Good luck is inversely proportional to good timing.

Again, I couldn't really sleep. This time, it wasn't the lack of dreams, or even a fixation on what had happened to Delta. No, this time, it was because of the Arcturus itself.

With the damage it had taken, the repair talismans were being taxed to max. Plus, Tofu had informed me that the stocks of metal it uses for repairs had been all but depleted just to reform the struts under where the bridge had been. So while the Arcturus wasn't going to come apart at the seams from a stiff breeze, most of the holes we'd acquired during the fight had stayed, well... open.

I don't know why I didn't notice the eerie sounds of the wasteland before. Maybe it was hidden by the hum from Bertha's reactor, or maybe the north was just a more peaceful part of the wastes. Or maybe it had been Jynx who’d just kept me from ever hearing it.

From screams and gunfire, to animal calls so twisted and strange that it made my mane nearly stand on end. The wasteland seemed to be everything but quiet at night, and I'd had just about as much of it as I could handle.

As carefully as I could, I maneuvered my way out from the warm embrace of both Buck and Hispano. The sharp pains from my wings and barrel didn’t help, but I bit my tongue and resolved to keep quiet. My hooves ached as they slid from the bed, but the cold floor under them helped to numb that slightly. Taking a step back, I waited a moment for one of the two to wake up. Buck simply let out a static filled snore and shifted his mechanical arm over to wrap around Hispano, who pressed herself back into him.

Satisfied that they’d be alright for the moment, I turned and carefully opened the door to our room.

The moment I broke the seal, a cold wind flowed into the room. It sent a shiver over me that once again made the aches in my body flare up, but I pushed that aside as I quickly stepped out into the hall and shut the door again. As the door sealed, a small bit of white something puffed up from the floor, drawing my attention downward.

The whole ship’s floor was blanketed in a thin layer of cloud. Turning my gaze toward the front of the ship, the wispy cloud shifted and rolled inward like waves on a beach. It only took a second, but I figured that with the gaping hole where the bridge used to be, some of the cloud from the drive must be being forced inside.

Turning again, I pointed myself back toward the galley. Maybe if I spent a bit of time finishing off that box of sugar apple bombs, I’d be able to relax enough to get some rest when I came back to our room. Taking a step forward, my hoof came down and stepped up on the low lying cloud.

I hesitated at first, but lifted my prosthetic leg up and carefully pressed it down. The cloud compressed under it slightly, but I could feel the resistance propping it up like my normal hoof. With a smirk spreading across my muzzle, I stepped forward and stood with all fours on the cloud.

I know it wouldn’t seem like much to the others, but… it felt good to me. It was almost like what it felt like when you first stepped into a hot shower. My whole body felt like it relaxed, like knots in muscles I didn’t know I had, finally had a chance to rest. I winced as pain shot through my back, as completely by reflex, I’d tried to relax my healing wings.

When was the last time I’d been able to stand and walk on a cloud without something pressing keeping my attention from it?

Trotting forward with a smile plastered across my muzzle, I made my way toward the kitchen. The cloud under me kept my hoofsteps almost completely quiet, well, aside from the giddy giggles I found slip from my muzzle. I don’t know why something so simple made me as happy as I’d been as a colt, but after yesterday, I wasn’t going to complain. Still, I was almost sad when I had so quickly walked through the bulkhead for the galley.

“Night?” King mumbled as he pulled his muzzle from the open box of sugar apple bombs I’d come for. “Uh, I didn’t expect to see you up so late.”

He turned his heavily bandaged head from me, looking down at the table to hide the fact that under those bandages, he’d lost an eye during the fight. His large green form shifted, and he whined as the bandages around the other parts of himself squeezed at his wounds. A few of the old bomb-shaped morsels slipped from the end of his muzzle as he hastily set the box down and did his best to sit up in the cramped booth. From the trouble he was having, it was pretty clear that these seats definitely hadn’t been designed for ponies his size.

“Sometimes I come here to grab some food when it’s quiet.” He offered to me stiffly before he placed his hooves on the table. “I don’t actually need to eat, but… it helps me try to remember what it’s like being a normal pony again.” With a whimper, he started to push himself up. “Maybe I should go and let you be…”

“I’d rather not be alone… right now.” I offered to him. Okay, so maybe I had been looking forward to some time alone, but I wasn’t the only one here who’d lived through yesterday. Buck said I probably shouldn’t have been alone earlier, and I have to say, like most of his advice, he’s been right.

Stepping across the cloud, I walked my way over to the opposite side of the booth he was in and climbed into it. As I did, he shifted himself, turning his bandaged head away again holding onto a look I knew all too well. With a sigh, I reached across the table and dragged the box of cereal into my hooves.

“It takes some time to adjust.” I offered to him as I tipped the box toward me. I paused and lifted my prosthetic to my metal faceplate. “Back when I lost my eye, I was ashamed.” Looking down at the box, I shifted it to the left in my hooves and watched as it slipped into my blindspot. “Well, I was actually more than ashamed, but… it doesn’t have to be that way. Yes, it means you have to adjust, but it marks you as a survivor. You survived the fight, and that should be worn like a badge of honor.”

Sticking my muzzle into the box, I greedily munched down a few of the sugar filled bombs. The flavor was just as stale as ever, and the apple taste had all but disappeared from them, but it was damn near cathartic just to eat something normal again.

“How can you rationalize it like that?” King snorted sharply, letting a small growl escape with his words. Glancing up at him, I found his anger drain away in an instant as the shame crept it’s way back in. “I didn’t even do anything in the fight.” He shook his head as his gaze sank. “There was a terrible roar, and a flash. The next thing I remember was the doc in the infirmary explaining that...” He paused and let out a whimper as he wrapped his hooves around his head. “Am I so selfish that all I care about is my fucking eye when Delta… he…”

“I… watched him go.” The words slipped out of my muzzle. Setting the box of cereal down, I looked at it and felt my stomach twist inside of me. “But it’s not selfish. You can’t change what happened to Delta, but you still feel like you could have done something different for you. Trust me when I say that I know how that feels, and that as cold as it sounds, you have every right to feel selfish about it.”

So much for feeling up to eating comfort food…

“He and I… we didn’t really see eye to eye.” King’s hesitant words were matched with a reluctance to relax, but still I could see him trying to force himself to do it all the same. “But every time we spoke, I could see how he held back his true feelings about me. About what I am.” Lowering his hooves from his head, he wrapped them around himself. “Delta constantly struggled with trying to be a better pony than he’d once been, to get over the prejudices he’d held. Though I did not know much about his past, I found his attempts to at least give me a chance, admirable.”

“Even I don’t know much about what Delta had done before I met him.” I offered as I leaned back against the booth. Flashes of memories about Delta filtered through my mind, and a small smirk grew on my muzzle. “But the stallion he once was didn’t matter to the one who’d come to stand beside me. Maybe if I knew what he’d been like as King of the Skyraiders, I would have cared, but I know the value of a second chance. Delta did too, and he tried to make the most of his.”

“And it is my own second chance that I have been fighting with.” King shook his head and tensed up again. “I feel like my mind is split in two. One side that wishes to know who I once was, so that I can take it and move on with this chance to become better. The other… is the part of me who’s been asking why my memories were taken from me to begin with.” Looking up at me, he bore a truly open and honest gaze at me, more so than I’d ever seen in his eyes before. “What if I was some sort of monster before, and this was the way to make me better? What if I was a monster, and I can’t fight back the urges and impulses I’ll have?”

“That’s the thing I’ve learned about the wasteland, King. Everypony down here can be a monster.” I let out a soft chuckle and sighed as he seemed a bit confused. “Well, at least they’ve had the opportunity to become one.” The thoughts of Solomon, Rook, Mrs. Tapit, Elder Curry, Mr. Wizard, and a dozen other dead monsters flashed through my mind. “Even for me, it’s been a constant fight not to stoop down to Solomon’s level and just take what I want from others, and I’ve lost that fight a few times. I’ve made my own missteps, and sometimes that monster has come out of me. But I can’t stop fighting it back, and you have to believe that you can’t stop fighting either, King.”

“I… I think I understand a bit better now.” King nodded and leaned back in his seat, relaxing as much as the cramped space would allow. “Perhaps it’s just because I’m worried about what I will find in Vanhoover.” A new nervous grin pulled across his muzzle, but he quickly forced it back. “I don’t even know where to start looking when we get there.”

“I will promise you this, King.” Leaning forward, I stretched my hoof across the table toward him. “Once I get this stupid curse taken out of my head, I won’t stop helping you until you find the answers you’re looking for.”

King’s eyes dropped to my hoof, and a weak but genuine smile tugged at his muzzle. Slowly, he reached out with his hoof to mine. His large, green alicorn hoof dwarfed mine as he set it down, but I gave it a firm squeeze all the same.

King went stiff, pulling his hoof back sharply. His horn and one visible eye flashed with magic, and his expression quickly leveled off to a flat neutral. With a shift of his glowing eye, he looked down at me.

“You really will not heed the warnings I have given?” The annoyed voice of the mare who shared King’s body came through his muzzle. “Is it truly your intention to reveal to him who he once was despite the fact that you know it to be harmful?”

“One, you’ve never once told me what makes his memories so harmful.” I snorted and deadpanned at her. “And two, King at least deserves a chance to know, doesn’t he?”

“I will not argue my reasons with you.” The mare shook King’s head and aimed a disappointed gaze at me. “Please, I beg of you, abandon this attempt to help him.”

“What alternative have you given?” I snorted again and gave a few rough taps on the table between us. “You can either explain to me exactly why King deserves this inequine punishment, or offer me another viable option to deal with him.”

“You have made a point.” With a reluctant sigh, she folded King’s hooves across his barrel and fidgeted his wings against his back. “The only alternative I can suggest is to get your doctor to use his sedatives on King.” Wait, what? “While he is under, you can change course and take him far away from…”

“I’m going to stop you right fucking there.” I mean, the nerve of this mare! Shifting myself, I jabbed my hoof across the table at her and did my best to shoot a Delilah-level glare right through her. “I’ve had just about enough of mystery voices telling me what to do all the time. And I’ll be honest, the only reason I’ve been receptive to you up to now, is because I thought you had King’s best interests in mind. But that’s not true, is it?”

“You don’t understand…” The mare in King growled. She slammed her hooves down on the table and leaned in toward me. But the second she opened her muzzle again, I cut her off.

“No it’s you who doesn’t understand, isn’t it?” I seethed and leaned in toward her as well. “If you wanted to do something to help King, you would have. The truth of the matter though, is you can’t, and that’s why you need my help.” Almost to confirm that, she let out a low growl at me. “I made a promise to help King, and I won’t betray that just because you asked me politely. So you are going to go back inside King and let him be the one to decide if he wants to remember or not. Got that?”

With another growl, she leaned back and crossed her hooves.

“I asked if you understood that.” Even though my tone was as cold and angry as Delilah’s ever was, for some reason, I was entirely calm. Maybe it was because I’d been on her side of the table before, so I could see the glaring mistake she was making here. Either way, I wasn’t going to settle for anything less than a yes. “You will answer me.”

“The consequences of what happens if King learns the truth will fall directly on your shoulders, Night Flight.” She seethed as the magic behind her eye and horn faltered. “But hear me now, I will do everything in my power to stop you.”

With another flash, the magic in King dissipated, and I was left glaring at a confused, blinking Alicorn across the table from me.

“What?” The question wormed its way out of King’s muzzle as he raised a hoof to his neck. “I… must have lost my train of thought. Or did I say something wrong?”

“You didn’t, King.” I sighed as a battle in my head I hadn’t even realized I was fighting finally resolved. “You know those gaps in your attention span you’ve been having around me?” To that, King seemed even more confused, but gave out a small nod after a moment. “Maybe it’s time we had a small talk about what’s really going on inside your head.”

I promised King that I’d help him figure out who he was, and that meant that like everypony else on this ship, in my family, he deserved to know the truth.

I woke with a shiver, since when had it gotten so cold in here?

Lifting my head from the table, I let out a stiff yawn that sent an ebbing pain throughout my bandaged body and wings. The few soggy sugar apple bombs that I’d inadvertently napped on dropped onto the table as I looked around and found the room still empty, and a lot more foggy. The thick clouds that had only been fetlock or so deep before, were now almost up to the level of the booth seat itself. The rest of the room was a mess of haze that made everything glisten with dew.

“Ah, goodmorning, Night.” Ping’s voice pulled my head around to see him trot through the cloud into the galley.

It was weird to see his striped form trot in like I hadn’t left him behind what feels like forever ago now. But he never really left us, and I guess that was yet another benefit of being what he was. Honestly though, it just felt good to see another friendly face again.

Scooting myself from the booth as he walked up to join me in it, I wrapped my hooves around him in a tight hug. I don’t know if it was because of the loss of Delta, but just holding him felt better than it had any right to. I needed this, and though he knew Delta less time than I had, maybe he’d needed it too.

“It’s good to see you too.” He let out a soft laugh and gave me a quick but firm few pats on my side. I winced slightly as one of his pats grazed my bandaged wings. “Oh, sorry about that. Perhaps we should refrain from physical showings of affection until your body has had time to heal.”

“Yeah, that’s probably smart.” I nodded and pulled myself away. I gestured for him to take the other side of the booth, and we both scooted in and made ourselves comfortable. “So, things are going well enough at the Factory that you decided you could come and use the body you left on board?”

“Yes and no.” He seemed to mull over what I’m sure was a whole slew of thoughts at once before his normal wide smile pulled across his muzzle. “However, you needn’t worry about that. I have come to offer a hoof with repairs to the Arcturus.”

“Well from what Tofu told me, there’s nothing we can really do until we can restock the stores of material that the repair talismans run off of.” I sighed and waved my hoof, disturbing a particularly thick bit of fog from over the table between us. “I have no idea how or where to find more, so I’m open to any suggestions you may have.”

“You are slated to go exploring the ruins of the Ministry of Peace veterans hospital today,” Ping leaned back in his seat, placing his forelegs behind his head while kicking his hind hooves up onto the tabletop. “If you are alright with it, between Eliza and I, I’m sure we could locate some ruins within Vanhoover that contain the correct type of scrap.”

Huh, I don’t think I’d ever seen Ping so relaxed before. Because of that, I had a little part of me in the back of my mind screaming at me that this wasn’t really him. I don’t know why either, as my gut wasn’t telling me something was off, it was just… really adept and pony-like mimicry on his part.

His eyes shifted over to mine sharply, and he canted his head ever so slightly.

“I apologize, was that too much?” He asked, shifting himself so he could go back to sitting like normal. “The Factory has been observing normal pony behavior in more detail than ever recently, and we have fine-tuned the Ping-type subroutine that helps us mimic and blend in. I was not aware it would make me seem so forign to you.”

“Wait, how did you know?” Blinking a few times at him, my mind started to race. Was he listening in on my thoughts? I thought that he and the Architect said they wouldn’t do that! Wait, no, how could he anyway? My augment is off…

“I can see that you are confused.” Ping’s muzzle shifted back to his normal wide smile. The same stiff one he’d worn back when Happy and I first pulled him from that safe on the Ouroboros. “Your pose shifted to a more alerted one after I made myself ‘comfortable’. Both your heart rate and core temperature began to rise, and your pupil dilated six percent, indicating a more anxious state.”

“Sorry, I don’t want you to think I’m freaking out on you.” I forced out a laugh. At least there was some explanation for it to help put my mind at ease. “It’s just, as you know I’ve been having problems with hallucinations and dreams while my augment’s been off.”

“Ah yes, this ‘jinx’ you have.” He nodded and tented his forehooves on the table. “I too hope that you find the machine you are looking for in the hospital. If it is as you said before, and the jinx’s fault for the loss of Mr. Double Delta, then I do hope that the process of removal is incredibly painful for the curse.”

“Thanks, me too.” That actually kicked a thought into my head that I hadn’t been prepared for. What if it was painful to me? What sort of side effects might come from tearing something like old magic from my body? Then again, I have a walking collection of wartime knowledge right in front of me, right? “Actually, do you know if… it’s even safe to remove a curse?” If Ping didn’t know, then no pony would.

The smile across his muzzle dimmed for a moment, and he furrowed his brows as he dropped into thought.

“Hmmm, one moment.” He offered before his eyes flashed away and lines of blue code streamed down over the sockets.

His whole body shuddered and went limp. His projected zebra body fizzled and then disappeared altogether, leaving the normal bulbus black machine form across from me. The silence that filtered into my mind now that he was gone was eerie. It wasn’t until right now that I realized that among all the things he’d mimicked, the sound and sight of his mock breathing had actually been something I’d grown accustomed to.

Actually, I wanted to say it was weird that Ping could just come and go from his body like that. But after everything I’ve been through on this trip, I’m not sure I can say that. If anything really, it’s enviable.

“Hey, Captain?” Eliza’s voice startled me nearly to the point of falling out of the booth.

“Yes, Eliza?” I got myself sitting back up straight and looked around for her, but was unsuccessful in finding the cartoon mare anywhere in the room. It was only after a moment until I remembered that of course I couldn’t see her without my augment on!

“I didn’t want to interrupt you and the Architect while you were chatting, but I thought you’d like to know that we’ve arrived on the outskirts of the Vanhoover ruins.”

“Thanks for the update.” I nodded to her with a sigh. “And don’t be afraid to interrupt. I mean, Ping’s your friend too after all.”

“That she is!” Ping’s voice came through the PA system with a light laugh. His body gave another shudder, and with a flash, his smiling striped form pulled itself across his mechanical body. “Ahem, sorry about that. Doc Groovy recently installed Doc Sea Shell into a new body since Doctor Buck destroyed his old one, but we have yet to retrofit it with a Factory transmitter, so I needed to ask him your question directly.” Alright, and the verdict is…? “And to that end, I do wish I could say it is without significant risk of permanent brain injuries, but that is not the case. It was a fairly new and little used process around the time the war ended, so there was little time for study of the procedure and it’s long-term effects, if any.”

That was exactly what I was afraid of.

“Fuck me.” I groaned and sank in my seat. “What am I supposed to tell Buck? He’ll never go through with it if he knows that he’d be risking my health.”

“The good news is that he will actually have little say about it.” Ping offered as he all but hesitated to finish. “He should only be needed to input your medical and physical parameters into the attached console. From there, the machine should be able to perform the procedure on it’s own while he monitors your condition.”

“That won’t really help convince him to stick me in the thing in the first place, Ping.” Leaning forward, I thumped my face down on the table with a grunt. “It just couldn’t be an easy get in, get it done, and get out sort of job, could it?”

Ping reached over the table to me, and I thought he was going to offer me another few reassuring pats on the shoulder. Instead, his hoof tapped at my augment. My vision flickered as it came back, and the ebbing pain across my body drained away once more. Looking up, I found a somewhat apprehensive look across Ping’s muzzle. Though, his eyes were locked staring over at the side of our table.

Taking a look myself, the similarly nervous Eliza was standing next to a projection of a bowl with a bunch of squares along the edges, and a tall rectangle leaning against the inner edge of it. As I blinked, the projection became a bit more defined and detailed. The bowl turned out to be a wide crater of some kind, and the squares ended up being the shattered remains of various old buildings and skyscrapers. The long rectangle however, turned out to be a leaning fifty story building with a faded, but still visible relief of the old Ministry of Peace butterflies on it.

“That’s the hospital!?” I spat out as I stared at the projection of the off center and precariously tilted tower.

“Yes, it still seems fairly structurally sound for a building leaning at nearly sixteen and a half degrees. The magical shields the M.A.S. installed on its hub buildings seems to have mitigated most of the Megaspell damage quite remarkably.” Ping answered with more confidence than I would have ever put into talking about a flat concrete slab on level ground! “Actually, to the factory’s knowledge, this building is the only one in Equestria to have remained upright despite exhibiting such a dramatic tilt.”

“That’s because all the others fucking fell over!” I groaned and cupped my hooves over my face. The near freezing metal of my prosthetic hoof touched my damp fur and sent another shiver down my spine. “Forget the machine, is it even safe to go inside?”

“I suppose the answer to that is relative to how safe you view the ruins of Vanhoover as a total!” Eliza’s cheery voice did little to inspire me to look past the fact she was just deflecting my question.

“It is my opinion that, yes, it will be safe enough to venture into.” While Ping’s words had his signature note of confidence back, and even with me trusting him, I still didn’t want to go anywhere near that place. “It seems to follow that if the structure has remained upright at this tilt for the past two centuries, then it must be sound enough for you and your crew to enter for your procedure.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about the tower falling over any time soon.” Eliza’s cheery voice came with her raising her toony hoof to the projection and spinning it so I could see under the leaning side. “My worry would be if the machine was still inside at all!”

The projection shimmered as another level of detail was added to it. The backside of the leaning tower was a mess of shattered or cracked windows. Empty dark voids sat with chairs or desks barely clinging on to the edge far above the ground. Other broken windows were clogged with machines too large to fit through the open gaps, while others sported small waterfalls through them, flowing from what was probably all the busted and corroded plumbing.

“Alright, alright!” I waved my prosthetic hoof at the projection and went back to staring down at the table. “I get it, the place is a deathtrap. I just need to figure out where this stupid machine is and get Jynx out of my head as fast as possible.”

“Ministry records place the curse ward in Vanhoover Veterans Memorial in the northern wing of the forty fifth floor.” Ping offered as he reached his hooves across the table and held them out for me. “On the upside, the Remora should be able to get you and the others inside the southeast wing of that exact floor.” I glanced up, finding that unlike his normal wide smile, he’d switched to a smaller, more caring one. “I know it may seem dangerous, but I have personally witnessed you risk more for less, Night. I believe that you can do this.”

“Thanks.” I nodded to him and reached out with my own hooves, taking his firmly. “Alright then, let’s get everypony up. We’ve got a trip to prepare for.”

The Remora shifted and rattled under my hooves as we cruised through the skies above the Vanhoover ruins. After the fight yesterday, and with the Arcturus needing all the repair supplies, the damage the small skycraft had received hadn’t been fixed yet. The normally quiet engines whined a little bit louder, and the brisk morning air whistled through more than a dozen holes in the cabin.

“How much longer?” Happy shivered slightly and used his hoof to tighten his leather jacket around himself. “It’s too fuckin’ cold in here.”

“How is it that we spent literal months in colder weather, and yet, that didn’t bother you?” Hispano murmured with a forceful nudge against the mules side.

“That was a dry cold.” Happy snorted and nudged her back. “This is different.”

“Happy is not entirely wrong.” Buck’s quick decision to weigh in on things was surprising, but as he brought his paw up to his muzzle to stroke it, I could see his mechanical eye glow a bit brighter than normal. “At this latitude in western Equestria, the cold northern air mixes with the high altitude, moisture laden western air-stream brought in from the Marewaii islands. To put it plainly, it means that the humidity keeps the air thick with water, while also barely staying above freezing temperatures.”

“Yeah, and?” Hispano seemed somewhat unimpressed as she once again rolled her eyes.

“Look, the ship’s fucking cold and wet, the Remora’s fucking cold and wet. Everything’s fucking cold and wet here!” Happy growled and wrapped his hooves around himself. “I ain’t got insulation like you fliers do, so no matter what I’m freezing my balls off the longer we stick around.”

“I agree.” I said as the Remora tilted slightly. It’s engines whined just a little bit harder as the cloudship worked to slow us down. “Let’s get this done quickly. The longer we stay, the more things can go wrong.” I pushed myself to my hooves and stepped over to the door.

The hydraulics inside the Remora let out a sharp grinding sound that I’m sure made more than just me cringe. Please, just hold yourself together a little bit longer, Remora. With a stiff shudder, the door pulled away and revealed the outward face of the leaning building to us.

The morning sunrise gave the leaning building a dim halo, and allowed some of it’s soft yellow paint to glow in a particularly comforting way. The Ministry logo still clinging to the building may have faded from the years gone by, but it still filled me with a small sense of hope. Almost as if I knew things would be alright from here on out, I took a deep breath and felt myself relax.

From where we hovered, the building looked the same as it had in Ping’s projection. However, a few details had been left off. Firstly, some pipe must have broken on this side of one of the top floors, because a thin sheet of water was constantly flowing down the left half of the sloping surface. Okay, that’s probably not the best side to enter in on.

The Remora shifted slightly and pulled us toward the right half of the building. Thanks to all the moisture in the air and from the water draining down it, the whole right side was covered in what looked like pure black algae. Every intact window here had been completely covered by it, which made it impossible to see just what the hell we’d be diving into. As we hovered closer, the Remora’s engines whipped a light dust of the definitely unhealthy particles from the side of the building. Happy, Hispano and I all recoiled at the same time as the overpowering stench of it hit us.

“Ugh, that’s disgusting!” Hispano whined. “Nopony mentioned that this place would fucking stink!”

You know, I never once thought I’d truly envy Buck’s handicap of not being able to smell things...

“Uh, how about the fact you forgot to mention it’s about to fucking fall over!?” Happy whimpered as he clamped his wooden hoof over his nose and squeezed it hard. “Fuck that, I’m not going in that deathtrap!”

“So Night can put himself at risk a dozen times for you, but you can’t handle a leaning ruin for him?” Hispano snorted as she set Suiza down and used her freed talons to cover her own beak. “Some friend you are.”

“Hey, I came to help Night because he’s done the same for me!” Happy snapped back at her with a light shove from his hoof. “But this shit is suicide!”

“Simmer down.” Buck groaned as he reached out for Happy and I. “While extreme, sixteen degrees is hardly going to be anything more difficult to manage than walking on a hillside.” With careful movements, he moved the both of us away from the open door and stepped up to it himself. Wait, was he going in first?

“Hey, hey, hey!” Happy spat and reached out his hoof, grabbing onto Buck’s arm tightly. “What are you doing? If those windows survived a megaspell blast, how the hell do you think you’ll get through it!?”

“Not to worry!” Hispano gasped as she reached for her sister again. As she did, Buck’s mechanical paw swung over and stopped her. “Buck, come on. Suiza can punch through a hundred millimetres of solid steel. I think she can handle a single window.”

“While I know she’s capable,” Buck’s soft smile meant well, but I could see other thoughts running around behind that expression. “I’m not sure we want to announce our presence here to everyone in Vanhoover.” See, I don’t think that’s it though...

“Fine.” Hispano grumbled and reached back to the holster strapped around her side. With a flick, she pulled out Xeno’s former pistol. “Then I’m sure Baby could also handle it if...”

“And,” Buck raised his voice to cut her off, “because we don’t yet know what’s inside, I think it’s best if I go in first.”

Of course, now it made sense.

As I stared up at his soft smile, I could definitely see the expression he was trying to hide behind it. The notes of fear clung to him in ways that I knew so intimately that there’s no way it was anything else. While he’d seemed less hurt by the loss of Delta, I think it’s actually affecting him a lot more than he’s trying to let on. He was trying to protect us.

“As for how I’ll get in, Happy.” Buck continued as he turned back to the mule and raised his paw. “The answer, is physics.” With a whir, the mechanics inside pushed his paw back and made room for the long, silver data spike to extend out. “Windows like that are meant to spread pressures out over their full surface area. But if that force is concentrated in a single point…”

“Then the window will shatter.” Hispano nodded as she looked at the pistol still in her talon. With a sigh, she shifted herself and put it back in it’s holster. “You know, exactly the same job a bullet would do…”

“I told you, we can’t....” Buck shook his head, but stopped as I reached out and grabbed at his paw.

“It’s okay, Hispano.” I locked my eyes on Buck’s and smiled as he turned to me. I know how much you need this, big guy, and I trust you. “Buck will go in first and make sure it’s safe.”

“Thank you, Night.” Buck smiled and nodded to me. I let go of his paw and stepped back, letting him have the space he needed. He took a few deep breaths and turned his gaze back to the black algae coated windows of the building. With a few rocks of his body, he tucked his paws close to himself and got his legs positioned under him tightly.

With a growl, his entire body shot forward like a compressed spring.

The force of him pushing off was enough to shift the Remora sharply. The engines whined to keep us stable as the black and white bolt that was Buck streaked towards the building. Both Happy and Hispano braced themselves from the shift, but before I could, a blue, yellow and green form caught my attention.

Jynx stood at the precipice of the Remora’s door. The devious smile sitting across her muzzle instantly twisted at my gut, and my heart nearly skipped a beat as time felt like it slowed down. No, not now. My gaze went wide as it drifted from her back towards Buck as he drove his data spike through the old window.

The brittle, two century old glass shattered as he burst through it into what looked like had at one point been some sort of waiting room. Only now, the room was filled with the molded remains of a half dozen chairs piled up against the far wall with a dozen broken rusty pipes jutting through them like embedded spears.

Buck’s heavy mechanical legs came down on what had once been carpeted floor, and immediately they failed to find purchase. The old carpet slicked away under his weight like wet paper, and he started to slide. Right toward the rusted pile of spears.

I gasped as he quickly brought his normal paw down and tried to dig his mechanical digits in. Even though it helped to somewhat slow his bulky form, the wet concrete flooring under him didn’t have anywhere for him to firmly grip. No, there had to be something, anything for him to grasp!

“You’re right, there is something…” Jynx’s venomous words echoed through my mind.

Buck’s hindpaws dipped through the old carpet and locked against it. Buck’s momentum shifted his weight forward towards the spikes, but with a sharp whine, he caught himself only millimetres away from impaling his head through a pipe. With shaking paws, he brought his arms up to the pipe and effortlessly tore it out from the wall before crushing it.

Fuck, that was close. Maybe… Happy was right. Maybe this place was going to be more dangerous than I thought after all.

“I don’t know, it seems like it’ll be pretty safe.” Jynx offered as she stepped back from next to the door with her fantastically infuriating sultry laugh. “You know, thanks to me of course.”

“We don’t want your help.” I snarled at her. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

“True, you didn’t. But I’m not going to give up without a fight, Night.” She shrugged and turned back to Buck. “This place is dangerous, and as soon as I’ve helped out enough, the pendulum is coming back around, Night. And it’s coming hard.”

My blood boiled in my veins. I seethed through my clenched jaw and glared at her stupid, smug face. It took everything I had not to dive at her and try to strangle the life right out of her, even though I knew she wasn’t real.

A firm but warm pressure wrapped around my hoof, and I snapped my angry gaze over to see that Hispano had wrapped her talon around it.

“It’s just trying to save itself, Night.” Hispano’s soft voice eroded my rage like calming ocean waves after a hurricane blew through. “We’re here for you, and as soon as we find that machine, you’ll never have to deal with this curse again.” Even though my skin was numb, I swear I could feel the warmth of her words radiating right through my body and into my very soul. “Now, what do you say we go down to Buck and the three of us can finally put this all behind us?”

She… she was right.

“Okay.” I nodded and instinctively unfurled my wings from my back. As expected, my augment stopped all the crippling pain that I’m sure I would be in otherwise, but it couldn’t fix the incredible stiffness I felt in them. Looking back at the building, if it came to flying out of here, I’m not sure I’d be able to do it.

“Then it sounds to me like you should make sure you don’t need to fly out of here.” Jynx spoke up as she turned to face me and unfurled her own wings. “But I mean, what are the chances of that?” With a giggling laugh bubbling up from her throat, she leaned back through the open door and fell out of the Remora. While she disappeared, her laugh echoed through my mind, hanging out back there like the ringing of a far off chapel bell.

Just a little bit longer, Night. Then she’ll never be able to hurt anypony you know again. Just a little bit longer, and then you’ll finally be free.

There haven’t been many places I’ve been that have been so irredeemably bad they deserved to be destroyed. Sure, Tephra’s church needed to burn to the ground, and Mrs. Tapit’s submarine did end up exploding. But this place, this place deserved a megaspell to erase it from existence.

It wasn’t just the fact that the slanted floors were a slick nightmare of overpoweringly pungent algae and mold. It wasn’t even the fact that the constant ticking, clicking, buzzing, creaking, and dripping noises from every dark corner kept us all on edge. No, that had been something I could deal with as we slowly made our way down one of the long hospital halls.

Simply put, it was the fact that every patient room still had the remains of some unfortunate pony lying in it. The putrid husks weren’t more than bones covered in sopping moldy bandages, but not a single room we passed held an empty bed. Yet, the halls were clear. Not a single body sat on the floor or huddled in a corner. The only sign of anypony else I’d seen was when we’d stopped for Buck to try to read one of the old directories.

Half of a pony in what remained of a ministry of peace lab coat was stuck halfway through the door to the stairwell. There, their body sat for two centuries, propping the door open to reveal a huddled collection of other lab coated remains who all died in the stairwells. They had been the doctors here. They’d left their patients on the last day, the ponies who’d needed them, all in order to try to save themselves. Not one doctor had stayed behind to even try to help.

“You know,” Jynx’s calm and collected voice bounced around in my mind as she pulled herself up out of a puddle of murk next to the stairwell door. “It almost makes you think, maybe you all deserved it. What happened with the apocalypse, I mean. Justice for the selfish cowards who made the world what it is today.” Her cracked smile twisted her muzzle as she leaned down over the remains of the pony in the doorway. “Then again, can you blame them? After all, just like you and me, all they wanted to do was to survive.”

“Alright, this way…. I think.” Buck’s words were quick to pull my focus from Jynx if for just a moment. But as I blinked and looked back, she was gone from the stairwell.

“You alright, Night?” Happy asked, dropping his wooden forehoof on my shoulder. “Not seeing things that aren’t there, are you?”

“Of course I am. But, I’ll be better once we find that machine and get the fuck out of here, Okay?” I brushed his hoof off and stepped passed him.

Taking my place beside Buck as he turned a corner, I looked up to see his worried eyes wander over to me. I didn’t need to have him say anything into my mind to know that look meant that I should apologize to Happy. I didn’t mean to come off so cold, but I could apologize once we’d gotten Jynx out of my head.

“Night, wait.” Happy spoke up as he trotted to catch up. “Look, I know this has sucked for you, and I don’t mean to make light of that. I’m sorry.”

“I know, Happy.” Then again, maybe instead of worrying about myself, for once, I shouldn’t just leave him behind. “I didn’t mean to snap. I just… don’t like this place.”

“I don’t think any of us do.” Buck offered softly before stopping midstep. He raised his paw, and the three of us behind him all froze up.

There was an echoing, warbling buzz in the air. The sound was bouncing around enough that I couldn’t pinpoint it more than the hallway intersection up ahead. Glancing up again, I watched as even Buck’s ears had trouble finding the source.

A bloated and dripping black sphere bobbed out from around the corner of the intersection. Four diminutive wings worked frantically to carry the bulbous form of the creature through the air in a way I’d closer categorize to outright defying gravity rather than any form of flight. The creature’s gaping maw made up a third of it’s form, was toothless, and dribbled some sort of sticky liquid from it. Dull and featureless milky white eyes made up the other two thirds of its front half, giving me the impression that it might actually be blind.

It bobbed through the air, pausing and spinning itself around toward us. The buzzing it’s wings gave seemed to pause intermittently, dropping it lower and lower to the floor in short increments. The four of us watched as it landed on the algae soaked floor with a splat, and then proceeded to plant it’s face down into the puddle. It’s overtaxed wings fluttered to a stop, and slowly splayed out across it’s back.

“See, I knew this place wasn’t healthy.” Hispano shook her head as she shifted Suiza back up to rest over her shoulder. “Bloatsprites can live off anything pretty much anywhere. So if one just up and dies, then it’s definitely not somewhere we want to stay long.”

The wings on the back of the bloatsprite twitched. The small creature gave a burbling growl through the puddle it laid in before the puddle began to recede. A thick slurping sound emitted through the mutated creature’s body, and it began to inflate. Ugh! Was it actually drinking this gunk!?

“Okay, it is alive.” Hispano gasped and quickly used her free talon to pull Baby out of it’s holster. “If it’s living off of this poison, then it’s definitely not a good idea to hang around.”

“No, no!” Buck reached over and swiftly pushed Hispano’s talon down. “It doesn’t seem interested in us. Let’s just get around it and…”

The hallway turned a brilliant crimson as what looked like a red comet streaked between Hispano and I. The blazing bolt sailed forth and struck the bloatsprite dead-on just under one of it’s sets of wings. The creature gave a short lived scream as it caught fire, then outright combusted with a squishy pop. The goop inside of it burst into flames and showered a small area of the hallway ahead, leaving a dotting ring of fires that crackled softly.

“Holy shit!” Happy blurt out as he pulled Laika’s pistol from his muzzle. “Fuckin’ bullseye! I can’t believe I actually made that shot!”

“You can tell him he’s welcome for it, Night.” Jynx’s voice echoed through my mind along with her signature infuriating laughter.

It wasn’t going to hurt us! Even if it wanted to, Buck would have squashed that thing in an instant! Quit thinking you’re helping in situations where I wouldn’t have ever asked you for it in the first place!

“You fucking moron!” Hispano’s plumage bristled under her flight cap as she spun around on a paw and took a rough swing at the mule. “You could have shot Night or I in the back of the head!”

A flash of light from the wall pulled all of our eyes up to it. A bright white light inset to what looked like an old fire alarm blinked through the layers of mold and algae that coated it. A few sparks shot out from it before static pushed through its corroded speaker and the voice of a soft spoken mare emitted from it.

“F-fire detected. P-please stand c-clear of the sup-p-pression system.”

The central ceiling panel in the intersection shifted slightly. A metal mechanism pushed through it’s brittle form, causing the whole panel to crack apart and fall to the floor. A rusted metal dome with a barrel on it lowered from the recessed space. The motors inside of it let out a shrill whine as they tried to turn the corroded turret before giving out with a sharp pop. Smoke billowed out of it for a second before a small burst of flame came from the turret ring.

“Again, you’re welcome for that.” Jynx’s voice filtered through my head again.

It was a fire extinguisher! How exactly do you think it would have hurt us!? You know what, don’t answer that. In fact, never speak to me again and just go the fuck away!

“Fire Sup-p-pression System Inop-perable.” The mare spoke up with another burst of static. “Cause of malfunct-t-tion determined. Likely act of vandalism in prog-gress. Security authorization granted.”

The corner wall of the intersection shifted with a hiss as mechanisms inside of it pushed it open. Like with the ceiling, the mechanisms pushed through the water damaged walls rather than move them, causing the wall itself to collapse slightly. Inside, the glowing red eye of a machine beamed out at us.

“Authorized personnel are required to vacate the area.” The digitized voice of a sentinel spoke up as the rest of the wall tore away that hid it’s charging pod. “Security operation in progress.”

“Why the fuck does a hospital have a military grade sentinel for it’s security!?” Hispano gasped as she scrambled to get Suiza ready to fire.

The sentinel let out a hiss as it’s onboard arcane generator kicked in and the restraints holding it in place released and crumbled away from corrosion. Overall, the sentinel itself wasn’t in great shape either. It’s entire metal skin was nothing but rust that cracked and flaked away as it started to move, leaving hoof sized gaping holes in it. Sparks and sprays of hydraulic fluid burst from the arm that held it’s corroded minigun, forcing it lower down before the whole arm wrenched itself from the side of the bot altogether. The gun slammed to the floor, spilling it’s load of corroded ammunition to roll and tumble away down the slanted hallway.

“Com-mbat d-damage detected. Use of d-deadly force… a-authorized.” The machine let out a sharp alarm noise as it’s wheeled legs pulled it forward from it’s protected bay and out onto the slick floor. Immediately, the sentinel started to slide sideways, which only helped to bring it’s other arm around. An arm which held a pod of missiles in it.

“Shit, run!” Buck barked out as he turned and used his body to help cover most of Hispano and I.

There was a sharp hiss as the rocket motor ignited, and I watched as flames shot from the exhaust port on the arm. However, the rocket failed to launch, and instead stayed lodged in the arm as the whole bot slid out of sight down the hall.

“Error. W-weapon malfunction. Maintenance re-required.” The machine’s voice drifted off as the four of us couldn’t do anything but just stand there. “This unit will return…”

There was a sharp blast that knocked all four of us off our legs. A gout of flame shot up the hallway, climbing along the ceiling until it dissipated into a thick cloud of choking smoke. As the short lived ringing in my ears faded away, the sound of the window at the end of the hall breaking meant that whatever was left of that machine had at least been safely removed from the building.

“And that’s yet another one you owe me!” Jynx laughed and clapped her forehooves together excitedly as she appeared in the intersection. “I’m on a roll, don’t you think? I’m really making good time on…”

“Just shut up!” I snapped at her. “Just be fucking quiet and knock it off with the favors. If you want to help, then help me get you the fuck out of my head.”

“Night.” Buck offered softly as he shifted himself between Jynx and I. “I know it’s tough, but you need to hold it together just a little bit longer, okay?” Pulling his paws over, he sofly put them around me and pulled me into a warm embrace. “It’ll be over soon, and everything will be alright.”

“I know, Buck.” I sighed, wanting to kick and scream about how much I hated letting jynx get to me. But with my body pressed against his like this, I found it hard to hate anything at all. “Let’s just get going. No more distractions.”

“Yeah, no more.” Hispano cooed cooly as she hefted her sister across her shoulders again. “Think you can do that for us, Happy?” She shot him a sly look that pulled a deadpan across his expression.

“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded begrudgingly as he raised his hoof and secured Laika’s pistol in it’s holster once more. “Let’s quit talking then and get to it. I think I can feel my brain melting from the stench in here.”

Author's Note

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all the help in getting these chapters presentable!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for creating and letting us all run around in this fantastic wasteland setting with our own adventures.