When all else fails, have hope.

The whole ride down, my thoughts kept drifting back to Buck. Honestly, after yesterday, I couldn’t blame him for wanting to just take some time to blow off some steam by drinking. At least Buck was alright, and I should be thankful for that.

The Remora touched down in roughly the same spot as it had yesterday. Both Hispano and I hopped out into the snow before glancing upward. The mid-day skies were overcast, and a light snow had begun to fall, caking every structure and pony milling about in a sort of fresh fuzz. But overall Maple Station seemed just as calm as it had yesterday despite last night’s aerial brawl. I shouldn’t really have expected any differently though. The wasteland moves on fast, and nowadays, that didn’t really seem like such an odd concept anymore.

I put my best hoof forward and started to hobble towards the roundhouse.

“Hey, Night?” Hispano asked as her talon pressed across my barrel to stop me. “Mind if we make a small detour real fast?” I cocked an eyebrow as I glanced to her and watched as a fresh smile graced her beak. “It’s… part of that thing I disappeared off to yesterday. It’ll be quick, and I know you won’t mind.”

“I don’t know, we’re already late as is...” My stomach gave a gurgle of agreement as the thoughts of eating some good food after a long night was almost overpowering.

“Please?” She feigned a pouty face and gave me the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen in the wasteland. Seriously, it looked as if I’d personally ripped her heart out and thrown it away. “Just… trust me?”

I have stood up against some of the worst the wasteland had to offer, stared down the likes of Mr. Wizard and Prince Solomon. I’ve survived every demand put on me, and every glare Delilah could beam at me. And now?

She knew with that look, I’d fold like a house of cards subjected to a balefire blastwave.

“Alright.” I nodded, immediately rousing an excited giggle out of her. “Just… never use that face on me again.” You know, it could have been worse. She could have made that face when she’d been a guy and I would have been wound so tightly around her talon she could have used me for whatever she wanted...

“No promises!” Hispano laughed as she spread her wings and grabbed onto my foreleg with both her talons. “Now come on!” With a single hard flap she pulled me right off the ground and into a streaking ballistic arc towards the station building itself and the line of shop carts behind it.

Still giggling incessantly, Hispano dragged me through the small cabin doors of one of the shop carts on the train line. A small bell that hung on the inside of the door chimed as she wasted no time in dragging me inside. I barely had enough time to read the sign for this place that read 'Station Seamsters' before we were in. Other than the sharp change from the white snow covered wasteland outside to the fairly well lit interior, I had to blink a few times. This cart was masterfully maintained, organized, and was laid out to draw a pony’s eyes to the dozens of different incredibly fancy looking suits, outfits, and dresses that were for sale here.

My brain went into overload as my eyes ran from one stunning dress to the next. Gowns that looked straight out of an Applewood movie sat next to cocktail dresses I would literally kill to try on. But this place wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. No, there was a downside here and it had started to sink in fairly fast. The price tag sitting at the bottom of each and every one of them numbered in the hundreds of caps.

I didn’t have anywhere near enough caps to afford even a fraction of what my eyes were drinking in.

“Hey, Singer?” Hispano cooed softly as she dragged me forward past all the amazing dresses and toward a small table near the back of the cart. “This is my ‘Project’ for you to work your magic on, like we discussed.”

Her words helped to bring me out of the incredible stupor that had washed over me. Turning, I found a rather impeccably well dressed ghoul unicorn behind the desk. He wore an impressively well fitting rose colored vest under a vibrantly pink long coat. I spotted a dozen or so tailoring pins placed along each foreleg of the coat, and I realized exactly why Hispano had needed me to come with her.

“Ah, it’s good to see you as your old self once again, Miss Hispano! And yes, I see the source of your concerns.” Singer smiled as he lifted a hoof to his chin and looked over me. He craned his head to the side before walking out from behind his desk. He made several ‘Hmm’ and ‘Mhmm’ noises to himself as it looked like he studied every inch of me. Ultimately he stopped and nodded to Hispano. “I’ll need to take some measurements of course, but the alterations shouldn’t take more than a half hour. And before you ask, it won’t be a problem to work around the prosthetics that you...”

“That’s great!” Hispano damn near jumped between the ghoul and I as she beamed him a smile. “Now, we’re already a bit late for a get together, and I’m sure you have plenty of other orders to fill. So if you could take the measurements, we’ll be out of your way and back once we’re finished!” With a stiff look back, she turned her obvious forced smile on me. “That’s right, I’m getting you a dress. Surprise, Night!”

I wasn’t really sure what to make of Hispano’s nervousness, but it didn’t feel like anything bad to me. Still, perhaps I could ask her about…

My thoughts were paused as a tape measure was hung off of my nose and run down my neck and across my barrel. The invasion of space instantly put me on edge, and I nervously fidgeted my wings across my back. I blinked as a flash of magic from the ghoul’s horn hit me, and for the life of me I couldn’t move a muscle.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t measure accurately when you are moving like that.” Singer smiled as he continued to move the tape measure across my body, pausing at certain spots now and again. “This will only take a moment... 14… 36… hmm…”

Well, I can’t say I liked being held here, but then again, I’d only ever really had one other tailored dress before. Thinking about it, I was sad to have lost that dress. There hadn’t been many memories I’d made with it, and some of them were arguably bad, but… it was still something that I could say was mine back when I was still trying to find my place down here.

“Alright, that should do it.” Singer gave me a nod before turning to Hispano and doing the same. “I shall have the dress ready for you when you return.”

“Thank you so much for this, Singer.” Hispano let out a sigh as she walked up to him and held out her talon.

“No, thank you, Miss Hispano.” Singer took her talon gracefully, and instead of shaking it, tilted it down as he gave a courteous bow to her. “Since your previous trip up here, my suppliers have yet to try their hooves at extorting me again.”

“If they do, well, you know you can always rely on the Talons of ‘Claw.” Hispano let another giggle slip out of her beak as she took her talon back and instead threw it around my neck. “Now, how about we go join the others for some lunch!”

Hispano and I made our way into the roundhouse, basking in the warmth as we stepped into the heated interior. It didn’t take us more than a moment to spot the group at the largest table set up in the place. Happy was at the center of the group, laughing and telling the story of the battle at bunker valley while relaxing with the ghouls as he chewed on a few strips of fried hay. He had a plate full of steaming breakfast foods sitting in front of him, which were almost dwarfed by the trays of food sitting near the center of the table. Geeze, they really went all out for this, didn’t they?

Rheinmetall and Jack were of course here, each had a beer held in their hooves as they listened to Happy recount the story. Caution Tape and Sensha’s striped and smiling faces were also present as they too seemed enamored with Happy’s tale, but were both beer-less. Strangely, Peridot was here as well. The Balefire phoenix sat perched on the table next to Caution, and had her own plate of food that she was pecking at. There was also a new ghoul here as well, the last of the Maple Station tankers we hadn’t seen before. But she’d caught my eye like none of the others could.

She had a dark green coat that was about as dingy and rough as you’d expect on a two century old pony. However, her blond mane, while stained with oil and a complete mess, was remarkably intact and well worn. As she and the others turned with our approach, I noticed her fidget the ragged pair of wings across her back. She was a pegasus ghoul.

“Ah, you made it!” Jack laughed and beckoned for us to join them. “Sit, relax and enjoy yourself! Feel free to dig into some of the feast!”

Hispano and I each grabbed a seat at the end of the table as Happy continued the story. But as soon as I’d sat down, I found myself looking back over at the pegasus ghoul. I know that I’d seen a few other pegasus ghouls so far, but… she was different. Maybe it was how she likewise kept her eyes on me. From what Jack had said before, supposedly she had been one of the tankers like the others, but… if she is as old as the rest, then that means she knows what happened to the pegasi at the end of the war.

“You’re from above the clouds, aren’t you?” She asked bluntly. Happy paused his story, and the rest of the table fell into an odd silence. “You were with the Enclave, like her.”

“You are mistaken, Rangefinder.” Rheinmetall promptly set his glass down on the table and shot the pegasus ghoul an expectant glare. “Miss Night here is not like our previous Enclave guest. In fact, she and her friends have done much work to help others. You should knowthat she is the one from the stories Jack and I have told you.”

“This is that Night?” Rangefinder scrunched up her degraded muzzle as she turned her confusion on Mad Jack. “Neither of you ever once mentioned to me that she was a pegasus.” She lifted her head with a sigh before turning to me. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to judge. It’s just that fliers like little miss Sergeant gives all us pegasi a bad name.”

“Hey, I get it, and I’m right there with you.” I did my best to offer her a smile and shrug off her previous comments. “When I first came down, I still had every lie the Enclave told me held in such high regard.” I thought back to when I’d first met Violet, how I’d been so quick to judge her as well. “It took a good friend to help me see how wrong they were.”

I let out a sigh as my mind ran through all the good times we had. Sadly, there weren’t that many memories like that. Even so, I smiled as they were enough for me to know whether she wanted to or not, Violet had helped me so much to become the pony I am today.

“And besides, we’ve met our fair share of pegasi disappointments.” Hispano spoke up as she shoveled some sort of unidentified sausage onto the old ceramic plate she had before her. “That bitch yesterday was just another in a long line of monsters that Night and I have helped to take down.”

“But you’re still after the ‘one that got away’, it seems.” Jack spoke up before he took a long draw off of his beer. Long enough actually that Rheinmetall finished his thought for him.

“Ah yes, the Prince.” He shook his head in disgust and stared at his beer like it owed him something. “When he came through Maple Station, Jack and I feared your crew might not have made it.”

“Not all of us did.” Happy snorted and slumped in his chair.

“If he was here, where did he go?” The words tumbled from my muzzle, pulling Jack and Rhine’s attention back up to the here and now. “We had… reliable information try to steer us toward a nearby settlement called Saddlebrook, but assuming he went straight south, where might he and his convoy have stopped?”

“Well, with a convoy the size it was, Saddlebrook is out of ze question.” Caution Tape brought his hoof up to his striped chin and rubbed at it in thought. “I bet they probably stopped in Gemdale for ze night. If they are looking to head straight south, then Maple Creek would be their destination before heading west to ze ruins of Vanhoover. Then again, if he’s trying to play it safe und stick to ze better roads, more directly south, then he’ll probably be headed for Hopeville.”

“He’s not afraid of taking risks.” I remarked as I thought about it. He knows we’re coming, so he’d want every advantage he can get. “That being said, he’s probably making a straight shot south, so that’s where we’re going.” Solomon wasn’t going to slip out of our hooves this time. “Eliza, make sure everyone is ready to head south when we get back on board. We’re headed for a place called Maple Creek.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that, Captain.” Eliza’s mare flashed up into my vision with a frowning face. “I haven’t been able to send Unit Seven back to the Factory yet because you and Buck have yet to modify a suitable tower this far south.” Are you fucking kidding me!? “I am not kidding you, Captain. We require you to locate and modify a suitable tower.” She was right, we agreed to do a job, and we’d put it off long enough.

“Actually, change of plans.” I let out a sigh that mirrored the look of disappointment that fell across Happy’s muzzle. “We need to do one more job before we can go after that bastard, and I’m hoping you can help us.”

“Well, with the adventures I’ve heard you go on, I thought you’d never ask!” Sensha snorted and put her forehooves down on the table as a smile pulled across her rotting blue muzzle. “I’m sure we’re all rearing to get our guns warmed up for some real action that isn’t the static targets at the firing range!”

“It’s uh… not that kind of job, heh.” Nervously I reached up and rubbed at my mane. “And it’s going to sound like an odd request, but, we need to find a radio tower that we can modify. Preferably one that’s in decent working order.”

“Now what in Celestia’s name would you need to do that for?” Jack huffed and looked over at Rhine, who simply shrugged and nursed at the beer in his hooves.

“We can’t really say.” Happy surprisingly offered with his own nervous smile spreading across his muzzle. “Just that we’re doing a favor for some friends up north. It ain’t anything harmful, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Well, there are a few places around here like that.” Rangefinder huffed as she tucked her forehooves across her barrel, squinting as if to search through her memories for an answer. “The Battered-Sea power station might have one, but nopony’s been inside for years. Though, some prospectors supposedly reported that some sort of sea life infestation has moved in to some of the lower levels. They were chased off and in rough shape, so it might not be the safest option.”

“Eh, weh ern’t afraid of shome fhish!” Hispano spoke through a beak full of sausage, pulling a chuckle from Mad Jack.

“Of course, you could always try the H.M.S. Cadence. She’s the museum ship our local ‘radio host’ uses to broadcast from.” Rangefinder shrugged, looking to me with a smirk, but then to Hispano with a bit of apprehension. “Though, maybe your Talon friend should stay behind in that case.”

“Whash tha shuposhed to mean?” Hispano grumbled through her full beak.

“The DJ would probably welcome you, as Jim’s pretty accepting of anyone visiting. Though, the ghoul that cares for that old floating rust heap is a veteran of the Foallands conflict.” Rangefinder sighed and glanced over to Jack and Rheinmetall, who both shared their own nods toward us. “Needless to say, he doesn’t have a very high opinion of Griffonkind.”

Peridot gave out a loud squawk before giving a few quick flaps of her glowing wings. I watched as she darted up above the table before banking around it and following the roundhouse walls. I wasn’t sure what was going on, or if this was just some sort of normal balefire phoenix behavior, but the loud gasp from Caution Tape told me that this was probably something else entirely.

“Zat’s right!” He gave out a laugh. “There is one other location you may find feasible. It is not on any maps I know of, but there is a radio tower to ze north east of ze Vanhoover dam.”

“You got all that from a bird?” Happy pointed out as he reached out, grabbing a hoof full of hayfries and stuffing them into his muzzle.

“Well, a year or so ago, Peridot disappeared when we made a stop in Hopeville.” Caution chuckled as he seemed to relax and enjoy watching the little glowing bird stretch her wings and fly around the interior of the roundhouse. “It took me six hours of hiking before I found her again. She had flown off une found ze abandoned nest of another balefire phoenix up in ze tower of an old radio relay station.” He paused and scrunched up his rotten muzzle before frowning at the others. “The weirdest thing was that ze inside of ze bunker looked all automated. Und it was set to just repeat certain numbers every hour on a frequency zat no one uses. I don’t know if it actually still works, but I had never seen anything quite like it.”

“A numbers station?” Hispano perked up at that, putting her talons on the table and standing up. “Those things actually exist?” From the gasp of excitement, I was guessing that she knew exactly what they were talking about. “I thought they were faked, something rumored to exist just to throw the zebras off during the war.” I could see the spark of inspiration behind Hispano’s eyes as she thought about something intensely. “If they are real, then there could be all sorts of neat wartime secrets inside!”

“They don’t exist.” Rheinmetall noted as he set down his freshly empty beer glass. “Like you said, they were Ministry of Image propaganda, nothing more.” Turning his gaze to Caution Tape, the old ghoul cleared his throat and used his hoof to push his small, round glasses a bit further up his muzzle. “Why didn’t you mention this to any of us after you found it, Tape?”

“It was just another abandoned ruin.” Caution Tape shrugged before the quick flapping of Peridot’s wings caught his attention. “Sure it was strange, but not out of the ordinary for ze wastes.” He lifted his wrinkled, rotten hoof up, and the glowing phoenix came down and landed softly on it. Her talons pressed straight through his skin sharply, but the soft radiative glow she emanated made the wounds heal up instantly. “It looked like no pony had been there in over a century, though ze interior was remarkably well preserved for its age.”

“Well, if the other two options don’t work out, that might be a good fallback.” I shrugged as well. I mean, if it really was abandoned, then we shouldn’t have any problem with modifying it. That is, if it still worked at all…

“I have tracked the location of the numbers station, Captain.” Eliza’s smiling mare bounced about my vision excitedly. “It’s signal is surprisingly still fairly strong. Out of all the available options, it is my opinion that it’s not a fallback, but is instead the prime candidate for modification!” The enthusiasm that bled from her words was still odd to hear, but not unwelcome. It also doesn’t hurt that it takes us by Hopeville.

“Alright, enough bloody talking business!” Jack laughed as he tapped his empty beer glass on the table. “We invited you down here to celebrate and have a good time!” With a stiff hoof, he reached over and hooked Happy around the neck, pulling him in tightly with the same unexpected strength the mule would use on me half the time. “Now, I hope this isn’t all of you coming down. Why don’t you try getting on the radio and inviting the rest of your crew to join us!”

“For once, I agree with Jack!” Caution Tape clopped his rotten hooves together excitedly, pulling a mildly annoyed squawk from Peridot as she was shaken a bit by it. “Und as they say, ze more, ze merrier!”

“I don’t know, we should really get going soon.” I didn’t want to refuse their generous offer, but this was the best info we had on Solomon in weeks, and I didn’t want to let it go to waste.

“Oh come on, Night.” Hispano nudged me sharply with a giggle. “What happened to saying you didn’t want to waste any more time together?”

I looked over to Happy for some backup on this. If anyone could sympathize with wanting to go after Solomon, it’d be him. However, as he finally wrestled himself away from Jack’s iron grip, he flashed a weary smile to me.

“Sorry, Night, but I’m with her on this.” He offered as he reached up and rubbed his neck with his wooden leg. “After nearly dying yesterday, I ain’t exactly feeling up to goin’ all in today, you know? We could all use a break.”

Outnumbered, and with part of me more than willing to listen to their side of things, I gave in. Happy was right, everyone needed a break. So, we’d have one afternoon to relax and recuperate, then we’d be back on the road.

“Alright, we’ll stay.” I nodded. “Eliza, tell the rest of the crew that they’re welcome to join us down here. Everyone is getting the day off today.”

“Sure thing, Captain!” Her bubbly voice helped make me feel better about letting the day go to waste, but some little part of me didn’t think it was fair to her. I mean, it’s not like she could take the day off. “While that’s true, I have Unit Seven here to keep me company. But thank you for your consideration, Captain.” Heh, well alright then.

“Brilliant!” Jack laughed heartily before spinning around and grabbing something in his hooves. With a groan from nearly everyone at the table, he produced his bagpipes and got them secured around himself. “Now, who’s up for some drinking songs?”

The trouble started when Rangefinder offered me a glass of Burro Tequila. Having had some experience with it before with the Road Crew, I promised myself that this time I wouldn’t let myself go as much as I had then. But as things tend to with friends, one drink became two, then four. After that, the mid-day get together went by as a blur.

At some point, we’d been joined by Tofu, King, and oddly enough, my Dad. I vaguely remember him telling me something or other about how Tequila had been my mom’s favorite, but I never remembered her doing any drinking. Still, after that, he and I were laughing with Hispano and Jack as Sensha and Rheinmetall had a go at hoof wrestling each other. Happy had run off with Vera after she had stopped by, and Tofu had dragged Hispano away for some reason. But I wasn’t worried, how could I be?

Between all the food, the drinks, and the laughter, some part of me forgot about everything else. The world fell away, even if just for an indeterminate amount of time where nothing else mattered. It was nice, and the moment held a warmth to it that had only been matched a few other times in my life. A few days with my parents, a few nights with Buck, and some of the better times with the Convoy.

So of course, it was sad to feel it slipping away. As the inebriation wore off, and the sounds of laughter were replaced one by one with goodbyes, the world slowly returned to it’s cold normality. And in that moment, I found myself the only one left. So here I sat, staring at the numerous empty bottles on the table, wishing that just one of them still had some extra moments to spare in it.

“Hey, bud. You alright?” Happy asked as he stepped up and put his hoof on my shoulder.

“Yeah.” I nodded to him, trying my best to push back the tempting thoughts of more alcohol. “What about you? You doing alright?”

“I think… I might be getting there.” He smiled as he took a seat next to me. Even though he looked content enough, his eyes betrayed the fact that something was still weighing on him. “I’ve been thinking. About what Cora said yesterday. About... a lot of things I guess.”

“Yeah, me too.” I nodded.

“You know, Ma wouldn’t have stopped to give us a break.” He shook his head and did his best to hide behind his faltering smile. “Not when we were this close to Solomon, and definitely not after what he’s done to us. She would have run you all ragged until we caught up and payed him back for everything.”

“You think it was a mistake to take the day off?” I countered with a cock of my eyebrow at him. It seemed to catch him off guard, and he took a moment before he recovered.

“No.” He shook his head and shrugged. “No, we needed this.” With a sigh, he leaned forward and put his chin on the table. With a few deep breaths, he relaxed slightly. “I know I’ve been pushing to go after Solomon, but it ain’t going to do us much good if everypony else is too exhausted to help me kill him, ya dig?”

“Heh, yeah.” I nodded and tried my best to relax as well. “Well, we know where he is now, and he’s not going to get away from us. That, and with Pentex in Saddlebrook waiting for us to show up, he’s not going to have that many mercs around to deal with.”

“Here’s hoping you’re right.” Happy shot me a smile with a healthy dose of side-eye from his resting place on the table.

“Hey, you two sober yet?” Hispano’s cheery tone drifted over from the roundhouse door. Both Happy and I turned to find Tofu wrapped tightly in one of Hispano’s wings as they trotted over. “If you are, let’s get going already! Plus, we still need to go pick up your dress, Night.”

Oh shit, right!

“You bought a dress?” Happy snorted and glanced over at me. I could see the beginnings of a Delilah-tier judgmental look forming on his muzzle, and I opened mine to swiftly get ahead of it.

“Hispano bought me a dress.” I offered as I pushed myself back from the table and stood up. Which, was a mistake after having been sitting so long. My legs wobbled, and I nearly collapsed as the effects of the alcohol came roaring back through my system. Thankfully, Happy’s quick hooves caught me and helped to keep me propped up.

“Too bad she couldn’t buy you a way to hold your liquor!” Happy chuckled as he kept me steady for a moment. “Alright, ladies, if you lead the way, I’ll help Night along.”

As annoying as it was to need help to walk the short distance through the snow, something hit me about it. Here we were, heading out from a get together with friends, going to a store so I could get a new dress. If I didn’t know we were in the wasteland, this would be almost mundane. I almost felt bad again that I’d had my chance at a normal life as an Enclave pegasus ripped out from under me.

But what I have now, what I’d gained down here wasn’t something I could hate. For all the bad that’d come, I’d gained so much, and thoughts about ‘what if’ and ‘it’s almost like’ were almost an affront to that. I’d be stepping on the memories of those who helped get me here if I were to feel anything but thankful for what I have.

“Hey Singer, we’re back!” Hispano chirped as she pushed the door to Singer’s shop open. Like before, the shop was empty of other customers, and the well dressed ghoul perked up as we entered. He tucked away a set of drawings for fancy clothing as we shut the door behind us.

“Ah, excellent!” Singer clapped his hooves together softly as he spotted me being helped in. “I only need to make a few alterations before it’s finished, but I require you to try it on first.” Waving his hoof to me, he used his other forehoof to push open a small door behind him. “If you would come this way into the fitting room?”

Happy released me, and I managed to stay upright on my hooves again. While I still felt a little light headed, I felt confident enough to hobble my way towards the small room with a wide smile across my muzzle to Hispano. She mirrored it with a heavy blush before she reached forward and prodded me with her talon sharply.

“Now I don’t want you to go ruining this dress in a fight.” She cooed softly as her blush intensified. “If you do, I’m just going to have to strap you down until I’ve had enough fun with you that I consider it a fair trade.” I rolled my eyes, pondering just how that was supposed to incentivise me protecting anything... “And let me tell you, after last night, I’m feeling pretty fucking unfair right now.”

“Still, it might be worth it…” I offered to her, getting a snort and an even brighter blush to burn across her face. I don’t know if it was the alcohol helping her look that way, or if she’d always seemed so adorable when flustered.

“Ahem.” Singer gave a somewhat impatient knock against the open doorway. “While my time isn’t in too high of demand, I’m sure all parties involved here don’t want to take all day.” Right, he did have a good point! “Besides, thanks to my work, I doubt you’ll have an easy time with damaging this piece.”

“What’s that mean?” I asked as I stepped into the small room.

“Rest assured, once you have it on, I’ll explain all of it’s nifty little features to you.” Singer gave a soft laugh as he stepped into the room behind me and shut the door. “For now, relax, and let me work my magic…”

I was speechless.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I could hardly pull my eyes away from the mare who stared back. Thanks to the off-white dress and a half a bottle of mane and tail reformer, I felt like I had been transformed into an entirely new pony. And the mare in the mirror? She looked like she could walk into any town and just own it.

“I know the style might be a bit outdated,” Singer spoke softly as he used a comb and a thin brush to work at my new luxurious shoulder length mane. Thank the goddess for mane growth potions! I had no idea it was even a thing before today, but… I was getting distracted. “But it’s similar to a piece that Miss Rarity had once made for the head of the Ministry of Awesome to wear to one of the final Grand Galloping Galla celebrations.”

I felt like I should have cared more about those words than I currently did. I could feel a half dozen questions struggling to claw their way up my throat. But right now, I couldn’t speak as I took yet another look over the stunning dress itself.

The pearl colored fabric was as soft as silk, and it held an almost rainbow luster to it under these lights. It felt taught in all the right places, but was smooth enough that it was comfortable and wouldn’t chafe, especially around the wing holes. The fluffy, padded shoulders on it drew your eyes to me without being too obstructive, and felt like a warm hoof caressing my coat.

Speaking of hooves, the sleeves that covered each of my legs held ornate patterns pressed into them. Vines and flowers of some sort were intricately laid in the same pearl-white as the rest of the dress, so only someone intimately close would ever have appreciated their existence. Though, having taken my measurements before, the oddity that stuck out to me was that Singer had still gone through and made all four legs the same. He’d widened my rear right leg to fit my prosthetic, but he’d made a full length forehoof sleeve for my stump and just… pinned it up against itself. Out of every amazing form and line this dress held, it was all thrown off by that one out of place sleeve.

“Ah, I see you’ve noticed.” Singer let out a chuckle as his magic finished working on my mane and set his dressing tools down. “I know it may throw things off, but I’ve left the foreleg as is for if you choose to not wear your prosthetic some days.”

“What?” Finally, a word, any word slipped out of my muzzle.

“I do understand it sounds odd, but believe me,” He chuckled as his magic grabbed the rest of his tailoring tools and began to put them away in their various drawers and such. “I’ve worked with my fair share of amputees, and the majority tell me that some days it feels good just to not worry about using any prosthesis at all. Because I don’t believe that means you should sacrifice fashion, I’ve included the quick snap buttons so you can still wear your dress when the prosthetics are off.”

“No, I get that.” I shook my head, pausing a moment as a mass of green and yellow mane drifted in front of my augmented eye. Oh, it felt good to have a proper mane again, I… no, I’m getting off track! “I meant that, I don’t have a prosthetic for my foreleg.” My eyes drifted over to Singer, who’s confused look was accented by an odd but small frown pulling across his muzzle.

“Hmm, no, I’m fairly certain that miss Hispano had told me that you were given one.” He nodded to himself as he thought. “But perhaps I was mistaken. If you excuse me, I’ll clear this little misunderstanding up.”

The sharply dressed stallion moved past me, brushing up against the sloping flank the dress gave me as it covered my tail and rear hocks. I did my best to step out of his way, but my mind was taken aback by the feeling of the smooth fabric across my coat as I moved. It hugged at my flank in a way no other dress had, and it felt like somepony warm and caring was draped across me in a most affectionate way. It sent an electric tingle up my spine, and I couldn’t help but let out a squeak of pleasure from it.

“What do you mean you told him?” Hispano’s harsh whisper drifted through the cracked door enough to pull my ear to listen. “Of course he wasn’t supposed to know!”

Wasn’t supposed to know what?

Turning myself around, I hobbled my way towards the door and pushed it open. Immediately, the interior of the train car fell silent, and all eyes were on me as I stepped out into view. I wanted to say that I was caught off guard by the assault of their attention, but with this dress around me, I felt like each of their beaming gazes were a single spotlight that helped to show me off to the world.

“Holy shit.” Hispano was the first to break the silence among them. “Celestia, Night. You… you look... good.”

My cheeks flushed brightly as she struggled with her words. Tofu simply squeaked as I look to her for her opinion, hiding herself with a nod inside Hispano’s still outstretched wing. Finally, I moved my gaze along to Happy, who’s jaw looked like it had scraped along the floor.

“Dat’s one hell of a number, Night.” He did his best to shake off the awe and try to put up his normal, tough-guy front again. “I mean, if you were a chick, I’d be interested.” Coming from somepony like him, I’ll take that as the highest praise a stallion like me could get.

“I present to you, the new and improved, Night Flight.” Singer chuckled as he held his hoof out to me with a smile. “Go on, dear, why not give yourself a turn and let them see all of it?”

I nodded to him, hobbling further out from the doorway. With enough room, I started to turn myself, fighting against my wings as they instinctively wanted to flare up on me. No no, I wouldn’t give in to such simple urges though, not when the dress made me feel this good, this powerful.

“As you can see, it offers almost complete protection.” Singer spoke up as I turned myself. “The fabric is stain proof, flame resistant, and thanks to the high grade ballistic weave Miss Hispano helped me to secure, damage resistant up to small caliber firearms and shrapnel.”

I took a moment to blink as my body locked up at that. Wait, so… it wasn’t just a pretty dress? It was a functional battle dress? The grin that pulled itself across my muzzle was something that broke through my attempts to control my urges, and helped me lower my guard enough that my wings flared out proudly as well.

“Given the measurements earlier, I made sure to accommodate the design for unobtrusive use of your battle saddle while wearing it as well.” The well dressed stallion nodded to my beaming self and I couldn’t do anything but nod enthusiastically. “I take it by your… reaction, you don’t feel like there needs to be any further alterations made to tailor it to your liking?” Again, I could only nod giddily as my stupidly wide grin beamed every ounce of joy I could out to the world.

“So uh… about that leg, Night!” Hispano squeaked as she did her best to speak through the burning blush pushing through her puffed plumage. “It was going to be a surprise, but…” She paused as Tofu hid herself further under her wing. “You know what? I’ll let Tofu explain.” With a sharp tug, and an ‘eep!’ from the small unicorn, Hispano pulled her wing away.

“Yeah s-sure, Captain.” She blinked a few times before taking a moment to gather herself again. “Remember that leg I was going to be building for Happy after he lost his?”

“Wait, what?” Happy scrunched up his muzzle. “What leg?”

“And then the idiot went and got his own.” Tofu’s tone turned into a low growl as she shot him a glare. “Completely invalidating all the hard work I put into getting it half done by then?”

“Again, what leg!?” Happy spat out before crossing his hooves across himself, making sure his wooden prosthetic leg was on top and in full view of Tofu.

“I uh... remember you requesting to make the leg.” I offered as I finally got my wing situation under control again, pulling them back down against the smooth and warm fabric. “Once he got the wooden one, I didn’t think about it really.”

“Well uh, when you lost your foreleg,” Tofu’s nervousness was picking up, and she shifted uneasily on her legs. “I uh… thought I could adapt my work for, well, you.” She flashed up a nervous smile to me before forcing her gaze to the floor. “I know I didn’t ask you about it, and that I really should have. But, sometimes... the Rangers on base would be angry if you even brought it up. I didn’t want you to act as prideful or stubborn as them because you thought I was pushing it on you.”

For the second time in just minutes, I was speechless. Thankfully, it didn’t take me nearly as long this time to finally push myself to speak again.

“Tofu, I know you just want to help me.” I offered to her with the full force of my beaming smile behind me. “I could never be angry because of that, and I would never turn down something so kind.” I hobbled forward to her and carefully wrapped my wings around her. “Thank you, for all you’ve done for me, for the ship and the crew.”

“You’re welcome, Cap.” She sniffled as she pulled her watering eyes up from the floor and pulled herself into a tight hug. “You helped me so much by believing in me, and without you and the others, I wouldn’t have my cutie mark. I just… wanted to do something to show you how thankful I was.”

“I know, and we’re all glad to still have you here with us.” I nodded and looked over to Hispano, who’s own teary eyes mirrored the joy I held in mine.

“Hey!” Happy snapped, pulling the three of us out of the moment. “Can anypony just fuckin’ tell me what leg you were all talking about!?”

I opened my muzzle to speak, but I was cut off from a quick chuckle from Hispano. I don’t know why, but as she began to laugh, I did as well. Tofu joined in as for no reason, we found his confusion the funniest thing so far today, and as he grew even more confused, our laughter grew as well.

I hesitated to think it after all the rough times we’d been through together, but this felt like the perfect end to a perfect day. Here, now, surrounded by my friends and family, I felt like my life was worth living again, enjoying again. And while sure, it might all collapse tomorrow, those thoughts were pushed back so hard that I wasn’t sure I’d have them for even another week.

No, I felt too good to feel anything but the love and joy I felt for the others. And I’d be damned if anything was going to come along and ruin it for us today. In fact, I think it was high time that I took our little giggle party and brought it back home.

Besides, there was a particularly down Snow Dog that I had the full intention of cheering up today…

The knocking on the cabin door roused us from our restful sleep. I pressed myself further into the mass of warm dog under me, and enjoyed the feeling of Hispano’s feathers covering me like a blanket. Looking up in my augmented vision, I glanced at the clock, reading that it was still 6:03AM.

Normally, I’d have had no drive to wake up and leave my little slice of warm heaven so early, but it shifted under me. All three of us let out various yawns and stretched ourselves out. Almost at the same time, we all gave out groans as the blur of last night began to filter back through our groggy minds.

“Uff… need coffee.” Buck groaned as he brought his mechanical arms up and plucked Hispano and I right up off his chest. The cold metal of his arms were a rude shock, and pulled a soft whimper from my muzzle as he set the two of us down on the bed.

“It’s too early…” Hispano whined weakly as I found her talons softly pulling themselves around me. She grasped at my dress and used it to help drag me back against her warmth.

Another soft knock at the door forced me to sit up and look at it. Buck pushed himself to his hind paws and made his way over, opening it. Standing uncomfortably in the hall, was King.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He offered as he reached up and rubbed at his mane. “But I was just here to inform you that Double Delta has returned. And…” He paused and looked at me with an almost sad look. “And we need to talk later.”

“Is everything alright?” I yawned and did my best to rip myself from Hispano’s needy grasp. She whimpered and lazily clawed at me, holding onto me.

“I… I don’t know.” He forced a smile over the nervousness that pushed its way through his words. “I’ll leave you be for now.” Reaching his hoof forward, he took the door from Buck and pulled it shut.

As he did, I could feel the slightest kink forming in my gut. I still didn’t really know what to do with King to help him. And now that I knew that some crazy alicorns out there might want to steal him away again, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

The pair of talons trying to drag me back into bed relented, and I heard Hispano give a muffled groan as she flopped beak first against it.

“Do we have to get up today?” She shifted herself, stretching herself out again wiggling her hindpaws. Her joints gave a few pops, and she let out a light shiver as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. I was going to answer her, but to my surprise, Buck spoke up before I could even open her muzzle.

“As much as I wish we could have another day off, we can’t let Solomon get any further ahead.” He let out a sigh as he too let a shiver run down himself. Unlike Hispano, it was a sight to see as a wave of black and white fur worked its way down him, culminating in leaving his spiky curled tail wagging slightly as he turned around. “Honestly, I’m looking forward to finally being done with all this. No more chases, or having to watch our backs.” Across his metal muzzle, sat the same soft and caring smile I always loved to see on him, and his eye showed me that despite his words, he wasn’t sad about the task we needed to carry out. “And no more innocent bystanders getting pulled into needless fights.”

“Yeah, that’ll be nice.” I nodded and did my best to wiggle my way towards the end of the bed. Getting my hooves under me again, I moved to balance myself when I felt my forehoof knock against the bed. “What the…?”

Blinking, I looked down and found a strange metal form sticking down from under the fabric of my dress’s foreleg. Almost instinctively, I raised it up and pulled the dress sleeve back to look at it. It was a skeletal prosthetic made of mismatched spare parts and scraps. A half dozen wires ran to the small servo motors at each of the joints, and more than a few exposed springs groaned as I moved the leg as if it were my own.

“Don’t you remember your gift?” Hispano let out another yawn as she flopped herself closer to the edge of the bed as well. “Buck and Tofu installed it when we got back yesterday?”

“Night might be having trouble remembering with the sedatives he had for the surgery.” Buck offered as he stepped over to me and leaned down close. “As I’ve mentioned, alcohol and sedatives don’t generally mix well, but thankfully we didn’t have any complications. Tofu’s hoofwork on the construction of the leg made it fairly easy to integrate into your upgrades, Night.” A digit of his came over and prodded me on my metal skull plate.

“Don’t kid yourself.” My own voice filtered through my head as Jynx appeared behind Buck. “That smoothness was all me.” She wore a toothy grin as she brought up her normal looking hoof, inspecting it like I’d just inspected the prosthetic. “But after all the help I’ve given you recently, l must remind you, Night.” Putting her hoof down firmly, she glared at me from behind a crooked smile. “The pendulum must swing back the other way at some point.”

Yeah yeah, not if you want to stay around, Jynx.

“So then, is there anything I need to know about it?” I asked, beaming out a smile as I pushed Jynx’s words out of my mind, and watched as she faded away again. As I did, Buck’s mechanical paw came down and grasped around it. Instantly, I froze up as I could feel his paw. “Wait… how... can I feel that?”

“You aren’t really feeling it.” Buck chuckled as he let go of it. As he did, the sensation of his touch left me, and an odd numbness remained. “Tofu said it’s a trick the Rangers learned with their own prosthetics. Whenever your leg’s joints feel resistance, they translate that to your brain as a ‘feeling’ like you’re leg is pressing against something that way.”

“Hmm, smart… for the toasters at least.” Hispano cooed as she hopped down from our bed and gave one final stretch.

Putting my hoof down slowly, I could feel the sensation of the metal hoof pressing down with my own weight. Taking a step forward, I nearly tripped as I’d instinctively tried to hobble, and was instantly rewarded with my regrown mane flopping in front of my eyes.. Buck and Hispano both reached out and helped to keep me upright, but I couldn’t help but give out a giddy giggle as I reached up and moved my mane.

“Sorry.” I offered as I centered myself and decided that maybe a slow start would be best. “So much changed yesterday that I guess I need to get used to some things again.”

“Just take it slow.” Buck almost whispered as he leaned down over me and planted a soft kiss across the top of my head. “There’s no rush.”

“Well, no rush outside of needing to go blow up Solomon.” Hispano cooed as she propped herself up on her hind paws and crossed her talons.

“Granted, but one thing at a time.” Buck sighed as I felt his paws come off me to let me stand on my own again. “Besides, what’s that old idiom? You need to walk before you can run.”

Carefully I stepped forward, trying to remember how to walk on four hooves. It’s funny how quickly you can forget when you’re faced with the prospect of never having that leg again. But like with my rear prosthetic, all I would need it time and I’d be galloping about again like it was nothing.

Without thinking too hard about it, I’d made it over to the cabin door. Reaching up with my prosthetic, I gripped around the latch and twisted. Opening the door, I felt a shiver roll across me as the heat from our room was drawn out, and the sounds of the rest of the old world ship came flooding in.

“Hey, do you smell that?” Hispano asked as she seemed to perk up fairly quickly.

“Yeah...” I added as not just sounds wormed their way in, but the delectable smells of breakfast food wafted through the air as well.

“What is it?” Buck asked, folding his triangular, dish-like ears flat on his head with a whimper. “You both know I lost my sense of smell. Don’t leave me in the dark here.”

“Breakfast.” I smirked. “We smell breakfast.”

Author's Note

A huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan with not only his help on editing this chapter, but for allowing me to utilize his Tank Ghouls, as well as for letting me use his entire little corner of the wasteland in the Vanhoover area. Seriously, it means a lot to be trusted with this setting.

And of course, many thanks to Kkat, who's let us run around with our own stories in the FoE setting for almost a decade now. And I hope that there are many, many more years of stories to come.