I don’t know how long I’d been stuck in here.

“Does it matter?” Solomon’s voice was nothing more than a whisper again. It had changed proximity to me so many times already that I’d lost count. “Don’t you think we deserve each other? Our sins are numerous, and your body count for the short time you’ve been below the clouds is nonetheless... impressive.”

I’d given up answering him long ago, but the fear his voice alone sent through me… it still hit me just like before. Every little word he uttered made my mind slip into a quick panic. I couldn’t fight it, it was like a reflex now.

I hated every single fucking moment of it...

“Night!” The voice of Buck called out to me from somewhere else in the darkness. “Please, answer me!” Was this another trick Solomon was playing on me? Or was this the fake Buck lurking still somewhere in my mind?

The more I thought about it, the more I felt something welling up inside me. It wasn’t like the fear I’d felt, it was sharper. Something worse.

Like a bullet, pain wracked my mind. The darkness itself distorted into something I couldn’t even begin to describe. I tried desperately to scream again, but I still was helpless.

Then with a snap like rubber, the pain subsided, and the darkness around me resolved into a speckled starry night sky that stretched across my vision. A cool breeze washed across my face, while a restricting warmth enveloped the rest of my body. While I still couldn’t move, I did happen to hear something that wasn’t a voice.

The ocean.

“Laying down on the job I see.” Delilah snorted as her unhappy look lumbered into view above me. “I know you feel helpless right now, but you’ve still got too much shit to do to be laying down.” Geeze, the one thing I hadn’t missed since she’d died, was the look of rage on her that boiled just below the surface. “Finish the fucking job like I asked.”

“Wha…” I opened my muzzle, only to choke on the burst of sand that Delilah kicked in my face. Coughing, I fought back tears as it scraped at both of my eyes and caked my throat.

“No excuses. Back to work!” She snapped at me before putting her hoof on my head.

With a shove, she pushed my whole body downwards into the sand. I gasped for breath before I couldn’t get another, and was met with a crashing wave that dove right into my lungs. Drowning in sand and seawater wasn’t something I’d ever planned on doing, and while I’d pretty much figured out this wasn’t real, I was convinced it didn’t hurt any less than it would in the real world.

Finally, as I sank back into the empty dark void again, I started to see something in the distance. At first I’d thought it was another star from the sky, but it was getting bigger, closer with each passing moment. It grew in intensity faster than I was prepared for, and as the last bit of darkness was pushed away, everything in the universe came crashing down on me at once.

I gasped and arched my back as pain spiked through my head momentarily. My hooves torqued against the restraints that held me to a medical gurney, and the cold sweat that coated my body met the chilly air of the Factory’s surgical suite. The soft beeping of the medical apparatus next to me made me perk my ears, and pulled my vision over. There I found Hispano curled up and sleeping on the likewise snoozing form of Buck.

With a sigh, I laid myself back down on the bed. I squinted and raised my hoof as the bright lighting above was a bit much for my eyes to adjust to. The pain in my head had at least subsided to a dull background thudding, and the pins and needles in my hooves felt almost muted to me.

What the hell happened? I remember being on the bridge, and then… darkness. Darkness and Solomon.

I shuddered just at the thought of ever finding myself back in that place…

“Ah, good morning, Mr. Night Flight!” Doc Groovy’s loud voice preceded him slamming through the operating room doors. The loud slam made both Hispano and Buck jump to attention. “I’m glad to see you’ve awoken. It’s just after four A.M., how are you feeling right now?”

“Alright… I guess?” I wasn’t really sure how to answer that. “What happened?”

“You collapsed on the bridge of the Arcturus.” Buck spoke softly as he walked up and took my hoof in his metal paw. With a soft and fearful look, he stared at me dead in the eyes. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright? We can run more tests...”

“I feel… normal.” I shook my head at him before looking over to Hispano and then over to Doc Groovy. “Well, other than this headache, but it’s much better now, which I assume is because of whatever meds you gave me while I was out.”

That pulled a concern look from Buck as he traded glances with all three of Doc Groovy’s eyestalks. Okay, so I guess that feeling normal was not good at the moment. Because you know, of course I couldn’t catch a fucking break...

“We haven’t given you another dose of your medicine for almost twelve hours because that’s what caused the problem in the first place.” Buck’s voice almost dropped into a growl as Hispano did her best to slip around his side like she was hiding. “Had I known that Hispano had given you a dose of Chill during the operation, I would not have administered your medicine once we returned to the Arcturus. That’s what caused your overdose.”

“I was just trying to help!” Hispano snapped at him before she slowly looked up to me with a look of shame across her face. “I’m sorry, Night. It’s all my fault.”

“No, it’s fine.” I offered. How was she or Buck supposed to know this would happen? Hispano had been roped into the plan just minutes after she found out I was still alive, and Buck? Well, he had more than his fair share of issues going on then. Honestly, I’m surprised they held together for as long as they did...

“It’s actually quite far from fine!” Doc Groovy’s upbeat and almost jubilant tone put me on edge and forced a deadpan from Buck. “If you are still feeling the effects of Chill, then your nervous system has become seriously damaged from the prolonged use of it. I’m sorry to say that this is quite a serious matter of concern.”

“You sure don’t sound like it is.” Hispano grumbled.

“Really? Huh, you don’t say!.” Doc Groovy brought up one of his grasping arms and rubbed at his bulbous chassis for a moment. “It is possible that my personality spell matrix is out of alignment again. I will have to pop by and have Sierra remedy that this afternoon. That is if she isn’t still too busy with that newfangled personal project of hers!”

“Look, Night, the medicine isn’t going to be enough anymore, it’s only going to slow down the degradation.” Buck sighed as he let his paws slip off of my forehoof. “Not only that, but the damage is too advanced for normal medicine to help you. At least, any medicine I can give you.” With an even heavier sigh, he all but slumped over my bed. “There is a way that the factory can help you, but... “ He shook his head as he glanced back up at me. “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”

“Then I won’t do it.” I said flatly. My prompt response gave him pause, but I simply raised my forehoof and ran it along his muzzle softly. “I trust you, Buck. And if you don’t like it, then we won’t go through with it.”

“Should he get much worse, Mr. Night might not have a choice.” Doc Groovy’s tone turned as stern as Delilah’s as his three eyes all shifted to me. “However, we here at the Factory respect your choice, but know that the offer is always open for you.”

“Alright, now that that’s out of the way…” Hispano grumbled as she walked around the side of Buck and climbed her way up onto the bed with me. With an unceremonious flop, she plopped herself right down next to me with a smile across her beak. “Maybe now we can just spend some time together?” She turned her smile over to Buck. “As a family?”

“That will have to wait.” Ping called out as he came trotting into the room, followed closely by Happy. “First however, I’d like to say it’s good to see you awake again, Night.”

“It’s good to see you again as well.” I remarked with a smirk, bringing his own trademark beaming smile across his muzzle.

While Ping looked just the same as he always had, Happy looked a bit rougher than usual. While he looked in better health than he’d been in weeks, the scar across his cheek and muzzle stuck out sharply in contrast to his smoothly styled pompadour mane. He still wore his floral print T-shirt and the scabbard and sword he’d taken, but now it was all under a cut leather jacket. The jet black jacket looked almost brand new, and sported a ridiculously stiffly popped collar. Along with it’s sleek and almost form fitting nature, the fabric itself seemed to have metal plates riveted onto it.

At least he’d finally taken to wearing some sort of armor…

“What’s going on?” Hispano spoke up before any of us could ask the question that burned on all our minds.

“The Architect has been monitoring the ongoing fight between the Puritan kingdom and the Skyraiders.” Ping gave off a sigh as he looked between all of us. “As expected, it has not been going in the favor of the Skyraiders, but the speed at which they are losing is much faster than anticipated.”

“So?” Hispano snorted. “The sooner those assholes are dead, the sooner we don’t have to worry about their junk skycraft cluttering up the air for the rest of us.”

“Yeah, well how about this,” Happy chimed up and pointed a forehoof at Hispano. “If you were sittin’ on that many resources and were about ta’ lose it, what would you do?”

“Use as much of it as I could.” I spat out before Hispano could. Oh Celestia, that wasn’t good. With as many planes as Double Delta said they’d had… this could be a disaster the size of which the north wasn’t prepared to deal with...

“Didn’t Mr. Delta say they had Megaspells stored at their base?” Buck spoke up with a note of horror in his voice.

And now it was even worse.

“So then, how are we supposed to help?” I asked, pulling the normal beaming smile right up onto Ping’s face.

“We even the odds and give the Skyraiders a chance to further weaken the Kingdom!” Ping’s jubilance was just out of place as Doc Groovy’s a few minutes ago. And like that, it only made Happy deadpan.

“The Architect wants us to hire those Cordite jerks to fight on behalf of the Skyraiders and the rest of the North.” Happy grunted and rolled his eyes. “While I see what they’re sayin’, Night, this isn’t our fight. We’ve done enough for Cantercross, and we’ve got our own business to attend to with finding Solomon and the Ark.”

“While that’s true, leaving this to resolve itself could directly impact the task we brought Night here for in the first place.” Ping turned and offered a frown to Happy. “If one of those megaspells hits anywhere near our transmission towers, we could lose the ability to communicate and survey a large portion of the north.”

“Old world radio towers?” Hispano scrunched up her beak as she beat me to asking that. “That’s what you brought Night onboard for?”

“Correct, however…” Ping paused as a look of nervousness flashed across his face when he looked at Buck. “Our ambassador is supposed to negotiate it’s fair use with the owners of the towers as you head south. Each tower we add increases the potential range of our broadcast, so that more machines might hear it and be directed to the Factory. Realistically, we would like access to every still operational tower down to the ruins of Applewood. Ideally, what we would like is for the signal to reach all the way around the globe, but that would require years of work outside the safety that the signal provides us machines. Hence, the need for an organic being performing the work.”

“So, you set all of this up…” Happy pinched his muzzle in his fetlock with a sigh. “So that you could broadcast further? That’s it?”

“That is correct.” Ping’s beaming smile pulled across his muzzle about at the same time I felt like planting a hoof across my own. “I understand it sounds simple, but in order for the future of the Factory to remain prosperous, we require both healthy relationships with the outside world, and the ability to find more machines to journey to Factory Zero One. Not to mention, the further the signal reaches, the less risk permanently losing a physical body becomes for us. Contracting out a pony who carries a well known and regarded reputation is the most logical way to complete both physical adjustments of the towers and diplomatic tasks on behalf of the factory.”

Well, at least I knew what they wanted me for now, and thank Celestia it didn’t actually involve killing. Well, hopefully I won’t have to in order to get others to agree to get their signal out. But seriously, they couldn’t have told me this, what, weeks ago!?

“Anyway, we must depart, as we do not have more than a few days before the Skyraiders are overwhelmed.” Ping turned back towards the door and gave a wave of his forehoof. “The Remora will be standing by, and I expect to see you getting geared in the next few minutes.”

“Is he even good to go, Doc?” Happy snorted as he cocked his eyebrow at me.

“Why yes, so long as Mr. Night feels he is up to it of course.” The old machine bobbed happily on his center line thruster as his eyestalks again turned toward me.

“Night, if you don’t feel up to it, it’s okay to…” Buck started before Hispano clamped his muzzle shut with her talon and looked to me with a smile.

“Sure he feels up to it, right, Night?” She shifted her wings uneasily as she turned and looked to me for an answer. “I mean, while resting here is fine and all, we can hang out as a family anywhere, right? Why not help some ponies while we spend some time together?”

As much as I wanted to just sit here and maybe have at least a single day to relax, the look across Hispano’s face wouldn’t let me speak. She looked so hopeful, and after spending weeks all on her own, she finally had a chance to get back with us. And while I knew she wouldn’t argue even if I did choose to stay here, well, the truth is she’s right. I really do just want to spend some time together with those I cared the most about in the wastes.

That, and if I fell asleep here again, I’m not entirely sure I wouldn’t see Delilah and Solomon again in my dreams. And let me tell you, I’d had just about all I could hadn’t from those two...

“Sure, I guess.” I shrugged and looked over to Buck, who seemed less than impressed with Hispano’s argument and my quick response. “What? So we go talk to Cordite and get them to help. It should be... easy?” The moment those words left my muzzle, I knew that I’d just asked for my curse to come back with a vengeance. Goddesses, why do I get myself into these situations?

“Sense when has it ever been easy?” Buck snorted as he lifted his paws to me and started to unstrap me.

“There’s a first time for everything!” Hispano cooed happily as she hopped down from my bed. “Besides, you’ll be along with us this time! That’s gotta count for something, right?” She gave him a pat on the side before flapping her wings and hovering over towards Happy and the door. “Anyway, I’m going to get a head start on loading Suiza. I’ll see you two at the armory!”

With that, she fluttered her way out the door. Happy gave her a hesitant glance as she drifted off, but then turned his glance back to me. He took a deep breath and ran his hoof up gingerly over his expertly crafted mane.

“Look, I’m all for helping out Ping and the Architect, Celestia know’s we owe them for all they’ve done.” He snorted as his hoof fell from his mane down to his cheek. He slowly dragged it along the scar before turning himself around. “Just don’t forget that Solomon is still ahead of us. We’ve waited long enough to kill that asshole, and I’ve got an urge to acquaint his stupid prince face with my sword.”

As Happy picked up his hooves and trotted off through the door, I blinked. There, standing by the door with a smug look across his face, was the Saddle Arabian bastard himself. I watched as he raised his forehoof to his muzzle, motioning for me to be quiet before pointing at Buck as he worked to undo the last strap holding me down.

I haven’t forgotten, Happy. Solomon will die. I’ll make damn sure that he joins Mr. Wizard down in the fires of Tartarus for all eternity.

“Sounds like a plan, Night.” Solomon giggled softly as he narrowed his eyes at me. “I’ll save you a seat right next to me for when you get there.” The illusion of the stuck up stallion burst like a kicked cloud, dissipating into the thin air.

“Hey, Doc?” Buck forced a smile across his muzzle as the three eyed mechanical doctor turned to look at him. “Care to give Night and I a moment alone? I need to speak with him privately.”

“Sure thing, Doctor Buck!” Doc. Groovy’s three eyestalks bobbed cheerfully as his body twirled around and floated off toward the door. “You know where to find me when Mr. Night requires medical treatment for his next grievous wound!” I should have been angry that it wasn’t an ‘if’ I’d eventually require treatment, but it was a fair assumption.

But, with the mechanical doctor out of the room, I turned my attention up to Buck.

“Look, I’m just going to say it, Night.” Buck sighed as he sat down hard on the floor next to my bed. “I’m sorry. About being angry with how you’ve acted on this trip, about thinking I could still be the me I was back on the Inuvik. I’ve tried to deny it, tried to run from it.” Carefully, he lifted his paw up to the machine side of his face and ran his rubber pads across his metal skull. “But ever since the day we left the Inuvik, you’ve fought. Not for yourself, but for the well being of all of us.” Pausing, he lowered his paw down, and almost instinctively I grabbed it with my hooves and pulled it close to me. “We only ever made it as far as we did because of you.”

“We all did it together, Buck.” I smiled and rubbed at his metal paw. I know he couldn’t feel it, but I wanted to believe he could. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. Besides, you’ve saved me more than enough times so far.”

“Maybe,” He shrugged as his jagged jaw split into a soft but sad smile, “but while I can fix up damaged tissue, or set a broken bone, I can’t do what you do. In the middle of the operation, I froze up. I saw dozens of ponies, slaves and innocents, getting slaughtered, and I…” He whimpered as he pulled his paw away from me. “If I had pushed myself to act rather than wasting the time they didn’t have by hiding like a coward, then maybe we wouldn’t have lost quite so many ponies.”

“Buck…” I began to say, but paused as his blue mechanical eye shifted to a bright beaming red.

“I can’t stand it, Night. This machinery inside my head, I couldn’t fight the temptation.” He clenched his metal paw tightly as he spoke, forcing a mechanical whine to emit from part of his forearm. “I thought it could solve everything and take away all of my feelings. But again, I was just lying to myself to run from the truth.” Slowly, he stopped squeezing so tightly, and the whine from his limb died out. Opening the paw slowly, he looked down at it as his red eye slowly faded back to its normal icy blue color. “I won’t let this happen to you, Night. Even if I have to wade through an army of raiders, slavers, or whatever. I just want to be there at your and Hispano’s side to keep you safe.”

I was just sort of speechless at his outpouring. I had no idea he’d felt that way, and while I couldn’t blame him, I didn’t really know what to say. Some part of me had been hoping that he could have been right, that there really could’ve been a better way solve the problems in the wasteland. But to hear his thoughts had kicked a thought back into my head that I hadn’t had since the first Night I said I wanted to be with him. As it turns out, we really aren’t all that different after all.

“Heh.” The light laugh just slipped out of my muzzle, and made Buck freeze up completely. Scrunching my own muzzle, I figured I might want to follow that with an explanation before he takes it the wrong way. “Sorry, it’s just, the mental gymnastics, the making excuses and crutching on something to make the decision for you. It’s everything I’ve felt on this trip, but lacked the words to express it with. The Enclave, the convoy, my use of Chill...” I shifted myself on the hospital bed, scooting myself over toward Buck’s sad expression. “I want you and Hispano to be there with me, every step of the way. Knowing you understand how I’ve felt just makes me feel that much better about keeping you close to me, Buck.”

With a lunge, Buck leaned forward and wrapped his cold mechanical arms around me. He pulled me against his fuzzy chest in a taut hug that nearly squeezed the air from my lungs. But I wasn’t going to complain as I wrapped my own hooves around him and basked in the radiant warmth the core of his body gave off.

I knew that this moment wouldn’t last forever, but I prayed to Celestia that it did. We’d both been to Tartarus and back on this trip, and even now we were about to go get right back into the thick of things. Even so, I still wanted nothing more than to be with him every day for the rest of my life. And for the moment, it seemed like he felt the exact same way about me.

“Thank you for understanding, Night.” Buck sniffled softly as he slowly loosened his grip around me. “I don’t know how you’ve been so patient with me, even with how foolish I’ve been. Maybe that’s why Saxon didn’t see our relationship like I did. But that’s one of the many reasons why you mean more to me than anything else in the wastelands. You’re always looking out for me, Night, and I want to do the same for you.” He reached up with a metal paw and softly wiped at his teary eye. “But as Hispano keeps remarking, enough being sappy. The others are waiting, so we should get going.” A genuinely happy smile spread across his jagged metal jaw, his spiky black and white tail wagged softly behind him.

“Yeah, you’re right, we should go.” I nodded as he stepped back from the medical bed far enough that I had the room to hop down beside him.

But I didn’t want to go, not just yet. After everything I’d been through, I’d earned something good that I could take away from all of this. Not just me, actually, we all deserved to feel happy for once. And part of me deep down inside was going to make it happen.

He turned toward the door, but I stuck out my hoof and grabbed his metal paw with it to stop him. It was like my body was on autopilot, and as usual, the words were coming out of my muzzle before I even realized what I was saying. Though as odd as it sounded, I had this weird feeling that I had my mom to blame for what was about to happen...

“Buck? I… I need to ask you something, before we leave.” My heart rate spiked and I felt light headed in a way that again, I hadn’t felt since the day I said I wanted to be with him. “When Hardcase died after helping to save you, and I was left all alone to bring you back to Cantercross, I only had one thought in my mind. I didn’t want to live without you. I resolved that if you died, then so would I.” My words wiped away the smile from Buck’s muzzle, but as I spoke, I couldn’t fight the one pulling across my own. “I can’t imagine a world without you in it. It would be a world without kindness and compassion. And while I do love Hispano so damn much, it’s not in the same way that I love you. You aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met, and I can’t believe how lucky a stallion I am to have a dog like you to share my time with. Through the hardships to come, through the injuries and recoveries, I want to be with you for the rest of my days, Buck. That is of course, if you’ll have me...”

“Night…” Buck’s voice was meek as he stood there with the biggest and brightest blush I’d ever seen across his face. “Are y-you suggesting…”

I was suggesting it. I needed to suggest it. After nearly dying a dozen times, losing the convoy, and nearly losing Buck himself? I wasn’t going to wait another fucking minute to ask.

“Buck,” My heart pounded against my throat, forcing a lump into it as my stomach felt like it exploded into butterflies. “I know it’s an outdated and probably pointless thing to propose in the wasteland, and I have no clue how to even go about it.” My head was spinning as I did my best not to choke up as I stared into his eyes. “But my parents would come back to life and kill me if I didn’t at least ask, so fuck it!” Stepping up, I grabbed at his paw as I could feel the heat radiating off of my own bright blush. “Will you make me the happiest stallion in the world and marry me?”

“I… ” Buck stammered as he brought his other mechanical paw up over his muzzle. With a light nod, he made a squeeing noise that was interrupted halfway through with a soft burst of static from his throat. “Of course, Night!” With the same speed he’d used to grab and crush Mr. Wizard’s head, his mechanical arms wrapped around me and scooped me straight off the floor. “Nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He planted his muzzle against mine, and I melted as my world became fireworks and dizzy elation. As we both laughed happily through our kiss, I couldn’t help but feel that even with as awkward as it was, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Well, if I could change one thing, it would have been to have my parents here with me now.

“Muzzle tov!” The cheerful voice of Ottie came through the observation room glass above us. He clopped his wooden hooves together excitedly as his bright nixie-tube eyes glowed down on us. Both Buck and I shared a nervous grin up to him before we turned our gazes back on each other. “Sorry, I’ll leave you two love birds alone!” He giggled as he got up and disappeared from the observation room glass.

As I pressed my muzzle into Buck’s again, there wasn’t a single negative thought in the back of my mind. No sinking feeling in my gut, no condescending voice echoing through my head. There was simply nothing that existed in the entire world for me outside of one hundred percent pure Bliss.

It was a perfect moment, where it wouldn’t have mattered to me if Celestia herself descended down to stop time for me. I savored the moment all the same, because when it ended, I knew that for the rest of my life, I’d have plenty more moments with him to share. But while I was lost in the bliss of the best damn moment of my life, Buck let out a chuckle as he pulled his muzzle back from mine.

“So, not to complain,” He whispered softly into my ear with the most contented grin in the world across his mechanical muzzle, “but you didn’t just propose so you could have an excuse to buy a fancy new dress to wear, did you?”

“What? Of course not!” I spat out and rolled my eyes at him. “Though… now that you mention it, I guess I will need something nice to wear…” That pulled an exasperated sigh from his muzzle. “Hey, I think I deserve a nice dress to wear, and we both know Hispano is going to want one as well.”

“Yup, you did it for the dress.” The sarcasm that bled off his words was thick enough I could almost drown in it, but I felt he deserved a playful nudge all the same. “But seriously, you think Hispano will agree to wear a nice dress? I wouldn’t be surprised if she just weaved together a bunch of the shells she’s fired out of her sister and call it good.”

“Yeah…” I laughed, letting my words drift off before cocking an eyebrow up at Buck’s big goofy grin. “Say, should we ask her now if she’s okay with getting married to us, or just kind of spring it on her later?”

“I may have something to say about that.” Cora’s voice coming through the open door of the surgical suite sent a chill up my spine. And from the way that Buck tensed up around me, I’m pretty sure it did the same to him. “See, where I come from, you ask the father for permission before popping a question like that.” Stepping in with a limp and a few bandages still covering various parts of his stark white body, Cora’s burning glare shifted between Buck and I. “You already know what her answer is going to be. So how I see it, is that you aren’t going to ask her jack shit, got it? Until you get a yes out of me, you two just need are going to need to move mountains to even get me to think you are worthy of marrying my only daughter.”

I traded an uneasy glance with Buck before looking back at Cora.

“Do I make myself clear?” He grumbled and ground his beak together as he shifted his eyes between us again. Both Buck and I nodded in unison, bringing a soft smirk across his expression. Geez, I understood that he could take this a bit seriously, but to me it was going just a bit too far... “Good, you can start with getting your lazy butts up to the armory. You two will need to arm yourselves to the teeth so you can make sure Hispano comes back from this trip of yours without a single fucking scratch on her plumage.”

Cora turned around with a huff, limping back toward the doorway. As Buck took a single step forward, Cora paused and spun around. His glare narrowed at us again, and he jabbed his bandaged talon through the air at us.

“Oh, and I expect you to keep your muzzles shut about this.” He snapped at us both. “This is between you two and her father. If she gets one fucking word about this, I will shoot you both myself.” With a sigh, he hung and shook his head. “You two have gotten lucky enough so far, but everyone slips up at one point or another, and I’m not going to be around forever to pick up your slack. But if you really do care about my daughter, then you’ll make sure it never happens to her in the first place.”

With that, Cora turned around and let off a grumble. It hadn’t so much ruined the moment, rather, it left me with a profound feeling of the scope of what I’d truly asked of Buck and Hispano. But Buck’s warm muzzle slid down along my own and pressed into my neck as he hugged me again, and I let out a light sigh.

“Don’t worry about him, Night.” Buck whispered into my ear again softly. “We’ll keep her safe.”

“I know we will.” I lied as the thought of my curse coming back to split open her skull like Violet’s popped up in the back of my mind.

Images of the thousands of ways she could die flooded my thoughts as Buck’s arms held me tightly. But if I’d figured anything out today that could bring me even the slightest bit of comfort, it was that while Buck seemed unphased right now, I knew that inside his own head he must be thinking the exact same thing.

“Alright, let’s do as he asked and go find Hispano.” Buck sighed as he straightened up and carried me along with him. He looked down at me with a soft smile, and his cold metal arms brought me tightly against his chest. “Unless that is, my soon to be husband has anything else he needs to do first?” That word sent an electric tingle up my spine, and instantly brought a smile back to my muzzle. “Wait, what is that frequency?”

I watched as Buck’s mechanical ears swiveled around wildly. It only took a moment before I started to hear something odd as well. It was coming from the stairwell out of the surgical suite and growing louder.

“Oh goddesses…” Buck gasped as he squeezed me tightly. “Incoming!”

“eeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEE!”

Hispano’s high pitched exuberant squeal grew to an unimaginable level as she all but shot down through the stairwell right past Cora. She slammed into Buck and I, compressing me further into his fuzzy chest. The sheer force of impact nearly knocked Buck right off his mechanical paws, and he offered a sharp whine as she squeezed around the both of us tightly.

“Oh I’m so happy for us!” Hispano squawked as she tightly forced the rest of my breath out in her grip before she finally let go. “Oh geez, I’m going to get married! Eeeeeeee!” Her ear piercing squeal forced me to choose between holding onto Buck or covering my ears. I’m not proud to say it, but I would take a bruised flank before another blown eardrum.

Buck however, held onto me tightly as I forced my hooves over my ears. Looking up, his ears hung limply at the sides of his head and flopped about like they were broken. It took me a moment to realize why, but as soon as I did, I was immediately jealous that he could just turn his ears off if he needed to.

Still, as nice as it was that Hispano was happy and excited, an important and life threatening question remained as Cora’s glare shot across the hospital room at us.

“How…” I scrunched my muzzle as Hispano perked up when I spoke. Removing my hooves from my ears, I glanced up to see Buck’s mechanical ears perk up again as well. “How did you find out?”

“Are you kidding?” She snorted before reaching her talon up to tap on the side of Buck’s augmented face. “This thing is connected to the whole Factory, so the Architect was watching the entire time! In fact, he rebroadcast it, so now the whole factory heard you propose!” With a thankfully shorter squeal, she bristled up her feathers with excitement again. “I know that it’s just a formality, but I still can’t believe we’re all going to be a family officially!”

“Ah-hem.” Cora’s gruff voice even made Hispano freeze up with Buck and I. But unlike the two of us, Hispano was quick to spin herself around in a huff and glare right into her father’s eyes.

“And you. After everything we went through to get you back. You do realize that they could have left you there, Dad?” Hispano kept her tone cold but cool. From the way that Cora narrowed his glare and grimaced, I knew she was already getting under his skin. “Why can’t you just be happy for me? I thought we were past all this already!”

“They are the entire reason I was even captured in the first place!” Cora snapped, “Look, am I the perfect father? No, but I’m doing my best. You are the only thing I have left in this world that matters to me, Hispano.” Again, he shifted his burning glare over to Buck and I. “All I want is to make sure that you are safe. Nothing is more important to me than that, and I thought you understood that.”

“Well maybe it’s not your job to keep me safe anymore.” Hispano cooed colder than I’d ever heard her speak before. “You know what, Dad? For as much as you loved them, you couldn’t save Mom or Suiza. And while I don’t blame you for them at all, maybe you should just go back home. I’ll be fine on my own.”

Cora froze up as the words hit him like a slap in the face. His angry expression cracked, shifting and sinking into a distant despair that I knew all too well. With a single stumbling step back, he sat down hard in the doorway.

It hurt to see as I was thrown back into the memory of how I accused Hispano of taking advantage of me after the club. I mean, she called him out for something much worse, but that just made it all that much harder to watch. The silence that grew between us was deafening, and after a moment, it grew to be too much as Hispano crossed her talons as her expression cracked and sank as well. As much as I agreed that he was overbearing as all hell, I needed to say something before Cora made the mistake of leaving and ruining their relationship.

“He’s right, Hispano.” I forced myself to speak. “There is nothing more important in the world than making sure you’re safe. Not to Cora, not to Buck or I either.” Hispano’s gaze softened as she looked over to me, then back to her father. He looked up at us, doing his best to put up a strong front, but I could tell that what Hispano had said really hit him hard. Which made what I needed to say hard, but necessary. “I know we don’t see eye to eye all the time, Cora, but you have our promise. Buck and I will make sure Hispano comes back from this, and every other job, without anything so much as an out of place feather.”

“You’re damn right you won’t.” His beak curled into a weak and forced smile, and he offered me a light nod. “Because while I can’t stop Hispano, I still expect you two to prove to me that you’re still worthy of my daughter.”

“Yes, sir.” Buck answered for the both of us.

Cora seemed to take that as an acceptable answer and left us alone again. The moment he was gone, the three of us sat is silence once more until Hispano let out a soft sigh. Slowly, she reached around Buck and squeezed him tightly again.

“Thank you, you guys.” She sniffed as she finally relaxed a bit in Buck’s arm.

“Anything for family.” Buck nodded with a static filled sigh. His eyes were still cast at the doorway where Cora had been, and I could tell that he was again thinking of everything that could go wrong on this next job.

“Inlaws, am I right?” I nudged Hispano with that. I honestly wasn’t sure what that phrase was even supposed to really mean, but I’d heard my mom joke with dad a few times like that about my grandparents before they laugh amongst each other. Still, it just felt right for the moment, and it pulled a soft chuckle from Buck. “Come on you big goof.” I rolled my eyes at him, but pressed myself into his fur at the same time. “No more dilly dallying, we’ve got some armored mercenaries to hire.”

“So, ah know y’all had yer reasons, Night.” Sierra let out a digital sigh as she continued her work on some sort of big complex arcane machine. She torqued on a spanner that was almost the size of her, tightening down the and of a fastener that held down a cable as thick as my hoof. “But y’all really need ta not overtax tha capacitor on tha subgun ah gave yah.”

“In my defense, if I didn’t use the gun like that, I’d probably be dead.” I offered as I hopped down out of Buck’s mechanical arms.

I nearly collapsed as my rear leg gave out with a burst of pins and needles to it. While having my legs fall asleep when carried around by him was annoying, it was worth the warmth I gained from his fur. And as I leaned my weight more heavily onto my prosthetic leg, the thought that at least all of my legs couldn’t fall asleep brought a smirk to my muzzle.

“Yeah, that’s why ah said y’all had yer reasons.” She let go of the spanner, leaving it sticking out oddly from the large machine beside her.

The machine she’d been working on looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t really place why. The table of industrial sized batteries strung out beyond it all led into the massive cable she’d been working on, so I assumed she’d be powering it on at some point soon. Still, while the machine and the batteries didn’t seem out of place, beyond the batteries, sat about a dozen of what looked like deactivated silverfish drones. They didn’t at all look damaged, but seeing as I still have little to no clue on how they worked, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that now and again they may need a little maintenance.

“Now come on.” Turning to the three of us, she nodded towards the armory door in the back of the room. “Between all the project’s ah’ve got, ah’ve fixed up yer gear, and ah’ve even got a few neat things fer Buck.”

“Oh?” Buck’s mechanical ears perked as his tail gave a quick and excited swish.

“Got anything for me?” Hispano chirped as she fluttered out of Buck’s arms and floated through the air after Sierra. “New armor, or portable super weapons? Some sort of machine miracle kit or something?”

“Nope.” Sierra spoke flatly as her head rotated all the way around on her neck as she continued walking. “Based on what we know about yah, we deemed that givin’ yah additional gear ta use actually lowers yer combat effectiveness.”

“Woah…” Hispano nearly froze up mid flight as Sierra’s head spun around again. “now that’s just creepy…”

“Yeah, you get used to it.” I offered Hispano a shrug as I trotted under her. “But I think she has a point. I mean, between your flying skills and your sister, if anyone here doesn’t need help being a badass in a fight, it’s you.”

“Awww!” Hispano gasped and blushed almost as brightly as Buck and I had in the surgical suite. “That’s so sweet of you to say, Dum Dum!”

“Now who’s the one being sappy?” Buck flashed a slick grin as he followed us, forcing Hispano’s cheeks to glow brighter as she scrunched up her beak.

We followed Sierra over to the massive armory door. Ping was already standing at one of the two terminals, and he nodded as Sierra took her place at the other. The two of them activated the terminals together, and the heavy door once again opened up to reveal it’s collection of antique tools of war.

“Y’all wait here fer a moment.” Sierra held up a hoof as both she and Ping trotted inside.

“I still can’t believe just how much stuff they have here.” Hispano offered almost at a whisper. She fluttered down next to me, touching down and folding her wings as her eyes wandered over all the weaponry in the armory. “It’s hard to believe that they just scavenged all of it.”

“It is at first,” Buck spoke up as his mechanical legs gave a hiss and planted him on the other side of me. “But you need to remember that just because Factory Zero One is a settlement devoted to a peaceful existence, doesn’t mean they aren’t prepared for any contingency.”

“Walk softly, but carry a big stick.” Hispano nodded at that. “Or in their case, a whole lot of sticks.”

Ping was the first to reemerge from inside the armory. Balanced across his back, was the familiar strutted form of my wingsuit, as well as my battlesaddle and magical energy submachine gun. Both looked to have been cleaned up and repaired to the point that they were pretty much in the same shape I’d first gotten them in.

“While we carry plenty of sticks, I do believe this one is yours, Night.” Ping’s bright beaming smile and upbeat tone was comforting to have around again. Even as my mind tried to remind me of the terrifyingly soulless machine that Mr. Wizard had tried to make, I never felt that way about Ping. “Do not feel pressured to put it on right away,” He offered as he hoofed my gear from his back. “The trip to Cordite will take an hour or so, and there will be ample time to get geared up on board the Arcturus.”

“Thanks, Ping.” Taking the gear from his hooves, I offered my own smile in return. “And hey, again, sorry for what happened back in the city.”

“Do not worry, Night. I am just happy to be back.” His expression shifted to a more concerned one while he still beamed the same bright smile at me. “As I said, we simply need to keep it from being a common occurrence.” Looking off towards the door back into the main halls, he waved to the three of us before starting to trot off towards them. “Try not to take too much longer to get ready. I will see you all on board the Arcturus shortly.”

While he said it was alright, it still didn’t make me feel any less guilty for letting his old body get taken like that. Yeah, I didn’t know that he could come back in a new body, but I still let him get taken. I’d failed to protect him, and I wouldn’t be so lucky if that happened to Buck or Hispano. Looking down at the gear in my hooves, I resolved to myself to fight harder than ever to keep it from happening again.

“Alrighty, big guy.” Sierra called out as she too reemerged from inside the armory. Carried across her back, was a big white and red square, as well as something I’d never thought I’d see again. “It ain’t as pretty as yer old one, but y’all should find this one even better than before.”

She pulled Buck’s yoke off of her back. Most of the original wood construction was gone, replaced by thick and heavy looking steel plates. Several lights, vents, and ports sat underneath a spring loaded metal flap that when closed, displayed the red cross that the old yoke had held. The two mounting points on the back of the yoke had also been replaced, and now held two differently sized antenna that stiffly wiggled as she moved it.

“The Architect wanted more data on tha outside world as y’all head south, so this here yolk should contain all tha sensors and instruments we could ever need.” Sierra spoke as Buck reached out and took the metal yoke into his paws. From the way that his arms dipped at the weight of it, I couldn’t imagine what it actually would feel like for him to wear something so heavy. “And of course y’all get the data feed as well in yer head. Ah also included a data buffer that’ll broadcast everything it gets once a day, but will also constantly broadcast a shorter version of our radio signal. So if y’all see any other machines on yer travels, just saddle up next to ‘em and they should get our message.”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea, Sierra.” Buck’s jagged metal jaw split into a wild grin as he lifted the yoke up and put it on. My mind was thrown back to the day I gave him the yoke, and I smiled as he mirrored the look he had back then. Goddesses, I wish things could just go back to the way they used to be. Despite what it weighed, as it clamped around his neck, it didn’t look like it put any more strain on him at all. With the yoke on, his ears perked again and his eyes swept over to the white and red cloth draped across her back. “And what is that you have there?”

“Now, this here is a gift from tha Architect to yah.” She reached back again and slipped the large cloth from her back. As she lifted it, it unfurled a bit, showing that the red I’d seen was actually a large version of the red cross his yoke shared. “In his observations of ya, he’s noticed that y’all ain’t really the type to enjoy standin’ out inna’ croud. So he had me whip up this here cloak for yah so y’all at tha very least look more friendly.”

Taking the cloth in his paws, Buck pulled it up and spread it out. The thick white fabric was sewn up in the rough shape of a robe that was sized for someone exactly Buck’s size. With a quick toss of his paws, he draped the cloth over him, letting the large red cross display proudly across his back. He slipped his mechanical paws through the arm holes, and brought them up to flip a hood over the top of his head.

I had to say, once he had it completely around him, other than for his odd size and stature, I would hardly have guessed that there was a mechanically augmented Snow Dog under the robe. Well, that would be completely true if Buck’s spiky tail didn’t wag a bit as he looked himself over. Still, the beaming smile across his muzzle at his new outfit brought a similar one to my own.

“It’s perfect!” Buck gasped as he gave us all a little spin on his mechanical paws.

“It makes you look like a target. That or a walking tent…” Hispano’s blunt words hammered home an annoying, but fair point.

“Well outta’ any of yah gettin’ shot, he’s probably gonna’ be tha likeliest ta survive.” Sierra snorted as she shot a faceless glare over to Hispano. Without missing a beat, she looked over to me as well. “Then again, mister Survivor over here could probably pull it off as well, but tha factory ain’t really feelin’ good on testin’ those chances.”

“Besides, I’m a big dog.” Buck shrugged as he reached up and pulled the hood back again. “I’ll gladly take a few bullets for the team if it means keeping you two safe.”

“Why don’t we just try and not get shot in the first place, okay?” I offered, only half joking. I mean please, when has that ever happened. The deadpan I received from the three of them really cemented that fact in my mind as well.

“Don’t y’all have somewhere yah need ta be?” Sierra spoke up again as she gave a dismissive wave to us.

“Yeah, let’s blow this joint already.” Hispano cood as she hopped up into the air again. With a smile, she pointed down to me. “Oooh! Last one to the ship is a rotten apple!” She gasped before flapping hard and all but bolting out into the bright halls outside.

“Alright, are you good to go, Night?” Buck asked as he turned to me and offered out his mechanical paw. I was about to nod and hop up into his warm grasp again when Sierra used her hoof to push his paw away.

“Actually... ah need ta speak ta Night fer just a teensy moment.” She lowered her voice into more of a whisper as Buck cocked an eyebrow at her. “Ah just need ta ask him somethin’. Ya’ know… in private.” I wasn’t sure how a faceless machine could look nervous glancing up at Buck, but that’s exactly what Sierra did as a moment of silence filled the air. “Uh… it’ll be quick, ah promise.”

“Alright.” Buck nodded before looking over to me. “I’ll be waiting in the cart, Night. Don’t take too long.” Turning, Buck’s flowing robe displayed the full red cross for me to see as he walked himself back out into the hall without another word.

“So, what’s up, Sierra?” I asked, watching as she hung her head for a moment. From how she almost looked dejected, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from her.

“Well, yah see…” She kept her voice down as she turned and walked back towards the large archano-tech machine she’d been working on when we walked in. “Ah’m workin’ on somethin’ fer the Architect. A bit of a secret project that ah’m not supposed ta talk about.” She waved for me to come closer, and she looked around as if looking for anypony who could be eavesdropping on us. “So ah need yer word that y’all won’t spill the beans on this, even ta yer husband-ta-be out there.”

“Uh… okay?” I shrugged to her, pulling a cringe from her metal body. Okay, so she didn’t want me to tell anypony. While that was out of the ordinary, it was just another odd request like for every other ‘quick’ job we’d done for the Factory and the Architect so far. “So what do you need…” As I said that, she spun her hoof up and pressed it to her featureless muzzle.

“Shhhh! Keep it down!” She gave out through a harsh whisper. “Like ah said, ain’t nopony supposed ta know about it.” She waited for me to nod before turning her hoof back to point at the machine infront of us. “Now, this here machine is the last piece of a bigger project, but ah’ve hit a bit of a wall. Yah see, since the ponies in Tungsten stopped minin’ fer us, we ain’t gettin’ anymore ore in.”

“Okay,” I kept my voice to enough of a whisper this time that she didn’t scold me as I gestured to the thousands of broken and scrap guns around us. “I thought you’d have enough steel with all this scrap you have here.”

“It ain’t steel we need. It’s Tungsten.” She gave off a hushed sigh and hung her head again. “It’s an absolutely crucial component ta the build here, the last component ah need. And seein’ as y’all are headed down ta Cordite, ah need yah ta barter for some.”

Well, that’s neat and all, but point A, I’m not great at bartering. And point B, is that I have no idea what I’d even trade for it in the first place. But seeing as this is something specifically that the Architect needs, I’m guessing that there’s already something I’m supposed to be offering to Cordite. So then like most tasks they’ve sent me on, I’m guessing this was less of an ‘optional’ bit of the job, and I might as well see what I could do.

“What do I tell them they’ll be getting?” I asked, making Sierra perk up a bit.

“Well, we’ve got lot’s ‘a high explosive shells here of all different sizes. Great fer use against tha targets they most commonly come up against here in tha northern wastes.” She gestured back toward the crates way in the back of the armory. “Yah can offer them a few thousand shells of our stock, whatever sizes they need. But, ah need about five hundred of their tungsten penetrators in return.”

“Okay, sounds easy enough.” I shrugged back to her. Seriously, that sounds a bit like the Factory is getting the worse deal here, but again, if that’s what the Architect wants…

“One more thing, Night.” She hissed in a low whisper as she reached out and prodded at my chest with her hoof. “Like ah said, this is a secret, so ah’m gonna have you use a coded phrase ta tell meh when I can send these here drones ta pick up the shells.” She waved her hoof back to the shut down drones I’d spotted earlier. Oh, so that’s why they were here. “Ah’ll be listenin’ in on tha deal through Buck, and ah’ll ask him to give you a question fer meh.”

“Alright?” Okay, while I get the idea of secrecy, didn’t she just say she didn’t want to let anyone else know about it?

“Ah’m gonna have Buck ask yah if ya’ll think it looks like thunder out,” She prodded at my chest sharply again. “And if yah got the Tungsten, ya’ll need ta reply with ‘Ah didn’t see a flash’, got it?”

“I didn’t see a flash?” I repeated, pulling a quick nod from her. Finally, it clicked in my head what she was doing. “Oh!” I gasped out loudly, only to have her forcefully wrap her metal hooves around my muzzle to shut me up.

“Yes, it’ll let meh know when y’all have finished tha job.” She nodded before giving me the most intense, faceless stare I think I could ever get from her. “But remember, nopony can know, and that means y’all have ta barter in private. Got it?” I nodded to her, and she pulled her hooves away from my muzzle again. “Good. Ah look forward ta hearin’ back from y’all. I just hope it can be done in time...”

“In time for what?” I asked bluntly.

“Ain’t nothin’ y’all need ta worry about, sugarcube.” She gave a light giggle and dismissed me with her hoof. “Run along now, yer friends are waitin’ fer yah!”

Okay… so that was an interesting exchange. A secret project for the Architect that required this much secrecy and planning? But… why? Honestly, this was reminding me a little too much of when Hardcase had asked me to go make a commotion with Guinness and Zibar’s tank...

And now I just made myself sad by remembering that.

Giving a sigh, I turned around and walked toward the door. And here I’d thought that maybe when the Architect and I talked, I’d convinced him that keeping secrets wasn’t the way to go about things. Then again, this could be about that, or about anything for all I know. Maybe it would be best if I just didn’t question it for now. Besides, it was going to be hard enough to convince Cordite to help us out as it was.

Well, here’s hoping that however it went, it didn’t end up with me getting shot, or one of my friends getting foalnapped again. Then again, it’s me we’re talking about here. But you know, wouldn’t it be nice if just this once things went well for a change...

Author's Notes:

As is pretty much the case with ever chapter, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for helping to make sure these are all ready to go up! Seriously, you're the best, man!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for letting us all run around in this fantastic wasteland!