Dead, But Not Goneby Crimson TwilightChaptersPrologue, Meat-ing The CrewChapter 1, Memories of PastChapter 2, Old Friends and EnemiesChapter 3, Choosing LoyaltiesPrologue, Meat-ing The CrewIt was midday or would have been so if the sun still rose. But it didn't, it hadn't done so for months, not since Nightmare Moon took over Equestria and banished Celestia to the moon. The moonlight lit up the canopy of an overgrown forest or tried to do so at least. The only light for kilometers was a fire, a campfire to be specific. Around the fire were a few tents and a few figures. Most of the ones by the camp were griffins, each of them weary from travel, carrying some form of weapon, some had spears while others had swords, one even had a crossbow. One figure stood out from the others. It was a magenta pony, unicorn to be exact. She had a brazen mane and had a scar here and there. She was the only one without a weapon, but the griffons with her knew better. At first, when they had found her, not long after the last day, she had been fragile, scared and almost broken. The only reason they hadn't left her to her end was the latest member of their crew, a gryphoness who had had to flee from Gryphonstone when some black alicorn called Nightmare Moon took over Equestria, had sympathized with the mare since she herself had had a pony as a friend a long time ago. Rumors spread soon that the protégé of princess Celestia, a magenta unicorn, had been banished from Equestria when the new monarch came to power. The similarities were to close for the mare they had found to not be one and the same, only further strengthened by the mere skill at casting she possessed. The first problems that arose were that of the mare's eating habits since most of the food the griffins had was meat from animals they had hunted. But as time went on, she started to eat meat, too, giving up on her old ways, seeing that it was a doomed path. No sooner had she started joining in at hunting for food, proving to be better at it than any of the griffins had expected, she still needed training, but she seemed to know right where to hit. As time went on she only grew better and better, proving to be a valuable asset to the mercenaries/hunters. The first 'job' the mercenaries got since the unicorn had joined at least, was to intercept a transport and to retrieve the good undamaged. The unicorn had protested at first but still joined in after some convincing and being able to only need to defend the others, not actively attack. She agreed to this, but after finding that they would be assaulting a caravan with soldiers loyal Nightmare Moon, she had lost most conviction of being mostly support for the others. She would still mostly support the others with her spells, as she didn't know too many combat spells, mostly due to have lived in more peaceful places were battles were mostly things of the past. Right now Falling Star, the others named her that since she never told them her real name, was munching on a roasted chicken leg, no longer having any apprehension about meat, so long as it wasn't from a sentient being. Her ears would flicker to and fro, always on the lookout for threats, rarely was there any, but if she had learned anything the past months was that it's always better to be prepared for the worst. "I have a bad feeling about this." It was a male griffin that spoke, Sharp Edge, or Edgy as most called him by now. The brownish griffin with a black beak and claws, was, like most times, on edge, hence the nickname. He was carrying short swords, one on each side of his side, strapped in dark brown leather, which Star had enchanted to be more durable, as were the swords. But he was also carrying throwing knives hidden under his wings for emergencies or situations where his swords wouldn't be very effective. "You always worry too much, Edgy. Chill out, we haven't seen anything yet." This time it was a female griffin who spoke up, the one that came from Gryphonstone, Gilda. The brown and white gryphoness was getting annoyed with Edge pacing around. When she first joined she would have snapped, but she had cooled down a bit since she had joined. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had messed up a contract by snapping at the contractor and had to do extra work around camp. Actually, it probably did, since it was during that time she started thinking before she spoke more. "I have to disagree. Normally I'd have nothing against some calm, but we should have ran into more wildlife than we have, something is definitely wrong here, and I don't like one bit of it." Star said in a hushed tone. "Something is telling me that we're not the only ones here, I'd recommend that we're all on alert, we don't know what's out there." Most got rather unnerved since she rarely spoke unless something needed to be done or something was amiss, she also talked in her sleep and when she thought nopony was listening. This was the second though. And she was seldom wrong. "Uh, if you say so." Gilda sat herself next to Star, an uncomfortable silence was cast around them as none knew what to talk about. Gilda finally decided to try get the unicorn to talk, any previous attempt being less than successful. "So, uh, Star? You never really talk about yourself, why were you so far from Equestria anyway?" "I was banished," Star replied with a deadpan, causing Gilda to flinch, not wanting to bring up any more bad questions, she kept quiet. After a little while Star spoke up. "Don't you have better things to do, Gilda?" She sighed and rose up. "You know, Star, even I have a friend. She's a pegasus, moved to some town called Ponyville a year or so ago. Rainbow dash was her name, I had planned to visit her sometime, but then Nightmare Moon's guards came and drew us away." Gilda was just about to go and get some sleep when Star stopped her. "Wait, blue pegasus with a prismatic mane, want to join the Wonderbolts?" She turned to the unicorn, giving her a curious glance. "You know her? How is she? -" She was going to shower Star with questions, but she got cut-off before she could go full-on by Star. "One question at the time, please. And I don't fully know her, we just meet in Ponyville when I first got there and she mentioned a few things, that's all. As for how she is, well, if things didn't change too much, she seemed to be okay, worked as a weatherpony, I think. I only stayed there for a day, until I got banished." Star hung her head in grief, choking on the last words. Gilda picked up on this, her voice betraying her concern for her traveling companion. "You okay there? You know, you never did tell why you got banished, wanna talk about what happened?" Star rose and turned away from Gilda, trying not to let her inner turmoil show in her voice. "I'm going to bed." She sighed. "Just make sure the others don't do anything they might regret later, ok?" Gilda let out a sigh of her own, shaking her head. "Star, whatever happened, you can't keep it bottled up forever. Trust me, it won't do you any good. Just, if you ever want to talk to someone, you can talk with me." Star didn't answer, and after a few moments, she continued for one of the tents. Unbeknownst to both pony and griffin, two slithered eyes had been watching them, the armored creature taking to the skies. Chapter 1, Memories of PastIt was a sunny day in Canterlot, only a few clouds littered the sky. The Sparkle household was calm, everypony sitting next to the dining table, eating the homemade lasagna that Twilight Velvet had made. "Tell me, son, how is it at boot camp? I heard that the Sergeant was pretty hard on the new recruits?" Nightlight asked his son, Shining Armor. Shining swallowed down the piece of lasagna he was eating with a loud gulp, earning a glare from his mother and a mumble about not learning proper customary behavior. Shining didn't notice that, though, and instead moved to answer his father's question. "Oh, well yeah, he can be a bit hard sometimes, but he knows all the cool things about how to spar and how to use a spear without magic, and a bunch more! Next week we're finally gonna start actually practicing instead of just reading some dumb old book about it." This time he got a glare from the purple filly sitting next to him, say that books are not stupid. Everypony chuckled at this, everypony but Comet that is, who agreed with Twilight. It had been a couple of months since Comet started living with the Sparkle family, not requiring to have guards with him in the sparkle household or when supervised by a trusted adult. At first, it had been quite awkward, the young colt not being very talkative. But as time went on he started to open up a bit, though mostly to Twilight. It had started with simply talking about books, math, and magic, but soon enough even Comet went with them to the park, though he usually carried a book with him, not unlike Twilight herself. Things were perfect to Twilight, nothing should be able to ruin this day. But something did. Dark clouds formed in the sky, blocking out next to all light. just as her eyes started to adjust to the low light levels, lightning flashed. What Twilight saw had her fall back on her haunches. In front of her were not only an adult Comet, but all of her family, all hanging from nooses around their necks, each one of them lifeless. A cruel laugh echoed, as she turned her head around she found none other than Nightmare Moon, clad in her light blue armor, an evil smile on her snout. Twilight took a step backward and tried to run away from her, to no avail as she was picked up in the dark alicorn's blue magic. She tried to scream, to struggle, anything, but she couldn't. She couldn't even look away. She was brought up to her worst enemy as she whispered something to her. "Wake up." Star flew up from her bedroll, sweating profoundly. It wasn't the first time she had had a memory twisted like this. Truth be told, it was actually becoming somewhat of a regular thing now, happening every other day or so. That didn't mean that she enjoyed it, oh no, she didn't enjoy it one bit. The twisted memories relentlessly kept haunting her. At first, she had theorized that it was Nightmare Moon that was doing this, but she let that go as she had no proof of Nightmare being able to do something like that and chalked it up to guilt. Of course, that didn't mean that she didn't blame her for it, no, Nightmare was still the one to hang her best friend, only friend. Except her old foalsitter, her brother and some others from school, Moon Blaster, or something like that. With a grunt, Star rose up and started to make herself look like she hadn't just woken up from a nightmare, she didn't want to show any weakness to the others. She combed her mane to look somewhat orderly, but not to the same precision as when she lived in Equestria, it would get ruined anyway. She dried herself and the bedroll with a quick spell, not wanting to get a cold and become dead weight or sleep in something that smelled too terribly and was cold. She got out of the tent to find Graywing watching the fire, making sure that it didn't cool off nor got too big to handle while she was asleep. The gray griffin looked tired, he had probably been sitting there for a while now. "How're you doin', Graywing?" She moaned out, stretching her legs to really wake up. Graywing grunted in response but answered soon enough. "Urg, been here around three hours. Of course I had to be the lucky gryph' to get the longer watch." He said sleepily as he moaned, too. Star gave him an understanding smile as she sat herself next to him. "Well look at it this way, you won't need to be sentinel next time, as you already had the worst this time." He sighed. "Well, I guess you're right about that. Still wished I could get some more sleep before we head out." He said as he watched right into the fire. Star, too, stared into the flames as they flickered to and fro. "We're heading out as soon as everygriffin is ready, the others should be up anytime now, so, with that in mind, it shouldn't be too long till we arrive in Gryphonport. Then we might get some real beds, too." Graywing gave Star a weak smile. "Yeah, you're right. You know, I don't remember you being this talkative, care to give me the story?" The smile had turned playful as he jabbed her shoulder. Star's eyes danced to the sides as she mumbled. "Oh, uh, just something Gilda said, there isn't really any story to it." Star looked everywhere except in Graywing's eyes. "Oh, now I definitely know you're lyin'. So tell me, what's the real reason?" He was grinning by now, it was rare to get something out of Star, he wouldn't let this go, it sounded very juicy by how Star sounded. The truth was far from it. With a sigh of defeat, Star was just about to reveal the true reason, but luckily, or unluckily depending who you ask, Gilda interrupted her before she had said anything. "Hey Graywing, Star. Up and about early, as usual, Star?" Star sighed in relief, while Graywing grunted in annoyance. "Uh, did I miss something?" Star was quick to respond, not wanting Graywing to reply himself. "No no, nothing important. Just Graywing being Graywing." Gilda was not convinced, though. "Heh heh, I'll just look, uh, how the others... uh, you know, so we can get going as soon as possible." Star gave them a cheap smile, as she trotted away, a little faster than normal, to the other tents. "Damn, so close." Gilda just gave the griffin a confused look. The group of six griffins and one unicorn moved through the dense forest, some of them carrying a backpack with the tents while Gilda and Graywing carried the provisions they had bought and the meat from some of the animals they had hunted. The only one without anything was Twilight, instead, she was casting spells so that everygryph could see and to clear the way of the worst of the foliage. With Twilight doing this, the group moved much faster than they had before. Still, something was wrong, Star just couldn't say what. Their trek had been rather uneventful, but she would get the feeling of being watched some times, but no matter where she looked could she find anything in the darkness. Of course, the darkness didn't help to calm her nerves. But she had other things to do than to worry about something silly like the dark. She was, after all, the one who lit up the path for the rest. After two hours or so, they reached the end of the forest. Blunt Force, a dark gray and white griffin with the face of an owl, spoke up. "Remind me, why did we have to take the old and abandoned 'path' through the forest when there is a newer one, one that doesn't go through the forest?" Graywing groaned as Star facehoofed. Gilda was the one to answer. "Blunt, we're trying to avoid the nightmare guard, remember? That path is patrolled by them, the one we took wasn't." Unbeknownst to them, the path was actually guarded. A night pegasus, or batpony as most called them, scout clad in a blueish armor took to the skies, flying to where a squadron of other nightmare guards was stationed. He landed in front of one of them. "The mercenaries are headed for town, Captain! What are your orders, ma'am?" "Good work, Lieutenant." The sky blue pegasus with a prismatic mane and tail spoke so that all present could hear. "The traitor and her pals have been found and are heading for the city! We will set up an ambush there and capture them!" Every one of the nightmare guards shouted in approval. "We're heading out in fifteen minutes, everypony get ready! We will be traveling in small groups as to not arise suspicion, is that clear!?" "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Chapter 2, Old Friends and EnemiesGryphonport was an average town, but once upon a time it had been a major trade center, nowadays, while it was still a trading port, there was much less traffic. Still, there was plenty of passerby, merchants selling goods of different kinds, from food to items. Then there were the buyers seeking to find the items they were looking for for the lowest price. And then there were the travelers who passed by the town to rest. This was exactly what Star's group of mercenaries were looking for, a perfect place to fit in. Normally a magenta pony would stick out quite a lot, but with the help of a spell that caused Star to look rather uninteresting, this was not a problem. The six griffins and one pony walked down one of the larger roads not wanting to draw unnecessary attention. The streets were mostly composed of griffins, but every so often you would find a pair of ponies in armor, nightmare guards. Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice the group, though that might have to do with that they started talking with one of the shop owners and Star using an invisibility spell. If it wasn't for the drain of keeping the spell going, Star would have kept the spell running all the time in town. Moving while casting the spell drained extra, too, therefore she only used it for situations like these, since the other spell didn't work on those who were actively searching for her or already knew about her. After evading multiple groups of nightmare guards and having a close call with one group, the mercenaries finally reached an inn. They were greeted by the inn owners, a couple in their late forties. They got themselves two larger rooms to share for a night. The innkeepers had had trouble with how to pay since the couldn't go after the sun anymore, this they had fixed by getting themselves a 'clock' which helped keep track of time. The rather new device had been expensive as there was a big need for them. The two beige unicorn merchants clad in some silly blue and white suits had seemed somewhat suspicious at first, but their device had, in fact, worked. It had also proved to be a good investment for the couple. Star, Gilda, Graywing and Sharp Edge took the room with four beds, while the other five got the room with five beds. The rooms weren't large, but they didn't feel cramped together, either. The floor was made of light-colored wooden planks while the walls were made of darker wood. In the roof was a lamp powered by the ambient magic in the air, which had, thankfully, an off switch. They turned off the lights as soon as they had taken off their equipment, their weapons hidden with the rest of their things. Graywing was the first in bed and was fast asleep, not having slept much. The others followed suit and were soon embraced by the fog of sleep, too. "What do you mean you lost 'em? You had one job, damn it, lieutenant, one job! I want double the amount of patrols and get some pegasi in the sky damn it, they're not leaving this town without us finding out. And when you find them, I want them brought up to me! Ugh, I'm getting a drink. Why are you still here Lieutenant, you have a job to do!" The Lieutenant was quick to give the Captain a salute and a 'yes ma'am', and was quickly in the air. The gray lunar pegasus was soon not visible to the naked eye. Thankfully for the nightmare guards, their helmets were enchanted to give the wearer night vision. That gave them an upper hoof in most battles as their enemies struggled to see them, but they had no such problem. Rainbow sighed. Instead of flying, she decided to walk. Back in Ponyville, before she became the Captain of the nightmare guards, everypony would have greeted or waved to her in some fashion, but now? Now everyone gave her distrustful gazes, the only reason somepony would greet her nowadays as if they had to, not because they wanted to. As Rainbow Dash walked down the streets of Gryphonport, she was met by glares, some glared when they didn't think she was watching, others while she was. This had dampened her mood considerably, but she was used to it by now. She didn't give it much thought, lest her mood drop too low. As she reached the Inn, everyone stared at her, mostly of disgust. She sat herself down next to the counter and ordered their strongest. "That'll be thirty bits, ma'am." The cold voice of the male griffin woke her up from her stupor, only for her to go back to it as soon as she had paid. On any other day she might have gotten herself cider, her favorite, but today she only wanted to forget. To forget all the cold stares. To simply not have to worry, if only of a moment. She had barely started to drink as she heard a familiar voice, the voice of an old friend. She turned towards the guest room area, where she found the white and brown-yellow gryphoness. "G-gilda" she muttered as recognition entered her mind. "Gilda!" She moved towards the door frame where Gilda stood. She had been talking to somepony that the walls blocked out of sight. Gilda was startled out of the conversation with Twilight, somegriffin had not only known her name, but the voice had sounded familiar. She turned her head in the direction that the familiar voice had come from. Waiving a hoof was a nightmare guard, but not any nightmare guard, no, a Captain. Her eyes went wide, the terror of the fact that they had been found despite their efforts to keep hidden being the primary emotion she felt. It didn't take long for her to notice why the voice had been so familiar, it belonged to her best, and oldest, friend, Rainbow Dash. A chill went down Gilda's spine as the connections between information were made, the panic causing it to take longer than it would have otherwise. It was at this moment Star decided to poke her head through the door frame, her eyes meeting those of Rainbow Dash. Both went wide-eyed, neither expecting to find the other. Star dashed to put an as big as possible distance between them, Dash in hot pursuit and quickly gaining. In the end, Star merely manages a few meters or so, the pegasus being much quicker than her. Just as she jabbed the unicorn's horn, preventing her from casting until she got a dampener on the horn, as a growl came from behind her. "If you want her you'll have to go through me." Dash and Gilda stared at each other intensely. "Gilda, I don't want to fight you, you're one of the only friends I have. So, please, don't get yourself involved in this." Rainbow said with a saddened expression. "The moment you joined the nightmare guard you lost the right to call me friend."Gilda scoffed at the prismatic pegasus. "I didn't have a choice, I was picked for my talents in flying and to lead. I never had a saying in the matter, and the last one to openly go against Nightmare was hanged in front of everypony in town. And, why do you even care about her anyway?" Dash returned. "She's my friend and I will stand with my friends no matter what, my best friend did the same to me, but I don't see that mare anymore," Gilda said honestly. Rainbow visibly flinched the unicorn under her still unconscious. She didn't know what to do, her loyalties were divided. She had sworn her loyalty to the nightmare guard, albeit she hadn't had much to say in the matter, but she had still sworn. And if there was one thing she was then it was loyal. But on the other hoof, if she went through with this she would betray the trust of one of her oldest friends. In the end, she knew where she should put her loyalty. Rainbow sighed as she spoke. "Fine, I'll let you go, but if you get captured I won't be able to help you." "Maybe there's still some left of the one I once called friend. Thanks, Dash, I guess I was a bit hard on you. It's just, after what happened back home-" Gilda sighed, her anger fading, replaced with sorrow. "Not everyone made it. I just hope we could have met during better circumstances." An awkward silence ruled until Star started to wake up. Rainbow, still hesitant, lifted herself from Star's body, the unicorn slowly getting her bearings. Dash rubbed one forehoof against the other as she spoke. "Well, uh, I'll leave you, then..." An awkward excuse to leave, not that the situation was anything but awkward. "Yeah... We should get going, anyway..." Once again an uncomfortable silence ruled, only a few moans from the awakening unicorn and the low chatter from the griffins in the bar breaking the otherwise tangible silence. Rainbow gave Gilda one last glance before she left, joining up with the other nightmare guards at the edge of town. I hope I did the right thing... She thought as she addressed the present guards. Chapter 3, Choosing LoyaltiesStar and the gang were walking down the streets. Both Star and Gilda had conflicted thoughts about their meeting with the Captain of the Nightmare Guard, but both also knew that they had more pressing matters. Like the increase of guards in the area. Heh, looks she sold us out. But what did I expect from a Nightmare Guard? Star thought. She probably lied about everything she said, too. Damn if she wasn't convincing though, maybe they have 'formal training' for that. Wouldn't surprise me. The only reason they hadn't been caught yet was that it thankfully was rush-hour. But even with the added protection of rush-hour, they still had more run-ins than they had had before. Star had to use her invisibility spell more than she would have liked, magic exhaustion becoming a real threat to her, having to repeatedly turn it on and off. At this point, it was almost not worth turning it off at all, almost. Like for the fact that she might need it for some other spell. There was a small breeze blew through town, causing Star to shiver, although the others didn't seem to notice. Star shrugged. It's probably just my nerves. Yeah, that's it. "Keep to the left. There's an abandoned shack there. You could hide in there." "Huh? Hey, guys, I think we should keep to the left. There's an abandoned shack there." Star said in a hushed tone to the others who, while giving her strange looks still complied. Seconds later a pair of Nightmare Guards landed right where they had just been. "Damn, thought I saw them here." They heard one of the guards say before they closed the door behind them. As soon as they had made sure that no one was listening in, everyone turned towards Star. Gilda was the first one to speak up. "OK, I'm gonna voice the question we all have. How did you know about the guards, and how did you know about this place? And I don't think it was just luck this time." Star shied away a bit from the others, not knowing what to say. "Uh, w-well." She sighed and hung her head. "Truth be told, I have no idea. It's just like I knew, even though I've never been here." Star said, shaking her head. "I would'a told you if I knew, you know that. The only thing I can guess with any means of probability is that it's magic, dark magic in specific since almost no other type has any, other... " Star trailed off. Twilight was walking down one of the many white corridors of Canterlot Castle. The glass windows through the hall depicted many different events in history, some more remembered, some less. All of them were made out of colored glass, every single one different from the other. Well, of the stained glass windows, that is. There were still regular windows, perhaps for future events? Only Celestia knew. The white marble tiled floor glimmered in the sunlight, bathing Twilight in light. The first few times Twilight had been stunned by the beauty of it all, but she was used to it nowadays, paying it no mind. No, she was enraptured by the book she was reading, barely aware enough to avoid collision with the odd guard or servant that she passed. Thankfully she knew the whole castle by heart by now, something that was rather useful to her considering how often she had her muzzle in a book. As Twilight continued down her path she meets fewer and fewer ponies, until she reached her destination, the more or less abandoned Starswirl the Bearded Library. It rarely saw any use due to two things, one, ponies just didn't care that much about libraries nowadays, something Twilight thought unfathomable, because who doesn't like to spend their time reading books in a library? And two, it was a restricted area that only a select few had access to, Twilight, being the princess personal student, was one of them. So when she found the door slightly opened, the young filly found it rather suspicious. Ripping her eyes from the book, she tried to sneak into the room, not wanting to alert the potential burglar. What she found was no burglar, but Comet and a guard. Comet was too deeply into the tome he was reading to notice Twilight and the guard was doing what Twilight's brother had mentioned as the first thing a Royal Guard should learn to do; Sleeping while standing. The unicorn guard was barely holding onto his spear as he leaned on an old bookshelf, much to Twilight's horror. Just as she was going to lecture the guard that you should, in fact, NOT lean on old bookshelves full of priceless and one-of-a-kind books and scrolls when she tripped over a pile of notes and fell headfirst. The guard startled awake, lost his balance and had to pick himself up too, while Comet simply looked up from his books and notes, a small snicker escaping him at the sight of Twilight and Royal Guard alike splayed out on the floor. Awhile ago Twilight would have almost lost it with the messes Comet would leave and sorted it all, but living with the colt had taught her that it was futile. He would call it 'organized chaos', something she soon found out to be an actual thing. Just because it was an actual type of organization didn't mean that she had to like it. No, she did not like it one bit. Quickly banishing the urge to organize it all, Twilight headed to Comet, asking him what he was reading. "Well, it's a very interesting subject. It's how you could almost talk using only your mind! And magic, of course. It's practically the safest way to converse since only a mind walker would be able to listen in. And since the art of mind walking was lost a millennium ago you don't have to worry about that! Cool, right?" Twilight simply stared at him. "I... guess?" Comet gave her a big smile, but before he could continue, Twilight cut in. "So... what have you been doing today?" "Hmm... Oh! Well, I was talking to Cadence earlier, she had been looking for you. The weird thing was that she had this look that she knew something I didn't, that's more like Celestia, I wonder if the Princess is rubbing off on her... But besides that, I have mostly been reading, though I did promise Shining to see him later, something about something called Dungeons and Dragons, whatever that is." Comet said while rubbing his chin with a foreleg. "Oh! D and D, it's Shiny's favorite game, though I didn't really get it, I mean, I understood the rules, but it seemed pointless to me. Just, uh... Don't tell Shiny that I said that." Twilight said nervously. Looking behind Twilight, Comet saw a white hoof quietly open the door, a small, toothed smile spread across his muzzle. He tried to look as innocent as possible and failing miserably. "Don't tell me what?" That voice. Twilight froze. How much did he hear...? She slowly turned around to face her big brother, a nervous smile on her muzzle. "H-hey, BBBFF! What are, you doing, here? In a library, I mean. Hehe?" "Oh, you know, was talking to Cadence and she told me that Comet was here, and considering how the both of you can forget time easily when reading, I thought I'd bring him with me for supper. But since you're here too, wanna come too?" At the mention of food, both filly and colt perked up, putting away their books, Twilight neatly while Comet put them in what seemed like a completely random order. When they were done Shining asked what they wanted to eat. "Hayburger!" "Fried chicken!" Both Twilight and Shining turned towards Comet, both somewhat shocked. "What? It's good, you should try it!" The colt said resulting in Shining shaking his head and turning Twilight a bit greener than usual. "Uhh, right, let's get going." The young stallion moved out of the room with the two younger ponies right behind him, leaving the fast asleep guard behind, the slam of the door shocking him to awareness only to find the room empty. Star shook her head, returning to awareness. "You OK?" A somewhat concerned Gilda said. "You were staring into nothing there for a while." Star turned towards the griffin next to her, giving her a small smile. "Yeah, just remembered something. Heh, guess he was right, chicken does taste good." The smile turned sad as she thought of the last time she had seen him. "Wanna talk about it?" Gilda said, seeing that something was troubling Star. "I think we have bigger troubles than that, like the guard. I'm guessing they're still looking for us?" The griffin let out an amused laugh. "Ha, from what I heard, they're pissed. Hey, Graywing's on lookout, volunteered even." This caught Star's attention. "Ha, okay, now you're joking. Since when does Graywing volunteer for anything, he's always grumpy about something? Are you sure we're talking about the same griff' here?" "You know, if somegriff' had told me that, I'd respond more or less the same way. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it myself. Said something about getting some alone time." "OK, that's a bit more like him, but still." Star shook her head, clearing her head from any wandering thoughts, this was not the time for that. After sitting down and taking it easy with Gilda for a few minutes, she rose. "We should get going, just because it's safe here now doesn't mean that it'll stay so." Gilda never got to reply as the building's doors were kicked open. Through said door, Nightmare guards rushed in, catching the occupants off guard. The griffins and unicorn tried to resist the guards, but the sheer number of them was too much to them. They were held down and had their wings bound, while star got an enhanced magic restrictor on her horn. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the purple menace that has been running around." A sadistic voice rang out. Star looked up to find a lunar pegasus walking towards her with an equally sadistic smile on her muzzle that showed her fangs. "You've been rather annoying to get a hold on, especially for a former noble." "First and foremost, I'm magenta, not purple. My mane is purple. Secondly, who are you, you're not Captain Dash, that's for sure." Star told matter-of-factly with mock ignorance, much to the displeasure of the lunar pegasus in front of her. "I'm Second Lieutenant Fangs, Exile. That's all you need to know. Captain Dash was following a 'lead' saying that you were on the other side of town, tried to take most of the soldiers with her. It doesn't matter as I had, back-up with me." 'Fangs' spat in Star's face with a smug grin. "She's always talking about honor and such nonsense, the fool. But with you, I'll replace her as Captain of the Forward Nightmare Guard." "What in Tartarus is the 'Forward Nightmare Guard?" A confused Gilda asked, causing the 2LT to snap and told her that it was none of her business. "It's kind of the scouts of the guard, like how the Royal Guard was the princess personal guards tasked with accompanying her and guard the castle itself, though it was mostly against burglars and spies and crowd control. Therefore they were mostly trained to handle civilians since they wouldn't need too much combat training." Star told Gilda, getting an 'ahh' in return. It also continued to agitate the second lieutenant even more. "Ugh, get them out of my sight! I want them on a transport to the Everfree Castle ASAP! What are you waiting for!? Get going!" Fangs shouted as she turned and walked out of the front door, causing all guards present to shout 'Yes, ma'am!' in return. Star, Gilda, and the four other griffins were escorted outside town where two cage-wagons were stationed. One of them already had one occupant. A bloodied and bruised Graywing with, what looked like, broken, disfigured wings in addition to being bound. Star tried to look away, not wanting to see someone she considered a friend in such a state. Gilda, Edgy and the others were lead to the cage containing Graywing, while Star was lead to the empty one. As soon as everyone was ready, the guards moved out, leaving Gryphonport behind them. Rainbow Dash was pissed. One of the pegasi had spotted 2LT Fangs with a whole squadron leaving Gryphonport, including seven prisoners, six griffins in one cage and one unicorn in the other. "Ma'am, should we follow them? We should be able to reach them within the hour if we move quickly." A light blue pegasus with a near-white mane, the one who had spotted the 2LT, asked. "No, corporal, I'll deal with this myself. I'm placing you in command while I'm away, understood?" Rainbow sighed, trying to not let out her anger on the corporal. "And, Flitter? Whatever happens, I still consider you one of my friends, I hope you do the same." "Uh, of course; Dash," Flitter said nervously before flying off to the rest of the guards. After looking over the city of Gryphonport one last time, she too took off, but in the other direction. I'll get you back, Gilda, no matter what.
Prologue, Meat-ing The CrewIt was midday or would have been so if the sun still rose. But it didn't, it hadn't done so for months, not since Nightmare Moon took over Equestria and banished Celestia to the moon. The moonlight lit up the canopy of an overgrown forest or tried to do so at least. The only light for kilometers was a fire, a campfire to be specific. Around the fire were a few tents and a few figures. Most of the ones by the camp were griffins, each of them weary from travel, carrying some form of weapon, some had spears while others had swords, one even had a crossbow. One figure stood out from the others. It was a magenta pony, unicorn to be exact. She had a brazen mane and had a scar here and there. She was the only one without a weapon, but the griffons with her knew better. At first, when they had found her, not long after the last day, she had been fragile, scared and almost broken. The only reason they hadn't left her to her end was the latest member of their crew, a gryphoness who had had to flee from Gryphonstone when some black alicorn called Nightmare Moon took over Equestria, had sympathized with the mare since she herself had had a pony as a friend a long time ago. Rumors spread soon that the protégé of princess Celestia, a magenta unicorn, had been banished from Equestria when the new monarch came to power. The similarities were to close for the mare they had found to not be one and the same, only further strengthened by the mere skill at casting she possessed. The first problems that arose were that of the mare's eating habits since most of the food the griffins had was meat from animals they had hunted. But as time went on, she started to eat meat, too, giving up on her old ways, seeing that it was a doomed path. No sooner had she started joining in at hunting for food, proving to be better at it than any of the griffins had expected, she still needed training, but she seemed to know right where to hit. As time went on she only grew better and better, proving to be a valuable asset to the mercenaries/hunters. The first 'job' the mercenaries got since the unicorn had joined at least, was to intercept a transport and to retrieve the good undamaged. The unicorn had protested at first but still joined in after some convincing and being able to only need to defend the others, not actively attack. She agreed to this, but after finding that they would be assaulting a caravan with soldiers loyal Nightmare Moon, she had lost most conviction of being mostly support for the others. She would still mostly support the others with her spells, as she didn't know too many combat spells, mostly due to have lived in more peaceful places were battles were mostly things of the past. Right now Falling Star, the others named her that since she never told them her real name, was munching on a roasted chicken leg, no longer having any apprehension about meat, so long as it wasn't from a sentient being. Her ears would flicker to and fro, always on the lookout for threats, rarely was there any, but if she had learned anything the past months was that it's always better to be prepared for the worst. "I have a bad feeling about this." It was a male griffin that spoke, Sharp Edge, or Edgy as most called him by now. The brownish griffin with a black beak and claws, was, like most times, on edge, hence the nickname. He was carrying short swords, one on each side of his side, strapped in dark brown leather, which Star had enchanted to be more durable, as were the swords. But he was also carrying throwing knives hidden under his wings for emergencies or situations where his swords wouldn't be very effective. "You always worry too much, Edgy. Chill out, we haven't seen anything yet." This time it was a female griffin who spoke up, the one that came from Gryphonstone, Gilda. The brown and white gryphoness was getting annoyed with Edge pacing around. When she first joined she would have snapped, but she had cooled down a bit since she had joined. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had messed up a contract by snapping at the contractor and had to do extra work around camp. Actually, it probably did, since it was during that time she started thinking before she spoke more. "I have to disagree. Normally I'd have nothing against some calm, but we should have ran into more wildlife than we have, something is definitely wrong here, and I don't like one bit of it." Star said in a hushed tone. "Something is telling me that we're not the only ones here, I'd recommend that we're all on alert, we don't know what's out there." Most got rather unnerved since she rarely spoke unless something needed to be done or something was amiss, she also talked in her sleep and when she thought nopony was listening. This was the second though. And she was seldom wrong. "Uh, if you say so." Gilda sat herself next to Star, an uncomfortable silence was cast around them as none knew what to talk about. Gilda finally decided to try get the unicorn to talk, any previous attempt being less than successful. "So, uh, Star? You never really talk about yourself, why were you so far from Equestria anyway?" "I was banished," Star replied with a deadpan, causing Gilda to flinch, not wanting to bring up any more bad questions, she kept quiet. After a little while Star spoke up. "Don't you have better things to do, Gilda?" She sighed and rose up. "You know, Star, even I have a friend. She's a pegasus, moved to some town called Ponyville a year or so ago. Rainbow dash was her name, I had planned to visit her sometime, but then Nightmare Moon's guards came and drew us away." Gilda was just about to go and get some sleep when Star stopped her. "Wait, blue pegasus with a prismatic mane, want to join the Wonderbolts?" She turned to the unicorn, giving her a curious glance. "You know her? How is she? -" She was going to shower Star with questions, but she got cut-off before she could go full-on by Star. "One question at the time, please. And I don't fully know her, we just meet in Ponyville when I first got there and she mentioned a few things, that's all. As for how she is, well, if things didn't change too much, she seemed to be okay, worked as a weatherpony, I think. I only stayed there for a day, until I got banished." Star hung her head in grief, choking on the last words. Gilda picked up on this, her voice betraying her concern for her traveling companion. "You okay there? You know, you never did tell why you got banished, wanna talk about what happened?" Star rose and turned away from Gilda, trying not to let her inner turmoil show in her voice. "I'm going to bed." She sighed. "Just make sure the others don't do anything they might regret later, ok?" Gilda let out a sigh of her own, shaking her head. "Star, whatever happened, you can't keep it bottled up forever. Trust me, it won't do you any good. Just, if you ever want to talk to someone, you can talk with me." Star didn't answer, and after a few moments, she continued for one of the tents. Unbeknownst to both pony and griffin, two slithered eyes had been watching them, the armored creature taking to the skies.
Chapter 1, Memories of PastIt was a sunny day in Canterlot, only a few clouds littered the sky. The Sparkle household was calm, everypony sitting next to the dining table, eating the homemade lasagna that Twilight Velvet had made. "Tell me, son, how is it at boot camp? I heard that the Sergeant was pretty hard on the new recruits?" Nightlight asked his son, Shining Armor. Shining swallowed down the piece of lasagna he was eating with a loud gulp, earning a glare from his mother and a mumble about not learning proper customary behavior. Shining didn't notice that, though, and instead moved to answer his father's question. "Oh, well yeah, he can be a bit hard sometimes, but he knows all the cool things about how to spar and how to use a spear without magic, and a bunch more! Next week we're finally gonna start actually practicing instead of just reading some dumb old book about it." This time he got a glare from the purple filly sitting next to him, say that books are not stupid. Everypony chuckled at this, everypony but Comet that is, who agreed with Twilight. It had been a couple of months since Comet started living with the Sparkle family, not requiring to have guards with him in the sparkle household or when supervised by a trusted adult. At first, it had been quite awkward, the young colt not being very talkative. But as time went on he started to open up a bit, though mostly to Twilight. It had started with simply talking about books, math, and magic, but soon enough even Comet went with them to the park, though he usually carried a book with him, not unlike Twilight herself. Things were perfect to Twilight, nothing should be able to ruin this day. But something did. Dark clouds formed in the sky, blocking out next to all light. just as her eyes started to adjust to the low light levels, lightning flashed. What Twilight saw had her fall back on her haunches. In front of her were not only an adult Comet, but all of her family, all hanging from nooses around their necks, each one of them lifeless. A cruel laugh echoed, as she turned her head around she found none other than Nightmare Moon, clad in her light blue armor, an evil smile on her snout. Twilight took a step backward and tried to run away from her, to no avail as she was picked up in the dark alicorn's blue magic. She tried to scream, to struggle, anything, but she couldn't. She couldn't even look away. She was brought up to her worst enemy as she whispered something to her. "Wake up." Star flew up from her bedroll, sweating profoundly. It wasn't the first time she had had a memory twisted like this. Truth be told, it was actually becoming somewhat of a regular thing now, happening every other day or so. That didn't mean that she enjoyed it, oh no, she didn't enjoy it one bit. The twisted memories relentlessly kept haunting her. At first, she had theorized that it was Nightmare Moon that was doing this, but she let that go as she had no proof of Nightmare being able to do something like that and chalked it up to guilt. Of course, that didn't mean that she didn't blame her for it, no, Nightmare was still the one to hang her best friend, only friend. Except her old foalsitter, her brother and some others from school, Moon Blaster, or something like that. With a grunt, Star rose up and started to make herself look like she hadn't just woken up from a nightmare, she didn't want to show any weakness to the others. She combed her mane to look somewhat orderly, but not to the same precision as when she lived in Equestria, it would get ruined anyway. She dried herself and the bedroll with a quick spell, not wanting to get a cold and become dead weight or sleep in something that smelled too terribly and was cold. She got out of the tent to find Graywing watching the fire, making sure that it didn't cool off nor got too big to handle while she was asleep. The gray griffin looked tired, he had probably been sitting there for a while now. "How're you doin', Graywing?" She moaned out, stretching her legs to really wake up. Graywing grunted in response but answered soon enough. "Urg, been here around three hours. Of course I had to be the lucky gryph' to get the longer watch." He said sleepily as he moaned, too. Star gave him an understanding smile as she sat herself next to him. "Well look at it this way, you won't need to be sentinel next time, as you already had the worst this time." He sighed. "Well, I guess you're right about that. Still wished I could get some more sleep before we head out." He said as he watched right into the fire. Star, too, stared into the flames as they flickered to and fro. "We're heading out as soon as everygriffin is ready, the others should be up anytime now, so, with that in mind, it shouldn't be too long till we arrive in Gryphonport. Then we might get some real beds, too." Graywing gave Star a weak smile. "Yeah, you're right. You know, I don't remember you being this talkative, care to give me the story?" The smile had turned playful as he jabbed her shoulder. Star's eyes danced to the sides as she mumbled. "Oh, uh, just something Gilda said, there isn't really any story to it." Star looked everywhere except in Graywing's eyes. "Oh, now I definitely know you're lyin'. So tell me, what's the real reason?" He was grinning by now, it was rare to get something out of Star, he wouldn't let this go, it sounded very juicy by how Star sounded. The truth was far from it. With a sigh of defeat, Star was just about to reveal the true reason, but luckily, or unluckily depending who you ask, Gilda interrupted her before she had said anything. "Hey Graywing, Star. Up and about early, as usual, Star?" Star sighed in relief, while Graywing grunted in annoyance. "Uh, did I miss something?" Star was quick to respond, not wanting Graywing to reply himself. "No no, nothing important. Just Graywing being Graywing." Gilda was not convinced, though. "Heh heh, I'll just look, uh, how the others... uh, you know, so we can get going as soon as possible." Star gave them a cheap smile, as she trotted away, a little faster than normal, to the other tents. "Damn, so close." Gilda just gave the griffin a confused look. The group of six griffins and one unicorn moved through the dense forest, some of them carrying a backpack with the tents while Gilda and Graywing carried the provisions they had bought and the meat from some of the animals they had hunted. The only one without anything was Twilight, instead, she was casting spells so that everygryph could see and to clear the way of the worst of the foliage. With Twilight doing this, the group moved much faster than they had before. Still, something was wrong, Star just couldn't say what. Their trek had been rather uneventful, but she would get the feeling of being watched some times, but no matter where she looked could she find anything in the darkness. Of course, the darkness didn't help to calm her nerves. But she had other things to do than to worry about something silly like the dark. She was, after all, the one who lit up the path for the rest. After two hours or so, they reached the end of the forest. Blunt Force, a dark gray and white griffin with the face of an owl, spoke up. "Remind me, why did we have to take the old and abandoned 'path' through the forest when there is a newer one, one that doesn't go through the forest?" Graywing groaned as Star facehoofed. Gilda was the one to answer. "Blunt, we're trying to avoid the nightmare guard, remember? That path is patrolled by them, the one we took wasn't." Unbeknownst to them, the path was actually guarded. A night pegasus, or batpony as most called them, scout clad in a blueish armor took to the skies, flying to where a squadron of other nightmare guards was stationed. He landed in front of one of them. "The mercenaries are headed for town, Captain! What are your orders, ma'am?" "Good work, Lieutenant." The sky blue pegasus with a prismatic mane and tail spoke so that all present could hear. "The traitor and her pals have been found and are heading for the city! We will set up an ambush there and capture them!" Every one of the nightmare guards shouted in approval. "We're heading out in fifteen minutes, everypony get ready! We will be traveling in small groups as to not arise suspicion, is that clear!?" "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
Chapter 2, Old Friends and EnemiesGryphonport was an average town, but once upon a time it had been a major trade center, nowadays, while it was still a trading port, there was much less traffic. Still, there was plenty of passerby, merchants selling goods of different kinds, from food to items. Then there were the buyers seeking to find the items they were looking for for the lowest price. And then there were the travelers who passed by the town to rest. This was exactly what Star's group of mercenaries were looking for, a perfect place to fit in. Normally a magenta pony would stick out quite a lot, but with the help of a spell that caused Star to look rather uninteresting, this was not a problem. The six griffins and one pony walked down one of the larger roads not wanting to draw unnecessary attention. The streets were mostly composed of griffins, but every so often you would find a pair of ponies in armor, nightmare guards. Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice the group, though that might have to do with that they started talking with one of the shop owners and Star using an invisibility spell. If it wasn't for the drain of keeping the spell going, Star would have kept the spell running all the time in town. Moving while casting the spell drained extra, too, therefore she only used it for situations like these, since the other spell didn't work on those who were actively searching for her or already knew about her. After evading multiple groups of nightmare guards and having a close call with one group, the mercenaries finally reached an inn. They were greeted by the inn owners, a couple in their late forties. They got themselves two larger rooms to share for a night. The innkeepers had had trouble with how to pay since the couldn't go after the sun anymore, this they had fixed by getting themselves a 'clock' which helped keep track of time. The rather new device had been expensive as there was a big need for them. The two beige unicorn merchants clad in some silly blue and white suits had seemed somewhat suspicious at first, but their device had, in fact, worked. It had also proved to be a good investment for the couple. Star, Gilda, Graywing and Sharp Edge took the room with four beds, while the other five got the room with five beds. The rooms weren't large, but they didn't feel cramped together, either. The floor was made of light-colored wooden planks while the walls were made of darker wood. In the roof was a lamp powered by the ambient magic in the air, which had, thankfully, an off switch. They turned off the lights as soon as they had taken off their equipment, their weapons hidden with the rest of their things. Graywing was the first in bed and was fast asleep, not having slept much. The others followed suit and were soon embraced by the fog of sleep, too. "What do you mean you lost 'em? You had one job, damn it, lieutenant, one job! I want double the amount of patrols and get some pegasi in the sky damn it, they're not leaving this town without us finding out. And when you find them, I want them brought up to me! Ugh, I'm getting a drink. Why are you still here Lieutenant, you have a job to do!" The Lieutenant was quick to give the Captain a salute and a 'yes ma'am', and was quickly in the air. The gray lunar pegasus was soon not visible to the naked eye. Thankfully for the nightmare guards, their helmets were enchanted to give the wearer night vision. That gave them an upper hoof in most battles as their enemies struggled to see them, but they had no such problem. Rainbow sighed. Instead of flying, she decided to walk. Back in Ponyville, before she became the Captain of the nightmare guards, everypony would have greeted or waved to her in some fashion, but now? Now everyone gave her distrustful gazes, the only reason somepony would greet her nowadays as if they had to, not because they wanted to. As Rainbow Dash walked down the streets of Gryphonport, she was met by glares, some glared when they didn't think she was watching, others while she was. This had dampened her mood considerably, but she was used to it by now. She didn't give it much thought, lest her mood drop too low. As she reached the Inn, everyone stared at her, mostly of disgust. She sat herself down next to the counter and ordered their strongest. "That'll be thirty bits, ma'am." The cold voice of the male griffin woke her up from her stupor, only for her to go back to it as soon as she had paid. On any other day she might have gotten herself cider, her favorite, but today she only wanted to forget. To forget all the cold stares. To simply not have to worry, if only of a moment. She had barely started to drink as she heard a familiar voice, the voice of an old friend. She turned towards the guest room area, where she found the white and brown-yellow gryphoness. "G-gilda" she muttered as recognition entered her mind. "Gilda!" She moved towards the door frame where Gilda stood. She had been talking to somepony that the walls blocked out of sight. Gilda was startled out of the conversation with Twilight, somegriffin had not only known her name, but the voice had sounded familiar. She turned her head in the direction that the familiar voice had come from. Waiving a hoof was a nightmare guard, but not any nightmare guard, no, a Captain. Her eyes went wide, the terror of the fact that they had been found despite their efforts to keep hidden being the primary emotion she felt. It didn't take long for her to notice why the voice had been so familiar, it belonged to her best, and oldest, friend, Rainbow Dash. A chill went down Gilda's spine as the connections between information were made, the panic causing it to take longer than it would have otherwise. It was at this moment Star decided to poke her head through the door frame, her eyes meeting those of Rainbow Dash. Both went wide-eyed, neither expecting to find the other. Star dashed to put an as big as possible distance between them, Dash in hot pursuit and quickly gaining. In the end, Star merely manages a few meters or so, the pegasus being much quicker than her. Just as she jabbed the unicorn's horn, preventing her from casting until she got a dampener on the horn, as a growl came from behind her. "If you want her you'll have to go through me." Dash and Gilda stared at each other intensely. "Gilda, I don't want to fight you, you're one of the only friends I have. So, please, don't get yourself involved in this." Rainbow said with a saddened expression. "The moment you joined the nightmare guard you lost the right to call me friend."Gilda scoffed at the prismatic pegasus. "I didn't have a choice, I was picked for my talents in flying and to lead. I never had a saying in the matter, and the last one to openly go against Nightmare was hanged in front of everypony in town. And, why do you even care about her anyway?" Dash returned. "She's my friend and I will stand with my friends no matter what, my best friend did the same to me, but I don't see that mare anymore," Gilda said honestly. Rainbow visibly flinched the unicorn under her still unconscious. She didn't know what to do, her loyalties were divided. She had sworn her loyalty to the nightmare guard, albeit she hadn't had much to say in the matter, but she had still sworn. And if there was one thing she was then it was loyal. But on the other hoof, if she went through with this she would betray the trust of one of her oldest friends. In the end, she knew where she should put her loyalty. Rainbow sighed as she spoke. "Fine, I'll let you go, but if you get captured I won't be able to help you." "Maybe there's still some left of the one I once called friend. Thanks, Dash, I guess I was a bit hard on you. It's just, after what happened back home-" Gilda sighed, her anger fading, replaced with sorrow. "Not everyone made it. I just hope we could have met during better circumstances." An awkward silence ruled until Star started to wake up. Rainbow, still hesitant, lifted herself from Star's body, the unicorn slowly getting her bearings. Dash rubbed one forehoof against the other as she spoke. "Well, uh, I'll leave you, then..." An awkward excuse to leave, not that the situation was anything but awkward. "Yeah... We should get going, anyway..." Once again an uncomfortable silence ruled, only a few moans from the awakening unicorn and the low chatter from the griffins in the bar breaking the otherwise tangible silence. Rainbow gave Gilda one last glance before she left, joining up with the other nightmare guards at the edge of town. I hope I did the right thing... She thought as she addressed the present guards.
Chapter 3, Choosing LoyaltiesStar and the gang were walking down the streets. Both Star and Gilda had conflicted thoughts about their meeting with the Captain of the Nightmare Guard, but both also knew that they had more pressing matters. Like the increase of guards in the area. Heh, looks she sold us out. But what did I expect from a Nightmare Guard? Star thought. She probably lied about everything she said, too. Damn if she wasn't convincing though, maybe they have 'formal training' for that. Wouldn't surprise me. The only reason they hadn't been caught yet was that it thankfully was rush-hour. But even with the added protection of rush-hour, they still had more run-ins than they had had before. Star had to use her invisibility spell more than she would have liked, magic exhaustion becoming a real threat to her, having to repeatedly turn it on and off. At this point, it was almost not worth turning it off at all, almost. Like for the fact that she might need it for some other spell. There was a small breeze blew through town, causing Star to shiver, although the others didn't seem to notice. Star shrugged. It's probably just my nerves. Yeah, that's it. "Keep to the left. There's an abandoned shack there. You could hide in there." "Huh? Hey, guys, I think we should keep to the left. There's an abandoned shack there." Star said in a hushed tone to the others who, while giving her strange looks still complied. Seconds later a pair of Nightmare Guards landed right where they had just been. "Damn, thought I saw them here." They heard one of the guards say before they closed the door behind them. As soon as they had made sure that no one was listening in, everyone turned towards Star. Gilda was the first one to speak up. "OK, I'm gonna voice the question we all have. How did you know about the guards, and how did you know about this place? And I don't think it was just luck this time." Star shied away a bit from the others, not knowing what to say. "Uh, w-well." She sighed and hung her head. "Truth be told, I have no idea. It's just like I knew, even though I've never been here." Star said, shaking her head. "I would'a told you if I knew, you know that. The only thing I can guess with any means of probability is that it's magic, dark magic in specific since almost no other type has any, other... " Star trailed off. Twilight was walking down one of the many white corridors of Canterlot Castle. The glass windows through the hall depicted many different events in history, some more remembered, some less. All of them were made out of colored glass, every single one different from the other. Well, of the stained glass windows, that is. There were still regular windows, perhaps for future events? Only Celestia knew. The white marble tiled floor glimmered in the sunlight, bathing Twilight in light. The first few times Twilight had been stunned by the beauty of it all, but she was used to it nowadays, paying it no mind. No, she was enraptured by the book she was reading, barely aware enough to avoid collision with the odd guard or servant that she passed. Thankfully she knew the whole castle by heart by now, something that was rather useful to her considering how often she had her muzzle in a book. As Twilight continued down her path she meets fewer and fewer ponies, until she reached her destination, the more or less abandoned Starswirl the Bearded Library. It rarely saw any use due to two things, one, ponies just didn't care that much about libraries nowadays, something Twilight thought unfathomable, because who doesn't like to spend their time reading books in a library? And two, it was a restricted area that only a select few had access to, Twilight, being the princess personal student, was one of them. So when she found the door slightly opened, the young filly found it rather suspicious. Ripping her eyes from the book, she tried to sneak into the room, not wanting to alert the potential burglar. What she found was no burglar, but Comet and a guard. Comet was too deeply into the tome he was reading to notice Twilight and the guard was doing what Twilight's brother had mentioned as the first thing a Royal Guard should learn to do; Sleeping while standing. The unicorn guard was barely holding onto his spear as he leaned on an old bookshelf, much to Twilight's horror. Just as she was going to lecture the guard that you should, in fact, NOT lean on old bookshelves full of priceless and one-of-a-kind books and scrolls when she tripped over a pile of notes and fell headfirst. The guard startled awake, lost his balance and had to pick himself up too, while Comet simply looked up from his books and notes, a small snicker escaping him at the sight of Twilight and Royal Guard alike splayed out on the floor. Awhile ago Twilight would have almost lost it with the messes Comet would leave and sorted it all, but living with the colt had taught her that it was futile. He would call it 'organized chaos', something she soon found out to be an actual thing. Just because it was an actual type of organization didn't mean that she had to like it. No, she did not like it one bit. Quickly banishing the urge to organize it all, Twilight headed to Comet, asking him what he was reading. "Well, it's a very interesting subject. It's how you could almost talk using only your mind! And magic, of course. It's practically the safest way to converse since only a mind walker would be able to listen in. And since the art of mind walking was lost a millennium ago you don't have to worry about that! Cool, right?" Twilight simply stared at him. "I... guess?" Comet gave her a big smile, but before he could continue, Twilight cut in. "So... what have you been doing today?" "Hmm... Oh! Well, I was talking to Cadence earlier, she had been looking for you. The weird thing was that she had this look that she knew something I didn't, that's more like Celestia, I wonder if the Princess is rubbing off on her... But besides that, I have mostly been reading, though I did promise Shining to see him later, something about something called Dungeons and Dragons, whatever that is." Comet said while rubbing his chin with a foreleg. "Oh! D and D, it's Shiny's favorite game, though I didn't really get it, I mean, I understood the rules, but it seemed pointless to me. Just, uh... Don't tell Shiny that I said that." Twilight said nervously. Looking behind Twilight, Comet saw a white hoof quietly open the door, a small, toothed smile spread across his muzzle. He tried to look as innocent as possible and failing miserably. "Don't tell me what?" That voice. Twilight froze. How much did he hear...? She slowly turned around to face her big brother, a nervous smile on her muzzle. "H-hey, BBBFF! What are, you doing, here? In a library, I mean. Hehe?" "Oh, you know, was talking to Cadence and she told me that Comet was here, and considering how the both of you can forget time easily when reading, I thought I'd bring him with me for supper. But since you're here too, wanna come too?" At the mention of food, both filly and colt perked up, putting away their books, Twilight neatly while Comet put them in what seemed like a completely random order. When they were done Shining asked what they wanted to eat. "Hayburger!" "Fried chicken!" Both Twilight and Shining turned towards Comet, both somewhat shocked. "What? It's good, you should try it!" The colt said resulting in Shining shaking his head and turning Twilight a bit greener than usual. "Uhh, right, let's get going." The young stallion moved out of the room with the two younger ponies right behind him, leaving the fast asleep guard behind, the slam of the door shocking him to awareness only to find the room empty. Star shook her head, returning to awareness. "You OK?" A somewhat concerned Gilda said. "You were staring into nothing there for a while." Star turned towards the griffin next to her, giving her a small smile. "Yeah, just remembered something. Heh, guess he was right, chicken does taste good." The smile turned sad as she thought of the last time she had seen him. "Wanna talk about it?" Gilda said, seeing that something was troubling Star. "I think we have bigger troubles than that, like the guard. I'm guessing they're still looking for us?" The griffin let out an amused laugh. "Ha, from what I heard, they're pissed. Hey, Graywing's on lookout, volunteered even." This caught Star's attention. "Ha, okay, now you're joking. Since when does Graywing volunteer for anything, he's always grumpy about something? Are you sure we're talking about the same griff' here?" "You know, if somegriff' had told me that, I'd respond more or less the same way. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it myself. Said something about getting some alone time." "OK, that's a bit more like him, but still." Star shook her head, clearing her head from any wandering thoughts, this was not the time for that. After sitting down and taking it easy with Gilda for a few minutes, she rose. "We should get going, just because it's safe here now doesn't mean that it'll stay so." Gilda never got to reply as the building's doors were kicked open. Through said door, Nightmare guards rushed in, catching the occupants off guard. The griffins and unicorn tried to resist the guards, but the sheer number of them was too much to them. They were held down and had their wings bound, while star got an enhanced magic restrictor on her horn. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the purple menace that has been running around." A sadistic voice rang out. Star looked up to find a lunar pegasus walking towards her with an equally sadistic smile on her muzzle that showed her fangs. "You've been rather annoying to get a hold on, especially for a former noble." "First and foremost, I'm magenta, not purple. My mane is purple. Secondly, who are you, you're not Captain Dash, that's for sure." Star told matter-of-factly with mock ignorance, much to the displeasure of the lunar pegasus in front of her. "I'm Second Lieutenant Fangs, Exile. That's all you need to know. Captain Dash was following a 'lead' saying that you were on the other side of town, tried to take most of the soldiers with her. It doesn't matter as I had, back-up with me." 'Fangs' spat in Star's face with a smug grin. "She's always talking about honor and such nonsense, the fool. But with you, I'll replace her as Captain of the Forward Nightmare Guard." "What in Tartarus is the 'Forward Nightmare Guard?" A confused Gilda asked, causing the 2LT to snap and told her that it was none of her business. "It's kind of the scouts of the guard, like how the Royal Guard was the princess personal guards tasked with accompanying her and guard the castle itself, though it was mostly against burglars and spies and crowd control. Therefore they were mostly trained to handle civilians since they wouldn't need too much combat training." Star told Gilda, getting an 'ahh' in return. It also continued to agitate the second lieutenant even more. "Ugh, get them out of my sight! I want them on a transport to the Everfree Castle ASAP! What are you waiting for!? Get going!" Fangs shouted as she turned and walked out of the front door, causing all guards present to shout 'Yes, ma'am!' in return. Star, Gilda, and the four other griffins were escorted outside town where two cage-wagons were stationed. One of them already had one occupant. A bloodied and bruised Graywing with, what looked like, broken, disfigured wings in addition to being bound. Star tried to look away, not wanting to see someone she considered a friend in such a state. Gilda, Edgy and the others were lead to the cage containing Graywing, while Star was lead to the empty one. As soon as everyone was ready, the guards moved out, leaving Gryphonport behind them. Rainbow Dash was pissed. One of the pegasi had spotted 2LT Fangs with a whole squadron leaving Gryphonport, including seven prisoners, six griffins in one cage and one unicorn in the other. "Ma'am, should we follow them? We should be able to reach them within the hour if we move quickly." A light blue pegasus with a near-white mane, the one who had spotted the 2LT, asked. "No, corporal, I'll deal with this myself. I'm placing you in command while I'm away, understood?" Rainbow sighed, trying to not let out her anger on the corporal. "And, Flitter? Whatever happens, I still consider you one of my friends, I hope you do the same." "Uh, of course; Dash," Flitter said nervously before flying off to the rest of the guards. After looking over the city of Gryphonport one last time, she too took off, but in the other direction. I'll get you back, Gilda, no matter what.
