“You want it, Night.”

It was odd, knowing we were returning to the Arcturus without Frescas or Pastel, and that we’d likely never see them again.

While they’d need to settle in for a few days until the radiation and shadow ponies died down, at the very least, I knew that the northern Rangers were in good hooves. On top of that, the future was at least looking brighter now that the Factory no longer had to fear the Rangers. And with my ordering of the Ouroboros back under their control, I had a feeling that while it would take a while to rebuild, the Galloway Rangers had all the tools they needed to prove they could make a positive impact on the north.

Again, if but just for another moment, the fleeting feeling of satisfaction washed over me. But like with all highs, it left too soon, and reminded me just how worn out I was. Goddesses, I could use a good nap… or ten.

The Remora’s magnetic locks sealing were music to my exhausted ears. The hatch above me giving it’s slight hiss upon opening, forced a sigh of relief out of my muzzle. The pungent smell of oil and various other chemicals that normally lingered in the weapons bay of the Arcturus drifted in, and instantly I could picture the small but inviting bed in the captain’s quarters.

“Hey! Ya ain’t dead!” Happy’s jarring voice instinctively made me tense up, and a small but not insignificant pain flared up in my empty eye socket. “Guessin’ it went well then.”

“Quite well!” Ping clopped his metal hooves together, letting a resounding clanging come through his illusion. The noise instinctively pulled my ire over to his exuberant expression, only to watch it shiver and flicker away, leaving the bulbous metallic pony underneath. A fine layer of prismatic dust coated almost every inch of him, and little bursts of static crawled along his metal body. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must reconnect with the Factory in order to contact the Ouroboros and tell it to stand down!”

“Ping… your body…” The words slipped from my muzzle, causing him to quickly look over himself. He lifted a forehoof, slowly bringing it to one of the smooth plates on his chest. A sharp burst of static struck out, and his hoof blasted apart in a small pop of smoke and sparks.

“Hmm, intriguing…” He muttered as he brought the sparking mechanical stump up in front of his featureless face. “It seems that the magical fallout has saturated particulates of limestone from the mountain rubble, and with the concentration that has gathered on my chassis, it is interfering with the performance of it’s electrical systems.”

“You going to be okay there, buddy?” Happy stuck his muzzle down through the open hatch with a frown.

“Unknown. To the best of my knowledge, the factory has not encountered anything like this before.” Ping’s faceless head turned up to Buck, who’s glowing blue eye was locked on him. “Any thoughts?”

“I’m a doctor, not a mechanic.” Buck snorted as he brought a mechanical digit up to his muzzle. “However, perhaps you should leave your body here until we can get back to the Factory and have Sierra look it over.”

“Oh, is that an invitation?” Ping’s high pitched and almost overly excited voice gave out a staticy crack that was followed by a spark out of the joint where his neck connected to his head. “Alright, I would ask that for the time being, you will all leave my mobile unit alone. I need the samples of dust I brought back preserved in the state they are if the Factory is to research this anomaly to prevent it in the future.”

“Ugh, you think I want to see more of this dust ever again!?” Hispano squawked as she set her sister down to brush at her plumage. A shower of prismatic dust floated out and slowly filtered to the floor before disappearing into some sort of vent in the bottom of the Remora’s hull. “Fuck, you can have my own dust in about an eternity, which is how long it’s going to take to scrub all this shit out of my fur, let alone clean it out of Suiza…”

“And don’t forget, once you finish your shower, I’ll need to give you all something to flush the radiation out of your systems!” Buck’s gaze swung down to me, bathing me in the blue light of his cyber-eye. With a gentle touch, he gave my mane a bit of a ruffle, and I watched as a light shower of prismatic dust filtered down in front of me…

Along with more than a few strands of my mane…

The squeak of fear I gave as I reached up to grasp at it sent my heart into overdrive. No… not my mane… not my beautiful mane! Okay, so maybe it’s never been as pretty as a real mare’s mane, but no dress will ever distract anypony from a bald head!

“Oh I think balding is the least of your problems…” Solomon’s voice trickled up through the vents in the hull.

“W-what…?” My instinctive question worked its way out of my muzzle as it quivered. To my horror, it didn’t just quiver, but began to sag. A crimson line formed around my muzzle, tearing open like wet paper as my skin slipped right off the bone. “No… no no no!”

I stumbled backwards on my hooves as they all but literally turned to jelly under me. Bleached bone held on by the barest bits of muscle glistened under the blue light of Buck’s eye, and fear wracked my mind. I could feel it, as the rest of my coat started to sag and wear on me. Another red line formed around my side as my lungs went into overdrive and I started to hyperventilate.

“Oh, it seems like you’re becoming a ghoul. How fascinating.” Buck’s tone was empty as he brought himself around to study me like some sort of fucking lab experiment.

“H-help me!” I screamed out from my boney muzzle, but… it didn’t even phase him! “Please, I’m…” My words died in my throat as the sound of ripping fabric from below me pulled my gaze downwards. The line along my barrel had stretched almost all the way around it, and rivers of crimson streamed out like water under pressure. With a final tremendous tearing sound that even beat out the fear filled scream I gave, the strained skin gave way, and I watched all of my insides spill across the floor of the Remora.

And with that, I passed out.

“You need it, Night.”

I woke up to the soft, calm, and warm breaths of Buck’s curled form around me. My fur still felt matted and wet, either from the shower he’d given me, or from the cold sweats of that nightmare hallucination. But I was all here, muzzle, hooves, and insides on the inside, where they should be.

Honestly though at this point, so long as it was over and I could rest, that was all I cared about.

“Oh, it’s never over.” Solomon spoke up from the doorway to my Captain’s quarters. “Or did you forget what caused all this in the first place?” As if he could command it on cue, the pain behind my eyepatch flared up, and a soft whine was forced from my still intact muzzle.

“Hmm, Night?” Buck stirred from his sleep. I turned back to meet his tired gaze, only to turn back to the door and find that Solomon was gone again. “Is everything… okay?” His jagged jaw split for a long yawn as he shifted his warm body under me.

“Yeah, just… trying to keep myself sane.” I sighed as I let my hooves slip out from under me so I could flop back down onto his incredibly warm and welcoming fluff.

“I understand.” Buck sighed, slowly drawing his mechanical paw around me to hold me close. “You know, I spent a few days wondering what I’d do if I ever left the Inuvik, or if I could even handle what I’d find out here. Never once did I think it would end up like this.”

“Neither did I.” I huffed through a muzzle full of warm fur. It’s gotten harder and harder to think back to when everything was just… normal. Not to mention, every time I think I’m getting comfortable down here in the wasteland, or I think I know how something works, I get blindsided by yet another upheaval to my life.

“To be fair, those upheavals have been YOUR fault, Night.” Solomon’s voice resonated in my mind sharply, making me grimace. “You don’t like the truth, then quit making mistakes. Or don’t, it doesn’t bother me. With your usual method of coping, it just means I’ll be here for a LONG time.”

“It’s definitely been different.” I did my best to shrug off Solomon for now. While he was right, at the very least, he couldn’t take away the victory I’d won with the Rangers today. “So long as I’m here with you and Hispano, and so long as I can keep Happy alive, I think everything will be okay. I have my new family, and nothing’s going to take that away from me. More so now that we’re going to finally get to head south. Not that helping everypony hasn’t been important, but it’ll be a day too soon before I ever come back up to the north again...”

“About that…” Buck started, but cut himself off, letting an odd silence fall between us. It wasn’t until I looked up to see his almost ashamed look that it worried me. “I... need to confess something, Night.”

My heart nearly froze with those words as the thought of him wanting to leave me forever flashed through my mind. Thankfully, some rational part of it caught up and shot that thought before it could sink in any further. We love each other, and nothing will ever change that, so whatever it is that he needs to tell me, I should be ready to support him on it.

“We may have to come back up here at some point…” His facefur flushed brightly, and I could feel him tense up under me. “So I know I should have told you sooner, but things have been hectic.” His nervousness was growing with every word, and he was becoming much more animated under me. “What with dealing with the Road Crew, and Cantercross, and then you know, almost dying, haha! And then there’s these...” he snarled as he forced his mechanical paws in my face so quickly that it threw me right off of him and the bed altogether.

“Oof!” I gasped as I came down hard on the deck plating. Immediately a shiver went down my spine as my still naked and regrowing wing touched the floor. The loudest gasp I’d ever heard came from Buck’s muzzle as he clamped his paws around his head in horror.

“I’m so sorry, Night! I didn’t mean...” He scrambled to pluck me up off the floor, pulling me close against his chest again. “It’s just… I don’t want you to be mad!”

“You haven’t even told me what it is I’m supposed to be mad about, Buck.” I felt a laugh bubble up from my chest as I just wanted to sit here in his grasp forever. “But if it’s got you this worked up, I’m more curious than anything.”

“No, I can’t tell him…” Buck snorted and shook his head. “No, I…” Buck paused as he looked like he was fighting internally with himself. Which was odd, because that was really my thing. He clenched his jagged jaw shut so hard it gave a groan of protest before his blue cybernetic eye shifted to red. The moment the color changed, his jaw swung open and Buck’s voice came out in the same almost robotic tone I’d heard during the assault on Mr. Wizard’s place.

“I slept with another dog!”

Buck gasped as his eye shifted back to blue, and he abandoned holding me in favor of reaching up and forcibly clamping his jaw shut.

“Uh… what?” My brain was either taking a second to process things, or I’d hit my head again when I’d been dropped to the floor. Honestly, it could have been either, really.

“I’m sorry!” Buck whimpered as he pulled his mechanical paws off his jaw. “It’s just, Holly was really nice, and treating her severed paw reminded me of when I was treating your leg. And then one thing lead to another, and she said she’d never been with another dog, and…”

“Woah, woah, hold up…” My brain was still trying to connect two and two as Buck winced again and withdrew himself further onto the already cramped Captain’s bed. After only a moment, my muzzle decided it was done waiting and felt like speeding things along. “Who’s Holly?”

“Holly… Bruno’s daughter…” Buck spoke with pauses that I assumed were supposed to let me remember just who they were supposed to be. “Of the Sun Dogs?”

“Oh yeah, them!” I nodded as the memories of the perky hellhound and her incredibly intimidating father came back to me. Then the memory of me murdering Lamia came back with them at full force. “Oh yeah, them…”

“I’m sorry…” Buck sighed as he buried his muzzle in his paws. “I just… I couldn’t fight the urge, which is why it took me so long to get back to you and Hispano after... and then we just left her.”

“Hey, I’m sure she’s fine, Buck.” I pushed myself back to my hooves only to flop myself forward against him in a sloppy hug. “Plus, I thought you’d said you wanted pups?”

“I do, just… with a dog on the Inuvik, like was expected of me before I left.” With another sigh, he pulled his paws away from his muzzle and slid them down around me. “Are you sure you’re really okay with this? I just… I don’t want to have overstepped my bounds. I don’t want to push you away by doing the same thing that Saxon…”

I forced my hoof against his muzzle to stop him and simply smiled. He seemed to understand, splitting his jagged jaw into his own smile before pushing my hoof away and kissing the end of my muzzle.

“Yay! Resolution!” Ping’s muffled voice filled the air from what sounded like inside Buck’s jaw.

“Uh… Ping?” I asked, looking up to Buck as his expression flattened.

“Yeah, he’s been up here.” Buck reached up and tapped at his metal skullcap. “And I’d thought we’d agreed that you wouldn’t push me to do or say anything while you’re up there.”

“Apologies, but I did tell you that Night was statistically likely to forgive this romantic infraction.” Again his voice came from Buck’s closed jaw, but a little louder this time around. “However, I do believe I must inform the captain of a bit of a developing situation.”

“A situation?” I asked instinctively. Oh why did I suddenly feel the pit in my stomach forming, along with the idea that we were about to get another errand to run…

“Yes, it seems that there have been a few alarming issues to come up in the last few hours at the Factory.” Ping’s tone seemed to have shifted to one more of worry, but it was really hard to tell through Buck’s jaw. “Firstly, Sierra has been busy using the silverfish to bring many materials into the Factory. She has used the majority of them to construct some sort of device and placed it upon the machine housing unit currently under construction within the walls of the Factory. None of us have seen anything quite like it, nor can we infer its intended function. However, she adamantly assures the Architect it will be useful once whatever it happens to be is operational.”

“Oh, that, I wouldn’t worry about it…” I spoke up before my brain kicked out a thought to me about just how he’d said that. “Wait, are you saying that even the Architect doesn’t know what it is?”

“Correct, though from your initial reaction, I have inferred that you do know something about it?” Ping’s voice gave off a burst of static like Buck’s did sometimes.

“She told me it was a project that was to be kept low-key specifically at the request of the Architect.” With every word of that, the hole in my stomach widened. At the same time, I had no idea why Sierra would lie to me, let alone to the whole the Factory…

“While that is… distressing to hear, the other problem has precedence at the moment. One of the Steel Rangers search parties sent after the Arcturus crashed nearby Tungsten due to the Sky Raider megaspell blasts. It was a low altitude, low speed crash, and most of the crew survived with minimal injuries.” Well that actually isn’t bad news, seeing as how we should be on good terms with the Rangers now… which they wouldn’t actually know yet. Fuck, okay. “And it seems that before we could intervene, they managed to contact the citizens of Tungsten.”

“Alright, so I guess then we’ll make a detour to Tungsten first, then loop back around to the Factory to see what’s going on there.” I let out a long sigh as I did my best to melt even further into Buck’s grasp. “Maybe the Rangers will be able to talk some sense into that asshole town mayor about how good they fucking have it in their safe little hole.”

“Well, actually…” Ping’s voice took the wind out of my statement in a moment, and I just knew things couldn’t have ever been that easy. “It’s quite interesting. They have banded together with the Rangers and worked to free some of the townsfolk from the quarry...”

“And now they are unfortunately well armed and currently at the Factory’s walls demanding to speak with the Architect.” Buck sighed, pulling my tired gaze up to him. “Which means, as much as I’d like to stay with you and rest, I should get to the infirmary and make sure I’m ready for a fight.”

I’d say that was unnecessary, but given our track record, there’s going to be a fight. Which, I almost don’t mind, so long as I get to beat the everloving hell out of that pompous mayor. And to be fair, I’m probably not the only one who would love a chance at that.

“Actually, because it will still be a few hours journey, if I may borrow you for a little while, Buck…” Ping’s voice was hesitant, and almost shy if I had to place. “Your augments don’t seem to have been affected by the dust, so I was wondering if we could run a few quick tests on it and my mobile unit.”

“Night.” Solomon’s voice was like a knife that slowly pushed into my eye socket. “You’re going to screw things up again.” Not now Solomon… “There’s no use fighting it, Night. You deserve it…”

I grumbled under my breath and pushed myself off Buck enough to force my hoof against my eye socket. It relieved a slight amount of the ebbing pain this time, but it wasn’t enough.

“Are you alright, Night?” Buck frowned as he brought his head down to my level. “If you want, I can see what I can do about your pain once Ping’s finished up his tests.”

“Sure. That would be great.” I nodded to him, leaning forward to give his nose a soft and quick kiss. The second I pulled back however, it felt like the knife was driven deeper into my skull.

“Come on, Night.” Solomon’s voice was mirrored, and echoed as he laughed to himself. “Why wait? I know you want to, so just let go. Let me take charge now, and let’s have a little fun! Besides, aren’t you tired of the nightmares? I can help you with that...”

I blinked, and Buck was gone. I was alone in the captain’s quarters, and as I perked my ears in confusion, I could hear his mechanical pawsteps drift off through the sealed ship door.

“That’s it, Night. Sit back and let me show you how to let go. You know you want it…” Solomon’s sly voice felt like it was creeping through my skin, and it sent another shiver through me. “And…” Again, I blinked, and this time the whole damn room changed. But as the world resolved around me into the ship’s infirmary, a dull warmth started to creep through the pain in my socket. “Now you can just relax. You’ve earned this, Night…”

The world began to spin. Slowly at first, but as the feeling of warmth spread through my body, it picked up, leaving me to laugh as an odd euphoria crept through my mind. That amazing feeling pushed back the thoughts about why my throat felt so dry, or why my forelegs hurt. No, everything was finally perfect as I felt myself laying on the cool infirmary floor.

Today had been a good day, and I’d been a good stallion. I’d helped Cordite, helped the Road Crew and the Mirage ponies of Cantercross. I’d even saved the Rangers from themselves. And this? This was my reward.

“Yes, Night, after all that HARD work you’ve done. You surely do deserve this reward.” Even Solomon’s somewhat warped voice couldn’t break my spirit. “You deserve every bit of this.” Yes, finally, even he couldn’t tear me down today! I am awesome!

I watched as the spinning world shifted, and the bright form of Buck appeared in the doorway to the infirmary. Oh, how much I loved him, and how much I just wanted to reach up and… and…

Why… couldn’t I move?

The pleasant warmth in my body shifted violently, and my mind went blank as I writhed and twisted on the floor. In an instant, it all lit like a fire, a feeling burning through every inch, every cell in my body. It washed over me like a violent tide, crashing against an ever warming flicker that grew to that of a raging inferno. I couldn’t scream out, instead finding that the harder I tried, the more it felt like I was choking.

Fuck, FUCK! What do I do!?

“Just give in. Let the painkillers take the nightmares away...”

“Night!?” Buck’s frantic voice called out to me as though he was a million miles away. I heard as his mechanical forearms opened up, and about a dozen separate new fonts of excruciating pain forced themselves across my body. “Just… all the Med-X at once? W-why would you do that!? Do you want to die!?”

His voice made my vision spin, and my insides feel like they all wanted to come out of my muzzle at once. Pain flared from my barrel as I arched over hard, and I think that’s exactly what happened next. I threw up, spewing what looked like blood and bile before my vision went white and I sucked in a half a breath worth of the stuff right into my lungs.

Hard hits hammered my arched back as I choked and again I expelled everything in my body onto the floor. Coughing and gasping, I flopped forward in a sobbing heap. Why. Why did I do this to myself? I didn’t want this to happen, I just… didn’t want to hurt anymore.

“You deserve this, Night.”

“Fuck!” Buck roared as I heard him sit down hard on the floor next to me. He gave a couple angry slams of his paw against the wall as he heaved hard. “Why, Night!? I can’t keep doing this!”

“I’m…” I tried to speak, but just doing so made my insides churn again, and I threw up another glob of blood that sent another wave of fresh agony through me. Sobbing, I lost the will to fight it and just cried on the floor.

“That’s it, Night.” Solomon’s painless voice hit me with a wave of chilling numbness now. “You know why you do this. You LIVE to suffer. And after a day where you’ve ended up winning, you needed to do this, to give yourself an excuse to fuck up, just to justify feeling good. So give in, and enjoy your reward.”

“No!” Buck let out a guttural growl that rattled the floor plates under me. “I don’t care what the Factory recommends, I’m..” Buck paused as I tried my best to focus on his voice through the burning in my body. “Yes, he’s getting worse. I… yes. I understand, Architect, but...” Again, he paused. “I don’t know. I can monitor him, but he needs...”

It was odd to hear only half the conversation, but it was better than just being alone with a heart that was trying to force its way out of my chest, and a pair of lungs that still felt like they were melting.

Buck’s boxy forepaw made a whirring noise, and part of it opened up. I could barely see through the tears in my eye, but I could make out the basic shape of the small energy weapon he’d picked out back at the Factory. A jolt of panic swept through me as my mind raced to figure out why he was getting it out, and a wave of cold swept through my body as without even looking at me, he lifted his arm and pointed the weapon right at me.

“No, I understand, Architect.” Buck sighed. “You’re right, have the Doc get it set up. We’ll begin once we’re back.”

"Buck...?" My own horse voice strained as the tip of the small weapon began to glow. "What..."

Everything disappeared with a flash.

Warmth.

That was really what I was after. Not in a physical sense, but that feeling you get when you’re around someone you love, or after you get rewarded by your mom or dad for passing that really tough test. It’s a feeling all it’s own, that more than anything, anypony alive should have more than their fair share of.

Then again, it’s not really a tangible feeling, or something that can be quantified. Hell, you can’t even fake it. Though, there are ways to get close…

“It’s not worth it.” Delilah’s flat words forced me to open my eyes and immediately shield them from the incredibly radiant sunlight that backlit her. She was just like she’d always been, staring down over the glasses perched on her muzzle, giving me quite the stern gaze. “Hmm, it seems that rather than show him a better path, you’ve still been taking a few lessons from Happy’s playbook.”

With a snort, she turned and stepped away from me.

I sat up, feeling the warm beachside sand crumble off of my coat. Looking down, I was only half laying on a warn beach towel, and beside me sat a pair of sunglasses that looked almost like the ones that Double Delta had given me. Grabbing them, I plopped them over my muzzle and blinked a few times, taking in the rest of the beach around me.

Hundreds of other ponies, buffalo, griffons, and creatures of all sorts played and relaxed in the radiance of Celestia’s great sun. A particularly bright pink young filly giggled as she chased a bouncing beach ball until it came to a stop right at Delilah’s hooves.

“Hi there, pretty lady!” The filly gave an excited squeal as she bounded up to Delilah with short hoof hops. “Your beach ish really nice!”

“I’m glad you like it, little one.” Delilah’s old muzzle parted into a motherly smile as she gave the beach ball the lightest of kicks that sent it bounding back down the beach. “Now run along. We wouldn’t want to worry your mother, now would we?”

“Yush! Buh-bye, pretty lady!” The filly gave a set of excited nods before running off with a trail of giggles that felt like it echoed off of the sky itself.

“Why… am I here?” I asked as I pulled myself to my hooves.

“Because as I’d feared, I failed you.” With a sigh, Delilah sat down on the sand and pulled off her glasses.

“No, I’ve helped so many wastelanders thanks to you!” I forced out a laugh as a wave of confusion struck me. What was she talking about, I was the failure here. I got her killed, I was the one…

“Oh, Night. So naive...” Solomon’s voice made the ground itself shake, and a collective wave of screams filled the air as everyone on the beach struggled to keep their hoofing. “You will always be her little failure.” There was a sharp crack that forced me to turn around just in time to watch half of the buildings in Brahman beach shake and collapse. And from the dust, rose the pristine white coated Saddle Arabian who tormented me day and night. “Just face the facts, you’ll never beat me. You...”

“That’s enough.” Delilah sighed as she got up. Her words hit Solomon like a wave, and instantly the towering stallion dissipated back into a plume of dust and debris. “I failed you because I let my obsession become yours.”

“I don’t understand…” I’ve accepted that it’s my job to keep Happy alive and to find the Ark. I’ve accepted that I’m the one who needs to get us there. But like Hispano said, I can’t just leave ponies in need without help, and I know it’s been slowing us down.

“Goddesses,” Delilah let a soft chuckle slip out of her lips as she turned to look at me. “You certainly are quick to overwhelm yourself with thoughts. It’s no wonder he’s sunk his hooves so deep under your skin.”

“Um… what?” I blinked a few times before stepping forward. Taking a seat beside Delilah, I watched as she squinted and stared off over the endless blue waves that gently lapped at the shoreline.

“The day Solomon arrived on our shores, I knew I was up against something I’d never thought I’d see.” She mumbled to herself as an odd whining grew over the air. “Not just someone who I couldn’t make a deal with, but who I wouldn’t make a deal with.”

The whine turned into a shrieking cannon shell that sailed toward us over the water. It sailed over my head, and came crashing down into the sand with a deafening blast. A bright wave of sand and fire washed over where it hit, and just about every door in Brahman beach was flung open. Families and children poked their heads out to see what the commotion was, and from one of the closer houses, a younger looking Happy stumbled out and almost tripped over his own hooves.

“Employees of Burro Industries!” The voice of Solomon boomed through the air from across the water, forcing me to spin myself back around. An immaculately white ship maybe half the size of the Arcturus sailed through the sea, belching a cloud of thick black from a large smokestack that sat directly midship. “As an emissary of my father, the gracious and glorious king of all Saddle Arabia, I, Crown Prince Solomon, am here to reclaim what is rightfully ours! Cooperate, and know that you will not be harmed!”

Delilah waved her hoof, and like a bit of dust in the air, the whole scene shifted. As the image settled, I was left staring at a slightly younger looking Solomon, whose dress uniform looked just as pristine back then as it did when he last wore it. Next to him, stood a just as vacantly blank Rook, whose copper prosthetic leg glinted in the bright sunlight.

“What you look for doesn’t exist, nothing but a foal’s tale.” Delilah snorted from beside me. Her words made Solomon’s lips curl into his snide, overconfident smile.

“Oh, let’s not kid ourselves. I know for a fact your family stole the Ark.” He nodded over to Rook, whose horn flashed with magic. A set of photographs were produced from thin air, with a few of them depicting a donkey-esque equine boarding a fairly large ship on a dock. The last photo however, showed a picture of a whole group of unicorns leaving an entirely different ship with the same donkey. “All we’re asking for, is for it to be returned to its rightful owners.”

“Don’t know what to tell you. In almost two hundred years, I haven’t had a single family member who’s known what happened to that ship.” Delilah snorted, scrunching her face into a sharp grimace and nodding back to the water. “Regardless, what you’re looking for it isn’t hidden here. If you want to look for it yourself, by all means, be my guest. Oh, but if you do find it, feel free to stop back in Brahman Beach and I’ll buy you a cold drink for the trouble.”

“Oh, I will be back.” Solomon smirked as he started to turn around, but as he had a tendency to do, he stopped just short. “But if you were to buy me a drink… make it a hot one. I’ve got a feeling I’ll be fairly sick of the cold soon enough.”

“That’s when you knew that he knew, isn’t it?” I asked, pulling her out of the moment and again making the image of Solomon and Rook disappear.

“Yes.” She nodded and looked down at the glasses in her hoof. She’d ended up with them stuck in the sand as she was reliving the moment, and she took a moment to shake them out. “And for the next few months, I only slowed myself down in leaving by trying to prepare for every eventuality.” She lifted her glasses up to the sun, squinting as she inspected them for any errant grains. “I’d started stressing about moves and counter moves so much that I was seeing Solomon in my sleep. And at that point, I could finally see it for what it was.” With a careful pick of her hoof, she forced a single errant grain of sand from her glasses, and put them back across her muzzle. “Just stress.”

“So… you had Solomon tormenting you as well?” Huh, I guess at the very least that made me feel a little bit better about worrying if I was living up to Delilah’s standards! Wait, unless that’s why I’ve been seeing her here like this as well…

“Night, focus yourself.” Delilah sighed as her normal blank and tired expression fell across her face. “You have to remember that this isn’t all about him. He wants that, he wants you to cripple yourself with doubt. And for that matter, you shouldn’t cripple yourself with doubts about your own actions.” Looking over at me, she gave the lightest of nods as she pressed her forehoof to my chest. “Trust in your crew to do what they can to help you, but you must always trust in yourself. Solomon’s defeat will come in time, you will find a way to bring him down…”

“Oh!” I nearly jumped on my hooves at that. “Actually, I almost found something! He’s got a weakness!”

“Yes, I know of it.” Delilah snorted and shot me a glare that instantly made me freeze up. Oh, how I didn’t miss this gaze, but at the same time, part of me oddly did.

And… hey, wait a minute!

“You already knew about his weakness?” I asked, sitting myself down again. “What is it?”

“I knew of it, but unlike my little ‘game’ with Solomon, the rules here cannot be broken.” She shook her head. “That is as much of a hint as I can give you, I’m sorry. However, your focus must lie elsewhere. As hard as it’s going to be, forget Solomon.” A slight smirk crept across her muzzle as she offered a glance at me out of the side of her eye. “Just don’t take anymore lessons from Happy, and stay off the drugs. Focus on leading the others.”

“It’s… not as easy as that, I might not be able to…” My muzzle was forced shut by her sandy hoof pressing up against it.

“Remember, trust in your crew to help you. Focus on leading them.” She turned to me as the sound of crashing waves grew louder. “And Night? Remember that I believed in you because I know what you’re capable of. Tonight won’t be the last that you’ll get to reflect on the good you can do for others. Do what you can every single day, so that tomorrow you can look back and know that you did your best. That’s what being a good leader is all about.”

“Wha…” The moment she took her hoof away, I tried to speak and was rewarded with a muzzle full of saltwater.

Like before, the wave that crashed over me swept me away. Further and further from the bright, warm, sandy beaches, and into the dark, murky depths. But as I went, I kept both eyes focused on Delilah, whose warm smile at least seemed to help ease my mind as it slowly faded away into the same quiet dark nothingness that it’s known now a few too many times before.

“Ugh.”

I groaned as a prickly, warm feeling danced along my skin. Not like the beach I was just on, rather, it was the sort of feeling you get when you sat on a hoof for too long, but all over. Opening my eyes, I again needed to cover it from the bright light beaming down above me. However, when I went to move my hoof, an all too familiar stiff resistance met my every attempt.

Blinking, the rest of my senses caught up with things, and I realized where I was. The stench of disinfectant and blood, the rhythmic beeping of medical machines, and the frigid stale air all told me I was in the surgical room at the Factory. But… why was I strapped down to the table?

“You were having terrible seizures!” Doc Groovy’s disturbingly cheerful voice answered my own… except I hadn’t spoken…

“What’s… going on?” I managed to force through my incredibly dry throat.

“Doctor Buck and I performed a bit of surgery on you! You should be feeling better than new in no time at all!”

“That’s… great.” I grumbled as I turned my head over on the bed. Oddly, I didn’t see Doc Groovy floating next to me. The only thing next to my bed was a cart filled with freshly cleaned, mirror polished surgical tools and trays. My eyes drifted to the observation area up above me, but once again, I failed to see him up there. I did however, spot the flickering nixie-tube eyes of Ottie peering down intently. Just what the hell was going on here?

“Oh, right, silly me! I seem to have forgotten about the tutorial. Let me get that started for you!”

Tutorial?

My vision became a blur as what looked like a dozen different terminal screens appeared to be floating above me. I torqued against my bindings, but couldn’t raise my hooves to keep them from falling onto me… only, they never did. I blinked a few times more as the terminal screens followed my subtle head movements. They stayed floating just far enough away that I could read them, but not to where they’d obscure my vision.

“Ah, let me get those for you!” Doc Groovy laughed before a mechanical ratcheting came from the bed under me. The pressure against my hooves released, and I was finally able to sit up.

“How…” I reached my left hoof forward to touch the floating screens, but my hoof seemed to sit behind them, even though they looked to be floating only a hoof stretch away! Which was also when I noticed a scar along my left shoulder I hadn’t noticed before.

Looking down at the little L shaped mark of peeled back skin, it started to dawn on me that I didn’t know when I’d gotten it because I’d gotten it after I’d lost my eye.

Bringing my still outstretched hoof back, I brought it up to touch my socket, only to stop prematurely when my hoof obscured my vision, and clinked against something metal.

“Surprise!” Doc Groovy’s celebratory shout nearly threw me onto my hooves alone. What finally did it however, was the confetti that rained down around me and disappeared in front of my eye. “You mean eye-S! Congratulations on becoming less organic!”

Turning onto my side, I reached over and grabbed one of the larger surgical trays. Pulling it up, I looked at my own reflection in it’s mirror polish. What looked back, looked more like the Architect than it did the Night Flight who I’d always known. A set of Architect-esque mis-sized optics sat with a soft red glow, starkly opposing the color of my green, still normal eye. Just under the maneline on the left side of my head and above the optics, sat a familiar looking metal plate that followed the shape of my skull. My left ear had thankfully been left alone, but it was now the only flesh that stuck out around the flush metal and mechanical bits.

“What… did you do to me?” I… I don’t even know how to process this… no, think, not process! I’m not a machine!

“Doctor Buck and I removed part of your occipital lobe, and replaced it with an Arcano-neuro-feedback generator and translator matrix! This implanted inhibitor will monitor any abnormal patterns that come from your mind and neutralize them before they can cascade into any meaningful errant feedback. And while we were in there, we decided to augment your ocular cortex by installing a replacement, which should boost your visual perception past it’s previous unhindered levels!”

“That’s great… maybe repeat that in basic Equestrian… perhaps?” Goddesses, I really wish I had Buck with me right now to explain, I don’t know, everything!?

“He means to say that you should no longer be affected by the terrible hallucinations you have been suffering from. That, and you now have two eyes to see out of once again.” The Architect’s voice chimed in now from nowhere in particular. “Also, it is good to see that you are awake and well. I am sorry if this operation was against your wishes, but I deemed it necessary. I assure you that I only had your best interests in mind.”

“So… with this, I’m going to be okay then?” Again, I was not the smart one of our group, and I’m sure that while this sounds great. I’m surely missing something important, and again, I’d really prefer it if Buck were here to help explain it…

“Oh, I see, I’m not a good enough doctor for him! I’d like to see where he got his medical degrees from then.” Doc Groovy grumbled. “I mean, the nerve… literally! Haha, look at that, I made a funny!”

“Please don’t be angry, Night…” Buck’s voice came from all around me as well now. “I know it’s a lot to get used to, and this was supposed to be a last resort, but… you were in really bad shape. The Architect was right, this needed to be done.”

“It’s fine, but… where are you, Buck?” Okay, the fact that nopony was telling me where he was had started to really make me worried. Normally he’d be here by my side for something like this, right?

I waited in silence for a moment, half expecting Solomon to crop up with some condescending remark. However, my mind was quiet, empty even. Once more, I was alone with my thoughts again. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, but this was somewhat different than sharing my head with a separate part of my own mind.

“I’m glad to see that the module is performing as expected. But to answer your question, I’m with the Architect outside the main gate at the moment.” Buck sounded like he grunted in my own head. “And I know you just got up, but we need you out here. The Mayor wants to talk, but he doesn’t want to talk with a machine or a monster. It’s no rush, but… there’s a lot of cold ponies out here who probably aren’t in any shape to last more than a few hours.”

“Alright, I’ll make my way out there…” I paused, looking at the terminals still floating in my vision. “As soon as I figure out how to get rid of this shit…” The moment I’d said that, the terminal screens flashed away, and I could see clearly again. “Huh, that was easy!”

“Most of the functionality of your augments can be controlled by your thoughts and intents.” The Architect spoke with a soft giggle that almost echoed in my mind. “Though, it has been expected you will have to take some time to adjust to them, so we have tweaked the sensitivity and disabled certain functions for now to ease you into them.”

Well, I guess I don’t really have a choice either way. And hey, if it keeps Solomon from pulling me into any more living nightmares, then I’d think it was worth…

“Correct! The hallucinations should no longer be an issue for you!” Doc Groovy’s voice cut off my own thoughts as his voice all but overpowered my mind for a moment.

Yeah, it was going to be an issue if all my thoughts were free and open however. I mean, I’m pretty sure that nopony but me needs to be privy to my thoughts of Buck...

“Yes, of course we can respect your wish for privacy.” The Architect nodded as a small set of coding appeared in my vision. It ran down toward the floor in the same way that the code scrolled across Ping and Buck’s eyes before flashing away and clearing my vision again. “While you may contact us at any time, I have for the moment, severed the thought monitoring subroutines that the citizens of the Factory enjoy. From here on out, no one other than Buck will have access to your thoughts without your permission.”

“Thanks, Architect.” I sighed. Well, that’s a relief. “And thanks for your help, Doc Groovy.”

“Not a problem!” He laughed again in my mind, making me cringe a bit. “If you ever feel like letting me back under your skull, I’d love another opportunity to poke around in your fragile fleshy mind!”

“Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that…” I mean, I’d already had brain surgery twice on this trip, and that’s two times too many in my book!

Turning myself around on the medical bed, I wiggled my hooves over the edge and flared my wings as I pushed myself off the bed. Immediately as I hit the ground, I felt the cool breeze shift under both of my wings. Looking back at my recovering wing, I blinked a few times when I found that it was completely back to normal, with thicker than normal plumage. Looking at my good wing, I found that it too looked fuller than ever.

“Uh… did you guys replace my wings while you were at it? My plumage looks so thick now...” I asked, wiggling my wing for a moment before deciding it was a good idea to see if they’d given me some sort of convincing cybernetic. I brought my wing down hard on the metal frame of the hospital bed, and immediately bit my tongue as pain ripped through my wing. “Nope… no you didn’t… oww…”

Why did I think that was a smart way to test that theory!?

“The Ministry of Peace had a recipe on file for a quick feather replacing potion, made for field hospitals to get pegasi with wing injuries back into the air quickly.” Doc Groovy brought up a whole bunch of symbols and such into my vision that I presumed was some sort of chemical formula or something. I wasn’t exactly awake half the time in my morning chemistry class, but oh Celestia do I wish I’d paid more attention now... “The plumage you have now is actually below average for a wartime pegasus, but due to the years of malnutrition you went through in the Enclave, the thickness you held before had become the new average for a pegasus of your age.”

“Unfortunately, it will not change your flight performance due to your flat feathers, if that was something you were wondering.” The Architect’s words drove a spear through the momentary realization that it could make a difference, but with my luck? No, I know nothing’s going to be different. Just the same stupid feathers with the same stupid problems as before. “However, you should now be able to at least take flight again.”

“Now if only I could get another double wing trainer from…” Oh, right, there was still that issue to deal with. “That reminds me, I need to talk with Sierra.”

“Yes, Ping did mention that you might know what she was working on.” The Architect’s voice held an odd hesitation to it that made me wonder if he actually didn’t know what it was. Still, I’m not sure why he’d lie about that, nor did I get what Sierra would gain from hiding it. “There is a taxicart waiting for you outside the surgical center that will take you to her.”

“Thanks, Architect.” Folding my wings up, as I was about to leave, I looked back up to the observation window.

Ottie’s curious gaze was still looking down through the glass at me, but he’d been joined by another pony. He was a sort of frail looking unicorn, with a pair of brass framed spectacles adorning the end of his muzzle. I hadn’t seen him around before, but from the way he was so casually conversing with Ottie, I had to assume that perhaps he was another Ping unit who’d recently come back.

Pushing open the doors to the operating theater, I nearly bowled over Happy. He looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see him, though it was good to see that he hadn’t up and gotten himself killed while I was out. Though, the way he stumbled backwards with his eyes locked on my new one, well… it wasn’t exactly flattering.

“Celestia, Night, you scared the crap out of me!” He snorted as he did his best to quickly gather himself again and straighten up the leather jacket he still wore. “I was just coming to see how you were doing.”

“I’m fine, but we need to go see Sierra.” I pointed my hoof in the vague direction of the stairwell.

“Yeah, alright.” He nodded as he turned himself around and started to head up with me. “You know, she’s been building something oddly familiar, and I don’t like it…”

“So I’ve heard.” I snorted as I did my best to climb the stairs. Though, to be fair, everything felt… off as I climbed, and it felt like each of my steps were slightly in the wrong place. Right, because once again I have good depth perception back...

“I dunno about you, but I think I’ve seen somethin’ like it before.” Happy mumbled as he beat me to the top of the stairs by a few steps. “Now, I didn’t pay much attention to the shit that Hardcase worked on, but that thing out there? It looks like one of his designs.”

That perked my ears right up.

“What do you mean?” Oh, and there’s the pit in my stomach, back like an old friend I specifically never wanted to see again in my life. “What sort of design?”

This was not what I’d thought she’d be building...

“Ain’t it grand!” Sierra called out as Happy and I came trotting down the concrete walkway from the Factory’s entrance. She spun around on her hooves and looked to the upscaled SFG she’d built. I’m sure Hardcase would have found it’s scale… impressive, but my mind was still locked on all the harm this thing could do if it was ever used. “With this, ain’t nopony gonna mess with the Factory now!”

“Is this what you needed all that tungsten for?” I spat out as Happy and I walked through the freshly fallen snow over to her. Seriously, we did not go through hell, losing all those Cordite crews just so Sierra could build this… monstrosity. “But… why? Why would you build a weapon?”

“Do y’all not see tha ponies at our door? Do y’all think we should jus’ let ‘em in an’ have a go tearin’ everythin’ we’ve built down?” Sierra turned to me and tipped up her snow covered metal cowpony hat. “Ah say we remind adui zetu what makes us superior. Wakati wetu umefika!”

“A dewy whatnow?” Happy scrunched up his muzzle and reached out to Sierra. “Are you feeling alright? It ain’t that zebra virus acting up again, is…?” He only made it that far before Sierra’s hoof swung out and all but knocked Happy right back onto his flank in the snow.

“Filthy organic.” She seethed before she shuddered and tensed up slightly. After a moment, she let out a gasp. “Oh, fiddlesticks, ah’m so sorry, Happy! Ah promise ah’ll explain soon once muh partner gets here.” Partner?

Okay, keeping in mind that she maybe wasn’t in complete control of herself, at least she wasn’t trying to kill us all yet. And even though she’d built a giant SFG with some mystery machine partner, well, at least she hadn’t used it. With how the Architect had said it affected the Factory the few times Hardcase had fired it, and how it had always disrupted DJ Powercolt, firing one this big so close could be a disaster for every machine here! You know, let alone all the rest of us who weren’t made of metal… er, who were at least mostly not made of metal.

“What the hell is going on here?” Hispano’s voice was admittedly a godsend, and her quick flutter as she came down next to me brought a smile to my muzzle. “Woah, that’s… new.” She squawked as like with Happy, she couldn’t take her gaze off my new eye.

“Oh, good, maybe now we can get somewhere.” Cora’s heavy wing beats carried him down from the air, sending up a small flurry of snow as he landed right next to Hispano. “I’m not sure how much longer they’re going to wait before the mayor of Tungsten just calls for an all out attack.”

“Which would be suicide on their part.” Happy grumbled as he brushed the snow off of him and shot a sideways glare to Sierra. “Though, that guy is a barrel of laughs as it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if a square like him were ta’ get his kicks by just trying to make us all look like the bad guys.”

“Regardless, we’ll deal with… this, later.” I muttered as I gestured to both the SFG and Sierra. Turning towards the gates, I spotted the massive bipedal form of PB as she walked a back and forth patrol at the door. As I looked at her, a little green box popped up around her in my vision. Squinting at it, I tried to figure out what it was, it flashed white for a moment and then disappeared.

“Oh, hi!” PB’s excited voice filled my mind as her massive machine stopped midstep and turned towards me. “Oooo, that’s a neat upgrade you’ve got there! Makes you look like one of us!”

“Um… hi there, PB.” Oops, I didn’t mean to open up communications with her…

“Oh, that’s fine, you’ll get used to it! Are you here to help with the negotiations?” The stubby gunpods at her machine’s sides wiggled excitedly as she projected a loud squee into my head. “Oh! Oh! I can help if you want! I’ve got the perfect pair of twin cannons to make those fussy ponies go back to their hole!”

“That’s not exactly what I think we need right now, PB.” I wasn’t really sure her firepower wouldn’t be needed if things went bad, but for now, I think it’d be best if we at least tried to look like we wanted to resolve this peacefully.

“Are you alright, Night?” Hispano spoke as she fluttered through the air, hovering around to just in front of me. With a light set of taps with her talon, she poked at my new eye, which gave a metallic ‘tink’ noise with each rap. “Buck said this thing would stop the problems you were having…”

“I’m fine.” I deadpanned, reaching up to push her talon away. “I’m just talking with PB, in my head, because apparently I can do that now.”

“Huh, okay…” She scrunched up her beak before shrugging the whole thing off. “Well, if you’re done socializing, we’ve got a douche bag to take down!”

“Talk down, Hispano.” Cora called out as she was about to shoot back up into the air.

“Talk down, take down, same thing.” She rolled her eyes, letting them fall on me with a smirk. “I mean, by all means, Night, talk away. The sooner we get to chatting, the sooner we’ll inevitably start shooting at them anyway.”

“Gotta love that optimism!” Happy remarked as he picked himself up to a trot, pushing past me in the snow. “But I sure would love the chance to knock the block right off of that fucker.”

“To be fair, so would I.” Buck’s voice came through my head as crisp and clear as if he were right next to me. “Which is why it’s going to be that much harder to negotiate with him.”

“But still, we have to try.” I sighed as I picked myself up to a canter in the snow. I just need to try my hardest today, so that I can look back tomorrow and know I did my best. Yeah, just focus, and try.

Isn’t that right, Delilah?

Author's Notes:

Once again, all my thanks goes to TheFurryRailFan, who dispite his busy schedule, still finds time to help make sure each chapter is presentable.

And of course, thanks to Kkat for creating FoE in the first place, as well as letting others run around in this shared wasteland world.