After I told Starry about my mother, she and I didn't say very much to each other aside from what we needed to coordinate the repairs. Most of that work was relatively simple; the majority of the parts we had were intact, and we couldn't do anything with the damaged ones until the main body of the reactor was back in one piece, so we focused on that. Starry had a little trouble since she had never worked with anything like it before, but whenever she asked for my help reading the schematics, I had the feeling that she was asking me only so I could feel good about knowing the answer. Not that I minded—I did feel good about it, and she kept looking at me with this proud smile—the kind I often looked at Sweets with.
And I had plenty of opportunity to look at Sweets with that smile while we were making repairs; he had barely even needed to glance at the schematics once and he knew exactly where every part or tool he needed was and how to fit them together. Every time he finished rebuilding one of the smaller components, he'd rush over to show me, bounce up and down while I inspected it, and then rush off to start on another one. It filled me with joy to see him like that—I felt as though I had done right in taking care of him, raising him, and protecting him from our mother. I felt confident that as long as he could stay inside the stable, he'd be alright.
With that one important goal in mind, I made sure that we made good progress on repairing the reactor. Among the three of us, we managed to reconstruct most of it by the time the overseer returned.
"Where is everypony?" he asked from the doorway.
"I told them to leave," I answered. "We made better progress without—"
"After insisting that I allow an outsider into the stable, and that I should allow Sweetie Pie to stay here, both under the pretense of assisting with repairs because 'we need all the help we can get,' you dismiss an entire crew of workers? And you dare call this"—he gestured toward the still-incomplete reactor—"'better progress'? Well, I'd hate to see what we'd have if you had let them help; we might have full power restored by now."
I balked and lowered my head, my ears folding back. "I—I'm sorry, sir."
"Don't apologize, Day," Starry said as she stepped forward to face the overseer. "He was right to dismiss them. They got in our way, wouldn't provide us with tools, and apparently the only thing they've done so far was to take the whole thing apart just to look busy. We've worked hard all day to put this back together. If it hadn't been stripped apart in the first place, we might actually have had power restored by now."
The overseer glared at Starry over the top of his glasses. "I remind you of your place, miss."
Starry snorted. "I remind you that without us, your whole stable will be out in the wasteland where you're not going to find enough food or water for your entire population. So you should be grateful for our help because it's the only way you're going to get this reactor back online before the emergency power runs out at the end of tomorrow."
I felt Sweets move up alongside me, and I hugged a wing around him gently.
The overseer cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Power will be restored by then, won't it?"
Starry glanced back at me.
I nodded. "We should be able to finish repairs by about noon tomorrow, sir."
"Good. Keep at it."
"Actually, sir, we can't really continue working tonight. The spark capacitor is completely burned out," I explained. "And it's the only part we don't have a spare for. Starry knows of an old factory nearby where we can get one, but it's too dark outside to go salvaging now; we'll have to wait until morning." We were also exhausted from working all day, but I didn't bother mentioning that part to the overseer.
"You're certain you'll be able to find and retrieve this replacement in time?"
"I've been there before. I know exactly what I'm looking for. And finding things is my special talent," Starry said with a smirk.
"Well then, if there's nothing else to be done tonight, Lucky Day, your old quarters are vacant; you may return to them. Miss Starry, you may share his quarters while you are here. Sweetie Pie, it's time to come home."
Sweets hugged my foreleg tightly. "I want to go home with Day," he said.
I pulled my wing tighter around him. "Where has my little brother been living?"
"With me and my family, of course," the overseer said with a small chuckle. "I'm like a father for the entire stable—it's my duty to make sure everypony is safe and cared for. Naturally, when I heard about the horrible murder that had left this poor young boy without a mother to raise him, I adopted him myself. Now, Sweetie Pie, come along. It's time for dinner."
"I want to go home with Day!" he cried again.
"Sweets, I . . . I think you should go with him," I said, though it broke my heart. I wanted to take care of Sweets as I always had, but I couldn't fight the overseer over it; he could make sure I'd never see my little brother at all. "We'll see each other tomorrow, okay? And then we'll celebrate your cutie mark after the repairs are finished. I promise." Sweets looked as though he were about to cry, and I hugged him tightly and nuzzled his mane.
"This hasn't been easy on either of them," Starry said. "Can't you work something out? If not for Day, then for Sweets—if you want to be his father, then don't make this harder for him; give him time to adjust."
"You certainly don't have any compunctions about telling me what I should or shouldn't do, do you?" the overseer said dryly. After a pause, he let out a sigh. "Very well. The two of you may join us for dinner." Sweets perked up almost immediately. "But after that, I don't want to hear any more arguments. Am I clear, Sweetie Pie? After dinner, you're going straight to bed."
"Yes, sir," Sweets said. He wasn't entirely enthusiastic about it, I could tell, but even if it was only for another hour or so, it would be good to spend time together again.
"Thank you, sir," I said, grateful for his hospitality.
***
Sweets rode on my back again as we walked to the overseer's quarters on the top floor of the stable where all the administrative offices were. He was quiet for most of the way; it had been a long day, and I could tell by the way he laid his head on the back of my neck with his forelegs limply clinging around my shoulders that he was tired. I would have put him to bed, but that wasn't my decision to make anymore.
The overseer's horn lit up to enter a password on the console by the door to his quarters. The door opened, and I was blinded momentarily: full lights were on inside, much brighter than the emergency lights that I had grown accustomed to. Starry and I both cringed, waiting for our eyes to adjust as we followed the overseer into his home.
"I'm home, darling," he announced as he continued up the entry hall into the living room.
"Dinner's almost ready," answered his wife, her head poking out from the kitchen's doorway. A half-emptied bottle of apple wine floated in her ruby aura next to her. "Oh, we have guests. Well, come in! Make yourselves at home. You know I just love it when we have company for dinner!" she said with a boisterous, though strained, laugh. "Boys," she called. "Set the table for two more."
"Yes, mother," came the simultaneous reply from two young, monotone voices. The sounds of movement and of dinnerware being rearranged in the dining room followed shortly after.
The overseer's wife trotted out to meet us, wine bottle in tow. "Are these friends of yours from work?" she asked after giving her husband a kiss on his cheek.
"In a manner of speaking," he answered. "This is Lucky Day; he's Sweetie Pie's brother."
"Oh, well it's so nice to finally meet you, Lucky," she said with a wide, cheery smile. "Sweetie has been such a joy to have with us this last week. My, how he does go on about you." She laughed. "Look at the poor thing, all tuckered out on you there. Looks like he's already asleep."
She turned to Starry. "And are you their mother?" she asked.
"No, dear," the overseer cut in. "Their mother is dead, remember?"
"Oh, yes, that's right. Terrible business, that. I'm so sorry about your loss. You know, if I had known you were coming, I would have baked you a pie to send you home with."
"I . . . um, thanks?" I said, unsure of how exactly to respond. "Why don't you let me go put Sweets to bed?"
"Go right ahead, dear. It's the last door on the right," said the overseer's wife, pointing me down the hallway. I thanked her and then excused myself, carrying Sweets down to his room while Starry introduced herself.
Inside the room was dark. I left the door open, using only the light from the hallway to find my way over to the bed and carefully slide Sweets off my shoulders. He opened his eyes and sat up almost immediately. "Sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"I wasn't really sleeping," he said. "I just didn't want to have to talk to them."
I glanced over my shoulder at the hallway. I could hear the overseer's wife laughing again between mumbles of idle conversation—conversation I was certainly glad to have gotten away from, even if only for a few minutes; I don't think I had ever heard so many meaningless comforts—so many sweet nothings—all at once. I certainly didn't blame Sweets for wanting to get away from it.
"Have you been okay living here?" I asked Sweets. "Nopony's hurting you, right?"
"I'd rather live with you, Day." He pouted.
"I know, but we can't do anything about that. Not right now, at least. Are you going to be alright staying here?" I stroked a hoof through his mane gently. "I know this probably isn't anything like what you wanted—I know I never planned it this way—but as long as you stay safe, we can work things out."
He looked up at me and gave a small nod. I smiled and kissed his forehead, and then tucked him into bed. "Get some sleep. We'll see each other in the morning, okay? I love you, Sweets."
"I love you too, big brother."
I stood in the doorway, taking one last look at my little brother before I closed the door.
I returned to the living room to find everypony in the middle of laughing—presumably at some joke I'd been too late to hear—though nopony's laughter sounded quite right: the overseer had a dry, humoring chuckle; his wife's was as overblown and strained as ever; and Starry had a visibly forced grin that looked as uncomfortable as her laugh sounded. She glanced at me, and in her eyes I could see a desperate plea for escape.
"Sweets is asleep," I said, clearing my throat. "So I guess we don't need to stay for dinner after all."
"Oh, nonsense!" cried the overseer's wife. "You're already here. What kind of hostess would I be if I didn't let you stay?"
"It's alright," I said. "I'm more tired than hungry myself anyway." Starry nodded in agreement with me.
"Very well, then," said the overseer with a dismissive wave of his hoof. "You may return to your old quarters; they're still unoccupied. And don't worry, we cleaned up the mess you left behind. But, Miss Starry, certainly you'll stay for dinner, won't you? When you're minding your manners, you're actually surprisingly pleasant. And remarkably attractive as well."
His wife let out another of her laughs. "Oh, dear, you're such a kidder!" she said as she took a drink from the wine bottle she still carried—which I noticed had been reduced to only a quarter full while I had been putting Sweets to bed—and disappeared back into the kitchen.
"I think it's best if I call it a night as well," Starry said. Together, we turned and headed for the door.
I reached the door ahead of Starry and when I looked back, I saw her back at the other end of the hall. The overseer was talking to her; he had his foreleg stretched out in front of her, his hoof against the wall, blocking her path. "You know, I can see about making alternate sleeping arrangements for you," he said. "So you don't have to sleep with a murderer."
Starry narrowed her eyes at him and turned to walk around him. "I don't think so."
The overseer turned with her and grabbed her foreleg with his. His voice deepened. "I didn't ask you to think."
Before I even knew what happened, Starry had the overseer on the ground. She stood over him with a hoof on his chest. "Touch me again and I'll break your leg," she said calmly. The overseer was too busy gasping and wheezing, having had the wind knocked out of him, to say anything, but Starry didn't seem interested in hearing a response as she simply stepped over him on her way to the door.
We left together in silence. The whole time we walked, I kept staring at Starry. I had once thought that her confident stride was like that of somepony from Security, but as I watched her then, I saw that wasn't it. Hers wasn't the walk of somepony with power; it was that of somepony who wasn't afraid of those with power. And in that moment of realization, I admired her more than anything or anyone I had ever known. Remembering what Chrys had told me about her, if I could have chosen anypony to be my mother, I would have chosen Starry.
It wasn't until we reached my quarters that I asked, "What happened with the overseer . . ."
Starry smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I've seen his type plenty: he's just a bully who's used to getting what he wants. But he has no idea how to react when somepony actually stands up to him. He doesn't scare me, and you shouldn't let him scare you either."
I nodded slowly. "I'll try not to."
Starry and I both retired for the evening. She went to sleep in my mother's old room, while I returned to mine. Everything was perfectly sterile, as if nopony had ever lived there, with only the barest furniture that came installed in all the quarters: a bed, a nightstand, desk, and dresser.
The stable moved on, forgot. As though nothing ever happened. The stable would always be the same.
***
It's strange being in the stable again. It hasn't really been that long since I was exiled, but everything seems so different now. Everything, everypony here is exactly the same, though—nothing changes inside the stable.
And yet it feels different to me. Have I really changed that much?
But I got to see that Sweets was safe here without me. Everything that I've been through since that fateful morning has been worth it, if only for that. I had been so worried that I had done the wrong thing. Seeing that he's safe, and that he's being taken care of, though, I feel alright about what I did. I had to do it. I had to—
"Day?"
"Sweets? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"I couldn't sleep. So I snuck out to see you."
"Oh. I don't think the overseer will like that."
"I don't care about him, Day! I just want to stay with you!"
"Sweets . . ."
"Don't you want to stay with me?"
"I . . . of course I do. Come on up, I guess. Just like old times, right?"
"Just like old times!"
. . .
"Day?"
"Yeah, Sweets?"
"I'm sorry you had to—"
"Shh. It's not your fault. I'm supposed to protect my little brother."
. . .
"Day?"
"Yeah, Sweets?"
"It's good, right? Good that she's . . ."
". . . Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"Thank you, Day. I love you."
"I love you too, little brother."