[11:18AM]

Wait, was it tomorrow morning already?

I should really listen to Buck more. With all the torture my body had been through, I slept for hours upon hours. I mean, after sleeping for basically a week straight just to get the drugs out of my system, I’d have assumed I’d be caught up on my sleep for the next month! But as much as I’d love for it to be that way, that’s not how it worked. Still, I was thankful to wake up in my own bed only slightly groggy in the pile of warmth that was Buck and Hispano.

Buck gave a soft sigh as I yawned and adjusted myself on top of him, and once again thanked the goddesses for the ultra-dim lighting that the desk lamp provided for my eyes. However, Buck didn’t wake as I moved, and simply went back to lightly snoring like he did. Carefully, I leaned over and planted a kiss on his broad black nose, and smiled as he gave it a reflexive little wiggle.

Hispano shifted as I moved, but likewise stayed asleep. Turning to her, I leaned over to plant a kiss much the same, but paused as I was met with a face full of her feathers. Pulling back, I blinked and brought my only remaining forehoof to my eye. I rubbed at it as I took in what looked to be a much larger wing than normal.

Reaching forward carefully, I hooked my hoof around the wing and moved it. I gasped and did my best to scramble off the bed. Hispano was gone, and some other griffon was sleeping in here with us!

“What the fuck!” I did my best not to trip as I threw myself across the cabin for the light switch. “Who the hell are you!” I needed a weapon, or for Buck to just grab this guy! “What did you do with Hispano!”

“What, I…!?” The griffon groaned as he got up pausing with a look of shock. He was almost twice as big as Hispano, and though they shared much of the same coloration, this was definitely not her. Still, he looked shocked for a moment as he shot up to standing on his paws to reach his impressive height. With a clunk, he hit his head quite hard on the bulkhead struts that crisscrossed the ceiling. “Mother fucker…!” He growled and bristled his neck plumage in confused anger, but it gave me the opportunity to see a broken compass hanging around his neck. Hispano’s broken compass...

“What… what’s going on here?” I asked as my mind struggled to understand just what the hell was happening. “What did you do with her!?”

“My voice…” The griffon gasped before running his talons across his head, tracing along the strong features that I would be willing to admit were fucking amazingly handsome any other time than right now. “Night, something’s wrong with me! I’m bigger… and I sound weird!”

Even though the voice that said that belonged to a griffon I’d never seen before, the worry and fear in his sharp blue eyes said enough. I knew that look, and it belonged to the only griffon I cared for. As strange as it was to admit, this griffon somehow was Hispano.

“What’s with all the yelling?” Buck grumbled through a yawn as he too woke up.

“I… I feel weird.” Hispano whimpered as she… he wrapped his talons around himself and pulled his wings tight to his back. But as Buck rubbed at his eyes, Hispano gave out a soft cry and started to sob.

“I don’t know what’s happened, but we’ll figure this out.” I offered to her… him, taking a single step forward before I found a large talon in my face.

“Don’t touch me!” He whined, pulling himself away from the very confused reach of Buck as well. “I… I could be contagious!”

“Oh fuck…” Buck groaned and brought his metal paws up over his face. “Hispano, you didn’t touch any of those blue flowers yesterday, did you?” At that, Hispano’s color drained almost completely. “This sort of magic resembles killing joke, but… somehow it’s effect was delayed.”

“Poison joke… that’s what Monk had said.” Hispano gasped as she looked down at her now larger, more robust hindpaws. “I... I stepped on one, I thought maybe… oh goddesses, am I going to stay like this forever!?” He let out a whimper that stung to hear as he wrapped his wings around himself tightly.

“We’ll figure this out, Hispano…” I did my best to convince all three of us of that, but we were in uncharted waters here. From what Buck had told me, there was no cure for killing joke, and who knows if there ever was one for poison joke even before the end of the war wiped it out.

Carefully, Buck reached out with his mechanical paws and placed them softly on Hispano’s now well built, broad shoulders.

“I promise, we’ll find a way to change you back.” He did his best to put on a confident smile as he looked to me for help. I too did my best to nod and smile, but as Hispano looked between us, I knew that he could see right through us. “Why don’t we go to the infirmary and get started then? Alright?” That pulled a whimper and a nod from Hispano. “Good.” Buck nodded back to her before looking at me with a pleading glance. “Night, why don’t you take the Remora down to the city, maybe Jean or the others know of some sort of cure. I’ll call once I’ve done a few tests of my own. It’s not something they’ve likely trained for, but it’s not a new affliction.”

“Alright, sounds like a good place to start.” I nodded. It was a long shot, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but if anyone knew how to fix Hispano, it would have to be somepony trained at Destruction Bay. “I’ll get my gear and head out.” Doing my best to hobble and turn myself around, I was forced to stop as Buck’s paw softly grasped at my side.

“Be careful, Night.” He offered like always.

“I will be.” I nodded to him before turning and opening the bulkhead door.

Let me tell you, losing another leg? It makes gearing up even more of a process than it already was. It took me five minutes to get my flight harness on, and another five just to get my submachine gun hooked up correctly. I know that in a fight, response time was everything, but if this was the best I could do, I might as well give up on ever leaving the ship again…

The hydraulics to the Remora’s hatch hummed as the metal seal swung down into the dark cabin of the skycraft. I peered down inside, and ruffled my wings in anticipation for dropping down. Okay, this was going to be a bit different with only being able to feel two legs, but here goes nothing! Stepping forward, I stretched out my wings to drop in, and...

“Night?” Happy’s voice from behind me startled me.

My forehoof slipped on the ring of the hatch and I gave out a yelp as I fell. The floor of the cabin swiftly rose up to meet me, and my metal headplate gave a solid klang as I came down hard on it. The rest of my body followed with a meaty thwack on the cold floor, and I felt justified in letting out a soft whimper even though my painkiller talisman had done its job well and masked the pain.

“Night! Are you alright!?” He gasped as his three heads peered through the hatch above me. I blinked as his form wavered among the stars in my eyes, helping to condense the three fuzzy images back into one. “I didn’t mean to startle you…”

“It’s fine…” I groaned as I pulled my wings against my back and got to my hooves. “What’s up, Happy? Come to yell at me more about taking too long to go after Solomon?” That may have been harsh, but after yesterday, I wouldn’t tolerate his foalish attitude any longer.

“No, it’s…” He paused as he watched me stand up. His eyes shifted from my face to my bandaged stump. “You… lost another leg?” I wanted to snap at him for that, but… he was just making an observation.

“It’s nothing.” I lied and bit my tongue. Don’t go off on him when you’ve got more important things to do right now, Night. “Look, Hispano’s sick, so I’m heading out. Can this wait?” If I didn’t have to deal with his brand of annoying right now, then I wouldn’t. Simple as that.

“Fine.” He grumbled before taking a step over the hatch and dropping himself down. I had to jump out of the way to avoid getting crushed by him. Straightening himself up, he shifted uneasily on his bark coated wooden foreleg. “Then I’ll go with you, because I need to talk to you, Night.”

No, that’s where I draw the line.

“Happy, get out. This is not the time.” I was not going to be harassed today. Not by anyone, least of all him.

“No, I won’t leave until I talk to you.” He shook his head and sharply jabbed his wood leg against me. “So you’re going to sit down and hear what I have ta say!”

“Eliza, get somepony to come remove Happy from the Remora.” I thought out as I leveled a glare at Happy.

“Double Delta is on his way.” Eliza’s smiling mare popped up not even a split second later. “However, perhaps you should hear what he has to say.”

“Fine, what?” I snapped at him. At the very least he could make it quick and then get out.

“It’s… hard for me to say, Night.” Happy grumbled as he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself like I wished I had the luxury of doing right now. “And I… I don’t know how to put it either…” raising his hooves to his head, he growled and shook it hard. It was like he was trying to wrestle with himself. Seriously, he always has to be so overly dramatic, doesn’t he?

“I’ve just been so… useless, and I finally got a chance to do something, you know? A chance to show I was more than some spoiled brat.” He forced out a laugh as he squeezed at his head hard enough that a whimper came through his words as well. “But that’s exactly what I was, I just didn’t see it because... I didn’t want to. I was content to end up like my father, even if it killed me.”

It was right then, right when I heard his laugh that I stopped. Stopped thinking, stopped judging. Sure he was being dramatic, but… this wasn’t what I’d expected from him.

“But Ma, she never even gave me a chance, you know?” He continued by ripping his hooves away from his head and slamming down on his haunches. “She would never have admitted it to anyone, but she was too overprotective of me. I was her legacy! How could she protect me from Solomon if I was off on my own?” Again, he forced out a laugh, but it came with a line of tears as he brought his eyes up to mine again. “But then he didn’t kill me. No, he took her away instead, and all I was left with, was you. The pony who she always wanted me to be.”

“And then what did I do?” He continued with another, harsher whimper to his words. His forced smile was crumbling, and his breaths became faster. “I fucking loathed you, even after all we’d been through. You stepped in and took control, just like she’d wanted you to, and part of me thought I knew what was going to come next. My best friend was going to push me away and tell me what to do, just like she did.”

“But I knew with you, I could at least show you I was more than she thought I was! You were a cool guy, understanding and such.” He put his hoof to his chest as his watering eyes darted about. “So… so when the opportunity came, I took matters into my own hooves. I knew you’d be angry that I didn’t run, I wanted you to see I could stand on my own! Just a quick fight with someone you were going to kill anyway. But whoops! Haha, Happy Trails screws up yet again!”

His belting laughter resonated against the Remora’s cabin walls, feeling as hollow as the stallion before me looked. With each laugh, his voice weakened and changed. Soon, sobs were all that came out of his muzzle as his body shook and he collapsed onto the floor in tears.

“I’m sorry!” He cried out and brought his hooves over his head again. “I don’t want to do this anymore! I can’t be who Ma needed me to be!” Struggling to look up at me, I’d never seen him look at me with such fear and shame in his eyes. “I… I can’t be you.”

Banana had been right. Happy had been hurting inside and we’d all missed it. He was still an ass for saying what he did, but… he needed help all the same.

“You good, Night?” Double Delta’s voice came down through the hatch, and I looked up to see him staring down at the whimpering form of Happy.

Sighing, I knew what I needed to do.

“Happy and I are leaving for a while.” I nodded up to him before sitting down. “I’m leaving you in charge of the Arcturus.”

“Aye, Captain.” He nodded and threw up a short salute.

First Hispano’s odd affliction, and now Happy’s breakdown. Today really wasn’t starting off like I’d hoped. Then again, we weren’t being shot at yet, so that was at least one blessing.

The hydraulics whirred to life around us as the hatch to the Remora closed. The magnetic seal released, and the floor under my hooves shifted as we pulled away from the Arcturus. As I brought my eyes back over to Happy, I found his mane being stroked by my Jynx as she smiled up at me.

“Alright, Eliza, have the Remora take us to the clinic.” I thought out. Who knows, maybe they’ll know a little something about curses, and I can tackle all three of our problems in one go.

Of course, nothing was ever so easy.

“As the saying goes,” Jynx giggled softly, “if wishes were horses…”

Happy dragged his hooves as he followed behind me, but kept up as we made our way into the clinic. Dozens of ponies were waiting outside with various untreated injuries, and three times that many were already inside either on medical cots or sitting anywhere they could fit and be treated. Jean, Banana, and Hemlock were each in the middle of treating a few ponies at a time, but one by one they looked over and smiled at us as we entered.

It was amazing how different this place felt with so many ponies in it, but that was hardly impressive next to what else was in here. In every patient’s eyes, I could see the pain they felt, but all of them shared one thing no matter the injury. A look of hope.

“Oh hey there!” Jean called out with a bright smile as she finished wrapping a set of fresh gauze bandages around the head of an elderly stallion. “Sorry we’re a bit busy for a chat, but if you need anything, just let us know!”

“Actually, Buck needs some… antiquated medical information, and we weren’t sure if you had any on the topic.” I flashed up a smile back at the medical moose, pulling a puzzled look from her. “Do any of you by chance know how to treat Poison Joke?” That pulled a series of worried murmurs through the injured ponies here, but after all they’d been through, I could understand how it might scare them. “Yesterday, before the facility was destroyed, Hispano stepped on one, and well…”

“Say no more.” Banana spoke up as she stepped back from a collection of injured foals. “But I’m sorry to say that it’s not exactly something we’ve been trained on. There used to be a treatment before the war, but it was lost along with so much other useful medical knowledge.”

“Besides,” Hemlock poked her head out of one of the examination rooms with a flat gaze, “Poison Joke was believed to be extinct, completely replaced by it’s more lethal variant, Killing Joke.”

“To be honest, your best bet would be to let it resolve naturally.” Banana shrugged as she trotted to the bed across from the foals where a pregnant mare sat with a wet towel across her forehead. “It depends on what exactly the magic has done to her, but if it’s the same as it was before the war, it shouldn’t be anything more than a minor inconvenience.” As true as that was, I wasn’t sure that Hispano would view being stuck as the wrong gender as a ‘minor’ inconvenience… “The magic should wear off on it’s own in two weeks or so, but I’m sorry, that’s the best information I can offer.”

“Well, it’s at least something. Thanks.” I nodded and smiled to her, watching as she replaced the towel on the mare with another one before picking up a small syringe from the medical tray next to the bed. “Now, onto another problem we’ve had.” Okay, and here’s for the big ask, “You don’t have any way to treat an old zebra curse, do you?”

“Gee, you have a lot of curse problems, don’cha, eh?” Jean let out a soft giggle as she moved across the clinic and grabbed a few IV bags filled with clear fluids.

“There’s a ward for that sort of affliction back north on the Mercy,” Hemlock spoke as she came out of the examination room. “But if it’s what Doctor Buck spoke of yesterday, there’s nothing we can do for you. I’m sorry.”

I hadn’t seen it before, but she wore a set of medical garments that were absolutely covered in blood. Between that and the tired look that was more and more obvious to me, I could tell that she’d been working almost nonstop since yesterday. All three of them must have been exhausted, and more than anything I wished I knew enough to help them out.

“Now you know how I feel.” Buck’s soft and caring voice came into my mind through my augment. “Just to give you an update, Hispano is healthy in all respects past the fact that she’s now a completely male griffon.”

“I’m glad Hispano’s alright, but… how is she holding up?” After everything we went through with her dad, and with her deciding who she wanted to be, I can’t imagine she was taking it so easily.

“He’s afraid, but Cora has been helping to calm him down.” Buck’s voice wavered, even in my head. “I have an idea of a way I can help him adjust for the time being, but that’s about as much as I can offer. Does the clinic have any way to help?”

“They said there’s nothing they can do, and that our best bet is to let it naturally wear off over the next few weeks. At least, that’s if Doc Chirality didn’t mess with it to make it’s duration permanent or anything.” While the prospect of having Hispano stuck as a guy for the next two weeks was unfortunate, I understood that this was for once, a problem I couldn’t solve. “As for my curse, they can’t do anything about that either.”

“Night?” Happy’s foreleg gave a gentle nudge at my side. I turned to him to see his ragged expression, and whether he meant it or not, it told me to get back on track.

“One last thing,” I called out to the others, “Banana, can we speak to you?” Again, I didn’t know if she could help Happy, but she saw what was happening with him clear as day. So maybe she knew how to help.”

Banana nodded and headed over to us. She trotted herself into one of the nearby rooms and waved for us to follow. Heading in, I found that it was empty, but that it hadn’t been cleaned after whatever surgery had gone on in here. The smell of blood was almost overwhelming, second only to that of the disinfectant they’d used, and the surgical implements were still coated in dried crimson. As we entered, I shut the door behind us and took a deep breath.

“You were right about Happy.” I asked, immediately pulling a worried and almost betrayed look from the mule. “He’s been suffering this whole time, and I need to know how to help.”

“Night…” Happy’s muzzle twisted into a frown as his expression sank. “I’m… I’m fine.”

“Far from it.” Banana offered out her hoof towards Happy, “Why don’t you start by giving me a hug and telling me all about it?”

“No!” Happy snapped at her. Almost at the same time, his forehooves shot out and wrapped around me tightly. “It’s none of your business. This is an issue between Night and I!”

“Then let’s talk… Happy…” I struggled to get out as he squeezed at me with his immense strength. Geeze I’d forgotten how strong he was…

With a whimper however, he let me go and slowly pulled his hooves around himself.

“I… I don’t know what to say.” He shifted uneasily as he settled down on his haunches. “This… this was a mistake.”

“No, Happy, I know you. You’ve made plenty of mistakes, but this isn’t one.” I turned to him and did my best to keep a soft smile. But it was hard to hold as his eyes seemed to grow more distant. It was a look I’m sure others would have known well on me whenever I sunk into the depths of my own thoughts. Thankfully, I knew just what would pull him back. “You may not know the words you want, but I know what I need to say. You were right.”

“About what?” He snorted and did his best to hold onto his forlorn look.

“About Solomon. We should have killed him.” I know that I didn’t really believe that, not a single word of it. But it’s what he needed right now, and more than holding up my own beliefs, I needed to help Happy. “Which is why I need you. Delilah had everything planned out, she knew how to reign in those around her. But I’m not her, I can’t do this alone.”

“But I can’t be like you, Night.” Happy’s eyes wandered toward the floor as he did his best to push out a sad smile. “All I do is screw things up. No, you’re better off without me around. That way you don’t have to worry about me.”

“That’ll never happen.” I couldn’t help but think that this was the reason Delilah never gave up on him. At least, not until the end… “You’re family, Happy. You may find it easy to distance yourself from me, but I won’t leave you.”

“That’s not true.” With a snort, he used his wooden leg to prod sharply at my bandaged stump. “Look at yourself! Just how much of you is going to be left in a month? What about in two?” His eyes sharpened to a fine tipped glare that slashed at my own resolve. “You’re going to die at this rate, Night, and then I’ll be alone anyway. Just another dead family member for me to try to forget.”

“Then help me to survive.” Reaching over, I put my own forehoof against his chest. “I need your help, even if it’s just you telling me that I’m wrong about something. You carry more weight in my decisions than you might think, and I value your input above almost everyone else's.”

“Right up to the point you brush it off.” Again he snorted and almost shoved my hoof off of him. I struggled to stay upright, but failed and slipped, coming down hard on the floor. “Like Ma’ you can’t share in making decisions. It has to be just you.”

While that was only sort of true, the fact was that he was right before. When it comes to matters of the Ark and Solomon, he had every right to tell me what to do. That was the reason we were arguing, wasn’t it? And with as much as my gut told me it was the wrong move, I had to do what I needed to in order to fix things.

“Then you’re in charge now, Happy.” I groaned as I picked myself up off the sterile tiled floor. “I’m giving you command of the Arcturus, of all of us.”

“That’s not really going to help him, Night.” Banana chimed in with a nervous smile that told me I should have listened to my gut.

“She’s right.” Happy shook his head and once more stared at the floor. “My own decisions only cause problems.” Lifting his wooden hoof, he let out a growl before grinding it down against the floor. “Losing my fucking leg should be all the proof you need.”

“You lost it because we weren’t there to help.” Staring at my own bandaged stump, I still couldn’t feel sorry for myself about losing it. “But you know how I dealt with losing my first leg? I had Buck there to help, and Hispano, and everyone else, including you. You need to allow us to be there to help you now.”

“Nothing will change!” Happy closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Things won’t be the same again, but you need their help, Happy.” Banana’s voice grew softer as she took a step towards him. “And they’re willing to give it. You need to allow yourself to feel everything you’ve forced deep down inside, and allow for them to be there to help you through it.”

“What do you know about what I need!?” Happy snapped at her. But Banana didn’t even flinch.

“Because I’ve been where you are.” She smiled and took another step forward. “All of us on the Mercy, we all lost our families at one point. And yet, we pulled together and formed another.” That’s why she knew he was suffering... “And it’s only through the strength of others around you that you can help yourself start to recover.” Of course it was, how couldn’t I see it before? “Night is here to listen to you, to help you. Don’t feel ashamed in feeling like you need to reach out for it when the world seems like it’s coming down around you. That’s not a weakness, or a mistake. That’s you realizing that you have the strength to act, to fix the things in your life you care about.”

“It doesn’t feel at all like that…” Happy forced out a snort as his legs shook softly.

“Not at first,” Banana took the final step over and softly wrapped her hoof around him. “But it does get better.” With a light squeeze, she pulled a soft sob from Happy. “Not easier, but better.” With a pleading look up to me, she nodded for me to join her.

Stepping up, I did my best to press myself against Happy and wrap my forehoof around him as well. The moment I had, she brought her other massive forehoof around and squeezed us together. It wasn’t hard, rather, it was just enough that I could feel the tremors washing over Happy as he once again let go and sobbed. But this time he didn’t collapse to the floor, and instead wrapped his forehooves around me.

“It’s alright, Happy.” Banana whispered softly into his ear as she gave him a few pats. “We’re all here for you now.”

The two of us walked at a slow pace through the lower halls of the bunker-like city shelter. Since we’d left the clinic, neither of us had said a word. However, we weren’t in a rush, and I intended to give Happy the time he needed to collect and order the thoughts he’d just spilled out.

After almost an hour of Happy doing his best to talk to us about what he was going through, I think he’d finally started to see that things weren’t going to be as bad going forward. The Happy I’d known after we arrived at the Factory had returned, if only slightly, but with more sincerity than before. I have to say, I felt kind of ashamed that I didn’t make the time to talk with him before.

Delilah was tough on everyone, but none of us had the conflict that Happy had carried with him his whole life. Wanting to be his own pony, to follow his heart, but not end up like his dad, as well as to make his Mother happy and fulfill her expectations as Heir to Burro Industries. Laid out, it all sounds fairly simple. But with his viewpoint taken into consideration, he’s had as tough a time as I have, but needed to contend with it for years on end. Now that I think about it, it’s little wonder to me on how he’d taken to drinking all the time before I forced him to cut back.

While he’s certainly earned the ire of us with the way he’s been acting, I could understand it a little bit better now. Happy wasn’t a bad guy, and he certainly didn’t mean to come off like an asshole. But he’d reached out to us, and I needed to be there now to help carry him through his thoughts.

The sound of hoofsteps echoing down the smooth white corridors perked my ears. The annoyed muzzle of the elderly ghoul receptionist pointed around one of the branching halls ahead of us. She carried herself around the corner at a trot, and cleared her throat as she approached.

“Ah, there you are.” She held her muzzle tilted slightly upward, and looked at us through the old glasses perched on the top of her nose. “The timelock to your box has elapsed, and it’s contents are ready for you to retrieve.” Without waiting for a response, she spun around on her hooves and began trotting back down the way she’d come. “If you would kindly follow me.”

Not much for idle conversation, is she?

“Night?” Happy spoke up as he reached out and put his hoof on my shoulder. Turning, I found him staring at the floor again, avoiding my eyes. “I just wanted to say… I mean I’ve already… but I really mean it...” With a sigh, his legs trembled under him slightly. “I’m sorry.”

Reaching up, I carefully pushed his forehoof off of me and stepped up. As best as I could, I hopped and slung my remaining forehoof around him in another hug. Unlike before, he didn’t resist, and instead returned it willingly.

“And I’m sorry too. For not listening and talking with you.” I shook my head as I gave him a pat on the back. “But we’re in this together, and I promise, I won’t let it happen again.”

Happy and I were more alike than I’d cared to admit before. But Banana was right, we’d become family, a word that even now, I still was learning more and more about what it meant. Every time I thought I knew, someone shows me just how little I still know. And today, I learned that Happy deserved my attention just as much as Buck, Hispano, or my Dad did.

“I don’t know… how to fix it.” Happy whined as he squeezed me tighter, and the bark on his wooden leg bit into my skin. It wasn’t painful thanks to my augment, but I bit back my own reflexive whine from it.

“How to fix what?” I asked as he relented and let go of me.

“I screwed up, Night.” The moment I stepped back from him, he dropped his eyes to the floor again. “Because of me, Tofu got hurt, you lost another leg…”

“This isn’t on you, Happy.” I offered to him as I sat back on my haunches. “That thing had control of a lot of ponies...”

“But if I hadn’t been so stubborn…” He whined and brought his hooves up to his head again. “How do I fix this, Night? How do I make it up to Tofu, to you?”

“By taking it one step at a time, Happy. One day at a time.” Balancing as best I could, I reached out my hoof for him to grab. “We’re family, and I may not be half Donkey, but you know you could hardly find someone more stubborn than me to stick by your side. I’m not going anywhere without you, Happy. None of us are.”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you’re too fucking sappy?” A warm smile crept across his face as he brought his tired and weary eyes up to me.

“Oh come on, you know that’s pretty much Hispano’s job.” I chuckled, but perked my ears as the sound of hoofsteps in the hallway cropped up again. “But I’m sure you and her can compare notes on me later.”

Happy took my hoof with his and gripped it firmly. He smiled and stared at me with a surprising look across his face. I’d seen plenty of others so far on this trip with a renewed sense of hope about them. But Happy, while the flame inside wasn’t obvious, I could tell it burned brighter than most.

“Ahem?” The receptionist cleared her throat as she predictably poked her head around the corner to shoot us an impatient glare. “I do have many other duties to attend to outside of being a chaperone to outsiders.”

“Are you going to be alright, Happy?” I asked without even thinking. Of course he’s not, Night! That’s why you need to meter yourself and not blurt out shit like this to him, you dolt! “Sorry.”

“I think… I will be.” He nodded as his smile wavered from his muzzle, but the look in his eyes only firmed up as he glanced at me again. “You’re brave in saying that we’re family, Night. You should know that the Burro’s have always been a particularly stubborn breed. You might regret not getting out when you had the chance.”

“And miss the opportunity to see the look on your face when we kill Solomon?” I beamed a smile at him as I got my hooves under me again. “Not a fucking chance.”

I won’t lie, this place was impressive. Metal walls two meters thick surrounded the public records vault from outside incursion, while magical barriers covered each and every section of deposit boxes inside. The vault itself didn’t seem particularly large from the outside, but there was enough room inside along it’s walls to hold thousands of seperate boxes. If I didn’t know better, it seemed bigger on the inside than was generally possible.

“Ugh…” Happy shuddered as we followed the receptionist inside, “I never liked these magically compressed spaces. One arcane containment failure and bam! Ya explode.” Well that was a terrifying thought….

“You’ve seen one of these before?” I whispered as I stepped closer to him.

“Yeah, our family wanted a panic room installed back home during the war.” Again, he shuddered even harder. “Except the M.o.M. screwed it up, and the whole thing decompressed. Took out the whole east facing side of the house two months before the worst winter the war ever saw.”

“A panic room?” A personal magical fallout shelter would have made more sense, but I wasn’t sure why they’d need something like that. I mean, it’s not like they had someone like Solomon coming… “it wasn’t for them, it was for Delilah and you once you started looking for the Ark. Your family knew that Solomon would come looking at some point.”

Happy nodded to me, almost missing the fact that our guide had stopped in front of us. We both stopped just short from running into her rotting flank, and in sync, we took a single step back.

“Here we are, box two two six.” The elderly ghoul promptly shot us a sideways glance as she put her hoof up to a small black pad next to a section of security boxes. The pad let out a short lived and quite loud electrical snap that forced both Happy and I to flinch as arcs of magic crawled across the barrier wall. Seriously, was it supposed to do that!? The ghoul was undeterred as she lifted her hoof from it and turned to Happy. “If you would place your hoof on the pad to confirm you are the current account holder.”

“What? You want me to put my hoof on that thing?” Happy scoffed and took a step back. “You know what, I think Night should go first instead…”

“Impossible.” The receptionist sighed and pushed her glasses a bit further up her wrinkled, rotting muzzle. “This magical attunement sensor is calibrated so that only the account holder or their offspring may access it’s contents.” She lifted her hoof expectantly to Happy and pointed at the pad again. Still, Happy hesitated. After a sound like the thing made, I couldn’t really blame him. “I assure you, it is a painless process.”

“If you say so…” Happy let a soft whimper out from his muzzle as he stepped up to the pad. He sat down on his haunches and leaned back as he put his hoof up. With a cringe and as much of a lean as he could get away from the pad, he carefully placed his hoof down against it.

Another electrical snap filled the air, and stronger arcs of magic worked their way across the surface of the magical barrier. Pink bolts of energy shot from each side of the barrier, converging around the edges to box two two six. With another snap, the barrier inside the bolts dissipated, leaving a hole just wide enough for the box to slip through.

The receptionist rolled her eyes before stepping forward and grabbing the box with her hooves. She gave it a stiff yank, and the old brass box gave a metallic squeal as it relented to her and pulled out. With a deftness that seemed a bit unnatural to me, she placed the long box onto her back and waved for us to follow.

Happy traded looks with me before we both shrugged. Getting back to our hooves, we followed the ghoul further into the vault, and to a small square steel table. There, she set it down and used her hooves to flip a pair of latches on the front free before stepping back.

“If there’s anything else you require, you will find me at my desk in the lobby.” She nodded to us before leaving us alone.

“Okay…” Happy smirked and sat down next to the table. He rubbed his forehooves together as his eyes locked on the old brass box with an almost foal-like wonder. “Let’s see what my family left us!” With a tender touch, Happy used his hooves to lift off the lid of the box, and reveal it’s interior.

We both paused as we found only a single, sealed envelope inside.

“Wait, that’s it!?” Happy snorted and took the letter in his hoof. He haphazardly tossed it to me before grabbing the box by the sides and shaking it. “No, there’s gotta be something else here! Where are the deeds, the family treasure, the hoof-sized superweapon!? Anything and everything that was rumored to be inside!”

Looking at the envelope in my hoof, I took a moment to push Happy’s disappointment aside in my mind. This was all that was left for Delilah, of Burro Industries, of Happy’s legacy. Whatever was inside here has to be important to finding the Ark, or maybe there was information that would help us get a leg up on Solomon. Even though it’s not what we expected, Delilah wanted to come here for this, and I needed to know why.

As carefully as I could with only one hoof, I opened the envelope. Inside was a folded, and quite lengthy, hoof written letter. It’s pages were yellowed with time, and some of the writing on it had started to fade, but it was still legible.

It is my hope that this letter is being recovered for its historical significance, rather than out of necessity.

However, with the state of things these days, I'm afraid it will be due to the latter. I am also going to assume that this has been found by one of the Burro family, of which I belong. This letter probably isn't the land deeds you expected to find when you opened this safe, but if I know my family, our resourcefulness will have already lead you to the location of the Ark. However disappointing it may be, the deeds are useless pieces of paper in your ruined world, while what I have written here is still of great importance.

This is my legacy, more than anything else of Burro Industries that may or may not still be standing for you today. Let this be the record of my deeds, for better or worse. The reasons why I took the steps I did to ensure that the Ark would survive the war.

As I write this, Equestria is winning. Given the state of the world you live in, I'm assuming that sounds hard to believe. But there's an old saying that the zebras have. Victory breeds complacency. And how complacent we have become.

A resourceful folk, the Zebras. Their lands are not at all like the comfortable abundance we enjoy in Equestria. Inhospitable terrain, filled with dangerous predatory animals and unpredictably wild weather. Even worse than those, for a millennia, the zebras fought constantly over what little resources they could harvest from the land.

But around the same time the Princesses began their rule over Equestria, the thirteen zebra tribes ceased their petty conflicts, and joined together to form the empire. Even the outcast tribe, once shunned by all, was mostly welcomed in to keep the idea of unity alive, to drive home one idea above all else. Their idea was radical, and again almost unheard of among the relative luxury that ponykind lived in. Each group agreed and decided to work together with a single, common goal. Shared survival.

Survival, that's also what this war is about. It may have started over coal, or a terrible incident, but with the invention of the megaspell, all that changed. It has become about the survival of not only ponies and zebras, but of the planet as a whole. And like the tribes, we have once more banded together. Our tribes are not nation-states, nor even mostly zebra. Rather, it's corporations working together these days. Survival is still the goal, that hasn't changed. But unlike the empire, it's not survival for all.

The Ark was funded by dozens of corporations, a lifeboat to ensure their fortunes carried over through the magical fallout. Tens of millions of bits were funneled into Burro industries and the Saddle Arabian Builders Corporation, and together we built something the world has never seen. But as the Ark neared completion, Crown Prince Hakim of Saddle Arabia offered me an alternative solution to our planned survival. Instead of sharing the ship, just our two ‘corporations’ would split it among ourselves. With it, they would be able to ensure his own chosen royal family's lineage and wealth if the worst came to pass. He would ensure that the beating heart of Saddle Arabia would survive, which, was itself a noble goal.

I won't lie in saying I wasn't tempted by the offer, even if Bessy and Bertha outright refused. But I’m not as strong as them. The chance to save nearly half of the corporation we built from the ground up, to ensure that so many who sacrificed for us would get a chance to survive? They certainly deserved that chance.

But, it would be at the cost of more than just those left behind. We would lose our morals. The same morals that helped us to build this company. The same morals that helped so many more than anyone can count with the work we've done. But we couldn’t sit idly by and let the world suffer so that a few of our own members could survive with morals intact. After all what did our morals matter if there was nopony left for us to help? What would be the purpose of having saved Burro Industries then?

So, Bessy, Bertha, and I began our work in secret to alter the ship after it's hull was finished. We drew up the plans and arrangements to change it’s cargo, and to hide it where you have already undoubtedly discovered it. It has taken exhaustive work, and nearly all three family's entire fortunes to pull off. It's not about what we have anymore, or about how many bits it cost. It's about survival for all, plain and simple. Even if it means becoming an outcast in the eyes of the other corporations.

I feel like our time grows shorter by the day. I don't know what will survive the end of the war, or if I'll even live to see it with my own eyes. But I believe that if the worst does come to pass, what we leave behind with the Ark will be enough to start over. Like us donkeys, the Equestrian folk are stubborn, and I believe that enough will survive to start rebuilding.

But in order for them to truly do that, they'll need the help that only our legacy can provide. I helped start Burro Industries to build a future for all, and Bessy, Bertha, and I have left you everything you'll need to get started on it. Now, it's up to you to put in the work and shape the future we never lived to see.

I pray to the stars that this letter is found in better circumstances, and some archaeologist displays it as simply the ravings of an old, paranoid jenny. But if not, then know that Bessy, Bertha, and I have tried our best to set things right in the world. Good luck, and may the stars above guide the Ark to a prosperous and safe harbor for all.

Marcela Neddy, CEO of Burro Industries

I sat down hard.

She’d given up everything for the Ark. Her own future, her own fortune, just so that others could one day come back from the brink. She threw her entire family into Saddle Arabia’s cross-hairs, and for what? To ensure that as many of us in the future could find a way to survive a bit easier, nothing more, nothing less.

Survival. It’s funny how that keeps coming back to me. How the simple idea of doing whatever it took to live seemed like such an easy choice most of the time. I’ve been ashamed of it, proud of it, and disgusted by it. The fact was, no matter how I felt, I was alive because I’ve spent this time trying to figure it all out.

And yet, here in this two hundred year old letter, are the words of a mare who knew better than me about what survival actually meant. I thought I’d sacrificed everything, done things that were monstrous, just to stay alive. But as hard as it’s been, there’s no comparison to willingly expending countless lives just on the chance that someone, someday, may have been able to use that collective effort to fix the damage done.

But now that I knew, there wasn’t any choice to it. Too many worked on this, gave their lives for this for me to abandon the pursuit. And while Solomon had no intention of using the Ark in the way his ancestors did, if anything, in my mind he had less claim to it now than ever before.

The Ark, and whatever promises it may hold inside, belonged to everyone. It’s clear to me now, and we had a duty to see this task done. No matter the cost.

“You’re a terrible negotiator, Night.” My Jynx let out a soft laugh from inside my mind. “Don’t you know the first rule of bargaining? Never tell the seller that you’re willing to pay anything to get what you want…”

Hobbling back out into the cold midday air, Happy and I started our way back toward the Remora.

“I’m still bummed there wasn’t even anything useful in there.” Happy snorted sharply. Given the day he’s had, I didn’t want to step on his hooves over it, but was he planning on complaining the whole time? Maybe I could attempt to show him the silver lining of finding the letter and get him to at least relent before he could give me a headache through my augment.

“Well think of it this way, Happy,” I smiled to him as his expression brightened even if just momentarily, “there was nothing in the box that Solomon could steal from us. Sure, we didn’t gain anything as an advantage, but neither did he. Not to mention we have a better idea of why we’re searching for the Ark, and why we can’t let Solomon get there first.”

“I guess…” He groaned and rolled his eyes at me. It wasn’t the win I was looking for, but it was close enough for me to be content.

“Increadimare was more than a hero.” The voice of a younger mare carried from around the corner of the large rectangular city shelter. “She was a friend to everypony of Vanderhoof.”

Happy and I traded looks for a moment before we both made our way over toward the voice. As we rounded the corner, we ran right into an entire crowd of ponies who had gathered around a small shrine. Pictures, posters, and old Increadimare comic books had been plastered to the side of the city center, and a young unicorn mare in her own superhero outfit was standing on an old soap box next to the display.

“She stood for all that is good and just in the world, and gave her life willingly to protect those she believed in most. Us.” The mare’s words got sympathetic nods from the crowd, me included. “And I know that if she were here today, she’d want each and every one of you to continue doing your best to keep this city safe.”

I barely knew the mare, and while she’d thought I was somepony else, it didn’t make her any less of a hero for what she did for everyone.

“Increadimare… she was my mentor, the closest thing I had left to family.” The mare smiled and sniffled, using her horn to wick away the tears streaming down her muzzle. “And now that she’s gone? I can’t fail her in the task of protecting the citizens of this city, and I know you won’t either.”

At that, the crowd gave a short lived, but no less sincere cheer as most of them turned toward the mountainside where Increadimare’s body still rested. It was odd, looking at her laying among the trees, she looked so… peaceful. I know it must have been painful, and that she must have been afraid at the end. But she didn’t look it, not one bit. She’d faced Deru and died knowing she’d done all she could.

“Gee, where have I felt that sympathy before?” Jynx asked as she pushed her way through the crowd to stand next to me. Why did she have to come out and ruin things now? “Hey, I’m just doing my job.” She gave me a pat on the side as I gave her a level of side eye I’ve generally reserved for ponies like Happy. “What? You think you’ll be that content when you die?” She giggled and rolled her eyes at me. “You’re funny, Night, but I’m here to make sure that your last thoughts are on how much you regret letting everypony around you down.”

“Hey, Night?” Happy prodded me in my side, forcing Jynx to pop away from my mind like a bubble. Turning, I followed his hoof to a bit of rubble across the street with a hooded figure poking their head around it. “Is that King?” As soon as he’d said that, the green muzzle under the hood gave a gasp and ducked out of sight.

As the crowd around us dispersed, Happy and I made our way over to the rubble. What was King doing down here? I didn’t realize she’d even left the Arcturus. Maybe she remembered something about Vanderhoof and needed to talk?

Coming around the edge of the rubble, King’s cloaked form shrunk back from us slightly.

“I am sorry, Night.” She whimpered and hung her head, letting her tears drip down the length of her muzzle. “I didn’t mean for you to see me like this.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. There was nothing wrong with mourning for somepony, especially one of your own kind. But my gut told me that there was more to this than that. “What’s wrong, King? Did you remember something else?”

“She was… admired.” King sniffled and pulled her robes around herself tighter. “This, Increadimare, was loved by many, even though she was remade in mother’s image and born from Unity.”

“She was a superhero.” Happy smirked and shrugged, “So long as they save the day, people always tend ta look up ta them.”

“She was more than that.” The voice of the young unicorn mare spoke up from behind us. We spun to find her trot up wearing her own tear stained smile. Without an ounce of hesitation, she spun to me and held her hoof out. “You’re the pegasus mare who helped kill that beast yesterday. Thank you for that. Without your skills, many more may have gotten hurt.”

“Plenty did get hurt,” I offered her a sad, but sincere smile as I sat down and took her hoof. She shook it firmly before letting it go. “but I’m hopeful that now the mayors are working together, this city can recover.”

“In time it will.” The Unicorn nodded and glanced over to Happy, then down to his leg with a frown. “However, we’ll have to remember the mistakes we made as we move forward, and try to avoid them.”

“How…” King spoke in a whisper that the rest of us almost missed. “How did she move forward?” Lifting her head, her eyes drifted up to the hillside where Increadimare rested. “Leaving Unity left me with so little to hold onto. How did she recover so quickly? How did she know who she was supposed to be?”

“She…” The mare began, but paused as she brought her hoof up around her neck nervously. “She would have punished me for giving her secret away, but… she hasn’t been with Unity for almost a decade.”

“That’s impossible…” King snorted and stiffened up. “Mother would have known if one of us had been separated.”

“Increadimare… was a special case. My mother’s fault, actually.” The mare sighed and hung her head. “Years ago, an Alicorn from Unity came to take her away, to take me away. But my mother used an old magical comic book on her and trapped the Alicorn inside it’s story.” She smiled as she brought her hoof up along her own magical superhero outfit. “I’d almost forgotten she’d been in there when I felt the need to reread the comic’s I’d had as a foal. And when I opened the comic again a few months before the clouds came down, the magic inside expelled her out of it.”

“But mother would have known, would have sensed her!” King spat out as she got to her hooves.

“No, she was… different when she came back out.” The hero mare shook her hooves to King. “Comics like that one weren’t supposed to let you out until you have completed the story the right way. But this, this was a complete collection of Increadimare’s stories, only bought by the most die hard fans back during the war. To get out, she would have had to complete hundreds of storylines the right way.”

“How would an alicorn know how to be a hero?” Happy finally added something relevant to the conversation, and a fairly adept point at that. “Something like that would keep her trapped forever.”

“Cut off from mother, she must have reverted to her vessels old soul.” King muttered under her breath as she tried to make sense of everything. “Being in there must have been so confusing, it would have driven most to madness.”

“It did, for a time.” The mare nodded to him as she sniffled. “She said it took her years to understand that she couldn’t kill her way out of the first story. Years more to realize that she was supposed to be a hero who prized justice over anything else. So she adapted, and honed her skills, focusing on resisting all forms of coercion to be the best hero she could be by completing the stories one by one. She knew she couldn’t go back to Unity, that she could make a difference in the wasteland if she ever got back to it. So she gave in and let herself become the character.”

“And then you let her out.” I offered, getting a sad nod from the mare.

“It took her awhile to adjust to the wastes again, but the fight between East and West city helped her find a center, a balance to her new life.” The mare reached out, offering her hoof to King with a hope filled smile. “I know that having lost Unity frightens you, but Increadimare would have wanted you to fight that fear. You are an individual again, free to help others, to do something and make something of yourself that’s more than what your body was created for.”

“I can’t be a hero.” King reached out her hoof and carefully nudged the mare’s offer aside. “I’m sorry, I just… I can’t.”

“You don’t have to have a flashy name, or wear a cape to be a hero.” She smiled and nodded to me. “Like your friend here, you just have to want to do what’s right.”

“But I don’t even know who I am!” King’s hooves shot out of her robes and squeezed down around her head as she cried. “How can I know what’s right? What do I do if I chose something wrong?” Her horn began to glow brighter as her sobs grew louder. “I don’t want to hurt anypony, and if I fail, that’s exactly what will happen. It’s what happened last time!” She grit her sharp teeth together and opened her eyes, revealing that like before, they glowed green with the magic of her horn. “I won’t fail them again. I can’t…” Her voice deepened and warped, shifting to somepony else's. “Pin, I’m sorry!” It was the voice of an older stallion, clear as day, but filled with more raw emotion than I could process. “I... couldn’t save you…”

With a sharp pop, King’s horn sputtered out. Sparks filled the air as her body collapsed, and she hit the rubble with a pained moan.

What the hell just happened?

“I… I remember.” King groaned as she tried to pick herself up. Both the hero mare and I stepped to her sides, helping her up as best we could. Though, it was more hero mare’s magic doing the heavy lifting, as a three legged pegasus was a poor post to lean on. “I was a stallion, a leader of some sort.” She blinked as tears continued to stream down her quivering muzzle. “I had friends, a… a wife. All were taken by the goddess.”

“So you’re a dude?” Happy blurt without an ounce of tact to his words. It pulled a glare from me that he did his best to pretend he didn’t see, but from the way he stiffened up, he knew. “Do you remember anything else?”

“No.” King shook her head. Er, is it his head now? Ugh, why did today have to be the day I was forced to question everyone’s gender!? Jynx popped up behind King’s form and gave an eager wave. “But,” King groaned as he brought his hoof up his smoking and blackened horn. “I think I’ll need to reflect on this further.”

“That’s a good idea.” The hero mare nodded and gave King a soft pat. “Since alicorns don’t need all that much sleep, Increadimare would often meditate on the previous day to help her focus herself for the next.” With a shudder, the hero mare’s body gave a twitch that ran down into her tail, and she turned her attention towards the sheet metal slums on the outskirts of the city. “But as nice as it’s been, duty calls.” She turned to me once more and held her hoof out again. I took it, making sure to grasp and shake it firmly this time with a smile. “It was nice meeting you all, and it’s nice knowing that there are more heroes out there doing work other than just me and… well, just me now.”

“As you said, being a hero is more than just a name and a cape.” I nodded to her as her horn began to glow. “You’ve got a whole city of them around here, they just need the right pony to show them the way.”

With a smile and flash of her horn’s magic, the hero mare was gone. As the three of us picked ourselves up, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Of all the things I’d seen in the wasteland I could have run into, never once did I think I’d meet an Alicorn and her understudy who devoted themselves to being superheroes.

The wastes certainly were a strange, and now, hope filled place.

“You know,” Happy offered through his own smile as he looked off toward the sheet metal slums. “I never did catch that mare’s name.”

“She’s a hero, Happy.” I offered as I too looked with him. “I’m sure that if our reputation has made it this far south, it won’t be long before the ponies of Vanhoover and Seaddle are telling us stories about her own incredible deeds.”

Author's Notes:

As always, I need to give my thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in making sure to double check my work and keep things sorted with it. Seriously man, I can't thank you enough.

Of course, a big shout out and thanks to Kkat for getting this whole FoE thing going. The last six years of my life wouldn't have been nearly as good without it.