In a flash of blue light, Nightfire and Little Love appear inside of the ruined castle. Nightfire lifts a hoof and holds it gently to his forehead as his passenger slides off of his back and looks at him with a concerned look on her face. However before she could say anything he lifts his hoof away from his forehead and holds it up. “Don’t worry… I’ll be fine. I just haven’t done that in a while.”

“If you’re sure Sir,” Little Love replies gently and looks around the large room that they stood in, the cool stone beneath their hooves making the mare shiver, however when she looked over at Nightfire he didn’t seem phased at all but, focused on something that was hidden by shadows around them. “Doesn’t the cold get to you?”

“I’ve been through worse, believe that. But there is another reason why the cold isn’t bothering me Little Love,” He says softly as he steps forward toward three shadow covered thrones that seemed to be carved from ancient stone. “This is… where my sister’s and I ruled before Luna’s jealousy got the better of her and long before I took up the title of Seeker. Oh the years haven’t been kind, but the knowledge I gained was much appreciated,” Nightfire replies gently and sets a hoof down on the middle throne and looks from left to right, each step bringing back memories from when he and his sister’s lived in the castle.

***Twelve hundred years ago***

“Nightfire! It’s wonderful to see you back again!” Luna exclaims happily as she looks past their guest who had been discussing something of important with her.

“Whose bac-“ The stallion says and looks back and sees a taller, blue Alicorn standing by the door of the large throne room, a worn and weathered long coat covering his back and flank.

“Hey Luna,” Nightfire says as he takes off his saddlebags and sets them beside the closed doors. “It’s good to be back.”

“Listen,” The stallion who looked between the two of them before turning his attention to Nightfire. “I don’t know who you are but I had impor-“ He started before Luna cleared her throat loudly.

“No, you will listen,” She says carefully and gets up from her throne and steps down and looks down at the stallion who shrank back with fear in his eyes as his ears folded back. “He is my brother and is to be shown proper respect like Celestia or I. Is that understood?” She finishes with a snort and gentle stomp of her front right hoof.

The stallion seems to shrink from his fear of upsetting her and nods quickly as his eyes flicker between her and Nightfire.

“Good. Now we’ll finish this another time,” Luna says without taking her gaze off of the small stallion then raises her left wing as one of her own guard; a Thestral wearing dark blue armor and helmet steps out from where he and another of his own had been observing the scene before them.

“Yes Princess?” He asks in a respectful tone of voice as he stands at attention, wings folded at his sides and his eyes focused.

“Please escort our guest out. My brother and I have much we must talk about privately,” She says and her horn glows before she teleports over to her brother’s side. “Please let the others outside know that Night Court is over for tonight as well.”

“Yes Princess, as you wish,” He replies with a nod and makes a move to collect the stallion.

“Please come with me. I’m sure you have to be hungry,” Luna says with a smile as she turns and leads them out of the throne room, Nightfire only stopping for the shortest of moments to pick up his saddlebags with his magic.

“Of course Lulu,” Nightfire says with a teasing tone as they walk through the hallway that was filled with ponies that he’d passed.

“We thought you said you’d never call us that,” She says and huffs as she shuffles her wings with an annoyed look on her face.

“Come on Luna,” Nightfire says and then pushes her gently with his left shoulder. “What fun is there if I can’t mess with you?”

“Maybe play a prank of Tia instead,” Luna replies and once they turn a corner, she turns to him and smiles. “Regardless, it’s just so great to see you again!”

“It’s good to be back after all of those weeks,” He replies and hugs her close. “Have things been going well while I was away?”

“About the same, Celestia had an idea she wished to speak with you about but that can wait till tomorrow right?” Luna asks gently as she hugs her brother back tightly.

“Yeah, family comes first before royal duties right?” He asks with a grin as they separate.

“Agreed. So… the Deer Kingdom was informative?” Luna asks as she looks over him, almost like their mother had when they were younger.

“Very but after spending so much time there I’d like the chance to unwind with my family,” He says and rolls his shoulders, feeling his joints pop quietly. “You didn’t need to traumatize that stallion though. I swear, looked like he was going to die right there in front of us.”

“And let him go on to disrespect you? What kind of sister would I be if I let that happen?” Luna asks and then looks out a nearby window at the moonlight cascading into the hallway.

“Not a very good one at that. But I thank you for standing up for me,” He says and follows her gaze. “Beautiful work tonight little sister. Couldn’t have done better myself.”

“You mean that? You could easily do the same as us though,” Luna says as she looks away from the bright beam of moonlight shining through the window to her older brother.

“I could, but she seems to respond to you better than me. Your magic is refined for the moon, but mine has ties to her and Celestia’s sun. I suppose,” Nightfire says with a pause and then chuckles a little. “Maybe she’s a little upset with me for moving both of them before you two were born.”

Luna then smiles and chuckles a little in return. “She may be, but I’m sure she’s aware of the delicate balance she and the sun share,” The younger of the two says and then pokes his shoulder with a hoof. “Is your scar ok? We know that it must bother you a bit.”

Nightfire looks down into her eyes and then walks toward the window and looks up to the moon. His next words came solemnly. “It’s… difficult dealing with it. Discord has his cruel sense of humor with this,” He says and lifts his left hoof and places it over the coat that covered the scar that Discord had given him when they fought him the first time. “But I think… maybe he didn’t just leave me this scar without cause.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asks as she walks closer to her brother, curious by his words.

“Maybe… it was done to unnerve my mind. But I don’t think we’ll ever know,” He says and shakes his head slowly and turns away from the window. “Enough of this dark talk. I missed you two and we should spend this time together like when we were little,” He says and smiles as best as he could, his doubts still in his mind.

“If you’re sure… then let’s go wake Tia up. We’ve got a prank that you may really like,” Luna says with a devious smile on her face.
“Knowing you it’ll be brilliant,” Nightfire replies as they walk on from the window.

***ϾϾϾ***

“Sounds like you three really had fun together,” Little Love says as she walks up beside him and stares at the three thrones before her. Seeing chips, nicks and cracks in the once pristine marble.

“We always did. Like normal siblings we never always agreed on everything, but I know when we did agree, we were at our best and strongest,” Nightfire replies with a smile and then steps onto the steps leading up to the thrones and sees the cushioning that once was on then worn away to nothing, weather and most likely the ponies outside having torn it away for something. “Did you know, my sisters and I were quite the pranksters with each other? This whole castle has hidden things that one of us told the builders to put in without knowledge from the other two.”

“Really? Didn’t you ever get tired of the constant pranks?” Little Love asks, never having guessed that he had been a prankster many years ago, her ears ready to catch all of the info she could.

“Never did really,” Nightfire says with a smile and lowers his hoof to the ground with a sigh. “It was good to know somethings never changed. The pranks always were fun to deal with and set up. Lost count how many times those two worked together to prank me and vice versa. Luna’s mind was sharp for that and Celestia had great foresight for what would work best for the situation from day to day. Me? I was somewhere in the middle,” He replies with a smile then looks to the right to a darker colored stone. “Luna…”

Little Love looks up at Nightfire, seeing some side to him she never thought to see; not just as an Alicorn or their charge, but as a brother that’d do anything to see his sister’s safe from harm. And that thought was enough to bring tears to her eyes. “S-Nightfire… I can’t even begin to know how close you three were,” She says then steps up and stands between him and the middle throne and sets a hoof on his chest. “But I know, as a sister, they’re happy to have been your little sisters. Warlord has done much for me while we grew up and now I see it from his side and yours,” She says and smiles at him, the tears staining her cheeks.

Nightfire looks down into her tear filled eyes and nods before hugging her close with a foreleg. However just as he opened his mouth to thank her voices from the long hallway that was lit by torches that seemed spaced to far apart to really serve any good. Quickly Nightfire jumps behind the middle throne and covers her mouth with a hoof. “Quiet.”

“What the fuck does Red Eye think to get out of this place? This place is nothing but a fucking death trap,” A pony dressed in haphazardly built armor, covering his chest and legs while a combat shotgun was slung on his back while his horn glowed to illuminate the area around him and his two companions who walked to his left.

“Who knows. But I’m just hoping that I get to shoot at more than just the creatures inside of this life forsaken forest,” A gryphon that had a rifle of some type on his back between his wings while his wings had some kind of blades strapped to them with thin leather straps. His armor was slightly in better condition than the other two he was walking with as he looks around the walls of the open hallway.

“You gryphons and your need to just shoot anything that could even be close to a threat, such a fucking waste of ammo,” The mare beside the gryphon says with an annoyed tone to her voice as she looks over the pistol she had floating in front of her with her yellow magic. Her mane, disheveled and cut short to nearly nothing while her eyes looked straight in front of them toward the three stone thrones.

“Can’t help it. Born and raised a mercenary like my mother before me and she made sure I was good at what I did,” The gryphon says with pride as he stops a good few paces away from the three thrones. “So, these were the thrones of your precious Goddesses hmm? They look fairly normal to me.” Before the others could say anything he draws his rifle and opens fire, shooting four rounds into the throne on the right.

Nightfire and Little Love stifle gasps of surprise from their hiding space and see the bullets tear into the stone, sending small chunks flying into the wall far behind the thrones. Nightfire stares at the now shot throne of his baby sister and bares his teeth as his anger grows with each breath.

“What the fuck was that? Wasting ammo you don’t even have!”

“Are you trying to kill us? Those bullets could’ve ricocheted and hit us!”

The gryphon rolls his eyes and slings the rifle back across his back as he ignores the angry shouts from his two partners. “But they didn’t. Now stop being cowards,” He replies as he steps forward and stares at the holes the bullets barely punched into the stone.

Nightfire takes a deep breath and looks down at Little Love’s equipment that she has on her person and as his eyes lock onto her knife he leans down and bites down on the handle and pulls it from the sheath.

Little Love looks back at him and pushes his hoof off of her mouth as she looks at him with worry.

Nightfire smiles around the handle of the knife and then quickly pushes down on her back and then pushes her toward the middle throne, pauses for a moment before jumping into the air with a strong downward flap of his wings, stirring up dust. As he quickly turns in the air he looks upon the face of the stunned gryphon and the surprised look of two very surprised ponies. As he approaches the height of his jump, he enters S.A.T.S and targets the pony on the right, knowing that in an aerial battle he’d easily outmatch the gryphon. Once he was positive, he released the spell and threw the knife as strong as he could with his neck and mouth. As he watches, the knife flies at the pony and buries itself deep into the chest of the pony.

The pony looks down at the knife now sticking out of his chest and opens her mouth before feeling blood seep out of her mouth. Before she could fall onto her side, the opponent that surprised them landed with a thunderous thud on the ground between the gryphon and her other companion.

Nightfire smirks and looks back at the gryphon with a smirk as his horn glows bright, the magic forming around the hilt of the .44. “Well… interesting that I’d find a gryphon that works with scum like Red Eye. Here I thought that gryphons were smarter than to ally themselves with somepony, who doesn’t give two shakes of his own tail if you live or die.”

“We’ll see about that!” The gryphon says and quickly spins around and swings his rifle around and quickly pulls the trigger as fast as his talons could.

Nightfire quickly ducks and rolls on the ground as he keeps his focus on the gryphon that was firing round at where he had been standing while the other pony that had been between them ducks and runs for the safety of a stone pillar not to far from where she had been standing. Nightfire closes his eyes quickly and as magic floods to his horn, he teleports out of the onslaught of bullets to appear behind the gryphon, standing on the top of the middle throne. “How dumb do you really have to be? I’ve seen your kind at your peak-“

“Shut up!” The gryphon exclaims loudly and turns back to the thrones and opens fire with the last few rounds on the clip of his rifle as he watches the Alicorn jump and teleport out of the way once more.

“And I have to say, I’m not at all impressed with how far you’ve fallen!” Nightfire says as he stares at the gryphon from right behind him with the .44 of his own drawn but not pointed at the gryphon.

“I told you… shut up!” The gryphon says and quickly extends his wings wide and spins around, slashing at the Alicorn with the blades on his wings, barely slashing into the torso of Nightfire’s coat.

Nightfire quickly leaps back, feeling the blades slice through the fabric of his coat and trim the tips of the fur on his chest being cut. Nightfire quickly brings up his gun and pulls the trigger with his magic the first two shots missing, flying past the head of the gryphon by inches while the third shot struck home and the bullet flew past the gryphon’s neck, leaving a burn on his neck as the bullet flew by into the darkness.

Before the rival Alicorn could fire his next few shots, the gryphon quickly pulls out a small pistol out of a holster that it seems the Alicorn hadn’t seen and fires twice, the two bullets slamming into his flank. “So what was that about not being as good as before?”

Nightfire grunts with pain as the two bullet tear into his flank, sending white hot twine lances of fire through his body that causes his magic to falter and drop his pistol. “Ok,” He says through his bared teeth. “Better than I gave credit… but you are missing something.”

“Oh? What is it?” The gryphon asks as he stares the Alicorn down then hears the cocking of a gun. As the gryphon turns to sees where the sound came from he sees his other unicorn partner with a foreleg pulled behind his back tightly while a cleaner looking Unicorn had her pistol trained at the side of his head.

“Me,” Little Love says with confidence in her voice as she stares the gryphon down. “Now lower your weapon and surrender.”

“You seem to forget something…” The gryphon says and before either of the three ponies could react the Gryphon trained his gun on the Unicorn in Little Love’s grasp and fires once, the bullet striking the pony in the head, killing him instantly. “Ponies mean nothing to me, as long as I get paid.”

Little Love releases the now lifeless body of the pony she had captured and looks between the dead pony and the gryphon, beginning to hyperventilate. “Wh-What’s the matter with you?! He was your partner! Surely he meant something to you!”

“That Unicorn?” The gryphon says and rolls his eyes as he looks at the corpse. “Please, he was weak and was only slowing me down. Just like you,” He says as he sees her lock her eyes on his gun as her horn quickly aims hers at him. “You don’t look like you’ve got the nerve to pull that trigger. But… I guess it won’t matter when you’re dead.”

As Nightfire picked up his .44 from the ground where it had fallen, he saw the gryphon lift his gun, already siting Little Love in the crosshairs. Quickly he activated S.A.T.S and targeted the gryphon’s back and head, despite the moderate odds that he’d successfully hit him with any of the four shots he had left. ‘Come on… don’t fail me now…’ He thinks and lets the spell fully activate, the first shot only managed to strike the gryphon’s wing, wounding it, but it’d only take a single healing potion before it’d be fixed. The second shot landed successfully, striking the gryphon’s back, penetrating his skin and causing him to stumble and look back at the Alicorn with anger and pain. The third shot struck true, punching through the head of the gryphon as it his head was wet paper, splattering his blood and brains on the ground between him and Little Love.

Nightfire closes his eyes and deactivated S.A.T.S and lowers his gun as he walks over to Little Love, skirting around the body of the gryphon he’d killed. Shuffling a little to compensate for the pain running through his right flank and sets a hoof on Little Love’s shoulder. Shaking her a little to cause her eyes to focus again, having probably been terrified that she would’ve died if he hadn’t been there. “Little Love, are you ok?”

The shocked mare locks eyes with Nightfire, tears threatening to leak past the edges of her vision before she rushes forward into his chest and sobs. “Wh-What’s the matter with ev-everypony?”

Nightfire frowns and drapes a foreleg around her shoulder and pulls her closer. “I don’t know… but as long as we’re strong we’ll be alright.”

Before Little Love could process Nightfire’s words other voice started echoing from down the hallway that their last foes had come down. Acting on instinct and a memory Nightfire’s horn began glowing as he focused on a teleportation spell, hoping that the long years had worn away the protective spells Luna had set around the room. Just before the spell reached its peak and the glow to intense to look at, Nightfire saw three more ponies, each one with some kind of rifles as their vision swam with bright light.

As they reappeared in a flash of blue and white light Little Love looks away from Nightfire’s chest and looks around at the room that they had appeared in. “Where… what room are we in?” She asks as the details finally start sinking into her vision. Dark blues, blacks and minimal whites that took the shapes of moons, the night sky despite the faded colors and paint that was peeling from the walls and the rotted carpet. “Wait… this is Princess Luna’s room?”

“Sharp eye…” Nightfire says with a smirk as he pulls out a healing potion from the pocket of his coat and drinks it down slowly, feeling the familiar itching sensation on his flank as it worked on repairing the damage the gryphon caused. “My little sister’s room, aside from the decay, rot and fading everything still looks the same as that last night she and I played chess, before I went on another royal trip to the other nations.” Nightfire says and then looks down at his hooves sadly as he recalled what happened mere days later.

As Little Love looks around the room, absorbing all of what he told her while taking in the rotting bookcases filled with books, many that appeared to be ruined due to having been exposed to weather and years of sitting. As Little Love walked up to two of the cases, she looks at the spines of the books, barely able to make anything out from the fading and rot that some of the book had. “She read a lot didn’t she?”

“Quite a lot. All three of us did, she more than Celestia and I. Mainly she did like reading books filled with magic spells but she did write a few of her own. She did have a book she worked on, a book of her personal favorite spells and others she made herself; with and without Celestia’s or my own help. I believe she called it her ‘Book of Shadows,’” Nightfire says with a smile as he remembered her spending hours working on spells that he never understood or others that she made work with his help or Celestia’s.

“She wrote them all down?” Little Love asks, her eyes seeming to lighten up with the notion of reading new spells. Looking for the labeled book on any of the nearby shelves which made Nightfire smile.

“She kept it close to her, when she had spare time she worked on any spell that she could. Possibly she left one or two laying around,” He says as he walks up to a door that had a glowing sapphire above it. “That’s… impossible. I feel her magic radiating from it. But what could be in there she’d want to keep hidden?” Nightfire asks as he lifts a hoof to try and approach the door, only for an unseen force push his hoof away from the door. Nightfire pushes against the force of Luna’s lingering spell and finds it begin pushing harder and harder against his hoof, keeping it a mere inch from reaching it before his hoof stopped cold. Nightfire stares at his hoof and then lowers it back to the ground and the turns his attention to the door. “What were you hiding in here?” Nightfire asks aloud as he steps closer and feels the magic pushing against his whole body.

“Sir… maybe you need to shatter the spell. Otherwise it’ll keep you from what is inside,” Little Love says as she herself steps away from the bookshelves and tries to do as he had, only to find the spell pushing against her hoof harder than it had against him.

Nightfire looks at her for a moment, knowing that she was right but knowing deep inside himself that this was the last shred of his sister that he’d find. “You’re right…” Nightfire says after a moment’s hesitation as his own horn glows bright with his magic then angles his head forward and shoots a concentrated beam of magic into the door that caused a bright flash of light to admit from the door which caused both of them to close their eyes. After a moment the sound of breaking glass reached their ears and Nightfire could feel the spell had broken and released his own magic, feeling a small part of himself die inside at the feeling of Luna’s magic falling away.

“She must’ve been skilled to keep a spell like that going,” Little Love says as she opens her eyes and sees that nothing seemed to change but now the force wasn’t pushing her back.

“You’ve no idea…” Nightfire says as he steps up and pulls open the door, unsure what he’d find inside and leaps back when a tall weapon began falling toward him. As it clatters to the ground Nightfire’s eyes grow wide with shock. “Where did she... where did she get that?” Nightfire asks as he stares at the weapon that laid on the ground before him. The haft of the weapon was a midnight black and had some kind of strange arch in the middle of it. At the top the long curved blade was a dark midnight blue just like Nightmare Moon’s mane. Near the blade was a seemingly decorative piece that Nightfire couldn’t see a practical use for unless it was meant to keep in in place in a sheath of some kind. As his eyes look over the blade he sees words in black etched into to blade which made him narrow his eyes a little.

As Little Love looks at the weapon laying before them, she looks up to Nightfire and as she sees his reaction she steps back a little. “What is it?” She asks softly, snapping Nightfire out of his distaste.

He blinks and then shakes his head a little before replying. “Nothing… it’s just I never thought Luna found one of the sixteen weapons our mother and father made, well the ones that we weren’t given.”

“What do you mean Sir? One of the sixteen weapons?” Little Love asks as his magic grips the middle of the haft of the weapon and lifts it into the air.

“My mother and father once found a fallen star, from it they discovered a metal that hadn’t been seen before in the world. From it they effectively named it star metal and from that first lump they found, they not only made sixteen weapons of different types, but they also made the regalia that my sisters and I would eventually don,” He says with a small smile remembering when he’d seen his crown and chest piece after they were finished. “After each weapon was made and the three of us made our choice of which one we wanted for ourselves, they hid the rest of them away around our old home before what was later to become the old world as Starswirl and Clover the Clever called it.

“Anyway, my weapon and the rest were hidden away in various places that they never shared with us. Honestly I can understand why they did that,” Nightfire says as he moves the scythe around in his magic, almost admiring how the weapon’s blade caught the dull light of the room and then looks back in the closet it had been hidden in and finds a confusing bundle of leather.

“Why did they hide the rest of them from you? Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave them with you so if the need ever arose you’d be well armed?” Little Love asks as she walks up beside him and takes the bundle of leather from him and begins untangling it.

Nightfire smiles as she goes about untangling the bundle. “Well, it’s because with each one they put into it special magic. Magic that belongs to both the sun and moon. Between the sixteen, half of them have the suns power and the others have the moons and together they hold power to make many impossible things possible.” Nightfire says as he steps away from Little Love, sets the scythe on the bed and examines Luna’s bookshelves hoping to find one that he would be able to read, opening book after book while flipping through their pages quickly, his eyes skimming each page as fast as possible but unable to make many words out. With each one finished, I went back to its spot on the shelves as he cycles through them all.

After nearly several minutes of reading through the books, finding only about half a dozen books that had spells that he could make out, he sighs and looks over at Little Love and sees her standing with the untangled bundle floating in her magic. “Thank you. Looks like a harness sheath for that scythe,” He says as he floats it away from her as her magic fades around it and he slips it on his body, getting a forelegs tangled in one of the straps nearly making him fall. “How she ever used this is beyond me.”

“Here, I think I figured it out,” Little Love says as she steps up to his side and helps him fit it over his body, finding that a large section of hardened leather was near his right flank, obviously where the blade would go. As she steps away from him the scythe floats over to him in his magic and he holds it before him and examines the blade once more. “Sir? The words on the blade, are they what I think they are?” She asks as she leans in closer to it and sees the fluid motion of the words.

“Yes, ‘The Night shall last Forever,’” He replies as he spins the weapon around and looks back at his flank where the sheath was and slides the end of the blade into it slowly, wanting to get the hang of using such a weapon. As it slides into place he pulls the end of the haft across his back and rests near his left shoulder. As he settles, he shuffles his wings and folds them a little lower to his side than he ever had to before. “I’m going to have to take a little time once we’re out of the Everfree to train with this. But anyway, those words are what Celestia told me Nightmare Moon said when she thought she’d won and again when she came back from her thousand yearlong banishment.”

“So… it has to hit a note for you doesn’t it?” She asks as she looks over the few books he’d stacked aside from the others.

“A bit, but for the sake of leaving the past in the past I can overlook it for the moment. At least until we get someplace safe to rest,” He says as he opens his saddle bags and slides the few books into them without another word.

“Sir… I can understand wanting to be strong, I really do. But sometimes you have to let that side go…” The mare says softly and steps in front of him before looking down at the floor beneath their hooves. “When my mother died… I saw my brother, who had always seemed to be strong, even after our father died break down to tears. Sometimes,” She pauses taking shallow and shaky breathes to try and keep her sobs contained before lifting her head and looking up into his eyes once more. “You just need a shoulder to cry on, to let your emotions out.”

He looks into her eyes, seeing that her words were true and how much she’d grown up since they’d first met only about two weeks or so they’d been out of their Stable. He smiles a little and then in an action that surprised himself as well as Little Love, he nuzzled her left cheek with his right one. After slowly pulling away from it he saw her cheeks had reddened with embarrassment. “Little Love… you and the others have had to learn pretty quickly that the world is a rough place. Especially you, your brother and Night Star. Things will never be as easy as they were before the war but we can make the best of what we have.”

She nods slowly, remembering how hard Gallant Brawl’s loss hit Night Star. “I just hope that things will work out for us.”

Before he could reply the sound of hoof steps from further down the hall began approaching them, getting louder and louder with each passing moment. “Dammit… don’t they ever quit?” Nightfire says and quickly wraps a wing around Little Love’s side and looks around Luna’s room one last time before his thoughts turned to Celestia’s room as his horn glowed again with magic for another teleportation spell and in another flash of light they vanished from Luna’s room.

Shortly they reappear inside another room inside the castle, this time, filled with a single large bed against the wall that had the hallway on the other side, bookcases all along the left side of the room, again many appearing to be ruined by weather and age. The left side of the room and a desk a few feet from the wall and had a thick layer of dust on its surface and finally on the last wall was a large glass door that had large cracks and missing sections that led out into a balcony. “Is this… Princess Celestia’s room?”

“Yes it is…” Nightfire says softly and looks around the room of his other sister. And the years haven’t been to kind to her room either. But at least those ponies down there haven’t gotten to either of their rooms.”

“That’s a good thing at least,” Little Love says with a smile then walks over to the book shelves and looks at them slowly. “Sir? One thing I would like to know, would any of us be able to wield any of the sixteen weapons?”

Nightfire smiles and then also walks up to the shelves. “No, they only respond to a natural born Alicorn’s magic or presence. But a theory is maybe if I’m close enough maybe one of you could.”

Little Love lifts a hoof to her chin and thinks as she examines each and every spine that was at her eye level and sees one that caught her attention. “Sir? Do you happen to know of the other weapons that are hidden?”

“You mean what kind of weapons they are?” He asks knowing that he had gotten her interested in the missing fifteen.

“Exactly,” She says as her magic flows into her horn and begins pulling out books from the shelves and flips through them slowly, finding that many of the pages were so worn that she couldn’t read because they were so faded.

“Well… I’d rather tell the others as well since I know they’ll be curious about this new weapon. Besides,” He pauses as he slides a few books from the shelves as well and begins reading through them along with Little Love.

She nods slowly and continues reading through each book that she lifts from the shelves, moving to the left as Nightfire moves to the right. “Then may I ask you something about your weapon?”

Nightfire looks away from the book that he was looking though, finding nothing of special note inside it he closes the cover and pushes it back into place. “You may. But remember, my weapon was hidden from me like fourteen of the others. So there may or may not be information about it I can answer.”

“Understood Sir,” Little Love says as she sets a book aside, having found some spells inside it. “Why was yours hidden from you while your sister’s were allowed to keep theirs?”

Nightfire stops mid page turn and looks to the balcony window. “Well… that goes back to the very day I was born,” He begins, closing the book he had before him and lays it on the shelf flat. “You know that I’m the eldest brother of my family. But did you know that despite the happy lives my family had together while my mother and father were alive that it has a bit of a curse upon it?”

“A curse? What kind of curse would it be?” She asks as her ears flick with increasing interest.

Nightfire sighs softly and closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again to keep his emotions in close check. “No matter how much good we do, the enemies we defeat, wars we avoid, eventually everything we’ve done in the past falls apart or another being who’s seeking power comes along and tries to overthrow the peace we’d brought to the nation. Also,” He pauses and bites his lip gently. “The Nightmare.”

“Nightmare?” Little Love asks then takes a small step backward. “You mean…”

“Exactly. All of the ancient Alicorns, my mother and father included had that power. If any of the others had children then they also had it passed down. I do know for sure my sisters and I possessed that power for ourselves. After all, Nightmare Moon was Luna’s Nightmare,” Nightfire says gently and looks over at the bed where he’d set down the scythe. “I think Luna never truly got over what happened then. I know it’d leave a scar at least.”

“I didn’t know,” She replies after a near minute of silence as she drops the book she’d had in her magic. “So… you’ve had that thing… since you were born?”

“Yes,” He replies in a somber and looks back toward her. “However, the day I was born, the Dragon Lord’s soothsayer examined me. Quickly she handed me back to my parents, shaking. She told them that I had a great power inside me, but if I didn’t find a way to control or suppress its power as I grew up then it could cause major devastation to the world. So…” Nightfire pauses briefly and then flattens his ears against his head. “I guess my mother and father were a little distrustful of my weapon being in my reach. Don’t get me wrong, I understood why they did what they did. But I feel that maybe they could’ve given me a chance to prove them wrong.”

“I’m sure you could’ve,” She replies as she picks up the book that she had dropped. “Only found a few books that had anything readable inside them. Some of this could be useful.”

“Any spells or anything?” Nightfire asks as he sets down the last book that hadn’t had any legible writing and turns toward her.

“A few, nothing that from what I looked over any Unicorn could use. Unfortunate, I was so interested in learning some new spells,” She replies with a bashful smile.

“Perhaps one day I’ll sit you down with others in our Guard who want to learn new spells and teach you what I can,” Nightfire replies and then looks back at the bed where they’d stacked the books that could be read. “If you and the others are willing.”

“Of course! You don’t have to ask me twice!” She exclaims excitedly as she smiles at him happily while he smiles back.

“I thought so,” He replies and chuckles a little as he gathers up the books and puts a few in his saddlebags along with a few in her own. “I’m gonna check the closet, maybe there will be another of the weapons. Wait here,” He says as he slowly walks up to the closet and pulls the door open, unable to feel Celestia’s magic pushing him back like Luna’s had in her room. Once open, he examined every nook inside it and shook his head as he didn’t succeed in finding any new weapon, however he did find some of Celestia’s old dresses, faded but still whole for the most part. “Would’ve thought that she would’ve had more practical items in here.”

“So… nothing else in there?” Little Love asks as she tries to look past him.

“Nope, nothing that could really be used. But maybe some of the sashes on these dresses could be used for a carrier for the little one when she’s born,” He says as he takes the loose strands of cloth from each of the dresses and stuffs them into his bags. “Unfortunately I’m not seeing much else of use. Maybe she came back and moved everything that meant a lot to Canterlot.”

“Well if there’s nothing else… shall we get going?” Little Love asks gently as she stuff the books into her bags.

“Let’s. There’s no need to stay here,” He says with a gentle tone, looking over his sister’s room once more, remembering the times he and his sister had spent reading together on the balcony. “Come close and let’s be off,” He says as he walks up to her and drapes a wing across her back while his horn glows gently. Suddenly a flash of light fills the room and the two vanish from the castle, leaving only minimal traces of their presence inside.

Back with the others, Nightfire lifts his wing from Little Love’s back and looks at the others, who ignored their arrival and seemed focused on the forest before them, many sets of glowing eyes looking at them all. “Don’t make sudden moves…” Nightfire says as he steps up slowly till he was standing between his guard and the eyes. “They’re either Timberwolves or star spawn… move slow and keep your weapons ready.”

“Like the Ursa?” White Wrap asks gently as she keeps Swift close to her while Nightfire steps slowly into the front of the group.

“Possibly,” Nightfire says as he pulls the scythe from the sheath and holds it in front of himself while glancing at each set of glowing eyes. “Move to the right, keep together,” Nightfire says as he stars slowly stepping to the right with the others while the faint light reflected off of the metal of the scythe while his magic glows around the center of the haft as he keeps himself between the glowing sets of eyes and his guard.

“I don’t like the look of those eyes,” Warlord comments as he levels his rifle slowly, his wings twitching while Little Love scoots close and places a hoof gently on his shoulder.

“Keep calm…”

Before somepony else could make a move, one of the sets of eyes jumped out from the forest, causing Nightfire to spin the scythe around and slams the end of the blade into the creature, hearing the sound of blade entering wood then the many pieces of wood were sent flying around them. “Run!” Nightfire says as he pulls the scythe free from the piece of wood that had been the Timberwolf’s chest.

Just as quickly as the first one had leaped out of the darkness of the forest, others quickly joined, jumping from the shadows which caused Nightfire to swing the bladed weapon as quickly as he could, the blade actually slicing through the tough wood of the next two wooden wolves, watching them fall apart as the magic inside of their bodies faded for a moment. While Nightfire focused on the ones from the front, Little Love used her magic to try and hold back any that got close to her or her brother, barely able to hold two back as a third tried to rush past her defenses, the snapping jaws missing her foreleg barely while Swift Fear ran up and slashed at the Timberwolf with her twin blades.

The wolf barely looked at her as her blades got caught in the leg of the wolf. White Wrap quickly ran up and presses the end of her 9 mm against the side of the wolfs head and pulls the trigger as quickly as she could, the head of the wolf turning to splinters while the other take aim with their guns, hesitating to pull the trigger due to the noise that would alert the slavers close to them to their presence.

Swift Fear nods to White in thanks as she quickly pulls the blades free of the wood that made up the leg of the Timberwolf and holds them in front of her in defense as Nightfire jumps in front of her and with a wide swing of the scythe slices through the touch wood of the wolves, sending pieces flying in all directions as he spreads his wings wide while keeping his attention in front of him. “Go. I’ll keep everypony safe.”

“Yes Sir,” Swift and White reply as they jump back into the group, the Unicorns using their magic to keep the wolves away.

Quickly Nightfire flies into the air above the group and above him starts spinning the scythe above him, the spinning weapon quickly becoming a blur. “Get back everypony!” Nightfire calls out and lands in front of Warlord as a wolf lunches at him and the scythe drops between them, slicing the wolf’s head into pieces as it then quickly beings sending it spinning around their group in quick circles, not giving the wolves a chance to get by. “Duck when I command. I’m ending them all in one fell swoop.”

“Yes Sir. Just don’t hit us with it,” Warlord comments as he looks at the wolf in front of him, the spinning blade of the scythe keeping them away, but not the horrible breath they had.

‘Focus, this spell should be easy for you. Just focus it through the blade of the scythe and it’ll take care of them all. Long enough for everypony to get away.’ Nightfire thinks as a second layer of overglow surrounds his horn and the blade of the scythe that was spinning at dangerous speeds. “Duck in three… two… one… now!” Nightfire shouts as the blade glows blue with magic before blackening and soon he sees them all duck to the ground. Soon he dives down and the magic around the blade extends out around them, slicing through the wolves and scattering the cut pieces around them into the forest.

“We’re good, but we have to hurry. It won’t take them long before they start assembling themselves again,” Nightfire replies as he looks around at the scattered remains of the wolves.

“Let’s go,” Warlord says as he pokes the broken head of the wolf with a hoof. “Everypony let’s get moving.”

“I know a place close to here that we can try. Could be a long shot but it could still be standing,” Nightfire says as he casts a glance over the remains of the wolves and takes the lead, leading them toward where a friend of the Ministry Mares was.

***About an hour later***

“Should be getting close now. She didn’t live much further than this from the old castle,” Nightfire says as he breaks off a branch from a tree that was in his way.

“Can I ask what it is we’re heading toward?” Night Star says as she looks around the forest, feeling unsafe inside of it.

“The home of a friend to the Crown. She gave us some information but she met an unfortunate end that I never learned about,” Nightfire replies and frowns a little with a neutral tone of voice. “From what I was told she was killed but I never learned anything about the cause.”

“So she tried helping us against her own kind? What changed her mind?” Peaceful Heart asks as she rubs her belly with the hoof that her PipBuck was on.

“Twilight and her friends helped her when she came to Ponyville looking for specific herbs for a brew. I can’t say I was close to her but I was happy to know one zebra was on our side,” Nightfire replies and then stops before the edge of a clearing that had a medium sized hut inside of it. “We’re here.”

“That’s her home? Doesn’t look like much to be honest,” Warlord comments and then winces as his sister smacks his side with a hoof.

“Watch it, I wanted to know about zebra but what we had in our Stable didn’t have anything other than the propaganda that was present during the war. This is a chance to learn about them,” She says then pushes up to Nightfire’s side. “So what do you remember about their culture?”

“Not as much as I would like. Countless years ago I spent a couple years with their kind but I never heard their legend which pushed things into overdrive,” He then sighs softly once again and looks down into Little Love’s eyes. “But I can tell you that they had a strong clan system. Thirteen if I can recall right. Never did learn what tribe that Zecora belonged to though.”

“Tribes? I never knew that,” Little Love says as she pulls out a blank page and quickly writes down the info she had gotten with a broken pencil that she pulled from her saddlebags.

Nightfire rolls his eyes and then steps out into the small clearing and sees the ruin that it had become of Zecora’s old home. “Not like I remember… but may things have changed since that day haven’t they?” Nightfire asks himself aloud as he takes a deep breath in then lets it out slowly. “Come on, let’s get inside and rest for the rest of the day. Night should be falling within the next hour or two anyway.”

“Seems about right, but then again some of us fought Timberwolves till we were exhausted,” Straight Shot says sticking close to Candle. “That place should hold us all?”

“Yeah, the only thing I see wrong with it is that its way to exposed if anypony tries to attack us. But also they could hide in the tree line and snipe at us through the windows,” Close Combat says with a wary smirk.

“Again, very true but I think it’s better than nothing. The forest is dangerous at night and I’d rather not risk another attack from those wolves or an Ursa,” White Wrap replies and nods. “Best case is we have one of us on watch every half an hour or so. Besides, I’d like to check everypony for wounds,” She says with a smile. “Part of my job after all.”

Nightfire nods and pulls the scythe free of its sheath and walks toward the hut, cautious and ready to defend himself if he needed. “I’ll go in first, then everypony follow in close. If I recall right her hut was one large single room,” He says confidently.

“Yes Sir,” Warlord says as he readies his own pistol as Nightfire nears the door of the hut, seeing some strange rotted pieces of wood resting by it.

Nightfire pushes open the door and slides inside silently as he looks around the hut, nature slowly starting to take it back. Roots growing up through the floor, the dead remains of trees laying all over the floor and lots of broken twigs everywhere. A large black cauldron in the middle of the room that had lots of hoof marks on it and had been used fairly recently. “So somepony has been here before… but how long ago was it?”

As he walks around more, he finds that a spot were somepony had dug through the ground to a fairly large root and had taken chunks from it. Beside it was a broken bowl that had meshed herbs, from the smell of the mix it had bits of the root that was torn up among some other herbs that he couldn’t identify. “Looks clear… though keeping a guard on watch wouldn’t be a bad call.”

“Sir? Is it clear?” Abundant asks from the edge of the forest snapping Nightfire out of his thoughts.

“Yeah… come in and stay together,” He says and walks toward the door and waves them in with a wing. “It’s clear and there’s nopony here.”

“Thank goodness,” Little Love replies with a smile as they all walk toward the hut with sighs of relief.

“I wouldn’t be too happy,” He says with a small frown. “I want at least one guard posted by the window every half hour. I found signs of somepony being here within a week or so. Stay low when on guard and don’t take chances,” Nightfire says and sheathes the scythe.

“What makes you think that Sir?” Candle Light says as she winces a little and rubs her stomach more. “I mean if it looks like they left this place at least a week ago why come back?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t but I’d rather be safer than sorry,” He says then feels the fur on the back of his neck stand up a little. “There’s a spirit here with us.”

“S-Spirit?” Abundant Source replies softly and folds her ears back against her head.

“Yeah…” Nightfire says and then looks around as a faint outline began to take shape in front of him before everypony present causing most of them to back away from it while Nightfire only steps back once. “Who… who are you?”

The spirit slowly takes more and more of a form before all of their eyes and before long the spirit stands before them nearly as if it was another one of them and nods to Nightfire with a smile.

Nightfire’s eyes widen at the sight of the spirit, unable to believe who it was standing before them all. “Wh-Who is that?” White Wrap asks as she looks at the spirit, unable to believe what they were seeing.

“It’s… not possible. Zecora? Is that re-really you?” Nightfire asks as he looks into the eyes of the spirit. The zebra only seeming to reply with silence.

The spirit of the passed zebra mare nods and smiles at him.

“I thought that you died in Canterlot… how is it that you’re here?” Nightfire asks as the others in his guard asks random questions that he and Zecora ignored.

The spirit of the mare shrugs her shoulders seemingly unable to physically speak.

Nightfire steps up to stand directly in front of her and raises a hoof to rest mere centimeters away from her ghostly cheek. “I’m sorry that you died… or was killed,” He says as a tear shines in his eye. “I’ll make sure that you’re not forgotten. After all, all those long years ago when I visited your lands I became an honorary zebra,” He says as he motions to the white markings on his neck and legs with his left wing. “Never was given a tribe though… unlike you. Rest well my friend…” He says then begins speaking in a language none of the guard had heard as he sets his hoof down on the floor again.

The spirit of Zecora smiles at Nightfire and then taps the ground with a hoof gently and slowly seems to vanish from sight leaving them all awestruck.

“You can… speak their language?” Warlord asks as he steps closer to Nightfire, having been the first to get his thoughts in place after seeing such a supernatural thing.

“When I was younger I visited their lands to make peace,” Nightfire begins with a small smile. “After spending some time with them I was given the chance to truly learn about their culture, the Caesar of that age, the twelve and one had medicine zebra marked me as one of their own; a zebra in spirit and markings but not in flesh,” Nightfire says with a smile and runs a hoof over the markings on his neck.

From the nearby window Abundant Source looks out and hears the sound of a gun cocking which makes her ear twitch. “Everypony down!” She quickly cries and runs toward Nightfire and tackles him down to the ground.

As Nightfire finds his gaze looking up at the ceiling of the hut with a loud grunt from the impact to the ground and the others duck down bullets punch into the wood and stone of Zecora’s hut as they all shield themselves from the small chunks of wood, stone and steel that flew in at them. After a few short moments Nightfire quickly draws his two pistols and rolls over onto his stomach. “Thanks for the save…”

“Don’t worry about it!” She cries out over the gunfire as she looks over at Candle Light who was still seemed uninjured.

“Leave this to me now,” He says and then once the fire ended quickly jumps up and activates S.A.T.S, at first only finding his own guards as targets then as he looked around more another target became available, however his odds of a successful shot were only in the high fifty percent at best. ‘Now or never, aim true…’ He thinks before selecting his target; the flank of whoever was outside the window and allows the spell to activate in full, the two shots he had flying past the being outside and into the trees behind it. As the spell ends Nightfire aims down the barrel of the .44 and then to the door which had been left open. Cursing silently he calls out to who had fired at them.

“Listen! We don’t want any trouble here! If you’ve claimed this place then we’ll leave. But we need a place to rest for one of our own! She’s pregnant and can’t keep up the pace we’ve set for much longer,” Nightfire calls out, leveling his two pistols toward the door.

While everypony inside the hut hold their breathes, weapons drawn while Straight Shot stood protectively in front of Candle two silhouettes appear at the edges of the door and one steps through followed by the other. The two speak in the language Nightfire had spoken just moments before the two showed up making Nightfire narrow his eyes at them. ‘They’re zebra? Then are they from the Zebra lands or were they here already?’ He says as he notices their stripes and the weapons they had, the one on the right had a rifle that had stripes on it like the wielder’s body. He also had some light armor around his shoulders, chest and guards on his legs that seemed made of some kind of thick cloth. While the one on the left was even more lightly armored, mainly armored around the legs, chest and had a holster on her left side within reach of her head. ‘So a stallion and mare… but could they be related or are they both from separate tribes? I mean I’ve seen it many long years ago but it’s not unheard of…’

Before he could form another thought the stallion lowers the barrel of his rifle and speaks again in the same language in an angry tone. His face stern while the mares was gentler, seemingly more guarded than anything else.

Nightfire lowers the .357 and .44 and replies back in a respectful tone, then holsters the two pistols. “They wanted to know-“

“We can speak in this language… though we’d prefer to keep this in our natural one,” The mare replies, wanting to keep the first conversation with Nightfire private.

Nightfire nods and then switches back to their language and continues talking with the two of them. As they talked, Nightfire kept a respectful tone to his voice despite the initial hostility from the stallion. The stallion would occasionally motion toward the scythe that was strapped on Nightfire’s back and stomps his hoof down hard, kicking up a puff of dust and dirt. Nightfire lifts a hoof and replies with a shake of his head and a hoof full of words and settles his hoof down gently. After a back and forward conversation Nightfire sighs and then looks back at his guard. “Weapons down.”

“But Si-“ Close Combat begins before the male zebra stomps his hoof hard.

“Weapons down, as your charge commands!”

“Y-Yes Sir…” Close Combat replies begrudgingly holsters his pistol along with everypony else in the guard.

“Alright… now tell me, what are your names?” Nightfire asks as he looks between the two zebra before them.

“My name’s Revark, I’m the eldest of the two of us,” The stallion says as he lifts a hoof and presses it against his chest.

“My name is Zegato, I’m his little sister and we are protecting the home of our ancestor,” She says in a firm but not angry tone which her brother had earlier.

“Ancestor?” Nightfire asks as he quickly turns his attention to her with surprise. “You mean that you both are…”

“Yes,” Zegato replies with a smile on her muzzle. “Zecora is our ancestor and none of you belong in her hut,” She says giving emphasis with a stomp to the ground.

Nightfire looks between the two of them and then shakes his head. “So if she had been pregnant then I assume she was able to keep it secret from everypony she worked closely with here in Equestria right?”

“You’d be right. She was a very skilled potions maker after all,” Zegato says with a hint of pride in her own voice.

“Remember, pride is something that you should keep in check. It can only lead to you becoming overconfident,” Nightfire says and then looks over at her brother. “So let me ask you, are you both of the Twelve or the One?”

“What do you mean?” Little Love asks as she steps closer to Nightfire wondering what his last words meant.

“There were thirteen zebra tribes,” Revark begins, answering her question. “But the One, Starkatteri is a tribe who believe they were sired by the moon.”

“Star… Starkatteri?” Swift Fear asks as she looks at the male zebra.

“I remember them well. They always asked me many questions about Luna’s and my own powers involving the stars and moon, though we didn’t move the stars. They appeared as the moon took her place in the sky,” Nightfire explains and looks back at them. “They did have some strange beliefs, but one ponies crazy is another’s sane.”

“While I don’t truly understand their beliefs,” Zegato begins as she rubs her neck with her right hoof. “Their beliefs were their own and we have no reason to say they were wrong.”

“Now if I recall right… Zecora was of the Mendi tribe right?” Nightfire says as he thinks back on the tribes that he had encounters with many long years ago.

“Correct, which means we’re also Mendi,” Revark says and slings his rifle across his back. “I think I could’ve been wrong about you… perhaps there was something about our meeting that was destined.”

“Destiny? Don’t tell me that you really believe in that kind of thing,” Night Star says with a scoff which earns many looks for the other guards. “Do you think that destiny has anything to do with the way the world is anymore? If destiny is a thing then was it destined that my Soven Diamond would be killed? I refuse to believe in something s-“ Night Star begins, her voice getting louder and louder before getting smacked across his cheek by White Wrap.

“The hell is wrong with you?” She asks as she stares at him, having never seen him act in such a way before. “Soven Diamond wouldn’t… he wouldn’t want you to be like this,” She scolds her with a firm tone of voice.

“I’m sorry,” Zegato says with soft tone of voice. “We did not mean to bring any painful memories back to the surface. That was not our intent.”

“No it’s alright,” Nightfire says and looks over at White Wrap and Night Star who looked back at the zebra siblings. “They’ve all been through a lot. More than you could really imagine.”

“I think we know what you mean,” Zegato replies softly.

“We didn’t mean to bring up the past. Now if I may ask, for Candle Light’s sake more than all of our own, may we sleep here for a while?” Nightfire asks motioning toward Candle who was still being shielded by Straight Shot.

“Of course,” Revark replies with a nod. “If her foal can one day make a difference in this place, it may be against our own rules we set up but you all may.”

“Thank you,” Candle Light says as she rests a hoof against her husband’s shoulder as she walks up to their new zebra friends. “You don’t know what this means to me and my baby,” She says and rubs her belly with a hoof as she offers them a smile.

“Please don’t think much of it,” Zegato replies with a gentle tone. “If your child will make a difference in this cruel world then who are we to turn away such a mother.”

Nightfire steps up and nods to them both. “Believe me, you’ve no idea what this means for all of us. We’ve all been making sure Straight’s and Candle’s foal is safe and healthy.”

“It’s the least we can do for their foal. Please,” Revark says and nods to everypony. “Relax and get some rest. Take all the time that you all need.”

Little Love, among others quickly start unpacking their sleeping gear and lie down with loud sighs of thanks.

Revark and Zegato nods and walk toward the door and then look out into the forest. “Let me ask you two,” Nightfire says as he walks up to stand behind them. “Are you really letting us stay here because of their foal? Or is there something else to it?”

Zegato looks back at him with a smile. “You can say we want the best for their foal, but we also know that you made a reputation for yourself with our tribe.”

“Oh?” Nightfire asks as he looks between them.

“Let’s just say that your reputation has made us want to see where you will go while we are alive,” Revark says softly. “If you’ll let us.”

“You want to travel with us?” Nightfire asks as he spreads his wings to keep the conversation private.

“Not all of you. Just you,” Zegato replies and turns to face him and looks into his eyes, a determined gleam in them.

“Well… of you plan on traveling with me, then you must know that I value everyponies input, so yours will also be taken into consideration. Got it?” Nightfire replies and then shifts his focus between them.

“Understood,” Revark replies with a nod. “We should all get some rest. I am willing to bet there is a long way to go before you get where you want to go.”

“That’s right,” Nightfire says and folds his wings. “Get some sleep you two, there’s many obstacles along this path.”

“No objections,” The eldest replies and walks toward a door in the back of the hut and earns looks from everypony.

“I believe that we can trust them… after all,” Nightfire says as he addresses his guard. “They are the genuine descendants of Zecora.”

“Are you sure?” White Wrap asks.

“I spent time with the Twelve and One for nearly fourteen years. Spent a little over a year with each tribe and I know how each one would try to hide the truth. Revark and Zegato told me only the truth, and if what we saw with her spirit I believe she was telling us that they are to be trusted.”

Warlord and the others look at each other and nod a little. “But if they turn on us…” Night Star begins and is silenced by White Wrap glare at her.

“If they ever do… I’ll deal with it. But I am willing to put a little faith in them. The Mendi tribe was always a tribe that had to be smart so what would they gain from lying to us?”

“I guess you’re right…” She replies and then lies down and closes her eyes to sleep.

“Everypony just get some rest. We’ve still got a ways to go,” Nightfire says as he walks over by the door and shuts it with a gentle thump and click as the ancient lock falls into place.

Author's Note

So again, apologies for the late chapter. I feel like I’m taking a year on each chapter and that’s not ok. I’m going to try and strive to have a chapter out a lot sooner. Got loads of notes down for this so I just need to sit my but down and do the writing. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this one and before you start yelling.

One, I spoke with Somber and I’m ok to use the Zebra tribes.
Two, I’m just writing for fun so things may be a little off or something but I’m doing my best.

Disclaimer: I don’t own MLP Fallout Fallout: Equestria. I only own my oc’s except for one named Warlord. He’s owned by my bf.