Blindsided

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
The End

Prologue

Lazuli always liked to describe her life the way she described her tail. It was twisty, battered from years of terrible experiences, yet it kept on trucking with no intention of stopping any time soon. It was a weird comparison and she acknowledged that, but it made her wife giggle so she couldn’t complain.

Since she was ten years old Lazuli had been living in Equestria. She identified far more as an Equestrian citizen than a citizen of Bellephron, her home land, yet ponies tended to associate her more with the latter. Perhaps fifty years ago she wouldn’t have had much issue with it…but lately it was a bit of a nuisance.

The borders between Equestria and the land of Bellephron had only grown larger in the sixty-five years Lazuli had been alive. It had begun with the assassination of Tempest Diadem, the appointed Duke of Bellephron. At the time, the land had been recognized as Equestrian territory, seized in a war fought centuries before. The Draconies, the native residents of Bellephron had enough of their land being pilfered for its rich stores of gems – and Tempest was the unfortunate stallion who was in charge when they rose up.

The Draconies declared their independence fairly easily. The Princesses at the time hadn’t wanted a war, especially when they had come into conflict so recently with Griffonstone. They allowed the Draconies their independence, but shunned them in virtually every way besides economic. They needed the gems after all, and as Lazuli said, the Princesses are nothing if not hypocrites when it comes to those they deem ‘enemies’. Publicly they denounce them, but behind closed doors they hope to convert them; and failing that, at least obtain whatever riches they have.

Two centuries had passed since their liberation, and being free of their bondage the Draconies rapidly began to expand. Their technology grew as quickly as their borders, engulfing most of the far Western regions of the continent. Zebrica, nestled to the south west of Equestria, was left untouched by both nations as Equestria rose up to expand and match the Draconies’ power. The ponies’ technology advanced slower than their counterpart, though Bellephron kept their discoveries mostly under wraps, and primarily for bettering their society. Equestria, however, built up their military with such advancements, bolstering their forces with airships and powerful weaponry to deter those who might encroach on their borders.

Lazuli Cutter was one of the last Draconies who was allowed through the Equestrian-Bellephronian border with no real trouble. Only a few months after she came to Equestria, they instated harsh new screening and lengthy wait times to discourage Draconies coming to their country-turned-empire. Everything from the frozen north to the edge of the jungles of Zebrica belonged to them, and Draconies were somehow disliked by many ponies in every region. It was no help that after Tempest’s death, the Equestrian media had plastered angry mobs and reactionary Draconies as the norm, and labelled them all as violent usurpers.

Lazuli’s parents had both died in Equestria when she was only fourteen. Both of them were attempting to defend an Equestrian couple from an angry Dracony mob during a particularly violent cultural conflict between the two races of equines and were killed in the process. They did, however, manage to keep the attackers at bay until the guards stopped the violence. The two ponies that they saved were so grateful that they decided to take Lazuli as their own, but the filly was aloof and impossible to reach. She might as well have dropped out of high school on day one, despite still being enrolled until the last day. The only classes she was any good at were Phys. Ed and music, though she had no capacity to sing – not because she couldn’t, but because she barely spoke and when she did, it was mostly one-word responses.

It was in her last few months of high school that Lazuli met Cirrus Refin. In virtually every respect, the two mares should have never got along. Lazuli was an unintelligent, bad student with a horrible attendance record, extreme anti-social behaviour and a penchant for beating up anyone who tried to make fun of her for it. Cirrus was a straight-A student, a bright young mare who, while also anti-social and shy, was still quite friendly and likeable.

Yet it was one day in particular that they met…and the circumstances of that meeting ignited a spark that neither one of them had ever thought they would feel, let alone knew they wanted.

By this point, Lazuli had all but dropped out of high school. Her barely passing grade was only made possible with her scattered attendance allowing her to just barely pick up what information she needed, then regurgitate it onto a paper that she would never look at again. Assignments were nonexistent to her, but she did just the bare minimum to keep her going. Nopony could really blame her for it, either – the teachers would try, oh by the gods they would try, but there was little they could do.

There was a place behind the school that she always liked to come to, though. A quiet, empty place, miles and miles of empty hills and forests that eventually led to a cliff that dipped into the ocean. Lazuli had been told the cliffs were haunted; she wasn’t superstitious, but she avoided them anyway. As much as the idea of jumping off a cliff and never being seen again appealed to her, she didn’t like the dying part.

Her favourite place to come to was the hill just behind the school. Far enough away so she wouldn’t be disturbed, but close enough that she could look out at the building and feel sorry for the poor saps stuck inside.

As the light blue tips of Lazuli’s hooves thumped against the ground, she couldn’t help but find a rhythm in it. Her mind naturally sought out the beat of anything and let her dance along to it – right now there was no dancing, but she still swayed her hips to match her own personal beat. She couldn’t help it, it was just natural for her.

A Dracony going to an Equestrian school was generally rare, at least now. Bellephron had only gotten its independence thirty years ago, so Draconies weren’t exactly seen as great citizens when they were Equestrian. Lazuli couldn’t even blame the ponies for seeing it that way, especially with how her own parents had fit the bill for everything ponies said. Lazy, jobless, afraid of commitment and responsibilities. Those were her folks – or at least, all she knew about them. She didn’t like to talk about them – just as much as she didn’t like to share her last name because of them. In the back of her mind she hoped there was some reason they had just left her. Right now, she lived with a unicorn mare and her unicorn husband in their average-but-just-bad-enough-to-cost-less-rent apartment.

With a small snort, she used her spaded tail to brush her two-toned blue mane out of her eyes, reaching the top of the hill and sitting down by the tree that sat at the top. For all four years of her high school career, this tree had been there, even when the seniors of her junior year had tried to light it on fire. Baltimare’s high schools were not the best.

Still, there was a tranquility that came over her as soon as she sat down. The weight of the world shifted off her shoulders and was absorbed by the tree she leaned against, or at least, it bore the weight of it for her. She liked to think the tree was a better comfort than her family.

Shifting through her bag with her tail, she pulled out a pair of earbuds and stuck them into her ears. After tapping the button on the side of one of them, she was met with the calm, flowing tones of piano and other instruments working in tandem to create a melody that blended perfectly with the serene nature of the scene in front of her. Far off in the horizon she saw the ocean, below her she saw flowing fields of grass, and the wind whistling through her mane brought the occasional leaf from the impending fall.

This was where she felt safe. At peace. Tranquil, though she had already used that word. She felt like she could sit here for hours and wait until the sun began to set to go home – and that was exactly what she did, every single day. She always waited until the latest time she could to head back to her apartment, and that was usually when the neighbourhood drunks showed up for this spot. They knew her, but she just didn’t want to be around them.

Silence was her friend, but music was family. She couldn’t make any herself. She knew she could probably take a course in music and maybe make something nice for herself, but she just didn’t have the drive.

As Lazuli stared off into the horizon, the quietness of her music let her hear she shuffling of grass behind her. Great, she thought to herself. Now I don’t even get peace and quiet. She turned her head, expecting to see a group of ponies her age planning to hang out – but instead, as she peeked around the trunk of the tree, she saw another Dracony leaning against it with her back to Lazuli.

Well, it was a pleasant surprise at least. Lazuli didn’t feel very sociable, though, so she just turned back around and continued to stare and let her mind wander.

Though, it was hard to do that when the sound of crying began to filter through. Despite her inhibitions, she turned back around and shifted around the tree to see her.

The mare was beautiful. Her fur was pure white like Lazuli’s, her mane a pretty combination of light, shimmering green and white. Looks kind of like toothpaste, Lazuli thought to herself. Still, something was obviously wrong. The mare was hunched over, hugging her knees against her chest with her head resting on her hind legs, sobbing quite audibly.

Removing her earbuds from her ears, Lazuli scooted up. She didn’t know why – she had no idea how to comfort somepony, but she couldn’t just sit here while a pony cried. Clearing her throat, she simply said, “Uh…hey.”

The mare squeaked, a small noise that was closer to a bird chirping than anything else. Her head shot up, eyes wide – the bright green orbs immediately locked onto Lazuli, and the unnamed Dracony slowly swallowed. “…O-oh, uh…hi.” She muttered, letting her longer mane drape over one eye.

“You okay? You were uh…crying.” Lazuli nervously cringed. Of course she was crying, idiot. She knows that.

“U-um…yeah, sorry, I was…I didn’t know…that someone would be up here…”

“I’m always up here.” Lazuli cracked a small smile, shifting up and sitting down next to her. “Uh…what’s your name? If you don’t mind me asking. I haven’t seen you around.”

“Cirrus.” She replied. “Cirrus Refin…”

“That’s, uh…that’s a really nice name!” Lazuli said shakily. It was a really nice name, she was just bad at talking to ponies, despite how confident she came across as normally. “I’m Lazuli. Lazuli-…uh…” She paused, nibbling on her hoof. “Cutter.”

“…Cutter?” Cirrus looked up, brushing her mane from her eyes. Her cheeks were stained with tears.

A mare this pretty shouldn’t be crying…Lazuli thought to herself, then shook her head to clear her mind. “Uh, yeah…Cutter.” She frowned, lowering her head and letting her ears flop. “Yeah yeah, lay it on me…”

“Um…lay what on you?” Cirrus titled her head to the side.

“I- uh…” Lazuli cleared her throat. “Sorry…I’m just used to ponies making fun of me, cuz uh…”

“Oh, you’re- wait, that Cutter?”

“…Yeah, that one.”

“The one who defended the Equestrians from the angry mob back in-“

“Yes, that one.” Lazuli’s nostrils flared. “You don’t need to remind me.”

“…I mean, for what it’s worth, I’m not gonna make fun of you for it…I think it’s kinda cool to meet the daughter of someone uh…infamous, you know?”

“I guess.” Lazuli shrugged. “But, uh…anyway, what’s wrong? You were crying.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Cirrus scuffed her hoof against the dirt, kicking away a rock.

“Didn’t seem like nothing.”

Cirrus flicked her mane over her face again. “I…it’s just some stupid stuff. Parents being…um…not there…”

“…Not there?” Lazuli frowned. “Oh. I mean…uh…” She tried to find a way to speak without saying something about her not having parents either. “My parents aren’t really around either.” Fuck you, brain.

“I- uh, I know…” Cirrus swallowed. “I just…I lived with my mom until yesterday, but she, uh…s-she…” The mare sighed and shook her head, swallowing again to keep down the lump in her throat. “She died.”

Lazuli’s ears went flat against her head, eyes widening a bit. “Oh, uh, shit- I mean, I jus- I…I’m sorry.” She wildly glanced from side to side, now unsure of what to do.

“Y-yeah, she um…” Cirrus pursed her lips. “She meant a lot…to me. But we uh…we couldn’t…afford the bills for her medicine, so she uh…” Cirrus bit back tears, clenching her eyes shut. Despite her efforts, tiny droplets slowly made their way down her cheeks. “O-oh Divines, I’m a wreck…”

Lazuli, without any other real idea of what to do, slowly wrapped one of her wings around Cirrus’ back. “Hey, it’s fine.” She said a bit more confidently. “You’re- you’re dealing with something, you deserve to be able to cry.”

Cirrus sniffled, turning her head and rubbing her eyes with one hoof as she met Lazuli’s eyes. She didn’t say anything about Lazuli’s wing – if anything, she leaned in a bit closer. “I…I really miss her…already…”

“Of course you do.” Lazuli pulled Cirrus closer, fighting back the urge to start tearing up herself. “You um…y-you loved your…mom…and she loved you back, right?”

“Yeah…a lot…” Cirrus nodded solemnly.

Lazuli hadn’t meant to fall silent, but she found herself having to while she swallowed down her instinct to start getting emotional herself. She tended to keep her emotions bottled up, so when something hit her, it really hit her. After about two minutes of deep breaths and silence, though, Cirrus spoke.

“Thank you.” She said quietly, her head resting against Lazuli’s shoulder.

“You’re we- wait, um…thank me for what?”

“For checking on me.” Cirrus sniffled. “I…I’ll be honest, I was…planning to walk down to the cliffs and…” She trailed off, gritting her teeth and pulling herself tighter to Lazuli. “I know, i-it’s the coward’s thing to do, but…I just…can’t.”

“Hey.” Lazuli slowly turned her whole body to face Cirrus, using her tail to slide her closer. “I’m not great with…showing it, but I miss my parents too.” She managed a small smile. “But I got through it by just…ignoring it, and I don’t think that’s been good for me. It’s- it’s good to express your emotions…just not uh, that way.” She smiled just a little wider. “And honestly…I’d sit here for hours if you wanted to talk about it.”

Cirrus blinked in confusion, scrunching her muzzle a bit. “…Hours? Why would you spend hours sitting here listening to me crying?”

“I’m always here till sundown anyway.” Lazuli admitted. “Plus…I don’t get the chance to help ponies very often. Especially Draconies.” She slowly slipped her tail underneath Cirrus’s, intertwining them tightly together. “Need to stick together, you know?”

“…I…I guess.” Cirrus slowly leaned forward, wrapping her forelegs tightly around Lazuli. “Th-thank you. You have no idea how much this means…”

“I’ve got a pretty good idea.” Lazuli said softly, hugging Cirrus back.

The two teenaged Draconies did end up sitting there until sundown. They talked about everything they could – their families, their dreams, their ambitions. Cirrus poured her heart out to Lazuli and Lazuli returned with her own. By the end of the day, both of them had cried, laughed, even sang a bit when Lazuli started playing music.

And by the time they left to go their separate ways, Lazuli came to a realization. Cirrus would need someone to lean on – someone to support her, especially if she was going to be living without parents, presumably in foster care.

Their relationship should never have lasted past high school. Lazuli planned to join the Equestrian military after school, since she certainly didn’t have the education for anything more. It had come up before in their conversations, and Cirrus had always supported the idea…but Lazuli had never expected her to join alongside her. Unfortunately, Cirrus couldn’t pass the physical test; she had never been the athletic type, and Lazuli was far more suited for it. By this point the two of them were only 19, but there was an opportunity that let them work at least somewhat closely.

Lazuli joined the armed forces. Cirrus, however, remained in Baltimare and worked at the local military base as a clerk and assistant to one of the lieutenants. It meant that they still saw each other often when Lazuli wasn’t in training, and it had the added benefit of allowing them to be a proper couple without it breaking military guidelines.

But neither one of them was properly prepared for Lazuli’s first combat deployment. It was the second major conflict with Griffonstone in the past few centuries, a war that lasted for nearly two years. Lazuli actively fought in it for only three months. She fought valiantly, in fact; a master with a tail blade, she wielded it like a fiend on the battlefield, as her comrades would say, but the war took a toll on her, physically and mentally.

Her first major injury was during a battle in a ruined village in the wilds of Griffonstone. She made the mistake of chasing after a wounded griffon and was ambushed by two others. Her flexibility made it possible to escape, but not before their claws tore through her right cheek and left gashes so deep that the scars were still visible through her fur. They also sliced through the flesh of one of her hind legs, wounding her severely and making her nearly bleed out before the reached relative safety.

From there she only broke down even worse. Eventually she found herself a huddled mess in the corner of a ruined building, hearing the clattering of blades and the crackle of gunfire outside and being too afraid to go out and fight. She received a medal for the rescue of two of her comrades when they were retreating – but she knew she didn’t deserve it. She had deserted, for all intents and purposes.

It took her a long time to get over the trauma of battle. Many nights she shot awake thinking she was in a warzone again, and once or twice she nearly killed somepony when a loud noise set her off. She had her long lifespan to thank for her recovery. It took nearly thirty years for the psychiatrists to clear her for duty again, but even then, they recommended active combat zones were not the best idea for her.

After her recovery, though, Lazuli became more reclusive once more. She was still reasonably open with Cirrus, but with others she was brunt and to the point, only wanting to get her job done. Her coldness and willingness to work was what eventually landed her a spot in the special operations division of the military.

This story begins years after she took on her new role as a tactical espionage specialist.

Chapter 1

“You know, Lazuli, they say you have to run sometimes before you can walk.”

“Well given I already know how to walk,” Lazuli said, stretching out her wings and ruffling her bright blue mane as she got into a position ready to take off. “I think I’m perfectly fine with running.”

“I meant that you should really take it slow with this one…” The voice speaking directly into her ear said, obviously a stallion and rather annoyed with her. “You can’t just fly in and take them out, it’d be suicide.”

“I calculated it.” Lazuli assured him. “In exactly two minutes he’ll be walking out from the building and crossing into the airship.”

“Which is bulletproof.” Her commanding officer warned.

“Buuut the air between the ship and the building isn’t. He has to walk twenty feet to get to the pad.”

“Lazuli, that-“ There was a moment of silence, then a resigned sigh. “Don’t get yourself killed. I’ll trust your judgement because I can’t see what you’re seeing, but you’d better know what you’re doing.”

Lazuli’s tail reached up to the side of her head and clicked off the earpiece embedded in her ear. She shifted, making sure her black combat suit was properly fitted around her legs before she ran forward, flapped her wings a few times and took off into the air.

As she leapt over the edge of the rock formation she had been standing on, the compound she had been observing came into view below. A blemish in the middle of the forest, cleared completely of any plantlife and covered in concrete and metal with no sign of the natural world allowed in past the tall electrified fences. She was just glad that her suit made her almost undetectable to any magical sensors, which were still used instead of the more recently developed electric variety that searched for body heat rather than innate bodily energy.

Lazuli’s bright blue wings made it quite easy to spot her normally, so she made sure to cover them with black membranes whenever she was working. The only real exposed part of her was her head, but it wasn’t visible from below, and at night she was virtually invisible as it was.

She had neglected to tell her superior that she had no intention of using a gun, as she only ever carried a small sidearm that she could clip to her tail to fire. Her only main weapon was the sharp blade that attached to the spaded tip of her tail, allowing her to fight with her strongest appendage in a way that most ponies didn’t know a proper counter to. She wasn’t planning to ambush her target on the walkway either – the airship wouldn’t get very far, she thought to herself.

Lazuli gently alighted on one of the taller buildings near the airship’s pad, her mane gently bristling in the cool night breeze. It made sense that an arms dealer would leave at night – less chance of ponies trying to do exactly what Lazuli planned to in less than a minute.

Her eyes stared, unwavering, at the door to the right side of the walkway that led across to the airship. As the door began to open, she started moving.

She knew that she couldn’t make a mistake. Dropping from the building, she spread her wings out and soared over to the airship itself, flaring her wings out to the sides to slow herself down before latching to the back of the vehicle. Her hooves briefly lost purchase, before a low hum from her suit had them thunk back into place. With the magnets holding her front hooves to the ship, she allowed herself to relax slightly. All of this had taken place so quickly that her target had yet to make it halfway across the walkway, accompanied on both sides by large stallions that Lazuli couldn’t properly make out under their heavy armour. She also couldn’t see the target, but she knew he was there.

With a gentle wiggle to adjust her hind legs, she took a deep breath, hearing the airship’s doors hiss open and then shut a few seconds later. The force of the ship lurching off of the landing pad nearly dislodged her, but the magnetic hold managed to keep her stuck to it. If anyone saw her hanging from the back of the ship, they didn’t trigger any alarms, and she was fine with that.

Once it had gotten far enough from the compound that she was confident she could move around, she started to climb up to the side door. Using her magnetic suit implants to climb was dangerous, she knew, since every time she moved a hoof she had to disengage that magnet to re-attach it in a new spot. Her hind legs lacked the same implants, so she had to use her tail – fitted with a weak magnetic implant that let her pick things up – to shimmy along the outside of the ascending craft. Once she reached the door, she swung herself to the side so she was dangling underneath it, then reached up with her tail and pulled it open it took a fair bit of effort, essentially having to wedge her tail into the space between the door and the fuselage to pry it open.

When the door swung open, the guards sitting in the ship were immediately alerted. One of them shimmied to the edge and peered over to see what caused it to open, and Lazuli made her move from there. Swinging her whole body backwards, her hind legs wrapped around the stallion’s neck and yanked him out of the ship, plummeting about two hundred feet to the forest floor below. He must not have been a Pegasus, or if he was, he was really bad at flying. She used the follow-up momentum to swing herself completely into the ship, landing on all fours and brandishing her tail above her head much like a scorpion.

Her target was plain to see – the weakest of the stallions sitting in the seats for sure, wearing a tacky beige suit and surrounded by bodyguards. His fur was deep blue, his mane a bright silvery colour with piercing blue eyes that, at the moment, looked terrified. One of the guards took a swing at Lazuli with a sword held in his magical grip, and all she needed to do was duck to the side and underneath him. Being shorter, she brought her entire body under him, working her head up into his stomach and throwing him backwards, out of the airship like the previous one.

The suited unicorn moved as far to the back of the ship as he could. Lazuli moved forward quickly, ducking under a hoof aimed at her head from another guard. The enclosed space made it very difficult for the stallions to hit her without hitting each other, which only worked to her advantage. She dodged to the side as another one tried to stab at her with a blade, her own tail turning his sword to the side and stabbing straight through his armour, into his chest. Not bothering to check if he was dead, she pulled her tail out and whipped a hind leg behind her, catching another guard in the stomach as he reared up on his hind legs to bring both forelegs down on her. He crumpled, tumbling to the floor as the whole ship lurched from the amount of movement in the back.

Another attempt at an attack came from a Pegasus in the corner, swinging at her with a blade clipped into his wing. She narrowly avoided it slicing through her cheek, skimming the fur and hair on her head before she grabbed his wing in her teeth and ripped the blade off. The stallion tried to lash out with a hind leg, but she ducked beneath it and rammed her head between his legs – that made him fall like a sack of potatoes immediately, and finished off the guards in rather quick order.

With the guards dead, dying or incapacitated, Lazuli stepped over the crumpled one and stopped in front of her target, brandishing a pistol at her with his magic.

“T-“ The stallion swallowed, his pupils the size of pinpricks as he held the weapon in front of him. “Take one more f-fucking step and I’ll kill you.”

“Try it.” Lazuli growled. Her voice was gruff, not by choice but by happenstance. She liked to think it added to her intimidation factor, but it didn’t really matter here. “The ship’s moving, you’re shaking. You’ll miss and I’ll kill you with a lot more mess than I was planning.”

Still he didn’t listen to her. She heard the click of the hammer being pulled back only milliseconds before the trigger was pulled, a loud BANG nearly deafening them both in the confined space. The bullet ricocheted off a wall behind her and buried itself in the floor harmlessly, but Lazuli was on him before either one could figure out where it went. She tackled him to the ground, grabbing the gun from him and throwing it out of the ship before sinking the sharpened blade of her tail into his chest.

“G-…gg…nngh…” He struggled to breathe, let alone speak, clutching desperately at the powerful tail pushing the weapon into him. She said nothing, her eyes locked onto his as the life slowly drained from his eyes and blood seeped out of the wound around her tail. With a sickly crunch she wrenched her blade to the side, causing more internal damage to make death as quick as possible before yanking her tail back, dripping with blood.

She reached up with her hoof to tap the earpiece at the side of her head, breathing heavily. “Steel, it’s done. Heading back now.”

“You did it?” Her commander paused, then grumbled slightly. “Alright, good. Get out of there and report in.”

Lazuli walked back to the still open door, spreading her wings and peering outside. The airship was hovering, no longer moving forward as the pilot presumably was about to come back to investigate. Briefly she considered taking him out too – but she only had one target. The guards had just been in the way. She didn’t need to kill another pony who wasn’t a threat to her. She shrugged, and dove out the door into the night sky.

The flight from the Equestrian east was long and uneventful. Flying all the way from the areas near Baltimare to Canterlot was difficult even for a physically fit mare like Lazuli, but as she arrived at the sprawling Equestrian capital she couldn’t help but feel reinvigorated. The city had become more friendly to the average citizen as of late; still frou-frou, for sure, but more affordable. It had even gained a substantial farmer population, though farming space was limited on top of a mountain of course. Lazuli herself even lived in the suburban district, despite not being an extremely rich mare from her work with the military.

As usual, she had to radio in to remind the base not to shoot her when she approached. A Pegasus, of course, would never have to do such a thing, but Draconies were essentially considered enemy combatants in every way except officially. Technically the two nations weren’t in active conflict, but a Dracony flying to Canterlot without proper warning was seen as aggression in any other context.

Lazuli knew she had to head to the base before she could go anywhere else, but it was all normal protocol for her. Land at the airfield, walk through the airlock to have her suit removed and her body cleaned of blood and any other substances that might have contained diseases or poisons, then exit the decontamination room to get to debriefing. This, too, was simply a routine. She met with her commander, Steel Resolve – a hulking Pegasus that was large in all three senses – he was as tall as a draft horse, bulky as one too, covered in grey fur with a bright silver mane and tail. His mane was a flat-top, buzzed to a certain length every week to maintain his look. It was clear that the lack of actual combat in recent years had added substantially to his weight; there was a reason he refused to wear his armour anymore.

The meeting was quick to start, since she had little to say. As she stepped into the debriefing room, Steel stood up from his chair – which groaned almost in relief at his unreasonable size being lifted from it – to greet her. “Glad to see you made it back safe, Lazuli.” He said, his voice deep and confident.

“Thanks, Steel.” She smiled softly, sitting down in the chair across from him while he returned to his.

“So I was reviewing the audio recorded through your headset and it’s pretty clear you killed the right guy…just to be sure though, did you bring the necklace?”

“Yeah. Handed it to the mares in forensics before I stepped into the chamber.”

“Good.” Steel leaned back in his chair, one hoof draped over the back. Lazuli had to admit that the sight of his stomach so large, so different from the chiseled form she recalled on the battlefield, was almost alien to her. “Now…about your next mission…”

“You promised, remember?”

“I know, I know.” Steel nodded slowly. “And you’ll get it, don’t worry. Your next one isn’t for two weeks, like we agreed. It’s not healthy to have you going out every day anyway.” He reached over to the table between them and picked up a clipboard, one that looked almost comically small in his large hooves. “But…I should warn you this one might be a bit different from the usual.”

“That’s what you said two weeks ago.” Lazuli kicked one hind leg over the other, sitting back in her own chair. “But I’d appreciate if you actually told me something about this one instead of springing it on my for the first time in the first briefing a day before the mission starts.”

“…Right.” Steel snorted, though the annoyed gesture did very little to intimidate Lazuli. “You’re going to head into a warehouse in Manehatten and take a look around inside. We’d prefer if you don’t cause too much ruckus – we believe this is the staging area for a new organization led by an unknown entity.”

“So intel gathering, right?”

“Just about. I don’t expect you to do much besides taking a look and seeing what’s happening in there. We’re not sure exactly what this group’s about, or what they’re even called, we’ve just received word from the Manehatten PD and they’re worried it might be bigger than just a local gang.”

“…And they need the federal intelligence agencies to handle this?”

“We think it’s best if we take a look.”

“That doesn’t really make sense, Steel.”

“The Manehatten PD thinks the benefactor for this…organization might be paying off some of their cops. They need an impartial group to go in.”

“If they’re being paid off, how can we trust them telling us to go in?”

“I didn’t say I trust them completely, but I have my orders.”

“Alright…” Lazuli glanced over her shoulder, then sighed. “This doesn’t seem like something that can wait two weeks. Why don’t you skip to the part where you ask me to do it sooner?”

“I wasn’t-“ Steel clenched his jaw, then crossed his forelegs. “Alright. Fine. When I got this assignment I’d already promised to give you two weeks of rest.” He paused, then raised his voice a bit. “I honestly don’t understand what you plan to do. Cirrus still has to work, you know. She doesn’t have the same circumstance as you, and you and I both know you only really need a few days.”

“Maybe she and I want to spend some time together after work.” Lazuli snorted. “And I can’t do that if I’m off in Manehatten scoping out some gang den.”

“Don’t put it off like that, it’s more important than a gang’s hideout.”

“So you know more about it then.”

“…” Steel paused in a position with his hoof raised as if he was preparing to speak, then petered out a bit. “Alright…fine, we know a bit more than that. Ponies around the warehouse were seen with cybernetic limbs.”

“Cybernetics?” Lazuli blinked, then tilted her head. “Those are only really any use with the military versons, though. Civilians don’t have that kind of tech yet.”

“That’s what I said, but according to eye witnesses these limbs functioned just like regular ones. We’re worried they might be illegally experimenting in there – possibly even on ponies.”

“Right…and you planned not to tell me this?”

“I was going to tell you when the mission started.”

“You mean like I just told you not to keep doing.”

“…Yes.” Steel grunted.

“Commander, respectfully, you can be a dickwad sometimes.” She pushed her chair back, standing up and looking the much taller stallion in the eye. “I’ll do the mission in two days instead of two weeks. I plan to spend tonight with my wife, thank you very much.”

“Reasonable.” Steel said, though he didn’t sound happy about it. “You know, if the two of us hadn’t fought together-“

“I wouldn’t get away with this, I know. But I’m pretty sure if you didn’t know me this well you wouldn’t be hiding information from me about my missions.”

Steel didn’t have a response to that. “You’re dismissed.” He said finally, standing up to his full height – on which Lazuli only reached his chest – and followed her out of the room. They both went opposite directions down the hallway.

Chapter 2

Upon leaving the base, Lazuli had been sure to pick up her suit. Despite what her superiors might try to argue, the suit belonged to her. Cirrus had made it for her, woven with diamonds in the fabric to make it more durable – a Dracony technique that Equestrians desperately wished they could learn, she knew – and the only modifications that had been made to it were the magnets and noise suppression in her hooves.

Most military personnel lived in close proximity to the base, or directly near it, and Lazuli was no exception. Since both she and her wife lived together and both worked for the military, it only made sense to be close to their workplace. Lazuli only needed to walk for about five minutes to reach their house.

It was nothing special. Two floors, two bedrooms and a guest room, a living room, kitchen and two bathrooms. They couldn’t afford much more, and even if they could, it would have been a waste for two mares.

With a flick of her tail she pulled her key out from the pocket of her suit, letting the magnet in her tail hold it firmly enough that she could fit it into the lock and turn it before pushing open the door and returning it to her pocket. The lights were dim, mostly off, allowing for the natural sunlight to filter through the windows and light up the living room. In a chair near the window, Lazuli saw a beautiful sight – Cirrus Refin, her brilliant white fur and green mane shimmering in the bright light, gently flipping through a book while her eyes danced across the pages.

At the sound of the door closing, Cirrus looked up from her book and almost immediately her expression went from neutral to ecstatic. She hopped out of her chair, happily trotting over to Lazuli and planted a firm kiss right on the other Dracony’s lips, making an adorable squealing noise that had Lazuli’s tail wrapping around her lover’s right away.

“Lazuli!” Cirrus said quickly, pecking her on the cheek again. “About time you came back, silly!”

“Sorry.” Lazuli smiled in a slightly shaky way, returning the kiss by nuzzling up to Cirrus’ neck. “Took a bit longer to fly there than I thought.” She said, though truthfully it had taken much longer to scope out the facility. “You been okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be, silly? I’m fiiine.” Cirrus started to walk in a circle around Lazuli, closely inspecting her. “You’re not hurt, right? No shots, no claws?”

“Come on, Cirrus. If I were hurt you’d be the first to know.”

“Mmm, but not ‘cuz you told me.” Cirrus playfully stuck her tongue out, then wrapped her forelegs around Lazuli in a tight hug. “But enough work stuff! You and I have a dinner reservation!”

“Yea- wait, we…do?”

“Yep! Steel told me you were coming home soon, so I set one up! That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Well- no, just…surprised you wanted to do it so soon.”

“Well I’m not gonna kid myself, Laz. I know you’re probably going out on another trip soon anyway.”

“Ah, so…you already figured that out…” Lazuli sheepishly rubbed at the back of her head.

“It’s how it always goes, right? Give you time off then cut it short because something big happened? I swear, it’s like you live in a spy movie.”

Lazuli cracked a proper smirk at that, snickering a bit. “Well if we’re going out I need to get dressed.”

“Yeah you do, our reservations in an hour and a half!” Cirrus gave Lazuli a playful tap on the cheek with her tail. “And we’ll talk all about work when we get there, mmkay?”

“Mmkay.” Lazuli gently kissed Cirrus’s tail before heading upstairs to put away her suit and change into something more comfortable for a dinner date.

Dinner, for the most part, was uneventful, but at the same time they both needed it. Time like this was rare for the two of them, not because they didn’t have the time to go out, but because Lazuli was usually too exhausted. It was nice to be able to go and enjoy a night out together, for once.

It was 8:30 when they left the restaurant. The moon had risen in the sky, a sight that Cirrus always liked to take a moment or two to admire. Lazuli had no such appreciation for the celestial objects that watched over them – she had very little appreciation for the princesses themselves, in fact, but it was irrelevant since they had little to no bearing on her. They were figureheads at this point. The government was run by the Prime Minister, a change that had come into effect about twenty years ago. The princesses retained some control of lawmaking, but not much else. Not that they did much before that, Lazuli thought to herself.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Cirrus said, breaking the silence that Lazuli hadn’t realized was forming.

“The moon?” Lazuli looked up, then frowned. “It’s…fine, I guess.”

“Oh come on, just because you didn’t make it doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty.” Cirrus wrapped a hoof around Lazuli’s shoulder as she trotted alongside her. “Right?”

“Hrmph.” Lazuli grumbled.

Cirrus tilted her head. “Something wrong? You were all smiles at dinner.”

“Just…you know I’m not great with talking.”

“You were talking just fine back there.”

“That’s because you kept bringing up conversation things…the moon, I can’t talk about the moon.”

“Well why not? It’s pretty cool you know. Imagine being in charge of moving that thing, it’s crazy!”

“Yeah…” Lazuli glanced at Cirrus, then folded her ears back and sighed.

“Okay, something’s wrong. Pull over.” Cirrus nudged Laz with her head, making her walk over to the side of the walkway and met her eyes with a frown. “Talk to me, Laz.”

“Fine. You want to know what I’m worried about?” Lazuli winced at the stern expression Cirrus gave her, looking over her shoulder and then back to her. “I’m worried about you. About us. I’m worried I’m…not trying hard enough to keep you around.”

“…What?” Cirrus blinked a few times in visible confusion. “The heck are you talking about?”

“I’m away just about as much as I’m here, doesn’t that…bother you?”

“I…well…it kinda sucks when you aren’t around, but it’s not like I hate you for it, Laz.” Cirrus smiled. “I’m not gonna run away because you keep going out to help keep Equestria safe and whatnot.”

“Well it-“ Lazuli bit her lip, and her tongue.

“You’re looking for reasons to be angry, Laz. You’re too good at brooding.” Cirrus gently tapped her on the nose with her tail. “Don’t be a sourpuss, mmkay? You do your job, I won’t be angry.”

“…Sorry.” Lazuli leaned in and wrapped her hooves around Cirrus, hugging her tightly. The two of them shared an embrace for a moment before trotting off down the street to return home.

“Lazuli?” A cacophony of jumbled voices bounced around Lazuli’s head, the Dracony putting both hooves to her ears to try and blot them out. “Lazuli, are you there?”

“Just leave me alone…” Lazuli’s voice growled out, her eyes clenched as tightly shut as she could manage.

“You left us alone, Lazuli. We won’t make the same mistake.” The voices crowed, tones that were so familiar yet enough to tear her ears open if she hadn’t been covering them.

“I…I didn’t- I didn’t leave you…I-I was…”

“A weakling?” The voices separated now, speaking one at a time.

“Foolish?”

“Naïve?”

“Poor?”

“A coward?”

Lazuli clutched her head as tightly as she could, scooting back up against the stark-white wall and wedging herself in the corner. “I-I’m not…I’m not a…c-cow…coward…”

“Poor, poor Lazuli…” Another voice chortled. “Nothing but a filly, even all these years later.”

“What a sorry excuse for a mare.”

“She’s hardly worth calling a mare.”

“Failure would be more accurate.”

Lazuli could only curl up in a tight ball with her head between her hind legs, rocking back and forth and sobbing into her knees.

“I’m pretty sure a filly is far better than her.”

“A filly would at least try to do something.”

“Sh-sh…shut up…” Lazuli murmured into her fur, sniffling and wrapping her tail around herself.

And just like that, the voices stopped. Lazuli immediately regretted her demand – the silence was deafening, truly, to the point that Lazuli’s ears rang from the lack of noise. As she looked up, the room was nothing but white – she could scarcely see where the walls began and where they ended, and her eyes strained just at the thought. It was then that she realized she was seeing nothing, rather, there was nothing to be seen. Her body touched no surfaces except her own fur.

“This is what your parents see, Lazuli.” A single voice whispered. “Nothing. They weren’t even buried in a nice casket, remember? Tossed in a hole and buried like garbage.”

“I-it- it’s not my fault,” Lazuli whispered.

“Oh no, of course it isn’t…just like all of those ponies you killed. Your comrades, too…the ones you abandoned. They weren’t your fault.”

“I-I was- I was following-“

“Orders, of course of course…I don’t remember you being ordered to cower in that house while your fellow soldiers were slaughtered, but I suppose you had your own orders. It’s funny, isn’t it? You’re revered for the ponies you’ve killed…but do you even know how many deserved it? Or are you just a sheep, following what that fat slob tells you?”

“I…I don’t…I…” Lazuli swallowed, but there was no moisture in her mouth.

“No no, of course you don’t. It doesn’t bother you that every day, Draconies defame you, you know…the ones that know you, that is. You like to keep that ugly mug of yours hidden…Unfair, isn’t it? If your parents were still alive, they would be shunned…” The voice was suddenly in Lazuli’s ear, whispering. “…But you killed them, so they don’t have to worry.”

“I-I did NOT!” Lazuli roared, her tail lashing out to her side, but it only swung at thin air. Her breathing quickened, her heart racing as she began to gallop, hooves feeling like they were prancing along clouds as she dashed in a direction that was no more discernable than the others. She galloped and galloped, but the voices followed.

“You were a coward!”

“A fool!”

“You let them go, you didn’t even try to help!”

“I-I was a foal, I was a FOAL!” Lazuli howled, tears pouring down her cheeks as she ran faster and faster, her legs aching.

“A foal with no talent!”

“No future.”

“A foal who threw away the only ponies who ever loved her, just because she couldn’t be a mare and fight!”

“S-stop it!” Lazuli sobbed.

“You left us!” The image of a white Dracony with a deep emerald mane appeared beside her, galloping along with her. Lazuli kept running, but the apparition began to move closer.

“I-I didn’t know what to do!”

“You let them take us! You let them!”

“I-I couldn’t d-do anything else!”

“I loved you!”

“I…I still love you!” Lazuli suddenly skidded to a halt, her breaths heavy and her pupils dilated. “I-…I still…”

A hoof raised up to her mouth, shushing her. In the back of her mind, something told her this wasn’t real – but the chance to feel her mother’s touch again was one she couldn’t run away from. Tears till poured from her eyes, her expression that of a teenaged filly who couldn’t handle rebelling against her parents anymore. “M-mom, I…I want to come back…please…”

“Oh sweetie, I know you do…” Emerald Cutter tenderly wrapped her forelegs around her daughter, resting her head on Lazuli’s shoulder.

“I-I’m sorry…I didn’t…I-I never meant to…”

“I know, sweetie.” Emerald smiled warmly. “But you did anyway…”

“Wh-what?”

“You’re not coming back.” Emerald’s voice was immediately a jumbled mess again. Lazuli staggered backwards as her mother’s hooves collided with her chest, sending her back towards nothingness…

And then she tipped over the edge. She fell off of a cliff that was never there, into an endless void that didn’t exist. Her mother simply stared coldly down as Lazuli fell, and fell, and fell, her screams growing fainter by the second.

“Lazuli.”

“…Laz?”

“Lazuli!”

Lazuli’s eyes shot open, her hooves grasping violently at the covers on either side of her and her breaths running at a mile a minute. She inhaled and exhaled, her slitted pupils thin and focused entirely on the ceiling above her.

“Woah there, tiger.” Cirrus said, off to the side. She gently placed a hoof on top of Lazuli’s tail, which was raised up in a striking position. “Calm down. You’re fine, honey.”

“F-f…” Lazuli wheezed, finally letting the tightness in her chest go and letting her breaths slow down. “Gods above…what…” She began to sat up, but Cirrus put a hoof on her chest and gently pushed her back down.

“Hey. Calm down. Don’t go moving around so quickly, you nearly fell off the bed.” Cirrus pulled her to the side a bit so she wasn’t so close to the edge, then helped her sit up. “Bad dream again?”

“Really bad…” Lazuli grunted, her shock wearing off and giving way to cynicism. “I wake you up?”

“It’s 9 AM, Laz. I was about to leave for work, I just figured you needed the rest…”

Already, the memory of her dream was starting to fade. “I should go too.”

“What? I thought you said that new thing didn’t start until tomorrow?”

“It doesn’t.” Lazuli pulled herself out of the bed, looking at herself in the mirror across from it. “I just don’t want to be here doing nothing.”

“Oh…well uh…I don’t wanna be late, so I have to go.” Cirrus hopped onto the bed to cross it, dropping next to Lazuli and kissing her firmly on the lips. “You have a good day, okay sweetie? We can talk later.”

“Yeah…thanks Cirrus.” Lazuli returned the kiss, watching as her wife trotted out the bedroom door and headed downstairs.

Then she was alone. Lazuli went from standing next to the bed to sitting on it, staring aimlessly at her own reflection and scowling at the view of the three claw marks crossing her left jaw. Though most ponies saw them as battle scars to be admired, she could only see them as marks of failure – not because she had been attacked and run away, but because these were the only injuries that stuck with her. She had seen ponies lose their limbs, organs…even their lives, and she got away with some chicken scratches to her face.

With an angry growl, she stood back up and dragged her suit out of her closet. Unzipping the back, she stepped into the four leg holes, then used her tail to pull it up her body and zip it all the way up to the back of her neck. Once she had wiggled around a bit to make it properly rest on her body, she slipped her pistol out of the bedside table, then loaded it – she always made sure not to keep the gun loaded – before holstering it at her right side and heading out the same way Cirrus had gone. It was unlikely that she would see her wife until the end of the day, and while Lazuli had much more freedom to move around and leave when she desired, she wouldn’t dream of interrupting her wife at work – much.

As she exited the house, she peered back inside…then shut the door and locked it, slipping the key back into her pocket.

Chapter 3

If anything notable happened during the day, Lazuli wasn’t aware of it. She spent most of the day at the base, only going home when Cirrus did, and the two of them spent the night relaxing at home. Lazuli mostly lounged on the sofa with her head in Cirrus’ lap while they watched TV, though Cirrus was only half paying attention between the news and the book she cradled just above Lazuli’s head, occasionally booping her on the nose with it if she started to drift off. Eventually there came a time where drifting off made sense, though, so she didn’t wake her after that.

The next day it was the same thing. Lazuli went to the military base to get a proper briefing on what she was going to be doing in Manehatten, in which she expectedly got minimal information and most of her questions were answered with shrugs from Steel. It had become commonplace that her mission briefings gave her little information, because she was the operative they turned to for deployments that had small amounts of intel. It wasn’t that she minded – she just would have liked to be properly informed on anything besides the location or the target, and sometimes both, if she was lucky.

That night, it was the same as the night before. Lazuli laid with the back of her head against Cirrus’ thigh, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression while Cirrus watched the news.

“So you’re going to Manehatten too, hm?” Cirrus spoke up, prompting Lazuli to shift her gaze from the ceiling to Cirrus’ face.

“Huh? What do you mean, too?” Lazuli asked, shifting so she sat up more, draping her body over her wife’s lap.

“I’m going there for a business trip in two days, remember?” Lazuli recalled something of the sort. Cirrus worked as a seamstress – a damn good one, Lazuli always maintained, and she owned her own boutique in Canterlot. It was a far cry from Canterlot Carousel in terms of business, but Lazuli liked to think it was far better in quality. She also begrudgingly accepted that her wife usually made more money than her each month.

“…Right…yeah, I remember that.”

Cirrus bonked Lazuli on the head with her book. “You forgot.”

“I didn’t, uh…something something clothes, right?”

“You’re such a jerk.” Cirrus giggled, making it clear she thought the opposite, shimmying so she sank lower into the couch cushions. “We might as well go together, right?”

“No!” Lazuli suddenly sat up, staring right into Cirrus’ eyes, which looked a mixture of confused and scared. “…I…I mean…it’s uh…my mission is tomorrow, and you’ve probably got uh…reservations and all, or…your hotel booking and stuff-“

“Shush, it’s fine! I can bump my hotel room back a day, it’s fine. Besides, we never go places together.”

“I uh…” Lazuli’s mind tried to think up an excuse that didn’t blatantly say ‘I don’t want you to be caught up in my job in case something goes wrong and they connect you to me’, but she couldn’t. “We’ll be there at the same time, it’ll be fine. I can debrief over the phone and stay in Manehatten a few days longer than my mission takes, we can hang out.”

“Feels like you don’t want to travel with me.” Cirrus made a mock pouty face, and Lazuli stuck her tongue out in response.

“You know that’s not what it is. This is time sensitive, I gotta get there faster than the train takes.” That was a lie.

“Hmph…fine. But I’m holding you to the other thing. We’re gonna go sightseeing!”

“I haven’t been to Manehatten properly in years, I’d love to.” Lazuli kissed Cirrus on the cheek, then laid her head back down. “Besides, I wanna see what important work you’re doing there anyway. But…um…you’ll keep me posted on where you are, right? And- uh, and not open the door for strangers?”

“Geez, I’m not a foal, Laz. But I bet you’ll love what I’m working on!” Cirrus squealed giddily. “I’m testing out this new fabric, it’s woven in with six different kind of gems, and it really makes the whole thing…”

Lazuli laid there for almost an hour listening to her wife talk about clothes – and she did listen. She loved hearing when she was this excited about something, even if Lazuli didn’t understand half of the things she was talking about. Eventually though, sleep overtook the two of them, and they fell asleep on the couch again.

Lazuli was suddenly very glad for the heat-retention in her suit when she made her way up into the clouds near Manehatten. It was cold, despite being near the end of spring, with water droplets sprinkling her face and sticking to her fur. The suit protected her cold-blooded body from the temperatures for the most part, but eventually she gave up on trying to be completely undetected and dipped below the cloud layer to fly down into the city. It was nighttime, since she preferred to operate when it was dark.

“You know every five minutes, somepony is assaulted or murdered in this city?” Steel’s voice came through her earpiece, interrupting her somewhat relaxing flight.

“Gee, thanks for that comforting tidbit, Steel.” Lazuli grumbled.

“Just saying. This place isn’t so nice when you get out of the tourist areas.”

“I know that, Steel. But given I’m going into a warehouse that’s apparently a criminal hideout, I wasn’t exactly expecting to take a nap in the guest room.”

“I dunno. Just making conversation.”

“You don’t have to be monitoring me all the time. How long have I been doing this?”

“Two years.”

“So why don’t you just trust me?”

“Because as far as I know, you’ve only been succeeding because I’ve been supervising.”

Lazuli snorted heavily through her nostrils. “Dick.”

“Language.”

Lazuli banked to the side, thin trails of mist forming from her wingtips as she glided down towards the visibly darker, much less friendly looking area of Bronclyn. Her flight path brought her down a block away from the site she was meant to investigate, and she landed on top of a building that had a view of the warehouse. “Going quiet now.” She said firmly. “If you wanna keep listening to me breathing, go ahead.” She hopped down from the building, her wings hardly making a sound as they unfurled again and carried her down to the street below.

The streets of Bronclyn were usually the friendliest, from what Lazuli had seen, but the outer regions of it were much less so. Broken glass and garbage littered the sidewalks, the street lights flickered and buzzed, and ponies sitting in alleyways looked especially threatening. This was the kind of neighbourhood that Applewood liked to recreate for all of their crime movies and thrillers, and she had to admit that it fit the bill pretty accurately. Luckily, though, she only had a short distance to walk and didn’t run into any trouble.

The warehouse looked dark from the outside, but Lazuli’s ears told her there was activity within. It was faint, mostly the occasional clanking of metal against metal, or the hiss of machinery moving, but there was definitely something. It helped that the warehouse was in the middle of what probably used to be an urban neighbourhood, so there were no walls or fences to keep her out. She circled around the back, regardless.

As she neared the corner to the back yard, she was glad she had the instinct to stop. Pressing herself up against the wall and crouching low, she could hear voices off to the side.

“If you’d been less of a bitch about it maybe she would’ve replaced your leg instead of your eye, genius.” A male voice said.

“Well how would you react if she just came outta nowhere asking what part you want roboticized- robotifi- whatever.” Another voice, also male, growled in annoyance.

“I said I wanted my leg, simple.”

“Well she probably told you in advance!”

“Guess she just didn’t like you.”

“Fuck off.”

The conversation seemed to drop off from there, replaced with the occasional sound of hooves against concrete. Lazuli finally peeked her head around the corner to see what she was looking at properly.

Immediately, she was surprised by the species of the creatures guarding the back entrance. Both were zebras, evidenced by their grey fur and darker coloured stripes. One of them had a mohawk, the other sporting more of a pony-like mane style with his hair combed down to both sides from the middle.

Lazuli’s focus wasn’t on their hair, though, but rather their abnormal physiology. The zebra sporting the mohawk was the first one she heard speak, she imagined, since his left foreleg was made entirely out of metal. Compared to his other leg it seemed slightly slimmer, but when he moved forward it acted just like a regular hoof would, albeit with a bit more whirring and clicking.

The second stallion’s cybernetics weren’t visible until he turned his head. His right eye was entirely gone, along with a good deal of the left side of his face, and his eye had been replaced with a prosthetic one that looked just like a glowing blue light for Lazuli. She realized, perhaps too late, that the eye was fixated right on her, and ducked back behind the wall.

“Hey.” The one with the robotic eye nudged his partner, pointing to the wall Lazuli hid behind. “You see that?”

“You’re the one with the fancy eye, genius. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Something moved.”

“Probably a hobo.”

“Well they ain’t making a home here…” Lazuli heard the sound of his hooves clopping against the concrete as he approached. From what she saw neither of them were armed, but she needed to move fast, she knew.

As he reached the corner, Lazuli lashed out. There was no reason, in her mind, to kill him – instead she whipped around the corner and slammed her tail into the side of his head devoid of metal. While her tail was unarmoured, years of combat training had its muscles hardened to the point that being struck by it felt like being smashed in the face by the wall next to him, which unfortunately became a side-effect of her strike as his head crashed into the building and he crumpled.

By the time he had dropped to the floor, the other zebra was alerted. He staggered slightly, obviously not expecting there to be anyone of note there, and lifted his metal hoof. “Hey! The fuck are you doing?!”

Lazuli didn’t respond. Instead she ran forward, kicking herself off the wall and launching herself at him. It was only when the bottom of his robotic leg slid open and revealed an opening accompanied by the click of a shell being loaded into a chamber that she realized it was a mistake to throw herself at him.

She barely managed to use one wing to bank to the side in mid-air as the shotgun blast whizzed past her ear, deafening her in the process. She landed in front of the zebra, swinging forward with her tail, but he reached up and caught it with his metal hoof using a set of claws that were previously retracted into the appendage. “Hybrid bitch!” He yelled, swinging Lazuli to the side and slamming her face-first into the stone wall.

Lazuli was dazed, her vision swimming and her ears still ringing from the gunshot. She had to force herself to breathe after getting the wind knocked out of her by the impact, and as she started to pick herself up she narrowly avoided being struck in the face by the metal hoof careening towards her. It smashed into the wall next to her head, but the shock of it was enough to force Lazuli out of her daze. Grabbing hold of his hoof with her tail, wrapping it all the way up to his shoulder, she yanked him forward and slammed her head into his. Her forehead colliding with his muzzle earned a satisfying crunch as the cartilage in his nose was shattered, a loud howl of pain being cut off quickly by her yanking him down again, bringing both hind legs up beneath him and launching him into the air.

The zebra flew ten feet into the air before landing flat on his back, winding him completely. Lazuli, not wanting to take a chance, rolled herself up and steadied herself before knocking him out with a kick to the head. Once both of the guards were dispatched, she stood still and cocked an ear to listen.

The sound of machines working inside hadn’t stopped, and she didn’t hear anyone coming. Perhaps they somehow hadn’t heard the gunshot…or any of the commotion. Either that or they were just taking a while to come out. Either way, she knew she had to find a way in besides the back door, so she turned her head upwards.

The windows that spanned the entire length of the wall near the roof were the most obvious choice, and she imagined it wouldn’t be hard to get in. After making sure her head had stopped swimming, she spread her wings and launched into the air, hovering in front of the windows and peering inside.

The warehouse was one wide open space, filled with machines that apparently didn’t make enough exhaust to warrant an industrial sized chimney, which already made Lazuli suspicious given how much machinery was inside. A mixture of zebra and pony workers strolled around the warehouse floor maintaining the equipment, but most of it seemed to be automated. She noted the steel beams that ran from just below the windows across the whole roof, keeping it secure, and slowly began to push open the window so she could climb onto one.

“One of you fucked with the machines, don’t think I didn’t hear that bang.” A female voice reached Lazuli’s ears as she opened the window, sliding inside and gently settling herself on the beam that could barely hold both of her front and back hooves together.

“It was from outside, miss!” A much less commanding male voice said.

“Outside my ass, Mhina.” The female responded, but Lazuli didn’t want to risk peering over the edge to see who it was. “If I find out one of you dumb boot-lickers messed with one of my machines, I’ll rip off more than just your legs.” The voice continued with an angry lilt to her tone. “Now get back to work.” She demanded. The sound of three hooves on the floor and one metal one clanking against the concrete told Lazuli it was another one with cybernetic limbs – but as she peered over the edge, she realized it was more than just her.

Every pony and zebra she could see in the warehouse had some form of metal limb or implant. Some had more than one, but every one of them had at least one part of their body replaced with artificial versions. Legs seemed to be the most common. Lazuli briefly wondered if maybe this was some sort of underground cybernetics research facility and all of these workers had lost their limbs in one way or another, but based on the discussion she overheard outside and the attitude of the mare who she presumed to be the leader, this wasn’t a compassionate organization.

Lazuli reached up and tapped the side of her earpiece, speaking in a hushed whisper. “You’re recording this, right?”

“Yeah.” Steel’s voice responded almost immediately. “Just didn’t want to say anything. You okay? I heard you fighting.”

“I’m fine. No easy way to get any real information…” Lazuli mumbled. “Probably should have brought a camera.”

“Any office or anything?”

“Not that I can see.” Lazuli scanned the area, or what she could see anyway, and saw an office-like area overlooking the warehouse, almost directly across from her. “…Actually…there’s something. Hold on, I’m gonna check it out.” She started to shimmy forward, making sure to move slowly and methodically so that no one below could see her. Eventually she had her balance properly fixated, and started to walk along the beam using her tail as a balancing tool.

The Dracony shimmied to the other side of the beam, then hunched over when she reached the window, sitting there for a moment to listen for any sign of movement. Determining that the office was empty, she reached up and opened it.

It swung open easily, opening up to the interior of a nicely furnished and sizeable office area. On the opposite end of the room sat quite a few heavily stacked bookshelves. The desk was sitting against the wall to the left of the window, and the door to the office itself was on the right. She glanced behind her, then wiggled her way into the window and shut it behind herself.

Lazuli was surprised by how easy it had been, but she supposed even if this group were well-funded they wouldn’t put much into security of a run-down warehouse.

She sighed deeply as she shut the window, slowly looking around. The office was simple enough, though the view it had – overlooking the factory floor – made it seem like it was for a supervisor for sure. Stretching herself out, the Dracony began to head for the door…

Only for it to swing open. Lazuli’s immediate reaction was to leap into the air, grabbing onto a beam on the ceiling and hanging there. Dust tickled at her nose, but she forced herself not to sneeze as she looked down, swinging herself on top of the wooden beam.

“Idiots…” The voice of a mare reached her, and now it was much easier to see her. The voice matched what she heard on the warehouse floor, and the sight of her didn’t exactly surprise Lazuli, for some reason. The zebra walking into the office was clearly tough, with a messy mohawk that wasn’t nearly as cleanly cut as other zebras she had seen. Running down her neck and over one shoulder was a long braid of hair, presumably the excess that didn’t work into her mane style. She wore a combat vest, or at least some sort of reinforced vest, decorated with odd trinkets and tools. The most notable part about her was the shiny metal leg attached to her right shoulder – much like the stallion she met outside, except the claws embedded in it seemed not to be retracted. They scratched against the floor as she walked in, heading for the desk.

“I swear, I leave them alone for two seconds…” The zebra mumbled, strolling up to the desk and walking around it to sit down in the comfy looking chair behind it. She reached over to the desk, her clawed hoof gently picking up a cigarette from the pack nearby and lighting it with a flick of two of the claws, creating a spark before she lifted it to her lips. Lazuli cringed at the smell of smoke, but kept it to herself. “Won’t need to be here too much longer though.” As the zebra blew out a puff of smoke, Lazuli could see that there was a long scar across her left eye, running almost all the way to her cheek.

Lazuli was stuck. She wasn’t able to do much besides sit there on the beam, staying as still as possible and hoping the zebra didn’t look up. Thankfully Steel kept his mouth shut, and Lazuli was able to listen.

“What do you think?” The zebra turned her head off to the side, and Lazuli followed her gaze to the corner of the room, where she only now realized another zebra had entered through the office door. His steps had been silent, and he certainly looked…different. For one, he had wings, though based on them being made completely out of metal they were artificial.

“Your workers are adequate, Ayize.” The zebra said, and his voice sent a chill down Lazuli’s spine. It was cold, calculated…and sounded almost synthetic, like it was being spoken through autotune. “They just feel they can do anything when you aren’t present.”

“Fuckers.” The mare, who Lazuli presumed was Ayize, inhaled another lungful of smoke and breathed it out slowly. “Think I should hire more guards?”

“It would be logical.” The other zebra agreed. “Though you should be more discreet. I don’t think the police are too fond of me appearing to intimidate them every time you put up posters.”

“Can you blame me? I wanna be out there.” Ayize snickered, leaning back in her chair and shrugging. “Mmh…but yeah…” Having barely smoked half of the cigarette, she absently put it down on her desk and snuffed it out with a claw. “But I feel like we need to expand.”

“Expand, ma’am?”

“Get bigger. Do you not have a dictionary in that memory bank of yours?” Ayize tapped her head with her hoof.

Memory bank? Lazuli thought to herself, watching intently.

“Apologies. I just don’t know if that is wise, ma’am.”

“Why not?”

“I think it is best to keep a low profile until we’ve properly developed our public business, no?” The other zebra leaned back against the wall, standing on his hind legs and crossing his forelegs over his chest. “So that we have a proper cover for purchasing warehouses in better neighbourhoods.”

“Well I mean, I was thinking some backwoods place like Apploosa, but I guess you got a point…” Ayize snorted, picking up a pen in her hoof and idly twirling it in her grasp. “Besides, I already think there’s a mole down there somewhere.”

“A mole, ma’am? Who?”

“Dunno yet. Just feels like someone knows more than they should.” Ayize flicked the pen backwards, and it embedded itself in the drywall. “But let’s stop talking about business stuff. I was gonna get you an upgrade, right?”

“I believe you mentioned it, yes.”

“Let’s get going. No time like the present to go digging in a zebra’s noggin, right?” Ayize sat up, the chair creaking, before properly standing and walking out of the room. The second zebra paused in the doorway, his ears cocked as he looked over his shoulder and scanned the room suspiciously.

“I said let’s get going, Lead!” Ayize called from the hallway. The zebra glanced out the door, then grunted and shut it behind him.

Lazuli breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t fully realize she had been holding in, before dropping down from the beam and landing with a soft thud on the ground. She was thankful for the soles of her suit’s hooves being padded, allowing her to make minimal noise when landing and walking.

She slipped behind the desk, quickly opening up drawers and folders to look for anything that might be important. She found a few schematics and inventory statements, but knowing that she couldn’t take too much without it seeming extremely suspicious, she quickly popped her earpiece out of her ear. Holding it carefully with her tail, she tapped a button on the side of it which opened up a tiny lens in the speaker, allowing her to take pictures – albeit not the highest quality – before placing the documents back. Lazuli clipped her earpiece back into her ear and opened up the window again, heading back across the beam.

Once she left the warehouse she spread her wings and flew off. Part of her felt bad for leaving the two unconscious stallions out there with no help, but every other part told her they deserved it, so she didn’t do anything to assist them when they would wake up. Instead, she told Steel that she had left the warehouse and would send the documents to him by computer – when she got to Cirrus’ hotel room, that is.

Chapter 4

It didn’t take too long to get from the warehouse to the better areas of Bronclyn where Cirrus’ hotel room was. About fifteen minutes of uninhibited flight above the skyline had her near there, at which point she stopped in an alley to remove her suit, just in case. She folded it up into a convenient carrying bag shape that hung nicely from her side before she stepped back out of the alley, strolling down the street to the hotel lobby. She already knew what room it was, so she took the elevator up to the 11th floor and got out.

With a gentle tap of her hoof against the door, she got an answer only seconds later. Cirrus opened the door with a wide smile, and before Lazuli knew it she was being pulled inside in a tight, crushing hug that would have squeezed the breath out of any other mare. Her tail swung back to shut the door behind them as she returned the embrace.

“Hey sweetie!” Cirrus greeted her as the door closed, looking down and noting the bag on her. “Guess the carrying straps came in handy?”

“It’s really comfy, actually.” Lazuli nuzzled Cirrus’ cheek with her nose, giving her a gentle kiss and letting go of her. “You just get here?”

“Mhm!” Cirrus nodded her head. “Actually checked in like, an hour ago, good timing babe.” She bumped Lazuli on the hip with her own hip, sauntering into the main room. The suite was nothing special, only a sitting area, kitchen and one bedroom, but again, Cirrus didn’t need anything else on her own, and even with Lazuli staying with her they hardly needed anything more.

“Huh…you unpack?” Lazuli looked around. White walls, brown couch, small but good quality TV, very bland smell – yep, it was a hotel room, but she liked it.

“Only the essentials.” Cirrus turned her head over her shoulder to shoot a wink at Lazuli, who couldn’t help but snicker in response.

“Is that a suggestion, Cirrus Refin?” Lazuli stepped forward, wrapping her tail around her lover’s with a smile.

“Maybe. Why don’t you accompany me to the bedroom, darling?” Cirrus tried to gesture with her tail, but had to clumsily uncurl it from Lazuli’s first, leading to a fumbling gesture that pointed at every room before settling on the bedroom. Cirrus’ face went bright red.

Lazuli hardly held back a giggle. “You’re honestly the worst at bedroom stuff and I love it.” She nudged Cirrus forward, and the two of them shut the bedroom door behind them.

A bit over two hours later, Lazuli laid in bed staring up at the ceiling as the fan slowly spun in circles above them. It was silent, just as they both were, Cirrus having fallen asleep just under an hour ago. Lazuli knew, because she had also been staring at the clock.

A shift next to her came from the huddled lump under the covers, then Cirrus’ head popped out with a low groan. “You’re still awake, aren’t you…” She mumbled.

“…No.” Lazuli said quietly, looking away with a grunt.

“Can’t sleep?” Cirrus shifted further up so half of her body was visible, her fur slightly ruffled.

“No…” Lazuli stared at the clock again. It was blurry, so she didn’t really pay much attention to it – it was just somewhere to look.

“Why?”

Lazuli had to put it in the most simple way she could. “I think this was a mistake.”

“What, making love? We haven’t in-“

“No, I- no…that’s…that’s not it.” Lazuli snorted. “I meant…meeting you here, coming here so openly.”

“Laz, you watch too many spy movies. There’s no underground syndicate making notes of who’s married to who.” Cirrus frowned, rolling onto her side and propping herself up with one hoof. “Talk to me. What exactly are you worried about?”

“I dunno…” Lazuli scuffed at the covers. “Just…you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m hardly a fawn, Lazuli. I’ve got training.”

“Yeah but…”

“But what? Laz, you always operate just fine. You never get spotted, and even if you do, it’s not like you’re taking on the Bellephron military here. They can’t track you down or anything like that.”

“I know.” Lazuli sighed, leaning her head against Cirrus, nuzzling into her chest fur. “But you’re special to me.”

“And you’re special to me, but you don’t see me telling you not to go and put yourself in danger, Laz.” Cirrus gently stroked the back of her head. “You’re my mare.”

“And you’re mine…” Lazuli mumbled.

“Aw, cheer up, come on…” Cirrus poked at Lazuli’s back. “You’re strong enough to hurl a minotaur over a mountain, and you’re afraid about some mean li’l ponies coming for me?”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Nope. You’re too strong, I thought you were gonna break me just now.”

“Stop it.”

“Nooope.” Cirrus buried her muzzle in Lazuli’s mane. “Make me.”

“Stoooop.” Lazuli curled up, hiding her face in her chest.

Cirrus rolled her eyes, though Lazuli couldn’t see it. “Get some sleep. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you tomorrow. Riiiight?”

“We’re gonna see so much tourist shit.” Lazuli mumbled into Cirrus’ chest.

Cirrus had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing. “Yeah, I mean, I was gonna use other terminology, but yeah.” She patted Laz on the head, then pulled the covers up over them both. “Now get some sleep.”

The two of them drifted off, but Lazuli fell asleep about twenty minutes after Cirrus.

The next day was a blur for Lazuli, but not in the sense that she didn’t enjoy it. They just did so much that it was difficult to keep track of it all. Cirrus’ business wasn’t until 7 PM, so they had time to get breakfast, go sightseeing, eat lunch, more sightseeing, and even snuck in dinner near the end of the day. In all honesty, Lazuli needed a day like this – she had plenty of days off, and she and Cirrus spent plenty of time together, but never when it wasn’t burdened in some way by work. When Lazuli returned to the hotel room alone, having left Cirrus at her fashion show in some fancy meeting hall, she felt significantly refreshed.

As she sat down at the room’s computer, she fished her earpiece out of one of the pockets of her suit hanging nearby and clipped it into her ear, clicking the button to turn it on. She waited for a moment until she could hear the faint static, then spoke. “Steel?”

Lazuli had to wait a second for a response, then Steel’s voice came over the speaker. “Laz!” He said, sounding more jolly than usual. “Was getting a little worried, you didn’t report in this morning.”

“Technically not on the job, remember?” Lazuli kicked her hooves up on the desk. “So, you get the pictures?”

“Yep. We had the team look at them.”

“Aaaand?” Lazuli didn’t have a vested interest in the organization she had investigated, but the subject was intriguing enough that she wanted updates.

“You got some pretty good stuff. The schematics were more interesting than the manifests, but well…the second one’s what gives us the legal ability to raid it, of course.”

“Raid…classy.” Lazuli mumbled.

“Don’t give me that. We can’t all just sneak in and kill everyone without being seen.”

“Okay…so what were the schematics about?”

“Prosthetics, mostly. Legs, eyes, even organs – those were crazy, too. Apparently never actually built or tested but the planning is all there. Could even replace hearts.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Lazuli swiveled the chair slightly so she could look out the window nearby, which had a decently nice view of Bronclyn.

“The heart’s just a muscle, Laz. It’s not that hard to make artificial. Connecting it to everything else is uh…a different issue, but still.”

“What about power sources? The ponies I saw didn’t have big backpacks or anything.”

“From what we can tell they’re powered on kinetic energy. Basically power themselves. And that uh…other zebra that was in the room with you, looks like he’s been modded so heavily he’s more metal than zebra.”

“That can’t be good. Any idea what the place is all about?”

“Probably some kind of cyber-cult, though we can’t be sure until we actually raid the place. Your intel gave us enough to get a warrant.”

“I still don’t know why this is a federal issue.” Lazuli idly twirled a holster around her tail, without the gun in it of course.

“For all we know these ponies could be terrorists.” Steel said bluntly. “We need to make sure they’re not anything worse than an illegal manufacturing operation.”

“Mmhm…” Lazuli crossed her forelegs over her chest…then sighed, and stood up. “Nothing else then?”

“Nope. You enjoy your time in Manehatten, Laz. You earned it.”

“Thanks.” Lazuli pulled the earpiece out of her ear and shut it off. She then headed to the bedroom to rest, flopping down on the bed.

Cirrus returned to the hotel room at around 11 PM, too nervous after her fashion showing to properly sleep. She saw the bedroom door was closed, so she stepped into the living room and gently pulled the rack with her outfits on it behind her. Not knowing what else to do, she strolled over to the couch and sat down, flicking on the TV. She imagined there wouldn’t be anything good, but started flipping through channels regardless, just to see.

Sports, she was marginally interested in. She checked the score on the buckball tournament between Maretonia and the Crystal Empire, then realized she didn’t care about either of the teams and switched to some random sitcom. It didn’t interest her either, so eventually she just ended up on the news.

Cirrus wasn’t sure how long she was watching. She hadn’t checked the time when she started, but before she knew it she was shocked back to reality by a louder volume newscast with a flashy graphic saying “Today in Equestri-tech” that made her groan.

“Thank you Firefly,” a smartly dressed unicorn mare with a bright green mane and blue fur said cheerily. She held a microphone in her magical grip, and appeared to be standing in some kind of business lobby. “And thank you all for tuning in. Today we have exciting news from the world of medicinal technology – a revolutionary new company has popped up over the past few months, steadily developing new advancements in prosthetic augmentation.”

Cirrus blinked, having been about to change the channel, then looked back up at the television. “I’m here with the CEO of Green Motors Technology, Kiama Siwazuri.” The camera panned to the side, and Cirrus tilted her head further at the sight of the mare in front of it.

Cirrus’ first instinct was surprise – she looked different, mainly because she was a zebra, and a rather attractive one at that. Her mane was nicely trimmed and styled, combed down to one side, though it still had the long braid draped over her shoulder. Her eyes were a bright blue colour, but seemed friendly at a glance. The zebra was really quite pretty, and it was accentuated by the cute glasses sitting on her nose. Her body was covered by a lab coat, and Cirrus couldn’t see her lower legs.

“Thank you Static, but please, call me Kiama.” The zebra flashed a winning ‘I’m totally on your side, look how friendly I am’ smile at the camera, which Cirrus had learned to distrust from businessponies.

“So Kiama,” The reporter started, as all reporters did. “I’ve been told you’ve been working on new prosthetic technology that might give disabled ponies their functionality back?” She turned the microphone to Kiama.

“Oh yes, well that’s our entire company goal.” Kiama smiled again, though it seemed slightly more sincere. “Right now, ponies who lose limbs, or even their eyesight, are completely left to fend for themselves. The best we have are wooden or plastic crutches that not only hardly work, they just look downright awful.” Kiama flourished brightly, swinging her right hoof out to the side to discard her lab coat, revealing a right hoof entirely made out of metal. Cirrus blinked in surprise. It was bulky, but still nice looking. “Behold!” She said excitedly.

“Oh my goodness!” Static exclaimed, looking at the camera with a look of surprise that was absolutely faked, since she had probably seen the metal limb the whole time and the camera just didn’t show it. “It moves just like a real hoof…and it’s so quiet!”

Yeah, sell it harder for her, Static. How much did she pay you? Cirrus snorted, but it was all in jest. It did look impressive.

“Yes, this is our newest prototype, fully functional and easy to use! No pain on installation, and it connects to the body like you’ve sewn your leg right back on!” Kiama’s expression dropped slightly. “When I was a filly, I was in a horrible accident that cost me the use of this limb.” She pressed the metal hoof to her chest. “I had to endure ridicule, mockery, even rejection from employment thanks to my disability, but no longer!” She threw her hoof up, smiling brightly in a way that made Cirrus feel at least a little bit happy for her – she looked quite excited to be sharing her inventions. “Now, now I can live like my fellow zebras, ponies, Draconies, what have you! I can do all of the things a zebra with functioning limbs can!” She seemed to be getting a bit off track, so she cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. “Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s fine!” Static smiled, apparently quite affected by the mare’s enthusiasm as well. “It’s certainly a wonderful story, and it’s wonderful what you’re doing for other ponies. Now tell us, Kiama, are these prosthetics going to be available to the public?”

“But of course!” Kiama said ecstatically. “I’d be a fool, not to mention simply a cruel mare to not share this with the world! However, it needs more research. Mine still does have its, erm…” She tapped her metal hoof with a slight chuckle. “Kinks. We are still in the last stages of research, though we expect to be able to produce them en masse quite soon.” She smiled and turned to the camera. “And if you’d like to help donate to our cause, visit our website!” She smiled giddily, pointing at a banner that appeared at the bottom of the screen.

Cirrus nodded her head slowly. While she often donated to charities as it was, she liked the idea of providing more for disabled ponies. She got up, turning down the volume to the TV and heading over to the computer. A few extra dollars wouldn’t be much, but she’d at least be doing a bit of something to help.

Chapter 5

Lazuli rolled her eyes as she held a hoof up to her ear, blocking out background noise from the city below as she stood out on the balcony of the hotel room, leaning on the railing and speaking into her earpiece. “For the fifth time, Steel, it wasn’t her.”

“Did you even watch the interview?” Steel growled back. “She was a dead ringer for what you described. What was different?”

“Different mane. Different prosthetic – that thing was attached at the skin, there’s no way she removed it that quick without visible scars and irritation.”

“So now you’re a forensics expert?”

“Also, completely different personality. She has no reason to be so bubbly and happy if it isn’t natural for her, given she has no idea she was under surveillance. She’s either a damn good actor, or it isn’t her.” Lazuli looked down on the street below, then chewed on her lip. “Besides, don’t you have a raid to do? You’ll catch her then, if they’re the same mare.”

“We did conduct the raid.” Steel grunted. “Right about the same time she walked off screen after getting a phone call, conveniently.”

“…Okay, a little suspicious.” Lazuli looked up. It was still dark, though the sun would be rising soon. “Well, was Ayize in there?”

“No.” Steel snorted heavily, one that Lazuli could tell was extremely annoyed. “In fact, barely anything was there. Just a few machines – not nearly as many as you described, and all the documents in the desk were mostly gone.”

“Also…very suspicious…wait, how could they know you were coming? Moving all that machinery in a day would need advance warning.”

“Well you did leave two unconscious and bleeding guards outside. Maybe that tipped them off?” Steel suggested with a bit of venom in his tone.

“Geez, what’s got up your ass?” Lazuli snarled. “I’m the one who got you the information, did you expect me to spend an extra ten minutes stuffing them into boxes? They would have found them regardless of how I hid them.”

“Yeah, I know, it-“ Steel sighed. “Sorry. The higher-ups are kind of angry that I didn’t get much from the raid. We captured a few workers, some documents, but not nearly as much as you said, and…they’re calling into question your credibility.”

“Well they can bite me.”

“That’s what I wanted to say, but you can’t just say that to your superiors, Laz. Unless it’s me.”

“Okay, you can bite me then.”

“That’s- okay. Laz, listen. I just need you to do something for me while you’re there in Manehatten.”

“Uh-huh?” Lazuli chewed on her lip again, unamused.

“That company – Green Motors? They’re having a party in Bridleway. Big gala thing, basically anyone can come as long as they’re dressed formally and all. I want you to go there and see if you can find anything. Bring Cirrus too.”

“You know I hate parti- wait, no. Absolutely no way am I bringing Cirrus.”

“Laz, you know it’s suspicious for a lone mare to show up and start asking questions. Come with a partner, it’ll take the heat off.”

“I’m not involving Cirrus in this.”

“Lazuli, you know nothing will happen to her – it’ll be fine.” Steel’s voice became more stern, even commanding. “In fact, that’s an order. I’m ordering you to go to that party and see what you can find.”

“Well that’s not an-“ Lazuli paused, glanced back through the sliding glass door, then took a deep breath. “Alright, commander. I’ll go to the party, I’ll make some friends, sip some bad drinks with ponies way richer than me and see if I can find what’s under the prosthetic genius’s skirt.”

“I’d put it a different way on the report, but good.” Steel said in approval.

“Have you considered the possibility that Ayize might have, you know…stolen the ideas from Green Motors?” Lazuli asked.

“…” Steel was silent for a few seconds. “…Just…get to that party.” He abruptly cut the connection. Lazuli felt at least a bit of pride knowing she had posed a possibility he hadn’t thought of. She wasn’t quite sure why she was so vehemently defending a zebra who very well might be an enemy, but something about Kiama just made her feel cheerful. The zebra’s optimism and excitement rubbed off, she supposed.

She took a few more minutes to take in the view. While it wasn’t the greatest, as a room with a real view of the city would have surely been ten times more expensive, she enjoyed it all the same. Gently climbing over the railing, she firmly wrapped her tail around the barrier and let herself hang from it, looking down to see the cars and occasional carriage drive past far below, along with the ponies trotting to their early jobs. The bustle of city life was not hidden from her in Canterlot, but it was never quite so busy.

“Laz?” Cirrus called out as she stepped out onto the balcony. Lazuli quickly tugged herself back up, turning around and smiling as her tail pulled her back onto the ground in front of her. “Oh, gods, you were there.”

“Just enjoying the view.” Lazuli kissed her on the cheek. “You’re a much better one, though.”

Cirrus’ cheeks went visibly red and she bashfully waved a hoof. “Stop it, you.”

“Sleep well?” Lazuli asked. “Sorry I wasn’t awake when you got home.”

“Oh I slept wonderfully.” Cirrus opened up the door, starting to stroll inside, and Lazuli followed. “Not going to ask me how the show went?”

“Well I didn’t wanna make you talk about it, even though I know you absolutely killed it.” Laz nipped at Cirrus’ tail playfully.

“That’s one way to put it.” Cirrus smirked. “I got second place, but I guess you can expect that when you’re competing with generations-old boutiques like R4U.”

“R4U? That doesn’t exactly sound old-timey.” Lazuli tilted her head.

“Rarity For You.” Cirrus giggled softly. “I dunno how long it’s been around actually, but it’s a Manehatten local place, so…”

“Oh.” Lazuli shrugged. “Well still, good job sweetie.” Lazuli planted another kiss on Cirrus’ cheek. “I don’t care who won, they cheated if they beat you.”

“Oh, hush. You should have seen the stuff they had.” Cirrus nudged Laz with her tail. “Speaking of dresses, I heard you talking about a party?”

Lazuli paused, then slowly nodded. “Yeah. It’s uh…work related, though.”

“You were talking about me, though.”

“I-“ Lazuli’s eyes darted from side to side. “That was something else.”

“Don’t lie to me, Laz. What’s going on?”

“Mmn…” Lazuli chewed her lip, then sighed. “I have to go to this party with that Green Motors company. Just a formal thing really, but…they wanted me to bring you.”

“Ooh, Green Motors?” Cirrus perked up. “I just donated to them last night!”

“Yeah, th- wait, you did?” Lazuli blinked. “Why?”

“I saw that zebra on TV, I know I usually don’t donate right away from seeing a publicity thing like that, but she just seemed so…friendly.”

“Oh.” Lazuli scrunched her nose slightly. “Well, I mean…that’s good, then. Do you…want do go?”

“Laz, you don’t need to treat it like you’re asking me on a date.” Cirrus snorted playfully. “Of course I’ll go with you.”

Lazuli rolled her eyes. “It’s not that I want to go to a party, just so you know…sod on’t get any ideas about taking me to other ones.”

“You opened up the options, Laz.” Cirrus teased, then used her tail to pick up her bag from the nearby chair and sling it onto her back. “But the party’s not till tonight, right? Let’s go get some breakfast.”

The day went slower than the one previous, but even so, Lazuli wished it could have been even slower. She wasn’t looking forward to going to a party where she was almost certain she would learn nothing, but orders were orders, even if she could somewhat argue with her superior every now and again.

Lazuli especially hated wearing dresses, but Cirrus had apparently accounted for that when she made a few of the ones she designed for the show. Lazuli found herself wearing a form-fitting black dress that hugged her body tightly, but not so tight that it was absurd. It had a bit of extra fabric hanging off the back, and it paired nicely with a wide-brimmed black hat that Cirrus had her put on just for the fun of it, then decided it looked ‘absolutely gorgeous’ on her. Looking in the mirror, Lazuli had to admit she liked it.

Cirrus’ dress was more flamboyant, bright blue fabric with a frilly skirt trailing nearly down to the floor. She would have worn shoes, but the bright green bottoms of her hooves already looked like them, plus their hard texture made it difficult to put on shoes without breaking them.

The two mares found themselves stepping out of a cab and onto the sidewalk around 5 PM – earlier than most parties started, maybe, but Lazuli was fine with that. The sooner they got in, the sooner they could leave. Not wanting to be a boor when it came to etiquette, though, she wrapped her tail gently around her wife’s and helped her out of the vehicle before walking up the stairs toward the building. It was a rental hall, so Lazuli imagined it wasn’t an overly fancy party, but she was surprised there was security at the door for a public event – and immediately she regretted not wearing a full cloak to cover her tail.

“Hold on.” One of the guards, a rather burly unicorn stallion, stopped them at the door. “Nearly at capacity.” He said, his horn already glowing. “Hat off, ma’am. Need to check if you have weapons, we’ve already had one incident.”

“I believe that.” Lazuli said, her voice laced with sarcasm as she removed her hat, revealing nothing inside. Cirrus glanced at the other guard on the opposite side of the door, but he seemed not to do anything. Lazuli put her hat back on after a nod from the guard.

“Head on in.” He tilted his head to the door, which was easily pushed open. Lazuli didn’t want to seem like a stuck-up mare, so she politely smiled at him – but it was heavily forced.

As the two of them entered the ball room, they were both surprised at the lavish nature of the party. The room itself was extravagant, of course, but that was out of the control of the ones who rented it. The venue was elegantly decorated, with white cloth and décor everywhere; apparently that made everything fancier, Lazuli assumed, looking around and barely being pulled out of her intrigue by a smiling young Pegasus stepping over to her, wearing a vest.

“Might I take your hat, ma’am?” The Pegasus said with a warm smile. Lazuli glanced at Cirrus, who just nodded, so she removed the hat with her tail and handed it to the colt. He bowed his head, then moved off to stow it wherever they kept the hats. Lazuli only now realized that the party must have only had a few hundred ponies in it, which wasn’t overly impressive but she was surprised the turnout was so high for something that had only been announced the previous night. She turned to Cirrus, once they were out of the doorway.

“This looks nice, right?” Cirrus said with a smile. “It’s been so long since I got to come to a party like this.”

“When was the last time?” Lazuli asked tentatively. Cirrus rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Ah heh…actually…when I was a filly, and my mom kinda dragged me along.” She muttered.

“Oh.” Lazuli winced, though it was mostly internal. “Well…we’re probably gonna be here a while, so we can enjoy it, at least.”

“You don’t have to pretend to like it just for me, Laz.” Cirrus nudged her with her forehead. “But at least be a little less brooding, okay?”

“Doesn’t help when you’re randomly searched when entering a ball room, Cirrus.”

“Come on, you’re dressed all in black and wearing a big hat.”

Lazuli snorted angrily. “Don’t.”

“I was joking.” Cirrus bumped her on the shoulder with a hoof. “Now come on, let’s look around.”

The two of them started to mingle in the party, and it became increasingly obvious that they stood out in one particular way – they were the only Draconies there. Perhaps there were one or two others scattered around, but for the most part they were alone in that regard. Luckily no one seemed to mind, not outwardly at least, but it made Lazuli feel increasingly awkward; and vulnerable, she realized, if anyone was watching.

Before long, though, the ball room was at the highest capacity it could be without making everyone uncomfortable moving around. At this point, the lights dimmed slightly to focus on the stairs near the front of the room, where Kiama stood in a much more flattering purple dress, her mane combed neatly and her glasses replaced with more elegant frames – though her metal limb was still clearly on display.

“Good afternoon, everyone.” Kiama said loudly, obviously with a microphone attached to her dress or something similar. “As the owner of Green Motors, I want to thank you all for coming out here today and attending this little gala we threw together. I also want to apologize for the short notice, since I’ll admit I’ve been pretty frazzled lately.” She giggled, eliciting a slight response from the attendees. “I’m quite happy to see all of the mixed faces down there, too. I see we’ve got pegasi, earth ponies, unicorns…zebras, I even see a few griffons out there, am I wrong?” She waved, earning a gentle cheer from a small group off in the corner. “Aaaand…oh, well that’s surprising, even a few Draconies!”

Lazuli inwardly screamed as the zebra’s attention turned to Lazuli and Cirrus in particular. She was just glad there was no spotlight turned on them, but Cirrus seemed intent on being polite. She let out a small whoop, then bashfully covered her mouth with a hoof.

“It’s truly amazing,” Kiama continued, “to have such a diverse group of attendees here. I really hope you all enjoy the party, and that you all can benefit in some way from the work we’re doing here.” She waved a hoof happily. “Now all of you enjoy, and I’ll be down to mingle with you all in a bit.”

As the lights came back on properly, and the party returned to its normal noise level, Cirrus turned her head to Lazuli. “She seems nice.”

“I don’t like her.” Lazuli said bluntly.

“What? Why not? You told me during lunch she looked all friendly.”

“I said she looked friendly, I didn’t say I liked her…or trusted her.” She snorted. “Something about her rubs me the wrong way.”

“What, ‘cause she singled us out?” Cirrus snickered. “Diversity’s good, you butt.”

“Whatever you say.” Lazuli sighed.

“I’m gonna go talk to her.”

“Good luck, she’s gonna have a hundred people trying to get at her.”

“Really? Because she’s walking over here.”

“Wh-“ Lazuli started to say, but a cheery voice interrupted her.

“Gooooood afternoon!” Kiama repeated her greeting from earlier, having somehow waded across the sea of ponies in about three minutes from the stairs – and Lazuli had a decent idea why.

“Afternoon.” Lazuli said, then realized it was in her best interest to put on a more pleasant demeanor. She forced a smile, which she was fairly good at by this point, turning to face Kiama as the zebra walked over with a much bigger and more genuine smile on her face. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Oh, don’t be so modest!” Kiama reached out with her metal limb as a gesture for a hoofshake. “Don’t think I wouldn’t have noticed Cirrus Refin attending my little soiree!”

“Me?” Cirrus’ cheeks turned a light shade of pink beneath her fur – her curved green horns even pulsated slightly. “Goodness, that’s- that’s flattering, that you know me.” Cirrus shook Kiama’s hoof, and Lazuli did the same.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you – honestly, I wish I could have gotten a dress from you, rather than this drab old thing.” Kiama swished her own dress with an absent flick of her hoof. “And this, I presume, must be er…your sister?” Kiama tilted her head at Lazuli.

Lazuli broadened her smile. Admittedly, Kiama’s attitude towards Cirrus made her warm up to her a bit more. “Wife, actually.”

“Wh- oh my goodness, I’m so embarrassed, I’m sorry!” Kiama shook Lazuli’s hoof again. “You certainly are gorgeous, if you don’t mind me saying- oh, that’s awkward, isn’t it? I’m sorry, I’m actually not that great at being a host.” Kiama shook her head. “You two make a lovely couple though, I must say. Oh, and your name is…?”

“Lazuli. Er…Lazuli Cutter.”

“Cutter…that name sounds familiar.”

“It uh…often is, yeah.” Lazuli grimaced.

“Daughter of tho- ohhh…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to er…”

“It’s fine. Just not a great topic for me.” Lazuli tried to steer the conversation away.

“Well, my condolences anyway, late as they might be.” Kiama put a hoof to her chest, bowing her head slightly. “How are you two enjoying the party then?”

“It’s lovely.” Cirrus answered first. “I’m surprised you went all-out on the décor, who was the designer?”

“Oh, just some fashionistas under my employ.” Kiama giggled softly. “I try not to be so flashy, but I wanted it to look nice. Had I known you were already done with that fashion show of yours, I might have sought you out for help.” It was a tease, but it made both Lazuli and Cirrus snicker.

“I would have been happy to.” Cirrus smiled widely. “I’m always up for helping out, especially with a cause as nice as yours!”

“Well I’m glad you support it.” Kiama nodded. “Oh, speaking of causes…Lazuli, what do you do for work?”

“Er- well…” She heard a slight crackle in her earpiece, which had been clipped into her ear the whole time. She recognized it as code. “I work with the military, actually. Just data management and stuff, out in Canterlot.”

“Ah, darn.” Kiama shook her head. “Er, well, not that it’s a bad thing! I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Me?” Lazuli was skeptical. “We…just met.”

“Yes, well, no offense to your wife, but you seem, erm…” Kiama trailed her eyes down a bit. “More…fit, both physically and just for this er…work.”

“Yeah…sorry, kind of taken as far as jobs go.”

“Well, it’s more of an experiment.” Kiama admitted. “I’ve never actually worked with Draconies before. I’ve worked with all ponies, zebras and griffons, but Draconies are especially hard to get ahold of in Equestria.”

“What…does the experiment entail?” Lazuli asked.

“Oh, just a bit of testing with power sources and materials – I’ve always been fascinated by your species. Your resistance to magic is incredible, and those horns of yours are simply beau-…oh, you…don’t have horns.” She tilted her head slightly. “But…Cirrus does. Why is that?”

“That’s personal.” Lazuli mumbled.

“She doesn’t like to talk about that,” Cirrus finished for her. “Sorry.”

“Oh, my apologies.” Kiama bowed her head again. “Hrm…but…tell me, have either of you two wanted to be cybernetically augmented?”

“That’s a really quick jump from just meeting somepony.” Lazuli said, though it was less of a statement and more of a warning.

“Laz, be nice.” Cirrus swatted Lazuli on the side with her tail quite openly, earning a grunt from her wife. “She’s just asking. Buuut honestly, not really, sorry.” She smiled again, though a bit more uncertainly.

“Apologies, again.” Kiama frowned. “I…do get a bit forward with this sort of thing. I just like to take the opportunity when I can find it.” She nodded slowly. “But I understand completely, yes, of course. But…that offer for the experiment still stands.” She reached into her dress with her metal limb. A pair of rubbery ‘fingers’ came from her hoof to take hold of a small business card, which she handed to Lazuli. “This has my office number on it. If by chance you’re interested, I’ll be sure to compensate you nicely.” She flashed another cheery smile, then let Lazuli tuck the card into her own dress.

“…Thanks.” Lazuli lowered her own hoof. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“We both will.” Cirrus kissed Laz on the cheek.

“I just have to say you two make an adorable couple.” Kiama squealed slightly. “Gruff and strong, and friendly and delicate – I love it!” She bounced up and down just a bit, then cleared her throat and collected herself. “…Sorry. I’ll leave you two to enjoy the party – keep my offer in mind!” Kiama turned her back to them, calling the last bit over her shoulder before disappearing into the crowd.

“She’s really nice.” Cirrus looked up at Lazuli, who nodded her head slightly.

“Yeah…she is.” Lazuli stared in the direction the zebra had gone, then turned to start to mingle with Cirrus a bit more.

Chapter 6

Lazuli and Cirrus ended up spending more time at the party than either of them expected. It was nearly dark out when Cirrus finally mentioned her desire to leave, and Lazuli was more than willing to go when she was. The two of them caught a taxi to get back to their hotel, where Cirrus quickly went to bed, leaving Lazuli to sit out on the balcony speaking to Steel, who had been listening through her earpiece the whole time.

“Your meeting with Kiama was the only highlight,” Steel said. “While she was talking, I ran it back alongside the recordings of Ayize from when you were in her office, and…it’s definitely not her. The voice is way different, and you said there weren’t any signs of makeup or fake fur covering a scar.” He admitted.

“Yeah, so basically I went for nothing.”

“You enjoyed yourself, right?”

“It’s kind of hard to fully enjoy it when your boss is listening to everything you do and say, Steel.”

“Alright…point taken. There’s something I wanted to ask you to do, though.”

“What is it? Because if anything, I’d like to follow up on the warehouse that was cleared out before your raid, which you’re kind of ignoring it looks like.”

“I’m trying not to worry you, Lazuli. I can’t really figure out how they would have known, or if it was simple coincidence that they moved. What I want you to do is related, though.”

“Okay…what is it?” Lazuli leaned on the railing, her back up against the hoof-rail.

“I need you to get into Kiama’s office.”

“…Wait, why? I thought you just said she’s not Ayize.”

“Well she isn’t.” Steel said. “But I’m still suspicious about her. Remember in the office, Ayize mentioned needing to build up their ‘public face’ before they expanded their operation?”

“Uh huh…you think Green Motors is part of that? Wouldn’t that be easy to check? Like…demanding records and stuff?”

“Not that simple.” Steel grunted. “Just like with the warehouse, we need at least some evidence before we can do anything. The fact that they both deal with cybernetics isn’t enough. We need something like schematics that match the ones from the warehouse, or even a recorded conversation mentioning it, or something like that.”

“Right…well I guess it’s worth a try.”

“Probably best if you go now, actually. The party will be wrapping up soon, and she’ll be heading back. Plus the building won’t be too busy right now.”

“You…know I can’t just sneak in there super easily, right? I can’t crawl through a vent like an action movie, and even if I took her up on that experiment offer she wouldn’t talk about stuff like that in front of me.”

“True…you’d need a proper way in. Okay, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll pull up the schematics of the building – those are public domain. The building just finished construction a few months ago so they’re not fully settled in yet – security should be low. Switch your earpiece to the camera mode and I can watch the feed.”

“Then you can’t talk to me, genius. And the feed would be absolutely terrible quality.”

“Not if- ah…right. Okay.” Steel paused, then spoke again. “Hold on. I’m going to have the R&D department send something over.”

“How are they going to get it to me in t- and you’re muted.” She grumbled, then leaned all the way back on the balcony again and waited for him to come back.

A minute later, his microphone switched back on. “Okay, it’ll be there any second.”

“I swear on Onir, if you’re having them teleport the thing right in front of me, I’m standing on a balcon-“ Lazuli nearly had a heart attack as a bright flash of white light appeared in front of her, half blinding her. If she hadn’t been expecting it, it would have knocked her off the edge, but she just stood still and waited for the light to fade, catching the teleported object in her hoof. It was a camera, a tiny one, no bigger than her pupil. “I absolutely despise you right now.”

“Calm down. This’ll help me guide you through the building. Stick it to the front of your suit.”

“Is it on already?”

“Should be. I can see the sky, the way you’re holding it.”

“Kay…give me a second.” Lazuli opened the door, stepping back into the room and pulling her suit off of the wall. She stepped into each of the four hooves, pulling the suit tight on her body and zipping it up. Once it was secure, she picked up the camera and tried to figure out how to fit it on. She ended up having to use magic, her hooves glowing slightly as the device levitated onto her chest and clipped firmly in the middle of it.

“There you go. Now I can see what you see.”

“This is extremely creepy. I can turn it off, right?”

“Yeah, just hit the button on the back. Just…don’t do that right now, kay?”

“Obviously. So should I go now?”

“You’re all suited up, so I don’t see why not.”

Lazuli nodded slowly. Before she left, though, she quickly used her tail to scribble down a note for Cirrus explaining she went out, just in case she woke up in the middle of the night looking for her. She slipped into the bedroom, put the note on the bedside table and slipped back out, then flew off from the balcony.

“Okay, so you know where the building is, right?” Steel asked her.

“Yeah, the big new one up near the industrial sector.” She replied, able to see it once she was high enough in the air. Beating her wings against the wind, she started flying towards it. “And her office is on the fifteenth floor, right?”

“Try twenty-second.” Steel corrected. “Looks like…your best way in is from the roof, actually. Then you’ve only got to go down two floors to get there.”

“Right…okay.” Lazuli kept flapping, keeping herself level with the roof of the office building in the distance. If she flew much higher she risked getting hit by clouds, which she was still painfully susceptible to, being a flying creature. “And, you wouldn’t happen to be able to tell me if it’s guarded, right?”

“Nope, can’t say that…but I know where the cameras are. Keep in mind she knows what you look like.”

“Even more reason I shouldn’t have gone to that party.”

“Shh. Just put on your hood.”

Lazuli grumbled under her breath, still flapping her wings as she reached back and pulled her hood out of her suit, dragging it over her head. It was solid black, covering most of her head while leaving her eyes and nose uncovered. “I’d rather just not get seen.”

“Precautions, Laz.” Steel said, going quiet as she slowed herself down and landed behind the door that led to the staircase off the roof. The rest of it was flat, and just to be safe, she peeked around the corner to see if anyone was on the roof. No one was, so she went around to the door and kneeled down to open it.

The door was locked. Lazuli growled, starting to push her hoof up against the lock.

“What’re you doing? Just cut the lock.”

“I cut the lock and they’ll know someone broke in.” Lazuli explained, activating the magnetic implants in her hoof. “If I unlock it, it’ll look like some idiot just didn’t do their job. Speaking of which, it’s probably better if you don’t tell me how to do mine.” She slowly twisted her hoof to the side. The movement made the metal groan as she twisted it, moving the lock forcefully out – it would mess up the inner workings of the door somewhat, but it still would continue to function. Once the door was unlocked, she pulled the handle and opened it, disengaging the magnets.

“Okay.” Steel began. “Now don’t go down until I’ve given you the full instructions. Head down those stairs, then down the hall and make a right. There should be a maintenance stairway there – less traffic, easier to get down. Then you’re going to take the stairs down two floors.”

“Got it.” Lazuli started down the stairs, pulling the door shut behind her with her tail and peeking to both sides to make sure no one was coming. She then stepped into the hallway, crouching low to the ground as she made her way down the corridor, ensuring her head was below the windows on each of the office doors. Luckily, at this time of night she was unlikely to run into anyone.

She was glad, she realized, for the special design of her suit’s hooves. It hadn’t been considered by Cirrus when she initially made the outfit, but the development team put in special foam pads that helped to make her steps almost completely silent. It did dampen the impact of her hooves when fighting, but she usually hit hard enough to negate that effect anyway. The tile floor of the hall made no noise as she hurried along, quickly peeking around the corner to check if anyone was nearby before she headed to the right and opened the door to the stairs.

“Okay, now head down two floors and go through the door – but careful, there’s a camera right outside the door to the floor below you.”

“Only there?”

“Yeah, looks like.”

“That’s…weird.”

“The building was hastily designed, I think. Lots of holes in the design, but…yeah.”

Lazuli scampered down one flight of stairs, stopping to take a look at where the camera was. It was an old style swiveling one, moving back and forth in a pattern, so when it was turned away she ducked underneath it, then waited for it to turn back to the stairs leading up before she ran down the next flight. “Probably didn’t see me,” She muttered.

“Probably.” Steel agreed. “Now head through the next door down and then turn left.”

Lazuli followed his instructions, poking her head through the door and looking from side to side as she turned to the left, briskly walking down the hall. “Now you’re looking for office number 1. The door should be the biggest.”

She kept walking until she reached a corner, slowly peeking around the edge. There was one door at the far end of the hallway with a guard stationed near it. “There’s a guard.” She said bluntly.

“I can see that…okay, how accurate are you with that tail blade?”

“You want me to kill them? Steel, we don’t know if they’re doing anything illegal. We can’t kill a security guard.”

“That’s why I asked. Can you hit him with the blunt end?”

“That’s like, a hundred to one chances. I’m not risking it.”

“Okay…how about a distraction?”

“And how am I supposed to distract him?”

“Hm…” He paused, then grunted in annoyance. “Nothing. Okay…it looks like there’s a ventilation shaft near you. Think you can fit?”

“That is ridiculously dangerous, but let me see.” Lazuli looked up, searching along the wall for the vent. She pried off the cover with her tail and peeked inside. “…Okay…I could probably fit. Would it lead to the office?”

“Yep. In fact if you go straight ahead it should end there.”

“Kay…” Lazuli looked back around the corner. The guard didn’t move. She slowly climbed up, grunting with exertion as she pulled herself into the vent, then used her tail to pick up the cover and pull it back into place, just in case. She started to drag herself along the shaft, which was extremely claustrophobic, but spacious enough that she could move. The cool breeze was nice, too.

Luckily the CEO’s office was only a few dozen metres down, and the vent was solid enough that she didn’t fall right through. She shimmied up to the near end of the shaft, where she could see the night sky and traces of other buildings, then whispered to her earpiece, “Looks like the end leads outside.”

“Hm…uh…yeah. Actually the entrance to the office should be below you.”

Lazuli looked down, having to move back slightly to look through the vent below her. Unfortunately, as she looked, she could also see a familiar braided mane and striped coat sitting behind a desk, working at a computer with a lab coat around her. She seemed to have a phone up to her ear, so Lazuli pressed her own to the grate to listen.

“I told you a dozen times I’ll fucking do whatever, just don’t.” Kiama growled.

“That’s uncharacteristic of her.” Steel muttered. Lazuli tried to ignore him.

“No, I said not. I can’t just give you money whenever you fuck- what? No, I’m not.” There was a pause, then Kiama pushed her chair back and stood up, the phone clipping to the side of her head so she could walk. It looked silly, but wasn’t too uncommon for equines. She started pacing back and forth – Lazuli could barely see her face, but she could tell she was anxious about something. “Okay, just- no, listen, please, I need it. You can’t just- no, listen to me- LISTEN!”

There was another pause. Kiama started to breathe heavily, Lazuli could hear it getting more frantic. “I’ll- okay, okay, just…okay, fine. I’ll get you the money- what? No, I’m not wired, what the fuck do you think I am, a cop?”

Another brief lull, then some garbled speech that Lazuli couldn’t make out, but was quite obviously yelling over the phone. “What, you think I did that?! I was on TV, promoting your shit! MY shit!”

Lazuli shifted, moving her ear so it wouldn’t press so firmly against the metal. “You-“ Kiama stopped, and Lazuli could hear her voice catch in her throat. “You f- you wouldn’t.”

More angry yelling on the phone. “I- there- y-you can’t do that, not when we- wh…what do you mean, take over?”

This time Lazuli couldn’t hear the other end’s words, but she could see Kiama physically stagger at whatever was said. “Y- n-no, wait, I- I’ll- I’ll do it, I said I’ll do it! Just- just don’t- you know you need me!”

“Blackmail?” Steel said. Lazuli made the quietest shushing sound that she could.

“F-fuck, I- whatever I did, I’m sorry!” Kiama swallowed, sitting back in her chair. “I- I didn’t- that wasn’t me, I didn’t call anyone! Y-you- you know you’re the supplier, it’d be s-suicide for me!”

Lazuli turned her muzzle away from the vent, covering it with her hoof and whispering. “The camera’s picking this up, right?”

“Yeah. Turn your mic back.” Steel muttered.

“I’ve-…” Kiama stopped, clearing her throat. “…Okay. I…y-yeah, I’ll be there. Yes, I have the money…” She shakily switched the phone to her other ear as she started typing on the keyboard with her metal hoof. Lazuli couldn’t see it, though. “M-mhm.” Lazuli could tell Kiama was either on the verge of or currently in tears. She felt bad, but she wasn’t about to go down and console her. “I-…Y-yeah, I’ll do it. J-just, don’t…you know…”

A much longer pause, this time. Lazuli was sitting in silence for half a minute, listening to Kiama gently sniffling. “Y-yeah.” Kiama finally said. “I uh…I-I can cover that too. And the- what? They got the- sh-shit…none of it had my name on it, right? …R-right, yeah, I understand, sorry…”

Lazuli gritted her teeth. Kiama stood back up again. “Okay, I’ll, uh…I-I’ll meet you there um…t-tomorrow, right? Okay…good, yeah.” Kiama slowly removed the phone from her ear, then placed it down on the desk. Once the connection was severed, she fell back in her chair, covering her face with her hooves and openly starting to sob.

“Gods…” Lazuli murmured.

“Okay. You’re probably not going to get anything from the actual office…” Steel said slowly. “But the recordings should be enough. Unless you want to risk talking to her.”

“That’s literally the worst idea.” Lazuli said as quietly as she could. “I’m going now.”

“Wait.” Steel stopped her before she started to move again. “Is there any way you could get her to maybe…alert the authorities about whatever it is she’s doing? Clearly it’s not willing.”

“Is this really the time to formulate a plan?” Lazuli whispered angrily, backing up a bit so her muzzle wasn’t right near the grate. “If I drop down there she’ll call security. If I drop a note she’ll call security. If I do anything except leave the building she’ll call security.”

“She’d recognize you, though…”

“Ohhhh no. Don’t even go down that road. I’m not dropping down and just casually starting up a conversation hoping she doesn’t hit the security button just because she sees I have pretty eyes.”

“Well I’d call them terrifying, but whatever Cirrus says.”

“Shut your mouth. I’m leav…” Lazuli said, then slowly looked down through the grate again. She saw Kiama pulling open the drawer of her desk, her metal hoof grasping an L-shaped black object.

“Fuck.” Lazuli said out loud, then kicked down with her forelegs. The vent cover fell, she caught it with her hoof, and dropped down on top of it. The floor was carpeted, so she didn’t need to worry about noise as she dropped, knocked the firearm out of Kiama’s hand and tightly wrapped one leg around her mouth so she wouldn’t scream while she pulled the chair away from the desk to stop any alarms from being triggered. While she held her, Lazuli pulled her mask away with her tail.

Kiama tried to bite down on Lazuli’s leg, but the fabric of her suit made it impossible for it to do anything. Lazuli made sure to hold down her metal leg, which was easier said than done. “Lazuli, that was stupid, but you can work with this.” Steel said.

Lazuli tightened her grip. “Just calm down, I’m not gonna hurt you.” She said quietly. At the sound of her voice, Kiama’s struggling slowed, then came to a stop, her ear twitching. She muffled something into Lazuli’s suit, but of course she couldn’t hear it. “Now I’m going to let go of your head. Don’t try to yell or hit any buttons, I’m not here to hurt you.” Lazuli said as firmly as she could. “Understand?”

Kiama nodded her head. Lazuli slowly released her grip, and the zebra gasped openly as she took in fresh air. Almost immediately, she looked back over her shoulder with a look of disbelief. “…I- wait, Lazuli?” Her cheeks were stained with tears, and as her left leg was released, she started to wipe her eyes clean.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Lazuli said begrudgingly. “You did give me your office card.” She tried to quip, but it didn’t quite resonate with Kiama, who still looked bewildered.

“But- how did- were you in the ceiling?”

“The vent.” She nodded.

“And- wait, you- did you hear-“

Lazuli nodded again.

“And…a-and you’re with the-“

Though she wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say, she nodded again.

Kiama paused…and her eyes trailed to the gun that had been knocked away in the corner. Lazuli used her tail to turn it away from there. “Not an option.” Lazuli said firmly. “Listen. Whatever’s going on, I can help keep you safe. I just need you to tell me exactly what’s happening. If it’s serious enough that you’d rather die than keep going on with it, clearly you need help.”

“B- how did you get here? Where did- what’s the suit for? I-…I’m so confused…”

“Kiama, this is important. Are you in danger?”

“I-…”

“Are you in danger, right now? If you stayed here, or if you went to whatever meeting you were talking about, would you be in danger?”

“I-…” Kiama swallowed, then slowly nodded. “Y-yes.”

“Bring her to Canterlot.” Steel said firmly.

“Wh- hold on a second, Kiama.” Lazuli leaned away slightly, though she kept hold of her metal limb. “What are you talking about? You expect me to fly from Manehatten to Canterlot with a mare on my back?”

“Well you can’t leave her here. Regardless of if she’s involved in what’s going on at the warehouse or not, she’s clearly tied up with some kind of criminal activity and needs to be protected.”

“I can’t take her to Canterlot without going through the train, and that’s in public.”

“Okay…okay. Lazuli, take her to your hotel room.”

“Your ideas are getting worse every time you speak.”

“Take her to your hotel room. No one will know she’s there. Just keep her there until I can send a few ponies to safely escort her to Canterlot. Okay?”

“What about just-“ Lazuli inhaled deeply. “No. Fucking- no. I’m not bringing her, when she’s in danger, to a place where my civilian wife is.”

“Lazuli, you have to. Actually…ask her when that meeting of hers is.”

“Kiama,” Lazuli turned to the zebra. “When is that meeting?”

“Wh- oh, you heard…um…w-well it’s tomorrow. Some time after 5…”

“PM?”

“Y-yeah. PM.”

“Okay. Here’s what you do, Lazuli. Leave her here now, take that gun away from her so she doesn’t try to do anything stupid. I’ll send that team out right now, so they can get there before noon tomorrow and get her out of there safely. Can you tell her that?”

“Kiama.” Lazuli said again. “Listen to me. I can get you away from all this, but you need to do exactly as I say.”

“Y-you can?” Kiama seemed to perk up.

“I can. But here’s what I need you to do. Act like none of this happened. Do your work, go home, whatever it is you do every night, but make sure you’re here in this office before noon. We’re going to have some ponies sent up here to get you out safely, and put into…”

“Protective custody, call it protective custody.” Steel said.

“Protective custody.” Lazuli repeated. “You’ll be safe. Publicity will be taken care of, your company will go to the second in command. You have one, right?”

Kiama just nodded.

“Okay, good. So do you understand me? None of this,” She said, picking up the gun and unloading the magazine, pulling back the barrel to unload the bullet in the chamber before tucking it into one of her pockets. “You’ll be safe. I promise, nothing bad will happen to you.”

“O-okay…” Kiama swallowed shakily. Lazuli knew what a terrified mare looked like, and Kiama fit the bill perfectly. “I-…I don’t really know why you’re d-doing this, but thank you, Lazuli…”

“I just want you to be safe.” Lazuli smiled gently, then looked towards the window. “I’m going to go now, okay? Remember, just…do what you normally do, but do not go to that meeting. Just stay here, and everything will be taken care of.”

Kiama nodded again. “Th…thank you.”

“I would say you should guard her until then,” Steel said, “But that’s risky. As long as she doesn’t arouse suspicion until tomorrow, we’ll be fine.”

“No problem.” Lazuli gently placed a hoof on Kiama’s shoulder. “I’ll see to it personally that you’re safe and sound. Okay?”

“O-okay.” Kiama nodded for a third time. “I…I’ll hold you to that.” She tried to joke, sniffling and rubbing her eye with a hoof.

Lazuli walked over to the spot below the vent, stepping up onto the desk with her forelegs. “Stay safe, Kiama.” She smiled, then hopped back into the opening and crawled into the ceiling in a way that probably wouldn’t have been nearly as awkward if she had gone out the window, but that wasn’t an option.

“You did good there, Laz.” Steel commended her. “Saving her was the right move. We’ll make sure she’s okay, and hopefully she might lead us somewhere.”

“Make the first part the priority.” Lazuli said, climbing through the vent so she could get back to the roof and fly to Bronclyn.

Chapter 7

Lazuli was glad to see that there was no big story on the news about Kiama being taken from her building, or of her being shot or something similarly disheartening. Instead, she received a report from Steel that everything was going smoothly and Kiama would be escorted by armoured carriage to Canterlot, just in case. Lazuli, meanwhile, would head home with Cirrus on the train, and arrive in the city hours after Kiama had gotten there.

Cirrus was filled in when she woke up that morning, but Lazuli left out some of the more specific details. Cirrus was just happy to hear that Kiama was safe, it seemed, and Lazuli was as well in all honesty. They had to take some extra time to put away Cirrus’ dresses, at which point Lazuli briefly questioned why the dress she wore to the party had fit her perfectly. Cirrus bashfully explained that it was designed for her, but she was waiting for the right time to give it to her as a gift. In return she got a loving kiss and a snide remark about how it looked better on her than on any of the models at the show, which she wholeheartedly agreed with.

The train ride home was mostly Lazuli sleeping, since she barely slept a wink during the night. When they got home, Lazuli made sure they were settled in and Cirrus was unpacked before she flew off to the military base, narrowly remembering to bring her suit with her before she left.

Getting in was quick, she went through the checkpoint, greeted the guard as always, then flew up to the command center where Steel would be. As she landed on the platform meant for pegasi and other flying operatives, Steel was already there to greet her, wearing his black and heavily decorated uniform as usual.

“Laz, glad you came as soon as you could.”

“Yeah, I came as soon as I c- oh.” Lazuli scrunched her muzzle slightly as she looked up to meet his gaze.

“I’d love to do small talk and whatnot, but I need you to come down to where we’ve got Kiama. Don’t worry, she’s not in a cell, but…I think you should talk to her.”

“Why’s that?” Lazuli looked up again, already starting to walk beside him as they headed inside, with Steel leading her down a flight of stairs and into a hallway comprised mainly of soundproofed rooms they used for briefings.

“She just seems more comfortable with you, probably because you were the one who stopped her from uh…you know.” He tried to gesture it without being inconsiderate, then gave up. “Ahem…but we think if anyone will get the most information out of her, it’s you. We don’t want to interrogate her – as far as we know right now, she’s a victim, not a criminal.”

“Right. So…what should I ask her about?”

“Mainly Ayize, and what she’s got on her. Er…what Ayize has on Kiama, I mean. We need to know what she’s blackmailing her with.”

“Right…and anything else she knows too, I assume.”

“Yes, get what you can. She’s really worried about her uh…business…” He scratched his chin with a wing. “Trouble is though, based on what we’ve heard I’m not really sure if her business will be able to stay around much longer.”

“Eesh…criminal ties?”

“A lot, we think.” Steel nodded slowly. “It’s a shame, she actually seems to believe in the core of her own message, but…looks like she went the wrong ways to get the funding. Or…she funded the wrong scientists.”

“Alright, I’ll find out what I can.” Lazuli stopped at the door that Steel indicated, nodding her head at it. “Is this the one?”

“Yeah. She’s mostly calm right now, but be gentle. I know you’re uh…not the greatest conversationalist, but try not to come off as overbearing. And if you’re wondering why she still has her metal hoof in, we thought it was a good idea to remove it but…it’s connected at the nerves, can’t remove it without surgery and well…we can’t exactly do that for a civilian we’re only questioning for information.”

“I’ll be fine.” Lazuli assured him, then slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside. She allowed it to close behind her before she turned to look around.

The room was blank, but she found that it often worked to calm ponies down when they weren’t military personnel. Kiama was sitting at a table at the back, looking down into her lap as she idly traced her left hoof over the surface of her metal one. At the sound of the door closing, she looked up.

“Hey, Kiama.” Lazuli smiled, this time genuinely.

“Lazuli?” Kiama stood up, also smiling. “Oh, by the gods, I’m glad to see you.” She closed the distance between them quite quickly, rearing up on her hinds to wrap her forelegs around Lazuli in a tight hug. “I can’t thank you enough for this. I don’t know what they would have done to me if I…” She trailed off. Lazuli gave her a reassuring squeeze, then nodded.

“I know, Kiama. I couldn’t let anything happen to you, you’ve already been through enough, it looks like.”

“Could say that…” Kiama nodded, sighing heavily. “I uh…I guess they want you to talk to me about um…her, right?”

“It’s not so much what they want me to talk to you about,” Lazuli said, sitting down on the chair on the other side of the table and letting Kiama sit down across from her. “It’s what I need to know. I want to help you, and to do that I need information.”

“I- I’ll tell you whatever you need.” Kiama said right away. “Just ask.”

“Okay.” Lazuli leaned back, gently placing her forelegs on the table. “The most important thing, I think, is…what does Ayize have on you?”

“Wh- um…what do you mean?”

“Well…on the phone, you were scared. She was threatening you with something. What does she know that makes you loyal to her, or at least…made you loyal to her?”

Kiama shifted nervously in her seat. “I-…um…”

“Take your time.” Lazuli said softly, or as soft as her naturally gruff voice allowed.

“She…well uh…” Kiama took a deep, shaky breath. “The uh…the most obvious one was she threatened to kill me.”

“She did?” Lazuli furrowed her brow. “That’s…wow. Okay…and what else?”

“Well I-…” She darted her gaze to the door, then around the room. “I’m not going to get arrested for any of this, right?”

“I’m going to make sure you’re treated fairly, Kiama. Just tell me, and it’ll be fine.”

“I-…okay, well…I didn’t- I didn’t come up with any of these designs.” She lifted her metal leg, shaking her head. “Not a single one. I just…when I was a filly, I lost this leg, and…I dunno, being young and stupid, I thought I could make some difference…I tried starting all these charities for disabled ponies and zebras but…I knew all the donations were just out of pity. I didn’t have solutions, I didn’t have…” She grimaced. “What Ayize had.”

Lazuli noticed she was wringing her hooves together a lot, and reached across the table to console her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not judging anything.”

“I…” Kiama clenched her eyes shut. “Ayize came to me after a while…she told me…we were so alike,” She said through gritted teeth. “Both lost our limbs…and we were both orphans, but, I mean, at this time we were just past adulthood so we were just adults without families. I…I fell for it, too. I mean, she wasn’t lying, just…”

“She used you.” Lazuli inferred.

“I thought I was using her, if anything. She was…a genius when it came to cybernetics. Her leg…it was metal and wood at the time, but it still worked super well. She told me she could get me one so…of course I said yes, but…”

“It came with strings attached?” Lazuli wondered if she should keep pushing, but it seemed to help Kiama along.

“In both ways.” The zebra nodded. “She- she installed it in her workshop…but um…since she wasn’t a doctor, or even an official scientist, she didn’t have…” Kiama gritted her teeth again. “Anaesthetic…so…I was there for eight hours. I lost my voice screaming after half of one…” Lazuli remained quiet, letting her speak at her own pace. “But…I mean…that much, I got past. It was…excruciating, but…after she was finished, she told me…that she could make the pain go away, or she could make it ten times worse, and she could keep making it worse till I submitted. She said she needed me…but she was the one in charge.”

“Needed a public face.” Lazuli said, moreso reminding herself of what Ayize had said, rather than pushing Kiama along.

“M-mhm.” Kiama nodded. “I made the company. It started out as a charity, but it turned into a for-profit marketing project. Ayize made the schematics, she built the things, she employed the workers and ran the warehouse…I was all about handling the money and publicity. But…Ayize doesn’t want to actually help ponies. She wants the money to further her own research for…other reasons.”

“What reasons?” Lazuli leaned in a bit closer.

“She’s…” Kiama faltered, swallowing nervously. “S-she…she wants to…create the perfect machine. A pony, but…made of metal and nearly unstoppable power. Artificial intelligence, a pony created entirely by her…and entirely subservient to her, while being twice the pony any biological one could ever be.”

“For what purpose?”

“I…I don’t even know. She’s obsessed with robotics. Her own skeleton is lined with metal, she spent twenty years getting that completed. Both of her eyes are cybernetic. Her muscles are strengthened with electrodes to overload them constantly. She’s just…she’s insane. I don’t even know why she wants to create AI, I don’t know. You could tell me she wanted them for world domination, but…knowing her she’d want them just as soon to be a hoof stool. I think she just wants to make them to prove that she can. But…I…know that she wants to use it to increase her funding…”

“What do you mean by that?” Lazuli tilted her head.

“Stealing money. A machine like the one she wants to make, it could do it easily. Break open the vault to a bank and absorb any attempts to take it down while it runs away, untraceable. Then…I don’t even know what she’d do with the money. Probably make an army of them, or create some megaweapon that blows up in her face. I can’t even predict her anymore…”

“Alright. Now…where were you planning to meet her, when I came to your office?” Lazuli asked.

“I-…I don’t know if she’ll be there now, it’s long past the time we agreed but…she was supposed to come to my office. If I wasn’t there, though, I’d imagine she would go to her house…”

“She has a house?” Lazuli sat upright.

“Well…if you want to call it that. It’s a run-down apartment near the warehouse, building 217. I think the room is…348, on the eighth floor.”

“That- that’s extremely helpful.” Lazuli nodded. “Thank you.”

“M-mhm…” Kiama nibbled her hoof.

“Okay…another question.” Lazuli altered her position, leaning in more formally. “Why is it you two look so…”

“Similar?” Kiama finished for her, suddenly locking eyes with Lazuli. “She had surgery done on me.”

“What…?” Lazuli blinked incredulously, the intensity in Kiama’s eyes making her slightly uneasy.

“Laser eye correction to change my eye colour. She cut off the stump of my right leg so that our legs would look just about the same. Made sure I braided my hair the same way, made sure we had the same eyelashes, the same build…”

“But…why?” Lazuli asked, bewildered.

“Two reasons. One, she has a scapegoat. If she gets caught, she tosses me under the bus and runs me over while she drives away with all of my money and my reputation. Two…” She angrily clenched her jaw, her metal leg almost slamming on the table, but she stopped herself. “So she can kill me and take my place if I get out of line.”

“Gods…” Lazuli shook her head. “So…she forcefully altered you to look like her?”

“Mhm.” Kiama nodded. “I even have the scar…” She reached up, extending one of the ‘fingers’ from her leg and pulling the fur on her left cheek apart, revealing pink flesh grown over with fur. “Just a bit more covered up, since she sliced my face herself.”

“I’m…so sorry.” Lazuli bowed her head gently, looking down at the table. “Though…no offense, but you certainly don’t look like a dead ringer for her.”

“I never said she did a good job.” Kiama grumbled.

Kiama was silent. So was Lazuli. She wasn’t sure what else to say – or if there even was anything to say.

“You’re going to kill her, right?”

“What?” Lazuli looked up. Kiama’s face was stern.

“Ayize. You’re going to kill her, right?”

“Kiama…that’s not how it works. We don’t just kill someone because they’ve committed a crime. I know what she did to you is horrible, but she needs to be treated fairly.”

“Killing her is the only fair treatment.” Kiama said, staring emptily at the table.

“I understand you feel that way.” Lazuli placed a hoof on Kiama’s. “But that’s not my call to make, okay? Right now it’s out of my hooves.”

Kiama didn’t respond for a few seconds. “…Thank you.” She finally murmured. Lazuli could tell from the way she retracted that she wasn’t going to get anything more out of her.

As Lazuli exited the room, she found Steel leaning against the wall. He almost looked comical, with his back to the wall and even sitting down Lazuli only reached his neck.

“You were listening, right?” Lazuli asked.

“Yeah.” Steel nodded slowly. “Too bad you didn’t get anything about any other hideouts, but…”

“Yeah.” Lazuli shrugged. “But we’ve got enough.”

“Yeah. You know what to do.”

“You’re sending me to check out the apartment?”

“You snuck past her once. You can do it again, right?”

“Mmmh…alright.” Lazuli grumbled to herself. “Could’ve stayed in Manehatten…”

Chapter 8

At this point Lazuli wondered if she should have taken a break between trips. She had flown to Manehatten from Canterlot, then flown around the city itself quite a bit, and now she was flying there again. By the time she reached the city her wings were aching, but she was at least glad to have not run into any bad weather. Then again, she would have been a fool to let weather catch her off guard, given it was entirely predictable all the time.

Her flight took her to Bronclyn, just as before. Her earpiece was in, but she had it muted so she could concentrate. Given she was going into an apartment building with closed quarters, she imagined she would need to keep an ear out for any movement. As she landed on top of the apartment building – which was only eight stories high in total, she realized – she noticed that the building had a landing pad on top. Immediately that set off alarms in her head. It wasn’t normal, and none of the buildings nearby had one…especially not with an airship, its dual rotors sitting still, already landed on it. She made a note to keep an eye out when she was leaving before she opened the door on the rooftop and ducked inside.

Lazuli’s earpiece buzzed. Before she stepped out of the stairwell, she unmuted it. “Yeah?”

“Listen, I’m not gonna say anything more ‘cause I know you need quiet, but Kiama told me that it’s possible Ayize might not be there. If she isn’t, just try to see what you can find.”

“Got it.” Lazuli tapped the side of her earpiece to mute it once more, leaving her in silence.

It was nighttime again, so she supposed it made sense that there was no noise in the building, but it still unnerved her. Even though her suit silenced the sound of her hooves against the wood floor, it still creaked beneath her weight. The building was old, the walls cracked and moldy – in fact, it looked as though the building was abandoned, but they had checked it out in advance and found it was still active. Just not maintained, Lazuli thought to herself.

She began to move down the hallway as slowly and quietly as possible. 345…346…347… Lazuli counted the rooms mentally, then stopped at 348. The door was heavily bolted, she could tell, with one deadbolt and another lock that looked like something from a bank vault. “Shit…” She muttered to herself, then looked up and down the hall. She slowly kneeled down, working her tail into the space between the door and the frame, her tail blade slowly working to cut through the first deadbolt. The blade was sharp enough to cut metal, but not too much, or it would break from how thin it was. She managed to cut through the first lock, but the second one, which was secured with three separate bolts, would be more of an issue.

Lazuli frowned, then slowly worked her tail back into the space, turning her body to the side. She stared to push as hard as she could, shifting the door just enough that the bolts slid out of place. Then she pushed the door back, letting it swing inwards with a gentle but audible creaking sound. Immediately she cocked an ear, listening for any signs of movement or attempts at escape.

Hearing none, she pushed it open just enough to slide in. She unlocked the door and closed it, just in case anyone walked by, before looking around. There was no sign of movement, but the room was…excessively cluttered. What should have been a living room had been turned into a tech hub, with one main computer sitting at the far end along with a series of workbenches. Hanging over the desks were diagrams and cork boards filled with papers, and littering the floor and virtually every surface were metal contraptions – some obviously prosthetics, some more complex or not even close to finished.

The walls seemed to have been knocked away, as well, to open the room entirely. The only sign that it was a living space at all was the small bed way in the back, and the kitchen, which was only somewhat separate. Lazuli wouldn’t have been surprised if the cutting board was used to slice metal.

As she shut the door behind her, she became aware of how hot it was. There had to be a ten degree difference between the outside and the room, but for Lazuli it wasn’t much of an issue. She was cold-blooded, so more heat was good, really.

Determining that Ayize wasn’t in the room, she straightened up and began to search it properly, while always keeping an ear out for any movement that wasn’t hers. She walked over to the workbenches, and started looking through the diagrams and plans that were laid out.

Picking up one paper, scrawled in hoofwriting that definitely looked like a madmare’s, she started to read through it.

3:42 AM. Made enormous discovery. Prototype appears to show mental activity while deactivated – neural waves consistent with dreaming. Reminder to ask him about dreams when he is activated again.

“Research notes…” Lazuli mumbled out loud. Probably has to do with that AI…

Another paper had a longer entry.

8:47 PM. Subject appears to understand humour, though he can’t reciprocate it. His mannerisms are still completely robotic and subservient – shows no sign of resistance or internal questioning at all. I’ll need to see if I can train him, and if not, I’ll need to re-work his programming so he’s less…programmed.

Lazuli used her earpiece to take pictures of everything on the desk, and on the wall. She didn’t have the time, she imagined, to look through each one, but she saw all kinds of diagrams that looked even more frightening each time she looked at them. One of them even looked like a very intricate sketch of the robotic leg she had seen on one of the guards at the warehouse, with a built-in shotgun that was loaded with shells through the elbow. Another showed a terrifying looking contraption attached to a hoof, comprised of two sparkling prongs that seemed to rotate in circles to generate electricity in the air before firing it at a target.

She took pictures of as many as she could, before moving along to the corner where things seemed more scattered. There was an unfinished prosthetic leg, one that was open and showing the circuitry – she took a picture of that too, before looking up at the diagram and notes above it.

This one is for Kiama. Hopefully she understands the opportunity I’m giving her, but if she doesn’t…this’ll let me keep tabs on her, at least.

“Keep tabs on her…” Lazuli said out loud, again. Tracking device? She started looking through the plans for it, before her eyes focused in on one part of it, right in the middle of the hoof.

Microphone + video camera.

Lazuli blinked, then looked down at the prototype on the table. There was the little pinprick in the middle, with a camera…but it didn’t quite make sense. It was silly to put the camera in her hoof, then most of the footage would just be glimpses of the ground as she walked, or her desk when she was sitting down. On closer inspection, though, the camera was actually in the knee, and the microphone was the one under the hoof.

She shook her head. It looked like she had pulled Kiama out at the right time…

But then she looked down at another note. These ones are higher quality than the ones her current model has.

Lazuli’s ears pinned back slightly. Was that implying she already had a microphone and a video camera in her hoof? But there was no way Ayize had the technology to receive a live feed…the military could barely do it as it was.

It was at that moment that Lazuli’s ear wiggled, and she just barely moved in time.

She felt the whistle of air past her head as a heavy object smashed into the table in front of her, and she ducked out of the way, rolling upright to face what she presumed would be Ayize – but it wasn’t. Instead she found herself staring at the zebra she had seen her with in the warehouse, the male, with his heavy metal wings and glowing green eyes.

“You.” The zebra growled. His heavily synthesized voice was even more overbearing in the closed quarters of the apartment. Lazuli watched him pull his hoof back, his head turning to fully look at her, meeting her gaze with a scowl. “You’ve poked your nose into the wrong place, Dracony.”

“Stand down.” Lazuli demanded, lifting her tail over her head like a scorpion’s, ready to strike. “This doesn’t need to get bloody.”

“The only one in this room who bleeds is you.” The zebra stepped forward with a menacing thunk of a hoof that was far too heavy landing on the wood floor. “And I’ll ask you to stand down.”

“That’s not happening.” Lazuli backed up slightly. Apparently, the zebra didn’t see the need for any further attempts at coercion, so he simply charged at her. Based on the sheer intensity of his steps she could tell he would hit hard, so she dodged to the side as he tried to ram into her. the one window in the room was right behind her, so she could see what he was trying to do.

The zebra stopped at the window, then reached down and grabbed hold of a wrench in his hoof. He swung his leg forward, hurling it towards Lazuli, and she narrowly avoided it as it shot past her head and embedded itself halfway in a wall. She suddenly felt much more uneasy as he came in for another hit, this time rearing up on his hinds and swinging at her face.

Lazuli dodged one, but was forced to bring her front hooves up to block the second hit. Immediately a wave of pain shuddered through her legs, his hoof feeling like solid steel smashing into her. She managed to push him back, then jumped back a bit herself to avoid him. She knew fighting him in closed quarters like this was almost definitely a losing battle, so she ran for the door and threw it open, dashing out into the hallway.

Her opponent was quick on her tail – literally, as she felt his teeth bite down on her tail and swing her into the wall. She got the air knocked out of her lungs as her back hit the concrete, coughing out a fair amount of saliva and dropping to the ground. She recovered as quick as she could, moving her head to the side to avoid another powerful kick from his front leg.

“I could crush your skull easily.” The zebra taunted, his eyes whirring and spinning like a camera lens as they focused on her when she started to stand up. “Give up, and maybe Ayize will let you live when she returns.”

“Where is she now?” Lazuli wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. She quickly rubbed it on her suit to hide the face that she had spat up blood.

“Leaving. The airship will be taking off soon.”

“Airs-“ Lazuli’s head whipped around to look at the staircase leading to the roof. She started to run for it, but the zebra grabbed her tail again. This time, though, she used it to her advantage, catching him off balance and yanking her tail forward. She pulled him through the air, lifting up both hind legs and slamming them into the zebra’s chest with as much strength as she could. She imagined if he was as heavily augmented as he looked, it wouldn’t keep him down long, but she didn’t need long.

Throwing open the door at the top of the stairs, she nearly skidded to a halt when she saw the airship taking off. It was small, and she hadn’t fully taken in the size when she had landed. Clearly it was only meant for a few ponies, and given that the pony in the cockpit didn’t look like Ayize, she knew she had to be in the back. She stopped herself from losing her momentum, kicking off the ground with her hind legs and spreading her wings to take off after it, but as she launched into the air she felt a heavy weight strike her in the stomach.

Lazuli was knocked off course, tumbling from the air and back onto the roof with a wheeze. The synthetic zebra had struck her with his head, but seemed unfazed as he charged at her again. This time, though, since they weren’t in such an enclosed space, she found it much easier to counter him.

With a growl in the depths of her throat, she twisted herself onto her back. As he swung his hoof to strike her, she locked her hind legs around his foreleg and heaved him overtop of her, slamming him onto the ground and rolling on top of him. He quickly turned to throw her off, but she landed firmly on all fours by the time he had picked himself back up. He went in to attack her again, but she ducked to the side, her tail swinging forward and plunging itself deep into the core of his body, a fatal blow for any normal pony.

But Lazuli hadn’t realized that her opponent was entirely synthetic. If she had, she might have tried aiming for the head, but instead she just got a powerful jolt of electricity through her body. She yanked her tail back, watching as the zebra jerked and spasmed, his circuitry heavily damaged.

Her attention turned back to the airship. It was already quite a distance away, but she knew she could catch up with it. Spreading her wings, she took off again, putting enough distance between herself and the struggling synthetic zebra that she didn’t have to worry about him grabbing her. She kept heavily pumping her wings as she flew to meet it, already activating the magnets on her hooves as she approached. Once she was close enough she latched onto the side, stabbing her tail into the handle of the door and wrenching it open. Briefly, she was overcome with a sense of deja-vu, before she swung into the airship itself.

Lazuli was both surprised and not at all surprised to see that it was only Ayize in the back of the vessel. The zebra sat at the very back, idly running a hoof along her metal limb, her mane still styled in her messy mohawk and her eyes slowly turning towards Lazuli. “I was wondering how long it would take you.” She said, locking her gaze with Lazuli’s.

“Don’t try anything.” Lazuli growled, slowly stepping forward. The wind outside the airship was whipping past, the makings of a storm, Lazuli realized – so she dragged the door shut behind her, both to stop the wind and to keep Ayize from running. “You’re coming with me.”

Ayize threw both hooves up in the air in an exaggerated gesture. “Oh no, please don’t hurt me, I’ve done nothing!”

“Yeah, okay.” Lazuli reached forward to take hold of the zebra’s leg.

As her hoof made contact with Ayize, though, it phased right through her. Ayize’s form rippled, bright blue glitching appearing in her body was Lazuli pulled back, staring incredulously. She only then realized there were projectors in all four corners of the ship, pointed at the spot Ayize was sitting.

“Aw…poor pony didn’t get there in time, I’m already a ghost.” Ayize’s hologram gave her a cocky smirk, then put both hooves out to the sides and shrugged. “By the way, you might want to turn around.”

Lazuli blinked, and glanced over her shoulder. The door to the cockpit was open, and as she poked her head through, she saw there was no pilot in the seat – in fact there wasn’t a seat at all. She saw two more projectors, presumably they had been projecting the image of the pilot in the window so she thought there had been one.

She looked back. Ayize’s hologram just sat there, suddenly flickering to a different position with herself lying flat on the seats, idly fiddling with her leg. Pre-recorded? Lazuli thought to herself, then slipped into the cockpit to look around.

The controls were being handled by the computer, it looked like. She tried holding the joystick, just to see, but it was completely under the control of the vessel itself. “But where’s it going to…” Lazuli thought out loud, searching the console for some kind of indication.

She didn’t find any, but she did find a countdown, nearing 15 seconds. “Hope you got here in time, or this is a huge waste of an airship.” Ayize’s hologram said.

Her eyes blinked several times to take in what that meant – and then she immediately bolted. Mentally, she counted down – ten seconds, now, as she exited the cockpit and pulled open the door. Five seconds. She stumbled as the harsh weather buffeted her face, spreading her wings and nearly getting thrown back into the airship in the process. Two seconds. She finally forced herself out the door…

And she barely got five feet away from the ship before it exploded. The heat was what hit her first, then the sound, then the blast itself. The heat from the explosion seared the back of her suit almost entirely off, and her wings faltered at the force of it. She was thrown several dozen feet through the air, her vision swimming and her senses dulled from the impact and the sheer noise. She tried to right herself, but now she couldn’t even figure out which way was up or where the ground was. Sent into a tumbling freefall from a height that only the computer on the ship knew, she blacked out entirely from the spinning motions.

Chapter 9

Lazuli’s eyes snapped open only a few seconds after blacking out, but that barely gave her enough time to take in what she was looking at. The ground was approaching fast, and the best she could do was to flare out her wings to slow her descent. Luckily the airship seemed to have moved far enough away that she ended up landing in a park, her fall broken somewhat by the trees and bushes. It was still a painful landing, one that didn’t really have a good angle to approach at, but she slowed herself enough that she managed to land on all fours.

Or, in a messy way, she landed on all fours. Each of her hooves hit the ground, but the momentum of gravity carried her head-over-hooves and sent her rolling several feet before she came to rest on her back, staring up at the canopy. Her head jerked to the side as a scorched piece of metal hit the ground a few feet away, crashing through the trees and coming to rest in a ditch. Lazuli picked herself up as quickly as she could, breathing heavily and only then realizing that rain was beginning to fall.

Shaking her head to clear the dizziness, Lazuli tapped at her earpiece to unmute it, coughing a bit and rubbing at her eyes. Her body felt heavy. “Steel?” She rasped, then coughed to clear her throat. “Steel, you there?”

“Laz!” Steel’s response was almost instant. “By the sun, are you okay? Emergency calls are going crazy, scrambling with the signal. What happened?”

“I’m-“ Lazuli briefly disassociated with the world, going completely silent and staring into the distance with her eyes crossed before blinking away her confusion. “I-…yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sound disoriented.”

“No, I’m-…uh, can you…GPS track me, real quick?”

“Uh…sure.” Steel was quiet for a moment, then responded, “You’re on the outskirts of the city. How’d you get there?”

“Long story…” Lazuli wheezed, her chest feeling tight. She reached back, feeling at the back of her suit – it was scorched off completely, so she tugged at it to pull it off of her and take the whole thing off. As she properly remembered what had happened, though, she forced herself to be alert. “Ayize wasn’t at the apartment.”

“I heard everything until you got to the roof. Think something fried your microphone.”

“Yeah, okay, we can talk details later. Clearly she expected us to be there.” Lazuli straightened up, wincing at the dull throbbing in her left foreleg. “And clearly she was trying to distract us from something. That means she’s trying…something, and probably soon. You’ve got an eye on Kiama, right?”

“We received your pictures. Turns out the radio antenna for the microphone in her leg is actually part of her body, so we put her in a radio-silence cell for now.”

“Just make sure she’s safe, and that she doesn’t do anything.” Lazuli said firmly, then shook her whole body off, feeling rain pattering on her back – which admittedly felt good. Her wings still worked, though they were quite achy. “I need to- I need to find her.”

“Laz, you don’t have any leads. Just come back here and we’ll figure out what to do from there. If she’s bold enough to try to blow up a government operative, and smart enough to rig an airship up purely to trap you, she’s definitely not where we’d be able to easily find her.”

“Right…right.” Lazuli put a hoof to her forehead, her ears still slightly ringing. Or at least, she thought they were, until she realized the static sound was coming from her earpiece. “Steel?” She said, but got no response.

Thinking it was broken, Lazuli reached up and took it out of her ear. The antenna seemed to be working, and it wasn’t sparking at all, but the sound told her otherwise. As she put it back in her ear, she tried to speak again. “Steel, can you hear me?” The voice that responded wasn’t Steel’s, but it wasn’t really familiar to her. It sounded synthesized, put through some machine to make it sound different.

“You know…Draconies in Canterlot are the most at risk than any other city in Equestria.” The voice said. “Violence, defamation…murder…” It went on. “It’s gotten better in recent years, hasn’t it? I think a certain Emerald Cutter helped with that…it’s too bad her name’s being dragged through the mud by her offspring.”

Lazuli’s nostrils flared. “Who is this?”

“Though you can’t always expect to keep these events to complete zero.” The voice continued, not listening to Lazuli, or simply not caring. “There’s always going to be a few…creatures, who will be angry. Who might want revenge on them…maybe for ruining something they spent just about their whole life on.”

Lazuli’s slitted pupils shrank. “What are you saying?”

“Another random, senseless act of violence…such a shame, really.” The voice cut off abruptly, and Lazuli was bombarded with Steel’s concerned voice.

“Lazuli? Lazuli! Can you hear me?”

“Steel, who was that?”

“Who was what?” Steel asked, incredulously.

“…I…Steel, send someone to my house. Right now.”

“What?”

“Do it now, Steel!” Lazuli’s wings flared out and she took off, flapping as hard and fast as she possibly could. She cared little about the rain pouring down, or the thunder crackling above. She didn’t even notice as her earpiece, which she had hastily jammed back into her ear, slipped out and dropped to the ground below her. She just needed to get home.

Lazuli realized about halfway through her flight that she had lost her earpiece. She didn’t care about that at the moment, though – she just kept flying, her suit having been folded up in mid-flight and slung over her back. Her breathing was ragged by the time she reached Canterlot, her vision swimming with colours that shouldn’t have been there and spots that didn’t exist as she nearly crashed into the front door of her house. Wheezing and trying to catch her breath – and attracting confused looks from a few onlookers, particularly since she was wet and out of breath despite it being sunny in the city – she fished her keys out of her pocket and threw the door open.

“Cirrus?!” Lazuli yelled, her heart pounding and the adrenaline still coursing through her system.

“Lazuli?” Cirrus’ voice greeted her, putting her mind at ease. She allowed herself to breathe properly.

“Babe, are you okay?” She stepped into the kitchen, still breathing hard and slightly damp from the rain. “Did anyone stop by?”

“Oh, yeah!” Cirrus called back. “A guard did, asked if everything was alright. I told him it’s fine – is something wrong?” As Lazuli turned the corner, though, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Sitting at the kitchen table with a smile as wide as a crocodile’s was a zebra. The zebra looked like Kiama – same mane, same slightly hidden scar, same coat and same missing leg, but even Lazuli in her hopped-up state could see it wasn’t her. The primary indicator was the claws sported from her hoof as she idly traced them along the table.

“Lazuli!” The zebra smiled widely, standing up from her seat with a happy giggle. “I was wondering when you’d get back. Sorry for dropping in so suddenly, they let me go just this morning.”

“No they d- Cirrus, come over here.”

“Hm?” Cirrus, who was standing on her hind legs near the counter and cutting something on the board, turned her head to look at her wife. “Geez, Laz, what happened? You look like you ran ten marathons.”

“Cirrus. Come here.” She said more sternly, her eyes locked on the other mare as she slowly strolled around the kitchen island, her smile still eerily present.

“Lazuli, calm yourself.” Cirrus coughed a little. “I’m chopping raw meat, I can’t hug you right now.”

“Cirrus, I’m telling you to get away from her right now.”

“What?” Cirrus turned around properly, though the kept her slightly wet hooves away from the other surfaces in the room. “Laz, what’s wrong?”

“Lazuli, please, I’m just here for a minute. Do you want me to leave?” ‘Kiama’ tilted her head, as if confused.

“Get out of my house.” Lazuli’s jaw clenched tightly.

“Lazuli!” Cirrus blinked, at first looking appalled, then concerned. “…Wait…what’s the matter, Laz?” She knew better than to not trust her wife, but she couldn’t figure it out.

“I’m sure she’s just a bit tired, Cirrus.” The zebra reached up with her metal hoof, placing it on Cirrus’ shoulder – but purposefully making it so the bottom of her hoof pointed at the side of her head.

Lazuli’s vision narrowed. Sound practically became non-existent except for the subtle click coming from the visitor’s hoof. Her hind legs kicked off the tile ground, her folded up suit flying from her back and her wings stretching out as she lunged towards both mares, her forelegs aimed at the now insanely grinning mare. She saw gears turning, she heard the low laugh of a madmare pulling the trigger without even looking at what she was shooting.

BANG.

Lazuli struck down the zebra, tackling her over the island and knocking her to the ground. The sound of the gun firing was deafening, making Lazuli’s ears ring in the closed quarters while she pinned Ayize down. At first she couldn’t make out a sound, her ears slowly returning to normal before she lifted her tail over Ayize’s chest. “You’re damn lucky I was here, or we’d both have murder on our hooves.” Lazuli growled.

“Ooooh…poor choice of words, Lazuli.” Ayize’s piercing blue eyes glared into Lazuli’s. “You might want to catch her.”

“Wh-“ Lazuli turned her head to the side.

Cirrus stood there, still on her hind legs, tail against the counter to prop herself up. At first Lazuli couldn’t tell a thing was wrong – until she noticed her wife’s blood-shot eyes, wide and staring, but not actually able to see. A gaping hole in the side of her head poured with blood, and as Lazuli’s gaze focused on her, she started to fall forward.

“CIRRUS!” Lazuli yelled, loud enough that it could be heard through the windows left open to let fresh air cool down the house. She let go of Ayize in an instant, her hooves outstretched to catch the falling mare and stop her from hitting the ground. She barely heard the sound of hooves scuffing against the tile floor and the subtle cackling of her adversary, her senses completely blotted out to everything except her wife. “F-fuck, sweet mother of Polaris- Cirrus?!” Lazuli tried to speak to her, as if she thought there would be a response. She could hear her wife sputtering in choked, struggling gasps, and her first instinct was to try and help her by herself – but she didn’t know how. The only thing she could do was scream, frantically throwing open the front door and yelling for someone to help her.

Lazuli was fairly certain she must have blacked out at some point. She had no idea for how long, and she had no idea what the time had been, or what it was now – she didn’t even know how long she had been sitting in this exact same position, staring blankly at the hospital wall, waiting for someone to come and tell her something.

She had fought, at first. She had even bitten one of the security guards’ legs as she was told she couldn’t follow her wife into the operating room. She had cursed, struggled, eventually to the point that she had to be shackled just so she wouldn’t interfere. Now she sat there, staring, and waiting. She couldn’t even fully comprehend what emotion she was feeling, but she knew she wasn’t expressing it.

The only thing she knew for sure was that ponies had come and gone to the point that the emergency room was now populated by ones completely different from when she had arrived. Even many of the staff had switched out for the night shift.

The doors to the emergency room swung open again. Lazuli didn’t even react, until a pony walked up to her from the side, gently trying to get her attention without touching her. She turned her head, weakly, looking up at them with eyes devoid of energy. It was an unfamiliar unicorn stallion, stood over her with a solemn, but very concerned look.

“Lazuli?” He said quietly. “You okay?”

Lazuli’s instinct was to speak, but her actual reaction was just a wheeze. The doctor – or she assumed he was a doctor – winced slightly – tears had stained the Dracony’s cheeks to the point her coat was no longer white underneath her eyes. He kneeled down, but even then it didn’t quite get him to her level while sitting, so he had to lower his head even further. “Miss Cutter, I’ve got…good news.” He said softly. “From her doctor. Do you want to hear it?”

Lazuli was almost completely drained of energy, but the mention of ‘good’ and ‘doctor’ was enough to get her head raised. She managed a small nod.

“The good news is, Cirrus is alive.” He inhaled. “Not…awake, but she’s alive. And she’s…relatively stable.” He glanced around, keeping his voice low so their conversation was at least somewhat private. “But…um…” It was clear from his demeanor that he was trying to be as considerate as possible.. “Lazuli, he said you can go in, but…I should warn you about one thing.”

“Y-“ Lazuli rasped, then realized she had screamed herself hoarse hours before. “Yeah?”

“The uh…damage…is substantial. She’s bandaged, but…just so you know…”

“I…I-I want…” Lazuli’s voice was hardly a whimper. She had barely ever felt this small in her life. “I-I want to see…my wife…”

“I…” The doctor grimaced, then nodded. “Alright. Just uh…follow the nurse.” He gently nodded towards a mare wearing a stark white outfit near the entrance to the hallway. Before Lazuli got up, he also leaned down and unbuckled the restraints that held her legs together, which had to be put on – albeit nearly ten hours prior.

Lazuli staggered upright. She had barely moved a muscle the entire time she had been in the hospital since they restrained her, so now she was struggling to walk properly. The kind, slightly aged unicorn standing near the door waited patiently, even allowing Lazuli to lean on her while she led her down the hall.

The silence was deafening. The quiet din of the emergency room had at least been something. Sick ponies coughing, a foal with a broken leg quietly mumbling to his mother – those had been something to keep Lazuli’s mind at ease, but now, as they entered a hallway with nothing but the occasional beep of a machine and the sound of hooves on linoleum, her thoughts started to overwhelm her.

What if Cirrus was comatose? What if she never woke up? What if she had amnesia and wouldn’t even remember who Lazuli was? What if she just…had days to live? The thoughts ran wild through her head, to the point that she nearly walked right past the door. A gentle tug on her tail stopped her, the nurse quietly motioning to a door beside her.

Lazuli swallowed. She hadn’t eaten or drank anything in hours, either. Her mouth felt obscenely dry, devoid of the moisture required to swallow anything. As the nurse pushed the door open, she slowly stepped forward. It was like she needed to push past a physical barrier just to get through.

The first thing she saw was the bed. She would have run to it if she had the strength, but she didn’t, so she simply shuffled towards it. Beside the bed was a doctor – she could hardly see what he was. A unicorn, she realized, with blue fur and a black mane. As Lazuli entered, his expression almost insulted her – it was pity. She must have looked pathetic.

“You must be Lazuli.” The doctor’s voice was calm, soothing even. “My name is Doctor Silver Star.” He slowly gestured to a stool beside the bed. “Please, have a seat. You’ll…want to hear this.”

Lazuli wordlessly moved over to the bed. She could hardly even hold back the waves of horror and immense heartache when she saw what was lying there – it was Cirrus, surely, but her head was wrapped in bandages from the muzzle up and she was certainly not awake. The heart rate monitor beeped steadily, though, which gave Lazuli hope.

Once she was sitting down, Silver gently seated himself on a rolling stool a few feet away, holding a clipboard in his hooves. The soft click of the door being shut made Lazuli twitch, but she calmed herself.

“Alright…Lazuli.” Silver’s voice was still slow, methodical. Normally Lazuli would have been annoyed by it, but right now…she needed to take it slow. “Clearly you’ve…seen her injuries. And…given your line of work, I’m sure you know the severity of a head injury of this…” He paused, clearing his throat while searching for the right word. “Nature.”

Lazuli rasped a word that couldn’t be heard. She just nodded her head.

“Your wife is…stable. It took quite a while to extract the bullet, and even longer to repair the damage…but…even unicorn magic can only do so much. I know you’ve probably heard that extracting the bullet is not the best thing to do, but we found that it was putting pressure on her frontal lobe and cutting off blood flow to her upper brain. If we had left it, she would have suffered even worse damage.” He flipped the page on his clipboard over, looking down at it for a few moments before turning his head up and adjusting his glasses. “We…don’t know the full extent of what she might have lost. Right now, we can only hope it was minimal – but there’s a…very high chance that she will suffer some form of brain damage.”

Despite knowing that would be the outcome, Lazuli felt like she had been punched in the chest. Her body even jerked.

“Again, we aren’t sure of…what the damage is. But for right now, you need to be prepared for confusion. Possibly even memory loss. She might have even lost her hearing, or parts of her motor skills.”

Lazuli hardly had any liquid left in her body, yet somehow enough of it pooled together to make tears start to fall.

“I understand it’s very difficult.” Silver moved closer, gently placing a hoof on Lazuli’s shoulder. She didn’t have the energy to pull away. “And at the moment, I’m not quite sure when Cirrus will wake up.” He said honestly. “But, Lazuli, I need you to listen to me.”

Lazuli turned her head up to meet his gaze. Her eyes shimmered with moisture, her cheeks glimmering in the pale moonlight with tears rolling down them.

“No matter what happens when she wakes up, the thing that she needs most is you. She needs you to support her. She needs you to care, and to show that you do.”

Lazuli hadn’t realized she was shaking until just then, as she lifted a hoof to wipe away the tears.

“I understand that you can’t speak.” Silver’s voice was even softer now. “Go and drink some water, get some food. I’ll let you back in whenever you like, and we’ll talk more when you’re properly energized.”

Lazuli didn’t want to leave. Every fibre of her being was telling her to stay, not to leave Cirrus’ side at all – but she desperately needed to drink. She allowed the nurse to take her to the cafeteria, where she sat in the farthest corner she could find and silently ate, staring at the far wall while wordlessly eating.

Chapter 10

Three days had passed.

Lazuli was hardly aware of the passage of time, only really privy to it thanks to the constant comings and goings of other ponies. As much time as she possibly could, she spent with Cirrus. She sat by her bedside, unmoving, or even just staring out the window, like a guard dog who hadn’t been told to leave. Whenever she had to leave, she always stayed just outside the hospital, which was when she realized the whole building was patrolled by guards. Part of her would have thought it was overkill – if it wasn’t her wife.

It was on the third day that someone else came to visit. Neither one of them had any family to speak of, so she was both surprised and completely unsurprised when Steel Resolve walked in, having to duck slightly to fit through the door. As he stepped in, he had a look on his face that Lazuli had rarely seen from him, but her own thoughts didn’t allow a single ounce of care for his feelings.

“…Hi, Laz.” He said. It was clear he wasn’t used to being comforting, or even situations like this. The only real experience he had with death and injury like this was with soldiers or operatives who volunteered knowing it was a possibility – not a civilian who just worked as a resource administrator and seamstress.

“About time you paid a visit.” Lazuli’s nostrils flared. She was sitting in a chair at the side of the bed, but she had made sure she was directly in the way between the door and Cirrus.

“Look, I know you must be-“

“Angry?” Lazuli growled as Steel gently shut the door, or as gently as he could. “Pissed? Fucking mental?” On some level, she knew her temper was a consequence of three days without any sleep, but no other part of her acknowledged it.

“And I know you think I should have-“

“Actually checked, you fucking fat pile of garbage?!” Lazuli’s rage boiled over. Steel was the first pony she had seen in these three days that she was actually angry at – the nurses, the doctors, the workers, they all did their jobs and helped her. Steel, in her eyes, had screwed up; that was putting it kindly.

Steel’s first reaction was anger, but it left his eyes as quickly as it came. Instead he just stood there, letting her get it out.

“You- you sent someone. You…you told them she might be in trouble, right? The fuck did you tell them?! What did you say to them, that they would just turn around at the door and walk away? How did they not even go in far enough to see the mare that was supposed to be in fucking custody sitting in my fucking kitchen, talking to my fucking wife?!” Lazuli, somehow, had backed the large draft horse into a corner, standing up from her chair and advancing towards him. She reared up on her hind legs, firmly planting her front hooves on his chest and glaring him in the eyes, almost nose-to-nose with him. “And you come in here, you walk in with your ears down, all whiny and ready to suck-up, when you fucking got my wife shot?!”

“Lazuli, you need to calm down.” Steel said calmly, though admittedly her demeanor had him on alert. He didn’t stop her from pushing him back, though.

“My WIFE is on that bed!” Lazuli howled, her voice raising several volume levels and her eyes starting to water – which also somewhat burned, since she hadn’t closed them in days. “You put her there! What, did you think I was just gonna get here in a few minutes?!”

“Lazuli, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, well thank fuck for that! Guess it’s all fine then, you lard-ass-“

Lazuli brought her hoof back and punched him, but as her hoof collided with his chest she only managed to hurt herself. Lack of sleep and minimal food and water made her muscles weak. “F-fuck!” She fell back a bit, clutching her hoof.

Steel waited for her to take a few breaths, then spoke calmly. “Lazuli, I understand you’re angry. Okay? I really…really do. If I was in your position-“

“You’ve never been in my position, so don’t start with that shit.” Lazuli’s voice dripped with venom.

“…You’re right, I haven’t. I’ve never been married. I’ve barely ever been in love.” Steel chewed on his lip, trying to formulate the right words to say. “And again…I am sorry. I dropped the ball.”

“You dropped the ball? That’s all you have to say?” Lazuli stood back up, but at least this time she stayed back. “You- I told you- I told you to send someone. They came…they left. They didn’t even go inside, did they?”

“They told me Cirrus seemed perfectly fine. They even stepped inside to make sure she wasn’t being held up or anything. As far as he knew, she was fine.”

“F-fucking-“ Lazuli dropped back onto her chair, holding her head in her hooves. “Just- f-fucking left her…”

“Lazuli, what would you have done, then?”

“Fucking go inside! Check around, make sure nothing’s happening! Who fucking checks one room and says it’s fine when their wife was already panic-calling?!”

“Lazuli, you didn’t tell me what the problem was. You didn’t tell me you got a foreign signal from your radio, you just said to send someone. So I did. And they screwed up.” Steel grimaced, then sat down on the floor. “What else do you want me to say?”

Lazuli staggered back to her hooves, wobbly and uncertain in her balance. “I- I want you- y-you need to say that to her. You fucked her over. Y-you, fuck, I don’t even know what you did to her, she’s not fucking- she’s not even awake!”

“I do owe it to her. But I can’t talk to her now.” Steel shook his head.

“Y-you fucking-“ Lazuli put an arm around his shoulder. “You look at me, and you promise me something.”

“Lazuli, I’m your superior. There’s only so far I’m letting you take this.”

“This isn’t between superior and operative, this is between us.” Lazuli maintained eye contact, her voice raising. “You’re going to promise me, right now, that you’ll tell her you fucked up.”

“I promise.” Steel frowned, clearly not okay with being told what to do. “But I need you to promise me something, too.”

“I don’t owe you shit.”

“No, but you owe it to yourself. You need to go home and get some sleep, Lazuli.”

“Go home?! There’s no fucking way I’m leaving.”

“Laz.” Steel put a hoof on her shoulder this time, pushing her back slightly. “You haven’t slept in days. You barely even eat. The hospital staff told me. You’re not healthy. It’s the only reason I’m even putting up with you right now.” He could tell Lazuli didn’t like that, so he went on. “Do you want this,” He gestured to Lazuli as a whole, “to be what she sees when she wakes up? A paranoid, angry, bitter, sleep-deprived maniac?”

“F-fuck-“

“Yes, I get it. You don’t want to leave. You don’t want to leave her. And I know I fucked up on keeping her safe – but I’ve got a whole squad stationed here. She’ll be protected. Everyone going in and out of this hospital is screened. She’ll be safe, Lazuli.”

“I-I can- I can’t leave-“

“You have to. You won’t sleep here, I know that. Even if they gave you your own room, you wouldn’t sleep. You’d just be here.” He gestured to Cirrus’ bed. “Laz. If you want to be able to greet her when she wakes up – whenever that is, you need to sleep. Go home, Laz.”

“I-I…” Lazuli’s jaw quivered, her eyes watering again. “I-I’ll- but-“

“Lazuli,” He said sternly, gently shaking her. “I promise you right now, I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Lazuli was clearly trying to find some way to keep arguing, but speaking this much was already making her exhausted. She looked out the window. It was getting close to evening…

“Y-you…you…you b-better keep her safe.” Lazuli finally said. She sounded defeated, and Steel picked up on that.

“Everything will be fine, Lazuli.” Steel nodded slowly. “Now go and get some rest.”

For the whole walk home, Lazuli was mentally punching herself, as she had been for the last three days. “Stupid fucking ignorant bitch…” She mumbled, gritting her teeth and stomping her hooves a bit harder with the next step. “Can’t even fucking keep her safe…the fuck were you even thinking, trusting yourself…why’d you even let him talk you into that fucking- coulda sent Manehatten guards in there, but no, fucking send the one bitch who had a god damn wife to keep safe…” She didn’t know why she was speaking out loud, but she didn’t care.

Getting home was hardly a relief. It felt like the place had been abandoned for years. Even as she stepped inside, police tape covered half of her living room, and most of her kitchen. The investigators had virtually stripped the place bare, moving all the furniture after the preliminary tests, swabbing the countertops, even taking knives and pieces of furniture for further study. The upstairs rooms were untouched, though.

As Lazuli stepped into the bedroom, her overwhelming feeling was one of sadness, followed by immense exhaustion. She clutched her forehead as she sat down on the bed.

The house was deathly quiet. Most of the electronic appliances had been shut off at one point or another, so the clocks didn’t show the right time. She dropped the bag that contained her torn suit down on the floor next to the bed.

Lazuli scooted herself into bed. It was all she could do, she thought, to try and sleep. As her head hit the pillow, it wasn’t hard for her eyes to drift shut, but her sleep was anything but restful.

She twisted and turned. Her eyes clenched tightly together, her jaw grinding so her teeth were cracking against each other. The voices from her dreams, which had been so mercifully silent the last few times she had slept, returned with vengeance. She had been avoiding sleep precisely to avoid them – but now they wouldn’t stop.

“So you couldn’t save her either.” They all said in unison, then split apart to heap additional insults on her.

“You’re pathetic.”

“Nothing but a weak-minded child, even all these years later. You put so much trust into a mare you’d never met, to the point you brought her back to where you live.”

“You did this to her.”

“You blame the commander, but he did what anyone would have done. Clearly, you put a death sentence on her head. They abided.”

“You’re just like your parents.”

“You think you can save someone, so you go out and abandon the one thing you love.”

Lazuli clutched both sides of her head with her hooves, curling up in a tight ball and sobbing in the light state of what could be called sleep.

“And you think sitting by her bedside will help? Of course, she’ll forgive you. She has no idea what you’ve done to her. She put all of her trust in you, and you wiped it all away.”

“What a selfish mare.”

“Absolutely disgusting.”

Lazuli’s eyes shot back open. The voices lingered for a few moments longer.

And the zebra walks free…

“No…” Lazuli sat upright. She looked out the window – it was barely any darker than when she had fallen asleep, but suddenly she was overwhelmed with determination. Unhealthy, most likely harmful determination, but determination all the same.

From beside the bed, Lazuli picked up her bag and pulled out her suit. She tugged it up over her body, though thanks to the damage on her back it couldn’t zip up properly. It was secure enough that it wouldn’t fall off, though, so she zipped it halfway up her back and cracked whatever joints needed it.

Once her suit was secure, she walked downstairs. It was even quieter outside, now that most ponies were asleep, but from some houses music could be heard. The town square, far to the south of her, could be heard bustling as well – but right now she was focused on the military base.

I’ll find her…Lazuli thought, shutting the door behind her and starting to walk down the road. I’ll find her. She repeated.

And she was going to be there when Cirrus woke up. She was going to be the first pony she saw. She was going to be able to sit there and tell her that everything would be fine – that Ayize was gone, and she was safe.

Chapter 11

This was normally the part where Cirrus would have told her this was a silly idea, and to take it slow and figure things out before trying to do everything herself. She wasn’t here now, though – a fact that Lazuli only focused on in the sense that she needed to right the wrongs she had inflicted on her beloved, despite having been able to do nothing to stop it in the first place. Some part of her mind tried to tell her that was the case, but every other part was saying this was the only way to make it right.

It wasn’t like Steel could hold her back, or block her from entering the base. His order to sleep hadn’t been an official one, and even if it was, he had no proof she hadn’t. He would have been right in his assumption that her idea of ‘sleep’ was closing her eyes for twenty minutes and then getting up, but she didn’t really care what he thought right now. The base was also twenty minutes away from the city, built into its own part of the mountain and connected by strong metal bridges, so it took her a bit to get there – most of that time was spent brooding.

She walked past the security checkpoint with no greeting to the guard who maintained it. She didn’t even know them – she almost never came in at night, despite most of her missions taking place in the evening or nighttime. She bypassed most of the stations she normally did, her tired eyes focused solely in front of her as she headed to the records room.

At some point her memory completely shorted out. One moment she was walking through the hall, the next she was sitting at a table in the middle of shelves of folders and boxes, the musty smell of mildew and probably rotting wood and paper filling her nostrils. She had pulled whatever files she could find from the shelves that had any relation to Ayize, or her organization – which it turned out, the military had more information about than she previously knew, and it was all within her clearance level. She was glad to have picked up a small cup of coffee on the way in, because it was the only thing keeping her focused, and she hated coffee.

Photos, articles, official reports, arrest warrants and even test scores. All of them littered the table, reminding any normal pony of something out of a deranged stalker’s wall of victims connected with hooftacks and red string, but to Lazuli it was nothing but information. Pure evidence, the likes of which was more than enough to have put Ayize behind bars over ten years ago, and it made Lazuli’s blood boil.

Stemming all the way from when Ayize was only sixteen there were arrest reports and documentation of her excessively anti-social behaviour. Charges ranged from as harmless as shoplifting a loaf of bread to aggravated assault, but most of the time she had gotten off easy; one report even mentioned her disability as a reason for it. Lazuli cared very little for whatever had set the zebra on her path. All she cared about right now was finding her.

But for all the information they had on her, nothing actually would have led anywhere. Any locations and affiliations were more than a year old, and given how Ayize seemingly used different locations every few days from what Lazuli had seen, this wouldn’t help her. After two hours of combing through every folder she could find, she had to seriously resist the temptation to tear everything to shreds whenever it didn’t give her something useful. She nearly did, twice. She once settled for spilling a few drops of coffee on one corner of the paper. “Take that, fucking paper…” Lazuli grumbled to herself, then sipped from her cup again.

Lazuli was uncertain of the time. She wasn’t even sure if it was the same day, anymore. She knew she wasn’t that hungry, so she must have eaten within the last…something hours, she thought to herself, so as long as she wasn’t going to pass out from malnutrition or dehydration she was fine. It got to the point that she had created a second layer of papers on the desk, some of them dropping to the floor, boxes piled at the side of her to replace the already viewed papers once she was done with them. She would have felt bad for whatever pony had to organize all of this when she was done, but she knew these reports were so old they would be disposed of soon anyway.

It unnerved her that there weren’t any recent ones. The latest report of any worth was from over a year ago, and the absolute newest one was in relation to a string of bank robberies that were suspected to be perpetrated by her organization, but with no proof. It was at this point that Lazuli reached the last box she could find, and her last gulp of coffee.

This box was the most recent one, dated just over four months ago. She opened it, not caring very much as papers fell to the floor beneath the weight of the new ones. She started to look through them, leaning on her fabric-covered hoof to keep herself from drifting.

These reports were more about her organization – the criminal one – than Ayize herself, but reading each line had Lazuli growing more and more awake. She was realizing, with this one set of folders, that Ayize had far more at her disposal than she realized.

The first folder was all pictures. Each one made Lazuli more frantic. First, a picture of a weapons cache found in an old warehouse of theirs. Heavy weapons, the caliber of which was more than enough to shred through armour. The next one showed airships, an entire hangar of them, or at least an entire hangar’s worth, hidden in a secluded facility in the forest. The pictures went on to show more weapons, military-quality armour, equipment and even some odd contraption that Lazuli assumed had to be an invention of Ayize’s, some sort of exoskeleton that the notes mentioned would fit an equine form perfectly, while bolstering strength and speed.

The report when on to document how they couldn’t determine where Ayize was getting all of her resources, not to mention the raw materials needed to create and even mass-produce all of her inventions. There were photos of prisoners with their eyes blotted out, every one of them sporting some sort of cybernetic augmentation.

Then there were photos of Ayize herself. These were of a lower quality, as many were taken from further away or from hidden positions. One of them showed her on a security camera, a series of photos detailing her charging into a guard, then repeatedly bashing his head into the concrete until it was completely smashed open. The notes indicated the pictures were still images from camera footage taken at a motor parts manufacturer.

Lazuli blinked, then scrambled to pick up some of the other papers she had been sifting through. It took her a while to find, but she located the report about the bank robberies. No paper bills had been taken, and none of the money was ever seen again. Lazuli flipped back through the newer reports, realizing that Ayize had only ever stolen metal – specifically to build up her organization. Once she had Kiama and Green Motors under her belt, though, she didn’t need to steal anymore. Ponies donated, even provided grants so they could purchase the materials they needed. Higher quality, and less suspicion…

That much was cleared up. Now Lazuli knew why there weren’t any more recent reports…but she was still at a loss on where she could find Ayize, and moreso, she was confused as to why Steel or anyone else would keep this information from her. She deemed it fairly important that she would be told about what kinds of weapons and equipment she could be going up against, and if this was what they had abandoned in warehouses, she could only imagine what they had now.

The last folder in the recent pile detailed theories and possible steps moving forward to track them down. This was far more useful to Lazuli, and she read through it diligently. Unfortunately, most of it was just conjecture. The only solid evidence they had was that Ayize might house herself in a massive complex in the Badlands between Zebrica and Equestria, but satellite scans of the wasteland turned up nothing. She wasn’t surprised, in all honesty, and the Badlands were an enormous place – she was just horribly disappointed to not find anything.

The realization came to her, however, that Ayize couldn’t have gone far. Since she had shot Cirrus – the reminder of that made Lazuli shudder – the Guard had been on high alert the entire time. An airship would have never been allowed to enter leave the city without screening, and the Guard would be keeping an eye out. Murder, or even that of the attempted variety, was not taken lightly in the capital city of Equestria, and although Lazuli hated to admit it was a factor, it was especially heinous when committed by a zebra. Lazuli had no such prejudice, or she liked to think so, but it was an unfortunate side effect of international relations.

She stood up, nearly slipping on papers littering the floor. She had managed to keep most of them somewhat grouped together on the table, so she returned them – messily – to their folders and their respective boxes. She didn’t have the patience to pick up all the paper though, or to put the boxes back. She knew it made her a bit of a jerk, but she liked to think that tracking down a murderous criminal was perhaps a bit more important.

It was at this point, though, that the world decided it had enough of Lazuli trying to do things – or that was how Lazuli saw it, anyway, in her sleep-deprived and caffeine-fueled mind. The lights in the records room went red and began to flash, a loud siren sounding throughout the halls and the outer reaches of the base. A voice came over the loudspeaker that she was only somewhat familiar with during emergency drills – authoritative, female, and almost frantic this time.

“All available units, this facility is under attack.” The voice said. “This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Report to your commanding officer and gear up for combat.”

“Fuck.” Lazuli was at least shocked awake by that. The sleepiness in her eyes was whisked away by fresh adrenaline, and she threw open the records room door to a hallway of chaos. Ponies who had only ever had to engage in such defensive action in drills that were forewarned and practiced were panicking, forgetting where to go and bumping into each other. Eventually they fell in line, but the confusion was only made worse by the muffled sound of an explosion above and the rattling of the hallway around them. Lazuli took it upon herself to start pushing through the crowds, the drowsiness in her limbs mostly forgotten and her only objective being to get outside and see what was happening. Since she was an operative with no proper position during drills, she could only do what she thought was best to help.

With a fair deal of squeezing through the throngs of military ponies in various states of readiness – going from completely unclothed to fully geared up and armed as she got closer to the doors – she managed to reach the entrance and pushed through it, out into the courtyard. At the end of the courtyard was a burning crater filled with rubble, the main entrance having been collapsed to make it so vehicles couldn’t enter from the city. Right as Lazuli exited the building a pair of heavily armoured airships flew overhead, with a very familiar zebra leaning out of the side of one of them with a megaphone. She was protected by what looked like a magic shield, bullets skimming off of the dome around her body.

“Ponies, zebras, and whatever other gullible idiots joined this place when they were old enough.” Ayize’s voice yelled, projected through speakers on the airship’s underbelly as it circled around the courtyard. “It’s in your best interest to surrender, or I can and will send this entire base crashing down this mountain.” An explosive shell rocketed past the airship’s rotor, narrowly avoiding taking it out entirely. “And since I know none of you are gonna do that, I just felt like telling you that you had the option would soothe my aching heart.” Ayize shut the door to the airship as a magic blast was fired from a pair of unicorns on top of one of the buildings, hitting the door and leaving a black scorch mark but nothing else.

Lazuli’s eyes narrowed. She had to get to that airship – but there was no way she could do it now. Already, more of the flying vehicles were invading the base’s airspace, and only now were the crews manning the cannons getting to their positions. The false sense of security in Equestria had made everyone on the base lazy, so once they finally began to repel the ships entering the base, there were dozens already flying around. Their doors opened, and numerous ponies, zebras and even the occasional griffon dropped down, all of them sporting some sort of cybernetic augment that gave them an advantage over an individual Equestrian soldier.

Lazuli knew she couldn’t take to the air, or at least not above the buildings. She did jump up and start flying, though, to move as fast as possible towards the armory where she could at least get some weapon besides her sidearm. The pistol at her hip would be virtually useless in a firefight like this, and already she could hear the cracking of guns firing back at the invaders.

She skidded around a corner and launched off the wall to keep herself from flying past her target, jumping through the armory door and pulling it shut behind her. The clang of the metal door shutting made a few of the soldiers in the building look up, then go back to frantically putting on their armour and grabbing weapons. This is disorganized as hell, Lazuli thought.

It was then that Lazuli saw one of the only familiar ponies in the whole base, to her. Steel Resolve was in the corner, having a smaller unicorn stallion – Brittle Saddle, if she remembered his name right – help him put on his armour. Being a Pegasus with quite a bit of extra weight that his wings weren’t designed to carry, Steel had long forgone nimble and lightweight armour for what was likely the heaviest set on the base. Recruits had even made it a challenge to try and wear it, though usually it dragged on the ground when they tried. His whole body was covered from neck to hoof in gleaming metal armour, held tight with straps that Brittle was struggling to pull back all the way. Steel saw Lazuli out of the corner of his eye, and his expression went from simply serious and focused to stern and almost angry.

“Lazuli!” Steel’s voice barked, shifting from his more friendly commander tone to a much harsher battlefield call. “What in Celestia’s yellow sun are you doing here?!”

“Not the time to ask, Steel.” Lazuli dashed past him, throwing open the (almost tiny) cabinet where Dracony armaments were kept. Draconies in the Equestrian army were one in a hundred thousand – that ratio probably wasn’t too far off, actually. She was fairly sure that, in terms of active personnel, she was the only one at this base. Her tail quickly clipped into the strap of a sharp spaded blade, and she attached a specialized magic-powered weapon to the other side of her tail that fired quick bursts of energy. It wasn’t as effective as a ballistic weapon, but it was better than her pistol.

“Lazuli, if you think- gah, fucking hell, Brittle, that’s tight enough- if you think you’re going out there, you’re even more sleep deprived than I thought.”

“You’re not stopping me, Steel.”

“I swear on Celestia’s bright orange flames, if you get yourself killed…”

“When have I gotten killed on the battlefield, Steel?” Lazuli continued to tightly strap the weapons to her tail.

“Wh- Lazuli, you’re not thinking straight. You better not do something stupid.” Steel lifted his helmet over his head, pulling down the bulletproof visor and making his body almost entirely covered in plating that made him look like a walking tank. His wings were covered in plated metal that bent with his movements, allowing him to essentially act like a massive shield.

“Same to you, or something.” Lazuli mumbled, the sounds of explosions and gunfire significantly muffled by the strong walls of the armory. Steel reared up on his hind legs, bringing his fores crashing down on the ground before galloping out the door, throwing it open and bursting out into the courtyard. The thundering of his hooves made the ground shake slightly, until he was out of the area.

Lazuli flicked the switch on the firearm, hissing in slight pain as a sharp, sterile needle jabbed itself into her tail to connect with her nerves. It allowed her to fire it on thought alone, which was how a good deal of weaponry worked for Equestrians – primarily non-unicorns.

She decided to leave through the same door as Steel, but the sight alone was enough to nearly make her freeze on the spot. It was all familiar to her. The gunfire, the screams of both foolhardy readiness to fight and of pain inflicted within the first minutes of fighting, the sight of ponies, both enemies and allies, falling with various horrific injuries – she had seen it all before, and it still struck her to the core.

But she shook it off. It had been years since she had been in a full-on battle like this. In open space, it was never a good idea to stand still, and most of her experience as an operative had all been closed-quarters fighting where none of her opponents had time to pull a gun. Now everyone had guns, most of them just firing at whatever moved, and Lazuli had an inclination that Ayize’s forces weren’t going to take prisoners.

The first pony that she had to deal with was a Pegasus swooping in from above. His wings were both made of metal, and as he dove down towards Lazuli he flared them out. Near the point where they connected to his body, they folded open, revealing two sets of mini-explosives that he fired at Lazuli with impunity. Or he would have, anyway, if she hadn’t raised her tail over her head and fired a bolt of blue energy at his wing, the electricity from the strike sending a pulse through to the explosives and detonating them in his wings. The look of horror on his face was only momentary before the explosion engulfed him.

Lazuli winced, holding up one of her wings to shield herself before she ran forward. She needed to figure out where Ayize was – she knew the focus shouldn’t be just on her, but taking out the leader meant…well…no leadership. Right now her mind was just working on a logic basis. She wasn’t a soldier, she wasn’t meant for open combat. Her job was to get in, take out someone important, and get out. The final part would wait until the battle was truly over, but she knew what her orders would have been if this was an enemy’s base she was in.

The fighting wasn’t contained to the courtyard, but it was the biggest area, and likely the most dangerous. She had to duck behind a concrete divider to hide while she searched for a place to get away – but as she did, she was overwhelmed by another thought.

What she was doing…it was deserting, just like she had in the war with the griffons. She was running away, avoiding the fighting to save herself.

But…no, she reminded herself. That wasn’t what she was doing. Back then, she had hid and done nothing. Now, she was running away so she could find the one responsible and put an end to it. She wasn’t abandoning.

The thought lingered in the back of her mind, but for now, she needed to act. Once the heat on her side of the courtyard had waned slightly, she dashed out from behind the divider and ducked into a space between two of the buildings. Once she rounded a corner, she was no longer in sight of the courtyard, and could hopefully single out a fighter from Ayize’s crew to find out where she was.

Chapter 12

The entire facility was built into the side of a mountain. Now that Lazuli thought about it, it was both the stupidest and most ingenious spot that a nation could put their capital. An enemy with enough firepower could simply topple it and send it careening down the mountain with virtually no chance of survival from its occupants, surely, but they would never do such a thing when their own soldiers were in it. There was no land outside the walls of the base itself, so siege tactics wouldn’t work – in all honesty, Ayize’s decision to drop her soldiers in via airship was the smartest tactic she could use. The base’s defenses were centered around stopping attacks via the air, but those defenses relied primarily on highly antiquated types of airships – the type that were made out of wood and flew on balloons. The ones that Ayize used were too quick and nimble for the cannons to shoot down before they made it over the wall and dropped off the soldiers, and shooting them down while they hovered over the base was just a horrible idea.

Ayize had realized, however, that a great deal of the military’s personnel was out in Canterlot. At the news of the attack, they were no doubt preparing to head to the base so they could assist, but Ayize was ready for that. Once she made sure all of her troops were in, she had two of her remaining airships blast the bridges asunder so several lengths of solid concrete and metal simply rolled down the sheer cliff below. No one could get in or out via land now – a fact that her troops would no doubt be disheartened by if they knew, but they were too busy fighting.

Lazuli, likewise, was too busy trying to both stay away from the fighting hotspots and get into a fight herself. She needed to find one of Ayize’s troops that would know where she was – and luckily it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed, since while Ayize’s soldiers were trained well, their discipline wasn’t nearly as honed. They flew and ran around practically begging to be picked off, and Lazuli targeted an earth pony who seemed not to have any visible augmentation aside from his eyes, which looked like camera lenses painted blue.

The stallion was itching to do his part, it seemed, but Lazuli was going to make sure he couldn’t. She dashed towards him, zig-zagging to throw off any attempts at predicting what she was going to do before throwing herself at him. Surprisingly, he side-stepped her, countering her lunge with a strong front-leg kick to her chest. His strike wasn’t overly powerful, and the padding of her suit protected her from the worst, but she was still knocked back substantially.

“Didn’t think they let mutants into the army! No wonder they weren’t ready for us.” The stallion taunted. Lazuli didn’t bother to offer a retort. Instead she rolled back to her hooves, lifted her tail and fired, the bolt of magic striking the pony in the chest and making him lose all semblance of breath before toppling to the ground. She ran forward, ramming her shoulder into his neck before he fell, knocking him onto his back and pinning him down with a hoof.

“Where’s Ayize going?” Lazuli snarled. Her voice was rougher than usual, mainly due to her not drinking enough, or speaking much at all. Luckily instead of making her sound stupid it added a bit to her intimidation factor, but the stallion just grunted and tried to shove her off.

“Piss off, hybrid.” He growled. “You think she’s sticking around?”

“I know her kind. She’s here.” She folded her leg, pressing her elbow into his throat. “Where is she?”

“G-ggrrkk…” The pony choked, his hooves scrambling to try and pull her leg away. “Nn-nngh…sh-she sai- she said she-“ He struggled to speak, and Lazuli eased back very slightly. “Sh-she said…sh-she needed…to tie up l-loose ends…”

Lazuli’s mind had to warm up for a second to figure out what that meant, but once it clicked she looked back down at him. “Thanks.” She pushed down even harder on his neck, waiting until his frantic squirming stopped and his head flopped to the side before letting go and dashing in the direction of the holding cells.

At this point she wanted to avoid all contact with other ponies, both on her side and the other. When she found herself running in the direction of a metal-hoofed zebra clashing with a struggling Pegasus, she leapt over them both – and in the process turned her tail towards the zebra, firing a blast at his face that knocked him backwards and gave the Pegasus a chance to shoot. She didn’t look back, especially as she nearly reached the building that housed Kiama.

But both fate and Ayize seemed to know she, or someone, would be coming. Before she reached the door, a large and very familiar frame landed in front of her with an angry glare. The synthetic zebra she had fought on the rooftop stood before her, his side looking remarkably un-stabbed and his circuits apparently working just fine. On his body he wore a combat vest with the name “Lead Lined” emblazoned across the left side, which she could only assume was his name.

“I was wondering when you would come running.” Lead said, his voice somehow even more threatening. Maybe she had damaged his voicebox somehow. “I wanted to repay you for ruining my creator’s hard work.”

“You look fine to me.” Lazuli hopped back a few feet, tail raised over her head. “This is just going to end the same way.”

Lead was apparently just as susceptible to anger as any other pony, as he charged at her without warning. This time though, instead of going for a simple headbutt or a tackle, he leapt overtop of her. Despite his body being bigger than Lazuli’s, he was nimble, and as he jumped the bottom of his right hoof slid open to reveal a metal ball. Lazuli quickly jumped forward to avoid it, but he fired before she could move completely out of the way. The ball struck her in the back, where her suit was torn, and stuck to her fur like glue before jolting her entire body with a powerful, crippling electric shock, not unlike a taser. She couldn’t even scream as she fell to her knees, her whole body jerking and muscles frantically trying to get into any position besides completely tense.

Lead then swept her legs out from under her and, before she hit the ground, spun her in mid-air and slammed her down on her back. This only increased the contact between the ball and her skin, and although the charge in the device ran out only seconds later, Lazuli was left gasping and scrabbling at the ground.

Not one to be overly honorable in a fight, Lead gripped her tail in his teeth. He hadn’t realized she had a projectile weapon attached to it, though, so Lazuli managed to capitalize on the chance by firing a magic bolt right into his jaw. Lead was blown backwards, staggering for long enough that Lazuli could get to her hooves.

“New toy.” Lead wiped his jaw, though it was almost like it was a mannerism he had picked up rather than something he actually had to do. “Shouldn’t have wasted it on a cheap shot.” He lifted his left hoof, which slid open to reveal what was undoubtedly a gun barrel set inside. Lazuli ducked just in time for the bullet to whiz over her head, taking the chance between the first and second shots to dash forward and slide underneath him. She was suddenly glad he was taller, as she worked her whole body beneath him and tried to throw him over her back.

Lead apparently knew that trick, though. As he was about to be lifted off the ground, he wrapped his hooves around her, rolling backwards and slamming her head into the concrete. If she hadn’t caught herself by clenching her hind legs around his neck, she would have snapped her spine. Using her slight leverage she swung herself upwards, delivering a strong punch to his face – but being a synthetic, he felt no pain, and took little damage. He reeled back and threw her to the ground again, letting her roll back and stand up again.

“Close quarters…” Lead grunted, picking himself up. “You use your opponent’s body against them.”

“Shut up.” Lazuli grimaced, raising her tail over her head and firing at him twice. The bolts struck him in the chest and neck, but did nothing except make him skid back a bit.

“Magic resistant skin.” Lead bragged, thumping his chest with a metallic thunk. “Just like you, if my memory serves.”

“I said shut your mouth.” Her next shot, Lazuli aimed more carefully – this time directly at Lead’s face. The magic went right in between his upper and lower jaw, exploding against the back of his rubber throat and blowing open the back of his neck.

Lead’s eyes went wide, and though he felt no pain to accompany the damage, he knew it wasn’t good. His inner wiring was exposed, and the blast had clouded his vision with smoke. Before he could switch to thermal vision – which Lazuli snidely realized wouldn’t work anyway – she leapt into the air, swung around with her hind legs around his neck and used his body weight to drag him to the ground. With his head locked against her stomach, she raised her tail and dug it into his neck, starting to rip and slice at the wires that held his head to the core of his body.

Lead couldn’t speak. Most of what came out of his mouth was garbled, confused, his eyes flickering and sparking erratically as he tried to use his strength to pry her legs apart. She held firm, her tail continuing to destroy whatever she could, until his ramblings and sparking stopped entirely. At that point she paused, then gripped his head as hard as she could and ripped it clean off of his body.

Immediately his struggling stopped, and the lights in his eyes went out. Lazuli dropped his head next to his body, taking deep, slow breaths – it was at this point that the pain properly set in, the adrenaline of the fight wearing off and letting her realize that electricity coursing through her body was undoubtedly not good for her already tired muscles. With a pained wheeze, she forced herself to stand up. Moving was the best way to shake it off, she knew, but before she went anywhere she ripped the metal ball off of her back – taking a bit of fur with it – and stumbled towards the door.

Lazuli threw the door open, her muscles aching and throbbing, but starting to get better with each step she took. The problem was that Lazuli didn’t know what cell Kiama was in anymore, or if she was even still there. She didn’t care for her as much as she cared about finding Ayize, but she knew that if she found one, she would find the other. She was also prepared for the possibility that Ayize would make herself look like Kiama to confuse whoever came in, which was perfectly likely at this point.

She decided to follow the trail of noticeable claw marks on the floor. Ayize hadn’t retracted them, it seemed, so it made it a lot easier for her. Her staggered, confused walk became more coherent, then turned into a light jog that turned into a gallop. She eventually was dashing down the hall, occasionally whipping around a corner or jumping down stairs to continue following the trail. She almost didn’t even stop when she saw the marks entering a cell, presumably Kiama’s, but the trail then kept going. Kiama wasn’t in the cell. She kept running, until she burst through a pair of double doors into an area mostly unfamiliar to her – the cafeteria, where prisoners who weren’t constantly confined to their cells could eat.

It was eerily quiet in the cafeteria. Most of the tables had been moved in a straight path that ended in the middle of the room, with two zebras in the center. Ayize still had her scraggly mohawk and long braid, as well as all of the other features that distinguished her from Kiama, who was on the ground, barely even breathing. Lazuli could tell she was alive though, for at the sound of the doors bursting open she made a small croaking noise. Ayize, who had been standing over her with a sneer, turned her head to look.

“Oh, and the hero arrives.” Ayize spat. “I’m surprised you snuck past Lead.”

“If you count ripping his head off as sneaking.” Lazuli’s vision was framed with red, and it wasn’t from her lack of breath. The mere sight of Ayize was making her chest ache, her nostrils flaring angrily.

Ayize’s eye twitched, and she took a deep breath. The cafeteria shook slightly as another explosion rocked the complex, the sounds of gunfire and fighting still audible. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, because I think this is our first time properly talking, isn’t it?” She stepped forward, kicking Kiama in the side of the head with her hind leg while she walked past her. The claws of her right hoof scraped menacingly against the floor. “Lazuli, right? I always have trouble remembering Dracony names. They’re nice, though.”

“You shot my wife.” Lazuli said through gritted teeth.

“Oh that’s right, that’d explain the angry eyes.” Ayize batted a hoof as if she was teasing, but her expression was just pure cockiness. “I’m sorry, I really am, but I’m sure you understand how it is in this business. All the loose ends, the easy-to-track-down wives, uugh.” She placed her metal hoof over her chest, stopping her advance about ten metres away from Lazuli. “Say, what was the part that hurt the most? The initial realization, or the slow acceptance that she was gone?”

“She’s still alive, you heartless bitch.” Lazuli snarled.

“Wh- oh. Well that’s disappointing.” Ayize frowned. “Should’ve used the shotgun…mmm…that’s really disappointing, actually, but hey…I know that means it’s just going to be so much harder for her to survive without you.” Her right hoof lifted up, the bottom already open. “So, Laz – you mind if I call you Laz? You got anything else to say? Any smart remarks or last-minute quips about something that’s about to stop me from shooting you?”

Lazuli gritted her teeth, slowly sliding her tail down between her legs. “…No. I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Really? Usually your type is the kind to give the big dramatic line about how there’s an airship crashing through the skylight or something.”

“No.” Lazuli worked the tip of her tail up under her stomach, the weapon attached to it glowing bright blue. She didn’t say anything as it fired, and Ayize fired at the same time.

The shimmering blue bolt struck Ayize in the chest, knocking her off balance and throwing off her aim. The gunshot echoed off the concrete walls while the bullet harmlessly struck the floor, and the zebra turned her head angrily. “You bitch, going for cheap sho-“ She started to say, before Lazuli’s front hoof impacted right in the center of her forehead, throwing her backwards, sliding across the hard floor before flipping back to her hooves. “I was having fun, but you’re dead.”

Lazuli said nothing, again. Ayize grabbed a chair with her metal leg and hurled it at her, but she moved to the side and ran forward again. Her next punch was caught by Ayize’s claws, crushing the hard blue surface of the underside of her hoof. She tried to swing with her other hoof but it was blocked as well, so she brought her tail up and fired it at Ayize’s face. The blast still didn’t have the force to kill, but it burned the fur off of one side of her face at such close range, and sent her staggering back with a pained yell.

Ayize was anything but a coward, though her next move seemed to say the opposite. She turned her back and leapt into the air, electronically reinforced muscles carrying her up to the ledges surrounding the cafeteria and over the railings. It was there that she lifted her right leg and it started to shift, the bottom folding apart and opening much wider while other parts twisted and clicked into place. Lazuli spread her wings and launched herself in the same direction.

She hadn’t been expecting a missile, though. Ayize’s leg poured exhaust out of her shoulder while the rocket shot out of it, just barely grazing Lazuli’s side as it whipped past and struck the ground below. Kiama’s limp body was thrown like a ragdoll in the explosion, sliding over to the far corner while Lazuli grabbed Ayize by the arm and slammed her face into the metal railing in front of her.

“You’re going to die for what you did.” Lazuli growled as she held her, then swung upwards to stab her tail forward. Ayize managed to jerk her body to the side, dragging Lazuli up onto the ledge and folding her metal leg back into its normal shape before trying to strike her with it. Lazuli moved her head to avoid it, then rammed her forehead into the bridge of Ayize’s nose. She howled in pain as her muzzle was broken, blood pouring out of it as she staggered backwards and allowed Lazuli to stand back up.

“You bitch!” Ayize repeated, rearing up on her hind legs and swinging her metal limb to the side, causing a long, sharpened blade to slide out of the side of it. “You want to do it this way, then fucking come at me, mutant.”

Lazuli didn’t need to be told, but she quickly made note of the blade and changed strategies. With Ayize on her hind legs, she was easier to knock off balance, so she jumped into the air, kicked off the wall and swung her body so her hind leg collided with the side of her face. Ayize was knocked backwards, but somehow remained standing, stabbing forward with he blade.

Lazuli lacked the leverage to react properly. She tried to turn herself in mid-air, managing to keep the blade from hitting her chest, but instead it buried itself deep in the flesh that connected her wing to her body. The joint was shredded, muscles torn to pieces as Ayize wrenched it back, grinning with evil delight. Lazuli only hissed, teeth gritted and eyes glaring into her opponent’s.

She grabbed Ayize’s metal leg, but that only gave her the upper hoof. She swung her leg, which was far stronger than the rest of her limbs, to the side and hurled Lazuli over the edge of the railing. With her wings unable to break her fall, she dropped nearly twenty feet to the floor below with a painful crunch as both of her wings were completely shattered, sending waves of agony up and down her body.

Ayize dropped to the ground beside her, metal-reinforced bones allowing her to land without injury. “Damn, you know how to fight.” She said, walking on an odd angle with the blade still sticking out of her leg. “Kinda wish Kiama was half as good as you, could’ve actually had some kind of struggle before I beat the shit out of her.” She was breathing heavily, wiping the blood from her nose with her left leg. “But you broke my nose, and burned my face. Otherwise I’d consider taking you prisoner, breaking you down ‘til you wanted to be my punching bag or something.” She lifted her right leg up, violently stabbing the blade down through Lazuli’s left side, but purposefully missing any vital organs – she just made the Dracony scream in agony.

“But hey, don’t worry. After I’m done taking this place down, I’ll head to whatever place they’re hiding that wife of yours and make sure she joins you in whatever weird version of the Other World you Draconies believe in.” She pulled the blade back, smirking evilly, with such horrid intent that it made Lazuli’s blood boil – though not literally, since it was seeping out of her side.

“You…stay…” Lazuli wheezed, her breath still shaky from the fall. “Away…from her…”

“Actually, to be honest, she was pretty nice.” Ayize nodded. “Kinda be a waste to kill her, but she’s probably braindead at this point anyway. Shame.”

Lazuli didn’t know where the extra stamina came from, but she found it somewhere. She drove her tail right up, impaling Ayize through her left hind leg with her tail blade. To add extra damage to the injury she fired her weapon, making the zebra’s eyes bulge out and her throat to elicit a raspy, wheezing scream that would have made a sound if it hadn’t taken her voice immediately. She fell back, and her yell turned into a much more painful scream, falling back on her rear as Lazuli struggled to stand up herself.

Spitting out a bit of blood, Lazuli shook the dizziness out of her head. Blood loss, lack of sleep, dehydration and hunger were bad on their own, but combined all together they were starting to take their toll. She managed to stave them off for now, while Ayize staggered to her hooves. “You…” She growled, her voice no longer even a bit sarcastic, purely enraged. Her left leg barely even worked anymore, only barely able to support her thanks to her augmentations. “I’m going to take your tail, rip it off your ass, and cram it all the way down your throat so that fucking blade rips up your stomach and makes your guts digest your other organs.” She spat through gritted teeth. “And then I’m gonna find your wife, rip her legs off, make her feel every imaginable bit of pain I can before I rip her heart out and crush it with her own teeth. You’re never going to see the fucking light of-“

Lazuli’s body welled up with energy that it really shouldn’t have had. Before Ayize could finish, she lunged forward, her tail stabbing at the zebra’s chest. Ayize blocked it with her own blade, and the two of them struggled in a deadly and extremely sloppy dance between the two of their deadly instruments. Lazuli fired, Ayize dodged. Ayize swung, she parried. Both of them dodged, parried, ducked and dove as much as possible – it got to the point that the concrete floor became slick with blood, both of them slipping and falling when they tried to dodge, but the other one also falling over themselves in their attack.

Ayize tried something desperate. She wouldn’t lose – she couldn’t. Her injury was so much worse than Lazuli’s, though; for every unit of Lazuli’s blood on the floor, three were Ayize’s. The zebra retracted her own blade, waiting for Lazuli’s next strike…then clamped her jaws down on her tail. A loud, angry growl came from her as she tried to yank her forward, though based on her last threat it was clear she was trying to rip her tail off, apparently ignoring the immense pain of the sharp blade slicing through her lips and her tongue, but Lazuli stood firm and concentrated.

Ayize had only milliseconds to realize the error in what she had done. Her mouth glowed bright blue momentarily, before an explosion of blood and flecks of skull and vertebrae bones spewed out of the back of her head. The zebra’s eyes flickered, the artificial pupils going dark as she slid forward, Lazuli’s tail breaking through her spine. In an effort to bring her tail back, Lazuli ended up ripping the top of her head clean off, leaving only a jawbone and blood pouring from her neck as the dead body slumped to the floor.

Lazuli’s vision was swimming. She staggered backwards, bumping into Kiama’s body nearby and falling backwards into a pool of blood that mixed with her own and Kiama’s. She couldn’t tell if the other zebra was alive anymore…but she knew that she had won. Ayize was dead. Her eyes fluttered, trying to stay open. She needed to get back and tell Cirrus…she needed to be there for when she woke up.

But her body wouldn’t let her. She went limp, eyes falling shut as she passed out, the cracking of gunfire much quieter now – though that might have just been her senses dulling.

Chapter 13

When Lazuli woke up, she expected it to be…well, she hadn’t expected to wake up at all, so she didn’t actually know what she expected until her eyes were open. Instead of the cold concrete of the cafeteria, though, she found herself lying in a bed. An actual bed, with clean sheets, somehow, and a heart rate monitor beeping steadily at her side. She felt like absolute garbage, though.

She tried to sit up, but an intense pain both from her left side and her back made that impossible. She hissed, laying her head back on the pillow and clenching her eyes shut. She still felt groggy, but not hungry or dehydrated. The IV stuck in her left foreleg had probably pumped her with nutrients, which she was happy for.

Shaking her head to clear it, Lazuli looked around. It was only when she turned her head to the left that she nearly jumped right out of her gown, her bandages and her skin, seeing the looming form of Steel Resolve sitting by her beside. “F-fucking-“ She rasped, then realized her throat was as raw as could be and it hurt to talk.

“Didn’t mean to scare you.” Steel’s voice was low, and once her eyes properly focused she saw that his left wing was in a cast against his side and he had bandages all over his body. “You’ve been out a while.”

“Wh…” Lazuli coughed. Steel helpfully lifted a cup of water to her lips, and while she hated being babied, she drank from it. The refreshing luke-warmness of the water passing over her sore throat helped. “H-how…long…?”

“Three days, give or take. We uh…didn’t find you in the cafeteria ‘til after the fighting was over.”

“Is…” Lazuli grimaced, gritting her teeth. “Is…everyone…”

“I won’t sugarcoat it, Laz, we lost a lot of soldiers, and a fair few were injured too.” He shook his head. “Was damn difficult getting them off the base with the bridges destroyed, but we managed. Good thing is, our guys remembered their training, stuck together. We lost a lot less than they did…too bad most of them fought till the death.”

“Nngh…” Lazuli put a hoof on her stomach, inhaling sharply and managing to scoot upright slightly. “I n-…I…” She wheezed, not properly able to formulate a sentence until she regained her bearings. “I need to…see…Cirrus…”

“She’s still out, Laz.” Steel gently put a hoof on her shoulder to keep her from getting up. “And you’re not rested enough to get up.”

Lazuli was worried about a few things – one, why she didn’t hear all kinds of activity in the hospital when they had likely dozens upon hundreds of injured soldiers to treat. She tried to voice that, painstakingly slow, and Steel caught on halfway through.

“Most of the injured soldiers got brough to Canterlot General, on the other end of the city. Closer to the base. They’re more suited for on-the-spot treatments of large groups of patients, not like here. We brought you here because you didn’t need surgery, just some bone resetting in your wings and bandages for your wounds. Plus…felt cruel to bring you to a hospital away from Cirrus.”

“What…about…Kiama?” She found it easier to speak the more she did it.

“Kiama, uh…” Steel gently patted his leg, chewing on his lip. “She’s alive. Barely, and she’s on life support, but she’s alive. Got her metal limb ripped clean off too. And uh…speaking of the zebras, did you rip Ayize’s head off?”

Lazuli knew it was crude, but she couldn’t help a small smirk. “Yeah…”

“Geez…well honestly, I think we have you to thank for helping us win. Ayize had been giving her troops orders over the radio the whole time. Once she was dead, they were even more disorganized than before. You really helped, Laz.”

Lazuli felt…guilty, in a way. She didn’t deserve to be hailed a hero just because she went after a mare for petty vengeance.

“And…the robot?”

“…Robot?” Steel raised an eyebrow. “Which one? There were a lot of those.”

“No, the…” Lazuli shook her head. “The robot zebra.”

“Ayize?”

“No!” Lazuli sat up, then whined in pain and fell back. “The- the synthetic…all robot…the one outside.”

“I…don’t remember seeing anything like that.” Steel tilted his head. “You sure you got your memories straight, Laz?”

“He was-“ Lazuli started to say, then grimaced and shook her head. “Nevermind.” She played it off like she wasn’t worried, and really she knew that she shouldn’t be, but in the back of her head it terrified her.

“Alright…well.” Steel sighed, grunting a bit as he stood up, clearly still sore. “The doctors said you should stay in bed for another day or so after you wake up.” He turned around to head for the door. “Just until you’re properly…awake. Your wings will heal, as long as you don’t work them too-“ His ear twitched. “You’re already standing up, aren’t you?”

Lazuli had, indeed, gotten out of the bed. She was wobbly on her hooves, and uncertain, but she was standing nonetheless. “…No…” She mumbled.

Steel suppressed a smirk as he opened the door. “Well you just lie there and rest, then. I’ll leave the door open…in case you need help.” He stepped out, ducking his head as he exited the room, leaving the door ajar. Lazuli smiled openly, but she needed to get her balance first.

It took her almost three full minutes to steady herself enough to make it out of the hospital room. Her gown felt uncomfortable, and every step sent a dull throbbing pain through her left side, but she forced herself to move regardless. She was just glad none of the hospital staff decided to stop her, and that whatever doctor was in charge of her was apparently just not paying attention to his charges for the moment.

Lazuli appreciated that, though. While it took her a bit to properly figure out what wing of the hospital she was in, eventually she found her way to Cirrus’ room. She had to fumble with the door handle for a moment before she pushed it open, grimacing slightly and dropping back down on all fours as she shuffled in. Cirrus was still asleep – her head still bandaged, though the bandages were no longer red, and she had less equipment hooked up to her than before. The gentle beeping of the monitor was the only sound in the room once she shut the door.

It was extremely uncomfortable to sit down, but once she was seated on the stool her aching limbs seemed to allow it. “Hey Cirrus.” She spoke out loud, as she had before, just in case she could in fact hear her. “I know I haven’t been here the last few days…” She spoke quietly so she didn’t make her throat even sorer than it already was. “But I’m here now. And I’m not leaving.” She leaned down, grunting a bit at the uncomfortable stretching in her wings, risking a small kiss on Cirrus’ cheek.

Pushing her stool up against the cabinet in the corner, she managed to find a way to lean up against it so that it didn’t hurt her broken wings, then stayed there.

“So…she’s just been in there the whole time? Two days?” Steel’s voice made Lazuli’s ear twitch, just outside the door to the room.

“Just about.” Doctor Silver’s voice responded. “I’m not about to tell her she can’t be. The more she’s out of bed, the better…plus if she’s well enough, who am I to tell her she can’t be there for her wife?”

“I don’t like it, though.” Steel grunted. “It’s not healthy for her to be in there all the time.”

“I know that, but I don’t think it will be much better if she’s away from her.”

Steel just snorted. The door to the room slowly opened, revealing the large grey Pegasus as he stepped inside with a slight smile. “Hey, Laz.”

“I’m not deaf.” Lazuli growled.

“Oh…uh.” Steel shook his head. “Okay, yeah, I was concerned.” Silver walked in behind him. “I know you want to be there when she wakes up, but you’re spending way too much time in here.”

“I’ll do what I want.”

“And even though it’s good that you’re moving,” Silver said, “Your body still needs rest. Especially to heal those broken bones.”

“I can rest in here.”

“Lazuli…” Silver grimaced. “I can’t let you be in here all the time. I’m afraid I’ll need to restrict you to regular visiting hours. You can’t just spend all this time in here.”

“You think I’m leaving her alone?” Lazuli started to stand up, her back painfully cracking with a slight hiss from her before she continued. “You’re gonna have to drag me out.”

“Laz, you’re being unreasonable.” Steel said firmly. “Just go back home some time soon, okay? You need rest.” Earlier, a day after she had woken up, Steel suggested putting both Cirrus and Lazuli in the same room – but Lazuli was discharged officially that day, since all she really needed were the casts and bandages. Now that she was awake, she didn’t need full care.

“I’ll rest when I know she’s okay.”

“This is giving me deja-vu.” Steel pressed a hoof to his forehead, then sighed. “Listen. I can’t force you out, but Silver’s giving you restrictions. If you don’t listen to him, we will have to drag you out.”

“I’ll be here every damn minute I can.” Lazuli moved her stool closer to the bed, her head turned away to hide the fact that she was on the verge of tears again. “It’s my fault this happened. All of it. I’m not letting her wake up without apologizing.”

“Mmm…” Silver rubbed his chin with a hoof. “I’ll…leave you two alone again, I suppose.” He sighed, gently placing a hoof on Steel’s shoulder and stepping out of the room. Steel lingered for a bit longer, then exited with him, shutting the door behind them.

When the door shut, and the heavy hoofsteps of her commander had left, Lazuli let herself go. Her head laid against Cirrus’ chest, tears wetting the blankets as she openly sobbed and mumbled incoherent, feeble apologies that deep down she knew wouldn’t be heard, but either way she needed to get them out. Crying was something that didn’t come easily to Lazuli, and she had cried more in the past week than she had for twenty years.

“I’m…sorry…” Lazuli whispered. “It’s all me…I did this to you…” She laid her head down. At some point, without fully realizing it, she drifted off to sleep.

At some level, Lazuli appreciated that they had left her there. No one had moved her from her position – probably because that would require handling her broken wings, which would only hurt her further. She liked to think it was partly because they cared about keeping the two of them together, though given their last conversation she doubted it.

When she woke up, she had to pull her head back a bit just to get the sheet to stop sticking to her face. Dried tears had caused that, and she quickly wiped her cheeks to try and hide some of the evidence of her crying. “Morning, Cirrus…” Lazuli mumbled half-heartedly. The moon filtering through the curtains told her it wasn’t morning, though, so she corrected herself mentally.

“Mmmrng…” A low groan from the mare on the bed had Lazuli’s head suddenly shoot upright, her ears pointing straight up and her eyes completely devoid of sleep instantly.

“Cirrus?!” Lazuli’s tail inadvertently started to sway back and forth with mixed excitement and worry.

“Lmmph…” Cirrus whined, her hooves twitching a bit, then pawing at the sheets. Her eyes slowly started to open, teeth gritted tightly together as she moved for the first time in over a week, nearly two.

“Cirrus!” Lazuli covered her mouth with a hoof, then quieted herself. “Honey, can you hear me?”

“Wh-…” Cirrus blinked several times. Her eyes remained fixated straight ahead, but her head started to move. “L-…La…” Her throat was dry, but she seemed more ready to speak than Lazuli had been. “Laz…?” She mumbled. “Where…?”

“I’m right here, hon.” Lazuli placed a hoof on one of Cirrus’s with a wide smile. She couldn’t control her happiness. “How do you feel?”

“I c-…I…I-I c…” Cirrus’ heart rate picked up slightly, the monitor beeping at a slightly higher rate. “I…I’m n- I-I can’t see you, where are you?”

“Wh…Cirrus, I’m right here.” Lazuli gently raised her tail, using it to turn her head towards her. “See?”

“I…I…” The machine started beeping faster. “I…I can’t see, I- I can’t see anything, why- wh-why can’t I see?!”

“Cirrus, just calm down, I’m sure your eyes are just adjust-“

“I can’t see!” Cirrus was panicking, her breaths quick and erratic. Her body, not used to this much activity after her time spent unconscious, struggled to keep up, and her heart reached a level that it had the doctor opening the door.

“What’s going on?” Silver looked towards the bed, seeing Cirrus panicking, and quickly ran over. His bright silver magic encased Cirrus in a calming embrace, the shimmering waves of magic washing over Cirrus’ body and making her heart rate drop back to normal levels over the course of a minute or so. Lazuli just sat there, terrified, glancing between Cirrus and Silver with a frightened look.

“Lazuli, what happened?” Silver asked her, slightly less frantic now that Cirrus was calming down. The mare seemed more focused on breathing than anything else, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

“I- sh-she- she woke up, I was- I was just trying to greet her, she-…she said she can’t see anything.”

“I-I can’t see…” Cirrus repeated, mumbling weakly, fearfully. “I can’t see…”

“…Lazuli, I need you to leave the room.” Silver said.

“What? You can’t be serious, I’m not-“

“This isn’t a request. Leave the room. I need to speak to Cirrus alone.”

“B-“

“Don’t say another word. I’ll come and get you once this is sorted out.”

Lazuli could tell that Silver wasn’t going to bend the rules to let her stay for this, and if she was in proper shape she might have argued further, but she didn’t have the strength. She started to back out of the room, her eyes focused on Cirrus – the only recurring thought in her head as she exited the bedroom was one thing. One thing that she had been trying to convince herself wasn’t true, but now she simply couldn’t avoid it.

I did this to her…

Chapter 14

“Cirrus!” Lazuli called from the kitchen as she trotted in through the small doorway separating it from the living room, holding a plate perfectly balanced on her tail. “I made snacks!”

Cirrus was sitting down on the sofa, fiddling with a needle and feeding it through the fabric of a blue dress she was working on. At Lazuli’s call she looked up, a wide smile growing on her face as she saw her marefriend approaching. “I was wondering where you trotted off to.” She snickered.

“What, you didn’t smell it?” Lazuli put down the plate on the coffee table in front of her. The snacks were just simple brownies, but Cirrus eagerly picked one up and bit into it.

“Maaaaybe.” Cirrus smirked, giving an exaggerated Mmm at her first bite. “These are great, Laz!”

“Came from a box.” Lazuli’s ears flattened. “I just followed the instructions.”

“Aw, shush.” Cirrus gently nudged her with her elbow. “Still meant you had to make them! Don’t get all down.”

Lazuli took one as well. “So uh, who’s the dress for?”

“Oh, this one? It’s for my friend Pearl, actually.”

“Pearl? The one from accounting fourth year?”

“No, Home Ec.” Cirrus corrected. “You’re thinking of Petunia.”

“You knew a lot of P’s.”

“Still do!” Cirrus just smiled, wiggling back in her seat and turning to face Laz, leaning up against the back of the couch. “Sooooo.”

“Uh…soooo?”

“What’re you planning?”

“P- uh, planning? What do you mean?”

“You made snacks, you’re actually talkative for once, obviously you’ve got something planned.”

“Well I- uh…” Lazuli’s eyes darted from side to side, trying to find something to distract her from her attempt at fibbing. “No, I was- just uh…in a good mood today.”

“Yoooou’ve got something, I know it.” Cirrus sniffed at the air, leaning in closer. “You smell suspicious.”

“Oh, stop it.” Lazuli gently pushed Cirrus’ muzzle away.

“C’moooon, tell me! I wanna know.”

“It’s a surprise!”

“No surprises! Your last one ended up getting me all worried.”

Lazuli crossed her hooves over her chest. “It’s a surprise, and I know you’ll like it.”

“I know I will tooooo, but see now you’ve got me thinking I won’t, so tell me!”

Lazuli stood up, stretching her wings a bit. “Okay, fine. You wanna see what it is?” She slipped back out of the room, coming back with a slip of paper held on her tail, but too far away for Cirrus to read.

“Whassat?” Cirrus tilted her head.

“A deeeed.” Lazuli smirked, waving it from side to side.

“A deed for wh- wait, you aren’t- did you find us a house?”

Lazuli nodded excitedly.

“And is it really in-“

“Canterlot?” Lazuli grinned even wider, eagerly shaking her hips back and forth. “Damn right it is!”

Cirrus responded with a sound that was less like a scream and more like a high pitched squealing, hopping off the couch and knocking Laz down on the floor with an excited tackle-hug. She eagerly pressed her lips against her lover’s, holding her down and only pulling back a few seconds later. “I can’t believe you were gonna keep that from me!”

“W-well I was gonna save it for our anniversary next month…” Lazuli smiled nervously. “We uh, we actually can’t move in for another three, it’s still being set up.”

“Set up? What’cha mean?” Cirrus tilted her head, still holding Lazuli down.

“They’ve got to install the hot tub, the pool, the airship hangar…”

“…Okay I know you’re joking but if that house has a pool I’m gonna freak out, Laz.”

“I was lying about the last one.” Lazuli smirked cockily, her confidence only rising as Cirrus squealed again, burying her muzzle in Lazuli’s neck with an excited, high-pitched whining noise.

“I’m gonna never stop kissing you now, you know that?”

“Jeez, I knew you wanted to live in Canterlot, but c’mon.” Lazuli teased her, pushing at her chest. “Now off, don’t you have a dress to make?”

“And you wanna watch buckball, I get iiiiit.” Cirrus rolled her eyes, getting off of Lazuli and letting her stand up, both of them returning to the couch and flicking on the TV.

It was times like these that most ponies would fall back on family or friends to figure out what to do. Lazuli didn’t have either of those, though, so she fell back on herself and spent the next hour and a half sitting in the cafeteria trying not to break down.

Normally she would have gone back to something that someone had told her years ago, something reminding her of some advice she had forgotten or some pony she had ignored, but again, she had nothing of the sort. Foster parents had only told her so much, and her actual parents had hardly been around with all of the activism they did – on some level she hated them for it, but the memory of how they had died kept her from fully recognizing it.

The sound of hooves approaching her made her look up from the table, especially with the addition of one of the hooves sounding metallic. Looking to the side, her ears shot back her pupils narrowing and her teeth bared slightly in a snarl, her tail lashing angrily behind her at the sight of Kiama – though for a split second she had almost thought it was Ayize. The zebra looked battered and bruised, bandages covering various parts of her body and her hind legs supported with a metal exoskeleton that looked almost like it was stuck into her spine. Her metal leg had been replaced with a much cruder, less advanced prosthetic. She was instantly suspicious, given how Steel had described her as nearly dead only two days earlier.

Kiama stopped as Lazuli snarled at her, bringing a hoof back and nervously taking a step backwards. “U-uh- I was- hi, Lazuli…”

“What do you want?” Lazuli let her guard lower slightly, but not completely, as Kiama limped her way over and sat down across from Lazuli, having to physically lock the exoskeleton in place as she properly transferred her weight off of it. “You look a lot better.”

“I…was pretty beaten up, but not a lot of broken bones…I saw you were here, and…I wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“For saving my life. If you hadn’t shown up, Ayize would have killed me.”

“I didn’t show up for you.” Lazuli growled.

Kiama winced, looking down at her hooves. “Why are you so hostile?”

“You didn’t think it might have been important to tell us you had surveillance equipment in your leg?”

“I- I…I was worried about what she would do if-“

“Well she fucking did anyway.” Lazuli pushed her chair back, slamming both hooves down on the table. “And you got my wife shot.”

“Sh-she would have already had the f-footage from the party-“

“And you gave her more.”

“I-“ Kiama swallowed shakily. “I’m sorry…”

“You’re lucky she’s alive, or I don’t know what I’d do.” Lazuli gritted her teeth, starting to breathe more heavily as the full realization of Cirrus’ situation began to sink in. “Do- do you even know what happened?”

“I…heard…” Kiama whimpered softly. “And…I know she’s…”

“Never going to see anything again?” Lazuli leaned in closer, glaring right into Kiama’s eyes. The zebra just fearfully nodded.

“Y-yes…”

“And you know that all she ever liked to do, making dresses that you loved complimenting, she’ll never be able to do that again? She’ll never be able to make a dress, even design one, because she can’t fucking see it?” Lazuli was practically nose-to-nose with Kiama now.

“I-I…I’m…”

“Sorry? You’re sorry, right? That’s what you’re gonna say?”

“I-I…”

“Why don’t you tell her that? You’ll have to tell her who you are first, though. Actually, she might not even want to talk to you, since Ayize pretended to be you when she shot her.”

Kiama was shaking, her left hoof pulled up against her chest, her eyes closed as she tried to pull back. “I-I’m s-sorry…”

“You-“ Lazuli inhaled deeply, jaw clenched and eyes shut for a second while she collected herself. “You better be.” She finally said. “Because knowing her, she forgives you. Knowing her, she thinks none of it is your fault, that you’re the victim here. And maybe you are – but you were complacent. She’s a kind mare. She’d forgive you if you said sorry, but I don’t forgive that easily.”

Kiama was silent. She just sat there, quietly sobbing. Lazuli was suddenly aware that ponies were staring, most likely thinking she was some kind of monster for yelling at a crying, disabled mare.

“What are you all staring at?!” She yelled, against her better judgement. “This mare doesn’t deserve your sympathy, she got my wife shot!” Lazuli angrily tossed her chair aside with her tail, purposefully swinging her tail just above Kiama’s head before storming out of the cafeteria with an angry growl.

“Lazuli?” Silver’s soft voice got Lazuli to lift her head, sitting out in the hallway outside Cirrus’ room. As she looked up, she saw him stepping out of the room, a serious look on his face.

“Is she okay?” Lazuli scrambled to her hooves, wincing as her wings shifted. “Please tell me this is temporary.”

“It’s not.” Silver said bluntly. “I’m sorry if that’s blunt, Lazuli, but…she won’t be regaining her sight at all as she is now. It’s very likely that she’ll remain blind for the rest of her life, even with surgery…we can’t restore brain tissue that’s been completely destroyed. I will point out, though, that you’re…rather lucky this was the furthest extent of her injuries.”

Lazuli’s eyes watered, but she blinked it away. “Can- can I see her?”

“You can.” Silver nodded. “But I ask that you be…gentle. She remembers what happened, or the events leading up to it. She’s still shaken. I’ve recounted the events of the last week or so to her, but in a very…simple way. Try not to upset her – she’s very emotional right now.”

Lazuli took a deep breath as she stepped through the door with Silver, who announced her. “Cirrus? It’s your wife, she’s here now.”

“Lazuli?” Cirrus’ response was quick, her head turning in the general direction of the door, but not quite looking right at Lazuli. “Oh gods, at least tell me you’re okay…”

“I’m alright, Cirrus.” Lazuli hurried forward, sitting down on the stool next to the bed and taking hold of one of Cirrus’ hooves. “And I’m here. For you.”

“I…I-I can’t even see you…this…this is…”

“I know, I know.” Lazuli gently pressed her head up against Cirrus’ cheek, rubbing against her and planting a soft kiss on her chin. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“H-he said it was gonna be permanent…I’m…I-I’m…”

“Shhh…” Lazuli stroked her hoof up and down the side of Cirrus’ face. “I know…”

“I…I can’t…what am I gonna do, Laz?”

“You aren’t doing anything. We’re going to get through this. I promise.”

“But…but…how…?”

“I…don’t know yet, Cirrus, but I know you helped me when I was in need, and I’m going to help you. I’m not letting you go through this alone.”

Cirrus fumbled slightly with her hooves, but eventually managed to wrap them around Lazuli and hug her as tightly as she could with still sore muscles. “I-…I love you…”

“I love you too, hon.” Lazuli kissed her on the cheek, sighing heavily. “And whatever you need, I’m going to get it for you. I’ll help you as much as you need.”

“But-…but you need to work. I-I can’t, now…and if you don’t, we won’t have anything…”

“Actually,” Silver cleared his throat in the corner. “Your commander mentioned a possible three months of paid leave.”

“…What?” Lazuli looked back at the doctor. “Are you serious?”

“He said it would be unfair to not give you some form of income…given the circumstances. And he doesn’t expect you to go back to work sooner than that, Lazuli.”

“Okay…so there we go.” Lazuli looked back down at Cirrus and smiled, though seeing her eyes blankly staring at what was effectively the ceiling made her choke up a bit. “I-“ she shook her head. “It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

“I…hope so…” Cirrus sniffled. It was only at this point that Lazuli realized her eyes lacked proper pupils – they were glazed over, the colour slightly lighter than the surrounding green.

“I know so.” Lazuli shimmied just a bit closer. “Now let’s talk. We’ve got to figure out what to do next before we do anything else.”

Chapter 15

It took another week for Cirrus to be formally discharged from the hospital, but she could only leave with assurance that Lazuli understood how to care for her, and at least had the skill necessary to teach Cirrus how to move around and walk with a cane on her own. For most ponies, a magical alternative was often given – a special harness that creates a barrier around the pony to keep them from bumping into things, and indicates where curbs and walls are. Unfortunately, Draconies were resistant to magic, so the harness didn’t properly work. It was either a cane or a service animal, and Cirrus decided she wanted the former.

Lazuli had to attend a seminar to explain the basics. It was almost insulting, she thought, for they referred to her wife as if she was suddenly unable to do anything by herself…but the more Lazuli thought about it, the truer it was. Without her sight, at least until she could get used to it, Cirrus was essentially helpless. In fact, Lazuli just hoped that three months of leave would be enough to get her used to it…she wondered if she should take a desk job, just so she wouldn’t have to leave Cirrus any longer than a few hours.

Lazuli also had her wing casts removed. Wing bones healed much faster than others, and while they weren’t perfect, the doctor said as long as she didn’t fly for extended periods for a while they would be good as new.

Cirrus was sad. She didn’t say it, she tried not to show it, but it was obvious. It wasn’t like it would have been unacceptable for her to be, anyway – losing her sight, probably the sense that she valued the most out of all of them, was devastating for her. Lazuli had listened to her for hours on the first night, lamenting the things that she couldn’t see again. Both of them had asked the doctor multiple times if he thought there was any chance this was temporary, and he simply said that he didn’t want to give them false hope. It was unlikely, to an extreme degree, that Cirrus would ever see again. He mentioned that they had corrective spells they could use on normal ponies, but Draconies were borderline immune to magic – both harmful and helpful.

On the last day of Cirrus’ stay in the hospital, Lazuli sat next to her on the bed, gently stroking her back. “I’m still gonna say everything will be fine.”

“I know.” Cirrus hung her head, ears drooping. “But it won’t be.”

“Come on…” Lazuli’s tail wrapped tightly around her wife’s, holding her as close as she could and pressing her nose into her cheek. “There’s…gotta be positives, right?”

“Positives?” Cirrus turned her head in Lazuli’s general direction. “What positives, Laz? What possible positives could there be?” Her voice raised, making Lazuli’s ears pin back a bit.

“Uh, I was just- I…I don’t know, but-“

“That’s all you’ve been saying this whole week, Laz. It’ll all be fine, look on the bright side, there’ll be positives – there aren’t any, Lazuli. I’m blind.”

“I…I know, Cirrus, but-“

“But what?! What are you possibly going to say?! You’re just saying all this crap so you make yourself feel better!” Cirrus yelled.

Lazuli had been told that mood swings and personality shifts could be possible after a brain injury, so she was prepared for it, but…on some level, she felt like this wasn’t just the injury talking. Lazuli had been of virtually no help this whole time, aside from teaching her how to use a cane to walk, which in hindsight was not a very difficult thing to learn. “I’m…sorry…” She muttered.

“I am too. I’m sorry you have to deal with this. I’m sorry you have to deal with me.”

“Honey, you know I don’t mean that-“

“But I can hear it.” Cirrus sniffed, tears starting to roll down her nose as her head hung forward again. Despite not being able to see, her tear ducts still worked. “That’s the only thing…I can do now…”

“Cirrus…” Lazuli tried to think of something to say…but she couldn’t. She lifted a hoof to place it on her shoulder, but she found that it was shaking too much. “I-I…”

“I’ve been trying to be positive, Laz.” Cirrus whimpered, her voice suddenly sounding more vulnerable than Lazuli had heard it be in years. “I…I guess…I just…I’m so used to you taking care of everything, I…never really thought there would be a time we both didn’t know what to do…”

“I-“ Lazuli again tried to think of something quick to say, something that would calm her, something that would remind her that she was still in the right state of mind to help – but again, nothing came. She just gritted her teeth, eyes clenched tight for a moment before she blinked away the tears. “I…”

“Just…stop.” Cirrus fumbled a bit as she reached to place her hoof on Lazuli’s thigh, laying her head down on her shoulder. “I know…you don’t know what to say…or what to do…”

“I-I…w-we…b…” Lazuli stammered, jaw clenching tighter. This whole week, she realized she had just been distracting herself from the fact that this was her wife’s life now, and she couldn’t even sympathize with it properly, because she had no idea what it was like to see nothing at all.

“Stop.” Cirrus said again, this time more firmly, but only by a slight amount. “…Please. I just…I just want to go home.”

Lazuli’s lip quivered, but she refused to cry again. Taking a deep, albeit shaky breath, she sat up and nodded. “…Okay.” She helped Cirrus to her hooves, assisting her in attaching the cane to her tail before helping to lead her to the lobby.

The house didn’t feel right.

It didn’t feel safe. It didn’t feel like home. The moment Lazuli opened the door, both of them hesitated, even though Cirrus couldn’t see the interior. Lazuli had spent some time rearranging the furniture back to normal, but even with it looking virtually the same as it always did, Lazuli just felt like it was…wrong.

Lazuli carefully helped Cirrus inside. The cane was a bit of a hazard to use indoors, so instead Lazuli helped to guide her around with her tail. Cirrus mentioned being hungry. Lazuli hadn’t eaten in half a day, but she didn’t feel hungry herself. She led Cirrus to the kitchen, gently settling her at the table and starting to take out utensils to make food.

“Does…does it all look the same?” Cirrus asked softly.

“Huh?” Lazuli turned her head. Cirrus was staring down at the table, though both of them supposed it didn’t matter where she looked.

“The house.” She mumbled back. “Does it look…the same?”

“It’s as close as I could get it.” Lazuli paused, placing a pan on the stove. “And…um…they took some of the kitchen appliances that had blood on them, but- I mean, um, not- the blood was-“

“It’s fine…” Cirrus hung her head a bit lower. “I get it.”

Lazuli watched her for a moment longer, quietly turning her head back to the stove, then back to Cirrus again. “Um…you want…pancakes? I know that’s, uh…your…favourite…”

“Sure.” Cirrus traced her hoof along the table.

Lazuli wordlessly got the ingredients together and started mixing. The whole process went in relative silence. The sound of cooking was the only real one to be heard, along with the occasional vehicle moving past the house.

“Laz?” Cirrus spoke up, and Lazuli turned her head away from the pan.

“Yeah?”

“When I…got um…you know…” Cirrus fumbled with her hooves, nervously wringing them together. “Did- did you…catch her?”

“I- wait, you mean…Ayize?”

“Yeah…her.”

“I…no, sweetie, but…I got her at the base, remember? The whole…attack, I told you about?”

“…Oh…” Cirrus gazed back down at the table. “Must’ve slipped my mind.”

Lazuli watched for a second longer with a concerned expression, using her tail to move the pan and flip the pancake – filled with chocolate chips, she remembered to add – and once it was ready, she slid it onto a plate.

She gently set the plate in front of her wife, along with a fork and butter knife. “Um…so do you need me to help-“

“I can do it myself.” Cirrus insisted, her green horns glowing dully and trying to focus on the utensils.

“Are- uh, are you…sure? They said it might be better if I help you-“

“I can do it myself.” Cirrus snapped, making Lazuli draw back slightly.

“…Okay…sorry…” Lazuli went back over to the stove to clean the pan, the hiss of water hitting its hot surface making steam rise to the ceiling while she scrubbed it clean.

Lazuli had to close her eyes at one point, to try and block out the quiet sobs from the table. Cirrus was struggling – when she did dare to look, she watched as she managed to cut off a piece, then jabbed herself in the nose with a fork. It devolved from there, turning into an angry stabbing of the poor fresh pastry before Cirrus laid her head down on the table and sobbed into her hooves.

“C-“ Lazuli’s voice caught in her throat, her eyes tearing up at the sight. “Cirrus, I-I think I should help…”

“Go ahead.” Cirrus shoved the plate forward, narrowly avoiding pushing it off the table. Lazuli sat down at the table with her, using her limited levitation ability to help feed her. She could tell Cirrus was beyond defeated – having to be fed, like a foal who lacked the motor skills to hold a fork, was degrading to the point that she was crying even as she ate. Lazuli was trying not to make it obvious that she was as well. Both of them, Lazuli thought, must have looked a mess – but she couldn’t even joke about it to lessen the feeling of pathetic failure that weighed down the pit of her stomach.

“It’s- it’s only temporary…” Lazuli mumbled half-heartedly. “You’ll…get used to it, I’m sure…”

Cirrus didn’t say a word. Lazuli fed her, in silence, until the plate was empty and Cirrus was somewhat complacent. Her cheeks still ran with tears, and Lazuli did her best to wipe them away and more importantly comfort her, but something just felt different. No matter what Lazuli said, it didn’t bring Cirrus’ spirits back up.

It was only five in the afternoon, but Cirrus said she was tired and wanted to sleep. In all honesty, Lazuli needed to rest too…so she helped Cirrus up the stairs, into their bedroom, and gently laid her down on the bed.

Cirrus’ expression was blank. Lazuli liked to think she was good at reading her wife’s emotions, but now she was at a loss. Climbing into bed beside her, she felt Cirrus suddenly wrap her legs around her, adding her wings into the mix at the same time. Lazuli felt her bury her face in her chest, and from there she simply broke down.

Lazuli’s chest physically ached, hearing the sounds of anguish coming from her wife. Cirrus sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder, a week’s worth of pent-up frustration and sorrow pouring into Lazuli’s fur. Lazuli winced as she felt Cirrus’ horns poke at her chin, but she just gently stroked at Cirrus’ back to help calm her down. She was at a complete loss for words. Nothing she could say would help, and nothing she could do would be enough right now. She just let Cirrus let it all out, in hopes that it would help her sleep.

And, at the very least, it did. Lazuli waited nearly twenty minutes for her crying to turn into a dull, barely audible whimper, then a much quieter and more measured breathing. She slowly turned her head down, seeing that Cirrus’ eyes were closed, her muzzle still pressed firmly into Lazuli’s chest – so she gently shifted herself, lying on her side so she wasn’t putting all of her weight on her still healing wings, then allowed her own eyes to drift shut and at least attempt to allow sleep to overcome her.

The End

Two months went by at the slowest pace Lazuli could imagine. She wasn’t used to being home for so long and doing virtually nothing but sitting around the house and taking small walks with Cirrus to help her grow more confident and self-sufficient was something quite new to her.

Cirrus had been getting better, which she couldn’t have been happier about. For the first month or so, Cirrus often woke up and had an immediate panic attack because she had completely forgotten she was blind, and Lazuli always had to be ready to console her. Eating had become easier, mainly thanks to Lazuli letting her do things on her own when she insisted on it. Her instinct was to do everything for her, but she knew Cirrus needed to be more independent eventually.

Over time, Cirrus grew to know the house well enough that she didn’t need to use the cane or Lazuli’s help. Her tail was usually enough, and since the furniture didn’t move she eventually managed to feel her way around with no issues at all. As she got better at handling herself, it helped with her self-esteem, and while she never seemed quite as happy as she used to be, her mood lifted with each passing day.

It was a sunny day outside, and Lazuli was sitting in the living room of their house with Cirrus. The TV was on, turned to the news, which Cirrus could still listen to even without the visuals.

“Laz?” Cirrus piped up, having not spoken much during the time they were sitting there.

“Mmm?” Lazuli turned her head to Cirrus, who kept her head staring firmly at the couch.

“Uh…I want to ask you something. And uh…promise you won’t get mad at what I say?”

“…Yes…?” Lazuli raised an eyebrow, though her body language was of course lost on Cirrus.

Cirrus cleared her throat gently, and while her face was turned down, Laz could tell she was nervous. “So…um…have you ever thought of…adopting?”

Lazuli blinked, taking a moment to realize what she meant. “Adopting…? You mean like…a foal?”

Cirrus just nodded slowly. “Mhm.”

“Well…yeah, I thought about it, but…it’s not a good idea now, right?”

“On the contrary,” Cirrus swallowed. “I think it’s a great idea now.”

“But- you’re blind, and you’re only just now getting used to it, and…I’ll need to go back to work soon, how is this a good idea?”

“Laz,” Cirrus sat up a bit. “If you go away for missions, I’ll be alone. Completely alone. Sure you can have someone come and check in on me, but I’m not going to have anyone around. And yeah, I know the adoption process is…long…and we probably wouldn’t actually get to adopt until a few months from now, but…don’t you think it would be good if we had a little one around here?”

“I…but…how would you take care of them?”

“Well we wouldn’t adopt a newborn…” Cirrus frowned a bit. “I was thinking a Dracony filly, actually.”

“Well…yeah but- why a filly, specifically?”

Cirrus’ cheeks went slightly red, bashfully looking away.

“…You were already looking at one, weren’t you?”

“I…” Cirrus’ ears pinned back against her head. “Well…it was when you were out in Zebrica a few months ago…um…I was gonna mention it to you on the Manehatten trip, but then all that stuff happened, and uh…well…I never found the chance…”

“Have you…seen her?” Lazuli winced, realizing that might not have been the best choice of words, but Cirrus didn’t seem to mind too much.

“Yes.” Cirrus said with a slow nod. “Her name’s Pearl. Pearl Blossom.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Lazuli tilted her head.

“Well…I wanted it to kind of…be at the right time, you know? And…the Manehatten trip was gonna be the perfect time, I was gonna invite you along normally, but then you had a mission to do and it just would’ve been weird…”

“How much of the…paperwork is already done?”

“About half.” Cirrus mumbled. “You need to do the rest…and…we could…conceivably have her here in two weeks…”

“…Does she know you’re blind?”

Cirrus frowned, her lip quivering a bit. “I…don’t think she does…”

“Alright.” Lazuli slid up close to Cirrus, wrapping a wing around her. “How about this. We’re gonna go and see her today.”

“What?” Cirrus perked up, her head raising with a bit of a smile. “Really?”

“You think I’m not gonna meet her first, Cirrus? We’re gonna go see her, and we’ll…” Lazuli paused. “I was gonna ask if she’s an orphan, how stupid am I?” She almost giggled. “We’ll give her a home. And you’ll have a little tyke to keep you company while I’m away, when it happens. Okay?”

“…Ithoughtyouweregonnabemad…” Cirrus mumbled quickly.

“Mad?” Lazuli pulled Cirrus against her, into a tight hug. “Cirrus, I’m gonna be honest, I was going to ask you about adopting too…I just…thought it wouldn’t really be the best thing when I’m always away.”

“Well…” Cirrus snickered slightly. “Draconies mature slower than ponies, so…not like you won’t have plenty of time to enjoy her being a filly.”

“How old is she?”

“Only seven, now.” Cirrus nodded slowly. “Her birthday is in two months, that’s…kinda why I wanted to make it soon.”

“Cirrus,” Lazuli nuzzled up against her wife’s cheek. “You’re actually the sweetest mare in existence.”

“Shush…” Cirrus’ cheeks went even redder as she returned the hug, a low purring noise coming from deep in her throat.

Just then, as if intentionally disrupting their moment, the doorbell rang. Laz rolled her eyes, gently letting go of Cirrus. “I’ll get it.” She stood up from the couch, leaving Cirrus to listen to the news while she walked over to the door and opened it with her tail.

To her surprise, the pony standing in the doorway was not a salespony or some other sort of intruding solicitor. Instead it was Steel Resolve, the massive draft horse Pegasus barely fitting within the area of the door to begin with. “Hi, Laz.” He said with a smile.

“Oh, uh, hey Steel.” Lazuli blinked, then stepped aside. “Er…come on in.”

Steel looked hesitant for a moment, then moved in through the doorway, ducking his head as he did. “How’ve you been?” He asked. “Is uh…Cirrus alright?”

“I’m fine.” Lazuli said with a slow nod. “And Cirrus…she’s a lot better now. You wanna say hi?”

“Is that Steel?” Cirrus’ voice called from the living room. “Bring him in here, I want to say hi!”

“…Well there you go.” Steel chuckled, trying to keep his steps gentle so he didn’t break anything. The house wasn’t set up for a stallion of his size, but he was surprisingly delicate with the furniture. As they re-entered the living room, Cirrus sat up.

“I could hear your steps as soon as Laz opened the door.” Cirrus quipped with a slight giggle. “Er, not in a bad way, sorry.”

“’S fine.” Steel reassured her, sitting down on the living room floor – since their furniture likely wouldn’t hold him – with a smile. “Glad to see you’re in better spirits.”

“Well, what can you do?” Cirrus shrugged. “Gotta make the best of it…”

“Mmhm.” Lazuli hopped up on the couch beside Cirrus. “So…what brings you here, Steel?”

“Just checking in on you two, haven’t heard from you. Not that you were supposed to contact or anything, just, you know.”

“Oh, well…yeah, we’re fine.” Lazuli nodded. “Cirrus the super-mare is getting used to this quicker than I’d have ever thought.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Cirrus gently punched at Lazuli’s shoulder. Laz shifted purposefully so the nudge would hit her.

“C’mon, you know you’ve been great.” Laz said, then looked back at Steel. “But that can’t be the only reason you’re here, right?”

“Weeelll…” Steel tapped his front hoof against the carpet. “Uh…I’ll be honest, I…kind of wanted to ask you if you wanted to take on a job.” He said directly to Lazuli. “But…I also know about the…adoption.”

“What? How’d you know about that?” Lazuli glanced between Cirrus and Steel.

“Well, I mean, it’s kind of important we know what one of our covert operatives is doing, especially when it involves a foal.” Steel said bluntly. “…And Cirrus told me a few months ago.” He added.

Lazuli gave Cirrus a fake-angry nudge. Cirrus just blushed.

“Now, I will say that the mission wouldn’t start for about five days.” Steel said. “And I know you’re probably out of practice…but it’s on the table. I also know your paid leave still lasts for another month, so don’t worry, I’m not gonna stop that if you say no. But…” He shrugged. “Just figured I would come and ask…”

Cirrus cleared her throat. “Laz, can I talk to you in the kitchen?”

“Um…” Lazuli looked at Cirrus, then back at Steel. “Could you excuse us a moment?”

“Right.” Steel nodded.

Lazuli stood up, and Cirrus walked with her to the kitchen, where she turned in Lazuli’s general direction and said simply, “I think you should.”

“I should…what?”

“I think you should go on whatever thing he wants you to.”

“Wh- wait, why?” Lazuli frowned.

“Well, think of it this way. If we go through the adoption process right from now, Pearl would get here in two weeks. If you take a mission in five days, and your missions never take longer than two days anyway, that means we can still go and visit her today, get you familiar with her, and when she arrives this guarantees you can have some time off to be around her, even once that paid leave period is over, since you’ve just been on a mission.”

“…If I didn’t know any better I’d say you two are setting this up together.”

“Just seems logical to me…” Cirrus shrugged. “But, I dunno. It’s up to you.”

“What do you think I should do?” Lazuli asked.

“I just told you, nerd.” Cirrus jabbed her in the shoulder with a fake annoyed face.

“Right…well…” Lazuli snorted heavily through her nostrils. “…Alright, fine. It’ll get us some extra cash, too…but, are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”

“There, see? All about the money, you.” Cirrus smiled widely. “And I’ll be fine. I’ll go and stay with Kiama, actually.”

Lazuli grumbled at the idea.

“Oh, come on. She wants to help, you know that.”

She grumbled again.

“Okay, fine, I’ll have her check on me sometimes. Okay?” Cirrus sighed. “Now let’s get out there and tell Steel you wanna be cool again, before he falls through the floor.”

“You’re a real jerk about his weight sometimes.” Lazuli rolled her eyes, turning back around and leading Cirrus into the living room again.