to think that anything good had come from him disappearing. “If you don’t know where he is, than I think that Mr. Wizard’s already captured him. Is there anywhere nearby they could have taken him?”

“Messy disappeared into the lower parts of the station during the fight, I’m betting they took him down to the sealed off tunnels.” I sighed. Seriously, that made me even more angry that I’d fucking missed my chance to kill that pink asshole when I’d had it. “But if they took him already, then they’ll have to bring him all the way back to where Mr. Wizard can take him apart. Which I’m betting is somewhere within the heart of his operation.”

“Whatever it takes, we’re gettin’ him back.” Happy added as he pushed himself up. “Just tell us where we need to go.”

“In all likelihood, he is probably being brought back through the demonstration stable deep within the Science Center, which...” Buck’s hesitant words dragged out and amplified the unease stirring inside me, and tugged at the hole that had bored through my stomach. “If you want to get inside without fighting your way through the entire Science Center, I may have an option.”

“Alright, then what the fuck is it then?” Happy snapped at him. “Just tell us and we’ll fucking go get him back!”

“Night, between you and Hispano, do you think you two can keep Happy airborne?” Buck asked with more than just a slight bit of doubt to his words. And honestly, I didn’t even want to know what crazy idea this was going to lead up to. “If you two can keep him from at least falling too fast, I know of a way to get you straight into the upper levels of the Stable. But with as damaged as the Remora reports it is, it’s either my idea, or fighting through the Science Center itself. You only have the flight time for one or the other.”

“What’s he saying?” Hispano asked as she leaned in and pressed her head against the communications cap.

“Well,” I shared my hesitant look with Happy before meeting Hispano’s excited and curious gaze. “Buck’s got a crazy idea for how to get us in, but he needs to know if the two of us can keep Happy airborne.”

“I like crazy. Crazy normally works for us.” Hispano nodded before looking over to Happy. “You up for whatever this is?”

“Fuck no!” Happy snorted with a heated stomp. Oh come on, Happy! Do you know how much shit I went through to save your ass? You know that whatever it takes to get Ping back is what we’ve got to do. I was about to open my muzzle to spew all of that out at him, but after a moment, his apprehensiveness faded, and he let out a long sigh. “But for Ping, yeah I can do it.” Nodding, he put his forehoof up to his coms cap and stood himself up stiffly. “Alright, big guy, what’s this ‘crazy’ plan of yours?”