A giant standing across from an ant.

A colossal beast against a single insect.

A force of destruction against a creature that stood no chance.

Even with the clear difference in power, the ant still stood its ground; For it’s queen, its brothers, all of the others in the colony it had to protect. Even if it had absolutely no chance to do so, that ant would stand its ground till it’s last breath for them.

This is exactly what the lone armored stallion atop the bay’s cliff was doing. With one hoof raised to his visor, shielding the blinding spotlights on his form, and his weapon raised in the direction of the titanic metallic beast above, he stood his ground knowing full well a tiny ant could never take down a raging giant.

The whirring sound of the ship’s wing-like turbines drowned out the static-laced voice coming from his ear-piece as the vessel grew closer to the bay. Closer to him. Closer to one of their ends.

“S--nd d---, We’r- -ot ho--t-e” It exclaimed, but he couldn’t make out much from the connection other than the possibility that it was female.

Suddenly, a large bang resounded from above as a male voice called out “Look out below!” just in time for Storm to see the silhouette of a long, flat object heading straight for him.

Jumping backwards and landing on all four hooves, the stallion maintained his shooting posture as his weapon never left the airship’s general direction, while something slammed into the soil just a few steps from where he had been standing.

Even through the blinding lights above, he could make out what the object was. Whether it was the bland and obvious outline of said object, or his familiarity with the flying vessel, Storm knew what it was.

A ramp.

A landing ramp to be more specific. To allow ponies to enter or exit the ship. His answer was the latter as three figures stood atop the ramp - all of which had green lasers pointed directly at him - meanwhile, his own quint barreled rifle was staring back at them.

“Put it down, jackass!” A gruff, yet strangely adolescent sounding male voice commanded from the direction of the figures.

His tethered grip above the trigger tightened. A sliver of more force and the weapon would discharge.

“I mean it! Nopony has to get hurt!” The male voice continued, possibly seeing the subtle change in his trigger finger, before chuckling. “Unless rough is more your style…”

That's it.

The fraction of force needed to pull the trigger was milliseconds from being met until-

“Stop!” A different and female voice demanded, causing the three figures to remove their lasers and turn in the opposite direction immediately while the one male seemed to sigh and shake his head, “Everypony just hold on a minute!”

The three above seemed to be at ease when a fourth figure - which was more slender and a bit shorter - stepped onto the peak of the ramp and prompted them to lower their weapons completely.

“For Celestia’s sake, Hunter, kill the spotlight!” The female voice ordered while her silhouette began to descend the ramp.

Not a moment later, the blinding lights above were deactivated, allowing Storm to see the ramp’s inhabitants more clearly. The three at the top were all stallions, barely of adult age from what he could tell, and all sported ragtag setups made from old ATS suits with ammo pouches, knife holsters, and one of them even had pieces of old guard armor on his midsection. All of them did have one constant which were machine guns of the same model as Rainbow’s with the addition of tactical lasers mounted to the barrels. The trio atop were no longer in a battle ready stance as two of them leaned casually against the ship’s railing while another sat on his haunches on the ramp.

The mare heading down the ramp on the other hoof wasn’t geared up for war. She was almost Storm’s own age, a unicorn, had a lavender coat, dark purple if almost indigo mane and tail with lighter stripes in each, and lighter purple eyes which were covered by rectangular rimmed glasses. A faded, white fabric coat overhung her rather small frame and had clipped pens in the chest pocket, a notebook in the large side pocket, and a saddlebag on her back. While her appearance had nothing red flagging about it, her face did.

She looked like a foal who had found their long lost toy and were as happy as can be. Now, the expression itself wasn’t the worst part, but rather the fact that it was directed straight in his direction. Straight at him.

“It’s him…” She whispered through her wide eyed stare at him.

From Storm’s angle, he could only read the words escaping her lips but he deciphered them nonetheless.

He knew nothing good could come from being recognized but with his only two choices being taking the shot and maybe killing a few before he was inevitably mowed down and leaving the two girls in the house at these asshole’s mercy or waiting to see how this all played out, he had to choose the smart option. Or rather, the only option.

With what most would call a ‘friendly smile’ was plastered on the mare’s face as she trotted down the ramp and towards his position. Storm remained rooted to the spot with his weapon still raised to where the barrels were pointed directly in line with her eyes. Despite the clearly hostile gesture, she seemed oblivious to the firearm in her face as she trotted up to be within a hoof’s reach from him and only stopped because a slab-barrelled weapon was blocking her from getting any closer.

“Hello!” The mare chimed happily with the most friendly tone he had ever heard. “Sorry about the lights, Hunter is a little trigger happy at the moment.” She said while gesturing to the sitting stallion above with a tilt of her head.

No response.

Storm was just lucky she couldn’t see him through the glowing purple visor, which allowed him to study - or more accurately judge her from behind it’s protection. While something about her attitude wasn’t sitting right with him, it was nowhere near the red alert that Rarity pony gave him back in Ponyville.

The silence gave birth to an uncomfortable staring contest between the two before the purple unicorn broke it. “I’m not going to hurt you!” She continued. “Not that I could anyway, you’re invaluable to us after all!” The mare added matter of factly.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Storm asked, not budging an inch with his stance or weapon.

“Oh, so he does speak!” The central stallion atop the ramp mused aloud to his comrades, earning an unamused look from the mare in return.

Returning to the matter at hoof, the mare sported a sheepish expression towards Storm as she replied. “Sorry, but we had to make ourselves known. I tried to hail you on the comms, but something was obstructing the feed.”

When it became clear the conversation was going nowhere to ease the suited stallion’s distrust, the lavender mare tried a new tactic. Not new per say, but one that had stood the test of times - both new and old.

The mare raised a hoof, causing Storm to flinch backward slightly and tighten his grip on the Sweeper. This sudden action caused the mare to also flinch while looking at him quizzically. Her hoof hung in the air with nothing attached to it.

No knife, no weapon, nothing.

It just hung there. Empty.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She introduced, making it clear the gesture was a hoof shake. Upon getting no response, the lavender unicorn tried to help the would-be conversation along. “All these years and you’ve been the one place we thought impossible to live - right next to the source! I should have known you wouldn’t have been deterred by them in the slightest!” She continued, switching to the lighthouse and rest of the place with a wave of her hoof. “And all of this… Did you do all of this yourself?”

“...No.” He answered slowly, trying to determine the point of this conversation.

“Nevertheless, it is remarkable. No wonder you’ve lasted this long - not that we doubted you - but this is just what they needed to see-”

Suddenly, the central stallion above interrupted with a huff of his breath. “You don’t need to suck his dick, Princess. P can do that just fine…” This earned a few chuckles from the other two before he continued. “Besides, how do we even know that’s him? Anypony can wear a helmet with an ‘x’ on it!”

X? My visor? What the fuck is- Storm tried to mentally descipher only to have his thoughts torn away by Twilight’s response to her male comrade.

“That’s no way to treat anypony, Trail Hunter! Let alone a new friend!” The mare retorted, turning to scold her companion.

Is she fucking serious? Storm thought, still trying to decide if this mare was just crazy or another Rarity waiting to happen. Hell, maybe she was both.

“Again, I’m sorry about him.” Twilight returned to Storm. “We usually have somepony else do the meet and greets. Somepony with social skills.” She slightly growled that last part at the stallion who smirked in mock surrender.

“What's goin-.” A slightly scratchy female voice demanded from behind the stallion, revealing Rainbow Dash with her gun drawn until she noticed who was in front of him, prompting her to lower both the weapon and her jaw.

The unicorn - Twilight Sparkle - shared an equally baffled expression as her pegasus counterpart, causing her to temporarily lose all focus on the armed stallion in front of her. The two mares locked gazes of both bewilderment and happiness, allowing their eyes to do the conversation which wasn’t being vocalized. Finally, it was Rainbow who took the initiative to break the silence.

“Storm… lower the gun…” She said, sounding like more of a suggestion than a command with her dazed tone. The slight turn of his helmet in her direction and silence indicated an uncertain gesture.

Then he did just that.

The slab-barreled rifle was lowered with it’s tips pointed to the soil while he continued to keep a grip on the handle. Just in case. Without even noticing it, the stallion realized his position had become placed directly in between Rainbow and the airship’s inhabitants. The second he had stepped aside, Twilight had closed the distance and wrapped her forehooves around the blue pegasus.

Across from Storm and on the other side of the embracing mares was Planning Period, who was grinning slightly at the display of reunited friendship before her. For a brief moment, she locked eyes with Storm, starting and ending a silent conversation of their own in just mere seconds before the two averted their respective gazes.

“Oh thank Celestia you're safe!” Twilight exclaimed, the corner of her eyes starting to get watery. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Rainbow!”

“Right back at ya, Twi- wait!” Rainbow replied, nearly at tears herself when a sudden realization hit her. “How are you not questioning all of this?!”

A slightly puzzled look from the lavender unicorn was her only response, prompting Rainbow to reiterate by moving her hooves up and down gesturing to her body - or more accurately her age.

“Oh, that.” Twilight replied as if the revelation didn’t phase her in the slightest despite the impossibilities of the age differences among other things. “I’ll explain later, but we need to leave and soon.” She added, her confident tone turning to one of urgency like the flick of a switch.

“What, why?”

“Because they just rang the dinner bell and every one of those fuckers is on the way right now…” Storm interjected.

“We had nothing to do with that.” Twilight defended, sounding more like an informative instructor than an accused individual. “They were coming for you the moment they saw both of you together.”

This earned a set of confused looks that were traded between both pegasi, who then turned to Twilight. “Uh… what does that mean exactly?” Rainbow asked.

“Like I said, answers will be provided but we need to leave. Now!”

The purple unicorn turned towards the ramp, the stallions atop moved aside, and even Planning Period began to follow but Storm and Rainbow lingered.

“Hold up,” Storm interjected, cutting the increasingly frantic mare off. “Like Hell we’re getting on that thing without knowing who-”

“Are we really going to do this again, dude?” Rainbow asked from behind, sounding mildly ticked off at the stallion’s bluntness to another one of her friends. “It’s Twilight! I know we can trust her for a fact!”

“You tell yourself the same thing about the other unicorn too?” He retorted, earning a scowl from the pegasus.

“Will both of you knock it off?!” Planning suddenly shouted, stopping any further conflict before it could even start. From the look on her face, even she hadn’t expected the sudden verbal outburst as she covered her muzzle with her hooves.

“We’re wasting time here!” Twilight informed, motioning to a stallion on the deck who quickly pulled out a set of impressive looking binoculars and began scanning outward. “If you really don’t trust me, I’ll drop you right back off here and never return, but please hear me out!”

“Flare incoming!” The stallion with the binoculars shouted from above, causing the party below to swing their heads in his intended direction. A single glance at the raging fury of electric current and dark clouds confirmed his exclamation.

“We need to get above the clouds before it hits!” Twilight informed the others. “Storm, Rainbow Dash, I can’t - no, won’t leave without you two!” Then she turned to Planning. “You can come with us or not, your choice, but the rest of us have to leave!”

Planning was already on the tip of the ramp after seeing the approaching flare and gaining an invitation, but Rainbow lingered with the rest on the ground. She looked to Storm as if asking him to trust her despite no words being exchanged. This caused him to look up at the airship for a moment before returning to her gaze temporarily.

“Shit…” He muttered under his breath before speaking up for her to hear. “Okay, fine. We’ll go. Get your stuff and I’ll be right back.”

Rainbow’s neutral expression was turned to one of slight happiness and hope at hearing his agreement before she darted off to grab her gear from the residential building. Storm, however, lingered next to Twilight - who was the only one on the ground with him now.

“I’ll hear you out, but the second you try anything - and I mean anything, you’ll wish your lap dogs up there had shot me...” He promised, his voice getting real low as his electric purple eyes locked with the mare’s own lavender ones.

She gave a friendly nod of understanding despite how clear the threat had phased her. With that settled, Storm began his own journey to the workshed where he threw open the door, gathered his shotgun, a couple of tools, and the pitiful pile of ammunition remaining.

A few moments later, and he had returned to the base of the ramp where Rainbow - who was fully suited up - was already ascending the platform.

CRACK!

The flare was closer now as he could hear the electric war going on within it’s cloudy mass. With time of the essence, the stallion swifty followed up the ramp and stepped onto the ship’s deck. A mechanical whirring behind him resounded as the ramp was retracted back into the hull and was capped off with a THUNK!

Not a second later, the sounds were replaced thanks to the airship’s turbines powering up and initiating the rather quick ascent into the sky. Most would expect a sudden takeoff of an airborne vessel to be rough and unstable, but he knew what to expect thanks to the evenly placed turbines and architecture of the ship. Storm watched as the bow glided just above the flare and surpassed it in altitude, giving the whole crew a hauntingly beautiful view of the storm below which Planning and a few other crew members were gawking at.

Storm didn’t share the same strange enjoyment at the sight. His focus was on his current location rather than what was left behind. Towering over his own relatively large form was a sun themed ballonet which had spiked flaps protruding from the spherical center and ending in a gradual fade towards the ship’s rear, resembling an elongated teardrop of sorts. Though he couldn’t see them all from his position on the massive vessel, Storm knew that a total of twenty four ballonet strings to hold the massive sun-like structure above and tether it to the ship below. The deck itself was mostly bare with only a few crates, strange looking cannons, and crew who were safe miles above anything below residing on it.

Most would consider an airship a way to escape the horrors below, but he didn’t - no couldn’t dismiss the feeling that he wasn’t safe from what was below but rather he was trapped with those above.

Speaking of the ones above, there were about a dozen ponies on the deck - all of which were staring at him with the same expression Twilight Sparkle had prior.

Fuck.

Most held looks of wonder and amazement as if they had just met their favorite singer while the trio of stallions from before were more neutral if not indifferent to his presence. Somehow he liked that more than the wondrous looks the rest gave his way.

Examining the ponies was the first thing he did right away. The first was that stallion named Trail Hunter, who was chatting with the same duo of armed stallions by the side railing. Not even a few seconds of listening to the way he talked told Storm this guy was a real cut and dry asshole. He wouldn’t doubt this Hunter had some high level on whatever hierarchy this place ran off of, meaning only one thing…

He could be trouble.

The other two, however, he couldn’t go off much besides that they would most likely follow their friend into Hell knowing full well he would throw them to the wolves to save his own flank. As for the rest of the deck members - two mares in similar white coats and the stallion who previously had the binoculars - only time would tell.

One of the two mares waved in the newcomer group’s direction, catching Twilight's attention and prompting her to rush over. While Rainbow and Planning discussed something that was drowned out by his ears, Storm listened intently to the conversation between the coated mare and purple unicorn.

“We might have found another one.” The coat wearing mare said, levitating a clipboard in front of Twilight. “If P finishes the repairs soon, we can make it by tomorrow evening…”

Twilight continued looking over the information on the board while the mare informed her about whatever they were discussing. Her expression was neutral and didn’t show any interest, fear, or even anything. Just indifference that was quickly replaced by determination as she replied.

“I want Runner groups C through E to be prepped as soon as possible. Have them check their gear - twice, and make sure they’re all well fed and rested up before hoof.” She ordered, despite her tone sounding more like a friendly request but the other mare heeded it without hesitation nonetheless.

What are you up to? Storm thought as he eyed the coated mare that disappeared into the ship’s cabin with urgency in her step.

Twilight was poked in the side by the remaining coated mare, who gestured in Storm’s direction with her head before whispering something and earning a nod from the lavender unicorn.

With recent events in mind, he wanted nothing more than to pull his gun on this ‘Princess Twilight’ and skip the potential repeat of Ponyville, he just couldn’t. Was it his conscious - not like that was even a part of him anymore. No, it was something else. And he had some semblance of an idea what.

Looking to his left, Storm was met with that ‘something’ or rather someone who just so happened to be looking in his exact direction to meet his eyes. Rainbow Dash’s own magenta eyes locked with his as she nodded her head in the opposite direction that the group was walking in. Then she stepped away from the group as did he.

“You really buying this shit?” He asked, eyeing the distancing group.

Briefly checking to see if anypony had noticed their sudden departure, Storm was relieved to see that most of the ponies on deck were walking to the cab or idling about with their own tasks to notice. An unsure exhale came from the blue pegasus’ nostrils as if she was trying to decide how to word something before actually letting it out.

“I...” She began, taking a glance at the retreating group momentarily alongside him. “I know what we’ve just been through, but please just try with this. Just one more time.”

A similar sound escaped from his own muzzle, sounding like the sigh of a parent who was at their limit with a hyperactive foal. His gaze didn’t meet her own, but rather was towards the floor before moving to the group - which had stopped at the door to the ship’s interior and were looking in their direction - then it returned to her.

“I… don’t know if that’s possible.” He replied, straining to get it out as if he didn’t want to admit it. “I’m not a fan of repeating the same mistake twice - especially when lives are at stake.”

“Lives?” Rainbow repeated, picking up on that keyword. “You mean Planning and me?”

He nodded.

“Look, Storm… you don’t have to worry about us. We’ll manage-”

“No, you won’t.” He cut her off. “What you call ‘managing’ would have ended up with you being traumatized, turned into one of those fucking things, and Planning would have been a slave to that place until the end of days.”

“Why do you care about what happens to us anyway?” Dash asked, her question coming out both honestly and slightly agitated at being treated like some foal who required babysitting.

His head turned away from her ever so slightly, but with nothing else to focus on, she noticed it immediately. She had struck some sort of nerve.

“Storm?” She asked, trying to get his attention.

“Because it’s all I have left now.” Came his delayed answer. “There, happy? Now can we get this over with so I can see who we have to avoid - or shoot - to stay alive?” The last part came out as agitated if not sarcastic.

Obviously, he was in no mood to further elaborate on that answer, so Rainbow went with the part that could still possibly be salvaged. “Maybe that’s your problem,” Rainbow replied as the two began walking back towards the group while continuing their conversation. “You can’t make any friends if you have a gun on them all the time.”

“You can’t make any mistakes if you do.”

Storm could feel a look directed his way from her, but didn’t turn to meet the challenge. Twilight and the others were waiting patiently by a large set of double doors overcast by a black plaque where white lettering read ‘Flight Lounge.’ While placing a hoof on one of the doors, the lavender unicorn turned towards Storm and Rainbow.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” She began earning a ‘you think?’ look from the addressed stallion. “But please try to understand their excitement. Both of you are the last pieces to the puzzle and some of them were starting to lose hope.”

And I’m starting to lose patience on answers… Storm thought as the doors were pushed open and held by Twilight’s magic for the group to enter. A ramp was on the other side of the entrance, which was illuminated by twin sets of fluorescent lights above, giving clear visuals to the nearly spotless interior.

As the group walked down the ramp, the grated floor made a soft clanking sound which reverberated throughout the immediate interior and served as the only break in the uncomfortable silence. For every polished item, an industrial-grade one followed suit, giving a strange contrast to the surroundings. Another set of double doors - which mirrored the previous set down to the last speck of nonexistent dust - sat at the bottom of the ramp and were bypassed as well.

The second those doors opened was the exact second Storm’s heart stopped. He knew what to expect as nearly every model of airship in this one’s class had a similar flight lounge - and even layout if he was lucky - but it wasn’t the ship’s blueprints that worried him.

It was the stares.

Everywhere he looked, a set of eyes returned the gesture. Sitting on the lounge benches, behind the security booth, at the hallway to the bathroom - everywhere. Many were in disbelief or wonder while a few whispered to one another. A filly that couldn’t have been older than ten pointed a hoof his way, causing her mother to gently lower the hoof and promptly scold her daughter for pointing.

If this was ‘in the shit’ - as they called it - he was ten bodies deep in it by now. Storm couldn’t move. His body forcibly halted as if his hooves had brakes, his breath hilted inside his throat, and the muscles in both his jaw and body tensed. Despite his body’s involuntary reactions, the other ponies in the room - except the small group with Twilight - didn’t notice the change. They were all too distracted by something wondrous that had to do with him.

Twilight and Rainbow shared brief looks with the unicorn silently addressing this sudden change in her guest’s demeanor and the pegasus hesitantly trying to answer with an expression of both understanding to her friend’s reluctance. Somehow, Twilight was able to get at least some idea from the gesture, so she broke free of her spot in the group’s lead and approached the stallion from his side.

Storm, who was too preoccupied to notice the mare flanking him, nearly jumped out of his skin and suit - despite not physically showing it - when she spoke up.

“If you don’t like the attention, then you might want to lower the helmet.” She whispered, sounding like a friend trying to tell a helpful secret to another, all the while following his gaze towards the others. Before he could even ask, the lavender unicorn continued by answering his would-be question. “Everypony knows your visor-mark from memory by now, so removing that would help you blend in more.”

He was hesitant to respond or do anything immediately after the advice was offered, but slowly a tethered digit was raised to his chest piece and the button to begin the helmet’s retraction progress was pressed. The hiss of depressurising air made a pen drop look like foal’s play in the nearly silent room, causing Storm to cringe at the sound. Like the legs of a dying mechanical spider, the individual plates on the helmet fold into one another and waved over the stallion’s frazzled black mane before nestling into the back piece of armor.

Once the helmet was sealed inside the back plate, the world could now see it’s owner’s tired purple eyes, disheveled mane, and wild beard. Those same eyes held nothing in them. Millions of thoughts and emotions were running through his head but his eyes would not dare show it. The gawkers in the room continued to look on even with this apparent ‘mark’ that was his visor now gone.

A masucline whistle came from Storm’s left, forcing him to snap his head on a swivel in the direction only to discover something - or rather somepony - that was equally annoying and dangerous.

Fuck…

The former hospital leader stood a few steps from Storm’s own position as if he was a part of the group. The black and purple stallion wasn’t looking in his direction but was scanning the room of awestruck crewmembers with his trademark shit eating smirk plastered on his muzzle.

“Wow.” The leader said with a faint chuckle while turning to face Storm at last. “You’ve got some admirers, sport.”

Really? This shit now?!

Storm huffed while making a mental note to ignore the stallion, only to have him replaced with an equally as annoying one. Trail Hunter - who was now in the lead of the group - snorted impatiently before turning to the rest of the room. “Alright, shows over. As you were!” He ordered, causing most of the onlookers to tear their eyes away from the small group and continue their own respective duties.

All but one were now minding their own business. That one was the same filly which had gestured at him with a hoof earlier. Her beaming, blue eyes sparkled with a hope that most had never imagined experiencing as she continued to infatuatedly stare at the group headed her way. The filly’s mother had returned to sorting items in a crate nearby, her unattentiveness allowing the daughter to stare onward.

As he walked closer to the filly, Storm felt his heart thud against his chest - each time increasing in pace. He could hear each beat, every pump of blood as it rushed through his body. The thumping began drowning out the world around him as it grew greater…

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

By the time he reached the filly - as the group was passing by her location - his lungs refused to work in tandem with his throat. The filly took a small step outward and with a beaming smile she looked up at his significantly taller form.

“Hi!” She exclaimed.

Rainbow briefly flashed a warm smile at the filly before turning to Twilight. “You have kids on this thing?” She asked, dumbfounded.

Twilight nodded. “Actually, we have entire families on board.” The purple unicorn stated matter of factly. “This is Prism Beam.” She continued, introducing the filly, who was absently ignoring them and focusing on Storm entirely.

“Are you really him?” She asked wondrously.

“Who?” Storm finally replied, out of instinct more than actually processing her question.

The filly’s face turned to one of visible confusion. “The Marked One. You have the helmet.”

Marked One? What the fu-

“You are him, right?”

“Uhhh…”

“Prism!” An older female voice called from behind the filly, who instantly jumped upon hearing it, before swinging around to face her mother.

Prism’s mother quickly came up to the small group. “I’m sorry for that. She is just so excited to meet you - we all are.” She explained, looking at Storm, who was at a complete loss for words. The mother’s tone and expression mirror her daughter’s in that it was warm and inviting as if she meant every word, but this didn’t ease his paranoia any.

“But mommy, he can help!” Prism revolted, pushing past her mother and right next to Storm. The filly reached into a tiny saddlebag and pulled out a small white object that she handed to the stallion - who slowly took it as if in denial. Once it was in his sight, Storm realized that the object was a photograph.

A photograph of Prism, her mother, and a stallion who appeared to be around the same age as the assumed wife. Turning the photo around revealed that his guess was true and that this was taken whenever they joined the airship as shown by the note next to the date.

“Prism, don’t-” Her mother tried to stay with a raised voice only to be swiftly cut off by a pleading one.

“He can find daddy! I know he can! Princess Twilight says he can help us all!”

Suddenly, Twilight cleared her throat and allotted all eyes to focus on her. Once they were, Twilight looked down at the filly. “We haven’t stopped looking for him, Prism. These things take time and I have our best Runners out there right now, but we can’t risk anything right now. Not when we are so close!”

A pouty look dominated the filly’s face, prompting Twilight to continue. “But after I finish briefing our new friends here, we can revisit this. Okay?”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” Twilight confirmed with the raise of her hoof to signal it.

“Cross your heart?”

“Hope to fly.”

“Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

The leader suppressed a laugh. “Awww, ain’t she the cutest thing?” He said in a cutesy-mannered voice while punching Storm in the shoulder playfully. “Too bad she’s probably next. Hell, they all are.”

Shut up. Storm wished as if that simple thought could erase this demon. But it didn’t.

Everything was presumably wrapped up as Prism returned to her mother’s side after waving to the despondent Storm a goodbye of sorts. Twilight addressed the rest of the group while motioning to a stallion in the security booth.

“I know you have questions, so lets get some answers, shall we?” She rhetorically asked, leading the group past the booth, where something caught Storm’s eye. A map - more specifically a blueprint of the ship’s emergency exits - which in turn gave a basic layout of it’s interior.

Score.

As indiscreetly as he could, the stallion used his chest camera to snap a silent picture of the wall-mounted map and saved it to his suit. Luckily - or rather - methodically, he was at the back of the group now so nopony noticed his subtle action.

“Smart move, Stormy.” The leader said with a mocking click of his tongue. “You just might make it out of this one too!”

A few twists and turns followed by another ramp led the group to a relatively large room with benches that mirrored the flight deck’s seating down to the last cut. At the opposite end of the grated floor was a deep cut in the ground which continued down into the ship in a straight line and out of the group’s view. More ponies milled about this room, but most of them were seated in those clustered booths. A couple read, some had drowned out conversations with their friends, spouses, or even kids, but most of them hadn’t even looked up to the newcomers.

The only lookers were a couple armed ponies who wore dark purple ATS suits with the title of ‘Security’ on their chest plates. Their visors were down, allowing Storm to see the questionable looks directed at him as well as his group. Once they decided the newcomers weren’t of any interest of threat, they resumed their own tasks.

Well, it beats staring… Storm thought just as a horn bellowed out from the cut in the room.

Out of the gash in the wall came a rectangular shaped box which looked to be the size of a small room. This ‘box’ was being dragged through the air inside the cut’s confines by a circular pulley system that no doubt went further than its current location. This box had glass panels on the front, back, and side facing the group, revealing about two dozen ponies who were crammed into it. Much like their counterparts, the inhabitants of this box were seated and distracting themselves while the ones who didn’t have a seat stood. This visual information was all Storm needed to verify the true nature of this box-like object.

It was a tram.

Trams were typically used on the military or industrial airships that were massive in size and allowed for the workers to get around quicker in the event of a catastrophe or emergency. But these devices also came in handy for getting the workers off of their sore hooves for just a few short moments until the next task arose.

A sudden chime resounded as two glass doors slid open and a few ponies began to pour out in single file. Some remained on the tram, presumably waiting for a different stop. Once the miniature waves of bodies left the box, Twilight led her followers onto the tram. A relatively young stallion wearing a dark blue uniform and straight hat asked where they would like to go, to which the unicorn mare replied “The Science and Medical Deck.” The stallion nodded while pressing some controls at the front of the tram’s interior - which was a complete work of industrialization in contrast to the mixed state the rest of the ship was in. The floor was solid, but a dirty grey with some stains of dirt and grime. The walls were a faded orange and nearly blended into the torn leather seats.

Twilight found a few empty seats at the back of the tram, followed by Trail Hunter who stood in the corner. Rainbow plopped down in the seat opposite of Twilight while Planning took the last of the empty facing rows. Storm was one of the last to the fray and he stood a few steps from Hunter in the back of the enclosed box. And finally, the late hospital leader joined in the back with the other two stallions.

Almost nopony was talking on the tram and most had tired or serious expressions on their faces as deducted by Storm who was busy examining them all. A few wore lab coats, some pieces of armor and clothing, one of them even had a lightweight yellow suit on which looked like it belonged in a hazardous environment or engine room. Clearly a serious crowd or blue collars or so they se-

“Cigarette?” That familiar, if not annoying voice asked from Storm’s right, snapping him out of his preoccupation.

As if his brain was rebooting after the metaphorical power cord was yanked out, it took the stallion a moment to process the question before responding. “Don’t have any.”

Hunter chuckled sarcastically, a sound that was both deep and high at the same time somehow. “I meant, do you want one?”

“No…”

“Suite yourself.” Then Hunter lit his own, which had been resting in the corner of his mouth since the group had boarded the train.

“Hunter!” Twilight scolded upon hearing the conversation. “Can’t you read the sign?” The mare gestured to a ‘no smoking or open flame’ sign by the front of the tram.

“Relax, Princess,” The stallion shrugged off, continuing to raise his zippo towards his muzzle. “I’ve done this a thousand times and nothing has ever happened.”

The lavender unicorn’s face displayed clear frustration with her arrogant counterpart. “If it wasn’t a problem, there wouldn’t be a sign for it now would there?” She replied, reaching for the cigarette with her magic only to be swiftly evaded by a turn of his head.

Hunter was about to retort when the small object was yanked from his mouth by a different purple glow where it was lifted up and crushed against the wall of the tram. The stallion looked to Twilight in a half pissed half confused manner as if asking how she had materialized two bursts of telekinetic magic at once, only to catch the mare’s eye and see that she wasn’t looking in his direction but rather beside it.

Trail Hunter turned to see that Storm’s earpiece was glowing the same exact shade of purple as the appendage that had destroyed his cancer stick prior. Storm was looking straight ahead and at some advertisement on the tram’s wall as if nothing had happened - as if he hadn’t just destroyed something that took valuable resources to acquire.

“What the fuck was that?!” Hunter snapped, turning a few heads in the enclosed box - including the other two mares.

“Oooh, somepony is in trouble!” The leader hooted, but Storm’s focus wasn’t on him at the moment.

Storm faced Hunter indifferently before replying. “Ignorance.”

This really pissed the latter off. Who the hell was this newcomer to come onto his ship and touch his shit?! Well, he was about to find out.

“I think you’ve got the wrong guy, Princess.” Hunter said while not taking his hateful glare off of Storm’s indifferent one. “This is no savior, this is some jackass comedian!”

“You’re the one who was about to have an open flame inside a box full of wires and pneumatic parts and I’m the jackass?” Storm sarcastically questioned. “It takes one cut or leak for this whole thing to go up in flames.”

“So some sciencey shit gives you the right to stomp out my cigarette?” Hunter retorted, sounding more ready to take a swing with each syllable. “I want a new one in return, asshole!”

“Come on, guys lets no-” Twilight tried to start only to be interrupted by Storm’s response to Hunter.

“If you didn’t want to lose it then you shouldn’t be a dumbass. I don’t owe you shit on something you lost out on in the first place.” Storm’s tone was calm with a hint of annoyance which only spurred his would-be opponent on more.

“Enough!” Twilight finally snapped. “He’s right, Hunter. Even if it's a small chance at an accident, you should heed the warnings. Now, I’ll refund your damn cigarette, just don’t start this today!”

The mentioned stallion snorted like a child not getting his way before looking away from Storm, who was silently staring at him as if expecting some move of retaliation.

“Wow…” Rainbow commented, earning an annoyed head shake from Twilight.

“Believe me, that was a good outcome.” The unicorn responded, turning her voice low so that only the two would be in on the conversation. “He usually starts with a swing and ends with security getting involved. I’m just glad he didn’t hurt your friend-”

Rainbow snickered.

“What?” Twilight asked, slightly puzzled.

“That guy? Hurt Storm? Fat chance.” She chuckled at the mere thought of it. “He could wipe the floor with that jerk blindfolded.”

“While that might come in handy,” Twilight sighed. “I’d prefer my crew to still be breathing and internal conflict only puts us further from our goal so avoiding it is the best course.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, Twi.” Rainbow lightly commented, earning a subtle downcast look from her friend.

“Let's… just wait until we get off the tram.” She carefully responded.

“Okay…”

The remainder of the short tram ride was in silence after the other’s gazes were removed from the defused scene. An uncomfortable blanket was draped over the moving box in which neither stallion had any intention of removing the metaphorical blanket or clearing the air. Neither faced one another - not out of shame or regret - but rather for each other’s sake.

Another horn blare, another soft chime - signaling the tram was stopping. A centered screen that resembled an earlier digital clock read ‘Sci/Med Deck’ in divided blocky lettering. With a huff, Hunter pushed himself from his leaned position on the back wall, and began as the first of the group to leave. On his way, the sulking stallion bumped shoulders with Storm roughly, trying to initiate a challenge only to receive that dagger-glaring stare before moving on towards the door. Twilight sighed and shared a brief look with Rainbow as the two mares got up and followed Hunter. Planning was the last to get up, leaving her in the back with Storm - who watched the front of the group as they exited and muttered “Dick…” underneath his breath which was barely picked up by the grey unicorn.

Much like the tram’s sudden change in appearance, this deck was no exception. While the trolley-like box had been industrial grade to the max, the science deck was spotless and modernized in contrast. The grated floors had finally ended, replaced by sleek ashen white tile which had zero spots of grime on them. This little detail was further evident when Storm stepped onto it as his worn and less than clean hooves left soft grey marks on the ground. As for the room they were in, it was a mirror image of the other tram station excluding the white overlay and cleanliness with the seating and restrooms being placed in the exact same locations. The oval shaped lights above were impossibly brighter than their wall counterparts and they forced Storm to squint underneath their glow.

Trail Hunter spun on his hooves and in a shocking twist of emotion, turned his agitated state into one of mock happiness as he extended a hoof outward, gesturing to the room. “Welcome to the egghead deck!” He sarcastically introduced, but thankfully nopony outside their little group was paying him any mind. “Here is where you’ll find the boring pieces of the old world and more questions than we care to answer-”

“Thanks for the escort, Hunter.” Twilight interrupted, her tone displaying a clear endpoint in her annoying. “You can return to your station now.”

With a mocking bow to the would-be princess, the stallion left the scene and returned to the tram. Twilight was busy apologizing or justifying his behavior but Storm wasn’t listening. The leader waved ‘bye’ to Hunter as he quickly slid into a seat that a mother was offering her child and forcing the two to stand. Maybe it was the boiling pot of stress which had been eating away at him since the beginning talking, but at this point Storm wanted nothing more than to give that jerk a sound beating - the one from this ship that is. Maybe it would get him kicked off the ship and away from this time bomb waiting to happen.

Hey, win-win… He thought sarcastically.

But now he had to know more. While this whole situation had screamed red flag from the second it had begun, the direction appeared to be positive at least. Well, not in his mind, but in most ponies. Once again, only time would tell and that clock was moments away from reaching its expiration date.

Another passing of security later and the group - minus one - found themselves heading down a pristine white hallway with multiple doors on either side. Most of these doorways were closed but a few were open, giving Storm a brief glance into their purpose - which was revealed to be hospital-like rooms for the injured or sickly.

“You gonna rob these ‘fine folk’ too?” The leader asked, gesturing to a similar piece of medical equipment from one of the open doors. “I think you can pull it off this time, sport! I ain’t around to bite you in the ass after all.”

That’s it…

“Can’t you go bother somepony else?” Storm growled, his voice real low - not to be intimidating but rather to suppress it from earshot of the others.

His efforts nearly went unnoticed, but a shared glance with a female nurse - who had been passing him the hallway - forced him to endure a look of half confusion and half hurt at his would-be insult. Shaking his head at her as if to say ‘not you,’ Storm continued onward with the leader bouncing in tow.

As they went on, the layout of the pristine hallway started to become less hospital-like with the lack of mirroring rooms, decline of medical staff, and more lab-coat wearing ponies much like the unicorn leading them. For the most part, the hospital staff had ignored the newcomers as they were too busy with their patients, clipboards, and whatever agenda they had of their own. But these presumably science deck workers were a different story.

Way different.

The first souls that the group encountered were two mares - both dressed in the matching white coats with their manes done up in a bun - that both seemed to recoil in a strange wonder at the sight of the group, but Storm knew the truth.

They were reacting to the sight of him.

Instantly, both of them looked to Twilight as if to ask some silent question to which she smiled energetically and nodded. Storm was starting to sweat at the prospect of being displayed like some petting zoo animal even if that wasn’t the intention. Twilight subtly tried to tell the girls to leave him alone thankfully and the group continued on their… merry way. The hallway finally ended at a set of double doors which led into a lobby area with even more ponies. Even more sets of awestruck eyes.

Fucking great… Storm thought. Even without his helmet on, these ponies seemed to see through him as if the glowing purple ‘I’m a freak’ ‘x’ was still over his head.

More whispering, a bit of pointing, and a whole lot more glares than he cared for shot his way. After a brief chat with a stallion at a reception booth, Twilight was cleared for access to something called ‘Floor Zero’ and the group was let through deeper into the deck. More halls, more Celestia-awful stares, but eventually they made it to what looked like a dead end with a single rectangular window at eye level. On the other side of the window, a small room with a matching windowed door on the other end sat, but the biggest sign of the room’s purpose was a literal sign. The words ‘Decontamination Chamber’ were plastered on a yellow and red sign right below the window.

“Hold your breaths.” Twilight offered while levitating a keycard from her coat pocket and raising it to a scanner on the wall. With that, the rest piled into the cramped room as the door slid shut behind and a flashing red light above swept over everypony. Storm turned at the sound of the metallic thunk and began slightly fidgeting, changing his stance and trying to hide his nervousness - which he managed to mostly succeed with.

Mostly.

Rainbow Dash - standing right next to him - was able to see the stallion’s discomfort but there wasn’t much she could do to offer him solace with her lack of speaking now that the decontamination gas filled the chamber. The mare couldn’t quite place it but for some reason it wasn’t easy seeing him this… tense. She was no psychological mayor by any standards, but the apprehension in his body language was hard to miss now.

Regardless of feelings or fears, the gas cleansed any daytime radiation from the gang’s bodies without prejudice before shutting off at the hiss of dying air in the valve’s lock. The red light shut off followed by the opening of the doors, allowing them to proceed. Even with his clear desire to get the fuck out of that cramped room, Storm didn’t sprint or gallop out of it. He calmed strode behind the others, making sure to not alert them to his true opinion of everything so far.

On the other side of the decontamination chamber was a room more fitting of the title ‘chamber’ due to its massive size. The ceiling looked as far away from the floor as Storm felt - it must have been larger than a two story building’s roof and had a vast array of the ovalur white orbs illuminating everything below. Over two dozen ponies milled about at various stations - all of which sported the cloned lab coat - as they focused on their own respective tasks at hoof.

As they walked, Storm took side glances at some of the projects the research staff were focused on. A strange blue potion that eerily reminded the stallion of the blue substance Plexer’s emminated. A folding stock which relied on the same tech as the ATS helmet plates. Some kind of hospital bed which resembled a multi-tool with how many contraptions it had at the side. This was all he had time to observe before the group’s walk ended at last - which was at the biggest ‘station’ of them all.

In the middle of said station was another example of extreme contrast to the sleek white interior in the form of an ancient looking pedestal with an elegant-looking crossbow weapon suspended in some type of levitation spell. Immediately upon seeing the weapon, Rainbow’s magenta eyes widened. It was definitely the same weapon despite it’s golden shine being reduced to one of an ugly bronze now - as if it was offline somehow.

“Thats…” She began only to be excitedly cut off by Twilight Sparkle, who raised a hoof and gestured to the weapon - or rather the literal mountain of notes on the wall behind it.

“The Harmony Enforcer!” The lavender unicorn beamed. “The whole reason for our operation and our one way ticket back!”

“H-how did you touch it?” Rainbow asked, stunned if not anxious about being next to the same object that had displaced her originally.

“We didn’t - for the longest time after you disappeared.” Twilight explained, pulling the thing closer to the group. “But we couldn’t take the thought of you being hurt or worse…” She continued with her tone dropping to a saddened one momentarily. “So I touched it in hopes that it would lead me to you, but it didn’t. I was able to pick it up without any problems and take it back to the library for study. When it was in my possession, I began having these… dreams - visions really. Most would happen the few times I fell asleep but some happened in broad daylight. I saw these… beings - who were shapeless but also whole at once. It was like my mind wasn’t able to comprehend their true form so it tried to make something out of nothing…”

Shapeless beings? Visions? Wait… Storm thought only to feel a sudden and splitting headache as the stallion’s vision was filled by a blinding white light that devoured everything. The others, the stations, the ship - it all vanished and was replaced with a different world.

Everything was white. Again. Those shapeless… things were gathered around the same table which Storm had been on in the last time he had this… vision. But now, the stallion was standing on all fours a couple paces behind the beings who paid him no mind. In fact, they weren’t paying him any attention from the beginning and he was never on that table but rather the crossbow-like weapon was.

Despite the change in positioning, the being’s conversation was the exact same as it had been previously. “Is it ready?” One of them asked.

“Soon…” Another replied as both of them locked their nonexistent gazes on the weapon.

“We don’t have much time or many options. If it is not ready by-”

“It will be ready. Tell the others and prepare yourself for the transition…” With that, the figure raised a strange appendage into the air, which caused Storm’s head to go into overdrive. He felt like his brain was going to burst as a series of blistering headaches assaulted him before the white light once again engulfed him completely.

Then it was gone.

The beings were gone. The station was back. The stares were back - everypony from Planning to Twilight to Rainbow were staring directly at him. Great…

“Equestria to Storm - you there?” Rainbow asked. Her tone was torn as if she was trying to decide between playfully sarcasm or serious concern.

Something faintly trickled the stallion’s muzzle, causing him to raise a hoof and wipe it, only to catch a streak of red right underneath his nostrils. Blood.

“You saw them.” Twilight suddenly stated. She wasn’t worried or excited, but just neutral as if it was a simple fact.

The red flag in Storm’s head had burst into flames and was replaced by a nuclear warning siren. He knew careful was the name of the game now.

“Who?” He asked, trying his best to play dumb - or at least neutrally so.

“The shapeless beings.” The mare answered. “This isn’t the first time either.”

How the fuck does she know all this?! Storm thought. Well, fuck - playing dumb won’t get me far. Here goes nothing…

“Yeah…” He confirmed carefully. “What do they want?”

The lavender unicorn had a puzzled look flash on her face for a brief moment. “How many visions have you seen?” She finally asked.

“Two. One a few days ago and one just now.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it?” Storm repeated, slightly agitated. “I’m supposed to have those things fuck with my head more often?”

“No, no, no.” Twilight assured with a shake of her head. “But I thought it would show the Marked One more than just a couple visions by now.”

“Oh yeah - that’s another thing…” Storm began. “Why the fuck are you and your crew calling me that?”

Twilight thought for a moment and instead of answering, she gestured to a unicorn stallion in a similar coat, who grabbed something off of the wall behind the group. This stallion levitated what appeared to be a stone tablet - from a small collection of many - to the middle of the group as the magical grip on the object was passed from his own to Twilight’s.

This tablet had carvings of multiple twisted equine-shaped figures surrounding two other figures in the center. Storm’s heart dropped the second he recognized the two centered figures. The furthest one had a relatively short mane which was divided by lines - signaling color changes and it’s style matched that of the blue pegasus next to him. But that figure didn’t compare to the real shocker to him. In the exact center of the tablet was a larger figure with rough outlines of Storm’s own suit - his own visor.

Fuck.

That wasn’t all either. Apparently the stallion’s stone counterpart was also wielding what he thought was his Sweeper upon first glance but instead was the crossbow-like weapon in the same room.

Double fuck.

“Well, up until now we didn’t know your name so the research team had to call you something.” Twilight explained retracting and replacing the tablet when she was done. “The name just kinda stuck even if it has a little too much of a martyr-y feel to it if I do say so myself”

“No kidding.” He replied, clearly not happy about the label.

“Anyway, now that both of you are here…” Twilight exclaimed, switching to excited on a whim and looking from the equally lost Storm and Rainbow. “We can finally finish this!”

“Finish what? The world?” Storm asked.

The unicorn mare nodded. “You two are step four out of five and now we are so close to fixing everything!”

“There's nothing to fix.” Storm replied. “This world is already broken. Let those fuckers have it.”

“Now you're getting it, sport!” The hospital stallion chuckled. “I might be able to get through that thick skull of yours after all!”

“Aren’t you cheery.” Rainbow muttered.

“Oh, not this world!” Twilight affirmed. “Well, actually yes it is this world but it's not at the same time.” Then she chuckled at some seemingly bad joke that the others didn’t get. “During my visions, I got glimpses of how the Enforcer works and I know that it can... ‘bend’ space and time - if given enough power - and move anything through both. It is that ability which took you, Rainbow Dash, and… stored you until now-”

“For twenty-seven years?! Why did it take me from our chance to use the elements on those things?!”

“The elements won’t work.” Twilight admitted gloomily.

Now it was Rainbow’s heart’s turn to sink. The Elements of Harmony - not work? Her expression prompted a further explanation from Twilight.

“Well, they won’t work on their own at least…” The lavender unicorn elaborated. “Take a look.” And with that, Twilight levitated the weapon towards the others, turning it vertically so that they could see the six slots - two of which housed both the Element of Magic and Generosity - and in turn returned the natural golden glow to their respective slice on the weapon’s midsection. “With each Element of Harmony that is restored, a percentage of the Enforcer is as well!”

“Restored?” Storm asked, scanning the strange device.

“When Rainbow disappeared twenty-seven years ago, she was… stored in some place in between space and time for her own safety during the initial outbreak. The Enforcer must have decided it was time because she appeared a few days ago. Now why that is, I have no clue. It didn’t show me anything about that part, but it's probably because of finding you or maybe our research was deemed good enough, nevertheless, things are in motion now thanks to you all!”

A series of clapping could be heard by Storm from the hospital leader’s direction at that, prompting the agitated stallion to roll his eyes, and in turn getting a strange look from Twilight before continuing. “Anyway, during the outbreak, some extremely powerful force shattered the elements and took down every electronic or magical spell in Equestria the day those creatures emerged. We believe this force is some sort of mental influence or signal which is blocking the… link between the elements and the Enforcer.” By this point, Rainbow Dash and Planning Period had stunned and confused looks on their muzzles while Storm seemed to at least able to follow along or his indifference hid any possible hint at his confusion. “It took us ages - literally - to figure out how to restore the elements…” With that, Twilight levitated a glass box with what was presumably the remaining four element shards towards the group. “But we persevered and figured it out! Whatever this mystery force is, it has taken the themes in which our elements embody - Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, and Magic and twisted or corrupted them - if you will. The only way to restore the elements to be put on the Enforcer and in turn restore a fraction of it is to break the corrupted theme on said element.”

“Like a seal?” Planning asked.

Twilight nodded. “Precisely. We actually gave a name for them - the Seals of Disharmony. My own, the Seal of Magic, was reflected after I gave up hope to see the old world and all my friends again, but when I was able to finally find a light then my element was restored by the Enforcer right before my own eyes! It automatically ‘snapped’ to the weapon and has been the start of our crusade ever since.”

“So what’s with the other one then?” Storm asked, motioning to the Element of Generosity.

“We were actually hoping to get that information from you.” Twilight admitted, before nodding to the same coated stallion from before, who hastily grabbed a small tablet - an electronic one - before pressing some buttons out of Storm’s view. Suddenly, the circular table in the middle of the chamber burst to life with a bright blue glow, revealing it was a digital map of what seemed to be all of Equestria. “Rewind to last night, please.” Twilight asked the stallion, and he did just that.

This ‘map’ zoomed into Ponyville - as shown by the blocky title above the outline - and was still for a moment as a clock counted down at a pace of ten times faster than normal until a sudden burst of multi-color light filled a small portion of the town’s dark blue outline.

“That burst of energy happens whenever friendship or harmony based magic is detected - I modeled it after my own element and am very pleased with the outcome by the way…” Twilight boasted with a hoof to her chest before continuing. “This was detected late last night where somepony or something managed to break the Seal of Generosity. We arrived there as soon as possible, but by the time we got there, only a fraction of the community’s bones were standing and everypony was dead. Whatever did it was gone.”

“Yeah, we know.” Storm confirmed. “We were there and nearly died thanks to a prissy psychopath and mountain of Damned.”

“Damned?” Twilight asked with a slight tilt to her head.

“The creatures.” Storm related. “The area I lived in - and I thought most of the wasteland - calls them. You guys don’t get out much, do you?” He asked, looking at the nearly perfect chamber in all of it’s apparent safety.

Twilight sheepishly scratched the back of her neck before clearing her throat and continuing. “That ‘prissy psychopath’ you mentioned was Rarity. And since her element is restored, I take it you found a way to turn around her corrupted generosity?” The mare asked hopefully.

Both Planning and Rainbow’s eyes went towards Storm, who averted both of their gazes and instead looked beside Twilight while answering. He had no idea how she would take this but there was no point in avoiding it. Better just bite the bullet.

“I shot her…” He stated indifferently while watching the leader mockingly fire a toy gun before blowing the nonexistent smoke from its barrel out.

“...what?” Twilight asked, most likely out of instinct rather than a conscious question.

“She gave us no choice.” Storm added. “She was too far gone and it was either her or Dash so…”

“He ended it, that's got to count for something.” Planning tried to assist.

“Okay… just… wow.” Twilight tried to form a coherent sentence while processing this painful truth. “Well… at least we know the uh - alternate will still restore the elements if it needs to come to that…”

Nopony said anything for a couple minutes and the only sound was the coated stallion turning the map off and putting up the tablet. Planning Period raised her hoof like a school filly, but Twilight didn’t seem to take any oddity to it.

“So…” She began slowly as if unsure how to ask the question. “All we have to do is stop these seals and that's it? This thing fixes everything for us?”

“Well, no - not exactly.” Twilight replied before swifty correcting herself. “If we can harness the same power it took to transport Rainbow, then we can ride it back to before these Damned emerged and get to the root of the problem before it even starts!”

It was a contest over who held a more gleaming and determined look of hope in their eyes between Rainbow and Planning now. The lab coat stallion in the corner had a faint smile at the energetic statement from his would-be leader.

“Wow, she can really sell something.” The hospital stallion commented from beside the indifferent Storm. His silence was all it took for the ex-leader to continue. “You know she’s right. Those visions you’ve been having aren’t just caused by me for the sake of fucking with you - I like doing that personally - but anywho that ain’t the point.”

“I’ve got much more evidence and research if you aren’t entirely convinced.” Twilight continued, addressing all of them, but it was clear only one was still skeptical. “But we’ve located another one and need to get on that as soon as the ship repairs are complete so I don’t have time right now.” She turned to Storm then. “Please, just come with us for this one run and see the magic work for itself. You’ll have no doubts, Marked O- I mean, Storm.”

The addressed stallion was now fighting a war within a war inside of his head. Working airships? A whole civilized society? Time travel? What the fuc- His thoughts were swiftly severed upon a tap against his shoulder.

The hospital leader was holding an extremely faded calendar - which was likely decades outdated - and mockingly skimming through it before slamming it shut and speaking. “Looks like you are free, sport! Got nothin better to do except get yourself killed for these pretty cunts, huh?”

Storm exhaled through his nostrils while giving the ex-leader a look which would haunt many normal ponies dreams before looking to Twilight and the anticipating others. By now, the entire chamber had eyes on him but he tried not to think about it while answering.

“Alright, fine. Let’s do this...”

Whether it was the eruption of cheering from the room or that Celestia-awful mock clapping of the leader, Storm’s heart was in his stomach once more as he uneasily looked around at the celebration.

“Wow. You must really be desperate to escape yourself.” The leader commented. “You know this doesn’t change anything, right? I’ll still be here, we all will, and you’ll still be stuck in this. Oh well, better off with the devil you know, huh?”

Storm raised an eyebrow while turning to face his ex-adversary. Normally he wouldn’t have engaged with all these others around but something he said struck him. Plus everyone else wasn’t focused on him at the moment.

“You caught that, eh? Yeah, I said ‘we’ - that’s right, Stormy. I’m not even the worst one so buckle up!” The purple stallion continued with a cackle.

“Storm, you okay?” Rainbow asked, seemingly appearing out of thin air.

The addressed stallion’s attention was momentarily dragged to the prismatic mare only to have his gaze returned to-

Nothing.

The hospital’s leader was gone. Again.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Just not a fan of loud noises.” Storm replied, earning a strange look which clearly expressed how little she believed that answer.

Twilight made her way over to the duo with Planning in tow. The lavender unicorn held three small rectangles in her magic - all of which had serial bars and codes on them - which were passed out to each pony.

“Keycards.” She explained, revealing her own by opening her coat slightly. “These will get you into the armory, engine room, and most importantly, your own quarters on the crew deck.”

“Our own rooms?” Planning Period asked. “How big is this ship?” This earned a small chuckle from Twilight.

“Honestly, it's not much bigger than a cruiser class, but it used to be a warship so the rooms aren’t separate.”

“It’s barrack-style quarters.” Storm elaborated for the would-be princess, earning a slightly surprised reaction alluding to him being correct. “Bunk beds and cramped ass spaces.”

“You certainly know these vessels.” Twilight commented. “Did you used to work on these before?”

“No.”

The look Twilight gave him was a plea to continue but he wouldn’t. “O-okay then. Um, let’s get down to the engine room and see how the repairs are coming along.”

The engine room could be heard long before seen by the group. Rhythmic hissing of pistons, stressed from what was most likely running off of old or scavenged parts, but croaking themselves along as if they believed in this cause. Metallic bangs and clanks resounded throughout the cramped and industrialized hallway the group was now moving through but the exact origin of the sounds weren’t visible for the time being. A couple turns and an elevator ride down finally marked the short journey’s end as the three mares and stallion found themselves in what was without a doubt the biggest area of the ship.

In the center of the massive room - which made the research chamber look like a baby brother in comparison - was a titanic wheel that had glass vats containing each brightly glowing color of the rainbow. The wheel turned slowly, enough for Storm to make out each color and confirm that they were in fact all the basic colors on the visible spectrum. Two still ‘cuffs’ were connected to either side of this wheel which led to a network of huge brass pipes that branched off into the walls of the ship - and leading to the turbines as Storm already knew. Black and bronze catwalks accompanied each and every pipe for maintenance, creating a spiraling network of elevated floors all working in tandem thanks to lifts on various points in the room.

If the sound wasn’t enough to drive a pony mad, the smell was another story. A concoction of oil, lubricants, and whatever was in those vats swept through the room, eliminating any pleasant thoughts of a previous meal or future one to those in it. Storm noticed that a few of the ponies on this deck were wearing similar apparel to the ones on the tram and retained the same stoick expressions, allowing him to infer that they weren’t the lighthearted or easy going type. Scattered throughout the mess of blue collars were a couple lab coats, even less security personnel, and a sliver of oddballs - most likely family members - that milled about, assisted, or supervised the work being done to keep the metallic heart of the vessel beating.

“There she is.” Twilight nearly shouted to point out, both verbally and literally with a hoof, and in turn breaking Storm out of his examination of the place.

On the first set of catwalks above the ground floor was a small Earth pony mare who was paying them no mind - not that she could with the chorus of industrialization ringing throughout the room. The mare had an extremely light beige coat, with the tan side winning over the brown, a medium length snow white mane which was done up in a bun or weave-like style at the top of her head - which was concealed by a bronze welding mask. She was taking a welding tool to a missing piece of the railing she appeared to be installing before the sparks finally dissipated and her job appeared to be on hold when a hoof went up to her Tethertech.

Twilight had asked the mare about to come down through a voice channel, prompting the mentioned mare to snap her head down to the small crowd below. Upon seeing the group gathered underneath her, the beige mare’s legs began to buckle slightly, which Storm noticed at his instinctual examination of newcomers. This mare took a step forward seemingly without realizing that the railing she had set aside to be installed was on the catwalk floor, as it rolled out from underneath her and sent her tumbling over the side down into the group below. Rainbow nearly tackled Twilight aside to dodge the incoming pony-missile, Planning leapt to the side as well, and the mare above let out a faint scream directed at the pain to come from the decently large drop, but her screams fell short upon realizing that she had landed on something less rough than the ground - or at least to her knowledge.

Looking up and through the welding mask’s slit, she saw that the thing - or rather pony - who broke her fall was the only stallion of the group. He had managed to grab her in a half carry, half embrace which probably looked really embarrassing and awkward to the many lookers from the side and closer catwalks. Most of them just shook their heads or sighed upon seeing her potentially dangerous slip up as they resumed their own respective tasks. A few of them actually laughed at it, one of which mimicked the mare’s slip and earned a few chuckles from those around him.

Quickly, Storm put the mare - who was significantly smaller than himself even by comparison to Rainbow Dash’s own build - down on her hooves which she got to after some brief trouble. The two shared brief looks with only one of them being able to read the other’s face due to the mask. It was then that Storm realized she seemed to be trembling in front of him. Twilight, Rainbow, and Planning returned to the circle as the purple unicorn cleared her throat.

“You’ve got to be more careful, P.” She said, sounding like an emotional mother lightly scolding a foal. “Those materials are valuable and we don’t have any other engineers to take over should you get injured.”

“R-right!” The mare - ‘P’ - whose voice sounded as young as she looked, stammered while removing the mask, revealing her vibrant blue eyes that were nearly hidden behind small rectangular rimmed glasses “I-it won’t happen again, ma’am - I swear!”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt. We already have enough in the medical bay. Did you get Pipe B sealed up?” Twilight asked. P nodded swiftly, earning a thankful sigh from the unicorn. “Good job. Now it’s safe to shock out to our next destination.”

The term ‘shock’ prompted a discussion about how exactly the ship could do whatever that was between Twilight and Planning - a topic that Storm already had explained to him decades prior - so he drowned it out and instead continued his examination of this ‘P’ character. She was a couple steps away from the group and averting gazes with every single one of them, even catching his eye once and swifty turning away. He had never seen such submissiveness or nervousness from one of the planet’s only remaining social creatures so this struck him as odd. Though he couldn’t place why he did this over continuing, Storm decided to avert his gaze from her as well to not intimidate her and judging by his ‘resting bitch face’ as Talos once so gracefully put it, she would appreciate that.

Suddenly, a stallion wearing a blue work shirt and carrying a tablet came up to the group before addressing P and telling her that the vending machine in the mess hall was busted, so off the shy engineer went. As she walked away, the stallion looked to Twilight.

“We really need a new engineer, princess.” He said, practically yelling as if not caring if the other mare heard him or not. “It’s only a matter of time before that clutse injures more than herself. One false step and she could ruin this whole thing.”

Twilight sighed. “P is the best and only option we’ve got after her father. I know she isn’t the most… graceful but she means well - as I am sure your concerns do too.”

This brief interaction let Storm know that this probably wasn’t the first time this mare had been treated this way by her superiors. He couldn’t place it, but looking at the collared stallion in front of him was infuriating.

“So what makes you more capable?” He asked the stallion.

The stallion looked to Twilight then back to Storm before replying. “And you are?” He asked, half out of confusion and half out of anger to being disrespected by a sudden stranger.

“Sick of your shit.” Storm replied passively, earning a surprised look from the faces around - including a few nearby workers.

“Come on, Storm, not-” Rainbow began, turning the mentioned pegasus’ attention away from the stallion.

She was cut off when the stallion put his hoof on Storm’s shoulder as if to get his attention only to have his face quickly slammed into the ground and a blade placed against his neck. Storm had him pinned in a second after the hoof came into contact with him, prompting Twilight to try and break up the confusing scuffle and end the scene that was beginning for the entire engine room. The other stallion wasn’t furious or looking to throw a punch, but he did mouth the words “Paranoid freak” before walking off to wherever he came from.

With a shout, Twilight told the group that she wanted to show them to their barracks before she began leading the way to the engine room’s exit. Along the way, Twilight nudged Rainbow Dash on the side gently before opening a private communications channel with her.

“Is he okay?” The coated unicorn asked low enough to not be overheard by the room’s ambience but loud enough for the earpiece to pick up.

Rainbow sighed and hesitated before replying. “He’s uh… working through some things at the moment.”

“What sort of things?”

“The worst kind. Let’s just say he doesn’t really like others - even before this.”

Twilight nodded. “I think we can get him to come around.” She said hopefully. “It's the least we can do now that we finally have his help.”

Rainbow was silent for a moment. “I tried, Twi. Trust me, it's better to leave it be for now. I’ve been there.” This earned a confused look from the unicorn who nearly bumped into the wall beside the room’s exit in her mental absence.

“Alright, but can you please keep an eye on him - for both his own and my crew’s sake?”

“You can count on it.”

Another tram ride, station docking, and awkward silence between the group later led them to the crew deck - which was where the inhabitants of the ship had their own personal barracks and held the title for second biggest deck on the ship according to Twilight; Now it wouldn’t be obvious due to the cramped hallways flanked by doors every couple of steps similar to the medical deck’s main part.

For Storm, this deck was more or the less the same as the others. Claustrophobic spaces? Check. Occasional and creepy-as-fuck staring? Check. It was all routine until a new element caught his eye.

To his left, the line of repeating doors was suddenly halted in favor of a long window with open blinds, allowing any outlookers insight as to the room’s contents. The floor was a bright green with little scratches of darker shades in it, almost resembling blades of lush grass decades ago. The walls were in slightly worse shape with chipped blue and patches of white fuzz - a sky and clouds. A few custom-made lanterns hung overhead - all of which were vaguely carved into the shape of a smiling sun - with a soft glow to match. Various toys, coloring papers, and even a few electronics were scattered on the floor and few shelving units on the room’s outskirts. Most of this was lost to the stallion who was focused on the room’s center - or rather what was in it’s center.

A row of about two dozen or so cribs were neatly organized and tended to by three mares wearing coats. Most of the foals were sleeping peacefully while one was being fed a bottle of milk, another was being cradled in a mare’s chest, and so on.

“Aww…” Planning coed from beside him at the sight, prompting the rest of the group to stop for a moment.

“Oh, I see you’ve found the nursery.” Twilight commented turning to Storm. “See, we aren’t just some group of mad crusaders. We wouldn’t bring foals along to something like that after all.” She said that with a chuckle like it was some sort of funny joke but to him it wasn’t.

“No, but you brought them into something worse.” Storm replied, not taking his eyes off of the window where he locked gazes with the closest crib-bound one.

It was a colt with the only indication being it’s lack of lengthy eyelashes. The second the colt saw Storm, he started to toss and turn gently, shaking his blanket wrap off part way and attempting to sit up where he reached his forehooves out as if asking to be picked up.

Storm's eyes widened in pure horror when he realized who exactly the colt was.

It was Raine.

No, no, no… Was the only thing his brain could repeat as the word was hammered into his skull over and over again.

At first he thought the eye color was just a coincidence but the rest of the colt’s body made him sure it was Raine. But it wasn’t the exact resemblance that shook him to his core…

It was the bullet wound.

Wound was a light term when most of its head was missing on the far right side, just next to the eye which was hidden when the colt had the blanket wrapped around itself. Even despite it’s mortal wound, the foal kept reaching out and appeared to be giggling in his direction.

Everything else was beginning to be muffled around Storm and replaced with a painful ringing. The girl’s voices, the faint hum of the fluorescent lights above, even his own breathing were all drowned out by the ringing to the point where the stallion had to grab at his head with how colossal the pain had become.

He might have fallen down slightly, but didn’t notice. Somepony from his side grabbed him in a flash to steady his position and were trying to say something to him but even his surroundings began to blur in addition. The ringing hit it’s highest pitch at that point and was starting to become something of a dull roar when suddenly it stopped.

Then everything did.

The roaring ringing, the blurred vision, even Raine was gone and replaced by a totally different foal which was a filly still wrapped in her blanket. Now that the blurring was gone, he was able to finally meet Rainbow’s concerned magenta eyes and was able to hear her voice clearly now.

“Storm! Storm! Can you hear me?!”

The trickle of a thick viscous substance landed on the stallion’s lips, forcing him to wipe up what he already knew was blood with a hoof. “Yeah…”

By this point, Planning and Twilight were just equally concerned bystanders watching the whole thing unfold. Storm tried to ignore their stares as he had been doing all day or so it seemed like.

“What did you see?” Twilight finally blurted out. She might not have meant for it, but her question lacked any empathy or real concern and was instead like a kid eager to hear if they could spend the night at a friend’s house.

“Nothing.” Storm replied, getting his fourth hoof back on the ground to stabilize himself, allowing Dash to let go. “Just a major headache and nose bleed.” His eyes had moved back into the nursery as if to confirm what he saw while responding.

Twilight looked to Rainbow and then Planning as subtly as possible, asking for answers with her eyes. Planning knew something was up but didn’t know exactly what but Rainbow’s returned gaze seemed to hold more. “R-right. Back to it then.”

A few more moments of walking through mirroring hallways and flights of stairs later led the group to what was the bottom level of the crew quarters. By now, Storm had noticed that each doorway had its own dry erase board with the names of the inhabitants - which appeared to be two per room as shown by the sectioned horizontal bar in between - but this deck only had a couple rooms with filled out boards while a majority of them were blank. Finally, the four of them came upon a door where the white board only had one name which was ‘P.’

“We like to preserve as much space as possible for future newcomers meaning each room is set up like a dorm for two inhabitants.” Twilight informed. “So I’d like to ask that you three do the same as well. This is P’s room,” she pointed towards the plaque. “but her case is a bit… different. She doesn’t do well with new friends and is extremely shy so could you choose the next empty room instead?” Twilight asked, looking at Storm who nodded as if there was nothing to it.

“I could bunk with her.” Planning Period offered. “She seemed nice and I think we’d get along.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you. Oh, and please be patient with her, she’s… a bit clumsy at times.”

Rainbow tried her best not to snicker upon remembering the catwalk earlier while Planning wrote her name on the board and stepped inside the room. The lavender unicorn turned to the remaining two pegasi as she gestured to the blank-slated room across the way.

“I guess that leaves you two then.” She said before looking exclusively at Storm. “But I should warn you about Rainbow’s snoring.” This earned an amused smile from the speaker but not the subject.

“Great.” Storm replied monotonically while writing his name on the board before handing the marker to Dash so she could do the same.

With that, Twilight opened the door and stepped inside with them in tow. Storm had gotten a brief glimpse at the room when Planning opened her own, but now he got to see it in full swing. At the far wall of the dorm-sized room was a set of bunk beds which were dug into the wall, sporting sunken mattresses, thin sheets and a single pillow per bed. An industrial ladder sat at the bed’s right side for access to the top bunk as well. By the pillows were cutouts where a single alarm clock was stationed with room for more personal items should the bed’s user have them.

With a light huff, Rainbow Dash plopped herself down on the top bunk and sighed at the feeling of being on a real mattress again. “It’s no cloud, but it’ll do.” She said while resting her forehooves behind her head.

To the room’s left was another door with a sign that read ‘bathroom’ and though it’s contents were closed off at the moment, most could infer as to what they were. On the right was a custom-made and to date calendar with an older looking clock shadowing it. Underneath all of this was a large trash can which was fitted into a cutout similar to the headboards on the beds. Storm then turned to the wall where the front door was to find that an electronic board of sorts was placed above the door. It had moving parts on the screen which read a tram schedule, what the mess hall was serving, and a few other things which he didn’t have time to read at the moment. Looking down allowed him to be met with the first thing in this place to peak his interest in a positive way - a workbench.

This bench was much nicer than his own as it was made of newer parts, shined to a chromatic perfection, and had brand new - even custom - tools to tinker with. Three adjustable lamps sat overhead on the backboard, which illuminated the rest of the back where a pinboard for blueprints, a tool rack, a screw and small components nest, and a couple empty shelves were nestled. As for the actual bench part, it was mostly a flat surface but it had two metal arms to hold up a project which were tucked into cut outs in the board, making the bench completely flat at the moment. Underneath the whole spread of an engineer’s dream was a single rolling stool with padded cushion seating.

“Do you like it?” Twilight asked from the side, noticing Storm’s trance stare at the workbench.

“Where did you get all this?” He asked robotically as if that question hadn’t even registered entirely.

“Here and there. Not all of the rooms have one this fancy but I reserved this one just for you!”

Storm began to drown out the apparent ‘Marked One’ praise and moved on to the next of the room’s contents, which happened to be a few slabs of solid yellow steel welded together to form an ‘X’ shape. Small hooks and straps hung at the end of each point - all of which were adjustable. A suit rack. Once again, it was fancier and new than his own back at the lighthouse. Capping off the tour of the room was a set of double drawers on the other side of the rack where two locks were built in and matched keys sat atop.

Despite how practical and nice the room was, something wasn’t sitting right with the stallion. Besides the fact that he hadn’t checked for any listening devices hidden, the casual allowance of him being fully armed and suited up on the same deck where ponies slept and a nursery was located didn’t add up.

“Why are you okay with me being armed in the crew section of the ship?” Storm finally asked, turning to Twilight, who looked as if she didn’t understand the question.

“We trust you and know you’ll do the right thing. Besides, we wouldn’t want to mess with your gear and get in the way.” She replied.

Okay, sure. We’ll go with that for now…

Twilight clapped her hooves together once as if to break the silent ice. “Okay, well then, I’ll let you both get settled in. We leave for Fillydelphia in an hour - and there is a high possibility we run into another seal to break! I’ll show you to your groups and we can get one step closer to salvation!”

“An hour?” Rainbow asked, sounding more like a whine. “I’m ready to kick some flank now!”

Twilight chuckled. “I see you haven’t changed much either, Rainbow Dash. And hopefully this time we can... help the seal bearer but we’ll just have to see how it goes. I’ll call you both up here when it’s time.”

Both pegasi nodded before Rainbow laid back down on the bed getting ready for a quick and well deserved nap. Twilight had her head out the door before she sudden spun around and faced Storm. “Oh! I almost forgot. I’ve got something that might help you with your… headaches.” She said, quickly substituting the last part as to not disturb Rainbow.

Storm raised an eyebrow but after checking to see if Rainbow had caught on to the true meaning behind the conversation, he followed out of the door. Along the way through the hallway back, the duo caught a glimpse of Planning and P’s room where the door was open and the grey unicorn was busy organizing a few things much like her organized name suggested. Once they were clear of both rooms, Twilight spoke up.

“I know you're not just having headaches,” She blurted out matter-of-factly. “They’re hallucinations instead if not in addition.”

“How do you know that?” Storm asked, still focused on their destination.

Twilight was quiet for a moment. “My… brother had the same thing happen to him. He was the one who started what we now call the ‘Runners’ and went on many runs himself to get us supplies and new recruits. Shining was… never the same after those. Every time he got back we could see it…”

“See what exactly?”

“He was… different. Not himself anymore. He looked tired, stressed, defeated even. Both his wife - my sister in law - and I saw it clearer than anypony. He kept falling asleep in the mess hall before he started avoiding our table all together and sitting by himself. Anytime somepony accidentally or purposely snuck up on him, he would almost knock their teeth out then and there like some sort of instinct.”

“Yeah, sounds familiar.” Storm grunted, trying his hardest to push back the warnings of his friends which were playing on repeat in his head now.

You need some time off, man - you’ve been spending too much out there…

You need a break, hon…

Killing yourself isn’t going to get us anywhere…

“It was like parts of him started to break off every day,” Twilight continued, severing the voices in his head. “And we knew he couldn’t take it for much longer. For Celestia’s sake, we couldn’t take it much longer. So we got him help. His wife, Cadence, had been working on a spell that let her look into a pony’s life - or more specifically their past. An entire lifetime could be shown to her in just a few seconds in our own time.”

Watch my life go by? Fuck that. Storm thought. He winced at the mere thought of anypony new knowing more than his name.

“She used this to find out why he had changed and it horrified her, but it was necessary. Together, we were able to create a… wall - of sorts for his mind to push back or more accurately block out those painful memories for as long as that wall held. When Shining was ready, we would drop parts of the wall to let him face those memories but this way it wasn’t all piled on top of his psyche and he could manage them.”

“Did it work?”

Again, the unicorn was silent as if something was holding her back. “We don’t know.” She finally replied. “Shining… passed before we were able to actually get results.” The last part seemed like taking a knife to her own tongue while spitting it out.

“I’m sorry.” Storm replied. It sounded dull, as if he didn’t mean it, but that was just how his tone was now - even when he tried to avoid it.

Twilight sniffled and he assumed her eyes were watery despite being behind the mare so he couldn’t confirm. “I-it’s fine. Just been a while since I’ve brought it up. Anyway, I uh… think we can do the same for you-”

“Why?” Storm had subconsciously if not rather harshly cut her off.

“Because you are a friend.”

Seriously?

“Okay, look,” Storm began, stopping in his tracks and prompting Twilight to turn around as well. “I might eventually buy this time travel and superweapon deal, but you can stop pretending like I mean anything more to you but a false prophet.” Twilight looked hurt at this and had an expression which displayed an internal conflict between rebuttling and tearing him a new one or listening.

“W-what? No, why would you even think like that?!” She asked, deciding to go with a more careful and controlled approach.

“Nothing in this world is free - especially help. How stupid do you think I am?”

“What is your problem? I’m trying to be nice but I can’t if you think everything we do is to cause harm! Don’t you want any friends?” Twilight asked before Storm’s facial features froze - hardened even as he was trying to hide something.

“This is a road you do not want to go down with me right now...”

Twilight sighed. “That is exactly why we need to help you. And we do care, but we can’t do much good if you don’t let us help! Not just because we need our ‘prophet’ at one hundred percent, but because we want our friend to be at the same!” The look on the stallion’s face clearly displayed that he wasn’t buying it, but thankfully she wasn’t in the mood to debate it any further. “Just… follow me - please. We can revisit this later...”

By now, the duo had made it to the tram station where an uncomfortable silent ride and equally quiet trip back to the research deck ensued. The staring returned once the research staff were able to see Storm once again, but this time he met each one with a warning look - a product of the recent buildups in his mind - that managed to ward off most others but a few were either too stupid or infatuated to get the message. This trip was also different from the last in another way - the route. Instead of heading to the deck’s heart, which was the chamber, the duo were going down a winding path of more elegant looking hallways with paintings, a faded red carpet, and even a few pieces of crystal pottery here and there. A sign hung overhead of the only door at the end of the hall which read ‘trauma ward.’

Great, I’m a real headcase now…

Twilight knocked on the door a few times before a female voice told her to come in. The door opened, revealing a room more akin to the hospital section of this multi-layered deck minus the red floor. As for the contents of said room, they resembled more of a therapist’s office complete with the shrink’s chair and desk combo, an adjustable seat for the patient to sit up or lay down and vent, but that was where the similarities ended. The rest of the room looked like some high school ballroom reject with vibrant crystal ornaments and picture frames - one of which had a slender pink alicorn and a well built white unicorn stallion. This picture looked old - really old as in the old world.

Currently, both the shrink and patient chairs were occupied by their respective users with that same pink alicorn sitting in the shrink chair and some yellow mare in the other. The alicorn’s eyes were closed tightly in concentration while her horn glowed a stream of magic into the other pony’s head. This other mare appeared to not be in distress or pain of any kind and actually had a rather pleasant expression on her face each time the magic beam ‘pulsed’ into her head like some sort of scalp massage. A few short moments later, and the beam suddenly was retracted into the unicorn's horn before both of the girl’s eyes were opened.

“It works, it really works!” The yellow mare beamed excitedly, not even noticing the two newcomers in the room. “I can’t hear Steel anymore! Thank you so much, Princess!” She then jumped and embraced the significantly taller alicorn.

“It’s the least I can do!” The alicorn replied. “Love won’t wither away on my watch! Tell me if any of the unpleasantness comes back surrounding your late husband and I’ll handle it.” She promised while letting go of the mare.

This was when the two noticed the presence of Twilight and a stallion who was nearly as tall as the alicorn herself. The purple unicorn had a smile plastered on her face while the stallion looked… hollow - indifferent to the whole thing as if neutrality was his personality. The alicorn smiled to greet both of them, only one of which returned it.

“So you do know there is a door at the end of the research chamber, huh?” The alicorn commented playfully while looking in Twilight’s direction. “I swear, you only talk to us in the mess hall nowadays.”

A sheepish grin and light blush dawned on the once purple unicorn’s face as she replied, “Very funny, Cadence. Things have just been… chaotic lately, but hey - on the bright side, we finally found him!” A cheerful hoof extended towards Storm, nearly making him jump.

The alicorn, Cadence’s, pupils widened slightly upon hearing this as she looked from the uncomfortable stallion then back to Twilight. Just a few short seconds of looking him over told her everything. He was battered, beaten, and clearly not in a ‘singalong’ mood.

“You’re the Marked One?” Cadence asked, as if she meant the question rather than using it as some sarcastic joke.

“Really wish you all would stop calling me that.” Storm deadpanned.

“It’s him, I’m sure of it this time!” Twilight exclaimed, while grabbing Storm by the shoulders only to move a hoof down towards his helmet activation button before the plates assembled around his head. It took the stallion all he had not to swipe the enthusiastic mare off of him so he waited patiently as the helmet assembled to give the alicorn a good look at his visor.

“Great, we’ve all confirmed my helmet shape. Can you stop touching my shit now?” Storm asked sarcastically before deactivating the helmet. The shine in Cadence’s eyes upon seeing his visor unnerved him, but that was becoming a recurring theme around here.

More ‘tsking’ to Storm’s right rang out, prompting him to turn and be met none other than the late hospital leader, who looked like he was holding in a laugh.

Oh for fucks sake…

“Now is that any way to talk to a lady, Stormy? I knew your table manners were a little rough but this? You’re starting to act like I do - er, did!” There was that awful cackle.

“Um… are you okay?” Cadence asked, breaking Storm’s gaze away from the other stallion.

“No, not really.” He admitted, “I’m this close to taking a swing at something that I’m not even sure exists at this point.”

“Well then, come get some, tough guy!” The leader dared playfully.

“What are you seeing right now?” Twilight asked from his other side.

“Go on,” The purple stallion continued. “Tell em all about me, sport.”

“... an old… friend.” Storm said, putting a rather unnatural emphasis on the ‘friend’ part. “Can you shut him up? Just tell me what I have to do in return.”

Cadence looked confused before she replied. “Do? You don’t have to do anything, but I can help you get rid of these halluc-”

“Bullshit.” Storm interrupted. “I don’t like fine print, just tell me what you want in return.”

The confusion on the alicorn’s face was met with a tang of hurt at the sudden snapping of the newcomer. Twilight met her gaze, trying to give some sort of nonverbal answer without inciting anything. Then an idea seemed to present itself on the lavender unicorn’s face.

“Okay, you got us…” She began, trying her best to sound serious. “In exchange for Cadence’s help, all you have to do is accompany us on the next seal. Then we’re even!”

“You could have just said that earlier.” Storm replied, his patience thin for whatever these two were pulling. “I’ll do it, but first I need to know exactly what you are going to do in there.” He continued, looking at Cadence, and motioning to his head with a hoof.

“It’s simple really, I’m going to search for the source of your hallucinations and put up a magic spell to keep them at bay. Then when you feel ready, I can… open parts of it to let some of it through so you can make peace with whatever it is and move on without the wall.”

“It’s not going to be pretty.” He warned, still looking a bit uncomfortable at the whole thing.

“Excuse me?”

“My head.” The stallion elaborated. “Just don’t dig too deep or you’ll see what I mean.”

Cadence let out a faint sound like a chuckle. “You sound like my husband did when we first performed this. I swear, I’ll just find the source and leave - nothing more.”

Storm seemed to hesitate when the pink alicorn offered a hoof towards the patient chair - not because of her, but rather because of the purple and black stallion who was in the shrink’s seat. He sunk into the cushions, put his forehooves up behind his head, and let out an exaggerated sigh of contempt.

Finally, Storm took the short walk to his respective chair, removed the Sweeper from his back and eased his battered body into the angelic cushion. Though he could barely feel said material, it sure as hell beat being on his hooves, holding up his frame and a metal suit, that was for sure. He closed his eyes momentarily as if out of instinct to either the soreness or solace and when they opened upon realizing he had involuntarily let his guard down around two strangers, the hospital leader was gone.

Cadence took a seat opposite from him in the shrink’s chair. Her previous expressions had been that of joy or confusion at times but she looked serious now. This couldn’t be good.

“One more thing…” She began, looking into the tired purple eyes. “This spell isn’t a way to destroy or avoid your trauma. It merely puts it on hold until you can funnel it out on your own terms and overcome it. I have no idea what would happen if you tried to keep the wall up forever, but my limited knowledge in psychological studies says it would be rather unpleasant.”

“Got it.”

The alicorn clapped her hooves together like a coach attempting to break a team meeting as her beaming smile returned. “Wonderful, I’m ready when you are. Just close your eyes.”

Storm exhaled then nodded. It wasn’t fair how easily his body could do just that on it’s own, but now that he was being asked to do it, his eyelids were reluctant to shut. Nevertheless, he managed to seal them just as a faint sound began to emanate in front of him - which was likely Cadence’s horn. A slight tickling sensation hit his forehead as the beam dug itself into his head - a process that was rather painless surprisingly. Now that this ‘beam’ was in his head, it felt like an annoying itch but it was better than the alternative.

Twilight Sparkle watched in wonder at the process before her. Sure, she had seen it probably three dozen times, but it didn’t get any less interesting. Both Cadence and the stallion’s bodies were still, their eyes clamped shut, and a single beam of magic connected their heads. This beam pulsed calmly as it snaked to it’s destination, looking like a show of dancing Hearth’s Warming lights on a string.

Her Tethertech beeped, prompting the mare to open it’s holographic screen and check to see the notification, which was more information on this next seal. Twilight began to quickly skim through the material more as a way to pass the time, knowing full well she would memorize it later anyw-

Cadence let out a pained gasp, breaking Twilight away from the screen and forcing her to close it. The pink alicorn’s cheeks were a river of tears, which escaped her closed eyes and trickled into her lap, but she never stopped the spell or opened her eyes. The pained noises began to sound like she was on the verge of sobbing now, making Twilight want to shake her out of whatever discomfort she was currently experiencing but she couldn’t.

A few moments which felt like years to the unicorn passed until the magic beam was retracted before Storm and Cadence’s eyes shot open. Cadence sniffled, levitated a tissue to her muzzle and wiped away the fresh tears and traces of snot.

“Did it work? Are you both alright?!” Twilight asked.

Cadence couldn’t speak so she nodded instead after a moment of despondency. Then the alicorn turned to Storm.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered, her upset tone clear.

“How deep did you go?” Storm asked as if her sincerity meant nothing.

“Just a year or so.”

“... Well, I don’t see or hear anything. Maybe it did work… thanks…” The last word felt strange - alien even as it rolled off the stallion’s tongue.

“Storm, go get some rest. You’re going to need it for what comes next.” Twilight advised, keeping her gaze locked with her sister-in-law’s. After yet another hesitation, he left the room and headed for the tram station.

“What did y-” Twilight began only to be cut off by a choked voice.

“Everything…” Cadence interrupted, holding back more tears. “I’ve never seen anything… like him.” This earned a puzzled look from Twilight. “I didn’t have to look for the bad, Twilight. It was everywhere. I had a harder time looking for positive memories. For every one I found, I had to shift through twenty horrible ones first.” The alicorn’s voice sounded broken as if she was reliving everything.

“Worse than Shining?” Twilight asked, shuttering to remember how the outside world had changed her brother.

“Worse than Shiny.” Cadence confirmed. “You don’t understand, Twilight, he has so much… anger. So much hatred and… sadness in him. I don’t know if that wall will help much if he can’t face it. The wall will make it worse - way worse - if he doesn’t.”

“What? I thought it was safe.” Twilight asked.

“It is! But he hasn’t come to terms with anything. Not just in the past year, but his entire life! That is a boiling pot waiting to explode!”

“Then we’ll help him through it. All of it. That’s what friends do.” Twilight replied rather confidently after a moment of unsurity.

“I… I don’t know if that's possible…”

Both mares were silent for a moment. Twilight absently kicked at the metal floor while lost in thought and Cadence cleaned herself with yet another tissue.

“He’s our only hope.” Twilight started up again, rather spontaneously. “Our only hope to fix everything. If we are his only hope then so be it.”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 16 is finally here! I want to apologize for the delay in this but I do have good reason. First of all, School has recently started up for me and with it being my senior year and all, I’d like to put it as my top priority so this story has to take the backburner for now. With that being said, I do still intend to at least attempt my one chapter per month goal, which is getting increasingly harder with the length of the more recent chapters. Hell, this one is over 18,000 words! But that is about it. Be patient with me and the reward will be worth it.

As for this chapter itself, I want to make one thing very clear. No character is able to look into my mind or read the script to know everything, meaning every single one of them is technically an unreliable narrator. This is most clearly shown in the differences between Twilight and Rarity’s explanations of the future, which neither of them could be right for all y'all know. Once again, this chapter is full of subtle foreshadowing if any of you can spot it then let me know about that or your predictions for the future below!

Even with all of my life going on, the responses I get, showing people care about this story is one of the main things keeping me going, so thank you all.