//------------------------------//
// ending 
// Story: Mapping Manehattan 
// by The Red Parade 
//------------------------------//

Hope Hotel is alive with activity. The sentries wave at them hurriedly as Lightning and Fiddle approach. Their words overlap with each other, but the message is clear: someone’s here to see them.

They pass through the lobby, and Fiddle takes a second to give her traded bottle of painkillers to one of the medics. After exchanging thanks, Lightning and Fiddle head up the stairs to their room.

Inside, a pegasus waits for them. She’s studying their map intensely, with a few open books nearby. Her saddlebags, gun, and signature pith helmet sit on the bed.

Daring Do glances up at them and nods in acknowledgement. She shakes hooves with them and smiles. They’ve been doing good work, if the map is any indication.

Fiddlesticks pulls out her book and passes it over to Daring. The book has everything she needs to know about the state of Manehattan: the factions, the settlements, all of it.

Daring nods and sets the book aside. She’ll look at it later. From what she’s seen so far, Manehattan’s in about the same state as Seaddle is.

Lightning speaks up. She asks if Daring knows what’s happening in Canterlot.

Daring rubs her chin. She knows that something is going on, but she isn’t quite sure what. But just maybe, things will start looking up.

Lightning and Fiddle glance at each other. The future's suddenly seeming  a whole lot brighter now.

She thanks them again for scouting for her. Now, Daring has a good feel for the state of Equestria, and she’s fairly optimistic that with leadership and a few miracles, they can start to rebuild.

Fiddle asks what they should do next.

Daring smiles at them. They should keep doing what they have been doing. Because it’s giving ponies hope. And hope is more important than anything else right now.

The three of them go out to the balcony, looking out over the city. The wind carries with it a voice, one that sings a song of everything. It sings of the past and the pain and the blood, but it also sings of tomorrow and the things still to come.

Lightning turns her gaze to Fiddle as the glow of the moon falls gently across her face. She loves the way the stars shine in her eyes and the little tired sigh she gives.

Daring goes back into the hotel, but neither of them notice. Lightning digs into her bag and pulls the ring she found earlier. She gingerly turns it over in her hooves and clears her throat.

She catches Fiddle’s eye and holds the ring up, her trembling lips forming four words.

Fiddle doesn’t answer. She pulls her into a kiss as tears and emotions wrack their tired, broken bodies.

There’s a voice carried by the wind, moving throughout the city. It’s quiet and subdued, but it is there. It speaks of one word: hope. Tonight, this voice grows a little bit louder, and the stars above glow a little bit brighter.