The hydraulics on the back of Scar hummed softly as they lowered his loading ramp to reveal a flurry of snow whipped up by his engines. The cold air that flooded in washed across my numb skin, sending a reflexive shiver down my spine, but it also forced out a breath of relief that took some of the tension in my body with it. Looking out onto the cloud shrouded dorsal hull of the Arcturus, I felt like I could finally relax. We’d made it back with my dad, and were hardly worse for wear other than my broken foreleg.

“Hey, Dum Dum?” Hispano spoke softly as she walked up next to me with a forced smile across her beak. “I know you’re probably eager to get caught up with your dad, but… I think I’m going to need some time with my own.” Looking out at the cloudship, her smile faded into a distant and somewhat lost gaze. “I just hope I’m not too late to say I’m sorry.”

“Of course.” I nodded and reached over, pulling her into a tight hug that made my broken leg creak and emit a squish. “Take all the time you need. I think first I’m going to have Buck patch me up, but… I’ll be there if you need to talk.”

She nodded, and again flashed up her nervous smile as she pulled back slightly. She planted a soft peck on my cheek before flaring her wings and heading down the open ramp. As I’m sure I radiated a deep blush, the sound of hoofsteps behind me admittedly caught me off guard.

“So, Night, where are we?” Dad’s curious voice didn’t seem too interested in questioning Hispano’s affection, and to be honest, I was thankful for that. I’m sure that conversation would come later, but for now, he was going to have enough things to adjust to. “Wait, is this… a Mistral class cloudship?” Before I could even open my muzzle to answer, he’d trotted off toward the ramp.

His hoofsteps picked up as he trotted right off the ramp and onto the fluffy white cloud coated hull. The smile that stretched across his muzzle as he trotted back and forth before reaching down for the hatch was a nice sight to see, and admittedly after the day we’ve had, something I hadn’t known I needed until now. With a hiss, the hatch to the bridge opened up and he let out a quick, giddy laugh.

“So are you getting out, or am I going to hover here all day?” Scar’s voice filtered in, making me jump slightly and strain my broken leg.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.” I offered as I did my best to hobble down the ramp. “And thanks for the lift.”

“Don’t mention it.” He snorted into my head. “And I mean that. Don’t, because this shit isn’t happening again.”

“And I mean it when I say thank you.” I thought back to him as I made my way off the ramp, watching as the moment I stepped my hooves off it, he was closing it and pushing his engines to lift him away from the Arcturus.

“Well, I’m glad you got your dad back.” The shift in his tone wasn’t much, but it was noticeable. “Just, try not to get yourself killed, alright, kid?”

“No promises.” I smirked and gave a weak wave of my broken leg to him as his camouflage systems cloaked the massive skycraft. He rolled slightly, banking down and out of sight below the Arcturus.

“Welcome back, Captain.” Eliza’s voice in my head was joined by her smiling mare appearing in my augmented vision. “I see the rescue was a success!”

“Yeah,” I nodded and smiled as I looked back over to find my dad’s head buried under the clouds near the hatch. “How are things looking here, Eliza?”

“I’m happy to report that repairs are complete, and the Arcturus is currently undergoing final systems checks.” Her mare fuzzed for a moment before changing to her shifty eyed cartoon mare. “Crew morale however is not much better than when you left. However,” Again, the smiling mare popped back up, “I believe that a bit of good news will help to correct that.”

“This is amazing, Night! This is all original, wartime construction! It’s amazing to see it’s lasted this long in such good condition!” Dad laughed as he poked his head up out of the cloud again. “I’d love to get a look inside of her reactor, if at all possible. I mean, once they understand what I used to do for the Enclave, I’m sure they won’t mind...” He paused as the grunts and echoes of hooves on ladder rungs met our ears.

“Welcome back…!” Double Delta grunted as he finally pulled himself up enough that his head poked up above the cloud layer. He paused as he was met with my dad’s smiling face, scrunching up his own from behind the sunglasses perched on his muzzle. “Uh… hello there.”

“You must be the Captain!” Dad nearly jumped towards delta, throwing his hoof out excitedly. “Thank you so much for helping to keep my son alive, and for helping him to rescue me.”

“Right…” Delta blinked a few times before rolling his eyes over to me. “I didn’t do anything. Night was the one to save me, actually. He’s helped all of us, really.” He smirked before raising his hoof to give me a quick and lazy salute. “Anyway, Captain, I’m sure Eliza’s already told you, but the Arcturus is basically ready to go. Just waiting on your word now.”

“Wait, Captain?” Dad gasped as his jaw all but hit the ship. “T-the… Arcturus? As in the Arcturus!?” He took an almost stumbling step back before looking down at the clouds around his hooves again. “But it was destroyed!”

“Yeah. Like I said, dad,” I felt guilty as a wave of pride washed over me harder than I think I’ve ever felt. “We’ve got a lot to get you caught up on.”

“Well, at least it was a simple spiral fracture.” Buck sighed as the automated tools inside his forepaws worked at cutting, cleaning, and all around fixing the gaping and still slowly bleeding wound in my leg.

It was nice to be back on my ship, in my room, and on my bed. Doubly so to have the dog I loved here with me after a day like this. I know I keep thinking about it, but today, for as rough as it was, reminded me that I really needed some good time off again.

“You know, it’s an all too common injury. Misaligned bones from the improper application of Hydra before setting a broken bone will, more times than not, lead to a spiral fracture. And of course in this case, even compound fractures. Generally setting the bone in the right orientation needs to be done first before you take the drug, or you can risk doing more harm than good.” While his dry explanation didn’t change the necessity of me having given myself that Hydra, the passive aggressive tone he held made me understand that this wasn’t really about educating me in the first place. “But at this point, I’m not sure I have to explain to you again exactly why.”

“I got my dad back, and even though it didn’t go exactly as well as I’d thought, we still beat Solomon at his own game.” I winced as my vision fuzzed and momentarily the pain got through my augment. I let out a seething whine, but grit my teeth and just endured it. “We won, Buck.”

“You didn’t win, Night.” Buck growled at me and gave a firm squeeze of my leg with his paw. “As much as I detest your nickname, I have to echo it. You survived. There’s a difference.” The tools in his arms stopped what they were doing and retracted back into his forearms as he brought his mechanical paws up to his face. With a sigh, he rubbed at his tired eye and shook his head.

“I’m happy you’re safe, that you got your father back safely as well. But now you need to stay here and do what you promised me you would.” Dragging his paws down his face, he pressed the full weight of the disappointed expression he wore against me. “I know that through your augment, you can’t feel the pain your body is in. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Even now, your organs are on the verge of shutting down, your heart is straining to keep pumping at all, and your immune system has been pushed to the verge of failing.”

Buck reached his paw forward again, gripping around the fetlock of my broken leg. Carefully, he pulled it toward him, and I watched as the sharp, protruding bone slipped back inside with a wet squelch that made my stomach do a flip. But as soon as that feeling had passed, I watched a syringe fold out from his forearm and plunge into my barrel. With it came a warm sensation that spread through my body and helped me to relax a few muscles I hadn’t even realized were still tense.

“Eliza says the trip to Vanderhoof will take nearly a week due to a severe radiation storm having formed over the route.” I grunted as Buck helped me lean back on our bed. “I’m sure that’s enough time to get myself fixed up, good as new, as well as enough time to come up with a plan of how to hit Solomon before he has a chance to get ahead again.”

“No, Night, no working for you.” A soft laugh came from Buck’s muzzle, but there wasn’t a smile to match it. Just the same sad and disappointed gaze as he pulled a paw up across his fuzzy chest. “You’re going to take the next week to recover, and nothing else. Even so, a week is already less time than I should be forcing you to take.”

“A… week?” I blinked at him as the warmth from his injection spread over my body, building up into a flickering tick that I could feel made me want to itch my body. Problem was, as I tried to move, my legs refused to cooperate. “Wait… something’s wrong…”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” Buck smirked as his expression finally shifted to a sharper, more stern look. “The sedative I’ve given you will keep you down until the worst of your withdrawal symptoms are over. You’re going to get all the rest you need, whether you want it or not.”

I opened my muzzle to speak, but I couldn’t do more than crack it further than just enough to part my lips. As much as I wanted to say I was beginning to panic about that, the itchy feeling in my body started to numb again, and I could feel it take all the strength I had to fight with it. My eyelids felt like they were getting heavier by the moment, and I couldn’t keep them open.

The last thing I saw before I passed out, was Buck letting out a sigh of relief, and his contented smile as he finally got exactly what he wanted.

My world was darkness. Flashes, sparks and snaps, like electrical bursts lit up the black abyss now and again. I couldn’t tell if they were real, or if I was dreaming. Really, I couldn’t tell much of anything at all, as my jumbled thoughts came together in disjointed and unfocused waves that as soon as they had passed, I couldn’t recall what they’d even been about.

It wasn’t long before something new came to me however. At least, it didn’t feel like all that long to me. Rain, or wetness across my no longer numb skin. A dull, ebbing thumping filled the void, slow at first, but steadily increasing. As it picked up, the flashes in the dark did as well, growing brighter with each burst.

My whole being felt like it tightened around me, becoming uncomfortable. The darkness itself hugged me to the point it felt like it was starting to smother me. Worse, the thumping continued to grow, not only in pace, but in volume. Louder and louder, it grew until it was too much to ignore or even think over. It’s pulses pushed the darkness in even further, and the feeling of fear and panic returned with it.

With a scream, I opened my eyes and pushed myself up off my bed. The dark, unlit captain’s quarters warped in my vision, and the hot air around my shivering body danced across my sweat drenched skin. My augmented vision fuzzed as my eye strained to focus, at least, until a glint of metal caught my attention.

Looking over, I saw Buck’s hulking form, perched on the bed beside me. He gave a tired yawn as he reached out, and again, plunged a needle into me. As the flooding warmth spread through my body again, my muddied thoughts collected enough to realize what he was doing.

“N-no…” My horse voice cracked my dry throat, and it came out as nothing stronger than a whimpering whisper. “Please… not again…”

“Shhh…” Buck hushed me softly as his gentle grasp guided my cold, sweaty body back down onto my soaked sheets. The itching tingling began to spread over me again as his paw wrapped around my fetlock. “You’re doing great, Night.” He offered to me as his blue augmented eye burned in the dark cabin. I struggled and strained to focus on it as once more, my eyes began to shut. No, I… I didn’t want to go back…

Not darkness this time, but rather, pulses of colors filled my mind. Red, violet, pale greens and browns. Once more I was awash in my thoughts as I drifted without any sense of time or feeling. But unlike before, some of my thoughts stood apart from the jumbled waves that crashed into the void.

Was it all worth it?

Would I ever be happy with what I have?

Was I a failure in Delilah’s eyes? To the others?

No one answered my questions, of course. However, a feeling grew in my gut. Ominous, and twisting, it came with a painful feeling of inherent wrongness. Like the thumping before, it only grew bigger, stronger. To the point that it felt like my whole being was trying to wrench itself from existence.

I opened my muzzle to cry out as the void itself collapsed, and I was thrown head over hocks.

Blood and bile poured from my throat into a rank smelling rusty bucket at the end of my bed. I groaned as my body heaved and expelled even more of the sick from me. My eye watered, and my damp coat shivered harder than ever as I tightly gripped our blanket in my grasp.

“Hey, that’s it, get it all out.” Hispano’s soft voice drifted into my ear as I felt her talon pat down softly along my back. “I’m right here with you, Night. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh, time for the next dose?” Buck’s tired yawn from behind me on the bed was both nice and infuriating. “Alright.”

I wanted to turn and yell at him for doing this to me, and to beg him to stop. Instead, I only doubled over again and threw up. My vision fuzzed once more as it did it’s best to remind me that I was still alive, thought the paper pony in the corner of my eye wasn’t looking to hot.

I felt Buck shift on the bed behind me, and with a sharp prick in my back, I felt the warmth spread through me again.

No. I… I couldn’t. Not again...

I hurled one last time into the bucket as the medication helped the strain carry me back off again into the darkness.

The sound of waves crashing against the warm sands under me was a familiar sensation that I could reach out and hold onto. The sound of seagulls in the distance, and the warm breeze across my coat helped me to remember the scene of Brahman Beach as it had appeared in my dreams. Opening my eyes, I smiled, expecting to see an annoyed looking donkey staring down at me.

Instead, I found a blood red sky. It wasn’t like the red of a sunset, no, the stars and the moon hung in it as if it were the dead of night. The sound of fires, and distant, tortured screams met my ears, and I pushed myself to sit up in the sand. No, this was all wrong.

Turning around, I could see what was left of Delilah’s town. Flames poured through every villa, consumed every tree and garden. The bodies of so many lay strewn in pieces as far as I could see. Everyone here… was dead. Everyone, except for one pony who stood staring at me with a twisted smile.

“M-mom?” The word slipped out of my muzzle, bringing a delighted but warped chuckle out from her.

“Do you enjoy the fruits of your labors, Night? You love killing, you love the destruction, don’t you?” She spoke in her voice, using her face, but this… this was nothing like the mom I knew. “You’re right, I do seem different. Maybe that’s because you never knew the real me.”

“No!” I refused to believe this. This was all a dream, another fucking nightmare that I needed to wake up from, that’s all. “You aren’t real.”

“Neither are you, always hiding behind your personas.” She laughed at me again, and I won’t lie, it hurt to hear her voice like this. I’d wanted to hear her again, but… not like this.

“I know who I am.” I fired back at her. “And I know who my mother was. She was the kindest, most amazing mare I’ve ever known!”

“Until she left you.” She smirked and looked at her fetlock expectantly. “I wonder how long it will be before the others leave you after the failure you’ve become.”

Oh, so that’s what this was.

“You know,” I smirked as I sat down in the warm sands under me. “The other times my hallucinations tried to bring me down, they tried the same shit. You know where that got them?” Reaching up, I tapped at the side of my head. “When I wake up from this, you’ll be gone forever.”

“And you’ll still be a failure!” Mom spat out with a laugh.

She giggled, ramping up into a full bodied laugh that sounded nothing like her. As she continued, her entire form warped, shifting and changing until it resolved into… almost me. From her blue coat, to her yellow and striped green mane, she was the mare I’d always dreamed of looking like. Perfect curves, perfect hair, perfect feathers, and not a missing limb or scar to take away from her perfect form.

“This is amazing, you know that? It really is perfect.” She laughed with a voice that didn’t belong to her, and a face that showed every emotion I hated all at once. “Oh, don’t be upset. You had to know this was coming. I am everything you don’t want to admit you carry around with you.”

“I already told you, I know who I am.” I shook my head at the twisted product of my own poor pharmaceutical choices. “Torment me all you want, what I said stands. You’ll fade away soon enough.”

“Oh, I think we both know that’s not true.” I don’t know how, but as she spoke, she smiled in the same way as Solomon always had. Reaching her hoof up, she brushed aside her long mane and pointed to her own head. “Obviously, your little toy isn’t working on me. Either I’m different, or you managed to break it somehow. Yet another thing in the wasteland that you’ve helped to break, right? It’s one of the things I love about you, Night.”

“No, this is a fluke. Probably a product of whatever detox drug Buck gave me.” I snapped back at her. I know I was arguing with myself, but until this all ended, honestly, there wasn’t much else I could do. “How about you kindly fuck off and leave me alone, yeah?”

“Nah.” She shrugged and sat down. “In fact, I’ll do you one better, Night.” Leaning forward, her muzzle split into a wide, sharp toothed grin. “Let’s help you wake up.”

Her voice echoed across the ruins of Brahman beach, causing what little remained to collapse, and the world around me to warp.

Instead of a wave of water, a wall of sand rose up and came down hard from behind. It washed over me, pressing me down into the coarse grains that grew more jagged by the minute. I tried to cry out, receiving a muzzle full of burning hot sand down my throat. Panicking, I flailed against the pull around me, feeling like I was grating my skin off with every movement. I wanted to scream, to flail even more, but every action only made things worse.

While I sat in agony for who knows how long, darkness wormed its way over me again, and I was finally released from my mental prison.

My lungs tried to jump up my throat as I sharply bucked myself out of my sleep. I nearly choked on the bile that worked its way out, and I managed to hang my head over the nearby bucket just in time as I wretched. Even through my painkilling talisman my body was sore, my lungs and thumping heart pleading for me to give them a break. Sweat still drenched my coat and the empty bed I was on. For a moment, I wondered if I’d actually left the dream, or if this was just another trick.

“No trick.” My own voice came from beside me as she appeared, laying next to me on the bed. “You’re most definitely awake, my little failure.”

“If you’re here, then obviously not.” I snorted and hung my head over the foul smelling bucket. Ugh, fucking addiction. Why couldn’t I just be better already?

“You won’t get better, Night. You’ll always fail.” She gave a soft, but twisted laugh that pulled a grumble from my muzzle. “That is why I’m still here, afterall.”

Thankfully, the sound of heavy pawsteps approaching caught my ears. The door to my quarters squealed as it was opened, and Buck stepped through with a sigh. It was odd, really. For this being another dream, I’d expected him to show up half dead like he had before…

“Sorry I wasn’t here. Was checking up on Cora when Eliza told me you were awake.” He spun around as he spoke, and his glowing cybernetic blue eye washed over me for a moment. “Well, other than a slightly elevated heart rate, and some residual bodily stress, you’re in the clear for the most part. Another day and you should start feeling well enough to get back to things.”

Again, if this was a dream, why was he acting so… normal?

“So, now that the worst is over with,” He stepped forward, reaching out carefully with his paws as he sat down on the floor at the foot of my bed. “how are you feeling?” He took my hooves in his paws and squeezed them softly. The sensation of his rubber and metal digits, and the slight soreness that spiked from his touch made my mind stop cold for a moment.

“Uh…” I blinked a few times before looking back over to the ‘fake’ me. “Am… I awake?” I know that asking a hallucination a question was liable to get an answer I couldn’t trust, but again, she simply nodded.

“Of course you are.” Buck said as he reached his paw up and carefully caressed my cheek. With a soft and genuine smile, Buck nodded to me. “It’s been quite the task dealing with your symptoms, but trust me when I say you are looking much better.”

“Well, if that is the case,” I said as I reached my hoof up and tapped at the side of my head. “Can you turn my hallucination inhibitor back on? I’ve got a friend here that I’m not too keen on keeping.”

As I could have expected, Buck’s muzzle twisted into a confused frown.

“It… is on, Night.” Buck spoke hesitantly before reaching up and carefully prodding at the metal side of my head. “Okay, I’ve cycled the power for it. Any better?”

Blinking a few times, I watched as the other me smirked before fading away in a burst of static.

“Yeah, it is now.” I nodded with a heavy sigh. “Thanks, Buck.” Guess… I really was awake after all. Big note to self, never do drugs again. Ever.

“I’m just happy you’re finally free of that junk.” He sighed with me, leaning forward and resting his forehead against mine. “In the future, let’s avoid doing that again, alright?”

I nodded, hoping that I really could stay away from Chill in the future. I mean, I did have my painkiller augment, so in theory I shouldn’t need more anyway. And if the aches and stiffness in my body was any indication, I don’t think I’d be able to go through this a second time at all...

As if on cue, my stomach gave a hard and surprisingly painful grumble that made Buck give off a little laugh.

“Come on, I know you’re probably starving right now.” He pulled himself away, getting back up onto his hindpaws before holding out his paw for me. “I’d normally offer to carry you, but I have the feeling that stretching out your legs would probably do you some good. You’ve been stuck on that bed for nearly a whole week, after all.”

Nodding, I pushed my legs to move. I could feel the muscles resist, the stiffness and tension in them fighting against every inch. Maneuvering my hindlegs to the edge of the bed, I slipped my rear hoof over, and nearly collapsed as I tried to stand on my stump.

“Careful there,” Buck’s firm grasp was quick to help keep me propped up. “I removed your prosthetic so that Tofu could do a bit of cleaning and maintenance on it. That, and I gave it a bit of a wash.”

Feeling a bit steadier after a few moments, I turned and put my newly healed foreleg down on the floor. A sharp twitch in my leg nearly buckled the joint under me, and I let out a sharp yelp. Thankfully Buck was there to catch me again, but my moment of panic pulled a cringe from him.

“Yeah, I was afraid of that.” He sighed as his mechanical paw wrapped around my barrel and he lifted me up off the floor. “The Hydra healed your leg when you used it, but it fused some of the severed nerves in the wrong places.” Shaking his head, he pulled me up close against his warm furry chest. “So even once you acclimate to walking again, sometimes the nerves won’t fire right, and you’re going to feel your leg give out for a moment.”

“What does that mean?” Well, he didn’t say I wouldn’t be able to walk, but… that was pretty sudden. If my leg gave out in a fight? I’m pretty sure with my luck, I wouldn’t walk away from it at all. “Can’t you fix it?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Again he shook his head and wore his disappointed frown across his jagged metal jaw. “If you had used anything but Hydra, there would be a chance. But Hydra’s magics are chaos based, which means they fundamentally changed you as a whole, rewriting the magics that are inherently inside you. So even if I were to go in and fix it, the next time you used a healing potion, it would simply undo everything I worked on.”

“Alright, that’s… something.” I nodded and pressed myself into him. Honestly, that sucked to hear, but I should have expected something like that happening. We’d gotten through that fight far too well off for something to not have gone terribly wrong with either Hispano or I. Which reminds me… “Hey, Buck? How’s Cora?”

“Oh, Cora? He’s recovering nicely.” Buck turned around and headed for the bulkhead door, but stopped just short of opening it. “Actually, Hispano told me a few days ago that she and him had a long talk. She says you helped her to realize a few things, and that she didn’t mean to overreact. But she hasn’t mentioned it since, and I have a feeling that’s because she wants to talk to you about it first. Honestly, from how it sounded, I think she wants to actually quit the Talons to be with us.”

“I’m just glad everything turned out alright.” I heard the words come from my muzzle, but… they were somewhat hollow to me. It was just like Buck said, we hadn’t won, we’d survived. While that was a good thing, we wouldn’t have been in that position if things hadn’t spiraled so far out of control in the first place.

More than anything, I’m just glad that Hispano chose to be with us though.

“Ah, Captain, it’s good to see you up and about again.” Eliza’s voice filtered into my head, and her bright, smiling mare popped up in the corner of my vision. “I know you must already have much you plan to do, but first I need you to finalize a discrepancy in the crew manifest.”

“What do you mean by a ‘discrepancy’?” I asked as I scrunched up my muzzle.

“Oh, here we go…” Buck groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Well you see, Captain,” Eliza’s mare flickered over to the one with the shifty eyes, “I need you to appoint a chief of engineering.”

“Doesn’t Tofu have that covered?” I didn’t really understand why a simple title mattered when there was only one…

I facehooved hard at that.

“I presume you’d like to speak with your father before making any decisions?” Eliza’s mare popped back to the smiling one that I so wish I could level a glare at right now.

I could already hear Delilah’s laugh from the great beyond as once more I got to experience just what it was like to be a ‘leader’. Still, I had to make a decision, and that was going to leave one of them angry or annoyed. Part of me wanted to give it to Tofu just to avoid the idea of favoritism. Then again, my dad is a certified cloudship maintenance technician…

“If you need more time, Captain, that is understandable.” Eliza’s mare flipped to the frowning one.

“They’re both Chief.” I spat out without thinking about it. “Fuck it. Why do I have to choose just one?”

“Alright, I have amended their records to reflect that they are Joint Chiefs.” Eliza’s smiling mare flashed up in my vision. “One last thing before I leave you, Captain. We are situated two kilometers north north-west of Vanderhoof city, and the Remora is ready for whenever you would like to head down.”

“One thing at a time, Eliza. Night still needs to rest.” Buck snorted, almost at the same time that her cartoon mare popped right off of my vision. “I swear, I will have one day where you and I can just relax together without having to worry about needing to be somewhere.” Arching his head down, he moved to kiss my forehead, but I shifted myself so I could instead press my muzzle against his.

Not going to lie, I was completely in favor of leaving everything behind for now and just relaxing for the rest of the day.

“I think joint chiefs should be an acceptable compromise.” Buck smiled as he broke off the kiss and gave me a light squeeze. “But, I also think it’s a choice to not make a choice. Not that in this case, there’s anything wrong with that.”

“The only choice I want to make right now, is what’s for breakfast.” I smirked, letting out a long sigh as I tried my best to get comfortable against his fur.

It turns out, that was a bit of a lie. I wasn’t sure if it was because I hadn’t really eaten anything in the last six days, or if it was because I was just relaxing with Buck, I couldn’t make a decision. Everything he offered to make for me, I couldn’t say no. So here I was, sitting with a veritable feast in front of me, and no decision on where to even start! Crepes, fried hay and insta-mashed potatoes, Sugar Apple Bomb casserole, and broiled radbeast steak with a mushroom gravy. All of it just looked so… good!

“I… didn’t know you could cook like this, Buck!” My brain finally forced out some sort of words through my salivating muzzle as he brought over the pot of insta-mash and set it down.

“Well, he couldn’t.” Happy’s voice startled me as he poked his head around the bulkhead from the infirmary hall. My mane stood on end as I spun myself, and I braced myself for the fury and anger that was to come from him. But as my eyes met him, a deep shame filled gaze, and a wave of regret washed over his face. “I uh… I said I’d help teach him as an apology for being such a bastard recently.”

“And I said he didn’t need to feel like he owes me anything.” Buck sighed and held his paw out to Happy, waving for him to come over. “Why don’t you join us?”

“Alright, but uh…” Happy grunted as he hobbled on his three legs through the bulkhead. “First, I gotta say something.”

He looked much better than the last time I saw him, wearing his floral print shirt loosely around him in a way that showed off the scars he’d recently gained. What he did do however, was use the empty foreleg on it to hide his stump, and I could tell exactly how he felt from how he turned himself away slightly when he approached me.

“You were right, Night.” He hung his head as he sat down next to me. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you about letting Solomon go.” Wait, he was actually apologizing to me? “And, if I’m going to kill him, I need your help to do it.”

Glancing back at Buck, I got the distinct feeling again that maybe this wasn’t real after all…

“I know this apology sounds sudden, but… hear me out.” Happy shook his head and shrugged. “I know what Ma saw in you, and I can see it too. You refused to give up on me, and I consider you my best friend, Night. You’re probably the only friend I’ve ever really had in my life who does more than just tolerate me. And after everything we went through in Cantercross and back with the Factory? I don’t know how I forgot that when you say something, you don’t think about it, you don’t try to twist it to have some other meaning.” Stiffening himself up, he lifted his forehoof and put it on my shoulder. “And speaking from the heart always reveals the deepest truths, even if who you say it to, doesn’t see that right away.”

That… meant a lot to hear from him. Happy really had come a long way from being the stuck up mule I first met on the convoy. And while I still didn’t think I was anywhere near competent enough, it was at least nice to have somepony else who believed in me.

“Thank you, Happy.” I nodded and beamed a smile to him that I wasn’t ashamed to have pull across my muzzle. Reaching over, I pulled him into a tight hug that he resisted for a moment, but ultimately accepted. That is, until a rumbling gurgle came from his stomach. “Right, let’s get eating before this all gets cold!” I laughed and returned my attention to the lavish breakfast before us.

“Now you’re talkin’!” Happy laughed and quickly hobbled his way over to his own place at the table.

“Ugh…” I groaned as I lay flopped over the table staring at the few scraps of food left among all the dishes. “I’m stuffed…” I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal that good in my entire life! At least, not one as satisfying that’s left everyone around it absolutely full. Eyeing over to Buck, he gave a pained whine through the smile on his jagged muzzle as he sat flopped back in his seat.

“Yeah, that was quite something!” He groaned before sitting up. “I could live like this forever and not have a care in the world.”

“Ah-hem.” A grunt from the bulkhead drew my attention, and I found Cora struggling to keep himself propped up. “A word with you, Night?”

“Yeah.” I nodded and quickly pushed myself up from my seat.

My vision blanked out for a moment as I stood up far too quickly. In that short moment, I could see the other me again. She stood on the table, staring down at me with a devious smile before fuzzing away into static again. My vision fuzzed for a moment as my dizziness faded, and I did my best to ignore her appearance again in favor of hobbling over to him.

“Help me into the infirmary.” He grumbled, reaching out and stiffly holding onto me as I approached. “We need to talk about something.” I wasn’t sure what, but if he was going to accuse me of endangering Hispano again, I might have to ask him to take a look in the mirror. “I know what you’re thinking…” He grunted as he adjusted at my side and we slowly made our way into the small medical bay. “I’m not going to yell at you. In fact…” He paused as he gripped around the doorway and used it to swing himself carefully into the room. “It’s actually the opposite.”

“So, you’re not mad at me?” I asked as bluntly as always. It pulled a glare from him before he pointed to the door and motioned for me to shut it.

“Oh, I’m still plenty mad at how reckless you’ve been, and I know you’re far more trouble than you have any right to be.” He smirked as I reached back behind me and pulled the bulkhead door shut. With a squeal, I lightly turned the locking bars to give us a bit of privacy. “But… I will say that I was wrong about you. You’ve shown time and time again that your priority is to keep Hispano safe.” Really? That’s… unexpected to hear from him. Then again, near death experiences do tend to put things into perspective…

“So, what you’re saying is…” I couldn’t hide the smile once again pulling across my muzzle.

“Yes. I… consent to your relationship with my daughter.” Admittedly he spoke with an apprehensive and almost begrudging tone, but he still managed to say it. “But that doesn’t give you the right to do what you want with her. I expect you and your boyfriend to treat her with the respect and care she deserves.”

Like with the first time I’d kissed Buck, my body acted on its own. I sprung forward, wrapping my hooves around Cora in the tightest of hugs that drew out a painful whine from him. Still, he fought it for only a moment before relenting.

“Thank you, Cora.” I laughed into his rough neck plumage as I squeezed him even tighter. “I know that must have been hard to say, but I promise, we’ll treat Hispano right.”

A sharp bell-like ring came from the intercom on the wall by the door.

“Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but something’s going on in town.” Again, Eliza’s voice sounded cheerier than ever, but the urgency in her words overwrote that concern in my mind. “I think everyone needs to report to the bridge, now.” Oh Celestia, this day had been so good! The last thing I needed was for something to go wrong.

“Alright, now that you are all gathered here…” Eliza’s cheerful mare almost vibrated on each and every monitor on the bridge.

“What exactly is going on?” Double Delta asked as he kicked back against one of the consoles. “What’s so important and urgent?”

“This!” Eliza’s mare spoke from each side of the bridge at once before every terminal flicked over to the same image.

What popped onto the screen was the same sort of town square I’d seen outside the bunker like building in the photos Laika and Blue Cross had shown me. A crowd of ponies had gathered around the entrance, ringing around three separate figures standing in the center. The mob of ponies shouted angrily and waved weapons at the three, and it wasn’t until there was a glint off of one of the victims legs in the center that I knew what I was watching.

“That’s… Rook.” I spat out.

“What?” Hispano scrunched up her beak at me and leaned in towards the monitor she sat next to. She gave a gasp, sharply jabbing her talon at the monitor in front of her toward the other two there. “And that’s Solomon, and Xeno!”

“Eliza, what’s going on down there?” Buck asked as he curled his mechanical paw under his jaw curiously.

“Let me give you the audio. One moment please...” Eliza cheerfully bounced from one screen to the next before popping away again.

“Alright, that’s enough! Settle down!” The voice of an authoritative mare boomed over the various shouts of the crowd. From the dark, central entrance of the bunker like building, a hulking unicorn mare in power armor stepped out, parting some of the ponies in the crowd near the door. Honestly, she screamed Steel Ranger at first look, but her armor was painted in a mishmash of colors that definitely didn’t fit the whole regimented military look the Rangers gave off. “Now, I think we all know what’s happened here, so I’ll skip the formalities. Bribery will NOT be tolerated in Vanderhoof city, or anywhere in the Spectrum Federation!”

“W-we didn’t mean anything by it, I should not have overstepped…” Solomon’s voice came through, almost shaking with hesitation. “I apologize if we have offended you, but there is no need for this to resort to violence!” Wait, what? What did he just say!?

“I’m sorry, but the law is the law.” The power armored mare shrugged, levitating a pistol up and pointing it at Solomon. “I, mayor Thunderbolt, hereby sentence you and your cronies to execution, effective immediately.”

“Please, I’m begging you…!” Solomon whimpered out, sending a sharp shock through my mind.

“Hold up, this isn’t real.” I grunted and looked to the others, only to find that they were missing. Everything had been convincing enough, but not this.

“Of course it isn’t real.” My own voice came from behind me. “I’m surprised it took you this long to comprehend that.” She laughed as I spun around and found her leaning back in the same place that Delta had been moments ago. “Of course, that’s the worst part of all this, isn’t it?”

“Hah.” I rolled my eyes and smirked. “If this is how you’re going to torment me? I’m afraid you’re going to need to do better than this.”

“I don’t understand.” She slumped and grumbled as she rubbed at her forehead. “How is it that you don’t get it? This was the perfect day, where all your problems simply disappeared. You didn’t like it?”

“Well first of all, they can’t just disappear. That’s not realistic.” I grunted. “That, and Solomon doesn’t apologize for anything. And while I’m going to make him beg for his life, he’d never do it willingly. He thinks he’s above that.”

“You’re missing the point here, Night. As usual, if I must add as well.” The other me deadpanned and gestured to the whole bridge of the Arcturus. “I crafted the perfect day for you, and you loved it.”

“Again, not torture…” I spat and rolled my eyes.

“But it is!” She let out another insane little giggle like she’d given earlier. “You realize that once you wake up, you get to go back to the real world, right? Where none of this will ever have happened.” For some reason, in my gut, that physically hit me. I groaned and doubled over from it as she laughed again. “You wholeheartedly bought into my fantasy, and while you know what it is now, you will also never forget that it can never be real. And that? That will haunt you forever.”

“I’ll deal with…” I groaned as the twisting in my barrel felt like it got worse. Goddesses, what the fuck is she doing to me!?

“Oh, this? This is just to prove a point. That it’s just the start of what I’m going to do.” She hopped down from her place on the console and lazily strolled over to my pain filled, doubled over form. “Thanks to that Hydra infusion you so eagerly pumped into your body, I’m stronger than ever! And that means we’re going to be so miserable together, Night! And I so look forward to that.”

No, this… wasn’t right. The hallucinations before were never like this. What the fuck is going on?

“Again, you already know the answer to that, Night.” She reached out and gave a pat on my head that sent a spike of pain through my skull. “You say you want to get rid of me, that I’m another product of those drugs. But what you keep failing to admit is that I’ve always been a part of you.” I bit back a scream as she pulled her hoof back from my head and glared up at her. For a moment, she wobbled and fuzzed like she wasn’t there, shifting, changing shape until she grew stripes across her blue coat as her whole body withered. “Every time you’ve made a mistake, every time you’ve ruined someone’s life, I’ve only gotten stronger.”

It was terrifying to watch, horrifying in a way that I couldn’t comprehend. Her face withered, the skin around it pulling taught and rotting before my eyes until her own pair melted out of their sockets. The color drained from her, leaving her looking almost exactly like…

“Hah!” She let out a bony cackle as her voice shifted to that of the old zebra mystic back at Pink mountain. “Yes, yes! I am the embodiment of every failure you’ve ever had, a curse placed upon your family! And thanks to your pathetic actions, Night, I have become so much more than my ancestors could ever have hoped I’d be!” She let out a shiver that rattled the bones under her desiccated form, and black blood like sludge began to bubble up from underneath her black stripes. Leaning forward toward me, I could feel her stale breath come from her bony muzzle, and the warmth from the burning balefire glow of her empty eye sockets. “You can’t deny your curse anymore, Night.”

Like hell.

Letting loose and using the pain in my gut, I screamed and torqued myself up, throwing my hoof at her face. With another cackling laugh, she dissipated like ash in the wind. Looking around, I waited for her to show herself again. I know I can stop her, she’s a part of me. All I need to do is figure out how to lock her away, just like the other hallucinations.

“Foalish goals, from a foalish stallion.” Her voice came through every speaker on the bridge. Each monitor fuzzed with static before flickering over to Eliza’s smiling mare. The cartoony mare shifted, growing stripes and wasting away to look like a perverse caricature of the old mystic. “What is misfortune, Night, other than just the wrong end of probability? And what is probability to me when it’s so loosely governed by the fabric of your reality? It’s my toy to play with, Night. Every time you and your friends fail, I want you to remember that it was my hoof loading the dice, that it was my will that brought you to suffer so.”

“I will find a way to beat you!” I growled out. “The real mystic, she’d said I could fight you, so that’s what I’m going to do.” I’ve had enough bullshit from my real life to be bullied by some fucking bullshit curse! “Make your fantasies for me to live through a hundred times. Again, I will find a way to kick your ass.”

“We shall see.” She let out a mirthful laugh as one by one, each of the monitors on the bridge exploded in a shower of sparks. Each one that popped dropped a little bit more of the room into pitch darkness. On both sides of me, the darkness approached until it was just one single monitor with the smiling zebra ghoul on it. “I will take everything from you, Night. Just you wait.”

With one final pop, the last monitor died out.

[4:36AM]

The clock in my vision flickered as I opened my eyes. The dim light of the captain’s cabin was joined with the smell of sick and sweat. A blank numbness sat across my body where the aches from my dream had been, and the groans of Buck waking up beside me made my heart rate spike.

“Are you awake, Night?” He asked softly, reaching a paw up to rub at his one normal eye. “How are you feeling?”

“I… I don’t know if I’m awake.” I blinked and continued to stare up at the ceiling. Okay, if this was another dream, than maybe I could find a way to cut through all the crap about it. “Tell me something, anything. Just so long as it’s something only the real Buck would say.”

“Paranoia. Looks like you’re still suffering some after-effects of the treatment.” Buck sighed, raising his mechanical arm up and letting the long syringe extend from it.

“No no, no more!” I whimpered and scrambled to get off the bed. I almost made it before my prosthetic leg got wrapped up in our blanket and I was dragged down to the cold floor. With a soft pop, my prosthetic finally let go of my stump and I slumped down completely. “Ow…”

“Night, you need to be careful, your body is still recovering.” Buck groaned again as he pushed himself to sit up. His glowing blue cybernetic eye emit a beam out of it that washed over me, and he scrunched up his muzzle. “Huh, that’s odd.”

“What?” I grunted as I moved to push myself to stand up. As I put pressure on my newly healed foreleg, it sent that same jolt of pain through it as in my dream. However this time, I managed to correct my stance and not fall over. “Arg, fucking misaligned nerve bullshit.”

“How… did you know that?” Buck asked far too starkly and genuinely for me to think this wasn’t a dream. Of course he’d play dumb, Night! That’s exactly what she wants you to think!

“Because you told it to me already… you.” I seethed and glared at him. “What am I supposed to call you, anyway? Curse?” My words pulled an even deeper look of confusion from him. “I…” I paused as Buck’s expression shifted quite quickly to one of deep concern.

“Fuck!” He snarled and gripped at his head. “I knew this was all a bad idea.”

Hah! So she admits she’s just messing with me!

“I wanted to do this right, Night, believe me. I didn’t want to rush your rehab, but I was impatient.” Wait, what? “I wanted to fix you quickly, and look what I’ve done to you! I… I shouldn’t have pushed...”

I flinched as Buck angrily hammered his paw against the bulkhead wall. With a roar, he hit it again and again, both denting the wall and causing his mechanical paw to crush, bend, and break. Finally, with a whimper, he pulled his sparking appendage back and cradled it.

“Is everything alright?” Eliza’s voice chimed up through my head, and what must have been Buck’s as well as his ears sharply perked up.

“Eliza, tell me, is there anything you need from me right now?” I asked. Again, if this was some sort of dream, then her answer could give this all away.

“I’m sorry, Night, but as per Doctor Buck’s request, your authority as Captain has been countermanded until your medical issues are resolved.” Eliza’s smiling mare popped up into my vision, staying for only a moment before flipping over to the mare with the frown. “Your augment has logged numerous anomalies during your recovery. Have there been complications?”

“Obviously.” Buck sniffled and turned his head to look at me. The pain in his eye as tears rolled down his cheek stung at my gut, but… that was all that tugged at me. Maybe… maybe I was actually awake again. Still, there may be a way I can find out.

“Eliza, where is Solomon right now?” If we’re going to do this whole song and dance again, then I might as well skip to the end. “Is he in Vanderhoof?”

“He was until two days ago, but he has since continued south.” Eliza’s frowning mare stuck in my vision. “He has undoubtedly set up some sort of trap. However, again, you need not worry about it until Buck has medically cleared you for duty again.”

Okay, that… that was good news then.

“One, last thing, Eliza.” If I was actually awake, this was going to be a huge mistake. “Connect me to Happy. I need to talk with him.” There was a sharp burst of static over the intercom, and I could hear what sounded like somepony moving around groggily. “Happy, are you there?”

“Unless you’re waking me up at four in the morning to beg for my forgiveness and help me actually kill Solomon, than you can fuck off, Night!” His sharp tone was just as bad as it had been before, but it was all I’d needed to hear.

“Thank you, Eliza. That will be all.” I sighed and sat down hard on the floor. Well, that settles it. The best day ever was officially fake, and… the curse was right, a bit of me hurt to know that.

“I’m here to help.” Her smiling mare popped up again for another moment before disappearing and leaving me staring at Buck as he cried.

“I’m so sorry, Night.” Buck whimpered and buried his head in his broken paws. “I didn’t mean to do this to you.”

“Buck, it’s okay, I’m fine.” Getting to my hooves again, I hobbled my way back over to our bed and crawled up onto it. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to sound crazy, but I had a doozy of a dream.”

“I’m sorry…” He whined and pulled himself away from me as I did my best to scoot up towards him. “I don’t know what’s wrong with your augment, it should be working!”

“It is, and... this isn’t part of it.” I sighed and reached out, carefully putting my hoof against his side softly. He flinched from my touch, but slowly pulled his head up enough to glance at me. “I have to say something, to admit something that I don’t want to. But, it’s my curse, Buck. That’s what’s doing this.”

“Oh, for the love of…” He whined and buried his head in his paws again. “You’re still sick, Night. There is no curse.”

“Buck, listen, I know it sounds crazy, but please…” reaching forward, I grabbed around his paw and pulled it down away from his head again. “I think that’s how I know what you were going to tell me about my leg. This thing in my head is different, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fix it.” He moved to speak again, but I simply put my hoof to his muzzle and he only let out a whimper. “I need you to trust me on this, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong, this is all on me. We can get through this together, okay?”

Smiling to him, he gave me a weak nod before going back to sniffling and crying in his paws. That would have to do for now. I can’t imagine what he’s had to deal with over the last week, or if he’s been feeling this bad about it the whole time. None of this was his fault, and his suffering…

I paused as I waited for my curse to act up again, to give me some sign it was still there. The only thing I felt though, was my gut telling me that it wouldn’t waste itself on any moment as miserable as this. No, for now, I was safe.

Now I just needed to figure out how to fight this thing, as well as fix everything else in my life...

Author's Notes:

A huge thanks to my buddy TheFurryRailFan, for all his help with these chapters. Seriously, man, you've been a godsend, and I'm grateful for all the help you've given me over the years!

Of course, thanks to Kkat as well for creating FoE and allowing the rest of us to play with the setting.