[7:53AM]

I almost didn’t believe the clock. I know that Buck had fixed the inhibitor in my head, but… after yesterday’s mindtrip with Lilac Lace, it was weird to again be back to just nothing going on in my head. No dreams, no voices. Just... silence.

Shifting about on the still lightly snoring, and incredibly comfortable form of Buck, I peeked around the room. Hispano had fallen asleep before we’d even gotten back, so it didn’t exactly come as a surprise to me that she wasn’t even here. How she survives with so little sleep compared to what a pegasus needs, I’ll never know.

“Goodmorning, Captain.” Eliza’s softer than normal voice chimed inside my head as her smiling mare appeared in the lower right corner of my vision. “I am pleased to report that all critical core ship systems have been successfully repaired.” Wow, that was quite fast. “Repairs have been proceeding along faster than expected thanks to Miss Tofu’s help, even in her recovering condition. We should have the cloud camouflage systems repaired and running before noon, and the secondary sensor suite repairs should be completed by four PM this afternoon.”

“That’s good news.” I kept my voice at a whisper so I wouldn’t wake Buck up. Slowly I pushed myself off of him, sliding down to the floor relatively easily. However, the moment I put pressure on my rear hoof, I was reminded of the fact that everything inside me still hurt, and let out a whimper that was louder than I’d wanted it to be.

“Hmm, Night?” Buck groaned as he shifted slowly on top of the small bed.

“I’m fine, just waking up. Go back to bed, Buck.” Wrapping my forehoof around my barrel, the pressure against where I’d been stabbed through didn’t help like it had with my eye socket all those times. Buck nodded without even opening his eyes, simply laying back down and instantly falling back asleep. Guess I hadn’t been the only one who needed a good rest. But on that... “Eliza, where’s Hispano right now?”

“She left the Arcturus approximately twenty three minutes ago, and is currently aboard the Albedo. She said she was going to look for a file that was not available in the ones provided by the Factory.” Eliza’s smiling mare flipped over to the one with the frown. “However, if you wish to see her, I must first suggest you go and visit Happy in the infirmary. He wishes to speak with you now that you are awake.”

Ugh, the last thing I wanted right after waking up was to be yelled at by Happy this morning. I get that he was upset. He has every right to be pissed at me after everything we’ve been through. And even though he was right that we should have just killed Solomon then and there, it’s not like we won’t get another chance sooner than later.

“Alright, I’ll go see him before heading out after Hispano.” I told that to myself more than to Eliza. It was going to suck, but Happy deserved to say what he needed to just as much as any of us did. “Thanks, Eliza.”

“I’m here to help, Captain.” Her mare flipped back to the smiling one once more before popping off of my vision altogether.

Alright, best to get this over with…

Even before I got to the infirmary, the angry mutterings from Happy that drifted out the door gave me a hint at what to expect. Taking a moment to ready myself, I knew that this wasn’t going to be pleasant, but I needed to do it. Happy’s a friend, and because of that, he deserves a fair chance to speak his mind.

Stepping around the corner, I found Happy sitting with his hooves dangling over the side of the infirmary bed. The stump where his right hoof used to sit wasn’t his focus, and in fact, had several sturdy looking sewing pins pricked through the bandages that wrapped around it. With an almost feverish look etched across his face, he used his one remaining forehoof to sew the hide of the Snow Dog gauntlet that Rofia had used over the left leg of his leather jacket.

With a shift of his hoof, he pressed the thick needle down. It refused to sink through, straining against the thick skin. All at once, the needle shifted and dragged across the skin before flipping out of his grasp and bouncing its way across the floor. The rage filled scream he gave as he angrily threw his ‘project’ across the room ended when his burning gaze caught a glimpse of me at the door.

“What the fuck are you looking at!” He seethed and brought his forehoof across himself, cradling his bandaged stump. “I don’t even want to talk to you right now.”

“Well Eliza said you did, so here I am.” I let out a deep sigh and propped myself against the door frame.

“Well yeah,” Happy grumbled as he looked down at his scattered project. “just because I have to doesn’t mean I want to.”

“Look, I know what you’re going through, Happy.” Shifting myself, I sat down and wiggled my prosthetic at him. “When I lost my leg…”

“Save it.” Happy huffed as his muzzle curled into a smile with a sigh. “You think this is why I’m angry, Night?” Wiggling his short stump, he fought back the pain that washed across his face. “This was on me, I can accept that.” Turning his glare back to me again, his smile died with a twitch of his muzzle. “But you fucking promised me, Night. You said you’d kill him, that no fucking matter what, you’d make sure he paid for what he did!”

“Seriously, that’s why you’re pissed!?” I came down here knowing he’d be angry, but come on. “You know I couldn’t do anything against Solomon.” Spinning and fighting back the pain that flowed through my body, I pointed to the long and jagged pink scar that ran along both my sides now. “For fucks sake, I was run through yesterday!”

“Bullshit you couldn’t! You chose to do nothing, Night.” Happy slammed his forehoof against the infirmary bed, and a metal squelch met my ears as miraculously, the centimeter thick slab bent slightly. “You could have had Buck do it, or Hispano. You had one job, one promise to keep, Night.”

“And if I’d done that job and kept that promise, then we’d all be locked up in a Federation Cell, right now.” Pushing myself to my hooves, I sharply jabbed at my own chest. “You’re right, I have a job to do, the one Delilah left for me. And I can’t find the Ark if we’re stuck here.”

“So what?” Happy’s muzzle twisted into some sort of mash between a perverse smile and profound confusion. “If Solomon is dead, then there’s no rush. The Ark isn’t going anywhere, and so long as he never finds it, then it doesn’t matter what happens to us.”

“I feel like you’re probably the only one who feels that way, Happy.” Seriously, for Celestia’s sake, Solomon deserved to die, but it isn’t worth it to break all the rules. He had to know that. Then again... “You would know how fucking stupid that sounds if you weren’t being such a stubborn ass!”

“It doesn’t matter what you feel like, Night.” Again, Happy’s muzzle split with a ridiculously giddy smile. “You will do what I tell you to.”

“Oh, is that so?” Seriously, he was going to try this shit on me? Me!?

“Don’t forget, with Ma’ gone, I’m the one fucking financing this.” Jabbing at his chest like I had, he winced with each sharp poke. “I’m the one who owns the Ark, and that means I’m the one who you listen to when I say you fucking kill that fucker on sight!”

“Did you take a hit to the head in that fight with Rofia, Happy?” I crossed my forehooves, fighting back the ebbing pain that it caused to crop up in my sides. “I went through this same shit with your mom. It doesn’t matter if you’re in charge if you’re just going to lose sight of what’s best for everyone. Nothing good comes from that.”

“Yeah? And how does that make you any better than me?” His tone hollowed as he turned himself away from me like a foal throwing a fucking tantrum. “You’ve been ‘in charge’ this whole time, and it’s been nothing but one disaster after another.”

“I did what I needed to in order to keep us alive.” Okay, now I fully understood where Delilah’s rage came from.

“Right, because you’re the great ‘Survivor’ hero. What a fucking joke of a persona.” He rolled his eyes as I had to bite my tongue not to fucking remind him of how he’d spent his life imitating ‘The King’ until not even two weeks ago.

“You may not like it, Happy, but I won’t sit here and have you going off half cocked because you’re not willing to do things the right way.” Shaking my head, I couldn’t even dredge up the will to try to glare at him like Delilah would have. “You’re right that things have been a disaster, so I won’t go running out blindly after Solomon.”

“Then sit back like a coward.” Happy smirked and tipped his muzzle up with a haughty expression. “I’ll kill that bastard myself if I have…” He pushed himself off the table, fully intending to come down strong on all four hooves, but that’s not at all what happened. Instead, he immediately crumpled to the floor, landing on his stump hard and letting out a full bodied scream before writhing in pain.

“Well, you come tell me how that’s worked out for you once he’s dead.” My words pulled a snarling string of insults from the mule, but I was so far from caring about anything he said that I simply turned and trotted back through the hall.

Stepping through the bulkhead though, the whole mess of a situation sank into my head, and I felt my forelegs weaken. Fuck, Happy didn’t deserve this. He deserved better from all of us, but… he just wasn’t thinking straight. This same anger and rage is what had driven me right over that cliffside after Galina, and while I can only see how stupid it was in hindsight, hopefully Happy will be able to see that this is for his own good.

My ears perked as Happy’s pained insults turned into soft sobs. I sat down as it physically hurt to hear him like this. Maybe… maybe I could go back, try to convince him…

“Shit, are you alright!?” Tofu’s surprised voice came from behind me, and I spun around to see her dip into the Infirmary.

“Get your fucking magic off of me!” Happy roared, forcing Tofu to backpedal right back out through the door. “I don’t need your fucking help!”

“I was just… okay fine.” Tofu snorted and shot him a sharp glare. “Literally just trying to help.”

“You can help by leaving me alone!” Happy screamed as Tofu’s horn lit up and sharply slammed the infirmary door shut.

No, there was no helping Happy for now. While I wanted to do what I could to make this easier on him, what he needed more than anything, was time. That’s all I’d needed for every disaster in my life, and I had to trust that he’d come out the other end of all this a better mule.

“Oh hey, Captain.” Tofu sighed as she trotted away from the Infirmary.

“Hey, Tofu. How are you doing?” I looked over her, finding that other than a fair few purple welts under her still patchy coat, she didn’t look all that bad for soaking up nearly eight hundred rads in ten minutes time.

“Oh, I found that the rad drugs are just about as bad as my airsickness, so I’m holding up surprisingly alright so long as I don’t stray too far from the bathroom! Though, can I comment on something, and then ask you a question about, well, him?” Her innate cheerfulness was a nice distraction from the bad start to the morning. Her smirk faltered as she nodded back to the shut door behind her. “I know he’s literally being a bit of a bitch right now, but he’s handling it about as well as the Rangers at Galloway did when they’ve lost a limb or two. I’ve seen his type before, and they get through it alright eventually.”

“Huh, really?” I mean, while she didn’t realize his anger stemmed from somewhere else entirely, her words did put an odd thought into my head. “I didn’t really see any Rangers at Galloway who were missing limbs, though you make it sound like it was pretty common.”

“Well, for most Rangers within the walls it wasn’t common.” She shrugged and pointed at my own prosthetic leg. “Accidents happened sometimes though. Maybe once a year somepony would need a leg removed, and we’d normally slap together something like your leg there for them to get around on. However, Rangers who have the training for Power Armor are assets who can’t afford to hobble around. So we would either check to see if we’ve recently recovered any advanced prosthetics, or built them with the idea that they’d be able to use them in their armor.” Waving her forehoof, she shook her head. “But what I’m asking, is that I’d like permission to try to build him a leg like the ones we had back at base.”

“Well…” That… was an odd question. On one hoof, having Happy able to walk and fight again would be nice. But then on the other hoof, he’d be able to walk and fight again, which meant he could go running off after Solomon like he wanted to. “What exactly would it take, and how long?”

“I don’t really know?” She cringed at my question and offered a fairly hesitant shrug. “Look, I’m just going to lay it out straight for you, Captain. I’ve only watched some of the scribes put them together, and I’ve never seen them implant the bits for the more advanced ones into the ponies who need them. However, I literally think it wouldn’t be that hard for me to build, and for the Doc to surgically install. All I would need is the parts, which I could probably find down in the Terrace markets.”

Okay, well, that didn’t really answer my question, but in the end, I guess it didn’t really matter.

“Okay, if you can source the parts, and so long as it doesn’t interfere with the timetable for our repairs, then go for it.” My words brought a spark out from behind her eyes, one that resonated through her horn all the way to the tip. “But,” my words killed the spark in her horn, and made her blink blankly at me. “I don’t want you to finish it, even if you can build it in an hour, got it?”

“What? Why?” She force out a nervous laugh as she looked around like she wanted somepony to tell her I was crazy.

“Happy needs time to come to terms with things.” I said flatly, making Tofu blink again as I think that sunk in a bit. Reaching my hoof up, I planted it onto her shoulder with a smirk. “You want to give him his mobility and freedom back, and that’s great. But you want to give him his mobility and freedom back.” I nodded to the infirmary, and I could feel as she tensed up.

“Yeah, I get you. Maybe I’ll… take my time with it.” She nodded, speaking in almost a whisper to herself.

“Good.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder before spinning around and heading for the weapons bay. “I’m going out in the Remora to go find Hispano before she stirs up some trouble without me.” Pausing midstep, an odd thought hit me. Solomon had said things would be dangerous on the road, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t pull something here. “Actually, Tofu,” Spinning around, I watched as she again blinked at me in confusion. “When you go down to the market, take Buck with you. If Solomon has any ‘surprises’ set up for us, Buck will keep you safe, understand?”

“Yes, Captain.” Again she nodded, flashing up a nervous smile.

Right. Now, if only Solomon would actually do something unexpected, and leave us be for the rest of our time in the Federation...

Trotting up into the enormous room that held the Legacy server mainframe, I was surprised to see Ram Turbine sitting pretty much shoulder to shoulder with Hispano at the lone terminal on the side of the massive machine. The two were intently reading the display above them, chatting to each other about the blueprints of what looked like something between an odd oversized rocket ship and a jet powered cloudcraft. Oddly, it seemed to have been designed as a carrier of some sort, meant to launch missiles from itself mid-flight, which alone was confusing.

“Hey you two!” I called out, making both of them frizz out their wings in panic for a moment. “What are we looking at today?”

“Well, ever since your buddy overrode our controls, it seems that he may have inadvertently overrode the clearance on some highly classified files in the server.” Ram smirked as she pointed up at the rocket-plane-thing. “Most of them happen to be things like this Supersonic Low Altitude Missile project codenamed ‘Pluto’. You know, prototype doomsday machines that were either rejected or never taken past the initial testing stages.”

“So what is this thing?” I asked, taking a seat a little behind them. “I’ve never seen anything like it flying with the Enclave, so I’m guessing they never built any?”

“You wouldn’t want to have seen one of these fly, Dum Dum.” Hispano chuckled before pointing up at the schematics to what seemed to be a spark reactor that had been designed without any shielding around it. “This thing flies on that. And before you ask, yeah, that would be as bad as it sounds.”

“Looking at the design, it’s not all that different from some of the late war Vertibucks they were building. Though, at least those didn’t run on their reactor exhaust.” Ram picked up where Hispano left off when pointing to the board. “The air intake on this was designed to run through a standard compression turbine that utilized the exhaust heat the unshielded reactor produced. It’s a marvel of arcane engineering that would’ve left a truly terrifying trail of irradiated land under wherever it flew. Even worse, there’s links to files for even bigger, more destructive versions of it that would probably be capable of indefinite flight, full automation, and internal megaspell production.”

Was it even possible to fly on just the power of a spark reactor’s heat like that? I guess it could be if it were made light enough, but that’s probably why it’s unshielded. This was something my dad probably would have been super interested in, and also super appalled at.

“Oh, Dum Dum!” Hispano gasped before spinning around. “Look what I found again!” With a sharp stroke of the terminal keys, the display shifted over to the familiar blueprints of the ‘HMS Star Blazer’ megaspell powered flying battleship plans we’d found up in the Depot.

“Ugh, I thought I told you that flying brick was ugly as fuck.” Ram groaned and spun around, tapping her hooves on the controls again. “Besides, there were better projects that were actually built. Like this honking hunk of gun!”

What displayed on the screen now was an absolutely enormous old war artillery cannon. Like, a cannon large enough it wouldn’t fit in this already oversized room. Next to it, there was a diagram for an oversized shell that was marked as being megaspell compatible, and I dreaded the thought of some of those shells actually existing in the Depot up at Destruction Bay. More worrying, was an attached note section to the blueprint, reading that it apparently had been ordered built for testing at some place called the Northern Equestrian Artillery Megaspell Outpost.

“I mean, she wasn’t what most ponies would call pretty, but she sure must have been something before she went up.” Ram practically had stars in her eyes as she sighed and stared at the blueprints for the oversized artillery piece.

“Wait, ‘went up’?” I didn’t need clarification, but I was curious enough that I now wanted it.

“Well, yeah, it may have been destroyed.” Ram shrugged to me before forcing a frown to smother her smile. “The Enclave said the whole installation exploded around the time of the Pripytrot Incident about a decade ago, but… the files don’t go into much detail about it past there was a megaspell explosion at the artillery outpost. You want my guess? It says here it used some sort of proprietary experimental propellant. So either the age of that propellant, or maybe improper maintenance of the gun itself over two centuries, led it to fail when some poor sap tried to actually fire the damn thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, ancient history is neat and all. But what about… this!” Hispano turned and hammered at the keys again. While the screen shifted to some sort of large tower with a storm whirling around the top of it, I’d begun to lose interest in the ever increasing one-upping between the two.

“Guys, guys!” I shouted through the nervous giggle that crept out of my muzzle. “I get it, there’s a whole lot of ridiculous death machines Equestria built. My question was…” Pausing, I looked at Hispano, finding her look away for a moment as she brought a talon up around her side nervously. “What did you come here looking for, Hispano?”

“I was looking… for this.” With a sigh, she turned around and carefully typed on the keyboard.

After a moment, the screen once again changed, now displaying some sort of chemical compound. It was… different to the structure I’d seen every time I’d been shown something like this. While most chemical bonds were displayed as straight lines connecting certain elements and such, this one had curved lines, and some that outright looped around or even were tied in bow-like knots. While that didn’t make sense to me at all, what made it even more confusing, was the name “Advanced Blu Flu.”

“VEEV-115.” Hispano spoke softly. “That’s what was written on the canisters that ended up killing my mom.” She forced out a sad laugh as she looked up at me. “I’d thought, maybe if I read up about it I could see if there had been any way to save her, you know? And if we could have saved her, maybe there’s still a way we can keep others from suffering the way she did.”

“I… understand, Hispano.” I nodded to her, pushing myself to my hooves and walking up to her. She whimpered as she pushed herself to her paws and all but threw herself against me in a tight hug. “You know, you’re right, Hispano. Maybe some good can come from reading up about it. If we can save others, then have an obligation to do what we can for them.” Maybe Eliza could use that backdoor of hers one more time.

“Goddess, Dum Dum.” With a sad chuckle, she squeezed me tighter. “You really are a sucker for helping out every sad sack out there, even if it was my idea this time.”

“Hey, Captain.” The smiling mare that popped up into my vision was too cheery for the topic at hoof, but I couldn’t blame her for using it. “Would you like me to transfer those files to the Arcturus quickly before work on repairing the secondary sensor systems begins?”

“That would be great, Eliza.” I nodded as Hispano pulled her face away far enough so that I could offer her a small nod and a smile. “For now, why don’t we forget about all the troubles the war left us with, and pick up where we left off yesterday?”

I realized that I sounded exactly like every pony I’d hated, with their voices full of pity just trying to save me the pain and embarrassment I was already enduring. But, I could understand why they did it now. Sometimes you just need to offer something, anything for someone else to grab onto to keep them from sinking further into themselves.

“That sounds nice.” Hispano nodded as she pushed herself back against me and squeezed again.

“Well, I’ll be here or on the flight deck if you need to find me again.” Ram offered her own smile that did it’s best to fight the somber mood that had descended on us, but I was appreciative of the attempt all the same.

“Yeah. And thanks for all your help, Ram.” I nodded to her, pausing as she threw up a stiff salute.

“No problem at all, Ma’am.” Now her muzzle split with a genuine smile. “The Survivor’s done more to salvage the lives of Enclave Pegasi than anypony else I know of since the clouds came down. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.”

I fought back a cringe as she mentioned the Survivor like she was a completely different pony than me. Then again, isn’t that exactly what Lilac had told me? It was time for me to start setting things straight.

“No, the Survivor is a myth. She’s just me.” I smirked and tried to mirror her salute. “We all have the capacity to make things better. Just… gotta work to set things straight, no matter what.”

“Fucking humble as shit.” She rolled her eyes to me and laughed. “Now go, enjoy your time with your girl here before you start to extol the virtues of being a good pony upon us all.” With a wave of her hoof, she froze up and shot me a sideways glance. “But hey, don’t you dare think about leaving the Federation before you let me check out that slick ride you came in on. I want to get my hooves in there, you know! Find out everything about what makes that gal tick.”

“If you would like, Captain, I can offer her a chance to study the Remora without having to risk an unqualified pony taking it apart.” Eliza was still on the line? “Yes. I figured that there was a high possibility of you requiring another task of me related to the Enclave database, so I maintained our connection.” Regardless, that seemed fine so long as Ping would be okay with an ‘organic’ taking a look at it. “One moment… he has agreed to this so long as I redact the sections of it that contain Factory microprocessors. It will mean any replicated craft will need to be altered to accommodate a physical pilot, but the impact of flight performance should be negligible.”

“Do it, Eliza.” I nodded to Ram, making her scrunch up her muzzle in confusion.

There was a beep on the console next to her, and she spun around and hit a few keys. Again, the terminal screen flicked over to new images. Technical diagrams far more in depth to what was shown from the other projects came up onto the screen. They scrolled by, one after another, eliciting a gasp and loud laugh from Ram.

“This is… incredible.” She nodded as she leaned closer to the screen, standing on the tips of her hooves just to get as close as possible. “There’s no way we could manufacture tech this advanced anytime soon. Maybe in a few decades if we had a full research team on it twenty four hours a day, but… this gives me some ideas on how to make our current vertibucks more efficient! With some work, I could probably extend their range from just outside the Federation, to all the way down near Vanhoover!”

“You already know that from like, ten seconds of looking at it?” I didn’t believe her one bit. “But... you were just a maintenance cadet, weren’t you? How could you figure this all out so fast?”

“Oh yeah, I may have been a cadet, but uh...“ She spoke as her eyes were all but glued to the blueprints still flicking across the screen. “Tail End and the other officers on base admitted I was a bit of a prodigy. Of course, that was after I told them I was and they didn’t believe me. But go ahead, you’ll come around in time just like they did.” With a wide, soft smile, she finally pulled her eyes off the screen. “Thank you, Night. Really, you are something else.”

“Well, I am pretty awesome.” I laughed and cocked my eyebrow at her. “Or hadn’t anyone told you that before?”

“Go.” She groaned and rolled her eyes, landing them back onto the terminal screen as her smile cracked even wider. “We both have our dates, and it’s best if we didn’t keep them waiting!”

Hispano and I had spent a few minutes walking around the second level of Terrace looking for somewhere to eat before settling for a small scrap metal restaurant perched on the edge of the sprawling structure. I’m sure one of the reasons she chose it was for the fact that it was all but empty at the moment, and the fact that it had a sign up saying ‘One bowl = Five Caps’. The Yak who ran the place barely fit into the small kitchen behind the bartop where he served the delicious smelling noodle dish he all to eagerly served us.

Still, while Hispano chowed down on the dish, I took my time with it. I knew that we still had a lot to do if we were going to be ready to take down Solomon, but I just wanted to enjoy my time with her. Even if it earned me an odd look like she’d begun to give me as she slurped up one of the long noodles.

“What’s wrong, Dum Dum? Not hungry?” She frowned at me before pointing back into the shifting crowds just behind where we were seated. “Or if you don’t want noodles, we can find something else.”

“It’s not that, I’m just... enjoying my time with you.” With a sigh, I extended my wing over and around her, making her cheeks flush again. “We’ve still got until tonight before the ship is ready, you know, so there’s no rush.”

“Sorry.” Hispano smirked as she glanced at her mostly empty bowl. “Just a habit that Dad drilled into me. A Talon needs to eat fast, you never know when trouble will crop up!” She did her best to impersonate her Dad’s voice, which pulled a chuckle out of me. “Hey don’t laugh, he was right about it. Especially with you.”

“Yeah, I do tend to attract trouble.” While I hated this curse on me, I was reminded of our last real date. “You remember what Madame Mystic said? That there was at least hope that I could get rid of my curse if I could find somewhere I was home?”

“Pft, you shouldn’t dwell on the words of that crazy old ghoul.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged before using her talon to prod at her noodles again. “Besides, you’d made a home on the convoy, and we’ve made a home for ourselves on the ship, and yet...” She paused and gestured at me. “Well, I’m pretty sure you aren’t cured.”

“Fate is often times, not so simple.” The voice of a mare next to us made us both spin around on our barstools. The form of a black cloaked mare towered over the both of us. A pair of glowing green slit eyes, and a lengthy green horn pushed through the darkness that the hooded cloak provided the mare’s face. “Excuse our intrusion, but we have been looking for you, Night Flight.”

The mare lifted a lanky green hoof up, and used it to push her hood back, revealing herself to be one of those Alicorn mares. The long, ethereal green mane was bound in a tight bun, leaving the numerous scars that ran across her face open and easily visible. It was about at this point that Hispano reached over for Suiza. The mare’s horn flashed, and Suiza was wrapped in a bubble of magic that Hispano’s talons couldn’t pierce through.

“Please understand, we are not here to cause trouble.” The mare shook her head before her horn again flashed and the bubble disappeared. Hispano didn’t waste another moment, pulling her sister close and training the long barrel basically right against the mare’s cloaked body. “We simply wished to find the pony that held Lilac Lace’s intrigue, and one that shared a common thread to our own fate.”

“What do you mean, ‘common thread’?” As always, the words pushed their way out of my muzzle. Hispano offered a growl and glare to me as my inquisitive side took over. Yeah, I get it. When I ask questions, bad things happen, but I couldn’t help myself. “Who are you?”

“Our name was taken from us by mother, so very long ago.” The alicorn sat down and closed her eyes. “Like you, Night Flight, we too do not know who we are. All we can remember is one word written around the scrapyard we once called home. King. So that is what you may call us.”

“Alright then, ‘King’.” Hispano tensed her talons around Suiza uneasily. “What do you want from Night?”

“We are here because in you, we were reminded of a pony from our past. A mare who we are sure was of great importance to us, yet we cannot recall who she was.” Opening her eyes again, she stared at me with an odd look. I wouldn’t say it was one of pity, but it fell somewhere between longing and remorse. “We had hoped that in being like us, perhaps in speaking with you, you would help us recall something, anything about who we were before mother took us and molded us into this form. And if we could remember something, triggered by a word or phrase, then maybe we could find out who we are supposed to be.”

“Well, I’m not sure how I could even help you.” While I felt bad for this pony, this wasn’t something I could even begin to understand. “I’ve had memory issues before, but that was mostly from a talisman in my head. This sounds like it isn’t so simple I’d think.” It had taken Lilac intruding on my dreams to even help me understand where to start at being myself, and I didn’t have the luxury here of being able to look into ‘King’s’ mind to see who they once were. “I’m sorry.”

“We… understand. Lilac had suggested we ask you for help, but we understood it was a longshot.” She nodded to me and offered a sad smile before reaching up and pulling her hood back up over herself. “We shall not disturb you and your companion further. Have a good day, Night Flight.” Turning around with slow, heavy hoofsteps, I watched as her frowning muzzle disappeared under her hood.

“Seriously, while I know you love helping ponies, Dum Dum. You really are a magnet for the weirdest ones.” Hispano rolled her eyes before spinning herself back towards her food. Setting Suiza down, she licked at her beak with a smile. “But come on, our food’s getting cold, and I want to finish it before we get any other needy ponies looking for the ‘Survivor’ to help them.”

King wasn’t just any pony looking for help. More so, she wasn’t looking for help from the ‘Survivor’, she’d been looking for me. She’d gone to Lilac for help, and for some reason, Lilac believed I would be the best bet to help her. So with a deep sigh, I knew what was about to happen was a hell of a risk to take.

“Wait, King.” I called out, making the large cloaked mare stop just short of disappearing into the crowd of ponies that flowed from shop to shop.

Pretty much as expected, Hispano let out a long sigh. A sigh that was followed by her slamming her face right into her bowl of noodles and sitting there, huffing in frustration. Slowly, King’s hooded face turned back to me, with her glowing eyes once again beaming through the shade of her cloak.

“Look, I might not know how to go about helping you, but I’m willing to try.” I offered to her, cringing as I imagined what I was about to suggest. “The one thing you have to know is that I’m not staying here much longer in the Federation, so if you want my help… you’ll have to come with us.”

Her slender muzzle split into a smile filled with jagged and sharp teeth. As scary a sight as it was, the overjoyed look in her eyes made her seem just a tad less threatening. Still, an overgrown alicorn-thing would always be pretty threatening, even with a smile….

“We can travel with you. We have no ties to this place, and only originally came at the request of Lilac Lace in order to connect her mind with yours.” She nodded excitedly, spinning around and almost prancing back towards us from the crowd. “But thank you, Night Flight! We would be eternally grateful, and happy to help on your journey in any capacity in return for your help.”

“You just couldn’t let me have just one uninterrupted date with you, could you, Night?” Hispano’s exasperated side eye said that as per usual, I’d have to make this up to her. But for now, there was little I could do to salvage our date. Besides, I had a hunch that as soon as we were back in our room on the Arcturus, she’d have a few ideas on how I could do just that…

“Well, while we finish up here, why don’t you head over to the Arcturus, King?” I forced a smile to her, getting a sort of confused look in return.

“What, or where is this ‘Arcturus’?’” She asked fairly bluntly as she ruffled her folded and hidden wings under her cloak. “We do not recall a business with that name, unless… it is a vehicle you travel in?”

“Yeah, it’s our cloudship, the one that isn’t a Raptor docked at the Raptor skydocks.” I watched as again, my words made her look even more confused, as well as nervous when her toothy smile almost instantly was wiped from her muzzle. The longer she seemed to let my answer sink in, the more it really made her fidget her wings nervously under her cloak.

“You see, we do know one thing about who we were.” She forced out as she rubbed at her neck with her forehoof. “Mother gave us wings to use, but we were not a great fan of flying. Though, we cannot remember exactly why it fills us with such intense dread...”

“Hah!” Hispano spat out, joining the conversation again with several stringy noodles draped over her beak. “An alicorn who’s afraid of flying? Now that’s a new one. What’s next? Are you going to tell us you’re afraid of magic? Or perhaps that ‘you don’t want to hurt anypony’ because your ‘mother’ forced you to abduct ponies for years?” While I hadn’t been privy to a lot of what had gone on down in the wastes when the clouds were up, the Alicorns and their goals were still somewhat of a mystery to me. “Afraid of flying, hah. Do you believe her, Dum Dum? Cause I sure don’t.”

“We are not afraid of flying! We just... do not enjoy it.” King stomped before scrunching up her lengthy muzzle and looking more than a little flustered. “Okay, maybe it is perhaps that we are a little afraid. But can I be blamed? As I understand it, it’s normal for us earth ponies…” She paused before blinking and going wide eyed. “We… we used I… and we remembered were once an earth pony.” With a deep and almost creepy laugh, King clopped her fore hooves together excitedly. “Yes, we remember this now! Though, it is very strange… why would mother have taken an earth pony? Well, that matters not for now, we are already remembering things from being around you, Night Flight!”

“That’s… great.” I spoke up, pausing as Hispano’s sideways glance was again trying to burn a hole right through me. “Well, if you don’t mind waiting a bit, we do have a smaller skycraft that will take us back up to our ship. It’s down on the ground, just next to the tower stairwell. I’ll make sure to call ahead so that Eliza know’s to let you in.”

“She’s been logged and approved for entry, Captain.” Eliza’s voice chimed in my head with the image of the smiling mare flashing into my vision. “However, she will not have access to any ship systems while onboard. I hope that is understandable given how little we know about her.” Well, I’m not even sure why she’d need to access ship systems in the first place, so I didn’t see anything wrong with that.

“Looks like you’re all set!” I offered a smile to her before pointing up to my metal head.

“Oh… okay.” She still seemed fairly nervous at that, but gave a hesitant nod before pulling her cloak back up. “Thank you again, Night Flight. We are grateful for this opportunity.” With another nod, she quickly spun herself around, and disappeared into the shifting crowd.

“Why do you keep doing this to me, Night?” Hispano mumbled as she again basically dropped her face into her noodles. This time, she stopped just short of that, and instead just stared at them. “No, it… it’s not your fault. The question I should be asking, is why do I keep thinking you’ll change.”

“I’m sorry, Hispano.” While I know we’d been over my odd obsession with helping others, I wanted to say that this should be an exception. “You’re right, I do pretty much help every charity case that comes our way. But with King, I’m the only one who can help her. You can at least see that, right?”

“And who made it your job to help her?” Hispano grunted and laughed to herself. “And you just invite her to go with us? We don’t even know anything about her! She could be dangerous.”

“If she wanted to hurt us, she had every opportunity to already.” I know what she was getting at, but again, I don’t think King was going to end up being a problem. All she wanted to do was be around us, and in return, she’d help out with whatever. Which actually reminds me... “You know, Delilah hired me on without knowing the first thing about me really.”

“And how did that turn out?” Snapping her glare back to me, she reached over and prodded at my sharply. “With all the trouble you’re inviting, it’s going to get us killed. You’re not just running around without consequence anymore, Dum Dum. Every fucking time you get dragged into some shit, you’re dragging Buck and I with you.”

“Yes, but…” I started to speak, but Hispano quickly wrapped her talons around my muzzle and pulled herself close to me with a deeper growl than before. The tips of her sharp claws pricked at my skin, and her grip was tight enough that it pulled an involuntary whimper from me.

“Stop it, Night.” While her eyes were fixed on mine in the most distant and cold way they could be, her grasp on me faltered. “No more excuses, okay? I don’t want one of us to end up dead one of these days because you keep wanting to help others. And one of us will end up dead. And it may not be for a good long while, but I refuse to have our...”

She let out a gasp, cutting herself off and immediately letting go of me. She looked ashamed of herself for a moment before silently turning back to her noodles. And that was that. She just... sat and stared at them in stark, awkward silence.

“Hispano?” I asked softly, bringing my hoof up to rub at my sore muzzle. “What’s going on? What’s this really about?”

“Nothing.” She huffed and brought a talon up to cover her face. “I misspoke is all. Just… finish your food, Night.”

“Hispano, I know when you’ve got something on your mind.” Reaching over, I pushed my noodle bowl away and lowered my head to the bar to try to look under her talons. It was brief, but I caught a glimpse of her watering eyes shift over to look at me before she brought her talon down again to hide behind it. “I know it might be tough, but whatever’s weighing on you, you can talk to me about it.”

“Have you noticed it, Night? What most of the mares onboard those cloudships are?” Hispano’s voice wavered as she took a moment to rub at her eyes. Honestly, I hadn’t sought out to look at most of the mares on those ships, but I hadn’t thought I’d needed too...

“No?” I shook my head, pulling another annoyed huff out of her as she brought her talons down and poked at her noodles again.

“They’re mothers, Night.” She stated blandly. “Like, over half of the mares on those ships have foals, or are going to have them sometime soon.” Now that she mentioned it, there had been a lot of pregnant mares there. And Buck said the ship’s med bay had been filled by expecting mares...

“Well, having been in the Enclave, that makes sense to me.” While it was weird to see that many in one place, this was actually something I really should have seen coming. “The way the Enclave worked was; with so little resources to go around, you needed to get government approval to have a foal. Of course, a lot more ponies got pregnant than were allowed to have foals, so the Enclave had services to help deal with the mares who didn’t get approval.” While it was a topic I’d never thought I’d ever discuss, it did send a realization through my mind. “I guess... when the Enclave collapsed, so did those services, or the want to use them. But, I don’t see what that has to do with helping others?”

“You still don’t get it then.” Hispano looked at me like I was an idiot. And in her defence, I kind of was one. “I want a family bigger than just us, Night. I want what they have.” Of course that’s what this was all about. Goddesses, I really couldn’t figure that out? “And you know what, Night? I don’t want to end up like my Mom. I don’t want to be dead before I even get to really know my kid.”

“Well, of course you don’t. I don’t want to lose you either, Hispano!” I knew that what she feared was real, and honestly, deep down it was something I feared as well. The moment I thought that, the only thing that flashed up into my mind was how Violet looked up there on the pass the last time I’d seen her. The panicked thoughts that came with those memories made me scramble for something to push them away again, and unfortunately for the both of us, it turned me into an even bigger idiot than before. “Let’s be realistic, Hispano. Like anything could kill you.”

With a flash of her talon, I was knocked out of my seat as she threw her bowl of noodles in my face. I crumpled to the floor as pain flared through my still recovering body, and I nearly choked on her noodles as I opened my muzzle to let out a yelp. Alright, I’ll admit, I deserved that…

“This isn’t some fucking joke, Night!” She screamed at me before kicking me in my side while I was down. The impact at least helped me to spit out the noodles clogging my muzzle as I let out another cry of pain. “What happens if I do end up like those mares? Are you prepared to pick up my slack? What if because I’m all bloated and pregnant, I can’t fucking help you, and you go all ‘bleeding heart’ on somepony and get yourself killed! What the fuck are Buck and I supposed to do then!?”

“I get it, Hispano!” I whimpered as I braced myself for another swift kick from her. As expected, another hard hit came, but this time it landed against my flank, and her rear paws ended up dragging her claws across my cutie mark. Thin lines of red joined the long welts as she visibly shook with rage.

“I don’t want to be a liability, Night, but everytime you open your fucking muzzle to ponies, you make Buck and I just that.” She was right, like usual. I knew I was asking a lot of them to just keep going along with it, but… maybe it was time to listen to her…

My thoughts were interrupted as she landed another kick right in my barrel, and I had to fight the urge to throw up the lunch we’d just had.

“Alright, alright!” I heaved and struggled to pick myself up. “King is the last one, I promise, Hispano.”

“You’re fucking right she is.” She huffed, turning around and swiftly planting herself back onto her stool. “Hey, chef, another noodle bowl. Now.”

Wincing and doing my best to cope with the bruises and welts forming on me, I pushed myself back to my hooves. With slow steps, I made my way back to my seat and painfully clambered up onto it. Geeze, I know Hispano was right and all, but she could be a little less physical about it next time…

No, Night, that’s not on her. You’d been ignorant about her concerns this whole time, and you know this is the only way you’d ever have ended up listening. Plus, you pushed to know what was wrong in the first place.

“I know that the sex thing has been weighing on you, Hispano, and now with all the mares around here, I could see how this would only make it worse.” The words came out of my muzzle before I’d even had a chance to get settled on my chair, and it pulled another low growl from her. “But there’s no reason we have to rush into anything. I meant what I’d said last time we talked, Hispano, I don’t want to ruin things with you.”

“Then start acting like it, Night.” She grumbled and crossed her talons, pausing to look down between them at the broken compass around her neck pressing into her plumage. “Every promise you make is a choice you make for all three of us. You and Buck may not want the same kind of family I want for us, but that doesn’t mean you can act like it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Hispano…” reaching my hoof over, I carefully pulled one of her talons over so I could softly wrap my fetlock around it. “I’ve said it before, you’ve made me think about a lot of things that I thought I’d wanted in my life. And while we have plenty of time to decide, I’m not willing to write anything off for our future. I’ve already told this to Buck, but if you want to have a kid, I’m not going to stand in your way. I just want the both of you to be happy, because first and foremost, that’s what matters to me.”

“What do you mean you’ve already told that to Buck.” Hispano snorted, slowly but firmly pulling her talon out of my grasp. At the same time, a clink of a new steaming bowl of noodles dropped down on the bartop next to her, and she distracted herself with prodding at it with her claws. “You two can’t have a kid. Hell, he and I can’t have a kid, Night. You and I are the only ones between us who are compatible for anything.”

“While that’s true, I don’t know if he’s told you, but on the Inuvik, not every dog can have pups.” I know it wasn’t really my place to speak for Buck, but I’d have to believe he’d forgive me in this case. “However, Buck is one of the few dogs who can, so he feels an obligation to have pups with a dog once we catch up with the Inuvik.” That alone made Hispano scrunch up her muzzle, but after a moment, she seemed to accept that. “That… and he may have already helped a Sun Dog while we were back in Sun Dog City.”

“So, on the ship the other day when you said…” She paused as I nodded to confirm her train of logic. “So… you’re not jealous? You’re really okay with him sleeping with someone else?”

“Why wouldn’t I be alright with it?” I shrugged and finally got back around to looking at my own bowl of noodles again. “You two are my family. And while it scares me half to death to think of losing one of you, I won’t deny you a legacy if it’s something you want. Even… if it’s not with me.”

“I... don’t want it to be with anyone else, Night.” Hispano sighed and once more, hunched over her noodles to stare at them. But unlike before, the smile that curled onto her beak spoke volumes about the fact that she’d at least had that load taken off her shoulders. “I think that while I’ve been so pent up recently, all the other times I’ve been with a stallion aren’t what I want with you. I want something more.” Her smile was only momentary, sinking back behind the almost vacant look that pressed across her face. “But I’m not ready for that, and I think… that’s the real reason why I went to look up what killed my mom. To remind myself what putting myself in that position would mean risking.”

“Hey, you aren’t going to die, Hispano.” Carefully, I reached my wing out, wrapping it around her again. She gave a shiver, pressing herself back against it as she closed her eyes. “And for what it’s worth, you’re going to be a great mom, whenever you eventually decide you’re ready.”

“No, Night.” She sighed, turning to look up at me. As her hope filled eyes locked onto me, the suppressed small and kind smile fought back against her vacant look, and she practically started glowing. “I’m going to be an awesome mom, and you’re going to be one hell of a dad.”

As we sat there, I pressed my muzzle slowly forward towards the griffon who despite all my preconceptions about only caring for guys, I loved all the same. She closed her eyes, pushing forward towards my muzzle as her cheeks flushed. My heartbeat spiked, and I could feel hers do the same through my wing as I pulled her closer.

BOOM!

The explosion from somewhere else in the city made us both jump out of our seats. The crowd of ponies moving about on this level moved almost all at once, running and pushing their way towards the edges of the platform. Sporadic gunfire followed the explosion, but what worried me was how the direction it was coming from, was down by where we’d parked the Remora.

Hispano and I shared a worried look before she turned and grabbed Suiza.

“Hey!” The Yak chef shouted as Hispano flared her wings out. “Bird pay Yak or Yak gets guards!”

Grumbling, Hispano pulled off her flight cap. She ran her talons around the liner before pulling it back out with a few dozen caps gripped between her digits. She tossed them onto the counter haphazardly before kicking into the air and taking off.

“Sorry about that!” I offered to the Yak as he scrambled to pick up the money. “The noodles were quite good though!” Flaring my own wings, I fought pack the cry of pain that pushed out of my muzzle. Fucking hell, I’m injured, I get it! If I could just dampen that with some…

No, Night! No more drugs! Just deal with the pain and fly.

All I needed was some good ol’ fashioned determination and power of will! You’ve got this Night! Just kick off, and…

As I kicked off the ground and beat my wings once, I screamed as it felt like I’d been stabbed all over again. I came down hard onto the ground again, pulling another yelp out as I landed right on my side. So much for determination!

“Just fucking use the stairs, Dum Dum!” Hispano snapped as she fluttered down and hovered above me. “And hurry up! It seems your new ‘friend’ is busy letting Pentex blow up our ride.”

“Move!”

“Out of the way!”

“Coming through!”

It was enough to have to run through the pain burning in my sides. Having to yell and scream at ponies as they flooded up the tower stairwell, well, that was just icing on the shit cake. Even after an entire minute of pushing and shoving, I’d only made it a little more than a quarter of the way down to the bottom from the lowest terrace.

My ears flicked and twisted as the sounds of Suiza chattering out was met with bursts of rifle fire. My eyes darted between avoiding the flood of ponies coming up the stairs, and the compass in my vision that showed more than a dozen red lines awash in a sea of green. Shit, Solomon really had to go all out right now, didn’t he? All when today is the one day I had to leave my saddle back on the Arcturus!

“Eliza, Hispano and King need help, so I need you to tell the Federation what’s going on.” I called out as I refocused myself on pushing through the mass of ponies.

“I believe the Federation became aware of the situation when the Pentex soldiers attempted to destroy the Remora with a rocket. Their response time however, is so far unimpressive.” Eliza’s mare popped up in my vision with an unsure look across its face. “However, you will be happy to know that Hispano has already eliminated two Pentex operatives, and that King is using an advanced arcane shield spell to keep the Remora and herself protected.” Shit, she could do that? Well, maybe they didn’t need the help of the Federation after all!

“Be advised, Captain. Two Pentex operatives have broken off from the fight, and are attempting to blend into the crowd.” Eliza’s mare flipped over to one with a surprised face before a pair of red boxes pulled up across my vision ahead of me by quite a ways. “If they escape, there is a high probability they will attack again before we leave Terrace.”

“And what the fuck am I supposed to do about that!?” Seriously, the one day I leave my saddle…

“Perhaps you should be aware, you are not currently unarmed.” Eliza’s mare flipped back to her bright smiling one as I felt the side of my head vibrate. A small diagram of my own head showed up in front of me and nearly made me trip over my own hooves. One of the three red optics extended out slightly like a short barrel before glowing bright red. “Buck wished for you to not be left defenseless, so he and Doc Groovy installed a single shot magical energy weapon for you to use in emergencies.”

“I was stabbed yesterday! Was that not an emergency!?” I nearly screamed out. Okay, well, at least I had something then. Even if it was incredibly unsettling to know I had a gun permanently on my face.

“If you recall the active jamming signal from yesterday, that would be why I was not able to activate this functionality.” Eliza’s mare frowned at me before flipping back to her smiling one. “Now that it is active however, I must reinforce the idea that it is a one shot emergency weapon. Buck should be able to recharge it once you return to the Arcturus, but I advise you to not miss your one available shot.”

“That’s great, Eliza, but there are two of them!” I snapped out at her.

“May I suggest, Captain, that once you have eliminated one of them, that you acquire their weapon to use on the second target?” Eliza responded rather promptly, and with a quicker cadance than normal to her words. “Be advised, Pentex operatives are fifteen meters and closing.”

The red boxes in my vision split, each one moving to a different side of the stairwell to move upward faster. Most ponies at this point on the stairs had shifted to the middle, trying to avoid the tents that would be a problem the next terrace up. However, these operatives didn’t waste time in just trying to get some distance from Hispano’s sister.

Pushing through the crowd, I worked my way towards the outer edge, finally breaking through just in time to see a zebra in a hoofball hat and a loose coat step up. As he looked up to try to push me out of the way, I could see into his open coat, where his combat vest proudly displayed the Pentex logo to me.

He snarled at me before shifting his coat and biting down on the pistol he had secured on his vest. I hadn’t even had time to really think before he’d drawn it, but all I needed was one single thought. The red beam lanced out from the side of my head, striking the zebra right between the eyes.

Screams erupted from the crowd around me as the zebra collapsed onto the stairs, glowed brightly, and then drifted away as ash in the wind. I watched in muted horror as the zebra’s gear was kicked and scattered off the edge of the stairwell by the panicking ponies. One good thing was the sudden shift in flow had completely trapped the other operative where he was until the crowd split enough that I could see another zebra in the same sort of getup as the first, minus the combat vest under his plain clothes.

With the crowd between us cleared, he looked over at me.

His eyes went wide as he saw me. I wasn’t sure if he realized I was the pony he was supposed to kill, or just if I was the one who’d made his friend disappear. All the same, he turned and charged right at me.

Out of reflex, I flared my wings and jumped to fly down the stairs. The pain that flared up through my body made me scream out again, and I came crashing down. My momentum sent me rolling and tumbling down to the next landing, sending me sliding along the rusty metal until I slammed into the guardrail. Stars filled my vision, but at least the medical warning didn’t flair up this time!

Yet another successful crash landing by the talented Night Flight!

The quick hoofsteps charging down the stairs towards me helped to clear up my vision quite fast. Looking up, I barely had enough time to see the zebra leap off the last few stairs at me. Like with Microburst, I did my best to roll myself to the side. The loud clang of a hoof on metal came with the squelch of the guardrail bending from the hit.

Again, I didn’t have time to process things before I had to focus on rolling away again as the zebra screamed and kicked his other hoof at me. Another rending clang filled the air, and another hoof shaped dent appeared in the guardrail beside me. I distinctly started to wonder why Happy ever even chose to get into hoof to hoof combat with anyone!

Shifting to push myself back onto my hooves, I was too slow. The zebra twisted himself around, using his momentum to drive his rear hoof right against my side. I screamed out as I swear I heard my ribs snap as the sheer force of the strike alone sent me flying down over half the stairs that lead to the next landing. Again, I screamed as I tumbled and fell down the old metal walkway.

Okay, this wasn’t working. I was going to get killed at this rate! Goddesses, what I wouldn’t give for Cora or Buck to show up right now!

“Night, what’s going on?” Buck’s voice crackled through my augment. “Are you fighting!? Shit, h-hold on!”

With the sound of more hammering hoofsteps coming down the stairs after me, I knew I didn’t have time to wait for him to come save me. I was on my own. All I needed to do, was survive.

Pushing myself up, I heard the Zebra yell as he jumped again. I pushed myself to the side, letting him come down right where I was. He let his momentum carry him to the guardrail, kicking his hoof up onto it and using it to propel himself into a flip that let him land on his hooves facing me. A smile pulled across his muzzle as he rose onto his rear hooves and pulled his forehooves into an extravagant fighting pose.

Fuck, this guy was just the fucking stereotype of a wartime Zebra, wasn’t he?

Okay Night, just don’t do anything stupid…

He stepped forward, swinging his forehoof in a wide strike at me. I leaned back as he missed by a mile. Oddly, he continued to follow the swing through, spinning around to where he brought his rear hoof around. Without a moment to adjust, he kicked it upwards against my face.

Not going to lie, I don’t quite remember what happened as I blacked out for a moment. My neck, my jaw, my everything hurt as I blinked and lay splayed out on the metal walkway. I pushed myself to get up, only to have a heavy kick slam me down. My broken ribs stole my breath as I tried to scream but found nothing come out from my muzzle.

“Night! Come on, get out of there!” Buck shouted through my augment. “Run!”

That was a great idea, but right now, I felt like just staying right here on the ground. All of me hurt, and what was I going to do? I couldn’t run faster than this guy, I couldn’t fly. What the fuck was I supposed to do?

“Get up.” The zebra snorted at me. “Survivor.” Woo, big deal, he knew who I was. Who didn’t these days...

“No thank…” I groaned before swiftly receiving another kick in my broken ribs. Oh goddesses, why the fuck do I keep finding myself in these situations?

“Get up and fight!” He screamed into my ear. “What are you doing? Giving up?”

“What does… it look like… I’m doing?” I laughed through the pain. “I’m... getting my ass kicked!” The rage that made his eyes twitch was all too familiar. That was it, my one advantage.

I could piss off anypony.

The feral scream he gave as he all but leaped on me was music to my ears. At least, until the flurry of hoof hits against my head made everything turn into a dull ringing. Even my augment fuzzed as his assault bloodied my muzzle and snapped my cheekbone. Finally, the Medical Attention Required warning flashed up.

Now I finally knew I’d properly had my flank handed to me!

Still, he heaved and landed a few final strikes on me before having to pause to take a breather. If not for the pounding and overwhelming agony of existing, I would have asked him if we could both take a five minute break to catch our breaths. However, I knew that would be too much to ask, and so if I wanted more than a moment to rest, I’d have to win.

He took an almost stumbling step back, hanging on the walkway guardrail like it was a set of boxing ring ropes. Which, was fitting, as he’d put me through twelve fucking rounds of hell so far. Hell, I should recommend this guy to go fight in the Wreck Room on the Inuvik! He’d give Rosie a run for her money for sure. But, that gave me another idea how to even up the fight.

Even though it sucked, I shifted myself on the ground. I screamed, forcing my forehooves to roll me over onto my back and leave myself open to him. The Pentex zebra growled at me before stepping back and putting his rear hoof up on the railing. With an angry roar, he pushed off at me with a kick that offered me one shot to even the fight.

With my own roar, I kicked my rear hoof as high as I could.

I wish I could’ve saved the look on his face the moment my hoof kicked straight into his balls. There was an almost satisfying give to them as my strike made sure he’d never walk straight again.

Sure, it hurt to have a grown stallion powerslam down onto me, but I could guarantee that it hurt a lot less than his kick would have. Plus, while the ringing in my head was still pretty much the soundtrack to my life, I did manage to slightly hear the screams of agony he let off as he writhed on the ground. Yeah, it was a low blow in a fight, but mom had told me something after those stallions in school beat me up.

If it's worth fighting for, it's worth fighting dirty.

As I tried to collect myself, the Zebra started to push himself up off of me. He pulled his hooves off of himself and wrapped them around my neck. The mix of rage and pain in his face as he screamed at me was almost priceless, but it would only stay that way if he didn’t end up killing me. I kicked up again with my legs, but he’d managed to prop himself up just enough to where his flank was higher than I could reliably kick.

As he pressed down on my throat, I so desperately wanted to have that painkiller chip-thing back on again. That, or actually have some painkillers in the veins again. Either or would’ve been welcome at this point, really!

Truth be told, as my lungs started to scream for air, I was realizing that maybe I should have capitalized on my one good move when I could have. As his muzzle twisted into a sadistic grin, I continued trying to kick at him. I just needed something, anything to get him off of me!

My prosthetic leg hooked up against his barrel as I gave out another, stiff kick upwards. The rubber pad on the bottom of it bit into his coat hard enough that as I tried to kick again, I only worked it further up against his barrel. A passing moment of concern washed over his muzzle as it dug in just under his ribcage. With all the strength I had left, I pushed on it hard.

Turns out that my prosthetic leg, while it looked a lot like a bit like a leaf spring, when loaded down with the weight of a fully grown stallion, it acted a lot like one too!

I watched as a look of panic filled the stallion’s wide brown eyes as my spring-like leg had the added leverage to throw him back off of me. He tried to keep himself upright, stumbling back on his rear hooves for balance as he was carried against the railing. His bipedal stance had left his center of gravity too high and without enough control to stop himself. I laughed in my own head as he pivoted right over the top of the guardrail, dropping out of sight, and out of my life for good.

The last red bar in my compass sat still for a moment, showing the downward arrow under it before blinking out of existence.

“All Pentex operatives eliminated.” Eliza’s smiling mare popped into my fuzzing vision.

Fuck that sucked.

With a gurgling, groaning sigh, I let myself flop back down against the cold, rusty metal. Note to self, make sure you always have your gear. Oh, and also, leave the melee fighting to Happy.

But hey, I’d won! And after the last few days and weeks of loss after loss, it felt good to finally come out on top in a fair fight. And better than that, the Survivor hadn’t won, Night Flight did.

And wouldn’t Mom and Dad have been so proud of the stallion I’d become...

Author's Notes:

As always, I can't thank TheFurryRailFan enough for helping me go over these chapters and making sure they're cleared to be uploaded.

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating and letting us all run around in this universe.