//------------------------------//
// Our Vows 
// Story: The Immortal Dream 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Faye turned up the light on her bracelet, lifting a hoof to better see her surroundings.

The building she had taken shelter in had no foyer, its doors opening directly up to a warehouse area that spanned all three of its floors. Most of the ground was littered with parts of the collapsed roof; above them, about three quarters of the sky was completely exposed.

Faye had to cover her eyes and look away, the walls acting as a windbreak, but dust from the storm still drifting down in flurries that would quickly blind her if she kept looking up. To her left, however, there was a stack of rooms with broken windows looking out over the work floor, probably where the offices and break rooms were located. They would offer more shelter than the main entrance.

Halcyon flew off ahead to investigate as Faye tried a door, half an inch of sediment already coating the ground from the storm above. If this was a regular occurrence, it was almost odd there wasn't more... The door needed a heavy shove for its hinges to unstick, but eventually, it gave, opening with a small puff of green fog.

Faye stuck her head in. Break room indeed. It had a few backless benches, a tile floor and ceiling that were more intact than the rest of this place, several old metal lockers, and a dead vending machine in the corner that looked to be only stocked with water.

She didn't bother closing the door, pulling Coda inside and taking a heavy seat on a bench. This felt safe enough from the storm. No need to go exploring further.

After a moment, Halcyon returned. "I think I gave this place a thorough check," she reported, hovering by the bench next to Faye. "I saw a revenant insect, one of the tiny ones that left us alone in the city. Hopefully that's the extent of what they can manifest, here."

Faye nodded. "If I sleep, do you think you can stand guard? We've been walking all day..."

Halcyon frowned. "How do I wake you? If anything happens."

Faye flicked an ear, thinking. "You... can't recombine us on your own, can you?"

Halcyon shrugged. "I've always figured that was your power. But I can try?"

Faye nodded, and Halcyon's brow furrowed in concentration. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing," she admitted after a moment, giving up.

"...You've done something like this before, actually," Faye said, her mind wandering back to the dream she had last night, and to their ill-fated return to Icereach. "I guess I never asked. But, when you took over Ludwig's body, remember?"

Halcyon grimaced. "I was kind of happy to forget about that, but I guess I did. Never really learned how that worked."

"How did you do it?" Faye raised an eyebrow, starting to undo the clasps on her armor. It felt like a sandy sock around her, and if there was no immediate danger of revenants, she'd need to give it a good cleaning.

"I dunno." Halcyon folded her hooves in midair, face turned down in a frown. "It was while I was a ghost, like this. Ludwig was following me around, invisible somehow to everyone but me. I think he actually said we were invisible for the same reason. And he was trying to make another deal with me and work together to fight the invaders from Yakyakistan, except I lost my temper at him, and tried to punch him. And it just worked."

"Just worked?" Faye flicked her ears, tugging at a strap with her jaw.

"I could hit him," Halcyon explained, "even though we were both intangible. Except when I tried pushing him against a wall, it was like part of him got stuck on the wall in the real world, and part of him kept going through, like I can. And I pushed them far enough apart, and then something tore, and the next thing I knew, I was in his body."

Faye put down her work. "But you just phase through me like normal, right? You can't do the same to our body?"

Halcyon waved a hoof through Faye's shoulder, and nothing happened.

"Must be because you're currently all the way real, and not... whatever Ludwig was doing," Halcyon mused. "It feels like there should be a way, though."

"If we were both in the same body, then definitely," Faye admitted. "We've even had times before where we fought for control, and both had a hoof in it at the same time. But that's different from when you're like this."

"You can't turn yourself into a ghost like this, right?" Halcyon asked. "Just me?"

Faye slowly nodded. "When I think about relinquishing control, I just... slide to the back of our mind. I don't think I can externalize myself in the way that you and presumably Procyon can."

Halcyon nodded too. "But there's gotta be some way for me to warn you, if I really am gonna stand watch."

"This is a weird idea," Faye said, finally getting her armor off, depositing it on a bench with a slither of dust. She shook out her wings. "But you said there was a revenant insect in another room, right? What happens if you try to interact with that? I wonder if you can touch it the same way you could with Ludwig."

"We can try," Halcyon offered, getting up and floating towards another door. "Keep your boots on, there's broken glass on the floor in some of the other rooms."

Hesitant to leave Coda, Faye thought for a moment, eventually settling for nestling her up against a wall where she'd be out of sight from anywhere outside the break room. Satisfied, she nodded, taking her sword and following Halcyon, her step much lighter now that she had shed so much weight.

This door opened slightly easier, and led to a cramped corridor with a staircase to the next floor. The stairs opened out into some sort of logistics room, a long desk with several chairs flanking a window that looked out over the production floor, a few locked filing cabinets at the back. Another door, to the side, bore a plaque saying Manager's Office.

The revenant was by the filing cabinets. It was roughly the size of Faye's unbooted hoof, with a small, guttering flame.

She leaned over to inspect it. Its back was made of an Equestrian bit - the same currency used in the old Griffon Empire. It had two unwound paper clips as antennae, and no visible legs, meandering slowly around and doing nothing at all. The thing didn't even seem to notice her.

Halcyon poked it, and the flame wobbled, like it had been blown on.

"I can definitely feel it," she reported, her face creased in concern.

"Physically?" Faye asked. "Or mentally?"

"I'm not sure there's a difference." Halcyon poked the bug again. "It's kind of... squishy. It's that feeling when you impulse buy ten lottery tickets to distract yourself from something you don't want to think about, and all of them are duds. I could probably do something to it, but I'm not sure what."

She picked it up for emphasis. It waved its antennae frantically.

Faye blinked. "Well, if you can do that much, you can throw it at me. It's got metal bits, I can feel it too."

Halcyon regarded the tiny revenant and chuckled. "Huh. You might come in handy, little guy."

While she played with the revenant, Faye's tired mind turned to the manager's office. "I'm going to check in here," she reported. "Just to see if it would be better than the break room for napping."

"I checked it already," Halcyon reported, lifting her head. "It's got a broken window too. Though the dust's not too bad, and it looks like the chair is intact and kind of nice."

Faye shook her head. "I'd just feel easier not being so close to the building entrance. Not that anyone else should be out here in this storm..."

The door was locked, but it was a small task for her to shadow sneak underneath, then unlock it from within. This door's hinges actually worked properly, and she saw that the room beyond was wallpapered. Not extravagantly, but someone had tried to make it slightly more posh than concrete.

A big desk sat against the window, which, as Halcyon said, was also broken. But the floor wasn't very dusty, which suggested that it actually was reasonably sheltered, and after finding the right angle to stare out at the sky, Faye realized this stack of offices was under the one portion of the ceiling that hadn't collapsed.

From here, she could watch the storm, and feel relatively safe. Satisfied, she nodded to herself, then went to get Coda and her armor.





Coda almost didn't fit through the turn in the corridor before the stairs, but Faye eventually wrestled her into the manager's office, pushing herself through the task with repeated promises that this was the last physical effort she would need to make today.

The chair was, indeed, nice. Only about as dusty as she was, at that. Faye itched to take off her boots and clean them, too, but unlike the chair, the floor hadn't escaped the ravages of broken glass.

And she also needed to eat.

Using her sword, Faye cleaned off the desk, pushing glass and detritus aside and noting that it had been immaculately clean before being abandoned. Not quite unused, but whoever worked here treated their workspace seriously. Given that this was an executive's office, that certainly differentiated them from Icereach... though, being serious didn't necessarily equate to being nice.

She pulled out a meal worth of rations, and then started rooting through the desk drawers, looking for something interesting to read while she ate.

One of the drawers was locked. The rest contained office supplies. Great. Odds were, all the important stuff was-

"I can try my hoof at that, if you like," Halcyon offered. "Not like I've got anything better to do."

Faye glanced up to see her still carrying around the revenant beetle, its paper clip feelers brandished like twin lockpicks. The beetle seemed to have given up on struggling and was now holding as still as it possibly could.

"Go for it," Faye offered, biting down on her rations and staring out at the monochrome brown sky.

So Halcyon went at it, fumbling with the revenant for several long minutes as Faye ate. And, just when she was finishing her meal and preparing to tell Halcyon to give it up, the lock opened with a small click.

"Huh." Faye slid the drawer open. "Didn't think that would work."

Inside was a stack of letters, all marked as addressed to the office of the Gregory Ore Sorting Company. They had been stacked neatly, eight in total, sorted by postmark date. Each envelope had been opened neatly and carefully, and each one was still full, ostensibly reunited with their original contents after being read decades ago.

Well, a one-sided correspondence would make for interesting reading before bed. Careful not to disturb their order, Faye opened one and began to read.



Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Klifton. I am the overseer of the new Grubert Internal Logistics Company, which as of next week will be your new intermediary for requisitioning production equipment through the government. The Ministry of Economic Planning has informed me they have already prepared our downstream partners to adapt to this transition. However, I'm reaching out to you because I value a personal relationship with my co-workers. Aside from the contractual specifications of interfacing with your company, the Ministry was able to provide me with little more than the title of your job. If, as I do, you believe you could collaborate better with a flesh-and-blood griffon than a faceless name in a far-off building, then I invite you to respond at your leisure.

If this entreaty has breached protocol or given cause for offense, please disregard it and I shall not inquire along this line again. I look forward to a productive business relationship,

Grubert Overseer Klifton



Faye read the letter twice. This was an interesting thing to save in a locked drawer.

After checking on Coda, then triple-checking her chair for any bits of glass, she curled up in it, kicked her boots down to the floor below, dusted off her legs, and then pulled out the next letter and continued reading.



Dear Madam Geneva,

I was heartened by the enthusiasm of your reply, and took to the pen to give you my own response immediately. As you guessed, I am new to both this position and the Griffon Empire. My prior business experience comes from an enclave in Ralianth; I moved across the sea for this job. One would hope that learning in the cutthroat environs of Varsidel would provide ample preparation for working in Gyre, but if I'm still worthy of such a cynical joke after you hear this, I suppose I've simply got a lot to learn.

Regardless, the research I did about Gyre before accepting the post resonated with me. In answer to your question, I think making such an effort to embrace the modern world is admirable. History textbooks still in use at my school make no mention of Gyre as more than a mark on a map, so meteoric is its rise. I think this is the right time and the right place for a hard worker to be a part of something big, a dream which is in short supply in Varsidel.

Might I ask about you in return? How long have you been in Gyre? Where did you study? Are you fresh blood as well, or an industry veteran?

Looking forward to your reply,

Grubert Overseer Klifton



Faye carefully tucked the letter back into its envelope and pulled out the next.



Geneva,

As you wish, I shall dispense with the titles. Though from the limited responses others have been sending to my initial letter, I can't tell if this is cultural wisdom to take to heart, or merely you do things differently.

Grubert is still in the spin-up phase, so I can't comment on the regular flow of operations, but so far the biggest system shock compared to Varsidel is the hiring process. Your account of nepotism is synonymous with the way things are done there - I won't judge, I would never have received my education without such back-handed dealings. But I hadn't realized my workers would be chosen by the same office that chose me. While I knew this was closer to a branch of the government than an independent organization, I had expected to at least have the latitude to choose my own employees.

I took this question to the Ministry of Economic Planning, and from their response, I gather they don't field this question very often. For clarity, they didn't understand why anyone would want to be in charge of hiring their own workers. And while they didn't forbid me from trying, they had no resources to offer to assist me whatsoever.

Have I committed a cultural error? Should I just let this go and use the workers they have provided me? I looked into their wages and the cost of living in this area, and while it will hardly be glamorous living, this doesn't strike me as coerced labor or a covert slaving operation, though it's strange enough that I did consider the possibility. For such a bureaucracy, it just seems odd that the tools for this don't exist.

-Klifton



For a moment, Faye didn't open the next one. She thought about calling Halcyon to come read this too, but... no. She didn't see her nearby, and could tell her later.

Something shady had been going on, though. Big surprise. Concerning the manner of employment of who knew how many creatures, especially if it applied to all the government-managed companies in the area, and not just Klifton's. Faye felt cold and lucid with sympathy, as if it had just started raining... and at the same time, she felt a lot less alone in the world.

She wasn't the only one who had problematic relationships with her employers. That might just have been life as usual for this entire province.



Geneva,

I see exactly what you mean. And I'm grateful for your wisdom, otherwise I would have been hung up on this for quite a while.

It's still hard to reconcile with my time in Varsidel. It makes me realize I hadn't been getting my talons dirty around the working class nearly as much as I thought I had. Still, our countries have surprisingly different solutions for vouching for the integrity of the creatures we hire. I suppose I should be grateful to have the government doing it all for us here. I've only been in Gyre for two months, and don't have nearly the longevity of relationships required to do such a thing with confidence myself, given the state of the general populace. And yet, it still feels so impersonal. I don't like it, even if I can see why it's necessary.

Such are the bumps upon the road to prosperity. I can only believe that, once Gyre's economic modernization has completed, there will be fewer factors compelling creatures to crime, and this system will no longer be necessary.

In other news, the Grubert facility is still in the closing stages of construction, despite being officially open for business. This week, I need to settle the matter of furnishings for the rooms, plus any additional equipment we're going to need. Ordinarily, this is something a company would do by contacting us, seeing as we're the supplier of such things. But I suppose we're going to have to parlay directly with the government to requisition things on our own behalf.

Back in Varsidel, this would be the kind of opportunity one uses to get an extra slice of the pie. I fully intend to play things on the straight and narrow, but I'll keep my eyes open nonetheless. I'm curious what the higher-ups expect me to use this opportunity for.

I'll keep you updated,

Klifton



Faye turned to the next letter, her eyes starting to get heavy.



Geneva,

I needn't have bothered. They delivered our stuff before I could even complete our own order form. A lot of it is useless, too.

How does your company track employee work hours? I've just been doing it by hand, making a note if someone doesn't show up or stays overtime, but they want to outfit the entrance to our yard with punch clock machines to get an exact time for everyone.

Is that necessary? I should have gathered from my adventures with hiring, but it feels like they want this place to be fully automatic and not even need a manager. It's so apathetic. How can people put their hearts into working for their country if their country is just a machine?

At the very least, I want control of my own books. A good half of Grubert is purely desk jobs, so I suspect they're transferring me people who shouldn't be on more physical tasks - yesterday they gave me a griffon with a cracked rib, and one of my mares is five months pregnant. I should have the ability to cut people like that some slack if I judge that they're doing their best and still need it.

The thing I don't get is, I've tried my best to get on friendly terms with everyone on my payroll, and none of them are particularly enamored with the way we do things in Varsidel either. It's like they'd rather be shuffled to a new job each month based on what the Ministry thinks needs more bodies than get ahead based on who they know. They're not even trying to take advantage of a friendly connection to me, not a single one.

For what it's worth, my superiors in Varsidel always told me I cared too much and was asking to get walked on by someone more eager to climb the ladder than I was, but that's not what's going on here. What's going wrong?

-Klifton



Half asleep, Faye reread the letter, her eyes moving of their own accord. Sleep claimed her before she could open the next one, her own life resonating with the story laid out in the letters: an idealist, a new country, nothing that made sense, and that idealism slowly draining away.





It wasn't Halcyon that awakened Faye. Nor was it the building collapsing, nor was it the dust storm, and nor was it getting stabbed by a revenant.

No, it was plain old thirst.

Remembering just in time not to get out of the chair without her boots, she reached a wing down instead, hooking her supplies and pulling up a canteen.

Her thirst slaked, she looked around. Halcyon was floating by the door, watching her.

"Anything to report?" Faye groggily asked.

"The storm's died down," Halcyon said. "Didn't even last too long after you nodded off. It left a lot of dust, but... Well, you'll see when you go outside."

Faye flicked her ears in response, looking again at Klifton's letters. She was almost done with them... "Any reason this would be a bad place to take breakfast? I want to finish these, if I can."

Not for any particular reason. They didn't tell a terribly uplifting story, nor an earth-shattering one, nor a relevant one. But she felt like she wouldn't be doing this old griffon justice if she didn't read his testament all the way through.

Halcyon nodded, drifting off to check the grounds. And so, Faye unwrapped more rations along with the next letter, and continued reading.



Geneva,

With all due respect, I disagree. I suppose that from an outsider - and by that, I mean the people on the ground who are locked out of any opportunities, not foreigners like you - the system I grew up with might not seem very fair. And it wasn't. I'll readily admit that, even though it served me. Even I left it behind for a reason, after all. But can anything better be said about this? Not a single one of my employees comes to work because of patriotism. I doubt most of them even know what the word means. This economic modernization could be doing great things for the people, but none of them seem to have any ambition about the matter. They're just happy for the stability, even if there's no hope for anything beyond that. At least, that's what they tell me.

On another note, I've come into contact with the overseer of a sister company to mine, one that performs the same function for a different sector in the outskirts. They're even newer to this than I am, and they were asking for advice settling into the job, believe it or not. It makes me wonder if I should be worried for my job security. The griffon with the cracked rib I mentioned earlier, he healed enough that they transferred him out again, to a different job, and he's not the only turnover. I'm not worried about a demotion - they brought me overseas for my managerial experience, after all - but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they shuffle administrators between companies in the same way as they do workers.

Don't worry. If that happens, I'll stay in touch. I've been enjoying our conversations as well.

-Klifton



Still eating. Next letter.



Geneva,

The collaborator whom I mentioned last time has given me access to all their books. Every single one of them. Ostensibly for the purposes of helping me to help them acclimate to the role, though I suspect they're just trying to pawn off work on me. Regardless, their company is older than Grubert, apparently predating the reshuffle that decreased the granularity and made our service zones smaller. You predate me as well, so you probably know about all this, but I'm just interested to see historical records about the way things were done. And their predecessor was a meticulous record keeper.

While there's no information here about our actual trading partners and very little about our finished products, I feel like I have a good grasp now of this entire economy's production capacity for all sorts of major sectors. On a whim, I decided to research similar statistics for all the Empire's other provinces - much easier to find those - for comparison's sake. And I have to admit, I just can't see what Gyre is doing, here.

Almost all of our capacity goes into industrialized building materials like steel and concrete. The rest is mostly mana technology, though that technology is unsophisticated compared to western nations - I cracked open one of those time card machines to get a look, and it seemed downright primitive next to what I used in Varsidel. Additionally, I had a look at the construction records for the Grubert facility, and assuming that's more or less in the same ballpark as every other complex here, the rate at which Gyre is growing and adding new companies for logistics to take care of roughly matches what our output of these materials can construct.

Do you understand that? We're not building housing, we're not building schools, we're not building anything to help us develop better technology than we already have. Or to use all this infrastructure to benefit the populace! All we're adding is capacity, and all that capacity is used for is to add more capacity. And the precision with which the throughput of that scale-up is planned is boggling.

I don't think there's an endgame to this, Geneva. The hyper-centralization, the growth at any cost... I think all of this is being done purely for its own sake by someone who enjoys the numbers and is blind to everything else.

It's so sad. We've accomplished something monumental here, off the backs of creatures who are too jaded to ask for more in exchange for their contributions, and it's not being used for anything. Where are their dreams? Why don't we use all this to make a giant spaceship, and see what's out there beyond the stars? If that's too ambitious, why not build public parks, or literally anything?

Tell me I'm being silly, or that I've missed something important that makes this all make sense. Right now, it just feels like such a waste.

-Klifton



Faye was shaking. She opened the final letter.



Geneva,

I like that plan. Let's not waste another day.

For anyone reading this after we are gone, let me provide a rough copy of the plan outlined in Geneva's last letter. We are eloping to Ironridge. I no longer believe in what I saw in this place, and Geneva never did, and only held onto her position because she was lucky enough to have it. We suspect that the Gyre government enticing me here for managerial work was part of a larger pattern necessitated by there being too few here who have the skills to effectively do it themselves, hence the Ministry trying to do everything for me and my new associate trying to get me to do everything for him. If I proved my competence and loyalty over a lengthier period of time, I strongly suspect that would have been my eventual destination, working at the center to help micromanage roles such as my current position.

In our respective offices, we will leave our halves of our correspondence as a message for you, our successors. If you are like Geneva and see this job as a privilege: it's not. Don't be fooled by your position above all those creatures on your factory floor. You - you, them, all of you - deserve better than this. If you are like me, and came to Gyre hoping to use your skills for something that really matters: they don't need you here. Go and be something other than a cog in a machine. Gyre needs more than a skilled manager if it is ever to change its fate.

Sincerely,

Former Grubert Overseer Klifton



Faye stared at the letter for a while. And then, slowly, she put it back into its envelope, and tucked the whole stack neatly into her food pack.

He was just like her. Right down to caring about outer space, to accepting a bogus job and leaving with his friend in search of somewhere better, here was someone who was just like her.

Maybe not an ordinary, run-of-the-mill griffon. A privileged one, by his own admission. Yet still, there was nothing unique about her situation, no cosmic coincidence forcing her to be this unlucky. It wasn't because she was a changeling queen that everything didn't go her way, or because of her fractured mind and multiple selves, or her dealings with Unnrus-kaeljos. It was because... these kinds of things just happened to people. And if Gyre's pre-war state was as systemic as Klifton believed it was, they might have happened to a lot of people, just like him. What was to say no layponies had come here seeking steady employment?

This was just... the way things were.

Faye's hooves shook, and a tear ran down her dusty cheek. A tear of relief, and a tear of anger, and of an immense desire to change this.

"You," she whispered to the faint greenness in the air, "will not be forgotten. None of this... will be forgotten. I will make your dreams count for something. I'll make it so you can afford to dream. I'll..." She swallowed. "I'll see to it that I have a future, at the very least. Even if all of you are dead and gone, even if only your regrets are lingering on... I'll break this cycle. Whatever makes it so this is the only kind of life you could live, I'll break it by being different. I'll prove it can be done. And I'll leave a path for others to follow. I don't know how I'll do that. But I will make your story count for something."

Something shifted, deep inside of her. In the green mist she had absorbed during her struggle with Rhodallis, that she never fully expelled. It was a loathsome mist, filled with anger and despair and regret... and yet, as she spoke her oath to it, holding it in her embrace, it changed.

Anger gave way to desire. Her special talent sparkled as her promise became the mist, and the mist became her, an extension of her own will, a partnership. She could give meaning to its pain, and in return...

She wasn't sure.

It didn't feel like power. In fact, it felt less like power than before, the kind she could wield as a changeling queen. There weren't words to describe it. It felt... like an understanding, maybe?

Sure. It felt like she and the mist had reached an understanding.

Where that would lead, she wasn't sure either. Maybe revenants would stop trying to attack her? Maybe creatures like Rhodallis who tried to fight her using the mist would suddenly find their attacks ineffective? Or maybe it conferred no tangible benefits whatsoever, yet when the time would come to meet Chrysalis, she would be able to understand her, too.

Faye checked herself over. Oath aside, she couldn't feel any differences, both physical and mental. She was still herself, inside and out, just with a new goal added to her plate. One she had always wanted, yet never dared to admit to herself... Was that right?

Yes. It felt like she had always felt this way, and only just now had reason enough to face it. The only thing that gave her pause was, Halcyon was still out on her patrol. She had missed all of this, from reading the letters to the resolve she felt afterward.

Imparting memories was one thing, but Faye doubted she would be able to impart a promise. Even if she tried, this would be something she had done, not something they had done together. And that was the same direction things had already been moving, her struggling and striving to be someone who could face their future, and Halcyon still afraid of their past.

The gap between them was getting wider. It was like they really were their own people.





Faye cleaned herself as best as she could without wasting precious water, which mostly amounted to four separate full-body attempts at dusting herself off. But nothing could banish the feeling of sand in her fur, compounded by sweat from several all-day hikes and going a week without a shower, and eventually she was forced to accept that this was as good as it was going to get.

And it was about to get worse. Because now she had to put on her sandy boots and dusty armor.

After dumping her boots and giving them a few good kicks, she strapped them on, finishing with her armor before hauling Coda down the stairs. In the collapsed production room, she noticed a mysterious sight: no less than three beetle revenants, crawling around the room, pushing sand with bits of metal foil they used as shovel-like faces.

They had been doing this for long enough, it was starting to make a difference, excavating the detritus from the dust storm and moving it outside. None of them showed her any interest, but they were doing their jobs dutifully, and with precision.

It was like they didn't want this place to be buried and forgotten.

Maybe they were doing this to the entire city.

Faye nodded at the revenant beetles in respect, and then pulled Coda's trolley out the door.

Harsh mid-morning light greeted her, the sun still too low to provide proper illumination through the building's missing roof. Halcyon was hovering near the door, clearly waiting for her to show up. Right, there was something out here Halcyon wanted her to see...

The city looked about as she remembered it. Sporadic patches of green fog, lots more dust and sand, a few revenant beetles out here cleaning, too. But the thing her other half had warned her about was impossible to miss.

In the courtyard, standing patiently a respectful distance away, was the Black Knight from the Night's Boon base.

"Hello," said the Black Knight. "I've been waiting for you."

"Uhh..." Faye glanced back at Coda.

"That pony with you," the Black Knight said, their impenetrable helmet turning towards Coda. "You're taking her through the city alone. Not on the ship. You were one of Rhodallis' followers. This is an attempt to conceal where you are taking her."

"What?" Faye took a step back, her mind catching up as she remembered their altercation the other day and what this likely looked like. "You've got it wrong. I'm not one of Rhodallis' followers. I was his prisoner, willingly, because this is my friend and I was trying to get her back. Now that I've got her, I'm on the run, and Rhodallis is my enemy. If you don't like him, or if you do want to help Coda, then I'm not your foe."

"A worthy deception," the Black Knight said. "But words are cheap. That filly is being used as a vessel by something no mortal can deal with. If you truly care about her well-being, give her to me. There is nothing you can do for her on your own."

Halcyon floated up beside Faye. "Let me take the lead for this," she asked. "I know we'd be changing out in public, but saving Coda has been my goal since... since before we went to Equestria. And she's been my friend since early on in Ironridge. If we've gotta protect her, then this is my battle to fight."

Faye slowly nodded. If her life was drifting in its own direction, with her goals and her promise to the green mist, then Halcyon deserved the same freedom to pursue her goals... and Faye sincerely wished for her to reach them.

She held out a hoof, turned Halcyon back into a mask, and put-





-me back on.

I settled back into the weight of my armor and opened my eyes, my body feeling horrendously unbathed. But that wasn't what mattered right now. I narrowed my eyes, checked my bracelet, cast off the trolley harness, and stared the Black Knight down.

"Let's get something straight," I announced, stomping one hoof forward, their helmet completely hiding their reaction. "Coda is my friend. She's my responsibility. I knew her before she got windigoed, and I had some outstanding promises to her that, until she's better, I'll never get the chance to fulfill. I've crossed continents looking for a cure, and more continents to chase her down after those goons got a hold of her! I will not stop until I succeed, and I won't suffer the same setback again of letting some stranger claim ownership of her. If you know how to help her, you can stuff your demands and help, but let's make one thing crystal clear: you. Will. Never. Take. Her."

I punctuated every word of the last sentence with a swing of my sword, stopping with it drawn in a challenging stance pointed straight towards them. It was impossible to get a read on how strong this Black Knight actually was; with armor like that, they could be anywhere from relying purely on intimidation to being another of Kitty's Whitewings in disguise. But I was far more than an ordinary traveler myself, was still smarting from needing Faye to fight Rhodallis on my behalf, and was not about to accept a trip back to square one while laying down.

The first person I met after getting back Coda was not going to swipe her right back for themselves.

"You speak with conviction," the Black Knight said, pulling a folded-up shaft from their armor that whirred, clacked and expanded into a heavy-duty war pick. "Prove that you feel it."

The Black Knight waited for me to make the first move. Against a large foe, in heavy armor... would the tricks I learned in Icereach work, sparring against the yaks? They might not need to. I had a real sword, and my bracelet, and I could feel Faye in the back of my mind, more steadfast than usual. I lit my bracelet bright, and my heartbeat spiked, but she steadied me, and the Black Knight waited as I took a breath.

Our bracelet didn't go out.

I nodded, readied my sword, coiled my muscles, and rushed forth.

Time seemed to slow as the Black Knight braced for my blow. I shifted my weapon to a wing grip, my motions flowing through my mind a second before they happened, trying to force a parry and knock them off-balance and grapple their helmet with a hoof all at the same time. They didn't believe in my weight; I could see it in their stance. They were going to catch me and push me back.

But I believed. Our bracelet flared, Faye right beside me in my mind, and our sword locked with the head of the war pick. And it was the Black Knight who wasn't strong enough.

Their parry failed, the sword and the pick catching on their armor instead as I plowed into them. They stumbled, and I grabbed for their helmet, twisting and pulling as they caught their balance, my free wing sneaking around and hitting a clasp... and the helmet came free.

We broke apart, me with my prize and them catching their balance. A shock of pink-and-yellow mane was the first thing to greet me, followed by a sky-blue face with a curved muzzle and an overly wide mouth.

The Black Knight's expression morphed slowly from surprise into a sheepish grin as she realized what had happened. "Aww... buckets. I guess you really do care that much about her, don'cha?"

My heart stood still. The Black Knight was an adult, but... other than that, right down to the hairpin turn her demeanor made when unmasked, she was a perfect mirror image of Kitty.