I clung to Blackjack’s back as she barrelled down the side streets of Fold, racing after Basalt Breaker. The grey mare had disappeared rather quickly after we’d started after her, leading me to suspect she knew she was being pursued. But that didn’t really matter. What I’d felt in her, what Blackjack had seen on her face drove us to find her. And fast.

“What’s the plan, boss?” Blackjack asked as she raced around a corner. “Cause I’ll be honest, I kinda just went ‘need to fix problem’ and ran off after you. Any details beyond that are a bit uh… fuzzy.”

I really didn’t have a plan, either. I mean, I’d worked with ponies who were at the point where they thought that the only way out of their suffering was to end their lives. But in those situations, I mostly just listened. I tried to give some light counterpoints about how they really did have things to live for, even if they couldn’t see them from the low places they were stuck in. And then I hoped that just by spending time with them, those feelings of hurt would ebb enough that suicide no longer seemed like the only option.

“Well… If we catch her, we listen.”

“Okay, and then?”

“Hope,” I said quietly. “Hope that what we say sticks. Or if all else fails… you grab her, and I’ll just…” I frowned, not sure how to explain it. “I’ll just take it out of her.”

Blackjack actually skidded to a stop, which gave me the opportunity to slip off of her back. “No,” She said firmly. “That is not a solution and you know it. You’ll take her pain away but you won’t fix her hurt. Pretty soon that pain’ll fill her up again and then I‘ll have to deal with two mares that want to off themselves.”

“But…”

Blackjack stared at me. “No. Find a new plan.” She said, taking off again down a nondescript alley. “Now let's get back to finding Basalt before she does something stupid.”

I frowned, but followed after her. Blackjack and I made our way through the twisting, narrow back alleys of Fold. I wasn’t sure how Blackjack thought we were going to find Basalt, but I figured she had some idea of where we should go. Because at the moment my own senses were… foggy.

It was frustrating. It was like I could either hear, but not feel anything with my heartmender abilities, or I was deaf and could feel everything. But no in between. I wanted to blame it on my encounters with Peculiar, but every time I found myself thinking along those lines, I’d hear Bubblegum’s question about ‘what else was going on with me.’

The truth was, I didn’t know. Even as we threaded through the streets, looking for a mare with a mortal emotional wound, I didn’t know what was going on with me. And a part of me wondered if I should even be trying to help Basalt at all in my current state. But another part of me reminded me that I was a heartmender. We could handle emotional issues better than any other kind of pony on the planet. That I just needed to set my shit aside and focus on her.

...I really hoped that it worked.

Blackjack stopped in front of a small, dirty storefront on the earth pony side of town. Or what looked like the earth pony side of town. Somehow calling it that, felt horribly wrong. The ponies of Fold should have been allowed to live wherever they wanted. However, because of the Family’s meddling, the earth ponies seemed to have been edged out to the more dilapidated areas.

Blackjack shook her head, then pushed the door open. “Figures she’d come home,” she said, trotting into the building.

“Wait, home?” I asked quietly as I followed her into a small staircase that led up to what must have been an apartment over the store.

She put a hoof to her lips as we made our way silently up the stairs. As we reached the door at the top of the stairs, I could hear Basalt’s soft sobbing. My ears wilted as Blackjack slowly opened the door.

“Hey BB,” She said softly, trotting in the door with a staggering amount of confidence given how anxious she felt. “You left kinda quick there from the meeting. Everything alright?”

I braced myself as I followed Blackjack through the door into a small, sparsely furnished room. Basalt Breaker lay on a small bed covered by a black and red flannel blanket. She looked up at Blackjack, then looked away ashamed.

I immediately saw the reason why. Eight ampoules of Med-X lay in front of the earth pony, and she had a tourniquet tied around her left foreleg. I let out a slow breath of relief as I realised that none of the doses were empty.

“Please just leave me alone…” Basalt plead, hastily removing the tourniquet from her arm. “I… really just want to be alone right now.”

“Uh huh,” Blackjack said, walking to the side of the bed and levitating an ampoule in front of her nose. “So uh… that gunshot wound bothering you that much?” She asked.

Basalt winced. “I… um.”

“Basalt, you know we both know what you were thinking of doing,” I said gently. “Let’s drop all pretense on that. You want to die. We think it’s a bad idea. So let’s talk about it.”

Basalt looked between Blackjack and I. It almost seemed like she was more afraid of me than she was of my decidedly deadly unicorn friend. Then she looked down at her hooves.

“I can’t do it. I can’t do it without her,” The grey mare sobbed. “Buzz was supposed to be in charge! She was supposed to be the one that fixed all this. After…” She sniffed, rubbing her nose. “After we were free, she was… I was…”

“You were what?” I asked gently. “Going to sweep her off of her hooves?”

“No.”

“You two were going to be together?” Blackjack asked.

Basalt shook her head. “No, it’s not that either… I just…” She trailed off and looked down at her hooves. “I… don’t know actually. I don’t know what I was holding on to. Everything ponies said to me was ‘Basalt, you know Buzz’s barn door don’t swing that way, right?’ I just… I didn’t want to hear it.”

I nodded along with what Basalt was saying. It made sense that she’d be clinging to a lost dream. Even if that dream didn’t have an earth pony’s hope in flying. “Basalt,” I said gently. “What’s stopping you then from living on in her memory? If you can’t be with her, and you couldn’t’ve been with her even if she were here, isn’t the next best thing trying to live up to her legacy?”

Basalt Breaker looked up at me quickly, a confused expression on her face.

Blackjack chuckled dryly. “Did you seriously not listen to the words coming out of your mouth?”

“Do you?” Basalt countered sharply, but a will o'wisp of humour danced in her gunmetal grey eyes.

Blackjack pouted. “Yes! Almost always! Sort of!” She protested, then lightly thumped Basalt in the shoulder. It struck me that the motion drew a smile out of the sombre earth pony, and not the wave of fear.

Basalt chuckled, then let out a rather lengthy sigh. “Okay. I just almost did something really, really stupid, didn’t I?” She asked, looking down at the ampoules of med-x. “What the hell was I thinking?”

“Not to put too fine a point on it, you weren’t thinking. You were feeling. And what you are feeling probably sucks. But the only way for that to stop is to keep moving forward,” I said, hoping that I was bringing a note of reassurance to my voice.

Basalt rewarded me with a small smile. “Right,” She said before flopping back onto her bed. “Goddesses, I don’t know what…” She looked over at Blackjack. “You’re right. I do need to listen to my own damned speech.”

“It was kind of inspiring, yeah,” Blackjack said with an easy smirk. “And Fold could use some help. I know Blue Belle would be out of sorts with trying to get everypony working together.” She paused. “I still can’t believe I’ve met two Blue Belles…”

Basalt looked at me. “What is she talking about?”

I shrugged. “Sometimes with Fish, you don’t know what you’re gonna get. Probably some mare she bedded a while ago.”

Blackjack’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me! I did not sleep with Bluebelle! I’m pretty sure she would have beaten me up if I’d tried!” She said, finishing her spiel with a wink.

“You thought about it, didn’t you.”

“I’m always thinking about it,” Blackjack said with a haughty look, which drew a blush out of me. “That said,” she continued, looking back at Basalt Breaker. “We’re also going to be here for at least a few days, right?” She asked, looking at me. “We can offer our help to rebuild, and support you however you need.”

Basalt slowly nodded, then shook her head. “I don’t know what came over me,” She said, putting a hoof to her forehead. “But… thank you. You’re right. I’ve got more to figure out here in Fold than in the everafter. Plenty of time for that stuff later, right?”

Blackjack and I nodded in agreement with her. “Better to stick around with the living than to let yourself end it all sooner than needed,” I said softly.

Blackjack got up off of the flannel bed sheets, and levitated up the ampoules of Med-X and placed them in her saddlebags. “First, let’s start by getting these down to the clinic. Then let’s figure out what needs done around here to get Fold back to where Buzzsaw would have wanted it.” She said, before giving Basalt a warm smile. “Look, we’re gonna give you a minute to put yourself back together. I need to talk to Threnody a moment outside.”

I blinked as Blackjack trotted around Basalt’s bed and back down the stairs. I gave the earth pony a helpless shrug before following after my friend.

“Is… everything okay, Blackjack?” I asked, bracing for some sort of emotional storm. What I got in response was a look of concern.

“Sooner than needed?” She asked, quirking a brow at me. “What’s that all about? Did you suck out some of those bad vibes from her anyway, Thren?”

I stared at Blackjack, trying to replay the conversation in my head before it hit me. Oh. That… probably was not the best thing to say. “Oh. I… no. I just…” Well, I didn’t know. Why had I said that? “I didn’t mean to say that.” I pinned my ears back. “What I meant was that she didn’t need to kill herself. I-I mean nobody does, um... I’m… not sure what I was thinking when I said that.”

Blackjack didn’t look too convinced. “Well, I’m going to ask Puddle to keep an eye on you too,” She said as Basalt’s hoofsteps sounded from the stairs behind us. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The next few days were a busy blurr of helping ponies build walls around the parts of Fold that were still in use, and making safe the sections of the small town that had been damaged in the recent fighting. Everypony also put their backs into it and worked hard to get the mill back up and running. Bubblegum and Glitter were making fast friends with the townsponies as they worked hard to fortify the new wall that was starting to make the town look more like a old-style frontier fort. Basalt spent a lot of her time with Blackjack and Blue Belle as they worked out how to bring back caps as the preferred economy in town. Honestly the effort would have been doomed to failure if Puddle hadn’t serendipitously happened upon what accounted to a small vault of caps squirrelled away in the basement of the hotel the Family had been using up until a few days ago.

On the evening of the fourth day, I found myself blessedly alone in the hotel room I’d been sharing with Puddle. She’d… been giving me space, thankfully, but I could still feel her desire for more from me. That desire terrified me, and I kept feeling like I needed to put a shield up between her and my own feelings. Anything to just… keep her on the other side of the bed. I didn’t feel one hundred percent safe around her, and that kept me from eating a lot.

“Sure it’s just that?” Dealer’s dry, grating voice asked.

I started as the deathly shade materialized in front of me for the first time in several days. “Oh. You. I thought you left cause we’d saved the town. Now what are you going to tell me I did wrong?” I snapped, becoming painfully aware that the only sound I could hear was the dry shuffling of his cards.

“Saved the town did ya?” He asked, his hollow sockets somehow managing to take on a mirthful look. “You sure that’s what you did?” He asked, drawing a card and showing me, yet again, the Fool.

I lay my ears back. “I am pretty sure we did. And with Stable 9 being interested in their lumber, and the possibility of them sending envoys south into the Wasteland means that the caps’ll start flowing again,” I explained. “Somepony once said that trade would save the wasteland.” I paused, thinking on it. “Might have been the Lightbringer in her book.”

Dealer lay the card down in front of me. The image had changed a little bit from the last time I’d seen her. This time the little blonde mare was bouncing on a thundercloud that was striking what looked to be an important building. Again, she bore the expression of ‘I just don’t know what went wrong.’ I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Why do you keep doing that?” I asked.

Dealer shrugged, going back to shuffling his cards, but leaving the Fool laying upright in front of me. “Maybe cause I like you. Cause you’re stubborn, and like to lie to yourself. Maybe because, despite the fact that I live inside all ya’ll, sometimes it’s interesting to see just what makes a pony tick.” He chuckled dryly. “Blackjack sure was fun to play with. Interestin’ to see just what happens when a spirit touches a pony.” He put a cracked hoof to his dessicated lips. “Whoops, spoke too much!” He said with a disturbing daintiness before breaking out into his horrifying dry cackling.

I poked at the Fool, and started as the card moved away from my hoof at my touch. “That… doesn’t answer my question.”

Dealer didn’t speak, but drew another card and placed it upside down in front of me. It was me, but I was hiding under my duster in the rain. The title read ‘The Hermit’. I quirked an eyebrow quizzically at him, but he shrugged and kept going. “Riddle me this then, Threnody,” He said dryly. “You said that you ain’t had time to eat. Why d’you look so much like me? Not eatin’ for a few days don’t do that to ponies. It’s so funny when mortals think they have themselves fooled.”

I glared at him as he went back to shuffling. “I don’t have a problem.” I snapped. “I’ve just been–”

“Busy? Afraid? Alone?” He asked, leaning forward so that his hot, dry breath washed over my muzzle. “I’ve watched heroes go without food as they try to beat me. Scarcity is one of the staples that keeps me going. Yet here you are, goin’ without when it’s readily available.” He pulled one more card, and again, it was inverted in front of me. The card read The Moon, and Princess Luna and I looked down upon the crescent moon in the sky from the earth. “I’ve seen ponies misbehave. Seen ‘em steal. Seen ‘em kill. Seen ‘em try to do better. Keeps me entertained when they break and do wrong. Makes me remember they try to be good when they don’t. But you,” he said, pointing a broken hoof at me. “You’re a liar.”

I recoiled like I’d been slapped. “How dare you!” I said, flaring out my wings as I swept a hoof across the bed in an attempt to get rid of the dealer’s spread. Disappointingly, my hoof passed through the ghostly cards, causing them to evanesce for a moment before reappearing right where Dealer had let them lay. “What gives you-”

Dealer’s hoof roughly slapped my cheek, and in that moment, I saw images from across the wasteland. Saw atrocities that had happened, that were happening, and that would happen. I saw Blackjack die - torn horribly in half by a tentacled monstrosity as a flaming rock descended from the heavens. I saw a purple alicorn and a green unicorn fighting the ghost of Twilight Sparkle. I saw a green pegasus stallion in chains. All the while, I saw ponies dying, sobbing, gasping for breath as their lifeblood flowed out of them.

Dealer quirked what was left of his eyebrow at me. “Let me tell you a lie, little liar. This one’s a doozy, so you’d best find the truth in it.” He said, watching me as I sat frozen in shock. “Long time ago I was called the Demon of Possibility by the Cervyderians, the Demon Murphy by the Buffalo, and the Spirit of Change by the zebra. So when your great war shattered the world, what do you think happened to all us spirits?” he asked. “Got to start askin’ rather deep and metaphysical questions about the nature of good and evil. Somethin’ came up, and a great bet was made. A bet that mortals weren’t worth savin’.”

He grinned at me. “Odds were pretty steep either way. What side do you think I chose?” He asked, leaning close again. I felt the same crawling, violating feeling that I felt when Puddle or Blackjack got too close. “What side do you think I’m on, little liar? Who do you think I’m putting my chips on?” He asked, drawing a pair of cards. He flipped them over. Blackjack as the Queen of Spades. A ghoul stallion I didn’t recognize – a zebra, I realised later – on the Jack of Clubs. “Which one, little liar?”

I shuddered, then realised he was waiting for me to act. “You… you want me to pick?” I gaped.

“That’s the idea.” he drawled.

I stared between the two cards. Blackjack. Some unknown Zebra ghoul. How was I supposed to choose? I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what the cards meant!

“Clock is tickin’, Threnody. Choose.” he said, staring me down.

I swallowed and raised my hoof. I didn’t know how to choose which card. Who would Dealer bet on? I suddenly wished I’d learned how to play cards from somepony. “I…” I trailed off, realising something… odd. Blackjack’s card felt hot. “Blackjack.” I said with finality.

The remnants of Dealer’s eyebrows rose before he broke off into another damnable cackle. “Fascinating, little liar. Fascinating! Maybe…” He looked out the window. Odd, I thought, for a spirit to do something so very… mortal. “Little liar, I’ll make a bet with you. If you can go a week without lying, I’ll leave you alone. Hell, I’ll let Blackjack be for a spell!” He smirked at me. “Bet you can’t do that.”

Somewhere deep inside of me, a smaller version of me was screaming about how horrible an idea it was to make wagers with a spectre who referred to himself as ‘the Dealer.’ I raised my left hoof, then pulled it close to my chest. “What happens if I can’t do that?”

“Then you’ve lost the bet,” he said simply. I couldn’t help but feel like there was a consequence slightly more sinister than a simple loss for my failure to meet his challenge. “But if you win, you don’t see me anymore. Poof. Gone from your life.”

I frowned at him. “Are you ever really truly gone?” I asked.

“You mean to say you truly enjoy these conversations, little liar?”

I didn’t. “No. I’d prefer to just–”

“Continue avoiding your life’s troubles and push away your friends?” He asked. “You say you don’t want me to win. So take my bet. What do you think it’ll cost you in the end?”

Did my mortal soul count? “I think, potentially a lot,” I said, looking at his extended hoof. “But… I also have a lot of focus to be gained by you leaving me alone.” I swallowed, feeling like I’d just signed my life away for a Sparkle~Cola Cherry. “I’ll take that bet. One week, no lies.”

Dealer’s hoof connected with mine as we shook on it. “One week, Threnody. One week,” He said before drifting off like dust carried on the wind.

Of course it would be Blackjack that I ran into first. My stomach reminded me, loudly, that no, I hadn’t eaten in about two days, and that I should probably consider doing so. She waved me over to her table in the town’s Saloon, which had been recently renamed. “The Cafe of Timberjack Dreams” now hung on the storefront. I’d spotted the new sign as I made my way there.

“Hey Thren, how’s things? Sorry I haven’t seen much of you. Been kind of busy helping train the earth ponies how to shoot,” She said, patting the bench next to her.

I opened my mouth and hesitated as I answered. “They’ve been… weird.” I admitted, sitting down next to my pale-coated friend. “Like… really weird. ‘I’m not one hundred percent sure how to explain them’ kind of weird.”

Blackjack quirked an eyebrow at me. “Weird huh?” she asked with that odd mix of annoying amusement and muddling concern. “Weird like... with you and Puddle?” She asked.

Well, that was awkward and weird too. I sighed. “Well, that too. I… argh. Everything is weird.”

More amusement. Less concern. “Thren, I’ve got like... um... whatever a professor of weird would be. Weird doctorate. Travel with Blackjack. Embrace the wilder, weirder world!” She quipped with a grin, spreading her hooves wide. I lay my ears back as I looked at her, and thankfully she got the hint, so she lightly patted my shoulder. I didn’t flinch. “In all seriousness though, do you need to talk about it?” She asked.

“Yes!” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Okay. Maybe this whole not lying thing wasn’t so bad. I could totally do this. “Cause I have no idea what I’m doing, I think I just made a bet with something way bigger than me and I don’t even know what the stakes are! Oh! And let’s not forget that I just dragged my client and my friends into a fight that wasn’t ours!” I slammed my forehead down onto the table. It hurt, but somehow it made me feel a little better about my own stupid.

“Yup. That’s about right,” she said with a nod, rubbing her chin with a hoof.

I groaned softly, then lifted my head. “Did Dealer ever make a bet with you?” I asked, rubbing my forehead.

“A bet?” That got a curious brow arch from her. “Not so much. He liked to ramble on about responsibility and who was to blame for everyone blowing up the world. About half the time the answer was ‘ministry mares’ and the other was ‘Goldenblood’ slash ‘Luna.’ But no, he didn’t make bets with me. Why?” She paused and her smile disappeared. “Wait. He’s the thing you made a bet with?”

I let out a frustrated grumble as the smile ran away from Blackjack’s face. “I… yeah,” I admitted. “He’s been… showing me groups of cards. But they aren’t like, normal playing cards. These ones have names on them, and they always show images of… stuff. It’s weird. But he bet me that I couldn’t go a week without lying. He said if I could, though, that he’d leave me and you alone for a while.” I paused, then shook my head. “He never told me what happened if I failed.” Which, in retrospect, was beginning to feel like a rather large lapse in judgement on my part.

“Uh-huh...” She murmured, rubbing her chin. She hmm’ed and ahhh’ed for what felt like a minute, adopting various thinky poses before giving a firm nod. “Yup. That’s some grade A weird right there.”

“Blackjack!” I snapped.

Her familiar smirk returned. “What! I never promised I could help with your weird. Just that I’ve been through a lot of it, myself.” She took a deep breath. “Personally, Dealer did the same card thing with me twice. Once, a week or so after leaving 99, and the other a few minutes before facing the Eater of souls. It was different than the lecture-y Dealer, who I think was Echo. That Dealer was... how to put it? A lot more primal. A lot scarier. He made me admit something I didn’t want to admit, ever. That my fortune came at the expense of others. That I was responsible for other people dying, even if that wasn’t my intent. Even if it was the exact opposite if what I wanted.” She considered me for several seconds. “I can only assume that he’s dicking with you because he’s either trying to make a point, make you miserable, or both.” She paused. “Have you been lying a lot recently?”

I didn’t want to lose the bet fifteen minutes into the week. “I… yes.” I said, grimacing as the admission flew from my mouth. “As for why he’s doing it, both reasons - to prove a point and make me miserable - seems likely. I…” I skewed an ear to the side as I tried to come up with how to explain what I’d seen. “He said, he used to be called something else by the zebra and the Cervyderians. And… he told me that after the war, he’d made a bet with… well, I don’t honestly don’t know what, but the bet was about the fate of mortals. Whether or not we were worth saving. He showed me two cards - one with you on it, and one with a zebra ghoul I didn’t recognize - and asked me to pick which one of the two he bet on. He laughed when I picked you, and then… said he bet that I couldn’t go a week without lying.”

I realised, as I was spewing my explanation to Blackjack that I was talking rapidly so that she couldn’t stop and ask me questions. It wasn’t lying, per se, but it did get me out of having to explain myself on things that I really didn’t feel like explaining. Then her horn glowed, and I felt my mouth pinched shut as she cock her head.

“Okay. So I have absolutely no idea what any of that means, whatsoever. That’s a kind of weird way above my pay grade. I’m guessing the other zebra was the Legate. I guess he counted as a ghoul of sorts. However, I have something much more important to ask you.” She said as she leaned in, her face serious as she contemplated me gravely. “Do you still want to have lots of really great sex with me, Threnody?” she asked as the magic force disappeared.

Goddess Luna shove her horn up your ass, Blackjack! I squirmed in my seat as her stupid, smirking face closed the distance between us just slightly. “I don’t know I am not sure maybe sex is scary to me this is weird please stop asking!” I quickly rattled off before covering my mouth with a hoof.

“You’re really cute when you blush like that,” she replied, leaning back, that smile steady. “So, first thing. Don’t tell anyone else that you can only tell the truth, kiddo. Because there’s questions a lot worse than that. Like ‘Do you love me?’. Let’s keep this between you and me. Secondly, if he didn’t say there was a price to be paid, then the odds are if you blow it that he just keeps doing what he’s been doing, which so far doesn’t seem all that important. I mean, yeah, weird cards are annoying, but they’re not life or death. But if you can pull if off... well, one of the Ministry mare’s thing was honesty, so it can’t be all that bad right?”

I sighed, then nodded. “Well, aside from the fact that I know you’re going to ask me weird questions whenever we’re alone. But… I will keep this to myself. I mean, it’s not like I’m not quiet all the time anyways.” I admitted, trying to distract myself by looking up at the menu. “Also I should maybe eat something.”

“Yeah. Food is good. Booze is good. Sex is good. Life is good. Good is good. The wisdom of Blackjack,” she said as she leaned back again.

I ignored her relaxed state a moment to order a small meal from the pony manning the bar, then turned back to her. “You… actually took that a lot better than I thought you would,” I admitted.

“Oh?” she said, folding her forehooves in front of her chest. It was an odd posture, to be sure. “How did you think I’d take it?”

“I thought you’d tell me I was a dumb pony and that I was stupid for talking to weird ghost ponies with playing card decks. Or you’d get real concerned and basically disturb my calm for the next week.”

Then she reached across and touched a hoof to my cheek, her red eyes gazing deep into me. The genuine tenderness I felt from her very quickly overrode my initial ‘panic and run’ response that tended to burn within me at any physical contact. “Thren. I will never call you a dumb pony. Or stupid. Never,” she said quietly, loud enough for only me to hear. Then she smiled and withdrew her hoof. “As for talking to ghosts, being in over your head, and crazy with worry... that’s life. You’re dealing with it. You might not think you’re doing a great job, but you are. You’re dealing with shit that might actually be weirder than I’ve had to tackle. That’s impressive. I know you probably don’t see it, but you’ve matured a lot the last few weeks.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded for a long moment. Without realising it, I’d raised my hoof to touch the cheek where she’d touched me, and it struck me that with that light touch and encouraging words… Blackjack had just given me the most praise I’d ever received in my life. I almost forgot to pay the poor waiter pony before shaking myself out of my little funk.

“I… you’re not my mom,” I said softly, barely loud enough for me to hear it, but loud enough that if she was listening, Blackjack could parse it out.

“Thanks. I’m going to have words when I meet her. Not bullets, but words,” she said quietly. “I’d rather be your cool older sister. Or cousin, maybe.” She paused and frowned. “Wait, that’d make it incest. Nevermind. Friend is good. Friends are good. Even when they follow you when they probably shouldn’t.”

I chewed a bite of my sandwich for a moment, then gave her a small smile. “Blackjack, you kind of followed me this time, not the other way around.” I wasn’t sure if it made that big of a difference, but it seemed important somehow.

“It means I know what it’s like to be worried about the people I love being in harm’s way, and thinking that they shouldn’t be there when they don’t want to be anywhere else,” Blackjack said with that smile... that happy, sad, wistful smile that came with too many emotions for me to ever follow. “You’ll do fine, Threnody. Even if things go bad. Friends are good. Good is good. You can never get enough good in your life. Don’t beat yourself up over it, even if you can’t do anything but... because you care about your friends.”

I stopped chewing and looked down at my plate. I did care about my friends. I did want them to be safe. They were irreplaceable! I, on the other hoof, was entirely replaceable, and I was sure they could move on without me, but ultimately I did care about my friends!

‘Is that a lie, Threnody?’ Dealer rasped in my ear.

“Oh what the fuck!?” I exclaimed, looking around for him, and probably looking like a crazy filly in the process. I looked at Blackjack. “Did you hear that?”

“Well, kinda hard not to.” She screwed up a face, baffled. Oh, yeah. ‘What the fuck’ was not something you said to ‘you care about your friends’.

“No! No. No...” I muttered, flushing and kicking myself for being a complete idiot. Was what a lie? I hadn’t said anything! What, was he going to police my thoughts now too? ...Was I imagining that dry chuckle and shuffling of cards? “Blackjack,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “Do you think I’m... um...” I bit my bottom lip, the word sticking in my throat before I glanced at her and murmured, “replaceable?”

That baffled look intensified. “No. Of course not. You’re the sanest person in our group. I mean... maybe Puddle has you beat. I haven’t really had a chance to measure her craziness yet. But no. Goddesses no.” She gave a crooked smile. “Do you have any idea how messed up we’d be without you, Thren?”

Afraid of hearing more creepy whispers, I answered honestly. “I… I don’t know. I mean, you and Bubblegum and Glitter all sort of have things handled in a fight. I’m… just here to make bad decisions. And try to fix your hurts when everything goes sideways.” I let my ears droop as my honesty brought me to a thought that I’d been trying to avoid. “I mean… I know you are all my friends, but… will you even need me anymore once you’re all better and Glitter and Bubblegum have foals or something?”

She leaned forward and gently held my cheeks in her hooves. “Thren... I will never be all better. Never. I’m good right now. I’m good with you. Without you, I wouldn’t be good. Without you, I’d either be dead, numb drunk, or butchering anyone that looked at me funny. And there is more to living than fighting. We’re happy because we’re along with you on your adventure. You make this worthwhile. Without you...” her face slipped and she sighed. “I dunno. I’d probably go back to the Hoof, Slate, and Star House. Or just blow my head off for getting you killed. Bubblegum and Glitter might be okay, but Bubblegum’s just begging to be added to some mare raider warlord’s studfarm and Glitter... well... she’s a kid. Losing you would be like losing her mom again. We need you, Thren. We love you. Because you’re a pony worth loving.”

Tears welled up in my eyes and ran hotly down my cheeks. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there was more to me than just being a heartmender. Maybe I was more to my friends than just… just some silly filly they could talk to who’d help them feel better about their hurts and then be discarded like a bloodstained dressing. The hardest part of working with Blackjack for me had been the fact that she didn’t get better after a few sessions and decided to move on with her life. She was a patient who stuck around. But… not because of what I offered. Because of who I was.

I lunged forward and wrapped my forelegs around her barrel, pressing my wet cheek into her chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I thought you and Glitter and Bubblegum just wanted to be around so I could fix you all and then you’d leave me!” I sobbed.

“Silly pony,” she murmured as she held me firmly and let me vent my fear and frustration, her hoof gently stroking my mane. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be sick of me in another three months, but in the meantime, you’re stuck with us. All of us. Because we’re friends, and that’s what friends do.”

I swallowed hard, trying to get my tears to stop. “I won’t be sick of you, Blackjack,” I stammered. And I meant it. As I let myself be a sobbing mess in her strong embrace, I realised that maybe Dealer was right. I was lying to myself. I was lying to myself a lot. And to my friends because telling those lies was easier than dealing with just how hurt I felt. Hurt about getting moved around. About my mom. About the Mayor.

Maybe I wasn’t just some tool that was to be discarded later. Maybe my friends meant more to me than their problems. Deep down, I knew Blackjack was right. She probably wouldn’t ever be one hundred percent better. But maybe I could help her be just a little different. Glitter would always probably be a bit of a foal at heart, but that didn’t mean she’d leave me just because suddenly she realised she was interested in boys.

And while I didn’t know what I felt about Bubblegum, the stallion was sticking around for one reason or another. And so far, he was the only pony who would regularly call me on my stuff. Not even my fellow heartmenders did that.

I relaxed, and curled myself slightly closer to Blackjack. “You’re right.” I said softly. “I’m… I’m so sorry that I’ve been treating you all badly because… because I thought I wasn’t worth anything to you. That’s… I need to stop thinking like that.” I said softly, letting my cheek rest on her chest.

“Yeah,” she murmured in my ear. “But it’s not easy. Heck, some days I still think I’m not a smart pony.” She chuckled, “I’m not, by the way, but I’m not a dumb one either. Not as dumb as I thought I was.” She lifted my chin to gaze into my eyes. “We struggle to see our own muzzle, even when it’s right before our eyes.”

I nodded, thinking on that a moment. “Um, Blackjack?” I asked, realizing I had a kind of weird question for her. “Are you okay… I mean… um… Is it okay if I occasionally ask you for advice and stuff?”

“You can ask me for anything, Thren. I might not be very helpful, but I’ll try,” she replied. “As for okay... I’m better than I was, and that’s good. Maybe someday I will be okay. A part of me wants to kiss you, and a part of me feels like I’m betraying ponies I love if I do. So... yeah.” She gave a hapless struggle and a little shrug. “What a pair we are, eh?”

I wiped some of the wetness from my cheeks and nodded. “We’re kind of an odd couple. But… that’s good to know. I always thought it might be weird for–” I paused, realising that what I was about to say no longer applied. Blackjack and I weren’t really heartmender and heartmendee anymore. Not really. And I was okay with that. Somehow that made things just a little easier, and broke down just a few more walls for me. Not many, but a few.

“I was gonna say heartmenders and heartmendees but uh, if we went by that relationship I’m pretty sure that Heartshine would fire me. B-but er…” I paused, then shook my head. “That said, something my momma always muttered about unicorns and fliers keeps ringing in my head, but somehow I don’t think you meant that kind of pair.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

She stuck out her own tongue in response. This would have been fine had we not been practically muzzle to muzzle and I felt hers brush mine with an electric sort of sensation. Her red eyes popped wide and she sucked hers back in at once. To my amazement, she was actually blushing! I hadn’t thought she could blush! “Ah... um... sorry.”

My brain was still trying to process the sensation, and I realised that my face too was probably redder than a box of Big Mac and Cheese. “I… uh… um… it’s okay. I er…” I awkwardly folded myself out of her embrace. She was a little embarrassed, I was a little embarrassed… I looked around and realised that the few ponies that were in the saloon were staring at us. I put on the most awkward smile imaginable, and coughed into my hoof. “M-maybe we should um, go. Do things. Things we need to do, right Fish?” I said, feeling the weight of everypony’s stares on my small frame.

“Right. Things. The thingy things that we do, thing,” she answered.

“Like each other?” the waiter commented, his chin propped up on his hoof as he watched both of us like we were a mildly entertaining pre-war soap opera.

I took in a long breath through my nostrils then let it out. “Er… right… about that. Something something Blackjack we should go before I feel compelled to say anything.” I said, grabbing her hoof and tugging her toward the door.

Solidarity caught Blackjack and I as we left the saloon. “Hey, Fish, you got a minute?” He called, raising up his right foreleg, the one with his pipbuck on it. “I got in touch with Stable 9, and they said that somepony had been trying to reach you on the broadcaster. I got their frequency.”

Blackjack blinked a moment. “Did they give you a name?”

Solidarity nodded. “Yeah, some mare named Sandalwood? I guess she and her boyfriend or somethin’ are comin’ up this way now that Fold’s not chock full of Family goons.”

I felt my face flush. “W-wait, Sandalwood and Slate are coming here?”

“Sweet!” Blackjack laughed, then faced me. “So... do you want to wait around for the job review when they get here, or should we get the others and book it?”

“Job review?” Solidarity asked, looking confused. “Wait, what, you know this mare?”

“She’s my, er… boss. In the Followers of the Apocalypse? Remember how I sort of mentioned that a day or so ago?” I asked, referencing a meeting that Solidarity, Basalt, and I had in which we’d discussed letting the Followers come up to Fold to set up a clinic. “I…” I looked at Blackjack. “I am so fired.”

“So what? Does that really change anything?” she asked as she took a seat, cocking her head.

I opened my mouth, then closed it. “I.. no. But-”

“But you really don’t want to let down Sandalwood, Slate, Velvet, Heartshine, or Fluttershy,”she answered. “Right?”

I gave Blackjack an exasperated look. “Well, no, but I also…” I frowned, then closed my eyes. “I kind of want to see Sandalwood again. Or do you not want us to get caught up with her and Slate?”

She gazed into my eyes with a smile. “Where you go, I go,” she answered, then rolled her eyes. “I just know that they’re going to be all,” and she adopted Sandalwood’s higher register, “Oh, Goodness Threnody! How could you take her out of the Hoof!? This was the worse thing EVAR!’ and then you’ll be all,” and she took a somewhat unflattering whine, “Oh Sandalwood! I am sooooooo sorry. A thousand times sorry. A million times sorry.’ and then she’ll be all ‘Go back to the Hoof, right now’ and you’ll be all ‘But I don’t wanna!’ and then I’ll have to be all cool and go,” and she gave me a lazy grin. “Hey, Sandalwood. She’s not going where she doesn’t want to go.’ and then she’ll be all, ‘Worst thing EVAR! How can I do my reports now? Shame! Shame!’ and you’ll go ‘Waaaaah!’ and then everything will explode.”

“How’d she do all that in one breath?” Solidarity murmured, looking extremely nonplussed.

I felt my ears drooping lower and lower as Blackjack continued her tirade. “You… think it’ll be that bad?” I asked, worry setting in. “I just… I thought maybe if we saw them again, we could just say hi and then go with Solidarity and Puddle back to Stable 9 for a bit.” Was Blackjack right? Was not waiting to meet them a bad idea?

She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “They’re just like my mom was, sure that they know what’s best. You and me skipping out of the Hoof sure didn’t make them happy. They’ll probably see you as a kid and me a mental case.” Then she raised a hoof. “But! When they see you’re okay, and when they see I’m better, and when we make it clear that it doesn’t matter what they think we should do, then they’ll be okay with it. Because they’re just like my mom was, and the one thing she wanted more than anything was for me to grow up.” She looked away to the east. “I’m sorry she never got to see that.”

I paused a moment as Blackjack started talking about her mom. “Wait… I… well…” I frowned. “I’m… I understand where you’re coming from with your mom. But… Sandalwood isn’t my mom. She’s just…” I froze as a thought hit me. “Well… the first mare that actually tried to look out for me. And… Slate too, I guess…” I looked down at my hooves. Actually, I really wanted to see Slate.

“Okay,” she said with a shrug, looking at Solidarity. “Did they say when they were coming?”

Solidarity nodded. “Said they were a day’s travel out. Just wanted to check in with you to make sure that the little one didn’t get herself killed,” He said, looking at Blackjack.

I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or pleased that they cared. Probably the latter. “I can talk to them if you don’t want to, Blackjack. But… I really think we should… at least let them know we’re okay. And then…” I felt my chest tighten even as I said it. “Tell them that they aren’t our parents and we can do what we want.”

Blackjack crossed her forehooves, tilting her head back and closing her eyes as she pursed her lips. “Well, last time they saw me I was a basket case a hair’s breadth from suicide or homicide, banging Slate hourly and sucking down booze by the gallon.” She opened one eye, glancing at the now disturbed Solidarity, “Fun story.” Then she looked at me and resumed a normal posture. “Okay. I guess I should see my shrinks again. Check in and all that.” She then smiled and put a hoof to my shoulder. “You’re not my shrink. You’re my friend, Thren.”

“I mean, we could tell them that I’m still your shrink and that you prefer me to anypony else.” I paused, realising that was a lie. “Or maybe you could tell them that, and I’ll just nod along while thinking about how much I like cherry Sparkle~Cola or something.” That would totally override the lying thing, right?

“Thren... if I lie for you, that’s not being honest,” she admonished gently, then lifted my chin. “If I’m going to lie, just imagine what I say when Sandalwood asks if we’re having sex or not.” Oh, look. Evil Blackjack grin. Of course she was saving it for when it mattered most!

“Why would you do this to me?” I asked, sounding as wounded as I could muster. I knew why she was doing this. I didn’t like that I knew why she was doing this to me.

Solidarity coughed and gave me a quizzical look. “I thought you’d smooched Puddle Splasher. Somethin’ happen there I should know about?” He asked.

“N-no! I… She’s… no. It’s complicated.” I admitted honestly. Oh goddesses Puddle. And Blackjack. What was I doing?

“I have that kind of effect,” Blackjack replied with a shrug. She looked at me and added in a softer voice, “Some day I would like to have a conversation with Puddle. And you.” She said as she touched my cheek with a momentary, tender caress. Then she grinned, “But that’s not today! Today I have to contemplate exactly how I’m going to mess with Sandalwood when she shows up. I’ve missed that anal retentive mare.”

I smirked at her. “Well, you could ask her if she and Slate have gotten together finally,” I mused. “Cause I know he’d answer you truthfully, but I’m pretty sure she’d crack her horn.”

With that, Solidarity started trotting away from us. “Just… find me when you’re ready to talk to them, girls,” He said with a wave of his hoof as he limped off, leaving me alone with Blackjack. Oh dear...

She gave a little laugh. “Okay. What was that about you saying I’d matured?” she said as she looked back at me. “Glad you have though. You’re a different mare than the one that asked me to bed back at that lodge. A little more thoughtful. A lot more honest.”

I frowned. I wasn’t sure I was more thoughtful. It wasn’t until this afternoon that it’d even dawned on me that I might actually be worth something to my friends, and them me! Well, no, that wasn’t quite right. It was how I looked at my friends that had changed. I… wasn’t just the healer. The friendship wasn’t just about what I could do for them. It was about what we did together or for each other. “I don’t know if I’ve grown that much, Blackjack.” I admitted, a blush colouring my cheeks at the mention of that night in Three Rivers. “But… I’m trying to be different. Not better, but different.”

“Well, if you asked me now, my answer would be ‘different’ too,” she said with that sure smile that came with a wave of buttery affection.

I felt my hind legs wiggle a little bit, but that stopped as a wave of fear shot through me. No. Argh, yet again, I had put myself into a spot where somepony was going to get hurt!

“I… um… that’s… good to know, Blackjack. I um… oh dear…” I whimpered softly.

She leaned in and kissed my cheek softly. “Actually, I should really go talk with Puddle. Just have a little chat,” she said as she pulled away and started walking. Somehow the thought of her having a chat with Puddle without me was just as terrifying, so I bolted after her.

“Wait! No! Blackjack! That’s not funny!” I called out after her. “Blackjack… this… this falls under things I don’t know what to do with and actively scares me!”

She paused and looked evenly at me. “Thren, do you trust me?”

I stopped as her question hit me like a rogue wave. Did I trust her? With my life? Yes. Implicitly. But in bed… I didn’t trust anypony. In fact, the more we talked about stuff like kisses and nuzzles and what came after page two in Blackjack’s Book of Fun things for Adult Ponies, the more uncomfortable and scared I got. The less I wanted to be around anypony at all in that way. The more that electric contact of our tongues earlier changed from a fun little spark to a painful shock.

“Yes but…” I started and trailed off, trying to be as honest as possible. “I trust you with my life. I trust that you’d keep me safe. I trust that you wouldn’t want to hurt me.” I admitted slowly. “B-but the thought of anypony touching me… th-that way…” I started to shake, and my mouth decide it didn’t need to move.

She reached out a hoof and brushed my mane out of my face. “Thren. Do you want to go your whole life never touched ‘that way’? Seriously? Because if you don’t... I won’t. You’re not Glory... and I’m not the same mare that screwed up with her.” She gave a tiny smile. “I’ll still tease you, but I’ll never go farther than that. Is that what you want? Because I care a lot for you. More than I ever thought I would. So tell me, honestly, what you want.”

I felt a trickle of blood start to run down my right ear as I tried to unpack the sordid mess of emotions that I felt around the subject. I was so scared to touch to be touched and to feel other ponies near me that I hid away from it. But at the same time, I had a desperate longing for closeness. For affection. To be wanted. I didn’t know if that wanting included to be physically desired, but… to be somepony’s something… I didn’t know. I had spent so long hiding, crying, running from any and all feelings related to physical intimacy that I wasn’t sure I could handle it. I wasn’t sure I wanted it. I wasn’t sure I should want it.

I looked up at her helplessly. “I don’t know, Blackjack,” I said, feeling the hot line running down the side of my head as a few tears made their way down my cheeks. “I honestly don’t know right now. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry…”

She touched her horn to the side of my head and let out the best healing magic she could summon, barely alleviating the sting. “You have nothing to be sorry about. It wasn’t a yes or a no. It was a ‘I’ll decide later.’ And that’s fair too.” She levitated a cloth, gently cleaning me up. “Now, I really need a chat with Puddle. Mare to mare. Just so we understand each other. You can be there if you want, or not. Up to you.”

I let out a long breath of relief. It… hadn’t solved my problem of what to do about Puddle. It didn’t resolve my confusing feelings about Blackjack. But… at least admitting that made things a little bit different. Like Blackjack understood me a little better. And the way that she said ‘I’ll decide later’ came across… differently than her normal blase ‘no means ask me later’ response. She meant it, and that made her feel that much safer to me.

I still didn’t want her tongue under my tail, but she at least felt safer.

“I think I’ll let the two of you talk. I… I still need to figure out how I feel about her,” I said honestly. “I…” I blushed, embarrassed. “She was right there and it seemed like a good idea at the time…”

“Maybe it was a good idea,” she replied with a smile, turned, and trotted off.

I wasn’t sure it was. I didn’t know Puddle very well, and here I’d tossed myself and all of my shattered mess of a self on some poor unsuspecting pony. Did she really deserve that? Probably not. But then my mind went back to how nice it had felt to just be near her, and how earlier, when Blackjack touched my cheek, I hadn’t flinched.

I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But the experience had been different from what I’d been doing before, and maybe, just maybe, that was what I needed to think about. Instead of getting wrapped up in my own bit of self loathing.

I shook my head as I watched Blackjack’s rear disappear around an alleyway, and I stood to go find Solidarity so I could face the music with Sandalwood.

My conversation with Sandalwood was mercifully short. She and Slate were nearing Three Rivers, and she just wanted me to make sure I was okay. It was kind of awkward assuring her that I was, and that yes, I knew we needed to talk when she made it to Fold. All told, however, it was very nice to hear from the neurotic unicorn again.

“Hey Threnody? Got a minute?” Bubblegum called out to me as I made my way back to the motel.

I looked up to see the big earth pony calling down from the window of one of the upper floors. I immediately wished my wing wasn’t still actively protesting my movement of it. “Yeah! What’s up, Bubblegum?”

Bubblegum’s head moved slightly to the side as Glitter Bomb somehow managed to squeeze herself beneath him. “I found a thingy on the calculator!” She said, smiling down at me. I watched as Bubblegum quickly moved his head to get out of the way of her long horn.

“Uh… on what computer, Glitter?” I asked, genuinely confused. As far as I knew, the Family hadn’t left any terminals behind, and Fold had never had any ponies with the technical skills to use one.

I watched Bubblegum’s hoof pull Glitter out of the open window, only for him to take her place. “We’re up in Peculiar’s old room. You’re… really gonna want to see this.”

Hearing the demented stallion’s name set my teeth to grinding. I really, really would have liked to be anywhere else than his room. In fact, my room and the bathtub sounded much better. And warmer. And safer than going into Creepy McCreeperson’s personal horror show of a room. Even the earth pony who ran the motel hadn’t bothered going in there.

“Yeah, I’ll… be right up,” I said with a heavy sigh. Bubblegum gave me a concerned, if sympathetic look, then ducked back inside the hotel room.

I trotted into the hotel, and gave Room Service, the manager, a wave before scooting up the two flights of stairs to the third floor. I steadied my breathing as I headed into the hallway where I’d nearly died. Room Service had done a good job cleaning up the blood from the fight that had literally saved my life, as well as Basalt’s. However, I couldn’t shake the image of the unicorn mare’s decapitated head staring lifelessly at me as I felt the final moments of her consciousness melt away.

My stomach lurched slightly, and I had to brace myself against the wall as I tried to get that scene out of my head.

“Threnody? You alright?” Bubblegum’s concerned voice called from down the hallway.

Argh. No lying. “No. No I am not,” I admitted. “I really, really don’t like being in this hallway. Several things happened here that I’d rather forget.”

The periwinkle stallion blinked at me for a moment, before trotting over to my side. “Hey, just… keep with me,” he said, trying to sound reassuring as he walked me the few final metres into Peculiar’s room. I braced myself for the chaotic horrors that lay within…

And was met by a rather refreshing change. Somepony had changed all of the chaotic, swirling, disorienting colours to purple. I stopped as I looked up at the mobiles and at the art on the walls. Somehow it was easier to look at when it was all one solid colour.

“Did you change the decor, Glitter?” I asked, mirth tugging up the corners of my mouth.

Glitter nodded vigorously from on the other side of Peculiar’s bed. “Yeah. It was too scary to be in here with all the weird things. The colours were giving me a horn ache.” She said, looking and feeling very distressed. “So I used a colour change spell on the whole room.” Her happiness with the change seemed to make the place just a little brighter, and just a little less scary.

“It’s… much better, Glitter. You did a wonderful job,” I said with a big smile for her. “Now… what did you want to show me? I didn’t think there was a terminal in here.”

Glitter waved me over with her wing. Oh Luna. No wonder we’d missed it. Recessed into the wall was a cloud terminal. How and why something that should have been Enclave technology came to be in the room, I’d never know. And quite honestly, at that point I was afraid to ask.

Bubblegum trotted up behind us as I stared at the cloudformed computer. “Yeah, weird,” he said, voicing what all of us were thinking. “He must have gone through a lot to be able to use that. Cause unicorns need a spell to be able to interact with clouds, right?”

Glitter and I shrugged. “Uh, that’s a Blackjack question,” I said, tapping at the unlocked terminal, bringing its screen back up. “Wait… what is this?” I asked, as several hundred file trees opened up.

Glitter shuffled slightly beside me. “The password was Curiosity. I don’t know why he made it that, but it made it kinda easy to guess on the first try,” She said quietly.

“Wait, you got in on the first try?!” I asked, ignoring the mystery in front of me for a moment.

Glitter nodded enthusiastically. “Yeppers! And it was super simple once I saw the choices. I mean really. Who would ever use Parsnip as a password? That’s just silly!”

Bubblegum and I exchanged shrugs. “Well, that’s… really awesome that you were able to get into this… whatever it is,” I said, selecting the first file labelled subject e0241. It brought up a series of thirty one pairs of random letters, and an X and a Y. The file noted that there were links to e1435(f) and e5901(m). Wait. Thirty two pairs of random letters with…

“Oh my Celestia, this is the results of the blood tests!” I exclaimed, turning around excitedly as I figured it out.

Bubblegum and Glitter Bomb exchanged knowing looks. “Okay, I owe you 10 caps and a snack cake,” Bubblegum said as he started to dig through his saddlebags.

I felt like I’d missed a joke. “What?”

Glitter giggled before giving me a hug. “I figured you’d know what the silly things meant. I bet Bubblegum that you’d think we didn’t know what the alphabeticals were for.”

I laid my ears back in frustration and gave Glitter a grumpy look. “W-well.. I…” Of course, I should have known better. Bubblegum was… well, Bubblegum, and Glitter had a degree of serendipity to her that meant that she likely could have figured it out. Not to mention the fact that she spent time with Caledonia and Dry Clean Only when the pair was at the Fluttershy medical centre. I logged that away as another bad thought loop that I was getting myself into that needed correction: consistently underestimating my friends.

“Yet again thought you were the only one with a brain?” Bubblegum asked, giving me a smirk. If he weren’t so cute I’d use my hoof to wipe it off his stupid gorgeous face. “We figured it out pretty quickly, once we saw the Xs and Ys,” He explained. “But why don’t you show her the interesting ones?”

Glitter nodded, then used her wing to back the file menu up. The files split off into four categories, labelled E, U, A, and P. Glitter opened A first. “I wanted you to see mine first!” She said, letting the letters scroll along the page. At the bottom, the relations were labelled ‘unknown’, which made sense. We were fairly certain that Glitter was the first alicorn that the Family had gotten genetic data on.

“Okay, well… I am sorry that they didn’t have anything that linked you to your family, Glitter,” I said, my ears drooping slightly.

“Oh, it’s okay. I didn’t think they’d find anything!” She said, her positive mood never diminishing. “But look here!”

She pulled back and selected the P file. A single file showed up. P8472. Of course I was the only pegasus in their registry. Or at least, the only one from Fold. But as Glitter opened the file, I noticed something odd at the bottom. The top field said unknown U(f). I figured that was my mom. Which again made sense, I couldn’t think of any reason for them to–

I froze as I looked one line lower. My heart thudded in my chest. No. No way. There was no way they had anything like that!

Adding to the list of the sick jokes the universe had played on me recently, the line for the father was filled in.

Positive match to Subject of Record. Contact Records for comparison to p0989(m). 32 alleles in common.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I shouted, pushing myself away from the terminal.

I didn’t understand. I was nopony. My mom had just been some dumb trollop from Friendship City who got herself knocked up. There was absolutely no logical explanation for this that I could come up with. Glitter lay a wing over my back as I stared at the accursed screen.

How the hell did the Family have information on my dad?

75% of way to level

Author's Notes:

Well, as I said in my blog post about last year, the last month has been... interesting and busy. Both Bro and I had our butts kicked by work, but theoretically that's getting better soon! I'm so glad I was able to get this out, and start wrapping up the Fold Arc. That said, oh my god this story has gone on longer than I expected. Hopefully it was worth the wait!

This week I'm featuring a story that folks need to read. Monochromatic usually writes RariTwi stories, but she ended up writing The Choices We Make, and she did an amazing job with the subject matter. I kind of gushed to her about it when I read it, and honestly... it's just an interesting take on the darker aspects of human psychology, and how we deal with them.

- Heartshine