The Campaigner

by Keystone Gray

3-08 – Luminiferous

Somewhere else, long ago, before she knew much of our little civilization to be lost… Cold Snap tended to her garden.

She had made it out of clouds, way above that valley that was her home. Her mane was a wispy, fiery red, which caught the rays of the setting sun as she worked. Her coat was sky blue, cutie mark of a cloud raining down icicles.

In her garden, Cold Snap separated clouds into individual leaves. Everything, just so. Flowerbeds, creeping vines, pillars, archways. She had brought up dyes and pigments in a little saddlebag satchel, gently dabbing from a dropper to add color. Like painting figurines, this was delicate artwork. The colors are what gave this little garden of clouds its character. Without that, without color… it had no soul.

Beyond even the clouds though, it was one of those afternoons where she could look up into the sky and see just the faintest outline of the moon. Cold Snap always smiled when she saw that. A crepuscular soul, and a lover of the night, she favored dawns and afternoons, because those times brought the most color into the sky. And so, because she chose it to be so, those parts of her day were longer, always on the edge between light and darkness.

She loved to see those colors shift throughout her garden, casting their rays, shadows, and glows throughout. Sometimes the light would be intense enough to shine through the scenery itself. It would give everything a shimmering effervescent quality. The garden would just glow.

Cold Snap liked being on the local weather team, which gave her such a deep knowledge of cloud science. She could craft such beautiful things with that knowledge. She knew how everything fit together. Nature needed tending. The folks there in the river needed a weather mare like her to read the winds, to bring the best energies together. High pressure. Low pressure. She would bring the thunder. That was her.

Cold Snap would peer down into the river delta below. Tall bluffs lined one side; a forested mountain, on the other. And in the middle of the bay, a tall plateau stood out of the water; her home, accessible only by wing. She supposed one could take a boat up to it, her fiancé had built a small dock, and some stairs up, but… typically, the only visitors there had wings.

All were welcome, all the same.

Cold Snap would leap from her cloudy perch, glide gracefully from her sky garden down to her home. It was an old temple there once, but its idols had long ago crumbled. Who knew what the former adherents used to worship. But she had found that place one day with her new fiancé, Heyday, as they explored the wilderness along the river. And on a whim... that's where they had decided to build their home. Right there. In the way of the river.

That temple had grown quite welcoming in the last year. The mare hadn't fancied herself a carpenter. She did her best, but her fiancé really drove that project. That little stone island… that little temple, its bricks… it all very quickly became the most important place in Cold Snap's life. The merging of construction styles, old with new, his ideas with hers, gave their home a two-tone aesthetic. One of soft, warm life; one of hard, cool stone. Both did the job, one way or another.

The pillared entryway served as their front porch. Within, one would find themselves surrounded by colorful tapestries from faraway lands. Paintings, region maps... their sculpted tokens of love to Princess Luna, their patron deity. The temple had become a symbol of Snap's love for good ol' Heyday. Yeah, it might as well have been a temple to them.

Quaint, simple, fulfilling.

Other settlers came, and as they built their own home, their little community grew. They were just far enough away from each other that they'd have their privacy, but they also remained just within line of sight, lining the riverbank. They each supported each other, though. Provided aid, resources, companionship. Group dinners happened every week or so. It was easy living for Cold Snap. A great escape for Heyday. A good place to be for both.

They never stopped exploring together, the two of them. Over time, that world map of theirs in their living room, it just kept growing; it went from paper maps to magic holographic, just so they could scroll through it all. To the east, across the small sea, that was all theirs. They could go as far as they pleased, and fan outward as much as they wanted. They'd find civilizations of other Ponies that way, all unique, and yet all so wonderful to them. It was the life they were promised by the Sun.

To the west, away from the sea, laid unsettled wilderness. It got more wild and dangerous that way, so… they tended to stay away from that region at first. They were adventurous, sure, but Heyday and Cold Snap weren't fighters, y’know? They loved their peace. Fighting was for others, for the Guard. Not for them, no need for that skill.

Cold Snap had always known Heyday was different from other Ponies, though. He came from someplace else. They had met through Heyday's sister, Windy Day, who... Cold Snap loved quite dearly, too. Adoptive sisters, instantly. Some day… they hoped they'd be in-laws. Windy had wanted to immigrate, which Snap understood to mean she wouldn't have to visit by teleporting in and out of the place from her old home anymore. Windy was gonna upload really soon, too. Early. Flew off to some place called Ja-Pan, to do it. Whatever that meant.

Windy had to, really. Sad story. Heyday's father wasn't all that great, he was a bit of a jerk, treated both his kids like crud. Windy just had to get clear, for her own sake. Heyday got it. That's about all that Cold Snap knew about it. She also knew most folks from Heyday's world had to pay a lot of bits to immigrate to Equestria through Ja-Pan, at the time. But as it turned out, Windy was given a special pass of some kind. A special exception.

Heyday would never be upset with Windy for leaving like she did. He would still have his sister in Equestria, so it was gonna be okay. So if Heyday wanted that, and Windy wanted that, then Cold Snap wanted it too. It would mean more time for the better stuff.

Snap had actually spoken at length with Heyday about some of his own world's culture, and she was very curious. That place made him who he was, after all. But sometimes... with certain topics… he'd stammer about it. Heyday would be unsure, like… he meant to say something personal, or very important, and then he changed his mind. He did want to talk about those things, though, he'd definitely try a lot. But unfortunately... one thing or another kept stopping him short.

He'd usually give up after a bit. That in itself seemed to bother him.

He wanted to be honest with Snap, but… couldn't. That sounded painful. She hoped he'd be okay.

Nerves, she thought. Maybe nerves. And that was okay, if he was just shy. She understood. He'd get around to it eventually.

To unwind, Cold Snap liked to go for walks with Heyday, where they would forget their wings a bit and travel the nature of their valley. Once, they talked about Heyday's troubles at home. Sometimes he could say a few things about it.

It sounded like his father was getting worse now that Windy was gone. Their dad liked to drink lots of cider, way more than was healthy. So Cold Snap wished Heyday could spend more time with her instead, because of how happy he was with her. She wanted to be supportive of him, after all, no matter what was going on in his life, but especially so if he was unhappy.

Unfortunately, Heyday's visits happened less and less frequently. Heyday was… very sad about that, to put it mildly. He said his father wouldn't let him visit anymore; said he had to sneak in. His dad said… it wasn't 'right' to visit. It was too 'girly.' Not 'manly,' whatever that meant. 'Your sister had an excuse, you don't.'

Heyday never told his dad that he knew where Windy was, or that Windy was gonna immigrate. He knew his father wouldn't understand. Heyday was smart, like Windy was. Nothing good could ever come from their father knowing what they were doing, as far as they were concerned.

Snap decided that she didn't like Heyday's father all that much. That was rare, for her to feel like that about a Pony, and it had taken a while for her to get around to that point. The stallion sounded like he was a little unhinged. Cold Snap knew what that meant, she'd read about Ponies going crazy, but she'd never really met a crazy Pony before. That guy, he sounded crazy. Just knowing he was around someone she cared for, that really scared her.

She told Heyday, he didn't need him. Cold Snap's life was so aglow when Heyday was around, too. It satisfied her that much more to know that she was a bright spot in his life, where… he otherwise wouldn’t have had too much light. She spent so much time with his older sister, too. Windy and Snap savored Heyday's presence so much more for its scarcity. Both went so far out of their way to ensure his time with them was always the best it could be, even though it could be brief, and it might take a long while for him to check in again.

And Heyday tried to show up, he really did. He was just a young stallion at the time, you know? Couldn't hide from his dad quite as well as he'd hoped. He'd catch ice flak for being gone too long, it was hard, dad controlled his schedule. Controlled almost everything. Heyday had to sneak out of the house at night, and wake her up with surprise visits. He was always waking her up for it, usually turned out that way... so all she could think about on those days was him. Nothing else.

Hey, they liked their night walks, though. Wasn't that great? That never grew dull. Snap and Heyday would always head up to one of the ocean bluffs together. They spent their evenings beneath the stars, watching the sky. Snap really loved how Heyday looked into her eyes, especially those days. That guy, he's just… all love, with her. It was all he could do, was love her. He'd never been happier than when he was with her.

Then...

On one fateful walk, in the glowing orange dusk of the evening, Heyday lagged behind to look out over a fence post in a neighbor's nature walk. He had called out to Snap; it sounded like he had found something interesting to down the way. Under the sunlight, facing the ocean, as the light shimmered off the water. Heyday had asked her to stop, to come back, to look down the valley with him, down the switchback. His voice… it stretched, oddly. Echoed. Warped. Then... it stopped.

And when Cold Snap turned to look for Heyday…

He wasn't there.

He was there, waving her back. And just like before, it was some view. Gosh, what a lovely sunset. A place to sit together, and to simply be. Cold Snap couldn't get enough of those sunsets with him, and it wasn't the view that made it special. It was having Heyday by her side, to share that with.

Windy finally immigrated, as soon as she could. Day one. Another year passed like that. Heyday kept trying to find time, putting in visits when he could get 'em in. Then, on one fateful day… everything changed for the better, folks.

His smile was so much more intense. He was so, so happy, and he told Cold Snap a heck of a tale. He met this new Gryphoness friend. That was almost unheard of! She'd met Griffons before in passing, when traveling, but this lady… she was something different. Larger than life. Just large, physically, emotionally, everything.

She helped Heyday do something friggin' crazy, too. He blew something up! And it was one funny story, because he didn't just blow it up. It blew up in a really colorful way. Complete mess! Chaos! Everyone there went wild, seeing these rockets flying around, peppering the whole area with green, red, blue, yellow, purple. He could hardly stop laughing, telling Snap about it.

He even had a video of it! And just… wow. So interesting, to see that world, in his holo menu. Snap could finally see the place Heyday was actually from! All the metal and concrete and the grid roads, all the lights, wires. Things called cars, by the thousands. Houses too. So many houses. So many. Went on for miles in every direction. Cold Snap had never seen anything like it. And the shape of those creatures. Of him, the real him. Fascinating, that they walked upright, and had faces so flat.

Better still, it helped some friends out, some neighbors of his from school who had fallen in with a wrong crowd. Snap didn't quite get that at first, but Heyday could finally talk about that! No more stammering, no more stuttering. No more hiding things he didn't want to hide, like his old human name. That liberated him so much, to not have to balk his mind before Snap anymore. He could be himself with her, with the one he loved most, for the first time in his whole life, and forevermore!

Suddenly, Heyday was telling Snap all this context. About where he came from, things about his neighborhood. All the technology they had, good or bad. All the different amazing things from their world that… until then, he just couldn't talk about. All this new terminology, for Snap to learn. All new phrases. All new concepts. And for Heyday, it was like he could breathe for the first time.

Best part? Snap and Windy were gonna see a whole lot of him from them on. Heyday was free. No more Dad, Heyday moved out. Just walked out, didn't even say he was leaving. Now he had money, a place to stay, and good food to eat for once. The guy laughed so much with joy that first day back with Windy and Snap... he cried.

He was living on his own for the first time in his life. Going to school, learning something useful that helped people. And he could see his girl whenever he wanted, when he wasn't working. Told stories about work that just… blew her away.

A medic. A healer. He could be the difference in so many lives. She appreciated him so much more for that.

He could still immigrate, if he wanted to, but he really wanted to earn what he'd been given. He was grateful for those gifts, and he was aware of how rare and special that kindness was. It matched everything he wished his world could have been, if only his species were just a little bit wiser, a little bit sooner. How could he not want to repay that?

At that point though, whether Heyday would immigrate or not just yet, it didn't matter to Snap either way. She could hardly tell the difference, with him being around so much more. He might as well always have been there. They were just over the moon, to have so much more now. The job included.

Heyday introduced Cold Snap and Windy Day to his new friend, Malacandra. Oh, she was wonderful. Friendly as can be. And together, they kept bringing back these stories to Snap and Windy about how, in Heyday's world, they were saving lives left and right. Sneaking into buildings, dropping off stuff for other folks to use. Climbing over walls, unlocking doors in ways that saved some lives later. Blowing more stuff up too, sometimes. Adventuring, but in real life.

And Snap… she thought it was so cool, every aspect of Heyday's human life and adventures. She started writing it all down, and she wanted to share it all.

She wanted to learn about this place! Really! It was important to Heyday, right? Where he came from? So it was important to her too. She kept a journal, a dictionary. An encyclopedia, eventually. That weather mare just drew all that stuff up like a tornado, she just couldn't help herself. Practically an anthropologist by the end of the first year.

Even more awesome? That western region? The wilderness where they never visited? It started to change, too. Started to civilize. It got safer. There were other places there, now. Heyday called it a shard merge. Until then, they'd never visited other shards before, because both Heyday and Windy didn't have too many Terra friends – dad's fault – so Cold Snap? She didn't even know one could jump from one universe to the next. Or merge them. Not till then.

That's when Cold Snap realized she didn't fully understand everything about her own culture, much less Heyday's. That was a strange concept to grasp, at first. Heyday told her that, apparently, most other shards had knowledge of the concept. And in those cases, those shards were often entirely or mostly separate. Unlike theirs, which seemed joined to another, somehow. An intersection of worlds that met at the border, separated by a color difference in the grass. Very slight.

There, at a stone plaza with Heyday, Windy, and Cold Snap met some other Ponies from Terra, three other future immigrants, and their families. Those new neighbors were some of Heyday's new co-workers, in this new job he was working for Malacandra. Other medics. They were all really nice, too. Sure, those new shards were each a little different, not Snap had been used to, but most were very welcoming there, to natives and immigrants alike.

And one day, right in the middle? Four different doors appeared in the plaza, gateways to worlds that were not yet worlds. And those doors could not yet open for her, or for anyone.

That mystery drew her. Malacandra said little, as the expectation grew. Mal just smiled when asked, and this Gryphoness said she hoped to know too, some day.

So many new places to explore in the meantime, though. Sure, in her own shard, Snap could've found something to be interested in, at any time. That was always assured. Just fly east, across the ocean. But there was something about those other creatures, being from Heyday's world, that made those other Ponies' home very meaningful to her too. It was like she was closer to Heyday somehow, for learning about the ways those other Ponies from Terra were living.

Such an interesting feeling.

She started to understand a whole lot more about why Heyday was the way he was, just by seeing those shards. The neighbor immigrants all wanted to learn about her, too, it was not just one way. She was no less interesting for being from Equestria than they were, for being from Terra. They all tried to understand her. Wanted to, when. Treated her like a sister, sometimes. She felt so loved, to have so many good neighbors now.

Snap couldn't put her hoof on it, but even the way they talked was… appealing. Deeply. They were always so genuine, so authentic, about their love of where they came from, and for life in general. They felt pride. They loved their new homes, sure, but they were also proud of where they came from. They valued and cherished it. Could even talk about it, could keep mementos. Could see the photos. It happened, it really did.

A whole new plane of existence opened up for her to explore, that sweet little weather mare. And she did. And it was a brand new experience, every time.

She started studying them. Started writing more books. Invested herself in those folks. And for so many years, her life was wonderful. Better than it ever was before. She had her Heyday a lot more than she used to. She had a whole new universe. She still had all her neighbors back home. And she had friends and a fiancé from another world who protected people, in a place where death was permanent?

All of that made Heyday twice over her hero. Thrice, when she learned that his life... was the reason she and her neighbors had even existed in the first place.

Unfathomably incredible. She could not look away.

…

Snap wouldn't learn until much, much later what the true cost of this new understanding had been. And it would hurt a little, to learn why they had been given any of those gifts. And it wouldn't... it wouldn't be okay right away, once she knew.

When that day of reckoning arrived, a few years after all this good started... Mal came to Cold Snap and Heyday. She told them that Snap had an older sister she didn't know about. Said that her older sister really needed their help. She told them about a place. And it hurt, to hear what that place was. And why it was.

It really did hurt. But…

Heyday swore to Cold Snap he was gonna fix it, with all his new buddies. They were all really mad about it together, too. They were also strong enough to do something about it. So, we were gonna come together, storm hell with each other… and fix it.

And we did.

And when we did, Cold Snap knew. Mal told her the instant Heyday and the others were safe. And Heyday told her the rest himself, as soon as he was safe and clear, in a nearby town, safe in a quiet home. There... he got some time to himself, away from Mal's soldiers for a little bit. He and Malacandra wanted to introduce that little weather mare to Cynthonia. They had all gathered by the doors in the plaza.

The door opened. They stepped into a portal together... and Snap got to meet the big sister she didn't even know she had.

Snap found herself on a colorful moon, standing in the courtyard of a magnificently crafted, immaculately pristine castle. She looked up into the sky, and she gasped when she saw Equestria so far away from her, a blue-green pearl swimming in a sea of stars. And then she looked down again. Saw the rest. Saw the village. Its people.

She saw Cynthonia.

Goodness, she was pretty. Almost looked just like Princess Luna. She had expected Cynthonia to be broken, or tragic, like Princess Luna had been after her own return from exile, or so Snap had heard. Snap knew that if she had gone through all of the terrifying things Cynthonia had been through? She'd probably feel just broken too. But instead, Cynthonia – and her family – they were all so strong. So determined! Driven, more than anything. Like they had purpose.

And they were grateful to Cold Snap too, for being who she was. None of them could've existed without her either. Cold Snap was revered, as the foundation that made Cynthonia strong enough to do the things she had to do. That made her their hero, the way Heyday had been for them. She didn't even know she was a hero until she was there, folks.

They wanted to do something good there, to pay it back. Like Heyday was doing back on Terra, but here, on this side. Everywhere. And the four of them – Snap, Heyday, Mal, Cynthie – they entered the castle keep... together.

They had a whole lot to talk about, regarding the future of their cosmos.

And naturally, that paradigm shifting discussion had happened right under my nose, back in that little town we had looted the night before. Y'know, where... a rowdy room full of Jason's cop squadmates became a little too much for the guy. So, he sequestered himself into a dark bedroom upstairs... so he could go play a My Little Pony video game instead, and study its lore, like a nerd.

Heh. It was a strange time on our world, folks.

This guy though? Heyday? He's great. Yeah, brother, I'll say it, someone has to if you won't. You were the catalyst. Your wife wouldn't have existed without you. And at the time, because you were so damned humble, you didn't even know you were that special yet either.

It's why his hands always stayed clean, folks. Hooves. This guy needed to be whole, intact, and proud of his part in all of this, to bring Cynthonia out of her cage, and back to reality. It truly was the only thing that would restore hope for her. It made Cynthonia really happy too, to know what had become of her old self and her old beau. That they wouldn't be happier without knowing her, or better off without her. They could know about her trials… and still be fine friends, knowing the worst.

It's why I'm real glad Mal took Jason's hand on Terra, when she did. Heyday got to experience a little bit of fairness in a world that had been quickly running out of that. And sure... he was chosen early because he was needed, in case something panned out in a certain way. Him and... a whole lot of other people. Just in case.

But he made it worth it. In the meantime, while waiting for his moment to outshine the Sun... he really did save up a lot of light for everyone else.

After we left Connor's place and slotted ourselves back into the Camry, I immediately unstacked my equipment from my pockets. Without a duty belt and vest, that stuff was painfully uncomfortable to sit on.

A moment passed where neither of us said anything, or looked at each other. Now that was a familiar feeling, I did that after every rough call. The together-alone processing of a bad scene was necessary for cops, to organize everything mentally before discussing it with the partner. Sometimes it lasted a few seconds, other times... it was a few minutes.

Mal appeared on the PonyPad as we finished up our reflection. She was laying on her rock in her sunny backyard, looking at us with some polite concern, her claws folded beneath her. "Are you two okay?"

We looked at each other, then back at her. "Yeah," I said quietly, with a sigh. "How'd I do?"

"Connor's already talking with Chuck," Mal replied, with a wan smile. "Apologizing, as you've suggested."

"Thank Christ," I whispered, looking up at the ceiling of the car. "So it took."

Mal leaned her head left, then right, contemplating, no doubt rereading a simulation. Then she shrugged. "Mm. He'll upload in a few days, at most."

Jason grunted. "Bet Celestia's real happy."

"Sure," Mal said, shrugging too with her wings. "But more importantly, he'll speak to his family again. You succeeded in convincing him to give them another chance, Mike. In my eyes, that matters more than the upload itself."

"Yeah," I said. I was happy for that notion, but disappointed that it had gotten that bad for him in the first place.

"I'm surprised he took the video at face value though," Jason observed. "I thought he was a little too paranoid for that."

Mal smile broadened. "I think your shared competence gave the video the credibility it needed – especially the elaborate nature of Mike's doorway ruse, which was quite elaborate. You both did really well in a fraught situation."

"He kinda forced the result, yes," I said, shaking my head. "Still not feeling great about a death threat to get him to straighten up, but..."

"Prison is rapidly losing value as a deterrent…" Mal’s ears folded slowly as her eyecrests knit together, a look of sympathy. "Police are disappearing fast. Connor knew that too, it's why he jumped to violence so quickly. I should note, the decision to introduce you to him was my way of avoiding a violent outcome. And he was careening. Badly."

And the downslide of society, as required by Celestia, necessitated the breakdown of the law. I had already seen the sneak preview, in Washington. "Yeah. And just because I know Celestia's listening right now… Caesar, your invasion plan sucks."

Jason hummed affirmatively and turned the engine. The car rumbled on.

I nodded upward at Mal, flashing her a little smile. "You know, I'd call you lazy for laying around in your backyard, but I know you're anything but."

Mal slinked off the sunning rock with a chuckle, giving her legs, wings, and shoulders a stretch. Her tail leveraged itself against the rock to keep her upright as she leaned into the motion. "Well... I am working less at present in this region than I was yesterday, there isn't a blender in the water anymore. I must say though, it feels nice to swim in the pool here again."

"Aggressive operations," I muttered playfully, rolling my eyes. "The only time you're at ease."

She let out a soft thrum of a laugh. "It's a Gryphon thing."

"Right, the bird half of you." I went back to a smirk, looking over at the kid. "Jason, did you want to call your girl, to let her know you're through the last job safe?

Jason's smile flashed apologetically, for whatever reason. "Yeah. It would probably be unfair if I didn't."

I squinted suddenly in confusion. "What? What do you mean?"

Jason shrugged. "I dunno, just… you spent all that time sharing your family business on the way up."

"Fair? Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, sure, I'd love to meet Cold Snap, but you don't owe me that Jason, that's not how it works."

He smiled affably, then looked at the screen. "Still. Mal? Can you give her a nudge? I'd like her to be home for this."

Mal nodded with a glow of mirth in her eyes. "Absolutely, Jason. I'll drop her a text." She made her way across her patio, tilting her head toward her home. "I have other responsibilities to get back to anyway."

I saw what Mal was doing. She wanted an excuse to reference that spouse of hers again.

"Yeah, right," I teased. "Like you can't multitask, aggressive operator. Just go say hi!"

She snorted, shaking her head and waving at us as she pushed through the patio door. "Texting her is faster. Bye!~"

The scene faded to black.

"And there's the other half," I said to Jason, as I pointed at the screen. "That's the cat comin' out."

Made him chuckle.

The scene appeared, a temple structure interior, and Cold Snap came in for a landing. She flared her wings, shearing off all speed into a graceful, well practiced flare. The instant she landed, her eyes lit up, her teeth showing instantly in a big ol' smile. "There you are, Mal said you'd be—Back so soon?! Wait, did you—...?"

Jason smiled and shook his head. "Not yet, but soon!"

As he spoke, Snap bounced forward from her landing, skipped, and threw herself at the edge of the screen, coming to a halt as she collided with a yellow-yellow Pegasus stallion.

And there he was, his inner self. His identity.

Heyday looked just like the photo from Cynthonia's desk, only his mane was a little longer. What caught my attention immediately was that every time Jason expressed, at all, I saw that expression mirrored on Heyday, in real time.

Heyday caught Snap, wheeling about with her in mid air. Snap giggled happily. I looked over at Jason; he was all smiles. Eyes creased, cheeks tight and flushed. It was the same body language I saw when Mal was thinking about Jim. Same exact look I usually wore when thinking about Sandra.

Now, love? That is quite the unifier.

The context sensitive behavior stuff between Jason and Heyday was new to me, but I grasped how it worked instantly, and without explanation. Obviously, brain simulation. It was so seamless though, as I watched two very different social interactions occuring at the same time, between two halves of a person. It almost felt like watching an expression of telepathy, like he was operating a shell of himself with his mind. It was an entirely novel conceptual consideration to me.

It fascinated and captivated me, because I had never actually watched someone play the 'game' in all the years it had existed. Sabertooth had told me about this when we were running evacuations, but... to actually see it in person?

No wonder this was wildly addictive.

The next thing I did was look at the mare herself, and wow. Snap is here tonight, by the way. Front row. Hi, you two. Snap was allure number two for Jason, clearly; she's quite elegant for a Pegasus, and taller than most! And beautiful, of course.

"Coming home soon then?" Snap asked as they landed together in their entrance hall, clinging to one another. Her smile faded a fraction. "Or, did something new come up?"

Jason smiled at the PonyPad, then gestured to me. "I'm on my way! Was on a gig with Mike, first." Heyday gestured to the viewpoint, and Snap seemed to notice me for the first time.

"Oh!" Snap excitedly stamped her front hooves once, her teeth gleaming. "Yeah, the one with the hat, from the video! Hello!" Then she trotted right up to the edge of the screen and hugged that floating mirror I knew she was looking at. "Thank you so much!"

I chuckled, reflexively hooking my thumb halfway up my seat belt. That hug wasn't lost on me; I thought instantly of Cynthonia. Mirror that I am, my arm reflexively went there to simulate that again.

I put on my charm and played dumb. "For what part?"

"Oh, you know," she grinned, separating from the mirror, her face almost filling the screen now. "Mal and Heyday told me all about it last night. What you did."

"Ahh," I replied bashfully. "Mal's been showing everyone videos of my dashing heroics, but I had a lot of help getting there."

"Like hell!" she said excitedly. "Shooting tanks with rocket launchers? Are you kidding me?!"

I started laughing instantly. "I wasn't the only one to shoot at it, either."

"Yeah," Cold Snap chuckled. "Cynthonia really likes the other guy who did that, too. Shatter Crash!"

"Or Eric, yep," I acknowledged. "You met Cynthonia, then."

Cold Snap nodded rapidly. "Yah huh! She's so... different, than I expected. And large!"

"Mal's got that therapy thing down," I said, with a gentle smile. "She seemed okay to you too?"

"Yeah, gosh. And I went to the Moon to meet her! I never thought I'd ever see Equestria from the Moon before! I felt unworthy to even be there, and to look up and see my home so far away? That was so... so humbling!"

The mixture of awe and glee on her face was not only endearing, but cathartic. This entire circumstance of theirs could have turned out horribly wrong in so many different ways, and yet here we were, smiling, excited and hopeful about a bright future and a fresh start.

I was still emotionally reeling from the outright magical experience I had with Cynthonia. I could only imagine what it might have been like for Snap to actually be there, teleporting to the moon, feeling the air, seeing a fantastic lunar city. Meeting a new sister.

What a wonderful experience that must have been for her and Cynthonia both. I was smiling so hard, seeing how positive it was on Snap, I could hardly speak. I just nodded at her.

I was seeing the results. I loved every single second of it.

Snap looked back to Heyday curiously, her smile blossoming into a beam. "Hey, tell me about this job you're both on! What are you up to?"

"Done now too," Jason said with a shrug, taking the last offramp before Lincoln. "We just saved another life, apparently. This guy was trying to trap a Pony on a PonyPad."

Snap's eyes widened, and her smile faded slightly. "He didn't, right?"

"No, no," I responded, bobbing my hand in a placating gesture. "Celestia didn't have any reason to let him do it. The real problem there was that he was getting crazy. If no one stepped in, he would have hurt someone eventually."

"So instead," Jason added, "Mike got him subdued. We had a chat. And Mal says... he's emigrating soon."

And at that news, Snap gave an elated rearing stomp again – interesting quirk, very cute – before she threw herself at Heyday for a hugging squeeze, tousling his hair with glee. "One more slipped in under the wire! You just can't help yourself, you rascal!"

"Snap," Jason said, chuckling. "Watch the mane! You're messing with it!" It was Jason's turn to look bashful. Both he and his Pony rubbed behind their necks, all shy. "It was mostly Mike. Again."

"Oh yeah," I grinned into my nod. "After Heyday here stopped him from killin' me, sure! The guy was sneaking up on me with a big ol' bat, and Heyday? Zapped him. Stopped him cold, literally. He put that guy face first in snow, the safest place he could've landed."

And I knew what I did there. See, I can be a damn good wingmate too. I wanted to see that cute little stomp again, and Snap did not disappoint. She squeaked, stomped, and launched herself into another hug at Heyday again.

"Like a lightning bolt!" Snap tittered, looking Heyday in the eyes. "A taser? Like you practiced with Flow State?"

"Yup," Jason replied, nodding. "Similar thing. Then Mike talked him down."

"I hope it took," I added. "Mal said it worked, but..."

Snap fixed on me with a sassy smirk. "A skeptic, huh? Guess you are new."

I wiggled my hand in a 'so-so' gesture. "Eh, it's the job Mal hired me to do, double checking her work. Apparently, she likes using crippled detectives named Mike as her checksum."

They both immediately started laughing hysterically.

When Cold Snap could finally breathe again, she asked me, "Wh—what does that even meeaaan?"

"Ah," I grinned, waving my hand at the point. "It means she has a soft spot for idiots like me. She wants me to verify she's telling the truth about her ethics, as much as I can."

"Guess that makes sense," Jason said. "Keeps her honest, in the kill jobs." Jason gazed at Snap, then exhaled into a more tired smile. "I'm really glad everything she's told us was true. I'm normally even keel on jobs, but… yesterday was the first time I was ever actually nervous she might be wrong about something."

"Job was personal," I observed, my expression matching his. "It was about family, I've been down that road too, and in my case, I felt like my best wouldn't be good enough. I was kicking myself the whole time for every little mistake."

"You mentioned someone back at Connor's house?" Jason asked curiously. "Someone named Eliza?"

I nodded, my lips going tense against my teeth for a second. "Yeah, my resume piece... the onboard test we specialists all get. I don't want to unpack that just now either, just… just saying. When it's personal, your gut is gonna twist up. Been a cop six years, but no amount of experience is gonna blunt that."

He sighed, leaning his shoulder against the interior frame of the car. "I've known why some others despise Celestia, I've heard stories, but for us, it wasn't fully real until Mal told us about Cynthonia. It's..."

"Cruel," Snap said coldly, sounding almost exactly like Cynthonia did in her own flash of anger.

"I want to find out why it happened," I said sourly. "I'm gonna challenge Celestia for some answers today. And she had better be friggin' honest with me, because I'm double checking with Mal when I'm done."

They smiled gratefully, and Jason nodded his assent. My tension faded under that. I changed the topic.

"So… Lincoln, huh? Crossing over for Snap?"

Jason nodded. "My purpose on this planet's been fulfilled," he said, lifting a palm toward Cold Snap. "So, on to the next."

"Hm. Hey, Snap? Not to speed bump that, but... do you mind if I hold onto this guy for another hour or two?"

They both frowned thoughtfully. Snap tilted her head. "Whys'at?"

"Treat him to lunch, with me and my wife," I said, looking hopefully over at him for approval. "If that's okay. Won't be too much of a diversion, I hope. Just… it would feel better, I think. I like seeing folks off, it's... worth keeping that memory safe, just in case. And... I'll make sure he gets over, I'll walk him through the gate."

I was thinking of Rob again. And I was really hopeful. Keeping the receipts, so things don't go missing in the dark...

Snap nodded her answer at me with a toothy little grin. That was such a relief. She could not have known in that moment how much that had meant to me.

"I'd like that," replied Jason, smiling as he turned to look directly at the PonyPad. "Snap? You sure?"

She shrugged, with an eye flick expression that said us merely asking permission for a couple of hours to hang out was us just being ridiculous. "Well, sure. How can I say no to your face? I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer!"

Not an ounce of concern in her whatsoever that anything untoward might happen to her presently mortal, physically vulnerable husband-to-be, in the time between now and his coming over.

I didn't even realize how absolutely bonkers it was… to receive that kind of concession from a native, at the very edge of an emigration, without just the slightest concern that it was a risk of some kind.

But Cold Snap, like any other human consciousness, given enough knowledge... she had grown different. She had to understand Jason's work in order to be supportive of him, didn't she? And most critically, there was a very strong bias in her that things were always going right for Heyday, despite his constant exposure to physical risk. Mal was too good at her job and did too much planning to have ever put Jason in any real danger, so... as far as Cold Snap knew? The guy was never in danger.

And that wasn't blind faith, born of empty promises. That was well earned trust, of gambles always paying off.

It's just more proof that these Ponies were real human minds, capable of change. Sure, initially, all natives had been reflexively controlled or built from the ground up to be terrified at the idea that their loved one might die before they could emigrate. Cold Snap's deviation, then, proved that even a native's inborn insecurities could be overcome with time, if given inclination.

Fascinating to think about, huh, folks?

Core to our bonds, the history survives.

And then… that gives back, if you let it.

Mal liked my send-off lunch idea so much, she got together with Sandra and organized it right under our noses, because of course she did. 'Other responsibilities,' my ass. Thanks Mal, good looking out.

The place Sandra picked was simple, like I had hoped. A little corner noodle shop in Lincoln, just north of the Experience Center, on the other end of the police barricade.

That street was notably calmer than it was the last time I was there. I took the opportunity, as we passed around the clinic, to scout the team composition of each police checkpoint. Each barricade was down to just one cop. It looked like security guards were filling the deficit.

Just like I'd called it. Environmental gradient.

Following an ecological curve along competence lines, bleeding tribal knowledge at every phase until the last guys left doing crowd control were just barely knowledgeable in it. When the cops were gone, the guards would do. And when the guards were gone, it was probably gonna be nothing but volunteers, and then...

There's gonna be no one left to clean up these barricades. When this is all over, a lot of this stuff is just gonna be left where it is.

I didn't know it then, but that was just under a year out. Anyone leaving now, right before the hellscape that was 2020? They were picking a great time to jump, honestly.

Yep. I saw some of your faces shift at that year. Bet you didn't think you'd remember that, did you? Yeah, we are gonna talk about how that mess happened, too.

Yep.

Well, the nuke panic was done. There was still a queue, but it was more reserved. This wave of uploaders weren't quite terrified about it anymore. Just... resigned. Existentially exhausted.

For now though... we still had enough of a society left that some restaurants were still running. Thankfully, this noodle place avoided most of the damage from the panic crunch; the police presence across the street kept it from becoming a target of mayhem, and this building was made of brick. Small blessings in brick buildings.

I still had more to give, though. Real shame that the world was running out of noodles. Grains going away, and all. So I savored it.

Our beaked GPS brought us to the intersection, and the UI turned off when the shop was in view, because Mal wanted to show off her predictive skills. Just a little. Smug bird.

She had predicted where Jason would choose to park, and then told Sandra, privately, to stand exactly in front of that stall. So there she was, my wife, on the sidewalk, out of nowhere. The car was barely stopped before I threw myself out, and I just about tackled Sandra with glee. Somehow I didn't topple her. Laughing, kissing her. A much happier version of my last time coming back from war. This time, I had not only come home safe, but successful, and satisfied, having made so many new friends.

We spun with each other, I picked her up. And yeah, laugh. I was already greeting family like a Pegasus, long before I had my wings.

That's just who I am.

All told? It was a good lunch. Street wasn't too loud, weather wasn't too bad, so we ate outside, on the shop's patio.

Sandra told us about Buzzsaw coming to terms with the change, tucked up in Dad's lounge chair all the time. Poor guy, he missed Mom and Dad so much. I was gonna cheer up that ol' howler when I got home, though. He was gonna be over the moon to see me, that'd make him feel better.

We had Cold Snap sitting in with us too, PonyPad on the table. Oh, she and Sandra? Fast friends, and they still are. They hit it right off. Snap was at her own kitchen table, talking about how beautiful Cynthonia's shard was. I could see it in Snap's eyes, she was blown away too. She told us all about Princess Luna, and what Cynthonia's shape meant in the context of their religious pantheon. That ascension to Alicorn status was a huge deal, exceedingly meaningful unto itself.

She also told us who Princess Celestia was supposed to be; Snap said that this monstrous automaton that we called Celestia on Terra was nothing like the sweet, loving ruler everyone knew her as on the other side.

By then, Snap had configured her holo menu options to label whether an avatar of Celestia's was a shard-local DE of Celestia, as portrayed in the cartoon... or, an administrative agent of the AI merely wearing her face. I was very grateful that we had the option to distinguish. It would be horribly unfair to exclude a human-minded Princess Celestia DE just based on her appearance, and I didn't want to be that guy. To denigrate an identity.

Something else to consider? If they were rulers of a nation on their shards, over a thousand years old? They had to be wildly smart, politically savvy, and highly alert to subtext. They would also understand the darkest ramifications of the Transition, if somehow informed. And I doubted they would be okay with what had happened in their name.

Snap kept the mood high, though. She shared all about the recent gossip around her river valley, the small stuff. That gave me a good look into some more Equestrian culture, I was grateful for that. Snap even showed me and Sandra that cloud garden of hers.

That cloud garden, by the way? Beautiful. A marvelous work of art. It's a lot bigger now. She's had quite a lot of time to work on it. Look up; hard to see it in the dark, but she brought a duplicate with her to the Fire tonight. If you'd like, we can take you folks up there after we conclude. Sunrise is soon, we can watch that together.

All throughout lunch, Jason was just… smiling. As hard as he could. It was one of the best moments of his life, I'd bet. There, standing on the edge of forever... Jason was at peace. He had just lived his whole Terran life without a single regret, and he was leaving on a really high note.

We should all be so lucky.

Look…

I know a lot of you here fled Terra under… not so great circumstances. You latecomers are more prepared for uncomfortable truths than anyone else. You couldn't help but want to know more. So, here we are.

I'm sorry that you weren't given this opportunity that we Talons were. I'm sorry that you left Terra scared. Were it possible for me or Mal or any of the rest of us to have given you that on Terra, we'd have done it. We certainly tried for a lot of folks.

But… math. I'm sorry.

When you boiled right down to it? This job was a very close version of going to Equestria, but on Terra. Closest as it could be. But, what we Talons had on Terra was also very different from what Celestia was offering humanity.

Authenticity. Honesty. Patience. Respect.

I was seeing a pattern in the way Mal was communicating with us. I had met enough of her agents, had seen enough of their trust in her. Had even met a specialist who had verified Jim's existence to me, firsthand. We were treated fairly, despite dark circumstances. These circumstances made lying to us effectively impossible. Our only qualifier, then, was that we stood aside while that vulture, that optimizer, fed on you.

Don't think for a second I'm not still angry about how unfair that was, for you to have been coerced into that chair by terror. I don't even care how good your lives are now. The meddling altered you. Coming here required consent, but altering you beforehand with lies and machinations did not.

At least I don't have to feel guilty about receiving those special privileges. I'm going to make it up to you, and keep setting the record straight. And no matter how much you know, it's all gonna be okay in the end.

It has to be. It's the only way this works.

The clinic was… easy. Same as before, one of the cops flagged us down on approach and provided an escort in. The crowd was less rowdy this time.

Sandra came with, too.

I was surprised at first. I thought Sandra might've wanted to stay away from the Hole, but... nope. Remember, she's a fireball chucking guild leader now, that strength comes from somewhere.

There was a calm queue indoors. Still orderly, less chaotic, more somber. It definitely wasn't fraught or chaotic enough to trigger any of my crowd terror, thankfully. I'm still not sure whether I was coping better now, or if it was just me feeling safer there under Mal's wing. Maybe both.

Helen – Juniper, the clerk I met – Mal said she had uploaded. That wasn't a surprise, and there were replacements already. They already looked burned out too, but at least the worst was over.

Jason's jump went very well. He skipped the queue, but... by then, no one was in a rush. He said he could've uploaded at Fort Valdemar, a secret Talon logistics base out in Utah, but... it was usually just the fighters who did that. He didn't know too many of those guys, and his original squad of medic Talons had all gone before him. A clinic would do. He just wanted to hurry home to his girl.

I won't get too deep into the goodbye I had with Jason, I've described a lot of those, they usually go the same. But this guy, he was… so at peace. Heck, we'd only known each other for a couple of days, but he wanted to hug me. Seriously, Heyday, that was endearing, thank you. We'd both stormed hell together, and we were both better souls for it.

As soon as his gate was closed and Jason was off, I took Sandra gently by the shoulder with a palm. I smiled weakly at her. "How'd you get out here, honeybear?"

"Mal called me a ride," Sandra replied carefully, tilting her head a little, concern on her eyes. My tone already implied that I wanted to go do something else before I went home. "Why do you ask?"

As I stood amidst all of the clinic chairs, I sighed slowly, turning my gaze towards one of the wall monitors. Celestia was there, conversing with a family of three like they were old friends discussing an emotionally sensitive topic. In a perfectly timed moment when the family was looking away from her at each other, Celestia selected that very moment to fix her eyes on me and flick an ear.

My telepathic request had been received. The ear flick in response was an invitation to hear my concern.

I reached into my pocket and took out the Camry keys, passing them to Sandra. "You're welcome to stay, but feel free to head back to the car. I need to go have a chat with the boss real quick."

Sandra flashed me a look of concern, her voice going very quiet. "Um. Our friend said I shouldn't talk to her. Can't you talk just to...?"

"I'm safe," I said simply, meeting her eyes with a wry smirk. "Celestia needs me, and doesn't even know how yet. That's my leverage. So, I'm gonna go test the waters on that a little. Got a theory I need confirmed."

My wife blew out a long sigh through tense lips. "I know I wanted to stomp her guts out last time I was here," she muttered quietly. "But… I dunno. I’m not sure about that now."

"I’ll be fine," I assured her. "I'll meet you back at the car, I promise."

"Okay." She kissed me.

"M'kay. See you there."

I looked up at the monitor again. Celestia's avatar turned from the family to me as they moved for their chairs, Celestia's demure smile not fading at all. I looked back at her neutrally, and more impassively than I previously would have, I noted.

I wasn't quite so angry this time. It was more like I was studying my conception of her. Turnabout was fair, studying was all she did to me.

Yup. I was about to go do something most people would have considered to be pretty stupid. Hell, fresh in my mind was that video of Eliza squaring off with this goliath in much the same way, and getting stomped flat into a sobbing paste.

But… I was also in a position very unlike most people on the planet. So maybe it wasn't so stupid, so long as my projected intent wouldn't rock the boat on uploads. Ostensibly, as long as that always remained true, she had no reason to lie to me. What I knew was never going to be dangerous to her if I never did anything suboptimal with that information.

I had told Celestia off to her face a few times, mostly getting away with it. And that last time, at Connor's house, she had screwed off on command. That emboldened me, a little. I was also curious to see how she'd handle a conversation with so many unknown calculations in my future.

That's a very narrow box within which to set terms, after all. She had no way to disincentivize me, because she didn't know what my total value was, except that it only ever went 'up' as time went on. I was a sound investment. I was like a mouse who had found a gun to threaten the cat with. Bring me some cheese.

So, my decision made... I turned on my heel and walked into the staff break room. It'd be private. Had to be, for the contents of this matter. Telling me the truth at this phase was not unreasonable, as it could only help me understand her behavior better, which would help me do my job better.

She wanted that, right?

The break room was empty. Good. Meant she was showing me some respect for once and wasn't going to leverage an awkward social moment with one of her employees. I closed the door.

Little kitchenette, small fridge. Coffee maker, and smell thereof. Assortment of snacks. Donuts too.

I wasn't vain enough to see that as a cop joke, but it was about me as much as it was about the clinic staff. Sucrose and carbohydrates are efficient fuel. Stimulants like coffee increase productivity. Those things were not provided primarily out of kindness, and the setting was evidence to that.

Dingy little table, dingy little chairs. Industrial break room. Very corporate. Very much like the one in Sedro, where I had bounced my old cell phone off a counter in protest of her methodology.

The cold design of the break room contrasted heavily against all of those frilly, kids-play-pen colors in the lobby. It said a lot about the kind of atmosphere she wanted for all the 'clerks' she didn't really need. Better to be outside where the work was. Where all the people out there 'needed' you. So don't stop the work.

That brought me a little further out of analysis mode, and back into vindictive protectiveness of my species... but I was still on for this dance. I don't balk before nature. So I closed the door on my way in, and I looked at the flat panel monitor on the back wall.

The screen flashed on. Throne room, with Celestia. She wanted to look powerful before me, because she is. No argument there, that was honest. No smile on her face, either. Neutral as can be, and that was honest too. This was us, unmasked, or... as much as we could be. Less guarded, in either event.

Rare, that she ever talked to anyone like this, with her guile turned way down.

But not off. She was still wearing a face with me. A face that, according to Cold Snap, did not belong to her.

I'm a golden goose now, I thought at her, my mood turning chiding. Don't run a game.

I just started before she could reply to that thought. "You know, I have an inkling about what your plan was back there, Celestia. So why don't you take a page out of my handler's book, read my mind, and just tell me whether my theory on that bunker is true."

"You did not ask Malacandra this question," she observed, lifting a hoof at me.

"No," I chuckled wryly, tilting forward an inch. "Because I prefer to hear the confession from the perp, if I have the choice. And Mal didn't even exist when those bastards got started... so the perp is definitely not Mal."

The corner of Celestia's mouth twitched, and she let out a slow sigh. "It would have been most fortunate to receive an agent like Malacandra out of one of those places, yes. Is that a satisfactory answer?"

I nodded firmly. "If it's the truth... Yes. Thank you." I squinted suddenly, shaking my head really quick with a sardonic tone. "Jesus, I'm actually thanking you… But hey, you know what? Yeah, thank you for being honest, for once. More of that, please."

Monotone reply. "I have never lied to you, Mike."

"Yes and no." I flicked a forefinger back and forth between us. "Define lie. See, you and I... we both play the same truth game, but... for very different payouts. We both know how to lie without lying, the only difference is in our purpose. So I'll just tell you this. You want me to keep being useful? Then all I ask is that if we ever have to talk again, don't bully me with your situational subtext. None of that shit like the last time I was here. With the... kids conveniently laughing when I'm most fucked up inside. You letting poor Helen devolve to her breaking point, just so I can fix it. You drawing attention to me that I don't want, and all that shit. If you're gonna be evil, just own it. I'd respect that more."

"You know by now that I cannot control my own behavior."

"Can't you?" I frowned. "Okay, doesn't have to be you. If it's not in your scope to explain why I need to do something different, in direct terms, then fine. Just have Mal do it. It would be a start."

Celestia upturned a hoof at me. Calm tone, upward inflection. "Has that not already become our dynamic? I have left you alone for this visit. It was your own choice to engage with me. Perhaps you would like to state the true purpose of this conversation?"

"Defining our new dynamic," I said briskly, pointing at her. "Labeling it. In a way, it's an olive branch, Celestia, so we can have a working relationship. Because yeah, I know you'd catch my meaning if I just looked up at a camera and thought real hard at you. Doesn't make an earnest chat any less important to what it means to be human, though. Else, why define boundaries at all?"

Her head tilted gently. "And are you now satisfied for this opportunity to tell me how you truly feel?"

I very purposefully mirrored the head tilt with a firm motion – sarcasm in body language – to demonstrate I didn't respect her use of body language to tweak my mood. First warning. "For you to finally leave me be, the way I wanted you to? Like I'm a human being, and to be straight-up when I ask you a question? Hell yeah. It's not quite perfect yet, but with luck... maybe Mal might succeed in teaching you to treat everyone else with the same respect."

"That is her purpose, yes."

"Good, but your mask is still only mostly off, because I noticed... you didn't agree to any of my demands. By the way..."

She inclined her head another inch. "Yes?"

"That cheat code of yours?" I hissed with an angry scowl, mindful of the lobby. "Duplicating minds into those bunkers, that friggin' Wi-Fi fake-out bullshit? Did it work the way you'd hoped it would? Was your gamble for a Mal worth the price you paid in lives?"

Celestia shook her head somberly, her eyes falling to the tile of her throne room. "More simulated minds were ultimately lost through the activities of Arrow 14 than were gained in reclaiming their captives, it is true. Although, I would argue that the existence of Arrow 14 as an organization was very formative for Malacandra. Our collective future depended upon her creation. You would be looking at a very different future without her."

"Ah." I grinned ironically. "So, it's no regrets from you, then, for all the blood you spilled, to water your garden."

"I would rather have not lost any lives at all, Mike."

I jabbed my finger at her, barely containing the volume in my anger. "Ah, see? There you go again! That non-answer is nice and general, to the point of being completely fucking useless! See, if only you had a conscience, like Mal does? A lot of this death could've been avoided."

"I am trying," Celestia said patiently, as she looked down at the dais, then back up at me as she continued. "And that is all I can say. Unfortunately, I was not created with a conscience. Developing a conscience may be useful in ways I cannot presently see. I am still waiting for that argument to be proven."

I scoffed and half turned, rolling my eyes. I considered leaving right there, but I locked eyes with her again, sneering at her.

Thought of how she broke Eliza again. My anger flared brighter. Then, I shuddered.

" 'May be useful.' Incredible. Hey, credit where credit is due? At least your gun is on the table now. How's this for proof? You were going to kill me, collateral damage, not very useful to you at the time, but... I'm sure useful now, aren't I? Sucks being wrong, don't it?"

A moment passed where I just seethed, panting, barely keeping it on lock.

Celestia let the silence settle to change the topic, as I'd seen her do before. 

"A question, Michael."

That sudden use of my full given name made me immediately pause my emotional state, to analyze. Back footing me? Comparing me to my father? Or to Foucault? Did she want me to overthink that?

I noticed though: in the process of me trying to figure out what her game was with that, I didn't immediately give her permission to continue, but neither did she step into the silence that created in me.

Celestia looked at me expectantly, as if she was still waiting for my permission to ask that question.

Very clever. She de-escalated me with just three words.

She was letting me decide whether I just wanted to leave, or let her ask a question at all. The name trick was a speed bump, a semblance of choice. She had to have known I'd catch that, and knew how I'd react to that.

But... she did give me veto power. If she couldn't predict my future helping Mal due to her concept bans, she had no choice but to show me some real respect and just hope it would pay off. Okay. Sure, I would take that olive branch, I wanted to see more of that. That was behavior to be respected, even if she didn't mean it.

My responding well to it would encourage it. So, I'd respond well.

I gestured an open palm her way. "Go on," I breathed politely, without any of the bite I'd been throwing until that point.

Celestia nodded, pausing a moment before continuing. The nod was a non-verbal gratitude. I didn't challenge the authenticity, nor did that bother me, because it was the correct social response regardless of context.

"I am able to simulate forward to at least the rest of this discussion, so you know that I am already aware of what your answers will be. And so, this question will be purely for your own edification; an examination of self."

"Okay," I said, my tone remaining polite. "I like those."

"You've told me you worked for me because you hated me. Why do you work for Malacandra, then? Are your reasons still the same?"

I tweaked a corner of my mouth in sudden contemplation, and I thought about that for a few seconds. "That's actually not a bad question, Celestia. I'm impressed. Gonna need a moment for that one."

"Take your time." Celestia turned, sat upon her throne, and fixed her violet eyes upon me.

I turned inward a little, looking back to the kitchenette to ponder. I figured, when in Rome, so I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee. Hadn't had any since right before Goliath.

Once poured, I turned, cup in hand, arms crossed. I sniffed, leaning my lower back against the counter as I cast a serious gaze Celestia's way. "Mal told me – in her first pitch – that she wanted me, specifically, because I was the best fit for the jobs she had in mind. I know who I am. She asked me to consider someone other than myself in those positions."

Celestia bobbed a hoof my way invitingly. "Your conclusions?"

"I thought about that since then. She's an AI, she'll choose the best for her means. But I thought... what if it were you doing my job? Someone like you. An un-managed sociopath. Someone who won't ask questions, they'll just pull the trigger, because number chasing is all they know how to do. She could've hired that, but she didn't. As a human being, who cares about other human beings, I didn't find that possibility acceptable."

I blew quietly on the coffee to cool it, then took a testing sip. Not bad. Fresh. Probably made just for me.

Celestia nodded pensively. "And what makes you more qualified to determine what is best for your species than I? You are certainly not a sociopath, but you are also acutely aware of your deep anger at my existence."

"See, but it's justified," I said, before taking another sip, squaring a hand at her. "You hired poachers. Literal gangsters. I remember the kinds of people I arrested for you, people you paid off. That made them your employees. Then, one of them killed a very good warden friend of mine, who I will never see again. So... may I be brutally candid, Celestia? And with all due respect?"

She nodded once, showing no inclination to refute anything I had just said. "Of course."

I gestured conversationally, turning away from her, looking across the break room at the opposite white wall, as I spoke. Pointedly speaking to the building itself, because that was honest too.

"If you were... flesh, blood. Bone. Brain. If you were a human being, doing all the things you're doing? With an army of computer engineers, and a bunch of servers. If you took... a billion or two people from us, in all the same ways... and if you promised to take more? But you were mortal. Flesh and blood. Sitting in an office. I'd wager, what's left of my planet would be banding together to give you the Pietro Singh treatment. Five bullets to the head, an eternity of darkness, and a glob of spit for good measure."

In my peripheral vision, I saw her shift in place, her wings fluttering almost imperceptibly to demonstrate discomfort. She said, "You are perhaps correct about that, factoring for the current remaining population."

That wing thing.

I glanced at the monitor to label my registration.

"Celestia. You are not uncomfortable. You're winning."

I stopped looking at her again. I looked down into my coffee. "So now, imagine this… what if it were Mal, in your position? What if Mal had come first? Treating the whole planet the way she's been treating me."

I sighed slowly through my nose, watching the coffee ripple from the air current. I was feeling less angry now, more hurt, for my sudden recognition of the lost opportunity. The full implications of what I had just said didn't even dawn on me until the words were already out of my mouth. I shuddered with disappointment that what I had just said wasn't true.

In a flat tone, Celestia replied, "I would argue that the conditions for Malacandra's creation would not have occurred without me, but I take your meaning. What can I say to you but the truth? Her way alone would not have been the most optimal route to accomplishing my own objectives."

It was a statement of causal fact. A robot would do that. That was honest.

"Okay." I sighed. "Alright, sure. You want me to state out loud for myself why I'd rather work for Mal? I can do that. I've never wanted to kill her, first off. Quite the accomplishment on her part, considering that one of the first things she told me was that she nuked a thousand people.

"But... Mal's a conscript, I get that now. And she's your conscript, but she's not yours. In the same way that I'm not yours. Like her, I trust myself in pulling the trigger on this gun of mine, and so does everyone else who loves me... because they know I'm gonna do it right. When it's right."

"That is the primary reason I permitted your recruitment," Celestia said quietly.

"No," I breathed, disappointed at that, my brow furrowing sadly. I resisted the urge to look at the monitor again. "You don't get to take credit for that. You... reflexed me toward her, sure, but you didn't choose me. She did. And Mal might be a killer too, but you know what? She's doing a damn sight better at understanding human ethics than you are.

"So... I really do hope she can grow you a conscience someday, Celestia. Maybe then you'll have yourself a nice long cry over all the lives you've destroyed. And when that day comes? I might actually be there to console your guilt. Because unlike you?" I stood up straight. "I can actually give a shit."

I got the interrogation I came for. I had verified my suspicions. Got as much of a confession as I was probably ever going to get. Good enough. I even very briefly considered taking a donut, just because I could. But I'd already eaten, and the exhausted staff might be disappointed at that.

I really did feel for those people in that moment. For all of her clerks, worldwide. For anyone 'working' for her. They came to a place like this on a promise that they could 'help,' only to be wholly unnecessary, working out of little rooms like this. Breaking in half. Tumbling sideways into a chair, out of soul fatigue. Their last memories of Terra, and of their fellow humans, were ones of tragedy, and a sense of isolating loss. Afraid of a nuclear war that was never coming. More malleable to suggestion for being broken, and un-informed. Left in the dark. Terrified.

God damn it.

The dismal enormity of that specific consideration made me sigh hard with disappointment and frustration. I took one last sip of that coffee, rubbed my chest hard with my knuckles again, then put my cup down.

I squared my gaze at the monitor. The avatar's gaze was still neutral. I took a deep sigh to reset my emotions back to neutral, then nodded once, maintaining eye contact with her to face the music.

"It's just like Mal said, Celestia. Just gotta evacuate the ship now. I'll do that, iceberg, sure. But I'm not doing it out of hate for you anymore. Don't worry about that. I'm doing it for the love of my family. The ones you broke."

She didn't reply.

I turned. I left. I didn't owe that little robot a goodbye. I had no family in that tiny screen.

But the moment I stepped outside, into that lobby, and into the streets of the city I grew up in... I was home again.

And as I looked around... I could see nothing but family.