3 Days in the Dark

by BanditofBandwidth

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Adventure
Length: 5928

How did Zecora help the injured Spectrum Brush, after he was scarred by the Harbinger of Hatred?

In "A War for Friendship", after Ignis was stopped from taking Celestia down and claiming the throne, what happened to Spectrum Brush when he dissapeared for 11 days?

As Zecora tries to regain her memory about the day that Ignis atttacked Equestria, she discovers an injured alicorn in the Everfree Forest.
A stallion, without a name, and a rhyming zebra now work together to uncover the past that they have lost.

And the only way to shed light on the truth: is by reaching out in the dark.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-21 18:14:01 UTC

3 Days in the Dark

3 Days in the Dark

Sunrise

Morning has begun. The sun rises from behind the hills, brightening the landscape and awakening the life.

All the creatures slowly move up from their restless slumber. The last day and night were unseen from the naked eyes, as dark clouds prevented all the inhabitants from enjoying the sun and the moon.

But as the clouds have been evaporated in a bright light of hope, so have the memories of this event been erased from the oblivious ponies. A terrible future has been prevented and lifted from their shoulders. And they’re all unaware of it.

Even in the restless nature of Everfree Forest, life continues like it did before the coming of the Crimson Asteroid. But one inhabitant is curious about the day that has been removed.

In the forest, inside a little hut, A black-and-white striped pony seeks through her jars and boxes, looking for specific items.

“Ay, no more herbs to use,” the zebra sighs. “If I can’t make some tea soon, it may be more than my mind that I lose...

I might as well head outside to seek some while it’s day. Maybe the sun will do good on my mind anyway.”

Trying to jog her memory up, she tries to make a simple and relaxing tea that should calm her and ease her mind. But, of course, it’s not available at the times one would actually need it.

She grabs her cloak and a little basket, which looks worn out by carrying many kinds of herbs for a long time now.

Even though the zebra lives practically alone in the forest, she calls it her home and haven. Knowing every nook and cranny.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, she looks around for the ingredients. While she searches, she can’t help but scratch her head over the idea that there’s not even a slight idea of anything that happened yesterday. It’s almost as if it’s magic.

She tries not to break her head over it by listening to the peaceful sounds that can be heard from critters in the forest, until the point where she has arrived at the spot where she needs to be.

“Excellent. Just the one I look for,” she thinks out loud when she notices a peculiar red herb.

Gladly, the zebra grabs the top of the leaves with her mouth and pulls it out of the soil.

“Oh? Seems I won’t have to seek to the point my hooves would get sore,” she thinks when she notices more herbs are right next to her.

Grabbing multiple plants and flowers and putting it in the basket, she figures she might as well stock up more herbs for later.

And yet, she leaves some untouched to allow them to grow back when she runs out again. Having enough, she turns around to walk back to her house. But stops when an unfamiliar voice is sound from the bushes.

“Please… Help… Me…,” a voice whispers to her.

The unexpected call surprises her, even though she shows no change in emotion on her face.

She calmly looks around the scene. scanning through the bushes, the trees, and dirt for signs of uncommon life.

“Maybe just and illusion that my imagination brought... I seem to need this tea more badly than I thought,” she mumbles to herself.

“Help…”

The zebra hears it again. She is absolutely certain that it wasn’t in her head.

Somepony spoke to her.

She looks around again. Narrowing her eyes to look for anything that she might have missed.

“A voice calling for the help of this mare? I ask: who goes there? ”

At first nothing seems out of place.

But then her eyes catch something: A moving tree.

She is a little surprised: the plant is completely unknown to her. Even though she has lived here for a long time now, this thing is new to her.

The only answer that comes is another shake from the crimson-red leaves that all hang towards 1 direction of the stem.

Cautiously, she walks towards the moving red branch. Ready for anything dangerous that Everfree Forest has to offer.

The grunts keep repeating, as if somepony is in terrible pain.

“!”

When she tries to looks past the tree, she looks directly into an emerald-green eye that stares straight back at her.

The tree turns out to be a wing, attached to the body of a crimson-red stallion that lies restless on the ground. the soil under his body has been dent deeply like a plow rushed over it. It's obvious that the stallion crashed from the sky.

Surprised, the zebra jumps back as she says something in an unfamiliar language. Though it probably means something like “Yipes!”

A unicorn horn, pegasi wings, and an ash-grey mane that moves like a flame. She can’t believe her eyes: The pony that spoke to her is an alicorn.

Though a little uncertain why in the Equestria’s name this stallion is here, she figures that he is in agony and unable to move.

“Weakened and harmed too? Alicorn, Who are you?”

“*Kgh*…….,” he grunts.

The question falls on deaf ears. The alicorn seems to have passed out.

The zebra doesn’t hesitate for a moment.

Even if it’s a highly unusual event to her. She can only do what she deems the right thing.

“Even as madness claims the day, the strange must be heard from what words they have to say,” she rhymes.

Meaning that even though the alicorn is a stranger, he should get help for his condition.

Putting the basket of herbs on the ground, she starts inspects the unconscious stallion.

Almost like a doctor, she can perfectly check for any possible traumas. All his bones are still intact and other than a few scratches and bruises from a fall into the forest, he is physically unharmed.

But still: he’s weakened by something. It could be something poisonous he has inside him, or possibly undernourishment.

“Hm… Stallion in broken state, can you tell me where the pain is that I try to locate?” she tries to ask him.

“…” The alicorn remains unconcious.

“Still out cold... For now his story remains untold,” she sighs.

Unable to get any clear answer from a braindead horse, she tries to bring the alicorn to her house for further help.

“Kgh, I be spared from aid in skill, for it strengthens my will!” she coughs for air as she starts to drag the heavy stallion away.

What the zebra basically meant is that, in this specific situation especially: she is glad that she wasn’t born with a convenient magic horn or wings. Because it’s what made her strong enough for heavy-liftings… like this.

“*Grnnnn*…,” the stallion groans as he seems to speak in his sleep.

With barely any breath in her lungs, the mare doesn’t really feel like starting a wide conversation with somepony asleep. So she just listens.

“I…Ignis…,” he whispers softly.

“Ignis? Stallion with the flaming mane, is that your name?” she wonders out loud.

“Hate… All…,” is all he can say next.

Easy enough, the second thing she has cleared out aside than his name is that this won’t be an everyday problem that can be solved in less than a day.

“Tea is probably not enough to fix YOU…

Atleast we managed to catch your name: ‘Ignis’. I trust your words are true.”

Day 1

Everything is dark. The stallion feels like he is regaining consciousness. But his eyes have yet adjusted to seeing something else than a pitch black darkness.

“Kgh… Wh-what's going on?” the staillion grunts.

He looks confused around. The walls are decorated with unusual wooden decorations and cupboards are filled with jars, containing unknown substances in all shapes and sizes. A large cauldron stands in the middle, currently not in use. And the walls seem to be made of some sort of light-colored wood he has never seen before.

It’s almost as if he’s at some primitive laboratory or a witch shack.

Before he could even think clear, he is greeted by the female zebra that he saw before he passed out.

“Ah, back to the land of the living? I was afraid you might have given in,” the mare jokes.

The stallion takes no notice to the joke and simply looks confused around the room. “Geh? Who…Where am I?”

“My house. I brought you over here so I can examine your condition better than during the walk. But since your mind must still be hazy, I suggest you drink some tea first before we talk,” she says calmly.

The alicorn looks down to the little wooden table in front of him, holding a cup that is carved from one piece of wood containing a steaming liquid with several leaves in it.

It seems like she didn’t really expect him to sleep for much longer, considering she already made him tea.

When he sniffs at the drink, the sweet aroma already shows a calming effect. Without hesitation he grabs the cup with his hooves and takes a sip.

The mare simply stands by and watches him gulp the tea away, waiting for the moment that he’s able to talk.

“Ahhh… that tastes good actually. Thank you very much for the tea, miss…”

“Zecora,” she finishes.

“Thank you, Zecora.”

He silently takes another sip, healing him from his tension. When he has drunk it all, he still has a taste for it.

“Eh… Could I maybe have some of that tea again?” he bashfully asks her while reaching the cup out to her.

“Hehe. At least your appetite seems to be fine. That’s a good sign. Here: maybe some sunlight will do you good too,” she says as she opens the window.

But is startled when she hears the alicorn grunting in pain.

“NO! P-please! Close that windows!” he yelps in cowering position.

Hastily, the mare closes the window with a slam.

“A-are you alright? You cried as if you nearly died!” Zecora asks him with a pounding heart.

“Yea… Please: I don’t really like the sun. I prefer to stay out of it, if you don’t mind…” he pants heavily from the excitement.

She is still a little jumpy from her guest’s cries of agony. How in Celestia’s name could he be living if he can’t even take a little sunlight?

Zecora just has a need to ask again. “If I may, can I ask if you’re certainly okay?”

"Yes… I´m fine now… Thanks," he slowly calms down.

“I got a bad feeling about this in my gut... But don’t worry, the window remains shut.”

“I appreciate that," he whispers with a faint smile. "I’m sorry if I startled you a little, Zecora… It’s just that I feel an unexplainable ‘fear’ when I see even a glimpse of light. So, I prefer the dark more.”

The alicorn remains friendly and grateful to her, even in his condition. Zecora thinks would be a good time now to converse with him.

Zecora tries to gather facts from mere conversation so that she can make a picture of the situation that is controlling him. But now that the “patient” seems to be more healthy, she may be able to speak more direct.

"Tell me, what did you do to result to this fate? Is it anything strange from the forest you ate?” she asks him to deduce if he's possibly suffering from foodpoisoning.

“Eh… I don’t know actually. All I know is that I crashed into this forest and woke up here…,” he bluntly states.

Zecora raises an eyebrow in response to his strange remark.

“…That’s ALL, you say? What did you do yesterday?”

“No idea.”

“sounds like the situation is rather bleak. What about last week?”

“Not a clue...”

“…Seriously… Your foalhood, maybe?”

“…I can’t even remember my own name. Why should I  be able to remember anything?...”

This seems worse than Zecora expected. Rather than having suffered from something physically weakening, the complete memory of this pony seems to have been completely erased!

Looking through a large dark-blue book that says “The mental and the mind” on the cover, Zecora tries to find a reason to her guest’s memory loss.

There are multiple things that cause memory erasing. But none of them are as dangerous as being capable of removing a completely mind.

“Hm… I can only think of one possible solution. A mental cleanser of absolution,” she tells to the stallion that drinks another cup of tea.

“It’s rather strong. It cleanses mental obstructions that are nested deep within the imbiber’s mind of any kind. That MAY include obstructions that blocks access to your memories in your mind.”

It sounds a little vague and confusing to him. But still it certainly sounds like she has a miracle cure planned.

“Alas, the only thing that disturbs: it requires some of my most rarest herbs…,” her voice fades down.

He starts to feel a little nervous. By hearing her say something like that, added to the fact that it’s only a chance in a hundred too, she might decide to not help him after all.

Zecora looks over her shoulder at him, following a silence that is too long to be comfortable.

But in the end, Zecora decides to take the shot.

“Alright, I will just need to brew something up during the night for this. Then we can try it tomorrow morning , Ignis.”

The stallion chokes in his tea, gasping by hearing the name she calls him. His cup falls on the ground, creating a little puddle of water and leaves on the floor.

“*cough* What did you *cough*  name me?!” he gasps.

“Ignis? It was the only thing that you got to say before you passed out,” she explains a little surprised to his sudden reaction. “I figured it was your name, without a doubt,” Zecora explains.

“That name is so familiar… But it isn’t my name!” he assures hastily.

Though he can’t recall why, the name seems to actually threaten him.

“Really… This mistake truly is a shame. But if ‘Ignis’ is wrong, then what IS your name?” she asks.

“…I-I just don’t know…”

The alicorn starts to look depressed. It’s very reasonable that he is, considering he can’t remember his own name.

“Do you think you can fix me, Zecora?” he asks her with a hope for good news.

“Don’t worry too much about it now. Tomorrow you should probably remember everything. This I vow.” she assures him.

He doesn’t feel any comfort from her words. What if his amnesia remains even after this antidote?

The zebra is also realistic. She hopes that the potent potion will cure him. But there’s always a chance that it won’t. And if that is the case… she wouldn’t have a different plan right now.

“In any case: you should rest well. If there’s something that a broken mind such as yours can’t handle, it’s tiredness inside your shell," the mare advises him, urging him to trust her.

“Alright then… I’ll try to catch some sleep. And, Zecora?-“

“Aye?”

“-Thank you for your help.”

Day 2

The morning is just like any other in Everfree Forest: slightly cloudy with a rising sun peeking over the treetops.

Life continues its course after a night of rest. Nopony has even the slightest clue what is taking place in Zecora’s house, which has been sealed from sunlight for a day now.

“Sigh…”

The alicorn hasn’t slept all night. The worries in his mind are what kept him from resting up. He just sits still, listening to the bubbling of the elixir in the cauldron. The thing that is supposed to be his only chance to bring back the things he has forgotten.

The zebra walks into the room and greets him in a few words that are beyond his understanding. But probably mean something like ‘goodmorning’.

“How are you feeling now, alicorn? Got any brilliant insights through your horn?” she rhymes as usual.

“Nope… My mind is still blurry,” he grunts irritated.

“Well, in any case: it looks like the antidote is almost ready for the run. I guess that you’d like some tea until it’s done?” she offers him.

The alicorn nods. He has gotten a liking to the tea that Zecora makes. The sweet taste is all that keeps him from going crazy right now.

“By the way, I noticed your Cute Mark. I suppose painting is your flame and spark?”

The alicorn looks backward to his flank, noticin the brown painter's pallette and brush that are shown.

“I think that’s the most logical deduction… But of course I’m not sure.”

Zecora knows that his memory is in shambles. But still it doesn’t hurt to pry his mind to make him remember something.

“Well, here you go. Maybe this drink will make the troubles fade like sun melts snow,” she offers the drink with a wink.

“Thanks. Though I put my hopes more onto that potion you’re brewing. *He he*. The tea is nice though,” the stallion chuckles.

He takes the cup that Zecora hands to him and slowly drinks it up to enjoy the heavenly flavor again.

“*Gulp*…?”

Something is different about the tea.

Too late to spit it out, he has swallowed some sort of muddy water with the taste of ash mixed with swamp water.

“Kgah! Z-Zecora? Something is REALLY *cough* wrong with this tea!” he gasps in disgust.

“That may be right: because that wasn’t tea. That was the antidote to set your mind free,” Zecora grins.

The alicorn looks up surprised at her, feeling fooled by her.

“No need to give me that look present. The antidote was already finished. But I guessed that the taste would be a little… unpleasant.

So when I saw how you liked the tea so much, I thought the best way to make you drink everything was by tricking this in your clutch.”

“’Unpleasant’ is an understatement… But ok, I understand why you did it.” he mumbles while he still shows an eyetwitch from the horrible taste that won't leave his mouth.

The alicorn keeps coughing. It's probably the worst thing he has ever tasted. Hopefully it was worth it.

“Do you feel anything yet? Are your memories returning yet?” Zecora asks when he's done being overdramatic.

He remains silent. Hoping that he come up with something fast.

“I…”

“Yes?” Zecora asks hopeful.

“I…*KGH*!”

He suddenly starts to feel terrible through his entire body.The antidote starts to act up.

Zecora jumps back in surprise at how the alicorn suddenly collapses on the floor and starts to mow around with his hooves and wings.

“Kgah! What-is-happening?! W-What was in that stuff?!” he screams out.

Zecora jumps up in surprise, looking down at the shaking stallion.

“T-Try to collect yourself is my best guess! This may be simple side-effects from the healing process!”

“Lies! You’re all liars! Look what you did to me! I will make you suffer for this treason!” he roars at her with a noticable rage in his voice.

Zecora can’t believe her ears. The tone and response from the alicorn have completely turn around into something different.

“You! You…*Gragh*!”

He collapses again, starting to shiver and whimper.

“T-That wasn’t me! Please Zecora, make it stop!” he sniffs scared.

A dark fog starts to spread from his body, filling the ceiling like smoke.

Zecora gasps words in her home-language, completely surprised by this anomaly.

“A dark soul! I would’ve never guessed! You aren’t poisoned, but possessed!” Zecora claims with panic.

“I-It’s Ignis! Get it out of me, quickly!” he begs her.

Hearing that name again, Zecora realizes that he seems to know it better now. By removing the dark magic from his body, he returns his memory again.

The antidote may be the solution after all.

“…Think!

Think about your past! Try to recall everything you lost!” she calls out to him.

He hears her command. having no idea what good simple thinking might do, he's still willing to do anything she may tell him now. She's still his only hope left.

“*Ngh* I.. can’t!”

“You have no choice! Think! Now! Or your chance for liberty he destroys!" Zecora yells at him.

The alicorn keeps struggling against the pain he feels from the shadow that slowly flows out of him. But he is urged to use this temporary opportunity to cleanse himself.

Zecora is now witnessing how the alicorn is miraculously changing into a smaller pony, seeping his darker skin out of him like a coat is torn from him and regains a lighter red color. His long mane loses alot of hairs which dissolve into mist as they touch they ground. His true appearance is now shown to Zecora.

Though the spirit is leaving, he is still stuck to him. If the stallion doesn’t fight it, it might soon retreat back.

The only way Zecora can aid him now is by asking questions.

“From where did you came? Do you have any relatives you know by name?”

“I …eh... I gotta know this one,” he thinks out loud as he lies paralyzed to the ground.

The questions prove futile. He still doesn’t know anything.

Time is running short as the darkness starts to slow down from leaving his body.

“What is your favorite activity? Who is Ignis, who’s name you avoid with negativity?”

“That name… Why can’t I remember that cursed name?!” he roars angry.

Zecora starts to break a sweat as she notices how the cloud has halted completely.

She got one shot at this.

With a deep breath and sweat on her forehead Zecora asks.

“The last chance to be mend…Who is your best friend?”

“I…I…”

“You got to have one, right? Who is it for who’m you would fight?” she urges him.

“I…

I DON’T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!”

As he screams it out, tears fall from his eyes from both the endurance and the pain of this unending amnesia.

The darkness leaps back into his body, instantaneously changing him back into the large and flame maned stallion from before. The repercussion is so powerful that it blows Zecora into the wall, drops a bookcase on the floor and shatters hundreds of glass jars on the shelves.

Zecora has only a moment of time to recover from the strike and jump out of the way before the large cauldron would drop on her. It lands with a loud smash only a hoofstep distance next to her, busting several cracks in the pot. The last of the elixer in the cauldron seeps over the floor, completely useless now.

The recovery is a complete failure.

“*Ugh*…,” Zecora groans as she tries to rise back up from her fall.

She hears a faint whimper coming from the crimson-red pile of misery that lies on the floor. It wasn’t neccesarly the agony that saddens him, but the fact that he’s still corrupted and lost the chance to recover his memory. That potion was the only thing that got close to help, but now there’s nothing left of it.

“A dark spirit… This is beyond my knowledge.

I’m afraid I can’t help you now, little one. I can’t fulfill my pledge...,” she sighs, dissapointed of herself.

The stallion is unmoved. He already figured that this is out of her and his league.

Yet, Zecora doesn’t feel like giving up. In fact: Because he is in such an impossible state, she feels like she should try everything within her power.

“But I may know somepony who might be able to be of aid. Her knowledge of magic is massive enough to stand a chance against this shade,” she brings up.

The stallion doesn’t respond to the good news. In his head he has already given up hope.

“I’ll go to her right away. Just remain here until I return, okay?” she demands from him, taking no chances of that the stallion may leave before she returns.

He grunts, agreeing to her.

“Alright then. No worries too. I’m pretty sure my good friend Twilight Sparkle knows what to do.”

“WAIT!” he suddenly yells out to her.

Zecora staggers from the sudden yell. She hasn’t even got to open the door yet.

“D-Don’t get her involved, please! I beg of you!”

“Aye? In Equestria’s name, why?” Zecora looks surprised at the stallion that tries to rise back up from the ground.

“Just don’t let Twilight know that I’m here! Please… I don’t want her to see me like this,” he begs her in grave urgency.

Zecora is amazed. The stallion was a clueless pony with no hope or energy left just a second ago. And by simply hearing the name ‘Twilight Sparkle’ he jumps to life.

“Why? Is something wrong between you two? Why shouldn’t Twilight Sparkle see you?” she asks him, hoping for a correct answer.

“Because...

Because she’s a true friend.”

A reluctant smile appears on Zecora’s face. She finaly hears something that could be the solution to everything. The key to his lost memories.

“Alright, Your presence here remains behind the wall.

I might know something that works against dark spirits after all…”

Day 3

The dawn has begun for the 3rd time. The sun wakes all the life in the forest once more, greeting them with a blue sky and several clouds. But even though nothing changes outside, the atmosphere inside Zecora’s house has changed drastically the past days.

inside the house, the stallion jsimply lies on the ground. He hasn’t slept at all last night, because of the grim results. The only thing that keeps haunting through his mind are two names: Twilight and Ignis. Names that somehow changed his life drastically both good and bad. Yet he has no idea why that would be.

“Still don’t want any tea?” Zecora asks him again.

“No…” the stallion sighs depressed.

“I’m sorry that I tricked the antidote onto you like that, you see.”

“I’m just not thirsty, Zecora,” he reassures her that he's not mad at her.

“I understand you must have gone through some sort of trouble: Being turned from unicorn into alicorn, getting possessed, and losing your memory on the double.

But keep in mind that there’s more behind this. Things that you can’t fathom now from your own abyss,” she tries to cheer him up somehow.

“That’s… not really a pep-talk, is it?” he tells a little confused about the unusual speech.

“What I’m saying is: is that this doesn’t just affect you.

Have I told you that I suffer from memory loss too?”

the stallion's eyes open from surprise. He had no clue that she was.

“Huh? No, you haven’t.”

Zecora shakes her head, admitting that it wasn't really worth tell him maybe.

“Of course, mine is not as drastic. I forgot about a couple of days that happened before you arrived here. Whatever happened to you, you’re not the only one that suffers from it, I swear,” Zecora explains to him, making him realise that he's not the only one in this pickle.

“And you believe I’m ‘the key’ to solve it?” he asks with little certainty.

“I believe you´re the only pony who CAN solve it," she urges convinced.

"…And I have made another possible conclusion: Your mind is resisting to remember what you have forgotten in your confusion.

Yesterday: the reaction of the antidote on the spirit was that your anger, fear, and sadness made you blind. The dark spirit is forcing you to struggle against your memories, by manipulating the strongest emotions that are present in your mind.”

“I… struggle against myself?” he asks in wonder. It's something he could've never thought of actually possible.

“Simply put: You’re emotions are holding you back on recovery. I’m afraid you need to… shut them down temporarily,” Zecora informs him. She knows it's drastic, but also neccesary.

The alicorn taps with his front hoof on the floor, pondering about what she just said. He understands that being emotional won’t ever help to solve something. But is he supposed to simply turn his anger and sorrow off, like switching a button from ‘on’ to ‘off’?

“It’s only required for now, but of absolute necessity. Are you able to drag yourself from hampering self-pity?”

He sighs.

“…I promise that I won’t let any emotions hamper the progress.

Are you going to try to ask me a bunch of questions again? About what I might recall from Twilight? Banish Ignis by remembering?...,” he asks with a bit of sarcasm in his words.

“Not exactly… I remembered something that may be a long shot, but a possible solution. All I need to ask you: is too keep your emotions stowed away, and put all your energy on stopping Ignis out from his intrution. That is all…,” Zecora assures him.

“…Ok. I will be as cold as ice...,” he sighs again.

Zecora looks through her cabinets,  grabs a lot of white candles, and puts them on the table next to her.

“Let me just ask one more question before we begin: How long have you remained in the shadows with your skin?” she asks him as she walks towards the window.

“For as long as I can remember… Which isn’t long.

Why, Zecora? What do you have in mind?”

“…Light…”

Completely unexpected by the stallion, Zecora pushes the window wide open.

The sun shines straight into the room, lightening up the entire house with a bright-white radiance.

“Ah! Zecora, what in pony’s name are you thinking?!” he gasps.

Zecora remains silent while she looks at how the stallion is reacting fearful by the sudden light, like he did on day 1. She doesn’t regret her action at all, even though her guest is trying to avoid the sunlight from shining unto him out of fright without success. Even if he covers his eyes with his hooves or his wings, it still feels to him like the sun burns his skin like fire.

“Remain calm… You didn’t fear the sunlight before, right? It’s the spirit that hates the light. So he manipulates you to stay out of it with all his might!

Keep your emotions under control, and confront the sun with your soul!” she commands at him.

The alicorn tries his best. But no matter how long he remains in the sunlight, the searing sun only starts to feel more and more painful.

“Please, stop this! There has to be some other way!” he mumbles in panic.

“Silence! This is the only way to win: by going straight through the problem! Don’t give in!” Zecora commands him. She has to be harsh in order to help the panicking stallion through this.

The plan shows progress: A dark smoke starts to come from the stallion’s mane again. The remaining presence of Ignis starts to loosen its grip on the poor victim.

“It’s working! Don’t give in to his will! Banish this ‘Ignis’ from your body! Hold onto the memories that are yours still!” she encourages the cringing pony.

Slowly but surely The alicorn is changing back into his own self again.

As more dark fog leaves his body; his wings and body are shrinking.

“I...I feel nothing…,” he sighs as he stares towards the sun without any fearful reactions on his face.

Zecora knows that it won't be long till it's over.

“The path has opened. Search deep inside for the secrets that were kept secluded from you. And recall that which you once knew!”

Unlike before: the shadow doesn’t slow down. The sunlight keeps him weak enough to prevent any means resistance, while the colt sets his emotionless mind on drawing him out. Completely out of control, the shadow tries to move away from the light.

And just like that: The spirit is unchained.

The colt collapses from the excitement, the shadow moves around the room, and Zecora lights a candle.

Before the living smoke has a chance to leave through the door, Zecora puts a burning candle in his way.

Her plan works: The shadow avoids any kind of light. Not just sunlight.

“Your attempts are in vain, dark one. Surrender to the light that has come,” she threatens while she chases it with a burning candle in her mouth.

The shadow tries another attempt through the back door. But Zecora has already put candles there too. When it returns to the living room, it is cornered by several candles that stand in a circle around him. Zecora has the last candle, using it to drive the spirit to the window.

Completely unable to defend itself, the cloud is pushed out. Exposed to the sunrays, it has no chance for survival.

With a fizzle and a crackle the shadow seperates into thin air, destroying it for good.

With a sigh of relief Zecora drops the candle on the floor, which puts out the flame.

“The harm has passed, the darkness is gone-”

She looks at the colt that lies on the floor.

“-The process for recovery has begun…”

Sunset

The home has taken quite a beating these past days. Zecora works hard to gather the pieces, fix the damage, and recover what is lost. Sad to her: Her memories of the days before her meeting with her guest have not returned.

Yet, it doesn’t feel like a waste to her, because she eventually managed to help a pony in dire need.

In the meantime, her guest lies in the grass outside, resting in the setting sunlight.

“How are you feeling? Your memories have returned, right?” Zecora walks up to him from her house.

“…”

“…You won’t let this go, will you? Your judgment remains as dark as the night,” Zecora sighs dissapointed.

“…”

“When I asked you to control your emotions, I didn’t mean that you must sacrifice them completely to be able to recall your past. Even if emotionlessness feels relieving from your pains, it’s not good for this to last. Don’t let this change you like this…,” she implores him.

“…”

“…Very well. I understand that you do not wish to speak. Just say something if there’s anything you seek. ”

Zecora turns around to walk back to her home. But stops when she hears a grunt coming from behind her.

“…Actually, there’s one thing…,” the colt suddenly speaks.

“?”

“Do you have a blank sheet and some paint?” he asks calmly without turning his head towards her.

Zecora is a little sceptical. She understands that he may remember now that he's a painter, but still she's a little worries over what he might do now.

“To be honest: I think I do. Can I ask what you plan to do with it too?”

the colt keeps staring at the sky while he explains his intentions.

“…There’s something I remember. Something I must never forget again. They say memories are everlasting, while paper is not. But after what happened to me, I do not wish to take unnecessary risks…”

Zecora nods without questions. Though she is very curious about what the colt did to be chained to this fate, she accepts that he doesn’t wish to share it with anypony. She just walks back into her house to find the things he asked for.

“…I must never forget: True friendship… I made a promise that I intent to keep. Now that I remember everything, I remember EVERYTHING,” he mumbles to himself.

“Rest easy, Ponyville. I will forgive myself when I deserve it. And I know exactly how…”

TO BE CONTINUED (in A War for Friendship – Epilogue)