The Takeover

by Zyrah

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Romance, Original Character, Mystery, Tragedy, Sex
Length: 60641

Khan and Nova, two well-known, traveling musicians get caught up in the middle of a surfacing war that's hidden in the shadows for thirty years. They don't know much about any of it but they do know this: trust no one.

Two shadow organizations. One hiding in plain sight, the other shrouded in isolation. A 30-year war, kept completely secret. Until now. The United Unicorn Society has revealed their plan to take over Equestria and although the odds are small, the unsuspecting musicians might be Equestria's only hope.

Amazing cover art by Jdbener!

Published 2015-10-18 04:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-03-18 13:51:09 UTC

Prologue

My side erupts in a burning pain as I go from flying fast to falling down. I crash into the concrete side walk, scraping my side and rolling into a bush and out the other side. I slam into the concrete back first, knocking the wind out of me. My chest heaves, trying to regain the lost oxygen. A voice pierces through my daze. "Get up!" she screams as I stare at the cloudy afternoon sky, seeing double. "Get up! They will be here any moment!"

I shoo the voice away, knowing that the pony who owns that voice is on her own assignment and not here. As the hazy feeling is beginning to fade, I struggle back to my hooves. I hear the sirens in the distance getting closer by the second and I open my wings and attempt to take off, but I don't budge.

What the-

Noticing the numb feeling in my wings, I realize exactly why I'm not able to use them. I've been hit with an AA spell. That's strike one.

A sudden pressure and a high pitch squeal fills my ear. With a yelp of surprise, I rip my headset off and throw it on the cracked concrete, the headset pulsing with electricity and sparks bouncing off the ground.

That spell fried my headset! "Son of a bitch," I gasp aloud. I guess there isn't going to be any requests for backup. The sirens now closer than ever, I'm quickly reminded the urgency of my situation as I begin galloping through the Canterlot Memorial Park. The park is relatively small when compared to the size of the massive capital city.

After I get through to the other side of the park, I run down the street, passing many closed businesses on the left side and into an alley. Not slowing down for an instant, a dead end makes itself known to me as I grind to a stop.

"As if my day couldn't get any better," I yell in disappointment to myself with an out-of-breath chuckle gazing up the wall that blocks my path.

I turn around, heading to the opening of the alley and in the blink of an eye, two chariots roll up, blocking the entrance. Chariots adorned with 'C.C.P.D.' and 'Protect and Serve' written on the blue chassis have red and blue lights flashing off the alley walls.

The unicorns step out of the wagons in a swift, well practiced motion, one by one. With a full formation completely body blocking the alleyway, one of them amplifies his voice, his horn glowing a faint black and says, "Canterlot City Police! Lay down on your stomach, hooves where I can see them." A spotlight from above shines down on me, causing me to squint.

Great, a balloon, too.

"Is that all officers?" I shout out to the mass of cops surrounding the entrance of the alley. I continue sarcastically, whilst giving my tail a small flick, "You mean you don't wanna frisk me?"

With his amplified and unwavering voice, completely disregarding my comment, he replies, "We are authorized to use force! I will not repeat myself. Comply!"

Staring down at the horns belonging to none other than the U.U.S.'s uniformed goons that are ready to fire a spell that will either tranquilize or kill me, my run might be over. Everything I had done and planned to do, is finished.

"You ponies are no fun," I say, hiding my inner feelings of defeat. If I get captured there is no telling what they'll do to me to get any information they can. Information that I possess.

Just as I start to lay on the cracked bricks of downtown Canterlot in defeat, an explosion rocks the evening sky above me and replaces the spotlight with an inferno. As I cover my eyes, I see in my peripherals a streak of pink and black leaving the explosion.

I know who the streak belongs to. What I don't know, is what she is doing here.

Sold Out

One month ago...

Khan

The final chord and the last word rings out and the crowd stomps and cheers. A shiver tingles up my entire back; there is no other feeling like a crowd of people singing along to one of your songs.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight!" The vocalist, Nova, yells to the crowd. The audience replies with another burst of yelling and applauding, chanting, "Stormborne, Stormborne, Stormborne!"

Nova looks at me in triumph. She might as well have had 'I told you so' written on her forehead. I'm definitely going to have to hear about this later tonight.

She looks back out to the crowd and asks, "Did we do good tonight?" The answer is quite clear by the hollering and chants of our band name. "If we came around here again, by power of voice, who would be here?" I'm quite sure the entire auditorium would be according to the even louder feedback from the crowd.

A beach ball flies up on stage and landsa few feet in front of me and rolls closer, I enthusiastically kick it back into the crowd where it continues its journey on the heads of the cheering congregation. I noticed that this auditorium is almost completely full. The entire floor section is packed and it looks like the nose-bleed seats are full as well.

"We've got one more for you tonight." Another burst of stomping and screaming emerges from the crowd. "This one is dedicated to you, the fans-" She's cut off by an unexpected short burst of hollering. "Because, without you..." She put her hoof on top of one of the floor monitors. "Our hobby wouldn't have become our career." She stops again for another round of applause, Stone performing a double kick snare loop three times.

"You know...." She walks slowly across the stage, taking in the crowd's massive size. "This our last concert of our Forged in Storms Tour." More screaming and yelling from our eccentric fans. "However, we have already been in the studio working on our next album!"

The crowd starts cheering. I pull a few guitar pics from my hoodie pocket and throw them into the crowd one by one, making sure not throw to the same place twice.

The bass kicks in over the auditorium, drowning the building in a low rumble. The bass guitarist, Cayne, staring out into the jumping audience and nodding his head with approval. The lead guitarist, Griel, starts the intro, and I follow in with an open chord on the first three strings. The drummer, Stone, synchronizing his kick drum with my guitar and his high hat with the Griel's. When the intro fades out into a clean sound where I played an open D chord and Griel plays a slow and progressive run, Cayne's bass-line could be heard clearly over it.

"Do you guys wanna hear one of the new songs?" Nova asks with a seductive look on her face. The cheering becoming almost even with auditorium PA.

As the bass-line comes to a close, I click a pedal on the floor in front of me, turning on the distortion. I let out a 2 tap hoofmute before the verse as Nova starts the first verse.

As the verse ends, all of our instruments go silent for a brief second, then we kick out the silence with a blast from all of our instruments. A mosh pit begins to form in the middle of the audience. The strobe lights going nuts along with the red, electric blue, and purple stage lights washing the crowd in an electric glow; the auditorium looks like a fully colored flip book. The chorus begins with a power chord from me and the lead riffs from Griel, Cayne's bass riff being very similar to my rhythm riff. Nova starts hovering in the air, singing her addition to the noise of combined instruments and crowd.

When the chorus comes to a close, the guitar solo begins. Several ponies are crowd surfing and now two mosh pits in full swing. The heat from the pyrotechnics behind me making me sweat even more, the blue flame casting shadows among the crowd, making it seem as if ghosts are joining in on the activities.

Soaking up the energy of the crowd like a sponge, before I could blink the song is over. Nova yells to the crowd, "Thank you Manehatten! Good night!" The show is over and the stage lights turn off and the auditorium lights come on so the crowd could see their way to the exits. Me and the rest of the band make our own exit off the stage, passing by the crew that will be packing our equipment up for us.

We did a good show tonight. But the night isn't quite over for us yet. We still have a meet 'n' greet in the lobby.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Backstage in the lounge, after the meet 'n' greet.

"We smashed that stage, bro!" Cayne exclaims, enthusiastically gulping down a shot of whiskey.

"Nova you were over the top tonight." Stone comments, crashing down on the leather couch behind him.

"Does a second go by that I'm not over the top?" Nova replied, matter-of-factly.

"Not that I know of," he said lazily.

Nova smiled at Stone, "Didn't think so."

Nova is truly a one of a kind pony. She really is a sight to be held and personality to match. With a solid black mane with the little strands of vibrant pink flowing through it and her almost solid white coat made her look like the perfect blend of an angel and a demon. We dated at one point, but like almost all high school relationships, it didn't last. Then she turned lesbian and yes, I do get made fun of for that.

Stone is the kind that could make anyone laugh by putting down on others in a joking way. He is a dark gray and has a disheveled mess of blue and auburn for a mane.

Griel was the quiet and sarcastic type but not in a bad way. He was more of a speak when spoken to kind of pony. He had an electric blue and white mane that stood out from his dark blue coat.

Cayne is the pony who could make even the saddest pony laugh by putting himself down and coming up with fake scenario's about things that have happened to him. He is a midnight purple colored pony with a solid vibrant green mane. Truthfully, we all look pretty exotic.

I am a dark gray coated pony with a deep blue mane and my personality is more or less a mix of all of their personalities, almost like facets of me.

We are still a young band technically with all original members except for one: The original drummer.

Cas was a good friend of mine and we had known since grade school. He always made beats on the desks in school and got lunch detention several times for disturbing class. I met Cayne and Griel at Ponyville High School. Nova and I, well...we kinda just ran into each other.

After the musical school were we had met our new drummer, Stone, we dropped out of the school and we mostly played at bars and small local music festivals but that was about it. Until our last album, we were hardly nothing. We had two songs from the previous album make it to the top 10 on the charts.

Cas went off the deep end and went missing. His mom had died about a week before he went A.W.O.L. Then, our manager got a report from the Ponyville P.D. saying he had overdosed on meth in a hotel room. When we found out he was doing drugs, we kicked him out. We couldn't have that in our band and as far as I know, he is still in a rehab facility.

"Hey Khan," Nova calls from over at the soft fabric couch she is sitting on.

"Yeah?" I reply.

"What'd I tell ya?" she asks with largest smirk manageable.

"I knew you were going to ask that."

"And?"

"And...you were right." Geez I'm going to hear about this for a while. Nova was right. I hear a disappointed "damn" escape Cayne's muzzle and Stone busts out laughing as Cayne shoves a small bag across the table, the bag jingling all the way over.

Griel chuckled and says, "Don't feel bad, Cayne. I was on your side, too. I just wasn't dumb enough to bet on it."

Cayne scowls.

"What are you two betting on over there, huh?" I asked.

Before I get an answer, the door sings open. The doorway beholds our manager, Smoky

"Hello everypony!" He yells enthusiastically. "How is my favorite band on the planet doing tonight?"

Griel replies sarcastically, "Well it is certainly a lot better now that you're here! That means I get paid!"

With a light chuckle, Smokey replies, "Yeah, yeah". He pulls out five bags that were a lot fatter than usual. "You may be wondering why I am in such a good mood tonight." Cayne's hoof shot up in the air like he was in a classroom. "And no, it is not because my BAC is more than ten percent. His hoof floats back down like a deflating balloon.

That's when Smokey explodes in a rush of excitement. "You guys, for the first time, sold out tonight."

The crew makes the amazement known. "How large was the crowd?" I ask, barely containing my enthusiasm.

"There was 7,500 available seats" Smokey replies smoothly.

I gave a little whistle. "That's awesome."

Smokey starts tossing the the hefty little bags of coin toward us one by one, me having to fly up to catch mine. I guess another detail about the band I had left out previously is that Nova and I are the only ones who are not unicorns; Nova and I are pegasi. Some ponies wonder how I play the guitar whilst not having a horn to use magic(I call it cheating, but obviously I'm joking). I basically have trained my left wing to make the chords. I also have, for my strumming hoof, a special device that holds the pick for me. I just put it on and strum away.

We finish off the night with a toast. Stone starts pouring shot glasses full of whiskey, one for each of us except Nova. She can't stand alcohol but under what reason, she has never told me. Stone stands up and says, "Tonight, we have thrown a milestone at fate and had our very first sold out show." She hovered up her glass, and I quickly picked up mine. "And on top of that," she continued. "This was the last show of our tour."

Nova stands up and raises her little apple juice box and says, "I'll drink to that."

After giving her softhearted smile, we all raise our glasses and I say, "Here's to us."

Heights

My hotel room, after the concert.

I've always loved politics. Ever since I was able to read I had always kept on top of what was going on in the government and important groups and was always a vigilante of sorts. I'm an anarchist at heart and I try to make a difference in the world through the music I play.

The government has too much power. I mean, the top officials have complete control of the sun and the moon. That's a little more power than I'm comfortable with somepony having. It wasn't but five years ago another princess rose to power. I guess I feel like everypony is capable of controlling their own life. They don't need a government to control them.

I turn on the T.V. and flip to the news channel to see what is happening in the world. Two ponies, one that I recognize as Ponyville's mayor who is running for a position on the Equestrian Council for the Solar Party, arguing with another pony, who I also recognize as the Secretary of the Treasury, who is of the Lunar Party, about the recent Zebrica megaspell deal that the council has thrown forth. The Zebras want us all dead, they even chant things like "death to Equestria" on video. Giving them megaspell's is among the worst ideas that I have ever heard of. Also, from what I can tell, we aren't getting anything from the deal either.

Another thing that has me on edge that has been sparking a lot of controversy is the racism. It isn't just something that I think that racism is a thing but I know it is. A prime example, the United Unicorn Society, also known as the UUS, has a lot of political influence that has grown over the past seven to ten years. There are nine seats on the Equestrian Council. These officials decide what laws are passed, government spending, foreign affairs, etc. Usually, there are three earth ponies, three unicorn ponies, and three pegasus ponies on the council because it's fair. It isn't required that it be that way it just is.

Or was. Up until the UUS got involved with the council, there was the occasional oddity, but it was equal. Now, five of the nine seats are unicorn, two are pegasi, and two are earth pony.

The UUS is a shady society and I don't trust them. When it comes to government there is always something that doesn't meet the eye.

Knock, knock

The sudden knocking at the door pulled me out of my trance. I realized I was completely zoned out and staring at the wall above my TV. "Come in." I shouted.

The handle twisted and the door opened.

Stone, soaking wet and rain pouring down behind him, ran inside and closed the door.

"When did it start raining?" I asked him as I stood up and tossed the remote onto the bed.

He started shaking spontaneously to get the water off of him before answering, "About half an hour ago. You haven't heard the thundering?"

I guess I haven't. My thoughts must have had my full, undivided attention.

"Are you here for what I think you're here for?" I asked him with a smirk.

He sighed with his ears leaning back a little and he stared at the floor. "Yes." He replied nervously.

"Then you know what my answer is, right?"

He looked a little more disappointed this time. "Yeah."

"There are a lot of things in this world to be afraid of, but an air plane is not one of them, Stone."

He scowled. "I know, I know. I just can't help it! The thought of being thousands of feet in the air is very...uncomfortable." He looked up at me. "I don't know how you stand it."

I opened up my wings about half way and turned to the side a little.

"Right..." was all he said.

I thought it kind of funny how someone who acts so tough is scared of heights. I'm a caring friend however, so I don't point it out.

"Breaking News!"

What in the world-

I turned around to see a news reporter in a suit and tie, her blondish mane bouncing to the right as she turned her head swiftly to the camera. "Suspicious activity has been reported in the midst of the Everfree Forest. Nearby residents are hearing reports of yelling and the sound of explosions coupled with strange flashes of multi colored light."

Explosions?

"Explosions?" Cayne basically copied the question I asked myself. He looked over at me with a worried look. "Don't we have to fly over the Everfree Forest tomorrow?"

I motioned towards the TV to get him to be quiet for a second so I could hear.

"Local authorities are not able to determine where in the region it is occurring but they also that they are not concerned as it is out their jurisdiction. The mayor of Ponyville has even spoken on the issue."

The scene reverted into a live video feed from right outside the Forest, Mayor Mare talking into the microphone protruding out from the bottom of the video. "I would like to remind everypony that strange things always happen inside the forest. It's probably nothing other than a more elevated amount of occurrence than usual."

The news reporter from earlier then popped back in to the screen. "Thank you Mayor Mare. Up next, more about how hay salad may not be as good for you as once reported. More on that, after this break."

Then Cayne once again said, "Explosions?"

"See Cayne, you are just making the flight seem worse. There is thought process to fear. It's all inside your head. Instead of letting it control you, control it."

"I guess that's what I'll have to do." He replied, not sounding as full of courage as I wish he was. "Well, I'm going to get out of your mane."

I walked over to the air conditioner and turned it to 68 degrees and then continued over to my bed. "Okay bro," I said as I started to pull my covers back. "I'll see you tomorrow at the air port. I'm tired as hell after today." I looked over at my clock. It reads 1:42. I didn't realize it was so late either but I guess I didn't need to either, I would have plenty of time to sleep on tomorrows all day long flight back to Ponyville. Going home sounds so good right now.

"Alright," he said as he opened the door. "I'll see you tomorrow then." He said nervously. He looked behind the door. I already knew what he was looking for.

"Can I-" he started before I interrupted.

"Yes."

His horn lit up with magic as he levitated the umbrella from behind the door and opens it. The umbrella had Stormborne's logo written on it with lightning making exotic patterns all over it.

"Thanks." he said as he was walking out the door.

"Uh-huh." I replied lazily.

As the door shut behind him, I turned the lights out and jumped onto the bed. I pulled the covers up to my neck.

"Good night." I told myself audibly.

What I Wouldn't Do

My grandparents house, 8 years ago

"Don't even speak like that!" My grandmother snapped at me. "You are going to college whether you like it or not."

"Do you know how much time I have put into this band?" I swiftly replied, my face turning red with anger. "I have put thousands of bits into equipment and each member has also done the same! I'm not going to college if this band takes off!"

She threw a dish into the kitchen sink, it shattering on impact. "Do you know how much money we have put back for your college fund? Are you not grateful for all that we have done for you?"

Oh, you're going to draw the ungrateful card. Okay. "How many times do I thank you for what you've done for me everyday? Clearly I don't kiss your ass enough. YOU are the one who said 'Whatever career you choose, make sure its one you want to do'. Okay then! I want this band more than anything else I have within my grasp. I have wanted to be on stage since the moment I first picked up a guitar and I will NOT let you take that from me just because you want me to go to college and live by the broken system the rest of this nation does."

She turned her head from me for a second. I know that hit deep. But the silence was soon broken when she spun around and yelled, "Don't you dare talk about the country you live in like that again! Need I remind you that this country is what your parents laid their lives down for? Are you grateful for anything at all?"

"Does anypony in this nation at all give a shit about anything those soldiers have done? My parents or not?" That stopped her. She looked down at the tiled kitchen floor. "Half of them live in poverty and have nothing to show for their sacrifice." My point was driven in like a hammer to a nail and that's when I took my leave. I hate it when we have these arguments. They may hurt her pretty badly, but seeing the way she is after every argument crushes me on the inside.

"I've got to go to work," I said in a more calm voice. "I'll see you later." I walked out the door and spread my wings and took to the sky.

I worked at a small, local restaurant that was about 10 minutes flight across Ponyville from my house. Serve customers during the day and rotate with the other ponies on stocking and washing dishes. It was a pretty easy job and the only thing that was really bad was the customers. The main things that grinds my wagon wheels with the customers is what they order. It was literally as if they just got hit in the head with a hoofball sized rock. Twice. Like when they order a hay salad...with no hay. I just smile and give the order to the cooks and let them sort it out.

I dug myself out of my own thoughts long enough to notice that it was getting pretty dark outside but it was only like 3 P.M. I guess I didn't read the weather calendar. The breeze ruffled my feathers and the wind cut through my mane like a knife through butter. I looked down at the town below me. There was Applejack, tending the apple cart and Pinkie Pie doing...well, I'm never really too sure about what she's doing. I also saw some fillies trying to do a wallflip and failing. I remember when I was into all that stuff. I was quite the daredevil but I was never stupid with it. Everything I did concerning stunts was well practiced. I could do a lot of cool things too but I had a trampoline accident that hurt my back pretty bad and it put an end to that.

I was jumping on a trampoline with some friends of mine, one of which was Cas, and we were all doing different stunts and what not. They told me I wasn't allowed to use my wings because it was cheating. What they didn't know is when it came down to stunts, I didn't need them. Anyway, I was mid-air, mid back flip when one of them shoved me. I flew over the net upside down and slammed into a nearby tree and descended down the rough bark, cutting up my back and wings and landed neck first on the ground. I mean, I'm almost totally fine with the occasional back aches, but I couldn't fly for a month after that and I still carry around a pretty big scar where the bark had carved a gash into my right wing. I feel like a walked out of that situation with the upper hand however, had I not been in the good physical shape I was in, I feel like that would have paralyzed me.

I could see my place of employment getting closer to me and it didn't look like it was very busy at the moment. I was really hoping for a slow day today anyway. A raindrop splashed on my muzzle and the water splashed up into my eyes. "Gah!" I yelped rubbing my eyes. Right as I opened them however...

SMACK!

I was plummeting to the ground with a deafening and constant ringing in my right ear and my vision was blurring. I tried to make an attempt to open my wings again but I was too out of it to recover. I slammed into the roof of a nearby building at an angle and rolled all the way up to the edge, my tail waving in the wind off the side of the building.

Did somepony just run into me? I made a vain attempt to get up but I just fell back over, my right side being shot up with a sharp pain. "Damn," I said, coughing, making my sides hurt even more. I tasted the unforgettable metallic taste of blood. Then I heard somepony land near me and I heard a hoof against gravel sound approaching me rapidly. "Sir! Sir, are you okay?!" the voice practically yelling at me. "Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." It was young mare, probably about my age. She rapped a hoof under my back to help me up, which I gladly accepted.

She kept asking the same thing over and over, "Are you okay?! I didn't mean to I was in a rush and I wasn't paying attention and-"

I cut her off, "I'm okay I promise." Her fast talking was hurting my noggin. I did a real quick check to see if any limbs were broken but after wiggling around my hooves and wings, I seemed to be fine beside a small pain under my right wing.

"Are you sure?" I heardd her say again.

"Hey don't worry about it-" Then I looked up at her and I must say, I have never seen a more beautiful mare in my entire 17 years of existence. I mean I could write a novel about her beauty but unless you saw her in person, you wouldn't believe me. She had a creamy white coat and a matte black and hot pink mane. Wow.

I saw that all of her belongings were strewn across the buildings' rooftop. A few notebooks, an XLR female to a quarter inch TRS cable that had come undone and a pretty expensive looking microphone had fallen out of her now torn backpack.

"I'm very sorry about running into you." She said frantically picking up the notebooks and putting it back in the bag. I headed over to the microphone and picked it up and went over to her with it which she quickly said, "Oh you don't have to do that, I ran into you, remember?"

"I don't know how I could forget, but that's a pretty expensive microphone. Wouldn't want it getting fried, whether you ran into me or not." I replied. Being the musician that I am, I knew if that microphone stayed out in the gentle rain it would eventually mess up. She held the backpack open which I gently placed the microphone in. Then I walked over to the cable and started to rap it up into a neat circle and came back and put it into the bag.

I looked up at her again and her horn was alight and next thing I know, a piece of tissue paper was rubbing me on the muzzle at the left edge of my mouth. "Gah, what are you doing?" I said surprised, quickly pulling away. I didn't want to come across as being mad at her, I mean it was an accident and I'm not out-of-order so...

"Sorry, sir," she said again. "You had a little bit of blood on your lip, so I was wiping it off. Just didn't think you wanted to fly around with it on you."

"Well, thank you." I said with a slight smile. She still looked really sad and the rain adding to her already messed up mane didn't help.

"Look, don't get sad about running into me. I promise it wasn't a big deal and I'm fine. Shit happens alright, that's life."

She looked up at me. "That still doesn't make me feel better about it."

I sighed. Sometimes cheering a pony up is out of your hooves. "Don't let is weigh you down. I'm fine." I dusted off the back of my right foreleg.

She shook her head back and forth at lightning speed and her mane returned to normal. "Well, I'm late for my singing lessons and I really have to go."

Singing lessons?

She opened up her wings and was about to jump to get a start off the ground when I said, "Wait!" Her wings folded back and she turned around. Now that I had her attention I continued, "So, you're just going to run into me, knock a few marbles loose, and leave without at least giving me your name?"

She kinda smiled at that. "My name's Nova."

"Nova," I repeated, letting the name roll of my tongue. "I like that." I did what I aimed to achieve seeing the slightest amount of red appear on her white cheeks.

That's when I turned tail to look the direction I would be heading. "Nice running into you, Nova," I said with a smile sliding up the side of my face. Celestia, I am such a smart ass. I opened my wings and took off.

Damn, I thought to myself as I was flying away from the scene. She was gorgeous. I wonder if I'll be able to focus my mind on work today after seeing her.

That's when it dawned on me that today was Monday.

Damn, I'm going to have to do dishes tonight.

Later that night, half an hour before closing

"Damn!" I exclaimed after spraying myself with water while using the power washer to rinse off a spoon.

"Now there is no need for all that cussin," I heard Steve call from the kitchen.

"Shut up, Steve, no one asked you!" I called back jokingly.

Luckily, that was my last dish for now. I looked behind me and saw my co-worker taking an order and then through the order window, I saw Steve working on a different order. Then I looked out the window to see how many customers had accumulated while I had my head in the sink doing the dishes. To my surprise there was only two, but one of them I noticed, was none other than Nova, her backpack sitting on top of the table next to her. Steve put up an order into the order window and called to the front, "hay salad for the lot, that completes that order." Belle, my co-worker, was walking over to the window when I told her, "I've got it." I quickly put the salad inside the bag and went through the kitchen and out the back door, Steve asking, "where are you going?"

"I'll be back in just a minute." I replied closing the door behind me. I spread my wings and flew casually over the building and landing in front of the awning, I landed and walked over to Nova's table.

"Ah, we meet again." I said casually. I walked over to the table and sat down across from her setting the bagged salad on the table and slid it over to her.

"Oh, hey!" She said with a smile. "Its you from earlier when I...ran into-"

I interrupted her, "Yeah yeah, I know. I'm the pony who got knock out by a girl." I waited for her reaction. Her eyes went wide and she started to say something before I interrupted her again. "Would you stop stressing about that?" I asked with a pause before continuing, "If you seriously hurt me I wouldn't have come to work today. Believe me, it wasn't that bad."

She kinda just stared at the table a little bit, just like last time.

"I wanna get to know you," I told her gently. "You seem like the type of pony I want to know." Really, we need a singer for our band and if she is any good, I might have found one. Surely she isn't doing stand up or something with that microphone.

She looked up at me in the eyes and said, "Well, when you get a minute, let's talk."

I looked inside the normally tinted windows of the restaurant and saw that all of my colleagues were sitting around talking and I looked back around to the lot, where I saw nopony at all. Obviously the other pony who was here had got his food and left. Then I turned to Nova and told her, "I think I have a minute."

And talk we did. We talked about random things from home-life to work force. All the while neither of us not noticing the passing of time. Then we came around to the matter of hobbies. She told me that she liked to sing in her free time. It was one of her favorite pass-times. For my little piece of the world this was some breaking news.

"Really?" I asked enthusiastically. "Me and my friends have a band we are trying to get started. What kind of music do you listen to?"

She replied, "I listen to almost anything. Music is the voice of the soul I like to believe."

A personality to match the looks and a voice that is soothing to the ears.

"Well if that's the case, then why don't swing by my place and check out our setup." Then I thought about it. "Actually, why don't you try out?"

"I don't really sing in front of other people." she replied sadly. "It makes me nervous."

Oh no.

"Why? You don't mind talking to other people do you?" I asked.

"No..."

"You said that music is the voice of the soul right?"

"Yes..."

"Then by singing, are you not just talking through your soul?"

That earned a moment of silence. "I guess so."

I grabbed a napkin and wrote my address on it. "Then I guess I'll be seeing you there?"

She sighed. "I guess so."

"Then it's a date! What time would be good for you? I need to know so the other members can come." Oh man I was so excited. If Nova is as good at singing as I'm hoping she is, then we have a new singer. "How does Wednesday sound?"

"Whoa now," she said with a sarcastic smile. "I didn't say anything about a date. Especially if I don't even know your name."

Now she was catching on to the mood. If giving her my name was what would seal the deal then so be it. "My name is Khan."

"Alright Khan," she said while getting up and putting her backpack on her back. "I'll see you then."

Nightmare Night

Khan

Good night was what I told myself at least.

The first nightmare I had had developed within the first hour of me being asleep and it was literally as if my mind acted upon Cayne's worry about the explosions in the Everfree Forest. I dreamed I was falling. It was one of those things that pulls you back into the conscious world within a split second. There was a massive flash of light and then I was falling and my wings weren't working. I fell to the earth and woke with a start.

After finally forcing myself back to sleep, the dream continued with the same intensity as before only this time, I was already grounded. I was laying on my side with Nova standing in front of me. She was covered in soot from which I guess came from the explosion. I saw the wreckage of our private air liner not too far from me. Debris covered the ground around us and random fires painted the wreckage and the nearby trees. When I looked back at Nova she was screaming at me and trying to help me up. My hearing was finally coming to when I heard her yell, "Get up! They will be here any moment!"

"Who is they?" I commented with a slur. She completely ignored my comment and helped me wobble along through the brambles. That's when she got hit by a bolt of light. She flew back through the air and slammed into a tree upside down, and sliding down it and landing on her head before finally stopping.

"Nova!" I yelled, running towards her limp body as fast as my blurring vision would allow without falling. The forest floor was wet and soggy against my hooves.

A few more streaks of light buzzed past me as I quickly grabbed her from behind and rapped my forelegs under her arms to drag her behind the towering red barked tree that she had slammed into. I was being careful not to step on her wings because Celestia knows that is a painful ordeal. When I looked down to check my steps however, something was missing. Something Nova was missing. She didn't have any wings! What the hell?!

When I finally dragged her behind the tree, I started to turn her over unto her stomach to see what happened to her wings. Did they get torn off? I finished rolling her over but there was nothing there. There was literally nothing there, except for a few long scratches running down her back. Her wings were just...gone.

I rolled her back over onto her back to look at her again. Oh man, she is going to be pissed when she finds out she doesn't have her wings! I held her head against my chest and put my hoof to her neck to see if she still had a pulse which, now that I think about it, should have been the first thing I did. I felt the faint pulse under my hoof. Thank Celestia she's still alive. I held her head close to me.

I heard a thud against the forest floor, dirt kicking up from the ground to our right. My head jerked to the side to see what it was. It was a...well, I don't know what it was actually. It was shaped like a mix of a rectangle and an oval and was bright orange. I saw little red light illuminate the ground to the side of it and a loud beep sounded from it. Then it started beaping faster and...It exploded.

The explosion caused me to wake with a start, again. My coat was glued to my body from the amount of sweat that had formed on me. I could feel the adrenaline and the urgency of the situation still my dream had put me in. The adrenaline started to fade away leaving me with a light sickness in my belly. I got up from my bed and walked to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror.

I looked as if I had not slept at all. "Luna, leave me alone with these nightmares," I said aloud to the empty hotel room. I grabbed a towel from the towel rack above the toilet and put it under the sink and wet the middle of it. I walked out of the bathroom and threw the towel on my face and held it there, letting the cool water sooth the heat of my face. I got back in bed and laid there for a while, at least 30 minutes before I finally started to nod off.

It would have been nice to go back to sleep, besides the fact I was thrown back into the nightmare that had interrupted my effort of sleep for the third time tonight. I was back where I had been, Nova still unconsciously laying against my chest. The only thing that had changed now was my coat was sticky with what looked like...orange paint? It was all over the place. On the ground around the device that had been thrown over to where we were hiding had opened up and there was a puddle of the orange liquid all around it. It was a bomb type thing, filled with paint. I tried to wipe some of it off of me, but as I did more beams of light that were all a different color started hitting the tree bark near me and the peppered the ground around me. Then Nova began to stir.

"Nova?" I asked questioningly. "Nova can you hear me?"

"Khan? What happe-," a sound of deep bass started to overcome assaulted my ears and the sound of shattering wood took the place of Nova's voice and I was peppered with bark and chips of wood. I ducked down really fast but hit my head on something and lurched back and fell over holding my forehead, my vision blurred at the sides. I sat up and saw Nova standing up over me in an unusual stance. She was looking down at me, directly in the eyes. I said, "I'm glad your feeling alright. Can you help me up now?" She didn't say anything but she stuck a hoof out. I grabbed and halfway hoisted myself up. Then I saw her hoof swing around and pain erupted through my jaw and I fell back down.

"Nova, what the hell was that for?!" I yelled at her as I wiped a hoof against my lip. I looked up back at her and she had a horn. Nova's not a unicorn! She was walking towards me and she got on top of me. Hovering over me I was going to say something to her, but my words evaporated before they left my mouth. Her eyes. They were still the original pink color but her pupils...they were completely hexagonal. Her pupils were a thousand little black hexagons. "What the fu-"

WAM!

My head lurched to the side as pain gripped the entire left side of my face. Along with the lasting sting my hearing was completely gone in my left ear. I could feel a thick, warm liquid trailing down my face as I looked up to see the source of the casualty. Nova was hovering a piece of solid wood above her head, her horn alight with a midnight black glow. I couldn't even say anything for the entire left side of my head was numb. She came down with the board again, my head being slung around to the other side. My entire head was now numb and my face wasn't excluded from the feeling. Nova hovered the board over to the side of my face, using it to coax my head to roll back to where I was facing her again. Her face was completely void of emotion. Nothing that indicated that she was still there. Then I saw as her horn grew a little lighter and looked down in time for the board to connect entirely with my face. My head sunk farther into the wet forest floor. A muffled voice slid into my thoughts as the board came down again in a relentless barrage of beatings, bone against wood.

"Khan."

The voice said my name! I couldn't say anything back however. I was stuck. The only part of me that was working was inside my head.

Then the voice returned, louder this time and more urgent. "Khan!"

That's when my eyes flew open and the sound of the wood slamming into my skull faded into desperate knocks at the hotel door.

I leaned my head up a little to look around and small pulse of pain formed in my forehead. I leaned all the way whilst rubbing my head with a hoof and noticed that I was on the floor. I had fallen off the bed and I guess I hit my head on the bedside table.

"Khan! Wake up or your ass is getting left in Manehatten!" I heard the fierce yet feminine voice of the doors' assailant. None other than the one who beat the living shit out of me my most recent nightmare. With dreams like that you'd think I was abused as a colt.

"I'm up! I'm up!" I called out loudly standing up and letting the sheets I had become entangled in fall to the floor. It's a good thing I packed before the show yesterday, I was ready to go. I went over to the mirror and straightened out my disheveled mane. I put all my things that were on the counter and brought it all to the door. Right before I opened the door I stopped and stretched my back and wings. Nothing like a good stretch to let out the inner porn star in you. I opened the door, where I found Nova and our manager standing there, leaning against the guard rails of the hotel's balcony.

"It's about time, sleepy head," Nova said. "We only have about 30 minutes to get to the air port."

"You look like shit," Smokey commented.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, following up the reply with a yawn.

"Did you go to sleep at all last night?" Nova asked.

"Barely. I had three nightmares in a row."

"About what?"

"I'm not going to tell you that," I said with a smile. She knew it was something about her.

"Why not?" she looked at me and then at the movement I turned my head to look at her.

I chuckled. "Because you would like it too much." She would probably enjoy know that she was able to beat the hell out of me with a board without actually doing it.

"Uh huh," she replied, clearly not satisfied with the answer. We go to a flight of stairs and descended them into the open parking lot. As we got to about the middle of it, I saw a taxi wagon had stopped towards the front of the parking lot, overlooking the hyperactive street of Manehatten that lurked on the side.

When we got to it, I flew up and over Nova in one quick motion and opened the wagons door.

"Ladies first," I said to her. All she gave me was a small smile. Then I climbed in and sat next to her while Smokey got in last and sat across from us.

I felt the wagon start to move and within a moment we were on the street. I looked around, taking in the details of the interior of our cab. The walls were painted gold with delicate designs running through, the Equestrian Flag painted in the center of the designs. The ceiling was a detailed map of Manehatten in full color. There was a similar map against the front wall of the cab too. The seats were a royal red, with gold embroidering and an outline of purple. Smokey probably spent a shiny bit to get this.

"Okay guys," Smokey had started pulling out a manila folder from his backpack. Then he looked at Nova, "and gals," he continued. Nova put on a huge sarcastic smile, tilting her head to the side. "A pretty well known lyricist in Ponyville got in contact with me about giving you guys 3 full songs of lyrics to work with to add on to you next album. I wanted to make sure it was okay with you guys. These are a little softer pieces than what you are used to but she also said we can alter them if we want."

"I don't mind soft as long as they have good rhythm and meaning," I added in my thoughts.

"I love soft songs," Nova inputted. "I don't feel like we have enough soothing, soft rock songs."

Smokey then said, "Alright, I'm still going get you two to read over it and see what you think. I've already showed the others."

"Glad we know who's your favorites," I muttered.

"Can it wait until we get on the plane?" Nova said. "It's not like we won't have all day to do it."

Smokey quickly replied, "Oh sure, that's not a problem." He started to slide the folder back into his backpack but he stopped for a second to say, "If you'll actually do it."

"Lets not pretend like I won't."

I looked out one of the cab windows and watched the other taxi cabs and carriages go by. I saw a hot-dog stand on the corner up the street.

"Hey!" I head Smokey shout out the front window to whom I assume is the cab puller. "Hurry up will ya? We got a short schedule!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" The puller yelled back.

"That's donkey shit! You have wings! Fly boy, fly!"

Me and Nova looked at each other in silent agreement that our manager had officially lost his mind. I felt the cab start to lift off the ground and was shaking violently. I felt the cab lurch forward and as it smoothed out back into a comfortable ride, I looked out the front window and saw the pegasus struggling to pull the cab along gently.

I turned to Nova and told her, "I'm going to go help him. He seems to be having a hard time." I walked over to the door and opened it, the wind instantly hitting me, causing my mane to flow with it.

Right before I jumped out I heard Smokey say, "He's got it under control. I'm paying him to get us to the airport on time. If you are going to pull the cab, then what am I paying him for."

Hmmm...Needed something to say to that because he was right. Then I said with a straight face, "the cab."

I jumped out the door and started flapping my wings in a backward stroke motion to be able to close the door before turning around and flying towards the front where the second harness is. I went up to it and put it on. The cab flier looked over at me and shouted so he be heard over the wind, "What are you doing?"

I answered with a grunt, putting the harness of my head, "I'm helping you! Have you ever heard of that before?"

"Seriously?" He said, facing forward again. "No."

I chuckled at that. I grabbed the mouth piece on the strap of the harness and pulled it to where it was comfortably snug around me and we flew. Celestia only knows when the last time I flew was. I used to love to fly and do tricks but after starting a band with mostly unicorns as the ponies surrounding me I just got used to walking. I sure did miss it though. It felt good letting the cool morning air come in and out from beneath my wings and the wind ruffling my feathers. The wind flowing through my mane was an awesome feeling and I almost felt bad for earth ponies and unicorns because chances are they will never know what this feels like.

I love being a pegasus.

I was allowing the wind to enter and clear my mind of everything except one thing. Those nightmares I had last night. I don't know why it's bugging me so much. Maybe it's because I can remember it so vividly. Or maybe I don't like the idea of Nova taking a board to my face. Whatever it was, I shoved it into the back of my head to stop thinking about it, it was just a nightmare.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the airplane bound for Ponyville, 6PM

Nova

"Nova."

My eyes opened. "Present," I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eye as I arched my back and straightened my wings to stretch. I moved one hoof from my just enough to see who had woke me. It was Smokey. Of course.

"Didn't mean to disturb you, but it's 6:30 and I need you to look over these lyrics before we get to Ponyville," he said.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back and groaned. I let my head roll to the side and I opened my eyes, Khan sitting across the isle, his head against the table and a hoof rapped around his head. I saw his back as it slowly went up and down with each breath.

I craned my head around my seat to look back at the others which were all asleep as well. I turned around and looked out the window, which was being pelted by rain.

"How close are we to Ponyville?" I asked lazily.

"About an hour and half out," he replied flopping the backpack onto the table in front of me. "Which is why I need you to look over these."

He pulled out the manila folder and opened it up and slid three documents out of it before closing once more.

"I'll look over them if you wake Khan up and get him to look at them, too." I am such a dick.

"I would but he looked over them as soon as he got done coaxing Cayne onto the flight," Smokey said back in his professional manager voice.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath. I am so tired. Maybe it's the rain that's causing my drowsiness. "Alright I'll do it."

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go use the little colts' room."

"Oh I bet you do," I retorted.

I watched him for a minute as he walked slowly to the back of the plane before returning my attention to the papers that sat in front of me. Instead of reading them, I drifted off into my own thoughts. Thoughts about how far we had come as a group, to the point we are at now. We were now a top 25 band. We had lyricists sending us their music for us to play, we had our first sold out show, we've put out six albums. Not many ponies get to say they've done all that and there is still so much more we could do. We always told ourselves we were going to the top whether the world liked it or not. And sure enough, here we are. It was a lot of comfort knowing that we had accomplished so much.

The plane started shaking rapidly, the papers falling to the floor. Then it stopped. Static took over the intercom and was interrupted as voice took its place, "This is your pilot speaking, we just ran into a little bit of turbulence. Nothing to be worried ab-"

The entire plane shook again but much more violently this time. I looked outside but I couldn't see anything for the rain and fog. Then suddenly I was lurched forward and thrown over the table and hit the floor, rolling to a stop on my back. What is going on? I looked up toward the back of the plane where everyone else was. Khan had woken up and was on top of the table he was previously laying his head down on. Griel and Stone had woken up also, stepping out into the isle to see what was going on. Luggage had flown everywhere.

"Nova, do you know what's going on?" Khan said urgently, while I was standing up, already completely awake and in full concentration mode.

I looked down the isle towards the cock pit and while shaking my head, replied, "I have no clue. I was about to read over those lyrics that Smokey gave me and I was thrown out of my seat."

Griel asked, "Where is Smokey?"

"He said he was "going to use the little colts' room," I replied. I walked down the isle of the plane towards the cockpit. I took a peek out the window again. It was still raining just like before. There was something off about the picture though. I stopped in the isle and went in between some seats to get against the window. The color of the sky was different. It was a blackish color instead of the lighter gray that it was earlier, when I had first looked out the window.

My head snapped around to look down the isle towards the cockpit as a muffled shriek came from that end of the plane. I saw Khan and Stone running for the front, Griel yelling after them, "I'm gunna go find Smokey and Cayne!" before he took off running the opposite direction. I followed Khan and Stone to the front. I quickly caught up because they slowed down to a stop at the cockpit door. Stone pounded against the door, yelling loud enough to be heard through it, "Hey guys, are you alright in there?"

No reply.

I looked out the nearest window, the black tint that had taken over the sky was still there. Something else was different about it now however. As I looked closer, I saw that the rain wasn't coming in at an angle anymore. It was falling in a straight line. I went over to the door and twisted the handle and pressed a fat red button that was protected by a plastic cover. The door cracked just a little bit. I felt no wind coming in to the plane and the door didn't swing open or even get pulled off like it normally would have. "Guys, come take a look at this." I open the door all the way. It was as if the plane was stuck in time.

Khan caught on pretty quickly. "What the hell?"

The only words that Stone could must was, "Whoa."

"Are we not moving at all?" Khan asked. I nodded to confirm his observation. The rain was falling in a straight line, meaning we were very high up and not moving at all.

"Why is it so dark?" Stone asked fearfully.

"Beats me," I said.

"Me too, it's only like six, it shouldn't be this dark outside," Khan chimed in.

"You two go find the others," I told them. "I'm going to fly around to the cockpit window and see what I can see." I saw them hurry off towards the back of the plane. While I flew along the side of the massive jet towards the front, I tried to formulate what could be going on. I was rounding the side of the nose of the plane when I spotted the broken windows of the cockpit. I slowly flew up to the window and what I saw...I think I'm going to be sick.

I put a hoof over my mouth and voiced quietly, "Celestia have mercy." That's all I could say. The pilot was still in the pilots' seat, his white suit completely soaked in blood. The wall behind him was covered in blood; it had begun to pool at the bottom. There was a metal rod going through his left eye and going all the way through the seat, the rod pinning him to it. I got as close as I would allow myself to get to the gruesome scene and noticed that the rod he had in his eye was actually the door handle from the cockpit door. The co-pilot was nowhere to be found. I poked my head through the window to look around some more. There was a small splatter of blood against the back of the cloth co-pilot seat. The co-pilot was not in the plane. The blood on the floor trailed towards the controls and it was smeared up the panels of various buttons and switches. The trail had continued out the broken windows and down the side of the plane's nose.

I pulled back from the planes windows and just stared in. My heart was heavy with the loss of life that I'm witnessing the aftermath of. I looked down and closed my eyes, hugging myself, the rain now having completely soaked my mane. I heard a hoof on metal sound and I looked up to see Khan standing on top of the plane above the cockpit, his mane likewise stuck to his face.

"Nova, we found Smokey and Cayne-," he paused for a second. "What's wrong?"

I didn't say anything. I only pointed my hoof towards the grim scene. Khan flew slowly over to where I was hovering, so he could see what I've seen. It only took a second for it to register with him, the grisly scene bringing his reaction out of him immediately. He flew over to me, "Oh Nova," was all he said before he wrapped his hooves around me in a gentle embrace. I returned the gesture, my first tear trickling down my face, mixing with the rain. I buried my head in his chest, using him as a shield from what was on the other side of him.

"Hey, we need to get back inside the plane, the others are probably getting worried about you." I nodded and we made slow flight back to the plane's door.

"Why would they be worried about me?" I asked. With what has happened in the cockpit they shouldn't be worried about me.

"Well, the sky is darker than normal, not even a storm type of dark and they are all in a plane that is at a complete standstill, suspended thousands of feet in the air." He looked over to me before continuing, "And they can't fly."

We continued in silence for the duration of our flight back to the door. When we got there we both landed simultaneously, we saw the others standing in a circle.

Cayne was the first to say something, "Did you two find anything?"

I looked over at Khan who replied, "The pilot is dead and the co-pilot is M.I.A." This information earned a few gasps. I noticed Cayne's eyes were taking nervous glances from Khan to the open door of the jet. I turned around and pulled the door closed, re-locking it.

Smokey then voiced the question that was on everyponys' mind, "So, what are we going to do?"

Khan replied to this question also, "I noticed when I peaked into the cockpit that all of the devices were still on, including the engines. So if we can figure out what is keeping us from going anywhere, then we might be able to stop it from doing so." He looked around at all of us. "Any ideas?"

Griel quickly said, "Nope."

"Well we've got to do something," I said. "We can't just sit here."

We got a swift reply however. There was a flash of light from outside, it pouring through the jets windows and blinding me and everypony else. I regained my sight and quickly looked around at the others. My sight was still blurry but I could see now that they were all starting to recover too. The floor beneath our hooves began to shake and the plane lurched forward, sending me, our manager, and my band members soaring through the air, tumbling towards the back. We were slamming into the ceiling, luggage, chairs, and anything else that decided to throw in a punch. I got caught in between two seats, my head slamming into the windoe about half way back through the plane. I was seeing three of everything and was starting ti get motion sickness. I took a few deep breaths and I realized something. We were all going to die.

I looked back to see what was happening with the others and I saw Khan flying full speed up the isle, him yelling to me through the chaos, "Nova! Get to the plane door and open it! The plane is going down! Get to the cockpit and see what you can do!"

"Are you crazy?! I don't know how to fly a plane!" I yelled back to him.

"I know you don't but it's our best chance! I've got to go help Griel, Stone and Smokey!"

He was about to fly back up the plane and I grabbed his hoof before he got too far away, "What about Cayne?"

He looked back at me and didn't say anything. He gave me a look that hurt me because of how much it hurt him and I understood. He just slowly moved his head side to side. Cayne didn't make it.

I spread my wings in the isle, moving up through the isle as fast as my wings would let me. I used the seats as ladder of sorts to help pull myself against the wind. I arrived upon the door and I could feel it trying to pull me towards it. I tried to move up to it slowly but that plan was useless. My hooves slipped out from under me on the first step and I was hurtled into the door at breakneck speed. I clipped my wing on the door frame and was forcefully ejected from the plane. I did several front flips before forcing myself to stop and righting myself while grabbing my head to keep my world from spinning.

There is no greater pain than hurting your wings. None. Mine hurt alot , enough to bring a tear to my eye. But I was hovering which means it still worked regardless of how much it hurt.

What am I doing? I have no time to waste. I dropped down, flapping my wings full bore towards the plane. I fought through the rain and the wind and I was catching up to the plane's tail. It was tilted to the right and going down diagonally. I caught up to the plane and flew along side it, slowly but steadily catching up to the front.

At long last, I made it and pulled myself inside. "Gah shit," I said, completely forgetting about the pilot. I don't have time for that. I looked through the controls, and found the switch that converted the controls to the co-pilot. I sat down, making sure not to put my back against the seat to keep blood from getting on my coat but when I looked down at the controls it was obvious that no matter what I did, this was going to be messy. The rain was pouring in through the broken windows and the wind blowing back my mane. I grabbed hold of one of the sticks and pulled up on it as hard as I could. We were starting to level out. But as soon as I was about have a victory shout, I heard an explosion come from behind me and the plane began to shake even more rapidly that before. Now the plane was spinning in a full spiral towards the earth at full speed.

Oh shit.

I pulled at the controls desperately, trying to find any way to right the plane. A red light came on the ceiling and started flashing, a screen in the middle illuminating the cockpit in a green glow. A diagram of the plane was displayed on the screen and the right engine was flashing red and the bottom of the screen red "Engine Failure". That was going to make things significantly harder to straighten out the plane. I started to pull the stick back and the left to account for the missing engine. I heard a loud high pitched groan and the plane started to make a move towards leveling out. Now I was being faced with another problem.

The ground was getting closer. I could see the Everfree Forest and it was getting closer by the second. I looked at the altimeter and it read 2000 feet and descending. I was leveling the plane out the best I could but it wasn't going to be enough. I was about to give up when a chord of sadness stroked the strings of heart, my conscience. All of my friend were in the back of this plane. Everyone I cared about, everyone I had left. For that, I'll keep trying.

I flipped on every switch I could, if I thought it would help even a little, that button was mashed. I kept pulling the stick towards me, as far as the frame that held it would let me go. The plane shaking constantly, the tremors bouncing me to the edge of my seat. A loud pop came from behind me and a metal on metal grind that signified something bad was happening. The entire cockpit was now layered with a green and red glow, the monitor showing me that the left engine had failed. The altimeter hit 1000 feet and started flashing its warning. I felt the plane starting to go down into its own nosedive again. I kept pulling back and I could see the plane going back up ever so slightly. Then another sound came from outside and behind me and it was a much louder metal on metal grind that sent chills up my back. I heard another loud popping sound. We were about to be in the tree tops of the Everfree. The altimeter read 150 feet...100...

Then I jumped out of the cock pit to the right side and I gave my wings a few hard beats to stabilize myself in the air. I watched in horror as the plane went down to the ground. I felt like time had slowed, to make me watch every terrorizing second of my failed attempt. I saw as the plane hit the treetops and later the ground. The left wing was the first thing touch the ground and it carved a line into the trees and upon impact of the ground, caved in on itself. All I could do is watch. As the plane touched the ground, I saw something dart out of the side of the plane right as the plane exploded and the area surrounding it was engulfed in flames. The flames with the force of the explosion had caught up to the figure and engulfed it but still the figure came through the flames too and landed about 30 yards from the plane.

Was that...Khan?

Whatever It Takes

Shortly after the crash

Nova

I flew as fast as I could, dodging through the trees and searching the ground for any sign of my friend. The tears building in my eyes only made it harder to keep from running into a tree or branches. How could I have let this happen? I had no time to lose, he could be dying or already...No! That was not going to happen if I have a say in the situation.

Zap!

I came to a complete halt in the air. Something just flew by my face and hit the tree next to me. I looked off to the right, where it had come from, but I didn't see anything. I then turned around and saw where it had hit the tree. It was just a small scorch mark, with a little bit of steam coming off the damp bark. What was that?

I looked around again to no avail. I decided to move along at a slower pace, still looking for the last of my friends. Celestia it hurt to think about that. It hurt so much. I could feel the swell of tears I was holding back. I wasn't afraid to cry but I had more important things to do than breakdown. Especially in the middle of the Everfree Forest.

I kept searching with undying persistence, my determination for finding Khan at its peak.

I saw a little flash of light from the corner of my eye and I stopped just in time for another zap sound to hit a tree behind me. The smell of burnt wood immediately hit my nostrils as I turned to the source of the light. It was a...colt? It was a unicorn colt. What was he doing this far out into the Everfree alone? He only looked to be about 13-14 years old.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. I was hovering towards him slowly, so as not to startle him. "You don't have to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. Where is-" His horn lit up again and the spell he had cast at me hit me square in the chest. The place where it hit immediately made me jolt, like it had sent a short shock of electricity through me. I tried to flap my wings but instead of me going back into a hover, I fell and landed hard on my back, my head hitting the root of a nearby tree causing a sharp pain in the back of my head and my vision to blur and pulse with my rapidly rising heartbeat.

"What the hell was that for? I'm going to hurt you!" I said as I sat up, rubbing the back of my head. My vision began to refocus as he made a few steps towards me. As I started to pick myself up to a sitting position, the colt's hoof slammed into my face sending me straight back down, hitting my head on the same root, for a second time. My vision had turned red for a split second as I stared at the tree ceiling. I leaned my head up, despite its protest to just lay there.

` I saw the colt standing above me, his head down looking at...well, down there. My head was still throbbing but I tried to move, the new found fear starting to course through me and take hold and I moved as much as my aching head would let me, but I wasn't getting very far, very fast. Something struck me as odd though when I noticed my attacker wasn't trying to follow me but his head came up and he locked eyes with me and I noticed for the first time, his eyes were not normal. The pupils contained what looked like hundreds of little black hexagons and it was creeping me out. I kept sliding backwards, the soft forest floor giving me a decently solid grip to use to push myself away from him.

Now, he was following. For every push backward, he made a step forward. I kept going backward, trying to get away, but my escape path was cut short as I felt the damp bark of a tree behind me. With no where else to run, I attempted to stand up. He was getting closer to me, about 2 steps away at his pace. I got up to all fours and spread my wings and took to the sky.

Or at least I tried to. I looked back towards my wings and gave them a few flaps but I was still grounded.

I couldn't fly.

I turned back around and was face to face with my attacker which startled me, but then his hoof connecting with my snout, and I fell backwards and landed against the tree. My vision once again going blurry. My attacker now stood above me, his eyes beaming down into mine. He looked down again...down there. This time though, his horn began to glow a dark but transparent black. His horn was aimed straight at me and that's when I realized that he wasn't looking down there, he was aiming his horn at me. His horn was steadily growing brighter and I had nowhere to go. I didn't know what he was going to do, but I knew from the spell he had hit me with earlier, it wasn't going to be good.

I looked just stared at him in uncertainty. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't feel my wings and I had lost all of the fight I had left in me. I thought surely that he was going to kill me, but his expression was unreadable. It was as if nopony was there at all.

Shink!

My eyes went wide as I saw three blades pierce through the colts' forehead and for the first time, his expression changed. It was a look of shock that was now plastered on his face. I also noticed his pupils, as they rolled back into his head, were no longer hexagonal. Blood started to spill out into a little stream down the colts' face. The blades retracted back into his head from wince they came. I started shaking at the sight as a fresh wave of fear came over me. The colt fell lifelessly to the ground blood already starting to pool around him.

Who was standing behind him however, I was not expecting. It was a griffin.

The griffin had a completely serious but calm expression, a set of steel armor covering his entire body. The chest plate had an emblem that I did not recognize, painted on the front over his heart. He had no helm and had a scar going through his right eye. The gauntlets that he had equipped had blades that were basically an extension of his claws.

"Are you from that plane that just went down?" The griffin asked me in a rough voice and a commanding tone.

"Ye...yes." I replied shakily still recovering from the attack and now able to focus.

"I am Sergeant Coldfire." He said as he pressed a button on his wrist guard and saw as his blades retracted in to small bulk on the top of his paw, from where he reached out a paw in offering to help me up. "When I saw your plane go down I raced ahead of the rest of my squad. They should be catching up at any moment."

"I'm Nova-" I heard a rustle in the bushes behind him and I stopped talking. He turned around slowly. Then a pegasus jumped out of the brush. He had the same dark steel colored armor with the same insignia over his heart but his armor seemed a lot lighter than Sergeant Coldfire's.

"Catch up?" The pegasus asked sarcastically. The pegasus had a forest green coat and a black and lime green mane with lime green eyes to match. And like Coldfire, he wore no helm.

Another pegasus landed hard on the left side of Coldfire and quickly looked up and said, "You make it seem like you're faster than us." This one had bright blue eyes and a yellow coat, with a green and red mane. Once again, the same armor as the other pegasus but he wore a band around his head that had his mane running under and over it.

Coldfire turned back around to me and rolled his eyes. It was obvious that outside of being teammates, they were close friends. He then turned around and said, "Alright, stay tight, we're moving out. We are going to find the other civilian and we will be rapping up this trip."

"Yes sir," the two pegasi replied in unison.

He then turned to me and said, "You ready?"

I nodded. I was ready for anything if it meant I was finding Khan and getting the hell out of this Celestia forsaken place. He had to be around here somewhere.

Coldfire turned around and commanded, "Heads low, eyes open. Move out on me." He walked slowly and tactically, in a well practiced stance, the opposite direction from which I had come. We moved up at a slow and steady pace, I was in the middle, Coldfire was in front of me, and one of the pegasus ponies to the left and right of me, their hoofsteps in sync. I tried to flap my wings enough to get into a low hover, but they were still not working and I couldn't feel them moving. Almost as if they weren't there.

"So," the pony to my right killed the silence, slightly looking back at me for a second before snapping his head back around to keep watching forward. "Never did get your name."

"I never got yours," I said back in a matter-of-fact tone.

The pegasus to the right of me let a small chuckle.

"Fair enough," he said back, looking to the right at his teammate. "My name's Nyxal and the giggling buffoon over there is Rivera."

"My name is Nova." I said turning to my right and giving a small smile. He had a look of shock on his face, like he couldn't believe his friend just said that.

Zap!

"Get down!" I heard Rivera yell.

Coldfire also shouted to me, "Nova, behind that tree, go!"

I ran, with trails of light following close behind. The tree I was behind was getting peppered with spells. I leaned against the tree and slid down into a sitting position and put my head against the bark. My breathing had become heavy again, noticing the pure adrenaline running through my body now. I let my head roll to the side, attempting to stem my rapid breathing. I closed my eyes and took in a breath. The constant zapping sound along with the shouts of Coldfire and his team told me that there was quite a few of those...things. Whatever they were.

I opened my eyes. I looked over the trees and the brush. As I let my head roll to the right and I saw, what seemed to be a dark gray hoof, hanging out from behind a tree about six yards away.

"Khan?" I asked out loud, to no one in particular, my outburst catching the attention of Sergeant Coldfire as I ran behind them to where Khan was lying.

"Nova, stop!" Coldfire called out to me, but I wasn't having any of it.

The scene only got more nasty the closer I got to him. His coat was burnt on the back of his back legs and over his hips. His head was on top of a root and under it a small pool of blood had formed atop some leaves. His face had a trail of blood going down the side of it and his left wing a little out of place, maybe out of socket.

"Holy shit, Khan." I whispered to myself. I started to give him a gentle shake in an attempt to wake him from his unconscious state but that wasn't enough. I checked to see if he was still breathing and he was. "Khan, wake up!" I shouted, shaking him a little more forcefully than before. "Wake up!"

Zap!

A gasp escaped me as a spell hit the tree above Khan and I. I looked behind me where I saw three emotionless faces with horns alight from about twenty-five feet away, slowly advancing through the brush.

I started shaking him again, harder. "Khan! I saw his eyes flutter for a second before slowly opening and him blinking several times and his eyes getting a little wider with each blink. "They'll be here any moment! We've got to go!"

"What's going on?" He asked groggily. He sat up a little bit and winced, running a hoof down his head and mane and he looked at his hoof that was now covered in blood. He looked up at me and said, "All of this is real?"

What was he talking about? "Yes, this is real and we've gotta get back to Sergeant Coldfire!" I helped him up and let him lean against me, his wing around my back for additional support. He was stumbling hard. Then he stopped for a second.

"What are you doing?! We've got to go!" I yelled at him. Then he tackled me to the ground and I heard that familiar sounding spell as it hit the tree about five feet behind us.

"You're not beating the shit out of me again!" He said trying to get back up and stumbling to the side. I stood up and brushed myself off and quickly steadied him, again leaning against me.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked concernedly while half walking, half dragging, him back to where Coldfire and the rest were.

He replied with a slight gurgle, "If we live through this," he stopped and had a coughing fit. He spit a glob of white and red goop to the ground and through blood covered teeth said, "I'll tell you."

I half-walked, half-pulled him back to where Coldfire and the others had taken cover from the onslaught of magic behind a fallen tree. As soon as we got behind the tree, Khan knelt down, and then fell over completely with a groan. I nearly fell over trying to catch him. "Khan?" I asked frantically and got no response. Then it all hit me at once; the fear and the losses. I had just lost everybody I loved and cared about, all in one day. Except for one and that one was going unconscious on the ground, life probably slipping away. My eyes were tearing up really badly and I could feel a lone tear fall down my face. I sat down next to his head and lifted his head up and set it in my lap. "I can't lose you, too." That statement being voiced made it impossible to hold back the tears and I cried. I cried for the first since my mom died. The sound of spell on wood and the constant shouts didn't matter anymore. I wept into his mane, the tears mixing with blood and that mixing with the forest floor.

I heard Rivera say behind me, "Sarge, this isn't looking too good. We've got to get these civilians out of here. We are outnumbered at the very least eight to one and if they overrun us we are all going to die or become one of them."

I looked up, face wet from tears to see what they would decide. "Nyxal, report back to HQ and tell them we are on our way back with two civilians. Tell them to bring a squad and meet us halfway and have a paramedic on standby."

Nyxal quickly saluted and said, "Yes, sir!" before taking to the sky at full speed heading to the northeast and disappearing through the tree cover.

"Rivera, carry the injured civilian to the rendezvous point. I'll cover our retreat."

"I'm on it," he quickly replied and was walking towards me. I tried to wipe the tears from my face the best I could.

Rivera started to pick up Khan when Coldfire took his attention off the approaching attackers and put it on me. "You make it obvious that this pony is very important to you-"

"He's all that I have left!" I said, choking back a sob.

He looked over at Khan and continued, "The best thing you can do for him, as of right now, is keep it together. We can get you both back to our home base and get him medical treatment." He looked back at me. "Think of it like this; if you die because you couldn't hold it together and those things got to you, what would he have left? Better yet, what if you turned into one and he came across you later on down the road?"

His words struck deep and he was right.

"So let's get out of here." Coldfire said. "Stay in front of me." I got up with new found encouragement and did as he asked. "Rivera, move out."

Rivera and I walked side by side with Coldfire covering our six. Khan was laying across Rivera's back, completely unconscious.

I heard a rustle of leaves to the right of me and I paused for just a second, before Coldfire said, "Keep going and don't stop."

He jumped through the leaves towards the noise. I started looking forward again, keeping my eyes open. Out of my peripherals, I saw a small flash of light and what sounded like somepony smashing an apple. He walked back through the bushes and took up his position behind us again, his metallic claws now fully extended and covered in blood. His claw extensions had to be at least five inches long.

I looked over at Rivera wondering what he had as a weapon, because I didn't see him using one earlier. That's when I noticed his armored wings. The front and the back of them were sharpened and I saw a sheath of some sort built into the underside of his armor under his left foreleg. That blade must have been pretty long because the handle was directly under his chest, so all he had to do was reach down to the left to bite onto it and pull it out. We came up on a pathway and we followed it to the southeast. We walked for what seemed like at least twenty more minutes and nightfall was upon us. Coldfire had a flash light mounted on the underside of his armor, Rivera did too. They used a button on the panel on their forelegs to turn them on, just how Coldfire had used a button on the panel to retract his claws.

We continued undisturbed, however, nothing tried to attack us. It did make me wonder how much further we had to go. Khan was still asleep on Rivera's back.

We came to a fork in the path we had been following. The pathway to the left wasn't clear however. Four of the unicorns lined up in row as if they had been waiting for us. Then four more came out on the right pathway.

Coldfire shouted, "We're surrounded!" I turned around and saw that at least ten more of them had blocked off the path behind us.

"What's the plan, Sarge?" Rivera asked, obviously trying to stay calm.

"Still working on it!" He said, turning in circles over and over again looking for a possible way out. "We can't fly away with an incapacitated civilian and the other under an AA spell."

"AA spell?" I asked, concerned because it was obvious he was talking about me.

"Anti-Air spell. It's why you can't fly right now. Why you can't feel your wings even though you can still flap them." I tried to flap them again, achieving the same result that I did earlier.

I looked around us and we were unquestionably surrounded. Then, one of the unicorns that was blocking the path backwards, started approaching and his horn was starting to light up with that familiar black glow and all of his buddies did the same. The unicorn was now close enough for me to able to see the tiny hexagons that made up his pupils.

Then an arrow punched through the unicorns chest, the unicorn dropped instantly and the hexagons faded away from his eyes. This didn't stop the rest from coming though and I didn't have a clue where the arrow had come from but it wasn't shooting at me, so that's a plus. Another one hit one of the unicorns in the group behind us on the right trail and I heard a rapid beeping noise and small explosion. Blood splatted the area around the pony and it killed the two unicorns to either side of him. I saw a shadow come up behind the remaining unicorn and the sound of a knife being unsheathed, the unicorn's head popped off and hit the ground with a roll, the rest of the body falling over. With the beam of a light now being cast on the shadow, I saw it was another pegasus with the same armor as Rivera. His right wing had small splatter of blood on it

He motioned for us to follow and said, "Follow me! The others are just down this path" We ran down the right path and past the blood splatter that was what was left of one of the unicorns. I noticed this new pegasus had a crossbow slung over his back, making it obvious he was the one behind the two arrows. The sound of spells hitting the ground and trees around was becoming constant and we were only running as fast Rivera could go with Khan on his back. We turned a corner to stay on the path and I could see then end of the path that had five ponies guarding the entrance. When we came upon them, they parted so we could go through and we had entered a clearing. They had another four ponies with them and one of them had a white lab coat on the other two were standing behind him with what looked to be a stretcher. That must be the doctor. Nyxal was standing near them, guarding them I presumed. There were two more paths, one going to the west and the other going to the south.

Rivera quickly rushed over to the stretcher and the two ponies beside it had moved aside and the gurney was wrapped in two different colored auras, one was a dim green and the other was a vibrant blue. Fear suddenly took over me, I looked around to see whose magic it belonged to when I realized the two ponies that were behind the stretcher were unicorns. I was about to run over to them and the doctor reached out a hoof and stopped me and I looked up at him and saw he had a horn too. I fell backwards in an attempt to back away from him and I scrambled away to the other side of the small clearing. Coldfire flew over to me and quickly tried to calm me down, his body blocking my view of them.

"They are not the bad guys! Did you see their eyes? They weren't turned! They are with us!" Coldfire scolded me in hushed tone so that others wouldn't hear it. "You need to calm down before I make you." He stated threateningly. I didn't notice their eyes though and now that I thought with reason about it, if they were 'turned' then they would have tried to attack us.

I stood up, shaking the leaves out of my mane.

"Are you good?" He asked me. It was one of those questions though where I could tell if I said no, he was going to do something to me.

"I'm fine," I said with a straight face. "I'm sorry."

He moved away towards Nyxal and Rivera. I saw that Khan was now on the stretcher that the two unicorns were holding up with their magic at a table height so the doctor could look over him. Well, I had no reason to be afraid of unicorns anyway. Hell, my band was 3/5 unicorn and that's not including our manager. All of our crowds had unicorns mixed in with the rest of the earth ponies, the pegasi and griffins. These people were good people, or at least, they where helping me and my friend without question, good and bad being irrelevant.

I saw the doctor pull a needle from his lab coat and cleaned it off with a recently opened alcohol pad and wiped off Khan's neck with it and stuck it in. I hurried my pace to get over to him so I could see for myself what they were doing. "What are you putting in him?" I asked as I quickened even more to an almost run when Nyxal quickly cut me off about five feet from where they were at. "What are you doing?!"

I struggled against Nyxal but I couldn't surpass his strength. A sharp pain erupted in my neck and the pressure of it caused me to gasp in pain and just like that the pain was gone. I turned around to see Coldfire standing there, an empty syringe in his paws. My eye lids were getting heavy as I looked at him in shock. My legs were getting shaky and I just stood there and stared at Coldfire for at least fifteen seconds before I asked, "What did you do?"

"What I had to." He said in an emotionless and authoritative tone.

I fell over, my vision even with the ground. I saw him toss the syringe to the right of him as he turned and walked away from me. I was trying to fight the tired feeling I had, but it was a fight I was losing and one I had given up on. My eyes closed as I drifted off into a dreamless and drug-induced sleep.

Tensions

The E.A.E.A. HQ's Infirmary

Khan

As I regained consciousness, my body was taken over with pain. My left wing being the source of the most pain. My back was aching and the back of my legs and hindquarters were extremely sore. And my head! Celestia my head was hurting. I felt like shit and there was no other word for it.

I opened my eyes and immediately closed them again, the brightness of the solid white room being too much for me to handle. I blinked several times to gradually get adjusted to the light. Once I could look around without the light hurting, I tried to figure out where I was at. It was obviously a hospital of some sort, but it wasn't Ponyville's hospital. The door was to the left and was ajar and there was another door across the room from me and to the right that was completely open and I could tell it was a bathroom from a quick glance at the layout. To my right, there was a solid glass window, with the morning sun rising, the light flowing through to cast a shadow just below the window, where I saw a couch that was currently unoccupied. I felt like shit and there was no other word for it.

I heard a conversation in the hallway, the mix of words and hoofsteps starting from far off but moving closer. My door slowly came open the conversation dying off as the two ponies -griffin and pony, my bad- entered my room. The griffin had a uniform of some sort on, seemed to me like a drill instructor uniform. The pony had a pair of glasses on and a lab coat with a clipboard and a pen floating alongside him. He had a red and white mane and tail to match with a green coat. He looked over at Nova first before looking over at me.

"Ah, you're awake." He said as he walked over to the monitors I was unaware that I was hooked up to. "How are you feeling?"

I thought about it for a minute, "I feel like I should know where I'm at first."

"You're in the E.A.E.A. HQ's Infirmary." The griffin said to me in a stern voice. The doctor looked over at him with an 'I-could-have-told-him-that' look.

E.A.E.A. HQ? What the hell was that? "That doesn't tell me where I'm at."

The expression on the griffin's face soured. "How about you stop worrying about that and more about what Dr. Mosley asked you."

I looked between them both, back and forth before looking to the doctor and stopped on the doctor and said, "I feel like I was just in a plane crash." I paused for a second because the doctor kind of gave me that 'you-were-just-in-a-plane-crash' look. Then I continued, "but that's just physically. Emotionally, I feel like I just lost everypony who meant anything to me." I took my gaze away from him and turned my head so that I was facing the ceiling.

Why'd I bring that up? It only made me feel worse. My way of handling things, especially bad things, was a bad way to say the least. If it's something I don't feel like I can handle I just shove it into the deepest part of my mind and sleep it off, like I think it'll go away by the time I wake. It's a broken system, a flaw, but I've done it all my life and I didn't show any signs of fixing it.

There was a moment of silence during which I saw the griffin and Dr. Mosley look at each other and back at me in unison. "Well, regardless of what you are feeling, you are alive and you don't show any signs of anything otherwise." I look out the window as he continued, "But you haven't lost everypony."

My head snapped back to him so fast it hurt, but the sense of hopefulness washed over me was becoming a relief in itself . "Who?" I asked urgently. If there was nothing else this doctor could tell me, it better be who else it was that survived the crash.

"I believe she said her name was Nova."

Nova was still alive? How? The last that I remembered of her was telling her to go the cockpit and see what she could do to keep the plane from going down.

"I need to see her!" I said leaning up as fast as the various tubes and needles would allow but my effort was in vain because a rush of pain arced up my back and my head, sending me right back down on to the mattress and left me squirming.

"Not so fast. You are in no condition to be walking about." I put all my strength into pressing my forehooves against the mattress, an automatic reaction to help steady the pain.

"Can you go get her?" I said through gritted teeth in a dangerous tone.

"I think you need to-"

"I don't care what you think!" I exclaimed. "Go get her!" The yelling definitely made my head hurt worse and caused a lone to tear to leave its warm trail down my cheek. My heart rate was rising and it was obvious by the beeps coming from the vital monitors. Everything would be better if I could see her. The doctor seemed unimpressed, maybe even a little disappointed but why should I care? He doesn't know me and neither does that griffin.

"Sergeant Coldfire, go get Nova for me please." The griffin turned around, obviously reluctant, and walked through the door and disappeared around the corner to the right. My breathing slowed, and the beeps returned to the pace it was at before.

The doctor watched Coldfire leave and turned around to look at me again and let out a defeated sigh. "I'll let you see her but you've got five minutes."

Five minutes? That wasn't enough! "That's not-" I started before the doctor interrupted me with a slightly raised voice.

"It's not negotiable." Mosley stated firmly. "The only reason I'm letting you see her is so you don't overexert yourself trying to get to her. You've been asleep for a while but that isn't going to be enough."

A while? I looked out the window again where I saw the rising sun shooting beams of light across the room and giving the forest below the window a yellowish glow. I assumed it was the next morning but Mosley didn't make it seem that way. "How long was I out?"

"About two and a half days."

I leaned my head back against the pillow and stared at the ceiling. Two whole days? "You mean a literal two days?"

"A literal two days being two twenty-four hour intervals, yes."

Before I had the time to let the shock of being K.O.ed for two days straight settle in, Coldfire walked into the room and took a post to the side of the door. A pink and black mane belonging to Nova rounded the corner and her entire face lit up.

"Khan!" She gasped, galloping across the room towards me. I leaned up as far as I could to intercept her hug but I couldn't have been more prepared. I couldn't believe I was holding her in my hooves right now.

She was almost up in the bed with me, but I didn't care. I couldn't say anything as she buried her face in my chest her mane almost completely covering my face. I could hear her choke back a sob, her ears were completely pinned back. I hugged her back, as much as I could and I heard her say, "Celestia, I thought you'd never wake up."

I heard the door shut and looked up and saw that Mosley and Coldfire had stepped out. "I thought I was the only one who survived the crash." I said back, me holding the only pony who made it out causing the rush of feeling I had pinned up, out. A surge that I couldn't control. I cried more than I ever had. I tried to speak but it didn't work, my sobs took the place of every word. I hugged her tight, wing draped over my right foreleg and I didn't want this to end. It reminded me of us when we were in high school, the night her mom had died.

She pushed up from me, her mane was down in her face I moved it to the side and tucked part of it behind her ear. She had a small cut going down her lip but other than that she was completely unharmed. Although it did make me wonder how it got there. "What happened to your lip?" I asked, wiping the tears from my eyes.

She kinda looked reluctant to tell me. "I-," she started but couldn't seem to continued.

"It's okay," I told her. "We're okay. Tell me what happened."

"There was this pony out in the Everfree Forest, there was something wrong with him," she paused to wipe tears from her cheek. "He um...he hit me. Two or three times, he hit me."

This discovery lit a fire in me, "Do you remember his face?" There was nothing that fanned my flames worse than a stallion hitting a mare. It wasn't right.

"There's no point," she said.

"Of course there's a point, Nova, he hit you."

"He's dead." Dead? Surely Nova didn't...kill somepony.

"Did you-," I started before she quickly interrupted me, apparently already knowing what I was going say.

"No!" She exclaimed before I could finish. "It was the ponies who saved us. Well, ponies and griffin, who saved us."

"Coldfire?"

"Yeah," she said sadly. "He saved me but...that colt couldn't have been older than thirteen."

She laid her head back down against me.

"It was you or him," I said, trying to comfort her. "I'm glad it was you."

She laid there for a few seconds longer without a response, when she looked up and asked me, "What was it you said you would tell me if we lived through that?"

"What?" What in the world was she talking about?

"Whenever I found you, I barely got you awake, but I was helping you back to where Sergeant Coldfire and his team was. About halfway there you tackled me and a spell hit the tree behind us." She stopped for a second. "You said something about you not letting me beat the shit out of you again."

"I don't remember any of that happening but I know what you're talking about." I looked down at her before continuing, "I had this dream the night of our last concert. Suddenly I was falling and I woke with a start, eventually going back to sleep. The second dream, you had gotten hit by a spell and you were knocked unconscious and I dragged you behind a tree to get away from whoever was doing it." I paused trying to remember what all had happened. "The last dream I had, you were a unicorn, and you had a bunch of tiny hexagons for pupils, and you picked up a piece of wood and I'm pretty sure you killed me."

Once again, she had her head laying against my chest, under my chin. When she spoke, I could feel the vibrations of her vocal cords, "So, I was one of those things?"

"What things?" I asked.

"Unicorns were the ones attacking us. According to Coldfire, they're who brought the plane down."

My eyes went wide, "What?"

"They weren't normal, there was something wrong with them, but they had the same hexagons in their eyes as I did in your dream."

I looked back out the window and at the late morning sun. "So all of that's real." I said it was as more of a statement than a question.

This was a lot to take in and it made my brain hurt. So the way Nova's eyes had looked in my dream was going on out there. There were other unicorns out there, that were acting the same way she had. They brought down my plane. They brought down the plane that had my entire life since I was about ten years old in it. More importantly, they brought down the plane that had my entire family in it. My band was my family and Smokey was no exception.

I couldn't let that slide. That was not something I could just let go. I felt a hatred boiling inside me I had never felt before.

"Khan?" Nova asked, a concerned look on her face. As I was pulled out of my thoughts, I heard the machine next to me going crazy, the entire screen glowing red with blinking numbers, my blood pressure was going up and I could feel my face burning up.

Mosley ran into the room and stopped for a split second, Coldfire following him in. "Coldfire, get her out of here."

"What?! No!" I shouted, the beeping gradually getting faster. Coldfire quickly grabbed Nova and pulled her off me, the cold air cooling the places she had been lying on.

Coldfire jerked her around towards the door, she was trying to fight back but couldn't match his strength. "You've done enough damage already," I heard Coldfire say to Nova as he was holding her across the chest.

"Stop spouting your bullshit!" I hollered at him trying to sit up, adrenaline now pumping through my veins. Mosley was putting a restraint on my right foreleg now and two nurses came through the door and walked past Coldfire and Nova towards me.

"If you hurt her I'll fucking kill you!" I yelled at him in the fiercest tone I could muster. The vital monitor was going haywire now and with Mosley barking orders to the nurses to hold me down, the beeping from the monitor adding to the chaos.

Coldfire had made it to the door with Nova hugged to his chest and was about be through the door way, when I called after him as loud as I could, "You hear me you piece of shit?! You hurt her, I'll rip off your claws and cut your fucking throat with them!"

I looked to the side as Mosley had completely put my arm in a restraint and had a syringe held in an aura of magic. Floating to the tube opening on an I.V. stand that was connected to me, I saw his magic fluctuate as he emptied the syringe into it.

"I'll fucking kill you..." I started to say but couldn't continue, the medicine working fast and getting to me. "I'll...kill..."

That was all I could say as my eyes closed and I was once again back asleep.

<--------o------O------o-------->

9PM the same day, Nova's hospital room.

Nova

My eyes fluttered open, the first thing I saw being my pillow in the left eye and the blank vital monitors in the right, my vision blurring the two together because my were crossed. I refocused and pulled the sheet off of me and I turned over and sat up. I let out a yawn and threw my hoofs into the air and fully extended my wings and stretched.

My neck was still sore from wear Coldfire had stuck another needle into it, the muscles still a little tight. I rubbed the muscles with my hoof, trying to get it to ease up but it didn't work. Oh well. It's not like it was hurting.

The only light that was on in my room was the lamp on the table to my right. The window to my right had nothing to display besides the summer night sky. Jeez, what time was it?

I wiggled to the edge of the bed and slid out of it and onto my hooves. I walked over to the bathroom and flipped the light on. The first thing I did was look in the mirror. My mane had really taken a number from my struggle with Coldfire. I had nothing against him, he saved me, I had no reason to. My desire to see for myself that Khan was okay was unreasonable and out of control.

What I saw of his condition when I first walked into the room, it grabbed me. The underside of his legs from what I could see was raw and a bright pink. His left wing was in bandages and he had another bandage rapped around his head.

You've done enough damage.

Coldfire's words echoed in my mind, although I don't see what I could have done, they still hit me hard.

I remembered my first day of being here, I woke up in the same room I was in now, and it was right about noon. The only things I asked the doctor was where Khan was at. He assured me he was fine but he wasn't in any condition to have visitors. I accepted that. I haven't seen much of this place, the only thing I knew was I was in the infirmary. I've kept my mind occupied with books that I had requested, my argument being 'If you're going to keep me locked in here, at least give me something to do.'

A pen and blank sheets of paper would have been better as I was a lyricist at heart and it was what I did but apparently I wasn't trustworthy enough to have a sharp object in my possession while I was unsupervised. So, I read. All I did was read. I passed the time by turning pages. In fact, when Coldfire had come to tell me that Khan was awake and that I could see him, was the first time I had left the room.

The hallway looked like any hospital hallway; white tiled floors, white walls, and high ceilings. A nurses station in the center of the two hallways parallel to each other. The various documents and record books scattered around and one nurse measuring some kind of medicine in a vial before sticking a needle into the rubber piece at the top and pulling back, the syringe filling up. I had seen elevators at the end of the hallway, but where they lead to I didn't know. From what I could tell from the window in my room, we were about three stories up.

It had been a long two days while Khan was asleep and me being the worry wart that I am, had exhausted myself. The second night I had been here I went to sleep so easily. It was a lot easier to go to sleep than it was to be awake and face your problems. Khan and I shared that trait, although I'm pretty sure I wasn't like that before I met him.

As far as what I was going to do now, I didn't know. I guess just try to look my best. I picked up a brush from the counter and stared at it for a second. This was one of those nice brushes that had a hoof-handle that you could slip your hoof and the brush had an extended handle, making things easier. Celestia bless whoever came up with that invention.

I turned back to the mirror to see myself staring back. I brought the brush up with my hoof and began to bring it back to my signature look. That's much better. I put the brush back down on the side of the sink, letting my gaze drift from my reflection. I grabbed the hoof towel from the holder on the wall to the left and turned on the warm water in the sink and put the top half under the steaming stream of water. I rung it out and put the towel to my face and with both hooves, wiped it up and down my face. When I felt like it had done some good, I turned it over and used the dry side to dry my face. I started with my forehead and slowly went down and when my eyes were uncovered I opened them and gazed directly into the mirror.

What I saw was myself, but not myself. I saw what I must have looked like after the colt had gotten a few hits on me, my lower lip bleeding, the blood trailing down my face. My mane was a mess, more so than I would ever willingly allow it to be.

It stared directly at me, the towel I had in my hooves not present in the reflection.

My blood went cold and I took a few steps back from the mirror, I wanted to look away but I couldn't. My reflection's face had a sad expression on it and it said, "You could have saved them."

I didn't know what to do or say. My doppelganger looked as if it was gaining satisfaction from the sadness that had washed over me at that statement. Despite my fear, I actually spoke back to it. "I tried," I said in a shaky voice.

The reflection's smile distorted for a second and when it stopped, it now had gritted teeth and a look of pure hatred, "You call what you did trying? Ha!" It laughed in my face, it's word stinging like hell fire. "You keep telling yourself that."

It continued laughing and I covered my ears with my hooves in attempt to block it out. It was just as loud as before, my efforts in vain. Then the laughing stopped.

I was in tears now and after a second of staring at the ground, I got the courage to look up. It was still standing there, my doppelganger's face now back to the way it was when it first showed, lip still bloody.

The mirror behind my doppelganger began to distort, the shower behind me turning into a bunch of trees. In the midst of a small clearing our plane being the center of the picture. Wrecked and the remaining engine on fire, it was completely torn in half and the nose of the cock pit was split in two, the inside of the co-pilot's side of the two halves that was now the cockpit, I saw a pony sitting in the seat and head down against the controls. The entire left side of the pony was charcoal black. It was a pegasus, the left wing having been completely ripped off. The right side was...me. My coat was covered in blood, what was left of the colored parts of my mane was glued to my head with blood and my right wing drooped down, almost touching the floor.

"This is what trying to save them looks like."

The only thing I wanted to do was look away. But I couldn't. My eyes swelled with tears and I was well past the sobbing point but I couldn't look away.

The scene right beside the half of the cockpit that held my body began to distort. Other figures starting to form next to it, my doppelganger still in the center of the mirror. The figures took shape of four unicorns, standing side by side. They were all burnt to a crisp. The one on the far left had a pole going through his chest at an angle and coming out the top of his skull above his right eye, a bass guitar leaning against his left shoulder. My heart sank and hit the very bottom of my chest.

It was Cayne's guitar.

The horror settled in as I looked across the others. Griel was to the right of him the burnt flesh on his right cheek was sagging down below his jaw, his signature Blue Lightning guitar leaned against his left shoulder. The next one was Stone, two drum sticks were dangling from his mouth and I could see two cracked ribs protruding out of his chest. The last one had a scorched manila folder in his mouth, one of his eyes missing completely. Smokey.

I was finally able to look away, my head hanging low, and tears falling fast and frequent. I tried to hold back the sobs, but I couldn't do it.

I couldn't say anything. There wasn't anything I could do or say. I looked back up the mirror now only showing the four of them standing in a row all staring at me. The image faded away and my doppelganger took its place in the mirror again, this time it looked like me now, my eyes completely puffed up and face completely wet with tears, it staring at the floor. It slowly lifted its head up with its eyes closed. Tears slowly making their way down its face.

Then its eyes shot open, the pupils completely filled with hexagons and it said calmly with my voice, "You could have saved them."

I brought my hoof around and hit the doppelganger square in the face and screamed, "Fuck you!"

The mirror made a loud pop noise and shattered on impact, the doppelganger replaced by the rusted metal that sat behind the mirror.

I brought my hoof back and fell down against the wall, no attempt to break the fall. I sat there and cried harder than I ever had. I could hear the doppelganger as if she was still here saying, "You could have saved them."

It was tearing me apart and there was nothing I could do. I cried so much my neck and shoulders were hurting, but that didn't stop the sobs. I started coughing, them being so forceful it made my chest hurt and the lack of oxygen burn. When it finally stopped I fell over on my side, whimpering, the tears still flowing.

"You could have saved them."

I responded with a quivering whisper.

"I tried."

I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was asleep.

An Informal Introduction

Two days later, E.A.E.A. cafeteria, 12PM

Khan

Nova and I walked nervously to the lunch line, surrounded by ponies we had never met. Some were in military uniforms, some were in casual clothing, some were fillies and colts, some were old. The line was long, at least forty ponies ahead of us. We constantly attracted stares from the ponies that past us by and the one that was already seated. At least the line was moving fast.

This is Nova and I's first day to see the outside of the hospital wing and so far, it was like we were a freak show. I leaned over to Nova, "I'm used to being the subject of attention, but I don't think this is the kind of attention I want" I told Nova in a soft whisper.

"It's probably because you're outsiders," answered the pony in front of us. He turned to look at us, his face covered in a gray beard and a gray mane with a few strands of black in it. "You're the first outsiders we've had in twenty years."

"Is that so?" I asked him casually. "How long has this place been here?"

"Almost thirty years. In fact, this month will be the thirtieth year."

With two questions I found out more about this place than I had in the last four days asking Mosley and the nurses. I wanted to know more. "Really?

"Oh yes sir, there will be a week of festivities the entire week of the anniversary at the end of the month," he said enthusiastically. "There will be live music, parties, after-parties, and the week after that there will be elections for our next combat coordinators."

"What is today?" Nova asked, obviously interested in what the old stallion was saying.

"Well, today is the 30th of September." That's interesting. Maybe this place isn't that bad if they have parties and music.

"So what is this place for? Why is it here?" I felt like these were more important questions. Questions that needed answers.

"I'm am not under the authority to tell you," he answered. "If you want those questions answered, you might wanna ask Sergeant Coldfire or General Vida, they could tell you."

I looked over to Nova and she looked back then I turned around and asked him, "Would you get in trouble if you told us?"

"I don't know, but I know it's a secret, albeit a loose one, but still, I'm not going to risk it."

"Okay thanks," I said.

"No problem," the old stallion said before turning back around and moving up in the line, Nova and I taking his previous spot.

More ponies had extended the line behind us. The line still moving up, I looked over the cafeteria looking for two empty seats. I found a few and asked Nova, "Where do you want to sit?"

She looked around and pointed to a table in the far corner of the seating area, "Over there."

"Alrighty," I said, me finally getting to the serving area. I grabbed a tray from the stack next to the glass divider that separated the ponies in the line from the ponies serving the food and put in on the metal bars like the rest of the ponies were doing.

"Hi," I said to the mare behind the glass. She didn't respond. She just stared at me and poured a spoonful of rice on my tray and then added gravy to it. Well aren't you a bucket of sunshine.

I moved down the line to the next mare, she put a bottle of water on my tray. I stayed there for a second. Then she looked up at me and yelled in raspy voice, "Move your ass!"

"Okay! I'm going, I'm going," I said as I grabbed up my tray and scurried to the end of the line to wait for Nova. When she had her tray, its contents the exact same as mine, we both flew over the occupied tables, holding our trays with our front hooves and landed next to the table we decided on in the line, me sliding mine over to the far side of it and trotted over to it and sat down. Nova set her tray next to me, so both our backs were against the wall and we could see the cluster of people and tables. I noticed that the front of the cafeteria was an elevated platform, with two floor monitors and several loudspeakers set up in a half octagon across it. It was a stage!

"You noticed it too, huh?" Nova said to me. noticing my awestruck look.

She said it with such a bored tone, it prompted the question, "Are you alright?" She looked back at me for a moment before the floor became the object of interest.

"What's wrong? You know you can tell me," I said in a reassuring voice.

"When I saw that stage it brought back a memory of us at the school talent show." When I looked back up to the stage, her observation made sense. It did look just like how our school had their equipment set up. I remember Stone's drums nearly coming apart too, he was holding them together with magic. The memory brought a smile to my face, but I it quickly faded.

"It's because they aren't here," she said in a sad voice, her ears starting to pin to the back of her head. "That's why it hurts."

I looked at her and I didn't know what to say, then she looked down to her plate with a grimace. "We haven't even done anything for them. We didn't have a pyre, or a service of any kind," she said. She was right, we hadn't. Of course, none of the ponies we were now surrounded with knew them, but we knew them and that's the only thing that mattered.

I stood back up and reached out a hoof in offering of assistance to help her up. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"You'll see."

We both took flight high over the cafeteria, leaving our untouched meals on the table, gaining us even more stares than before and left the cafeteria through the same door we had come.

We walked down the hallway we had used to get to the cafeteria because I remember seeing a courtyard and that's where we were going. I took a left and saw a huge, tinted window that displayed the courtyard.

Lining the red brick walls there were flowers of all kinds; roses, tulips, and many more that I couldn't name. A cobblestone pathway had been made curving through it. There were two colts and a filly running around the courtyard playing tag. They were running around laughing and having a good time, not a care in the world. Their joy kinda rubbed off on me, their innocence brightening my mood but also making me envious. I wish I had that kind of peace. The kind of peace that you only have as a foal.

There was a tree in the center of it, it was tall but not too tall and the limbs branched out, leaving the ground beneath it in the shade from the afternoon sun. Grass was growing everywhere around it but under it was nothing but moist dirt. Snapping my attention back to where I was going, we continued down the hall where I tried to find the door to get through to the courtyard. I made sure Nova was still behind me and we both continued down the hall and we both stopped at the outside door, then I slowly pushed it open. A soft and cool breeze was the first thing to greet us as we walked through the door. When the door closed back to, the children heard it and hey all had stopped in a row and looked at me and Nova. Then they went back to playing as if we weren't there.

I walked to the area under the tree, Nova keeping on my heels. When I reached the dirt under the tree, I stopped. I noticed that the area under the tree, where the grass couldn't grow, was a perfect circle. There was a small twig hanging down from a branch and I reached up and grabbed it and pulled it out.

Nova then asked me softly, "Why did you bring me here?"

"You'll see," I answered. "Go over there and pick four of the most beautiful roses you can find."

"Wh-" she started before I cut her off.

"No questions, just do it," I said.

As she flew over to the nearest patch of roses, I turned my attention to the dirt. I broke off all the little branches sprouting out the side of it until it was just a straight stick. I then looked down to the dirt and I wrote a name into it. It wasn't just any name, it may have belonged to thousands of ponies, but this pony was the only pony it belonged to in my book.

Stone.

I went over next to it and wrote a different name, the same condition applying to is as the last one.

Griel.

And I did this. I kept going and under Stone's name, I wrote in the dirt:

Cayne.

And last but not least, under Griel's, I added:

Smokey.

They were about a hoof's length apart and I drew a square around each one.

Nova slowly floated back over to me with four blood red roses.

She sat the flowers on the ground. "What is this?" she asked, cautiously approaching the circle, like it might attack her.

At first I didn't know how to respond. The words quickly came to me however. "This is doing what's right," I said to her. "This is putting our friends to a final rest."

She stared at the squares for what seemed like an hour, but was really only about a minute. She then spoke a single word in a soft whisper, "family."

"What?" I asked gently and softly, the scene I had made before us starting to grip me even harder than it did while I was making it.

She sniffled and let out a sad and defeated sigh. "This is putting our family to rest."

And for the second time today, she was completely right. They were family. They are family.

"You guys made up a our lives..." I said sadly, loud enough for Nova to hear. I bowed my head down and closed my eyes before continuing, "And it kills me to know that when I wake up in the morning, you won't."

"It kills me to know that when I go to sleep tonight, you'll have beat me to it," Nova said. I looked over to her, her comment having surprised me. Her words shook me to the core and I realized something else. We weren't normal ponies. We were musicians. We had explored all of the darker sides of life through music and lyrics, from drugs to death. That's what set us apart from most of the world. We weren't the only musicians in the world, but only musicians can relate and truly understand other musicians. That's what set us apart from normal ponies, from the ones who listen.

I grabbed two of the roses from the ground, careful not poke myself with the thorns. I hovered over their makeshift graves and I dropped a rose on top of Stone's square and then on top of Cayne's.

I went and floated back down next to Nova and tucked in my wings. I looked over at her and she was looking at the two roses on the ground below her. She picked them up and she spread her wings and ascended into a hover just like I had. She dropped a rose on top of Griel's square and then on top of Smokey's.

She then floated back and landed next to me, I could see the tears forming in her eyes.

I looked back over at the graves, the graves of our family members. We were both hurting, but we would be okay. Without even meaning to, I let out a verse from one of the lyric sheets that Smokey had given me the day of the crash.

"You won't see me die here."

I blinked after saying it, a tear escaping my eye and falling down my cheek. The phrase was symbolic to me. It was as if I was talking to all four of them, me assuring them that their absence hurt me, but it wouldn't kill me. I would make it through this and Nova would too. Silence had erupted over the courtyard. I looked around and saw that the three foals that were running around had stopped to see what we were doing. Nova turned around and saw them too and then looked back at me, the motion in my peripherals causing me to look back at her. We both locked eyes.

"You won't see me die here."

She spoke the words and rapped her forearms around me and I immediately returned the gesture. I heard her starting cry, inhales coming in small breathes and released in full ones. I then walked around to the side of her and draped my uninjured wing over her back and turned away from the tree. I held her tight, past the staring children and we both walked through the door from wince we came.

I know this sounds crazy, but I felt better. I felt good. I had left my pain and my sorrows under that tree. A weight that was bringing down my heart and my mind had been lifted. I took the sorrow off like a raincoat after walking into your house. For the time being, I had a taste of the peace of which just a few minutes ago I had envied the children for. It wasn't much, but it made the difference.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Khan

The walk back to our hospital rooms was peaceful. There were no other ponies in the hallways and we just drifted through in silence, side by side. When we turned down the hallway that held our rooms, Sergeant Coldfire was waiting outside of Nova's room, with two piles of neatly folded cloths sitting on the floor to the right of the door. Coldfire was wearing his uniform, the different badges and pins reflecting the bright lights of the hospital hallway.

"You two made it back," he said as I slowed my pace.

"Something I can help you with?" I said calmly but cautiously.

"No, but you can help yourselves to these uniforms," he said tilting his head towards the stacks.

"And why would I do that?" I asked. I hold no allegiance to this place. Hell, I didn't even know what it was.

He straightened up and then said, "You are really about to piss me off with these questions." He paused for a second to see if I would comment on it, but I let him continue. "I figured since you aren't allowed to leave, you might as well start getting to know everypony. So, I took the liberty of moving you to gen-pop."

"You're vagueness is starting to piss me off," I retorted. "What do you mean by, 'we can't leave'?

"Is this a prison or something?" Nova quickly asked, I could tell she was already starting to worry, as was I.

"I'm going to ignore that comment because throughout the next couple of weeks, we are going to be getting to know each other quite well," he said, looking at me but his gaze drifting towards Nova. "Both of you." He once again did not answer her question.

I looked over to Nova and she looked back, I had run out of smart ass comments to say and any questions I had, he wasn't going to spill the beans. It was respectable of him to have such a high tolerance but it was fueling a hatred. One of the perks to being someone who was in band that was somewhat popular, no one told you what to do. If I did anything it was of my own accord, not because someone else told me to.

"You've got five minutes to change, then I will show you to the barracks."

"And if I don't change?" I asked sarcastically.

Nova nudged me and said, "Khan just drop it, it's not worth it."

"Listen to your girlfriend," he stated, the scar across his eye scrunching up with the rest of his face to give a dead serious expression and threateningly calm tone, "Because if you don't change into those clothes and follow me, you will be strapped to the hospital bed in the next and I will personally force the clothes on you and leave you there until I feel like you might wanna change your mind." He leaned towards me, at eye level to me. "Either way, you're putting on that uniform."

He looked over to Nova and his face softened a bit, to more of a concerned look. "I need to talk to you," he said, then turning to face me. "Privately."

<--------o------O------o-------->

Nova

Khan had put his clothes on right there in the hallway and waited outside the door for me. Coldfire led me into the room I had been occupying since I got here and shut the door behind us. He started to slowly walk to the other side of the room and from the direction he was heading, I knew where he was going. He walked up to the bathroom door and turned the knob. He slowly pushed the door open, revealing the shards of broken glass all of the floor and the rusted square on the wall that once held the shards.

"You want to explain to me what this is?" he asked. He had an expression I couldn't read and it kinda worried me. I didn't have an answer, I really didn't want to talk about what had happened in here. "Look, Nova," he started looking to the ceiling and inhaling, his feather chest expanding more and more by the second before he looked back down at me. "Those shards of glass could be used as a weapon. "He stopped and looked out the window, his chest now puffing out. "I have no reason to believe that you would use them as a weapon. But for security purposes, I need you to tell me what happened."

I looked to the ground and pretty much everywhere else besides his eyes, "To put it simply, I had a breakdown. And I smashed it."

He only looked at me for a moment with a contemplating stare. What was he going to do? Search me? I'm not wearing anything so I don't have pockets.

He finally looked over to the window and said, "I'm going to trust that you aren't potentially hiding anything for malicious use." He looked back to me, "I can trust you, right?"

"Yes," I answered quickly. "You can trust me."

"Fantastic," he said casually. "Get changed."

"Okay-"

"Yes, sir," he interrupted, making it obvious that I was suppose to repeat it. "You might as well start getting used to it."

"Yes, sir." He smiled in approval before turning around and started towards the door. Not giving a second thought to our conversation, I pulled the shirt over my head and put my forelegs through it and then put on the pants. The shirt was a military green and gray mix and the pants are a forest camouflage. To my surprise, they felt casual and they were an almost perfect fit.

When I came around the corner, Khan whistled. "Aren't you looking snazzy," he said playfully.

I responded over dramatically, "stop it." I put a hoof to my forehead, "you're flattering me."

He chuckled, "Such a smart ass."

"I could say the same about you."

"Granted."

"Alright, you two," Coldfire commanded, "stop flirting and follow me."

Flirting?

I mean, it wasn't too far fetched. We used to date, sure. I had heard a rumor that I was going to get kicked out of our band. I told him I turned gay, figuring it would be easier on me when I got kicked out. The thing is, I didn't get kicked out but I couldn't just tell him I broke up with him and 'turned' gay just because I thought I was about to get the boot. So I just played the role of the lesbian in our group but with all that has happened, we weren't much of a group anymore and I'll be honest, I've had a major crush on Khan ever since. It sucks because I was in a band with him, on tour with him, sometimes even shared hotel rooms with him, but I couldn't tell him. It was a secret I had kept so long and I was definitely considering coming out of the closet. The straight one.

Coldfire started walking the direction Khan and I had just come from, but instead of turning left towards the mess hall, we kept going straight. There was a door that led outside and apparently that's where we were going.

It had gotten dark outside. It couldn't be past two but clouds had blocked out the sun, the sky now a light gray. We got to the door and I couldn't have prepared myself enough for what I am seeing.

There were ponies everywhere. It was even busier than the streets of Canterlot during the five o'clock rush hour! I heard Khan say, "Whoa," as he too tried to rap his head around the sight.

With just a glance, I could tell that this place had everything. There were shopping outlets lining the streets along with an abundance of various restaurants and bars. The buildings were all at least three stories tall but none were over five. I noticed that a lot of them were wearing the same clothes as me and Khan, which made me feel like I blended in more with the crowd.

Blending in? I must be losing it. All of my life I've done nothing but try not to blend in.

We kept bobbing and weaving in and out of the crowds of ponies in a single file line, at least as straight of a line as we could. A few of them would look up from various activities they were partaking in and give us a glance and some even would say, "Hey Sergeant Coldfire!" Where he would respond with a "Hey" or "How's it going?"

We came to a fork in the road, the street getting wider before branching off. The thing is, they didn't shrink back down. Both streets to the right and left were twice as wide as the one before and with it twice as many ponies and four times as many shops. There were vendors that made a row going down the center of the two streets, adding more variety to the amount of things to see and do.

We ended up going to the left but sticking to the right side of the row of vendors. I saw many different types of food being sold, all of it smelling amazing, considering I hadn't eaten at lunch today. The streets were bricked, but not worn like the ones in downtown Canterlot or Germaney. They were smoother and more even along the ground and looked a lot newer.

The street curved back to the right and I could see that we would have ended up in the same place even if we did go to the right side, because the streets met up again.

To the left is this massive building that towered over the other buildings that we had seen. Where the two streets met again had a wide, open space that had the same symbol that Coldfire had on his combat armor cascaded across the ground using different colored bricks. To the right there were massive barracks that had to be at least three stories tall and just as wide as they were long. There were three that I could see but due to our angle, I couldn't see past the middle of the third one nor could I see what was across the street from the buildings.

"Nova, are you coming?" Coldfire asked me bluntly. I hadn't realized it but I had stopped walking to take in my surroundings. Khan was looking at me with a worried expression and I was going to ask him about it, not that him looking at him was a problem, when Coldfire continued, "We don't have all day, you don't want to keep the general waiting."

"Yeah, I'm coming," I said.

I looked behind him at Khan who was looking at me and said inaudibly, "We don't have all day."

I put my hoof over my muzzle and looked away so that Coldfire wouldn't see that I was laughing.

We were heading to the tall building to the left where there were two guards in what is obviously this base' signature armor. We were coming up on the entrance when Coldfire stopped walking and turned around. "You both need to tuck your shirts in. The general is very strict about new recruits and their dress code."

"We aren't recruits," Khan said sternly.

"Actually, you are," Coldfire replied. "Seeing as you can't leave, that means you have to stay. And just like every other pony that lives on this base, you must go through a mandatory two-week training course."

"Training course?" Khan asked curiously. "Training for what? Why can't we leave?"

"You will be training for combat," Coldfire said, as if it were obvious. "This base is the most secure place in all of Equestria for a reason and you can't leave because the only thing that is out there is the vast expanse of the Everfree Forest and you wouldn't last the first hour." Khan looks a bit insulted, but what Coldfire is saying is probably true. I don't see him having a reason to lie about that, but it made me wonder something.

"Secure from what?" I asked nervously.

"Anything and everything."

I started to tuck in my shirt and Khan did the same although reluctantly. So what I've gained so far is that we are somewhere in the Everfree Forest and we are in a military base that has been here for about thirty years.

After we were tucked in Coldfire looked us over and said, "That should do it."

The two guards stepped aside and let us enter the door, Coldfire in front of me and Khan behind me.

The lobby was just as massive as it was elegant. A beautiful chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling and two stair cases on either side of the front door spiraled up to a second floor balcony that wrapped all the way around the lobby. A red carpet rolled through the room from the door to the reception desks at the end of it, with granite tiled floors that looked as if they had been recently polished. There were three desks but only one was occupied; an elderly mare with glasses and gray mane flowing to the side, who didn't look up when we walked in, perhaps too occupied to notice.

Coldfire turned left and began ascending the staircase. Khan and I looked at each other and we both took flight and went over the gilded gold guard rails and landed right as Coldfire had got to the top of the staircase.

"Pegasi," he said in a defeated tone. "Lazy asses."

I giggled and Khan laughed. Celestia I loved his laugh.

We continued walking, Coldfire now in the lead again and we came up on the end of the balcony and went into a wooden door. Behind the door was another staircase which we followed the griffin up.

We got to the top and compared to the lobby, this room was...interesting. The staircase led out in the center of the room and the front of the room had a large window that looked over the rest of the base; you could see down the streets we had just come from along with the hospital off in the distance. The hospital was also taller than the rest of the buildings, something I had not noticed before. The entire left and right side of the room was lined with bookshelves and had no room for any more additions. In the center of the book cases on one side, there was a table that had record player on it and many vinyl records stacked in their boxes along either side of it. The other side however was cut out completely and a cello stood elegantly against the wall, eight different types of bows that were different lengths and sizes sat four on either side of the neck of the cello. The shelves were a dark mahogany and there wasn't a spec of dust to be seen; it looked as if it had been polished recently.

The opposite side of the room held a dark mahogany desk that matched the bookshelves, with papers and files in random stacks and order all across with enough room to get behind the desk on either sides. Behind the desk was a window that was built into a half circle, looking out over an ocean. The blue water stretched as far as the eye could see.

Also behind the desk was a brown leather chair that was turned around facing the windows. You could see the top part of a light purple mane and the tips of what looked to be some really furry ears.

"General, the outsiders are here to see you," Coldfire spoke in a very respectful tone, standing up straight. Khan and I looked at each other, him giving me a reassuring smile.

The chair started to turn around and a mare in a general's uniform, a pin over her heart that had a five stars in a pentagon shape. I had met a general in the Royal Guard about a year ago and she seemed almost no different. Except that she had the bases' symbol on her shoulder and...she's a batpony.

We only saw batponies when we played small shows at bars when we had first started up Stormborne and very rarely at our bigger shows like Metal on the Meadow; maybe it was just how loud shows like that are that kept them away...or the lights.

She was leaned back in a relaxed position, legs crossed and forehooves behind her head. "Thank you, Sgt. Coldfire," she said in a young and sweet voice. Her tone really didn't match her looks and she couldn't have been over twenty. Her overall expression was very calm, not really that of a general. "May I talk with them privately?"

"Yes Ma'am," Coldfire said, giving a salute by forming his talons into a fist and putting it over his chest before turning tail and heading back down the stairs.

When the door shut, the general erupted. Literally.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe Khan and Nova are standing in the same room as me!" She jumped up and flew full speed to where the record player and the stacks of vinyl records and began tearing through the stack. I was shocked. How did somepony completely disconnected with the society that we are used to know about either of us? The general quickly found what she was looking for and flew back to her desk full speed, grabbed a pen, and flew towards me and Khan and stopped on a bit in front of us.

"Would you pretty please sign this?" She said, being extremely bubbly. We had fans and we had done autographs but I have yet to come across one so...enthusiastic. It actually brought a sense of normalcy, something I hadn't felt in a while.

Khan was quick to play it cool, "Well of course we could!" Her face lit up like Canterlot on Hearth's Warming Eve. Come to think of it, I've never seen a batpony so happy before.

"This is so cool," she exclaimed quickly giving me the pen which I held with my teeth and the general holding the vinyl record cover so I could sign it. This was actually really fun for me too; it always made me happy to make fans happy. I wrote out my name in cursive, adding my signature loop on the 'a' that wrapped around and made a line across the top of all of the letters, stopping at the 'N'.

When she felt the pressure of the pen on the cover release, she pulled it away and looked at it. "It's even more awesome in person!" she exclaimed with glee, not at all trying to hide her excitement. She the slid over to Khan and I let him grab the pen by the writing end. He flicked his head up, letting the pen fly in the air before it came back down and he caught it in his teeth, the end of it now facing towards the cover. He put the pen to it and began signing. I hadn't noticed it, but this was our first album and this also left me with a question.

"So, General-"

"Please, you two can call me Vida," she interrupted. "Just Vida."

"Okay, Vida," I said making sure to use her name. "How did you get your hooves on this album? I know this has to be the most remote location in Equestria."

"Well, we have a port and we trade with ponies at other ports," she replied as if it were obvious. "We get all kinds of supplies and we build and create things and we send them off to Yellow Pierre Port. It's also how we keep up with a lot of things going on in the world around us."

"They never question where it's all going?"

"They think we come from a country overseas."

That's cool. So they could get just about anything that anypony else in Equestria could, even being way out here. Wherever 'here' is. Khan gave the pen back to Vida who immediately exploded in joy...again. She wrapped her hooves around Khan's neck, unknowingly hitting his currently healing wing which gained a pained face that she couldn't see. She pulled away from him and ran over to me. I braced myself for impact. She wrapped her hooves around my neck and then pulled away leaving her hooves on my shoulders and looking at me with a massive, fangy smile.

"The others won't believe this! Now I just have to get the signatures from Griel, Stone, and Cayne and this album will be worth so much around here!"

Khan and I exchanged a sad look, the thought instantaneously bringing a sense of dread over us. My ears were starting to lean back, Vida noticing our saddened expressions and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You mean you don't know?" Khan asked. "You didn't ever wonder why we are here?"

She began looking around as if trying to find the answer somewhere on the wall or ceiling. "I don't guess I did." How could the general not know about what happened?

"I'm not really kept in the loop about what goes on anymore. I revised the system around here where it runs almost flawlessly without my interaction," she said. "Which is also why I probably won't be reelected next month. But back to you. What happened?"

"We are here because our plane crashed...it might have been taken down," I said sadly. "That's why you'll never be able to get their signatures."

"No! That means Stormborne is over?! You guys can't be over, you're like the gods of modern rock and metal!" She sounded as sad as we looked.

"That's where you're wrong," Khan said. I knew he was about to get really philosophical. "Gods can be killed. It's legends that never die," he said looking away from her before continuing, "And we really aren't much of legends."

He was right, we really weren't but that didn't stop a look of shock implanting itself on the batpony's face. "Not much of legends? You guys are one of my favorite bands of all time! And I'm hard to impress!"

"We're sorry," I said. "I think Stormborne has had it's final tour."

"Celestia, that sucks," she said sadly hanging her head a little.

It sure did. It sucked more than anything else I could think of.

Quickly changing the subject, Khan asked, "So, we have a few questions of our own. Could you answer them?"

"I will do my best," Vida said, putting her smile back on and standing up straight.

"Awesome," Khan said. "So I guess my first question is where in Equestria are we?"

"That one's easy," she said nonchalantly. "We are in the southeastern corner of Equestria and the only thing around us that isn't the Everfree Forest is the Equestrian Sea."

Wow, we are on the edge of Equestria. "Okay, what is this place and what is it doing here?"

"That one isn't so easy," she looked to the ceiling again, expecting the answers to be there I suppose. "Well, I know that going 30 years ago, there was this political group called the UUS, or the United Unicorn Society, and they were trying to do nothing more than eliminate pegasi and earth ponies for an all unicorn society." Eliminate?

"Did that work out for them?" Khan asked curiously.

"Not at first. Nopony knew what they were up to other than trying to get selected leaders into high ranking positions so they could have a massive political influence. When one of the unicorns caught wind of what the UUS was really up to, he quit immediately and built an underground community that was at first known as The Resistance but was later changed to the E.A.E.A. or Equestria As Equals Association."

"I knew it!" Khan exclaimed. "I knew there was a lot more to the UUS than what met the eye!"

"Then you were very correct," Vida said back. "The E.A.E.A. had their first clash with the UUS on the outskirts of Hoofington. That's when the general at the time, General Knapp, had invaded a secret UUS base and found out the kind of magic they were trying to come up with. It basically boiled down to converting pagasi and earth ponies alike, into unicorns. And through their horns, the UUS controls them."

"I was attacked by a unicorn in the forest the day of the crash," I began recollecting what had happened. "He hit me with a spell which sent me toppling back into a tree. He walked up to me and his pupils hexagonal and he had his horn pointing at me? Can you explain that?"

"Yes I can. For pegasi, do not ever get hit by there spells more than twice within an hour," she said. "The first time they hit you shuts off the magic that allows you to fly, leaving you grounded."

"What magic?" I asked. We were pegasi. How do we have magic?

"Have you ever flown fast enough that there is a trail behind you?" Vida asked and we both gave a nod. "That's magic. Surely you didn't think our small wings could carry us around at such speeds did you?"

I had never given it any thought.

"Okay...what happens the second time you get hit?" Khan asked.

"The second time you get hit your wings will be gone. The wing tissue and bones will all line up around your rib cages," she said immediately noticing my jaw dropping. I really hope she was pulling my tail right now. "Since I know one of you is going to ask," Vida continued, "The third time all of the wing tissues and bone will move up through your body and create a horn. Then your horn beams back a signal to wherever the UUS is and they will be able to control you."

"What about earth ponies?" I asked.

"They have two chances to get hit. The first one takes all of the extra muscle that pegasi and unicorns don't have and do the same thing that the second hit does to pegasi. The second time they get hit, well, it's the same as the third for pegasi."

"Wow," is all I could say.

"So, what about unicorns?" Khan asked, his eyes floating to various points all over the room.

Vida replied, "They can't get hit. If they do, they immediately become under control of the UUS."

This information was really useful...and terrifying. It was relief to get an answer to so many questions that have been building up for days. So, this place really risked a lot to help me and Khan out of here, especially since there was nothing we have done in return. They sent a doctor and two, what I assumed to be, EMT's that were unicorns out there, knowing if they got hit they would turn instantly. That actually gave me a twinge of guilt. Why would they go out of their way and risk so much to help us?

What happens if they hit you with the spell, or Coldfire?" Khan's question bringing me out of my thoughts.

"They don't try to hit us with the same spells they would try to hit you with," Vida started and sighed lowly. "They just cast a spell that will stop our hearts within 10 minutes. They can't turn us, which means they can't control us. And if they can't control us, they would rather us be dead."

"That's terrible," I said, Khan also nodding in agreement.

"That's a double-edged sword really," Vida commented, her facing towards the back window across the sea. "A blessing in disguise." That's true. I would probably rather be dead than be controlled and I know for a one hundred percent fact that Khan felt the same way in that matter. "Anyway," Vida continued coming back to a more joyful state. "Anything else you wanna ask me? I've got time for my musical idols."

"Please don't treat us any different from anyone else just because we are famous," Khan said. "I mean, we aren't really famous but please don't treat us better than others. Equestria as equals right?"

Vida thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. That doesn't change the fact that I am super hyped that you two are here!" We couldn't very well stop her from that, could we? I did have one more question though.

"So what is this I heard about a mandatory two-week training course?" I asked inquisitively.

"Everypony on the base must go through the course once a year, every year, starting at the age of thirteen and going on to the age of fourty. Normally you could do it at any time of year for your first year and then do it at that same time the next year and onward. However, you guys are technically outsiders, so you'll have to do them immediately. It's really a testament to the security of the base."

"Is the course very hard?" I asked. I really hope it isn't hard.

"Yes. It is just as emotionally straining as it is physically. That's why it's so effective despite the amount of time it takes to complete," Vida said casually, making it obvious that she has been through it enough times that it really wasn't anything to her. Well, that hope of it being easy just flew out the window. Khan looked a little nervous but he still had the celebrity smile on regardless.

"Okay, so when do we start?" he asked.

"You can start Monday. That way you two will finish right as the anniversary festivities begin," Vida said, giving us smile. "Wouldn't want you to miss that. This year should be really good since it's the base's thirtieth year." She looked at both of us. "You two should get going. Coldfire is going to be your training instructor, but don't worry. He's actually a lot more gentle than the others."

"Alright, Vida," I said. "I guess we will be seeing you later, huh?"

"I'm one of your biggest fans," she replied, becoming more giddy. "Don't act like you won't be seeing me later."

"Glad to have somepony on our side," Khan said with a smile.

I smiled at that. Who would have guessed that our first friend on base would have been the general. Coldfire came into the room to collect me and Khan, and we followed him to wherever we were going. I've decided that this base isn't such a bad place after all and I'm sure once we get to know the other ponies, it won't be so bad. With my band now completely gone, I really didn't have much to leave for anyway. Khan was truly all that I had left. He is here and I am here.

That's what really kept me together. That's what made not being able to leave, not so bad.

S.S.D.D.

Five days later, The Training Grounds, 7:30PM, Wednesday

Khan

I smiled as I soared around the track to complete my second of the five laps required. There was only one pony ahead of me, the others behind me. The wind was ripping through my mane, causing my tail to ripple and leaving a trail of blue behind me. I took a peek back at the rest of the trainees, some of them very young and one or two of them on their last year of training. I saw Nova neck and neck with somepony else for fourth. There is four other pegasi behind me, including Nova.

I slowed myself down ever so slightly, so as to not wear myself out as I passed the line for the third lap, the pony in front of me still going full speed, only about ten feet ahead. The last few days have been very strenuous and Vida had not sugar coated the severity of these exercises in the slightest. I am actually glad she didn't, because it would have sucked if she did and then we were thrown into this. I passed by two unicorns and five earth ponies as they ran around the track, also having to do five laps. That's the one thing that was truly fair about all of this is that everypony got the same treatment and the same amount of strenuous activity, regardless of race. Nopony could complain about somepony else's exercises being easier.

At 6 in the morning, the pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies all run five laps together and then run to the training ground's mess hall and ate breakfast within twenty minutes. Once everypony was done eating, we ran back outside and did whatever the drill instructor told us. Monday, we were sparring with each other, the drill instructor pitted us against difference races and different sexes. The thing is, it was all out. We were legit fighting each other, real hits, no pads, and we fought til one of us couldn't go on. The pony I had been paired against was a unicorn that was about nineteen. Did I mention that magic was legal. Well, he certainly used his to his advantage. The first thing he tried to do was blast me away with a cone of fire but I had noticed his horn lighting up and dodged out of the way. I flew towards him and tackled him to the ground, me and him rolling over each other. We had a ring that we had to stay in also, that had a thirty foot diameter. I quickly started hitting him in the head, hoping I was doing enough to keep him from doing anything. My wing was still healing, it was good enough to fly but not much more than that. His telekinesis wrapped around my wing and was putting a dense amount of pressure on it, him dragging me over to the ground next to him. I brought right hoof around and punched him in the side as hard as I could, the hit knocking the wind out of him and breaking his magical hold on my wing. I got on top of him and hit two or three more times before stepping back, giving him a chance to stand up. He didn't. I hadn't knocked him out, but I guess he didn't want to keep going. I was glad too because my wing hurt bad after that.

Nova was pinned against an earth pony mare, thankfully not a stallion. They fought it out, lasting at least two minutes, just back and forth swinging, hitting and missing. The mare was only about sixteen or seventeen to Nova's twenty-three, just a testament to the fact that age didn't matter here. Nova ended up winning, but barely. Towards the end Nova was tackled by her opponent, Nova quick to flap her wings and soar out from beneath the opposing pony, who was surprised by this and stumbled backwards whereas Nova used the surprise and tackled her opponent, the mare hitting her head hard on the ground and Nova rearing back to bring her hoof around when the mare shouted, "I'm done!" and held her hoofs in front of her face. It was a really good fight, entertaining to watch, but regardless of who was better, my bet laid with Nova anyway.

Afterwards, we all did exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, shuttle runs, and more. The pegasi had wing specific exercises like wing push-ups, hovering, and flying up and dropping and opening our wings at the last second, while earth ponies had leg specific exorcises, basically more of the basic stuff that everypony else was doing, and unicorns had spell specific exercises like holding a sphere of fire for as long as possible and levitating various weighted things.

"Last lap, maggots!" I heard Coldfire yell as I passed the line marking my fourth lap. "Last two pegasi and last to ground ponies have KP!"

I was still in second and the closest pony to me was about six feet behind. I poured on the speed, trying to catch up with pony in front of me. I think I'm going to pass him. It didn't really matter as long as I didn't get put in the last two. I was approaching him, his tail almost touching my face. I flapped harder, pulling up next to him I looked over at him. He looked at me, I was clearly able to see how tired he is. I poured all of my being into pulling ahead of him. We were neck and neck but not now. I was a hooves length ahead of him, starting to extend to an even longer lead.

That's when I heard something next to my ear snap, my left side erupting in pain and I slammed into the wall we had been racing along and fell to the ground with a head over hooves roll before slamming to a stop on my side, dirt kicking up all around me. I groaned. "Damn it."

I heard somepony land next to me. I looked up and saw Coldfire standing over me. "That was quite the crash. You gunna be alright?"

I groaned again as I stood up, keeping my left wing spaced out from my body. "Yes, sir. I'll make it."

"Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

"Absolutely not," I said back, leaning over a bit. "Still healing is all."

Nova landed next to Coldfire and asked, "Are you okay?!"

I noticed that the pony ahead of me just crossed the finish line behind her which means...oh no.

"Did you drop out of the race?" I asked her concernedly.

"Well, yeah! I had to see if you were okay," she replied.

"The conditions still stand. The last two pegasi across the line have KP," Coldfire sentenced.

I don't know why she did that. I know that cleaning the kitchen is going to be a bitch. Which also meant it was going to eat up all of our free time after dinner.

The last two ground ponies just crossed the finish line, one unicorn and one earth pony. Well, at least unicorn will make cleaning a lot faster.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Later...

Khan

The sponge made a splat sound as Nova flopped it onto the table as I swept the floor, getting in between the chairs and under the tables. I can hear the clatter of the dishes from in the kitchen where the unicorn, Dusty, is washing them. She seems like a nice pony.

The earth pony, although I can't remember his name, was back there also, probably cleaning the stoves or the grill.

"You really shouldn't have stopped in the race for me," I said, not taking my eyes off the task at hand.

"You shouldn't have crashed," she retorted.

"Now you're stuck here, cleaning a nasty ass kitchen."

"That's not so bad," she said softly, "with yo-"

There was a loud crash in the kitchen, sounded a lot like a few pots and pans falling over, followed by a strained, "Shit!" It made me smile a little bit, little things like that make me laugh, I can't see it but with the sounds I can imagine it. That's when I realized I hadn't caught what Nova had said. "Sorry, I zoned out. What did you say?"

"It was nothing," she replied hastily.

I stopped sweeping for a minute and looked over to her and said, "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know," she said. There was a long silence and I continued on sweeping, I was almost done but I just remembered that I'm going to have to mop afterwards; which means I'm not almost done. I let out a quick and sour sigh. I swept up the last of the dirt on the floor and poured it into the trash bag laying by the front door. I walked outside and grabbed the mop by the easy-bite handle and put it in the pre-made mop water in the bucket and put it in the strainer. A little pulse of pain went from my back to my wing, making me stop for a second. I hate that feeling. I haven't felt this kind of pain since that trampoline accident when I was a foal.

As I finished wringing out the mop, I opened the door again and instead of seeing the mess hall, I saw Nova, face to face. I jumped backwards, dropping the mop in the process.

"You scared the hell out of me," I said with a chuckle, bending down to pick the mop up.

"I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "Um...I've got to tell you something."

"Okay," I started, then noticing her nervous eye movements.

"You said I could tell you anything right?" She asked lowly, like she was really worried that I would judge her for whatever it was.

"Of course, I told you that just a second ago." She was really looking worried now. She searched my eyes with hers, bouncing back and forth from the left to the right.

She looked everywhere accept at me, then she met my eyes and held them. "I lied."

"About...?" I was a little bit confused. She couldn't have lied to me recently, there was nothing to lie about.

"I'm not really gay."

I let my face express my shock. "What?"

"Please don't be mad at me! I only did it because I thought you guys were going to kick me out of the band like seven years ago and I decided if I broke up with you it would be easier to go." The entire atmosphere changed.

"Kick you out of the band?" I asked softly. That was absurd. The thought of something like that had never once crossed my mind.

"I know! It's crazy!" She said, getting a little more worked up than before. "And the truth is-" she stopped and looked down at the floor. "I still love you."

My mind was drawing a blank. I didn't know what to say. I loved her too and always have, even after she broke up with me.

"Khan, I'm really sorry! This has been eating me up for years and it's even worse now after all that's happened and I don't want to be alone in all this and-" I cut her off with a kiss. I watched as her eyes went wide and she pulled back a little. I really hoped I hadn't just messed something up but I had to prove to her that it was alright. I knew that it the my goal was achieved when I felt her lean into me, now returning the kiss.

She pulled away, with still worried eyes and asked, "So you're not mad at me?"

"Why on earth would I be mad at you?" I asked with a sincere smile.

"I lied. Why would anypony be happy about somepony else lying?"

"Because now," I said with a small pause trying to find the right words. Found them. "I have the mare of my dreams back."

She hugged me and laughed, "You're so full of shit."

"What? It's true!" I said with a laugh. This is awesome. This is the best news I've had since we found out about our first sold out show.

Although, this was even better.

We still had things to do though. "Let's get finished, huh?" I said to her.

"Yeah."

I picked up the mop and went to the other side of the dining hall. My sluggish movements that made up my effort to clean the place earlier was replaced with rejuvenated,more energetic movements. I am happy; almost like a high feeling, that makes you feel good all over.

She may have thought I was kidding, but that's probably the most truthful statement I have ever made. I tried not to think about her that way too much because it hurt to do so, knowing I couldn't be with her. But if I knew then what I knew now, I would have asked a long time ago.

I would have normally been brought down by how much we still had to do and being as tired as I was didn't help anything neither did my aching wing, but I feel uplifted and good.

I feel alive.

<--------o------O------o-------->

The Barracks, 9:15PM

Khan

Finally. We're finished. Nova, Dusty, and the other earth pony I had identified as Kicker, and myself were walking side by side back to the barracks, all of us ready to lie down and go straight to sleep. My wing wasn't hurting, although there was an occasional pulse of pain, although not as bad as it was that first time. I probably should have gotten it checked out, but I'd be fine.

"That was a pretty bad crash you had earlier today," Dusty said, breaking the silence. Looking at my wing that I held out from my side by about an inch. "I'm going to have to agree with Nova that you should probably get that checked out."

"I'll be fine," I said, looking at her and then at Nova's concerned look. I gave her a smile, "I'll be just fine." We continued our walk in silence for a little while longer. We were probably a little more than half way back.

"So," I heard Kicker say from my right. "You two are outsiders. What did you two use to do out there? Based off you cutie marks, I'm going to guess that you were involved in music in some way."

"That would be correct," I said. "We were in a band."

"Really? Which one?"

"Stormborne. I was the rhythm guitarist, Nova was the singer."

He contemplated this for a second as we continued onward and I saw Dusty give me this really surprised look and Kicker said, "So what do you mean by was the rhythm guitarist and was the singer"?

"I mean, three of the members are dead. We aren't a band anymore," I said sadly, ears drooping back a little."

"WHAT?!" I heard Dusty yell, causing all of us to stop in our tracks. "What do you 'three of the members are dead?"

I want to tell her but I don't want to stir up past problems. I looked over at Nova, who was also looking a bit saddened by the subject.

I said, "I don't want to talk about it. We don't want to talk about it."

"Stormborne is like my third favorite band! Are you two really the only two surviving members?" She pressed.

"Yes," I said, not knowing whether to be proud of that or not.

"As I was saying," Kicker said, then clearing his throat. "I wasn't talking about your whole group. I was talking about the two of you. You are still a guitarist and she is still a singer, are you not?"

"Well, yeah," Nova said, still a little down.

"Then that's what you are. Your cutie marks do not apply to you as a group, but individually," he said, trying to be as uplifting as possible. "You are still musicians. You can still do what you love, even if the rest isn't here to help."

"Yeah." That's all I said. I really just wanted to drop it the subject.

We continued on in silence, coming up on the barracks. We came up on the doors to the inside, where there was a lounge like area that had rows of fold-out chairs and a T.V. mounted on the wall. There was only one thing different about this room the previous three nights. Everypony in the barracks was in this room, including Coldfire, and the T.V. was on. When we walked in, everypony was looking at us with wide eyes. Then I looked up at the T.V. and everypony turned back to the T.V. as if in a trance.

"-as you can see behind us, this is the wreckage of a private jet, owned by the rising band, Stormborne. Authorities say that the plane left Manehatten at 9 A.M. Sunday morning on the 26th of July en route to Ponyville when the plane's signal was lost at around 6:30 that evening, about an hour away from Ponyville. Five bodies have been recovered and identified so far-" The screen was replaced with a list of names, next to them a picture. "Three of them are band mates, Griel, Cayne, and Stone, their manager, Smokey, and the pilot, Cruise."

They showed their faces and I couldn't look away. I stared into that T.V. and it stared back. The reporter continued as the screen changed to a picture of me and Nova, along with the co-pilot, "Authorities are also puzzled, as the bodies of Stormborne's lead singer, Nova, and rhythm guitarist, Khan and the co-pilot, Eaton, are nowhere within a five mile radius. Conspiracies are bring brought up everywhere, including some that insist that Khan, Nova, and Eaton, being the only pegasi on board, may have gotten out alive and are lost somewhere in the forest and other theories being that they sabotaged the flight and went into hiding."

After that everypony looked over at us right as our pictures went off the screen. About eight of the ponies stood up and ran over to us with shouts like, "You two are from Stormborne?!" and "Will you sign this?"

Nova and I were overwhelmed by the attention, not knowing what to do. I knew one thing for sure though. I am extremely pissed off, especially after that news broadcast said that we might have sabotaged the plane. Why would she say that on a news report? That almost immediately screwed over our reputation, because if there's a conspiracy, somepony's going to be tossing bits in and buying it.

We were crowded by ponies and with my anger levels almost maxed out, I lost control.

"Would you all back the fuck off!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, everypony in the room going completely silent, except for the T.V. "We were just in a plane crash and lost every single pony we that we loved and all you shit heads are worried about is if we'll sign your fucking t-shirts?!" I had never done anything like this to fans before and I was already feeling down because of it but what was said was done; No going back. Nova was looking at me, a mixture of shock, concern, and mutual anger was plastered on her face.

"You need to cool it, recruit," Coldfire said to me from across the room and all I did was stare at him. I looked back around me in disgust at all of the ponies that surrounded me. I walked over to the door to the bunk rooms, my head hanging low. Right as I got to the door frame I heard Coldfire say, "Was that a 'yes, sir' that I heard?"

I sighed through my nose hard enough to be heard. You really think your authoritative position concerns me right now? Typical control freak. I replied through gritted teeth, "Yes, sir."

I walked through the door, close to fifty saddened or agitated eyes staring at my back as I entered the dark room and found my bunk at the end of the narrow isle on the left, against the wall.

I laid down, laying my wing softly on my side. I pulled the blanket over me and used the wall as a support for my back and put my hoof under the pillow to heighten it, as it felt weird using only one pillow when I was used to two.

I heard everypony else coming into the room, the hoofsteps reverberating off the walls. There were no bunks past mine, which meant I wouldn't have to see anypony as they came in. Thank Celestia for that. I was thinking over it and maybe I did overreact, but there was a point be to made and I certainly made it. I didn't hate them, I understood their excitement. I remember meeting my favorite band and it was a really happy day but my favorite band wasn't missing any members at the time either.

As all of the shuffling of hooves ceased, I heard Coldfire at the entrence say, "Alright, cupcakes. I've let all of you stay up past shutdown, but you're still getting up at 0600 hours, sharp." I could hear the groans of some of the ponies. "So I suggest you all get some some shuteye."

The light from the doorway faded as the door closed and the room became dark enough to not tell the difference when you shut or open your eyes.

That's when I heard the sound that only pegasus wings could make.

"Hey, it's me."

<--------o------O------o-------->

Nova

I don't know what I think I'm doing. I could probably get in serious trouble for being out of bed if Coldfire came back but I felt like I should risk it. "Hey, it's me," I said with a barely audible whisper.

"Nova?" He whispered back.

"Yeah."

He reached out and felt around on me until he found my hoof and pulled me closer to him until I was in the bed next to him. Well this escalated quickly.

I was facing towards him, I could feel his breath hitting my mane. He reached down and grabbed the blanket and pulled it over me. This wasn't the first time we had slept in the same bed. We used to all the time when we dated but we never did anything...sexual. We had gotten close once but I told him I wasn't ready yet.

"You could get in trouble, what are you doing?" He asked me, unable to read his expression because of the intense darkness.

"Well, we are dating again, surely this is okay," I whispered back. "I really don't know what I'm doing. Bringing back a little bit of familiarity, maybe?" He didn't respond for a little bit.

"This does feel really familiar," he said finally. He scooted the pillow of to me, thankfully it was long enough for both of us. He put his hoof under my side of the pillow and ran it back behind me, wrapping around and ending on my upper back.

Celestia, I was having an extreme sense of déjà vu. It felt...It felt like the love was never lost. Like maybe he had still loved me all of these years. It felt good just lying next to him; it was just like old times.

We had laid there for minutes in silence before I remembered an event from earlier today. "Khan?"

"Yeah?"

"Kicker was right you know."

"What?"

"Kicker, he was right," I said, I'm pretty sure he was catching on by now. "Maybe we should continue writing songs. It is apart of who we are."

He took a second, probably thinking it over. After his recent burst of anger, he might not have felt like talking about this kind of thing and I understood if he didn't. He was right though. It was pretty selfish of those ponies to do that but they are fans. Almost all of them would have done the same thing.

"I still remember some of the lyrics that Smokey had wanted us to look over," he said.

"That's good. Think we could turn it into something?" I asked, getting a little excited.

"Maybe if we had instruments."

That was certainly a problem, but not one for today. "We will figure out a way. It's obvious that there are some instruments somewhere, considering Vida and that stallion from the lunch line said there would be music at the anniversary festival."

"Well," he began, I could feel him shifting in the bed, but I couldn't see anything but I guessed he turned over on to his back because of a soft grunt. "That's a different problem, for a different day."

I leaned up a little bit. "You're right." I crawled on top of him.

"Nova," he said with a slight chuckle. "What are you doing-"

It was my turn to cut him off, as I planted my lips on his. It didn't take him but a second before he was leaning into it also. We both stayed in it and he eventually got his tongue past my lips and my tongue fought back. We were at a stand still that stood off for at least another thirty seconds. Then I felt something touch the front of my right leg. We both pulled away at the same time, I could feel a very soft and restrained pant from him and he said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't-"

I kissed him again. "It's okay," I told him, slowly lifting myself up and then laying back down next to him. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling; the time we had come extremey close to doing something this had happened. I didn't mind, it's not like it was something I hadn't seen before and I wasn't something he hadn't seen. I knew he couldn't help it and I was starting to feel a little sore down there myself but I still wasn't ready for that level of commitment, it was the same reason as the last time. It made me wonder if I'd ever be ready for something like that.

I took my mind off the subject; a different problem for a different day. My entire body ached but I haven't been so relaxed in ages. I was facing the opposite wall and when he felt it was appropriate, he wrapped his arm around me and I scooted back into him, his stomach against my back.

He leaned forward, his muzzle next to my ear, "I've been wanting to say this for six years and have it actually mean something to you," he said before pausing for a minute. "I love you."

My stomach was full of butterflies. I almost couldn't say it back because of the guilt of him not being able to say that for so long. I feel a little selfish, coming back to him when I needed it most but I couldn't help it. The purist thing I have ever said is my reply.

"I love you, too."

Restoration

Four Days Later, General Vida's Office after training, 7:30 P.M.

Khan

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask Nova as we climb the stairs up to the indoor balcony that leads to Vida's office. I'm not completely on board with the plan yet.

"I don't see what could go wrong," she replies with a confident smile. "Just give her a chance. If we feel she can't do it, then we'll find somepony else."

"I'm just afraid that she will be too distracted by our presence, is all."

"Well, like I said, if she doesn't work out, we'll find somepony else."

We get to the door and I bring my hoof up to knock on it, when it opens up, revealing a bright eyed Vida. "Oh hey! Didn't think I'd be seeing you two here," she says cheerily, almost dropping the tin foil pan she is holding.

"That's quite the coincidence, considering," I say with my best charming smile.

"Oh, I was about to go find my opponent in the elections and wish him good luck at the polls." I give her that 'uh-huh' look and she continues, "But that can wait, come in!" She turns around and flies up the stairs, me and Nova following close behind her. As we reach the top, Vida flies over to her desk and sets the container on it. She turns back around and asks, "So, what's up?"

"Well, we've got some goods news and some better news," Nova says to her, muffling her excitement to a level that wouldn't be noticeable if you weren't looking for it. "Which would you like to hear first?"

Vida face morphs into what I can safely assume is her thinking mode and says, "I've always been the 'save the best for last' type, so let's hear the good news first."

"Alright," Nova says, clearing her throat. "We are going to continue making music and plan on performing our first song as a duo during the anniversary festivities."

Her face went from thinking to shock to excitement. "That's awesome! I'm definitely going to be there!" She stops for a second. "Can you guys get me a front row seat?"

"That's where the better news comes in," Nova begins, giving it a second pause to let Vida's excitement build up. "We want you," she starts dramatically letting the excitement on Vida's face intensify, "to play your cello in it."

"What?" Vida says, probably thinking she heard us wrong.

"We want you to play the cello in it," I reiterated.

"You want...me?"

"Yes," Nova and I say simultaneously, looking at each other afterwards.

"Of course, we've gotta know that you're going to be...talented enough to do so," I say, giving her the hint that this is a one time opportunity. She needs to give her all.

"You guys can count on me! I wouldn't miss it or mess it up for the world!"

"Well, do you have time to audition? Like, right now?" Nova asks her. "We've got very little time to come up with your part. We've got the lyrics already we just need to know you can play the part."

"Oh yes, I can tryout right now! I've got plenty of time!" She exclaims with glee, running over to her cello and picking it up off the wall. She flies slowly to her desk and sets the cello up against it. She opens a drawer on her right and pulls three different bows out of it, staring down one in particular. She puts the rest of the bows back in the drawer and closes it. She opens the drawer above the last one and pulls out a black, plastic cuff and sets the bow in an indentation on the top of the cuff and twists a handle on the other side to lock it in.

"Anything you want me to play in particular?" She looks mighty confident. I hope she is as good as she thinks; as good as I hope.

"Actually, yes," I say, shimmying off the backpack on my back, letting it fall to the floor. I unzip it and pull out a manila folder that contains two sheets of music that I could just barely translate into something readable by a musician that plays by sheet music. I grab it up with my teeth and give it to her, me meeting her amber eyes for a second. She gave me this funny look, perhaps just a nervous one, but odd nonetheless.

She plops the folder down on her desk in a well practiced motion that causes the folder to open on its own. She looks up and down it for a moment. She turns to me and ask, "Did you write this?"

"Yeah..." I respond, a twinge of nervousness now taking over me.

"How does a band as brilliant as Stormborne so bad at writing sheet music?" I feel slightly insulted by the question but at the same time, I don't use sheet music at all. None of us did.

"We play by ear, not sheet music. I was surprised I was able to get that much."

Nova looks over at me for a moment before turning back to Vida.

"Okay," Vida says. "This is really simple looking."

"Then it shouldn't be a problem," Nova says with a sarcastic smile, urging the batpony on. "Let's hear it."

She clears her throat, which seems pointless as she won't be using her voice. She pulls the bow up to the ready position and begins to play. That cello couldn't have been cheap. It sounds...angelic. As she pulls the bow across the low string, I could feel shivers going up my spine. She keeps playing through, not missing a note and making it sound better than I had imagined it. I look over at Nova, her jaw slightly hanging open. Vida continues playing, closing her eyes and letting her body sway back and forth as need be to get the bow across certain strings at certain times.

Minutes pass as she plays through all of the sheet music, her holding out the last low note, slowly dragging the bow across the lowest string.

Vida opens her eyes and looks at me and Nova's blank expressions. "Was that...good enough?" She asks. Nova and I exchange a quick glance.

"That was fantastic," Nova says simply, not even uttering a drop of emotion in the statement. I hadn't doubted that Vida would be at least mediocre at it, but that really was tremendous.

"You are definitely on board," I say to her.

Her face lights up as she sets the cello and the bow against her desk slowly and neatly. Which is how she catches me off guard with a hug that nearly takes me off my hooves. "Thank you!" She exclaims with outgoing joy. She lets go of me and flies over to Nova, also nearly taking her off her hooves.

"Alright, it's settled then," I say proudly. I'm extremely happy that Kicker and Dusty suggested for us to continue with a our music production, as the new found faith in the project soars, my hopes only get higher.

"That brings us to something else," Nova starts looking over at me. "We also need a piano player. Would you happen to know anypony around here that plays piano?"

"Well, there's this one pony, although I don't know his name, but he usually plays the mini grand piano in one of the bars on Main Street," Vida says, putting her hoof up to her chin.

"Is he good?" I ask excitedly. If we could persuade this pony into playing for us, we would be ready to roll. It wouldn't take long for us to get used to playing to each other I'm sure.

"From what I've heard just flying by, he sounds decent," Vida says with uncertainty. "I've never really stopped to listen."

"Well, I guess that is where we are going next," I say, a smirk trailing up the side of my face.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Walking down the streets without it's usual bustling activity feels off. Apparently at night the streets die down to just a few ponies spaced out here and there. The moon now hanging high, Nova, Vida, and are making our way to the bar. Hopefully, this pony is good enough to be the pianist for our show because it might be rather hard to find another.

I'm sure that Nova and Vida could pull it off with just a cello but I would rather them not have to do a two pony show. The song is going to be in AAA form, so there isn't a chorus, it just runs straight through like a poem. Nova should be just about done with the lyrics for it and I know they are going to sound great.

Vida stops in the middle of the red brick road and turns to her right. "This is it," is all she says. I look up at the glowing green and purple sign that reads Cayman's Bar and Casino.

"We only have thirty minutes before we have to get back to the barracks, so we need to make this quick," I say, making sure that everypony heard me. Nova nods and Vida just stares blankly at the door to the bar. "Are you alright?"

Realizing I was speaking to her, Vida looks at me with a blank expression and then shakes her head and poses a nervous smile. "I'm fine but I think I'm going to wait out here."

"Is something wrong?" Nova asks her concernedly.

"Oh no, it's nothing," she chuckles nervously. "Go ahead and find him. Time's wasting, ya know."

I don't buy the lie about it being nothing but she is right, time is wasting. I walk to the dark oak doors and pull on the handle with my teeth, opening it and motioning with my wing for Nova to go first.

"Thank you," She says sarcastically.

I make my way around the door and jump in before it closes back. "How come every time I try to be a gentlecolt you have to remark with sarcasm?" I ask her playfully. It's true though, she always does that.

Her lifts and runs under my neck and caresses my face. Nova still facing forward says, "It keeps things interesting, of course."

I release a muffled uh-huh and continue through the door. When we walk through another set of doors, our hooves are met with soft carpet and an aura of purple in the air. To the right is a bar, with every bar stool empty besides one. Straight ahead is a turntable that nopony is using at the moment and to the left is a stage that has a solid white, baby grand piano on it. The stage is lit with a single stage light, with a closed red curtain in the back.

The entire place is empty besides the bartender and the one unicorn at the end of the bar. I guess it's time to break the ice.

I walk over to a stool two over from the other pony and take a seat. Nova sits down next to me looking around with uncertainty. When we used to play at small bars when Stormborne first started out, she didn't like to be in there any longer than she had to. As soon as the show was over she went out the backstage exit and waited on us on the outside. I don't understand her problem with them but it doesn't matter, I'm not much of a frequenter either.

The earth pony bartender walks over to us, jerking her head to the side to get stands of her green and yellow mane out of her eyes. Her coat is a tan color and her eyes matches the green in her mane. "What can I get you two tonight?"

I respond quickly before Nova could say anything about it, "I'll take a scotch, neat." Nova punches me in the arm and gives me that 'what are you doing' look. "It's fine," I whisper, only loud enough for her to hear.

"And what can I get you dear?" The bartender says looking over at Nova. She doesn't like drinking or the idea of somepony else doing it. Her father was a drunk who left after finding out her mother was pregnant which is why she never met him, her mother making sure that he never met her. Maybe that's why she doesn't like bars. However, she especially doesn't like me drinking because I have a very minor liver problem and she knows it. I just do it so little that I'm not really worried about it.

"I'm fine," Nova says with an agitated look on her face. Thankfully the bartender hadn't noticed her tone and continues about getting my drink.

The bartender sets the glass on the counter and slides it over to me softly. I stop it with my hoof and look up at the bartender. "We were hoping you could help us find somepony," I tell her nonchalantly.

"Well, who are you looking for?" She asks.

"The pony who plays the piano around here," I say, her facing giving that little tick that gives away the fact that she has the information.

Before the bartender responds, the pony that is sitting two seats from me pipes up. "That would be me," he says with a raspy voice and looks over at me, his dark green eyes making a stunning visual contrast between the purple haze that the room is engulfed in. "Who's asking?"

That has to be him. Only somepony who is the pony in question would ask something like that. I reply, "Just a few fellow musicians."

"What's your names?" He asks without emotion.

"I'm Khan," I tell him and then lean over so he could see Nova sitting behind me, "and that's Nova."

"Never heard of ya," he says with finality and turns back around and continues sipping on his drink. A rough silence settles in the room making the conversation a tad bit awkward.

"Sir, we are working on a new song that we were hoping you could-" Nova begins before being cut off by the pony.

"Not interested," he says without looking over at us. I stand up and look over at Nova, "Let's go." I pick up my glass with my teeth and gulp the tasty drink down, giving that really warm feeling against my throat. I sit the glass back down on the counter and take my leave with Nova in tow.

As we walk back through the door with the lowering sun beaming right into my eyes causing me to squint, Vida floats over to us with another pony right behind her and asks, "Any luck?"

"We found him," I tell her, clearing my throat to get rid of the little bit of rasp that the scotch had left behind. "He's a dick though."

She had a look of understanding, probably having a good idea about what happened. "Luckily for us, I just so happened to find another piano player," Vida says, making no effort to hide her excitement. The pony behind her shifts nervously but still put on a smile. "Khan, Nova, this is Zyrah," she says. "Zyrah, this is Khan and Nova," she finishes, pointing her hoof at us respectively as she introduces us.

"I know who they are," Zyrah says nervously.

"Do you now?" I ask with a hint of curiousness. "Then who are we?"

"Sweet Celestia," Zyrah says with a sigh. "You are just as ignorant as I thought you'd be."

"Oh really?" I ask sarcastically. This pony is already making me tick.

Right as he is about to reply, Vida interrupts with, "Both of you knock it off. Why do boys always have to butt head trying to impress the ladies." That comment left me with a deep sense of embarrassment, Zyrah's face turning red as well. Nova puts her hoof against her mouth trying to suppress a snicker, but I still hear it. Along with it being obvious that she thought it was funny because I could see the edges of her lips curled up in a smile.

We all stand there quietly for another moment and then Vida says, "Well, Zyrah, let's go to your place so you can audition."

He looks around at all of us and says, "Let's go."

<--------o------O------o-------->

Well, I guess I can finally say I saw the other side of the base now. What is directly below Vida's office is a vast downhill expanse of houses. It's like the rich people neighborhood of Canterlot except nicer and with a full view of the ocean. A favela of beautiful houses adorn every inch of the mountainside with red brick roads winding down all the way to the base of the mountain. At the very bottom is a massive dock containing a variety of massive cargo ships carrying many large, multicolored containers.

It doesn't seem like too much activity actually went on here besides that of a neighborhood. We continue walking down the road in silence. The sun has disappeared behind the mountain, the stars becoming visible.

The base seems more like a city now that I've seen this neighborhood; it has a market, a government, an import and export dock, and a neighborhood. It really is more like a city than a base.

Zyrah stops at a house to our right. Walking through the rot iron gate, he continues up the steps of the beautiful orange brick home. We follow him and once we are on the orange and brown tiled front porch, he opens the door and we enter.

If I thought the outside was beautiful, it doesn't even compare to the inside. The dark oak wood floors span the large living room, a dining table to the right with expensive looking taste and chandelier hanging over it. An elegant grandfather clock sits in the corner and to the left against the wall is a dark wood china cabinet full of very high class, untouched plates, glasses and more.

To the left there is a piano against the wall with a massive mirror hanging above it. A couch sits in front of the piano, its fall weather theme making a stunning match for the floor and the other furniture in the room. A glass coffee table that has three geese in a sitting position under it, supporting the round glass top with their heads.

"This is quite the place you have here," I decide to say to break the silence.

Zyrah shakes his head lightly, "It's nothing special really."

Rich people. They have all these nice things and it's nice of them not to brag but for them to make it seem like nothing is just as bad. An asshole's modesty is what I call it.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Zyrah asks, standing in front of the piano.

"I'll sing and Vida will play the cello," Nova answers. "Just play along."

Zyrah really doesn't look impressed, but he sits down at the keys. Then he looks back over at us, "What is Khan doing?"

"I'm not in this one. I just helped with the lyrics," I tell him. There isn't a guitar piece for this project but even if there was, I don't have a guitar. Wow, that thought was depressing.

Nova leans over and covers her muzzle with her hoof and whispers something that I couldn't hear to Vida, who giggles a little bit. The way they are looking at me I know whatever it is, it concerns me.

I motion for Vida to start playing once she has her cello at the ready. She starts playing and Zyrah sits there for a moment, unmoving. Then his horn starts glowing and the keys begin moving.

The sound that I'm hearing isn't really what I had in mind but it sounds...gorgeous. About to voice my opinion I stop myself so as to not interrupt them. Since I'm not participating instrumentally, I'm more or less just overseeing, conducting. What would be the intro is coming to a close and I nod for Nova to start singing. Zyrah and Vida both look over at her expectantly. She begins the verse. It has no chorus so the song continues, progressing, telling our story.

The song comes to a close and I almost can't speak. I can't believe that this project is going to be a reality. "That was amazing! Y'all sound amazing!"

Nova blushes lightly and Zyrah just sits there staring at the keys. Vida just smiles, her fangs hanging out the edges of her mouth and then she says, "That did sound pretty good but it's getting late. I can excuse from your curfews but you two have to go straight to the barracks."

"Shit, your right," I reply, completely forgetting what time it is. "You and Zyrah should continue practicing together and a put some of your own styles here and there."

"I think I'm the one giving orders," Vida says, her expression going grim. Her face lightens up after a moment and she looks to Zyrah, "You and me will be practicing together and putting our own styles here and there."

Now I know she was joking. "Yes, ma'am," Zyrah replies. He stands up and trots over to the coffee table that has a thick and worn looking notebook on it. It's lying open, print scaling up and down the pages. Zyrah closes it with a slam and looks up at me. "I'm sorry," he says.

I don't know why he said he was sorry, but I ignore it. "Come on, Nova, we'd better get back before Coldfire decides to murder us."

"Right behind you," She replies.

I turn back around for a second and look at Vida, "You guys keep practicing, it sounds-" I look at Zyrah and my head explodes in pain, "Gahh!" I fall to my knees, squinting my eyes tight. My head begins searing in pain and I open my eyes but everything is tinted blood red.

"Are you okay?" Nova asks. I look up at her, everything all the way to her eyes are red. Another burst of pain shoots through my head causing me to cry out.

Everything turns white and I desperately look around trying to find out where I am. A few things are becoming visible as the white light begins to fade.

It's a hospital room and I'm laying on the bed. The room looks familiar but it isn't the one at the base. Where am I?

I look to my right to see a window that displays Luna's moon. Below it is a white leather couch, empty.

My head erupts in pain again, my vision going red again but this one doesn't last as long. When it clears, I'm looking at the couch again, but it isn't empty.

Nova is sitting on the couch this time, her head down, sulking. She looks like a mess, even her mane is tangled up.

"Nova?" I say to her she doesn't move but she does respond. The only problem is, she looks like a picture, unmoving.

"I'm here," she says but it sounds distant. I look around the room again and my eyes fall on the vitals monitor. It's not moving either. It's stuck in the middle of what would be a heartbeat. I look around again and notice a T.V. is mounted on the wall, the image of a reporter frozen as well. I look to the left of it to a clock on the wall. The second hand is unmoving, the time stopped at 9:05.

I turn back to Nova, still sitting on the couch, not having moved an inch, "Nova!"

Her distant voice responds again, closer this time, "I'm here!"

My head pulses in pain a last time, vision turning completely red once again. I squint my eyes tight because of the pain and when I open them I'm looking at Nova standing over me with a concerned face.

The red begins to fade and color returns to my surroundings. "Are you okay?" Nova asks, worry being very prominent in her voice.

"I think so," I tell her. I try to stand up and mostly succeed with a little help.

"You worried the shit out of me, I thought you were having a siezure or something," she says, wrapping her hooves around my neck in a hug.

Returning the gesture, I say, "I don't think a siezure would have hurt that bad."

"Scare me like that again and I'll hurt you," she says into my coat.

I chuckle at that and reply, "Don't threaten me with a good time." She chuckles as well and pulls away.

She looks at me for a section and her eyes widen a little bit. "Uhm, you've got a little something-" She stops and puts her hoof to her nose.

I do the same to mine and wipe my muzzle with a hoof. When I look at my hoof, a streak of shining red going down my hoof.

Zyrah levitates a napkin over to me which I take wipe the blood from my nose. What the hell is going on today?

We both turn to leave after I thanked Zyrah for the napkin and head out the door. Zyrah calls after us, "I'm sorry."

Forever and Always

Nova

The festivities are about to start in two days and now Khan and I are about to graduate from the boot camp. Finally.

Everything about me aches constantly. It's not as bad as it was at first but it's still there. Khan's wing is all healed up which brings a ton of weight off of me.

I love that stallion to death but he really is beginning to worry me. What with the nose bleeds and Celestia knows what else that he isn't sharing with me.

All of the ponies in training are lined up shoulder to shoulder on the stage in front of the small congregation while Vida gives her speach. Apparently she says this speach every time a fresh batch of trainees finish the course as she says it with practiced ease.

Not allowed to look anywhere except directly in front of me, I stare at a fixed point directly above the crowd.

"And now for them all to recite their creeds," Vida says and looks toward all of the ponies lined up.

As we recite the creed that basically makes us apart of their community, I hear a grunt to the right.

I want to glance over to see who it came from but there is no point in that. I know who it is. It's like he has a mini stroke every time it happens. I'm going to force him to the doctor soon; I can bare to see him like that.

We finish reciting and the small crowd stands and stomps.

The ponies on stage begin walking or flying off towards family members, some just walking to wherever they were going next.

I walk over to Khan, his eyes slightly pained but a smile that lies.

"I think you need to go get yourself checked out," I say to him and he just looks away, his smile fading. In his foalhood he was always told to get over it if he got hurt, so doctor visits were few. Now, he just doesn't want to go because he hasn't ever had to willingly.

"I know I should," he replies, still staring at the afternoon sun. "But I'm not."

"I don't want you to fool around and wait for this to get worse."

His eyes just avoid me, anywhere but in front. We walk in silence to the top of the hill in front of Vida's office building and watch over the rows of white houses that dress the mountainside.

"Do you think we could live here? Like, for good?" He asks, still not looking at me but instead the sun glinting off his faded purple eyes.

"Where else would we go?" I ask him, looking at the corner of his eyes.

"I don't know."

We still sit in silence, the sun beaming down on us, the warming touch felt good against the beginning of fall air.

We couldn't leave. So, the only thing we could do is stay. Maybe we could start over again. A new life, new ponies. A community that we aren't some shining objects to, but instead just fellow dwellers.
A life of normalcy for once. Maybe get married and...

No. Khan would never do that. He always said he couldn't justify bringing a foal into the world we live in. He would say Equestria isn't good enough for any foal.

I have him though. If I have nothing else, I have him. I lean on his shoulder, nuzzling it. My ear being up against his body, I could hear his heart beat. Slow but steady, relaxing in it's rhythm. He says something that I didn't catch for the vibrations of his body.

"Huh?" I pull my head off his shoulder and he is already facing me.

"Do you want to leave? Leave here?"

"You know we can't leave," I tell him. His expression tells me clearly that he doesn't care about that.

"When they step up and stop me, I might believe them," he says in that defiant tone that I've alwayd loved about him.

"Where would we go?" I ask again, this time he has an answer.

"Just for a walk, or a flying session. Somewhere away from everypong else."

A cloud floats in front of the sun, the ground around us turning a darker shade. Rays of sunlight poke through the cloud.

"I'd be okay with that," I tell him, not taking my gaze away from the cloud.

"Alright," he says. I turn to face him but he isn't sitting anymore but instead soaring up to the sky.

So it's like that, huh?

I stand and unfurl my wings, that aching feeling still there. I push off the ground and continue flying up, catching up to Khan who is slowing down.

He stops completely and begins hovering in place and looks down at me. Then he looks over to his left and barely audibly says, "Whoa."

I get level with him and look down in the direction he is looking. A massive wall spanning the entire base and rising about fifty feet, arcs around the mountain that most of the community is based on, only stopping at the sea. It has an intricate pattern of red and dark gray on the blocks of stone. Towers and guard shacks dot the top of the wall. Each tower has a spotlight and two ponies in each one and there has to be at least fifteen.

"How have we been here for going on three weeks and never have noticed this?" Khan asks, although it sounds more rhetorical than curious.

"I don't think anypony is getting in here," I say to him.

He continues ascending without warning and I follow him up. He stops at the cloud that was obstructing the sun light on the ground and lands on it.

I land next to him and watch as he walks slowly to the center. He comes across one of the holes that the sunlight was shining through and covers it up.

"Why do you like me?" He asks. The question throws me off a bit. Why would he ask something like that?

"Well, first of all, I love you," I tell him planting a swift kiss on his cheek.

I'm about to tell him a least of things that I love about him when he cuts me off with a simple, "why?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I decide to start. "You're awesome to me. You're personality is truly something amazing and you have looks to match," he doesn't say anything and just stares at the cloud beneath his hooves. "Is there something wrong, baby?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong," he says expectantly. He turns to look at me, a mischevious smile plastered on his face. "I just needed to hear you say all of that. Self esteem and what not," he says sarcastically.

"Celestia above," I reply with a grin. "Well, come here you little attention whore," I say, opening my hoofs. He gets into a stance like a cat about to pounce on its prey. I notice immediately and say, "Khan, don't you even think about-" It's too late.

He launches up and tackles me and we both land on the cloud, him on top of me. I start laughing and he joins in. As he is distracted, I push with both of my hooves against his chest and flip us over, with me on top of him.

"Whoa," he says with a light hearted chuckle. I giggle at his surprised face and just lean against him, letting my head lay againt his chest. Putting my ear against his chest, his soft fur tickles my ear causing it to flicker involuntarily. Once again, I hear is heart beat, this time a little faster than before.

"I've run the possibility through my head a couple of times," he says softly, once again vibrating my ear. "The possibility, the outcome. All of it."

"The outcome of what?" I ask him.

"It's kind of embaressing," he say slowly. I lean my head up to look into his eyes.

"Yes?" I ask. I hate it when he builds things up like this. He does it because it makes me even more curious.

"Well, I wondering," he says softly before letting his voice carry off.

"Would you stop that and just ask me already?"

He chuckles and smiles ever so slightly. "Would you, heh," he stops again with a chuckle again. He looks away at the sun for a moment and sighs before turning back and looking me in my eyes.

"Nova, will you marry me?" He asks.

My heart skips a few beats and I'm flustered. I don't what to say. That caught me so off guard that...I don't even know. "Ah..." I begin but pause before I say something that makes me look like an idiot. As if on cue, there is those butterflies floating around.

"I know that it's kind of sudden but...I feel like it's the right move," he pauses for a moment. "I feel kind of bad. I don't have anything to give you or to get on my knees for."

I can feel a tear of joy beginning to form on my eye, blurring my vision slightly. Before Khan continue on, I say, "Yes, I would definitely marry you."

His face lights up in the biggest smile and instead of wrapping around me and flying up in a spiral like he normally does, he just walks over to me and starts morphing the clouds in front of me. When is done there is a circular indentation in the cloud, big enough for two ponies and he holds out his hoof like the gentlecolt he is and helps me down into it.

I lay down on the left edge of it and Khan walks over beside me, climbing over and then laying down to my right so that our hooves are touching and we facing each other.

"I love you," he says to me, nothing but relief and kindness in his voice.

I almost start crying in joy again and tell him I love him too. Damn it, when did I become so soft?

<--------o------O------o-------->

Khan

I did it. And she said yes!

She said yes!

I unfold a wing and drape it over her while we lay in the makeshift bed I made in the cloud. I just can't believe it.

I thought she may say no, seeing as we just started seeing each other for like two weeks now?

It doesn't matter anymore. She said yes.

We've been laying here for what seems like hours. "So, what should we do first?" I ask her, seeing where she wants to go from here.

She stays quiet for a moment, her soft body slowly going up and down under my wing. "I don't know to tell you the truth. Maybe look into a place to stay? I doubt we can continue staying in the barracks."

"That's right," I say with realization. "We should ask Vida about how to get one of those houses."

"Mmm," she hums softly. "A place of our own. That sounds nice."

"Let's stop dreaming about it and let's go get it!" I shout with enthusiasm. We both stand up and walk to the edge of the cloud. As we peak over the edge, I bounce off of the cloud and start floating down, slowly descending side by side, together to the surface.

We land simultaneously in front of Vida's office and walk through the double doors. We continue up to Vida's office, not even bothering to knock and we ascend the stairs. The beautiful sound of a cello fills my ears and I immediately recognize the tune.

I stop at the top of the stairs and watch as the bow travels back and forth across the strings of the oversized acoustic bass.

Noticing our presense immediately, Vida stops playing and a smile widens on her face, her top fangs visible over her bottom lip. "Hey guys," she says loosely. "What brings you by?"

"We just have a few questions that we were hoping that you could answer," I tell her looking at Nova and her loving smile.

"What can I tell you?"

"First we'd like to know how to get a house on the mountainside," I tell her.

"Those houses are for veterans. You'd have to be tasked with a mission of some sort. An off base, risking your lives kind of mission."

"So, how do we get an assaignment?" Nova asks.

"Generally they are given out to ponies randomly. Whoever they think has the skillset for the task at hoof."

"Alright," I say to noone in particular. I'm good with a crossbow and machines, Nova is good with a knife and locks.

"So, what is your other question?" Vida asks, her enthusiasm to help is almost overwhelming.

"The other question would be..." I trail off and look at Nova to make sure she is ready for me to ask a question like that. At the nod of her head, I turn to Vida and ask, "How would two ponies go about getting...married?"

Vida's eyes go wide. "You two?" I nod my head and she says, "Are getting married?" I nod my head and look at Nova who is also nodding her head. "That's fantastic news. Wow that's wonderful, you two are perfect for each other." After taking a second to calm down, she says, "Congratulations."

We both thank her. "So how would we do that?"

"I'm pretty sure it's the same procedure for everypony on base as it is in Equestria. When are you two going to...ya know..."

"Get married?" Nova finishes for her. After getting a rapid nodding head she replies, "We...don't know yet."

"We are thinking of making it just a legal thing, nothing flashy," I add.

"Oh okay," Vida says, sadly.

We sit there for a moment in silence when I ask, "How is your part in the song coming along?"

"Great! Zyrah and I have been working hard on it."

She smiles slightly at Nova and when I look back at her, she is smiling also.

"What?" I ask nervously, remembering that night they were giggling with each other at Zyrah's place.

Nova says, "Well, sweetie...about our project..." I give her a kind of sideways look, urging her with my expression to continue. "You're in the project as well."

"Well, I helped with lyrics so I guess-" I start when she interrupts me.

"I mean, you're are singing...with me," she says with an awkward smile.

"What?!" Me? Sing? Haha, no.

"Come on, Khan, it'll be fun," Vida says from the right.

I don't know what to think. "I'm not singing in the project," I tell them both with finality.

"Don't be that way," Nova says, her smile quickly fading. "You sound beautiful you're just too scared to show it."

"Nova, I suck at singing and you know it," I tell her.

"I wouldn't go up there with someone who couldn't sing," Nova says walking up to me and brushing my mane to the side.

All I can do is laugh under my breath. I can't sing, doesn't matter what she says. "You're asking me to sing terribly in front of a bunch of ponies I don't know."

"Did you not used to play guitar in front of ponies you didn't know?"

I sigh. "That's not the point. Playing guitar and singing are too remarkably different things."

"Fine, whatever," she says in a mad tone. She turns and walks off towards the stairs. I can't do anything but stare at her suddenly changed attititude and mentally face hoof myself.

"You know this would really make her happy right," Vida says in a concerned voice, obviously taking sides with her because...mares.

"Okay! Okay," I say in a defeated tone. This stops Nova and she turns around to face me a hopeful look in her eyes.

"You'll do it?"

I sigh and shake my head. "Yeah, I guess I'll do it."

She let's out a little squee and flies into me and hugs me. "Yay."

I chuckle and wrap my hooves around her in return. It's strange how she can make me do things like that. Love is fickle like that I guess.

Equality and the Stick

Author's Note

Sorry about the wait on this chapter guys but it is finally here.:yay:

Equality and the Stick

A few hours before the concert...

Khan

I have a bit more confidence in myself more so now than before in the singing aspect. I wouldn't go so far as Nova would and say it is beautiful, but it won't hurt anyone's ears.

Nova and I have plans for a wedding of some sort, probably legal not regal. We have enough eyes staring at us. As if the entire base still thought we are members of the UUS. Even though we aren't unicorns.

I've definitely become more attached to Nova also. It's not just like when we were dating and I missed her when I wasn't with her. No, it's more like a part of me dies when she is away and it only comes back alive when we reunite.

I guess that is what they mean when they say 'two hearts becoming one'. I wonder if she feels the same about me.

For the show, everything is already set up in the auditorium. Thankfully. I really didn't want to have to set up all of that stuff. Back in the day when we played shows, we had a crew set up our equipment.

Snapping my attention from my thoughts, my eyes trail up from the wooden counter and up to the bartender that is standing behind it.

"Something on your mind?" She asks, whipping her purple mane around.

"No, just a bit anxious for tonight," I reply.

"Looking for relief, huh?"

"Something like that," I say with a yawn. It's getting to be nap time.

I stand up and tip the tender and begin walking for the door. A pony and a griffin walk through the door, walking towards me. The griffin I recognize as Coldfire.

I keep walking, to my destination. Keeping to the right, I continue along the wall, hoping to just brush right past them. As we pass, the pony bumps into me, making me stumble slightly.

I turn around and say, "Could you watch where you're going?"

The pony stops and so does Coldfire, but only Coldfire turns around to face me. I'm about to turn around when the pony that bumped into me says, "That's no way to talk to a general, is it?"

I only stare at the back of his head, waiting for him to turn around. "I'm sure a general would look me in the eyes when he decides to pretend that his title means something to me."

That got his attention. The pony turns around, his deep purple eyes staring right at me. "Got a mouth on you too. That's okay, I'm not a little bitch like Vida is. You won't get by with anything when I'm general."

"Haven't done anything that I would need a pardon for." I say, keeping mental note of his comment but ignoring it.

"Oh really? You mean like, disrespecting a Sergeant? Or better yet, your little slut friend. I heard she is so sex hungry that she had to be sedated twice-"

"Bloodbane, that's enough," Coldfire interrupts, but it's too late for that now. I fly full speed and clock him in the muzzle, sending him into the ground. Being the good sport that I am, I back off him to let him stand up. My blood boils and the adrenaline is definitely pumping.

Bloodbane begins to stand up and his horn lights up. He has his head down but before I can do anything, a potted plant from the counter cuts through the air and over him and my jaw erupts in pain. The sound of broken clay fills the room. While my guard is off, Bloodbane tackles me to the floor, landing on top of me.

His hoof comes down on my muzzle twice before, with a loud growl, I kick him off of me, sending him into the wall next to the door. I fly into him, leaving a hole in the sheet rock, and pull him down to the ground.

I put my hoof on his neck and lean into it to put pressure. Bloodbane is already turning red, struggling against my hoof, he brings his hoof around and hits me in my side. I grunt but still hold him down.

Another two hits come around and I fall off of him. He scrambles away coughing and panting and I grab my side.

After a moment of catching his breath, he lunges at me again, knocking me into a bar stool that breaks under the pressure and I fall backwards. Before hitting the floor, the back of my neck hit the counter top and I slid down back against the wall to the floor. My vision turns red and my head begins to throb. The place where my neck hit feels like someone stabbed me. I look around to find Bloodbane and I notice his horn is now alight. My wing erupts in pain and I look over at it to see it twisting in ways it shouldn't be twisted.

My blood boils but my brain can't do anything except focus on the searing pain. Why is it always the left one?

My vision turns red again and then black at the edges and I can feel myself beginning to fade out of consciousness. The pain begins to subside, but it's not because he stopped.

Two uniformed ponies bust through the door to my left, both of them armed with crossbows. They are both completely outfitted in tactical vests, with various tools and instruments hanging out of the pockets.

"Get down," one of them says to Bloodbane which he quickly subdues and lays on the floor. Me, well...I'm already on the ground.

"You, up," the other guard says to me, motioning his bow.

I groan and stand up, stumbling ever so slightly. I didn't drink that much. I only had like 1-2 shots and I am no lightweight. Maybe it's from hitting my head.

The guard immediately pulls me over to a wall, slamming me against it, causing me to groan slightly. "Take it easy, would you?"

"I won't," is the guard's' response. After taking a moment to do whatever he is doing he steps away and says, "Don't move."

I saw them do the same to Bloodbane, grabbing him up against the wall. Now I can see what they were doing. They put some type of bracelet on his ankle.

I assume they did the same to me but...why didn't I feel it?

I look back at my back right leg, the same one they are putting on Bloodbane. Sure enough, there it is. All black except for a flashing red and blue light.

I just sigh and look forward. Once the bracelet is on Bloodbane, they urge us to move. They both stayed behind us. I open the door to the evening sun setting, ponies in the street stopping and looking at us.

Another armed pony is standing to the right of the door, baton at the ready. He shouts to the crowd telling them there is nothing to see and to move along.

I can't think of anything but the headache I have. The voices of those around me just drown out and we continue walking to wherever we are going to go.

I see Bloodbane out the corner of my eye casting nervous glances in my direction. I just stare back at him until he looks away. He looks away.

Bitch.

Karma decides to bite my ass for that thought, my head pulses in pain again. I squint my eyes, the sunlight becoming almost unbearable.

I look up to see a pink and black mane and pink eyes staring at me from about twenty feet away.

I close my eyes and sigh with disappointment. When I open them again, we are even with each other as I pass by.

Her look of bewilderment sends a twinge of guilt through me, mixing in with the feeling of adrenaline losing effect.

"What the hell did you do?" She asks me in a hushed tone.

"I-," I begin before the nudge of the guard behind me interrupts. "I'll tell you later."

She just shakes her head side to side and looks away.

I look away too, back to in front of me. The clopping of hooves against the red brick streets fills the air. Everypony we pass looks at us funny. I don't know where we are going or what will happen, but this walk is punishment enough. Especially since Nova was here to see it.

I lean my head skywards in hopes of relieving my headache. The sun finally dips behind a building, so that's a plus. We aren't on Mane Street where all of the festivities are happening which is also a plus.

I can see the hospital in the distance barely peaking over the other buildings. Thinking back on the events earlier, I wanna know if it is Coldfire who went and got these guards. He vanished as soon as the fighting started so it's safe to assume he did.

The guards tell us to stop when we reach a tall building of about five stories. One of them pushes open the door and the other let's us walk in.

The building is an office, with space dividers and four or five ponies just milling around.

We are taken around the office space and into a room with a single table in the middle. A mirror on the wall, obviously a one way window to my right. We both sit down at the table on the opposite side of the door.

The guards bring in a piece of what looks like rubber in the shape of a cone and walks over to Bloodbane.

"Oh come on, is that really necessary?" Bloodbane asks with a disgusted tone.

"Yes, it is," the guard says without a hint of emotion in his voice.

"I refuse to put it on," Bloodbane says with a defiant finality.

"You can put it on or you can go straight to a cell."

"I'm afraid that-"

"Would you both shut the fuck up?" I interrupt with my own disgust. "I have a killer headache and you two are going to argue like a couple of cunts." Bloodbane looks at me with a look of shock and the guard doesn't look amused. I look at Bloodbane and say, "I don't know what that thing is but just put it on."

I look ahead of me to the wall, doing my best to ignore their presence which luckily I didn't have to do for long as the door opens and Vida and another guard walks in

"Celestia look at you two," Vida says with shock. "Are you both retarded?"

I mentally chuckle at her statement.

She sighs and walks to the other side of the table. "Bloodbane, did you think about this before you decided to go measuring sizes in a bar? If this gets out, how do you think it will affect your election?"

I look over at Bloodbane and see him looking at the table. "What do you care of my election?" he asks without so much as blinking as he continues to stare at the table.

"Because someone good needs to have that position. Not just anyone can do it but you are very much qualified." He stares at the table still and when Nova decides he isn't going to respond, she looks at me. "What about Nova? What is she going to think of you getting in a fight at a bar, huh?"

"No need to make me feel any worse about it," I tell her, looking dead at her amber eyes.

"Both of you tell me what happened, one at a time."

"He bumped into me when I was heading out of the bar and I told him to watch where he was going," I say, not really wanting to be the first one to say anything but when I saw that Bloodbane wasn't going to speak I go ahead. "After mouthing some shit about Vida being a bitch and calling Nova a whore, I decided to shut him up."

"What, I-" Bloodbane starts, popping out of his glare at the table and up to me and then Vida.

"Oh really?" Vida says looking at me expectantly, more as if the insult doesn't matter or she isn't surprised. "After I have done so much for you."

What is she talking about?

Bloodbane doesn't respond but instead goes back to staring at the table.

"Let him go," Vida says cocking her head to the side. Bloodbane looks in shock but doesn't say anything. He stands up and the guard next to him with the cone-shaped object still in his magical grasp, escorts him out of the room. Vida beckons the other guard to leave with them.

After the door shuts behind him, Vida turns to me and sits across from the table. After a moment of silence, she says, "Do you know what the Equestria As Equals Association was before it became a top secret organization that even the Royal Sisters don't know about?"

"No," I tell her bluntly. Instead of being the happy, cheery fangirl that I'm used to, she is being more like a mother.

"It was a group that truly believed that equality was the way to make it. That everypony of every race and species were equal. Everything from the zebras to the alicorns, it didn't matter. Did it do much for the zebras? Absolutely not. How many zebras have you met?"

"None," I say, now partly intrigued is what she is talking about.

"My point. It didn't work. In fact, the likes of it was destroyed. Starlight Glimmer was the leader of that group. She took away the cutie marks of all the ponies in a town and preached equality. She had this staff that supposedly allowed her to remove the cutie marks," Vida leans over the table slightly. "You know why that wouldn't work in the end?"

"Because everypony has their own mind to think for themselves?" I say, more of a question than an answer.

"Partly, but it was a flawed plan. Why? Because she didn't remove her own cutie mark, she just brushed the equal sign on it to match everypony else's. Power corrupts and it corrupted her."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

To answer my question, she ignores and says, "Which brings me to the fact that you are going to have to spend a night in jail."

"What?! Why?" What the hell does anything she just told me have to do with that?

"Because if I let you go after fighting him, that will make it seem like I'm pulling favors for friends," she replies calmly. "Something that he is starting to notice greatly."

"You just let him go! He was fighting just as much as I was. And what does it matter if he notices?"

"You've got to understand that it's for the better. You see, he is a very popular stallion. Over three-fourths of the base is going to vote for him; it will be a complete blowout. However, they are all voting for him for a reason and that's because he is the greater good for this base."

"So you just let him go even though he is in the wrong just as much as me?"

Vida and leans back slightly. "That brings me to my other point about Starlight's staff. That staff was just a stick, it did nothing. But, everypony thought it did and for that they believed in her."

"Your point being is?"

"I have a stick right now," Vida says. "That stick is my title: General. Do you honestly think that the title means anything? That I can just do what I please because I have it or think it's honorable?"

"No, I don't."

"Good because it doesn't. That title doesn't mean a thing. The whole reason this base works with the way I've set it up is faith. These ponies have faith in the pony who sits in that chair; they believe it means something. Nopony who has ever been in that seat has been one hundred percent honest because they can't. It's impossible. By jailing Bloodbane, he wouldn't be allowed to run in the election and you know who would get that position if he doesn't?"

"No..."

"Coldfire."

I sit there in puzzlement. "What would be so bad about that?"

"Coldfire isn't what he seems, a lot of things behind closed doors. Let's just say, he isn't who you want as the general. That's why I hope you understand and won't hate me for letting him go and making you stay. It's a bad thing for a good reason."

I ponder this for a moment. I understand the 'lesson' with equality and the stick but now my main focus is...what did Coldfire do? What is it he is doing that makes him not what he seems?

"I had better get an explanation later."

"Thank you, Khan," she says, getting kind of giddy again that I wasn't mad at her. "I will pull a few strings for you, but you'll still be here overnight."

"Thanks, I guess."

She walks out of the room and I just sit there and stare at the wall, letting my mind drift. An overnight stay. Big deal. I've had worse.

<--------o------O------o-------->

???

"I told you she'd let you go."

"Yeah but now an innocent pony is in jail."

The silhouette shifts in the dark alley. "What does that matter? You aren't in trouble, right?"

"Yeah, but what's the point? Why did we have to put him in jail?"

"He needs to miss that show tonight. It will show the ponies that he is unreliable," the raspy voice says.

"That will get us where?"

"Well, it will get me very far actually," the moonlight reflects off the unsheathing sword and before the pony could react, the sound of slicing flesh fills the alleyway and is replaced by the gurgling of the pony and the splat of blood against the brick wall.

"You...well," the silhouette says as he sheaths his sword. "Not so far."

<--------o------O------o-------->

Nova

"What the hell did he do?"

"Nova calm down and I'll tell you everything," Vida says, walking to her side. I huff and look at her, waiting for her to begin. "He got into a bar fight and we had to arrest him."

My heart sinks and I close my eyes. I lift my head up and sigh. "What about the show tonight? We have been telling everypony about it!"

"I'm going to see what I can do to get him out long enough for the show to go on, but if I can't we can reschedule for tomorrow."

"We have played hundreds of shows over the course of six years and never have we missed one. Through illnesses and deaths of family members, the show has always gone on," I tell her.

"I'm afraid it might not go on this time," Vida says to me looking aside and sighing.

I sigh again and hang my head low, my heart literally breaking from thinking about Khan being behind bars. "Just-just see what you can do," I say as I walk off. I don't know where I'm going to go. I guess I'll just find somewhere to sit, somewhere alone.

I walk down the street, my mind just going, thinking about what could have started the fight. He was probably drunk of his ass, exactly what I tell him not to do. He is his own person and he will do what he wants.

That last thought extracts another sigh from me. Why can't he just behave for once?

I brush past a couple of ponies heading the opposite direction of me. The night is beginning to settle in and the loud megaphones from the festivities can be heard even from the edges of the base. Deciding that walking really isn't getting me anywhere fast, I take to the sky.

The air under my wings feels good and relaxing as I fly over the activities of the anniversary celebration. I look around trying to find anything worth really doing or being around for. I hear the familiar sound of metal concert vibrating the area near me and I immediately start looking around. I see lights and laser beams flashing from above one of the building and I fly over to the source.

I land on top of one of the buildings and I have a perfect view of the stage up here. The strobe lights are making the crowd look glitchy and when the strobes stop, green and red lasers flow around the crowd in no particular pattern. The crowd is pretty decent sized much to my surprise. It appears that other pegasi had the same idea and are also seated on the rooftops of buildings around me. When I look around, my rooftop is barren except for me.

The ponies are dressed pretty randomly; there a few ponies dressed in their officers' uniforms and others are dressed casually or with nothing. This is where I'm going to stay I suppose. I have no where else to be.

I watch as their show continues, whoever they are. It doesn't sound bad, it's a really enjoyable show to watch but I'm not feeling it. My mind is still stuck on Khan getting in a fight. What is wrong with him?

And the show, our show. These ponies that we told are going to expecting us and now they may not get anything because of him.

I sigh. My ear twitches at the sound of claws on the concrete behind me. I want to turn around but there are very few griffins on the base and only one that would be talking to me.

"Hello, Coldfire," I greet him, not taking my eyes off the concert.

He doesn't respond for a moment and the clacking of his claws gets closer. Now standing behind me and to the right, he says lowly, "why do you do this to yourself?"

Still focusing on the show I ask softly, "Do what?"

"Date him," he says hesitantly. I don't respond. "There are so many ponies here that you would be perfect with but you choose him. Why?"

"Why does it matter?" I ask, dodging the question.

"I'm just looking out for you," Coldfire says, sitting down and wrapping his tail around himself.

"I can handle myself," I reply, the waver in my voice unhidden.

He scoots closer as if he is about to exchange a secret with me and says, "Khan is a dangerous pony. With his lack of respect to authority and his uncanny ability to not fear punishment for his actions could harm you both or worse."

"He is not, he's just picky about who to show respect to and won't show it unless it's shown to him. There is not a thing wrong with that."

"That's not how things work around here, Nova. He runs the risk of getting thrown out of the base."

A look of surprise at that statement forces me to look over at him. "What?"

"I just don't want to see you get thrown out with him," Coldfire says, the red and green lights from the show below flashing in his eyes.

"What makes you think he wouldn't like being thrown out?"

"The forest around here isn't really the Everfree Forest," he says. "You are in the very bottom corner of Equestrian right now. You are in the Forbidden Jungle, on the edge of the ocean and whatever you ponies thought was bad about the Everfree, you haven't seen anything."

I sit there like a sponge, soaking in the information. That didn't line up though.

"We went down in the Everfree Forest though, how did we get to the edge of Equestria?"

"Because you went down while my squad was deployed in the Everfree fighting the UUS. We found you and instead of leaving you there like I should have I brought you two back."

But that walk had to have been hours and hours on end. How did they walk all the way back carrying two ponies. I'm about to task him when he says, "I've got to go, I'm probably late for a meeting. Anyway, it's good talking to you and think about what I said."

He takes off, disappearing into the night. And now I'm left with the information he has given me and his warning. So we can get thrown out but we can't leave. Interesting.

Sure Khan is an insurgent but he isn't that bad about it is he?

Something lands behind me but this time it's a set of hooves. "Hey Nova."

I turn around to see Vida walking towards me with an attempt at a comforting smile. The smile fades and I keep my emotionless facade on. "I wasn't able to Khan out for the show tonight, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I tell her motioning for her to sit down next to me. She accepts the offer and sits to the right and I go back to watching the show. We both sit in silence as the show goes on.

I want to ask her questions about our location but I don't want to hear the answers. I really just don't want to talk at all. The weight of the day is more than I wish to handle and nopony else is helping to carry it.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Khan

The door makes a buzzing sound and opens into the cell block. I watch with half fearful half uncaring eyes as I pass each cell to my own. The open atrium spans two stories high and has ten cells along the bottom and top floor walls on either side. A bridge makes its way across the top floor leading to either side as their is only one stairwell on the left side to get to the second floor.

The place is quiet. Too quiet for a prison or a jail. There are only three ponies in here, all on the bottom row and on the left. Each pair of eyes follow me to my own cell.

I get in there and the door closes with another buzzing sound. I look around the small room as the guards' clopping hooves travel further and further away until a distant buzzing says he has left the atrium.

The cell consists of very little. A concrete slab with a thin mattress and sheets lay on it and a shitter in the corner. "Five star," I mutter to myself and lay down on the bed. Surprisingly comfortable, although not as soft as the clouds I had gotten used to sharing with Nova at night. Definitely not as comfortable as having her with me, laying by side.

It's only for a night, I tell myself. I've had worse. I can just sleep it away. It's already night time so why not? It'll just help tomorrow come faster. I roll over on my side and stare at the wall for a few moments before closing my eyes. The adrenaline that was pumping earlier today now catching up with me and making me very tired.

"Hey."

My eyes open back up slowly, my ears perking up from the interruption.

Another 'hey' comes from behind me and I lean up, looking around. I slowly get up and walk over to the bars. My tiredness still not leaving me, I ask, "yeah?"

The pony takes a second to respond and when he does it becomes obvious that he is in the cell to my right. "You asleep yet?"

That was a dumb question. "How would I be talking to you if I was asleep?"

The pony takes a moment to respond again but completely ignores my question. "Are you one of the survivors of that crash?"

"Yeah, one of the two," I say lazily. I notice that the subject doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I guess that's what moving on is.

I'm about to ask him why he asked when a unicorn guard amplifies his voice and says, "Quiet down there."

I scowl. Being the pony I am I ignore his warning and ask my question with a slightly quieter voice. "Why did you want to know?"

"I was just wondering is all," the pony says in a whisper to match mine. "I was in the operations room when Coldfire's video feed watched your plane go down."

"What were you doing in there?"

"I was communications, I sat there and told them what to do, what to look for."

So they were looking for something. "What were they looking for?"

"I can't tell you, that's how I got in here," the pony says, the hurt in his voice obvious.

I'm about to take no for an answer before something to say pops in my head. "You are already in here," I tell him. "What else are they going to do to you?"

"I don't know about you but I have a family I plan on seeing tomorrow and I also plan on not dying or worse."

Well, that was a fail. I really want to know what they were looking for because the E.A.E.A. is starting to seem like more than just a resistance. They are here for something; something bigger.

"I said quiet down in there!" The unicorn guard shouts again. "Final warning!"

"We'd better hit it," the pony says. "It's getting late anyway."

"Alright," I say as I walk back over to the bed and lay down on it. My mind likes to race when I discover things like what I just heard but this time is totally different and I'm out like a light.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Nova

Sleep doesn't come easy tonight. I toss and turn on the cloud I'm laying on but nothing I do seems to put me asleep. The air is slightly cooler tonight, fall finally beginning to show itself.

Khan and I need to find a house, I think to myself. I've devoted the last thirty minutes to ignoring the fact that he is in jail and pretending like it's alright. However there is still that pang of guilt residing in my mind.

I stand up on the cloud and do a little shake of my head, ruffling my mane as it flows to the soft breeze. I stare at the sleeping city below me; the events are over and everypony is tired from the long day full of activities.

A small flash of light in the corner of my eye to my left grabs my attention. It's a little flash, nothing significant but it seems very out of place in the sleeping and dark base.

Another flash of light pierces the darkness, this time only slightly more to my left. A large light beams down, cutting the darkness to where the light is coming from. One of the walls' tower spotlights is beaming down on the little pulse of light. That's when I start to hear shouting.

The shouting gets louder and I'm almost able to make out what they are saying when a raid siren kills the noise.

"Oh shit, something's happening," I say to myself and I take off from the cloud. I make my over to the tower with the spotlight and all of the other towers' lights come on as well.

My heart beating fast in my chest, I land on top of the wall and make my way into the guard shack.

I'm immediately met by a familiar face when I open the door, Rivera looking at me with a calm but dangerous expression. "Get in here," he says, motioning for me to shut the door behind me.

"What's going on?" I ask him as he walks around the room, grabbing a crossbow off the wall.

He pauses what he is doing and looks at me with a look of undying concern. "We are being attacked."

My expression doesn't mask my surprise. The skills and the discipline of my training causes my brain to go in full focus mode and I ask him, "What do you need me to do?"

He grabs a crossbow and says, "I need you to think fast," he tosses the crossbow over to me which I fly up to be able to catch with my front hooves and hover of the ground. "And I need you to aim true."

Remembering what my training taught me, aim true means don't miss because one slip is all it takes. "Yes, sir," I tell him, giving him the best salute I could with both hooves and wings occupied.

"Good, now I need you to-" Rivera is cut off by a loud boom and in the distance. I look out of the the window looking east to see one of the guard towers from the other end of the wall being engorged in flames a billow of smoke and flames pours out of area.

"Holy shit," Rivera says looking at the shack. Before he had time to get out another word, the shack down from it also explodes, another loud boom and I can feel the wall vibrate beneath my hooves. Then the next one explodes, the bright white light that beams out of the tower goes dim, being replaced by flames and bricks tumbling down the wall.

Noticing the pattern that the shacks are exploding, I tell Rivera and the other pony that is manning the spotlight, "We've got to get out of here."

Rivera nodding his head yells, "Get up private and grab your bow, it's time to move!" He yells as the tower after the next explodes, a screaming pony jumps out of the window. A hoof on fire and his legs flailing, he falls to the ground. The only thing I could do is look away before impact.

"Let's go, go!" Rivera shouts to me as the guard shack next to us explodes in a fiery haze, the heat of the explosion can be felt from this tower. I run out of the door and wait for Rivera and the other younger pegasus that is with us to catch up to me and we all three take off in a formation with Rivera in front.

The explosion rocks the air behind us, waves of heat lapping at our flanks. My ears ringing, I keel up to the right of Rivera. As I look around the base from the sky, spotlights on the roofs of the building beam down to the ground. Every so often you can see the silhouettes of ponies flying through the air in formations like ours, some bigger than others.

Little fires dot the mountain side, giving the base an eerie glow. The shouts of ponies trying to get organized to defend against the night time invasion can be heard clearly over the slashing of blades and the casting of spells.

The explosions across the guard shacks on the wall finally end, but not without taking every single one with them. I hope everypony that could got out okay.

Rivera yells over the chaos, "Hanging left, prepare to land. Look for the eyes! You know what to do after that."

We all turn in a perfectly practiced movement and begin descending simultaneously. The area around us has several ponies trapped behind walls and some ducking for cover. We are two streets from main street and every alley and road to get there is has ponies dotting it on both sides.

Upon touchdown Rivera calls, "Nova, take your bow and get somewhere high and take shots at them. Cover our advance." I salute him and am about to take off when he says, "Don't miss."

I nod and take to the sky, looking for a tall building with a good vantage point. As fate would have it, there is one right next to me. I fly to the top and lay down on my belly pulling the bow on my back around to bear.

The view is perfect and I bring up the sight, looking through it. As I glance around the first pony comes into my sights. I look at his eyes, making sure that this pony is what I think he is.

As I look in closer, the hexagonal pattern in the pupil is clear and I bring the sight up just slightly. I put my hoof on the trigger and after a second of focus, I pull it back.

My heart is racing furiously. In the dim light of a nearby street lamp, the bolt slides from my bow traveling down to meet my target. Through the sight the arrow hilts in the pony's head and the hexagons fade as his body slumps to the ground.

I don't even think about it and continue on to my next target. The sights line up on the side of this pony's head and I breathe it out slowly. Pulling the trigger the bolt once again hilts in the side of this pony's head, obviously going through because of the small splatter behind him. Same as before the pupils return to that of a normal pony and he slumps to the ground.

After the pony falls, I put another bolt in and before continuing I look below me to my side. Rivera is tangling with one of the unicorns, the other ponies dealing with their own targets and keeping the ones up the street from advancing. As I watch Rivera tangle with the pony I realize that the mind controlled UUS ponies have gotten a bit smart and a bit quicker with their movements. I'd I didn't know better, I would say Rivera is fighting a pony that is aware of his surroundings, more...pony.

Rivera falls to the ground as another pony comes from the side and zaps him with one of the spells. Rivera's wings go limp for a second before going back up to help him in his fight.

The unicorn that is on top of Rivera begins to struggle even harder and starts hitting Rivera profusely. After I reload my bow, I focus on the pony on top of him and wait for him to make his way into my sight. Time seems to slow around me as I know if I miss I'll hit Rivera. Exhaling slowly, I pull on the trigger.

The familiar sound of sanded wood rubbing along wood causes my ears to flicker and the bolt connects with the back of the neck of the pony that is attacking Rivera. The body goes completely limp and falls on top of Rivera.

He looks up at me as I'm reloading and I happen to meet his gaze. "Nice shooting!" He calls up to me.

"Thanks," I yell back, my crossbow now reloaded and ready to go once again.

I aim in again, this time going for the pony that zapped Rivera. Before I can find her, a hoof on my shoulder makes me jump and roll over on my side. My heart skips a beat as my hexagonal-eyed attacker's horn begins glowing. I reach up and hit him in the face as hard as I can and kick him off of me.

He stumbles back but still emotionless. I pull up my bow and take aim. He suddenly jumps to the side right as I shot and the arrow sticks into his left shoulder. But that doesn't stop him.

His horn begins glowing a transparent black again but the spell casts faster this time around and it hits me right under my neck. I yelp in pain as I'm blast backwards and over the edge of the building. I manage to grab onto the side with a hoof, holding on for dear life as my wings go completely numb and will no longer carry me.

I make the mistake of looking down to the ground three floors below me. My leg is beginning to ache as I look back up at the pony who is now staring over the edge at me. Horn glowing once again I do the only thing I can think to do.

I hoist myself up with all of the force I can muster and wrap my hooves around the unicorn and we both fall over the edge of the building. My stomach scrapes over the concrete corner of the building's rooftop and I cry at as we both fall to the ground below.

While we are falling, me and the unicorn end up doing a flip over each other. The hit knocks the wind out of me as we make contact with the ground with a thud, me on top of him. After the nasty sound of multiple snapping bones from the pony under me, I roll off of him and start coughing, trying to regain my lost breath.

"Nova, look out!" I hear Rivera call from my right. I look over to what he is looking at and I see the pony next to me once again starting to stand up. His chest reveals one of his ribs having pierced the skin, his chest covered in blood.

I cough a few more times trying to scramble away, my chest still heaving as I try to get in a few, much needed breaths. His horn begins glowing once again and a twinge of doubt plagues my mind as I look at my odds.

The pony's head seemingly explodes all over me as the pony's eye is kabobed on an arrow. The pony falls on top of me and I scramble out from under but not before a decent amount of blood runs down my cream colored coat.

I look to see where it came from and I see Nyxal on the opposite end of a crossbow with a smile on his face. "Twenty-nine!" He shouts enthusiastically before taking off around the corner and out of sight. Is he keeping count?

Looking at the line of defense that Rivera's squad has made in the middle of the street and taking cover behind street benches and wagons. The UUS advance has been slowed to a crawl on this street, but we are still out numbered at least four to one.

Hearing the sound of a large explosion in the distance, I see mushroom cloud of smoke and flame rising into the sky.

I run into the alley next to me and continue over. I come to the opening of it and another street running parallel to the last one continues in either direction. The street is completely empty with no a single sign of battle in sight. I run to the alley across from the previous one and keep going.

The street on the other side is complete chaos. A line of ponies are running down the opposite sidewalk heading the left, all of them with swords drawn and at the ready. They are all wearing the signature E.A.E.A. armor with the logo branded proudly on their chest plate.

The bricks of the street are blown apart and riddled with smoking craters. The bodies of U.U.S. and E.A.E.A. members line the road.

It's devastating to think about, but I've almost started calling the place home. Now I'm watching it be blown to hell. I don't even know where to go or what to do.

After only a moment of decision making, I decide I'm going to help out where I can. Feeling the aching feeling of my wings being numb reminds me that I only have two more hits before I'm done.

I quickly fall in line behind the group of ponies making their way cautiously down the sidewalk. They continue down the road, seeming to not even notice that I'm behind them.

The CO of this squad halts and with him every pony else stops.

I can't really see him but I hear him call, "Into the alley and watch your corners!"

The ponies follow their CO in to the alley and slowly creep their way down. One of the ponies shouts, "Contact!" When I look forward I hear a whirring sound like a ceiling fan. A metal disk shoots up from the ground and with a barely audible clicking noise disappears in a very small cloud of smoke.

Three of the ponies at the front fall over, blood caking the walls around them. I watch as time seems to freeze and all I can hear is the pounding of my heart. A small piece of metal glints off the street light but I couldn't move.

Something slams into my side with a pained cry and me and whatever hit me fall into a pile of trash. The thing next to me grunts a bit and stand up and the first thing I notice is the extremely pale purple in its eyes. I couldn't mistake those eyes for anypony else.

"Khan?" I ask hopefully.

"The one and only," he replies and leans down to hug me. I gladly accept his comforting show of affection.

"How did you get here?" I ask him with searching eyes and he stands up and offers a hoof to help me up.

"The prison guards all left to help defend the base so me and everypony else that was there was released to help as well."

"You mean they let criminals out?"

He glares at me and I immediately regret saying that. "Not all darkness is evil, Nova. And not all light is good. You know that."

I don't say any thing because I do know that. I've always known that.

"Speaking of which," he continues, looking sideways to the opposite end of the alleyway where the squad I was following is rushing into the street. "We need to find Coldfire."

He starts off with a fast paced walk that gradually grows into a sprint. Struggling to keep up, I ask, "Why?"

"I have a good enough reason to believe that he is the one behind this attack," he calls back to me.

"What?" I ask in disbelief.

"Vida told me that he can't be trusted and after hearing a couple of things from those ponies in the jail, I have reason to believe her."

Fall of Elysium

"General Vida, what should we do?" The pony next to her asks, not trying to hide the concern in his voice.

Staring out of her office window at the unbalance below, she says nothing. Fires erupting throughout the base, explosions rocking the streets and ponies of both sides falling left and right, she says nothing.

Her eyes speak for her, a lone tear falling down her deep blue coat. So much death and destruction in the matter of thirty minutes. You can feel the loss of life affecting the energy in the air.

Six generals. Five year terms.

Under all of these generals, this base stood tall. The pinnacle of technological advancement and military might unmatched by any in the land of Equestria.

Falls in thirty minutes. Falls to ponies, civilians, who have no control over their own actions. This tugs at Vida's heart.

The fall of the E.A.E.A. Headquarters happened under General Vida's rule. That's how she will be remembered.

"General?" The pony asks. Before he can say anything else, the window in front of them shatters with a loud explosion as they are both thrown back farther into the room.

Quick to recover, Vida looks around the room. The pony that was next to her is laying on his stomach and gazing towards the window, still looking slightly dazed.

Glancing back out of the window, a griffin and two pegasi land in the window. All Vida can see is silhouettes, but she doesn't need features to know who that is.

The griffin's head shifts and the pegasus to the right walks over to the pony. "Oh n-no. Please-" a crossbow shot ends his plea as his body slumps against the floor.

"Well, Coldfire," Vida says standing up. "You did it."

The griffin walks forward into the light. His scarred eye comes into view, his golden irises pinning Vida down. Vida's heart is barely racing, as if she isn't really scared. Which she isn't. She has seen this day coming for a long time and with time the fear faded. She knew Coldfire would betray her, her base, and all of the ponies in it.

Once he is in full view with only a small shadow cast over his face, he takes a glance behind him. "I sure did, didn't I?"

Vida starts pacing around him, looking for any way she might be able to attack him but he turns with her, keeping his gaze on her.

"It really was predictable, I've been waiting for this day for some time now," Vida says with her concerned and hardened gaze unfaltering.

Coldfire chuckles at this and asks, "if it was so predictable, then why didn't you stop me?"

With a chuckle of her own she replies, "you did good covering up evidence. I couldn't prove anything but you were a bit reckless with some of it."

Coldfire puts a mocks her with being offended. "That one really hurt."

"I'm sure losing a kid to those unicorns hurt too, huh?" This stops Coldfire dead in his tracks. "What, you didn't think I knew about that? Coldfire, you always took me for a softhearted fool but what you always failed to realize is underestimation is my advantage."

"A pretty low and desperate attempt to make you seem like the badass that you aren't in your final moments, don't you think?" He asks lowly, his anger clearly rising. His goonies stand behind him, ready to shoot Vida at his command.

"Desperate? You barely have my heart beating," Vida says with a smirk. "So, tell me, was it a desperate moment when the unicorns attacked your house and you decided to get your tail out of there, but at the cost of a hatchling and your very own wife?" Coldfire's eyes narrow, hatred burning deep. "But hey, if you can't beat them, join them, right? I mean, that's what you did."

"Enough of your rambling bitch, time is up," Coldfire yells as he lunges at Vida, his claw extensions at full length.

Vida ducks out of the way, narrowly dodging the razor sharp blades. She recovers and jumps at Coldfire before he turns around, wrapping a hoof around his neck. Her entire leg comes around his neck and Vida begins to squeeze. He flails at the sudden lack of air and slams her back into a bookshelf. She let's out a gasp but still hangs on to the burly griffin.

He slams her again and then once more, the last one causing her to fall against the shelf and lose hold. He grabs her by the neck and hurtles her across the room. She slams upside down into the cello mounted on the wall, falling next to the shattered wood and strings.

The smell of blood fills her nose but this only serves to infuriate the bat pony. She quickly rights herself as Coldfire came in with another lunge. She moves out of the way, but the sharp claws still graze her side. His extensions impale a couple of books on the wall, which he pulls away and brushes off quickly.

Vida recovers, her blood slowly dripping down her coat onto the floor. She growls at the pain but ignores it.

Coldfire tries a different tactic and throws a thick book at Vida to throw her off. Vida catches the book and holds it up to intercept Coldfire's talons before they hit her. The blades sink into the book, and she uses the split second window and uppercuts him from the other side of the book.

He stumbles back and Vida once again accepts the opportunity and lunges at him and takes him to the ground. She hits him with a right hook and brings her hoof around for a second hit. After the second throw, Coldfire growls and punches her back.

She falls backwards and hits her head on the desk, dazing her slightly. She watches a blurry Coldfire walking towards her. He sits on top of her, the weight nearly crushing.

She looks around for a second and notices a leg of a smashed chair sitting just to her left. She sees Coldfire pull back his arm, his claws aimed right at her forehead.

Vida grabs hold of the leg and holds it in front of her face with both forehooves and braces for pact. At the same time, Coldfire's paw comes down and the wooden chair leg lodges in between two of the claw extensions and Vida holds it there.

Coldfire pushes with full force and Vida fights it back. Her hooves begin to shake from the force and Coldfire doesn't even seem to be trying. The blades get closer and closer and a realization comes to Vida's mind. One she had hoped would never have to be confronted.

She is going to die. Tonight, by the claws of Coldfire, she is going to die.

Another thought strikes her mind and all it says is, Not without a fight.

With the energy and fury of her thoughts behind her, she manages to cramp a leg up under Coldfire and puts pressure on his groin area. He shifts slightly but before he can react, she gives a solid and painful kick.

The hit stuns him and causes him to groan and she shifts his claws to the side and using both legs she hurtles him over her desk and onto the other side. Standing up, her limbs still shaking from the exertion, sees Coldfire slowly standing back up. Her chance is now. She gets a galloping start and flies over the desk. Bringing her hoof around, she clocks him in the beak at the same time as slamming into him. Knocking him forward, they both bust through the other office window. Vida kicks off of Coldfire and begins hovering in the air, watching Coldfire fall to the ground three stories below.

She knows the fall didn't kill him but before she can get down there to finish him off, her wing explodes in a sharp pain. She yelps and descends in a spiral, smacking into the office wall and free falling to the bottom.

Landing in a dirt patch, dust kicks up around her, concealing her. She groans in pain and can't even feel the drive to look around. Her heart is pounding and she is bleeding, her chest heaving for the air she lost on impact.

Coldfire walks up to her slowly. With a stumble he grabs her up and throws her against the wall of the building. Vida opens her eyes and sees what had damaged her wing. An arrow sticking out from the ground, covered in a light coat of blood.

The pony responsible flies out of the building and hovers behind Coldfire along with his partner. Coldfire walks slowly to Vida's damaged body.

With a pant, he says, "You put up a decent fight for such a coward bitch."

"I wonder what your family would say if they saw you today," Vida says softly and without remorse. She spits a glob of blood in disrespect right in front of Coldfire's talons.

Coldfire's face darkens. Without another word, the sound of blade on flesh and Vida's pained gasp is the only thing that cuts the silence.

Coldfire submerges his talons into Vida's chest, passing clear out of her back. Puncturing both lungs, he leaves the blades inside her for just a moment before pulling them out. He has been looking forward to this moment for the better part of four years. He smiles in triumph at the now lifeless body of the former general. But his smile falters.

A weight has been lifted from his mind but a new one has started settling in his heart. An event he has been looking forward to for so long and it's almost as if he isn't happy about it.

Quickly pushing this to the back of his mind, he tells his comrades, "help me get rid of her body. Anypony would be able to tell those are griffin scratches."

Without a second of hesitation, his allies comply.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Khan

"Through here, come on," I shout over a nearby explosion. We duck through an alleyway and into the main street, the hospital at one end and Vida's office to the right.

Another explosion, however this one being much louder than the last and a lot larger, fills the sky above with ash and black smoke to our left. The hospital was hit!

Now torn between what we should do, I ask, "So where do we go?"

Nova looks back and forth for a second before saying, "Vida wouldn't be in her office, I know her. She'd be out here fighting as well."

"To the hospital then?"

Nova nods her head with confidence and we take off on hoof towards the smoking building. We've got to help where we can and I remember a lot of ponies who rely on that hospital just for life. They need our help now more than ever.

We run through the street full speed. A unicorn pops up between the alley and I kick off the ground and fly into him full force, slamming him into the wall. I put my hooves on either side of his head and twist, the hexagons fading from his eyes immediately.

Back on track we continue our trek to the hospital and we bust through the front door upon arrival. The main lobby is chaos at best, ponies are lying against the wall and the sound of crossbow shots are coming from the right hallway. Papers are thrown every where and ponies on IV's and ventilators take up most of the floor space.

The hospital reeks of smoke and a thin layer can be seen floating around the ceiling. Deciding to follow the crossbow shots and the shouting, we run down the right hallway leading us to a massive hole in the wall and ponies carrying sandbags over to the wall to make what is remaining of it larger.

I've never seen the other side of the hospital but it is a lot larger than I could have anticipated. A big open field, that I can imagine used to be just a grassy knoll, but now littered with the bodies of fallen soldiers, U.U.S. and E.A.E.A. alike. The battle is still raging on, black craters of smoke dotting the landscape.

The U.U.S. army is massive. Outnumbering us at least three to one. The ponies at the hospital wall are taking up positions with crossbows, adding to the steady volley of arrows already shooting towards the battlefield. I watch pony after pony fall on the enemy side but each one is like a hydra. Kill one and two replace it.

I hop over the sand bag barrier and look for the area the explosion hit the building. Which happens to be right above us. I float up the second story through a smoldering hole in the wall, hot ash still glowing red and orange around the edges.

I look back to see if Nova is still behind me and when I find that she isn't, I look over the edge of the building and see her staring at me helplessly. "I'm going to have to find another way," she calls up to me.

"You got hit?" I ask, expressing my concern as my expression hardens.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. I'll find the stairs and meet you up there, go help those ponies!" She says taking off down the hall and out of sight.

I turn back around. The room has caved in on itself, beams and insulation littering the ground and fires have started in several places. I duck under a beam and crawl. The snoke of the room fills my lungs and I cough several times before getting to the other side. I get to the door of the collapsed room and walk out into tge familiar white hallway.

The power is out, the only light is that of small fires or the very few emergency lights. I walk slowly down the hallway, making sure that no UUS is present. Another explosion rocks the building and the structure begins shaking violently.

I hear crumbling down the hall and I watch as the ceiling caves in and that entire side of the hallway caves in. This hospital is definitely not the place to be.

I look in the door to my right, checking see if anypony is in there. When I find it clear, I move to the next. When I open the door to this one, I look around for a second and don't see anypony, so I turn around. As I begin through the door, I hear a whimpering come from behind me.

I turn around to check it out but once again, the room is empty. I hear the whimper again, just a little bit softer this time. It's coming from the bathroom. I walk slowly over to it and open the door.

A sharp squeal of terror meets my ears as I look inside. A pony, no...a foal is standing there, shaking in fear. A unicorn filly to be exact. I quickly reassure her that I'm not one of the bad guys. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here to help," I tell her softly.

She doesn't respond but instead points behind me with a hoof. I turn around questioningly to find a unicorn with the trademark hexagons in her pupils. It's one of the nurses. Her uniform is covered in blood but the lack of any wounds leads me to believe it is some pony elses.

The nurse takes another step forward before aiming her horn at me. I'm not having any of it. Getting hit by that spell sucks and it's not about to happen again.

I tackle the pony, sending her and me across the room. I fall over her and hit the floor with a roll. I stand up, the pony beginning to stand back up with mechanical movements.

I hit the pony in the muzzle as hard as I can, its head jerking to the side. It turns to look at me again, the still blank expression staring me down. I hit the nurse once more and a light splatter of blood splattering the floor beneath her muzzle. The unicorn turns around and fires off a spell in which I had no time to react.

It missed me but I don't know what it is that she shot. The spell just hit the wall behind me harmlessly, not even a mark reflecting impact.

The pony then turns to the bathroom door and her horn lights up.

"No!" I yell as I run to tackle the nurse. I smash into her at breakneck speed. I could hear the snapping off bones as I made contact with her shoulder. I stomp the nurses neck to the point of collapse. A bone sticks out the side of her neck slightly and the pony's eyes turn back to normal.

I stand up and shake myself off. Looking around, my eyes land on the bathroom at which I fly over to quickly. The filly is...laying in her side. "Oh no," I gasp, slowly and then quickly galloping to her. "No, no," I say hysterically, as her what now seemed lifeless body laying on the ground.

I shake her. I shake her violently and put my ear close to her mouth to listen for breathing. Nothing.

I start chest compressions, trying to force oxygen back into her system. "Please," I plead. There has been so much death and destruction that I've witnessed, but Celestial forbid...not a filly. Anything but that.

A tear forms in my eye and I give up. I fall against the drawers and cabinets under the sink, staring at the the filly's motionless body.

"Fuck," I say to myself with a whimper. This filly couldn't be more then seven years old. A patch of fur is singed where the spell hit. "Fuck!" I yell.

Another tear falls down my face. I hear hooves clopping on the floor and in my peripherals I see another pony walk up. "Hey, are you okay?" I hear the familiar voice of Nova as she walks towards the bathroom.

I stand up and shake my head. This filly died because I was too slow. That spell the unicorn had shot was the spell they fired when they felt they couldn't convert some pony. The spell that stops the heart.

I walk out of the bathroom, Nova stays behind for a second to take a look. Her gasp tells me when she saw her. I keep walking towards the door, not waiting up. The room felt like it was on fire.

I stop at the doorway and turn around to survey the room. The nurse still set against the wall to the left, a few splatters of blood paint the floor, and the moon shines brightly through the window. The look of distraught on Nova's face as she walks towards me dictates that she didn't like what she saw.

"Was she-" Nova asks softly.

"No," I say. She isn't with the UUS, just another civilian life. A life I couldn't save.

That thought made my heart hurt. A spell hit the wall next to me, directly in between me and Nova. I look around d desperately to find the source and...no.

The filly that was lying on the bathroom floor is staring at both of us, her horn alight with a back aura. My heart cringes as I grab Nova and pull her through the door with me. As I close the door I get another glimpse at the filly, her soulless, hexagonal eyes watching me with a blank expression as the door slams shut.

I gather myself quickly, composing myself to be fit for sight by other ponies. Nova does the same. We continue down the hallway, searching room after room until there were no more on this floor to look through.

My mind kept playing back, it kept giving me the image of the filly lying on floor and then immediately afterwards showing me the last glimpse of her before I shut her in the room. I had to let some pony else deal with that because I could not.

We come upon a room that is blocked off by a wooden beam that is on fire. The night sky is visible through the ceiling. The blaze lit the hallway, the flames dancing on the walls.

"Help! Some pony help me!" A voice came through the door that is inaccessible.

"Just hold on!" I call out to him. "The door is blocked off but I'm working as fast as I can!"

I stead of acknowledging what I said, he just called out for help a few more times. I just ignore it and search for a way to get to him. My eyes search the door and the debris lying in front of it.

It's only one large wooden beam laying diagonally across the door but it's too big for one pony to move. Not to mention it's on fire.

"Hey," Nova says, her voice indicating she wants me to look at something. She points her hoof to the hole in ceiling above the beam. "I could climb through there and drop in on the other side. I think I'm small enough to fit in there."

I want to say no simply because of the smoke that is filling up that hole in ceiling. I'd rather go myself but another plead for help comes through the door and I don't see much of an option. I couldn't fit through that small hole.

I nod at her. "Hoist me up," she says. I kneel down and she puts her forehooves on my back. After getting a feel for it she puts her other hooves on me and I slowly stand up.

Once she is almost level with the hole, she puts her forehooves up on the ledge. After several times of trying to pull herself up, she can't. The space allowed for very little movement and I didn't want her being up there with that smoke any longer than she had to.

"Got anything you can hang onto for a second?" I ask her, grunting because my back is beginning to ache.

"Um, let me look around," she calls back. After searching for a second, she says, "yeah I found something."

"Okay, hold onto it with both hooves. You're going to be dangling for a second. Ready?"

"I guess so," she replies. I slowly move out from under her, making sure she has a hold. Once I'm out from under her, I say, "balance your hooves on mine."

I put my front hooves under her back ones and slowly push her up. Her tail flicks to the side slightly, almost touching the flames just about a half a hoof away. "Hey watch your tail," I tell her.

She presses her tail against her privates, tucked between her legs. Once I get her all the way up, she slowly crawls through the hole and out of sight.

I listen intently for anything going on in the room. I hear a thud, meaning that she probably just landed on the other side.

I hear a shuffling of hooves and another thud. That's not right. "Nova?" I call, loud enough for her to hear me. When I get no response I call again more desperately this time, "Nova!"

I hear hooves galloping down the hallway to my left. I look over to see a unicorn making haste down the hall towards me.

She isn't UUS, so I call out to her. "Hey, come remove this beam from in front of the door."

She slows to a walk in front of me. Her horn comes alight, her telekinesis taking hold of over beam. It moves slightly, causing ash and rubble to fall from the ceiling. After another shift, it falls over with a plume of smoke.

I nod my thanks to her. Expecting her to leave to go about what she was doing before, I kick down the door and she follows me in.

A pony is standing in the middle of the room. The pony is staring at me and calls out again, "Some pony please help me!"

I slowly walk over to the pony. Its face is unchanging. "It's okay, we're here to help," I say to the unicorn stallion. His expression remains the same and then the whole situation struck me as odd. I look around the room on instinct and I spot Nova lying on the ground face down and not moving.

I look back up to the unicorn in the middle of the room, my look of shock clearly planted on my face. I watch as the pony's face distorts and his pupils turn into hexagons.

"Shit," I groan. I walk around it, trying to get to Nova. The other unicorn that is in the room swings her crossbow around and takes aim at the pony.

The crossbow fires but the stallion is still standing. Its horn glowing that deathly black glow, it catches the bolt in mid flight. The blank expression is still there and with a shift of the magic, the bolt shoots back to the pony who shot it, impaling her chest.

The pony gasps in shock and falls lifelessly to the ground. I just realized my jaw dropped during the event and a sense of caution rushes over me. I've never seen one of the UUS ponies do that before.

I made a half circle around him, now putting myself in between him and Nova. I reach my back hoof towards her exposed neck and check for a pulse. Thank Celestia, I feel a slightly elevated pulse.

The room is completely in ruins. The walls are burnt, the floor is covered in ash and soot. A small fire flickers in the corner and the window behind me is shattered. The unicorn's horn flickers to life and he aims it at me. It fires a lot sooner than I anticipated and I barely have time to dodge it. I use my wings to give me a push to the side. The spell disintegrates the floor where I once stood, the first floor revealing a war zone.

The ponies below are falling left and right and blood coats the walls and the floor. Beams of light shoot from every direction and the sound of crossbows firing and swords clashing with flesh fill my ears.

Changing my focus back to the thing in front of me I look over me options. I don't have any. It's either fight him or run but if I run, Nova will be left behind.

And that's not going to happen.

I stance myself, making sure whatever move I make is going to be precise. I shift over and start walking circles around the pony. He follows me to no end. I lunge at him and manage to hit him. His head jerks to the side but still grabs me with his magic. He sends me flying across the room and I slam into the opposite wall upside down, falling and landing on my upper back and neck.

My head now throbbing painfully, I look up at the pony, his upside down figure stances to cast a spell. I kick off the wall, twisting my body to the side as the spell hits the wall. I decide as the spell disintegrates the wall, this pony isn't here to convert, he's here to kill.

Using the split second I've been given as after the spell was cast, I lunge once again, this time more successful. I tackle him backwards, sending myself reeling over him but still bringing him to the floor. I use my wings to gain a balance and stick the landing.

The unicorn is quicker and uses his telekinesis to throw me to the ground. The way this unicorn multitasks things like that. Standing up quickly and still casting spells like this without even looking. It's scary. I don't know what the UUS did to this one but it's unreal.

He casts a spell that pins me on my back, all four of my hooves restrained against the floor with an ethereal looking cuff on each one.

The unicorn's dark magic bubble around his horn is glowing bright as he takes aim. My heart slams into my ribcage and breakneck speed.

The door me and the unicorn mare came through blows apart, splinters and pieces of wood flying in all directions. Two arrows fly through the smoke and impale the unicorn standing above me. It stumbles, its expression staying the same through it all. His magical grasp breaks and I use the moment to my advantage. I plant a solid kick in the chest and I could feel and hear bones crack from the hit. The pony falls backwards and with a loud popping noise falls through the floor at the hole he created earlier and a thud as he hit the floor below.

I look over at the door to see who just saved me. A yellow pegasus stallion with a headband on walks through the door with another earth pony mare and a brown unicorn made right behind him.

The pegasus looks at me for a second. "You're good?"

I nod my head at him respectively and stand up. I dart over to Nova's unconscious body. I attempt to wake her up but she remains asleep, slowly breathing through her snout.

Happy with just the fact that she is alive, I nuzzle myself up under her and manage to get her on my back. She's a lot lighter than I remember but I'm sure I've just gotten stronger.

My head still pounds but the pain of hitting it is gone. I watch as the earth pony that is with them checks the pulse on the mare that came in with me and nods his head slowly to the yellow pegasus, much to his dismay.

"Alright everypony, on me, let's move," the pegasus says as he walks out the door. Taking a defensive look down the hallway, he turns left. I walk behind all of them as they have weapons drawn and ready to go.

We walk all the way down the hallway and into a stairwell, not bothering to check the rooms as we go through.

About halfway down the stairs while passively locked in my own thoughts, I remember exactly why we Nova and I came here. I then ask, "Have any of you seen General Vida anywhere?"

The pegasus in front of me says, "no we have not."

We continue down the stairway and we come to a stop at the door at the bottom. The yellow pegasus looks through the slot window on the door, trying to see if anything is coming.

After not seeing anything he slowly opens the door and takes flight and pulls up his crossbow to look around the open door. The only thing the dimly lit hallway presents is blood, swords, arrows, and dead ponies. Lots and lots of dead ponies. The scene is nearly puke worthy and it's even worse than anything I've ever seen.

We pass over them, having to stop several times fit me to adjust Nova on my back to make it easier. The bodies are stacked up and passing through here without getting blood on your hooves is impossible.

We finally get to the other end of the hallway and we pass through an open double door at the end. We decide to go left since the exit is this way.

It's taken me until now to realize how quiet it is. A full blown war happened just down the hall from where we are at and now it is so quiet that it made the fur on my neck to stand on end.

We get to the main entrance and several bodies litter the floor way. The front door's glass is busted out on the right side and we all stack up on the right, peeking out to check for hostiles.

An explosion rocks the entire mountain side, almost like an earthquake. The ground starts shaking violently and my ears have that glazed over feeling you'd get after a really loud rock concert.

We all step outside to watch as a tower of flame shoots into the sky.

"They've purged the Intel center," I heard the unicorn next to me say.

"What does that mean?" I ask, a little bit of worry finding its way into my question.

The yellow pegasus turns around to me slowly, his eyes almost taking a dead look as they meet mine.

"It means they're evacuating the base."

Times of Old

Six years ago...

Nova

I had butterflies in my stomach, my nervousness most likely obvious to the others. I looked over at Khan, the love of my life. He doesn't seem as nervous as me but you could still see his eyes moving frantically when he looks around. I looked over to Griel who was wiping down his guitar at a table nearby. Cayne is doing the same but he has his tough pony look on, clicking the pedal on the floor with his hoof and using his magic to turn the tuning keys on his bass. I turned around to look at Cas, who doesn't at all look nervous, going at it with drum sticks in his telekinetic grasp, with a drum solo of sorts. As much of a drum solo as one could do with a drum pad at least.

I heard the clopping of hooves on the other side of the backstage curtains, an up beat song playing over the PA. The crew that was performing is dance group, not something I really care about and seeing as they aren't playing music, I don't know how they are going to make it into the Canterlot School for Gifted Musicians.

I didn't have a doubt about being able to get into the school, it's just the process. We have to perform in a crowd of ponies of at least one hundred along with the three judges.

We had just had our first show at the Ponyville High School talent show in the town hall about three weeks ago. It was our first show that we played, but it was a success. We got more than just an appreciation award as one of the scouts for the Canterlot School for Gifted Musicians offered us a tryout which we obviously accepted. The pony said his name was Smokey and he would like us to tryout for the school. And here we are.

"Anypony know where Lazer is at?" I heard Khan ask to anypony that was listening.

Griel said, "Haven't seen him."

"Nope," Cayne chimed in.

Khan looked over at me but he knew I hadn't seen him.

Cas was still going it at it on his practice pad, when Khan yells, "Cas!"

Cas jumps. "Wha-" was all he got to say as he knocked over his practice pad and nearly fell backwards in his chair and his telekinetic grasp broke on the sticks.

Khan starts laughing, Cayne and Griel snickering as well, breaking some of the nervous tension causing me to my smile as well.

As the laughter dies out, Khan asked, "Have you seen Lazer anywhere?"

Cas never got to answer as a voice came from the backstage exit door. "Lazer has arrived," Lazer says in a royal voice, smiling as he continues his walk over to us.

"I thought you weren't going to show," Khan says to him, gaining a look of shock.

Lazer was a pony from Las Pegasus, normally working the strip club circuit as a live light show along with the DJ for entertainment. I've never seen one of his shows and I also didn't know him that well. He was Khan and Cas' friend more than mine, as they went to school together.

"You thought I wouldn't 'show'? Lazer asks, laughing at his own pun. "You must be mistaking me for somepony else."

"Ha ha," Khan moves his head side to side with each 'ha' sarcastically.

With Khan, Cas, and Lazer talking together and Cayne and Griel preoccupied, I decide to walk around behind the massive red curtains that separates us from the performer and the stage behind it. I could really hear the hooves clopping now, the wood floor sounding hollow as the dance team continues their audition.

I also hear the praise from the crowd, cheering on the performers, The techno song that played over the PA system causing the stage to vibrate my hooves.

I walk aimlessly on, waiting for our time to go on. Which I think is going to be any minute. I trotted back the way I came, coming back across the stage. Smokey is standing right behind the back curtain also seeming to be doing nothing. "Hey," I tell him nervously. We still haven't gotten to really know each other yet.

"Hi," he says with a lack of emotion.

"So," I began, trying to think of something to say. His emotionless response leaving behind an awkwardness that I can feel. "What happens if we get in?"

His reply is quick, "If you make it then I will become your manager. You will be working in a studio with professional equipment and when you release your first album, I will set up showtimes with local places for your band to play at."

"All of this just for getting in?"

"Yes."

"Well, I guess I should go ahead and start calling you manager. We are going to get in."

"I like that confidence," he says as he walks away, "keep that up."

I turn around and keep heading back to the others.

I round the corner, I see everypony bustling with activity. They are bringing out all of our equipment, including our own loudspeakers, the instrument and vocal microphones, and the PA head and floor monitors. We have a really good setup, three out of the five of our band having jobs is the only reason we had all of it.

We have two dual, 15-inch loudspeakers along with four other single, 15-inch speakers and two 12-inch floor monitors and a 1500 watt PA head. We don't have any lights of any kind, which is why Lazer is here. If we wanted to get into this school, we were going to have to really stun the judges.

As I walk back, I see Cayne, Griel, and Cas moving back and forth to and from the stage, unpacking the equipment and moving it on stage.

I know we have to be speedy with this setup and I walk up to an equipment box that holds most of the wires and begin running them to their respectful places, having memorized our entire setup top to bottom, inside out and upside down. Khan refuses to let me help with heavy lifting, so I walk over to the PA head, mic in hoof as the eager crowd continues chattering during the intermission.

Khan flies over to me with a wire in his muzzle. He lands behind the rig and plugs is up giving my a small smile before going back to whatever he was doing. I stood in front of the PA waiting for everypony to bring me their cables. I plug in my microphone into the first XLR male port on the rig. I begin singing a classic tune into the mic, the tune I always use to test the mic, as it has many highs, lows and pops. The crowd went silent as I went through the first verse. When the verse came to an end I heard a few cheers and small bit of stomping. I turn around halfway, bring up a hoof to wave at the crowd before returning to what I was doing.

Now that my microphone is indeed working, all of the levels balanced to our liking, I grab the next cable with my teeth Griel's pedal board in, the quarter inch jack having a quarter inch to XLR female into the XLR male port next to mine. I give him the go ahead for a test. He plays a quick run through of another classic metal song. As he finishes, a few more hoots and hollers made their presence known. Khan walks over, his electric, vibrant blue guitar dangling around his neck and the cord dangling from his muzzle. I give him a quick peck on the cheek and grab the cord, plugging it in next to Griel's. Cayne levitates his cable to me which I plug in and immediately afterward, my ears are assaulted with bass by the nearest dual 15" loudspeaker. Cas levitats his nine microphone cables over and I begin plugging them in one by one. He tests his drum kit piece by piece, me monitoring the levels on the head monitor. After I had all of the cables plugged in, they all start playing a song that is still in the making for us that nopony knows about.

I wrap the microphone cable around my right hoof so were it wouldn't dangle. I fly over to the floor monitors and sing a short piece of the verse to check if they are on and level with the other speakers, along with the others doing the same. Khan nods towards me and so does Cayne and Griel, all standing near the 15's. With that we are ready to go and we end the little test run.

I see Khan walk out of view of the audience, him asking Lazer if he was ready, to which Lazer nods in the affirmative as him as Khan flies back into the view of the audience.

Nervousness is taking it's toll on me, I just need to make sure to keep my voice steady.

Griel starts playing the intro to the song we would be playing. In order to give me time to get the crowd hyped up, he knew to keep playing the intro in a loop until I gave the signal.

"Canterlot School for Gifted Musicians, how are we doing tonight?" I shout into the mic, rewarding me with a few murmurs. The second time always gets a better start then the first. "Come on everypony don't be shy. We are a lot more nervous than you are, trust me." A few ponies start laughing as I continue. "I said, how are we doing tonight?!" The crowd's shouting is more elevated now. I give the others the signal to start the song. I hold the microphone close to my mouth and whisper, "Now that's more like it."

As the intro faded into the first riff, Lazer went to work at what he does best; flushing the crowd in a spam of strobes, lights, lasers and many more.

<--------o------O------o-------->

The song comes to an end, the final three shots from the drums ringing out, the air from the subwoofers blowing my mane like the wind of a tornado. I messed up a few times but overall I think I did good. I hope I did good. The crowd was cheering and yelling, so I guess it was alright.

"That was very impressive," the middle judge spoke into the microphone.

"It's about time we got a metal group into this school again. The hip-hop and electronic scene is really becoming a bore," the judge to the right says as the cheers from the crowd die out.

"I'm glad you liked it," I said, breathing deeply to recover from the song.

"Okay, so we are going to ask a few questions before we give you your scores," the judge on the left said, shifting in his seat.

"Shoot," I say, unraveling the microphone cord from my hoof.

"What made you ponies want to start a metal band, even though the popularity of the genre is almost at an all time low since it's creation?" The judge on the left is asking questions that I love answering.

"That's actually exactly why we did it. We have a feeling that it will be very soon that the genres the judge on the right mentioned are going to be in the state that the rock and metal genre is in now," I begin, looking around the auditorium. "We felt it was a good move to start now, so by the time the...metal revival, if you will, begins, we will be right there in the middle of it."

A few ponies are hooting and hollering as the middle judge asks, "Very interesting and a very bold career move. So tell me, what if this uprising you've dubbed as the 'metal revival' doesn't happen.

"Well, that would suck...a lot," laughter made its way from the crowd. "We would probably keep playing for fun every now and then but move more towards different careers."

"I happened to notice that the song was deeply political and rather dark with a lot of almost unnoticeable double meanings," the judge on the right began. "So, what type of ponies are you trying to appeal to?"

This one is a little more difficult than the last few. "We as a band, see the world as it is, not smoke, no mirrors. Truth be told, we all think the world has gone to complete shit," a few gasps echo off the walls, loud murmuring replacing the silence of the crowd's former state. "We think that the brutal truth and meaningful lyrics that the metal genre has to offer will hopefully wake everypony up, to stop being pushed around. To stop thinking about what others think of you and start thinking of yourself. If you feel that somepony is against you because of something you like, somepony you like, maybe for something you did or didn't do, don't worry about them. Somepony who is worth your time won't judge you for any of those things and to answer your question, we are trying to appeal to anypony who has a mind of their own and doesn't sway at a teeny bit of criticism and judgement.

The audience goes dead silent. That nervous twinge is starting to wash over me as I hear a pony in the crowd scream, "Yeah!" and that kicks the crowd into a blast of cheering and applauding and even a few standing ovations. "That is quite the speech," the judge on the right remarks with a smile forming on his face. "You are very right. The bluntness of the genre would do the world a lot of good."

I'm about to thank him when the middle judge interrupts me.

"Let's get your scores, shall we? Remember, in order to be excepted into the school you must get a composite score of 8 or above."

The silence in the auditorium is deafening.

The judges are now handing down their verdict. "Lyrics: eight. Sound: nine. Appeal: nine. Showponyship: ten..." Turning to the others I saw as their faces lit up. We had just gotten a ten. "Now to individual members' scores," The judge clearing his throat before continuing. "Drums, nine. Lead guitar: ten. Rhythm guitar: ten. Bass guitar: nine. Vocals: seven.

What? I guess I got the score because I messed up a few times.

"Composite score:" I took in a breath. "9."

Relief bathing me as the crowd erupts in applause. As I turn around, Khan grabs me up in a hug and leaves the ground with me in tow. Ascending in a spiral, his lips meet mine as we slow to a hover above the stage.

I break the kiss. "We did it!" I exclaim in joy. This is one of the happiest moments of my life.

I wave to the crowd as we begin our descent to the stage. Upon landing, the judges say, "Welcome to Canterlot School for Gifted Musicians. All of you."

Cayne and Griel are exchanging "brohugs" as they would call it while Cas continues playing the drums in excitement.

We did it.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Later that night...

Mom is really against the idea of me and a male pony sharing a room together. In fact, she told me not to but tonight is just one of those nights where you throw your worries to the wind. Khan opens the door for me, as I walk past him I see a smile beginning to form on his face. As I approach the bed I unfurl my wings and fly over it and then I close my wings, me crashing onto the soft, five star hotel mattress. I lay on my side, watching my handsome stallion as he walks over to me.

He stops, looking me over. He bites his lip but keeps his mouth shut.

"What?" I ask him, wondering what that look is about.

He smiles and says, "You...you blow me away." He flaps his wings and flies over me onto the bed, my head between his front hooves and his back legs on either side of my hip.

"Do I now?" I ask him playfully. "It seems to me I only pull you closer."

Moving my muzzle directly under his, I drape my hooves over his neck, rubbing his blue mane. "I'm just going with the flow," he replies, pressing his lips into mine. I feel his tongue trying to gain entry and I let him, him exploring my mouth and me doing the same. Our breathing is getting heavier, my heart soaring. An involuntary moan escaped my mouth into his, him responding only with more pressure into the kiss. I feel so small under him but that same feeling is a sense of security. He pulled away, panting softly, his chest heaving with each breath. Looking down, I saw the rise and fall of my own chest.

I'm not done with him yet.

I pull his head down, our muzzles once again only an inch apart. He met my eyes as I hold his gaze. He has beautiful, pale purple eyes that I can't seem to get enough of. It's an addiction that time couldn't break. "I love you," I say, looking back and forth to his left and right eye.

"I love you, too," he says as I lean in to intercept his perfect mouth with mine.

There isn't a day that will go by that I won't love him. I would have never thought that I would ever be with a stallion that possessed good looks and an even better personality. I close my eyes, pretending that me and him are becoming one. He leans into me even more, our bodies touching each other. Bending my legs a little bit to get more comfortable, I can feel the heat of my arousal in my nether regions. I can also feel them getting wetter by the second, my body pumping out its natural lubricant. The cold air from the hotel room's air conditioner making it very cold below the equator.

I pull away from our kiss, catching my breath as I pull him closer. I gave him a little nibble on his ear, him doing the same for my neck. A lustful moan escaped my muzzle once again, loving every second of this.

I saw his wings flare up, him leaning into a passionate kiss again which I am glad to return. There is something about our bodies being together like this that just feels so right.

Something that wasn't there before poked my tummy and I'm starting to feel a little rush of adrenaline. I tried to look down but Khan's body was in the way. Quickly noticing my reaction he pulls away from the kiss and looks me in the eyes lovingly. "I won't do anything that you don't want to do," he says softly, an almost whisper.

I guess I just don't have no quit in me but I'm sure not about to stop him. He goes back to kissing my again, putting one of his hoofs around my neck. I hear him moan quietly, his lips never leaving mine. He lifts himself off me just a little bit and I found myself looking down in curiosity. His member is laying across my stomach, his head looking right at me, the light from the lamp on the bedside table reflecting off a tiny drop of his own pre ejaculate. There is something about his stallionhood that is so enticing I broke my kiss with him. I want to know what it tastes like.

Leaning up and bending my head down, Khan asking, "Nova?" My mind is made. I'm going to find out what he tastes like in a different place. I could feel my crotch getting wetter as I'm getting closer. I'm head and muzzle with and I open my mouth and rap my lips around his head only and licking his tip with my tongue, tasting precum for the first time. Sucking his head and then pulling off of it, Khan releases a moan unlike the one I heard before and it isn't helping my situation down there. Precum isn't bad tasting, it just felt funny the way I had to get it.

I lay my head back on the pillow, the soft lump of cotton melding to the shape of my head. Khan's member now completely hard, still sitting against my stomach, his entire head glistening. He lays back down on me, his throbbing cock now sandwiched between us. He moves his right hoof under my neck and kissing me again, this time being short and sweet. He uses his left hoof to readjust his stallionhood, it now sitting on my left leg. My legs were squeezing together, involuntarily, although I'm not sure why.

I open my legs slowly, his rock hard cock sliding down my left leg and then stopping at my nether. His stallionhood is cupping my marehood, turning me on in ways I have never felt before. He leans in and we continue are passionate kissing, our tongues going back and forth into each others' mouth. It's getting almost unbearably hot down there now and I know I'm winking very hard right now. Holding our kiss, passionate moans coming from both of us and still keeping his right hoof behind my neck, he begins moving his left hoof down my constantly quivering body. Down my chest and my stomach his hoof travels, then he began stroking my soft, wet folds, gaining a strained moan from me as my head rolls to the side in pure ecstasy. My world is fading as my breathing quickens, my heart rate even faster than before.

Khan stops suddenly, relieving me of my elevated state. He only stops for a second, as Khan returns to stroking my winking marehood, but it isn't a hoof this time. I open my eyes and look down to see him using his left hoof to rub his head against me, my nectar mixing with his. He is lost in his own trip, him hovering over me with only about two inches in between our bodies. I don't want to him to stop. I don't want this night to end. He looks down at me, a kind heart smile on his face and an understanding look in his eyes and asks, "Do you want me to keep going?" He was still rubbing his head around my lips, sending pulses of pleasure through me.

Do I want him to keep going? Hell yes I do. I have a condition, "Yes I do, under one condition," his face turns into a lustful smile. "You better pull out or I'm going to pull it off."

He chuckles nervously, looking as if he isn't too sure of himself anymore. "Got it. Are you ready?"

I nod my head, giving him the most caring look I could. He put pressure against my lips, his stallionhood pushing inside. Moving his hard cock up and down inside my lips with ease, causing me to feel twice as good as before. The cold air seeps into my marehood, leaving it cold when he slides his member up. That's when he touches it, the tip of his cock rubbing smoothly against my clitoris. Throwing my head back in a fit of pleasure unmatched, I let out a humble moans. He starts rubbing it faster, providing with a steady amount of ecstasy with each stroke. He slowly rubs down to the opening of my dripping tunnel. He caresses it with his tip in a circular motion, causing my lip to quiver.

He then put his tip into the opening of my love tunnel and began slowly moving in. I moan his name as my unused walls begin to stretch to accommodate for his size. A little pulse of pain layering itself in pulses of pleasure. I couldn't help but to lean up and look down. He isn't even a quarter way in, his medial ring still four inches from my tight lips.

The emptiness inside my stomach is filling when my love canal explodes in pain. "Gah!" I say pulling myself back with my for hooves from his cock, two inches of it sliding out, leaving just his tip inside my lips. I know what the source of that pain is and I'm sure he does too.

"You're still a virgin?" he asks me with genuine concern.

I nodded my head slowly, worry starting to grip me. What if he thought I'm not cool or something?

He's about to say something before being interrupted by knocks on the door. He pulls completely out of me sending one last spike of pleasure, stands up and flies slowly to the door. I can tell he is trying to hide his junk. I slide under the covers, trying to hide the evidence of our activities. He opens the door, standing behind it and peaking his head out.

It's Lazer. I can't hear what he's saying, but I know his voice. Khan looks back at me, "Come here for a second." I uncover and fly over to the door, me and him trading places, me keeping my body behind the door. "Yeah?" I asked Lazer, his electric green eyes looking worried.

"Nova, your mom is in the ICU in Canterlot Hospital," he says sadly, his ears drooping back. Fear washes over me, along with a little bit of relief. I thought she found out me and Khan were sharing a room.

"What happened?" I ask him.

"She was taking a train here when it came off the tracks about three miles from Canterlot," he says looking at the floor before continuing. "She isn't in too good of shape, Nova."

"I'll be there in just a moment, do you know what room she's in?"

"No, you'll have to find out when you get there."

"Thanks, Lazer." I shut the door and run into the bathroom.

Khan leans against the doorway, "What's going on?"

"My mom has been in a train wreck and is in the ICU. I'm going to go see her, Lazer says she's not in great shape." The reality of it all settling in. What if my mom...no! No that can't happen.

I turn on the water in the tub. Hopefully I can rid myself of the smell of sex before I go over there.

"I'll go with you," he tells me.

"Okay, I'll be out in just a minute," I say as he nods and shuts the bathroom door for me.

I hope my mom isn't in as bad of condition as Lazer made it seem.

<--------o------O------o-------->

The Canterlot Hospital Entrance, Fifteen minutes later.

I close my wings upon touchdown, making a desperate dash for the glass hospital doors, Khan right behind me. I slow to a walk, pushing the doors open, my heart sinking in my chest. There are ponies everywhere, the nurses white specks in a sea of color, mostly the color of red. Some ponies had various body parts wrapped in medical bandaging, others with braces and casts. These ponies are all from that wreck.

I walk to the receptionists desk, about five ponies making hasty movements to and fro with papers and medical supplies of all kinds. I manage to stop one of them hovering a clipboard and a pen in her telekinesis. "Can I help you?" She asks in a hurried voice.

"I'm looking for somepony that was in the train wreck." I say hurriedly, trying not to hold her up in her work.

"Name please?"

"Comet."

She hovers her clipboard in front of her face, reading through whatever is on it. She flips the page and skims some more, "Ah yes, she is in the ICU, room 403 on the fifth floor.

"Thank you so much!" I exclaim, the nurse nodding her head and continuing about her work.

"I'm going to wait outside," Khan says.

"You aren't coming with me?" I ask.

"I'll be right outside the door. I'm not going anywhere." With that, he takes his leave towards the door.

I make my way down the hall, dodging out of the way of gurneys rushing past me. The elevators are at the end of the hall, one of them open with three ponies in it, one of them a nurse. I pick up my pace and climb aboard. I press the button for the fourth floor, the second and fifth floor buttons already lit. The door closes and I feel the mobile room moving up and coming to stop. The door opens and two of the ponies got out, leaving me with the nurse.

The doors close again and the nurse holding his gaze on the panel with buttons and asks, "Are you one of the ponies that was in the train accident?"

"No, my mom was," I reply unable to hide the sadness in my voice.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he says as the elevator stops on the fourth floor and opens. "I wish you the best of luck."

I step out of the elevator and look back at him, his sincere eyes meeting mine. "Thank you."

The doors close and I turn around, two nurse stations on both sides of the room with vending machines against the walls to either side of me. One of the stations is empty, the other one only housing one nurse. There are two stainless steel doors in between the two stations, my guess that's were the rooms are.

I rush over to the desk, coming to a stop in front of him. "Sir, I'm looking for my mom; she's in room 403," I tell him.

Looking at me from the corner of his eye, "I'll need you to sign this guest sheet before I can open the doors for you," he says sliding the sheet to me. I grab a pen cover from the box next to me and the nurse slides it onto the back of the pen and hovers it in front of me. I grab it with my teeth and sign my name. I look at my signature for a second. That's really nice, I thought to myself. I'm gunna have to remember that.

The paper floats out from under my nose and the tingling feeling of magic surround my mouth as the pen is floating out of my mouth, leaving the plastic cover behind. I let the plastic cover float out of my mouth and into a trash can to the right.

"Alright, Nova," he says, putting the clip board back onto the desk and the pen back into a jar. "Who are you going to visit?"

"Comet," I say, eager to bust through those doors and go see her.

He scribbles a few things on a paper and throws it into a stack on the other side of the desk. "Alright, you can go through," he says, pressing a button on the wall next to him. "Third door on the right."

"Thanks," I say as I'm heading through the doors. The hallways are nothing like the room before. It's bustling with activity, nurses running up and down the hallways, gurneys set against the walls in no particular order. I'm keeping to the right, as the onslaught of chaos continues around me. I dodge out of the way of a nurse running into a nearby room, I can hear the monitor in that room going flat. My ears pin back as my heart rate begins to rise. Passing room 402 I pick up my pace slightly, my hoofsteps matching my heartbeats.

Coming to a complete stop once in front of the door, the big red and gold plate on it reading, 'Room 403', I brace myself for the worst. I lift my hoof and turn the handle, pushing the wooden door open. I take two steps in and stop in my tracks.

"Oh," I say in horror, the sight before me that is my mother making me immediately sick to my stomach. She is facing away from me, her faded pink mane stuck together in clumps, covered in blood. Her side has a bandage around it that's soaked with her blood from her cutie mark to the joint of her front left leg. Her wing looks like its broken in several places, the bandaging not hiding the unnatural bends in her wing. "Mom..."

I walk slowly to the other side of her, a CPAP mask around her muzzle, a strap going around her head. "Holy shit, Mom," I say walking up to her.

"Watch your mouth, Nova," she says hoarsely." Just because I can't stand up doesn't mean I can't spank you."

A smile crept its way to my lips, my feeling of relief making the room not as warm as it had been when I first walked through the door. A feeling down below brings back a twinge of guilt as I look at my mother.

"What happened?" I ask her, my voice shaking slightly from trying to bury my guilt.

"The train came around a bend too fast and it flew of the tracks. I was sitting by the window when it landed on its side."

"How did that leave you with all of this?" I ask.

"Well, when the train turned over on its right side, me was sitting on the right side, another pony's luggage from across the train car landed on me at an angle, crushing my wing. Then the pony landed on me, breaking two ribs and shattering another, along with making my wing even worse and causing the corner of the metal case to cut into me, one of my lungs collapsing as well."

"Celestia, Mom," I say in shock. "What did the doctor say?"

"He says that as long as I don't move around too much, my shattered rib shouldn't bother any other organs, but he also said that my wing has an eighty percent chance to not heal properly, even after them setting it not too long ago," she stops and coughs forcefully, blood splattering inside her mask.

"Mom!" I say grabbing the sheets with my mouth and take the mask off of her just long enough to wipe the blood. She breathes in deeply, her side rising up. I can see the pain in her face as she's doing so. "Celestia, that hurt," she says, still regaining her breath. "The doctor says I might not be able to fly again."

"That's terrible," I say sadly. A pegasus who couldn't fly is a sad pegasus. I don't know what I would do without my wings.

"Look baby, I love you," she says to me, her wing twitching, "but these meds they gave me are helping tenfold with the pain, but they are also making me very tired."

"I understand," I say looking around the room, my eyes landing on a couch under the window. "You don't mind if I stay do you?"

"I would never mind you staying, sweetie," she says with that caring look in her eyes.

I walk over to the door, "I'm going to go tell Khan that I'm staying," I call back.

"I'm not going anywhere," she says straining her voice for me to hear. I walk through the door, closing it behind me. Making my way through back down the hall from which I came, walking to the metal doors and the elevator. I'm alone this time, as I press the ground button on the panel.

In no time the elevator doors open and I'm once again cutting my way through the chaos that is the hospitals lobby. I open the doors, escaping into the cold, night air. A breeze ruffles my mane as I walk along the curved side walk, street lamps lighting up the cobblestone roads. I should've worn a coat.

Another carriage pulls up under the hospital's canopy, two unicorns hoping out the back, horns alight as they pull another gurney with a pony laying on top of it, adding another casualty to the list.

I keep walking, my breath making little clouds that evaporate within a second. As I start to round the corner, I hear Lazer's voice.

"She only made a seven. You know that's is average right? You're run of the mill pony can do that." I stop in my tracks, leaning against the wall.

"I know but-"

"Exactly! No buts," Lazer says, cutting Khan off. "You guys are all really good, all above average. Hell, you and Griel both got a ten! Surely you can't justify keeping her in the band."

"She can improve, Lazer," Khan says with a sigh. "She is actually very good at singing, she was just nervous. It's only our second time playing for a crowd."

"If stage fright is what makes her mess up then that's another reason she should go. I'm not saying to break up with her...just find a new singer."

My heart drops in my chest like an anchor. Why would they want to replace me? I gave that show my all, I wanted to get in just as bad as they did. I did get in! We all did!

"You're probably right-"

That's when I've heard enough. Tears starting to build in my eyes, the winter breeze making them sting, I fly back to the hospital door and back up to the third floor. The pony behind the counter recognizes me and opens the door.

As I walk through, I see three nurses and a doctor run by the hallway I'm in, going to the right. I fly around the corner, watching as they all pile through the third door.

Room 403.

"No," I say out loud, flying full speed down the hall, above the gurneys and IV stands that litter the floor below. I stop at the door and run in, the screen on the heart monitor showing a flat line and a ton of beeping filling the room. I run to the side of the bed, where the doctors are pulling out a defibrillator and turning my mom over on her back.

Time slows to a crawl as all I can do is stare at the nurses as the attempt to revive my dying mother. A tear falling down my face, I run over to her, peaking over the doctor's shoulder.

"She told me that you said she would be okay!" I scream at him, tears flowing like water from a faucet.

He looks back at me with a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry," he says in a defeated tone. "I never told her anything like that."

The nurses count down from three again, causing my mother's body to jump as the defibrillator touches her chest. The doctor turns around and gives the signal for her to stop. The mare on the right looks to a clock and says, "Time of death: 11:39 PM. Cause of death: loss of blood."

I let myself fall backwards against the wall, chocking back a sob. I lean my head against the wall, staring at the ceiling and anywhere else that isn't that bed. The weight of guilt pulling me to the ground. I had gotten a hotel room, doing exactly what she asked me not to and sharing it with Khan because of that I almost lost my virginity. I think back to just recently, her words echoing in my head.

Look baby, I love you.

I didn't say it back.

...they are making me very tired.

She knew that Khan was going to be with me when I came here and she knew I would ask to stay with her. She knew that I was going to go tell Khan that I was staying.

That's why she lied. She knew she was dying, the doctor telling her so. She didn't want me to be here to see her pass.

She knew.

And I didn't say it back.

"I didn't say it back," I say out loud, my face hurting with the strain of my crying and sobbing.

...I love you.

"I didn't say it back."

I stand up and walk to the door, tears falling free on to the tiled hospital floor. I walk slowly down the hall, dragging along. Faces passing by me, ponies I would probably never see again. Once again I travel alone down the elevator. I see my reflection in the stainless steel doors of the elevator my own eyes an exact replica of my mothers. I squeeze my eyes tight until I feel the elevator stop and hear the doors open. I once again mill through the crowd, like a ghost. No one noticing my presence, just another pony.

As I walk through the glass doors, the fragility of life makes itself known to me. It doesn't stem the pain I'm feeling in my heart however. I walk around the corner I had previously been eavesdropping behind, finding Khan now standing alone.

Noticing me immediately he turns towards me and sees my distraught expression. "Is everything okay?" he asks as he walks towards me.

I shake my head back and forth as he wraps his hooves around me. I cry into his mane openly. After about a minute he says, "Let's go back to the hotel." He doesn't even question why I'm crying which is good because I know talking about it would only add to the soreness that my face is already feeling. He wraps his wing around my back, warming the places it touches.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Khan and I walk into the hotel room together, his wing still hanging over my back. I nudge him, giving him a sign that I wanted him to let go of me.

I couldn't meet his eyes, not after hearing what I heard earlier. My heart is torn in two, the weight and the guilt of losing my mother and the possibility of losing the band too causing my spirits to drag along the floor as I walk over to the bed closest to the bathroom.

I bite the covers and pull them back and straighten the pillows. I crawl under the covers, the cold from outside still not having worn off of me.

Khan begins to crawl in to the bed next to me when I stop him with a hoof softly against his chest.

"I'd like to sleep alone tonight," I say to him, his empathetic expression showing a look of understanding. He turns off the lamp on the table in between my bed and his.

I stare at the ceiling for what seems like hours. Thinking over what Khan and Lazer were talking about earlier, I realize that I'm about to lose Khan too. Between the band, school and his job he isn't going to have time for me. I'm going to have to let another pony important to me go by choice, to make it easier on me.

The pain of losing him slowly over the next couple of weeks after they kick me out of the band would be worse than me breaking up with him.

I need to come up with a plan that will get him to believe that I'm not leaving him because I overheard him talking to Lazer about kicking me out.

The pain of the mother I would never see again pushing all of these thoughts aside, the superiority of its weight not giving any room for other thoughts.

I don't know how the best day ever could turn into the worst so fast.

I close my eyes, the weight of the world wearing me out as I drifted asleep.

<--------o------O------o-------->

Three days after Comet's funeral

"You're kidding me right?"

I look into Khan's shocked face, as I spill the imaginary beans about an imaginary situation.

"I'm not," I say. It's killing me having to do this, but it's for the better. "She's a really nice mare."

He turns away from me, staring out the window, the beams of light reflecting off his eyes. "Was any of what we had real?"

"Yes it was! I've just realized I like mares, I'm sure you understand because you do too."

He looks up at the ceiling and squeezes his eyes shut, the veins in his neck flexing as he inhales deeply. "Then I guess it's over then," he says with a sigh.

"I'm not quitting the band but I just know this really cute mare that I've had my eyes on for a while, even before I started dating you."

"Whatever," he says dismissively. "I'll see you at the next practice." He walks out the door, closing the door behind him. Our twenty minute conversation coming to a close.

I breath a sigh of relief but also pain.

"I'm sorry, Khan." I say to the empty room. Alone completely, once again.