I stood under a clear night sky, looking up into the deep darkness of night. The stars twinkled in the heavens creating a beautiful atmosphere. It was a shame that it was a fallacy. Once I recognized that fact the cloud cover returned the sky to the dreary gray I was familiar with. That was when I noticed I was not siting under the clouds alone. I turned around and was greeted by the grave I had dug for Winter outside Stable 63. Winter herself rose out of the ground as if she had been riding an elevator, not even disturbing the dirt.

“Hello Sparks.” She greeted with the emotion of a passerby in the hall.

“Hello Winter.” My voice was choked by a sadness that seeing her brought, even though I knew this wasn’t real.

“What have you done to yourself?” She asked, her eyes betraying her sadness her face wouldn’t show.

“What do you mean?” It was always a bit unclear what my ghosts were referring to. In Winter’s case it could be nearly anything.

“There is a dark stain on your spirit. Like an infection. It is a part of you now.”

An image of the void pony flashed in the recesses of my mind and Winter reacted like she also saw it. She took a step back and her eyes widened in fear.

“Is that what you are now? A monster?”

“I am a survivor! I do what I have to do to stay alive out there!” I snapped. I’d had it with everypony looking at me like I was some kind of demon for making a sacrifice to save somepony I loved. I was so tired of trying to be a good pony and everypony else still making me the bad guy somehow.

“Call it whatever you want Sparks but you aren’t the pony I fell in love with, not anymore.”

“I tried,Winter, what more do you want me to say? That I’m sorry for not rolling over and dying? That I should have left you in Stable 63 because I was too weak to do what I had to?”

“If it meant not becoming what you are now, then yes.”

“H-how could you say that?” From her that really hurt me. “I gave everything I had to see you again. That thought alone kept me from putting a bullet in my head. When I learned that we were nothing, that we were cattle for a project beyond our understanding I had a decision to make. I defied what we are, what we were meant to be for you! So, don’t stand there and call me a monster for loving you more than myself!” At least she had the decency to look ashamed once I finished. I had to cool down so I stepped away from her and looked off into the distance.

“I…I’m sorry. I wish I could have been the pony you deserved.” I heard her say from behind me. “Maybe she will do a better job than I did.”

She? Who did she mean by that? When I turned around to face her, I saw that I was alone.

“I…I…Winter…” I felt my voice catching in my throat as tears welled up in my eyes and my words drifted off into the darkness. “Forgive me.”

I jolted myself awake so fast that everypony in the room jumped at my sudden movement. Once my brain had caught up to my body, I noticed that I was back on the second floor where we left Azura. Azura! My body moved on its own, scrambling to get me up on my hooves.

“Whoa! You need to take it easy Sparks.” Grim placed his claws on my shoulders and forcibly sat me back down. I tried to power past him and get back up but my strength failed me and all at once I lost my breath and balance. Why was I so weak? My every muscle ached and my head throbbed like I had the world’s worst hangover.

“I don’t know what you had to do to get the transfusion equipment but you overexerted yourself bigtime. You need to give your body more time to rest.”

“…A-…Azura…” I wheezed between breaths. Grim nodded and pointed to a mattress in the corner of the room where Azura laid curled up.

“Sunny and Aurora helped me with the transfusion while I removed the horns. She lost a lot of blood even with what I gave her but she made it. She’s weak but she’ll survive.” Hearing that was like waking up from a nightmare. My breathing had settled down and I turned back to Grim with one of the sincerest smiles I’d had in a long time.

“Thank you…I owe you everything.”

Grim shook his head and chuckled. “I am your friend Sparks, you don’t owe me anything. When are you going to realize that? If you really want to repay me then you can start by getting some rest. I’ll take care of her…and you if I have to.”

“What about the others?” I gave the room a more thorough look to see that Sunny and Aurora were already asleep on their own mattress behind me, Aurora’s head resting in the crook of Sunny’s neck.

“They already got a head start on you.” Grim pointed out the window into the darkness of night and took his leave from me. I resigned to do as I was told, looking down to see that I was on my own mattress. Sunny must have dragged them from the barracks or something. I laid down as comfortably as I could and tried to get a restful sleep.

Light crept in from the open window and hit my face with enough intensity to stir me from my rest. When I opened my eyes, I saw that at some point in the night Aurora had joined me on my mattress, having curled up in front of me her back to my chest. I wrapped her in a hug, pulling her closer to me. Aurora was one of the few constants that I could count on to be there when I needed her. She would always be my beacon of light whenever I got lost in the dark. I stroked her mane lovingly, careful not to wake her.

“You really love her, don’t you?” Grim observed from across the room.

“I do. As much as I can love anything. When I had given up hope, when I was ready to put an end to it, she was there to stop me. She made me see that even though I wanted to die my life still had value. Saving her from dealing with my death is more important to me than what I would free myself from.”

“Was…was it really that bad?”

“To me it was.”

“It wasn’t exactly easy for anyone.” Sunny said from behind me, startling me.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.” Every one of us lost something in the lead up to the Battle of Black Town. I stopped stroking Aurora’s mane and carefully stood up from the mattress, joining Grim next to Azura.

“How’s she doing?” I reached out a hoof to touch her but was stopped by Grim.

“She’s going to need some time to rest and heal. The medicine did most of the work healing her wounds but her body needs time to deal with the trauma.”

“How long until she can move on her own?”

“A day or two at least.”

That was promising. She would be back to herself in no time and then…then I could tell her how I really felt about her. I desperately didn’t want to admit my feelings to myself, let alone anyone else. The ghost of Winter showed me just how much I still loved and missed her. Admitting that I felt the same way about Azura was like I was throwing everything I had done and suffered for since Winter died away. In a way that was the truth. I may have done what I did in her name but it was solely for my benefit. An excuse to vent the rage I had built up inside me before it killed me or somepony who didn’t deserve it. I…I didn’t know if I was ready to move on. Even with Chestnut dead, Winter avenged and the feelings I was developing for Azura my heart was still a storm of confliction.

“How are our supplies looking?” I asked, hoping the change of subject would distract my mind.

“Some of us might have to go hungry soon. We don’t have a lot of water either. We can get more from the base’s water pipes but it’ll be irradiated.”

“It’ll have to do. Sunny, we should start looking for what we came here for.”

“What about her?” Sunny pointed to the still sleeping white filly.

“We’ll let her decide. She can come with us or stay and help Grim. She won’t bother you will she?”

“Not at all, she was actually a big help while you were out.”

I was glad to see that she was doing exactly what she said she’d do. She declared that she didn’t want to be a burden anymore and she was making it happen. She would become a valuable member of our group in time. Now it was time to see where she wanted to direct her efforts today. I nudged her until her eyes fluttered open.

“Time to wake up Princess. We have a lot to do still.”

Aurora was on her hooves in a blink and grabbed me by the neck, yanking my head around and inspecting my face for…something.

“Are you ok dad? Aunt Sunny said she found you passed out and Grim said you were in danger of hurting yourself if you kept going.”

“That might still happen but I feel better than I did yesterday. Besides I’m not gonna let that stop us from stopping Dusk Diver.” I looked back to Grim with an expectant look. I may have meant what I said but if I was going to damage myself if I continued then I needed Grim to give me the go ahead.

“You got a full night’s rest so you should be alright. I’d ask you to not to overdo it but I know you wouldn’t listen.”

“You say somethin’ Grim?” I gave an innocent, shit-eating smirk.

“Ha ha. See if I save your ass next time.” He snarked, waving a claw to shoo me out of the room.

Sunny was waiting in the doorway for me to follow and I was content to let her take the lead for a while. I stopped just before the threshold and looked back to Aurora.

“Are you coming Aurora? Or do you want to stay with Grim?”

She actually looked conflicted on what it was she wanted, glancing back and forth between me and Azura. Grim noticed the look of confliction on her face and helped her choose.

“Go ahead kiddo. I can take care of her.”

“Are you sure?” she fidgeted in place, making sure she wouldn’t be needed.

“I think it would mean a lot to your dad if you went with him. I promise I’ll take good care of her.” He pointed back towards the still unconscious Azura.

“Okay.” Aurora grabbed what she needed and joined me near the door. “Ready to go dad.” She stated, looking up at me with a spark of determination in her eyes.

“Alright then. Let’s go.” We all made our exit and returned to the large steel door that more than likely led to the armory. As before the only means of operating the door seemed to be a lone pin pad in the wall.

“I guess we should look around. Any ideas?” Aurora gave the door a scrutinizing stare.

“I’m sure there’s a terminal somewhere that might have a clue.” I observed, noting that almost every place we’d been had at least one working terminal.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright dad?” Aurora poked me in the side to get my attention.

“No, not really. I’m still a bit sore and it feels like I’m sick.” Whatever force that was compelling me to the swamp was sapping my strength, or at least I felt like it was. I decided to take advantage of our search to isolate myself to indulge in a particular vice.

“Is it because of what happened to your aura at the theatre?”

“Not now Aurora, later. The sooner we’re done here the sooner we can discuss what happened.” I lied. Then I spied Sunny out of the corner of my eye listening in on us. “Later.” I directed that one towards her and took my leave from the two of them. I split off across the hall and found the mess hall. I spotted a notice board mounted to the wall with most of the postings still intact. I would have to remember to check that out but for now my priority was me. The bathroom made for a disgusting place to satisfy my urges but it would do for what I needed.

The high window to the outside was broken, leaving the cracked tiles covered in a pungent smelling mold made worse by the irradiated water in the less than clean toilets. Ignoring all that, I dug my treasure out of my bag and smiled. I had thought I gave all my meds and chems to Grim but I was thrilled to find that I still had one. The syringe of pain killer glinted beautifully even in the low light of the bathroom. Before I could even finish the thought, I had plunged the needle into my rump and pushed the plunger. A refreshing cooling sensation permeated my body and washed away the fatigue I had been feeling. That was exactly what I needed. I got ready to head back to the others when I caught a look at myself in the broken mirror. I looked like hell. My eyes were slightly red and had noticeable bags forming under them. My coat was matted with dirt and grime, my mane was fairing about as well. I looked just as I felt only moments ago. I could see why Aurora was worried about me. I reached under my armor and took Winter’s necklace in my hoof. Even if who I saw in the mirror didn’t look like me, I was still me, nopony else. I am who I choose to be.

I took a deep breath and made my way back to the others. Neither of them asked any questions about where I went, though judging by the look Sunny gave me she had some sort of idea. After a somewhat intensive search of the surrounding rooms I was surprised to find that every terminal we came across was inoperable. I didn’t know where to go from there. That had never happened before.

“I found something!” I heard Aurora call from down the hall. Sunny and I converged on her location to find her looking at the notice board I had forgotten about in the mess hall.

“Fuck…” I muttered under my breath. “What is it?”

Aurora pointed to several of the notices pinned to the board, among them were two that related to the armory. The first was a post reminding recruits that the armory was restricted to officers and other high-ranking officials and that interacting with the pin pad without authorization would result in corporal punishment. The other was advertising a training course, which if cleared adequately, would reward soldiers with access to the armory under strict supervision from an officer. The course itself, according to the flyer, was nestled inside the Balefire Swamp. Great…that was just where I wanted to go. I had hoped to avoid the swamp until it was time to return to Baltimare. It was too much to hope that we could find the code on a dead officer because of something I had yet to notice, there were no bodies in the base. Steelwing said this place was likely looted soon after the bombs fell. If there were bodies before they were long gone, though I shuddered at the thought of what the ancient looters wanted with dead bodies.

“So, we have to go into the swamp…to complete a training course…to hopefully get the code to the armory?” I said aloud, bemoaning the absurdity of the situation.

“Looks like it. Why? Don’t feel up to it?” Sunny challenged with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“I doubt I’m in the same condition as an old Equestrian soldier.” I pointed out, looking at my body skeptically

“You might surprise yourself. I remember what you looked like when I first met you and trust me, you aren’t that pony anymore.” Sunny poked me in the chest, emphasizing the layer of muscle I had gained since leaving the stable. I truly hadn’t noticed and I certainly didn’t feel it, especially after the time we spent in the slave pens.

“Regardless it’s our best lead.” I took the flyer off the board and squinted to try and read the location of the training facility. I couldn’t make out any of it but was saved yet again by the miracle of technology attached to my leg. A simple marker appeared on my map that presumably led to the facility, all we had to do was follow it. “We should go let Grim know what’s going on. We’re going to have to leave him and…and Azura here.” I hesitated slightly at the prospect of leaving her here but was comforted by Grim being the one to stay with her. Remembering that he had the most medical experience AND more combat experience than me.

Grim took the news reasonably well, pointing out that regardless of where we had to go, he wasn’t going to move Azura just yet. Judging by the marker on my map we should be able to get there and back within the day. Grim bade us farewell and watched us go from the window as we found ourselves at the edge of the swamp yet again. I peered into the dark depths of the swamp and felt a dull pain in my shoulder where Belua had bitten me twice now. It was in there somewhere and now that I knew it was after me specifically for whatever reason, I feared a third encounter with the great beast.

“Take some radiation medicine everypony, we got a ways to go.” One chalky tablet later we were ready to brave the fallout of the balefire geysers. Once again, I was missing the advantage of having fliers with me as this time there was no one to keep Aurora out of dangers way. So, we had to move slower than when we first crossed the swamp to ensure nopony got hurt. Though if we were to have any strength for when we got to the facility Sunny and I couldn’t just take turns carrying her the whole way. Which made for another hard decision to make.

“Hey Princess? Do you think you’d be alright to get your hooves dirty?” I forced out hesitantly.

“You mean walk? Are you sure?” She raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking just a little hopeful.

“No but you said you wanted more room to do your own thing and I’m getting tired carrying you. I hope you’ve been paying attention in here because now it’s time to show me if you’ve got what it takes.” I turned my hesitation into a challenge, both as a way to try and make peace with the idea and to gauge her reaction to it.

“Oh, I’ve got what it takes, I’ve been watching you guys and I’m gonna make this swamp my playground.” She hopped down from my back, landing on her hooves and standing face to face with me. “Just watch what I do with these flames!” She may have been reacting a little too confidently for my tastes. A feeling that she took note of by the displeased look on my face, shrinking back a bit and looking slightly repentant. “…Sorry. I’ll be careful.”

“Thank you.” I sighed and motioned for her to follow Sunny, leaving me to take up the rear. Thankfully there seemed to be some merit behind her words as she carefully followed Sunny and managed to dodge a few pillars of balefire without warning from either of us. She was taking the chance I gave her and giving it everything she had. Aurora Dawn was a remarkable little pony, shaped by experiences that gave her strength and resolve a filly her age shouldn’t have. Just imagining the pony she could become filled me with pride.

Pride in somepony else…I was glad that I got to be her parent…

We continued on for approximately three hours and if we kept this pace, we should make it in the next thirty minutes.

“Is now an alright time to talk about your aura?” Aurora asked, skipping over a puddle of filthy water.

“Later.” I wasn’t ready to discuss this yet, with her or anybody else. Aurora didn’t understand why I chose to suffer for her sake, she wouldn’t be able to accept that I did it to protect her.

“Well when is it going to be later? I know what I saw, something happened to you.” She craned her head to look me in the eye.

“Aurora, stop.”

“No! I won’t let you pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Aurora-”

“You did it on purpose didn’t you? Look at me! You did something to yourself that-” a low rumble and spike in ambient radiation signaled what I was most afraid of. Aurora had walked straight across an active geyser.

“Aurora, Jump!” I yelled, rushing between her and the geyser as it erupted. Aurora hadn’t cleared the whole thing so I threw up a shield in front of me to protect her. Unfortunately, I didn’t know the power of the magic that ended the world as the sick, green flame ate through my shield like it was ice. I used what magic I had left and pushed Aurora behind me, settling into shielding her with my body. My Geiger counter was ticking so fast that it sounded like a solid noise. Then came the searing pain as the glowing green flames burned through my armor, my fur and eventually my skin. I screamed at the top of my lungs as it felt like I was being burned through to the bone. The geyser only lasted seconds but to me it could have been days. Once the flames subsided, I collapsed face first into the muck of the swamp. Which brought on a new rush of pain as the filthy water met my burnt flesh. Sunny and Aurora were on me fast, pulling me out of the mud and to the mostly dry dirt underneath a nearby tree. I couldn’t vocalize more than pained groans, causing no small amount of worry in the others.

“Is he gonna be alright!?” Aurora cried, running to my side. She looked over me with fear and worry on her face, barely restraining herself from touching me.

“I don’t know sweetie. Give him some space, I’m going to see what I can do for him.” Sunny dumped her bags on the ground beside me and began looking through it with great haste.

“This is my fault, I wasn’t paying attention. He tried to warn me but I-” Aurora could do little more than shuffle in place, panic setting in.

“Aurora!” Sunny shouted, getting her attention. “I need you to calm down. You can’t help him like this. Understand?” Aurora swallowed her fear and went to Sunny’s side to try and help her.

A moment or so later Sunny stood up in frustration, unable to find what she was looking for.

“Fuck, every time we need that fucking bird he’s not around.”

Something about that made me want to laugh but all that came out was an agonized wheeze. Sunny took notice and carefully removed my bags and began searching through them, presumably to find medicine. At this point the pain I was feeling was beginning to dull. Whether I was just getting used to it or my nervous system was beginning to burn out was anypony’s guess. For a moment I was actually finding a level of comfort through the pain when I suddenly began to feel very sick. Before I could even take a breath, vomit poured from my mouth, splashing myself with what looked like blood.

“Sunny!” Aurora pointed to the blood I had thrown up, her panic returning tenfold.

“I know, I know!” Sunny seemed to have found what she was looking for, dumping a concoction of chemicals down my throat. “C’mon Sparks, you’ve been hurt worse than this. The burns aren’t even that bad.” She forced a chuckle but I could see through her. She was feeling just as scared as Aurora was, though she could hide it better.

“What did you give him?” Aurora came back to my side, yet again holding back from touching me.

“A little bit of everything. Rad meds, a potion and some…pain killer.” She paused just long enough for me to hear the confliction in her voice. My eyes were getting heavy and the pain was starting subside, genuinely this time. After fifteen or so minutes I tried to sit up and made it far enough to not vomit blood on myself this time.

“I…I don’t…” I managed to croak out, trying again to get to my hooves.

“Don’t be a hero Sparks, take it slow. We’re here for you.” Sunny placed a hoof on my chest and kept me from rising too quickly. I turned my hazy gaze to Aurora who broke down the moment our eyes met. She rushed next to me and gave me the gentlest hug she could give, carefully nuzzling my face.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she cried, tears rolling from her eyes nonstop. I wanted to comfort her, tell her that it wasn’t her fault and that I was going to be ok but I just couldn’t. My body was still working only because of the chemical concoction Sunny forced down my gullet. We were both right, it was just as much my fault as it was hers. Though she knew that I was happy to be in this position if it meant she wouldn’t be.

“Why would you do that? You’re so stupid dad…” Aurora sobbed quietly into my chest. This was worse than the slave pens by a large margin, I couldn’t fully imagine how she must have felt. It took some doing but I managed to find a second wind of sorts and wrap a leg around her, at the very least reminding her I was there.

“I guess…I didn’t try very hard…after all.”

“You’re gonna be alright Sparks.” Sunny knelt down and showed me the most affection she had ever had by softly nuzzling my cheek. It was a great comfort to me to have these girls here by my side. My girls…only one was missing and she was in just as bad a shape as me, if not more so. The two of them laid there against me for I don’t know how long before I actually started to feel better. I startled them into getting off me by grunting loudly and using what energy I had accumulated into throwing my body to its hooves. I found minor success as I was now in a standing position, albeit on very shaky legs. Every movement I made sent a ripple of pain across the burns on my front legs, chest and parts of my face. Just like the last time I was hurt badly, Sunny and Aurora practically surgically attached themselves to my hips, helping to guide me along.

“Easy Sparks, here take another one of these.” Sunny lifted another bottle of healing liquid to my lips, tipping it back slowly into my mouth.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Aurora cried from my left side. “Are you alright!? This is my fault…” Her eyes drooped away from mine, her own shame taking over.

“It was…my choice.” I said softly, wobbling as I tried to take a step forward. “Easy choice to make.” She knew that no matter what, if I could take a hit for her I would. It was my duty to protect my daughter, even if she didn’t want me to. “I…I don’t feel too…” I took another shaky step forward and vomited a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

“You’re gonna make it Sparks, we’re gonna get you to that facility and find you some medicine okay?” Sunny wiped my mouth of any excess blood. I could hear the slight hitch in her voice as well as see the tears accumulating in the corners of her eyes. In truth the burns weren’t as bad as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, they were bad but it was the radiation poisoning that was killing me. It was a good thing that we stockpiled on radiation medicine but even then, they could only do so much. I was going to need my system flushed with something more potent than what we carried if I was going to make a full recovery. As for now, we continued towards the marker in the swamp, easily avoiding the brunt of the geysers at our slow pace. So much for getting back by the end of the day, I thought.

Aurora was quiet, though clearly beating herself up inside. I slowed to a stop, getting the attention of the two holding me up. Without a word, I bent down and placed a kiss on top of Aurora’s head. The action got her to look me in the eye and she knew that I forgave her. It didn’t do much to alleviate whatever feelings were tormenting her but it was a start in the right direction. As for Sunny, it was rare that such a soft moment occurred between the two of us so I wasn’t sure how to approach it. I decided that the simplest option was the easiest and placed a hoof on the back of her neck and pulling her close so that our cheeks were touching.

“Thank you. Both of you…I love you girls with all my heart.”

“I love you too dad!” Aurora wrapped her legs around one of mine and hugged me for all she was worth. Crying fresh tears into what fur I had left.

Sunny, to my surprise, didn’t shy away and instead placed her own hoof on the back of my neck and returned the gesture. Holding us together, cheek to cheek as she closed her eyes and smiled sadly.

“I know…me too Sparks.”

In the next few hours, as we neared our destination, it felt like the others spent more time carrying me than I did walking myself. Though by the time we arrived I was starting to feel much, much better. I could walk under my own power but I still felt sick enough to warrant the others staying very close to my side. The fence surrounding the site was ensnared in the unchecked growth of the swamp, making it blend in well against the swamp itself. There were two watchtowers on both sides of the entrance and the gate itself was already open, pushed out like something had left.

“This looks like the place.” I croaked. According to the marker on my PipBuck’s map we were right where we needed to be. I inched forward, wary of my surroundings as I could barely see the shapes of buildings through the haze. My EFS was all clear but something about this place had me on edge. More so than it had before.

“Sunny, take the lead. Aurora, by me.” I said quietly, just barely managing to suppress a wet cough. We crept forward at a slow pace, guns at the ready, unable to pick up any sounds beyond the ambient noise of the swamp. We had covered half the distance from the fence to the nearest building when I could hold it in no longer. I fell into a fit of coughing, hacking up flecks of blood into my hoof. The sound I had made only confirmed my fears when a dry screech echoed through the grounds. Out of the haze came a pack of feral ghouls, charging at us ready to kill. Sunny and I picked off two before they gained much ground but the rest were going to fall upon us in seconds. I was in no condition to take any hit from a feral so when one had closed the gap and was ready to strike, I had to put all my focus into putting a shield around myself and Aurora. The ghoul bounced off my shield and was swiftly executed by Sunny. We weren’t in the clear, not by a long shot and I wasn’t going to get anywhere fast. I had to divide my attention to maintaining my shield and moving forward, hoping to Luna that my shield would hold long enough to get us inside. The ghouls attacking us were an unusual pack. Some looked like they could have been stationed here when the world ended and others looked…fresh for lack of a better word. Of particular note was the fact that all the ‘fresh’ ghouls were zebra. Sunny was deftly dodging swipes from the ferals while taking out as many as she could.

However even Sunny was just one mare and some ghouls ignored her and kept trying to get to me and Aurora. Every hit against my shield caused me unbelievable strain, the shield itself starting to crack as my magic waned. I could hear a familiar voice, offering me more of its power. NO! I can do this, with my own power! I mentally screamed back at the dark whispers. A new sense of determination empowered my spell, stopping the forming cracks from spreading any further. I had to do it, the price of failure was too high. I had to do it for me and for my daughter who stayed by my side, battling her own fears. After everything, if she could hold it together then so could I. Sunny was succeeding in thinning out the pack and had cleared a path for me to the doors of the administration building. With one final step I collapsed at the base of the door and my shield fell. The ferals were quick to take advantage my weakened state, eager to rip the flesh from my bones. I reached up towards the door and attempted to get it open, relying on Sunny and Aurora to the ghouls at bay. Aurora squealed as a feral’s jaw clamped down on her pistol and yanked it out of her mouth. Just as I was about to abandon the door to help her, it gave way and I slumped inside. Sunny pushed Aurora through the door with a hind leg and drug me through by her teeth, slamming the door shut and wedging them shut with a chair.

“I…I need a nap.” My voice was just above a whisper and I made no attempt to stand back up, content to lay on the cool floor forever. If I wasn’t exhausted before then I certainly was now, even the cocktail of drugs that barely kept me awake was beginning to fade. In its place came the stinging pain of the burns, though much less intense than before. The nausea from the radiation sickness also reared its head, as a convulsion rolled through my body and expelled more of my blood onto the floor through my mouth. My limbs were heavy from exhaustion and I doubted I would be moving from this spot without help from the others.

“Stay with him Aurora, I’m going to look for more medicine.” Sunny didn’t wait for an answer and trotted out of the room, leaving Aurora and I alone, breathing heavily in silence. Aurora slowly pulled me away from the door, so at least I wouldn’t be resting in my own blood.

“Thanks princess.” I gurgled out before coughing out what blood had been in my lungs into the air.

“This is my fault.” She whispered, giving me a long inspection. “It’s because of me that you’re hurt.” Aurora struggled to blink away her tears, all the while trying to avoid looking me in the eye. I hardly had the strength to open my eyes yet that wouldn’t be enough to stop me from comforting my daughter.

“I already told you…it was my choice. My choice to let you walk, my choice to protect you.”

“I…I know that…but I could have prevented the whole thing if…if I just left you alone. You had to save me because I didn’t want you to keep saving me…” Aurora’s voice sped up like she had come to some kind of realization. As much as I was pained to admit, she was right. All of this could have been avoided if she just let it be but I refused to think that I made the wrong choice.

“You’re worth it Aurora. If I lost you… You were all that kept me going after Winter died, all that mattered to me in the world and that hasn’t changed.” A wayward smile had no right to appear on my face, though Aurora seemed to notice as I felt her press her cheek against mine.

“I…I just wanted to help. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I want to be capable enough to protect myself.” That was her own way of protecting ME, so I wouldn’t take the hits for her.

“I know princess, but it’s not that simple. It took me a while to learn to fend for myself. So we’ll get you there, it’ll just take some time.” I so desperately wanted to sleep but I wouldn’t dare leave her with such guilt weighing on her. “I love you Aurora Dawn, don’t ever forget that and nothing will ever stop me from loving you.” She needed to know that I didn’t hold this against her even when she wanted somepony to be upset with her.

“I love you too daddy.” She carefully wrapped her legs around my neck and hugged me softly. With that I was satisfied and let myself fall asleep in my daughter’s embrace.

“You could have died there you know.” A reverberating voice echoed in my mindscape.

“I know. It would have been a good way to die.” I said, my own voice resonating in the inky darkness.

“There is no good way to die. Death is the end of things and just like me, you don’t want to die even if you have to suffer endlessly for the rest of your days.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?” the voice said as if coddling a foal. “Maybe I won’t intervene the next time. Maybe an angry spirit will skip rope with your entrails. Or maybe I’ll just watch what befalls you from a distance…Alright I was going to do that last one anyway.” It finished with a laugh.

“W-…who are you?” This voice…it wasn’t the same as the other.

“Me? You can call me…Discord…”

My eyes fluttered open and I tried to take a deep breath but was only rewarded with more bloody sputtering. This in turn alerted the filly who was diligently watching over me to drop my pistol from her mouth and come to my side. She dabbed the blood away from my mouth, as she had been doing, while holding a nervous expression.

“I’m so glad you’re awake, Sunny has been gone for a long time.” She tilted her head the way Sunny had left and frowned. “I’m starting to get worried that something happened.”

“Don’t worry about her. Sunny is the toughest pony I know.” Having rested for a little bit I decided to try my luck and get to my hooves. Aurora was vital in helping me get my weight off the floor and from there all I had to do was find my balance.

“Don’t overdo it dad.” Aurora had shouldered me to a standing position and knew that no matter what I was going to push it too far. Which was mostly true.

“Take the lead Aurora, let’s go find Sunny.” I could barely open my left eye and almost every movement caused my wounds to sting like the flames were still licking at my flesh.

“You want me to lead?” Her face scrunched up, astounded that I wanted to give her that responsibility.

“Well how am I supposed to do it?” I said through my teeth, hissing and unintentionally showing her how much pain I was in.

“A-alright.” Aurora scooped up my pistol from the floor with her mouth and nodded for me to fall in line behind her. “fllow ee.”

As I slowly brought up the rear I decided to check my PipBuck, looking for Sunny’s ID tag. The map hadn’t filled out yet so I couldn’t tell if she was even in the same building as us. The administration building was mostly hallways lined with office spaces and not much else. Although it was a military training facility so the chances of there being something we couldn’t see were high.

“Does it hurt?” Aurora had spat the gun out on an office chair, looking at me with the utmost concern.

“Does it look that bad?” I hadn’t seen myself yet but judging by the way my legs looked, it was probably a safe bet to say that I looked like hell.

“Yeah, it…it doesn’t look good. Tell me the truth dad, does it hurt?”

“Yes…it hurts pretty bad.” The guilt she had felt before came back, her eyes drifting to the floor, hiding away from me in shame.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered

“You don’t need to apologize. Let go of the grief you’re feeling. I don’t blame you.” It was more my fault than hers anyway.

“I know dad…I know.” She knew everything that she needed to. I just had to leave her to come to her own conclusion on how to move forward.

“Hey guys, feeling better Sparks?” Sunny appeared from an adjacent room, her bags bulging with stuff she scavenged.

“Not really.”

“Well you’re in luck, the swamp must have hidden this place from scavengers because it was untouched. So, guess what I found?”

“You didn’t.”

“I did.” Sunny allowed herself a cocky smug as she fished out an IV bag filled with a curious looking dark green fluid.

“That’s…not Rad-Away. What is that?”

“Look at the label.” Sunny tossed the bag to Aurora who caught it and carefully inspected the label.

“RadPurge?”

“That…will probably work.” I reluctantly took the bag from her and consumed its contents. The vile flavor sloshed down my throat, making me gag and only through the will to get better did I manage to keep it down.

“Tasty right?” Sunny teased, giving me a knowing smirk.

“Shut up.” I checked my status on my PipBuck to see that the concoction had taken my dosimeter down from the deadly level to minor.

“So? How do you feel?” Aurora looked at me eagerly, anxious for some good news regarding my condition.

“Better, much better.” I still wasn’t in the best shape but all that lingered was some minor nausea so that was a big win for me. “Now if we could find something for my burns.”

“Yeah about that…” Sunny looked away from us wistfully.

“What? Do you have something for that too?” I sneered, raising an expecting eye brow at her.

“Actually, I do.” Sunny pulled a super healing potion out of her bag, balancing it on her hoof with a smug grin. “While you were napping, I cleaned this place out. There are a couple terminals I left for you, including the one I think we need to start the training exercise.” She held out the potion which I gratefully took in my magic and floated over to me.

“Sunny…I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t thank me at all. You did what any parent should do.” She directed her gaze to Aurora who slightly turned away from her. “Even if some ponies don’t think so.”

Sunny knew more than I did about the bond between parent and child so she didn’t need or want an explanation for what I did, she already knew.

“C’mon, I’ll show you the terminals.” Sunny turned around and went back the way she came. I motioned Aurora to follow her while I downed the potion. In seconds I felt sweet relief as the constant stinging pain lessened and then became almost unnoticeable. After everything I walked away with only minor radiation poisoning…and some scars. I followed after the others and found them in an open room containing two rows of desks, each with a chair and terminal of their own. A few still glowed in the low light but the desk at the back of the room that sat apart from the others was my target. As suspected the dirty nameplate on the desk denoted a position of authority reading: Colonel Licorice Whip. I sat down in front of the terminal and prepared myself to plunder its secrets when something caught my eye. On the desk opposite the terminal was a small, dirty mirror. I took it in my hoof and wiped its surface clean and got a good look at myself. While the burns had healed, they left several bald patches of burn scars on the fur on my face, chest and legs. I looked incredibly strange with patches of soft pink skin against the darker blue of my fur. My mane too had been burnt enough that I would have to cut it to salvage what was left. My armor was ruined and all that remained was my dead bomb collar and stealth cloak, both of which guarded my necklace. The longer I was outside the more I didn’t look like myself but there was no going back now, there was only me.

“I didn’t want to say anything…” Sunny’s face appeared in the mirror. “But you look pretty ragged.”

“That’s putting it nicely. I look like a freak. Thank Luna I didn’t see myself when I was hurt.” I grimaced at how I must have looked not ten minutes ago. What I needed was a distraction and by the goddesses I thankfully had one. I plugged my PipBuck into the terminal and got to work combing the code for the password. Minutes passed and even for a pony of my skill I found myself having to back out of the terminal several times to avoid being locked out. Though like every other terminal it eventually succumbed to my will and opened itself before me. This terminal contained several files regarding military procedure and protocol. The ones that I always found the most interest in however were the journal entries of the terminal’s previous owner. The first one in sequence was the logical first step.

Knowing that the course we had to complete was doable made me feel a little better about what was to come. Next in sequence was something that couldn’t be described as anything but war crimes.

With that in mind it was no longer surprising that this place created the toughest soldiers in Equestria. It was a very cruel thing to ask of military trainees, equally cruel to submit POWs to execution by live fire exercise. How many zebras must there have been here if the government sanctioned using them in weapons tests at the hooves of Equestrian recruits and scientists? Perhaps that explained the presence of zebra in the swamp? Lastly the final entry detailed something that captured my attention.

Somepony entirely contained in a memory orb? Just what exactly were the Ministries up to? IF I was lucky, I might get some answers from the MoI hub under the theatre but I wasn’t going to hold my breath. I wondered if the orb in question was still here…how would it work? Could I tap into it like a normal memory orb? What kind of criminal was so vile that such a punishment was warranted? I was equally terrified and intrigued by the idea and desired to know more about it. Unfortunately, that was the end to the valuable information on the terminal.

“Well? Anything interesting?” Sunny asked, having mostly stuck by me during the process.

“A few things, yes. There was some kind of prototype prison orb or something that was here, or was supposed to be here.”

“Hmm…I didn’t find anything like that while I was combing the place. Though I did find a security room where it may have been but there was nothing inside. Let’s get to the other terminal and get this over with, the sooner we’re out of the swamp the better.”

“No arguments here, C’mon Aurora.” The young mare dropped whatever she was investigating and followed Sunny and I to wherever this last terminal was. Sunny led us through two more rooms and to a door that led back outside.

“I think that’s it.” She pointed through a small window in the door, showing a console with several screens set into it underneath its own roofed structure. Behind that appeared to be the course we needed to complete. “There’s only one problem.” Sunny added, taking in a long breath and kicking the reload lever on her battle saddle.

“The ghouls?” Aurora guessed, attempting to reach for her own weapon before remembering she had lost it earlier.

“Yup. I don’t know how many we left out there but those were just the ones we could see. Who knows just how many of them are actually out there.”

“Well we can’t stay in here forever, we’re going to have to go out there eventually.” I pointed out, noticing that Sunny had found little to no food inside the building.

“I know that. We need to know what we’re up against before we just-”

Before Sunny could finish a fwooshing sound caught our attention as a zebra stallion had appeared behind us, having removed the hood of their own stealth cloak.

“Ut prævaricetur es in hac anathemate. Exiturum salvet.” He said in the zebra language. He took one step forward with a serious expression before stopping and cocking his head to one side, staring at us intently. “Exspecta, vos estis, qui Xigura salvus erit. Ut esset dux super loqui tecum. Hoc occurrit nobis, et nos in domum suam.” He reached into the folds of his cloak and gave me what looked like a map. When I looked up from it, he was already gone.

“What…what was that about?” My face scrunched in confusion. I studied the map and was able to glean a little bit from it. To the southwest was what appeared to be the zebra…village? Among the landmarks noted on the map one stood out as a graveyard or something as it was marked with a tribal looking mask with dark wisps surrounding it.

“He gave us a map. Maybe he recognized us.” Sunny leaned in and studied the map as well.

“It must be because of that other zebra we saved remember?” Aurora suggested, tapping her head.

“Could be, though how would he recognize us? We’ve never seen him before.”

“Must have told him what we looked like, we do kinda stand out.” Aurora turned around and looked at her own tail, bringing up a good point that her colors were not common. Sunny too wasn’t something ponies would see every day, a larger than average mare with scars on her face, wearing a cowpony duster and hat. Suddenly I didn’t think Aurora’s theory was so farfetched.

“So, are we…here?” If I was correct then that meant we were at the graveyard place. What significance did this place have to them?

“Looks that way. Speaking of which, we have ghouls to deal with.” Sunny abandoned me and the map and returned to the door, looking back out through the windows. “You ready?”

“Yeah, let’s do this.” I folded up them map and placed it in my bags. Aurora had lost her gun earlier so if she was to come with us, we had to do something to compensate. “Here Aurora.” I gave her my pistol, opting to use hearts promise myself. She didn’t protest or ask any questions, instead nodding in understanding and adopting a serious expression as she took it in her mouth. I held the horn knife in front of me in my magic and nodded for Sunny to open the door. In a blur Sunny threw the door open and dashed outside with Aurora and I right behind her. Almost immediately ferals were on us, growling loudly at having spotted prey. Sunny danced between us all and fired her shotguns with surgical precision, taking out a number of ghouls. I however, could not hope to match her. I magically flung my knife into the skull of the nearest feral, stopping it dead as it crumpled to the ground where another feral tripped on the corpse of its brethren where it was picked off by Aurora. It was good to be back in fighting shape even if I was still far from my best. Without my gun I found a sound strategy of grabbing a feral in my telekinesis and lifting them up off the ground where Aurora would put a bullet through their heads. The concentration of ghouls wasn’t as great as it was before and within several minutes, we had cleared the area.

“Did you notice how many of these ghouls were zebra?” Sunny asked between heavy breaths.

“I did. What about it?” I answered, retrieving my knife from the skull of a dead ghoul.

“We don’t know how many zebras live in the swamp. A swamp that’s filled with radiation.”

“Are you saying that this is where they take zebra who have turned?”

“It makes sense. Remember the map? I think it’s a safe bet to say that we are at the place marked by the mask. So, from here we’ll have a reference on how to get to their village.”

“Then we can go whenever we want. Let’s complete this course and finish our business in Whinnyapolis. Aurora?” I stole her attention.

“Yeah dad?” She looked nervous like I was going to scold her for something but I had the opposite in mind.

“I’m very proud of you.” As the words escaped my lips something about them hit me. This was the first time I’d told her I was proud of her since I adopted her. It…it made me feel like a real bastard. Suddenly Aurora’s self-confidence issues made a lot more sense and gave her reaction to me getting hurt earlier more context. She must have thought I was disappointed in her in some way, so in her head she had to try harder to prove herself to me. Before I could kick my own ass the look on her face made me pause. Those words were something she had been longing to hear for a very long time. Her face lit up like she had completed her greatest challenge and her eyes sparkled in joy.

“T-thanks dad…” She couldn’t even find the words. Telling her before that I forgave her for what happened wasn’t enough for her, but now I had given her the means to forgive herself. She chuckled to herself and wiped away a tear that she hadn’t noticed rolling down her cheek, the feeling of joyous relief overshadowing all else. I walked over to her, using a hoof to lift her chin so she was looking at me, her expression hard to hide.

“You have never let me down. You, Aurora Dawn, are my daughter and I love you with all my heart.” I blinked away my own tears and touched my forehead to hers, taking her into a tender hug. She returned the hug in silence, satisfied with what had been said and happy just to be held by me. I opened one of my eyes, noticing that Sunny was off to the side watching the display with a proud smile of her own. This was a long time coming. I let go of Aurora and beckoned Sunny to join us with front legs wide open.

“C’mon, get in here.” I smiled sincerely. Aurora mirrored my gesture and gave an expecting smile, making it hard for even Sunny to resist. As tough and stoic as Sunny could be, even she couldn’t resist us for long. She rolled her eyes and trotted over to us, throwing her hooves around us and pulling us into a group hug. We held the hug for several minutes, all of us enjoying each other’s touch. Though a fourth entity took us away from our embrace. A gruff, authoritative voice from in front of us pulled our attention towards it.

“What do you pukes think you’re are doing!?” A damaged green Mister Gutsy yelled. “The Ministries aren’t paying for your training so you can feel up all the mares Private! You are here for your country so start acting like it! Now, stand at attention!” The patriotic robot commanded. Sunny and I straightened out fairly quickly, saluting the robot and holding the pose.

“Yes sir!” We responded.

“That’s better. Now, next question, which one of you two brought the child on base?”

“T-that would be me…um…Mister…?”

“SERGEANT! SERGEANT GUTSY!” It screamed, taking its roll of a drill sergeant very seriously. “No meal voucher for you tonight maggot! Now drop down and give me twenty push-ups now! Count ‘em out!” It poked me in the chest with its metallic pincers.

“Sergeant, I was sent here from Trotton to complete a new course, Sir!” Sunny cleverly interrupted and got the robot’s attention off of me.

“Ah, here to start the gauntlet eh? In that case follow me Private, we’re going to see if you’ve got what it takes.” The robot turned around and started heading back the way it came, leading us to an area contained by a chain-link fence. Inside the perimeter was the sinking, rotten remains of the course. “Let me know when you are ready to make an attempt Private.” It hovered near what was once the starting point.

“How exactly am I supposed to do this?” Sunny asked, looking at the course astonished at its state of repair.

“If you don’t think you’ve got what it takes then you can go back to Trotton with your tail between your legs.” The Gutsy either didn’t see or couldn’t recognize that the course was beyond attempting.

Then I got an idea, an idea that might get us what we needed, I just needed a distraction.

“Good luck, you’re gonna need it.” I said, tapping my PipBuck to signal my intentions. Sunny hopefully picked up on my plan, nodding and taking up her spot next to the Gutsy.

“I’m ready.” She told it, falling into a ready stance.

“You’ve got guts Private, take that and you’ll go far. Ready, set, GO!” it fired its weapon into the air and Sunny kicked off towards what remained of the nearest obstacle. Just as I’d hoped, the Gutsy had all three of its eyestalks focused on Sunny, watching her performance with an attentive gaze. That gave me the window I needed to get behind it and jack my PipBuck into it, directly accessing its programming. The Gutsy model of robots were mass produced for military service and that made them deceptively easy to reprogram. I found the program that had started to observe the course and manually flagged it complete. I waved for Sunny to come back and waited for the robot to recognize the changes.

“Congratulations Private, you’ve made your nation proud. What’s your name soldier?”

“Sunny Smiles.”

“I’ll contact Trotton and log your name on record to allow you access to the armory. I hope to see you at the end of the loop for the final test. Your code is 33284.” Once we got what we needed I wiped its programing and reset it like I did the ones from the space center.

“If it makes it through the swamp, we’ll use it against Dusk Diver. Ready to move to Trotton Sergeant?”

“Yes sir!” The gung-ho bot responded with energy, saluting ME this time with its pincer arm. It quickly hovered past us, heading to Trotton with calculated haste.

“How bout you guys? Ready to head back?”

“Are you sure you’re up to it? You are pretty much naked now.” Sunny poked one of the bald spots on my chest.

“Well, I will have to get some new armor but I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Right Aurora.”

“Right!” At least I had her confidence.

“See? I’ll be fine Sunny, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Lead the way then.” She gave me a cautionary warning, how typical of her to say she agrees with me without actually saying it. Once we returned to the opening in the perimeter fence, we braved the swamp again eager to get back to Trotton and claim our prize. There was still a lingering fear in the back of my mind that Belua would leap from the darkness and attack us again but I was pleasantly distracted by how well Aurora was handling herself this time. With that weight off my mind we made excellent time through the swamp and we were back on the grounds of Trotton just as dusk began to lend its violet glow to the horizon. The Sergeant Gutsy was waiting for us by the entrance as we trotted through the doors and made a straight shot right to the big steel doors that led to the last obstacle keeping us from Dusk Diver. Sunny approached the pin pad and put in the code she was given. The door separated into the walls and a robotic voice welcomed us.

“Welcome Private Smiles, an officer has been notified. Please stand by.” We all ignored the disembodied voice and took a few slow steps into the armory. What waited in store for us would have to be put on hold just a bit longer as I heard two sets of steps come up behind us.

“Hey guys…” A weak, feminine voice greeted us. “Did ya miss me?”

Footnote: Level Up!
Skills note: Science has reached 100%
New Perk: Rad Resistance: Taking a pillar of poisoned fire to the face has made you more resilient towards radiation and its effects. +10% radiation resistance.

Next Chapter: Chapter Twenty-Four: ...And Burn it All Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 55 Minutes