(Story extract)

Minty having been escorted off to where they did the laundry, I found myself idly waiting with Sweetie Bot outside of Elder Quazar’s office. Man, this took me back… puh. You can talk and talk and talk all you want, some ponies just can’t be convinced that you have no intention of building any kind of bomb and shouldn’t be sent to reactor maintenance. Thank you Gamma Ray… Gamma Ray… it feels like it’s been ages since I saw her for the last time. Oh, don’t get yourself worked up right now you stupid pegasus, you’ve got a friend who probably needs some kind of brain surgery or something. Blinking some tears from my eyes, I rubbed them dry in time to catch the sight of the midnight blue unicorn with a deep-teal mane sprouting white strands trotting out, rubbing a hoof against her temple. “So many of our best… when will this battle be won?…”

“Elder Quazar?” She jumped slightly, spinning herself around in alarm before catching sight of both myself and Sweetie Bot, releasing a small sigh of relief. She adjusted her mane and robes, looking back towards myself as I stood myself up from the bench. “S-sorry to startle you. I, uh, I take it that things are pretty bad out… nevermind.” The look in her eyes showed one level of stress I’d never seen before. I bit at my lip, the Elder releasing a small sigh and leaning up against the wall opposite, holding a hoof against her head.

“I’m sorry to hear that something has been malfunctioning with Minty’s… my nephew’s augmentations, after the surgery. Hopefully it shouldn’t take too long for us to remedy the issue. I was just about to ask Nova if she knew anything of it…” She shook her head idly, taking a breath and pushing herself off of the wall, beginning to trot down the hallway. Myself and Sweetie followed, Quazar trotting slowly and easily about the myriad of other rangers and knights running about the hallways of the complex. She glanced back at myself, looking for a short while. “I have been curious, how do you know Knight Fringe? He had taken quite an interest in you two, enough that he seemed to have abandoned us shortly before the situation in Pripytrot began.”

“Kn-knight Fringe? Uh…” Well, if that wasn’t a hell of a loaded question. Of all ponies, at least she had to have known that he was a pegasus, but… if she didn’t… “He, um, he said that… that he was just following orders from Nova to protect us. At first, anyways…” We passed through a corridor with windows upon one side, overlooking a series of desks in front of a massive curved screen displaying an old map of Equestria, as well as that of zebra lands. From the looks of things below, however, it was doubling as an overflow area for the wounded soldiers from Pripytrot… at least, those who came back, anyways. “He told me that he’d killed my mother, Wildfire, under orders. I guess he just felt he had to make up for it, maybe.”