"Ugh... fer the love'a Gawd boss, no singin', tryin' ta feel better here, yer just makin' death look more attractive ya know..." Val groaned beside me and cut off my croaking accompaniment to Magnolia's sweet voice playing from my pip-buck, giving me a start waking like that.

"Hey, you're supposed to sing to make things better, I'm a pony alright... it kinda comes with the territory."

"Ya don't sound like one, freakin' hellhound with 'is nuts in a bear trap is more like it. Mags there singin' is plenty good enough, yer ruinin' it." The mummified griffon on the ratty bed beside me answered in a raspy, weak voice, but it was back to playful insults and jokes again, filling me with relief.

I turned up the volume in a concession to her point, Magnolia was as good at singing as I was bad, no reason to ruin the beautiful, soft melody filling the strange cottage we sheltered in. Jade's locator tag had left Eclipse and was heading right at us, just had to sit and wait awhile longer before she could heal Val, and most likely berate the both of us for reckless, homicidal behavior...

We had been here for just a few hours, mostly boring for me sitting next to a comatose griffon, but she woke occasionally like now, sounding better each time as the magical bandages and potions did what they could. I had taken the opportunity to read some of my new finds from both this spare home and from the Shrouded Stallion museum in Eclipse.

Applied Gemstones was technical and interesting enough, but mostly concerned with magical energy weapons, not really my forte but useful servicing Val's weaponry and Glitter's Righteous Authority. Some of the books on magic from this cottage were way beyond my skills, though a lot of grueling study over the weeks had greatly improved my arcane skills and i grasped some of it.

I had been holding off on the heavy, old books of mythology and fairy tales from Mr. Cane's home after flipping through it, though that was getting harder... A quick pass over the books revealed stories of the real Shroud, what Mr. Cane based his comics on. I was desperate to read them, but fairy tales were one of Glitter's favorite things, it would be more fun if we both heard the stories for the first time together.

So, despite how badly she needed rest, I was grateful Val woke up and was talking again. I couldn't exactly leave with her clutching me like a security blanket, I promised both her and Witchy I wouldn't go anywhere anyway. Weak, exhausted conversation was better than just sitting with my thoughts, they had a tendency to race uncomfortably lately when left on my own, too much had happened too fast.

In a hushed, pained whisper, Val finally felt up to addressing the dragon in the room though. "Er... g-guess you heard all that stuff... dickhead's taunts? Ya must have q-questions huh boss?"

"Not if you don't want me to. I didn't hear a thing. Just some dead asshole making annoying noises before you killed him."

Actually I had quite a few questions, Val never spoke much about her past, what her evil former comrade had taunted her with was the most I had ever really heard. None of it sounded good though, and none of it was my business unless Val told me, not some horrible... sadistic... evil...

Her tight squeeze broke me out of thinking about Gunter, he was dead, I couldn't kill him more, much as I wanted to... "T-Thanks boss... O-Ought'a say somethin' though, w-wasn't tryin' ta hide stuff or nothin' just... It hurts. It still hurts so bad..."

"Which is why I don't care Val, you say what you want, when you want, you don't owe me anything."

She smiled in return and shook her head with a wince, "Then I wanna... w-while we're alone an all... Y-You really remind me of him sometimes boss, skinny buck I had a thing for once... y-young love an all that jazz... when I was still a G-Gunner..."

"What was his name?" Val's mystery stallion sounded like a better topic than her former mercenary crew, so I tried prodding her towards safer shores.

"Surge, Power Surge... don't let the name fool ya though, big wuss... Stayed in the rear with the gear, no evil genius like you or nothin', but he was handy enough and good with numbers an' stuff. But he was a pony... k-kinda frowned on, fraternizin' an' what not..." She sounded better talking about the long ago buck, her voice warm and thick with memory, darkening a bit at the end.

"And I know how you are with rules... so you liked a pony, what's the big deal with that?"

"Eh.... well, gotta know more 'bout Gunners boss. Been around 200 plus years followin' the same rules, griffons are in charge, ponies follow orders. Not that there ain't high rankin' ponies too, but fer the most part that's how it's always been, griffons in command. Griffons what don't stick with the system an' have more little griffons fuck it all up, get it? They didn't care I liked playin' with him, everybody did that if they wanted, but I... I wanted more than that. Big Gunner in charge said fun is fun, but I was... hrrmmm.... 'A superior genetic sample' an said I had ta make more griffons whether I liked it or not... with him..."

"Oh..." I could sympathize with the idea of being forced to reproduce against your will in the interest of making more life to fill the wasteland, I wondered how she had been handling me and my own too similar situation, had I been hurting her too?

One watery violet eye looked up and she seemed to get my pause, chuckling to herself and sighing. "Them mares in their tower are funny boss, but s'not quite the same. They don't even mean nothin' by it really, too screwy to understand what they're askin' fer, and they definitely ain't tryin' to be cruel about it right?

They still let you say no an' they cain't piss ya off too bad, yer the only option. No, Graven could'a picked anybody he wanted, he did it ta send a message an' punish me, new to the job, real prick... He said I had to, I said I don't gotta do nothin', he insisted... f-forcefully... an' I made sure he couldn't do it again."

"Made sure how?"

Instead of really answering, her free claw came up and waggled in front of my face, flexing those sharp claws, tracing a line down my chest towards... Oh... the 'snip snip' motion she made with a pair of those gleaming claws was a little unnecessary, I got the idea... owwwwww....

She did at least give an almost normal Val laugh at me wincing and crossing my hindlegs with a shudder, holding her battered ribs and continuing after catching her breath. "Yeeeah... ya can imagine how well that went over... Tried ta escape after but... too late. Ol' ugly back in his little playhouse down the hill, he was put in charge of my punishment while they tried ta save the stupid bastard for him ta finish the job. Ya can probably imagine Gunter excelled at that kinda shit... Said if'n I didn't wanna be with the top Gunner, t-they'd just t-t-toss me ta all... all the...."

"I get it Val, you don't have to keep going. How'd you get away? Your friend?"

Sniffling against me, she collected herself and managed to finish up sadly. "Dead. Didn't bother torturin' him at least... fer me... well, how ya think I got so good at pickin' locks with my claws? Got out an' ran, as far as I could, from everything... So... umm... y-ya got anythin' ta say? F-Feel any different 'bout yer merc now that you know I..."

I hushed her with a hoof and thought a moment, "You're still my friend, my Val, same as always, doesn't change anything for me. Though I am surprised you could get over something like that and end up so... flirty and friendly, joking and laughing so much. If it was me... I don't think I could ever come back from that."

"One of tha reasons I owe ol' Nick Hearts n' Hooves boss, helped me come back when I didn't think I could neither. Synth with a 200 year old cop's brain in his head knows all about weird pasts and horrible shit. I act that way cause it's what I want, with who I want, when I want. N-Not lettin' them pricks take away the little bits of fun in this fucked up world from me, then they'd win. Might be an' act sometimes, but I choose, not them." There was steel in her voice, she had struggled with this to come out the other side the way she was and was proud of it.

I was grateful she had too, my friend and partner, my Val. I couldn't do anything about the past, but I was glad I had helped make a better future for her at least. I hugged her to my side and kissed the top of her head in thanks and nodded. "I'm just glad you're alive and who you are. Now get some more rest, Jade will be here soon, then we can get the hell out of here. I... I think maybe you should take Glitter home and stay away, y-you don't need to be back here again like this, it's too dangerous."

"No. Forget it boss, not goin' nowheres, you don't protect me, I protect you stupid, yer the boss." Her eyes blazed awake and one dark claw wound its way around my scarf, dragging me down to look at her with surprising strength for the injured griffon.

"But..."

We were face to face now, those violet eyes boring holes in my head. "Yer gonna kill em right? Wipe the fuckers out? I ain't leavin'... gots more scores ta settle yet."

"I... a-alright Val, you win. It was worth a try anyway. But you have to take it easy, you don't heal as easy as I do now."

She murmured sleepily and fell back to the bed with a sigh, snorting as she drifted off again. "Bah... gets yer own wings an' get a big head... still a runty little nerd, need proper protection... Who's tha bodyguard here dummy..."

"You are Val, best in the Commonwealth. Sleep."

I managed another 15 minutes or so before I couldn't take it anymore, Jade's mark was closing in, nothing had made a peep this whole time waiting, this may not be exactly 100% safe, but it was pretty close... I dug through Val's gear and found the glowing blue memory orb she had taken from me, Mr. Cane's memory...

I had mixed feelings about riding another pony's memories in general, but this was too great a temptation to resist forever. It basically came down to this or the mythology books. Glitter couldn't use a memory orb, unless we went back to Goodneighbor which wasn't happening anytime soon, so that clinched it. She would enjoy the books, the magically preserved memory was all for me.

I made sure to set it carefully on my lap, if Jade did come back before I returned, I wanted it clear I wasn't in some kind of coma or something, that I was just being selfishly obsessed instead. If it rolled away after I zonked out, who knows what she'd think, this way neither she nor Val would worry. Ok... here we go... I reached out with my magic and brushed the glowing sphere, the world swirling away back into the past.

A unicorn buck, that's the first thing I noticed on inhabiting long past events. I was riding a pony that was quite close to my old body, it was oddly... nostalgic. Surprising that I'd already immediately feel strange no longer feeling my new wings, I hoped that meant I was adapting anyway.

He felt young, no hitches in his hurried stride or aches anywhere, brimming with excitement and floating a flurry of papers around him, books, scrolls, sketch books... I was in Bobbing Cane! Whatever punishment Val or Jade had waiting was worth it. I was riding along with the stallion himself as he trotted down echoing stone hallways, dark marble floors ringing under his rapid hooves, ponies working in his peripheral vision at construction, a couple mares carefully taking down a tattered tapestry to restore it, the castle!

This was close to what Castle Equinox looked like when I went there for a field trip, in the process of reaching that state it looked like, and in an area our tour never went to, fairly high up from the glances Mr. Cane sent to the windows. The view was strange, this had to be back when my parents were just foals, the towering buildings of Trotson were nowhere near so high or crammed together, no Four Stars monorail line or elevated highways looped around it, everything looked so quaint and pure, an Equestria that had never known war.

Finally he reached an imposing door of dark wood and silver, pausing before it and ordering all the papers carefully in his magic, his hoof reached up to fix his mane and adjust his uncomfortable tie. He was dressed up, but didn't feel like he was used to it, and very nervous by his pulse beating away in his temples and the sweat on his brow.

Taking in a long, shaky breath together, we blew it out and I felt him stand up straight, whispering to himself quietly before knocking tentatively at the door. "Y-You can do this Bob... you can do this... just don't make a fool of yourself..."

"Enter." The rich voice that answered his knock made us both gulp, refined and regal, a voice of command and kindness, a voice ponies would die for willingly... When Mr. Cane swung the door open cautiously, the sight that waited made both of our hearts stop. Princess Luna... Princess Luna was right there...

"Please, come in Mr. Cane, a pleasure to meet thee. I do wish my castle was in better condition, they assure me it will be completely restored by my next visit however, perhaps you could come again then. Now then, I was intrigued by your petition, take a seat and regale me with your idea." The night princess waved graciously to a seat at the table before her, loaded with a beautiful tea set of silver and pearl, little stars and moons etched lovingly into each piece, the smell of heavenly tea and muffins drifting up to Mr. Cane's lesser senses.

"T-T-Thank you your highness! Honor! Er... it's an honor I mean! T-To be received by her highness during her limited time here! Umm... one second... I have it all together I promise, aha! H-Here! The design I mentioned, i-is this ok?" Mr. Cane stammered out with a young sounding voice, he couldn't be much older than me here, young and nervous in the face of a beautiful princess. I could sympathize.

Actually being in her presence... well, vicariously anyway... it was amazing. I was glad I was detached from my body at the moment, if I was getting all the input from that over eager bundle of hormones in the face of royalty, she was too gorgeous, I'd think such horrible thoughts about goddess Luna... it would be blasphemous.

It was almost impossible not to anyway, wearing a pale blue sundress and a floppy straw hat, enjoying the sea breeze drifting through the balcony, a bright, sunny day with only fluffy white clouds dotting the blue skies outside. She was on vacation here... a beachside retreat, just like the sign outside of Eclipse said.

That patient and amused musical giggle just made it harder to show proper respect for royalty, holding a hoof to her muzzle politely as Mr. Cane's papers flew about in a tornado, all order lost completely in his struggle to find his sketch book and open it to the right page. I caught a glimpse of a very early drawing of the Shrouded Stallion! Rough and inexperienced, lots of erase marks and sketchy lines, but it was unmistakable!

Princess Luna gently took it from his shaking magic and looked it over with interest, humming to herself and sipping her tea in thought. Her sparkling cyan eyes looked over the drawing carefully, a wistful look crossing her perfect face as she took it in. "You would make my servant a hero? A story for foals? Forgive me if I insult thine trade, but I am protective of my champion even now, would he not be.... lowered by being turned into a children's story?"

"Oh no Princess! N-Not at all! I-I'd treat him with the utmost respect I swear! F-Foal's stories are important too, maybe more important!" My ride's mouth yelped before he stuffed a hoof in it, worried he'd overstepped probably... That was a passionate outburst, he felt strongly enough about that to speak up to the Princess of Equestria herself!

"Oh? Elaborate please Mr. Cane, convince me." Princess Luna set her tea down and waited patiently, honestly curious and open to listening to her subject, even one that disagreed. Willing to hear his opinion and alter her view, just like a fair and just ruler should.

"Er... I-It's just... The Shroud's just a myth now right? But myths are important, they're morality lessons, fables with a point, how we pass on difficult ideas or lessons from the past to the young. C-Comics and stuff are like myths for modern times, I know you've been.... err... g-gone awhile, but it's how we reach kids now. The heroes they love and the lessons they learn, they're as important as ever, even more! I want to make the Shroud a hero, an example for colts and fillies of what's right and true, not to make a joke of him or anything! I swear!"

Princess Luna gave me... him... a warm look and tilted her head at the sketchbook again, tracing the lines lightly with her hoof. "I am a bit behind the times... He would look like this? You know my servant was... cast in my image so to speak. This is good too though I suppose, he was just my dream of... well, many things. I will consent Mr. Cane, if you can tell me his virtue."

"W-What? Umm.. virtue your highness? I'm not sure what..."

"His defining characteristic, the Elements of Harmony are merely the most important to ponykind, surely a stallion so well read knows there are many others. What is his?" The Princess folded her forelegs over one another primly and waited, her billowing mane sparkling in the light as she sat patiently.

Mr. Cane scratched his chin and kept darting his eyes around the open, round chamber, maybe one of the castle towers? Hard to tell as he looked everywhere for the answer without coming up with anything. Finally he gulped and wiped his brow, venturing a nervous guess. "I... That is very personal but... i-if I had to guess, what I thought... Justice. From everything I've read about how he... was... that pony's virtue was Justice."

Luna gave a beaming smile that sparkled like the night sky, enough to make any buck swoon as she clapped her hooves together happily and nodded. "Very good! That is what I created him to be, as a waking dream one may argue if he held a true virtue like a pony at all, but I made my servant to fight injustice. As Princess of the night and dreams, I have seen the deepest thoughts and fears of ponykind over the ages, for every nightmare I helped soothe, happy dream I visited, nonsense I tried to straighten out, there were always other dreams Mr. Cane.... bad dreams..."

Princess Luna lifted a dark blue and black tome from the empty seat beside her, a cruder, more stylized version of the Shroud's symbol etched in the ancient leather. She tapped a hoof on the cover and continued with a darkening expression, to a mesmerized audience of Mr. Cane and myself.

"After seeing the darkest fantasies and cruelty in the hearts of some of my subjects, I could not sit idly by. Some things Mr. Cane, cannot be forgiven... Punishment in the dream world is insufficient in some cases, it may be buried deep down, but even in the hearts of every happy little pony in this castle, there exists a darkness that could come out. My sister and I disagreed on this, but she has not seen those impulses, another area where we are night and day if you will. If such feelings were ever unleashed, I fear what would become of us! I made an avenger to punish the worst of the worst, to strike fear in the hearts of those who would indulge in... in the darkness we are all capable of..."

"Y-Yes Princess! I've done a lot of research, the things he did, I agree with every one I read, that's why I want to share the story! The world still needs a Shrouded Stallion in some form, he can still do what you made him for, even if he's... er..."

Those amazing blue eyes looked sad and drifted to the smooth stone floor, a soft sigh passing her lips. "Fallen... Yes, my poor defender, corrupted into a raging beast... If I cannot help him, I can at least allow his story to be told, in your own ...unique way. Very well Mr. Cane, create your comic, send it to me so I may see thine vision. If I find no issue with what you create, I would be happy to share this myth with a new generation of ponies, perhaps thou are right and he is still needed."

The young Mr. Cane leapt up in a flurry of papers, whooping like a foal and grinning from ear to ear, my view going up and down rapidly with his bobbing head. "Y-Yes your highness! Of course! Thank you so much, I won't disappoint you!"

When reality returned, I was looking right at sparkling blue eyes still and gasped in confusion, "L-Luna?"

Jade's exasperated snort helped me shake it off, a princess yes, but not Princess Luna, despite the similarities. "There you are! Playing with memory orbs, really! Do you know how dangerous it can be to meddle with such things Fast? You could not wait until we arrived?"

Her point was punctuated by a griffon claw reaching out to lightly smack me, still weak and lacking most of her normal impact, but a much better reaction from Val along with her snickers. "Told ya not ta play with them things boss, no fair stealin' it back from my stuff."

I blinked away the last threads of the memory and shrugged sheepishly, looking from Jade's glowing horn to Val looking better already, realizing Glitter was snuggled between us and tightly hugging Val, well past her bedtime but sleepily insisting on being with her favorite aunt. Witching Hour was watching from the door too and Zed paced the room, slightly distracted and sniffing the air, but smiling to the injured Val, they had all come then. I hoped Val noticed and got the idea, everyone was worried for her, not just me, she had a family that loved her.

"Umm... sorry, couldn't resist. Too bad you can't use magic Witchy, if you liked your photo of Mr. Cane, you'd lose your mind if you got a look in here."

I tapped the glowing blue ball in my hooves reverently, watching the batpony's eyes widen as it sunk in. "L-Luna?... That is a memory of Luna?!"

"Yup, up close and personal even. So, h-how's it look Jade? Is Val gonna be alright?"

Witchy just jabbered to herself senselessly, so I didn't feel bad about moving on to Jade. She looked upset and tired, but nodded in grudging satisfaction. "Barely, you owe our new thestral friend a debt Valkyrie, had she not stabilized you as she did... I shudder to think what I may have come back to, Fast is good at many things, but healing is not one of them as you well know. You must stay put and rest, allow me to work and we will see about leaving in the morning."

"Bah! I feels fine! This ain't nothin', no reason to piddle around when we could be...." Val tried pushing herself up with a wince, suddenly freezing and flopping back to the bed at the brightened glow from Jade's horn, her anesthetic spell knocking her right out.

I gaped at the blue alicorn a moment, watching her huff and stick her nose up at the rest of us staring her way. "Valkyrie is more stubborn than you are about such things. I will have no arguments, she came far too close to dying, she can be upset in the morning."

"R-Right Jade, whatever you say, you're the doctor. It alright if I get up or am I gonna get knocked out too?"

"Unlike her you seem well enough, though I imagine you have been taking advantage of your new nature to be in such a state? How badly did you recklessly injure yourself Fast?" I shrank under that cool blue stare, just because she didn't have evidence to point to now didn't mean she didn't know me well enough to tell.

"Er...n-not bad... A little maybe, s-scratch here and there..."

Everything else about me seemed to have changed overnight, but I still couldn't lie to her... she gave a disappointed snort and rolled her eyes, shooing me up to let her keep healing Val and grumbling playfully. "Yes, a scratch or two... Impressive considering how many times I heard you had been tossed about by cruel traps and explosions hmm?"

"H-Heh... y-yeah... fit as a fiddle though!" I winced and glared at Witchy hiding by the door, she didn't have to give her the unedited version of what happened on their way back here.

"So I see and I am glad, but do not allow yourself to feel invulnerable getting used to your new body, you can most assuredly still die and I will not have it. Do not wander far, I wish to speak with you in more detail when I am sure of Valkyrie's recovery."

I scooted out gratefully, leaving the brilliant physician to her work and happy to stretch out after sitting still so long. There were things I wanted to talk to her about too, though what Val had told me of her past was private, I did hope to get the two of them to talk about it. Sharing is caring after all, she could share with Jade and the blue beauty was better than me talking about stuff like that, a wound of the heart was still a wound and Jade was the best healer I knew. For now I was still muddling through my thoughts concerning Eclipse, Dreadnot, the Railroad and the hornet's nest we had kicked with the Gunners.

My new stalwart batpony companion followed me right out of the cottage, she left because I begged, but could now return to her mission of following me everywhere until I went to her home. She did worriedly apologize on our way out, eyeing Zed wandering the arrow straight road of ruined homes with only a little distrust now. "S-Sorry, she asked what happened, needed to know what to expect... Your mare is a good match for you Fast, both of you are very kind, but scary when you are upset..."

That got a good laugh to her confusion and I nodded my agreement, stretching my wings to clumsily flap up to the roof of the cottage and look out at the view from the hill Fair Lines Estates was situated on, getting an excellent panorama of the southern Commonwealth. We were on the outskirts of Trotson now, I could make out the ruined city, the loop of the widest river around the core of the crumbling metropolis, the still standing sections of elevated road and railways that looked like a jagged maw of broken teeth trying to swallow the ruins.

Under the light of Luna's moon, even the wasteland looked pretty sometimes. I was glad the skies were open now, unlike before the Lightbringer brought the sun and moon back. A brutal, poisoned, deadly world would be so much worse under a never ending blanket of oppressive clouds. The waning moon sparkled from the calm waters saturating this part of the Commonwealth, eventually joining the Hayseed Swamps to the south, beyond the barrier that kept the Commonwealth closed off for the most part.

To the north and not very far at all was the needle spire of the Trotson S.P.P. tower, one out of the control of the Lightbringer herself even now. The Commonwealth was never lacking in mysteries, but that one was so big it was easy to forget. Somepony was intentionally keeping this part of Equestria sealed off, not even the incredible megaspell Jade told me about, the Gardens of Equestra, was able to penetrate it.

The more I thought on it, the odder it seemed, the Institute was plenty advanced enough to do such a thing, but why? From what I had learned about them, why would they content themselves to their private laboratory here in the Commonwealth when all of Equestria was out there?

I still didn't know enough, had barely scratched the surface and ended up mutated and nearly killed several times for just that much. Now I was sitting here contemplating war, not the one that killed the world I was born in, but starting a whole new one like I hadn't learned a thing from the past. The Gunners were evil though, Gunter was just the worst example I had seen, but what they were doing down here where their power was strongest... They wouldn't be satisfied with just this chunk of the Commonwealth either, they had to be stopped just like the Institute.

I needed help, the Minutemares had been making great strides and hoped to take Castle Equinox to continue their good works, but it wasn't enough. Having a real fortress to work from would be a good start at least, but it all came back to the same thing in the end. Friends, friendship was supposed to be some of the strongest magic in Equestria, the Institute wanted everyone separated and fighting each other, I wanted the opposite to fight them. Meaning it was only up to a complete social misfit to try to make everypony friends...

Maybe not my strong suit, but I actually knew somepony to talk to that fit the bill and I needed to get ahold of them anyway. If the bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony didn't know about friendship, nopony did. Miss Homage and her boss DJPon3 in Manehatten even knew the Lightbringer herself, maybe friends of such a great heroine would know just what I should do to live up to her example.

Turning to my companion silently watching me think, I sighed and figured I had to keep moving forward no matter what else. "Witchy, what do you know about that thing? The S.P.P. tower? I need to make a call..."

A few hours later, we were making our approach to the huge spire of the Single Pegasus Project tower on the banks of the river surrounding Trotson. Witchy insisted on coming along of course, but flew ahead of us, giving Jade and I time to talk on the way and only piping up to point out places of interest or answer questions about this part of the Commonwealth.

Other than enjoying each others company and the chance for a moonlit flight together despite our thestral chaperone, Jade filled me in on how things had gone back in Eclipse. She said they were fairly upset and unsure, some arguing for continuing to go along with the Gunners, others pointing out they couldn't trust any deal with the mercenaries.

I was also informed with a cute little huff that I now had quite the fan following, thanks to the rescued Mint Twist spreading stories of her 'dashing, brave, heroic, dreamy rescuer' the annoyed falsetto she put on to mimic the filly was pretty funny actually. Hopefully that would help deal with the town when we returned if nothing else, I tried my best to draw any suspicion away from the poor village, but fighting was going to happen in their neck of the woods one way or the other...

On that front Preston had already sent his pegasus recruit out to get more help from the Minutemares and supplies, some of the haul from the M.O.M. hub was going to come in handy already by the sound of things. Reinforcements would help a lot too, without convenient large structures to drop on big groups of enemies, dealing with numbers was a little too difficult to rely on the luck we had at the Skybridge.

It was a start, I hoped to have a better idea what to do once we got the S.P.P. tower out of the way. At the very least, finding a way to keep news of my transformation from spreading beyond the Commonwealth would be a load off my mind and let me think without it hanging over my head.

With Witchy as our guide we were making good time to the prewar marvel, leaving Val to rest with Glitter and Zed to watch over her. What she needed most was rest to let Jade's magic work, the opportunity to talk to the Followers back in Manehatten was enough to grudgingly get her to leave her patient for a short trip.

Witchy said nopony ever bothered with the pale spire stretching up to the heavens, it was practically invulnerable to any kind of damage and didn't really have much of interest, just a rusting shack at the bottom leading to the Ministry of Arcane Sciences Emergency Broadcast System.

We landed together outside the ramshackle structure and took in the view for a moment, a large, undeveloped hill just on the other side of the river from the city. The Ministry of Awesome must have gotten a sizable chunk of land to build this thing on, between that and the towering structure itself, the shack looked tiny and unimportant, only the peeling paint on the door proof it was what I wanted.

Number zero? Huh... well, the Commonwealth had been a place for experimental technology and ideas before the end, not everything the Institute had a hoof in was automatically insane or deadly, maybe they helped come up with the Equestria wide emergency broadcast network? It didn't seem like much, but the steel door inside the rough shack was in much better shape and secured by a glowing terminal.

It was a pretty secure lock actually, taking several aborted attempts before I got through it. The musty stairs leading down beyond the barrier seemed to curl in to the depths of the hill it had been built on, eventually leading out to a cramped equipment room still glowing with active lights and screens.

The camera feeds... they really did work up there, just glancing between the flickering displays I could see all over the Commonwealth, there was Diamond City, Goodneighbor, Hexington, even Sanctuary! Wow... they had been busy while we had been away, sturdier looking housing had been built up against the coming winter, caravans camped near the gated wooden bridge, lights twinkled against the night all over the island and specks still moved about even this late.

I felt a pang of homesickness and shook it off, I could fly now, we could go home eventually... it wouldn't take nearly so long to get back as it had to get here. For now I found the main access terminal and patched my pip-buck in, getting to work finding out what was wrong with this part of the broadcasting system.

Weird... It was getting data from the rest of the M.A.S.E.B.S. system, somepony had intentionally cut it off from transmitting though. Able to look out, but nopony could look in... There was a lot of signal interference too, the barrier itself? A very strong signal in a circle matching the barrier that kept the rest of Equestria separate, it wasn't really trying to block signals from outside, but that was the side effect of whatever else it was doing.

Alright, strange but I couldn't do anything about the weird invisible fence out there. I could fiddle with the settings on the system here though, cycling through frequency ranges until I found something that wasn't too close to the barrier signal. When I accepted my latest adjustment, my pip-buck flashed; M.A.S.E.B.S. Signal Detected and the small room filled with music and Jade gasped happily at the voice of DJ Pon3 melting from the speakers like hot chocolate.

"Helloooooo out there children! This is your faithful DJ Pon3 bringing a little Velvet Remedy to all you heroes fighting the good fight! Along with the news that's fit to print, or relate to you myself since newspapers still aren't really a thing anymore huh? Although... give Velvet and her Followers enough time, and there will be again I'm willing to bet!

Where to start, where to start, so many heroes out there trying their best to do better, turn this sad ol' world around and follow the example of my personal favorite wasteland heroine! My lovely assistant assures me the Lightbringer's proud of all of you, from Dise to Las Pegasus, the New Canterlot Republic to the Lunar Commonwealth... Commonwea...

Oh ho! What a surprise, seems like our audience just increased while I was so proudly looking it over! Sorry children, guess the news will have to wait a few songs while I try to dig up new news! A big hello out there to everypony listening from Trotson and the Commonwealth! For those who don't know after being cut off so long, this is DJ Pon3 and it's great to be heard by you all! How about a little Sweetie Belle to say hello while I try getting ahold of some friends in that neck of the woods!"

Music started playing again, but the really interesting thing was all the activity on the system. Miss Homage must be putting her own impressive tech skills to work, connecting to this long lost part of the M.A.S.E.B.S. network and getting a flood of data. Hearing her own bright voice speak up from the nearest terminal was a relief, for Jade too by the sigh she gave at hearing the bearer of the Element of Honesty.

Unlike last time we talked though, this time an image popped up on the terminal screen I was working at to go along with the disembodied voice. A very pretty young unicorn mare, light grey coat and short blue mane, a beaming smile and bright eyes that widened and blinked out at us, wait was she seeing us too?

"S-Sweet Celestia! It really is true!?! F-Fast right? And the Princess?! That is you two, isn't it?" Homage gasped while I facehoofed, I should have expected this really, the M.A.S.E.B.S. system was her bread and butter, she knew it far better than I did and had smoothly taken over, a nearby camera giving her an excellent view of my wings deciding to spring up at cockeyed angles from the surprise.

"Umm... H-Hi Miss Homage... Fixed your broadcast problem for you..."

At least she didn't start freaking out, instead laughing happily and nodding. "That you did! You are a good toaster repair-pony too after all! I do appreciate it, this is great! Nopony's been able to get a good look in the Commonwealth since the war, now I've got a full suite of new cameras to check out! Of course I say good look, Watcher tells me you already know we did see something...."

"Y-Yeah... guess you did, sorta why I'm calling. Er... Jade and Watcher both tell me you're a pony I can trust, so I guess I will. As you can see, stuff happened..."

That just got more laughter, though she turned to look at Jade watching beside me and waved with a grin. "Stuff huh? Thanks for the endorsement Princess! So spill already, how's a toaster repair-pony end up being one of only two male alicorns in all of Equestria? I know it wasn't killing joke that managed this, that crap is never that convenient. Inquiring minds wanna know you two!"

Jade tapped her hooves together nervously and answered in a rush, "T-That is what we are concerned about Miss Homage, w-what inquiring minds exactly? H-Has this spread?"

The pretty mare hundreds of miles away looked back and forth between us a few times, a sly smile curling her lips as her eyes grew lidded. "Oooohhhh, I see, well it's good to see you two getting along so well, aren't you adoooooorable! Feeling a little possessive princess? Ha! That's good! You're getting a better idea what it's like for the rest of us now, whole new world of problems and fun huh? It always warms my heart seeing the progress you gals are making towards being ponies like the rest of us again."

Both of us turning matching shades of red just made the far away mare roll laughter, nearly tipping out of her chair and struggling to get her breath before she managed to continue. "Calm down, calm down, just having a little fun! Seriously though, if you're concerned about your sisters out here... Well Velvet has been in a tizzy, wants to mount a full blown expedition to the Commonwealth now, find out what's really going on and if it's a way to help all of you mares. Hasn't let it spread much, not wanting to get their hopes up and all."

The conflicting expressions warring on her face only made Jade prettier in my eyes, relief, happiness, a kind of awed joy at the mention of her role model and a touch of fright on the idea of her coming here, ending with quiet contemplation as she let it sink in before speaking again. "T-That is good then, I hoped Miss Remedy would not want to start a panic among my sisters by speaking hastily, though I knew she would wish to investigate a chance to help us, I would expect no less from the Pony Who Helps.

It is a long story, but we will tell it, regardless how it affects us personally, it is important. Though I hope to dissuade Miss Remedy from trying to come here herself, it is far too dangerous a crossing for her to attempt. The Commonwealth tries to keep outsiders away under intelligent guidance as well, Velvet Remedy is far too famous and valuable to reach us without resistance."

Homage looked a little dubious, but shrugged and nodded in agreement. "Calamity's trying his best to convince her not to go charging right in anyway, but it's a good thing you got ahold of me. I gotta tell her something, not big on lying to my friends either so keep that in mind you two. As for the rest, lots of hoof wringing and arguing, most of the big powers out here got other fish to fry, but if this is a big enough threat they'll put that aside and come knocking. So tell me, is it? I can keep a secret if it's important, but I have to know the truth first."

"A threat? Uhhh... I-I'm not!" By her smile and waving hoof, Homage knew that much at least, gesturing for me to go on after the initial denial. "Oh, you mean... I should be honest right, you being... you and all... I guess it might be, the Institute found a way to make the I.M.P. work, from what I heard and what Jade's explained to me though, it's really damn tricky. I felt like I was going to die a lot, and the mare who made it said I was like a perfect test subject. But yeah, if they did it once, it's possible they could again."

To her credit, Homage took it well, peering closely at her own monitor again just to get an extra good look at my wings before nodding and gesturing for us to continue. So with a lot of backfilling and sharing the thread of the story between us, Jade and I told her the whole thing. From when I was taken to where we were now, answering her intelligent, probing questions when they came up as best we could and ignoring the surprised squeaks from Witchy hanging from the wires running on the ceiling.

We told her about the compatibility potion and what it could mean for the alicorns across Equestria, explaining I could transmit all the data on it I stole to go right to the Followers, along with the fact we still had a couple more big vials of the stuff to find their way there somehow. Between that and all the other information I took from Moondancer's computers, Homage seemed to think that may keep the founder of the Followers busy and satisfied for awhile.

She even had an idea for retrieving the samples we had for them, surprising me by saying she may have to call in a favor with Ditzy Doo. After explaining the actual Ditzy Doo of the prewar Delivery service of the same name was still around, I still had my doubts, but as far as Homage knew Ditzy was the one pony who could reliably go to the Commonwealth and come back again. The ghoul pegasus had apparently made the trip many times over the ages without incident.

That was a little strange by itself, but if she really could get here and back, that solved one problem anyway. After a little back and forth with the clever mare in charge of the M.A.S.E.B.S. network, we had improved my rough workaround and boosted the ability to communicate with the outside world by leaps and bounds. It had to be bottle-necked a bit using the network relay here, but signals could now get out through it with Homage acting as a kind of gatekeeper, and DJ Pon3 could transmit into the Commonwealth as he pleased.

The practical upshot for most of the ponies living here was a new radio station was suddenly available, I supposed I had given Miles a bit of competition. I felt a little bad about that, but was cheered when I shared the thought and was set straight. As soon as DJ Pon3's station appeared on the dial, Miles was frantically working with his own equipment and trying to get her attention, speaking back and forth during the occasional pause in our own chat.

She sounded quite interested in talking to the DJ pegasus in Diamond City at length when we were done, and from what she said he was a big fan of hers already. Rather than competing they were already acting as comrades in arms, fellow DJs in a world where that was a very rare profession. Plans were being laid for sharing news and music between each other, Homage had already squealed in delight at one of Magnolia's recordings being played, it sounded like they'd be fast friends.

As much as I liked listening to Miles on the radio, Homage told me she and DJ Pon3 could offer some support our local DJ couldn't quite match. She had access to all the video cameras up on the S.P.P. tower above Trotson now, she could see all over and tell what was going on. She said she'd need time to get the lay of the land with Miles' help, then sort through all the information she had available, but it was invaluable assistance when considering going against the Gunners and the vast swaths of territory they controlled here in the south, let alone the Institute.

Of course it was mostly bound to be one way communication, without somewhere with the kind of equipment Miles had to run Diamond City Radio, we couldn't exactly talk back and forth like this. Still it opened up a lot of possibilities, making my thoughts about the Gunners a little less daunting.

Finally we were through what we could do for now, that bought some time as Homage said she'd do what she could to downplay things for now. The Brotherhood of Friendship was already here and they were meant to be Equestria's response to the Institute, their mission hadn't really changed because of me. I'd have to go see the Brotherhood myself soon, but for now things were mostly smoothed over.

I thought Jade may have a heart attack or swoon at the mention of Homage's certainty that Velvet Remedy herself would to want to communicate with her disciple directly at the next opportunity. Disolving into happy, panicked jabbering at the thought of the founder of her order wishing to speak her. Like the mention of sending the famous Ditzy Doo here, it was sort of up in the air schedule wise, but Homage promised to let us know when the leader of the Followers of the Apocalypse was in Manehatten next, something she expected sooner rather than later after our news and the information we had sent.

We made our goodbyes for now, leaving Homage and Miles to get acquainted and open up the lines of communication. I made sure to relock the steel door before leaving, no reason to just leave this place open to anypony who happened along. So long as it remained ignored and abandoned, we could always make our way back here to communicate directly with the outside world again if we needed to.

By Homage's kind talk, that would probably come up again before long. I may not be a threat really, but anypony with a working version of the I.M.P. was. She promised to pull strings and keep it a secret among ponies she knew and trusted, even mentioning trying to talk to the Lightbringer herself, but it wasn't something she could just bury and ignore either.

As we flew off to return to the others and get a few hours rest before daylight, my pip-buck gave a fanfare in my ear and text in front of my eyes, putting two more missions to rest to make room for more I was sure;

Mission Completed!: Can you hear me now?

Objectives--
--Reach the Commonwealth M.A.S.E.B.S. tower
--Speak with Homage
--Apply the bypass

Mission Completed!: Ponykind-Redefined

Objectives--
--Find Biosciences I.M.P. research data
--Transmit data to Equestria

We had only been gone an hour or two, still worried about leaving Val alone even if there was little to be done at the moment for her other than letting her rest. On returning to the spartan cottage at the end of the straight road of Fair Lines Estates, we found the fiery griffon had refused even that much. I had given the place a through search while Val had been asleep after we got there, or so I thought anyway. While we were gone Val had broken free of the anesthetic spell sedating her and had torn the place to shreds ransacking it much more professionally than I had.

The three of us stared from the door at the chaos in the small home, Jade's expression darkening and her horn glowing, preparing to knock her out again when our return was noticed. Glitter charged ahead of the injured griffon limping along behind her, close enough to sunrise for her to have woken completely with little prodding from Val.

"Mom, Dad! Ya won't believe it! Come see what we found!" The little filly squealed and launched herself at Jade, cutting off the spell building up to force Val back to sleep as she hobbled up to join us.

There was an odd, grinding noise from the bedroom where she should be sleeping and Zed came out to meet us as well. "Ah, good, you're back. Your daughter is correct, you should see this..."

Alright, now they had my interest. Val disobeying doctor's orders and tossing the place for loot and Glitter's glee weren't that surprising, but even Zed sounded mildly excited. Jade had no such curiosity though, only her patient mattered to her and she stamped a hoof glaring at her. "I am sure it could have waited until morning! I should have known to use more magic to knock you out, of course you would shake it off early Valkyrie. You must return to bed immediately and..."

"Yeah, yeah, I will in a minute! C'mon Blue, I feel loads better already and you three ran off, give a gal a break, I gots bored. Boss is gonna love this though, trust me!" Before Jade could object further or magic her asleep again, Val grabbed my coat and started dragging me after her towards the bedroom, continuing over Jade's grumbles. "So, woke up from that little nap against my will, and felt like stretchin' my legs a bit, get a drink and go over this place proper with the kid. Opened the safe and desk for ya, you'll wanna take a look there, but the real prize was still hidden till I started lookin' fer a new teachin' aide fer tomorrow!"

"Teaching aide?"

Glitter bounded in behind us excitedly and rushed to the corner beside an odd staff propped there I had ignored. "This thing dad! Auntie Val said to find somethin' to whack you with!"

"Ah..." I sighed and rolled my eyes to my personal flight instructor, grinning and scratching her plumage, her tail flicking back and forth happily. Glaring at the weird, twisted stick tucked behind the open door to the rest of the cottage. Long as a pony, twisted in the middle and split into two at the end, a funny walking stick or something, but not anything really interesting or worth taking.

Val didn't look bothered at all by my flat stare, smiling and winking at me. "Yeah, lil' heavy right now, but gots good reach and that split end oughta give a nice incentive ta keep yer ass up in tha air. Anyhoo, that's not the cool part, this is. Go on kiddo!"

At that Glitter yelped with joy and jumped up, grabbing the long stick near the middle and pulling with her forelegs. It didn't move from the corner though... the odd dual top swung forward in her grip, but the bottom stayed right where it was as the whole thing tilted forward with a click. A lever?

My ears flicked as I heard the sound of heavy gears grinding beneath my hooves, a slight tremor ran through the wooden floors and suddenly the bed Val had been resting on tilted up. The foot of the bed rising to the ceiling and taking the section of floor under it along for the ride, revealing a dark passage beneath leading down into the earth, musty stone steps disappearing in the dark.

"Ta-da!" Glitter took a bow by the disguised lever and beamed at her discovery, a secret passage... Fair Lines Estates went from being a little strange to a full blown mystery with a tug on a dusty old stick.

Jade, Witchy and I all gaped at the surprise, letting Zed walk towards the opening and wave towards it absently. "It goes down quite far, the cavern below is mostly empty now, but you should take a look, if I am not wrong I believe you will be quite interested."

Secret passages... who loved secret passages that I'd be really interested in? "The Institute? Here?"

Our three treasure hunters nodded together, suddenly this place reminded me of nothing so much as Moondancer's cottage. The intense surge of curiosity at finding a clue about the shadowy group only slightly dimmed by remembering what happened there. "How long ago did you open this? If there's security like before... w-we probably need to get going now, er... a-after I take a good look..."

"Not long dad! Zed said the same thing, so only he went down an' we figured on havin' to leave when ya got back, we got that figured out too! Pretty smart huh? I did a good job, right?" Glitter puffed her chest up with pride, at least it no longer sounded like she tried to do things like this to prove her worth like when we first took her in. Now she sounded like she was trying to prove herself a capable and independent filly, seeking approval but no longer trying to justify her presence.

Jade gave a nervous huff and was hurriedly prodding Val with her magic, pouring more healing on at the realization leaving sooner rather than later was for the best. "Yes dear, you were very clever. I do wish you had waited however, both injured griffons and growing fillies need their rest. Help me tend to Valkyrie and gather our belongings to leave, the last thing we need is to deal with an attack by the Institute. Fast, I would hurry in your exploration so we may escape quickly."

I ruffled the foal's mane on my rushed way, giving her the praise she deserved to a pleased whinny. "Right! Great work sweetie, help your mom so we can get going, I'll be right back."

Rushing down the damp stone steps into the dark, I heard Zed and Witchy both follow. Even if the place was empty as the zebra said, I wanted to see, in a rush to find any clue, dreaming of a working relay to the Institute hiding down there in the dark, but hoping for any scrap of information. The damp, echoing cavern at the bottom of the stone stairs was definitely not a finished basement or anything so mundane, this was a secret lair...

The place had indeed been cleared mostly, a cave deep beneath the hill Fair Lines was built on, black tunnels stretching out into the distance away from the more refined space at the base of the stairs. A natural cave system that had been taken advantage of, rather than a ponymade bunker. There were strange spell circles carved in the floors and walls, geometric shapes and runes scrawled on every surface, a bit like what I had read about megaspell chambers, but rough and bizarre.

Huge chunks of crystal were laying about, not natural formations but items brought down here and left behind, too big to bother transporting. Of most interest to me on first glance were the workbenches with a few leftover gems and rusty arcano-tech tools, littered with papers left behind that I ran over to examine. Smudged diagrams for pretty bizarre spell talisman arrays, drafts of complex spells and roughly scribbled notes, and a crumpled blueprint for a sky carriage almost hidden under the workbench that just flummoxed me.

Sleek and aerodynamic like a vertibuck, but not much bigger than a carriage and loaded with so much seemingly insane tech it made no sense. Why would anypony put a reactor that big on the back?! Cooling vents too? What kind of stress could you put on the power system to require emergency venting on that scale? Lightning and temporal talismans festooned in networked housings at regular intervals? An close up diagram of a strange Y shaped capacitor at the heart of the weird vehicle. And there in the corner was the mark of the Institute, above a box of text and numbers filled in with sloppy block letters, while elegant script penned by hoof festooned the tossed aside plans in various insulting annotations;

"Overly complicated nonsense as usual from Theoretical Imagineering Mobius, quit trying to dumb down highly advanced magic so just anypony can use it. Would appreciate some actual help with the paradox buffers and targeting system for the spell matrix itself, not flights of fancy. ---Gleam"

Taking another look around the cavern, a cold wind howled down the dark tunnels, the creepy 'Woooooeeeeeeooooooooo' noise made my mane and tail both stand up on end, I was in a mad arcane scientist's lab... This was something straight out of the Shrouded Stallion comics, it was just too ludicrous... It really was a mad scientist's lab... The secret chambers of the head of the Arcane Research division of the Institute, and I had been literally sitting right on top of it for a few hours...

A really weird mystery I was in a rush to explore, before an army of synths or mutant alicorns came down on our heads like last time. Not much was left either, scraps of paper and trash, a shipping slip I checked read simply; Lot #201 - Destination: Spectacular Island. Dr. Gleam had pulled out of here in a hurry, taken everything to better facilities most likely. Moondancer's journal entries said Dr. Gleam was one of the Division Heads who had major labs excavated and hidden first. I didn't know where Spectacular Island was, but that sounded like an excellent place to start.

My companions in the dark both added their own helpful input too, Zed had explored a bit while being wary of any traps or alarms, saying the natural cave had seen dark magic and still bore the residue of such. Witchy made that high pitched whine of hers in several directions, holding a hoof up for quiet as she listened to the echo before nodding, informing us the cavern system stretched for quite a ways in multiple directions, but seemed untouched and unmodified, unlike this chamber.

As much as I wanted to keep looking, hoping to find more somehow, I had to be satisfied with this much. I knew where this place was and could come back later, we had an injured griffon to take care of and couldn't afford to be caught here. Turning my back on the secret lair was still hard though, running back out and resetting the disguised lever to close the passage again.

As an added precaution I found where it attached to the mechanism at the bottom and unscrewed the whole thing, taking the odd staff with us. Nopony was going to luck into opening that room like Glitter had, if they didn't know where it was, only a small gap in the floorboards was there to show anything amiss.

We ran out to find Jade, Glitter and Val outside, my princess forcing Val into a battered old cart they had apparently found while we were gone speaking with Homage. No sky carriage or anything, just a rough, broken down wooden cart for hauling, the wheels squeaked and the wood groaned under the heavy griffon and all her gear in the back, grinning and waving to the empty harness at the front.

"Pretty cool huh boss! Knew you'd love that, now c'mon, let's get goin'. Time fer today's trainin' baby bird!" Val whooped from her ride and rubbed her claws together, training... oh joy...

The flight back to Eclipse was thankfully quiet, it was taking all my concentration to deal with Val's flight training already, I really hoped we could avoid any attack in the air on the way. Hauling the battered wooden cart holding the griffon and Glitter was already too much to deal with, if some Gunner griffon came streaking up to blast us out of the sky, we were kinda screwed...

"Lift ya big baby! Faster! Ain't no fancy vertibuck or skycarriage, if'n ya don't go fast enough, yer gonna dump me an' the kid! Fly boss! C'mon! I'm lettin' ya cheat with yer magic right?" Val heckled me from her reclined position, grabbing the sides in her claws every once in awhile to shake the whole conveyance and screw with me more.

"Somehow I think letting me use my magic is less about being nice, and more about giving you a smoother ride Val..."

Laughter just floated up from behind me, of course I would be using my magic regardless, Val was still hurt and didn't need to be tossed around by an amateur pilot, her reply just confirmed my suspicions though. "Meh, little of column A, little of column B boss! Don't hafta think about that stuff myself, but Blue says I gotta mix things up a little since you can. Figure usin' magic an' flyin's like walkin' and chewin' gum at the same time right? Just hafta make yer trainin' harder!"

Harder training... yes, that's just what I needed. The batpony on my tail gave an infectious yawn at the sun rising ahead of us over the Celestial Sea, the looming black mass of Castle Equinox ahead giving a bit of shade from the glare. "W-Whaaaaaaat now? Will you come to Dreadnot now Fast? Er... after a bit of a nap?"

"Not yet, sorry Witchy... Going to have to start somewhere though, we need somewhere better to hide out that won't put the villagers in danger, a place for the Minutemares to gather and get ready for what's coming. We're taking that castle." I panted back, picking out specks moving around Eclipse village at our approach, quite a bit of blue and tan mixed in now, Preston's reinforcements were trickling in already...

Jade spoke up over the thestral's annoyed huff, staying right at my wing in case I dropped my precious cargo. "Do you think we will be able to do so? The villagers were quite insistent in their warnings against going there, beyond the Miretank infestation they view the castle with an almost religious dread Fast. We do need somewhere safe for Valkyrie to recuperate, but I do not wish for her to get hurt again trying to take it."

"If'n Preston did what I told 'im and got my loot from Goodneighbor, ain't nothin' ta worry 'bout Blue! Bunch'a ugly turtles ain't keepin' us out, always wanted my own castle! Since yer the Head Princess in Charge an all, guess I'll settle fer Duchess of Death! Kid can be Princess o' Cuteness, stripey there can be.... hmmm Baron Badass! Even gots yer own batty royal guard now too!"

"I am a servant of Goddess Luna, her royal guard, not just whatever royalty is convenient... Don't make such jokes when we do finally return to my home, the others would not appreciate it at all. Serving a princess is no joke to us." Witchy grumbled and yawned again, squinting against the bright sun brightening the day around us.

Blinking sleepily and matching the yawn despite myself, I kept straining against the cart and shrugged to her. "Jade's a princess worth serving though Witchy, she does Luna proud I think, and the ponies in the Commonwealth need somepony like her to look up to. It's not a joke, don't worry we'll get there soon enough and behave. Sorry it'll take time, but we will get there, for now we could all use some..."

"FAST!" A bright yell cut me off and suddenly there was a large, blue obstacle right in my bleary eyed path forward, startling me into trying to skid to a halt like I was just running along the ground and instantly getting dragged down by the weight of the cart, no longer held up by our forward momentum or the field of my magic that imploded from the lapse in concentration.

We streaked straight down, Val laughing uproariously and holding Glitter tight as the filly squealed like she was on a roller coaster. In a panic my wings blurred flapping and pulling for everything I was worth, a surge of overglow surrounding my horn to make the plunging cart weightless again while I tried to pull out of the spinning dive to the hard ground below.

With a little help from Jade's own telekinesis I managed to right myself and come in for a bouncing, clattering 'landing' in the round plaza outside the village of Eclipse, digging my hooves in and getting shoved by the cart that wanted to keep going. Finally grinding to a halt, I collapsed to the cracked stone panting unsteadily, trying to get my heart out of my throat and back in my chest where it belonged,

Val was still snickering and shoved Glitter loose to solid ground. "Not a bad recovery boss! Gotta be ready fer surprises up there ya know! I'll give ya a C minus, fer today so far! Can't take too much off'a yer score for that, kinda unfair surprise just appearin' outta nowhere like that, what're ya thinkin' ya silly mare!"

What mare? What had I nearly ran into up... My exhausted thought process was short circuited by a large blue alicorn diving down ahead of Jade and the others and the movement from Eclipse coming out to meet us, the big blue filly charging over and nuzzling happily, oblivious to the near crash she had caused.

Sputtering under the attention and trapped by the straps still holding me to the wagon, I had to wait for Jade's forceful cough to call off my attacker, pulling away to stare at me with a pair of bright golden eyes, her long blonde mane spilling out from under the tan Minutemare's hat. "P-Peri?"

Jade's magic unhitched me so I could escape, skittering back to my princess and away from the alicorn Minutemare nodding eagerly, burbling in her soft, sedate voice that never seemed bothered. "Yes! Preston said you would be here, I am glad I got to be reinforcements. Now I can have my turn, isn't that nice..."

"F-Fantastic... Nice to see you again too Peri..."

As my family and the residents of Eclipse crowded around us at the start of another exciting day in the Commonwealth, I sighed at the odd blue mare. Suddenly storming a castle and starting a war with the Gunners didn't seem so fraught with peril, like I didn't have enough to deal with already, now...

Peri was always ephemeral and soft spoken, but anything but stupid. Those golden eyes held mine steadily and she cut off my internal complaints with two simple words that brooked no argument. "You promised..."

New Perk Added-----------------------

Daring Do Devotee-----
---You've learned to discover the wasteland's hidden secrets! Hanging around Val and your former scavver daughter has rubbed off a little. You now have higher odds to discover caps, ammo and secret treasures still hidden in the ruins of the old world, especially useful in finding secret passages!

Quest Perk Added!-------------------

Staff of Sameness---
---Who knows why this odd stick was used as the lever for Dr. Gleam's secret lab, but it has felt the touch of powerful magic in the past. Other than providing your flight instructor something new to whack you with, this twisted hunk of wood provides a bonus of +10 to the Magic skill!