Born of Sin: Descent to Madness

Chapters

Taking the First Step isn't the Hardest...
It's the Stopping that is Hard...
Nearing the Edge
Staring into the Darkness
Taking the Plunge
Lost in the Dark and the Forgotten Light
Letting go of the Light

Taking the First Step isn't the Hardest...

Stedson woke up with a groan, his purple eyes were bloodshot and his yellow fur matted with dried tears. He saw that he was in the medical bay of the facility. He didn't know why he was here. That is until he saw the dead filly still cradled in his forelegs, her smile made him remember her final words.

“I’ll... miss you… daddy.”

The memory brought on fresh tears as he brought 522 closer to his body. It was at this time two of the researchers under him came into the room. He didn't care to remember their names right now.

“Doctor Cog, we were ordered by Upper Rear Admiral Day to prep 522 for cryogenic storage. Doctor Cog are you-” that's when they saw the screen monitoring 522's life signs had flat lined. “What did you do?!”

Stedson was immediately pulled away from 522 as the researchers scrambled to revive the dead filly. He just sat there on his haunches as he watched the futility of their actions before he met with the back end of a gauss rifle and was knocked out cold.

Inside one of the testing chambers, Stedson laid unconscious on the floor. Two guards in power armor stood nearby, armed oddly enough with baseball bats. Happy Day watched this from the same room where he saw 522 fail her evaluation.

He sighed deeply in disappointment. He had been in the middle of business negotiations with Mr. Shears, his contact in Consortium space, when one of his guards informed him that the product had been rendered worthless. Mr. Shears cut off the feed when he heard this. So much for offsetting the medical expenses.

Day's voice was heard over the intercom. “Please get Doctor Cog up on his hooves.” One of the guards walked over, picked up the unconscious pegasus and started shaking him like a ragdoll. When he stirred awake, he was dumped unceremoniously back down on the floor.

“Where am I?” he muttered weakly to himself as his eyes adjusted to the light.

“Do you have any idea why you're here doctor?” Still disoriented, Stedson couldn't respond to the question. Regardless, Day continued talking through the intercom. “I'll tell you what you've done doctor. You've cost us a lot of money when you terminated that IF unit. I should just kill you now and replace you with one of your assistants.” By now, Stedson had recovered from his daze. A look of fear evident on his face.

“However, I doubt your replacement will be able to do what you do. At least not without mistakes like that intern of yours. Do you remember what I did to her?” Stedson gulped as he remembered how Day had personally executed Bic in front of him to set an example. He nodded his head nervously.

“Good. That's why I'm going to let you live.” A hopeful smile crept onto his muzzle. “But...” the smile vanished. “ You broke my merchandise Stedson. However, you did give me 998 fully functional IF units so I can let that go. Still, I have to teach you a lesson about breaking my things. Say 'Hello' to Mr. Baseball bat!” The guards moved in on him brandishing their bats.

Stedson begged for mercy, but the resocs, programmed to obey only Happy Day, swung their bats continuously at the defenseless pony. He curled himself into a ball to protect himself as blow after painful blow struck his body. His screams of pain were soon punctuated with the sickening crunch of bones breaking from the impacts.

“I do believe that Doctor Cog has had enough. Take him to medical. He has work to do tomorrow.” The guards stopped the beating, picked up the battered pegasus, then took him to the medical bay. Before he blacked out from the pain, he heard Day say one more thing over the intercom.

“Don't screw this up Stedson!”

“Damn those inspectors! Damn them to Hell!” Stedson swore as he entered his quarters. It was spacious as befitting his position as head of the program, but to the geneticist it was just a place to bathe and sleep.

He shrugged off his lab coat, revealing both his now crippled wings underneath. He decided to hide them under his coat so he wouldn't be reminded of 522 so often. It was a moot point since he just authorized the harvesting of genetic materials from her remains when Day's inspectors demanded to know when the next batch would be put into production. He'll soon be given six thousand more reminders of 522 in the coming years.

He stepped into the shower and with a turn of the valve, a spray of water washed over him. Unlike the standard sonic cleansers the rest of the facility was fitted with, he had a regular shower which reminded him of the other comforts he no longer had. Unfortunately, due to the station's limited water supply, the shower head automatically turned off at the half-minute mark. He let out a frustrated sigh.

After drying himself off, Stedson climbed into his large bed and pulled the covers over himself. He was out like a light in minutes.

Hours later he woke up screaming, his fur wet with tears. He soon calmed down and groaned to himself. “Another bucking nightmare...” it was the same nightmare he had ever since 522's death a month ago. He saw it replaying in his mind...

He was inside the medical bay, but there were barely any lights on. A beam of light appeared from the darkness, showing 522 as she laid there on her bed with half of her rear right leg gone. She stirred awake and looked at him.

“Daddy... I can't feel my leg.” He walked slowly over to the filly, the syringe already in his grasp. The empty bottle of sedative rolled across the floor and out of sight. He went through the motions as he lied to her face before injecting her with the sedative.

“I’ll... miss you… daddy.” He wept as she passed away, apologizing over and over to the dead filly.

Then it became worse as the scenery changed to that of the observation room where he monitored the IF units' training from. Each unit was alone as they conducted their training like always. However something was different. He was hearing screams.

He rushed to the monitors and to his horror, the Iron Feather units were being overrun by zergs. One unit missed her last shot before the zergling tore her throat out. Another tried to fend off the zerglings with her hooves but was caught off guard when two zergling latched their claws onto her legs. She let out a terrified scream before she was brutally torn in two.

Similar scenes of slaughter occurred in each chamber, each death more gruesome than the next. Stedson collapsed unable to take any more of this torture his guilty conscience was putting him through.

It wasn't done yet.

“Daddy?” Stedson looked up and found himself back in the medical bay. This time however it was filled with multiple beds where dozens of injured IF units laid. A few had missing eyes, wings, some even had bloody stumps where their limbs used to be. A couple of units were so mutilated, it was a miracle they were even breathing.

All of them had wounds too serious to ever recover from.

“Can you fix us Daddy?” they echoed to him. He noticed he had a syringe in the palm of his precision gloves. It was 522 all over again, but on a much more massive scale. The IF units kept calling for him to help fix them like he did for 522. He struggled with the decision: Let all of them be sold off and suffer life as nothing more than slaves or lab rats in Consortium space? Or spare them from the fate that 522 escaped.

He always woke up from the pressure, unable to take any more of the fillies calling out to him, pleading for him to fix them. It was just too much.

“Daddy?” Stedson looked up and saw an orange pegasus filly standing on two legs in the doorway. Most of the researchers couldn't tell one IF unit from the next, nor did they bother to learn how. Having watched over them their entire lives, he could tell them apart from the little nuances in their behavior. An impressive feat since there were so many of them.

“588? Shouldn't you be in bed with the others?” the filly dropped to four legs and walked slowly over to him. She had a worried look in her eyes. “What is it 588?” she quietly went up to Stedson and stood back up on her hind legs. Stedson sat still as 588 stretched her hoof out his face and wiped away the tears.

“I miss her too daddy.” 588 had been close with 522. They were the closest of friends and sisters. She took it the hardest when he told the IF units of 522's 'adoption'. It killed him on the inside whenever he had to lie to their faces, but it was a necessity as the truth would demoralize them.

He'd been tempted more than once to reveal the truth to 522's sisters, but he was walking on thin ice with Day and his damnable inspectors.

He wrapped his forelegs around the filly's small frame and brought her close to him. “I... I know you do 588. I miss her just as much.” The filly let out a sniff and looked up at him imploringly with her big purple eyes.

“Can we go visit her?” Stedson paused when he heard the question. He knew that he'd be asked that exact question sooner or later. He just wished it had been later instead of now.

“I'm sorry 588, but we can't...”

“Why?”

“I wish I knew 588, I wish I knew.” The disappointed filly buried her face in his chest and cried. He stroked her mane wishing he could do more to comfort her.

He wondered if this is what being an actual father might be like. Even though they weren't his biological children he certainly felt a familial connection to the IF units. They already called him 'Daddy' on a regular basis, so he could consider them his daughters.

He shook his head softly at the absurd notion. They will be daughters that he'll have to send out into the battlefield one day. No matter how well trained they are, there are bound to be casualties. Even so, the crying filly being held in his arms allowed him to forget all that. For now, he was her father and that had to be good enough.

Stedson went over the instruments as he monitored the birth pods that held the six thousand clones of the second generation of Iron Feather units, designated the 01 series. Made from the same genetic makeup of 522, the clones had been incubating for almost a year now and were ready to be 'born'. He went over to another monitor and made sure everything was ready for the second generation IF units.

Unlike with the prototype generation where he had delegated certain tasks to his staff, he had personally supervised every stage of the whole process with this batch of clones. He did this mainly because he couldn't risk another mistake by his staff. He didn't want another Bic on his hooves.

The extra duties caused him a lot of stress, but it was a labor of love for his daughters. He lovingly looked at the clones sleeping peacefully in their pods. It was a shame they'll have to wake up to this harsh reality. At least they'll have him and their sisters to care for them.

“Look at them 522.” he whispered to an orange feather in his hoof. When they were harvesting the genetic materials from 522's remains, he discreetly took a feather as a memento. A tad morbid but it keeps him going during the stressful moments of his work.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a cough from behind him. That's right, the inspectors were here for their biannual inspections.

He quickly put the feather back into his lab coat and forced a smile on his face before turning around to greet them. The inspectors may be asses, but they were the asses who reported directly to Happy Day. One word from them and who knows what Day might do to him. He mentally shuddered at the thought.

The inspectors were the same ponies from the last inspection. Three ponies of different species. Oddly enough, they all had the same color palette; white fur with black manes. Even their blue eyes matched. When he first met the inspectors, he wondered if the ponies were triplets. He had heard of couples giving birth to foals that of different species before but never all three.

He'd been tempted to sneak some samples from them for testing, but the opportunity never presented itself.

“Greetings Inspectors. Good to see you've made it on time. We were getting worried that something had happened to you.” He saw that they had cameras with them, probably so they could record the 'birth' of the 01 series for Happy Day.

One of the inspectors stepped forward, the earth pony of the three, Mr. Spend Thrift. Despite his name, he looked modest in the same black suits that his associates also wore. Besides the fact that he had a bit of an attitude to him. He didn't know much about the inspector.

“Can the formalities Cog. We're here for an inspection, not to chat about pleasantries.” Stedson's smile faltered for a brief moment. He nodded and quietly led them out of the room where the pods were kept. Several engineers were moving about as they made the final checks for the clones' 'birth.'

The pegasus inspector, Steel Gaze, flew down to one of the pods. Ignoring the annoyed looks he was getting from the engineers, he took a closer look at the clone inside. He frowned before flying back to his fellow inspectors. “I see you've decided to keep the IF units as mares. I thought you'd have rectified the mistake that intern of yours made seven years ago.” Stedson learned from their first meeting that Steel Gaze had a bit of a complex.

In Gaze's opinion, which he always shared to those willing and unwilling to listen, all infantry in the army should exclusively be stallions, while the mares serve as medics and other support roles. The pegasus often went out of his way to deride the geneticists and the fillies under his care. Stedson just flashed him a confident smile.

“I left the 'mistake' as you put it alone. It was more efficient and cost effective to just utilize something that's already there. I doubt Day would be pleased if I had to waste more of his time and money just to make a change that he and I would both agree to be completely unnecessary. The prototype series has proven to be every bit as strong as any stallion. The 01 series will show the same results.” Steel Gaze opened his mouth to make a counter argument but was interrupted by the unicorn inspector, Peace Keeper.

Peace Keeper, was the least annoying and probably the most agreeable of the trio. Still, the way the unicorn carried himself rubbed him the wrong way. Stedson never did get along with upper class ponies. His last encounter with one actually landed him here in the first place.

“Now now Inspector Gaze, we're not here for a debate. Doctor Cog, as you were.”

“Of course Inspector Keeper-”

“Peace Keeper.” corrected the unicorn.

“Right, Inspector Peace Keeper, if you and your associates would follow me.” He led the three to a raised platform where a number of technicians were checking the array of monitors for any abnormalities. They couldn't afford to make any mistakes. After what happened to Bic, no one wanted make the inspectors, and by extension, the pony they reported to unhappy.

“Once the final checks are done, this is where we will initiate the Release Protocol for the pods.” He turned to one of the technicians, “How is everything coming along?” The technician looked over his datapad to confirm something.

“Everything is coming along smoothly Doctor Cog. We'll be ready to initiate the Release Protocol once the engineers clear out for the nannies.” The inspectors raised their collective brows.

“Nannies?” one of the inspectors inquired.

“It's what the staff decided to call the new interns who will be caring for the 01 series. They will be in charge of educating the units, so they'll be ready when they start their technical training as part of the program's expansion. I'll include the details in my next report.” Satisfied with the explanation, the inspectors followed Stedson off the platform where they saw an IF unit coming out of the medical bay.

“36? Are you alright?” the filly approached him on four legs. He saw that she was heavily bruised which was to be expected from combat training, but he noticed that her was breathing was a bit irregular. Steel Gaze noticed this and focused his camera on 36.

“I'm alright daddy, I just got careless in training. The instructor caught me off guard and got me good. I'll show him who's boss next time daddy!” He let out a chuckle at the filly's enthusiasm and ruffled her mane. 36 giggled at the sensation.

“Of course you will, but can you do daddy a big favor right now?” The filly nodded her head, eager to help her daddy in any way she could. “Alright 36, I need you to go back to the medical bay and wait for me ok?”

Confused by his request, she asked him, “Why daddy? I already got my nanite injection. Besides, won't the instructors get mad if I don't go back?”

“I'll talk to them for you. Be a good girl and wait for me in the medical bay. Daddy will be there soon.” 36 nodded before trotting off back to medical bay. Stedson turned back to the inspectors who weren't amused by his display of fatherly affection.

“You realize that they're just clones right, Cog?” Spend Thrift asked, his fellow inspectors nodded in agreement.

“Happy Day wants soldiers, not coddled fillies,” said Steel Gaze disdainfully. Calling the fillies, soldiers left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Indeed. I find your... 'coddling' of the IF units a tad unsettling,” added Peace Keeper.

“I know 'what' they are inspectors, but I found that by treating the IF Units as if they were my own daughters, they actually show a marked improvement in their performance. That's all there is to it.” Though unconvinced, the inspectors didn't call him out on his bluff and moved on with the inspection.

Stedson later brought them to the walkways above the testing chambers where they saw a squad of five IF units going up against a large number of zergling rushing at them. Armed with their small caliber rifles, the IF units fired off round after round into the small horde. With each shot fired, a zergling fell to the floor, dead. The last zerglings was soon put down as it crumpled down on the ground in a heap, blood oozing from the hole in its head.

After 522's death, Stedson had altered the training program so that none of the clones will have to do the combat exercise on their own. He reasoned that the IF units needed to learn how to work in teams since they'll be sent off into battlefields in groups. Thankfully the inspectors had bought his excuse, and apparently, so did Happy Day since he hasn't received any visits from the black stallion for a while.

Hearing the sound of hoofsteps overhead on the walkways, the IF units looked up. Their faces broke out into big happy grins at the sight of Stedson. They greeted him in a chorus of “Daddy!” He waved to them in acknowledgment. Some of them waved back at him. If it weren't for the gore splattered all over them, one would think that they were totally innocent fillies trying to get their father's attention.

One unit tried harder and actually flew up to the walkway with her small wings, a testament to their training. Day wanted the units to be capable soldiers in and out of power armor. The results so far have been very promising.

“Daddy! Did you see us take down those zergies?!” She was cut off by 101, who had flown up next to her sister.

“They're called 'zerglings' 77!” the filly's ears flattened against her head, her face pink with embarrassment.

“Oh yeah... Hehe. I knew that.”

“No you didn't!”

“Yes I did!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Ya huh!”

"Nuh uh!"

Stedson quickly stepped in before the fight got out of hoof. There were downsides to their genetically enhanced aggression. The last time the IF units argued like this, it ended up in a fight where both units were sent to medical with broken bones. Thankfully it was nothing an injection of nanites couldn't cure.

Still he needed to find a more efficient way to prevent the IF units from attacking each other. The conditioning they go through prevents them from attacking each other, but occasionally their aggression will override their conditioning. He'll need to adjust the conditioning a bit more to remedy that.

“Now now girls. You know better than to fight like this. Behave yourselves, we have 'guests'.” 77 and 101 quickly apologized to each other before flying back to the others. They knew they were to behave like good little soldiers when these 'guests' were around.

Stedson turned back to the inspectors who had been observing and recording his interaction with the IF units. They didn't like what they saw, but they remained silent on the matter. They all made a mental note to add this to their report when they got back.

The rest of the inspection was carried out with no further incidents and they were soon back at the platform. There were evidently fewer technicians now, the only ones left were there to operate the consoles for the Release Protocol. The same technician from earlier approached them.

“Ah Doctor Cog, we've been waiting for you. Everything is ready for the Release Protocol. All we need now are the authorization codes from you.” Stedson was presented with a pair of precision gloves and headset. With the gloves equipped, he smoothed back his brown mane and put on the headset. He then went to one of the larger consoles and started typing in the codes.

The pod floor suddenly went dark, the power being redirected to the pods. Thousands of pods hummed with life as the dim glow from the machinery pulsed with power. Stedson's eyes darted back and forth from monitor to monitor, making sure everything is as it should be. Once satisfied that everything was in order, he typed in the next sequence of the code.

The inspectors were unpleasantly surprised when they felt floor underneath them pull away. Stedson smiled to himself when he saw the inspectors jump away from the hole and fall flat on their collective rear ends. A terminal rose out of the hole and locked itself in place. It was a specialized terminal that had access to the more restricted functions of the facility, including the Release Protocol.

The inspectors watched on curiously as Stedson went over to the terminal and typed something in. A hidden panel on the terminal opened up, revealing a full body scanner and voice recognition device. An electronic female voice came from the terminal.

“Please remain still for scanning.” Stedson did so as a wave of light passed over his body. “Scan complete. Please input vocal password.” He cleared his throat and spoke into the device.

“Family.” With a beep, the device slid back into the terminal.

“Identity confirmed. Greetings Doctor Cog. It's been seven years, six months and-”

“I don't want a calendar count computer.” The terminal remained silent for a moment.

“My apologies Doctor Cog. How may I serve you today?”

“Initiate the Release Protocol.” A beep went off and the headset he wore beeped in response.

“Please input passphrase.” Stedson turned around and walked towards the edge of the platform. He looked down at all the pods below him. The last time he did this, he saw the clones as any scientist would. As mere test subjects. Now he saw them as his children. Children who were about to be born.

“Happy Birthday!” he shouted into the headset. A few of the technicians jumped at this,even the trio of inspectors were left dumbfounded by his outburst. They didn't expect the normally reserved geneticist to be so vocal.

“Passphrase confirmed. Initiating Release Protocol.” The pod floor suddenly came to life as the lights from the pods brightened to the point one could see the area clear as day. Pumps started draining the pods of the fluids the clones have lived in during their incubation.

Stedson's ears perked up when he heard the pods hissing open, followed by the bawling cries of thousands of foals being 'born'. It was almost deafening as the inspectors, who didn't have any ear protection, were forced to cover their ears.

“Alright nannies, you're cleared to collect the clones.” said one of the technicians over the intercom. With a few grumbles at their 'title', the interns moved in to carry out their assigned duty. Thankfully there were no complications as the nannies collected the clones onto a number of hovering vehicles fitted with dozens of cots for the foals.

Stedson watched the nannies take the foals away to another part of the facility. There they would be put through a medical exam to look for any defects or deformities in their bodies. As the geneticist who worked on their DNA, he was confident that there was nothing wrong with this batch of clones. However as their father, he couldn't help but feel worried for his daughters.

“Excellent work Doctor Cog.” Peace Keeper spoke up when he recovered from the ringing in his ears.

“Yeah, you delivered the goods Cog. Just make sure you work out the kinks with this batch.” Spend Thrift added.

“Indeed. Remember doctor, we want soldiers, not coddled fillies. So no more of this 'daddy' business. Is that understood?”

Stedson slowly nodded.

“Very good doctor. This concludes our inspection so we'll be on our way.” With that said, the trio of ponies left the platform and were led by a guard to the docking bay. The technicians also left to return to their duties elsewhere, leaving Stedson alone on the platform.

He tossed aside the headset and carefully took 522's feather from his lab coat. He twirled the feather wistfully between the fingers of his mechanical hand. He let out a soft sigh and gazed sadly at the crying foals below. “Happy birthday... my little angels.”

It's the Stopping that is Hard...

In a private office next to the medical bay, Stedson was arguing with Candy Striper, the facility's only fully trained medical officer. She sat back into her chair and sighed at her superior. They have been going at it for a good hour now, and it was getting old.

“As I've told you before, no matter how many times you tell me to run the tests, the result will remain unchanged. This unit is not-” the pink unicorn was cut off when Stedson slammed his hooves onto her table, causing the folder on it to flip open.

Inside the folder was a photo of one of the first generation IF units. The number 36 was written in place of a name, followed by her medical record, which was quite extensive as it listed several health issues with her heart. At the bottom of the document, the words 'Unfit for Duty' were stamped on it in big red letters.

“There has to be something you can do!” shouted Stedson.

The unicorn mare brushed aside a lock of her pink and white mane. “I would if I could, but we lack the proper equipment here for the treatment she needs. Equipment that I might add is only available to private hospitals in the core worlds.”

“Then...Then I'll get them for you!” said Stedson.

The mare rubbed the base of her horn in annoyance. “Then what? Tell Day that you ordered millions of bits worth of medical equipment just to help one IF unit?”

Realizing how foolish he just sounded, Stedson lowered his head and sat back down. “I know that... but she’s still just a child. I can't just stand there and do nothing.”

Again the mare sighed and took off her glasses. Her tired grey eyes looked at the downcast pegasus before her. She knew that he had an emotional connection with the clones, she found it a little disturbing at first but got used to it over time.

She even had a 'favorite' of sorts among the clones. The filly often came over to the medical bay to learn some medical skills beyond the basics taught by the instructors. Seeing that the filly had an aptitude for medicine, Candy decided to teach her whenever she was able.

Candy went over to Stedson and placed her hoof on his shoulders, “Look sir-Stedson, I'll do what I can but I make no promises. I still have to send in the reports... though I guess 36's file can get lost on the way.” The pegasus looked up at her, a fearful look on his face.

“But what if Day, or the inspectors finds out? I can't let you do this. I don't want you to end up like Bic!” warned Stedson.

She rolled her eyes at him. “So what, they’ll have me executed? We’re already stuck in this damn prison! Death is probably our only way out of here…” she trailed off for a few seconds before letting out a depressed sigh. “I thought I'd be working at a clinic on some backwater world when I signed up for this 'temporary assignment' and be back home in a couple of years. But here I am seven years later, doling out painkillers and nanite shots to fillies in the middle of who knows where!”

Stedson looked away guiltily, he knew that a significant number of his staff were those who were 'acquired' as Day had put it. A lot of them refused to tell him how they got here, probably out of resentment for his involvement in their being here. In the end, they were all prisoners.

Stedson lowered his head and mumbled out, “Sorry...” Candy blinked and looked at him.

“What are you sorry about?” she asked.

“You know why… I'm the reason that you and the others are even here in the first place. If it weren't for me, you'd probably be-” he stopped when the unicorn pressed her hoof into his muzzle.

“I'll have none of that. I have enough depressed ponies coming in thinking I'm their psychiatrist. I didn't even take that course back in college. Besides, I was kind of moody back there because I'm in heat,” she informed.

He asked disbelievingly, “Seriously?” the mare nodded with some hesitation; this drew a chuckle from Stedson.

“Har har, laugh it up. I almost jumped you when you came into my office you know,” she finished flatly before turning back to her desk to sort out 36's files. “You should go spend some time with your girls. I'm sure they'd like that.”

“Yeah, I guess I should.” He got up and his way to the door.

“Candy?” the mare turned around to face him.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Thank you,” answered Stedson. She smiled at him before turning back to her work.

When the door closed, he let out a sad sigh. “Prison huh? Or maybe… it's an asylum.” he chuckled sadly at the thought before walking off down the halls.

Inside one of the larger training halls, the prototype series IF units were being trained in combat by over two dozen combat instructors who oversaw their training in various forms of combat, including hoof-to-hoof combat. Hundreds of clones practiced their punches and kicks on training dummies and sandbags as their instructors called them out on any flaws in their stances.

In the beginning, the instructors had their misgivings about training foals to fight, but put it aside when they reminded themselves it was for the good of the Dominion. Happy Day told them so.

An instructor passed by a row of clones as they practiced their strikes on the training dummies. For some reason, the doctor insisted that none of the clones spar against each other, so they made do with the dummies. Of course, they still have the occasional sparring match with the clones going against one of the instructors. The matches were carried out to gauge the unit’s performance level.

He nodded in approval at their performance, this trend continued until he reached a particular unit. He frowned when he saw the unit wasn’t performing as well as the others, she was already out of breath before the two hour mark. ‘Great, I got a weakling.’ He was about to yell at the unit when he heard the door to the training hall open up.

The instructor’s frown deepened when he saw the doctor entering the training hall. He never came down here from his observation room without a good reason.

Although the doctor was the head of project, he found the pegasus’ fatherly affection for the clones disturbing. Still, his presence alone affected the units’ performance in a positive way as several of them immediately showed a marked improvement in their training, even the one he was about to chew out suddenly started catching up with the others, albeit with some difficulty.

He turned around and saw the doctor wandering around the training hall, he appeared to be looking for something or someone. The doctor’s ears suddenly perk up; the instructor figured he found what he was look but frowned when he noticed he was coming towards him.

“Doctor Cog, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit to the training hall today?” Stedson ignored the sarcastic tone in the instructor’s voice.

“I’m here to borrow unit 36 for a matter.” The instructor frowned; the doctor would sometimes take one of the units away from training for reasons the doctor never revealed.

The unit would sometimes return with splotches of blood in their fur. Personally he didn’t care what they do when they go with the doctor. What he did care about was that by doing this, the doctor interfered with the unit’s training.

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that sir. Not even for you,” informed the instructor.

“I assure you Instructor Whiplash, I only need her for a short while. I’ll make sure she returns in time for her training,” assured Stedson.

The instructor grumbled to himself as he knew the doctor wouldn’t leave until he got what he came for. “Fine, just get it out of here before I change my mind.” Stedson started glaring at him for some reason. “Something wrong, sir?”

“I’d appreciate it if you don’t refer to her as an ‘it’. They may be clones but they’re still ponies.”

Whiplash snorted derisively and spread his wings to fly away. He didn’t want to waste time arguing with the doctor about ethics, he had soldiers to whip into shape.

36 walked on her hind legs as she followed Stedson through one of the many hallways of the facility. Feeling curious, she asked, “Daddy, are we going to get Mr. Diggy?” Mr. Diggy was her current pet, she only had him for a few weeks now and wondered if she had to say goodbye soon.

“No 36, I’m taking you to see Doctor Striper.” The filly smiled, glad that she got to keep Mr Diggy a bit longer but became confused by then mention of the unicorn doctor.

“Why are you taking me to mommy?”

“She has some medicine for…wait, did you just call Doctor Striper ‘mommy’?” the filly nodded her head. “Why did you call her that?”

“Both mommy and daddy have Doctor in your names and 101 told me that two ponies who have the same names are married.” Stedson laughed softly at her naïveté, he almost forgot that they were still little children. He wondered how long their innocence, no matter how tainted it was, will last before it was gone.

“What’s so funny daddy?” 36 asked innocently.

“It’s nothing 36. Just don’t call Doctor Striper ‘mommy’ when you see her ok?” requested Stedson.

“Okay daddy, I won’t call her mommy.” Satisfied that he prevented an awkward situation from occurring, they continued on their way to the medical bay.

Candy was sitting at her station in the medical bay, busy reading a first aid training manual while she waited for Stedson to arrive; she wanted to brush up on her basic. Her student was a very curious filly as she often asked questions that made the mare second-guess her own knowledge of medicine.

She noted that the unit had an odd fascination with the study of anatomy as many of her questions on first aid were often related in some form to anatomy. Her train of thought was suddenly derailed when the door whirred open.

“Ah Doctor Cog, I see you brought 36… you are 36 aren’t you?” The filly nodded to the question. “Good, please take a seat while I prepare your medicine.” 36 cocked her head to the side at the mention of medicine.

“Medicine? But I’m not hurt, I don’t need a nanite shot.” Stedson struggled to think of a way to explain to 36 about her heart condition without confusing her. Fortunately for him, Candy was more experienced with this kind of situation, she lifted up the filly with her magic and placed her on one of the beds. She smiled gently at her patient.

“Tell me 36, how are you doing in your training.” The filly shook her head, unwilling to answer the mare before her. “It’s alright, you can tell me.” 36 looked at Stedson who nodded to her encouragingly.

“I… I can’t keep up with the others, the instructors yell at me a lot for being so slow. They called me a weakling…” tears started welling in her eyes as she turned to Stedson and said, “I’m sorry daddy, please don’t be mad at me.” Stedson went to her side and wrapped her into a gentle squeeze of a hug.

“Oh 36, why would I be mad at you?” asked Stedson assuredly.

The filly sniffed and mumbled into his chest. “Because you want us to be strong and I’m not strong…I’m weak.” Stedson looked into her watery eyes.

“You’re not weak 36… you’re strong. You have no idea just how strong you really are.” Stedson mentally cursed Happy Day. If he hadn’t damaged her pod all those years ago, 36 wouldn’t be suffering like this.

“Doc-Your father is right...” Candy added, “You’re just sick and need some medicine to make you better.”

The filly looked at the doctor with a spark of hope in her eyes. “Really?!” asked 36 excitedly.

“Really. Now just be a good girl and hold still so I can give you your medicine.” Candy levitated out a syringe. Stedson quietly slipped away from, he couldn’t stand the sight of the syringe since it reminded him of what he did to 522 so long ago.

Since she had received her fair share of shots, 36 didn’t feel anything as the needle pierced into the skin on the base of her neck. She noticed how different it felt, not like the tingly sensation she gets from the nanites. It felt… soothing.

“There, all done. Now, you won’t get tired so quickly during training. Right now however, you need to rest.” 36 shook her head vigorously.

“Nuh uh! I need to get back to…” the filly let out a sleepy yawn, “… training before the instructors get… mad again,” she said between yawns as she tried getting to her hooves, only to be pulled back into bed by Candy’s telekinesis.

“Now be a good girl and rest in bed. The medicine will work better if you do.” The filly nodded as her eyelids became heavier by the second. Candy levitated a blanket over her and tucked her into bed. “There you go, nice and cozy.”

36 let out another yawn before drifting off to sleep. “Thanks… Mama.” Candy quirked her eyebrows at the filly but before she could question her, the filly had fallen asleep. She decided not to disturb her and even if she did, the sedatives mixed in with the medical cocktail would keep her asleep for at least an hour.

“How is she doing Doctor Striper?” asked Stedson.

She jumped at Stedson’s voice, she almost forgot that he was still in the medical bay. She recomposed herself and glared at him. “Err… sorry about that.” She closed the blinds around the bed and turned to him.

“Apology accepted Doctor Cog. As for 36, she’s asleep right now. The injection I gave her will deal with some the more serious problems with her heart but she’ll need to come in every now and again for her shots until I can figure out a more permanent solution,” explained Striper.

He let out a relieved sigh, “Thank you so much for this, I don’t know if could ever repay you for your help. I-” he found himself silenced when Candy pressed her hoof into his muzzle.

“Don’t thank me just yet. We could get into big trouble if we’re caught by the guards. They still have their eyes on you.” Stedson gulped nervously. The resocialized guards here weren’t as robotic as the ones Day had as his bodyguards, but they were just as liable to report his activities if he made any mistakes.

He was fortunate that none of the guards had discovered his secrets up to now, but the thought of them always watching his every move made him paranoid; to the point where he would look over his shoulders every time he went to see his daughters or take them for their conditioning. He had to take a path to the medical bay through the less patrolled hallways just to avoid the guards.

Candy went behind the blinds to check up on 36 while she left him to his thoughts.

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t notice the door whir open as Instructor Whiplash came into the room. He had a displeased look in his eyes as he looked around the medical bay. When the doctor failed to return with the clone in tow, he decided to look for the doctor and give him a piece of his mind!

He saw Stedson standing near one of the beds in a darkened corner “Doctor Cog! Where the hell is my trainee!” shouted the instructor.

Stedson turned around in surprise at the instructor’s sudden appearance, “Aaahh! Oh, it’s just you. What are you doing here instructor?” he asked pleasantly but this only made Whiplash more annoyed. He snorted and stomped angrily towards him.

“I’ve been looking all over for you! Now where the in the hell is that clone!” Stedson shrank back at the angry instructor.

“36? I…I sent her back just a moment ago. You must’ve missed her on your way over here.”

“The hell you did! You’re hiding it here aren’t you?” Stedson resisted the urge to punch the stallion right there and then. He knew he’d lose in a fight against a trained fighter like Whiplash so he gritted his teeth and put on a fake smile.

“I assure you… I am not hiding ‘her’ anywhere. She’s probably halfway back to the training hall by now.” Whiplash didn’t believe him one bit, he decided to just muscle his way through.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I looked around now, would you?” Whiplash moved towards the covered bed behind Stedson

“There’s nothing to look for instructor,” assured Stedson. “Now if you will please-”

“Out of my way!” he shoved Stedson aside and grabbed the closed blinds.

“No wait!” shouted Stedson.

Whiplash sneered at him before he pulled away the blinds. The two stallions were left dumbstruck at the sight of Candy Striper in the bed, trying to cover herself with the bedsheets. Her clothes lay discarded on the floor, indicating that she was wearing nothing underneath the sheets.

“Do you mind?” she deadpanned.

“Uh… what?” Whiplash replied dumbly, his eyes wandering over her covered body. Candy rolled her eyes at his perverted gaze.

“Mind giving us some privacy?!” she continued.

“Us?” The dusty gears in his mind started turning before it finally clicked. He looked at Stedson, then back at Candy.

“So you two have been… seeing each other?” Stedson became slack jawed at those words.

“Yes. And it was supposed to our little secret. Until you found us out. Stedson honey, I thought you said no one saw you come in here.” She winked at him, he had no idea she was getting at but decided to play along and hoped for the best.

“Er… Guess I didn’t check hard enough…sorry about that Candy...dear,” said Stedson doing his best to put on a performance.

“So… every time you took a unit, you used it as an excuse to see her?” Stedson scrunched his face in anger at the instructor, but Candy shook her head at him. He sighed and quickly came up with a story.

“Yes. At first, I brought the units here for medical checkups to ensure that there were no problems with their health and since we saw each other so often. One thing led to another and we ended up seeing each other.” He silently hoped that the stallion would buy his story.

“I see. My apologies for my behavior Doctor Cog…” He turned to Candy and nodded to her, “Doctor Striper…” Candy cleared her throat when his eyes lingered on her longer than she was comfortable with. “... right then, I guess I’ll be on my way.”

When the door to the medical bay closed with a hiss, the two let out a collective sigh of relief. He turned around and saw Candy already buttoning up the top of her shirt with her magic. Being a stallion himself, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed that she got her clothes back on so quickly.

“Thanks. I don’t know what I’d have done if he discovered 36 here. Where did you put her anyway?” asked Stedson.

Her horn lit up in her grey magic aura as she levitated the still sleeping filly up from the other side of the bed. Stedson watched as she was levitated back into bed.

“You owe me for that Stedson. Big time!” said Candy.

“Indeed I do. Name it and I’ll see to it that it’s done,” said Stedson.

Candy rubbed her chin in thought; she smiled as she thought of something.

“Great, you can start by telling me why 36 called me ‘Mama’.” Stedson quirked his brow in confusion before remembering the conversation he had with 36 earlier.

Stedson tried playing dumb. “She did?”

She nodded, her hooves tapping in impatience. “I’m still waiting for your explanation Stedson…”

“Er… because I told her not to call you mommy?” he let out a nervous chuckle as Candy became more confused than before. He sat down by 36’s bedside and recounted his conversation with 36.

At the end of his explanation, Candy was left mildly amused. “Even if they’re genetically engineered killing machines, fillies will be fillies huh?” Stedson nodded to Candy while running his hoof through 36’s mane. She looked so frail and innocent as she snored softly in her sleep.

“Indeed, though I think I’ll need to speak to them about calling you their mother.”

“Let them have their fun, they’ll probably make your story more believable to the staff anyway.” Candy couldn’t help but giggle a bit when she saw Stedson trying miserably to hide his blush. “Besides, it’d be kind of nice being called ‘mommy’ by a bunch of cute fillies.”

A lightbulb lit up in his head, “Of course! We could use that as a cover story.” Candy stepped away from the suddenly excitable pegasus.

“What cover story?”

“That we’re lovers!”

The unicorn doctor gave him a deadpanned look and told him her thoughts of his convoluted idea in one word

“No.”

'Another year, another inspection...' Stedson thought while leading the three inspectors through the facility, which had expanded since the birth of the second generation units.

In reality it wasn't really an expansion but more rather a reclamation. With the little spare time he didn’t spend with his daughters, he had carried out an investigation of his own. It took him a while, but he found out that the facility was actually a Terran installation, which the Equestrian Royal Navy had discovered near the end of the Guild Wars.

The few data logs he managed to recover showed him what the scouts saw upon entry into the installation. The scouts had discovered the remains of hundreds of terrans in torn up power armor and the bullet riddled husks of thousands of dead zergs littering the interior, indicating that there had been a battle here a long time ago. A battle that nobody won.

At the end of the Guild Wars, the Royal Navy cleared away the remains and repurposed the facility for their own use as a research station. What kind of research they conducted here was unknown to him since the data was too corrupted to be of any use. What he did find out however was that the station had been put on lockdown and abandoned when the Khalai Rebellion began. The station was subsequently forgotten in the aftermath of the conflict.

Somehow Happy Day had rediscovered the forgotten station and converted it into what it was now. Though due to the actual size of the facility, the reclamation teams are still working on lifting the lockdown on the rest of the facility to this day.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find out the coordinates of the facility as he had originally intended.

“Doctor Cog?” said one of the inspectors. Snapped out of his thoughts, Stedson turned around to face Peace Keeper.

“Yes inspector?”

“I've been asking you a question for the past five minutes and you've ignored me,” said the unicorn in annoyance.

“My apologies inspector. What was your question again?” asked Stedson.

“As I have said: I noticed that you've placed some of the first generation units in the technical training meant exclusively for the second generation units. Care to explain why?” asked Peace Keeper.

“Ah, of course. It will be some time until the 01 series units are ready to go through the technical training. So I thought it'd be prudent to have some of the first generation units test the water so to speak, and work out any problems in the training program before then.” That was part of the reason, but really he did this mainly because of 36.

Even with her treatment, he didn't want 36 to overexert herself. He assigned her, along with about a few dozen of her sisters, to technical training so that no one would get suspicious. The only other pony who knew of this was Candy. Despite the awkwardness between them, she swore to keep quiet on the matter.

“I see. How very sensible of you Doctor Cog. Now then, shall we move on?” requested the unicorn.

Stedson nodded as he led them into the part of the facility where they trained the IF units how to pilot fighter crafts.

At the moment, there was a battle simulation going on as the IF units sat inside their VR modules. There was a large screen that showed an overhead view of the simulated battlefield, it was a dogfight in space between the IF units and the computer AI.

The IF units were in control of a number of Griffon starfighters. The fighter itself was small and fast, but due to its size the reactor couldn't support energy weapons, so it was only armed with a pair of missile launchers located next to the cockpit. They were facing against a small squadron of Wraiths controlled by the AI.

The Wraith was a starfighter that had two wings on the sides and a third 'wing' underneath making the fighter resemble a giant 'T' from the front. Despite its odd appearance, it was heavily armed with both missiles and burst lasers, which meant that in terms of firepower, the Wraith was superior to the Griffon.

The IF unit's objective in the simulation was to escort a cargo ship across an asteroid field, and ensure its survival until it reached its destination at the other end of the battlefield.

The ship in question was now under fire as the AI-controlled Wraiths harassed the escorts with constant hit and run attacks. Every time the Griffons tried locking onto the enemy fighters, they always vanished from sight with their cloaking fields.

“Come on you maggots! I’ve taught you better than this!” barked out their instructor. The instructor's 'encouragement' did little to improve their performance as the AI suddenly shot down one of the Griffons. One of the modules opened up with a soft hiss as the IF unit inside cried out in frustration.

“Oh come on!” shouted the filly.

“We got a washout! Send her back to the grinder!” ordered the instructor.

“Damn it! I was so close to getting one!” she grumbled as she was led out of the room.

“What was that about Cog?” asked Spend Thrift.

“Oh, that unit just failed her advancement test in the course. She'll be sent back to infantry training with the others. She needs to wait a month before she can be assigned to another course.”

“Doctor Cog, wouldn't that mean that the units in technical training are falling behind on their infantry training? Day will not be pleased to hear of this,” warned Peace Keeper.

“Not to worry Inspector Peace Keeper. They still carry out their infantry training along with their technical training. The instructors and I worked out a training rotation that will be streamlined for the 01 series when they start their technical training.” Stedson was telling them half truths and whole lies.

Though 36 wasn't fully exempted from infantry training, he was able to rotate her out during the more intense training exercises. It was a good thing that the staff still couldn't tell her apart from her sisters. Not even the instructors who trained them everyday could differentiate one clone from the other.

“What of the units that do pass their tests?” asked the unicorn.

“Should they pass their test, they'll move on to the next level of training and take a test of higher difficulty at the end. They will repeat this process until the 01 units are ready to start their own training. I plan to have the more successful candidates from the prototype generation train alongside the second generation,” explained Stedson. “This way Happy Day-”

“He's Upper Rear Admiral Day to you and don't you forget it doctor,” corrected Steel Gaze.

Stedson grinded his teeth as he forced himself to smile at the obnoxious pegasus. “My apologies Inspector Gaze, as I was saying, Upper Rear Admiral Day will have a good preview of what to expect from the second generation as well as more versatile soldiers from the first generation to boot.” Their conversation was interrupted by the loud roar of an explosion on the screen. Another Griffon had just been destroyed as its pilot was escorted out of the room by the guards.

“Hmph. Hardly impressive if they're taken out so easily by a computer,” said Steel Gaze, his voice filled with contempt. “And judging by their remarks, they treat this more like a game than actual training. I thought I said no more coddling the clones.”

“There are some units that still have behavioral issues. I assure you that the rest of them take this test quite seriously. Let's see how the simulation is going shall we?” They all turned their attention to the screen above.

The Griffons, which used to outnumber the Wraiths were now on the run as two more of the modules opened up after their virtual starfighters were shot down. The fillies had looks of disappointment on their faces; they became even more ashamed when they saw that Stedson had just seen them choke so badly on their test.

“We're sorry we failed our test daddy.” Stedson knelt down to their height, lifted their heads up and looked them in their eyes.

“Don't be sorry. Just do your best to prepare yourselves for when the time comes. Alright?” the fillies slowly nodded their heads. “Good. Now go back to your training and make me proud.”

“Yes daddy!” the two fillies quickly left the room. Stedson then turned his attention back to the screen. He was thankful the inspectors had been busy watching the simulation to notice his interaction with the fillies.

One of the Griffons was being pursued relentlessly by two Wraiths, the small fighter barely dodged the constant barrage of laser fire from its pursuers. It was only a matter of time until it was shot down so its pilot decided to go for broke and hope for the best.

The Griffon suddenly performed a 180-degree spin and fired off a salvo of missiles at the pursuing fighters. Unable to respond to such an unexpected move, the AI couldn't adapt in time as it lost both of its fighters to the salvo.

The tides quickly turned as the other IF units formed around the 'ace' Griffon as it lead an attack run on the Wraiths, which were retreating from the sudden barrage of missiles. The Wraiths returned fire with a barrage of their own, taking out another Griffon when its pilot failed to dodge in time.

With the explosion creating a temporary smokescreen, the Wraiths cloaked themselves and slipped away. The AI however was caught off guard when the ace Griffon from before fired off it’s missiles into the asteroids. The dust cloud created from the debris revealed the cloaked form of a Wraith hiding nearby. Unable to comprehend that it had been discovered, the AI kept the Wraith where it was. The stationary starfighter was quickly destroyed by another salvo.

Despite the successful kill, the screen flashed red as the words 'Mission Failed' appeared on the screen. The view focused on the cargo ship, which had been left unguarded only to be destroyed by a barrage of missiles from the Wraiths that had slipped passed the Griffons.

“That's it! All of you earned a ticket back to the grinder!” the IF units let out a collective groan at the failure before they climbed out of the modules and made their way out of the room. One unit in particular stopped when the instructor stood in the doorway, blocking her way out.

Thinking that she was going to get a beating as punishment, she jumped back and landed on her hind legs, in a combat ready stance.

The instructor raised his brow and chuckled at her tenacity. “Simmer down half-pint. I'm not looking for a fight. I'm here to tell you that you've made the cut. Congratulations pilot.”

The unit became confused by his words. “But why? I failed the test.” The instructor gave her a smug smile.

“Yeah, you sure did blow it...” the filly frowned at the remark, “... but you were also the only one that actually took out those fighters. You've got potential half-pint.”

“Really?” she suddenly felt a tingling sensation going over her entire body, followed by a muffled flash from under her training suit. The instructor saw this and chuckled.

“Don't take my word for it; I think something else might convince you.” Being a foal with no sense of shame; she unzipped her pants and pulled it halfway down. The instructor shook his head in disbelief at the filly and walked away. He needed to adjust the combat AI before the next test.

Stedson became mortified at his daughter's lack of common decency, but was wonderfully surprised at the sight of a cutie mark on her flank. It was a pilot's helmet with an unclasped oxygen mask hanging onto it.

“Look daddy! I got my cutie mark!” Stedson picked her up in his forelegs and spun her around. He didn't care how the inspectors were reacting to his 'coddling'. Right now, all he cared about was that his daughter got her cutie mark… and to teach her not to undress in public

“Yes you did 36! You've made me so proud!” he laughed, pulling her into a hug. He was happy and yet sad at how his daughter is growing up so fast. He knew that 36 and her sisters may never return once they leave for the battlefields. His hold on 36 grew tighter, wishing that he could stay in this moment of happiness forever.

Nearing the Edge

It was the middle of the night cycle and Stedson was going over some of the expense reports from the last few months. He was altering some of the numbers in the reports to cover the cost of upkeep for his daughter's pets so that Day and his inspectors wouldn't find out about the conditioning.

Although he had gotten better at forging numbers, the task had become increasingly difficult.

Despite their near constant 'disposal', the animals still cost an arm and leg to feed. He had to find a solution to their rather rapid rate of reproduction before it became a problem.

One of the guards had become suspicious when he spotted an Iron Feather playing with her pet kitten in the barracks. He managed to convince the guard that she was helping him handle one of his ‘lab animals’ for an experiment.

Normally, he'd do the ‘accounting’ during the day cycle, but right now he wanted to keep his mind occupied so he could forget the nightmare he just had. It was just a lousy coincidence that the reports happened to be related to the nightmare which replayed itself in his mind.

Stedson was inside the room where the IF units went through their conditioning. The familiar surgical tools were laid out on the table next to a pair of precision gloves. He looked around and saw the room was lined with dozens of Iron Feathers. One of them stepped away from the others and walked towards the table. He couldn't identify this unit no matter how hard he tried.

The Iron Feather put on the gloves with practiced ease and took a scalpel from the table. Stedson turned towards the adjacent table where he saw a puppy sitting on it, wagging its tail happily at its owner, unable to comprehend what its master was going to do to it.

“Daddy ?”asked the young filly.

He turned to the filly next to him. “What is it little one?” his voice sounded older, gravely, but most of all he sounded tired.

“Do I have to do this again? I like Winnie a lot,” said the filly in a pleading tone.

He let out a sigh and repeated the words he'd probably uttered a million times over by now. “Little one, have you ever loved something so much, that you care more about it more than even your own life?” he asked, expecting the same response from those before her.

“I love you and mommy...and my sisters too.” surprised by the filly's answer, he smiled and ruffled her mane affectionately, the filly giggled at the sensation.

“That's not what I meant little one,” said Stedson. “The reason you must do this is because it’s the hardest thing to do. Many believe that watching a loved one die is hard, but it’s harder, much, much harder to watch them die by your own hoof. I make you and your sisters do this because I need you all to be able to kill without any hesitation or remorse. That's why you'll have to do this little one.”

“Do I have to hear that song again?”the filly asked, this time with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Stedson chuckled softly and nodded. “Yes you do my child. Know that I do this because this is what is going to keep you and your sisters alive when the time comes.” He returned to the control panel and readied the equipment. “Are you ready little one?”

“Yes daddy, I'm ready.” The filly replied and walked up to the puppy, it barked a cheerful greeting to its master.

He flipped the switch, and the room was filled with familiar upbeat music as the filly was caught in a trance.

Do you believe in magic?

In a young girl's heart

How the music can free her

whenever it starts

“You know what to do little one.”

The filly immediately plunged the scalpel into the puppy's paw, but instead of hearing a yelp of pain from the dog, it was the cry of a frightened filly. His eyes widened when the puppy was suddenly replaced by a much younger Iron Feather unit. It took moments for him to recognize 522.

He tried to run and save her but found he couldn't control his body, he was frozen in place.

All he could do was watch as 522 was held down by her sister, who repeatedly cut her victim with the small blade. 522’s screams didn’t affect the Iron Feather one bit as the smiling filly continued cutting away at the frightened filly’s body.

Then, she stopped. She tossed aside the bloody scalpel and stood back to admire her work. Stedson was relieved, thinking that the torture was over. That was until he saw the smiling filly reaching for a bottle of igniting fluid and doused 522’s shaking body with the bottle’s contents.

'No! Please… stop!' Stedson cried out in his mind.

The IF unit reached for the box of matches at the side of the table and pulled out a single matchstick.

'No! Stop! Stop it! No!' he raged out for he knew what came next. He struggled to turn his head away from the sight. He couldn't.

Just go and listen

It'll start with a smile

It won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try

The cheery song became slow and distorted as the smile on the filly's face became even more menacing as she struck the match and casually threw it on her maimed sister who instantly caught on fire. He blocked out the screams as best as he could, but it was too much.

However, it wasn't over, not yet.

“Stedson! Help me!” a fearful voice cried out to him, the blood was drained from his face when he saw what happened next. 522 had been replaced by Candy Striper, she screamed out in agony as she was surrounded by the fire which had spread around the room. With his movement suddenly returned, he ran to her.

He pushed aside the smiling filly and grabbed Candy's outstretched hooves only for a pair of burnt and bloodied hooves to latch onto his. It was 522, she had the same happy smile on her bloodied face her sister had.

“Daddy...Come play with us,” she called out to him innocently. His eyes became wide when he realized what she was planning to do.

“No, don't do this! Don't-”his pleas fell on deaf ears as filly pulled him into the flames. Stedson cried out in agony as the flames surrounded him and Candy. He held her close as the fire burned them alive, the last thing he saw were the Iron Feathers, smiling at him before the fire engulfed them all.

Stedson was brought out of the flashback when he heard moaning from his bed. Candy was moving in her sleep as she wrapped her forelegs around his pillow, and cuddled with it. He smiled at her as she slept; it was almost hard to believe that they were really lovers. What started several months ago as a convenient cover story to fool the staff and guards had become a wonderful truth.

She and his daughters were truly the only good things he had left; he’d be crushed if anything ever happened to either of them. He shook his head to rid himself of the frightful thought and turned his attention to the reports.

“Stedson?” Candy called out to him in a sleepy voice. He glanced up from the monitor to greet a bleary-eyed Candy, she had been woken up by the bright light from the monitor. “Is it morning already?” she asked before letting out a yawn.

“Nope, sorry if I woke you up, I just had to go through these reports before I send them-” he suddenly felt his muzzle being clamped shut as it was covered with Candy’s grey aura.

“You. Sleep. Now.” She demanded before releasing him from her magical grip, he smiled at her grumpy expression and relented to her demand. He sorted away the reports and turned off the monitor before joining Candy back in bed.

Candy was pleasantly surprised when Stedson planted a deep kiss on her lips. "Mmm… Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for,” she cooed softly. Stedson became quiet, he didn’t dare tell her of his nightmare but Candy saw the worried look on his face and asked, “Stedson…is something wrong?”

“N-no-nothing is wrong,” he stammered out. Candy remained unconvinced by his act. He could lie to the guards and staff like a professional con artist, but to her he was an open book.

“Stedson…” she warned him, “What aren’t you telling me?” the stallion squirmed under her scrutinizing gaze, he’d almost prefer Steel Gaze’s glares. Almost.

Knowing that it was a losing battle, he sighed in defeat. “I… I had another nightmare. It was 522...” Candy’s hard stare softened at the mention of the dead filly. She knew that he still felt a lot of guilt over the filly’s death.

“Oh honey…” she said softly as she held out her hooves to him, hoping to comfort him with a hug but he shied away from her, “Stedson?” she asked worriedly.

“There’s more, you… you were in it too.” Stedson muttered. He paused as he recalled the sight of Candy being burned alive, crying out to him. “There was a fire… and… you were…” his body started shaking as the flashback came to its climax. “I couldn’t save you…you were… gone.”

His body stiffened up when he felt Candy’s hooves embrace him, pulling his head to her bare chest “Shhh… It’s alright Stedson, it was just a nightmare. I’m still here,” she whispered soothingly as she ran her hoof down his brown mane. He was calmed down by the rhythmic beating of her heart.

“Thank you…” whispered Stedson before he laid his head down on the pillow.

“What for?” asked Candy as her magic pulled the covers over them.

“For being the light in my life,” Stedson said, giving her one more kiss.

Candy rolled her eyes at him, “That’s really corny you know.”

“Sorry…” Stedson mumbled out sheepishly.

“Don’t be…” the mare whispered as she snuggled next to him. “…because that’s just the way I like you…” she drifted off to sleep before she could finish the sentence. Stedson joined her in slumber soon after.

For the first time in a long time, he was able to sleep peacefully.

Candy waved goodbye to an Iron Feather as she left the medical bay for training, “Bye Mommy!” the little filly called out before the door closed shut. Once the filly left, she started packing up the materials she was using earlier for the filly’s study.

Due to the filly’s voracious appetite for knowledge on anatomy, the unicorn had to bring out some of the more advanced books to supplement her lessons. She wondered if she needed to teach her how to perform surgeries in the future. She shook her head at the silly idea.

It was amazing how fast the filly had learned in just one year. Candy wondered if Stedson’s genetic manipulation gave the clones an increased capacity for learning, she might need to ask her lover about it when she gets the chance.

After putting the books safely back on the shelves, she returned to her seat and took out some of the medical reports to review while waiting for her next patient. She’s been receiving more patients lately after the second generation clones started their combat training.

Just like their older sisters, some of the foals from the second generation have taken to calling her ‘mommy’ as well, though Stedson had cautioned the fillies about calling them ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ in front of others.

Candy thought he was just being paranoid but said nothing of it. Everyone had secrets that they wished to keep, she just wished Stedson would tell her some of his.

Just as she finished reviewing the last of the reports, the door opened up as a number of groaning fillies filed into the room. They all had varying degree of injuries; nothing life threatening, but still serious enough to warrant a visit to her medbay.

They were all second-generation clones, and judging by their tired expressions, they all had a rough day on the endurance course. The fillies gave her tired smiles as she greeted them. “Hello my little ponies, how did you do in training today?” With that said, she was bombarded with answers from the suddenly energetic fillies.

“Alright, alright, one at a time.” She said with a laugh as she started treating the fillies. While she treated their injuries, they told her of their exploits on the obstacle course.

One unit got lost when she took a wrong turn in the maze, she dislocated one of her legs when she fell into one of the traps set inside. Candy shook her head slightly as she injected said filly with some painkillers before popping the limb back in place.

While treating the next filly, the door opened up as another Iron Feather walked in. The filly walked up to Candy and tugged at the end of her lab coat. “Just a minute, I’ll be with you soon.” said the unicorn as she cleaned and bandaged up the lacerations on her patient’s back. It was a miracle her wings weren’t shredded. She wanted to know whose idea it was to include giant swinging razor blades for an obstacle meant for young foals, just so she could make them to run the course themselves.

Candy felt the filly tug at her coat again. “Mommy. I got something to give you,” said the filly.

She turned to the filly and instantly recognized 36. She was able to tell it was 36, since she’s smaller when compared to her sisters from the prototype series. Stedson became worried when the filly didn’t develop as well as the others. Candy told him that 36 was probably a late bloomer, but her words did little to quell his fears.

“36? What are you doing here?...Wait, where’s Stedson?” Candy asked curiously. The filly rarely came to the medical bay without Stedson at her side.

“Daddy told me to give this to you.” The filly pulled out a folded up piece of paper from her suit and hoofed it over to her. She levitated the piece of paper over to her face and unfolded it, curious about its contents. She raised her brows when she saw the words: “Hide Her!” hastily written on it.

The facility wide intercom suddenly turned on as Stedson’s voice came through the speakers, “All personnel, I’ve been informed that the inspectors are coming to the facility. Please prepare for a possible inspection. I repeat: Please prepare for a possible inspection.” The intercom then turned off.

Realizing what the message meant, Candy looked down at 36 and said, “36, I think it’s time for your medicine now.” The filly obediently followed the doctor who levitated out a syringe from her coat.

Stedson sighed after he turned off the intercom. He hoped Candy would know what to do when she got his message. He got up from his seat in the observation room, then left to greet the inspectors.

As he walked along the walkways over the training grounds, he watched as some of the 01 series clones run one of the obstacle course. The course itself was a long path filled with several obstacles that reminded him of the traps from a few Daring Do novels. The path led the runners to a part of the course where a large rock formation jutted from the asteroid the facility was built into.

Some of the data logs he recently recovered on his ‘excursions’ told him that this was where the zerg had breached the terran defenses and overran the defenders. He was thankful that the only zerg left on the asteroid were locked away in containment.

The rock formation was filled with multiple tunnels dug out by the past zerg, which the fillies had to navigate to find the correct exits. The next part of the course was a simple hundred meter dash to the finish line. He smiled proudly as he watched one filly after another complete the course.

He quickly left before the fillies saw him; he needed to keep his interactions with them to a minimum right now. He grumbled to himself and wondered why the inspectors would come without any warning. They always sent a transmission at least a day prior to their inspections. At least up until now that is.

Stedson pressed his hoof into the communicator attached to his coat, the call connected with a blip. A technician on the other end responded, “What is it sir?”

“How long till the inspector’s shuttle arrives?” asked Stedson. He heard typing something on the other end before he got a reply.

“ETA 20 minutes until shuttle arrival sir. Is there-” Stedson turned off the communicator before he took off running down the halls.

Stedson was breathing heavily when he finally reached the entrance to the docking station. It was at that moment that the gates hissed open revealing the inspectors, or rather one of them, as Spend Thrift walked through the gates.

“Inspector Thrift… where are… the others?” Stedson asked in between wheezes.

Spend Thrift looked at him and cleared his throat. “They're not with me today. You don't look so good Cog.” The white earth pony said in a bemused tone of voice. Stedson shot him a glare, which the inspector ignored as he looked around the facility curiously.

“Inspector Thrift? Is something the matter?” Stedson asked curiously.

Spend Thrift shook his head. “Nothing at all Cog. What's with the third degree? I thought I was the inspector here.” The inspector retorted with some hostility. Stedson immediately backed away from the earth pony, not wanting to offend the inspector any further.

“My apologies Inspector Thrift. I'm just curious why you're here so soon and alone for that matter. Are Inspector Peace Keeper and Inspector Steel Gaze alright?” the pegasus asked in a meekly.

Spend Thrift chuckled darkly, which made Stedson nervous for some reason. “They're tied up with other matters at the moment. As for me, I'm here on unofficial business,” said Spend Thrift.

“Unofficial business?” asked Stedson. He did not like the sound of that one bit.

The inspector noticed this and chuckled. “It just means that my visit here won’t be in the records. Not even Day knows I’m here. As for what my business is…” he paused as he moved in closer to Stedson’s face and whispered, “I simply noticed a few inconsistencies in your reports and wanted to verify a few things with you, in private.”

Stedson’s eyes widened in fear. Did the inspectors find out about the conditioning somehow? Or worse, 36’s stunted growth! “Of...c-course In-Inspector Thrift. Right this way.” he stammered out before leading the inspector to his private quarters.

Stedson neared the door that led to his quarters. He’d never felt more dread walking into his own room than right now. He had offered the inspector an impromptu tour of the facility’s newer additions to delay coming here, but the stallion declined his offer. He reasoned that he’d be brought up to speed during the official inspection in four months time.

“Well, here we are,” said Stedson before unlocking the door to his room as it opened up with a beep. Spend Thrift remained silent as he followed him into the room. The pegasus had expected some rude quip about the state of his room from the normally brash stallion. He found the inspector’s sudden silence unnerving.

“You’re sure no one will disturb us in here Cog?” asked Spend Thrift.

“I value my privacy very highly Inspector Thrift…” Stedson answered before turning around to face the inspector. “Now that we’re alone, mind telling me what are the problems you found in my reports?”

The stallion let out a chuckle, “I’m afraid that I wasn’t being completely truthful with you, Doctor Cog.” The earth pony pulled at the collar of his shirt, revealing a metal band with a small button, which he pressed.

“Ah, that’s much better.” ‘Spend Thrift’ exclaimed in a voice much too light and cheery to be the earth pony inspector. He was an imposter!

Alarmed by the fake inspector, Stedson went for the button on his desk that would trigger the station wide alarm. Before he could reach it, a small throwing knife embedded itself into the circuitry, cutting off any call for help as the imposter stood between him and the door.

“Come now Doctor Cog, just relax and let’s talk,” said the imposter calmly.

Stedson ignored him and dived behind his desk, rummaging frantically through the drawers for anything to defend himself with. He found a pistol in the one of them, but he realized he didn’t have his precision gloves with him.

Feeling desperate, he clamped his mouth down on the gun’s metallic grip and aimed the weapon at the imposter who had a bored expression on his face. Stedson’s moved his tongue around until he felt the trigger. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” Stedson tried to say, but all that came out was a bunch of gibberish and spit.

‘Spend Thrift’ rolled his eyes at him. “Really now Doctor Cog? Don’t you think firing a weapon of that caliber with your mouth is a tad foolish?” cautioned ‘Spend Thrift’.

Stedson tried to fire the weapon anyway, only to find that he couldn’t. His tongue wasn’t strong enough to pull the trigger! He cursed himself as he reared his head back and threw the firearm as hard as he could at the approaching stallion.

‘Spend Thrift’ caught the weapon in his precision gloves, pulled out the clip, then tossed both it and the gun aside. The pegasus backed away as far as he could from the imposter. “Who are you? What do you want!?” Stedson shouted angrily.

‘Spend Thrift’ gave him a cool smile and answered, “I’m Mr. Penny Pincher, El Contador for the Diamond Dog Security Firm. As for what I want… I just want to talk to you Doctor Cog.”

Stedson sat there at his desk as he watched Penny Pincher effortlessly pull his knife from the disabled panic button and slide it back into sheath hidden in the folds of his business suit. Penny Pincher noticed the angry look he was getting from the pegasus and rolled his eyes.

“I assure you Doctor Cog, I’m just here to talk. No harm will come to you,” promised Penny Pincher.

“Then talk,” Stedson retorted.

Penny Pincher snorted at the pegasus’ sudden bravado. “Very well… Do you know what I hate most, Doctor Cog?” asked Penny Pincher.

Stedson shook his head and replied, “No, I don’t.”

Penny Pincher shook his head in slight disappointment, “I’ll tell you what I hate most: Wasting time and money. Do you know why?” he asked.

“Because…Time is money?” asked Stedson.

“Very good Doctor Cog!” Penny Pincher said as he congratulated him with a metallic clap of his gloves. “I knew there was some intelligence somewhere in that head of yours.” Stedson scowled at the condescending tone in his voice.

“That’s good and all Mr. Pincher… but how the hell did you find this station?” asked Stedson.

“An associate of mine from Dominion Intelligence, Miss Sparkle, asked me to investigate Happy Day and his backroom dealings. Suffice to say, we were failing miserably. Day covered up his tracks very well. We spent nearly 6 years on this money pit of an investigation.” Penny Pincher said with some disdain.

“What does this have to do with how you found the station?” Stedson asked impatiently.

“I’m getting to that…Just as we were about to wash our hooves of the investigation, Miss Sparkle came through a year ago and obtained for me an annual budget report from Day’s personal archives,” Penny Pincher said with a smile.

Stedson quirked his brows at him “That’s it? Your associate went through all that trouble just to get you a budget report?” Stedson asked.

Penny Pincher smiled as he leaned in closer to his face and said in a low voice, “Never underestimate the power of an annual budget portfolio, Doctor Cog.” Stedson gulped and nodded his head vigorously. “Anyways, it took me several months to discover the discrepancies in the portfolio. Did you know what they were Doctor Cog ?” he asked.

Stedson shook his head.

“Debts! Gambling debts and sizable ones at that. But Day wasn’t a gambling pony. No, it had to be one of his subordinates. Care to guess who it was?” Penny Pincher asked playfully

It took Stedson moments to figure out who it was, “Spend Thrift…it was Spend Thrift wasn’t it?” Stedson answered.

“Indeed it was. Mr Thrift has a problem with gambling and as you can imagine, his penchant for such activities eventually landed him into many debts. He was about to be lynched by debt collectors when Happy Day came in and paid off everything in exchange for his services and loyalty.” He chuckled while shaking his head, “However, old habits die hard as they say. We tracked Mr. Thrift down to a gambling den on a backwater world in Consortium space.” Penny Pincher explained. “We were hoping to obtain information on Day’s illegal activities from him, but were quite surprised to find out about this station of his, including the coordinates.” He said with a knowing smile.

“And how did you obtain the coordinates from the inspector? Did you…” Stedson gulped audibly.

“Did we what, kill him?” Penny Pincher asked nonchalantly. “No, killing him would alert Day to our activities. We simply bought his loyalty; apparently Dominion Intelligence doesn’t pay him well enough for his services.”

“What makes you certain he won’t just betray you to Happy Day?” Stedson asked.

The earth pony chuckled in response; it was starting to grate on Stedson’s nerves, “I highly doubt he’d do that. He’s a greedy pony Doctor Cog, and greedy ponies only acknowledge a few things in life. Power and money are chief among them, the Diamond Dogs have both. Mr Thrift would be a fool to make an enemy of the Diamond Dogs.” He added darkly.

“If you got Inspector Thrift on your payroll… Why did you come here yourself? You could’ve just sent him as your representative.” Stedson stated in a ‘matter-of-fact’ tone of voice.

“Indeed, I could have used him as a messenger boy, but he’s hardly a wordsmith…” he pressed the button on the band and spoke in Spend Thrift’s voice, “…Don’t ya think so Cog ?” he asked before turning the device off again. “Aside from Mr. Thrift’s… questionable diplomatic skills, I came here personally to make you an offer.”

“An offer? What kind of offer?” Stedson asked curiously

“To have your revenge for 522’s death,” answered Penny Pincher.

Stedson’s eyes widened in surprise and asked, “H-how did you-?”

“Find out about the unit’s death?” Penny Pincher finished, “Quite easy really. Mr. Thrift was very forthcoming with the information he had, once he received his first payment.”

Stedson sat there silently as he contemplated the possibility of getting revenge on Day. It was a very tempting offer, but his when his thoughts drifted to Candy and his daughters. He worried about the repercussions of killing Happy Day. The guards would probably retaliate and slaughter everyone in the facility… especially Candy and his daughters. He couldn’t risk it.

“Why should I even betray Day? If anything ever happens to him, it will end badly for Candy and my daughters.” Stedson exclaimed.

“At least Mr Thrift’s evaluation of your attachment to the clones proves true. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this…” Penny Pincher paused as he reached into his suit, Stedson’s heart started pumping wildly as he worried the white stallion was about to pull a gun on him. Instead, he pulled out a data pad and tossed it to him.

“W-What is this?” Stedson asked.

“My associate also grabbed this on her last trip into Day’s archives. It’s a full copy of the plans for the Iron Feather Project you’re running. I believe it will convince you to change your mind on the matter at hoof.” Penny Pincher explained

Stedson gave the stallion a suspicious look before opening up the data pad’s single folder. The words ‘Iron Feather Project’ was typed on the folder. He turned to the next page and started reading. The first few pages contained details on the project he already knew about. So he only skimmed through them briefly before moving on to the next page. This went on until he came to a file he didn't recognize. It was titled: Short Leash Protocol. He turned the page and started reading, his eyes became wide as he read the details of the project before he threw the data pad away in anger and disgust.

Penny Pincher walked over to the fallen device and saw what made Stedson so angry. The file revealed that once the Iron Feathers have completed their training, they’d go through a surgical procedure where a failsafe device would be implanted next to the unit’s heart before they are put up for sale to potential buyers. The failsafe device had a kill switch that would send a lethal shock to the heart, killing the unit should they become hostile or insubordinate.

Penny Pincher sighed as he picked up the data pad and selected a new file before turning it over to Stedson who refused to look at the data pad, let alone take it. “I know this upsets you Doctor Cog, but there’s more you need to know about the project.” The angry pegasus gave him a distrustful look before taking the datapad in his hooves.

There was a different file titled: Clean Slate Protocol. Stedson didn’t like the sound of that one bit, but Penny Pincher gestured for him to read it. Stedson did so begrudgingly.

The file explained that once the cloning process became more streamlined and autonomous, Day plans to ‘officially’ introduce the Iron Feather Program to his peers in the Dominion Military. This act will boost his chances on becoming Lord Admiral when the current one dies in a premeditated ‘accident’.

To ensure that no one will be able to implicate him in the abduction of hundreds of ponies, as well as the embezzlement of funds from Dominion Intelligence, Day will forcefully resocialize everyone aboard the station and kill those resistant to the process.

Stedson couldn’t read anymore as he became sick to his stomach. He tossed the data pad aside and threw up in the trash bin next to his desk. He felt Penny Pincher’s metallic hands rub his back gently as he emptied his stomach of its contents.

Penny Pincher watched as Stedson wiped off the mess from his muzzle and looked up at him with bloodshot eyes, “Well Doctor Cog, what’s your answer?” Penny Pincher asked expectantly.

“Tell me what you need me to do.”

Staring into the Darkness

A familiar song played in the background as 588 looked through the scopes of her rifle at Whiplash, who was flying in the air as he fired potshots at her with his gauss pistols. She stood there as the shots missed her completely. Whiplash let out an angry battle cry before going into a dive.

Whiplash’s wild shots steadily got closer and closer to its intended target but the filly remained calm as she locked on her target and fired. The shot pierced through the base of his left wing, tearing through the tender muscles and nerves, crippling him on the spot as he plummeted to the ground below.

She slowly walked towards the crippled pegasus who lifted up his remaining gauss pistol in a surprise attack but the Iron Feather had a faster reaction as she fire another shot. The precision glove gave off a series of sparks before it blew up, wounding the pegasus even further.

As the filly stood before him, Whiplash defiantly shouted out profanities and insults at her. She ignored them as she fired round after round from her weapon; not to kill, but to maim. The stallion cried out as the shots cripple his forelegs followed by one of his hind legs, another shot turned his right wing into a bloody stump. The formerly proud stallion had been reduced to a quivering mess.

588 lifted her rifle and aimed it at his head. The stallion cried for mercy before she pulled the trigger.

The pegasus fell dead before his body broke apart into a series of pixilated light that faded away. Two ponies in power armor replaced the hologram, one was in the standard Dominion Red armor while the other wore a customized blue power armor that had an insignia of a canine with its jaws clamping down on a diamond. The two aimed their weapons at each other, ordering her to fire on the other.

Stedson watched the Iron Feather aim her rifle at the Dominion Marine before firing on him, killing the marine as he too faded away. He nodded in approval at her choice.

He had been reconditioning the prototype series for the past three months so they’ll be ready to assist the mercenaries in capturing the facilities when they get here in two years time. He doubted his daughters will be caught in the fighting but it was better to be safe than sorry. Aside from that, he had another reason for the reconditioning…

Another holographic pony fell dead before it was replaced by somepony that 588 did not expect: Candy Striper.

Stedson was silent as he waited for 588’s next move.

His eyes widened in disbelief and disappointment as 588 lifted her rifle and aimed at the unicorn mare who was smiling as she waved at the filly. She fired her rifle as the shot shattered Candy’s horn.

Stedson knew it was just a hologram but the sight of Candy screaming as she held the jagged and bloody stump where her horn had been still horrified him. He blocked out as he could before another shot silenced the screaming hologram as it fell to the ground in a heap, a stream of blood flowing from the hole in her head.

Stedson looked sadly at the hologram before it faded away. 588 was the latest in a long line of Iron Feather to willingly kill the hologram, he thought her being close to Candy would at least make her hesitate to pull the trigger but he was proven wrong. Another failure.

Still, he took a small comfort in the fact that a number of Iron Feathers only wounded the holographic copy, leaving her alive. He’ll need to adjust their conditioning until they completely recognized Candy as an untouchable like he and the other Iron Feathers were.

As for those who killed the unicorn outright, the shock collars will have to be brought out again. He didn’t like it but it had to be done.

The song ended as the last hologram fell dead, terminating the simulation. 588 beamed a smile at Stedson, “Did I do good daddy?” she asked, hoping for some form of praise.

Stedson wanted to yell at her for killing the holographic image of Candy so casually but he knew he was the one at fault since he had conditioned them that way.

Instead, he smiled at her, “You performed…splendidly.” he answered half-heartedly. “Let’s end the session for the night; I think I need to rest for a bit.” He muttered before letting out a yawn.

The filly then let out a giggle, “It’s not night time anymore daddy. It’s morning now.” She said before pointing out the time on the digital clock. It was four in the morning! No wonder he felt so tired.

“So it is my child, so it is…” he said with a weary smile, “Let’s get back to bed, we might be able to squeeze in a couple of hours of sleep before everyone else wakes up.” He got up from his chair but the moment he did, he fell down on his belly, he was more tired than he thought.

“Daddy!” 588 exclaimed before rushing to his side, “Are you alright? Do you need me to get mommy?” she asked worriedly.

“No!” Stedson shouted out at the mention of the mare. He realized he had overreacted when he saw 588 cowering from him as tears welled up in her eyes, “I… I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’m just a little tired, that’s all.” Stedson apologized as he struggled to get to his hooves but failed miserably as he fell to the floor again.

588 sniffed a little before asking in a soft voice, “Do you need any help daddy?”

Stedson nodded weakly after his second attempt to get up failed miserably, “I’d appreciate it a lot 588. I don’t think I can make it to my room on my own.”

The filly carefully lifted up the tired pegasus with her precision gloves and helped him to his hooves. She leaned against his side to support him. He visibly winced when she pushed into his crippled wing. “Does it hurt daddy?” 588 asked.

“I-I’m alright little one…the pain will go away in a bit. Now, let's be on our way shall we?” Stedson said, changing the subject. Though somewhat unconvinced, the filly led him out of the chamber and into the darkened hallways of the facility.

As they traversed the darkened hallway, Stedson looked over to 588 as she kept her eyes out for any guards that may be patrolling the area. ‘Like Father, like daughter…’Stedson thought as he smiled to himself.

After he accepted Penny Pincher’s offer, he thought about bring Candy and his daughters into the fold but thought better of it. It was too early for them to know about it. Still, he wanted to tell 588 at least one secret he’s been keeping from her all these years.

“588…” he said softly.

The filly’s ears perked up at the mention of her name, “Yes daddy?” she asked curiously.

“It’s…” he began, wishing so badly to tell her the truth “It’s nothing, let’s keep going.”

‘Coward!’ he thought as he chastised himself. He just couldn’t bring himself to tell her.

The filly nodded silently as she led him around the next turn and down the next hallway back to his room.

Candy grumbled under her breath as she made her way to Stedson’s room. She was very upset with him and for good reason. Stedson had invited her to his room last night to discuss something important. The staff had different ideas of what the ‘discussion’ really was.

She didn’t mind the gossip as much since it was partly true. It also made for a good alibi for her visits to his room and his to her med bay, but what she did mind was that he stood her up!

She had spent a better part of the evening outside his door, waiting for him to open it as he normally would but an hour went by before one of the staff members informed her that he never returned to his quarters and was last seen talking to one of the Iron Feathers somewhere in the barracks.

At first, she thought he would return with that Iron Feather for the discussion but she waited there for a few more hours before she gave up and returned to her own quarters. On her way there, she heard a few members of the staff made comments that made her pink fur bright red with indignity.

She saw some of the researchers talking amongst themselves, they snickered to each other when she passed by. She ignored them for the most part until one them approached her.

“Hey Doctor Striper! How was it waiting all night for Cog to-” the researcher stopped when Candy gave him a death glare that was made deadlier by the glow coming from her horn.

“Care to finish that sentence?” Candy asked him in a warning tone.

“Nevermind!” the pony yelped before running off.

She gave a satisfied huff before continuing on her way to Stedson’s quarters, her mood now worse than before. She had a few choice words for Stedson when she sees him. She quickened her pace when she saw the familiar door to Stedson’s quarters in the distance.

Once she reached her destination, she noticed the door was unlocked which was odd since Stedson never left his door unlocked. She shook her head and reminded herself why she was here in the first place and stomped angrily through the door which slid aside in her presence.

“Stedson! I want to have a word with…you?” the anger in her voice diminished when saw Stedson curled up in bed, asleep but what really made her calm down was the orange filly sleeping by his side. She instantly regretted shouting so loudly when the filly stirred awake.

The filly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked at her; she became wide-awake when she recognized her, “Mommy!” 588 called out excitedly. Candy acknowledged the filly with a smile and made her way to the bed.

“Hello my little pony, where have you and daddy been last night?” Candy asked to see if she could get the information out of the filly, children were often too honest for their own good.

“I’ve been helping daddy with an experiment all night long.” The filly answered. Guess some of her lover’s ability to cover secrets up rubbed off on the fillies.

“What sort of experiment would need you two to stay awake up so long?” she inquired, hoping to coax some more details of Stedson’s activities out of the filly.

“Daddy made me shoot a bunch of holographic ponies and zerglings.” 588 replied, her answer just made the mare even more confused. “I had so much fun that we both forgot the time.”

Candy looked over at Stedson and noticed he had bags under his eyes and his mane was even more unkempt than usual, he was moving about fitfully as he mumbled in his sleep. Another nightmare.

She shook her head softly at him; she wished she could help and take on some of his burdens for him. But whenever she asked about it, he’d always changed the subject. “Oh honey, what am I going to do with you?” she asked herself, knowing that there is no straight answer.

Lighting up her horn, she pulled the covers over her lover’s body and kissed him on the cheek, he let out a contented sigh before a smile crept onto his face. Hopefully, the nightmare was over now. She looked over to 588 who had a big grin on her face. Fillies will be fillies.

“Alright little one, nothing to see here. Now let’s leave daddy alone so he can sleep. You on the other hoof have training to go to.” The filly let out a groan as she followed her mommy out of the door. Candy looked one more time at Stedson’s sleeping form before she closed the door.

It was the end of another inspection as Stedson led the inspectors through the facility’s latest addition, a simulation chamber similar to the one Stedson utilized for his conditioning of the IF units but on a much larger scale.

The inspectors stood on a suspended platform overhead as small squads of Iron Feathers from the first generation fought in a simulated urban setting against holographic Confederate Guardsmen supported by a large number of zerg. Their objective was to hold their position until their transport arrived or rather until the timer ran out.

Despite their smaller numbers, the Iron Feathers were doing remarkably well as they decimated the first wave of zerglings with a series of headshots from their rifles. The Guardsmen on the other hoof was a different story as they opened fire with their massive gauss rifles, the Iron Feathers ducked behind cover as their virtual cover was chipped away by the constant gunfire.

“Hmph! The units appear to be having trouble with targets that actually shoot back.” Steel Gaze said with a sneer.

Stedson ignored the pegasus and smiled to himself, “Don’t be so quick to count my girls out just yet Inspector Gaze.” He said as he pointed his hoof back to the simulated battlefield below.

The Iron Feathers had seemingly pulled back a distance into the structures, the zerg quickly swarmed the abandoned position followed by the Guardsmen. Suppressive fire from the Iron Feathers kept the Guardsmen entrenched in their newly captured position, which soon exploded into digital dust as the Iron Feathers detonated the mines they planted earlier.

With the majority of the Royal Guard neutralized, the Iron Feathers started picking off the zerg and any surviving Guardsmen. Peace Keeper nodded in approval while Steel Gaze muttered something under his breath. Spend Thrift grinned when he decided to have a bit of fun with his fellow inspector.

“I’m sorry Gaze but what was that?” the earth pony asked. The pegasus gave him one of his signature glares to which he smirked in response.

“Hmph! I was saying that it was decent tactic they employed…” Steel Gaze admitted with some reluctance.

“Indeed it was Inspector Gaze.” Peace Keeper added before turning to Stedson, “We’re very pleased with your progress Doctor Cog, I’ll be sure to add this in my report.”

“Thank you Inspector Peace Keeper, I’m sure that Upper Rear Admiral Day will be just as pleased.”

“It’s Vice Admiral Day now, doctor.” Steel Gaze corrected him.

For a moment, Stedson face had a scowl on it when he heard this. ‘One step closer to the Clean Slate Protocol’ he thought to himself before he quickly put his fake smile back on. “Oh, my apologies Inspector Gaze. Please congratulate Vice Admiral Day on his promotion for me.”

Steel Gaze snorted and nodded his head begrudgingly.

“With that concluded, I do believe the inspection has come to a close. We will be on our way now.” Peace Keeper announced as he and his associates were escorted back to the shuttle by the guards. Stedson noticed that Steel Gaze stayed behind as he was looking down at the Iron Feathers with great interest, his eyes followed the inspector’s line of sight to one Iron Feather in particular.

This unit was significantly smaller than the others were.

’36!? Why is she here? She’s supposed to be with Candy…’ he thought before he remembered who was in charge of the simulation today, ‘Damn you Whiplash! Damn you to hell!’

Stedson quickly moved towards the inspector, hoping to distract him long enough for 36 to disappear among her sisters. “Inspector Gaze, the others are waiting for you.”

Steel Gaze kept his eyes on 36 and asked, “Tell me doctor, why is that clone smaller than the others?”

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about sir. Maybe it’s your eyes playing tricks on you?” Stedson suggested lamely. Unfortunately, he had inadvertently insulted Steel Gaze’s pride as the pegasus’ temper suddenly flared up.

“Don’t you lie to me!” Steel Gaze shouted before swinging his metallic fist at Stedson, who was knocked back a few feet by the blow before collapsing to the floor of the walkway. Peace Keeper and Spend Thrift came back when they heard the commotion.

“What’s going on here Inspector Gaze?” Peace Keeper inquired.

Steel Gaze grunted as he readjusted his suit, “I believe the doctor here has been keeping secrets from us.” He turned to Stedson who was still recovering from the force of the blow. “Stop the simulation and get those clones lined up... ” one of the guards saluted before he left the group to carry out the order.

“What are you trying to do Gaze?” Spend Thrift asked.

The pegasus looked at his partners and smiled darkly, “We’re going to root out the runt of the litter.” He tried to move but found that Stedson, had latched onto his hind legs in an effort to stop him. Steel Gaze’s smile became bigger before stomping his hoof down on where his crippled wing was, making Stedson cry out in agony.

“That’s enough Inspector Gaze!” Peace Keeper ordered before chastising the suddenly sadistic pegasus, “I expect you to maintain some semblance of professionalism at all times! Is that understood?” Stedson breathed in deeply when Steel Gaze removed his hoof from his wing.

“Learn your place doctor…” he heard Steel Gaze say before he met with his fist one more time, knocking him unconscious. “…before I put you in it.”

Stedson woke up with a groan and a throbbing migraine as he pressed a hoof to his temple to sooth the aching in his head. “Ugh…What hit me?” he asked no one in particular.

“I did.” Steel Gaze answered before the lights in the testing chamber turned on, blinding Stedson as he tried to block out the bright light with his hoof.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking over to Steel Gaze who stood next to a table with a holo communicator on it.

“That’s what I would like to know as well, Stedson.” A familiar voice said from the communicator as it turned on, a holographic projection of Happy Day’s head appeared before him.

“H-Happy Day?” Stedson stammered out.

“That’s Vice Admiral Day to you!” Steel Gaze corrected him with a shout.

“Now, now Inspector Gaze, control yourself. I expect all those under my command to behave accordingly.” Stedson heard Steel Gaze mumble out a quick apology to Day. “As for you Stedson, I’ve been informed that you’ve been wasting valuable resources on a defective unit. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Stedson slowly got up and concocted a believable story that’d hopefully save 36. He opened his mouth and said, “Yes, I used up some of the facilities’ limited medical supplies to help 36 with her heart condition.” He gasped as he covered his mouth with his hooves. ‘What’s going on!? Why did I say that?’ he thought to himself as the throbbing in his head persisted.

He heard Happy Day chuckle to himself, “Don't bother lying, I had one of my boys inject you with a truth serum. There are some side effects so you should be having one heck of a migraine right now.” The stallion explained cheerfully before his expression suddenly darkened. “Now tell me Stedson…what’s this about 36’s condition?”

Stedson wanted to give Happy Day the silent treatment but the throbbing in his head became worse the longer he kept quiet. He groaned out in pain when it started to become unbearable.

“Like it? The boys said that anyone injected with the serum has to talk or else the migraine will get worse until…well, let’s just say nobody lasted long enough to find out.” Happy Day said coolly. Steel Gaze smiled to himself knowingly as he and Day waited for Stedson to break.

He tried to hold out as long as he could but the serum-induced migraine became too much to handle, “I’m sorry 36…” he whispered before he revealed everything about 36’s heart condition. Happy Day’s expression became deadly serious as he was told how much of his resources Stedson had wasted to keep the secret of 36’s condition from everyone.

Steel Gaze watched with satisfaction as Stedson finished explaining himself and collapse when the migraine returned. Happy Day let the pegasus suffer a while longer before he asked, “Tell me Stedson, is there any way we can salvage this unit?”

Stedson looked up at Happy Day as if it was a trick but the serum forced his to speak regardless, “She needs surgery for her heart but we don’t have the proper equipment for the complex procedure.”

The holographic head hummed in thought before answering, “Very well, she’ll get this procedure.” Stedson couldn’t believe it! Happy Day was actually being nice for once.

“Thank you sir! I promise you 36 will be put to good use. She'll make an excellent pilot.” Stedson said before Happy Day gave him an odd look.

“Who said anything about her staying here?” Happy Day said flatly

“But…but you said that-” Stedson argued but was cut off by Steel Gaze's glare.

“What and let my resources be wasted on a product with an early expiration date? You said so yourself, she’ll be lucky to live past thirty.” He shot back before turning to Steel Gaze, “Steel Gaze, please prepare 36 for the Short Leash Protocol when she’s aboard your ship. I need to give Mr Shears another call.” Stedson’s eyes bugged out at the mention of the Short Leash Protocol.

“By your command Vice Admiral.” the pegasus saluted before he flew off to carry out the order.

“No!” Stedson cried out as he tried desperately to spread his crippled wings to fly after Steel Gaze but it was all for nothing as he remained grounded so he tried chasing him on hoof but was stopped when Spend Thrift tackled him to the ground.

“As for you Stedson, I’m having you confined to your room until the unit is safely off the station. I’d hate a repeat of what happened to the last one.” He looked over to the earth pony inspector, “I want you to keep an eye on him during his confinement. Is that clear Spend Thrift?”

“Sure thing boss.” Spend Thrift answered casually before dragging the struggling pegasus away…

Spend Thrift made a show of Stedson to the guards as he tossed the pegasus through the door of his room. When the door closed, the earth pony sighed as he pulled out a syringe from his suit and injected the contents into Stedson’s neck.

“There ya go Cog, that should get rid of the serum.” He said with a sigh of relief, “I thought you’d spill the beans when Gaze-oof!” he was cut off when Stedson suddenly bucked him in the chest as he was sent flying into the wall. The earth pony gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, the pegasus was stronger than he looked.

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Stedson yelled out angrily.

Spend Thrift quickly recovered as he stood back up on his hind legs “I’m sorry for your loss Cog, but you need to calm down…” Spend Thrift said as he reasoned with the distraught pegasus.

“Why did you let them take her!” Spend Thrift ducked when Stedson slammed his hooves into the wall behind him. He was aiming for his head!

Seeing that there was no reasoning with him, Spend Thrift tackled Stedson to the ground and held him down like he did with him earlier. He struggled under the earth pony’s weight but stopped when he became too tired to carry on anymore.

“What was I supposed to do, huh? Blow my cover?” Spend Thrift shot back at Stedson, who just glared at him accusingly. “Don’t you dare give me that look Cog…” he warned the pegasus but he continued glaring at him anyway, “…you know as well as I do that there wasn’t anything I could’ve done to stop Gaze from seeing what he did.”

Stedson became quiet as he thought about what Spend Thrift said. It was true, Steel Gaze was always looking for flaws in the Iron Feather. It was a miracle they were able to hide 36’s condition for so long.

Seeing that Stedson had calmed down, Spend Thrift got off him but stood ready in case he threw another 'tantrum'. He watched as the pegasus sat up and slid his hoof into his lab coat, wary of his next move but was confused when he pulled out an orange feather.

Stedson looked at 522’s feather sadly, as he remembered her death and his hoof in it. A single tear rolled down his cheek before he asked the feather, “What do I do 522…?”

“I don’t know what a dead filly would say…” Spend Thrift answered, which earned him a glare from Stedson. “…but I think she’d want you to say goodbye to 36 before she leaves.” He finished before handing him a small disc-shaped device, it was a holo-recorder.

“Isn’t there anything you or Mr Pincher do for her?” Stedson asked. “Can’t the Diamond Dogs just buy her and keep her safe for me?”

Spend Thrift shook his head, “Sorry but no. From what I know about the guy, Mr Shears doesn’t deal with the Diamond Dogs. Bad blood.” The earth pony explained before he became quiet. He didn’t want to mention that Mr Shears was also involved in several disreputable businesses like prostitution and slave trading. It’d be a mercy to just put a bullet into her head right now.

The earth pony left Stedson to his thoughts as he leaned into the wall at the far end of the room.

Stedson looked at 522’s feather in one hoof and the recorder in the other. He held back his tears as he carefully placed the feather back into his coat and switched on the recorder; a beam of light came from the device and scanned his face. A beep from the recorder told him it was now recording.

“Hello 36…I don’t know if you’ll get this or not. If you do, be sure to thank Mr Thrift for me.” He sighed as he thought of what to say next. “Don’t be scared of the ponies with you right now, they’re…taking you somewhere safe so please listen to what they tell you to do. So be a good little filly okay?” He hated lying to his daughter but he wanted his last words to her to be comforting.

“Know this my child, wherever you may go. Your mother and I, along with all your sisters love you very much and…” he choked back another sob before continuing, “…I’ll miss you my little angel.” The device finished recording before he broke down in tears.

“I tried my best Cog, I really did…” the earth pony said in a slightly regretful tone as he watched the filly floating inside the resocialization tank aboard their cruiser. He tried to pass the recorder to the filly like he had intended but she was already under the knife when he got onboard, Steel Gaze had been in a rush to carry out Day's orders.

He thought he’d be able to pass the recorder to the filly when she woke up but was surprised when the filly was immediately put into the resoc tank when she became stable enough. He sensed that Steel Gaze had a hoof in this as well.

He let out another sigh as he walked towards 36’s tank, the filly appeared to be sleeping fitfully as her memories were slowly altered and replaced with new ones. He guessed that the new memories would make her more docile for Mr Shear’s clients.

He gritted his teeth at the terrible thought of the filly suffering. He wasn’t a saint by any meaning of the word but he still had his standards, no matter how low they were. Still, he had a promise to keep.

“I don’t know if ya can hear me or not kid...” Spend Thrift said, hoping for some kind reaction from the comatose filly, “Cog-your dad sent you a message.” He reached into the folds of his suit and pulled out the holo-recorder and turned it on, Stedson’s holographic head appeared before he delivered his farewell to the unresponsive filly.

“…I’ll miss you my little angel.” The hologram finished before Spend Thrift turned it off and placed it back into his suit.

He gave the filly one more look “For what it’s worth kid…Good Luck.” he said before walking out the door.

Author's Note

The chapter was written up to this point when I read Unholyheaven's blog post which left me in shock and somewhat depressed. No I won't go into a suicidal spiral but call me unsympathetic if you want but I wonder what I should do with this story now. Do I remove it ? Leave it as a memorial of sorts? Or finish it?

I'm not so sure if it'd be respectful or not if I do any of them. For now, I'll leave you to your thoughts. Thanks for your valuable time folks.

Taking the Plunge

Inside the central observation room, Stedson was busy going over some of the proposed changes to the Iron Feather’s training program that the instructors had submitted to him for his approval. He tossed one of these proposals into the reject pile when he saw Whiplash’s name on it and was about to check on the next one when one of the technicians on duty interrupted him.

“Doctor Cog, sensors just detected a battlecruiser warping into the station’s outer perimeter.” the technician stated while typing away at his terminal. “ID match confirmed, it’s the Hydra. Vice Admiral Day is here.”

“Open a channel to them.” Stedson ordered. The technician nodded as he typed the commands into the system. One of the monitors in the observation room flickered before Steel Gaze’s face appeared on screen.

“Inspector Gaze? I wasn’t aware that you were joining the Vice Admiral for his visit.” Stedson said in faked astonishment.

Steel Gaze glared at him before answering, “If you must know, Vice Admiral Day requested that we accompany him for the inspection after Inspector Thrift insisted on it.”

“I take it that the others are with you as well?”

“Indeed, Inspector Keeper and Thrift will be joining us. You don’t have a problem with that do you, doctor?” the pegasus asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

“None whatsoever. Shall I come and personally greet the vice admiral upon your arrival?” Stedson offered, trying to change the subject.

“Fine, just make sure that you show him the utmost respect he deserves, or you’ll have me to answer to. Is that clear?” Steel Gaze said threateningly.

Stedson nodded calmly in response, “Crystal clear…”

The inspector let out an audible growl of annoyance before cutting off the video feed.

Stedson then got up and walked out the door, he looked forward to his last meeting with Day. He was so eager that he found himself humming a catchy tune as he walked down the hallway. It’s going to be a happy day, a happy day indeed.

Due to the Hydra’s size, it was unable to pass through the asteroid field that surrounded the hidden station so Happy Day and his entourage of inspectors took a shuttle, which was much smaller and far more maneuverable than the bulky battlecruiser, to the space station.

Steel Gaze was in his seat aboard the shuttle, drumming his metal fingers impatiently on the armrest while he and his fellow inspectors waited for the shuttle to arrive at the station. Unfortunately, his constant drumming was wearing on Peace Keeper’s nerves.

“Must you make such a racket?” the unicorn complained.

Steel Gaze stopped his drumming, “What did just say?” he asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.

“I said: Must you make such a racket? Honestly, some of us have important matters to attend to and I certainly can’t do that with all that noise you’re making. Why can’t you do something more useful than glaring at others?” Steel Gaze suddenly got up and grabbed the collar of Peace Keeper’s suit, pulling him out of his seat.

“I don’t want to hear this from someone like you so why don’t you take your stupid lectures and shove it up your-” he stopped when he felt Spend Thrift’s hand on his shoulder. He glared at the earth pony, “What do you want!” he growled.

“Whoa…easy there Gaze, the boss wouldn’t be happy if he saw you two fighting like a couple of schoolcolts in the playground. Now would he?” Spend Thrift said as he gestured to Happy Day, who was sitting at the front of the shuttle, busy reading a report on his datapad.

His words had the desired effect when Steel Gaze let go of the unicorn, they glared at each other for a few seconds before the pegasus stomped off to the front of the shuttle, muttering something about having a word with the pilot.

“You have my thanks Inspector Thrift…” Peace Keeper said as he straightened out the creases in his suit, “…though I have been meaning to ask, why are you out of uniform?” pointing at his colleague’s attire.

Unlike the other two inspectors who had decided to wear the black uniforms of Dominion Intelligence for the inspection, Spend Thrift wore a brown business suit instead.

“Oh, I was planning to go gambling in Consortium Space after this and I thought the uniform would draw too much unwanted attention.” He explained.

“Couldn’t you just change after the inspection?” the unicorn suggested.

“What, and waste all the time I put into my good looks?” he said as he ran a hand through his mane before flashing a smile at the unicorn.

Unable to find an appropriate response, Peace Keeper nodded and quietly sat back down. Steel Gaze soon returned and the two inspectors noticed that his sour mood had improved; as he now had a smug look on his face as he walked back to his own seat. He didn’t even glare at Peace Keeper

“What’s gotten you in such a good mood?” Spend Thrift asked.

“Oh, the pilot and I just had a nice little chat about flight schedules.” he answered, chuckling darkly. He smiled when the shuttle’s PA system turned on, the pilot voice sounded nervous as he shakily made his announcement.

“M-m-may I have your attention please. We will be arriving at Ca-Castanar Station mo-momentarily so please re-return to your seats and prepare for do-docking.”

When the announcement was over, Peace Keeper gave his colleague a disapproving look, “Really Inspector Gaze, strong-arming the pilot? The poor stallion sounded like he was about to cry his eyes out. Could you be any more crass?”

Steel Gaze didn’t react to the remark and merely shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to give a proper answer before settling back into his seat. The rhythmic drumming of his fingers soon resumed, annoying the unicorn to no end.

Spend Thrift smirked as he watch Peace Keeper grumbling in his seat, sulking like a young colt who didn’t get his way. He excused himself before returning to his own seat as well. He smiled when he saw the station coming into view through the porthole.

“Right on schedule…”

After his less than enthusiastic greeting to Happy Day, he had the guards escort the stallion to the observation room. Stedson then went over to the trio of inspectors and greeted them as well, but with a bit more emotion.

“Good to have you here on Castanar Station again, inspectors. I take it that you’ll be joining Vice Admiral Day and I for the inspection as well?” Stedson inquired.

“It is good to see you again Doctor Cog, but no, we won't be accompanying the Vice Admiral on his visit.” Peace Keeper stated.

“You…You’re not?” Stedson stammered, clearly not expecting this at all.

“No. We’re here to carry out a separate inspection of the facility while you show Vice Admiral Day the Iron Feathers.” Peace Keeper explained, “He’s been looking forward to seeing their progress with his own eyes.”

“Shall I have one of my assistants guide you around while I attend to the Vice Admiral?” Stedson offered.

“No.” Steel Gaze said, interrupting Peace Keeper own response, “That won’t be necessary doctor, we’ll carry out the investigation on our own…” he leaned down to Stedson’s height, “…unless you have a problem with that, do you doctor?”

Stedson quickly recovered and replied, “None at all Inspector Gaze.” and stared right back at Steel Gaze, who didn’t expect the normally cowed pegasus to challenge him so openly. So he intensified his glare but Stedson didn’t back down one inch, which infuriated the pegasus inspector. He balled his hand into a fist, ready to put Stedson back in his place but stopped when Spend Thrift intervened.

“We’re kind of running kind of late already Gaze, so mind leaving it for later?”

“This isn’t over doctor…count on it.” the pegasus inspector promised before stomping off angrily down one of the hallways. Peace Keeper sighed at his colleague’s behavior before he turned to Spend Thrift.

“Shall we be on our way then?” the unicorn asked.

“Nah, you go on ahead, Keeper. I’ll join ya in a bit after I have a little chat with Cog here.” Peace Keeper let out a frustrated sigh at the improper form of address before leaving to join the disgruntled pegasus.

Once he was sure they were alone, Spend Thrift turned to Stedson and frowned, “You do realize that little staring contest of yours with Mr Gaze was a waste of time don’t you, Doctor Cog? After all, time -”

“-is money.” Stedson finished for him “I know that Mr Pincher, I just wanted to have a little bit of fun with Inspector Gaze before I see him among the dead.” The disguised mercenary cocked his eyebrow, giving him a strange look.

“Very well Doctor Cog, I’ll allow that…‘slight delay’ in the schedule. However, I suggest that you be on your way before Day starts getting suspicious.”

Stedson frowned at the mentioned of the stallion’s name and nodded, “Of course, Mr Pincher.” he then trotted off to the observation room where Happy Day awaited him.

“Hmm, guess I better set the stage before the main event starts.” Penny Pincher said to himself before making his own way down the hallway to join the two inspectors.

While Vice Admiral Day and his entourage were away at the station, the Hydra maintained its position outside the asteroid field. The Hydra was an old Behemoth-class battlecruiser, which while still in use by the majority of the Dominion Armada, were slowly being retired to make way for its more modern successor, the Minotaur-class.

The Hydra itself was a survivor of a border dispute with the Confederates decades ago in which the Dominion lost control of the world. Due to the higher ups wanting to forget the humiliating defeat they suffered, compounded by the high cost of repairs, the damaged cruiser was left to rust away in a disused dry-dock on Dylar IV. So nobody complained when the Vice Admiral paid the shipyards a visit and restored the decommissioned vessel for his own personal use. Especially when he bribed the dock workers and officials to look the other way.

Aboard the ship, its crew was tense as they had been ordered to be on the lookout for anything amiss. Though the ship was in a relatively remote location and far from prying eyes, it was still outside the fringes of Dominion-controlled space so the captain had ordered the crew to be on high alert and the shield to be active at all times in case of a surprise attack.

Some of the crew-members thought the captain was just being paranoid due to the Vice Admiral being involved, but orders were orders, even if they thought it was a bit much.

However, the captain’s precautions paid off when a volley of missiles came out of nowhere struck the Hydra’s shields, which flared from the impact, stopping the missiles from damaging the hull. More missiles impacted the shields before alarms went off throughout the ship, the crew mobilized as they reported to their battle stations.

“Will someone turn off that blasted noise and tell me what the hell hit us!” the captain demanded.

“Sir! Scanners just picked up an unidentified capital class cruiser with multiple fighters moving in on our position from the portside.” The crewman then put the image of the enemy vessel on screen.

“Damn pirates, of all times for them to show up.” he muttered.

"What are your orders, captain?”

“Helmsman, turn the ship around so we can bring our forward guns to bear.”

“Yes sir.” The helmsman called out as he carried out the command.

“Scramble our fighters to intercept the first attack wave. Charge up the laser batteries and tell the crew to prepare for ship-to-ship combat. And contact the garrison on Castanar Station, alert them of the situation, we’re going to need their help if things get out of hoof...” he paused for a moment as he considered his next order, “…and start charging the main cannon.”

“Captain, are you sure? It’s just one ship.” a crewman spoke up.

The captain narrowed his eyes at the crewman.“Are you trying to give me an order, lieutenant?” The crewman quickly shook his head. “Then carry out the orders I've given!”

The crewman gulped and nodded before relaying the orders to the rest of the ship.

Inside the station’s command centre, Penny Pincher was busy typing in several commands at one of the many consoles as he went about disabling the station’s automated defenses and sensors.He had just finished shutting down the last of the sensors when one of the other terminals starting beeping.

Someone was trying to contact the station.

Having an idea of who it was, he accepted the transmission. A few seconds passed before he heard the voice of what he assumed to be the Hydra’s communications officer coming from the monitor. It was an audio-only transmission.

“Castanar Station! This is the Hydra requesting immediate reinforcements! We are under attack by multiple unknown hostiles! I repeat we are-”

“Brace for impact!” someone shouted, before something exploded in the background, breaking the signal into static before it reestablished itself.

“I repeat! This is the Hydra requesting immediate reinforce-” Penny Pincher then cut the transmission, he had heard all he needed to know. He then pulled out a pocket watch from his suit and looked at the time.

“Hmm, right on time. Things should get interesting very soon.” He said to himself before he brought one of the sensors back online. It showed him a view of the Hydra and its squadron of fighters as they fought against the first wave of the Diamond Dog’s attack fighters.

“Very interesting indeed…”

Laser bolts and missiles blanketed the area around the Hydra as its laser turrets fired on the enemy fighters, trying to shoot down the high-speed fighters, but they kept cloaking themselves before the gun crews could get a proper lock on them, making them miss their targets nine times out of ten. One of these cloaked fighters fired a salvo of missiles, some of which made it past the point defense system and struck the battlecruiser’s shields, causing it to fail and fade away.

“Captain! The shields are down!” a crewman shouted.

“Then get them back online!” the captain ordered as he slammed his fist down on the armrest, “Damn it! How the hell did they get their hooves on our cloaking tech!” the captain growled before his console lit up, giving him the latest damage report.

Although the shields had kept the ship itself safe from the brunt of the attacks, they still suffered heavy losses. Three of their fighters were shot down in the enemy’s last attack and four more had been crippled, leaving the ship with less than half their fighters still operational. Though he'd hate to admit it, the pirates were extremely skilled.

“Where the hell is my reinforcements!” the captain shouted impatiently.

“They’re not responding any of our hails, sir.” The comms officer replied, “Something must have happened at the station.”

“Damn it, so we’re on our own then. What’s the status on the main cannon?”

“The Yamato Cannon is at 78 percent charge and rising.”

“Good, tell all fighters to disengage and return to the ship to rearm. We’re going to finish them in one -” he was interrupted when the alarms suddenly went off again, “Oh, what’s going wrong now?” the captain muttered under his breath.

“Sensors are picking up multiple energy signatures near the enemy vessel.”

“Put it on screen!” the captain ordered.

A holographic screen projected itself before the crew, showing them a view of the enemy ship. He saw the space behind the enemy capital ship becoming distorted as it twisted in on itself before exploding out in a brilliant flash of light, blinding him and the rest of the bridge crew as they tried to shield themselves from the light.

When the captain was able to see again, his eyes widened when he saw that a fleet of ships had appeared out of nowhere, form up around the capital ship. The enemy fleet consisted of the one capital ship, accompanied by three cruisers, two frigates, and a troop carrier, all of them bearing the distinct logo of the Diamond Dogs on their hulls.

Many of the Hydra’s crew though that it was the end for them and scrambled to prepare themselves for the oncoming onslaught, but minutes passed by and nothing happened. Confused by the lack of alarms and explosions, they cautiously looked back at the screen, and saw that the enemy fleet hasn’t opened fire on them. The mercenary fleet was silently holding its position, as if they were waiting for something.

This made everybody aboard the battlecruiser very uneasy.

“What are they waiting for…?” the captain muttered to himself as he and the crew anxiously waited for the enemy’s next move. The tense silence was broken when one of the consoles started beeping.

“Sir, someone is hailing us.”

“Is it the enemy fleet?”

“Negative sir, it’s from Castanar Station. Should I respond?”

“From the station? Could be the garrison commander.” he muttered before he turned to the communications officer, “Very well, make it so.”

Another holo-screen appeared next to the one with the enemy fleet on it. The screen flickered as the transmission was established. The captain raised his brow in confusion when he saw one of the inspectors on screen instead of the garrison commander.

“Inspector Thrift, what are you doing there? And where the buck is the garrison commander? We have an emergency situation here!”

“Now, now captain, there’s no need for such language.” The captain became wary when he noticed that the inspector’s voice was off. “And as for the commander, he’s right over there.” He said before standing aside, showing the garrison commander on the floor along with the rest of his command staff.

“Though I doubt he’s in a talkative mood at the moment.”

“What did you do to them?”

“They’re not dead if that’s what you’re thinking. Not yet at least.” He added threateningly, “Putting that aside, allow me to properly introduce myself…” the fake inspector then closed his eyes and reached for the metal band around his neck, and pressed a button.

The captain and his crew became wide eyed when they saw the color in the ‘inspector’s fur and mane change as splotches of brown appeared on them, making him briefly resemble a pinto pony. The color spread out over his body until his fur and mane was completely brown. He opened his eyes just as the last of the blue in them darkened to brown as well. He smiled when he saw the crew’s reaction at his ‘transformation’.

“I am Mr Penny Pincher, El Contador for the Diamond Dog Security Firm. And I’m here to ask you for your surrender.” The captain quickly recovered when he heard the mercenary’s demands.

“Do you expect me to surrender just because you asked?” The captain shot back.

“No. I expect you to surrender because it’s the only way for you and your crew to make it out this alive...Or would you rather face total annihilation at our hooves?” Penny Pincher asked coolly. The captain grew quiet when he heard this.

“You have five minutes to decide before I order my men to open fire.” The screen then went dark, the transmission now ended.

Knowing that such a decision shouldn’t be made alone, the captain turned to his crew for an answer. Unfortunately a significant number of the bridge crew were were resocs, mindlessly waiting for his next order, whatever it may be. More than half of the handful of officers under his command shook their heads at him, silently voicing their opinion on the matter while the rest stayed silent. He had his answer.

“Open a channel to the garrison.” A few seconds passed before Penny Pincher’s face reappeared on the screen.

“Ah captain, you’re a little earlier than I predicted, but I take it that you have come to a decision?" the mercenary asked expectantly.

“Yeah…Buck off!” he swore, “Everyone back to your battle stations!” he ordered, the bridge crew immediately returned to their duties as they prepared themselves for the fight of their lives. He then turned to one of the crew and asked. “What’s the status on the cannon?”

“The Yamato Cannon is approaching maximum charge, captain.”

“Good, target the capital ship and fire on my command.” the captain then turned his head back to the screen; Penny Pincher had an unnervingly calm expression on his face.

“I highly recommend that you reconsider your decision captain. The Diamond Dogs could use you and your men among our ranks.” Penny Pincher offered, hoping to defuse the situation.

“Buck you! The Dominion doesn’t make deals with mercenaries and we’re not going to start now!”

“Captain, the Yamato Cannon is locked on target.” One of the crew called out. The captain then stood up, swept his arm out in a dramatic flourish and gave out what could very well be his final order.

“Fire!”

The bow of ship hummed with power as the Yamato Cannon focused the energy for its attack but the the cannon unexpectedly went silent. Before they could wonder why the cannon didn’t fire, a violent explosion rocked the ship, sending the captain tumbling to the ship floor.

A moment passed before the alarms suddenly went off , “What the buck was that?” the captain swore as he got back into his seat, “Did the enemy fleet open fire?”

“Negative captain, the enemy fleet is still maintaining its position. Most of the damage seems to be concentrated in one of the engine rooms.” The crewman answered before another series of explosions were set off, sending tremors through the Hydra.

The bridge was soon flooded with damage reports and distress calls from all over the ship as it continued to rumble from the explosions. The captain instantly regretted his decision when he looked at his console and saw the growing list of damages throughout the ship.

Over a half of the hangar bays had been lost to the explosions while the rest had been set on fire, all their fighters, now reduced to burning wrecks. Half the forward gun batteries had been lost in explosions, along with the gun crews operating them. Fire control teams were calling for backup as they struggled to put out the fires spreading all over the ship.

More reports kept pouring in as more of the Hydra’s systems started to fail one after the other, only a few of the more critical systems still remained operational as the ship was slowly being torn apart. One of these was the communication system, which received one last transmission. The captain looked up at the flickering screen to see Penny Pincher shaking his head disappointedly at him.

“I tried to be civil with you…even offered you and your crew a place in our organization.” The mercenary sighed, “We would have rewarded you generously too, but you threw it away. And now, you’ve forced my hoof.” He then raised his closed hand to the screen, showing the captain what he held.

His eyes widened when he realized what it was. It was a detonator, and it was armed! His ears perked up when he heard a distinct beeping noise coming from under his seat.

“Goodbye captain.” He said, and pulled the trigger.

The captain let out one more defiant shout, before the bomb detonated and engulfed the bridge in an explosive inferno.

Penny Pincher watched the column of smoke spewing from what remained of the Hydra’s bridge as the rest of the explosives tore the battlecruiser apart. It wasn’t long before the reactors overloaded from the fire damage, causing a chain reaction which created a powerful blast, turning the battlecruiser into a massive fireball.

Once the fire dissipated into the vacuum of space, all that was left of the Hydra were pieces of its scorched hull that the Diamond Dog fleet passed over as they moved in to establish a perimeter around the asteroid field as planned. The troop carrier then deployed several dropships that made their way to the station.

He then switched the video feed to the facility’s interior and smiled when he saw that everyone didn’t seem to have noticed the Hydra’s destruction, most probably due to them being too focused on the Vice Admiral’s visit and the inspection. He looked back at his pocket watch and saw that they were ahead of schedule, which pleased him quite a bit.

“Hmm, now to see if Doctor Cog’s ‘daughters’ are all that they’re cracked up to be…” he said before pulling something out from his suit. It was the data drive Spend Thrift had delivered to him a few months ago. He plugged it into the console and accessed the device; It contained only one audio file.

He programmed the computer to play the file throughout the facility after a while, more than enough time for his men to reach the station and secure the docking bay for reinforcements. He smiled when he heard gunfire outside the command centre, indicating that the insertion teams had finally arrived.

He stepped outside and saw his power armored subordinates finishing off one of the station’s guards. They instinctively pointed their weapons at him but lowered them when they realized who he was.

“Ah, you’re right on time, secure the command centre for me but don’t kill the prisoners unless I say so, got it?” he said as he eyed the squad of mercenaries who acknowledged the order with a series of nods and salutes. “Good, I need two of you to come with me. I have an appointment with the good doctor to keep.”

Inside the main training hall, 588 was honing her skills in hoof-to-hoof combat alongside her sisters as they practiced their punches and kicks on the punching bags before them. The instructors passed them by, silently nodding at the progress they made.

She stopped when she saw Stedson on the walkways above them. He was leading Happy Day down to the chamber where she and her sisters disposed of their ‘beloved’ pets.

“You there! Who said you could stop!” one of the instructors barked, it was Whiplash, one of the stallions that were responsible for 36’s ‘adoption’. 588 gritted her teeth as she felt the urge to break the stallion’s neck right there and then but she knew she had to wait for the signal.

“Sorry sir! I was just a bit tired.” She lied, faking a wheeze. Whiplash frowned at her weakness.

“Well suck it up soldier and get back to it!” he barked.

“Sir!” she saluted before turning back to the punching bag. She then imagined Whiplash’s face on it before delivering a forceful punch into the bag of sand, the next face was Happy Day’s which received a similar treatment. She soon fell into a rhythm as she continued punching the imaginary faces on punching bag over and over again, eagerly waiting for the chance to take on the real thing.

Whiplash nodded approvingly at 588’s sudden improvement in her performance before he turned around and spread his wings. He was about to take off when the facility’s intercom turned on and started filling the training hall, and the rest of the facility, with music.

“What’s going on? This better not be someone’s idea of a joke.” Whiplash growled as the music was already grating on his nerves. “If I find out whoever did this I’ll…” his voice trailed off when he and his fellow instructors noticed that all the Iron Feathers had stopped training and were just standing there, all of them with big smiles on their faces.

“Hey! Who said you could slack off?” Whiplash demanded, and approached one of the Iron Feathers but she ignored him. He glared at the insubordinate filly and grabbed her by the shoulders, “I’m talking to you, soldier!” He shouted and was about to turn the filly around to face him, when he heard somone scream.

He turned and saw an instructor under attack by the Iron Feathers. The stallion managed to fight off some of the Iron Feathers before their sheer numbers overwhelmed him. The fillies started pummeling him mercilessly with their precision gloves, which were soon splattered with his blood. The other instructors rushed to save him but immediately found themselves fighting for their own lives when the rest of the Iron Feathers turned on them as well.

Whiplash pulled out his gauss pistols and aimed at a nearby Iron Feather, but just as he was about pull the trigger, an Iron Feather jumped onto his back and plunged a scalpel into his left shoulder, causing him to drop one of his guns as he cried out in pain.

He grabbed a fistful of her mane with his free hand and pulled her and the scalpel she held onto, off his back before slamming her hard into the ground, “Time for you to die!” he growled, and fired his pistol. 588 rolled out of the way, dodging the shot just as it hit the spot where her head had been seconds ago. She threw the bloody scalpel right into the instructor’s face.

“Arghh! My eye!” Whiplash screamed before he pulled the scalpel from what was left of his left eye; he threw the bloody blade away and glared at the smiling filly with his one good eye. “You! You’ll pay for this!” he swore before taking off into the air, dodging a second scalpel as it flew past him.

He fired at her with his one pistol but with the loss of one eye, his accuracy suffered as his shots went wide off their mark. His pistol soon ran out of bullets, forcing him to reload in the air. 588 simply stood there, watching him with the ever-present smile on her face, as if she was taunting him to make his next move.

Crying out in frustration, Whiplash suddenly went into a dive, firing potshots at the Iron Feather. A wicked smile crept onto his face when he saw his shots were steadily getting closer and closer to his target but his smile vanished when he saw the filly holding his other gauss pistol in her hands. She raised the gun and fired a single shot. He gasped when he felt the round tear through one of his wings, followed by the sensation of falling before he met the ground with a bone breaking crash.

588 lowered Whiplash’s pistol and walked toward the instructor as he laid there on the floor in a heap. He tried to defend himself with his pistol but the Iron Feather simply kicked the weapon out of his grasp, disarming him.

Whiplash glared at her, “Well, what are you waiting for?” he shouted in between labored breaths, “Finish me!”

588 was more than willing to oblige him and raised her pistol, but changed her mind and said, “No, you’re not getting off that easy…” and fired at his legs. He cried out in agony when the rounds tore through his flesh and shattered the bones underneath, crippling him even further.

She threw the gun away and pulled out another scalpel. Realizing what she was about to do to him, Whiplash tried to crawl away, but with his crippled limbs, he didn’t make it very far before the filly plunged the scalpel into his back.

The filly hummed along with the music, which drowned out the instructor’s screams as she took her time cutting into him. She needed to warm up before she gets to Happy Day. After all, it would be a shame if he died on the operating table before she was done with him.

Just go and listen

It'll start with a smile

It won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try…

The Diamond Dogs’ assault was well underway when 588 finally stepped out of the training hall; her sisters were still busy dealing with the remaining instructors. Their former instructors may have been more experienced but it was only a matter of time before her sisters overwhelms them.

588 hummed along to the music as she made her way through the facility, making sure that she avoided any fighting along the way to the disposal chamber. She didn’t want to waste any more time than she already had. She just couldn’t wait to ‘operate’ on the stallion that cause her and her daddy so much suffering.

The smile on her face grew even wider as she imagined all the ways she would cut into Happy Day as she vivisects him, and how he would scream from the agony. She wondered if he would scream as loud as Whiplash did before he passed out. Who knew a stallion could scream like that.

The music started to fade as she went deeper into the facility where the disposal chamber was located, but the smile remained on her face. She almost broke out into a run when she saw her destination so close but resisted the urge to do so when she heard Stedson talking to someone. She stopped just outside the doorway and listened in.

“Stedson, when the Dominion finds out mercenaries captured a top secret facility, they’ll come after you. I can get you out of this.” She heard Happy Day say as he tried to bargain for his life.

“This station doesn’t exist,” Stedson replied. “You can’t get me out of this, you killed me twelve years ago remember? I’m just waiting for a certain someone to show.” 588 decided to make her entrance and walked into the chamber. “Speak of the devil, there she is!” she smiled as Stedson introduced her to Happy.

“This is 588. She was a very close friend of 522. I told her what really happened to her sister.” The filly's smile faltered for a brief moment at the mention of her late sister. Seeing this, Stedson changed the subject. “Fun fact, she also holds that nine hour record I mentioned earlier. She’s been looking forward to this for a while.”

“I plan to break that record today.” She said with a smile that grew wider when she set her sights on Happy Day. Her smile made the stallion’s blood run cold when he saw the predatory look in her eyes.

“Stedson don’t do this!” Happy Day shouted desperately but Stedson ignored him and turned to the mercenaries.

“Guards, do us a favor and break his remaining legs. Then take him to medical. 588 needs to practice her first aid,” requested Stedson. 588 became ecstatic at this since she’ll get to use everything she needs for a proper procedure but held in her excitement as she watched Stedson lean in closer to Happy Day and said.

"You broke my wings Happy. But you also let me live out my dream, so I can let that go. But what you forced me to do to 522... I'm afraid I just can't look the other way on that one."

With an affirmative nod from Penny Pincher, the guards broke both of Happy’s legs with a kick from their power-armored legs. The stallion screamed in pain, his screaming soon turned to whimpers as the guards lifted him up by his bleeding forelegs and dragged him out into the hallway, with 588 following behind.

The fighting in the facility had more or less stopped by now, with the Diamond Dogs victorious so the trek to the medical bay was relatively uneventful save for Happy Day’s occasional pleas for mercy, which were mostly ignored by the guards and the single Iron Feather following them.

“Please…I promise that you’ll never see me again…just let me go.” Happy begged again when they entered the medical bay. The guards tossed him onto one of the operating tables and locked him in place. The guards turned to leave until 588 stopped them.

“Wanna stay and watch?” the filly offered, the guards shrugged to each other before they took a seat on the other tables.

The guards watched on curiously as the filly went about collecting various surgical tools for Happy Day’s ‘operation’, the majority of which were scalpels and sutures. They wondered what she would do with so many tools.

“Wha-what are you going to do to me?” Happy Day asked fearfully as he watched the filly approach him, she had a needle in one hand and some sutures in the other.

She ignored him as she stuck the needle into one of his bleeding forelegs and started stitching up the wound, before doing the same to the other foreleg. Her actions confused Happy Day but made him slightly hopeful of his survival.

“Are…are you letting me go?” he asked.

“Nope…” she replied, before exchanging the needle and sutures for a scalpel and forceps, “…I just didn’t want you to bleed to death before I broke my record. Can’t have that, now can we?” the stallion merely gulped at her words as he made another plea for his freedom.

“Please…I’ll do anything you want…just let me go!” he begged, any shred of dignity he may have left, long gone as he started crying his eyes out. 588 stopped just as she was about to cut into his flank.

“Anything huh…?” The filly asked as she playfully tapped the forceps against her chin, pondering on what she would want from him.

“Yes! Anything you want!” Happy cried out hysterically as tears started to flow down his cheeks. The guards almost pitied for the poor stallion. Almost.

Her smile returned when she thought of a good response, “What I want, is for you to scream for Mercy!” she declared before stabbing him in the shoulder. He screamed as she made the first of many incisions.

While the Diamond Dogs were busy securing the facility and rooting out any remaining pockets of resistance, one of their soldiers was making his way to the docking bay. He stopped when the gates opened up and a fresh squad of Diamond Dogs entered the station. The soldier quickly checked the ammo count on his gauss rifle and saw that he had only 15 rounds left, hardly enough to take on a whole squad.

He tensed up when the mercenaries got closer to him; one of them gave him a hard look. He started to sweat under the mercenary’s scrutinizing gaze and was about to make a run for it when the mercenary pulled away and said, “I see that you got a little roughed up in there huh?” the mercenary commented, pointing at the soldier’s power armor.

The soldier blinked under the tinted visor and looked at his power armor. The suit was badly damaged, parts of the armored plating was either missing or riddled with bullet holes, the worst of the damage was the left shoulder where the pauldron appeared to have been blown off, exposing the servos underneath, which were giving off sparks and smoke.

“Y-yeah…one of those damn resocs got lucky. I was going to get this fixed back at the transport.” The soldier replied, gesturing to the smoking servo.

“Better grab a replacement suit then, faster that way.” He said before turning to his squad, “You guys go on ahead, I’m gonna help this guy with his suit, don’t want somebody to jump him while he’s like this.” his team nodded to him before moving on.

“You don’t have to do this. I’ll be fine on my own.” The soldier protested.

“Nah, its fine. Come on.” The mercenary insisted as he led the soldier to the docking bay.

The gates slid aside as the soldier followed his self-appointed guide to one of the dropships docked next to the Hydra’s shuttle, he noticed the trails of blood near the shuttle, indicating what had happened to the crew.

They went up to one of the dropships and entered through the open bay doors. Inside, he saw that the dropship carried a small armory’s worth of equipment as a number of spare suits of power armor lined one side of the walls while weapons and spare cases of ammo lined the other.

“Here.” The mercenary said as he gestured to the empty suits of power armor, “You can get changed and-” the rest of the words died in his mouth when he suddenly found himself looking down the barrel of the soldier’s gauss rifle being held close to the his helmet.

“What the buck are you do-” the soldier cut him off midsentence when he pulled the trigger and fired all 15 armor piercing rounds straight into the helmet, killing the Diamond Dog as he fell in a heap on the floor.

“That was for Peace Keeper, you buckers…” Steel Gaze said as he raised his visor. He opened up the power armor and fell out onto the floor of the with a thud. His DI uniform was torn and bloody from the injuries he had accumulated during the Diamond Dog’s assault. He struggled to his hooves before dragging himself past the dead mercenary and up the ladder to the cockpit. He was thankful that there was no one inside as he didn’t have the energy left to fight let alone subdue anyone else at this point.

Once he got into the pilot’s seat, he closed the troop bay doors and started the ship’s engines, which got the attention of some Diamond Dogs who were escorting Penny Pincher to his ship.

“What the hell? Who authorized that transport for launch?” the squad leader yelled into his comlink.

“No one sir. The pilot is not responding to us.”

At that moment, the dropship fired off its thrusters and lifted off the hangar floor.

“What the, someone’s hijacking one of our ships! Shoot it down!” the mercenary ordered as he and the rest of his squad opened fire on the ship but it fled into the asteroid field before their weapons could do any significant damage to it.

“Damn it! Tell all ships to target that dropship and blast it to pieces!” the squad leader yelled into his comlink.

“Roger that.”

“That won’t be necessary sargeant.” Penny Pincher said as he opened his communicator. “All ships, cancel that last order. Let that ship go.”

“But sir!” the squad leader protested, he was silenced when Penny Pincher raised his hoof.

“Not to worry sargent, my associates and I will handle this…” Penny Pincher looked at the retreating dropship and smiled. “…It appears that Miss Sparkle will have her scapegoat after all.”

Author's Note

Just one more chapter and this story can finally be complete...ish.

Please point out any errors on my part so I can correct them as soon as possible. This goes doubly so for Starcraft fans.

Lost in the Dark and the Forgotten Light

Stedson laughed as he flew through the open skies and felt the wind blowing through his fur. There was no other feeling like it. He looked down at the town below and waved to the ponies as he passed them by overhead. He picked up his speed when he saw a farmhouse in the distance. His home.

So peaceful…

He stopped flapping his wings when he got closer to the farmhouse, but kept them extended as he gently glide his way down. Unfortunately, his landing wasn’t as graceful as his descent when his hoof got caught in a stone jutting out of the ground just as he was about to land, causing him to tumble forward several feet before skidding to a halt with his muzzle deep in the mound of dirt he dug up.

Stedson groaned as he pulled himself out of the dirt and rubbed his sore snout with a hoof. He coughed up some dirt and even a couple of his feathers. That was not one of his better landings. He then heard someone giggling at him. His face broke out into a smile when he saw the pink unicorn mare stepping out onto the front porch.

So beautiful…

“Candy!” he exclaimed before letting out a nervous laugh, “Er…You didn’t see that just now…did you?” he asked her in a hopeful tone of voice but was disappointed and embarrassed when she nodded her head while trying to keep her laughter under control.

“I give that landing a 4.5 out of 10.” Candy said as she trotted up to him, “Here, let me give you a hoof…or a horn.” She said with a laugh as she lit up her horn and lifted the pegasus up to his hooves.

“Thanks...” He stopped and coughed some more feathers, “...also, a 4.5? That rock came out of nowhere.”

Candy rolled her eyes at him, “Fine, you get a 5 out 10. Happy now?” Stedson surprised her when he gave her a quick peck on the lips.

“Very.” He replied while grinning at the stunned look on her face, “So how was your day at the clinic?”

She recovered from her stupor and recounted her day to him, “Oh, nothing much really. It was really slow today, the only real patient I had was our own son.”

Son…?

His brows furrowed when he heard this, “Did something happen to him? Is he all right?” he asked worriedly.

“He’s alright, just cut himself a little when he fell into a patch of thorns while playing hoofball with his friends.” Candy explained.

Stedson sighed in relief at the news,“So where is he right now?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” she said, gesturing to their home.

“Dad?” a voice called out to him.

Stedson turned his head and saw a young colt standing by the doorway; the colt had some bandages covering his cream white coat. He had his father’s brown mane which was just as, if not more unkempt as his father’s as it covered up his forehead completely. He saw that the colt was wearing Candy’s coat over his tiny frame.

Pegasus?…Unicorn?… Earth Pony?

“Hey son, what are you standing way over there for? Come and give your old man a hug!” He said but the colt shook his head and said something about cooties.He shrugged before pulling Candy into his arms, “Then I guess I'll just settle for kissing your... mother in front of you.” he smirked when he saw Candy rolling her eyes at him.

“What?” the colt cried out in a mix of surprise and disgust, “Alright I’ll hug you! Just don’t kiss mom in front of me.” He said before he trotted up to his parents and hugged them both. Stedson then kissed his wife right on the lips, in full view of their son, much to his disgust. Candy on the other hoof, didn’t mind as much.

“Ewww! You tricked me!” the colt exclaimed while trying to pry himself out of his father’s hooves.

Stedson gave his son a smirk, “Well, I didn’t say anything about not kissing your mother, now did I?”

“Now dear, you know he doesn’t like it when you tease him.” Candy gently scolded him.

“Yeah dad, that’s my job!” a familiar voice suddenly called out from the house.

“Sis! You’re back!” his son cried out excitedly.

No, that’s not possible…

He turned his head and saw an orange pegasus mare walking towards them. She stopped in front of his son and gave him a hug. “Good to see you again squirt, what’s with the bandages?” she said to the colt

“522…Is that you?” he blurted out.

The mare stopped dead in her tracks and cocked her head curiously to the side. “What are you talking about dad? It’s me...” Stedson just looked at her blankly “...your daughter? I just got back from my camping trip. Have I really been away that long?”

Stedson blinked at the mare before him and shook his head, “Sorry…my mistake, I thought you were someone else for second.” he smiled weakly at his daughter, “…Oh and welcome home.” He added.

“Thanks dad, it’s good to be home.” She said before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. “I miss you guys so much…but I gotta tell you something.”

“And what’s that?”

“Wake up.”

“What?” he opened his eyes and his family had vanished. He turned around and saw that everything else was gone too; the town in the distance had disappeared, consumed by a sea of shadows that was getting closer by the second.

“Stedson!” He turned to his house, and saw Candy with their children standing inside the doorway of their home, beckoning to him with outstretched hooves.

“Hold on! I’m coming!” he shouted back and broke out into a run, but the encroaching shadow was faster as it swallowed the ground underneath and fell to the darkness below. He instinctively opened his wings and flapped them, confident that he’d make it to his family but realized that he was still falling.

“Wake up…” He looked up, saw his home, slowly becoming a small speck of light as he fell further, and further away from it and into the darkness below. He stretched his hoof out to the light and reached for it, only for the darkness to take him.

“Wake up…”

Stedson’s eyes shot wide open as he jolted awake in his bed. He turned his head from side to side, frantically searching for any sign of his family but reality soon dawned on him when he saw the familiar gray metal walls of his room on the station. He moved a hoof to his head and sighed.

“That never happened before...” He murmured to himself before getting out of bed. He shrugged off his clothes as he shuffled his way to the shower room. With a twist of a knob, he sighed as he felt the cascade of warm water wash over his body.

Much to his dismay however, his troubles didn’t melt away as he kept thinking about the dream he has. He’s been having these dreams for years now. The dreams usually showed him living with Candy and occasionally raising a child or two in an idyllic settlement. They made life aboard the station more bearable as they gave him hope of a better future for him, and his daughters.

However, years passed by and nothing changed. The dreams now made him feel only sadness and regret. He wondered if they were some sort of ‘punishment’ cooked up by his guilty conscious for what he has done. He would have welcomed the nightmares he used to have but they refused to haunt him for a long time…that is until now.

‘Why was that one different…?’ he thought as he contemplated the meaning behind his dream before he shook his head, ‘It doesn’t matter. It was just a dream, nothing more. Wasn’t it?’ but before he could ponder more on the meaning behind his dreams, his desk terminal came online.

“Incoming transmission for you, Doctor Cog.” an electronic voice called out.

He grumbled incoherently as he turned off the shower and got out, “Who the hell could be calling me at this hour?” he complained as he toweled himself off while going over to his desk and accepted the call. “This better be important or else I’m going to be-” he blinked when he saw the face of an orange pegasus mare on the screen.

“Hi dad.”

After the awkwardness had passed and he was dressed in something besides a towel, Stedson spent some time catching up with 588 as they talked about things that had happened since their last talk. He did his best not to show his discomfort when she briefly talked about her latest bedroom partner. Poor guy. He was thankful when she finally changed the topic to something else.

“Anything new with you, dad?” she asked.

“Nope, everything is still the same on this hunk of rock.” He and 588 shared a laugh at the inside joke. “So, how are you and the others holding up?” he asked. “Getting bored with guard duty yet?” he added jokingly.

When 588 and the other Iron Feathers joined up with the Diamond Dogs, they had expected to go on missions and see some combat but were disappointed when they were assigned to guard duty and nothing else. While Stedson was more than happy with the arrangement, the Iron Feathers thought otherwise as many of them considered it waste of their skills but orders were orders, and good soldiers followed them.

The mare on the screen rolled her eyes, a habit she picked up a long time ago from her mother and former teacher, “Very funny dad. Me and the girls are doing fine and just so you know, we got a major operation coming up soon.”

“You do?” he asked, his voice suddenly filled with dread.

“Yep, Mr Pincher says that The Prophet wants everyone in on this operation, and that includes us!” she shouted excitedly. After being stuck on guard duty for so long, the Iron Feathers were very eager for a chance to prove themselves in battle.

Stedson on the other hoof was not as enthusiastic about his daughters going into battle as Mercy was. The Iron Feathers may have been trained to be the perfect soldiers but it didn’t mean they were immortal. There were bound to be casualties.

“Where is this big operation supposed to happen?” he asked curiously, thinking that it would give him some peace of mind if he knew where they were going.

“Oh, the operation is going to…” she paused for a moment, “umm…we’re not supposed to talk about it with anyone. Sorry dad, orders are orders.”

“It’s alright 588, I understand that much at least.” He assured her.

“Dad! How many times do I gotta tell you, it’s Mercy now!” She corrected him.

Stedson chuckled, “Sorry about that, Mercy. It’s still kind of hard getting used to calling you by something other than 588…you sure you don’t want to change it to something else, like Archer?” he suggested.

Mercy gave him a flat look and told him her opinion on the matter in just one word.

“No.”

‘Definitely her mother’s daughter alright.’ he thought, “Alright, forget I asked…” he said before saw the time and realized how long they’ve been talking, “…I think it’s time that we end it here, I’ve got to go to work soon.”

“Okay dad.” She said as she reached towards the monitor to cut off the transmission.

“Oh, there’s one more thing I want to you to pass to the others.”

“Yeah, what is it dad?”

“Tell them to be careful on that operation…and good luck.”

“You worry too much dad. We’re Iron Feathers!” she boasted, “But thanks.” She added softly before ending the transmission.

He sat back into his chair and let out a weary sigh. Despite Mercy’s ‘assuring’ words, he couldn’t help but feel the opposite. It was the fact that they were Iron Feathers that made him so worried about them in the first place, especially the ones outside the Diamond Dogs.

A few years ago, a number of Iron Feathers came forward and told him that they did not want to join the Diamond Dogs anymore. They felt that their destinies laid elsewhere and wanted to seek them out on their own in the sector.

He was worried they wouldn’t be able to adjust to a normal life, so he did everything he could to convince them to reconsider and join the Diamond Dogs, or to stay with him on the station as an alternative, but being the stubborn lot that they were, they refused. In the end, he prepared a number of ships for them loaded with supplies and bid them farewell.

Even though he had promised them that he wouldn’t interfere with their lives, he couldn’t help but worry, so he decided to at least watch out for his daughters. And with the Diamond Dog’s resources at his disposal, he was able to learn their whereabouts and the new life they lead outside the Diamond Dogs.

Unfortunately, from what he learned from one of the earliest ‘reports’, a few of the Iron Feathers had turned to a life of crime and became pirates or mercenaries, terrorizing merchant and civilian ships all over the sector. He felt horrible whenever he learned of the atrocities they committed in their raids.

However, it wasn’t all bad news. The reports also stated the rest of the Iron Feathers had found a life of their own across the five sub-sectors and were leading perfectly normal lives in society. He couldn’t be any happier for them…or at least he was until they started to vanish.

Over the past few years, the Iron Feathers were disappearing one after the other with no trace of what happened to them. He didn’t take the matter seriously at first since the ones who vanished were those who had turned to piracy, he reasoned that they could be just hiding from the law or rival pirates and let it be.

But he couldn't ignore the disappearances any further when one of the Iron Feathers, who had been working as a baker on Agria, turned up missing, which was followed by more of his daughters dropping off the radar throughout the sector.

Worried for their safety, he immediately contacted Penny Pincher and asked him to put the remaining Iron Feathers under his protection and investigate the cause of the disappearances. The mercenary refused his request and said that saving a bunch of weaklings who had refused to join the Diamond Dogs was a waste of his time.

When Stedson heard those words, he got into a heated argument with Penny Pincher. He didn’t remember many of the things he said but he did make the mercenary lose his temper, which was a rare occurrence. He lost the argument when Penny Pincher threatened to take away his communications privileges, and without that, he wouldn’t be able to contact Mercy or the rest of her sisters.

In the end, all he could do was to keep an eye out for any sign of the missing Iron Feathers while observing those that remained. While the disappearances had stopped, it had been nearly two years since the last disappearance and he was losing hope of ever finding his missing daughters again.

He sat back into his chair and stared up at the ceiling, wondering. Wondering about the things he did that brought him to this point, and if he could have done them differently. Maybe then, that dream would be a reality…

“Candy…” he whispered his lover’s name longingly and thought of looking for her and 36. He had the means at his disposal to do so, but ever since his ‘disagreement’ with Penny Pincher, the Diamond Dogs have been watching him like a hawk and he’d hate to put them in any danger due to his carelessness. It was as if Happy Day had never left.

Stedson grunted as he got out the chair, and put on his labcoat. An orange feather fell from one of the pockets. He picked up the frayed feather and smiled sadly at it before putting it safely back into his coat before walking out the door. He needed to bury all these depressing thoughts with work.

Lots of it

Somewhere out in the desert wastelands of Meinhoff, a single pony was driving an uncovered buggy across the scorched landscape. He was protected from the sun’s ultraviolet rays by a large hooded cloak, which covered him from head to hoof as he drove across the desert. He was listening to some music on the radio before on an urgent news broadcast interrupted his tunes.

Terrorism! It has been a week now since the devastating psychic attack against our fair capital, and the citizens still ask the question, "Who is responsible?!" Fortunately the mares and stallions of Dominion Intelligence have found the stallion behind the heinous attack against Imperial civilians. Would you like to know more?

The pony turned off the radio and stopped the buggy when he neared his destination. He then got out of the vehicle and opened up the trunk, pulling out the big metal case inside. He strapped it to his back and started walking up to the top of a nearby hill, which gave him a good view of the domed farmstead in the distance.

Steel Gaze pulled back his hood, revealing the ocular implant in place of his right eye, which he had lost early on in his one-stallion crusade against the Diamond Dogs. The implant whirred as he zoomed in on the dome. He smiled when he saw his target, a unicorn mare tending to the fields all on her own.

“So this is who they have been hiding all this time. A mare…typical.” Steel Gaze snorted derisively before pulling back his cloak, revealing his old DI combat uniform. The dark suit of armor was old and battered in places, but it was one of the few things he had left of his old life in the Dominion before he was framed for the murder of Vice Admiral Day.

“Wonder why you’re so important.” he muttered to himself before he lifted the heavy case off his back and opened it up. Inside were the dissembled pieces of a rifle, along with a pair of precision gloves, which he put on. “No matter, I’ll find out after you’re dead.” He said as he started assembling the rifle.

Even with the heat and the dust, it only took him mere minutes to put the rifle together. It was massive gun by anypony’s standard and it appeared unwieldy, but he handled the rifle with practiced ease as he gave it one last inspection before setting it down on the ground.

He then lay down beside the rifle and pulled out a length of cable from his cybernetic eye which he connected to the rifle. His implant whirred as it gave him the measurements on the wind, elevation, and distance along with other factors that he needed to adjust to for the shot.

With the final calibrations set, he pulled the cable out and zoomed in on his target. He smiled when he saw his target still there, completely unaware of her imminent demise. He released the weapon’s safety lock and took aim. He breathed in as he moved his hand to the trigger and was about to open fire when he heard someone cocking a gun behind him.

“Step away from the gun, or I’ll splatter your brain all over the sand.” the pony threatened. The former DI agent mentally cursed himself for his carelessness as he got up and moved away from the rifle.

“Good. Now turn around nice, and easy.” he did as he was told and turned around. He eyed the HFB strapped to his front, ready to be used at a moment’s notice, but all thoughts of killing whoever had sneaked up on him were gone when he saw a face that he hasn’t seen in a long time.

“Well, well, well…if it ain’t my old buddy, Gaze.” Spend Thrift said as he looked at the ex-DI agent’s implant, “Looks like the past eight years haven’t been very kind to you, have they? ” he quipped as he waved his revolver around playfully. “I’ve heard that a rogue agent from Dominion Intelligence has been hunting down Diamond Dogs across the sector but I never expected it to be you of all people.”

“I…I thought I was the only one that got away.” Steel Gaze muttered as he looked at his former comrade. “How… How are you still alive?” he asked as he approached Spend Thrift and stretched his hand out to him, thinking it was some kind of mirage and his hand would pass through him. He was proven wrong when the earth pony swatted his hand away.

“Not so fast, Gaze. Now, step away or I’ll shoot.” Spend Thrift threatened, reminding him of the gun still pointed at his head.

“Inspector Thrift… what are you doing?” he asked, backing away warily.

“That’s Deputy Thrift to you, Gaze. I don’t work for the Dominion anymore.” Spend Thrift corrected him and pulled back his vest, showing him the gleaming badge underneath. “I’ve also been hired to keep that mare that you were about to shoot, safe. And my boss told me to be on the lookout for the guy that’s been taking out our boys. Figure I’d take down two birds with one stone.”

“What do you mean, your boys? The only ones I’ve killed were…the Diamond Dogs.” his eyes then lit up with realization, “You! You were the one that betrayed us back at Castanar!” he shouted before pulling out his HFB and swung it at Spend Thrift.

The earth pony ducked under the spinning blade and swept his leg under the pegasus’ legs, knocking him down. He then tried to fire his weapon, wanting to end this quickly, but was caught off guard when Steel bucked him in the chest, knocking him back and onto the ground.

“What is with pegasi and them bucking me in the chest!” the earth pony complained before he jumped back up on his hind legs and pulled up his gun, but he had lost it. He didn’t have the chance to look for his missing revolver when Gaze came charging at him with his HFB in hand. Spend Thrift quickly rolled out of the way, barely dodging the blade as it sliced off a few strands of his tail. He scooped up a handful of sand, and threw it in his opponent’s face.

“Aaargh!” Steel Gaze cried out angrily as he tried to get the sand out of his eye. Spend Thrift took the opportunity to buck him into a nearby boulder, knocking the breath out of him. With his opponent down for the moment, Spend Thrift looked around for his revolver to get the upperhoof but Gaze had already recovered and tackled him to the ground.

The two traded blows with each other as they rolled around in the sand as they wrestled desperately for the HFB, but Steel Gaze, literally, came out on top and pinned his opponent beneath him. He raised the HFB triumphantly over his head and pulled the trigger, making the blade spin.

“Die Traitor!” he declared before plunging the blade down into the earth pony’s chest. “What?” but instead of penetrating flesh, he felt the blade hit something more solid. He looked down and saw it had punctured into one of Spend Thrift’s precision gloves. The pegasus growled and turned the blade back on as it started to cut through the metal hand.

Spend Thrift gritted his teeth and looked into the pegasus’ cybernetic eye which glowed an angry red as he struggled to hold back the spinning blade which was quickly tearing through what was left of his mechanical hand. Steel growled impatiently and drove the HFB even further into the glove, fully intent on ending the earth pony’s life. He smiled when he saw the blade finally penetrate through the glove but became confused when he saw Spend Thrift smiling.

“What the hell are you smiling about?” he demanded.

“Ya know what I like about the Diamond Dogs, Gaze?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“What?” he shouted back.

“They always have the best toys.” He answered before grabbing hold of Steel Gaze’s arm with his other precision glove, which started glowing as it crackled with power.

“What are you-Aaaaah!” Steel screamed when the glove sent a powerful surge of electricity into his body. He let go of the HFB’s trigger when the muscles in his body painfully contracted from the electric shock. Spend Thrift then let go of the pegasus before pushing him aside.

“Damn…that was a close one.” Spend Thrift coughed as he got back up on his hooves. He looked at the HFB still stuck in his mangled precision glove. He pulled it out and took a closer look at it and noticed that the weapon was old as the internal mechanism was worn out, explaining why it had taken so long to tear through his precision glove. Something he was very thankful for.

He tried to operate the damaged glove but it gave off a spark and delivered a mild but painful shock into his arm. “Ow! Son of a bitch!” he swore before he took off the damaged glove and threw it away. He then he reached into his vest and pulled out a phone, dialed a number. He eventually got a response when heard Penny Pincher’s voice on the other end.

“What is it Mr Thrift? I’m very busy planning a planetary assault here, so make it quick.” He snapped impatiently.

“Geez boss, relax a bit will ya. Just thought that I should let you know that I caught someone trying to off our girl just now...and it’s the same guy that’s been taking out our boys across the sector.” He then walked up to Steel’s rifle and let out a low whistle.

“Mr Thrift, is something the matter?”

“Whoa, is that an antique Terran BOSUN rifle!? I’ve never seen one outside of museums and private collections before…Can I have it?” He grinned when he heard Penny Pincher sigh on the other end of the line.

“Please focus on the matter at hoof, Mr Thrift. Can you confirm that it’s actually him?” he asked.

“Eeyup, even got a confession out of him saying so but you won’t believe who it is.”

“Well…who is it then?” he asked impatiently.

“Dominion Intelligence Special Operative: Steel Gaze.” He answered, “Well, former operative really, but you already know all about that, don’t ya boss?”

“Mr Gaze? I thought he died while hiding on some backwater world.”

“Apparently not, he’s still alive and kicking…in a manner of speaking.” He said as he looked at Gaze’s still twitching body. “So what do you want me to do with him? Bring him in for questioning?” he suggested.

“No. I hired you to keep that mare safe until I say otherwise and you coming to us would jeopardize your mission. Besides, bringing Mr Gaze here would only be a waste of time and resources. He’s a loose end, just take care of it however you see fit.”

“Alright boss, you got it.” He then ended the call but instead of putting the phone away, he dialed in another number. He didn't wait very long before someone picked up the phone.

“Gallows City Sheriff’s Office, this is Golden Sea speaking. How may I help you?” the receptionist enquired.

“Hey Goldy, is the boss in right now?”

“Oh D-Deputy Thrift, it’s you.” Spend smiled at the way the mare was acting when she realized whom she was talking to.

‘Heh, I still got it.’ He thought with a smirk.

“I’m sorry but the sheriff is out at the moment.” She said when she calmed down. “Do you want to leave a message for him when he comes back?” she offered.

“Sure Goldy. Tell him that I caught a suspicious looking fella sneaking around one of the farms while I was out on my break. Bastard pulled a HFB on me when he saw me coming.”

“Oh my gosh! Are you alright?” she exclaimed worriedly.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but he wrecked one of my gloves before I could take him down. Anyways, I checked out the database to see who the guy was; says he’s wanted by the Dominion.”

“By the Dominion? Sounds serious. I’ll be sure to let the sheriff know about this as soon as possible.”

“Much obliged darlin’ and by the way, are ya free tonight?”

“Yes, why?” she asked curiously.

Spend let out a chuckle and spoke in the smoothest voice possible. “Cause I’m getting a reward for bringing this guy in and I’m asking ya out to dinner at that fancy new restaurant ya like so much, to celebrate.” He explained.

“W-what?” she stuttered.

“Think about it Goldy. You, me, a candle-lit dinner, and maybe something a little bit more.” He added suggestively. He smirked when he heard the mare squeak, probably at the images he just put in her head. “So Goldy, can I take that as a yes?”

The mare squeaked out a quick “Yes!” before cutting the call short. Spend Thrift chuckled at the mare’s reaction before putting his phone away. He turned to Steel Gaze, who was still recovering from the electric shock.

“Ya hear that Gaze? I got a hot date tonight and its all thanks you.” He said as he retrieved his fallen revolver. He then slowly walked towards the pegasus who was breathing heavily as his body continued to twitch about uncontrollably.

“Nothing personal Gaze, but I gotta kill ya now.” He said as he aimed the gun at his head and fingered the trigger.

“W-wait!” Steel exclaimed, his voice still strained from the shock. Spend Thrift decided to humor him and lowered his gun, confident that there wasn’t anything the pegasus could do stop him in his condition.

“Oh, are ya gonna start begging for ya life now, Gaze? That’s hardly fitting for a professional soldier like you, now is it?” he said in mock disappointment.

“No…I want to know…Why?”

“Why?” the earth pony repeated. “Why what?”

“Why…did you…betray us?” he asked between ragged breaths.

Spend Thrift' scratched his chin with his ungloved hoof while deep in thought. He smirked when he came up with a response. “Easy, the Diamond Dogs paid me to do it; it was an offer I’d never refuse.” He answered before raising his revolver back up and pulled back the hammer. “Anymore stupid questions?”

“That’s all it took for you to betray us? Money!?” the pegasus shouted angrily, ignoring the numbness in his body as he tried to get back up onto his hooves.

Feeling a little bored and in need of some entertainment, he watched the pegasus slowly get back up on his hind legs and started stumbling his way to him, nearly falling over himself several times as he struggled to put one hoof in front of the other, like a drunken sailor. He even cursed like one too, shouting all manner of profanities at him.

The earth pony would have found this sight funny, if he didn’t already find it sad and pathetic.

“You greedy son of a-” he was cut off mid-swear when Spend Thrift punched him square in the jaw with his ungloved hoof, sending the pegasus reeling before he tripped and fell flat on his back.

“That’s enough cussin’ out of ya.” Spend Thrift said sternly before he aimed his revolver at the pegasus for the umpteenth time and asked calmly. “Any last words?”

“-Bitch.” Steel finished spitefully, giving him one last glare. Spend Thrift pulled the trigger and the revolver let out an explosive roar as he ended the pegasus’ miserable life. He watched the glow from Steel’s implant slowly grow dark and sighed deeply.

“Goodbye Gaze.”

Inside the greenhouse dome of the Cog Family Farm, Candy was tending to the fields by herself, pulling out weeds by hoof and she was having a tough time doing it too. Normally she’d be at the hospital right now, working as a part time nurse, but circumstances forced her to take the day off to do some farm work.

“Of all the days for all the machines to break down… they had to do it today!” Candy grumbled as she tried to pull out a particularly stubborn weed from one of the carrot beds. But no matter how hard she pulled at it, the weed refused to budge an inch.

“That’s it! The gloves are coming off now!” she declared as she fired up her horn, and wrapped the offending weed in her magic, and pulled. However, the weed remained firmly rooted in the ground. This only made the mare even more determined to uproot it as she poured more of her magic into her spell.

“Come on you stupid! Little! Weed!” she growled as the strain was starting to give her a headache. She then heard a loud bang in the distance, startling her as she let out an uncharacteristic “Eeep!” and fell flat on her back. She then felt something fall on her head; it was the weed, root and all.

Instead of feeling triumphant however, she let out an annoyed snort as she picked up the weed in her magic and tossed it into the compost bin. She then narrowed her eyes at the house, or rather, someone inside the house.

“Esper! You better not be messing around in Tinker’s workshop again!” she yelled out warningly.

Some noise came from inside the house before a colt’s voice shouted in return.“No mom! I’m just watching TV in the living room with Claire!”

Her worries alleviated, she turned back to the carrot bed and stared at the rest of the overgrown weeds. She sighed as she lit up her horn but stopped when she saw a familiar APT driving up to the dome.

“Mom! Uncle Rook is here!” Esper and Claire cried out excitedly. Candy giggled at their excitement before trotting back into her house. She can deal with the weeds later.

She walked into the old house from the back door and saw a yellow pegasus in a dusty coat coming in through the front door. Sheriff Rook, or Uncle Rook as her children liked to call him, waved to her before her children greeted him themselves.

“Hey, how are my favorite twins doing?” he said as he ruffled Esper’s brown mane, taking care not to get caught in the cream white unicorn’s horn while doing so. The colt laughed as he playfully batted the hoof away.

“Kind of bored, mom’s too busy with the farm to take us to the playground today so we’re stuck watching old reruns of Doctor Whooves on the TV.” Esper explained.

“Then how about I give you a little something to make it less boring.” he reached into his coat and pulled out a box wrapped in a bow and hoofed it to the colt. Esper looked at the box curiously before he took it.

“It's a little something me and the boys from the office got for you. Thought they’d might come in handy until you get the hang of your magic.” He explained. The colt carefully untied the ribbon and unfolded the wrapping before he opened it; he smiled when he saw what was inside.

A pair of precision gloves, just his size.

“Whoa! This is for me, really?” he asked excitedly. Rook smiled and nodded. “Cool! Now I can be just like Tinker!”

“Go ahead and give them a try.” He suggested and watched Esper as he put the mech hands on by inserting his hoof into the socket like he had seen others do before and lifted the gloves up, only for them to fall off and onto the floor with a dull thud. It was clear that he would need a few lessons before he could use them properly.

“Here, let me help you with-oof!” Rook coughed when he felt something, or someone land on his back. He turned his head around to see a pink pegasus filly giggling at him.

“Do you bring something for me too, Uncle Rook?” the filly asked as she bounced on his back, her little wings buzzing with anticipation.

“Take it easy back there will ya? These old bones of mine aren’t as strong as they used to be.” Claire only giggled before she settled down, curled up her pink and purple tail around her body, and stuck her tongue out at him mischievously.

“Uncle Rook is getting old.” The filly sang out teasingly, “Maybe we should call you Grandpa Rook from now on.”

Even though he became an actual grandfather a few months ago, Rook didn’t take too kindly to that remark. “So that’s how you’re gonna play it huh, kiddo? Guess that means I’ll just give your present away to my own granddaughter then.” His words had the desired effect when a look of horror appeared on Claire’s face.

“What!?” she exclaimed before hopping off his back in a hurry. “Sorry Grand-er Uncle Rook!” she quickly apologized. Rook chuckled as he took out another gift box from his coat and hoofed it over to the filly. Unlike her brother, Claire tore off the wrappings in a hurry to which her mother could only shake her head.

“Heh, and here I thought I had to make up a reason what a foal would want with an-”

“An autographed picture of Soarin!!” the filly yelled out excitedly as she pulled out a picture frame holding said photo. It showed the famous Wonderbolt flashing a toothy grin with his signature at the bottom. The filly immediately tackled the sheriff into a hug before shouting “Thank you!” repeatedly.

Candy chuckled at the adorable sight before deciding that Rook had enough. “Alright Claire, you can get off him now. I think he knows how much you appreciate your gift.” The filly grinned sheepishly before letting go of the stallion and helped him up.

“I gotta show this to Esper! He’s going to be so jealous!” she squealed before galloping off to find her brother, who had apparently slipped away during the commotion.

“Honestly Sheriff, you’re going to spoil my kids rotten with all these gifts.” Candy said while shaking her head at him. Rook chuckled at the statement as he followed Candy to the living room.

“Heh, you should see some of the stuff I got for my own grandkid…”he said before making himself comfortable on the sofa. “ Speaking of kids, how has Tinker been doing lately? Does she remember anything new?” he asked.

“No, I’m afraid not but she’s doing just fine, Doctor Bernard says she's getting better with her prosthetics too.” She said as she down in the armchair opposite him.

“It won’t be long before she can go around town on her own, huh?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t go that far but she could stand to get out of that workshop of hers more often. She’s been cooped up in there working on some kind of project in there for a while now.”

“At least she’s keeping herself busy.” He said before a thought occurred to him. “It’s almost hard to believe it's been two years since she came crashing into our lives, literally… just like you did seven years ago.” He said as he remembered the day when a strange ship crash-landed outside the city and how he found a very pregnant Candy inside.

“Now sheriff, you make it sound like we crashed here on purpose.” She said, giving him a flat look.

“Heh, sorry, didn’t mean anything by that.” He quickly explained, waving his hooves in front of him. He didn’t want to get on her bad side. “Still, Tinker nearly gave me a heart attack when her ship crashed outside the city. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next one that crashes here is your husband.” He added with a laugh.

Unfortunately, his joke had the opposite effect on his host, as she became sad at the mention of her 'missing' husband. Rook mentally facehooved at his blunder and wondered if his wife was right when she said Jeff’s tactlessness was rubbing off on him.

“Oh geez, me and my big mouth… I’m so sorry!” He quickly apologized, “Is there’s anything I could do to make it up to you?” He offered sincerely.

“It’s alright sheriff, I’m fine.” She said, shaking her head, “Now where did we left-” she stopped when she saw an orange pegasus in a wheelchair, wheeling herself into the room.

“Mom, I heard Claire screaming just now. Is everything…” she then noticed that there was someone else in the living room besides her mother.

“Hey Tinker, how are you doing?” Rook greeted her cheerfully but Candy noticed that her daughter was quivering while giving the sheriff an uneasy look.

“It’s alright Tinker,” she spoke up, drawing her daughter’s attention to herself. “It’s just Uncle Rook, remember?”

“Uncle…Rook?” she repeated softly before looking over Candy’s shoulders and stared at the stallion in question, now more curious than anxious.

“Yes, he’s the one that gave you that multi tool for your birthday last year, remember?" Candy assured her and stepped aside. Tinker looked at Rook a bit more closely before her face flushed red with embarrassment when she remembered who he was.

“I-I’m s-sorry I didn’t recognize you, Un-Uncle Rook!” she stuttered apologetically.

“It’s alright Tinker, you don’t need to apologize.” He said, waving off the slight misunderstanding. “Besides, it’s my fault for not coming to visit your home more often.”

“If y-you say so, Uncle Rook.” Tinker answered timidly. Rook saw that she was still quite shy around him, so he decided to try something different.

“I’ve heard from your mother that you’ve been working on something in that workshop of yours for a while now…” he smiled when Tinker’s ears perked up, “…and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind telling us about it.”

“Would I!” she exclaimed excitedly, startling the sheriff, but calmed down when Candy cleared her throat, “Umm, I mean…No, I don’t mind at all.” She answered sheepishly.

“Great, so what is this ‘secret’ project of yours?” he asked curiously. Tinker obliged him and started telling him about it.

Candy decided to head for the kitchen before she got dragged into the ‘lecture’ as well. Her head was still spinning from all the techno-babble from the last time someone got Tinker talking about her projects. She almost felt sorry for the sheriff.

While getting out the extra large jug for the lemonade she was making, she heard laughter coming from outside in the fields and looked out the window. She saw Esper chasing after Claire, who had one of his precision gloves in her mouth.

“Oh Stedson, if only you could be here to see our children…” she sighed wistfully before she went back to making the drinks.

Levitating the tray of refreshments to the living room, she saw that Rook and Tinker were still talking, and it appeared that she had underestimated the sheriff’s knowledge on machinery since he was able to keep up with Tinker as they talked about ‘hydraulics’ this, ‘motion control’ that. She couldn’t make heads or tails out of the conversation.

“Here you go, some ice-cold lemonade.” she said as she gave Rook and Tinker some lemonade.

“Thanks mom, I was getting really thirsty.” Tinker said before taking a big gulp from her glass.

“Much obliged Mrs Cog.”

“So did I miss anything?” she asked.

“Well...Do you remember when you said that we couldn’t get me a pair of cybernetic legs?” Candy nodded slowly, a little ashamed that all she could afford for Tinker’s disability were a pair of cumbersome metal prosthetics. “I was telling Uncle Rook about the modifications I made to my prosthetics.”

“Modifications? What sort of modifications?” Candy asked curiously.

“Let me show you.” she said, reaching for the blanket covering her legs and pulled it off, revealing her prosthetic legs, which were bound to her thighs by a series of straps and buckles. Candy noticed that all sorts of mechanical parts and electronics had been added to the metal legs.

“Homemade cybernetics…very impressive.” Rook spoke up when he saw all the hardware on the metal legs. Tinker beamed at the praise, “Did you make all the internal workings by yourself?” he asked.

“Yup, I made them from spare parts I found lying around the house.” She boasted.

“Spare parts huh?” Candy questioned as she eyed the prosthetic limb, noticing that more than a few of the 'additions' looked very familiar. “You wouldn’t have any idea why all of the farming machines are on the fritz, would you?”

Tinker let out a nervous laugh, “Er…maybe?”

Candy then let out a groan as she facehooved herself, trying not to think about all the work she had to do in the fields this morning thanks to Tinker’s…tinkering. She sighed as she massaged her temples, trying to rid herself of the growing migraine in her head.

“So does it work?” Rook asked, trying to steer the conversation away from an unpleasant outcome.

“Yes, does it actually work?” Candy echoed, pointing a hoof at the metallic legs. She reasoned to herself that the cost to repair the cannibalized farming machines would be a small price to pay if her crippled daughter could walk normally again.

“Actually, it does work. Here, let me show you.” She said as she tightened the straps around her thighs before flipping a switch on each leg. The legs whirred to life as they powered up.

They watched Tinker as she lifted a leg off the hoof pedals and onto the wooden floor, followed by the other. The wood creaked as it took the heavy weight of the metal limbs. She held onto the armrest, using it to support herself and rose from her wheelchair.

“Take it nice and easy, alright?” Candy said worriedly.

“Oh come on mom, I’ll be fine.” She began, “It’s not like this is my first time walking with these.” She finished before letting go of the wheelchair and dropping to all four legs. She had some trouble balancing herself at first when she nearly fell over a couple of times before she finally steadied herself.

She then took a few steps forward, expecting her movement to be slow and awkward, just like when she first learned to walk again with her prosthetics, but was surprised when she found herself still moving at a steady pace. She looked back and saw her new hind legs were moving in synch with her forelegs.

“See mom, no problem!” She said as she sped up to a slow trot, before tripping over herself when she forgot to compensate for the added weight. She didn’t fall very far before Candy enveloped the young mare in the grey aura of her magic, holding her in place, mid-fall.

“No problem, huh?” Candy asked wryly before releasing the spell. Tinker gave her mother an awkward smile as she righted herself, to which the older mare rolled her eyes in return.

“Okay…so I might need some more practice before I get the hang of them.” She admitted, grinning while scratching the back of her head. They were interrupted by the sound of galloping hooves in the house.

“Tinker! Check out what Uncle Rook got us!” Esper called out excitedly when he and Claire came barging into the room. They skidded to a halt when they saw Tinker and her modified prosthetics.

“Whoa!” the twins exclaimed simultaneously, their eyes wide as they stared at Tinker’s cyber legs in awe.

“Hey guys! Want to see a trick?” she asked sweetly, hoping to get a reaction out of them. The twins nodded their heads numbly, all while keeping an eye on her back legs.

Tinker used her wings to flip a toggle hidden on each leg before she lifted her forelegs off the floor, and looked at her cyberlegs as they clicked and whirled, shifting her quadruped stance to bipedal. She smiled when she saw the wide-eyed expressions on her siblings’ faces.

“Whoa! That’s so cool! You’re just like Uncle Rook and his robot suit!” Esper exclaimed, drawing a few chuckles from the adults and teen. Tinker was about to correct her little brother when Claire thumped him over the head, much to Candy’s disapproval.

“They’re called power armor, you dummy!” Esper’s ears flattened against his head.

“Oh yeah…Hehe, I knew that.” He said, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

“No you didn’t!” Claire shouted.

“Yes I did!” Esper shouted back.

“Nuh uh!”

“Ya huh!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Ya huh!”

The twins kept arguing with each other but their voices slowly became distant and muffled to Tinker when she suddenly felt dizzy. She clutched her head in her hooves; the headache suddenly grew worse when an image appeared in her mind.

The image started moving, like a movie. She saw herself, as a filly and another filly who looked just like her, and it looked like they were arguing with each other, but no sounds came out of their mouths. Even though she couldn’t hear them, she felt like she knew what they were saying.

They kept arguing until a yellow stallion in a white lab coat stepped forward and told them to stop. She didn’t know why, but she felt so happy in his presence. She tried to concentrate on him, to see if she could figure out who he was, but the throbbing in her head suddenly grew worse. It soon became so unbearable that she fell to the floor and passed out.

“Hey guys! I think she’s waking up…Tinker...Tinker!” her eyelids flew open at Claire’s shouting and saw her family crowding around her, all of them had expressions of relief on their faces when they saw her finally awake.

“What happened…and why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious with so many ponies looking at her.

“You fainted when mom was scolding us for arguing.” Esper explained, Claire nodded in agreement with her twin.

“Yeah, you scared the living daylights out of mom when you dropped to the floor. She was ordering Uncle Rook around like she was his boss.” Claire said, giggling at what happened. Tinker looked at her mother, who cleared her throat while trying to hide the blush on her face.

“Never mind that, I’m just glad you’re alright.” She said before pulling the pegasus mare into a hug. The touching moment was interrupted when Rook came back into the room, looking out of breath as he carried some blankets and a first-aid kit with him.

“Okay, I got what you asked for. Where do you want them?” he asked before he saw that Tinker was awake. “Hey, you’re up! You had us worried for a while back there, little lady.” He said before remembering the blankets still in his arms, “Er…I guess I’ll just put these back where I found them.

“No need for that, sheriff.” Candy said as she levitated the items off his hands, “I’m really sorry for the way I yelled at you earlier. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Nah, it’s alright. I’ve been a father long enough to know how worked up folks get when they’re worried about their kids.” he said before sitting back down, “In fact, I knew a guy who was actually willing to take on a bunch of guys in power armor all on his own to keep his kid safe, and all he had was just a-” his phone went off, interrupting his story.

“Sorry, I gotta take this.” He said before answering his phone, “Hello, Sheriff Rook here.”

“Did I call at a bad time sheriff?” Golden Sea asked.

“No, it’s fine. Did something happen?”

“Deputy Thrift called in earlier. He wanted you to know that he caught someone sneaking around one of the greenhouse farms with a rifle. Suspect was killed when he resisted arrest.” Rook sighed when he thought of the extra paperwork he‘ll need to do tomorrow morning because of this.

“Did the deputy ID the guy at least?”

“Not by name, but he says the suspect’s wanted by the Dominion.” Rook cocked an eyebrow. The Dominion rarely posted bounties to the public since they normally took care of any problems themselves, which meant that whoever this guy was, he’s dangerous.

“Can you tell me where the incident took place?” he asked.

“Let me check the data log…It says Deputy Thrift called from somewhere around the area near the Cog Family Farm.” Rook nearly dropped his phone. “Shall I send one of the deputies on duty to cordon off the area for investigation?"

“Just send the coordinates to my APT and I’ll go there myself. No need to cause a scene.”

“Of course sheriff. Will you need me for anything else?”

“No. Feel free to clock out for the day after you’re done filing away the reports.” He then heard the receptionist let out a cheer. “What was that?”

“Nothing!” she quickly answered before cutting the call short, leaving Rook mildly confused.

“That…was weird.” He muttered before putting the phone away.

“Is something wrong, sheriff?” Candy asked. Rook gave her a reassuring smile and shook his head.

“Nothing big, some of the locals got into a bar fight and Jeff needs some backup breaking them up.” he lied as he got up and made his way to the door. “Sorry about this but I gotta go.” Candy and the twins decided to see him off while Candy confined Tinker to the sofa. She didn’t want to risk her passing out again.

“Bye Uncle Rook!” the twins said, giving him one last hug.

“Bye kiddos. Remind me to tell you that story another time. It’s a good one, I promise.” He winked to the kids and reached for the door “Oh yeah, I almost forgot.” He said before he reached into his coat and pulled out another box, “It’s something one of the boys found while going through the warehouse, it was inside her ship. Thought it might help her remember her past.” he said as he handed the box over to Candy.

“Thank you sheriff, I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.” He smiled and left the farm. His APT soon drove off into the distance, leaving her with the twins as they crowded around her, trying to get a closer look at Tinker’s present.

“What is it? What did Tinker get?” Esper asked excitedly.

“Yeah, lemme see!” Claire said as she flew by, trying to grab the box but Candy pulled it out of the filly’s reach before grounding her with her magic.

“You should know better than to take something that isn’t yours, young lady.” Claire opened her mouth to argue but the stern look in her mother’s eyes made her reconsider.

“Sorry mom…”

“That’s better. Now why don’t you two take this to Tinker while I clean up this mess, okay?” Claire offered her a sheepish grin before she took the present in her mouth and scampered off to the living room.

“Do you want me to stay and help you clean up?” Esper asked as he looked at the confetti that used to be wrapping paper.

“That’s sweet of you but it’s alright, I got this. Just go and make sure Claire doesn’t make another mess for me to clean up.” Esper nodded before joining his siblings in the living room. Candy chuckled to herself, thinking how nice it would be if Claire was more considerate like her brother before grabbing the broom from the closet.

She just about finished with the sweeping when she heard a strange humming noise coming from the living room. Thinking that it was probably Tinker’s ‘gift’ making that noise, she kept on sweeping until she heard her children screaming.

“Aaaah! Ghost!” Candy quickly ran into the living room to see what was going on, her broom floating beside her, just in case. She dropped it when she saw someone she thought she’d never see again.

“Stedson?” she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw her former lover standing right in her living room, or rather, a hologram of him when she noticed it flickering. He had changed very little from when she saw him over eight years ago. Aside from the overgrown stubble and the streaks of gray in his mane, he looked just as she remembered him.

She saw Stedson’s mouth was moving but no sound came out. She moved closer to get a better look, until she saw her children on the sofa, cowering from the holographic projection. Well, the twins were the ones cowering while Tinker was trying to pry her shivering siblings off her but they clung to her like a security blanket.

“Mom, get away from the g-g-ghost!” Claire squeaked.

“I keep telling you, it’s not a ghost!” Tinker said in frustration as she tried to get Claire off her back but the filly only tightened her grip.

“Ghost?” she looked back at the transparent hologram and saw why they thought it was a ghost. She shook her head and laughed at the absurd idea, “Tinker’s right, it’s not a ghost, it’s just a hologram of your father.” She said as she passed her hoof through the hologram. “See?”

“Our daddy is a hellogram?” Esper asked as he let go of Tinker’s foreleg, which she shook as she tried to get the blood circulating again. “Is that why you never talk about him?”

“No sweetie, a hologram is a…er…um it’s like a picture or movie but you can see it in 3D without the glasses.” She said, pointing her hoof at the hologram. Esper formed his mouth into an ‘O’ and nodded.

“That’s our dad?” Tinker said as she took a closer look at the hologram, “He kinda looks like the stallion I saw in my head before I passed out.” She muttered to herself as she took a closer look at her supposed father, to see if she could remember anything else about him but drew up a blank.

“Is something the matter, Tinker?” Candy asked when she saw the sad look on her face.

Tinker looked up at her mother and asked, “Can you tell me what dad was like?” Candy blinked at the odd request, a request that was seconded by the twins.

“Oh! Oh! We want to know about daddy too!” Claire said while jumping excitedly on the sofa with Esper, who nodded in agreement.

Candy knew she would have to tell the children about their absent father one day, she just wished that day wasn't today but between the twin’s eager expressions and Tinker’s pleading eyes, she couldn’t possibly tell them no.

“Alright my little ponies, settle down and I’ll tell you about your father, deal?” she asked gently. Her words had an instant effect on the twins as they immediately stopped bouncing and sat down beside Tinker.

“Deal!” they said together as they gave her their most innocent smiles, Tinker decided to play along and forced an awkward smile. Candy smiled wearily at their silly antics before clearing her throat.

“Alright, what do you want to know?” she was instantly bombarded with questions about their father. She raised her hoof and gestured for them to stop.

“How about we start with his name?” the children and teen looked at each other and nodded in agreement. “Good…His name is Stedson Cog.”

“Hey! That’s the same name as our farm!” Esper said. Candy nodded patiently.

“Yes it is. Now where was I?...Oh yes, your father was a smart pony but he would do very silly things at times. He was also a kind and caring stallion who loved spending his time with his family. In fact, I remember the happy smile he had on his face whenever he played with you.” She said, touching Tinker’s nose with her hoof.

“Really?” Tinker asked, and received a nod. “…but I can’t remember any of it…” she said as she turned her head down and sniffed a little, but was startled when the twins hugged her.

“Aww, don’t cry big sis. Even if you don’t remember anything else, you still got me and mommy!”

“Hey! What am I, chopped liver?” Esper complained. Claire simply stuck her tongue out at him, making him even more upset.

“Now, now you two, behave yourselves...” Candy gently scolded them before turning to Tinker, “…but Claire is right, we’re here for you, no matter what.”

“Promise?” she asked.

“I promise. Now how about I tell you more about the times you spent with your father, huh?” Tinker smiled and nodded. Candy made herself comfortable and started the story, glancing at Stedson’s hologram every so often, imagining how nice it would be if he was actually here with them.

One could only dream and hope for the best.

Author's Note

Well that's it, my first pony story is finally complete.

Before I end this I'd like to thank KRissCHu573 who allowed me to use his characters in this chapter and for the help he gave me during editing.

And many thanks to Rametep who made the cover art for the story.

Last but not least, thanks to George Benitez, brother to Leo Benitez who we all knew as UnholyHeaven for giving me permission to finish this story.

Letting go of the Light

Candy felt nervous as she walked along the empty hallway, she wasn’t afraid of the dimly lit corridors by any means, she got used to them long ago. What really made her nervous was that Stedson wanted to see her after not talking to each other in months.

When 36 was taken away, Stedson had become distant with everyone except for the Iron Feathers and herself. This isolated her from her colleagues but she couldn’t care less about them. She knew that Stedson really needed her to be there for him, and she gladly stayed by his side.

After some time passed, he had seemingly moved on, but she could tell that he was still bothered by 36’s ‘adoption and was simply distracting himself with work. She tried asking him about it, to see if she could be any help, but as usual, he avoided the subject altogether. Even the Iron Feathers wouldn’t say anything about the matter to her.

Then things started changing after the last inspection, she saw him talking to one of the inspectors, she didn’t know what they talked about but after that, Stedson started drifting away from her. They didn’t have their late night ‘dates’ as often as they used to. They saw each other less and less until they just stopped.

He explained to her that he needed to concentrate on his work since Happy Day would be here at the end of the year and that their dates were getting in the way. She knew that there must be another reason for this but forgot about it in the ensuing argument, which ended on a sour note...and a slap to the face.

They still saw each other on occasion during work; he was very professional with her during these encounters, she would sometimes try to start a conversation with him in an effort to be friendly but his obvious act of indifference made it difficult for her.

Over time, she noticed that he had been slowly wasting away as he ran himself ragged, working on something late into the night. She advised him to stop whatever he was doing and rest but he insisted that he was fine and carried on as usual despite her protests.

She wasn’t too surprised when he was brought to her medbay on a stretcher one day, but it still didn’t stop her from worrying about him. The guards had apparently found him collapsed from exhaustion in one of the hallways, covered in soot and grease. She immediately put him under her care, watching over him while he recovered.

When he finally woke up, she took the opportunity to question him about the his activities during his recovery but he suddenly had a fearful look in his eyes and bolted out of the medbay before she had a chance to say anything else. They haven’t seen or spoken to each other ever since…that is until now; he had sent one of the Iron Feathers with a note asking for her to see him in his room tonight.

The unicorn mare soon arrived herself at her destination; she lifted her hoof to access the intercom but stopped when the door opened up on its own. It was unlocked. This made her even more nervous since Stedson never leaves the door unlocked, even when he was in it. A number of reasons as to why he would leave the door unlocked crossed her mind

“Candy? Is that you?” she heard someone call out to her from behind, she let out an uncharacteristic squeak and jumped up in fright. She turned around to see Stedson giving her an apologetic grin.

“Don’t do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Candy said, scolding the stallion like one would a child.

“Sorry! I saw that you were a bit late so I stepped out to look for you…” the stallion said sheepishly.

Candy’s glare softened when she saw how sorry he was. “Alright Stedson, I forgive you. Now mind telling me why you wanted to see me?” she asked, hoping to get straight to the point.

“Right, there’s something I want to tell you…but first, would you care to join me in my room?” he asked, gesturing to the open door. Candy nodded and followed him inside. She stopped in the doorway when she saw that the room was completely dark.

“Stedson… why are the lights off?”

“Ah, you’re right, let me fix that.” She watched him as he walked further into the darkened room, and lit up some candles; lighting up part of the room, revealing the cloth-covered table the candleholder was on. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dim light before she realized what it was.

It was a candle-lit dinner.

“Come, let’s sit down.” he offered, pulling a chair out for her.

Candy sat down before Stedson took his own seat and looked at the food; it consisted mainly of sugary foods such as muffins, pies, and all other manner of baked goods she could think of…and probably a few she couldn’t.

She looked up from the dishes and asked, “Did you make all this by yourself?”

“Nope, the girls made this for us. You really should try this peach cobbler they made, it’s delicious.” He said as he hoofed her said pastry. She grasped it with her magic but placed it down on her plate instead of eating it.

“Is something wrong, Candy?”

“Stedson…what is all this?” she asked, gesturing to the food-laden table.

“Whatever do you mean?” he asked, playing dumb.

“The note you sent me, telling me to secretly meet you tonight, and this dinner you set up...you’re hiding something aren’t you?” she said accusingly as she watched him turn away, “What aren’t you telling me, Stedson?”

“It’s an apology.” He admitted.

“An apology?” she echoed as she quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes, I want to apologize for the way I’ve been treating you lately. I’ve been busy with…my work and I didn't want to burden you with my problems. I -” Candy had cut him off midsentence with a hard slap to the face. Stedson pressed his hoof to his stinging cheek as turned his head back and saw the angry look on her face.

“You idiot! Do you seriously think that this is going to make up for what what you put me through?!” Stedson looked away guiltily, as she vented out her anger and frustration at him. “Have you heard what the rumors they spread about us, have you? It's humiliating!”

Stedson flinched when she suddenly slammed a hoof down on the table.

“Do you know how worried I was when I saw you being brought into my medbay that day? Do you?! What could be so important that’d you couldn’t even bother to take care of yourself?”

“I-I can’t tell you…” The mare scowled at his words.

“It’s always secrets with you isn’t it Stedson?” she scoffed.

He didn’t answer her.

“I was worried when you suddenly ran out on me! Why did you run away from me…” she sighed and slumped back down into her seat. “I thought that you...”

“That I what?” he asked curiously as he turned his head up to look at her.

“That you hated me…that you didn’t love me anymore.” She said in admission, tears of frustration flowing down her cheek.

Stedson didn’t say anything at first as he watched her as she sniffled quietly in her seat. He then got up and went to her side. She looked at him before turning away but was surprised when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her. He felt her body tense up at the unexpected display of affection.

"Let me go!" she demanded weakly, as she tried pulling away from him but he refused to let her go.

Holding her close, he said to her, “I’m sorry for what I’ve put you through and for the secrets I’ve kept from you… but I still love you and I always will no matter what and that’s the truth.” The tension in her body slowly melted away when she heard him say those words and leaned into his chest. He let out a small sigh of relief, before he felt a hoof prod him sharply in the chest.

“You know that you’re not getting off the easy.” she said sternly. Stedson gulped a little and nodded.

“I-I know… but I promise that I will always stay by your side and do whatever it takes to make it up to you.” He said as he kissed the top of her head and whispered, “After all, you are my precious light in the dark.” hoping those words would appease the mare.

This drew a giggle from Candy.

“That was really corny you know.” she stated, poking him in the ribs.

“Sorry…” he muttered. Candy smiled before grabbing a hold of his head and pulled him closer.

“Don’t be…” she whispered, before kissing him on the lips, “…cause that’s just the way I like you...” she giggled at the dumbstruck expression he had before she turned around and flicked her tail suggestively at his face, bringing him out of his stupor. “ And as for making it up to me…” she then lit up her horn; Stedson suddenly felt a tug on his neck.

He looked down and saw that Candy had wrapped his tie in her magic, and she was pulling him along like a leash as she led him to the bed. Seeing where this was going, he offered no resistance whatsoever as he obediently followed her to the bed.

The food lay forgotten on the table and articles of clothing casually discarded on the floor, one after the other as the two ponies climbed into the bed and rekindled their love for each other.

Long after the candles had burned themselves out and the food turned cold, the two lovers basked in the afterglow of their love as they slept peacefully in each other’s embrace.

That is until one of them opened their eyes.

Stedson moved his hoof towards Candy’s face and caressed her cheek, she moaned as her lips curled up into a contented smile. He let out a sad sigh before he slipped out of her arms, taking care not to wake her up, and reached for the nightstand where he had hidden a pair of precision gloves and a syringe filled with sedatives. He had them prepared in case Candy didn’t eat the drugged pastry he had given her.

Putting on the gloves, he brushed aside her mane and held the syringe close to her neck. His felt his arm shake as he started having second thoughts about he was about to do but he knew the consequences if he didn’t go through with this, so he took a deep breath and stuck the needle into her neck. She gasped in shock before falling limp when the sedatives took hold.

“I’m sorry Candy…but this is for your own good.”

Candy slowly opened her eyes as she woke up with a moan, she smiled when she remembered the night she had spent with Stedson, and it had been so long since they’ve been together. She yawned as she got up from the bed and stretched her back but then she realized something.

She wasn’t in Stedson’s bedroom anymore…and she was dressed.

She wondered if everything that happened last night had just been a wishful dream but she could remember everything quite clearly; the candle-lit dinner, the things she said to him and the kiss that led them to his bed. It was too vivid to have been a dream and a certain part of her body definitely felt sore from last night.

She gave her surroundings a quick look over; she was inside a basic sleeping quarter similar to the ones she and the others slept in but the room itself was larger than what she was used to and the ceiling was evidently higher as if the room had been designed for someone bigger.

Hoping to get her bearings straight, she got out of bed and went out the door but instead of entering the hallways of the facility, she found herself in an unfamiliar location. Thinking that she must have ended up in a recently ‘reclaimed’ section of the station, she walked down the hallway, hoping to find a section of the station she was familiar with or to run into someone who could help her.

Her eyes widened when the door slid aside and saw the sea of stars moving outside a nearby window. She then realized that she was standing in the enclosed deck of a moving ship. She pinched herself with her magic, thinking that she would wake up in Stedson’s bed cuddling him while he slept.

She yelped at the unexpectedly real pain but still saw the stars moving outside

When the reality of where she was, sank in, her breathing became erratic as she started to panic but the rational side of her mind kicked in before she did anything stupid like running around screaming like a headless chicken.

“Alright…calm down...calm down.” She said to herself before taking a deep breath, “Let’s think… If I’m aboard a moving ship so someone must be piloting it!” she said to herself. Now calmed down and with a plan in mind, she set off to look for her abductor.

After stumbling upon the room she slept in twice, she eventually came across a door which she she hasn't been through before. She hoped that it would lead her to the cockpit and to whoever was piloting the ship. Getting lost had allowed her time to come up with a few choice words for her abductor when she meets them and pressed the button to open the door.

Unfortunately, her courage left her when the door slid aside with a hiss; revealing the cockpit interior which was unlit save for the glow from the monitors and instruments lining the sides, humming away as they performed their functions in the dark.

At the end was the pilot’s seat, its back turned to her. She gulped as she slowly approached it. When she was just a few steps away from the seat, she heard a beeping noise before a voice called out to her.

“Hello Candy.” It was Stedson! She used her magic to turn the chair, expecting him to be sitting in it, but was confused when she saw nopony in it, only a small metal block the size of her hoof.

“Stedson? Where are you?” she asked worriedly. She got a good scare when the block suddenly opened up and a wave of light came out of it as it scanned her from head to hoof. When the light did it's duty, it let out a beep before a holographic projection of Stedson appeared before her.

“If you’re hearing this Candy, it means that I was able to get you away from the station undetected. Don’t be alarmed, the ship you’re on is equipped with a cloaking device so you should be safe from the long range scanners until you’re out of their range.” Stedson then let out a deep sigh, “I know it’s really not the best time for this, but there is something you must know…”

The hologram then told her everything, all the secrets that Stedson has ever kept from her, the Iron Feather’s conditioning, and the details of Happy Day’s plans: the Short Leash Protocol and the Clean Slate Protocol as well as the deal he had made with Penny Pincher and the Diamond Dogs.

Candy fell to her haunches, unable to handle the gravity of what she just been told.

“I know it’s a lot to take in right now but you have to understand…I did this to protect you and the Iron Feathers. I had originally intended for you and 36 to take this ship and go somewhere safe to hide and wait for me to find you after the Diamond Dogs did their ‘work’. But with her gone...” he paused briefly before changing the subject.

“I’ve stocked the ship with enough supplies that should last you a year so you don’t have to worry about starving for a while. The ship is equipped with a warp engine so you are free to go wherever you wish; just set the coordinates and the ship’s auto-pilot will take you there…”

Hearing this, Candy immediately accessed the navigation computer as the monitor showed her a list of locations she could go to: Agria, Aiur, Braxis, Chau Sara, Dylar IV, Haven, Korhal IV, Mar Sara, Meinhoff, followed by the names of other worlds. She recognized some of the names but she didn’t care about them as she scrolled down the list of coordinates for the one she wanted.

“Come on! Where is it, where’s the station?” Candy muttered to herself as she looked through the list for the station’s coordinates but couldn’t find it no matter how long she tried. She slammed her hooves down on the console in frustration, which caused the block to beep in response before the hologram reappeared, this time it came with a different message.

“I thought that you might want to come back to the station but I can’t allow you to do that. That’s why I’ve erased the station’s coordinates from the computer. I know you must be angry with me and I’m sorry but it’s for your own good.” The hologram then looked at her, smiling sadly.

“So please, forget about me, move on, and live a happy life.” Tears streamed down the mare’s face when she heard this, “I love you… my light in the dark.” The hologram lingered on after it finished its message.

“Why?!” Candy cried angrily at the hologram, “You selfish bastard! You promised that you would stay by my side! How could you do this to me! I would’ve stayed with you! I would have stayed!” she screamed at the unresponsive hologram, which kept smiling sadly at her before it faded away.

Stedson had been sitting in the derelict hangar bay for some time now, staring past the asteroid field and into the stars where Candy’s ship had disappeared an hour ago. He hoped that she would find somewhere safe to settle down and live a happy life, far away from here.

A smile crept onto his face as he entertained the thought of her joining the Khalai. As a unicorn, she would almost be guaranteed a place in their society. And from what he understood, the unicorns of the Khalai lived forever, hopefully she’ll forget about him after he’s long gone.

On the other hoof, she might go to one of the fringe worlds, and settle down. She had confided in him once that one of her dreams when she started her training was to open up a clinic and put her talents to good use. He wondered if she’ll find a good stallion to settle down with there.

He shook his head of the countless possible futures Candy might have and let out a depressed sigh as he knew that he wasn’t in any of them. He truly wished he could have gone with her but he needed to stay to keep her and his daughters safe from Day…and from each other.

Despite his best efforts, only a small number of the Iron Feathers had been successfully reconditioned to not kill Candy. He just couldn’t take the risk that one of his daughters might kill Candy during the Diamond Dog’s attack or get caught in the crossfire of a firefight during the assault. There was no other choice but to send her away .

At least with her gone, he won’t have to worry about that anymore.

The stallion eventually got up and made his way for the exit, passing by several ancient Terran spacecraft in various states of disrepair and disassembly. He briefly considered repairing them as well so he and his daughters could join Candy but shook his head at the absurd idea. It took him over two years just to repair the one ship and the date of Happy Day’s arrival was fast approaching. There wasn’t enough time or working parts to make that plan a reality.

Once he was out of the door, he sealed it shut and started his way down one of the hallways but stopped when he heard the heavy footsteps of power armor. He pressed himself against the wall as far as possible, hoping the guards wouldn’t come this way.

His heart started beating wildly as heard the footsteps coming closer and closer to his position, his eyes grew wide when he saw a beam of light flash near his face. He saw the light growing brighter as he heard the footsteps coming closer.

“What are you going down there for Grim?” he heard one of the guards ask, the light shifted as ‘Grim’ turned to his fellow guard.

“I thought I heard something down here.” Stedson clamped his muzzle shut and held his breath, not wanting to give ‘Grim’ any more reason to come closer.

“Forget about it, there’s nothing down there but a dead end and a bunch of scrap metal. Come on, let’s go.” the unnamed guard said before he moved on with his patrol. ‘Grim’ grumbled to himself before he joined his partner, the sound of his footsteps soon grew faint until they were gone.

After making sure that the guards were no longer around, Stedson decided to take another path through the facility’s maze-like halls back to his quarters.

The detour he took later brought him to the walkways above the currently unoccupied testing chambers; at least he thought it was unoccupied until he heard the familiar shrieks of a zergling. He moved cautiously on the walkways as he followed the angry shrieks to its source; he peeked down at one of the testing chambers below to see an unusual sight.

He saw a prototype generation Iron Feather cutting into the zergling’s flesh with a scalpel and then stitching it back up before repeating the process again. And judging by the amount of stitches covering the creature’s body, she has been at this for a while. It took him just a moment to recognize the filly.

“588?” the Iron Feather stopped what she was doing and looked up.

“Daddy?”

“What are you doing here?” he asked while taking a closer look at the zergling, as it struggled against the makeshift restraints made from its own severed limbs which had been stabbed through parts of its body and into the ground beneath. The only thing the creature was capable of right now was to lay there and snarl at the filly as she cut into its flesh.

“Just practicing for when Mr Day gets here…” she replied casually as she made another incision on the zergling’s exposed flesh before stitching it back up afterwards. Stedson then heard her mutter both 36 and 522's names as she worked, reminding him of how he had told her the truth about 522’s ‘adoption’. He remembered the tears they both shed when he told her the truth…

Stedson pursed his lips as he watched a number of the young clones from the second generation crying their eyes out while their sisters did their best to console them; he had just informed another group of Iron Feathers of 36’s ‘adoption’ a month ago.They did not take the news very well.

Due to her stunted growth, 36 had been considered a middle child of sorts by many of the first and second generation Iron Feathers; this made lying to them even worse. He hated himself for keeping the truth from them, but it was for the best, telling them the truth would devastate them even further.

He gave the fillies a few words of comfort before leaving the barracks to continue the daunting task of informing the others of the ‘adoption’. He slumped against the wall as he let out a tired sigh, he then felt someone nuzzling his cheek. He smiled softly and nuzzled Candy in return. At least he wasn’t alone.

“How are you holding up?” she asked softly.

“Horribly…” he muttered back, “I’m getting sick of lying to them.”

“Then tell them the truth.” Candy suggested. He gave Candy a questioning look.

“What? I can’t possibly tell them that! You know I can’t…it’d crush them.” The mare simply shook her head at his excuses.

“You have to tell them the truth…” Stedson turned his head away from her, unable to face her with all the other secrets he’s been keeping from her and his daughters. “…tell them before the guilt eats away at your sanity.”

“Heh, so you’re my psychologist now are you?” Stedson replied jokingly, trying to change the subject.

She rolled her eyes at this, “Don’t change the subject Stedson...” His ears wilted at being caught so easily, “…if you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for me.” She placed a hoof on his shoulders and looked into his eyes pleadingly, “Please?”

“You…know that I…I can’t, I…” he sputtered out but he couldn’t resist her charms. He soon relented and said, “Fine, I’ll…think about it.” Candy then kissed him on the cheeks.

“That’s all I ask.” she said before going down the hall to the next barracks, he followed closely behind her, mulling over what she said to him. Maybe he could do it…maybe he could tell them the truth for once.

He couldn’t do it.

They had just informed the last of the Iron Feathers and Stedson couldn’t do it, he fed them all the same lie about 36’s ‘adoption’. He didn’t dare look at Candy and the disappointment he expected to see in her eyes as she comforted the fillies so he decided to quietly slip outside and wait for her.

He let out a sigh when the door closed but was disturbed from his self-loathing when he felt a tug on his coat; he turned his head and saw 588, standing there on her hind legs as she shuffled her hooves nervously.

“What’s wrong 588?”

“Mommy told me to check up on you…are you okay?”

Stedson looked at the door, he saw glimpse of Candy looking at him before the door closed itself. He then turned his attention back to the filly.

“I…I’m alright 588. I just-!” he was surprised when 588 suddenly wrapped her arms around his chest.

“I miss her daddy.”

Stedson’s eyes softened as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back, “I miss her too, 588.” He then remembered Candy’s words and realized she had just given him an opportunity to tell the truth to at least one of his daughters.

He looked around to see if anyone else in the hallway; it would be a problem if one of the other Iron Feathers eavesdropped on them in the middle of their ‘talk’. Seeing that the hallway was completely empty, he pulled away from the embrace.

“588…” he began

“Yes daddy?”

He looked her directly in the eyes, placed a hoof on her shoulders, and said, “There’s something I need to tell you, but…you must promise me that you won’t tell anyone else, even your sisters, alright?”

She nodded her head, “I promise daddy.”

“Good…Do you remember when I told you and the others about 522?” She nodded her head sadly as old memories resurfaced.

“Yes…she was adopted by another mommy and daddy, right?” He shook his head.

“No my child, she wasn’t adopted.” She cocked her head curiously at the contradiction.

“But you told me that 522 was-”

“I lied, 588…,” he said, cutting her off, “…I lied to you, all of you.”

Her eyes widened as she took a step back, away from him, “Wh-what? Why?”

“To protect you from the truth, one that I’ve kept from you and your sisters for five long years…I think it’s time for you to know the truth…”

He then told 588 of how 522 had been maimed at the end of her test, how Happy Day had intended to sell her off as a guinea pig for experimentation in Consortium Space and finally the part where he ended her life with his own hoof.

When he was finished, he stepped away, and braced himself for whatever punishment 588 might deliver to him for what he had done. Her conditioning would stop her from killing him but it didn’t mean she couldn’t give him a sound beating. At the very least, he wanted the filly to yell at him, curse him, or even spit at him for his lies.

Either way, he felt that he deserved them all and much more.

However, instead of doing any of those things, she simply asked him, “What about 36? Is she going to the same place…” the words died in her mouth, unable to repeat the horrific fate 522 would have suffered had she lived.

“I-I don’t know 588, I don’t know…” he admitted.

The filly started shaking uncontrollably as she fought off her tears and losing badly. Despite all their training and conditioning, the Iron Feathers were still just children. His children.

Stedson quietly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close and just like that night all those years ago, the filly buried her face into his chest and cried. He stroked her mane gently, just as he did before. Tears streamed down his own face as he held her, wishing he could do more for her…

He shook his head to rid himself of the sad memory; he was already depressed enough as it is.

“How long have you been here?” he asked curiously.

588 turned to the watch in her bag of scalpels and sutures, “It’s been nine hours now.” She answered back before letting out a long drawn out yawn.

“Nine hours?” Stedson exclaimed, “I think it’s time for you to turn in for the night young lady.”

“Ok daddy, just let me finish up.” She answered back before grabbing her rifle and shot a round into zergling’s head, it let out a death shriek before falling limp. She then gathered up her surgical tools and flew up to where Stedson was. The filly landed unsteadily and fell flat on her belly.

“Daddy…can you take me back to bed, I’m tired.” She said with a groan. He couldn’t help but chuckle at her antics.

“Alright, climb onto my back and I’ll take you back to the barracks.” The filly clambered up onto his back, and settled to lie down belly first, letting her legs dangle by her sides. Once he was sure his passenger was secured on his back, he made his way out of the chamber.

While walking down another hallway, Stedson felt 588 moving about fitfully on his back, “Is something wrong 588?” he asked softly.

“Is mommy safe now?” she suddenly asked. Stedson stopped when he heard this.

Unlike the other Iron Feathers, 588 had been privy to his plans, including the one to send Candy away. It was hard for the filly at first to willingly send Candy away since she had been very close to her but she knew what would happen to her ‘mommy’ had she stayed during the coming assault.

“Yes…mommy is safe.” He answered. He then heard the filly sniff, trying her hardest to hold back her tears. “It’s alright 588, just let it out.” he kept on walking as he felt his clothes getting wet from her tears as she quietly sobbed into his back.

By the time they reached the Iron Feather’s barracks, 588 had stopped crying. Stedson turned his head to see that she had cried herself to sleep. He smiled to himself and entered the barracks where he saw the other Iron Feathers fast asleep in their beds. He quietly walked past them to the empty bed that belonged to the filly on his back.

He gently lifted the filly off his back and placed her back in her bed. He bit down on the covers and pulled them over her body, tucking her in for the night. He turned to leave but felt a tug at his lab coat; he turned to see the filly holding on the end of his coat with her precision gloves. He knew he forgot something.

“Daddy…” 588 called out to him sleepily.

“Yes my child?” he asked while taking off the precision gloves off the filly’s hooves.

“After Mr Day is gone…can we go look for mommy and 36?” caught off guard by the filly’s request, Stedson didn’t immediately answer her, “Daddy?” she asked again.

“O-of course 588, we’ll look for them together. Now go to sleep, you need your rest.” the filly nodded and pulled the covers over herself, her purple eyes peeking over the sheets.

“Good night daddy, I love you.” she whispered before falling asleep.

Stedson nuzzled the filly, “Good night my child, I love you too.” he said and walked out the door. He took one last look at the sleeping fillies before closing the door.

“Excellent work Doctor Cog, I do believe this concludes our inspection of the facility. It is good to see that you’ve learned from your ‘mistakes’.” Peace Keeper said, turning to Stedson but saw that the pegasus wasn’t answering him, his head was bobbing up and down slowly as he struggled to stay awake.

“Doctor Cog are you alright?” Peace Keeper asked but Stedson didn’t answer, “Doctor Cog!” he shouted. Stedson’s eyes shot wide open and looked around in brief panic before calming down when he remembered where he was.

“Huh? Oh, my apologies inspectors …” Stedson answered before letting out a long drawn out yawn. “…I guess my mind was elsewhere.”

“Not enough sleep I take it?” the unicorn inquired. Stedson simply nodded in reply.

After sending Candy away, he started having nightmares again. Sometimes he would dream of Candy dying due to some critical flaw he made in repairing the ship. Watching her suffocate in his dream as she called out to him with her dying breath was the latest in the long line of nightmares that woke him up last night; it’s been ages since he had a good night’s sleep.

“You must take better care of yourself…” Stedson arched his eyebrow at the unexpected advice from the normally aloof inspector, “…I’ve read the report on Doctor Striper’s unfortunate accident and I heard that you were close…you have my condolences, but it’s no reason to waste away like this.” He cautioned.

Stedson lowered his head, hiding the scowl on his face, ‘Where was your sympathy when 36 was taken from me!’ he mentally grumbled. He was surprised when he felt the unicorn’s hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw the gentle smile on the unicorn’s face.

“I understand what it’s like to lose a loved one, Doctor Cog… I’ve been there myself.” The unicorn added sadly before he left, leaving Stedson with a newfound inkling of respect for the unicorn inspector.

Still, it won’t change his fate in the end.

“I’m keeping an eye on you, doctor. So watch yourself!” Steel Gaze said sternly before following his colleague down the walkway.

As for Steel Gaze, he wanted the inspector to suffer before he dies.

He turned around to face Spend Thrift. “Sorry to hear of what happened to your girl Cog, she was one mighty fine looking mare.” He said before a smile grew on his face, “What I wouldn’t give to have a-”

Stedson cleared his throat harshly while giving the earth pony a withering glare that could have rivaled Steel Gaze’s own, “-er right, sorry. Got a bit off topic didn’t I?”

“Yes you did… was there anything else?” he asked with a disgruntled snort.

“Yeah, I got a message for ya: Boss says that they’ll ready for when Day arrives. All ya need to do is keep your head low when the attack starts. You and the IF units have been cleared as friendlies so the grunts will leave ya alone, everyone else is fair game.”

“How am I supposed to know when the attack starts?”

“Oh you’ll know when it does, boss said they’re gonna start with a bang. So how are things on your end?”

“As smooth as can be Mr Thrift, my daughters will be ready when the time comes but I do have two requests for Penny Pincher.”

“Sure Cog, what is it?” Stedson hoofed him a small data drive.

“Tell him to play the file on it when he starts the assault.”

Spend Thrift looked at the drive curiously, trying to figure out the vague request, “Okay…sure, so what’s the second thing ya wanted?”

“Tell Mr Pincher to leave Happy Day alive. He’s mine, is that clear?”

“I’ll make sure the boss gets the message.” He assured as he placed the data drive into his suit, “So, I guess this is the last time we’ll see each other huh, Cog?”

Stedson nodded to him, “Yes, I guess it is. Can’t say I’ll miss you...”

“Ouch Cog, you wound me.” Spend Thrift mocked while placing a metal hand over his chest in dramatic fashion.

Stedson rolled his eyes at the earth pony’s behavior, “…though I am bit curious.” He continued “What will you do after Day is dealt with, stay with Dominion Intelligence?”

Spend Thrift chuckled and shook his head, “Nah, I go where the money is, and right now the Diamond Dogs got that in spades. Might become a freelancer again after that... what about you, Cog?”

“What about me?”

“Your future, like what’s the first thing ya want to do after all this?”

Stedson grew quiet as he scratched his chin and thought about it.

He knew he had promised 588 that they would go look for Candy and 36 but it was a daunting task in and of itself. He doubted he could ever find Candy, let alone face her again after what he did to her but 36 was another matter altogether.

From what Spend Thrift had told him half a year ago, he had learned that 36 had been enslaved by a crooked space trader named Fed Ex in the Consortium so locating her would only be a matter of time.

However, he remembered that Spend Thrift had also told him that 36 had been resocialized so even if they did see each other again, she probably wouldn’t even recognize him at all. Still, this would give her a chance to lead a normal life once he freed her from her captors. It was the very least he could do for her.

As for the rest of his daughters however, he highly doubted that they would be able to ‘disappear’ and live normal lives. The Iron Feathers had trained from ‘birth’ to be merciless killers. No matter what they did, his daughters would never be able to live normally with other ponies.

There was only one option left for them now, but before he could think about it any further, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Spend Thrift calling out to him.

“Hey Cog, ya alright?” the earth pony asked. Stedson blinked his eyes and saw the earth pony waving a hand in his face, “You kind of spaced out on me for a while there.”

“Er…yes, my apologies Mr Thrift…so where was I?” Spend Thrift gave him an odd look.

“Ya were going to tell me about your plans for the future, remember?” Stedson let out a soft sigh before answering.

“All I want is to do is take care of my girls and get them ready.”

“Ready? Ready for what?” the earth pony asked.

“Ready for their life as soldiers, it’s the only thing they know and understand.” Stedson explained “Penny Pincher has promised me that the Diamond Dogs are willing take them on after their training is done.”

“And what about after that?”

“I…I don’t know.” Stedson admitted after some thought.

An uncomfortable silence settled between the two, a silence that was broken when Spend Thrift’s communicator went off.

“Yeah?” Spend Thrift said, answering the call.

“Inspector Thrift, you’re late! Get back to the shuttle or we’re leaving without you!” Steel Gaze voice said impatiently before he ended the call.

“Well Cog, guess this is goodbye…” Stedson nodded in agreement.

“I do believe it is, I do suggest not keeping Inspector Gaze waiting lest he carries out his threat. Now if you’ll excuse me…” he said before turning away to leave.

“Wait.” Stedson stopped and faced him.

“What is it Mr Thrift, was there something else?”

“Hey look, if you’re ever in Consortium Space, look me up. I know a great little bar where we can have a drink, my treat.” He said, offering his hand to Stedson. He hadn’t expected such a gesture from him but after some hesitation, he accepted the hand and shook it.

“Yes, I’d like that…Take care of yourself, Mr Thrift.” he said, genuinely smiling.

“You too Cog.” The earth pony answered back before turning to leave. Stedson soon left as well. He still had some preparations to make for Day’s arrival.

Author's Note

Well, after some thinking followed by more thinking, I've decided to finish this story since Unholy had already given me enough of his notes to do so but I'll need a proofreader to check my writing for subsequent chapters.

So if any of you feel up to the task, send me a PM. It'd also be brilliant if you are knowledgeable in all things Starcraft.