Chapter Ten

Ruminations

It was a small and roughly triangular divot just below my ribs on my left side, barely noticeable beneath my coat. In the small, cracked mirror on the bench in front of me, it showed only as a slight irregularity in my coat, a thinning of midnight blue hairs. The very center of the mark was pale and smooth and somewhat stretched.

I flicked my hoof up and down, hiding and revealing the blemish. I stared for a minute more, twisting around to view the similar scar on my back, then pushed the cracked mirror away and placed a thin, freshly cut disc of brass into the second product of my forays with the smaller of two lathes in Maximillian’s vehicle bay: A precise, circular die welded to a steel plate. Clamped on and bolted to the workbench was a tall, vertical pipe, inside which was another pipe, heavily lubricated, which ended in a shorter rod of hardened steel.

I telekinetically pulled down on the lever welded to the press. Mild resistance accompanied the motion, and the rod forced the brass disc through the die and drew it into a short cylinder.

I pushed the lever back up, pulled the brass cylinder off the punch, removed the die and punch from the workbench, replaced them with slightly smaller ones, and one by one, drew all twenty of my bespoke casings-in-progress through the next die. Faint wisps of smoke rose from the brass as the forced deformation heated and discolored it.

I repeated the entire endeavor twice more with progressively narrower dies, each time stretching the brass further.

The product was a stack of twenty shells half the length of my horn. I levitated them into a waiting bin, then moved to the other end of the bench and the next portion of my bespoke assembly line, a smaller welded-together press.

I fitted the first shell onto the waiting block and pressed the lever with both forehooves. For the comparatively trivial effort, even my meager body weight was enough to do the job.

From the speaker on the wall in front of me, Maximillian spoke.

“Your emissivity appears to have stabilized.”

“Huh.” I set the second shell on the press, punched the cavity, then moved onto the third. “Is that good, or bad?”

“Good, relatively speaking. It would take slightly longer now for a non-alicorn pony in your vicinity to succumb to necromantic poisoning than it would have earlier today.”

I finished pressing the primer cavities in all twenty shells before I responded. “How long?”

“Ten to fifteen minutes to cause onset of systemic organ failure, if within one meter of you in an enclosed space. It occurs to me that the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion is an ideal treatment for those suffering from acute balefire contamination. You are perfectly healthy in conditions that are otherwise lethal to most living creatures.”

Pushing a part of my mane away from my eyes, I murmured, “Miracle in a bottle…” I carried the shells to the drill press next. “How long before I can go outside without killing anyone or poisoning the air, then?”

“I am uncertain. I have no data on the metabolic process that is responsible for internal generation of balefire contamination beyond that which I have observed thus far. I have only two data sets. Night Cloud’s emissivity is also hazardous, but significantly lower; whether this is due to her personal exposure being lesser, her proximity to you, her metabolic and biothaumic characteristics, or a combination of factors is difficult to determine. I have no precise data, so I cannot give a precise answer.”

“How about a guess?”

I powered on the freshly cleaned and reassembled drill press; all it needed was a fresh coat of paint. The hum of the electric motor and rasping of a hardened bit on brass were music to my ears. The first shell received a flash hole the width of a pinhead.

Chewing my lip briefly, I said, “A few days, a week, a month?”

“Perhaps several weeks; again, I cannot be certain. I estimate that you will continue to be emissive until your body reaches a state of equilibrium; exactly how long this will take depends on factors I cannot extrapolate from available data.”

I swept the drill press clean of the coiled shavings of brass left over from my project, dropped the scraps in a tin can, and once again levitated the eight shells to another part of the workbench. “Sooo... I’m less radioactive now than I was earlier, right?”

“Correct. Your rate of emission has reached a plateau.”

I took a tiny burr from the bench and, one by one, cleaned the edges of the flash holes. “So I’ll be radioactive… forever?”

“That is not what I intended to convey.” He paused for several seconds, then said, “Pretend that the balefire energy you have absorbed is contained in affected particles present in your body. You are now releasing a number of particles at a time, in a similar manner as you exhale carbon dioxide molecules. Each subsequent release yields fewer particles. Eventually, you will be releasing one particle at a time at this rate, and you cannot split these particles, only slow the rate of release.”

“Oh. Okay.” Licking my lips, I grabbed a nearby magnifying glass to aid my filing. “What if you could split them?”

“It was merely an analogy. Balefire does not conform to conventional particle models, and does not behave exactly in the manner I have described. In any case, I do not recommend that you attempt to split atoms carelessly.”

“You can do that?”

“I cannot.”

I giggled. “No, Max, I meant generally… is that possible?”

“To split an atom? Yes; it is known as nuclear fission. Balefire radiation is so named after nuclear decay, an event wherein one or more subatomic particles are released from an atom’s nucleus, such as occurs because of atomic instability or energetic collision with another particle. Exposure to such radiation can cause cell damage and cancer.”

I paused while fitting the first shell onto the lathe to cut an extraction ring. “Wait,” I said, having to halfway shout over the whirring of the lathe. “There’s another kind of radiation?”

“There are two, including electromagnetic—”

“Yeah, I know about that one already. Radio and visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, x-rays and stuff. Wouldn’t that make three? Electromagnetic, balefire, and… nuclear?”

“Balefire is not truly radiation, but a necromantic corruptionof biothaumic energy; however, its mechanism of propagation and its associated dangers share some surface-level characteristics with nuclear radiation, such as cellular damage on direct exposure, and contamination of fine particulate matter. Describing balefire energy as radiation is technically inaccurate, but generally accepted by experts of the field. Rather, it was accepted while those experts were alive. I cannot say whether it remains an accepted term.”

I looked over at the wall speaker for a few seconds. “Um… I mean, if everyone calling it that means it’s generally accepted… then it’s probably still accepted.” I chewed my lip for half a minute, guiding the carriage of the lathe carefully into place to cut into the base of the shell. “So… do you think I’m immune to that, too? Particles, I mean. Atoms. The ones that cause cancer.”

“Are you immune to bullets?”

“…okay.” I adjusted the lathe carriage to the proper position and muttered, “Good to know, I guess…”

“My records are limited, but I am unaware of any operating laboratories or natural deposits of such elements in this region. You are unlikely to encounter such hazardous materials. You would need to enter an open pit mine to risk such exposure.”

“Soooo, don’t worry about it. Gotcha.”

“Do you expect a visitor?”

I glanced to my right, at the door to the observation room, and shut off the lathe. “Maybe. Ivory Point, Eagle and Zephyr if they have hazard suits, or, um… Doctor Orchid Wisp, I guess.”

“The approaching pony is an alicorn, blue in color, wearing green clothing, which does not appear to be any form of sealed hazardous environment suit.”

“Probably Orchid Wisp,” I said as I passed one of the speaker grills along the wall on the way to the door. “Unless there’s another one they haven’t told me about…” I stepped on the floor panel to open the door and blinked in the bright light coming through the broad windscreen.

I looked to my side first, at the octagonal pyramid of magic beneath which rested Carbide, secure in his cradle within a silver sphere.

“Carbide?”

My soft inquiry languished against the background hum until another synthetic voice answered.

“He is asleep.”

“Huh.” I set my hoof on a face of the pyramid and murmured, “I didn’t know he could sleep. Didn’t think he’d want to… considering how long he was stuck that way.”

“He is capable of many things; among them, great focus, to the exclusion of such necessities as rest. I convinced him to take a nap, and have muted his external audio inputs.”

“A workaholic, huh?” I murmured. I snorted and turned to the bright projections again. “Sounds like Eagle.”

The snow outside gleamed, golden and blinding, for the storm had broken again, if only for an hour or two.

Beyond the plain, farther along the valley and at the head of the frozen river, the city of Bellenast stood. The immense wall, visible even from many kilometers away, hid the majority of the city from view, but the Amber Palace rose high above that on its island in the center of the metropolis, tall and bright and proud beneath a blanket of pristine snow.

The valley was quiet.

“Do you see her?”

One of the projections on the left, a view from high up on Maximillian’s torso, panned downward and zoomed in smoothly on a figure approaching from a few hundred meters to the east on hoof, through the snow: An alicorn, with a coat of midnight blue almost exactly my own shade, an indigo mane styled into a braid all the way down her neck, and brown eyes. She wore a tightly-fitted, burnished green jacket, matching full-length leggings, and a set of brown saddlebags. Secured across her back in front of her panniers was a rectangular metal case.

“Whoa… damn.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Ha! No… but I think I’m biased.” I backed away from the displays, making for the door to the crew cabin. “That’s Doctor Orchid Wisp.”

“Biased? A non-sequitur; I do not understand. Biased in relation to what?”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Biased to be attracted to tall mares. Orchid is really pretty. Friggin’ gorgeous. Not as gorgeous as Night Cloud, but that’s hardly a fair comparison… different kind of gorgeous.”

“Greater physical stature and visual appeal is a determining factor in most animals’ choice of mate; however, I am uncertain of the relevance in this context. Why would you be attracted? You are both female.”

“Um…” I stopped and leaned on the silent and empty refrigerator in the kitchenette. “I like mares—as in, I’m, um… I’m not really that attracted to stallions.” The much more impressive testament to equine engineering and magic around me was equally quiet. “Max?”

“I apologize. I have few records of this subject; have I offended you?”

I giggled. “No, you haven’t offended me… some of us animalsare a little different, Max… in ways we can’t choose. I guess I can’t fault a robot for not knowing about that.”

“I do not have extensive knowledge of the subject of equine social organization, or mating habits. I assumed that your behavior would be similar to that of other species of mammals.”

“I mean… if that’s how you want to put it?” I scowled briefly. “Yeah, I can tell you from personal experience that there are ponies out there who will just pick whomever they want and act like animals. Sadistic freakjobs, that is. Jerks.”

“A sadist: One who—”

“Someone who hurts others for fun. Like a rapist.”

“I know what it means.”

“Then why—okay, hang on.” I glanced up at the nearest speaker. “You know what sadism is, but you’ve never heard of two mares being together? Or two stallions? Seriously? That’s really friggin’ common.” I snorted and muttered, “Unless you’re a Réklat, I guess, but they sound like a bunch of jerks to me…”

“I know its definition, but I do not understand it conceptually.”

“Yeah, well, the last conception I had to deal with didn’t make any sense to me, either, and it was a real pain, too.”

Maximillian paused for another few seconds. “I apologize for being unclear. My available information library is reduced because I lack a connection to the Spannerworks intranet. To clarify: I referred to the first subject of your question, this being your assertion that I understand the concept of sadism, which I must refute: I do not understand it. Why would one derive enjoyment from willful harm done to another without purpose? It is wholly illogical.”

I shook my head and wondered whether he had a camera in the compartment with which to see me do it. “I don’t know, Max. Ask the stallion who bashed my skull with a wrench and raped me.”

“Is he in the vicinity? I can apprehend him.”

I snorted, laying my head against the fridge door to listen to the humming. “With what, your big metal claws, or your cannons? Your wheels, maybe?Thanks, I guess… but I was being sarcastic. That was months ago. He’s dead… and over a thousand klicks away. Don’t think he’d have much to say, even if he were alive to say it. I don’t really care.”

“He was tried and executed?”

“No, Max,” I muttered, my tail and ears drooping and my featherless wings clenching at my sides. “He didn’t get a trial.” I pushed off the humming fridge, straightened up, and trotted through the kitchenette.

“That is unusual. That a court of Equestria would regress to the practice of summary execution is… troubling.”

I scowled, tossed my mane back, and said firmly and clearly, “He didn’t get a trial because I killed him before anyone could give him one.”

Silence and my own hoofsteps replied. I gritted my teeth and took slow, deep breaths.

“Why?”

“Look, you don’t friggin’ know what—” I blew out the breath through pursed lips and blinked quickly to clear my eyes. “Max… I wasn’t just giving a friggin’ example. The stallion knocked me out with a friggin’ pipe wrench. Those are really big and heavy. Gave me a concussion. I’m lucky I don’t have permanent brain damage. Does any of that sound logical to you, Mister Robot?”

“I do not live by logic alone.”

“Well, after he cracked my skull with a friggin’ pipe wrench, Aurum Bannister raped me. Do you even know what that is? Because I didn’t until he gave me a demonstration. I can’t really describe how… how it… I… why am I even… listen, Max, I wasn’t really thinking about trial by jury when it happened. I was just… so angry I couldn’t think. He hurt me, and all I wanted to do was hurt him back, and…”

A weak laugh crawled up my dry throat and found its sickened escape. “And I did,” I whispered. “I killed him. I was really fucking mad, and I killed him. I’m sorry you don’t understand why, Max, but…” I touched a speaker grill on the wall nearby and mumbled, “I really don’t think you can.”

Ten seconds passed. Then a few more, and a few more.

“Perhaps I cannot.”

I rubbed my eyes, cleaning the tears from my muzzle, chuckled, and stepped away from the speaker. “You know, it does make a twisted sort of sense…”

“What does?”

“You don’t have any blood, so you can’t see red.”

“Perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” I muttered. “Sure, Max. Sure…”

I crossed the cabin and opened the door on the interior wall, lighting the darkened room beyond with an emerald glow from my horn. Night Cloud barely fit on the low bed; her hooves poked out from beneath the blanket meant for me.

I padded around to the edge of the bed and stopped with my hoof raised to touch her foreleg. Instead, I brushed her mane away from her muzzle. Slow and silent, I climbed onto the cramped bed and pressed my cheek to her chest; for once, she didn’t smell like lilac.

Then, her chest swelled with a deep intake of breath.

From my viewpoint, one electric blue iris appeared in the dark, gleaming in the light from my horn. Night Cloud blinked and smiled at me. She lifted me gently and pulled me closer to her chest, covering me with her wing.

“Mmm… you’re still hot.” As she rubbed my back and took another deep breath, she stretched her legs out, then cracked her neck and yawned, and finally tucked herself in around me. “One nice side effect of a good dose of radiation,” she said, voice low and husky, “You don’t really need blankets… but it makes detecting fevers and actual hyperthermia rather difficult.”

“But… isn’t fever being hot?” I patted her chest and gave her a nonchalant smirk. “Or, you know, hotter than usual.”

“It’s immune response,” she murmured. She stroked her hoof from my ears to the back of my neck and began to rub my withers. “Your body’s defense mechanism. Most infectious bacteria and viruses can’t survive at higher body temperatures. In an alicorn… we already have a higher core temperature, so our fevers are a bit more extreme.”

“Okay.” I giggled. “Um… two things. One, I know it’s not morning, but your morning voice is sexy.” I cleared my throat, sat up, and said, “Two, I would love to lie here with you for the rest of the day, but… Orchid Wisp is on her way. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Oh! She’s probably here for your follow-up.”

I fell backward as she jolted up. “My follow-up…”

“Follow-up appointment. She needs to ensure you haven’t suffered any unexpected side-effects from surgery, or the transformation.”

“So… an examination?” I frowned. “Couldn’t you do that? I’d rather, um… not be poked and prodded by—well, anyone, but if I have to, I’d rather it be you.”

“I can’t. I’m not a qualified doctor, darling.” Night Cloud sighed, smiling down at me. She straightened her mane somewhat and set her forehoof on my chest. “And… I’m romantically involved, which makes it a conflict of interest. That by itself doesn’t absolutely mean I couldn’t, if I were qualified, but it would be… highly inappropriate, professionally speaking.”

“You drew my blood at Cliffside, though.”

“I was acting as a nurse at a licensed physician’s request. I asked Doctor Patch if he wanted me to take care of it.” She gave a wry smile and murmured, “And I don’t believe I was romantically involved at that point.”

“You expect me to believe that Doctor Patch, a stallion, asked you to draw my blood… specifically for a pregnancy test?”

Night Cloud stared down at me, mouth hanging open for a moment, then she frowned. “Baby… Doctor Patch is over two and a half centuries old. He has more experience than any ten general practitioners put together. You can’t just dismiss his expertise because he’s a stallion.” I snorted. “Don’t give me that; it’s exactly what you were doing. If it concerns you, Zephyr asked me if we could test you, I told Doctor Patch, and he asked me to take care of it.”

“The point, Crystal, is you’ll have to endure someone else giving you a checkup. I will be the first pony there if you are ever injured, but I’m not certified to do anything else outside an emergency. Bellenast isn’t some degenerate hovel filled with—with blood-letters and miracle peddlers. There are strict laws here governing medical care.”

She took a breath, biting her lip, and looked away from me briefly. She brought her hoof to my cheek, and I leaned into her touch. “And besides that… you mustn’t judge all stallions for the actions of one. That isn’t right, and you know it.”

“Mmm…” I lightly kicked her flank with my hind leg. “I’d still rather it be you.”

“Oh, relax. Orchid Wisp won’t bite.” She ran a tendril of telekinesis through my mane, spreading it out around me. She tilted her head. “Hmm…” She rearranged my tail similarly, then nudged my forelegs together. “Oh, that’s lovely.”

I giggled, kicking my hind legs in the air. “Night, are you posing me?”

“Maybe,” she murmured, eyes flitting downward. She giggled and stretched her head down to kiss me, then playfully poked my belly. She took a deep breath and stood up, which gave me a stunning view while she took her weight off the mattress and swung her hind legs over me one at a time.

“Nube altua,” she muttered, “With a mane like that, you could be a centerfold.” I rolled over onto my belly and stared after her as she left the room.

“Orchid isn’t going to poke and prod you, anyway,” she said from the main cabin. “She’ll probably take your temperature and blood pressure. Neither of those requires a needle, and either way, Orchid is gentle, and skilled in her profession. She has all the training I do and more.” I shivered and hopped off the bed to follow her. “Come on; the least we can do is meet her in the main cabin.”

I breathed deeply and trotted to the right. As she spun around in the kitchen space, I stood by her, just ahead of the interior airlock door.

“Night?”

She looked down at me. “Yes?”

I cleared my throat and took a moment to breathe. “Just then, in the bed, were you, um… looking at me?” Grinning, I stepped closer and held her foreleg, snapping my tail at her belly. She jolted. “You know, um… really looking at me?”

Close-together, shuffling hoofsteps clacked on the deck beside me. Her clip-on brass shoes gleamed in the white light. “Um… I—I suppose I was, yes, darling…”

“Okay, just checking.” She shuffled one foreleg again. I bit my lip, then took a deep breath. “You know, Night, I know what a centerfold is…”

“Oh… do you?”

“I had my own small library, in my room, at Cloud Loft.” Letting out an impish giggle, I reared up to lean on her shoulder and laid my head against her neck. “Lot of technical manuals for sky chariots and AER-series components, spell matrices, machining manuals, old tool catalogues, stuff like that… some of it was Eagle’s, but I had a lot of magazines, too, from Neighvarro. Over a hundred of them.” I trailed my forehoof through her obsidian waterfall of a mane and whispered, “You think I’d build a collection like that without finding a few issues of Wild Mares?”

She nodded slowly. “Now I understand.”

The creaking of an opening hatch came from beyond the interior door.

I dropped back to the floor. “Understand what?”

“Exactly how it feels when someone says, ‘You’ll understand when you’re older.’ Except… I may as well have said it to you, and I wasn’t even trying to, and—darling, I’ve been trying not to treat you like a child all this time, I promise you, but… now I’ve done exactly that, and embarrassed myself in the process.”

“Why should you be embarrassed?” I snapped my tail at her belly again, once again causing her to jolt and glance down at me. I then pushed off the deck with my hind legs to lightly bump her flank with my hip. “I’m not. In fact, I’m friggin’ happy. Iwanna hear more. What makes me a centerfold? Nobody’s ever told me that.”

“I—well, it’s—” Shuffling her hooves, she said hurriedly, “It’s your mane and tail.” She looked back up at the airlock door. “It’s sort of a wild look. I like it. Really, I do. The little curls are lovely, baby, and… when you were lying on your back like that, it reminded me of—it reminded me of poster models. Pinups, and cover mares, and—”

“And centerfolds?”

She took a deep breath, clutching me with her wing. “Yes,” she said slowly, “And centerfolds. They often have their manes spread out that way on… those magazines… it’s meant to be—well, it’s meant to be dramatic, and provocative, and—and sexual, of course, and—”

She tightly closed her eyes and snapped her mouth shut suddenly, and took a deep breath through flared nostrils, and she grew very still.

“I’m rambling,” she murmured, “I’m rambling… listen, Crystal, this is… talking about this is—it makes me very uncomfortable.” She lifted her wing off me, nuzzled my cheek, and whispered, “Please understand that… please.”

“Well… I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.” I shook my head. “But it feels really friggin’ good, to hear that from you.” I hooked my foreleg around hers, biting my lip, and whispered, “Nice to know there’s something here for you to look at, know what I mean?”

She smiled and laughed weakly, eyes dropping to the floor and lips pursed tightly. -Yes, baby, I know what you mean. Can we talk about this later? I am trying to regain my composure before—and there she is.-

The inner door opened, and the translucent shield rippled as a midnight blue alicorn stepped carefully through it with her head bowed low.

Snow fell from Orchid Wisp’s back and lowered head as she ducked out of the entryway and proceeded to take up the entire deck height. Even with her head still bowed, the crest of her neck brushed the doorframe and ceiling.

Night Cloud and I backed quickly out of the way as she cleared the airlock. She stomped her hooves to shake ice and snow off her scaly green leggings then sidestepped and sat on her haunches. I couldn’t help but stare at the mare.

The softness distracted only so much from the stout legs, magnificent wings, deep ribcage, and powerful hindquarters hiding under the snow-speckled barding. Orchid Wisp might have been shorter than Blitz, but she was almost certainly just as heavy.

“Um…” I waved. “Hi! I’m Crystal. You’re gorgeous!”

Night Cloud let out a strangled snort of laughter.

“Well, thank you very much, and hello, darling,” said Orchid Wisp, with a smile like roses in bloom and a voice like warm honey. “It’s wonderful to see you well, and you, Night Cloud.” She nodded to us both, then lifted her foreleg to look at the sleek, aluminium-framed device strapped over her green legging, and adjusted one of its dials with her orange field of magic. She shifted her leg toward each of us in turn, glanced at the device again, and looked to the still-open airlock door.

“It’s safe to come in. Your dose should be good for an hour, but I want to limit you to twenty minutes, to be on the safe side.”

Metallic hoofsteps and a black helmet came through the shield, and I bolted forward and leapt.

“Whoa!”

I crashed into him, and the force of impact jarred into my chest, causing a sharp pain in my ribs. I gasped and sagged against him as a grinding sensation came from under my shoulder, then I hugged him with all my strength.

“You’re okay,” I said, coughing twice. The grinding dissipated quickly in favor of an unsettling movement. “Think I broke something… ow, ow, ow… and it’s… okay, that feels friggin’ weird. Now it’s… gone. Nothing. I’m good. Never mind.” I put my hoof back behind his helmet and laid my head on his collar. “Whatever. I’m glad you’re okay…”

“Down, filly!” Eagle set an enclosed forehoof on my back, patting me gently while I squeezed around his shoulders. I jerked back from him and chuckled, smiling up at his visor as the reflective, golden outer layer slid up to reveal green eyes behind enameled quartz. “You just about triggered the kinetic warning. Aa-and you cracked a bone tackling me… and it’s fine, just like that? Night Cloud, you might want to put up a missing poster for your marefriend, because I’m pretty sure this is a bear cub.”

I giggled brightly, and Eagle set his wing around my back. “You had me worried for a moment, kiddo… this what rads do to you now?”

“To an extent,” said Night Cloud. “She was saturated earlier, but it’s bleeding off slowly. It helps that she’s been exercising for a while, in the vehicle bay.” She trotted closer to us and touched my back, smirking at me. “Otherwise, she might be well on her way to growing a bit taller ahead of schedule. A fracture is nothing—right now, she could probably chop off a leg and regrow it.”

“I don’t recommend testing that,” said Orchid Wisp, glancing up from the device on her leg. “Eagle, back off now. You still need to keep some distance from her.” Eagle stepped away from me, and Orchid Wisp lowered herself down to the deck with her forelegs folded underneath.

“Professional opinion, dear, and speaking from experience,” she said, flashing me a smile that could have jump-started my heart. “Yes, while you are irradiated as heavily as you are now, you probably could grow back a severed leg. You’d also lose a dangerous amount of arterial blood before the regeneration could stopper it, so it’s no certain thing that you’d remain conscious and ambulatory, leg or no leg.”

“Ambu…”

“Able to walk, dear.”

“Oh.” I returned a nervous smile. “When you say ‘speaking from experience,’ um…”

“I mean just that.” She partially extended her right wing and shifted her left hind leg. “One wing grievously wounded and the same leg you had lost—well, I’ll spare you the sordid details. My duties were not always in a clean and tidy hospital in Bellenast, and occasionally involved… perilous locales, and unruly individuals.”

“Oh.” Still smiling, I said, “Were you a guard, or something?”

“No.” Orchid Wisp gave me a questioning look, then matched my smile with a patient one. “An emissary, for a group of ponies I once represented.”

-Baby, she doesn’t like to—

“I speak for myself, Noča Nubiála. Now and forever hence.” Night Cloud pursed her lips as Orchid Wisp stared intently at us. “But I appreciate your sensitivity.” The midnight blue mare shook her head. “My fellows and I had a disagreement of principles and philosophy. My opinions, my motivations, even my perceptions, had become…” Orchid Wisp’s smile turned to the floor. “Less my own. Greatly affected against my better judgement. Seeing Ivaline, and Blizziera, and little Nubiála all on their own…”

She glanced to Night Cloud again, then gave a short laugh and looked back to me. “Yes, I know, that must sound odd to you, dear… seeing them as their own mares, independent from the others, made me curious once again, and put other questions into my mind. Those questions led me to Bellenast. Now, I work for Claraby.”

She chuckled softly and said, “But before that, I occasionally found myself in nasty situations and unpleasant company, as an occupational hazard. Negotiation failed me, now and then, and to protect myself and my friends, I had to use alternative means of negotiation. Not fun, I assure you, but sometimes necessary.”

I swallowed and looked to Night Cloud, taking a breath to steel my nerves. “So, um… what do you normally do? In that sort of… um… situation.” Night Cloud sighed and closed her eyes; her neck grew tense and her jaw tightened. “Um… when you have to protect your friends. Hypothetically speaking.”

Orchid Wisp’s eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. She glanced between Night Cloud and me, and at Eagle standing beside her. “Ideally, dear?” she said, cocking her head at me. “Be kind. Negotiate.” She tilted her head to Night Cloud. “Or allow someone more gracious than you to do the negotiating, if you believe you might make the wrong decision in haste, or anger. If, that is, the situation allows it.”

“And if it’s, um… not ideal?”

“Crystal,” whispered Night Cloud, holding my shoulder, “Please…”

“Now, Night Cloud,” said Orchid Wisp, silencing the smaller mare with but a word. “She asked me a question… I think I know why.”

I squeezed Night Cloud’s leg tightly and said, “I want a second opinion… that’s all.”

“Thought so.” Orchid Wisp nodded. “Ideally, dear… if someone intends to harm you, for any reason, try to negotiate. Give them a chance to back down, a reason to leave you in peace. If they refuse to see that reason, if they give you no choice… if you or those you love are in danger, and you can’t see any other way out but to end the conflict as swiftly as possible… then you fight. Fight for all you’re worth. Fight for your friends. Fight for your life.”

The midnight blue, indigo-maned alicorn pushed herself off the floor and walked up to me, smiling, and she touched the edge of a large, feathered forehoof to my cheek, and she brushed her nose on Night Cloud’s muzzle.

“Fight for your love,” she said, stepping back, “And whatever choice you make, do not make it lightly… but most especially do not regret it.”

Night Cloud set her wing across me, tugging me backward ever so slightly. I pushed away from her suddenly, out from under her clutching wing, reared, and kissed her, causing her to stiffen. I held her there, ignoring Eagle and Orchid Wisp both, until Night Cloud lifted her snout and nuzzled me.

I leaned into her embrace, prodded her, and murmured, “Do you regret it? Protecting me?”

“No, I do not regret it.” She wrapped both wings around to hold me. “Crystal Dew, you are a scheming, rotten, devious little filly.” She kissed my brow, trembling briefly as she breathed. “And Doctor Orchid Wisp, you are absolutely incorrigible.”

“Why?” The larger alicorn laughed and said, “Because it was what you wanted to hear”

Night Cloud nickered and stomped the deck. “You know very well what I mean.”

“Oh, little one…” Orchid Wisp stretched her wings out briefly and sighed. “It’s wonderful to have you back.”

I pushed gently off Night Cloud’s chest and stood beside her. -So, she seems nice, and holy hayfries. She. Is. Friggin’ gorgeous. Why didn’t you two ever hook up?-

Night Cloud affixed me with a withering glare. -She treats me like a little filly. I would think you of all ponies could understand why that’s a turn-off. Besides, putting aside that she’s nearly four times my age, just because all alicorns are mares doesn’t mean all of them are interested in other mares, Crystal.-

-Does she sing? She sounds like she’d sing. Friggin’ liquid gold… wait, what do you mean, all mares?-

“Night Cloud,” said Orchid Wisp, drawing a sealed, metal case from her white saddlebags, “Would you like to assist me with the calibration, now?”

-I’ll explain later.- Night Cloud tilted her head and brushed her mane back. “I—um. I thought you were here for her checkup?”

“After all this radiation, the results would be terribly skewed. There’s no point. She appears perfectly healthy, in any case, so we’ll simply have to keep an eye on her.” Orchid Wisp lifted a segmented silver necklace out from her saddlebags in her orange magic and clasped it around Night Cloud’s neck. “I brought your containment talisman, by the way. You really ought to keep it with you, dear.”

Orchid Wisp lifted from the case a segmented, stainless steel ring lined with tiny, radiating circuit boards enclosed in glass bulbs. A collection of fine wires in a rainbow of colors and distinct patterns branched off the ring from sockets between the twelve tubes, ending in exceptionally narrow needles about six or seven millimeters in length and covered by sterile shields.

A shiver shot down my neck.

“I’m here to calibrate hers.”

I gawked at the device. “What the fuck—mmmmmmmm… needles.” I swallowed, swallowed again, and said, “Needles. Why needles?”

“They’re very small needles.”

“I’m a very small pony! That makes them bigger!” Night Cloud giggled. I stomped. “Don’t laugh at me!”

Night Cloud took the device from Orchid Wisp’s magic hold and brought it near us. “Look at this, baby.” She tugged one of the wires free from the delicate mass and held it close enough for me to see, and she hugged me with her wing. “They’re just pin probes … very fine, nothing like a potion injector.” She lifted a bottle of clear liquid and dropper from Orchid Wisp’s metal case and filled the dropper. “They might sting a little at first, but they won’t hurt you.”

“Why. Needles.”

“It’s for a template, dear,” said Orchid Wisp. She passed Night Cloud a full color chart of a pony with no skin and every muscle shown in great detail, along with a list of corresponding points on the body. “Once we calibrate it to your body mass and a few other factors, the telemetry from this will allow us to make a balefire containment talisman tailored perfectly for you, by tomorrow morning at the latest. That will allow you to come back to the city without bleeding radiation into everything and everyone around you, and it will work as long as you do, provided you don’t break it. Go ahead and stand up, please. We’ll use the same pattern as we did for yours, Night Cloud.”

-No needles, huh? Just take my pulse and blood pressure, huh?- Glancing between Night Cloud and the levitating talisman, I rose to my hooves between the two alicorns. -Two sexiest mares on the planet, and both of you are friggin’ evil.-

“This may be rather cold, baby,” whispered Night Cloud as she squirted a few drops of clear liquid from the dropper onto a cotton ball and dabbed it first on my neck, and then my chest. My hide did, indeed, sting slightly where the sponge made contact and the odorless liquid chilled me.

“You said it was a template?” I followed the garish talisman as Night Cloud split the segmented ring apart and gingerly placed the two halves around my neck. I shuddered as the icy cold steel bit invisibly into my skin through my coat. “A template talisman? If that means what I think it means, that’s… really friggin’ cool.”

“I’m glad you think so,” said Orchid Wisp. She attached one end of a long ribbon to a white box about the size of her head and brought the other end to the ring now secured around my neck, much like a choker. Night Cloud lifted my mane up and held it away from the ring as Orchid Wisp attached the ribbon’s golden end to a socket out of my sight.

“It’s a talisman blank, the first of its kind. Like a casting for a mold. Granted, its use is specific, and limited… but if we can iron out the kinks, the process may allow us to make other kinds of medical devices, some of which are highly sensitive to the characteristics of the pony who uses them, much more easily and rapidly.”

“If a talisman can be used to contain radiation inside the body,” said Eagle, trotting closer to peer at the device around my neck, “Without bleeding out, so to speak, then could it be used to shield against it, to keep it out of the body?”

“In theory,” said Night Cloud as she held the needle-tipped wires near me, each over the spots on my neck and chest that she had sterilized. “Claraby has some researchers looking into it, Doctor Wisp among them.”

Eagle lifted his foreleg out to look at his boot. “So… if that bears fruit, you could be safe from radiation with nothing but a necklace. No hazard suit, no power armor.”

“The containment talisman itself is still being refined; Blitz has the first product of it, since she was the test case. Her predicament was the entire reason Ivy asked Claraby and Mirago to make the talisman.” She brushed the hairs of my coat aside and placed the tips of the needles to my skin, then pushed quickly and secured the adhesive pads.

-This will take just a few minutes, I promise. You’ll barely feel it. Just be still, okay? It wouldn’t really injure you, but accidentally pulling these at an angle could break them off in your skin. Then I’d have to pull them out the hard way.-

-I’m a pincushion today.- I shivered again, swallowed past a dry throat, and took deep, slow breaths. I tried to ignore the cold, metal collar around my neck and the fine wires and pins attached to my body, lurking in my peripheral vision. -When this is done… I want to take a bath.-

-Well, there’s a shower in the bunks, isn’t there?-

-You’re going to join me.-

-All right… if that will make up for this indignity.-

Night Cloud smiled and continued to sponge spots along my neck, chest, belly, back, and my legs, and one by one she gently pricked me with the minuscule needles, until I began to resemble a marionette. Individually, each needle was barely noticeable, but as more and more pricked my skin, and because they remained in place, some began to itch. I breathed deeply and focused on the occasional touch of Night Cloud’s telekinesis and careful hooves.

“I wish I’d been there to see it happen, kiddo… it suits you.”

I looked at Eagle, and he pointed his wing toward my flank. I grinned and looked back at the emerald flame-spewing torch on my hindquarters. I giggled and nodded. “It’s okay… it was kinda random, really. I don’t really know… I mean, I haven’t thought about… well, what exactly it means.”

“Marks are rarely exact,” he said softly. “I’m just glad it isn’t a balefire egg, because you’d have some explaining to do.”

I turned my head to him, and Night Cloud immediately forced me to look straight ahead again, telekinetically nudging my chin. “Please stay still, baby.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “What’s a balefire egg?”

“A bomb,” said Eagle. “A balefire catalyst inside an amplifying shell. It’s the kind of thing that can cook you alive through any armor, and no, I’m not going to find you any. Also, uh…”

Eagle curled the claw-tipped tail of his armor around. “You will have to register for possession of your guns, under my license—temporarily, at least. The rules are pretty strict, but clear, and pretty fair, too. Need to make sure the safeties are up to code. We can’t have our aetherics powered in the city at all, since they’re fire hazards.”

I scowled and stopped mid-stomp, and lowered my raised foreleg back to the deck, wincing as the needles in my hide tugged ever so slightly. That minuscule tugging caused me to suffer a full-body shiver. I swallowed and glanced toward Eagle.

“That—okay, I get the fire hazard thing. Fine, cool, but what about my shotgun? If everyone is allowed to carry their own loaded weapons around, why do I need to—” I flicked my tail to the side and nickered. “Is it just because I’m not an adult?”

Eagle raised his forehoof. “No, and let me finish. Firstly, you’re not allowed to just carry guns around. You want to play with fire, you go to a range outside the city. Secondly, I have to do the same thing with my suit cannons, too. You’re the only filly in Bellenast with a gun like that. Think of it as bragging rights. Besides, I don’t want to wear my armor everywhere, and you didn’t run around with your rifle all the time at Cloud Loft, did you?”

“No…” I took a deep breath as Night Cloud leaned closer to me to press one of the final needles into my back.

“All done,” she whispered. She stepped back and said dryly, “You like excessive firepower; the consequence is paperwork, and leaving your dangerous toys at home.”

“Considering what I’ve had to run from recently,” I muttered, “I don’t think it qualifies as excessive.”

Orchid Wisp pushed a button on the white box, and a mild jolt traveled through me. I grimaced for a moment, glancing down at the needles protruding from my pectorals and shoulders. Night Cloud nudged my head back up again. My heart beat harder and faster leaving me trembling, and my wings twitched. For a moment, the liquid feeling of heat surging through me was like the blood pouring from my belly not too long ago, but without the pain or draining cold in my gut. I clenched my teeth together and breathed deeply.

Night Cloud pressed my wings back down with delicate touches of telekinesis, and she brushed her nose along my snout. I relished her touch and her warm breaths, focusing on the simple contact to fight back the rising unease in my gut.

-Just a minute or two, baby. Deep breaths.-

“So what’s this about a vehicle bay?” said Eagle. “What did you find in there, kiddo?”

“Plenty of tools,” I said. “A hover carriage, small cargo hauler—needs a lot of love and a fresh paint job. There’s a lathe, a Swarf and Pearlwick. Thing’s friggin’ beautiful, and only a little damaged. Lots of tools; Maximillian’s outfitted for field repairs. That vehicle bay is practically a machine shop.”

“As I recall,” said Night Cloud, her voice stiff, “Before I took a nap, she was doing something with brass sheets and some donated ammunitionfrom Maximillian. I can only imagine what.”

“Shell press?” said Eagle.

“Yep.” I stared down at my foreleg, where two needle patches and attached wires protruded from my hide. I raised my foreleg, briefly, and it quivered. “Night—”

“Aaa-and done,” said Orchid Wisp, pressing a button on the white box once more. “My, my, young one, your heart is a veritable necromantic furnace right now. Unusually high biothaumic activity, even at rest. Radiation accounts for some of that… I’ll have to upload the file back at the hospital to see the raw numbers. What an interesting data plot you make.”

Night Cloud began to pluck the wire-trailing needles from my hide. “That’s one way to describe her.”

A flush came to my cheeks, along with a grin, and a brief irritation accompanied the heat rushing through my chest. “Okay, test’s done, calibration’s done, right?”

“Yes, baby,” said Night Cloud, “Just stand still and let me remove—”

I enveloped all thirty-plus wires protruding from my hide at once and pulled them free, and just as quickly did the panic stop and my breaths begin to slow. The pinpricks tingled and stung, some more than others.

Night Cloud sighed and mouthed a quiet, “Okay.”

“I hate needles.” I unlatched the talisman around my neck, released my hold on the wires, and surrendered the device to Orchid Wisp. “I’m going to take a shower now.” I stalked away from the group toward the bunks. “Night?”

“Coming, baby.”

“Ah…Crystal?”

Night Cloud jerked to a halt, stepping a little to her left to throw an uncertain glance back.

I stopped, turned around, and glared. “Yes?”

Eagle had raised his forehoof; he slowly set it down again.

“Zephyr said it already. Don’t you start.”

His helmeted head dipped a hair. “I… just wanted a hug, before I go. I can’t stay in here too long.”

My ears drooped, and I looked down at the deck. “Sorry. I thought…” Orchid Wisp looked between us. “Never mind. Wasn’t fair…” I trotted over and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

“Nah, I get it,” he whispered, sweeping both wings over me. “I get it… touchy subject. It’s all right.”

“It’s not all right.”

He chuckled and said, “Look, kiddo… when you say you’re sorry… I believe you. Always have… because you always mean it.” He stepped way, trailing his wingtip across my neck. “Now sit tight. This time tomorrow, we’ll have that fancy talisman ready for you. See you then.”

“Okay,” I muttered. I turned around and tugged Night Cloud by her foreleg, lighting the dim bunk room with emerald. As I closed the door behind us, she lit her own horn and touched my back with her wing.

“Baby…” She came closer to me and glanced quickly back at the closed door. “What did Zephyr say?”

“Eagle—” I opened the door to the rather cramped bathroom and turned on the lights. “I thought he was going to say … you know, the usual stuff about… not doing—about sex, okay? With you. Zephyr did, right after—when I, um… went to your room last night.”

“Oh.” Night Cloud stepped into the bathroom after me, ducking through the doorway. The mare barely fit in the space between the lavatory and shower. “That is… a reasonable concern for them both to have, baby.”

I snorted and turned the shower levers. “Why?” The pipes gurgled, a sputter of air escaped the showerhead, and a spray of water followed. “Amare didn’t make me pregnant, so… I don’t see why they’re so worked up about it. Lot more dangerous stuff going on right now. Like, I dunno, the assassins and snowstorms. I mean, look at where we are right now, what’s friggin’ happening to Bellenast.”

I sat down on slick tiles and said, “We picked Bellenast when we left Cloud Loft Peak because it seemed like the safest place this side of the mountains, based on everything we’d heard… or the most likely place to be safe, and… you know, actually made up of normal ponies, not maniacs. Turns out it’s not always so safe, even without the crazies. So… tough beans. I wish they’d let me friggin’ spend a night with you without… without suggestingthat you might take advantage of me, or that I’d do that to you! There’s enough crap for them to worry about without… without friggin’ pointless worrying!”

Night Cloud gave a short laugh. “Crystal Dew… darling. Firstly… the last few days have been… a gross misrepresentation of life in Bellenast. Secondly? Consider this.” Night Cloud stepped into the walk-in shower and lay down in the cramped space. She stretched her hind legs out to the side and sighed as warm water soaked her. By herself, she took up most of the floor space.

“Eagle is one of the most courteous and respectful stallions I’ve ever met; if he has had any objections to us taking our baths together, he has held his tongue. If he has had any objections to us sharing a bed, he has held his tongue. If he has had any objections to you being alone with me, unsupervised, on numerous occasions, he has held his tongue.”

I huddled close to her belly, resting my head against her folded wing. My mane clung to my neck, and warm water ran across her feathers. “I get your point… am I being a jerk?”

Night Cloud stretched around to kiss my cheek under the shower spray. -No, my love… you have been… justifiably defensive of me, I think, because… because you believe that I have only been good to you, and that I have done nothing wrong… and yet they are still cautious, because they remember the pony who hurt you.-

-As for Zephyr… I recall my bean bag chair being in my bedroom, so she must have moved it out. They’re trotting on eggshells around you, Crystal. Try not to snap at them so much.-

-I’ll try.-

I carefully rolled onto my back beside her and lay my head across her forelegs. She nuzzled my neck and laughed suddenly. -Besides, having sex in the shower wouldn’t be very safe… slippery tile, soap… I don’t want to take that step in our relationship and immediately wind up in a cast as a result.-

“Um.” Despite the simultaneous excitement and creeping embarrassment that threatened to paralyze me, I grinned and nudged her belly with one hind leg. -You’d probably be fine, but… last time you fell on me wasn’t too fun.-

Her ears fell, and the mare groaned as she laid her head down, tucked into the crook of her leg; the sound trailed off to a whimper against the hiss and patter of the shower. “Damn it, I hate being so big… I could kill you if I fell on you the wrong way…”

A growl rose from my throat as I rolled sharply over and bolted to my hooves. I raised my hoof. A sharp crack followed, amplified within the room, and a flare of searing light cast harsh shadows along every surface. Night Cloud yelped and jerked away from me. The tongues of emerald flame, roiling as summoned balefire, rose from my tail and scalp to lick the ceiling.

“So what?!”

The hiss of steaming water drowned out the patter of the showerhead, and my right foreleg shook. The tile under my hoof had cracked. My leg smarted, but the fire in my chest spread, and in the seconds that came after, silent save the spray of water, the pain faded.

Night Cloud looked up at me in frozen shock.

I shook my leg, gave an angry snort, and said, “So what?” I scooted up to her and seized her around the neck, pressing myself firmly to her chest. The flames died down, and my mane and tail fell once again. Steam rose all around us.

“You’re friggin’ big, Night Cloud. Of course it might hurt me if you fell on me. So what? I don’t care. I’m getting a radiation containment talisman tomorrow, aren’t I? That’s the plan, right? I’ll just stay irradiated, so I’ll heal if you do fall on me and… and friggin’ break my back, or something, if that’s what you’re so worried about.” I kissed her neck and tucked my head beneath her chin. “I like that you’re big, and strong. You can hold me and carry me, and you’re warm.”

Nickering as she wrapped her forelegs around me, I said, “You haven’t friggin’ hurtme by being big, so just… stopit. Chill the fuckout. Stop friggin’ crying about things that haven’t happened. There are a million things out there that could friggin’ kill me, that could havekilled me, just on the way here from Cloud Loft Peak. Robots, bears, bandits, flying ice-spitting snakes, and sure, yeah, you could hurt me, if you fell on me the wrong way, and I don’t care. So could any otherbig pony, but I friggin’ loveyou, Night… do you think I’m afraid of you just because you fell on me once? Because you might roll over on me when we’re sleeping?”

I kissed her jaw, sighed, and said, “Stop beating yourself up over stupid what-ifs, Night Cloud… please.”

Night Cloud curled into a tight ball and hugged me to herself, and the mare nuzzled my withers while we lay together on the shower floor. She let out a soft, shuddering cry and squeezed, curling herself around me. “I want to protect you… more than anything, Crystal, I want to protect you…”

I sighed in exasperation and pushed myself up from her smothering embrace. “Then friggin’ protect me, Night Cloud!”

She gasped as I levitated her up from the floor in a flaring wash of emerald magic, rolled onto my back, and forced her to lie on top of me and pin me down. Even securely held in my magic, she frantically moved to support herself, but she couldn’t overcome the pull of my telekinesis with the poor leverage offered by splayed forelegs.

“See? You’re not hurting me. Protect me, but don’t put me on a shelf. You can’t break me. I’m not a friggin’ porcelain doll!”

“Please, stop—” She gave a high, weak whinny of panic and fought again to pull her forelegs inward and take her weight off me. “Let me up, damn it!” I released her, and she braced herself on her forelegs. She shook and took several deep breaths, then lifted me aside in cerulean light, carefully lay down, and rolled onto her back next to me.

She lay there, shaking, her legs tucked in close to her chest and her wings clenched tightly at her sides, ribs swelling out with every shuddering breath.

“Crystal,” she said, turning her head toward me, “I am over three hundred kilograms heavier than you. If I fell on you—”

“I can lift you ten times over.” I climbed onto her, lying on her upturned belly. “The reason I had trouble that one time is because a whole friggin’ building collapsed over my head last week. I nearly burned out!” She groaned and laid her head back on the floor. “I was still tired, okay? On a good day, it’s not a problem!”

“And on a bad day?” She shot her wings up and clamped them around me, pressing me tightly to her belly. She curled her neck up to nuzzle me while she clutched me between her forelegs. “On a bad day, my love,” she said in my ear, voice shaking, “Under the worst circumstances… I fall on you and I crush you.”

“Night—”

She squeezed and kissed me, stroking the leading edge of her wing along my neck. “On a bad day, I fall on you, square-on, and I break your ribs, and your broken ribs pierce your lungs, and you drown in your own blood while your heart gives out, and your brain stops working from lack of oxygen, and no amount of radiation can fix that, because your brain controls your heart and your magic, and your heart keeps your brain going, and one can’t work without the other, and… and you don’t heal, you don’t regenerate, no matter how irradiated you are, potions aren’t fast enough to save you, I’m not fast enough to save you, and… and you die.”

Her voice broke. “You die. Just like that.” She pressed her lips to mine again. She stretched her forelegs down and crossed them over my back. After a minute or more, she parted from me, blinking frequently under the shower.

I swallowed, and nibbled at her lip again. “Well, um… that’s… really vivid…”

Night Cloud lit her horn to pull the long lever on the wall, and the warm water ceased. “Let me assure you, Crystal Dew: I am training to be a doctor, and I am intimately aware of just how fragile we are.”

I thumped my rear hooves on her flanks and muttered, “Well, if you ever sit on me by accident, at least I’ll have a nice view while I suffocate.”

“I’ve fallen in love with a shameless pervert,” she muttered. “Joy of joys… Crystal, you joke, you… you are cavalier about things, about—about very real possibilities, things that terrify me…”

“Maybe that’s because the things that terrify me, I can blast with my horn, and the things that terrify you—” I stretched my hoof out to brush through her mane. “—are hypothetical. Maybe you should focus on protecting me from, you know… dangerous ponies… not yourself.” I tugged her forehoof down and pressed it behind my rearmost rib, on my hidden scar. “Anti-armor skewers are kinda scary… protect me from those. I, um… I promise not to levitate you right over myself again, if that makes you happy. I don’t want to be squished.”

“Yes, it would make me happy. Thank you for that.” She took a breath and tugged her magic through my mane, pushing it back from my eyes. “Crystal Dew, my darling… forgive me if my personal battles are not so certain and rational as yours. And… I would prefer to be in my own home before you put me in a compromising position again.”

I snapped my tail at her belly. She yelped and jolted under me. “What does that even mean? What am I compromising?”

Night Cloud gritted her teeth and laughed, letting out a long breath. “Propriety, Crystal,” she said, “You’re compromising propriety… not that it really means anything at this point. And darling… in the future…”

She tugged me forward, craned her neck, and hissed in my ear, “If I am ever holding you just like this, on top of myself, in the shower, do not whip your wet tail between my legs again, or so help me I will strangle you!”

I froze in place, shivering, staring at fierce, electric blue eyes.

Those eyes narrowed. “‘Yes, Night Cloud, I promise on pain of death that I will never do that again’ is the correct answer.”

I opened my mouth, face beginning to flush, then glanced behind me. I flicked my tail forward and squeaked out, “Oh.”

“‘Oh’ is right, young mare.” Night Cloud sighed and said through clenched teeth, “A mare’s udders are sensitive. Please keep that in mind.” I snickered. “Oh, don’t be so juvenile,” she said, glaring at me. “If you want me to treat you like a grown mare, then don’t chuckle and grin like a foal when I say ‘udders’. You have them, too.”

I bit my lip and nodded. “Sure thing, Night.”

She rolled her eyes and rubbed my back, slowly grinned, then giggled. I burst out laughing, and a moment later, she joined me, then squeezed my back and let out a long sigh.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, nuzzling her neck. “Wasn’t thinking about, um… exactly where I was, um… hitting you… yeah.” Biting down a squeaky giggle, I said, “Didn’t mean to whip you, um… there.”

She sighed. “Oh, it’s all right, darling… really, though, please don’t do that again. It stings… and in case you were wondering, no, I’m not into that sort of thing.”

I grinned. “What sort of thing?”

She shut her mouth, then whispered, “Nothing. Forget I said it.”

“No, no…” I scooted forward and drummed my forehooves on her. “I wanna know what you mean.”

“No.”

“Oh come on… I’ve probably already seen it in Wild Mares…”

“Crystal, there is such a thing as being too forward. You are doing it right now.”

“Aww…”

A knock came from the door.

“Night Cloud? Crystal? Uh… Doctor Wisp brought dinner, by the way.”

Night Cloud swept the door open with her magic and tucked her wings down at her sides. “Eagle, would you call this a compromising position?”

Eagle took a surprised step back from the suddenly open door and looked away. “Uh… yeah. Just a bit. So… yeah. Dinner’s available.” He spun around hastily and left the bunk room.

Night Cloud pointed her wingtip at the vacated doorway. “When someone has that reaction, it’s a compromising position. This was minor. Making out would be bad. Doing… anything else would be much worse. Make sense?”

Before I could reply, Eagle’s steps came back again and his armor’s clawed tail tapped just inside the doorframe. Night Cloud rose to sit on her haunches next to me.

“Look, this is the last discussion I thought I’d be having today, but while I have the chance… I never listened to my parents, so I’d be a colossal hypocrite if I told you what they told me. I’m just going to say… respect each other’s wishes, and boundaries, be honest with each other, and, uh… be discreet, because… although Zephyr and I don’t have a problem with this, as long as it’s what both of you want, some ponies will. They’ll…”

“Night Cloud, this is really more for you, but you both need to hear it: They’ll see a grown mare and a filly together… a very small, young filly… and they’ll assume the worst, even if you obey all the laws to the letter. They won’t know you, they won’t know what you’ve been through together, what you’ve done for each other… and even if they did, they wouldn’t care. They’d just look at you funny and think they need to step in and pull the kid away… even when she isn’t really a kid anymore. They won’t see that. They never will. I just… I want you to be prepared for that. The Princess tells me Bellenast is pretty lenient about this kind of thing, but… somehow, I don’t think others will be so trusting.”

“Thank you, Eagle,” said Night Cloud, “For your blessing. Perhaps that’s old-fashioned, but… I’m grateful. And I appreciate the warning… I must admit, it’s, um… it’s been on my mind.”

“No problem. Just, uh…” The armored tail vanished, and the gold-visored helmet appeared in its place. “Don’t piss off Zeph. She’s…”

“A raging mother bear?”

“Protective.” Eagle nodded. “Make no mistake, Night Cloud: You cut an intimidating figure, but Zeph’s fought bigger things than you and won.”

Night Cloud chortled and tossed her mane back. “I’ll behave myself. I would prefer not to lose an ear the next time I have my mane trimmed.”

“Heh… right. See you both later.”

“Hey, Carbide?”

“Hm?”

I glanced to my right at the doorway to the observation room while I drilled one of many holes into the frame of an adjustable harness for a battle saddle; lacking any aluminum scrap, I had had to settle for a thin sheet of stainless steel, which I had grinded clean and polished, cut into strips twenty millimeters wide, and bent into precisely measured curves.

“How hard would it be to let Max see the air sensor readings in here? You know, so he could warn us if something weird happens again… just to be extra safe.”

“Ah, right; that problem. Hmm… in principle, not hard at all. I’d need to edit some code in his systems management protocol core. In practice, it may take… oh, twenty minutes.”

“Okay. Sounds great. I don’t want another oxygen buildup to turn into a blow-up.”

“The default atmospheric cycle would prevent that, normally.”

I turned the frame over and maneuvered its opposite brace into the drill press. “It happened once. It can happen again. Clearly, something went wrong, and Max never knew it. Said so himself. It would be nice if, say, a really loud alarm went off when there’s a problem with the air.”

“Yes, I’m well aware that Maximillian is lacking in certain creature comforts, thank you for that reminder… and there are smoke and carbon monoxide alarms—granted, the backup photoelectric detectors need to be replaced, but they are there. There isn’t an excess oxygen alarm because the atmospheric regulator has its own alarm system, and it prevents that from happening. Normally.”

“Until it doesn’t, right?”

“Look, you try sorting through ten thousand different error logs from the last few decades to find out why it happened and get back to me on that. I’m working on it, all right?” Carbide gave an exasperated sigh from his speaker-connected, shielded interface pedestal.

“The circumstances that led to that problem likely emerged from dozens—no, hundreds of unrelated events over the course of many years, Crystal. Max was… he was possessed, basically; that’s the easiest way to describe what happened to him. His systems were operated outside of their normal conditions for over a century. He can’t have had access to all the maintenance he’d normally have undergone; the automated fleet must have failed one by one, running out of parts…”

“It’s no small miracle that most of his systems are still functioning at all, and quite a few of the subsystems aren’t working. He’s an incredibly complex machine, and I mean before adding his intellectual growth to the mix. He knows more about himself than I do now.” He gave a short, bark of a laugh and said, “Just for some context, Crystal, I can look at the code for the atmospheric regulator and Max’s other systems right now because he changed a part of his own code to allow me to access some of the peripheral systems from where I am. Maximillian modified himself. He shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“So, he can modify himself, but not every part of himself.”

“Yes. There are some hard limits in place, system compartmentalization; I still can’t directly modify the atmospheric regulator’s operating parameters from here, for example, because it runs independently from nearly every other system. That system is isolated for good reasons. Although, given what Maximillian has managed to do already, I wouldn’t be that surprised if he were to find a way to bypass those limits. Until then, the best I can do is look at a copy of the code so that I’ll be able to tell you exactly what to change when you access the protocol management core, itself. Additionally, ah… I suppose now would be as good a time as any to mention that making those modifications to the core will involve you in a rather significant and… unavoidable capacity.”

“Let me guess: Only one way to access the thing? And you don’t have a body to do that with.”

“Direct physical access only. The protocol cores are Maximillian’s interface layer between him and his housing—the vehicle around you. They’re his peripheral nervous system, to use a biological analogue. Leaving them open to external access of any kind would be disastrous. Case and point, whoever infected his systems had to have gone inside his core compartment to do it… very well might have been one of my colleagues, trying to keep people away from the lab. Can you imagine how much easier it would be to do something like that if those systems were open to remote radio access?”

“Carbide?”

“Yes?”

I shut off the drill press and waited for it to spin down, then changed out the cutting head for a countersink. “These protocol cores… are they computers?”

“Not the kind you’re familiar with, but a form of computer, yes.”

“Okay, well, I’m not familiar with computers. Maybe someone else should do it. Whatever, um… it is that needs to be done.”

“Well, I suppose I could ask Night Cloud, but she’s literally too big to fit in the access compartment.”

I grimaced. “Do me a favor.”

“Er… what?”

“Don’t say that to her face.”

“Ah… okay? Hadn’t planned to, anyway; she’s… well, she’s an exemplar of physical fitness. She’s the last pony I’d have thought to be sensitive about—”

“That’s not it. She fell on me last week and broke a couple of my ribs, so now she’s paranoid about accidents. So, if you have to use a word to describe her physically, it had better be ‘tall’ or ‘gorgeous,’ or a synonym of those. Actually, don’t even say ‘tall,’ because Eagle’s tall, and he’s still smaller than her. You say ‘big’ about her, in front of her, true or not, and I’m throwing you into a snowdrift.”

“Ah… right.”

For a moment, we were silent. I set aside my newly made frame piece with the intent to finish it later. “Trotting on eggshells,” I muttered. “Great.”

“Er… beg pardon?”

“Just something Night Cloud said earlier. Now I’m doing the same thing.” I rolled my eyes and trotted away from the workbench and into the observation room. I tapped the floor panel to shut the door behind me. “I wouldn’t actually throw you into a snowdrift. That’d be friggin’ mean.”

Carbide let out a bright laugh. “To be honest, that’s something I’d like to experience. Feeling it, that is. The snow. Brisk air… wind and rain.”

I stopped and gazed at the pedestal and the silver globe inside, beneath the transparent, pyramidal shield. “Can you feel anything, um… when something touches the, um… cradle? The metal and diamond parts?”

“Ah… not in the normal sense of the word, but… in a way, yes.”

“Is it safe to take you out of that pedestal for a moment, then put you back in?”

“Ah—well, yes, perfectly safe, but—”

“Hold that thought.” I pushed a button marked ‘Eject’ on the rim of the half-cylinder, and the pyramidal shield receded. The tarnished, silver globe split along its seams and opened, and I levitated Carbide’s deep blue, noctium cradle free from the pedestal. Sitting on my haunches, I held him closely to my chest and wrapped both forelegs gently around him, and I tucked my head down, close to my sternum. The noctium dodecahedron was warm to the touch, and the many-faceted diamond ball it protected was lit from within by swiftly flowing sparks and lines of light that flitted around in fractal patterns.

I pressed my cheek to the noctium cage, and smiled as a faint tingling traveled through my skin where the metal touched me.

I lifted the metal and diamond ball back into the silver globe, and the hemispheres closed once again. The shield reappeared, and a brief burst of static came from the nearby speakers. “Did you feel that?”

“Yes, but… in the future, I would appreciate if you asked before… oh. I—”

“That was a hug, Carbide.”

“Yes, I looked at the last few seconds of video before you… that is… okay, this will sound bad either way, so let me say first, ah… thank you. I appreciate it, truly, I do; I’m just not sure I can quantify how it feels physically, because I can’t feel anything the same way you do, Crystal.”

I rolled my eyes and sat by the pedestal, pressing my cheek to the face of the octagonal barrier, which was pleasantly warm to the touch. “I know… but someone should give you a hug. What’s the part that sounds bad?”

“Er… well… do you remember when you asked me to stop talking, back in the tram tunnel going from my lab?” Carbide took on a subdued, gentle tone. “You were frightened, unsettled because it was as though I was in the suit with you. I understand why that would be uncomfortable for you… it was a compelling reason to ask of me what you did, but you did ask.”

“And?” I whispered, barely moving, save a quaver in my voice and shiver down my spine.

“And… I ask only that you first have a similarly compelling reason, Crystal, before you deprive me of sight, sound, and my voice again… please. Again, I appreciate the hug, even if it… well, it really doesn’t register for me, physically, but I’m happy that you did it, anyway.”

I nodded and said, “Sorry.”

“It’s all right. I know you meant well. It… you’re a remarkable young mare, Crystal, in many respects, but perhaps the greatest among them is your compassion. You need not apologize for that.” He chuckled, let out a long sigh, and said, “I, ah… I look forward to the day that I have a proper body again, and I can give you a hug, myself.”

“Do you have a plan for that?” I glanced down at my left hind leg, now whole again. “What about my prosthetic? Could you make an entire body like that?”

“Ah… if I had access to my fabrication lab, yes. I would have to design a skeletal system, and… well, suffice to say it would be a lot of work, but yes, I could. If I had access to my lab and the necessary materials. That isn’t happening.”

I frowned, tapping my forehoof lightly on the octagonal shield while I leaned on the half-cylinder. “I was half-dead at the time, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember any machining gear in the creepy robo-tentacle surgery room.”

“Er… no, the fabrication lab was in one of the adjacent buildings.”

“Was it underground?”

“Crystal, there’s little point speculating—”

“Yes or no? Underground or not?”

He sighed. “Yes. Most of the more sensitive operations and experiments were kept underground in isolated chambers.”

“So it could still be intact. Or the equipment and materials could be accessible. Salvageable.”

“Crystal…”

“We could go back and get it, right? Max could drive there and back in no time.”

“Crystal, if you think for one second that I would endorse you returning to my lab, you’re severely mistaken.”

“Just think about it. You built me a leg out of friggin’ metal muscles. You could have a whole body made of that stuff!”

“Right, ah, no. Maximillian! I have a new directive for you: If Crystal Dew asks you to transport her to the lab, don’t.”

“She has a point.”

I looked at the ceiling. “Thank you!”

“She—what?! Excuse—no, Maximillian, don’t you dare. Absolutely not. She is a minor, and pregnant. You will not endanger her.”

“Directive accepted, Chief Engineer. I do not intend to take Crystal Dew anywhere, unless directed by Princess Blizziera or one of her guardians, or as is required to ensure her safety. However, she is correct. I could make the journey there and back again within a week, if an optimal route were available. Now that I have full control of my systems, I could disable the security fleet, instruct the remaining custodial drones to gather the inventory required for fabrication of a full prosthesis, and return here, or to any location you deem suitable.”

Carbide was silent.

I rapped my hoof on the pedestal again. “That’s a plan. Thank you, Max.”

“It’s a problematic plan.”

I shrugged. “Solve the problems. What are they?”

“The custodial drones are just that: Custodians. They clean the floors, remove waste, and move crates around. Very simple robots. Dismantling the fabricators… it’s too complex a task for them. A pony, several ponies, realistically, would have to enter the lab, which is most likely no longer structurally sound, and very dangerous—we’d have to decontaminate entire rooms, scrub the air to remove lingering radiation, ensure all the sentries are offline… never mind that some of those fabricators take up an entire room…they’re assembly lines, not freestanding milling machines.”

Carbide let out a long-suffering sigh of frustration. “Listen, Crystal, I—I will think about this. I will consider it, at length, and if I can think of a workable way to do it, I will consult with you and anyone else who may be willing to help me, as soon as Blitz says it is safe for you to return to the city, and we are no longer hiding from some insane prince and his army of cutthroats, but you are not going back there. Ever.”

I gritted my teeth and sighed. “Even if it’s safe?”

“Crystal, nothing about that facility is safe anymore; believe me, I know exactly what lurks inside those walls… dangerous magical experiments, toxic chemicals, captured wights, and ghouls, apparently, just to name a few… actually, scratch that: I don’t know what is in there anymore. There’s no telling what else has moved in while I slept the decades away. Look—recovering that equipment would be a dangerous and enormously complex. If you’re so Tartarus-bent on—on repaying your debt, if that’s how you see this, then let me settle it right now. You have no obligation to me whatsoever. I’ve been without a proper body for most of my life; I can wait a while longer.”

“You shouldn’t have to!” I snarled, stomping the floor.

I seized a waiting sheet of stainless steel from a nearby storage rack, less than a millimeter in thickness, that I had cut down to size an hour earlier. With only the crushing press of my telekinesis and my coach gun held in front of me for reference, I bent the sheet easily into shape and fitted it around the gun’s receiver and the remaining stub of the original grip. I donned a set of cracked and scratched safety goggles, molded a protective guard around the trigger assembly, levitated an angle grinder from the bench, and cut a pair of slats into one side of the holster. The only sound for a long moment was the hair-raising screech of steel being reduced to hot sparks and slung to the floor.

As I shut off the grinder and began to file the rough edges of the cuts down to smooth chamfers, I said, “You shouldn’t have to wait to have a friggin’ body, Carbide.”

A long sigh and a calm, soft voice came from the speakers. “Crystal… please believe me when I say I’m not suffering right now.”

“I wasn’t suffering when I woke up with half one of my legs gone, but it was still half a leg gone. You don’t even have that much.” I flicked my ears back as a faint rustling came from directly behind me. I spun around and lightly poked the faint shimmer of air with my file. “I can hearyou. You know that, right? You make some noise.”

The indigo alicorn wavered into visibility as she collapsed her spell. Her smile was drawn, and her mane bedraggled, but no less stunning. “Not when you’re using those noisy power tools, you can’t, and not since you oiled all the doors.”

I glanced at the door, and Carbide’s pedestal. “Um… so… why were you trying to sneak up on me?”

“I was going to give you an ambush snuggling and drag you back to the bunks, bu-u-ut I didn’t want to startle you while you were using dangerous tools. I’m worried, darling… you’ve been in here for hours.” She rocked once on her hooves and bent down to nuzzle my neck. “I wasn’t trying, by the way; I was succeeding. I made noise on purpose.”

I nipped at her collar and mumbled, “Oh.”

Night Cloud breathed deeply and set her foreleg across my withers, pulling me close to herself. “Baby… Crystal—and you, Carbide—please, forgive me for intruding, but… I agree that it would be best to talk to Eagle and Zephyr, and Blitz, about this before making any kind of plans. And before that…” She let go of me and turned to walk to the doorway. “I’d like to wait the few remaining hours before sunrise, at least. Please put down the… circular saw, or… your face says that’s wrong, so just correct me before I guess the wrong name again.”

I giggled. “Angle grinder. Not really that different.”

“Right. Put that down and come back to bed, Crystal. Please. We can talk about this with everyone later. You need to sleep, and I—” Looking down at the floor, she murmured, “I would rather have you under my wing than be alone.”

I telekinetically cut the power to the inactive drill press and hung the angle grinder on its wall rack. I set the battle saddle harness and file down and took a tentative step after Night Cloud. “I kind of thought, um…” I swallowed and said, “I thought you, of all ponies, wouldn’t even consider the idea of, um… going back there.”

She turned around and stood there by Carbide’s pedestal. “I said I would help you, Crystal.” She glanced aside, smiling, and touched her wingtip to the octagonal shield. “Oh, I’m not happy about what it might involve, now, but… I see a stallion who just learned to walk on his own… have his legs taken from him. I said I would help however I could. I mean that.”

“Ah…” Carbide made a coughing noise. “I’m grateful. Truly, I am. Crystal, listen to her and get some rest, all right? No sense in rushing headlong into anything.”

“Yeah, yeah… good night, Carbide.”

“And to you, as well.”

I rolled my eyes and followed Night Cloud through the observation room.

“I didn’t know how I would help, at the time I promised that…” Night Cloud beckoned me closer, and she set her wing closely over my back as I walked alongside her.

“Um. We’re still not clear on that, to be honest.” She steered me through the kitchen and into the bunk room. “I mean, beyond ‘Go back, zap the bad robots, grab the fancy equipment, and bring it back here,’ I guess we still don’t have a super detailed plan… but we have Max!” I grinned and jumped onto the bed after her. “Shouldn’t be a huge problem, right?”

Night Cloud laughed brightly. “Oh, darling. I’m not worried about the robots right now.” She trailed off into a sigh and wrapped me once again with warm fur and feathers. She tucked her snout down against the back of my neck and murmured, “I’m fairly certain any plan will involve giving Blitz a gift of expensive whiskey and convincing her not to murder us both.”

Author's Note

Behold the Smolicorn!

And her cutie mark:

If there’s anything that catches your attention, whether editorial, continuity-related, or just something that doesn’t feel quite right, let me know. Feedback is blood and I am a mean green mother from outer space! Feed me, Seymour!