//------------------------------//
// 16 - Wrap Up 
// Story: Mending Light 
// by Kiromancer 
//------------------------------//

My spirits were high after the training session. I felt like I'd found a lot of answers I'd been seeking for a long time. Who did I want to be, and what did I want? I owed Merri and Starshadow a lot for all they'd done for me to shine a light on that. 

I thought of my father as well, and our talk in Canterlot. My mood slipped a little as I flew on through town. I felt like I'd done him a terrible disservice, for all those years away. He'd said he was proud of me. 

Maybe.... I should write him more... or find time to visit him in Canterlot again...

Lastly, there was that vision of Ostfriesen and the bracer's first owner, Bellerophon. I didn't even know what to make of that, save that Starshadow wasn't concerned. I'd never been too comfortable with magic, nothing against it personally, just from a lack of exposure, and I was certainly no expert. 

Starshadow, however, was an expert. The bracer was a piece of Ostfriesen history, and she’d proven herself very knowledgeable of her country's history. She was well disciplined in magic, and apparently as talented as she was strong. I had no reason to doubt her analysis.

I came to Town Hall to find the lights were still on. I stepped through the door quietly, my ears swiveled forward at the sound of voices coming from the main room. I thought back to the last time, just after the incident in Fetlock. I’d wanted to see threats behind every shadow, but that was a hard line of thinking for me.

Still, if it really was something dangerous, if it really was a threat, I wanted to be ready. I thought of slipping on the bracer, but shook my head and left it where it was. I crept through the doorway cautiously, tensing my limbs in preparation for anything. What I found wasn't exactly a threat, but it did cause a familiar pang of depression in my heart.

Three familiar ponies stood gathered around a chalkboard, a unicorn and two pegasi. Twilight Sparkle was busy making notes beside a long list of names, while Blizzard Breeze and Rainbow Dash observed. Above it all were three words which, by themselves were innocuous, but once combined, made my ears drop. 

Winter Wrap Up.

As I approached, Blizzard turned towards me with a smile. "Night Flurry! Perfect! We were just talking about you!"

I looked between the three, instantly feeling self-conscious. "Err... you were?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah. Twilight's getting the assignments ready, and me and Blizzard got a special task that you're perfectly suited for."

"I... am? Wh-what's that?" I looked up at the board, reading through the names to try and find my own. 

"Weather Team preparation and pre-preparation!" Twilight Sparkle smiled wide. "Rainbow Dash will be acting as the Weather Team Lead, but what I want is somepony with an attention to details to help me coordinate the set-up."

"And I'm more of a mare of action!" Rainbow jumped up into the air, boxing some invisible opponent. "This'll mean I'm one hundred percent committed to leading the team on the front line"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Right. So, I've got a list of things I want to be absolutely sure are in order before we begin this year, and a lot of paperwork that you'd need to go over in lieu of Rainbow. It's a lot of responsibility, of course, but Blizzard and Rainbow both say you're reliable." 

"Pre-preparations? And then... preparations?" I considered. "Th-this would be... in addition to my usual shifts?"

"Supplemental at first, of course." Blizzard glanced at the board. "You'd be able to work on it during your shift, to an extent, but as we get closer to Winter Wrap Up, you'll probably need to work more hours to keep everything coordinated."

Twilight raised the chalk up towards the board, letting it hover over a blank slot beneath Rainbow Dash's name with the label 'Preparation', "So, what do you say, Night Flurry? Can we count on you?" 

They were putting an awful lot of trust in my abilities. All I did was run the night shift, pushing clouds around, I wasn't a coordinator. I wasn't a leader like Rainbow Dash. The dark voices in my mind shouted at me to turn it down and just stick to what I knew.

I glanced at Bree and she smiled at me, not-so-subtlety nodding in encouragement. She had told me to think more of myself, that she thought I was capable of more. She thought that I was better than my position. Her words, Merri and Starshadow’s words from this very night, began to drown out the voices of my doubt. They were putting trust in my abilities. The only one who didn't was myself. This was an opportunity, a chance to do something more. 

"W-well…” I grinned nervously at Bree, forcing out the words through my stutter. “Y-Yes. I'm, um... I'm your s-stallion."

"Perfect!" Twilight wrote my name onto the board. "I'll have a pre-preparation checklist ready by the time your shift ends."

"That, um... that sounds p-perfect! Th-thank you, um... thank you all." I bowed my head. "I'll do my best."

Bree stepped over and gave me a hug. "You'll do great. Thanks."

I shifted awkwardly at first, then hugged back. "Oh, um... y-yeah... yeah, I'm sure I will."

---

The shift went by quickly, and as she had promised, Twilight Sparkle delivered an impressive-looking checklist for me. Her pre-preparations were more extensive than I'd expected, not just looking at the big picture, but going into details I'd have never considered. The only thing I'd ever done before during Winter Wrap Up was clearing clouds, now I was looking at vest sizes and getting ice scoring skates out of storage to be sharpened. 

I took the checklist home to review so I could begin to prioritize. I slept soundly that night, a lot of responsibility set before me, but so much less weight on my mind. 

The next night I headed towards the Lusty Seapony with plans already forming in my mind. The whole thing was oddly exciting, if a little intimidating, in a way I'd never felt during Winter Wrap Up.

Nosing open the doors, I was a bit surprised at just how empty the bar was tonight. I made my way to our table, finding it completely vacant, as well. By now, I'd have expected Terrabona or Mahogany to have found their way here, and our table covered with more glasses than bare surface.

The quiet was nice, just a few low conversations going on in the background. I sipped at my chamomile tea and smiled to myself. Things had settled down quite nicely.

The clop of heavy hoofs drew my eyes to the bar stairs in time to see Merriweather making her way into the commons. 

She yawned wide, smacking her lips loudly as she stared at the table. She made her way over and practically flopped down besides me. "Mmmmm, mornin' Flurr'"

I laughed a bit, "Err... it's almost evening, Merri."

"Nnnggghhh. Is it? I musta fallen asleep from boredom." She cracked her neck back and forth.

"Boredom? Um... from what?"

She levitated my tea mug away from me and glanced inside, then wrinkled her nose and placed it back on the table. "Sis. She's in full paperwork mode. Gotta rescind all those knightly titles and honors from some random volunteer who up and quit on her."

My ears dropped back as I took the tea mug back into my hoof. "Err... right. Sorry."

Merri chuckled. "I'm giving you a hard time, Night. Don't mean anything by it. Honestly, I'm amazed she did all the knighthood paperwork in the first place, but she's serious. Was serious. I dunno."

I started to sigh, but took a breath and smiled. "W-well, I still owe you both... there anything I can do to help?"

"Weeeeelllll, maybe." She stood up from the table and grinned. "You wanna go check? Sis' might just make you sign your name a bunch of times. 

"Oh? Um... sure, I guess." I pushed myself up from the table. "She's only doing all that work because of me, after all."

She laughed. "Well, and because of me. Remember, I'm the one who told her to put you on the payroll."

"Alright. Then the two of us can—" I stopped, unsure if Merri was joking again or not. "W-wait, there was a payroll?"

"Of course! All the—" She suddenly spun towards the bar door, grinning. "Oh, hi, Dusky~!"

I leaned to the side to look past Merri, smiling at Dusky's appearance.

"Hi, Merriweather, Night Flurry." She glanced between us, raising an eyebrow. "What's this about payrolls?"

I paused. She still didn't know about what I'd done. I'd planned to tell her, but not until I'd been able to show her just how serious I was. Now, I couldn't say that, well, not exactly. I considered how best I could explain what had happened. "W-well..."

Merri waved a hoof casually. "Oh, just the Knighthood that Sis' is dismissing Night from."

My eyes went wide as I stared at Merri. Did she really just...

"I... what? Knighthood?" Dusky's expression hardened ever so slightly as she looked over towards me. 

"What?" Merri sounded more amused than repentant. "Was that supposed to be a secret or something~?"

"I don't know." Dusky fixed her gaze on me. "Was it?"

I wanted to disappear. I wanted to be almost anywhere else than right there. This wasn't how it was supposed to have gone. It never was. I almost considered bolting for the door, but held fast. "I... I-I..." 

Dusky slipped past Merri, stopping in front of me with a smile. She raised her hoof and set it against my shoulder. "Hey. Whatever it is, if you want to talk about it, I'll listen."

I scanned the bar, eyes searching for something. I glanced at Merri, who gave me a nod and a wink. "O-okay. I, um, w-well..."

Dusky's hoof pressed against me lightly, and she motioned her head towards the back. 

Taking a deep breath, I nodded and headed towards the back room. 

Behind, I heard Merri respond to something unsaid by Dusky. "Nah, go on without me. I'ma see how Sis' is doing with the paperwork." She called after, "You two have fun~."

"Uh, huh."

Soon, we'd made our way into the private room and sat at the booth we always seemed to gravitate towards. We seemed to find our way to this room a lot, often because of my own failings. Now, I wasn't sure what to think. Would she assume I'd broken my promise?

Dusky stared at me while I tried to avoid her eyes. She tilted her head. "So..."

I met her eyes a moment, then sighed as my eyes fell back down to the table. "S-sorry... I, um... asked Merri to train me a-and... well, one thing led to another and suddenly... I was a kn-knight under S-Starshadow."

"That's... quite the leap." She took a moment, her voice still level. "But since its Merriweather, I can't say I'm surprised."

I let out a breath. I'd put that out before her, but those were just the words. She needed to know it all. I bent my head down and pulled out Bellerophon's bracer from my flight satchel, carefully setting it upon the table.

Dusky leaned in to examine the bracer, then looked to me for an explanation.

"Merri gave it to me. I... I thought m-maybe if I learned how to use it, I c-could stop being s-such a burden. I just w-want to protect my friends. B-but it was all too much... I.. I'm no knight..."

I stared down at the bracer and waited. Dusky didn't say anything. Slowly, I lifted my eyes back up to meet hers.

"I understand." She was smiling.

My ears rose, and I was caught in her eyes as she gave me her response. "Y-you do?"

"When I asked you to make that promise, I wasn't asking you to foreswear fighting." She was as sincere now as she'd been on the train coming home from Fetlock Falls. "I just didn't want you to do anything overly risky. But if you just want to be prepared, I have no objections."

Dusky had faced things no pony should have to face, and now she was ready in case they came looking for her. What else could I do but ensure I would be ready as well. It's what friends were for.

A smile spread across my face as I looked into her eyes. "Th-thanks, D-Dusky."

She nodded, the grin still upon her face, though her voice remained serious. "Just don't get carried away. Preparation doesn't mean much if you hurt yourself doing it."

My eyes were pulled back to the bracer. It was a gift, but it remained a responsibility. Knighthood or no, it was a weapon, and was not to be treated gently. If I was going to continue with my training, to continue to prepare, I wouldn't take any of it for granted. I breathed out, the words escaping under my breath. "To protect my friends..."

After everything that had happened, everything I'd done, she'd remained my friend. I owed her so much, just for giving me that chance. 

"R-right. I... I'm going to keep trying. But... I won't lose myself to it. P-promise."

"I'll take your word for it." Her smile grew into a wry grin. "Shall we head back? Maybe we can catch Mahogany and Terra before they're completely plastered."

Dusky rose from the booth, and I returned the bracer to its place in my flight satchel. I'd done her so much disservice, and yet she'd stood by me. She had told me we should start at friends. And here we were. It was as I'd told myself time and time again, we're just friends. 

We're just friends.

My feelings for her had been so muddled, that somehow I'd missed the point when we'd lost the 'just'.

We're friends.

I stood from the booth to follow her back out into the bar. She was my friend, and I was honored to be considered hers. I smiled back. "Y-yeah. Let's hope so.”