No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

My little brother was in trouble, and I was the only one who could save him.

Starry had to hold me back as I struggled to rush out to save my little brother. Between her and Chrys, they managed to convince me to calm down long enough to realize that I couldn't go unprepared. Once she was sure that I wouldn't bolt, Starry went upstairs to get my saddlebag for me.

I sat back down at the table and put my hoof on the radio; it had been turned off, but I could still hear my little brother's voice; it was burned into my ears, crying for my help.

Chrys put her hoof on top of mine. "The message said you were being pardoned. Does that mean . . . you won't be coming back?"

"I . . . I don't know. I wasn't really thinking about that part." I closed my eyes and nuzzled back with a heavy sigh. "I guess so. I mean, it's safer in there. And I'll be with Sweets again." I opened my eyes to look at Chrys, and suddenly I realized . . . "I won't see you again, will I?"

She nodded solemnly. "I guess not; I can't go with you on this. My home is here, and I wouldn't know what to do in a stable anyway." Chrys rubbed my shoulder gently. "Do you regret knowing me?"

"I . . . I don't know," I told her. "Last night was . . . I mean . . . I kind of hoped we could do that again. But . . ."

"But your little brother is more important. Don't worry; I understand. I can tell how much you care about him. I imagine you'd move mountains if you had to for him, and nothing—not even wild raiders—could hold you back."

I ran my hoof along the radio some more. "You're right. I would do anything for him." Chrys put her hoof on top of mine again, and I laid my head on her shoulder. "I'll miss you," I said.

She kissed my forehead. "I'll miss you too. I'm glad that I got to know you, even as brief as it's been. You stood up for me when I needed you, and you gave me the strength to protect you when you needed it. I have a feeling that whatever you're about to face will be hard for you—like facing my past was hard for me, but I'm happy for you. You have a home you can finally go back to, and somepony who loves you waiting for you there."

"If it's not too late already." I grimaced; that message could have been playing for days before I heard it. It might have been all that was left of my little brother: just a lonely cry for help echoing across the radio waves.

"Try not to think that way, honey," Chrys said. "If it's too late, then getting yourself all worked up about it won't help. But I want you to know that you've got a home here in case . . . in case things don't work out."

I shuddered to think what could go wrong, but I tried not to dwell on it as Chrys suggested. "Thank you," I told her.

She smiled and kissed me while she ran a hoof along my back. I closed my eyes and returned her kiss, and for that brief moment, I felt calmed. Our lips parted and I gazed into her eyes. Despite how hurt I had felt when she had fed off of me, and despite how hurt I felt about having to leave her behind, I was glad to have known her.

"Alright, Day, let's get moving," said Starry from behind us. I turned to see her wearing her battle saddle and her saddlebags while she held mine out to me.

"You're coming with me?" I asked as I took my saddlebag from her and slipped it on.

"Of course." Starry smiled. "After everything you've followed me through, I can't just let you go it alone from here. I'll help you, your brother, and your stable however I can. I owe you my life. It's the least I can do."

My heart was racing. I was afraid—terrified of what I would find back at the stable. My little brother was in danger, and I had to leave behind the new life I was just starting to get a handle on. But amidst the fear, trepidation, and sorrow, I also felt happy. Starry and Chrys cared about me, and that meant the world to me.

***

When I had first left the stable, I had paced myself along a winding path. And by the time I had made it to Mum's Diner, my wings had ached, in need of rest.

Going back to the stable, Starry and I planned a straight line into the mountains, and I flew as hard as I could push myself. My wing shoulder complained the entire time, but I ignored it. I had too much on my mind to let a sore muscle distract me. Foremost in my thoughts was always my little brother. I would do anything to protect him. But the whole time we were flying, I kept glancing at Starry as she kept pace alongside me. I knew I should tell her about what had happened in the stable—explain to her why I had been exiled. But I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud.

I was afraid of what she would think of me, of what she might try to say. What could she say? Every time I tried to imagine telling her, I saw the feeding dream that the changeling queen had given me. I knew that it hadn't been Starry in that dream, but the image had been so real that even now I can't help but see her looming over me, sneering at me for what I had done.

I think Starry somehow knew that I was worried about what she would find inside the stable. When we landed on the side of the mountain, just outside the cave that lead to the stable door, she stopped me. "Are you sure you want me here for this?"

Both my wings were burning from exhaustion. I had a cramp in my side, and I could hardly breathe after the flight. But without a moment's hesitation, I answered, "I wouldn't be here without you. Whatever's in there, I'm sure I'll need your help."

She smiled at me and nodded. And together, we stepped into the dark cave where I had first emerged from, helpless as a newborn foal.

We didn't have to go far before I could tell that something was very wrong; the stable door was wide open. Inside, only the emergency lighting was on.

"Hello?" I called out as I stepped across the threshold and back into the stable that had once been my whole world.

"Hold it right there!" a voice called back from the doorway across the room. A shadowy figure rose up behind a makeshift barricade. A faint orange glow shone around his horn and around the grip of a pistol. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I'm Lucky Day," I answered. "I heard the distress call. What happened here?"

"Who's that with you?"

"She's my friend, Starry Night. What's going on? Why is the door open? Is my brother okay?"

"I said stay put!" the guard barked as I started to move toward him. After a moment, when he was satisfied that I wasn't coming any closer, his magic aura picked up a small two-way radio. "Sir? The exile's here."

There was a brief silence, and then the radio answered, "Hold him there. I'm on my way."

"Please, can you tell us what's happening?" I asked again.

"Sit down and shut up, exile. I was told not to talk to you, so let's all get along here, alright? Unless you want me to come over there and help you remember where your place is."

"Don't you talk to him like that," Starry said. "He's here to—"

"Starry, it's fine. We'll just wait." I sighed and sat down.

Starry came over next to me. "Day, aren't you worried about your brother? I could barely hold you back earlier. Now you're just going to take this?"

I looked up at her; the silver bars pinned to her uniform glinted in the dim light. "Don't argue with Security. We all have to get along," I said. Something felt strange as I said those words. It had been a reflex. I felt as though my mind had been wrapped up in a warm blanket, equal parts comforting and constricting. I shook my head to loosen it. "I—I am worried, Starry. But . . ." I looked around at the emergency lights, the open door, the security pony behind his overturned table. "I think I know what's wrong here, and I think he's safe. For now at least."

My ears perked up at the sound of hooves running down the corridor. "Hey, kid! Stop! You can't—" the guard yelled, but was cut short as a young unicorn colt ran into him, knocking the guard over, and bounded over the barricade.

"Day!" Sweets came scrambling toward me. "I'm so sorry!" he wailed as he reared up and threw his forelegs around my shoulders.

I hugged him back tightly, wrapping him up in my wings. "Shh. It's okay. It's not your fault."

"I missed you so much, big brother!" He buried his face in my neck.

"I missed you too," I whispered softly as I nuzzled his mane. "Everything's going to be alright. I'm sorry I had to leave you, but I'm here now."

Sweets leaned back to look up at me, his eyes wet. He smiled and let out a small laugh. "I knew you'd come back."

"Sweetie Pie," called a voice. His tone was strong and authoritative, but not forceful; it was the kind of voice that was accustomed to being heard and obeyed—to getting what he wanted without having to ask twice. "Get away from that monster. Come here at once."

I felt Sweets tighten his embrace as I looked up to see the overstallion standing in the doorway, and the guard beside him was just getting to his hooves and brushing himself off.

"He's not a monster! He's my big brother!" Sweets yelled back at him.

"Sweets! You can't . . . argue with the overstallion," I reminded him, gently trying to push him away so he wouldn't get in trouble, but he only held me tighter.

"Oh, come on, can't you let the boy spend some time with his big brother?" Starry stepped up toward the overstallion. "They clearly missed each other."

The overstallion tilted his head forward and furrowed his brow as he looked at Starry over the top of his glasses. "And who are you? I didn't authorize anypony else to enter the stable."

Starry stood up proudly. "Captain Starry Night of the Hundred-Seventy-Third Enclave Engineering Brigade. I've been—" She paused as she glanced over her shoulder at me briefly. "Day and I have been helping each other."

Lifting his gaze, the overstallion adjusted his glasses and harrumphed. "Well, Miss Starry—"

"That's Captain, if you don't mind."

The overstallion furrowed his brow at Starry. "The stable does not recognize your authority, miss. And I don't know about you, but I'm of the opinion that children shouldn't be in the arms of murderers."

Starry pursed her lips and then glanced over at me briefly. "Day told me he killed somepony, but I'm sure it was—"

"It was murder," said the overstallion. "And murder is murder. We don't tolerate that kind of behavior in here."

"He's not a murderer!"

"Sweets. Shh," I hushed him and nuzzled his cheek. "It's okay. I did it to protect you."

The overstallion noisily cleared his throat. "If you're quite finished, I didn't allow you to come back here out of the goodness of my heart so you two could have a teary-eyed reunion." His horn lit up with a pale white aura as he moved the overturned table out of the doorway and motioned for us to follow him. He stopped us, though, as Starry approached. "I'm taking enough of a risk letting him back in here. What makes you think I'm about to allow a complete stranger into my stable?"

"She's my friend," I said. "And she's an engineer. She can help." My personal assurance didn't seem to carry much weight with the overstallion as he silently glared at me over the top of his glasses. "It's the primary spark reactor, isn't it?" I guessed. "That's why you called me back—you need help fixing it."

"How could you possibly know that?" The overstallion narrowed his eyes at me.

"The emergency lights, the open door . . . the stable is running on battery power, and when it runs out, you'll have to abandon the stable." I surmised. "How long do we have?"

He pursed his lips and harrumphed. "The reactor malfunctioned a day and a half ago. From what I've been told, we have enough power to last through the end of tomorrow. Sweetie Pie was very insistent that only you would be able to fix it in time."

"Day knows the reactor better than anypony in the whole stable!" Sweets said proudly. "I remember you showed it to me once, Day! You could name every part I pointed to! Nopony else ever even goes down there. They're all just scratching their heads looking at it now. C'mon! Let's go see it, and then everypony can see how smart you are!" He bounced up and down at my side, and I put a hoof on his shoulder to calm him down.

The overstallion rolled his eyes. "Given the lack of progress so far, I'm inclined to believe him if for no other reason than you couldn't possibly make things worse. Provided"—he added hastily—"that you don't go and turn the rest of my stable into an abattoir."

"I'm not here to murder anypony," I said to the overstallion with a wince. I took a deep breath. "Let's not waste time. If you want to save the stable, don't turn down an extra engineer's help." I nodded in Starry's direction.

He shifted his gaze to Starry and looked her up and down. His expression softened a little and he gave a slight shrug. "Fine. But you must relinquish your weapons," he said to Starry. "Security will return them to you when you leave. And you will leave as soon as power is restored."

Starry glanced at me, and I gave a slight nod. She agreed, and handed over her battle saddle to the guard stationed at the door.

"Come along now," said the overstallion as he led the way into the stable, and we followed.

As we came out through the security checkpoint around the stable entrance, we passed along one of the balconies that overlooked the central atrium. Starry gasped as she looked out over it. Even in the dimness of the emergency lights, we could see nearly the entire core of the stable from the top floor. Roughly one square kilometer in size, the atrium ran the height of the stable, with the orchard at the bottom and open air all the way to the ceiling six floors above it. The residential quarters ringed around the atrium, enough living space for as many as five thousand ponies, though the stable was deathly quiet; emergency procedure was to keep all the residents in their quarters.

I had never seen the stable look so empty before. Even late at night, there was always somepony around, usually others like me who worked late shifts, but sometimes a couple out for a romantic evening in the atrium, or a mother taking her newborn foal for a walk to put him to sleep. But it was all so empty now. And yet it somehow seemed smaller than I remembered it; the safety railings along the balconies looked like prison bars, casting long, dark shadows in the harsh contrast of the emergency lights.

The overstallion, having noticed Starry's amazement at the scale of the stable, started telling her all about how marvelous the stable's design was, and how much of a privilege it was to oversee it as his father had before him.

I might have paid more attention to their conversation as he escorted us down the stairs toward maintenance and the reactor room, but I was too busy listening to my brother tell me about his cutie mark.

"I got it just a couple days ago!" he said as he stopped for a moment under one of the emergency lights to show it off: a black chess pawn set in stark contrast against his pure white coat. "Isn't it amazing?"

"It sure is," I said, smiling. "I'm so proud of you, Sweets. I wish I could have been there to see you get it. I guess you needed to find someone more challenging than me to play against, huh?"

His eyes sank suddenly. "I'm sorry, Day. I didn't want you to miss it. It just kind of happened."

"Sweets . . ." I knelt down next to him and nuzzled his cheek. "It's okay. I'm still proud of you. And I'm here now, so after we fix the reactor, we can celebrate it together. How's that sound?"

He looked up at me and smiled. "Really? You mean it?"

I smiled back at him and nodded. "Of course. Now come on," I said as I lifted him up onto my back; he hugged his forelegs around my neck. "Let's go fix the reactor so we can have that celebration already."

***

The reactor hadn't simply malfunctioned; it had been almost completely dismantled. Pieces of it were scattered all across the room. Of the dozen-or-so engineers in the room, about half of them were in the middle of fondling various parts as though they had never seen a pipe fitting before. The other half—all the senior engineers—were seated around a table at the back of the room, playing a game of cards on top of the reactor schematics.

"What in the names of the goddesses happened here?" I gasped.

Nopony answered me. A few glanced up at me but quickly averted their eyes when they recognized me.

The overstallion cleared his throat, bringing everyone to attention. He reminded them of who I was and why I was there. Nopony said anything, but I saw a number of them glaring at me. "Well, I leave you to it," said the overstallion. "I'll return later to see what progress you've made." He turned to leave. "Come along, Sweetie Pie; let's get you out of the way."

Sweets was still riding on my shoulders, and I felt him squeeze around my neck.

"Sweetie Pie," the overstallion repeated as he looked back at us over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed.

"I want to stay with my big brother!" Sweets cried.

"That choice isn't up to you. Now come here."

"He won't be in the way," I spoke up. "He can even help. I used to bring Sweets with me on my shifts."

The overstallion's eyes met mine. "That choice isn't up to you either," he said slowly, drawing out each syllable as though to make certain that he wasn't being misheard. "I have allowed this reunion to go on long enough."

"Don't make me go," Sweets whimpered as he clung to my neck and buried his face in my mane.

"Sir," Starry interjected. "From the look of things, we really do need all the help we can get if there's any hope of getting this reactor back online before the stable has to be evacuated. If Sweets can help us, then you should let him stay."

The overstallion's eyes shifted over to Starry. "Do you presume to speak for the best interests of my stable, miss? Need I remind you that you are here only at my discretion and I can have you removed at any time? And don't you think for one second"—he pointed his hoof at me—"that simply because I agreed to pardon you that I won't take it back if you start causing trouble."

"That's specious reasoning," Starry said as she stepped up toward the overstallion, putting herself between him and me. "If Day really is the only one capable of fixing this thing—and from what I've seen of the repairs so far, I think he is—then you may as well evacuate now if you think you can actually follow through on a threat like that."

The room was silent; all eyes were on Starry and the overstallion. His eyes darted around the room before settling back on me. His pursed lips drew back into a crooked smile. "You are quite right, miss. It would be foolish of me to throw you both out before repairs are finished. But if Lucky Day wants to stay, and if he ever wants to see his little brother again, for whom he says he committed such a brutal murder, then you both will be on your best behavior while you are here."

Sweets squeezed tighter around my neck, nearly choking me. "Y—you promised he could stay!" he cried. "You promised!"

"That I did," said the overstallion as he adjusted his glasses. "And I'm a fair stallion. So I'll let you stay here for now, Sweetie Pie. You help your brother, and remind him why he's here and why he wants to get along so he can stay. I'll come back for you later."

***

At first we just hung back by the doorway, looking out over the scene in front of us. I wasn't even really sure where to begin; I hadn't known what to expect, but once I had realized that it was the reactor that needed repairs, I'd thought that it would only need an hour or two's work to fix. And perhaps it might have if it hadn't been completely disassembled. We wandered over to the collection of damaged parts that had been separated from the rest and began by examining those.

"Almost looks like a bomb went off in here," Starry whispered to me. "And I say that as a demolitions expert." She let out a short laugh, belied by her otherwise serious tone.

"Some parts of it operate under high pressure," I mumbled. "Maybe if a valve or a seal failed, a pipe might have burst explosively?"

I tried asking one of the engineers, "What happened here?"

She snorted. "It's broken. What's it look like?"

Starry leaned in next to me. "I'm starting to get the impression that nopony in here is very competent. They only took my battle saddle at the entrance and didn't think to search us for other weapons—you've still got your laser pistol in your bags. And now it looks like they don't even know what they're doing here."

"Well, it's like I said the other night at the diner: this thing ran perfectly for two centuries nopony ever needed to know how it worked." I sighed. "We've got a lot of work to do. Let's worry about that right now." I took a quick look around the room. "Wait here a minute," I said. "I'll go get my toolkit."

I headed for the maintenance corridor at the back of the room—it lead directly to maintenance offices and to the lockers and supply rooms.

One of the senior engineers moved to block the door from me, though. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked sternly, looking down his nose at me.

"To the lockers to get my toolbox," I answered.

"What makes you think you have a toolbox? You don't work here. You don't even live here. You'll have to fill out a requisition form and wait for somepony to approve it."

"I—but that's absurd! We need to repair this thing before the end of tomorrow! Just let me get to work!"

"Hey, I don't make the rules, kid. I just follow them. We all gotta get along down here," he sneered.

"I'll just ask somepony to share with me," I mumbled as I turned away from him. But all the engineers I approached would immediately scoop up their tools and hover over them like possessive vultures hoarding their carrion.

"I'm using these," they'd all say.

With each failed attempt, I felt more and more self-conscious about how I must have looked to Starry and Sweets. This was supposed to be my domain—I knew more about the spark reactor than anypony in the stable. Sweets had made such a big deal about it; I couldn't let him down, and certainly not in front of Starry.

Starry had stood up for me enough already. It was my turn to stand up for myself. So I made a break for it. I got out into the maintenance corridor before the senior engineer could block me again. I heard him call after me, but he didn't follow.

The locker room was right around the corner. Inside, I found my locker almost exactly as I had left it; all they'd done was peel off the tape with my name written on it. I grabbed my tools and carried them back to the reactor room.

The senior engineer was standing in the doorway, waiting for me.

"I have work to do," I told him.

"Not with stolen tools, you don't," he said. "Go put those back where you got them, or—"

"Or what?" I snapped at him. "What can you do to me?" I almost instantly regretted saying that; my heart began to race, and I was about to start apologizing profusely, but then I saw the look on the senior engineer's face: he looked afraid.

He started backing up and stammering. "O—or . . . or . . ."

"Or nothing," I said, stepping past him.

After that, the other engineers would move out of the way whenever I went to work on something. The senior engineers even moved their card game so I could get at the schematics. Nopony would say anything to me, but I could hear them whispering and could see them staring at me whenever I glanced over my shoulder.

I tried to simply ignore it, though. If I was going to go back to living in the stable, I'd have to expect that I'd be treated differently. So I focused on the task in front of me.

We started by reassembling some of the smaller components, but after I finished showing Starry and Sweets what to do with the first one, and moved on to a second, I saw one of the engineers pick up the part we'd just finished rebuilding and start taking it apart again.

"What are you doing? Stop! No, don't—" I cringed as I watched him simply drop the component; it landed on the table with a loud clang which immediately drew everypony's attention and turned the quiet murmur of activity in the room to complete silence. "I just finished putting that back together. Why are you taking it apart?" I demanded.

"I—I was just looking to see if it needed fixing . . ."

I put a hoof to my forehead. "Nothing here needs fixing except the pile of scrap in the corner," I explained through gritted teeth. "You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?" A blank, slack-jawed stare was his only answer. I couldn't believe it: the stable was going to fail by the end of the next day and nopony seemed to appreciate what that meant. I knew what it meant, though: it meant my little brother would be forced out into the wasteland.

I wouldn't let that happen.

"None of you know what's going on here at all! You're all fumbling around down here just trying to look busy, and somehow expecting everypony else to get this thing working before the emergency power runs out."

Nopony said anything as I looked around the room. They all had the same blank stare on their faces, as if to plead ignorance of their own ignorance, and as if that were any excuse.

"Get out!" I yelled. "All of you, just get out! You're all useless!"

At first nopony moved. They all exchanged glances with each other briefly, then collectively shrugged and started walking out—none of them even cared about what they were working on. Even the senior engineers didn't seem to mind being chased out by me. And somehow I wasn't even surprised that they listened to me—or maybe they were simply happy for an excuse to leave.

The engineer I'd accosted hesitated. "I . . . I want to help," he said.

I sighed and rubbed my temple. "Just go."

He nodded slowly and turned to leave with the others. And I went to stand on the side of the room with Starry and Sweets, keeping out of the way while everypony filed out.

One of the junior engineers—a zebra mare whose name I couldn't seem to remember anymore—stopped in front of us on her way. She glared at me briefly. "You don't belong here, little bird." Then a smug grin crept across her face as she glanced over at Starry. "Did he tell you how he butchered his own mother?"

Hearing her say that was like a kick in the chest. My heart skipped a beat and I felt Sweets cling tightly against my leg. Slowly, Starry turned back to look at me, her eyes wide. "Day? Is . . . is that true?"

"Oh, it's quite true: stabbed her in the throat over a dozen times while she slept, I'm told," the mare said with a laugh.

"It's not his fault!" Sweets screamed.

"It's okay, Sweets. Don't argue." I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. My eyes stayed fixed on the floor under Starry's hooves. "It's true."

"Day . . . what happened?"

"She was killing him!" Sweets cried out. "It had to be done!"

"Sweets! Please, let me handle this." I felt him shaking against me. I was shaking too. "I had to protect my little brother. It was the only way." I looked up at Starry and saw that her face wasn't angry like I expected. If anything, she looked . . . sad. I couldn't hide my shame any longer. "She hit us. All the time. I tried to protect Sweets; I let her hit me instead. But it was getting worse. She . . . she was going to kill me if it didn't stop." I looked down at Sweets, the little brother I'd do anything to protect. "If it were just me, I'd have let her. But I had to keep my little brother safe." I closed my eyes and nuzzled into Sweets's mane. "She can't hurt you anymore."

The zebra gave an impassive snort, apparently content with forcing a confession out of me, and she turned and left. Then the three of us were all alone in the reactor room.

For a while, nopony said anything, and none of us moved. I hadn't wanted it to come out that way. I cursed myself for not having the courage to tell Starry what happened myself when I'd had the chance. But now she'd heard it. I couldn't change it. "You must think I'm a monster," I whispered with a cringe. "I mean . . . what kind of person murders his own mother?" I pulled Sweets into a tight embrace, wrapping him in my wings.

Starry didn't answer right away. She was silent for a minute, and then she sighed. "I don't know what to think. You said she beat you, and if you were afraid for your life, then . . ." She put her hoof on my shoulder. "I believe you. And I don't blame you. But wasn't there any other way?"

I squeezed Sweets and kissed his forehead. "Go see if you can put some of the smaller components back together. I need to talk to Starry for a bit."

My little brother looked up at me. "Not a monster . . ." he whimpered quietly.

I hugged him one last time before I let him go. He needed a little encouragement, but I got him to busy himself with cleaning up the mess of reactor parts that littered the room. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," I told him.

"Day . . . couldn't you tell somepony?" Starry asked.

"Who would I tell? Security?" I shook my head. "They'd have told me to stop making trouble and get along like a good little pony, and then they'd probably throw me in a detention cell overnight for good measure to make sure I got the message. Meanwhile, Sweets would be left all alone with her. I couldn't just abandon him like that.

"If anypony noticed, nopony cared. And what would they have done anyway? Report it to Security?" I let out a short laugh, though it sounded more like a cry. "When I got hurt, I told everyone I fell. Nopony asked any questions."

I looked up at Starry, and I pleaded, "What should I have done?"

Again, she didn't answer right away. I felt the seconds drag on into minutes as we both stood there in silence. A few times, Starry opened her mouth as though to say something, but she closed it without a word almost immediately. I felt as if I were holding my breath the entire time, waiting to hear her speak, but I couldn't make up my mind about what I wanted to hear: Part of me wanted her to tell me that there wasn't anything I could have done—to absolve me of my guilt; if there was no other way out of it, then that's all there was to it, and it was just a bad result of a bad situation. But another part of me wanted her to come up with some solution, some magical thing that I could have said or done that would have spared us all such misery—something that would be so obvious in hindsight that of course it was all my fault for letting this happen, and I deserve exactly what I got for it.

"I don't know," she said at last. "I mean . . . was it really so bad that you were afraid she was going to kill you?"

"I . . . I don't know." I looked down at my hooves. "It was getting worse. A month ago, she . . . she beat me so bad that Sweets had to help me get to medical. By the time we got there, I couldn't breathe—the doctors told me that a broken rib had punctured my lung. I honestly felt like I was going to die, and all I could think about was how, if I did, I'd be leaving Sweets all alone with her."

I sighed. "She didn't used to be like that, you know. Before Sweets was born, she mostly just left me alone."

"You mean she neglected you?"

"No. Well . . . I mean . . . I never really thought of it like that, but to hear you say it that way . . ." I shrugged. "I was pretty much on my own before I even had my cutie mark. And even when I did get my cutie mark . . ." I put a hoof up to my left ear and felt along the torn edge there. I let out a mirthless laugh. "I remember when the air conditioner unit for our section had malfunctioned. They told us that somepony from maintenance was working on it, but the day went on and it only got hotter and stuffier. So I wandered off on my own to see what was taking so long. I found the air conditioner, but the engineer working on it was nowhere to be seen. Parts were scattered all over the floor, and he even left his tools sitting out."

I looked at the scene around me: reactor parts and tools littered the floor. I noticed Starry following my gaze out of the corner of my eye. "They aren't just bits of metal to me—they're pieces to a puzzle—bigger and more complicated than any of those cardboard cutout childrens' toys that I loved to play with," I told her. A smile crept across my face as I thought back to that air conditioner. "I'd already played with every toy puzzle in the stable dozens of times, and they were all too easy—I even put them together upside down so I couldn't see the pictures. But this was a real puzzle! One with moving parts that fit together in three dimensions!

"I found the piece that didn't fit right, and I found the matching replacement part from the spares that were mixed in with the tools, and I started putting it all back together myself. The engineer came back just as I was finishing up. I was still crawling around inside the access panel when he started yelling at me for messing around with his tools, but then he just stopped. It was right when I hooked the power back up that he told me I just got my cutie mark. I was so excited that I got careless and clipped my ear on the radiator fan as I was backing out from under it. It bled all over the place, but I didn't care: I had my cutie mark.

"Mom yelled at me for going off by myself. She didn't really care about what happened. I don't even think she knew I had been gone. But that engineer got me apprenticed into maintenance after that, and that's where I started spending all my time."

Starry reached out to me and put her hoof on my shoulder.

My smile faded as I looked over at Sweets. He was still busy reconstructing one of the compressors that had been needlessly taken apart by the other engineers. "She started getting mean when she got pregnant with Sweets. At first it was only a lot more yelling, and I figured that it was just hormones or something or that she was mad at whoever his father is—I don't even know who my father is; could be the same guy for all I know. But I just assumed that it was something that would get better after she gave birth. I learned to be really quiet and careful around her—'yes, ma'am,' 'no, ma'am,' 'sorry, ma'am'—and I just waited for her to get better.

"But after Sweets was born . . . she came home with him, and he was crying. Mom put him in my room and told me to keep him quiet while she got some sleep. I tried giving him a bottle, but it didn't help. She kept yelling—at him to be quiet, at me to do something . . .

"I didn't know what else to do, so I tried to entertain him: silly faces, stuffed toys, nothing seemed to work, and I could hear mom getting angrier every time she yelled. And then I tried walking on the ceiling."

"Walking on the ceiling?"

"Yeah—fly upside down and put your hooves on the ceiling. You should have seen the look on Sweets's face. It was . . ." I let out a small laugh and shook my head slowly. "I fell in love with him when I saw that happy little face looking up at me like I had just done the most amazing thing in the world." I looked down at my hooves. "That's when mom came in. She saw me up on the ceiling and she yelled at me to get down. And as soon as I landed, that's when she hit me for the first time. It wasn't really that hard, but I fell over and dislocated my wing. I started to cry, but she screamed at me to be quiet, so I held it in, and she went back to bed.

"I had to take Sweets with me to medical to get my wing treated; I was terrified to leave him alone with her—if he started crying again . . . what she might do to him . . . and she never did get any better."

***

After telling her about my mother, Starry and I didn't say very much to each other aside from what we needed to coordinate the repairs. Most of that work was relatively simple; most of the parts we had were intact, and we couldn't do anything with the damaged ones until the main body of the reactor was back in one piece, so we focused on that. Starry had a little trouble since she had never worked with anything like it before, but whenever she asked for my help reading the schematics, I had the feeling that she was asking me only so I could feel good about knowing the answer. Not that I minded—I did feel good about it, and she kept looking at me with this proud smile—the kind I often looked at Sweets with.

And I had plenty of opportunity to look at Sweets with that smile while we were making repairs; he had barely even needed to glance at the schematics once and he knew exactly where every part or tool he needed was and how to fit them together. Every time he finished rebuilding one of the smaller components, he'd rush over to show me, bounce up and down while I inspected it, and then rush off to start on another one. It filled me with joy to see him like that—I felt as though I had done right in taking care of him, raising him, and protecting him from our mother. I felt confident that as long as he could stay inside the stable, he'd be alright.

With that one important goal in mind, I made sure that we made good progress on repairing the reactor. Among the three of us, we managed to reconstruct most of it by the time the overstallion returned.

"Where is everypony?" he asked from the doorway.

"I told them to leave," I answered. "We made better progress without—"

"After insisting that I allow an outsider into the stable, and that I should allow Sweetie Pie to stay here, both under the pretense of assisting with repairs because 'we need all the help we can get,' you dismiss an entire crew of workers? And you dare call this"—he gestured toward the still-incomplete reactor—"'better progress'? Celestia forbid you had let them help; we might have full power restored by now."

I balked and lowered my head, my ears folding back. "I—I'm sorry, sir."

"Don't apologize, Day," Starry said as she stepped forward to face the overstallion. "He was right to dismiss them. They got in our way, wouldn't provide us with tools, and apparently the only thing they've done so far was to take the whole thing apart just to look busy. We've worked hard all day to put this back together. If it hadn't been stripped apart in the first place, we might actually have had power restored by now."

The overstallion glared at Starry over the top of his glasses. "I remind you of your place, miss."

Starry snorted. "I remind you that without us, your whole stable will be out in the wasteland where you're not going to find enough food or water for your entire population. So you should be grateful for our help because it's the only way you're going to get this reactor back online before the emergency power runs out at the end of tomorrow."

I felt Sweets move up alongside me, and I hugged a wing around him gently.

The overstallion cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Power will be restored by then, won't it?"

Starry glanced back at me.

I nodded. "We should be able to finish repairs by about noon tomorrow, sir."

"Good. Keep at it."

"Actually, sir, we can't really continue working tonight. The spark capacitor is completely burned out," I explained. "And it's the only part we don't have a spare for. Starry knows of an old Stable-Tec factory nearby where we can get one, but it's too dark outside to go salvaging now; we'll have to wait until morning." We were also exhausted from working all day, but I didn't bother mentioning that part to the overstallion.

"You're certain you'll be able to find and retrieve this replacement in time?"

"Finding things is my special talent," Starry said with a smirk.

"Well then, if there's nothing else to be done tonight, Lucky Day, your old quarters are vacant; you may return to them. Miss Starry, you may share his quarters while you are here. Sweetie Pie, it's time to come home."

Sweets hugged my foreleg tightly. "I want to go home with Day," he said.

I pulled my wing tighter around him. "Where has my little brother been living?"

"With me and my family, of course," the overstallion said with a small chuckle. "I'm like a father for the entire stable—it's my duty to make sure everypony is safe and cared for. Naturally, when I heard about the horrible murder that had left this poor young boy without a mother to raise him, I adopted him myself. Now, Sweetie Pie, come along. It's time for dinner."

"I want to go home with Day!" he cried again.

"Sweets, I . . . I think you should go with him," I said, though it broke my heart. I wanted to take care of Sweets as I always had, but I couldn't fight the overstallion over it; he could make sure I'd never see my little brother at all. "We'll see each other tomorrow, okay? And then we'll celebrate your cutie mark after the repairs are finished. I promise." Sweets looked as though he were about to cry, and I hugged him tightly and nuzzled his mane.

"This hasn't been easy on either of them," Starry said. "Can't you work something out? If not for Day, then for Sweets—if you want to be his father, then don't make this harder for him; give him time to adjust."

"You certainly don't have any compunctions about telling me what I should or shouldn't do, do you?" the overstallion said dryly. After a pause, he let out a sigh. "Very well. The two of you may join us for dinner." Sweets perked up almost immediately. "But after that, I don't want to hear any more arguments. Am I clear, Sweetie Pie? After dinner, you're going straight to bed."

"Yes, sir," Sweets said. He wasn't entirely enthusiastic about it, I could tell, but even if it was only for another hour or so, it would be good to spend time together again.

"Thank you, sir," I said, grateful for his hospitality.

***

Sweets rode on my back again as we walked to the overstallion's quarters on the top floor of the stable where all the administrative offices were. He was quiet for most of the way; it had been a long day, and I could tell by the way he laid his head on the back of my neck with his forelegs limply clinging around my shoulders that he was tired. I would have put him to bed, but that wasn't my decision to make anymore.

The overstallion's horn lit up to enter a password on the console by the door to his quarters. The door opened, and I was blinded momentarily: full lights were on inside, much brighter than the emergency lights that I had grown accustomed to. Starry and I both cringed, waiting for our eyes to adjust as we followed the overstallion into his home.

"I'm home, darling," he announced as he continued up the entry hall into the living room.

"Dinner's almost ready," answered his wife, her head poking out from the kitchen's doorway. A half-emptied bottle of apple wine floated in her ruby aura next to her. "Oh, we have guests. Well come in! Make yourselves at home. You know I just love it when we have company for dinner!" she said with a boisterous, though strained, laugh. "Boys," she called. "Set the table for two more."

"Yes, mother," came the simultaneous reply from two young, monotone voices. The sounds of movement and of dinnerware being rearranged in the dining room followed shortly after.

The overstallion's wife trotted out to meet us, wine bottle in tow. "Are these friends of yours from work?" she asked after giving her husband a kiss on his cheek.

"In a manner of speaking," he answered. "This is Lucky Day; he's Sweetie Pie's brother."

"Oh, well it's so nice to finally meet you, Lucky," she said with a wide, cheery smile. "Sweetie has been such a joy to have with us this last week. My, how he does go on about you." She laughed. "Look at the poor thing, all tuckered out on you there. Looks like he's already asleep."

She turned to Starry. "And are you their mother?" she asked.

"No, dear," the overstallion cut in. "Their mother is dead, remember?"

"Oh, yes, that's right. Terrible business, that. I'm so sorry about your loss. You know, if I had known you were coming to dinner, I would have baked you a pie to send you home with."

"I . . . um, thanks?" I said, unsure of how exactly to respond. "Why don't you let me go put Sweets to bed?"

"Go right ahead, dear. It's the last door on the right," said the overstallion's wife, pointing me down the hallway. I thanked her and then excused myself, carrying Sweets down to his room while Starry introduced herself.

Inside the room was dark. I left the door open, using only the light from the hallway to find my way over to the bed and carefully slide Sweets off my shoulders. He opened his eyes and sat up almost immediately. "Sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"I wasn't really sleeping," he said. "I just didn't want to have to talk to them."

I glanced over my shoulder at the hallway. I could hear the overstallion's wife laughing again between mumbles of idle conversation—conversation I was certainly glad to have gotten away from, even if only for a few minutes; I don't think I had ever heard so many meaningless comforts—so many sweet nothings—all at once. I certainly didn't blame Sweets for wanting to get away from it.

"Have you been okay living here?" I asked Sweets. "Nopony's hurting you, right?"

"I'd rather live with you, Day." He pouted.

"I know, but we can't do anything about that. Not right now, at least. Are you going to be alright staying here?" I stroked a hoof through his mane gently. "I know this probably isn't anything like what you wanted—I know I never planned it this way—but as long as you stay safe, we can work things out."

He looked up at me and gave a small nod. I smiled and kissed his forehead, and then tucked him into bed. "Get some sleep. We'll see each other in the morning, okay? I love you, Sweets."

"I love you too, big brother."

I stood in the doorway, taking one last look at my little brother before I closed the door.

I returned to the living room to find everypony in the middle of laughing—presumably at some joke I'd been too late to hear—though nopony's laughter sounded quite right: the overstallion had a dry, humoring chuckle; his wife's was as overblown and strained as ever; and Starry had a visibly forced grin that looked as uncomfortable as her laugh sounded. She glanced at me, and in her eyes I could see a desperate plea for escape.

"Sweets is asleep," I said, clearing my throat. "So I guess we don't need to stay for dinner after all."

"Oh, nonsense!" cried the overstallion's wife. "You're already here. What kind of hostess would I be if I didn't let you stay?"

"It's alright," I said. "I'm more tired than hungry myself anyway." Starry nodded in agreement with me.

"Very well, then," said the overstallion with a dismissive wave of his hoof. "You may return to your old quarters; they're still unoccupied. And don't worry, we cleaned up the mess you left behind. But, Miss Starry, certainly you'll stay for dinner, won't you? When you're minding your manners, you're actually surprisingly pleasant. And remarkably attractive as well."

His wife let out another of her laughs. "Oh, dear, you're such a kidder!" she said as she took a drink from the wine bottle she still carried—which I noticed had been reduced to only a quarter full while I had been putting Sweets to bed—and disappeared back into the kitchen.

"I think it's best if I call it a night as well," Starry said. Together, we turned and headed for the door.

I reached the door ahead of Starry and when I looked back, I saw her back at the other end of the hall. The overstallion was talking to her; he had his foreleg stretched out in front of her, his hoof against the wall, blocking her path. "You know, I can see about making alternate sleeping arrangements for you," he said. "So you don't have to sleep with a murderer."

Starry narrowed her eyes at him and turned to walk around him. "I don't think so."

The overstallion turned with her and grabbed her foreleg with his. His voice deepened. "I didn't ask you to think."

Before I even knew what happened, Starry had the overstallion on the ground. She stood over him with a hoof on his chest. "Touch me again and I'll break your leg," she said calmly. The overstallion was too busy gasping and wheezing, having had the wind knocked out of him, to say anything, but Starry didn't seem interested in hearing a response as she simply stepped over him on her way to the door.

We left together in silence. The whole time we walked, I kept staring at Starry. I had once thought that her confident stride was like that of somepony from Security, but as I watched her then, I saw that wasn't it. Hers wasn't the walk of somepony with power; it was that of somepony who wasn't afraid of those with power. And in that moment of realization, I admired her more than anything or anyone I had ever known. Remembering what Chrys had told me about her, if I could have chosen anypony to be my mother, I would have chosen Starry.

It wasn't until we reached my quarters that I asked, "What happened with the overstallion . . ."

Starry smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I've seen his type plenty: he's just a bully who's used to getting what he wants. But he has no idea how to react when somepony actually stands up to him. He doesn't scare me, and you shouldn't let him scare you either."

I nodded slowly. "I'll try not to."

Starry and I both retired for the evening. She went to sleep in my mother's old room, while I returned to mine. Everything was perfectly sterile, as if nopony had ever lived there, with only the barest furniture that came installed in all the quarters: a bed, a nightstand, desk, and dresser.

The stable moved on, forgot. As though nothing ever happened. The stable would always be the same.

***

It's strange being in the stable again. It's barely been a week since I was exiled, but everything seems so different now. Everything, everypony here is exactly the same, though—nothing changes inside the stable.

And yet it feels different to me. Have I really changed that much?

But I got to see that Sweets was safe here without me. Everything that I've been through since that fateful morning has been worth it, if only for that. I had been so worried that I had done the wrong thing. Seeing that he's safe, and that he's being taken care of, though, I feel alright about what I did. I had to do it. I had to—

"Day?"

"Sweets? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"I couldn't sleep. So I snuck out to see you."

"Oh. I don't think the overstallion will like that."

"I don't care about him, Day! I just want to stay with you!"

"Sweets . . ."

"Don't you want to stay with me?"

"I . . . of course I do. Come on up, I guess. Just like old times, right?"

"Just like old times!"

. . .

"Day?"

"Yeah, Sweets?"

"I'm sorry you had to—"

"Shh. It's not your fault. I'm supposed to protect my little brother."

. . .

"Day?"

"Yeah, Sweets?"

"It's good, right? Good that she's . . ."

". . . Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Thank you, Day. I love you."

"I love you too, little brother." Next Chapter: Chapter 10: Sweet Nothings Estimated time remaining: 34 Minutes