“What’s your name again? Cause I’m pretty sure right now it’s Smartmouth.”
The trip above the clouds was one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever experienced during my time in The Wasteland up to this point of my life. True, I’d seen the sun in memory orbs and had a couple of glimpses of it when I was young and still lived in The Crystal Empire. However, in my old home, the Equus-bound ponies weren’t allowed more than that. This was the first time I’d gotten more than just a taste of the sun. Even hours later when we were growing closer to our destination, I still kept looking out the window and marveling at the beauty the sun left upon the clouds below. Even better was the beautiful warmth it gave off. I was used to heat living the past few weeks in New Pegasus, but it was just that, heat. What I was feeling now was pleasant warmth from the heavenly body. It brought joy and peace for the small time we had flying toward Stratus.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy the whole trip just watching the sun and the clouds. We had planning to do. Solstice, Stardust, and I all went over every part of what we’d be doing when we got into Stratus. We went over everything we could think of that could go wrong and how to either avoid those things from happening, or how to escape them if they did. The most important thing right now was getting into the city and making it to Solstice’s home. Luckily for us, her parents’ house was located about a kilometer from one of the smaller skyports. Even better that port was on the northwest side of Stratus. It was mostly used for rich ponies, like Solstice’s parents, or private transports to dock on. Apparently, Stratus and Nimbus were one of the few cities in the Enclave that had free travel between them so both cities had multiple docks all over their borders. With our fake ID’s and the fake log updates Fairy Glitter had added to the roster for the dock we were going to, we should be able to at least get into the city.
Seven hours after we left Los Alicorn, I finally got my first ever glimpse of my father’s city. Solstice started to slow us down, banking slightly north as she said, “Okay you two be ready for anything. If you both look out the window you should be able to see Stratus now. Soon we might have to have our stories ready for Enclave patrols. I’m sure there’s a lot of them right now with the sudden takeover by Winter Frost.”
Neither Stardust nor I answered Solstice, the two of us had our eyes glued on one of the biggest Enclave cities ever to be built. It was hard to believe what my eyes were seeing, how in the Goddesses name did the Pegasi build anything this massive…on clouds? In the distance I saw tall buildings jutting up out of the clouds reaching higher than anything should be able to on such a fluffy surface. I’d call the tall buildings skyscrapers if they weren’t already high in the sky as it was. Truthfully they weren’t quite as tall as the buildings in Los Alicorn or Whinnieapolis, the tallest one which sat directly in the center of the massive city was probably only fifteen maybe twenty stories tall. Most of the buildings around that one were a few stories shorter. But in a good five kilometer or so ring at the city’s center, sat at least fifty tall buildings. We were coming in from the west and just past the tall buildings which I’d learned from Solstice later was called the City Center. There were large homes, each one looking like it cost millions of ‘Bits’ as Solstice called the Enclaves currency.
They all were on a set of clouds lifted higher than the rest, giving the residents of those homes a beautiful view of the city. Some homes had little waterfalls flowing down them, others had huge yards or small landing pads on them. The one thing they all had in common was that each one had a large fence with a gate around each property. On the south side of the city the houses got smaller and dirtier from what I could make out of them. Going around to the east, where I could barely make them out, I saw workshops and factories, three of which were pouring out clouds that teams of Pegasi were moving away from the city toward warehouses. To the north just past the rich homes I saw a huge military base that rivaled the size of Spitfire’s Flight Academy. On the largest runway I saw a monster of an airship.
“Solstice, what is that thing?” I asked.
She looked toward the overly huge airship. The thing was so big The Palisade could’ve probably fit inside it. She took a long moment before she said, “That’s a Thunderhead. They’re the biggest and most powerful Enclave airships, and before you ask, the smaller yet also still dangerous looking ones around it are Raptors. You might remember those from when Captain Strife came after us.”
“How many of those ships do that Enclave have?” Stardust asked, sounding just as amazed as I was.
“Not many, I’m surprised Neighvarro let that one out of their sight. That’s none other than The New Moon. It’s one of the oldest and most well equipped for war airships they have,” she said as she started to turn us toward where a few other transports were heading.
“The New Moon? That’s an odd name for a ship,” I said.
“Not when it used to belong to General Night Stalker, before he was an Enclave leader. Before you ask me about the thing, please don’t, I don’t know much more than that, my mom can tell you more,” she said as we flew in behind a smaller transport flying into a small landing bay.
I looked back to where the Thunderhead was and felt a strange connection to the large airship. Strange, still it didn’t matter much, right now I needed to ready myself for what would come next. I was right too, because as soon as we landed on an available platform, three Enclave guards in pitch black power armor approached our transport.
The lead stallion went over to Solstice first, asking, “What brings you to Stratus?”
“We’re just returning from a ground mission, my employer sent one of her younger scientist unicorns down to the surface to gather research materials,” Solstice said, keeping her helmet on with the visor down.
“Shadow, I mean Sparkle, make sure you have your cloud walking spell active. Remember, Solstice told us that everything built up here is made from clouds even if it doesn’t look like it,” Stardust hissed.
He was right, so I pulled on my magic and cast the cloud walker spell as the Stallion continued saying to Solstice, “I wasn’t told that anypony was sent down to the surface recently. The city is under martial law right now miss…”
“Cotton Sky, I’m a guard working with Skyway Industries,” Solstice said.
“Ah, Miss Sky, like I said we weren’t told any ponies were sent down to the surface recently. Do you have anything showing that you are from Stratus and have permission to enter the city?” he asked.
Solstice pulled out her ID and showed it to the guard who scanned it with something on his power armor. As he did, she said, “You can contact Supple Wind if you want. She’s my direct supervisor, she’ll confirm we were on a week-long mission and not here before the martial law was implemented. She was able to let me know what’s changed while we were gone and said we should return.”
He looked toward one of the others with him then said, “Check with Supple Wind while I check on what’s inside the transport.”
“Yes sir,” Another stallion said, taking to the air and flying toward what could only be a small guard shack just off the main platforms.
Looking back at Solstice the first stallion said, “We’ll verify your story. In the meantime, I’ll need to check the identifications of every pony in the transport and any materials you brought back with you.”
“No materials sadly, we got attacked by some Fiends a day or so ago and lost everything including two of our unicorns and one pegasus. We barely made it out,” Solstice said.
The Stallion cursed, but it sounded sad more than angry. “Damned Wastelanders, can’t even send a peaceful team down there anymore without them attacking, and for what? It’s not like we use the same form of currency as they do and nine times out of ten, we kill all of them. You’d think they’d know not to mess with The Grand Pegasus Enclave. What a waste of perfectly good citizens.”
“I agree,” Solstice said, also putting a sad note to her voice, “If you want, you can check on the transport.”
“Yes, I’ll get right on that,” he said then looked at the other stallion with him, “Did you check the ID number on this transport?”
The last stallion had a high young sounding voice that was slightly irritating to listen to as he responded, saying, “Yes sir, it checks out, shows that it belongs to an Intel officer named Fairy Glitter. She has it listed as being loaned to Skyway Industries at the moment.”
“Well at least that checks out. Hmm Fairy Glitter, isn’t that Commander Cascade’s wife?” The first stallion said.
“I believe so,” the whiny stallion said.
I was worried that something was about to happen, the way he said it made it seem as if either one of Solstice’s parents being the owners of this airship could blow our cover. My worry was short-lived as the first guard said, “Ah yes, he was my instructor in boot camp back in the day,” he then looked over at Solstice, “You ever met the Commander before Miss Sky?”
“Can’t say that I have, I’m just a poor mare trying to make a living,” she responded.
“Ah yes, should’ve realized that, well let me get this check finished then you should be free to head into the city,” he said, heading to the back of the transport. As he did, Stardust opened the ramp that led out then slowly stepped onto the platform.
“Good day sir, I hope your morning’s going well,” Stardust said with a friendly smile on this face. He too was still wearing his helmet with the visor down as he greeted the guard.
I followed, my first step on to the tarmac looking surface was scary, until I felt the magic around my body take hold and my hoof landed on the cloud that looked too much like solid ground as if it was exactly what it looked like. I let out a soft breath, then went to stand by Stardust as the guard looked us both over. Finally, he asked, “Can I get your ID’s and names please?”
I held mine out, saying, “Sparkle’s my name, I’m a researcher for Skyway Industries, this is my bodyguard.”
“Names Ace, nice to meet you,” Stardust said in a cheerful tone.
He scanned the ID’s, then said, “Yes, yes it’s nice to meet you two as well, and I can’t complain about my day too much. Been slow for the most part with the lockdown and all. I’m sorry to hear that you all lost ponies while you were down with the dirt ponies. Bunch of savages.”
Throwing a tone of anger to his voice Stardust replied, “Damn right, we lost good ponies to those savages. Good to be home though, I think I’ll take a good long break before going out on a mission like that again.”
“I don’t see why any pegasus in his right mind would ever go down to that disgusting wasteland. Much safer and cleaner up here I say, you three are brave for doing such a job,” he said.
“Gotta pay the bills somehow, work is work right?” Stardust said.
“Too true,” the guard replied before walking past us and into the transport. He took a few minutes to check it for anything that could be dangerous then returned, “Everything looks good here, once I hear back from Desert Wind, then you can all be on your way. Although you’ll need to leave your transport here, new rules state that no transportation craft can be flying over the skies of Stratus at this time, not until the execution.”
I felt my heat nearly stop at those words and I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What…what execution?”
“Sad story that, the first pony is a Stallion who was part of The Seven Sins of Equinity at one point, but was found working with an Enclave enemy. The second one is none other than our former High Council Pony Nightshade. They just finished the trial this morning and his execution is set for noon in two days. The new council just told the public an hour or so before you got back,” he said.
“What did he do that was so bad that it warrants execution?” Stardust asked.
“They wouldn’t say, only that he is a traitor to The Enclave and all pegasi. It’s too bad, he was well loved by the ponies of Stratus as I’m sure you three know,” the guard said.
I had to work hard to hold back the mixture of rage and sadness I was feeling. After a moment I was able to say, “Yes, he was, it’s too bad we’ll all lose such a capable leader.”
Before he could respond, the pegasus who’d flown off to the guard shack returned, “Sergeant Everwind, I heard back from Supple Wind, she says that she’s been waiting for them to get back and to let them into the city.”
The first guard nodded, then said, “Thank you Desert Wind, you may get back to duty.”
“Yes Sargent,” Desert Wind said, then flew off.
Everwind waited a moment then looked back at the three of us, his body seeming to relax a little as he moved closer to Solstice, Stardust, and I, “Now that they’re gone listen closely Solstice, your father is waiting for you at Heaven’s Portal, he’ll escort the three of you to your house. Make sure you two get your disguises on before you take off your power armor. You have an hour to get to Heaven’s Portal before your father comes looking for you. He said he’ll put a hoof in all of your asses if he has to do that.”
Stardust’s eyes and mine went wide as he started to call Solstice by her name. That was until I saw Solstice’s face relax, then smile. After he finished, she said quietly, “Thank you Everwind, I’m glad you were on duty today and not your brother. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it was him. You both know me too well.”
He chuckled. “Your mother made sure I was on duty today just for that reason, but remember, others in town will know it’s you even with the power armor, so be quick. You can get whatever you’re using to hide who you are on in the restrooms just off the platforms. Now get going, before the others start to wonder why I’m taking so long talking to three citizens.”
Solstice moved close and kissed his cheek saying, “Thank you again and tell your wife I said hello and same to your filly. I miss foalsitting her.”
He chuckled. “She misses you too, now go,” And with that he took off to start checking in with another transport ship coming in to land.
Solstice led us off the platform and toward a small building. As she waked, I asked, “You know that buck?”
“Yes, now be quiet, don’t say anything else until we get inside,” she said then looked at Stardust, “You got what you need right?”
“Sure do,” he said, then he turned and headed into the ‘Stallions’ side of the small building which I saw now was a public restroom.
I followed Solstice until I saw the bathrooms were single occupant only, “I guess I’ll wait out here.”
“Don’t worry about it, I might need your help with this anyway just don’t let anypony see you follow me in,” she said, pushing the door open.
Shrugging I went in too and Solstice shut the door behind us then locked it. I was expecting the bathroom to be nasty seeing how it was a public bathroom, but I was surprised at how clean it was. Say what you want about The Enclave, they were a clean race of ponies. Solstice opened her power armor after pulling off her helmet then stepped out of it with a sigh. I took the Helmet from her as she stepped out asking, “So what do you need help with?”
“Damn I hate being in my armor for that long,” she said, shaking her head back and forth to get her mane to fluff out a little after being stuck up under her helmet for so long, “As for the help, I just need you to help me do up my mane in a different kind of style. I’m assuming you know how to work on manes. I hope so because I have no clue how. I’ve always been more into keeping it short and out of the way for work.”
“Yeah, I know how to do that, Milkshake and I used to do each other’s manes all the time as foals,” I said, “Do you have a brush?”
She looked sheepish as she looked away, “No, never really thought about getting one.”
I looked at her pink mane and chuckled a little to myself. I remembered when I first met Solstice, her mane had been shorter almost like mine is now. I guess it made it easier to have a mane like that when you were in the military, but in the past few weeks since she’d been kicked out of her home and been on the run with first my dad, then me, she hadn’t had time to cut it again. It was longer now and looking past the sweat and grime from it being tucked away for hours in a helmet, I could see she had a slight wave to it now that it was growing out. Her tail was the same, it was longer now and also had a wave to it. I’d never really taken the time to really look at Solstice. I mean yeah, I’ll admit I’d check out her ass once or twenty times, but that’s different. When she looked up at me as I pulled out one of my brushes and her dark blue eyes met mine, I could see now that she’s a very pretty mare. The pink of her mane and the blue of her eyes mixed with the light grey of her coat all went very well together.
Smiling more, I started to brush out her mane, as I did, I said, “You know, you really are a beautiful mare when you let your mane grow like that.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re not hitting on me are you? I mean I’m flattered and all but come on, I don’t…”
“Shut up,” I said, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. It’s just that, you always seem ready to jump into a fight all the time. I’ve never really seen you just let yourself be a mare before. Honestly I’m surprised you don’t have stallions hitting on you all the time.”
She let out a long sigh, then said, “I was raised to be a fighter, that’s really all I know how to do. I’ve never let myself just be as you said ‘a mare’ before. I don’t really think about relationships or anything like that because I am always worried about the next fight or battle. Honestly, I’m a little scared of letting myself fall for somepony. I wouldn’t know the first thing of what to do.”
I kept brushing out her mane as I said, “You think I do? Hell, I was too scared to admit I liked Aura until it was almost too late. I spent three years in my stable with feelings for Milkshake and couldn’t tell her because I was scared, that’s just the way life is sometimes. You can’t let fear control you like that, if you like somepony then tell them, or if not, then at least try and let yourself be yourself. Don’t always hide behind your warrior mask and just let Solstice out for a while.”
She chuckled at that. “Well, I haven’t really found a stallion I’ve liked in a while.”
“What about that stallion I taped you to back at Halo One?” I asked.
She growled a little at the memory of that night. It was the last time I’d seen her before she was banished from Stratus and started helping my dad. After a moment passed, she said, “First of all, that was still a dick move. You have no idea what it was like for me when I was found with an underling in that position. Second, I didn’t like him at all, I just wanted to get laid. He’s a weak, pathetic, buck that would do what I told him to and wouldn’t tell anypony, that’s it.”
I chuckled then put my brush down and started to pull out my old mane ties and started to do a complex braid to her mane. “It wasn’t nice I know, but you also would’ve killed me if I didn’t do it. We weren’t friends yet back then and, in all honesty, it was hilarious.”
“Maybe to you it was!” she said with a huff, then she started laughing, “Though I guess if it was me who was doing to another pony who hated me, I’d have done the same thing.”
I finished up with her mane then smiled at my work. “Well, I’m done with your mane, now what are you going to do to hide who you are?”
She took a moment and looked at herself in the mirror, I could tell that she was about to say something condescending about my work. Mostly because I know Solstice well enough by now to understand that she loves to rip on ponies just for the fun of it. That was until she caught a full view of herself in the mirror. Her eyes went wide as she took in the simple mane-style I had given her. I won’t go into full detail about what I did, but it was a style I’d seen in an old book of a mare who modeled before the war in Prance. Before I had started Solstice’s mane went down to just past her shoulders and was a mess. Now it was simple yet elegant at the same time. It made her look her own age for once and captured her natural beauty. For a split second I saw a tear form in her eyes then she blinked them away and took in a few deep breaths.
“Thank you, Shadow, I can’t believe how good this looks,” then she smiled, looking back at me over her shoulder. Then her eyes went up to my mane, even with the color change due to my disguise, it was still on the shorter side and more or less looked like a rat’s nest. “If you’re this good with manes, then why does yours look so crappy?”
I rolled my eyes. “Hey, I’m good at fixing other ponies’ manes, but when it comes to my own, I never was really good with it. That’s another reason I kept it in my braid all the time.”
As I spoke, I used the brush to at least get my mane under some control, so the ponies in Stratus wouldn’t think I was some nut job. As I did that, Solstice said, “That’s weird, but oh well, anyway this is what I’m using to fix what I look like, it won’t last as long as what Stormy did with you and Vervain, but it can be reused.”
As she said this, she pulled out a large ruby that had a deep glow inside of it. She brought it up to her mane and in a quick flash, her mane changed from pink to a reddish brown, she then touched her chest with it and her coat changed to a light greenish blue. Next, she did her eyes which turned silver, last was her cutie mark which became a few falling leaves, the same color as her mane.
“Damn, that’s cool, how did Stormy come up with that?” I asked.
“She said it’s a spell she invented a few years back, she put it in a gem and the spell is set to change different parts of my body to look different. It lasts for a few hours at a time and like I said can be reused,” she said, putting the gem back into her bag.
“That’s very useful,” I said as I put my brush away now that my mane was more or less tamed.
“It can be, but she also said that the spell can be broken if I overwork my body. So, if we get into a fight or anything that overtaxes my body, the spell will fail,” Solstice said.
“Well now that you’re done, should we go check on Stardust?” I asked.
“Yeah, hopefully he didn’t mess up using his gem. When Stormy tried to teach him how to use it he kept on doing it wrong. It has to be done in order, mane, coat, eyes, then cutie mark,” she said as she headed toward the door.
Right before she opened it, somepony knocked on it hard and a mare’s voice called out with authority, saying, “This is the Stratus Guard, only one pony at a time is allowed in the bathrooms. Come out now!”
“Shit,” Solstice said, then looked at me, “Follow my lead.”
I nodded as Solstice opened the door and gave the other mare a sheepish grin, “I’m sorry ma’am, my mare friend and I just wanted a private place to be alone.”
The guard looked at Solstice, then me, and said, “I need you two to turn out your saddle bags now. I don’t believe you for one second that you two were…having alone time. I mean who does that in a bathroom?”
“What do you think we have?” I asked.
“Angel Dust! Now turn out your bags!” she ordered.
I knew that I couldn’t do that, if she saw any of the weapons, I had with me hidden in my bags, there’d be a bigger problem. Thankfully, Solstice knew more than I did about how things worked in Stratus, “What reason do you have to force us to turn out our bags?”
“I’m a Stratus MP, I have the authority to have anypony who I think is suspicious turn out their bags or pockets,” she said.
“Under section eight, article two of the civil protection law, you need probable cause to ask anypony to do what you’re asking, you also need some kind of proof of wrongdoing before you can do that. What reason have she or myself have given you for thinking we’re doing something wrong? Apart from being in the bathroom at the same time,” Solstice said.
“Two mares in the same bathroom is reason enough, if you two were really together you wouldn’t need to hide away like that. I believe one of you is a dealer of Angel Dust, maybe something else, and the other is a buyer. I have enough reason to have you turn out your bags,” she argued.
Solstice’s eyes went wide, and she said in a pouty voice, “You don’t believe this is my marefriend? Why wouldn’t you believe me? We’ve been together for a year! That’s like super long! She’s like, my true love and this isn’t fair!” she ended with an offended tone.
If we weren’t in such a serious situation at the moment, I probably would’ve laughed at the way Solstice was acting. The guard backed up a little then shuddered, “I…I don’t see any reason to believe you.”
A moment later another MP flew over, this one was a stallion and looked a few years older than the mare. He looked at us then the mare asking, “Shale Mist, what’s going on here?”
“I caught these two in the public restrooms Captain, I think they’re holding. They tried to give me some story about them wanting alone time, but I know it’s bullshit,” she practically spat the last part at us.
The Captain looked at us asking, “Is private Mist correct?”
I wanted so badly to roll my eyes…or just shoot the annoying mare, but instead I said, “About what? Cotton and I have the day off, we didn’t want ponies watching us while we…you know…made out, so we went into the bathroom. I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“Yeah, what Sparkle said, also I have family who work around here, and they don’t know about Sparkle yet,” Solstice said.
“If you two had been together for a year like you said, then why wouldn’t you tell your family?” Shale Mist asked.
“Bite me, it’s none of your business,” I spat at her.
She growled, but the Captain put a hoof up. “Okay fine. First of all, you two don’t look like you’re the type to use Angle Dust or any other kind of controlled substance, but my private has a good point, it’s a little weird for you two to be in the bathroom at the same time. Unless you two are doing something wrong or something else I really don’t need to know about, give me a good reason not to have you brought in? Right now, all I see is two young mares telling me a story that’s not easy to swallow. It’s not often that unicorns and pegasi mix.”
Before I could say anything Solstice said, “You don’t believe me? Really? Just because you’re too much of a pegasus-first asshole, doesn’t mean we all are, but if you want to ignore the love I have for this unicorn, then fine, I’ll show you.”
A second later Solstice took my face and pulled it to hers. My eyes went wide as she pressed her lips to mine and kissed me as deeply as I normally kissed Aura. The shock lasted for maybe two milliseconds, then thank the Goddesses my body took over and I kissed her back. First thing that I have to note about this experience…Solstice isn’t a bad kisser, second was that there wasn’t even a bit of feeling there. Yeah, she was pretty n’ all, and before Aura this would’ve been a big turn on to me. Now though, all I could think about was using this as a way to get us out of trouble. However, I still did really enjoy the kiss.
It lasted for a bit longer than I think was necessary, the hoof Solstice slid to my ass and left there was going a bit far. If the two guards weren’t watching us, I probably would’ve hit her. Finally, we broke apart for a second then she give me a peck on the lips again then finished with her little show. With a slightly dazed look to her face and a slight blush she said, “Happy now?”
“She’s faking!” Shale Mist said.
The Captain on the other hoof just shook his head, saying, “Get out of here Private Mist, these two are just trying to find a place to be alone.”
“But sir!” she complained.
“NOW! Do I make myself clear!?” he yelled, making her cower.
She then shot us both a look of utter hatred, then flew away as I said in a mocking tone, “Hater!”
“Thank you sir and I’m sorry if we caused you any trouble,” Solstice said.
The Captain looked at us both, then said, “Don’t be sorry, just don’t do it again. As you know, things are changing in Stratus right now and it would be a bad idea if you let yourselves get on the wrong side of the law. I suggest the two of you find your way home or to your jobs whichever you need to be at right now. Also, count yourself lucky that I was in the area, you might not get so lucky next time.”
I nodded. “We’ll head home sir.”
He nodded back, then took off flying up toward a few more MPs who were flying overhead. When he was gone Solstice glared at me, saying quietly, “If you tell anypony I kissed you, I’ll break your horn off.”
I wanted to make a joke about how serious she’d gotten all of a sudden then remembered that Solstice could probably do what she threatened. So instead, I said, “Don’t worry I won’t,” then couldn’t help adding, “Plus if Aura found out, she’d probably rip your wings off…then break your nose…then probably cut out your tongue and shove it up your ass.”
Solstice smiled then started to laugh, “If she was still a griffon maybe, but right now, she’s nowhere near as good of a fighter. I’m sure I’d be fine.”
“We could test that theory,” I teased.
One of her eyes twitched and I saw a bit of worry come to her face. “Nah, I don’t think I really wanna go there. Anyway, where’s Stardust?”
I let her change the subject and looked toward the stallion side of the public restroom. “Probably trying to figure out how to use the stuff Stormy gave him.”
She just sighed. “Let me get my power armor back on then we’ll go check on him.”
“Check on who? Me?” Stardust said from above.
We both jumped then looked up seeing him hovering just over the roof of the restrooms. He gave us both a cocky grin, saying, “So, how do I look?”
His coat was still grey, his mane and eyes however were electric green and the color on the end of his wings which were normally the same color of as his mane now matched his coat. He hadn’t put his power armor back on yet and his Cutie Mark was visible, but that was also different. Now it showed two pegasus wings with a green gem in the middle of them. All in all, he didn’t look half bad, at the same time he also made me think of some kind of punk-rock band member. So, I decided to tell him as much. “You look like a teenager trying to rebel against his parents. I imagine you cry yourself to sleep with the deafening screams coming through your headphones, and wear nothing but black clothes and chains.”
I thought the insult would wipe the smug smile off his face. I was wrong, his goofy smile got ten-times wider as he said, “Awesome! Now let’s DO THIS…LET’S ROCK!” he finished his statement by pumping his hoof into the air.
“Don’t ever do that again, you look like a creepy scene kid trying to overstate whatever situation you’re in,” Solstice said, going back into the restroom and getting into her power armor.
“Awww, I thought it was cool. What’s wrong with scene kids?” Stardust pouted.
“Whatever you say Ace,” I said chuckling to myself as he landed and went to get his own armor.
“I never get to do anything fun. You also didn’t answer my question,” he complained.
Shaking my head, I just checked the time and waited for my friends. It didn’t take long for them both to be ready to go and soon we were off, heading toward Heavens Portal. According to Solstice it was a short trip from where we were. As we walked toward the city and slightly toward the higher end of Stratus, I got to see more and more pegasi. Apart from Dragon Bridge and a few exceptions in Freedom Town, and maybe growing up in The Crystal Empire, I’d never been around so many pegasi in my life. Even growing up in Enclave territory I’d never been up in the clouds before. In my hometown unicorns outnumbered pegasi. Mostly because most Enclave pegasi didn’t want to be on the surface. Even back when I was a filly, I only knew ponies from Nimbus and those pegasi were a little different from the rest of the Enclave. They got along better with unicorns and surface dwellers like my family had been.
To me, Stratus had always sounded like a military base with a city attached. A place where ponies trained to fight and protect. A place where powerful pegasi plotted against the enemies of The Enclave and more. Now that I was finally here, I saw how wrong I was. If I didn’t know that the land below me had been hit by magical radiation two hundred years ago, I wouldn’t have even known how hard life was down there. Mostly because Stratus was the closest thing to a prewar city I’d ever seen. Ponies were dressed in new clothes, they were clean, a lot of them were shopping at stores we passed by or going to a bar. Some pegasi flew by with small carriages brining pegasi around like it was a taxi. There was a park across an intact street, a street that if I hadn’t known better looked like it was really pavement. A freakin’ park, with foals playing on a playground and parents watching them as they enjoyed the sunshine as it came down on their happy faces.
While ponies struggled to survive The Wasteland below the clouds, the ponies up here acted like nothing was wrong. They lived life like it was still prewar Equestria. It made me sick to even think about all of the horrors I’d seen while these pegasi and unicorns lived comfortable lives. For a moment I just stood in one spot looking over at the foals playing in the park. One flew over to a young mare who looked like the filly’s mother and hugged her tight laughing with pure joy. The young mare held her daughter tight to her showing her little filly how much she loved her. As I saw this, I felt the anger melt away. It wasn’t the fault of these ponies that they lived so well. It was the fault of the government itself that kept these ponies in the dark of what was really going on in The Wasteland.
“You okay Sparkle?” I heard Stardust say as he put a hoof on my shoulder.
“Yeah, just got lost in thought that’s all,” I said, turning to look at him and Solstice who were waiting for me to continue on. I gave them both a sad smile. “Let’s get going.”
Solstice started walking again and I followed with Stardust taking up the rear. As we walked, I saw some of the other pegasi giving my two friends strange looks now and then, but nopony said anything so I did my best to ignore them. After five minutes passed and less ponies were around, Solstice finally said, “If you’re wondering why some of the ponies are looking at us strangely, it’s because you don’t see power armored pegasi walking like this. When they do, it’s normally because they’re guarding a high ranked unicorn and you really don’t look the part. Just keep ignoring them, we’re almost there.”
I didn’t respond to her because a crowd of stallions and mares came piling out of a small bar just then laughing as they stumbled. One of the stallions who was wearing a uniform of some kind drunkenly yelled back at the door, “Oh yeah! Well (Belch) we don’t want to drinks at your, stupid…something anyway!” Then he swayed a bit and started to walk off with his friends almost bumping into Solstice.
An older stallion stepped out of the bar just then. He had dark red coat with a silvery grey mane, apart from the top of his head which was bald. His eyes were the color of a setting sun and his cutie mark was six falling missiles. He spat a wad onto the ground which sank through the clouds itself to fall down to Equus then yelled, “OH is that so, you’re lucky I’m waiting for company or I’d kick your ass from here to Nimbus for drinking in your uniform. You’re a disgrace to The Enclave!”
The stallion in the uniform stopped and spun around, then almost fell over as he lost his balance, “Listen here old timer, I’m a corporal in the true Enclave army, I work for Winter Frost and Neighvarro. You’d better show me the proper…”
As the stallion talked, he walked back over to the older bald buck and lifted his hoof like he was going to strike him. I was about to try and help when Solstice stopped me by lifting a wing to block me. Looking up at her, I saw a grin on her face as she said, “Just watch.”
The old buck twisted his head out of the way, ducked under the other stallion’s blow, brought one hoof up to strike the younger one in the gut, then he twisted again and flipped the younger one around to slam him down on his back. However, he wasn’t done, he then flipped his body around wrapping his rear legs around the younger buck’s neck, still holding the hoof he used to flip the young stallion over and stretched it hard. The younger stallion started to gag as his neck was nearly crushed under the pressure the older buck was placing there. Then there was a sickening sound, like a hoof being pulled out of mud before a small ‘Pop’ and the stallion tried to scream in pain. With that, the older buck let the younger one go and got to his hooves as the younger one started to roll around screaming in pain, his one foreleg not moving at all.
“Let that be a lesson to you. Don’t mess with bucks you don’t know, especially when said buck used to be a commander in the Stratus Military,” the old buck said, then he looked over at the young bucks’ friends saying, “Get your friend out of here before I decide to do the same thing to you.”
“My foreleg! What the hell did you do to my foreleg!!!???” the young buck screamed.
“Dislocated it, go see your Sergeant and he’ll help you set it correctly. Now quit whining like a little filly and get the hell out of my sight before I stick my hoof so far up your ass you taste dirty cloud!” the old buck yelled. The others helped their friend up and quickly got away from the angry old buck. Once they were gone the old buck spit again, saying, “Dumbass.”
Once that was all done, the old buck looked over at us. His eyes narrowed a little, that was until Solstice said, “Hey pops, I see you’re having a fun day.”
The grumpy old buck’s face went from slightly annoyed and angry to happy in a split second, “About time you got here, had me worried sick. Now the three of you hurry up and get inside before anypony notices.”
That last part was a little strange. Now at least twenty pegasi were looking toward the bar now due to all of the commotion. Still, I just headed toward the door, following Solstice. Once again Stardust took up the rear. As I walked in, I saw that on the door it said, ‘Heavens Portal’. A second after I walked into the building, what Solstice said hit me. That old buck was her dad!? Shit, now I could see where she got her attack first, ask questions later attitude from.
As soon as the door was shut, the old buck looked back at the three of us, saying, “First of all, you two,” he pointed at Stardust and I, “If you haven’t figured it out by Solstice calling me Pops, I’m her father. My name’s Cascade. Former commander in the Stratus Military. I’m not a nice buck, so don’t start whining about how unfair shit is with this fool hardy mission you’re up here to complete. Second of all,” he looked at Solstice, “Why the hell did you risk your life to come up here just to save the life of one buck? Y’know I love you, but you can be such a dumbass.”
“Two bucks,” I said, not letting his gruff attitude get to me, “One’s your true high council pony, the other risked his life to help me. So, let me say this…” I was unfortunately cut off by Cascade.
“Yeah, Yeah, Nightshade got himself caught finally. Told him he would one day, the idiot. I’m guessing you’re his foal. I take it the apple doesn’t fall far does it? Listen to me filly, you’re planning on breaking into one of the highest-level security buildings in Stratus. Breaking out not just Nightshade, but also a former Sin. I get that you love your dad and all that mushy hippy crap, but I ain’t gonna let you risk my daughter’s life to do it. If you wanna save him, then do it yourself,” Cascade said, his frown deepening.
“Dad, you can’t tell me…” Solstice said, but was also cut off by Cascade.
“Don’t backtalk me Sol, you’re my daughter and you’ll do as I say. Your mother can’t go through loosing another foal again and neither can I. I know you’re headstrong and don’t much like to listen to us, but this one time, don’t be a dumbass and do as your told. Get out of Stratus and go back into hiding. If Winter Frost knows you’re here, you know what he’ll do to you,” his voice shook a little and I could tell that he was holding back a massive amount of emotions.
“Listen here Cascade,” Stardust said, pulling his helmet off and glaring at the old buck, “Fairy Glitter promised us safe passage here and her help with saving our friends. Also, Solstice is a grown mare, and I don’t care who you are, you can’t tell her what to do.”
He glared over at Stardust then something came over Cascade and he looked closer at my friend, “What’s your name again? Cause I’m pretty sure right now it’s Smartmouth.”
Taken aback, he answered, “Stardust, why?”
His eyes widened a little then in a voice I could barely hear Cascade said, “It can’t be…” then in a louder voice he said, “I don’t appreciate being talked back to by a child. As for you, I think you should stay out of this. From what I know, this is her problem, not either of yours,” he finished by pointing a hoof at me.
It wasn’t very often that I saw the soldier side of my friend come out. Normally Stardust was a fun-loving kind of pony, loved to joke around and tease me or others when he could. Although, when he needed to, he could be scary. Right now, was one of those times. His face grew serious, and he took a few steps forward until he was close to Cascade, he was a few centimeters taller than the older buck. Then he growled down at the older buck, “Don’t call me a child, don’t call any of us children. You have no idea what Shadow, Solstice, or I have gone through over the past few weeks, you have no right to tell us what to do. Now I suggest you start helping us figure out a plan on how we’re going to save Thundercracker and Nightshade, or I’m gonna show you why I was the top ranked member of my old stable.”
Cascade didn’t back down, the tough old buck stood a little taller than Stardust and growled back, “Don’t make me kick your ass colt. You might think you’re tough, but you have nothin’ on me. Take that thorny rosebush out of your ass right now, or I will.”
Solstice and I were both frozen in place, not sure what to do to stop this clash of testosterone. Then the door to the back room opened and a mare around Solstice’s height walked out. She had a light grey coat with bright emerald eyes, a matching mane and tail and just like Solstice and oddly enough Stardust, she also had emerald-green wing tips. On her flanks there was a set of translucent wings with sparkly stuff coming off of them for a Cutie Mark. Her eyes were so friendly it almost made me want to hug her for some reason. When she spoke even her voice made it seem like she didn’t have a care in the world. “What’s all the commotion out here Cascade? OH Solstice you’re BACK!”
The mare flew over to Solstice and pulled her into a tight hug. Solstice almost fell over, but managed to keep her balance, as she said, “Hi mom, and as for the noise, well that’s just dad being himself. Y’know, trying to pick fights with everypony in the room.”
The mare who I guessed was Fairy Glitter looked over at Cascade saying, “Cascade, why are you bothering our guests?”
“He’s trying to tell me that saving my dad is hopeless,” I said angrily.
Fairy Glitter let her daughter go as she stomped over to Cascade who now looked a little scared, “Cascade we already went over this, we are helping them save Nightshade and that Sin Greed. Even if Star wasn’t here to save her dad, you should be helping to get him out of that place anyway. He was one of your best friends when you were in the military.”
“I know sweetheart, but Solstice and this moron over here are going to get themselves killed trying to help this filly get her dad back. I can’t allow it,” he said.
“Oh, I see how it is now,” Stardust said, his voice still laced with anger, “You don’t care if our unicorn friend gets killed, just us pegasi. I thought Solstice’s parents wouldn’t be like that, but I guess I was wrong.”
I saw a strange look come over Fairy Glitter’s face when Stardust talked, but she hid it a moment later as she put a hoof up to touch Stardust’s face, before saying, “We are going to help, and no, we aren’t like that Stardust. My husband has his reasons for acting that way and I can explain more later once we get you three back to the house,” then she looked over at Cascade, “I don’t want to hear another word about not helping them Cascade. We’re doing our part and that’s final.”
Cascade’s face fell as he said, “Fine, but I’m making it known now that I’m not in favor of this plan.”
Solstice looked between her parents nervously. “So, why did you want us to meet you at the bar and not at home?”
Fairy Glitter looked over at Solstice, then said, “It’s because we couldn’t risk three strangers showing up at our door. Winter Frost has let most of the normal day to day things stay normal for now, but he’s keeping an eye on known friends or allies of Nightshade. I’ve been friends with Nightshade since we were foals, so our place is being watched all the time.”
“How do you plan on getting us there then?” I asked.
“Easy, we’re just taking a carriage home. Normally I fly wherever I need to go, but last week I got a rumor started that I’d taken ill, and flying has been hard for me. So, I’ve been taking a carriage around Stratus when I need to leave my house,” Fairy Glitter said.
“Is our sky carriage big enough to fit all of us?” Solstice asked, “Last time I was in that thing it was almost too small for the three of us.”
“We aren’t using our carriage, we’re taking a sky taxi,” Cascade said with a huff, “And before you ask, don’t worry about the driver, we always get the same one and he’s a friend.”
“What I want to know is when I can take off this damn power armor,” Stardust complained.
“Aww, is it a little too toasty in there for your candied ass?” Cascade said, “That’s a fine set of armor you have on and you should be proud to have it. That’s genuine Enclave power armor that hasn’t been plundered and tampered with by Wastelanders.”
“Says you, this thing itches and it slows me down,” Stardust said.
“Then I guess whoever trained you did a shitty job. Goddesses forbid an advanced piece of technology is too damn itchy for the pansy using it who was slow to begin with,” Cascade said.
“It was Doorstop who trained him,” I said, irritated, “Y’know, your brother-in-law.”
The look on Cascade’s face was priceless, his eyes went big, and his jaw dropped open before he looked at first me, then his wife, then Stardust. After a moment he went back to looking at his wife as he said, “You told me your brother died. Don’t tell me you knew about this too!”
“Honey, now isn’t not the time, but yes I did knew he was alive. I’ll tell you everything when we’re home. It’s not safe here,” Fairy Glitter said.
“What a load, I wanna know how many more secrets you’ve been hiding from me!” he started to yell.
The two of them started to bicker back and forth. As they did, I walked over to Solstice, asking, “You did know Doorstop was your uncle, right?”
She just shrugged. “Yeah, I knew as soon as I met him. My mom has a picture of him in her room and told me stories about him. We talked about it when we were in The Kingdom after you left.”
“Did he ever explain why he was in Stable 97? The excuse he gave me didn’t make sense,” I asked as Fairy Glitter and Cascade’s argument grew more heated.
Stardust came over too as Solstice said, “He just told me that my mom wanted him to keep somepony safe, but he never said who.”
“You talkin’ about Doorstop?” Stardust asked.
“Yeah, why?” I asked.
“Just wondering, I tried talking to him about why he was in Stable 97 working for his sister for so long, but all he told me was to shut my mouth and get back to work,” Stardust said, then he looked off into the distance, “Which I didn’t understand because at the time I wasn’t doing anything.”
“I think your mother has more secrets than we thought Solstice,” I said.
“That’s my mom for you, she’s always been full of secrets,” Solstice said with a sigh, “Come on, let’s break them up and get back to the house before somepony calls the guards…wouldn’t be the first time.”
With that said, we proceeded to get them to stop their fighting. After tempers were cooled and promises made to explain more later, Cascade went off to call for their taxi friend. It didn’t take long before all of us were shoved into a dark Sky Carriage and we were flying off toward the richest sector of Stratus.
***
The trip only took about ten minutes before we landed on a private landing platform behind the huge house. I was shocked at the size of the place, it had to be nearly as big as The Playpony Mansion was, just less perverted. Hell, this place had its own landing platform that wasn’t even on the outside of the house. The carriage had to fly into a large open door that closed behind him as he landed. How much money did Solstice’s parents have?
I got the answer to my question about two minutes after the sky carriage left. Fairy Glitter saw me looking around the large hanger-like landing platform and toward the open hallway that led into the home itself, and said, “Before you start asking about how rich we are I’ll just say this, very.”
“Shit,” Stardust said, looking around just as amazed as I was, “Being a whatever you are must pay well.”
Fairy Glitter started to laugh, her laugh was…annoying…for lack of a better word even her face screwed up weirdly, almost like she was forcing it out. Still, it worked for her, I guess. Then she said, “I’m the head…well, WAS, the head of The Enclave’s Secret Intelligence Unit also known as the E.S.I.U., and it does pay well. The same goes for the businesses Cascade runs, but most of our money is old family money on my side.”
Cascade cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, she comes from a long line of near nobility in The Enclave much like Shadow does. This house was first built by her distant grandmother, Cloudy Nights.”
Stardust laughed and elbowed the older buck with a wink. “Married into money, good for you old buck.”
Cascade’s eyes went wide with anger, “What’re you on? Dope? Don’t make me kick your ass! I love my wife and didn’t marry her for money or anything like that.”
“I was just having a little fun dude, calm down,” Stardust said, taking a few steps back.
Fairy Glitter just laughed again…okay…yeah, it’s annoying. “Come on inside please and we can talk. I’m sure you want to start working on a plan to save Nightshade and if we can, kill Winter Frost and his sister.”
“I’d like nothing better,” I said, and we followed them into the house. As we walked in, I got to see more of the place. I did my best to hide my awe at the large rooms and the expensive looking furniture and art, but it was a hard thing to do.
Fairy Glitter noticed, then said, “You act like you’ve never seen a mansion before.”
“I have, I was in one only a few days ago, but it’s just weird to be in one that ponies live in is all,” I said.
She tilted her head a little. “Your family has a big house too though, just as old as this one is and funny enough only two doors down from here. Your family is richer than even mine.”
It was my turn to go bug eyed at hearing that. “Wait a sec, really? I thought my dad’s family was poor, I mean the place I grew up in before I left The Crystal Empire was small…and cheep.”
“No, your family has money, it’s just that on your father’s side of the family, you have to earn it. When your grandparents died by the hooves of your uncle Striker eighteen years ago, Nightshade took ownership of everything. If he hadn’t married your mother, he probably would’ve stayed living in Stratus or at your home in Nimbus,” she said.
“Wait we have a house in Nimbus too? What the hell?” I asked.
“You father has property in Stratus, Nimbus, The Crystal Empire, and an apartment in Cirrus if rumors are to be believed. When you were born, Nightshade wanted you to grow up on the ground, so he stayed in The Crystal Empire until your mother took you. After that, he moved back here, then moved between here and Nimbus while he worked his way up the ranks,” she replied.
“You sure know a lot about Shadow’s family,” Stardust said.
“Well I should, he’s like another brother to me, though I never got along well with Grimoire. I visited once or twice after Shadow got sick though, back when she was still called Star,” Fairy Glitter said, “You even met Solstice once, though you were only about one at the time.
“Why don’t I remember that?” Solstice asked.
“You were only three sweetheart,” Fairy Glitter said.
“Is that why you called me Star when we first met? Normally only my uncle calls me that,” I asked as we finally made it to a large sitting room.
“Yes, that’s what your dad called you all the time, even after you went missing. The name kind of sticks with you after a while,” Fairy Glitter said, sitting down on a sofa with Cascade next to her.
“I see,” I said, looking between her and Cascade, “Well, enough small-talk, we need to start planning how we’re going to get my dad out of prison.”
“You’ll never break him out of prison Shadow, it’s too well guarded as my husband said before. It would be a suicide mission, what you need to do is save him when he’s about to be executed,” Fairy Glitter said.
“Are you nuts?” I asked, “You think breaking into the prison is a suicide mission? Trying to save him while he’s about to be executed is even worse. Also, wouldn’t that be the time Winter Frost would think somepony might try to save him?”
“It is, but he’s expecting myself or other citizens who love Nightshade to do something about it. The thing is, he won’t be expecting you. You see the reason I needed you to come all the way up to Stratus is because you’re the only pony who can do what’s needed to stop the execution,” Fairy Glitter said.
“How’s that? I’m not all-powerful y’know,” I said.
Fairy Glitter smiled, then said, “You may not know this, but even though a lot of the Enclave hates you, that was because of what you did to the cloud layer a few months back and again when you used that super weapon. Since then, your father has done everything within his power to paint The Courier in a better light. Before the invasion, more and more ponies were starting to talk about the change you would bring to Stratus.”
“Change?” I asked, “What change do they need me to make? From what I can see Stratus is a great place to live.”
Cascade spoke up. “Stratus is a nice place to live that’s true, but just about every single family in this city has lived under the fear of the eastern cities taking over our city, and to top it off, they’ve also all lost a family member or friend to the Dashite Program. Your father was putting an end to it before he was arrested. Right now, the citizens of our city live in ever greater fear because of the take over. Winter Frost and his eastern allies have killed a few ponies already or made others into Dashites. With the right push and the right pony, we can turn the citizens against the new leaders.”
“So, you think that pony is me? You think The Courier can get all of Stratus on our side and maybe save my dad and Thundercracker in the process? I don’t see that working,” I said.
“Maybe not just The Courier. We need the daughter of Nightshade to let herself be known to all of Stratus and the Enclave. You are not just The Courier, you’re the descendent of Night Stalker, Lightning Dust, and Minuette,” Fairy Glitter said.
“I don’t see how that helps,” Stardust added, “From what we’ve learned, Night Stalker didn’t leave the Enclave on good terms.”
“That’s true he didn’t, but he was the one who helped build it. Even if that wasn’t a reason for the ponies to trust you, then the fact that you come from Nightingale’s line will and Lightning Dust was well loved. The same goes for your distant grandfather Dwarf Star, you have a lot of history in your blood and most of Stratus and Nimbus remembers it,” Fairy Glitter said.
“Alright, say this works. How does getting the citizens on our side save my dad?” I asked.
“It’ll work because once you get as many as you can to follow you, the citizens will work as a distraction on the day of the execution so we can do what we need to. Save Greed and your father, then kill Winter Frost and drive the rest of the eastern Enclave out of our city,” Fairy Glitter said.
“Fine, let’s say you’re right. How do you expect me to convince all the ponies I need to before the execution? We only have two days…or less,” I said.
“We have till tomorrow afternoon,” Cascade said.
“Then we don’t have the time to convince them all!” I said.
“OH, but you do,” Fairy Glitter said, her smile growing, “You see Shadow, we’re going to broadcast a message to the entire city tonight. A message that everypony will hear and see so you can tell them your story and who you are.”
“That’s insane! If you do something like that, Winter Frost will know I’m in the city, he’ll find us,” I practically yelled.
“No he won’t, because with the tech I have in my house, I can make sure it only goes to the homes where it will matter. Winter Frost and all of his allies won’t even know about the message until it’s too late,” she said.
Solstice sighed, rubbing her forehead with a hoof. “What if it doesn’t work? What happens if he does find out and decides to kill Nightshade in his cell?”
“I have that covered, don’t worry. No matter what happens, Nightshade and Greed will make it to the gallows tomorrow at noon. You have to put a little bit of trust in me, this plan will work,” she replied.
“What do we do on the day of the execution then?” I asked.
“You’ll walk up and save them both, after Stardust kills Winter Frost while he’s on the stage,” Fairy Glitter said as she turned her head to Stardust.
Our eyes went wide, then we listened as Fairy Glitter went over ever single part of her master plan to take back Stratus and save my father. It took us a few hours to go over everything, most of the time was spent with Fairy Glitter and Cascade showing me maps of Stratus so I knew my way around. I didn’t like the sound of this plan at all at first, but the more the couple talked, the more I started to see how brilliant the plan was. Fairy Glitter was amazing and had access to just about every scrap of intel in The Enclave, even with her losing her job as the head of the department.
We took a break for lunch, then got back into it. It wasn’t until nearly dinner time that everything was worked out and we finally finished planning. By the time we finished up for the day, I was starting to have a good feeling about the plan. It was insane, but just insane enough to probably work. If it didn’t end well, at least I wouldn’t be alive afterword to feel guilty for failing my father. I got to my hooves and stretched as Fairy Glitter and Cascade went toward a large kitchen to start preparing a meal for us.
“What should we do while we wait for dinner?” I asked.
“Not much to do around here unless you want to train in fighting,” Solstice said.
“Honestly, I feel like walking around and clearing my head, it’s been a stressful day,” I said stretching some more, “Think it would be okay if I wondered around the house?”
Fairy Glitter must’ve heard me because she yelled from the kitchen, “Feel free to look around Shadow, just stay inside and away from the west facing windows.”
“There’s your answer,” Solstice said.
“There’s a place to train in this house?” Stardust asked.
“Yeah, want me to show you?” Solstice asked.
“Yeah, I could use a good workout before we eat,” he said, then followed Solstice.
I did the same, going down a different hallway from Stardust and Solstice. I really didn’t know what to do with myself and thinking about everything going on and what happened over the past week was too much for me at the moment. So, I took to looking at the pictures and odd items Fairy Glitter and Cascade had hanging on the walls of the hallway. There were a lot of pictures of Solstice, some from when she was a foal, a few of her as a filly, the ones where she was a little older were kind of funny. When she was a young teenager, she must’ve gone through a rebellious phase, her mane was nearly chopped off in some of them and she had a look of pure teenage dislike for anything on her face. There were also pictures of their relatives over the long years. I could always tell who in the pictures were related to Fairy Glitter even when they were taken with multiple ponies in them. They all had the same odd coloring to their wings. The same as Solstice and Fairy Glitter had.
After I got all the way to finding Cloudy Nights, something started to nag at the back of my mind. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it, but something about the generations of Solstices family was just strange to me. As I tried to figure out what was bothering me so much, I found myself in front of a door. Looking up at it I saw it had a small sign on it that said ‘Office’ and another one under it that said, ‘Solstice keep out’. I looked at the signs, then was about to pass by it when something deep down inside me that hadn’t reared its ugly head in a long time started to force me to turn back toward the door. My curiosity was strong at times, it was the whole reason I’d found the Mark II in the first place. For better or worse, my life had changed forever because of that feeling. Since I left my stable, I’d rarely felt it this strong. Something important that I needed to know was inside of that room.
I went up to the door and tried to open it, the door was locked. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my bobby pin and trusty screwdriver and tried to pick the lock. To my utter shock, the lock turned into puffy white clouds. I pulled back and they reformed into a lock and doorknob again. Tilting my head a bit, I frowned, then tried again. Once again, the lock turned into clouds, then back when I pulled away. I tried touching the lock with my hooves and nothing happened. I was about to try again when I nearly jumped out of my skin as I heard Fairy Glitter speak from behind me.
“You really are a curious one, aren’t you?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have tried to go in there. I just couldn’t help myself,” I said as my new heart tried beating out of my chest.
She laughed that weird laugh of hers then said, “Don’t worry about it, but you should’ve realized that everything in an Enclave city is made with clouds. Only pegasi and griffons can open a lock like that. Even with your cloud walking spell, it won’t work for you. You’d need specially enchanted picks to get passed that lock.”
I looked down at my hooves. “Still, I shouldn’t have tried to go in. I saw the sign, but still couldn’t help myself.”
“That sign is to keep Solstice out, I have a few secrets that I really don’t want her to know about. Not yet at least. Although, if you can keep a secret, you can go in,” she said.
“Wait, you’d trust me with your secrets?” I asked, a little taken aback.
She sighed, then moved forward and pulled out a key. She Unlocked the door, then said, “The only secret in there is one that I’m surprised you haven’t figured out already.”
Without another word, she walked into the office. I followed, asking, “According to Vervain I have something called A.D.D., she tried to explain what it was, but I wasn’t paying attention. So, what do you mean?” I stopped as I saw that an entire wall of the room was covered, and I mean completely covered with pictures of Stardust. Stardust as a foal in Stable 97, pictures of him with Hailstorm practicing fighting, more of Stardust learning to shoot, others of him with his friends in the stable. There were even a few of Stardust since he left the stable for The Wasteland. They all looked like they’d been taken from high up and far away. All of these pictures were amazing and would’ve been a little creepy if I didn’t see the only picture on the desk that was in a beautiful silver frame. It was a younger Fairy Glitter and Cascade in what looked like a hospital. In her hooves there was a tiny light grey colt, newly born and swaddled in blankets. His eyes were open a little and I could see pink, he had a little tuft of a mane on his head, and it was as blue as a sapphire, and one wing poked out of the blanket where I could see the blue tips.
I looked over at Fairy Glitter and saw tears on her face as she looked up at the pictures of Stardust, “Stardust’s your…son?”
She was holding back sobs I could tell by the shaking of her shoulders, but she managed to nod, before saying, “Yes, and he’s the whole reason I started rebelling against my government. He’s the reason I sent my brother to Stable 97 once I found out what really happened to him when I was told he died,” she sniffed, then pointed at the picture of the newborn Stardust, “I was told he got sick an hour after that picture was taken, the next day I was told that him and a few other foals died. The news crushed me and nearly drove me insane.”
“Does Solstice know?” I asked.
“Heavens no,” she said, “She knows that she had a brother and that he died, but not the whole story. I never thought Stardust would ever make it through the program, but when he did, and he escaped. I knew that he had to make his own way in life. So, I never told my daughter about her brother, same for Cascade, until today that is. We’re the ones who named him Stardust. I’m surprised they kept it.”
“You’ve been using your influence in the Enclave to keep him safe,” I said, “How did you get all of these pictures? A lot of them are from when he was still in the stable, the rest are all far away shots.”
“I was able to hack into the security systems for Stable 97 a few times and I used their surveillance systems to capture still shots of Stardust. The others are taken from the different M.A.S.E.B.S. towers all over Equestria. They have cameras high up and can be used to spy on ponies from time to time. That’s how DJ Pon3 and a few other radio ponies know so much about what’s going on in The Wasteland, I think. As for pegasi like myself, it’s easy to access them when needed,” Fairy Glitter said.
That was information that could be useful in the future, but as of right now it didn’t matter as much as the fact that Stardust was home. I finally looked back at Fairy Glitter, saying, “You have to tell him.”
“Tell him what?” she asked, “Tell Stardust who his family is? No, he doesn’t need to know. He’s happy and has his own life. He doesn’t need the knowledge that his mother knew where he was for the past twenty years and never tried to save him. I’d rather him never find out who we are and just keep thinking that we’re just the old rich couple who’s helping you all out with overthrowing Winter Frost. The knowledge will hurt him, he’ll hate us.”
“I don’t agree,” I said, feeling the normal anger building inside me as I looked at the older mare, “He’s strong, he’ll be fine. Honestly, he’d be happy to know, because I know for a fact that one thing he wants to do once everything is over is find his parents. He wants them to know that he’s alive and to meet them. He deserves to know that he has a mother and father, an uncle, and a sister. Especially the sister part. He’ll probably tease the crap out of Solstice if he gets the chance, and Goddesses knows she deserves it sometimes.”
She snickered a little at the last part, then sighed. “It’s not your place to decide that Shadow, that’s between myself and my husband who I’ll talk to about this when I can,” she said.
I glared at her, “I don’t like secrets being kept from my friends, actually I fucking hate them. If we didn’t have a mission to complete tomorrow, I’d march right to Stardust and Solstice and tell them the truth. They need to know.”
“There’s no way I can change your mind?” Fairy Glitter asked.
“Nope, so either you tell them the truth, or I’ll do it,” I said, turning back toward the door.
“Shadow, wait,” Fairy Glitter said, coming to block the door. I waited as she looked at me nervously, “Let me talk with Cascade tonight about everything and I’ll try to bring this up to them tomorrow.”
“Fine,” I said, then walked out, slamming the door behind me as I headed back toward the living room, thinking to myself, ‘Unless I tell them first because I don’t believe you.’
***
The rest of the day and into the evening we didn’t do much more than go over the plan some more, tease Stardust a bit, and I found time to use the training room to fine-tune my expanding magic. We had dinner, which was very good. Apparently, Fairy Glitter wasn’t just an intelligence officer, a master of espionage, and an interesting mom, she was also a very good cook. She also had a love for a drink she called a Manehattan. Apparently, it was both a city and a housewife’s best friend, her words not mine. It smelt like cherries and booze, and when I tasted it, it tasted NOTHING like it smelled. The faces I made when I tried it, made Cascade fall off his chair laughing.
Now it was an hour to midnight, Fairy Glitter decided to do my so called message to the citizens the next morning. Fairy Glitter and Cascade had gone to bed after a long, and loud, talk in the living room. From what I could hear from the hiding spot I’d found in the deepest shadows of their hallway; Cascade hadn’t been too happy with his wife and her lies over the years. While they had talked, I took the time to sneak into their room and grab something. Something I was now wondering if I wanted to use. I’d made a promise not to tell Stardust and Solstice, but from how the conversation had gone with their parents, it sounded like Cascade agreed with Fairy Glitter. They didn’t plan on telling Stardust or Solstice, not for a long time if at all. They were both too scared to find out how he’d react, and they wanted to tempt fate and hope my threat was an empty one. I guess Fairy Glitter really didn’t know much about me. I don’t make empty threats.
So, once Fairy Glitter shut off the living room lights and headed toward their room, I went to Stardust’s. I made my way into his room and quietly snuck up to his bed. He was snoring lightly on a guest bed that looked a little small for him. I reached out and tried to shake him awake, but his hoof shot out and stopped mine as he flipped his head around, a glare of danger in his pink eyes. It took a moment for him to recognize me, when he did, he dropped his hoof with a sigh as he sat up in bed, “Dammit Shadow, you shouldn’t sneak up on me while I’m sleeping.”
In a whisper I said, “Stardust, I was trying to do this quietly, I don’t want to wake up everypony in the house.”
His tired and confused look changed to one of apprehension as he said carefully, “Listen Shadow, I know it’s been a while since you’ve been with a Stallion and all and I know I’m a just that sexy, but I like somepony else. Plus, I see you like a little sister, that’d be a little creepy. Also, I don’t want to be castrated by Aura,” his voice grew even quieter as he continued, “She’s fucking scary!”
“Goddesses eww,” I said, trying not to gag at the thought of doing…anything sexual with Stardust, then continued with, “First of all, you’re not as sexy as you think you are. You’re too tall, your opinion of yourself is big turn off, and you act like a colt most of the time. Aura is way sexier than your goofy ass, even as a pony. Now can you get your head out of the gutter so I can show you something please?”
“Didn’t we just go over this?” he asked with his goofy grin.
“Keep this up and I’ll tell Wind Thrasher you were hitting on me.” I said, giving him my own evil grin.
He sat up all serious-like, saying in a much more mature tone, “What did you need to show me?”
Rolling my eyes, I headed toward the door. “It’s down this way, so turn on those weak sneaking skills and follow me.”
“No problem shorty,” he said, following me out the door.
“That threat about me telling Wind Thrasher still stands, and if you get us caught, I won’t help you with telling her how you feel,” I said quietly as I walked down the hall.
He quieted down his voice a little as he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You like her, and you want to know what she thinks about you,” I said just as quietly as we headed toward the hallway with the door to Fairy Glitter’s office.
“I guess you picked up on that huh?” he asked.
“You did try to ask me about it while I was sneaking around The Palisade, so yeah, and don’t worry about Wind Thrasher,” I said.
“I mean she’s always been nice to me and she does seem to follow me around like a puppy when we’re working together, but I can’t tell if she just thinks of me as a friend or if she wants something else from me y’know?” he said.
I stopped before the hallway and turned to look up at him. “Let me put it this way. You’re one of the first stallions she’s met since she was locked in Stable 9 with that psychopath doctor. You were the one who said we should let her live when I broke that collar off of her, you’ve also never showed that you cared one bit about her form. So yeah, she’s grown to like you ever since we saved you from yourself. I’d say more but this is a conversation you need to have with her not me. Just sit down with her and tell her how you feel, trust me, you won’t be disappointed.”
A sad look came to his face as he said, “I already tried once, while you were recovering in The Ministry. She stopped me though and said I shouldn’t keep talking because whatever I was thinking or about to say, wouldn’t matter soon. Then she walked away, and I tried to stop her, asking what she meant, but all she’d say was, ‘The Monster is winning, and I don’t want you to see me when it does.’ That was it, and since then she’s barely spoken to me. Back when you were on The Palisade, I didn’t want to talk to you because I wanted to admit that I had feelings for Wind Thrasher, it was because I know I have them and I’m scared that she’s hiding how sick she really is from the rest of us. I want to find a way to save her before she goes completely insane.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, “She’s seemed moody lately, but nothing like how she was when we were in Mill City.”
He sighed, “You haven’t seen how bad she’s getting because she’s trying to hide it from you. She knows that if you find out that she’s turning feral, you’ll drop everything you’re doing to try and save her. If it wasn’t for the meds the doctor has been giving her that keep her from losing it, she would’ve become a monster a couple weeks ago, but I don’t know how much longer she can hold out. I don’t want to see her become the Wind Thrasher you saw in your nightmare, the one you told us about.”
I sighed as I took that in before looking back up at him, and saying, “I haven’t told anyone else the rest of my plan yet, and I still can’t, but when this is over, I’m going to be going to Spitfire’s Flight Academy for something, and while I’m there I’ll make sure we find her that cure. Don’t lose hope in her and remember that she does care for you. You might be the only pony who can save her from herself. She’s pushing you away right now because she doesn’t want to hurt you, you need to push back and make sure that no matter what happens, we’ll be there for her, okay?”
He nodded. “Okay and thank you.”
I smiled and hugged him. “I’ll always be here for you Dusty.”
He hugged me back. “And the same goes for me. Now what do you want to show me?”
“It’s right down this way,” I said as I led him to the office.
“It’s an office that has a sign to tell Solstice to stay out, so what?” he said, not looking impressed.
“Oh shut up and follow me,” I said, but before I could do anything, Solstice’s voice echoed from down the hall.
“What are you two idiots doing by my mom’s office?” she asked, looking pissed.
I knew she’d been following us ever since I went to Stardust’s room to get him, but I hadn’t expected her to yell down the hall. I put up a hoof saying quietly, “Solstice please be quiet, I really don’t want your mom or dad waking up.”
She walked closer looking pissed, but she did lower the volume of her voice, saying, “My mom’s office is off-limits even to my dad, she keeps secrets from the Enclave in there. You need to go back to bed, we have an important mission in the morning.”
“I know, and I’ve already been in there, your mother showed me the room. She also told me something important and she’s hiding it from both of you, a secret that you both deserve to know,” I said as I turned toward the door again, pulling out a key.
“I told you, you can’t go in there and where did you get her KEY!?” she asked.
“Took it from her room while she was fighting with Cascade. Now shut up and just trust me. You’ll want to see this too. If what I have to show you doesn’t convince you that I’m in the right, then you can go tell your mom I was a bad little filly okay,” I said as I opened the door. Once that was done, I lifted them both with my magic and pushed them inside before following and shutting the door behind us.
“Dammit Shadow, you’re going to get me into so…much…what the fuck?” she started yelling until her eyes fell on the pictures all over the walls.
I ignored her, my attention was on Stardust who was looking up at the pictures with utter fear in his eyes. He took a single step back as he let his gaze fall over them. After a moment he looked back at Solstice and me saying, “Fairy Glitter…she’s…she’s…!”
“It’s okay, you can say it Stardust, you’re right, she’s…” I started saying.
“She fucking stalking me! Okay I mean yeah, I know I’m handsome and all and a good guy that any mare would be happy to be with, but this is just plain creepy. Yet also a little flattering that I can catch the eye of a lovely older mare like her, but still I’m not sure I can get back to sleep now that I know a stalker is sleeping a few rooms away from…” he started saying but I cut him off.
“You idiot, she’s not a stalker,” Again I was cut off but this time by Solstice.
She was looking at the picture of Stardust when he was first born. “You’re my brother, the one we were told that died a little after you were born. Mom’s been keeping an eye on you, same for Doorstop.”
This time Stardust’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “No way, how can we be related!? We don’t even look alike.”
I gave him a flat stare, “Are you fucking kidding me? I should have seen it a long time ago, but I’m not a smart pony. Now that I know you two look almost like twins only with different coloring. Hell, the two of you even have a similar personality. Ppfftt, don’t even look alike my ass. What’re you color blind?”
“But, when I asked Doorstop if he knew who my family was, he said he couldn’t say,” Stardust said.
“Yeah, because Fairy Glitter didn’t want you finding her or Cascade. She figured that you didn’t need them now, or that you’d be pissed that she knew where you were the whole time and she never tried to get you out, until you were older,” I said.
Honestly, I thought he’d be pissed too, but I wanted him to know. As I’ve said before, I was done with hiding things from ponies I cared about. To my shock, tears welled up in Stardust’s eyes as he looked over at Solstice who had a similar expression on her face. Quietly he said, “I have a family, a mom and a dad and…a sister. I’m not alone.”
“I always thought you died, Mom never told me what she named her colt, she only said he was killed when a sickness ran through the Cloud Cities,” Solstice said, and even more shocking the two of them hugged each other. Stardust and Solstice, the two pegasus friends I had who bickered all the time were hugging. Yep, and I thought Stardust and Aura becoming friends was impossible, now this. I’ve seen everything now.
“Who the hell is breaking into my wife’s office!?” Cascade yelled as he barged into the room with a battle saddle ready to fire at all three of us, Fairy Glitter right behind him.
He stopped when he saw us, his mouth dropping open. Fairy Glitter face-hoofed, saying, “You couldn’t give me time to do this myself could you?”
“I was listening in on your conversation, so no I couldn’t, you weren’t going to tell them, so I did it for you,” I said as I walked past them, “You’re welcome, now go hug your son and get to know him. I’m going back to Solstice’s room to get to sleep.”
“You expect me to help you with Nightshade, yet you do this to me,” Fairy Glitter said angrily, but she was cut off by Stardust who grabbed both her and Cascade in a tight embrace.
I looked back at them and smiled at their looks of shock as he said through his tears, “All I’ve ever wanted since I could remember was to meet my parents. Back in the stable we were told we could when we were finished with our training. When I found out it was all a lie, I feared that you were dead or you didn’t want anything to do with me, or maybe that you wouldn’t believe who I was if I found you. I got better than I could have expected, you knew I was alive, and you sent my uncle to keep an eye on me. He screams y’know, a lot.”
Fairy Glitter was crying too, same for Cascade who I thought didn’t have the ability to cry as she said, “You’re not angry that I knew where you were and didn’t try to recuse you?”
“Why would I be mad about that? If you tried you two would’ve died, you made the best of a bad situation, and I’m just happy I finally found you,” he said, pulling back and smiling wide, his face wet yet happy, “Let me reintroduce myself, I’m Stardust and I’m your son!”
“Damn right you are!” Cascade said as he patted Stardust on the back, “It’s good to have you home finally. It’s good to know that you’re alive and well.”
“Mom you have to tell me the whole story. How did you know about this, is this why you put Uncle Doorstop in the stable? Is that Why Dr. Limbus was there? I have to know and why didn’t you tell me I was traveling with my BROTHER? He may be happy to meet you but I’m a little pissed,” Solstice said.
With another smile I turned away from the family reunion, glad that I could do something good for my best friend…both of them. I found my way to Solstice’s Room which I was sharing with her at the moment, even though this place probably had ten more rooms I could’ve used, but I felt better sleeping near a friend and Fairy Glitter wouldn’t let me sleep in Stardust’s room. She said it was improper, though I didn’t mind too much. Stardust could snore loud enough to wake the dead.
As I found the right door and went inside and laid down on the other bed in the room, I noticed something glowing from my saddle bags. Picking them up with my magic I pulled them close then reached inside and pulled out a small crystal. It was the one The Strange…my dad had made sure I got a while back. At the time I had no idea what it was or why I was given it, but now as I looked closer and saw the faint glowing pulse of green light it was emitting, I recognized it. It was the crystal that Flash Sentry had used to Curse the Children of the Night. There was still a zebra glyph in the middle of it and a crack ran down the center like in the memory orb I’d first saw it in. Only now it was glowing, but why?
Before I could get up to ask someone another crack appeared in the crystal and a deep voice echoed through the room, “All is one and one is all, as goes those words for pony kind, the same goes for magic and the power around us all. This curse upon your family has been long and hard. You, Shadow Star, have started down the right path to break my curse over the families of the Children of the Night. You have brought together the descendants of your ancestors and their team and fixed the bonds that were long ago broken by them. Aura Bloodtalon and her sisters, Wingnut, Stardust, Solstice, and of course you are all the youngest generation of the first ponies and griffon to be cursed. The lines of Greta, Babseed, Cloudy Nights, Lightning Dust, Minuette, and Absent Moon A.K.A. Night Stalker have lived hard lives. Destroy the betrayer of their past and his line to fully break my curse!”
The voice vanished at the same time the light in the crystal went out, leaving it dull and lifeless again. I was shaking as what just happened fully hit me. The curse, the one the families of the Children of the Night have always said hovered over us like a sickness wasn’t superstition, it was real. Even more I knew who had to be the great betrayer of Night Stalker. It had to be Thunderlane.
I was about to go tell my friends when a zebra’s voice echoed out of the crystal next. It was old and feminine, “Days of old and days of new, when the child of the New Moon finds her true family, only then can the Star’s aline, and the power of the sight points be freed. The Red eyed child will bring together the families of old and destroy the ones who started this curse. But this mare must be carful on her journey, because only the power of the stars and the soul of the New Moon destroy the evil who rules the sky.”
I wanted to throw the crystal away, but it had one more surprise for me. It flashed like a memory orb and to my utter shock, my magic connected to it and the world around me, melted away…
[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]
NEW PERK ADDED!
Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing Rank 3: While wearing faction-based armor or a disguise of any kind, you temporarily gain +1 to Intelligence and +2 to Charisma. You will also sometimes come across unique dialogue opportunities while in disguise.