“I think I speak for not just the council, but for the whole stable when we say; thank you young miss for what you did.” The elderly Mirage pony mare’s expression softened as she spoke. For just a single moment, the only thing I could see from her was the kind and wise grandmotherly character from so many foals’ tales. A kind of mare I’d never been able to meet above the clouds. “I’m told that without the actions of you and your friends, we would have never regained the freedom we left behind on the Marewaii Islands. For that, you and your friends will always be welcome in our city.”

That… felt nice to hear. I hadn’t met a lot of elderly, non-ghoul ponies in my travels so far. And among the few I had, Spring Leaf had been the kindest out of them all, and Coconut Curry with the Steel Rangers… had probably been the worst. Then again, with all the nastiness of the wastes, it was nice anytime you met somepony who wasn’t trying to knock your legs out from under you.

“I am Grand Chancellor Hibiscus Flux, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Survivor. Or is that not your given name…?” She offered a warm smile that spread like an infection to the other Mirage ponies.

“Night Flight.” I nodded to them before looking at the others. “And this is Buck, Hispano, and Happy. It wasn’t just me, they helped to free you all as well.”

“Yes, of course, a pleasure.” She nodded to each of them before glancing over to the elderly stallion sitting next to her left side. “This is Vice Chancellor Guava Flyback, and on the other side of him are Council members Neon Mallow and Coconut Redox.” The middle aged stallion and mare gave me a quick nod before Hibiscus turned to her other side. “And these two youngsters are the junior members of the council, Buck Boost and Rambutan Float.”

“Thank you for freeing us.” The young filly sheepishly dropped her bright orange mane over her overly black and white striped coat.

“Yeah yeah!” The excitable colt nodded before beaming a Ping-like smile up at Buck. “Are those real cybernetics!?” He gasped when Buck blinked and then slowly nodded to him. “That’s so cooooool! Where did you get them!? Can we be friends? We even have the same name an’ everything! Or better yet, can I get cool cyber-legs as well!?”

“Calm yourself, young one.” Hibiscus cleared her throat and shot an almost Delilah level sideways glance at him, causing him to instantly freeze in place as if time itself had stopped. “Members of the City Council must always conduct themselves with poise and authority, lest we be locked away again inside the Stable.”

“So, about ‘conducting’ yourselves.” Lustre snorted as she approached the long table. With a lazy tip of her claws, she easily shoved all of the chairs away from the opposing side of the Mirage ponies. “You had an urgent matter that required speaking to me directly?”

“Yes, well you see, there’s been a bit of a… disagreement on the matters relating to the use of your ‘crew’.” The old stallion, Guava, spoke up and craned his neck over toward the door. “You seem to be fairly preoccupied with spending an awfully large amount of time fixing up this old station, when our Stable has been completely neglected for almost two centuries! You had promised that a full maintenance team would be sent over tonight to start getting it back into shape.”

“It’s not just that, but where’s the crew you promised for the memorial?” The middle aged Mirage pony mare, Neon Mallow, snarled and peeked one of her crimson eyes out from under her white and pink striped bowl cut mane. “Do you think that our requests are some sort of joke just because you ‘allow’ us to run the city?”

“As I’m sure you are aware,” Lustre brought her claws up to her long muzzle and let out a horrifically long sigh that sent a cloud of smoke rolling across the wooden beamed ceiling. “The multiple megaspells that went off earlier have made long term trips outside all but impossible for the next few days.”

“Why not use the Monorail then?” Coconut Redox snorted and turned his brown tinged muzzle up at Lustre. “Surely it would make trips easy enough to satisfy your ‘concern’ over the maintenance crew ponies.”

“The maintenance crew was on their way here when the megaspells struck.” Lustre growled and balled her other claws up into a tight fist as she set it down on the table. “They had to seek shelter inside the city, and will not arrive until the worst of the magical radiation passes. All I’m asking for is a bit of patience.”

“We did plenty of waiting, decades in fact.” Coconut turned his gaze across the others in the Council, receiving nods from each of them. “To insinuate we haven’t learned how to be patient is…”

“We do not expect immediate rectification for this delay.” Hibiscus cut in, “We are not unreasonable ponies, we simply wish to know that your offer to work together was genuine is all.” Furrowing her brow, she gave a sideways glance to the grumpy expression across Coconut’s face. “Let me tell you a story, Queen Lustre. Those of us who were taken from the Marewaii islands had been either drug addicts or destitute and homeless. We were the undesirables, not important enough to help, but not worth putting down for good. Then, came Mr. Wizard’s offer. He promised us unparalleled freedom in return for leaving Marewaii, that a new start for each of us was waiting on the mainland. And while our fate was certainly kinder than starving in the island metros, we are no longer so easily tempted by the ‘kind and generous’ offers of others.”

“Queen Lustre might seem tough, but as you said, she’s not unreasonable. You act like she’s trying to lock you up again, but she’s not a monster like Mr. Wizard was.” I blurt out in my normal fashion, pulling a shocked look from most of the Mirage ponies, as well as a definitely offended Coconut. “I understand the level of mistrust you must have, but it’s just a small delay. Surely you can understand, given what happened tonight across the whole of the north.”

“Perhaps what you must come to is some sort of compromise?” Buck added, pulling conflicted looks from the Mirage ponies. He flashed them his jagged smile as he pressed his paws together lightly and looked over to Lustre. “Oh, here’s an idea. There was mention of some sort of memorial, perhaps some small work could be done on that?”

“I suppose I could pull together a small crew to begin preparing a space in the entryway for it.” Lustre again cupped her claws over her face and dragged them down. “However, I would like to remind the council that after being so kind as to lecture us on the wrongdoings of Mr. Wizard, you will be winning no favors among the city or in the Road Crew in memorializing him.”

“They’re what!?” Happy and I snapped at the exact same time.

“As cruel as he was, Mr. Wizard took care of us when he didn’t have to.” Guava snorted as he shot a glare at Happy and I. “He kept us fed and sheltered, made sure to protect us from all the chaos of the wasteland. For more than a few of us, including myself, he was a benevolent host who has now tragically passed.”

“This is absurd!” Happy nearly shouted the words I’m sure were on all our minds. “That rotten asshole deserved what was comin’ to him!”

“That is quite enough…!” Hibiscus tried to cut in.

“No, fuck you!” Happy shouted, shoving his chair back as he slammed his forehoof down on the table. “Do you have any fucking idea the shit he was responsible for in the North? How much fucking trouble he caused fer my Ma’? Hell, Night and I almost became his slaves for good!”

“Can we please just calm down?” Buck raised his mechanical paws defensively to Happy, offering a nervous smile to the horrified Mirage ponies. “I’m sure we can…”

“You almost became slaves!?” Neon Mallow forced out a haughty laugh. “Try living as one for years before you go calling us out on our own shit. I voted against this stupid memorial idea, but I won’t sit here and have you demean us after what we’ve been through.” With a snarl, she turned her attention to Lustre. “It’s enough to have to work with non-pony outsiders who for all we know, just want to horde and control us like some sort of buried treasure.”

“Watch your tone.” The growl that Lustre gave off with her words rumbled the heavy wooden table under my hooves. “The Road Crew chooses to work with you, but if you feel you can’t stand living around us non-ponies, then by all means, go ahead and leave my city.”

It was about that point that the whole room exploded into an angry shouting match. Any semblance of coherent words disappeared into unintelligible gibberish, and the overwhelming white noise of it was doing nothing to keep my own temper from getting worked up.

“Discourse is always such a fickle mistress.” Solomon’s voice cropped up in my head again. “How is it that you’ve made it this far, and yet you still can’t anticipate a turn in an argument enough to head it off?” I blinked, and found him sitting across the table from me, wedged between the angry expressions of Coconut and Guava. His stupid pristine coat glistened in the flickering firelight as if the whole of him was made of white wax. “Face it, you’ll never be her. And it’s a pity, because after killing Delilah, I’d hoped for a challenge. Another WORTHY rival. But you’re just as pathetic as I’ve always claimed you to be.”

A nervous tick washed over me, and at that point, I felt like I just needed to snap.

“Enough!”

I screamed with everything I had inside. With enough force that my voice cracked and nearly gave out altogether. And what was the pain creeping up my esophagus worth? Well, it bought me a precious few moments of complete and utterly stunned silence.

“You know what’s wrong with all of you? Each of you thinks you’re better than the other.” I was so sick of this, of all the petty arguing. “Solomon is right, I fucking suck at this whole diplomacy thing, but at least I’m not out for myself.” Looking around the room, I watched as a few of the Mirage pony’s expressions cracked at that, and Lustre herself shifted her gaze down away from me and toward the table. “If you can’t share this city, fine. In fact, if you can’t be nice to each other, then why don’t you just keep things the way they were! Because that was so much better, right?” I snapped over at the council, pulling a whimper from the two foals. “But hey, that way, at least you can just keep fighting over the same insignificant things that help nopony at all!”

“Good.” Solomon smiled and tented his hooves on the table. “Tell them what you’re going to do if they don’t play nice.” His words forced the thoughts skulking in the depths of my mind to the forefront of it. The idea that I could just command the Arcturus to bombard the city again came easily. “Yes. Because if they can’t share it, then nopony gets the city. Fair is fair, right, Nightflight?” A missile into the station, a missile into the science center, another into the thermal updraft tower… it would be so easy to solve all of this like that. “Even if it means destroying their homes, their entire families. Wouldn’t that be by far the easiest way to make them change their selfish perspective?”

“On second thought, Solomon’s right… it would be so easy to just destroy this whole fucking city. Neither of you deserves to run it.” That pulled Lustre’s attention back up to me, and not in a shocked way. No, from the way her muzzle bled black smoke, she looked a moment away from just incinerating me. “Yeah, all of the Road Crew’s work, for nothing with a single command. And I’ll fucking kill you all just to shut this petty bullshit down for good.”

“Night, you’re talking about Solomon again.” I felt Hispano’s talon wrap around the back of my neck as she lowered her tone to me. “I understand you’re annoyed, but you need to focus. Stay on task.”

“I am focused.” I growled and shrugged her off. Raising my hoof, I arced it across the table at each of the Council before ending it on Solomon’s waxy form. “Don’t mistake me mentioning that bastard as anything but motivation to work this out. Because given my alternative, I’m sure everyone here can come to some sort of agreement.” I watched as the smug Saddle Arabian smirked and gave a light clap of his hooves. That’s right, yet again you aren’t going to torment me.

Blinking, I glared at where he sat, waiting for him to finally melt or flash away.

But the more I blinked, the more nothing changed. Solomon simply sat there with an amused look across his face. No, I’ve been through this before, I talk him down, and then he leaves me alone.

“Oh, poor dear Night Flight.” He offered me a sympathetic look as a wholly devious smile parted his muzzle. “You really are hopeless.” I blinked again and he disappeared from his place across the table. Instead, he reappeared standing tall upon it, towering over me with a suddenness that made me stumble backwards to avoid being bowled over by him. Tripping over my own prosthetic leg, I went down hard onto the floor. What… what the fuck!? “Yes! Now you are starting to understand!”

“Night…” Buck’s voice was almost muted as Solomon stepped down off the table, using my splayed body as a stepping stool. He pressed his forehooves sharply into my barrel, and I felt the air get forced from my lungs. No, that… that shouldn’t be possible! “Stay with me, Night!” No, he’s not real! Solomon’s not real!

With a single forehoof, he reached up to my throat and pressed down.

I gasped helplessly for air as he pressed down on my windpipe. My vision blurred as panic set in, and Solomon’s laughter filled the air. I gurgled out a scream from my hoarse throat as best I could, but I couldn’t even beat out his laughing.

“You’ve forgotten, Night.” Solomon collected himself and lowered his head to me as my body fought to keep going. I tried to use the opportunity to swing up at him, to just flail my hooves enough to knock him off of me. But my legs refused to move, and that made Solomon laugh even harder. “You and I? We’re going to be together for a LONG time. Forever, in fact, so you might want to come to terms with it.” Darkness was creeping in, and it was getting harder to struggle. “Give in, Night, let yourself go. It’ll be easier on us in the long run.”

Slowly, he lifted his hoof off of my throat, but as much as I wanted to, I still couldn’t bring myself to breath. Lowering himself again, he brought his muzzle to hover just over the end of mine, leaving his lavender eyes to look right into my mind. His smile widened as he let a shiver run across his waxy form.

“Let’s face it, you aren’t exactly cut out for this sort of life, are you?” I felt a soft patter against my body, like the first few drops of rain. In my darkening vision, I managed to shift my glance down his body to find that it was melting. Slowly, more and more of him started to drip and drop onto me, washing up towards my head with an alarmingly numbing feeling. “Me?” He snorted as he all but commanded my vision back up to him. “Well, we both know I’m a bit better suited to running things. After all, I’ve got all your BEST ideas, right in here.” He gave a tap of his forehoof on the crescent shaped black mark adorning his forehead. “Ideas that the REAL Solomon would be proud of.”

With another roaring laugh, I finally felt my strength leave me, and the world became nothing but darkness.

“Sweet dreams.”

“Night, are you alright?” Buck’s voice forced me to blink.

A wave of confusion swept over me as I looked over at him and the others. I was still standing at the large wooden table as I had been, and while both Lustre and the Council still looked tense, they held somewhat worried looks at me. The non-waxy smug expression across Solomon’s face as he sat across the table hadn’t changed, but at the same time, I didn’t expect him to fade away anytime soon.

“What?” I found the words slip out of my muzzle. “What happened?”

“You shouted at us, and now you have the gall to not follow it up with anything?” Hibiscus snorted and deadpanned at me.

“You screamed ‘enough’ and then froze up.” Hispano offered with a note of concern as she brought her hoof around my neck in a way that sent a tingle of deja-vu through my brain. What in Celestia’s name was going on here? “Are you okay, Dum Dum?”

A ringing pain flared up behind my empty eyesocket, and like always, I reached up and did my best to put pressure on it through my eyepatch. The ebbing pain dulled slightly, but radiated out into the rest of my head, my legs, and my wings. Fuck, why now?

“Why not now?” Solomon goaded as he softly rubbed his forehooves together. “Afraid to show weakness in front of your friends, Night? Why don’t you excuse yourself then?”

“Yeah… I’m good.” Goddesses, am I going crazy? This can’t just be because of the Chill… right? What the hell did Solomon do to me? “I just need to step outside, to clear some thoughts.” Shrugging off Hispano’s talons, I trotted my way over toward the heavy wooden doors and shoved my way through them.

The cold terminal concourse air greeted me sharply, as did the sounds of all the hustle and bustle from the ponies on the bottom level. The pain behind my socket sharpened and a gasp forced its way out of my muzzle. Fucking hell, I need to get rid of this pain somehow…

“Already wishing you could run right back into your habit?” Solomon chuckled as he leaned back against some of the concourse railing. Goddesses I wish I could just fucking throw Solomon right over it. “Oh we both know of your distinct lack of forethought, but that’s an impressive display of unoriginality. Do you not think the real Solomon wouldn’t be ready for such a simple minded tactic?”

“Shut up.” I grumbled at the stallion and walked over to him. “If I got just one chance like this, you’d see, I’d fucking give him exactly what he deserves.”

“Oh, would you now?” He laughed as I kicked my forehooves up and hooked them over the railing. Leaning backwards, he craned his neck to gaze downwards. “A pity then that he’s already so far ahead of you. No doubt he’s already cracked the code that YOU gave him.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got a code too, and the means to catch up with him.” I grumbled and let my head rest on the old wooden railing. The wood itself was so dark it was nearly black, and the varnish on it smelled heavily of some sort of alcohol. Still, focusing on it did help to keep the throbbing pain in my head down to a minimum.

“But yet, here you are.” Solomon sighed and leaned himself backwards even further over the railing. “You know, that little bird friend of yours is more than right. You can’t help but want to fight for the needy, even if it’s costing you the friendship of the mule who needs you more now than ever. A pity that you’re so alone in feeling the need to be a hero.”

“How can I be alone? I thought you’d said we’d be together ‘forever’.” I smirked and cocked a gaze up to him that made him roll his eyes. In fact, he rolled them so hard that he dipped completely over the rail and fell off down towards the busy bottom platform below.

“While that is true, I’m only here because of your mistakes. Don’t forget that you WANTED me here.” His voice reverberated in my mind. See, that’s what I didn’t get. If he’s just me, why couldn’t I control him? “Control me?” He laughed again. “Have you even met me?” His hoof gave a tap on the floor next to me again, prompting me to look up and find that he was now in his dress uniform with his stupid pith helmet pulled down over his eyes. With a dramatic press of his hoof, he tipped the brim of it up just enough that his glowing purple eyes beamed directly into my soul. “Maybe there was once a way to get rid of me, but I quite like it here, so I think I’ll stay.”

“Hey there, friend.” Double Drum’s voice caught me off guard as he called out to me from down near the tracks we’d walked past earlier. He held a nervous look to him as he pulled himself up onto the concourse and trotted over. “I don’t mean to be blunt, but…” He leaned in and lowered his voice to me. “You’ve been using a lot of Chill, haven’t you?”

“Gee, what do you think tipped the simpleton off?” Solomon rolled his eyes before going back to leaning against the railing again.

“I did, but not anymore.” I shook my head before slumping back against the old cast iron bars that held up the railing.

“Ah.” He nodded, taking a step around me to also prop himself up on the railing. In doing so, he forced the illusion of Solomon to grimace and shift down to ‘make room’ for him. Seriously, why couldn’t he just disappear like normal? “I mean, I get it. I’ve had friends over the years who’d used it.” Glancing over at me, Double Drum frowned for a moment before glancing across my body. “Then again, I don’t think I’ve seen anypony go through as much of a blender as you have. At least, not with them coming out the other end alive.”

“I didn’t ask for any of this.” I sighed. Seriously, how did things end up here when months ago I was only worried about what other ponies thought of me in school, and if I was a disappointment to my parents. I shifted my gaze up and brought it into a glare as Solomon opened his muzzle, making him pause just long enough that it allowed Double Drum to let out a light laugh.

“I don’t think anypony would willingly ask, but hey, look what you’ve done!” He kicked his forehooves over the railing and slumped with me. “With the exception of the bombs tonight, which weren’t your fault, I’d say you’ve made the North a hell of a lot safer than… well, than it’s been in a century.”

“And yet, I still can’t get things right.” I nodded back to the doors to the restaurant, turning my glare back onto those undoubtedly still arguing inside. “I just came here to ask Lustre a favor, not to get wrapped up in yet another fight over a city I hope to never see again.”

“Hey, don’t say that.” Drum snorted and gave me a light shove with his hoof. “While I know you’re leaving, Celestia knows the whole damn crew expects you to come visit again someday.” He flashed up a quick smile before shrugging and turning his attention away again. “Though, I get what you’re saying that you don’t want to be involved. But then I need to ask you, why not just leave then?”

“What?” The bluntness of it simply baffled me. “I can’t just leave. Not now, anyway...”

“Oh, poor innocent Night…” Solomon sighed and beamed his smug smile at me. Goddess I just want so much to give him one swift kick in the muzzle…

“Why not?” Again, Double Drum laughed. “Nopony’s asking for you to stay, and if it’s really weighing on you that much, why torture yourself by staying?” With a hefty shove, he pushed himself off the railing and back onto his hooves. He gave me a hard pat on the side as he stepped back from the railing. “I mean, I’m not asking you to go, but seriously you’ve done more than enough to help us. Leave this one to us, and move onto the next set of unfortunates who need helping, alright? Just hope that whoever that happens to be is a worse shot with a rifle than I was.”

“I…” I couldn’t help but pause and stare at the genuinely friendly smile he wore. Seriously, he thought it was just that simple, but it... just couldn’t be.

“Why are you always this stubborn?” Solomon’s voice resonated inside my head again. “Why is it that his advice sounds foreign, while you know that Delilah had tried to just leave things be on a number of occasions. Times which might I remind you, you elected to ignore and help others out anyway. Which now that I mention it, is exactly the same treatment you’ve been giving to your mule friend...”

“You’re right.” I nodded to both Solomon and Double Drum. “I ummm, think I need to just get on with things.”

“That’s the spirit!” Double Drum gave me another heavy pat on the side before stepping up in front of me. Without a word, he reared up and wrapped his hooves around me tightly. “Oh, the North is going to miss you, Night.” He hugged me with the same deceptive strength that Happy had, nearly forcing the air from my lungs before letting go. “Just try to stay in one piece for me, will you?”

I nodded to him and smiled. I knew that idea was a complete and utter fantasy, but it wasn’t something he needed to concern himself with. At the same time, I’m not sure it was something I needed to concern myself with either.

“Oh, and one more thing.” He said as he turned around and glanced back over himself. “Do yourself a favor and stay away from any more drugs, alright? Talking to hallucinations isn’t going to be showing others the best side of the ‘Bombay’ or ‘Survivor’ that I know, now is it?”

“Right, I’ll keep that in mind.” I flashed up a nervous smile as he gave me a final quick wave and trotted back off toward the station tracks again. In another minute, he’d disappeared down the line and out of sight.

“Such a nice, yet simple stallion.” Solomon offered as he appeared standing right next to me again. “A pity I won’t get to kill him. Or should I say, WE won’t get to kill him.” Cocking his eyebrow, I simply rolled my eyes at him and turned toward the doors to the restaurant again. “Then again, the day isn’t over just yet, is it?”

“Shut up.” I grumbled again as I reached the doors. Taking the shining handles in my forehooves, I grasped around them and pulled as hard as I could.

It took a not inconsiderable amount of grunting and struggling to get just one of the heavy doors to budge, but that was all I needed. Once it was moving, its own weight built up a momentum that made it easier to shift by the moment. But mostly the door gave me an appreciation for just how strong ponies could be, and just how jealous I was of unicorn magic. Fucking cheaters.

Squeezing myself through the opening I’d made in the door, I was again greeted by the flickering firelight dancing across the interior of the Restaurant. But instead of the frantic and wild noise of arguing I’d expected, the room was quiet. All eyes turned to me as the heavy door shut again, bumping me on the flank as if to remind me that I needed to speak up and get this over with. Even Solomon sat expectantly, having silently taken his place back at the table again.

“I uhhh, am sorry, but we must get going. I wish we could stay, but we have other issues to attend to.” I let the words push out of my muzzle, and prayed to the goddesses that this didn’t cause another argument to break out about how I needed to solve even more of their problems.

“Alright, that’s understandable.” Lustre nodded and huffed out a plume of black smoke. “Before you go, what was that favor you needed from me?”

“Cordite has a project that they need the Crew’s help with.” Even coming from my muzzle, just the mention of Cordite made Lustre’s slit-like eyes twitch with a subtle annoyance that cropped up under her scales. “They can fill you in on the details, but I need this favor from you.”

“Fair enough.” She nodded and seemed to mull over something in her mind for a moment. I’m sure it was something like her doing to the Chief what she did to Motor Grader, but honestly I should give her the benefit of the doubt. “As I said, the Road Crew owes you a great debt for your help. So for you, Survivor, I’ll see that it’s done.”

“Thank you.” I nodded and let out a long sigh that felt like it swept away all of my anxiety. Still, seeing how smoothly that went, maybe I could still do something to help the Council. “And to you, on the City Council.” Turning to them, I offered as much of a reverent bow as I could to them. “I require a favor from you as well.”

“As you wish.” Hibiscus cleared her throat and held her head high as she eyed over the other ponies. She waited for each of them to give a nod before looking back to me. “We will grant the Survivor her favor, should it be within our power to grant.”

“Please, set aside what differences you may have with the Road Crew.” I offered, taking a seat on the floor so I could offer my forehooves to them. “You have a chance to make things better now. Not just for the Mirage ponies of your Stable, but for every creature in the north. I know it sounds like I’m asking you to trust in someone who you can’t be sure if she has your best interests in mind, but I trust her. It may take time for her to arrange things for you, but it’s not because she doesn’t like you. She needs you as much as you need her, and if you work together, then this entire city will be able to thrive once again. So I’m asking you, please, give her a chance.”

“Bravo.” Solomon clapped his hooves together sarcastically as he tipped himself back in his imaginary chair. “Spoken right from the heart, Night. It’s just a shame that they’d rather have their petty arguments, than to risk ever becoming a slave again. So while you may have made a solid case, it’ll all have been for nothing anyway.”

No, Solomon was wrong, and I had proof. I had never seen a more conflicted look across the face of a pony than the one that sat across Hibiscus’s muzzle. But I had to trust and believe that she and the others could do this, even if it was just as a favor for the ‘Survivor’.

“I… think we should at least try.” Rambutan squealed as she gave a sheepish blush and hid her embarrassed gaze behind her mane as best she could.

“Yeah! Come on, she saved us an’ everything!” Buck Boost shouted with so much enthusiasm that he almost wiggled himself right off of his cart. If not for the still completely stoic and silent Celestia’s Angel unicorn next to him, I’m sure he would have. “She’s the Survivor, so we owe her!”

“The youngster does have a point.” Guava nodded as he leaned over, giving Hibiscus a soft nuzzle that pulled a sigh from the elderly mare’s muzzle. “What do you say, hun?”

“All in favor to at least attempting to work together with the Road Crew, despite the current setbacks?” She sighed.

“Aye!” The two foals chimed in nearly together.

“Aye.” Guava added in, straightening himself up again before looking over to the two middle aged Mirage ponies next to him. “Well?”

“Neigh.” Coconut grunted. “I believe that we’ve waited long enough, and it’s about time we got our due for once.”

“I’m with Coconut, and vote neigh.” Neon nodded and shifted her particularly stinging glare to me. “While I agree that we should be thankful for the Survivor’s help in freeing us, I believe that we don’t owe her anything. As far as I see it, we lost enough of us in the fight that we’re already even.”

“Alright then.” Lustre snorted a jet of black across the ceiling as she sat up and placed her claws on the table. “It’s up to you, Hibiscus. As Grand Chancellor, your vote counts for two, so this decision falls upon your vote.”

“I’m well aware of my duties, thank you.” Hibiscus grunted before she closed her eyes and lowered her head in thought. “Now, quiet. I must focus.”

As we all sat in silence, waiting for an answer, I watched the tip of her horn begin to glow. A shimmering aura enveloped it, spreading downward as it brightened. The waving, mirage-like effect began to expand downward, enveloping her head, neck, and eventually covering her whole body.

The room itself began to brighten. Not because of the magic in her horn, but because all of the old world lighting slowly began to dimly shine. The effect grew with each second, as the room went from being cast in flickering firelight, to a brilliant luminescence from the old world light fixtures that almost gave the place the look and warmth of being out under Celestia’s glorious sun.

All too soon however, the lights began to dim, and the shimmering effect around the elderly mare began to fade away. She gave off light pants as her horn sparked and sizzled, and beads of sweat rolled down her forehead as her eyes fluttered open again. Taking a moment to collect herself, she looked around at her fellow members before turning and looking at me.

“It is the decision of this council,” She paused in what was one of the most infuriating ways I’d only seen from the overly dramatic ponies in the old world Lilac Lace films. “That we will grant the Survivor her wish.”

I let out a long sigh of relief, as did most of the others in the room.

“I think that while we do deserve to be treated better, it’s best that we remember why we ended up this way in the first place.” Her gaze softened, and she let her glasses slip down to the end of her muzzle as she relaxed. “We have a chance to finally belong somewhere, and I believe that will only happen if we end up working with others, rather than against them.” Shifting her gaze to Lustre, she offered a hope filled smile. “However, I do expect results, as well as to be kept in the loop if anything changes.”

“Of course.” Lustre nodded and offered her own toothy grin. “Come morning, I’ll create a position in the crew solely to act as a direct courier so that we can relay messages more frequently, and without the need to set up meetings where both sides have the opportunity to cause friction.”

“That sounds agreeable to me.” Hibiscus gave another respectful nod to her before looking to the other council members. “Then I believe that our business here has been settled in a satisfactory manner.” Turning her glance up to the stoic Celestia’s Angel pony who’d been silently standing next to her, she nodded one last time. “Now, it is time to return us to the Stable.”

“As you wish.” The mare next to her replied before using her magic to pull Hibiscus’s wheeled cart away from the table. Each of the other ponies did the same, and in complete silence, the whole council was rolled out of the restaurant and onto the platforms outside. The second the heavy wooden doors shut, it felt to me like the atmosphere inside became about a million times lighter as everyone relaxed a bit.

“Another crisis averted.” Solomon chuckled from his still seated position across the table. “Though, it was admittedly a crisis of your own making, was it not, Night?”

“Shut up.” I grumbled and shot him a short lived glare.

“It’s alright, Night. It’s over.” Buck’s mechanical paw sent a shiver up my spine as he softly brought it down on my neck. “Let’s get going before your condition worsens.”

Looking up at him, I was met with his soft and caring smile. But even though I loved that smile, I could see the look of pity and pain behind it. We both knew I was far from alright, but I think it hurt him more knowing there was little he could do about it.

“Actually…” Lustre groaned as she shifted herself onto her hind legs. She moved to stand up, but ended up hunching over the table to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling. “I was wondering if I could have one last word alone with Night. I’ll be prompt, I assure you.”

“Alright.” Buck turned his soft smile up to her and nodded before looking back down to me. “We’ll be just outside waiting, alright?” I offered my own soft smile and nod to him, and in return, felt him pull his paw off of me.

Hispano offered her own concerned look to me as she hovered over to Buck, easily dropping into his other outstretched paw. Again, I shared my own look back before turning to Lustre. Which of course was when Happy stuck his face between us.

“Just don’t arrange anymore side gigs, ya dig, Night?” He gave me a stiff pat on the side before grumbling to himself. “We ain’t got the time ta waste anymore.”

“Yeah.” I nodded to him, which seemed to be a good enough answer as he turned and left the room with the others. Which just left me, and the enormous draconic queen of the Road Crew…

“I know that this is going to sound awkward, but…” Lustre paused as she took a deep breath, looking like she was mulling over a million things in her head. “Delilah… was right about you. After everything I’ve seen, you can do anything, Night.”

“Are we talking about the same Delilah here?” The words tumbled from my muzzle, pulling a stiff snort from Lustre that sent another cloud of sooty black smoke across the room. “I mean, I don’t think I did anything but screw things up for her…” I sighed as my mind played back the events of the last time I saw her. “... right up to the end.”

“Delilah was the most ruthless, cutthroat business jenny I think has and will ever have graced the wastelands.” Lustre smirked and crossed her claws across her barrel. “She cut so many out of her life just for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. But…” She paused, offering just the briefest of glances over to me. “Something in her changed, she said that much herself. I can't vouch for if she even knew it was you who caused it, but let me tell you, it changed her. That night I spent with her, I expected it to be just like old times, you know? And of course, deep down I kept telling myself it wouldn't be.”

With another pause to reflect on the memories of better days that danced on her head, I watched as her muzzle split into the happiest, toothy grin I’d seen on her. Normally, I think that sort of dagger filled smile should fill me with the fear of being eaten or baked alive like Tephra had done with that stallion back in Mare’s Lake. But it was a truly happy and disarming smile, something I hadn’t seen enough of in my time in the wastes.

“I… was wrong. That night, the Delilah I slept with was the same happy and carefree Jenny I knew so many years ago.” Lustre continued, and dimmed her smile as the present caught up with her. “Like back before her obligations, the business, and the wasteland had really sunk their teeth into her. So of course I had to ruin the moment by asking her about it. But we talked about it, and talked, and talked, almost the rest of the time until sunup. She told me so many things about what she'd been up to over the years, stories of the good times, and the bad.”

“Why... are you telling me this?” I blurt out like normal, only to find her shift a deadpan to me. I forced a nervous grin across my face and let out a small laugh. “Not that I'm complaining, I'm just wondering, why now?”

“Because if I don't tell you now, I'm going to bottle it up and it'll drive me crazy. Now hush.” She snorted again, sending her cloud of smoke rolling over me. My lungs seized momentarily from the cloud assault, but I managed to keep myself from hacking too hard. “See, she told me quite a bit about you. About how perfect you were as a blank slate.” She continued, rapping her claws against the orange glass-like armored plates on each crossed foreleg. “That after trying for years to get Happy to follow her, finally she could have someone she could mold into a successor.”

“But I failed her. She died because I screwed up.” As much as I was perfectly alright hearing about how Delilah thought about me, that was something I wouldn’t lie to myself about. She died because of me.

“You didn’t kill her, that prince and my late husband are responsible for that.” She growled and brought her fisted claws down on the table hard enough that it rocked over to one side momentarily. With as much fervor as the table, her other forearm swung out and she pointed one of her claws directly at me. “You, you’ve done exactly as she'd expected of you. You survived, you carried on doing the right thing. She knew that while you were a bundle of misfortune to keep around, somehow, you always pulled through just so you could make the wasteland a better place. That’s why she trusted you, Night. That’s why I trust you, why the crew trusts you, and why the rest of the damn north trusts the name of the ‘Survivor'.”

Shaking her head, she pulled her claw away from me to bring it up and wipe away the welling tears in her draconic eyes. Taking a deep breath, the toothy smile she’d held returned as she once again looked to relax.

“When we got the report from up north that Double Drum had his machine taken out by some ‘pegasus kid’ in a convoy, believe me, I never expected that same filly would be the one my oldest and best friend had hoped would change the north forever. I just wish… she could see what you’ve done.” She let out a soft laugh from between her quivering lips before she broke down into surprisingly soft sobs. “You’ve even kept her son alive, and I can’t imagine how trying that’s been. You’ve done more than I ever could have for her…”

As much as she tried to hide it, like with Buck, I could see the pain behind her eyes. The loss of Delilah hurt her just as much as the rest of us, maybe more so than I could have ever understood. And unlike ever before, I could see that despite the fact that she was a dragon, she was just as vulnerable deep down as anyone could be. And while I couldn’t bring Delilah back, I could at least show her I understood how she felt.

Stepping forward, I walked up to her massive scaled side, and wrapped my hooves around her. She tensed up from the unexpected touch, but as she realized what I was doing, she completely let go. And as much as I fought the feeling back in myself, tears dripped down my own cheeks as I wanted nothing more than to see Delilah one last time as well.

“I’m sorry, Night.” Lustre sniffled as she again did her best to wipe the tears running down her cheeks. “I’m not normally so soft. It’s a terrible habit I’ve picked up from spending so many years around ponies, and I always try my best to hide it.” She arced her head over so that when I looked up at her, I could see her sad smile.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” I sighed and gave her a few pats with both my hooves. “And of course, your secret is safe with me.”

“Thank you.” She let out another sniff that ended with her blowing a small jet of smoke from her nose. “But you should probably get going now. You’ve got a prince to track down.”

“Ah, I do love being the center of attention, now don’t I?” Solomon gave a wicked smile as he appeared next to me, hugging around Lustre’s oversized body as well. “Is that right, Night? Despite your ‘good nature’ do you really want nothing more than to simply find and KILL me?”

“I certainly do.”

The ride back to the Arcturus went smoother than I’d expected, but none of us really felt like talking the whole way back. Maybe it was because I’d come back with tears matting my cheeks that the others hadn’t really wanted to talk about things, but I think it was more because of the fact that I’d proven to be just as unstable down there as they’d said I’d be. Moreso proven for me by the fact that our party had been joined on the Remora by an extra, unwanted companion.

“Ouch.” Solomon smirked as he looked at me from across the haughty expression plastered across his stupidly clean face.

The Remora gave a slight jolt as the hatch above us sealed to the underside of the Arcturus, and the hydraulics that worked the weapons bay loading tube opened up for us. I turned my attention up the hatchhole when it opened, finding the bright light of the interior bay burning my eyes after a ten minute trip in the dark Remora. Still, as I shielded myself slightly from the light, a striped muzzle poked into sight with a friendly beaming smile.

“Welcome home.” Ping offered to us before lowering down the boarding ladder from up above. We all sort of gave half grumbles as a response before one at a time, we began to make our way back up into the ship. “Oh, I do not suppose that means things went well with the Road Crew?”

“Well enough.” Happy groaned as he was the first to pull himself up. “Night almost lost it down there though.” He shot back a quick look that I’m sure he hadn’t meant to insult me with, but from where I stood, I simply glared back at him. Seriously, he wasn’t one to speak when he hadn’t done anything to help really.

“No wonder you keep trying to get him killed.” Solomon offered as he stood next to me.

“Shut up.” I grunted as Hispano disappeared up through the hole. Buck stopped just short of reaching for the ladder, perking his mechanical ears as I spoke under my breath. He turned and offered his own short look over me with his real eye, but either dismissed what I’d said or simply ignored it.

“What did I tell you, Night?” Solomon laughed again. “You’ll either drive them all away or kill them.” Goddesses, I just wished he’d go away…

I waited until Buck was all the way up the ladder before even approaching it. I reached out to grasp the rungs, but paused when I looked up. Ping had maneuvered himself to come down, and quickly started his decent. I almost hadn’t had enough time to step back before he had his hooves on the floor of the Remora, and the hatch above us shut with a firm clank. At that, the interior of the Remora was once again plunged into darkness. A darkness that was only illuminated by the soft glowing red spots behind Ping’s eyes as he turned them to me.

“I’m sorry, Night. I know you must be eager to rest, but we must speak alone for a moment.” The tone he used wasn’t as serious as those words made it sound. For both our sakes, I hoped that whatever this was about didn’t involve something terrible having happened while we were gone.

“What’s going on, Ping?” I offered, reaching out and putting my forehoof on his shoulder. “Has something happened at the Factory? Did you find out who was sending that signal?” The gesture was small, but I could feel how he relaxed his mechanical body at that.

“No, not yet.” He shook his head as he sat down. “And no, nothing new has happened, though I think I am close to finding out who the inside machine is. For now, I just… wanted to speak with you, candidly, about something that has been on my mind.”

“Okay…” I offered him a pat on the side as the thought struck me that this was all a bit over the top in presentation just for a ‘candid chat’.

“You know, unit thirteen’s body has been a lot to adjust to.” Ping literally flashed up a smile across his muzzle that beamed out light like a torch. “I do not expect you to understand, but, each of us have developed ‘quirks’ for ourselves, to help us blend in. For example, unit thirteen’s body has been tuned to give errant feedback along it’s connections, to give the impression of a nervous and uncontrolled twitch.” Holding his hoof up into the light, I watched as his illusionary coat shuddered and shivered randomly now and again.

“That’s… neat, I guess?” I didn’t really know what to say, or again, why he was telling me this at all. “Is there something going on with it? Is it hurting you?”

“No, not so much. I have done my best to suppress it, because to be honest, I do not enjoy the feeling it gives.” He frowned, turning off the light in his mouth and putting his leg back down. “but the more I think about it, I realize that I should accept it. I am, after all, still alive, and that means that I should be thankful for what I still have.”

“That… sounds normal enough to me.” The words escaped my muzzle as a deeper understanding of them washed over me. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve appreciated what I have enough, even with everything I’ve been through.”

“Yes, which is why I wanted to say; thank you.” The glow in Ping’s eyes brightened enough that they outlined the jubilant expression they held. “I know that it must have been quite trying to deal with Mr. Wizard, but… you still tried to save me all the same. And I wanted you to know that I appreciate that, Night.”

“Well, I appreciate all you’ve done for us as well, Ping.” Again, I gave him a pat that brought back his beaming smile, albeit, a not so intensely bright one this time around. “Without the Factory, I don’t know what I would have done.” Happy and I probably would’ve been Mr. Wizard’s slaves for the rest of our lives. Or... until I happened to kill myself after realizing I’d have lost Buck forever…

“Oooh, that’s a bit dark, don’t you think?” Solomon snirked as he lingered on the edge of my vision. “Oh boo hoo, ‘I’ll kill myself because I lost the one I love’. Don’t you think others in the wasteland have lost more and still carried on? How pathetic you are…”

“Yes, well you have also not only helped me, but you have helped the Factory, as well as the Architect.” Ping’s eyes shifted nervously as his smile weakened and he seemed to shift uneasily on his hooves. “Who in fact while you were away, got a message through to me that said you’d had helped him to realize that he can not hide himself from us forever…”

“So, he told you then?” I asked simply.

“Yes, but only me.” Ping nodded stiffly. Huh, well, that’s at least a start! “It was… a lot to process, but I realize that while I owe you a lot, I owe unit one my very existence. And really, even if I did not owe him, then for being honest with me like he was, he would still be my Architect. My father.”

“Geeze. What is it with you ponies and being so sentimental all the time?” Solomon scoffed. “And before you yell at me, I already know he isn’t a ‘pony machine’.” He tapped against his head firmly and glared at me. “I am you, remember?”

“I’m glad, and I hope it cleared up some of what we talked about earlier.” I offered, trying to again brush off the now persistent vision of Solomon.

“Yes, it indeed has.” Ping let out a sigh of relief just as the hydraulics to the weapons bay hoisted open the hatch again. Light once again flooded in, and I could see Tofu’s curious glance and perked ears disappear over the hatch ring. “But now I’m afraid we must get back to work.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” I nodded and pointed to the ladder. “So then, so we have an update for the rest of the wastes?”

“Yes, and unfortunately you are not going to like it.” Ping offered as he spun around on his hooves and immediately began to climb the ladder again.

“Of course I won’t.” I deadpanned as I reached out and started up after him. Looking up, I paused my soured mood as I got an eyeful of his rump. Instantly, my mind was thrown back to the day Hardcase was going to show me Fort Mac from atop his container, and I got caught staring up at his flank. My muzzle twisted into a smirk as I tried my hardest to hold onto the memory, but as things tended to, it drifted off and dropped me right back into the real world.

Though now, at least I’d been forced to remember that among the bad memories, and terrible expectations, I still had some good ones to hold onto.

Author's Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for going over this!

And of course, many thanks to Kkat for allowing us all to use the FoE setting!