Chapter Twenty Two: Treasures Not Gold

“You can’t bargain with life. It wasn’t made to be traded.”

“Smoke.”

I stared at the darkness, unsure of just how long I’d been sitting there, hoping for some sign that Rose hadn’t died. It struck me as... odd, almost. Hyperventilating in the dark and trying not to cry over a pony who so recently had blackmailed me into traveling away from everything I’d ever known? What happened to me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, not that it made much difference. So deep in the tunnel, it was just me and...

She couldn’t be dead.

Once I’d gotten far enough that I couldn’t see any of the light from the dragon’s hoard, I’d finally stopped. I’d rolled Rose onto the ground and just stared at where I’d set her. There wasn’t anything I could do. I didn’t have cheater magic like Lost, I couldn’t heal her. I couldn’t even find her anymore. I knew if I took even a few steps away, I’d lose her forever and probably die in the tunnels, unable to find my way back.

“Did I really fuck up this bad?” I asked nopony. If only we hadn’t been forced to dump our belongings to the dragon, I might have had a spare healing potion or... something. Anything would help at this point. I didn’t even have the PipBuck to use as a light so I could see how bad it was.

“Smoke,” rasped a voice.

I coughed, hard. Smoke... It had to be fire again, didn’t it? My back itched at the thought of it, a little reminder that I’d been in the same position before. It wasn’t right of me to compare to the two... A grenade compared to dragon’s fire was nothing. Idly I reached out a hoof, only to gingerly pull it back when it hit something.

I couldn’t feel it, but I could imagine just what I was touching. I rested my hoof on the clone mare again, and very gently rubbed at the cloak she was wrapped in. I hoped she was still there. The other clones I’d killed, they just faded away, dissolving into black nothingness when they died. What if all I felt was the ground. Lost in the pitch black of the tunnel, I couldn’t even tell anymore.

The uncertainty hurt.

Fuck me for being so greedy. I couldn’t have waited just a few minutes longer for the dragon to be completely gone? No. I was a stupid mare and I jumped at gold the very first second I got. It almost made me want to laugh, almost. I was probably the only pony ever to think it was a good idea to steal a dragon’s treasure. Given everything I’d heard my entire life, I should have known better.

And it...

I collapsed onto the floor and bawled. We’d had close calls before. I’d gotten ponies killed before. None of them were truly friends though. Covering my face with a forehoof, I sobbed into my coat. Stupid fucking mare. Sniffling so I could breathe again, I rolled onto my side and curled up. Somewhere deep down I wanted to slam my head against the stone floor to try and knock some sense into myself. Not that it would do anything for me.

Tears rolled down the side of my face and over my muzzle, pooling in the corner of my eye. It really was best to let Lost make all the decisions. Like Amble said, I couldn’t be trusted.

“Murderer,” whispered that little voice in the back of my head. For once she was right... That wasn’t true. She was always right. Only, only this time it actually mattered to me. There were dozens of faceless ponies I’d killed, proving her right. This one mattered though. Even if she was a bitch. Even if she was blackmailing us.

She’d opened up to me. She told me her fears. She let me see her cry. And in the end she didn’t even sell me out to that Goddesses-damned dragon.

I stomped a hoof on the ground as hard as I could. A metallic clang echoed down the tunnels. Immediately I felt stupid. The last thing I needed was to make her sacrifice be in vain.

Unless she’d survived?

Slowly, I pushed myself back up to a sitting position. Twisting my ears forward, I leaned down and nosed at the coarse material of the cloak. “Rose?” I asked hesitantly.

The cloak moved slightly, but without being able to see I... I couldn’t get my hopes up.

Something shifted. An eerie scraping filled my ears. A rough and broken... thing wrapped around my neck. It stuck to my coat, feeling almost slimy. Wetness dribbled down my side and into my barding...

I screamed.

Kicking back, I pulled away. I twisted my neck, shuddering hard at the sticky slimy feel of whatever held onto me. With a hard tug to the side, I broke free, tearing some of my coat out in the process. I could still feel it on me, matting my coat down, making my skin crawl. It was like somepony had poured Sparkle~Cola onto my coat and tried to rub it into my skin while it was fizzling.

I looked back and forth in the darkness, eyes wide and heart pounding in my throat. Several deep breaths later, I finally closed my eyes and sat back down. “Please tell me that was you,” I whispered again, suddenly afraid that I wasn’t alone in the dark.

“Give. Me. A. Smoke,” rasped the clone pony, her voice hoarse and gravelly.

“Oh, thank the Goddesses,” I said, feeling tears start to form again. “Rose... Are, are you okay?” I scooted closer to where her voice came from. I hoped I was moving in the right direction.

“No,” she snapped. “Smoke.”

I reached back for my saddlebags, only to remember we’d had to dump everything and I’d never gotten the chance to put my stuff away. Gulping, I whispered, “I don’t have-”

“Ear,” she muttered. A slight gust of air hit me, most likely from a hoof waving around and trying to grab at me.

It dawned on me what she meant. I’d forgotten about it. “That’s still there...” I whispered in amazement.

Reaching up, I wrapped my steel forehoof around the cigarette Xeno had offered me on the motorwagon. Goddesses, that felt like a long time ago. Pulling it from where it’d gotten tangled in my mane, I held it up and stared at my hoof in the darkness, unable to see it even in front of my eyes. It’d managed to survive splinterwolves, a fight with a dragon, a collapsing power station and cannibals. I couldn’t seem to go a day without having my ear shot off, yet a little cigarette survived unscathed. Damn zebra luck.

I stuffed the little thing into my mouth and worked it into the corner. “Where are you?” I asked, trying to ignore the absolutely disgusting taste. “Can you use your magic? I can’t see...”

“No, not yet...”

That was enough. I leaned down and twisted the cigarette back around. When I felt a tug on it, I let it go. “How will you light it?” I asked. It was a silly question. Of all the things that mattered right now; how she was doing or whether she would even survive what happened? I had to ask how she would light a cigarette.

“Smells enough,” she rasped. Her voice still sounded terrible. The sound of rustling fabric echoed quietly in the darkness. “It’s a mental thing.”

Looking around in the dark, I couldn’t think of how to answer. She was alive. She was... “You’re alive...” I finally whispered, finding myself staring straight down. I sniffled and chewed on my lip. Maybe, just maybe... I wasn’t a murderer.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, she finally said something.

“Where’s my gun?”

* * *

Rose took a deep breath. She’d spent the past... I didn’t know how long, just breathing. It wasn’t the same ragged hysterical gasping I’d done while lying on the floor earlier. She breathed in slowly, wetly, through her mouth, before snorting it out through her nose. She said nothing during the process, and every time I tried to ask her something or strike up a conversation, she would shush me with a sharp clearing of her throat.

Eventually I just resigned myself to waiting. It couldn’t have been a long time that she lay there, taking those deep breaths, but it felt like an eternity. Sitting in the dark, with nothing to distract me, I had to focus on whatever little noise I could. I didn’t want to fall back to my own thoughts again. At the moment, I didn’t think I was capable of dealing with them.

Either Amble would whisper something into the back of my mind, or... I shook my head to clear the thoughts away. There were other things to worry about, like my sister and friends.

“Do you-”

“Nu-uh,” Rose chided before taking another deep breath. The sound of her breathing out through her nose filled the darkness again. A few seconds later she inhaled and let out a little groan of happiness. “Smells good...”

“The cigarette?” I asked, hoping to get at least something out of her.

“Mmhmm,” she grunted, answering the barest of an affirmative. It was a start.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, sulking some.

My only answer was silence. I couldn’t blame her, saying ‘sorry’ was never going to make up for what happened. If it hadn’t been over something so stupid, maybe it would hold some weight, but that wasn’t the case. Hopefully, after I’d saved her from falling to her death on the outside of the mountain, she’d have a little patience with my greed.

Another eternity of darkness passed, and I didn’t dare say another word. She’d talk to me when she was ready. With Rose alive and, hopefully, well, my worries turned to other places. I hoped Lost was okay. I fidgeted, unable to sit still. If only we could go back and find her, or find Xeno or Fine Tune. I needed to be sure that the dragon hadn’t decided to go and take his rage out on her instead of me.

Lost was the thinky pony though, she’d be okay. Xeno and Fine Tune were both crafty and knew how to take care of themselves. They’d be fine without me and Rose for a while. It wasn’t like they could leave without us.

“How long?” Rose asked, her voice still sounding like somepony set a grenade off in her throat.

I winced. I’d done that to another of her copies before.

“I don’t know...” I muttered. Without the PipBuck, I had no idea how long it’d been. Not to mention, I didn’t know what she was asking. How long since when? “It might have been ten minutes or an hour? I don’t have a clock.”

She just groaned at me. The cloak rustled softly. The sound of hooves moving slowly on the stone of the tunnel echoed around us. Something heavy thudded down, followed by another groan. This time she sounded pained, rather than just annoyed.

“Are you okay?” I asked sheepishly, hoping for a real answer.

“Better,” she admitted. After a slight pause, she added, “but...”

“But what?” I asked, wide-eyed and staring at the blackness around me.

“You need to rip the cloak off me,” she answered gravely. What in Celestia and Luna’s name did she mean rip it off her? “It’s fusing to me.”

“Oh Goddesses,” I whispered, sitting back and holding my hooves to my muzzle.

“Don’t you fucking ‘oh Goddesses’ me,” the clone mare snapped. I could practically feel her glare. “If you hadn’t tried to steal from a fucking dragon’s hoard, we wouldn’t be in this mess. You got off easy, okay. You aren’t charred to the bone and barely holding yourself together. And even if you were, you can... You...”

She never finished her rant. Instead she broke down. Surrounded by pitch black, with nopony to see her, no zebras to gawk as she opened up, she cried and ground her teeth, fighting to keep together. It was worse than in the mall. Even though we couldn’t see one another, I could hear it, and it broke my heart. Between sniffles, she’d mutter little whispers to herself, pleading and forcing her own body to keep from falling apart. Whether it was from pain or fear of death, I wasn’t sure, but it was something only she could do for herself. She coughed a few times, before sniffling hard again. Even without every word, I knew what she was saying.

For a mare that remembered life before the War and had personally been walking the Wasteland for more than a century, she wasn’t any stronger than I was. In a century of living, there was no way I could ever understand how much she’d gone through. But I’d taken her to the brink of death, and knowing just how much that terrified her, and knowing just how terribly it must have hurt...

I reached out one of my steel forehooves, scooting closer to the sobbing, struggling mare. Before I could even reach her, she smacked my hoof away and snarled at me.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she snapped. Even in the darkness it felt like she was staring daggers at me. “Don’t... fucking... touch me...” Her voice was weak, even the raspy grating tone seemed to faded and resigned. Another rustling of the cloak followed, only to be accompanied with pained whimpers.

Lowering my hoof, I leaned back. Really, the only thing I could do was give her her space. If she was as good a healing unicorn as I knew she was, she’d be fine eventually. It would just take time. I moved away from her and closed my eyes. “Just tell me when you’re ready,” I said softly.

“It doesn’t matter...” she said, laughing quietly. “Ha.. ow. Hah... ow...” She sighed once more. “Alright, better now than later. Otherwise it’ll just be a lot worse. Come here.” She stomped her hoof a few times, sending a hollow echo through the dark tunnel.

I did as she said, not daring to argue. This mare knew what she was doing, and I was fairly certain she’d just kill me if I argued. I’d already pissed her off enough. This was not the time to push my luck. I had to make it right.

With my forehooves unable to feel anything, I lowered my head to the ground and searched with my muzzle. Even this deep in the caves, the stone floor was smooth and flat. I found the edge of her cloak fast enough, and bit into it. To let her know I had it, I sat up and gave a sharp tug.

She groaned and sucked air through her teeth, hissing at the pain. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little claw dug into the guiltiest part of my brain. She felt pain, and that meant every other clone I killed did too. Maybe I was a monster...

“Okay,” Rose said. “Okay, on three...”

I nodded.

“One.”

Praline had done it on two... The surprise helped. Like tearing a bandage off, it was best to go quick. The sooner it was over, the sooner she could heal herself and be back to the obnoxious hateful mare I knew and cared about.

“Two.”

Biting down as hard as I could, I threw myself back and pulled. The cloak tore free with the most horrific tearing sound I’d ever heard.

Rose screamed. Her earsplitting cry of pain echoed down the halls, so loud I could have sworn it would wake the dead and alert the dragon. She collapsed to the ground with a heavy, wet thud.

Her sobbing started again, broken by little gasps as she sucked in air and choked on it. “W-why...”

Shrinking back, I dropped the cloak. That hadn’t gone the way I wanted it to, at all. Muttering, I admitted, “I... I thought-”

“Stop fucking thinking!” snapped the clone mare. She groaned again, louder than before. “Every time you think. Somepony else gets fucking hurt.”

“I’m sorry, okay!” I yelled. Wait, why would she even assume that? She’d known me for a few days at most. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, anyway?” I demanded. I’d made one mistake. I knew that much. I already felt terrible for it. She didn’t need to rub it in. “You’ve known me for what, two days? Three tops.”

“I know enough!” she yelled. “I may not be the mare that personally watched your stupid ass ever since you killed Wirepony, but I know plenty about how stupid you are!”

“I’m not stupid,” I said defensively, my ears pinning back.

“You tried to steal from a dragon!” she spat.

“Don’t you think I know that was a bad idea?” I spat right back at her. “I get it! I’m a fuck up! I feel bad already, despite the fact that you’ve been blackmailing us this entire time.” Clenching my eyes closed, I resisted the urge to reach across the darkness and hit her as hard as I could with my steel hoof. She might be right, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to give her a good thwack upside the head for chewing me out so much.

She huffed, snorting loudly. “Maybe if you didn’t run around pretending to play he-Ow!”

My eyes shot open, not that I could tell the difference. My anger faded almost in a moment, replaced by worry. I didn’t want to be alone down here.

“You’re a stupid mare,” she finally said, her voice quieter but with the same rasping hooves-on-gravel sound.

“I just don’t think ahead...” I whispered, ears drooping again. “And I’m not pretending to be a hero. I’m a treasure hunter, no more, no less.”

Rose didn’t answer. Instead we sat in silence. The only sound around us was the quiet rasping of her breathing, echoing faintly in the darkness.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. Only a few seconds had probably passed, but dammit it felt like longer. “I thought about dropping you,” I said quietly. “When we were climbing up the mountain path and you slipped? I thought about it.”

“Why didn’t you?” the unicorn mare asked, not so much as missing a beat.

I sat back on my haunches and looked back and forth. There wasn’t anything to look at, but I couldn’t help it. It just helped me think. I didn’t know why I hadn’t. It was a good idea in every sense, because we’d have been free of her bitchiness and holding us hostage. We could have stormed Idle again, killed the original, and saved the mares, without anypony to warn her ahead of time. But deep in the back of my mind, in the same place Amble’s little whispering voice lived, in the same place the claws liked to dig around and make me worry about things I didn’t need to, I knew why.

“You’re my friend,” I finally answered.

Rose chuckled. “Finally learning what kindness is, are you?” she asked.

“When we were back at the Stables, and I left to talk with the Star Paladin, we discussed kindness along with a few other basic staples of friendship. Loyalty and Generosity, that sort of thing,” I explained. “He said I should take them to heart. You opened up at the mall, and you saved us when the dragon showed up. So... Why shouldn’t I have given you a chance?”

“To spare me getting burnt alive?” she asked sarcastically.

“Oh come on, I thought we were having a moment here!” I shouted, flabberghasted. We could actually be friends if she wasn’t going to be so snarky about it.

Then again, she’d pointed out not long ago that I’d been treating her like shit for the entire time I’d known her. She told me she didn’t want my pity. So, did she think I was just repeating the same thing as before?

Closing my eyes, my shoulders slumped and I took a deep breath. “I’m trying to extend a hoof in friendship here. This isn’t guilt or pity or... whatever you might be thinking. You’re not as bad as I thought you were at first,” I admitted. “And, I’m willing to actually be friends.”

“Alright.”

“I mean it!” I said, standing on my hooves and staring intently at the blackness around me. “A pony once told me it was the most important thing! And that if we’d focused on it instead of killing one another, we might not be living in a Wasteland right now!”

“I said alright,” Rose chided. “I wasn’t being sarcastic.” The sound of hooves walking along the stone floor echoed hollowly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anypony say that. It’s just as naïve as it ever was. You’d like Trusty, if you believe that.” It wasn’t the first time she’d mentioned that name.

I ignored the dismissal. It was good enough that we were on decent terms again, and not ready to snap and go for each other’s throats. I just hoped it would last. The sooner we got back to Lost and the others, the better. Rose might slowly be becoming my friend, but that didn’t mean we weren’t going to butt heads a lot, if where we’d been before was any indication.

“How long until we can go back, do you think?” I asked hesitantly. As much as I liked being alive and not worrying about the dragon getting to us... We were far into the caverns, where she’d mentioned ponies used to get lost. I didn’t want to chance never find our way back out.

I’d only run as far as I needed to to get us into the darkness where it was safe. I prayed to the Goddesses there weren’t any forked paths that would trap us forever.

Rose didn’t answer right away. She walked slowly in a circle, her hooves clopping against the stone floor quietly. They echoed slightly, making it hard to figure out exactly where she was moving to. After a moment they stopped. To my side, a tiny little mote of light appeared, the faintest haze glowing just enough to show the very tip of her horn. It disappeared only a second later and Rose groaned in pain. “A while...” she barked through gasps.

“You’re not burnt out are you?” I asked, unsure of what else I could say. She wasn’t a normal pony like my sister, and I had absolutely no idea how her magic worked. I didn’t know how any magic worked, but she opened up a ton of other questions about it.

She groaned again, and stomped her hoof several times on the floor. “Not exactly,” she finally answered.

I raised a hoof toward where she was standing in the darkness. “Anything I can-”

“No,” she interrupted. “This is just... I have to focus. This sort of thing takes time.”

“Will explaining it to me help?” I asked.

“Umm,” she muttered, not giving a real answer. The sound of her hooves echoed around me as she paced. A few times she paused and took a few deep breaths, before continuing again. The third time, her horn lit up again, this time on the other side of me. Just like before the aquamarine haze of her magic was just as faint, barely illuminating even the tip of her horn. “Alright. It’ll give me something to focus on...”

“Whenever you’re ready,” I said encouragingly, rolling my hoof toward her. When I realized she wouldn’t be able to see it, I slowly lowered it, careful to not let the steel clang loudly against the stone of the tunnel floor.

“I’m weak right now,” she said, once again starting to walk back and forth. Her pacing brought her in a little half-circle around me, never quite passing back behind me. It was the only thing I had to guide me on where she was so I could pretend to look at her while she talked. It was the polite thing to do, after all. “You know very well that I’m not a real pony like you, or your sister, or... anypony else really.”

“I know.”

“Because of that, it’s...” she explained, stopping before she could actually tell me what that even meant. “I don’t know how to put it into words, because it’s always just been something I understood without needing to explain it. I’m made of magic, the real Rose just casts a spell and we’re created out of magic and nothing. That magic holds me together. Magic and my own... force of will. And that means my magic is a part of that and if my magic goes out completely, so do I. Because it’s all willpower and... whatever. Magic is confusing okay.”

“I’ve tried to learn about it, all it did was make my head hurt.”

“That’s because you’re not a unicorn,” she chided. “If you were, well, it’d still make little sense, but you’d learn how to make it work.” She paced back around to the other side of where I sat, only her hooffalls betraying her position. “So, the original Rose casts her spell to makes us copies. We’re formed of her magic, and given bodies made like how she views herself. She doesn’t see herself as a fat blob stuck on a bed, after all. Then we get a copy of her consciousness... but we’re made to be more obedient, I guess? To follow orders. At first we’re just like the short lived mail-runner copies we-she, she could make back before the Ministry of Peace and all the megaspell testing.”

“What’s the difference now?” I asked.

“Well, before it was like making a copy of a letter. You write it up, you make a copy of it. It doesn’t have it’s own identity because it’s just an exact duplicate, it knows what it’s for and sticks to the plan it was made for. That one copy can be sent somewhere else and when its job is done it ‘disappears,’ and you keep the original,” she said, pausing every so often to find the words for something. “There’s not an easy way to explain this. The first copies she could make were very crude, like a foal making stick pony drawings. Like, I don’t know, an imaginary friend. Except real. She’d run around with her playmate until she lost her focus and they’d pop and disappear when it was over.”

“Was she lonely, as a foal?” I interrupted. I slapped a hoof over my mouth, realizing that might have been a bit personal. “Ow!” I yelped, forgetting that steel really hurt my recently healed nose.

Rose paused for a moment, I expected she was staring at me. Or maybe glaring. “Shut up and let me finish explaining,” she ordered.

“Yes ma’am...”

With a sigh, she continued her story. “At first, if she wasn’t staying focused we couldn’t keep existing. I- she, got better at it as she grew up, and before we were recruited into the Ministry of Peace, well, she used them as letter carriers. I told you this before,” she lectured. “It was basically. Make. We’d run off to take such and such letter to so and so. By then she could keep us around until we’d done what she needed, even if we were out of her sight. Letter would get delivered, and then the spell would fade since our job was done. No more pony needed, so no more pony around.”

I nodded a few times, not that she could see.

“But now, since she needs us for a lot longer, she can’t just poof up an autopilot body for a single task,” the clone mare continued. “We need to be able to think, and cast magic, and adapt to things because even after we do whatever she made us for initially, she always needs more. So, when we’re fresh copies, we’re more or less the same as every version she’d ever made before, same personality as her, and able to follow orders. We’re blank until further notice. Some never get past that point, those mostly stay as her food and cleaning copies.” She paced back across the black expanse in front of her, walking faster than her previous pass. “But for some of us, she does something... special. I don’t know, but we stop seeing ourselves as tools the more we experience, the more we learn.”

Rose stopped pacing, but I couldn’t see why. “Sorry, I’m getting off topic. Need to fucking focus,” she said before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “What it comes down to? I’m not flesh and blood. When you cut me, I don’t bleed the same way you do. I’m made of the same magic I use to cast spells, so if I’m damaged to the point of failure I fade. If I cast too much and use everything up, then I fade because there’s nothing to hold me together. My magic is tied to my body, you take one away, you take both away.” She paced back across the black expanse, walking faster than her previous pass. “Right now, I’m right on the edge of holding myself together.”

“How do you get it back?” I asked, somewhat fascinated.

“Time to build my reserves back up,” she answered. “Talking about it is keeping my mind off the incredible amount of pain I’m in. It’s either this or I just... melt. And dammit I am not giving up without a fight!” She stomped her hoof on the ground, hard. “Ow! Fuck.”

“That means no healing spells for a while, doesn’t it?” I asked.

“Correct. I need to let whatever magic I’ve got left work on rebuilding my body,” she answered.

“Okay, okay... Keep explaining then. Talking is good,” I encouraged.

“There’s not much else to say. My magic and my body are one and the same. The reason I couldn’t heal your sister’s leg before? I’d run out... If I’d forced it and tried to heal her past that threshold, my body would start to fall apart.” She stopped, and I could feel her staring at me.

“What?” I asked defensively.

“Not like, legs falling off. I mean melting, the same way the other copies that die go,” she said.

“I know, I’ve seen what happens...”

“Mmm...”

“Sorry.”

“Why? They weren’t me, and it just means there’s less competition out there.”

“Competition?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and squinting my other eye. The Goddesses’ names did the mean competition?

A haze appeared in front of me, aquamarine and brighter than before. It glowed just enough to show off the top half of her horn. “That’s more than enough,” she said as the light cut out. “Ready to find a way back?”

“I suppose, but what did you mean?” I asked.

“You may have noticed, but I’m somewhat of a bitch,” the clone mare explained. “I don’t like other copies if I can avoid it. The more of them that are around, the less indispensable I am.”

“Oh,” I muttered. I had no idea what she meant.

“Now, let’s go get my gun,” she said, purpose in her still gravelly voice.

* * *

Slowly, I followed the flickering light of Rose’s horn. She’d decided she was feeling well enough to cast the light spell she knew, which illuminated a small stretch of the tunnel directly in front of her. Since her magic was still so weak, it sparked off and on constantly, and was only bright enough to light up the her horn and the ends of her frayed, burnt mane. In the darkness around us, I still couldn’t see how bad off she was.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

If she was in such terrible condition that she had to focus on keeping her body from dissolving or melting or whatever it was that they did... there was absolutely no way it could be anything worth looking at. I shuddered.

“You sure this is the-” she asked, her voice rasping and catching partway. She cleared her throat, a sound that reminded me more of a house collapsing than a pony’s body, and tried again. “You sure this is the right way?”

“No, I’m not,” I answered. Given how many times she’d turned around and paced back and forth in front of me, I wasn’t sure anymore. Either we were going further and further into the endless twisting tunnels that led to nowhere... Or we’d be coming right back up to where the dragon burnt Rose alive. Neither option was really the best we could get, but if my choices were to remind Rose of what happened or wander forever, I knew which I’d take.

If only I had the PipBuck. Lost always seemed to have it when I needed it the most. Then again, I even when I did remember I had it, I tended to only use it for E.F.S. and the radio.

“It won’t be too far, though. I ran just long enough to get us past the light, where the dragon couldn’t get to us,” I added. “If we don’t find the houses soon, we can just turn around and go the other way and we’ll know.”

The clone pony’s horn dimmed, plunging us into complete darkness again. The sound of hooves on stone echoed around me, getting closer. The horn lit up again, glowing bright aquamarine and making me squint at the sudden brightness.

The tip of it pressed into my forehead, and I saw Rose’s eyes squinting right in front of me. She practically growled.

“If you got me lost,” she said, her gravelly voice raised, “I will rip your spine out, and choke you with it.” Her eyelid twitched as she threatened.

I couldn’t tear myself away from them. Normally quite pretty and piercing, the aquamarine was now gone and replaced by an almost completely white haze. My own reflection stared back at me, my white coat glowing almost blue in the reflection. I looked far away, like we were staring at each other through frosted glass in the Wasteland’s worst winter.

I took a deep breath and stepped back. “I’m sure somepony will come looking for us before something happens,” I said, trying to sound reassuring. I wasn’t sure if I was reassuring myself, or her, though. If I didn’t come back, Lost would come for me as soon as she got the chance. She’d tear the tunnels apart if she needed to.

My special talent was finding things though, and if that meant I needed to use it to find a way back, then I’d do that. If only I knew how to control it.

Rose backed off. Her horn flickered and dimmed, sparking a few times and making her groan before going out completely. “I sure fucking hope so,” she muttered, her voice sounding forced. She trotted off, her hooffalls echoing into the tunnel.

“Will a healing potion or something work to fix you?” I asked, walking after her.

“Nope,” she answered curtly.

With a defeated sigh, I fell in line behind her, following by the sound of her walking. We said nothing more as our trip through the darkness continued. The only thing to accompany my thoughts was the sound of our hooves and the occasional pained grunt Rose would try to hide. Without running, it felt like a much much longer journey than it had when I was frantically running for my life while begging both Celestia and Luna by name to not let the dragon find a way through.

Had I really gotten that far down into the tunnels?

Then again, I’d been running while there was a massive fire behind me, so it was entirely possible I’d just been able to see farther. The idea that I’d run too far and missed something, gotten turned around or... Goddesses, I needed to turn my brain off.

Every so often, Rose’s horn would flicker back to life for a few seconds, before dying again. I watched with a mix of frustration and amazement, as she continued to try and force it. It felt odd that I should be the one following her, but she was the only one with any light, even if it was barely there and intermittent. I stared at her faint outline in the darkness, barely able to make out the line where her tail met her haunches.

Wait, staring at her haunches?

My brain must have been playing tricks on me.

I kept staring at the phantom mare in front of me, trying to take in the little details. She walked slowly, matching the hooffalls, with the slightest of limps on her right side. Her coat didn’t look right... far too smooth in some places, and sticking out in others.

I stopped in my tracks.

“Rose, I can see something,” I announced.

The clone mare in front of me turned, her outline shifting ever so slightly as she looked back. I couldn’t make out the expression on her face, but I saw a crease in her muzzle clear as... well, not pitch black.

Bolting past her, I galloped over the stone floor and further down the tunnel. As I did, the dim light outlining everything grew brighter. I could see the ceiling and the floor, with a wall to the side, cutting the light off completely past it. Skidding to a stop, I looked back at the darkness toward Rose. “Come on, this has to be it,” I yelled, waving a hoof in her direction, encouraging her to catch up.

Without waiting, I rounded the corner wall and stood facing the tunnel beyond. In the distance, a faint sliver of light shown over the charred, burnt-out ruins of houses that blockaded the back end of the tunnel. Little lances of light shown through the windows and the doorway, and where I’d blown the walls of the building apart to get Rose through. It may as well have been Celestia’s radiance itself.

It was beautiful.

Rose followed slowly, just off to my side. She stopped next to me and stared down the same path I was, still hidden in the shadows while I stood in one of the beams of light. “My rifle?” she asked.

“Let me find it,” I answered. It only took me a few minutes to locate it, hidden in a shadow, left right where I’d thrown it after the chaos with the dragon. With a smile to the shadow-covered mare, I pointed.

Rose trotted over, grunting in approval. She collected the weapon in her teeth and turned to follow me as I walked toward the blockade of buildings that kept us from the soft golden glow of the dragon’s tunnels.

Luckily, we’d been gone long enough for the dragon’s fire to burn itself out. Walking over the brittle boards, one crumbled beneath me, making me falter. Looking around, I reached out with a forehoof and kicked the nearest beam to make sure the whole thing wouldn’t come down on me. It groaned loudly and the building shifted, but after a creak, it settled. “I think we’ll be okay...” I muttered, unsure of myself. Slowly I walked through, careful of where I set my hooves and focusing more on the floor than on what was in front of or behind me.

Every step made the floor shift, with dust and soot crumbling away. It wouldn’t be a long fall if we fell through, but that didn’t mean I wanted to. After all, I was more worried about what would fall onto me if something happened. After ages of careful hoofsteps, I finally reached the door I’d pulled Rose through. I jumped free of the wreckage and stared down the hallway. A smile crept across my lips, seeing no dragon waiting for us. Sure, the hallway looked like... well it looked like a dragon had torn through it in a rage, but it was beautiful for not having him there waiting for us.

I turned to the blockade of buildings. “Hey Rose, do you need any he-”

The smile fell away, and I took a step back.

For several long seconds, Rose stared at me. “How bad is it?” she asked in her raspy, hooves-on-gravel voice.

The mare standing there looked like my friend. Looked like, but she was so horribly different I had to choke back to keep myself from throwing up. Her normally pink coat was almost white, and... running. Skin hung from her, not broken off but almost like the remains of Wirepony. She looked melted. Blisters had formed on her neck and back, then burst. They oozed black, something that reminded me far too much of the other copies I’d killed and how they melted into blackness and disappeared into nothing. Her eyes were still glazed over, the aquamarine normally there faded and hazy, making her squint to block out the ambient light. Most of her mane was gone, burnt away in the panic as we fled. What remained was as black as the tunnel we’d just come from, frayed and kinked and looking so brittle I swore a light breeze would turn it all to ash.

One of her ears twitched; what was left of it. She pulled her mouth into an awkward but hopeful smile, making what was left of her face twist almost like the Glowing One we’d met before. Black rings surrounded her hazed eyes. Were she wearing the cloak, I’d have mistaken her for death herself.

“I-I, umm...” I stuttered, unsure what to say. I swallowed again, biting back at that sick taste of my food trying to come back up. “I’ve seen worse...” I finally muttered, trying to ignore the flashes of the burned filly in U Cig that kept popping into my head.

The clone mare glared at me for a second, before reaching down to grab her grenade rifle by the strap. She hoisted it up and threw it at me.

“Ow!” I yelped as the gun hit me right in the face. Falling back onto my haunches, I clenched my eyes closed to block out the pain. I really needed to get somepony to fix my nose. “What was that for?”

“I don’t like being lied to,” Rose said. She slumped down and jumped from the smashed house. Faltering when she landed, she groaned. “And I can’t carry the damn thing because I don’t want it to fuse to me while I’m regenerating.”

“Right,” I said, grabbing the gun and tossing it onto my back. “Do you need any help?” Standing, I turned toward the path we’d taken to get down to the blockade, back where the dragon had chased us. A chill ran down my spine, remembering the view of him rounding the corner and just how terrifying it was. I shook it away, trying not to dwell on it. We needed to get back to Lost and the others and figure something out.

Maybe Lost’s magic would be back and she could help Rose heal faster.

“No, we just need to go slow,” she said as she limped past me. Turning slightly, she shot me a glare. “And whatever you do, don’t go running into the main cavern when we get back. The dragon might still be pissed off and being burnt alive one time is more than enough for me. Understand?”

Suddenly I felt like a filly, being lectured by mom again over doing something stupid and almost getting somepony hurt over it. Like the time with the raiders, or the slavers, or... I sighed and nodded. “I’ll stay behind you, okay?” I offered, worrying just as much about the dragon as she was.

Her hazy eyes looked me over a few times, still squinting. “Everything’s too damn bright,” she grumbled absently. “Fine, that’s good. We’ll figure out what to do once we get back, but until that dragon is taken care of one way or another, we’re not risking it.”

If only we hadn’t had to drop all our belongings before my...

Before my greed took over.

I might have still had that knife. It cut through its holder without the slightest effort, and who knew, maybe it would do the same for the dragon. I’d never know now, though. I didn’t dare touch anything that belonged to him, even if he said he didn’t care before.

Rose turned away from me and started down the hallway. We walked slowly, and neither of us talked; there wasn’t anything to say. There was a long way to go, and just like before in the black tunnels past even where the dragon would go, I found myself amazed at just how far we’d gone. When something that could eat us whole, or worse, was chasing after us, the distances just felt a lot shorter.

I sighed. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing my sister again. As much as I’d be happy to know she was alright, and Goddesses did I hope she was, I was worried what she’d say. Just a few days ago in Idle she’d shown she didn’t trust me to act on my own. And so far, all I’d done was prove her right. That’s what hurt the worst, to know that she was right not to. When I went out on my own in town, I’d spent the entire time having my haunches given to me on a platter in damn near every way possible. The drugs, getting beaten in a fight, being taken advantage of by a salespony, and then shot repeatedly. It was like everything I thought I was capable of doing I wasn’t, and...

I just wanted to stop and slam my head into one of the walls next to me. I was such a stupid pony sometimes. Stopping for a second, I pulled my jacket tighter for what little comfort it could give me. At least I could do one thing right...

“I’m sorry Rose,” I whispered.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, not bothering to turn to look at me. “Nopony’s perfect, and I’ll forgive you because no matter what, that’s what I was taught to do.” She rounded a corner and I followed quickly behind, not wanting to be left alone with my thoughts. “There were a lot of talks back in the Ministry of Peace, and not everypony was on board with the decisions given by the Ministry Mare herself. Fluttershy was always very meek, she was a quiet pony who just wanted to help. The thing is, she wanted to help everypony. No, she wanted to help everyone. Even though the zebra were our enemies, she didn’t want to see them killed. There was one time...” The clone mare shook her head a few times, looking toward the floor. She kept limping forward, never missing a step. “Let’s just say that we might have done more damage by healing the zebras, too.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused as to just where she was going with the half-story.

“I mean that you need to forgive everypony, regardless,” she answered. “So... I forgive you. Despite the fact that I’m in pain I can’t even begin to describe, and despite the fact that not even this morning was I telling you what would happen to me if I died and just how fucking terrifying that is to me. I’m going to give you a second chance, and a third chance, and probably more and more after that, even if I know it’ll probably bite me in the ass. Because that’s just... That’s what she would do. And if there’s any pony in the entirety of Equestria or the Wasteland that I look up to, it’s Fluttershy.”

“Were you good friends?” I asked, hoping to get off the subject of just how many chances I would need.

Rose didn’t answer right away. She looked up, flicked an ear, and shrugged. “I don’t think so,” she finally answered. “Not because she wasn’t a good friend. She was amazingly patient and incredibly polite with every pony she ever met, but she was a bit... I don’t know, reclusive? Others tended to walk all over her, even her pet rabbit. With the way the War over everything, she didn’t have much time for anypony on a personal level. There was always too much to do. More planning for resources, new facilities to open for reintegration for mares and stallions coming back from the battlefield. The only time I got to interact with her directly was during the testing for the spells, and that didn’t give us time to socialize.”

“Mmm...”

“Being in charge of a Ministry didn’t give much time for friends, I guess,” she added, shrugging. “A shame...”

I didn’t really know what to say after that, but the conversation did make me remember that I’d wanted to go to The Cinch after we finished helping Xeno with her family, and now I wanted to go all the more. To learn a little bit more about Rose and to learn more about the Ministries. Assuming we all survived this, of course.

I trotted up to walk next to Rose, feeling that we were back on better terms. I really needed to stop thinking of her personally as the mare that was blackmailing us, and think more of her fat original as the bad mare. I might not have been trained as a healer in the Ministry of Peace, but I could still learn a thing or two about giving other ponies second chances. If Rose Shimmer was willing to give me a second chance after I got her nearly killed by dragon fire, then I could give her as many chances as she needed.

She looked at me from the corner of her eye and nodded slowly, a small smile forming on her lips. Already the color was returning to her eyes. The black rings that put Lost’s to shame were fading slowly, and she had stopped limping.

Still, we slowed down, getting closer to where the dragon would be waiting. I recognized where we were, back at the buildings I’d looted while Lost and the others talked over the options for what to do with the dragon.

Rose raised a hoof, stopping me mid-step. She was still sticky and damp enough to make me shudder. “Let me go,” she said, pushing me back.

“I’ll wait here,” I agreed.

The clone mare lowered her hoof and walked closer to the smooshed-house against the wall. She peeked her head around the corner, then blinked several times and furrowed her brows.

When she said nothing and didn’t back away, I couldn’t help it. I walked over behind her and peeked out from behind the house as well. Doing so made Rose roll her eyes at me.

In the center of the room lay the dragon, his nostrils smoking. His eyes were practically crossed, staring at something resting on the tip of his snout, obscured by the smoke. All around were the others he held captive, working the same as they had when he returned with the treasure earlier in the night. They looked miserable, removing the rubble and boulders that had fallen when he chased after me. Lost, Xeno, and Fine Tune were nowhere to be seen.

My ears dropped and my heart sank. I needed to find my sister.

* * *

The dragon wasn’t after me anymore, at least... not yet. There was no way to know if he’d decide I was worth the effort to chase and kill if he saw me again. It didn’t matter though, it was a risk I had to take. My sister was, hopefully, somewhere safe. She’d run off in a different direction and I could only pray to the Goddesses that the dragon didn’t decide to take out his rage on her instead. If he did... it might have been better that he find me.

I took a deep breath. I’d need to find her, but if the dragon caught sight of me, there was no telling what he might do. Crouching, I pushed past Rose and started across the tunnel to get a better vantage from the far side. I’d find her one way or another.

A hoof stuck out and grabbed me, sticking to my coat. The clone mare pulled back, demanding, “What are you-”

“Getting a better look!” I hissed back at her. Putting one steel hoof down as quietly as I could, I pulled hard to get free of the clinging stickiness of her hoof. With a cautious glance to make sure the dragon wasn’t looking toward the tunnel, I darted across.

Something dark lanced through the air, just barely visible from the corner of my eye. It stopped in mid-air and turned. “Fine Tu-” I started, before the changeling slammed into my chest and sent me reeling back into Rose.

The three of us tumbled, making Rose yelp in pain. She pulled away as I went head over hooves with the black pony-shaped thing atop me. Skidding across the stone floor, I groaned and looked up. A flash of green made me squint and turn away. When I looked back, I found a honey-colored unicorn mare pinning me down, her white mane hanging down over her face.

“Are you insane?” demanded The Convert. She stomped a hoof over my mouth to keep me from answering, and pushed hard.

I felt something in my nose crack, probably the same break from earlier. I winced and kicked my hind hooves, trying to get her off me. I knew I made mistakes but, dammit, I didn’t need everyone constantly harassing me about it! And I still hadn’t heard from Lost... My ears drooped. I knew how bad that would be.

“I know you don’t want to be here but,” she said, sighing. “Haven’t we been good hosts? Invited you into the community? Offered you what little food we have? I even tried to set you up with a pony I can sense you share a lot of love with.” She glared at me, moving her hoof off my mouth to adjust her mane. “And this is how you repay us?”

Leaning back, the changeling waved her hoof back to the main cavern, where a team of other captives were working to move one of the larger boulders that had fallen from the cavern ceiling. Dust still fell around them, trickling from the roof whenever the dragon moved too much.

“I didn’t mean-”

“You didn’t mean what? To take us all down with you?” she demanded, finally stepping off me. “You know how the others feel about you now?” She half-laughed, snorting. “Honey, you do not want to be seen again. You’re a pariah, now. You brought the world down around them, and I’m pretty sure you won’t need to be a changeling to tell how they feel about you.”

I looked over at Rose, hoping for a little help. All I got in return was a glare, as she went to collect her gun to keep it safe from the two of us.

“I’ll tell you though,” the changeling continued. “Normally this is a sweet little place, lots of love to go around from the dragon and his hoard, and plenty from the others that I’ve set up. Sure there’s always a bitter taste because things are tense, but normally it’s real nice and calm. Now? Now! Makes me sick, the fear? The anger? Even the sadness... It’s nauseating. That’s how powerful it is. Enough that I’m having trouble not having it all come back up. You’re lucky that they’re not the murdering type.

I gulped.

“And the dragon, right now?” she continued. “He’s been staring at the crown you tried to steal since he got back. He hasn’t moved from that spot and won’t take his eyes off it.” She leaned in close to me and bared her teeth. “I recommend you steer fucking clear. Because the way he feels right now, the rage and annoyance, the bloodlust and everything else... I’m pretty sure, for you, he’ll kill on sight. The others wouldn’t care either, after the stunt you pulled,” she added.

“What about my sister?” I demanded.

“What about her?”

“I need to find her. I need to make sure she’s okay,” I explained, glaring back at the mare. She was dangerously close to finding out just how hard I could slam a hoof made of steel into her face.

“You don’t listen very well, do you?” she asked me, before turning to Rose. “She doesn’t listen very well, does she?” she repeated, asking the clone mare.

Rose chuckled.

The Convert turned back to me. Deflating somewhat, she readjusted her mane and turned back to the cavern. After a few nods to herself, she looked back at me. “She’s fine. The dragon chased after you, yelled a whole bunch, and after a while he came back. He just... flopped down onto the gold, grabbed the crown off the floor where you left it, and set it on his nose. He’s done nothing but fidget and stare at it since.”

“At least he didn’t hurt anypony...” I muttered, thankful he hadn’t turned his rage on my sister, my friends, or any of the innocent bystanders that might have been caught in the mess.

The glare Rose shot me could have killed.

Shrinking back, I stared at the floor. “Anypony else. I meant... after he came back,” I whispered, feeling like a foal.

“Alright look, I pride myself on being nice,” said The Convert, ignoring the exchange between the two of us. “I give tours and I set ponies up with each other and, in times of duress, I get loved ones and bring them together.” Quietly, she added, “Even if it’s for my own benefit because their love is tasty...” Looking back up to me, she smiled. “I’ll go get her and whoever she wants to bring with her. You. Stay. Here.”

I nodded, not daring to say a word.

A big part of me wanted to crawl into the remains of one of the smooshed houses and hide forever, or at least until the dragon died and Rose was better. Somewhere far away, I was sure Amble was sitting and smiling smugly, just knowing I’d made a decision on my own and gotten others hurt. Just like she said.

The Convert looked to Rose. “Anything you need while I’m out there?” she asked in a far more polite voice than the one she’d used to talk to me.

“A lighter?” Rose asked. She held up the cigarette I’d given her earlier. Wait, where had she even kept that?

“Gotcha,” said the changeling. With a salute, she encased herself in a flash of horrible green fire and transformed. The second the flames faded, the bug pony jumped off and disappeared into the cavern.

Rose and I shared a look, but I couldn’t face her. Though she was already starting to look better, I just couldn’t.

“You’re really lucky I’m not a normal mare, you know that?” she chided. With a hooftip, she felt across her lips. Satisfied with it, she stuck the cigarette in her mouth and inhaled sharply.

“Yeah,” I muttered. Really, just how else was I supposed to answer that. I stared at her, hoping that was the answer she wanted. Luckily, The Convert returned with my sister and Xeno, ending the awkward few moments.

The minute Lost saw me, she ran over and tackled into me. Her hooves wrapped around my sides and she buried her face into my neck, forcing her glasses off her nose and onto the floor. Together, we tumbled down and she landed on me with an ‘oof.’

I wrapped a hoof around her and squeezed, whispering, “It’s okay... I’m here. I’m alive.” There wasn’t much I could do to comfort her, so I just held her and let her cry it out. I could only imagine she felt like I did when I finally saw her in U Cig, unable to believe it was real and just wishing the moment would never end. She whispered little things, choking on her words and whimpering.

After long enough for it to feel very awkward, she pulled back and looked at me. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she said, “I thought you were dead.” She smacked me upside the head with a hoof, so hard I could have sworn I started to see stars. “Goddesses, I thought you were dead!” Glaring furiously, she grabbed her glasses in her magic and returned them to the bridge of her nose. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”

“I... I’m sorry Lost,” I muttered, going limp underneath her.

“No, you don’t get to say sorry,” she snapped, her lip quivering with a mixture of anger and worry. “It’s not that easy. This...” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “This isn’t like before. We- we’re not playing your little treasure hunting game. You can’t.” She choked back more tears, then opened her eyes.

The mare that stared at me wasn’t sad or worried, upset at the possibility that she’d lost something special. No, the mare that stared at me now was pissed. She shook, as if fighting against herself the same way I once tried to fight against the violent urges Buck gave me. All I could do was stare up at her, waiting. She still sat on me, pinning me down under her weight and I could see past her glasses, that the gears were turning inside her head as she tried to figure out what to say.

“Honey Drip?” she finally asked in a casual voice.

“Yes, doll?” asked the changeling mare.

“Can you go get Fine Tune from the tunnels and tell him he can stop searching for my sister?” Lost requested, still sounding so calm that it had me worried.

The changeling nodded and let out a shrill whistling chirp. “Of course, I’ll go find the little cutie,” she agreed. With a flash of green flame, she returned to her natural form and darted off the same way Rose and I had come.

Xeno took a few steps forward and looked down at me. She looked worried, sad... far more than my sister was. I’d really fucked up big this time to have both so cross with me. When I met her gaze, she just shook her head.

“You know, you’re really lucky I don’t have any rope,” Lost said, reaching down and pushing my muzzle back to face her. She glared down at me, still shaking slightly. “If I did? I’d have you tied up and thrown over my back to keep safe until we got back home.”

“Lost, I’m not-”

“No, Hidden, you are,” she interrupted. “You run around like this is a game. You remember what happened in Idle?”

“I certainly do,” Rose added.

Lost looked up at Rose, as if noticing her for the first time. Her eyes went wide. She turned back to me, then looked to Xeno, who looked just as lost for words. Raising a hoof, she waved it impotently at the clone mare, before turning back to me. “What the fuck happened down there?!” she demanded.

“We- Wait a minute,” Rose answered, cutting herself off. “That bitch didn’t give me a lighter!”

Xeno slowly walked over to her, looking far paler than normal, as if the color had been sucked from her normally dark coat. She raised a hoof. “Rosepony, allow me,” she said, her voice wavering slightly.

“S’wrong zebra?” Rose asked, offering the cigarette.

“Iam not sure...” Xeno answered, putting the cigarette into her mouth. Twisting it to the corner of her lips, she shook her head again. “I cannot place it, but what I see in you... I worry my mother is right.” With a shiver, she raised her hoof to the cigarette and when her hoof passed, the tip was shrivelling and glowing ablaze.

Was that how she did it every time? The same trick she’d used in the tunnels under Leathers that one time? Zebras...

As Xeno passed the now lit cigarette back to Rose, Lost turned back to me.

“Tell me exactly what happened!” she ordered.

“The dragon came back and I ran, without thinking, down the first tunnel I could. When I looked back, only Rose was with me. I didn’t see where you and Xeno went,” I explained, talking as calmly as I could. “The dragon didn’t stop chasing, I thought if we went far enough we’d get somewhere he couldn’t follow, but we ended up trapped at a dead end. We couldn’t get past... and the dragon wasn’t stopping...”

I gulped, feeling like absolute shit over what happened. How was I supposed to explain it...

“Rose saved me. She threw me over the dead end and faced down the dragon herself,” I continued, stopping only to take a deep breath. “And I... took too long to save her. And now she’s...” I didn’t finish, I just weakly waved a hoof toward the disfigured mare.

Groaning, Lost turned back to Rose. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine in a few hours, once my body finishes rejuvenating,” the clone mare answered. She took a long drag off the cigarette and blew the smoke out through her nose. “I’m not a ‘normal’ pony, remember?”

Seemingly placated with the answer, Lost looked down at me. “Alright, Hidden. New rule,” she said. “When we’re out and about, you’re not allowed out of my sight. And you... Just. No more pretending to be a treasure hunter. This isn’t a game anymore. Do you understand me?”

I nodded, fighting back tears. I was a big mare and I could handle this. I deserved it after what happened.

“I was pissed off at you in Idle because you went berserk,” she continued, her shaking finally gone. “I was worried about you killing others, and not... not for the right reasons. If you need to survive, then you need to, but this? Goddesses Hidden, you’re going to get yourself killed! And I’m not ready for that. I can’t go on if that happens. Okay? Do you understand?”

Biting my lip, I nodded. “I do...” I whispered. I felt the same... if I’d gotten Lost killed...

“I’m not ready to be out there on my own. And I’m not going to let my sister be the one who kills herself,” she added, sniffling again. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Reaching down, she wrapped her hooves around me and pulled me into a hug so tight I feared my ribs might crack.

“And if you ever do something like that again,” she added, whispering into my ear. “I’ll find a way to follow you to Tartarus and drag you back. Understand me?”

“I understand, Lost.”

She took another deep breath and squeezed me again. She didn’t let go until The Convert returned with Fine Tune.

The minute the changelings got back, Fine Tune jumped into the hug. He latched his hole-filled legs around both my sister and I and chirped happily. Blinking several times, he let go and took a few steps back. After transforming in a flash of fire, he latched on again and buried his face between us, ruining what could have been a nice moment.

Goddesses, he really was like a little pet. Still, it broke the tension well, and I couldn’t help but laugh through the tears that had started to roll down my cheeks. Stupid bugpony.

Lost giggled too.

Releasing me from her grip, she patted Fine Tune on the head. “Good job, Fine Tune, we got her back,” she said, smiling.

“Of course my Queen, I’m only sorry I wasn’t the one to find Miss Hidden,” he said, looking down. Behind him though, his tail wagged back and forth feverishly.

“She’s back, and that’s what matters,” Lost said in a reassuring tone.

“Lostpony, thereis still the dragon,” Xeno reminded us, looking at the cavern.

“Don’t you dare do something to ruin things here,” added The Convert, glaring down at me back in her unicorn form. “You’ve done enough already...”

Lost finally got off of me, and offered a hoof to pull me from the ground. As I grabbed on to hoist myself to my hooves, she smiled. “I’ve got a plan, one that doesn’t involve getting anypony killed,” she said, giving me a look.

“Whatever your plan is, it better be a fast one,” Rose added, her voice sounding much better than it had before. She sounded almost like herself, without the hooves-on-gravel scratchiness. “I might be on your side on this, after what happened, but my original might not be so understanding...”

“Knowing he didn’t kill my sister was more important,” Lost said, adjusting her glasses. “Xeno, Fine Tune? Can you go collect our things? Hidden, Rose... You stay back here just in case. Honey Drip?... Will you come with me?”

“Sure...” answered The Convert warily.

“Of course, Lostpony,” Xeno said, a small smile forming on her lips. She waved to Fine Tune. “Come Bugpony, we have much work to do. I will collect the little ones, too.”

“Good idea, it’s time to get to work,” Lost said, grinning.

* * *

I gulped. Lost was already standing in front of the dragon, with the changeling next to her. The dragon hadn’t acknowledged her; he was still too busy staring at the crown that I’d tried to take from him. This could go very bad, and I was worried. It’d only been a few minutes, just enough time for Lost and The Convert to slowly walk up, hesitant and ready to run if something went wrong.

Even though the stakes were beyond anything we’d dealt with before, including Wirepony, Lost still had a smile and looked incredibly confident. She waited patiently, one ear flicking back and forth, for the dragon to notice her.

The Convert looked far more uneasy, her honey-colored coat seeming greener than normal, as if she truly were feeling as nauseous as she said before. Goddesses, if the dragon was upset enough to make her visibly ill...

I looked over at Rose. “Think it’ll be okay?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” she answered, still puffing at the remains of the cigarette. She’d worked it down to almost a nub, and had almost the full length’s worth of ash hanging from its end.

I grunted noncommittally and looked back at my sister. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Lost...” I whispered. Twisting my ears forward, I scooted closer to the ruins of one of the houses, trying to get as close as I possibly could while still staying out of the dragon’s line of sight. I needed to hear what was going on. Lost was a thinky pony, and I knew she’d get through this, but it felt terrible to be left out like this.

Not that it wasn’t my own fault.

Lost cleared her throat, staring at the dragon.

He didn’t respond. He just lay there, eyes crossed and staring at the crown between his smoking nostrils.

Warily, Lost and The Convert shared a look. I could see my sister’s eyes dart toward us, looking worried. She took a deep breath and turned back to the dragon. In an assertive voice she said, “You’ve been brooding for some time...”

After a moment, the dragon turned his gaze away from the crown. He didn’t answer, he just stared at my sister.

After another moment, Lost looked to The Convert. She whispered something I couldn’t hear, and The Convert answered. Straining, I tried to listen, but my hearing simply wasn’t good enough.

“Why did it upset you?” Lost asked, again speaking loudly and clearly, her voice stern but not pissed off. She shifted slightly, spreading her legs and standing the same way she did when she was being strict with me.

The dragon just growled, bearing his teeth and blowing smoke from his nose. Raising an arm, he reached forward and grabbed the crown I’d taken between two claws. He lifted it up, closer between his eyes, and pinched. The gold bent in, twisting and snapping in half. Carelessly, he tossed it away to the back of the hoard.

“Why do you think?” he demanded, narrowing his eyes and staring down at the two in front of him.

“I don’t know,” Lost answered. “That’s why I’m asking. You didn’t seem to care when she took a dress, or the memory orb. Even among all the other things we had in our saddlebags, you somehow knew those were yours... So why did it matter when she tried on the crown?”

“I cannot use the memory orb, I cannot wear the dress. Why should I care for them?” he asked, humoring my sister. He relaxed though, resting his arm back at his side and digging into the pile of gold underneath him.

Xeno and Fine Tune returned, both of them with saddlebags draped over their backs. Behind Xeno, several of the foals from the zebra tribe followed. The orange-eyed filly who’d been with her before held the dress I’d taken, with the fabric wrapped around her and draped over her head, pushing the mohawk of her mane down over the side of her face.

She looked so happy to be helping us. It was hard not to smile at it, because we were supposed to be here helping them to get back home. Not the other way around. As long as Lost could work her thinky pony magic on the dragon...

“Thanks Xeno, Fine Tune,” I said. Resisting the urge to get up and help, I waited for them to get closer to collect my things. They weren’t going to be going anywhere. I turned back to my sister and the dragon.

The dragon stared forward with wide eyes, digging at the side of his face with his claws. He looked quite thoughtful, busy mulling over what Lost was saying.

“She wasn’t trying to steal it from you,” Lost added, slowly starting to calm down. She still spoke with the same assertion, the same careful force, but she looked far more relaxed. The dragon hadn’t taken her out the minute she asked, and that must have been enough to show they could have a real conversation.

“She wouldn’t have stolen from me,” the dragon said, smiling wide and baring his fangs. “Had she made off with it, I’d have not given up my chase so easily.”

“You might want to go help her, Xeno,” I suggested. She’d finished setting our things down, and was sitting next to the zebra foals, talking quietly to them in her native tongue.

“Hiddenpony, what is it you want me to do?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He was made from zebras, right?” I asked. I expected an answer from Xeno, but Rose grunted affirmatively instead. Nodding, I motioned for her to go forward. “He might be easier to talk to with your help... Someone he knows, right?”

“Itis worth a try, Hiddenpony,” she agreed. “I wish to leave with the foals, to return them.” She stood, turning to the others around her and held a hoof out. “Kusubiri hapa,” she ordered them. With one look over the group, she nodded and walked off to the center of the cavern.

I’d missed whatever Lost said while I talked to Xeno. My sister stood nodding when I looked back, her confident smile almost completely gone. Still, her lip curled ever so slightly at the edge, which was a good sign. She hadn’t given up.

“The gold, the bits... even the gems, they have no value to our kind anymore. We use caps, trash... Nopony wants to steal your valuables anymore,” Lost explained. She hesitated a moment as Xeno walked over, but continued after the two shared a look. “Nopony would come to take you or your golden scales. We just want to survive with what we have.”

When Xeno reached the three of them, she stopped and they shared a few quiet words. I flicked my ear forward again, trying to catch what they were saying, but the words didn’t make it far enough. Groaning, I looked back at Rose.

She just shrugged, playing with the cigarette between her lips. At least she was still looking better. The color was almost completely back in her coat, even if it still looked like a strong breeze could shred it from her bones.

“Dragon,” Xeno said, looking up at him.

He shifted slightly, blinking before looking at the zebra mare. “What?”

“You think any would steal from you? Youhave been given all, as long as you have lived,” she continued. “Made of finest alchemy, by the most skilled of my kind, why would any dare to steal what you deem valuable?”

“None would,” the dragon rumbled, chuckling slightly. More dust fell from the ceiling of the cavern as he laughed, his deep voice shaking everything around him. Including me. “None would be so stupid.” he added.

“None can,” Lost corrected.

The dragon pulled back and sat up. After a moment’s look of confusion, he leaned down and propped himself up on his claws and rolled one at my sister. “Continue,” he ordered.

“You said it yourself, didn’t you?” Lost goaded. “You own everything, and everyone. You don’t care if we use your things. If we’re your property, using your property, then how can we steal it? Both us and the item are still part of the whole, and that whole is still yours.”

“It’s good to see that some can learn,” the dragon said, smugly. “Few seem so smart as to figure that out. The zebras I found myself with as a hatchling knew. They were smart, they knew how to treat a dragon.” He smiled, puffing out his chest and flexing his claws. He seemed very pleased with himself.

“But they are gone,” Xeno said. “You’ve none to give you what you want. Is this why you terrorize and take from my tribe?”

“I do not take,” barked the dragon. He glared at her, but snorted out a little ‘hmph’ rather than make any moves. “I survived where your kind did not. I came here as a hatchling, taking my small hoard.” He smiled, reminiscing. Laughing, he continued, “How naïve I was, content with what I had. Your kind had destroyed your world. If only I’d known then what I know now.” He laughed and dug a claw through the pile of gold, leaving deep trails through the jewelry, bits, and gems.

Lost, Xeno, and The Convert all shared a look. After a moment’s confusion, Lost looked back up at the dragon. “What do you mean?” she asked. “What do you know now that you didn’t then?”

The dragon closed his eyes and snorted smoke from his nose again, then smirked. “Much,” he answered. “I was content with what I had for a time, and I slept. When I awoke, I’d grown, I found my hoard far too small for my liking. Much time had passed, and for a time I feared there was nothing left of value.”

“What changed?” Lost asked cautiously.

“I was given everything,” the dragon answered, smiling wide and baring his teeth again.

I looked over at Rose, confused. “What in the Goddesses’ names does he mean by that?” I asked, before looking back. I didn’t expect she had an answer for me, and given her muttering, I was right.

“More of my kind?” asked Xeno. I could see the gears turning in her head as she tried to figure out if there might have been any others that might have survived to sic the dragon on the Wasteland.

“No,” rumbled the dragon. “One of her kind.” He jabbed a claw toward my sister. “I was reminded that all is for my taking. That everything I see belongs within my claws, and whatever the zebras had given me was but the beginning. From mountain to mountain, I could keep it all. That nothing could escape my grasp.” He snapped his claws together to emphasize his point.

“You were asked to guard the mountains...” Lost said, barely loud enough for me to hear. The dragon didn’t seem to notice her comment. My sister looked back and forth, before she finally adjusted her glasses. She looked up at the dragon. “Who was it?” she asked calmly.

“She only said she was a pony of virtue,” answered the dragon with a shrug. “I care not for your kind’s names.”

“What!” Rose demanded, sounding quite shocked.

Shifting uncomfortably, I looked back at the clone mare to ask her just what she meant.

Rose stood against one of the smooshed houses’ walls, staring past me. She wasn’t looking toward the cavern with the dragon though, she was looking behind me. Her face was twisted up in a mix of confusion and contempt, and with the way her body was still healing, it made her look quite the sight.

I shifted, gently moving my steel hooves to keep quiet, and turned to see what she was staring at. Behind me were all the zebra foals, sitting in a little group and staring at Rose’s melted form. None really seemed scared, in fact they all looked fascinated, their eyes wide and their mouths open. Had they never seen a pony who’d been caught by dragon fire before?

That was a stupid question.

“Where’s Fine Tune?” I asked warily. He hadn’t gone up with Xeno when they returned.

One of the zebra foals, a little colt with bright blue eyes, raised a hoof and waved repeatedly. That answered that.

I turned back to Rose. “You okay?” I asked, hoping this wouldn’t be an issue. I wasn’t very good with foals myself, but they weren’t going to be around forever and I could forget this whole escapade happened as soon as we dropped them off at the mall with the rest of Xeno’s tribe.

“I’m not a fan of foals,” she muttered back, twisting the remainder of her cigarette between her lips. “Never had one of my own... Got bitter.” She shrugged. “Being stared at isn’t really my favorite thing in the world either.”

“Fine Tune?” I whispered, twisting back to look at the group of foals. “Can you take them to get their things? If... if they have any?”

“We’ve got everything already,” he answered, his voice breaking mid-sentence.

“Well, can you get them to not stare at Rose?” I demanded.

The zebra foal saluted. “Can do, Miss Hidden!” he announced.

Leaving him to his methods, I turned back to my sister. I wanted to be there with her, helping to deal with the situation with the dragon, but that wouldn’t work. There was no way of getting out there without being seen and potentially burnt to a crisp before I even got close.

Lost had sat in front of the dragon, smiling. She seemed far more comfortable, no longer on edge and on her hooves, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. That had to be a good sign, if she was that confident in her skills to talk the dragon down. I just wished I knew her plan in its entirety.

“I’m just trying to understand, because,” Lost continued as I turned back to her. “Nopony, noone at all can steal from you. We’re all your possessions and everything around us is your property, even the pile of gold. So why should it upset you if one of your possessions touches another possession?”

The dragon squinted at my sister. Pointing a single claw up at her, he opened his mouth and bared his teeth. “Because-”

“Because if you think about it, you let the others around clean the pile of gold up,” Lost mused, placing a hoof to her chin. “They take your necklaces and rings off, they separate and sort everything. Plenty of them touch your gold, your jewels, your gems. None of them ever hurt anything, and you can fix it if they do... what with that fire of yours. There’s nothing wrong with mixing things up every now and then.”

The dragon’s eyes opened wide. Furrowing his darker brows, he stared down at my sister. “Oh,” he muttered, the rumbling deepness of his voice suspiciously absent. His shoulders slumped, and he seemed to relax. “You’re right...”

“So if you own everything from mountain to mountain, why bring it all here?” Lost asked. “Isn’t that just more work on your part?”

Xeno seemed to catch on to what she meant, and added, “Those of my tribe. Theyare all of your profession, here or at their home. Why take them, why split up families?”

“Why should I not?” the dragon asked. He didn’t sound defensive... It almost sounded like he was curious to what they meant. That was a sentiment I shared.

“The trees, the houses around us, the ponies, all of it. Is it all yours, or just what you bring to your cavern?” Lost asked. “Why take it if its already yours? You’re not protecting any of us to be seen as a savior, so it can’t be that. None of us can stand up to you, you’ve proved that already. That fight before? Nothing affected you, so... you can’t be scared of us. Is it power? Making our kind fear you?”

The dragon laughed, and his deep voice rumbled in echoes off the wall. “As if it mattered to me whether you fear me. I don’t need to prove myself to you,” he answered, smiling smugly. “I own all that I set my eyes on, whether in my hoard or out there.” He hooked a claw up, pointing to the now-destroyed hole he’d used to get back in when I stole his crown.

“Okay, so if everything you see you own... What threats are you so worried about?” Lost asked calmly. She shifted slightly, looking over to The Convert. When she got a nod, she continued. “You got angry before because you didn’t want to share your hoard with a mate, correct?”

The dragon grunted, glaring at her.

“Hear me out, please,” my sister continued. “Think about it for a second. If you had a mate, and that mate was yours. Then even if they lay in your hoard, the hoard is still yours, and she’s just a part of it. You don’t have to worry about her taking it, because she’s yours. You didn’t care when we took a dress. It’s the exact same thing.”

“It is not the exact same thing,” the dragon argued.

“But it is,” Lost corrected. “All you’re doing right now is keeping yourself from having more. By saying ‘this is mine and nothing else can be near it’ you’re keeping away all the other things that you could own.”

The dragon sat up, his eyes wide. After only a second, he looked down at my sister past his snout and squinted. Reaching up, he dug his claws against his jaw in thought. “Explain,” he demanded.

“Ponies, zebras... our kind,” Lost started, waving a forehoof between herself, Xeno, and The Convert. “We don’t own everything. We keep what few things we have of our own within our homes. That’s how we know what’s ours. But if we owned everything, we wouldn’t need to. Because that would mean we only wanted what we could fit. We’d be giving away everything else to another. You don’t want to be giving up your things to anyone else, do you?”

The dragon rumbled, answering with a deep growl from his throat, “No.”

“So you should be out there. Be the master of it all,” Lost said, lifting her forehooves and spreading them both wide. “Your things will be here when you return, and whether they’re here or out there, they’re still yours. If I walked out, would I stop being yours just because I left the tunnels?”

“No, you are mine regardless. Alive or dead, here or out there,” the dragon answered. He scratched across his underside.

“Exactly. And wouldn’t that be better for all of us?” Lost asked, one ear flicking slightly. She looked over at the tunnel toward me. “To be out and happy?”

“You assume I care about how you feel,” the dragon answered, chuckling. Without another word, he flopped back onto the gold pile. Bits and jewels flew into the air, cascading forward and covering the floor around him. He wriggled about for a moment, getting comfortable, before finally staring at my sister and the two flanking her.

Lost looked stumped. She scooted back a few steps and sat down again. For quite a while she sat silently, staring at the dragon. Her look wasn’t returned, as the dragon seemed to be done with her. He’d closed his eyes and decided to pay no attention to the three in front of him.

My heart skipped a beat. Had Lost’s plan just failed? I knew she was a thinky pony and able to get herself out of most situations, and this one didn’t even involve a gun being pointed at her. “Come on Lost...” I whispered, scooting inches closer and barely letting my steel hooves touch the floor.

Rose snorted behind me.

“You know what’s out there, don’t you?” Lost finally asked. Before the dragon could answer, she continued, “There’s hundreds of ponies, zebras, changelings... There’s ruins as far as the eye can see, and treasure beyond anything I could imagine. But... Do you know what I’ve never seen in my life before?”

Slowly, the dragon cracked one eye open. He stared at my sister, raising his ridged brow questioningly.

“We suggested you find a mate but... I’ve never seen another dragon in my life,” Lost said. “You’re probably the only one left. There’s nothing out there that can compare to you.” She looked the dragon up and down once, tilting her snout down and looking over the rims of her glasses at him. “Nothing to compete with.”

The Convert turned to my sister, she said something quietly, but was shushed quickly by Lost. The glare she gave said it all.

“You’re the top of the ownership chain,” Lost continued, slowly turning away from The Convert. She cleared her throat. “I think, rather than stay in here, with a hoard that’s obviously too small... Do like the pony who said she was a virtue told you... Go get all of it.”

Growling, the dragon smiled. He snorted smoke from his nose and bared his teeth. None of his movements seemed hostile, in fact he looked quite pleased with himself. As if my sister suggesting the same thing that had motivated him once before raised some need within him, he pushed himself to his claws and looked out toward the outside, through the hole in the tunnel that overlooked the cavern.

“She said everything was mine,” the dragon mused, his eyes closing slightly, as if he were reliving a long-forgotten memory. “I could have had it all, flown from peak to peak, collected what I wanted. Been worshipped or feared, taken as I saw fit... Instead I grew complacent, returned to my home. How I loathe this place sometimes.”

“I think it’s time you went to your domain,” Lost suggested. “You belong out there, so that you can see and experience everything you own, not locked in this gilded cage you’ve made for yourself. Whether I’m here or out there with you, I’ll still be yours. Go, enjoy what you own.”

Xeno nodded. “My tribe view you as a messenger of the stars,” she said, closing her eyes. “Youare much more, and also much less. The foals belong with their family, even if theyare yours.” She lowered her head toward the dragon.

He smiled, a pleased rumbling coming from his throat. His wings opened, flexing behind him, and he clasped his claws in front of him, before stretching toward the air. He looked so very happy with what they’d said, so much so that even the gold covering his scales seemed to be shinier. Lowering himself down, he stepped over my sister, my friend, and The Convert. With a single glance, he walked off.

“Know that wherever you go, I will know,” he rumbled as he walked through the tunnel to the outside of the cavern.

For several tense minutes, I waited, watching as he walked through the tunnel and appeared in the hole that led up and out. His legs passed by it, and it wasn’t until the tip of his tail snapped though the air and disappeared past that I finally exhaled. I still laid there, not daring to get up until my sister came and got me.

Lost looked back and forth between Xeno and The Convert. With one massive sigh, she flopped down onto the stone floor, her legs giving out from under her. She smiled, and looked over toward me.

I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She always was such a thinky pony.

* * *

Even with the dragon gone, things seemed to continue as normal. The buffalo, the other adult zebra, and the ponies didn’t seem to do anything different. Most continued cleaning up what was left, having nearly finished while Lost was talking to the dragon. Honestly, it’d amazed me that none of them bothered to interact with the scene as it unfolded. None so much as glanced over, they just kept working in the background to clean while Lost talked the dragon into seeking out his entire domain.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Even now that I could sit freely in the main cavern and not have to worry about being burnt to a crisp by the dragon, I just found myself staring forward. I looked past the gold, which now left a sour taste in the back of my throat, toward the others. Stormheart stood with a group of unicorns, spotting for them as they removed one of the last few boulders that’d fallen from the ceiling.

Every so often I glanced back at the hoard of gold and gems. A small part of me wanted to go for them again, but I didn’t dare move my hooves. A little digging in the back of my mind kept me thinking about what happened. Even though Rose and the others were busy discussing how to deal with the others, how to get the foals back safely, and all the other thinky pony things, I couldn’t get it out of my head.

A shiver ran up my spine, thinking of how Rose looked when I first saw her. If a little more bone had been showing, I’d have sworn she was a ghoul just like The Glowing One we met before. It’d always been different, when I got other ponies killed. Gunshot wounds were something I was used to. Goddesses, the fact that I could even think that was horrifying.

I was used to ponies being shot.

I was used to me being shot.

Heaving a sigh, I pressed the cold steel of my forehoof against my head. It helped a little, but I could feel the metal shaking. This had gotten far too stressful for me. Thank the Goddesses Lost was able to keep her head on straight.

Slowly, I rose to my hooves. Walking carefully over to the hoard, I sat in front of it, with the closest of the golden bits resting just in front of my forehooves. I stared down at them, taking in the little gems and jewels. If I could find it...

Looking around, I leaned to see more, but didn’t stand. The hoard was bigger than I was, and it could be anywhere. Not seeing what I wanted, I forced myself up again and started to pace the pile. I weaved through the parts that were knocked free by the dragon as he left, not yet cleaned up by his captives.

“Excuse me,” I whispered to one of the other ponies as I shuffled past, looking at the ground. I remembered all too well what The Convert had said, and I could feel the glare I was getting even as I said it.

The pony I’d past said nothing to me, he just stepped aside. He stomped his hooves on the stone floor and moved to watch me. Others around stopped their work and did the same. None said a word, but Goddesses I knew the looks they were giving me.

Sheepishly, I sped up and tried to get past them. Just as I thought I was free, I bumped into something big and fluffy.

Stormheart turned and stared at me. “When you were first brought here,” he said sternly, “I offered you food. I welcomed you into the community. Do you understand the gravity of what you’ve done?”

I nodded slowly, looking away. Unable to find an excuse, I said, “I’m sorry, I ju-”

“I don’t care for your excuses,” the buffalo answered. “You’re very lucky that your sister is good with words. Things could have been much worse.” He leaned in close and used a forehoof to pull my face toward him. Squinting, he stared into my eyes. “Think before you act, next time.” Dropping his hoof from my face, he pointed away. “Go. We need to finish cleaning so we can rebuild.”

Nodding slowly, I sidestepped him and kept walking. I just needed to find that Goddesses-damned crown, and then I’d be gone. The last thing I wanted was to start more trouble. As quick as I could, I worked my way past the remainder of the ponies and buffalo, until I was at the far side of the hoard. I looked up at it. This had to be where he tossed the two parts...

I stared up at the massive pile. If only I were taller, if only I had wings so I could get a better vantage. I should just ask Fine Tune. He always wanted to be helpful, and I was sure if Lost told him to, he’d do it for me. I stared at the pile.

I still really wanted to take all of it.

I’d settle for the crown though. The two pieces would be a good reminder of what happened, even if they were worthless now. Knowing better than to climb up atop the hoard, I turned away. I walked the opposite direction around the pile, scared to deal with the others who lived here, after that talk with Stormheart. At least he’d been nice. I probably deserved a good smack across the face, at the very least.

After a long walk around the far side, I found myself back where I’d started. I headed down the path where we’d all been before.

“...pretty sure that we won’t need to deal with- Oh, Hidden,” said Lost. She trotted over to me and wrapped her hooves around my neck in a tight hug. Releasing me, she stared me in the eyes. Past her glasses, I could see the worry. She opened her mouth to say something, but it seemed to catch in her throat. “Stay next to me, please,” she finally requested.

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod.

The others all stared at the two of us. After my agreement, they turned back to one another. The Convert and Fine Tune were both in their changeling forms, chirping and chittering back and forth between the two of them. The zebra foals had formed a small circle around a large box and were talking quietly to one another in their native tongue. Xeno had one ear twisted back, listening to them, but she and Rose stood facing my sister and me.

Rose looked a lot better. She wasn’t back to her normal self, but the sloughing of her skin seemed to be almost completely gone. Only a few pits and pale spots remained. Her mane hadn’t grown back yet, not that I was sure if it would, and her eyes were back to normal completely. She stared at me through half-lidded eyes, just shaking her head.

“What’d I miss?” I asked.

“We’re trying to figure out the best way to move...” Lost said, pausing. She lifted a hoof and started pointing it toward the foals. “Oh Goddesses, there’s like a dozen of them.” Facehoofing, she stared at Xeno with wide eyes and a ‘help me’ look on her face.

“Theyare good foals,” Xeno said calmly. “A long walk willnot hurt them. The dragon is not a problem, we only need to worry for the ponies under the ground.” She looked down at the foals and smiled. “Theywill behave...” Raising her voice, she addressed the foals. “Sahihi, watoto?”

The vast majority of them answered, “Ndiyo!”

“Theywill behave,” Xeno repeated, turning back to my sister.

“They’d better,” muttered Rose. She waved a hoof toward me, beckoning me over to her. “My gun,” she requested when I walked over.

“Yeah, sure... Want your cloak too?” I asked, before leaning back to start digging them out.

“I think I can wear it now, without it fusing to me,” she answered.

“Just how bad was it?” Lost asked.

“If you ever really want that answer, I’ll find a dragon to light you ablaze,” Rose answered, grabbing her grenade rifle for me with the haze of her telekinesis. The aquamarine glow was brighter than before, but still far dimmer than it’d been before she’d been scorched. Juggling the gun away, she snatched the cloak from my outstretched hoof and wrapped it around her. Once it was to her liking, she slid the gun strap over her shoulder and settled the weapon over her back. “I’m just glad it’s over. I should be back to full soon.”

“It’s a good thing you’re not a normal mare,” I said, forcing a smile.

“Don’t you ever say that,” she spat back at me. “Being a copy might help me survive sometime, but I’d gladly take being a real pony if it meant I had something to look forward to after I finally kick it.” She turned to Xeno. “And you. You’re lucky I didn’t kill that bitch of a mother of yours... I don’t need a reminder about what I am, y’know.”

“Iam sorry,” Xeno said, her ears drooping and her tail lowering. “At one time she was not so full of hate for others. I left because we could not get along, but she has not always been this way.”

“Let’s just hope she changes,” Lost added. “I understand her being a grieving mother, but we’ve fixed the problems with her and her sadaka, so there isn’t any reason to send foals off to a dragon anymore. You can explain that to her, right?”

“I... Iwill try,” Xeno answered.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked, turning and walking back to the pile of our things. Xeno’d placed it all in her satchel earlier, but now came the task of sorting everything back to what belonged to whom. I took a seat behind it and began to organize things with my steel forehooves.

“I think that depends on who all wants to come with us,” Lost answered.

“We’re not going to force them all?” Rose asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you think we can make everyone here come with us? There’s only five of us...” Lost answered, shrugging. “If we force them to come with us, are we any better than the dragon.”

“Yes, yes we are,” shot back the clone mare. She paused, bringing a hoof to her chin. “But not by enough.”

“Convert?” Lost called out, looking at the two changelings at the far side of the tunnel.

Both looked at us, their blue eyes glowing brightly. Twin flashes of bright green fire erupted around them, and after only a moment, Fine Tune and Honey Drip stared back at us.

“It’s The Convert, thank you,” corrected the mare. “What can I do ya for?”

“Will you talk to the others, and find out who wants to come with us, back to civilization?” Lost asked, smiling weakly. She shifted on her hooves, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Well, I don’t think they’ll want to go... This place is safe and has food, but I’ll ask. Worst case they say no,” she answered. Reaching over, she booped Fine Tune on the nose with her forehoof. “C’mon, cutie. Let’s go do some diplomancing.”

“Oh! Before you go?” I said, hoping to catch them before they could leave.

The two changelings stared at me, with The Convert dropping her hoof.

“Yes, Miss Hidden?” asked Fine Tune. He smiled wide, his tail swishing about behind him happily.

“While you’re over there... Will you keep an eye out for the two halves of the crown the dragon snapped?” I requested, glancing up at my sister.

“Hidden!”

“I just want it to remind me!” I yelled defensively. “I won’t touch any of the other treasure, and if the dragon shows up I’ll make sure to give it back to him!” I clenched my eyes shut, fearing the reaction.

“I say she takes it,” Rose chipped in, “Let her feel what it’s like to be burnt to cinders.”

“I have!” I yelled, opening my eyes and staring daggers at her. “I’ve been nearly killed more times than I can count, thank you very much. You can get the fuck off my back already. I said I was sorry for what happened and I’m sitting here feeling miserable already.”

Lost placed a hoof on my shoulder. She looked down at me reassuringly and said, “Hidden, I think-”

“No. I feel bad, okay. I know what I did was stupid and I know I fucked up. I don’t need to be constantly reminded about it,” I snapped, pulling away from my sister. “You don’t trust me, she hates me, and I’m sure Xeno has her reservations. The only one I don’t think has issues with me is Fine Tune, and that’s just because he seems to love everything.”

The whole group stared at me. The Convert snorted, closing her eyes. Fine Tune just chirped happily. “I like everyone,” he said calmly. “Well, except the old Queen. She was kind of a bitch.” He laughed.

“Kind of? She was a huge bitch!” Lost said, laughing too. “But we’re nowhere near her. And Hidden will behave in the future.” She looked at Rose, over the rims of her glasses. Her ears pinned back and she snapped her tail once, obviously agitated. “If anypony needs to give my sister a lecture about how she acts, it’ll be me. Do you understand?”

In front of me, Loyalty slid forward, not lifting off the ground. It aimed toward Rose.

The two unicorns stared at one another for a moment, before Rose finally smiled. “Just keep her in check,” she said.

The blue glow around Loyalty faded completely, and my sister nodded. “I will,” she said back.

With the tension broken by Lost’s promise to deal with me when I acted up, things relaxed. Fine Tune and The Convert walked off, chatting quietly to one another as they did.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the zebra foals creep up next to Xeno. He rattled some things off to her in their native tongue. Xeno answered back, leaning down to talk to him at his height. After a short back and forth, she nodded and turned to my sister. “Go give it to her,” she said to the foal.

The little zebra skittered back to the group and collected something from the box that they foals had all been sitting around discussing. Whatever he had, it was wrapped in cloth and quite small. Trotting to my sister, he held it up in his mouth and presented it to her.

The blue haze of her magic wrapped around it and she took the gift he had for her.

Once the little treasure had left his mouth, he whispered a few things in his language, before running back to the group sheepishly. As soon as he got back, the others all started talking to him as fast as they could. Whatever they were saying, it made little sense, not only because of the language barrier, but because they seemed so excited.

“He says itis for saving them, and that sheis very bossy,” Xeno translated, looking back and forth between the group of foals and my sister. “I donot know what that means...”

Lost’s eyes went wide behind her glasses. She lifted one edge of the cloth and looked at whatever it was, but didn’t show the rest of us. After only a split second, she wrapped it back up, tucked the little treasure into her saddlebags and smiled. “I do. Tell them I said thank you, please?” she requested.

Xeno nodded and turned to the foals. She said something in her native tongue, and the foals turned to my sister. They said something with far too many syllables to keep up with, and that seemed to appease our zebra friend.

“How long until we can go?” I asked, finishing my sorting of our things. Before getting an answer, I scooped up what I could into my hooves and stuffed it all into my saddlebags. The PipBuck could sort it later. What I couldn’t grab with the steel hooves, I picked up with my mouth and tossed in there. Looking to the foals, I decided to let the filly keep the dress.

As the others grabbed their things in their magic or with their hooves and teeth, Lost shrugged. “As soon as Fine Tune and The Convert get back, we’ll go,” she answered.

“I miss Blackhoof,” I muttered, wanting to go home and be done with this fiasco...

“We’ll be back soon, I promise,” Lost reassured me.

“First things first,” Rose interrupted. “We’ve got zebras and drugs to deal with.”

“No rest for the wicked,” Lost whispered to me, looking at the clone mare.

* * *

I sat at the edge of the cavern’s observation area. Out in front of me, I could see for ages. The sun was just coming up, and still hidden behind the mountains that made up the far edge of the unicorn range. It cast a beautiful shadow, leaving the entire valley dark, while the clouds above were bright. They seemed a little less ominous; fluffy and white, rather than their usual dour grey that constantly threatened rain.

“Makes you feel small, doesn’t it,” Lost whispered. She leaned against me and closed her eyes.

“Kinda. I felt that way seeing the valley the fir