Tarnish wasn’t entirely sold on the practicality of the steam musket. It was heavy, it was bulky, it was dangerous, and it would be a constant, steady drain on his magic. Not only would he have to heat it, but he would have to carry it in his telekinesis as well. As a weapon, it was only accurate for about twenty to thirty yards, by Vinyl’s estimation, because the barrel wasn’t rifled. It was noisy, but that didn’t matter because if it needed to be fired, the enemy was already on top of them.

Still, for all of the problems it presented, it was a solution. One shot would scrap a mechanoid, provided that he hit it. Targeting was an issue, because he had no means to draw a bead with it. No matter how hard he tried, he could not cast a targeting spell, the magic was just beyond his abilities, just like so many other common spells taken for granted by so many unicorns.

The sledge jerked forwards in the snow a few inches at a time. It was overloaded, so much so that it made Tarnish worry. Daring Do seemed up for the task, or at least she said she was, but saying it and doing it were two different things. One thing was for certain; Daring was tough. After a few jiggers of bourbon, Daring was ready to be hitched up, ready to go, ready to prove herself.

As for Tarnish, he was still having some trouble sitting down and winced if he sat on his backside wrong.

An excerpt of the writings from She of the Bridged Eighth Notes—

For the first time since coming to Skyreach, it doesn’t feel like we’re going to die right away. We came real close, closer than I’d like to admit, but I think that pushed us to be harder and tougher. What a difference a day makes. We go from almost dying to being angry and well armed. I was able to jury rig a steam musket for Tarnish and it works well enough. I have this arm cannon thingamajig. We’re not helpless now.

Tomorrow, we’re going to go out and start searching for answers. Daring is pretty insistent on that. No more sitting snug and secure in our cave, sipping tea and being snuggly with one another. I don’t know how I feel about all of this. I’ve gone from being a sound engineer to a combat engineer. If I ever get out of this place, I think I owe Princess Celestia a big thank you, as all engineering students of every stripe are required to spend two years learning the basics of every engineering discipline in her school. Without those two years of schooling, we might all be dead.

I miss my Smelly Melly. It hurts, but I won’t complain. Everypony is missing somepony. Tarnish and I, we’re missing our family. It feels weird to write that down, but I guess that it’s true. After this, after Skyreach, I don’t think there will be any going back to how things were, we’re bonded now. What about Smelly Melly and Maud? I don’t know. I would imagine that if Tarnish and I can’t get home from here, those two are going to bond over loss. I hope they’ll stay together. I wish I had some way of knowing.

That’s the worst part of Skyreach, I think. There will be no closure for anypony if we die here.

I think about my role as the Herald of Selene a lot. My purpose is to be the Heliophant’s bodyguard, his companion, and my loyalty is to him and him alone. I don’t know if I’ve taken this seriously enough until now. Now, with death lurking so close and every moment mattering, every meal, every breath drawn, every minute of sleep, the meaning and purpose of being the Herald of Selene grows clearer.

Our relationship mirrors Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and our order goes back to a time before our princesses were even born. Knowing this has given me understanding, given me clarity. I understand them more, and I have a bit more understanding of Celestia’s pain. Banishing her sister, that was bucking the natural order of everything. It’s hard to put it into words, but I think I have an understanding that most don’t.

The sisters have this special bond that goes beyond kinship just like Tarnish and I do. Sun and moon. Each are defined by how they contrast with the other. Night and day. The existence of one reinforces the need for the other. I don’t know if I can write it out in a way that makes sense. The night is great and all, but it has to end. The sun has to rise, and in those early hours, when your head is buzzed, when you’ve drank too much, when your ears are ringing from the thumping music that went on all night long, it feels good to transition into the quiet. It feels good to know the dawn is coming, that it is time for a greasy breakfast, a few aspirin, a few glasses of water, and then, off to bed.

The night ends, and that night is made special by the dawn, which is nature’s way of telling you that it is time for sleep. Princess Luna wanted to make the night last forever, and while that seems cool and all, it’s a bad idea in practice. Princess Celestia had to fix that somehow, but to do that, she had to wreck the system completely. She had to break the scales, the balances, she had to remove the other half of what makes the whole thing work. To somepony so in touch with harmony, that must have been a real bitch of a thing to do.

It would be like me having to kill Tarnish, or Tarnish having to cut me down. Would we? Could we? I don’t even like to think about it. I don’t think either one of us is strong like Princess Celestia is strong. I think we’d both cry like bitches and the world would suffer.

But, there are moments. There are moments when Tarnish scares me. He’s a good guy, he is, and I hope he never reads this, but there are times when he is damn scary. It’s his ego, it’s made of glass, brittle, brittle glass, and if something hurts him, if something threatens his ego, Tarnish can get mean. There is no pony in existence that scares me quite like Tarnish. I wonder sometimes, what if we weren’t here? Octavia, Maud, and I? We soothe his fragile ego, we keep him lifted, leveled out, and sane.

Don’t get me wrong, Tarnish has this great capacity to do good, but as Princess Celestia told me during one of our chats, those who have the greatest capacity to do good also hold the highest potential for evil. I think she was trying to tell me something, maybe, perhaps. Princess Luna has a tremendous capacity to do good, and look what happened with her. It was her ego that made her stumble.

I hope that Skyreach doesn’t make Tarnish stumble. I don’t know if Rainbow, Daring, and I could bring him down. I need to find a way to talk to the others without Tarnish knowing. We need to have a plan to keep his spirits up and we need to be watchful of those hidden funks of his.

He’s my best friend and I worry about him.

Author's Notes:

Now: exploration phase.