Skeptics are blessed with ignorance, while pessimists are cursed with knowledge.

“Thirteen ACM-66 detonations were observed in total.” Eliza’s cartoon mare frowned across every single screen. We’d all gathered in the command center of the Arcturus, but none of us had even uttered a word since the blasts had gone off. “All devices were mark three variable yield mod megaspells, and looked to have set for their maximum yield of one hundred and fifty kilotons…”

“Who fucking cares!” Tofu snorted and kicked at one of the consoles. “The bastards were going down anyway, why the fuck did they have to hit everypony? Why not fucking take down just the Kingdom with them!”

“They have.” Ping’s stark and quick answer caught Tofu off guard, making her gasp. “Six of the devices exclusively struck Puritan targets. Due to the primitive nature of the construction techniques and materials they used, their cities…” He paused and hung his head. “Assuming all six devices reached their destination without deviation, casualties there are expected to be near one hundred percent.”

“And... w-what about the other targets?” Frescas did her best to present a strong front as she stepped up to a nearby screen to glare at Eliza. I couldn’t blame her for being shaken up by all this, hell, I still couldn’t really believe it actually happened.

“Other targets were observed as Cantercross, Mare’s Lake, White Horse, Fort Liberty, Yakisnk, and Carmacks. Cantercross and Mare’s Lake both suffered near misses, and only took minor damage from the outer range of the blast pressure zones. The others however, appear to have been destroyed, though we can’t directly confirm any accurate information at this moment.” Eliza fell silent, leaving us all hanging on her. So that was it? Cantercross and Mare’s Lake were mostly fine, but everywhere else hit was more than probably just… gone?

“That’s only twelve targets.” Pastel snorted and slammed his talon against the panel next to Frescas, making us all jump. “What the fuck was the last target!?”

“Galloway.” Double Delta growled and seethed. “The last target was fucking Galloway field. I programmed it into the launch system myself, but I never… it was always supposed to be a last resort.”

“No…” Tofu whimpered and slumped down onto the floor.

“This is all your fault!” Frescas snapped.

In a flash she’d tackled Delta back against one of the consoles and slammed his head against one of the monitors. Sparks and crackles came from the electronics as the rest of us dove to pry her off of him. She kicked and screamed in a ball of rage, but between Happy, Ping, and I, she was finally pulled off of the poor guy.

Blood dripped down the broken terminal screens, and Delta slumped to the floor in an unconscious heap. He gurgled and twitched on the floor in shallow and bloody breaths as Buck rushed to help him. With a single scoop of his metal paw, he picked the bleeding stallion up and whisked him out of the room.

“I get that you are angry!” Ping called out as Frescas roared and struggled against his grip. Happy and I were rewarded for our efforts of trying to help with a buck in the gut and a hoof across the muzzle respectively. However much that hurt though, I simply winced from the strike and watched as she couldn’t hope to escape Ping’s mechanical hold. “However, we do not yet have all the information!”

“Like what!?” She screamed out, “How many of us are dead!? You fucking machines wanted your revenge on us, and now you’ve fucking got it! Are you happy now!?”

“Frescas.” Pastel shouted as he walked over and gave her a hard punch right across the muzzle. “That’s enough.”

“Fuck you, Pastel.” She spat a wad of blood at him from her muzzle and glared at him. “You had just as much to fucking gain as this bucket of bolts, so don’t pretend you don’t at least feel an ounce of joy at the news.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Frescas?” Pastel grumbled. With a swift torque, he brought his talon up and struck her across the muzzle again with a strong backtalon. “You think I enjoy the thought that everyone I’ve come to know there is fucking dead!? Everyone who took me in, who taught me what family meant!? What the hell has gotten into you!?”

“We both know that for as accepting as he was, my father would never accept my relationship with a non-pony.” Again, she spat blood, but at least had the courtesy to hang her head and dribble it onto the floor. “But with him gone, now you don’t have to fucking worry about anything, do you?”

“Just stop it!” Tofu screamed with tears streaming down her cheeks. “They’re not fucking dead, okay!? They got everyone into the bunker, alright? They had to...”

“The Factory got the message out as soon as the Skyraiders fell.” Eliza offered softly. “Every early warning system we could remotely access, we used, including the ones at Galloway. Ponies all across the north were warned, they had time to seek shelter.”

“Yes, however, the magical interference the blasts have created have left the Factory temporarily blind.” Ping added, looking over to me. “For now, we must continue under the assumption that all other targets have been struck. We will give you updates as soon as we have them, but we must maintain a level headed approach as we discover the extent of the damage.” Letting go, Frescas yanked herself out of his grasp and let out a low growl.

“They’d all better fucking still be alive.” Storming off towards the door, she paused to lean against the bulkhead and shoot us all a sideways glare. “If not, then my brother will die for what he’s done, and none of you will stand in my way. Got that?”

As her furious hoofsteps drained away out of earshot, she left the rest of us in a stark silence. Even Tofu’s quiet sobs had died off, leaving her with a thousand yard stare through the deck of the Arcturus. I don’t really think any of us could come up with an objection to Frescas’ anger. This shouldn’t have happened.

I was knocked out of my thoughts as Ping lightly put his hoof down on my shoulder.

“While this has certainly been… distressing, we must keep moving.” He offered to me with an oddly absent expression. Even his eyes seemed vacant, and the soft red glow from the back of them were more visible than normal. But even so, he was right. Standing around here wasn’t doing anything to help anypony.

“You’re right.” I nodded and looked over to Eliza’s sad cartoon mare. “Eliza, set a course for Cantercross. We need to go visit the Queen of the Road Crew. Then… then we need to go see if there’s anypony left at Galloway.”

It had been a relatively quick half hour trip toward the outskirts of Cantercross.

The ship had been quiet the whole journey, with pretty much everyone on board keeping to separate rooms as they worked on one thing or another. Keeping my head down and simply working on something was unfortunately something I couldn’t so much do, though it didn’t mean I hadn’t tried.

Ping’s metallic hoof knocked on the bulkhead to the captain’s room. I turned myself from my seat on the floor and waved him in. I guess we’d arrived already.

“We are on the outskirts of Cantercross.” His beaming smile was good to see across his muzzle again, but it dimmed as he approached. Along with me, he canted his head as he stared at the twisted and broken pieces of my flight harness that I’d laid out on the floor. “You must already know that Sierra can repair your harness once we return to the factory. So what is the purpose of laying it out on the floor?”

“I had wondered how easy it would be to fix by myself. I mean, we’re not always going to have Sierra around to fix it, and they used it in the war, so they had to have some way to easily fix it. It’s just a bunch of metal rigging, so I thought, hey, how hard could it be?” I sighed, reaching my forehoof out to nudge the bit of the bent wing strut that was still attached to the main frame. I forced out a short lived laugh that at least got Ping to turn up the corners of his muzzle again, if only a little. “Turns out, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, or where to start.”

I paused as my own words sunk in. While I could say that yes, I had managed to get some things done without Delilah, it still didn’t mean I was the right pony for this. Without the help of Happy, without Ping, or Buck, or Hispano, what could I really hope to achieve? I know I’m just supposed to trust my instincts and try to be a good pony, but… it’s starting to feel like I’m reaching the limits of the stress that leadership brings with it.

“Smarter ponies than most designed these suits to be more efficient and cost effective than anything previously put into service. The elegance of their design is in the lessons learned from dozens of failures made by the brightest minds ponykind had to offer.” Ping nodded and pointed to the still intact Ministry of Awesome symbol that sat embossed along the central strut. “I am fairly certain that the ponies who actually used them in combat however, had no appreciation or comprehension at all of the genius that went into the design.”

“So, you’re saying I lack the intelligence to put it back together. Thanks.” I grumbled and again chuffed my hoof at the pile of junk.

“No no, far from that.” Ping’s own laugh gave me pause as he wrapped his hoof around my side and squished me against himself. “I am saying that it’s not your job to know how everything works. No, you can have all the knowledge in the world, and design the most efficient and beautiful machine anyone has ever laid eyes on…” He paused as his expression somewhat sank. “But if it cannot be used by anyone to make the world a better place? Well, then you do not have anything more useful in front of you than any rock you could find in the dirt.”

Bringing his other hoof up, the disguise around it flickered and faded, leaving the bare mechanical hoof to sit exposed under the dim overhead lighting.

“But, you are not alone in pondering if you are using your existence in a beneficial way.” Ping snorted before putting his hoof back down. The moment it touched the floor, the illusion of his zebra leg flickered and reformed around it again. “Sometimes I wonder if I have been more of a burden on the Architect and the Factory, than an asset. Spending so much time captured by the Rangers, only to come back and have myself captured again in Cantercross. More often than not, things have not gone according to plan for me.”

I laughed at that, pulling a confused and nearly offended look across Ping’s muzzle.

“Sorry, I just… you know how my plans always seem to end. But even so, you’ve already done so much for us, Ping. You are far from useless.” I offered to him as my muzzle cracked into a smirk. “And while I can’t speak for the Architect, I’m sure he doesn’t see you as a useful asset.”

I watched as that hit Ping the wrong way, and his ears drooped. Good choice of words, as always, Night!

“No, I mean that he’s basically your father, Ping. And while I’m probably not the best example of this, from how I understand it, parent’s don’t see their kids as assets. It’s…” I scrunched up my muzzle as I realized that the point I was trying to convey wasn’t so easily put into words. “Assets are… well, they’re like, things, you know? And parents never see their kids as things, it’s more…”

I was failing hard at trying to get my point across. Seriously, what kind of fucking leader was I if I couldn’t even give a pep talk! Ugh, why can’t there just be a word for this!?

“So you are saying he doesn’t see me as just another machine? He sees me… as family to him?” Ping’s slow words were accompanied by his own understanding of things, as well as the bright beaming smile pulling across his muzzle again. “Do you think that means he loves me as a son?”

“Well, it’s… more complicated with you and him.” I offered as just the staggering bluntness of such a question caught me way off guard. “To be honest, you’d probably have to ask him about it.”

“Ah, I… I think I understand a bit better what it means to be family now.” Nodding, he looked to me for approval.

I nodded to him softly as my own thoughts questioned what I knew about those I loved. Seriously, why was a concept like family so hard for me to articulate? Maybe it’s because on this trip, my own definition of family had shifted so much. Up above the clouds, it was always so structured, so simple. But down here, family just isn’t defined like that. It’s more complicated and messy, while at the same time, so completely easy to just find yourself right in the middle of one without caring how it worked.

Looking back down at the sprawling mess of flight suit on the floor, Ping’s words hit me again. Maybe I couldn’t define family because I didn’t need to understand how it worked at all. My job was just to love Buck and Hispano back, and do that to the best of my ability. Goddesses, maybe I had been going about this all wrong in the first place.

“Thank you, Ping.” I offered to him, pulling yet another perplexed look across his muzzle.

“I should be the one thanking you, Night.” He squeezed his hoof around me tightly, making me squeak.

Looking over at his smiling muzzle, I froze as the barrel of Solomon’s rifle pressed against the side of Ping’s head. Solomon’s pristine muzzle parted into his own smile as his grip tightened around the heavy gun. And with a twitch of his hoof, the rifle barked, and Ping’s head was blasted into pieces.

I screamed and scrambled backwards across the small captain’s cabin.

“Well well, you think you have it all figured out.” Solomon laughed as my hooves scrambled to get a grip on the various cabinets that lined the cabin. His voice… it wasn’t coming from my head this time. No, he was here. “Even a fool knows that if you are contented, you let your guard down!”

I flung the cabin’s cabinet doors open so hard that I’m sure they almost flew right off their hinges. Fear pumped through my veins as I looked for something, anything to fight off the madstallion with. I scooped stacks of old papers out of the small storage spaces, flailing my hooves around until I could find something solid to wrap my hoof around. Although I couldn’t see it, it felt almost like a knife.

“Be careful, Night, your desperation is showing.” Solomon laughed as I felt the barrel of his gun press down against the back of my head.

No no no… somepony had to hear the shot, they… they’d save me!

“Again, you expect to be saved.” Solomon’s tone lowered, and his words turned colder than arctic air. “Do you not have the ability to save yourself? Why do you hesitate?” I whimpered and pressed myself forward against the wall as his hoof came down softly on my shoulder. “You have your salvation in your hoof. One thrust and you could end me, here and now.”

My mind raced. Could I really do it, or would I freeze up and let this opportunity pass me by? Could I really let Solomon live knowing what he’s done to me? How he killed my friends, my family!? Could I ever really be every bit as soft and weak as he thinks, or was I willing to show him just how wrong he was?

No, I… I could do this! I needed to do this. Solomon must die.

“Then do it.” Solomon whispered into my ear, or from inside my ear. At this point, I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t have the time to figure that out. “Do it, or have I hit the nail on the head hard enough that you’ll NEVER have the courage to STRIKE ME DOWN.”

I let out a guttural scream as I tightened my grip around the knife and came around hard. With all the force I could muster, with every ounce of hate I had for the despicable prince, I thrust. I watched Solomon’s smirking form evaporate as I spun and drove the brass letter opener right against the side of Ping’s head.

The old letter opener gave a squeal as it bent and dragged along Ping’s metallic skin. My swing had done little to no damage to him at all, and I felt his firm hoof press effortlessly to hold me back against the wall.

“Night, you must understand, what you are seeing is not real.” His beaming smile was again now absent, but his eyes felt softer than before. And as I blinked and let my racing heart slow, they only seemed to fill with more and more concern. “Night, please, calm yourself. Relax.”

“I… I’m so sorry, Ping…” I gasped, letting the bent letter opener fall from my hoof. “I didn’t mean…”

“It is fine, Night. But we must get you to Buck.” Ping nodded and slowly pulled his hoof from me, unpinning me from the wall. “If the degradation is worsening, then it will be up to him how we deal with it, or if it’s severe enough to warrant keeping you under observation.”

“No that’s… not his call to make. I have to be the one down there to negotiate...” I tried to wave my hoof in disapproval, but found my hoof snatched and stopped by Ping as he shot a glare that accentuated the red glow behind his eyes.

“Enclave military doctrine article ten, subsection four states; positional authority is granted to any medical officer, enlisted or otherwise assigned to, or presently holding, any shipboard infirmary position, to relieve of duty any soldier, officer, or captain, if their performance or capacity to fulfill their position is compromised to the point that they are found to be unfit for continued service, be it temporarily, or permanently. Their position may be restored following a medical hearing and subsequent review of service records once returned from active deployment.”

“Don’t quote me that shit.” I deadpanned at Ping. Seriously, that was one piece of the military I wouldn’t ever forget. Not because my mom was ever pulled from duty for it, but because my dad always tried to convince her to stay home by using it. “One, we’re not even in the Enclave. Two, fine, I’ll follow whatever advice Buck gives, but not because he’s the doctor on board.”

Needless to say, out of the half dozen times I remember Dad trying, I don’t think it once ever kept Mom from having to leave…

“Well, I’m certainly glad you’re made of metal.” Buck muttered under his breath as he used a flashlight hidden inside one of his paw’s digits and shined it right into my eye. “It is… distressing to know that Night can become... violent during these hallucinations. If somepony else had been with him at the time, they could have been seriously injured.”

“I’m right here, ya know.” I grumbled as I blinked away the bright afterimage of the light.

“Yeah, you should have seen him against those razor cats!” Hispano squawked excitedly. “It was like he was possessed or something! Oh you should’ve seen it, he was just a little ball of pure rage!”

“I’d thought you died.” I shot a sideways glare that stole Hispano’s gleeful smirk. “This isn’t awesome or fun for me.”

“Nor is it for any of us.” Buck spoke as he stood up and turned to Ping. “Look, I know that the Factory thinks we should bring him back, but from what I can tell, this episode has passed, and his vitals have returned to normal.”

“The issue is not that this episode has passed, it is that they are unpredictable.” Ping stated flatly as he craned his neck up to follow Buck as he towered over the mechanical zebra. “Should he start to hallucinate during diplomatic matters with the Road Crew, then the situation may spiral out of control before action could be taken to stop it.” Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. “It is my opinion that Night should stay on board the Arcturus.”

“That’s a bad idea.” Happy’s voice drifted in from just outside the infirmary’s doorway. “If Night stays here, you might as well cancel the whole deal.” Peeking around the corner, Happy’s scarred muzzle and flat expression drifted between everyone in the room but me. “Look, I ain’t a Doc, but what I know is how Ma’ used ta do business.”

“Yeah, but you’re hardly an expert...” Hispano’s soft mumble died as Happy narrowed his glare on her.

“You know, I had an Uncle Jack once. Not an actual uncle, but close enough ta basically be family.” Happy spun himself around the bulkhead and stepped into the small room. “Ma’ came down with one hell of a fever on the eve of negotiations with a rival settlement to the south. Now, she sent Jack in her place because she was afraid dat in the mornin’, she might not even wake up at all.” Happy looked down at the floor and chuffed at it, shifting uneasily as a smirk pulled across his muzzle. “Again, I had an Uncle Jack. All we got back were his ears, and the demand that if Ma’ didn’t show the next day, they were gonna try ta take Brahman Beach by force.”

“Yes, but this is hardly…” Buck began but was cut off as Happy slammed his hoof down on the floor.

“Look, I ain’t useless, I know what I’m talkin’ about.” He snapped at Buck, stepping up and prodding Buck’s fuzzy chest. “And I’m tellin’ ya’ that if Night doesn’t go, you’ve just killed any goodwill we’ve built.”

“He’s right, ya’ know.” Hispano begrudgingly nodded to Happy. “Dad’s told me plenty of stories about some unsavory folks who feel insulted if they don’t talk to the pony in charge.”

“And with everything that’s happened, the Road Crew are probably already paranoid that someone's gonna challenge their authority in Cantercross.” Happy sat down hard and stiffly pointed to me. “So while we can sit here and debate this shit all day, I’m tellin’ ya’, they need to see an ally seated across from them at the negotiating table.”

Buck deadpanned. Not at anypony in particular, but just blankly at the wall. I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head as he took a deep breath and closed his eye. After a moment however, he nodded with a sigh.

“It is in my medical opinion that Night is not in good enough health to go.” Turning, he brought the soft and caring look I so loved to see across his face down to me. With a ginger touch, he wrapped his paw around my forehoof. “But... I’m leaving this decision up to Night. I’ll respect any decision you make.”

“I need to go.” Reaching over, I cupped my other forehoof over his metal paw and tried to offer him a soft smile. “This is too important for the north to leave to chance. I’m sorry, Buck.”

“I understand.” He nodded to me and pulled his paw away. With a shrug, he shifted his cloak around him and brought his paws up to the hood, swiftly pulling it up over his head. “Then let’s get going.”

“You will let him go, despite the risks?” Ping asked as his expression shifted to a starkly neutral one.

“The captain says he’s good to go. While as a doctor, Night’s health falls under my purview, as captain, the good of this crew and the North as a whole falls under his.” Buck turned and offered a hooded sideways glance to Ping. “I’m going to stand by his decision and do the best I can to support him.” Reaching his heavy metal paw out, he gave Ping a firm pat on the back. “It’s what we should all do.”

Again, just him saying it flooded me with mixed emotions. I wasn’t just family to everypony here, I was their leader. And while I’ve trusted them with my life, I’ve been more scared to lose them. I know that Delilah made it clear that the worry for your crew is always there, but I wish I’d been able to comprehend at the time just how heavy that weight was.

“Alright, captain.” Ping sighed and turned his neutral expression on me. “While I cannot stop you from going, may I request that I stay behind?”

“What, why?” That… was an odd request to make. I don’t think it was because Buck had spurned his request to keep me here, but I couldn’t be sure given the fact that he obviously still holds a grudge against the Rangers for what they did to him.

“There is a certain sensitive matter that requires my looking into.” Ping slightly canted his head and looked over to Hispano, then to Happy and Buck. “As I had mentioned at the time, the Razor Cats used by Pentex were being controlled by a foreign signal.”

“Right, the one that shouldn’t have locked your access to their systems.” Hispano nodded and brought a talon up to her beak. “Did you have any idea of where it was broadcasting from? I’m sure that all your machine friends could find it in an instant.”

“Yes, but unfortunately it is not possible for the Factory to investigate the issue.” For the first time, I watched as Ping’s neutral expression darkened to something much colder. “From what I can gather, the signal originated from the Factory. It is in my opinion that we have a machine inside who is actively working against us. To what end, I cannot be certain.”

“How’s that even possible?” Happy scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Ain’t no way you’ve got some traitor. The Architect would’a found ‘em out like that.” He gave a clop of his hoof to punctuate his point before reaching up to wrap his hooves around his jacket’s collar and pull it tight around him. “I’m tellin’ ya’, it ain’t possible, ya’ dig? The Architect’s too good fer that.”

Well, if anything, it’s good to know that Happy’s got his smug attitude back again.

“While that may be the case, communications traffic between Factory members has not changed since the broadcast.” A frown worked its way across Ping’s muzzle as he looked to Happy. “If the Architect had found one of us to be at fault, the whole of the Factory would be discussing it. The fact that they have not even mentioned it happening leads me to believe that the broadcast was encrypted and buried from their end.”

“Which means that the culprit already has unrestricted access to the network.” Buck added as he shifted uneasily. “I can corroborate what he’s saying, the Factory seems unaffected by what happened, and they always gossip about what we’re doing. It’s almost like they couldn’t see what was happening at all, which shouldn’t be the case.”

“Then it’s fine, Ping.” I didn’t like the sound of what he was implying. Not only did it sound like it was yet another delay on heading south, it sounded like trouble. And for me, that was something we’d already gotten into enough of today. “You stay here and see if either you or Eliza can figure it out. If you come up with anything we need to know, relay it to Buck, and we’ll figure out what the best course of action is. For now, everypony else gear up and meet on the Remora.” Scooching my flank, I pushed myself off of the examination table.

With a groan, I got my hooves under me and stretched out my wings. The cold air flowing across my still regrowing wing made me shiver and remember that for now, I was still ground bound. Which, was going to be a problem if things turned ugly with the Road Crew, or with the Rangers, or back at the Factory.

You know, I don’t even know why I try to kid myself by suggesting I might walk into three separate war-zones. Again, that’s completely the wrong approach to it, because in truth, my life in the wasteland has pretty much been one long battle with short pauses in between the carnage. So as much as I hoped and prayed to Celestia above, the moment I stepped hoof onto the Remora, this break was over, and it was back to fighting my own never-ending war.

Rapid, sporadic bursts of clicking came from Buck’s forearm, spiking more and more as the Remora sank through the air. It was the kind of clicking I’d always heard when the Enclave would drill the school on emergency procedures, and that we’d hear in old war documentaries about Megaspell tests back in the war. But it was never this intense.

“Are you sure we don’t need any Rad-X?” Happy whimpered as he clung to Hispano tightly enough that I almost couldn’t feel the warmth her boiling blood gave off behind her annoyed expression. “I ain’t got foals yet, and I don’t want ta’ end up sterile before I have ‘em, ya’ dig?”

“You sure about that?” Hispano mumbled under her breath. She caught my unamused glance and fired back a nervous smile to me. “What? Just saying, he’s a mule. I thought they were all sterile. And even if he isn’t, he’s been with a lot of mares, just on this trip south…”

“Most of the radiation from the blast is being swept through the city by the updraft tower. Once we’re below the induction path and on the ground, you won’t be exposed to all too much.” Buck shifted his paw upwards and stared at it. After a moment, his rad-meter dropped off into softer, more spread out ticks.

“I just hope that those inhabiting the interior of the city know to stay inside for the next twenty four hours.” Hispano grunted through Happy’s tight grasp.

With a soft jostle, the Remora touched down onto the ground below us, and the cabin doors whirred to life. They swung out, revealing the not so dark form of the towering dancing mares of Gateway station against the dark night skies. The glass dresses they wore were darkened with what looked like soot, but the glass panes themselves still seemed mostly intact. But as good as it was to see that the city hadn’t been melted to slag, I had to wonder just why the hell we were here at all…

“Wait, this ain’t the Road Crew’s headquarters.” Happy gasped as he pushed past Hispano to step out into the sprawling and unsurprisingly empty train-yard.

As the rest of us piled out, I looked around. Hundreds of pallets loaded with various building supplies sat scattered across the open yard. No less than three separate trains still sat only halfway unloaded near some of the outer station platforms. But even so, with all this stuff around, there wasn’t a single pony to be seen.

“The Road Crew were in the middle of converting some of the lower station levels into a new materials routing hub when they got the warning about the bombs.” Buck’s voice gave a burst of static mid sentence that sounded to me a little too similar to his rad counter for comfort. “They’ve since evacuated most of their personnel to those levels until the radiation subsides.” Nodding over to the station, he pointed to where Ritz Tabard’s inn was. “Come on, we should be able to find a crewpony inside who can take us to Lustre.”

The four of us made our way across the eerily silent station plaza. Looking around, the whole city seemed silent, but it’s many lights still brightened up the night. To me, it felt like even though it was empty, it was almost as if nothing had changed here at all with the fall of Mr. Wizard.

“So… quick question, Night.” Happy lowered his voice as he trotted up alongside me. “Why are we still helpin’ Cordite? I mean, it ain’t like we need ‘em ta fight the Kingdom anymore.” He let out a nervous chuckle, but kept his gaze focused right ahead of us.

“We need to hold up our end of the bargain if we want anyone to respect us down the road.” I grumbled as a little part of me kicked at the back of my mind.

I know that wasn’t true, and that I just needed to do this in exchange for what Sierra and the Architect wanted. And while I knew I shouldn’t lie to him, or to any of the others, this was the one time I could do it without consequence. This was supposed to be for the good of the Factory, and if the Architect hadn’t told anypony else about what was going on, then there had to be a good reason for it.

Even so, the more I pondered on just what this project was, the worse off I felt about it. That little nagging part of myself just sat there in my gut with a stick, prodding harder and harder, and I couldn’t place it. Maybe I was just on edge, or my condition was making me paranoid about what Ping had mentioned. Either way, this was going to be a simple in and out, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again.

Before we knew it, we were all standing in front of the doorway to Ritz’s inn. Reaching out, I grabbed the handle with my hoof, and moved to pull it open. My body refused as the thoughts of my time here came rushing back. Coming here with Hardcase, coming back after the others were… gone.

“Is everything alright?” Buck asked me softly as he carefully placed his paw across my back.

“We ain’t got time to sit out here until we start glowin’.” Happy grumbled and forced himself past me. He shoved my forehoof off of the door and easily swung it open, revealing a crowded and lively scene inside.

Dozens of Road Crew workers were mingling around in the lobby of the inn. Some were drinking steaming cups of what I think was coffee or tea, while others were eating old wartime packaged food and drinking beers. Though, despite the social scene in front of us, none of them looked our way.

Happy trotted in, quickly followed by Hispano while she slung her sister over herself. I moved to step forward, but Buck’s paw tightened it’s hold and held me in place again. Looking up, I watched him frown from under his hooded robe.

“It’s not too late to go back and sit this out if you need to.” He sighed and motioned back to the Remora.

“It wasn’t a hallucination this time. Just…” I looked back at the door as it started to swing closed on its own again. “There’s too many memories here in the north, and hardly any of the ones from Cantercross are good.”

“Well, then the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can move on.” Buck’s frown flipped into a forced, but sad smile. I did my best to mirror it, but dropped it as I turned and caught the door right before it shut.

Slipping inside, Buck and I made our way through the crowd over to the inn’s empty front desk. It wasn’t surprising to me that Ritz wasn’t up here. With so many ponies in his inn, he must’ve been extremely busy. Still, as we approached, it didn’t stop Happy from reaching out and giving a few solid taps on the bell that sat on the countertop.

“Yeah, good luck with that!” One of the Road Crew in the room laughed in our direction. It brought a rousing laugh from some of the other crew around here, and forced all of us to split our attentions on the relaxing ponies.

“Eh, don’t listen ta Jerry Can,” A purple coated mare with a nearly empty beer bottle in her hoof called out as she tipped up the hardhat on her head. “I’m sure somepony will come ta help you…” She paused, fighting back a giggle that ended up in her instead letting out a loud belch.

“Yeah!” A portly green earth pony stallion blurt out from next to her. “In about ten years once we’ve rebuilt the whole damned city!”

The whole room ripped into a roaring laughter that left me feeling like something had happened that we’d missed, and that Ritz had somehow died in the fall of Mr. Wizard’s empire.

“What happened to Ritz?” I blurt out like normal. Seriously, I know I’d just made the mistake of asking a bunch of rowdy drunk work ponies a serious question, but right now I just wanted to know if Ritz had left the city, or been killed during the fight.

“The weird stallion who worked here?” The purple coated mare snorted and rolled her violet eyes at me. “Who knows. If you ask me, probably left with the rest of those freeloaders. The second the promise of food went out of the city, so did half the population.” She pulled a few consolatory nods and grunts from the other, which gave me the impression that before he left, Ritz probably didn’t invite them to stay in here like it was their private lounge. Still, at least I could have some hope that he’d survived the fall of Mr. Wizard. Now I just had to hope that he’d made his way south rather than north...

“Alright, alright. Enough chatter, we’re here for a job.” Happy snorted and took a step toward the fairly tipsy mare with the hardhat. “Can you just point us in the direction of your boss?”

“Well… you’re in luck, mister stud.” The mare snickered as she pushed herself to her hooves, almost stumbling as she stepped on the beer bottle still held in her fetlock. With a laugh, she walked over to Happy and gave him a wide smile that was paired with a heated sideways glance. “What I can point ya to is one of these rooms, where you can be the boss of me all night long.”

“Look, do you know where the queen is or not?” Happy snorted and, to my surprise, gave the mare a soft shove back.

The move was met with jeers and boos from the other drunk crewponies, and the mare herself stepped forward and gave Happy a light back-hoof swing across his muzzle. I was absolutely dumbfounded. Not because of her actions, but because Happy just stood there and took it all with the same neutral demeanor I’d expected from someone like Delilah. Not only had I not had to pry him off the needy mare, but he didn’t even look like he’d registered her offer at all.

“Do you know where Lustre is or not?” Happy grumbled. “After the day we’ve had, we’re not interested in dealing with the hired help.”

That got the room to quiet down real quick. And while Happy hadn’t been phased by her proposition, he wasn’t going to get us very far by insulting her.

“You stallions are all the fuckin’ same. Too important ta help a needy blue-collar gal like me.” She growled and jabbed her hoof at him. “Maybe me and the Crew ought ta teach ya how ta listen ta a fuckin’ mare!” That got a wave of stern agreements out of the Crew around us, and made more than just a couple of them go to their hooves.

“That’s enough.” Screed Grader roared as he trotted out of a door that lead back to what I could assume was originally Ritz’s office. The room instantly fell into a dead silence, and not a single road crew moved at all unless it was to aim their guilty gazes down at the floor. The lithe red stallion had dark, baggy rings under his tired looking eyes, and the scrap metal crown that adorned his head sat off-kilter and hooked around one of his ears. “Now, unless you all want to run double shifts for the next month, I suggest you take your impromptu night off and use it to get some fucking sleep!”

Most of the Road Crew nodded and silently turned towards the long hallway of rooms. We watched as within a minute, the lobby was just as barren as the first time I’d come in here, albeit with a dozen beer bottles and empty bits of trash strewn about. A heavy sigh from Screed prompted me to glance back over as he wrapped his hoof across his muzzle and closed his eyes.

“Now then,” He grumbled before peeking one tired eye open and directing it at me. “If you’re looking for the ‘Queen’, she’s down on the main concourse helping with the renovations. If you’re looking for me, well, you already got my dad killed, so unless you’re here to kill me as well, I’d suggest you kindly fuck off forever.”

Before we could speak, he’d spun around and disappeared back into the manager’s office again. He kicked the door shut with a heavy slam, once more leaving the rest of us in silence. But, to be fair, that had gone about as well as could be expected…

“I guess it’s down to the main concourse then?” Hispano offered a shrug to us before Happy started to trot off toward it on his own. With a curious cock of her brow, Hispano gave a nod towards Happy as he trotted. “What was that about? I thought you couldn’t keep away from mares, yet you so easily brushed her off.”

The steadfast mule cracked at the question, and he almost tripped over his own hooves. Recovering quickly, he tipped his muzzle up at Hispano and did his best to play things cool.

“Look, the only boner this mule’s got now, is for Solomon.” Happy snorted before freezing up completely. He looked over at us, probably praying that we’d just missed that, but the smile on Buck’s muzzle and soft giggle from Hispano confirmed he wasn’t about to live this down. “Look, you squares know what I mean! It’s a murder boner, okay!?” With a huffing roll of his eyes, he growled and reached up to stiffen his jacket’s collar again. “And besides, I bed the mares I want. I ain’t no charity case for every needy mare, ya’ dig?”

“Sure thing.” Hispano nodded as she got up and walked over to him, pausing to scrunch up her smirking beak. “But uh, how can you be sure they don’t just sleep with you because you’re the charity case?”

“Let’s just fucking go, we ain’t got all night.” Happy growled as he pushed himself to his hooves and started to trot off deeper into the station again.

Well, at least that’s a dynamic we haven’t lost in these last few days. And while I too wanted to just get this over with, it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t take compromise to do. Let’s just hope it wasn’t as much compromise as I had to make for Cordite. With how we’d barely come back from the last job, I’m not sure how many more Pentex's we’d be able to take down before we lost our chance to get moving south again…

The interior of the station was a lot bigger than I’d imagined it would be. I’d only been to the Neighvarro skymall a dozen times or so, but this reminded me a hell of a lot of that place. Four separate ‘levels’ of huge arching marble brick tunnels criss crossed each other, leaving a fairly wide gap between each of the level’s opposing platforms and various boutique shops.

Sticking up through the entire center gap of the underground train station, was an old, but well preserved prow to a locomotive. Walking over to the polished brass and wooden railings of the highest level, I marveled as the rest of the massive machine stretched downwards in a way that seemed to defy gravity.

It was a lengthy engine, spanning the four levels downward just by itself. It’s black painted body almost glistened under the station lighting, and every tube, fitting, and numerous wheels on it looked like they were made out of highly polished brass and bronze. There was even a hoof painted pin-up still adorning the side of the long engine. It depicted an enormous Clydesdale-like brown coated stallion reclining and dozing off underneath the brim of a cowpony hat that was a bit too small for him. The words ‘Big Stud’ were painted over a bigger version of the stallion’s upside down horseshoe cutie mark, as well as the numbers 4017, which I expected was some sort of serial number or something.

Glancing down at the lowest level, I found it abuzz with all sorts of activity. It looked like all the ponies we’d normally seen outside of the station, had simply transitioned to walking around down at the bottom of it. The platform levels between here and there however, were abuzz with a different kind of activity. Hundreds of hardhatted workers unloaded materials from several old looking locomotives parked at some of the underground platforms, used heavy machinery, or were otherwise working on fixing up the station in one way or another.

From the polished brass hoof rails that lined the aforementioned gaps in the descending platforms, to the nearly spotless glass windows and shops in various stages of renovation, the whole underground section of Gateway Terminal could’ve been mistaken for being completely out of time. Hell, just the central locomotive itself seemed too nice to exist in the wastes! Honestly, I couldn’t tell if that left me with an awe inspired feeling, or a feeling that dreaded that the rest of the wasteland outside would come crashing down on here at a moment’s notice.

Putting my feelings aside, we wound our way down two very impressive marble staircases to level three before we finally located Lustre. She and about a dozen ponies were maneuvering a huge pony sized marble brick into place along one of the arched corners that sat along the tunnel like level. The block itself must have weighed a couple tons, and while the crew around her made small adjustments to where it would sit, Lustre herself was the only one physically holding it up.

Again, dragons were fucking intimidating creatures. And while I’d only met a couple so far, I’m damned glad that Lustre herself wasn’t trying to barbecue and eat us. Still, as impressive as she was, we still had a job to do, and so it was time to put on my game face.

“Hey, you folks can’t be up here.” One of the stallion’s next to Lustre called out as he looked up and found us approaching. “Level four is the only level non-crew are allowed on.”

“It’s alright, Slate, they’re authorized.” Lustre growled as she shifted the heavy block in her claws. With a huff that jetted a cloud of black smoke from her maw, Lustre used her claws to push the block into place. It slid back into its place in the archway so smoothly and accurately that once it was in place, you’d have thought it had been in that exact spot since the war. “So, to what reason do I owe the pleasure?” The large dragon huffed and wiped at her brow with her claw before turning and cocking her brow to us. “Don’t have another dictator run city to help the crew take over, do you? Or are you here because of that fireworks show the whole damned north was privy to earlier?”

“No, ma’am, we’re here for…” Happy began, but stopped to scrunch up his muzzle. Turning to me, he canted his head. “What are we here for?”

“I’m here to call in a favor.” I offered, trying not to be too specific. While I didn’t think my friends would overwrite the request, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t object to me turning over every megaspell in Destruction bay…

“Name it.” Luster smirked as she folded her claws across herself. “Without you and your crew, I’m not sure the Road Crew would have ever restored their reputation, let alone have control of Cantercross at all. So as far as I see it, we owe you damned near just about anything you want.”

“Night, is that you!?” The exuberant voice of Double Drum came from behind us, and before I could completely spin around, I found a pair of strong hooves wrap around me. “It is! I knew you’d be able to take down Mr. Wizard!”

“Hey, Double…” I groaned out as he pretty much squeezed the air out of my lungs.

“If you don’t mind, Drum.” Lustre cleared out her throat and let a small cloud of black smoke drift up over her lips. “We’re talking business at the moment, so unless you have something important, maybe you can wait to see them until another time.”

“Ah, yeah, about that.” Double Drum let me go with a suddenness I wasn’t expecting, and stepped past me with a nervous grin across his muzzle. “You see, the City Council requests an audience with you.”

“Hah!” Lustre laughed and rolled her enormous reptile-like eyes at him. “The city’s under lockdown due to magical radiation, not to mention we’re claws deep into the restoration here. I think the ‘council’will understand if I don’t entertain their little ‘discussions’ for the moment. Tell them I’m busy and will head to the stable to see them later.”

“Yeah, well, you see…” Double Drum chuffed at the floor and rubbed at his mane nervously. “They’re kinda... already here.”

“You let them in?” Lustre snorted sharply.

“Half the city are behind them, including the CCPD and the Celestia’s Angels. So yeah, in the interest of fostering good will, I let them in.” With a motion back through the rest of us, Double Drum pointed back toward the stairs. “Now, I can try to convince them to come back later, but I’ve got a feeling they’re not going to leave until they get to speak to you.”

“Fine.” Lustre grumbled, waving her claws dismissively to the Crew who’d been helping her with the stone slab. “The rest of you, that’s a half hour for lunch. Then it’s back to work, and we move on to those structural supports on level two. Got it?” The ponies all nodded before splitting off, leaving Lustre to drag her claws down her face and deadpan at Double Drum. “Alright, let’s get this over with, and then we’ll deal with Night’s favor.”

“I’m sorry, but… who’s this ‘City Council’?” Buck spoke as he reached up and tugged back the hood from his head.

“For better or worse, things changed when Mr. Wizard died.” She slowed to a stop, pulling her gaze back to look directly at me. “This city is big enough for everypony living in the north to come and share comfortably. While we may control and maintain the roads, this city deserves to be used by everypony. Not just Road Crew, or CCPD, or any one gang, group, or posse.”

“So if you don’t control the city, who does?” The words clawed their way from my muzzle as always, and as I’ve said, at this point I just couldn’t care. Instead, I just kept myself curiously focused on what Lustre’s answer would be.

“Follow me and I’ll explain.” Lustre grumbled as she got to her claws and motioned for us to follow her and Double Drum back toward the stairs. “When you killed Mr. Wizard, you left a power vacuum that we alone shouldn’t fill. I knew that given what happened to Motor, there was too much of a risk of at least part of the Crew splitting off at some point to follow some other murderous dictator, so we decided that we’d jointly control the city with some other group who we knew we could keep under tabs.”

“How would that be any better?” Happy asked with my normal bluntness. “Ain’t that risking that they’d still be able to buy off part of your crew?”

“Hardly.” Lustre grumbled again and sent another jet of smoke from her muzzle. “We needed a group that was all but harmless, but that we could trust with something big enough to get the city behind supporting them.”

“Like a puppet government.” Hispano remarked with a quick flutter of her wings to hover up into the air.

“No, more like a subsidiary.” Happy corrected him with a snort that made me pause, and even seemed to surprise Hispano a bit.

“Yeah, pretty much a subsidiary.” Double Drum picked up for Lustre as we hit the stairs and started to work our way up them. “We’d thought of the CCPD at first, but they’re too well organized, and too well armed. Not to mention, some of the ponies who come to this city don’t mix well with their brand of authority. Be it because they are former slaves, or ponies just looking to settle down somewhere new, we didn’t want the face of the city to be a sort of pseudo-military force, as well as a, well…” He paused, looking up at Lustre.

“A gang run by a dragon with machines big enough to level any building in the city?” Hispano forced out with a smirk as she flapped lightly and hovered her way up the steps.

“Yeah. We don’t exactly advertise a friendly environment to live in.” Drum nodded as we walked up the final steps to the second level. “But, Screed had suggested the Celestia’s Angels run it. And while his remark was intended as a sarcastic one, it did have it’s merits.”

Huh. With everything that had happened in the attack, I’d completely forgotten about their involvement in the city. While they’d no doubt played an integral part, they’d been so far in the background for me that day that even I wouldn’t have thought of them.

“I don’t care much for their brand of ‘kindness’.” Lustre snorted as we turned toward the nearby platform. “Sure, freeing slaves is noble, and I can respect them for that fact alone. But they have no plan in place to help those slaves. No jobs or settlements they can go to, no way for them to eat or get medical care. More than a few times we’ve had to turn away good workers because we just didn’t have the resources to accept more than half of whatever group shows up looking for help.”

Walking along the polished tiles near the spotlessly chrome rails, she kept her head canted to it, almost as if she was inspecting the rails as she walked. It wasn’t until about halfway down the rails that I’d noticed that she wasn’t looking at the rails at all. She was looking at the reflection of herself in them.

“However, there are some in this city who have, and continue to, sacrifice more than anyone. Which is why the mirage ponies you rescued from the stable are who we chose to help run this city.” Double Drum beamed a smile at us as he trotted toward one of the formal looking shops just ahead next to the rails.

It was originally a restaurant of sorts, the front featuring mock shutters which covered the windows, and a set of wide wooden double doors that filled the marble lined entrance. A pair of perfectly restored brass handles gleamed under the station lighting. Grabbing the door handles with his hooves, he pulled the doors open, revealing a dimly lit interior that flickered with the light of a central brick fireplace. He waited for Lustre and my friends to enter through the door, but Double Drum himself didn’t come in. As I walked past him, he simply offered a nod and then let the door swing shut behind me.

Immediately inside the restaurant, a grand banquet table sat in the center of the large open dining room. It was made of a heavy looking old wood, and was stained with a sort of cherry finish. It filled most of the cleared out dining area, with room for two dozen seats around it. However, while one side was lined with empty chairs that I assumed were meant for us, on the other side of the table sat six wheeled carts.

Each of the carts held a completely legless Mirage pony on it, wired up to IVs with a normal pony standing silently at their side. There were three stallions and three mares, sitting in alternating pairs next to each other. Two of them looked to be fairly old, and another two were more middle aged like those I’d seen actually down in the stable. The last two were young, maybe somewhere near the age that Shimmer Pull used to be. At first I’d thought all six of them might have been a family, but each one had distinctly different colored coats, stripes, and even eye colors to each other, so I didn’t think that was actually the case.

So instead, my eye turned on the six ponies standing near each cart. Immediately, I spied a pair of patches displayed on the simple sky-blue cloth uniforms that of the attending ponies wore. The first one was a pair of white wings, arcing upward to wrap around the edges of a central golden sun. But it was the second and simpler patch that caught my eye more than anything. These ponies were from Destruction Bay’s volunteer corps.

“About time you…” The elderly Mirage pony mare barked angrily from one of the center positions of the sitting group. Pausing, she tipped her short horn towards me and studied me through the cracked pair of glasses she wore across her wrinkled muzzle. “Oh my, it’s… it’s you. It’s really you! The survivor.”

A nervous smile pulled across my muzzle as the other mirage ponies had dropped into a whisper, muttering to each other as we walked in. But with each and every step in, I found them one by one locking their eyes onto me. It was both one of the creepiest things I’d ever seen in my life, and the best feeling I’d had in awhile.

Even so, there was something about the way she addressed me. Something that had chipped away at the name I’d come to identify with and be known under. While sure, ponies had started to recognize me for what I’ve done, I couldn’t help but start to feel a bit worn down by it. Being the survivor not only opened doors, but it had set expectations. That was something I just knew would bring more and more trouble if I let my reputation get too out of control. It had been a joke to me to wonder just what war the next ponies I met would ask me to stop, but now? Well, I’m not sure a request like that could even be put off the table these days.

I’d seen that first hoof with the Chief at Cordite, and now, I think I was just a tiny bit afraid for what these new ponies would have in store for me. More and more, I think that while she was young, Hispano was more than right when she said I was too soft. And while my own deteriorating health can flare up at any moment, I’m sure that her words held more truth than ever right now.

This time, I needed to tread lightly, and make sure that I didn’t get us drawn into anything worse than a heated argument. Celestia as my witness, we were just here for the agreement with Cordite, nothing more.

“Come now, Night.” Solomon’s voice whispered to me from the recesses of my mind. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a little war on the side of business as usual. Besides, how else will you end up killing the ones you love?”

Author's Note

As always, a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for his help in going over this chapter. Seriously, man, you're an incredible amount of help to me, and I can't overstate that.

And of course, thank you Kkat for letting us all run around in this shared wasteland!