''Octavia!'' A gray hoof slammed into a wall. The stallion it belonged to panted, tears streaming down his face. Nights let his hood drop, letting out a wail of agony. ''Octaviaaaaaaaaaaaaa!''

The stallion turned to a window, staring out through it with empty eyes. Something in the distance caught his attention, and his rage overcame him. His emotions overcame him, as he let out another cry, but no longer of sadness. This was a cry of rage. He may not have known what he was doing, but Nights grabbed his crossbow and his pack, slinging them across his back, and began heading for the door, his mind blinded by the rage he felt. Not just because he had lost the only one he had ever loved, but also for the world he was left to live in.

Something was going to pay, and he knew just the ponies...

Yawning, Vinyl slowly opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling above her. She smiled, as she thought of what had happened. They had been though a lot, but now they were finally safe. Even if it was just going to be a temporary stay, she planned to make the most of it.

The mare heard a strangled gasp from beside her and she whipped her head to see the blue stallion beside her bolt upright, panting heavily. Sweat ran down his face, and his eyes were bloodshot.

''Swift? Geeze you look horrible. Nightmare?'' Vinyl asked, concern in her tone.

The stallion groaned, wiping his face. ''Urgh...yeah...all good, just a nightmare...'' He shook his head, rubbing his eyes again. He stopped, and suddenly whipped his head around to face her.

''Wait!? What are you doing in my room?!''

Vinyl chuckled, and wrapped two loving hooves around him, ''I figured you wouldn't mind, besides, don't you feel better because I'm here with you?'' She kissed his cheek, before bringing her head back to stare into his eyes.

''Heh...yeah, I do feel a bit better, thanks for being here for me.'' The stallion rubbed his eyes again, giving her a warm smile. Slowly he stood up and stretched out, groaning a bit. ''My back could feel better though...urr...'' Groaning, the stallion shuffled towards the bathroom door, lightly pushing it open and stepping inside.

He tried not to look at the mirror, afraid of what he might see, but his head slowly turned to gaze at his reflection. Swift let out a sigh of relief. His eyes were still there, and there wasn't any trace of burning hatred in them.

Swift sighed in bliss as the water poured down his body, refreshing his mind and soul, cleaning away any impurities. He scrubbed at his mane, feeling the grime and grease washing away. He moved to his tail, repeating the process, and then shut off the water, shaking his mane a few times to keep the hair from getting plastered to his face.

Slowly, he stepped out of the small shower, grabbing a nearby towel, and began to dry himself off. A hoof poked him and he jumped, spinning around in panic. Vinyl stood there, putting her hoof to her mouth to try and suppress a giggle.

''Jumpy much?''

''Don't do that...geeze...'' Swift sighed, trying to calm his breathing. ''You scared the crap out of me.''

Waving a hoof absentmindedly, the unicorn snickered, ''Fine, but on one condition.'' She gazed right into his eyes. ''Hurry up so I can have a shower.''

Swift Blade nodded quickly, depositing the towel on the counter and quickly running out of the small bathroom. He didn't bother grabbing a brush on his way out, his mane would revert to its natural style in a few minutes. Hearing the sound of water tinkling from the shower behind him, Swift couldn't help but blush. He had a beautiful special somepony, taking a shower in the room right behind him. He shook any lewd thoughts from his mind and headed for the door to the hallway, he had a few things he wanted to do before breakfast.

Pushing open the door as quietly as he could, the door only making a small squeak, the stallion crept into the hallway, looking back and forth to make sure he was alone, and turned down the right hallway.

His nose collided with a pink one, and he jumped back, biting his tough to prevent a yelp. ''Pinkie!'' He hissed through closed teeth. ''What in Celestia's mane are you trying to do?! Give me a heart attack!'' He felt his chest, feeling his heart beating so hard he felt like it would burst out through his chest and explode.

''Sorry!'' She grinned at him, acting like nothing was wrong. ''I saw you heading down this way and wanted to surprise you!''

''Pinkie! Keep your voice down! We don't want to wake anypony, not yet anyway.'' Swift hissed back.

''Okiee dokiee loki!'' The pink mare whispered back, giving Swift a little wink. ''But before you go anywhere, you gotta check this out! It's amazing!'' Her smile almost stretching past her face.

''Fine, but lets make this quick.''

The party pony grabbed him by the hoof and swiftly dragged him down the hall and down the stairs. Reaching the bottom, Swift tugged at her to stop for a second. ''Pinkie! I can't see a thing, can we please find a candle or something!'' It was true, the room they had just entered was almost pitch black, he knew the room had windows, but somepony had pulled the shades over them, blocking any light from entering the room.

''That's okay! I'll guide you!'' With that, the pink pony suddenly tugged on Swift again, quickly pulling him towards an unknown destination. She was moving so fast, the swordstallion wasn't completely sure if she actually knew where she was going.

The only sound was the quiet clopping of their hooves on the wood floor, and the occasional door opening to let the two ponies through. Otherwise it was eerily silent. It was beginning to creep Swift out. A sudden stop broke the stallion from his thoughts, and he opened his mouth to speak, wanting to ask where Pinkie had taken them, when suddenly the lights went on.

''It's...beautiful...'' Was all the blue pony could choke out, as he felt tears welling on his eyes.

What laid before him, was the biggest pantry of food he had ever seen. There was all kinds of food, both local, and imported. There was enough supplies in the room to feed a entire Canterlot Royal Guard for a solid week, and since there was less then twenty of them, there was enough to last the entire group weeks.

''Pinkie...how...how did you find this...?''

''I was looking around for things for my special surprise, and I stumbled across this room. Isn't it amazing!'' The mare bounced in glee.

''Yeah, it is amazing.'' Swift quickly slammed his jaw shut, realizing it had begun to hang open. ''So...''

''Oh guess what! I have something planned! Follow me!'' Pinkie bounced, and without warning dragged the stallion back into the dark room they had passed through earlier.

She suddenly lifted him off the ground and plopped him down on a chair. Swift sat there stunned, and didn't move. He sat there for what felt like hours, when he heard Pinkie come back down the stairs, dragging two other ponies with her. They were both seated next to Swift, and he heard them grumble.

''Horse apples Pinkie, a little warning next time?'' A southern mares voice said to the right of him.

''Man, she's way more hyper than yesterday.'' A slightly gravely mares voice cheerfully chuckles to his left.

Well that's one mystery solved.

Finally, the rest of the mansions residents filed down the stairs. One could be heard trying to convince Pinkie to let them turn on the lights, but the pink mare ignored the request, and helps him to his seat.

''Gah...why in Celestia's name are we down here in the dark?'' Trickshot's gruff voice complained from somewhere in the dark.

The lights suddenly flipped on, revealing the room to be decorated for a party. Streamers of all colors lined the walls and ceiling, and balloons floated around, occasionally bumping into each other as they drifted lazily across the ceiling. Other balloons were tied to the chairs, further adding to the atmosphere of the room.

''SURPRISE!'' Pinkie Pie shouted, leaping into the air, a large grin across her face.

''Wow! This is awesome Pinkie!'' Scootaloo shouted with joy, her own smile spreading almost as far as the party pony's.

''I must agree, this is amazing. Thank you for doing this for us Pinkie Pie.'' Dusky Novel nodded her head, a small smile on her lips. The others couldn't agree with the Alicorn more. Even Trickshot had a little grin on his stony face.

Pinkie somehow had baked cupcakes, mixed up some fruit punch, and baked a pretty fair sized cake, and it had the gathered ponies drooling with anticipation.

''How the heck did you manage to do all this in one night!?'' Vinyl wasn't complaining, but she was curious about how this had been done so quickly.

''Its Pinkie Pie sugar cube, this kinda stuffs easy for her.'' Apple Jack chuckled, before pumping a hoof towards the pink mare. ''Good job Pinkie!''

''Thanks Apple Jack!'' The mare bounced with glee, her smile almost brighter then the sun before...now. Swift Blade shook his head, not the time to think of such things, they had a party to attend to.

Dusk coughed, and Pinkie glanced at him, her smile unfaltering, ''You want a slice of cake or some punch?'' The gloomy stallion didn't respond at first, but after a few seconds of tense silence, he sighed, and nodded.

''Just don't expect me to trust you, just because you fed me...'' He muttered, his glare returning.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, her mind already forming a plan to make the him her next new friend, before suddenly dashing up onto the table, a large cake knife in hoof. In several quick movements, the cake was divided, and the pink pony began serving the large treat out to her friends and new friends.

The survivors laughed and talked for a long time, and it wasn't until Vinyl brought it up that the serious mood returned.

''If your power can make stories come true...can't you create a bloody cure right now?''

Sighing, the green alicorn slowly shook her head, ''I wish it was that simple...'' She paused, seeming to think of a way of explaining her thoughts, when she was interrupted by Dusk:

''She can't make a cure to this shit storm, end of story, simple as that.''

''And why in tarnation is that!?'' Apple Jack's voice raised, suddenly rising from her seat. ''Can't you jus...narrate everypony back to normal...? Bring back those who...d-died?'' She slumped back into her seat, as her sentence grew to a quiet whisper. She was immediately comforted by Pinkie, who wrapped her in a hug, mumbling soft words to her.

''Its alright AJ...everything's going to be alright...there there...'' She cooed to the farm pony.

''Look, if I could change everything back to normal...I would have...'' Dusky mumbled, before speaking up. ''My power is great, but I can only change small things, and see pieces of the past and the future.'' Her wings flared, and Dusky sighed sadly. ''Creating things out of nothing is not one of my powers...''

''Plus, cure? Impossible.'' Trickshot added, leaning back in his seat, sneering.

Vinyl shot the uppity stallion a glare, and turned to whisper to Swift, who had remained silent the whole time. ''I really don't like him.'' She muttered, her frown clear as day.

Shrugging, Swift Blade asked his own question which he had been sitting on for a while now.

''Where is this leader you spoke of, and how did you guys meet?''

''She's upstairs, resting, but she isn't up to speaking to you guys.'' Trickshot said, his gruff voice cutting through all the cheer Pinkie had filled the air with earlier.

Pinkie instantly was in his face, her biggest puppy dog eyes staring at his sadly. ''Oh...come on, please let us see her.'' She whimpered. ''Please? Please? Come oooooon.'' She pleaded.

''The stallion said no. So leave him the buck alone!'' Dusk barked, his steely gaze turning on the party pony.

Dusky placed a hoof on his shoulder, ''Calm down Dusk, Pinkie's just eager to meet Chandria.'' She petted the dark unicorn's head, causing him to go a deep shade of red.

''Not now Dusky!'' He hissed. ''This is no time for such silly things!'' he glared at Vinyl and Swift, who were both trying to contain their laughter, and failing ultimately. Scootaloo on the other hoof, was laughing so hard she nearly toppled her chair. ''Shut up.'' Dusk grumbled at the three.

''Didn't...didn't Nights used to do that with Octavia?'' Shimmerlight, who nopony had really noticed, spoke up, her voice still very quiet.

''Yeah...she always did mention stuff like that that her coltfriend and her did when they were teasing each other...'' Vinyl mumbled.

''Speaking of which, where is Nights?'' Dusky asked, although she had a hunch nopony knew the answer.

''Oh fiddlesticks!'' Pinkie cursed, ''I knew I forgot somepony!'' She began to make a mad dash out of the room, but was stopped by Dusk, who held her tail back with his magic.

''Hold up. Before you start mindlessly dashing off to look for him, first we better consider some things, when did we last see that hothead?'' Dusk glowered at the rest of the ponies in the room.

''I haven't seen the fella since he stormed off yesterday.'' Apple Jack stated.

''Which means none of us have.'' Trickshot remarked, and stood up, bringing his rifle out from under the table. ''Which means we may have to go looking for the poor sod.''

''Mind telling us where he may have gone?'' Swift questioned, rising from his own seat.

''Yeah! We'll help look for him!'' Scootaloo shouted, leaping from her seat, her little wings buzzing with excitement.

''Maybe not you sugarcube, you should stay here.'' Apple Jack smiled warmly at the filly, ruffling her mane as she to stood up from her chair.

''Then we better hit the trail. Where do we start?'' Vinyl grinned.

''I think I may know...where he may have gone...'' Shimmer raised a forehoof.

The sounds of hooves, not shuffling around, and making light plips against the pavement, was a rare sound in Canterlot now a days. However, for the lone stallion making his way down the empty streets, it was just another background noise.

Nights slowed his pace, as he saw the wall that blocked all entry just down the street. It was made out of wagons, turned over carriages, and vender's stands, as well as other items. Although ugly and crude, the wall would keep out most ponies, and the undead would be shot before they could get close enough.

Here, he knew, were some of the most despicable ponies in the city. ''Its time to have justice brought to you...'' Nights muttered, his eyes narrowing, as he began to advance on the wall, his goal clear.

He would take down everypony inside those walls, or die trying.

Author's Note

It took a long time to get this out, way longer than it should have.

Thank you all for sticking with me this long.

Will Nights plan succeed? Or will whoever waits behind those walls be the end of him? And will Swift even make it in time?