Fallout Equestria: Sins of an Alicorn

by Alchemystudent

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 74412

Nyx awakens to find herself in the Equestrian Wasteland. Her goal, survival in the wastes, can she hope to do it alone?

Nyx, daughter of Twilight Sparkle, awakes to a world torn by war and ravaged by nuclear fallout. Alone, she is given the task to write down the final days of the heroes of Equestria to let the world know of their brave exploits, but is given a much harder task-to live her life as best as she can.

But, how can one live, if one sees herself as a monster. How can one live on, when there is nothing to live for?

All thanks to Kkat for the world and Pen stroke for the always lovely Nyx.

Published 2014-06-10 22:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2016-07-29 23:14:09 UTC

Memories

Chapter one: Memories

“No pony is born bad or good, Nyx, you are not Nightmare Moon”

What I am about to tell you, is a story. A story of adventure, drama, and friendship. It is a story full of hardship and strife, but it will be an uplifting story. It is the story of how I got here and found my reason to live. One about an alicorn...

My first memory of the world was of pain and sadness, a sadness that I could never describe perfectly. All I could remember on that day was being trapped and I was in need of a way out; trapped inside that little world of pain for no real reason. This feeling of fear, pain, hatred, and anger was stopped when an angel came to me, pulled me out of the thorn bush, and brought me home to care for me. An angel I would call: my Mom.

Maybe I should introduce myself before I can tell the rest of my story and why I am writing down the words of an monster-turned-savior. My name is Nyx Sparkle; at least, this was the name my mother gave me. A name that my mom picked for me because of a story of a hero, one that protected ponies. For me, it reminded me of what I felt I was like before I was adopted. Nothing. Nyx, as in I was nothing until Twilight, my friends, and the five greatest mares I had ever known had taught me what it was like to live a life free of hate, jealousy, and rage.

You probably already know that story though: my mom had shown me a book that a few writers wrote down about the events surrounding Nightmare Moon’s rebirth and redemption (Though, I take exemptions about some of those details. I should know... I was there, I lived it). That is, if any copies survived in the wasteland, and if they did, feel free to let me help correct them. I will be happy to fill in the missing details for you. The story may have been accurate, but there was so much more to that then those two let on.

Sorry, off-topic, I’ll try to keep my love of books and reading away from the narrative as much as I can.

As I was saying, my name is Nyx Sparkle and I am the daughter of the MAS Ministry Mare: Twilight Sparkle. I am also, an alicorn and maybe one of the last true ones in existence as I don’t consider alicorns that were created by that weird chemical to be anything like me at all. For the first few decades of my life, I was happy: my friends all got their cutie marks, my mom watched me grow into a lovely young mare (When I was in season, my mom would have to fight off the potential suitors with a big cane), the five mares who were like aunts to me went on to bigger and better things, and for the most part I was able to get on with my dreams in the warmth and safety of my home.

Then, war came and as you all know, war never changes.

A short time after I had joined the Royal Guard, my mom had requested my uncle to take me out of the service and away from the front lines to help my friends in Stable tech. She told me that she didn't want me to become a living weapon, a killer. Mom did her best to show how much more I could do without going out there and being a soldier. So, being the good girl I was, I was convinced and stayed with my friends. Because I believed I could do more to protect ponies back home than on the field. That... was the stupidest mistake me and mom have ever made. Maybe, if I was on the front lines where I belonged... I could’ve ended the war, I could’ve stopped the day the world ended.

I’ll never forget that day, when the balefire missiles were launched at Canterlot. Canterlot, I thought that place was invincible but I was wrong. So terribly wrong. Watching those spells hitting the barrier was like watching javelins hitting an innocent pink turtle. My first thought was to fly up there to see if my mom was there and alive; however, I felt somepony pulling at my right leg telling me to get away from there and that Twilight had a plan for this. I tried my best to struggle against the pull, but the pony was defiant. The pony said that, above all else, Twilight needed me to live on to the new world. I tried to protest, but the pony activated a spell that made me weak in the knees and unable to stop being taken to the basement of the library and thrown into a spell circle. I looked on in fear as I watched the unicorn proceed to activate the sealing spell.

The first memory of the old world was of pain and sadness, the last one was of fear and darkness.

How long was I under the sealing spell? I can’t really say, but I found out it was about one-hundred and ninety eight years before the sun came back. But, at the time, I just know it must have been a while because after I had woken back up, I saw that the room I was in was covered in dust and cobwebs. Looking around frantically, I tried to figure out where everypony was and if they were all right. I looked down in front of me and found a small orb with my cutie mark: a shield with a crescent moon on it. I remember mom telling me about memory orbs, but I had only seen my friends use them a few times before. I did know; however, how to use one. Leaning my head down, I put my horn to the orb and closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in the body of a mare. I couldn’t feel anything on my back, so I wasn’t an alicorn or pegasus. Another thing I noticed that my eyes were watering, as if I had just stopped crying. Noticing that a purple hoof was wiping the tears away, I began to suspect whose memories I was looking at. It was confirmed when the mare I was in walked up to the mirror and looked at herself, “Hello Nyx.”

“MOTHER!” I screamed in my head, wanting so much to talk to her once more.

“ I’m sorry if I look like a mess right now, this is my fifth time trying to record this message and I haven’t managed to fix myself up,” my mom then ran my hoof-er- I mean her hoof, through her mane to comb it back, “But, I promise I’ll be able to do it right this time. Nyx, my wonderful daughter, if you are watching this, then the worse has happened. We ended the world in a flash of hellfire. Everything me and my friends worked for, the things we did to help, were all for nothing.”

I watched in the mirror as she began to tear up before wiping her eyes.

“No, Twilight, don't do this to her, be strong, just continue,” my mother said as she looked back into the mirror, “I don't know what the new world is like out there, maybe things are peaceful and everypony learned that war is a game nopony should play. Maybe they are all fighting, I don’t know. What I do know is, there are ponies out there alive and well. I'm positive that the Stable project that you and your friends worked on has saved some of the ponies of Equestria, find them. I also know that there is a world out there for you to see, explore, and be that wonderful mare that I love. A filly that I’ll,” I watched as a shudder came over her as she held back the urge to cry, “I knew that one day, this might happen. That we end up killing ourselves, and the world that we live in. I had always just imagined that when that day happens, my firends and I would all be together to watch the end. Applejack would offer to hug us while Pinkie...Oh Celestia, Pinkie. I want to tell her that I am sorry, that I should be there for her, that I can help her fix her problem. Maybe, I don't want to be mad at her anymore, and I’m not. I just wish I’ll have time to tell her this and that I am still and always her friend. But with the way things are going...I don't think I’ll ever be able to. Just like I can’t.”

My mother then let out another sniffle, wiping her tears away.

“Focus Twilight, Focus, Nyx needs you to be strong,” Mom muttered under breath and then looked back at the mirror, taking a deep breath, “Nyx, there’s a few things I want you to do for me. First, my friends. We all have had great adventures together, fantastic lives, and a wonderful time together. I know that there are probably scholars and ponies who’ll write down our stories and we’ll drift off into legend. You are probably the only pony out there who knows the truth about us, of who we are and what we were really like. In this room, there is a book, I have written down everything I can about how wonderful and great those girls are. I wrote everything about them up until this very moment when I recorded this memory.”

I managed to look out the corner of her eye and saw the date, it was a few weeks before the bombs fell.

“ I want you to go, and find out what happened to them. I want you find out about how each of them... how each...” my mother, the strongest mare I had ever known, began to break down in front of me, “... of them died. I then want you to write that last part of the story down so that way, the world won’t forget the story of the five greatest mares I have ever known. So everypony will know about how wonderful they were, about the lives we shared and everything we did together. I don’t want them to be forgotten. I was lucky to have them as friends. We made mistakes, we all did, but I want the ponies of the future to know about it all: The good and the bad to learn.”

“But what about you, Mom?” I asked inwardly.

“ Don’t worry about me, I am in that book too. No less worthy than my friends, or more important. What you see in that book, is a memorial. A tribute to all of the great things that me and my friends did for th ponies of Equestria, warts and all. All of our successes, all of our sins, right there for the world to see. We made mistakes, all of us. I just hope the future can learn and grow from them. We were beaten, but I'd like to think we did good out there," she then let out a sigh, ". So, don’t... worry about what happened to me. Second, out there is a repository of all of the books I have collected from around the world. I have had a computer read them and compile all of them down into a file so the information and stories of the past are not lost to time. Find it for me and try to get that information out to the ponies so they can rebuild all of Equestria. The book with the map is in the old stories, protect it from the monsters.”

I smiled at this riddle, she made it so that only I would get it.

“Lastly, you, my lovely daughter, my second child,” again, she wiped some tears away from her eyes, “Celestia, I had two kids by the time I was 21, that shouldn’t have happened. There is one thing I want you to do for me, one special important thing-live. After you are done with everything, I want you to go out and live your life. Have fun, find ponies to protect, make friends, live your life as you want, and become the mare that I know you are,” Twilight then placed a hoof onto the mirror, “That I know you are destined to be. My Nyx, my little girl. I am just sorry that I can’t be there to be with you, to help you live in this new world. If I had one wish, it would be to give you a hug, rub your back, and promise you that it will be ok.” She then wrapped her hooves around the mirror, “This isn’t close to me being there, but it will do for now. It will be ok Nyx, it will be ok. You are strong, smart, and resourceful. You can do it, even without me there. Just never forget this final message, I love you my daughter. Goodbye.”

Opening my eyes, I wiped a tear, “Love you too mom,” and pulled away from the orb. Looking around, I found a book next to my seal with my aunt’s cutie marks on the cover. Concentrating my magic I lifted up the book and held it to my side as I looked to the door and took a deep breath, “Ok, world... Here I come!”

____________________________

Author's Note

Thanks to Zoltanthemagnificent for the editing. To Recon477 for the reediting.

I hope you guys don't mind the new stuff. I don't think it changed to much

Well, here it is, the Past Sins and FOE story I had promised to write. There is going be plenty of heartbreak, tears, and asdventure to be had, but...that is what you guys come here for, right?

Character name: Nyx Sparkle

Strength:5

Perception:6

Endurance:5

Charisma:5

Intelligence:7

Agility:6

Luck:5

Traits:

Good Natured

Four Eyes

Barter:20

Battle Saddles:10

Explosives:12

Firearms:12

Flying:17

Lockpick:17

*Magic:33

Medicine:24

Melee:10

Repair:24

*Science:39

Sneak:17

*Speech:35

Survival:15

*tag skills

New Perk: Mommy’s Little Girl: The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree! Living in the library has given you the smarts that your dear old mom has obtained. +5 to Magic and Science skills.

Weeping

Weeping

“And I shall weep, for times long past”

Upon reaching the top of the stairs of the basement of the library, I got my first sight of what had happened to my home. Stepping back, my eyes opened in stark horror at what somepony did to it, how they vandalized every corner of it. Everywhere I looked, I saw cages of of ponies in various states of decay. I found myself holding back the bile that had built up in my throat as I saw the walls decorated with organs and various... other fluids. Wincining, I tried to turn my head away from all of the blood and carnage that I saw. Whoever was here, must have been sick.

Who could do this, who would vandalize my home?

A part of me wanted to throw up or cry, the rest told me to keep it together and get out of there. Taking a deep breath, I turned my head to look up the stairs, and silently walking, I wispered a silent prayer that they didn’t get to my room. Taking careful steps, I slowly made my way up the stairs, shaking in nervousness that they ruined my room. Once I got inside my old room, I used my magic to pull out a box with the label ‘my treasures’. Softly, I smiled at this, remembering all of the things I had packed within.

Opening the box slowly, I was glad to see that no one scavenged it. it was opened just a little, but everything seemed to be intact. Then again, it’s all worthless to anypony but me. Using my magic, I lifted up a small kazoo and giggled, remembering how I had won it; it was one of my favorite memories. Then I brought out a little plush doll of my mother, the letter that came from Dinky, a photo of my graduation with my mom and aunts all around me, my first day after bootcamp, a picture of me at Stable tech, and...the book where I got my name. To anypony else, these seemed like just small trinkets or useless junk, but to me... they were precious memories of a time now past. A treasure I couldn’t bear to lose.

Turning away from my box, I went to a small cupboard and opened a slot to pull out a small blue head band and a pair of glasses. Now, I know what you are thinking and no, I am no longer afraid of my dragon-like eyes. The reason for my glasses is... well...

Ok, so I feel like they make me look smart. Give me a little vanity once in a while.

Besides, Mom and Uncle Shining thouhgt I looked adorable in them.

Looking out the window of my old home, I quietly flew out and landed on the ground outside. As I walked away from the place I had called home for so long, I made a small promise to myself to never go back, that this was the last time I will ever go home again. I never wanted to see my home in such a... state. Taking a deep breath, I looked towards the boutique, or what was left of it. I could only shake my head in sorrow, trying my best to fight the memories of the building back when it was beautiful. Back when I first met Rarity, and I had gotten my glasses.

“No, don’t think about it, just keep walking. Just keep moving,” was what I began to think to myself as I opened the door to the house and peered inside. I muttered a small thank you to whoever was listening that this place was nowhere near as bad as what happened to the library.

Sadly, it still meant that this place looked like Tartarus washed over it with balefire and brimstone.

Making my way to the closet, I tried my best to ignore some of the skeletons that I could see lying next to the stage and used my magic to open it. Peering inside, I smiled softly to myself as I found the cape that Rarity had given my mother back when Spike went on his greed rampage. Torn, a little ratty from age, but it fit comfortably over my wings nicely and was very warm. Draping the cloth over my wings, I felt a little bad to be doing this again. I had already made peace with the fact that I was the reincarnations of Nightmare Moon and to cover my wings again felt like I was denying that part. It was like pretending I was just a unicorn once again and not who I was. A sigh left me as I also began to realize that I had no idea if Celestia and Luna were alive at this time, or if the zebras had survived and taken over.

I quickly shook my head at that last thought, “Of course they’re alive, it would take a lot to kill an alicorn. I know that for a fact, Celestia and Luna are,” I swallowed hard, not really believing my own words, “alive and in Canterlot. That’s where I’ll go when I’m done finding out about Fluttershy and the others. Yeah... I’ll see Celestia and Luna at Canterlot, they'll be ok along with mom and everypony else. This will all be a horrible nightmare that I could wake up from and none of this will ever have happened,” I then squinted my eyes hard, holding back the tears. Internally, I yelled at myself to not cry, that I had better not cry. There was more important things to do than cry, I had a mission from my mother to complete after all.

This cape was just to protect my alicorness. I didn’t know what the alicorn situation was here at the time and if there are any ponies alive here in the Wasteland, they might be shocked to see an alicorn in the world. Especially one that looks like the mare who twice tried to destroyed Equestria. I then let out a chuckle and walked out the door and back into the wastes.

Walking through the deserted streets, all I could hear in my head for the entire time was the small shadows of the past. Every path I walked down, every corner I turned would just bring out the faint voices of the past. Looking down the path of the old school house, all I could think of was the days that me and the CMC would play, trying to get our cutie marks or some other type of shenanigans. A small giggle escaped my lips as I began to hear the old voices coming to life before me

“Come on, Nyx!” Sweetie Belle laughed as she ran to a tree.

“I’m coming Sweetie Belle, what are you trying to,” I stopped in my tracks as I saw what appeared to be the world’s biggest water balloon before me. “What is that?!”

“Well, we tried Cutie Mark Bomb Makers, and that failed,” the orange pegasus said to me, walking up.

“And we tried Cutie Mark Water Carriers,” a yellow filly said, standing next to me, “But...”

“We haven’t tried Cutie Mark Water Bomb Makers!” Squealed Sweetie Belle, her purple and pink mane bobbing up and down in excitement.

“But, what does this have to do with me?” I asked, looking up at the thing, towering over me and eclipsing me in its shadow.

“Well, we need a way to set it off...” Sweetie Belle said, smiling with her horn aglow in a green aura.

“But Sweetie, Mom said not to use our magic for pranks!” I said.

“This isn’t a prank, it's to find out our destiny!” Scootaloo said, and then looked to the tree, “And if we happen to get Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wet...”

I giggled and charged up my horn, a smirk on my face as me and Sweetie fired.

I laughed at the memory, rubbing my hoof on the small dent in the ground from where the bomb went off. I almost felt like just stopping here and laying down to enjoy the happy memory, but then I looked in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner and my my heart sank at seeing the once building destroyed, but I began to smile as nostalgia started to take over me. Happily I ran to the ruined gingerbread building, the voices of the past continued to play in my head.

“Guys! Look, Look!” Cheered Applebloom as she ran to us, turning to show off a flank with a hammer and a nail in an apple.

Nearing the building and touching the door, I saw four little fillies next to me, dancing up a storm, trying to help a pair of twins dance. A chuckle escaped my lips as I opened the door, remembering the glee on Scootaloo’s face as a faint glow appeared on her flank.

As the door slowly opened and I stepped into the building, the memories continued to flood my mind. Walking into the foyer, I saw me and my friends, much older, talking Sweetie Belle into kissing her long time crush, a brown colt with a little beanie. In one of the corners, I saw Applebloom fixing up a new stove for the Cakes.

“NYXIE! NYXIE!” Squealed two little foals as they ran around my teenaged legs, “We need a ride.!”

“Sure,” I giggled, using my magic to lift the two onto my back.

As I neared the counter, I slapped my hoof against the counter, “One muffin, extra blueberries.”

“Will that be two or four?” Asked the Cup Cake that stood in my head.

“Four, Mom is letting Dinky eat during the magic lesson,” I said, letting the smell of the fake muffins enter my nose.

“Sure thing,” the fake Cup Cake said as she went behind the counter and gave them to me.

“Thanks,” I said, before sighing, “I just wished that you were really there.” I then looked up, as the illusion of the building vanished, and now the ruined truth stood before me. All the memory did was remind me that I hadn’t had anything to eat since I woke up and I needed something. Looking behind the counter, I saw something that caught my eye. Shaking my head in disbelief, I walked behind the stand and pulled out a box of ‘Fancy Pants Candied Apples’. Grinning, I opened the box and popped most of the contents into my mouth. I didn’t even try to think how long these have survived or how many rads they had. I just needed the food. As I began to munch on one, the taste felt stale and dusty, with a little bit of burning, but it was just what I needed for the moment.

Hunger gone, I turned and walked away, but not before looking over my shoulder, “Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Cake.”

Once I was outside, I could hear the distinct sounds of ponies talking. I held back the urge to squeal at the thought of pony companionship. Running as fast as I could to the group, I slowed my approach as I caught sight of them.

There was something... wrong with these ponies.

“Well, look it here,” said one of them as he looked at me. There were six of them, two mares and four stallions, each wearing what I would hesitate to call armor. It was more like they all went to a junkyard and threw whatever they wanted on. Their manes were all spiked and cut short, with a deranged look in their eyes.

“Looks like a cute unicorn has walked into town. Bet she screams real good,” said one of the mares, bringing out a small switchblade while the others did the same. Two of them drew some guns from their sides.

“Uh, sorry... I think there’s been some sort of mistake,” I said, backing up a little as two of them came closer. “I was just walking around the town to see if I couldn’t find somepony. Well, now I found somepony and I think I better go,” I finished, every fiber in my body telling me that these guys were not the talking type.

“Why? We’re gonna have a party and we need a guest. You’ll do,” said one of the stallions. It was then I began to notice their cutie marks, and it disgusted me. Each one was of things like a pipe in a pony skull or a knife sticking through a leg. How did they get those, I didn’t know and quite frankly, dear reader, I did not want to know.

What I didn't know, at the time, was that there was a seventh raider right behind me who leapt onto my back and stabbed his knife deep into me, just above my shoulder. I let out a loud scream of pain as the blade sunk deep into my flesh. It was only after he took a second slash into my body that I was finally able to buck him off. While he was in mid-air, I turned and punched him with my left forehoof, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

Two of the other ponies ran behind me and slashed into my hind legs, causing me to collaspe to my knees. Growling in pain, I reared a hind leg and kicked one of the ponies in the face. I then spun around, bringing my right forehoof against the side of the head of the ponies' partner. I then slamed an elbow against the skull, sending the pony down to the ground unconsious.

I was to distracted to hear the ponies armed with guns cock their firearms and fire at me, scoring two hits on my shoulder. I let out a scream as one of the bullets cut through my shoulder, making a trail of blood travel down it. Letting loose a small growl, I concentrated my magic through my horn and made it crackle with lighting. Keeping my eye on the one on the left, I sent out a bolt of electricity from my horn to knock him out. Sadly, this left room for his partner to send out two shots at me. I barely managed to dodge one bullet, but the other hit me dead in the hind leg as I rolled to the side. This left for his two friends to slice at my back and side, barely missing my wings. Squinting hard, I tried to concentrate for another another bolt, but the stallion in front of me cut in front of my chest before I could get another shot off.

“Plan B!” I thought to myself as I grabbed one of the dropped guns in my magic and threw it at the one who was shooting at me. As the thrown gun knocked him and made him drop his weapon, I turned and bucked the stallion at my back into a wall and then shot a small bolt at the pony cutting into my chest. Tired and bleeding, I moved to the wall in the hope that my healing magic would act fast enough to heal my injuries before moving on.

That would not be the case, sadly, as I watched the last member of the group walk over and pick up one of the knives, “Really mean, uni. Guess I am to have to make it slow and painful as I carve my initials into your cute little belly while I thrust my-”

I barely let him finish as I moaned, “No, no. NO!” Looking around, I used my telekinesis to pick up the nearby gun and aimed the barrel. Now, as much as I hate using guns, that did not mean I didn't know how to use one. With a terrified scream I pulled the trigger and closed my eyes. As the rapport went out, I heard the death rattle of the stallion as he went down. Looking up, I watched in utter horror as the stallion fell down, a pool of blood surrounding him as the fluid leaked out of the hole in his skull, “Oh, Celestia. No, please, I’m sorry,” I whimpered, “I didn’t mean to, I had no choice. You were going to rape and kill me, I-I-” It’s true that I was used to the idea of death on the battlefield by now, but this was the first time that I had ever taken a life, or even thought about it. I was taught by my mother to always respect life. Just to see a body, one that I killed, laying there began to make me tremble.

“Looks like she was a monster after all,” a pink earth pony mare taunted.

“No, I’m not!” I said, shaking my head.

“A ruthless monster that kills other ponies,” taunted another silver coated pony.

“Monster, monster, monster, monster MONSTER!”

“NO!” I screamed as I took off from my spot, my wings unfurling and destroying the cape I had brought with me. Flying as fast as I could, I reached a nearby hill with a decayed tree on it. This was me and my mother’s favorite reading spot. Where we could get away from our troubles and just read a book calmly. Landing at the tree, I looked back over what was once my hometown, my place of peace and saw all of the destruction within. I looked down at my hooves, all of the trials of the day just flooding through me, all of the horror that had just happened, and the thought that I had just killed a pony and I was alone in this world just finally overtook me and I broke down. I laid my head in my forehooves and cried myself to sleep.

Footnote: Level Up. New Perk: Gunphobia: Guns are not your favorite friends. In actuality, you outright despise them! Which is why you want to focus your own body instead of those horrible boomsticks! Add +5 to Melee Weapons and Unarmed.

Author's Note

Thanks to Zoltanthemagificent for editing and Recon777 for the additonal editing

Yes, now little Nyx has had her first kill. Will she handle it or not.

Also, There was going to be a sniper attacking NYx during the fight, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to have Nyx take him out.That and all of the memory scenes of Nyx walking bthrough Ponyville was added. I wanted to give a good contrast here.

Added more of a fight here.

Meeting

“I fight for the hope in ponies' hearts. Hope gives them reason to smile and laugh.”

I stood before the murdered stallion, watching in horror as his pooling blood touched my hooves,” N-No, I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to,” I whispered The blood was now on my hooves. I lifted my right forehoof to look at it in terror. The blood lingered there, like it was staining my hoof. In vain, I tried to shake the blood off, trying my best to wipe it away, but it stayed there. I panted as I tried to run away from the blood on the floor, but the pool kept following me.

“Look at that, guess she’s a monster after all,” I heard the voice of Diamond Tiara taunting me like we used to do when we were kids.

My eyes opened in horror as the voice continued, “No, I-”

“A little monster who kills ponies,” the other voice, Silver Spoon, said.

“No!” I yelled, finding myself growing younger. “I’m not a monster, I never wanted to kill him! Please, I didn’t want to-”

“Just a little monster,” said the voice, her mocking tone getting louder.

“Monster, monster. Hey everypony, let’s mock the little monster,” the partner voice teased.

“How can you protect the ponies you care about if you are a murderer?”

“No,No, no!” I whimpered, finding mirrors surrounding, each with an image of myself... no, it wasn’t me. It was Nightmare Moon, standing over the dead bodies of ponies and in front of it all, was my mother.

“Guess you are just a monster,” I hear my mom say, “Go away and never come back.”

I stepped back, and shook my head, “Mom, not you too... please.”

Thankfully, I was brought out of the nightmare by a distant yet loud noise in the distance. As the music came closer to me, I began to recognize it. It was the song that Pinkie Pie played once at my birthday, the same music she played when I came home from guard training. The ‘Parasprite Polka’ she called it. With a hopeful smile, I lifted my head from my hooves, praying that last night was some horrible nightmare. That everything that had happend: the war, the loss of my friends and family, the devastation of Ponyville, and...the murder, were all just horrible fantasies. But, when I opened my eyes and looked around, I saw that this wasn’t the case. The desolation of Ponyville was still there, laying underneath a grey cloud cover that blocked out the sunlight. A sad sigh escaped my muzzle as I shook my head at the desolation before me, my home now nothing but a bunch of ruined dreams and lives.

I sighed as I looked up at the old tree that I was resting next to. It was burnt, blackened, and very dead much like the town that rested below the hill. I laid there for a few more minutes, just looking at the town covered in the faint green mist of morning. All over, I could see the ruins of the town, broken walls and destroyed houses. Rubble littered the streets and once in a while one of those monster ponies would run in between the houses. At that point, I just wanted to lay down and give up.

"Come on, what is with that?" my inner voice called out to me.

"I'm quitting. There's nothing for me here, I don't belong here," I said to myself.

"Don't you start with that! Didn't mom give us a quest?" my inner voice asked me.

"Find out what happened to her and the bearers and finish the memorial book," I said, looking up and giving a nod. "But, where do I even start?"

"How about looking in mom's book? You're going to be writing in it, might as well read it," my little inner voice said.

I let out a chuckle as I reached in my saddle and pulled out mom's book, "I better stop talking to myself, soon. I might go nuts." Looking at the book in front of me, I ran my hoof along the gold lettering that was written on the soft purple cover, " The Journal of Friendship: The Story of the Elements. Cheesy mom, real cheesy," I giggled, not having it any other way. Opening up the book, I began to read through it, skimming over the first pages that were mainly introduction and dedications. The part that I was more interested in, was the first chapter that I got to, "Chapter 1: The Laughter of Pinkie Pie. Why did mom put Pinkie first?" A gasp escaped my lips as I realized why...

"Maybe the ponies of Ponyville have some interesting stories to tell?"

"Hello,"Twilight said to the pink mare

"GASP!"

"She didn't really," I started off as I looked ahead in the book, only to confirm what I thought she did. The next chapter was Applejack, followed by Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, and then Fluttershy. She put them in the order that they met, with mom being the last chapter in the book most likely. Going back to the first chapter in the book, I began to read it throughly, hoping for some sort of clue to begin searching for her.

Reaching near the end, I could feel myself tear up a little as I could see the beginnings of Pinkie's little addictions an how they were messing her up. I wanted to erase that part of the story, but what mom said about "mistakes " stopped me from doing so. But, I read one part that interested me, the part that talked about her ministery hub back in Manehatten. It mentioned how she had been going there a lot before this book had been written, just a few months before the bombs fell. My eyes opened wide at this clue, and I quickly closed the book, "Well, it may not be a definite location, but it is something to go on!" and with that, I stood up and put the book back into my saddle.

Turning to look at the hazy green mist that covered town, I took one last long look at the ruined buildings and once living town. My eyes searched over the places like the school house, the city hall, and the library, all in various states of ruin. I could see inside some of them without even needing to go through the door, or in the case of some of the buildings, only one wall stood as a reminder of what once was a home. Even Sweet Apple Acres looked as dead as the land around it. With a heavy sigh, I told myself, "Don't look back. We can't go home again."

I took a few steps away from the tree and looked at my wings. I smiled as I gave them a few test flaps to make sure that they were in perfect working order. The healing spell I had placed on myself the night before helped with the majority of the injuries, but I could still feel a sharp stinging sensation where the bullets had grazed me. Setting my wings to my side, I slowly crouched and squinted in determination, reflecting on the words that Aunt Rainbow once said to me.

“Nyx, listen, if you’re ever feeling down and like a piece of slime, just do what I do,” she said confidently, running a hoof through her mane.

“What’s that?” I asked, looking up from my book on flying for beginners.

“Just find someplace quite, spread your wings wide, and then take off! I tell you, it does wonders for me!” Rainbow Dash chuckled as she flew off.

I smiled to myself as I felt the loose ground move beneath me, creating little divots around my hooves. Crouching low enough to let my stomach touch the ground, I gave my wings a few more flaps to get them ready. Feeling the air beneath my wings blowing gently with each flap, I pushed legs against the ground with all of my might to send me soaring high into the sky. Stretching out my legs ahead of me, I kept them pointed toward my intended target like an arrow. Squinting in sheer determination, I flap my wings in order to pick up the speed to pierce the barrier. Within a few short moments, I pierced the clouds with all my speed and left behind a me-sized hole within the depressing sheet. Once on the other side, I let out a small bit of laughter in spite of myself.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I am ashamed to be an alicorn. Ok, sometimes I am, there are times when I wished I had lost the wings and was born just a normal unicorn. But right now, at this moment, I was glad to have my wings. The feeling of being high in the sky, being so far away from the trouble down below or the hell that my Equestria had become, was one of the greatest feelings that I could ever had. Taking in a deep breath, the air felt less sick up here, less decayed. With a smile, I leaned back and let the light of the moon bathe me.

I never could figure out why ponies in the past feared the night, or why the Zebras would call me and Luna devils because of our connection to the stars. I loved the night, some of my favorite memories came from the night: my first meeting with my mother, the time I found my cutie mark, the first time I flew, my first fight as a cadet, and my first, and only, time I ever disobeyed my mom. As I leaned back, I looked behind me and saw what looked like a cloud city behind me. This proves that there must be surviving pegasi out there, so why was the barrier here?

I ignored this thought for now, they must have had a good reason for all of this. They had to... right?

Shaking my head of this thought for now, I turned over and dived back beneath the cloud barrier. Blinking my eyes to wipe away the leftover cloud fluff, I turned my head to look at the me shaped hole in the barrier. Letting out a childish giggle at the sight, I turned my head to look down at the ground as I flew over it, looking over at how the Equestrian landscape had changed in the past 200 years. To my left, I saw Canterlot standing tall on the side of the mountain, or once standing tall. Now it looks like just a broken down castle, looking as ruined as the Castle of the Two Sisters; although, although, how the city changed in two hundred years was an idea worth checking out one day.

Opting to continue to enjoy my flight, I looked to where I remembered Whitetail woods once existed, and I was shocked to see it nothing more than a creator, “Did the zebras just unleash every missile that they had on one spot?” I asked myself aloud.

As I let myself coast along the hot air currents, I scanned the ground for a little bit, trying to see if I could see anypony on the ground or if there was any grassland left. As I looked around, I thought I had caught sight of a rust colored pegasus flying with a small caravan. Seeing that pegasus helped to solidify my theory that the cloud city that I had saw earlier was just a small collection of ruins and that the pegasi were just too small in number to fix the clouds. Not knowing if he saw me or not, I waved a hoof to the rust-colored stallion down below. I smiled at the black hat he wore, thinking back to my aunt Applejack. Looking ahead, I continued my flight before deciding to finally stop and land for a moment.

With all four of my hooves on the ground, I took another whiff of the air around me. It still smelled, repugnant. Like if somepony decided to poison the entire planet and I was just smelling the decaying remains. It was horrible to experience, and I hoped that someday, there would be some way to fix all of this.

Looking around me, I noticed a small cave not too far from where I had landed. It wasn't a spot thatI had found myself exploring al that much when I was younger, so seeing it was a surprised. My curiosity was piqued, so I took a walk inside.

The cave was cool and a little damp, with the air blowing lightly over my fur and feathers. As I walked through the large cavern, the only noise I could hear, beyond my own hooves against the stone and gravel, was the dripping of water from the stalactite landing on the stalagmites. I had to admit, as I looked around the wide open cave, that there was something mysterious about it, a mystery that needed solving. A grin came to my face as I ran a little quicker, my mind racing with the possibilities of what would be in this cave: A dragon, a treasure, or maybe mole ponies?

... Ok, the last one was my mind running away with me. But still, my inquisitive mind was on full speed and there was no stopping it.

After a few short minutes of running, I came to a sudden stop in front of the cave wall and a large steel door, “A stable!” I exclaimed in utter happiness. I smiled as I realized that stables would house ponies, and ponies meant companionship. That meant I wouldn’t have to be alone any more! I could have a place to stay, friends to make this world worth living for, and a place to get back to when I finished mom’s mission. I giggled like a school filly while walking alongside the large door. My first thought was to open it up with my magic, but I quickly thought against it since I quickly remembered how strong these doors could be.

“All right, Nyx, ready?” Applebloom asked, hiding behind glass shielding.

“Ready!” I responded, charging my horn and making it crackle with lighting.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Applebloom looked to her with a furrowed brow, “Well, yeah! Ah mean, if we want the ponies to be safe, the doors have to be a strong as they can get!”

“No, I mean having an alicorn blasting doors in a small room. Are you sure this is-” the white mare’s words were quickly cut off by a large explosion from my shot.

“Perfect,” I said with a triumphant smile, though my feathers were ruffled. At least the door was still standing.

I smiled at the memory, working with my best friends was probably the only good thing about my ‘resignation’ and the part I enjoyed. Looking at the small console before me, I quickly typed in the code “CMC3BFF”

“Why only three? Don’t I count?”

“Of course you do, Nyx!” Scootaloo said as she sat in front of us at the table. “But, when the CMC got started, there was only three of us and we three are the founding members. So it’s kind of like-”

“The three of us will be watching over all the new fillies and colts that’ll be born in the stables. Watching over them and seeing that they all got their cutie marks and face a new future,” said Applebloom.

“Kind of like when we helped you,” Sweetie Belle smiled.

I looked back at my cutie mark, remembering how I was upset over not having one during my little ‘rebellious stage (It’s what we began calling a certain event in my life that I can assume, dear reader, you are familiar with?), “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Stable 16,” I read aloud as the door slowly opened with a slow groan. Standing back, I watched in awe as the machinery went to work, moving the massive door open and allowing me inside of the stable. Straightening myself up, I took my first steps into the shelter, hoping that whoever lived in here would not mind the appearance of an alicorn in their midst.

As I walked in, I noticed that the place was awfully... quiet. Oh, I expected a little silence because of my unexpected appearance, but I saw no guards or anypony watching the door. I had at least expected the Overmare to be here or a welcoming party to see me in. But there was nothing, not a sound of life or a sign that any pony had made it. A sad and sorrowful sigh escaped my lips, as I began to think that the ponies didn’t make it to the stable in time-

*CRUNCH*

The loud sound stopped me dead in my tracks, and I looked down at what I had stepped on. I let out a gasp of shock and fear. Down beneath me, was a pony skull that was crushed and cracked thanks to me. Judging from the shape and the spiral horn at top, it was a unicorn, but that wasn’t what shocked me. I could see the top of what was left of the skull, there was a bullet hole on the top. Lifting up the skull to look closer at the bullet wound, I took a good long look at the hole. I looked closely at the way that the bullet had caved in, trying to see if I could figure out where the bullet had entered into the skull.

Then the skull suddenly changed into the face of the pony I had killed earlier, his face was slowly decaying with a dangling eye looking at me, blaming me. I nearly dropped the skull in horror as I tried to wipe the image from my head. Feeling my breath coming in short pants, I steadied the skull and tried to look at it some more. Sadly, since I never was one for forensics, the only thing I could figure out was the bullet entry point and nothing else. Lowering the head slowly, I tried to figure out who did this and why. Was it an accident? Did somepony go mad? Or did the pony kill itself.

My walk took me further into the stable, the same feeling of dread and lifelessness that hit me at the beginning of the place hit me again. It was just too silent and the sounds my hooves made along the metal corridors, echoing off the walls, did little to remove the feeling of loneliness. I breathed slowly in there, trying to resist the urge to call out for somepony, not wanting to alert the ones who killed the ponies if they were still inside the building. What if it had been a monster, or something worse. What if somepony found their way into the stable and turned it into their personal playground.

I soon stopped by what was once the cafeteria and took a steps into the room, and then almost ran back out in fear. Sitting there, with bullet wounds in their skulls and rib cages, looking like they were just about to enjoy supper, were several ponies. Judging from the way that the bodies were strung about, it looked like that this attack was unexpected. Some, looked like they were killed before they knew what was happening, while others looked like they were trying to run away from whatever it was that did this. All in all, I saw at least 15 bodies.

“By the goddess, who could’ve done this to foals?” I thought to myself as I walked around the cafeteria, trying my best to not think about the carnage around me and let my anger boil. Instead, I stepped past the eating section and instead to the kitchen, where I found a small freezer. Opening it up, it revealed some frozen sandwiches and a small water bottle. Looking for a bit, I took the water bottle and left the food behind, wanting to find something else before I tried eating the frozen food.

Besides, all stables had an orchard anyway, so I might find some food there.

Getting myself out of the cafeteria, I smiled as I looked down the hallway and saw that the orchard was just down the hall. A little smile came across my face as I ran inside and grabbed a few apples for myself and ate a few on the spot. Taking some of the others off the branches, I quickly placed them into my bags and walked away. After a few minutes of searching, I had finally discovered where the overmare would be.

As I walked down the long corridor, I had this strange feeling of being watched. Maybe if I had paid more attention to my surroundings, I would’ve been able to have heard the sounds of something watching me. But I was far too focused on the state of the stable to see it. As my hooves made echoing sounds along the hallways, I got glimpses into some of the rooms, seeing that some of the positions of the skeletons of the ponies were just sitting around as they were shot or doing some...’adult’ activities before they were gunned down.

My mind began to wonder who did it, an inside job? No, a pony could never do that.

Maybe, one of those ‘cruel’ ponies I met back in Ponyville? No, they couldn’t have broken in that easily.

Maybe a group of ponies found it and broke in? No, if that was the case, then they would’ve helped the ponies. Like the Steel Rangers would probably do if they are still around.

Shaking my head of these thoughts and wanting to focus on getting to the Overmare, I soon found her office and opened the door. Once inside I found the skeleton of a pony, lying in her chair in a fetal position. By this point, I am sad to say, had seen so many skeletons that one more in here did not phase me all that much. A part of pulled back at that thought, praying that this wouldn’t be a normal thing for me. That I would pass death off as something trival.

I ignored that little thought, pushing it far off into the back of my head as I went to the Overmare’s computer, which seemed to still be on at the moment. “Thank Celestia,” I said out loud. As much as I love computers and messing around with them, I did not feel like spending a few minutes hacking another pony’s computer. Scrolling up to the top of the page, I began to read-

I am so sorry, so sorry. Please, goddesses forgive me for what I have done, forgive me... I just wanted to try and prepare them for what lied ahead, for when the stable would fall. To what, you ask? I don’t know, but I know that it will happen, it will always happen. Empires, Kingdoms, and nations fall, so why not stables?

I had to, they would never be prepared for the fall if it wasn’t for me, for my ideas. Oh yes.

At first, it started with drills. I would alert the ponies to false dangers, like being invaded or the water talisman breaking. But soon, that failed. They just were not afraid of the false dangers anymore, they had become complacent. Calm and relaxed when I would sound the alert, like it was a game for them. I couldn’t have that, not anymore, oh no. So, I arranged for the bots to take care of the drills and act like actual invaders.

Once a week, at midnight, the robots would go out and fire at the ponies. It would be like a real assault from the outside, soon, they would all be ready for it. Of course, the robots were all equipped with rubber bullets so no pony would die...

Nopony was to die, they were all supposed to be fine...

But, again, they became complacent. It was turning into a game for them, a...a...a sport! They were placing bets, giggling, and laughing about my tests! Why could they not see the seriousness of this, that this was meant to test them and their readiness. How in the world was I to protect these ponies when they thought that the danger was a joke. I couldn’t protect them, not like this. They needed to know of the real danger that lied beyond the walls, to know of the danger of falling.

So I...so I...

Live rounds, that was the answer. The only answer! The robots has to be calculated to shoot only at the least vital of spots, easy to fix and I could operate the master switch.

But...

But...

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.

I wanted to protect them

No pony...was supposed to die.

Something went wrong, I made a mistake in calculations or programming and the robots went out to kill everypony.

But not me. As soon as the death began and my kill switch broke, I hid here. I did not deserve to die with my ponies, but die here. Alone and broken. That is my fate, that is what the poison will do. Goddess...

Oh...

I am so sorry...

I stepped back from the computer screen in shock and horror. She didn’t need to do it this way, there had to have been a better-

Beep

I turned my head up at the sound and looked at the clock, a look of dread coming over my face as I began to realize that the beeping was coming from the clock on the wall, “Oh, buck me...” I said aloud as I read the clock with one minute to midnight, and the sign that read

Invasion drill starts in one minute.

Turning my head back to the door I came in from, I moved to try and close the door and wait out the rest of the scenario. That plan was ruined rather quickly as I watched one of the guard bots walk through the door and point towards me. As I heard the guns cocking and getting ready to shoot at me, I looked behind me and used the only piece of cover open to me: the overmare’s desk. Leaping over it as the bullets began to fly, I quickly ducked and covered my head.

As the bullets whizzed over my mane, I quickly began to think of a plan to destroy the bot. Luckily, he wasn’t a pony, so I had no problem unleashing my full magic on him. Concentrating, I charged my horn with a lightning spell. I breathed slowly as I focused my lighting mana on my horn, hearing the crackle and snap of the small bolts as they cascaded in a cage on my horn. Rolling out from my cover, before the robot had time to react to me, I fired the long lighting bolt straight into the robot, frying it on the spot.

I let out a prideful chuckle as I walked over to the bot and began to scavenge it. After all, it could have some useful material for me in there. After some searching, I could only turn up some bullets for the robot’s gun. I may not have much training in guns, but I might find a pony to trade something good for it. I then looked behind me at the Overmare’s failed ‘kill switch’. Figuring I had time before other bots came gunning for me, I walked quickly to the button and began to try and repair it.

After about twenty minutes of trying, and ripping the back off with my magic (Note to self: Find a screw driver in this place so I don’t need to rip metal plates again), I had the kill switch fixed and ready to go. But, before I could press the button, four bullets went by my right hoof and right into the kill switch. A few more bullets past by me, with one managing to cut through my right leg.

Before more could tear through me, I rolled back to my cover behind the Overmare’s desk. As I laid behind the desk, I watched as the blood trickled down my leg from the small hole. A few pants escaped my lips as the sounds of the robots approaching slowly came closer and closer. I then rolled onto my belly and listened for the sounds of shooting to stop, and the bots to reload.

.Wincing from the pain in my right leg, I charged up another lighting spell in my horn and risked peeking my head from behind the desk to fire a chain lightning spell at the bots, frying both into scrap. With a limp, I walked over to the fired bots and grabbed whatever scrap that was left over with my magic. As I watch the broken kill switch fizz and spark, I let out a long sigh at the loss of the ability to get this done within a few short moments. I then turned my head to the Overmare’s door and ran out of the room, “Here! Shoot this for a bit!” I yelled to the three robots I knew would be on my left. Keeping their friend’s scrap up with my magic, I used it as a shield as I ran down the hallway to find somewhere to hide and think of a new plan.

However, I could feel that the shield wouldn’t last for too long, as I could hear the bullets pierce the metal shield and begun to whiz pass me. Some of them even managing to whizzing past my side or the side of my head. Racing down the hallway, I could feel the hot bullets flying by me, most nearly missing me, but some of them managed to hit my shoulder and side. Looking to my left, I saw what looked like to be a med-bay and leapt inside, closing the door behind me. I stood there, panting for a few moments as I looked around the room, trying to see if I could find something to stop the bleeding or at least, long enough to try and use a healing spell to fix me.

Resting against the cold metal door, I began to curse the current situation I was in, as I began to take account of my magic level. I had already used a lot of my magic with those lightning bolts and I knew that my healing spells takes some of my mana to perform. I took a deep breath and began to look through some of the cabinets for some potions and other helpful items. A smile came to my face as I opened the cabinet and found two healing potions along with a small orange pack labeled “rad-away”. I never tried the stuff myself, but I remember mom telling me about the Flim-Flam bros. invention that is supposed to help with radiation poisoning. I had also found a small canteen for water, and thank goodness for that. I realized that I hadn’t drunk much of anything for the past day and needed it. I opened it quickly and took a drink of it after I had drunk some of the health potions.

After I had finished emptying the canteen, I put it and some of the other medical supplies into my bags. Before I had a chance to look through the rest of the cabinet, The door behind me blew open thanks to the force of the robot from the other side. Flying up to dodge some of the bullets, I grabbed the flying door with my magic and threw it into the body of the robot to crush and destroy it. Deciding that it was time for me to leave, I looked one way and the next from within the door. Looking down the hallway I came from, I could see some more of the robots coming at me. Muttering a silent prayer to the goddesses, I began to hope that this was the last set.

Charging my horn, I felt it turn slightly cold from some of the ice magic I began to pump through it. Breathing slowly, I covered the floor of the hallway with a thin sheet of ice. A smirk came to me as I watched the robots activate their traction and began to move through the ice. Making my horn glow red, I began to melt the ice until it became a small lake at the bots treads. I then flew up to the ceiling and fired my lighting bolt into the water, causing an electrical surge that fried the group.

I let out a small triumphant chuckle as I landed on the non-electric part of the hallway, but I found out the laugh came a bit too early as I felt five rounds go into my side. I let out a painful yell as I turned to look at the last robot; I fried him with one last lightning bolt. Panting, wincing, and groaning with each step, I dragged my body into the nearest room, praying that there was a bed. I smiled when my luck was fortunate to provide one in whatever room it was and I slowly crawled to it. My right leg hanging limply at my side as I fell into bed, the blood still oozing out from my sides and shoulders where the bullets had pierced me. I knew for a fact that, if I wasn’t an alicorn, some of these might have killed me. However, that didn’t stop them from hurting like hell. Using my magic, I bearly had enough to lift up a healing potion to my lips and drank it.

I decided to just lay onto the bed, hoping that my alicorn healing magic will fix up the most severe of my wounds, and fell asleep.

I walked down the hall of the barracks with a smile on my face, hearing the sounds of congrats from my peers, “Hey, nice job priv-I mean major.”

“Yeah, and how long have been in the guard?” a pony with a thick accent asked.

“3 years, Unimpressive,” I answered with a coy smirk.

“Careful, if the alicorn keeps this up,” a stalliongrad mare smirked as she walked behind me, “It’s gonna be she, who we’ll be calling sir!”

I let out a chuckle, “Oh, don't worry, I don’t think it’ll be that bad.”

“That was what we said about your uncle, and now look where he is,” came a gruff pegasus from down the hall.

I let the ponies continue their talks with each other, glad to be in the company of such good friends; although, there are days when I miss the CMC. But, that’s life: Scootaloo is doing that Rad Racer thing, Applebloom has her little business and Sweetie Belle-

Ooo child
Things are gonna get easier
Oooo child
Things’ll get better

Ooh child
Things are gonna get easier
oooh child
things’ll get brighter

Got to be the hearthrob of many of the recruits. I had to stifle a giggle as I wonder how the unicorn would react to know just how many of these boys talk about her in the barracks.

“TWILY, You can't expect me to-!” Shouted Shining Armor. Curious about the sudden outburst, I walked to my uncle’s front door and listen closely.

“Shining, Its excatly what I want you to do. You heard me” my Mom yelled at him.

“But Twily, you can’t just-”

“The hell I can't! Shining Armor, I want you to discharge Nyx and get her out of the royal guard,” Mom said, keeping calm.

My eyes opened wide in shock as the impact of the words hit me.

I sat up in the bed as I awoke from my little flashback. A little chuckle came to me as I remembered what happened after that day, it was one of the few times that me and mom had ever had a fight. No, fight is too generous, it was a small scale war. The entire Equestria/Zebra conflict seemed like a school yard fight in comparison to the war me and Mom had over me staying in the guard. I was surprised that we didn’t start going into a magic duel.

...It was good thing we didn’t, mom would’ve mopped the floor with me before I could even think of a starting spell.

As the memories of the fight washed over me, I raised my left hoof and placed it on my forehead, letting out a small chuckle as I did, “It was such a stupid fight,” I said out loud through my chuckles. And, in truth, it kind of was. She was trying to watch out for me when she took me out of the service, and it did lead me to Stabletech, which lead me to helping out my friends and making the stables.

“Yep! Those wonderful stables that helped saved ponies, protected them from the apocalypse and kept them from dying. That’s why Mom took me away from where I was meant to be, my destiny, and what my special talent said I was the best at,” I let out another chuckle, not even noticing the tears forming in my eyes. “To help my friends and develop helpful stables like this one, where an Overmare goes mad and kills everypony. Yep, Mom did a wonderful job with that one! She took me away from the front and put me into a place where...” I stopped myself for just a moment. “She knew I would be safe, and happy. Where at least I did something related to my mark.”

“I mean, just because this place was ruined, doesn’t mean that all of the stables mess up, right? The percentage has to be very low. It has to be,” another chuckle escaped my lips. “Mom, just wanted me alive. She just thought that, keeping me from the front was the best way. She didn’t think this would happen,” I then ran my hoof across my eyes and wiped the tears away.

Laying back onto the bed, I turned to my side and looked at my wounds. I breathed softly in relief as I saw my bullet wounds had all disappeared, only small black dots remained and those would soon also fade into my coat.

Confident that I was fully healed, I took the time to look around the area where I slept. Upon a quick reflection of my surroundings, I could figure that I was in a Pipbuck technician’s office. There was even a little bench where he would work from and some, admittedly broken, Pipbucks laying about here and there. Getting off the bed, I walked off the bench and picked up a screwdriver (just in case I ever need to get a vent open) and left behind the rest of the materials on the bench.

After filling up the canteen with some water from a faucet in the nearby bathroom and taking some apples from the stable’s orchard, I made my way to the exit. Before I walked through the looming gate, I looked over my shoulder one last time at the ill-fated stable and sighed. I felt so sorry for the innocent ponies in there and I hoped that they would find their peace at last. Typing in the code to seal in the door, I left the cave and stable behind me.

When I had made my way out of the cave and into the open air, a part of me had wished to go back inside the stable and forget all about the mission. The air still contained that almost poisonous smell and the lack of sunlight didn’t help to brighten the mood of the place. It still felt and smelled like a pony just grabbed a ball of poison gas and covered it with a big thick grey blanket.

As I stared up at the cloud barrier, I could see little specks of sunlight peeking through parts of the barrier. This cloud barrier kept striking me as weird, even if the pegasi had all but vanished, this type of cloud barrier blocking out the sun is just not natural. At least, there should be one day of sunshine or something! Not all of this... cloud.

While I looked up at the sky, I noticed an approaching little shillouette nearing me. Trying my best to figure out what it was, I waved the being down. I figured that the dot had to have been a pegasus that as passing by. Who knows, maybe she was a friendly pegasus and wasn’t like those... those ...

The pony laid there before me, bleeding from his gunshot wound.

I quickly banished the memory from my mind and watched with a smile as the pegasus saw me and flew down to me. When she landed, however, I let out a gasp of horror and backed up in shock when I laid eyes on the greying and decaying pegasus in front of me. I held back the urge to scream in horror as I looked over the rotting flesh and defeathered wings of the pony. Then I caught the sight of her unaligned eyes, the way one floated to one direction and to the opposite.

“D-Ditzy? DITZY DOO!?” I said under a small gasp. My face then brightened into a Pinkie-esque smile as the mare quickly nodded in agreement. Even though she only had wisps of a blonde mane left, and I could see her bones through her rotting flesh, it was still Ditzy. It didn’t care how or why, but it was still Ditzy, “Oh, I am so glad to see you!” I said, running over and giving her the biggest dang hug that I could possibly give. I let out a chuckle as I felt the cold fur touch me, “Hehe, you're...you’re awfully squishy.” I stood in that hug for a few good minutes, just enjoying her touch.

“NYX! NYX! Look what happened!” Dinky said, running to me, “I just got a teaching position!”

“Congratulations Dinky!” I cheered, hugging the unicorn as I prepared to go back to the barracks. “Where did you get it?”

Dinky looked at me with a smug grin, being so prideful of herself, “Luna’s school for gifted unicorns. The princess really liked my thesis and thinks I could teach the foals almost as well as she could.”

“Well, you did help me and Sweetie Belle in some of our magic. So, think of what you could teach those kids,” I smiled at her, giving a cute wink.

“Hey, you’ll see! I am going to turn those kids into the best magicians in the world!” Dinky said.

“Oh, Ditzy, you don’t know how I needed to see a smiling face,” I said pulling away and smiling at the pegasus.

I ran to my three best friends, as they all stood in a circle, “Hey girls! What did you want to talk to me about?”

“It’s Dinky...” Sweetie Belle said, he eyes full of tears.

“What?”

Applebloom stood in front of them, her face looking down in a somber look, “They just released the list of ponies who died at Luna’s school...Dinky was-”

“N-no. I thought she was staying home today, that she was sick.”

Scootaloo interrupted me, “ She told me that she had to go, that she needed to be there to help her students. It’s... what her mom would’ve done. So, she was there when-”

“Not Dinky... no,” I whimpered as I felt the tears come to my eyes. I blinked the tears away as I raised my head and looked to the three girls before me, “ H-how’s Ditzy taking it?”

“She’s practically catatonic,” Applebloom said, comforting Sweetie Belle. “She hasn’t come outside since she got the news.

I nodded in understanding, and after promising my friends that I would talk to them and cry with them, I flew to Ditzy’s house. I remembered how Uncle Shining would comfort the families of guards who lost their lives and how he would talk to them for a moment. Dinky, may not have been a guard, but she was one of my best friends and her mother was one of the few ponies outside my family (That includes Spike, the bearers, Uncle Shining and Auntie Cadence, my grandparents, and my mom) to see me as more than a monster. She didn’t have her Shining Armor to comfort her.

I knocked on the door, and watched it open slowly. Walking in, I saw Ditzy sitting there on her couch, looking over the family photo album. I walked slowly to the couch, leaning my head over her shoulder to see which photos that she was looking at. I smiled tearfully as I looked at the photo, the one that was taken when me and the other four graduated from Cheerilee’s school. We all laid together on the grass in a group pile, making sure that we were showing off our hard earned cutie marks. I looked across from that photo to one where Dinky and I shared a birthday muffin together, “I’m going to miss her too. If you need a friend, I’m-”

Ditzy dropped her photo book as she lowered her head to her forelegs and began to cry, “I need my daughter back, I need her back...”

Saying nothing, I got onto the couch with Ditzy and wrapped her in my forelegs, letting her cry on my shoulder while I rubbed her back gently.

“But, how did you? Why are you?” it’s was then I noticed that she hadn’t said anything since she landed, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Before I could worry that I was talking to a ghost, I watched as the wall-eyed... ghoul? Slowly opened her mouth to show me a lack of a tongue, and at first I believed it to be gone thanks to decay. However, I then took a look at the tongue and noticed that it had the evidence that it was cut off. I didn’t know who or what, but I did know whoever did was going to suffer long and hard. I quickly put that thought away as I looked over to Ditzy, “So, how did you get here? What are you doing here?”

I watched as the mare reached behind her and pulled out a blackboard with some chalk, then she began to write down on it as quickly as possible

Long story, but I am the owner of “Absolutely Everything!”

“Absolutely Everything?” I asked, looking at the cart behind her.

Ditzy gave a quick nod and then wrote,

I sell various knick knacks and stuff to ponies. Anything you need? I got!

I smiled at the thought, “Great! I need some clothes and some-” as I talked I pulled out some bits for her, but then watched as she pushed my outstretched hoof.

No bits, caps are currency.

“Caps? You mean... bottle caps?”

Ditzy gave a quick nod and pulled out a shiny bottle cap from her bag.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I don’t have any-”

For you, Free today. I’ll even give you 50 caps, As long as you bring me a muffin when we see each other again.

I smiled wide and gave Ditzy another squishy hug, “Thanks Ditzy. Here, take these ammo boxes that I scavenged and the bits, “I said, handing over the loot I had collected from my journey. Then I began to look into her cart, “So, do you have any Royal Guard armor or old armor in here?”

Back at my shop, but I do have some barding. No wing holes though.

I looked back at my wings and sighed. This was another one of those times I wish I was just a normal unicorn, I didn’t need to modify everything for myself. Looking at the barding in the cart, I shook my head and pulled it to me, “I’ll take it. I can make some mods for me later. Now, lets see what else you got.” After a few minutes of searching, I picked up a small radio with some ear bud and then walked in front of Ditzy, “Thanks for the barding and radio, Ditzy. If I need anything else, I’ll see if I can find you.”

Wait, take this. I give it to all my customers

I smiled as Ditzy reached behind her and pulled out a book. She then handed it to me and smiled, “Wasteland Survival Guide, by Ditzy Doo,” I read out loud. “Thanks Ditzy, if there is anything you nee-”

Just promise to see me again one day, please.

I said nothing as I hugged the ghoul tightly and then walked away from her. Turning my head over my shoulder, I watched as she flied away from me and smiled at her happily. Turning around, I began a long walk to Manehatten, as I let the music from my radio play on

Someday, yeah, put it together and we get it done
Someday, will be walking through the rains in the sun
Someday when the world is much brighter

OOh child, things are gonna get easier
OOh child, things are gonna get brighter.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Spell-slinger: Your spellcasting has improved quite significantly! Casting a spell now only takes 20% as long as it normally would.

Author's Note

Thanks to Zoltanthemagnificent for his hard work. Recon777 for the redits

Yes, I killed Dinky during the massacre. Yes, I am a monster. Please send all hate mail to Alchemystudentisamonster@FU.com Alos, did you catch the Calamity cameo p there and the cameo from one other fanfic? Yeah, happens when you read a lot like I do. Also, I was going to give Nyx a pipbck when she met Ditzy, but I didn't get an answer from Ditzy ghoul if she had any. So, I used the radio instead.

Speaking of wich...guess what I watched over the summer. Yes, that was one of my favorite moments. Also, that song makes for one heck of a chapter finisher. Also, my thanks to the FOE boards for help with the stable. I think what I came up with here made for a more interesting and believable situation than what I had originally planned. So thanks for the fix.

True story, I was reading "ABC's of FOE-R Robots" while I was writing the stable scene.

On the reedit, I wold like to apologize to you who enjoyed the Spike scene. But, I figured this would work a little better. Hope you don't mind.

Training

“You were trying to be a good guardspony. You were trying to save lives.”

The rain flowed from the sky, creating a curtain of rain that partially obscured my vision. I was glad for Ditzy’s little book, for its ideas on what would make a good makeshift umbrella. I muttered a small thank you to Ditzy as I watched the rain hit the dead tree limbs that I had gathered, leaving me dry. The rain above me kept hitting the thick wooden branches in a rhythmic fashion, almost musically; it was like a large drum playing in a four-beat stanza. With a childish giggle, I began to sway my head side-to-side and started to hum along with the steady beat. I had to hold back the urge to break into a random song. After all, I am not Pinkie Pie.

Looking up at the rain curtain again, I let out a small longing sigh. I used to like rainy days; they were something fun for me to look forward to. I remember running out into the rain storm, playing in the puddles, and waiting for the pegasi to end it so the sun could come out to dry the rain. I could remember the experiments I did back then too, and how I tried to get a fan cutie mark for blow-drying my friends by using my magic. It didn’t work, but Sweetie Belle got a lovely new hairdo, courtesy of gale-force conjured winds. The world just always seemed so… different in the rain, and always seemed to be brand new afterwards.

Not so much now.

Now it was always covered in this thick, dark-grey cloud cover, and the rain just seemed to highlight how dead this world had become. Not even the rain could wash away the damage that had been done to Equestria. Even more disappointing is that after this, the cloud cover would still be there, blocking out the sun to dry the rain. I would probably not feel the warmth of the sun down here. The bright sun would never dry up the rain and just leave everything muggy and wet. I began to feel sorry for all of the creatures living down here, living with that fact.

“Soft Breeze!” I snapped out of my thinking about the rain and turned to where I heard the scream. I dropped my makeshift umbrella and looked around; I saw a mother trying to push some rocks off her daughter.

“Just hold on, sweetie, Mommy’s going to save you,” the dark blue mare said, struggling to get the rocks off her daughter.

Without a second thought, I ran to the mother’s side. The mother fell back on her haunches, wide-eyed in shock to see a jet black alicorn out of nowhere. I could see the fear and shock in her eyes, but she wasn’t about to go anywhere without her daughter. My horn began to glow, as I used my magic to lift the boulders.

“Don’t worry ma’am, I’ve got this.” I was so focused in my concentration and moving the rocks, I didn’t really notice her whimpering in fear. In a few short moments I had lifted the rocks away from the child and levitated her back to her mom.

“Thank you!” the filly squealed after I levitated her back to her mother.

“She doesn’t look too hurt, so she should be fin-” it was then I finally noticed the look on the mare’s face as I handed her daughter to her. A look that I hadn’t seen since I was Nightmare Moon, since I had terrorized Ponyville with my presence. A look of utter terror. “Miss?”

“A-a-a alicorn! No! STAY AWAY!” the mare began to scream as she picked up her foal to put her on her back and began to run away, “No, stay back! Don’t come near me!”

“No, wait ma’am, it’s ok! I’m here to help you! Please, don’t… don’t run away,” I said, feeling my voice becoming faint as the mare disappeared into the distance. Damn it. “I-I only wanted to help you. I’m not a monster… I’m not.” I collapsed to my stomach as I said this, shaking my head in disbelief at the reaction.

“Why was she so afraid of me?” I asked myself before turning to look at my wings. “Oh yeah, you guys.” I tried going crosseyed to look up at my horn. “Or you. Both by the looks of it.” She probably saw them, my coat and draconic eyes, and made the connection to the fables of Nightmare Moon. I sighed and stood back up, thinking of just how horrifying the legend of Nightmare Moon must have become in the wasteland. Maybe they made up some other horrors that I supposedly did during those two weeks of darkness I caused. Like I made ponies into cannibals, or I corrupted ponies minds. Ok, that last one was partially true because of my evil Nightmare Moon essence, which I defeated. Maybe they added that I was the cause of the war, or I was the one responsible for Equestria becoming this wasteland of a world.

I quickly stopped that train of thought before going any further down my little rabbit hole. I let out a deep breath and began walking away, knowing that sometimes, things don’t change. One quick look at a puddle from the rain earlier, reflecting my nightmarish image to me, was all the reminder that I needed of that. “Monster.”

After a few miles of walking, I could see Manehatten just a little bit off into the distance. I guessed it would take me another two days to make it there, that is if I decided not to rest for the next day.

My ears twitched at sudden sound of flapping wings from above and turned my head to look up. As I gazed into the cloudy sky for the source, an outline of a slowly approaching winged creature came into view. At first, the equine shape and body of the being made me believe that it was a pegasus, but there was something unusual about the shape.

“Ah, greetings sister,” a voice said, from above. “I was not expecting another one of us out here today. I usually fly these roads alone.“Sister? What is the matter, why can I not sense your thoughts?”

”

I looked up at the sound of the voice and let out a gasp of shock as I looked at her. “Oh, my goddess. I-I don’t believe it,” I said, shocked at what I saw. At first glance, this blue coated mare in front of me could’ve been confused for a slightly bigger than normal pegasus; however, when I looked closely at her body I saw a horn on top of her head, “Y-you’re an alicorn! An actual alicorn! How is that even-I mean, I knew Cadence said she-Never mind, I have SO many questions about you!”

“Were you born this way?” my interrogation began, “Did you ascend? I was born this way myself; well, more precisely I was created. Can you consider yourself born when you were made from magic and blood by a possessed unicorn? Are there others like you? Are you Celestia’s daugh-”

As I continued my rambling questions, I noticed that the alicorn’s eyes began to glow with a bright light, “Whatever is the matter, sister? You are acting quite peculiar.”

“-Maybe Luna’s daughter? Makes sense, you are blue after all. Are there more of you? Where did you all come from? How many are there? Wait! Why did you call me sister? Are we related? Is mom alive?! Do you consider me your sister because we are both alicorns?”

I stopped my interrogation as I watched the strange glow fade from her eyes, “You-you are not connected to the Unity. I cannot feel your presence at all. Who… are you?”

“My name is Nyx Sparkle,” I started, showing a little pride in my family’s name. “And you are?”

“We of the Unity, have no names. We are as one,” the alicorn said, looking straight at me, almost into my eyes like she wanted to get into my head.

“That’s weird, why would you not have a name and,” it was at this point, I noticed a distinct lack of a cutie mark. “Oh, I am so sorry. I know what’s it is like to be an adult mare without a cutie mark.” I let out a small shudder, those two weeks always give me bad memories.

I looked back up to her eyes from her flank to see a glow dissipating from her eyes, “It seems that The Goddess is interested in you. She wishes to have a meeting with you at Maripony.”

I let out a small gasp at the name, “Maripony, that was where mom worked. It was where she told me that she was going to do some experiments a few days before the bombs fell. If I have any chance to find out what happened to mom, I could start there. Maybe mom is there! I let out an internal squee at the thought. “Sure, I’ll go with you,” I responded with a nod.

“Good,” the alicorn said, turning around. “Follow, now.”

I took a few steps back from the alicorn, watching her unfold her light blue wings. After she gave her wings a few flaps, she bent her legs and took off into the air. Standing there, my eyes could only watch in awe at the alicorn’s flight, almost like she was an expert at it. Her graceful and powerful take off, the way she almost danced through the air as she flew, gave her the air of a graceful dancer. Smiling, I began to crouch low to the ground, enough so my belly touched the dirt beneath me and with a grunt, I took off after her. True, it wasn’t as graceful or soft as hers, but Rainbow Dash taught me skill, strength, and speed- not so much on grace.

After about two hours of flying, I caught the sight of something gleaming on the ground, “Hey! What’s that on the ground?”

“Nothing important, the goddess is requesting our presance at Maripony immead-what are you doing?” she asked as I flew to the ground.

“It’s just a few minutes, I am curious about this,” I called back, looking over my shoulder as I landed on the ground. Once down on the ground, I took a look at the object that caught my interest. It was like a giant ring, big enough for a pony’s neck to be put in “A collar?”

The alicorn landed behind me with a soft landing aand looked at the collar that floated in my magic, “A slave collar. Seems that a slave has broken free and is on the run. We will notifiy one of the local slavers and have them hunt this runaway down.”

“Wait, you’re working with ponies who own slaves?!”

“We of the goddesss have enjoyed a mutual cooperation with the slavers for a few years yes. But,” the alicorn brushed this news off like she was just telling me the weather. “That is unimporant right now. We must head to Maripony.”

I shook my head and took a few steps back, “No, won’t go with you.”

“What?” the alicorn asked, her eyes opened in surprise.

My face narrowing into a frown and eyes looking at her, I responded back with a rather definate, “I said, I am not going with you. I am not going to be a part of any group of ponies that works with slavers.” With that, I turned and walked away.

“I am afraid that the goddess’s order to bring you to Maripony was not a request, it was an order,” the alicorn said, her voice deepening with a low growl.

“Well, I am afraid that you are going to dissappoint your superior officer,” I stated coldly as I unfurled my wings.

“That is not an option,” she said, her horn beginning to glow. “ I am afraid that I must insist.”

I looked back at her as I heard this, and smirked defiantly “You can try,” and upon saying this, I took off into the sky. I flew higher and higher, away from the alicorn, I turned my head to my shoulder to see if she was following me. To my surprise, she wasn’t. Curiously, I began to look around the area for my pursuer.

“As I said, you are coming with me,” the alicorn said, as I let out a gasp of surprise at her appearance.

“How did you-” was the only thing I could say before the alicorn wrapped her forelegs around my neck and tightened. In the air I struggled for a few terrifying moments, trying my best to get air in my lungs to prevent blacking out. Deciding to take a lesson from Rainbow Dash, I drove my hind leg into her groin.

A satisfied smirk appeared on my face as the alicorn released her hold on my neck, allowing me to breathe. Not wanting to let her recover, I bucked her in the chest spun around to face her, and delivered my left forehoof into her muzzle. As the blue alicorn tried to recover, I slammed both of my forehooves into the stomach I then backed off and flew away from her to get my bearings. As I turned to face her again, I let out a gasp as I saw her gone. “Can she teleport?”

No sooner had I asked that question when I felt a bolt of energy hit me in the back. I turned around to find where it came from, but was taken by surprise when a small barrage of rocks came up from the ground to hit me, barely giving me a chance to dodge. I winced as I hovered for a few moments, feeling the pain of the rocks that managed to cut into my side.

Taking a quick look around me, I got the sight of another rock being thrown at me from the side and moved to dodge out of the way quickly. As I flew below the large projectile, I looked up to watch a faint shimmer of magic in front of me. “Invisibility?” I gasped aloud to myself as I watched the shimmer fade, throwing two more bolts of energy at me. “SHIT!” I hate to cuss, but this was special. After I dodged a few more rocks and spells, I began to realize what she was doing to me. She was trying to lure me into a corner and hit me with a big spell to knock me out of the fight. Deciding to change tactics on her, I looked up to the sky and flew into the cloud barrier.

As my head and body breached the barrier, I kept myself inside the clouds and flew through it as if it was a small lake. While I kept on swimming, I looked over my shoulder to watch as the alicorn did the same thing, looking like she was enjoying this. As if she was on the hunt and was relishing coming at me. After a few minutes of doing this, I dived back down under the barrier and waited for the alicorn to come out. “Question,” I asked as I watched her fly out.

“What is it?” the alicorn asked as she decloaked.

“Do you know what clouds are? Answer: water vapour,” I said, silently charging my horn. “Pegasi use the water from towns to condense the liquid into small pockets of ‘fluff’ known as clouds that pegasi then use for weather or building. This is why earth and unicorn ponies can’t touch it without magic.”

“What is the point of this little lecture? To stall, or to show off?” the alicorn asked.

“A little of both actually,” I said, keeping my horn charged with lighting. “See, when Rainbow Dash took me and Scoots flying, she always told us to dry off if we flew in the clouds for a while, because the water would condense on our wings.” I slowly raised my hoof, as if I was in class, “That is why you dry off afterwards, don’t want to have ice on your wings when you are one-thousand feet up. Now, last question.”

“Final one, then I take you in,” she said, pointing her horn at me.

“What is a really bad thing to be in the middle of a lighting storm. Answer: wet,” I then lowered my horn at her, the electricity cascading on my horn like a wild snake. “And look at that, you are are soaked. What a shocking twist,” I said calmly as I fired my lightning bolt at full power into the alicorn.

There was something of a sick, satisfactory smile coming to my lips as I watched the alicorn get electrocuted, the bolts of energy zigzagging their way over her body, and fall to the ground. Being an alicorn myself, I knew just how much lighting that an alicorn body could take, and it is definitely more than any normal pony, otherwise I wouldn’t have unleashed my full power at her. As I landed, I looked at the charred body and breathed a sigh of relief as the chest rose and fell with her breathing, “Unconscious, but her regeneration should fix her up soon. Until then, what am I-” I stopped speaking out loud when I noticed where we had landed, near stable sixteen.

Now, I am not one for pranking. When I was a teenager, I would be the voice of reason along with Sweetie Belle whenever Scootaloo decided to prank the school or teachers. In this case, however, it would be a fitting punishment for this alicorn and I have to hold her somewhere. Lifting her up with my magic, I dragged her unconscious body to the Stable, opened it up, and threw her inside. Taking the time to seal the door and lock it up, I took a few steps back to admire my work.

Granted, it would not keep her trapped for long, it would keep her stuck there just long enough for whatever deal she had planned to fall through. It would also tick off the so-called goddess.

I let out a small chuckle and held back the urge to tell the alicorn about how to find the code to get out. After all, she seemed smart; she could find the Overmare’s office soon, find the code and then get out.

After a few more hours of flying, I was ready to find a place to touch down and rest. Looking down, I spotted a little shack that was a bit off my flight path. Wanting to see if there was anything I could pick up for the rest of my journey, I landed near the cabin. From the ramshackle way it was put together, the place looked like it couldn’t have held three ponies at most with in. Though to be honest, with how it was able to put metal sliding on the walls did make it stand out. Taking a few steps further, I spotted what looked to be a furnace next to the shack. Stepping forward a few more feet, and the way that it was sitting also impressed me. As if somepony wanted to make it easily defensible. However, stepping towards the hut turned out to be a big mistake as an ear piercing screech sounded through the air. At first, I thought it was a malfunctioning radio, but I was wrong and began to fall to my knees in immense pain, as if somepony was cutting through my ears with a small dagger. I wasn’t too far off as I began to feel a warm liquid dribble from my ears and down the side of my head. I could then feel blood run down my eyes.

Struggling, I tried to beat the pain and rise up again, but that horrible ringing started to intensify by the second. Every passing moment seemed to kill any sense of feeling left in my ears, not to mention that I began to lose vision thanks to the blood slowly leaking out. It soon became too much as I could feel myself lower to my knees, howling in pain.

I could see a figure coming closer to me as I squirmed in pain, “H-help… me,” was the last thing I could utter before darkness eclipsed my vision and I lost all attachment to the waking world.

-----------------------------------------------() ()--------------------------------------------------

“Atten-HUT!” the colonel bellowed out as he strolled in front of the new recruits, which also included me. “Royal guard captain Prince Shining Armor to look over the new meat!”

Turning my head, I watched as uncle Shining Armor strolled in, his white chest puffed out. Even though he hasn’t seen nearly as much action as he used to, the way he carried himself, and the way his blue mane flapped in the breeze demonstrated just how princely he was. All of us stood in perfect formation as the white unicorn walked by us.

I held back a gasp and gulped in worry as I stuck out my chest, praying to the princesses and anything else I could think of that the enchantments that Rarity and Dinky put on me would keep me hidden from my uncle

you are now the only thing standing between ponies and the darkest depths of pony society. There are right now three princesses that rely on you to protect them from the vile monsters and demons that plague our world.” I was repressing the urge to chuckle at that.

“Now, I know that some of you cadets might have heard the words ‘useless’, ‘pointless’, and ‘the Element Bearers will keep us safe.’ Well, guess what… they are WRONG!” I smiled as Shining did this, acting so different from the goofball that he acts like when he is around me, Mom, or Aunt Cadence. I guess Mom’s right: when he’s around us, DORK! But on duty? Well, he didn’t get to be captain for nothing.

“My sister, her friends, and the princesses may be powerful and may be there for all the heavy stuff. However, they are not omnipresent! They cannot be everywhere at once, and there are still crimes that fall beneath their jurisdiction. That is where we come in! We are their eyes, ears, voice, sword, and SHIELD! We may not get the glory, we may not get the medals, and we may even be looked down upon because we don’t save the day or might get beaten by an omnipotent god,” Shining continued. “But if you are here for medals or impressing your lover with that shiny new armor, then get the fuck out of my guard right now! I know it might seem cool to have that armor on and be impressive to all your friends and the mare you had a crush on since high school, but I have seen more than my fair share of rookies get critically injured because they thought that this job was just for show! Now you,” his blue eyes turned to me and I held back a shudder, “What is your first duty!”

“To the ponies and princesses, sir!” I said, praying that he didn’t single me out because he knew who I was.

“Very good…”

“Helios Twinkle, sir!”

“And where are you from?” Shining asked, looking me over, as if he was trying to look beyond my new sea-green coat.

“Vanhoover! My family was rescued by a bunch of guards during the Tirek incident!” I shuddered at the thought of that centaur, his eyes and name were still haunting me to this day. “I decided to join to honor those brave mares and stallions!”

“Now she has the right motivation! We come here because we want to protect our loved ones, to honor those who came before us, or because it’s our destiny,” Shining said, getting a good look at my cutie mark. I looked back and hoped that it was different enough to trick him, “Now, fall in! You are all to return to your barracks and unpack… except you Helios.”

“Me sir?” I asked timidly.

“I want you in my office ASAP!”Shining said.

Without asking why, I followed him, soon heading past the ‘hallway of doom’ and into the office of Shining Armor. I smiled a little as I looked at the lightly decorated room, pictures of Shining’s medals lining some of the walls while several books sat behind his desk (Some Mom bought, others were his, and I did see a few O&O books). Silently, I took my seat, “Nyx,” Shining asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I-uh, don’t know what you mean sir!” I exclaimed, trying not to look in his eyes, looking to the picture of his wedding day instead.

“Nyx, first lesson while under cover, don’t make a pseudonym so close to your real name. I mean, the first name was good, but Twinkle?” he said, glaring at me like I had made the worst mistake. “Now, why are you here? You know your mom doesn’t want you in the guard.”

“I know, I know,” I sighed as I looked to a picture of me, Spike, Cadence, Shining, and my mom. “I heard the speech before,” I then said the speech in unison with Shining: “Bad enough that I have to worry about your uncle dying in the guard, I refuse to have my only daughter out there risking her life. Why not try and become an archmage instead?”

“She even showed me schools I could go to where I could learn how to become one,” gritting my teeth, I looked up at my uncle. “She even believes that I am at one of those schools now!”

“So, why are you here then?” he asked, putting his forehooves together in a thoughtful pose.

“Because,” I stated, looking at him with pleading eyes, “I can’t just stand back and just play support while there are ponies out on the front lines fighting. I have to be out there, fighting with you guys. I am an alicorn, I can take punishment and pain that no other pony can take. Even my cutie mark,” turning my flank to show him the shield enveloping a crescent moon, “shows that I am meant to be a guardian of ponies.”

“Mages do the same thing, you know,” Shining said, using his magic to pull out a few slips of paper.

“Yeah, from the sidelines,” I argued. “Some of them don’t even see a battle for most of their lives. I don’t want that! I want to be out there where my powers can do some good, protecting ponies who can’t protect themselves. If my durability, my power, or my life can make it so that everypony comes home alive, then I’ll do it.” I shook my head and looked back up to Shining with the same eyes I gave Celestia so long ago. “I can’t do that on the sidelines, offering support when I’m ‘needed’. But as a guard? Then there is no way I’d let anypony die if I could help it.”

“But you can’t protect everypony, ponies die you know,” he stated plainly, looking at a photo of him with two other stallions. “There will be times when you’ll find that there is little you can do to stop it. You’ll find that, no matter what you do, you’ll won’t be able to save everypony and you’ll fail a mission.

My eyes then narrowed in determination, feeling as if I was being tried by this stallion, “Then I’ll do my best to save as many as I can. Because, even if I can only save one life it’ll be worth it.”

A soft and approving smile came to Shining’s lips as he listened to me, “That, had to be one of the more impressive speeches I had ever heard in my life. All right,” he gave a quick nod before looking behind me, “You’re in, but first… I think you’ll need to convince your mother.”

My eyes shot up at this as I turned around slowly and looked into a pair of angry purple eyes, “M-mother!” There is only two things I fear the most in this world: Tirek, and my mother when she is angry. I can bet that Discord himself would tremble at seeing those eyes, and I have seen Fluttershy’s stare in action.

“Nyx Hemera Sparkle, you step outside now young lady! Your uncle and I need to have a few words,” Mom said, the rage and disappointment evident in her voice.

“Y-yes, Mom,” I nervously said as I walked out of the room, leaving my mother behind with my uncle. As soon as I closed the door, I put my ear to the door in order to try and hear the conversation.

It seems that I didn’t need to try too hard as I could hear my mother’s voice becoming louder and louder. “What in Equestria do you think you are doing, Shining!? Letting her go into the guard like this!?”

“Twily, please under-” Shining began, but was interrupted by my mom.

“Don’t you ‘Twily’ me, Shining Armor!” I knew it was bad, she used his full name. “You know how I feel about her risking her life like this! Do you know how happy I was when I had first found out you got into the guard? Ecstatic! But, then I began to hear stories of ponies being KIA or coming home traumatized for the rest of their lives. I began to worry that I would never see my BBBFF ever again, or worse, that you would come home missing a leg and becoming an invalid! I still worry that I am going to get a letter from Celestia one day saying ‘Dear Twilight, sorry, but your brother was KIA’, then again, knowing how long it takes for this family to get information, I would find out on Hearth's Warming EVE!”

“Twily-”

“Oh, what is she thinking, doing this Shining? The girl is still in high school, for Celestia’s sake. She has her whole life ahead of her and she is going to risk it by going off to get herself killed!? She isn’t ready, her magic still needs to grow, and she still needs to learn how to weild it properly. What if a war starts up, she is going to be a killer! I will not have my daughter grow up to be a killer.”

“Twiley-” I could here the frustration in Shining’s voice increasing.

“What if something happens to her? What am I supposed to to tell her friends? Am I just going to tell Spike that he will never see his little sister again? I couldn’t bear it if somethin-”

“TWILIGHT ELIZABETH SPARKLE!” Shining yelled, followed by a sound that probably was his hooves slamming a table, “You have my word that nothing will happen to her. Not while under my watch.”

My mom retorted with a very serious, although quiet tone, “You can’t promise that.”

“Look, Twilight, you are a mother, I can understand that. Don’t you think our mom was scared for me too? She probably felt just the same as you do right now. Scared and worried about her little foal.” I could hear him sigh softly. “Twilight, she is just following her call. It’s just what her cutie mark is telling her. How would you feel if I told you that you couldn’t study anymore or cast magic? You would feel horrible, wouldn’t you? Do you really think she would be happy being away from ponies that could use her help?”

I could hear my mother sigh before continuing, “All right, she can stay, but a few rules. First! She is not allowed to train in the use of guns.”

“What!? Twily, guns are quickly being used by all of the guardsponies. It is standard procedure,” Argued Shining.

“I don’t care. I’ve seen those… ‘things’,” she spat with venom in her voice, “in action and I won’t have my daughter using something so unnatural. Besides, you know how she feels about guns. She has magic, let her use that.”

“She doesn’t have your mana reserve, Twilight. She’ll run out,” Shining argued.

“Then train her in spears or bows, but no guns,” Twilight said.

Shining let out an aggravated sigh, “Fine. Rule two, my guard my rules. I train her how I want, in whatever way I want, no matter how hard it is or how bad it seems. She can’t be babied in this, considering how things between the zebras are heating up. She’ll have to be prepared.”

“Things between the zebras? What does he mean?” I asked myself.

“Right, rule 3, I reserve the right to pull her out of this whenever I see fit. If I feel like she is in over her head, then I want her out.”

“Fine,” Shining said, I could only assume flashing mom a smile, the same charming smile that won him the heart of a princess. “But, what are you going to do when she’s older?”

“ I still want that right,” Mom sighed.

“Twilight aren’t worried about being too controlling? Do you really want her to hate you and think you as this dominating overprotective freak that won’t let her grow up? She’s seventeen, Twily, she won’t be young forever,”

I heard my mother let out a shuddering sigh, “I know Shining, I know. I just...don’t want her to become a killer or some tool to be used by the military.”

“Twiley, you know I would never-”

“You won’t! But, what about the next commander? You won’t be a leader forever and soon some pony is going to look at Nyx and go, “Now, there is my next weapon’ I want her to live her dreams, I want her to fly away from home and live a wonderful life, but I’m so afraid that she’ll turn into a killer.”

I could head hoof steps leaving the desk, and the sound of somepony being pulled into an embrace, “Twiley, I know how you feel. I look at some of these young cadets and I think about how young and hopeful they are. They don’t know what really lies in store for them, because they haven’t killed yet,” another sigh escaped my uncle’s lips. “Look, if you feel like she is in ayway in danger, then come to me...we’ll talk.”

“You are a determined negotiator, BBBFF,” Mom said.

“I have dealt with my fair share of mothers in my time, Twily,” Shining said. “Now how about you tell your daughter the good news?”

“Oh, she knows… she’s been listening in the whole time,” Mom said with a small giggle.

“HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?” I said out loud before walking into the room and hugging my mother as tight as I could. “Oh Mom, thank you.”

“Just promise me, that you’ll survive…”

------------------------------------------------(/) ()---------------------------------------------------

“I will Momma, I promise,” I whimpered as I began to slowly awaken from the dream. A soft smile slowly crept to my lips as the memories of my mother’s soft coat and warm body left me. The harsh reality of the world came quickly came back into focus. A small shiver came about due to the cold feeling that the room gave off. Blinking the sleep out of my eyes, I slowly sat up in the bed I found myself in. Looking around, I began to figure out that I was in the shack that I had found earlier. It was small, from what I could see, about three rooms at most. I must have been in the bedroom, judging from my bed (rough though it was, certainly better than the ground I had slept on before) and the small lamp next to me. Looking around, I saw that the only thing that decorated the room was a broken and rotten bookshelf with only a few, “BOOKS!” I squealed, getting ready to levitate one to read.

“You’re awake, good. Was afraid I was going to sleep in that cushion I call a sofa fer eternity,” a stallion’s voice spoke as he walked in. A golden tanned unicorn strolled in, carrying some health potions in his magic. “Here, drink this. Yer probably still hurtin’ after that trap.”

I took the healing potion from the pony with my magic and looked up at him, “Thank you, but who are you, why did you help me?”

“The name’s Guiding Light,” he spoke in a voice that reminded me of some of those old western gunslingers in those old movies I would watch with the girls. As he turned from me, I got a quick look at his cutie mark, a sword being parried.“I helped ya, because you are the only alicorn that I have seen that asked fer help. The last one that got hit cussed me out before fainting. I don’t know what happened to her after I left her unconsious body out somewhere.”

“Probably had a run in with me,” I thought to myself. “What are those alicorns? And what was that trap I fell into?”

“Nopony really knows about the alicorns, only that they serve somepony called the Goddess and they help slavers. As for the trap, that was a broadcaster. Pretty good fer takin down an alicorn or if you want raiders to stay off yer territory. Luckily, I stay pretty far away from the trap to keep myself safe. But I wouldn’t advise looking for any, not unless ya want to deal with Pink Cloud,” it was then I noticed that his sleeve was fused into his right and left forelegs. My body slightly shuddered at the memory of Pink cloud, the stuff that took away my friend Dinky “Now, just who are you? I never heard of any alicorn pleading for help like you did.”

“My name is Nyx Sparkle. I am the daughter of the head of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Twilight Sparkle,” I said, a bit of pride coming into my voice.

“Daughter?” Guiding asked, his green eyes widening in shock and causing his yellow mane to shoot up. “How by the goddesses does an alicorn become the daughter of a ministry mare?”

I sighed, “You must not have scavenged up the book about my life.” With a deep breath I began my story.

I will not bore you, dear reader, with everything I told him. After all, if you are reading this tale, then you must already know of the main events and the grand story of how I came to be. Of course, as I told him, he had the usual questions that came from the retelling: “Who’s Trixie? What were the bearers doing while Mom was captured?” And my favorite: “How did I take down a goddess?” Of course, I was saddened by the fact that I will never be able to find those authors who wrote down my story and how they knew so much. “And that is where I am now, on a mission to find what happened to the bearers.”

“Yer story is indeed a long one of heartbreak and success. I’m impressed,” Guiding said, drinking some Sparkle Cola he had picked up.

“Thank you,” I nodded as I got up from the bed. “Thank you for helping me, but I need to go.”

“Now? Kid, you still need to rest a little more,” Guiding said as he stood up.

“Alicorn, remember? I’m fine, and I should really go,” I said, turning to walk away but was stopped by Guiding’s hoof.

“Fine, I can’t stop ya, but at least take this,” he requested, using his magic to lift a gun to me. “I saw that yo lacked a weapon in yer bags.”

My eyes looked down at the gun and I suddenly froze. All I could see in my head was that raider being shot, lying in a pool of his own blood. The images in my head then changed to my friends and family being killed by the same way, “NO!” I refused, backing away from the firearm, ” not now, not ever!”

“You can’t be serious, going out there without weapons?” Guiding asked, looking at me like I had mutated.

“I have magic,” I argued.

“Mana runs out, even alicorns know that,” Guiding then groaned and pleaded. “Look, if you aren’t going to use guns, then at least let me offer ya a substitute.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come with me,” he said, leading me to his living room. Once there, he levitated a long and thick steel blade.

“What is that?” I asked, looking at the sword with the long blade. The hilt was probably the more interesting part of it, as while the blade was typical for a long sword, the hilt was decorated with the words “my light, my pride”.

“A blade, a more elegant weapon from a more elegant time.” He began to move the blade in front of me, allowing me to see every edge of thebeing held by glowing magic. “Time was, a pony could solve his problems with this on a field of honor; then some idiot invented the gun, and an even bigger idiot invented the megaspell.”

I bit my tongue to hold back the desire to yell how that was Fluttershy, “I’ve used a blade before, I don’t see-” I was interrupted by Guiding coming up close to me before I could see him moving, bringing the side of the long blade to my throat.

“When was the last time you used a sword, kid?” Guiding said, backing up and lowering his blade. “Skills have this tendency to diminish over time the less you use them. Also, yer last swordfight was against two goddesses. Two of them, mind you, who knew yer mother. Ever thought they were holding back against you? If they had their real weapons… you’d be dead.”

I trembled a little as he said this, and looked up at him, a part of me wanted to tell him they gave it their all. The other part of me didn’t want to ruin his belief in the princesses, “Really?”

“Yeah. Shame that swordsmanship fell out of favor to guns. Somepony should have taught the art,” Guiding said with a sigh.

“Well, I do know a little bit of swordsmareship and I know a little of its history. One of my friends on the guard talked about how he used to be good at it but, overtime, it became more of a ceremonial thing. How do you know about it?” I asked.

“My family was from a long line of swordsponies, my great grandpa passed down the teachings when they were in the stable, and when he left, he passed it down to Pa and then Pa to me,” he then let out a sorrowful sigh as he looked at out the window. “Now, I guess I can pass it onto you. Let me train you for a month in the art and then you can go, a little bit better.”

“A month? But, I need to get-” I complained.

“Look, do you want to get good at this and survive, or do you want to go out there and die before ya even get yer little mission done?” Guiding asked, his eyes narrowing at me,

I sighed, “You’re right, I do need something to fight with other than my magic, and I won’t use a gun. Ok, I’ll do it.”

After a few minutes, we were outside in the back of his shack in the middle of a large circle, “First, before we start, catch,” Guiding said, throwing a wooden sword at me. With ease, I caught it in my telekinesis, While looking at the strong wooden blade, I heard Guiding call to me, “Good, now put it in yer mouth.”

“What?” I asked plainly.

“Put it in yer mouth and hold it,” Guiding said, holding up his wooden blade as I did as I was told. “This is yer first lesson, understand that a blade, even when it is held by magic, is an extension of yerself.”

“Dn’t see, hw thish will teash me anthinth,” I mumbled through the handle, and immediately removed my complaint as Guiding slashed at my blade with a downward slash. “Ahhh!” I groaned as I dropped the blade from my mouth, my jaw throbbing.

“Too often,” Guiding said, spinning his own wooden sword in a small circle, “unicorns will forget that they’re jus’ using magic to help with a normal task. Like cleaning and opening doors, they ferget that all of those things have weight. That blade, and by extension a real sword, has a similar weight, if not more.”

“More?” I asked,picking up the sword and putting it in my mouth.

“It’s something that Earth ponies and pegasi learned a long time ago. The blade of yers, it holds a lot of weight, a pony’s life and yer own. Sure, it’s easy to pull the trigger but it’s a lot harder to push that blade through a pony’s body.”

I nodded, slowly starting to understand the lesson, while I got myself into a ready stance for his next attack. As expected, he came at me in a downward strike, and, for a moment, I held my ground. It was then he attacked with a side slash, followed by a thrust that caused me to feel the pain in my jaw return, forcing me to drop the blade, “Ah… it hurts. It’s hard to fight like this.”

“Why do you think guns are made the way they are?” Guiding asked. “So the earth and pegasus ponies can hold them easier. Swords made for earth ponies are made in the same fashion, while pegasi made wing blades to conform to their wings or a battle saddle to fire their guns while flying. Each race made their own weapons to their own unique advantages. But, what is a unicorn’s?”

Slowly I got up, panting, “Magic?”

“Yes, but there are times a unicorn forgets that magic is a tool like any other,” Guiding said, watching me put the hilt of the blade back into my mouth. “This means that they soon treat a weapon like it was nothing special,” he continued, bringing his sword down at me in an overhead downward slash, leaving me to block his every blow. “They forget what an earth pony and a pegasus both learn by touching a weapon, holding it, and feeling the weight of it.”

After a barrage of several attacks, I dropped to my knees panting, the blade falling out of my sore mouth, “That…” I moaned in pain, turned up to look at my teacher, rubbed the throbbing jaw. “that each weapon we hold, is just an extension of ourselves. My magic, is just holding a sword like another pony would hold it with their mouth. So, I need to remember that I am holding a part of myself out there in the fight.”

In response, Guiding threw an ice pack my way. “Hold this to your jaw for a bit, until it gets better. It’ll soothe you.”

“How much longer do I need to hold the sword like this?” I asked, letting the coolness of the pack rest against my jaw.

“Until, you can actually score a nick on me,” Guiding said, holding his blade horizontally.

I swallowed a little at this, my mind drifting back to some of the more harsher moments of my training with the royal guard. My knees gave a little shake as the stallion charged at me at full speed, swiping his sword at me from the side. Gasping through the handle at his speed, I turned quickly in order to block the strike. Reeling back from the block, I took the advantage and swiped the legs. A grunt came from him as he raised his forelegs to dodge the swipe, and attack with an overhead strike.

For the next few minutes, we almost danced with our blades. Each strike that came from him, I just bearly managed to parry. As we fought, I could feel myself starting to pant and tire, it was obivious that Guiding began to see it too, “Tired kid?”

I could feel the sweat roll down my face and down my muzzle, “A little.”

“Good,” Guiding smirked as he continued his assualt, like he was tryign to see how far I could go.

For what felt like an entire day (when it had really been only three hours) me and Guiding dueled on that field. It wasn’t until he managed to score one last shot on me, and sent me to the ground did he finally put the wooden sword away to the side. Walking over to a small rack that he had, Guiding picked up a towel with his magic and threw it at me, “Dry off.”

“We’re done?” I asked, lifting the white towel off of my head with magic. Slowly getting up, I started to wipe myself off.

“Fer today,” Guiding said, walking away. “Tomorrow, we start working on focus and speed. Then we go back to dueling on Wendsday. Thursday, focus training, then we’ll spend Fridays reading up on particular forms,” as he neared the door, he smiled a little at me. “I picked up some books on forms from my travels.”

Entering his little cabin, I got another look at the livign room that accompained the room I slept in from before. It wasn’t too badly decorated, a small sofa in the corner and another bookcase sat in the wall furthest from the entrance. To the right, next to the entry way of the bedroom, was a small tower of Sparkle cola bottles, “Nice art,” I joked.

“Hey, a stallion has to have a hobby or he’d go mad,” Guiding chuckled as he walked to the sofa.

I looked at the small cushion and the back to my own bedroom, “So, where am I going to sleep?”

“On the bed, I haven't been using it all that much,” he said with a sigh before streaching out on the sofa.

With a small nod of understanding, I went into the bedroom and began to try to sleep. It wasn’t all that easy, it quickly became appearent that sleep was not to come easy to me. It wasn’t that the bed was uncomfortable or that anything was wrong with it, there was just something that kept me awake. Sighing, I rolled out of the bed and walked out of the small cabin.

The win blew just a little bit colder as I stepped out, the cloud cover hanging gloomily overhead as another reminder of just how alien my old home had become. Taking a few soft steps away from the cabin, my mind tried to remember what it used to be like years ago. It wasn’t a place that I normally traveled with my friends to and it wasn’t excatly a place you would spot while walking the road. A chuckle came out as a story about Applebloom going to meet her aunt Golden Delicious came to mind.

Looking around me, I noted that there was a couple of dead trees next to the training area, “Must be where he got some of the wood for the wooden swords,” I guessed to myself. Though it was hard for me to see fully, partially thanks to the cloud cover overhead, I did take the time to sit and look around the perimeter of the small cabin. Taking a trek to the small furnace that I had caught earlier, I discovered it to be a small scale forge. There was a hammer, makeshift anvil, a place to temper the metal, and the furnace, “I hope I can use it,” I said, running a hoof along the hammer.

Finishing my walk around the outside of the cabin, reminding myself to head down that path that was behind the cabin later, I walked back to the front of the cabin and sat down. Looking up back at the detestable cloud barrier, I growled a little at it. Deep down, I wished somepony out there would just sweep it all away to reveal the beautiful night, “Can’t sleep kid?”

I took a long and sad sigh, “No, I can’t. How do you ponies live like this? You can’t see the sky in the daytime and you can’t see the beautiful stars or the moon.”

“One day at a time kid, its all we can do. Its how we live,” Guiding said, sitting next to me.

“Find a way to live,” those were my mom’s final words to me in the memory orb, “but, how am I supposed to live in this wasteland when I don’t anything to live for anymore?”

“Hey,” Guiding called out, rubbing my shoulder to take me out of my thoughts. “Ready to go to bed?”

I shook my head, “No, not yet. I just can’t sleep tonight.”

“Ya need yer rest,” Guiding said.

“Well, mom would sometimes tell me stories when I had restless nights like this,” I giggled.

Almost as he had come with one prepared, Guiding began, “A long time ago, back when the goddesses we young, there was a great and noble monster.”

“A nobel monster?” I asked.

“Well, that was how he was described by some, a monster. To others he was a hero, a swordspony capable of helping them in need, “Giding continued. “See, when he was very young, he made some mistakes, and that earned him a repttion of being a beast and a monster. But he did not care, for he let history and his legacy speak for him. For him, he was doing what he considered the right thing, helping ponies-”

I could not hear the rest, I fell asleep soon after.

“Now, next lesson,” he said, having me hold a ball of water with my telekinesis. “The art of the sword is all about control, focus, and skill, something that is hard to perform on a battlefield. As your skills grow, focus will become easier; you’re training your body to treat the weapon as an extension of yourself.” Guiding continued his lesson as I began to slowly form the water ball into a swor. “When your weapon becomes part of you, it becomes second nature to use it effectively.” He paused in his speaking, breathing a little hard, “I want you to practice swinging with that. Become offensive, and not just defensive. A good defense is a good offence; keep attacking, pushing your enemy back and they’ll retreat. You’re training in focus will come from being able to keep that water in a sword form..”

“Yes sir!” I said, nodding slowly as I began to mold the ball of water into various shapes, getting more complicated as I went on.

“Meanwhile, I will be attacking you,” Guiding said plainly, drawing from the same irradiated pool of water I got the glob from, and formed ice spikes which he then pointed at me.

“What?!” I exclaimed, watching him form ten ice spikes, each about as long and sharp as a spear, and looked just as deadly

“One of the more important lessons you’ll learn in a swordfight, especially when its in a scenario with guns, is that you’ll have to be ready to intercept an attack from any direction. At the same time, you’ll be focusing on holding that blade, practicing and forming that sword” he spoke calmly, using his magic to throw more ice spikes at me.

As those words boomed out of his mouth, he launched three spikes at me, one from above and two at my side. , “AH! Are. You. Expecting. Me. To. Practice. Forming. Objects. While. You. Are. Trying. To. Kill. Me!?” Each word was punctuated with a dodge, although, he manage to strike a blow on my chest, shoulder, and foreleg, the pointy icicles grazing and nicking me.

“Not kill, hurt,” he said plainly. “Yer an alicorn, you’ll be able to heal from any cuts I might lay on you.”

“That isn’t exactly reassuring,” I thought to myself as a I barely ducked under a spike.

Almost as if he could read my thoughts, Guiding replied, “I ain’t here to reassure ya, I’m here to make sure ya survive out there.”

I swallowed hard at the thought that this was where things were going to get a little bit harder for me.

And for the next few days, I was proven right. If I was not busy dodging the ice spikes from Sensei, then I was busy trying to concentrate on keeping the water ball in a sword shape and trying to concentrate on holding it in my magic like a sword.

As I dodged and weaved through his various attacks, I could’ve sworn that a smile came across Guiding’s lips. Maybe he was becoming proud of my progress, or maybe there was something in the training that was getting him excited. But, whatever it was that got him excited, it seemed to spur him on in his attacks and to get creative with how he would attack. Like sending two separate ice spikes coming at my side and back in a ninety degree angle.

However, our focus training ended a lot sooner than our duel, as after about two hours of this I collapsed to the ground panting, “Ok, that’s enough fer now. Let’s head back inside.”

“W-Why, am I so tired?” Panting, I asked, trying to follow him.

“You ehausted your mana, that’s what happened. You may be an alicorn, but you still have normal mana reserves like every other unicorn,” Guiding said, walking to me to help me up.

I shook my head, trying to disagree. Then I began to think, “Luna drained most of my magic when I was a filly wich put me back on step one. Alicorn’s magic increases as they age, and I am about thirty-six now. Mom did the calculations once, I would be normal when I reached one hundred and right now I’m only as powerful as mom was when she was a teenager. Not bad, considering she broke every scale on record when she was a filly.” Getting up, I began to follow him in, “Doesn’t help that I was concentrating on forming an object while dodging spikes.”

“It’ll get easier as you get better,” he said, sitting down on the sofa. Taking a few deep hard breaths, he continued, “I can’t promise yer mana will increase, but you will learn how to fight while expending little mana.”

“I see,” I nodded, realizing what this particular skill would teach me. Tired I collasped on the couch with Guiding.

“Want to hear another story?” Guiding asked, looking at my tired face. I was so tired at this point, I could bearly nod. “In the wasteland there is this story about a young ghost-”

Over the course of that week, I found myself being trained early and quickly got accustomed to the schedule. There were also times where I would forego sleep entirely, in order to practice with the blade to make sure I had it down perfectly.

Many were the nights where I would walk out onto the training field, lifting an individual water blade to spend an hour practicing my sword forms. Then after that, I would generate a clone of me and give her a blade of her own to use. We would then spend up to two hours sparring until I could score three hits on her. The rest of my night would be spent focusing and harnessing my magic to make it so I had complete control over the sword’s watery form or studying the book on swordsmanship that was in the bed room that Guiding let me sleep in.

There were so many interesting skills and techniques in that book, I couldn’t wait to explore each one. Those, however, would have to wait until later, at least until I felt more confident with my sword and not barely able to hold my own against Guiding. This is what I focused on— Focus, skill, strength, and speed.

The problem, however, is these all-nighters would come right before a harsh training session from Guiding. This had me operating with one hour of sleep at a time, which soon took its toll. When I woke up on the eighth day of my training I began to feel woozy and tired. Everything began to swirl around me as I stepped out onto the training ground. This seemed to attract the attention of Guiding as he watched me walk out, “Nyx? Are you ok? NYX!” he yelled out and ran towards me.

I, on the other hand, could barely hear his screams of concern as I began to watch the darkness creep slowly into my vision and I lost any desire to remain in the waking world.

---------------------------------------------(/) ()---------------------------------------------

“What were you thinking, Nyx?” my uncle asked me as he sat next to my bed in the infirmary. “Some of the guard said you passed out during drills today.”

I shook my head a little, trying my best to regain my bearings. “I’m sorry, Captain.”

“Hey, out there, I’m your captain. But alone? I’m your uncle, got it?” Shining asked, looking at me with concerned eyes.

“Sorry,” I whispered. “I guess I just overworked myself. I really wanted to get my drills perfected and I thought I was falling behind everypony else so I have been working day and night and… kind of,” a small hint of embarrassment came to me as I finished. “Been missing sleep.”

“WHAT?!” Shining exclaimed. “Why would you do something so stupid?”

“Well, it’s just that mom pulls all-nighters all the time when she studies and I thought I could do the same with my training,” I sighed.

“Look, Nyx,” Shining laid a hoof on my shoulder and pulled me into a hug, resting his forehead to mine. “It nice that you really want to focus on being a great guardspony and that you want to push yourself, but you have to realize that even you have limits. I would rather have you understand that and be ok, rather than having you work yourself to death. Got it?”

I softly giggle as Shining rubbed his nose with mine, “Sure thing, Uncle Shining.”

-----------------------------------------------------(/)()---------------------------------------------------

“Yes sir, Captain,” I muttered softly as I sat back up in the bed.

“Mind telling me why I had to carry you back to bed and watch you sleep for the past day?” Guiding asked, handing me something brown and dry.

Taking the food in my magic I began to eat slowly, “I guess I was pushing myself too hard again. Old habit.”

“Really?” Guiding asked as he sat next to me.

“When I find something I’m really interested in, I tend to push myself into exploring every aspect until I get a perfect understanding of it,” I said, smiling with the realization of how much like my mom I could be.

Guiding sighed. “Look kid, I can understand that, but even you got limits, right? Being a good swordsmare is all about control and technique. Something that you have to understand. Now, rest up and I’ll get ya back onto training tomorrow.”

I nodded before turning my head to look at a small crayon drawing next to my bed. It was of two unicorns, one in guard armor marked ‘daddy’ and the other of a little filly, “You had kids?”

“One kid, a filly,” Guiding said, a soft grin came to his face. “See, twenty years ago, I met this mare who ran a trading cart. She needed somepony to protect her as she made her trips and hired me back when I was a merc. Fer a long while we traveled together and well, when two ponies travel together fer a while, things tend to happen. You start to feel things for each other, sometimes it can be friendship and other times… love. One night, as we hid in a cave from the rain, we confided in each other. I told her how she made me feel, alive as if I had something to live for. She made my world worth it. At the same time, she confessed that she felt safe around me, protected. She felt at home with me, that no matter what happened next, I would be there for her always. She leaned closer to me, and I to her and we shared a deep loving kiss. I don’t think I need to tell you what happened then.”

I blushed a little as I felt my wings extend involuntarily with an audible pomf. “Uh, no you don’t.”

A small chuckle came from Guiding as he continued his story, “Eleven months later, my daughter was born. Her name was Peaceful Light and was the cutest thing you ever saw. Me, her, and her mother live happily fer a few years until…”

“Until what?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“Raiders,” he said plainly. A small growl came to his voice, “My wife went out one day to do some trading. She wanted to get some caps, maybe find a new book for me.”

“There’s a town nearby?” I asked.

“Used to be, some ponies tried to set a settlement down the path behind us. But, then raiders came to the village befor my wife went off on her trip,” he shuddered and I instantly had a bad feeling where this was going. With a long sigh, he continued, “I don’t know when they ambushed her, but the moment my wife made it to town she never came back. I waited for her to come home, but after two hours of waiting, I went looking fer her,” as the memory came to him, his breathing became ragged and shallow, holding back every rage building moment that memory brought him. “When...when I got there, I saw they had strung her corpse outside their camp. I could over hear them, about how they had violated her body, how they enjoyed her screams as they did it.” His breathing became ragged as he slammed his hoof to the ground in anger, “I could only see red after that, as I became so filled with rage that I went to make sure they wouldn’t hurt anypony again. Then I spent the next few years raising and taking care of my daughter best I could, and even teaching her the skills I knew of the sword. But, ya know how teenagers get. You raise them, train them, and then, one day, they decide it’s time to move on with life and start with their own destiny.”

“Do you know where she is now?” I asked, finishing my meal.

“No, I don’t. We didn’t exactly leave on the best terms,” he sighed, wincing a little bit at a sudden pain. It was something that seemed better to put under ‘ask later’,“But, I do know she’s alright, and alive. I only hope that I did a good job raising her.”

I placed a hoof onto his shoulder and rubbed it gently, “ I believe you did.”

“How ya figure?” Guiding asked.

“Because you have been doing a great job with me, so far. Even if I am a little too hardheaded,” I chuckled as Guiding returned the laugh.

“Go to sleep, kid. Tomorrow I start ya on some light training,” Guiding smiled as he pushed me lightly onto the bed.

“Yes sir!” I said, snuggling myself back into the bed.

About three days after my little fainting spell, I found myself in a small shed near the hut. As I began to walk and look over the small collection of blades, I could hear him speak. “Well kid, here it is. This is your big moment, the day you can claim yer own sword,” Guiding began. “What you see around you, are some of the best blades in my collection. This was all I could scavenge from my travels back when I was a merc, well… some of it was procured by my wife and me. You can pick any one of these swords to be yours, I give them to you freely.”

“Yes, master,” I said, nodding in agreement before closing my eyes and focusing my magic. I began to use my magic to sort out the different types of blades, letting my mind feel out which one felt the most right to me. After I had picked one, I would look over it and then put it back if I didn’t like the look of it. Some of the swords I picked up had a weird looking hilt with a bulb at the end. Others, looked too wide or too bulky for my tastes. After some time searching, I found one that matched my tastes. The blade was nice and long, curved in a fasion that resembled a moon cresent. The hilt began at the guard and curved in a small club; while the markings on the wooden handle had some writing in what looked like Saddle Arabian. A small chuckle came to. The sword could be fast in the hooves of a pegasus, unicorn, or an earth pony, a perfect blade for me.

“A Shamshir, shaped in the form of a cresent moon,” Guiding chuckled. “You picke it on purpose didn’t ya?”

“Well, yeah,” I smiled, holding the blade in my magic and examining it closely. “It’s curved, so there is a sharp edge along with a dull edge. It goes well with my dual nature, a monster one day and innocent the next.”

“Not a bad choice, I kind of like it,” Guiding said.

“Thank you,” I smiled softly.

“Now, a good swordspony is only as good as their faith in what they believe in. Now… what do you fight for?”

I turned my head down and looked down at the light as it enveloped my sword, “ I fight to protect the ponies that I have met in the past and present. I fight for the memories of my mother, my aunts, and my friends. As such, I make a vow to never take another creature’s life no matter what the cost.”

“WHAT?!” Guiding exclaimed as he heard my vow. “Are you crazy kid? You can’t really expect to go through the wasteland without killing, it don’t work that way!”

“Then I’ll find a way,” I said, looking up at him with every bit of determination I had. “Look at my mark, it means that I am meant to protect those who cannot defend themselves. As an alicorn, I have to ability to take on the pain that nopony else can. How can you expect me to be a guardian if I kill others.”

“How do you expect to protect anypony, without killing?” Guiding asked me, somberly.

“Because I refuse to believe that I have to kill in order to protect others,” I argued. “You don’t need to kill in order to save ponies.”

“The wasteland doesn’t work like that. It is all about give and take, kid, you have to give a little of yourself in order to survive. And the thing that usually goes first? Your ideals.”

As he told me this, I immediately could see in my head the raider I had killed. How he laid in a pool of his own blood after I had shot him, and how he looked so pitiful laying there, “NO! I refuse to believe that this accursed place is so corrupt that I have to give up my beliefs in order to survive. I have to believe in a better way, that my opponents can become better after I beat them. I have to.”

Guiding let out a sigh as he looked at me, “Ya speak like a mad mare kid, but I kind of want to believe in ya. I think you can actually do it. Now,” he continued, summoning his bladecast. “How about you tell me what is the name of your blade?”

I gave my sword a quick look, remembering something that a book I once read had to say about naming a sword, ‘it gives your blade a personality, it makes it a part of you.’ Turning back to look at my sensei, a smile came to my lips as I said the sword’s name, “Dusk. My sword’s name is Dusk.”

“Naming it after yer mom. Nice sentiment,” Guiding chuckled as he brought out his sword. “Now, let’s get all of this sentimental stuff out of the way, and focus on the real work. Welcome to hell kid.”

I swallowed hard, knowing that he wasn’t kidding when he said that.

It was grueling few days, I was continually pushed to my limits and beyond. If I wasn’t training with the sword, then it was eating or sleeping. I would’ve been reading as well, but I had already read his small book collection by the first week. I would be remiss, though, if I told you that it was nothing but grueling work, because it wasn’t. There were quite a few times where we would sit back behind his shed, watching the cloud barrier, and talk about our families. It was kind of nice, talking to a guy like that. We both had lost our loved ones and now are just getting by, bonding with a love of the sword. For the first time in a while, I felt like I had a reason to keep going, a home to go back to.

It was a shame that it all came crashing down around me a week later.

It was at the end of my training and Guiding took me into the training circle, “Well done Nyx, you have become a wonderful swordsmare. You may not be an expert yet, but you can certainly hold yer own with most graduates. I don’t know if you’ll find other books to help ya become better at it, but I hope ya do. You’ll be a great swordsmare kid,” Guiding said with a shudder, before turning and walking back into the house as I stepped out.

“Thanks sensei, that means,” I stopped as I watched him walk back into the house, trembling and shaking. “Sensei? Sensei? Guiding?” nervous and worried about my sensei’s well-being, I followed into the house.

Stepping in, my eyes widened in horror as the unicorn stumbled into the bedroom, his breathing becoming ragged, “Oh, please no.” I wispered.

“Oh, h-hey kid,” Guiding said, falling into the bed and holding his left foreleg. Sweat began to bead and run down his face, while it looked like he was panting now.

It didn’t take me long to realize just what was happening,“Guiding, please don’t die!” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face.

“Hey, death happens kid. Ya have to accept that, sometimes, there will be days where ya can’t save everypony. You will have to just buck up and accept that fact of life, and then move on the best ya can. At that point you just,” he wheezed and coughed, “need to realize that ya aint perfect. You can’t be everywhere. Now, I’m gonna leave ya something. In the back, there is some old guard armor my wife found on her travels. Take it, and there is a robe to hide yer extra appendages.”

“Thank you,” I said, tears welling up in my face as I looked at the fallen swordspony.

“Also, could you grant me one little request. Sorry fer being selfish but I-” his breathing became harder, coming out in short pants. “I-I need you to go and find my daughter fer me. See how she’s doing, and tell her… that I’m proud of her. That I love her so much. Heh, look at my wife, just a beautiful as the day we… met,” Guiding finished, closing his eyes and letting out one final breath.

“I will, Guiding. Guiding?” I asked, looking at his now motionless body. With a heavy and sorrowful sigh, I lowered my head, and whispered, “Goodbye, and thank you.”

Steeling myself, I stood up and walked ot of the house to a spot just a few feet away from the shed and began to moving the dirt to make a hole. I would grieve, yes, but I first needed to honor my mentor’s death with a proper funeral. As I dug, I tried my best to hold back my tears over the death of my friend, one of the few ponies I met in this hellhole worth a damn. I continued to dig faster and faster, making sure that it was deep enough for him. It was only after the hole was dug and I stood up, did I begin to feel wet tears rolling down the sides of my cheek, “Come on, Nyx, you have work to do. Stop your crying.” I chided myself as I walked back to the body.

Using my magic, I lifted up my mentor and lowered him into the makeshift grave, marking it with some rocks and engraving it with his cutie mark. Finishing my job, I turned and walked into the hut to search for his last gift for me. It didn’t take long, it was in a large box in the foot of the bed. I opened the box and looked at the armor. It was a good size, a little distended from some blows, but otherwise it was salvageable. I could wear it and it would at least protect me from some of the bullets coming at me. The cloak was also nice, covering my wings perfectly in its midnight blue color.

After taking a few minutes to put on the armor and cloak, I used a duplication spell to look at myself with the ensemble on. Aunt Rarity might have had a few complaints about it but I liked it. The dark bronze that covered my chest and flank meshed perfectly with the blue cloak, matching my draconic eyes to a T. With this, I don’t think anypony could tell if I was an alicorn or not.

Dispelling my clone, I took one last look at the grave where my friend laid, took a deep breath and whispered, “Goodbye, Guiding Light. Thanks for everything,” and with that, I left, tears still flowing from my eyes.

After about a few hours of walking, I heard a panicked, “HELP ME! Oh, goddesses, HELP!” ears shooting up at this, I turned my head quickly to where the call came from. Getting my bearings quickly, I ran to where the noise had popped up. When I reached the location, what I saw disgusted me. It was a young mare, barely older than twenty I guess, surrounded by a small band of six raiders.

I watched with a slowly building rage as two of the monsters slammed her to the ground and forcefully hiked her tail up. As I listened to her pleas of mercy, I watched as one raider walked up right behind her with his intent obvious for all to see. With a growl, I drew out Dusk and sent it flying through the air and into the stallion’s nether areas, slicing the hardened tool off. A sick smile came to me as I watched the raider’s now useless tool fly away from him and to who knows where, “Who the fuck-” the raider never got to finish as his legs were cut out from under him by my slice.

“Me,” I said plainly as I stepped out from the shadows, pulling Dusk to me with my magic.

“Well, look at this. It’s a pretty unicorn,” one of the raiders sneered, pulling out his knife while others pulled out guns.

“I wonder how she tastes,” another one said, licking his knife.

“Bet she moans like a little slut when we put that sword of hers into her cu-” he never finished as his back and front was cut deeply, sending him to the ground. Counting off, I sent three of my motes into the other raider’s mouths, cutting their jaws to cause them to drop their guns. Without missing a beat, I block one of the raiders knives with my sword and decked a third coming to my left.

The two remaining raiders backed up and charged at me, only to feel the wrong end of my blade and fall to the ground in pain. When I watched the last raider fall from my sword, I used my magic to throw them into a pile and went to the young mare, “Are you going to be all right?”

“Maybe,” she said, trembling as she looked to the pile of raiders. “Why didn’t you kill them?”

“Because of a promise I made to myself,” I said as I walked to a fallen gun.

“You shouldn’t have let them live, they deserved to die. You should’ve-” she was stopped by me throwing a gun to her.

“I beat them, I made it so they won’t hurt you again, what happens next? It is all up to you. If they live or die, it’s your choice,” I said before quietly walking away.

To this day, I do not know if the mare let the raiders live or if she became their executioner. I can only hope, that whatever decision she made… she can live with it.

Meanwhile, I just walked on towards Manehatten, my heart a little heavier at having lost a friend. But, I had a small hope that I could find out what had happened to one of my aunts, and maybe I can hope that they had a happy ending.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Swordsmare: Who needs guns when you have a blade? +5% more damage with bladed weapons.

Author's Note

Thanks to Recon777, Alcatraz, and Zoltanthemagiicent for editing and working with me. Can't do this without ya.

Oh, so lets talk this chapter.

We have two deleted scenes that I want to talk about. The first being the first meeting wiht the alicorn. Originally, the confrentation was just over the slaves, but then it became the new version. but originally, there was no meeting...I felt like that there had to be something and this would be a perfect spot to have Nyx meet her first alicorn.

Now, we get to Guiding. His stuff changed the most through the writing. First of all, the Flashback with Twilight didn't have Twilight trying so hard to convince Shining about not letting Nyx join. Then the training was going to bring in an element from the Immortal Game called Bladecasting, wich would have given our little alicorn the ability to split a sword into 20 sharp points of metal called motes, and these would've been her distance weapon. However, it was decided that thi would be a game breaker and make some of her fights too easy. Also, there was a lot less interaction between Guiding and Nyx, along with no story telling scenes. Laslty, there was going to be a final fight with Guiding where he wanted to die in battle, but a peaceful scene of his death made it much more sad.

Now, the question becomes...can she do it? Can Nyx keep to such an ideal such as no killing in a place like the wasteland? Can she hold such an ideal when she lives in a world that says its killed or be killed? Or will she fall to the wastelan? Wht do you think?

Yes, she is about to do something that I found out is hard to do on Fallout (yes, I researched it. It is possible, but almost impossible to do. I even found a video of a guy doing it.

Next time...tears. Lots and lots of tears.

Friends

“So you try to break us up because you’re afraid of us. Which is silly, why not be our friends instead?”

Flying.

Flying has a lot of meaning for the three different tribes—for Pegasi it’s a way of life. Unicorns, it’s just one more obstacle for them to try and conquer with their magic. Earth ponies just see it as just one of those things that other ponies can do. For me, it has always been a way to relax and clear my head. It was something Rainbow Dash ingrained in my head during training ‘Nyx, up here, you can really relax. Nothing can get you and you are the master of your own destiny. Just you and the clouds.’

A chuckle escaped my lips, letting the words flow through my mind while the air flowed past my wings. There is just something about having the wind blowing through your mane and air that blows under the feathers of your wings that helps you forget your troubles or put them in perspective. Even the air, sickly though it was, felt a little better while up in the clouds. Taking a deep breath, I performed a small corkscrew in the air to position my back to the ground. Looking up at the cloud barrier, my hoof gently raised up and began to cut deeply through the clouds, making a tiny little slit in the clouds to reveal the blue sky above.

“How do you live like this?”

“One day at a time kid, one day at a time,”

The words of Guiding came back to me as I looked at the blue sky and frowned. There was the beautiful sky, untainted by the devastation that now covered Equestria, and down below was nothing more than a depressing wasteland of death. I flipped around again to look below. Everywhere my eyes looked, I could see nothing but rotten blackened trees and brown tainted dirt. No grass, flowers, or even animal life could be seen for miles around.

“So much death, and I can’t fix a damn thing. What am I good for? What am I supposed to live for?” I spoke aloud. Shaking my head, I turned my sights ahead to look at the approaching city of Manehatten. A small smile came to my lips as the first stop in my journey lay just a few hours ahead of me. But first, I needed to rest and relax my wings.

Looking around, I found a small hill with a little pile of rocks near the edge. Titling my wings to catch the downdraft, I glided down to the hill and landed on the side of the rocks. Once my hooves were on the ground, I stretched a little and arched my back as I extended my leg. Laying down on my belly, the first thing I did was look over my wings, “Stars, when did I last preen you girls?” I leaned my head to the right wing, taking out the broken feathers and adjusting the misaligned ones. I noticed a few burn marks and holes from some of the bullets that I had been trying to dodge for a while. Sometimes, I wish that somepony made armor for wings.

My right wing done, I extended it and gave it a good flap. Confident that it was clean and fixed, I moved onto my left. A few memories came to my mind as I fixed the wings.

“Hehe, it tickles Mom,” I giggled as she went through my wings.

“You’re doing it wrong, Twilight; you are supposed to gently glean through them, not run through them roughly,” Dash said, watching.

“Well, I’ve never tried to…” Mom made a small grunt as she moved a feather. “Preen a wing before.”

“You’re doing great, Mom!” I smiled as she continued.

I pulled my head away from my left wing and gave it a few test flaps, making sure that any leftover loose feathers were gone and that my wing was now officially clean. Nodding in pride at my work, I lifted my saddle bags in front of me and looked inside. Ok, lets see what we got here, I thought to myself as I reached into the right pouch and pulled out the contents.

“One canteen,” I said, taking a small drink of water. It may have been irradiated, but at least it was liquid and tasted good. “Two boxes of Fancy Pants candied apples, one small bowl of instant noodles from Guiding’s house, and,” I quickly opened the box of apple crisps and took a bite, “a quickly depleting box of apple crisps.” As I ate through my improvised lunch of apple crisps (although, I wished that I had a daffodil sandwich with a bit of celery soup), I made a mental note to scavenge the city and find some food there or maybe find some ponies that are selling some for caps. It shouldn’t be too hard; Manehatten had a few grocery stores and Pumpkin even owned a branch of Sugar Cube Corner there.

I opened my left pouch after I cleaned Dusk. The holster I made for Dusk was crude, and Rarity would have killed me for the horrible design, but it was the only thing I could keep her in. Taking a quick look inside, I smiled at the sight of all of my treasures inside the bag. Reaching in with my magic, I levitated the Twilight plush and looked at it, “You know what would make this journey easier, Mom? If I had a friend.” I sighed, not really expecting an answer or response from the plush. Putting her back inside, I took another bite of the apple crisp.

Finishing the last of the apple crisp, and taking some Rad-away for good measure, I looked above the small rock mound towards my destination. There, just a few miles beyond a small cabin (I wonder who that belonged to), was the once gleaming city of Manehatten. Although much of it was decayed with places that looked like somepony took a bite out of one of the buildings, I was able to see in my head what the place once looked like. The gleaming spires, the tall towers, and the almost mirror-like buildings were all placed on a small island. My mind replayed a memory I had of Mom and the others heading off to watch a play while Rarity went off into a fashion show. Now, all of those memories seemed lost forever, broken like the city before me. All those memories and ponies like... “Babs.” I whispered with a soft smile.

“So, I hear youse gals were gonna be getting a bodyguard,” the brown mare next to me said as the elevator rose up.

“Yeah, apparently an alicorn needs protection,” I joked with Babs as we neared the top.

Babs looked at me with comforting eyes, “Hey, after what happened to Big Mac, I’m surprised that all four of ya ain’t under a lot more protection.”

“It’s not me that would need it. It’s them. I can handle a lot more than Sweetie Belle, Scoots, and Bloom,” I said as we walked to the main office.

“Well,” Babs began, after blowing a piece of mane out of her eyes—a habit that she never seemed to grow out of. “Maybe your bodyguard is there to protect them from you.”

I let loose a giggle, “Maybe.”

As the door began to open, I could hear Apple Bloom talking. “And, our personal bodyguard should be walking through the door right no- BABS!? You’re the bodyguard?”

I was about to disagree when I looked to Babs, who had a smirk on her face that said ‘ya, I am’. My face broke out into a wide grin as I picked up Babs in my forelegs and gave the biggest hug I could, showing off her cutie mark: an apple seed within a shield.

As the memory faded from my mind, I made a mental note to find Babs’ old apartment and pay my respects. I extended my wings, gave them a few flaps, and took off towards the broken city.

As I flew through the buildings, I couldn't resist swooping and weaving through some of the more intact structures. Racing through various holes in the ruins like some sort of insane obstacle course made me feel alive, and it became a nice sport in spite of the relatively creepy feeling of the city. Making my way deeper into the city, I stopped to hover for a moment so I could get my bearings.

“Okay, Nyx. If the Arcane Sciences hub is to the south-west...” I turned to see Mom's Ministry building towering over a few smaller buildings next to the highway. Most of the windows were blown out, giving a clear view of any ponies that might be in there. Considering the state of the other buildings around the city, I was surprised that it had remained mostly intact.

I looked to my left. “And the Four Star Grand Terminal is to the south-east, then Red Racer is there with Hoofbeats next to it.” I pointed to distant broken building. The rusted and crumbling building had seen better days; the once impressive scooter was now fallen halfway to the ground and jammed between the tower and its neighboring building. A smile came to me as I fixed my gaze on the distant scene. Though it was mostly just a silhouette, I could recognize that scooter anywhere.

However, as I had gotten my bearings, my ears twitched at a whistling sound. Turning around, I barely had time to let out a gasp as I watched a missile coming at me, a white trail of smoke followed the incoming ballistic. With a little chance to move I swiftly ducked uner the incoming projectile, it hitting a building neext to me. The force of the explosion sent me flying into a corkscrew, and a second flew past and striking my wing. All feeling lost in my wings, I plummeted towards the ground at an almost unbelievable pace. Dazed, my eyes were barely open as I watched ground come up to meet me as I hit it hard.

I looked up from the small crater that I made, trying my best to get myself reoriented. Everything hurt, my body felt like every inch of it was on fire. My eyes were opened in slits, letting me see very little. Moaning in pain, I looked around at my body to see just how badly the missile had hurt me. Slowly lifting my eyes to look, my leg was turning purple from be twisted, and my head began to throb a little in pain as a trickle of blood ran over my eye.

Closing my eyes, I tried to use my basic healing spell to try and help my worst injuries; the constant loud ringing in my head was not helping my concentration. Wincing and struggling through the pain and ringing, I tried to help reset my wing a little, but the pain was getting to me.

That was when I heard a slow thunderous walk coming in through the ringing. It sounded like an iron giant walking towards me, ready to claim his prize. Struggling through the pain of the missile strike, I watched in horror as a steel ranger walked slowly towards my crater, kicking up dust and breaking rocks as he walked. After it got closer to me, the iron monster looked down at me, his weapons drawn. Trembling, I raised my hoof to the metal pony, trying to gaze through the helmet and into his eyes. “W-w-wait, I’m not, t-them. I’m not a mons...” the rest of my sentence fell away as I succumbed to the darkness.

“Nyx?” I heard a voice call out.

After what I guessed to be about a few hours of unconsciousness, I began to slowly reawaken. My body still felt a little groggy from being out for so long, and it took me a while to begin to move again. The first thing I did was try to move my legs, and to my surprise, they were fine. Opening my eyes wide and taking a closer look at my wings and leg, noting that I must have been given a healing potion when I slept. Raising an eyebrow at this, I rolled onto my stomach and laid there for a few moments. It made no sense to me that I would be fine like this, the spell I cast before I passed out was only supposed to help my chest and stomach heal.

Turning my head back and forth, I tried to hunt down who it was that was responsible for my current condition. On my left, I caught quick glance of a few bottles and some white stuff. Slowly getting up and walking to the objects, I smiled when I noticed that the bottles were some healing potions and a couple bottles of Sparkle-Cola. Levitating the bottles into my bags, I then looked at the white object that I had seen earlier. It was a small white cup and a note attached to it.

Curious as to what was in the styrofoam cup, I opened the little and took a whiff of the scent from inside it, “No way,” I gasped as I opened the cup. My eyes widened in happiness as I looked at the thin red broth, with the small green chunks floating within, “CELERY SOUP!” I exclaimed in pure happiness.

I knew that the celery that had made up the main part of the soup was probably filled with enough preservatives to make it more chemical than soup, I didn’t even want to think about what was done to make the soup, and it was most likely radiated to blazes. I didn’t care. Tirek himself could’ve appeared, offered me the stuff made out of Discord droppings, and I would take it. Giggling like a little filly, I generated some small heat magic with my horn and warmed the soup to a boil. After waiting a few minutes to warm it up, I tipped the cup to my lips and began to slurp it down.

“Nyx, don’t slurp your soup,” I could hear Rarity say in my head. I just smiled in response as I drank my soup, moaning in pleasure as I could feel the warm broth go through my mouth and down my throat. The leafy taste of celery mixing well with whatever it was that the makers decided to create the broth with.

After I had finished gulping down the soup, tasting like preservatives along with the rest of the tasty vegetable, I licked the remaining drops of soup from my lips and put down the cup to the side. I then looked at the note, wondering who in Equestria knew about my love of celery soup. Picking it up, I began to read it.

Nyx,

Remember that you should be careful flying around cities like this one. Not all Steel Rangers are going to be like me; most would’ve left you to die. I fixed you up the best I could with some potions and left you with some that I had scavenged. I had also found some soup I scavenged up.

Sgt. Steel Hooves.

“Steel Hooves is alive!?” I gasped in shock as I folded up the paper in my magic and put it away into my bag. I never had much interaction with him beyond the times me and Apple Bloom met up with him at Applejack’s, but the idea that there was somepony else alive from my past out there besides Ditzy made me smile. I turned towards the direction of the coordinates, but then I stopped and stepped back.

My mind began to think if I really should go and meet him now. After all, we probably didn’t have too much to talk about. It also didn’t help that he recently fired two missiles into my body and almost killed me. That would make things a little awkward between us. I sighed and shook my head before turning back to the direction of Red Racer, “I’ll see you later, Steel Hooves.” I smiled and walked away, mentally making a note to come back. After all, he did say to come back when I needed help, and he also might know what happened to Applejack. I knew he had problems with her before the last day (I was only one of a few who knew about their relationship), but maybe they patched things up and he knew where she died.

Remembering what he had said earlier about being careful, I decided it would be best to walk the rest of the way. After all, it didn’t seem too far to walk.

Thank the stars I was right, for within a few minutes, I was already within sight of the large building and the club next to it. Looking up, my ears fell against my head a little as I saw the fallen scooter wedged in between the two buildings. No doubt it fell down due to rust. The adjoining building, in comparison, looked a little better with all of its floors intact. It looked blackened from a great fire that hit it. With the exception of the Hoof Beats club right below it, one wouldn’t think it any different from any other building, nor would they think it would be a Ministry hub.

I took a few steps forward but stopped when I heard loud growling. Not wanting to risk a fight just quite yet, I flew up to a small building just across from the Red Racer building and looked down. At first glance, the little group looked like winged scorpions, “Enclave?” I asked myself as I looked. From the description that Guiding gave of that one scout he encountered, they had armor like the one Rarity made for Rainbow Dash. And these things seemed to fit the bill nicely.

However, I looked closer and saw that they all had manes and resembled large lions rather than ponies, “Manticores,” I said. Looking to my side, I pondered for a few moments of going down and taking them all on to make my way to Red Racer. The temptation to let them all feel the wrath of my sword was palatable.I held out my sword in front of me, my lips turned into a sneer in Dusk’s reflection.

Giggling, I shook my head a little and I sheathed the blade. There wasn’t any real reason to be fighting them and I didn’t want to waste my time kicking their tails. Instead, I looked to where the scooter of the Red Racer had fallen and flew towards that instead, making a soft landing on the bridge, “If I remember right, Pinkie’s office is just one floor above me. With any luck there’s some clues to where Pinkie Pie went,” I thought to myself as I took a few steps forward, trying to ignore the sound of leathery wings right behind me.

As the sound drifted closer to me, I leapt over the incoming flying thing and landed behind it, “What the buck?!” I exclaimed out loud as I turned to see four more of these batlike things flying from the scaffold of the old Red Racer building towards me.With a step forward, I could hear the bridge creak and groan, and chose not to risk a battle on shaky ground. Choosing, instead to move into the building. In a flash of lightning, the bat thing in front of me fell down thanks to my bolt..

Panting, I turn around to watch as my little bat pursuer decided to hunt elsewhere and fly back to its perch. Resisting the urge to give the offending creature an immature razberry, I turned to walk down the hallway of the building. With any luck, some of the stairs would be still standing after all this time to allow me a chance to walk up to the floor above me. Continuing my journey down the hallway, I began to notice the frequent appearances of kitchens along with the offices one would expect to find in a building like this. A small chuckle came from me as I thought, “It just wouldn’t be Pinkie to have a lack of kitchens in a building. She would miss out on a lot of baking.”

The old hallway was much like the rest of the building, burnt and ruined with parts of the ceiling falling apart to reveal some of the wires beneath. The rooms that looked like they could be entered were mostly blocked off by rubble or dead ponies. The idea that I might have to fly up to the next level was looking more and more possible. Also in the back of my head was the thought that I might not be able to get any info from the computers about Pinkie Pie, and then where was I going to go. The tuba music playing behind me was not helping with my worries, “Tuba music?” I said out loud. Turning behind me, I saw what looked like to be a mechanical flying bug,” A sprite-bot?”

“You are not supposed to be here, you are a bad pony,” the voice spoke with Pinkie’s voice.

I didn’t even have time to try and argue before the sprite-bot began to shoot its lasers at me, making me roll to the side of the hallway. My eyes narrowed, I unsheathed Dusk and launched myself at the sprite-bot and cut deeply into the flying machine. After two swipes with my sword, the robot was down, sparking and sizzling in a heap of scrap. Tossing my mane back with a shrug of my head over the ease of killing the bot, I then caught sight of three more of those things coming at me. A gasp of surprise came from my lips as I ran down the only available hallway on my left.

This turned out to be a bad idea as two more bots showed up, and left me with little choice but to duck into the adjoining kitchen. Letting out a yelp of pain as I felt one of the lasers burn off some of my tail. Using an overturned table for cover, I took the time to look at my burnt purple tail. Luckily it was only mildly singed, and I quickly blew on it to get rid of the flames. Looking over my cover, I sent Dusk flying out to one of the sprite-bots like a flying javelin and piercing the side of the machine, destroying it. I retrieved my sword with a loud *ting*. I saw some of the other bots began to fly down the hallway looking for me.

A groan came from me as I began to look around for some alternate way for me to get to the next floor without crossing the paths of the bots, and luckily for me, one was opened as I looked up to the ceiling at a hole to the next floor. With a few flaps of my wings I took off from behind the turned table and up the hole. I smiled as I climbed up out to look at my surroundings on the upper floor: It appeared to be a small waiting room that led right to the Ministry Mare’s office. With a few quick trots, I opened the door to take a look inside.

The room was nice and big, appropriate for an office belonging to the head o the ministry. It even had a nice big panoramic window behind the melted desk, perfect for watching over the city. Well, it would’ve been perfect if weren't for the fact that the window was shattered, leaving behind jagged glass in the frame. Walking into the room and looking into a corner on my left, I took note of four safes against the wall. If I was any good at lockpicking I would’ve tried to see what Pinkie left behind, but instead, I took the time to look at the small kitchen in the far other corner with a computer on it.

Walking towards the computer, my eyes caught the body of a charred skeleton holding a small purple object. A sorrowful sigh came from my lips as I looked at it, feeling sorry for whoever the he or she was, and then walked to the computer. Taking a few tries to access it, I opened up the first file I saw, an audio recording.“Hi Twilight. It’s me …

“I’ve tried sending messages to you at both your Canterlot office and the one here. Everypony says that you are in Splendid Valley again, so now I’m trying you there too. I really hope you’re not just avoiding me. I… I wouldn’t blame you if you were.”

“Pinkie pie?!” I exclaimed with glee, happy to be getting somewhere with finding where the other girls were.

“I went to the get-together at Spike’s place and brought it just like you asked.

“Get together? Spike’s place? What is she talking about, and what did she bring,” I made a note to myself to find out.

All of my friends were there but you… Spike said it was because you couldn’t get away from your work, but… Was it because I was gonna be there?

“Twilight, I’m so sorry. You were right. Totally right. I’ve known it for a long time. I just…

“I can’t.

“I mean, I couldn’t. But I will. I’ve made an appointment at the Helpinghoof Clinic. For tomorrow. They’re supposed to have stuff there… medicine that can help make… addictions… go away.

“Do you think they might be able to bake the medicine into a cake? Or maybe a pie? I like pie!”

“Oh, Pinkie, I’m so sorry,” I whimpered, putting my hoof to the screen. “I wish there was something I could’ve done to help.” I said, over the next few pieces of dialogue in the recording.

“I’ve done bad things, Twilight. Awful things. And I’ve let the ponies in my Ministry do even worse things. And I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know if I can be your Pinkie Pie again. But I’ll try. That’s a Pinkie Pie Promise!

I shook my head a little, and sighed, “You just made mistakes Pinkie, we all did. I know Mom would’ve been there to help you all the way.”

“And Twilight? Do you think… maybe… you could go with me? I’m… kinda scared. And it isn’t the sort of scared that goes away with giggling.

“I mean, I have you with me now, so you’ll kinda be with me anyway. But it’s not the same. I want the real Twilight Sparkle. I…

“I want my friend back.

“Please?

“I’ll do anything…”

I could feel some of my tears fall from my eyes, feeling miserable at the pain that my dear aunt Pinkie went through. I felt so useless at being unable to help someone so close and dear to me. Recoling in horror, I read the last few lines on the screen

Error: Connection to Maripony Terminal #42 Failed.

Message not sent.

I sat there for a few minutes, reading the message on the screen, as the gears in my head began to turn and I shuddered at the realization of just who that corpse was across from me. I peaked my head from behind the screen and let out a barely audible shuddering whisper, “P-Pinkie Pie?” Taking slow, shivering steps, I began to walk to the charred skeleton of my aunt. Leaning in, I moved the skull with my snout, as if this was some cruel prank and she would pop up again, alive.

As I nuzzled her, I kept saying, “Pinkie, please, get up. Please, get up! Come on, this has stopped being funny!” The tears began to roll down my cheeks, unstopping as I collapsed to my stomach, “Didn’t you always say a prank is only fun when everypony is laughing with you? Well, I am not laughing! This is not fun, Pinkie! Please, come back, make me smile again. G-give me something to laugh about, give me hope again! P-please Pinkie... I can’t do this, not alone... ” then I laid my head in between my forelegs and cried myself to sleep. “So... alone.”

“Alone?” Pinkie giggled as she jumped down next to me, her grin shining brighter than anything.
“Yes, alone,” I groaned, looking out at the small town. I was planning on reading my royal guard manual that day alone when Pinkie heard me talking to myself. “When I get into the royal guard, I am going to feel so alone there. It was hard enough to make friends here, and now I am going to a place where the first thought will be to ‘kill the newbie.’ I am going to be all by myself and my friends are all going to be who knows where! You know, Dinky’s planning on being a teacher? Apple Bloom and Scoots have a few ideas about some companies they want to set up and Sweetie is planning on going to Las Pegas. Me? Stuck, alone, and all by myself.”
I then notice that Pinkie had a reassuring smile on her lips, before putting a hoof on my shoulder, “Ah, you aren’t going to be alone-”
“I just said-”
“They are going to be where they always are going to be,” she then placed a hoof on my chest, “Right here! Along with me, your mom, and all of our other friends! Just because you can’t see us, doesn’t mean we aren’t there. The friendships you made today will always be with you. And if you ever forget it, just have a little laugh and I will be right there.”

“Now come on, laugh, you really need it right now...”

My eyes were still closed as the dream ended, a smile coming to my lips. Slowly, but surely, I let out a small innocent laugh. For a brief moment, I thought I saw Pinkie putting her hoof onto my shoulder, smiling at me. Wiping away the tears from my eyes, I stood up slowly and looked to the window, needing to get as far away from there as possible. I took one final look at the resting corpse of Pinkie, praying that she and Mom would meet again one day. Turning my head to look out the window, my eyes narrowed in determination and I spread my wings to take off and fly out.

After a few minutes of flying, I found a small rooftop to land on. Once my hooves hit the cold hard surface of the broken roof, I looked up at the sky in an attempt to try and tell how long I had been asleep. A growl of irritation escaped my lips as I looked up at the cloudy sky, forgetting how impossible it was to see the sun. Guessing by the lighter grey of the cloud cover, I must have slept all night. With a quick pull of my magic, I pulled out the book Mom gave me and began to write,

“Pinkie Pie soon met her end...
Pinkie Pie...
She spent her final...
Her Life was...”
I blinked rapidly, trying to stop crying as I found myself unable to write anything down in the book. Every sentence I seemed to write just fell apart as I couldn’t get the image of Pinkie’s body out of my mind. It felt like a sword stabbing through my heart just trying to even write her name.

“Oh, by the stars, if I am having this much trouble with Pinkie... What am I going to do if I see Rarity’s body, Fluttershy’s, Applejack’s, or even Mom’s!” I shook in fear, the image of my mother’s charred body laying before me caused fear to run through my mind. “ T-this is too hard, why did you choose me, Mom?”

“I want that book to be a memorial to us, the good and the bad. I want the ponies of the future to know our true history, not whitewashed history. I want them to know how we lived and how we died. To learn from our lives and grow from it,” my Mom said to me in the memory.
“Because you trust me,” I whispered to myself, “to write down the truth and not sugar coat it. You want to teach a lesson on life and friendship one last time.”

Getting back up, I placed my book back into my pouch and walked to the edge of the roof in attempt to get some flying in and taking my mind off of my friend’s corpse. With a deep breath, I prepared to take off into the air, but some noises caught my ear and I looked down.

On the ground beneath me, there was a pony in a gunfight with six other ponies. At the same time, it looked like he (or she) was standing in front of three smaller ponies, “Raiders,” I growled. Getting to my haunches, I used my cloak to cover my wings and jumped off the roof. It must’ve looked like I had jumped of the roof and allowed myself to glide to the ground with my cloak. A smirk came across my lips as Dusk came unseathed.

The first raider did not even see my attack coming as I slashed Dusk deeply into his back, before using the blade’s dull side to knock him out. While I got up from my landing, I took note of what the other raiders were holding as they took note of their new opponent. As they yelled commands to one another, I could see that two of them had shotguns (Take those out first) one had a pipe and the last two had pistols.

“Oh, it’s an unicorn bitch. Boys, git her!” the one with the pipe smile as he turned with his two friends to stare down their previous opponent and the ponies they were attacking. At this time I noticed it was a small group of teenage fillies that they had cornered and were trying to kill. But where was the pony that I thought I saw protecting them?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a hand gun being shot, the bullet passing by my right foreleg, “Shoot! I missed.” He would not get a second chance, for while he reloaded, I raced at him, using Dusk to cut off his left foreleg. Ducking beneath the shot of his partner, I slashed at him with my sword’s dull side, sending the pony to the ground unconscious. Looking to the pony who’s leg I chopped off, I used my fire magic to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding, before I slammed my hoof down to knock him out.

This left the three other riders to fight, but before I could get to them, the other pony who had been fighting the six raiders appeared. My eyes opened wide at the shine from his wings as he swooped at the two raiders, decapitating them, “Wingblades,” I whispered to myself before yelling out, “Duck!” the pegasus did, allowing me to send Dusk flying out to the last raider and hit his head, knocking him out.

“Thanks,” the white stallion said, walking by me to look at the two other raiders I took down. “But you shouldn’t be letting these raiders live. They don’t deserve it.”

“I’m not an executioner, it not my place,” I said calmly, looking at the decapitated corpses of the other two raiders. “You may like it, but I don’t.”

The stallion sighed, shaking his black mane, “Naive. The name is Swift Blade, and you are?”

“Nyx Sparkle,” I said, looking at the three fillies as they ran towards us.

“Thanks for saving us,sir/mam,” they said in unison.

“What are you three doing out here?”

“Soft touch,” the filly of the group said, pointing to a light blue pony next to her. “Said he saw an alicorn flying into the Red Racer building, and we wanted to see if he was right. But then those raiders found us and began to chase us.”

“They come from Guttertown, not too far from here. I say a few blocks from the way they carry themselves. Not tired at all,” the stallion said, and then looked behind him. “You can cut across the alley and get yourselves there.”

The three kids nodded and ran off in the direction that Swift told them, while I turned to walk away, “So, where are you headed?” Swift asked me.

“Umm,” I froze or a few moments, unsure of my destination. Beyond Pinkie, the book really didn’t offer any real clues to where I could start looking for the other bearers. I took a deep sigh and looked at the towering MAS building ahead of me. Maybe Mom’s ministry might have some clues. Looking over my shoulder at Swift, I responded while pointing my hoof to the building towering over the monorail, “To the Ministry of Arcane Sciences Building up ahead.”

“You new here or something? Nopony has called it that in years. It’s Tenpony Tower now,” Swift said, looking at the building with me. “I can understand the confusion if you were a stable pony.”

As I looked to him, it was then I had noticed the glowing green device on his right hoof. This look also provided a chance for me to look at his cutie mark, metal wings swiping through a cloud, “Well, I used to live with a group of monks that respected and studied the ministry mares and my group focused on Twilight,” I lied, not wanting to go into detail about the truth.

“I see, and you left the confines of your little sect because?” asked Swift, an eyebrow raised.

“Well, I am on a pilgrimage from my monastery to find out what had happened to the ministry mares when the world ended and record it for them,” I answered, not completely lying. “I already have Pinkie Pie, but the rest-”

“I can’t guarantee you will find the answers to where the mares fell, but you might find some rumors in Tenpony Tower,” Swift said, walking ahead of me, his wind-swept black mane not seeming to be messed by the soft wind.

“You live there?” I asked as I began to walk side-by-side with hm=im.

“No, but some of the jobs that I take come from there,” he said, looking towards the tram line.

“Mercenary?” I asked him.

He silently nodded, “Of a sort, I mainly protect those who can’t protect themselves.”

“By killing,” I muttered under my breath.

“Way of the wasteland. You can’t get by for long on a naive ideal like never being able to kill,” he stated coldly.

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” I said, shaking my head.

“Thoughts like that get ponies killed,” he said, heading to the four star terminal.

“Why aren’t we flying there?” I questioned, letting my curiosity about this stallion take over.

Swift turned to look at me as we walked through the station and towards the Luna line of the elevated train, “They don’t like the idea of pegasi flying into their tower. Kind of raises suspicions.” Then he stopped and looked at me, “But, why would you worry about flying? You are an unicorn.”

I stepped back and chuckled at my accidental faux pas, “Well, I thought that you pegasi are strong enough to carry ponies, so I figured you could fly me there.”

“We are strong, but not that strong,” Swift said as we stepped onto the line proper. As we began to walk forth onto the Luna line, the extent of the devastation of the city finally hit me in full force. Empty buildings now broken down, or crumbled into various states of ruin passed me by. When I looked over the railing at the ground below, I could see nothing but destroyed vehicles and the occasional piece of litter blowing by. The cool wind that blew by me caused me to shudder a little, although that is probably more from seeing the former city surrounding me as an example of how to wipe out all life in a matter of seconds.

Swift looked at me, “You are warm, I assume?”

“Huh? Oh yeah,” I sighed. “It’s just all of this death and devastation around me, it’s a little much.”

“It’s something you have to get used to,” Swift said, and then before I could respond with a snide remark, the stallion looked towards a collection of buildings. “But if you need something to warm you up and make you feel better. Wait.”

I arched an eyebrow at this and walked to his side, and let out a gasp of awe as I watched a phoenix fly out from the alleyways and towards the Luna line. My eyes continued to watch as the bird encircled me and flapping its beautiful green and yellow wings as it gave a beautiful caw. It made another loop above our heads before flying towards some other buildings. A small chuckle came to me as my thoughts drifted to Spike and Peewee, “I wonder if they made it,” I said in a low whisper.

“Even in times of darkness, there is a light waiting to be found,” Swift said, before turning around to continue to walk down the monorail.

My head cocked to the side, “Philosophy?”

“No,” Swift shook his head, stepping over some random debris. “Just the thoughts of a pony trying to live in a hellhole.”

I nodded in understanding, after all, ponies like him need something to do in a place like this. I turned as we walked by a large anti-zebra propaganda poster. I felt rage within me as I saw it.

Ok, I’ll admit it, there was a small part of me that actually bought into the MOI propaganda. Can you blame me? The zebras killed one of my best friends and a school’s worth of fillies and colts. Of course I’m going to hate them for a while, even though I know there are good ones out there, ones who don’t believe that I am...

I turned my head away from the image, unsure whether to thrust my hoof in the air in celebration of the message or to groan with disgust at the sight. With a sigh, I kept my pace with the white pegasus and began to wonder if this wasn’t the time to let old prejudices die.

After a few more feet of travel, we reached a part of the monorail where another crossed just above it, “We’ll use the Celestia rail, I can fly you up if you want.”

“Such a gentlestallion,” I smiled as I took him up on his offer and let him fly me up to the above line, where we continued on our journey.

To be honest, I did not know what to expect as we neared the Ministry of Arcane Science building, but seeing lights in the old broken building was something odd. Granted, part of it was in disrepair and the sign was long gone, but otherwise it looked like it took on the worst of the end o the world and came out clean. Looking at the flickering lights, I began to wonder just who lived in that place.. Snapping myself out of the admiration for the building for the moment, I followed Swift into the station outside of the building, onto the walk just outside of the building. I’ll admit, I never visited Mom much here, always too busy with the CMC back at stable-tech or working with Babs, but, I admit that the building was a perfect example of archaeology. Totally preserved for the most part. My walk stopped as I gazed at the picture of a matronly purple unicorn running amongst the leaves with a number ten jacket on, “M-mom,” I whimpered. Slowly I ran a hoof along the smiling visage of my mother, and smiled back.

I looked to some of the other stallions and colts with a cocky grin, “So, which one of you guys are ready to tire ourselves out?”
I chuckled at the angry mutterings of the other contestants, only to be knocked out of my confidence by an all-too familiar voice, “It isn’t a race Nyx, you know that.”
“MOM!” I squealed as I wrapped my forelegs around her and hugged her tightly. “I-I thought you weren’t going to make it this year?”
“I was able to find time in my schedule to arrange this. Besides,” she then smiled softly, looking past some of her bangs. “I’m not going to miss this special time with my daughter.”
A happy grin came to me as I turned to look at the starting line. My eyes narrowed in serious determination before looking at her out of the corner of my eye, “Ready to have an in depth discussion on the five pools of magic and its relationship to the twelve schools of magic?”
“Didn’t we have that discussion last year?” Mom smiled at me, happily.
“No, that was about the use of metamorphic substances to create a change into a different species and the ramifications on the mind,” I smugly said, and then smartly giggled. “Don’t tell me my mother forgot something.”

My Mom was about to respond but was interrupted by the starting signal. With a wink at her distraction, I calmly began to trot a few feet of her. After a few moments to recuperate, she began to follow me, “So, Nyx, I think that one could easily divide up the twelve schools of magic into the five mana pools.”

“But mom, that leaves 2.4 out of the equation, how do you-”

“Make a sixth pool. I have a theory that-

This was how all our little races went, during the running of the leaves. She or I would find a random science or magical talk to have and we would spend the rest of the race talking about it. Sometimes it would get heated, but it was never with malice to one another. Sometimes, I wonder if she had only pretended to forget some of our discussions just to look at an old argument from a new angle with a few years of experience.

During this particular race, I couldn’t help but admire her at that moment. At her age and she could still remember every spell she learned or equation she solved. As we began to near the last stretch of the race, a small smile of admiration came to my lips, “Mom, we are almost near the end. Ready?”

My mom nodded as she began to speed up, “Same deal as usual?”

“Yep, triple fudge chocolate chip muffin at Sugar Cube Corner,” a chuckle came from me as we began to push the last leg of our journey, victory assured.

I don’t remember which one of us won on that day, but I do remember the two of us collapsing near a tree while the leave began to fall around us. Turning my head to look at my mom, I began to giggle, “ Mom, you have a leaf on your head.”

My mom looked up at the orange leaf that landed on her mane and blew it off with a puff of air. Turning to face me, she gave out a stretch and stood back up, “Well, that was a fun way to end the marathon.” My mom smiled at me.

“Yeah,” I sighed, getting up to shake the leaves off of my coat. “Can’t wait to do this next year.”

The my mom looked down at the ground, the smile quickly disappearing from her face, “Nyx, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I will be coming to do this next year.”

“What? Why?” I couldn’t believe what I had heard, this was one of the few times I could actually spend with her. The rest of our time had been caught in in so many other projects, her with her ministry and me with Stable-Tec or Babs.

“A lot of the projects that I have lined up at the MAS will take up a lot of my time and I don’t see me being able to find room for stuff like this anymore,” Mom said, looking at the group of ponies talking to each other.

I looked at the same group, noting the small foal that was playing with them. I felt my heart sink a little, the memories of Little Horn reminding me of why it was so important or her to be so into her work. Still, the fact that one more thing that I loved to do was taken away from me left a bad taste in my mouth. With a sad sigh, I turned to face mom, “I understand, Mom. At least you’ll be able to find some time for me soon, right?”
“Of course I can!” Mom said, smiling before lowering her ears, “Just like I do with... my friends.”
I let out a sad breath that I didn’t even know I was holding as I trailed my hoof along the smiling face of my mom, “I miss you.”

“You all right, Nyx?” Swift asked, walking back to me.

“Um, yeah. I was just thinking about what the ministry mare was like,” I responded, before going off to follow him to the front of the tower. At the gate there was an older-looking guard stallion wearing some small barding.

“Hello, Swift. Welcome back to Tenpony Tower,” the guard said, nonchalantly.

“Swirl,” Swift said, nodding to the guard as we walked in.

“You know the rules, disarm before entering,” the green stalion said, looking at my sword in its sheath. “That goes or your partner too.”

I looked at little sad at Dusk as I handed her over. I had begun to enjoy my weapon’s company over the past few days. With my sword deposited, me and my companion entered the building. My eyes widened as I let out a shocked, “Whoa.”

The place was like a small town, with the world of the Wasteland quickly forgotten as the ponies milled about their daily lives. I looked back and forth at the various shops, restaurants, and ponies that walked overhead on the mezzanine. The golden chandelier would cause my eyes to blink from its brightness as I would sometimes look at it as I passed it by.

“My place is in the living quarters,” Swift said, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a key. “If you want to meet up there, otherwise there is a restaurant up there that we can meet up in.”

I looked up above us and nodded before asking, “What are you going to be doing?”

“To the bounty’s office, I need to collect my caps for my job,” Swift said, walking away from me.

“A bounty hunter?” I thought to myself as I walked up the stairs to the shops. Some of the raiders had some equipment I could sell and I could remove the barding that Ditzy had given me a few months ago. Finding the nearest shop door, I walked inside.

“Well, hello, miss unicorn and welcome to the Snake-in-the-Grass shop!” the orange mare with mint green mane said as I stepped in. “Got something you need to ditch?”

I used my magic to pull out some of the weapons and ammo I procured off of the fallen raiders and handed it to the mare. I chuckled as she whistled at some of it, but then arched an eyebrow at the look of the older barding I was getting rid of, “Are you sure ya wanna part with this? You don’t find barding in such good condition like this around here.”

I nodded and looked to the armor that Guiding had gifted me, “Yes, I’m sure.” After all, it only had a few cracks from where Steelhooves hit me with that missile and armor that could take a hit like that needed to be kept safe.

With my loot sold and some caps in my cloak’s pocket, I walked out of the store and nearly into a grey unicorn mare. I apologized to her as she walked by, noting that her electric blue mane was done in such a way that made me think of Vinyl Scratch. I smiled at the memory as I began walking to the restaurant that Swift had pointed out to me. Once there, I made my order and sat down at a small table. While I waited for my food, I brought out my mom’s book.

Looking it over again, I let out a reflective breath. Mom did a good job at getting everypony’s lives down to the letter, not a single detail was left out. I noticed that at various parts of the book, tear stains had dried on it and some of the entries had been partly scribbled. I couldn’t help but wonder what went through Mom’s mind as she wrote each entry. How many times did she stop to cry over the past? Reaching the blank page of Pinkie’s story, I looked at my writings and shook my head. I still couldn’t find the strength to write down her final fate..

“Your order, ma’am,” the waiter said, bringing to me over-preserved peaches.

“Thank you,” I said, handing the waiter my caps and began to eat. I didn’t really know what to expect from a restaurant at the end of the world, but peaches were a nice surprise. Taking a soft bite o the overly syrupy food, I swallowed it and smacked my lips of the residue. Taking a quick swig of the water (Stars, it had been so long since I had fresh un-raditated water, it was like a miracle) I went back to the book.

I growled lightly as I began to near the final entry. There were no more clues to be had within its pages. The entries on the other four stopped at least a year or more before the world ended, Pinkie was the only one that was the close to that date. A frustrated grunt escaped my lips as I slammed my book shut in frustration. I couldn’t believe that my quest to find out what happened to the other bearers was going to end right here, with only one element found.

As I put away my book, I saw a slip of paper next to me. I picked up the paper and gave it a quick read,

“Follow me, daughter of the Twilight,”
I raised an eyebrow at this, trying to figure out who had left this behind. Looking up, I saw a pony in a cloak slip out the door. Moving quickly, I ran after the figure, allowing my curiosity to take over. I followed the pony through the hallways and paths of the tower until I reached a metal door in front of me. I was about to try and open it with my magic when the doors opened in front of me. Cautiously, I walked inside the doors and saw a light blue unicorn standing before me.

“Welcome, Nyx,” the stallion said, bowing. “To the Twilight Society.”

Footnotes: Level Up!

New Perk: Batmare: You have gotten really good at the whole”Hiding your alicorn-ness” thing! Now when you wear your cloak, you can simply glide without revealing your wings!
Companion perk added: Mare-sashi: You are 20% faster with all bladed weapons as long as Swift Blade is with you.

Author's Note

I am sorry for this being half edited, but, hey life happens after all. Still, all the love to my two terriffic editors Recon77 and my little brother.

Again, I am so sorry for being so slow on this one. I had a choice to wait for it to be perfect or to send it out now for you guys. I decided on the latter, mainly becuase I think I had a block in my hea that was stopping me from working on the next chapter. So I figure if I release this, then I can finish the rest up and get a move on.

Speaking of chapters, I hope you like Swift Blade. He is sort of based on my favorite member of the Wolves of Mib, Saito Haijime.

Also, for all of those who want to kill me for what I just did to Nyx, please send a PM to Zoltan the Magnificent.

Journey

“Goodness is not a fucking blight!”

It’s quite a shock to your system when you wake up two hundred years in your future, find that everything that you have ever loved or cared about are dead, and in a world that actively wants to kill you. It is just as much of a shock to find yourself in the presence of a secret society that has taken up your mother’s name and is sworn to protect the technology within the tower. Such was the situation I found myself in as I followed the unicorn before me as he told me all about his group, “But, how do you know who I am?”

“Well, of course our society knows a lot about Twilight Sparkle and the members of her family, such as her daughter. When one of our members had caught sight of a unicorn bearing your coat and mane color, well,” he paused for a second, “we had to see if you were in fact Nyx Sparkle, and luckily, you were.”

“How did you find out?” I asked.

“Well, we have a device in here that can show magical output. We pointed it at you,” the unicorn stallion then pulled out a small grey box, and then showed it to me. As it aimed at me I could hear a clicking, not unlike a giger counter. “Only two types of ponies in the world would give off this amount of magical energy: Your mother and an alicorn. Once we saw that, we knew that it had to belong to a real alicorn and not one of those fake ones.”

Raising my head at the mention of the term ‘fake ones’ I remembered the fight with the alicorn a month ago, “I think I confronted one of them before.”

“Horrible monsters aren’t they? They disgrace the very name of the goddesses with their presence,” the member said, looking down at the ground as he walked ahead o me. Raising his head a little, the blue unicorn turned to me with a smile, “Nothing like you of course.”

“No, not at all,” I sighed, starting to realize that maybe Guiding was right, that I am probably the last alicorn on the planet. Kind of a depressing thought actually. Raising my head, I took note of his blackened book cutie mark, “Um, excuse me, Mr-”

“Dream Reader,” Dream smiled back at me.

“Dream, what does your cutie mark mean?” I asked.

“Oh, this means I have a really good aptitude for reading ponies dreams,” he smiled, obviously enjoying the idea of his special talent. As he continued to lead me through the back ways of the tower, then, with a curious look to him, he asked, “Could you do me a favor, though, and tell me how is it that the daughter of Twilight Sparkle is here now?”

“On the day that the world ended,” I said,“I watched as the missiles hit Canterlot from just inside the library in Ponyville. I was worried that Mom might have been there. I tried to go there, but... somepony hit me with a spell saying ‘No, Twilight has something planned for you.’ and as I was falling unconscious, I was taken into the basement and put into a sleep stasis spell.”

“Interesting, but who was the pony that put you there and how did your seal manage to avoid detection all of this time?” asked Dream.

“I think that my spell was covered up by a perception filter that made it almost impossible for anypony to see me unless they knew what to look for,” I said, looking at a large chamber marked ‘Celestia One.’

“Interesting,” Dream said, guiding me to a large room with a few maps. “That memory orb, did it say anything to you?”

“Yes,” I nodded, and used my magic to pull out the journal. Looking it over, I couldn’t help but admire the detail of the six gems emodiered on the cover, inside bearing the symbol of each bearer’s cutie mark. Handing it to Dream, I began to tell him about my mother’s quest, “She wants me to find out the fates of the other ministry mares.”

“Seems morbid,” Dream said, opening the book and looking through it.

I nodded, “I would agree with you, but Mom also pointed out the reason why she wants that book. It’s a memorial,” as he handed the book back to me, I stared intently at it, “she wants a biography of the bearers so that way, in the future, ponies won’t make them martyrs or worse, demonize them. The ponies of the future will see them as just ponies, just like them, warts and all. She wants them to read about her and their lives and learn from them. Their adventures, their successes, failures, mistakes, and everything else. It’s a lesson from her,” I smiled, feeling a tear running down my cheek. “Just what great things can be done when ponies work together in friendship, and what happens when friends drift apart.”

“You mother has quite a goal for you,” Dream said.

“Yeah,” I sighed, putting the book away. “I just wish I knew why she picked me. When I found Pinkie’s body, I could barely write down what happened to her. How in Tartarus am I supposed to write down about the others? What am I going to do when I find out about Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy,Rarity, or... my mother. Oh, stars, what is going to happen when I find out about my mother!?”

Almost as if he knew what to say, Dream smiled softly to me and put a hoof onto my shoulder, “Aren’t you the closest one to them? Don’t you know a lot about them? That’s why! Because she knows that you will be able to put down the truth about each one of them without sugarcoating their fates or lying about who they are. You will be able to tell the truth, and that is what she wants.” at that, I smiled softly, glad to have some words of encouragement. He then added, “So, how far have you gotten in your quest?”

“Not far,” I said, shaking my head and looking down. “The book only offered a clue to where Pinkie Pie is. The other entries end either a few months or years before the world ended, and I have no way of finding their schedules so I have nothing!”

Removing his hoof from my shoulder, the blue unicorn pointed at the large map behind him, “Well, I may have a clue that could help you. You see, sometimes we in the Twilight Society do send out members to look for technology or objects from the MAS. One of these just so happened to be found near a stable at a Ministry of Image Hub in Vanhoover. So-”

“Rarity might gone there when the bombs hit and might have went into the stable!” I exclaimed as I looked at the map and then turned away to run out, “Thank you so much, Dream.”

“You are very welcome my dear. Now if you could please keep us a secret? The society really doesn’t want to be exposed to the outside world,” Dream said to me, and to this I nodded while I ran off.

Reaching the outside of the secret passage that I was lead down, My mind began to try and figure out what I should get for my journey to the city Vanhoover; however, as my mental checklist went down the line, I quickly realized that I promised to wait for Swift Blade back at the restaurant. With a slight gasp, I took off running down the hallways of the tower until I reached the restaurant, only to discover the pegasus stallion waiting for me, “You know, I was not expecting a mare such as you being late for an appointment.”

Stopping for a few minutes, I took the time to let out a few pants, “Such as me? What do you mean?”

“They way you hold your blade, the state of your cloak and mane, the movement of your gait, and your armor give of the air of a mare who is very punctual. Like to study as soon as possible, and then wonders why others can’t catch up. You also have this tendency to stay in the past and think about your life up until now,” Swift finished, walking away from me.

I stepped back a little in embarrassment, as he had me pegged right. I remember back in high school how Scootaloo would get ticked off at how easy it was for me to study a lot in the beginning and then play for a while like it was nothing. With a slow walk, I began to follow Swift through the corridors of the tower, “But, what about the whole past thing?”

“Your armor is well worn, been hit a few times by powerful weapons, but you are content with repairing it. Then, when we found the poster of the ministry mare, you spent a long time looking at it in thought. It shows that you have a deep affection for the past, or a deep personal connection,” Swift turned to look back into my draconic like eyes. “Am I wrong?”

I sighed and shook my head, “You’re good.”

“A good swords-pony needs to be observant, and take note of everything about their opponent. It’s an important lesson for anypony to learn,” Swift remarked.

“But, what about that remark about me and the past?” I asked him as we went into the corridor that led to his room.

“When we were at the terminal, you were spending a few more minutes than necessary to look at the Ministry Mare. This leads me to think about two possible conclusions, either you have a personal connection to her or you have a love of the past. Either way, you demonstrated through actions and not appearance,” Swift said, not showing his smirk.

I stood there in shock for a few moments, before shaking it off with a twist of my head. I didn’t think a pony like this could so easily deduce so much about me, “Oh!” I said, suddenly remembering my manners. “Thank you for letting me stay here with you tonight.”

“You are welcome,” he said calmly. “But it was a necessity. They normally don’t allow non-citizens to live in Tenpony Tower, and you look like you needed a room for the night.”

“You’re a citizen here?” I asked him as he opened the door to his room with a key card.

“Of a sort,” he replied as he led me into the room. “Since I find most of my jobs in here, I figured this was the best place to hold out in.”

As he turned on the light, my eyes quickly took in the sight of the room. Sparse would be complimenting it, as there was little in the way of much furniture in the small two room apartment. There was a small sofa and a bed near a radio on a nightstand, but that was it. Walking in and taking a bigger look, I noticed that the bed was facing a small fridge and the other room led to a modest bathroom. With a few short steps, I made my way to the fridge and opened it to take out what was inside, “Hmmm, Sparkle cola and...Sparkle Cola rad?” Memories flooded my mind of the creator of the drink and his insane ideas. I actually went to school with the stallion and he always was a little nutty. Chuckling lightly at my thoughts, I pulled out the soda and laid on the bed, “You said you found jobs here, are you sure that you are not a mercenary.”

“Mercenaries do their jobs for caps, I don’t,” Swift pointed out, opening the fridge and opening his own bottle of Sparkle cola with the tip o his wingblade. “I am more of what you might call,” he paused, as if thinking of the right word, “a freelance bodyguard. I find ponies in need of protection, or in need of assistance, and I go and help them.”

“So, you’re a wanderer?” I asked, drinking my cola.

“That sounds like an appropriate title,” he remarked, watching as I pulled out the journal. “Trying to write something down?”

I sighed, “Yeah, in this book. I’ve been tasked with writing the fates of the Ministry Mares, but ever since I found out what happened to Pinkie-” I began to stutter a little, “I-I-I just can’t figure out what to write. It’s just so hard to do.”

Putting a comforting hoof onto my shoulder, I could hear Swift say, “Just think about how she would want to be remembered. Think of what she would want the ponies who read that to remember her.”

“I could try, thanks,” I said as I watched him head to the shower. As he walked into the shower, I removed my armor and cloak, then quickly got into the bed with the covers over my wings. I then took the journal from my saddlebag and began to stare at the blank page where I was to place Pinkie’s final fate. Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I began to think of everything I could of my aunt. My mind set forth trying to arrange a good eulogy...

No, wait!

I had been treating the book in the wrong way, like a eulogy for dead friends while this is supposed to be a memorial to each one. Their deaths, their final days were just meant to be a sort of closure on their lives, like the ending of a story. What Mom wanted was for those deaths to mean something, and so, with a smile, I began to write-

In the end, though Pinkie Pie found herself trapped in a world of drugs and addiction, she was able to still be her element, Laughter. Near the end of her life, when confronted by the fact that her dearest friend was no longer smiling, she decided to change for the better just to get Twilight Sparkle to smile once more. When she had died, she found herself filled with what her element also represented: The element of hope. Hope that she could see her friend again, hope that she would be cured, and hope that the war could end. This spirit never left her even as the fires of the first Balefire bomb consumed her. The moral of her story, and what we should take from it, is one of remembering to stay true to your virtue and friends. Don’t fall into the depths of poison and always strive to keep a smile on your face. This brings out a bright light of laughter in not only you, but the ones around you as well.

As I pulled the pen away from the book, I couldn’t help but feel strangely satisfied with my work. Although I think the paragraph might do with a few more words and maybe a little proofreading but as it was now, I found it to be perfect. A nice way to start a book about somepony that was dear to me.

Igniting my horn, I used my magic to lift up the book and put it away in my saddle bag. Then I stretched my limbs, letting out some moans as I could hear some pops in my muscles. Turning my head, I watched as Swift come out of the shower, “So, did you figure out what to write?”

With a groan as I raised my rump, I nodded in response, “Yeah, once I followed your advice, writing it down became a little easier.”

“Good,” Swift said, walking to his couch. “Now, tomorrow, we can discuss where you are going to next.”

“Yeah,” I said, giving out a yawn. Turning my head to the window, I couldn’t help but feel a little down that I couldn’t see the moon. Seeing the moonlight would’ve been a perfect way to end the day and the completion of at least one part of my quest. Laying my head down on the pillow, I couldn’t help but smile and hope that maybe I won’t be going on this quest alone.

My chest is on fire as I run into the hospital, tears filled my eyes as I ran to the nurse’s station, “Trueheart, where is she? Where’s-?”

“She’s in the ER right now,” the brown maned nurse said, walking away from her desk. “You can wait in the lobby with the others.”

I gulped, feeling a cold shudder go down my spine. Shaking my head, I told her, “No, I couldn’t!”

“They would want to see you,” Trueheart said, nodding her head to the waiting room.

With a heavy sigh, I nodded in defeat and walked through the white corridor into the waiting room. Turning my head to the sound of crying, I watched as a white unicorn mare began to cry hard onto a purple unicorn’s shoulder, “Oh, Nyx! I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Mom, R-Rarity I’m so sorry,” I said, feeling the tear run down my cheeks, walking slowly towards them. As I saw Rarity turn to me, I braced myself for the worst insults that she could ever lay onto me. But, instead, I felt her hug me as well.

“Nyx, it's not your fault, dear,” Rarity cried onto my shoulder, rubbing my back. “It was just a training accident. I know you would never hurt Sweetie Belle on purpose.”

“But it was my fault!” I began to cry hard, “I should never have agreed to it. I should’ve held back more, I shou-”

My mother’s embrace interrupted my crying, “Nyx, it’s not your fault! You wanted to try your new spell, but it failed. It happens to us all Nyx, we just need to learn to pick ourselves up after our mistakes and fix them.”

“But Sweetie-”

“Is going to be all right,” the doctor said, coming out of the emergency doors. “She just suffered some bad burns on her right side and a little cracking of the horn, but she will pull through. She just needs to hold back on magic for a few weeks and her coat will regrow soon,” he sighed shook his head. “I just wish I could do more. I heard that the zebras have healing potions that can help wounds like that in an instant, but, with the way things have been getting...” he shook his head and sighed, “Your friend is currently in ICU, resting. Only one or two of you can be allowed in.”

I barely registered what he had said as I trotted off towards the hallway marked Intensive Care. Once there, my hooves carried me past door after door until I found the right one and quickly went past the doorway. My heart sank as I saw the sight of one of my best friends, the filly who ventured through an evil castle just to cheer me up, lying on the bed with an IV drip on her left side. Gazing past the monitors and graphs that read out her life signs, I saw her right side and felt tears running down my face again. My sobs were muted out by the low beeping from the machines as I tried to get over how much of Sweetie’s right side was in a cast or at the crack in her horn that ran down the tip to the base. Tearfully, I ran to be at my friend’s bedside and placed my head on the soft mattress,” Oh, Sweetie Belle, I am so so sorry. This was all my fault. I just wanted to show off a little, because I was so proud of my new spell. I just wanted to show you what I could do, and I got careless, and now you’re hurt because of me. I’m so sorry, this is all my fault,” I feel myself shake with each sob.

“I promise you, I’ll never let this happen again,” I whispered, “I will never use a spell any stronger than a basic fire or ice spell. The only exception will be my lighting magic, which I know I can control.”

“And this is where you fail,” boomed a voice from behind me as the memory faded away to leave me in a dark void.

“This is what I chose to do, in order to protect the ponies I care about!” I yelled into the darkness.

A pair of draconic eyes appeared from the darkness, glaring at me, “ By denying our power!? Look at you, you are two-hundred and thirty eight years old! Almost a third of the age that Celestia and Luna were when they first defeated Discord, when they defeated Tir-”

“Don’t say his name!” I shouted, turning away.

“My apologies, I forgot how scared you are of him,” the voice said, sighing. “The point stands, you have more magical energy in your right hoof than most unicorns do on their twentieth summer. If you were to only tap into it, you could wrest control of the sun and moon, then rule this Wasteland as a goddess! You would be able to remind all of these inscets what it is like to live in-”

“Fear? Is that what you were going to say?” I interrupted, glowering at the voice. “I won’t, I’m not you. I will help the Wasteland in my own way, without delving into my own power.”

“Even if it costs you your life?” the voice asked, watching me nod in response, “Then you are a foal.”

“At least I’ll die living true to myself, Nightmare Moon. Now, go back into my nightmares where you belong,” I commanded.

“Oh Nyx,” Nightmare Moon said, chuckling. “By denying me, you are making it so that you will never be true to yourself.”

I sat up in the bed with a gasp, taking in the smell of something flaky, crispy, and apple scented, “Apple Fritters?”

“More appropriately, freeze dried apple fritters,” Swift said, walking into the room from the outside with a plate of the apple treat on his wings.

With a smile, I levitated the plate and lifted it to me to take a bite out of it while the stallion turned on the radio,” Good morning Wastelanders, DJPON-3 here with the morning weather report: Clouds and clouds and more clouds.”

I nearly dropped my fritter in shock as I heard the name, “D-DJPON-3? B-but how?”

“A radio tower just above us broadcasts his signal,” Swift said, eating the fritter.

“I mean, how is this possible? I would’ve thought,” I then took a few moments to listen to the DJ’s voice, quickly realizing that it was a guy voicing the role. “Oh, I get it, legacy.”

“In recent news today, we have had more mysterious disappearances around the outskirts of Vanhoover lately,” the DJ began with his newscast. “It seems some ponies are reporting families going to bed at night and waking up with their friends or loved ones vanished without a trace. Now, you and I both know it ain’t raiders, but whoever it is... they’re good! So, if you are traveling around that area, keep a watch around. And now, for something lighter, a song from Sweetie Belle dedicated to an old friend that needed the cheering up.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that song, the one she sang a few days after she had gotten out of the hospital to make me feel better about hurting her. As I listened to the song, I could hear Swift ask, “So, where are you heading?”

“Well, I have heard that there is a Ministry of Image hub in Vanhoover. I was thinking of heading there,” I said, keeping the covers on my back to hide my wings.

Swift walked to put on some barding, “Vanhoover? I haven’t been to that part of the Wasteland. I think I would like to see it.”

“You’re coming with me?” I asked, shocked. With a cock of my head, I asked, “Why?”

“A naive mare like you, with a childish notion that she can make it out there in the Wasteland without taking a life, you are going to need someone by your side,” Swift said, looking down at me as he finished suiting up.

“What, you think I can’t defend myself?” I asked, feeling a little insulted.

“Oh no,” Swift denied, shaking his head. “Your battle with the raiders earlier proved yourself to be a somewhat competent fighter... just a little naive. I may not believe in your childlike fantasy and your ideal, but, I am offering a hoof to help you, as a companion you might say.”

“Why?” I asked.

“It’s been my job to find ponies who need help, like guarding, assistance, searching, or even hunting down killers, and give them the help they need,” Swift said,“I do this for my honor. So, will you accept my help?”

A part of me wanted to tell him to take his help and shove it, after treating me like a small child. Then, as I looked into his eyes, I began to think that it might be good to have somepony on this quest with me. If not a friend, then at least somepony to make sure I’m not lonely anymore, “Ok, you can come with me.” Rolling a little on the bed, I took a look to the stallion, “Um, would you mind getting out of the room? I want to get my cloak on.”

“Why? We don’t wear clothes normally,” Swift deadpanned.

I then looked at him, a little bit of embarrassment in my voice, “I am very modest about my body and flanks. I really don’t want you to see me without my barding.”

With a growl of aggravation in his throat, Swift agreed and walked to the door, “Fine, I’ll be outside.”

As he closed the door, I rolled off the bed an streatched my wings, my magic reaching out for my armor and cloak. I then looked to the door with a sigh. I felt bad about hiding my alicorn-hood from somepony who could be my friend, but then again, I didn’t want to go around the wasteland telling everypony I meet that I am a two-hundred-and-thirty-something alicorn. Especially since alicorns are something to be feared around here.

When my cloak finished clasping together, I took a moment to look myself in my little outfit. My cloak still looked vibrant and lovely although it was a little frayed. The cloak would still serve as a great way to hide my wings a little longer. With a little smile on my lips, I took the cloak in my foreleg and covered the lower part of my jaw with it, “The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well lives again!” I then readjusted my cloak and went to the door.

“Excuse me, but what was that you were saying in there?” asked Swift, with a raised eyebrow

“Um,” I chuckled with a shy smile. “N-nothing. Come on, let’s go.”

As we headed out towards the door, I took a quick look at our saddle bags, only to hear Swift mentioning to me, “Do not worry about going to buy some provisions. I bought some for the both of us before you awoke. I got some health potions plus some food.”

“Thank,” I said with a grateful grin. Maybe having a companion on this trip will be a good thing.

After leaving Tenpony tower and the Luna line, we began our little journey through the ruins of Manehatten. The feeling of loneliness and the cold feeling that I had when I had entered the city was lessened by the presence of somepony traveling with me, even if he was silent during the walk. From time to time, I would take a look at him, seeing if he would say anything to break the silence. This, usually just caused the same reaction, where he would just look ahead or fly a little bit ahead of me to scout out the area. It was a weird feeling to no longer be alone and yet still feel alone at the same time.

It was on his third return trip, that I looked at his pipbuck and asked, “So, what was your Stable like?”

“It was Stable 45, near Neighpon,” the stallion said plainly.

After a moment of waiting I followed up with, “So, why the blades? I didn’t think that Stables were that much into swordsponyship.”

He stopped walking alongside me for a moment, taking a look to his wing blades before he continued, “The Stable I came from was based on an idea that everypony would be raised in the tradition of bushido. When we were old enough to pick up a sword, we were taught to follow the rules of bushido, to follow the code of honor, and to follow the way of the sword. Each one of us trained daily to perfect our sword-styles.”

“So, did the stable break down?” I asked,

“No, some raiders managed to find their way in. They wanted us dead, and we disagreed you can see where our ideals clashed,” Swift chuckled as he walked alongside me. “Since the stable was no longer usable, we walked outside. Though much of the town was in ruins, there was enough there for us to make a small settlement. That was where I was born, and lived.”

“Why did you leave?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Is this a thing with you? Asking multiple questions of someone in order to get their whole story?” asked the pegasus.

With an enthusiastic nod, I said “Yes! I love finding all I can about a new person or subject. I love to investigate how things work and I love to learn new things about the world! It’s a hobby of mine!”

Swift let out a sigh and was about to retort, when he narrowed his brow and began to look around, “What was that?”

“What?” I asked, looking the same direction. A small part of me was tempted to fly off and see for myself, but I was quick to remind myself that I was hiding my alicorness.

“That sounded like some mare struggling. Follow me,” Swift ordered as he walked ahead of me. Nodding, I quickly followed and we came upon a small hill. With a low crouch, we laid on our bellies and looked down below us. At the bottom, a mare was crying out for help as a pair of stallions were dragging her body to a small caravan.

“Slavers?” I asked, taking quick note of the guards and soldiers.

Swift shook his head, “No, Fillydelphia is a few miles in the other direction. These ponies are something else. I also never known any slaver that wears a cloak like that,” he said, pointing at the guards.

I looked ahead and nodded, taking notice of the four guards at the wagon, with two more on top of the train. Looking carefully, I noticed that the four guards had what looked to be shotguns, “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’ll fly up and strike at the two guards on top of the wagon, you use a fire spell on the four below,” Swift said, flying up.

I turned to look at the four guards, and then began to ignite my horn with it’s usual violet glow. Now, for personal reasons, I never taught myself any fireball spells or things like that. However, I did know how to focus my magic on an object to heat it up to unusable levels. I looked down at the guards with deep concentration. In a few short moments, the guns began to glow red hot, causing the guards to shriek in pain as they dropped their weapons from their hooves and mouths.

Seeing their reactions as my cue, I ran down the hill with my cloak covering my wings as they unfolded. Even from the distance I was running at them, I could hear their shrieks of shock and surprise. They must have thought that I was some sort of raider, or some rival of theirs, I was neither.

I’m just a pony who has had a history of using ponies against their will, and it’s something that I really hate.

After I had quickly made my approach, I used Dusk to slash across the chest of the guard to my left and then the side of the one at my right before they had a second to try and get their weapons. The two guards in front of me tried to scatter, deciding to run and get a new gun from their carriage. With a focus on my left side, I leapt into the air (with a little boost from my wings) and struck the runaway unicorn with the back of my sword along his back. With a flick of my head, I sent Dusk flying from my side and through the armor of the last guard. The sword ended up sticking him to the side of a carriage, leaving him to run his legs in the middle of the air helplessly.

With a slow and menacing trot, I walk up to the dangeling guard. I smirk a little as he turns his head towards me, and my smile quickly faded as I see his face pale in utter horror, “P-Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me. I didn’t want to guard the caravan, I just wanted to stay back. Please...”

I let loose a sigh at this, not wanting to enjoy seeing other ponies afraid of me. Raising my right hoof, I told him simply, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. But with the headache you would be feeling tomorrow, you’ll wish I did.” I then simply slammed my hoof into his head, knocking him out.

As I pulled my sword away from the unconscious guard, I hear the sickening thump of two bodies as they hit the ground, “It’s a foolish mistake you know.”

“I still won’t kill them,” I said, putting my blade away and ragging the fallen into a group.

Swift had a frown on his face that noted how much he was hating the idea of leaving them alive, “Them alive is only going to give them a chance to get back up and come after us.”

“Then I’ll beat them,” I said, putting the group together. “Besides, with their wounds, they’ll be too focused on getting healed before looking for us. We’ll be long gone before they start coming back.”

“And the ponies of where they kidnapped them from?” Swift asked as he walked to the cages.

“They’ll be ready for them,” I said as he began to unlock the cages.

In a blur, four unicorn mares tumbled out of the cages and gave Swift a giant hug, “Thank you so much sir!” the dark blue mare said, smiling softly. “ We were taken from our village in the middle of the night by these stallions. They told us they were of the Children of the Nightmare!”

“The Children of Nightmare,” I whispered to myself, a part of me wanting to tell them that there was no way that they exist. Mainly because the last time I had seen them, I was smaller, cuter, and had a little bit of an anger problem.

“Yes, that was all they told us about themselves. They were taking us somewhere, but we couldn’t really tell from the carriage,” the dark blue mare said, and then looked to the west. “Our town is in that direction, we can-”

“We’ll be glad to help you back home,” I said, stepping forward with a bow. I could feel Swift staring at me with a look of approval. I think he was planning on offering the same for these four ponies.

“No, we couldn’t impose, the town isn’t really that far, a few miles-”

“There are plenty of other terrors to be had in the wasteland besides slavers, you won't last much longer without an escort,” Swift calmly stated. Quickly, I flashed him a look that reprimanded his blunt comment.

The mare nodded, “T-thank you. Just follow us this way.”

They weren’t wrong, the settlement wasn’t too far from where we saved them. About a five hour trek back, I just wish it wasn’t so exhausting. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m used to hikes like this from my days at the academy. However, it doesn’t mean that I am not averse to wanting to throw off my cloak, tell everypony that I am an alicorn and fly them the rest of the way to their town. I felt a pang of jealousy as I watched Swift fly away and I wanted to use Dusk to cut those detestable wings off.

Instead, I put a hoof to my chest and took a deep breath. Auntie Cadence’s old breathing trick helped me to keep in any evil desire I may have. Instead, I chose to watch the four mares in front of me having a fast conversation with each other. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I listened to them, amazed at how quickly four mares who were kidnapped could so easily return to talking about their lives, even in this hell hole. It almost made me forget that I was in the middle of the wasteland. I felt like I was home again, following my four best friends back home. It was very nostalgic and made me too lost in thought to see that we had arrived at the gates, “Hold, what are-Oh my gosh, Soft Water? You’re ok!” the guard shouted as he ran to the dark blue mare that we saved.

“Black Knight,” Soft said, hugging her stallion friend. “Yes, they saved us from those kidnappers!”

The stallion looked up and smiled, “Thank you so much. When I awoke this morning for my rounds, I had found her gone and I became so worried about her. For a moment, I thought she had gone off to scavenge or went to the trading post. When I found out about the three others and heard PON-3’s broadcast, I was so worried for her. Please, come inside, I insist.”

“Thank you,” I said as he opened the gates for us, his slightly longer red mane bouncing as he did so. “You wouldn’t happen to have any place where we can stay?”

“The mayor,” the orange stallion said as he led me and Swift down the path into the small settlement, “that is, my brother, has some rooms in his shack that he can offer.”

As I offered my thanks, I could hear Swift ask, “Tired? Considering your size, I would think that it would take more.”

“We’ve been walking for half a day, had a short fight, and traveled from Manehatten. I think we’ve earned this,” I snarked back before turning my head, trying to ignore the scoff from behind.

As we walked, I admired a lot of the small town. It seemed to be built around an old lumber mill, complete with a small power station not too far away from the smaller huts. Night led us to the biggest of the houses near the edge of town, a sign reading ‘White Knight’ laid on just the outside of the door. Slowly, the stallion in front of us opened the door and led us into the main office, “Hey bro, I got a few visitors to see ya.”

His brother looked up from his desk, a smattering if papers laid about it in a disjointed manner, “Black, what did you... oh hello, and you two are?”

“My name is Nyx Sparkle and this is-” I paused for moment, trying to figure out what I should call him: friend, associate, stallion who decided to follow me, the annoyance, or just blank. Deciding that I should follow my mom’s advice, I called him “friend, Swift Blade.”

“These two helped to save Ocean and some of the other missing ponies from the town,” Night said.

White let out a groan of relief as he heard the news, “Thank the goddesses, that takes care of at least two of the kidnappings.”

“These have been going on for a while?” I asked.

The orange stallion nodded, “Once a week for the past month. The pattern never changes, we go to sleep, and then wake up to find somepony missing. We’ve been trying our best to protect the ponies, but nothing we’ve tried works.”

Swift arched an eyebrow at this, “Outside, I saw a turret and an electric fence. Why haven't they been put to use?”

The unicorn pointed to the station that was a few miles away from the mill, “See that place? That is a generator meant to power the fence and the turret. The problem? A month ago it broke, and everypony we sent out there has never come back. So, unless you want to go in and fix-”

“We’ll do it!” I said with an enthusiastic cheer.

“You will?” asked Black, taking a step back.

“Well, I was thinking of resting here for tonight, and I didn’t want to impose, so,” I turned to look at White, “If we fix your generator, then you can let us stay in the mansion for the night. Deal?”

White smiled, “Well, it doesn’t seem like I have any other choice. Black will lead you there and wait outside.”

I smiled, but then frowned when I heard Swift respond, “Are you sure?”

“How hard could it be?” I smiled.

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!!!!!” I thought to myself as as jumped into the side room with Swift as bullets passed us by. Turning my head up to look sheepishly at the pegasus, I let out a nervous chuckle with an accompanying grin. I had almost forgotten the constant of the Wasteland, that if it's going to hurt you or your plans, it will.

It was fine when we entered, the place was relatively quiet and peaceful. It wasn’t until we got into the foyer when we heard the slow plodding of protectron robots and it decided that we needed to die. When we heard it coming, I quickly grabbed a desk that was sitting nearby and threw it in of the laser fire while me and Swift ducked for cover.

As the protectron finished shooting at us and began to look for us again, I slowly brought out Dusk. Swift gave me a look at this, “Do you really think that your blade will be able to cut down a robot?”

“Hey,” I replied, looking into Swift’s red eyes, “I was able to cut down a sprite-bot with this.”

“Sprite-bots have weaker armor than protectrons. They can be taken down in three shots at most,” he said, with a cold, calculating tone. “These robots are going to take more than a wingblade and a falchion.”

As I watched him pull out his gun, I looked up at him as I began to crouch, “that must be why you bring a gun.”

“I am a swordstallion, not an idiot. I don’t stick to one weapon,” Swift said as he looked back into the room at the protectron. “Here’s the plan, I take to the air and shoot the head. You strike at its sides.” As I nodded, I watched him take to the sky, catching the eyes of the protectron. Much like his name sake, he began to weave and duck out of the way of the bullets. As he fired, trying to hit the robot’s head, I leapt out of the room and thrusted with my sword.

As the blade made contact with the robot, I watched as sparks flew from the tip of Dusk. The protectron looked down at me and began to warm up its laser for firing. With a gasp, I leapt out of the way and moved to the side, slashing at its arm as Swift’s bullets rang down upon the robots dome. As the robot tried to reconfigure its targeting system onto Swift, I made another thrust into the robot’s hide, and smiled as I watched the tip breathe into the armor. With a grunt, I dug the blade a little deeper into the bot and destroyed it.

As I pulled out the blade, I could hear Swift land by my side. As he did, I began to count to myself, “10...9...8...7,”

“What are you counting?” asked Swift as he reloaded his gun.

“Time until some other robots appear out of the side door to come and kill us,” I said as I ran ahead to a door that lead to a hallway.

Swift chuckled as he flew after me, “You’re learning.”

As if on cue, three more protectrons appeared from the left hallway of the main room, their guns warming up to fire at us. Seeing us gone down a hall, I could hear their treads beginning to move towards the hallway that we went down. Inside, I swore to myself as we ran down the corridor, trying to figure out a place to hide and regroup. I didn’t have long to figure out as the barrage of lasers began to fill the hallway. Seeing a nearby room, I pulled Swift with my magic and leapt into it.

Swift leaned back against the door as he closed it, taking the time to reload his gun. Panting, he looked to me and waited for me to offer a plan. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was lost. It was hard to take down one of those things with our weaponry. Spells on the other hand, would be able to take out one at a time. My strength was also a good weapon, but at the moment, I knew I couldn’t use that to its fullest because I’d my break my sword. Taking another look at Dusk, I began to think, “Normal metal cutting saws run at about 3,500 rotations per minute. If I could spin my sword at that speed with my magic,” I turned my head to look back at Swift Blade. “Think you can lure those bots away for a few moments?”

The blue pegasus nodded and opened the door. As he disappeared through the door and down the hallway, leading me to listen for the sound of protectrons passing by. While I listened for the sound of the bots, I focused my magic on my blade. Keeping my eyes on it, I began to spin Dusk in a circle while keeping count of the rotations that the blade made. With each count, I made my sword go faster, faster, and faster until it was nothing more than a blur. At a thousand rotations per minute, it became a white blur, and at two thousand, you couldn’t tell that it was a sword anymore. Once it hit the appropriate speeds, I leapt out from the room and sent my spinning sword into the back of one of the protectrons.

The spinning blade made a refreshing hit as it dug itself into the back of the robot, destroying it in a shower of sparks and oil. The second protectron turned to face me, but my spinning blade cut the robot’s chaingun before it could fire. As the third one readied its own weapon to fire at me, Swift flew overhead and readied his gun. I smiled when I saw the blue flash in his eyes, knowing that he was dropping out of SATS. I watched the shots fly and hit the robots venerable dome. I had to admire the faster than light calculations of the Pip-Buck when it came to such things. It really did help with finding the best spot to shoot a robot’s dome and destroy it. As he landed next to me, the third robot fell down in a heap behind him, I held out my hoof for a hoof bump. I then frowned as he refused to return it and walked away.

I could feel a depressed sigh escape my lips. It wasn’t that I am a braggart by any means, but I would like to be happy at something brand new or at least a little bit of acknowledgement of a trick. I shook my head at this rejection as I slowed my sword and slipped it back into its sheath. Turning to follow Swift, I notice he found the head office and was already looking at some of the maps, “The main generator has to be here, somewhere.” he said to himself.

Deciding to not to complain to him about his rudeness earlier, I instead began to look over the desks to see if I could find any maps. After about a few minutes of searching, I let out a little cheer of happiness as I found it, “There we are! And,” I paused as I noticed a look in Swift’s eyes, “What is with that look.”

“What look?” Swift asked me.

“That ‘I think there is more to this’ look,” my mom usually had that look whenever I did something bad and it was not a look you forgot easily. “You are thinking that there is something wrong with this town.”

“Not this town, the situation,” Swift said, taking time to look at me. “Do you not find it odd that this station broke down, and that the guards let their charges get kidnapped by cultists?”

I sighed as I walked out of the room, “Yes, I agree that it is kind of suspicious, but I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt.”

“That kind of thinking can get you killed out here,” Swift said from behind me.

“I rather think better of ponies than to waste my life as a cynic,” I said, not bothering to look behind me. There was snort of disbelief that came from the stallion as we made our way to the generator room. There was an uneasy feeling in my stomach that told me that he had a point and that I should be careful here, this wasn’t my Equestria after all.

Quickly I shut my eyes and shook my head to get that thought out of my head. Just because this was a wasteland and all that I knew was dead, did not mean that I should suddenly forget all that I had loved about Equestria. I needed to believe that there was still some sense out there, that I could still trust ponies, and that there was some still some goodness in them. One look back at my sword and I quickly reminded myself one of the many reasons I took a vow of not killing: To show ponies that there was better way. That you didn’t need to sacrifice ideals and yourself to a hellhole. Turning my head back to the hallway, I stepped into the generator room.

Gazing up, my admiration for Earth pony construction began to grow. The massive device was connected to a central battery with many smaller capacitors surrounding it. It was like the generator was a group of generators, all working in synch. As I stepped forward I began to notice the problem with the generator. With a quick glance up, I could see the wind turbine meant to charge and power the main generator, a turbine that was broken. The capacitors also looked like they lost whatever charge they had left. Next to me, I could hear Swift make his observation, “If we had some time, we could fashion a replacement fan.”

I nodded and looked around, there wasn’t one and we needed to fix it now. Looking at the depowered capacitors, an idea came to my head, “Swift, mind backing up into the hallway?” I asked, a smirk coming to my lips. As he left the room, I faced the generator and put on a smile that Rainbow Dash would be proud of.

I have always been fond of lighting spells, maybe it's because, unlike the other spells in my repertoire that attack, it is the only one I have perfect control over. I can make a single bolt tame enough to stun a pony to a veritable lightning storm from my horn. Maybe another reason comes from my connection to Nightmare Moon, who had just as much of a control over lighting magic. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t help but feel excited as the sparks of lightning began to crawl from the base of my horn to the tip. Soon my horn was covered in a cage of oscillating lighting, the tip of my horn being the only thing that kept the lighting in check. As the power continued to increase, there was a feeling of the hairs of my coat beginning to stand on end, my mane becoming more frazzled as the blue-white bolts continued to dance around my horn. Once I had my lighting at the level of power I wanted, my head lowered and I unleashed a torrent of powerful lighting from it. The powerful bolts of chain lightning struck the main generator, causing it to hum with power, by extension, so did the capacitors. After a few moments, I turned off my magic and pulled back, proud of the job I had done, “That should give them enough power to keep going for a few more months,” I said as I walked past a surprised Swift.

The blue pegasus put a hoof to his chin, “For a unicorn that says she was from a temple, you certainly used a powerful lightning spell.”

I blushed at this and tried to hide my alicornhood with a bold faced lie, “Ummm, well, I liked to study lighting magic back in the temple and I got really good at it,” I ended the lie with a cute little chuckle, hoping my embarrassment might throw him off. The look he gave told he me he did not buy it. He just walked away, saying nothing to me.

The mayor was true to his word, once we came back from the generators he offered us the rooms for us to stay for the night. I welcomed the chance to finally rest my aching hooves and sleep. As we went into our separate rooms, I noticed that Black had a down look in his eyes. Choosing to ignore it, I closed the door and went to bed. While the room was sparse, with only a bed and a radio, it was to be expected of a guest quarters like this. Taking off my armor and cloak, I used my magic to turn on the radio. While the music played, my eyes looked outside to the wasteland.

My heart felt a little heavy at the thought that the Equestria of my youth had turned out so badly, but, I felt a little comfort knowing that I can at least count on making a new friend, even if they can be a twit. With a soft breath, I snuggled into the bed for a good night’s sleep.

Or,I would’ve had one, if I hadn’t heard my door slowly open two hours later. Slowly, I opened my eyes and watched as the three ponies walk in with ropes in their mouths. Quietly, I waited until they were a few feet away from the bed. Just before they could attack, I threw my blanket in their faces and leapt from the mattress. Luckily, the room was dark enough so they could not see my wings give me an additional boost in my jump. Landing behind them, I bucked the middle of the trio in the back with a powerful kick, sending him into the wall. With the other two ponies in shock, I delivered a right hook into one’s face and an uppercut into the other’s chin. With the three assailants currently unconscious, I walked over to the chair next to my bed and levitated my cloak to put it over my wings. I then let out a sigh, “Buck, now I have to wait a few minutes for one of you to wake up.”

As they slept, I used their rope to them up and waited until the first one woke up. I looked at him and asked, “Who are you?”

“Straight Dart, youngest of the Children of the Nightmare,” he said, his voice woozy. “I and my companions were let in here to capture some ponies to deliver them to the Eldest.”

“Where and why?” I asked, going back to my guard training.

“We don’t know. The youngest are meant to be seen and not heard, so we are given only what we need to do to complete our tasks. In this case grabbing you and taking you to the middle children,” Straight said, looking at me with utter horror.

I wondered what he was afraid of, and then I noticed that my dragon like eyes were glowing in the dark. It gave me a sort of monstrous visage, one that I never liked having, though it was useful from time to time. Nodding in thanks for information, I knocked him back out again and walked out of my room.

Once I stepped out of the threshold, I watched as a body was flung from Swift’s room. Feeling worried, I ran to the body’s side and sighed in relief that I saw that the body was not Swift,but one of the kidnappers. I then turned my head away when I noted that the pony was also dead, two deep gashes in his neck being the cause of death. Turning my head to look into Swift’s room, I heard the scream of Black, “Please don’t kill me!”

“You had ponies kidnapped, betrayed your job, and you expect me to let you live for your cri-”

I saw that Swift had his blade to Black’s throat, “Swift, let him go!”

The blue pegasus turned to me, and narrowed his brow at me, “He has betrayed his entire settlement, got his wife kidnapped. He’s responsible for the kidnappings, and you expect me to let this slide?”

“Is this true?” I asked Black, looking at him.

Black dropped from the wall, breathing hard after being let go, “Y-yes. I let them do that in exchange for protection. After the power went down, I needed a way to protect the ponies, I had to! So I told them I would open the gates at night and would let the children come in and kidnap the ponies. I never thought they would go after my wife, and I didn’t think it would be this bad. I just wanted to-”

“Protect those you care about,” I said, sighing. “ What you are going to do, is get out of here and confess to your brother of what you did. Then you are going to help out in whatever capacity to make up for your crime.”

Swift said nothing to me, choosing instead to walk to the window and fly out. I shook my head and looked to Black, who meekly ran from me. After going back to my room to get my equipment, I walked outside of the house to see Swift waiting for me outside, frowning, “Are you sure this is wise?” At my nod, Swift shook his head, “You know what is going to happen. He’ll face trial, be punished, and most likely come back to do this again.”

“If that is what this town decides, fine. Heck, who knows, maybe he’ll change and will work to redeem himself. At least he'll have that chance!” I said walking away from him.

“So, naive,” Swift grumbled, following me. “Don’t you think for one second that maybe some ponies can’t change?”

“I don't think it's naive to respect pony life. I want to be able to keep my ponies safe, not kill them. They all need a chance to redeem themselves, to see that they don’t have to succumb to vices and sacrifice their goodwill to this world. And if I die while doing that? Then fine,” I said, walking towards the gate, “You don’t have to follow me.”

“I know, but I want to,” Swift said, walking behind me.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because, I am curious about something, and I won’t leave until I see if it comes true,” Swift said, fling ahead.

I choose not to pursue the matter, and just kept on walking.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Nightmarish Presence: You certainly know how to work with your eyes! Enemies are now quicker to run from you. If only you could use that to convince traders to give you discounts...

Author's Note

Thanks to Zolt for the editing.

This was a long chpter coming. Mainly because of a lot of stuff that went down in the making of it all. First, I had the whole plot changed, had to work some new material, and a lot of other stuff that really slowed down the making of this chapter. Especially the creation of Heart of Worlds and the RP kind of really threw me for a loop!

Swift Blade, is going to be our companion, and I hope he goes over well. I have never made an OC before, no seriously, most of them are one shot characters and bad guys. They usually are just somepony else that pops up. This guy is 100% original. He is based on Saito Haijimbe from Ruroni Kenshin, but I hope I can make him different enough that he wont be a CRT+V of the original.

Saving

“Sure Twilight, anything for a friend.”

I woke up that morning to the feeling of the soft wind brushing along my coat, lightly ruffling my feathers. With a yawn, I began to open my eyes and take a look at my surroundings. Once again, I was reminded that I was stuck in the cold Wasteland a with little warmth to be found from anypony. Well, that was not a complete lie, as a snort from the sleeping stallion across from the campfire can attest. Looking at him sleeping there brought a small smile to my face as I got up. While he was a little grumpy, I did like the idea that I wasn’t traveling alone anymore.

Giving my mane a good shake, I began to go through my usual stretch exercises. First my forelegs and then my hind legs, arching my back as I finished. Each stretch gave a very satisfying pop of air bubbles and snap in my muscles. Feeling stretched out, my head turned to look at my cloak and sword. Enveloping both in the violet aura of magic, I took the two items from their waiting position and walked away. With a soft click, my cloak came and covered my wings. As I walked a few yards away from our campfire, I pulled out Dusk and took a good look at it.

I had to admit, for a sword that had to have been a few years old, it held up quite well. It has been able to cut down a few robots and incapacitate ponies with ease. Turning the blade around in my magic, my eyes looked over the shine and the curve of the sword. There was a certain beauty in looking at such a weapon in the way that the mirror reflected the dim light of the sun through the clouds. Closing my eyes, I thrusted the blade out forward. With a soft breath, I began to thrust my blade forth again and again.

With those katas done, I lifted my blade above my head and slashed downward. Holding my blade up i did it again and again, only stopping when I heard a sudden clang of metal on metal. Looking to what blocked my blade, I was surprised to see Swift Blade stopping my sword with his wing blades. My eyebrow arched in confusion at this and I swung again, only for him to repeat the block. Annoyed, I tried swinging again and again, only for my sword to be blocked each time. Swift then slashed at me with his wingblade, leaving me with room to only back away from the attack. He then thrusted with the wings and slashed at me, with each shot being deflected by my own attack. When our swords met again with a loud clang, I saw a small smile on his face.

He was trying to spar with me!

Grinning like a mad mare, I thrusted rapidly at my friend, watching him block and dodge each thrust of my blade. He moved almost as if he was dancing to the rhythm of my blade, with all the grace of a leaf on a breeze. On one of my thrusts, he ducked to swipe his blades at my forelegs causing me to rear back to dodge the blades. In return, i thrusted my forelegs in a one-two punch. Both of which he blocked with his own forelegs, and then he jumped up using his legs for an additional lift. As he levitated, he swiped his right blade at my head, giving me only a second to dodge and losing a few bits of hair in the process. Seeing him flying above me caused me to growl, and I could feel my wings twitch in anticipation. I wished i wasn’t trying to hide the fact I had wings, because I just wanted to fly up and continue the fight in the sky.

Instead, I ran underneath him and began to slice at his underbelly. The shocked look he gave me as I attacked was very satisfying, but then he turned it around by dive bombing me with his wings crossed in front of his face. Holding up my sword, I blocked the crossed attack and engaged in a tug of war with him as our blades locked. I began to push back with my magic, struggling to push him off. Just the same, he pushed back with equal force, trying to shove me away. Our blades sparked in between us as they locked in the air.After a few short moments of locking our blades in a duel, he broke away from the struggle and jumped back with a trio of slashes. Moving with some speedy parrys, the wing blades were brushed aside, and then I thrusted my blade at him. As he moved his wing blade to block the hit, I feinted the attack and went upwards, nicking his stable suit.

He looked down at the cut in his suit, and then back at me like I had insulted his honor by getting a hit in. Cockily, i shrugged my shoulders and smirked at him.

This, was a big mistake, as he came at me with rapid thrusts and slashes of his blades, making me back up and quickly slash at him in an attempt to parry his attacks. At one point, I managed to block one of his thrusts and struck back with two slashes of my own. He dodged those two strikes and made a lunge for my throat. Blocking the shot, I swiped at him with several slashes. Taking a jump back, he thrusted his wing blade at me, and in response I thrusted my sword at him, both of our blades missing our heads and resting on the other’s shoulders.

We stood there for several moments, our blades resting on our shoulders as we looked into each other’s eyes. I panted, feeling the sweat roll down my snout. As I looked back at him, I noticed that he was also panting, sweat beading down his face as he stared back at me. I could almost feel a sense of happiness coming from him, like he had found a partner in me. Just the same, O could feel a deep connection coming from him. A connection of love and compassion. I realized what this was: Friendship. So we stood there, panting and letting our breathing return to normal slowly. While we stood, our eyes never left one another, as if we waited for the other to be the first to break this silence.

There was a soft breeze that flew through the air as Swift was the first to disengage. Turning away from me, Swift began to walk to the remains of the campfire and our bags, “You are quite skilled, for a mare that has studied in a monastery and with monks.”

I blushed a little and chuckled, “Well, um, I read a lot of books on royal guard sword fighting styles.”

“That explains a lot about your fighting style,” Swift said, throwing me a can of Apple Bombs.

Using my magic as a can opener, I opened the can and asked, “Is there a problem with my sword fighting?”

“You fight like an old royal guard. You wait for your opponent to attack, you analyze their movements, and then you strike back,” Swift said, eating his own meal.

“And is that a problem?” I ask.

“Not if you are fighting against one opponent at a time, when you are ready to fight. However, we are not always so lucky,” Swift said. “What's more, you held back in your fights, like you are afraid that if you let go, you will hurt or kill your opponent.”

I pulled back a little, How the buck was our sparring match holding back? I was matching you blow for blow. “How could you know?”

“When our swords touched, I felt something, a weakness in your swing,” the blue pegasus said. “You are not going to get that lucky again. Every battle that I have seen you in with multiple opponents have been won with a surprise attack or you using an advantage against them. You won’t always have that type of advantage.”

“So, Swift-sensei,” I said in a mocking tone, “What do you suggest?”

“I won’t be able to help you with your mental blocks; however, I can help you with handling multiple opponents and speed,” he said, putting away his can. Taking flight to the the sky, he grabbed a large cloud. He then took the cloud and put it just above the ground. With a slight kick, he made the cloud drip water rapidly to the ground. Smiling he then began to swipe his wing and hoof through the dripping water. He then held out his wing and hoof, asking me to, “Touch my wing and hoof. Tell me what you feel.”

Gently, I traced my hoof along the hoof and felt his wing, “They’re dry.” I gasped.

“A good swordspony can wave his hoof past dripping water without ever getting in contact with water,” Swift said, looking at the dripping cloud. “In order to hone your speed, we are going to start you off with this exercise. I want you swipe your hoof through this dripping water without getting wet.”

I smirked, my confidence showing; after all, I am an alicorn and thus have more strength than he does, this should be easy. With a smile, I swiped my hoof under the dripping cloud and pulled it away, noticing the wet spot on my coat. My eyes widened in surprise at the sight of water on my coat and I tried again, with little success. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Swift looking on curiously, as if he was expecting me to say something about my failure. Not giving him the satisfaction of an outburst, I swiped my hoof again and again at the dripping water in the vain hope of not getting wet.

It must have been two whole hours that I was training at that cloud before it finally ran out of water. That or it took pity on me and decided to quit. My hoof had started to prune up from all of the water that had been collecting on it. From my side, I could hear Swift let out a chuckle as he walked to my side and offered a small drink from his canteen, “It is not so easy, is it? We will do this at the start of every day from now on until you manage to do that exercise perfectly, and then-”

“And then?” I asked, sighing a little bit at the idea of failing the test.

Swift turned away as he went to pick up his saddlebag, “Then, we begin the harder training.”

This made me gulp in return as I could only begin to imagine the horrors he had waiting for me. Sighing, I levitated my bags and put them over my cloak.

Traveling with Swift, though one of the more quieter journeys I have ever taken, was kind of refreshing in its own way. Having a pony next to me as I walked made the world a little brighter, in spite of the grey cloud cover adding a gloomy feel to the walk. Taking a deep breath to appreciate the area around me and the feel of the crunchy ground beneath my hooves, I turned to look at my silent companion. The sullen look in his eyes reminded me that traveling with a companion like this was nothing new to him. Who knew how many others he had been traveling side by side with. Deciding to get a little more info out of my friend, I asked, “Swift, why did you decide to start doing what you do?”

Swift sighed as he looked ahead, “A friend of mine, he... kind of inspired me to protect others. He reminded me that these talents in swordsponyship mean nothing if I do not have a cause to fight for.”

“Wow, some friend,” i said, smiling, “What did he do to impress you so much?”

“He,” Swift’s ears began to twitch at a scream, “Hold on. Did you hear that?”

I nodded and ran to a rocky outcropping not too far from us, kicking up dust as we ran. What I saw there made my blood boil, and my eyes narrow in rage. Ten raiders were standing over a mare as she screamed and shouted, “Get off! H-Help me, Pleaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!”

“Listen to the bitch squirm, i swear she won’t quit,” the raider in the middle said, laughing as he raped the mare.

“Heh, maybe we should cut her other leg off, that’ll take the fight out of her,” chuckled another raider.

“Other leg?” I asked myself as I moved to get a better view of the Raiders, only to feel something squishy and warm hit my leg. I let out a gasp as I saw the dismembered limb at my side, and then growled at the group. Levitating out Dusk, I whispered to Swift, “Ok, here’s the plan. I go in from the side while you-” I had to pause as I caught the sight of a blue blur at my side. My eyes followed it as it raced to the center of the small raider group.

The stallion in the center threw back his head in joy, laughing at his actions. His laughter quickly stopped when a thin line appeared on his neck, followed by small trails of blood running down his chest. I could hear the raiders let out various gasps of shock as they watched their companion’s head roll off his torso and to the ground with a thump, followed by the rest of his body. Swift then landed in the center of the group, staring daggers at them, “Kill the bastard, defeather him!!!” shouted one of the raiders as two of them chased after swift when he took to the air. The one who shouted turned to his victim, ready to attack. However, I hit him with a low level lightning bolt spell before he could do anything to her.

“Well, look at this,” said one of the raiders, reaching back to pull out a knife. “It’s a unicorn.”

Another raider chuckled as he walked to my side, “Nice. I can’t wait to rip that horn off to add it to my necklace.”

I did not dignify any of their threats with a comeback. Instead, I took a look at the group in front of me and took in what I was facing against. Two of them had AK-47s aimed at me, while three of them had some revolvers at the ready. The last one had a serrated knife and brandished it at me. I narrowed my eyes at the two in front of me and rolled to the side as they fired their guns. My body winced in pain as I felt the bullets hit my breastplate, while others whizzed by my head. Racing forward in a pounce, I slashed at the jaw at one of the raiders. The cut was deep enough that it caused him to drop his gun while blood trailed down his chin. As he screamed in pain, I sent Dusk flying to the raider at my side and sliced into his chest before he could fire his weapon.

The three that had revolvers growled as they fired at me, causing me to roll out of the way of the fire. Wincing, I looked to my side as I watched my blood trickled down my leg from one of the shots that managed to get through my armor. Shaking off the pain, I charged at one of the stallions and slashed across his chest. Before the other two could attack, I plunged Dusk into the leg of the one on my left and delivered a buck into the chest of his companion, giving off a satisfying crunch of bone as my hooves connected. With only one pony left, I began to look back and forth for the last one, and quickly moving to block the hit with my sword when she came at me with a knife. One strike from my lightning spell and she fell down unconscious.

Carefully, I began to pile up the bodies of the beaten raiders in a row and began to tend to their wounds. I carefully made sure that none of my attacks were kill strikes, and I was happy to see that my old guard training had came into use. I had just finished wiht the last one when I heard two meaty thumps behind me, “You are too kind to them. They don’t deserve your mercy,” Swift said.

I sighed, “I know, but I will give it to them anyway.”

“Do you know what they are going to do now? They will hate you, heal up, and attack again,” Swift said.

“If that happens, then I will stop them,” I said, getting to my hooves. “But, I like to think differently. They now know that there is a pony out there who is stronger and faster than they are. They will now fear the idea that their next victim might be as powerful as me and maybe even change their ways.”

“Alternatively, their raider friends will kill them for their weakness, or they will ignore this entirely,” Swift said as I walked to the fallen mare.

I lowered my head and sighed, “I know that, but I would like to believe in my theory.” under my breath I muttered, “I have to.”

As we walked to the mare, i had to turn my head a little at the sight. She was laying in a pool of blood and other fluids, moaning in pain, “P-please, help. I-I-I couldn’t.”

“No, say no more,” Swift said, kneeling down to the mare and holding her hoof.

“L-listen, please. My sons and I,” she breathed slowly, “We came from a caravan not too far from here. My youngest, he-he’s a Sparkle Cola bottle collector and got excited when he found out that the factory was near here. I took him and his little brother to there, what did it hurt. That is when I saw the raiders. I had them run inside while I dist-distracted the raiders. M-My sons, they are still in there. Please, save them.”

Swift could only nod as he heard the mare breathe her last, closing her eyes. As he stood up, I used my magic to move the dirt aside and made a grave for her. As I levitated her body into the grave, I heard Swift ask, “So, what do we do now? We could follow her request, but that is out of our way.”

I turned my head and looked to the large factory in the distance, knowing my decision.

The Sparkle Cola plant wasn’t what one was what I would call... inviting. Maybe it had something to do with it being out of use for so long, or the fact that it was so quiet; whatever it was, the echoing of our hooves as they hit the metal beneath us did little to make walking in these dark halls any easier. A light fluttering of wings next to me reminded me that Swift was not too far away, “Sparkle Cola Rad, cola with a little bit of magical radiation. The creator must have been insane.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I knew the owner and creator of Sparkle Cola and yes, he was nuts. As a matter of fact, he was a client of mine that me and Babs had to protect once. It was during our guarding of him in Las Pegasus that me and Babs had our first... Uh, well, let's just say that a good time was had by all. For the record, I am not gay, i am bi. I like both actually. I then stopped in my tracks when I heard some footsteps up ahead. Hiding in the doorway, I looked and asked Swift, “How many?”

“My Pipbuck reads ten red blips. Two are on the cat-walk above us and the others are on the floor,” Swift said, as I held out my hoof.

“Wait a second,” I said, levitating my sword out slowly and sliding it up a little. Looking at the reflection in the sword, I growled, “Buck! They have a rocket launcher up there.”

“We’ll need to be careful-”

“Wait,” I said,smirking. “I have an idea.” then i begin to concentrate my magic into my horn and made it glow a bright red. While I don’t like to use fire magic, I do know how to use convection to my advantage. Especially if the target was on something that conducts heat very easily. As my horn glowed a bright red from the heat of my magic, so did the metal catwalk glow bright red. I only stopped when I heard the scream of the stallion above us. The scream was followed by the sound of metal on metal as he dropped his weapon. And then I nodded to the upper catwalk, giving Swift the signal. Nodding the blue pegasus flew upward onto the catwalk while the other raiders looked into my direction.

Moving quickly, I ran to some cover as the bullets began to fly in my direction. With some swift movements, I ran to the side and slashed at two of them and took them out of the fight. Driving my blade into one raider, I dodged the slash of one behind me and then I uppercutted his jaw hard with a left hook. Leaping up and above two others, I slashed at their backs before zapping one more. I let out a grunt as I felt a bullet hit my right shoulder, cutting into it. I growled as I looked up at the sniper, ready to attack him, only to be stopped when Swift did the job for me. Turning around quickly, I took care of the remaining raiders with relative ease.

As I sheathed my blade, and turned to look at Swift, I notice a look of concern in his eyes. He walked to me and began to put a bandage on my foreleg where the bullet cut me, “Can’t have you walking around here with a wound like this.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes at this, “I’m fine. We-”

“If you walk around with that wound then the blood from it might slip you up. Worse, you might get infected, this will help you until we get a healing potion,” Sad Swift as he began to walk away from me.

I raised a hoof to tell him about why I didn't need the help, but I looked back down to my bandage and smiled at it. While I could’ve healed my wound with a healing spell, it was nice to get some attention. Raising my head to look back at him, I whispered thank you and followed along with his. There was a warm feeling that filled my chest, liking the fact that it seemed that he actually had a nice guy side to him. Sighing contently, we continued to travel down the echoing corridors of the factory.

With our hooves echoing across the metal floor as we walked, I couldn’t help but observe at how the broken down factory began to resemble a cave more than a factory. With the walkways twisting into forms of stagatices and tuning into into little mazes on their own. The dripping bits of water and soda added to the cavernous feel of the dark place. My head continued to twist back and forth, looking for the two colts, but my head stopped when I heard a noise to my left. Turning to the creaking noise, I let out a gasp as I saw what looked like to be a b bi-pedal crab walking from a pool of sparkle-cola. As it prepared to lunge at me, Swift flew over my head and cut into its body, “Damn,” he cursed under his breath, “Mirelurks.”

“What are mirelurks?” I asked, hearing a few more footsteps behind me.

“Mutated crabs that came after the bombs fell,” He said, before turning to look at me. “What is with that smile?”

“Nothing,” I said, thinking about a joke Sweetie Bell told me about her and Rarity on the beach. I quickly forgot about the joke as I quickly moved to dodged out of the way of the incoming mirelurk’s claw strike. Before he could strike again, I impaled it on my sword. Turning around, I used an ice spear to kill the other mirelurk.

Swift walked to one of the bodies, carving away a piece of the meat and putting it into his bag, “You know that you have just killed these things.”

“My vow to never kill only applies to ponies,” I said, turning around to look for the stairs. As I began to walk down a nearby flight, I could hear Swift say something behind me.

“Good, I am glad to hear that,” chuckled Swift as he caught up with me. “I feared that you would allow the rest of the wasteland walk over you.”

There was a part of me that wanted to hit him for that snide remark, but I stopped when I realized that he actually cracked a joke. I stood in shock for a few moments and shook my head to get my focus back on the mission.

As we continued our walk to the second floor, we had a few more encounters with mirelurks, each one falling by the wayside of our attacks. All the while, we kept our ears open for the sounds of colts, and our eyes open for what we hoped wouldn’t be a collection of corpses. Our hooves would clack against the ground in an even beat, only interrupted by the occasional kill of a mirelurk. As we neared the end of one catwalk, Swift stopped me by raising his hoof and looked down at his Pipbuck, seeing the blue dots on the screen. Opening my eyes, I turned to look at a pile of rubble where I heard a faint moan, “H-help us!!!!”

I gasped and ran to the rubble, “Are there two of you in there? What happened?”

“Yes,” the faint colt voice said, “Me and my brother were running from the monsters. We tried hiding out in this room, but when we closed the door, we heard a lot of chattering. Help us, it's getting harder to breath.”

“There isn’t something we can use to lift this rubble out of the way” Swift said, “I’ll try to find a plank or something to life this stuff away.”

As Swift walked away from me, I looked back to the boulder and that was in front of the door and smiled. Getting close to the large rock, I wrapped my hooves around the boulder and began to lift. See, since I am alicorn, I have the strengths of all three races: Magic, speed, and of course, strength. And at that point, I was grateful for the power of the earth pony race as I began to lift the boulder with all of the strength I had. With a grunt, I began to slowly lift the boulder off from the ground, feeling the sweat rolling down my brow. Like I said, earth pony strength, which means lifting this boulder was hard, but not impossible. After all, I’ve seen Pinkie’s sister lift less. With a final grunt, I pulled the boulder away and threw it to the side.

One of the colts opened the door and looked up to me in amazement, “Wow, lady! How did you do that?”

I blushed and told one of the more obvious lies that I had ever told in my life, “Unicorn magic.I used it to increase my strength a hundred fold.” To empathise I showed off a bicep.

Before the kid could respond to that with another question, Swift landed behind me and said, “Impressive, I guess you didn't need this plank then. Though I must as-ARgH!”

My eyes opened in shock as I saw a very large claw slash iselt across Swift’s side and forge, sending him to the floor. Moving quickly, I lifted up the pegasus in my magic and brought him to the door, Taking out some bandages, I put them to his wounds, “Hide in here, I’ll take care of the mirelurk.”

“By yourself? No!” Swift argued before I closed the door on both him and the colts.

Turning to face the large Mirelurk behind me, I took off my cape and smiled, “You must be the Queen. Hello, Beastie.” I smirked. as the beast slammed its large claw at me. Before it could make contact with me, I leapt up into her air and allowed my wings to keep me aloft. I noticed the creature’s eyes stare at me in anger as I said, “Yeah, it's like that.” Then I landed on top of the outstretched claw and began to slice repetitively along the arm of the claw, making deep cuts into it. As t roared in pain, it tried to swipe at me with its other claw. This one too, flew over it with ease.

There are times when my wings annoy me. How they make me look more like Nightmare Moon, how they can get in the way sometimes and how I can't fly with them when I try to keep hidden. But at the moment, I loved the fact that I was born an alicorn. I began to bob and weave out of the way of the monster’s strikes, making her miss me with each move.

However, my luck didn’t last forever as one of its claws managed to get a good hit on me and slam me into the wall. With a low moan I slowly pulled my body out of the crater, flying away before it could hit me with another strike. Flying straight at it, I swooped up as he tried to bash me with its next attqa and hoved above its claw that I slashed at earlier. Making my horn glow with a white light, I sent out an icy spear at the claw, cracking it with an large ice spike. With another roar the creature swiped her limb at me and slammed me into another wall, creating another creator.

I winced in pain as I slid down from the wall, praying to the stars that I didn’t break a rib. Before I had a chance to catch my breath, the large crustacean thrusted his claw with a ice spike at me, intending to cut my head off. In a flash, I wrapped my hooves around the creature's claw and began to pull on it, causing it to crack. As if it realized what I was doing to it, the Mirelurk Queen began to try and pull away from me, its eyes full of panic and fear. I just smirked as I pulled on it and then ripped it off, breaking it away from the ice spike.

As the creature reeled back from losing its limb, I took flight and threw two ice spikes into the creature's last claw, causing it to crack. Narrowing my eyes, I flew down with Dusk pointed out and stabbed through the crack in the creature's shell and through the last claw. The monster began to back away in fear as I charged my horn with lighting and let loose a mighty thunderbolt that fired at the creature.

Satisfied with my defeat of the monster, I walked to where I had stashed my cloak and put it on. Making sure that my wings were properly hidden, I opened the door and walked to Swift. Kneeling down, I moved the bandages and looked at the damage, “I’ll be fine,” Swift tried to argue.

I shook my head, “It's a pretty deep cut, one that could be serious if I don’t heal it.” I said, concentrating and began to call up my healing magic.

“Where did you learn healing magic?” asked Swift.

I didn’t answer him, just focused instead on the memory on where I picked up the spell.

“Nyx, are you ok?” A pink alicorn asked me as she looked at my cut knee.

I nodded a little, “Yeah, but it hurts.”

“Give me a second,” Cadence smiled and she made her horn glow a steady pink, healing my cut knee back to normal.

“Wow, how did you do that?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

Cadence smiled, “It’s a little something that I learned as an alicorn of love. You can do it too. Just close your eyes, and think of your happiest memories, ones that keep you warm at night,” Cadence said with a smile.

Nodding, I did that, thinking of my friends, my mom, and a good book. When I opened my eyes,I saw my horn glowing a dull pink, “Wow!” I said.

“Now,this won’t heal everything, but it will heal shallow wounds.”

I smiled softly as I pulled away from the memory and looked down at the healed side and leg, “There, that should do it.”

Swift smiled back at me as he stood up, “Thanks.” I smiled back as the two colts ran ahead of us.

“Mister, ma’am...where’s my mom?” one of the colts asked.

It never gets easier, standing with a family member as they grieve over their loved ones. I should know, I have done it one too many times. Many times, I find myself standing with the family of friends that I grew up with. Colts and fillies who I had watched grow up into mares and stallions find themselves buried six feet under, just because of a stupid war. The sinking feeling in my chest seemed to have gotten worse in this hell hole of a wasteland. As I look at the tombstone, all I can think of is if I was only ten minutes faster then I could’ve saved her.

A look over my shoulder at the lowered head of Swift and I can tell he is thinking of the same thing. There is just something in his eyes that tell me he wants time to turn back and protect this mare. Sighing, I looked back at the two colts as they sit in front of the grave, holding each other as they whimpered and cry. Softly, I stepped forward and placed my hoof onto the eldest shoulder, “Come, we need to go.”

The clt sniffled and looked down at his little brother, “B-but, what do we do now? How can we go on without-”

“First, we take you home, then you can decide how you live your lives,” Swift said plainly.

I offered more of a kinder word “It may seem impossible right now, but the thing you have to do is find a way to live. It’s going to be up to you now to honor your mom’s memory by living the rest of your lives. Maybe become hunters, or protect your town, but you must find something to latch onto and fight to keep it,” as the words bled from my mouth, I had to wonder if I even believed those words. Even I knew how hard it was to find something to live for. A look over my shoulder at Swift and I had to raise an eyebrow at him smiling. Did I actually impress him with my words?

Swift looked ahead a small group of ponies in the distance, “I assume that your caravan is that away. If we go now, we should arrive shortly.”

The two colts nodded, and with trembling hooves managed to stand up and follow us away from the grave. I nodded solemnly at the grave behind me, making a solemn prayer that she would find peace and would be happy that her children were safe.

In less than an hour, we had arrived at the caravan. There was much crying and reunions as the two were welcome back into their home. There was also a moment of mourning for the lost mare. From a few steps away from the main caravan, I heard Swift talking to what I assumed was the leader, “Why were you traveling this far away from the usual paths?”

“We were escaping Sol,” the leader said with a hushed tone, as if the mention of that name would bring it out.

“Sol?! That old mare’s tale?” asked Swift, a look of disbelief on his face.

The green stallion stepped closer to Swift, “For a mare’s tale, she was very real to my town. It was just as in the legends said about her. She came in, and incinerated our home, burned it to the ground.”

Swift shook his head, “You are imagining things.”

“Tell that to the ponies who were burned alive by that monster. Some of the were even blinded by looking into the bright light of her flames!” the stallion said. I had taken note that part of his mane seemed to be burned off.

Swift gave a scoff, “Many unicorns can learn a fire spell, whoever destroyed your town used the legend of Sol to scare and ransack it.”

“Mane of fire, ruby dragon-like eyes, and a sword of blue flame. That matches Sol to a T,” the stallion argued.

“So the legend of Sol says, but I am not convinced,” Swift said.

“Listen yo-”

“Whoa! Hold it,” I said, stepping in and holding the two stallions back. Turning to look at the red maned stallion, I asked, “Sir,”

“Crack Cutter,” the stallion said.

“Crack, who is Sol?” I asked, trying to find the truth in this wasteland legend.

Swift snorted and relplies, “A foal’s tale, nothing more.

“Sol, is a legend of the wastes,” Crack said, with a sigh. “One that started ten years ago. It is said that she is a mare that is encased in a roaring flame. That she goes from town to town and burns it to the ground, wiping out all who live there, but leaving enough alive to spread her name. She has been said to have a mane of flame atop of her head. That she wields a sword of blue flame, and that her speed and strength are almost god-like. She speaks with a calm fury, like a fire that is ready to be unleashed at any given moment. Not much else is known about her, some see her as an unicorn, others a pegasus or an earth pony. But, the legend remains the same, when she is there... your life is over.”

Swift, had a slight frown on his face as he spoke, “This is why I don’t believe in the legend. I have traveled this wasteland for over a decade now and I have not met such a being. If such a monster ever existed, I would’ve killed it by now.”

“I don’t think so,” Crack said with a shake of his head. “I have seen this monster cut through bullets. I have seen her move through walls and jump over buildings. She isn’t an opponent you can take down.”

Swift was about to offer another argument when I stepped in, “So, where are you going now?”

“There is an abandoned town nearby, at least according to some of the pip bucks we scavenged,” Crack said, looking away. “It’s a day’s journey, and we hoped to stay there for now.”

“We’ll go with you,” I said. “You need protection, and me and my friend can offer it.”

I watched the stallion’s eyes open wide with amazement and relief, “You... you will? Oh, thank you. I’m afraid we can’t offer you much. It's hard enough-”

“We have our own food, don’t worry,” Swift said, walking away from me to join the rest of the caravan.

I sighed as he walked and smiled at the stallion, “It would be our honor to help.”

Our journey took us through most of the night, and through it all I had a smile on my face as I watched the caravan ponies talk with one another. It was calming in its own way to see life carrying on in face of the hardships they faced. The way that the families lived almost made me think of what my life was like back in past, before I had lost it all. I giggled when I saw two fillies playing at knights with one another.

The only one that was silent through our little journey was Swift. The way he would fly above our heads, and the movement of his head gave off an air of something hiding deep down inside. I wondered quietly to myself what was on his mind.

It was when we had camped out for the night, just a half day’s journey away from our destination, that I had decided to talk to my companion. Finding him at a fire sitting outside of the caravan, i sat down across from him and asked, “Ok, spill. You have been gloomy since this trip started. More than usual actually, why?”

“I just found out, what it is exactly that this little town did before it was burned to the ground,” Swift said.

“What?” I asked.

Swift looked to the fire and narrowed his eyes, “They were making and dealing out drugs to ponies. They are drug dealers, Nyx.”

My eyes opened wide at the revelation and then I turned to look back at some of the foals as they slept next to their families, “And for that, what do you want me to do, kill the lot of them? Make those kids orphans and leave them to the horrors of the wastes?”

“Of course not... it’s just that,” he sighed and looked to the cloudy sky, “All my life, I have lived by a creed, swift death to evil. That means to kill anypony I see committing a crime, and here are a bunch of criminals in my sights.”

“And that gives us the right to kill the lot of them?” I asked, looking back at my friend in his deep blue eyes, “This could be a chance for them to lead a new life or to put those skills they made towards something other than drug running. Can we really take away that chance?”

“Can you depend on them actually taking it? For all you know, they will continue their operation, “ Swift said.

“They will, I trust in them,” I said, yawning and lying down.

As my eyes closed, I could hear Swift mutter, “Such naivety.”

“Check this out, Nyx,” the cream colored pegasus said, pulling out the black revolver out from the cabinet. “This is one of those new gun things that you heard about. I thought you might like to see it.”

“Wow, Featherweight, it’s impressive,” I said, taking the gun in my magic and looking it over. “The grip is made so the tongue can pull the trigger for earth ponies.” my magic continued to look over the firearm, my curiosity piqued. Carefully, my magic began to try and take it apart.

“Yeah, I saw my dad firing a few rou-

BANG

“Featherweight? Oh, stars... I’m so sorry,” I said seeing my friend fallback from the shot.

“And again, we see that the monster should’ve stayed dead,” a voice that sounded like the fires of hell spoke, reaching out with a red hand for me.

Gasping, I baked away, “No, Tirek, stay away!!!”

“Nyx, wake up,” Swift Blade said, shaking my shoulder with a worried look in his eye. “You were moaning and screaming in your sleep. Are you ok?”

I nodded quickly, “I’m fine, really.” Slowly, I brought my hooves up to my face and remembered that day. I had almost lost a friend because of my carelessness, and almost made Twist hate me for the rest of my life. I can still remember the angry look in her eyes when I told her I almost killed her boyfriend. It had hurt me more than any wound I have ever taken, and it's one of the main reasons why I utterly despise using a gun. It was also how I began to respect equine life in all of it’s forms. I just can’t stand thinking of how fragile the world around me is, and how precious our lives are.

Taking a quick look ahead, I noticed how the caravan had already begun its walk towards the town, and I began to follow. A part of me wished to just remove my cape and fly ahead of them, just forget that I am hiding who I am. I shook my head, reminding myself that I was an alicorn and probably would end up scaring them with the sight of my feathered appendages. Instead, I chose to occupy my time with the foals and telling them stories about one of my favorite subjects, my mother, “And then she stared down the nightmare, glazing her purple eyes and said, “Because friendship, is magic.”

The reactions of the children was priceless, and seeing them look in on awe like that made me smile. Swift, was not impressed, “If you are done with telling your stories, Crack says we’re here and wants to talk to us.”

Nodding, I got up from the cart and waved farewell to the foals. There was a part of me that wanted to stay behind and tell them more stories, but i had a mission. Making my way to the place where Swift was talking to Crack, I heard the stallion mention, “Well, we scoped out the town, and it's good for us to stay. However,”

“However?” I asked.

“There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of water supplies around here. A scout mentioned that she saw what looks like a stable nearby. So perhaps-”

“We’ll go,” I said, stepping forward.

Crack shook his head, “No, we couldn’t.”

“We are going to do it, consider it a special service,” I said, winking at him. I was also doing it because I wanted a chance to see a stable the was not filled to the brim with dead ponies. I could hear a sigh coming from behind me as Swift followed close behind.

It didn’t take us long to get through the town and to the small cave entrance that the scout said might have held a stable. Lighting up my horn, me and Swift walked down the cavern path. After a little while, we had reached the large stable doors with a large number 24 emblazoned on it. I could feel a little flutter in my heart as I began to type in the code to open it.Sure, my first stable that I went to in the Wastes was one of the more horrifying experiences in my life, but I had felt confident that this was going to be different. Almost as if he was reading my mind, I could feel Swift’s look upon me with a frown. Taking a quick look to my side, I saw how he looked down and was shaking his head, “Problem?”

“We are about to head into a stable, and for a girl as naive as you are, it won’t be pleasant,” he said.

I chuckled, “Look, I’ve been to one stable already so it probably won’t be too bad.”

“Well, it doesn’t look broken into, so maybe the ponies-”

I interrupted him, “Wait, ponies break into stables now? Why?”

“Steel Rangers,” Swift said as the doors opened. “They like to break into Stables and take whatever technology that they can from them.”

“And the ponies?” I asked, trembling.

“Dead,” Swift said calmly as he walked into the Stable.

I shuddered at the thought that something Applejack created would do something so horrible in the future. I had hoped, deep down inside, that these were just a renegade faction of Rangers and not the entire team.

When I trotted into the stable, I was taken aback by what I had saw. A skeleton of a pony that looked like it had died trying to claw its own eyeballs out. The bright fluorescent lighting overhead did little to make the sight of the dead mare any less gruesome. Holding back my shudders and revulsions, I continued on, stopping once in awhile to see another dead pony or a broken window. Everywhere I looked I saw ponies dead in various horrifying manners, each seeming to be by their own hooves. Sometimes i could even find some ponies looking like they had killed each other in rage. My mind began to run through a hundred scenarios as to why there was all of this death in a stable, when I heard Swift say, “Mushrooms?”

“Shrooms?” I asked, walking into one room and looking over his shoulder, and seeing the fungus on the ground. It was bright red and with a large bite taken out of it.

Swift stabbed the fungus with his wing blade and brought it to his nose, giving it a good wiff, “Doesn’t smell odd, but I be wary of trying to eat it.”

I nodded and looked down one hallway, “I think i see the Overmare’s office that way. i’ll go and investigate it, see what I can find. How about you head down to the basement and find that talisman.” Swift nodded in agreement and left my side.

With a quick gallop, I made my way into the overmare’s office and opened it, finding yet another slumped skeleton. This one seemed to have a gun pointed to her head and a bottle of rum in the other. With a depressed sigh, I gently moved the skeleton away from the terminal and began to type along its keyboard for some information. The first log I had found was the introduction.

Hey there, I’m Scootaloo.

As the raspy voice came from the monitor, I had almost jumped out of my seat in joy at hearing her, “Scoots!!!!” for a moment, I had almost forgotten she wasn’t alive anymore. The ears began to fill my eyes as I slowly ran my hoof over the screen, trying to reach back 200 years and touc my friend again. Blinking away my tears, I tried to regain my focus and listen to the rest of the message.

...If you are listening to this, then the worst has happened. Damn it, why couldn’t they try a little harder... Sorry, this is the tenth time I have had to to record this message and it isn’t getting any easier. Our goal here at Stabletech is to make sure that the ponies of the old world move onto the next generation and hopefully live on in a better world. That is why we have started these experiments.

“Experiments? What experiments, what are you talking about? You said this was meant to protect ponies,” I argued.

We need to find out where we went wrong in the past and how to fix our mistakes. Each Stable has been provided with a social experiment to find out how to fix a problem in our society. Someponies have found some unusual species of mushrooms in the Boarder-lands and found that they have unique properties on ponies emotions. Some can make you mad, envious, or depressed. We have put some of these mushrooms into the Stable for you to distribute to various ponies as a way of trying to suppress or bring out emotions.

“B-but, you can’t do that to ponies. That’s forcing them to feel and think in only the way that you want them to,” I said, shaking. Almost every emotion you could name started to build up in me. A part of me just wanted to punch the screen at what I was hearing, “Scootaloo, please, stop this!” I yelled, forgetting that this already happened years ago.

Some of the ponies will be given mushrooms to hold back rage, others to have rage all of the time and others-”

“Stop it!” I yelled, punching my hoof against the screen, causing it to crack a little.

“Nyx, are you alright?” I could faintly hear Swift ask me. I could barely register anything else that he said to me as we walked out of the Stable and to the leader of the caravan. The rest of that trip and anything else just passed me by like a faint and barely audible blur. I just ignored the caravan and the ponies around me as I headed off into the wastes by myself.

Nearing a rock with a long outcropping, I sat underneath its shade and leaned against the wall. This time, i just let the tears flow from my eyes and down my cheeks, “Scootaloo, how could you do this. You told me you were going to protect ponies. That you were going to save lives, not make them part of some crazed experiments. Why? How could you... How could you lie to me!” I yelled, punching the wall with my hoof and causing it to crack.

Scootaloo looked up at me with a smile, “Just watch Nyx, what you are doing today will help out ponies everywhere.”

“We’ll be keeping them all safe,” Applebloom agreed.

Sweetie Belle kicked the ground and lightly nodded.

“Did all three of them know about this? Why couldn’t they tell me about their plans? Why?!” I cried, punching the wall harder. Letting out a small whimper, I began to realize, “You knew...you knew what I would do if you told me the truth! I would’ve done everything I could to stop your insane plan! You couldn’t bear to tell me because you didn’t want to fi-”

I was brought out of my rant by the feeling of a hoof on my shoulder, “What’s wrong? You did not stay with the Caravan or say your goodbyes.”

Slowly, I turned to look at my friend, the tears still leaking from my eyes. A part of me wanted to say that it's because I was just betrayed by my best friends, that they lied to me and I was so angry with them, but I remembered myself and held back. Instead, I sniffled and tried to stop myself from crying, “I-I-I just found out about the experiments of Stable tech. For the longest time, I believed that there were good ponies before the war, that the things they tried to do were just misused by ponies who were corrupt. I believed in the ideals of old Equestria and now to see this. I just-”

I was interrupted by a tight hug from Swift, as he wrapped his forelegs around me and held me close,” This is why I called you naive. You have not lived long enough in the Wasteland to truly understand what it will put you through.”

“I know, now,” I whimpered, blushing a little at this closeness.

“There will be days when you are going to be forced to find and fight ponies who will challenge everything you have ever believed in. They will make you face down your ideals and wonder if you should stay with them. How you face those challenges will determine the type of pony you are,” he pulled away and wiped some of the tears from my eyes, brushing his hoof past my mane. “The question will be, are you going to be a weak stick, or a strong blade in the wind.”

I smiled softly and nodded, “T-thank you. Thanks for, being there.”

“As I said, you needed a partner to keep you safe,” Swift said, breaking the embrace.

“No, what I needed... was a friend,” I said, walking away and smiling at him.

“Oh, do you consider me a friend by now?” Swift asked, flying by my side.

I winked at him and giggled, “Maybe. You certainly are not an acquaintance anymore. But, I think we still need to work on the friend part of our relationship.”

“I look forward to that struggle,” Swift smiled as he flew along my side.

Author's Note

Thanks to Zolt for the editing

I wonder if anyone will get the training reference in the opening. It is from a movie and it is one of my favorite movies. Also, the sparkle cola factory and the insuing fight with are both Fallout inspired. The factory by fallout 3 and the Muirelurks was based off my fight with them in Fallout 4.

Hero

“Well, no real hero asks for it. They wouldn’t be a hero otherwise, now would they?”

I chased after Scootaloo, watching as my best friend kept ahead of me. I giggled as the filly always seemed to outrace me in our games. Behind me, I could hear the shouts of our friends as they raced us. Turning around, I saw the orange filly stopped before me. PAnting, I asked, “Scoots, what’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

“We’re monsters, aren’t we?” Scootaloo said, now an adult. Her face was turned away from me.

I was still a filly as I watched her grow and I reached out a trembling hoof towards my friend, “Scoots, what do you mean?”

“I am a monster because I wanted to see ponies suffer for their crimes,” Scootaloo said, turning to face me, her face now devoid of her old mirth and now filled with a hint of cruelty, “I am a monster Nyx. We all are...it’s just some of us are better at hiding it.”

I shook my head, “No, you’re wrong! I‘m not a monster anymore! I’m-”

“A killer,” came a voice.

“Nightmare Moon!”

“Sinner!”

I could hear more and more of the voices chant various insults my way. With a frightened look I shook my head, trying to run. But everywhere i ran, the taunting voices seemed to grow louder and louder.

My eyes shot open as I woke up from the nightmare, quickly trying my best to wipe it from my mind. As my sense of feeling came back to me, I felt something warm and feathery asleep next no mer. Looking down at my chest, I saw Swiftblade sleeping contently against my body, as if he was trying to warm me, “Why is he sleeping next to me?” I thought to myself, as I slowly moved away from the warm body of Swift and moved away a little.

Making a few steps out of sight from him, I flew up into the sky and grabbed a cloud. Pulling the fluffy cloud way from the barrier , I brought it down to my level and started it to rain a little. Once I was satisfied with the dripping water, I quickly began to run my hoof through the dripping liquid, intent of completing my speed training. It had to have been at least twenty minutes before I heard Swift's hoofsteps behind me, “You know, it is sometimes better for you to tell someone about you nightmares. Fears tend to cloud to the mind.”

I grunted as I failed to move my hoof past the water, “What made you think I was having a-”

“I saw you trembling and whimpering. You looked like you needed a companion to comfort you,” Swift said as he watched me continue my exercises. “Now, talk. Let it out.”

I let out a growl as my hoof once again got wet from the dripping water, “I guess,” a sigh escaped my lips, “I’m still reeling from what I had saw back at the stable last night.”

“You mean the experiment?” Swift asked.

As the rain began to empty out from the cloud, I nodded solemnly, “I just can’t believe that S-somepony from the past of Equestria could do that,” looking over my shoulder at Swift, adding, “How could she!? The stables were meant to protect ponies and she went and began to perform some sick experiments just to fix what was wrong! Why?! Didn’t she know how much blood would be spilt?”

Swift sighed as he walked next to me, handing me some of the mirelurk meat that I had caught from the battle two days ago. As I hungrily began to eat, Swift looked away from me and to the cloud cover, “We all have done something in our lives that we regret. Sins that continually haunt us, be they small or big. Why do you think we are living in this world now, because ponies made mistakes. and we have to pay for it.”

“But,” I said, walking up to be by his side, “We shouldn’t let our lives be guided by our mistakes. Like Nightmare Moon, don't you think she would deserve a chance to show the world that she isn't just a monster because of a mistake she had made.”

“I would not know,” chuckled Swift. “I never met the mare. But, I suppose it would be up to her if she wanted to let the past define her.”

“And you?” I asked him.

“I try not to let myself be held by the chains of my past,” he said, taking flight.

I couldn’t help but smile at that, and closed my eyes for a brief second. In my head I tried to return the memory I had of scootaloo, my friend who helped me so much, “That’s usually a good way to approach life.”

“Come on,” Swift said, getting some distance on me, “We need to get moving, we are still ten days away from Vanhoover.”

“Ten days?! If I could fly we would make it there in two!” I silently cursed my desire to hide my alicorn hood from my friend for a moment.

Within four days of our journey, we had come across a small town. From the first glance a I looked down upon it, I noted it looked like it was made from the old ruin of a strip mall. I had recognized it because it was one that me and the girls had visited when we tried hike across Equestria for our graduation trip. When we neared it, I couldn’t but marvel at how well the ponies were able to use the ruins to their advantage. Some of the shops looked like they had been turned into small apartments, while I noted an old soda shop was turned into a bar. Once we were in the center of the small town, Swift tapped my shoulder, “I’m going to go and restock on supplies, you head into the bar and see if you can some jobs for us.”

I looked at him, questioningly, “Why?”

“Because, our dealing with the traders used up the last of our caps,” Swift said. “And we don’t nearly have enough food and drink to get us through the next five days, even less if we have to head somewhere else.”

I nodded in understanding, before turning around and beginning to walk into the bar. This was when I caught sight of the town’s name, “Hmmmm, Mallow’s Treat, nice name.” I said, stepping into the bar.

When I stepped into the bar, my ears were hit with a slow tune that I instantly recognized. It was one of Sapphire last songs before she retired, a duet with Rara about a light fading away. There was a soft sigh that escaped my lips as I began to relate to my feelings at the moment. My ears flicked as I heard the bar keep say something to me as I sat up to the counter, “Problems?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“Just thinking about an old friend,” I said, my heart still feeling the hurt at Scootaloo’s actions. “It’s nothing really major, just get me a Sparkle Cola.”

“Ah, a light weight are a?” he asked, as I nodded. It was true, I didn’t like to drink. Even if the last time I let myself get that drunk was how me and Babs got started with our relationship.

“Um, yeah,” I said, watching him walk to the back to pull out the bottle. As I waited, my mind began to think about my other friends, what were they hiding from me. What about my mother, what did she do during the war that she kept behind my back. Did all of my aunts do something horrible that led to this hellhole? I tried my best to get rid of this sickening feeling in my stomach. I smiled when the drink came to me, and I began to drink slowly, hoping the cola could help settle my stomach and help keep me focused.

That was when the door slammed opened and six unruly ponies came walking in. The biggest one, an earth stallion with a green mane, smirked when he looked at me sitting there, “Hey, that’s my seat!”

“Is it?” I asked.

“Yeah it is!” the stallion said, his blue coat showing through some of his dirt and grime.

“I thought these seats were for everypony,” I said, drinking slowly.

The stallion growled, “Well you thought wrong! You know who I am? I am an Elder Brother from the Children of Nightmare! We rule this little town, and what we say goes! You got that? If I say that is my seat, then that is my seat!”

“Very well,” I nodded, moving off the seat, not really wanting a fight, even if that would help relieve so much stress.

“Wait,” the stallion said, his blue eyes glaring at my sword, “It that a sword? I can’t believe this, ponies are still whimpy enough to wield swords in this day and age. You suicidal or something? There is no way that little blade of yours is going to match up to my gun. Though, if you want to test it...”

As he trailed off, I shook my head, “I have no desire to show off my abilities, for I have nothing to prove.”

“Heh, knew it. Swordsponies always back away like little wimps in the presence of a gun,” the stallion chuckled.

As I walked away, I watched with a scowl as the other four ponies began to cause trouble, harassing and picking on the patrons. While I had finished my soda, I heard a unicorn mare talk to a young stallion, “Come on babe , how about you dance for me?”

“I’m sorry, but my husband wouldn’t like it. I want to be faithf-”

The yellow mare interrupted, “Dance, or I get to make you scream for me instead.” she giggled, pulling out a dagger.

Shivering, the stallion began to dance for the mare, tears welling up in his eyes. Smirking, the mare then said, “Now, how about you come here and put your -”

Stepping in front of her, I put my blade out in between the two ponies, “I believe that the stallion is uncomfortable. Leave him alone.”

“Oh, the swordspony is giving me orders?” she giggled as I heard the music change, this one being one of Rara’s upbeat numbers. The mare lifted her chin and smirked, “How about you prove to me how tough ya are and punch me right in my chin.”

I looked over my shoulder at the bar keep, “Sorry, I might end up ruining your bar.” Turning back to look at my target, I delivered a hard right into the chin of my opponent, sending her flying into a collection of tables. From behind, I could hear the growls of her friends.

With uncanny timing, I ducked under the knife of one of the attacking ponies. As he tried to recover from his slice, I charged my horn with a lightning bolt spell and shot it out at him, dropping him to the floor spasming from the shock. Turning to my side, I watched with a small hint of confidence as two earth ponies leapt at me with their blades drawn. In a second, I drew Dusk and cut them across the chest in mid-flight. The two earth ponies fell to the ground, screaming pain. Turning to look at the big stallion and his partner, I picked up several of the tables and chairs and threw it at the smaller pony, knocking him out with the debris.

The earth pony growled as he pulled out the large minigun that he held behind his back, “Oh, is that how you like to play? Well, this is a first run minigun that I found in a weapons shop not too far from here. And it’s been dying to turn a pony into raw meat.”

There was a suppressed chuckle that escaped my lips as I looked at the model. It was an early one, the type that they made years ago before moving to the more stable models later on. This one was very unique.. .because these versions had a chip in their barrels that could make them break if hit in the right spot. As I could hear the minigun warm up to unleash its torrent of bullets at me, I moved in for the strike and slashed my sword at the barrel of the minigun, cutting it in half.

The stallion watched in shock as I ruined his barrel, before letting out a scream of pain as I cut across his chest. Stepping to his side, I double bucked him in the ribcage, causing him to stumble into the bar table. Grabbing him in my magic, I lifted him up and threw him out the window, to the cheering of the bar patrons.

As I walk to the window of the bar, I watched with a small bit of glee as the stallion slowly got up, pulling glass out of his leg, “Y-y-you! You won’t get away with this, I’ll bring my brother here and he will kick your ass!”

I shot him a look that begged him to make good on his threat and then watched as he ran away. Turning my head to look back at the bar keep, I blushed, “Sorry about what I did.”

“Eh,” the stallion shrugged, “This wasn’t the worst fight that this bar had seen.”

I chuckled a little at this as the younger stallion that I had saved earlier smiled and waved his thanks to me. couldn’t help but smile, feeling good about helping an innocent pony. Walking back to the bar, I took a quick drink of my Sparkle Cola, “Why do you let those ponies like that walk all over you?”

“Protection,” stated the stallion simply.

“Protection? You are sacrificing dignity and your own self worth just so you can feel safe?” I asked, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“Hey, it ain’t my idea. If you got a problem with it, maybe you should talk to the mayor, it was his idea,” the stallion grumbled.

Frowning, I put my caps onto the table and walked away from the stool. Once I walked out of the bar, a young stallion with a green mane and blue coat came to me, “What just happened, I saw a Middle Child from the Children of Nightmare run out of the town with a huge cut in his chest!”

“ I did it, because he was both-”

“Did you know what you just done?” asked the stallion, “You have just ticked off his older brother and now he is going to come here and make you pay!”

“Look, Mr.-”

“Mayor Broken Heart,” the stallion said, growling.

“He and his goons were bothering and messing with the ponies in the bar, and I taught them a lesson,” I said, not caring for the look he was giving me.

“Of course they were messing up some of the ponies in there, that is what they do,” Broken said, looking to the edge of town, “We let them do what they want to us, take what they want, and in return they protect us. All they ask of us is to let one of our own go with them once in a month, and then our villagers come back unharmed.”

“So, you are willing to put up with being bullied just so you can feel safe?” I asked, turning to look at the angry shadow that was coming from the edge of town. Glaring at the mayor, I told him, “I will be back.”

As I walked towards the large stallion at the edge of town, I noted that for a unicorn, he was massive. It was like a muscle had decided to grow a pony body around itself. I chuckled as the memory of a white pegasus flew through my head, “Ok, which one of you is the a-holes that hurt my little brother?”

“I did,” I said, standing in front of the hulking unicorn.

“How dare you?” he growled, his grey coat shining in the dim light through the barrier, “Do you know who I am? I am an Eldest Child from the Children of Nightmare. That means I pack a lot of glory in this town. We take what we want and do what we want, and return, the ponies here are safe from raiders and monsters. Those who don’t tend to end up very unhappy.”

“Yes, I can see that,” I said, looking over my shoulder at some of the townsponies hiding behind what they could.

“Now,” the stallion said , wiping his hoof, trying to look in my eyes to intimidate me. “Here’s how it’s going to go down. you apologize for what you did to my little brother and his friends. Otherwise, it’s going to end up becoming very unhappy for you. Got it?”

“I got it,” I said, not moving from my spot.

“Good, now apologize! And if you try anything funny, lay a hoof on me, and I will go and get my boss and bring our thirty soldiers with me,” the stallion said, smirking.

“I’m sorry,” I said calmly.

A haughty laugh came from the stallion, “See,there is nopon-”

“You didn’t let me finish,” I said, holding up a hoof. “I am sorry that the wasteland has allowed ponies like you to be born. I am sorry that the horrors of the wasteland has forced ponies to bow to monsters like you in order to be safe. I am sorry that ponies like me have come too late, and I am sorry that heroes seem too few and far inbetween to stand up to monsters like you. And I am sorry that I had to let these ponies spend more than a minute basking in your horrifying presence,” I said, carrying a smirk that told him to hit me, and he tried. he pulled back his hoof

It is the simple things in my life that bring me the most joy. Running through a valley of flowers with my best friends, listening to Sweetie’s latest song, and seeing the look of an opponent as he realizes that the pony he was going to hit was now suddenly gone.

As I jumped about ten feet in the air to dodge the punch of the stallion, I slid my sword out of my sheath and held it above my head, “Up here!” I shouted, bringing the stallion’s attention to me as I floated in the air. The look in his eyes as he saw me was priceless. My smile grow as I slammed the dull side of my sword into his skull, forcing his head down. Once I landed on the ground, I rammed the hilt of my blade into the stallion’s forehead, raising his head up to bear his chest. I then slammed my hooves ten times into his chest in a rapid fire attack. Moving to his side I slashed my blade across his stomach and chest. I then followed with a slash into his legs , making him fall to his knees. With one final move, I jumped above his prone form and slammed my hoof into his back with a satisfying crack and then landed in from of him.

All in all, the entire assault took nine seconds, to the ponies that watched me, I might as well have been a black blur. I turn to look at the trembling little brother who quickly ran to his big brother and began to drag the fallen stallion away, “You’ll pay for killing my brother!”

“I didn’t kill him, but he is going to be wishing he was,” I said as I sheathed my blade.

“I don’t care, you’ll pay for this!” shouted the little brother, “I am going to call the boss and he is going to come back to wreck this town and destroy you. All of you!” and with that, he ran away.

There was a smile on my lips as I walked away, one that quickly faded as I heard only a few ponies clapping for what I had just did. Others just looked at me like I had just ruined their lives. The others walked and began to mutter prayers under their breaths. The most damning pony in this group, was Broken, who stepped forward towards me with a horrified look in his eyes, “Do you know what you just did? You have just doomed us all!”

“At least I did something!” I said, stepping up to the mayor and glaring daggers into his eyes.

“No, you have doomed us all!” Boken argued. “Thanks to what you have done, you have just invited hell upon us all.”

“You were willing to let those bullies walk all over you just to feel safe,” I said, shaking my head.

The stallion growled looking down at the ground, “That’s the way it is in the Wasteland! You have to sacrifice something in order to survive! Be it pride, your soul, or even your own ideals. You have to give up a little of yourself if you want to live,” he then turned away from me, “We aren’t all heroes, we don’t all have powers like you.”

“That doesn’t matter. You don’t need to have a lot of power to stand up for your pride or who you are!” said, grinding my teeth in rage, “Sometimes you just need to be brave and not give into what your fear tells you.”

“Haven’t been in the Wasteland long have you kid?” asked Broken. “You think that all you need is a brave heart and a good mind and it will all turn out ok? Just wait and see, all of your little ideals will go down the toilet when the Wasteland finally breaks you.”

“It won’t break me,” I said calmly.

“Whatever,” he said walking away. “How about you do the smart thing and leave. MAybe if I can talk to the leaders of the Children of the Nightmare to spare us.”

“I’m not leaving,” I said.

“What?” asked the stallion, his look showing shock.

“I said... I’m not leaving. I am going to stand right here and fight that entire army when they come here tomorrow. I will protect this entire town, alone if I have to,” I said, looking around at the various ponies.

“You crazy?” asked Broken. “That’s thirty soldiers that you are facing, plus Shatter Spike, the leader. He’s a pony that is said to wield a mountain of a sword capable of crushing a pony. And you are going to face all of that alone?” aksed Broken. As I calmly nodded, the stallion put his hoof to his forehead and shook it, “You are crazy.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect ponies when they need me,” I said as Broken began to walk away from me.

“You seem to have made some trouble for us,” Swift said from top of a building. With a soft flutter he landed at my side, “Challenging an entire battalion of soldiers, just to protect others. Though, I doubt the townsponies deserve your mercy.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Come,” Swift said, nudging his head over his shoulder. As we walked away, he asked, “How did you jump ten feet in the air during your fight by the way?”

I blushed and chuckled, “Unicorn magic on the hooves.”

After a few short minutes of walking, we came across a mare as she sat at a small mound of dirt. Turning to look a Swift for an explanation as to who she was, I heard him begin, “This mare is mourning her son, who is under that mound of dirt.”

“I see,” I whispered. “There is more to this story, isn't’ there?”

“A year ago...” swift said, watching as the mare cried. “Her son tried to stand up against the Children of Nightmare and he died in the process. That is not the troubling part. What is troubling is that, when he tried to fight them, the rest of the town watched as the soldiers killed him. While they beat, shot, and ripped him apart, the townspeople could only look on. Not one stepped up and helped him. Now, they won’t even remember him with a grave marked.”

“Oh my stars,” I gasped, and then looked at him. “How did you find out?”

“I helped her buy some flowers,” Swift said. Then he looked back at and stared into my eyes, “Do you still think this town is worth saving?”

I looked back towards the town and then back to Swift, “This changes nothing. I don’t care what they did, I am still going to protect those ponies and save them. There are children here who don’t deserve death and whatever they have planned for this town”

“Even when confronted with the truth of their sins, you will not back down,” sighed Swift. “You are impressive.”

“I also want to prove him wrong,” I said, looking back at the town. “The mayor thinks that in order to survive here you have to give up a part of yourself. That your ideals are just something you can throw away when life gets to hard. I can’t stand that way of thinking.”

“Even though it is true,” Swift said calmly. “The Wasteland does that to ponies. Takes your ideals and your world view and destroys it. You either then give up, or die watching your world crumble.”

I began to lead Swift into town as we talk, “I can’t believe that. I refuse to believe that this place is such a hellhole that it sucks out all goodness and will from you. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

As we walked back through the town to find a place to sleep, the mayor came up to me, “So, are you planning on leaving us now? Good, maybe I might be able to talk to the children and have them lessen the damage to our town.”

“I’m not leaving,” I said plainly.

“What? Why? This isn’t your town, this isn’t your fight! You can just leave and never look back,” the stallion said.

I looked away from him, “I never can’t leave a town that needs me. Even one with a group of ponies that are willing to throw away their lives just to be safe.”

“You’re insane, this isn’t your fight,” the stallion said, watching as I walked away.

“The moment I came here, I made it my fight,” I said calmly as I made my way to a small shack that Swift had gotten the two of us.

It is a strange feeling to laying on your stomach underneath the cloud cover, when you cannot see the stars. Back before the war, there was a comforting feeling I would get whenever I slept under the stars on the balcony of my home. Like I could feel a strength coming from them that would beam itself into me. Or like a blanket that would keep me warm and safe. I could still feel the stars and moon from where I laid, but the fact I could not see them was like I was feeling a ghost at my side. A long and sad sigh escaped my lips as my emerald eyes gazed out at the barrier, trying to remember the placement of the stars.

“You should be asleep, there is a big battle tomorrow,” Swift said, flying up to the roof.

I shrugged as I moved to the side, “I tend to feel stronger at night. Sleep doesn’t always come easy to me.”

“Hmmm, a night pony,” Swift sid as he laid next to me. “ You are full of surprises.”

I let out a slight giggle and then looked back up at the sky, “Do you think I’m doing the right thing, staying and fighting?”

“No, I don’t,” Swift said. “For what they have done, they deserve what is coming to them. They deserve to have their town destroyed; however, there is the fact that you are doing this to prove a point. The idea that you want to become a symbol of hope to these ponies and prove their thoughts about the wasteland wong, that to me... is the right thing.

A smile crossed my lips as he said this, “You know, I think we talk way too much about our ideals and why we fight... I don’t think we do that much as friends.

“Oh, is that what we are?”he chuckled as he watched me roll my eyes. “I thought I was just here as your foil.”

“You are more than that,” I said, looking at Swift with half lidded eyes. “You are the stallion who keeps me in check, and helps to remind me that not everything is so black and white. That there are some ponies who think that they have to kill in order to protect others.”

“And you are the naive child, thinking that all she has to do to be a hero is to have a strong heart and a noble cause,” Swift said. Then he smiled for the first time in a while, “And we need ponies like you.”

“...you, do?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Ponies like you are bright lights in this world. Ones that help to show that there can be good if we try. I can be ashamed when those lights fade, so we should cherish them often.”

I blushed at the compliment and tried to change the subject, “So, tell me, favorite book.”

Swift seemed taken aback by this and then took a minute to think about it, “The Dragons Riders of the Sun.”

“No way,” I said shocked. “I didn’t think you would love a foal’s series.”

There was a light chuckle coming from Swift’s throat, “What, I enjoy the nobility of riding dragons to fight for the princess. Ponies giving their all to wage battle against the darkness, no grey area. Just the good and the bad.” Looking back at me, he asked, “What did you think that I spent all of my years reading battle guides?”

“Well, yes,” I said, plainly.

“I’ll have you know, I could be quite a wild child when I was younger,” laughed Swift as he reared his head back. ‘It’s just like how I know you were probably not always a soft innocent mare.”

“”Oh, I could tell you stories. I mean, “ I laughed a little, “Me and Babs used to be wild little mares when we were on missions.”

“Babs? Your friend? Swift asked.

“Marefriend, actually,” I sighed, “We broke up after about three years. Our lives as... wandering missionaries was too much for both of us. We worried over each other too much. Kind of like with Rumble actually.”

“Ah, so you prefer both,” Swift nodded. “You seemed like a mare who would love both sides.” Looking into my eyes, he asked, “Favorite training memory.”

“Oh no,” I said, holding up a hoof defensively, “Too embarrassing. You first.”

“Me? I can assure you, I was always a perfect student,” he bragged. As he notice my look of disbelief, he sighed and said, “One time, I accidentally cut my sensei's top knot.” This caused me to laugh and roll on the roof.

This was how our night carried on. We talked about the most random of things, learning a bit about each other and generally just being friends. It had a feeling I had missed for a long time... a feeling of home.

It was in the middle of the day when I saw the Children of the Nightmare walking towards the town, just east of where they had a small little guard tower to look out for threats. I had already positioned myself near the entrance and had waited the entire time for them, letting myself become immersed in the dead Wasteland, listing to the small foals play in front of the parents who were scared for their lives. With a quick adjustment to my cape and my eyes narrowed at the incoming group of thirty, I walked towards them. Swift was at my side, flying high over head while I opted to walk, the dust lightly coating my hooves.

Once we arrived to where the Children of Nightmare had been walking, they all began to growl at us. Behind them, a large earth pony stallion stood, his green coat contrasting with his fellow soldiers. On his back, I noted something very large and metallic, “Alright, who is the pony that hurt my little brothers?”

“Me,” I said, stepping forward and glaring up at the stallion, his large muscles rippling as he moved to look down at me.

“So,” he growled, “This little bitch was the one who took two of you out? Look, I know we are all knew to the Children’s family, but try and give us some pride!”

“Who are you, Children of Nightmare?” I asked, looking at him, trying to figure out what was the large weapon on his back.

“We, are the ones chosen by the Nightmare to bring the true queens of Equestria back home,” the stallion said. “Our numbers are many, like the blackness of the Nightmare, and we are strong, much like you are. I admire your power, why not join us and use your gifted strength correctly?”

“I am using it correctly,” I said defiantly. “I am using it to protect the ponies that are behind me.”

The stallion began to laugh at this, “You think that's what your power is meant for? To protect these worthless beings?” I said nothing, but nodded. “HA! Then you are a fool! We are gifted strength to lord it over others, especially those like in the village. They quickly sacrificed their souls just to let us protect them, and you are wasting your power on them? Why?”

“Because, it’s too easy,” I said, looking down.

“Easy?” The stallion asked.

“Easy to give up what your beliefs and your ideals just to be safe,” I said. “I could easily just give up right now. Leave this place and let you do what you want to it. But... I won’t let the Wasteland beat me that easily. I refuse to believe that this place is so cruel, so broken that a mare who wants to do good will sacrifice her morals at the drop of the hat.” In my mind, I could see Scootaloo and her experiments, the memory quickly replaced by her younger self and I smiled. “We are stronger than that, and so am I.”

“No, you are weak,” he turned to look at his men, “Kill them, then ravage the town. It’s time they remembered how weak they are.”

I looked over my shoulder at Swift, “If one of them gets by us, they could kill somepony. Don’t let a single one get through.”

“Understood,” Swift nodded and flew straight into the crowd of ponies.

I have to admit, there was a certain beauty and grace to how Swift fought. Swooping down with his wings extended, slashing at the ponies in front of him like a large bird of prey, it was like watching a dancer begin her dance. When it was appropriate, he would use his wings to give him flight and aim his handgun to take out some of his opponents at a distance before switching back to his blades. I noted that sometimes a pony would get a cut on him, but that seemed to drive him further on.

As for me, I was still figuring out what I was like as a fighter. Charging my horn, I sliced the ground in front of the soldiers, causing them to slip on the ground and open to a lighting strike from my horn. Running into the crowd, I slashed at one of their hind legs before spinning around to stab one through the shoulder. One of the soldiers managed to strike me across the back with a pipe, leaving me open to a gunshot into my armor. With a grunt, I stepped back up and slashed both the gunpony and pipe weidler in one strike.

Behind me, I could hear three gunshots being fired and I rolled out of the way. Racing towards them and out of the way of a machete pony, I slashed at one of the gun wielders, taking three shots into my armor and getting my leg scratched in the process. As the other two reloaded, I froze the guns to their mouths. However, while I used my magic, I felt a shotgun blast hitting my side and sending my body to the ground. Getting up, I saw one pony wielding a machete and bringing it down onto my head. With minimal effort, I blocked the blade, and again when he tried to cut my neck. With a quick slash, I struck his chest and stabbed a pony behind me in the side. When three got near me, I leapt into the sky and struck them with a powerful lightning bolts.

While I lowered myself to the ground, I watched in horror a Swift was getting outnumbered. At that point, I wished I was faster, but then I thought about one other spell I could use. One I hadn’t since my... let’s call it my rebel phase. Mainly because I didn’t know if my current powers were up to it or not. Concentrating hard, I felt my power seem to expand for a few minutes, then quickly contract. With a little thump, I had landed on the ground and panted, feeling like I had half of my power with me. Smiling, I watched as my clone got up and proceed to make swift work of the ponies at Swift’s back.

Panting, and feeling the drain on my magic from the clone, I took her back, just in time to dodge the twin blades of two other ponies. The two then attacked again, managing to cut into my forelegs. Before the could strike again, I struck out with my sword and sliced their chests. With a shake of my head, I looked up as the stallion began to walk towards me, shaking the ground, “Think you are going to be able to annihilate Grid’s gang? Let’s see how sure you are when you take on the Mauler!” With that, he reached behind himself and pulled out a giant blade. It didn’t even look like a sword, it was more like somepony took a giant slab of metal and put it on a stick. With a giant swing, he brought the sword down upon me.

In a flash, I brought up Dusk and blocked the strike. The impact of the attack was so strong that it pushed me into the ground, cause a small crater and creating little divots under my feet. Grid smiled at me as he pulled the blade away and slashed crossways at me. Faster than he could blink, I leapt onto the flat of the blade and rode it it through it’s arc. When he turned to look for me and saw me standing on the flat of his sword, I raised my hind leg and kicked him hard into the face.

When I landed back onto the ground, I looked up in time to watch the blade coming for my head. With a quick movement, I blocked the sword, and again with another strike. Time and again our blades clashed against one another, sparks flying from the collision of metal against metal. With one attack, we began to grapple our blades against one another, the sparks flying as we pushed against each other, “I’m impressed,” Grid smirked, “You are the first pony ever to last more than five minutes with the Mauler.”

“I’m just full of surprises,” I grinned, pushing away his blade and slashing his chest.

Grid let out a yell of pain before swiping and slashing at me. I was impressed by the rate of speed that the stallion was able to swing that sword. I figured it’s due to his muscle mass and probably some drugs. I also decided at that moment to forgo figuring out his strength and opted instead to keep the fight going as our blades clashed again and again. As only point, he slashed just to the side of me, kicking up a loud of dust that blinded me for a second. In that brief moment, the stallion punched me hard, sending me back a few feet. As I recovered from the punch, I barely had time to dodge the next slash as it cut into my armor. I screamed as the blade managed to cut into my flesh, leaving a trail of blood from my wound. Growling, I went in for a double strike, only to get it blocked by Grid.

It was during my attack, I noticed a chip in his sword. With a smirk, I let my horn glow a faint red, heating up the spot in the sword by increments and weakening the sword. When he lifted his blade up again for another strike, I made my move and slashed at the weak point in the blade. My sword cutting in deeply into the weak point, I broke the giant blade in half. As Grid looked on in shock, I slashed his chest three more times before cutting into his forelegs. Taking a leap into the sky, I moved above his back and slammed my hoof into his spine, forcing him to the ground. Before he could recover, I moved to his front and punched him repeatedly with my hooves, some of my hits giving out a satisfying bone breaking crack.

Laying on the ground in front of me, he began to beg, “Well...go on, finish me!”

“No,” I said, sheathing my sword, “I took a vow a long time ago to never kill. I made that vow as a way to prove to myself and others that you don’t need to sacrifice yourself or your beliefs in order to survive here. I took the vow in defiance of the Wasteland because I still believe in an Equestria where ponies don’t need to kill in order to mete out justice. I am not going to will you, but what you are going to do is use your talents to help protect this town without hurting other ponies. You are going to be guardians of them for free and help them in whatever way you can. And if I find out that you are hurting them and bullying them... I will be back. And trust me,” I said, my eyes glowing a faint green behind my slitted irises, “I will know.”

After a day of rest, me and Swift found ourselves on the road again. We had refilled our bags with food and some caps for money, plus a couple of canteens of water. I had a small smile on my face as I walked, “That’s what I needed, a chance to save lives and help ponies.”

“And what did it do for you?” Asked Swift.

“It helped me deal with Scootaloo,” I said, sighing. “I now see that, in spite of her sins, she was still trying her best to save ponies. She may have been misguided, but she still tried. I am still afraid of what other secrets lie in wait for me about the other ministry mares, but... I think I can handle it a little betert now.”

Swift smiled as his pipbuck’s radio came on “Good Morning Wastelanders! DJPON-3 with the news here! It seems a small little town just outside of Detrot was saved by a mysterious pony that many are calling the Shadow. A mare who took on an entire army by herself, and get this...s he didn’t take a single life. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this little mare. No, it seems this shadow has been kicking flank from Ponyville to here and along her journey. All without killing. I don’t know how you can keep doing this Shadow, but if you can keep this up even in front of the worst of the Wasteland, I salute you! And now for some music.”

“The Shadow?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“It’s your title, many Wasteland heroes gets one. It shows your fame and strikes fear into your enemies,” Swift said.

“I would rather be known for my heroics, rather than feared by others,” I said, smiling a little.

Swift arched his shoulders, “At least, they are starting to know you, my naive Shadow.”

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Light on Your Toes: Your speed training has made your reflexes better than ever! Attacks have a 20% chance to miss you.

Author's Note

This chapter, has a reference to High Plains Drifter, one of my all time favorite Westerns. When I cam up with this chapter, I decided I wanted to write something that would show Nyx dealing with the fact that, in spite of her desire to stay true to her ideals, some of her family and closest friends might have failed in that regard. I alos wanted to show a little bit of her own determination and ability to hang tough.

Villian

+ if you want somepony to do something, shouldn’t you tell them?

As weird as it may seem, even though Swift and Guiding had both waned me of the Enclave, I had always found sleeping on the cloud to be of a comforting way to sleep. Maybe its because its the only way I could see the stars anymore, or maybe it’s the pegasus in me, but the clouds have been some of the best ways I found to sleep.

I had chosen to sleep on the clouds the night before because I wanted to watch the stars for a bit. Stargazing had been something that me and Mom loved doing together, and it was one of the ways I had learned to bond with Princess Luna over the years. Over the years, I had found myself falling in love with the stories of the constellations, even if some of them had made me a little sad. Mainly because I had felt bad for some of them, and some of the stories had even seemed harsh.

As the sun began to drift from its morning position, I twitched my ear in the direction of the sound of somepony practicing his swords skills. Rolling over onto my bell, I parted the clouds a little to look down at Swift as he used his wing blades. A smile crept across my face as I watched his movements. I had to admit, though he was on an opposite side of me in terms of philosophy, he did make this journey of mine just a little more bearable. I let loose a little sigh as I stood up on my legs and flew down to the ground behind him. Slowly I crept up, hoping to shock him a little bit, “Hello Nyx.”

“I took a step back a little in shock as he said that, “H-how did you guess.”

“Your landing from somewhere high up, plus the fluttering of your cape,” Swift sid, looking to me, “Practicing more of your levitation spells I see?”

“Um, yeah, I mean you know, those things are pretty complicated,” I giggled, putting my hoof behind my head and trying to feign stupidity.

Swift narrowed his eyes to me and gave a flap of his wings, “No, I wouldn’t know.”

“Right,” I sighed, a little blush coming across my muzzle. With a smile, I looked at the dripping water from a tree branch, “Oh and look at this.” I walked away from the rocky outcropping that we used for a shelter last night and to a wet tree. Thrusting my hoof under the dripping water, I pulled back a dry hoof.

“You perfected your speed training, good,” smiled Swift as he walked back to our bags. “This means that I can prepare the second portion of your training.”

My curiosity piqued , I walked over to watch him pull out a small bungee cord and a hook, “Couldn’t scavenge a pulley.”

“A pulley, why would you need aa, “I let out a gasp as I felt him connect the cord to my horn, and then the other end to Dusk, “ What is this?”

“Since unicorns have magic, their draw speed is significantly different from an earth pony’s or a pegasus. A little slower as a matter of fact,” Swift said, walking in front of me.

“I stammered at this, “S-slower? But, my magic-”

“Allows for you to use objects without wing or mouth or hoof. Have you ever considered what it takes to hold an object in your magic? You maybe one of the most powerful unicorns I had ever seen,” I blushed at that statement, not wanting to talk about how powerful Mom was, “But you still need to compensate for an object's weight and mass to lift.”

“So, what does this pulley do?” I asked, struggling a little as I tried to slash down with my blade, only to find the pulley pulling me back.

“It holds your swings back, making your sword harder to slash. You are to perform the slashes I tell you to do with that pulley attached,” Swift said, sitting on a rock and looking at me.

“And then what?” I asked feeling the sweat roll down my head.

“The more we do it, the easier you’ll find that it is to pull your sword out, to swing with it. That speed training that I put you through will then have a purpose as your sword will then begin to feel as easy to swing as your hoof,” Swift said, taking a bite out of some of the canned apples we had bought from the previous town. His smug look made it seem that he was going to enjoy seeing me do this.

Looking ahead, I narrowed my eyes and said, “All right, begin!”

“Horizontal slash,” Swift said. With a flick of my magic, I tried to move my sword, but in spite of my efforts, I strained and barely could move it. When I heard his command again, I strained to pull against the opposing force, but it was becoming harder and harder with each command.

“Not so easy, is it?” Swift asked, taking another bite of his apple and chuckling.

Shooting him a nasty glare, I tried again, only to cause me to spin in a circle and land on my flank. Shaking my head in frustration, I got up and began to try to complete the exercise. Turning my head, I saw Swift make a daffodil sandwich, “This is something you would really enjoy isn’t it? Breakfast? The stallion at the shop said that this was scavenged from a food mart, preserved with who knows how many chemicals, but it is good and quite rare.”

My mouth watered, “P-Please, let me have it.”

Swift flew into the air, “One complete swing, and I will let you have it.”

My lips formed into a snarl and could feel my wings twitch in anger beneath my cloak. I would’ve loved for nothing more than to take flight and take that delicious piece of grub, but I knew I had a secret to maintain. With a frown, I strained and grunted, trying to resist the pull of the pulley that was holding back my swing and holding back my magic.

Panting, I could feel the sweat roll down my face as the sword hung there in the air, the pulley reminding me who was in control. I was about to beg for mercy and quit, when a memory came to me.

“Quitting?” asked Shining Armor, looking down at me as I sat on my haunches, “A Sparkle doesn't quit.”

“I’m adopted, I don’t count!” I snarked as I struggled to get back up. “You are asking the impossible of me, Uncle Shining! You want me to break through the unbreakable shield of my uncle!”

“Nothing is is impossible, Nyx,” Shining said. “And besides, I am only doing this so you can really tap into your powerful magic. You keep holding yourself back when you don’t need to.”

“I don’t want to hurt other ponies,” I said, looking away.

“That is the point of this exercise. If you can focus your powerful spells, then you can refine it to a point that you can use it to break down the strongest of barriers,” Shinning said, “Now try again. Remember, just focus.”

“Focus,” I whispered to myself as I closed my eyes, and with a loud yell, I swung down the sword and my first slash.

Swift sarcastically clapped his hooves and threw me the sandwich, “Congratulations, you made one slash. Soon, you’ll able to perform two without concentrating.”

I only looked at him with a sarcastic look as I took the sandwich in my magic and ate it.

Our trek across the Wasteland continued on for a few more days, with the air being mostly calm and slightly breezy. I had to admit, though he is a very stoic pony and can be aggravating, Swift made this trip a little brighter. IT made it strangely feel like a trip back in old Equestria. Looking up at him as he flew overhead to scout ahead of us, I felt a pang of jealousy. I could feel my wings twitch at the urge to join him in the air, but resisted the drive to take off.

I’ll admit, there is a love/hate relationship between me and the two feathered appendages. While they are nice to let me fly at high speeds and are a big help in making me faster than most, they still are responsible for making ponies scream in terror when they see me. After all, in this little wasteland that I’m in, I am viewed as a monster. Even more so than back home. A little wistful sigh escaped my lips as I looked to an outcropping that jutted out from a hill.

Deciding to let Swift scout for a few more minutes, I sat down on the rock and pulled out Mom’s journal to read some more of it. I hadn’t had much of a chance to read the book since I had left Manehatten, and I kind of wanted to pass the time by seeing what adventures Mom had written about her and the others.

I let out a chuckle when I read Rarity's section, and even smiled when I skimmed a little over Fluttershy’s parts. A smile crept across my face while I read the book, admiring my Mom’s writing style. When she wrote, she had this way of writing that made it feel less of an teacher telling you something and more like a fellow student talking about her friends.

Flipping through the book, I smiled when I got to the end, lookin at her photo of her and the others. It was the photo they took when they had all become Ministry mares... the last time I could remember them being happy. Slowly I traced my hoof along mom’s picture, wishing I could bring that smile back to the ponies of this place.

For a brief moment, I wondered if my story would become interesting enough for a good story. I know about the book written by those two ponies back when I was a teenager. But, it’s impossible to see any written about my teenage years. Wonder if anypony would be interested in my journeys or my adventures through the wastes.

I was taken out of my thoughts to the sound of flapping wings. Looking up, I saw Swift coming in for a landing in front of me, “Nyx, you need to come and see this.”

Nodding, I put away my book and began to follow swift over the hill and down a few miles where I could see a burned out and wrecked farmhouse. At first, I believed it to be more ruins, but then I noticed that the fire was still going and was very fresh, “Stars, no,” I whispered as I ran to the house, only to be shocked at what I saw.

The farmhouse was charred and in front of it was a couple of ponies, burned beyond recognition. Their bodies were burned in such a way that they were posed as if they were about to touch one another, “Raiders?”

Swift shook his head as he took in the scene, “No, the decorations aren’t nearly as gruesome. And besides, I looked inside of this place, there was some remnants of drugs that were left behind. No raider would leave a stash like that behind.”

“Then, who could it be?” I asked as I looked at the two bodies, and then I saw tracks leading away, along with what looked like a foals tracks, “They kidnapped their child.”

‘Hmmm?” Swift asked.

My years of guard training and analysis began to kick in as I walked to the set of tracks, “Look, three sets of tracks, plus a little foals tracks. Look at the way it was jostled and uneven, they were trying to drag the kid away.”

“So, a couple of monsters came in, destroyed a farm, and kidnapped a young foal,” Swift said, looking back at me. “Any normal pony would say that this wasn’t our problem.”

“But, I am not exactly normal,” I said, walking away. “We are saving that foal and making those monsters pay for what they did here.”

It may have been a detour off of our beaten path, but traveling the path of the kidnappers did all me to appreciate some of the beauty of wastes. While much of it was still desolate in comparison to the world I had come from, there was still something... unique about it all. Maybe it was the silence covering the land or just the way that the ground seemed to settled in after all that had happened to it. It was s kind of peaceful in its own way.

While I traveled on foot, keeping an eye on the tracks set by the kidnappers, Swift kept to the air. Occasionally, I would peek up to the sky to make sure that he was on the same path I was. The ponies who took the foal knew what they were doing. They kept to an unbeaten path and would double back from time to time. I almost admired them for what tricks they pulled. Shame for them I was tracking them.

When night fell, I told Swift that we had to rest, “Are you sure?” he asked.

I nodded, “The kidnappers need rest too. When we have to fight them in order to save the kid, we need to be fully rested.”

“Impressive,” Swift said with a smile as he laid next to the fur I had made. “I almost expected you to hunt down the criminals until you collapsed from exhaustion.”

“I can be hard headed. Not stupid,” I joked as I pulled some of the mirelurk stakes that Swift had prepared before and some preserved apple dices for myself

As I took a bite of one of the cakes, I look up at the cloud cover, “Why would they kidnap A foal anyway?”

“Slaves, or an alicorn thought the child would work well for Unity,” Swift said.

“Would an alicorn be so heartless?” I asked.

“Alicorns are monsters, Nyx,” Swift said, making me wince and push my cape over my wings a little more. “I have seen some obliterate whole swath of ponies, and only let a few live just to make sure they have souls for Unity. There were a few times when I had lost somepony I tried to protect against those monsters.”

I shuddered a little, “I... see,” looking at my wings resting under the cape, I let out a sigh. Looking at Swift and his outfit, I wanted to find something to talk about instead of alicorns. Noticing a small necklace that he had, I smiled, “Nice necklace.”

Swift smiled softly as he looked at me, “Thanks, it belonged to the Sky-Cutters, the group of samurai I was with.”

“That’s right, you came from a Neighpon stable,” I said. Looking at the pendant, ten-blades surrounding metal feather. “What was that like?”

“”Tough, we were trained since we could walk in the ways of a samurai, how to use swords and how to kill,” he said, before looking back at his wigs, “I was a pegasus born to a pair of earth ponies. So, you can imagine I didn’t have anypony to really teach me how to wield wing blades.”

“Then how did you learn?” i asked, looking at his wingblades as they laid at his side. These things always amazed me when I saw them. They were made so they acted like a second set of wings., and when the pegasus stretched out their wings for a glide, the blades would stick out, kind of like a cat and its claws.

Swift smiled, “I had an unicorn sensei who read up on the style and use of them. The Stable kept a lot of books on swordplay and wing blades. It's how anypony still knew how to use them.”

“I would love to read those books,” I said, smiling. “Why didn’t you stay?”

“In Neighpon? “ he asked, and then smiled softly, “Me and my company decided we needed to travel in order to help ponies. We traveled for a bit, helping who we can and then we,” there was a pause in his dialogue, and a small shudder in his breath as if he was hiding something. Then he continued, “We broke up. I went on to do odd jobs for ponies until I met you.”

“Regret it?” I chuckled, to which swift shook his head.

“No, you make this journey a little more interesting,” Swift chuckled as he laid down and began to fall asleep.

I smiled as I watched my friend sleep. Annoying as he can be with his ‘Swift Death to Evil’ ideology, there were times when he could look peaceful or even become relatable. I really began to enjoy having someone to bounce off of and he is pretty nice when he wants to be. Smiling a little , I snuggled up close to him so we can sleep together.

...

...

I don’t have a crush!!!

The next morning, I woke up to the sounds of Swift talking with a pony. Stretching my limbs by pushing my forelegs out and raising my flank, I made my way over to the talking pair of ponies, “Ah, Nyx, good of you to join us.”

“Ah, so the sleeping beauty wakes up,” the stallion said, pushing up his ap with a hoof as he looked to me with a smile. “I was wondering if you just like sleeping long hours or you just get calmed by the sound of two ponies talking.”

“I sometimes like to sleep in,” I said, getting to a position to sit in between the two stallions. I turned to look at the sea-green stallion to my left, “And you are.”

“Cliff Notes, book collector and seller by trade. I had seen your friend asleep and wanted to ask him about his wing-blades.”

“Enclave aren’t exactly known for carrying these, so you can imagine that they are a lost art,” Swift said, looking at his weapons as they laid by his side, some cleaning rags by them.

“I have an old book on their upkeep and creation,” the stallion said, his manehatten accent thick, “And I wanted to know how accurate it was.”

I smile and nodded, “Do you have any other intact books? We have a few extra caps.”

“Sure,” Cliff said, reaching into his satchel, pulling out various books, “I got some Past Sins, Ponies Make War, Fall of Starfleet, and Book of Nightmare.”

“Wait, Book of Nightmare?” I asked, picking up said book in my magic.

“Yeah, it’s one of things published by the Children of Nightmare,” Cliff said. “Don’t know why they keep making that malarky.”

“They sold you a book,” I said incredulously. “Just who are these guys, some sort of cult?”

“Something like that,” Cliff said, putting away some of his wares. “I had the fortune of attending one of their club meetings. They say they’re a group of ponies who are determined to bring about the real rulers of the new Equestria, the Nightmares.”

I raised an eyebrow at this statement, “The Nightmares?”

“Yeah, kind of like Nightmare Moon,” Cliff said. They say that since all of Equestria has turned away from Harmony, that it mean that Equestria must want to turn and obey Disharmony.”

“How do they plan on doing this?” I asked.

“Don’t know. But they say this was their mission ever since they came into being thanks to their leader helping them see the light,” Cliff said.

“I see, and do you have any idea where they are?” Swift asked.

“No clue,” Cliff chuckled. Then he smiled, “But, I did find a pony who said they saw the real Sol in flight.”

“Oh brother,” Swift said, rolling his eyes.

“What, don’t ya believe?” Cliff asked.

With a frown Swift shook his head, “Beings like that aren’t exactly common. Especially if they are as powerful as this Sol. Why can’t anypony define her? Why can’t anypony lay claim to her tru-”

Cliff interrupted, “The pony who saw her, say that Sol is an alicorn. And not those goddess born ones either, but an honest to Celestia pure blood alicorn.”

“Really? “ Swift said in disbelief. “If that’s true then... Nyx is an alicorn.”

My eyes shot up at this and I quickly tried to make myself scarce, “Uh, yeah, that would be odd. Everypony knows those alicorns are demons and only belong to Unity, there is no way that this Sol is a pure blood alicorn.”

“Hey, I don’t confirm stories, I just tells them,” Cliff said getting up. “I got to get to that settlement that is a few miles away from here. Heard’s they in the business for some books, be seeing ya,” Cliff said walking away.

“Bye,” I said, turning away and beginning to walk along the trail, “Nice stallion.”

“Albeit a little foolish. Another believer in Sol, and now this story is about her being an alicorn!” Swift shook his head in disbelief.

“Why is that so hard to believe?” I asked

Swift shook his head, “Because why would a pony that is powerful as an alicorn hide herself and her power. Why not become like a Red Eye or some other would be world threat lie 42? Why disguise her power behind legend and myth?”

I didn’t have an answer, but the idea that there was another alicorn like me was a little nerve wracking. Saying nothing, I began to follow the tracks leading away from our campsite

It didn’t take long for us to find the end the tracks, leading into a large chapel. I turned to look to Swift, who nodded at me and he flew through a broken window. With a few silent steps, I opened the door. With a loud creak, the door open to reveal... nothing,” Can’t say I am surprised “ Swift said.

I nodded,” They might been here for only a short,” I paused and looked at a trap door. With a short sigh, I opened it. Walking down the stairs with Swift right behind me, I began to hear voices from a large chamber.

“Children of the Nightmare, today is a grand day. For today begins our first step onto bringing Equestria back onto the path of darkness. Long ago, Equestria had.abandoned the path harmony and light, instead choosing the path of death and darkness. Such, we have used our magic to bring forth the herald that will lead us into a new age,” I hid myself and Swift behind a pillar to watch as the stallion talking walked to a pair of giant doors, “Behold, the sweetest lie, Nightmare Whisper!”

I let out a gasp as I watched the hulking behemoth walk out from behind th gates. From behind me, i could hear Swift ask in a horrified whisper, “Nyx, what is that thing?”

“That,” I said, with a growl, “is a nightmare.” I could feel my blood begin to boil as I looked at the creature before me. I was obvious that they took the filly from that farm and made this... abomination. It easily stood taller than most ponies, closer to an ursa minor. Big grotesque butterfly wings sprouted from her light green bac, surpassed in horror by the bloody horn that stuck out from her forehead and her lifeless eyes.

IT was then I noticed the east began to lash out, reaching out with its paw and slamming it down on the leader, crushing him. When it used its paw, that was when I caught a glimpse of its exposed ribcage. Before I could fully take in the horror of the monster, the ponies around the circle began to scream in horror when chains escaped from its ribs to hit some of the ponies. Turning my head to Swift, I gave a silent nod and we both flew into action.

As he flew, I ran as fast as I could, slashing at the chains that were holding the ponies down. Each time I slashed at the chains, each pony would look at me with a sense of relief and tears of happiness. Nodding my head to a door, the ponies followed my lead and ran to the saf zone, where Swift was leading the others as well. Initing my horn with a pure white glow, I froze the door. With the ponies safe and only me and Swift left to fight the monster, I heard my pegasus companion asked, “So, what is a nightmare?”

“Think of like this, when a pony becomes an alicorn, they embrace their cutie mark to its fullest. They embrace what makes them special completly, but a nightmare is the opposite,” I said, feeling a certain tingle in the back of my mind. “It;s when a pony denies their most inner virtue, what makes them special, like kindness or loyalty. It’s what happened to Luna when she became Nightmare Moon, She became envious, and hateful, turning into a pony who wanted nothing more than to plunge the world into eternal darkness.”

“Have any idea what they did to this filly?” Swift asked.

I shook my head, “I don’t know, but when we are done here, I am going to beat the answers out of them. But right now I-AHHH!” I screamed as one of the chains pierced my side and through my wings and for a few moments my world went white.

When the light returned to the world, I saw the ponies of my past running through green fields. It was as if the war had never happened. Growling, I shook my head, “Think you can trap me here, nightmare? Heh, you are just a child if this is the best you could come up with.” Taking a few deep breaths, I spread my wings and began to break the dream world. “I had plenty of practice in the dream world when I was 12 and then when I was 15 I had mastered it. There is only one nightmare that would scare me into staying here, but I think you have no idea what it is.” Closing my eyes I flew out of the dream world.

With a gasp, I opened my eyes and stood back up, using my magic to pull out the chain in my side. For a few minutes, I stumbled a little, trying to regain my balance. In Spite of my earlier boasting, Using a spell like that to break the dream was still draining on my mana. Not to mention the hole in my side and wing. The blood began to trickle down my side and onto the floor, making a small pool. Looking up, I watch as Swift dodged and try to score a hit on the beast. Sending out my blade, I cut the chains. Then I turned around and used an ice spear to stab the creature through the legs, before readying a lighting spell in my horn. This was noticed by the beast as it swiped a paw at me, slamming me into the wall and hitting my stomach with a powerful spell.

Dropping from the wall, I let out a moan of pain and a small cough, only to get hit again before I could recover. Slashing through my armor and into my back, leaving deep gashes. Looking up, I watched as the monster prepared another blow and I prepared for impact. A few shots rang out and hit the side of the monster. Looking over, I winked at Swift as I quickly used Dusk to cut the face and stomach of the monster. Then I grabbed Swift with magic and hid behind cover, “Nyx, I don’t think you are going to keep you vow with this one.”

‘But that thig used to be a foal! We can’t kill it, there has to be a way-”

Swift interrupted me, his eyes narrowing, “Nyx, the foal is gone. There is only a monster left. There’s no way you can stop it or cure it!”

“But but-” I paused. There had to be a way I could stop it from going any further. Watching as the beast continued to lumber around the room in search of ponies, my mind began to race for some plan or a way that this could could end without a death.

Looking back up at the door, I created a clone. Looking at my duplicate, I nodded towards the door and watched as she flew up to the door. After a few minutes of waiting, my shadow clone returned to me and whispered in my ear.

Dismissing my clone, I wavered a little feeling the strain taking it toll on me, “Are you alright?” Swift asked me, the worry evident in his voice.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. Just using a lot of mana and it's taxing,” I shuddered and looked at the door above us. “I have an idea. I just need you to blind it.”

“Blind it?” Swift had a smile that said He had been given a ticket to wage war. Flying upward, he nimbly bobbed and weaved the chains from Whisper, until he made his way up to her eyes and slashed them. As the monster roared in pain, I shouted to it.

“Hey, Whisper! The one who blinded you is up here!!” With a smirk, I began to run up the stair and out of the chapel.

Running out of the chapel, I stood in the center of town and waited. With a glare, I narrowed my eyes at the beast as it burst out of the chapel with a roar. With a quick sidestep, I moved out of the way of one of its chains as it tried to strike me.

Looking up at the ears of the beast, I couldn’t help but smile at it inherit weakness. See, the problem with being so big is that some of it senses were intensified. With a flick of my magic, I sent both sword and sheath at her ears and slammed the guard against the sheath at such a speed that it caused a high pitched sound to ring out. As the sound hit the monsters ears, it caused it to scream in pain and fall to the ground in pain.

Using all the strength I had, I jumped up into the air and slammed my swords dull edge into the skull of whisper as hard as I could, knocking it out. Breathing hard, I then dragged the unconsciousness nightmare to the Stable that my clone pointed out

It only took me a few minutes to reach the stable, and I read the number to myself, “Stable 77?” I asked to myself, opening the door with my password and throwing the best inside. Then, using my magic, I froze the door solid. I figured this should keep it safe until I could figure out how to cure her.

As I walked back to the town, my sides still bleeding from the battle, I let out a small sigh as I watch Swift lead the Children of Nightmare out of the church before fainting.

For a few hours, I felt myself drift in and out of consciousness.During that time, I could hear shouting, growls from Swift, and what sounded like ponies whimpering in fear. When I woke up again fully, I found myself in a bed, “Welcome back,” Swift said with a smile.

“Swift,” I panted, sitting up in my bed. “H-how long was I out?”

“Long enough for me to change a dressing on your bandage. I must say, I am impressed with how you were able to survive as long as you did with your wound, but considering what you are,” Swift said, looking at my side.

Taking a look down at what he mean, I then noticed my cape was gone a nn my wings were laid bare, “Oh my gosh, Swift, I am so-”

Swift raised a blue hoof to stop my apology, “It’s fine, realy. I had long suspected there was something up. Your excuses that your unique skills, your super strength and ability to jump high coming from a unicorn spell could only carry you for so long.”

“Swift, I am so sorry, but I had to. I couldn't tell you that I was an alicorn” I said, a feeling of dread coursing through me.

“If this were a few weeks ago, I would be madder. I would think that an evil monster would try and deceive me, waiting for a chance to strike my back,” Swift said, before putting a hoof onto mine, “But, I have traveled with you for a few weeks, and I know that wouldn’t be true. It isn’t in your character to deceive like you did without a good reason, and you have one. It’s probably not easy to walk around the wasteland, being what you are, and not expecting everypony wanting to you dead.”

“Yeah, that’s why I had to hide myself,” I said, still remembering the look of fear in that mare’s eyes.

“This also allowed me to see the real you. The hero that is willing to help others and to fight for what she believes in, naive and foolish as it may be. If I had met you before, I would've killed you,” Swift chuckled, “But, now I see you as something important to the Wasteland... a hero.”

“Just a foalish one, right,” I giggled, making Swift nod his head.

“More importantly,” he then rubbed the side of my cheek, “a friend.”

I sighed a little and ran my face against his hoof, “Thanks. So,” I said, looking out the door of the abandoned building he had us resting, “What happened while I was out?”

“I freed the Children of Nightmare and then had a long talk with their second-in-command. After some interrogation, I found out where their main base is, not far from here actually,” Swift said, impressed.

“Really?” I asked.

Nodding, Swift remarked, “It appears they really wanted to impress their boss. Once you are well we can-”

I interrupted him by rolling out o f the bed and putting on my cape, “I want to end these guys now. Then I can get back to find what happened to Rarity.”

Swift could only nod and walked t the door, “Let me lead you there.”

Nodding, I followed him out the door.

It took us only a few hours to reach the chapel that laid outside of the town, still remarkably intact all things considering. We trotted up to the chapel and stepped in, only to be pushed back by the heat from within,” What?”

“The heat,” groaned Swift as he pushed back the door.

Using my magic to put a cold shield around us, we walking in, seeing the church ablaze, “Who put this pla-”

Any questions I had were interrupted by the begging and screaming of a pony with in, “S-sol, why? We did what you wanted, we gave you what you-”

The pony in flames growled, her feminine voice tinged with a fiery growl, “Things have changed. I no longer have need of the Nightmares to bring forth my reality.” she said incinerating the pony on the spot. Then, looking at the two of us, she blasted us back with a wave of heat energy. Stepping out, she began to tone down her flame to allow us to see her, “Ah, so my counterpart has arrived. A pleasure.”

It was then when I found out why no pony could say if she was an unicorn, pegasus, o r earth pony. My eyes widened in terror as I watched her retract her wings, and her horn began to extinguish the flames around her, “You’re an alicorn!”

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Nightmare Slayer: Your ability to discern dream from reality has improved thanks to your lineage. You are 20% more resistant to dream spells.

Author's Note

Thanks to Zolt for the edits.

And now, the villian of the piece. What I am going for here is that if Nyx is Kenshin, then Sol is Shisio.

Challenge

There is no mercy within me, ponykind, but there is reason.

I could feel my jaw slacken and my eyes widen in utter shock at the sight. It wasn’t the fact that I was looking at a living legend in front of me, that wasn’t what shocked me. What got to me was that this was an alicorn like me, not one of those false ones I had a run in with. Shaking my head, I began to form the question on my mind, “You're Sol?”

“Yes, I understand that you must both be surprised at my appearance,” Sol said calmly, her voice coming out as a refined lady. She even gave a bow, “And you must be the shadow, my opposite. The Princess Nyx.”

“I prefer to be a knight,” I said, staring down the alicorn, trying to see for her method of attack.

She gave a small snort of disbelief, “Ah yes, your little nobility streak, how worthless. You have the power of a god and you squander it here by helping ponies.”

“What’s wrong with that” I asked.

“Simple,” Sol said, looking back at the burning church and then down at the pony at her feet, “These ponies do not deserve such mercy from you. They deserve to burn in hellfire and be bent over to serve as stepping stones for the gods like us.”

“Not true,” I rebutted, walked into her side, “These ponies just need to be-”

“Burned and slaughtered,” Sol said with a scary bit of calmness in her voice.”Look at this place: Raiders, slavers, warlords, rapists, and other sinners that need to be torn apart by the strong in this world.”

“No, they don’t! I won’t lie, that there are monsters here, but they are still living creatures. Yes, they can do wrong, but all they need a light to show them that there is something better,” I argued.

Sol chuckled at this, “You really believe that? With all that you have seen, you believe that?! Look around, Equestria was never meant to be this paradise of harmony and love. The ponies had a chance for that, and what did they do? They washed it all away in a baptism of hell fire and devastation. That is what I am here for, to lead ponies away from your lies.”

“I’m not telling ponies-”

“The truth is, Equestria is meant to be in a state of chaos, where the weak lay there crying out for mercy and the strong force their will on others. We are not meant to be in cities and groups, but in fear and alone,” Sol walked a few steps ahead, “And yet, I see them trying to rebuild what they have destroyed and it makes me sick.”

It was this point, I noticed her sword at her side, “You’re a swordsman?”

“Yes, my sword Hell Dawn,” Sol said, looking at her sword. “It’s what I like to use to bring my message to the ponies.”

“And the Children of Nightmare?” I asked.

“A means to an end, a worthless one. I have found some better ways to spread my message, ones that don’t involve these weaklings.” Sol said walking away from the two of us. With a smirk, she looked over her shoulder at us, “If you wish to see why your little ideals can be so easily broken and why ponies deserve to submit to our will, come to Vanhoover. I will be waiting.” And with that, she vanished.

As I growled and made an attempt to chase her, I heard Swift from behind me breath out, “So, Sol... she exists?”

I stopped and looked at him“Scared?” I asked with a chuckle.

Swift shook his head, “Excited, actually. All of this time, I didn’t think that there was a being like Sol in this world. That all of the good monsters had been slain by now. And here we are, a powerful foe, just waiting for us.” walking a few feet ahead of me, he asked, “Shall we go?”

“Well, she did invite us,” I smiled, before looking at the burning church. “And I want to make her pay for what she had done here.”

It took us a day to help put out the fire and bury the bodies, not wanting the fire to hurt any innocent ponies that might be left. With our job done, we began to travel towards Vanhoover, the journey taking about two days. We decided not to fly, mainly because we wanted to rest our wings for a moment and I still wanted to keep my alicornhood a secret. With a light trot, our journey took us across dusty plains and through some low running hills.

There was something unusual about our journey now. I could almost see the faint trace of a smile on Swift’s face as he walked ahead of me. The idea of fighting a godling like myself must have been exciting. Me? I was too busy thinking of where did Sol come from, and who made her. Was she born, like Flurry Heart, or was she created by magic and blood like myself. And if she was born, then who was her mother and father?

Occasionally, in between my thoughts, I would look up to watch as Swift moved, noting his flank. Quickly, I tried to ignore it and focus on my journey. Not that he made it easy to ignore.

After a few hours of traveling, we came across a river that was moving too fast for us to tread, “Fly?” asked Swift as he looked to me.

“Why?” I asked, pointing to a nearby bridge. “Here is a really nice bridge right here. We just need to-”

As I crossed it, I was blocked by a bo staff, :”Now, you guys weren’t really thinking of cross my bridge, were ya?” said a mare dressed in a bunch of random junk, her spiky mane standing in a mohawk.

“Raider,” growled Swift as he looked at the mare.

The yellow unicorn smirked as she spun her staff in a circle, “Guilty. Though traveling alone nowadays. Like catching helpless ponies and making them pay to cross this little bridge of mine. Ponies like you.”

I cocked my head to the side, “Look at us, do we look weak to you?”

The mare laughed, her barding hiding her cutie mark, “What? Two ponies walking around with some toothpicks and i’m supposed to be scared. I have beaten ponies that had gats and rocket launchers and stole their hides. You think that I am afraid of a unicorn and her boy toy?”

“He’s my friend, not my toy,” I denied.

She rolled her eyes,”Whatevs. Look, you want pass this bridge, then beat me. If you win, I will let you by. And when I win-”

“You get my barding and some caps,” I said, looking at her.

“Deal,” said the mare as she spun her staff around, “And I get to defeather the buck over there. No offense, sexy, but I kind of want to look like an alicorn.”

“Kick her ass,” Swift said. I merel nodded and walked up to her. Reaching for my sword with my magic, I attempted to draw my blade, but the mare stuck my neck with her staff and then hit me in the back of my head.

The raider danced around me, “Oh come on, think that it will be so easy to win? Have to be faster on the draw than that.”

Backing up, I began to draw my sword, only this time blocking with my sheath and then striking back with the hilt. Once my sword was out, I promptly... got hit on the head and throat by the raider.

As I got a chance to reorient myself, I watched as the mare began to dance around me like a monkey, laughing and sneering at me. With a frown, I slashed at her, but she blocked me. Our fight then began in earnest as we struck and parried each other blows. I was becoming more and more shocked at the speed at which she could pull off her moves. Letting out a gasp. I barely had a chance to duck under the swipe of her sta#ff. This left me open for a strike at my legs, sending me to the ground.

As I lay prone, my sword slashed at her leg, making her jump into the air. A smirk came to my lips as I calculated her landing and froze the spot, turning it onto ice. The confidence left my face when I watched her land on top of the pole at it stood straight up and down. One hoof rested on top of her staff as she looked back at me with a smug look.

Before I had time to react, she learn off the staff, spun in it in a circle in mid air and slammed it into my back. Groaning in pain, I rolled out of the way, getting to my hooves and striking back with a few slashes. With a dancer's grace, she began to move away from my slashes while I stood back up.

Quickly I chased at her, determined to thrust my blade into her leg. Smirking in confidence at my move, she easily knocked my sword into the air and then tripped me up to slam me into the ground. She held the staff to my thrust and smiled, “Give up?”

“Just one question. The rules of our fight were that if you won, you get my armor and if I win, I pass the bridge.

“Yeah?” She said

I smirked, “We never did say that this was one on one.”

“What do you mean by-” before she could even finish, Swift was on the other side, using his wings to blow some of the water and dust at her. This blinded her long enough for me to use my free hoof to punch hard in the side of the face and send her flying over the railing of the bridge and into the water. As I slowly got up, I could hear the raider screaming, “Help, I can’t swim!”

Swift leaned against the railing and looked down at our former opponent, “You fight on a bridge and swimming lessons never came to you?”

“FUCK OFF!” she shouted, while I used my magic to gently pull her out of the water and land her next to use. With a kind smile I gave her some rad-away to help with the effect of rad poisoning.

“Well, it looks like I won,” I smirked. “Sorry about the cheating bit, but I had to use what I could to win.”

The raider waved me off with a hoof, “Hey, it’s all right. I would’ve done the same. It’s kind of tricky of you to be honest.”

I shrugged, “One of the things first I learned was to use what I had to my advantage. Fighting without using your brains is a fool's tactic was what my mom told me once.”

“Your Mom’s pretty smart. Certainly helped to kick my ass,” the raid said, leaning back against the bridge.

I sat down, and pull out a Sparkle cola, “Don’t sell yourself short. You had plenty of skill too. If I didn’t have Swift, you would’ve had my butt.”

“Because you swordsponies are all alike. You get too overconfident with that sword, so when somepony like me comes along, you can’t cope!” she said brushing her hoof to the side.

“Or maybe I’m just not insane enough,” I said with a smile.

“Insanity and creativity are rarely different things ya know,” the raider snickered.

“Ah, so you are insane,” I smirked, and this brought out a laugh from the raider.

“And proud of it!” she cheered.

“And that is why, I want you to come with us,” I said, getting to my feet.
“Excuse me? Didn’t you get the memo? Raider, scum of the Wasteland, and a piece of shit. I would just cut your coat off while I rape your boytoy here,” the raider said with a grin.

“But, if you come with, I can guarantee you a much more fun time than hanging around here,” I said. “And you live for fun, right?”

The raider gave a frustrated groan, “You’re right, I am. And, I wouldn’t mind getting out and stretching my hooves for a bit. Fine, I’m in. but I get dibs on the kills and and caps we get out there. Deal?”

“Deal,” I said, walking ahead.

“ Oh, and I get one make-out session with your boy toy!” The raider said.

“His name is Swift blade, and he isn’t my boy-toy. Furthermore,” I turned and held out a hoof, “The name is Nyx Sparkle, please to meet you.”

“Saw-Blade,” she said, high hoofing me.

With our new friend in tow, it didn’t take us all that long to reach a hill that overlooked Vanhoover. As I looked at the desolate city, with many of its buildings crumbling and some of the roads torn, my mind was feeling very hurt and very sad. Mainly because I knew what I was feeling was different from what my two companions were. For them, this was just another in a long line of broken cities, me? I don’t ever remember visiting this town a all.

I mentally kicked myself for not having visited this place before. I wanted to have a memory of this place that wasn’t associated with what the Wastes had turned this city into. I knew there were ponies here, and ones that probably had a great life, and now all that is left are ruins. And all I can think of is how this place is, instead of what it once was.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Swift, “What do you think Sol wanted us to see?”

“Whoa, hold on!” shouted Saw. “Sol, as in the fire demon is real and you met her and now we are walking to her doorstep?”

“Yes,” Swift said calmly.

Saw gave a shout of triumph as she hugged, me, “ I love you guys! I should’ve been hanging out with suicidal jerks like you a long time ago. Come on, dibs on the murdering!”

“We’re not here to murder indiscriminately,!” I shouted as I watched her run ahead of us.

“And you told her to come with us,” Swift said, smirking.

With a growl, I muttered, “We might need her.” and with that, I walked down the hill.

As we entered the barren city, I began to wonder to myself if anypony from here survived. From the looks of it, it didn’t even look like it had a stable nearby or even some scavengers to wander through it. It felt like nobody had even thought about touching this place since the war.

Turning my head, I was about to say, “Guys, whatever Sol-” but I interrupted by something brown and red slamming hard into my side and slamming me through several walls. Before I had a chance to recover and get to my feet, whatever it was that slammed into me his me again, piercing my side with its tusks and throwing me through another wall.

Panting, I slowly got up in spite of my pain, the blood dripping from the holds in my side. Taking a quick look, I gasped in shock at what I was seeing. Though it had a pony’s body, its coat and head were unmistakably boarish/ It even had two tusks jutting out the side of its mouth, “A... Boar and a Pony? A Bony?” I asked myself before jumping out of the way of the bony’s attack. Watching as the boar broke through the wall, I slowly drew my blade and got into a fighting stance, “Just, what are you?”

“Call me Orson! The strongest of the boars, but with the heart of a pony,” the Bony said to me, his Boarish accent thick on his lips.

“Didn’t think that Boars and Ponies could mate with one another,” I said. Pointing my blade straight forward.

Orson shrugged his shoulders, ‘My father had a unique taste. He found pony to be sexier than his own kind.” he chuckled as he looked at my extended sword, “You think you can beat me with that blade?”

“No, but it does give me a chance,” I smirked as the boar rushed as me. As he neared the edge of ,my blade, I leap into the air, charged my lighting magic and launched at the boar, making his fur light up. Landing on ground behind him, I growled, “So... it’s true, isn’t it.”

The boar snickered as he ran a hoof through his mane, “Ah, so you heard of a boar’s special magic.”

The truth was, I had saw a demonstration of such magic when I visited Canterlot once, “I had heard of it. You boars have a special magic that activates when you start charging, it makes you immune to almost any attack: You become invincible. The problem is, you need to get started.”

“And you expect one little sword is going to-AHHH!” he yelled as his hide was cut into by a pair of wing blades, followed by a staff attack.

“Geeze,” snorted Saw as she walked into the room and stood by me, “Is this going to be a thing with boars. Talking all big just to be shocked when we kick its ass?”

“A boarny,” Swift asked ad he landed next to me. “How can this be possible .”

As I looked at my two friends, I brandished my blade and smirked,”That’s what I am going to ask later, now we need to take him down.”

“Plan?” asked Swift as he looked to me. The boar was getting ready to charge.

“Boars have the power to become invincible when they start running, and this guy is an earth pony, so he already has earth pony magic to back up his strength,” I said, crouching and getting ready to jump.

“So, the idea is to trip him up?” asked saw, sneering, “Seems easy.”

“It’s not, they do know when you are about to attack, so get ready,” I said, just as the boar charged at me. In an instant, I used my wings to give me some lift and jump about twenty feet in the air. The boar turned and tried to go after Swift and Saw next, but they each quickly began to move and dodge out of the way. When I landed, I noticed that Saw was looking at me in a mix of shock and amazement.. I just smiled sheepishly in response.

As the boar turned to face me, I began to ignite my horn a golden glow. In a blinding flash, I managed to blind the boarny with my bright light. As the half-breed tried to recover, his ears tuned to where I had landed. With a roar he began his charge, only to be tripped by Saw’s staff. As he tripped, he flew into the air and soared into the sky. With a speed I don’t think I had ever seen before, Swift cut into the tendons of the boarny and sent him crashing down.

Saw stepped up next to me, “Well, that was easy. “She said, a smile on her face. “Care to tell me what was up with that jump?”

“O, uh, powerful unicorn spell,” I lied, trying to smile.

“I have been reading the wrong books,” Saw muttered, “So who is this guy?”

“He is one of us,” said a female from the shadows. Turning my head up, I looked through a hole in the roof of the building to see eleven figures standing in the shadows, “A member of the Zodiac. We’ll be taking him back now.”

Before any one of us could move, a blur that matched Rainbow Dash in speed rushed by and picked up their fallen comrade. I looked back to the shadows, “So, I guess you are the thing that Sol wanted me to see?”

“Yes,” she said, stepping into the light, showing a part of her body, her dragon scales lining her foreleg, “The Twelve Zodiac, the ones who run this town. Well, this providence. Consider this place a small sample of what Sol wants Equestria to become. What it’s true destiny is. Where the strong rule, and the harmony that you champion is dead.”

“And she thinks that this little demonstration will make me keel over? Not a chance. I will defeat you and-” I paused when I got a better look at her, “A kirin?”

The half-dragon and half-pony chuckled as she stepped out of the shadows, “Yeah, I am. Mom was a dragon who was caught in Equestria when the bombs fell. She met a pony, and well,” she lightly scratched the roof with her claws, “You can see.”

“What about your other friends” I asked.

“In time, in time. But for now, relax and meet the ponies of this town, see what we’ve done with the place,” she chuckled as they disappeared.

“So, we are now in a city full of ponies who to kill us all, a town that is in a hell hole, and I am not getting any tonight. Thanks for taking me along!” Saw-Blade shouted.

Author's Note

Thanks Zolt.

The inspiration for the side villians actually came from the rp me an d the brother were doing. Sawof course, was somehting I wanted to add to give NYx someone else to talk to. Like an inbtween for nyx and Swift