Chapter 29: We Await The Day

[So try again! Make new friends! And if something that you can't control happens that changes things, work through it together!]

The heat from the blaze was sweltering, but it wasn’t the reason my eyes burned.

Atop the pyre, an unmoving form lay amongst the flames.

I barely felt the sweat-soaked rags covering my head and face as I looked up at her, deceptively peaceful within the fire.

The burning increased as wetness coated my cheeks, and the lump in my throat grew larger.

How could you be dead, Naiara? How could this happen?

No answer came.

Closer than I, braving the fierce heat, a pegasus and a zebra clung to each other as our friend burned. Breeze barely had the energy to stand, and even Cept’s hooves trembled as they supported each other, physically and spiritually.

What are we going to do without you?

Nearby, a second pegasus and a Changeling waited, misty eyes flicking between the couple and the fire. Cassie and Bosco could do nothing, but wouldn’t let Breeze and Cept go through this alone.

Why couldn’t we save you, like you kept saving us?

Away and to the side, a young filly buried her face into the embrace of three stoic buffalo bulls. Undertow made no effort to hide her pain at the passing of the mare who had shown her nothing but love. Buff, Al, and Lo paid their respects, even if they hardly knew Naiara.

When did we ever spend time on you? Did we ever?

I didn’t move my head when paws and claws stopped at my side, and hooves across from them. Schwarzwald and Wings solemnly watched as grey, striped hair turned black.

Who could ever be a better friend? A better person?

Schwarzwald cleared her throat, but her voice still cracked as she spoke. “It nev… it never stops hurting, dahling, not for a moment. No matter how much we wish.”

Wings’ head dipped. “Even now? Twenty years?”

Schwarzwald did nothing for a long time, before quietly taking a breath. “Even now. They… all of you… so young.”

With patience and fortitude I couldn’t hope to muster, the two remained silent as I tried, over and over, to force a response. Eons passed before I managed. “It shouldn’t be her up there.”

“I know.” The older mare’s sad warmth softened the hurt, for a fraction of a moment.

Wings’ voice faltered. “It shouldn’t be any of us. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“I know.”

“Why?” I half-cried. “Why couldn’t it be… not her?” So many names and faces ran through my mind, but not a one of them reached my tongue, no matter how I wished them to.

Latvi, Peanut, Willow Wisp, Roc… any of them. Why couldn’t they be burning up there while she smiled with Breeze and Cept? Swapped jokes with Bosco and Undertow? Sparred and sat and sang with me, Schwarz, and Wings? Why—

Even the thought choked me. “...not her.” Was all I could say.

Nothing, no robot or horn or ANYTHING is worth this. Worth her.

“...I know.”

I couldn’t even see her in the flames anymore.

The griffon beside me shifted. “What… do we do now?”

“We finish.” Laboriously, Cept turned from the fire. His face was drawn taut around his golden eyes, and every word visibly drained him further. “Naiara was— IS my closest friend. She always will be. I know no better soul. She cannot rest easy if we do not finish her work.”

With the slow force of a rolling storm, Breeze’s head came up to rest under his chin. “No matter how long it takes. Forever. Besides my sister, she was my first friend, and I didn’t always deserve her. I have to make that up to her.”

Sniffling and snuffling, Undertow pulled herself from Al’s embrace. “She was… the best of us. Whatever can be done must be done.”

Cassie nodded. “I won’t stop until I’ve found Latvi.”

“Not even for a moment.” Bosco’s grey eyes flashed green for a moment.

Metal scraped on leather as Wings drew her revolver. “And the rest.”

I nodded past my rags. “Them too. All of them.”

Looking to each of us in turn, Cept nodded before turning to Schwarzwald. “Please take Breeze and keep her safe. Our clan must pay their respects, and prepare our clan-sister for the next world. This… only zebra now.”

Eyes wide and glistening, Breeze separated from him. “I can’t stay?”

“Not for this.” There was no irritation in him, only sorrow. “There are things that zebra do that are not for outsiders. Naiara is still part of our clan, and we will show that now.” He reached out and caressed the technophile’s cheek. “I do not want you to go, but the clan will not allow it. Please understand.”

She held his hoof in place with one of hers. “I love her as much as you do, Cept.”

Without warning, he pulled her in. Their lips locked together as he wrapped her up in his hooves, the fire roaring behind the two. We could only watch, stunned, at the brazen display from the normally-reserved stallion.

Cept broke the kiss after a dozen seconds. “I know. I love you as much as we love her, but for this moment…” Again he looked to Schwarzwald.

“I understand.” The older mare moved up next to Breeze, and began softly leading her away. “Come with us, dahling. We will wait for Cept back at the compound.”

Breeze didn’t resist, but did look over her shoulder at Cept, blue and white mane falling across her face. “Be gentle with her, Cept, please?”

A small smile was returned. “She is family, Breeze. We will send her soul on with all our love.”

The rest of us moved away, Breeze and Schwarzwald, Bosco and Cassie, Undertow and Doublehorns, Wings and I. After a hundred metres, I looked back.

All around Naiara and Cept, zebra were shimmering into existence from under their cloaks.

I couldn’t be completely sure from that far out, but it looked like Atesh was not among them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So… what now?”

Not one of the other thirteen sat in the Sprinkles Supplies bar answered Esto’s question immediately, thoughts still on the funeral. Nobody was really in a hurry to acknowledge anyone else, more sitting in close proximity rather than as a group. I barely saw the others past my rags and the pair of dark welding goggles that Mom had scrounged up for my eyes.

Shifting on her stool at the counter to look across the entire bar, Esto rearranged her glasses and tried again. “I’m sorry, everyone, I know this is a hard time for you all. Still, Latvi is out there, and his forces are far stronger than they were two days ago.”

“We know.” Cassie snapped succinctly. “We’re going to stop him.”

Even under the Sniper Pegasus’ glare, Esto didn’t wilt completely. “I am afraid that it will not be as easy as that. Going by the manifest I pulled from Whitepony after…” She broke off, lowering her voice, “...after Whitepony, it seems that Latvi got away with roughly sixty percent of the guard robots. We could only acquire the other forty.”

“So what’re yeh sayin’?” Mom hadn’t left Undertow’s side since we got back from the funeral, and sat with my sister and I in a square booth. My brothers sat in the adjacent seats.

“She’s saying,” Bosco piped up from the opposite wall, where Cept, Breeze, and Cassie also had situated themselves, “that we can’t take him in a straight fight.”

The scientist nodded remorsefully. “Not with the forces we have available.”

“Just get me a clean shot,” Cassie interrupted again, pressing a hoof hard into the table top. “I’ll do the rest.”

“Ain’t gonna work,” Leaning against the wall, Wings twitched a claw, “he’s still got griffon air support. You won’t get close enough.”

Cept thumped the cracked, faded leather. “What can we do? Latvi cannot win. Is there any news that can help us?”

Breeze rested a hoof on top of his. “We know where he’s heading.” She looked at me. “North. Way north.”

What a surprise. “The Stable. Of course he’s going there. That moron Roc sends out an open invitation, AFTER he already lets the Rangers inside, and expects things to go well.” I briefly pondered how Iron Sights, the Steel Ranger Elder, had reacted to Roc’s broadcast. There was a zero percent chance that he’d have been in favour of it. “If we can’t take Latvi’s army, can we at least beat Neighlway’s fighters? We can’t leave the Stable in their hooves either.”

“We do not know.” Sitting with Esto and Amber at the counter, Schwarzwald shrugged. “No one knows how strong the Neighlway Rangers are together. They are avoided for good reason, and only small patrols are ever seen. We do not know if we can beat them either.”

I coughed into my hoof. “When Latvi and I had our Raider army, we took on the Rangers a few times. They’ll at least have lost some forces from that, and someone told me once that Neighlway isn’t that big of a detachment.”

“Do we have to take ‘em on in a straight fight at all?” Bosco held his hooves out separately, then crossed them in front of him. “We know Latvi’s heading to the Stable, and the Rangers are already there. He’s gotta go through them to get in, and they’re not gonna like that. Why not let them duke it out, and deal with the winner?”

Undertow shook her head. “We can’t wait that long. Every moment that the Rangers are in the Stable is another chance for them to find Chrysalis’ core. They could bring the Windigoes down on all of us.” She rubbed Lo’s shoulder. “Besides, the residents of the Stable might be suffering under the Rangers. I don’t want your friends to go through that.”

Lo beamed down at her. “That’s sweet, li’l sis.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Buff soothed, “but thanks for thinking of them.”

“Yeah, you’re the best.” Al nuzzled her cheek. “The guys in the Stable’ll will be alright.”

“Whatever. Screw ‘em.” I muttered, mostly to myself.

Mom nudged me in the ribs, before clearing her throat. “Ah don’t know ‘bout the rest o’ yeh, but from what Ah know of the Rangers, they ain’t the type to bunker down if an enemy’s comin’ for ‘em. They’ll wanna fight.”

“So?” Wings glanced my way while she asked this. Judging by her frown, she’d heard me too.

“Well, they might know that this Roc wants ponies comin’ to the Stable, but might not know that an army’s headin’ their way. Ah propose we let ‘em know.”

Quizzical looks were exchanged all round. Esto was the first to respond. “For what purpose?”

Lexi nodded in Bosco’s direction. “Two reasons: One, gets ‘em fightin’ each other and whittlin’ down both sides’ numbers. Two: They do it outside the Stable. The folks inside don’t get caught up in the fightin’, at least until our side gets there. Less casualties fer us.”

The charcoal Changeling colt scratched at his chin. “Not a bad idea, all things considered. We make a big fuss over Latvi heading to the Stable, get the word out as far as we can, and make it like the Rangers don’t stand a chance. They’ll wanna prove us wrong.”

Breeze sat us a little straighter. “And while they’re fighting, we sneak inside, or attack them both while they’re distracted.”

“Or both.” Cept squeezed her shoulder. “The Rangers would not have many guards at the Stable while their fighters attack Latvi’s robots. We could beat them and take the Stable without a fight.”

Doubt it’s gonna be that simple, but it’s a better idea than going head to head with two armies who might both be bigger than what we’ve got. “If you could get me and the boys inside, we can take you to the main points you’d need to control the place.”

A rapping on the bar counter cut into the discussion. Amber held a piece of scrap paper in her mouth, folded into quarters, for Schwarzwald to read.

“‘The Steel Rangers do not know about Latvi,’?” Read the mercenary mare, before squinting at the author. “What do you mean by that, Amber-dahling?”

In response, the Bernstein leader twitched her lips, just enough for the quarter-fold to come undone, exposing more writing on the new half.

Schwarzwald dutifully continued reading. “‘We must give the Rangers a known quantity to counter. One who is guaranteed to oppose their plans.’”

Bosco shifted uneasily. “You mean somebody they’re gonna want to kill?”

Wings stopped leaning on the wall. “I know somebody we can use for that.”

Everybody looked at her. “You do? Who?”

She hooked a claw back at herself. On the other side of the room, Amber unfolded the rest of the message, with two words written on the other side of the paper, underlined and in bold:

“You?” I began shuffling out from the booth, looking to Amber for answers. “Why Wings?”

Her ‘reply’ was a severely frustrated grimace, and a pointed stare.

“Right, right, sorry.” I turned back to Wings. “Why do you have to do it? The Rangers don’t like any of us, and more than half here have had direct contact with them.”

She shrugged lifelessly. “They don’t have our reputations, and you’re needed in the Stable. ‘s gotta be me.”

Breeze grunted. “You’re makin’ it sound like you won’t be with us at the Stable.”

Wings’ expression didn’t change. “Because I won’t. We’ve gotta sell this to draw the Rangers out. I have to be with the bots. Some tintop spots me in Stable 61, calls it in, and suddenly they’re all heading back that way. Can’t let that happen until they and Latvi’s lot knock enough lumps out of each other.”

Everyone was staring at her now. Bosco slid off his stool and joined her and I in the center of the room. “Wings, you can’t be the only one of us out in the open. You’ll be a giant target for Latvi AND the Rangers. We already know our bots can’t hold them off. You need some more backup. Let me go with you. I can help with tactics too.”

Breeze reluctantly let go of Cept’s hoof and flapped out of their booth. “Cassie and I’ll go too. Pegasi aren’t good in narrow corridors anyway, and Naiara would never forgive us if we let you go alone.”

Amber rapped on the counter again, furiously scribbling on more paper.

Schwarzwald leaned over her shoulder and read it aloud. “‘No more fliers’.” She nodded. “A fair point. You four are the only ones here who can fly. We can’t use the sky carriage without one of you, two if we all go. Latvi has fliers too. We would be in trouble without bringing some of you with us to the Stable.”

“Not to mention the Overmare, and the Pegasi or Griffons in the Stable itself.” The words ground themselves out from between my teeth.

Buff noticed. “Snow, the Overmare’s one thing, but you don’t think the Stable residents will try to fight us, do you?”

“Yes.” Was my instant reply.

“Snow,” his brow creased, as did that of my other two brothers, “I know they weren’t always good to you, but do you really think—”

“—that they’ll put a bullet in my brain to save their own sorry hides from the Rangers? Of course I do.” I wasn’t even angry, not really. I just couldn’t see it happening in this or any other reality. “But we’re going off-topic. Wings shouldn’t be staying back alone, for the same reason that she’s saying she should: Blue Fire’s too valuable to lose. After all this is over, there’s still gonna be a role for her.”

Schwarzwald purposefully cleared her throat.

I know, I know, shut up. “I mean we’ve still gotta clear out the Raiders and slavers trapped in Lethbridle. We’ll need Wings for that.”

The aforementioned Griffon groaned, spinning on her heel and stalking from the bar. “This is getting us nowhere. We’ll work out the rest on the way. Let’s just send the damn message first, then work out the rest on the way. Latvi’s already heading for the Stable. We don’t have forever to discuss this in fucking committee.” She disappeared around the corner, still ranting. “Hey, Snow’s Mom, where’s your broadcast gear? Let’s get the message out already!”

I stared after her, stunned at the sudden shift in atmosphere. Wings?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“The good people of Stable 61 should not suffer under the Steel Rangers’ cruelty. I won’t allow—”

I shut off Wings’ message. I’d heard her recording it, and it’d been playing every hour since. There was much more to focus on as it was, even if I was relegated to keeping out of the way, lest my wrappings come loose.

In the main Sprinkles Supplies courtyard, our delegation readied to depart. Out of the main gate, the Whitepony guard robots stood at attention, awaiting orders. Not far from them, Breeze was hooked up to the sky carriage, itself full of supplies and tech.

Inside, the activity level was leagues higher. In her status as Blue Fire, Wings had been named leader of the expeditionary force, which included my family, our friends, Amber, Esto, Lithu, and any Sprinkles Supplies guard who wanted to follow their boss figuratively to the end of the world.

There really isn’t any further to go than Stable 61, unless you wanna commit suicide-by-Windigo.

Some former Lethbridle guards, coming from Vanchoofer after the Crush incident, were going to meet us on route. More fighters against Latvi’s robots and Monsters, and Iron Sights’ Steel Rangers, but still not nearly enough to tip the scales in our favour. The original plan was gonna have to go on ahead, no matter how much I didn’t like it. Wings is risking too much for this, I have to come up with something better.

Unfortunately, that left me bundled up against more than just the cold. Red Ice was not a popular name to any group here, not even our inner circle, and we couldn’t risk revealing who I was to our allies. I was stuck in my increasingly stuffy and sweaty coverings.

Three metres off the ground, Wings hovered, taking one last look over the proceedings, before giving a sharp avian keen. “LET’S MOVE OUT!”

She’d said it loud enough for all to react to, but there was no emotion in her words, just cold professionalism. She’d been that way from the second the initial message went out, barely speaking to any of us outside of checking preparation details.

Even as I watched, she brushed past Schwarzwald in silence. That’s not like you, Wings. What’s wrong? You tackle problems, you don’t go robot at them. You’ve put a gun to my head more than once to get me to knock off the crazy. Hell, you’ve pulled a gun on my mother instead of taking ‘no’ for an answer. What gives?

The tension remained for the first four hours of the trek, with the Griffon practicing an economy of words that would make Amber seems chatty. Her only interaction with the rest of us came when Cassie, having taken over lugging the sky carriage for Breeze two hours earlier, came down to swap out.

Seizing my chance, I snuck up to the carriage while Cassie was fixing the headset radio onto the Griffon, so she could still communicate with those on the ground if she spotted something. The sniper Pegasus’ eye swivelled in my direction as I eased the hatch open, but she said nothing as I resealed it behind me.

Inside the cramped compartment, I remained still until Wings reached a steady altitude, then slipped the communicator I’d borrowed from Undertow out of my barding. I switched it over to a short-range private channel. “Hey, Wings?”

“HOLY FUCK!” The carriage rocked violently from her shock. “WHAT THE HELL, SNOW?!”

I peered out of the narrow porthole, giving a small wave at her as she glared back at me from the harness. “Can we talk?”

“Oh yeah, sure, just as soon as I make sure the crap you scared out of me didn’t hit anybody down below!”

I couldn’t laugh, not so soon after the funeral, but I managed a half-smile as I turned and slid down the wall separating me from her and the open air. “That’s better. I was worried since you were so quiet.”

She tch’d through the speaker. “Maybe I don’t wanna talk to anyone right now.”

“You could talk to yourself,” I tried, “I’ll just leave the channel open and not say a word.”

“Why’re you pushing this, Snow?” She challenged, voice taut. “Tryin’ to make things the way they were before Naiara DIED?”

Fresh daggers cut into my heart at that last part. “Things won’t be the way they were, Wings, not ever again. But that doesn’t mean you have to cut yourself off from the rest of us. We’re all hurting, but we all want to help each other get through it. Naiara wouldn’t want her friends breaking up over her.”

“Well, isn’t that great for you to know what Naiara would have wanted.”

The sulky tone dragged me up to the window again. Wings resolutely looked forwards, not at the window. “What’s that mean?”

Her scalp feathers, bundled up in the usual ponytail, shook slightly. “I honestly can’t say that I remember a whole lot about her, Snow.” She couldn’t maintain her stoic speech, resulting in it turning watery and shrill. “Do you remember what you told me, back when I left to go back to my family with McCoy? You told me that Naiara was so pissed when I said she wasn’t really a friend.”

I wanted to reach through the glass, to wrap her up in a tight hug. “That was a while ago, Wings. She knew that wasn’t true. You know that’s not true. Don’t do this to yourself.”

The dam broke, and she lost all composure. “I still hardly know anything about her, Snow, and now I never will! I never got the chance to make it up to her for saying that!”

“Wings, we all feel that way.” That soul-sucking regret, that crushing doubt, the constant and unrelenting feelings that she’d still be here if we were even a fraction as good a person as she was. “Breeze and Cept are cut up about bringing her to Whitepony, and if anybody’s to blame for Latvi’s involvement it’ll be me, but Naiara was her own filly. She didn’t… doesn’t carry grudges, and she certainly doesn’t blame you for anything. She stayed with us, all of us, because she didn’t want us to be alone. She knew we made each other stronger. Don’t doubt that you made her stronger.” I cradled the communicator to my cheek. “I know you make me stronger. That’s how you show you’re her friend.”

“...It still doesn’t feel like it’s enough. Not even close.”

“I know.” Tears ran down my cheeks freely. “It’s because we love her so much. We have to make sure we stay the people she loved, and who love her. Can you do that for me, Gigglewings?”

She sniffed a few times, still sounding pained. “I can try, for Naiara.”

That brought a genuine smile. “For Naiara.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“IF ONE MORE OF YOU JACKHOLES TAKES A SINGLE STEP TOWARDS NAIARA’S ROOM AGAIN, I’LL USE EVERY GRENADE I HAVE AND BLOW YOUR DAMN DICKS OFF!”

I shut the front door behind me, confident that Breeze had the situation in hoof… and that Cassie would stop her from going too far. Maybe stopping at Hoofshine for the night wasn’t the best idea, with all these hangers-on.

The Lethbridle, Sprinkles Supplies, and Vanchoofer guards who’d accompanied us had colonised the former whorehouse’s bar for the past few hours, and some of them were on the wrong side of where any bartender would cut them off. Since we had no bartenders, besides my on-off apprenticeship under Whiskey Sour back in the Stable, nobody was around to declare Last Call. They had even stopped listening to Blue Fire on the matter.

Speaking of the griffon, she had already retired for the evening, along with most of our friends. My family was safe and snug in the master bedroom under the bar, too. Only the twins, Schwarzwald, Bosco, and myself remained awake. Guard duty fell to the bots.

The twins were inside, guarding Naiara’s room and its contents, while Schwarzwald had slipped away for reasons unknown. Bosco was dealing with a much more interesting situation.

The charcoal colt was engaged in an animated discussion with a haggard Earth pony stallion, his pale yellow mane and emerald coat bundled up in Molar Bear fur and hide. “The Rangers are camped out on the north end of town, while the robots are holdin’ just outside the south entrance.”

Bosco listened intently to Facemask’s intel. “Cefar’s gonna end up a wreck once they start going at it.”

I walked up to stand beside Bosco. “Good to see you got away safely, Facemask. Sounds like the situation’s pretty bad.”

He took in my concealing bandages with a doctor’s stare. “What happened to you, girl? Did your brothers find you?”

I smiled back. “Yeah, thanks to you. They’re sleeping inside.” I circled my face with my hoof. “As for this? I found the bad side of the Wasteland that you warned me about.”

The old healer grinned. “You’re still kicking, at least. That’s something. Still got to get through the mess back the way I came, though. Least, I assume that’s where you’re goin’ with all this?”

“What about the others?” Bosco interrupted, eyes probing. “They didn’t stay in Cefar, did they?”

Facemask didn’t answer for a moment, before shaking his head. “Most were smart enough to leave when the Rangers came through last week, heading up the mountain. They mostly left us alone, but…”

The younger colt gulped. “‘But’?”

The doctor looked away. “Kiddo, the Rangers killed Lenny.”

Bosco’s face fell.

Mine… didn’t. I simply deadpanned “Oh no, they killed Lenny.”

That earned me a glare from Bosco, and a deep frown from Facemask. “You got meaner, girl.”

“Yeah, I did.” I confirmed, easily meeting his gaze. “Wanna know why? All those things you warned me about - the Rangers, Raiders, slavers, and the like. Well I found ALL of them.”

He took all this in with just the barest widening of the eyes. “Guess it ain’t surprising then. Still, with how much those three buffalo boys were gushin’ over you, I’m almost disappointed.”

Scowling, I brushed him off. “I’m glad you’re okay, doc, but you’re gonna be even more disappointed if you think I’m gonna cry over the death of an idiot whose only interaction with me was wanting to have sex with my dead body!”

“That’s enough, Snow.” Steering Facemask away, Bosco wouldn’t look at me. “We’re gonna go inside, you should stay out here and cool off.”

Without another word, the two headed inside. I stared after them, mentally kicking myself. Sorry, Bosco, I shouldn’t be making light of this so soon after Naiara.

Stepping away from Hoofshine Harlots, I let my hooves lead me on a meandering path through the trees. The lights and sounds of the building didn’t penetrate far into the forest itself, leaving only what little illumination could find its way through the cloud cover.

The Moon hasn’t given up on Equestria yet, it seems. Too bad I can’t see it. Hell, I might be wrong. For all I know, that’s a Windigo up there, waiting for me.

Whichever you are, keep waiting. I’ve got things to do.

As did others, accompanied by a chirping Spritebot, Schwarzwald materialised out of the gloom. “Dahling, you should rest. Tomorrow is a busy day.”

“Just getting some air.” Giving a lazy salute, I greeted the floating machine. “Watcher, been a while. How’s business?”

“Oh, just dandy.” If the bot could have rolled its eyes, it would have. “So Schwarzwald tells me you’ve gotten really close with Sombra’s horn.”

I could do sardonic too. “Yep. Pretty much inseparable, we are. You could almost say we’re of one mind.”

Even through the speakers, I heard him breathe in through his nostrils. “Yeah, done with the jokes now. Show me.” The last part wasn’t a request.

I denied it anyway. “Watcher, I’m sure you have my best interests at heart, but I’m really not in the mood for another lecture. It boils down to this - I needed my magic to take on the Windigoes, and I lost my other horn. As Breeze rightly pointed out, we had a spare. I’m using that spare. You wanna talk about the pros and cons? See me after we get into the Stable.” Schwarzwald was fixed with a hard stare. “Not a word out of you either, Schwarz. It had to be done.”

Schwarzwald canted her head, grinning. “I know, mistress. I was there.”

Watcher’s Spritebot whirred. “What do you want me to say, Snow? That I approve of what you’ve done? Of what you’re doing? Sombra nearly the destroyed the Crystal Empire, and the Changelings you’re helping once invaded Canterlot. There aren’t many more ways I can say it - You’re messing with dangerous forces.”

“Helping the Changelings is only a side effect of two other goals. The first is to help Bosco find his way again, and the second is to stop the Windigoes.” Glacial light leaked out from the folds of my wrappings. “Whatever happens with the others, that has to happen. The Windigoes will kill us all if they get past Chrysalis’ blizzard. We have to keep Chrysalis out of the hooves of the Steel Rangers. They're in the Stable now, and it’s only a matter of time before they find Chrysalis’ core.”

“WHAT?!” The outburst devolved into static that had Schwarzwald and I wincing. “You know where they are?”

Schwarzwald waggled a hoof in her ear. “We know they are in the Stable, dear Watcher, but no more than that. The Changelings did not give a precise location.”

He was barely listening, tootling back and forth in the air. “Imagine what we could accomplish if we got Cadance back…”

A smirk formed on my face at the satisfying clunk that occurred when I tapped my hoof against the bot’s shell. “Finally found some faith, Watcher? Enough to get you off my case and let us do this thing?”

The random floating ceased immediately. When he spoke, Watcher’s voice was subdued. “Snow, it was never about getting in your way, or bothering you. It’s always been about what’s best for Equestria. I work my angles and you work yours. Any reservations I have on the matter are an attempt to get you to look at the whole board, and possible ramifications of your actions. We’ve never not been on the same side.”

I stilled myself too. “Then give me the benefit of the doubt, Watcher. Look at this way - If we fail tomorrow, we were already fucked no matter what else is going on. If we succeed? Happy days. We can continue our work. There’s no risk here.”

Silent for a long time, the floating bug drone surprised both Schwarzwald and I with a quick twirl. “You’ll go no matter what I tell you, yeah? You don’t really have a choice. Suppose I gotta believe in the two of you, and your friends. I’m behind you guys, really I am. Just don’t get Wings killed if you can help it. I mean, some other candidates are getting exciting, but I don’t wanna thin out the field if I don’t have to.”

Guess that’s as good as we’ll get. I’ll take it.

Schwarzwald and I shared a wink, before she cleared her throat. “Tell Snowflake about the others, Watcher-dahling. She should know who else is out there.”

I chuckled and leaned back against a tree. “A bedtime story? Sweet. Spin me a yarn, Watcher.”

Good cheer returned to the roboticized voice. “Alright, I’ll give you the rundown on a few of the other candidates. So, get this. This little pony walks out of Stable 2, right? Takes her all of about a week to get into trouble with, if you can believe this, a DRAGON of all things...”

The hell’re you laughing for, Schwarzwald?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~