I sat with my back against the wall, a cigarette between my lips and saddlebags lying on the ground. Every draw on the cancer stick was like a godsend as I watched the ponies around me run to and fro. After I spent what felt like hours just wailing against Sigur, my tears had finally dried up. I had no doubt there’d be more to come, but for the moment, I was too tired to cry anymore. And in the end, he was right. Crying was exactly what I needed there. Not cursing out my friends and letting my anguish get the best of me.

When I’d finally run out of tears, Sig took his leave, saying that there were things he had to attend to. With both Rampart and Zip dead, Fusillade incapacitated and delirious, and Thunder Dash back at the Bastion, he’d taken control of the situation as one of the few remaining veterans and was busy organizing the occupation of the dam. It also helped that all the griffons knew and respected him, and he could count on his siblings to do whatever he asked without question. He seemed to have a natural talent for it, at least. Maybe they’d give him a promotion when this was all done with. They certainly needed more officers after today.

I shut my eyes momentarily and took a deep breath. No, no more tears. I’d cried enough today.

I finished off the last of the cigarette before flicking it away from me and blowing a cloud of smoke through my nose. Digging through my bags, I pulled out a folded picture I’d almost forgotten about in the madness of the past few weeks. I simply stared at it, at me, Mom, and my dad, taken so many winters ago. When things were normal. When ponies were happy. The bright smile on Mom’s exhausted face after bringing me into this world reminded me that there was still hope for the planet. Even if so many of us spent our lives killing each other, there were many more who simply lived in peace, trying to scratch out a living with their families. How many families did I help save by bringing down the Crimson? I couldn’t say. But if it meant fewer daughters burying their mothers, then it was worth it.

And that’s why Zip fought. For something bigger than herself. Unlike me, who only fought because I needed other ponies to free my friends. Even if I’d known about the Crimson before they attacked Blackwash, I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t have raised a hoof to stop them. If it didn’t concern me, why should I become involved?

But Zip had shown me a better way, even if I didn’t realize it until that moment. She was willing to fight and die for the ponies of Auris, regardless of whether or not they knew it. She was willing to lay down her life to do the right thing. She was a better pony than me. But now I had an example, an inspiration to follow. And damn it, I’d make her proud.

I wiped away a few tears forming at the corners of my eyes and put the picture back in my bags. I knew what I had to do. I just hoped that Sig would understand.

But first… well, I owed two friends an apology.

I found Nova and Gauge sitting out in the open near the central tower. The two of them were side by side, coats brushing together, with a big plate of food in front of them. Gauge merely watched Nova bury her muzzle in the food, stroking her neck and massaging her between the wings while she made up for a few weeks of missed meals. Nova was too preoccupied with her meal to notice me approach, but Gauge’s eyes lifted as soon as I stepped into view.

“Ember,” he said. His voice was measured but strained. I honestly couldn’t blame him.

I didn’t say anything until I sat down in front of the two of them. Gauge’s expression was neutral, but Nova’s looked hurt. SCaR hovered above the two of them, its cameras fixed on me and whirring slightly. Sighing, I sniffled and hung my head so low that my nose touched the ground. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I was stupid and I… I-I’m sorry.”

I looked up at the two of them to see them struggling to respond. Sniffling some more, I shuddered and looked right at them, pleading. “I-I was hurting, okay?” I said, trying to will them to accept my apology. “I wasn’t thinking right. I could only think about… about her.” I shook my head and lost the strength to maintain eye contact. “You two are my best friends. I shouldn’t have said any of what I said. I just… I was just miserable. I wanted to be alone. I didn’t stop to think that maybe you just wanted to help me.” Tears began to fall, and I hung my head once more. “I’m sorry,” I whispered again. “I’m so, so sorry.”

They moved at the edges of my vision, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up. I nearly jumped when I felt hooves wrap around my shoulders—from both sides. I looked up to see Nova nuzzling my shoulder and Gauge giving me his weight to lean against. “We’re sorry too, Em,” Nova said, resting her head against my neck. “We just… well, I didn’t know at first. I didn’t understand what was wrong.”

“We’re here for you,” Gauge added, rubbing his hoof in circular motions across my back. “I told you back at the Bastion, if you ever need to talk, I’ll always listen.”

“We’re your friends,” Nova said. “We’ll always have your back, okay?”

I rubbed at my runny nose and nodded. “T-Thanks, guys,” I said, managing a tiny, relieved smile. “I’m just… I-I’m just going through a lot.”

“Take your time,” Nova insisted. “Nopony expects you to be over it in a day.” She closed her eyes and adjusted her frayed wings to blanket me tighter. “For what it’s worth, she seemed like a wonderful mare. I could tell that she made you very happy. I would’ve loved to have gotten the chance to know her better. She would’ve fit right in with us misfits.”

“Yeah,” I said, starting to choke up a bit. “She would’ve…” I squeezed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. No more crying. Not now.

Gauge seemed to realize that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore and helpfully changed the subject. “You should have seen the prisoner roundup earlier,” he said, sliding away a bit to bring the plate of food closer to the three of us. “I saw it when I went to find food. The Sentinels marched all the Crimson into the cages used to hold the slaves downstairs. Gave them a little taste of their own medicine.”

“Good. Fuck’em. It’s about time they experienced a little misery of their own.” I picked a little of the food off the plate and stuffed it in my face. I didn’t realize that I was hungry. Even mushy Sentinel cardboard soup tasted amazing. “Have you guys seen Brass? I found him downstairs and broke him out. He come up here yet?”

Gauge shook his head. “No, but I imagine he’s down there somewhere. Probably making sure everything’s in order and the rest of us from Blackwash are okay.”

“He’s in charge now,” Nova said, her wings drooping a bit at her sides. “Now that Dad’s gone, it’s up to him as militia captain.”

I patted her on the back, trying to return the favor and comfort her a bit. “Brass knows what he’s doing,” I said. “Blackwash will be safe with him in charge.”

“At least, I hope so.”

I looked over my shoulder at Brass’ voice and saw him limping over to us. We slid around a little bit to make room for him around the food plate and he sat down, groaning like an old stallion as he did so. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said once he got his legs comfortably underneath him.

“Oh, no, not at all!” Nova said, cheerfully waving a hoof and encouraging him to take some of the food. “We were just talking about you. Ember said she broke you out?”

Brass helped himself to a few bites of some vegetables and meats from the Crimson’s food lockers and nodded. “She was one of the first down to the cages and she started cutting open locks. She gave me her knife to finish for her when she went after Carrion. Speaking of which…” He reached into a bag on his back and pulled out my missing laser dagger, which I readily took and returned to my own bags. “You don’t know how happy I was to see her.”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Nova said, smiling at him. “I thought I was dreaming at first.”

“I’m still not sure that I’m not,” Brass said. He closed his eyes and shuddered. “You two don’t understand what it was like to be trapped here,” he said to me and Gauge. “And you and the other techies, Nova, well, they took it easy on you guys. They didn’t shoot rubber bullets at you when they were bored, or drag one of us out to beat when they wanted a good ‘fight’. They’d stick tinder in our cages and light it on fire just to watch us freak out and scorch our hooves. And don’t get me started on the mares…”

I placed my hoof on Brass’. “They’re dead now, Brass,” I said, trying to comfort him. “It’ll never happen again.”

The earth pony nodded once. “Yeah, so it seems. It’s going to take those of us who’ve been trapped here some time to get over it. You don’t forget those things…”

We heard a troop of Sentinels marching behind us, and we all turned to watch a group of four soldiers lead something like twenty or thirty mares to another building on the complex. I felt my skin crawl as I watched them walk in a perfect line, eyes wide open, enormous forced smiles on their muzzles. I shuddered and turned to Brass. “What did they do to them?”

Brass slowly shook his head. “Those were the mares marked with hearts,” he said. “No stallion’s going to buy a mare who fights back or might want to try and seek revenge. So they did something to their minds. They can only think in terms of pleasing their masters, whoever they may be.” Sighing, he added, “I know a few proud mares that they turned into toys. Gradient, Snap Freeze, Nola…”

I recognized those names, knew the faces they were attached to. “Signal Flare,” I added, remembering when I ran into her. Brass just solemnly nodded. “I hope they can fix them.”

“I hope so, too. Watching them happily march off each night, then come back the following morning, beaten, bruised, and rutted til they bled… It was horrifying. I hope that your Sentinel friends can fix that. They deserve better.” Of course, nopony said anything about what might happen to them if they couldn’t be fixed. What do you do then with a bunch of mares who can only think in terms of sex and obedience if you’re just trying to help them get better?

We sat in silence and just focused on enjoying the food together. It was nice to just have a sort of family meal in the aftermath of all this pain and misery. The nightmare that began weeks ago was finally over, and now, we could look toward the future.

Which was something I was interested in. “So, fearless leader,” I said, managing a little bit of a sly smile, “what’s the future of Blackwash?”

I must’ve asked the question everypony wanted to know, because both Gauge and Nova stopped snuggling long enough to look up at Brass. “Well… that’s tricky,” Brass said, his head leaning first one way, then the other as he thought. “We could always try going back to Blackwash and rebuilding.”

I shook my head. “It’s dead, Brass,” I said. “I managed to escape the Crimson after they branded me. I was the last pony alive there. There’s nothing left.”

Brass bit his lip for a few seconds. “But we can rebuild with the scrap, can’t we?”

“Blackwash is dead,” I insisted, looking him squarely in the eyes. “The Crimson stole anything of value, burned the crops, destroyed the outpost, what have you. I had to burn the bodies of all of our elders and everypony else who died in the attack.” I shivered at that particular memory. “You can try to go back there, scrape out a pathetic existence, and pretend that this shit never happened. But I can’t ever go back. Not after this.”

“I don’t think I could, either,” Nova added. Gauge silently agreed.

“Alright, I think I understand,” Brass said, conceding defeat on that matter. “But if not our mountain, then where?”

“The Sentinels are always looking to take people in at their home base,” I said. “And after today, they could use the numbers.”

“You could stay here,” Nova said, surprising all of us. When we turned to her, she shrugged her wings a little bit. “I mean, it’s not a bad idea, right? If Ember’s right, then our saviors aren't really going to have the ponies they need to hold the dam, their home base, and that outpost fort in the valley they brought us to the first time. We could stay here and watch it for them.”

Brass tapped his chin. “That’s an idea…”

“Yeah. Great idea, Nova,” I said, and she smiled at me. “The dam has pretty strong defenses. We may have fucked up a bunch of them, but they can be fixed, right? Plus, it’s more than big enough to hold everypony, with lots of room to grow.”

“And the turbines,” Gauge said, rubbing his hooves together. “I’d love to go diving down there and getting them working again. We could have all the power we’d ever need. We can even bring power to the rest of the valley!”

“It does have a fair amount of pre-Silence tech, too,” Nova added. “The military ran this place before everything fell apart. It also has some sort of communications network, given that it got the signal we accidentally broadcasted at Blackwash.”

Brass bobbed his head a few times. “Alright, I suppose you make a fair point. I’ll have to bring it up with some of the others, see what they think about it. Some might not like the idea of living where we were imprisoned, though. That could be tricky to work around.”

“Regardless of that, it’s the best idea,” I said. “Hopefully they’ll realize that.”

I heard wingbeats behind me along with scraping talons. “Hey, Ember,” Sig said, strutting a bit closer to our group. “Fusillade’s feeling good enough to have a debriefing. I figured you’d want to join in.”

“That I do,” I said, standing up. I looked over my three friends and nodded to them. “Catch you guys in a bit. And… well, thanks. I… I really needed it.”

Nova stood up and gave me a bony hug. “Anytime, Em,” she said. “I’m always here if you need somepony to talk to.”

“Thanks, Nov,” I said, patting her on the back. “You just take it easy and eat up, get your strength back.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just because I’m a bit thin doesn’t mean I can’t get full. This is more food than I’ve eaten this entire week.”

‘A bit thin’ was an understatement. I don’t think the mare weighed more than fifty pounds. Pegasi were already pretty light even before you starved them.

But at least she was eating, and she had her coltfriend to look out for her, so I let her be and stepped away. After waving goodbye to Gauge and Brass, I turned back to Sig. “So, Fusillade’s feeling better? Well, I guess I’d better humor the stubborn bitch with my presence.”

Somehow, Fusillade had turned her quarters of the infirmary into her own private headquarters. Curtains had been drawn out of… somewhere to block off the back corner. I followed Sig as he brushed them aside and marched in to stand at the foot of her cot, maneuvering past two other ponies, Glass and Runabout. We nodded to each other, and Glass cleared his throat.

Sig and I both saluted when Fusillade looked up at us. “Ma’am,” Sig said. “Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

Fusillade winced and shook her head. “I am not feeling better at all. I still feel like merde.” Groaning, she sat up on her cot and turned to face us. “But we cannot rest for a moment, can we? There are too many things to be done, and not enough time to do them.”

I winced and unconsciously took a step back when Fusillade looked at us. Most of the blood on her coat had been cleaned up, and bandages covered her neck and chest. I could still see glistening specks of lead sitting in the skin of her face from where Carrion had shot her, and her left eye was… well, disturbing would be one way to put it. It was red with blood and looked like shattered glass. That was going to have to be removed.

She turned her eyes (eye and a half?) to me and nodded. “I am glad that you are up and about, though. After Yeoman killed Acting-Commander Zip, I was worried he was going to kill you too.” Her good eye narrowed on the bruises around my neck, and I fidgeted slightly under the look. “Looks like he almost did.”

I sighed and shook my head. “That was my fault, ma’am. I shouldn’t have… have run off after him like that.”

Fusillade slowly nodded. “Yes. You should not have.” Then her magic tilted my chin up a bit so I looked right at her. “But I understand your pain. Though I frown on relationships between officers and soldiers, it was clear even to me that the two of you cared deeply for each other.” Her voice took on a wistful tone as she added, “When you find love only to have it taken from you… there is no greater pain than that.”

Swallowing hard, I stepped forward a bit. “Is that… is that what Carrion was talking about?” I asked her. I quickly held up a hoof. “I-I mean, I don’t mean to pry, ma’am, but—”

She nodded and looked away. “Yes. When I was a younger mare like yourself, I used to believe that the world was safe. Auris is a dangerous planet, yes, but if you know how to live on it, then it is not so bad. If you live in a settlement with family and friends, then life is normal and boring. It is amusing to me to think back on it now, but I would give nearly anything to return to the boring and normal life I once held.”

She stopped for a few moments to collect her thoughts and sort her memories. “I lived in the settlement of New Oatleans. We were descended from Prench colonists that arrived before the Silence. We lived just south of the valley, past the mountains, barely more than twenty miles away from here. Apart from the traders that ran between the Valley and the inland settlements, we had almost no contact with the outside world. Much like your Blackwash, from what I have gathered.” I nodded, and she continued. “We were the first settlement Carrion ever conquered. Before he had the ringbirds. Before the Crimson were strong. They were barely more than a band of fools with rifles. But they outnumbered us, and they attacked us in the middle of the night. We did not stand a chance.”

Swallowing, her voice dropped to a dark murmur. “We fell without too much resistance, and when it was over, we were divided like spoils. My husband was killed. My son, too. He was only three winters old. As for myself…” she shifted slightly and pointed to a faded heart branded onto her left flank. I almost did a double-take; how had I never noticed that before? But then I realized that I’d never seen Fusillade without her armor and jumpsuit on.

“You can surmise the remainder from that and what he said to me,” Fusillade finished. “I have been fighting him ever since I managed to escape from the dam and join the Sentinels. Finally crushing him was… therapeutic.”

“Yikes… well, I’m just glad that he’s dead too, ma’am.” Fusillade dipped her head slightly, and I rubbed at the bandage on my left side. “So, uh… what’s the meeting for?”

Fusillade grunted and leaned forward, resting her hooves on her thighs, and wincing as she did so. “A few things. I am not going to say anything pointless about the mission. We succeeded, and that is all that matters. However, we took many casualties. I want a debriefing on our losses.”

She looked between the four of us, and Glass was the one to step forward, pulling a scrap of paper out of his armor. “We committed four hundred and twelve ponies and griffons to the assault, along with one tank and one ringbird. We suffered ninety-eight dead, including Commander Rampart and Acting-Commander Zip.” I winced and hung my head a bit, but Glass continued on after a short pause. “Twenty-four of the casualties were veteran Sentinels. Thirty-one were mercenaries. The rest were volunteers. As for the wounded,” he said, flipping the page over, “we have one hundred and twenty-one wounded. Forty-four are severely wounded, sixty-seven are moderately wounded, and the remainder are only lightly wounded. That includes eleven veteran Sentinels. And I think it goes without saying that the tank is a complete loss. The ringbird can still be repaired, but finding the parts to rebuild and replace the rotor ring will be difficult.”

Fusillade’s frown only seemed to harshen with each number. When it was done, she just shook her head. “When I left the Bastion this morning, there were forty-nine of us veterans still alive. Now there are only twenty-five, with eleven wounded. Twelve, if you count Commander Thunder Dash, but he should be combat ready any day now. That is good. We will need him while we focus on rebuilding.”

Sig cleared his throat. “How will we divide our garrisons? The Fort and the Bastion are held by our support staff, and though we’ve given them some training, they simply aren’t going to replace a veteran Sentinel. Thirteen Sentinels aren’t going to be enough to hold all three locations. And there are still bands of Crimson in the valley, they could possibly organize and retake the Fort while we’re spread thin.”

I saw an opportunity to speak up for Blackwash, so I cleared my throat and dove into the conversation before it could go on without me. “I’ve talked with Brass Casing. He’s the leader of the ponies from my town. He offered to settle the dam for you and hold it until your numbers are stronger.” I mean, he was still deciding whether he wanted to do that, but I had a feeling he was going to come around. Besides, why let this opportunity slip by? “Plus, we need somewhere to go now. Our old settlement is in ruins. We need somewhere new to live, and the dam’s perfect.”

Fusillade nodded slowly like she was considering it, and Glass added his two bits to the conversation. “It could be beneficial for all of us,” he said. “The freed slaves get a settlement of their own, and we have an ally defending the dam for us. We can redistribute our remaining forces between the Bastion and the fort until we recruit and train enough replacements.”

“I like it,” Fusillade said. “I will meet with this ‘Brass Casing’ pony later and come to an agreement with him. I will likely end up leaving one or two Sentinels here to supervise the construction of defenses and repairs, but that gives me enough to work with at the fort and the Bastion for the time being.”

For the first time since… well, you know… I felt a warm glimmer in my chest. My friends had a home. It might not have been Blackwash, but it would do just fine. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it was better than the original in every way. Especially if that meant they’d actually have access to trading caravans now.

“What next, ma’am?” Runabout asked.

“Administrative things,” Fusillade said. She looked at Runabout and nodded. “With Commander Platinum Rampart killed in action, I am promoting you to Commander of Earth Pony Forces. Your service record is outstanding, and we need some young blood in command.”

Runabout blinked, a little shocked, but she quickly saluted Fusillade, trying to control the smile on her face. “Thank you, Commander. I will do my best to maintain discipline and perform such duties as are expected of me.”

“Congratulations,” Sig said, leaning in and offering his hand for Runabout to shake. “You deserve it.”

“As do you, sergeant,” Fusillade said, catching Sig by surprise. “After the losses we suffered today, we need replacements. The griffons from your quarry fought with valor and discipline. The Sentinels would be much better with them. Thus, I am offering to establish the position of Commander of Griffon Forces and bestow the rank to you.”

I smiled and poked Sig in the ribs. “You’ve been with them for what, twelve winters now? About time they gave you some recognition.”

Sig stood tall and saluted. “It would be my honor, Commander.”

“Good. When this is over, I want you to try to recruit as many griffons from your quarry as you can. We will need them before we know it.” Then she turned to me and Glass. “As for you, Warped Glass, I am appointing you as Acting-Commander of Unicorn Forces until my eye has been removed and I have recovered enough strength to serve again. Do not make yourself too comfortable in my office,” she added, her lips shifting into the slightest grin I’ve ever seen. “I would be back in it tomorrow if Doctor Hacksaw would let me, but I know he would insist that I delegate my duties for at least three days.” Glass nodded, and Fusillade’s eyes shifted to me. “As for you, Ember, I would offer you a post here at the dam. I know that many of these slaves are ponies and zebras from your home settlement, and I believe you would feel right at home among them. You will be relatively free of duty with the exception of daily reports on the progress of the dam’s repairs and to ensure that the liberated slaves settle in to the facility without any problems.”

I blinked, taken aback by the surprise offer. The chance to represent the Sentinels at the dam, surrounded by my friends from Blackwash? It was almost too good to be true. I’d be the big mare in town, as it were, with my training and arsenal, and I could help Brass train up a new batch of militia. I could even train ponies to send off to the Sentinels and bolster their numbers. And with the defenses of the dam, I wouldn’t have to worry about another Blackwash happening to us ever again.

But…

I shook my head. “Sorry, ma’am, but I’m afraid I have to refuse.”

Fusillade raised an eyebrow, and even the other three looked at me, surprised by my response. “Oh?”

I swallowed and stepped forward. “I wish to pursue a different mission, ma’am. One that I think will be much better than garrisoning the dam.”

The Prench mare adjusted slightly and fixed me with her good eye. “Go on.”

“The signal, ma’am,” I said. “We only have two of the pieces. We know that there are seven. Reclaimer has three of them, since the Ivory City sounds like it also got a piece. We know that he was supplying the Crimson, and when Yeoman tried to hang me, he told me that Reclaimer was going to wipe out the Crimson anyway when the time came. He also mentioned something about ‘waking the Azimuth.’” Pausing, I reordered my thoughts and said, “I’m worried, ma’am, about what might happen if Reclaimer gets his hooves on the rest of the signal. Whatever the Azimuth is, it sounds scary. Therefore, I’d like to try to stop him, maybe even recover the signal pieces myself. After all, if I can just get to one piece before he does and delete it, he’ll never be able to complete the code.”

I left out my other reason for wanting to do this: Yeoman was also after the signal pieces, and if I followed them, I’d likely cross paths with him at some point. Then I could finally avenge Zip by putting a bullet through the fucker’s skull.

Fusillade seemed to think about my offer for a long time. “You realize that you would be alone in this mission? I don’t have the soldiers to spare to give you any backup.”

I nodded. “I understand, ma’am.”

“And you would not be able to bring your armor with you. It would run out of power in a week if the core was not charged regularly.”

Well, that complicated things a little bit; I was hoping to bring the super invincible armor with me. I guess that just meant I’d have to try harder to not get shot. “I understand.”

She looked at me like she was really making sure that I knew what sort of shit I was getting myself into. I tried to stand there as motionless and as confident as I could; I was afraid that if I wavered even the slightest bit, she’d stop me from going. Eventually, she sighed and nodded. “Very well. Your new mission, sergeant, is to pursue the code fragments scattered throughout Auris. You are to return any you find to us and do whatever you can within your power to prevent them from falling into Reclaimer’s hooves. I also want you to learn anything you can about this ‘Azimuth’. If it is important enough that it has a name, then it must be a super weapon of some kind, a weapon that Reclaimer would use to conquer Auris under the Ivory City’s banner. Therefore, he cannot be allowed to ‘wake’ it. I can give you whatever support I can before you leave, but once you leave the valley, you will be on your own.” Then, to my surprise, she saluted me. “It is a tough task, but I believe you are more than competent. Know that wherever you go, wherever your journey takes you, you will have my support, and the support of all the Sentinels.”

I beamed with warmth, and probably with just a little manic happiness as the first step in my plan for vengeance fell into place. Plus, I got promoted, too. That was pretty neat. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Fusillade nodded, then looked out over the rest of us. “I believe that is all that we have to discuss for now. Tomorrow, we shall bury our fallen. Commander Sigur, I want graves to be dug today, while the ground is still soft. Use the land around the RTZ; it should be fairly chewed up by the artillery this morning.” Then, groaning, she laid back down on her cot and closed her eyes. “Dismissed.”

The four of us emerged from the infirmary and looked at each other. We’d all gotten pretty big promotions (with the possible exception of Glass, simply because his post was only temporary) and we were all excited about what was to come. Runabout was the first to lose her composure, and she bounced on the tips of her hooves for a few seconds before excitedly squealing. “‘Commander’? Can you believe it?” she asked us, a wide smile on her muzzle. “I never thought this day would come!”

“You certainly deserved it,” I said, grinning. “After all the shit you did at the Fort, and then again today.”

“I always figured your name had to be somewhere near the top of their list,” Sig said, patting the mare on the shoulder. “You’ll make a great commander for us. I look forward to working with you.”

“You as well, Commander Sigur,” Runabout said, lazily saluting him. “I never thought we’d ever have enough griffons to end up making a branch for them. You were the only one for the longest time.”

“Pretty soon they’ll have a branch for zebras,” Glass said, shaking his head. “All we have to do is find a zebra settlement to recruit from.”

Sig shrugged and smiled. “I’m sure they’re out there somewhere. We don’t even know what all settlements live in the valley. We haven’t gone very far west. We never made it as far as Blackwash, and that’s still a good distance from the coast. Who knows what we’ll find?”

“Maybe more settlements like mine,” I said. “Just make your first contact with them peaceful, though. I certainly didn’t enjoy our first brush with the outside world.”

“We’ll certainly try,” Sig said.

Yawning, Glass roughly shook himself awake and took a step back. “Alright, I’m going to go dispatch a few orders before I take a nap. Fusillade has the right idea,” he said, smirking. “I think we could all use some rest.”

Runabout nodded. “I’m going to go find Failsafe and let her know. We’re going to hit the Crimson’s booze stores tonight and celebrate. You’re all more than welcome to join us!”

“We’ll think about it,” Sig said, and after a last wave, the two of them went their separate ways. That left Sig and I standing in front of the infirmary, alone. A little ways away, I could see Nova, Gauge, and Brass still talking together around their picnic spot. My teeth played with my lip as I watched them from afar.

“You haven’t told them yet, have you?” Sig asked, following my gaze.

I shook my head. “No. Not yet.” I turned to him and bit the inside of my cheek. “They’d go anywhere with me if I asked them to, and they’d follow me even if I didn’t. I don’t want to bring them along on this. Nova’s too weak. The best thing for her is to stay here at the dam with Gauge and the rest of us Blackwash ponies. Not wandering across uncharted territory where death could be waiting to fuck us over behind every tree.”

“So you plan on going it alone, then?”

I sighed and sat down. “I don’t want to, but I have to. You heard Fusillade; she said that she can’t spare any of you guys to join me. And you’re about the only person I’d trust to really have my back, anyway.”

Sig thought for a moment, sitting down next to me while he did so. “Tell them,” he said, finally. “They deserve to know.”

“And what if they insist on following me?” I asked. “I already had an excited colt follow me for an entire day and I didn’t notice at all. I’m pretty sure two adults as clever as they are could follow me for a while without me noticing.” I chuckled and shook my head. “I’m not very observant, am I?”

“Yeah, you can be fairly single-minded at times.” Smirking, Sig rolled his shoulders. “All the more reason you should let them come with you.”

I blinked. “What?” When I turned to him, I realized he wasn’t joking. “You can’t be serious!”

Sigur rested a hand on my shoulders and a wing across my back. “Ember, twelve years ago, I left my family to join the Sentinels. I met Zip, but that was about six years later. Sure, I had friends and brothers-in-arms, but I was lonely. When we went to the quarry to see my family again, I realized that I should have come back sooner.” He looked me in the eyes with a look that was almost pleading for me to not repeat his mistakes. “I don’t know how long you’re going to be out in the world looking for these code fragments. I don’t know how far your journey’s going to take you. But I promise you this: you’ll need friends. I don’t think you can do it alone. I may be wrong,” he hastily amended, “but I don’t think I am. If you’re by yourself and something happens to you out there, you can die and nopony would ever know. If you have friends, you can all at least look out for each other.”

“I don’t know…” I said, looking across the dam at them again. “I don’t want to put them in danger. And Nova…”

“She’ll be fine after a few days,” Sig said. “You’ll have to take it easy for the first week or so, but after that, so long as you keep your strength up, she’ll be good as new. And trust me, where you’re going, it never hurts to have an eye in the sky.”

I mulled it over for a bit, but eventually sighed and nodded. “I guess you’re right. I’ll talk it over with them.” I saw them look over their shoulders at me, and Nova happily waved for a moment before they resumed their conversation. I chuckled again; was I really doubting that ball of nearly limitless energy? She’d probably be flying again in a few days.

We sat together and enjoyed the silence as we both realized that our time together was coming to an end. In days—not even days, in hours—I’d be on the road again, this time to destinations unknown.

“It’s going to be a long time before I see you again, isn’t it?” I asked.

Sigur exhaled slowly and his talons drummed against the concrete. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

After a few seconds of chewing my lip into pieces, I slid over to Sig and wrapped my forelegs around his neck. He shifted slightly to return the hug, and the two of us sat in each other’s embrace for a long time. We didn’t worry about what we left unsaid; we didn’t worry about wishing each other good luck and that sort of thing until we saw each other next. Just the hug was enough. Enough to remind us both of what we were fighting for, and the roads that lay ahead of each of us.

And enough to remind us that one day, we would see each other again.

Author's Notes: