“... and that’s how I met your mother,” I finished.
Bright Skies, Vinyl and my adopted colt, blinked six times. “You died?”
“Yes,” I nodded.
Bright glared at me. “Horseapples!”
I giggled. “I’m a robot, hon. Grandma fixed me right up!”
My little peach maned tan colt dragged his forehooves across his eyes. “Okay but also none of that had really anything to do with… anything!”
I frowned and tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
“You just… stopped before… What happened to Pip? What was the Prince doing? What happened with the book he ordered? How did you stop the Enclave?” Bright whined, flapping his little wings irritably.
“Oh,” I shrugged. “Vinyl and I weren’t really around for any of that. Expect the book. I delivered it once I was repaired. But, Pip had a pulmonary edema from laying down too long. Katydid's doctor fixed her up and she moved with Homage onto Star Drop because the pre-war environment sounded therapeutic to her. We could visit, maybe?”
I cleared my throat. “The Prince had found a copy of the Black Book, not a magic one, just a copy of the text. He was going to use dark magic from it to let Celestia possess him, if she wanted, so she could fix the wasteland. She said no. Mom’s got a robotic body for her on her build list.”
I thought back over the last five years to try and get everything else I could for my little pony.
“As for how we stopped the Enclave… Um, I was offline for that. I heard that Loom, Speed, and Desi just sort of went and killed them all,” I answered honestly.
I’d heard that bit in a lot of detail, but unlike the rest of Vi and my story, it wasn't exactly suitable for little ponies.
Bright opened his mouth to protest, but Speed dipped her head into the reading room and smiled. “Almost all! A few actually managed to be faster than me and beamed out before we got the power offline. I like to go hunt for them sometimes. See, this one officer that got away is Type O, and that is the best!”
“Oh,” Bright said contently.
He knew full well how good Auntie Speed was at killing things.
“So yeah… they might pop up again,” I said with a shrug. “But, it doesn’t matter much. There won't be many of them left, and since Rainbow’s keeping the station online but under her direct control, and it’s not like you can kill her long enough to fire that thing before she reforms and kills you right back… We’re pretty safe. Everypony can start rebuilding properly now.”
“What about your griffon friend?” Bright asked.
“Oh he just went back home. We could also visit him, sometime. When you’re old enough to fly.”
Bright chuffed and crossed his little forelegs over his barrel and sank back into the library couch. “Fine… You could have just said “We met during an adventure!” though… and you didn’t say where I came from…”
I giggled, blushing a little. “Oh! Sorry… Um, Speed found you in a burnt out house to the south and—”
“And I gave you to my friends because I don’t know how to make life keep existing. That’s the opposite of my job,” Speed called loudly.
“Shhhhhh!” somepony hissed from the library shelves.
“Actually your job is assistant librarian,” I corrected Speed.
I’d been so happy when she discovered that shelving books was enjoyable to her. There weren't very many bad guys for her to go nuts on these days. That would probably change soon, but for now, it was a good thing my best friend the murder machine had something besides killing she could like doing.
I nodded and bit my lip a little. “Well, yes, but without all of the context—”
Bright hopped off the couch and trotted into the library’s main room. “Aunt Speed! You said it was a good story!”
“It’s a totally awesome story! Your moms airlock killed a dude,” Speed called back. “That’s rarer than a railing kill. Even I don’t have that achievement yet. Sheesh. Tough crowd.”
“But it’s so looooong!” Bright moaned. “And she didn’t finish it good!”
“I was dead for the end,” I huffed crossing my forelegs.
“Ugh, fine… that’s a good reason, I guess,” Bright grumbled bitterly.
I shook my head and stood up, giving him a little pat on his peach mane. “You’ll like it more when you’re older. Longer stories can be some of the most fun! Now I’ll see you the day after tomorrow. I have to get to work.”
I trotted past my son and gave Speed a polite nod. “Take good care of him while Vi and I are out. And remember, no more taking him Windigo hunting.”
“Yeah yeah,” Speed said with a dismissive hoof wave. “Don’t worry, I’m going to take him out target practicing so next time he won't get half eaten.”
“Good,” I said with a nod.
Most mothers would probably be concerned about that sort of thing. I wasn’t. Bright couldn’t have a better teacher, and he’d have to fight more than a few times if he wanted to make it to old age.
Besides, he’d managed to take down the Windigo before it killed him. That’s talent.
“Oh!” Speed exclaimed, turning after me. “Your mom said she and Desi will be at the Crystal City for a few more days. They think they might be able to get your dad out of the network this time.”
I looked over my shoulder. “I hope so… Will you be okay with your mares being gone a few more days?”
The three of them made for the cutest little herd. Though it did suck that a lot of ponies through Desi was their filly. At least it only took one or two corrections for them to remember the tiny space mare was an adult.
I passed through the library and stopped by the door to put on my coat, and the mail mare’s hat the Prince had made for me as payment for delivering his book. Then I slipped on my postmare’s bags, and headed out the door.
Vinyl looked up from her seat on the porch and tucked a sheath of papers into her saddlebags. The light caught the blood-ice amulet I’d gotten specially made for her as a wedding present.
Safe forever. No going feral for my mare.
“New song?” I asked curiously.
“Yeah,” she nodded and then laughed. “The Sparkle Cola Corporation wants a new jingle and I wrote the first one sooo, one of their big-huge amazon bots clomped through about an hour ago asking for me. Never thought I’d do work for a corporation again. Soooo, we heading out?”
“Mhm,” I began to trot down the walkway to the street.
“Any idea what we’re delivering?” Vinyl asked as she fell into step beside me.
“Nope, but we get to do route 8!” I said with a smile.
“Isn’t that the route you wrestled a polar bear on?”
“Mhm!” I mean they all were, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Sounds like fun,” Vinyl said shaking her head slowly. “Okay, let’s go deliver the mail.”
“There's nothing else I’d like to do with you more, dear,” I said with a smile and a happy sigh.