Somewhere, a puzzle piece is searching for its picture.

The walk back to the caravan was quiet. Starry hadn't said anything since leaving that abandoned town with its broken homes and empty cradles. We trotted along at a slow, steady pace, just the two of us. I'd told Rake and the others to go on ahead. Rake hadn't bothered waiting around, and we lost sight of him quickly, but the gang ponies Starry had brought with her stayed within sight ahead of us.

We stopped briefly along the way so Starry could get the aspirin bottle out of her bags. After shaking out one of the small white tablets into her hoof, she swallowed it down with a long sip from her flask, which she'd already had out; she'd been nursing from it for the entire walk up until then. With her eyes closed, she took a deep breath through her nose and let it out in a long, quiet sigh. When she opened her eyes, they sparkled with the kind of brilliance and determination I'd come to expect from her; the kind I watched go dark when she'd spoken about how fragile life in the wasteland was.

Her ears perking up suddenly, Starry swiftly put her flask and aspirin bottle away. She reared up on her hind legs, wings fanned out for balance, as she looked on ahead of us. Following her gaze, I saw the gang ponies galloping off in a hurry. After a moment, I started hearing what I assume Starry had heard: distant gunshots.

They came in short bursts of two or three, separated by several seconds of silence. Starry took off and flew up to the hillcrest ahead of us. I followed at a rapid pace by hoof, catching up to her to see the caravan on the road below. It was no longer the orderly column that it had been of trader wagons and security forces trotting steadily forward. Instead, we saw a chaotic mass of ponies holding position. Many of the wagons had been drawn up alongside each other, forming a wall that ran along the left side of the caravan. By the far corner, up near the front of the caravan, was where the sounds of gunfire were coming from; gang ponies barricaded behind upturned wagons—some of which were even on fire or showed signs of recent fire damage—were trading shots with a handful of ponies who looked much the same as the raiders I'd run into earlier.

"What . . ." I said breathlessly.

"Raiders attacked the caravan," Starry said. "When I saw that you were gone, I asked some of the guards to come with me to go look for you." She let out a calm sigh. "Looks like the raiders are retreating. Those gang ponies sure know how to fight, that's for sure."

I turned and looked back the way we'd came. That far away, the abandoned town was barely distinguishable from the rocky hills it was built atop. "How did you know where to look?"

Starry gave a wry smile and brushed a few stray hairs under her cap. "I told you: my talent is finding things." She let out a small laugh, then turned to look back in the direction the caravan had come from—toward where we'd been headed before we met Trailblazer. "We could just leave . . . are you sure you still want to go this way, Day?"

"I—you mean just . . . abandon Trailblazer and his friends?"

"I wouldn't say 'abandon' . . . I mean, we barely know them, and see: they do just fine without us. It's the way things are, Day; why the Enclave doesn't just come down and fix all this—we've got enough of our own problems without worrying about everypony else."

"Well . . . where—"

"Captain!" A voice drew our attention skyward as Trailblazer swooped in for a landing. He was wearing his battle saddle, which seemed to carry the faint scent of ozone. "Captain, I think you should come with me. We need to have a discussion."

Glancing down at his weapon, Starry raised an eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?"

Trailblazer's eyes went wide at the suggestion. His face flushed lightly, and he turned to the side. "Nothing of the sort, Captain. But it is somewhat urgent, if you don't mind."

Starry rolled her eyes and grunted. "I guess we're hanging around a while longer," she muttered.

Seeming to notice me almost as an afterthought, Trailblazer looked at me. "Oh, Lucky Day. There you are. I'm glad you survived the attack alright. Though . . ." He tilted his head. "Not unscathed, it seems." At my confused look, he pointed a hoof at his cheek. I hesitantly mirrored the motion and winced as I felt the swollen bruise from where Rake had hit me. "What happened?"

"I, um, fell out a window," I answered.

"Well, nothing too serious, but you should let Grift take a look at it for you. Come along, I'll show you where you can find her while the captain and I go have that discussion," he said with a gentle smile as he turned to canter off back toward the caravan while Starry and I followed.

***

Grift had set up a temporary triage center to deal with casualties from the raider attack. When Trailblazer and Starry left me with her, she'd apparently already finished treating everypony else and was busy getting her things packed up again.

She came out to meet us as we approached and cheerfully took charge of me, letting Starry and Trailblazer continue on without me.

Grift's hoof came up quickly in the periphery of my vision. Reflexively, I ducked away from it. "Easy now, little bird," she said quietly with a smile as she put her hoof under my chin, turning my head so she could get a better look at my cheek. "You've got quite a bruise there. Had a close encounter with a raider, did you?"

Suddenly aware of the dull, throbbing ache on the side of my face, I winced. "Oh. Um . . . yeah. Rake . . . saved me . . ." I answered meekly as she led me back to where she'd left her supplies.

"You should be more careful," Grift said in a soft tone while she poured a little bit of a healing potion into a cloth rag. "The wasteland is full of monsters, little bird." She reached toward my face with that rag in her hoof. I held still as she dabbed at my cheek; the healing potion felt warm and tingly as it eased the swelling and repaired my split lip.

"There are the big monsters:" Grift continued, "the ones that'll rip you to pieces. They're easy enough to spot, so you can stay away from them. But then there are the truly terrifying ones: monsters who look just like normal ponies; like me and you." She leaned in toward me. "They'll get close to you, whisper sweet nothings in your ear, and use you—feed off you until all that's left is an empty husk."

Grift leaned back, pulling the cloth away from my cheek. She smiled cheerfully. "All better, little bird." Her head tilted to the side as she considered my baffled expression. "Don't let what I said about monsters scare you, little bird. You've got friends who will help fight them." Her voice lowered into a whisper. "You're a special little bird. We're happy to give you a place to belong here."

I blinked at her. "Belong . . . here?"

She smiled, tossing her tangled mane back with a shake of her head. "Of course. You need someplace to stay, something to do out here, don't you, little bird? We could find you someplace where you wouldn't have to be near the fighting. With some training and experience, you could make a fine field medic, don't you think?" Grift began packing up her supplies as she spoke. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like to help ponies like Trailblazer and the rest of us?"

I had to admit, she had a point: I did need to find something to do with my new life. It was an alien thought to me. Inside the stable, I'd gone into maintenance because it's what I was good at. Everypony had a place to fit into the puzzle there. It was simple. Out here, though, the world was wide open. Conceivably, I could do anything I wanted.

So what did I want?

"What about Starry?" I asked.

"What about her?" Grift echoed as she levitated her saddlebags onto her back, then Old Pain across her shoulders.

"Well, she doesn't really seem to be . . . y'know . . . welcome here . . ." I rubbed a hoof at the back of my neck. "And I think she has somewhere else she wants to go . . ."

Grift sat down, facing me, and making me flinch as she put a hoof on my shoulder. "Starry can go wherever she wants. You don't need to keep tagging along with her, little bird."

"I . . . guess that's true . . ." I bit my lip.

As she stood back up, Grift smiled at me. "Why don't you go talk to Trailblazer for a while. If any pony can convince you to stay with us, it's him."

Except it was easy to stay; I spent my whole life staying. It was leaving I worried about.

***

I left Grift to go find Starry and Trailblazer. It wasn't very far before I could hear Starry shouting. I couldn't make out what she was saying, though, because Jade's own voice boomed alongside her. Stepping up my pace to a gallop, I arrived to find the two mares yelling at each other. The gang ponies who had come with Starry to find me were standing still in a row behind Jade while Trailblazer stood off to the side. His eyes drifted back and forth between Starry and Jade, looking attentive, but not necessarily concerned; like he were waiting to see how things would play out between the two.

I approached Trailblazer cautiously. "What's happening, sir?"

He leaned his head to the side toward me, keeping his eyes and ears focused on the argument as he spoke in a hushed voice, "Jade has judged those three as deserters for leaving with Starry without her permission. She was going to have them whipped, but I thought that, given the circumstances, the captain might want to say something on their behalf."

"Whipped? Is that . . . normal?"

Trailblazer nodded slightly. "Jade has always run her gang with an iron hoof, and as much as I've taught her about less barbaric ways of keeping order, I think she knows that her gang is only as loyal to her as they are because of how she's always run them. She has to be hard on them or they would lose respect for her."

Starry and Jade kept yelling at each other, shouting insults on top of arguments. I doubted either of them could even hear the other.

"I know it's unfortunate to see ponies getting punished for just trying to help," Trailblazer said, turning his head to face me. "I've done my best to teach Jade what's right and what's wrong, but the wasteland has had much longer to teach her much harsher lessons. I can only trust her to do what she thinks is right."

"Can't you do something to stop them fighting?" I pleaded. "Won't Jade do what you tell her to do?"

Trailblazer simply shook his head. "She certainly would. I suspect that Jade would walk off a cliff without a second thought if I told her to do it." He stifled a small laugh. "But no . . . Jade needs to stay in command of her gang; it's her orders they follow, not mine. I depend on Jade to support me in my efforts, and she depends on her gang to follow her orders unquestioningly. Part of that means I need to let her run her gang as she sees fit."

I glanced over at the gang ponies who'd come with Starry to rescue me. They continued to stand there, heads held high, eyes forward, like statues. They surely knew what Jade wanted to do to them, but they didn't show a trace of fear of punishment or regret for their actions.

"It's Jade's call to make," Trailblazer said solemnly. "All I can do is offer my guidance." I looked away from the gang ponies and back at Trailblazer. He smiled at me. "Only a few years ago, she would have executed them right where they stand. She listens to me, as I listen to her." His smile fading a little, he sighed. "And I suppose when I first got down here, I would have reacted much the same as you are now." He put a hoof on my shoulder. "You're a good pony, son. Too good for the wasteland."

Twisting myself out from under his hoof, my attention returned to Starry. "Starry," I spoke up, cutting her off in the middle of yelling something at Jade. She looked at me, her ears twitching. "Starry, ma'am, I think we should let it go. It's not our place to interfere." I cleared my throat. "I—I mean . . . it's like you said about the Enclave, right? We've got enough of our own problems to worry about without trying to fix everypony else's?"

Starry glanced back and forth between me and Jade a few times, while Jade stood tall, quietly smirking down at her. Finally, with a sigh, Starry lowered her head, muttered something under her breath, and pulled out her flask for a sip as she walked away.

"Captain, a word, please!" Trailblazer called out, trotting after her. She didn't slow down to let him catch up any easier.

Jade turned back to her "deserters." Stomping her hoof with a deep bellow, "I'll deal with you later. We've got a caravan to move, so get fucking moving!" She added another heavy stomp of her hoof to punctuate her command, and her gang members immediately ran off to whatever duties they must have already had.

That matter dealt with, Jade herself cantered away, leaving me alone in the middle of the caravan.

"The ants go marching two by two, eh, little bird?"

I looked up to see Grift beside me. Looking out over the caravan, she watched as everypony started moving again, hitching up to their wagons and plodding forward. It was as if the skirmish with the raiders had never even happened; we were simply leaving it behind with all the dead.

"Ants?" I asked quietly.

Grift nodded, continuing to gaze out ahead of us. The wind blew her tangled mane in front of her face, but she seemed unfazed by it. She spoke in a slow, mournful tone:

"From day through night I watched them, marching ahead in silence, their footsteps making nary an echo with the earth. It was as though the ground cared not to listen to them.

"Not one of them strayed from the procession; they clung to one another's hinds as though they feared a steep fall to either side. Not once did they pause to regard the world beyond their peers; not once did they crane a head around to glimpse where they were headed—they were blind, after all.

"When one fell, his followers leapt forward as one, seizing hold of his successor as they trampled him into the earth. They accepted, they moved on, they forgot.

"So certain they were that they were chasing after salvation, but they had lost its scent long ago. I found their leader at the end of their trail, weary and alone—but stumbling ever forward, for fear of the army at his back."

Grift adjusted Old Pain across her shoulders and turned her head to look back at me. "Come along, little bird. The ants are marching." She smiled.

***

It wasn't long before the caravan was moving along just like it had been that morning. Looking around, I couldn't even tell that we'd lost anypony. Wagons that had lost their owners had new ones now. Items that had lost their wagons found their way into saddlebags and other wagons. Nopony cried for those who'd been lost in the raider attack. We all simply carried on.

Rake was apparently busy managing the advance scouts, and Grift had vanished into the crowd almost as soon as I'd taken my eyes off of her. Starry kept patrol closeby along the edge of the caravan where I could always spot her. She was keeping her distance, however; Trailblazer was walking alongside me, and Jade never strayed far from him if she didn't have to.

As I watched Starry from a distance like that, I felt guilty. She obviously didn't like Trailblazer and his friends—and they didn't seem to like her very much either, save for Trailblazer himself, who, for all of his efforts to get along with her, wasn't likely expecting her to stay for much longer anyway—but it was for my sake that Starry was there. And there I was, not even spending time near her.

Trailblazer had a way of simply making me feel at-ease, though. Being around him felt inspiring—like I might actually be able to find a place out here where a nopony like me could fit in. I figured if maybe Starry could see him as a good pony, she might be able to get along with him too. Still, it was a difficult position to be in: Starry had helped keep me safe since we first met, and she had come to rescue me when I had been in trouble. Remembering, however, what Trailblazer had said the previous night about his own exile—and seeing what he'd managed to accomplish in the time since then . . . I felt like there were a lot of things I could learn from him.

"Something on your mind, son?" he asked, having apparently noticed the pensive look on my face.

"Well . . . you said you were a teacher, right?" I asked, glancing over at him as he nodded. "What did you teach?"

Trailblazer's eyes scanned upwards toward the cloud cover, and his lips curled back in a faint smile. "Oh, it was a little bit of everything, really. I'd taught both science and literature at higher grades, but I moved into teaching younger students the first chance I got because it meant I got to exercise everything I had learned myself." He let out a wistful sigh. "For nearly as long as I could remember, I'd been interested in reading just about any book I could get my hooves on," he continued, chuckling softly. "It's kinda funny how I got into reading so much, actually."

Jade's ear twitched and she cocked her head toward me. I met her gaze and folded my ears back timidly under her icy stare. She just snorted and returned her attention to the road ahead.

Trailblazer hadn't seemed to notice the look Jade had given me. Instead, he continued with his story: "I was just a little colt—didn't even have my cutie mark yet. I was studying my math textbook one day when I came to a page where one of the formulas had been crossed out, and a correction written in below it. In the margin was a strange note:

"Alas, I've written a truly marvelous proof of this, which this book is too narrow to contain. You'll have to find it in another one. -Janus"

There was that name again. A marvelous proof, dancing with flames, standing through time, pain, and sorrow. . . . What was the other one? Raindrops telling stories? These were puzzle pieces that didn't quite fit together. Just who was this Janus, and why did I keep running into his messages?

"Something about it stuck with me." Trailblazer paused, pursing his lips in a puzzled expression. "I just had to see what this 'marvelous proof' was for myself. After that, I began searching the other copies of the textbook, but mine was the only one with the correction in it. Soon I started reading every book I could get my hooves on, trying to find that proof."

Shrugging, he continued. "Sure, I could've just flipped through the pages, looking for notes in the margins, but I figured I might as well read while I was at it." Trailblazer let out a soft little sigh and looked down at the ground, shaking his head a little. "Alas, I never found it—the Enclave libraries were 'too narrow to contain it,' I suppose," he said with a chuckle. "But, somewhere along the way, I realized I wasn't really looking for that proof anymore. I could see so much more in everything—and everypony—around me. So much untold potential." He turned his head to look at me with a smile, eyes shining brightly. "I knew then that I wanted to see that potential realized. And that's when—" His smile faded and the gleam in his eyes went dark. "When . . . my . . . my cutie mark appeared."

I glanced back at Trailblazer's cutiemark, or rather the brand that had replaced it. It hadn't actually occurred to me until then, just how terrible it must have been for him. He noticed me looking at him, and I bowed my head. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to stare. I just—I—that is—um . . . Does it still hurt?"

The corners of his lips pulled up in a bit of a forced smile but it faded quickly. "On the outside? No," he answered softly, shaking his head. "But they did more than just brand me. Throwing me down in the mud took my whole life away. It took me a long time to learn to . . ." He hummed softly, scrunching up his face as he seemed to search for the right words. "Learn to live again."

Jade stepped between me and Trailblazer, shouldering me aside bodily. She cast me a stern glare. "Alright, kid. Story time's over. Go run along back to mommy," she said with a scowl, jerking her head in Starry's direction.

I balked, my ears flushing hotly as they folded back. "She's not my mother!"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just get lost already."

"Jade," Trailblazer interjected, putting a hoof on her shoulder, "be nice. Lucky Day only asked an innocent question."

Jade regarded me with a contemptuous snort but seemed otherwise content to tolerate my presence. At least for the moment. Still, I slowed my pace to fall behind them. I could tell Jade didn't want me around.

With a patient sigh, Trailblazer fell back alongside me and put his wing across my shoulders, making me tense up. "It's alright. You didn't do anything wrong," he told me. I just looked away, uncomfortably waiting for him to take his wing off me. He did, after a long, awkward pause.

There was some kind of commotion ahead of us in the caravan. Trailblazer and I both looked over to see what was happening: Two ponies in tipped scales armor were yelling insults at each other. One gave the other a push with her forehoof, and the other came back with a forceful shove of her flank into the first one's side, knocking her down. Everypony around them just kept trotting along as if nothing were happening. My chest grew tight and I watched in frightened awe as that mare loomed over her rival.

Then they both broke out laughing. The one standing helped the other one up and they continued on as if nothing had happened. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and turned my head to see Trailblazer smiling.

"Switch Blade and Marshmallow Cream," he said. "Their gangs had one of the oldest and bloodiest feuds going on back in their home city. Jade put an end to it once and for all when she rose to power."

I looked up ahead at Jade. Everypony gave her plenty of space to move about as she cantered along at a steady pace, her watchful gaze scanning across the crowd periodically. Every so often, somepony would approach her to deliver a report, and would be given new orders to relay. The way everypony acted around her, she clearly commanded respect, and it was well-deserved; if she could bring old enemies together like that . . .

Trailblazer patted my shoulders with his wing. "Listen, I have to make my rounds—check in with other parts of the caravan. Why don't you try talking to Jade for a bit while I'm busy?" he suggested. "I know she can be intimidating, but she just needs to warm up to you is all."

I gulped, unsure, but I nodded anyway, forcing a smile for Trailblazer. He returned the smile and gave me another pat across the shoulders with his wing before moving off into the crowd.

After Trailblazer left me behind, I continued to hang back from Jade. "Intimidating" was an understatement. Considering the way she carried herself—the way every hoofstep beat upon the ground beneath her—and the way she always seemed as if she were just looking for an excuse to buck me halfway across the wasteland . . . she was absolutely terrifying. Everything about her made me feel like if I looked at her the wrong way, or said the wrong thing, or even just set one hoof in the wrong place, that she'd come down on me like an elevator counterweight dropping from Security all the way down to maintenance.

Whenever something in Security required maintenance, I did everything I could to avoid having to be the one to fix it. Security ponies were fine most of the time, sure, but I could never simply do my work and leave. There was always somepony—usually a few—watching me, laughing when I couldn't find my wrench. I'd have to go all the way back down to maintenance to get another one. Once, I made the mistake of leaving my other tools behind. When I got back to finish the work, those were missing too.

Fortunately, most of the other ponies in maintenance owed me favors for all the extra shifts I took to cover theirs, and I could usually talk somepony into handling Security's repairs for me.

There wasn't anypony else who could talk to Jade for me, though. Not if she was going to "warm up to me" like Trailblazer suggested. So I stepped up my pace a bit to catch up to the imposing green mare.

"Um. Hi, Jade." I cleared my throat. "Trailblazer, um, thought I should talk to you . . ."

Keeping her eyes on the path ahead, Jade let out an impassive grunt.

My eyes drifted back along the side of her armor, drawn to the weapon mounted on her battle saddle. "That's a . . . nice weapon, ma'am."

She glanced sidelong at me. "What do you know about guns?"

"They're . . . dangerous?" I answered meekly.

Jade harrumphed. "Here's some free advice: learn how to use a gun." She turned her head toward me. "Are you wasting my time?"

"What? N—no, ma'am . . ."

"Then look at me when I'm talking to you."

Immediately, I lifted my gaze to meet hers. "Better. Stand up straight. Good. Now, I was saying . . ." This wasn't her usual dismissive, impatient tone; she spoke with a deep seriousness, demanding my complete attention as though my life depended on it. "Guns solve problems," she said firmly. "Somepony gets in your way, you put her down. If you waste time, she'll put you down first."

The day before, I had been staring up at a filthy raider who would have smashed my head in with a sledgehammer if it hadn't "put her down" first. "I . . . I understand." I nodded solemnly.

Keeping her icy gaze on me a moment longer, she grunted as she returned to looking ahead. "Good."

My eyes lingered on her battle saddle—on Pride, on its massive twin barrels and belted ammo feed that ran across her back to a box on her other side. I imagined that gun had solved a lot of problems for Jade, and that it would solve a lot more for her.

Drifting back along her side, my eyes settled on the tipped scales painted in gold on her flanks. "So, um . . . 'shifting the balance,' huh?"

"What?"

"Your cutie mark, I mean. Your talent is shifting the balance?"

Jade rolled her eyes, snorting. "Who told you that?"

Falling back a half-step, I answered meekly, "I um . . . I don't know. Just somepony wearing your gang's armor. Why? That's not right?"

"Close enough," Jade said with a shrug. She glanced back over her shoulder at me, her brow furrowed. She turned around to face me, blocking my path as she stared down at me menacingly. "Only two ponies know how I got my 'mark. One of 'em hanged herself the day it happened, and the other is Trailblazer. Fuck if I know how he got me to tell him, but at least he knows better than to go spreading it around." She narrowed her eyes at me. "You ain't him," she growled.

My ears folded back. I could feel them flushed hotly. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to pry. I just . . . it seems like it's important to you, is all. I mean, it's all over everypony's armor, and—"

A sound I'd never expected to hear cut me off: Jade laughed. It was a dry, voiceless laugh, like a whisper. It almost sounded like a forced laugh, or maybe not forced, but restrained—to keep anypony else from hearing it. "Not me it's important to; it's them." She jerked her head, indicating a passing group of her gang members. "What it is doesn't matter as much as what ponies believe it is. I brought them together, and my 'mark is what they rally under. As long as they fight who I tell 'em to fight and die for what I tell 'em to die for, I don't give two shits what they think it means. So you go ahead: you believe whatever you want about me. I've got better things to do than going around telling my life story to every whimpering foal still learning how to walk out here."

I gulped, cowing under her glare. "Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am."

Jade chuckled softly, smirking. "At least they teach you stable ponies some manners. We ever visit your stable, I'll shake the hoof of whoever it was taught you to show respect." I was left there standing by myself as she turned and continued walking with the caravan, shaking her head and mumbling to herself.

Somehow, I don't think she'll ever get that hoofshake.

As I felt the blood returning to my face, I let out a tense sigh and continued on after her, staying well behind. Jade wasn't keen on talking much, and I'd clearly exhausted her patience for me. She seemed to get along just fine with Trailblazer, and I had to wonder just how long it had taken her to "warm up" to him.

Without Jade or Trailblazer by my side anymore, Starry made her way over to walk with me. She wasn't looking very well: her mane was coming out of its braid, stray hairs dangled over her face, her cap was crooked, and her eyes were dark and sunken. She looked like how I felt after a week of triple shifts.

Sighing and holding a hoof to her forehead, Starry grimaced. "Day, could you get my aspirin bottle for me?"

I nodded quietly and opened up her saddlebag. The bottle was right at the top of the bag's jumbled contents, and I handed it off to Starry. She gave a small grunt of thanks and shook out one of the chalky tablets. Popping it into her mouth, she chewed it briefly before washing it down with a long sip from her flask.

Starry let out a relieved sigh, stopping for a moment to fix her cap. "Thank you, Day. I—"

"Keeping yourself well-medicated, I see." We both turned to see Grift casually walk up from behind us, slipping between Starry and myself.

"Excuse me?" Starry glared at her.

Grift brushed back her tangled mane, smiling pleasantly. "It's just nice to see somepony who takes care of her health, you know? So many ponies out here tend to take it for granted. They even go around throwing themselves into danger because why should a few bullet wounds matter when a healing potion can just fix everything, right?"

Starry narrowed her eyes, her wings puffing out slightly. "I don't like your tone."

"Tone?" Grift gasped. "What I said was a compliment, wasn't it? Can't you hear alright? I suppose all those explosives you work with can really do a number on your ears, don't they. It's alright, I und—"

"My ears work just fine," Starry growled. "You know what else works just fine? My eyes."

"Oh, I'm sure they do, now."

Starry didn't even acknowledge Grift's interruption, continuing, "I can see right through you—through this 'nice pony' facade of yours. You're hiding something."

"Starry." Grift let out a short little laugh. "Captain. We're all hiding something, aren't we?" Grift tilted her head toward Starry, flashing her a toothy smile. "You already know that plain sight is the best place to hide anything, don't you?"

Just as I was about to speak up, somepony bumped up alongside me. He threw his foreleg around my shoulders and pulled me aside. "Ooh! So tell me what we've got going on here, my little pony. I miss anything good? Or they just getting warmed up?"

I turned to find Rake's face uncomfortably close. His pale blue eyes stared directly into mine. Squirming, I pushed him away and ducked out from under his embrace. "I can't just let this happen. I have to—"

"Oh, you have to do something?" He circled around, putting himself between me and Starry. She was quickly becoming more upset with Grift, her wings flaring up as she poked a hoof at Grift's chest. Her voice was barely restrained as she growled at Grift. Grift, meanwhile, almost seemed to enjoy what was going on as much as Rake was, she was smiling so brightly.

"Ooh, we're in for a real good show if these two get into it," Rake said with a grin, licking his lips. "There's nothing you have to do here besides sit back and enjoy it."

No matter how I tried to duck around Rake, he matched my moves with an effortless grace, always blocking my path. Rearing up, I called out, "Starry! Please don't hurt her! She helped us, remember? Helped me after those raiders attacked us?"

For a moment, their squabble abated, as Starry glanced back and forth between me and Grift. Grift spared a look back at me as well, smiling as she turned back to face Starry again. "Yes, see?" she said with a shake of her tangled mane. "I'm just being helpful, like the little bird says. Don't you remember? You did quite a number on those raiders yesterday when we saved you, and soon as I finished patching up that poor colt whose leg you mangled, I—"

"There you go bringing that up again. Just what kind of game are you playing? What are you trying to accuse me of?"

"Watch this," Rake said to me in a whisper, grinning widely. He called out loudly—loud enough for half the caravan to hear as they trotted around us, "She just likes to remind herself that there are ponies as cruel as she can be."

Grift stood there, frozen for a moment with her mouth agape. She closed it slowly, whatever she'd been about to say lost to the wind. Her head turned toward us, her face laid bare. She affected neither smile, nor frown. Her lips, her cheeks, her brow; they were all still, bearing no trace of emotion. Only her eyes . . .

Her eyes gleamed; a flickering candle flame that drew my entire focus. "You." Her lips barely moved as she spoke. "Of all ponies. You call me cruel." Her voice sounded far away, barely above a whisper. Tears welled up inside her eyes, glowing green in the reflected light of her horn's magic.

My knees shook, threatening to drop me to the cold earth as I watched her cold glare.

And Rake . . . Rake laughed at her.

"Rake." The grin melted off the raider buck's face almost instantly as Trailblazer came galloping up. Looking at Rake with a small frown as he moved up alongside, Trailblazer drooped his ears and shook his head slowly. The raider was quiet, his head bowed and ears folded back. Trailblazer let out a patient sigh, and suggested to Rake that he go check in with the other scouts.

Rake nodded and galloped off through the caravan. Watching him run, he ducked and weaved around other ponies, careful not to simply plow through them, as I'd seen him do before.

Meanwhile, Grift had shrunken back. I was honestly surprised she hadn't just vanished into the crowd already. Trailblazer looked over to her and smiled gently as he unfolded a wing to motion for her to come closer. She did, and he put his wing around her shoulders. "Rake is a very forward pony, I'm afraid, and he doesn't always remember that not everypony else can be as open as he is about their pasts," he said, looking over to me and Starry as she took up a place at my side.

Lifting his wing from Grift's shoulders, Trailblazer gave her side a gentle nudge to push her toward us. She looked back at him, and he gave a small nod with an encouraging smile.

Grift closed her eyes and sighed. The various noises of the caravan—dozens of hoofsteps, wagon wheels, the din of conversations around us—all of it seemed to go quiet as we turned our attention to her. "There was this job I took one time. Contract killing. It's nasty business 'cause it's always the nice ponies getting hits put out on them, never the ones putting out the hits." She paused briefly and shrugged. "Not that that ever stopped me before."

My eyes widened as I listened to her. Grift hadn't struck me as the kind of pony to . . . do that sort of thing. I suppose that's when it really started to sink in that everypony out here ends up being a killer eventually. I was off to a fantastic start already. Glancing over at Trailblazer, I wondered how long it had taken him.

"I met with the guy and asked him what he wanted," Grift continued, speaking very matter-of-factly. "He told me it wasn't about what he wanted. There was a stallion who'd become a problem for him. Told me to make him want to die."

"Make him want to die?" I echoed incredulously. Grift simply nodded. "I don't understand."

"You will," she said, smiling at me. It was a pleasant, genuine kind of smile, the kind she'd seemingly always had on when she spoke directly to me. Her smile faded, though, as she went on. "After I tracked him down, I spent a couple days just watching him through my scope." She levitated out Old Pain, aiming it toward some distant hills as she peered through the optics. "Then, while he was traveling between settlements, I started taking pot-shots at him." She jerked the rifle a few times in her telekinesis. "Silencing talisman made it so he never knew where it was coming from. Just the impacts around his hooves. Kept him awake for days at a time like that." She managed to sound almost proud about it.

"I followed him for weeks like that. I'd leave him alone sometimes, and just watch as he'd stir all night, unable to sleep." Her voice took on a strange tone as she said that. It made me think of the way somepony would talk about a pleasant evening with her special somepony. The thought made my wings bristle as a chill ran up my back.

"One day he wanders into this small farmstead. I followed him through my scope." Grift's voice returned to sounding detached, clinical. It was like how I might give a report about the repairs I'd done in ventilation control. "He rented lodging from the couple living there. They had a small filly. Blank-flank. He was nervous around her the first day, kept checking over his shoulder as if he knew I was watching, but after a while he relaxed and got friendly with her. I'd watched him teach her a few things about gun maintenance. She took a liking to it.

"He stayed about a week with the family with no sign from me. Assumed I'd moved on, and was actually getting to sleep at night. Then, as he was saying his goodbyes, he put a hoof on the little filly's head; tousled her mane. She looked up at him with this great big smile and bright blue eyes, sparkling in the morning light.

"I put a bullet right between her eyes."

I tripped over my own hooves and fell face-first into the dirt. My heart felt like it had skipped about ten dozen beats; and, as I scrambled back to my hooves, all I could do was stare at her in slack-jawed horror.

Grift turned to look at me as she shouldered her rifle, giving a bit of a shrug. "Told you I'd done worse than fuck up a raider's leg." She sighed, and turned her gaze upward as she continued. "He ran after that. I followed him, putting a shot at his hooves every time he stopped."

"Eventually, he came upon a town far to the south. They had a minefield protecting them on all sides, save for one clear path in and out. I followed him into a saloon there. Sat down at the bar, ordered a drink, and watched him. He knew it was me." Again she had that tone as if reminiscing about a date she'd been on.

"He drank a whole bottle of whiskey by himself then staggered out into the street. I followed. Outside, he yelled at me. Asked me what I wanted." Her brow furrowed and she frowned. "I told him it wasn't about what I wanted. I asked what he wanted."

Grift closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath and gulping. I could see her legs trembling with each step she took. "He said he wanted to die. My job was done. So I pointed him toward the minefield and left." Grift hung her head and blinked slowly, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Trailblazer stepped up close alongside her and put a wing over her shoulders as he looked over to me and then to Starry, who'd listened to Grift's entire story with a stone-etched face. "My friends aren't perfect, Captain," Trailblazer said calmly. "The reality is that nopony down here is, and my friends happen to represent some of the worst that the wasteland has to offer. But they've changed; Grift perhaps more than any pony."

Starry just continued to stare, her eyes narrow, scrutinizing them.

Sighing heavily, Trailblazer patted Grift's shoulders with his wing and whispered something to her. She nodded, and, adjusting Old Pain across her shoulders, slipped away into the caravan, out of sight.

"Everyone here carries a burden," he said, moving closer to us and then, turning, he waved a hoof across the line of the caravan. "Those burdens are more than just a sad story of loss or remorse, though. It took me years down here before I finally learned to see it: the burdens we all carry are those of lost potential—the wasteland robs us of the chance to shine. I see it in everypony I meet. It was by making friends with ponies like Grift, Jade, and Rake that I've been able to help them start to realize their potentials—help them learn to live again as I have."

He turned back to face us, daylight gleaming in his eyes; shining with Celestia's own fire. "We're doing more than just establishing trade routes and reforming raiders, Captain. We're rebuilding lives. Can't you see that?"

In that moment, Starry seemed to soften a little. Her wings dropped slightly and she looked down, pursing her lips in thought. Then her brow furrowed, and she looked back at Trailblazer. "You actually believe that, don't you? You high-minded idealist," she sneered, her wings flaring out. "You're so caught up in your own self-deceptions you can't see when somepony is so obviously faking tears to win your sympathy."

Trailblazer fell back a half a step but his own wings flared as he pushed back against Starry's accusation. "How dare you. Talking so openly and honestly about the things she's been through has been one of the hardest things for Grift to do. It's taken years of building a trusting relationship with her to get her to open up about these things."

"All according to her plans, I'm sure," Starry scoffed. "I don't know what she's up to, but she's using you. They're all using you, and you're too blind to see it!"

"Now, you lis—"

"I take back what I said: Being down here isn't the least you deserve. It's exactly what you deserve." Starry fanned her wings in agitation, kicking up a cloud of dust around her. "Maybe after they finish taking advantage of you, you'll finally realize that we have no business down here in the mud."

My heart was racing so hard I could hear it pounding in my ears. How could she say those things? "Starry . . ." I choked back a whimper.

"What!" She wheeled around at me, and instantly her expression softened. She folded her wings and reached a hoof out to my shoulder. I flinched, ducking my head away from her. "Day? What's wrong?"

My hooves tingled, a host of needles stabbing up and down my forelegs, while a fire burned inside my chest, choking me as my lungs struggled for air. "Have to get along," I gasped out between rapid breaths. "It's important to get along." The ground came rushing up at me, then stopped inches from my face. Starry had her hooves on my shoulders. Everything went hazy after that. Voices I couldn't make any sense out of swarmed around me in a darkening cloud. Everything around me was being swallowed up by the hooves I felt pressing in around me. I thrashed and tried to scream, but my lungs felt empty. Then it all went quiet.

Slowly, I started coming around. The world around me came back into focus, and I realized I was lying down on my side. The caravan was moving around me. Some ponies turned their heads to look at me as they passed, but most continued on without even a glance.

"Easy, there, Day," Starry said as I started to sit up. She braced her shoulder under mine and helped me back to my hooves. "Are you alright?"

I looked around slowly. Trailblazer was there too, standing a few feet away. Taking a few slow breaths, I wavered on my hooves a bit as I edged away from Starry. "I . . . I'm fine. What happened?"

"You started hyperventilating, and nearly passed out," Trailblazer said, taking a few steps closer. "You started kicking when we tried lifting you into a stretcher, so we just gave you some space to calm down. You have a history of panic attacks, son?"

I shook my head.

"I've been inside a few stables over the years. Seems like they all had their own unique ways of messing up the ponies who lived in them," he said grimly. "All the ones I saw were long dead, so I imagine yours wasn't the worst if it's still going after all this time, but it's clearly left its mark on you." He moved a little closer. "You wanna tell us what it was like in your stable?"

"I don't . . . I don't know what to say about it, sir," I said meekly, bowing my head. "It . . . everypony gets along. Nopony fights or yells. We just have to get along. Do whatever it takes. It's important we get along."

Trailblazer glanced over at Starry briefly, the two sharing an odd look; one part worry, one part regret, if I had to try to describe it. "How come you left the stable, son?"

Wincing my eyes shut, I turned my head away, and sighed. "I . . . I didn't get along. I . . . killed somepony."

For a moment, there was only the steady drone of hoofsteps around us as the caravan carried on. A hoof came to rest on my shoulder, and I pulled away from it. Opening my eyes and turning back, I saw Starry taking her outstretched hoof back. She sighed a little and took out her flask for a sip.

"Who did you kill, son?" Trailblazer asked in a cautious tone.

"I—it doesn't matter. She's dead, and it's my fault, and I can't go back. Just . . . please . . . let me just forget about it."

"Son—"

"Stop calling me that! My name is Day! Just Day! Why does it matter so much what happened in the stable? It's over and I can't go back, so there's no use in dwelling on it. I'm just moving on with my life."

"Day . . ." Starry drew my attention, speaking in low tones. "It's alright, Day. Calm down. You don't have to talk about it."

I looked at her, then back at Trailblazer. He frowned and shook his head slowly without saying anything. My ears folded back; I could feel them flushed hotly. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to yell at you."

A few of the caravan ponies had paused to look on at the scene I had made, but Trailblazer waved them off, and they kept moving. Heaving a tired sigh, he moved to stand by my side, opposite from Starry. "Come along. Let's keep moving."

After a short bit of walking in silence, Trailblazer spoke up again, "It's not a bad thing to want to see ponies getting along, Day. We're out here trying to get ponies to do just that, really. I apologize, Captain, for not being more forthright about my plans, but Jade insisted on keeping you in the dark." Starry rolled her eyes at that, mumbling something under her breath as she took another sip from her flask.

"It's taken years of hard work," Trailblazer continued, a note of pride in his voice, "but we're finally getting close to being able to bring peace back to Equestria."

Starry nearly choked on her drink, coughing and sputtering as she looked across at Trailblazer. "Excuse me? And just what magical secret did you find that'll let you do that?"

Trailblazer laughed and smiled. "It's less to do with magical secrets, Captain, and more to do with making friends." He paused, looking up at the cloudy sky. "The problems down here all stem from a lack of resources, none the least of which is food. Without proper sunlight, crops don't grow very well. Shortages drive ponies to raid from neighboring settlements, which only leads to more strife and wasted resources. In the end, everypony loses out." He grinned wryly. "But if we could provide enough food for everypony . . ."

Starry opened her mouth to speak, but Trailblazer continued, smiling. "The Enclave has to keep the sky closed for their own farms, I know. But I've seen those farms; they're nowhere near as efficient as they could be on the ground. So my plan is this: we're going to trade for the sky." Starry looked at him skeptically; and, I admit, I was unsure about what he was suggesting as well.

"It's actually all very simple," he explained. "By making friends with various settlements, we help establish trade routes. Gangs like Jade's help us provide security for towns and traders, and ponies like Rake help us reform what raiders we can. With security and thriving trade, we can start building a surplus. And with that surplus, we can offer the Enclave more food than they can produce on their own in exchange for opening up the cloud cover so we can grow even more."

We continued walking in silence for a while while Starry and I thought about his plan. I wasn't sure it would be that easy to save up enough food to make the kind of trade he was suggesting, and from the look on Starry's face, she had her doubts as well, but I looked at the caravan around us: Trailblazer already had at least this many ponies on his side. There might actually be something to his plan after all.

"That's what this caravan is about," Trailblazer spoke up again as it seemed like Starry had reached the same, cautiously optimistic, conclusion that I had. "We're heading to a town called Primrose. Should be coming into view once we crest those hills up there," he said, motioning ahead. "We're going to be establishing formal contact with them, and hopefully negotiating a trade and security agreement. I understand they have access to a lot of salvaged technology from an old Solaris substation; stuff we need a lot of back home for some other projects."

Starry took another sip from her flask. "Well, I suppose for an idealist, you at least have some decent ideas." She looked at me briefly, and sighed. "I guess, maybe . . . maybe you're not so bad after all." Trailblazer smiled brightly. "For a dashite," Starry hastily added with a scowl.

He just laughed it off, though. "Well, it's a start. But what about you, Captain? I've told you about what I'm doing out here. What brings a lone officer dirtside?"

Starry took a long draught from her flask, then tucked it away, snorting. "Special assignment. I'm looking for something, but you'll excuse me if I think better of revealing the details of my mission to a dashite. Especially one with his own army."

Trailblazer smiled, waving a hoof. "Fair enough, Captain. Though, I'd prefer you not think of my friends as an army," he said. As we continued trotting up through the caravan, I noticed that everypony around us had stopped. Many of the caravaners had unhitched themselves from their carts and were sitting down to rest.

"What's going on?" I asked as we approached the front of the caravan, cresting over the hills Trailblazer had pointed out earlier.

While the caravan behind us had come to a stop, there was a swarm of activity on the hilltop. Jade was barking orders to her gang ponies, organizing them into squads. Rake was doing much the same with his scouts, and Grift was scanning ahead through her rifle scope. Trailblazer strode into the bustle confidently, smiling as he looked out at the town that was now only a short gallop away. "A lot of ponies all at once can spook a small town like this," he said. "We stop a ways away and organize a small team to make contact and let them know we're here before we bring the caravan in."

"Everything looks clear from here," Grift reported, shouldering her rifle.

Rake cantered up at a leisurely pace. "Scout teams say we're cool."

Lastly, Jade approached. "Caravan's secure, sir. We're ready to move when you are."

Nodding to each of his friends in turn, Trailblazer smiled. His wings fluttered a bit, and he straightened his jacket before turning back to face me and Starry. "First contact with a new town is always exciting," he let out a dry laugh. "Would you two mind—"

"Vertibuck incoming!"

An anxious silence fell upon us as we all looked back toward the town. A large, dark craft was descending into it. The high-pitched whine of its engines was loud, even at that distance. As it touched down in the middle of the town, a hatch at the back of the craft opened. Three ponies—pegasi in dark full-body armor—exited, fanning out to face the townsponies that had come out to meet them.

One of the townsponies approached the armored pegasi. They were too far out, and the craft—a vertibuck, they'd called it—while even at an idle, was still loud enough to drown out their voices. From the way they were gesturing at each other, it looked like they were arguing.

Everypony's attention was fixed on the scene out in the town. Everypony except Starry. I happened to glance aside and noticed her simply watching Trailblazer: He stood as still and quiet as everypony else. Then, as a gasp echoed through the onlooking caravaners, his wings flared out. My eyes were drawn back to the distant scene where the armored pegasus was kicking aside the town's envoy.

Curses and racial epithets murmured around us at the sight, and I suddenly felt very aware of my wings, folding them tightly against my sides as I fidgeted around nervously on my hooves. Trailblazer had his eyes downcast, glancing from side to side while he silently mouthed his thoughts to himself, no doubt trying to work out how to handle the situation.

Rake's sword floated out at his side as he stepped up beside Trailblazer. The sword's handle, held in his red aura, clicked a couple times, and a sheath of flame ran up the length of the blade. The raider dropped into a stance; muscles taut, he glanced at Trailblazer, begging with his eyes to be let loose.

Trailblazer gave only the slightest shake of his head, holding out his hoof to stay Rake's charge. The unicorn let out a small sigh as he relaxed, standing down. His sword stayed out, though, flames lapping at the air beside him while his eyes stayed fixed on the town.

Old Pain was brought to bear, hovering steadily in Grift's green magic as she peered down its scope. Whatever future she might have seen through that scope was interrupted by Trailblazer, however, as he put a hoof to her shoulder. She pulled away from her scope to look at him—at the solemn look in his eyes. She too sighed, but unlike Rake, it was a sigh of resignation rather than one of disappointment. Her rifle lowered all the same, though.

Jade's voice boomed. Decisive and authoritative, she wanted to advance with a show of force to drive "those fucking pigeons" out. Several of her gang ponies, all clad in their matching tipped-scales armor, stood at the ready; they were all just waiting for the go-ahead from their boss to rebalance the odds.

Before Trailblazer could render his verdict to Jade, Starry stepped forward. She was aghast at the options being presented. As an Enclave captain, she pointed out, she could assume command of the situation. Finally, here it was: the moment when Starry could show everypony that she could get along with them—that she deserved to be their friend.

Trailblazer's eyes shined brightly as the same thought seemed to occur to him. He smiled, even as Jade began to protest, accusing Starry of staging an ambush.

And that's when the sounds of gunfire reached us.

Everypony turned his attention back to the town. Shouts and screams echoed across to our staging ground where we could only watch as the crowd of townsponies broke and scattered in a panic. The Enclave soldiers fired wildly at anypony who even vaguely appeared to be moving in their direction and quickly fell back to the vertibuck. The engines roared back to full power, and the dark craft rose up out of the town, climbing its way into the clouds and out of sight.

An eerie calm fell over the wasteland. Everything seemed still and quiet, like time had frozen simply to taunt us with just how powerless we were in that moment. The distant cries of panic and despair snapped us out of our stupor, and suddenly everything was a frantic mess of running and shouting. In the middle of it all, I found myself galloping along with everypony else, rushing toward the town.

"Day!" A voice from behind broke my stride, and I came to a halt, wheeling around to find Starry racing up to catch me. "Day! Come on, let's get out of here while we can."

I looked back over my shoulder at the town and at everypony galloping toward it. "But . . . we have to help them, ma'am. We can't just abandon them . . ."

Starry slumped down, pulling out her flask with shaky hooves, and taking a long drink from it. "We can't stay here," she said, looking up at me. "Please, Day, come with me. They have enough ponies here to handle things. If we hurry, we can make it back to—"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," I said hastily over my shoulder as I turned to start running again. "I have to go help. I'll come back and we'll talk after, okay?"

Up close was a swarming hive, full of screams, crying, and shouted orders. I almost instantly lost my way, stumbling around blindly, unsure of what or whom I was looking for. Weaving my way through the chaotic mass and into the center of the chaos, I saw a young foal beating her hooves on the shoulder of a stallion. He was just laying there on his side, his eyes open but vacant. He'd been shot through the neck. The little filly was crying, begging him to wake up. She was all alone. Nopony was stopping to help her.

"Day!" Trailblazer's voice broke me away from the scene. Spotting him closer to where the vertibuck had landed, I hurried over, leaving the filly behind.

"Day, thank the goddesses. I need somepony to help Grift with triage. We're setting up a makeshift—"

"They're coming back!" A shout rose above the wailing din of the town. Trailblazer and I both turned to see a pegasus flying overhead. It was Starry, coming in for a hard landing near us, stumbling and nearly tripping over her own hooves as she did so. There was more yelling, and then ponies started closing in around her, throwing things at her.

"Wait! I'm not—ow!" Starry shielded her head with her wings while trying to dodge the incoming barrage.

"Everypony, back off!" Trailblazer called out as he rushed to meet her. His own wings flared out, he stood between her and the angry mob. At first, nopony heeded his call for order, but then a loud, deafening roar shook the air. Jade stomped heavily upon the ground, trigger bit in her mouth, the twin barrels of her gun, Pride, smoking after she'd fired it off into the air. I shuddered to think what a cannon like that would do to a pony. The crowd stopped throwing things, but they were still yelling, albeit from a further distance. "Captain, this might not be the best place for you right now," Trailblazer said to Starry.

"I need to—need to help," she said, swaying a bit on her hooves. "It's okay. I'm not some green recruit. I can keep my guns in check. They won't spook me like—like they did to—"

"The fuck?" Rake said sharply as he came galloping up through the crowd. "You hear that? Bitch is saying it's their own fucking fault for getting themselves shot-up!"

"You saw what happened!" Starry asserted. "They threw a grenade at the vertibuck! What did they think was gonna—"

"Are you fucking blind, pigeon? Nopony here threw anything; there was no explosion!" Jade stomped up alongside Trailblazer.

"Jade. Rake. Both of you," he said firmly, "we're not here to place the blame on anypony."

There was so much yelling. Nopony was getting along. My eyes darted around nervously. The way the crowd was pressing in around us, I worried that somepony might start shooting again. I worried that there'd be more blood and more orphaned foals.

"Careful, little bird," a lavender earth pony mare said to me. "Your friend is standing in a minefield. You might not want to get too close to her."

I looked back at Starry. She was backing her way toward me as the crowd started pressing closer again, yelling louder. Jade looked ready to fire off Pride again.

"Everypony, please!" Trailblazer called out loudly; the clamor abated briefly. "Now is not the time for this. We've still got wounded to take care of, let's not forget about that. Come on!" He stomped his hooves. "We need more water and clean cloth for dressings. Let's go, move it!"

The crowd murmured but slowly began dispersing. Trailblazer heaved a sigh and turned back to face us. Starry had retreated back alongside me while Rake and Jade stood on either side of Trailblazer.

"Turkeys are never gonna open up the sky when they can just swoop down and take what they want," Jade growled.

"We need to show them they aren't untouchable—burn the whole fucking sky out from under them!" Rake added.

Trailblazer shook his head. "Now's not the time. Jade, I need you to oversee security around the town. Keep everypony from rioting. Rake, we need runners to get additional supplies from camp. Find Grift and ask what she needs." The two hesitated briefly but nodded and galloped off on their assignments. "Starry," Trailblazer said, taking a cautious step toward us, "I can't guarantee your safety anymore. You need to leave while you can. For your own good."

Starry just stood there for a moment, quiet and expressionless as though she hadn't quite understood what had just been said. Then her eyes narrowed as she glared at Trailblazer. "Fine. Come on, Day. We've got a lot of ground to cover," she said gruffly as she started trotting off.

I started to follow after her but Trailblazer stopped me.

"You don't have to leave," he said with a weak smile. "You're a bright kid and you've got a good heart. The wasteland needs more ponies like you, Day. I need somepony like you."

I looked at Trailblazer. He suddenly seemed so much older, tired. In all the years he'd been out here, how many days like this one had he been through? He had friends, and I could see how they fit together—all pieces of the same puzzle. Did I belong in that picture? Was there a place for me to fit in?

Looking at Starry, I saw her just standing there, looking over her shoulder at me. She was waiting for me to follow. She didn't seem to fit in here at all, but at least she could always go back to the Enclave, couldn't she?

There was something else about her, though. When I looked at Starry, I saw . . . Starry had protected me and helped me from the moment she'd found me. She didn't pressure me about the stable and let me just carry on, leaving it all behind me.

I saw a corner piece. A place to anchor the puzzle on and build from there. The starting point, as good as any might ever be.

I made my choice. Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Chasing Loyalty Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 29 Minutes