Heir to the Shadows

Chapters

Act 1: Chapter 1 - Dreams Awoken
Act 1: Chapter 2 - Why do I dream like this?
Act 1: Chapter 3 - "...Really?"
Act 1: Chapter 4 - Enter Bunker
Act 1: Chapter 5 - The Ouch Foal
Act 1: Chapter 6 - The Cave and the Cultists
Act 1: Chapter 7 - Retreat
Act 1: Chapter 8 - Canterlot
Act 1: Chapter 9 - The Truth
Act 1: Chapter 10 - Demon?
Act 2: Chapter 1 - An Old Friend
Act 2: Chapter 3 - The Low Road
Act 2: Chapter 4 - Delusions and Politics
Act 2: Chapter 5 - The Gravity
Act 2: Chapter 6 - Of Our
Act 2: Chapter 7 - Situation
Act 2: Chapter 9 - Denial in Both Cases
Act 2: Chapter 10 - Diplomatic Immunity
Act 2: Chapter 12 - Cracked Perseverance
Act 2: Chapter 13 - Legacy
Act 3: Chapter 1 - By the Moon
Act 3: Chapter 2 - Cold Shoulder
Act 2: Chapter 3 - The Frozen North
Act 3: Chapter 4 - Too Close for Comfort
Act 3: Chapter 5 - Journeys
Act 3: Chapter 6 - Ice to Fire
Act 3: Chapter 7 - Method to Our Madness
Act 3: Chapter 8 - Oh, so that's how it is?
Act 3: Chapter 9 - Fully Awakened Alicorn Nonsense
Act 3: Chapter 10 - A Blue Striped Moon
Act 4: Chapter 1 - A Day in the Life of a Mad-Stallion
Act 4: Chapter 2 - Better Left Forgotten
Act 4: Chapter 3 - The Small Differences between Friends and Enemies
Act 4: Chapter 5 - The Varied Hearts of Monsters
Act 4: Chapter 6 - It Starts at -1% Grade
Act 4: Chapter 7 - By Luna and her Guardian Angel
Act 4: Chapter 8 - The Depths
Act 4: Chapter 9 - Just Between You and Me
Act 4: Chapter 10 - Don't Rock the Boat
Act 5: Chapter 1 - It's Never That Simple
Act 5: Chapter 2 - The Voices in Our Heads
Act 5: Chapter 3 - Machinations of the Shadow-kin
Act 5: Chapter 4 - Complications
Act 5: Chapter 5 - Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained
Act 5: Chapter 6 - The Melding In The Sky
Act 5: Chapter 7 - First Line of Defense
Act 5: Chapter 8 - Ancients' Reunion
Act 5: Chapter 9 - Secrets
Act 5: Chapter 10 - Descent
Act 5: Chapter 11 - The Shadows Lengthen
Act 5: Chapter 12 - Grace Not Included
Act 5: Chapter 13 - Zeccaran's Gambit
Act 5: Chapter 14 - No Second Chances
Act 5: Chapter 15 - The Fire's Out
Epilogue
Prologue: One Normal Day
Act 2: Chapter 2 - The High Road
Act 2: Chapter 8 - Battle of Castle-upon-Barra
Act 2: Chapter 11 - Breaking Points
Act 4: Chapter 4 - Of Shadow-kin and Dragons

Act 1: Chapter 1 - Dreams Awoken

Author's Note

Official Edit: Final 10-13-17

Sorry for the changes folks. Just felt like it needed done, no plot changes if you don't feel like going back and reading. This is for everyone else that stumbles upon this thing.

Act 1: Chapter 1 - Dreams Awoken

“Back then things were simpler. Once I met her I found a specific purpose, that was clear to me. I never intended to survive helping. It was bigger than me, bigger than anything was ever going be, the fate of the world directly dependent on me...would I do it all again? Without a second thought.”

-G.A.S.-

Chapter 1 - Dreams Awoken

Snores echoed around a small room tucked away in the bowels of the Royal Palace. It was a quaint little location far removed from the brightness and energy of the world above. The room’s resident was more than pleased with his current living accommodations, he preferred life this way, quiet, calm, full of research and intellectual pursuits. It was much more enjoyable compared to the ridiculous volume of dangerous adventures he had recently completed. Wandering the forest, spelunking in caves, or stopping robberies, simply was not his cup of tea. It felt strange to realize but he was right at home in his study, left alone to his thoughts and laboratory far away from nature or the civilities of the world.

He had been begun inhabiting the lower reaches several months ago after a long soiree with Tartarus and all its haunts. Our curious resident was rather confused as to how he could clearly hear his own snores yet remain capable of such full thought. The idea gave him a headache not unlike the one he had received when first arriving here in Canterlot. Although similar, the two pains held different meaning: the first migraine had come when he had had his mind entered by Princess Luna displaying for him and his friends things he had rather left forgotten in the dark cave where they had occurred. This second headache was one more of general annoyance and stress, it could be ignored comparatively. He always hated the nagging, baleful reminders of who he once was more than anything his current life could throw at him. He absently pushed the musings away like he was trying to bat away a swarm of gnats, no real progress was made but at least the metaphorical pests were no longer trying to crawl into his ears. Besides he could do nothing with those memories or his worries anyway and there was no sense in reminiscing on the past. It was not who he was now and would not be who he was in the future, ever, that was the one selfishness he would allow himself.

Instead his mind turned to something much more recent, and not surprisingly much more pleasant. He was now working for the Advanced Technology Research Division a prestigious research group owned and operated by a coalition of Equestria’s brightest minds. He could actively hear his snoring lighten and almost see himself smile with a long-sought mirth as those thoughts crossed his consciousness. This dream was certainly a strange experience, even more vivid than the last time he had seemingly stepped outside his own flesh, if he was being honest it was actually rather fun. It gave him the opportunity to fully enjoy all of his emotions as they sweeped up around him in flutters of goose-bumpy skin and wisps of sunset daisies with their intoxicating aroma. He relaxed and absorbed all those delightful sensations, relishing this fine moment of a blissfully empty mind.

His thoughts slowly returned and he found himself pondering on how he had been given his position in the ATRD. Clearly, somepony somewhere had done extensive research on him and his interests. When he had first awoken from Luna’s trip to his mind he had stumbled around the Palace before accidentally finding his way down to the basement complex. Once he had arrived a pair of appropriately dressed chemists had bumped into him. Immediately recognizing him they proceeded to usher him into a private lab within a section of the basement he now resided. There, in the study where he now slept behind his main laboratory, a note had been left for him. Curiously written in a rather fine script and left with a small folded paper sign with his name, the letter had been waiting for him on the desk. He still remembered the words with perfect clarity.

“Dear, Zeccaran. I am pleased to find that you have many uses, among them an interest and skill in crafting new machines and materials. As such you are granted access to this private workshop and laboratory. You will find anything and everything you need to construct anything you can imagine. If you find yourself missing something you require ask any other employee of the Advanced Research Division. They will retrieve it for you.

Additionally, if at all possible there are two projects that I would like you to begin applying your expertise to:

A portable long-range communication device.

It cannot be a magically generated network, I want it to be able to transmit its signals outside of the natural leylines of the world. I have left you a set of UCBC’s(Unicorn-charged battery crystals). I hope they serve as an inspiration and a decent power source.

Aeronautical Engine Development and Operation

This is both a project and something I want you to study. Of late Griffonia has been deploying more advanced airships that are faster and more capable of lifting larger loads. With the world changing and the political environment becoming more hostile over the last ten years, it pays to be prepared. For now focus on the operation of the engines and why they are more efficient and clearly cheaper. Specifications for the minimum requirements for a new Equestrian engine will be delivered later.

Best of luck, I expect great things from you.

G.A.S.

P.S. Your dog, Gunther, has been placed in the private portion of the Royal Gardens should you wish to spend time with him.

He still had no idea who this G.A.S. was. Beyond being a scientific mind that was well versed in magical theory, the pony was a mystery. But whoever he/she was they clearly had a lot of weight to throw around in the research community. Zeccaran could hardly complain at the windfall. Crafting new things or fixing broken ones was how he had made a living between leaving his dark past behind and finding himself a less compensated line of work: following his new friends around Equestria.. It had been about all he could do as he drifted from place to place constantly feeling like he had no sense of purpose or home, he was glad that those times had changed for the better.

His wanderings had graciously granted him some fame meaning the years of depression had at least amounted to something worthwhile. These days he wanted to meet G.A.S. and give that pony the biggest “thank you” he could. However, as it stood, or rather as it had been standing, both he and said pony were too busy to make the time for any form of a meeting. Zeccaran did not mind really, he was more than happy to wait. In the end he was enjoying the projects he had been assigned and the quiet time of not sleeping in the same room as Gusty Twilight, his chief friend and main antagonistic personality in his life.

The rumor mill had certainly picked up about that mare. Anytime he went to eat in the cafeteria Zeccaran would receive the strangest news about his friend. She was either closing down the city’s bars or terrorizing Royal Guard with her extravagant albeit edgy personality and use of magic. The stories varied in intensity with some of the most horrifying being how, more often than not, Gusty would step in and settle debates between citizens instead of Celestia. Most ponies were excited about this, thinking that perhaps the big teal alicorn was just a secret daughter of one of their regents. It was said that she had some skill in negotiations and was significantly more forward than Celestia. Zeccaran wanted to explain that “significantly” needed to be bolded and underlined to express how forthright Gusty was at all times, but translating that into speech was overkill.

He instead just listened to the many stories of his friends and suffered through the rare visit from Gusty herself and persisted on his projects. Time passed quickly and he often did not know what day of the week it was. Zeccaran loved the new life he had and regularly kept working until he collapsed. Eventually he knew Gusty would show up one day and drag him on another adventure, but for now he was determined to enjoy this personal heaven to its fullest. Currently, his communication device was coming along well, for the difficulty of the project, and that was invigorating. It had taken him what seemed like a year just to develop a way for sound waves to be received and reproduced by a machine. He still lacked a transmission mechanism but he had some ideas about the electrical signal he was now capable of recording and playing back.

His snoring caught in his throat and abruptly the whimsical dream of half-consciousness vanished in an instant. It sped away leaving him feeling like someone had turned on the lights of his room. The sensation chased away the pleasant darkness that had been keeping him company even though the room remained a black shroud. He groggily winced as he slowly sat up sweeping away the paper clutter on the desk. Gradually he entered true consciousness, staring at his workstation where he had fallen asleep the day, or night, before. The thoughts of the past slowly falling away from his mind. A curious sensation could be felt on his back. He reached over his shoulder and pressed his hoof against a woven blanket. It was fairly comfortable for its make and made him feel warm in the usually cool room. Who had given it to him was another matter entirely, he looked around the study to find no one. He got up with a befuddled walk towards the lab proper to find the sudden smell of daisies assaulting his nostrils, clearly it was a perfume.

Shocked he looked around to find the exit door partially open and the room’s equipment cleaned and put in its proper place, much unlike his normal mess he had with which he had grown accustomed. The faint sound of hooffalls could be heard quickly dissipating through the door. Zeccaran rushed over to the portal and ripped it open to look down the hall as quick as he could. He caught the briefest glance of a snow-white mare with a bright red mane and tail. She disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall before he could call out to her or see her face. Dumbfounded he went back and paced about the lab in confusion as he decided whether or not to follow.

He chose to follow.

Grabbing a snap-brim hat that had been curiously left in the lab when he had originally arrived, Zeccaran dashed out of the lab hoping to follow the mare. He rationalized his sudden un-Zeccaran-like decision as a platonic attempt to at least thank her. Then again, he might have finally taken his first steps in becoming a different stallion. He put the brown hat on his head to cover up his now too long mane and exceedingly messy mohawk as he closed his lab door behind him.

He ran down the corridor and followed its zigzagging path through the research department, hoping to catch his visitor at one of the security checkpoints. He finally made it to the post nearest his lab after the third right turn. The guardponies that were stationed there straightened their posture as he came running towards them.

“Slow down zebra, slow down!” the unicorn one shouted at him. Zeccaran obliged grudgingly. He really wanted to find that mare, he was inexorably compelled yet had no reason beyond a wild whim. “Did a white mare with a red mane come by?” he asked, shoving his lanyard and attached I.D. card at the guard.

“Uh, yeah. You just missed her.” he grumbled.

Looking at Zeccaran’s name on the card, unicorn used his horn to pull apart the identification card’s layers and reveal the small metal approval chip. He pushed it into a receiving board that was labeled with all the resident researchers’ names. The little light above his name turned green and the board released a harsh *Biiing* and the I.D. was put back together and given back to Zeccaran.

“She turned right, I think, Step through the scanner please.” he chirped. Zeccaran followed his instructions annoyed at the slow performance of a routine check. He passed the threshold of the rectangular outline that made up the scanner. It gave a low, affirmative *beeeeep* He had no idea how the scanner worked, but it always approved him, regardless of what he was carrying.

“Alright, you are good to go, Zec! Have a nice day! The guard said cheerily. Stupid guards always acted like he was some sort of imposter. He knew both of their names and they knew his too. Yet every time he entered or left the facility they pretended like they had no idea who he was until his I.D. was confirmed and he passed the scan. Zeccaran knew it was a Changeling countermeasure, but nonetheless found it exceedingly frustrating when he was in a hurry.

He entered the big hall that went along the length of the Research Division and turned right towards the front of the Palace and towards his quarry. Just at the end of the long hall at the edge of the coffee lounge and lobby of the basement facilities Zeccaran could see the mare. He immediately started sprinting putting about half the distance between the two of them away before she turned the corner. Zeccaran pushed his speed, breezing past surprised scientists, guards, and a few of the Nightwatch spooks. He hoped to catch her before she made it to the elevators so he could at least see what she looked like beyond her general color.

He only managed to see elevator doors closing as he passed into and out of the lobby and turned his view towards them. He rushed over to the elevator set and began fiercely slamming his hoof into the button. It took the other elevator a forever to open its doors, he hopped inside and began jamming the Floor 1 button.

The elevator beeped, closed and began ascending the near two stories up to the first floor. Once there it ‘ding-donged’ as Zeccaran fiercely pounded the door open button hoping the doors would open faster. They luckily obliged him and Zeccaran practically dove into main hall. He rapidly snapped his head back and forth trying to find where the mare had disappeared to. Finding no real clue he chose left and darted towards the state offices hoping his gut was not wrong.

Zeccaran passed through the otherwise empty halls following what he hoped was somepony else’s hoofsteps. He turned left at the crosshall in the middle of the offices and peered into the meeting rooms figuring that the mare he was trying to catch had possibly snuck into one of the State Offices’ many departments. He did not see her until he looked more closely down to the end of the hall, at a great distance past the stained stained glass he saw the mare.

“Hey! Wait!” he yelled as he burst into a full gallop.

The mare seemingly did not notice and continued to move along the hall far ahead of him at her own brisk pace. He pushed on desperately just want to meet her, gaining as much ground as he could until he could better see her features Finally, Zeccaran could tell she was rather tall and slender in build with a neatly folded pair of wings tucked daintily at her sides.The she-pegasus turned to the right and entered the short hall that led to the Royal Archives. It was then, as he went to call out to her again, he rammed into a pair of Royal Guards.

Together, the three of them fell to the marble floor in a great clammer. Between their grunts of pain and yells of surprise Zeccaran laid on the ground defeated. He grumbled in absent acceptance of the Universe’s will, today was not the day he would meet his female benefactor. He rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball to sulk angrily at fate as the two Guards picked themselves up.

“Well, it was both much easier and much harder to find him than you were thinking, Sarge.” one said. “Just pull me off the ground, kid.” the sergeant retorted. They looked down at Zeccaran expectantly as if they wanted him to offer some sort of joke or apology. He just laid there, still furious that every time he wanted to do something it completely and utterly backfired into his face. The sergeant cleared his throat.

“The Princesses sent us to summon you, Zeccaran.” the older stallion grumbled out. “Why?” he responded emptily from the ground.“They refused to say.” the newbie said, extending his hoof. Zeccaran reached up slowly and took the offered help. He looked them both in the eye trying to force his displeasure and anger directly into their minds. Neither held his gaze for very long. It had gotten his point across. He motioned them to guide him to wherever it was the Princesses were waiting. His sulking was severe enough to keep the guards from making any small talk as the proceeded straight past the hall his quarry had entered. Zeccaran gazed down the corridor watching as the mare he had been chasing hoofed over her identification to the guards outside the Archives. He gritted his teeth angry that he had left that access card in the lab.

Just as she started to disappear past the door she cast a glance his direction. Pale golden eyes brightly sparkled at him coupled with subtle and soft features of an utterly gorgeous pegasus. She grinned mischievously when she saw him staring at her. Then she was gone. Zeccaran took a moment to stand there dumbfounded. She had known he was following the entire time. He shook his head wondering if he would ever see her again.

He returned to following the guards, they led him to a great set of stairs at the end of the hall. The tiled ascension sparkled a creamy light-green holding many different shaped tiles in a non-repeating order as they led up to a set of jade green painted doors. The guards opened the doors once they climbed the stairs and motioned him in the exceedingly bright room. His eyes stung from the sunlight and he could a feel a light breeze paired with birds singing. Zeccaran realized they had lead him to the Declaration Hall. It was a partially outside chamber lined with pillars and glassless windows. He hadn’t ever been to the hall but knew that had been used for all manner things from weddings to coronations. His eyes finally started to the adjusting to the brightness of the unfamiliar sun.

A long table was arranged perpendicular to him piled up with papers, books, and writing quills. The great pegasus Stormwalker clad in his armor stood directly across the table from Zeccaran furiously scratching something down on parchment, the quill held in his wing. The beast snapped up his eyes up to Zeccaran before pushing them back down to his writing. He was glad that was the length of their exchange, he knew the gravity of Stormwalker’s disapproving gaze and how the stallion could have killed him just as easily as he had glanced at him.

The rustling of chalk made him look to the right allowing him to see Luna’s hooves and tail sticking out from behind a chalkboard that was not facing him. Behind the table Celestia paced back and forth rapidly, her lips pushed away from her face in thought as she stared at an incredibly long floating list kept by her magic.

“Given the severity of her mind's lack of delineation, I can’t be sure when these events in her memory occurred. It would seem though that they are points of significance to her as they are the clearest portions of her subconscious.” Luna quoted over the top of chalk being drug.

Zeccaran moved a little closer to the table and peered around the chalkboard to see both the writings there and if the other ponies in the room would notice him. Luna just continued scrawling on the board her brow pinched in concentration. Stormwalker cleared his throat loudly as Zeccaran walked the rest of the way around the chalkboard and stood staring at the strange calculations and timeline Luna had written there. He was probably trying to get Luna’s attention, there was no way that the stallion had not noticed him walk right in the way of his view of the board.

“Luna.” Stormwalker said dryly. “What?-Oh! Hello, Zeccaran, you got here quite quickly!” Luna gasped out as she turned and saw him standing there. “So, this is what you guys are up to...” Zeccaran responded lackadaisically as he examined the board in detail. Outside the calculations the board included a large circular diagram drawn in various colors of chalk. There were layers of circles detailing what appeared to be levels of pony consciousness. He looked over the labels with their varying numbers and names confusing to him until he came across an elegantly written “Gusty’s Mind” near the top of the board.

“Ohhhh!” he proclaimed fearfully. “So, you have been doing..psychologist sessions...with Gusty?!” He turned around and gaped in horror at Luna and Stormwalker. These ponies had to be insane! Picking Gusty’s brain was a pointless and ridiculous task, not to mention dangerous. Somehow they were not satisfied with what he had realized long ago: Gusty would do what she wanted, when she wanted, regardless of the consequences. If they just accepted that, dealing with the teal mare’s behavior would be much easier.

Stormwalker rolled his eyes in response, Luna smiled briefly.“I wouldn’t say that I have been attempting to fix her...issues let’s call them, rather just recording and analyzing mental stimulants and memories of hers.” She replied. “Whyyyyyyy?” Zeccaran asked in enthused confusion.

“Well, because Stormy asked me to.” Luna grinned merrily as if she loved having nothing better to do than indulge the stallion’s requests. Zeccaran pursed his lips and fixed her with a hard stare. Really? He shouted incredulous question in his mind trying to force her understand without words. He had absolutely nothing he could say. He remained baffled as Luna began explaining.

“Anyway,” she said with a push of her mane from her face, “It would seem that Gusty has a number of significant stimulants that cause a radical change in her behavior. Most of it is centered around a strange magic she possess that allows her to gage the morality of ponies around her. Other major stimulants are you and Stormwalker..” Luna finished.

“I think that’s a little off topic Luna.” Stormwalker said. Zeccaran turned to look at the giant pegasus. The stallion met his gaze before shuffling to a position closer to directly across the table from him. “Ignoring the finer points for now, all you need to know is that Luna has managed to deduce, through much work, that Gusty seems to have some form of memory condition, and a personality issue.” he remarked with a serious air.

“Pffpbttfft!” Zeccaran spluttered, covering up his laugh. “I could have told you that! Would have saved you the trouble.” he shook his head. He had no idea why this was important to the two being before him. “Anyone with consistent contact with Gusty could easily make such an assessment. Luna’s work was merely to prove that what we have been feeling is correct. It is also consistent with data I had gathered on my own.” Stormwalker continued.

“Ok. But how is that helpful? I’m certainly not an expert but that hardly solves the problem of treating her behavior. Even if you know what is causing it that doesn’t mean we can just stop her from interacting with other ponies. That would just make it worse!” he answered.

He was attempting to make sense of what in the world the Equestrian Royalty and the local demonspawn were trying to prove. It was not making sense. Celestia cleared her throat with a grunt. She slid up from behind Stormwalker before grabbing a steaming cup of coffee in her magic. The mug had been hiding behind a stack of books on the table. She downed the whole thing in a single go, unphased, before speaking

“I’m out of ideas, and ponies. Before we met her Gusty hadn’t been in Equestria longer than perhaps a year, and hasn’t been here since ponies were writing folktales about her.” She grumbled looking at Stormwalker. The stallion furrowed his brow in concentration while Zeccaran waited to see what he had to say. Previously miffed, Celestia gave him wave and a kind smile, she motioned with her hooves that she liked his hat. He responded with a slight nod and a grin. They sat there in silence for a moment as Stormwalker bit at his lip.

“Well, if the ponies you have interviewed have had no information, then we are stuck trying to deduce when and where those memories occurred. I can back reference location by description, but it will take a long time. And who knows, the world has changed, if Gusty is as old as we think she is, some of the places may not even exist anymore.” He waved a hoof as he talked.

“Then how are you gonna make sense of these memories?” Zeccaran asked him, “I heard Luna say that the events in her Subconscious aren’t organized in any real way, other than that they are important to her.”

“We have a solution for that actually.” Luna stated. “We are going to have you ask her. If all possible that is.”

Zeccaran flinched as if the Princess of the Night had thrown a brick at him. Figuratively speaking she had, it was just in the form of anxiety.

“W-what?” he stammered.

“Yes, you.” Celestia answered. “She has a particular openness when speaking to you, it would seem that you encourage her to remember things. Luna said that with some practice and her help you could even be a proficient dreamwalker yourself, given your affinity for Astral Magic.”

“I have an affinity for Astral Magic?” he questioned them.

“Yes. The amount of time and practice you have sunk into summoning Shades and Nyx herself has had some other benefits as well. Despite appearances you are quite useful to our efforts.” Stormwalker confirmed.

Zeccaran opened his mouth to respond but found his words dying before they reached his tongue. He had no defense for such claims. It was almost as if they had already known that he had been experiencing strange dreams that seemingly allowed him to visit other pony’s minds. Before today he had thought that they were just particularly lucid and fantastical sleeps, but he had been wrong. Their words had made the final piece click into place, all the old rituals he knew, all of the depressing and terrible memories, they finally made sense. He had been dreamwalking for a long time and he had taken this long to realize it. He sat there his now open mouth rendered a slack-jawed revelation.

A flash of light inside Stormwalker’s eyes caught his attention. He sparked into a cocky grin, his teeth surprisingly flat and non-fanged.

“Hmm….one...two...three!” he smiled.

A loud bang sent Zeccaran flying toward the floor in a gut reaction. He hit the ground and rolled before springing back up in time to watch as Gusty came flying through the smoldering and unhinged doors in full flight. Her sword was held high in her magic and she was violently screaming in triumph. He was unsure how to describe it but in the briefest of moments that passed as she drew closer to Stormwalker, Zeccaran could tell she was going to miss. How she was going to miss such a straight shot he had no idea. Her target stallion sat there with a deeply amused look on his face as Gusty whizzed past him attempting to slash him with her sword. She missed miserably and sailed past her target and Celestia. Landing with her hooves skidding across the marble floor Gusty loosed an angry grunt through her nose.

Zeccaran was about to start criticizing her when loud laughter from Stormwalker stopped him. The stallion had fallen forward on his chest and covered his face with a hoof while he beat the floor with the other; all the while he cackled like a hyena. Celestia and Luna kept looking between Zeccaran and Stormwalker their faces confused. Stormwalker rolled onto his back laughing even harder as his merriment ever increased.

Gusty stood there agast. Zeccaran was fairly certain she had planned this attack.in advance, having missed seemed to have frozen her in a stupor. She took all of Stormwalker’s giggles until he calmed down enough to speak.

“Haha..heh heh. I adjust my position..heheheh! Three degrees and you miss?!” He boomed as he stood up. Zeccaran actually started to laugh too. He held back as much as he could. He certainly did not want to draw Gusty’s ire, for he was not nearly as sturdy nor confident as Stormwalker. He felt completely distracted from the seriousness of what he had been called here for. It was quite pleasant, probably the first time he had laughed in solid year.

“I’ll show you who missed!” Gusty shrieked as she charged again finally regaining minimal composure.

Zeccaran watched in wonder as Gusty plowed towards Stormwalker. The stallion snapped his wings out to their fullest and performed a perfect about face motion. This happened exactly as Gusty was about to impact him. Zeccaran full on burst into giggles as he watched Gusty hit Stormwalker’s backside and wings and go flying away from him like she had hit a springboard. She landed in a heap her sword flying from her magic and landing under the table. Gusty laid there her face turning a fierce red of embarrassment and frustration. Zeccaran just kept on laughing. Stormwalker started to say something about the research but began laughing again, even harder than before.

The stomping of running hooves made Zeccaran open his eyes more fully and slow his laughter. “Made-...it-...” heaved Bunker, who now stood in the door, “She flew off so fast when guards came.” He continued to huff and puff.

“Yes, you made good time!” Luna shouted over he and Stormwalker’s laughter.

“Why dey laughing?!” Bunker screamed back.

“I think it is because they enjoy Gusty’s frustration!” Celestia’s voice came over the table.

Zeccaran remarked to himself that Celestia was not wrong. He found it quite hilarious to see the normally robust and commanding Gusty’s flames snuffed with such ease. Meanwhile he continued laughing, holding his stomach and desperately trying to calm down.

“Hoooooo….” Stormwalker sighed his laugh subsiding first, “Okay, I’m good, I’m good.”

He found himself finally able to return to seriousness just after his unexpected cohort had. Finally calm he waited to see what the other stallion had in store for Gusty. Stormwalker pranced over to where she lay and extended a hoof to help her up.

“You need to work on your aerial maneuverability, sweetheart.” he said down to her warmly. Gusty slapped his away hoof angrily. She rolled over face deepening into an angry crimson as she stood up. Zeccaran continued to snicker at them briefly. He noticed Luna huffing.

“It’s always a game to him.” she pouted to Celestia.

“I thought you liked his optimism.” Celestia responded her head tilted

Zeccaran raised his brow at their exchange.

“You know I can hear you, right?” Stormwalker asked from over by Gusty.

“Da, I heard too! And I’m over here!” Bunker said still close to the door.

Luna blushed hard causing her dark blue fur on her face to turn a purple color. Gusty who had been returning to her normal teal color stomped up past Stormwalker to face the Royal Sisters. She looked significantly more piqued with Stormwalker than they, such was like her, but Gusty was not a mare to be outdone in the drama department.

“What did you want?” she snarked at the sisters.

Celestia recovered in her perfectly diplomatic way, her face donning a bright smile.

“Just to see if a few things are familiar to you, if you would be so kind as to indulge us, dear.” she said whilst putting a wing over Gusty’s shoulder and directing her toward the research table.

“Familiar? What do you mean?” Gusty asked her voice curious. She had clearly been won over by Celestia without much issue. Zeccaran silently wondered if it was because the two mares spent so much time together.

“Yes.” Luna piped up, taking her place back by her chalkboard. “We intended for Zeccaran to ask you the questions but you arrived much sooner than we were expecting.”

Gusty shrugged in response.

Luna began explaining some of the finer points of her dreamwalking to Gusty. Zeccaran didn’t have a real reason to listen as he already knew how it worked. He took the time Luna was using detailing her experience inside Gusty’s mind to take a closer look at the diagram. No longer frustrated or confused he made better sense of the rings of circles and labels.

There were seven total layers of Gusty’s consciousness and subconsciousness . The outermost layer was labeled: “Daily actions.” The next second and third layers were labeled personality and motivations respectively. The next layer was simply marked with dozens of question marks and the occasional descriptive word. Zeccaran found this particularly interesting detail. The few words in the section included: magic, mental break, memory charm, consciousness barrier. He knew not what to make of such a strange section of a pony’s mind, beyond that it certainly wasn’t normal. The fifth layer was labeled simply ‘dark barrier.’ It was easily the largest section of the diagram, it looked as if some of the information had been intentionally erased, except a single BAD, written as it appears.

The last two layers were labeled as the subconscious. The outer layer of the sublime section of Gusty’s mind was marked with poorly drawn images of swords, ghosts and death. It was detailed in an aside-line leading to a box with text.

“Overall subconscious function has been broken, like it was tortured or cursed, requires more research.” it read.

Finally, the last layer was tagged as “Core Memories and Deep Gusty.” The Deep Gusty bit seemed weird, but there were no proper names for the portion of the mind that makes ponies...ponies. Zeccaran let it go.

“Well .. what were these core memories like?” Gusty asked, Luna finally having brought her up to speed.

“They consistently involve other ponies, majestic landscapes, or both. I believe they are moments in your life when you experienced intense feelings of love, contentment, or achievement. Other than that I know nothing.” Luna explained yet more.

“At least they are nice things!” Gusty smiled.

Zeccaran scanned the ponies again. Bunker had moved around the table and stood next to Gusty. Stormwalker was now on the other side of the table strutting back and forth in that over-confident way he had about him. The sudden and unwelcome smell of male pheromones hit his nose. It was always upsetting to smell another guy’s musk, but when there was a pure-bred pegasus in the room it was an extremely common occurrence. Pure-bred pegasi had an unfair advantage, their wings produced an oil that allowed them to fly in rain, it doubled as a way to put the opposite sex in the mood. All of the pegasi claimed it was uncontrollable when their bodies refreshed the oils, Zeccaran was fairly certain that was a complete lie.

“A-anyway. T-there are f-four specific times we w-wanted to ah-ask you about.” Luna miserably stammered. Her blush flushing her cheeks into a color close to magenta.

Zeccaran rolled his eyes. Even if he was not doing it on purpose, Stormwalker was certainly going to push it as far as he could. The stallion breezed up next to Luna and stood across the table looking directly at Celestia and Gusty as he half-folded his wings.

“The first event is marked by a large tree in the foremost of vision. In the distance you are watching a pair of young pegasi racing each other and laughing. Meanwhile stallion with a rather deep voice is singing an old folksong. Sound familiar?” Stormwalker questioned.

The teal of Gusty’s face from the base of her ears up to the bridge of her snout flared full red and she stomped her front hooves. She bobbed and shook her head vehemently.

“Yes. I remember something like that, the two children-the boy was grey and the girl was a light pink. “ She recollected behind closed eyes. “And it would be a lot easier to remember if you stopped doing that.” Gusty gritted through her teeth.

“Doing what?” Stormwalker asked back. Zeccaran face-hoofed. How he could come off so perfectly coy the the zebra would never know.

“Look, j-just...just forget it. What’s the next memory?” Gusty glowered her face heating up even more. Zeccaran could feel it from where he sat at the end of the table.

“The next one is a rather picturesque landscape of great rolling hills, -oh-dear-it-has-gotten-quite-hot-out-today- it even includes a rather nice looking castle-like manor on the left. We have no idea where it is.” Celestia said to Gusty her brow wet with sweat. The white alicorn fanned herself with one of her wings.

Zeccaran continued to listen intently. He hoped to absorb the information and then not need to think about it until the time came. He was just glad that it wasn’t his mind they were picking, this time.

“Oh yeah!” Gusty exclaimed. “I remember that one for sure! But, I don’t know where it is either, it was beautiful there, I remember wonderful friends and helping build the castle even!”

“Where haven’t you been,eh?” Bunker interjected. “D’ya know how old you are, dear?” he drolled through his accent.

“Yes, If you know your age this could greatly help us.” Luna chimed in, finally steady.

“Uhh…” Gusty responded scratching at her chin, with a tilt of her head.

Zeccaran had never thought about how old Gusty possibly was. He had vague suspicions that she was actually some type of eldritch being following him about making his like miserable under the guise of friendship. That was his paranoia talking of course, but Gusty’s odd behavior and seemingly powerful amnesia and antics would lead him to think she was fairly old. He thought about some of the old foals’ stories from Zebrabwe he had heard before he was taken in by the cultists. There was roughly a story of a goddess that had descended to the earth that sought to smite evil and spread happiness to the many clans of the plains. She was said to possess incredible power and be unmatched in battle, able to command clouds and discern malintent in an instant. Zeccaran stifled a nauseous gag of realization. The story referred to all the things Gusty did on the regular. If it referenced somepony else, he knew none that would fit the description besides Celestia and Luna, but they wouldn’t have been alive when the story had taken place.

Hell, most of the world would have still been loose herds of creatures, he thought. That means Gusty would be at least five thousand years old. If I can do math...damn that's old!

“If I got my facts right, she is at least five thousand years old.” he said aloud. He was surprised his voice was as nonchalant as it was. The other ponies jumped in surprise like they had forgotten he had been standing there.

“Are you sure?” Celestia asked him.

“Yeah. There’s an old folktale that I remembered, it took place a long time ago. And the description of the heroine...fits Gusty pretty much to a ‘T’” he responded.

“Great, that really opens up the scope of where we are looking.” Stormwalker grumbled.

“Good. If it will keep you away from me!” Gusty snapped. “What’s the next memory thing?”

“You are speaking to a young brown-colored alicorn mare. With a shiny jet-black mane. She seems particularly happy. The conversation is fairly muddled. Behind her there is an open expanse of plains you are above, on a mountain home I presume. Two young dragons fly-” Luna started.

“Off in the distance; one is red and the other is white. We had just saved them...from..something, I don’t remember. But otherwise yes. That is quite clear to me. The young mare...I think she was my daughter. She had told me some type of bad joke. We were laughing.” Gusty finished, misty-eyed.

Zeccaran had never seen her quite like this. It really was like she had travelled to another time. A time when Gusty was happier, to say the least. She seemed almost at peace. That was a mood she had never displayed since he had met her.

“That is certainly interesting. How certain are you of the other alicorn being your daughter?” Stormwalker asked his voice rapt with that sort of dangerous curiosity he possessed.

“Yes...I...I had her name, but now it's gone. It’s like the more I try to remember the further it gets away from me.” Gusty rubbed her eyes and violently shook her head after she stopped talking.

“What is the last one?” she asked after she recovered.

“You stand facing a horde of armored pegasi. They look at you with fear and flee at your words into an never-ending empty expanse of snow and ice. You turn and cheer to a pack of Yaks, all bloody from battle. You raise up your sword and yell in victory like a maniac. The yaks, yell back and then everything fades to black.” Stormwalker said.

“I…” Gusty took a long pause, before starting up again, softly “I don’t really remember that as a good memory. I was fighting something, no, someone powerful. I had won. But it was a hollow victory, like...like I had lost something incredibly important to achieve it. I was happy for the Yaks...but…” she leaned her head down behind her long mane.

“It feels strange to remember these things.” she whispered to the crowd. Zeccaran had to strain to hear her. “I makes me wonder like: is this speeding me towards something terrible? Hey!” Gusty suddenly changed her tone. “I realized I really don’t know much about the world. Tell me, are than any male alicorns?” she desperately breathed.

Zeccaran looked up at the other ponies as each of them exchanged glances before all of them settled on Bunker. The stallion sighed heavily, having realized that his cohorts decided he should tell Gusty to the answer to that question.

“No.” he said distraughtly to his fiance.

“Oh.” Gusty leaned her head down again, but picked back up instantly. “Well, in lighter news Bunker and I are officially to be married!” she smiled.

“What!?” Celestia, Luna, Stormwalker, and even Zeccaran himself yelled together.

Bunker just stood there, dumbfounded. He had the look about him that a drunk would have when he reached an epiphany of intoxication. Zeccaran offered a slight chuckle before Gusty picked back up.

“I did promise that I would take his courtship seriously.” she responded elegantly, “He has proven to be quite the gentlecolt.”

“Congratulations then!” Celestia nearly purred out.

“Indeed, It shall be an excellent pairing!” Luna declared boldly.

“I’m sure you will happy together.” Stormwalker kindly said his piece with a smile and a nod.

That left him to say something too. Zeccaran couldn’t let himself be left out.

“Yeah, good for you guys, I guess?” he gave his best answer.

Gusty squeed, hard. She promptly grabbed the still frozen Bunker in a hug before lifting him up in her magic.She laughed loudly at the stallion who was just mumbling incoherently. Zeccaran suddenly felt rather sorry for poor Bunker, he had probably just bitten off more than he could chew. A lot more.

“We are going to go celebrate! You are all invited to our wedding! Except you, demon!” She yelled with joy with pointing at her quarry.

“Do you honestly think you could stop me from going?” Stormwalker retorted with a wry smile and a raised brow.

Gusty huffed, declared farewell, and disappeared through the doors. Bunker vacantly waved a hoof as he floated behind her, a grin starting to grow on his face.

“That was...sudden.” Zeccaran said to the group.

Celestia gave a short chuckle, whilst Luna nodded rather merrily. Stormwalker rolled his eyes like he had seen it coming a mile away.

“Did you guys get all the information you wanted out of her? I mean she kinda just up and left without warning.” he said towards Luna.

“We actually got more than enough information from her reactions.” Stormwalker responded stepping up towards the table proper.

Zeccaran raised up his lip in pure confusion. He loosed a sigh in attempt to gather his thoughts. The pegasus, the demon, the whatever, he usually had some type of insight or extra knowledge. Zeccaran regularly found that annoying. The guy always had extra cards that no one else could see. He motioned circularly in the air with his hoof to signal Stormwalker to continue.

“For example: with her description I was able to confirm specific details on the Yak memory. That was the final battle for Yak independence from the Cirran Empire. It took place three-thousand five-hundred years ago. I even know where it is on an map. If I am not mistaken she killed an ancestor of mine to win that battle. That fits in with your theory that she is at least five-thousand years old.” he said.

“The Cirran Empire? A relative of yours? I’m right? All that seems pretty far fetched. I didn’t think that the empire had wars like that, or that I was doing anything beyond spitballing” Zeccaran mulled over his words.

“Oh, yes. Most of the Empire’s activities involved conquering and subjugating others, though you will never find that in any history book. The Lords that survived the Empire’s fall were sure to destroy most of the material. I would know, I can trace my lineage back almost six-thousand years, back when my family weren’t lords yet.” Stormwalker answered.

“Oh.” Zeccaran, found himself at a loss for words.

It was a strange. Zeccaran was fairly certain the stallion divulging the information despised him. Yet, he found this lowly zebra, his enemy, important enough to tell him information that had been scrubbed from history. Zeccaran had a sneaking suspicion that Stormwalker was telling him things as a means to an end. Although even if he was right, there would never be a way to prove the other stallion had ulterior motives. Zeccaran just hoped those intentions were benevolent, Stormwalker had already proved he was unstoppable if he set his mind to something. Should his intentions prove selfish or maleficent the world was already doomed.

“Well, you certainly have a grip on things. Didn’t you already have all this information? Why did you tell us?” he question finally recovering.

“A most curious observation, Zeccaran.” Celestia grinned approvingly at him. “Even with Luna’s dreamwalking, things were particularly muddled.”

“Yes. Gusty herself painted a much clearer picture of what occurred compared to what I gleaned from those jagged memories.” Luna confirmed. “We took the clearest details, speculated, set up the situation and...well you saw the results.”

Zeccaran nearly jumped in surprise. They had manipulated Gusty into remembering more than they could get themselves. It was an artful display of the three immortal beings’ capability to get what they desired without anything besides a few well placed words. He shuddered in disturbed awe and horror. In the end he was just a mortal, and simply did not measure up to the powers of the three demi-goddess alicorns and the demon lord. But somehow, he was mixed up in this twisted mess of long game deceptions and world affecting personal politics. He wondered if Bunker realized it too.

“Zeccaran?”

“Zeccaran!” Luna yelled.

“Huh?” he responded dully, still gobsmacked by stark reality.

“Are you alright? You seem...a bit touched.” the moony mare stated.

“Yeah, I gotta go.” he answered, slowly plodding around the table.

He narrowly made his journey, his hooves felt rather numb. The sensation was moving up his legs threatening to make impossible to walk. He drug himself to the door and slowly turned to look back the sisters and Stormwalker. They peered back him all of them showing some form admonishing concern.

“Have a nice day, thank you for coming.” Celestia gracefully encouraged.

He just nodded in response.

The walk back to his lab took a forever. He didn’t look up other ponies, he barely had his eyes open at all in fact. By the time he reached the door to his abode in the palace Zeccaran fell through it. He narrowly caught himself and stumbled into his study. He waltzed over to the cot that he had gotten some time ago and hopped into it for the first time and immediately fell asleep hoping desperately that the world would be the same when he woke up.

Act 1: Chapter 2 - Why do I dream like this?

“Relatively speaking, it doesn’t matter what you think of me, only what I think of you, I get to decide who is good or bad. Such is my privilege in this day and age where no one knows who Origin is, or what demons are. Ridiculous!”

-Gusty Twilight-

Chapter 2 - Why do I dream like this?

A bright cool-colored canvas stretched out before him in an empty expanse of neither shape nor physics. Zeccaran walked forward until he came upon a strange looking door, positioned randomly in the astral pasture. It was a ratty portal its white paint chipped and peeling. The wood that was exposed appeared to be strong but withered and dry like it had gone through a vicious dust storm. He reached up for the handle out of pure curiosity and pushed its lever down as he pulled the door open. Rusted hinges gave a long haunted screech as he slowly wrenched open the door to its fullest. Behind the door intense light poured out accompanied by the sounds of ponies talking and maybe even the sounds of his own voice he was not sure. This was unlike any dream he had had before, even the other faux-dreamwalks, and it intrigued him to no end. Zeccaran walked confidently through the portal eager to find what laid on the other side.

“Argh! That was bright. Wait...I know this place. The brown curtains, the cherry wood paneling, that ugly green carpet, this is the train I was taking east from Las Pegasus before I met Gusty! How did I get here? Is this even a dream anymore, or am I remembering this? Ok, this is weird and I don’t like it. Hey, it's the old conductor! Still kinda jealous of that mustache, I have no idea how he gets it too look so nice and shiny like that. Ohhh! He’s bringing in Gunther’s crate, I guess I’ll sit back and watch…”

The conductor heaved and huffed as he drug in the big wooden cage that held the equally wooden dog. He gave his brow a wipe before shooting out a sharp sigh of relief.

“I don’t know what you got in there, Mr. Z, but it sure is heavy!” he responded cheerily.

“It’s actually a friend of mine,” he responded getting down from his bunk.

“Boy, oh boy is it strange to witness oneself in the full third-person! Fascinating really. I had no idea my mohawk used to look that badass!”

The conductor cast a quizzical look at Zeccaran. He bent down to the crate’s lock and unfastened it deftly with his mouth. Instantly a thick wooden barrel of a Timberwolf catapulted from the dog crate and tackled Zeccaran off his hooves and onto the ground. Gunther yipped excitedly and began licking his pony friend’s face with extreme enthusiasm that only a dog could have. Zeccaran giggled at his unorthodox canine and shooed him off of his chest before sitting up and wiping away the extra Timberwolf slobber from his face.

He looked up to the conductor to find the stallion frozen shock still in horror at the sight of Gunther. His tan fur had nearly turned white and his eyes’ arteries pulsed intensely as he focused only on the proverbial elephant in the room. Guther to his credit seemed to notice and lay himself out flat on the floor of the cabin before slowly inching closer to the conductor making pitiful puppy noises as he did. The conductor continued to look on in pure terror as Gunther came closer until the Timberwolf bumped his nose into one of the stallion’s front hooves. The conductor’s immediate reaction was to jump up and away with such force that he actually bounced off the ceiling before landing in a pained heap as Gunther barked excitedly at him.

“Gunther! No! Bad! Leave him alone, he’s scared of you!” Zeccaran scolded his companion. The dog responded by whimpering dismally before returning to him and stretching out on the ground next to Zeccaran, by this time the conductor had recovered.

“H-h-h-how!? How is that thing domesticated!??” He gawked and stammered to Zeccaran. The zebra simply snickered at the other stallion’s distress, Gunther was completely harmless!

“Well, he’s my friend. I’ve raised him since he wasn’t more than a sappup. He’s no different than a regular dog.” he responded cordially after regaining a steady voice. There was no need to tease the stallion about being scared, honestly it was only natural for ponies to be terrified of one of their only natural predators.

“I...I-I just don’t believe it. If he gets out in the car he’ll cause a huge panic!” the conductor groaned. “Look...I...Just don’t let him out of this room. I’ll give you one more warming, mate. But anything after that and I’m tossing him off this locomotive myself!”

The conductor gave another panicked glance at Gunther before exiting the bunk room with a disheveled haste. This left Zeccaran to sit there in silence before giving a shrug and starting to pet Gunther. The world slowly seemed to freeze in that moment as Zeccaran meditated the day away peacefully sitting with his dog and having no reason to leave. He simply was happy to be left alone to ponder the world and do nothing about it. Such was his prerogative, he firmly believed in his heart that the Universe was fated to do what it would regardless of how he felt about it, but it was healthy to think over the different annoyances he experienced.

Hissing of the train’s airbrakes made him open his eyes and knocked the boredom away in an instant. Zeccaran got up from the ground and slipped out of his bunk room leaving Gunther inside like he had been instructed. He followed the bustle of ponies, all of them being large Earth Stallions. If he remembered correctly this stop was for a mine or as the locals called it, “The Rock Farm,” it was famous for precious crystals and oil. The location supplied the gems to the Equestrian Treasury for a special credit and sold the new fuel source to the highest bidder.

The zebra knew he stood out from the crowd, being smaller and certainly more striped but all he cared about was getting some food from the small station’s kitchen. He had been on this route before and he was hoping that they still had the homemade shaved hay chips. The little fried crisps of deliciousness were one of the few reasons he still enjoyed life. Their familiar and intoxicating smell drew him towards a covered countertop next to the ticket booth. He nudged by a rather enormous teal mare who was busy jabbering about train fares to the booth attendant. He practically drooled as he tossed the proper amount of bits onto the counter and ordered.

The five-o’clock shadow covered cook grumbled in acceptance as if ponies regularly slapped up the exact change required to buy the hay chips. He tossed a great pile of hay shavings into the fryer behind him. The stiff voice of the conductor caught his ears while he waited.

“Well, I do have a spare bunk, but I don’t know if you would want it.” He said worriedly to what Zeccaran assumed was the female patron he had passed. “Well, okay...just be warned he has a pet...a very unique pet.” That could be no one else but him, He was about to turn around and get a better look at his imminent bunkmate when the cook cleared his throat.

“Here you go, Mac.” the grizzled cook said as he pushed Zeccaran a basket of just-out-of-the-fryer, chips. “Thanks!” he replied immediately taking one of the crisps in his mouth and burning himself. He didn’t complain, the piping hot hay pieces were by far the most delicious variant of the crop and he ate them merrily regardless of the pain they caused.

Zeccaran turned around finally to find the mare and the conductor vanished from where he had heard them. He shrugged indifferently and made his way back onto the train, slipping past the changing shift of engineers who were smudged with coal soot. He made it back to his room passing through an otherwise empty passenger car. He opened his door, stepped inside, and sat down on the bench in the front of the cabin before digging into his food. Gunther strode up and made pitiful puppy noises as he begged for a single chip. Zeccaran of course granted him that single chip and continued eating wondering when the conductor would appear with the mystery mare.

He did not have to wait long. A few minutes after he finished his chips there was a strong knocking on his door. “Come in.” he said kindly and the door swung open slowly to reveal the conductor standing there with a blush, behind him the big teal mare stood spouting a charming grin. Now in clearer view the mare in question stood about twice Zeccaran’s short height. She had a slender build and tight eye-pleasing muscles. Light freckles dotted her high cheeks and pretty face. Her looks were accented with a thick, long, and somewhat wavy mane and tail. Those portions of hair were a seafoam color which perfectly complimented her teal coat and deep blue eyes. A medium-sized horn protruded from her thick couture and lengthy wings sprang from her sides. She was an alicorn.

“Heeeeere it comes, the first time I met Gusty. I wonder what my face looked like…”

He sat there and stared dumbly. An alicorn?

“Wow, I look like a total idiot. My jaw is completely slack and I slumped awkwardly on the bench. Ugh, I remember how many questions I had for her: Why was she here? Was she a princess? How did she come across the Rock Farm? I just was too flabbergasted to ask though, not that I didn’t get my answers, actually I think with everything I know now I would have rather remained ignorant and free of that big teal menace. She’s my friend but...sometimes”

“Mate, this is...uhm.” The conductor paused before casting a quick glance back to the mare. “Y-your new bunkmate. Make sure your blasted dog is nice to her, now...uh-I need to get going.” The conductor stammered, as he tried to back out of the room.

“Thanks for showing me where to go, sir” the mare said as she slipped past the retreating stallion. Zeccaran was sure that she had intentionally rubbed as much of her flanks against his side as she could. Her horn lit up with a golden-yellow aura and an enormous suitcase pushed its way in over her and the conductor before being unceremoniously dropped in the middle of the bunk room.

“I am Gusty Twilight!” the mare faux-saluted with a broad vocal change. “What is your name fair zebra?” she asked continuing her gusto-filled speech while kicking the door closed behind her.

“In retrospect I’m just glad I was able to recover from bearing witness to her. She was already going to be a hooffull, but at least I started with a good impression…”

“Hello, friend. My name is Zeccaran.” he remarked with a quaint bow, “And this is Gunther my faithful companion.” Gunther barked approvingly and jumped up into trotting towards the big teal mare.

“Good boy.” she cooed at the Timberwolf as he stood up on his back legs to reach her face and begin licking her. She petted him affectionately and giggled at the oaken log, before suddenly gasping in surprise.

“Wait a minute!” she proclaimed, “A zebra that doesn’t rhyme?”

“Well of course, not everyone follows that trope, after awhile it gets rather coarse.” he responded trying to bite his tongue.

“Oh, by Luna’s stars do I hate rhyming! And this, ugh this is why I go out of my way to not do it! Stupid, Gusty asking stupid questions. I sounded like an idiot!”

“Normal folks like me don’t have to rhyme, not even Shamans do it all the time.” he continued. He started to grimace in horror at what was occurring, meanwhile Gusty began to grin mischievously.

“Besides it is meant for rituals and and incantations, I hope you understand this explanation.” Zeccaran balked awkwardly unable to stop.

“So, why are you still rhyming now?” Gusty asked nearly full-on laughing.

“I don’t know, for some reason I can’t stop, please you should call the language cops!” Zeccaran finished before he slammed his hooves into his mouth anger growing. He started hitting himself in the face to try and jar himself free of the terrible habit. Gusty cackled merrily as she watched him try to readjust his brain.

“Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!” she mocked her voice extra high-pitched. He did not care, it was much more important to stop rhyming. After a good ten hits he gave talking another try.

“I think I got it….yeah...HA! Take that stringent social conventions! I’m free from your stigma again!” he shouted triumphantly. Gusty stopped laughing finally and opened up her suitcase before sitting on the floor in front of it. A silence descended upon them as she began sifting through the contents, arranging them in the bunk room with an obsessive precision..

“There’s her sword. You’d think a weapon as old and as magical as it would have some sort of glowing aura about it, but no its just looks plain and rather used: under the bottom bunk it goes! That mail hauberk of hers, closet, yep. That ridiculous box of caltrops...why did she even have those? I guess they are a weapon to stop a full cavalry charge..but..that just seemed so out of place. Oh, boy...the crowbar. You know, I’m pretty sure she was working on the Rock Farm, only place that would have that equipment in the area. How many of those cobalt skirts does she own??!! Why didn’t I notice that? Oh, I’m looking out the window...Ugh...when will this end?”

Time suddenly sped up and the motions of he and Gusty became blurs marked by the occasional solid form of them sleeping. He blinked trying to refocus on the scene before him, but found that non-physical eyes did not benefit from a good blinking. About two days passed as the train they were on moved across the open plains of Equestria’s heartland moving northeast along the mighty Everfree Forest. With the lands rolling hills and occasional town the vista portal of the window became a picturesque view of the evening sun made as it settled . As if a master painter had spent years applying the correct amount of shading, hues, and warmth that seemed to pervade the evening colors until it could practically bring tears to Zeccaran’s eyes with its beauty. He had forgotten how the world could look, having spent too much time being distracted by the ponies in it and his own problems.

Before him, his dream-self sat up in bed: He sighed heavily which unfortunately roused his bunkmate. And as if on cue she shot of her bunk, and pronounced loudly: “I’m hungry!”

“It never was a dull moment with Gusty. Nope could never have a normal day. She really is quite unstable, I hope the Princesses and Stormwalker have some sort of solution. She got a little better after a while but she was a wreck when I met her. Constantly ranting about the importance of ferreting out evil..or calling me names.”

“Get up you striped bum! There’s stuff to do, food to eat!” She jumped up on her back hooves and stuck her face in his as he scowled at her jovial morning pony routine. “We must knock down the inherent darkness of our empty stomachs and vanquish the evil that it entails!”

He rolled out of the bed with a grumble and looked at her with a suspcious look. Gusty had fallen still and was either about to hit him with her usual, “You’re a tiny little striped bug” insult or...scream:

“EEEEEEVIIIIILLLL!!!” she shouted in a primal mania that he still had yet to mentally overcome. “Where is it?! I must defeat it!” she continued her eyes going wide.

Before Zeccaran could inquire why she had yelled, behind Gusty there came a knocking on the door to the cabin. It was then opened slightly by a young attendant mare, really more of an older filly. She sheepishly peeped in and inquired meekly, her bonnet bobbing as she spoke.

"I-I h-heard somepony was hungry? I have the snack cart ri-aaghh!" the snack mare was interrupted. In the same moment, the impulsive alicorn had bowled over the mare causing a great clamour of metal, falling snacks, the body of the attendant, and the thumping of hooves as Gusty ran off down the hall of the train car. This left Zeccaran to sigh and pick up the pieces before following his acquaintance.

“I’ll never understand why I bother to clean up after her...It is both a thankless and fruitless task.”

"Are you alright?" he rushed over and extended a hoof to the small chocolate colored mare. “Owww. Well yeah I’m ok. What’s her prob-oh” The mare stopped, a look of horrendous terror stretching her feature taut with dread. The mare remained silent as he helped her up, her look of fear never fading. Her silence made it excurciatly easy to hear Gunther's panting

"T-tt-tt-timberwolf." she stammered pitifully,ever-so-timidly with a hoof. Zeccaran had almost forgotten his animal companion. Gunther, of course, was an oak-born Timberwolf. He was about Zeccaran's size which made him a moderately sized creature. With thick green leafy eyebrows and tail on his dark brown barky body there was nothing upsetting about him, save perhaps his glowing eyes, but all timberwolves had those. It would be the moment however that the mare would pass out and flop to the floor.

This elicited the immediate attention of one of the male attendants who promptly appeared in the doorway of his cabin. Unfortunately, it was the same conductor that had allowed him to bring Gunther on in the first place. He made an angry face at Zeccaran before gritting his teeth and uttered, “That was your one chance, mate, off he goes.”

“But, I thought you said one warning then the boot.” he responded sadly. “Well after all the yelling and running about your bunkmate is doing I don’t have the patience for it!” the conductor growled at him.

“Excuse me, I need that Zebra.”

Unbeknownst to Zeccaran or the conductor, Gusty had returned to where they now stood arguing in the hall of the sleeper car. She loomed over the conductor, who really was not a small pony, using her height to her advantage. It was in the same moment that she picked up the hapless zebra with her magic and floated him over next to her. Gunther reflexively followed, causing various lookers on to gasp or faint.

“Miss...I uh...no! No, he can’t stay. He is already scaring too many of our patrons.” he demanded over a blush. Zeccaran remarked that it was not fair that Gusty could make ponies feel pressured just by being near them. Then again it might have had something to do with her rather persuasive tone and arguments...

“Oh really? He is completely harmless. Look!...uh..Have him open his mouth, Mr. Zebra.” Gusty made an affirmative motion with her hoof.

“I still can’t believe she had me command Gunther to do this. Not only does Timberwolf breath smell terrible, but this was just ridiculous. She just stuck her whole neck in there, if that wasn’t a sign that she was basketcase I don’t know what is. The old conductor certainly thought so, I really wish he had come to Canterlot to complain as some point, alas. And this argument: ‘if he won’t bite me like this, in his natural attack posture why is he dangerous?” I am overjoyed to not be in this situation anymore.”

A quick scan of the car showed that the rest of the patrons on the train had either passed out or were trying their absolute best to ignore what was going on behind them. Zeccaran watched the conductor back down, playing out his part. He merely grumbled an empty approval. Needless to say, Gusty was quite pleased with herself and removed her vulnerable neck from Gunther’s mouth. Earnestly, she turned to him, eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“Come on! There is something evil on this train and we need to find it! I’ll take no arguments! You are coming with. Besides all you do is sit around and make dumb humming noises. This will be waaaaaay more fun!” she cooed with eager mania.

“But-but-I’m...I’m tired?” he tried to make the excuse

“Pshhhh. Don’t be a downer. Let’s go!”

She continued to hold him in her levitation making him feel like a foal. If she had released him, he could have at least half-heartedly resist, making it significantly better, maybe. He soon found himself outside the last regular car staring at the mechanism that held the dining car that was behind it to the rest of the train.

“Whatever is evil is in that dining car. I don’t want to go in it unless I really have to. I’m getting some pretty bad vibes from whatever is inhabiting that car.” Gusty shuddered in her spot.

“Soooo. You want to disconnect the car from the rest of the train? Okay, don’t know why I needed to come along…” crossing his front legs still floating in Gusty’s magic.

“Because I can’t turn this dumb thing! That’s why I came and got you!” she complained with extra pouty lips. Gusty angrily pointed at a pressure wheel that appeared to have been greased heavily by something.

Zeccaran took a moment to examine it. Before motioning her to set him down. He approached it still squinted before placing his hooves on it He gave it a turn, or rather it gave him a turn. The control wheel was so slippery he practically fell off the train when he attempted to grip it with his forehooves. After righting himself, without help from Gusty, who stood there laughing at him, he came up with an idea.

“Maybe you should clean that greasy stuff off, so we can turn the wheel?” he questioned. “Well I already tried, its magical or something.” she answered.

“How about burning it? That could work.” he suggested.

“Yeah you’re right! WAIT! duhh! I should have just used my horn to turn the wheel itself not the grease. I got this.” Gusty finally had her apiphany.

Promptly Gusty’s yellow magical aura flared from her horn. Another faint yellow glow surrounded the wheel at the same moment. Zeccaran watched curiously as she appeared to strain herself. Her face scrunched up into a frown and she closed her eyes.

A vicious roar of flames erupted in a flash of white light. Its volume and heat was so intense Zeccaran thought it would actually set the train car on fire. However, luck appeared to be on his side, for it quickly died down to a quaint blaze over the control wheel. Confused, he turned to Gusty. She gaped at the fiery little wheel, allowing her companion to make his first sly comment in a week.

“I thought you said you weren’t gonna light it on fire” He smiled at her slyly starting to snicker.

“I just don’t know what went wrong! It started to turn and the next moment it was on fire!”she grimaced in pure confusion and embarrassment.

“Welp, looks like we are going in.” he lackadaisically commented.

“We are such idiots. I can’t believe I just go along with her. I guess I can’t help help it, she is practically my best friend. Certainly the only pony unafraid of Gunther and that won me over pretty damn good.”

Gusty exhaled a breath and turned to look at the door to the dining car. She tried the door to find it was locked. Zeccaran was hopeful it would end there but, something told him in the back of his mind he was forgetting who this was standing in front of him. Immediately, from the ratty old brown bag the alicorn carried with her wherever she went, Gusty drew out a crowbar and a hammer. To this day he had no idea where she had been keeping them, perhaps it had been inside her skirt’s waistband.

It was only a few seconds later that the door had been removed from its hinges and set aside. It allowed a minimal view into the dining car. Great and unnatural shadows loomed inside the car. Gusty tossed her crowbar into the darkness. There was no satisfying clank. This left Zeccaran scared, as perhaps there really was something evil in that car.

“Don’t kid yourself past me. Don’t kid yourself.”

In the next moment a most wonderful smell wafted out of the portal. It was a mixture of cooking berries, sweets and pastries. Zeccaran actively tried to keep the wind of the moving train from stealing the smells away, but realizing he couldn’t, he charged right into the pitch dark room. He couldn’t help himself, it was simply too delicious a smell, and he was quite hungry too.

“Wait!” Gusty called after him. But her words were wasted as his legs impacted something solid causing him to flip forward and face plant the carpeted floor. It hurt. But he was too proud to let Gusty realize he had just about knocked himself out and was content to sit quietly in the darkness alone. That was until there was a soft click and the room lit up with magical lights on the ceiling and the blinds opened letting the sun pour in.

He could now see that he had tripped over an amazingly plush ottoman. The crowbar set atop of it, nestled into its pillow. Gusty had followed him. She began laughing at his misfortune, but suddenly she stopped. “I KNOW WHERE IT IS!” she proclaimed.and dashed over to an oven that Zeccaran could just see. Only the corner of the range was visible from where he lay.

In the next moment, Gusty tossed a pie out from the oven and onto the floor before Zeccaran. Inscribed in an artful script on its top crust was the word Evil. It was the only indication of any evil in the room, or probably in the whole Cloudsdale District that they were traveling through. Zeccaran could not properly react to this occurrence. He simply sat up and looked at the pie. He remained straight-faced as his companion drew her mighty sword from its scabbard and viciously beat the pie out of its tin. Like a great bird of prey tearing into its catch with talon and beak such was the visceral nature of Gusty Twilight’s assault on the pastry.

The sound of slow unsteady hoof falls came from the door they had entered. Zeccaran turned slowly to see a moustached chef pony. His jaw was dropped and he was crying. His lip quivered as if it was being shook by a devastating earthquake such was his struggle to speak. The ruination of his prize baked concoction was a horror he seemed unable to accept.

“Why?...why my pie?!!?” he blathered out after a few pitiful minutes of watching Gusty triumphantly posturing her wings.

“Simple, my dear chef! It..was...EVIL!” Gusty replied with her perfected gusto.

The chef was unable to quite comprehend how this made any sense. The chef, again, spoke up: “But...but...it wasn’t evil it was just a pie...a simple pie! My most famous and infamous pie that has brought me so much wealth and….blah...whyyy!!??”

He fell to the floor in a pool of tears and smears of his pastry.

As a preening peacock flares his feathers and struts about, Gusty walked out of the train car and down the hall of the next car. Gunther, who had been with them the entire time silently plodding behind his master, finally broke and began eating the remains of the pie. He did this by licking the sobbing baker. The baker, of course, immediately freaked out.

He began with simple screaming. It quickly turned into him running about the car then up into the regular passenger area as Gunther chased him licking his body as he did.

“Ahhhhhahahhhh! It's going to eat me! Get it away! Get it away! Waahhhaaha….why me-by Celestia why???!” the poor stallion cried. Zeccaran had yet to recover from what he had witnessed and unwittingly he let his animal companion continue to chase and terrorize the pony.

The zebra followed the sight as it moved through the train, causing various exclamations from the other passengers. Given the circumstances, Zeccaran would have laughed, had not the conductor, with a cage in hoof promptly lifted Gunther up and away from the baker with his levitation.

“He’s going into the cargo car until our next stop then he’s gone!” He roared angrily as he stuffed the hapless timberwolf into the big cage.

Zeccaran wanted to object, but at this point he decided it was better to just let Gunther stay safely in the cage instead of arguing with his host. He simply nodded in acceptance and beat a slow retreat to his bunk car. Inside of which Gusty Twilight sat in her top bunk humming happily to herself. Rather tired and desensitized from the experience of today, Zeccaran decided he would sleep and try to feel better about the next day. With Gusty around he had a feeling that nothing was ever going to be boring again.

“Boring. No. Dangerous and annoying. Yes. Will the Universe let me go? Also, no.”

He silently sobbed hoping the bright onset of new light from the window would lead him to waking up.

Act 1: Chapter 3 - "...Really?"

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Act 1: Chapter 4 - Enter Bunker

“I like to think of mineself as a stallion of simple pleasures. Beer. Mares...A good fight every now and again. I hardly expected to be taken away by the stuff of legends! Is crazy! Really, really crazy! Hahahaha! But-no no, I enjoy it, truly.”

-Bunker of the Great Forest-

Chapter 4 - Enter Bunker

The world came into view in a careful crescendo of color, blossoming forth into the lush hues of early fall. Shapes the followed the hues as lines and forms began overtaking the messy dispersion forcing them to hold coherence and made visual sense at last. Before Zeccaran fuzzy grass gained its own strands and leaves started blowing across the empty meadow he now found himself occupying. He strode forward confidently finally accustomed to the lack of physical connection to the subconscious world that an observer possessed and peered across the field to find the past version of himself and Gusty trotting slowly towards a broad pond on the other side of the forest-cloaked pasture. On the farthest side of clearing well past the placid body of water there were tiny lights of houses tucked away in the forest. A large knobby mountain pushing itself up in the distance completed the landscape.

“Ahh yes. The forest near Hollow Shades, lovely place really. Certainly a rather calm picturesque land. It still irks me that Foal Mountain is egregiously tainted with the evil of the Cult of the Night. The fact that I was once one of their lead members doesn’t help anything either. Frankly, I just wish Luna had left that portion out of my memories...if Gusty ever found out everything, I’d be dead in my stripes!”

The smell of leaves and dirt blew up as the wind rushed from the north. The vague smells of a bakery nipped at his nose. The hints of pastries were quickly knocked away as more wind lay flat the grass of the clearing and the smell of forest returned instantly. Gusty stood before him awkwardly shifting from her left to right as if she hoped that something would happen. Rustling of his dream counterpart drew his attention away from the mare.

“Hey.” He looked out over the lake. “We could go fishing. Though fish aren’t always very tasty.” Gusty simply nodded in agreement at his words His past attempt at generating excitement was genuine judging by the awkward smile, but perhaps a touch misguided. The blustery condition of the field almost made him shiver from the familiar feeling of the memory.

“Hmm...I just noticed that when it's my memory or dream I don’t observe it from my point of view like I did when I jumped into Gusty’s by mistake. Strange, I wonder why that is? I guess the reason is because it is my memory and I can choose how to view it...odd that I was in third-pony view as a default. Oh well. Kinda interesting to look at things this way.”

Dried leaves blew by the two ponies of the past some bouncing off their hooves. Zeccaran watched Gusty carefully as she followed the brown greeneries with her head. They whisked away but not before he noticed something curious among them. A piece of parchment flew about the leaves. They zipped by Gunther who took notice and chased the grouping biting and barking at them as the wind slowly calmed. Gunther caught the leaves and the wayward paper. He began chewing right as Gusty and her curiosity reacted to save the parchment

Running after the timberwolf, “No, no, no! Bad dog!” she shrieked. Lifting Gunther up and shaking him about with her telekinesis she grimaced angrily. He yipped and howled in shock but managed to hang on the paper. He had followed Gusty and found that it was the old wanted poster of himself.

“Let go, Gunther!” Gusty cried. “I want to read that!” Gunther stubbornly maintained his grip and even managed to lose a short growl before Gusty resumed her telekinetic shaking.

“Bit off more than you could chew Gunther, ol’ buddy ol’ pal. Heheheh.”

Seemingly unaware of what Gusty was doing, Past-Zeccaran strolled up to the poor flipping hound and waited. Gusty stopped shaking Gunther, her face betraying her befuddled mind. When he settled, floating next to his master Zeccaran stated plainly and without anger. “Give.”

In response Gunther opened his jowls and the poster dropped down slimily into Zeccaran’s outstretched hoof. Dumbfounded, Gusty looked on jaw agape as he stretched out the chewed document. He read it, shrugged, and tossed it over his shoulder. The wind caught its outstretched sides and whipped it towards the alicorn. Before she could think to dodge it the now cold, gooey poster slapped Gusty in the face.

“Bullseye! Way to go past me! Ohhh! I needed this so bad right now!”

Instantly she dropped Gunther from her telekinesis to which he responded with a relieved sounding bark. Gusty struggled valiantly with the rogue poster only narrowly removing it before it claimed victory. The poster was completely disgusting, Zeccaran could even smell it through the dream as it produced the stench of acid reflux and rotten meat that only dog breath could. Gusty turned a vibrant green as she held the viscous paper away from with her telekinesis. Both the observer and past-self laughed at Gusty some more as she scowled at the poster doing her best to ignore the situation.

Zeccaran struggling to remember what the poster had said exactly strode up to where Gusty was holding it and tried to lean over her shoulder to read it. Instead of touching flesh he phased clean through the memory mare and shrieked in surprise and horror. He caught himself on the ground and breathed heavily as he calmed himself from the intense disorientation he had just experienced.

“Okay. Note to self: The subconscious dream world has no physical form and you can walk right through the ponies you are observing...no matter how real they look. Phew! By the stars that was most unpleasant!”

He gathered himself up and stood inside the image of Gusty and read the poster as himself, looking younger and less weathered. Below it still covered in Gunther’s slobber were smudged words indicating: “Wanted for special questioning, Dead or Alive: 500,000 bits Alive, 500 Bits Dead. Deliver to Canterlot” written in that old ridiculous wild-west font style

He stepped quickly out of Gusty before turning up to look at her hoping to distract himself from the empty existential feeling of walking through his friend. Her face was pinched in a perfect suspicious glare as she looked between the poster and Past-Zeccaran. Perhaps she was merely pondering why the petitioner would still take a dead body like he was, then again she did not have the meta knowledge he did viewing this event from the future. The patron had turned out to be none other that Stormwalker himself. However, he had not found that out until Luna had mentioned it during a surprise visit a few days after he had woken up in Canterlot Castle back when Gusty had helped break the memory charm on Celestia. That was another whole can of worms that he ignored by shaking his head until his ears started ringing.

When he looked back to Gusty in his memory world, she gave a shrug and tossed the poster over her shoulder, as she scrunched up her nose in a mixed emotion of disdain, confusion, and apathy. The voucher had other plans than just flying away, after being flung he watched as it curved back towards the group. Past-Zeccaran did not see it coming as it looped past him and covered up his whole snout and mouth with a disgusting squishing sound. He gagged remembering what it felt like to be choked by a slobbery paper as his counterpart flailed about like an idiot. Next to him Gusty to burst into laughter. She quickly was rolling on the ground clutching poorly at her sides while he watch himself continue to flip about and lose oxygen. She eventually gained enough composure to use her telekinesis to remove the poster.

“Karma sucks. And this was a prime example.”

He watched rather angrily as Gusty teased him, unable to defend his past actions. Eventually white stripes returned to his counterpart’s face replacing the purple they had become. Gusty sat there and snickered at him as Gunther came by to like his face dumbly. Silence overtook the memory as they sat there idly.

“I’m going to sleep for a few hours!” Gusty suddenly declared. Both Zeccarans shrugged and watched her unload her things. Gusty unfastened her pack and let it fall to the ground, visibly letting her haunches and flanks relax from carrying the weight of her camping equipment. She dug around in the pack until she found her rolled sleeping bag. She grabbed it in her mouth and tossed it to the ground, simultaneously untying the strings that kept it rolled.

“I guess I’ll just sit here...alone?” Past-Zeccaran asked pitifully.

“Sure, you can meditate or read without me trying to steal one of your scrolls or poke you in the belly!” Gusty smiled.

“Oh, I remember that! She took both the scroll and held me down with her magic while she tickled me, laughing like she was some type of lunatic the whole time. Then again...she is some type of lunatic. I had just wanted to read-but noooo!”

“Yeeeeeah. I could!” he responded his voice turned from its usual dull sarcasm to a higher, happier sound. “Go on then! Take your nap. I have the most excellent applied magic theory text to read!” he ordered, reaching into his ratty bag without casting another gaze at Gusty. She watched briefly as he pulled a small nearly torn apart book out from the bag and plopped it down on the grass. He opened to random page and practically stuffed his whole snout into its miniature pages.

“Yeah, that’s a good book...didn’t I loan it to Amethyst recently? I wonder how much she had read into it.”

Gusty busied herself with her sleeping bag which for some reason was several sizes too big even for her. She plucked it open and flopped down with a whoosh! of the grass, leaving him to read in peace.

“Where did she get that giant thing anyway? Its big enough for me, her, and Gunther with room to spare. Wait what’s happening? I don’t read that fast! Pretty fast but not like that!”

The world around him burst into an frenzied flurry. Above him the sun began to march across the sky in a fast motion as fast as seconds ticking on a clock. His image began moving pages in the book at such a blistering pace that it was not but a blur of white. The sky above slowed finally turning the bright yellow and light-blue of afternoon. The transition shocked the memory into a normal state of time leaving the observer equally stunned by the various dilations and contractions of time.

“What the hell was that? Was that you Dream Overlords? No? Then who decided to make it impossible to re-read my favorite Magical Physics book?! By Luna, I wish I had better control over this damned thing!”

Before him the the other Zeccaran closed the book with a thwmp! He had finished the book and now sat there idly hoofing the ground. He looked up towards Gusty his eyes betraying his distrust of her resting posture.

“That was a good read.” he said aloud while maintaining his suspicious glare. Gusty did not budge. In fact she continued to lightly snore in her girly way as if he had not spoken so loudly. His counterpart remained sitting and staring at Gusty in disbelief for a solid minute before standing up giving a shrug and a brief rub of his rump before walking towards the line of trees. He poked about idly gathering up kindling and various branches to make a fire. He slowly piled them up and after a brief stint a small blaze began burning. On his last trip before sitting down there was a sudden rustling of leaves amongst the underbrush broke the peaceful silence of the meadow.

Past-Zeccaran swiveled his head around like mad trying to discern the location of the noise. Seeing nothing Zeccaran looked over at Gunther, to see of the timberwolf was intrigued by the noise, but the wooden canine lay on his side calmly blinking, staring off into the distance. He sat down and began watching the fire after relaxing his legs and pulling the book back out. The observer got up next to his past self and angrily looked over his shoulder, unwilling to stride through the image.

“He’s in the bushes you idiot! He’s gonna hop out and kick your ass! Come on! Just get up! Don’t sit there! I can’t believe myself sometimes. Oh, just open the book back up sure! Hey wait, written by Twilight Sparkle and G.A.S. huh. I guess my mysterious benefactor has the favor of at least one of Equestria’s Princesses!”

A twig snapping jerked Past-Zeccaran’s head up from the book. The pair of zebra’s were clearly able to see the source of the noise this time. A big Earth Pony stood a short distance away towards the forest. He carried a huge single headed axe, its blade as long and as wide as Zeccaran’s chest. Hs body adorned spiked steel armor, pulsed with an obnoxious amount of muscles beneath a dark brown-red coat. He wore no helmet, but instead was covered in blue body paint that made intricate swirl patterns on his face and neck. It clashed harshly with his puce-red mane; perhaps the lack of color coordination provoked the inner artist of Zeccaran’s animal companion. Immediately, Gunther jumped up and began barking at the interloper. Zeccaran looked to see if Gusty would wake. She remained snoring, loudly, unaware of the happenings outside her dreams. The observer backed away from his foolish past-self huffing as he did.

“I’m still mad she slept through it. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it either. Well, go on Bunker, kick my butt, get it over with.”

A throaty yell made the zebra look back up at the stallion, pitting the axe in his mouth he charged at his quarry. Past-Zeccaran sat frozen, a look of terror and panic quickly growing and his face. WIth good reason, he did not have any of his equipment on him, it lay on the other side of the fire in a pile. He only had some of his most rudimentary magic to defend himself. Bunker had almost closed to axe range when Gunther jumped in front of him. The brute half-bellowed half-grumbled something unintelligible and batted Gunther away with the long handle of his axe. He briefly looked directly at the fool still on the ground. His fierce green eyes expressing even now one thing very clearly to the zebra. I’m going to kill you. Past-Zeccaran timidly squeaked as he cast a final glance at Gusty.

“Wow. I squeaked. I literally squeaked in fear. Hah-Oh well, at least I made it through.”

A flashing of green light distracted him from his self-criticism. The stretching and moaning of wood and grass echoed across the clearing as the plant life sprang into action. Tall grass tied itself in wads around the stallion's legs forcing him to a stop his charge. He struggled but remained bound.

“Yes! It worked!” his counterpart cheered from a barely safe distance. He stuck his tongue defiantly out at the trapped bandit. The stallion responded by starting to chop away the grass with his axe. Leaving Zeccaran to mumble an “uh oh” before scrambling over to the somehow still snoozing Gusty.

He bent down next to her and began trying to shake her awake: “Gusty! Gusty, get up!” He tried in vain. The alicorn mare only partially stirred, and began snoring again. This time she did so with her mouth open, drool and snores pouring out without effort. Grimacing, Zeccaran rushed over to grab his sickle before Bunker freed himself. He reached his pack and grabbed the weapon with his mouth just as a tremendous bellow exited the vagabond.

He gave a great swing of his axe, cutting away the defiant weeds before casting a displeased snarl in Past-Zeccaran’s direction. He snorted angrily readying to charge again. Gunther interceded at that moment. The timberwolf had made a good lunge for Bunker’s neck but was thwarted by bad aim and Bunker’s general ability to see. The stallion sidestepped the attack and began a gallop towards Zeccaran. Gunther went flying into the living weeds and proceeded to be stuck there grasped by the plants.

“Dis time no cheating!” he growled before again yelling out his battle cry. He charged clean over the top of the past’s image before turning about swinging his axe downward. The observer watched on, barely recalling how he had stood up in time to dodge being cloven in two. He was even more surprised when Past-Zeccaran slashed at a gap in Bunker’s shoulder plating. The old sickle hit flesh and sent blood down the stallion’s armor as he jumped away yelping in pain and surprise.

“Wow, me! Kinda have it together when I’m not trying to fight demi-gods or spectres of the past. Hold up. I lost this fight though. I remember that very clearly. Let’s see, charge him while his axe is stuck. Yeah! Good hit! Aaaaaand he knocked me to the ground...readied his axe...I scream-”

“NO! NO! DAMNIT NOT LIKE THIS!” his voice cracked and echoed off of the trees around the edge of the clearing.

“And cue Gusty.”

True to form a powerful yawn caused both stallions to look towards the mare in question. She stretched up out of her sleeping bag, loudly smacking her lips. She game another yawn as she scratched her head and turned to look over at them eyes still half closed.

“Zeccaran. I heard you suffering...awhhhh….” Gusty yawned a third time. “So I woke up so I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Note to self number three: Gusty can literally feel my pain and suffering through the ether. If I ever need her..just start feeling really bad, or get really hurt. Great prospects there.”

“Ohhh...pretty mare…” The Bunker cooed from above his counterpart. He dropped his axe completely and out right ogled Gusty. The zebra looked on in confusion as his female counterpart completely hammed it up.

“Pretty?” Gusty asked. “I always thought I was only average.” she emphasized in her melodramatic Gusty way. She pushed the front of her sleeping bag up against her face and neck, hiding playfully behind it. Meanwhile the vagabond emitted a droning “duhhhh” while staring in the most awestruck fashion Zeccaran had conceivably seen. Then again that was pretty much how all stallions reacted to Gusty. Even Stormwalker had broken his restrained mannerisms to smile while judging her form. The only trouble was Gusty knew what she looked like and was, in fact, not above using it to gain leverage over males.

“You really think I am, big boy?” She purred. Zeccaran watched with growing concern as Gusty’s countenance began to glow with all of her female charm. Her hips shook playfully underneath her sleeping bag. Her pupils dilated, and she pushed out her lips in a pout. He had only see her like this once before, when she had coerced the conductor to give her access to the other half of the bunkroom he had rented on the train. It had worked then, and it definitely worked on Bunker.

“Beautifool goddess! Please let me worship ye! Forgiff me for waking you from your slumber!” he proclaimed in his broken Equestrian. He fell forward hooves extended in front of him. The brute buried his face in the grass and began muttering incoherent apologies.

“Come on, Bunker! You are better than this! She’s just pretty! It’s not like she is casting spells on you to make you adore her...although I wouldn’t put it past her. Very vain mare, that Gusty Twilight. I suppose that is why she is always so perturbed when she can’t persuade me or old demon-pegasus with her looks alone. Not that Gusty isn’t gorgeous, far from it, I guess it just doesn’t work on stallions who have had their mind made up about what to do and how to behave...speaking for myself of course.”

“Goddess, I am not wooorhty. I am not wooorthy. Not wooorthy!” Bunker chanted as Gusty cautiously paced towards him, a devious, satisfied smile growing on her face.

“Rise, my dear stallion. Do not fret for or fear your goddess.” Gusty proclaimed in the most magnificent set of rolled consonants. The vagabond slowly rose and looked at Gusty, his eyes rapt with anticipation. She extended her left hoof. He grabbed it and kissed it gently, falling again to the ground.

A loud thump! drew the observer back to his past self. Past-Zeccaran had fallen down on his back and was now staring blankly at the sky. He laid there comatose, eyes totally unblinking as Gusty slowly worked on Bunker’s inability to stand. Meanwhile, finally free from the grass that had trapped him, Gunther walked over to his master and licked his face only to recieve no response. Zeccaran turned away from watching his dog lick his past-self’s eyes to a fully formed scene of Gusty and Bunker. He was equally happy and amazed that his aural memory had been good enough to project what he saw now which simply was Gusty trying to smack Bunker into regular behavior. That seemed to be their usual way of resolving erratic actions, simply hit the perpetrator upside the head.

“Not that I would have done anything different even now. Gusty’s influence on others is sometimes just too frustrating to handle. Only reason I didn’t fall down like that again is because I’m kinda deadened to it these days, still feel pretty perturbed though.”

“Tell me then, my dear, what is your name?” Gusty asked Bunker who was finally able to act coherently. He performed a half-bow, bringing his left front hoof up to his chest. He lowered his head. His deep voice reciting his name, family and station.

“I am Bunker. Journeyman of clan Junkerson. I am fulfilling my sacred and traditional oath to seek glory and fame in the world of ponies, away from the Great Forest.”

“The Great Forest? It has been some time since I’ve been there.” Gusty mused aloud. It was clear that she could not recall the last time she had visited that easterly place. However, Bunker, as it were, was quick to remind her.

“It is as it was told to us goddess! A hero from the fatherland would venture forth and find you again. You told us yourself, Mistress! The legend has been passed down for seven-hundred years. Ten generations have searched! and...and...I…found...you.” Bunker stammered out jaw returning to its slack position.

“Huh. Where hasn’t Gusty been? At least it makes sense to me now why Bunker followed her so willingly. She’s his local folk legend! Then again...she was also my tribe’s...and-and I swear there was a book about her fighting during Equestria’s founding...like a children’s book? Eh, don’t remember, point is: Gusty is old and just as flamboyant as she ever was evidently”

Gusty giggled in that telling way that meant she liked somepony. She was often quite forward about who and what she desired, Zeccaran actually rather appreciated that, it made her predictable, somewhat anyway. He watched as Bunker slowly recovered from starting through Gusty and into some mystical land of grandeur. The mare in question continued to laugh at him as the stallion cleared his throat and grumbled half-hearted condolences to cover up his embarrassment.

“You know, Bunker, you are pretty alright. Very amusing, good at fighting, can smack Zeccaran around for me...I wouldn’t mind if you tagged along. I could use some muscle around here.” Gusty said seductively.

“Really laying it on thick there, eh, Gusty?”

“Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! I wilt help! I wilt follow!” Bunker answered scooching towards Gusty on his knees. He bit his lips and looked eagerly at her, his eyes dazzling with admiration for his “goddess.”

“Good. But let’s get one thing straight.” Gusty’s tone shifted serious. “I am not a goddess. I’m just a mare. An alicorn, yes, but I am no different than anypony else, and if you are to come along you need to stop groveling. Otherwise I will get bored with you and send you packing back to that forest you said I visited some...seven-hundred years ago you said? I don’t even remember being there, a part of me knows you are right, but...there is nothing I can remember. Okay?”

“Is...is that modesty? Real modesty this time? I’ll be a giraffe’s cousin. So all that is just an act, a part of her personality. I guess I shouldn’t take her jabs so seriously then, she is just doing it because we are friends and knows I can take it. I guess that’s why she drug me on this adventure in the first place, and why she always asks me my opinion. What a curious way to make friends.”

Bunker bowed his head deeply in response to Gusty’s speach before jerking it up with scared revelation on his face. He balked about opening his mouth only saying half words: “Seven hun-...er. I...but uhm. Argh….Please, forgive me, god-”

“Gusty. Please forgive me, Gusty.” she cut him off. Zeccaran rolled his eyes as he watched the stallion blush, glad he had missed it during the actual moment. He probably would have slapped the big lug had he known about it then. He cast a glance back over to where his past-self lay spread eagle on the ground still staring into the sky with a distressed and confused look on his face. The observer gave a shrug and looked back at Gusty and Bunker who were busy discussing his various deeds.

“Why you travel with wanted criminal?” Bunker towards the comatose version of Zeccaran..

“Zeccaran? A criminal? Pshhh. He doesn’t have the stomach for something like that. In fact he has been really helpful with apprehending a group of robbers and one very, very evil pie.” Gusty said, clearly unable to imagine Zeccaran doing anything harmful to anypony or anything. “I saw the poster. He’s wanted for questioning. Not for anything beyond that. It's actually really weird.” she continued making a thoughtful look.

“I am glad you don’t even have an inkling, Gusty. I really am, some of the things I have done...they are unforgivable, even for you. That’s why I have to help you...why I have to do something right before I find the end of my proverbial rope. Ahh...I love existential moments like that. Not.”

“Oh!...Oh...that what it said. I know numbers but I can’t read Equestrian.” Bunker proclaimed. His eyes sparkling with recognition. “I thought money was for body...heh. If he is your friend I hope he is okay…”

“Don’t worry about it. He will be fine.” Gusty patronized him with a flash of her eyelashes. “But fresh food would be very nice. If you wouldn’t mind” she made sure to have her lips extra pouty.

“You know what: I take it back! I’m doing things in spite of her! And the next time she drags me out of my lab...ohhhhh!... at least Bunker pretended to care! Even if she does she certainly refused to show it, even when I’m over there lying on the ground in a partial coma!”

Bunker buzzed away from Gusty in the next instant. He retrieved a bag of things from the bushes he had jumped out of earlier. He returned to the fire with a blistering pace and assembled a fishing rod with such precision that it practically bent space-time. In the next instant he was over fishing. Zeccaran had to fight nausea as the world sped up even faster. Meanwhile Gusty and his past-self slept peacefully.

“Come on! Slow down! Who is driving this crazy thiiiinnnnng!”

The smell of frying fish, hay, and wild onions drew filled the air by the time Zeccaran opened up his eyes. It was the sort of mouth watering smell of wild and fresh made food that made a pony hungry. The sun was beginning to set in the west and set as a half-disk on the top of the tree line. The food also had to addition effect of lowering the nausea down to a much more manageable level. His main regret was that he was not able to eat the faux dream food, even though his stomach growled at the recollection of the smell.

Bunker was stirring a pot that hung over the fire that had a pile of fish skins, scales, and bad meat set next to him. The concoction he had in the pot billowed steam as he smiled happily behind the vapors. He shot proud a smirk at Gusty once he noticed her sitting up from her bedroll.

A gasp of surprise made everypony look to her left. Past-Zeccaran was sitting up staring at Bunker. At first the he looked on in horror, however it rapidly changed to confusion. Immediately following, he looked as if he would begin to cry, then he loosed a long sigh and stood up.

“Yep. That’s right, me. Big, deep breath, let it go...just grab some food use sarcasm and just repress and let it go, nothing you can do about it anyway. Goooood.”

He cast a glance at Gusty as he walked up to Bunker’s pot. He seemed resigned as he looked at her, nothing more. Gusty couldn’t help but smile at him. “So whatcha cookin’?” He said dryly turning back to Bunker, completely dodging her grin of glee.

“Excellent use of the sarcasm, I give myself an A-plus for that one!”

“Hello, striped one. Making fish stew. Is good.” Bunker replied, seemingly not bothered by his previous quarry’s attitude.

“It does smell pretty good.” Past-Zeccaran said closing his eyes and rubbing his left temple with a hoof. “So, just to check you aren’t trying to kill me anymore right? This isn’t poisoned with something that will kill me but not little miss sleepyhead over there right? Seriously, I need to make sure I’m not hallucinating.” he looked fairly desperate by the end of his questions. He kept looking between Gusty and Bunker waiting for either to answer.

“This was one of those moments I should have kept my mouth shut.”

Bunker began to chuckle. He raised a spoonful of the stew up to his lips, carefully balancing the utensil on the flat of his hoof. He slurped loudly as if intentionally to emphasize its savory taste. “Nope. I misread poster. You worth more alive.” he uttered matter-of-factly.

“Oh good. Wait what?” his past-self did a double take.

Trying to snicker over the noise her growling stomach, Gusty hopped up and trotted over to the pot herself. “Yep. You didn’t read that poster very well did you?” She breathed as she absorbed the smell longingly, waiting with a curious look towards her companion..

“No, I did. But, but...I didn’t think anyone would actually be trying to track down the bounty, though!” the past-zebra answered face still distraught.

“No pony would be dragging me to Canterlot except them. And anypony who would try to separate me from these two headaches would rue their foolish decision. That didn’t stop Gusty from teasing me though. Or pulling this next stunt. To this day...I’m still not sure if they were serious or not. Even if they are actually engaged now.”

“Well, Bunker and I decided to take you to Canterlot ourselves.” She smiled and winked at Bunker. Briefly a spark of recognition lit Bunker’s eyes, followed by a mischievous grin as he came around the fire to stand next her

“Da. We split award fifty-fifty. She gets all gold, I get new marefriend!” He nodded sagely and nudged her side with his leg. Gusty looked over to him with surprise, while the observer just rolled his eyes. There was no way Gusty would not go along with it. It had bothered him too much in the moment. Bunker clearly knew this, judging by his clever grin and was either some type of psychological genius or luckiest stallion of all time, having the situation just fall into his lap.

They unlikely pair continued to tease Past-Zeccaran until Gusty tried the stew that Bunker had made. It took her all of two seconds to drain the bowl and then go and stick her head directly in the cooking pot, foregoing any sense of decency as she slurped up the food loudly. Both the observing and participating zebras shook their heads at Gusty’s inability to control her stomach. By the time Gusty fell away from the stew’s container she laid flat on her back slightly bloated from the sheer volume of soup she had consumed in such a short time. It was not much longer that Bunker began rubbing her belly in response and the memory and the real deal rolled their eyes in perfect tandem that only a being that was the same person in the same moment could manage. Then again, it was easy to roll one’s eyes at Gusty and her shenanigans, she was an extravagant lunatic with impulsive behavior. It was surely a long series of miracles that had kept her from getting herself killed. If she was truly as old as she was supposed to be Zeccaran had some strong reservations on the cruel fate had allowed her to make it to him, especially since she was now his keeper.

The sun had finished setting by the time the party had completed eating and relaxing. Zeccaran looked over his past self with a dull blanketed ire:

“How exactly did I think that just waiting around would be okay? I haven’t been this mad with myself in a good long while! I don’t understand why I didn’t feel what Chrysanthemum and the Cult were doing that night. I just laze away not caring until the drained souls of those poor ponies came floating by to spread the misery of Nyx and all her pomps. And to think those three were only the pre-ritual, the practice; really it’s no wonder when I completed the ritual the next night and the errant goddess of darkness herself came into the motral plane. Oh, how I wish I had been more careful, paid closer attention, or maybe just remembered enough to stop what happened. Arghh...Too late now, but maybe it was all for the better. It certainly got me my comfy lab here in Canterlot...whenever it is that I’ll wake back up in it.”

The slow, low groaning of the dead Gusty to snap up her head from where it rested haughtily on Bunker’s barrel. She looked around the now darkened camp looking through the fresh evening’s shroud before jumping up and drawing her sword with her telekinesis “Did you hear that?” she asked quietly over the faint hum of her magic

“No?” responded the past Bunker and Zeccaran in unison.

“I don’t know what it was but it sounded unfriendly.” she told them.

“Hey where did the stars go?” Zeccaran commented, as he came up next to her.

“Managed to notice that didn’t I? Nailed it! Pffft. Not like it’s a terrible unnatural darkness caused by the cursed practice ritual that just finished taking place or anything.”

Gusty looked out towards where the sound had come from squinting her eyes suspiciously. The moon also obscured by the empty blackness or uncertainty making seeing anything even harder. Even through the memory, Zeccaran could feel Gusty’s uncomfortable twitching as her sixth sense registered that the party was indeed in danger. Then she did something Zeccaran had not recalled. The tiniest flinch twitched across her face causing her to blink hard just once as minute sparks of pure white magic danced around the edge of her blue eyes.

“The only thing I think I can call that is that weird “divine” magic Gusty uses. As if Divinity even exists anymore: which I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. Except-you! Dream Overlords! I know you are real!....Okay, I’m officially losing it. I don’t even remember half of this stuff anyway. Even in this memory I spent most of the time incapacitated or looking away from Gusty, yet...I don’t like this. Did I die or something? I figured Tartarus would suck a lot more. Oh, well.”

“Something is for sure out there, and it’s evil. Stay on your guard.” Gusty whispered as she bent her knees in readiness. Bunker, who was now on her right, seemingly had acquired his axe from nowhere and without any noise. Slowly, the noises of their foes grew louder. It was vaguely recognizable as the disembodied voices of ponies. They bayed with moans and gibberish-hissing as they shadowy figures’ outlines became visible. The motley group waited carefully watching the specters encircle them slowly. The fire still crackled behind her but its light had dimmed as the shadows surrounded them.

The figures zipped forward in a coordinated attack as one. Their now visible faces and bodies, a see-through green-white. They moaned and passed through one another as they lunged at her. Gusty ducked down to the ground avoiding their flying attacks. Bunker and Zeccaran followed suit either by instinct or by following her lead. As soon as the ghastly creatures whizzed past the party they collectively sprang back up to their hooves in a near synchronized dance. Absently the observer could hear Gunther barking and whimpering a distance away, while he watched.

“Poor Gunther. He had such a hard day. Friendly fire from when my spell snagged him. Getting the literal shit scared out of him by wraiths. I need to do as G.A.S. says and pay him a visit in the gardens.”

Meanwhile one of the wraith’s had swung back around to attempt to hit Gusty again. It \vaguely had the body of a pony draped in dark tattered robes. It’s too long legs and misshapen hooves were a sickly pale see-through green. Eyes that had clearly been bleeding were rolled back to expose their total whites on an otherwise recognizable face of a mare. Its permanently tortured visage left the jaw agape in pain as the withered, bodiless soul hissed angrily trying to spread its torment to Gusty.

“Wraiths! Don’t let them touch you!” she shouted as if she was trying to remind him of what he had just mused about aloud.

Gripping her sword with her levitation she slashed at the wraith that had clumsily swung its hooves at her. She gritted her teeth in that primal hatred that only Gusty could make. At some point, Zeccaran was certain, she had described one of her duties to her “Divine Origin.” Said duty was to help rid the world of the influence of the evil undead. That divine blessing was actually the reason her battered bastard sword was sharp at all. The thing looked like it had been beaten by rocks for the last one thousand years distinctly hiding its deadliness. So it came as no surprise that when her blade struck the wraith it was cloven in two. The insides of its separate halves glowing white hot from the magic instilled in the sword melting away the spectral beings by virtue of its “pure” strikes. Said split wraith quickly withered and loosed an angry hiss as it dissipated.

Great grunting turned his head towards Bunker as he swung his axe in a wide arc hitting two of the wraiths but doing nothing. Without the proper enchantment his strikes would be like splashing a fish with water. It was impossible for him to hurt the incorporeal beings.

“Take that!” Past-Zeccaran yelled. His past self fully hefted Gunther at one of their ghostly combatants throwing him straight and true. Gunther passed through it with a yelp and landed in a heap on the ground. The wraith responded by making a flying charge, it narrowly missed the zebra jumped to the side.

“Scratch that. Both Gunther and I had a terrible day. I resort to throwing my one true friend through a spirit sapping shadow of agony, and Gunther actually flies through said terror.”

Said wraith passed by and stopped its advance as it reached Gusty. The other two of the remaining four grouped up with their undead kin as they made a pass on Past-Zeccaran. This time the hideous creatures hit him, their ghastly tendril-limbs visibly draining his life force. However, this placed the four wraiths were now in range of Gusty’s holy spell, that most annoying of situational spells that she possessed. Highly annoyed Zeccaran watched as she reached into her mail to grab her symbol of Origin. It was not much more than a simple triangle shape with various ancient looking swirls on it, there was nothing particularly holy or special about it, other than it was highly effective.

“Okay. Another note to self: Get Gusty to let you examine that weird ‘symbol’ of hers. I wonder if Luna has noticed this? Probably, but I doubt she has the clout to just snatch it away from Gusty. She would have better luck convincing Celestia to stop eating cake! Which relatively speaking is impossible. Anyway...ow! Jeez! Those damn wraiths are still just as horrible and shrieky as when she scared them in person. Almost worse. And up they go, save that last one.”

The fourth wraith, seemingly with no idea of who Origin was, floated stubbornly. Zeccaran did not blame it, he had no idea who or what Origin was either, nopony did but Gusty did. Said wraith hissed angrily at Gusty, turning about and moaning with despair as its comrades flew about decidedly as annoyed as an undead could possibly portray. It turned about once more to face her again and rolled its ethereal pony head in a full rotation grumbling in its undead tongues. Before she could raise her sword the wraith reached out with one of its wispy hooves and touched her. She screamed in a vicious uproar of pain as the wraith moaned back at her in a disturbingly satisfied way.

“Vile creature!” Gusty shouted after she recovered. She swung her sword downward into the wraith intending to trace her blade through its eyes. Humiliatingly, at her point-blank range, she missed. Her blade rocketed to the ground propelled by the sheer mental force she had applied. It buried itself in the soft dirt up to almost its hilt.

“Ahhh ahhahaha! Ahahaha! OH MY YES! I-I-I...I can’t believe I missed this! This is gold! I’ll have to taunt her about this every chance I get! Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”

Gusty loosed a girly shriek and ran away moving much faster than the wraith, spluttering and cursing as she went. She stopped after gathering herself behind Bunker.

“If you kill this wraith in one hit, I swear I’ll marry you!” She screamed both in anger and in an attempt to use Bunker as a distraction. She stared daggers at her stuck sword clearly just wanting to retrieve it and kill the damned wraith herself.

Ohhh and now it makes so much more sense! No wonder Bunker was so ecstatic he won the fight! At the time I let it go but this is great!”

Loosing a mighty scream Bunker took his axe in his two front legs and rose up on his back ones. Lifting the axe to the full length of its handle Bunker yelled again, his voice a combination of righteous fury and a primal fighting spirit. Gusty watched in awe, her sword forgotten in the ground. The edge of the steel axe-blade lit with yellow light as Bunker swung the weapon.The stroke was quick, nearly too fast to catch with the eyes. The axe impacted the wraith’s center splitting its greenish head and sternum in two, and carrying on completely cleaving it in twain. Instantly the two halfs dissipated into nothingness, the dark sorcery that kept it held together destroyed in a single stroke. Shocked, Gusty fell to her flanks and stared on in disbelief.

“Ha!....HA!...You see!!?! I killed it! I-I-I...I Killed the wraith! And in one hit too!” Bunker cheered his own feat. Gusty barely could acknowledge him. She just looked down at her sword, still stuck in the ground a look of disdain one would have for a traitor coating her face. The blade shimmered in the returning firelight mockingly as if to help Zeccaran tease her.

“You promised to marry him on a whim, you promised to marry him on a whim!”

The observer danced around Gusty mirroring Bunker’s rhythm as he mocked her with his bad little song. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate had the real Gusty been there, but he decidedly did not care. He completely ignored the charade of

Meanwhile, Zeccaran had begun throwing various objects at the still panicked wraiths above. The wraiths would probably remain in their ever circling state for the next half-hour or so. Gusty was still fairly confounded with the Bunker situation and Zeccaran now tossing his sickle at the wraiths, was making the matter worse.

“Hey,” said Bunker passing by Gusty and looking up at the spiralling undead. “How about those ones? Do I get bonus if I kill those too?” He asked. Gusty looked at him with a straight face, she had no emotions to display anymore. “Sure. Use my sword too, if you can get it out of the ground…” She deadpanned to him.

“Ohhhh yeeeaaaah! Here it comes! Round two! Haha! Here we go!”

Bunker perked up a deviously confident grin before striding over to where Gusty’s sword was stuck. He bent over grabbing the mouth grip and free it from the dirt with ease. He just grabbed it and went. HOW DID HE DO THAT? Gusty mouthed

“‘ere weeck zzzzzeh’bra, lit meh’ uzze ‘agic ssswoord tah kill wriths.” Bunker matter-of-factly stated through the sword grip. He moved so the bigger stallion could fling the sword easier. Making a few practice twists of his neck Bunker angled his throw for the nearest wraith. He made a quick spin and swirled his neck, the sword flew in slow spins up towards the undead.

Smiling with delight Zeccaran watched as the wraiths’ aerial paths brought them into a tight group. Gusty’s sword spun up and through them passing through each of the putrid beasts. Shrieking and changing from green to white the wraiths slowly dispelled. Both luck and a good throw had finished them in a single instance. Then a familiar sickle flew through the air to hit the puff of fog and then fall harmlessly to the ground. It had been his previous attempt to matter during the combat.

“See!!?? I helped!” his apparition yelled pitifully. He ran over and grabbed his sickle and returned. “I totally got that last one. Heh..heheheh...wahhh…” He finished with noises that were somewhere between a mope and a sob.

“By the stars I can be super pathetic at times. This was one of the those times. At least I got a good laugh out of Gusty before that healthy dose of karma smacked me in the face.”

Gusty managed to finally recover as the last mote of the purified white smoke started to blow away a nervous smile on her lips. She looked back and forth between Bunker and the ground. Bunker began snickering pridefully at his victory before attempting to comfort the past.

“It is ok striped one. You were great distraction!” He chortled out. “Maybe next time you hit enemies, da?” The bigger stallion broke into a full laughter. Gusty seemingly pleased with his suffering once again also started laughing.

“And there they go again. They are a rather nice matched set aren’t they. Both big, dumb, jerks. Perfect pair really. Yick. Oh, and now they are making out! By Celestia’s beard, Gusty! Slow down! You’ve known him for like six hours, does a guy fighting evil really turn you on that much? Ugh!”

“Hey wait...isn’t tomorrow in this set of memories the day that...oh no. No. No. No! Not again! Come on! Noooooo!”

A powerful wind of astral magic sucked Zeccaran towards a black vortex. He tried to claw on the ground with his hooves but found it a false surface as he flailed helplessly. The dark hole sucked him down into a blank expanse that was slowly filled with grey color. Somewhere deep inside of him Zeccaran was hoping that this new chromatic land was the end, but he knew better.

Author's Note

Official edit: 10-14-2017

Act 1: Chapter 5 - The Ouch Foal

“When performing an dreamwalk into the deep subconscious, it is alway important to leave yourself tells in order to bring yourself out of the memory, lest you be forced to relive it in its fullest form. This is especially important when examining your own subconscious. Nothing like reliving your own worst memories.”

-Princess Luna-

Chapter 5 - The Ouch Foal

“It seems I have acquired a passenger!” Luna proclaimed to herself. The Princess paused the dream she was watching to peer about the astral playground. Nopony was ejected from the projection she had been watching causing her to wonder if perhaps she had been hearing things.

“Get me off this merry-go-round of suffering!” shouted Zeccaran’s voice as if trying to overcome its distant echo. Luna snapped her head towards the sound which emanated from the memory she had been examining.

“Yes. Definitely a real passenger, a rather unfortunate one at that. How am I going to get him out of there?” Luna asked the air. “Deeper in I go, I suppose; since the fool has gotten himself stuck in his own subconscious.” She rolled her eyes at the zebra’s amatuer mistake, even though she probably should avoid considering his endeavors rash. It was impressive that he could even perform the magic necessary to travel the collective subconscious and land in his and Gusty’s dreams. It was likely her own dreamwalking that had kept him near himself instead of being catapulting into the great expanse of ponies’ dreams.

Luna drew a deep -breath to steady herself before she activated the memory again. The screen before her crackled to life as she viewed the world through Zeccaran’s eyes. They were still in the same clearing as before. The viewpoint looked around warily as if he was surprised by his safety and prosperity. Luna was unwilling to break the rest of the way into the memory at the moment. Instead she sat and waited as Zeccaran went through the motions of the past trying her best to figure the most efficient way to pull him out of the quagmire.

Grunts of pain accompanied the zebra’s movements as he slowly rolled over and onto his hooves. He looked down at where he had been laying in the dirt to see a large rock jutting up towards the sky. How he had managed to sleep on such an obvious protrusion was beyond Luna, especially with the frustration she could feel oozing from the memory.

“What exactly is he doing now?” She balked watching incredulously as Zeccaran started digging. The whim had seemingly been chosen as a get-out-of-bed ritual as the small boulder was uncovered in a fit of frustration. It took him quite a bit of time but eventually he heaved the massive rock out onto the grass with a triumphant huffing. He stood there, his view transfixed on the stone, Luna wondering how she had missed this portion of the memory the last ten times she had viewed it.

A sharp tingling sensation caused Luna to yelp in surprise. She snapped her head away from the memory she had been watching to scan her surroundings. Obviously finding nothing amiss in her personal realm she turned suspicious, pursed lips at the dream.

“I sense foul magics and nonsense. Now if only- Ah ha!” She smiled with pleasure. Around the image a fuzzy pink aura now glowed, its presence an indicator of powerful magics being cast on Zeccaran. It was one of her many failsafes, and one that had not been activated since Starlight Glimmer had accidently possessed the entire town of Ponyville during a botched experiment.

“How foolish of me.” Luna snickered at herself, “I forgot my own alert message! Maybe I should make it nice bell sound instead of a shock. Nah. I’d forget what it was if it was something that pleasant. Now, lets see what type of mind-altering magics Zeccaran got to experience!” she rubbed her hooves together enthusiastically. Secretly, Luna loved completing the complex puzzles of dark magics like possession they were always extremely interesting. Eagerly, she reactivated the memory the automatic stopper she had designed for her failsafe and began watching Zeccaran re-live the magics.

A sudden grunt came from where he had hefted the boulder. The voice was unfamiliar so the zebra naturally turned to look.The boulder from before lay placidly and nopony was to be seen. Zeccaran still even heard the snoring of Bunker back towards the smouldering fire. He turned back to face the lake to resume meditating.

“No! Do not turn away!” cried the voice of a stallion.

Zeccaran snapped his head back towards the rock. But still there was only a rock. No movement at all except for the grass dancing with the breeze. Rubbed his eyes and looked around still not seeing anything that would indicate another pony was nearby.

“Fear not brave zebra!” The voice came again seemingly from the rock. “You have pleased your rock overlord! Come- speak unto me great striped one!”

Even while observing, and laughing, Luna could tell that Zeccaran was clearly thinking he was hearing things. He was in fact hallucinating, but he was legitimately hearing the rock, despite the fact that the voice was coming from inside his head. The zebra tried to conquer this event by vigorously smacking himself in the face as he approached the stone. The boulder hummed a pleasant tune and ignored Zeccaran hitting himself content to continue its jaunty tune.

“What sort of terrible pony came up with this enchantment?!” Luna cackled at the original caster’s ingenuity. She would soon find out, such a powerful spell had to have been cast from nearby, and if anypony had an excellent six sense it was Gusty Twilight. The mare’s memories of the events following this one would be her next stop. Luna calmed herself enough to start watching Zeccaran and the rock again.

“Sooooo…” Zeccaran began. “What do you want from me? Oh, strange and mysterious rock god?” his voice seemed bored and empty, it probably could not be helped, he was after all talking to a rock.

“Zebra! Use your powers and fetch me some fish!” the tone declared. Zeccaran made a resigned sigh before turning around and casting his view over the lake. He walked calmly up to its edge before sprinting into the water as she sunk beneath the surface. A green flash overcame the image of the dream as Luna pondered what happened. Zeccaran’s dashed through the lake at incredible speed. His front hooves had become the claws of a bear which he used to gather fish as he had been instructed. Making a sharp turn towards an unsuspecting group of bottom feeders Luna spied a tail of a fish attached to Zeccaran where his lower body should have been. Luna grimaced in confusion slowly piecing together what she was witnessing.

“Is...is that a bear...fish?” She said while staring. “Wait a moment….oh! Zeccaran can shapeshift into animals. Hmm. I guess that’s not unlike a changeling, but he doesn’t seem to be able to do inanimate objects or other ponies. Perhaps it is a special type of Zebra magic. That is an area of magic sister and I have rather neglected studying. We should make a point of doing that, soon.” She blathered her thoughts to herself.

By the time she finished figuring out that she was witnessing something new and unique, Zeccaran had returned to shore. With another flash of green of magic he became his usual zebra self before trotting over the rock and depositing the mass of fish atop the stone’s flat surface.

“Behold my lord, fish for your consumption!” He proclaimed with a flourish, playing along or having already lost control. The rock hummed thoughtfully, as if it was contemplating another task for him. “Chew up the fishes for me, my acolyte! Do so and be rewarded!” It chortled.

“Whoever is behind this curse really needs to be found and stopped. They are simply too good at doing terrible things to ponies’ minds! My goodness!” Luna grumbled. She turned from the sight of Zeccaran chewing up and spitting out fish, gagging. Things were certainly taking a turn for the worst for the zebra.

“I need to get him out of there, no more sense of making him going through this all over again. I’ve seen all that I needed to see anyway.” She said, blushing at her own vanity. Luna cast her magic into the memory-dream. The long white-silver tendril entered the portal altering it into a picture of Zeccaran and the rock. The magic made its way towards Zeccaran who was still chewing fish. It contacted his head just as he began to consciously feel his grip on reality slipping. Luna grunted in shock and disgust at having all of the zebra’s ludicrous sensations being forced into her mind.

Zeccaran vaguely looked at the pink sky and neon blue trees and decided: this is fine. Its juuuuusst fine. He mused over their now shared thoughts. The rock roared with delight and merriment, it kept doing this as Zeccaran patiently waited for his next task, enjoying the taste of raw fish. Luna begged to differ but had no control over what the connection sent her. She could hear somepony yelling Zeccaran’s name, but was too preoccupied with trying to wrench him from the mess and free herself from the taste of fish to listen.The zebra otherwise continued his vomiting of the gooey contents of his mouth onto his overlord as Gusty Twilight became annoying enough to garner his interest.

“HEY!” She yelled into his ear, “What-What are you doing??” She was completely exasperated. Her look of disgust was blatant and unrefined. What was he doing? Serving his hero-god of course! Thus, he informed her. “I’m chewing the food for my rock overlord!” Gusty just stood there gaping. She turned a little more green than blue against her normal teal coat, looking down at the fish wads on the rock.

Luna coughed and spluttered as she started to pull with all her might to get Zeccaran out of his subconscious. The horrid taste of the foul fish almost enough to knock her from her astral realm. Zeccaran’s sheer natural might in the dream magics made his consciousness pull back against her tugs. Luna gritted her teeth and resumed her work doing her best to ignore the hallucinations and the fetid taste of raw fish.

The rock greeted Gusty like some old Shakespony actor: “What-Ho!? Who is this my dear acolyte? Neigh do not tell me, she cannot know of our bond. She is a non-believer! Lest she be converted!” it cried. Luna found it terribly distracting, forcing her to become fully one with Zeccaran’s memory.

Gusty froze, her face locked in a blank reaction. She stared back and forth between Zeccaran and the rock. Eventually she regained her composure enough to speak. “Uhh...right. Zec, you know Bunker is-no! No. Gunther is missing right? We noticed he stopped barking and-”

She continued but Zeccarn had stopped paying attention. Instead he felt as if he was losing control of his bodily functions. He turned and vomited whilst simultaneously farting with such force Zeccaran swore his flanks caught air.

When he looked back up at Gusty she was not Gusty anymore. Instead a red and green tentacle beast with fangs replaced her. The sky flashed yellow and he could taste fear as it yelled. Paralyzed with confusion and insanity, Zeccaran yelled back. Suddenly a blue and pink stone golem approached and growled. The tentacle monster swung its left four arms in his direction shrieking and screaming.

At this motion the stone golem pounced on Zeccaran. His great weight and awful stone hooves pounding into the small zebras face and stomach. It hurt, but frankly he was too scared to notice how much it hurt and kept screaming and struggling. Futilely he flailed. He kept getting beat the more he struggled. Eventually the world became a grey blur and Zeccaran was certain he had finally died. He relaxed and rejoiced in death’s embrace only to be shaken back into the world of the living this time by some sort of amalgamation between pony and ice cream sundae.

Zeccaran screamed again. He sounded incoherent even to himself. The pummeling continued until there was nothing left but pain and confusion. It went on this way for quite some time. He lost track of time and the day dissipated into his imagination…

“OH I DON’T THINK SO!” Luna shrieked at the last moment before being drug down the path of insanity with Zeccaran. Regaining some control from her outburst the Princess of the Night stopped being gentle. This was her realm, her sacred task, and some stupid little spell would not stop her from helping Zeccaran.

She yanked on the mental tendril she had sent to the zebra. It went taut until she pulled again. Luna reared back and concentrated all her mental force on maintaining control of the reality she knew: This was the dream world, and she was its master. The magic of the past yielded to her as she took to using her wings. The portal into Zeccaran’s subconscious began to bulge and buckle as she continued to draw on her line.

With a final tremendous heave Luna felt the walls of the zebra’s subconsciousness collapse in on themselves. Zeccaran came flying towards her, the screen she had been watching absorbed and forming his body. He was screaming hysterically as if he was still reliving his past and his flailing persona hit her mid-air causing them both to be knocked down onto the floor of the empty expanse. Luckily there was no pain in her astral realm and Luna sat up with the small striped stallion in her lap still screaming incoherently, his eyes closed.

“Zeccaran!” she shouted at him. He stopped yelling instantly and opened up one eye and looked up at her. He hastily removed himself from her lap, bowing deeply.

“Princess! Thank you so much for saving me from that horrible dream.” he murmured quietly. He bowed his head even deeper until his muzzle was almost underneath his chest. “This has been absolutely horrible, reliving this...this memory, this nightmare. I am just so relieved!” he panted finally raising his head.

Luna smiled at him gently, surprised and somewhat embarrassed by his subservient nature. She walked across the non-ground of shifting blues and extended a hoof down to him. Zeccaran gingerly took it, kissed it and pull himself up. It took everything she had not to blush, it had not been since Twilight Sparkle had a pony revered her formally. Meanwhile Zeccaran peered around his purple eyes bright with excitement.

“Oh this place! I was here earlier before I got stuck in...my own mind? I’m not sure, where did the doors go to? They were sitting right here” the zebra asked. Her realm moved without her permission and a pair of doors slid in from seemingly nowhere. Luna gasped as she recognized Zeccaran’s and Gusty’s dream-consciousness being pulled into place next to them.

“Here they are! Ask and thou shalt receive. Heh.” Zeccaran nodded approvingly at his natural talent. The Princess stared at him in awe, amazed at his skill. It had originally taken her months to learn how to properly summon specific doors and this striped fool had done it on accident! She lowered her head in pouty anger trying to not snap at the otherwise unfortunate zebra. He had not been given his talents as a gift as she had, but rather a curse, a mirror into his past life. She drew in a deep breath before speaking to him again.

“Yes. How long have you been visiting my realm, dear Zeccaran?” she asked suspiciously. The zebra visibly looked nervous as she eyed him. He shrunk down from her squishing his body uncomfortably onto his sitting flanks.

“If I had to make a realistic guess….probably at least since I started working in the palace. I-I didn’t know I was doing it though! Everything has been super weird, I swear!” He narrowly responded through a pained grimace.

“Very well,” Luna began, “then we shall consider your previous internment as punishment enough for trespassing. Now…” she paused. “I had been doing some research on Gusty again, if you would like to help me, it would be most appreciated. Especially since you were present for the events I have been examining.”

“Of course. I’d love to!” Zeccaran nodded in response. Luna rolled her eyes at him. Perhaps if she did not know his past nor had interest in other stallions she would find him to be a agreeable suitor. No other pony, besides herself of course, was capable of Astral Magic like Zeccaran and that opened up a wealth of possibilities. One such possibility was teaching the zebra how to help with ponies’ dreams and subconsciousnesses. She grinned pleased that it could give her some much needed free time during the night.

“Good.” she nodded. “It would be best to start now then, but perhaps we should stick to Gusty’s mind. Considering that you...went insane for a the next half a day.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m just glad you saved me when you did. It got much worse after that.” Zeccaran glowered looking away. Luna covered up her smile quickly. She would have to keep the part where she had watched longer than she should have a secret. To help distract her companion from her up and coming snickers, Luna cast her magic on the door that led into Gusty’s consciousness. The great foreboding stone portal glowed with its dark aura trying to resist her approach.

The strange malignancy that surrounded Gusty’s mind had always been a mystery to Luna. It was far more powerful than the hallucinogenic spell she had just witnessed the young Amethyst cast on Zeccaran in the memory, but it behaved strangely. That darkness was oily and slippery, capable of sliding out of her grasp every time she tried to examine it. It had proven to be quite the source of frustration for the princess as it was the last portion of Gusty’s mind that she had to analyze for Stormwalker. The magic behaved in a manner she had never seen before and unlike any described in any of Twilight Sparkle’s extensive library of magical physics and spell properties reference guides. Luna watched the black cloud skirt around the edge of her magic tendril and let her touch the door without incident. Solving the mystery of the aforementioned curse on Gusty was the most important thing she could do, but without any leads she was reduced to continually rewatching memories. She futilely prepared to review the familiar scene to see if she missed any important or even seemingly useless details.

Fully activated, Luna’s magic pulled Zeccaran and herself into Gusty’s subconscious. As a flurry of images and sensations assaulted them she guided them to just after the incident where she had saved Zeccaran. They slowly manifested as see-through spectres floating behind the big teal mare. Luna’s skills were significantly more refined than Zeccaran’s and this allowed her to generate the entire world while maintaining a connection to the original consciousness. Zeccaran jumped in surprise next to her as he recognized he was feeling what Gusty was feeling. Luna gave him a short knowing giggle. It took incredible will to not be rendered a babbling mess from such a connection and for a mortal like Zeccaran it was doubly impressive. She pointed back at Gusty and the scene of the zebra himself laying on the ground whilst Bunker held him down. The ruddy burgundy vagabond’s face was pinched in concern as Gusty barked out orders to hit Zeccaran...

Gusty watched earnestly hoping the next time Zeccaran came to he would say a sentence without the words “gravy crazy” in it. From underneath Bunker’s full body Zeccaran’s eyes snapped open and his voice boomed out. “ Cotton candy, evil mix ginger mammy!” Bunker hit him again, again the zebra went limp. Gusty shook her head in dismay.

The magic that muddled Zeccaran’s mind was far from weak. It seemed to evolve as well, changing the zebra’s perception of reality every time he woke. She assumed a spell that powerful required its caster to maintain direct visual contact with the affected, but it Gusty could see nopony in the immediate area, or even any evidence of cover good enough to hide a wizard. Gusty the remembered the wizard probably had made her or himself invisible. That was when she heard Gunther bark.

“Stay here, and…” Gusty stopped as Bunker hit Zeccaran in the mouth just as he started to scream. “Keep trying to knock some sense into him. Who knows, it might actually work. Though, he’ll be really ugly by the time you are done, so don’t hit him too hard!” Bunker turned around and gave her a mischievous grin. He banged his forehooves together with a hardy clop,

“Don’t wohrry, I’ll make sure to hit both sides of his striped head da same amount.” Gusty snorted and rolled her eyes at Bunker, who just laughed dumbly in return.

Luna felt Zeccaran shift uncomfortably next to her. She hazarded a glance at him to see him rubbing his jaw with both hooves, eyes locked in a pensive look at Bunker. Luna would admit: Zeccaran had been a nicer looking stallion than most, that was up until he had his face nearly broken. She would have to recommend magical reconstruction for him later, it was not fair that he had gotten hit so much.

Gusty began moving where she had heard the coniferous canine call. There was a large fern that was growing in the middle of the open field where they had camped. Gunther was tall enough to easily be seen standing or running in the tan grass of the meadow, meaning he had to be on the other side of the bush. Gusty trotted quickly over to the location and began to hear the soft voice of a filly.

Puzzled by the sound of a youth in this wilderness, Gusty dashed around the fern in a full gallop, hoping to catch her quarry by surprise. Pivoting hard, she used her wings to keep her balance on the muddy ground. She came upon an area of flattened grass and a floating Gunther surrounded by a pink telekinetic field. A shrill gasp echoed in the otherwise quiet field and Gunther was lifted up and away to reveal a small foal, eyes wide.

The youngster had a mangy cream-colored coat and a messy light-pink mane. She looked thin, underfed. Her eyes were a bright-lavender sparkling with shock at Gusty’s advent. The young filly took a few cautious steps back, looking about nervously, her mane swinging hard has she did. Eventually she settled on a defeated sigh and looked down at the ground.

A sharp gasp made Luna pause what she was watching. Zeccaran stared on at Amethyst his eyes burning like fire, his mouth drawn into an angry growl.

“ARGH!” Zeccaran bit at the air. “I knew it! I didn’t wanna believe it but it was her! I’ll never let that pesky foal borrow one of my books again!” he yelled. Luna jumped in surprise at his angry outburst. She tried to no look at him but found herself flipping her eyes between the ground and his red-with-anger as he heaved in haggard breaths. It was easily the angriest she had ever seen him He inhaled a deep breath just as harsh as his first and exhaled. His face returned to its normal black and white and he turned to look at her, his face betraying his discontent.

“Tell me, Princess...isn’t Amethyst enrolled in your sister’s school for Unicorns?” he questioned her. Surprised by the inquiry, Luna blinked at him in confusion before realizing she had the answer.

“Of course. Why do ask?” she asked back. Zeccaran pursed his lips and rolled his tongue tentatively around his mouth, bulging his cheeks.. “Who is her sponsor then? I know you can’t get enrolled, no matter how good you are without one. Not even with Amethyst’s level of skill” Luna cast another suspicious glare at him. Sometimes she could see exactly why the Cult of the Night had chosen the stallion as their chief priest. He was thorough and deceptively insightful with his observations and questions. It was decidedly a good thing that she had helped turn him away from his dark past. Having an enemy like this zebra had proven fatal to many a good Nightwatch agent and soldier. Luna smiled, pleased that Zeccaran was now on the right side of the law and morality. He could play the Fool as much as he wanted and it would only bring to light the evils of the world this time, not hide them away.

“Hey. Are you gonna answer or….did I lose you there?” the zebra in question prodded into her thoughts. He was just short of sounding annoyed, masked by an air of concern. “My apologies. I was contemplating some of your more important qualities and judging whether or not I should tell you.” she recovered with a glance away from him. She made sure to smile just wide enough for him to see it behind her mane.

“Oh,” he balked, “I’m surprised you were taking so long to make a decision...but that doesn’t answer my question: who is Amethyst’s sponsor?” he persisted just as carefully skirting her comment. Luna reminded herself that if her wayward zebra friend had history with you, he had a tendency to push his limits when he would otherwise be reserved. She gave him his answer:

“Amethyst’s sponsor is, big surprise, Stormwalker.” she told him. Zeccaran squinted his eyes to the point where they were not really open in response. He pulled his neck back and rubbed his ears before continuing. “You’re serious aren’t you? Like he actually is her sponsor isn’t he? Don’t answer-it’s rhetorical. I’m just...feeling a bit stupefied by that fact.”

Luna giggled at him. His reaction was only natural, all things considered. Equestria’s resident demon went out of his way to not appear as soft as he was in front of his friends and peers. Considering that that group of ponies totalled no more than five and everypony else knew rather defeated the prideful facade he always used. He had not needed much to convince Gusty of his “malcontent” but she had figured Zeccaran had already seen through it.

“What are you going to tell me next, that he is her legal guardian?” Zeccaran asked dramatically. He had either been coming to the conclusion that he actually understood Stormwalker, that or he was phenomenally good at guessing. Luna grimaced plainly as she looked at her zebra companion who went from smiling to an empty slack-jawed expression.

“Uh...good guess?” she smiled sheepishly at him. He responded by slamming his hooves up into his face and groaning. “Why did I ask? I...I should have just not worried about it. Had to be curious, didn’t I?” he chastised himself from behind his muffling hooves. He clearly wanted to know, but for what it was worth he was regretting what appeared to be small loss of sanity.

“Just...just let's get back to this memory, before you tell me that Gusty is the female half of that document.” he moped. Before she could stop herself she responded with a confirming, “Uhh…” Zeccaran looked up at her in his greatest dismay yet.

“No…..Luna. No. I don’t wanna know how he managed to get her to sign the paperwork, I don’t wanna even...just start the memory, please, and we will both pretend that isn’t something we talked about or know, okay?”

“Sounds good, because I don’t know either. The stallion is a miracle worker.” She responded shaking her head. “Now...where were we? Ah! Amethyst, for the first time, curious little foal, even more curious now-”

“Luna.”

“Sorry couldn’t help myself.” she rattled off as she giggled. She unpaused the memory and if flared to life. The filly that troubled Zeccaran so stood defiantly looking at Gusty. An air of confusion could be felt by the older pony as Amethyst spoke up.

“Ok, lady. You caught me.” the little mangy foal said. She turned her head up and looked Gusty straight in the eye with a determination as hard as steel. “But you don’t scare me!”

Gusty balked, her jaw falling open. In the next instant the small foal fired a series of magical bolts from her horn. They were each the classic red beam surrounded by blue electricity that denoted a stun bolt. Gusty mentally prepared herself for being knocked unconscious by a foal. The three bolts hit Gusty at nearly the same time, each administering a hardy jolt of prickling electricity. But, Gusty did not pass out. In fact, beyond their initial impact she felt perfectly normal. She opened her eyes perplexed by her otherwise normal state.

The filly stood gawking. She was blubbering, her mushy words making little sense. her eyes betraying her fear, slowly teared on their outermost edges. “No..no! That’s wrong! That always works!” She spat out hysterically. Gusty flashed her a dastardly smile. The mare noticed the young filly had yet to take notice of her race. Gusty also knew most folks in Equestria possessed a healthy reverence and sometimes fear for alicorns. So, she jumped on it.

“Do you really think...your magic...would affect an alicorn, little filly?” She mulled out slowly. The youth’s eyes widened and tears more readily flowed from her lavender eyes. Gusty did not actually want her to cry. Both fortunately and unfortunately she had a pretty big soft spot for children. Instinctively, she pulled the foal up in her magic and floated her to her hooves. Still, Gusty was not quite ready to drop her act of the mighty immortal being just yet.

“She really has a propensity for performance. It is a decided wonder that Gusty did not get her sorry flanks stunned into next week. Amethyst must have exceeded her limit of control while trying to balance her Dominate Mind spell and those stunbolts.” Luna commented.

“The mere fact that she almost managed it should be plenty disturbing. Not that Gusty thinks things through; she typically just glides by on the skin of her teeth. In this case it just happened to work out for her. There will be a really great example of what happens when things don’t go her way about twelve more hours into this memory.” Zeccaran surmised.

“True enough, for now we shall watch this out. Let me know if anything stands out to you.” she nodded in agreement with his description. Luna let the memory continue as Gusty spoke to Amethyst.

“Worry not, small one. I will forgive you if you tell me your name, and who taught you to hurl stun bolts at strangers.” She said to the foal. The filly quivered in a mixture of surprise and shock. She did not form clear words in the least. Gusty guessed that she was likely around eight years of age and the magic she was performing made her a prodigy. She waited for the foal to calm enough to say her piece. Gusty cradled her against her chest and stroked her mane as she lower her flanks to sit in the prairie grass.

“I’-I..My name is Amethyst. A-Amethyst Scar.” Amethyst stuttered out pitifully. “A-and. My mother taught me those spells.” Gusty raised an eyebrow in concern. The little filly’s mother had taught her child to attack when discovered and produce witchcraft vile enough to directly influence ponies’ sanity? Hardly a decision a responsible parent would make.

Gusty turned her attention back the whimpering Gunther who was still floating a short distance away. “Well, Amethyst. That aside I’m going to need that timberwolf back.” It was going to be the nice thing she did for Zeccaran this year, getting his dog back. Then she would tease her striped friend about it until he went insane from that instead.

“But...I thought he was wild...I’ve even named him! Woody! Woody is his name.” Amethyst said. Gunther chortled out a pitiful yelp. Gusty caught herself grinning and forced herself to stop. She had to look stern, even if Amethyst’s name was better. The little filly needed guidance not encouragement. Stealing and playing mean tricks on ponies were not positive behaviors. She put on her best authoritative and scolding adult face especially since Amethyst seemed to be recovering from Gusty being an alicorn. Then the questions started.

“Wait, are you a princess?”“No, I-”

“I thought only princesses were alicorns. Then what are you, surely at least a noble?”

“Child I’m not a nob-”

“Then what’s your name? Why are you out here all alone with a timberwolf as a pet? Who does that anyway? Who is that big dumb looking stallion? How about the zebra? My mama will wanna talk to him I thi-mm!”

Gusty covered Amethyst’s mouth with a hoof and lowered the filly to the ground.

She kept her hoof over the child’s mouth as she let go and took a deep breath to calm herself. She kept it there while speaking:

“My name is Gusty Twilight dear child. I am a follower of Origin, the god of Creation. I am upset that you are alone here in the wilderness and wish to help you, but your many questions are making that difficult. So know that I am nothing more than a friend that wants to help you..and get my dog back.”

“I have a question this time.” Luna interrupted the dreamscape. She turned to look at Zeccaran directly, “Who exactly is Origin? Gusty references this...individual quite often in her memories. I feel like they are of inordinate importance to properly understanding what is wrong with Gusty.”

Zeccaran hummed and cast a scrutinizing look towards the nothingness. “While I’m not particularly that well read, “ he paused, “I do know that Gusty describes Origin as the mother of all alicorns...that she is supposed to guard her children...all powerful, but subtle. I’m not sure she is even a real religion anymore. The only pony who ever talks about her is Gusty...It’s almost like she made it up but…” he trailed off brow furled in thought.

Luna let him think while she reviewed her own information internally. She was aware of the information he had described already, however she had nothing more than that either. Stormwalker had initially been surprised about the information but otherwise had been keeping his mouth shut as if he knew more than he was telling. Luna had thought this strange at first but with the stallion’s overall behavior change after Gusty’s appearance she had no way to measure his motivations anymore. This had been a major source of frustration for Luna.

She had personally witnessed the tragedies that Stormwalker had survived. She had watched him slowly degrade from the young chipper stallion she had met upon her return to a dark brooding figure that showed little genuine concern for anypony or anything. He had lost many friends over his lifetime and several lovers by murder or magic. Luna felt supremely jealous that just meeting Gusty had seemingly pulled him from the dark pit he had slipped into after the first time he had entered The Cave. She could not blame the stallion for his previous foul mood, for what had happened remained something truly unspeakable. However, that did nothing to help her understand what he saw in Gusty.

“Luna!” Zeccaran yelled causing her to jump. She had done it again.

“Sorry, sorry...I often get accused of spending too much time in this realm thinking…” she responded embarrassed. Luna often found herself easily distracted with the thought of Stormwalker, these days it was the worst it had ever been. A stray thought of the stallion could derail everything she was doing.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really saying anything important...just some unlikely speculations on Gusty’s “Origin” it was more an open thought. Kinda glad you missed it. Probably sounded stupid.” Zeccaran consoled her.

“I doubt what you said was stupid, but before I get lost in thought again, let us return to the task at hoof.” she said to him. Zeccaran nodded approvingly as she kicked the memory off again. Before them Gusty and Amethyst unfroze and continued their conversation about Gunther, or Woody if one was Amethyst.

Gusty removed her hoof from the little filly’s finally silent mouth. Amethyst stood leaning to one side staring between Gusty and Gunther. She retained this thoughtful look for a short time before inspiration sparkled in her eyes as she let out a quick gasp.

“Oh oh oh!” she danced merrily bouncing between hooves. “Okay! You can have Woody back. But you have to come get him later tonight. I’m not done playing with him yet.”

Gusty raised an eyebrow in concern.

“My mama will want to meet you, too! So come to that big hill over there by the east side of the lake.” Amethyst pointed toward the thicker portion of the forest and a ridge of sharp hills. Gusty went to interject about how she was to find Amethyst but was interrupted by the filly.

“Just go right to the base of the hill, straight from here, there will be a big iron door there, with lots of cool carvings in the stone around it: I’ll be waiting there with Woody.” Amethyst finished merrily.

“How is this a fair deal to me after what you did to my zebra friend?” Gusty asked pointedly. She was not about to out bargained by a foal..

“Oh! Bring him too. And the magic should wear off soon...I think?” the filly shrugged with a grimace.

Gusty frowned at Amethyst’s foreboding words. Though there was not much the mare could do with the prodigy, at least not yet. Not until Gusty found out what type of parenting she was receiving for certain, she would not separate the foal from her mother. After giving her look of disapproval to the young Amethyst. Gusty begrudgingly accepted. The filly merrily skipped in the direction she had indicated humming and levitating the upset looking Gunther alongside her.

Gusty lazily returned to Bunker and the captive Zeccaran. She found that Zeccaran was unconscious finally and seemed to be more himself. The Zebra had evidently taken quite the number of punches before succumbing to the bludgeoning. His head in general was swollen and bruised. It appeared that he could not see from the swelling around his eyes and his mouth was stuck open from likely a broken jaw. Gusty resolved to patch him up later with her magic once he woke up and was not crazy.

The memory faded out as Luna adjust for the time change and the next area of significance came into view was the trio of ponies hiding in the bushes. They stood nearby the very same door Amethyst had described. Next to her Zeccaran shifted his hooves and leaned closer watching intently as the memory picked up this time with a definitively more zebra flair to it.

Zeccaran poked his nose cautiously out of the bush he was hiding in. This certainly looked like the place Gusty had described. Big, iron door, menacing aura about it and the various runes carved into the smooth stone face of the hill. It was the only area in this forest like it. It actually was only one of three sites in Equestria, but he felt like there was no proper way to explain his knowledge of that so kept it to himself. It had always been some sort of strange memory that returned only when stimulated. He was unsure how it worked but that’s how it had been for years now. Gusty already had begun to question his identity and Zeccaran was certain that she would kill him if he didn’t manage to tell her everything soon. It wasn’t too pressing of a matter though. Gusty was always overzealous. He was more concerned with his wayward dog.

He wondered where Gunther was, unsure if his brief bout of insanity had made up the location of his animal companion. Really, he felt that he might be dreaming and he was still unconscious somewhere by that lake, or dead. However, he did clearly remember that Gunther was to be somewhere right by the door. Zeccaran looked again but failed recognize anything that was Gunther-like. As such, he gave a short sharp whistle into the evening murk and was rewarded with a crisp bark and Gunther bounding out from behind a tree. Bursting from cover he ran towards his dog. Gunther pawed at him eagerly his front legs in the air from the collar that tied to the tree he had been hiding behind. He tackled his wooden companion and received many affectionate licks.

“Well we found Gunther.” Gusty said slowly approaching from where she had been hiding too. “Now all we have to do is find Amethyst.” Bunker strode up beside her as Zeccaran tried to look around past Gunther’s happy onslaught.

The forest they were in was filled with oaks and yews. Their tall branches just starting to show the signs of fall. This place was secluded. No path of trodden grass or the setting sun could be seen here. The trees, too, provided a natural sound barrier, as wind rushed through their leaves causing a cascading rustling to erupt around them. It was too nice a place, used to disguise the hideous darkness in that cave.

“I think it’s time we go in.” Gusty chimed. She drew her sword with her magic at the same time. Bunker pulled his axe off his back as well, leaving Zeccaran armed only with Gunther in his hooves. “Zebra-...err. Zeccaran” Gusty continued. “Let’s go.” Offended that Gusty somehow kept forgetting his name, Zeccaran protested.

“Seriously? How do you keep messing that up?” he glowered.

“I’m forgetful ok?” Gusty shifted her eyes nervously.

“I’ve known you for almost a year!”he exaggerated.

“Well, you don’t talk much.” as she rolled her eyes

“I talk all the time, you just don’t listen!” Zeccaran yelled back to no avail.

“Shut up and free your dog.” Gusty glowered as she walked off.

Zeccaran grunted in frustration and went to cut the rope binding Gunther to the tree he was by. Usually rope gave way quickly to his sickle but this rope was particularly stubborn. In fact, Zeccaran was certain he was not making any progress at all.

“Uhh, I think we have a problem.” He said before he began trying to bite the rope. He regretted this decision immediately. While flexible the rope was like biting into steel. Zeccaran hoped he did not harm his teeth and recovered as Gusty turned to ask questions.

“Not my smartest moment: biting into enchanted rope. Nope. Not a good move.” Zeccaran said next to her. Luna just smiled at him, a foolhardy but at least classic decision in the moment. The memory continued as Gusty trotted up, horn aglow.

“Why? Is it enchanted or something?” She promptly began trying to snap the rope with her telekinesis. Zeccaran watched as the rope retaliated with an electrical bolt. It zapped Gusty with a quick crackle causing her to lose control of her magic grip.

“Yep. Enchanted.” she winced, smoke rising from her horn. “Leave him. If Amethyst made that enchantment I’m not breaking it. We’ll have to find her first.” Zeccaran sighed defeated. Gusty was right, that little unicorn was a prodigy, she was probably the only one that could remove the magic. “Ok, I’m coming.”

The whole time, Bunker had been prying the old iron door open with Gusty’s crowbar. Zeccaran watched as he finished, the hinge bolts lay on the ground. With a mighty push and a gruff yell he forced the bolts of its lock apart. He opened the door easily afterwards, a smug grin on his face. Zeccaran went to enter the cave to destroy the illusion of peace the forest gave only to be halted by one of the brutes big hooves. “Wife goes first.” he said. It was perhaps his most gentlecolt-like gesture yet.

Gusty giggled in her “I’m-too-awkward-and-forward-for-chivalry” way and entered the door. Bunker trailed immediately behind, leaving Zeccaran to wave sadly at his trapped timberwolf and enter last.

The cave was dark but lit well enough to show the pony-made architecture. Zeccaran looked up at the intricate crossbars of the stout passage. They were carved out of the granite of the cave, curvy designs depicted the moon, a cat’s eye and stars. They appeared every two meters stretching seemingly forever. In some areas the crossbars had moss hanging from them, helping to emphasize the heavy humid air. The stench of mildew and decay assaulted Zeccaran’s nose, but somehow they were familiar. Too much had happened recently, and the memories of the past blurred together so badly that they threatened to overtake the zebra’s conscious body. The sole source of resistance he had was focusing completely on the task before him, and by doing so repressing those thoughts entirely.

He moved forward, faster than either Gusty or Bunker. He felt he knew the passages of these liars, and he would take his comrades to their heart and rip it out, he owed Gusty that much at least. As they moved down the hall, abruptly the lights around them winked out at once. Before he could stop himself, Zeccaran found himself hitting something hard. It made a bhwaahm! sound that only a magical force field could.

“Felt I knew! Ha! I used to literally be their boss. I am...disappointed I wasn’t able to remember on my own. Would have certainly helped out with the walking directly into a trap.” the zebra grumbled next to Luna. She rolled her eyes and smiled. Zeccaran was only to remember things when it was time, that was how it was to be. When she had granted him his pardon, the price was her control of his darker memories and his knowledge of them.

“Show yourselves!” Gusty boomed. She lit up the area with a light spell. It did little to stifle back the surrounding darkness. But it gave enough light to show that they were surrounded by a black barrier behind and in front of their position in the hallway.

An unknown stallion’s voice rang out, ripe with evil laughter. “Look who came crawling back! It’s the zebra!” “Give them the special treatment!” another echoed at nearly the same time. A third more sagely voice finished. “The Priestess will love having him unsullied for torture later. And that alicorn should prove quite useful for our purposes as well…”

“Cowards! Come out and fight!” Both Bunker and Gusty cried out in seeming unison. Zeccaran was going to say something to the same effect but suddenly found himself yawning. Bunker then fell right over. Zeccaran thought this only slightly strange at first but his mind kicked back on just long enough to yell a warning yawn to Gusty who seemed to be faring the best.

“Sleep gasszzz….” He stuttered as his legs went limp on their own. Gusty’s face showed with a slow recognition, she began channelling a spell. It quickly went out. Zeccaran felt the world go dark, his last thought as he watched Gusty collapse was a simple one: CRAP.

The memory ended again and Luna cast a glance back over to Zeccaran. He retained a brooding look as he rubbed his chin. He caught her eyes and motioned for her to continue to the next section. She hoped that they would come across something soon, or perhaps the events of The Cave would spur Zeccaran to a conclusion she had not reached. A sneaky grin perked up her mouth and caused her companion to issue a small grunt of inquiry.

“Now it's time for my favorite stallion. The fun is about to be doubled!” Luna decreed as they zipped through to Gusty’s mind. She just could not help herself.

Act 1: Chapter 6 - The Cave and the Cultists

Author's Note

Official edit: 10-14-2017

Its not always a good idea to fight the secret boss...

Act 1: Chapter 6 - The Cave and the Cultists

“One would be surprised with exactly how many fringe religious sites there are in Equestria. They always meet in secret and even some of the best Nightwatch agents had trouble infiltrating their ‘family.’ And that magic they use...as dangerous as it is incredible.”

-G.A.S.-

Chapter 6 - The Cave and The Cultists

Zeccaran shook his head to clear the sensation of “Astral Nausea” he had contracted. Luna was significantly more skilled at piloting about somepony’s unconscious mind and her speed made him feel extremely queasy. Before him the world came into focus with a startling clarity and he was now viewing events from Gusty’s eyes. He watched her sea-foam mane barely visible, framing her vision. He was not in control of this roller coaster and let all the emotions and senses of his friend wash over him becoming Gusty as much as she was in the moments he experienced. He wondered when and where Luna would stop to converse, he could probably handle being a mare, but not this particular one.

Gusty awoke, her individual hooves pulled away from her in four different directions. Her neck was free but felt heavier than normal. She could feel something moderately warm feeling and actually quite heavy sitting right at the base of her horn. She looked around as her eyes adjusted to the magic-lit room. It was a rather plain room, lacking the carvings of the entrance they had last been in, its grey stone stern and intimidating. From her dangling position, Gusty saw that there was a single door leading in and out. It was made of a very heavy iron and looked about a foot thick. She also found that she had been stripped of her armor and skirt and was spread out very unflatteringly. Gusty was at least very comfortable with her body, but she typically liked some clothes compared to the standard pony nudity.

She was quickly able to find Bunker and Zeccaran who were in much the same position she was in. They were still asleep from the gas that had brought them down. Gusty was glad it was just powerful sleep gas, she had assumed it was poisonous, but evidently not. She then decided to give the chains a pull to see if perhaps one of the links or the fixture was not structurally sound.

The chains, however, had their own idea. With the same amount of force she had pulled on them with; the bindings pulled on Gusty's body. The event tightened her muscles and her joints but she had not struggled hard enough to make the tension uncomfortable.

Her next plan was to try magic. Upon trying to manipulate the chains sharp pain began to build in her forehead right at the base of her horn. She kept trying until the pain was completely unbearable. When she stopped she had gained a headache. The sensation of heat on her horn had also increased. Whatever was up there was probably why should couldn’t cast any spells. Gusty snorted in annoyance and dismay. It was enough to rouse Zeccaran. He always had been a light sleeper since Gusty had met him.

He looked about, his body rigid, not twitching or pulling the shackles even in the slightest. "Where are we? Do you remember anything?" He asked as his chains slowly spun him enough to half-face Gusty.

"No, idea. I would suppose deeper in their compound." She guessed. "Well, yeah...ughh...that really isn't good." He grimaced in response.

"Do you know these cultists or something? I heard one of them mention "it's the zebra!" before I passed out." she questioned.

"I...I really don't know, all I remember that it's a very dark part of my history. They lied to me, or I lied to myself. I..I did some really bad things. The point is: I'm pretty sure they worship Nightmare Moon, an entity of darkness and evil that perverts the purpose of Princess Luna."

"Princess Luna? Is she a regent in this country? Things have gotten confusing for me after all this time.." She mused.

"How old are you? Anyway, yea, she and Celestia are the rulers of Equestria. How did you miss that?" Zeccaran just gawked at her in disgust once he finished. "I've traveled the world and known the royalty of many nations. I just needed to have my memory jogged. They control the sun and the moon and they make the world work here in Equestria and everywhere else I guess. I got it, don't worry." Gusty tried to make herself feel better about forgetting.

"Good.... well, any ideas on how to get out of here with that horn limiter on you? I mean...well...I have used all of my magic for the day at least anything that would help us out. If I use more I'll explode due to feedback." Zeccaran sighed. Gusty shook her head in response. She wondered about Zeccaran's past. She then thought about some of her own. Everything seemed like one big blur. How long had it been? She honestly could not remember.

She remembered many lovers, many children...but none of them were alive anymore...or she did not think they were anyway. Everything seemed spotty like she was looking through a broken kaleidoscope.. She decided to focus on the present like she always did. It never did seem to have repercussions when she pushed the memories away.

The world slowed to a extreme crawl and Luna’s voice echoed over the scene. “Interesting. You have brought us deeper in, Zeccaran! Impressive! Judging from those ‘thoughts’ it is certain Gusty has a connection to her memories, and our most recent meeting was not a fluke. Marvelous! Let us continue!” She quipped as the world spun back into regular motion

Meanwhile as Gusty had hung placidly recalling her past a grunt came from her left, Bunker had awoke. He struggled about and promptly was pulled tighter. Zeccaran laughed at him. The zebra of course knew exactly what these enchanted chains did. He simply found it amusing. It was also a subtle way to get at the brute for punching him so much, whether or not it had benefited Zeccaran in the end. He even taunted the stallion.

"Come on big guy. You are stronger than that! PULL." He joked."ARRRGG...eeeh....eep. Whhhyy. Do t'ese chains, pull back?!" The earther winced as the chains tightened his suspension. Zeccaran snickered some more. Bunker did not catch on, but Gusty did. She even decided to add some positive rewards if Bunker was able to break the chains.

"Come on, darling. Break the chains and we can consummate the marriage rites right here, you won't even need to get me down."She let her voice become laden with real desire.

To her right Zeccaran tried not to gag but failed and Bunker's eyes widened. He pulled the chains with such a ferocity that it appeared that he might actually break them. But, the chains did the same to him. The bindings pulled on his limbs so hard that there were several loud pops as his spine was fully straightened and his haunches and hips extended to their maximum. Poor Bunker didn't even make noise beyond a quick whoosh as all the air was pulled from his frame due to how quickly he was pulled.

Gusty complained a little and then started cheering him on more. However, it was Zeccaran that would first notice the noises as they approached. "Hey. Stop! Stop yelling!" He cried over Gusty's chants and Bunkers pained grunts. "Guys seriously, something is coming."

“Ooooooh! This is it! And I get to feel how Gusty feels and thinks when she sees him! How exciting! Maybe it will finally make sense why he does everything for her!” Luna’s giddy expectations boomed around Zeccaran’s head as she did not bother to slow the memory down. It also left him wondering what exactly Stormwalker did for Gusty behind the scenes. He already had done a lot to ensure Amethyst’s future, but that was not what Luna was talking about. Zeccaran did his best to ignore how creepy Luna could be when learning about ponies and their minds as well. He supposed it was only natural for a being who regularly visited everypony’s collective subconcious to be excited about things like that but he was not ready to accept it. Gusty snapping her head towards the door shifting him into becoming sucked into her personage again.

Tumultuous sounds reflected off the iron door to the holding cell as Gusty watched it in anxious anticipation. Whatever was going on the other side, approaching, sounded distinctly menacing. It sounded at first like the noise of far off combat. There were voices yelling, though muffled it was clear they were being slaughtered. Quickly, a harsh snarling, clicking sort of roar could be heard. It grew in volume along with an occasional burst of malignant laughter. The cries of the ponies being killed grew in fury and desperation. Abruptly, the roaring and laughter was replaced by slow deliberate hoof falls. They approached to door, and as they did. Begging could be clearly heard from the other side of the metal door to the room.

"Stay away monster!...stay away from m---"

The begging was silenced by a gurgling sound accompanied by a limp body hitting the floor outside the big door. It was then that they heard the hoof falls thrice more before they too fell silent. Gusty looked towards her companions. Zeccaran cocked his head in a motion to remain silent. Bunker just hung dumbly his body slightly twitching. Considering Zeccaran to know more than her, Gusty did as he had quietly asked. However, the group would have significant trouble doing such.

The metal of the iron door sank inward. The great bending of the metal produced the sound of ten-thousand nails being bent at once. It was a hard and quick moan. The door was pulled out at its three hinges. The bracing was completely buckled. It was then in the next moment that the door sprang from its place with a massive gong. It landed before them with a very similar noise. The portal only produced darkness, a looming figure stood on its threshold. The shadow slowly moved forward seeming to drag the darkness around it along. It moved towards the light of the room proper. The haunting hoof falls this time were louder and even more precise.

However, the group, Gusty felt that she specifically, were not quite prepared for what or rather who was to appear before them. An enormous pegasus stallion quickly became visible in the light. He stood more than a head taller than both Bunker and Gusty, who were already substantially tall themselves. Like Bunker he was well-muscled, but his body was carved, honed. He had the appearance of somepony with literal lightning reflexes. On top of all of this he wore the most exquisite set of armor from head to hoof, its plating overlapping in the way only a master smith could make it lay.

Blood dripped menacingly from the four blades attached to his gauntlet shoes. The massive wingblades to match his magnanimous wings were also stained crimson. Mysteriously, though he had clearly been participating in exceedingly visceral fighting, his wings and limbs remained free of red. Underneath his helmet, bright yellow eyes sparkled with primal guile his face was drawn into an angry sneer.

The stallion quickly scanned the group before him. He practically growled at the sight of Zeccaran. Completely ignoring Bunker his gaze stopped when he reached Gusty. He balked as he scanned her body as if he was unable to comprehend what he was seeing. His surprise dwindled quickly and his sneer was replaced with a small devious smile.

"Y-you’re an alicorn!” He started, mulling over his words. “and the prettiest damn thing I think I have ever seen." he smirked.

His voice was not quite as rough as his exterior would have suggested. But he spoke with a strange accent that was as much bumpkin as it was sophisticated. It was certainly an odd combination much different that Bunker’s gruff broken Equestrian, or Zeccaran’s finer voice

"Ey! Dat's my wife! Stop staring!" The Bunker in question yelled. He had piped up quite quickly, but the new visitor had been waiting for that moment. "And what are you going to do meathead? Come down from those magic chains? Come kick my ass? As if you could!" the pegasus laughed haughtily.

Bunker to his credit thrashed so violently that an normal onlooker would again think he might actually break his bindings. However, the chains won out and drew him so tight he absolutely could not move. He had no means to even speak any longer either as the strain of the chains rendered his jaw stuck open. Zeccaran actually grimaced at the action this time and Gusty felt quite bad for him, especially once the pegasus laughed at his suffering. The blood-soaked vagabond then quickly turned his attention to Gusty, abruptly ending his laughter.

“The bad boy routine!” Luna squealed shocking the memory still and bringing Zeccaran out of Gusty’s experience. “I love the bad boy routine! He hasn’t done that since I first met him! How can she hate him so much? Giving her the special treatment right out of the gate!” Luna continued to gush. Zeccaran looked over at her trying to reclaim his bearing after being a part of Gusty for so long. One question dangling on the end of his tongue stopped only by courtsey.

“Uh...You know Princess...at first I thought you were teasing but now I think you have a problem.” he told the spectral see-through mare. Luna rolled her eyes and smiled playfully before gliding towards the frozen, cocky, grinning, Stormwalker.

“Whatever do you mean, dear Zeccaran?” she practically sing-songed at him. At this point Zeccaran was certain she was simply antagonizing him, thus even for her, he threw courtesy out the door. “Do you have a crush...on Stormwalker of all creatures?” he asked, disturbed. Luna responded by blushing and casting her eyes up and to the left like she was some school-filly.

“Well...I wouldn’t call it a crush perse....more an extremely healthy desire for him or a deep unyielding curiosity.” Luna answered with a shocking confidence. Zeccan just stared at the Princes of the Night, befuddled by this discovery. He had already learned more than enough about his companions and now he just wanted to be left alone to sleep. However, he just could not keep his mouth closed.

“Whyyyyyy?” he asked in a painful lift of his voice. “Zeccaran,” Luna’s voice turned serious, “I know the thoughts and lives of all ponies in all of the world, as the Keeper of Dreams it is my business to know. But...there is one pony who is a total mystery to me: Stormwalker.” Zeccaran sat there transfixed, he was certain a more and more confused look was growing on his face before a gut reaction of his mind forced him to speak. “How?” he blubbered out in his daze.

“The blood that runs in his veins. The twisted fate that he should be born out of era...a demon without peer. Pony magic doesn’t work on him, even my Astral Magic doesn’t. I’ve never seen his mind, never learned all I could about him. He’s the only unknown...the biggest surprise, the-the...the most desirable companion I could have…” Luna responded before trailing off.

“Even after the purging ritual...I still couldn’t do it...he was nothing more than a regular pony then...just a big pony stallion...but normal and I-I...Forget it.” she suddenly cut herself off. “We should continue watching...I-I’ll try to keep my thoughts to myself. It’s just that I really like him..and I know he knows that but he never…” Luna shook her head and the memory started replaying as she looked away from him. Zeccaran fought it desperately trying to make Luna feel better, she had completely lost the chipper attitude she had had.

"Soooooo miss..." his voice tracing from high to low. "I suppose I should get you down from there so you can choose whether or not to help your unconsummated partner...He doesn't seem to realize I know his culture pretty well, heh." He mockingly cleared his throat. "Either way, I'll at least help you out. But, uh, one question: What is your name?"

“Hey!” he shouted at her, ignoring Stormwalker trying to swoon Gusty. Luna looked back over at him her eyes sad, but surprised. “Have you tried telling him you like him that much? I mean...He may be smart but the way you have been describing things makes me think he won’t try anything unless you are serious. Like...like maybe he’s hurt more than you realize.” Zeccaran could hardly believe he was talking about a demon quite like that. Maybe it was simply because he could not stand Luna’s forlorn look, maybe it was something else. He felt like he knew something...like it was on the edge of his waking memory, but just far enough away that he failed to recall. Unfortunately, his effort was wasted, Luna’s look of sadness turned to depression.

“No...I know how much he has hurt...and how I failed to be there for him...I’ve known him for twenty years and yet it's like I have never met him.” She answered quietly. “Thank you for your words, Zeccaran. For now though...help me feel what it is like to have him take interest in Gusty...then I’ll put you back to rest.”

“Of course. But...isn’t that a weird way to say ‘I’ll let you sleep?’” Zeccaran asked concerned by the Princess’s response. “Is it? My wayward zebra?” she replied more to herself than him. A terrible feeling of existential dread overwhelmed Zeccaran at her words. With the mysterious way he had begun this dream it left him wondering if he was even real, if he was just a projection of who he used to be. Gusty’s memory started flood over him as he was left to vacantly ponder if he was alive or actually dead.

Gusty did not like being put on the spot while in such a compromising position. She looked towards Zeccaran for help, his response was to make a face that suggested she had grown extra eyes and snouts. His silent point came across as: Just tell him, he's the only one who can help us. Like it or not.

The memory flooded over what was left of Zeccaran’s consciousness and became all of reality. With nothing left, Gusty was crowned the storyteller, and the episodes of his life would have to wait.

Gusty turned back to the stallion, which was a mistake. Before her, the great pegasus pulled off his helmet. He had a fairly long mane for a male and he flipped it up and swept it back where it clearly held to its usual position, its silken black a perfect compliment to his light-grey coat. Gusty felt her emotions gush as he met her eyes. He was more handsome than Bunker. He was a hundred whole worlds more attractive. She was rendered silent, however the stallion had a solution.

"Here, I'll go first!" He said earnestly, a broad smile on his lips. "My name is Stormwalker. I'm a...mercenary of sorts. I work for the Equestrian Crown, for the Princesses Celestia and Luna." He finished with a short bow, and looked back at Gusty expectantly.

He was too perfect to be true. The good Stormwalker showed up when they needed him, was clearly a supermodel in his spare time, and a skilled warrior to boot, Gusty didn't like it. She took a moment to concentrate. She needed to see if he was evil or not, the question had to be answered. After just one second she could perceive the area around her.

In her mind's eye, everything around her was covered by a dark shroud. It made Bunker and Zeccaran appear decadent, though she thought she knew better. It took just a moment to sift through the sensation, and found the overwhelming shadow's source. It came from Stormwalker. The darkness of the evil that resided in him enveloped the malevolent presence that the cave itself had produced. His evil was so potent that it..-it almost seemed reminiscent of something for Gusty. It made her want to run away just as soon as he got them down from the chains. Typically one for destroying evil, Gusty felt strongly that she didn't even want to fight him, that such actions would be at their best, ill-advised

Still, that was only thing that kept her from outright swooning at his appearance. The crawling on her spine his attention gave her, helped too, but not as much. Evil or not she could not deny his appearance. Worse yet, coinciding with her fear of the evil inside the stallion, Gusty felt that she somehow knew him. She could not place the sensation in her memories but the feeling shook her badly. So it was not with her usual confidence and marevalous bravado that she spoke.

"I-I'm Gusty Twilight" she finally stammered out, decreasing in volume as she went."Gusty Twilight..." the stallion did not miss a beat. "Well, Miss Gusty, I am glad to make your acquaintance. I can feel that you are indeed the genuine article..as far as alicorns are concerned. So without further ado let me get you down from there."

He stepped up closer to her, squinting at her horn. He murmured to himself and made a short grunt of resignation. "Hey Ze-zebra. This is the locking type, right? If it is, this is going to get...interesting." he dramatized.

Stormwalker reached over and adjusted how Zeccaran was hanging so the zebra could better look at the limiter. Zeccaran looked up at the thing on Gusty's horn. "I haven't seen one in a while but yeah it is. You can tell by that engraving on the side." Zeccaran replied calmly.

"Good. Just wanted to be sure." Stormwalker nodded sagely. "Are you gonna do what I think you are gonna do?" Zeccaran grimaced as he looked back at Gusty with worry.

"Yep. Only thing to do." Stormwalker clopped his front hooves together with a sharp inward breath.

Gusty was confused by their conversation. They seemed to know each other. However, she knew Zeccaran's personality well enough to know he would have greeted the stallion if he did. It was then clear that from Stormwalker’s previous reaction that he knew Zeccaran at least, and knew of his past. She would have to interrogate Zeccaran later. For now she was wondering how Stormwalker was going to get the horn limiter off if it was locked to her horn. She voiced her concern.

"So how are you going to get this off then? If it's locked, I mean." She clarified her thoughts as she went.

"Well....uh-I need you to concentrate on something,. 'Cause this is gonna be really awkward no matter what. So when you are ready, just tell me and I'll do the thing." he broke into bravado. "He's right Gusty, you will need to be pretty focused." Zeccaran chimed in.

Gusty grimaced the thought of what the thing was going to be, but did as instructed. Soon she was nearly in a meditation trance. She nodded when her breathing had completely relaxed.

Gusty could feel the heat of Stormwalker's body as he got within a single inch of her. Suddenly, she could feel his snout in the mane around her horn. It almost knocked her out of her state of calm, but she retained it even when she felt his mouth open and close down on her horn. She continued her breathing in regular intervals, steadfastly.

Stormwalker had to extend himself up to reach the top of her head due to her iron suspension. It was then that he slipped. To catch himself he slipped an armored hoof around the back of Gusty's head and into her mane which was not at all fine, though at least was understandable for balance. But, his contact didn't stop there. Feathers finer than the rarest diamonds and smoothest silk wrapped around Gusty's neck. They were warm, delicate, and so wondrously soft that instantly her breathing routine broke and she gasped with pleasure at the sensation of those immaculate wings touching her neck. Gusty, however, quickly remembered who was grabbing her and protested.

"Hey! Stop it! I was only okay with you removing the limiter, not feeling me up with your wings-no matter how-how...how uhm..nice they are!" Gusty blurted, entirely losing her resolve.

"Soorie, Soorie. I shipped. Naah he qui-et'" Stormwalker retorted hardly understandable with her horn in his mouth. "'ere 'e go." He finished.

Immediately, pressure began to build up in the area where he was biting. Gusty tried to go back to remaining calm but Stormwalker's slow breathing and wings which were still holding her neck made such incredibly hard.

Meanwhile the mercenary continued to put pressure on the limiter. It felt like he was going to break her horn. Suddenly there was a loud, Pop! and the pressure on her horn released. She could feel the stallion's tongue touch her horn. Gusty was about to scream in frustration from being violated but Stormwalker removed himself so quickly from her she was unable to object before he started himself.

Gagging, coughing, and spitting broken limiter to floor he managed to rattle out: “UGH!....they always taste so terrible!....glergk! *cough cough* it’s like someone melted down hoof clippings and burned fur into one single foul taste!” The big stallion continued to sputter and choke for a few moments. He even went as so far as to lick at his metal gauntlets complaining that not even the flavor of metal and blood could not make the horrid taste go away.

Gusty and her companions enjoyed his dilemma with merry laughter. Stormwalker to his credit didn’t seem to notice. Eventually, Zeccaran calmed down first just before the pegasus regained his composure.

“Well...hehehe...Gusty you can get us down now. You just have to levitate the pins inside the locks and the spell should break” He quoted. Gusty followed his request on herself first and quickly dropped down from her bindings. She landed gracefully, unfortunately, a little too close to Stormwalker who had finally regained his bearings.

“Careful, don’t get too close.” He purred, stepping closer, “Muscles over there might hurt himself.”Gusty turned about and chose this time to look at his neck, so she would not have to meet his eyes. This was much easier now, on the ground he was much taller than her.

“Would you shut it already? Just because you got me down doesn’t mean I trust you.” she did her best to sound intimidating, though Gusty had the distinct feeling this stallion could not become scared of anything.

“Pretty and smart. I like that...Well, get those two down then, I think I saw the place where they were keeping your things, I’ll go look to make sure.” He quipped eagerly. With that the mercenary grabbed his helmet from the floor and walked back into the black abyss of the other room.

Gusty shuddered in a combination of bodily desire and mental disgust. She did not waste any time freeing Zeccaran or Bunker but the process made it hard for her to focus on where Stormwalker had trotted off to, and she really, really did not want him sneaking up on her.

“I don’t like that guy. He’s a creep and evil.” She complained as Zeccaran’s chains went slack and the zebra fell to the floor. “You’re telling me. He makes my skin crawl just by being in the same room. And he doesn’t have promiscuous thoughts about me! Hell, he barely even looked at me and I’m scared.” Zeccaran murmured this. It was as if he spoke normally Stormwalker would hear him.

Gusty then turned her attention to carefully trying to undo all of the locks to Bunker’s restraints at the same time. Because he was pulled taut from his earlier struggle, it was proving difficult. It was right about the time Stormwalker returned to the holding cell, walking on three legs, Gusty’s cobalt skirt over the forth, that Bunker was freed.

Bunker took about one second to make sure his body still worked right before charging. No one present quite realized what he was doing until he landed a beautiful right hook on Stormwalker. Gusty gasped, Zeccaran hid behind her, and Stormwalker’s helmet flew from his head and clattered onto the floor, several metal twangs ringing in the now dead silence of the room.

“You stay away from my mare.” Bunker growled. He was determined to get his point across. The earth pony drew back slowly watching his new rival process his actions.

Stormwalker’s eyes remained wide open throughout the entire ordeal. Upon hearing Bunker speak he very calmly took a single deep breath and closed his eyes. He readjusted his head and neck with a soft crackle and slowly, he turned his face towards Bunker. With his eyes still closed he responded with a cheery smile. That, somehow, was much more menacing that it should have been.

“Well, my friend, everypony gets one on the house. You used it quickly but you landed a very nice punch, well done.” He said quite vigorously. Stormwalker opened his eyes, his smile remained, but his tone changed, while it still sounded vaguely light-hearted everypony present was certain he was extremely serious about what he said.

“Don’t do that again. If you do....I’ll snap both of your back legs in half, disembowel you, and then strangle you to death with your own entrails! It would be a marvelous and horrendous experience, I promise.” Stormwalker retorted with such a snarl that Bunker flinched. And for the first time since Zeccaran and Gusty met him, short though that time was, Bunker backed down. He scooted his way over to Gusty and tried his best to not look intimidated by the mercenary’s statement. Bunker made sure to grumble curses but his lack of confident posture and locked-on-the-floor gaze was telling. His companions could not blame him. Their consensus was that this stallion, Stormwalker, was not at all what he appeared. Gusty shivered at the thought that he might be something much worse in disguise. Given the amount of malignant energy rolling off of him she would not be too surprised.

Stormwalker tossed the skirt he still held at Gusty. She caught it with her levitation, and quickly slipped over her flanks. She was as grateful as she was disturbed that he recognized she was uncomfortable with being undressed. Once she had finished she watched as Stormwalker picked up his helmet. He made sharp jerk of his head to indicate that her motley crew should follow. Gusty remained still in the icy silence of his gestures. Zeccaran moved first, slowly plodding after the immense pegasus. Bunker then made sure to walk in between Gusty and Zeccaran, ensuring the maximum distance from the mercenary would be left for Gusty. She followed as Bunker’s body language suggested and peered into the darkness and at Stormwalker as his form turned to shadow.

The next room was almost completely dark. The group followed Stormwalker’s black mass, until abruptly two wall mounted lanterns were lit seemingly by themselves. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden onset of light, Gusty watched the pegasus carefully as he folded his wings from their extended position. She wondered why he had had them unfurled, there was no way he was going to fly in this room, his wingspan took up nearly all of the room’s width. She then found exasperating heat rising to her face, and realized why he had been standing in such a manner. Sly he may have been, but Gusty was not into evil stallions, regardless of her body’s inhibitions. It also, thankfully, distracted her from the corpse of a young pegasus stallion lying by the wall to her left, with his throat cut completely open and his body surrounded by his blood.

Continuing his silent routine Stormwalker pointed with one of his wings towards a heavy box that was half-open and a large pile of equipment that belonged to the group. Gusty went over first, making sure her skirt was properly fastened on before she began sifting through the material, to keep the creeper’s eyes from venturing too far. She found her sword and pack on the bottom of the pile of material, right underneath Bunker’s spikey platemail. She levitated the stallion’s gear to him as she pulled on her scalemail hauberk and refastened her saddlepack to her sides. She noticed that Zeccaran did not possess many things and what things were his resided inside the box. Gusty watched as he grabbed and donned his small ratty-brown bag and his sickle.

A deep grunt of satisfaction to her left signified that Bunker had located his axe. She turned to see him spin it confidently in his forehooves before catching it and letting it rest against his chest, holding it balanced with one hoof and his neck. The pair made eye-contact. Bunker flashed his eyes in the direction of Stormwalker, and scrunched up his snout in disgust. Gusty nodded in agreement. She was glad that Bunker understood her feelings, sure he had heard them but the stallion was sometimes dense. While not the most intelligent of characters he did seem to have a strong understanding of life few beings possessed, Gusty liked that. She came closer to Bunker and was planning and giving her fiance a kiss, but a stiff throat clearing from Stormwalker gave her pause. Although the mercenary really did have quite the commanding presence, his gesture merely delayed Gusty. She didn’t have time to make the action as passionate as she wanted, Bunker wouldn’t care though. Gusty made sure to kiss Bunker just long enough that Stormwind would have to stop them. She thought that would be an excellent bad nickname for the stallion, she would use it just as soon as…

“Well, if you two are ready, I think it’s time we go get the rest of my stallions, if they aren’t already dead.” Stormwind said evenly. If he was upset he didn’t sound or look it when Gusty faced him again.

She smiled pleasantly at him. “What’s in it for us, Stormwind.” She stated she had no interest in helping him unless it took her Amethyst. It probably would but she wasn't going to let him think he held sway over her.

“Stormwalker.-I suppose gold if you want it...I’ll be honest I was expecting you to help on the grounds that I could have left you there to starve. But, I guess gold and my undying affection will have to suffice.” Stormwind sounded like he was about as enthusiastic as a cat is when it is to be bathed with water. “You struck me as a pony who doesn’t like having debts and liked doing the right thing, I was wrong, clearly.”

Gusty shrugged in response to his attitude. She was beginning to get bored of the great feathered hot-air-sack, he didn’t like to play ball. She sat patiently waiting for her moment to strike as he began speaking again.

“Anyway… The main chamber for the ritual site should be through this doorway.” He indicated a doorless arch Gusty had failed to notice before. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, concentrating on what possible evils lay down the hall. She readied herself carefully search the distance beyond without confusing it with Stormwalker’s aura. It was actually easier than she was expecting, he wasn’t even outputting any evil energy anymore. She wasn’t quite sure how that was possible, unless he could mask his alignment somehow.

If he could that meant he was much more dangerous than Gusty had already realized. Meanwhile, Stormwalker had been discussing the best way to move on the ritual chamber, she only got bits of what he was saying.

“I have a bad feeling that the rest of my group may have already...We’ll need to move as a single unit and be quie-...traps and...so I’ll take the lead and...no. No. No! NO! Wait! Where are you going!?!” He screamed as Gusty ran down the hall as quickly as she could towards the dark presences she had felt just about the time Stormwalker had said he would go first.

She laughed to herself. Him? Take the lead? Not while I’m around! Gusty could hear him yelling angrily, presumably to her companions, as they all followed her.

“Crazy mare! Either I’m actually starting to like her or I’m gonna kill her!” he grumbled loudly. As if, featherbrain! she thought as she ran.

Gusty continued running down the poorly lit hall well ahead of her companions. She did not stop to turn down the various archways or examine the numerous ravaged bodies of cultists. Many were completed cloven in two, others with most limbs missing, the gore was clearly Stormwind’s doing. However, she stayed focused on the sinister energies building in the direction she ran.

Ahead of her several piles of well illuminated pony bones lay about the path. It was the brightest portion of the hall she had yet come across save the ever growing light of a very large chamber, the destination of her journey.

However, as she neared the heaps of bones they began to shake and quiver. Slowly, they floated up together and creaked with various tones. Before her, too close to stop or brace herself, stood three full-body pony skeletons. They began hissing and clicking in the typical undead way, threatening to cut her off. Gusty chose the only thing that came to mind. She lowered her head and horn and continued charging.

Either the skeletons had enough intelligence to dodge or Gusty was more full of dumb luck than she realized fore she whizzed right past them. Completely unhindered she continued down the hall pleased that her boney opponents did not have the agility to pursue. Gusty was much closer to the ruddy light of the ritual chamber, vaguely she could hear voices in front of her chanting, others screaming. She slowed to a stop only about thirty-paces from the entrance archway.

Behind her there was the distinctive sounds of bones shattering. It was the crunching and sharp snapping characteristic that made the noise of metal breaking ivory highly memorable. Gusty looked back to see Stormwalker not three feet from her, shaking bone dust off his body. Zeccaran and Bunker were there too, looking at Stormwalker in a type of awe and confusion. Gusty didn’t think there was much to see, skeletons were very weak perhaps annoying undead creatures, held together by their raisers levitation and anger, defeating them was elementary.

Still, he immediately chastised her. “What the hell are you doing!? Trying to give away our position!?” he hissed venomously his voice just a whisper over the now much more clearly audible chanting. Gusty went to make a witty retort but was stopped by the gasp of a familiar foal’s voice.

“I knew you weren’t with him! You came here just like I told you to and now you brought him here too! Mother will love this!” Amethyst chimed merrily. The little unicorn appeared seemingly from nowhere, Gusty guessed that perhaps she teleported. Given, the incredibly strong magic she had seen the foal already perform Gusty thought nothing of the feat. Amethyst swiftly trotted up right next to her and stood there proudly, blowing a raspberry at Stormwalker. After finishing her display she looked up at Gusty again.

“Come on! I need to prove to my mom that you aren’t helping him, so kick him in the face or something!” Gusty loosed a fake chuckle. Mostly to cover up the gasp she had started to make. Kicking Stormwind was a particularly bad idea.

“Little gem...umm. Do you know what’s going on here?” she asked Amethyst, both out of curiosity and the need to distract the foal from more off-hoof comments. She had definitely heard Stormwalker grumble something sinister, so keeping the wayward foal quiet was important.

“Well yeah. We are trying to summon a Nigh-” Amethyst started.

“Unspeakable evil. You two, we need to stop them,” Stormwalker interrupted, barking stiff commanding orders at Bunker and Zeccaran. To Gusty’s disbelief both followed his instructions without question. She hoped they did so out of desperation but their responses did not seem to indicate such.

“Will do, I’ll take down Chrysanthemum.” Zeccaran pointed to the leader of the cultist up on the altar of the room. “Finally! Something I know how to do! Hitting things!” Bunker proclaimed beneath his zebra counterpart.

She did not know how Zeccaran knew the unicorn he indicated, but she balked as the Zebra charged screaming her name and ignoring the angry cries of the cultists. Then she heard the rest of what Stormwalker was saying. It chilled her to her core. His voice was rapt with anticipation that only obsession could make. The only reason Gusty didn’t take Amethyst and run right then was Stormwalker’s otherwise calm demeanor.

“I’ll be right behind you once I deal with the centerpiece!” He yelled, then quickly turned to her: “Gusty...give me that foal.”

“No. You are going to hurt her.” she replied quickly picking up Amethyst anyway.

The little unicorn didn’t protest beyond a short “whoa!” Gusty was certain he was going to do something terrible to the foal, misguided or not she considered children sacred. She would not ever condone harming them, no matter what the circumstances.

“You don’t understand. That foal is the key to them completing this ritual. Give her to me. I’m not going to hurt her.” Gusty looked down at Amethyst. The foal shook in her foreleg, she weighed her options.

Gusty felt the evil of the room, saw the light of the night. Whatever was going on was indeed monstrous, she surmised. She watched around Stormwalker as the world seemingly slowed. She saw Bunker, standing on the top of a set of wide steps and the raise platform of the chamber, blocking several blows from two separate opponents. The stallion retaliated quickly slashing but failing to break their guard. Another cultist, an earthpony wielding an axe as big as Bunker’s also moved to engage.

Zeccaran fought the three unicorns that were near a strange ritual table up on the same raised portion of the room. The middle one being his target, he seemingly ignored the others’ magic splashing on and around him. He responded with a blob of acid that he summoned from one of his hooves. Gusty was not quite sure how he cast magic without a horn so effectively but he did well with his “nature” magic as he so called it. His acid landed on one of the unicorn males causing him to fervorously try to get it off of himself. Still, even with Gusty in the fight, they were heavily outnumbered, as much as she hated to admit it, they would actually need Stormwalker to win. She decided whatever the mercenary was talking about she would have to listen.

“Sorry hunny. I don’t know what is going on, but I have to trust him on this.” Gusty tried to comfort Amethyst. The foal’s look of betrayal showed that nothing would ever make her forget this moment. Gusty very hesitantly extended her foreleg, Amethyst dangling dumbfounded. Still, Gusty had to make sure the stallion didn’t get too big of a ego from persuading her.

“Here, Stormwind.” She said.

He took the filly in a wing and hoof. Briefly, he looked directly into her eyes. Gusty watched carefully, but she began to wonder if she was hallucinating. Stormwalker’s eyes had changed. His pupils contracted into long slits and his irises emitted a dull glow. Before she could even blink to check her vision, he spoke up.

“Sorry to be this way Gusty, but I lied somewhat. I should have said: ‘I’m not going to hurt her...permanently.” he drolled, a grim smile spread his lips. The tight mouth grin spread wider and revealed a mouth full of razor-like triangle teeth, pairs of two long fangs like that of a dragon’s also appeared on his top and bottom jaw. Primordial fear gripped Gusty’s heart and stayed her hooves and magic. She had seen or felt something like Stormwalker before. The memories of ancient demons and wars sprang across her vision, blurring the line between illusion and reality.

That did not stop her from witnessing the scene before her as much as she would have preferred it did. As she stood still frozen in shock and disbelief watching helplessly as Stormwalker held Amethyst tight in his left wing. His right gauntlet extended its blade. In a smooth lightning quick motion a shssting! rang out as he showed his true colors.

Stormwalker severed clean the little foal’s horn at its bottom ring, leaving only an extremely short flat disk to protrude from her forehead. It was a display of precision as much as it was brutality. He caught the loose horn with his other wing and turned about and ran forward into the ritual chamber proper. To her credit, probably due to shock, Amethyst remained completely silent, her eyes wet and large calling for help from Gusty. Gusty saw this, but still was locked where she was, this time not due to fear, but due to anger.

HOW DARE HE?!? She screamed in thought. Not only had he lied but he just destroyed the foal’s magical potential, one that she had seen herself, and it was a great one indeed. She shook with righteous rage as she finally was able to move and followed the monster before her. He was the most foul of creatures, willing to harm children just to reach his ends.

But it was worse than that, ponies with horns were in contact with magic from birth, and to have that tie cut so completely and so quickly would damage Amethyst far beyond a normal physical wound. It was something Stormwalker could never possibly generate empathy for, even if she managed to rip off his wings as trophies and rob him of flight.

Quickly she reached where the demon stood yelling at the female unicorn called Chrysanthemum. The fight had ceased as all eyes in the room focused on the stallion threatening a foal. She gave Stormwalker her attention too, if only for a moment.

“Look, Chrysanthemum, and all you filth! Look at all your work ruined!” He boomed. It was more a vicious snarl than a voice, but it was understandable. It rattled one’s mind on the unsettling soul penetrating level. It did not bother Gusty too much but she watched as everyone else’s knees shook, even Bunker’s.

“Behold your toil and hardship ripped away for no reason other than to make you suffer! So you did unto me! Now the same shall be my revenge! Throw down your weapons, surrender so I may watch you rot in the Crystal Caves until you die of exposure all you rotten scum and your precious league of shadows!” He proceeded to make a horrendous clicking, crackling sound that was just distinguishable enough to be laughter, the mad laughter of a monster at least. He held up a shock-frozen Amethyst in one wing and her severed horn in the other.

Gusty had heard and seen more than enough. She could feel the malignant energy rolling off of him, there was no reason to reach out to sense it. She had to save Amethyst, and maybe even these cultists from Stormwalker, or whatever he was. She drew her sword with her mouth and slashed right at his exposed neck between his helmet and neck plating. He dodged left with a deft motion as if he knew the blow was coming. Wasting no time, Gusty threw her whole body at him, landing a solid punch as he wheeled his head around at her, but she didn’t knock his helmet off as Bunker had. As he flew from his hooves Gusty grabbed Amethyst from his wing with her telekinesis. She jumped away to give herself a safety distance from Stormwalker’s wingblades, while he recovered.

He caught himself with the grace of a cat. Spinning on one hoof with ludicrous agility, he locked eyes with her after stopping himself. The slits of his pupils widening to thick diamonds.

He didn’t attack instead he asked with an incredulous tone, and slack jaw: “What...are you doing!?” as if he could not fathom why she had hit him.

“Whose side are you on!?” he continued.”She’s our only leverage, the only way we can make them surrender. I want them alive!” He howled arrogantly. Finally, Amethyst began to wail in pain and terror. Gusty went to lower her into her hooves but as soon as the little foal wasn’t high in the air, Stormwalker dove forward and snagged her clean out of Gusty’s magic.

Gusty herself was unsure if it was maternal instinct or a deep hatred for demons but she felt a surge of energy. Before the demon-pegasus even landed she had charged, grabbing her sword with her levitation and holding it behind herself. She collided with him just as his hooves touched the ground.The result was Gusty landing atop of Stormwalker in a heap with Amethyst being flung into the air. This lasted about a second, for Gusty found herself being tossed aside as if she weighed no more than a cotton pillow, but the second had given her enough time to add telekinesis to the wayward Amethyst. She was able to catch herself and the foal before Stormwalker could stop her, this time holding onto Amethyst with her hooves.

She found herself so narrowly dodging Stormwalker’s front blades that she actually saw some of her fur coat being tossed up into the air. Gusty resisted the urge to gasp, and stood her ground once the monster recoiled from his miss. He stood blinking in confusion, but quickly regained his composure as Gusty pulled her old blade between them. Amethyst’s cries persisted as Stormwalker yelled over her, his fury primal, unbridled.

“Do you not understand what she has done? Look around you, Gusty! Those bodies are the remains of the best Royal Guard I knew! That little cretin is the one who killed them, losing her horn is a lenient punishment for her!” he growled.

Unsure if letting her eyes stray from Stormwalker was wise, Gusty peered around him. The room was wider than it was deep. a short five step staircase kept the upper platform above where she and Stormwalker stood. The room had a tall ceiling that arched up to a point above a rectangular box of an altar that sat behind the Unicorn cultists. The spokes of carved runes and symbols representing nighttime followed the dome to an circular hole where the full moon could be seen, where its pale blueish light poured through an wide iron grate. There was an archway behind this altar that led into a black recess of nothingness. Around it, blood covered the floor, walls, and its flush stone trimmings.

Gusty followed the blood up the walls. Behind the ritual table where Zeccaran and the unicorn cultists stood there hung a gruesome sight. Three stallions dangled from metal chains and hooks. They each had the remains of their armor on but their wounds varied in severity. The one on the left had his eyes put out and his wings cut off, judging by his discoloration and the great pool of blood below him he had been left to bleed to death. On the right hung a unicorn. His horn had been busted off leaving only jagged points. He had his genitalia cut off entirely, but the deadly wound came from the gaping hole in his chest. His heart lay on the floor below him. The last stallion, an earth pony, was suspended between his dead compatriots. Simply this stallion had received the worst treatment. Still twitching in his bindings, his eyes glazed with pain, he stared silently down at his own intestines. The organs and the holes they extended from spewed blood with each slow erratic heartbeat. He would be dead soon, Gusty hoped, for his sake.

“The summoner must be the one to kill the sacrifices. I know those older fools here don’t have the magic potential to bring forth that abomination. But she did. And now I plan to use her pathetic life to capture these cultists, so that they can be brought to justice and get my revenge in one fell swoop!” his proclaimed his demon-teeth in a sneer.

Gusty did not believe him. Even if it was true, Amethyst deserved a second chance, she wasn’t even ten years old yet. Gusty couldn’t let her be used as a bargaining chip. Trying to explain all of this to Stormwalker would have been impossible, so she jumped immediately to insults and criticism. Perhaps not the best choice, but it at least could keep her from panicking.

“You are a monster! How could you? You have no sense of morals at all! Willing even to harm foals, to condemn them before they could be redeemed! Handsome face or not you are truly ugly- more disfigured than even the most horrid of creatures! You are worse even than the fiends that manipulated this poor little foal into “doing” these atrocities, if she even did them! I would do anything to protect her from you. Even letting those cultists get away!” She spat.

Gusty did not bite her tongue in time to not say her last sentence. Her words, however, had a strange effect on the pegasus-monster. His look of fury dulled, and was replaced by a grim disappointment. Burning hatred rolled about his eyes with a faint glimmer. His fangs bared, he darkly gritted out a series of questions.

“So this is what you want then? You would allow them the freedom of death? After everything they have done you’d let them have that respite? I’ve wasted all my effort, and the lives of ten Royal Guard trying to capture them, just to have you interfere with some lopsided view of right and wrong?? Because I could have killed, neigh, murdered them all already, I still could. It would be EASY!!!”

As his yells turned hoarse, Stormwalker’s yellow eyes shifted into a bright glowing red, emphasizing his skinny black pupils even further. He pulled off his helmet, revealing his seemingly alive mane. Likewise, his wings seemed to lose some of their sharp lines and feathers, and his tail, narrowly visible behind his bulk mimicked his mane. Whatever power he held it was about to be unleashed, Gusty could feel it. And she certainly did not want that pent up anger unleashed on her, her friends, or Amethyst. Besides using evil to destroy evil was as ironic as it was rightful.

“Yes. And I hope you are thrown back to Tartarus you filthy demon!” She whispered in response to his questions. He sneered, his eyes flickering with disgust at her decision, Gusty would have been offended if she hadn’t been trying to calm down the still screaming Amethyst and not die to the malevolent monster before her.

“So be it then. But know that this mercy, their salvation from the torment they deserve, is on your hooves, Gusty Twilight.” Stormwalker stated with virulent venom. His voice was hushed which gave it an unsettling calm to its tone.

Dropping his helmet he turned about to face the still dumbfounded crowd behind them. Out his wings snapped, their accompanying blades glinting in the moonlight that shone from the hole in the ceiling, it was followed by a curious clicking of something hitting the floor. With a single stroke of their feathers he was airborne, not particularly high into the air but enough to be above the ponies on the raised portion of the room. His speed was incredible for the action, his four gauntlet blades deploying as he neared the three cultists around Bunker.

He landed squarely on the largest of the group. All four blades entered the cultist’s flesh up to Stormwalker’s hooves. A gut-churning crunching and snapping echoed out as the stallion’s legs and chest collapsed under the demon’s weight. Instantly, the frozen ponies reacted and the fighting resumed with a vicious intensity. The cultists quickly converged, the two melee combatants turning to engage the demon as it dislodged itself from its first victim.

Gusty watched in astonishment as Stormwalker ignored them entirely, switching his attention to the pair of spellcasters that had been by the cult leader. Abruptly, this reminded her of the noise she had heard moment ago when Stormwalker had flown off. On the ground within easy reach was Amethyst’s horn. She grabbed it quickly, and stashed it into her bag, readying a spell of her own to put the hornless squawling mess in her hooves to sleep. She looked up at the battle before her as the spell charged.

Zeccaran was slowly approaching the cult leader, who stood alone as her guards moved to engage Stormwalker. He seemed to be pleading with her, one of his hooves outstretched in a gentle gesture. Gusty couldn’t quite hear him but it sounded like he said: “Chrysanthemum, I forgive you, it's ok.”

For some reason this terrified the mare. Gusty had no idea why, maybe it was Zeccaran’s still severely swollen face. She hoped his face was the reason otherwise Zeccaran was probably hiding some terrifying secret she wasn’t ready for herself. However, seeing that he had the situation handled she looked away to find Bunker.

Bunker slammed his axe into the back of one the cultists. The blow knocked the stallion hit to the ground, and looked to have effectively paralyzed him. Abruptly, the other melee combatant was thrown from where Stormwalker had been. He hit Bunker on the side, sticking into one of the spikes on the big stallion’s platemail. Cultist and Bunker tumbled back, rolling over one another several times and stopping in a heap. Bunker quickly got up, cultist still attached to the spike of his armor. Cursing as Gusty watched him struggle to get the dead body off of himself. Hesitantly, she looked toward Stormwalker.

The Unicorns had finally set up and began casting spells at Stormwalker. He made no attempt to dodge one stunray and one acidray. Both impacted his face and neck area, he didn’t even flinch. The red stun bolt fizzled out as if it had hit a wall, while the acid formed into a green ball and rolled down Stormwalker’s face and armor, not doing any form of damage to flesh or metal. The demon smiled belligerently, his fangs glinting in the light.

This was supremely jarring for Gusty. He’s ignoring their spells altogether! she fretted internally realizing that her group had no way to stop him. Finally, the three seconds that it took the sleep spell to charge came to an end. They were the longest three seconds of Gusty’s life. She looked down into Amethyst’s fear-ridden eyes, smiling with as much comfort as she could. She cast the spell, the golden aura of her magic surrounding Amethyst. Instantly, the filly was asleep. Gusty stowed her too in the bag on her back. If she was to wake the alicorn did not want the child seeing anymore of this, she had seen too much already even for several lifetimes.

Gusty looked up to see the head’s of the unicorns go flying up and away from their bodies. Blood misted into the air around Stormwalker and his wingblades. His eye’s glowed with an even stronger light and he loosed a half-growl half-laugh ghastly enough to make the flames of Tartarus glaze over with ice. She inadvertently gasped as she heard it. This caused the demon to look towards her.

She quickly averted her gaze as he looked in her direction. Instead, she saw Zeccaran doing something so completely out of place that Gusty had to rub her eyes to make sure it was real. Holding onto the cult leader by her haunches, he was kissing her. She flailed about in a muffled scream, trying to pull herself away from the zebra. However, he held fast, still pressing his face to hers. Chrysanthemum paled and stopped struggling. Gusty watched in growing surprise as Zeccaran pulled away from the Nightmare Priestess. She promptly vomited. She loosed a few more hysterical cries, tears streaming down her face, and suddenly went limp in Zeccaran’s grasp. The sound of Stormwalker’s unearthly, true voice cut into the scene, forcing Gusty to finally look at him.

“Give her to me now, Zeccaran.” His voice ripped at the very fabric of sanity for Gusty.

It was familiar as it was guttural and horrifying, why this was she remained uncertain. How he knew Zeccaran’s name, she also did not want to know, but Gusty knew one thing for certain. They needed to run. Now. Stubbornly though, Zeccaran shook his head in refusal at Stormwalker’s demand, moving Chrysanthemum to one hoof. His eyes were wide with primal terror as he drew his sickle from his side, tying it to his free hoof as he uttered shaky words of warning.

“I-I-I won’t l-let you take her. E-even if I have to…” His voice trailed off as his expression turned dark and serious. “You wouldn’t dare.” Stormwalker retorted, stepping forward.

“I would. It’s the only chance I have left.” the zebra stated holding out the sickle near a portion of his other forehoof that he was using to balance himself and Chrysanthemum upright.

If Zeccaran had a plan, Gusty wanted to see it through, especially if it could kill this monster they had found, or at least delay him. She looked to Bunker, who was staring on, a fearful expression on his face.

“Hit him- Now!” she yelled, firing a blast of magic at Stormwalker herself.

The demon turned in surprise, and looked at Gusty, only to be hopefully blinded with by the light spell she had cast. From behind the haze of the bright orb she saw Bunker swing his axe in a full-bodied spin-swing. She heard metal hit flesh.

On the other side of the sun-orb she saw Zeccaran start making strange hoof motions. He spoke in a strange language she did not recognize. He seemed to remain in a trance as he made his motions. Quickly the sun-orb dissipated and she could see Stormwalker again.

He stood staring at her. His eyes remained still, their red betraying no hint of the overwhelming pain he had to be experiencing. Bunker’s axe had buried itself in his side just underneath his chest harness and his flank plating. He bled profusely from the wound, his blood gathering in a dark pool between his hooves. The whole head of the axe was hidden in Stormwalker’s flesh, it had to have hit something vital. But Gusty’s hopes were dashed quickly.

Without ceremony he turned and grabbed the handle of the weapon in his mouth. Timidly, Bunker relinquished his astonished grip. Gusty watched on, feeling the same horror Bunker’s face expressed. The demon pulled the blade free, sending his steaming blood and viscera about the floor. Meanwhile, of its own accord the gaping wound healed itself. The entrails that normally would have been freed from such an injury, remained visible and in their place. The flesh around them regrowing and pulling together with a supernatural force and precision.

The display left no mark on Stormwalker, almost as if it had never happened. That alone was terrifying. A creature that could survive such grievous wounds without so much as a scratch was not to be trifled with. However, that did not disturb Gusty as much as the ever increasing likeness this monster had with the demons in her dreams of the past. She wished she could remember them more clearly. Wished in the deepest reaches of her mind, that whatever Zeccaran was doing would work, that this nightmare would end. Meanwhile Gusty stood awestruck, with no means to stop what happened next.

Tossing the axe off towards the far wall. Stormwalker turned on Bunker. He landed two punches from his forehooves before Bunker could flinch. The third was an upwards blow to the chin that sent Bunker reeling back. Spinning with his own momentum, Stormwalker planted himself for a full rear leg buck. He landed it immediately, before poor Bunker could place his front hooves down. The strike sent Bunker flying into the same far wall as his axe had, accompanied with several quick pops that could only have been ribs breaking. He hit the distant location with enough force to cause the dust on the walls to shake free. He then slid down to the floor. He did not move.

Gusty felt hot tears stream down her cheeks. Maybe she hadn’t really planned on marrying the fool, but she had still liked him a lot, even if it had only been a two days. She turned to look at Zeccaran who now stood atop the altar, without Chrysanthemum. He was balanced on his hind legs his sickle piercing into his one of his forelegs. His blood rolled over the limb and hit the altar top. The moon turned a heinous red and the room darkened to black. The only light that shown was the moon and the red light of Stormwalker’s suddenly terrified eyes.

If it was enough to scare that demon, Gusty realized that Zeccaran’s plan might not have been the optimal solution. Still, it gave her time to run over to Bunker. She was a capable magic healer, but from the beating he took, she wasn’t sure if Bunker was even alive. She reached his side only by illuminating her horn which barely produced light at all in this unnatural darkness.

Bunker was breathing, barely. His eyes were closed and remained that way as Gusty called on her own magic and Origin to help her stallion. Her golden aura surrounded his chest, and it seemed to regain some of its natural shape. She gave him a poke as soon as she finished. He did not move which meant it the wounds were no longer causing pain. Gusty slapped him awake.

“Come on! We need to get out of here before-” She was cut off by Stormwalker. “You idiot!” he snarled. “This was the very thing I was trying to prevent! You’ve-you’ve..you’ve doomed us all! Ruined everything!” He stood shaking where Gusty could see him silhouetted in the new freshly-spilled-blood pallor of the moon.

“I’ll kill you!” He jumped up to where Zeccaran stood on the altar staring up into the moonlight. His blades snapping out from their gauntlets with shhhck-clings. Gusty gawked in surprise as Zeccaran moved as fast as Stormwalker. He glowed red with the light of the moon and seemed to be surrounded by a group of black ethereal flames. He dodged Stormwalker’s attempt to behead him with ease. The zebra then retaliated with swift and jumping uppercut as Stormwalker’s blades hit nothing. If the demon was perturbed by Zeccaran’s actions he did not show it in his face, as he reeled back. His features were too pulled into a fanged snarl to tell. However, he moved to return Zeccaran’s blow with an even speedier motion that, to Gusty, was not much more than a brief blur.

He slashed open a deep, terrible wound from Zeccaran’s lower left stomach all the way up to his right armpit. Zeccaran calmly placed a hoof over his wound and clambered down from the altar. The magic flames around him extinguishing save over the sword damage he had sustained. He turned his gaze to the moon again, and smiled devilishly. Gusty soon found out why. As Zeccaran limped over towards the archway behind the altar with the now awake Chrysanthemum, the moon’s light stopped suddenly.

Using the dim light of Stormwalker’s eyes, Gusty looked towards the iron grate to see a black inky form fall down from it slowly. It piled up on the altar and took the shape of a blobby pony. It’s head slowly forming after its body. Golden eyes without pupils manifested in stark contrast to its black body. A wide mouth spread across the shadow’s face, seemingly stretching beyond its head. Its teeth twinkled like stars, long and skinny, numbering in the thousands. It was the quintessential nighttime horror.

Gusty had no need to sense the creature’s evil. It was one of those primordial terrors of old that was like Stormwalker. She knew this in her heart of hearts. She knew not how, but the sensation and its implications were undeniable. Gusty felt fear grip her chest but this time she knew she wouldn't freeze up, couldn’t freeze up. Pulling the still semi-conscious Bunker up she started moving to where Zeccaran was somehow standing looking on as the demons stared one another down. Gusty hoped whatever dark magic he had summoned would keep him alive long for her to walk the short distance to him. The red light over his body turned off just as she started moving.

She believed she had enough energy to at the very least stop from Zeccaran from bleeding out. As she approached the dark figure she thought was her zebra friend, she readied a healing spell. Chrysanthemum lit her horn enough for Gusty to see the severity of Zeccaran’s condition. The cultist mare held him up as the zebra gurgled incoherently, biological shock completely overwhelming the magic holding him together. The blade had not only cut deep into the flesh, but had cut clean through all of the zebra’s ribs. Gusty grimaced at the amount of force that had gone into the strike. Poor Zeccaran was already turning grey from blood loss, but she was ready. Casting the righteous spell of her holy touch, Gusty was pleased to watch as Zeccaran’s wounds healed as Stormwalker’s had. Save for a thin pink scar the damage would never show. With a grunt of full-consciousness, Bunker step past her and quickly picked the zebra up and hoisted him onto his back, Zeccaran’s eyes unfocused as he did so.

Demon speak turned Gusty’s attention back to what was behind her.

“Come on we need to go. Now!” Zeccaran surprisingly said, his eyes gaining their focus just as Gusty was turning around. She must have done a better job than she had expected.

Quietly as she gazed at the monsters circling each other around the altar; somepony’s hoof pulled her into the archway that lead to a hallway. Gusty continued to watch the two abominations the entire time.

She motioned her companions to go, adding “I’ll be right there...I just need to see something first.” They listened to her silently, even Bunker, their hooffalls began making their retreat down the long dark corridor.

Gusty devoted the next five seconds to try to memorizing Stormwalker’s features and the Primordial Shadow’s magical presence. Gusty recognized the language they spoke. She would have understood what they said in their hisses and raspy words but chose, rather successfully, to simply not listen. The entire time, the two creatures’ magical energy expanded to astonishing levels. Gusty had never felt raw magic potential like the two demons before her and she had fought their kind for thousands of years. Well, she thought that, if the alicorn was being honest, she was unsure if those memories were even real.

Gusty focused on Stormwalker, trying to recall those very memories. He had found his helmet again, its sharp edges increasing his already vicious look. As he and the Shadow continued their snarling debate the demon-pegasus’ wings lit with flame, their flesh ceasing to exist. His tail followed suit. His mane stuck out defiantly from his helmet, it's flaming presence passing through the metal and burning away the tassels that characterized the standard pony helmet. The effect brought enough light to the room that Gusty could see his pulsing muscles and crazed eyes. His mouth was nearly as wide as his Shadow counterpart, his bigger more triangular teeth pulled up into an arrogant sneer. In short, he was just as much an eldritch horror as the creature Zeccaran had summoned.

Suddenly the ghastly pair stopped conversing. They roared at one another. Their clashing throaty yells piercing into a chilling harmony. The Shadow’s magical presence flared up even greater than before, tentacles of pure darkness extending out from its body. Stormwalker’s inflamed visage struck out, burning with a heat so ferocious that Gusty had to step back several paces to not get burned even at the far distance down the hall she was already at.

Their fight began. It took all of Gusty’s remaining willpower to watch for just a few more nanoseconds. The two monsters, moving with speed and grace too fast to understand, ripped at one another. Their bodies entwined into a struggle of fire’s light and oil’s darkness. Their cries of pain and hatred alone enough to motivate Gusty to leave.

So she ran. She ran faster than she ever had.

Gusty galloped down the corridor never looking back. Hoping that she would wake up from this mess of a dream. It couldn’t be real, she thought to herself. Either way, I’m not staying to find out!

Her adrenaline snapped, fear pouring its feral intensity into her body.

Quickly she caught and overtook her companions. Yelling at them to run faster as she passed. She continued sprinting for a countless time feeling the little Amethyst bounce about on her back, still safely in her sack.

Carved archway upon carved archway passed as she ran. Finally a dull light appeared ahead, quickly growing into orange haloed door to the outside. She broke its threshold and saw the red moon’s ruddy hues before her. Gusty took to the sky without waiting for her friends. She soared up to the low blue clouds of the sky beating her wings harder than she had ever before. Gusty could still feel the battle of the demons deep in the caves behind her. The freedom of the sky did little to calm the sensation of evil she felt. So she flew, beating her wings endlessly. She flew until time blurred together and she lost herself. The only thing that mattered to Gusty was escaping the tingling sensation of danger that hounded her. She felt that she never would.

Act 1: Chapter 7 - Retreat

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Act 1: Chapter 8 - Canterlot

"Well at least I'm not a great big jerk on the inside too!"
-Gusty Twilight-

Gusty looked up at the sharp rock face of the mountain. At the top was her destination, Canterlot. There, where those mysterious alicorn regents governed, she would get some answers. Answers for that demon in the cave, answers for their harsh justice system, answers for whatever questions she would ask them. Gusty needed those answers. The thought of actual risposte was the only thing keeping the nagging sensation of something watching her from sending her into insanity.

It had been bad enough already having those strange flashbacks during the last few days. And they all had started with the monstrosity named Stormwalker. If he had not been lying, the princesses would know more about him and if he was connected to what was happening to her, she hoped. Though that would matter little if she couldn’t bring her daughter and companions to Canterlot Palace by lunchtime today. And frankly, Gusty had long ago run out of ideas on how to get up to the city atop the spire.

She had been awake the longest, having woken to the sounds of a particularly annoying songbird that seemed to not tweet in tune with the rest of the morning avians. Bunker had recently finished making breakfast and she had even eaten whilst staring at her problem hoping that a solution would come to her. She felt as if she had known it just yesterday but now it was lost to her mind. Her young surrogate daughter’s yawning drew her attention from the rock face.

“Mmmmm!” she cooed poking her head out of the sleeping bag she had shared with Gusty, “What smells so good?”

Gusty thought about the flaky, salty-sweet pastries Bunker had made from the flour he had gotten from the bakery mare. It made her mouth water even though she wasn’t hungry anymore. “It is morning biscuit, mine mother taught me how to make.” Bunker said. Gusty absently watched as he gave Amethyst a few of the “biscuits” and smiled as she munched happily.

Meanwhile, Zeccaran rolled over and groaned, from where he sat on the other side of the small fire. Sitting up he looked at her and made eye contact. He held it briefly and then yawned. “Sooo, Gusty, how are we all supposed to get to Canterlot exactly?” he said as his voice raised up from natural low of his yawn.

Gusty grimaced at him. “Well...I...I really don’t know.” She said shrugging. “I can’t carry you all up there, even if I did it individually, I would get too tired, or I would take too long.”

It was the among the several scenarios she had already thought of, saying it aloud made it sound even worse.

“If I tried to levitate you or Bunker even then it would too much of a strain, we have things we actually have to do once we are up there.” She paused, as Gunther barked at a passing moth. “And wow. I totally even forgot about your dog, how in the world are we gonna get him up there!?”

Zeccaran smiled. It was his mischievous, tormenting smile that he put on when he knew something she didn’t.

“What?” she asked him.

He giggled lightly to himself.

“Come on out with it!” Gusty demanded her frustration forcing her into a slight yell.

“You forgot. It was your idea and you forgot! ” Zeccaran laughed merrily.

She scowled at him in deep irritation.

"Watch this!" he declared between bursts of chuckles.

Gusty watched. She was not pleased with what she saw either. Dull green light surrounded Zeccaran, his body began shifting and changing, and almost immediately what replaced Zeccaran on the ground was a large eagle. Only the eagle still had the dark mauve eyes of the zebra she knew too well.

Somewhere in her mind Gusty had known he could shift shape. That was the key to it all. She bit her tongue to avoid vehemently cursing in front of Amethyst.

“I forgot you can turn into different animals…” she grumbled through her teeth.

Zeccaran offered her several squawks that sounded like he was laughing at her. She decided to ignore him, poorly. Such shape-shifting, to her knowledge, was rare among creatures these days, but she had seen many a druid in her travels. More than anything it reminded her that Zeccaran actually possessed real magical skill. Nature-based or otherwise he had a lot of utility. Still the whole situation left her facehoofing herself.

“Well, now it’s really easy to get up there. Bunker help me clean up camp and we’ll get on up to the city.” She said.

“What? Just because he can turn into bird you think we can scale mountain in few hours? Is crazy.--Whoa!” Bunker stopped as Gusty surrounded him in her levitation and picked him up off the ground. He flailed about trying to keep his balance on a nonexistent center of gravity.

“Hold still. You are making it harder to hold you! I need to see if I can do this for the 20 to 30 minutes it will take to fly up to the city.” she demanded.

Bunker continued screaming “PUT ME DOWN!” or “I'M GONNA PUKE” as she tried to practice. Gusty gave up when she decided that she would just do it anyway. Bunker would have to learn to sit still as she flew, otherwise it was gonna be a bad fall. She took the entire time Bunker was cleaning camp to tell him so too. She told him the same sentence every time he finished pulling things into his pack or her saddle bags.

“Squirm like that when we start flying and I don’t know if I will be able to catch you should I lose my grip on you.” she said admonishingly for the last time as he fastened the buckle on his bag. Gusty rathered not have her significant other plunged to his demise on the account of his weak stomach. But getting to Canterlot and informing the leaders of the country of the events of the cave was absolutely imperative, and even though she liked him Bunker’s life paled in comparison to the rest of all ponydom.

“OK! OK! I get it! Don’t struggle too much or fall to horrible death on ground.” He groaned.

She nodded with a smug grin and opened her wings. She flapped once pulling her hooves off the ground before realizing the rest of their supplies lay on the ground. “Amethyst!” She yelled.

“I’m right here, and now I can’t hear!” Amethyst cried from her back. At some point the little filly had scrambled up onto her without Gusty noticing. Gusty simply pointed at her saddle bags.

“Strap those to me with your magic. And we’ll get up to the city.” she said to her young filly.

It took her daughter a few moments but everything was quickly tied either around her belly or strapped down to her armor. Gusty re-readied her wings. She looked over at Bunker who had been waiting with a grimace while she helped Amethyst get all the bags attached to her. He paced back and forth looking up and down and occasionally bouncing on his hooves. Eventually they made eye-contact.

He was silent. His eyes worried. “I won’t drop you. Just trust me and relax,ok?” She told/asked him. He nodded sharply.

“Do it. To the top of the mountain we go!” He proclaimed, Gusty letting him finish.

She surrounded him in her magic and began to pump her wings. Zeccaran in his big eagle form did the same, Bunker’s equipment in one talon and Gunther in the other.

Slowly they began to ascend. Gusty led the zebra-bird back and forth in a long elliptical so they would ascend in a lazy spiral near the rock face of Canterlot Mountain. The entire time Bunker remained pliable in her telekinesis his eyes closed as he floated behind her. It took longer than Gusty expected, like following a winding river across a flat plain, its curves and meandering path stretched and crooked, such was the journey up to the city gate.

Finally above the edge of the cliff, Gusty gazed on the alabaster walls of Canterlot. They seemed dull compared the soft green of the grass that grew all the way to the edge of the rock. She lifted Bunker over to the ground first and let her magic grip fade, she then glided down and landed gently in the soft foliage. Beside her Zeccaran gasped for air as he converted back into a pony his body was drenched in sweat.

After blubbering for several minutes he mumbled, “That was my work out for the week.” Gusty simply nodded in agreement, she was also tired from the mile high flight.

Eventually, Bunker spoke up. “You know. Though I did just basically nap whole flight, don’t we need to get inside the city?”

Gusty felt a resurgence of energy. She desperately needed to get inside the white marble walls and find the palace before anything else happened.

“Let’s go!” she said hopping up.

Everypony followed her lead. Amethyst even giggled some at Zeccaran and quickly helped herself down from Gusty’s back and jumped onto the back of Gunther. Hitching a ride there while she teased the zebra, who was still spluttering and wheezing.

They approached the big gold-gilded iron gates of the city. Gusty instinctively folded up her wings. She always did when meeting new ponies. Typically they made quite the racket if they saw she was an alicorn. Oddly she thought, Zeccaran had not, it was that respect that had let them become friends initially. But for now, her wings were better out of sight, out of mind.

She looked at the busy crowd pushing in and out of Canterlot hauling wagons and carts. A single pair of guards stood watch. They wore golden armor that shined in the sun. Each wielded a simple spear, both unicorns, one white-coated and blued eyed, his counterpart light-brown with amber eyes. Gusty walked regularly not worried about their presence, they seemed far too bored to notice her party. Well, that is what she thought, it was wrong of course. A mare nearby shrieked when Gunther barked at her idle whistling.

“Was that a timberwolf!?” The white one shouted, his spear being brought down to point towards Gusty. His brown companion halted hoof-traffic exiting the city by promptly slamming the gate shut with his horn. Everypony already outside hurried away, the few folk trying to get into Canterlot backed away from the party. Exposed, Gusty proudly trotted up to the gate guards

“Yes it is! And let me explain to you boys why he is perfectly tame, we’ll start with my daughter who, oh-so-casually rides upon his back…”

It took about 10 minutes for Gusty to convince them, but they decided Gunther was not a safety hazard. They agreed to not bother the oaken dog any further too. Satisfied, Gusty finished up her argument.

“Now if you would just let us inside we are really in quite the ru-”

“No. That dog can’t go. Safe or not, the mere sight of him will cause a panic. He has to stay out here. We will watch him for you, and tell next shift too.” Brownie said. Gusty had already forgotten their names.

“Good enough for me.” She said.

“But-” Zeccaran started.

“Shut it, Zeccaran. We need to get moving.” she silenced the zebra.

It was all business now. She needed to find the princesses and tell them about the Cave. She needed answers. She needed to keep surging forward. In her impatience, the guards opened the way and the group quickly trotted into the city. Gusty picked up Amethyst with her telekinesis and put her on her back.

“Good bye for now Gunther!” the filly proclaimed from her perch as they left the poor tree-mutt outside the city. Confused merchants gazed past them trying to see what Amethyst yelled about as they passed the interrupted commuters.

Quickly they found themselves in a wide cobblestone square surrounded by restaurants and shops. Gusty looked about for signs to indicate what way they should take to get to the other alicorns. Besider her Zeccaran made some sort of exclamation. That distracted her from the smells of food that had managed to halt her advance.

“What?” She asked.

“Mom! Look!” Amethyst said. Gusty saw Zeccaran pointing at a huge pillared and spired structure. It had both battlements and impressive aesthetic towers. Its roofs were covered in ivory, gold, and some ruby and purple colored material. It was as impressive as it was opulent. Gusty actually gasped, the building was truly beautiful.

“Ok.” she started after she got her bearings back, “We know where to go. Let's take the street that points towards its steps, there!” She began running towards it. Ponies just got out of her way, staying to the sides of the streets as if they were used to galloping groups of misfits charging down their streets. But not that it mattered, at this point Gusty didn't even care if Bunker and Zeccaran could keep up with her.

After another 10 minutes of running she was walking up the white marble stairs to the main doors of the palace. Bunker and Zeccaran had kept pace quite well. They were next to her as she ascended the steps. She cleared the top, and wide path adored with a fine, thin red carpet stretched out before her and went into the palace and led to a set of stairs. The stairs split and angled to two identical doors on the left and right. The room was immaculate, filled with blue and gold banners. Each having specific sides of the hallway. They were elaborate in design and showed images of alicorns. The blue featured the moon too, while the gold ones featured the sun. The rest of the floor of the antechamber and further down the main hall was made up of some type of extremely shiny purple tile. It was very impressive and was a great showcase of the wealth this nation had. Though that wasn’t important to Gusty. She desired something much more valuable, knowledge

The teal alicorn pulled Amethyst off her back and opened her wings to their full width. She stood as tall as she could and proceeded to walk as daintily as possible through the open front doors of the palace. In the exact same fashion as the city gate, a Brownie and a Whitey stood at the sides of the open door.

They looked at her briefly then exchanged glances. “So what are you gonna do with your half of the reward?” Whitey asked.

“I’ll buy that ring for my marefriend.” Brownie said.

Gusty gave pause to look at them again. They stopped speaking immediately. Each took up a position next her.

“If you would come with us Miss Gusty…” Brownie said. “...quarters have already been prepared for your arrival.” Whitey finished.

“I appreciate the hospitality gentle-stallions but I must speak with the Princess Celestia at once. Assuming that Princess Luna is asleep.” Gusty stated, turning on her diplomat’s voice. “But you could take my bags, my companions’ bags and my daughter to the prepared location. Just show me which room Celestia is in.” She had said this while simultaneously heaving all of her and her party’s equipment on the two stallions.

She hoped it would work as a distraction. She even took her sword off and made sure that they had both Bunker’s axe and Zeccaran’s sickle.

“Awwhhh. But I want to meet the Princess too!” Amethyst complained. Gusty picked her up from her ground and held her up and smiled at her. “You will, but not right now. Right now Mommy has to talk to the Princess about that demon.”

“Oh you mean that stallion named Stormwalker? Ok. I don’t want to go then.” Amethyst said grimacing. “Come on boys. Take me to our room!” She barked authoritatively to the two guards.

Gusty beamed with pride. Already able to boss full grown males around! She couldn’t be happier with her surrogate daughter as she set her down to take the lead before the guard stallions.

“Miss” asked Whitey, as they all progressed down the hall, “Did your daughter just mention Colonel Stormwalker was a demon?” Gusty froze. She hadn’t realized that Amethyst might have just blurted out some important clue about her party’s mission.

“No. I don’t think so. She probably is just confused. She was there when the demon in question appeared and Stormwalker was was there too, etc. Kids mind’s you know..” she lied.

“Makes sense to me” chuckled Brownie. “He’s mean in a fight but he’s easily the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

It had worked. Gusty exhaled carefully and started walking again. Though she was unsure about how nice Stormwalker was.

They went into the palace and up the stairs on the right and beheld an elegant platformed flooring that lead down to a large foyer with an immense glass roof above it. They traveled down the elegant place and proceeded down a hallway that seemingly stretched for a half-mile to a set of enormous golden doors.

Shortly, the stallion’s stopped at a crossing hall.

They quickly explained that her new residence was all the way down at the very end of the hall on the right. Celestia was located in a room down the left hall at the end of the only left turn. They carefully indicated that the princess would be having brunch like she usually did in the “Amore Room” as it was called. They mentioned that the door would be painted red and departed. Amethyst leading them to the right, acting like she knew where she was going between all the suits of old body armor and tapestries.

Gusty followed their instructions turning at the small hall and found herself standing outside the so described red door which was partially open. She could hear a mare’s gentle voice and a stallion’s deeper tones coming from the room. She tried to make sense of what they were saying but couldn’t really.

Bunker stood there looking at her confused. “Why not just go in?” He asked softly.

She frowned at him.”Because I want to hear what they are talking about. It might be something I wouldn’t hear otherwise.” She snarked back.

“What? Why would not one alicorn not help another?” He continued.

“We all have our reasons.” Zeccaran said as he slowly put his hoof on the door and ending the conversation.

He locked eyes with Gusty. She nodded to have him open the door.

The zebra opened it with a silent and light pull. Harsh sun poured at Gusty’s eyes making the figures in the room silhouette into featureless grey outlines briefly. She walked in first. As her vision cleared she saw about a dozen guards lining the sides of the room. Their spears at their sides. A large window with its dark red curtains was on her left. Paintings of beautiful landscapes and intricate carved pillars on the other. The back wall was a full mural of a city in the clouds. In the center of the room a dark mahogany table was set with food and fine china.

Gusty saw a tall, slender white alicorn sitting facing her. Her pretty face, highlighted by a dazzlingly magenta eye, looked at her with curiosity and surprise, a seemingly alive mane of a borealis obscured the rest of her features. A long horn managing to protrude from its thick, ever-moving mass.

Time then slowed as an all-too-familiar presence focused in on her. The ever-nagging sensation of being watched spiked to a feeling of direct and present observation. As fast as her body would allow Gusty looked at the other pony at the table. He wore matte steel armor. His half-folded wings bore long dark blades, and his mane was a shiny black. His ears swiveled back to point at her, fast even in her slowed perceptions.

Stormwalker turned around and met her fearful gaze. Gusty was rendered immobile and was forced to stare at his face. Over the top of his left eye and down his face he bore a broad scar that looked like it had once split his skull apart. Gusty looked for his fangs and his slit pupils but found herself disappointed. He was still just as handsome as before, maybe more with that rugged scar. But Gusty could care less, he was a monster no matter how pretty he was on the outside. Her resolution made her notice how extremely tired he looked, bags deeply creasing his face below his eyes. He even seemed to be thinner once he stood. How he had even survived the fight with the Shade she did not know. Even for a creature like him that could regenerate, such a foe should have proven fatal.

Time seemed to catch itself and restart normally. In the next instant of staring into the eyes of that winged demon, Gusty saw disbelief, anger, happiness, shock, fear, relief and many other emotions flash through his eyes. But he settled just fast as he had quickly flashed through those emotions. He chose determination as if ignoring the whirlwind of ocular expressions he had experienced. He stood up from his chair and faced her. His big body and fully extended wings blocking Gusty from seeing Celestia.

“Detain them.” He snarled.

Gusty went to move but found herself suddenly looking up at the vaulted ceiling of the room. The sudden change reminded her of the stun-bolts she had taken during the train heist, really it could be nothing else. She was now pinned to the ground, a hard and unforgiving combination of metal and flesh was pulled tight around her neck. The tremendous weight of what felt like one of the marble pillars of the room held her to the ground.

As her vision and head cleared she looked around enough to her left and right to see Bunker and Zeccaran each restrained by a pair of the Royal Guards. They were held down in much the same way she assumed she was being held. Gusty was quick to realize that it would have taken at least four of the guards to equal the strain on her body that she was feeling. It was possible. They did actually seem quite competent. However, there was no way that the hot breaths of the thing holding her was a guardspony, Stormwalker was too narcissistic to let the guards pin her down. Into her ear he spoke aloud, in his demon speak, as if to confirm what she was thinking.

“I know you can understand me. Please, listen to me. And listen very carefully” he said. His words seemed to be cautiously chosen. Even in this Abyssal tongue they were sincere and pleading in tone.

Some time, long ago, Gusty had learned the awful language, back in the Cave she had intentionally ignored Stormwalker’s words. Now, with one of his forehooves pulled around her neck and his mouth which felt as if it was literally in her ear she couldn’t not listen to him.

She jerked about briefly, hoping to possibly loosen his grip. His leg was like iron shackles and provided no give at all. She half-grunted-half-growled at him in anger and disgust for having to respond to his demon-speak.

“What do you want, demon?” she answered in his language.

“Paint whatever picture you want of me. But, for no reason. No reason at all, in any way, shape, or form, tell Celestia about what I really am. I don’t care if you describe me as a butcher or whatever else. Just don’t describe my true form. The results will be catastrophic!”

Stormwalker was actually scared sounding. That alone confused Gusty.

He survived the Shade, does he not posses the ability to do as he wishes? She thought. Perhaps he was still recovering, or Celestia had a way to defeat him. No matter the the reason, Gusty decidedly did not plan to do as he wished. In fact, she was certain this was all an act to get her to come along with his plans quietly.

“I don’t believe you! Why would I ever listen to you again? Vile demon! Do you think you could deceive me so easily?” She retorted whilst trying to free herself again. She made no progress but she did manage to look about the room.

Bunker and Zeccaran and even the guards looked particularly concerned with the conversation she and the demon-pegasus were having. Eventually she managed to find Celestia, who looked more confused than anypony else. Before she could make eye-contact or speak to the other alicorn, Stormwalker pulled his foreleg tighter around her neck, forcing her to look to the ceiling again.

"No. I don’t.” He started. “Unlike before, I have no reason to deceive you. But since you won’t listen to me...I’ll play the part of the evil villain you take me to be. Let’s just say that that whether or not I’m telling the truth, your lack of cooperation will put the million or so innocent ponies of Canterlot in mortal danger. Something I know you would never do.” his stated with soft confidence.

Damnit! Gusty gritted her teeth in thought. If she revealed his secret, either way, she would be responsible for the lives of all the city. How did he already manage to have such a strong sense of my morals? She quarreled with the thought. The demon only been around her for about thirty minutes. Was he simply guessing or did he possess powers I don’t yet comprehend? She realized as the rest of her mind resigned that she would have to listen to him, against her better judgement, again.

“You win this time,” She snarled back to him, her own voice in the demon-speak even harsher than his. “But the moment I can get away with telling her, I will.” Her admonition was met with a low chuckle.

“I would expect nothing less, my dear. Though I hope I can persuade you from such foolish-”

“That.”

“Is.”

“Enough!”

The mare’s voice echoed in the room, even through Celestia’s anger her regular Equestrian almost sing-song compared to Gusty’s previous conversation.. Stormwalker’s grip on her neck loosened significantly and Gusty gazed upon the glorious creature’s full profile.

Celestia was nearly as tall as Stormwalker, just barely taller if you counted her horn. Now visible her tail was much like her mane, ever-shifting and enormous in both length and volume. Her head, her chest, and each hoof was covered with golden regalia, She certainly fulfilled the part of royalty in both physical beauty and regal bearing, but something was preventing Celestia from being perfect. This time Gusty could see both of her eyes. They had a hard piercing glint in them that was somewhat colored by disappointment. Celestia’s gaze was fixed on Stormwalker. She kept opening her mouth to say something but would stop and frown, each time her grimace deepening. After a few seconds, the princess finally caught herself

“Release them! And explain yourself!” She demanded, slamming down her right hoof.

Gusty felt her heart jump for joy. She couldn’t imagine Stormwalker talking his way out of this quagmire. His whole plan was about to be ruined by his own arrogance. Gusty grinned mischievously and looked around the room, only to see the Royal Guards not following the princess’s orders. Instead, they looked over at Stormwalker, concerned looks on their faces.

“It’s okay boys. Objective completed. Go ahead and let them go, you are dismissed.” He said calmly.

Gusty felt the demon’s weight lift off of her body and his hoof completely remove itself. She also caught the edge of Stormwalker’s left wing as it folded while he stepped away from her. Its soft texture giving her chills. Similar to the chilly anger that rolled from Celestia’s tongue.

“By whose authority do you dismiss my guards. Colonel?” she said, venom dripping down every word.

“And how dare you treat our guests this way!” Celestia continued, Gusty felt her smile returning. “And that-that, foul language! Whatever it is: I want nopony ever speaking it in my presence ever again! And tell me what you said to Gusty, Colonel. Now!”

“That is business meant only for Gusty and myself. Long ago you told me that you didn’t want to know of what we spoke.” Stormwalker seemed as affected as a rock would be from tongue lashings his voice even and calm.

“Not that I expect you to remember though,” He suddenly snarled. “That’s how memory spells work, right? You start to remember then…” Stormwind trailed off. Gusty was pretty sure the demon really loved the sound of his own voice.

Gusty turned to look at Celestia to listen to her response. But the mare only stared off vacantly before shaking her head and blinking rapidly. Gusty’s compassionate instincts kicked in.

“What did you do to her!?” She yelled at Stormwalker.

He looked at her over his body with his good eye. Gusty actually balked at his sad and empty expression unaware that he could make such a face.

He looked tortured as he spoke, his demeanor differed so great than what she expected Gusty was unable to snark a response.

“I may have been the reason, but it was her own doing.” He looked away from Gusty and back at Celestia.

“I-...I thought I...” Celestia paused. “It seems I have forgotten why I was upset with your explanation. Still. That was no way to treat Gusty and her companions.” Celestia groaned out in response.

“They left me for dead in a cave, fighting an eldritch Shade that could have easily killed me and destroyed this whole world, and you expect me to treat them with kindness? I know we are overlooking the occurrence due to the circumstances but that doesn’t mean that what they did was acceptable.” Stormwalker snapped back, covering up his earlier gloom

“Neither were your actions.” Celestia continued their argument forgetful of her own sudden lapse.

“Better the temporary damage to a single pony than to sacrifice the world, the decision was the best and only choice I could make. You know full well I would have never done that had they not already completed the ritual before I got to them. I even planned on ensuring her horn worked again myself.” the demon lied, Gusty knew better to believe him, especially that last sentence.

“It seems that our arguments always end in this circular-type of stalemate. If I say anything else you can just counter it with ‘it wasn’t the compassionate thing to do, but it was the right thing to do And I cannot say you are wrong because the completion of the ritual would have meant the Shade being summoned. Which I would say happened anyway so all you did was harm an otherwise innocent foal, and you would say “that these three fools here are responsible,” Celestia waved a hoof with bravado, “and you would be right, but you are only right because you apparently scared them enough to do it...Let’s just leave it at this: you did what you had to and neither of us liked it but you accept your decision and I do not.”

Gusty had barely managed to follow Celestia’s argument. She rattled off the whole thing so quickly Gusty was certain she broke some sort of world-record time for eloquent words in five seconds. Typically she was really good with following logic trains but it seemed that Stormwalker and Celestia were actually debating some obscure moral point that weighed the value of lives against one another. She suddenly found herself unsure if Celestia was going to be able to help her at all, even if she did divulge Stormwalker’s true nature to her fellow alicorn. Still it was worth the risk.

“So, just cut out all the banter we could have had at once, huh?” Stormwalker jabbed back at her. “I won’t lie I actually enjoy arguing with you-so, I’m disappointed. Or perhaps you are now focused on gathering a new perspective with which you intend to thoroughly jape me?” he tilted his head towards Gusty but remained looking at the princess.

Gusty saw Celestia smile at Stormwalker. It was a genuine, happy smile. One that would only be shared between the closest of friends. Gusty thought perhaps Stormwalker had had a simple, survival-related, reason for keeping his true nature a secret, but seemingly like all things pertaining to the demon-stallion there were layers of intrigue to pull away.

Why can’t he be straightforward like the other demons? She scoffed in her head.

Stormwalker half-turned around. His head remained peering at Celestia, Gusty could barely make out the edges of his right eye. “Alright then, ‘Tia. Seems we will have to pick up this argument at a later time.” He began to leave the room.

He paused before reaching the door and cast a smug smirk at her.

“Oh, Gusty.” purred the demon.

Gusty felt the return of the prickling sensation, Stormwalker’s leering gaze crawling up her back.

“Try to stay out of trouble, we wouldn’t want another fight would we?” he smirked.

Gusty blew a long angry raspberry at him.

He slid out of the room on and pulled the door shut with a wing, his smile never fading. Gusty continued to blow her raspberry out of anger and boredom. She had been anticipating this moment for several days and it was completely anti-climatic.

Gusty was unsure if he had even been there, it was almost as if she had just been dreaming. Still blowing her raspberry she turned around and rolled her eyes. She caught Celestia’s gaze. Her alicorn counterpart seemed to be looking about her group a grimace pulling her pretty face into a smirking frown.

“Explain. Now.” Celestia demanded as her eyes narrowed. “It is rare that the good Colonel lies and when he does it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

Gusty began recounting the events adding a lot of significant detail about her dislike of Stormwalker. She was careful to leave the details Stormwalker’s demonic transformation just like he had forced her to. Celestia nodded politely as she told her story her face slowly becoming more annoyed. Eventually, a moment before Gusty accounted how they had summoned the Shade Celestia grunted in frustration. She broke her patient look for an upset one.

“Literally the same as the Colonel’s. Are you sure there aren’t any other details? Anything he may have missed that you didn’t? How about you my fair zebra? Zeccaran was it?” She turned a nearly angry glance at Zeccaran.

“Well, everything Gusty told you is right.” the zebra started. “I keep trying to think of anything we missed but there’s nothing out of place.”

Celestia sighed in a resigned manner. “Are you sure?” she asked again.

“I am concerned about the method of Chrysanthemum’s tribunal but as far as that night is concerned the only thing I have to say is that Stormwalker is a very unpleasant creature once upset. He gave Bunker the beating of a lifetime and basically cut me in half. Only reason we aren’t dead is because of Gusty and her magic. I’m sorry but there’s nothing more. Had I known the details of the ritual before I got there I wouldn’t have summoned the Shade, but… well, like I said we were pretty desperate.” Zeccaran concluded.

Gusty noticed Celestia’s brow furrow in thought.

“How did you know how to complete the ritual? She asked slowly her eyes narrowing. Gusty realized she wanted to know how he had done that too. Zeccaran had really more struck her as a skilled fool, not a prophet of some dark cult. It didn't help that he had been dodgy when she asked him herself.

“Yeah. How did you? I meant to ask but we’ve been too busy…” she said.

Zeccaran’s jaw hung slightly open in response. He pulled up a hoof to his face and rubbed his mohawk.

“I don’t really know.” Gusty looked over to Celestia and they exchanged a look of raised eyebrows of doubt.

They looked back at Zeccaran. He seemed genuinely lost in thought trying put things together

“It’s like... it’s like I had this dream. That I knew the process from before somehow. But I can’t place it.” Zeccaran said hitting his head with his hooves alternatively “Like, honestly it’s there. But I can’t make it make sense. It hurts to try.” Zeccaran gave up shaking his head in defeat.

A flash and hum overtook Gusty’s senses as a golden aura of magic hung over Zeccaran’s head for but a moment. If she had blinked she would have missed it, Gusty turned to see Celestia’s horn slowly extinguishing its magic.

“A memory spell. Not my specialty, but my sister’s. If anypony will be able to decipher the hidden meaning behind the ritual and your mental troubles it will be her.” Celestia determined.

“Luna? Is she awake? I need both of you for...something…” Gusty narrowly restrained herself from blurting out Stormwalker’s secret. If all three of them worked together she was certain they could overcome the demon and keep the city safe. But, the trouble was that Stormwalker had intentionally separated them. Gusty was sure he had gone to ensure Luna would be preoccupied with something he made up, or worse, did to her.

“Oh, no. Luna should be asleep for another hour or so.” Celestia smiled warmly her eyes looking to another place. “She would happy to help once she is awake, in fact, I’ll go wake her now, myself. Please, return to your room and I will meet you there with her. It’s been a long time since we both were needed to solve a mystery…”

Celestia led the way out of the room, Gusty and her male companions followed.

“High Winds, please escort Miss Gusty and her friends to their room.” The princess asked kindly, before turning and continued away from the Pegasus guard she had addressed. He saluted her before turning and simply asking them to follow him.

She and her party followed the young guard back the way the came. They continued past the intersection that led to the throne room and the entrance hall, on the left and right respectively. Persisting through a massive ball room and entering another long hall were many guard ponies bustled about. After a moment and going up a narrow set of stairs that arched over up to an indoor balcony having past through the staircase's its mirrored brother mid way down the hall. Once on the second floor the moved down the hall following it as it turned right. As the hall then turned left they came to a a gilded white door. High Winds gave a short bow and a wave of his hoof indicating for them to enter. He then turned and left down the hall that had led to the door, quickly disappearing never to be seen again.

Gusty was pleased to find herself entering a lavish living space. Beside her Bunker loosed a low gasp as they strode onto a silken carpet of white. It was soft enough to almost convince Gusty it was a cloud. Otherwise the room was adorned with dark purples and blues featuring two massive couches and a dark mahogany coffee table. On the far wall full-paned Prench windows and doors reached up to the extra tall ceiling allowing anypony inside to see the sky and a view of the city with ease. The doors led to a small balcony that featured black metal patio furniture. There was also a door on either side of the room, one was open.

Amethyst came bounding from the open door on the right of the living room. She was chewing on what appeared to be a cookie. “Momma! They have a kitchen, and it’s full of food! I even made some cookies!” The young filly floated several out of the kitchen in her pink magic and gave them to Gusty.

Bunker went towards the door on the left and opened it and entered. Gusty followed him into what was a short hallway finding a bathroom, a small bedroom clearly made for a filly, and a master bedroom. Bunker whistled in admiration at the sight of the enormous bed in the master room.

“You know. I hate to say-but..” Bunker yawned widely. “I is pretty tired from the last couple of days...and big bed…” he swooned visibly. Gusty rolled her eyes and gave him a shove.

“Just take a bath first, I don’t want the sheets ruined until we both are in there.” She gave him her best naughty grin. The big stallion nodded while biting his lower lip.

“I’ll be sure to rest well then.” he said before kissing her and practically skipping towards the bedroom’s attendant bath chambers.

Gusty returned to the living room to find Zeccaran idly staring at a wall. Amethyst was buried in the thick cushions of the couch munching cookies and humming to herself. Gusty cleared her throat enough to get Zeccaran’s attention, and motioned for him to go out to the patio. He trotted lazily towards the big glass doors with her. Once outside Gusty broke her silence.

“We have to tell them.” She began. “Stormwalker has to be stopped. You saw what he was capable of, and he beat that Shade too! He’s a monster, the princesses need to know! And that memory spell on Celestia! And you! Tell me what you know about those cultists! Ugh! So many questions!” she grumble-growled.

“Umm. Gusty. That’s all well and good but, we’ve got company…” Zeccaran pointed towards a tower that extended away from the main palace about fifty yards to their right.

From a small balcony of the spire there were number of unicorn guards visible. On the pointed roof of the battlement the hulking mass of a familiar shadow gazed down at Gusty, flanked by a pair of pegasi. The shadow nodded its head and the hiss of red stun bolts filled the air, even though the unicorns couldn’t see the command.

Gusty dove down below the marble railing as the four unicorns fired. Zeccaran who had followed suit screaming. “Ok get ready to fire back, I’ll distract them, then we’ll dive beck inside.” Gusty nodded, then gasped as fire sparked on Zeccaran’s hooves. She barely had time to catch her falling composure before the zebra stood on his hind legs and yelled hoarsely, “NOW!”

Fire erupted from Zeccaran’s hooves, the heat was incredible and the display terrifying, but his malice was directed away from her. The bloom of flames shot towards the unicorns who promptly took cover behind their own marble banister. The fire missed them miserably and didn’t even hit the tower where they were but the effect was undeniable. Gusty readied her own stun bolts, unlike the train, she wouldn’t be outdone by other ponies.

just as soon as the unicorns stood to check if they still had their manes she fired a stun bolt. It hit the one poor fellow squarely in the face. He dropped down limply, hidden by the banister. The remaining unicorns returned fire but not before Gusty noticed the two pegasi leaving the shadow’s side. Though distracted she managed to dodge the red balls of knock-out energy. The pegasi were quickly closing and Zeccaran was looking more nervous by the second as he narrowly escaped the electric crackle of the bolts himself.

Gusty then decided to bring out an old favorite of hers, a holy shield . It didn’t work like a normal barrier shield a unicorn could cast, in fact it didn’t prevent anything from entering its perimeter. Instead, the shield would disorient anypony foolish enough to enter it. She had cast it on Amethyst the day before when the cockatrices had attacked but now she cast it on herself. The shield would hopefully show off its worth this time. She took to the sky to meet the incoming pegasi.

The pegasi passed through the outer barrier of the shield before they could pull away. Gusty only caught a glimpse of their befuddled faces before they past her not even sort of trying to swing their hooves at her. She turned to see one of the pegasi fly headlong into the wall next to the doors of her apartment and then slide unconsciously down to the patio balcony. The other randomly veered back towards the tower he had flown from and crashed through a window on its bottom floor.

Gusty heard a growl come from the angry shadow atop the spire. More stun bolts flew but missed her, she retaliated with two more of her own. The two bolts both hit the same unicorn and sent him spinning in a circle. He comically hit the one mare that was with the unicorns and knocked her out cold.

Gusty started a laugh, “Ha! Some Royal Guards these ponies were!” she chortled out.

The shadow on his perch yelled down at her and the remaining unicorn. “Forget the zebra! Focus only on her!”

Before jumping from the spire and diving towards her. The shade of the big beast cleared and Stormwalker’s visage matched his voice.

Gusty barely had time to keep Stormwalker from tackling her out of the sky. Her magic had no effect on deterring or disabling him at all. Holy spell or not it could be broken by willpower, something the demon clearly did not lack.

After passing through her shield he agilely flipped out of his dive with phenomenal grace even in his armor. She made eye-contact with Stormwalker for the briefest moments. In his eyes all she could see was desperation, primal and ravaging. Gusty’s heart jumped into her throat. She was overcome with the urge to run from him. He had something debaucherous planned for her and Gusty didn’t want to find out its details.

She immediately put as much distance as her wings could make between them. Gusty was up and over the roof as a sss-pop of a teleportation spell completing buzzed to her left. It was the last remaining unicorn. He hurled a stun bolt at her but missed miserably. Gusty turned around as she zipped by him only to see Stormwalker a few feet behind her and gaining rapidly. His big wings and evident skill in the air making him faster.

A massive rush of air and the swoop of Stormwalker’s body passed just in front her nose. A great clammering and shattering of roof tile followed. Gusty passed just over the top of him shocked he had missed.

“I overshot! I friggin’ overshot! I don’t believe it!” The demon-stallion cursed loudly.

Gusty wasted no time reaching her full flight speed. She buzzed along the roof of the palace perhaps two yards above its sloped surface. The occasional sounds of the unicorn teleporting after her caught her attention. She turned her head just in time to see a much more well-aimed stun bolt fly at her. She tucked in her left wing and rolled to her side in the air, making the magic lance miss. She was about halfway to the front of the palace where she could reach some actual guards or better yet, Celestia. Gusty turned to check on her tail, only to find Stormwalker gaining on her from about twenty feet away.

She reflexively gave a brief shriek and returned to flying as fast as she could. It didn’t seem to matter though, the demon was too fast in the air. She could feel his wings displacing the air near her back hooves within a few seconds She partially looked left to see where he was at, catching him in her furthest peripheral. He was making his move to tackle her recklessly. Gusty didn’t have to time to react. She closed her eyes a braced for impact.

Gusty felt the heat of the stallion’s body graze against her own. It passed over her down flapping wings and touched her back then passed by giving her chills. She opened her eyes and looked to her right, the direction the heat had moved. Stormwalker’s armored backside was all that could be seen as the stallion crashed through the roof this time. He sent shattered tile and splintered wood flying as he vanished into the palace. Gusty heard several very choice curses in Abyssal die away as he fell further into the building.

She found herself laughing with delight. There was no way this was happening. Not when she had confirmation the very same klutz that had fallen through the roof had killed a Shade and utterly devastated a group of ponies without breaking a sweat. Gusty kept cackling until the hiss of a narrowly missed stun-bolt forced her to stop.

The unicorn was back at it. She flew off attempting to outdistance his ability to teleport. She quickly was nearing the front of the palace and her chance to alert the guards loyal to Celestia. The unicorn had been slowly losing ground the entire time. Gusty was confident she’d be able to ignore him when as snap-hiss occurred just in front of her.

The unicorn had managed to teleport all the way out in front of the palace’s edge. With him had come blood and decaying sparkles of mana burn. Gusty could see the red coming from his ears, eyes, and the base of his horn as he started to fall to the ground. Now in the open air herself she dove to catch the poor fool before he met his end on the marble staircase below, if he wasn’t already dead.

She caught him just before the ground. Checking for a pulse Gusty was pleased to find one. She hovered to the entrance patio as the two guards from earlier rushed up, their faces gaunt with worry. “He’s alive! Get him some help quickly, he mana burnt himself. I need to find the Princess!” The guards obliged with quick and gruff agreement and took their wayward comrade away. Gusty hoped the injured stallion would be alright, he probably was just following orders like any good soldier would.

Gusty rushed into the palace to find Celestia…

Zeccaran pursed his lips as Stormwalker and Gusty flew over the top of the palace. The unicorn teleported after them leaving the zebra to stand idly on the balcony alone.

He turned to look at the door behind him. The big glass panes were covered in a strange blue sparkling aura. Puzzled he pushed the blue field to find it soft but firm. It refused to give even the slightest distance to his touch. Zeccaran knew of two ways to dispel shield magic: specific dispelling curses or overwhelming the caster’s power with repeated attacks. Lacking dispelling curses Zeccaran took the only option remaining and pulsed out another beam of fire.

After the fire abated the zebra beheld a completely unaffected shield. Around the wood and glass, the alabaster stone had been scorched black from the blaze. Whoever had cast the shield was indeed a powerful mage, but this wouldn’t deter him! Zeccaran angrily fired another jet of flame at the shield and the door.

The results were the same.

Zeccaran fell to his rump and glared at the shield. At a loss, there wasn’t much else to do besides perhaps throw himself to his death from the high balcony. However, the shield aura suddenly sparkled like twinkling stars and then disappeared with a small whoosh. Zeccaran stood up in disbelief gawking at the now empty silence of the breeze as the light hum the shield had been making had ceased. He slowly reached up for the door and pulled down the handle to open it.

The door gave with no issue and Zeccaran trod into the quiet room. He could hear Bunker snoring from another room and see Amethyst sprawled out on one of the enormous sofa’s her eyes closed. A set of dainty hoofs made noise as somepony entered the living room from the kitchen.

Zeccaran could hardly believe his eyes. A tall mare entered the room, her fur the most magnificent midnight blue imaginable. Her mane and tail alive waving and sparkling like stars in the night’s sky. Her beautiful teal eyes looked at him room inquisitively, their long lashes and light blue shadow deepening her gaze. She wore the symbol of the Moon wrapped in silver and onyx, like the tiara that was buried in her star-swirled mane. It was the Second Princess of Equestria: a pony Zeccaran thought he’d never meet, even with the last few days’ events.

He fell down in a low bow. “Princess Luna!” he murmured reverently. He heard her walk towards him, she released a small hum of confusion.

“Strange. Why are you not asleep? When I cast the spell everypony was in the apartment.” He voice was relaxed but archaic.

“Gusty and I went out on the balcony, Princess...where we were attacked by Colonel Stormwalker and a group of guards. What’s going on? Why were you trying to make us fall asleep?” Too curious Zeccaran dropped his formality midway through his answer. He had to ask, he needed to know.

“Oh. Oh, dear. And if you are in here, t-that means that Stormy must have failed to capture Gusty...which…” She fell silent looking at the ground. “I NEED TO FIND MY SISTER!” she proclaimed face strained with worry. Zeccaran watched, with his questions unanswered, as Luna bolted toward the door.

Knock knock knock.

Luna froze mid-gallop. She looked back and forth before turning around as the knocking ensued again. She met his eyes and motioned for him to answer the door. Zeccaran made a face of weary acceptance and plodded up to the door.

The zebra opened the door to reveal Celestia and her shining white coat.

“Hello Zeccaran. May I come in?” She asked kindly.

“Sure, I figure you can answer my questions since your sister won’t…” Zeccaran was starting to feel rather stepped on and his attitude was becoming snide.

“My sister?” the big mare asked her neck swiveling to watch him as she entered the room. “What do you mean?”

Zeccaran pointed back at Luna he was peeking up from behind one of the sofas with a frown. As elated he was to have finally met the real Princess of the Night the zebra felt angry that she appeared to be an ally of Stormwalker.

“Luna! I’ve been looking for you! What are you doing in our guests’ apartment?” Celestia questioned.

“Oh! Sister, I had asked one of my guards alert me if they were to arrive during the day, I seemed to have missed Miss Gusty though.” Zeccaran knew that Luna was lying but what she said seemed rehearsed. Celestia didn’t notice and continued to speak, Zeccaran waited looking to pick the best time to seek the truth.

“Well, I am glad you are as excited as I am about Gusty Twilight, but what’s more important is actually Zeccaran here” Celestia started. “He has a rather powerful memory charm placed on him I was hoping you could take a look at it for me so we could piece together some of the more confusing events of the Cave.”

“Ah. Well...um…” Luna nervously glanced back and forth between him and Celestia. “Sister I placed that spell on him. When we have a more appropriate time I will gladly remove it and go over my reasons with you but right now there are more important things for you to attend to.”

Zeccaran wasn’t sure if he had heard her right but he was pretty sure Luna had said she was the culprit. Why would she have done it? It potentially explains some of my memory loss or these weird bouts of returning knowledge, but how...His thoughts were interrupted by Celestia.

“You?! You put the spell on him?! Luna tell me everything. Tell me now!” Celestia screamed.

“Tia..I-I..I can’t.” Luna stammered.

“What do you mean you can’t? Luna something is going on here. I know it is! For most of the last two days I feel like I can’t remember things. And I keep getting random flashbacks of...of...terrible things. From when our parents-and...Stormwalker from when he was younger...ugh...why can’t I remember anything about him? I’ve known him for his entire life! And I can’t even remember his first name! You better not have placed some memory curse on me at his request! Recent events have made it abundantly clear to me that he cannot be trusted!”

Celestia angrily yelled most of her rant. Zeccaran watched as Luna shrunk down onto her rump looking smaller and smaller as Celestia shouted. Once the elder alicorn finished she began panting, her face was flushed as if she was embarrassed and guilty. Luna slowly stood up slowly looking at the ground dejectedly.

“Sister, you placed that curse on yourself over twenty years ago.” she said solemnly. Zeccaran’s mouth gaped open in shocked comprehension. He had noticed Celestia’s strange “zone-out” earlier but hadn’t taken what Stormwalker had said seriously.

“If I had placed the curse why is it breaking now? Celestia asked the question on his mind

“I’ve looked over the spell myself, It seems that when you created it you made a failsafe. It had to do with Stormy. I think you are only supposed to remember if he does something that harms innocent ponies. But at his request he asked me to leave my diagnosis at the most basic level for he feared removing the charm would greatly endanger the nation.” Luna had regained most of her confidence.

“There might be more to it too. Gusty’s presence could have been a trigger, but I don’t know. The spell is incredibly complex, even more so than the dreamwalking I do. Either way, he was...scared I think, of the spell breaking. He has always been somewhat scattered when it came to his describing his relationship with you…”

Celestia nodded briefly but otherwise made no reply. She stared off in silence her face confused and sad. Luna crossed the distance and hugged her sister making Zeccaran feel rather alone and small compared to the situation. He opened his mouth to finally speak when the door was slammed open.

“Celestia! Zeccaran!” Gusty shouted. “The guards said you both were in here, come on we need to find Luna before...oh!”

Zeccaran snickered as Gusty was rendered lost for words. His friend shut the door behind her and looked as if she was trying regather her thoughts. It lasted but a brief moment.

“Princesses! Your beloved Colonel Stormwalker has attacked Zeccaran and myself. On top of that he is much more than he seems!” she proclaimed

A bad feeling crawled up Zeccaran’s back and settled in his throat. Standing he spoke: “Gusty wait! There’s more to this than-” He tried to say. Gusty interrupted him, her voice in near hysterics.

“I couldn’t tell you sooner, he threatened me with the destruction of the city. He’s a demon. A horrible ancient monster like I haven’t seen in forever! And we have to stop him!” she belted out.

“Or ok nevermind….” Zeccaran let his voice drop away. He became of an icy silence as Celestia’s breathing grew loud and rapid. Her face was obscured from his view, but Gusty’s triumphant smirk was easily visible.

Sister, you need to remain calm...I’ve known about this for some time” Luna placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulder, "...he’s on our side, even with recent events I’m sure you understand that he ha-” SLAM! the door being kicked open stopped Luna mid-sentence

Zeccaran turned to see Stormwalker shoot into the room and shut the door with another slam. He started talking before turning around. “OK. Luna I don’t know how, but she-she..she got away.” he turned and looked at the group his face initially showing no recognition. His eyes were their normal golden-yellow but with slitted pupils and his fangs hung from his mouth.

]“We need to find Celestia and keep Gusty away...from....her….” Stormwalker’s pupils widened to diamonds in surprise, his voice trailing away to reveal Celestia’s harsh breathing again.

This time Zeccaran could see her face. It was simply the perfect definition of righteous indignation. Lips curled, eyes on fire, and nostrils flared so wide he could see pink flesh inside them. Zeccaran felt like he needed to hide behind one of the sofa’s.

Stormwalker managed to regain some composure, though that was a generous description. As Zeccaran scooted his way towards his chosen cover he watched the demon’s mouth work to speak.

“I...Uh…….ummm. Ok. yeeeeaaah I gotta go.” He said before performing an excellent about-face and opening the door and darting out it.

Celestia loosed an angsty growl. “Demon! Murderer! Get back here!” She shrieked before galloping away.

“Sister wait!” Luna yelled following her elder sibling. Zeccaran was left to watch Gusty laugh. The teal alicorn fell onto one of the sofa’s and squealed with girlish delight. But her merriment only made the feeling of dread increase, something about the way Luna had described the situation set off warning sirens in his head. He spoke up.

“Gusty. We need to go help Luna. I think Celestia might be the one to destroy the city trying to catch Stormwalker. You just missed it but Luna was describing the enchantment Celestia put on herself. We should help.” He sternly commanded.

Gusty sighed dejectedly and sat up to look at him. “Fiiiiiinne” she rolled her eyes at him. “But only because I want to see Celestia knock the shit out him. Let me get Bunker.”

Zeccaran exhaled his breath. He was shocked Gusty was listening to him, or that she didn’t hit him over the head with some random object like last time he had had an idea. Gusty went off into the apartment and quickly returned with a very groggy looking Bunker who was dragging his axe on the floor.

“Come on sleepy head we have to help the princesses!” She barked levitating the big stallion into the air. She looked briefly at Zeccaran and then ran out the door. The zebra followed his friends as they began running through the palace.

A trail of destruction marked their path. Suits of armor were knocked across the elegant tile and banners were twisted and knocked down everywhere they went. Several pictures that had dotted the halls had been shattered to pieces their glass littering the floor like snow. Zeccaran had to make a full leap to avoid cutting the soft of his hooves. Gusty had taken to the air once they had reached the main hall, Bunker still held in her magical grip. The big earth stallion looked rather amused as he was carried about. Zeccaran dodged around the rubble from a completely smashed marble pillar and caught Gusty who was now on the ground trying to push the throne room doors open.

Zeccaran had thought the devastation had been bad before entering the throne room. He was shocked to see that the halls had merely been the icing on a debaucherous cake. Everywhere the room was coated in circular scorches and the occasional deep gash of some enormous blade glinted the walls, floor, and even ceiling. The stained glass windows on the side of the palace that led to the gardens were all but destroyed, only a few panels remained. The throne itself had been cut in half diagonally, leaving its upper section and left armrest tumbled over on the side of the raised dais.

“Come on! They must have gone out into the garden!” Gusty proclaimed taking to the sky and flying out the largest opening in the window frames. A tingling sensation tickled at Zeccaran’s hooves and back and he was suddenly flying out the window before he realized what was happening.

He let out of a shriek of surprise before he was lowered down to an eagerly waiting Gusty and Bunker.

“Argh! A little warning next time Gusty! You know I hate it when you levitate me.” He scowled at her angrily.

“What you were gonna jump?” she replayed sarcastically.

“Yes! I would have been much more comfortable that way!” He yelled at her frantically flailing his hooves trying to touch the ground.

Gusty let him go and Zeccaran fell the short distance remaining and glared at his friend. She giggled.

“Come on! They have to be out here somewhere!” she commanded finishing up her chuckles.

Entering a full gallop Gusty made headway towards a large set of decorative hedges covered in a rainbow of flowers. Zeccaran and Bunker chased after the mare the former simply hoping she would slow down enough for them to catch her.

The two stallions entered the hedgeworks to find Gusty staring intently at a bed of blue flowers. Zeccaran was too shocked to speak. Gusty motioned them over.

He found his voice: “Gusty what about…” The smell of the delicate beauties hit Zeccaran’s nostrils like a train. The intoxicating aroma made him realize why Gusty had stopped

“I have to try one.” the mare in question murmured, lowering her head.

She chomped off one of the brilliant flowers from its stem and began chewing. Gusty gasped in what could only be described as full food ecstasy. She fell back on her rump and grasped her cheeks as if she was trying to keep the flavor from fleeing her mouth. She mumbled incoherently before swallowing and snapping three fresh flowers from the patch up in her levitation.

“You guys have to try these! They are amazing!” She proclaimed gleefully as the flowers floated over to Zeccaran and Bunker of their own accord. Zeccaran watched Gusty devour the third flower.

“‘Ey, why not? We are ponies after all, da?” Bunker made a strong point.

Zeccaran snatched the whole flower out of Gusty’s magic in a single bite.

Exploding torrents of salty-sweet savoriness threatened to overwhelm the zebra’s senses. Switching to a tart yet delectable cornucopia of wondrous richness Zeccaran thought he might pass out for sheer sensory overload. With great reluctance he swallowed the flower.

Things then got....weird.

He looked back up at Gusty to find her a cheery pink. His jaw hung loose as he also noticed a purple afternoon sky and a blue sun. Next to him Bunker blathered incoherently before throwing himself at Gusty.

“So pink! And so cute! And ARRRGHHh!” Bunker, screamed with delight, evidently experiencing the same weirdness as he was.

“OH DEAREST BETROTHED! LET US FORGET THE TROUBLESOME DEMON AND CONSUMMATE OUR LOVE!” the stallion bellowed. Zeccaran too relaxed to move or care, simply sat and enjoyed the sudden and immense sensation of euphoria.

He relaxed his back and legs and toppled onto the soft eggshell grass. It was magically soft and felt like thousands of fine toothed combs delicately cleaning his fur.

Vaguely he heard Gusty pushing the over-eager Bunker away.

“I guess they aren’t for everypony.” Her voice was deep and echoey like they were in a massive cave or a concert hall.

Zeccaran simply didn’t have a care in the world in that moment. He felt wonderfully complete; as if nothing could ever ruin this exact moment.

Glass shattered in a inharmonious sort of way that only glass could. It seemed perfect in its sound and rhythm. Zeccaran slowly sat up to look towards the noise, to see if it would happen again. Instead he only managed to yawn and close his eyes. The world behind his eyelids was even more vibrant than outside them. Zeccaran continued to revel merrily without noticing anything and eventually falling asleep…

Author's Note

Official Edit: 10-15-2017

Act 1: Chapter 9 - The Truth

"I find it interesting the lengths that some ponies will go to to spite one another. I deal with it every day trying to settle civil disputes but it never ceases to amaze me. Thanks to some of my students, this is the furthest depth of conflict the average pony ever experiences, and it is normal to help others despite oneself. Yet...There are those that have never received that help and they still help others, and I think that the true mark of grace.
-Princess Celestia-

Gusty watched as Zeccaran and Bunker rolled onto their backs simultaneously. Both mumbled and laid out on their flanks ignoring what had so firmly grasped her attention, just moments ago.

From a window near the base of one of the palace’s spire’s Stormwalker exploded outwards. Glass rained down past him as he twisted through the air dodging two separate blasts of golden magic. Slamming his wings down he jerked nimbly to the right, as Celestia came bursting from the window shattering the rest of the glass left in it.

The alicorn’s eyes glowed white hot and her horn blazed just as bright. In her magic she held a massive double-bladed axe. She was screaming so harshly that Gusty could not understand her. She shot several balls of flame at Stormwalker, who did not bother to dodge. They hit him and dispersed around his sides like he was the peak of a mountain against clouds. Celestia crossed the distance to the demon-pegasus as the last of her spell blew away. Dipping backward and pumping his wings, Stormwalker jetted away from a swing of her axe, his back facing the ground as he did. Celestia resumed shouting, her voice a deep and bellowing howl, this time close enough to be understood.

“Stand and fight me!” Celestia demanded, lips in a curl.

“Is that what you want? Truly?!” Stormwalker yelled back his voice equally as loud and powerful as Celestia’s.

Curiously, Gusty would note that he did not sound like he did in the cave. His voice was clean, lacking all of its demonic characteristics.

“You will answer for you deception, answer for your lies!” she screamed

Celestia followed up her proclamation by a shoulder-butt into Stormwalker. She continued her assault with a swing of her axe from behind the demon. Gusty watched without surprise as he turned mid-tumble and blocked the blow with his front pair of blades. Stormwalker forced the levitating axe back and slipped his blades behind the axe’s mounting to its pole. He batted his wings down in a sharp motion and executed a full 360 turn and sent Celestia’s weapon flying towards the ground free of her magic. The huge tree-cutter spun end over end and slammed down blade first in between Bunker and Zeccaran, narrowly missing them both. Gusty grimaced in surprise. Like before she noticed that Stormwalker had no reason to do this, he could easily defeat Celestia. However, it seemed that he had no intention of hurting her. This meant Stormwalker was likely trying to manipulate Celestia into doing what he wanted.

Gusty had a perfect way to put a stop to that. Charging the same “truth” spell she had used on the bakers she had first arrived a their home in Hollow Shades. Gusty cast the magic on Stormwalker. It was a divine spell after all and even a demon of Stormwalker’s caliber had to follow the commands of the spell. This time he would be forced to speak the truth. The spell formed in her own gold magic and turned into a faint purple misty beam as it flew to and then hit Stormwalker. If he had noticed her cast the spell he showed absolutely no indication.

“I’ve tried so hard! So incredibly hard to avoid this exact situation! But nothing I’ve done has been able to prevent it!" Stormwalker screamed in anger

Gusty watched as Celestia’s axe floated back up to her. The other alicorn loosed a growl of frustration.

“Then why not come to me? Why not collaborate with both Luna and I?” she shrieked questions at him.

Celestia made a horizontal slash at Stormwalker. The beast caught the swinging blade with his right forehoof’s blade and held it from hitting him. The axe shook violently as Celestia continued to try and force it onto the hovering monster.

“You have control over her don’t you?!” Celestia viciously snarled.

“No. I never have. She simply is not you. She actually listened to me!" Stormwalker answered with what Gusty was sure was a lie, but something about the way he said it made her think her spell was actually working.

Celestia pulled her blade away and fierce fighting ensued. Sadly, Gusty’s white counterpart could not even hit the demon. He dodged and flipped out of the way of her every attack, even her great beams of pure golden energy and the dozen fireballs she fired. The smell of burning plants caught Gusty’s nose and she turned to see that most of the beautiful garden was on fire. Celestia was causing an extreme amount of collateral damage. The sharp clang of the great-axe hitting a nearby fountain and smashing it to rubble drew her attention back to the fight before her. Celestia and Stormwalker had picked up their conversation as if they were not even fighting.

“And you expect me to believe you?! Why would you ever think something so foolish?!” the mare responded mirroring Gusty's thoughts.

“I have to! I want you to listen! I need you to believe me! Now more than ever!” the demon pleaded desperately, his voice straining.

He certainly isn't lying about that. Gusty thought.

Winning over Celestia was crucial to him. He wasn't the sort of creature to just announce his true intentions. Gusty smiled to herself. The spell was working for certain. Now all she had to do was wait for him to blurt out the rest of his plans.

“Then you should have trusted me from the beginning!” she followed up his shrillness with her own.

Celestia’s axe floated back up to her and she swung diagonally at Stormwalker. He caught the weapon with his own two and forced himself closer to Celestia. Sparks flew as his hooves and wings pressed forward to the alicorn.

“I did, and I always have! But this isn’t about just you! It’s about Luna’s safety. It’s for your safety, my safety, the whole nation’s safety! I had to lie to you all these years!" Stormwalker yelled.

Celestia fired another beam of energy at their point-blank range. It split away from Stormwalker and hit the ground. Wherever it touched instantly the grass and even stone burst into flame.

“Look at what you are doing! Why here? Why now? Why over Canterlot?” he balked down at the flames.

Celestia ceased her spell and pulled her axe away from Stormwalker’s blades. The stallion let it go without a fight. Slowly, they floated down to the ground. Shocked he had managed to calm Celestia down, Gusty gawked awkwardly until a cool wind and a midnight blue pony caught her attention overhead.

Luna swooped down and landed next to her sister. From where Gusty sat looking towards the palace, the sisters were on her left, Stormwalker on her right. The pair of siblings met eyes if only for the briefest of moments. From blue-white colored runic portals a dozen ethereal cyan swords came forth. Luna’s horn glowed with her indigo magic and she looked directly at Stormwalker. Her eyes were fierce but sad.

“Stand down, Stormy.” Luna stated. Stormwalker pulled his neck back in surprise and stared at her with his top lip raised in a look of confusion, making his fangs extra prominent.

“Celestia is right...at least when it comes to the danger you pose, I must stand with her. Especially after the Cave.”

The stallion scoffed incredulously. He looked back and forth between the sisters his face in horror and shock. His nostrils raised up in disgust and anger after a moment. He looked directly at Luna.

“How dare you!” he spat.

“You know what happened to me! You know what was taken from me! You were there, you watched! You let it happen!!” Stormwalker growled

Luna offered no response beyond lowering her head.

The Princesses loosed a series of furious attacks. Blades and magic flew at Stormwalker with repetitive whistles of the splitting wind. He batted away the attacks with efficient and deft motions that were not more than blurs to Gusty’s eyes. The sisters finished their volleys to gasp upon seeing him unharmed. The stallion opened his wings to their fullest and hovered off the ground. The force of his wing beats laying the remaining grass around him flat in a perfect circle.

“You think things went the way I wanted?” he chuckled darkly.

“Do you think that I wanted to let them have the sweet salvation of death? When I had the chance to seek the small amount of closure I could?!” His voice was becoming harsh and angry like it did in the Cave.

Even from the distance she sat Gusty could feel his power building into a frenzy. If he unleashed it, the two princesses would not stand a chance. They did not stand much of a chance anyway and he was holding back. Without any real way to help Gusty started looking around the area to try to find something to defuse the situation. Nothing struck her as useful. Clanks of metal and the hissing of the wind being torn turned her eyes back to the fight.

Dodging and zipping between blades Stormwalker shot down to the ground in a flash and landed between the two sisters forcing them to stop their attacks.

“You think that when the rest of my life will have been sinning so others did not have to, I would abstain from this smallest of pleasures?” he asked. His voice was broken and sad.

Stormwalker held the flat of the wingblades out to the sisters’ throats before folding his wings away and closing his eyes. Gusty could tell he was trying to show them they had already lost. Had he wanted to kill them it would have been easy for him to do so simultaneously, his example just now was irrefutable.

Celestia and Luna teleported away into the air on different sides of him. In an impossible hail of colors, explosions, and metal hitting metal the Princesses unleashed their most vicious attack yet. Smoke rose around Stormwalker obscuring him from vision. Where he stood the ethereal blades of Luna continually plunged one after another and Celestia’s axe danced back and forth with dazzling speed. Each alicorn also unleashed spell after spell into the every growing mass of hazy air.

The attacks ceased finally after a full minute of grueling assault. The sisters flapped down from their positions in the air. Both panted heavily when they landed, sweat rolling down their faces and shoulders. The smoke around Stormwalker slowly began to clear and Gusty could make out the stallion.

He had gotten hit by five total attacks. Three of Luna’s cyan blades stuck out from his back, while two other cuts, one on his neck another and on one of his forehooves slowly closed. Minimal blood had sprung from the wounds. In the next moment flames shot out around Luna’s swords and they were disintegrated in an instant.

“You may not listen, but I will defend myself. I am not wrong in my convictions.” Stormwalker said quietly.

Gusty was surprised she heard him from this distance. The sound of bubbling water was quite loud from the nearby broken fountain.

Stormwalker’s trademark inflamed visage burst forth. His eyes glowed bright-red even in the afternoon sun. He clicked his fangs together and unfurled his blazes from his back and dropped into an actual martial stance.

The sisters readied themselves. Their weapons raised high they both loosed a unison battle-cry and charged at Stormwalker.

Desperately returning to her search for something useful Gusty found herself staring at the broken fountain and the shooting water spout. It had to work. Casting a levitation spell Gusty started trapping the water in a perpetually expanding ball. As soon as she deemed it ready Gusty flung the massive orb of water into the fight.

With a splash and the hissing of steam, Gusty watched the sisters stop attacking Stormwalker. Meanwhile the steamcloud was glowing with the still burning flames of the demon-stallion. It was not until that the massive water ball she had dropped on them finished exploding that the fire in the steam ceased.

She ran up to the scene hoping desperately that she could convince them to stop. Gusty had heard enough to know that Stormwalker had the best interests of the two sisters in mind. Even if his motivations were not perfect, he did not intend to hurt them. She still could not trust him, but Gusty felt that the demon would at least keep the innocents of the country safe. In the end he would hold them ignorant of his dark secret so he could enact whatever scheme he had concocted.

Still none of the three attacked each other, seemingly her spell and her patience had worked. Now if only the creatures before her would tell her the rest of what exactly was going on, she would be most grateful.

“Hey, everyone,“ Gusty spoke with resolve.

“What?!” all three snapped back at her.

Stormwalker stepped out of the steam, while Celestia and Luna tried to dry their manes enough to see past them.

"I hate to interrupt but Stormwalker is telling the truth.” she continued.

“Impossible,” Celestia stated, her voice normal but full of disdain. “He is nothing but a monster, his words are meaningless.”

“Normally, I would agree with you, but I cast a spell on him to prevent him from lying at the beginning of the fight hoping he would spill some sort of deep secret,” Gusty responded. "He even blurted out that he needs you to cooperate for his plans to work. That's not something he would just blurt out!" She smiled again.

“And you think it worked? Maybe you haven’t been around him enough but magic doesn’t work on him.” Luna sneered.

Gusty was rather surprised at Luna’s harsh tone. She persisted intent on making her point.

“It’s not just magic, its holy magic,” Gusty emphasized. “It even works on demons like him. Go ahead, Stormwalker try to lie.”

Stormwalker shrugged and gave a look of confused agreement.

“I am a Class Five Composite Shadow-kin. I have a great hunger for other demons and l love Gusty’s freckled face and how her flanks are shaped.” he smirked.

His smile was quickly replaced by a look of complete befuddlement. Gusty found herself blushing and wanting to gag. Stormwalker made a several grunts of amusement.

“That’s super weird,” he mused. “I was trying to say I was a fluffy purple bear who ate chocolate and liked to smell flowers. Yet, I can describe what I was thinking, because that’s not lying? Man, this just strange. I am a grey pegasus-demon. Nope. Can’t lie.” He bit his lips with his fangs, somehow not drawing blood.

Gusty rolled her eyes at him. She was pretty sure the other two alicorns did the same.

“Well, I hate to say this but Gusty may be right. He certainly isn’t trying to attack us now. And based on what he has said...and my experience with him...” Luna cut in.

“LIke that means anything. He is probably just trying to manipulate us. You cannot trust demons like him, Luna. They always have ulterior motives.” Celestia retorted.

“And if I do you will never know them. Even if I can't lie and divulge the 'everything,' it's not as if you could actually stop me. So why not play my game? For once…..might not be so bad, all things considered.” Stormwalker draped on melodramatically..

The sisters sighed in rough agreement.

The group of immortal beings fell silent for a time, none of them looking at any of the others. Gusty decided that she would make this the moment she asked the other question that had been on her mind.

“How did Zeccaran know how to complete that ritual in the Cave? Rather...who is he even?” she asked expectantly.

“That depends. I do not know Gusty Twilight, but Luna does. Sister?” Celestia’s answer was just short of demanding.

“There is much to tell. When it comes to that unfortunate soul. I feel that it is better to show rather than explain. Where has he gone? We will need him for what I have in mind,” Luna concluded.

“He’s over there,” Stormwalker pointed “He’s asleep next to that burgundy fool by the one hedge that is not on fire,” he finished by casting exceedingly disapproving look at Celestia.

“Then let us gather him and go the western conference room,. It should be quite private.” Luna said.

Gusty led the other three over to Zeccaran and picked him up in her magic. The group began making their way back to the palace, with Luna in the lead and Stormwalker trailing behind. Gusty could see a few attendants and Royal guard poking their heads out of windows or peering through holes in the walls of the building.

“Out of curiosity, and not trying to sound too conceited here, but how in the world did they fall asleep in the middle of that fight?” Celestia questioned looking at the floating zebra.

“I think it might have been those blue flowers we tried. I thought they were really great but, those two passed out.” Gusty responded with a shrug.

“Oh! Well…They’ll be fine but those flowers are called Funny Bells. They...are light hallucinogens...and aphrodisiacs….I’m surprised they did not make you pass out too, typically when tried for the first time, they have extreme effects,” Celestia grimaced with an embarrassed smile.

Gusty only snickered and gave Celestia a knowing wink. The flowers certainly had worked well on her fiance, she would have to try some more later. Maybe after a few actual dates.

It took them about five minutes to reach an actual door to the palace and a five more to reach the room Luna had mentioned. Entering from an area behind the throne room, they passed destroyed statues, still burning banners, and tossed about decor. Gusty could hear Celestia’s breathing get short and raspy as the white alicorn no doubtedly felt some strong remorse for ruining her abode. Finally, they arrived at a tall mahogany door. It was embroidered with raised carvings in the alabaster wall that was painted with real gold paint. The inscription in the elegant gilding was marked in black, easy to read, and spanned the top of the door.

“Discussion with open minds creates understanding, compromise, and harmony” stated the engraving in its fine script.

Luna pulled the door open with her magic and revealed a room with similar purple fashion as Gusty’s apartment, perhaps more elegant. It was a square room with a vaulted ceiling, a fine crystal chandelier hung from the high location. The floor was carpeted with a soft rug nearly as comfortable as the bed in Gusty’s apartment. The wall opposite the door was comprised entirely of a massive window that showed the setting sun far off in the Equestrian plains behind the city. The other walls were trimmed up to mid-pony height with the same dark mahogany as the door while above them the stone was painted a calm cobalt blue, ironically about the same color as her skirt. In the center of the room, arranged around a wide coffee table several thick-padded chairs were set, along with a single but incredibly large sofa. All were sewn with a pleasant dark blue cloth.[

Gusty pushed the aloft Zeccaran through the air to one of the plush chairs. She set him down and curled up his body so he would not fall off the seat. Celestia walked past her and selected a chair on the opposite side of Zeccaran. Gusty choose the seat next to her friend and Luna sat down in the position closest to her sister a seat away from her. Stormwalker slowly strode past them all and laid out his full length on the sofa. He took up the entire thing, his body and armor making the piece of furniture creak in protest. Gusty scoffed at his lack of manners and posture. Face on his leg plates, he looked over to her and met her eyes. She looked away refusing to return his gaze, he did not deserve her patience and kindness yet he was getting it anyway.

“Sister are you ready? Gusty?” Luna asked looking between them.

“Don’t wait on me, Luna.” Stormwalker commented.

After looking at Celestia whose face mirrored Gusty’s annoyance with Stormwalker, they both turned back to Luna and nodded. Gusty was unsure what was going to happen but the Princesses possessed incredibly powerful magic, so she expected it to be interesting. Especially since Luna was going to show her some of that very magic now, Gusty thought.

“Then let us begin,” Luna murmured, just barely able to be heard.

Luna’s horn lit and she closed her eyes. Gradually, the intensity of its indigo glow brightened to a dangerous dazzling white crescendo. Gusty’s vision was completely overwhelmed by the sight and her vision blurred out to a grey then a black. She promptly felt herself fall asleep.

The feeling of physically falling asleep but remaining conscious jarred her mind into a frenzy. Gusty desperately searched about the empty blackness looking for some indication that she had dozed off not just died instead. Slowly her panic subsided as one of her recurring nightmares started to play. It brought its own panic but it was familiar and welcomed compared the sensation of the Void she had been experiencing.

Gusty watched as one of the shadowy figures of a demon long since slain walked towards her, its phantom appendages making sounds like hooves as it strutted dominantly. It was the only thing with her, behind it was an blank expanse of nothingness that had neither color nor light. Only an ashen floor illuminated by an equally drab light marked her environment.

“Gusty Twilight,” came the voice of a mare. The sound seemingly emanated from the dream itself[

Gusty looked about trying to figure out where it came from and trying to find her sword so she might smite the shadow of her past instead of it eating or torturing her as it usually did.

“Gusty…” clearer now, the voice belonged to Luna.

A vicious shriek echoed in the dark place Gusty resided. She turned to see a shimmering blue mist slowly pulling itself out of the chest of the specter. The shadow withered and flailed about until the fully formed body of a pony was created by the sparkling cloud. A squishy splatter of water and gelatin marked the ghost of her past exploding into dark blobs and landing about the grey floor of the dream.

From the mist, Luna solidified and stood before Gusty. The mare had a look of deep concern on her face as she looked around the dismal location.

“Your dreams are a most curious place…” she remarked to Gusty still peering about.

“Come, we must leave your mind and instead tread into Zeccaran’s...and mine,” Luna whispered seemingly into Gusty’s ears.

A plain white wooden door appeared surrounded by Luna’s magic forming from absolutely nothing. The gilded doorknob twisted with a creak and the portal swung open revealing on an white light that Gusty could not see past. With a small grin Luna motioned for her to enter. Gusty did as the other alicorn wished.

Touching the blankness of the glowing surface Gusty felt her hoof tingle with the sensation of another’s magic. Closing her eyes, she pushed through the portal to reveal an sky blue void that was pleasant and warm feeling. Celestia stood waiting for her legs and wings stiff. The elder princess looked at her with interest and a wry grin.

“It has been some time since Luna has had trouble with somepony’s dreams. You will have to tell me how you keep her out. She is constantly pranking me in my dreams.” Celestia’s posture relaxed as she spoke.

“I didn’t know I was stopping her…” Gusty responded in kind.

She wondered what the princess had meant by trouble with somepony’s dreams. Frankly, the whole mind-walking thing they were doing now Gusty found unnatural and dangerous. One false move could push the subconscious too far and completely destroy the mind of the pony who was subject to the spell. She resolved that she would have to trust Luna.

While she did not know Luna very well the way Celestia spoke of her in such confidence was reassuring. Gusty found Celestia’s word to hold quite the bit of weight, especially since Celestia had been the only other creature that distrusted Stormwalker as much as her. Despising demons went a long way in Gusty’s book. She smiled at that thought.

A slow, low hiss came from behind her along with the dainty hooffalls of Luna marking the mare exiting the portal, enticing Gusty to look at her. The blue mare was humming pleasantly as if she deeply enjoyed her work

She abruptly stopped her humming and her face became serious.

“Well,” She sighed. “What I am about to show you both is…” She paused and pursed her lips. “It was the moment that broke them, when they lost everything they had worked for…” Luna’s voice was sad and guilty.

“Both?” questioned Celestia before Gusty could open her own mouth.

“Yes. Stormy and Zeccaran.” the younger mare answered.

Gusty narrowed her eyes. Stormwalker and Zeccaran had known each other. Why was Zeccaran hiding that? She wondered. Had he known what Stormwalker was the entire time?

“I’ll fill in the gaps as they come. For now let us relive the past....from my eyes” Luna said looking at her.

Luna’s horn lit and a great rectangle of the plain sky blue hollow they were in became the deepest, darkest shades of green. Slowly, the darkness cleared away to show a familiar image. It was the altar from the Cave but this time it was surrounded by two dozen of the cultists in their dark robes. In the foreground of the image several hundred ponies cheered and stomped their hooves in eager anticipation. The room was packed so thickly with ponies it almost gave Gusty claustrophobia.

From behind the altar a young looking Zeccaran strode out. He wore lapis lazuli colored regalia. On the garments a large silver crescent-moon was etched on his chest. The white stripes of his face were painted a deep midnight blue exactly the same color of Luna. Most strikingly his eyes were not the calm purple she had become accustomed to but instead were strikingly unnatural light blue.[

The Zeccaran on the altar waved a hoof commandingly and the crowd was silenced. Gusty could feel their anxious waiting. They did not need to wait long, the faux-Zeccaran spoke.

“Brothers and Sisters! Tonight is the night that we finally get to meet our Mistress!” he declared with a great wave of his front hooves.

The crowd erupted with frenzied cheers.

“The sacrifice has been prepared and soon we will oust the betrayer from the throne and free all the ponies of Equestria!” Faux-Zeccaran continued with a broad smile on his lips.

More screams, even more desperate than before.

He turned to the left and the vision Gusty was watching followed where the false prophet gazed.

The small crowd of the Inner Circle parted to reveal a pair of stallions carrying a very beaten Stormwalker. He lacked armor and was limp when they carried him. While it was clear that he had been tortured, the demon looked as good as he usually did, but he lacked the stronger lines on his face and his body seemed younger. Stormwalker had apparently had aged like a fine wine and was more attractive in the real world. That thought made Gusty want to kick herself.

Stormwalker stared out into the crowd and looked directly at her, or perhaps he was looking at Luna in the memory. Gusty was unsure. It felt as if he could sense through time and space that she was watching him. How extremely unsettling, Gusty thought, But, why is the only thing I feel from him pain?

The real Luna shifted uncomfortably next to her, brushing her side. Gusty could only imagine what it would have been like to be there. Even just watching the memory made her feel the dark energy in the room and the malicious intent of the crowd.

She looked again to Stormwalker, trying to understand.

Gusty only saw the eyes of a broken stallion. There was no determination or rage that she had often seen in those yellow eyes. An immeasurable sadness emanated from him, and the will to live was quite absent from his gaze. He was more than content to die on the altar, Gusty could feel it.

Stormwalker completely lacked the presence he had in the waking world too. It was like he lacked all his power. He made no attempt to struggle as they stallions carrying him laid him on the altar and chained his limbs to the four corners of the platform.

“And now!...It is finally time.” Zeccaran said matter-of-factly.

He produced a sickle from his robes. The very same sickle Gusty had seen him use so many times before. Holding its handle in both hooves, he raised it up so it glinted blue in the light of the full moon from the iron grate above. Stormwalker looked up at the blade longingly.

Without ceremony Zeccaran plunged the point of the sickle into Stormwalkers abdomen just below his ribs. The blade went deep into the stallion’s body easily piercing his diaphragm and stomach, but he showed little reaction. He turned his head back to the crowd and Gusty could see by the look in his eyes that Stormwalker was not even witnessing the room, for all intents and purposes he was already dead. Gusty could not imagine what had brought him to such a lowly state, she didn’t want to either.

Zeccaran began to drag the sickle down the center of his offering while chanting the same incantation she had heard him do when she had been in the very same room not two days before. The incantation was a long one and Gusty watched with gritted teeth as Zeccaran roughly forced the sickle through Stormwalker’s intestines.

I can’t even- That has to be incredibly painful! Gusty pursed her lips in thought while she watched.

To his credit the stallion showed no reaction as his flesh was gradually rent and split with the dull blade. A portion of his innards spewed out to the side of Zeccaran’s hoof but refused to bleed and give, only leaving their red-pink mass to twist up and away from his body. Undeterred the faux-Zeccaran continued cutting open his sacrifice.

Pulling the blade out from Stormwalker he put it back in his robes. Raising his front two hooves to the moon and speaking the final words necessary in a hurried and excited passion. Stormwalker’s blood rolled out from the wound and touched the altar.

The moon turn red and all light in the room darkened away just like before. The seeping form of a Shade fell from portal above. It pooled around the cut and partially formed a toothy smile before being sucked into the wound.

Light returned to the room abruptly. Gusty watched as the light in Stormwalker’s eyes kindled to a look of absolute horror. His shackles tightened as his body stiffened

In her ears the ponies around her whispered in confusion.

“What’s going on?” one said. “Shouldn’t we see the Night Mistress?” another.

The Zeccaran up on the altar turned around, his look just as confused as the rest of the ponies in the crowd.

“No.” came a soft male voice.

The whole room fell silent as they looked for the voice. Gusty didn’t need to search, she knew his voice too well already.

“No...no...no...no….No!” Stormwalker spat violently as he thrashed the chains holding him. “I don’t want it back! Never again! Please just let me die!” He shouted. He looked down at his open wound, with a desperate craze in his gaze.

The deep cut and all his bruises and other injuries healed before Gusty’s eyes.

He started to laugh. It was a cold empty sound. The dark chuckles chilled Gusty’s chest like she had just swallowed a whole pound of ice. The blob of cold sat there frozen as the demon on the table continued his haunted titters.

“Arrrghhh-AHHHH!” the demon screams burst suddenly.

Metal groaned and snapped as he ripped off his chains and stood up on the platform of the altar.

In his full visage of flame and malice he loosed a deep echoing bellow that physically moved Gusty’s chest. Gusty only briefly caught his eyes.

Hurt.

It was the only way to describe the brief thing she saw, but she knew too that he was going to spread that suffering. From what she had seen, Gusty knew it wasn’t the kind of pain that could be held in.

Immediately, the flames of his body shot into the crowd. The acrid smell of burning flesh caught Gusty’s nose and forced her to cover her face with a hoof. This memory certainly was crudely ingrained in Luna’s mind if the smell of burning bodies remained as vile as it did.

The eyes of Past Luna looked left and right as the hundreds of ponies around her were slowly scorched to black crisps. They continued to wail and flail about in total misery as they fell to the ground in droves. Past Luna ran up towards Stormwalker out of the flames. How she had been untouched was nothing short of a miracle. Gusty decidedly that Stormwalker had intentionally avoided hitting her, he probably had something much more base intended for her.

“Stop this! You have to stop this!” She yelled at him, as she ran towards him.

The world dimmed leaving Gusty confused as to what happened.

She looked over at Luna, Celestia on the other side of her sister was doing the same.

“What happened?” Gusty asked her before Celestia could, her face equally as confused Gusty felt.

“He hit me, quite hard...in retrospect I probably should have seen it coming. I don’t know why I thought I could stop him, but I had to try. He was my friend after all, or at least he had been…” Luna explained. “Here,” Luna’s horn flashed. “I came to right... here.”

The memory cleared up and it showed two Cultists of the Inner Circle looking between Luna and something out of her field of vision, obscured by her blue-starry mane. One of them lowered their hood to reveal a much younger and healthier looking Chrysanthemum. She grabbed her comrade pointed to the area out of view again and ran towards it.

Curiously, there was no sound to this portion of the memory. Gusty theorized that was because Luna had likely hit her head on the altar before sliding down to where she had been laying.

With a shhooowishhh, sound suddenly returned to reveal Stormwalker laughing over the top of the all the dying ponies in the room. This time his merriment was malicious. The hoarse giggling made her chest tighten in fear. Past Luna turned her view to find Zeccaran laying on the steps of the raised platform slowly trying to back away from a gore covered Stormwalker.

The demon was holding a partially alive member of the Inner Circle in a wing by his legs. Slowly and deliberately the flesh on the cultist’s limbs were charred to a hideous black. The demon hefted the stallion up in the air and slammed him into the ground where he continued to writhe and scream in a heap. The blacked portion of his limbs remained stuck in Stormwalker’s wing.and immediately the smell of scorched tissue returned even stronger. Past Luna looked down to the stallion on the floor to see bare blackened bones in place of all of his regular legs.

Stormwalker strode over to the stallion, the flesh in his wing turning to ash as he did. Rolling the ashes of the stallion’s legs into ball with his ethereal appendage the demon stuffed the mass into the open and wailing mouth of the poor fellow. A harsh sizzling noise silenced the stallion and Stormwalker laughs intensified.

Upon seeing the stallion’s mouth cauterized shut, Past Luna turned from the scene and vomited onto the carved stone floor.

If she not had not been in the dream world Gusty would have turned and done the same. She might even still once they left this place. It had been an incredibly long time since she had seen such horrors. They had been wrought by the same type of demons too. Gusty decided to hold that thought for later, the memory continued while she regained her focus.

Past Luna looked back up after grunting and beheld Stormwalker standing over Zeccaran. The zebra only lay there his mouth open and his eyes locked open in disbelief and terror.

The demon began to beat him. He did not burn him, he did not bite him, he used only his front hooves and his weight. Again and again he hit different parts of Zeccaran’s body, none of it lethal. It was clear that he meant to cause as much pain as possible, perhaps not even planning to finish the zebra. After a minute or so Stormwalker had worked his way to Zeccaran’s face and was hitting him with glancing blows, cutting the zebra’s face and smearing away the blue paint.

“Now we go even deeper, into Zeccaran’s mind...” The Luna on her left said.

The edges of the vision Gusty was witnessing gradually faded to a gray. The bland pigment fully overtook the entire scene after a time and Gusty was left wondering if this is what Zeccaran’s mind was like the achromatic expanse before her.

However, at the furthest distance she could see within this dream or mind or...

Gusty had completely lost track of how deep she had been brought into the astral layers of these memories.

She found herself questioning what was right. Stormwalker had not always been as he was now, dark and brooding, a monster and, Zeccaran used to be a Cultist! After everything it would seem that somehow Stormwalker had ample motive for revenge. Whatever had happened before the scene she had witnessed must have been truly terrible to make a stallion wish for death like the way Past Stormwalker had. Then fate denying him the mercy of release painted a clear picture of an angry empty monster motivated only by revenge and his own self-destruction. It did not condone hurting Amethyst but made the other things had done much more reasonable. Gusty felt the shiver of the glacier in her chest return, agreeing with a demon’s motivations made her feel dirty. A speck appeared at a distance and drew her attention away from the small identity crisis she was having for herself and the two stallions in question.

The dot grew to the size of a pony rapidly: before her Zeccaran stood placidly. He peered off to nowhere, his face an empty calm she had never seen him wear.

Images of a striped foal being taken up into the hooves of a cloaked pony overtook Zeccaran. The foal was crying while the long snout of the shrouded character was smiling gently.

“No need to cry little one. You are safe with us.” an unfamiliar mare’s voice cooed.

Next, flashes of the same cloaked pony showing a young colt magic and books. They booth seemed happy and eager in each others’ presence.

“All this knowledge and skill are yours, my little devotee. With them you will help free Equestria from the clutches of Nightmare Moon who masquerades as our precious Princess Luna, the True Night’s Mistress.” The voice this time was coming from the cloaked figure.

Then those images blurred away and Zeccaran stood dressed in the same outfit Luna’s memory had shown him. He and Chrysanthemum were huddled around the hooded mare each holding a hoof. They were young adults in this much more clear image.

“All that I have sacrificed, all that you have both sacrificed...don’t let it go to waste.” the mare croaked. Her voice was old and haggard.

It was rather unsettling to hear her as bereft of life as she was, but Gusty found it even more unsavory that Zeccaran and Chrysanthemum were crying.

“You can fulfill the Prophecy. I know you can….” The old mare coughed. “My only regret is that I won’t be there to see...it….” her legs relaxed in her attendees’ hooves.

Unlike the rest of the events, these faded away to grey to reveal Zeccaran still standing there in the emptiness of his mind. His calm look had left him but nothing else was different.

Gusty turned away from the image. She was beginning to develop a headache from what she witnessed. She gazed at Luna who had not moved even an inch from her position last time Gusty had spoke to her.

“Luna, what was all of that, memories?” she asked trying to make sure what she had seen and heard were real, or at least as real as someone else’s memories could be.

“Yes, the bits that I left him anyway. The other parts I purposely destroyed, so perhaps he could have a second chance.” Luna met her gaze as she spoke. “I think he puts it best. When I entered his mind that day...he was exceedingly repentant.”

Gusty raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? What has he done?” she questioned.

“Honestly, for the sake of the pony he has become now, I cannot tell you. Know that his actions were as terrible as they were multitudinous. His remorse….let him describe.” Luna spoke. She turned away from Gusty and looked back at the still frozen Zeccaran.

Crrrsnap! Popped Luna’s horn and instantly Zeccaran took to screaming and crying.

He fell to his stomach and pounded his forelegs onto the blank ground. His face bowed to the grey dirt in humiliation and distress.

“How how how, how?! Why why why, why?!” he chanted swapping between them in perfect sequences of four.

A pool of tears comically formed on the grey floor as Zeccaran continued his barrage. Gusty wanted to laugh but felt too much pity for Zeccaran and restrained herself. The zebra stopped pounding the ground and chanting and instead merely sobbed into the surface. His breathing was haggard, like he had just run a marathon.

Slowly he looked up at Gusty. Well, looked up to Past Luna was the more accurate description. His eyes were their normal purple and his face was taut with horror.

“Princess Luna….If you are here. Here in my mind…” he started before turning away. “Then...that that means the ritual failed.”

He continued, “If the ritual failed then that means...it means that they have been lying to me...for all these years….that-that, that….!” Zeccaran covered his face with his hooves.

“I summoned Nightmare Moon…..that I’ll I’ve done has been for some great evil I didn’t understand!” Zeccaran frantically spoke. He looked directly into Gusty’s eyes, like Stormwalker did, through time and the separate planes.

“I’ve done...so many terrible things….all...all those ponies I practiced on...they told me that they couldn’t actually feel anything….that everything was a perpetuation of Nightmare Moon, that she was the one who returned all those years ago and ...and now controlled all the minds of the populace…”

“But...but it was all lies… and I believed it... the day that old mare took me in...I listened to her -and-and followed everything she said….I sh-should be killed for what I’ve done!” He started to yell.

Zeccaran’s tears flowed readily as he kept trying to speak to Past Luna. His anguish was palpable even through the multiple levels of dreams, Gusty shuddered trying to ignore the sensation.

“Not even killed! I-I should be tortured! Slowly! Oh princess...all th-the innocent lives...all the blood I have on my hooves! Please! Please! End me! End me, now!” Zeccaran demanded, his face in a deep unmoving scowl of torment.

“I’ve seen your mind, Zeccaran.” Past Luna’s fine voice said. “And I know what you say is true.”

“Then please...If you cannot punish me, then let the monster I created finish me off, I deserve whatever he does to me…”Zeccaran pouted, his eyes locked on the ground.

“No. I cannot let you die. I cannot let him harm you.” Luna said.

Zeccaran looked up at her in pain. His hurt was so great that if one was to count all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet only to lose count on the last piece and the great realization of wasted years of life and burned and cracked hooves came crashing down in that single moment it would not make up one millionth of the suffering Zeccaran’s face expressed. But, such was his fate.

“W-w-why?” the zebra meekly asked Luna, his voice empty and dead.

Luna bent down to where Zeccaran sat and pulled him into a hug. Kindly, pulling him into her wings and meeting his face, Past Luna answered: “Because everypony deserves a second chance, my dear zebra. And I know there’s good in you.”

Zeccaran ‘s eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp in Luna’s grasp

“And maybe...this way…Stormy can have one too,” Luna sighed.

Crrrsnap! Crackled Luna’s horn once again and the vision Gusty was watching blurred into a myriad of intense colors and patterns. The world seeming blurred away in those colors until abruptly the Cave’s altar room returned. Gusty blinked trying to make the image she was seeing more acceptable. She was unsuccessful. Before her Stormwalker loomed over Zeccaran, the sight flickered viciously in all its mangled glory.

“Beg! Beg for your life, you cretin!” boomed the demon-stallion as he tossed Zeccaran against the raised altar.

Gusty could hear the audible draws of Luna’s scared lungs. The mare’s vision moved closer to where Stormwalker approached the still frozen-faced Zeccaran

“I want you to plead! Suffer! Endure all the pain I have!” Stormwalker screamed. His voice was not more than the harsh grating of metal Gusty had heard in the very same room she now watched.

Zeccaran made no reaction to Stormwalker’s demands. His face was empty, his mind no longer capable of comprehending his sensory input.

Luna shouted something that Gusty did not understand. The name, perhaps, was obscured by the dream. Either way, her proclamation drew Stormwalker’s gaze. It was then that Gusty finally saw the twisted and crazed look the demon-pegasus had become memorable for.

He growled menacingly at Luna. His eyes dripped with dominance and cruel desire, Gusty was glad to not be on the true receiving end of that eye-contact, still she shuddered with disgust and fear. But,Stormwalker turned back to Zeccaran ignoring Luna’s cries, his fanged mouth drew into a too-wide smile and he chuckled darkly.

“If you will not fulfil my demands then you shall suffer,” he clicked arrogantly. “Suffer and pine for rest of your miserable life!”

“Your actions shall prove fruitless. Your heart will know no peace. None shall pity you, none shall offer you even the smallest mercy. And for any happiness you manage to briefly touch, you shall be rewarded twenty-fold in pain and strife. Your very life shall be a constant nagging at your mind, eroding your will, destroying your joy. Those that love you shall use you as a tool and your heart shall be forever a servant to misery. Such shall be your punishment for denying and destroying my happiness. Now live and rue your existence, you scum!”

Gusty gaped at the Stormwalker’s monologue. It was classic villain material, but something felt off. She could almost swear she felt real magic being woven by his words. It was a power almost no creature could possess, but the signs were there. The righteous anger, the unadulterated hatred, the pure, dismal suffering, Stormwalker had them all. What was worse, whatever Zeccaran had done, he probably deserved the curse, if it was real. Gusty doubted it was though. The sensation she had felt had come from Luna’s fear and muddled memories. Similar things had already happened so Gusty let the thought go.

Stormwalker turned away from Zeccaran with a flourish of his fiery cape and stared directly into the point of view.

The vision of the past shook as Luna looked back at the abomination. He spoke at her with a sneer.

“What are you staring at, hmm? You want him alive don’t you?” he snarled.

Luna’s shaking stopped. She blinked rapidly but remained eyes locked with those deadly, red orbs of the demon.

“H-how did y-you kn-know that?” she asked her voice doing the shuddering for her

He strode up next to her and backed Luna on to her flanks. Her breathing became even more haggard and scared than before. At this distance Gusty could even smell the demon’s sweat through the dream. How the memory conveyed such amazing detail was beyond her. Frankly, she wished it would remain sight and sound only, instead of throwing in these thick smells of desperation.

Luna’s view looked down to see Stormwalker tracing a hoof up her chest and neck, before forcing her to look back at him.

“Oh my sweet moony mare, there is so much about you I know...perhaps more than yourself.” he purred, whilst licking his fangs.

“Do what you will with him. His lack of reaction has made him the most boring of toys. Come to think of it...I have run out of things to play with except...for you.” A dark grin spread his mouth too wide.

Gusty found herself swallowing nervously for Luna.

“Enough!” Luna proclaimed standing. “Y-you have had your fun. Now cover yourself. The reinforcements I s-summoned will be arriving very...soon...and-and-and. I-uh...I-uh we can’t have you looking like that!” Luna stammered out. The whole memory shook while she tried to act confident in front of what must have clearly felt like her doom.

Gusty would have to commend her later for her bravery. She had been under the impression that only she, herself was unafraid of Stormwalker. Gusty eagerly waited to see what said demon would do after being scolded like a child.

Luna looked back into Stormwalker’s eyes and held his gaze.

He looked back but it was like he was not looking at her. His gaze saddened and darkened and he lowered his head. His breathing became shallow and rushed as he turned away from Luna and picked up the oversized cloak Zeccaran had originally been wearing at the beginning of the memory.

He tossed it over himself. It completely hid his face save the end of his snout and seemingly made the flames of his body disappear. Gusty surmised the garment was magical, as she was shocked that it both was not on fire and not emitting any light from the unnatural flames beneath it.

“That’s right...I...It's like I’ve gone back fifteen years…” He mumbled his voice barely audible.

Luna turned away from him and rushed over to Zeccaran. Slowly, the memory faded to a deep impenetrable grey and was no more.

Gusty shook her head as the astral plane of Luna’s mind returned in its twinkling sky blue. It was so starkly pleasant compared to what she had been experiencing it disoriented her.

She looked over to the sisters. Luna merely stared at the sparkling ground her eyes showing no emotion. Her body was rigid and she stood tightly. Celestia’s mouth hung partially open and she looked to a distant point off to Gusty’s left. Her face was shrouded in what was best described as guilt, Gusty had no idea why, she would have to ask later.

Gusty herself rolled her shoulders in attempt to shake off the horrors she had witnessed. It did nothing to help. She turned to talking.

“So...that was...terrible...if that even sort of scrapes the surface.” She said.

Celestia and Luna both remained silent.

Gusty grimaced. She had been hoping for more, especially from Celestia.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about Zeccaran, he wasn’t the same pony as he had been. What Luna had done and truly given him second start if she had erased his older memories. How ethical that was she did not know how, but Zeccaran legitimately wanted to do good so she could not count it a bad decision.

However, she had to admit to herself, she did feel strong pity for Stormwalker. He had not always been such a monster. There had been a stallion that was willing to fight and die for what was right hidden in him the entire time. Perhaps that was why he had not chased them down after the Shade. Maybe he had truly had a change of heart, those sad eyes of his made her actually wonder. Gusty had seen no other pony have such clear, dismal eyes.

No! He’s a monster, not a pony! He did not have to turn into what he is now. You can’t show him mercy, you have to end him. If he lets you, then easier the task shall be! Your pity will be a swift end to his unnatural life! a voice inside her shrieked, she found it disturbingly convincing.

Gusty cleared her throat, solemnly agreeing with her errant line of thought. She would give it all her faith and help him the only way she could.

Luna loosed a deep sigh and relaxed.

“I truly despise reliving that memory, but it had to be done. I hope that it explains everything.” She breathed.

“It does...and leave me feeling like I need to apologize, especially with how close we used to be.” Celestia chimed in, striding up to her sister. “What of you Gusty?” she asked.

“I will do what I must. It matters who you are in the present not the past.” Gusty stated.

She wanted to appear strong in the face of such trials. What she was going to do next required it. This time Gusty swallowed nervously with intention. Her heart was already beginning to race with anticipation.

“Shall you take us back to the waking world Luna? I have a demon to purge from an exceedingly unfortunate stallion.” she ordered with gusto.

Luna gave her a quizzical look but her horn lit up anyway. The dream world started to fade away and Gusty felt herself waking up. It was a slow and arduous process. Gusty was unsure how long it would take or if it would take any real time at all.

Author's Note

Official Update: 10-16-2017

Act 1: Chapter 10 - Demon?

"Truly understanding another pony takes time. It takes you knowing them, being friends with them, getting inside their head, finding similarities between them and you. I've never been terribly good at it, but sometimes certain ponies make it happen in spite of me. No need to mention names. But, sometimes there are ponies that are so good at it that they reflexively empathize, and sometimes it is that simple act that can completely change another pony's heart and mind.
-Zeccaran-

The tumbling up sensation stopped and Gusty finally woke. She stretched upright in an attempt to alleviate her sore over-slouched back. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she finished. In their respective chairs the other alicorns began stirring as well. With her vision slowly clearing Gusty turned to notice Zeccaran still sound asleep. That was probably for the best, she was tired for having just to have borne witness to the treacherous events of the zebra’s past. Luna had used poor Zeccaran as the catalyst for the experience. He probably had relieved the worst moment of his life in real time, Gusty ignored the thought.

“I’m not sure I understand your meaning, Gusty” Luna’s voice drew her back to the blue mare.

Gusty snapped her head to avoid looking at Stormwalker. Luna grimaced at her in concern as she stretched her wings from her position and yawned.

Gusty gave her a deadpan stare.

“Yes, as we were saying before, Gusty, Stormwalker-awwugh...well he is the demon.” Celestia answered through a yawn.

“What? How can that be? No demon I have ever known regretted their power. Nor hated their own visage or spared a helpless creature within their power, like this poor soul has. He can’t be a full demon. He cannot.” she scoffed.

The sisters had clearly never dealt with the real thing. She stood up from her chair and readied herself to look much closer at Stormwalker than she really wanted to.

Luna stood up and put herself between the demon and Gusty.

“You don’t understand. He is most definitely a full-fledged demon. If you make any sort of attempt to remove the demon part of him he will die!” she proclaimed

Gusty went to protest but was stopped by the monster himself.

“Luna, the choice is mine not yours.” he quipped commandingly.

“But I-” Luna turned about and was cut off by Stormwalker.

“Luna.” His voice held a quiet seriousness to it that made Gusty shiver.

The younger sister stepped aside to reveal Stormwalker still on the couch. He lacked his armor, it was piled neatly on the floor next to the furniture. His whole body exposed down to his shiny grey coat. Gusty looked away briefly to catch her breath before returning her gaze to study him with a calmer mind.

Stormwalker was covered in many rugged, harsh scars. His chest alone had five separate dark pink-grey marks each undoubtedly having brought him to the edge of death. He had two more on his back and many more on his legs. His neck even sported a long curved blemish. Each one had a story to tell and Gusty again found herself wondering why he would continually push the limits of his regeneration.

It would seem that he actually wants to die. She mused to herself as she looked over the toned chest and flanks the stallion possessed.

Stifling the oncoming blush Gusty levitated the coffee table that sat between them and gave a short pause.

Can I do this? Can I end him in cold blood? Without him even trying to fight back?

“If you can take this curse from me Gusty, I want you to do it.” Stormwalker’s voice made her look at his face. The long, thick crescent scar over his left eye made her wonder how he had even lived through his most recent attempt at suicide.

Well, at least I have his approval. She thought as she released her held breath. Gusty started walking to him, emptying her mind as she had done so many times before.

He turned his head and met her eyes. His slitted pupils widened with anticipation. Clearing away her thoughts got significantly harder, but Gusty persisted, quickly closing her eyes. She achieved a shaky zen of meditation as she finished crossing the short distance.

But for once, Gusty was unsure how to proceed. Purifying a demon was something she had not done in what felt like several dozen lifetimes. She remembered that to start the process she had to start praying to Origin. Gusty kept her prayers internal as she sat down on the floor just beside the couch. There wasn't much point to chanting in the dead Celestial language she used to speak with God, no pony present would understand.

First step: pray with truest intent, most pure of heart

When Origin answered her, Gusty’s very touch would be able to remove any trace of a demon and its residual energy. Typically, she would do this to a defeated demon while their soul was still in limbo, but it didn't matter when you performed the ritual, it just was a lot easier when the target's body was incapable of fighting. Her current situation wouldn’t make a difference, she hoped. Stormwalker would take time to destroy though, simply because the amount of power he held, even now she could feel his raw strength pulsing in the air around her. Gusty prayed harder and threw the whole of her being into preparing his last sacrament.

The righteousness of her god burst into her body making her feel light and nimble. She breathed in a deep calming sigh and leaned up to make her head even with Stormwalker’s. Gusty opened her eyes and quickly clasped her hooves just behind his jaw, and angled his head down. She was forced to gaze into his eyes as the power she held inside shot into Stormwalker.

His pupils contracted into thin slits his irises turned their brilliant red. Otherwise he did not react to the ritual. Gusty threw every bit of faith and power she had been gifted into her cause. The edges of her vision blurred with a gorgeous myriad of colors. The power of Origin was truly awesome and even more of it poured from her and assaulted the demon.

As she pushed more of the purifying faith into Stormwalker, he began to look more and more confused. It evidently didn’t phase him in the least. Gusty was not particularly surprised by that detail, he possessed incredible power in his own right.

The next step: Pull the purification power out of the body of the target demon.

Gusty started doing just that. It was difficult to gain a sound grip on the energy but she was quickly successful. She pulled with the full force of her faith, her mind, and even a little bit of her luck.

Stormwalker’s eyes sparkled with surprise. Gusty expected him to scream in pain, but he remained silent.

Gusty pulled even harder until the full force of his dark energies came forward and condensed in his chest and head.

Final step: Smite the evil you have drug forth with the power and name of Origin.

Gusty readied her horn to channel the full fury of her ancient and divine gift. When the pressure in her skull built to an unbearable level she loosed the beam of pure energy at Stormwalker’s face.

He didn’t even bat an eye and let it hit him directly. Gusty admired his bravery, there was something to be said about facing death without remorse.

The spell lasted for nearly three minutes. Midway through Gusty closed her eyes focusing the entirety of her being into completing the purification. Perhaps it would save his soul if she gave it her all. She doubted it. Still Gusty found it amazing that a half-demon turned mortal possessed the will to control the power of the Shades he had been forced to absorb. If he hadn’t become such a monster he might have made the most noble of stallions, certainly the most handsome.

The spell ended and Gusty opened her eyes.

Stormwalker’s red eyes glinted at her in the dying light of the spell, his look an amused one. In his body Gusty could still see the dark energies swirling about unhindered by her spell. Her throat tightened in frustration. Quickly she focused her mind and sought to find the certain evil that she knew was there.

Emptiness. Nothing in the entire palace and maybe even the city held evil in it.

The ominous shadows that danced about inside Stormwalker slowly faded from her view as her connection to Origin lessened. Gusty balked, her ability sense evil showed that there was simply nothing malignant about the stallion in the least. The purification ritual would have destroyed anything that could have masked itself as well, yet Stormwalker still sat there a look of benign concern growing on his face.

Gusty couldn’t believe it. It was impossible.

She cleared her mind and called upon the same power of Origin and felt its power well up in her body immediately. Gusty cast the ritual spell again. She tugged with desperate fury at the darkness she knew was in him committing to end him regardless of her own safety. Gusty kept up her assault until her mind hit what felt like a brick wall.

Stormwalker reached up and touched the hooves she still held to his face. His touch forced her to look more directly into his eyes.

What exactly were you expecting to do with this ritual? He asked.

Gusty wasn’t sure if she had heard him or if she was hearing things in her head. Stormwalker’s eyes glimmered before his voice came again.

If you keep going you will only succeeding in absorbing the power my body contains. And that, dear Gusty, kills you. Not me.

Gusty shuddered. She and Stormwalker had just become more intimate than she had even thought possible.

What’s it to you!? It’s not like you care about what happens to me! You already have two alicorns under your control you don’t need a third! She projected back at him, before continuing.

It was all the more reason to keep trying to remove the dark energy she swore she could feel. It was definitely a good way to distract her from the interjection of someone else’s thoughts into her mind.

Sudden feelings of responsibility and guilt flooded into Gusty’s mind. She tried to push them away. They weren’t her emotions to begin with and they certainly couldn’t be real, no matter what her heart would tell her. They couldn't come from Stormwalker. Demons were unable to create such a tangible sensation Gusty was adamant of that, yet they weren't hers either. She was starting to suspect this demon in particular was simply skilled at funneling her own emotions back to her. Gusty pulled harder on what she felt building in Stormwalker, ignoring all that she felt and “heard” from him.

Gusty. That’s enough you really need to- he was cut off.

All sound ended in fact.

The world darkened and even Stormwalker’s glowing eye’s winked out.

Gusty felt herself falling again.

It was similar to what Luna had done but it felt more urgent.

Gusty began to panic.

Was he right? Was this it? Did I just kill myself?

She felt like she was hyperventilating. Yet the air she sucked in was never enough and she was unable to calm herself. The sensation of falling increased and she felt the need to vomit but could not.

“I’m dead….he was right.” Gusty said aloud to her lonely void.

She felt a terrible sadness and regret pool hotly in her chest. She desperately wanted to cry but lacked the means to do so. Instead she pouted in an ever growing pit of despair and depression. The feeling of time ceased to function in her head and Gusty just continued to fall her thoughts racing on in a spiral of hurt and loss.

She continued like this for some unimaginable time, until a familiar sensation settled on her haunches

“Do you honestly think I would let you die, Gusty?” Stormwalker’s voice echoed.

Gusty looked around the falling Abyss to try and find where his words had come from.

“Do you really think I would let you kill yourself for my sake? You are worth so much more than me.” he sighed.

Gusty...

The sensation of falling abruptly stopped. The action might as well have been her falling into an enormous pit of cotton candy. She felt solid ground beneath her hooves and she “stood up” as best she could in the empty blackness she found herself in.

At a distance a small flickering light appeared from nowhere. The vague outline of the great pegasus-demon could be seen as the flame before him danced.

Gusty hesitated for a brief moment before trying to move through the black soup of this strange place. The ground acted like regular non-Abyss ground. She remarked internally that it felt like soft grass. As Gusty approached, the candle began to glow hotter and its flame no longer twitched.

Around her a world began to take shape. Grass covered a small hill that she walked along and the sky above turned to a cloudy overcast day. Stormwalker stood facing her his expression calm and reserved. Behind him a seemingly empty expanse of blustery plains stretched out as far as she could see.

“Where am I?” she demanded once she reached him.

“A place no one else has ever gone to: a place I thought I would always be alone.” he answered.

Gusty curled her lips up in pure revulsion. She knew exactly where she had gotten herself stuck. Her main complaint was why she had been forced here of all places.

He continued: “That was until I met you of course...and you tried to pull that ‘cleansing’ nonsense.” Stormwalker smirked playfully at her.

“I want out of your mind, Stormwalker.” Gusty demanded, just-short-of-snarling

“Not yet. This is an excellent opportunity for us to understand each other better, and I won’t have you leaving until you have learned something.” he answered.

Gusty openly scoffed, groaning absolutely as loud as she could.

“Look, I don’t want to be here in the first place. I was trying to kill you. Not coming to say ‘hi’ inside your head.” she stomped a hoof angrily.

“Oh, I know. You made a good effort, really, and I thought you were actually gonna manage to cleanse my body and put an end to this rather cursed existence I lead.” He said with a pleasant air, “But that was before you started trying to actively absorb my...bad side’s energy...so I had to stop you and-wow. Did I ever get a surprise!”

Gusty stifled a gag. Seeing Stormwalker merrily smile made her sick. She could not stand the thought of him enjoying touching her mind. It was the only way he could have pulled her into this living hell. She glared down at the soft grass and then back up at his handsome face. Gusty wanted to both kiss him and stab him, just to say that she had done both.

She grunted angrily wishing for her sword, she would stab him first, probably at least seventeen times, after that he hopefully would be less attractive. Gusty, pushed the thought aside and instead focused on what he had found so shocking about her.

“Well, what did you find when you violated my mind, demon.” She glowered at him.

He his eyes widened, his face pinching into concern.

“Nothing good. I can tell you that for certain,” his voice was serious. “It was like I was looking through a piece of thick glass that someone had broken into a million pieces and then tried to glue together with fog. And what I could see…” he sighed.

“It was bad...really bad.” His tone made her meet his gaze.

“I don’t know how you hold yourself together. It’s...quite admirable. Though it has only been two days since I have met you, I have often wished I had your resolve.” he smiled kindly.

Gusty found herself blushing, even in this not-real world. She hated that he could manage to evoke embarrassment out of her. Not that she could stop it. Anypony honestly complimenting her made Gusty feel sheepish, or perhaps modestly appreciative. Still she had no idea her subconscious was in such a tenuous state, not that she would let him know she was interested.

“Are you saying something is wrong with me? How very vulgar of you to insult me like that. Are you stupid?” Gusty snapped.

“Uh...?” Stormwalker quipped. “I mean...it’s not something you had control of, someone did something terrible to you. Honestly, I owe it to you to try and find a way to fix it.”

“What? No! I don’t want your help!” Gusty shrieked.

“Well, it’s not a matter whether you want it or not, you’ve already got it.” Stormwalker grinned, his fangs glinting with gleeful mischief.

“Fine then. Why? Why do you want to help me? Hmm? Tell me. Now. I won’t stand for anymore of your tricks.” Gusty held his gaze angrily

“Because…” Stormwalker hesitated. “You helped me.” He mumbled out before he looked away from her to some undisclosed point on the ground. He took in a deep breath and sighed harshly before meeting her eyes again. His demeanor becoming hard, determined, yet reverent.

“And because you are the only pony ever, to not only stand up and tell me I was wrong, but you proved it too.” He said a little unevenly, like he was nervous.

Gusty just raised a brow in concern. He had to be joking.

“Listen, I didn’t used to be such a bad guy, not that my reasons for the Cave are much of an excuse but...” He paused as Gusty’s jaw continued to drop, “The point is: you showed me that I don’t have to give in to my bad side no matter how horrible the circumstances may be.”

Gusty swore she felt her chin hit the grass below her. He was serious. A demon was actually seriously congratulating her for fighting him? He had to be insane, most demons were, but this one had taken his mental depravity to a new level. Gusty gaped at him incredulously unable to form the adequate words for how repugnant the thought remained.

“You don’t believe me, do you? Like, not even a little bit.” his smiled slowly faded to disappointment.

Gusty still lacked words and she just started shaking her head. She quickly placed a hoof up to her face and looked away from him, she was too flabbergasted to continue this farce.

“I need you-need you to understand, that after Nyx...I have new powers that I don’t understand how to use. I need more of your help. I-I...” He looked at her his voice breaking as he plead. Gusty compiled her composure and fixed him with hard glare. He turned away his mood solemn and broken.

“Nevermind, you won’t ever listen to me until prove with irrefutable evidence that I mean well for you and everypony else.” he he whispered.

"Oh, by my moon and stars you demonic fool!" Luna shouted freezing Gusty's memory in place. She let herself collapse down to the ground in sobs. She had followed the rabbit hole to the very bottom of its pit and found the one thing she had been looking for, the inside of Stormwalker's mind. Luna gritted her teeth as her lungs heaved reflexively from her tormented weeping. She had not realized when she had begun crying but it mattered little now.

"Why didn't you ever ask? I would have helped! How was I supposed to know? How was I supposed to understand, Stormy!?" she shrieked at the memory of her favored demon. Luna wallowed in her anger and guilt, ashamed that it had taken until it was spelled out for her before she understood. The only thing Stormwalker had ever wanted was genuine help without the need for his benefactor to be repaid, for somepony to help because they actually cared about him. Her heart and chest tightened at the thought of all the opportunities she had missed. She turned up to look at his face and the sad little smile he always had when he looked at Gusty.

"You fought Nyx! The literal embodiment of darkness and hatred by yourself! And you-you-you won! And you told Gusty! You didn't tell me! The very mare she tormented for one-thousand years! Do I mean that little to you!?" Luna whimpered as loud as her breaking voice would allow. She cast her eyes away from his nonreactive face, realizing she was just screaming at an illusion. Zeccaran's words suddenly echoed in her head, loud over her crying.

Luna stood up remembering what he had said. She had to watch the end of this and gather strength before she moved on. This would be the hardest thing she had ever done, and all the anxiety of having a crush would have to be swept away if she could ever live with herself again. "She may have helped you first," she looked over at Gusty's annoyed face, "But I promise to make up for all the times I didn't, I won't back down again!"

A rush of wind hissed over the grassy hill. Gusty looked up from her hoof to see massive looming black clouds building behind Stormwalker. He turned around and faced out on the empty plain she had seen before. The ominous weather reminded Gusty of what she had imagined for the very demon’s mind she was in, how ironic that he had chosen such an appropriate image for her to see.

Sudden sunlight broke the clouds and scattered them away with ease. She decided that she had seen enough of other ponies’s mind today. She was done with demon minds too.

“Let me leave.” She said to him.

“Would you not stay?” he asked without turning to face her. His voice was hushed, sad.

“Not even for the briefest of moments?” He turned to look at her quickly trotting over to her.

Gusty scrunched her snout in disapproval, but she could hardly stop him from coming over to her. She was certain that even if it wasn’t his mind she could do next to nothing to stop him from doing what he wanted.

He sighed briefly. He unfurled his big wings to their fullness. She looked away from him resenting how easily he used his body language to his advantage.

“Very well. Just put your hooves back up to my face, it will help with the transition back out.” he said calmly.

Gusty grunted unhappily but did as he asked. She tried to not look into his eyes. Unfortunately for her, he was tall enough that placing her hooves back on his face meant she had to. She stared at his slitted pupils and wondered what he was thinking as he looked back to her.

“Okay. Here we go!” He whispered.

Gusty felt his hot breath race down her neck and fought the chills. She was quickly distracted as Stormwalker’s eyes flashed to their red and glowed brighter than ever before. She quickly felt like she was flying up, even her mane and tail caught an ethereal burst of air, lifting the former away from her face.

Gusty suddenly remarked at the softness of a new ground below her back hooves. She drew in a breath and exhaled. Stormwalker’s eyes softened from their bright glow and returned to yellow. This close to his face she could see the smile in his eyes. It wasn’t evil like she had expected it to be, but rather it was gentle, perhaps content. She pulled her hooves away from his head quickly with the intent to forget the sensation and sight of him.

“What...was that?” Luna asked, her voice ripe with something...Gusty was unsure what.

She looked back over at the moony mare and was unable to divine her emotion, it was somewhere between confused and jealous. Jeafused, perhaps? Gusty let it go and answered Luna the best she could.

"You have no idea, Gusty" Luna commented on her rival's assessment. "Come on, almost done." she sniffed.

“An awful experience that’s what it was” she complained. It was an unsettling at best, even when she learned her mind was busted which was rather intriguing, it was still exasperating.

Stormwalker shifted on the couch beside her. He got off the furniture and stood up as Gusty moved out of his way. Due to his size, she was forced to stand next to him lest she knock down one of the princesses.

“I found it rather enlightening. It would seem that there is much more to Gusty than we could have possibly imagined.” Stormwalker chirped.

Gusty grunted in disapproval. She again found herself at the mercy of that damned demon.

“Go on, perhaps?” Celestia raised a brow looking right at Gusty.

“The short sweet version is that something truly horrible happened to Gusty a long time ago, before you two even were born. If we want to figure out who she is and why she suddenly resurfaced now, we have to find out what that something was, so we can help her.” the demon concluded with elegance that made Gusty scoff.

“That is a difficult task. Even with what little of her subconscious mind I have already seen I can say that such an endeavor is the most monumental of undertakings.” Luna commented.

Gusty raised an eyebrow. She wanted to interject but was unsure what she would have to contribute. She had not even known that she was in such rough shape in the first place.

“I agree with Luna. The work involved will be complex and difficult at best.” Celestia nodded with pursed lips.

“I’ll handle all the research and information gathering. Luna, I don’t care how long it takes I want a full mental diagnostic report. Celestia, why don’t you have Gusty accompany you to Afternoon Court sessions and any meetings with foreign diplomats. Somebody somewhere has to be able to recognize her and that’s our best chance while maintaining proper security.” Stormwalker issued out orders.

Gusty stuck out her tongue to augment her fake gagging face.

“Look who’s suddenly barking out orders now?” Celestia prodded, “Very well I suppose I should help, as compensation for trying to cut your head off earlier.”

“What!?” Gusty spouted off in shock finding her voice.

“You want to help him!? What happened to ‘he’s an untrustworthy monster!?’” she gasped at Celestia.

The white alicorn drew up a sheepish look.

“It is rare that my emotions get as riled as they did. His calm demeanor while handling my...outburst, was enough for me to settle down and think about what he was saying...and with the explanation of Luna’s memories-I have no reason not to trust him. I might be still a little scared of the big oaf but that doesn’t mean I think he won’t do the right thing.” Celestia responded, embarrassed.

Gusty just gaped at her unable to respond.

Am I the only one that understand how dangerous, how evil he is? She thought to herself.

She had just gotten some real allies to help her deal with the demon, and now they were following his order. Gusty couldn’t help but fume and curse under her breath not caring if anypony else heard.

“That aside.” Stormwalker interrupted her thoughts,

“There is no time like the present. I expect both of you to put forth your best effort on this.” He said to the sisters as he nudged past her to take up the center of the room.

“I’ll start tonight.” Luna chirped.

“Good.” Stormwalker practically purred while turning back around to face Gusty.

He touched a hoof to her cheek and gave Gusty the most seductive bedroom eyes she had ever seen.

“She deserves the most we can do at the very least. I promise: I'll help you get through this.” he sighed looking into her eyes, with those damned yellow circles.

Gusty felt a hard blush trying to raise its head. She defended herself the only way she had left. She raised her left hoof and slapped him as hard as she could. Her leg stung from the impact but she was pleased to see the strike had left an excellent red mark in the shape of her hoof.

Stormwalker returned his hoof to rub his cheek with a wry smile.

“I suppose I deserved that. Well, I should get going. The Archives aren’t going to search themselves!” he laughed as he turned around to leave.

Gusty wished their was something better than the furniture with which to levitate and pummel him. She hated how easily he had convinced the other alicorns of his “good nature,” it made her question her gut. Questioning her gut made her feel like she was questioning who she was as a pony. Listening to her instincts had been all she had ever known when it came to destroying evil, she despised how that was now coming into question.

“Hey wait! You aren’t seriously going to do research right now are you?” Luna cried, pulling Gusty away from her sulking.

The younger princess had caught Stormwalker at the door.

“I most certainly am.” he retorted opening the door and strolling out it like he owned the palace.

"Curse you, Gusty! You think so painfully slow!" Luna grumbled, "And to think all you did was try to be concerned for him and his fate. And all this affection he just oozes towards you and you throw it away!" Luna heaved a sigh, "Not that I am any better on that front...I'm just as disappointing a companion as you."

“You aren’t even going to tell me about-Hey! Stop walking off and talk to me! Guar-” Luna was cut off by the door closing from her blue magic.

Celestia shrugged at the event and took to staring at Gusty. She stared back, her bad mood not abating in the slightest. The taller alicorn walked over closer as if sensing her continued anger and gave her a short nuzzle.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s actually a big push over once you get to know him.” Celestia said placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hardly. You don’t know him like I do. You didn’t watch him...hurt a foal….to be there in person...to feel the terror of seeing flames spring out of his back and his eyes turn that, that horrid red. To feel his malice, pure and unbridled let loose before you....” Gusty responded through gritted teeth.

Celestia gave a light chuckle. She shook her head in a just-short-of-condescending way and looked back at Gusty with amusement.

“Perhaps you are right. But I remember a time when he was an innocent young stallion with a gentle heart, even though he was the same foulness he is now, you’ll come to like him, I’m sure of it.” she told Gusty reassuringly.

“I’ll sooner stab him with my sword and toss him out a window. The rotten pervert wouldn’t even die from it either, the jerk.” Gusty grumbled back.

Celestia burst into outright laughter. It was a rather beautiful sound that was refined yet relaxed. Gusty wondered how many ponies had ever heard the princess laugh so candidly.

“You are going to be an absolute treat during court meetings! Speaking of which why don’t we not have you come to Afternoon Court until the day after tomorrow. I’ll have an aid or maybe even Luna give you a tour of the palace, that way you have ample time to settle in here.” Celestia said trying to stifle her laughter by talking.

“Okay.” Gusty nodded in agreement feeling particularly tired from the day's events.

“I’m going to go back to my room.” she said through a yawn.

“Very well, do you know the way?” Celestia asked.

“I should be fine.” Gusty replied.

“Alright then, it’s time for me to go to bed anyway, early morning tomorrow.” the taller alicorn yawned too.

She paused briefly before casting a glance back towards the room proper.

“Shall we leave Zeccaran here? Is that alright?” she asked Gusty.

Gusty levitated her friend to lay out fully on the enormous couch instead of having him balled up on a chair. The zebra looked significantly more comfortable and even grumbled something tonally similar to a “thank you” but otherwise did not move and continued his soft snore.

“He should be fine.” Gusty responded pleased with her work.

Celestia led their way out of the conference room. She kept walking down the straight of the hallway casting a wave back to Gusty who turned to the right. She walked down the hall towards the throne room. Entering from a small door she found herself behind the right side of the still overturned gold seat. Busy castle ponies and a few construction contractor looking stallions milled about picking up broken glass or setting up scaffolding. They certainly did get here fast, the restoration business was clearly a lucrative and often used business here in Equestria.

Gusty continued through the ruined room and down the ornate stained-glass hallway with the marble arches she had followed to the throne. What was left of the glass depicted a curious set of six ponies. She didn’t quite understand what they were supposed to describe but the characters in the fractured pictures had a certain vibrancy to them she found endearing. She particularly liked the look of the rainbow-maned pony and the pink-on-pink pony, they seemed fun. Otherwise, Gusty continued, making her way back to her room past the devastated art.

She finally arrived after finally navigating a particularly dangerous section of the hall that included a collapsed section of roof, shattered armor suits, and strange spikes of morphed stone, she hadn’t seen it when she had been flying through before, it must have happened before Stormwalker and Celestia made it into the gardens.

Gusty tossed open the door to her gifted apartment and walked in feeling even more tired than before. She found Amethyst still asleep on the sofa, the cookies she had been eating lay on her belly and the cushion she was on. Gusty smiled down at her daughter and picked her up in her magic. She gently moved Amethyst with her into the hall to where her bedroom was. The big window that peered off towards the northeast reveal that it had become nighttime.

Having had an extremely full day Gusty moved into her bedroom to the massive and massively comfortable bed and placed Amethyst on it before slipping into the heavenly soft location herself. She yawned as her daughter mumbled in her sleep and closed her eyes to slowly drift off to sleep. Life was certainly going to be a lot different for the time being she mused as dreams started to take her, but she was ready for it this time.

"Freedom at last!" Luna cheered as the memory ended and she snapped her eyes open to the blue of her bedroom. She took the bare minimum of time needed to re-accommodate herself to the waking world and its realities of physics such as gravity and friction. Standing up from her bed she hopped down from the raised dais where it lay and bolted towards her door.

She was too frustrated, too concerned to try teleportation, thus she ran down the winding stairs into her personal study and its various mirrors, books, and maps before exiting. She turned right swinging past the corridor that led to Celestia's side of the main tower and found the next staircase which she jumped down steps in groups of threes before hitting full flight as she glided down past the ground level. She passed confused guards merely shouting them aside as she slipped down the support structure and into the basement. Once there Luna entered the main underground corridor and zipped down the hall past the Advanced Research facility towards the Nightwatch Barracks.

Outside some of her Batpony Guards stood waiting doors open having seen her coming. They waved her in stoically as she was forced to skid to the ground due to the narrow halls of the Barracks. She turned through the facility, used to the familiar passages until she came upon the commanding officer's room embossed with the name of her quarry. She kicked it open and dashed inside to find a small gathering of stallions. Behind his desk Stormwalker was pouring a glass of whiskey for himself while the other stallions were gaping at her sudden arrival, glasses in various states of full.

"Get out! All of you get out!" she screamed at the lower staff as she charged her horn ready to toss them herself. They scrambled out of the room in short order all leaving their beverages behind. Luna levitated one of the fuller ones over before draining it. The liquor burned as she swallowed but it helped her catch her bearings and slow her racing heart. She turned and closed the door using one of the chairs the officers had to hold it shut since she had broken the lock.

"Luna, are you okay?" Stormwalker asked standing up from the enormous chair he was in. She remained silent as he looked at her. "Because, it's not every day you kick in the door to my office and start doing doubles...what's wrong?"

She shook her head and looked him dead in the eye. "Show me you." she ordered quietly.

"What? I'm not sure I understand what you-" he started, "You know exactly what I mean, Stormy." Luna finished. He looked at her concern growing in his eyes before it relented and was replaced with acceptance. Stormwalker closed his eyes and instantly flame replaced his wings, mane, and tail and he stood before her in his true form. She could see the cracks in his legs and chest where his armor did not cover. There raw white-golden magic boiled just below the surface in an ever-moving dance of power. She saw the long razor fangs glinting unnaturally in the light of his fire and finally he opened his eyes to look at her. They started red their pupils expanded to be round and empty but slowly turned yellow and slitted like that of a dragon or cat.

Luna drew in one last breath before striding towards him. He watched her carefully his eyes still showing the same interest and worry as before. Perhaps Gusty didn't see that part of him, perhaps she couldn't, but she did and with as much confidence as she could Luna pressed her face against his neck. She awkwardly threw her hooves around him causing him to inhale sharply in surprise. After a moment he nuzzled his snout into her mane causing her to feel like she was being lifted off her hooves. But she wasn't done yet, this action meant nothing if she could not speak to him, so Luna backed up and met his eyes once more.

"Guardian Angel, I-I have s-something to say to you." she stammered holding his gaze. He briefly bit at his bottom lip his eyes sparkling with an emotion close to wonder. He gave the smallest nod for her to continue and that was all it took for the words to come tumbling out in a never ending cascade. And for the first time since her time as Nightmare Moon, Luna hoped the night would last forever.

Author's Note

Official Edit- Final edit for Act 1: 10-16-2017
So there we have it, the last bit of story building and character definition. Sorry to have kept it delayed but I am only one man, and I pretty much got too frustrated to proofread in detail so if there are errors they will be fixed later. The below still applies, but now it is more of a joke than a definitive plot point...sorta. Point is everything happens for a reason.

A brief synopsis of the actual PnDcampaign RP that occurred leading up to this...scene:
Gusty's RPer: "I want to cleanse him of all his demon heritage"
DM: "Uh...I cannot technically prevent you from doing that since it is part of your Character...but umm...I don't think its gonna work"
G'sRP: "It'll work, check it! *rolls die* 20
DM: "...Roll again..."
G'sRP *rolls another fucking 20*
DM: "......." *through gritted teeth* "Roll a luck roll, a d10 please."
G'sRP: *10*
DM: (as laughter ensues behind him) "..." "..........." ".................." 😠
DM: " Well, you begin the ritual and...frankly, you aren't gonna like this..."
G'sRP: "Why? This will help him!"
DM: YOU KNOW NOTHING MORTAL!!

Act 2: Chapter 1 - An Old Friend

Twas a pleasant spring day in late March. Pleasant breezes of the year’s first warm day danced from the hall window. They followed their sunray brethren slipping their way through the open door of Gusty’s bedroom. She leaned up from beneath the soft covers of her bed and yawned slowly. Crunching splutters of her husband’s snoring filled her ears as he rolled over, only vaguely disturbed by her waking. It was set to be a most boring Tuesday. There were no guests of note on the court listing and that left her demotivated. She sat there in her plush bed contemplating putting a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door to her residence and going back to sleep.

However, the thought of Celestia’s disappointment encouraged her just enough to slide her back hooves down to the ground before flipping her body fully on to all of her limbs. Gusty yawned again. She absently watched the small dust particles caught in the beams of sunlight. She recovered and lazily strolled over to her clothes dresser. Locating her favorite cobalt skirt with a smile she slipped it on. It had been pressed and cleaned regularly, its grey-blue was now a sharp crisp color. It bounced pleasantly against her flanks now that its fabric was restored. She also selected a bright yellow shawl that served more as a hue complement than a real piece of covering. Moving on to her vanity she levitated up a simple silver necklace that Bunker had gotten her as a wedding gift.

Remembering her husband, Gusty levitated up her wedding legband and snapped it around her upper left leg. It was a platinum gold almost as pure white as the silver on her neck. It held three diamonds, two smaller one larger. Where Bunker had gotten it was a mystery to her and no amount of ‘persuasion’ could get him to divulge how he had gotten it. She looked into her vanity’s mirror to find her mane a total mess. Gusty took to brushing it thoroughly. After some decent work on her unruly head hair she had brushed it to perfection, her cerulean-seafoam curls glowing in the sunlight. She was just finishing when quick, small hoofsteps caught her ears by surprise.

Amethyst’s thin filly frame slipped by her bedroom door. Gusty stood up from her vanity’s cushion chair and followed her daughter. The schoolfilly had breezed quickly into the kitchen leaving her mother in the dust. By the time she had reached the room, Gusty was astounded to find toast already in the toaster and potatoes being chopped by a levitating knife. Meanwhile, Amethyst sat reading a thick book that she didn’t recognize as her daughter’s usual school material. Sharp hissing of hot oil on potatoes sparkled out as she slowly sat down at the kitchen’s table across for her daughter marvling all the while at Amethyst’s skill at fine-tuned levitation.

“What are you reading, my child?” Gusty asked finally catching herself.

“A book, Uncle Zeccaran gave me.” Amethyst barely mumbled in return.

“Really? What’s its title?” She questioned more out of obligation of conversation.

“Thaumatic Magic Theory and the Laws of Magic Conservation and Potentiality.” The filly merrily replied.

Gusty performed at least three double-takes before being forced to slap herself sane.

“Uh...Did I miss like ten years and you are now some sort of college student?” she asked her daughter.

Amethyst giggled at her. She closed the book and kept laughing as the finished home fries, toast, and suddenly jam from the refrigerator came floating over to the table complete with plate, fork, and knife. Gusty was rather dumbfounded. She had not taken the comment to be funny in the least, truth be told the older mare was scared that what she had suggested had actually happened. Quickly, her daughter calmed herself and was all smiles.

“Mom!” she proclaimed through a mouth full of potatoes. “We just celebrated my birthday last week, I’m only ten years-old!” she finished after swallowing.

Gusty nodded in agreement.

“But, I don’t know, sometimes magic class at school is super easy, so I asked Uncle Z for the hard stuff!” She tittered.

She rolled her eyes at her daughter. Few ponies were as capable of magic as Amethyst. Gusty was fairly certain that the filly had more magic than herself, she just hadn’t developed the means to access all of it yet. She just closed her eyes and shook her head at the thought.

“What?” Amethyst asked confused.

“Oh nothing, dear. Let me brush your mane before you leave.” Gusty answered.

Amethyst was mostly done with her breakfast when Gusty had returned with the brush. She pushed down the filly’s unruly pink mane until it was smoothed over the sides of her head. It became wavy and hung placidly down around Amethyst’s cute face, framing the filly’s bright purple eyes perfectly.

“There. You look extra pretty now.” Gusty smirked, pleased with her work.

“Okay, mom.” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “I have to get going now, see you at supper!”

Amethyst produced a bag previously hidden by the table. She tossed her book inside and strapped it to herself as she ran out of the kitchen. The quick opening and shutting of the door to the hall promptly followed, leaving Gusty to sit in silence.

After a time, she got up from the table and went to check on Bunker. He was still out cold. After last night’s rather lengthy and intense activities she wasn’t terribly surprised. She had made him do all the work, mostly because she rather liked a dominant stallion in the bedroom. Even though Bunker was not, he had performed admirably and was more than satisfactory but while she slept well, he now laid in a near coma. Gusty moved away from her thoughts and the door to her bedroom.

She began making her way towards The Declaration Hall. It was Celestia’s prefered location for Morning Court. If the Weather Pegasi Schedule hadn’t gotten messed up it was supposed to be an excellent day to be outside. Gusty decided that she needed to get there quickly if she was going to convince Celestia that today was a good day to be extra girly and day drink as much wine as they could as they made fun of anypony foolish enough to grace Morning Court. She grinned at the thought of her friend. Over the last two years they had become quite close, sharing stories of lovers and friends.They had come up with a system of body language too. It was for the express purpose of communicating in front of rambling petitioners without revealing their intent. Such was mostly making fun of some of the more ridiculous requests.

Gusty had reached the giant hall that led out to the inner pavilion of the Palace. Instead of walking the rest of the way through the Gala Ballroom and the state offices, Gusty unfurled her wings and jumped off the second floor balcony. She soared out the enormous two-story tall glass doors which stood open. She whistled past the Royal Library and the outdoor bakery. The fragrant smells of Celestia’s personal confectionary creation center tickled her nose as she gained height enough to sail over the top of the round-domed Statehouse as it was called. She zipped around its ivory spire and made her way towards the open balcony of the Declaration Hall. The portion of the Palace she was headed to nearly floated over the main city square and she pulled around its edge with grace.

She slid quickly into the open patillo, using the turn to slow her speed. She glided to a stop just as Celestia’s face turned to meet her with a smile.

“Good Morning, I see you are dressed to kill. Do you have something in mind?” the white mare trilled behind an ever more mischievous grin.

“Oh, yes.” Gusty responded clapping her hooves together.

The Royal Guards in the room began slowly sliding away from her and Celestia.

“What would you say to...day drinking an unholy amount of wine?” she drolly questioned.

Celestia’s grin turned into wild smile. The hiss-pop of a teleportation spell echoed around the room and behind her friend loomed a dark shadow. The sunlight picked up its slack to reveal an enormous wine cast clad in mahogany stain and gold barrel bars. Gusty shivered at the sight, she could already taste the two-hundred year-old perfection and its smokey aroma. A pair of crystal wine glasses popped into existence. Celestia floated one over to her knowingly as they made their way to the tap.

“I sometimes find it rather shocking how alike we tend to think, dear Gusty.” Celestia cooed.

“I don’t, we hangout all the time, Court is just an excuse for us to look like we are doing something important.” She chuckled back to her friend.

Celestia just laughed as her pale-yellow magic began twisting the tap into the huge cask. Gusty bit her lips in anticipation

Crwvhaam!

Gusty spun on her hooves to see what had thrown open the doors to the stairs.

A pair of armored rams, rams, had slammed the big jade doors flat against the wall. All the Royal Guard’s horns could be heard charging spells and spears chinged into ready position. Unabashed, the rams held up what they each carried, long bannered trumpets. They played a heavy fanfare and stepped to the side rigidly. Four more of the rams, more formally dressed in what could only be described as ritual kilts and blades entered in a box formation. The group strolled up casually to Celestia and Gusty before coming to an abrupt halt.

The four ramguards parted. They revealed a small ewe. She shone bright like the sun behind a fleece as golden as a dragon’s horde. Gusty blinked rapidly trying not to turn her head away from the shining flaxon fur. She narrowly succeed as the ewe stepped up past the burning beam of sunlight that made her sparkle with such ferocity.

The ewe drew a great breath, “Well, hello der dearest friend Celestia!” she proclaimed.

Gusty about fell over from the absurdity of her accent. She hadn’t heard anypony talk with such a crass brogue in a desperately long time. Beside her Celestia graciously lowered her head in a bow.

“A pleasant surprise, indeed, O’ Gertrude the Golden.” Celestia quipped perfectly.

Fleeting senses of familiarity were common for Gusty, but Gertrude seemed particularly friendly, comfortable in her mind. She looked at the old ewe whose ice-blue eyes were a touch bug-eyed. She continued speaking and making jokes to Celestia in her accent.

“Now who be yer young friend here, Celly, lass? Gertrude asked as she turned to look at Gusty with playfully squinted eyes.

The briefest of moments passed while the ewe met her eyes. The old creature loosed a gasp of something between terror and joy. Before she could react the ewe launched herself into Gusty’s face. Caught entirely off-guard the ewe successfully tackled her to the ground. The whole room fell silent as they looked at each other nose to nose. Suddenly, not two seconds later the ewe began a slew of mad laughter. She hopped up off Gusty’s chest and helped her up still cackling.

“I hardly believed me eyes!” she snorted through her chuckles, “Gusty Twilight! Bonnie lass it has been almost three-hundred years!”

“What?” she balked back to the ewe. This caused Gertrude to laugh harder.

Gusty looked over to Celestia for help, but only received a confused shrug from her friend. She wished she understood what the ewe was talking about. Her sensation from before was stronger but remained only a vague memory, she didn’t have a way to connect the dots. Meanwhile, Gertrude had finally recovered.

“Oh, that be a helluva good jape, great Gusty! But, I would rather ye take me a slight more serious than tha’.” She stated.

“Uhm….how do I know you? I know I do but…” Gusty tried her best to explain.

“Ah! Mine heart! Thee doth wound it with thine cold tongue! Cease this jest, dearest lass!” Gertrude choked, nearly on the verge of tears.

Gusty sat there trying to figure out how to explain she couldn’t remember, but wanted to. The more she thought about her situation the more nervous and scared Gusty became. The condition was a circular one that left her unable to respond beyond looking sadly at the ground. The room again became deathly silent over the haggard breathing of Gertrude. An all too familiar sensation of an unwelcome presence drew her attention to the still open door. Not a moment later Stormwalker strode into the room, drawing everyone else’s attention with his metal clad hoofsteps. Gusty just wished he would wear his helmet.

“I had heard that the Dame of the Baylands had snuck her way into Canterlot, unannounced.” He said in his incredibly close to arrogant way.

“Aye, young Lord Stormwalker.” Gertrude responded dismally.

“Fairest greetings Dame Gertrude. Something seems to be troubling you?” he bowed deeply with his front knees bending.

“Be I so easy to read fer ye? Aye, Gusty be making the impression she doesn’t know who I be.” The Dame pouted.

Stormwalker’s eyes, too pony-like for Gusty’s taste, sparkled in surprise.

“You know Gusty?” he asked eagerly stepping up past the guards.

“Aye, she be the reason the Bah-ahah-ahyland exist, boyyo! And you ask me if I know her!” Gertrude retorted through her bleats.

Gusty certainly knew of the Baylands. With great glacier-carved mountains, fjords, and thick pine forests, it was an unforgettable experience. But, Gusty doubted she had any connection to the formation of the country there. The picture had become clearer but she hadn’t quite finished bringing its final details into focus. She put her focus on Stormwalker again who had cocked a prideful smile without any obvious reason.

“Then Golden Lady of the Highlands, you should know this; Gusty is not seeking to forget you on purpose.” he answered.

She stood there in confused anger, having no idea why Stormwalker of all creatures had come to her defense. She had hoped her borealis-maned friend would have instead, but she had remained silent.

“Yes. There is a rather long story to tell, but Gusty is not slighting you, I promise.” Celestia finally chimed in. Gusty rolled her eyes.

The Dame looked between the demon and the alicorn critically. She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes before turning and spitting vehemently.

“Then be explaining such to mine ears, betwixt th’ both o’ ye.” She stated displeased.

Stormwalker looked around at the pony guards before jerking his head. They began exiting the Declaration Hall immediately. Dame Gertrude took the cue and shooed her own ram guards out as well. They shut the door behind them, leaving the two mares, ewe, and demon alone.

“Get comfortable, this is a strange and long story.” Stormwalker piped up.

Gusty groaned. She had become more than disgusted with this “helping” act the demon performed. He hadn’t put on his show in quite the spell, but each time he did ponies, and this time sheep, bought the story as if it was some sort of cure-all drug. Instead of listening to Stormwalker pander on with his tale, Gusty decided to focus on Gertrude.

The old golden ewe increasingly felt familiar to her. She looked over her small dainty frame. Gertrude bounced eagerly in the chair Celestia had popped into existence some time ago. The full Bayland brogue of her questions made Gusty start to think. She remembered the Baylands and what took place there. Sudden dazzling of Gertrude’s coat sparked everything to life for Gusty. In that moment it came flooding back.

She remembered using her magic to craft Gertrude’s Golden Fleece. She remembered fighting off the raider and bandits that plague the fledgling alliance of sheep families. She remembered building the Castle-upon-Barra, the shining accomplishment of all the Baylands’ Thanes. The vast sprawling forests and hills flashed before her eyes and the face of a small frightened lamb overtook them. She cried to Gusty’s chest her ice-blue eye’s wetting her fur and leaving her chest to ache as if she had taken an arrow. More came flooding back, the lamb became a ewe, her bravery and virtue propelling her forward until a horde of sheep and rams sprung up from the grassy hills only to kneel before her. Gusty smiled with pride at her adopted...daughter!

Reality snapped immediately back into focus. Gusty held her breath as she looked to meet the eyes of Gertrude. She hoped to convey the pain of forgetting such a wonderful friend and family member with her eyes. Somehow, the ewe turned her head to oblige her. Gusty let herself become overwhelmed with joy. This time it was she that bounded forward snagging the now aged-ewe in hooves and spinning around in a circle. She cried openly as she chanted “Gerty, Gerty, Gerty!” her pet name for the Dame, as she squeezed her old friend as tight as she could.

“Ye remember finally!” she bleated. “That’s all it tak’, eh? A wee little promptin’ from ye’s Lord Stormwalker?”

Gusty stopped spinning, staring confusedly back at Gertrude. It was the second time she had called the demonspawn a “lord.” She cast an accusatory glance towards the creature in question.

“What’s this ‘lord’ business Gerty keeps calling you?” she demanded.

“What is your deal? Don’t tell me you missed the part where I hail from a distinguished house of nobles.” Stormwalker responded.

Gusty just scrunchy-faced him in response. A demon, a military officer, and a noble, it’s no wonder the guy is so incredibly cocky, she thought to herself.

“I’ve been to every Weekly Noble Court meeting since we met! How did you not…” He started before trailing off. “Ugh...what am I gonna do with you, ya big teal moron?” he grumbled.

Gusty elected to ignore him and instead begin recounting tales of she and Bunker to Gertrude. The old ewe laughed at their escapades completely having forgotten her previous sadness. Feeling emboldened by her new ally, Gusty continued to joke and giggle with the Dame. It was only in her periphery that she noticed Stormwalker whispering to Celestia. Their conversation was muddled out and nonsensical compared to Gertrude and the influx of happy emotions she continued to experience. They chattered on for a good long time before Stormwalker yelled over them.

“Hey! Gusty, Gerty! Pay attention!” he boomed making them both jump.

“Oh why di’ ya haff a’go and ruin our fun, boyyo?” Gertrude scowled.

Gusty turned her nose up in agreement. They had been having a wonderful time. He probably was simply seeking to ruin it for his own sick twisted pleasure, Gusty believed that anyway.

“It’s not often that another country’s leader comes to Equestria unannounced to seek personal counsel with me, Lady Gertrude. What did you originally come here for?” Celestia asked calmly.

“Oh! How careless of me!” Gertrude proclaimed jumping away from Gusty. She took a deep bow and continued. “Dearest friend Celestia. I come afore ye with a humble request.”

“Y-you do?” Celestia looked up to Gusty with concern.

“Aye. We sheep of the Bah-aylands not be ones to be a’ asking for help. But, this be a matter most important to our homeland.” The Dame spoke trying to control her natural brogue.

This concerned Gusty. She felt she was remembering correctly: if Gertrude was asking for help it was extremely serious, but Gusty hoped she had recalled that fact incorrectly. The way the Dame tried to make herself especially clear, however, filled Gusty with the sensation she was unfortunately right.

“Since the year did turn, a griffon leadin’ a grand band o’ bandits, hath declared he-self the Pirate King. Dey constantly, raid mine merchants’ vessels and terrorize me and mine kin. We hatha been stopping them where we can but da blasted devils be slippery. Thrice hath they made attempts on mine life, and with the newest generation of Thanes being upstarts I fear they wilt lead to the old country fallin’ apart. Please, can Equestria led us aid, in this our hour o’ need?” Gertrude pleaded.

Gusty bit her tongue. She wanted to shout “Yes!” to the Dame, but she was not regent of the country. Given Celestia’s conservative approach to international politics, Gusty doubted she would agree to more than armed aid for trade convoys. She silently watched Celestia stoically mull over the Dame’s request.

“I have an idea: I cannot actively send our military beyond our borders, but any vessels that make it to our territory can expect strong escorts into our lands. That is the extent I can provide military and economic support without causing an international incident. However, I can send Gusty and her friends to assist you in anyway you wish. I’m sure Gusty would be more than happy to do so, with or without my consent.” Celestia responded with a sly smile on her face.

Gertrude snapped her head back to Gusty.

“Ye would be willin’ to help us once again, bonnie lass?” she asked, teary-eyed

“Of course!” She snatched up Gertrude in a relieved hug, “It will be just like old times.”

“Aye.”

They hugged it out for a while. Gusty’s warm fuzzies had nearly reached their maximum by the time they stopped. She was excited too. A new adventure and a new challenge awaited her and her crew it was sure to be most enjoyable.

“I can arrange for an armed escort to transport you, Gusty n’ Company, and your personal guard back to your home, Lady Dame.” Stormwalker cut in. Gusty had almost forgotten he was there.

“Well ya can now eh laddie? I wouldn’t say no to such an offer. I be assuming they be ponies of ye’s personal hire?” Gertrude re-brogued curiously.

“The finest air-chariot pullers and the best marksponies shall accompany you, that I can guarantee.” he answered.

“Then we shall leave on the ‘morrow before sunrise!”

“Very well. I have much to prepare.” Stormwalker spoke as he began to leave.

“Look at yeh laddie! Ye own stallion these’s days. I remember a time when ye were still suckling Celestia’s teat.” Gertrude teased. Gusty was rather disturbed by the subject matter, but being a gossip herself remained silent.

“That was a long time ago.” Stormwalker snarked turning around near the door. “Over twenty years to be exact.”

“Don’t dredge up those times Lady Gertrude, they are so...embarrassing.” Celestia chimed in.her face flushing red.

“Oh, please. You are only embarrassed because you enjoyed my undivided attention more than you would ever admit.” the demon admonished

“Oh ho ho! What happened between the two o’ ye?” Gertrude smiled, unsure, “I thought ye were an excellent couple.”

“You used to be with him?!” Gusty burst unable to contain herself any longer.

Celestia rumbled a moan somewhere between annoyed and flustered. Stormwalker nodded with a sneer before rolling his eyes and exiting. Gusty, glad he was gone, looked over to Celestia in disbelief. Her friend hid behind her mane, even with her face under the ever-moving mass her ears were red from her trials.

“Methinks ‘tis best I be a’headin’ elsewhere’s for now. Spy ye in da mornin’ Gusty lass!” Gertrude surmised in a sage manner before slipping out the door herself.

Gusty started at her friend.

“Maybe I forgot to mention him on purpose.” She sighed. “I guess I have a lot of explaining to do.” Celestia whimpered still behind her mane.

“I would hear the story, Tia. If you have any insights on his weaknesses I am more than interested.” she conferred as she moved up to the big white alicorn.

“So cold. You didn’t even make fun of me for being such a fool.” Celestia said pushing her mane aside finally.

“Are you kidding? If I didn’t know he was a demon, like you didn’t, I would have been all over him. It’s such a shame a stallion of his calibre is a filthy, evil monster.” Gusty spat back.

“I don’t think you caught my meaning. If I hadn’t betrayed him, burned every bridge, I would still be the object of his affections, well...I hope I would have.” her friend moped.

Gusty found herself baffled. She had no idea about what Celestia was referencing. The only thing she could think of being of import was the self-inflicted memory charm her larger counterpart had created to forget the details of Stormwalker. Celestia began explaining after noticing she was sitting there inquisitively staring, that explanation spared none of the details.

A myriad of topics concerning Celestia and Stormwalker’s relationship, including but not limited to; sex, pranks, and romance were imparted onto Gusty’s ears. Evidently, the once rather virtuous Stormwalker had been chosen by Celestia as her personal guard. He was a naturally gifted counter-assassin and, much to Gusty’s shagrin, lover. Celestia painted a picture of a different stallion than she had met in the Cave or that stalked the palace halls now. The other alicorn lamented her own shortcomings, that she had not been strong enough to understand him.

“I don’t understand what to do. He...I think he’s still my friend, but he’s distant, cold.” she sulked. “I feel responsible for his fall. If I had just been there for him...if I could have just controlled my fear. He trusted me more than anypony else, and I betrayed him.”

Gusty gave her friend a wayward glare, “You can’t blame yourself for his decisions. They were his not yours. You had every right to be scared. I’ve seen him in his true form too, terrifying is an understatement.” she told Celestia.

“I can and I should. I didn’t run away from him, I didn’t end our relationship. I deleted it. I made it so all the memories and good times we shared only existed in his heart. Even now that I remember...the damage is done. “Celestia responded looking through Gusty. “It broke him...I know it did. I can see it when he looks at me. I can feel him want to become close again, but then it passes behind a dark cloud of sorrow and pain.”

“Hardly. All it did was make him less of a pony to you. Made him appear as he truly is.” Gusty had to keep herself from snarling.

“No. You are wrong Gusty Twilight. You are wrong about him.” Celestia said back.

Gusty raised a brow trying her best to get Celestia to meet her eyes.

“Since he met you in that Cave those two-and-a-half years ago...Slowly, so slowly I didn’t notice until recently, he’s becoming that same quirky and kind stallion I fell in love with. It actually makes me jealous you can do that to him.” her friend blushed.

Gusty simply sat there stunned. She had nothing to say back to Celestia, at least not anything that would make her friend feel better. Her plan of getting Celestia to divulge the demon’s weaknesses was also a failure, the white mare had not mentioned anything of note. Gusty was annoyed by this supremely especially since she had learned much more about Stormwalker than she had ever wanted to, it almost made him seem like a pony. What was worse was the way Celestia talked down on herself for doing the only thing that was rational in Gusty’s opinion. It had taken an extremely strong mare to resist the call of love and deny herself the happiness she had clearly attained, fear or not.

Gusty sighed deciding her friend was more important than her grudge, one day she would have her advantage, but it was not this day. She comforted Celestia with a number of slightly-more-than-Platonic nuzzles. The white mare gave her a hug in return before regaining her composure. Celestia insisted that she take the rest of the day to get ready and inform Bunker and Zeccaran about the mission. Gusty left the Declaration Hall to fulfil her friend’s suggestions and tried to forget the particularly gory parts of Stormwalker’s bedroom skills. She grinned in anticipation. A new day and new evils were peaked over the near horizon and she could hardly wait to get started.

Act 2: Chapter 3 - The Low Road

Gusty lowered the shield she had cast out of pure instinct. Smoke and a haze composed of pulverized stone clouded the area. A spluttering bleat turned her eyes down to Gertrude, the old ewe’s brow was scrunched in concern as she strode forward into the unnatural fog still coughing. She followed her friend into the bluster hoping desperately that Bunker and Zeccaran were somehow alive. Gusty began flapping her wings trying to clear away the smoke as she approached, her nostrils catching the fetid stench of burnt flesh. Beating her wings harder she pressed on into the explosion’s main detonation zone squinting her burning eyes trying to overcome the feeling of dread.

“Gertrude! Do you see them?” she yelled over her wings’ constant beats. A deep grunt came from the ewe somewhere on her left. She adjusted her body and pumped her wings more revealing her companion pulling Bunker out from under a pile of broken stone. Above and around them the wall of mortar itself was on fire with an unnatural blaze. Gusty immediately hefted Bunker away from the location in her levitation, Gertrude silently nodded approving of her actions. She placed Bunker well outside the smoke field and turned around to see blood rolling along the ground towards where Gertrude stood peering towards the clearing haze. With the smoke rising away from the ground and now primarily coming from the walls Gusty could see bodies coming into view.

She felt herself gasp as she rushed towards the smallest of the forms, desperately charging up her healing spell. Kneeling down into a slide Gusty slipped right next to a blood-soaked Zeccaran looking over his body trying to determine where the blood had come from. She quickly realized that the gore covering him was not his own, the zebra was unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Around him pieces of the two guards were scattered about like confetti. Most of the pieces of flesh were partially burned or still on fire as Gusty held her nose shut with a hoof, desperately doing her best to not get sick at the smell.

Like Bunker, Gusty hefted Zeccaran out of the smoke with her levitation. She followed her quarry, hustling past the wretched stench of the poor guards, gasping for clean air once she was free of the smoke and haze. She laid her striped friend out before she began trying to slap him awake by shaking and buffeting him with her wings. He woke in a daze mumbling incoherently but was otherwise capable of moving as she stood him up. Gertrude had experienced similar success with Bunker, from what she could tell. The stallion stumbled around next to the ewe but remained upright as the four of them retreated towards the manor proper.

Armed rams and ewes of various sizes began pouring out of the manor. They carried with them great buckets of water strapped to their sides as they rushed towards the fires. They shouted angry questions in their thick brogues while passing each cast a confused glance at the disheveled party. Gusty sat there baffled as the Baylanders busily bustled unphased by the event, she barely noticed as two new Ram Guards took their position next to her and Gertrude, their curly horns glowing with what could only be magic. They held their swords and shields out away from them while pressing their bodies against the Dame as if they suspected another explosion to happen at any moment.

“Brothers an’ Sisters!” Gertrude’s voiced boomed as she climbed atop one of her guards. “Let not this attack fluster ye spirits!” The portion of the crowd that was not carrying water stopped, their fearful gazes turned to their leader. “I have brought before ye a legend to our people, our country’s, our freedom’s, mother, Gusty Twilight!” Gertrude bounced back on her rear legs as she waved at Gusty.

Hissing of flames lightly crackling reigned over the silence of the mixed herd of Ovis. All their eyes transfixed themselves on Gusty, each slowly criticizing every inch of her. She gave them her best smile, uncertain of her purpose or what Gertrude had in mind. They seemed unimpressed, their looks of surprise slowly converting to suspicion. Gusty responded with a simple, “Hello” and a wave of her hoof. It had been a distinctly large volume of time since her fellow beings had questioned who she was as a pony. Somewhere deep in her heart a spark of confidence grew into a flame, she needed something extraordinary, something that resonated with her faux-blood kinsmen. A cocky grin spread her lips as the perfect idea came to her as she located the largest ram in the group.

“You!” she yelled while pointing at him derogatorily. “I challenge you, for your rights to be a suitor! Step forth, we shall settle this now!”

The crowd instantly burst into laughter, many wholesale fell back on their rumps, all laughed except the ram she had goaded. He stepped out of the herd revealing his immense size and muscles. The laughter ceased almost immediately, their eyes wide with sudden anticipation and excitement.

“By what rights do yeh, be challenging meh, interloper.” The ram snarled as Gusty stepped forward to match him. “By the rights of my name, by the power in my blood, and by the honor in my heart.” she responded, casting a beam of magic into the sky to hide her intent.

There was no way she could beat a ram in a ritual honor duel without protecting her head. Their horns were too hard for her to properly just use brute strength, forcing her to instead use some guile and cheat. The flashy beam she cast gave her enough time to set up a see-through shield around her forehead and horn. The inertial armor of pony magic would provide her the perfect chance to win. Her opponent lowered his eyes back down to her after watching the beam dissipate in the clouds above.

“And what be yeh’s name, be it as the Dame claims? Gusty Twilight?” he said before spitting in her direction.

“Yes.” she retorted, spitting towards him.

“Aye.” he mulled, his frown turning into a wicked smile, “Then yeh’s honor shall be mine to claim, flim-flammer, prepare yehself.”

He began scratching at the ground, readying his first steps in the way only a ram could. Gusty bent her knees and braced her back hooves preparing to spring towards him just as soon as he began his charge. She knew how to perform a ritual duel, but it felt like she was digging through ancient texts trying to find the nuances necessary to not get herself killed even with her shield crutch. She did not get her chance to remember as her opponent lowered his head and began his run. Instinctually, Gusty forced her legs down and out breaking into a full spring across the short distance to match him. She angled her horn slightly above his skull in order to not gore him and be disqualified, for this was truly a challenge to see whose head was thicker.

Crehbraaak!

They impacted and bounced off of one another. Gusty shook her head clear to see the ram already backed up and making another shorter charge. She braced her legs and sprung at him with all her might.

Crehbraaak!

They collided again, Gusty backed away quickly her body hitting a zen of instinctual adrenaline. They charged one another, their horns and skulls coming together in regular loud cracks that echoed over the silent manor grounds as their peers watched in awe. Gusty lost count around twenty strikes, her body was sore from the stress and a vicious headache had risen long ago. Her opponent did not look much better, his eyes were unfocused, but his body kept lurching him forward compelled by evolution and honor to move without consent of his mind. They struck each other again, Gusty felt her back legs slump. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself upright. This next joust would have to be the last, or she would lose. She turned her tail to him backing away confidently, gazing over her left shoulder to make sure he did the same. Once in position she turned to face her opponent, he wobbled in a balanced dance of determination to win.

This time, Gusty patted at the ground with her front hooves, lowered her head and snorted in anger. A hoarse yell exited her throat as she flung herself toward the ram, her body screaming in burning lactational rejoice as she pushed herself in this workout.

Crehbraaak! Thwump!

Gusty grabbed her temples trying to alleviate the pain of her ringing ears and throbbing face. She opened her eyes to see her opponent unconscious on the ground his eyes closed, mouth open in forced slumber. She gawked in surprise, she had won. Tapping the shield on her head she felt the invisible barrier shatter and fall away unable to withstand even the slighted bump after the contest. She released a sigh as she began to smile only to nearly have the wind knocked out of her in the next second.

As she had let her guard down, an enormous cheer had erupted from the crowd as they rushed forward and hefted her onto their backs. “Gus-ty! Gus-ty! Gus-ty! Gus-ty!” they chanted over shrill shrieks of merriment and wonder. “She beat ‘im in twenty minutes! That’s a record!” shouted several rams at different times as they bounced her around the crowd’s soft woolen backs. Gusty wanted to talk back but it took everything she had just to not scream in pain from her headache, she smiled awkwardly as they carried her towards the manor. “She’s real! She’s real!” a ewe was shouting into her ear as they passed Gertrude and entered.

Her friend met her eyes and beamed with pride. “That’s right she be real!” she boomed over the crowd, “Our mother lass returned to help her herd!” The herd loosed a mighty roar in response. “An’ in this trying time we must’nt forget our traditions and honor and show Gusty Twilight all the hospitality that she hath missed!” Gusty found herself carted away into a long grey hall arranged with an equally long stained-pine table.

Out of nowhere the crowd promptly deposited a groggily awake Bunker and an equally confused Zeccaran on her left and right. They looked at her in general disturbance of mind, neither saying anything The herd that had brought them in excitedly dispersed their brogues running shrill as they ran out of different doors to the room rattling off ideas about what needed to be cooked or who would tell jokes and perform. Gusty returned to rubbing her temples, as a salad and beer was placed in front of each of them. Just as soon as the party favors had arrived did Gertrude and her two guard plop down with a heavy thud just across Gusty’s party.

The Dame of the Bayland’s shoved her face unceremoniously into her pile of greens and took a long drag off of her beer. “Now tha’ something I hath not seen in a good long time, Gusty lass!” she spake before burping in an especially rustic way that changed in pitch as she performed it. “I kennt not that ye had what it took, ye have seemed different since our reunion.”

She grunted in response, still not quite over her headache, but too stubborn to use magic to make it better. Instead, Bunker stepped in: “Wha--what did she do? What did I miss?” he asked looking at Gertrude in earnest.

“Yeah, last thing I remember was there was this huge explosion and I was surrounded by bodies...I actually thought I was dead, until I woke up to a crowd cheering.” Zeccaran also chimed in as he picked at his salad tepidly.

“Ahhh! Ye lads missed quite the treat! Gusty challenged Jarl MacGerson to a duel and she beat him!” Gertrude responded with a delighted gusto.

“What!?” the two males questioned in unison.

Her friend immediately began recounting the tale two her husband and her punching bag. She snickered to herself at her imposed description of Zeccaran. Meanwhile, Gertrude slammed her hooves on the table as she reached the first collision in her story. Gusty having lived the events look around the room to watch as the herd of sheep and rams began piling into the long table, many gathering close as the Dame retold the tale they had all just witnessed. Vaguely Gusty recalled Gertrude to be an excellent story-teller, she possessed a sharp animation and broad use of adjectives that was impossible for the writer to accurately describe in her delicate brogue. Bunker and Zeccaran sat in awe as Gertrude slammed her hooves down again to depict the final meeting of skulls.

“An’ she knocked laddie MacGerson out cold!” the crowd roared in applause and laughter as Gertrude hopped all the way onto the table and kicked plates everywhere. Gusty smiled and cheered at her own applause, finally over her headache.

“Where be the beleaguered Jarl, anywho?” Gertrude shouted over the crowd, “He be owing me a drink for tha’ foolish wager he made those five years ago!” the herd of Ovis laughed again in their thick accents up until a the sharp sound of the hall’s oak doors opening caused them to stop. The whole group fell instantly silent as all eyes swung towards the ram at the door. Gusty bit her lip to refrain from laughing at him. It was MacGerson and on his back he carried a massive cask.

“I heard yeh’, I heard yeh’, you infernal Golden menace of a Dame!” He grumbled harshly as he wobbled towards the table with his gigantic parcel. He gave it a bounce into the air with his back legs and the cask landed on the table just before Gertrude. Its clammering and shattering of plates loud over the silence of the crowd. Unable to take the quiet any longer Gusty grabbed her beer, took a deep breath, slammed it down, promptly refilled it from MacGerson’s keg and held it aloft for all to see. The crowd look at her, the slightest, “ahhh” rising from them as they watched her carefully. She looked over the room narrowing her eyes as she stood up on the bench making sure she had everyone complete attention. In the far side of the room she spotted a group of instrumentalists staring at her, bows on fiddles and mouths on pipes. Gusty quickly slipped the stein up to her lips and chugged the whole thing just like she had done her first. As soon as she finished she turned to guarantee her aim was free of innocent obstacles and threw the ceramic mug as hard as she could at the ground.

It shattered into millions of pieces almost as fine as dust Waiting until the exact instant the the sound of busting plaster stopped, Gusty screamed: “Let the festivities!-Begin!” The herd roared in approval as the musicians started playing and dozens of sheep in the packed room began dancing to the bouncy music.

The party that ensued was one the majority of which Gusty could not remember. The music continually got louder to try and compensate for the increasing volume of the crowd. The entirety of MacGerson’s giant keg was emptied and another two just like it quickly followed. Somewhere in the midst of the clamor of eating, drinking, and making out with Bunker, Gusty was fairly certain her hosts had put on a bit of theatre and acting. It was a rousing good time, especially the bits she would be able to recall later. The event lasted for hours until the only beings not collapsed from exhaustion and alcohol were Gusty, Gertrude, Bunker, and somehow, someway, Zeccaran. Gusty picked her head up from the table where she had been resting it, noticing that the final fiddle had stopped playing and cast an amused look to her zebra friend.

“Hhhehow?” she slurred dramatically at him as she draped herself over Bunker.

Zeccaran took a long sip of his beer, set it down with an astute grace, and turned to meet her eyes. “I used to drink…” he belched, “a lot.” he finished with a smart grin.

Gertrude said something so amazingly slurred and broguish that all Gusty could do was laugh at her. The old ewe made rude gestures as Gusty replied, “I-I can’t understand.anything you said!” Gertrude rolled her eyes, slumped forward, and started snoring like the rest of her herd. Gusty kept laughing which caused her husband to start too, his giggles unfortunately caused him to spill his mug of beer down his front and all over the table. This resulted in even more laughing which probably lasted too long for any normal sober mind. It was all quite relaxing and enjoyable. Gusty relished such moments, they seemed to be depleting in frequency and quality, but ones like this one made it all worth it in the end.

The door to the long hall gave out its creaky wail and Gusty, sat up to look down the table to see who had come tardy to the party. The sight she saw confused her greatly. In the big arched doorway stood a small hooded figure, a dark presence clearly floating around the being. Gusty gawked at the new uninvited individual as it stalked angrily into the room closing the door behind it.

“Hey!” she shouted to the figure, “Who...are you?!”

The hooded character spat in her direction. Gusty gasped at their audacity. It was incredibly rude to perform such a garish gesture. She drew in a deep breath ready to impart the knowledge of respect into the hapless individual that had slighted her. It was going to be the best stern-talking-to that anyone had ever received, that is what she thought she would do, but that was before an enormous burst of magic knocked Gusty from her hooves. She looked up from the ground to find an billowing cloud of smoke taking up the area in front of the interloper.

“Die, tyrant Dame!” came the shrill voice of a young ewe from under the hood and cloak. Gusty did not recognize it, especially because she was still pretty drunk. Regardless of the sobering entrance of a belligerent individual, she was not sure if she would remember much of the evening.

In the next instant another bright flash of light caused her eyes to water in pain. When she wiped the tears away the hooded enemy had disappeared from existence. Gusty performed a double take, she surmised the ewe had some dark ability to teleport, not that it mattered in the end.

From the clearing smoke came a the growl a large predator, its guttural call like that of a great cat. Suddenly the growl was overtaken by the unmistakable hiss of a snake. Gusty swallowed hard fearful of what she was hearing, as she watched the silhouette of a large creature take shape. Then came a noise that was supremely confusing for her alcohol-addled mind, it was the bleat of a goat, sharp and distinct compared to her Ovis company that still they strewn about the floor. Gusty stood there aghast as the mutated beast before emerged into full vision.

The creature’s body was striped like that of a tiger’s, it’s front legs and paws match that theme as well. But from its chest protruded two heads, one the predator cat the other the head of a goat, its long slender horns sticking up away from its broad head and goatee. Cloven hooves and strong thighs, took up the back portion of the monster, matching only the goat’s tawny fur. Finally, and most disturbingly, the tail of the mutant was an enormous black cobra with sharp yellow eyes, that nearly glowed in the low light of the long hall. HIt raised itself up angrily hissing at Gusty its fangs out in their shiny ferocity.

Instinctively, Gusty drew her sword and began backing away from the creature as it turned all of its heads to focus on her.

“Hey! Is that a Chimera?” Zeccaran shouted from the table. He had hopped up on the surface and was wobbly looking at the abomination. His proclamation disturbed Bunker who flopped off of the bench in a daze, somehow landing on his hooves after his tumble.

Gusty tried to motion for them to be quiet, but the Cobra tail turned and hissed at them, the Tiger and the Goat remaining transfixed with her. The Goat lowered its head while its shoulder-mate loosed a full roar as the Chimera charged at her. Gusty grimaced in painful acceptance as she realized she was not going to be able to dodge the charge. The brought her sword in front of her and prepared to take the blow. Just as the long piercing horns of the Goat got near her, she knocked the creature’s head away avoiding becoming impaled, but it was only a partial success. The wind exited her lungs as the body of the Tiger pinned her to the ground and the big cat wrapped his jaw around the collar of her mail, just at her lower neck, his reach impaired by the Goat’s horns which were stuck in the wooden floor. It was the only thing that saved her from having her neck broken as she tried to breathe again.

The weight of the monster was suddenly lifted off of her as a burgundy blur impacted it and sent the Chimera skidding across the floor in a heap. Bunker, now next to her, reared up on his hind legs screaming, “Da! Take that freaky animal!” in his thick accent. The Chimera picked itself up just as a mug hit the Tiger head in the face pushing shattered ceramic in its eyes, eliciting a roar of pain from that portion of the creature.

“Have a drink, ya great big jerk!” Zeccaran shouted from his position on the table. Gusty smiled at her husband and Zeccaran, most pleased that they were definitely going to pull their weight. Bunker turned and helped her up, nudging her wayward sword towards her. It was then that the Chimera loosed its mixed battlecry

It was a horrid screeching noise that grew in volume and timbre as it persisted. The power of the scream exploded the high windows of the long hall sending glass everywhere. Its intense volume caused Gusty to grab her ears in an attempt to keep her eardrums from popping as the powerful waves of sound crashed into her for almost twenty straight seconds, preventing her or her party from moving. When the Chimera finished the room of previous sleeping drunks called forth in pain and horror as the disheveled mass of Ovis clambered this way and that trying to avoid the monster that had made the loudest noise.

Gusty kept holding her ears as she turned to see Gertrude being drug out of the room by her guards. She was bitterly complaining about not getting to help them defeat the beast that was sent there to kill her. She nodded approvingly to the guards as they performed their duty, Gertrude needed to be protected if the Baylands were to have a successful transition to peace once this partisan conflict was resolved. The shattering of another beer mug turned her eyes back at the Chimera. Zeccaran now ran down the length of the long table his face terrified as he tried to out pace the Chimera, as they approached them.

“I’m going to kick -hicc- that stupid thing so hard it can’t run any..anymore...ayy..” Bunker grumbled drunkenly next to her as he hopped up onto the table as well. Gusty momentarily pouted as she hefted up her sword in her magic, before readying to strike the Chimera after Bunker was to kick it. She wanted to be the one to do cool stuff, if she was being honest though she was probably too drunk to manage anything.

The Chimera passed by her, the Cobra tail hissing and spitting at her as it chased Zeccaran and headed towards Bunker’s trap. The venom landed mostly on her skirt which was upsetting to begin with because it made it look like she had no control over her bladder. However, things got immediately worse when the poison began burning away the cloth like a forest fire would a dry woods. She hastily pulled the garment off making sure not to touch the virulent acid, before tossing it on the ground. She looked back up to see Bunker land a solid rear leg buck into the Chimera’s chest, it flopped off the table wincing in pain as it backed away from the two stallions. Gusty realized this was her chance, she looked at her sword and extended her wings.

She made a flying charge at the creature, raising her blade high with her magic, ready to slash down with the force of her flight and her levitation. She passed over the disoriented Cobra who was being sat on and made her strike. She aimed her blade for the head of the Goat, hoping to disable that portion of the creature. She watched her sword’s leading edge slice into the neck of the Goat causing crimson to fountain up and away from the strike. The blade’s weight caught her levitation rebounded off of bone and she passed on by the Chimera. When she landed and turned to face it, Gusty saw blood streaming from the back of the Goat’s neck and more red liquid running from its nose, its head hung limply by the Tiger’s. The back legs of the Chimera slipped slack and the Cobra reared up its full length to support the Tiger and the rest of its disabled backside.

A splitting headache caused Gusty to crumple to the ground as the pain from her ringing ears suddenly spiked to the forefront of her consciousness. She could only vaguely hear the Tiger roar angrily as she tried to overcome the return of her full hearing. Zeccaran seemed to be suffering from the same return as she was while Bunker was busy ignoring the battle altogether. He appeared to be searching for something under the long table, what it was Gusty had not the foggiest notion. She ignored her drunk husband’s actions instead readying to continue the fight.

The Chimera drug its body towards her growling and hissing as it approached, unwilling to give up or flee. Gusty flapped down with her wings trying to regain her aerial advantage, but somehow the beast managed to make a short lunge at her, the Tiger’s maw kept from closing on her neck only by her sword and sheer luck. The great claws of the big cat scratched through her armor and poked into her ribs with supernatural force causing her to shriek in pain.

The Cobra’s head suddenly flashed over the top of the Tiger’s and bit her between the ears with precision ferocity. Panic forced her to instinctively buck her back legs as she screamed in horror at being bit by the snake. In the same instant her kick impacted the limp back legs and stomach of the Chimera and sent it flying away from her. She blinked in surprise as the beast was knocked away shocked she had suddenly become the world’s strongest mare in her terror.

She was quickly distracted from her surprise by a flash of Zeccaran’s trademark green magic. When she gazed towards her friend instead of the Zebra she was accustomed with a massive eagle had taken his place, just like he had done when they had first gotten to Canterlot. This time the great bird loosed a fearsome cry before snatching the Chimera in its talons. The Zec-Eagle barely had enough room to fly but somehow it managed to fly up to the vaulted ceiling of the long hall. At the peak height it performed a flip and slammed the Chimera down on the ground where it groaned in pain and laid haggardly breathing. Gusty nodded in approval, pleasantly astonished with Zeccaran’s action and ability.

The Zec-Eagle floated down to the table and produced another flash of green light before returning to normal. Her friend lay out on the table heaving in as much air as he could clearly unable to move. “Alright...I’m done….can’t do anymore...please keep it from killing me.” he groaned from his location.

Gusty was just about to start chastising him when she was interrupted. “Ah ha!” Bunker screamed triumphantly. She looked over at him to see him wielding his axe with a delighted grin. She did not get a chance to make a rebuttal or even moment to think, her husband bounded over the long table making a quick trot to the withering Chimera. Once next to the abomination he raised the axe up with a fury of a desperate stallion burning in his eyes. He brought the big blade down into the center of the beast, cutting deep down it's Tiger/Goat split. Blood and gore flew up and away from the axe as he dislodged it and swung down again. A thick squishing splatter of flesh being rent and bone breaking filled the hall. More viscera flew up onto Bunker’s face making Gusty blink in surprise at his ferocity.

He kept hacking at the body with his long-handled blade, his face twisted in a bitter determination to ensure that the Chimera was dead. Gusty made a wobbly flight over the top of the long table and Zeccaran trying to approach her husband. “Bunker! Stop!” She shouted at him as he continued to assault the bloody carcass and its now spilling innards. She yelled again to no avail making her feel disoriented, as if she was a ghost yelling at a relative. Eventually, she yanked the axe out of Bunker’s grip with her magic. In response he flopped down on his rump breathing like he had just completed a marathon.

“It...khhhehhp!” he coughed, “It needed to die...had...had to make sure.” he panted out. He looked at her his face weary for a brief moment before he smirked into a wry blood-soaked grin. Gusty had always had a good feeling about Bunker and his abilities, but she was pretty certain this had just taken the proverbial cake. Maybe not the most perfect stallion, but he was one that did his job and did efficiently, she could not help but smile back at him.

“I donn’t care what yer job be ye persistent ne'er-do-wells! I haffa help Gusty!” Gertrude’s voice boomed in extra brogue over the moment she was having with her husband. The Dame appeared through one of the doors followed by the same pair of Ram Guards her face in a sharp scowl.

“Gusty Twilight the cavalry hath arrived!” she yelled as she charged for about five paces. She slowed down and gave Bunker and the broken body of the Chimera a once over before stopping altogether her face locked in astonishment.

“You are getting slow, Gerty.” Gusty smiled at her friend-daughter. Gertrude just wobbled there gawking still just as drunk as Gusty was suddenly starting to feel like. With the fight over and her heart starting to slow the world truly started spinning and she fell on her backside as she tried to remained focused on the Dame ewe.

“Ah--I be...it seems I be, dear Gusty lass.” Gertrude looked down to the ground with a grimace. She rubbed her forehead and loosed a long sigh before turning around. “Yeh two! Take Gusty an’ ‘er husband to der their room! And carry that sleepy Zebra too!” the Dame commanded. She gave Gusty a short but appreciative nod before turning around and slowly plodding away as her guards came to help. Just as they began showing Gusty and Bunker where to go the ewe spoke up from the edge of the door. “On the ‘morrow we haff much to discuss Gusty Twilight...much to discuss.” she said shaking her head somberly before disappearing.

Gusty waved with a intoxicated giggled and leaned on her husband. Bunker leaned back smiling at her a fleck of Chimera flesh stuck to his fur below his right eye. She reached up with a hoof and cleared it from his face with a quick flick of her ankle. She looked over him again wondering about the stallion she loved and his quiet demeanor. The guards opened the door to their room and practically shoved them inside before slamming the door shut behind them. Clearly, the guards were not very good a partying.

She pushed her husband towards the broad bed that inhabited the simple room. “Let me just clean you up.” she cooed provocatively at him. Gusty took the top bedsheet of in her magic and brought it over to herself. She used it to start wiping all the extra gore off of Bunker starting up at his face and slowly making her way down his body as she forced him onto the bed. He chuckled in approval as they landed together, but it was a chuckled quickly overridden by a sharp gasp of pleasure. Gusty, when put in the mood, had a tendency to be particularly needy, craving certain tastes and pleasures that only a mare could experience.

Bunker after his initial surprise quieted down and enjoyed her endeavors. She wanted to congratulate him for rather deftly turning her on, actions were stronger than words of course, and it was very hard to talk with her mouth full. It had been about a year-and-a-half since they were married and Gusty knew his limits, and knew that he could keep going so she finished him off before making a simple declaration: “Take me.” She smiled deviously as his eyes widened before he clasped her with his hooves and rolled them into a location where he was on top.

Once in position, her husband wasted no time following that instruction. He had gotten quite good at pleasing her and vice versa. Gusty felt especially gratified by him, with the adrenaline rushes she had been experiencing all day and the alcohol, she had expected to be satisfied properly, but not the current grand experience. However, all things, especially the great ones, come to an end and Bunker fell on the bed next to her. They cuddled each other closely having finished their love-making, slowly drifting to sleep. In the semi-consciousness Gusty mused that maybe she simply forgotten how good things felt, or perhaps it was something else? She drifted to sleep peacefully agreeing that whatever it was that it was a problem for “Future Gusty” to handle and she would just enjoy the wonderful sensation of bliss she felt as she fell fully unconscious. Today had been an exceedingly good day.

Act 2: Chapter 4 - Delusions and Politics

Gusty awoke with a splitting headache and a desperate need for water. In a corner room there was a wooden pale stationed upon a stool. She could just barely see the glimmer of water reflecting the ancient and somehow still burning oil lamp from the night before. Rushing over she stuck her whole snout into the cool liquid before pulling back and drinking several healthy gulps. Satisfied she stood up and noticed a bar of soap and a rough cloth sitting next to the bucket. Upset that she had just drank her bath water Gusty turned to observe Bunker snoring on the stiff but functional hay-stuffed mattress. Her mind was cloudy making it hard to recall everything that had happened the day before. Gusty could remember two things though, someone had summoned a Chimera in the middle of the party and Gertrude wanted to talk to her.

It had proved most unfortunate that her thirst had betrayed her. Gusty decided that her first course of action would be to find more water to bathe. One cursory glance over herself had revealed her to be covered in blood, vomit, and her own bodily fluids. The smell had not hit her nose until she noticed but as soon as it did Gusty was quickly rushing out her dark little room’s door and into one of the manor’s hallways soap and cloth in tow. She balked looking left and right, gladly finding that no one was around to see her still in this state. The left end of the hall called to her as she made her way towards the small oak door at its end. She pushed it open to be sprayed by rain, causing her to slam it closed instinctively. Now noticing the quiet hissing of the heavy downpour on the roof her, Gusty took a deep breath and readied herself to go out in the squall. It would be the easiest way to cleanser her matted fur of the filth she had acquired.

Cold rain hit her face and shoulders causing her to shiver once the door was open again. Fully outside she was instantly coated in water as the wind howled. Undeterred, Gusty skipped towards the middle of the garden she had discovered and began scrubbing herself with the bar of soap and rag. A bright flash of lightning turned the grey abyss around her bright enough for her to see the outer wall of the manor-castle. She smiled her body hot enough to send steam streaking off of her flanks in wispy trails as she cleaned. Normally she would have shivered from the icy cold rain and the blustery, hissing wind but she felt unimaginably happy and energized.

‘It’s really nice out today.” she commented to herself with a deep breath. Removing the last of the filth from her body Gusty began a slow trot towards the door she had exited. She let the rain cleanse the soap from her as she went, expanding her wings and letting everything run down to the ground.

Yes, quite nice out.

Gusty paused, confused. That voice had been hers, if a bit sarcastic too, but it had come from inside of its own accord. She looked around almost certain she had heard somepony besides herself. She scanned the muddy ground and look critically at what appeared to be a small cropping of carrots finding just herself. At the same time the strange disembodied sensation she had experienced disappeared as quickly as it had billowed up. She shook her head and felt a shiver coming on just as she opened the door back into the manor. However, what she saw inside the manor befuddled her beyond comprehension.

The tall ceilinged hall with its slit-bar windows was gone and all that replaced it was an empty, milky whiteness. Gusty had walked in initially not giving her full attention to the location until she had found her hooves touching nothing yet propelling her forward, floating. She was not panicked by this strange occurrence, in fact Gusty found herself rather liking it. The sensation gradually crescendoed into a feeling of plush cushions on her back and neck and the feeling of wings wrapped around her body. The white faded to black and her chest tightened with passion and love as the pony, the stallion, who held her kissed her fiercely. Her mind first went to Bunker, but he did not have wings.

Is this a dream? She thought to herself. Her tongue intertwined with the dream stallion’s. He was quite good at what he was doing, fantastic even. Her heart rang and clenched with desire and her body trembled with his fiery touch, making her want more. Yes, definitely a dream, a Super Bunker dream! Haven’t had this one in a while...maybe I’ll actually make it to the end this time.

The blackness she had been looking at changed to the blurry image of Super Bunker. She had never made it this far, never opened her eyes, just kept them closed, kissed, and felt horny until she woke up. Giddily Gusty let the dream become clearer enjoying the touch of the fantasy. Curiously, the dream stallion was a grey color, his features sculpted and handsome, his wings a familiar softness that…

Gusty flailed and pushed him back to see Stormwalker, his fangs at a moderate length and his yellow cat-eyes blinking in confusion. “Gusty what’s wrong?!” he asked, surprise and concern evident in his voice.

“You! You are what’s wrong! Monster!” she shouted at him. It was the same harsh voice she had heard before, hers but not hers. The happiness in Stormwalker’s eyes flickered out with shocking speed. He turned to his right, working his jaw as if he was trying to say something but was too broken to say it. The gashed scar over his left eye seemingly deepened and his face acquired lines and age in a way Gusty had never seen before. A single tear ran down the length of the disfigurement as his visage flashed into fire and worry; his eyes snapped up to meet hers. Something pulled Gusty away from him, he desperately chased after her, his face growing smaller and more desperate before disappearing into the Abyss.

This isn’t a dream, it's a nightmare! She screamed internally. A sudden swirling feeling forced her to pull her hoof away from her face. Trying to reorient herself Gusty balked as she quickly found herself back in the hall of the manor, panting. Gusty blinked incredulously, casting her vision everywhere she could trying to make sure this was reality. Her breathing was rough and burned her chest making it impossible to calm down. She was still sopping wet from the rain, but was now cold and uncomfortable feeling.The door to the room she had stayed in creaked open and a groggy Bunker trotted out.

“Oh!” he jumped upon seeing her, “Gusty, you are awake, an-and clean too! Good muh-morning.” Bunker quipped, his speech still partially slurred. He stretched awkwardly before walking towards her. He was visibly resisting hugging her, he had evidently realized he was still just a messy as she had been.

“I-I’m surprised y-you woke up.” she commented to him. Gusty was unsure if it was the cold water coating her fur causing her voice to shake or the strangeness she had witnessed only moments ago.

“Da. I thought I heard you talking so I woke up and found you out here, did you sleepwalk outside in rain, heheh?” Bunker joked at her. He had woken up seemingly in a mere moment of clarity. Gusty was jealous of this, even now after being in freezing rain and having a particularly screwed up vision she felt sleepy.

“Shall...shall we get some food then?” Bunker asked drawing Gusty attention. She nodded unsure of herself for the first time in years. She followed Bunker towards the opposite end of the hall that she had reentered from stepping carefully. Feeling like the world might again slip into some unimaginable horror, Gusty paced through the door her husband opened with unease. She found herself in a small dining room a few servant Ovis mulling about dusting and setting the small rough hewn table that adored the room. The folk of the Baylands did not have much in the way of Equestrian conveniences but they managed to put on a elegant air of simplicity.

They did not seem to have a use for electric or magic lights, making the room lit with candles and polished mirrors. The plain construction and decorations of the walls did well to emphasize the proud, fierce culture of the sheep of these messy hills. Gusty felt a powerful longing for the simpler time that the Ovis of the Baylands were trying to emulate. However, she had been called here for the exact opposite reason. It was as stark a realization as the several servants that seemingly appeared from nowhere and began drying her still dripping fur with thick rough towels. Gusty accepted their actions but awkwardly fidgeted as the pair of young ewes finished and bid her a good breakfast.

“Oh! They have turnip stew! Mine favorite!” Bunker declared from the other side of the table. Gusty noticed a bowl full of a pasty beige porridge sitting at her seat. She slipped into the chair and peered down at the hoofhandles of her breakfast’s container. Feeling apprehensive Gusty slowly reached down to grab the bowl. Across from her Bunker busily slurped loudly, claiming that the food was delicious beyond compare, he could not even do better. She trusted his half-gurgled opinion knowing how well Bunker cooked, Gusty took a sip.

True to form the porridge was as delicious as her husband claimed. Gusty looked back up at her companion just as soon as she had finished devouring the succulent stew. He smiled at her, his wry grin betraying his dastardly underpinnings.

“Last night was good, yes?” he asked moving his long blonde mane out of his face.

“Well, what I remember was fantastic. I had a wonderful time.” she answered him.

“I would hope you did, do you think we were successful?” her white stallion asked her. He looked serious and concerned as if he was not up to the task of satisfying her. Feeling somewhat embarrassed by this Gusty found herself blushing, he was always excellent at pleasing her.

“W-well I think we were. I’m certainly not going to kick you out of the house!” she stuttered before trying to tease him. He laughed at her motioning around the alabaster walls and marble floors.

“You would kick me out of the house I built?” he mocked, “The house I toiled and built just for you?”

“Yeah! I would! You insistent stallion!” Gusty cried before taking matters into her magical grip. She levitated her husband over to her and slammed her face into his, kissing passionately. He cackled madly at her, failing entirely to kiss back as she showered him with affection.

She set him down before hopping away from the gilded table. She pranced over towards the curtain draw that separates this room from the next. “Come,” she said starting to pull on the line that held the thick cloth suspended down across the doorway.

“Let us wake our young daughter like she used to do to us!” she chuckled. Her husband came up to her looking confused as she struggled with the rope. He placed his hooves and wings on her, his face growing worried enough to make his horn appear to droop.

“Gusty, what are you doing?!” he almost yelled at her. His voice was harsh and distorted as if he was yelling to her through a glass of water. Gusty’s only response was to stare back him equally befuddled by the strange shift in her sense of hearing.

“Gusty!” came a much clearer, more recent voice from her husband’s mouth. In that instance, the beautiful room she had been standing in burned away. The flowers and plants that had lined the walls were replaced with suits of armor and torches. The rope she had been pulling on turned into a thick tassel that hung from a banner display. Before her stood the burgundy stallion Bunker, his face panicked and stressed. She was not sure what was happening to her today but it needed to stop. Now. However, the only thing she could think of was to move forward and trying to distract her mind from past and the what-could-have-been.

“Are you alright?!” Bunker asked for about the fifth time.

“No.” she shook her head still feeling disoriented, “But...I’m all here now. Sorry.”

“Do not apolot-gize.” Bunker slurred in his accented voice. “Everypony has bad mornings. Let’s go talk to matriarch sheep. She will help you move on.” He decided for her.

Gusty nodded and followed Bunker’s lead. She leaned on him some as she walked down the brown and grey stone walls devastated by their change from royal blue and cream. Keeping her head down, she followed her current husband doing her best not to have more hallucinations not that she had any control over that. They came to a door where Bunker stopped and turned to her. His face betrayed the strong tone he tried to take.

“Seriously. You are alright, da?” he asked muzzle scrunched in concern. She had never told anypony about the visions, but somehow they always knew about them. Gusty had often suspected Stormwalker and his meddling had something to do with that but how he had gotten the details was beyond her.

“Yes, I’m doing better, I’m just very disoriented, having such lucid memories spring up is really disconcerting. At least I think they are memories…” she answered Bunker.

“Don’t think too hard. Is what causes them methinks.” He warned with a sage nod. Gusty could not help but giggle at him. If anypony was going to be able to help keep her grounded it was definitely the rough hewn stallion before her. She drew in a deep breath before pushing through the door. The portal opened up into the Long Hall, the very room that had been destroyed by yesterday’s party. It was positively spotless causing Gusty to gawk with shock at its cleanliness.

“Top o’ da mornin’ tah ye, Gusty!” declared Gertrude from her grand chair. Positioned far down the Long Hall on Gusty’s right, the ewe waved enthusiastically.

The latter portion of the great table that had adorned the room had been removed to accommodate for the plush wooden throne. Guards flanked each side of the seat, staring with a barely concealed apprehension around the room. Before the throne Zeccaran sat wobbily on the floor his head turned only enough to see Gusty and Bunker enter. Gusty trotted towards her old friend with haste eager to move on to the matter she had been called here for.

“A good morning to you too, Gertrude.” she nodded once up to the throne.

“Aye. If it weren’ for the circumstances It’d be a great day.” Gertrude began. “Ye do know why I asked ye to come here, no?” Gusty nodded in response before chiming in herself.

“It was pirates of some sort right?” she tried to confirm her memory. Over the last couple of days things had gotten extremely blurry. Secretly Gusty hoped she had not been misinterpreting the passage of time but she never felt like she could confirm nor deny what was happening around her. Even now as Gertrude talked to her, Gusty noticed her mind wander and try to make sense of the situation of its own accord as if it was a separate entity from her entirely. The sensation made her paranoid, her instinctual defense was to lash out at anything and everything. It was like she was constantly being watched and mocked, but she could never find who was behind the veil.

“Gusty! Am I a borin’ ya lass?” Gertrude interrupted her thoughts.

“No..no sorry Gerty...I just am feeling strange today. Please, tell me again.” She tried to apologize to her once-daughter.

“I be needin’ ye to look through ta’ homes of a few of my Jarls. I be wishin’ to eliminate them from mine list of suspects.” The Dame rubbed her chin with a cloven hoof. Gusty gladly accepted the challenge causing Gertrude to smile slyly.

“Uh...are you sure you want us to do the searching?” piped up Zeccaran for the first time since Gusty had entered the room.

“Aye, lad.” Gerty answered with an approving look.

“You do know we aren’t known for being very stealthy, right? Snooping is not our strong suit.” the zebra pushed his point further.

“Oh, I kennt it lad. ‘Tis why I want you to do it!” the old ewe beamed. This left Zeccaran to just balk repeatedly until he shrugged in acceptance. Gusty smiled, pleased that Gertrude had kept him from complaining more, a feat few could manage. Looking back up to The Dame, Gusty waggled her brow eagerly.

“So, who do you want us to interrogate first?” she clopped her hooves together. This was what she had been waiting for: some old fashioned evil hunting.

“Interrogating? Nae, lass. Go invade the manor of Jarl Angus. You have mine blessing to be as accostin’ as ye wish. But don’ be causing any permanent harm. An’ when he and his rams catch you tell him ‘twas me that sent ye.” Gertrude scolded. Gusty kicked at the ground in begrudging acceptance of her friend-daughter’s decree.

“Alright...I guess. Where does this Angus live anyway? Might as well get started today.” she said narrowly overcoming her own pouting. She had been hoping to smash a few skulls instead of just being a nuisance. It was in that instance though that Gusty realized this: she was being told to make a problem. Making a problem, might just include punching unsuspecting manor guards. She smiled deviously to herself before looking back up to Gertrude.

“Oh ho! I kennt that look. ‘Tis the look of The Bah-aylands most notorious rabble rouser!” The Dame laughed mischievously. “The house of Jarl Angus is but a day’s walk on the road that leads north from town. The manor be nestled in the thickest of our forests deep in the Emerald Valley. Follow the road, and ye will find it a handsome repose come the day’s walkin’.” She finished.

In return Gusty merely flexed her wings and stretched her neck. Walk? Never! She thought to herself continuing her charade.Gertrude caught on after a few moments and facehoofed herself.

“Aye. I be gettin’ old indeed. What purpose doth an alicorn have for roads when she can fly?” The Dame declared more to herself than anyone else. Gusty just laughed at her merrily before pantomiming like she was walking with a cane. Gertrude made a huffing noise before catapulting herself at Gusty with such alarming speed that she was unable to dodge. Getting knocked from her hooves the alicorn did her best to land softly as she laughed even harder at Gertrude. The unlikely pair landed in a heap on the floor, the ewe laughing like mad.

“Ain’t too old fer ‘dat tho’!” she crowed from atop Gusty’s chest. She laughed at her diminutive attacker more than happy to indulge her for the moment. Waiting perhaps five seconds, Gertrude was lifted away in her golden magic much to the ewe’s flagrant protests.

“Ya know, Gusty lass, I’m surprised at ye.” The Golden Dame said thoughtfully after dusting herself off.

“What do you mean?” Gusty questioned.

“Ye have been mysteriously comfortable with the recent attempts on mine life. I recall a time when such an occurrence would send ye into a frenzy...” Gertrude let her voice trail off. Gusty found herself looking away from her once-daughter an iron-like taste welling up in her mouth. The ewe was right: her realized apathy brought back the feeling of dysphoria that she had only just chased away. She wanted to care. Deep in her soul, that was what Gusty wanted: to care, truly, and not have the overwhelming sense of emptiness absorb her.

“Well…” She started, trying to muster her courage to look at Gertrude again, “I never really asked who you think is behind this; it’s not really pirates, right?” Gusty finished, finally looking at her companion.

“Tut tut tut.” Gertrude puttered. “Seal us in a cone of thine magic, before I be spellin’ out the truth to ye.” The old ewe looked around the empty Long Hall as if she thought the very bricks were eavesdropping.

Gusty shrugged and went to oblige her. It had been an eon since she had cast any form of shield magic, let alone one that stopped the flow of sound. Grimacing as she slowly began summoning up the magic she needed, Gusty did her best to maintain the concentration she needed to cast. Fwawhm! barked her horn and around them a golden dome of her magic flowed down and sealed flush with the floor.

“What’s actually going on, Gerty?” she asked the ewe. Her concern sliding too far into her voice for her liking. Releasing a deep, almost weathered sounding sigh, Gertrude looked up at her, the ewe’s eyes betraying her fear and sadness.

“Methinks that one of mine own kin seek to plunder the throne from underneath me.” she said grimly.

“What!? Why!?” Gusty shrieked in horror. In her mind there was no reason fathomable for such an atrocity. It was among her list of unforgivable sins; to kill a member of one’s own family for personal gain. A small flame of determination lit dep in Gusty’s heart in that moment, waiting to grow brighter as she listened to Gertrude’s explanation.

“It would seem that mine daughter...dare I say it?” Gertrude paused, her eyes unfocused, “Mine own daughter be the chief suspect in this matter most ill. She be the only other creature in all the land with the sway a-an-an’the political position to allow these-these...brigands in an’ out our lands without raising questions.” the Dame of the Baylands’ responded shakily.

Gusty swallowed the lump in her throat as Gertrude looked back up to her. The ewe’s eyes shone scared and lost just like they did on the day they had met those centuries ago. Fighting against the onset of more memories trying to distract her, Gusty pulled Gertrude into a hug.

“I promise I’ll get to the bottom of this. I won’t let it be her.” she comforted her companion. Gertrude sighed pitifully in their embrace, her shuddering breath betraying her best efforts to hide tears.

“Oh, mama lass. I hope ye are right. I pray ye are right. But fer now...just go do as I ask...It will help bring any co-conspirators into the light.” the ewe said to her timidly. Gusty pulled partially out of the hug and nodded plainly to her friend-daughter. “That’s ta’ plan anyway. This old Golden Fleece be good for something yet.” Gertrude smiled rubbing her nose with a sniff.

“How..how is it going to help?” Gusty questioned. She turned her eyes up to the golden dome they were in and ended the spell now that Gertrude had regained her composure. There were no more secrets to be told anymore anyway.

“Mine Fleece? Don’t tell me ye don’ remember tha’!” Gertrude boomed, her voice bouncing off the hard stone walls with harsh echoes. Gusty only shook her head in response too curious to interrupt the ewe’s building bravado.

“None can tell lies to the owner of the Golden Fleece! Go ahead there zebra, ye try it!” she declared to a wincing Zeccaran. He jostled his shoulders and rubbed his ears before nodding that he would.

“I really hate spiders.” he declared before a look of stupor overcame him. “Yahp. Yahp. It works. I, in fact, really hate spiders. That was just weird; it was like I had some type of word-vomit of truth.”

“Well, it clearly works. All we have to do is follow through with your plan then, Gerty.” Gusty commented while Bunker laughed and pointed at Zeccaran who was now randomly naming off fears. She rolled her eyes at them, ready to depart immediately, and faintly annoyed with their shenanigans

“Oi! Lads! Quit yer bickerin’ and go with Gusty! ‘Tis time to start thine quest!” The Golden Dame bellowed. Gusty quite literally jumped at the immense volume the little ewe output. Bunker and Zeccaran were startled in the extreme, both attempting to scramble over each other out of pure instinct.

“Pffpbbttt!” she stuttered starting to laugh. “Come-come on you to morons!” she waved for them to follow her. Moping in defeat the two stallions followed her out of the Manor, away from town of Castle-upon-Barra, and out onto their journey into the lowland forests.

“Could you seriously not choose a smaller animal that flies?!” Gusty hissed quietly at Zeccaran. Beside her in the tree the giant eagle peered back at her. The bird cocked its head to the side a somehow amused look on its face. With a sharp flash of green light Zeccaran took the great raptor’s place a cocky smile spreading his lips.

“No. Eagles are the best.” he said just shy of sarcastic. Gusty fixed him with a scowl before pushing a hoof over her shoulder and into Bunker’s chin.

“You could have at least carried this fool part of the way too-but no!” her voice growing louder with each word. Both Bunker and Zeccaran promptly shushed her causing a deep seated spitefulness to build in her chest. She would merely wait to get back at them later, for now she had a task to complete.

Still huffing, Gusty turned her eyes towards the not-so-distant Castle Angus. Their trip here had only taken a few hours, as Gertrude had said; flying was much, much quicker than hoofing it. The journey had taken them to the bottom of a valley that led into a fjord. The area was populated by thick high branched pines that extended out towards the hard sheer rock faces of the landscape. One of those trees and its wide hardy branches served as their current perch, several hundred yards from the battlements of Castle Angus. Having carried Bunker the entire distance on her back, Gusty was having a hard time taking in the beautiful countryside. She was still recovering from the workout and trying to figure out the best way into the castle.

“You know, now that I think of it these folk won’t be looking for flying creatures would they?” Zeccaran mused quietly from his own branch. Gusty cast him a quizzical look, on her back and evidently unwilling to remove himself, Bunker grunted too.

“Well, essentially the only creatures that live here are sheep, Ovis. They can’t exactly fly, so any sentries on the watch towers would be looking down towards the woods and the road. The cliffs are too far away for anyone to hit the castle even with the most accurate of cannons...so yeah, we should get up pretty high and dive in behind them!” Zeccaran concluded. She responded by letting her jaw hang loose, it could not be that easy.

“Da! Zebra is right. Pirates would come from the sea or ground, not from sky unless they make full assault. And sheep-folk would know if they plan attack like that.” Bunker commented, “And behold! Sky is grey and low, is perfect day for us. The old gods send weather to aid us!”

“I think you just don’t want to get down from my back.” Gusty retorted, narrowly stopping herself from growling at her husband.

“Eh. Is comfy. I could stay all day.” He responded casually.

“Now is not the time to tease me.” She scowled. Bunker merely chuckled into her folded ear in response. Zeccaran nodded approvingly at the other stallion entirely ignoring the daggers she stared at him for encouraging the behavior.

“Let’s just get to the task at hand. And this is your plan Zeccaran, get to flying and I’ll follow.” she stiffly ordered. Zeccaran grinned mischievously and was enveloped by his usual green light becoming replaced by the enormous brown eagle-shape he oh-so-adored.

He gave a quiet squawk and chirp before flapping his big wings in a flurry. Gusty waited for him to get decently airborne before she followed him up into the sky. Her wings burned from their already strenuous trip as she strained to follow the zebra-eagle. She gradually ascended biting her lower lip in an attempt to ignore the screaming of her appendages. Zeccaran was leading them away from Castle Angus as they climbed towards the low grey volumes as the cloud bank meandered down the valley closer to their objective. The maneuver felt vaguely similar to what they had done when the party had first arrived in Canterlot. Gusty fought the nostalgia of that adventure as she squinted her eyes as she entered the first cloud. It was extremely difficult to fight the urge to just relax and sit in giant cushion instead of the painful flight she was enduring.

It took only a couple of minutes of following the brown blob in front of her before she felt their flight path pitch into a dive. In an instance they broke the clouds with hurtling speed. They sped down past the narrow watchtowers and past the main keep before coming to a halt just a few feet above a balcony. Hovering, another flash of light changed Zeccaran back into a Zebra and he fell silently onto the platform. He looked up at her curiously, clearly wondering why she had not followed suit. Unbeknownst to him however, Gusty was desperately trying to maintain her wing beats. Slowing down after such a dive, with the extra weight and the three hour trip made it impossible to do much beyond hover exactly where she was.

She gestured with a jerk of her head for Bunker to dismount from his back. He made an unsure sort of grunt before slipping off her side. Just before he landed, Gusty caught him in her levitation to minimize the noise. Undaunted by the experience, Bunker waved for her to cease flying, continuing their silent charade. Biting her tongue to keep her pained moaning quiet she started to glide down to the platform, only to lose control of her flight path. Wanting to scream but having already viced her tongue she hurtled toward the balcony. She closed her eyes as she was going to impact the wall, her stubborn wings too tired and locked up to use.

To Gusty’s surprise, she instead found a soft body cushioning her impact. Opening her eyes, she beheld Bunker, who had somehow stretched up enough to keep her from hitting the building with full force. Together they slid down the side of the castle and landed mostly silently on the overhang where Zeccaran stared with a bit of a confused scowl.

“Thank you.” she whispered to her husband. He nodded in response before pointing towards a watchtower that was nearby, the ram look out staring out away from the keep, but one ear turned in their direction. She motioned cautiously for them to enter the room attached to the perch. Stacking up carefully, they let her use her magic to open the dingy wooden door and proceed first. The two stallions slipped in just behind her, Zeccaran being last, taking the door in his hooves and gingerly closing it making not a sound until its latch clicked placidly into place.

“Oh thank the moon we made it in!” he hissed still fairly muffled sounding.

“Da. We did good. Sneaky-sneaky not mine style but, ey. It works.” Bunker nodded in agreement. “What is dis room anyway?”

Gusty turned around to behold a lavish bedroom. She faintly gasped as she observed an exquisite armor display, an extremely comfortable looking bed, and a full fireplace and mantle on the far wall next to a large well-worn armchair.

“I think we waltzed right into Jarl Angus’ bedroom.” she said, feeling confident. This was a perfect way to startle the Jarl, Gertrude would be pleased. However, the big, forest-colored blankets of the four-poster repose called her name. Shamelessly Gusty trotted over and fell onto the bed with a deep sigh. Meanwhile Bunker and Zeccaran began looking around the room, both interested in different knick-knacks.

“I really didn’t think it would be this easy. Is this how it is when something works? I think I have forgotten what it feels like.” he commented while fiddling with a rather out of place snowglobe from the mantle.

“Yeah. I guess this is what it is supposed to be like.” Gusty answered him. “I’m actually really happy we didn’t have to hurt anypony. I have a weird feeling that the Jarls have nothing to do with this.” she mused aloud.

“Is dat what Matriarch told you in secret-bubble earlier?” Bunker questioned. His voice was metallic and brittle sounding from the piece of armor he had picked off the stand with his snout. Gusty looked at him curiously, confused by his matter-of-fact tone, behind the metal.

Rolling over in the bed to fully face him she looked at Bunker suspiciously. “Since when are you smart enough to make such observations?” she squinted. Bunker was far from stupid, he was actually rather intelligent for a pony who could barely read. However, it surprised her that he was actually vocal about something. That meant he was confident about what he had concluded. Either that or he had been taking the reading courses she had forced him into much more seriously than he let on. That was something Gusty would have to ask him about later, a bumbling from Zeccaran drew her attention back across the room.

“Hey, check this out.” Zeccaran said, pointing at some sort of lever. The zebra stood next to the mantle curiously prodding the mechanism. “Wonder what it does…” Pushing the lever down from its upright position a loud mechanical grating and turning overtook the quiet of the private chamber.

Gusty’s ears forced her to look towards a creaking sound now coming from the wall, next to Zeccaran. The wall seemed to be eating itself as a portion was pulled away from a center line and box of sorts was pushed forward. Said box folded open and a full-size claymore was revealed before the box jerked to a stop. In perfect slow-motion the great blade began to tumble down towards the ground. Gusty watched in horror as the sword flipped end over once before bouncing of the stone finishing in the floor near the fireplace. Zeccaran gritted his teeth, Bunker grimaced deep enough to pit the armor plate he was holding, and Gusty slipped off the bed with a gaping jaw wide enough to breath fire.

As if staged by the most predictable playwright imaginable, a rustling came from the door that led into the keep. “Did ya hear that too, lads?” was asked in a refined brogue.

Just short of growling, Gusty angrily pointed at the door with a hoof, while lifting up the ceremonial claymore up off the ground in her magic. She glared directly at Zeccaran with venom acidic enough to melt steel. The zebra responded by waving his hooves about in gestures of surprise and confusion as if their now-in-jeopardy cover was not his fault. She had no time to scold him as the door to the room opened with a long grumbly creak.

The door revealed a broad, grey-old ram. A pair of oblong golden rings hung from his horns that glinted as he stepped into the murk of the room. Past the threshold he paused, surveying the room in confusion as he squinted. A few idle seconds passed before his eyes shot open wide, having spied his unexpected visitors. Before he could react, Gusty slammed the door shut behind him with her magic and held the scavenged claymore to the back of his neck, forcing him to walk deeper into his bedroom, and become surrounded by them, the intruders.

“What business hath three pony assassins with me an’ mine?” he whispered cautiously his eyes falling on Gusty. She slipped around the four-poster and strode up to him confidently, as she pressed Jarl Angus’ blade closer to the back of his neck. It was rather convenient to have the great sword, especially since she and her companions had left in such a hurry. Leaving one’s normal, familiar equipment was usually a blunder. But as they had spoken earlier, maybe, just maybe, things were going right today. Gusty believed that they were, so she pressed on, trying to be as intimidating as she could.

“Lass, ye ain’t goin’ ta kill me wit’ mine own sword are ye?” he asked her. Gusty drew a sneer and pressed the point of the blade into his wool, making her actions speak as loud as her thoughts. It was not enough pressure to injure him, but it was enough from him to step up closer to her and look up at her face dismayed.

As the tension in the room got more desperate, she could feel the eyes of her husband and friend . They moved towards her, not the Jarl. She was unsure why they did not trust her to do what Gertrude had asked, but it did not matter. Gusty decided that she would have to break the act.

Pulling the claymore away from Jarl Angus’ neck, Gusty rotated it in her magic so the flat of the blade matched the flat of the ram’s head. She swung it down with moderate force, more to get his attention than to hurt him, besides he was a ram, blows to the head were something he could take.

“Gerty says hi!” she yelled, breaking into a smile as the blade vibrated with a low tone from the blow.

“Oww…” He rubbed his head his face annoyed. “Are ye out of yer mind? Calling the Dame, ‘Gerty,’ ye crazy mare.” he looked at her, a befuddled grimace replacing his irritation. On the edge of her hearing, Gusty could hear both Bunker and Zeccaran release a stressed sigh. All things considered, she had no idea why they thought she would mess this up, perhaps they had become too accustomed to the trauma of an unsuccessful plan.

“Hold up now.” Jarl Angus looked at her again, squinting with great scrutiny. “It can’t be.” he grumbled under his breath.

“Lass...may seem a bit forward but; are ye Gusty Twilight?” he asked whilst chewing on his cheek. His posture became more confident, more relaxed.

“Maybe.” she retorted coyly. Turning away from him, Gusty spread her wings for her point to hit home. Who else was she supposed to be anyway? It was not as if there were other teal alicorns that had visited the Baylands.

The ram began laughing like the crusty, old Ovis he was, in full. “Now this be a sight for sore eyes indeed!” he spewed out between cackles.

“I had-” he interrupted himself with more laughter, “I had never expected to meet ye, only ever hear’d the stories from mine grandfather when I was but a lamb!” he placed a hoof up to his grey brow. “An’ I never really believed that alicorns can’t age, buh’ I can see I be proved wrong!”

Gusty began laughing along with the old Jarl. He shakily introduced himself before asking her to introduce her companions. She pulled her husband over first.

“This is Bunker, my husband.” Bunker waved silently as she released him.

“Husband! Doth the Dame kennt that!?” Angus balked.

“Yes. She was even more surprised than you!” Gusty responded eagerly

“Well, he is a fair sturdy fellow, but-ah never-ye-mind. Who’s the striped fella over yonder?” he shifted subjects flawlessly.

Lifting up Zeccaran in her magic, Gusty squeaked with pleasure as he squirmed angrily at the forced meeting. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments which Zeccaran used to impart on her the deepest glare of disgruntlement a pony possibly could. Unfortunately, for him this merely spurred her on.

“This is Zeccaran. He is a very good friend of mine.” she rubbed Zeccaran’s messy mohawk as he floated beside her.

“And if my friend would put me down I would like to inform you that the Golden Dame has requested your presence, Jarl Angus.” the zebra grumbled through gritted teeth.

“Mine presence! Ack! Spoil all the fun then lad.” The Jarl threw up his hooves in annoyance. “Now how am I going to say I threw a better feast than she did for her own mother!”

“Is she really, that big of a deal here? Like-Gusty isn’t...actually...Dame Gertrude’s real mom, right?” Zeccaran asked with that, ‘everypony-here-is-crazy’ air to his voice.

“Kin is more than blood ye, irreverent zebra! An’ aye. Gusty Twilight be the great benefactor of the Highlands. The Dame that bring da’ clans ta’gether well before I been conceived.” Jarl Angus answered with a classic brogue bravado. Zeccaran merely sighed and rubbed his temples in response. Gusty and Bunker laughed at their friend and his over-thinking of the situation. However, Angus was quick to interrupt them.

“Sparing the little infiltration into mine home. Let me guess. The old golden Gertrude wishes me to spin up the rumor mill ‘bouts the return of ye, eh, Gusty?” he asked with a waggle of his shoulders and horns. The motion caused his decorations to clink and jingle. “And to come speak before that magical fleece of hers, aye?”

Gusty nodded merrily.

“Then lest we not delay! The finest caravan shall escort us to the Castle Manor of the Dames. Wards! Mine young wards, send for mine entourage, we go to her majesty today!” Jarl Angus bellowed, sauntering towards the door.

Feeling particularly good about herself, Gusty pranced after him bringing her hooves up extra high. “Come on you guys! It's time to get pampered.” she yelled over her shoulder as she reached the door just behind the Jarl. She was not even sure if Zeccaran and Bunker followed, frankly, with such a successful day, Gusty was not worried whether or not they would.

Act 2: Chapter 5 - The Gravity

Several months ago...

Luna sat next to her sister in the latter’s personal study. It was a large space, filled with books and scrolls, its high ceiling vaulted. Currently, the room had been arranged such that ponies could better sit around a central pile of folders, charts, and devices that sat on a grand, low coffee table. Stationed on floor cushions around the said dark oak surface were Equestria’s greatest magical minds. Twilight Sparkle, her pupil Starlight Glimmer, and Sunburst, the Crystal Empire’s Crystalier. They were waiting for Stormwalker to return with some reading material for Sunburst while chit-chatting over details It was an open-ended discussion, mostly focused on the magical inconsistencies of certain ponies of interest.

“But how does he change shape? And conjuring fireballs? How did he get that magic?” Sunburst questioned.

“Well, for the first part, we know it’s the same magic Changelings use; how he got it is a totally different story. Though we haven’t ruled out the possibility that he is an amnesic one…” Starlight responded.

“Subject Z is decidedly a Zebra. Changelings cannot fake blood types, nor psychological resonances. Princess Luna confirmed both already, leaving us with the ‘how’ only.” Twilight concluded. The party cast a glance in her direction, Luna nodded cordially, unwilling to interrupt their discussion. While she held a masterful understanding of dreams, the magic of dreams, and psychology she was only a master in those cloistered areas. She was certainly no prodigal spell caster like the two mares at the table nor a certified magical technician like the stallion. They accepted her silence and body language to continue without her verbal input.

“We have theorized on forced inception through rituals and magic siphoning. Can we take that any further?” Starlight Glimmer asked the fateful question.

“Well, we would need to know the timeline of when those events took place, and how long it took him to develop the magical ability. A detail we are lacking in our data.” Sunburst answered turning his gaze to Luna with a sad smile. She grimaced and looked down still unsure if it was proper to tell these ponies the truth about Zeccaran and why she cared to save him. Frankly, for anypony else the zebra would only invoke loathing. After all that he had done and what he had become, Luna felt it best that nopony know all the details. However, she needed to give them some type of answer, some small piece of information.

“Consider…” she paused, biting her lip, “Consider at least a yearly ritual, for...I would say, at least thirty years.” Luna finished. Tension and wide eyes instantly filled the room save for Celestia. Her sister gave her a graceful nod with closed eyes, approving of her answer. That did little to relieve the creeping sensation Luna was getting from the three ponies’ concerned looks.

“That covers the basic concept of the idea. How about his Thaumatic Magic Level, Twilight?” Sunburst broke the silence and his gaze.

“Yeah. You never did tell me what it was either.” Starlight said, switching all of attention to Twilight Sparkle. She made a distinctly poor half-smile of embarrassment she was known for.

“Well...depending on the day...he fell in the five-thousand to six-thousand range…” she replied timidly rubbing her mane.

“Five-thousand!” shouted both Starlight and Sunburst.

“That’s more than me!” the former spat in disbelief.

“It’s nearly the same as the Princesses! How is that possible!?” The latter dismayed.

Celestia cleared her throat causing the uproar to miss several beats. Luna was curious as to why her sister chose to interrupt, perhaps she had gained some insight she had not.

“I believe a potent example would be Sombra as for the how. Instead, I think you should be focusing on the ‘why’ of Zeccaran. Why would a previously ordinary zebra be involved in the Cult of Nightmare Moon, and why would they concentrate all their energy into grafting new magic into him. Is there perhaps something they saw that we do not?” Celestia asked with a calm demeanor. Luna had not considered this train of thought. Even she, who had personally invaded and re-written Zeccaran’s mind, knew very little on the specifics of why he was chosen to receive the “upgrades.”

“Perhaps this has more to do with his body’s storage capacity and type. I believe that is one of the fundamental tenets in your First Law of Magical Energy Dispersion, Twilight: if I am remembering correctly. I haven’t reread that book in a while.” Celestia continued. Twilight pursed her lips her look thoughtful as she considered what her mentor had said.

“You know...I had been thinking of that, but it felt more important to figure out the details. I guess ‘why’ he can in the first place is the best place to start. And with Subject G having an even more extreme capacity...I guess that’s why we are here. Everypony here had something to do with gathering or analyzing data for my book, save you two of course..” Twilight mused looking back and forth between Luna and Celestia.

Luna nodded. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the barest hint of a grin perk the edge Celestia’s mouth. Her sister would never openly admit it, but as much as Twilight was her student, the small lavender alicorn was also Celestia’s idolized heartache. Since the debacle between she and the galant Stormwalker, Celestia had become significantly more interested in the company of mares. Luna often wondered if that was her sister’s means of self-inflicted penance, or if perhaps she just would never feel the same way about any other stallion again. Regretfully, she had never shown any indication in her dreams of locked away anxiety and Luna had to accept her sister’s behavior at face value; her current stallion had been but a faze to Celestia. She had always liked mares, and her behavior towards her love interests had remained consistent with that fact, regardless of what Luna tried to discern. And, regardless of the shame her sister felt for how she ended that last relationship.

Silence had descended onto the room after Twilight had spoken and it had taken until now for Luna to notice. She felt rather awkward as she shifted her focus between the ponies at the table and then each of their coffee mugs. When she had made her rotation back to Starlight Glimmer the mare heaved a sigh before blowing a raspberry and continuing.

“With all of us here and with most of the information already gathered we could probably put together a reference system for Subject G.” She paused to dramatically look around the room. “Is there some type of calculation Mr. Stormwalker wants us to do?” she directed the question to Luna.

She was about to answer when the door to the chamber opened his a bit of a creak. In walked her stallion a collection of dingy looking books balanced on his back. He looked at Starlight with a cheeky grin on his face, Luna was not surprised, he probably had heard her question, he had the ears of a cat.

“Not at this time Starlight.” he said. “I have already run the projection, and needless to say it’s grim. So for now I would rather focus on solutions to other troubles surrounding Gusty Twilight.” Starlight shrugged in acceptance as Stormwalker slowly moved around the coffee table and set the books he carried in front of Sunburst.

“You know. Not to distract from these lovely ancient books...but I have to be frank Twilight. I really don’t understand the significance of the value difference in those projections. If Subject Z has as much magic as Luna or Celestia why doesn’t he just use it?” the orange stallion asked. Luna had to agree some of the importance was lost on her because she simply lacked the finer understanding Twilight, Starlight, and Stormwalker possessed.

“Simply put most of his reading is based on his potential magic. He cannot access all of his magic in a single go. He’ll experience burnout. Like when a unicorn uses too much of their reserves too quickly.” Twilight answered.

“Oh. Okay. I guess then I should ask how the scaling works for the unit measurement. I’m just trying to establish a baseline for how I am supposed to think about these numbers.” Sunburst continued.

“If I had to give you a rough quantization…” Stormwalker answered first. “It would be about five-times more powerful per one-thousand units. And those units are not necessarily castable magic. Since the projection is based on the absolute minimum a given creature’s total magic capacity is measured at with one of these bad boys.” He picked up one of the antennaed device switching it on with a quick click. It hummed as it booted up

“This is a Thaumatic Magic Meter.” Twilight chimed in taking the device in her magic. “It takes into account all the Active Magic and Potential Magic, like I mentioned a moment ago. That total is the Thaumatic Magic Total. Its this value that we can use to calculate the minimum Thaumatic potential for said subject.”

“Oh. okay. So the larger the projection number the bigger the power difference. That makes sense, but how do you translate the value?” Sunburst asked his voice concerned.

“For example Sir Stormwalker’s reading is sixty-eight thousand units. The meter then started producing errors due to its inability to compensate for his contained magical purity concentration. This has to do with the Second Law of Potentiality; and, how you can calculate the purity of magic in a creature’s body by dividing the measured ratio.” Twilight continued further but that was the length Luna understood. Besides Stormwalker and Starlight, Luna was certain nopony else understood Twilight’s description. Even Celestia looked on with a small grimace as her student rattled off the details. While the scientific community had proved Twilight’s formulas and laws accurate, beyond all shadow of doubt, that did little to reduce the clutter of information that went into understanding magic on a physical level.

“Anyway, as you can see we can solve for his purity level by combining his creature type, per-unit storage containment pressure, and multiplying by the background magic constant. And that answer is greater than his overall total capacity by ten-percent, meaning, based on the previous chart: he has a ninety-eight to one-hundred percent magical purity over at least sixty-eight thousand units! Amazing, right!?” Twilight finished.

The room fell silent as Twilight continued to grin merrily at the board of calculations she had popped into existence midway through her speech. Starlight and Celestia took to staring at one another, and Luna found herself also trying to seek her elder sister’s attention. It was to no avail but Sunburst wasted very little time trying to catch up to what the lavender alicorn had said.

“Uh...uhm. Twilight...that’s great an all but...I don’t even know if that answered my question.” the orange fellow slowly spake. Luna nodded to concur, she understood the base concept quite well but somewhere in the description Twilight had gotten sidetracked

“Oh. Right. Your answer is up here.” She stood up on her hind legs to the beginning of the calculations on her floating chalkboard. Twilight tapped a hoof on a circled number, “Its sixty-eight thousand because he doesn’t lose any potentiality due to the degree of magic purity he stores in his body. That’s what the rest of this calculation is for.” she sheepishly ran her hoof over the rest of the board.

“A-an-and the Princesses are in the eight-thousand to ten-thousand range.” Sunburst stammered casting a fearful look at Stormwalker. Twilight nodded. “What even are you?” he said to the larger stallion with a deep rasp of shock to his voice. Surprisingly a small chuckle began emanating from Celestia, Luna turned to see her sister’s face pinched with amusement.

“No need to worry Sunburst he is quite benign.” she nearly sing-songed as she calmed herself. Luna appreciated such high praise from Celestia, few understood the lengths Stormwalker would go to ensure the safety of the world and those he loved; Luna was pleased her sister did. “In fact the whole reason we are gathered here is so he can help somepony who rather unreasonably hates him.” Celestia finished. Again, Luna had to agree. Gusty Twilight was far from a kind soul and Stormwalker’s reasons for helping her were beyond something even Luna understood even though she and the stallion were dating.

Meanwhile Stormwalker had motioned for Sunburst to come and examine the books. The orange fellow’s horn hummed with his equally orange magic only to have the levitation fizzle out. “That was weird.” he said rather rhetorically.

“Yeah. Fair warning these are extremely magical...even volatile in nature. You won’t really be able to use magic around them or on them.” Stormwalker answered the unspoken question, as the other stallion grabbed the volume the old-fashioned way and opened it to a random page.

“Where did you...wha-what language is this?!” Sunburst proclaimed just shy of a screech. Luna rolled her eyes, too used to his own baleful heritage, her stallion had neglected to give the technician the translation book. Sunburst stood gawking at the pages his eyes pouring over the runes wide with growing horror.

Grabbing the translation book with her magic, Luna slipped it up against the back of the book Sunburst was staring at and slammed it shut, knocking it from his hooves. Tapping him on the head rather forcefully until his look of shock dissipated, Luna waved the translator in front of him.

“You will need this, Sunburst.” Luna told him firmly. “And here is the list of spells I recommend casting on yourself before reading again.” She pulled out the scroll that had been stored beneath her cushion and passed it to him. The technician nodded blankly in acceptance.

“Will that...will that make the voices stop?” he asked so quietly Luna barely even heard him over Twilight and Starlight in the background.

“Yes. The spells will. Luna, give him the first four. He looks kinda...distressed, still.” Stormwalker said sheepishly. She obliged him immediately wasting no time casting the anxiety relievers and mind shields, there was no need to have Sunburst suffer. As soon as her magic hit the orange stallion he visibly relaxed. He released a long sigh and whispered a very quiet “thank you.”

“Do you think you can manage to review the historical information in these?” inquired the larger stallion. “I would like you to review any information having to do with the Cirra-Draca Wars and the Great Hunt.”

“A-are these e-events, I sh-should be familiar w-with?” Sunburst stuttered still recovering. He rubbed his front hooves on his own haunches with a shudder. Luna understood the sensation the young technician was experiencing. The icy embrace of those foul texts were not something one was soon to forget.

“Hardly. They have been kept secret by family for several millennia. These are the only copies in existence, trust me, I’ve looked. But I could be wrong, I don't have an ancient histories degree like you do.” Guardian Angel answered. Sunburst stated a small agreement before a spark twinkled in his eyes.

"Why would your family keep historical texts of the Cirran Empire hidden?" the historian asked eagerly awaiting the answer.

"Well...when your family is directly descended from history's greatest demons you tend to want to keep it a secret..." the other stallion answered.

"You mean there are more creatures like you?" Sunburst balked. Luna snickered, the poor fellow was already making assumptions. It was refreshing though to see him rebound so quickly from his previous moments of torture.

"No no no no no. There isn't anyone like me anymore. The last member of my family that was like I am died back when Celestia and Luna were foals." Guardian Angel responded gingerly. He had always been touchy about his heritage, regardless if that lineage allowed him to do all the good he could these days.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do then.” the historian nodded confidently, “Guess all that reading is finally gonna pay off!” he chirped, scooping up the books in his hooves and pushing up his glasses. The meeting progressed smoothly afterwards the group visiting various topics and hypotheticals of Gusty Twilight and her tenuous mental state. It had always been interesting to Luna how other ponies qualified psychological states with words. She personally still liked Starlight’s “frazzled and unhinged” description the best, it made her smile with its frank depiction. Otherwise, the meeting of minds slowly drew to a close with each of them standing instead of sitting. Her mind suddenly wandered to a previous topic.

“You know...I just realized you mentioned the difference in total magic power before.” Luna wondered aloud. Her words brought the goodbyes to a stillness as everypony looked at her.

“It’s just that if every thousand units a creature is five times more powerful...how does that factor into her ability to cast magic on you?” she asked Stormwalker. Her words caused Twilight to start a thoughtful pout as she put a hoof up to her face.

“Well, Subject G would need to overcome his total capacity. And that’s not even in normal pony values of twenty-five percent of the total number, Sir Stormwalker is in purity units, she would have to generate a phenomenally large amount of magic, just by my calculation in my head that’s impossible, even with her clear ability to subvert the laws of magic conservation.” Twilight answered in an astute tone.

“Twilight. Don’t call me sir.” Stormwalker scolded lightly. Luna giggled at that being the only thing her stallion had heard. His earlier grimaces during the meeting must have been oh-so-very-serious. Still smiling, Luna winked at him and his almost virulent modesty. He rolled his eyes.

“Oh. Sure, sorry.” Twilight smiled. “So, same time next month?” she asked. Everypony nodded in agreement and started to file out of Celestia’s study.

“Yes. So long as I can find another reason to distract Gusty for the majority of day.” Celestia tutted with a grin. The group laughed, Luna found herself laughing perhaps the longest. Stormwalker motioned for her to follow him and the meeting dispersed.

Present...

Stretching a hoof around the back of his neck Zeccaran let out a long sigh. A long week passed before him as if it had been only moments. A different Jarl a different day, that was the new established routine. It would seem the legend of Dame Gertrude’s magic fleece forcing folks around it to tell no lies proved true. He was still hung up on a younger Jarl that had been accosted by the Golden Dame. She had forced him to reveal several rather scandalous family secrets simply for answering her questions with questions instead of flat responses. If not by blood but by attitude did Gertrude the Golden prove herself Gusty’s daughter. Zeccaran had finally come to terms with the improbability simply by observing the two’s behaviors.

Given Gusty’s amnesia, and her evident age, Zeccaran was finding himself more surprised that other denizens of the world were not actively visiting Equestria. Perhaps they were and that was why he and Gusty had been whisked away by the currents of fate. Regardless, that did little to calm the queasiness in his stomach as Dame Gertrude slumped in her throne. She huffed, her face pinched and angry as she looked to a far away location.

“Troublesome be da ways o’ mine agitators.” she grumbled. “They doth not use the Jarls, and they doth hide in the shadows like rats in a cellar.” Zeccaran watched her carefully wondering how far the intrigue went. At this point he just could not help but say something about it.

“Dear Dame, don’t you think it would be strange for an internal conspirator to use outside forces to try to disrupt your government? I just don’t understand what pirates would gain from helping another party.” he said tentatively. Beside him Gusty huffed a sigh before giving him an agitated look. She had been remaining mostly quiet during these meetings and it was that silence that had prompted Zeccaran to question what was occuring.

“Be that as it may lad,” Dame Gertrude sat up in her seat, “Not one outsider ever have a purpose for the homeland. Too rocky to farm. Too stubborn to mine. Too rough to live. ‘Tis why we Ovi hath claimed it long ago. Ye be a fool thinkin’ a griffin would want to live in these cloudy lands. There nothin’ to keep up their sport!” she concluded.

The small area of the throne fell silent again as Gertrude rubbed her chin. “There be one last kinsfolk I be needin’ to speak to an’ I fear her reaction the most.” she grumbled softly, just narrowly on the edge of hearing. A loud set of clunking hooves accompanied by the echoing bang of the Long Hall’s door made Zeccaran look down towards the main entrance. A ram dressed in in what Zeccaran had come to recognize as typical army gear for the Baylands rushed to the wooden throne.

“Dearest, Golden Madam!” he cried, bowing deeply when he reached them. “We hath lost contact with anotha’ tradin’ galleon!” the soldier looked up with deep concern shining his his eyes contrasting his stoic face.

“Curse those conniving coat bags! Fuck them an’ their harlot fuckin’ mothers!” Gertrude cursed violently. She stomped down from her seat and kicked over one of the partitions that made the area somewhat close away from the rest of the Long Hall. Still fuming she turned her face and neck strained with barely retained anger.

“What the hell happened, lad?” she asked pointedly to the soldier.

“As she sailed past Point Arklet da’ heavy fog that had been layin’ out on the sea push inland coverin’ our vessel. All were silent as we watch ta’ fog pass an’ when it did pass, the galleon was gone. Vanished, as if by magic.” he spake stiffly to his leader. Zeccaran’s mind immediately went into overdrive trying to conceive what type of spell could even do such a thing to a full sailing vessel.

Perhaps a teleport spell? No. Too many small things to teleport on the ship. He thought to himself. Besides they would need a very powerful unicorn to do that, and there are not loads of them just lying around wanting to become pirates. He moved on to another idea. Perhaps something simpler was the answer; the easiest solution was generally the right one. Zeccaran was merely having trouble deciding what was the best option for such a heist.

If they used the fog for cover...then how did they change the ships direction… He pondered more. However, nothing came to mind. The most reasonable thing he could think of otherwise was using an very large airship to lift the vessel out of the sea and move it with the fog. That seemed extreme even for the most well equipped group, that was something difficult even for the Royal Engineers of Equestria. Any further thoughts of Zeccaran’s were promptly stopped by a loud bit of snorting from Gusty.

“Then why doesn’t anyone go looking for the ships?!” she cried her confusion evident. Zeccaran wanted to face hoof at such a statement. His grand teal companion consistently forgot that not everyone could move so freely as herself, It was with great misfortune that the wayward messenger-soldier decided to correct Gusty.

“Mistress, ye doth kennt that not every creature can fly such as yourself.” he stated plainly, his tone condescendly informative. Zeccaran just barely noticed Dame Gertrude cover her face in frustration just as he did.

“What do you take me for, soldier boy!?” Gusty shrieked her hooves clopping angrily as she strutted up to the poor fool. “An idiot!? Huh!?” she growled. Zeccaran shook his head, almost nothing could save the ram now, not when Gusty had gone ‘righteous-fury’ mode. The soldier mumbled several incoherent statements as the alicorn loomed over him menacingly. Zeccaran decided he needed to do something before she unreasonably pummeled the ram into the floor.

“Hey, Gusty.” he said cautiously as he approached from his spot. “I think what he is saying is that they have looked before...and lacking the ability to fly, they haven’t been successful in finding the hijacked ships until it was too late.” Zeccaran finished. Gusty turned her accusatory gaze to him, her face drawn in a harsh sneer.

“Well spake, zebra.” Dame Gertrude rattled off instantly as Gusty had opened her mouth to retort. The golden ewe bounded down from her throne making a long leap once she hit the bottom level of the dais.Gertrude landed squarely on Gusty’s back.

“Thanks to ya, lass! For volunteering to look!” the old ewe bounced enthusiastically on her perch. Zeccaran breathed a deep sigh of relief. Meanwhile Gusty pursed her lips and furrowed her brow in an unspoken conflict. A dastardly grin overtook the alicorn’s face after but a second of her concentration. Zeccaran found himself drawing in another haggard breath in a feeble attempt to prepare himself for whatever crazy scheme that had just bloomed in his companion’s head.

Returning to strutting around the throne Gusty made a few authoritative huffs before speaking, “Yes. That is exactly what I was doing.” she paused to cast her nose dramatically in the air. “Bunker, Zeccaran. We have a supply ship to find!” Gusty declared. Gertrude merely applauded from Gusty’s flanks while Zeccaran turned to give Bunker a look of general displeasure. The other stallion had a neutral look on his face to which he added a bit of a snort and a shrug. Zeccaran should have expected this, but he was hoping that maybe somepony else would at least talk to him about the over-the-top prima donna behavior of Gusty.

“Well. make haste then, oh mother o’ mine! Find me that ship!” Gertrude proclaimed before jumping off of Gusty. The old ewe knew exactly how to play this game with Gusty. Zeccaran approved, but would rather she not boost the teal alicorn’s ego. The mother comment only made that worse.

“You guys let’s go.” Gusty ordered plainly starting a quick trot towards the exit of the Long Hall. Bunker did not move and neither did Zeccaran. Gusty made it to the exit before turning and waving confusedly.

“Hello!? Was I talking to myself!? Come on!” she shouted from down the hall. Bunker moved first leaving Zeccaran to direct an unhappy glance at Dame Gertrude. The golden ewe just started laughing. She bounced her way back onto her throne and cackled the whole way. Zeccaran was forced to start walking to catch up with Gusty and Bunker.

“Maybe we will find something...I guess…” he grumbled to himself. He doubted it in his heart. This whole day was already leaving a bad taste in his mouth. The grinding sense of idle waiting had been chewing on his mind for the last week but somehow this little adventure they were about to go on felt worse yet. Giving one last sigh he finally found himself next to Gusty, who beamed with eager joy. Her smile made him smile back, maybe it would be an alright time; at the very least it was better than doing nothing.

Act 2: Chapter 6 - Of Our

One month ago…

Luna found herself impatiently tapping a hoof on her cushion. It had become a regular occurance to sit around Celestia’s meeting table. The usual ponies were gathered and they idly drank their coffees and talked about upcoming summer plans. Nothing of particular was said as they were waiting for their final and newest member to finally bother to show up. Eventually an exasperated raspberry was blown by Starlight Glimmer.

“While I do enjoy just waiting around for late ponies, I would like to get this meeting started.” She huffed. “And if the Great and ever-so-punctual Starswirl the Bearded would show up I would actually like to do the calculation for Subject G this time.”

A curious crackling sound similar to a flickering candle caught everypony’s attention. Near the cushion that remained empty a small white bob of smoke fizzled into existence. It began to spark with short burst of bright white lightning bolts as it expanded to about the size of a buckball. The ball of smoke and light then condensed to pinprick of snow white before a loud crack! echoed around the room accompanied by a bright flash. Luna blinked away the stunning noise and light to have her senses focus on the familiar face of her old teacher.

“Speak of the devil and he doth appear.” she giggled at Starswirl’s excellent timing.

“Sorry for being late.” Starswirl said to nopony in particular as he dusted himself off. “It's not everyday that I have to teleport halfway across the world on such short notice.” He finished.

“Starswirl!” Twilight and Sunburst yelled. They instantly became rattling off questions about what he had been doing and how big or difficult the spell that brought him here was. Luna noticed that Starlight did not show the same enthusiasm but rather fondly smiled at her friends’ behavior. Luna could hardly blame Starlight, Starswirl had the tendency be very strict and brazen with his judgements. His doubting personality did little to help that bit either. Given the achievements Starlight had garnered through her reformation and redemption it was no surprise she had a dislike for Starswirl’s harsh attitude.

Joining in with the other ponies Luna greeted her old teacher in an effort to not over-empathize with Starlight and calm her nerves. Starswirl was probably going to behave just as he always did, and if she was being honest that usually led to trouble. It was not long before the greetings and formalities died away, the lump in her throat growing as the old stallion cleared his own.

“Now Celestia, while it is indeed always a treat to visit,” he began, “Do you mind telling me why you have summoned me here?”

“Well..um. Yes about that.” Celestia responded folding her ears sheepishly. “I actually called you here because somepony else asked me to.” Starswirl furrowed his brow and adjusted his pointy blue hat in his usual inquisitive way.

“Then who asked you to do that? If it was not you behind this gathering of minds…” he looked around the room failing to notice who was standing behind him. Luna waited as the only remaining silent member of the gathering stepped away from the room’s windows.

“That was me.” Stormwalker said as he slipped up into the empty space between the wall and the table, silently, regardless of the armor he wore. Starswirl jumped from the other stallion’s sudden emergence from the shadows cast by the curtains.

“And who might you be, oh-determiner-of-Celestia’s-will?” The old mage said as he recovered turning to face Stormwalker.

“Jee. Ey. Stormwalker, at your service.” the pegasus bowed. Luna felt herself shiver as he briefly caught her eyes as he rose back up before directing his gaze fully to Starswirl. Sometimes she wished he would pick better times to give her those eyes, but no matter the timing she was always glad he did. An indistinguishable grumbling came from Starswirl making her also look at him.

“Hmm...where have I heard that name before…” the older stallion mused.

“They’re...initials…” Stormwalker responded rather tepidly.

“No, no. Your last name. It is a family name, correct?” Starswirl amended.

“That was fast. Should I direct you to think of your younger years too while I’m at it?” came the snarked answer. Starswirl’s only retort was to stare back up at Stormwalker his eyes squinted and his muzzle pinched in concentration. The tightness in Luna’s throat started to increase as she slowly watched Starswirl come to the conclusion her stallion had predicted he would.

“You are...you are one of those..Stormwalkers..aren’t you? The Cirran Lord sort of Stormwalker.” Starswirl’s voice was soft and measured. He lowered his eyes to the floor shrouding his face with the brim and bells of his hat.

“Kinda figured you would recognize m-” started the grand stallion before he was cut off by an instant hissing similar to a swarm of angry bees. Even while scrutinizing the situation Luna was certain she missed most of what happened. Without so much as lifting his head Starswirl had summoned and used some plethora of blades, each impacting and creating a disturbingly wet thwump! In the same instant the wizened mage had fired at least four spells into Stormwalker’s face each sparkling and dazzling with their own unique color and hiss.

“That should take care of him.” Starswirl said matter-of-factly. He flipped his bowed head up before turning around to look around the group. Luna was pleased to see it was not only herself that was frowning in dismay at Starswirl. Starlight was full on glaring at him while Twilight gaped in shock. Celestia was even looking rather peeved which frankly was not a good sign. Now it all hinged on how her stallion would react.

“Ouch.” Stormwalker said with annoyed tinge to his voice. All eyes instantly switched to focus on him. The ponies gathered beheld a strange sight. A pair of blades stuck out of the big stallion’s head, several more protruded from his neck. Between the plating of his armor near his chest and heart he resembled a red and grey pincushion. Standing there with a frustrated look on his face Stormwalker’s wing reached up to pull out the horizontally stabbed blade from his temple almost as if by reflex.

“What was I going to say?” he asked the air as he turned his head about, causing the wounds on his neck to start flowing with blood. Meanwhile the blade he had grabbed was discarded to the floor staining the carpet with his icor as it thumped down.

“HOW ARE YOU EVEN TALKING!?” Starlight boomed.

“Wha? Sorry I really need to uh...uh-get this sword out..of my head, it's hard to think like...this. Believe…….me.” Stormwalker responded blandly through several vacant pauses. Starlight fainted which was certainly the most normal of reactions in Luna’s opinion. She herself had vomited then fainted when she had first witnessed Stormwalker absorb otherwise lethal damage. Demon with god-like regenerative powers or not, there was something inherently unsettling about watching him take blows like these today. Another thump indicated the blade had been removed and Luna looked back up at her stallion.

“Oh! It’s all coming back to me now!” he said cheerily. “Very impressive Starswirl!” he smiled reaching up to his neck with a hoof this time. “Eighteen strikes and six spells, each a unique dispel or a curse, in under half-a-second!”

The next sword he had been working on slipped out of his neck and landed near a now totally white Sunburst. The young scholar flinched instinctively at the weapon falling down near him but otherwise remained stock still.

“If it was anyone else I’m sure they would be deader than a doornail! Very well done.” Stormwalker continued to congratulate his attacker. The remaining blades in the stallion’s jugular were pulled free and tossed to the floor in a clamor of thumps and clangs. He then became tugging on the remaining number stuck in his torso, grunting as he tried to slipping them past his overlapping plates like his attacker had.

“Sorry about the floor ‘Tia. Can’t be helped though. Having swords stuck through your heart really hurts.” He said looking up to Luna’s sister. He was totally unaffected by the scene leaving everypony else to wait in the stunned silence. Luna cleared her throat in an effort to get his attention but he waved a wing dismissively at her. Thankfully, other ponies were less subtle with their attempts to cut the building tension of the quiet.

“I g-guess the n-new readings are more accurate than I gave them credit for, huh, S-s-sir Stormwalker?” Twilight Sparkle stammered out. The stallion grunted in response as he pulled one of the blades free from his chest with a disturbing slopping sound. Luna felt chills coming over her spine when he tossed the rapier like weapon to the ground.

“Twilight, I told you: You don’t need to call me ‘Sir anything.’ You are more than welcome to call me by my first name. Most everypony here is. Save Starswirl. I think he needs to remain off the list until he can say hello without stabbing me repeatedly.” He answered calmly before directing a glare at the still slack-jawed mage.

The room again fell silent as Stormwalker picked the remainder of the blades out of himself. Celestia had otherwise chosen a spot on the wall to stare at to which Luna herself was also drawn, only occasionally shifting her gaze to look at the other ponies. Twilight had began shuffling with a folder and a meter-like device, intently focusing on them. Color was slowly returning to Sunburst, but the stallion retained his one-thousand yard gaze. Starlight looked to be coming around but was grumbling incoherently. Finally, Starswirl swapped from a awestruck gape to a pinched look of unbridled anger.

The old mage took a step towards Stormwalker just as the great pegasus was removing the last blade. With a grace and speed almost too quick to see he rubbed the two sides of the sword along the length of Starswirl’s horn. The blood from the blade coated the wizard’s focus thickly, like heavy oil on an over-painted canvas. Starswirl released a growl like snort as he drew his face into a sneer, his eyes cold.

“What was that supposed to accomplish? It is clear you are just toying with me.” he scowled with even his words.

“Just need you to pay attention to the task at hand, and not me.” Stormwalker replied. “As everypony else here has probably noticed you know exactly what I am just by the mention of my last name. Which hopefully will help shed some light on a curious teal mare that I know Celestia has been writing you about.”

Starswirl just snarled, shaking his head with a bob as if he was trying to cast a spell. Somehow, it was rather comical, Luna bit her lip to hold in her laugh. The mage tried again, his blood-coated horn not even sparking in the slightest. He released a frustrated sigh, broadening his stance and lowering his head. It was a fruitless and ridiculous effort and even biting her lips did little to stop Luna from full on cackling at Starswirl’s strained face.

“Why. Can’t. I.” he grunted and bobbed his head with each word. “Cast. Any. Magic! ARGH!” he growled through clenched teeth. Celestia joined in on the laughing finally, her usually restrained demeanor breaking entirely. Poor Twilight and Sunburst fidgeted uncomfortably averting their eyes. Both were slowly turning red doing their best to not let their idol see their small smiles.

“Ahhrg! Sorry everypony seeing blood makes me faint.” Starlight Glimmer yawned finally recovering. “Starswirl-what is wrong with your face!” she proclaimed. Luna held her own laughter at bay long enough to see Starlight start to smile with a bit of a mad gleam in her eye.

“Why are you puffing your cheeks out like that!” She cackled. “Don’t you realize that thing on your head is a Horn Limiter! Who even put that thing on you?! H-how” She paused to breath and laugh more. “How long was I out?!”

“Horn Limiter? What?!” The old mage balthered. “It’s blood. He only put blood on my horn! You mean to tell me his blood can literally stop magic?!”

“Well...It certainly doesn’t look like blood. Seems kinda black and hard looking. I would have fainted again if it was red.” She answered. Everypony except Celestia, who was still snickering to herself, had calmed down by this point and their gazes had shifted to Starswirl’s horn. Luna marveled at the speed that the demonic blood had hardened into a glassy looking shell over her old mentor’s swirled cone. Whatever magic Starswirl had been attempting to cast it must have been exceedingly powerful to burn Stormwalker’s blood black with such speed. Even outside of his body the deep crimson substance typically took at least an hour to congeal to such a degree.

“And to answer the second question: yes. When Twilight and I ran the original tests, Mr. Stormwalker here produced a serum capable of defeating even the most powerful of spells. And that was before his most recent...how do I put it...power spike?” Starlight finished with a strong lift in her voice. Upon receiving the new information Starswirl went slack-jawed. He performed several glances around the room before settling on Stormwalker again. Luna felt the lump in her throat return as her stallion quizzically peered back at the mage.

“What makes you think I’ll believe any of this nonsense?” Starswirl asked directly to Stormwalker as if no other pony was present. Luna tensed her haunches ready to defend her stallion should Starswirl start something supremely stupid.

“You understand and rely upon empirical data.” Stormwalker calmly replied. He reached a wing over to the table and snagged the dingiest-looking folder, his face remaining locked with Starswirl’s. He practically shoved the folder and its many leaflets into the elder stallion’s face as he slipped it open and raised it up for Starswirl. The mage snatched it angrily with a hoof and finished stuffing his snout into the documents, reading.

“What..what is this?” Starswirl grumbled, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the material.

“All magical information pertaining to...S-sir-excuse me” Twilight paused to clear her throat. “Jee Ey’s unique condition.” she finished.. Her sudden interjection caused Luna to jump in surprise. Of all ponies it would make sense that Twilight would want to impress her idol, but Luna was still taken aback she was willing to debate semantics with him. Then again, it was Twilight Sparkle.

“These calculations...the formulas and projections. They are related to that book you recently wrote isn’t it?” Starswirl asked turning to Twilight.

“You actually read it!?” the lavender mare exhaled softly.

“Yes. But it would seem I need to re-read it, again. Most of these-”

“You re-read it!?” Twilight cut off Starswirl with a squee. Luna found herself smiling at the young princess’s enthusiasm. She bounced out of her seat with a childlike joy that was pure and innocent in a way that Luna envied. Once next to Starswirl she began reciting information and asking him an enormous volume of questions to the point where he put a hoof over her mouth to settle her down.

“How accurate are these readings on his Thaumatic Magic Levels?” he asked with a hushed tone. Starswirl nervously kept shifting his eyes between Stormalker and the document. Luna breathed a sigh of relief, glad the old stallion was beginning to see the grievousness of his recent actions. Her released exasperation caused Stormwalker to look over at her and give her a playful smile. He would never admit it but her stallion enjoyed scaring certain ponies with his power and prowess, Starswirl had just unwittingly made that list.

“They are...well...one-hundred-percent accurate…I took the measurements and did the calculations myself.” Twilight answered quietly. The room followed suit as everypony was reminded of the level of monster that stood in the room with them Starlight and Sunburst took to staring at one another, and Luna found herself trying to seek her elder sister’s attention as well. Celestia did not notice her and instead was gradually having the edge of her smile turn to a frown as she carefully watched their old mentor. Luna was unsure what was upsetting her sister, but assumed that whatever it was gravely important to Celestia and left her alone. Meanwhile, Starswirl had slowly been turning an even paler shade of white than normal as he stood gritting his teeth nervously. He gave a small cough as if he knew the whole room was waiting for his reaction. However, he missed his chance.

“So, as you can tell Starswirl we are dealing with some unimaginably strong forces.” Stormwalker shattered the silence like a rock would scatter glass. Starswirl nodded in response with a slow methodical beat of his neck.

“However it is not me we are dealing with. The pony in question that is an otherwise imminent threat to the world’s continued existence is Gusty Twilight: you know, that new mare Celestia is friends with these days?” the pegasus continued. Stormwalker shifted his posture as he backed up some from Starswirl and Twilight.

“Pray tell dear demon how do you know what Celestia writes to me? Debate of the world’s well-being aside: I find it rather convenient that you hold all the cards.” Starswirl stated. Luna released an exasperated breath, the old mage just would not let the circumstances go. She was about to object but was abruptly cut off by Celestia.

“Starswirl the Bearded! I sent you those letters because he asked me to! Do you think I would not include the details he wanted?” Celestia scolded just short of yelling. Luna swore that Starswirl’s hat did a full flip from the reflexive jerk he executed after being shamed.

“Well, said. After all you crazy old colt; Celestia is my friend, one of my only friends really.” Stormwalker said, joining in too. Luna bit her lip in a pout, maybe she was wanting too much, she was already his chosen mare, she was well above the title of friend entirely, but she was somewhat jealous anyway.

“Oh sure. She’s best friends with the exact same type of monster that murdered her parents. Right in front of her.” Starswirl sarcastically monotoned. “What type of idiot do you take me for?! I was there when it happened! And If I was not certain the culprit was dead I would say he was you! You look exactly like him!” He shouted his pallor turning a furious red as he spoke.

“Starswirl…” Celestia’s voice cut icily above him even though it was just a murmur. “Come with me for a moment.”

Luna watched in relative horror as Celestia levitated up an otherwise helpless Starswirl. She stomped towards the stairs that led up into her bedroom leaving the rest of the gathering to gawk.

“‘Tia...I appreciate what you are doing,” Stormwalker cut her off at the foot of the stairs. “But you were quite reasonably distressed when you found out the truth.” He said giving her a kind smile. “After what you had gone through-”

“Guardian Angel. Let me do this.” she interrupted him. Luna swallowed audibly, all too aware of how hard it was for Celestia to make such a statement. She had not dared to utter the stallion’s first name since she had had her memories restored. Over the last few years Celestia often confided in her, telling Luna how immensely ashamed she was of what she had done. However, her boldness was rewarded by Stormwalker promptly stepping out of the way. Celestia trotted past him quickly ascending the stairs with her prisoner and slamming the door to her room behind her.

“Now that...was scary.” Starlight said breaking the ice. Luna was grateful for that to be certain.

“Yeah. I didn’t know Princess Celestia could be so intimidating.” Sunburst chimed in as well, pushing up his glasses stare conquered.

“I just wonder what she is so upset about.” Twilight mumbled with a confused grimace.

“Oh...I don’t know…” Stormwalker scowled. “She is probably upset that her father-figure shows up for the first time in about seven years and then openly criticizes her life choices, in front of her friends and peers.” The ponies shifted uncomfortably at his words as they realized what Luna already had known, but in detail. Frankly, she also wanted to know exactly what Celestia was saying to Starswirl, and every moment caused her curiosity to grow.

“I think you have a point, my dearest stallion.” She said pulling herself up out of her cushion. “And I believe it is my duty as the younger sibling to eavesdrop accordingly.” Before anypony could object, Luna teleported herself into Celestia’s personal bath. She carefully slid up to the ajar door, past the sink of the cozy little room, and peered into the rest of Celestia’s private chambers.

“Well are you going to say anything or just stand there fuming?” Starswirl questioned in a surprisingly dull tone. Luna smiled glad she had not missed a thing.

“How dare you! How dare you! How dare you! How. Dare. You!” Celestia growled repeatedly. Luna bit her lips shut just in time to keep herself from gasping. She pressed herself closer to the wall of the bathroom peeking out the cracked door. All she could see were the shadows of her sister and her mentor cast jaggedly on the far wall.

“I ask you to come here, under the pretense, that I need your help; and I do, in fact, need your help. And the first thing you do is proceed to insult and belittle the only decent adult relationship I have ever had!” Celestia’s shadow bobbed angrily as she spoke.

“Wait.” Starswirl raised a hoof. “You...you and he? Impossible.”

“Why is it impossible for me to take interest in a stallion? Especially one as attractive and devoted as he is?” Celestia fired back immediately. Luna had to agree, even if she was rather biased, her sister made a strong point.

“I find it hard to believe that you of all ponies would fancy a demon. A demon, Celestia.” Starswirl continued to admonish. His shadow stepped up closer to Celestia’s making Luna’s heart race as she carefully inched closer to the door’s threshold to hear better.

“You know nothing about him.” Her sister hissed.

“I know enough to know that upon realizing what he was you cursed yourself with a memory charm to forget him.” the old mage snapped right back. This time Luna was not quick enough to bite her lips and she gasped. Starswirl had went too far, and Celestia’s silent rage was palpable as Luna stared on in terror as her sister’s silhouette began to move. But it did not move towards the bathroom as she expected instead she strode past Starswirl coming into view of Luna’s small vantage point. Celestia faced the wall her eyes closed and her face strained with a mixture of anger and pain.

“What I did was entirely unacceptable. And the mere fact that he even still talks to me, much less considers me a friend, is a testament to the quality of the stallion he is!” Celestia breathed barely a whisper on Luna’s ears. “I will not…” she paused to breath haggardly gaining strength as she opened her eyes. Luna sunk her teeth into her lips again trying her best to not cheer Celestia on. “I will not allow anypony, short of the mentally deranged Gusty Twilight, to insult him like this. Not. Anypony. “ Celestia snarled through clenched teeth her eyes never leaving the wall.

Starswirl’s shadow moved closer to Celestia, his hooves clopping loudly. “Why? Why do you care so much about him?” he asked, his voice strained. Luna hoped he realized how deep his words cut Celestia. As her sister had said, only Gusty was allowed to be so vile, and that was mostly because Stormwalker himself had expressively insisted to Celestia that she simply had no control over her disposition. Starswirl, however, did; and that was one of his unfortunate short-comings. Celestia made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sigh as Luna watched her posture slump.

“Because he..”she trailed off for a moment. When she drew a breath again, her voice was hushed and gentle, “He was the only pony to ever make we want to chose him over the world. Over saving Luna...over Harmony. Over anything I ever planned or wanted to do.” she said her tone empty and longing.

“I couldn’t hurt him then, I couldn’t hurt him now.. Even if he is a monster-I-I can’t. I was never scared of what I saw that day. I was scared of how he made me feel. What he made me feel. A thousand years of turning away suitors...a thousand years of trying to figure out how to fix the world...I was ready to throw it all away. But, somewhere in that moment of terror, I found a way out of the situation altogether. I couldn’t go through with my plan to save Luna, to release Discord, to fix every mistake I had made before, with him affecting my judgement. And I couldn’t lose him either...so..so I-I cheated. I used magic to forget our relationship but not him. To never again form new memories, and only relive the first day he flirted with me…” Celestia fell silent.

Luna waited patiently for Starswirl as he slowly entered into her sliver of vision. He stood next to Celestia for a long time. Eventually the old mage reached placed a hoof and Celestia’s tall haunches.

“I..I was rather unaware of that information.” he said with a bit of a grunt. “I know you know what you did was wrong...and I-I-I...I really don’t know what to say.” He idly cleared his throat and waited a few more moments.

“Otherwise...judging by your reaction, and I’m sure Luna could confirm it later. He really is as well-intentioned as you claim. I can’t imagine what he went through…” Starswirl said.

“I do not need a reminder.” Celestia mumbled, her voice more broken than angry.

“Have you apologized? Now that you remember...I mean..” the old stallion fell silent casting his head back towards where Luna hid. He pursed his lips and gazed into the darkness where she snooped, pleading. Luna refused to come to his rescue, letting him be forced to fix the mess he made “How did you get the memories back?” he asked vacantly diverting from the previous subject.

“Him. He did it.” Celestia answered quietly.

“I was already presuming that...I just want to know how he did it, my morning sun. For...for my peace of mind. The information your pupil described to me...was unsettling to say the least.” Starswirl mulled carefully over his words, his demeanor reserved.

“On accident.. It was on the first day after he had recovered from fighting Nyx, after he became...different than I remember.. I guess he just thought about me too hard. His mere presence was capable of annihilating the magic I had placed on myself.” Luna hazarded a breath as her sister paused. “Since then he completely restrains even the barest hint of his strength, unwilling to touch the magic he wields unless it is the most dire of circumstances.” came Celestia’s solemn reply.

“Nyx...the Guardian of the Abyss?” the old mage asked, his voice unsure. “The same one that Luna had trouble with?”

“Yes.”

Luna had heard enough. The rest of the information was redundant, things already known to her. Backing away from the cracked door with a slide not step, she stood up straight and closed her eyes casting another teleportation spell. It did not matter if they heard her exit via magic now, Luna was pleased to have heard what she did regardless of the consequences.

Back in her previous cushion, Luna blinked in surprise to only see Twilight Sparkle and Guardian Angel left in the room. The papers for this meeting and found their way to the floor and Starlight and Sunburst had disappeared. She wordlessly peered at her remaining compatriots silently asking what had happened with her face.

“Starlight saw the blades on the ground...and you know how she is with blood.” Twilight said with a bit of a grin.

“Then I told Sunburst just to call it a day, before Twilight brought up that time I killed that dragon. Said Spike was scared of me. Catapulting us into a heated debate of justice...” Guardian Angel finished trailing off. Luna gave them a pensive glare

“You two were eavesdropping too weren’t you?” She questioned. Both of the two cohorts rolled their eyes up and looked at the ceiling trying to play innocent. Luna pinched her brow down at them, Guardian Angel the first to break without even looking back at her.

“It’s not eavesdropping per se...Worse probably.” He chose his words suspiciously.

“Really?” Luna asked, “And how does Twilight factor into this?”

“I listened as he recited what was going on. I was curious too.” she rubbed on of her forehooves with the other, a blush brightening her cheeks. Luna glared disapprovingly at Guardian Angel, she stepped up closer to him looking up at him and his crescent scar. He shifted his weight in his usual fidget way when he was caught in various clandestine activities. He never could lie, not very well anyway.

“You try controlling this much power.” he grumbled. “I was really interested in what she had to say and Starlight passed out pretty much as soon as you teleported. I just couldn’t help but observe what she was saying and feeling, Celestia is very loud mentally when she is upset. I couldn’t tone it out so I started talking to Twilight about it.”

Luna shook her head at him. Guardian Angel’s strength far exceeded anything she understood. If fully repressing his power still allowed him to read the thoughts and feelings of ponies around him, she shivered at the thought of his full capabilities. Sometimes Luna wished he would just show her everything, take control like she knew he could, unleash his potential and change the world as he saw fit. He never would do such: that just was not him. It was that importance of others over himself that had made Luna fall in love with him originally, and it still was the same now.

“All that aside…” she sighed trying to not swoon over him in front of Twilight, “I suppose we are otherwise finished?” Luna asked. Guardian Angel looked distant for a moment before nodding confidently. Not a moment later the sound of Celestia’s door clicking open could be heard echoing down the stairs. Hooves of two relaxed ponies began clopping down the staircase their voices quickly becoming intelligible.

“Well I suppose I will have to be more reserved in the future then.” Starswirl said with his usual gruff banter.

“Indeed. Luna and I are not foals anymore my dearest teacher.” Celestia answered her voice back to its full, relaxed candor. Whatever Luna had missed must have put her elder at ease with the situation. To say that Celestia never had a moment of weakness was a lie, but what Luna had seen upstairs was something she had yet to process. She waited for her sister and Starswirl to reach to bottom of the stairs and look about the study in confusion.

“Where are the other two?” Celestia asked. She walked forward a bit and bumped the now neat pile of blood-stained blades with a soft clink! She looked down with surprise, “Oh, I seem to have answered my own question. Starlight passed out again, didn't she?”

“Good call, Princess.” chirped Twilight. She and Celestia chuckled a bit before Guardian Angel loudly cleared his throat.

“We shall have another meeting like this a month from now, and I want you to be in attendance.” he said looking over at Starswirl specifically.

“Sure, I would love to, have an actual meeting that is. However, I would like you to get this demonic annoyance off of my horn.” the old mage retorted.

“I can help with that!” Twilight jumped up and rushed to Starswirl starting to escorting him out. “It will take at least two weeks of regular soaking before the first layer is off and then we will have to scrub it nearly constantly, I have some spells I have been wanting to try that should work great!”

“Two weeks?! Constant what? Twilight where are you taking me?” Starswirl blathered on as Twilight continued to squee as she levitated him up into the air. The other three looked on in shock as Twilight loosed a gleeful, yet maniacal bit of laughter and darted out of the study Starswirl screaming several scared obscenities as he came dreadfully close to the walls.

“I guess it's true what they say about Twilight, you can’t tell her no.” Guardian Angel said as Starswirl’s screams died away. Luna just gaped at him incredulously. He was right of course, but that did not mean should could not play along.

After a brief bit of travel...

Gusty grinned down from the cliffed coast with garish pleasure. She had guessed her mark right and below her sat the wayward galleon. She sat idly alone her sails fully furled and tight against her masts. At the distance the trade vessel sat it was not much more than a model kept it a bottle. Gusty could have easily recreated the illusion if she only had a clear jug to hold up to her eyes.

The galleon was a welcome sight. Having carried both Bunker and Zeccaran in her magic to this remote bit of land, she felt the rush of vindication relieving her achy head. She pointed sharply down to the ship spitting unintentionally as she started talking.

“See! I told you we could find it! No problem.” Gusty leaned closer to Zeccaran with every word. The Zebra pursed his lips giving her a narrow-eyed glare as if she was trying to sell him fake fruit.

“No problem huh?” he mulled over not breaking eye contact. “Then what do you call that airship floating above it?” Zeccaran concluded smuggly. Gusty snapped her eyes back to the still-fog-shrouded galleon certain her friend was lying to her.

Unfortunately, Zeccaran was telling the truth. Partially obscuring the sun as it broke the midday clouds, an airship floated above the seafaring vessel. Even at their distance Gusty could see four long chains reaching from the airship down to the galleon. She was unsure of their purpose but Gusty supposed that they were used to drag the galleon to where she sat now.

“By the moon, I wish I had a spyglass or something.” Zeccaran grumbled to her left.

“Why?” she asked him turning to see him squint futilely towards the vessels.

Zeccaran gave her a roll of his eyes as if he expected her to understand exactly what he was thinking. “Because...that way we could see what kind of airship that is, and what sort of opposition we would be going up against before flying out over the open ocean like maniacs...which I get the feeling we will be doing regardless.” he answered with a twinge of anger in his voice. He was right of course, Gusty did not care who or what was guarding the vessels. She would reclaim the crew and the goods at all costs. She was not about to let the ship that was to return with food and supplies for its cargo of gold be taken without a fight.

“Aren’t you just Mr. Thinkpants!?” Gusty mocked Zeccaran as she spread her wings. “Let’s get going.” she ordered. Without wasting any time Gusty levitated Bunker up in her magic leaving her striped friend to his devices. She was about to make a bit of a running leap off the cliff and out over the ocean when Zeccaran scoffed extra loud.

“Bunker, come on, guy. Help me protest this farce.” the zebra complained to her husband. Gusty cast a mischievous glances between Bunker and Zeccaran waiting dramatically for their conversation. From her levitation Bunker merely grunted, seemlingly not taking a side in the endeavor at all.

“No...No I don’t argue. She is carrying me over giant fall to death. Is not winning situation.” he replied thoughtfully. This left Zeccaran to sulk with a bitter look on his face. It did not last long, a characteristic flash of light occurred and a great grey eagle replaced the zebra. Gusty could consciously feel her smile growing wider, no matter the outcome she was having fun.

She absconded from the cliff just as soon as Zeccaran met her eyes with his unnaturally large eagle ones. Floating husband at her side, Gusty pushed her wings to build up speed to give the brigands on the airship as little time as possible to respond to their approach. It was fortunate that the previous few days of poor weather had finally broken clear. The ocean was an even pane of glass brutally reflecting the yellow midday sun. Shooting towards the airship, Gusty could barely keep her eyes open as she built up speed and the light began to streak from her speed. Without bothering to see if Zeccaran was following her, Gusty banked her course out in a wide arch to the right of the floating vessel. It slowed her down and alleviated her sore eyes. It did little to make the sunspots in her vision go away, only time could do that.

Their approach had led them quite close now and the deck was unobstructed by the sun. Gusty spied a single creature on the airship. It was a large beast next to what appeared to be an equally large wench. Perhaps it was simple boredom that led Gusty to dive from her advantageous position in an attack. Nopony would ever be certain of the correct answer, but in the case of the wench operator that answer did not particularly matter. Such was because of a simple reason: Gusty had remembered her equipment this time.

In a fluid motion Gusty carefully set tag-along-Bunker on the deck and drew her sword. She was moving quick enough that she had no intention of hitting the operator with the blade until she had kicked him to the ground with her momentum. She completed this action with an unmistakable crunch of snapping ribs and a hoarse squawk from the wench-boy. Gusty had not even realized the huge creature was a griffon until she had heard his bird voice. With great haste she used her blade’s pommel to begin pummelling him before he could make a fuller alarm call to his no doubt nearby compatriots.

Reviewing her unfortunate quarry internally, Gusty noted that the griffon was at least twice her size. He was mostly composed of muscles and was stocky compared to the graceful builds of the typical lion-raptor beast. He looked like the quintessential dumb muscle that pirates or bank robbers used to scare civilians. Intimidating on the surface but no smarter than a box of rocks and with the right persuasion totally harmless. However, Gusty’s persuasion was simply being faster, nastier, and much more determined than the now bloodied and bruised heap of a sky-cat that lay on the deck, unconscious. He was lucky, Gusty could feel no evil on him, so a thrashing was all he got.

"Damn. You beat him good." Bunker said trotting up looking down at her handiwork. Gusty nodded smugly with a bit of an affirmative humming added in.

Oh. Very nice. But you could do better.

“Hey did you hear that?” Gusty asked confused by the voice she had just heard. Bunker shook his head with a broad smile on his face. His merriment was short-lived, however, as eagle-Zeccaran landed on the deck and shifted back to his normal equine shape. Gusty was about to ask her friend the same question but he cut her of quite effectively

“What the fuck is your problem!?” he shouted. Gusty tried to shush him to no avail. She did not mind, alerted deckhands meant more heads to smack. “You should have just gone ahead and killed him at this point! You beat the absolute piss out of him! I don’t even know where his beak is supposed to be anymore!” Zeccaran continued. She looked eagerly around at the various hatches waiting for something to pop out and become equally as bludgeoned as her previous victim.

Pesky, but well-meaning I suppose.

Gusty folded her ears trying to determine who it was talking to her through time and space

“Are you even listening to me?!” her zebra friend shrieked bring her back to him. “Like what the shit is the matter with you, you damned hell-mare!” Since, Zeccaran’s screaming was not drawing any attention, Gusty decided to play his game for now at least.

“Well, I didn’t kill him, potty-mouth.” she said. Bunker chuckled softly before restraining himself. Gusty was rather certain that in her husband’s eyes she could do no wrong. She flashed him a devilish smile to which he merely tried to shrug off, he did so poorly the edges of his mouth perking in a grin again.

“Don’t encourage her you idiot!” Zeccaran piped up angrily. “I mean look at this!” the zebra bent down to examine the swollen griffon. He prodded a portion of the fellow’s lower neck gingerly. A bit of strange green-grey ooze bubbled up out of the griffon’s feathers. It stank with a wretched odor of a dirty body.

“That’s gastric acid, and probably a bit of spinal fluid too. I saw how many times you hit him in the head and neck. Not to mention when you kicked him in the chest” her friend looked up at her from where she was positioned with a scowl. “If he doesn’t receive help right now he will die, Gusty. You just beat a griffon to death out of spite. Proud of yourself?” Zeccaran scolded sternly. On many accounts Gusty was, in fact, quite proud of herself. She did feel somewhat guilty, it was not like the bird was inherently evil...but he did perpetuate it.

“He was helping starve innocent Ovis, Zeccaran. My past family. He kinda deserves it.” she answered, more sure of herself.

“We aren’t at war with these pirates! We are here to try and fix the problem! Not make it worse by butchering some of their low ranking members!” he retorted.

“How do you know he is low ranking, huh?” she questioned back snidely

“Because he was hand-cranking that wench!” Zeccaran pointed a hoof to the device Gusty had all but forgotten about. “You gotta be the bottom of the totem pole to be ordered to crank a wench like that, with your bare claws. Now fix him up some at least. I mean sheesh!” he ordered. Gusty huffed defeated. Zeccaran was probably right, thus she reached down to touch the griffon’s wounds with her hooves. Focusing her magic, Gusty closed her eyes using not just her horn but her whole body to properly channel the healing charms where she wanted. Knowing full well that she could repair all of the damage by the grace of her divine-granted power by accident she took extra care not to fully restore the griffon.

When she opened her eyes the griffon’s beak was back to where it belonged on his face, and the collapsed portion of his chest and neck looked natural and unaffected. His eyes were still blacked and both cheeks swollen but he clearly was in better shape. “There are you happy now?” she growled at Zeccaran. The zebra held up a hoof and bent down to check the bird’s vitals. Gusty could not help but roll her eyes indignantly as her friend stood back up with a nod and a smile on his face.

“What is this flying ship anyway?” Bunker interjected stopping Gusty from slapping Zeccaran. She ran her eyes over the deck of the plain-looking vessel. Near the stern she could see a small raised area where the ship’s wheel sat exposed to the open sky, away from the balloon above them. Otherwise there was not much on the deck besides them.. There certainly no weapons to speak of save perhaps the four total wenches that were attached to the chains. Zeccaran cleared his throat bring her back to look at him.

“This is a Condor-class heavy lifter. Looks like it’s tow chains have been heavily modified. But this isn’t a combat vessel by any means...but where is the crew? This thing should take about six creatures to fly.” he said thoughtfully. It was no sooner that he spoke that flapping of nearby wings could be heard.

“Hans!” shouted a surprisingly thick Canterlot accent. “Hans what are you doing, why did you stop cranking?” Gusty practically spun in a full circle before she saw the source of the voice. A griffon equally large as the unconscious Hans pulled himself over the deck rail. Unlike his fellow pirate, however, this griffon was lean and sleek and had the look of a real predator. Deep in her core fear tightened Gusty’s chest and reflex and instinct took hold in the next instant.

Kill him.

Gusty listened to that little voice this time, she did not care if it was the voice of fear or some other thing, it did not matter. Sword still in her levitation Gusty flipped the blade around and sent it flying like a needle to cloth. It hit the new griffon square in the chest as he landed on the deck piercing clean through his leather cuirass with a disturbing schlick. She pushed the blade fully through his chest until the hilt caught on his bones. The bird’s eyes had gone wide the moment the blade had flown towards him and his gaping beak began to run with blood as he stared down in vague horror at the blade through his heart. But Gusty did not stop there, she pushed the blade with her magic even harder lifting the griffon from his paws and slamming him into the deck rail pinning him down with a heavy thump. He groaned in pain but otherwise made no noise as he locked eyes with her.

More, you still need more.

It came again, words in her mind, that were hers but not hers. “Where’s the crew of the galleon?!” She screamed at him as she closed the distance. Gusty shoved her face nearly against his beak making their locked gaze even more intense.

“They are...in..the brig.. of this ship.” he sputtered as fresh blood welled-up into his mouth. His previously sharp grey eyes went unfocused and Gusty gave him a slap coating both her hoof and snout in his blood-spatter.

“What about the rest of your crew?” she demanded as his eyes focused up for the last time.

“Piss off. Bitch.” he croaked as more blood rolled down his beak and stained his tawny feathers a deep crimson. Gusty turned off her levitation and went for the more visceral feel of pulling the blade out of the griffon with her mouth. He squawked as she involuntarily twisted her sword with her mouth as she drew it from its gorey resting place. When she turned her vision back to him he lay motionless. The blood from the wound slowing as his heart gave a final throw. Beside her Bunker and her friend remained silent leaving only a bit of empty flopping of the balloon rigging rustling.

Good...very good. You still have it.

Gusty turned about this time, certain there was another version of her somewhere talking to her. She had not used her copy spell since Celestia had first taught it to her over a year ago. It was mostly for mischief and confusing nobles so she doubted that was the answer. Whatever the case the sensation the voice had be causing ceased leaving her to stand there silently waiting on something to happen.

A solid minute passed before Zeccaran spoke, “I forgot how brutal you can be sometimes.” he said. His tone was empty and bland feeling similar to the whistling wind in its indifference of passing life. Gusty pushed that idea of empty repose away, it felt too cold and too familiar to contemplate in the moment.

“Now what?” Bunker asked breaking the silence finally and snapping Gusty fully back into the moment. They did have more to do if they were going to return the stolen payment to Gertrude. Gusty would accept nothing less than the safe return of the whole crew and the goods and quickly hatched a plan.

“Bunker, you go down into this ship and free the prisoners. Zeccaran and I will apprehend the rest of the pirates down below.” she told him quickly.

“Da. Will do. Stay safe down there, da?” her husband gave her a quick nuzzle before turn and darting to the nearest hatch. He had it opened before Gusty even turned to look over the edge of the airship. The sound of the heavy metal hatch closing rang out before she turned to motion Zeccaran to go first. Bunker would be fine, besides, he deserved to be the hero for once on one of these little adventures. Otherwise Zeccaran nodded in agreement, surprisingly not nearly so vocal about the upcoming engagement.

Gusty caught his eyes as he vaulted the deck rail. His purple orbs showed a simple disappointment in them. The sight made her realize that Zeccaran expected better of her. Somehow that made Gusty feel incredibly upset with herself, as if a bit of her had gotten lost in the moment and the need to help Gertrude. She decided that she would have to listen to what Zeccaran said; she was here to solve a problem. For the pirates down on the galleon that was a fortunate change of heart, she would capture them instead of giving them a warrior’s death.

The moment passed and Zeccaran began falling towards the galleon. Gusty hopped over the rail herself and began falling. Below her Zeccaran flashed green and was again an eagle. He tipped his body downward in a perfect dive speeding away from her as she let her wings glide her down. It took a few minutes for her to safely slip down without straining her wings. Zeccaran beat her to the deck by quite some time where he alighted on the center mast’s lowest sail rigging. Gusty could see five beings down below staring at the giant imposter-eagle in awe. Two pegasi, two griffons and a third pure bird-like creature. The bird-thing resembled a giant parrot, but instead of wings he sported an additional set of claws and scales, he was rather menacing truly.

The parrot creature was yelling up at Zeccaran: “Cousin! Why do ya bother us!? Ya are so far from the Elkanten Mountains!” He missed Gusty as she swung herself around the stern of the galleon still at a decent height. Thankfully, the rest of the crew did not notice her either as Zeccaran loosed a grand sckreeeee! like only a great eagle could. She landed cautiously on the deck near the vessel’s helm as the pirate’s “ooo’ed” and “awh’ed” at the strange sight.

Bending down to nearly her belly Gusty crawled toward the railing that overlooked the main deck where Zeccaran held everyone else’s attention. She peered through the wooden pillars choosing two targets to stun before they even got a chance to react. Gusty figured she could not reliably hit more than two before they tried to dodge. Her horned hummed loudly as the stunner spells waited to be cast. Standing up she lined her marks, the two griffons, one grey, one black, and fired before even Zeccaran looked up at her.

The red beam’s of the trademark spell hissed from her horn and stuck both targets in quick succession. One of the pegasi immediately took notice of his fallen comrades. “Oi, mate! You alright?” he knelt down next to the grey-colored griffon, not even realizing what had happened. Gusty took the opportunity to duck back down below the railing, her quarries none-the-wiser.

“What the hell happen?” the parrot-creature boomed over the confused voices of the pegasi. “Wilkins! Berg! Get up ya, lazy good-for-nothin’s!” he continued. Gusty quickly chose to slide her way over to the side rail of the helm and jump overboard. She did not look back and refused to overthink what she was doing, if she did it would not work. Spreading her wings she caught herself just above the placid ocean water and sailed along the edge of the galleon until she reached the main mast. Pumping her wings Gusty climbed through the air the twenty feet up to the deck.

Charging her horn as she went Gusty landed on the deck at the same time as she was ready to cast more stunners. Her adversaries were facing away from her again, luck still on her side Gusty took aim and quickly fired. One spell hit the intended target true, sending the gabby pegasus from before off his hooves. The other only nicked the hooves of the remaining pegasus causing her to let out a shrill shriek.

“Arh! What the fuck was tha’?!” she screamed.

“Magic! We’re under attack!” the parrot fellow squawked.

Not a moment after another skree! from the Zeccaran-eagle sounded in a broad echo. Gusty along with the remaining two pirates reflexively looked up at him. The grand bird dug his beak into the furled canvas ripping out a section in strange display.

Cloth in mouth he dove down from the rigging swinging around the parrot and the pegasus. The parrot managed to react drawing his sword and slashing at the ribbon of sail snaking around him and his companion. Gusty came to an epiphany as he swung down at the canvas. She reached out her levitation out towards the sabre catching it before it cut fully through the section.

Yanking the blade and the still clinging parrot up away from the cloth the pirate shrieked in surprise. Gusty twisted the sword as she pulled wrenching it from the bird’s grip and dropping him down into the trap Zeccaran was making. Evidently the pegasus had at least taken some of the stunbolt from earlier as she made no attempt to fly and was quickly enveloped in the canvas. A tremendous volume of cursing was coming from the parrot as he clawed vainly in an attempt to escape. Green flashed and Gusty snapped her eyes over to an actual Zeccaran who was running around the unfortunate pair with the canvas in his mouth.

Snagging a loose portion of the sail in her magic Gusty began wrapping theri makeshift binding tighter behind Zeccaran as he ran. “Faster before they wiggle out!” she yelled at him.

“Rats! Come out from behind the sail and fight like real ponies!” came the defiant voice of the parrot. “Fuckin’ cowards, if i had my sword I’d-mhmmh!” he was cut off as the sail was pulled over his face and flailing limbs. Gusty pulled the remaining slack from Zeccaran’s mouth and slipped in through the section she had just tightened pulling it into a loop-knot. She tugged on the tie until she could feel the strain of the captured ribs.

Letting go of her control the wad of sail and creature fell over awkwardly. Muffled yelps of pain grumbled from the mass when they landed. Meanwhile Zeccaran trotted over to her, giving the scene an approving glace.

“Well done. Honestly I can’t believe they fell for the bird routine.” he said thoughtfully.

“Same to you, good sir.” she raised her nose a bit along with her tone.

“Although I’m surprised you changed up your...methods, I’m glad you did. With these guys captured we might actually get some insight He mosied over to the slender black griffon who was vaguely moaning still stunned. “Got any rope?” he asked a devilish grin on his face. Gusty did bring rope…

It took some time but soon enough the five pirates were tied together on the deck. It had been especially difficult to free the parrot and pegasus that they had trapped in the ruined sail. Gusty had restored to just stunning them in order to tie them up without a fight. They sat before her each snarling in their own way as if they could not believe they had gotten outsmarted by a Zebra and a girl, as they kept putting it. Evidently, they did not care for the skirt which Gusty took exception to.

“Where’s your boss?” she asked in a kind tone that not even she was ready for. Collectively the pirates all turned their eyes away from her unwilling to even look towards her. Gusty instinctively cast her trusty “truth” spell and walked a full circle around the group.

“You can tell me, now; and avoid being brought before Dame Gertrude or…” she was met with more silence. “How about a different question? What were you stealing?” she prodded more. The parrot loosed a chirp and jerked his head towards her.
“We will only tell ya the truth ya…” he trailed off. His facial feather flustered and his eyes spun scared as he realized what was happening to his speech.

“That’s right you will.” Gusty smiled. The rest of the small crew exchanged looks as Gusty drew her sword with her magic for effect. She did not say anything else and simply began pacing back and forth in front of the group. They all began to shift uncomfortably as she watched them waiting for one of them to attempt to answer. She did not have to wait long.

“The money and the trading goods. That’s what we were stealing.” the grey griffon replied hoarsely. Gusty nodded sagely waiting to see if he would slip up, the griffon opened his mouth to say more but caught himself snapping his beak shut defiantly.

“Where are the stolen things, then?” she asked.

“All but tha’ chest over ‘ere is already topside.” The male pegasus answered this time. Again, the pirate went on to say more but caught the words before they slipped out. Gusty was quickly deciding this was a dangerous waste of time; she was fighting the urge to torture these creatures and the part where they were being uncooperative was not helping. She came to a conclusion hence.

“Zeccaran. Help me tie them to one of the chains. They don’t deserve a seat on the deck of the airship we have...acquired.” she said not breaking eye-contact with the parrot. His eyes twitched angrily and chirped a series of angry like sounds before he turned away. Zeccaran obliged her as Gusty hefted the mass of bodies into her telekinesis and hovered them in the air above the galleon’s deck.

Once they were secure she exchanged her levitation for the chest of goods. “Don’t forget what chain they are tied to Zeccaran. Otherwise they will starve to death when we cut the lines up top.” she cautioned. Her friend shrugged, suggesting indifference but that was more his way of showing he understood.

“Up we go then.” Gusty purred taking flight. Zeccaran followed suit shifting into the eagle form again. As they past the pirates they gasped in shock and surprise at the zebra’s ability to shapeshift. Gusty cast a look down at them their collective faces turning white as they gazed at what they clearly considered a marvel. She shook her head at the thought. It was no use caring about their fate, piracy in pretty much all parts of the world was punishable by death. Simply, she would just not be the one to carry out the sentence.

Gusty sighed as she climbed. She was unable to shake the feeling that they had gotten incredibly lucky with this engagement. If there had been even the smallest change in circumstances the endeavor would have backfired. For now all that she had to worry about was figuring out how get the airship back to Gertrude, hopefully Zeccaran or one of the captured Ovis knew how. Still, regardless of her success Gusty just could not shake the sense of foreboding and it was not receding like usual no matter how hard she tried to repress it. Not Bunker’s smiling face, not the happy and hearty, liberated crew, not even Gertrude’s overjoyed shouting when they returned calmed that feeling. It was going to be a sleepless night.

Act 2: Chapter 7 - Situation

“No! Stop it! Leave them alone!” Gusty’s voice echoed off of the stone of the mountains. Zeccaran jolted involuntarily, jerking his eyes towards her yelling. He watched her cast magic at a vile apparition of ash and fire. The beam of energy passed through the abomination a cold manic laughter resounding from its opened, fanged, and fired maw. Gusty desperately slammed her sword into the beast as she screamed frantically in primal terror.

This was the third time Zeccaran had observed this scene. Inflamed creatures swarmed everywhere sowing destruction on the foliage around the small homestead of a time long past. He painstakingly re-examined every detail again, trying to figure out why Gusty kept having this nightmare. Unfortunately his skill paled in comparison to Luna’s but that did not mean he would not try his best for his friend.

Above them smoke and grey clouds obscured the sky but did not hide the forms of a horde of dragons. One by one the great lizards were drug down from the floating smog. Once felled the unfortunate drakes were mobbed by the moving haze of ashen and rage-filled demons. Their feasting and revelry loud, disturbing, as they rent the dragons to ribbons and consumed them while they still lived. Horrendous roars of pain and agony caused the mountains around the small clearing to shake as they were ripped. All the while the alpha of the devilish monstrosities fought Gusty, its chilling cackles louder than the dragons, Gusty, and the blazing fires.

Zeccaran felt a fresh wave of nausea cause him to gag. The dream came with smells. Simply nothing would ever allow him to overcome the smell of burning flesh, flesh that still lived. How Gusty experienced these types of nightmarish visions regularly and still functioned was a miracle. In fact, how she maintained the semblance of sanity she so-well-portrayed bested that other miracle. Still, he just wished there was something he could do to help her.

“Gusty!” he yelled his voice muted and distant compared to the nightmare. “Gusty, wake up!” Zeccaran bellowed again, no louder than before. He sighed as he continued to watch Gusty fight the alpha-beast. She never heard him. This was the third time he had yelled for her to wake. It failed to be the charm, as the old saying goes. Continuing as usual the dream forced Gusty and the monster to fight. This had been the third night in a row, after all.

“Stupid number thing. I hate the number three. Couldn’t have been four or six, or something more creative?” Zeccaran spoke aloud to himself. It was not like Gusty was listening, and he felt rather alone being sucked into her dreams night after night. The irony of the number coincidence also had upset him to the point of rhetorical complaining. A scream from his friend brought his attention back to the nightmare before him and away from his own thoughts.

Gusty was struggling with the creature, her sword cast away. The nightmare would end here like it had the last two days, just as soon as his friend would slip and the monster would bite her neck. She shrieked dodging a set of kicks and a bite from her opponent. Gusty screamed harder still as she lost her balance and fell backward landing with her belly and throat exposed. The demon immediately took the opportunity and pounced, sinking its fiery teeth into Gusty’s neck. Zeccaran sighed loudly, soon enough he would be kicked awake due to being ejected from the dream. Even though it would disturb his own slumber it was better than dealing with this horror.

But the dream did not end.

Time seemed to slow as Gusty futilely struggled beneath her predator. “Oh no.” Zeccaran said to himself quietly. It was the only thing he could manage as the moment grinded to a crawl.

His friend’s horn lit with her golden magic and her previously lost sword zipped towards them. Zeccaran watched in silent terror unable to stop the madness. Gusty swung the blade down in the next instant causing blood to spatter on the ground in heavy thumps. Decapitated head of the beast still attached, the alicorn sprang up stabbing her levitated blade deep into the chest of the still the flailing, headless body. Blood pulsed from its neck in a fountain as an unnatural heartbeat continued to function even with a blade pushed through it.

But the moment passed and the glow of fire and magic that the beast possessed dissipated. The body went limp after staggering a few steps towards Gusty, falling down in a heap, the ash and fire around abating and revealing the simple but bludgeoned form of a headless pony. Gusty freed her blade from the corpse and used it pry the head from her neck. The face of the creature landed facing Zeccaran, a long tawny-brown mane had replaced the fire and empty pained, yellow eyes met his, their sparkle quickly disappearing. It was that moment he finally realized what the creature was: Shadow-kin. With the magic drained from her body the monster was no more than a pony, a very dead pony.

“This isn’t a nightmare! This is the past! A memory! Gusty wake up, you have to wake up! Stop reliving this moment!” He shouted charging towards his friend. The scene had gone silent since Gusty had defeated the Shadow-kin. The baying of the dragons and the howls of the other demons had ceased, making his hoof falls obnoxiously loud. However, no one took notice of him as he continued to yell hoping to somehow reach Gusty and pull her out of this terrible moment.

The other Shadow-kin began gathering in front of Gusty on silents wings, each losing their inflamed visage. They looked at the defeated alpha-mare and back up to Gusty slowly. Zeccaran had reached where the alicorn stood now and attempted to give her a push, in a futile attempt to rouse her. He knew he would just pass through her, unable to stop the dream, but determination was all that he had left. As he skidded to a halt Zeccaran turned to look at the horde of monsters. Out of them, he recognized a face, causing him to freeze in horror. The face of Stormwalker, the one creature in the world that incited fear and desperation in him. He was unblemished and unscarred but Zeccaran was certain it was him.

He stood at the head of the gathering of demons, his face slowly twisting into a look of pure rage. But it was different than Zeccaran remembered, he had seen Stormwalker in his darkest of moments, the hatred and anger directed at him specifically. This creature deviated from that look, its gaze was more hallow, more cold and pragmatic. It was nothing like the fury, the lively disgust that Stormwalker had: the look of angry stallion wronged by the world. That thing that stood before him in the dream may have looked the same but he was nothing like the demon he knew in the waking world. The sinking sensation realization made Zeccaran’s stomach backflip in his gullet. Whatever he saw now, it was something worse, something unimaginably worse.

“Sekthla nal! Y zewt nal eryja!” the monster shouted. It was in that strange tongue that Gusty knew, but was not more than nonsense to him. The horde of Shadow-kin spread apart at an almost leisurely pace carefully attempting to surround Gusty.

“Monsters! Demons! Prepare to die!” she shrieked in response. Charging headlong at the gathering at one-to-twenty odds sword raised with a banshee like yell, Zeccaran could not help but smile at the sight. That was simply how Gusty worked, she did not care if she would die if she brought some big evil down with her. Zeccaran marveled as the Shadow-kin stared on in surprise at the charging alicorn none of them capable of reacting until she had run through one of the beasts with her blade.

The miracle was short-lived.They immediately let her push into their center surrounding Gusty and making it impossible for Zeccaran to see her beyond her flying sword. The dream began to fracture and contort the image more a blurry mess of color. Sounds became unintelligible grunts and the heavy musk of demons, similar to that of a deadly but fragrant poison filled the air. But worst of all, Zeccaran could feel what Gusty could feel. Pain. Unimaginable amounts of pain. There was not a part of his body that did not hurt but his head and the ache of loss and hurt in his chest became completely overwhelming. He had no idea how long it persisted but it devastated him.

Two weeks ago: the day Gusty arrived in the Baylands.

Luna found herself staring at several charts and graphs floating in Twilight’s magic. She was pointing at a green line with a pencil on a diagram labeled “Magic Potentiality Vs. Body Conservation Total.”

“As you can see, instead of decreasing or stabilizing, Subject G’s Potential Magic capabilities actually increase as she reaches her body’s Conservation Total. According to my Theory of Thaumatic Magic, this should be impossible. It certainly breaks several rules of physics and the Second Law of Magic Potentiality. Which is again, Sunburst, the rule that defines that a creatures size and structure is directly related to their volume of storable magic and that magic’s potential power.” Twilight said through a scrunched muzzle of concentration. Luna swallowed hard trying to make sure she consumed all the information Twilight had been going over. It was a hollow gesture to pretend to eat up the details but at this point it was all she had.

“Well...you said yourself that not all of your Potentiality Laws are provable by measured statistics, that they function mathematically, but with actual units it can only be an estimate. I’m not nearly as studied as you or Starlight in that field, but doesn’t that mean that exceptions can be made?” Sunburst asked.

“Yeah. But that is why Thaumatic Magic Theory is a theory not a law of magic. Obviously notable examples that don’t fit the mold are: The Elements of Harmony, Discord, The Crystal Heart, Sombra.” Starlight chimed in. The three magicians exchanged nods working towards their solution having become quite engrossed in their work. Guardian Angel looked over to Luna from where he stood near Twilight a sly grin perking his lips, eyes fixing upon her deviously..

After everything Luna still felt apprehensive using his first name around other ponies. Even among friends like the present, the name did not suit him and his powerful presence. Perhaps it was simply because she did not want to disappoint him. Even now as she sat here looking back into those dangerous, beautiful yellow eyes she could feel him listening to her mind, her every breath, deeply interested and concerned for how she felt. He narrowed his eyes and his grin turned to a full smile before he broke his gaze.

Her stallion cleared his throat, before addressing the gathering. “Let’s not get sidetracked. The specific peculiarities are not important. We need a baseline calculation for what she could do should Gusty access that font of power. Fitting her into the theory can come later. Assessing the damage she could do must come first.” he said steering the other conversation.

“You are right. That’s why we are here after all!” Twilight smiled, clearly excited for practicing some mathematics. Luna narrowly held in a grunt of disdain, always horrified anypony would like calculations as much as the lavender mare in question.

Meanwhile her stallion had motioned for and Celestia to move closer together as he approached. He pushed his muzzle past their manes and right near their ears

“I have a distinctly bad feeling about what they might find. I recommend keeping the information absolutely need-to-know.” he whispered. Celestia moved to exchange places in the center of the listening group.

“I believe that is a reasonable course of action. Given Gusty’s...peculiarities, I’m just glad she hasn’t burned down Canterlot.” her sister murmured even quieter than Guardian Angel. Luna nodded in agreement, and Celestia and her stallion switched placed again.

“It seems that whatever is affecting Gusty’s mind is the key to unraveling this mess. I am going to move the timetable up for my trip to the Frozen North. Hopefully there will be some materials still left in my ancestral home.” he said. Luna switched into the middle this time.

“Must you run off when we actually have time to prepare the country?” she chastised. Guardian Angel was obsessed with seeing this through, she supported him but he needed to be given a hard time, “Could you please try to be quicker this time?”

“I’ll see what I can-”

“Nope!” Starlight suddenly yelled. Conversation abruptly ended the three immortal beings turned to look at Starlight.

“Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!” She recited in hysterics dancing about.

“What is the matter, Starlight Glimmer?” Luna jumped up and rushed around the table to her. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the mare, other than she was panicking. Luna looked over her more carefully still finding nothing as she scooted down to the floor next to her.

“The math! The answer! I-I-I-I-I just.” Starlight finally responded staring not at her but through her. “It's not something I can’t handle, I’m thinking about just erasing the memory.” she said before tossing her face down into her floor cushion.

Luna turned to look at Twilight, to find a mare horrified by a piece of paper. The lavender alicorn’s pupils were dilated to the point that all but the thinnest line of color remained. She glared at the sheet full of notes with a shock and terror only matched by the stillness of her body and the shallowness of her breaths.

“It's...impossible...but we checked it, seven times...even did the process backwards…” Twilight said stoically, her voice a perfect empty monotone. Luna exchanged her magic for Twilight’s and turned the paper over to read. The mathematics present there made her head spin, but her eyes managed to remain focused on one thing a disturbingly large number that was double-circled.

“Twilight. Come here” Celestia stepped toward her with a purposeful concern. She immediately surrounded her student with her wings upon seeing the smaller mare in her state. “Starlight what’s going on?”

Luna cast her gaze to the still buried unicorn to see her jut a hoof out of the pillow where she hid her face. Pointing directly at the floating paper that Luna held with a silent accusation. Celestia looked at her with deep concern.

“I don’t even know, sister. I presumed you know more than I. It looks like there is just a number written here that they keep fretting about.” Luna answered feeling rather put on the spot. Nopony hurt Twilight in Celestia’s presence, and Luna was not about to take the blame for a defiant piece of paper.

Turning as movement caught her eye, Luna managed to see her stallion snag the scratch sheet out of her magic with a lightning fast flick of his wing. He pulled the paper closer to himself, squinting at it critically. A look of horror washed over his facial features like a mighty storm surge. His wide open eyes flashed to red their pupils contracting to thin diamonds as if he was trying to destroy the paper with just his gaze.

Luna shivered as a long chill snaked up her spine. Something disturbing enough to cause her stallion that much distress meant that the situation had gone beyond dire. However, after performing a series of sharp inhilations through his poignantly shining fangs his face relaxed returned to a more pony-like state. He waved the paper with his wing as he bit his lip, turning away from where Luna peered at him.

“Two-hundred eighty-nine thousand.” he said to the group. Luna only understood the number to be quadruple the value Twilight Sparkle had listed for the stallion that stated it. However, she watched in shock as Starswirl took his hat off and tossed it away where it landed atop a more white than orange statue of a Sunburst. The old mage then flopped onto one of the open cushions near Starlight in a manner that suggested” “We’re boned no need to do anything.” Even Celestia’s mane managed to stand still as a look of surprise and confusion took over her face similar to the little lavender mare she still cradled. The room’s attitude had shifted to pure dread by the simple utterance of that number.

While she did not specifically understand the details Luna knew this: if somepony had fourfold the power Guardian Angel held they were not virtually god. They were decidedly god. And were that god Gusty Twilight, a dangerous neurotic madmare, then the world fell neatly into her playthings and whimsy. The realization, though it had been gradual, hit Luna now with full force. She fell to her flanks with a bit of a whump! and found herself looking down at the ground. The room remained quiet as the ponies gathered each coped with the fateful truth.

“So what do we do now?” Twilight Sparkle quoth smally. “How do we do anything now?”

Luna did not look up, her will and strength sapped from her body by her mind. Everypony else soundlessly agreed, none able to answer that dreadful question. The stillness only grew as she tried to overcome the grim prospect she now faced.

“We stop her. We restore whatever it was she lost. Grant her control and solace so she doesn’t destroy everything and everyone. That’s what we do.” Guardian Angel broke the silence. Luna and the room look up to the stallion as he turned from the group. He walked over to the windows on the outer wall. His distorted reflection in the glass betrayed his stress and terror that his voice hid.

“I only fear that our time has suddenly gotten shorter. Sending her to the Baylands…I shouldn’t have let her go.” he grumbled. Luna wondered if anypony else noticed the fangs and dragon-eyes in the gray backdrop. More than anything she wanted to comfort him but Luna knew better than to try until later.

“Do you think that remembering will make her more volatile?” Celestia asked craning her neck to look at him.

“Don’t skirt the issue. Yes. It will make her significantly more volatile. I...I-I should have had this meeting sooner. Should have been more proactive-not-not reactive.” He began to fret shaking his head and staring more intensely at the bleak weather. “I had already run the numbers myself but, I didn’t trust my answer...didn’t think. Fuck! I hate being right! I always think of the worst possible thing, and then it happens!” he loosed a growl of angst as he finished. Concerned glances were exchanged between the ponies of the room as the demigod stomped his hoof down into the floor with enough force to cause the room to shake.

Starswirl cleared his throat, “I’m rather new to the topic of this unearthly mare, but, and correct me if I’m wrong, you have been attempting to fix, I say in quotes, her mind?” he asked tentatively. Hearing Celestia’s story really had loosened his metaphorical belt, thank goodness. However, his question was her expertise.

“Fixing is a broad term.” Luna started. “We are trying to holistically establish some form of coherence for her mind. A task that has been making little progress over the last two years.” The ponies of the room instantly focused their attention on her. However, that was the furthest she could speak on the subject; she turned her eyes up to Guardian Angel who continued gazing out the window, his only indication of acknowledgement his rear facing ears. Luna did not need to wait long.

“Everything Luna is going to tell you...Does. Not. Leave. This. Room.” he said with a hard even grave fierceness. Starlight, Sunburst, and Twilight instantly agreed, Starswirl remained on the fence.

“What if I wish to tell the other Pillars?” he questioned after stroking his beard.

“No. This is above top secret. Even a hint that Equestria is politely harboring the apocalypse will spread like wildfire. The whole world will erupt in riots.” Guardian Angel answered with a snarl. Starswirl accepted the response with no other comment while Luna grimaced. Her stallion’s short demeanor was expected but it did little to calm the nagging feeling of unease she got when he became truly angry.

“Well, with that out of the way. I can explain the nitty-gritty.” Luna started right up, trying to overcome her scruples. “Something cursed Gusty with a very powerful dark magic. And then something equally powerful trapped that dark magic in her mind as a defense mechanism of sorts. That’s the shortest version. Things get incredibly complicated after that.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight sad slowly sitting up to look at her.

“I’m trying to summarize this as best as I can without sounding steepled. The point is: if certain trigger events happen, Gusty regains memories relevant to the events. This normally would not matter, but because of her built-in defense Gusty’s mind has a limit to how many trigger events can occur.” Luna continued.

“That seems particularly strange.” Starswirl conjectured. “Why would anypony cast a mind alteration spell on themselves in such a way?”

“I had thought that too. However, upon further examination of Gusty’s subconscious I came to a conclusion. Gusty was too afraid of the curse to do anything else. She intentionally designed the defense spell to have a limit and a reset. It is meant to prevent her from ever coming too close to falling under the dark magic’s influence again.” Luna answered her dreamwalking and psychology pedigrees prominently showing.

“Do you have any idea who cast the curse on her?” Sunburst asked.

“I do, but I’d rather not say until I have further evidence.” Guardian Angel answered instead, leaving Luna with her mouth partially open. She sheepishly closed it before waiting on everypony to listen to her again.

“More secrets then, hum? I bet I know who did it too. But for your sake, I’ll keep it to myself.” Starswirl interjected as well. Guardian Angel gave him a deeply disapproving glare before nodding for Luna to continue.

“Yes, now...as I was saying,” she cleared her throat. “Celestia mentioned Gusty’s relatively volatile nature. At least according to my observations there is a specific pattern that this follows, peaking just before she is to experience a memory reset.” The room had gotten awfully stuffy as she finished her summary. Silence prevailed before a shuddering breath escaped Twilight Sparkle making the gathering peer at the purple mare still shrouded in Celestia’s wings.

“So...what you are saying is...the more Gusty remembers the more likely it is that she uses all that power.” She stifled a bit of sniff before continuing, “A-are...are her resets always violent?”

Luna chewed on the question and it tasted bitter. With her trips to Gusty’s subconscious, she knew the answer was a fifty-fifty split. However, she did not know how to tell the gathering, the only other pony that knew was Guardian Angel and he had placed his bets on the bad side of things. Luna found her voice after a time, “Her reaction is irrelevant, we need to find a way to help reduce the stress she experiences. That way even if it is violent we have a way to help her. To contain her.”

“Then tell us the rest, sister. We are Equestria’s brightest minds after all. And, we can hardly solve the problem without details.” Celestia purred with a confident grin. “Besides I’ve grown rather fond of that teal troublemaker.”

Luna nodded and started getting down to it. This was going to take awhile.

The pleasantness of sleep ceased and Luna slowly opened her eyes .This left her to gaze on in wonder at her stallion as he sat up in the bed without his armor on. They had spent the remainder of the night together after the meeting had finished. Everypony in attendance had sworn to do their best, each pledging at least two new ideas to help Gusty Twilight. Luna sighed at the thought, keeping her eyes on Guardian Angel she pushed herself up to look at him more closely.

She reached out a hoof to trace a scar that ran from the base of his neck down in between his wings. “Stop that.” he fake scolded her as he lifted a flight pack from somewhere on the floor and set it on the bed.

“When did you get that ready?” she murmured to him.

“After you passed out during round three” he answered with a broad smile. Luna pursed her lips, frustration welling up in her throat, not ot mention a bit of a rush of natural rogue. She remained silent, rubbing the base of his silken wings with her hoof, wondering what he was thinking. If she did not know better she would have bet he was thinking of other mares. Honestly, she was more upset that she was going to have to go without him for about a month. Luna was certain that something bad was going to happen, to make it worse. He carefully looked over to her with his scarred left eye.

“You are worried.” he said plainly.

“Of course I am. My lover is about to run off to a veritable frozen hell!” she retorted sitting up and scooting up next to him. He wrapped his left wing around her tightly and she instinctively nuzzled her face into it.

“No. You aren’t worried about me. Something else...something ominous...did you have some sort of vision?” he asked her curiously. Luna kept her head facing his wing until he gently placed a hoof on her cheek and guided her to look at him. Of course he could just read her thoughts and find out what he wanted, but that was not how Guardian Angel played it. Luna scrunched her nose becoming more disgruntled with the situation.

“It's just that I don’t like this whole thing. You already know how I feel about you risking your life for that mare. So, I don’t need to remind you of that, but...I don’t know Guardian Angel...I just feel like something is going to happen, something out of our control.” She answered trying her best to not sound pouty.

“Yeah but that’s just how it goes. Gotta do my job after all.” He responded like it was no big deal to him. He had never been very good at lying. If something terrible happened that he could not rectify it would devastate him. Luna just needed to remind him that it would, even if he was tricking himself.

“Oh, so now you like doing the dirty work? Going out and about getting yourself killed, over the most far-fetched of hunches?” she grumbled for him.

“Hey somebody has to save the world, might as well be me right?” he answered standing up from the bed. Luna reflexively found herself using her magic to attach his bags to him, strapping them down. He turned in surprise when she finished their eyes meeting. Luna began to blush again, still sheepish around him despite their courtship. He leaned in to kiss her gently making her cheeks feel more like they were on fire than just flushing.

“I have to get going.” he stated blandly as they finished, noses still touching.

“Oh, just stay, you big baby.” she teased. They laughed together looking deep into each other's eyes. Luna wrapped her hooves around his head to kiss again.

“I love you, stay safe. And take this.” she quickly tied one of her scarves around his neck. She had been saving it for just this occasion, having left it out on her nightstand so he could not dodge when she levitated it to him.

“Love you too, but- what is this?” he stood up pointing to the cloth.

“You know…in case you get cold.” she made up an excuse for her insecurity. He gave her a condescending look of ‘really?’ as he started to take it off. “No no no! Keep it on...please. It just makes me feel better if you have it.” she answered knowing he would not take the scarf without the truth. She smiled at him, before he shook his head in acceptance, a grin of his own perking up the corner of his mouth. He looked up at her longingly for a moment before heaving a brief harumph.

“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” he spoke gently. Luna nodded hardly able to let him walk out of the room. She stood up as he began to make his way towards her chamber’s balcony. He turned as she reached the door to the open platform. Guardian Angel gave her one last long look.

“I’ll see you again soon, love.” he murmured just before he flapping his big wings and floating off the balcony and up into the sky. Luna dashed out to the platform waving as he began to speed off, his head still turned back to look at her. Words almost escaped her mouth before she bitterly bit her tongue, refusing to break their promise. Guardian Angel hated ‘goodbye,’ Luna hated not saying it.

Zeccaran awoke with a start. He looked around the room from the hay-pack cot where he lay. The pain had come to a screeching intensity before jolting him back into reality. Wasting no time he hopped out of the cot and slipped outside into the hallway. He crept along the wall quickly reaching Gusty’s room wondering about the time of day. The dingy light from the torches that bathed the hall would suggest it was still very early morning, but with how often it had rained here in the Baylands Zeccaran was unsure. He turned his attention to the door carefully lifting a hoof up to push it open.

An even fainter light glowed somewhere inside the small quarters, accompanied by a faint set of sniffles. Zeccaran cautiously pushed his head around the corner of the door frame, allotting himself only enough for one eye. There in the murk of the room, illuminated by a withering golden glow, Gusty sat upright in her bed. She sobbed softly, carefully wiping away her tears not even taking notice of the open door or his face peering inside.

“Gusty.” Zeccaran whispered stepping further through the threshold. His hooves, even as quietly as he placed them clopped loudly against the distant sniffs of Gusty and the crackled of the torches. She took notice of him then her eyes watering further as she looked up. Gusty drew her pretty face into an ugly snarl before swinging a hoof towards him in a motion that indicated he should leave.

Somewhere in his mind he was compelled to push his luck instead, “Do..do you wanna talk about it?” he whispered a little louder this time. Gusty’s snarl turned into an outright look of fury.

“Just leave me alone!” she hissed hoarsely. Zeccaran cast his eyes away from his friend. He wanted to help but dealing with such great trauma depended on the pony. He firmly believed sharing it went a long way to alleviate at least some of the existential dread. However, all he could do for Gusty was stand here and see if her initial reaction was merely an ingrained defense and not how she felt.

“Zeccaran. Please...I can’t right now.” came a meek and unfamiliar voice. If the moment had not been such a gravely affair he might have done a double-take. He looked up to Gusty to see her hiding behind her mane her face obscured by shadow and hair.

“Okay. I understand.” he whispered back with a nod. He would just have to leave her alone. But, Gusty was a strong mare, she would overcome the stress and the mental contusion, he just had to remind her that she could. He turned to leave simply because he had nothing more to offer when mumbling from Gusty stopped him. He had to diligently tune out other sounds to even get the barest gist of what she was saying.

“...you do know what it’s like.” he caught part of a sentence she grumbled. “To have your life stripped away and everything…” she squeaked unintelligible words. “I thought I had escaped these memories...this-this suffering, and now its coming back...stronger.”

Until this moment Zeccaran would have never described Gusty as vulnerable. Perhaps she trusted him enough to show him this moment of weakness, perhaps this was who Gusty truly was; a frightened mare, unable to discern the waking world from her nightmares and memories. The small flame of righteous fury lit itself in his stomach. All of Gusty’s behavior, the posturing, the tomfoolery, the overall mania, it was her cover up. He wished he had realized it sooner, maybe he had immediately. That was probably why they had become friends. He was now determined more than anything to help her, even though there was little he could do.

“I’m sorry, Gusty. Why don’t you try to get some rest?” he murmured to her from the door. She cast up a pitiful look to him.

“I can’t sleep again...not-not...for now, anyway.” she mumbled.

“I said rest, not sleep.” Zeccaran gently reminded.

“Oh...oh! Okay yeah, I get it. I should rest. Restore my energy. That’s a good point. Thanks!” Gusty gasped, loud enough to make Bunker roll over next to her. A decent amount of her usual spunk having returned briefly. Zeccaran smiled and waved her goodbye before pulling the door shut behind him. That was a good deed, a good enough deed that he probably was safe from karma for at least a week.

Unfortunately, that was not the case for Zeccaran. As he sat back down on his hay-cot he realized that he was too awake to fall back asleep. This left him to sit mournfully on his bed realizing that the universe had heard his thoughts and intended to jape him in precisely this way. He stood up from his cot thus, and began to make his way towards the Long Hall, merely to abate the boredom. With no specific path in mind he made his way from the guest hall and into that grand main room of Castle Manor. As he opened the door into the chamber he bumped directly into a guard.

“Oi! Ye clumsy oaf! Watch where ya…” he paused after pushing his helmet back up. He gave Zeccaran a cautious look. “Zebra! Da irony. Mine mistress sent me ta fetch ye. A parcel doth arrive for ye early in da’ mornin’.” he spake stiffly through his brogue.

“A parcel? In the morning? What time is it now?” Zeccaran balked completely taken off guard.

“”Tis a quarter past eight, lad. Day’s already begun an hour ago.” The guard grumbled. He clearly lacked an understanding of how late Zeccaran had been up the night before. “Come, ye parcel awaits.” he stated with a motion of his hoof. Zeccaran decided it was best to just follow, there was no need to ask about the strange mail he was receiving.

They walked down the Long Hall before turning into another hallway that branched off the grand room. It was similar to the guest hall, still as brown and plain, but was significantly more narrow. The guard walked him further down the thing stretch before they arrived at a small door, only just large enough to fit the ram. They slipped inside into a bustling chamber full of servants and mail. It was a decent sized room, with stack of packages and piles of letters on the walls and tables. The guard pointed to a rather large box that had curious bars on one side like a jail cell. All the breath left his lungs as recognized the box and a happy presence inside it.

Dashing over to the box, Zeccaran instantly ripped open the door to the cage. Out bounded his slobbering mess of a dog, tackling him to the ground. He did not even notice the screams of the several mail-ewes and the angry, defensive shouting of the guard who had brought him here. He never would get over why everyone thought the wooden dog was anything but friendly. That was when he found himself being ushered out of the room and down the hall he had come. The bitter cursing of the guard along with the hard bones of his skull shoving them down the narrow passage, out a door, and tossing them both out into the lawn of the Castle Manor.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice.” Zeccaran grumbled as he stood. Gunther barked with a plain concurrence. Noticing something strung around his dog’s neck the zebra trotted over and snagged it off his canine companion. It was a rolled scroll, with the Royal Equestrian Seal holding the ribbon that was tied to Gunther in place. Zeccaran gave the presumptuous parchment a tug and the ribbon broke leaving him with the scroll to read. He he unfurled the parchment eagerly, curious as to who sent Gunther to him and what they had to say.

Dear Zeccaran,

It came to my attention just after you left that Gunther had been left behind. I hope it does not take too long for him to arrive in the Baylands. I do not rightly know what he eats but was counseled to provide him with a rations of “jerky.”. May he find you well and again accompany you on your journeys.

Yours, Princess Luna.

“Oh, Princess of the Night, it is no wonder I listened to those cultists, they painted your generosity so very accurately.” Zeccaran mused aloud. He re-rolled the letter and tucked behind his ear as he had not taken his satchel from his room. Gunther wagged his tail violently at his voice, the dog eagerly bouncing on his legs.

“Come on, let’s see if we can sneak back into the Manor.” Zeccaran said to his dog. Gunther just panted ecstatically as his master began trotting along around the the side of the of the building. The timberwolf yipped chasing Zeccaran after a moment, clearly enjoying being free from the cage he had travelled in.

Zebra and dog traversed the side of the castle jogging together through the grass. The facility was larger than Zeccaran had realized, and it took them several minutes to walk fully around the building to the front doors. However, the reached them without incident, trudging along through the dark misty morning. Having spent too much time indoors Zeccaran marveled at the rough hewn grey and brown stone that composed the exterior of the Bayland’s central location of government. It was functional, not extravagant like the Palace in Canterlot. It was hard to believe that this place was the only true center of government in the whole of the country. Dame Gertrude held the Ovis together by sheer force of will and should something happen to this place Zeccaran shuddered to think.

The pair arrived at the main entrance, it was unguarded.

“Welp, in we go, Gunther.” Zeccaran said to his dog with concern. Typically there were at least attendants to watch over the door but today had already been pretty wierd so he shrugged it off and gave the heavy oak doors a push. He slowly slipped them open to find the Long Hall lit fully, golden light reflecting off of Dame Gertrude at the end of the chamber. He could hear talking as he and Gunther began making their way down the hall to the Throne’s partition.

“Then who was the unlucky ram that sired this tart?” Gusty’s voice echoed off the brick of the hall. She sounded quite back to her old self her voice coy and chipper. Laughter of the Golden Dame rang out haughtily at her comment.

“I am no tart, Great Gusty, I am a danish.” came what sounded like a younger more refined version of Dame Gertrude. The hall roared with more laughter at the terrible pun, Gusty cackling right alongside her old ewe daughter. Zeccaran was nearly to the partition by the time he could make sense of who was standing about the grand wooden throne.

Gusty and Bunker sat in lush chairs happy smiles on their faces. But on the raised pedestal sat a curious sight. Two Gertrude the Goldens sat on the throne, each as shiny-sparkly as the other. Zeccaran blinked several times before he came to realize he was not seeing double. The two ewes moved at different times and spoke with differing voices but otherwise were identical.

“You know, if I hadn’t had a second there, I’m pretty sure I would have freaked out.” He said loudly as he passed the partition. Gunther yipped in such a way that it sounded like he agreed. Everyone present jumped only at his dog’s bark, they did not even acknowledge that he had said anything at all, leaving Zeccaran to sigh dramatically with annoyance.

“Where did you get Gunther from?!” Gusty shouted in pure confusion. She was clearly feeling better, hopping up and looking over the timberwolf as if she thought he was an elaborate fake. Zeccaran simply passed her the note from behind his ear and cast a confident look at one of the Dame Gertrudes. He was still unsure which one was the real one, he had to wait for them to speak again. In the meantime Gusty tossed the crumpled note aside with a grunt and a roll of her eyes.

“Well, that out of the way, I would like to introduce to you, Gabriella, my friend Zeccaran and his dog Gunther.” she said with a wave of her hoof towards him. He cast curious glance towards the throne to watch as the ewe on the left to a bit of a bounce down the platform into a curtsy.

“How do you do fine sir?” the young golden ewe said in her sweet voice. Zeccaran blinked his eyes in surprise as she extended one of her hooves in perhaps one of the most formal gestures of greetings. Carefully fulfilling the obligation he to her hoof in one of his and lowered his face to it, he did not bother to kiss. She probably preferred his lips not touch her anyway. He looked up the ewe curiously.

“Judging by the flaxon fleece, milady you are indeed the Dame’s daughter?” he questioned. Zeccaran was still wondering if he was seeing double.

“Indeed I am. And, aren’t you just refreshing? Careful and respectful, good with ettique. So very much more tasteful than my mother...and her..er...mother.” Gabriella the Ewe bleated with a roll of her eyes. Behind her Gusty and Gertrude started to snicker loudly. Loud panting, however, distracted them both from the elder creatures as Gunther padded up right before her Gabriella. Zeccaran drew in a sharp breath of apprehension, while the ewe did not appear to be upset with his dog’s presence he was reflexively preparing himself for the worst.

“Hello, doggie.” the ewe cooed stepping up confidently. “Never have gotten to see a Timberwolf close, is he soft?” she asked reaching for Gunther. Zeccaran went to answer but was interrupted by Gunther whimpering and backing away from Gabriella.

“Gunther what’s wrong? She just wants to pet you.” He said giving his dog a confused look. Gunther responded by moving behind him, keeping his body away from Gabriella.

“Is he okay? What’s wrong doggie?” She asked leaning around Zeccaran to look at Gunther, who continued to yip in stress.

“What is wrong with Gunther?” Gusty questioned as she approached. “Da. He is acting...weird.” Bunker agreed backing her up.

“I-I don’t know...she is just trying to pet him...but he doesn’t like it.” Zeccaran stammered. He was beginning to think the situation was spiralling out of control. Gunther never acted like this, he honestly loved everything around him and only attack things when Zeccaran specifically ordered him to. Gusty trotting up and around him did little to calm him down, sure she was feeling better now, but now Gunther was having trouble? It was all too coincidental for Zeccaran’s taste and the introduction of the Gabriella sent shivers up his spine.

“Well...he lets me pet him! What’s the matter ol’ woody? Are you scared of the color gold?” Gusty cooed. Zeccaran turned to see her petting Gunther with no issues at all. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, or maybe it was the lack of sleep and stress of Gusty’s recent troubles finally taking their toll. He scrutinized Gunther some to see if it had just been a fluke. Evidently it had been, he let Bunker pet him too as the stallion approached and rubbed his dog’s ears. Gabriella began to cautiously step towards him around Zeccaran but the instant she moved Gunther turned worried glowing eyes towards her.

“No pooch, shan’t like mine daughter! What troubles ye Gunther!?” brogued Dame Gertrude hopping down from her throne. “Surely, he be a stranger to her. An’ to me as well.” She strutted up to Gunther proudly and offered a hoof to him. He licked it gently. Zeccaran swallowed hard in a silent fit of rage and befuddlement. He simply could not fathom why his dog disliked Gabriella.

“I be wrong, dear daughter. What did ye do ta’ the dog?!” Dame Gertrude bumbled in shock to her daughter.

“Nothin’! I swear...I-I have no idea why he wouldn’t like me!” Gabriella shouted. Gunther started barking at her raised volume. Zeccaran cast him a withering stare and he stopped. The dog resorted to quietly huffing through his nose in short bleats. Zeccaran just shook his head in defeat.

“I’m sorry. He is just being temperamental. He hasn’t done this since I got him.” He half-lied to the younger ewe. She just shrugged in response a sad little smile on her face. Zeccaran felt disenchanted by his dog’s behavior, it ached particularly intensely because he had actually started having a good day.

“It’s alright, Sir Zeccaran. Not everyone can like everyone.” Gabriella said rather sagely. He turned to contradict her for the sake of argument when a crack of what sounded like thunder stopped him. It stopped his train-of-thought because it sounded like it was manufactured thunder.

“Aye, a strange noise I hear. ‘Twas a bit o’thunder? Nay…” Gertrude grumbled to herself. She was thinking the same thought he had been entertaining. The group remained silent until another boisterous blunder of sound rang out.

“What is that?” Gusty murmured making all eyes look at her. A look of confusion washed over the alicorn’s face as she peered at something on Zeccaran’s left. He turned to behold a pale-faced Gabriella, a gaze of wrath twitching her eyes. Her visage caused him to jump back on instinct, but as quickly as he witnessed it the look vanished leaving him to balk at seemingly nothing.

“Mistress Gertrude! Lady Dame! The city! We are under attack!” shouted a guard accompanied by the banging of opening doors and the stomping of armored soldiers.

“What?! Is it the pirates?! Be they so brazen?!” Gertrude asked her voice sharp and painful. She dashed towards her soldiers barking off marching orders before shouting more questions. Zeccaran found himself being pushed by Bunker and Gusty as they forced him to follow the Dame. Gabriella took the right of the two larger beings Gunther the left and Zeccaran did his best to run in step ahead of them. The mass of bodies and metal pushed along quickly, clambering towards the exit.

“Do we have the harpoon cannons ready?” Gertrude was asking as they exited the Long Hall into the harsh daylight.

“No ma’am.” responded the ram she was speaking to, his ma’am closer to a ‘mom.’

“Then forget mah other order ye nincompoop! We need those cannons ready to fire immediately, they have airships! Ye told me they were ready two days ago!” she growled with a fire Zeccaran was happy was not directed at him.

“I don’t know, ma’am. When we went ta’ emergency stations, we found them disassembled!” the officer crowed right back.

“Who would haff done tha’?!” the Dame shrieked. She loosed an angry sigh, “Then where is the enemy?”

Roar of cannon fire stopped the officer from speaking and the crew of soldiers around them gasped. Zeccaran looked up to the sky wincing from the ringing in his ears. He started wincing instead from the sight of floating sky-ship instead. Its cannons firing a full broadside, an Eyrie-class aerial battleship hovered just above the Castle Manor. It would seem that his studying was paying off a lot sooner than expected. But, that would do little for the innocent citizens of Castle-upon-Barra, their homes already on fire and the screams of the injured reaching into the sky, the situation defined the word grim.

The hovering vessel above had enough firepower to level the Castle Manor and the city along with it. The harpon cannons compromised by either an infiltrator or someone on the inside, the craft was all but invulnerable to arrows or catapults which were the height of the weary Baylands’ army. He could probably disable the ship if he could get onto it without getting killed, but that thought made him shiver in his hooves. He was going to have to try, but without much else to contribute, Zeccaran found a simple statement escape his lips.

“Well, shit.”

Act 2: Chapter 9 - Denial in Both Cases

Power. As a concept it is simple. But in reality, it behaves more like an narcotic. Once you taste it you crave more of it. And it takes a supreme will and help from your friends to overcome that urge
-Princess Luna-

Chapter 9 - Denial in Both Cases

Typically pain was a reminder to body that it yet lived. At the moment it seemed more like a terrible nuisance, prodding her in the sides. Like a needy foal the discomfort increased its attack on her slumber forcing her to subconsciously recognize she was desperately thirsty. Still, that was nothing, she would just relax ignore the troubles and sleep more. That’s when the talking started, as if it had never fallen silent in the first place.

.......................so you survived…................................................................................. I’ll never get used to this.
Gusty… ...........................................................Will I survive next time?............................How’s she doing?
..............................If I just trust my instincts….........................................................................no. trust me…

No longer in a state of panic she was able to finally discern who was speaking. There was the ‘not-her’ voice, her own voice, Zeccaran, and Bunker. It felt good to come to terms with the unearthly sounds but there was nothing she could do to control them as they rattled on asking many more indistinct questions, making unintelligible grunts. They had a rhythm to them that kept her relaxed compared to before. She actually felt a peace, the assault of her own mind rendered null by her state of being.

That issue, however, remained. She still had no idea if she was alive or dead. Clarity in this dark void had long ago been sucked away by the ethereal sensation of floating and relaxation. Most would say a relaxed mind blossomed with thought and understanding; she disagreed. More of the talking, the voices, came and went for an immeasurable but yet instant amount of time. Consumed eventually by pain and a sharp banging of some low type of drum in her head, there was no longer release, instead the annoyance became urgence.

Dull orange light overcame her eyes as she struggled to open them. The torch that cast the burning beams flickered enough to allow her to adjust to the brighter than pitch room. Barely, able to move she tenderly turned her head in an attempt to look somewhere besides the torch. Fresh waves of pain rocketed down her neck and into her chest making her squeak in surprise before she could bite her lips closed. She reflexively jerked too, causing little daggers of agony to stab into her left wing and stomach. Tensing and holding herself still with great effort she tired again to return to the posture she had been in while she slept. It proved futile, even the simple act of drawing breath caused her torment.

The sudden throbbing of her temples made her forget the rest of her body, and with her free right hoof she reached up massage her forehead. Her left was tethered to her chest and sternum probably to keep her from ripping off the rusty bandages that covered her body. The pounding in her skull reminded her of the rather sore, smarting protrusion that stuck out of it. She must have truly burned out her magic before blacking out.

Foolishly, Gusty came to the realization she was her. Her memory of the last few minutes of the fight remained fuzzy but everything else had come rushing back. Everything else came with her general sense of reckless abandon and obligation. She could not remain injured, incapacitated, inside some dark little room somewhere, hopefully, in Castle Manor. Ever determined, Gusty drew magic into her body to cast her sacred heal, hopefully before the influx of power knocked her back out. The magic welled up into her chest quickly, thankfully not causing her even the slightest twinge. It was not supposed to be able to hurt her but with the beating she sustained Gusty barely trusted herself to move much less use her powers.

With her healing magic readied she released her mental focus onto herself. She rejoiced silently as her chest and ribs stopped aching, thankful she could use this special magic without using her still quite sore horn. But she could get over that because of one reason: drawing in a deep breath Gusty exhales in a perfect long sigh. The scant few minutes she had spent writhing in discomfort and suffering had been more than enough for her. The simple act of breathing restored her, she was still stiff but the headache and worst of the pain had subsided entirely. She attempted to stretch her wings to find them bound with bandages. With her horn remaining tender she resorted to ripping them off with her mouth, as well as the sling that held her right hoof to her chest.

After several minutes of struggling, Gusty was free from the bonds. She was pleased to see her body mostly restored, feathers that had been burned the day before now back in place but perhaps a bit messy. The area on her chest where she had taken the crossbow bolt had returned to a healthy sheen of fur and flesh making a broad grin spread her lips. Few were the things that could keep her down, and this had not been one of them. She concentrated, planning on removing the pesky headache and the general stiff and sore extremities with more of her magic. She cast the spell again happy to spend as much of the special energy to catch the blissful high it gave when it was more than she needed to fix any injuries.

Delighted, as the sacred rite poured its power back into her Gusty let her mind wander. Oh, how other ponies would crave such a potent magic, how would they use it for personal gain. That was why it was given only to her, all those years ago, only those of pure heart and spirit could even learn the power, much less use it. She pondered the idea of teaching Amethyst or Celestia, it was something that warranted serious thought and she would return to it later. The blissful feeling of the healing art slowly faded away and, with fire rekindled, Gusty strode purposefully toward the door out ot the dank little room. She had no idea how long she had been incapacitated and it was time to find out.

Gusty tested her horn out by utilizing her levitation to open the door instead of pushing down on the handle manually. She smirked when everything felt totally normal, she felt like she could practically lift the whole of Castle Manor with her levitation, truth be told. She pushed the door open instead, it would not do to cause such a commotion. Glaring light and gasping ponies awaited her past the threshold of the room.

Two stallions had been guarding the room. One was suited in traditional Royal Guard gold, save a more decorative helmet and a orange half-cape. He was a unicorn, tall and broad. The other was dressed in the strange steel and bronze plate mail of a certain stallion’s personal soldiers. Conveniently a pegasus, a lithe slim fellow that had a seasoned look about him. Balking at their presence regardless, Gusty stood trying to reorganize her thoughts before the two fools started ordering her back into the room.

“My lady please, you should go back and get some rest.” the Royal Guard nodded barring her way. The other fool braced himself against the door frame taking up the rest of the space before adding: “Please, miss, it would be for your best interest and ours.”

Feeling particularly offended by their request, Gusty placed a forehoof on each of their breast plating before giving them a hardy shove. They did not lose their balance or topple away, but she moved them a short distance, enough to try to slip past without having to flatout bowl them over.

“I’ve had enough rest; and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get out of my way.” she grumble-growled. She desperately needed to see what had happened to the city, to see if everyone had survived.

The steel-clad fellow cast a wayward glance to the Royal Guard who returned his gaze briefly before nodding in a silent agreement to an equally silent question. They stepped away slowly each staying close to her as she moved into the hallway.

“You will have to accept our company” the Guard started as he caught the snide little raise of her lip, “for a short time. But, only until we are certain you are one-hundred percent of course.” He recovered well enough, but he clearly underestimated who he was dealing with.

“I’m just fine, I actually feel better than I did before the battle broke out. Now, please.” Gusty emphasized her words by extending her wings and forcing the two guards to back away from her. She would not be escorted around like she was some sort of defenseless maiden.

“Miss. We can follow you as loosely as you like, but our orders were clear: We are to maintain a constant vigil over you, regardless of circumstances, until it is determined you are able to fully function. And that is what we will do, whether or not you like it.” said the bold, reckless fellow, as much as Gusty expected him to be for a soldier of such ill-repute.

She loosed an angry groan. “Fine. Just don’t walk in front of me, or be anywhere where I can see you.” They both nodded at acknowledgement of her demand. Slipping past her field of vision and standing a distance behind her when she turned to give them a quick look. No longer hindered but fresh with the chills of somepony watching her, Gusty slowly plodded towards the end of the short hall. A different hall than where her room had been located, she was unsure if the door ahead of her was the way out. Ultimately, Gusty decided that it did not matter and she yanked the ironbound wood open with her magic. Before her a bustling ponies and Ovis hustled by the open door passing left to right in the grand corridor of the Long Hall.

Boldy pushing directly into the moving crowd Gusty began making her way toward the end of the hall that usually housed the throne. However, she saw ahead of her a different sight, thanks only to her height. Tables and charts filled with maps and figurines, but that was the least interesting of the scenery. Dozens of the steel-clad pony guards filled the area in a tight circle, accosting and examining anyone that got close. Inside that ring there were a mix of Royal Guards, both Equestrian and Baylandian. Gertrude remained nestled amongst them as she moved back and forth between different displays. Zeccaran was there too, staring at a pinned up schematic, and covered in what Gusty hoped was oil. Likewise Bunker was nearby, leaning from one set of hooves to the next, also as filthy, seemingly occupied with what his zebra counterpart was doing. Curiously, Gabriella was missing, vaguely, Gusty wondered if she did not have the stomach for the logistical portion of wartime politics.

Upon reaching the outer circle of guards, Gusty gave them a harsh scowl. The apparent commander of the group, a large unicorn fellow about the size of Bunker, gave a hoof motion to his nearby compatriots. The barrier of bodies parted enough for her to pass into the busy center of information. It closed only after her two shadows had made through as well, she would have to try harder to skip her security. However, her interest was taken by Gertrude who was busy grumbling over a map next to two slightly more decorated looking attendants; one stallion, one ram, mirroring the general population of Castle Manor at the moment.

“We hath use our element o’ surprise already” the old ewe mumbled looking at the detailed depiction of the Baylands.

“But dem pirates be cornered up here in the northern mines” the familiar bulky ram replied while pointing to the little double red flag on the map. “Without their flagship they are a poor enemy, milady. We should strike while the iron ‘tis hot!” cited wily MacGerson.

“I agree with the Jarl.” The unicorn stallion stated, his voice thick with a Canterlot-accent, “We can crush these brigands with a single blow if we move now.”

“But what ye both be forgettin’ is tha’ regular folk won’t tahk well to foreign military operating within our borders. Ye’s ponies’ help in securing our economy in our hour o’ need was enough for the lay-ram. Doing more would cause much in the way of civil unrest.” Gertrude paused. “It puts me in a foul position. I kennt mine clans need the help to oust the pirates completely, but I can’t use the help I gots, without having an uprising of mine own kin on me hooves!”

Sensing the perfect time to butt in, Gusty cleared her throat loudly, “Isn’t that what I’m here for?” She said rather coyly. Gertrude and her two attendants looked up the later pair showing only mild interest. The former made up for their lack enthusiasm by gaping jaw and wide eyes of shock and confusion.

“Gusty. Be mine eyes betraying me?” she whispered just over the bustle of the crowd.

“I don’t know why they would be. Unless somepony cast a rebellion spell on them!” Gusty smiled at her own ridiculous sarcasm. Gertrude fixated on her in response unable to move or blink. With an abrupt change, she flinched, before raising lip and brow in surprise. Her expression ended with blur that resulted in Gusty finding air beneath her hooves. Gertrude completed the tackled and jumped repeatedly on her chest and stomach.

“Ye crazy mare! Don’ ever scare me like that again!” she shrieked, her voice a shrill combination of squeaking a bleating. Gusty levitated Gertrude up to prevent getting beaten up all over again by her friend’s extreme excitement. The Dame’s screaming had drawn the attention of the gathered group and by the time Gusty had gotten off the ground, she was greeted by her two oil-covered companions.

“Gusty, you are alright!” Zeccaran and Bunker shouted both hugging her tightly. Her husband’s open affection she could handle. She had not been ready for Zeccaran to help him pounce her and almost knock her to the ground all over again. Feeling her cheeks flair red with embarrassment she looked away from her husband and friend. She spied Gertrude, still floating securely in her levitation, eyeing the situation with jealousy.

“Oh, come on Gerty.” she said lowering the Dame Ewe to the ground, “Group hug.” She jumped up and landed in the center of the ponies clinging to Gusty’s face and neck due to her diminutive stature compared to the majority of the group. They remained that way for a time, the crowd around them silent, waiting for them to finish. This just made Gusty feel more self-conscious and with the introspection came the voices again.

.................I can do this, I can do this...........................................................I promise: I'll help you get through this
You can’t trust him............................................................................................No! It’s the only way!
................................Welp, looks like we are going in. ................................................. Da!...........................
...............Because you helped me......................................................Why would you help me?

The cascade of words ended as quickly as they had come, but that fact did little to make Gusty feel better. She blinked a few times to make certain she was still in Castle Manor and not back in the twilight zone between life and death. Although she remained anchored in reality, the background hum of indistinct voices of both friends and enemies remained. Abscently still caught in the hug, Gusty wondered if they had always been there, and she could simply not hear them before. No matter what the answer was she would be forced to learn how to tune them out. The embrace of friends came to and end.

“Well, I guess you are doing better. We weren’t sure if you were gonna wake up, if you didn’t make it through today we were gonna send for Celestia to personally come.” Zeccaran said giving her a curious look. Bunker nodded neck to him, a huge grin brightening her husband’s face

“Aye! Nothin’ short o’miracle to see ye up and at’em! Even with tha’ magic o’ urs.” Gertrude concurred wiping tears from her eyes. The Dame adjusted a small little crown of silver that Gusty was fairly certain was being wore purely to distinguish her from her daughter. Either way it was the first time Gusty had seen here wear it and the head gear seemed almost out of place on the ewe. However, there were other matters to attend to: like ditching her new pair of shadows. She looked around the small gathering to find them standing next to one another as far from her as they could possibly be.

“Alright you two! Come here.” she shouted to the two guards. They headed instantly, before she had even asked them to come over. Once the reached her she continued: “As you can see I’m doing just fine. I’m surrounded by my friends and family and you can stop following me around: no matter how short of a time you had been doing it!” she declared.

Instead of the two answering her demand she was interrupted by Zeccaran and Bunker

“Stiff Inspection?!” “Captain Garrison?!” they yelled respectively, in unison.

The two oil covered fools then proceeded to ask their individual compatriots when they got here, why they were guarding her, and then turned to look at each other in genuine confusion. Seemingly aware they had simultaneously made idiots of themselves, they just stood waiting for answers before slowly backing up closer to Gusty.

“To answer your question, Sir Bunker: by order of her Royal Highness Princess Celestia I was sent with specific orders to ensure the safety of Gusty Twilight until such times as she fully recovered, then I was to deliver her this message.” He paused to clear his throat before turning to make eye-contact with her. “The Princess wishes you well and says that while she expected you to stir up a bit of trouble for the pirates she did not expect you to become so egregiously injured in the process. She expresses regret that she was unable to help tend to your wounds personally, and recommends you take higher degrees of caution now that you have recovered. Not that she expects to persuade you.” he concluded.

It was definitely a message from her friend. Had it not been for a change of pronouns Gusty might have thought Celestia was playing a rather bad joke by enchanting her voice to sound like a stallion’s. Satisfied, she nodded approvingly to Captain Garrison, who saluted in response before dropping into a more relaxed posture. Bunker motioned to his friend in a way that expressed that they would catch up later. Gusty smiled at her husband’s prioritization of her, he still had to tell her what had happened after she blacked out. There was just one more obstacle, and she turned to face him.

“Guess it’s my turn then?” He said with a tone so intentionally dry it sounded like he was mocking her.

“Get on with, stallion. I do not have time for your employer’s games.” Gusty scowled at Stiff Inspection.

“He said you would say that.” The parched rhythm of his voice disappearing with a cocky grin. Gusty let out an angry groan, even on a different continent that demonic asshole managed to annoy her.

“Anyway I have a letter here,” Stiff Inspection said pulling a metal parchment tube from his armor and pulling a scroll out.

“I’m not going to re-”

“I know; he said you would refuse... so I have to read it.” the messenger stallion chuckled again. He was accompanied by a small giggle from Bunker. Gusty turned on her husband, staring daggers into his soul.

“What!?” He proclaimed starting to outright laugh. “Is funny. Stormwind always one step ahead of you, da?” Gusty just scowled harder doing her best to ignore Zeccaran making small squeaking noises behind her which was the zebra’s way of concealing his most intense laughter, she did not dare turn to see his face. A brief moment of clarity struck Gusty, that though she was being made a laughingstock, the background murmurs were much easier to ignore when she was having a moment with her closest companions. Now if only getting embarrassed did not suck quite as much as it did. Another clearing of a throat brought her full attention back to Stiff Inspection.

“Dear Gusty Twilight.-- I find your reckless behavior most unappealing. How daft a mare are you? Only a total moron would have charged so foolheartedly into death. You should have known better. If you could not even hit me the lowliest of creatures when I am unarmed and unprepared; how do you expect to defeat well-armed and ready opponents? Perhaps next time you should think before you act. You were lucky to survive, I was not there to pull you out of trouble like the last time you bit off more than you could chew. Be a dear and refrain from such foolish actions in the future would you? -- His Eminence Lord Stormwalker of Cloudsdale”

Gusty flat out growled. She lifted the pegasus delivering the filth-rag-ramble to her in her magic. He did not struggle and instead merely looked over the edge of the parchment with mild annoyance.

“Ma’am, first of all, don’t shoot the messenger. Second, I’m not done.” The Stiff said.

“You think I’m going to sit here and listen to this dribble for one more second you have another thing coming!” She started to telekinetically slam him into the ground when Zeccaran gave her a shove.

“Stop that. He’s just doing his job.” he grumbled at her. Gusty cast an angry glare at him, no one ever understood the gravity of the disdain she had for Stormwalker. And the fact that everyone else was merrily going along with this nonsense only made her angrier. Circumstances and a lack of the demon in front of her however stayed her hooves and mellowed the righteous fury enough to keep her from harming somepony who had nothing to do with her frustration, directly. She gave a sharp nod to Stiff Inspection to continue before setting him down.

“Pee. Ess.” he continued as if he had never stopped reading in the first place. “I am extremely amused by how upset you have become Gusty. I hope you realize the sarcasm in the main message, I just so enjoy ruffling your feathers. Please stay safe and I am overjoyed you are doing well. -- Loyally yours Gee. Ey. Stormwalker.” The messenger then proceeded to crumple up the parchment and throw it in Gusty’s general direction.

“I’ll catch ya later, Zec, sometime when the company is a little less hostile.” he said as he strode away.

“Yeah, just come by the airship after dinner tonight!” Zeccaran called after him. Stiff Inspection gave a nod over his shoulder before slipping out of the guarded area. Gusty felt her jaw drop a cold chill of shock traveling quickly up her spine.

“D-did you say...airship?” She asked Zeccaran tentatively. He nodded with a mumbled yes of confirmation. “What? It didn’t actually work did it? Tell me I'm still comatose in my room.” She pleaded with him.

“Uhm...you’re back in your room comatose? And I definitely haven’t been restoring a very damaged Eyrie-class warship for the last ten days?” he gingerly responded, his voice spiralling up in tone until it was almost just a squeak.

“I’ve been out for ten days!?” She shouted while the gathered group just nodded stiffly back to her. Gusty reach a hoof up to her mane and stroked it nervously. It was no wonder why Gertrude had tackled her or why Zeccaran and Bunker only could smile and hug her. Stuck still by the realization Gusty barely registered Gertrude speaking to Jarl MacGerson and the Royal Guard from before.

“Madam Dame, we hate to interrupt but,” The guard started, “Important plans await ye’s choosin’.” finished the ram.

“Aye, aye, aye...just a moment then. I hath one last bit to tell Gusty.” She said. “Oi! Gusty lass! Snap out of it!” Gertrude shouted pulling Gusty the rest of the way out of her stupor with a clap of her hooves.

“Wha-what?” she whimpered rubbing her temples before looking down at the ewe.

“It seems ye have a not-so-secret admirer.” Gertrude snickered up to her. The golden fleece of the ewe sparkling in the overtly lit planning area as she shook from contained laughter. Gusty curled a lip up in revulsion, she was not about to go there.

“An’ I don’t kennt what ye think, bu’ if I weres-ye I would take advantage of such-a situation especially if he be soft for yeh.” her past-daughter murmured. Gusty glowered at Gertrude; the mischievous little ewe had went there. She closed her eyes and tried to sigh strong enough to lower her stress, unsuccessfully.

“First of all: Bunker is right here.” She reinforced by literally slapping a hoof onto her husband’s withers. He responded with a curt nod and a grunt towards Gertrude, it was likely played up for her benefit, Bunker was good to her in that regard. She released another long breath trying to make her tone sound less furious than it was truly. “Second: Are you suggesting I be...unfaithful.” she simmered. The word nearly burned her tongue as she said it.

Gertrude gave her a careful squinty scrutinizing look, leaning up towards Gusty’s face as far as the smaller individual could. Upon reaching the very end of her hooves the ewe broke her gaze and burst into a short fit of laughter before recovering, wiping her eyes.

“No! Never! Ye be thinkin’ I was suggestin’ something ill!” she snickered still calming down. “I merely suggesting, no, I’mma tellin’ ya: That stallion would do anythin’ for ya iffan-a ya just ask.” Gertrude bleated still shaking from her wide smile. “An’ a little flirtin’ never hurt!” she started to laugh fully again.

Gusty pursed her lips thickly and decided that trying to stare at her forehead was a better use of her frustration than tongue lashing Gertrude. How could she blame her past-daughter for not seeing through Stormwalker’s facade? He had fooled everyone else besides her, and Zeccaran she supposed; even Bunker seemed to at least enjoy the rampant demon’s dry, unfair sense of humor. Thus Gusty continued to trying to catch a glimpse of her face without a mirror out of sheer spite at the thought of him.

“Well.” Gertrude said after a moment, “Thanks for the laugh mum. Bu’ the powers that be demand mine attention. I’m sure these two fools will glady fill you in on what happened at tha’ soiree ye crashed.” With that said the Dame Ewe turned and left. Gusty stood there idly attempting to re-rail her train of thought back to what had happened after she had blacked out. Anything was better than fixating on her chief nemesis anyhow. Around her the bustle of ponies and Ovis increased and the clopping of hooves and the murmuring of voices became louder. The effect made it harder to ignore her underlying current of unease and mental background chatter. Eventually, several moments longer than it should have taken, Gusty turned to look at Zeccaran and Bunker.

“You doing okay?” Zeccaran asked, as he unconsciously rubbed some oil from his face. “You look a little spacey.” Gusty nodded more in agreement to his statement

“Yeah I’m okay.” she responded dully. She wanted to be strong and ignore the tugging fear from her mind. But, somewhere there was a part of her that knew she was not alright, and that even though she could survive it, her symptoms would only get worse. Gusty quashed that tiny little thought into oblivion, banishing it deep into a place she could not hear it.

“So what the heck happened anyway?” she asked, pushing herself forward. “Did we really capture the airship?”

Clearly sensing it was his moment to shine Zeccaran puffed up his chest and even stepped toward her some. “Yes. Yes we did. And I saved you from falling to your death!” he proclaimed. Gusty just returned his declaration with a raise eyebrow and a cocky grin.

“Yeah right. I’ll bet Bunker did it.” she retorted.

“Bunker can’t fly. I can turn into a giant eagle.” the zebra deadpanned back unwilling to play ball. “In fact besides you, I’m the only one in the entire country of the Baylands that isn’t a pirate that can fly.” Gusty gave Zeccaran a long disbelieving look more to frustrate her companion than to question him. She was as interested in the story as continuing to push the zebra’s buttons. Cocking her head to the side, Gusty blinked rapidly at him causing Zeccaran to expunge an exasperated breath.

“Anyway.” he grumbled as he pinched his eyes shut. He looked up bags evident under his eyes that Gusty had not noticed before. “I had been chasing you across the deck when you took the crossbow bolt to the chest. I was literally right behind you when you went berserk.” he shuddered.

“Da! It was crazy! The very air was electric-fied!” Bunker chimed in his eyes wide and sparkling as if he was reliving a cherished memory. “I had not seen such a display of power. You are true warrior, wife.” He gave her a very proud hug. Gusty squeezed him back for a time to hide the small blush the compliment gave her.

“Well, did I hit anyone?” she asked Zeccaran from over her husband’s shoulder.

Zeccaran paused and rolled his eyes up towards the ceiling in a strained look of concentration. “Yeah…you actually managed to down one of his lieutenants. You didn’t knock him out, rather just blew a wing off. I don’t know what type of magic you were casting but what looked like stunbolts were more like beams of explosive energy. You even blew a sizable hole in the aerial-tug they were using to escape.” he answered.

“It was incredible! Was like fury of righteous angel!” Bunker concurred breaking off the hug and almost too enthusiastically keeping his hooves on her shoulders.

“Wow...I didn’t know I did that at all! I guess the lieutenant is dead then? If that didn’t kill him the fall probably would have.” she mused rather beside herself. She knew she stopped holding back there right at the end of consciousness but the thought of herself firing stunbolts strong enough to rip apart flesh and metal was unsettling.

“Yeah, he is dead, but he didn’t die because of you.” Zeccaran answered.

“What?!” Gusty was completely shocked. There was no way a griffon could have flown to safety after having a wing tore off by magic. They were simply too heavy.

“Yeah he managed to glide down and fall into a bailing cart. He was promptly captured.” her friend answered.

“Then what happened?” she asked.

“It was right after you hit that guy that you took the bolt to the wing that knocked you out. Luckily I was watching from the deck and when you started to fall I was able to transform into an eagle again. I dove and caught you at pretty much the last second. Dislocated both of my shoulders doing so, but you lived. A couple of soldiers helped me stabilize you and put my joints back in place. Then between me, Dame Gertrude, and a local doctor we managed to remove the bolts and not kill you in the process. Trouble was you had taken a couple blows to the head during the fight and we weren’t really sure how well you’d fair in the long run since you never did wake up until today.” Zeccaran concluded.

Gusty took a moment to process all that had been said. Lacking the proper preparation for such a harrowing tale about herself, she had to work through the blur of the battle and injuries she had repaired with magic not an hour ago to make sure it had happened. However, It could explain why she felt incredibly hungry and why her mouth was sticky and dry.

“Hey! That’s right! You be more careful! It would bring me great dishonor if wife dies.” Bunker said in the most scolding voice Gusty had ever heard him use. “And worse...it would make me cry! Me a warrior of the Great forest!” he added nuzzling her. Gusty felt bad at first but shooed him away after he kept nuzzling, she liked displays of affection but that was enough. In truth, she cherished Bunker’s concern and would simply have to reward him later, he would appreciate it.

“Then what happened to that Griffon then if he was alive?” as she scooted closer to her husband for the simple approval of his bodily contact.

“Well...somehow...in the midst of an interrogation that Gertrude and Gabriella were conducting he started spasming. He was quickly foaming at the mouth and bleeding from his eyes, and was very dead. Someone poisoned him somehow. It was an inside job for sure and frankly as far as I’m concerned the only two real suspects, dare I say, are Gertrude and Gabriella themselves. No one had access to his cell except them, that we know of, and since security was tightened after what happened with the anti-balloon cannons I can’t imagine a spy having slipped through, short of being invisible or a changeling.” he said with shake of his head. “And the odds of those two things are pretty low, especially with Stormwalker’s personal troops here.”

His words left a cold terrible ache in Gusty’s stomach like she had been stabbed with a frozen knife. “There is no way Gertrude would do that.” she said coming to terms with the other options, knowing already which she was picking.

“I think maybe I’ll talk about that later. We are being watched.” she said quietly.

“Uh..okay?” Zeccaran responded. “So what are we going to do now then?”

“Food!” Bunker nearly yelled. Gusty swooned at her husband, he knew exactly what she needed.

“Bunker’s right. I need to eat, then we can come back and help Gertrude, whether its toppling the pirates or getting to the bottom of this conspiracy I don’t care.” Gusty announced her agreement.

“You are just now thinking about the conspiracy? Didn’t you think it was odd that as soon as we got here were almost killed by a bomb!?” Zeccaran shrieked at her. The area fell silent as Rams, Guards, and Cronies all turned to look at the group. Gusty just levitated her zebra companion up into the air and put one of his ear to her mouth.

“I don’t know. I can’t know until I eat. I’m literally starving, now come on!” She glowered into his ear. Message received Zeccaran fell silent, Gusty left the planning area for the nearest smell of food. Bunker followed humming rather merrily beside her as she carried their fifth wheel behind them.Zeccaran definitely had a point but for now it would have to wait.

Act 2: Chapter 10 - Diplomatic Immunity

“Sometimes best thing a normal stallion can do is shut mouth and prove worth with action.”

-Bunker-

Chapter 10 - Diplomatic Immunity

In the northern conference room on the big sofa sat Princess Celestia. It was her favorite piece of furniture. It coupled nicely with her favorite room, excluding her private quarters. In fact, she even had a cup of her most prized tea, a green jasmine, blowing its steam and perfect scent up into her nose and eyes both. Truly the instant was picture perfect save for one issue; across from her each with their three sets of limbs tied in heavy shackles sat three Griffon Empire Imperial Emissaries.

They had arrived three days ago, about ten hours before she received word that the capital of the Baylands had been attacked. Not only had a ally nation entered a conflict, but the Equestria Diplomatic Delegation had not received their immunity upon the start of the conflagration. To make matters worse, the delegation included one of Celestia’s newest and closest friends, and upon hearing that she had been seriously injured the Princess had the delegates detained.

It had been a clear statement of the Griffon Empire’s intent when the reported attack was conducted from an Eyrie-class aerial battleship. Even if the purported crew were “pirates” mere “pirates” had little chance in successfully stealing one of the Empire’s state-of-the-art dreadnaughts from her moors in Griffonstone. Should that had been the truth then at the very least there had been a significant and dangerous error in oversight amongst the military state’s top personnel when it came to informing the rest of the world about a rogue vessel of such scale and power.

With the same gravity of the deadly situation, Celestia precisely hovered her tea to her mouth. She kept her face expressionless as she peered over the rim of the fine china directly at the most senior member of the Emissaries and took the loudest sloppiest sip she could manage. The middle-aged griffon, Faulkes was his name, cringed and looked away. The diplomat knew exactly how tenuous his situation had become. Celestia was certain, although she had kept her expressions and words professional, he knew of the seething rage lurking just beneath her calm surface. She could not tolerate acts of war, much less acts of war for no reason other than to have a war, particularly when they had put a personal friend in a coma.

Ever since the griffons had reformed their society after Torch’s Massacre, six years ago, their new government’s chief form of diplomacy had been military action. Truly, it was nothing short of a miracle that she even had negotiators to detain. Levitating her tea away from her face some she cleared her throat in that little authoritative way that got ponies’, and in this instance griffons’ attention. They all looked back at her cautiously as she cast one last cursory glance over them.

“I know it has been several days since I have talked to you three, but I would like to hear an explanation as to why a Empire-made ship was used to attack one of my ally nations.” she went right to the point. There was no need to mince words when the only question left was whether or not the Griffons were sponsoring an armed invasion of a peaceful sovereign nation.

“Princess…” Faulkes started before just trailing off. He quickly found the floor more interesting his eyes shifting rapidly as his brow pinched in thought. “...I have no explanation for that.” he said.

“Indeed. Perhaps you also have no explanation for why you would assume Dame Gertrude would not ask for help from Equestria? Her only international ally? Maybe it is tied to how Gertrude appeared in my court one day, unannounced with only four bodyguards?” Celestia retorted. Even through the thousand years of regency and grace, the smallest of edge could be heard in her voice. She was grateful for the milenia of practice, it was the only thing keeping her from outright yelling.

“Umm...yes..that is a rather long set of coincidences.” Faulkes concurred, still refusing to give any form of coherent answer. Celestia fixed him with her best plain stare, before pulling her tea back to herself to take another boisterous drink of the calming liquid. All three of the diplomats cringed this time. Several of her more cherished friends that had attended court over the years always mentioned how unpleasant the sound of her slurping tea could be, and how it usually worked to her advantage during debates or negotiations. They had always told her it was both intimidating and disgusting to have somepony voraciously, callously enjoy a beverage when lives and fortunes were on the line. Celestia could already see their assessment had rung true for Faulkes and his attendants, and she intended to push that advantage for all that it was worth.

“Then perhaps it is time that you explain some of these coincidences to me. Let us start with an easy one: why was it that you arrived here the same day of the attack?” she queried.

“Well, we notified you through traditional channels, your majesty. I have no applicable reason things fell that way. We arrived on schedule...and I was surprised as you. Even more surprised when you had my staff and I thrown into shackles.” Faulkes appealed attempting to play the victim card. He actually did a good job, his iron binds helping quite a bit. It perhaps would have fooled a younger, more mortal ruler. It was a veiled insult, touching carefully on how Equestria typically handled foreign affairs, with total amnesty for all non-combat delegates. However, Celestia had long ago run out of patience for games. She could practically smell the international intrigue and the Empire trying to justify for war or at the very least military action.

“Insults?” she questioned as such, “Perhaps you misunderstand the direness of the situation Sir Faulkes, or perhaps no one has told you, an Equestrian diplomat, more specifically, a Royal House Inductee, was injured in the attack. Equestria is at war with the Empire. Or perhaps that had escaped you?” Celestia glowered allowing the correct amount of disdain to further seep into her voice.

“I-I-I..umm. I-I have not had contact with any of my superiors, the null-field on your vee-eye-pee cell is quite potent.” the diplomat stammered sweat visibly swelling up through the feathers on his face. “Even now we have not been allowed to speak with them.”

“Why would you? You are prisoners of war after all. In fact you are my most valuable asset in preventing full-scale conflict.” Celestia answered before taking another obnoxious lap of tea. She was loathe to lie on the topic of her statesponyship but if a few lies could prevent a war then a few lies she would provide. She would have to thank Lulu and Stormy later for their contribution to the anti-magic arts. The null-field that allowed her to be in this position was of their research team’s design. Had the diplomats been able to contact their command they would have been prepared to counter her in this meeting. Ultimately, should the investigation reveal that the events in the Baylands had been sponsored by the Empire she would be quickly telling the Imperial Emissaries the truth.

After overcoming their initial shock, Faulkes and his two staffers immediately began arguing about the severity of the situation. They managed to keep themselves speaking in vague enough terms that no worthwhile information was released. They persisted trying to either blame one another or their commanders before Celestia got bored.

“So should you wish to discuss relevant policy with regards to peace before unnecessary deaths start accumulating I would be overjoyed to indulge you.” she cut over the top of their bickering. Faulkes turned and looked at her brazenly, his eyes wide and his face feathers standing on end.

“Princess Celestia, the Griffon Empire has no intention of escalating the conflict. Even without speaking to my superiors I know that for certain.” he answered. “What assurances do you require to prevent escalation?” he asked hurriedly. With the weight of his countryfolk’s lives in his claws the senior diplomat stopped playing games. Celestia smiled, it would seem that the Empire had no interest in fighting Equestria in a formal war. Whatever powerplay they had been trying to execute in the Baylands had failed too thanks to Gusty and her crew, now all she had to do was seal the deal.

“I would require several things. First and foremost total disavowment of the ship and crew that made the attack. Even should our investigation somehow prove them seperate from the Empire, it will be the first sign of trust.” Celestia acquiesced an answer. She wanted to instill a levity of commitment to this plan in Faulkes. The griffon and his staffers shook their heads in agreement. Celestia sat her tea down and popped a quill and parchment into existence so she might right down the agreement formally.

“Yes. Please, we need a formal document to bring back to the Emperor and his council. Even if it has unfavorable terms it can at least still be negotiated that way.” Faulkes said with a rapid approving nod. “What else do you need?”

“Reparations of a yet undetermined sum be paid monthly to the Baylands for two years. I would suggest food, or goods nothing too extreme. However, the council will have to negotiate that with Dame Gertrude herself. Not doing so will be considered violation of this agreement.” Celestia said as she wrote with her magic.

Faulkes visibly relaxed where he sat bond in chains. “That is...much more reasonable than I was expecting. For what do we owe such grace?” he asked looking at her in wonder, the griffon gasping for deep breaths as if he could not believe he was awake.

“I am not such a fool to expect the Empire to take kindly to my interfering in their plot to overthrow one of their enemies’ government. When it comes to international politics I have been around the longest and know sometimes even the most terrible of situations needs a delicate, thoughtful touch.” she replied continuing to fill out the appropriate verbiage in the agreement.

“I-I-I don’t ...I-d…..how did you know?” Faulkes finally stammered out. From behind her paper Celestia froze, plumed pen still touched to its surface. Even all the years of stoic reactions to devastating news and having to tell mothers their children had died had not prepared her for Faulkes to admit the Griffon Empire had played a part in the attack. She kept the document close to her face as she calmed her breathing and her face. It only took her a few moments, but her rage still found its way into her voice.

“A certain mind within my most trusted predicted most of it. He knew Griffon culture the best, especially after your recent government change. I trusted his judgement and placed agents in the Baylands the instant he advised me.” Celestia responded coldly.

“When was that?” Faulkes asked in return. He looked defeated, clearly aware of the severity of the espionage misstep.

“Not quite a month before Dame Gertrude would quietly arrive in my court.” she said. Faulkes looked between his staffers and they each twitched a bit in a silent conversation. They did this for only a moment before Faulkes sighed and turned to look back her with new, severe bags under his eyes.

“In this instance, I have been advised by superiors previously, and I am ready to sign any agreement. But, I must ask one question first; is Dame Gertrude alive?” he offered his question.

Celestia charged her horn instead of answering. Before her as she pinched he brow in concentration manifested a small purple orb. Spell complete Celestia fired her magic into the orb thinking only of the receiving pony in the Baylands. It took about a minute before a scratchy hiss sound began emanating from her orb.

“Princess Celestia? How may I serve you, your highness?” came the voice of her second guard captain.

“Captain Garrison, would you please find Dame Gertrude and ask her speak into the spell?” she asked the guard.

“Of course your majesty, she is right here with me.” Garrison responded.

“Ohh! What magic ye be throwin’ into mine home, Celestia lass?” the brogueish voice of her favorite foreign friend asked.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience Gertrude, I was curious about the progress of the defense. It is most important.” she said. Celestia carefully used her voice to try and coerce Gertrude in doing something candid.

“Ha! We idn’t on the defense! Thine bonnie lass Gusty Twilight had seen ta’ tha’. The warship tha’ attack us be in our possession an’ we have those pirate fools trapped in the northern mines!” Gertrude cackled through the whispy sound of the voice projector orb.

“That is excellent news. I presume my little heiress is doing well then? Since Captain Garrison is nearby you now.” she asked. Celestia could hear Faulkes shifting uncomfortably in his shackles almost whimpering as he had to endure the embarrassment of a ground bound race of Ovis having captured a aerial battleship.

“Ohhh...Gusty be doin’ fine. Mayhaps better than before tha’ incident, a resilient mare tha’ one, haha!” Gertrude further hammed it up. She had always been good at reading an international dilemma, it was why she was Celestia’s favorite ally.

“That will be all then Gertrude, thank you.” she responded with a smile.

“Aye, ma’am. Be sure to cut a good deal for me an’ mine! Until next time.” Gertrude said just barely hiding a laugh. The voice projector spell fizzled out in the next instant.

She turned to look at Faulkes who had most of the color drained from his brown face, making him look more like the white-headed variant of griffon. Ever so carefully Celestia levitated her tea and parchment document back into her face never breaking eye-contact with him. She took another noisy sip of her lukewarm tea and kept writing the rest of the agreement out. It took her just a few minutes to ensure that none of the language would allow for any loopholes. Lowering her equipment from her face she used her magic to release Faulkes who quickly but stiffly strode forward and looked at the hovering contract.

He read it slowly in silence his color slowly returning to his face, but sweat and flayed feathers remaining. Eventually he finished and looked at her as if he was staring at some kind of eldritch horror. Unfortunately, this caused her to giggle rather unbecomingly as she dropped the quill and document on accident, making Faulkes bend down to pick up the items while he turned his face away from hers red hot from her laughter.

“Where would you like me to sign and where would you like my superiors to sign?” He questioned shakily after she finished her titters.

“Anywhere in the blank section below the body of the agreement...and do make that thirty day deadline, Sir Faulkes.” she said ominously as she released his attendants. The three griffons each signed the document before turning to leave. Faulkes, however, stopped at the door.

“Princess you’ll have this back by next week. You will have to forgive my initial reluctance to cooperate, I was under strict orders to maintain silence unless certain criteria were met.” he stated, his tone a haggard one. He met her eyes briefly a look of soreness expressed in them like the legs of an old arthritic stallion.

“One last question if I may, Princess?” He asked cautiously. Celestia nodded more than happy to indulge the poor bird’s inquiries.

“The stallion that knew...was he the one that killed Tor-” he started

“Yes.” she answered quickly before he could finish. Faulkes nodded in return, biting the edge of his tongue in the griffon equivalent of biting a lip. He remained transfixed like that for a moment before drawing in a rigid breath.

“I do not look forward to explaining to the Emperor and his Generals how much more we owe to that stallion.” he mumbled through his now swollen tongue.

“I would consider yourself lucky. The only reason he hasn’t been present for this meeting is because he is out of country.” Celestia mentioned with an intentional half-heartedness.

“Then I’ll remember to say a few more prayers to the gods to keep that luck strong. I’ll need it. Farewell, your majesty.” With his last goodbye stated Faulkes followed his staffers out the door and disappeared behind an escort of her guard.

Celestia remained seated on the sofa slowly pondering over who she should tell first about the Empire’s involvement. The expected revelation had come in such an unexpected manner that she was still mulling over the circumstances that would have allowed the plot to unfold. She came to a simple conclusion that left her mind racing; if Stormy had been right then the Baylands was about to enter a civil war. She had her excuse to intervene now thanks to Gusty’s Gusty-ness and Gertrude’s shrewd planning. But, if Gertrude took the risk to sneak herself out of country under the threat of being captured and sought her out specifically to request support then that could only mean one thing: the Dame Ewe knew her opponent personally. Or at the very least knew that whoever was attempting to overthrow her knew exactly what she was doing at all times.

This conclusion left Celestia stumped. Who amongst Gertrude’s Jarls would allow griffons to stake claim to their country? Most of them were the children of the Ovis that tossed the lion-birds from their land in the first place, none of them would ever allow them to return. With no reasonable suspect Celestia resolved to discuss things with Luna. Should they come to an epiphany her younger sister could quickly communicate it to one of the team through a dream. Hopping up from the sofa less gracefully than she intended, Celestia beat a hasty route to her sister’s chambers. She hoped that with their minds combined they might find an answer to who was sponsoring the Empire’s interference.

Whoever it was had just become Equestria’s most wanted individual…

Having executed a hasty retreat from Gusty’s disturbing display of consumption, Zeccaran found himself staring at his precious, the Midnight Onyx. That was what he was calling her anyway. She sat tethered to one of the Castle Manor’s towers a wide plank set from the deck just below his hooves on the battlement. With Gusty laid up over the last half-week he had been left alone to his thoughts along side Bunker and the Onyx. The peace and quiet made him desire something to do, much like during his normal times in Canterlot. The ever nagging foreboding of existence also helped compel him to keep his mind occupied. It would not do to become enraptured in his own prison of thought.

Still, he had not forgotten the precariousness of the situation they faced. It had not taken him long to realize who was behind the plot. Just having been around them a few times Zeccaran could see the bad blood amongst the Bayland’s regents. He even suspected Gusty knew something more than she claimed. However, he was working only on circumstantial evidence and the coincidence of more physical things like the Onyx. Even with all of the substance in place he had no idea why Gertrude and Gusty both would allow the Baylands to fall under attack in such a manner.

The only thing he had concluded was that something personal was preventing them from settling the rebellion. For Gertrude this made sense, with the chief suspect in Zeccaran’s mind her own daughter, the ewe likely could not work up the grit to imprison her child, much less execute her. Gusty, however, had no excuse, he felt certain that if he turned evil, or just had a bad thought, Gusty would pound him into the dirt. Perhaps she felt sympathy for Gertrude’s plight? Then again, he was not entirely certain Gusty could perceive the emotions of others beyond what she assumed upon them.

Regardless, the debacle had led him to work endlessly on the Midnight Onyx. It had only been three days but the ship was combat ready. Working around the clock with a lot of help from Bunker and several of Stormwalker’s mercenaries, they had repaired all of the damage done to the vessel. It was a true feat of ingenuity and teamwork. Trees had been chopped, local smiths had been contracted, magical skill was tested, and over five-hundred square yards of canvas was sewn all to make the airship operational again.

Surprisingly, the majority of the structure was wooden, with only the keel, the deck frames and two suspension beams were made of steel. This allowed the beast of a blimp to sport a fully enclosed balloon that spanned the entirety of the lower superstructure. It completely filled the space below the cargo compartment which was a scant two decks below the top deck. Tendrils of even more balloon were stitched to wooden decks and structure beams to the point where they nearly covered the walls. It was no wonder that when Gusty had destroyed the top balloon the vessel had remained in the sky. Marooned she had become but certainly not carreigning to the earth, that was what had allowed the pirates to escape. Thus over the three days he had personally inspected every inch of the internal balloon and the inner wood structure finding it to be nearly as durable as the metal armor the ship carried.

It is a good thing G.A.S. asked me to study these vessels. He thought as he presently made his way to the engine room. I would have never been able to fix this thing had they not. Those mercs of Stormwalker’s seemed to know too, but that hardly makes sense. That would mean that at the very least G.A.S and Stormwalker are working together, and I can hardly picture ol’ Stormwind doing anything to benefit me.

Finally having arrived in the most aft portion of the vessel that was the engine room Zeccaran began undoing the locking mechanism on the door. He was only able to access the engines thanks to an earth pony that had been helping him. She was a sharp filly to be certain but seemed out of place in her almost too big armor. Having broken the locking mechanism she had helped him replace it and make a new sequence for the doors mechanisms.

Since the lock was purely mechanical, they came up with a code for which gauges and levers. One had to swap the mechanisms into their correct positions before even getting a chance to access the combination lock. Then after successfully putting in the lock code the gauges and levers needed to be switched into their final position in thirty seconds or the door would lock and become electrified for at least an hour. Most would see it as paranoid and overtly complex for something that could be circumvented by magic or explosives. They also would not understand the volume of either needed to breach the door, an intruders time would be better used just destroying the Onyx instead of disabling it.

She was creme-colored...I really should have gotten her name. Why can I only remember the colors of mares, these days? He grimaced at himself. He had just put in the lock’s combination in and was struggling to meet the thirty second deadline. Completing the mechanical sequence with one second to spare he heaved the heavy wheel that was the final thing barring his way inside. With a shove and a grunt he pulled the thick door open to look at the most difficult part of his repair process: Twin eight-piston Grover-class engines and their super-condensing boilers.

Whoever had been working on them before had not been properly cleaning them. He was still trying to clean the hardened coal gunk off of the inside of the boilers’ blowers. The build up was bound to happen but all you needed to do was turn one boiler off and let the pipe cool before giving it a good scrub with a steel brush. Sure it turned off one engine but this monstrosity only needed one to maintain a modest airspeed. With both running the airship was capable of catching slow pegasi, a feat that was truly an unpleasant statistic.

“What a mess.” he grumbled to himself as he grabbed an new steel brush from the tool box left in the engine room. He got to work grudgingly not trusting anypony but himself to work on this piece of equipment. His thoughts began to wander again as he got to scrubbing.

Seems awfully convenient for Stormwalker to have armed forces on standby he petitioned internally. Perhaps Gusty has a point there. Still that leaves the why. Maybe he decided to take precaution due to Gusty? That seems like him. He paused to switch hooves and he finally chunked off the most stubborn portion of re-burnt coal. But if I was an impossibly rich monster I would want to crush two wheat stalks with one stone right?

Zeccaran scrubbed more fiercely as he continued to think it over, almost afraid of where his line of thoughts was taking him. So how do I do that? I would have to know that this airship is going to be here. I would have to know that I needed technicians on site to look over it and to repair it. I also would have to know that Gusty would disable it, not destroy it. Those are some pretty long odds. He would have to be omniscient...and even so arranging the circumstance seems...tedious.

He just finished finally cleaning the exhaust blower as he let the thought die. He closed up the port and opened the main hatch to the firebox of the boiler. Inside sat unused coal looking rather sooty and wet from what appeared to be a leak from the main body of the boiler’s water chamber. He did not have a patch piece or a welder handy and he did not feel like going and getting one either so he closed the hatch back up and moved to the main body of the boiler. The machine was massive, easily the size of a small cottage and took up the whole aft quarter it was in; thus it took a moment to reach the access port near the steam bulge that collected the pressure. Popping it open, he stared at the piping that forced the steam to drive this engine’s eight pistons.

He trotted back to the toolbox to grab a set of crank clamps to give them an inspection. He slapped the clamp onto the pipe and started to give it a squeeze with the incremented crank. He got the first pipe tested successfully without it showing any bend before the threshold point. Moving on to the next his thoughts digressed to his previous debacle.

You know… He mused internally. That theory works only if Stormwalker and G.A.S. are the same pony. But I still don’t see him helping me...unless i’m just being used as a fucking pawn for something greater...and Equestria getting its hooves on a world-class aerial dreadnaught, or rather him getting his hooves on it which seems like a feasible end goal for that mad-stallion.

Zeccaran moved onto another pipe his second test successful. Although this seems about the most roundabout way to get one. It makes me wonder if he was planning to hijack one of these himself at a later date. He has to have his own set of spies...he already has his own special military. I just wish I understood why Celestia and Luna would allow him to have either. What’s worse is now I’m pretty sure that kind little letter I received way back when was just a clever ploy to make me work hard. And now I’m too invested to quit too! He should really try his hooves at international espionage I think he would be good at it...then again...he probably already is…

Brushing the thought aside Zeccaran focused entirely on what he was doing. He did not desire to have his musing stray back to the subject of that monstrous stallion and his spheres of influence. He persisted repairing and inspecting the number one engine even after his limbs and head started hurting. Hours blazed by and eventually after securing the pistons to their drive wheels and propellers he stared at the last piece of the puzzle: the stuck open exhaust maintenance door. All he had to do was route the blower exhaust to the outside funnel and he was ready to toss a fireball into the firebox to light the coal and boil off all the water on it. He had even managed to fix the leak and fill the boiler chamber up about halfway with fresh water.

Standing on his hind hooves he reached up to the blower and placed his whole weight on the close flap he had completely refurbished after its cleaning. Trouble was, he had tightened the hinge without greasing it and now he stood shoving the flap closed with brute force.

“Close...you...rotten...bastard!” he growled at the metal each time a mighty shove slightly pushing the blower closed. He lowered himself down and stared menacingly at the door. In a fit of frustration and exhaustion he flung himself towards the flap, making a jump to hit it with his shoulder. He slammed into the steel, causing a loud shriek and moan to erupt both from himself and the door. When he finally rolled over after falling to the floor in pain he looked up to see the blower flap shut and ready for activation.

Rushing over to the piston control he pushed it into neutral for the pressure to build to useable levels. Swinging open the firebox door Zeccaran forced a fireball from his tired limbs directly into the coal. It impacted the dark matter and erupted in golden-orange flames with heavy hisses and cracks as water was flash boiled off and the suddenly dry fuel sparked into its pire. Worn and sore Zeccaran barely remembered stumbling over to the pressure meter to watch it quickly climb into its little green indicator. He smiled abscently as the lucidness of sleep overtook him and pulled him down into its bliss along with his feeling of success.

However, the relaxation lasted only for a brief stint. Too brief for it to be truly rejuvenating, Zeccaran was left pining for the relief he had felt as he began dreaming. Fortunately, it was a pleasant dream, he was outside looking up at the moon taking in the warm night’s air in the Canterlot gardens. The scene felt disturbingly realistic, even the dream-Gunther who rested next him felt as harsh and barky as he did when Zeccaran would run his hooves over the Timberwolf’s back. That was how he knew it was a dream at least; he had let Gunther go hunting on his own shortly after he had gotten his dog off the airship. He would not be back until tomorrow.

A flash of light briefly blinded Zeccaran and by the time the dream scene had become a less painful experience he could hear the dulcet tones of Princess Luna’s voice. At first he was confused as to why she was visiting him. The last time she had come to entertain him in the dream-world had resulted in her commandeering his consciousness. He had gotten comfortable with the occurrence, she had done such to him several times now, thus he waited for it to start again. Rather disappointingly, nothing happened besides Luna and now Celestia talking, so he started listening instead of just waiting.

“I have always found him quite interesting, more a miracle than anything” the elder sister mused.

“A miracle? In all seriousness, ‘Tia, really?” Luna asked incredulously to the statement.

“Well, of course. He’s a marvel of modern magical ingenuity, there hasn’t been a similar instance in an individual since well before Starswirl’s time, with objectivity to how it was done, of course.” Celestia answered with a rather scholarly air.

“Pah!” the younger sister scoffed. “I do not know what is worse, that he was resilient enough to survive the procedures or that he was resolute enough to justify all that death and remain in control.”

Zeccaran stood up from where he had been staring up into the sky. He could not see the princesses but knew that Luna was likely having them spy on him though a partial portal. Plodding along aimlessly the zebra listened closely trying to determine where the two Equestrian regents were hiding by just sound.

“Wait, where did he go?” Celestia wondered. With his mind’s eye, he could almost see the oversized sun-pony squinting through the portal looking for him.

“I believe he is aware of our presence and is looking for us…” Luna’s voice trailed off behind a fizzsop! of magic being cast. Another flash of light stung Zeccaran’s eyes, forcing him to blink away tears and rub his left instinctually. When his vision cleared both Princesses stood before him in the dreamscape lording their height unintentionally.

“Here he is!” Luna declared merrily in contrast to her previous bit of sulking. Of course Zeccaran knew she deeply enjoyed “dream-seeking” for ponies, but the sudden change of mood felt forced. He pushed the thought from his mind, Luna had probably already noticed it, but he’d could at least feign ignorance that way.

“Good evening, your majesties.” He replied with a bow.

“A good evening to you, Zeccaran. Sorry to interrupt your sleep but I come with a matter most important.” Celestia spewed in her graceful manner. It was no secret he prefered Luna, but he was always kind and formal to Celestia face to face, there was no need to be rude when he could keep it inside. Then again, Luna’s broad grin told him somepony had heard his description of her sister’s speaking.

“It’s no problem, I’m just more surprised you are here with Luna instead of just asking her to ask me…” he answered voice trailing off. He was truly baffled why Celestia had come to speak to him personally, she had never done so before.

“Certain matters require a personal touch my dear zebra, but in truth Luna and I are here together to see if you can shed some light on the local political turmoil of the Baylands. And...to inform you of some rather unpleasant news with regards to international politics.” the sun mare responded with a rather upset tone. Zeccaran only could look back in confusion, what had been happening back home, he wondered. Placing a hoof up to his chin in thought he refrained brief to motion in a circle that the princess should continue.

“To bring you up to speed as quickly as I can let me just say this: Griffons.” Celestia obliged. Zeccaran cocked his head at her in response he had an inkling of an idea but felt skeptical.

“Okay.” he started. “If what I think you mean by ‘griffons’ is right...then at least I have an explanation for the fully loaded warship I’ve been repairing.”

“Indeed. SImply put the Griffon Empire’s involvement has been exposed and dealt with accordingly. Whoever is sponsoring the rebellions in the Baylands is now without their support. Which leads me to my, well...our question.” Celestia said as she turned to her sister. Luna made a small nod before meeting Zeccaran’s eyes.

“Do you have any insight on who would be trying to dethrone Dame Gertrude? Sister and I have been going over the reports for the last twelve hours and are unable to reach any conclusion.” the mooney mare stated rather plainly. He struggled to hold her gaze, the irony of them asking such a question to him making him feel rather stuck.

“Funny you should mention that…” he rubbed a hoof through his mohawk in a vain effort to straighten it. “I have been thinking about the last three days and came to answer...but I don’t like it to the point where I’ve been coming up with ridiculous theories for other perpetrators.” he replied with a deep grimace.

“Who are you thinking it is then?” Celestia chimed in. Her forward posture displaying her eagerness regardless of her calm question.

“Did you know Dame Gertrude has a daughter?” he asked instead of just stating that she was a culprit.

“What?” both alicorns balked. They looked at each other then back to him with strained faces somewhere between total shock and pure dumbfoundedness.

“Guess that’s a no.” he said to them. It took them both a moment to recover, each pacing about the dream in her own manner. Celestia hoof on chin as she swayed back and forth and Luna head down eyes squinted hard at the dream-ground trotting in a loose circle.

“That is rather unfortunate information.” the elder princess finally stated after her counterparts third circuit.

“Indeed. While I am not as familiar with Gertrude as you are sister I think I know where you are going with this.” Luna said despondently.

“Yes. But, it is the only option I can think of; how else can we explain the Dame’s lack of action. How else could she justify the suffering of her own people?” Celestia confirmed. Zeccaran looked between them inquisitively. They clearly had understood what he had been implying, but perhaps they had a new angle, a better answer to that question.

“Gertrude...she is much like Gusty...perhaps more extreme. She has always put her friends and family above all other things ever since I met her all those years ago.” Celestia continued not looking at either Luna or Zeccaran. Her gaze was somewhere else, like she was deep in her own mind.

“Is that why she is so informal around us then?” Luna inquired.

“I’m afraid so. Gertrude does not view us as rulers of another sovereign nation but instead simply as ponies, not alicorns or demigods...just ponies. To her we are simply equals, something that has lead to her country and her foreign policy to be disdained by the rest of the world leaders.” Celestia stated. Zeccaran took time to mull over her words and the implication of how it played into the situation.

Without a proper network of allies, any upstart in the Baylands could garner support from foreign nations over Gertrude. In all other instances the Dame Ewe would have discovered them and dealt with them immediately, leaving the only option Gabriella.

“In effect because of her mentality,” Celestia interrupted his thoughts, “Gertrude is a mother first, and the leader of her people second. And when it comes down to it, no matter how far things go, no matter what her daughter does, no matter how much suffering or death she causes, Gertrude, as her mother, cannot bring herself to hurt her.”

“But, that means that Gertrude would allow herself to be dethroned...and an Empire-friendly ruler would take her place.” Luna cut in, her voice shaky. “Being the only major land mass in the Great Ocean, they could easily stage a full invasion from there onto our western shores! This could completely change the world’s political climate!” she rattled off her eyes settling on Celestia. Zeccaran had to agree, the Griffon Empire having access the Baylands was not something Equestria or the rest of the world needed.

“We have to convince Gertrude that she must do something to stop her daughter.” Luna stated firmly. He found himself nodding in agreement also looking at Celestia waiting to hear her thoughts.

“I think she knows that. I also believe it was a stroke of fate that put Gusty in my court to be that catalyst. But...even with her memory loss, I do not believe Gusty can harm her surrogate granddaughter.” Celestia stated.

“Then what do we do to stop Gabriella?” Zeccaran asked the fateful question. Celestia’s eyes widened for a brief instant and her face snapped over to her younger sister. Luna did not notice at first until Zeccaran flicked his eyes back and forth between them.

“Sister?” she said to the sun mare.

“Luna. I want you to listen to me very carefully.” Celestia’s voice was deadly serious in such a way that it almost gave Zeccaran the chills.

“I’ve dealt with his kind of stallions before: Choose. Your. Words. Wisely.” the Princess stated. Zeccaran felt his spine shake of its own accord this time. Whatever Celestia was referencing he did not understand, but who really could understand the point of view of mare that was considered a goddess? However, Luna took the advice with great trepidation written on her face. There had been words exchanged that he had not been privy to, Zeccaran was certain, and Celestia’s warning meant little to a stallion that would willingly do anything Luna asked of him. Eventually, Luna cleared her throat and with a brief shake of her head spoke.

“We would like you to do whatever Dame Gertrude asks of you to resolve this matter.” she stated.

“Sure. That shouldn’t be too hard.” he replied. Both alicorns sighed before him, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Zeccaran had a feeling he might regret thinking it would be easy.

Act 2: Chapter 12 - Cracked Perseverance

“It would be unwise to test my patience further. While I have retained my civility, I must draw the line here. I will not allow any additional insults to be made against Gusty Twilight. Unless, perhaps, dear Prince, you are intending to challenge me to a duel of honor? Though, I must admit, the thought of pummeling you into the ground sounds particularly enjoyable...”

-Minutes from the Equestrian Commonwealth’s first quarter meeting-

Chapter 12 - Cracked Perseverance

Gusty stood idly on the deck of the Midnight Onyx waiting for her to depart Castle Manor. She scratched at the collar of her mail uncomfortably with the day as she stared down at the rest of the deck. The blood and the gore had long been scrubbed away and the heavy wood of the airship shined even in the dusty grey of the morning. Ponies of different shapes and sizes rummaged about talking to each other informally. Like her they eagerly awaited their departure, uncontent to sit still. Turning from the bustle of the so named Equestrian Special Guard Service, she walked up one of the sets of stairs to the helm. Bunker and Zeccaran sat there arguing over something trivial by the ship’s wheel. She ignored them as they bickered, still stuck on yesterday’s events.

It had been a sleepless night. Between trying to get Gertrude ready to lead her people again and listening to the old ewe weave the tale of she and her daughter’s falling out, Gusty was emotionally exhausted. The Golden Dame’s doting stories had also solidified Gusty’s determination to do anything besides killing Gabriella. She did not have to tell her past-daughter what her intentions were. In fact, whisking the rebellious princess away to jail in Equestria felt like the best decision. Should Gertrude come to visit in thirty years or so, she was sure the elder ewe would be overjoyed. That was her plan at least, Gusty could not fathom killing Gabriella, the thought made her head hurt even now.

“Bah! You pull mechanism like you are jerking tree limb!” Bunker’s proclamation was interesting enough to make her focus on it instead of the looming headache. Gusty took a few steps closer to the arguing stallions to hear better.

“Well then what do you suggest? Just leaving it out of gear?” Zeccaran shot back sarcastically.

“You watch, zebra boy. While you work on engine for four days I learn how to use engine.” Bunker moved his compatriot out of the way with a hoof and stood up on his back legs to brace himself on the wheel.

Reaching for a seemingly insignificant lever he gently pulled the mechanism down. As he did Gusty could hear a loud hiss slowly start to build in strength. Suddenly a low rumble of something mechanical below the deck groaned. A dial was reached for next that listed piston power in various colors, Bunker twisted the indicator to the red “Max” before pulling the dial out away from its face. There was a clunk afterward along with a belch of air and smoke from behind the stern of the vessel. With a sly chuckle that mirrored the suddenly vibrating deck, Bunker reached for a final lever and slammed it down to match its twin.

A tremendous roar of the magically-fired steam engines echoed across the trees and the town of Castle-upon-Barra. Bunker stood clutching the wheel with his hooves laughing like a madstallion. With the mighty sky vessel readied, he turned to Zeccaran with a smile that was more a sneer.

“See!?” he shouted, “It is like pleasing mare, takes finesse, no?”

“Bullshit! How in the world do you even know what any of those do?! I barely know what they do and I’ve literally studied the engines for almost three years now!” Zeccaran growled with a stomp of his hoof.

“I find manual in captain’s quarters while you dig around in engine room. I read and try levers out while in neutral gear, see?” Bunker pointed to how he had pulled the throttle dial out away from its frame.

“THERE WAS A MANUAL!? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!?” the zebra shrieked with such intensity that Gusty actually reached to cover her ears.

“Da.” Her husband calmly grabbed his backpack that set near the wheel, before producing a thick dusty looking book. He gave it to Zeccaran a small grin growing on his face. The zebra snatched it and opened it to a seemingly random page and stuffed his snout into its words. After a few moments he looked up, his eyes narrowed and his scowl becoming reserved, but no less menacing.

“Would have been nice to know.” He slammed the manual shut. “Could have definitely sped up the repair process.”

“Eh. I just tried out its examples over last two weeks in spare time. You read book, you’ll learn. Is made for babies.” Bunker nodded. Gusty at this point was smiling broadly. Her husband had always been a capable sort but this had taken the proverbial cake. She just opened her mouth to tease Zeccaran when an increasingly familiar set of hooves followed by a throat clearing stopped her. She turned to look at Stiff Inspection.

“Are we ready to depart? It is best we return to Canterlot before inciting more violence here,” he petitioned the group.

“Yeah. We are ready to go, just got the engine primed, I guess,” Zeccaran answered. The soldier nodded and began to turn away, Gusty ground her own voice box to get him to stop. He paused and looked at her curiously, the bags under his eyes betraying his stress.

“We are not leaving the country you know. Gertrude has a final task before we leave,” she told him. Stiff Inspection turned fully around to look at her.

“Excuse me, I believe I just heard someone making my mission harder, say again?” he asked his voice betraying his irritability..

“We were asked to go to the pirates’ hideout and kill or capture the group.” She was not much for lying, but at least this was a ‘mostly-truth’ situation.

“Ah. Delightful. Well.” He bit his lip looking down to the deck and then back up to her. “I suppose then it is time to inform you this unit will remain here with you regardless as our objective, once the Griffon Empire’s involvement was confirmed, is to return you to Equestria.”

Gusty shot him a quizzical look.

“I did not mention it before, nor did Captain Garrison. This unit’s only purpose is to protect you and your companions. Once the situation escalated, we were to remove you from it. Thus, I must ask why you are so insistent on following the Dame’s orders?”

“That is because the Princesses specifically asked us to.” Zeccaran chimed in for her.

“Indeed. I guess that puts me in a difficult position, as I can’t exactly deny the Princesses will. I intended to just insist that we leave, but…” Stiff Inspection rubbed his temples with his wings.

“This is a special mission that only myself, Zeccaran, and Bunker will be participating in,” she stated, “You don’t have to accompany us.”

“Yeah. That’s not gonna fly. Letting you run around in a cave is not exactly ensuring your safe return at all costs. As per my orders.” He paused for a moment before heaving a sigh. “Welp. Can’t be helped. So much for not inciting more violence.”

“Who ordered you to protect me at all costs?” Gusty retorted feeling violated by the issued command.

The lieutenant answered with a simple hard look into her eyes. Turning about sharply he floated down from the helm on his wings. His silence had been enough of an answer, and the answer nearly made her blood boil. Stormwalker.

Damn him, she thought to herself. I can’t believe even not being here he manages to cramp my style.

Gusty continued to pout to herself wondering how she was going to flush out pirates while being followed by a platoon of guards. Looking down she mulled over how she would take revenge, trying to find inspiration in the shiny planks below . The deck of the airship suddenly sparked a memory in Gusty. Especially since she had not seen him since she had woken up about a week ago. Anything to take her thoughts of that stallion.

“Hey!” she exclaimed looking towards Zeccaran. “Where is Gunther?”

“Not to worry, he’s on the ship in my cabin. I’m not about to forget my dog.” her friend raised a hoof in defense.

“Where’s he been anyway?” she prodded further.

“I let him roam. He had spent most of a month in a cage just getting shipped here,” he answered sagely.

“Wasn’t that dangerous? To let a wolf roam around sheep?” Gusty almost could not believe Zeccaran’s irresponsibility.

“He was fiiiiiine. Nobody here is even scared of him,” was the answer she received. Gusty rolled her eyes, she was simply relieved the timberwolf had not eaten some innocent lamb or worse. The rumbling of the airship’s engines prevailed for a moment as she looked between Bunker and Zeccaran.

“My dear husband…” she let her voice trail off as Bunker looked at her. “Take us to that pirate hideout.” He nodded enthusiastically before beginning to fiddle with the controls again. The engine’s roar quieted some as the stallion made his adjustments. However, as soon as he slapped the gear control the massive rotors behind the vessel screamed with a violent fervor. The wind the buffeted, hissed, and snarled as the propellers tore the air apart. The great floating ship began to slowly lurch forward. Bunker hastily adjusted the wheel as the deck tilted from misaligned steering rigs. He waved them away after completing his task.

“Zeccaran!” Gusty tried to bellow over the rumbling air. “We should go inside!” He nodded and they began to make their way to the main deck. Most of the soldiers were quickly moving below deck through the central hatch. They moved slowly as the wad of bodies pressed down the stairs into the bowels of the vessel.Through the group of milling ponies Stiff Inspection stalked up to them his face somewhat more relaxed than before.

“Does he know where he is going?!” he shouted some. On the main deck the sound of the rotors was lessened by the helm’s elevated platform.

“I can assure you he doesn’t! He just happens to know how to fly this thing!” Zeccaran screamed. The zebra was stuck too loud from before.

“Alright, I’ll guide him then. Once he get this thing up to full speed, it shouldn’t take more than two hours to get there.” Estimate given, Stiff carefully walked past them and up the stairs. Tired of waiting Gusty lifted Zeccaran in her magic and ushered them both inside the initial cabin space. Almost all of the extra sound died away and she heaved a sigh of relief. Her friend scowled at her from her levitation making her grin and set him down.

“Come on.” Zeccaran motioned for her to follow him. It was the first time she had actually been inside the ship after all. The hall that they were in had several doors each presumably the fine sort of cabins with the big windows on the stern of the vessel. However, her companion led them past the doors and to the end of the narrow hall.

Bending down Zeccaran grabbed a latch that was laid flat in the wood floor and pulled it up. The wide trap door swung upwards without much issue and revealed sharp angled stairs that led down below the top deck. The polished steps were just large enough for her to fit comfortably and she followed the nimble little zebra down into the bowels of the vessel. Pausing briefly in the new hall Zeccaran took in a deep breath. He resumed trotting in the dimly lit hallway and stopped before a plain door. Gusty turned to her left to notice the path they were on opened up into a large bunk room opposite Zeccaran’s room. The space ended in a set of large doors.

“Hey, you coming in here or what?” her friend pulled her away from gazing idly around the room. She looked back at Zeccaran and followed him into what appeared to be a rather dirty workshop. Strangely, it seemed that her companion had managed to find several contraptions that he kept in his lab in Canterlot. Gusty stared in a vague sense of deja vu as she looked around the miniature lab. A short yip surprised her and before she could react Guthner was licking her face. She pushed the wooden canine down, giving him a stern look before stroking his back.

“Looks like this is your own little slice of paradise,” she said more to the air than to Zeccaran. Rustling paper drew her eyes from a diagram on the wall to where the zebra wrestled with a partially rolled map. Grabbing the edge of one of the tables with his mouth with a jerking motion he laid the map flat and placed random objects on it as paper weights.

“There,” he grumbled before signalling her over. Gusty took a few steps and leaned over his shoulder. She beheld a strange depiction of some place she did not recognize. She looked at Zeccaran in confusion.

“This is a map of the mine where Gabriella and the so-called Pirate King are hiding,” he responded to her silent question.

“Oh!” she exclaimed as he continued.

“Yes. I had only one other chance to look it over, so this is the perfect time to find a way to trap them.” Zeccaran nodded more to himself that to her.

Gusty started to pour over the map only to find herself growing increasingly frustrated. She understood the shape of the various passage and chambers but the way the map was laid made her eyes want to cross. She managed to persist long enough to establish that there were two tunnels that branched off of the main shaft. These tunnels formed a loop like formation that had a number of interconnecting passages. Other than those being great places to confuse one’s pursuers she felt deprived of proper reference.

“How big is this place?” she asked. Her exasperation clear even to herself.

“It’s huge. Easily bigger than Castle-upon-Barra,” Zeccaran commented. He reached a hoof over the table at the same time as the whole ship gave a low creak as it turned. After waiting for the sound to stop he tapped his leg on a formation Gusty had looked at but ignored.

“These are what I think they will be hiding in. Each one as an emergency tunnel to the next one over. They could make their ‘last stand’ and then slip away,” he stated. “The rest of the area is either too open or too dangerous to try that in.”

“Why so?” Gusty gave him a confused look. Perhaps she had missed something about the map’s depiction.

“Because this area experiences regular cave-ins. Look at the way the path randomly changes direction.” He traced the area he was speaking about.

“But they don’t know we know that...in fact I bet they don’t think we’re coming for them,” she declared.

“Awfully confident of you...no. I think they know,” Zeccaran disagreed, “But maybe you are right, about the map, they likely assume we could not access the cargo bay where I found it.” He rubbed his chin for a moment looking down at the map in concentration. Gusty had no idea what he could have been concocting, Zeccaran was crafty in that way.

“They know we have the airship, but even with Gabriella teleporting there, it’s been...not quite a day. They will be probably preparing to engage Ovis. The main army of the Baylands, not this ship or the soldiers on it. Even though you pretty much told Stiff to piss off. Real smart call by the way. Just throw away the additional help we need to round up these brigands. Ohhh, it’s a special mission for just me and my friends!” Zeccaran had gone from analytical to mocking her recent decision.

“I don’t want them involved. There’s no reason we can’t handle this. We managed to capture the Midnight Onyx with virtually no help.” Gusty shot back.

“I guess you forget the part where you were put into a coma for nearly four days.” He looked at her with great disdain. “Or maybe you don’t remember due to the head trauma?” Gusty blew him a raspberry in response, it was all she had left. Stalking away the skant short distance she could from the table she heaved a sigh of acceptance. Zeccaran was, unfortunately, right.

“Well where should we deploy this special guard then?” she turned to ask. “I still don’t want them running around in the tunnels. Following me...”

“Fair enough. Although I’m sure they won’t listen to us. But we might get the majority of them to to lay in wait outside the cave.” He looked as if he was deep in thought momentarily be for his face relaxed to an almost annoyed expression.

“So just drive up park the Onyx and have them wait for the hapless pirate to come running, huh?”he inquired lazily. Gusty nodded her approval. She had rarely fathomed planning things like this and was more than happy to defer the strategy to him. Afterall, she was always more of an active player in a battle, her recent actions here in the Baylands quite potently proved such.

“You want the pirates captured, correct? Since you are actually the diplomat-soldier on this operation I just wanted to be sure,” he asked. Her friend was giving her an extremely serious look as if he had come to some deep realization upon stating that she was in charge.

Gusty cleared her throat, and gave him a concerned bit of squinting, deciding she need to be more specific. “I want all of them captured. I will not see to the murder of my daughter’s kin. No matter what Gertrude said.” For a brief moment Zeccaran’s face darkened before he nodded at her words.

“Gusty.” He gave a pause that felt too long. “Understand as emissaries we are obligated to fulfil Gertrude’s wishes. And...after everything she told you yesterday...I think we have to.”

She practically snarled at Zeccaran. Closing the distance she puffed out her chest and stared him down. Gusty could not endure the thought, and she would not allow her friend to think it either. However, to her surprise he did not flinch instead his gaze was harder than the steel of her sword. The last time she had seen Zeccaran make such a strong glare was back in the Cave of Nyx, when he denied Stormwalker his revenge. Whatever the zebra had decided in his mind, she was not going to stop him, not if the threat of a demonic beating had not deterred him. She relented her stare and looked away from him, ungainly grunting as if she had missed something important and no longer could participate in the conversation.

“Just don’t do anything stupid.” she told him and let silence reign over the moment. An excruciating pain welled up suddenly like a bursting dam, in her temples. Moaning instinctually she sat back onto her rump grabbing her skull with her forehooves. The pain’s intensity made her stomach do a flip and nausea made her suck in short sharp breaths. Zeccaran was next to her in an instant.

“Whoa! What the heck is going on!?” He caught her from falling over as the world spun from vertigo. His voice sounded distorted as if he was yelling through a metal tube or a tin can on a string that a child might use. He held her as the onslaught of suffering dissipated to a particularly uncomfortable throbbing in the center of her forehead below her horn.

“Not sure,” she managed soon after, “seems like a sudden headache attack I guess.” Gusty cautiously stood using Zeccaran briefly as a brace. She closed her eyes as the oil lamps flickering lights made her eyes flash colored images of something she knew was not reality.

“Are you okay then?” her friend asked.

“No. But I will be if I take a nap, I’m sure it will be fine,” she replied already groggy from the mere thought of finding relief from the migraine. Nearly stumbling as she pushed forward out of the little workshop, Gusty realize that her words were not even convincing herself. It took everything just to shuffle towards the bunk room and ignore the similarities this sensation had to past events. Zeccaran followed her closely making sure she made it to a bed.

“Do you want me to wake you up about ten minutes before we are there? That way you can get your armor on?” He asked softly into her ear as she collapsed on the rough spun pillow.

“Yes. I guess that means you had the Guard gather up my stuff then?” Gusty could hardly believe the hoarseness of her own voice. The reprieve of relaxing her legs was already taking its toll and she struggled to retain consciousness. It did not help that the pounding in her skull made it feel like her thoughts were going faster than her waking self could comprehend.

“I did. What would you do without me right?” Zeccaran teased in far off echoes. She managed a smile before she could no longer hear her friend. The world receded into a blanketed darkness that managed to relieve her stress and pain. It was a welcome sensation and Gusty relished the moment of empty bliss for the short instant it lasted.

Awaking with a bit of a start Gusty found herself in her home. It was not her current home, no, it was someplace else she had lived. It seemed a whole age had past since she had had such a lucid experience. However, with how severe her flashbacks and other mental projections had been of late it made everything seem like it was a long time ago. At least this time she knew it was fake and not a reality that would be shattered when she woke up.

Looking around the room she found it bordered by curtains and alabaster pillars. It was the same place she had seen her first day in the Baylands. Somewhere in her mind a stray thought reminded her to go wake her daughter. A part of her knew that it was just a figment of the dream another part made her wonder why it was always a female child. Gertrude, Amethyst, how many other “daughters” had she had? The thought came and went as she followed the familiar path through the curtained structure to her daughter’s room.

She drew the dark blinds away from her daughters part of the home. Creeping into the chamber a deep sense of nostalgia and love foamed up into her heart and cheeks. Having done this before Gusty could not help but play out the memory as she approached the lump of covers on the strung hammock bed. She just needed to time it right to jump on the swinging bed to cause enough spring and bounce her sleeping daughter into the air much like she would Amethyst.

Gusty found her ideal position and waited to make her leap. The bed swung towards her and she dove towards it like a leaping cat. She came to a soft stop hovering above the bed as the canvas continued to swing, the soft hum of levitation in her ears. The lump of covers rustled some and out popped the head of an alicorn. She was a pretty little thing, with a rich brown coat and a shiny black mane even in the dull light of the coordinated room.

“Aren’t I a little old for you to be trying to scare me out of bed, mom?” she asked her voice even finer than Gusty remembered. Her tone however was dry enough to make the Saddle Arabian Desert seem wet. Gusty liked to think she got that from her father. The younger alicorn put her down on the still moving hammock and gave her a look of curiosity. She could not help but smile at the moment and the memory. In a way the sensation of displaced euphoria brought her thoughts to how she come to this point. Why did she have these memories, these dreams? She wondered what had happened and how long it had been since the petite mare in the hammock had been dead. How she knew that, Gusty did not want to know, but the fact remained.

“Are you going to say anything or are you just gonna sit there and stare?” her daughter questioned as she continued to gaze at her in a stupor. Gusty rolled over making the bed rock in an unstable way, trying to push away the thoughts of her existence.

“Just wondering why you are sleeping in later than me is all,” she teased. Gusty used her magic to pull the blanket tight over her daughter’s face. The younger alicorn struggled as the aggressive cloth and Gusty’s giggles began their assault.

“Dammit, mom!” she cried flopping out of the suspended bed a particularly angry look on her face.

“Watch your language, young lady,” Gusty scolded.

“I’ve been old enough to cuss for a good thirty years and that’s what you say to me? Some things never change do they?” the tousled youth grumbled. Gusty found herself subconsciously kicking herself for forgetting that demi-goddom came with a lack of age; it had been too long since she had real time spent time with other alicorns. The last three years with Celestia should have been a reminder about time’s lack of affect on such folks. However, when you are surrounded by normal everyday ponies as your main companions you quickly forget that. It was getting hard to deflect the personal cliff diving experience the more she thought about the disparity so Gusty resorted to more actively participating in the dream.

“Well...how have things been?” she asked more as a conversation starter than a serious question.

“I just told you yesterday.”

“I want to hear it again.”

“You really are getting old aren’t you?”

Gusty rolled her eyes. That joke was ancient even when her past-child had said it then. A sudden change in the lighting of the bannered room turned her attention toward one of the outer canvas walls. It seemed as if clouds had suddenly billowed up to block out the sun. The darkness felt almost unnatural, Gusty squinted her eyes at the still curtains her daughter also silent and suspicious of the change.

“Mom. What’s going on?” she murmured just barely loud enough to be heard at the short distance. Gusty immediately shushed her with a hoof. A sharp screech of metal and beast pierced the eerie calm like a knife into butter.

Before she could react the canvas curtains that covered the openings between the pillars burst into flame. Through the orange and yellow blaze tumbled a dark creature, its body as much fire as it was flesh. That feeling of primal fear tightened her chest and stilled her hooves as it turned to look directly at her. However, Gusty had control of her mind this time and she knew that the being was just another demon, and this was her dream. The lucid experience merely intensified as she wished for her blade, pleased to see it waiting for her as soon as she looked to the floor.

A blast of magic erupted from her daughter’s horn with such a blinding radiance Gusty had to close her eyes. As quickly as she could force them back open she beheld the smoking form of the demon, unfazed by the massive attack. He smiled at them, how she knew he was male Gusty found to be upsetting, but not nearly as upsetting as her daughter’s panicked cries.

“I-i-it didn’t work! Mom! The spell! It didn’t work!” The younger alicorn pressed herself closer to her.

“Don’t worry sweety. I’ll take care of him.” Pulling her sword up with her levitation she kept the blade between herself and the monster. He spat out a bit of cold, curdled laughter. The sound was all too similar to the demon Stormwalker from her waking world. However, this creature was not him, but perhaps a past iteration of the cursed blood. This became quite clear as he started stalking towards her in an attempt to flank her position by the hammock.

The beast of old wore dark matte steel plate. It lacked some of the more modern frilling and aesthetic ribbons around the collar and abdomen but the shape and quality of the build was unmistakable. The creature before he was a Stormwalker for certain, and that meant she needed to strike first, and fast, before the beast realized her full capabilities. He hissed beneath the jagged helm moving closer to her daughter than she liked.

Before he could do more, Gusty made her move. This was her fight to lose and whether it was a memory or dream, she was in control, at least for now. Rushing towards the beast instead of just trying to levitate her blade to him, Gusty grinned as he dodged her body but not the blade. He was no Stormwalker she knew. Even in her dreams that beast of a stallion would have managed to dodge somehow. She caught her charge turning again to face the creature. This was about the time she realized something horrifying.

The demon had dodged in such a way that he landed between Gusty and her daughter. The wound she had caused at the base of his wing slowly patched itself together making him grin in a mad fashion at her. And as she looked at the precarious situation, flame burst through the curtains that led into the rest of the pillar tent home. Her jaw dropped as four more of the beasts swooped into the room immediately surrounding her child. The younger alicorn shrieked in surprise as they descended upon her.

Fury propelled Gusty forward and the dream became more of a blur. It seemed that though she was consciously aware of what was happening she could no longer influence the events. It was if a part of her wanted to see her daughter mauled, or worse captured by these filth. Gusty fought against the suddenly faster monsters, no longer sure if what she was doing made sense even in the context of her subconscious. All she could hear was her daughter screaming in pain and fear.

“Mom, hurry! Please! Mom!”

The words made Gusty’s heart hurt. She slapped down another of the ghastly horde only to have it replaced immediately. The frenzy of terror and battle pumped her blood with a force that ached her entire body and Gusty desperately wanted to wake up. She knew it was a dream, she had been in control, but now everything was just a train with no brakes headed for a crowded station. The sensation made her twitch uncontrollably, her nerves wracking her entire body until her eyes snapped open.

Covered in sweat and panting, Gusty blinked trying to get the persistent images of that moment out of her eyes. She hazarded a look around the bunk room to find that the world had not ended though to her it felt like it had.

“Oh, fuck,” she grumbled to herself. Her coat seemed to try to hug itself to her tighter as she stood, but provided no warmth only a sensation of claustrophobia. She attempted to focus on anything but her swimming head but found that task too monumental to accomplish and stumbled forward with the shifts in her balance.

Unsure what to do, Gusty let the whims of the remaining hallucinations to take her where they would. Her thoughts began drifting to other episodes like this, inevitably the first one being caused by her least favorite creature, Stormwalker. As if the images she saw were purposely trying to toy with her the face of the demon-stallion appeared. She closed her eyes and thought of how impressed she was by Bunker’s ability to pilot the contraption she rode. The response was just quick but not as strong, the colors and images blurring into something less intelligible. That was enough for Gusty to make her way up to the cabins.

Cautiously ascending the stairs up to the officer cabins, Gusty lifted the trap door with her magic. Once fully on the next level she let it drop and leaned against the wall, her sweat having turned cold from the stress of the reactive spirits before her eyes. Once she recovered she tried the nearest door to a cabin and found it locked. A sudden set of barks emanated from the door and the sounds of a dog’s claws echoed through the cracks in the frame.

“Sorry, Gunther.” She backed away from the door, “I need to be alone for a while, buddy.”

A vague whimpering replied as she moved to the next door. She ignored it, the sensory overload making it easy. She tried the handle with her magic, feeling unable to lift her hooves up to the lock. The door swung open and she found a large room with an equally large bed along with a vanity. She moved haphazardly towards the chair of the vanity so she might lean forward on its flat surface instead of trying to lay flat. Gusty noticed her trunk of clothes and several other suitcases that she had brought before their sight only a reminder of easier times.

Gusty sat ungracefully in the plushy chair and looked at her face in the mirror. She looked tired. No, that was too generous, she looked completely exhausted. Still, she looked better than she felt, even with her mane having become a mess from her brief nap.

Leaning her head forward, she rested on her hooves before voices of different folk echoed in her head. Most were words from the previous few days. But, slowly one became dominant, drowning the others out with its sharp, hissing tone.

Weak. Little. Alicorn. Where’s your fire?

Afraid of a few fancy lights? I thought we were stronger than that.

Gusty closed her eyes tightly at the sound. It was the not-her voice. Churning, a very angry, growling sort of criticisms at her it continued its tirade

Letting poor Gabriella live? Might as well just make out with Stormwalker.

I already know you like him. Already know how weak you are.

Gusty hated that little voice. She hated it because in a way it was right. In the past she would have followed Gertrude’s order just simply on the grounds that the damage that had been done warranted it. And, now it taunted her, as if it was not truly a part of herself but instead a separate entity. Unfortunately, Gusty could never challenge what it said, because in the end it was a figment of both her hallucinations and her own self-loathing. At least nopony else knew that bit, except perhaps the stallion in question. Her realization brought her around some, and made her want to fight against the little voice. What else did she have to do for an hour, right?

Now, I’m fighting the voices in my head. she thought, I suppose it can’t get worse?

Only if I cannot make you see reason.

As if a projection of my own anger is anypony to listen to.

Oh, this game has been going on for a very long time my dear.

I wasn’t even aware we were playing you mustn’t be any good.

Ha! Already on the offensive, that’s what I like to see!

The not-her had won just like that. Gusty could feel it. The anger had made her lash out, if perhaps in a harmless way, but the implications made her feel, dirty. She sat up briefly to glance at herself in the mirror. She beheld not herself but a twisted monster.

It looked somewhat like her, but its eyes were blackened pits, and its mane pulled away from its head in crazy directions. It still managed to hold the shape of a pony but otherwise the thing she looked at was such horrid version of herself she shrieked in shock.

Remember, I always win. No matter how many times you restart the game!

The image in the mirror smiled with its wide jagged jaw as the words met her ears. Petrified she stared back in horror hoping for anything to pull her out of the moment. She did not have to wait long, the sweet bliss of true unconsciousness faded her vision dark. Gusty let the natural reaction to such a terrible creature take her far, far away from beast. At least that was what she hoped it did.

Act 2: Chapter 13 - Legacy

“Duke Jetset. We find the continued degradation of your attitude to be most unwelcome in our court. We do not have time to be pointing hooves at one another, or developing paranoid theories. As far as a conflict with the Griffon Empire is concerned, there is not one. The arrangements for reconciliation have already been made and they hold no further ill will towards Equestria or her allies. Further we do not appreciate your continued….ha! Listen to me, you managed to get me so upset I started using the ‘royal we!’ This meeting is adjourned. If any of you have further complaints please stay to speak with me.”

-Celestia, in a recent Court-

Chapter 13 - Legacy

Gusty awoke slowly. She had wished to remain in that dead sleep and far away from her troubles for a while longer, but it was just not meant to be. Rubbing her eyes she decided against looking in the mirror again. Although she was not experiencing any symptoms at the moment she would rather not encourage the mess to return. Gusty had no idea if they were close to their destination, however. Deciding it would not hurt to double-check her equipment.

Groggily she rubbed her eyes with a hoof as she walked over to examine her trunk and other goods. It looked like it had been Bunker who had packed up her things as an arm of one of her colorful blouses hung out of the trunk. Gusty used her magic to lift the lid and stuff the clothing back into the compartment. Another large bag sat nearby and out of want to avoid an idle mind she undid its to string. A number miscellaneous items fell out onto the floor in a rough clamor. Scanning the pile she recognized her old travel pack and its faded brown hemwork.

Gusty picked up the pack and unfastened its buttons to examine what it contained. A collection of practical items were held within: a carpenter’s hammer, three grappling hooks, several lengths of rope, a short wood splitting axe, and her trusty, rusty crowbar. It came as a rather numb realization that she had not used the equipment in almost three years. It made her feel like life in the Palace had spoiled her. That became all the more evident after she closed the bag and began to tie it to her hips with her magic. Fastened in an extremely tight roll at the bottom of the pack was her sleeping bag. Gusty grinned, she had been rather pampered even here in the Baylands. She wondered briefly if that would change, but sumized that it probably would not. There were too many individuals looking to be her caretakers.

Creaking and moaning of wood and steel could be heard at a distance within the ship. It slipped towards her, the volume of the vessel’s complaints increasing as the airship tilted about four degrees to one side. The maneuver made Gusty feel as if she was falling forward. She realized the ship was purposely trying to slow down, they must have nearly reached the mines. Sighing she meandered towards the exit out of her cabin and then opened the door onto the deck.

“Now hear this: All hooves to battlestations!” boomed Stiff Inspection’s voice over the hiss of the wind. Gusty moved forward starting to shut the door behind her as Zeccaran came trotting around the corner. He stopped with a jolt and balked at her momentarily before catching his composure.

“Gusty!” He moved closer so as to not yell quite so hard, “I was just going to get you. Are you doing alright?” her friend asked. His eyes moved over face and looked back up with a grimace.

“Don’t answer that,” he hastily chattered. “I told Stiff about what we had in mind, he agreed to it under one condition.”

“What is it?” she groaned. Things were already off to a great start.

“He just wants to accompany us. He’ll leave the rest of the unit to spring the trap at the front of the cave, but he will go with us inside,” Zeccaran answered. Gusty gave him a stern scowl.

“Look, I know this guy. Walked by him everyday when we were living in the Palace. He takes his job very seriously. He’s going to tag along regardless.” Her friend shook his head on reflex.

“Sounds an awful lot like his boss,” she grumbled. She waited for Zeccaran to continue.

“Yeah, but if you let him tag along, you can keep him where you want. He’s willing to cooperate, so just humor him, alright?” he pleaded. The zebra acted like he was desperately trying to avoid conflict and that made her feel uncomfortable. It was not like Zeccaran to not want to tease her about her decision-making. Gusty mulled over the situation and found herself at a loss for words. She merely nodded in concurrence with her friend, unable to perceive any real issue with Stiff Inspection accompanying them.

About the same time as Zeccaran heaved a sigh of relief the airship slowly began to swing towards even keel. The speed of the vessel dropping significantly as it kept the new list to the opposite direction. Gusty hazarded a few steps forward to get out of the sheltered area where the door into the vessel was located.

The tops of trees slipped by and she blinked in surprise. Evidently Bunker was quite good at this. The ship continued to slow and lower to the ground, her engines roaring as they tried to compensate for the pull of the earth. Soon enough Gusty could not see past the foliage and the mighty vessel moved no faster than a walk as the engines churned down to idle and a hiss of compressing air could be heard escaping the pistons. Gusty moved towards the deck rail, staying along the raised catwalk structure instead of walking up and down the stairs of the center portion of the deck work.

Leaning over the edge some she peered towards the front of the ship, hoping to see their destination. She was not disappointed. Ahead of them nestled against a rocky wall of hill and granite she could see wooden buildings and tunnel leading to darkness. Arranged around the few shacks were spiked barricades that looked like they had been hastily constructed over the last week. They were not much good for defending against the Onyx and her compliment, but as Zeccaran said, the pirates expected ground forces.

Even at this lumbering pace they were fast approaching their destination That was when the first command was yelled.

“Make ready!”

Gusty turned to watch the Special Guard bustle into action. A stream of ponies moved to grab a long hose that was being pulled from the main cargo hatch in the center of the deck. They drug it towards the bow where a portion of the split-level planking lead into the superstructure instead of the deckrail’s catwalk.

“Fix pressure!” Several affirmative responses came from somewhere where the hose had been drug. The line of canvas-sewn tubing suddenly pulsed bulbous from whatever was being pumped inside it.

“Pressure set, sir!” responded a stallion that had run up to the center deck. Gusty looked around for Stiff Inspection, waiting for his next order.

“Take aim!” She found him standing on the bow, on the same side of the ship as her. The pegasus leaned over the edge of the deckrail eyes fixed on the exterior camp. A few brief moments passed, long enough for Gusty to lean up and look towards where the lieutenant was staring.

“Fire!”

Memory kicked in and Gusty nearly dove for cover as a beam of fire was flung down onto the wooden structures. She had been on the receiving end of that weapon and pitied any lookouts that might be stationed below. As soon as the beam of gelatin fire got within a few feet of the buildings they were on fire. Once it landed the blaze practically turned blue from its intensity, not a moment later a pair of shocked caws echoed out. A pair of terrified griffons tumbled out of one of the structure just in time to have recognition hit their faces before the terrible fire weapon traced its ooze over them.

They were not far enough away for Gusty to not see the melting beaks and talons, or the burning feathers. Shockingly, for creatures that were burning to death, they did not scream. Flailing helplessly the two griffons rolled around on the ground as they were consumed, quickly stopping. The fire continued to smolder over their bodies until they were shriveled black husks, locked forever in silent wails. Blanching Gusty turned away from the scene, the image an all too familiar sight. She just hoped the smell of charred flesh would not make its way to her before she could get inside the cave. That stomach curdling stench would probably be enough to render her actually sick.

The thought and sight of burning folk triggered another reminder. She had wanted the pirates captured. It would seem that Stiff Inspection had missed that rather crucial detail. Gusty stomped towards him along the edge of the deck fuming.

“What the hell was that about?” she seethed once she was next to him. The stallion gave her a quizzical squint of his eyes.

“You didn’t even warn them! What if they wanted to surrender!?” Gusty shrieked at him. Stiff Inspection to his credit turned fully to face her.

“They were alert sentries. Unless they were put down immediately the would have alerted the rest of the hostiles,” he responded looking up some so he might meet her eyes. “In fact it's a miracle that they did not raise an alarm as a full-armed airship came cruising right at them!”

Gusty was left to stand indignantly as he turned to bark out orders. He shouted something about tethering the Onyx to some nearby trees before she recovered her composure.

“Fine. But why would you think they wouldn’t surrender? They are pirates! They don’t have any real loyalty.” She had finally found a counterargument.

“Listen to me, ma’am, those are not pirates.” Gusty balked at his words unsure how to respond, fortunately she had no need.

“The units stationed here are Griffon Military. Before his untimely death, Captain Garrison received a message from Princess Celestia indicating the “pirates” are a collection of international mercenaries and Griffon Special Ops units. This message had included that your companion, Zeccaran, also received confirmation from her Majesty that these events have had external support, at least according to my briefing.” Stiff Inspection’s face hardened the more he spoke.

He was a brave stallion, Gusty would give him that. It was not often a regular joe would stand up to her, he must have been cut from the same cloth as the zebra he had mentioned. However, she was more upset that Zeccaran had failed to mention this to her, especially since she had just helped him devise a plan of action not two hours ago. She turned to look where he had left him to find her striped companion missing. She adjusted her neck reflexively to make it look like she was trying to pop a stubborn vertebra and resumed looking at Stiff.

“Well…” she grumbled, knowing she had to concede to his argument, “If they are unarmed when they come running out of the cave instruct your soldiers to give them mercy. There is no reason to kill them unnecessarily.” Those words of Zeccaran from over a month ago had proven to be the truth. She intended to do better than the last time she conducted a raid.

Weakling.

She also elected to ignore such commentary and stuck to giving pleading eyes to Stiff Inspection. His hard glare broke but his tongue was still sharp.

“Very well, but I doubt many will throw down their arms even if they are attempting to escape whatever insane scheme you have planned,” he retorted.

Bustling of hooves drew Gusty’s attention to a small crowd of ponies moving to disembark. It looked to be about half of the Special Guard, they formed two lines and slipped down a rope or glided down to a gathering point a distance away from the still burning buildings by the front of the mine. Stiff Inspection yelled down to them her decree to which the crowd replied with an unison “yessir!”

“Well, gather up your husband and Zec and let’s get going. The sooner we can get this mission finished the happier I’ll be,” he said turning to her.

“Agreed.” She nodded moving to leave.

“I’ll be waiting down at the entrance to the mine.” as he finished his sentence the pegasus flapped up into the air and down towards the rest of the troops. Gusty moved away from the bow, and took a brisk trot towards the aft of the ship. Bunker lumbered down the stairs from the helm to meet her on the main deck.

“Where is Zeccaran?” he asked curiously. Gusty shrugged, the zebra had disappeared when she was not watching. Bunker’s guess was as good as hers at this point. A bit of barking made them both look towards the cabin entrance.

The moan of the door and the groan of a zebra creaked as the barking suddenly became much louder. “Gunther! Calm down!” Zeccaran bellowed over the top of the wooden canine. The dog bound out from the partial cover of the cabin entrance nearly bowling both Gusty and Bunker over. He stopped barking long enough to give the two ponies several licks on their legs before resuming his chant of freedom.

“Ugh. Damn dog acts like he was going to be trapped forever.” Zeccaran grumbled as he trotted up next to them. “I guess it's time to get this show on the road.” Gusty had not noticed her zebra friend’s haggard appearance but now that they were away from the din of the cabins she could see everything. Frankly, he looked awful, although she was not in any position to judge.

Collectively the group began moving toward the side of the airship that faced the mine. Gusty opened up her wings and vaulted the deckrail, letting her feathers glide her down safely. She landed nearby a bustling squad of pegasus-ponies whom were busily assembling what looked to be a folding ladder. She turned back to look up at the Onyx to see how her friend and husband were going to get down. In typical Zeccaran fashion a flash of green light and a brief yelp of surprise from Gunther and a large eagle landed next to her in a moment, dog his claws. Zeccaran changed back, his position changing to standing on the canine’s back

A mighty yell came from the deck and Bunker was soon flying toward the ground. Gusty balked for a moment shocked her husband would just dive off from a forty foot fall. However, her brain kicked in at the last second and she threw out her levitation and caught him just above the ground. Momentum stopped she released him and Bunker trotted over with a still worried look on his face.

“You cut catch close, dear. I thought I was going to break mine ankles!” He cried.

“Well it helps if I have a little warning. Instead of just reacting on instinct,” she retorted. Bunker snorted sarcastically with a purposefully snide scowl. He broke into a grin quickly after she rolled her eyes at him.

“Alright. Forward, then!” he decreed, and began walking. Gusty peered over to Zeccaran who shrugged from his perch before hopping off of his dog and following. Quickly, the group made it to the mouth of the mine. Gusty rushed them along, unwilling to let the wind carry the smell of burned bird to her nose.

With his sour look showing in full, Stiff Inspection motioned them toward him. He stood against the grey rock away from the open shaft and pointed for them to do the same.

“I still can’t believe you want to do this.” He waved a hoof towards the mine. “I can’t believe I’m under orders to help you either!”

“Yeah well thank your boss for that,” Gusty glowered, “If it wasn’t for him you and your ponies could be halfway to Equestria by now.” The group pressed themselves up against the rocks as she argued with the soldier.

“More like I wonder what you did to earn his favor. It has to be more than your looks, because you are a complete jerk,” Stiff grumbled as he poked an eye around the corner of the shaft’s entrance.

“I am not!” Gusty hissed back almost loud enough to give away their position.

“Yeah sure. Last time I checked you are perpetually trying to kill him too, makes your case pretty flimsy there, missy.” The pegasus pulled himself away from the entrance and fully faced the group. She went to berate Stiff Inspection but was cut off just as she inhaled to let him have it.

“Alright. Best way for us to do this is sneak along the left wall. According to the maps and the bit of scouting I did we should be completely undetected until we are fairly deep into the facility. Then...I hope you guys have something up your sleeves you haven’t told me.” He shifted uncomfortably in his grey-colored armor. Unfortunately, Gusty did not have much of a response, she had not thought this operation would require much finesse. Afterall, would not being trapped in a cave with the same group of ponies that wrecked your crew be enough? Luckily, Zeccaran had an answer.

“I think this might work. Let me know if it is scary,” Zeccaran spoke. In the next instant his trademark green flash replaced him with a massive bear. The beast’s muscles pulsated under its fur, razor sharp claws pawed at the air as it leaned back on its hind legs. Loosing a terrifying roar, Gusty nearly forgot it was her friend, until one flash of light later the zebra was back.

Stiff Inspection and Bunker had both turned pale, the latter more obviously than the former. However, they recovered as quickly as Gusty had and stood warily eyeing Zeccaran. It was definitely scary enough. Stiff cleared his throat after a moment.

“You know Zec, are you sure you’re not a Changeling?” He asked tentatively. Gusty cast a eager glance at her companion, she had often wondered the same but never bothered to ask.

“Yep. I know I’m not. Changelings can do anything. Rocks, ponies, trees. I can only do non-sentient animals,” Zeccaran answered.

“Still, how does a zebra come by the magic to do stuff like that, regardless if you are a Changeling or not?” Stiff questioned.

“Ever heard of magical grafting?” her friend’s voice was soft and squeaky like he was embarrassed by whatever process ‘grafting’ was in the first place. However, it sounded wrong, and by the way Stiff Inspection briefly turned green it was safe to assume that she was not the only one to think such.

“Ah. Makes sense. Sorry I asked,” the soldier replied with a deep grimace.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?” She asked as well, now that Stiff was done. Her jealousy was not fully serious but Gusty felt it necessary to act jilted.

“You never asked.”

“Yeah...you got me there.” She was already eating her own words.

“Alright, let’s take these fools by the beaks then.” Stiff Inspection turned about and began to slide alongside the rock face into the mine. Gusty followed suit, looking over her shoulder once to watch Bunker and Zeccaran fall in line. Slowly, but with a eerie certainty, the group slipped deeper into the mine.

Gusty carefully trotted behind Stiff Inspection doing her best to not make noise. She was not skilled in the art of stealth and it could be heard echoing on the rock walls of the space. Electing to distract herself from such an obvious shortcoming, as even Bunker was quieter than her as he moved, Gusty chose to become entrenched in thought as they traveled underground.

She had been feeling much better than the few hours leading up to this endeavor. However, it would seem as she progressed more the worse her head hurt. It was similar to before, yet somehow behaved as if she was feeling someone else’s headache. The sensation was strange and now that she focused on it, Gusty could hardly keep her mind in the present. It did not help that the little not-her voice started to murmur tiny angry curses at whatever it was that plagued her. With a tremendous effort of will and determination, Gusty pulled herself back into reality.

No hallucination or episodic terrors had ever caused her such an odd experience, it was like she could not control her body, or even her own mind. The moment left her pale and shaky, wondering if this was going to be the moment she forgot everyone. That was what Stormwalker and Luna had said might happen. Gusty scowled at the thought; she was not ready for it. The moment suddenly made her wonder about Amethyst. She knew her daughter was safe under Celestia’s care, but the thought of forgetting the prodigal little filly filled Gusty with a sudden and terrible sadness. A prodding on her sides made her turn to look at whoever the culprit might have been.

“Gusty. You don’t look so good,” Zeccaran said just as soon as their eyes met. She did not have much of an answer and simply dropped her head in response, trying not to cry.

“Doesn’t matter, we have to do this before we can go home,” she murmured her voice doing its best to hide her state, but failing.

“Quiet! The guards are right at this next intersection!” Hissed Stiff Inspection, even quieter than Gusty. She bit her lips closed in response, this needed to be finished with haste, but that was something that forced her to rely on others. Gusty hated that circumstance, other ponies were good, but just did not do things the way she wanted. However, the soldier was her best chance of finishing up business, even if that meant they had to pick off guards before grabbing Gabriella and running like hell.

Stiff Inspection motioned for her to step aside and let Zeccaran through. The pegasus made a motion that looked like he was half-heartedly trying to scare a foal. However, the message was simple, he wanted Zeccaran to spook the guards. A flash of green light passed and the bear-zebra stalked out of the shadows where the group waited. The intersection that Stiff had mentioned was brightly lit compared to the dim corridor that Gusty found herself standing in now that she was fully forced to live in the present.

If she remembered the picture of the map correctly, this was the area directly before the main chamber of the mine. A set of iron rails that had led them here broke off into separate sections in front of them, the path to the right sporting a dirty minecart. It was the perfect intercept point for the sentries, but somehow Gusty had a feeling Stiff Inspection had just made it the worse place to see a bear. Further, while she was not certain of where exactly they needed to go to find their quarry but a bear growling and swatting at some guards would certainly provide an ample distraction to find the answer.

“Is that a bear?!” squawked one of the presumed guards.

“I didn’t think the Baylands had bears!’ Came another griffon's voice.

“What the heck are we supposed to do about it?” the first one questioned back.

The Zec-Bear made a low and angry rumble. Standing up his back legs he roared towards something that was not quite in Gusty’s vision from her vantage point.

“We need help now, because the two of us aren’t gonna be able to take down that thing, run!” the second griffon answered as soon as the roar finished. Flapping of wings and scrapping of claws and pads echoed to Gusty’s ears. She moved to follow Zeccaran as they gave chase to the guards. A strong hoof held her in place suddenly.

“What the are you doing!? Go get into position!” Stiff Inspection growled into her ear.

“What are you talking about?” she asked totally bewildered. She looked between the soldier and Bunker both of which slowly grew a look of concern.

“It is plan, go over to other side of corridor and get horn ready to blast guards when they chase Zeccaran back here.” Bunker answered having recovered first. He, of course, was the stallion that was more acquainted with her general lack of focus.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Just be ready to do as I say, I’ll make it pretty clear.” Stiff Inspection flared out his wings as he spoke revealing a pair of wing blades that she had not noticed before. She merely nodded in agreement and moved to where Bunker had instructed. It took everything Gusty had to not fade back into her thoughts as she trotted over. She forced magic into her horn and focused on keeping the spells ready, trying to decide which to use, but settling on stunbolts. They might not do any damage but they would guaranteeably incapacitate anyone hit. She just hoped that was what she was supposed to do, every little thought sent about a dozen more flying through her head in panic and it was only worsening the more she had to wait.

Eventually the eternity of the minute she was forced to endure passed and the sounds of a surprised and upset bear could be heard approaching. Immediately after the grumble of an angry crowd of griffons rebounded down the shaft.

“Keep after it, I don’t want it back in the cave!” shouted an authoritative voice. It was unfamiliar, perhaps one of the top lieutenants that had shot her back during the siege on the Castle Manor. The thought made Gusty’s blood practically boil underneath her fur. If anything was going to keep her together for the time being it would be remembering what had been done to Gertrude and her countryfolk.

With her focus peaked and holding Gusty took aim at the intersection from her little depression in the cavern wall. Leaning her head forward to shoot as straight as possible she looked upward along the length of her horn, its swirled cone glowing red, ready to fire. The Zec-Bear came running to the exit, before stopping to growl and narrowly side step a crossbow bolt. It gave the effect that the ranger was a poor shot, watching a bear dodge his missile, but that would make it all the sweeter when Gusty blasted him and his companions down. Zec-Bear slipped into the dark portion of the shaft just as his pursuers made it to the intersection

Entering her field of vision were eight griffons and three ponies each with various arms. Just as soon as the most sleek of the griffons shouldered his crossbow she fired a set of stunners directly into the crowd. All five bolts found their marks and half of the griffons and a single pony fell to the ground incapacitated. In the next moment from their side of the shaft Stiff Inspection and Bunker sprang out, charging the bewildered group by air and ground.

Stiff Inspection was fast, not Stormwalker fast, but fast enough to catch one of griffons by surprise lopping an arm off before the lion-bird had even drawn a blade. It happened fast enough that the griffon took several seconds before he realized he had been dismembered and began screaming as his heart pumped a synchronized fountain of blood from his veins. Speeding past the felled bird the pegasus flipped sideways mid-flight and bounced himself off the far wall like it was a springboard. He caught a unicorn that was attempting to fire a spell at him and knocked him down to the ground and stood atop him, his foe unconscious from the impact of hooves to his head.

Bunker likewise found great success. He bowled over the final pony in a full charge leaving the poor fellow lifeless on the ground after several sickening crunches. Crashing into the griffons about the same time as Stiff had knocked the arm off the fool on the edge of the group, Bunker let his axe slip from his mouth into his hooves, swinging widely at the center of the lion-birds. He successfully caught the sleek fellow in the midsection as the group attempted to dodge. The griffon squawked angrily and clasped at his stomach, dropping his crossbow, blood springing out from his claws. Bunker jumped back as the group quickly drew blades and pushed their leader away from the front of the fight.

However this put the combat at about even odds as the incapacitated griffons from the stun bolts began to recover, the pony she had hit remained down. Evidently the mare’s smaller stature not allowing her to recuperate as quick as her comrades. With six on four a much better set of numbers, Gusty drew her own blade with her magic and stepped out of her cover, horn blazing with telekinesis ready to snap up the group. She sent her mental grip out to pick them up so Stiff and Bunker could make short work of them should they refuse to surrender. That was until a nearly forgotten torrent of flame sprang out of where the Zec-Bear had disappeared into the dark shaft.

The blaze hit the six griffons that remained standing, torching them almost instantly. The blaze was hot enough to cause both Stiff and Bunker to dive for cover. The combatants were almost completely incinerated, what little remained of the corpses steamed from the heat of the fire, slowly fell down. Most unfortunately, for Gusty, the acridic stench of the burned flesh instantly hit her nose and she started to retch, only to end up dry heaving the nothing she had on her stomach. The pain and the smell destroyed her focus and Gusty found herself experiencing things that she knew could not have been happening in real-time.

Terrible dark figures clouded her vision and an seething rage, unlike any she had ever felt welled-up deep in her chest. A voice spoke at the monstrosities, not much more than the scrape of metal on metal. She knew that voice, but could not fathom why she heard it. Perhaps her hallucinations did not only show her glimpses of the past but also the future. It did not matter, Gusty no longer cared so long as it would stop.

Never will I be like you!

The words echoed throughout her very soul and Gusty felt something inside her shiver with both contempt and fear.

Traitorous upstart.

Not-her had spoken in response to the impossible voice of her most loathed stallion. In the next instant all of the ire she had felt looked at her. Somehow across the world Stormwalker noticed not-her. For a brief instant Gusty thought her mind might collapse as the weight of the demonic monster closed in around her. However, as soon as it started the vision ended and she was back to retching uncontrollably. It was if her singular determination to end the episode had brought it to a swift end. She looked up at the scene before her after regaining her composure.

Gunther stalked from behind the minecart, making Gusty wonder how he had gotten there. She decided it was better not to ask how, and accept that she now had an unstable connection to the present. In a morbid way the thought calmed her and she proceeded forward after sheathing her blade to check on the slowly waking mare she had stunned. Against the far wall the two injured griffons lay, bleeding out, lightly cursing their fortune. Stiff inspection coarsely looked them over, examining their wounds. The unicorn that he had knocked out remained asleep, slowly breathing, Bunker and Zeccaran standing guard over him. Meanwhile as she approached the mare, the timberwolf seemed to understand what she had in mind. Slinking up aggressively to the mare, he let a guttural growl loose making the drowsy pony who now was very awake and very scared.

“D-d-don’t...don’t come any closer!” she squeeked as she quickly brought up her spear from the ground.

“You are in no position to threaten me, or him,” Gusty gruffly replied. She had no idea how long she would maintain this clarity but at least someone would be saved from a gruesome death.

The mare dropped her spear and looked over towards her slain comrades in horror.

“I know..I just..trying..t-t-to do my job...it was just supposed to be a normal contract...and now...now everything is a mess...the Empire disavowed the unit we were with...now this?” she was practically sobbing. “I’ve heard about Equestria’s spec ops being...merciless, but I didn’t think the stories were true…”

Stiff Inspection sauntered up and gave a cursory glance at the mare and then to Gusty.

“Any other information about this operation they tell you?” he questioned.

“I-i-if I tell you will you let me go?” she asked timidly.

“If by go you mean, capture you unharmed for further questioning before you are judged by an Arbiter back in Equestria, then yes.” Stiff certainly did not mince words. The mercenary swallowed hard and looked away before turning back to speak.

“Okay. The most important thing you need to know is that there are only three more griffons, along with their boss, they are holed up in the back. Everyone else is a mercenary, they’ll gladly get captured without a fight so long as you make that clear to them. And that damn ewe that started it all is here too,” the mare rattled off. Much of her composure had returned now that she was not going to be killed for the sake of killing.

“Where specifically?” the pegasus questioned back.

“Second chamber down the way we came.”

“Good. Go down the tunnel and tell the squad of ponies that will pop out that Stiff Inspection wants them deployed at the first intersection, and that we have two bodies that need medical attention.”

“Yessir. Only two, sir?”

“Yeah. The bird I lopped the arm off of isn’t going to make it.”

The mare nodded before turning and bolting down into the mine shaft, Gunther following her. Gusty cast a disapprovingly look over to Zeccaran, he had no reason to let his canine companion continue to harass the mare. The zebra caught her gaze but turned away almost immediately in a chilly manner that made Gusty feel more upset than ever about the day. As the old saying went: when it rains, it pours. She followed Stiff over to her husband trying her best to ignore Zeccaran’s attitude.

“Well the good news is that our targets are where we expected them to be, bad news is is they are where we expected them to be.” Stiff shifted his wings as he looked at Zeccaran.

“Then we are going to have to split up to keep them from trying to slip out through the old shaft.” the zebra replied.

“Well...that is what we planned for, right?” Gusty put her two cent into the argument, if only to keep her mind occupied.

“Yeah, but that means at least one of us will have to stop watching you. And as it would seem just from the last thirty minutes you need all three of us to make sure you aren’t going to slip over the edge into the deep end.” Stiff Inspection snorted. He was right, and at this point Gusty was broken enough to nod in agreement.

“Could we send for another squad? If that mare’s intel was correct, it should be easy to capture everyone else with a few extra bodies.” Zeccaran suggested cautiously. Gusty was surprised at his change of heart but said nothing. Meanwhile Stiff Inspection removed his helmet scratching both his chin and his mane with a hoof.

“We don’t even need a full squad, only two more ponies. The group I sent for should be here in a minute, so long as adding them to our compliment is agreeable, Miss Gusty” He finished with a sarcastic flourish as looked at her. She nodded, feeling pain in her head starting to build again, and doing her best to remain calm.

As Stiff said the squad of eight ponies found its way to them in short order. The pegasus selected the two earthers of the group and instructed them to come with them. They were a pair of big fellows close to Bunker’s size. In fact the three of them standing together looked like they needed to be lineman for a thrashball team. With the addition of the two soldiers Stiff motioned for them to move deeper into the mine, he took the lead carefully walking on muddied dirt and rock. He motioned them into a single-file line keeping to the messy ground to make their hooves quieter.

The path that lead to their destination was only lit by dull oil lamps hanging from ceiling. As the mine grew deeper both minecart path and the ground became more uneven. Gusty had to carefully watch where Stiff Inspection was stepping to make sure she would not slip. The concentration helped to keep her focused and though it took some time moving at this snail’s crawl around wooden support beams and other debris as they proceeded it was effective. Soon enough the dim overhead lights gave way to a brighter one coming from an opening in the wall of the mine. Voices began drifting out to Gusty’s ears and just as she was almost able to see who was speaking Stiff Inspection brought the group to a halt.

Though she could only see part of the room, Gusty could see that it was large and at least partially furnished. The wall she looked at had several sets of wooden bunk beds, nearby there were a set of charts pinned up on what looked to be a set of easles and posts. Curiously, in between the furthest bunk and its neighbor there was a dark hole in the wall. Gusty surmised that it had to be the escape passageway. Seemingly Stiff Inspection agreed, he turned and pointed at the two recruited guards and then Bunker before pointing at the hole.

The three stallions nodded and began to back away from the group, before disappearing into the murk on the other side of the shaft. Ahead of them in the chamber the talking intensified and Stiff turned about quickly to whisper to Gusty and Zeccaran.

“We wait for them to get into position, then we make ourselves known. I’ll inform them of our surrender terms, and that should get any of the mercenaries out of our way. Gusty, keep your horn ready if you want to capture the griffons. Zec, do what you do.” Finished the pegasus crouched down taking he his weight off his legs and transfixed the opening in the rock, waiting.

Gusty did the same, already focusing on levitating anyone who refused to surrender. She could feel her heart beginning to race. They were almost done, yet she felt more uneasy than ever before. Deciding that the best she could do was stare at a shiny portion of rock nearby the escape tunnel, Gusty pondered what it was made of. She had no experience in geology other than the most basic materials, but it was something that could keep her mind occupied instead of wandering into the dark corner she had found herself backed into. Every couple of idle thoughts she would send a fresh wave of magic up to her horn, just to reminder herself that conflict was coming.

Finally, after deducing that the glimmering section of stone was likely gold, as this was supposed to be a gold mine, the silhouettes of ponies could be made out in the shadow of the other path. The glint of something flashed three times and Gusty watched Stiff Inspection lean a wing blade into the light just enough to wobble it three times to send the signal back. This was it.

“That’s my cue. Be ready to act if you want to catch the griffons off-guard,” Stiff stated without turning to face her. Immediately he strode fully into the chamber from where they hid, his hoove echoing loudly over the voices of the griffons. Gusty had yet to hear Gabriella and wondered if she was even there, it would be an enormous problem if she was not.

“Greetings!” Stiff’s voice silenced the voices. “I am Acting Captain of the Equestrian Special Guard Service.” Gusty heard someone cough spitefully in response.

“It has been brought to my attention that the units deployed here have been disavowed by the Griffon Empire. Those among you that are mercenaries will be granted amnesty once you are questioned upon our return to Equestria should you come quietly to our airship.”

“I told you the Equestrians don’t kill contract soldiers!” Some rather gruff sounding fellow shouted.

“Come on, boys and girls, let’s ditch these griffons and that damned ewe. We aren’t getting paid any how!” An equally harsh female voice, of what Gusty was certain was a bird of sorts, cried out right after.

A chorus of grumbled agreement rose up and the clamoring of talons and hooves could be heard as a large group quickly made their way to where Gusty could see them. They were a pretty haphazard group, made up of several parrots, hippogriffs, and ponies each. There was even a single rather short, odd looking creature that appeared to be a giant hedgehog. They passed by without incident until a familiar righteous growl came from the chamber.

“Traitorous snakes!” Gabriella shrieked rolling her consonants hard. “Have ye no scruples?!”

A tall she-parrot of the group stopped and yelled back: “We’re pirates, we don’t even know what that means!” She produced the voice of the female from before. A grumbling of the group’s hoarse laughter followed. The group slipped past Gusty as they finished many giving her surprised looks but keeping silent. They picked up the pace after she cast them an angry scowl. As their bustle died down Stiff Inspection relaxed his stance some and cocked an arrogant glance towards their still out-of-sight quarries.

“Now...I’m sure you fine feathered folks know that Equestrians always prefer to take prisoners in one-sided situations. And I can assure you that is my intention-” A low growl cut the pegasus off.

“Yah be wastin’ yer breath boy. I ain’t be tradin’ one prison for another. This job was me ticket to freedom an’ if you think I ain’t gonna give it mine full canvas: then ye got another thing comin’!” The rattle of the Pirate King’s voice seemed to make the support rafters shake. The drawing of steel shrieked from the chamber providing all the motivation Gusty needed. Springing from her spot against the door she snapped her head towards the small crowd of targets and lifted them into the air with her levitation, even before her eyes could focus.

“I’m sure you can be persuaded, when the alternative is a swift execution.” Stiff responded not missing a beat. The pegasus snapped out a wing blade and strode towards the levitated group. Now able to see who she had snagged Gusty easily picked out the Pirate King and Gabriella amongst the other three bodies. Save the ewe the four other combatants had swords drawn, held in various forms of readiness. Seizing the opprotunity to get what she came for Gusty started to swing Gabriella towards her when the giant brigand of a griffon issued out cold laughter.

“I’ll take my chances fightin’!”

In a near instant he razed the claw with his sabre in it and flung the blade at Gusty. Because he had been in partial stasis she gawked momentarily, completely unprepared until instinct took over. Dropping all of her focus and putting everything into her legs, she skipped narrowly out of the way. It clattered past her bouncing into the darkness as Gusty watched it reflexively. Before she could even regain her bearings to relieviate them the Pirate King and his final cohorts made a mighty scream, charging straight at her and Stiff Inspection. Unable to see beyond the bulk of the Pirate King, Gusty panicked for her companions long enough for him to bowl her over.

Once atop of her the massive griffon smiled with cold recognition of her face before furiously sent his claws flying towards her flesh. She flailed her hooves in an attempt to use her limbs’ length to keep him away. Both of her forehooves found his beak in short order but the lion-bird-pirate was in a frenzy and while he missed her face and eyes he gripped her unarmed legs and drug his talons deep into her flesh. She jerked at the pain, dislodging the pirate enough to catch him with her back hooves. Before he could make matters worse Gusty lurched with her core, arching her back and pushing the griffon up with all her might. The motion was successful at forcing the bird to lose his grip on her legs and tumble over her head and into the support beam. However, he tore flesh from her limbs as he went making Gusty wonder who the action had hurt more.

A wave of heat and light erupted to Gusty’s right followed by the blood-curdling wail of a griffon in great pain. She did not really notice the moment other than it happened, as she was much more concerned with getting back on her hooves. She recovered only slightly faster than the Pirate King. They met eyes briefly, and his cold gaze of madness brought a sense of dread to her heart. This griffon was going to fight to his death, he was a cornered animal, lashing out at anything that even tried to get close. In the next instant he rushed at her again making full bounds on all fours. However, this time Gusty was ready, and she knew better than to hold back.

As he approached she raised up ready to flog him with her hooves as he charged. Slowing his pace just slightly the hulking griffon grabbed her legs again, and began to use his weight to try and pin her. Gusty, however, was ready for his plan and jumped with her rear legs, using her wings to give her a little extra air. Unprepared, the Pirate King’s body hung down as his wings lagged behind trying to compensate for their flight. Gusty did not give him the chance to recover; using his own grip and momentum she swung herself underneath him while still moving upwards. Narrowly able to use her wings to flip herself back upright again as they hit the equilibrium of a hover, Gusty swung her legs back violently landing a full buck. Her hooves contacted his abdomen solidly and she definitely felt something break, but it was not bone.

Wasting no time she drew her blade from its scabbard while still hovering. She took less than the blink of her eyes to refocus on the Pirate King as he somehow managed to pull himself up off the ground. Gusty pulsed more power into her levitation forcing herself to land as she did. The great griffon looked at her briefly and wiped blood from his beak before he snarled as her in a hideous scowl. Almost of its own accord more magic flowed into her levitating blade its brute force hefting the power of something akin to Stormwalker. Gusty did not pause nor did she even think. She swung her sword in a downward arc, letting all of her anger, desperation, and pain push her to her highest speed.

A disturbing sound somewhere between wet slap and crunch overtook Gusty’s senses. As she forced the blade through the Pirate King his body blossomed into a fountain of think gore. His face seemed slow to react to his vertical halving and as his eyes gummed up with his own spraying viscera Gusty felt blade tear clean of his flesh. She watched in a terror-struck stare unable to turn away from the shattered ribs and pulsing display of blood foaming up from his desecrated chest. Somehow, as if overcome by the adrenaline still in the standing portion of his body, the Pirate King’s rear legs helped him up awkwardly before the split corpse tumbled to the side leaving Gusty to stand there, other sounds slowly coming back to her ears.

The first thing she noticed was dark green magic being cast down hall. It hissed and sparked accompanied by the shrill voice of Gabriella.

“Stay back!” She yelled with every volley, “Stay back, stay back! Stay back, stay back stay back!” the ewe continued to cast and shriek.

Her seemingly clouded vision began to clear and Gusty recognized the things before her. The three other griffon’s had been dealt with, their bodies in various states of death scattered about the chamber. Behind a makeshift barrier of tables and overturned bunks, sat the five stallions that had accompanied her. Zeccaran was the first to notice her standing there, instead of covering his head and ears to avoid the concussions of the hearty magic Gabriella kept casting

“Gusty a little help!?” he shouted over the reverberating noise, “You know sometime before she collapses the cave!”

Relief flooded Gusty’s heart. This was the end of this journey, they had managed to pull it off just right too. She took the moment to realize her legs still hurt from being practically clawed off by the Pirate King. Casting her special healthing touch on herself, the wounds stitched up quickly, their damage while significant not out of her realm of skills. She sighed knowing that soon Gabriella would pause to try and recuperate some energy.

Then she would step into the breach snap her up in her magic and put a sleep spell on her like she had once done Amethyst. The similarities of the two ventures in the two different caves made Gusty momentarily wax nostalgic for a conflict that did not come with the same emotional baggage as this one. However, just as predicted the moment came when Gabriella relented her magical attacks, forcing Gusty to drop the notion and perform her works.

With a quick step she was in the center of the chamber out from behind the barrier. She spied Gabriella, backed against a wall, her fuzzy face in tears. Gusty projected her magic to her before the ewe could speak and levitated her over to where she stood.

“It’s over, Gabriella,” she did her best to sound comforting. The ewe just made a strong sniffle of her nose and nodded in response.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Gusty admitted hoping to coax at least some reaction out of the sad creature.

“Oh by the gods above you really are just my mother!” the ewe snarled, caught off guard by her tone Gusty remained silent.

“Neither the two of you get it. Ne’er have yeh understood who I am, and what I was doin’” Gabriella continued, her brogue thickening from her anger to the point where Gusty almost thought she was Gertrude.

“I don’ want to be saved, I don’ need to be saved, I needed to be allowed mistakes! An’ I don’ mean helping me when I need it, but allowing me to grow. These dead griffons treated me with more respect than mine own mum!” the ewe continued to rant as the two guardsponies slipped into Gusty’s vision and began wrapping Gabriella in an all to familiar set of enchanted chains. After shackling each hoof they set a collar around her neck, narrowly dodging her attempts to bite them. Keeping her levitated for ease of face-to-face conversation Gusty gathered her thoughts.

“But...Gertrude loves you, would have done anything to protect you...it was only after you broke her heart… that she sent us here to deal with you,” she told the ewe.

“Deal with me? Did I finally push her too far?” Gabriella haughtily moved her head as much as she could in her bindings a faux smile on her face.

“She asked me to kill you.”

The ewe paused her face thoughtful for a moment. “Huh. I’m almost flattered she ask for that. Pity it came to this, really. But, I get the feeling you aren’t gonna listen to me old dame ewe.”

“No. I think that while you are wrong...your view has a very strong justification, and has just as much weight to it as mine,” Gusty proudly replied. Frankly such a statement was the epitome of who she was. If there was a better solution Gusty would find it; she had to otherwise she would not be able to live with herself. Unfortunately, Gabriella showed her disagreement by spitting at her.

“Well, piss on you and me mum. That line o’ thought be nothin’ but idle nonsense. The world don’t work like that, and yeh know it. Yeh just refuse to see it!”

Ignoring the excruciating accurate personal attack Gusty shook her head, “Even if the world may be that way. You still matter to me. And that is what makes the difference.”

“You fuckin’ cunt what you say doesn’ matter at all! Who are yeh to decide what’s righ’ and wron’! By what authority do yeh think yeh have to say such, ye foul trollop!” Shrieked Gabriella, unwilling to accept Gusty’s mercy. It did not concern the mare too much, Gabriella was going to receive that coddling she so desperately hated regardless. After receiving no response, the ewe slowed to a fit of soft curses and sobs, looking away from Gusty waiting for an answer to her outburst.

“I think in time you’ll find a reason to do good things again. You might not ever be able to return to the Baylands, but at least you can help other people,” she said slowly.

Gabriella’s face streamed even more tears, leaving Gusty to wonder if she was going to become dehydrated from their flow. After a long stint of empty sobbing, a small smile broke the ewe’s face.

“Ah, what’s the point in screamin’ n’ fightin’? For everythin’ tha’ I did, everythin’ I sacrificed, I still lost.,” she paused, a defeated look on her face, “Alright, Oh Gusty the Great. I’ll try it just for you, but ye should know I’m not worth it, not with all the blood on mine hooves that I got.”

“True, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t let you try.”

Gabriella gave her a short chuckle and a genuinely happy smile for her words. A smile that Gusty had not seen ever grace the ewe’s face. She smiled back having to look away in order to not cry as well. She turned to look for Zeccaran just to give him a ‘told-you-so’ look when something hot and warm sprayed suddenly into her face.

She closed her eyes reflexively before lowering Gabriella to the ground. Confused beyond all logic as to what the substance was, she wiped her face with a wing. Upon opening her eyes Gusty looked down at her wing to find blood. Panic taking her heart she managed to perk her head up in time to see the headless body of Gabriella spray another few spurts of blood from her neck before slumping down, chains clanking dully on the stone floor. At the same time something heavy and warm touched her hooves and natural reflex forced her to look down before her brain could stop her.

Looking up at her, sweet smile slowly fading, Gabriella’s eyes twinkled dull. Immediately shaking Gusty loosed several haggard breaths petrified to the point that she could not even retch at the sight. She rolled her head about trying to find out who or what had done this, and why. She found the culprit quickly.

Still holding his bloody sickle in his mouth, Zeccaran looked dispassionately down at his handiwork. His expression was vacant as if he had acted out of boredom and was unsatisfied with the result. Gusty wanted to yell at him to beat him within an inch of his life. Horror and disgust stayed her hooves and loss and sadness made her collapse in on herself. She could feel not-her inside of her laughing, dancing as if she had won some great victory.

Looking down again, trying to prove that what had happened was not real, Gusty froze. She was no longer Gusty in the present, she was no longer even sure who she was anymore. The face that greeted her was not Gabriella’s but the face of the little mare she had seen so often in her nightmares. When the recognition clicked in her brain this time it hurt. It felt as if her heart was literally being ripped out of her chest and the surgeon performing the debauchery was using a spoon.

A maddened scream overtook her and she sobbed and shook where she stood, unable to bend or reach out to the pretty still smiling face of her daughter. They had rendered her powerless. But they had never shown her what it felt like, truly. Gusty looked up the ceiling and then to the monster that had committed this atrocity. The shadowy figure’s bodice split to reveal a wide, sickening smile. It only served to fill her with as much dread as she had guilt and pain. This was the moment, it was too much.

No longer able to control herself, Gusty ran. She ran past the screaming colors and the sounds of horror and the past. It was what she always did before, but this time it seemed like she would never escape, especially the nagging words of Gabriella’s insults. Sounds grew closer and angrier their visages, terrors she needed to keep forgotten. But soon brighter lights came and she took to her wings, knowing that to stop meant death. That remembering meant death. That being happy meant death. That any pause meant death. All in pain and sorrow did the wind carry her away, until she could not remember who and where she was, until she was cold and hungry and alone. But, even then she did not stop, she could not stop, she knew that there was some answer, some part of her left out there, she just had to find it. Gusty was just that kind of mare.

Act 3: Chapter 1 - By the Moon

“Dear Diary, today I came to a terrible realization. While I may be an active member of Advanced Research Division, hold a doctorate in information and alchemical sciences, and regularly make international trips to visit cloistered mages and inventors: I’m still just a librarian. That’s my day job. The Princesses don’t notice that I’m only in the Archives a fifth of the time I am supposed to be, nor do the guards! In fact, I’m fairly certain the only other pony to notice is my brother. Yet, I still get regular letters with notes from the Princess Celestia detailing how wonderfully organized those dusty tomes are compared how to they have been the last two centuries. When does she even visit? I’ve literally never seen her in there. On top of that, who has been organizing the books? I mean, I do a good job when I’m there but...I’m not there three-fourths of the time. Oh, well, I guess. If nopony will stop me I'll just keep doing what I’m doing I suppose.”

-Unknown-

Chapter 1 - By the Moon

Princess Luna anxiously paced back and forth across her private balcony watching the early morning sky. Her sister’s sun had yet to fully crest the earth but its long rays still cast light up to the high peak of her observatory. In truth she barely noticed between her circuit of looking down at her hooves and up into the clouds waiting to see the Midnight Onyx enter Canterlot airspace.

It had been about a day-and-a-half since she and Celestia had contacted the Special Guard Unit. The news had been grim. Bordering on the worst case scenario, Gusty Twilight had gone missing. She recalled Stiff Inspection’s words both before and after he made it to the communication orb.

“The Princesses are calling now!? Of course! Of course, it can always be fucking worse! Get out of my way!”

“Your majesties, I have just had half of my unit beaten senseless by Gusty Twilight as she took to the sky and flew off over the ocean. She’s easily faster than any crew of pegasi we can send after her, and to make matters worse she is our primary ward! His lordship is going to have my head for this! Argh!”

The lieutenant took his emotion to such an extreme that it almost ruined his name. However, Luna could hardly blame him, his employer and the situation were of the most dire sort. Gusty Twilight was a dangerous asset, that now lost, threatened the entire world. There was a reason that she and Celestia had immediately deployed half of the military in search parties along the west coast. Unfortunately, nopony had managed to find the distressed alicorn yet and it had been well over the amount of time she would have needed to travel across the ocean from the Baylands and her isles.

To make matter worse yet, the one stallion that could locate the errant mare was over a week late from his journey to the northern wastes. Luna knew that Guardian Angel could survive in the worst possible conditions and situations, but that was not the problem. She desperately needed him to return, more so for personal reasons than international safety, but his aid in finding Gusty would have proved invaluable.

Wind whipped by on the oddly chilly morning for late summer making her long mane stretch its starry wisps even further than before. She again swung her head up from her hooves as she paced and looked west towards her disappearing moon, hoping to see the Onyx. Some of the clouds had moved closer to the spire of her tower, but there was still no airship. She took to reciting some of her favorite curses as she made her march. Each was an utterance that should have never crossed her royal lips but the situation forced her frustration to vent in some manner.

A pair of bright lights suddenly took to the sky from down in the palace grounds. Luna knew them to be pegasi with packs of magically lit crystals tied to their sides but at the distance they seemed to be simply bright blue orbs of light. The two guides quickly gained speed and altitude making for the bank of clouds that she had noticed earlier. After a moment they slipped into the mass of fluff, their blue lights dimmed to dull yellows in the heavy moisture. Luna placed her hooves on the banister of the balcony and squinted eagerly up towards the soft lights.

The sun crested the edge of Canterlot’s hanging structure and the silhouette of something massive formed in the cloud. Luna had seen airships before, even large luxury cruise vessels but the beast that took shape before her was easily twice that size. As she watched the lights of the guide pegasi began to brighten as they showed the behemoth the way through the clouds. The aerial battleship broke the floating cotton her dull armor more absorbing the sun’s rays than reflecting them. The hulking vessel began to turn and descend towards the Royal Gardens, the decided landing point for the ship.

Luna, possessed by the urge to get closer, jumped from her balcony and spread her wings, gliding towards the nearly landed ship and crew. As she drew near she could see the host of ESGS as they drew lines of cable and rope from the deck in teams. The collection of ponies tied the lengths to the tall pines that occupied one of the more secluded portions of the Gardens. Pulling them taut as the airship slowed to a crawl, the combined teams slowly gathered on the near side of the vessel. Luna landed near them and the soldiers snapped to attention, forming ranks in an instant. She motioned them at ease and the clearly tired group of ponies collectively released a sign.

A rough grumble of wood slipping over metal creaked and a ramp lowered to the ground from the deck. Landing only about her body length away Luna watched the deck for the ponies she needed to hear from.

First down from the deck was Stiff Inspection. He did not wearhis helmet, but his blue mane was matted regardless. Almost stumbling as he made his way down the ramp, he came before her and saluted. He clearly had not slept over the last day two days, the bags under his eyes threatening to become bags on his cheeks.

“Princess, would you like my report now, or later?” He inquired. His body shook where he stood but his voice remained steady.

“Later will be fine, lieutenant,” she said gently, taking pity on him, “I can wait for your account after you rest.”

“Thank you, your Majesty.” The pegasus stumbled off towards a portion of his subordinates before suddenly stopping in his tracks.

“The prisoners, Princess what shall we do with them?” Stiff Inspection asked just short of slurring. Frankly, Luna had nearly forgotten about the scant collection of mercenaries and the lonely griffon being held in the brig of the Onyx.

“Have your least tired soldiers move them to the Crystal Cave Detention Center. Celestia and I will interview them later today,” she answered. The exhausted pegasus nodded affirmatively to her before issuing a set of silent hoof commands that were passed up to a sentry on the deck.

Luna then turned her attention to the ramp where another group of the Special Guard descended the ramp. They had only partially formed rank in front of her before she waved the unit to relax. She had long ago noticed that most everypony in the deployment was dog-tired and needed to recuperate, so there was no need to force them into formality.

“Be at ease stallions and mares, your mission is complete and my sister and I will debrief you at a later time,” Luna called over the crowd as the next squad tried to the same as the first. “Return to your barracks and rest, there is nothing more for you today!”

Visibly the group relaxed and began to slowly trudge towards the Palace, Stiff Inspection having managed to realize he was free to leave went with them after a brief delay. The angry squawking of a griffon reached her ears in the next moment, beginning to grow louder.

“I’ll never talk, you fucking prissy little equines!” he shouted as he became visible at the top of the ramp. The four ponies dragging him in shackles were visibly struggling to hold him. In fact, the lion-bird broke their grip on the chains only to come tumbling down the ramp and land painfully on his side. Wincing he looked up at Luna with supreme disdain for both himself and her before spitting towards her hooves. She promptly blasted the ruffian with a stunbolt and he went straight to sleep where he lay. The group escorting him hastily rushed down to pick him up thanking her repeatedly as they drug his limp body off.

The next group that came down the ramp were a mixed group of rather jolly individuals. They were lightly guarded by only two ponies of the Special Guard. Many waved and bowed to her as they passed leaving Luna surprised if a bit confused. She watched them go, realizing that they were the so described ‘pirates.’

Not a moment later, the deep rolling voce of Bunker and his accent reached her ears and she turned her attention back to the deckramp. Pushing the last bits of the ESGS out of the way the thick stallion descended the board haphazardly, before jumping from the side halfway down its length. He sauntered over to her, grumbling what were clearly curses in his native tongue.

“Princess of the Night, where is mine wife?” He scowled, his muscles almost audibly tightening as he spoke.

“I’m sorry, Bunker we do not know.” Luna took a step back from the angry stallion. She had not spoken to the broad fellow very often, but he had always seemed reserved compared to this. He spat out several curses one of which she was pretty certain was “fuck” just in the barbarous language of the Great Forest.

“You were wrong, zebra! She does not know!” He yelled turning back up to the ship. Luna followed his eyes and found Zeccaran, standing meekly on the ramp.

“Oh...well, that’s not good…” He mumbled as he made his way to the ground.

“Zeccaran,” Luna started, the striped stallion instantly stood taller, “Stiff Inspection was vague on why Gusty eloped. Care to explain such to your Princess?” Bunker’s sour disposition had already rubbed off on her. Combining her curiosity with her general sense that something appropriately terrible had to have happened to make Gusty behave even worse than usual, Luna was not going to mince words.

“Oh! What happen?” I’ll tell you what happen!” Bunker growled, his Equestrian starting to deteriorate. “He happen!” The stallion pointed directly at Zeccaran disdain in his voice. Luna gave the zebra a scrutinizing look before Bunker continued.

“There I were, helping wife on gran’ endeavor to capture princess ewe. Gusty very sad about Gertrude tellings us to punishing daughter. So she plan to take younger ewe home with us.” He paused to draw a haggard breath, “Then after big fight, stoppings of griffons and capture of ewe...dis dishonorable bum kills ewe in Gusty’s hooves!” Bunker’s broken speak devolved into him ranting in his native tongue, spitting and pointing at Zeccaran.

Rendered still by his words Luna locked eyes with Zeccaran. Even with a only partially understandable story, she knew the chain of events that had led the zebra to make his actions. Celestia had been right, his kind of devotion was dangerous and horrible, and by the sounds of things, rather literal. Luna brought a hoof up to her face, trying her best to cover the rush of frustration and self-loathing that had already made its way to her skin. She looked away from the zebra, trying her best not to shake in a mixture of terror and fury.

“I just...did what Gertrude said to do…” Zeccaran spoke as if sensing her worst fears and seeking to confirm them. “...like you told me to,” he finished firmly.

Luna found herself gritting her teeth. “Why?” she nearly snarled.

“Well...speaking frankly...I knew just as soon as Dame Gertrude asked me to it would upset you. But, not doing it...meant going against what you wanted me to do….and that pretty much defeats the purpose of being me, so.”

Luna let several minutes of silence pass as she struggled to recover. It was not every day that her words led to the murder of a helpless individual, regardless of their crimes, and it weighed on her heavily. Nor was it every day that somepony followed her words in such a dutiful sense. She released another sigh and shook her head, before clearing her throat. The sound was enough to get Bunker to stop chanting angrily at Zeccaran.

“While I am pleased with your ability to do what no other being could, Zeccaran, I am overwhelmed with the unforeseen complications,” she managed rather gracefully. She was a Princess after all, and Zeccaran was more tool than stallion. That was what Celestia had said, she had unfortunately not fully understood until this moment.

“Was there anything else Dame Gertrude said?” Luna questioned, trying hard to pinch her snout with only one hoof in a desperate attempt to relieve at least some stress.

“Dame ewe was sad. But resolute,” Bunker nodded. Luna shifted her eyes back to Zeccaran, for more detail.

“She cried a lot. It was after Gabriella attacked her in open court. It had led to the death of one of the Jarl’s...Gertrude expressed her regret for having allowed the situation to escalate to the point where she had to order her own daughter’s death,” the zebra informed. Luna cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head at him, waiting for him confirm the rest of she and Celestia’s theory.

“She knew it was Gabriella the whole time, like you said. But...it turned out that Gertrude did have a limit. It was just a limit that was too far down the proverbial rabbit hole to allow Gabriella to be saved,” Zeccaran finished.

Luna tried to swallow the lump in her throat but only succeeded in making herself more uncomfortable. However, she did feel better than before, and the international problem of a warring island state with strategic value had been avoided.

“Unfortunately…” She started slowly, pacing her voice with her thoughts, “While we have managed one problem, we have created a larger one. We must find Gusty Twilight.” The two stallions nodded in agreement.

“To make matters worse, I have personally searched for Gusty’s dreams over the last two days and found nothing. This means she has not slept,” she continued.

“Or it could mean she’s dead.” Zeccaran seemed to always assume the worst. He, however, lacked the perspective she did.

“If Gusty was dead, my dear Zeccaran, you would be burning in an eternal hellfire, and I would be chained up in some room in what was left of the Palace,” she stated gravely. The zebra grimaced, but Luna doubted he understood the gravity of the situation. A very certain stallion’s return to pristine behavior had come about by way of Gusty. Her ability to keep his grudge-keeping at bay, however, was an active part of her existence. If Gusty were killed by Zeccaran’s actions, Luna’s words had only vaguely scratched the surface of Guardian Angel’s depravity. It would probably be worse if something were to happen to her, the thought both comforted and terrified Luna in equal measure.

“Where is Stormwalker? Of all stallions, methinks he would have found Gusty by now.” Bunker pulled her from the moment of reflection. He even was so kind to take her to her next subject.

“I was just about to get to that.” She cleared her throat before continuing, “You two need to go find him. He’s not in Equestria at the moment.”

“Well, where the hay is he?” Zeccaran immediately asked.

“Deep in the Frozen North, in the catacombs and labyrinths of his ancestors, he’s been there for over a month now,” she answered

“Oh. Of course he is. Where else could he be?” the zebra did not try to dull his sarcasm in the least. “How are we supposed to survive going there? Not to mention the cold, there are also things like Windegos, Snow Beasts...I don’t know if we actually can go find him.”

“You can and you will. I have already prepared a new crew for the Onyx should you need one.” She shifted her weight on her hooves waiting for a response.

“No. Airship does not need more than two to fly. To fight...more...but we just fly.” Bunker answered.

“Good. Then, as far as the appropriate equipment and clothing is concerned, we need only retrieve from storage.” Luna gave a scolding glance to the zebra. The two stallions were more than up to the task, especially since it was Zeccaran who had gotten them all in this mess in the first place.

There was a pause where both Zeccaran and Bunker looked at her expectantly. She gave them a confused look, before turning about and motioning for them to follow.

“Come, we must make haste, every moment counts when trying to find a missing mare.” Luna began to charge her horn as she spoke. Channeling her power she expanded her teleportation ability to encompass the two befuddled stallions. With a fizz-pop they stood in front of old storage closet in her chambers where she kept magical items and other nefarious contraband.

“Uhh...not to sound disrespectful or anything but why didn’t you just magically summon the items?” Zeccaran asked.

“Da. I agree with thick-skulled zebra. I see alicorn mares do it all the time.” Bunker responded his Equestrian finally having returned to its more polished state.

“Because summoning clothing with the amount of enchantments these have on them is incredibly dangerous. Should I fail to cast the summons, which there is a high likelihood I would, I could accidentally summon a demon or explode the planar tunnel between my horn and the target items...which obviously would rather viciously rend time and space: an event I would happily avoid.” She unlatched the lock on her closet and stepped inside before continuing.

“That is why I teleported us here, so we only had to walk one way, frankly I should call a chariot up to my balcony to hasten the trip back to the Midnight Onyx but first I have to find the garments…” She lit her horn in the dark little room and moved towards where she thought she had placed them. Luckily, the two sets of puffy coats and boots had only fallen to the floor and she was able to quickly snatch them up and toss them to the stallions.

“They will keep you the exact temperature you are when you put them on, so I recommend donning them now while I send for that chariot.” Briskly breezing by them she fumbled around her lounge searching for the tiny little silver bell that she used to summon her Royal Escort when she was feeling lazy. She located it amongst the cushions of one of the sofas and gave it a swing.

Its piercing bell echoing unnaturally from the magic used to connect it to its sister bell in the Royal Guard’s barracks. They would arrive quickly, but for now Luna took to helping the two wayward stallions slide their protective suits on.

“Do be careful, while these can protect you from the harshness of the elements, you encounter Windegos, the enchantments will only keep you safe for a limited time.” She roughly grabbed Zeccaran’s coat and pulled it down the rest of the way over his barrel as she spoke.

“Good to know.” Zeccaran said turning his face away from her. Luna could see the barest hint of pink between the stripes on his face. It would seem the zebra-stallion’s infatuation went beyond ideological devotion. For only an instant, Luna wondered what it would be like to tease him, but the all-consuming thought of actually having her significant other back pushed the thought away.

“Princess!? You summoned us!?” shouted a raspy voice from out on the balcony of the lounge. Luna felt herself perk up in posture some. She was excited, Zeccaran and Bunker would be on their way and she was that much closer to being reunited with Guardian Angel. Luna cursed at her hubris and selfishness, the world’s safety was more important than her relationship, but she could not stop thinking about it regardless.

“Come, our ride is here.” She took the lead out to the balcony and found her dark chariot waiting for her. Nodding to the two thestral pullers, she gracefully hopped into the taxi. Once situated, Luna turned to see Bunker already on the balcony trying to unfold the last boot and get it to stay on his hoof. He got it after a moment and slipped up onto the chariot with her. Zeccaran then appeared from her chambers, awkwardly walking as if he had never worn shoes of any kind before. A common occurance amongst folk, although she had little understanding of it, Luna had been wearing some form of hoof gear since she was small. Although it was with great effort, Zeccaran made it to the chariot and climbed into it.

“Driver, to the Midnight Onyx,” Luna commanded. Leather wings beat down and the small air car floated up and then began to glide down to the airship. The ride was short and silent, the wheels of the chariot and the hooves of the drivers softly thunking on the grassy ground. She and the two stallions slipped down from the craft and the thestrals whisked away with little sound as well. Zeccaran coughed seemingly on impulse to break the still morning air and the silence.

“So...how are we supposed to find him?” the zebra questioned.

Luna let a playful smile creep up to her lips, “Oh, my dear Zeccaran, you know as well as I that, he finds you.”

“Point taken,” he sighed in response, “Welp, no time like the present! Come on, Bunker.” The dutiful sebra began to make his way up the ramp to the deck. Luna followed with the intent to disconnect the tethers for them.

“Ohhh no. You don’t get to order me around dis time, stripe-fool. You go get down into engine room and prime for full launch!” The larger stallion growled.

“Fine, sheesh…” Zeccaran grumbled. “Oh Princess, before I forget may I leave Gunther here in the gardens again?” He looked over his shoulder to her as they all reached the deck.

A loud bark echoed over the quiet and the timberwolf stood panting, a little too close for comfort. Luna slid away slightly before quickly levitating the woody dog down to the ground.

“Yes. he can stay. Now go and do as Bunker instructed. I want you on the hunt immediately.” she ordered. Zeccaran nodded and bolted away towards the hatch in the center of the deck. Bunker pointed to the anchoring lines.

“I say when you break lines, okay? Da.” He turned and run up to the helm. Luna nodded pleasantly more than ready to do as he asked. Their mission could not start soon enough. A rumble below her hooves shook her legs as the engines kicked to life. The noise slowly built and the harsh scrape of metal rang out as Luna noticed smoke begin to billow out from behind the helm. Bunker moved some causing her to look back to him.

“Princess of Moon...a thought. How did Stormwalker send letter not more than a week ago to Gusty...and now he has been in Frozen North for over a month?” the stallion inquired.

Taken aback by the confusing question Luna tried to analyze what had been said. She knew for certain that Guardian Angel had not been in the position to send postage. What was more, his involvement with Gertrude’s security seemed to be particularly well-timed. This lead Luna to wonder if perhaps her stallion had known the details of Gabriella’s rebellion. She would not put it past him to use the incidents the ewe was causing as an excuse to both acquire Griffon military technology and strengthen Equestria’s position diplomatically. Turning her gaze to the polished deck of the Onyx and recalling Celestia’s brokering of a treaty Luna heaved a long sigh.

“Oh, Guardian Angel, we really need to have a talk about your meddling…” she grumbled to herself.

“Who, princess mare?” Bunker asked only to be cut off by the roar of the engines reaching full fire. Reacting if by on instinct, Bunker’s hooves flew to the countrols of the airship. Luna had thought the engines being primed was loud, she cast a dampening spell as soon as the turbines whirled to life. Soon after she felt the ship begin to slowly gain altitude. Bunker opened his mouth in a wide shout in what she assumed was the command to break the tethers.

Quickly and decisively, Luna moved around the vessel untying or un fastening chains and ropes. As she loosened each the Onyx gain a little more height. By the time she finished coiling the final anchor the vessel quite noticeably pushed up against her hooves. She carefully walked back to the helm, before Bunker caught sight of her. He briefly waved before spinning the control wheel.

“Happy hunting!” she bellowed using the royal-Canterlot voice so both the stallion and she could actually hear the words. He nodded vigorously and began manipulating another portion of the controls that Luna could not make sense of as a device. Turning away, she slipped herself over the guardrail and let bodysafely fall away from the vessel before opening her wings to glide down to the ground.

Below her, she could already see her sister’s dazzling white coat waiting for her in the Gardens. Swinging her body about Luna descended to meet Celestia feeling optimistically thoughtful about the present situation. Evidently her elder sister shared her sentiment, judging by the small grin she wore

“‘Tia,” she smiled back as she landed, “The Empire agreed to the terms you laid out, didn’t they?”

“Why yes, they did, they asked for no modifications…” Celestia tilted her head and scrunched her nose in a bit of candid playfulness. “How did you know that though?” she asked her voice letting her surprise sneak through.

“Bunker told me.” Luna replied. Celestia balked fully at the statement.

“Well, how did he know?” She asked once she recovered.

“I suppose he didn’t tell me specifically, just inadvertently shed some light on a dark plot by a certain Lord Stormwalker.” Luna answered a sly smile purposely betraying her sarcasm.

“A dark plot you say?” Celestia raised a brow curiously, playing along in equal measure.

“Yes.”

“Then we must unravel this web of intrigue and reap the rewards!”

The two alicorn sisters shared a laugh. They strode off towards the palace, debating which group of mercenaries they would interview first, more than relieved to have something else to focus on. The impending doom of the world was not something that was enjoyable to fret over. For now, Luna decided to keep the other depressing bits to herself, Celestia would not take kindly to the state Dame Gertrude was left in. Besides, there was no point in arguing semantics until they had found Gusty and stopped her from causing the apocalypse, right? At least that was what Luna told herself before she went to sleep later that night. Anything to avoid the “I told you so.”

Act 3: Chapter 2 - Cold Shoulder

“Amethyst! Stop turning the furniture into squids! No, they are not more comfortable! I’m more upset that you are capable of turning inatimate objects into living creatures. How can you do that and who taught you how?! I swear if it's not the memory loss that will drive me crazy it will be you silly filly!”

-Gusty-

Chapter 2 - Cold Shoulder

Zeccaran closed the heavy hatch to the engine room with a hard shove. Drenched in sweat from the work of feeding a fresh set of coal into the monstrous vessel’s power plants he slumped down against the vault door huffing from the dusty air and exertion. He could do physical things, but truly they were not his forte. After his moment’s rest the zebra righted himself.

“Gonna be a long day,” he grumbled quietly to himself. Stiffly pulling a hoof up to put pressure on the area between his eyes, he groaned at his own futile attempt to alleviate his headache. Said skull pain had started about the time Gusty had went screaming out of the mine like a banshee. He had managed to sleep for most of the trip back to Equestria, avoiding the consequences until now. Heaving a sigh Zeccaran began to make his way topside to see how Bunker was faring. Absently he ascended from the bowels of the Onyx all too aware that he was a glutton for punishment.

He had no logical reason to go up to the helm. He had even less of a stand to make with this attempt of confronting Bunker. Zeccaran silently surmised that his purpose was to hear himself explain it. Just to make sure that how he was living his life now was the only way he could; to be certain he was right. He climbed up the stairs to the main cabin area and plodded to the door to the deck.

Opening up the door, Zeccaran was buffeted with heavy wind. While it was annoying, it at least was not freezing him where he stood. The suit Luna had given them was already proving its worth. Lowering his head as he walked forward, so as to keep his eyeballs in their sockets he proceeded. He slowly made his way towards the stairs up to the helm fighting the elements until the wind broke and the only air moving was by the force of the airship. It was much more manageable than the blistering, howling barrage mere moments before. Quickly, he reached Bunker, content for the moment to watch his fellow stallion manage the controls of the vessel.

The loud hum of the propellers reigned supreme for quite some time. Meanwhile, Zeccaran scanned the horizon between the boring parts of Bunker’s movements. They had made good headway over the last two hours, better than Zeccaran had expected. They were passing by the area of sky that Cloudsdale inhabited, and had almost reached the snow boundary in the area before the Crystal City. It would seem the reduced number of crew made the vessel much lighter. It was a huge difference in fuel economy meaning he had a surprising bit of time to kill while they stayed at cruising speeds. He estimated the engines would not need his attention for at least another hour.

Zeccaran caught Bunker scowling at him out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at his friend but the other stallion snapped his head back forward towards the bow of the Onyx.

“What was that all about?” he asked Bunker. His companion’s only response was to turn back, scowl fully at him, and give an angry grunt before looking back forward.

Zeccaran pursed his lips. He felt concerned with Bunker’s attitude, but the feeling seemed far away. That, however, did not mean he would not try to continue engaging his friend. He just did not know where to start. Should he apologize? Probably as good as any to start. The trouble was, as Zeccaran thought to himself, he realized he was not particularly sorry for what he had done. Even if it had upset everypony else and caused more problems than it solved, in the end he was merely the instrument and he did as he was instructed. Deciding it was time to explain such to Bunker he cleared his throat idly. He owed it to his friend, especially since it was the stallion’s wife that had been the most affected by the ordeal.

“I’m sorry,” he stated, projecting his voice just enough for Bunker to be unable to ignore him. Ultimately, he did regret the situation putting Gusty in danger and Zeccaran could be honest about being sorry for that.

Bunker grunted and mumbled something in his native tongue as a response. He at least did not seem as angry as he had been over the last day and half. It took a moment but Bunker turned to give him a cool look, it was just slightly better than his scowl.

“Da? What are you sorry about?” he croaked through a tight jaw.

“Well...about Gusty. I had no idea she would freak out quite so hard. I figured she’d be mad but…” Zeccaran answered.

“Ohhh! So you think,” he paused before mocking Zeccaran’s voice, “Da! Killing little ewe in front of unstable mare is good idea!” Bunker let go of the wheel looking like he was about to punch him. However, the ship listed some as the air blew on her hull and the larger stallion was forced to put his hooves back on the controls.

“It wasn’t like that.” Zeccaran pursed his lips.

“Then how was it? Huh? Is not some mystery to me, you striped idiot!” his friend shouted, anger having already built back to where it was before. “You ignore consequences and do what you want, like some sort of madpony!”

“It wasn’t what I wanted!” he shouted back at Bunker.

“What you think I born yesterday?!” his friend retorted from over his shoulder.

Zeccaran let loose a deep sigh. This was it, he was going to have to tell Bunker everything if the stallion was to calm down so they could work together. And after Luna ordered him to find Gusty he really needed Bunker’s help completing the task.

“Look, there’s a lot to why I did something I thought was stupid,” he began.

Bunker adjusted his grip and allowing him to partially turn his head so one eye faced Zeccaran.

“Explain,” he ordered.

“I’ll start at the beginning. Because otherwise this won’t make sense.” he explained. Bunker nodded in agreement. Zeccaran felt another sigh coming on, but fought the urge, instead he bowed his head, before raising it up to speak.

“I’ll try to be brief, but long ago when I was but a small foal, my parents were murdered by my village for protecting me.” Zeccaran ran a hoof through his now long mane.

“What?! That’s insanity!” Bunker balked.

“Well, the village was right to want me dead. Long story short I was beaten left for dead but was found by an older mare and her young daughter. They took me in and brought me to Equestria. The mare that found me, my mother as I came to know her, taught me many things, and prepared me for a world she described as populated by zombies.” Zeccaran gave a brief pause.

His friend looked on, confusion growing on his face but remained acutely attentive.

“The trouble was, that was all a lie. But I believed it with all my heart. Princess Luna? I thought her a fake, a masquerading monster that had sucked the minds from all the innocent ponies of the country and she was slowly expanding her influence to the other races. And we were the only ones that knew, and could bring the real Princess of the Night back to stop the fake one.” He continued doing his best to keep most of the details unstated, unless Bunker asked for them.

“Masquerading monster? The Cave…” his friend pondered aloud. “I remember the ritual. Da. You knew it, you completed it! Those cultists...they were your family!” Bright sparkles of recognition twinkled in his eyes before his face darkened.

“How did you escape that cult?” he asked in a very serious and clear tone.

“I didn’t,” was all Zeccaran could answer. Bunker raised a brow in disbelief.

“You missed out back when we first came to Canterlot. Princess Luna actually brought Gusty along into my dreams to show her what I did to Stormwalker. Why when we met him he was so...well for the lack of a better terms, evil and depraved.” Zeccaran clarified.

“But, why did you help us fight them then? It doesn’t make sense.” Bunker squinted at him suspiciously.

“Well, that comes back to why I don’t think when the real Luna gives me a task,” he responded to his friend.

“For a long time, I performed horrible acts on other ponies thinking that I was doing the right thing. Under my mother’s tutelage and even worse after she died, I caused or personally committed the murder of thousands, stallions, mares, and foals.” The truth was out, Zeccaran winced at his own words

Bunker stood there for a moment before sliding ever so slightly closer to the wheel of the Onyx and away from him. He looked away from Zeccaran for a moment his head bobbing as he rolled his tongue around the inside of his mouth nervously.

“You were gifted with the darkness. Like the old shamans of legend. And you used it for terror and slaughter.” Bunker met his eyes, his face critical, lips nearly in a snarl.

“Yeah. I regret every moment of it too. Worse yet that dark path culminated in my greatest mistake. Simply, I was the one behind Stormwalker’s original loss of control. He had been captured securing Luna’s escape from our clutches. Back then he wasn’t as strong as he is now. So we tortured him...but not by hurting him, but by doing...awful things to a little mare I had discovered that he was engaged to. I forced him to watch.”

“What? That’s awful!” Bunker actually gasped. “How long ago was this?”

Zeccaran paused, trying to remember the exact amount of time it had been since that fateful night. After a moment it came to him.

“It will be thirteen years ago in about a month,” he answered before blowing a depressed raspberry, “I...I had almost forgotten how long it had been.” The reminder made Zeccaran feel very, very old, he then started to ponder his age, as that was somewhat blurry to him since Luna had reworked his mind those thirteen years ago.

“How old are you, zebra?” Bunker asked the question he was already attempting to answer.

“I think I’m...fifty? It’s my best guess.” The age felt about right, but he honestly had no idea, only that he was already in his late thirties when he had his purpose properly realigned.

“Damn. You don’t really look it,” his friend responded kindly.

For a moment only the sound of the wind and the turbines could be heard. Zeccaran nearly forgot why they had been speaking, especially with Bunker’s mood improved. However, it would seem that the stallion was merely reflecting on the material before continuing.

“What does this all have to do with you being idiot in land of sheeps?” he asked more curious now.

“Well...after those events I met the real Princess Luna. The one we just flew off from I mean.” He sighed before continuing, “She saved me from Stormwalker’s wrath, and showed me...showed me how wrong I had been. That what I had been doing, I had been doing to real ponies, not husks, nor zombies ruined by Nightmare Moon. But normal, innocent ponies...and what was worse...was that I enjoyed it.”

He blanched, sick at his own behavior and how he had been so gullible in the past. After he finished the brief bit of gagging. He shook his head and felt hot around his face and neck, his headache returning with merciless fury as he tried to pull himself together.

“I kinda fell apart after that. Heh. And you think Gusty is crazy? Nah. I had that contest won.” He sighed before looking up at Bunker. His friend nodded waiting for him to continue.

“Somehow, a part of me decided that I could not trust my own judgement. That I could not be the one behind my actions. Regardless of how dangerous that may be, I decided it was better than letting myself return to the way I was. Luna helped some, she toned down some of the more...unforgivable memories, flat out removed others. I owe her everything.” He waited a moment looking away from Bunker and towards the east.

“So when Luna tells me to do things, I listen. Regardless of the consequences or if I personally disagree with her decision. And I execute her orders with as much efficiency as possible, even if that sometimes means doing some pretty bad things.”

“Then Night Princess ordered you to kill young ewe?” Bunker interjected.

“No. She told me to do whatever Dame Gertrude instructed. And Dame Gertrude asked us to do the deed. So I did,” Zeccaran concluded.

Bunker shook his head. He gazed out over the wheel of the ship and gave a long yawn into the wind. They sat in peace again for a short time before Bunker looked over his shoulder to address him.

“How do you live like that, Zec?” he asked using his nickname. Anytime the larger stallion used actual names or informal terms it was because he was truly concerned about the pony he spoke to. Zeccaran did not make mention of his empathy but respected his friend’s compassion.

“Because I have to.” The zebra had never uttered a truer statement.

“Da.”

Zeccaran felt better now that the conversation was over, but the headache had not reduced in strength. He stood rubbing his temples for a moment until Bunker yawned again.

“”Well...now I use secrets to mine advantage.” He said letting go of the wheel entirely and looking and Zeccaran with a smirk.

“I need to sleep before navigating the big north mountains. And you...have to figure a way to pilot airship to do what you do, the best way possible.” he chuckled with a bit of vengeance.

Instantly, Zeccarn felt sweat bead up on his brow. “Uh...that’s not cool, friend,” he stammered.

“Bah. Just don’t touch anything but wheel. You read compass, da? Da. Now I go sleep. Keep ship steady, I’ll be back for mountain navigating.” With his intention decreed Bunker strode of with an urgency as the ship began to list from not having steady hooves on her wheel.

Immediately, although he had no idea what to do, Zeccaran dashed to the helm. He placed his hooves into the steadily spinning mechanism forcing it to stop. The slow list to the left also held steady. Gingerly, he began rotating the wheel to the right until the vessel’s deck flattened. He stood there panting, his mind racing as he gripped the wheel. In truth it was no longer ignorance that kept him from piloting the Midnight Onyx, it was nerves.

His senses sharpened as he looked up from the wheel and down the bow of the ship. Time seemed to slow as the slightest tug from the wind pushed on the mechanism in his hooves. Swallowing hard in an attempt to calm himself, Zeccaran relaxed his forehooves and tried to let the wheel balance on his extended limbs. The sweat on his brow began to slip down his face, some of it getting into his eyes, and he tensed up again. The ship remained steady throughout the few brutal moments even as Zeccaran struggled to become calm enough to fly the vessel.

Time drug on and eventually the zebra was not externally shaking as he held onto the helm. He looked around after the experience to noticing he could not tell how long he had been stuck in his fear-stupor. The sun seemingly had not moved but to him half the day had passed. He let out an angry grunt

“Damn that Bunker and his shittily good idea to blackmail me,” Zeccaran cursed to himself. His friend had always been more intelligent than he let on. As time passed however it was becoming more apparent that he knew exactly what was going on around him and how to manipulate the situation.

Bunker knew that Gusty was dangerously unstable, and most likely beyond help. He understood that the situation they were in necessitated an answer that he could not reach. The big lug always played his part, and played it well, Now he had an extra leg up to control situations more to his liking. The realization made Zeccaran suddenly feel more than a little compromised by his admission to his friend. Hopefully, Bunker would not tell Gusty some of the finer details about his history of harming children. She had declared Stormwalker a permanent enemy for causing only the most temporary of harm in the long run. He shuddered at the thought of what she would do to him if Bunker let slip the truth. Zeccaran just hoped the stallion would keep that in his back pocket for something more serious than emotion-driven revenge.

Casting his thoughts aside, Zeccaran sat in relative calm for a decent span of time before he caught a glance of something sparkling in the far off open plains in front of the ship. Squinting through the billowing wind he recognized the brilliant structure. The Crystal City of the ancient Crystal Empire and her grand palace’s silhouette twinkled in the midday sun. The city was still quite the distance away but with his current heading they would be passing over the citadel in about an hour. A powerful realization hit him: he had not been keeping tabs on time since he had been forced to take control of the Onyx. Worse yet, he had no way to hold the wheel steady while he went to check on the engines.

As panic began to sink in, Zeccaran looked around the deck of the helm for anything that could possibly be used to keep the wheel still. He had to act fast, if he took too long there was a distinct possibility that the engines’ fire would cool enough to have the airship literally fall out of the sky from lack of hot air. After staring at various sections of deckrail, he decided the wood was too thick to be lodged into the space between the wheel’s spokes. He looked down at the deck as he racked his brain trying to come up with a solution. However, looking down was the best source of inspiration for the moment. The boots he wore were cloth, and could easily be tied into the helm’s tower and control fixture. He hooves would be cold, but he would at least not send the Midnight Onyx plummeting to the ground.

Immediately, Zeccaran pulled his front pair of boots off of his hooves. He hastily tied their cloth lengths together before slipping the knotted pair through a wheel spoke. Tossing both of the hard bottoms around the fixture and pulling them taut against the wheel. He struggled to make a proper knot while keeping the ship at an even keel. After fretting and several re-tying attempts he eventually got the makeshift wheel holder strong enough that he felt safe to go check the engines. He bolted down to the room without looking back.

A half hour later covered in soot and sweating profusely from having narrowly kept the engines from dying, Zeccaran lugged himself up to the helm. The ship had not randomly shifted as he had been funneling new fuel into the dual fireboxes of the vessel’s powerplant. Before returning to the controls he hazarded a glance over the deckrail to see if they had drifted off course, somehow. Zeccaran was pleasantly surprised to see the vessel passing over to pass of the Crystal City. Smiling, he returned to the controls and went about merrily untying his boots and putting them back on, gingerly holding the Onyx steady as he did.

“UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL. THIS IS RESTRICTED AIRSPACE, DIVERT COURSE OR BE SHOT DOWN!!” Boomed the sound of somepony’s magically amplified voice. Zeccaran’s cheery grin vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. He remained transfixed in abject horror as the words sank into his brain.

As soon as the reality hit him, Zeccaran spun the wheel like a mad stallion. The ship moaned from the sudden change in her propeller and sail orientation. Leaning with the list Zeccaran nervously waited as the Onyx began to turn steadily to the left. After a painful moment the vessel had turned enough to satisfy him and he realigned her controls.

“UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL. WE WILL BE SENDING A BOARDING PARTY TO CONFIRM YOUR STATUS. STANDBY.” The voice echoed unnaturally again. Zeccaran released a tepid sigh, the Crystal Guards were at least not going to blow him out of the sky. However, he was not terribly interested in having them interrogate him while he was trying to fly. How is Bunker still sleeping? He grumbled internally looking around for the boarders.

A flying chariot pulled up alongside the helm escorted by a small squad of pegasi. The three unicorn of the occupants hopped over the deckrail and stood examining the empty helm before their center most member raised a hoof to point at Zeccaran. Meanwhile the pegasi landed on the deck surrounding him where he stood at the wheel.

“Helmspony! What exactly is an Eyrie-class battleship doing over my city?” barked the commander.

“Uh…” he managed before the soldier continued.

“And where is the rest of the crew? What sort of charade is this?” This time Zeccaran recognized his voice as the stallion who had been hailing them before. However, he still did not have any response convincing enough for the fellow, nonetheless he tried anyway.

“Well...uh the only other crew member is below decks...he had been sleeping but…” He let his voice trail off. The soldier nodded in surprise silently realizing his screaming had likely woken the slumbering stallion below. He was likely also confused by the skeleton crew of two on such a large vessel. Zeccaran had no idea if the fellow knew anything about the Baylands or he and Bunker’s mission. However, before he could explain the stallion cut him off.

“You’re wearing an envirosuit. Are you special forces?” he asked tentatively over the wind.

“I guess you could call us that. I certainly don’t have any verification if that’s what you are after.” Zeccaran responded carefully. He did not know how to properly address officers and he definitely knew this mission was not a sanctioned military endeavor.

“Who would send you out without verification?” He paused before a frown came over his face, “Don’t answer that.” The commander leaned over to one of the other unicorns making his purple finished armor glint in the sun. He held a hoof over his mouth as he whispered something to his comrade.

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t.” Zeccaran spoke up. The officer stopped whispering and gave him a scrutinizing look.

“Princess Luna sent us to fetch, Lord Stormwalker from the Frozen North.” he explained to the unasked question. The stallion raised a hoof to stop him from continuing.

“Lord Stormwalker is not in Equestria?” he asked sounding rather flustered at the statement. “Well, why is it important to Princess Luna that you find him?”

“The Princess wants him to help her find Gusty Twilight. You know that most recently inducted royal? She’s gone missing.” Zeccaran answered him.

“Well I know about her missing. It’s actually why we caught your ship. Our pegasus scouts saw it coming. Not the thing we were looking for of course, but with that international debacle involving the Griffons you will have to forgive my caution.” The commander removed his helmet as he finished speaking.

He was a handsome fellow with white fur and a two-tone blue mane. Zeccaran was certain he had seen him before, but could not fathom his name. Not a moment later the heavy clopping of hooves on wood broke the momentary silence. Everypony present turn to look at a Bunker who had just finished climbing the stairs to the helm. He stood staring back in one part confusion and another part awe, looking between the soldiers. The moment passed and a bit of a gasp escaped the commander.

“Hey! I recognize him! He’s the missing alicorn’s husband! At ease boys, these guys are legit.” A visible tension released from the other ponies arranged around Zeccaran.

“So this is the Midnight Onyx. It’s a nice ship, you should bring her up here sometime so I can train the Crystal Guard on airship operation.” The commander said pleasantly.

“Sure. If I ever get away from doing the Princess’s bidding, I’ll get her up here to the Crystal City.” Zeccaran answered with the least liable position possible.

“Fair enough,” the stallion nodded with a warm smile, “Well, now that that is settled, we’ll leave you to your business. Sorry to divert your course.” With that he and his two unicorns jumped back into the air chariot and the pegasi left the deck.

“Hey!” He yelled over the wind and distance pulling Zeccaran out of his surprised stupor.

“Yeah?” he screamed back to the stallion.

“When you find Gee Ayy, tell him: Shining has his twenty bits. He’ll know what it means.” The chariot pulled away in the next instant and the only two left were Zeccaran and Bunker. They stared at each other blankly unable to comprehend who had just accosted them or why they left so quickly.

“Uh...Da.” Bunker broke first trotting over to Zeccaran so he did not have to strain his voice as much. “What...what uh..just happen?”

“I think we just got boarded by the Equestrian Military based in the Crystal Empire...but then they left...their commander said he recognized you.” Zeccaran shrugged causing him to accidently move the wheel some now that he relax. He quickly adjusted for the bump he had given them, and elected to set the ship on a more northerly path again.

“You mean she not he, da? Look like mare anyway.” Bunker snorted, laughing at his own hubris. Zeccaran could not help be smile as well.

“You wanna take over, since you are up?” he asked his friend tentatively. Zeccaran had caught the other stallion’s questioning look with the way he handled the turn.

“As you wish.” Bunker slipped his hooves onto the controls just as soon as Zeccaran released them. Free from the stress of piloting he stepped back a few paces and collapsed on the helm’s deck with a thump. He sat there for a moment closing his eyes as he tried to relax. Truthfully, it proved futile, but Zeccaran managed to trick himself into feeling good enough to speak again. Somewhere inside of him he remarked to his mind that that was probably not very healthy.

“How long is it going to take us to reach the Crystal Mountains?” He stood as he spoke. He took the few paces necessary to get closer to Bunker.

“Eh...I give it a few hours, should be just before sunset,” Bunker answered squinting ahead of them and then up at the sun.

“And what about getting to the other side?” Zeccaran questioned some more.

“It will take all night. Have to slow down. Don’t want to hit mountains, da?” his companion smiled confidently.

“Alright one last question: How did you have this all planned out?”

Once asked, the air fell silent between them. Bunker grew a pondering look as Zeccaran stood there stumped as to what he could be mulling over. The zebra had not been considering the crossing of the grand mountains until now. He knew it was supposed to happen but had just let the issue slide, waiting until this moment when it was pertinent.

“When learning how to read Equestrian, my teacher had me read maps. To learn places, names, you know, pony stuff.” Bunker chuckled starting his answer. “Some of maps showed hills and valleys. I am no expert, but I know there are three main passes through Crystal Mountains. One to th’ west by Yakyakistan and two north of Crystal City. We find one, and we follow it.”

Zeccaran bowed his head in surprise, nodding approvingly. “I guess you have this all together care if I go double check the map I have in my cabin, make sure we are going where we are supposed to?”

“Da! Is good plan, map out of context is poor guide.” Bunker confirmed sagely.

Taking his leave Zeccaran plodded down to the cabins below the helm. He arrived to the door into his on ship residence rather painfully aware that he had spent nearly no time in the cabin even while on the Onyx. Stepping into the room he began to dig around the tossed about parchments and books that the previous owner had kept. He knew the map was in here, he had found it after having fixed up the vessel back in the Baylands. Finally, after a bit of more careful searching he located the rolled parchment.

Strolling over to the four-poster bed he untied the maps twine binders and let it unfurl across the surface. However, he was forced to find some weights, mostly just old books to hold the pesky paper flat so he could read it without laying on top of it. He quickly located the Crystal Mountains as the map was curiously only a map of Equestria. The observation was merely another piece of evidence suggesting the Griffons had indeed been planning some form of an attack.

Searching the mountains for one of the two mountain passes Bunker had mentioned Zeccaran found his quarry. The pass was called “Ice Giant Trail” and was marked with various skull and crossbones to indicate danger. He did not pay much mind as the airship rather perfectly avoided any ground related hazards such as the frozen monsters. Further, the path was the most direct route through the Middle Crystal Range and, judging by its location, the closest to their current location just north of the Crystal City. All they had to do was fly into the grand valley and follow its winding path past Mount Everhoof and reach the other side. Simple enough, but Zeccaran knew better than to think this was going to be easy. Even with the Onyx, there was no telling if Windegos or other unknown beasts would attack.

He let loose a long sigh. There were many things he still needed to do just so they could make it through the mountains and that came before any wild beasts. Zeccaran stood silently and exited his cabin setting his mind to the task at hoof. It was going to be a long night.

Act 2: Chapter 3 - The Frozen North

“Almost everything went according to his plan, your Majesty. We were successful in our primary objective of protecting Dame Gertrude and exposing the Griffon Empire’s plot to the world. Likewise we were successful in seizing the secondary objective of the airship. However while we had been doing well to keep Gusty Twilight under surveillance, when our mission status changed so did Gusty’s stability. It became instantly clear that we lacked the capacity to keep her protected, as per our new objective. When Dame Gertrude asked the diplomats to oversee the pirates’ expulsion from the country I urged Gusty and her entourage to leave the country regardless.. I had no idea what the details of Dame Gertrude’s bargain was, ultimately that lead to the current situation.. Suffice to say I do not look forward to his lordship’s return”

-Lieutenant Stiff Inspection-

Chapter 3 - The Frozen North

Six and a half miles into the sky always had the best view. At such a height the clouds were well below the peak of the mountain. Perhaps if there had been clouds they would have inhibited the sparkling vista that spanned all the tundra between the Crystal Mountains and Mount Strygon. The jutting and snowless peak was an oddity this far north on the planet. The mass of rock had once been an active volcano, now lying dormant for over two millennia. No lava flows, no eruptions, just centuries of snow boiled off into steam by the still hot magma deep below. It made the great grey fire peak a boring place, as far as volcanology was concerned.

But its ridged top provided the best place to survey the quiet, desolate landscape.

Snap!

Guardian Angel lowered the camera he had brought from his face. There were few beings in the world that could appreciate the beauty of the empty expanse of icy ground, but he was one of them. The empty sky allowed the peaks of the Middle Crystal Range to be seen flawlessly from his vantage point, even though they were several hundred miles away. At such a distance they were only mere bumps of shimmering ice and snow. Of the lumpy stacks out there largest one was Mount Everhoof, dwarfing it sisters. The tallest and largest rock in the whole world, the immense mountain was his next destination.

The stallion drew in a deep breath of cold alpine air. It almost managed to burn his lungs. Although it tried quite valiantly, his body was designed for this height, the thin, ice-filled air could do little to hamper his breathing or flight. Many millennia of genetic preening by his ancestors had gifted him a most durable and infallible flesh. He mused that it was fate that he was born out of the era his forefathers had ruled. Who else was fit to deal with the recent strange happenings across the world?

Stashing the camera into the flight pack on his back, Guardian Angel looked over the vacant tundra with his eyes alone. He scanned the distant horizon to his left, east. Dark malignant clouds were building there, slowly pushing west across the emptiness of the sky he had just taken a picture of.

The clouds were the shroud of the Windegoes he had been stalking for the last day. The frosty creatures could fly just faster than he could and cutting them off had proven a difficult task. He did not mind, he rather enjoyed a challenge when it came to chasing prey. Like most dark creatures that he feasted upon, Windegoes posed a negligible threat to his health. In general, even things like Nyx had become mere trifles to him. That was simply what happened when you were pretty strong before you were forced to consume the dark mistress of agony or die in her clutches. He paused and wondered how it had come to this: times and situations notwithstanding. He marveled at how he had reached this point, realistically he should not have been alive.

Recent events had proven it abundantly clear that the luck that had granted him salvation in the Cave had a purpose. Although a demon he had been born events had pushed him into becoming something much different than he had ever intended, or even imagined. Strangely, he felt at peace with that turn of events. His assumption of Nyx’s power had put him in the position to change the world for the better, and to do it without becoming a full-blown tyrannt. It had come with drawbacks, however, such as an even more voracious desire to consume other demons. And, of course, increased difficulty hiding the fact that he was decidedly not a pony.

Thankfully, out this far from civilization there was nothing to restrict him from using all of his “gifts.” His fangs hung pleasantly unrestricted and unhidden from his lips. While he could not see his reflection but he knew for certain his pupils were slits. He looked down at his hooves. His regular flesh gave way in several cracks up each hoof and leg. Orange, raw magic energy boiled about in the fissures contained by his will and body. His wings still had all their feathers but around them danced flames, the fire ethereal but as much of his body as his chest.

Putting aside the the self-examination, Guardian Angel looked back to his quarries. The Windegos had made a little progress, but seemingly had adjusted course slightly more to the south. The snow-spirit-horses were smart, and did not particularly like getting eaten, but he doubted they were reacting to him. He had already been led on quite the chase. However, after some careful planning he was ahead of them and above them; there was no escape this time. While the beasts could hold speeds longer than he could, in a close encounter he had more “sprint” speed and could overtake them for short interceptions while in the air.

Grughhwaahhlll! His stomach audibly complained with a deep gurgle at his hesitation to take to the air. The noise echoed in the otherwise silent environment. He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I hear ya, I hear ya.” he softly grumbled to himself.

As he stood idly, a frozen breeze wafted up the familiar scent of Luna, making him smile with vacant relief and nostalgia. The scarf she had insisted he take had managed to retain every bit of the mare’s sultry smell, even after this sordid affair with the Frozen North. Besides his pack and the its contents, the scarf was the only thing he had with him. He longed to see her again. Of late her presence had been required for him to relax. The last month of dangerous research and archeology would have been much more tolerable with Luna at his side. Instead, putrid was the best way to describe his experience. The excursion had included several encounters with strange and malevolent snow-beasts, near starvation, a recent, particularly carnal visit from his long-dead forefathers. Included had been just the smallest amounts of success to keep him going until he had found the key to all the mysteries surrounding Gusty Twilight’s past.

Now, that was a mare who was dangerous.

Beautiful, skilled, persuasive, powerful, and crazy all wrapped into a slim angry teal package.

Given the original readings his Thaumatic Magic Level Detector had produced, he remained surprised that Gusty had not managed to inadvertentlycause the end of times. But with the new information he possessed Guardian Angel was certain he and Luna would be able to find a solution to Gusty’s troubled and broken mind. Most interestingly, during his little family reunion it seemed that the force that ailled the mare possessed some form of sentience. The realization had confirmed the validity of the material he had found. The entity, Gusty, the Shades of his ancestors, and himself had momentarily crashed together in an event that he only narrowly retained control over, before stopping. What Gusty had tried back in Canterlot continued to have adverse effects on her mind, but that would have to be addressed when he saw her next.

His thoughts ceased pacing. There was no use contemplating the situation without the mare in question nearby nor while he still had work to do today. He was already quite late returning home as it stood.

I need to kill the Windegoes.

I need to get to the top of Mount Everhoof before sunset.

I need to arrive at Canterlot before midnight.

Guardian Angel extended his wings to their full length. The half-flesh, half-magic appendages beat down on the paper-thin density of the air. He pumped hard to gain lift and quickly felt his hooves leave the rock of the mountain.

Within in seconds he was flying on a perfect interception course with the west moving Windegoes. He was traveling a true southwest while his quarries flew a lazy west-southwest. He started to focus on speed just as soon as his bearing was set. He half-pumped his wings in perfect rhythm, conserving energy and motion. Guardian Angel subconsciously tucked his front legs up against his chest to lower his drag, he also leaned his head and neck in line with his spine, furthering the effect. His already fast pace quickened, every ten seconds a mile buzzed away.

Guardian Angel pushed his body harder. It was a mile every five seconds now and he was not even near his limit . Yet, the best approach to slaying demons or other devils that he had been fatefully tasked with destroying by the Universe at large required employing the most powerful and surgical strikes possible, first. If he was to have the appropriate strength to render the Windegoes immediately defunct it was better to cruise at speeds that were only slightly uncomfortable, instead of his absolute fastest speeds.

About thirty minutes passed and he was much closer to the great billowing stormclouds that the Windegoes pulled with them wherever they went. He could easily make out their outlines, even their white glowing eyes in the bright midday sun. He was about to start heaping on all of his speed in the skies when the creatures suddenly turned true south. At the distance he knew they could not see him, especially with the sun at his back. He could only imagine that something else had drawn their attention, but such an explanation begged its own answer. What had pulled them south?

Windegoes fed on the negative emotions of ponies and other sentient creatures of the world. Otherwise they simply flew about like lost pets looking for hosts foolish enough to wander past the Crystal Mountains. Guardian Angel knew their ability to “feel” life-forms had a much shorter range than his, and he remained well outside of their detection. He had picked them up on his “life-sense” long ago, before reaching the halfway point between Mount Strygon and their current position next to the mountains.

However, if they had found somepony, or something, he would need to find out who it was that was crazy enough to venture out here. He kept his heading in order to get around the Windegoes’ cloud trail. He wanted to look at where they were going and he lacked the x-ray vision needed to see through the thick vapors they left. However, he quickly got around the annoying clouds. Looking down at the lines of the enormous conifer trees that inhabited the mountains, Guardian Angel surveyed the land. The trees were hundreds of feet tall and sometimes that big in width. They utterly dwarfed everything except the enormous mountains and valleys they grew in. Motion caught his hyper-sensitive eyes.

He squinted to activate his eagle sight. Few ponies still possessed the ability to literally zoom in like birds of prey could. But it was a mechanism of survival that had existed in the blood of pegasi since the dawn of time. His enhanced vision better made out the shape of a pony. A pegasus by the look of it. The pony was trying desperately to fly but seemed either too tired or too cold to manage it. Guardian Angel focused in harder applying all of the magic stored in his body to extend his life-sense to try and find out if he could save the pony before they froze to death.

The instant he attempted to reach out to the mind of the pony he recognized it. Shocked, he cursed with his own first name, but not surprised at how he had missed her presence. When someone else’s mind suddenly becomes the completely same as your own for a few seconds you tend to restrict your higher level psychic functions for a few days.

Not that it mattered now, what mattered was how she had got here but the answer was beyond him. Why she was here was even more of a mystery, but now as he focused on teal speck-pony turned her head immediately in his direction. She recognized him too. Distance clearly no longer a factor, Guardian Angel could feel emotions rolling off the mare: there was confusion, anger, and...relief? It poorly covered up the anxiety and fear that she had, making a gentle smile spread across his lips. Even if she could not see it, he knew she could feel him trying to comfort her.

Clouds suddenly obscured his vision of the prodigal Gusty Twilight. The Windegoes were going to feast upon her as she froze there alone and scared deep in their blizzard…

The Windegoes are going to kill Gusty!

Of all the things in the world that were allowed to happen, Gusty’s death was not one of them. Not so long as he had life in his body, nothing would harm that mare, regardless of how she felt about him.

Guardian Angel instantly pushed his body to make up for the Windegoes’ proximity to Gusty. He forwent all restraint and could actually feel the air being ripped apart has he entered a sharp dive and completely shattered the sound barrier. He could not hear over the sound of the air rushing past him, he could not even see. But it did not matter, his sense of smell and his life-sense were more than enough to guide him. With his current speed he quickly crossed the distance. The scent of the Windegoes’ plasma made his blood boil into a frenzy. They were now only a about thirty seconds away from him and already circling Gusty, who’s fading life-presence stood defiantly amongst them.

Even with his natural protection from cold he could feel the temperature in their evil-snow-tempest drop significantly as he entered its outer perimeter. He began adjusting his flight angle as much as he could at his speed to intercept one of the Windegoes. Ten seconds out, he felt his mouth drooling in anticipation. Now in the very center of the blizzard, the air felt completely frozen, even to him, he had nary a notion of how Gusty was still standing, But he could feel her, her pulse racing as he approached. Five seconds out. He opened his razor maw.

Four. He concentrated on the motions of the blissfully ignorant Windegoes.

Three. Target chosen, he made last moment flight changes.

Two. He slammed his front legs forward, to increase is drag.

One. Guardian Angel felt pleasure rise and heat his body as his jaws connected with the exterior plasma of the ice-ghost.

Zero. The Windego’s heart and icy blood exploded into his mouth with delicious flavor and ecstasy.

The small amount of flesh that the spectral beings carried was quickly chewed and swallowed as he made a full supersonic loop. The motion naturally slowed him down; allowing him to re-aim his body at a new target. Guardian Angel repeated the motion for the next Windego. Neither the first nor the second had even gotten a chance to make noise. It was the third and most unlucky of the ghastly trio to notice his presence.

Trying to contain his malevolence was a task that was much like trying to save a sinking ship. The compounding stress of his recent expedition and Gusty’s life on the line, proved capable of overwhelming his sense of restraint. Channeling his hatred and disgust for all creatures that bathed in the darkness, Guardian Angel pushed his very consciousness into the Windego. It was the quickest way to eliminate the creature, only by virtue of his mercy and shame had he not used his full strength upon entering this fight. The viscera and sensation of eating other demons’ souls made him let go of a more holy approach and side for the use of his dark power. For his body was no longer his most powerful weapon. Ever since the fateful night in the cave, his most powerful weapon was now his mind, his very will.

There had been only one time before he had let loose his full capabilities. This was the second. The first, in Canterlot, over two years ago, to show the very same mare he was trying to save what he truly was, so she could understand what she had unwittingly created. He had wanted her to understand, to realize how wonderfully stubborn she was for standing up to him. He pushed the thought away and internally remarked that Gusty was again present for his display. He wondered vaguely if she could feel what he was about to do, who was he kidding? She definitely could. However, she had no one to blame but herself for that problem.

Kneel.

The Windego bent to his will instantly. The lesser creature floated down to the ground and awaited his arrival. He graced it promptly, slowing down and landing so quickly it actually strained his wings.

Suffer.

The Windego bleated as its mind entered the pain of being torn apart. He did not give it much chance to continue. Guardian Angel plunged his mouth deep into its chest, piercing the plasma of its body. He could feel its hyper-reacting heart shivering, instead of beating. Carefully, he slid his fangs over the heart and cut the cords to the rest of the Windego. He clamped his mouth shut, and pulled his snout from the beast’s chest.

The blue, ice-blood of the creature sprayed up onto his face. The heart in his jaws still beating as he began to devour it. The Windego dissolved into mist its face perpetually twisted in horrendous torment as it passed. The deed complete and his stomach filled, Guardian Angel forcibly beat the frenzy of his anger into submission. He pushed all his power back down into his body. Deeply inhaling and exhaling the iced-air as he did. Behind him, he could feel Gusty approaching through the grey and white blizzard-scape. He had not finished calming himself but it would have to do.

Guardian Angel hastily attempted to wipe the Windego blood from his face. He was only partially successful and instead pulled up his Luna-scented scarf to his face. The endeavor was actually quite comforting, the familiarity of the smell helped him relax. Thanks to that he actually would appear much more pony-like than just a few moments before.The wind howled as he finally was ready to face her. Well, he thought it was the wind. It turned out to be Gusty yelling.

She had run her voice completely horse. He could hardly understand the poor mare.

“Stormwalker!” Her voice howling harshly over the wind. “Stormwalker! I know it’s you!”

Of course she did. There was no way Gusty Twilight would ever mistake him for anything or anyone besides himself. The mare was too steeped in her superstition and hatred to ever let go of her beliefs. In all honesty she was the culprit behind her own continued paranoia, and unfortunately, explaining that to her was going to have to wait. Although Gusty held the sole responsibility for linking their minds, his first priority was to keep her from killing herself. That task had always been made more difficult by the mare herself as she refused to accept that their fates were now intertwined. There was a reason things had happened the way they did, and Guardian Angel chose to believe it was so he could help Gusty. It was a conceited thought that repeatedly had bit him in the ass, as he kept trying to make it truth. He tutted at himself before looking towards where he heard her voice shrieking.

Pushing through the wind and snow, Guardian Angel was amazed Gusty was still even standing up. The incredibly cold air inside the snow tempest actually forced him to focus on keeping his exterior warm with his natural fire. When he finally could see Gusty with his eyes instead of his life-sense Guardian Angel realized how she was surviving.

Around her body the golden glow of her magic deflected or absorbed the snow and wind. She actually looked fairly warm and unhindered by the weather. Her armor looked to be in good condition, even the cobalt skirt she liked so much was present too. However, as he approached her, she started to look more and more disheveled. It was as if Gusty had been in several fights over the last day and had not bathed or bothered to do any form of personal hygiene in over a week. Her mane and tail were matted and covered in pine needles and dirt. Her face was gaunt, her eyes sunken and crazed looking. Her normally glossy coat, drab, absorbed what little light was around it, devoid of it's healthy sheen. Gusty’s wings too were ruffled and messed, it was no wonder she had been unable to fly.

She saw him as he got within a few feet of her, his grey coat having blended into an unwitting camouflage. Gusty rushed against the wind to meet him. That seemed out of place. From what he could sense she was happy to see him. That certainly was out of character. Up close he was finally able to catch her scent on his nose, Guardian Angel was even certain she smelled wrong too. He had little time to think about the implications.

“What are you doing out here!?” She proclaimed, stretching up to meet his eyes. “Oh! What is this nice scarf?” Gusty looped a hoof through its loose knot and pulled it off of his neck and face.

“What are you doi-” He went to protest but Gusty interrupted him.

“I knew it! You were trying to hide your fangs! Gusty grabbed his face with both hooves as she tied the scarf around her neck with her magic.

He immediately slapped her hooves away from his face. “Stop that, I don’t want you touching the-mm-mm-m mmm!”

Gusty slapped her hooves back on his face, this time covering his mouth, making his speech unintelligible.

“You don’t have to hide them from me, Stormy. I think they look cute on you!” She gushed.

Guardian Angel lost any ability to respond. Is she flirting with me?? He double-checked via their connections. She was serious, somehow this was not a ploy. Rendered still, he simply could not believe it. He could only stand there and look back into her deep blue eyes. As he did, he noticed that her left eyelid was twitching on its own. Further evidence that she was not herself. How much time do we have left? He thought absently to himself, still unable to get a grip on Gusty’s behavior

“Oh wow, they are really shiny!- wait is that blood? It is! Oh, just let me clean you up. Can’t have you looking like you have had your face buried in some creature, even if you have!” she cooed.

Vigorously, Gusty began rubbing the sides of his snout and face, even up underneath his eyes. He must have actually gotten more Windego blood on himself than he realized. He was appreciative of her actions, loving the feeling of another pony being in his presence again, especially one he had such a vested interest in. Vacantly, he let her continue her work as her golden shield flickered and then completely disappeared. It was then that the more sensible part of his brain managed to come back online. She was touching Windego blood with her bare flesh! He had to stop her before...

Guardian Angel moved to knock Gusty’s hooves down again. “Ow!” She cried. “That’s really really cold!” She withdrew her hooves from his face. She instantly began shivering. “I-I-I’m real-l-l-ly c-c-cold too!”

Great.

“Damnit, Gusty! This was why I had that on my face. That is Windego blood!” he yelled at her over the wind. Gusty simply continued to shiver in place, snow now unabated by her magic piling on her face and haunches.

“S-s-so. C-cold. Wh-why am I so cold?” Gusty had already lost much of her teal color. Guardian Angel looked her over, painfully aware that he did not have much time to help her.

Perched on her back she had something that might work. A extremely large sleeping bag. It would have to do.

Without ceremony he pulled Gusty against his chest with his left hoof so he could grip her armor fasteners with his mouth. She protested.

“Hey! Wh-what are you d-d-d-d-doing!?”

“Trying to save your life, you idiot!” He found enough buckles to rip the mail off of Gusty. He clenched his mouth down and pulled as hard as he could. The restraints that held the armor on Gusty gave way, immediately pulling away from the mare with ease. Guardian Angel deposited the the armor to the side. Let it be lost in the snow, it was a small price to pay.

“Like I said, you just rubbed your hooves in Windego blood,” he said his mouth no longer full of armor, “It will give any pony foolish enough to touch it instant hypothermia!” Even pressed against him, Gusty felt cold to his touch, her body not returning warmth in the slightest. He extended his neck over her back and began pulling on the straps holding her equipment to her. Though he was only after the sleeping bag he unwittingly pulled the whole pack off of her haunches. Gusty started pitifully struggling.

“Let me g-g-go!” she complained. He was much stronger than her, but not this much stronger. It was clear that her body was starting to freeze from her exposure. “Why are you s-s-striping m-me down!?”

“Because.” he started, whilst harshly pushing the sleeping bag to unroll with his right hoof and wing. “We are going to have to use body heat to keep you from dying. Now open the bag!”

“Oh-ok. A nap would be nice.” she murmured her voice faint. Her golden magic opened the bag, just as soon as it was open Guardian Angel knocked her from hooves into the sleeper. “Hey! What was that for!? I’m t-tired, ok?”

He slapped her across the face with one of his hooves. She did not yell or complain but instead somehow looked both more awake and stunned at the same time. He took the opportunity to slip his wings under her skirt’s waistband and pulled it off her flanks. “Hey! Don’t do- stop!” She complained snapping fully aware at his touch.

He pressed a hoof on her side as she tried to get up, using both his weight and strength to hold her in place.

“No! No! I don’t want this!” She helplessly flailed under his hoof. “I’d rather die, than snuggle with you, demon!” She had reacquired her bad attitude towards him, Guardian Angel sighed with relief. His chances of keeping her alive were better so long as she had a mind left to save.

He kept his weight on her body as he lowered himself down into the sleeping bag. The wind and snow had not abated in the least, and some of the ice was now accumulating in the rather enormous bag. Why she had a sleeping bag this big was beyond Guardian Angel, fate or dumb luck he did not care.

“Get off of me! Just tell Celestia I was d-d-dead when you found me!” Gusty screamed, as he pulled her close to his body and grappled her down with both of his forehooves.

He growled in actual anger, startling Gusty, righteous frustration bursting forth:

“Oh yes, because she’ll believe me” he glowered, his voice harsh. “Do you really think that, you moron?” he mocked, “Oh no! Princess, Princess! I found Gusty dead in the cold!” He pitched his voice up high to further emphasize his exasperation.

He had believed Gusty would at least like to live, even if it meant him saving her. Unfortunately, It seemed he was wrong. Very, very wrong.

“This is as much about saving you as it is about saving myself. I will never live down letting you freeze to death, especially when I can easily prevent it!” He lied on his motivation. He needed her to think it did not matter beyond his life. Anything to keep her in the bag and where he could keep her warm. Besides she was already prone to believe that was how he thought.

“Shut up!” Gusty retorted, slapping back up towards his face with a hoof, but unable to reach him. Guardian Angel unfastened his packs from his sides with the wing he was not laying on and tossed them out of the proximity of the bag. “Close the bag, Gusty.”

“Fuck off.”

Guardian Angel squeezed her against himself harder, and used the leverage to lift her and slide his groundside hoof under her neck. He then pushed her face towards him angrily, not caring if his hoof cut her skin. Once she was forced to look into his eyes; he repeated his demand. “Close. The. Bag. Gusty.”

Her face twisted into an angry look of defeat. She complied. Fastening the sleeping bag fully, she completely cut out the wind and snow, and leaving them only the dying light of her horn that she had used to seal them together in the sack.

Gusty yawned. “Look. If we are gonna do this, I’m n-not g-g-going to be awake for it. It's the only way I’ll put up with being sh-shoved into this spooning session with y-y-you!” Guardian Angel ignored her incredulous attitude, and her statement. She was safe to sleep now that he could feel her body returning warmth to his. She really had almost frozen right then and there. Worse, even if she was alive and her chest was returning heat did not mean the rest of her body was not severely frostbitten. It would take some time before she was able to really move again.

The entire time he had been fighting her into the sleeping bag, Guardian Angel had been trying to use his fiery characteristics to warm up the immediate area around himself so Gusty would have more time before the full onset of the hypothermia. The flames he possessed only burned things when he wanted them to. His regimented control of the ability would allow nothing less. This made him a reliable heat source and would allow this whole spur-of -the-moment plan to work.

Gusty yawned again. “You know. I still rather you h-ahhh!” She gasped and shivered in his grip, but not from the cold. He had unfolded his free wing and slid it over her side, he managed to cover her whole body below her chest, all except the hard portion of her hooves. He kept the pulsing warmth of his abilities working as Gusty fidgeted beneath the appendage.

“I forgot how soft your wings were. And how-” she yawned, “-warm.” He rolled his eyes.

“For somepony so unappreciative of being saved, you should cherish their touch. Now sleep you ingrate.” he snarked back. Guardian Angel swore Gusty started a cute, soft snore the instant he finished his sentence.

Finally able to relax Guardian Angel loosened his grip on Gusty’s torso and placed the frog of his hoof against her ribs. Her heartbeat was steady and calm, it was certainly a good start, compared to how she had been acting. Against his wing he could also feel heat slowly returning to her legs and flanks, another step towards a positive recovery. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow trying to overcome the sense of foreboding he had been accumulating during the events of today.

What would have happened had I not been here? Why is Gusty out this far from civilization? Why can’t she focus on her well-being? What strange fate that I would find her, could it be that she was searching for me? And if not for me, then who, or what, or where? There has to be something else at work here, why can’t I think of anything? Am I going to be able to save Gusty from herself? Is this just some test? Why is it that everytime I find a new piece to this puzzle three more go missing? How much time do I have left?

Guardian Angel took a deep breath in, trying to ignore his worries. He caught the sudden smell of Luna. He leaned back away from Gusty and looked down at her neck from his position behind her. He had forgotten to remove the scarf she had taken, there it sat in the dark of the sleeping bag, his eyes glowing enough to show the two different shades of blue that striped the cloth.

Reflexively, he nuzzled the cloth to get as much of that soothing scent as he could. Gusty hummed in her sleep and pushed herself closer to him in response to his touch. He quickly pulled his face away feeling the heat of a blush crawl up his back and settle on his cheeks.

He had always found Gusty exceedingly attractive. But the time for such thoughts had long past, he had a job to do, and that was keeping her alive long enough to help her. With all of the research and work he had done Guardian Angel wanted the next few steps in helping Gusty to go as smoothly as possible. Although, given their track record, every time he and Gusty were in the same vicinity as each other, she was only ever trying one of two things. The first was kill him; the other was to seduce him. The latter was merely a means to accomplish the former. Such meant that actually finishing the research into Gusty’s bleak past was difficult. Hopefully, his most recent breakthrough would finally help.

Idly as Gusty snored Guardian Angel shifted his body so he was not directly pressing his stomach to her back. He was feeling especially tired, having not slept in a week’s time. Luna’s scarf was making him relax further and he did not want Gusty to fall prey to his rather active dreaming. Since he usually slept at least once or twice a week this was all the more important, because once he fell asleep he had a terrible time waking up. The world of his dreams and the physical plane would blend together, smells and touch would enter the dream and enhance it. Needless to say he did not want that to happen.

He felt himself yawn as his mind settled. Luna’s scent and Gusty’s soft snoring pulling him down into blissful unconsciousness. There he was free from the worries of the waking world. He gratefully let sleep wash over him, satisfied that he had managed to protect the mare who hated him so, just like he always did.

Act 3: Chapter 4 - Too Close for Comfort

“Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to inform you of a recent discovery Starswirl and I made, posthaste. Inside a old history book on Equestria’s early years, we found a journal. The journal is a record regarding Gusty Twilight. Shocked, we investigated further and found details that describe what happens should Gusty experience a non-peaceful reset. Simply put, the Badlands did not exist at one point and were formed when Gusty came in contact with modern dragons. We must discuss this information as soon as Lord Stormwalker returns to Equestria.”

-A letter from Twilight Sparkle-

Chapter 4 - Too Close for Comfort

Gusty Twilight was only partially awake. She had been dreaming of a trip across the world. There was the ocean, grand mountains and giant trees, maybe even a Yak or two yelling up at her as she flew through her mind. It was a pleasant reprieve from the horror’s of the waking world and her own self-loathing. It seemed like she had been sleeping for several days, but in the semi-consciousness of the moment she could not tell.

Much of what she felt around her made little sense. While attempting to prevent her dream from becoming a nightmare Gusty gingerly thought over the clearest thing she could remember. A sharp pang of guilt stabbed her in the chest like a cold knife being twisted into her heart. She did not need to even try to visualise the sad little smile that was forever etched on Gabriella’s face and her mind. She turned back to the thought of flying, ready to do anything to sate the pain in her chest trying to instead listen to the usual whispering in her ears.

It was different than before, those voices, none of them were intelligible.They seemed much further off as if their source had been pushed away by something out of her control. Their distance provided a pleasant white noise that helped her relax again. Receding from partially awake to and into full unconscious, Gusty scooted herself further into the unfamiliar bed where she lay. There under the warm and incredibly soft blanket she had acquired she snuggled against the soft belly fur of her husband. He kept his snout buried in her mane and his hooves tightened in a brief hug before returning to loosely holding her body.

Glorious sleep proceeded until Gusty found herself sweating and uncomfortable from the heat of the blanket. Fully awake Gusty realized she could not see, the place she was in was too dark. Reflexively she set her horn to glow a low light. In front of her she beheld the stitching on the inside of her sleeping bag.

“How did I…” Gusty let her sore, raspy voice trail off and finished her words internally, How did I get in this thing? And why is it fully closed?

As if to answer her question her sense of touch reminded her that somepony was holding her rather tenderly, his hoof pressed against her own. It was too large and too finely shaped to be Bunker’s. Likewise, her eyes were not adjusted to proper sight yet. Even with her low-lit horn she could not judge the color of the fur accurately. Her sense of touch, however, reminded her again that there was something familiar draped down her side, flanks, and legs. Gusty hardly needed sight to know the silken touch. The vaguest memory of the past day flooded back and she lay in shock, unable to move, too upset that she was being spooned by a demon. That was when her nose decided it was time to send her some signals. His heavy musk about knocked her out, but when she pulled herself together, she ripped open the fasteners with her magic.

Gasping, with a hardy blush, Gusty relished the fresh air being let in right until light poured into her eyes making her flinch. Once she managed to squint her eyes open, she found that the sun was not even out, instead it was hidden behind low light grey clouds. It appeared to about midday judging by the even dispersion of the light. Looking around towards the ground she found the area covered in deep snow, except exactly where the bag sat. A brief bit of vertigo made her head spin after she had snapped it up and down, forcing her to lean back deeper into the bag than she wanted.

Stuck with Stormwalker adjusting his muzzle unconsciously back into her mane, Gusty spat angrily out of the bag into the cold air. As she moped over her situation she quickly realized she had no idea how long it had been since the “incident” back in the Baylands. However, as she pondered idly she did come to the realization that a part of what had seemed a dream had to have actually happened. The Windegos, the great frozen mountains, Stormwalker, and the snow seemed to point out that she had indeed travelled to the Frozen North and not just hallucinated it. This grounded Gusty enough to make her want to move into the cold and away from the demon’s warm embrace. She moved his hooves; rather she attempted.

Upon trying to slide out of his grip, Gusty suddenly found his hold tighten. He pulled her closer and murmured something. It was too garbled and mixed with a snore to understand. He gently rubbed her chest fur and nuzzled his face even deeper into her mane. Gusty felt her nausea and blush return full force, even in the open air of the cold day. At least he was still asleep and was not teasing her incessantly, but that did little to comfort her nerves.

Out of everything to happen to her, Gusty really, really did not want Stormwalker even touching her. And now, the way he was clutched to her body made her think the only thoughts that the stallion possessed were vulgar and vile. Such suited him, he was a demon after all, but she wanted the thoughts to remain thoughts, and not become an unpleasant reality.

Gusty began more actively trying to free herself. “Damn it!” She cursed to herself, her voice not even a whisper. She must have worn it out from screaming...the day before? She still was uncertain of the chain of events.

However, pushing against Stormwalker’s hooves only resulted in him sliding them lower on her sternum and and re-adjusting his hips to match hers. Moving his face from her mane, he began murmuring softly into her ear. His snout and mouth pushed against the back of her head and neck. His hot breaths pushing the short fur in her ears back and forth.

“Somepony’s such a bad girl.” He purred softly. He literally purred too. Gusty did not understand how he did so, but hoped it was just a function of that clicking noise he usually made. She also had to fight the urge to puke again as he held down her forehooves with one of his and began to move his other hoof slowly back and forth down to the soft, short fur of her belly.

Gusty became suddenly aware of something warm pressing against her back from the small of her flanks to the base of her tail. It was soft and fleshy. It took her a moment to begin realizing what it was, meanwhile Stormwalker continued groping her body,

“Trying to get away like that...you know better…” He cooed. “You are mine, you cannot escape.” He pulled her closer still his voice dripping with desire. Gusty barely heard him, her mind had finally processing the strange touch she had been feeling upon her back.

Gusty realized that she was much, much closer to the very core of the demon Stormwalker than she had ever wanted to be. In fact, full union had only be avoided by luck of positioning and a few inches. Her realization made Gusty panic and flail about, trying to free herself from Stormwalker’s lover’s embrace.

Why is he so strong? Why can’t I get free!? Oh, come on! Now his hooves are moving closer to my groin! She grumbled internally. Gusty managed to free one of her legs but that was before the situation got even worse.

“L-Ehuhuhu! You know that struggling just makes me hotter!” Stormwalker chortled-snored. He pushed his hips fully against her. The entirety of his stallionhood sat from the base of her tail up to somewhere in her mid back.

Even though she had almost freed herself, Gusty froze in shock. Her husband was the opposite of inadequate, but this was ridiculous. She had over her many years known many males, her status as an alicorn allowing her to outlive every one of her previous spouses. Even with her memory troubles, and whether or not she could recall names, she usually could recall sensations. Sometimes specific traits. This just happened to be one detail she had not wanted to learn: for various reasons of keeping sanity and avoiding temptation.

Thus, much like his personality, Stormwalker was simply too much stallion to handle.

Finishing her gasp of surprise, she resolved that she needed to get away from him and his ridiculous appendage. NOW.

Hastily, Gusty reached up her hoof above her ear and touched his face. She confirmed a spot on the bottom of his jaw to hit. She swung back her hoof and shot it forward aiming to hit Stormwalker in the mouth as absolutely as hard as she could.

“Wake up, you big idiot!” she screamed at the same time. It was not very loud as her hoarse voice still could not manage much force.

Pain erupted from her hoof making Gusty certain that she had punched solid stone instead of flesh. But, as she withdrew her hoof Stormwalker grunted in annoyance. His grip on her body instantly loosened and she took the opportunity to get out of the proximity of his member and his clutches. She rolled violently away landing in the deep snow and flipping up to her hooves just as quick as she could. Doing her best not to shiver, she turned to make sure her would be rapist was still dazed and in the sleeping bag.

“Ow...What the hell was that for?” he squinted at her whilst rubbing his face. His fangs still showed and his eyes matched with their slit pupils. Perhaps he no longer felt that it was worth the trouble to hide his true nature from her. It did not matter, Gusty could not care about his reasoning at the moment, she was much more concerned with telling him off. Mainly, because he had to have been at least partially awake for his groping session.

“What do you think it was for!?” She shrieked in a low tone.

“I really have no idea. One minute I’m peacefully sleeping, having a really nice dream and then I get hit in the face!” He yelled back his unhampered voice echoing faintly on the snow.

“Liar! You knew what you were doing you are just trying to cover it up!”

“Gusty I really don’t know what you are talking about, I was dreaming about my, my-my marefriend. And I was really focused on the dream then you hit me!”

“You have a marefriend??!!”

“Yeeaaahh…”

“Well that certainly doesn’t excuse you cheating on her!”

“Cheating on her? What...are you…”

Gusty only had to cast a glance at his groin to unseat his argument. There was no way he was touching her like that accidently. Stormwalker, clearly, had completely underestimated his own stamina and kinks. He even began blushing as he looked down at his thankfully-still-bedroll-hidden jewels.

“Oh.” He responded blankly. “Oh.” he remarked again.

His eyes widened and he awkwardly adjusted the bedroll to lower the appearance of his prominence. He remained quiet, grimacing, waiting on her to respond. At her silence his blush deepened and his posture dipped to a balled slouch.

Gusty stood proudly having silenced him. She smirked with mirth she had not felt in some time. She probably would have laughed had she not been so relieved to be free from the sleeping bag herself. Eventually, Stormwalker spoke again.

“I...I-uh. I got kinda ‘grabby’ didn’t I?” he stammered out

“Try: ‘dry-humpy,’” She grinned hoping to make him feel as bad as possible.

He looked down to the side, his face a tight angry grimace. He grunted with displeasure. Gusty relished moments like this. It was not often that she got to get a leg up on Stormwalker. In fact, in the last two years of having to deal with him she never had. The concept made her chest swell up with joy even more. She felt a genuine laugh coming on as she watched the demon mope pitifully.

Gosh, I really do hate demons, I never used to take delight in others’ suffering. Not even my enemies...Her thoughts gave her pause. She idly continued to observe Stormwalker when she noticed his blush fade and the corner of his mouth perk up in a grin.

“So…” He began, Gusty could almost feel what he was going to say before he said it. “You seemed...impressed.”

Ripped from her thoughts Gusty stared back at him in horror. She shamefully felt another rush of blood to her face. Stormwalker’s grin widened to a full smile, his eyes twinkled with evil delight as he met her gaze aware that he made a correct read. He stood up his big body shielding her eyes from the unmentionable as he strutted towards her. His smile turned to a devilish curl, as he rubbed his tongue against the sharp end of one of his primary incisors.

When he spoke his voice was as silken as it was derisive, lingering on every syllable as if to invoke as much disgust, and lust, as possible.

“If I was to read your mind right now...and judging by that blush…” he moved even closer, his face mere inches from hers now, “I’d say that you were so impressed...that you wanted a trial run.” He snickered deeply. Gusty had to physically restrain herself from rearing back on her hind legs in an attempt to escape him. She was not about to let him see how bad he had successfully riled her. Even though this time it was especially upsetting, worse perhaps than ever before.

“But...if I recall correctly, you let your trial period run out about a year-and-a-half ago…” He cooed as she stood strong.

Gusty did not understand what he was talking about. She had made it very clear many, many times that she hated him. The stallion was simply too full of himself to get the message, even whilst possessing a significant other. Of course it did not help her case that he was, as much as she despised him, unimaginably handsome. She had often cursed her body for picking him out as a suitor. Just looking at him, especially in times like this, made her more than blush. But, that was just her hormones’ natural response to someone who looked that good. No other mare could blame her, however, it only left her one option to keep her dignity. She had to go on the attack: if she could shake his confidence, she might trick her body into thinking he was not as quality as it thought.

“Shut up, you disgusting ass! How do you think your marefriend would feel if she saw you acting like this, or even just heard you talking?” She scolded.

“She wouldn’t mind at all, actually. I’m perfectly capable of harassing you without ever so much as disturbing a single hair or feather, and that's what matters to her. And to counter the snuggling-fest argument, she would fully support the action given that it saved your life, the other details...she would find humorous...So I fail to see your point…” he drug his droll on.

Having fully walked past her now, Stormwalker stood facing the deep snow that surrounded them. Gusty felt as if he was still looking at her without using his eyes. The sensation made the skin on her withers crawl.

The argument had quickly reached a loop. In such a battle of wits and ardor neither side would ground, without being able to take some in return. Thus, Gusty chose not to continue speaking to Stormwalker. She had said enough to calm herself down, for now at least.

Likewise, he seemed to notice her decision and snorted indifferently. Silence started only to give way to a wispy cold wind that made Gusty regret moving from her bedroll, if only for the warmth. Her hooves had begun to feel numb already and it had not even been three minutes of standing in the snow. She bit her lips and tongue to resist the urge to complain about it. She had already gotten more help from the demon than she wanted. She would sooner be damned to Tartarus before she incurred more debt.

Behind her, Stormwalker exhaled from his nose harshly and began digging through the snow in front of him with his hooves. It was a particularly large mound and his actions caught her attention. Quickly her pack of supplies was tossed from the snow.

She stared awkwardly at Stormwalker’s backside glad the demon-stallion had a thick tail. Her mail was the next item thrown from the snow followed by her sword and skirt. Gusty watched confusedly as he moved to her supply pack and began rummaging through it. She really was too shocked to stop him. Such a brazen act of privacy invasion was simply too impressive for her to interrupt. He promptly tossed it aside after clearly determining that there was nothing of value in it. He strutted off into the snow seemingly at random.

Gusty objected at this. “What are you even doing?” she asked him angrily. “Rummage through my stuff then walk off? So it’s kidnapping and a botched theft? She shouted as he gained distance.

Gusty was not about to walk further through snow without boots nor a cold resistance spell. She remained stuck there unwilling to waste magic following Stormwalker and lacking boots.

At about twenty meters away he stopped walking. The snow was even deeper than she first realized, coming up past Stormwalker’s knees. Glad she had opted out of pursuing him further, Gusty rolled her eyes at him. The stallion was beyond strange, demon or not. In a flash, his body lit up in flame and a wave of heat hit Gusty in the face with such force that she sneezed. Wiping her face from the influx of warmth she beheld a blazing Stormwalker standing amongst a completely open patch of olive green tundra grass. The snow around him was completely evaporated in a perfect circle with a radius the distance between them. Steam, still actively hissing, was brushed away by another cold stroke of wind, leaving Gusty gawking at him.

He motioned her over with a hoof and.Gusty shamefully trotted towards the burning stallion, unwilling to brave the cold winds any longer. As she drew near she was forced to stay at a distance, the heat from the unnatural fire of his body too intense. He watched her closely a small grin starting to perk up his lips again, before a brief scowl overcame his features. It lasted for perhaps a quarter-second, before being replaced with a more neutral look.

“Stay here, I’m going to get some firewood for you, and I’ll be back.” he remarked plainly.

“So...you are just going to leave me here?” Gusty was actually surprised he decided flying over to the mountains was a good idea.

“Well I did say I was coming back. Besides, I thought perhaps you’d prefer to not have to stare at me to keep your face warm,” Stormwalker answered.

“Oh.”

“Sit tight, sweetheart”

He silently took to the sky. The heated air he had been creating stayed strong as Gusty watched him speed off to the giant trees to their south. However, just as she lost sight of him a hefty draft of wind blew across the tundra grass patch and made her shiver. Once it settled the air in the area was significantly colder than before, her body continuing to shake from the sudden drop in temperature.

Gusty turned to where her sleeping bag remained partially obscured by the snow. She lifted it up out of the ice with her magic, floating it over to herself. She gave it a hardy shake, making sure to remove any excess snow on the inside and out before laying it flat on the ground. She quickly crawled into the enormous bag and successfully turned around about the same time another gust of frigid wind blew across the empty chunk of grass. It was much warmer in the portable bed, but the aforementioned fire would be very welcome. Luckily, she did not have to wait long. In the distance she noticed Stormwalker making a leisurely dive towards where she sat wrapped in her heavy cloth sack.

Barely able to count to thirty before he was at the edge of the clearing, Gusty caught herself nodding approvingly at the volume of sticks and logs the demon-stallion had brought back. She grit her teeth in a scowl more at herself than him, it felt strange to approve of anything he did. Slipping down with silent grace he tilted his head up to her inquisitively, but she turned away from his eyes. Gusty was not in the mood to indulge his interest; even if she appreciated his concern albeit sparingly.

With a shrug Stormwalker dumped the wood from his back and hooves. Quickly and with a bit of meticulous precision he began stacking the wood he had gathered into a nice pyramid. Once satisfied with his pile he reached down with one of his inflamed wings and touched the center of the wood. Smoke crackled and sparks flew up from the wood and soon a reasonable fire was burning. Gusty scooted herself and her bag closer, trying hard not to look in his direction. He moved somewhat closer to her but it allowed her to still face the fire without needing him to be in her direct vision. It was a rather thoughtful gesture to be sure.

However he did not stop walking, remaining quiet as he slid past her, making no noise as his hooves touched hard grassy ground. Gusty watched him cautiously out of her peripheral as he gathered her belongings and piled them on his broad back before returning to the fire he had built. He deposited them next to her in an organized manner. Her armor and sword kept separate from her pack and and skirt. Trotting off again, he quickly returned with a small flight pack that he kept near him. Sitting down on the other side of her equipment with a sigh, his wings extinguished with a soft fizzling sound. He looked up at her and caught her staring at him before she could managed to turn away.

Gusty swallowed awkwardly wondering why the stallion refused to speak. She had expected him to be just as chatty as he usually was around her. In fact, though she hated the thought, she would not mind him teasing her for getting herself into trouble, even gloating seemed better than nothing. Instead she was left with a scrutinizing quiet, that felt upsetting yet comforting.

What seemed like a great length of time passed without Gusty finding things to say and Stormwalker calmly adding the finite spare logs to the fire. Absently, Gusty’s stomach gurgled loudly as if it intended to end the silence.

“I am going to grab some more firewood. You should make yourself some food.” he said finally, having heard her stomach’s cries.

“What am I supposed to eat?” she asked as she stood up.

“Well you are a pony…” he looked down at the tundra grass. “It might not taste the best but its still food.” He scratched at the olive-colored plant life with a hoof.

Gusty opened her mouth to ask him to pass her pack over, but she was left alone as Stormwalker took to the sky instantly, speeding off to the trees again. Left with only her thoughts she was forced to consider how to converse with the stallion without trading insults with him. While she had often spoken to him when he would invade her meetings with Celestia, it had all been rude banter. Although, Stormwalker had always clearly enjoyed the mudslinging, Gusty had a bit of a change of heart this morning. It did not feel like now was the time or place to fight. Worse, as much as she wanted to pretend it had not happened, he did save her life. He had done it twice actually, first from Windegos and then from herself.

Doing her best to try to piece together her situation, Gusty pulled her sleeping bag tighter around herself as the wind picked up again. The heavy, musky smell of Stormwalker wafted up out of the bag. Shuddering from the unexpected dose of pheremones, Gusty rubbed her face trying to overcome nature. She eventually beat the feelings back thanks in part to the familiar sounds of her voices. Their strange call not clear enough to understand but strong enough to remind her that she had a little to build upon to establish fantasy from reality.

Her impression of the recent events had been that of a hallucinogenic dream. She looked down at her hooves inside her covers, the blurred, almost totally broken perceptions had continued until she had woken up this morning. It was like she had not even slept. It made her wonder if those emotions she had felt were her present feelings or something from the past. It certainly hurt her chest like it was something she was unconsciously suppressing in the moment. She hated that feeling. The empty, unanswered burning that had slowly been getting worse since she had been reunited with Gertrude; it made her want to scream.

Stuck in the torrent of emotions Gusty could not help thinking of Stormwalker again. How had he found her and how did she get here? If her dream of flying had been real, then was he the one causing all this? Why did she suddenly feel more stable? And why was it around him that she felt better?

A rush of wind blew over Gusty’s back pushing the heat of the fire away from her momentarily. Stormwalker swooped down with a thud as he deposited a pile of logs about twice the size of Gusty herself. Recalling again the massive trees she had passed through, the pieces were likely only fallen branches. He folded up his great wings and tossed a pair of knobby chunks into the fire before sitting down and looking at her. Gusty caught his gaze. His slitted eyes looked distant as if he was looking not at her but through her to a different land that she could not see.

Gusty held her tongue. She did not know what to do with him, even apologizing for being overzealous seemed ill-timed, if not ill-fated. Eventually she settled on collecting the dull tundra grass as he had mentioned before. Though it was not a grain made specifically for eating, the grass could hardly be bad for her if perhaps bland. Levitating her pack over to herself, she poked her nose slightly inside. In the bottom of the bag sat her travelling crock pot, a small flask of oil, and her spice pack. She had to remove her other tools from the basin, but the action was not difficult with levitation. Pulling out the proper cooking materials she dusted out the pot with one of her wings.

The deep pan was splashed with her spare oils and various seasonings as she set it to levitate over the fire. Meanwhile she had been pulling up clumps of the grass with her magic as well. There was no reason not to use her telekinesis and remove herself from the comfortable bag. She cast a quick glance in Stormwalker’s direction. He was looking down at a sizable tome that he had produced from seemingly nowhere. Gusty peered inquisitively at his flight pack realizing that it was larger than it looked. The oil and the tundra grass began to sizzle in the pot and Gusty stirred the mixture with her magic.

She had the grass cooked soft and pleasant smelling in a few minutes. Grabbing herself one of her only forks from her pack she finally came up with a decent idea. She pulled another bowl from the case and another of the forks out and filled it with some of the garlicky tundra grass. She took the bowl in her telekinesis and floated it in between Stormwalker and his book.

“Here.” she said to him.

“No thanks, Gusty, I’m not hungry.” Stormwalker said plainly, pushing it out of his way.

“Just take it, I made too much.” Gusty was determined to have him at least try it. She pushed the bowl against his muzzle this time.

“Really, it’s fine.” He looked up gently at her but pushed the bowl away again.

Gusty loosed an exasperated sigh closing her eyes in frustration. He was both modest and a jerk at the same time, a feat few could manage. She looked back at him. He had not looked away from her his eyes concerned as he met her gaze. She silently pleaded with her face hoping to at least solicit a reaction out him. Something in the back of her mind told her guilting him into eating would work.

She hardly had to wait.

Stormwalker broke his slitted eyes away quickly and pursed his lips.

“Oh, alright.” he responded softly. He took the bowl with a hoof and the fork with a wing, inhaling a deep breath of the steam from the bowl as he did.

“Smells great. Thank you. I’m still surprised you even offered.” Stormwalker smiled as he looked over the bowl at her. He lifted a bite up to his mouth before pausing mouth open, fangs glinting the light of the fire.

“You didn’t poison it, did you?” he asked with roguish bob of his head.

“No!” Gusty pouted at him, “Who do you take me for? You?”

“A point well made, sweetheart.” He stuck the bite into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully not looking directly at her.

Gusty blushed again, turning down to her own food to eating most of it hastily in an attempt to hide her face. The situation would have been much more tolerable if he did not possess this eerie, attentive calm. It would seem that Gertrude had been both correct and incorrect about Stormwalker. As much as she hated it, and as much as she loathed him, he would do anything she asked; but more importantly he would always be there to help her whether or not she asked him. Unlike her other friends, Stormwalker positively did not care how she acted. He seemed motivated by something else entirely.

Did I just think of him as a friend? Gusty internally shouted at herself, stopping her thoughts mid-coalescence. Somewhere inside her a clear grunt of disgust came from “not-her.” She rolled her eyes at herself. It was a supreme irony to not know her own thoughts as her own. Worse yet, which part of her was the real Gusty? Could Stormwalker see it? Did he know who she truly was? Was that why he liked her? Why he wanted to help her?

Gusty grabbed her head. The questions had triggered a response from the voices. They erupted into her thoughts like a mighty volcano. They were already to the point where she could understand them again. Split apart compared to the mess from before in the Baylands, they were easily identifiable. Gusty was forced to listen as they overcame her will.

Mom, is it really important that I get married so soon? We are all immortals around here.

It was the voice of the young alicorn of her visions. The sound of her words bringing tears to her eyes.

Oh, to be free of this prison. If only for a fleeting moment. Trust him. He knows the-

It was her own voice. She did not understand how. It was cut off before she could say more.

Liar, deceiver, traitor! He must be destroyed! He seeks to undo all we have built!

Not-her had some choice words about somepony. Gusty had a feeling it had something to do with Stormwalker, but the voice never specified. The only evidence she had was the weird instance in the mine before she ended up here in the Frozen North.

Wine? Its nine o’clock. Eh....I don’t want to be sober for the nobles at noon anyway.

Celestia: Gusty let the familiar sound of her friend bring her happiness if for a moment.

I’m not saying I told you so….Da, da, da, you told me so. I was just saying! Shut it!

Zeccaran and Bunker: They were arguing about something, she could not remember what. She just remembered laughing at the two stallions’ contrasting personalities.

A heavy clearing of a throat gave the echoing responses pause. The splitting pain in her temples started to receded as well. She let out a long sigh and shook her head glad the episode was over. Gusty was starting to think that she liked the disheveled mess of sound better. This new clarity brought no peace. As she came around the feeling of Stormwalker thinking of her prickled up her back until suddenly it was as if she was encompassed by it.

Seems as if things have worsened. Severely, I might add.

His voice sounded worried and upset as it echoed alone into her mind. Gusty looked up to him in shock. He cleared his throat again as if to ensure she knew it was him. Her heavy breathing caught in her throat. Not truly able to react, all she could do was look him directly in his eyes.

“You can hear them?” she croaked after a moment. Strangely, it would seem he could stop the onslaught of her own mind. Still, Gusty felt like he was invading her privacy but at the same time there was not much she could do about it, especially if he had the intent to ‘help’ her.

Yes. It is not as if you have a quiet mind. And I can stop if you like. It just seemed appropriate to pull you into reality again by personally knocking the trouble out of your way.

“Please,” she begged aloud doing her best to ignore their mental proximity. They sat in silence for a time just looking at each other. Gusty broke first, her stallion counterpart too good at what he did to ever stop looking into her eyes.

Heavy silence reigned for sometime afterward. Not the wind nor the fire were capable of interrupting the moment. Gusty pulled the hem of the sleeping bag up over her snout and turned to face the fire.

“You know this is really good.” Stormwalker mumbled as he pushed waht looked to be the final bite of tundra grass into his mouth. “Like really good.”

She did not look towards him. She could not, at least not at the moment.

“Just...thought you should know…” he let his voice trail off back to the crackling of burning wood.

Honestly, she just wanted to be left alone. However, it was Stormwalker she was sitting with, even if he was not going tease her, he would not leave her to her mind only. He always had a way of dominating the situation, his purpose-driven attitude hard to divert. In Gusty’s opinion she preferred the fight he would present, this new finessed approach to their acquaintances made her nervous. Nervous enough to pull her eyes up from the ground and to him.

“I’m worried about you Gusty,” he said affectionately just as soon as she caught his eyes.

“You are?” she questioned, her voice even more muffled by the cloth bag. The worst part was that he she could feel he was genuine in his concern

“Yeah. You aren’t really acting like yourself. You haven’t once tried to stab me with your sword. Not once. And while I already know you don’t feel well, even if I couldn’t feel it from how loudly you are thinking it, I could tell by just looking at you. You lack your usual spunk.”

His eyes betrayed no tell and his eager lean toward her made Gusty feel rather bashful. Underneath the cover of her bag she grinned tenderly. The damn fool actually cared: she bitterly wondered if she would remember that by this time tomorrow. She would never admit it aloud, but she was glad he had saved her. Glad that it had been him instead of Bunker, or Zeccaran, or Celestia. She did not want them to worry about her, or how she had been feeling. Stormwalker was allowed to worry and fret, especially since she knew her condition bothered him. But also because somehow, regardless of the dispute between them, his acknowledgement of her suffering brought her a deep comfort.

Still, she would never give him the satisfaction of spoken thanks, instead she responded by levitating up her sword. Floating it towards him slowly, Gusty felt her smile spreading to her eyes. Stormwalker even played like he did not notice and turned down to his book. She poked him in the shoulder, perhaps a little hard, but it was not as if she could actually hurt him.

“Ahhh! Oh no! My two-hundred and sixty-one dodge streak, nooo!” he dramatized as she put her sword back down.

“You’ve been keeping count?” Gusty sniggered, the hem falling off her face.

“Haven't you?” Stormwalker shot back.

“No…” she most definitely had: this counted as two-hundred and sixty-two dodges. She would not be given a freebie. Stormwalker just laughed at her and she could not help but join in, it was enjoyable to not be stoked into a constant rage around him. They, however, finished chuckling quick enough and with the end of the moment came a sudden weight in the air. Gusty looked from the idle spot on the fire she had settled on and found him looking at her, his face much more focused.

“Tell me what happened,” he ordered. His tone was concerned, but deadly serious.

Moment ruined Gusty felt some of her old angst build back up.

“Why would I tell you?” she snorted, “I don’t even wanna talk about it with the ponies that were there!”

Stormwalker grunted, the sound low and disgruntled.

“You may not want to, especially not to me. But...if I, Celestia, Luna, Zeccaran, and Bunker are going to help you...they, and I need to know. Besides, it couldn’t hurt for you to vent. We both know how many things you have swimming around in your head right now.” He made a sound argument. It was too well-refined of a statement for Gusty to do anything besides accept his position or just cease talking.

However, the little tidbit that Gertrude had told her in the Baylands sprang back into her mind: That stallion would do anythin’ for ya iffan-a ya just ask. The words came as they had once been heard. The old Dame Ewe was right. All she had to do was ask, and a little bit of playing along always helped. Biting her lip to cover up her the sly smile that was trying to find its way across her lips Gusty huffed, starting her gambit. She would tell him, but then she would make him explain why his soldiers were there, and what exactly he had at stake. It was only fair if she paid a high fare she would receive something in turn.

Gusty told the tale of the Baylands. She let the words flow, not sparing any detail, something about his demeanor making her talk candidly. It did not matter, one way or another he would have found out. Besides, he was right, it did feel good to vent. Stil, it grated against her being that he was capable of evoking such a reaction out of her. As pleasant as the day had been save the awkward start, she loathed this game. It was always his facial expressions, the glimmer in his eyes, or the way he projected his consciousness that proved the most effective in their game of cat and mouse. The combination was just nagging enough to push her towards what he wanted without being too conspicuous. But that did not matter, she finally, truly had an advantage and she would take it for all that it was worth, as soon as the right moment struck.

Gusty finished her story:

“And…you were there, in my head, and other demons just like you too. I couldn’t control what I was doing, either. It was like I being forced to watch myself live through a bad dream that I couldn’t wake up from,” she found herself continuing, “it scares me...starting to lose control like that again. It...I-I’m scared.”

Where did all that extra emotion come from? That might be true but that wasn’t what I was going to say...guess I got a little carried away with that damsel in distress thing. She concluded before looking to the ground embarrassed. Occasionally, part of her wished to be saved from the recurring past, instead of saving herself. It always seemed to come to a head around him. Gusty presumed that was because he might literally be able to un-damsel her regardless of the severity of the situation or whether or not she wanted it.

Stormwalker let out a long sigh that rattled with a few clicks of his throat. He raised a hoof up to his for head leaning his neck to the side a stressed expression on his face.

“All that...is well...ughh…” He tried to speak but pinched his eyes closed in a a look of concentration.

It took a few more minutes before he recovered. “So what you are saying is that while you remember more, your stability has decreased rapidly.” He spoke looking up to her. Gusty nodded, it was a rather good summary.

“And not only has your stability decreased this ‘not-you’ has gotten more powerful?” he asked.

“Yeah. It has been extremely difficult just to sit still and do nothing, if you haven’t noticed.” Gusty pursed her lips as she answered. She did not like where this was going.

“Yep. That all makes perfect sense, as much as I would like it all to be lies.” He turned and spat in disgust. His snarled up snout made his fangs look more vicious than before, making Gusty flinch at their sight.

“It's just that I have-we have been working to clear that up, I hope we’re not too late. If you are starting to have full relapses...things are much worse than I predicted.” He sighed before continuing. “But you’re safe now so...I guess, small victories?’ he smiled. That kind sad little grin was Gusty’s signal to use her advantage. She met his eyes again, trying to not broadcast her intention. It was as difficult task while looking into those bright yellow orbs that seemed to want to pull her into them.

“May I ask you a question?” She decided to start sweetly and work her way to sour.

“Anything.” Stormwalker pulled his hoof away from his face locking all of his focus on her. This was it, she could get the answer to anything she wanted now.

“Did you manipulate Gertrude into coming to Equestria?” Gusty had been developing a theory before she had lost control back in the old country. The lack of Royal Guard during the events, and the seeming prominence of Stormwalker’s troops. Not to mention his overtly knowing appearance back in Canterlot, made Gusty suspect he done some elaborate staging.There was the genuine reaction of shock when Gertrude had recognized her, but she was certain Stormwalker had had plans for the Baylands before she had gotten involved.

“No, I did not,” he answered,, “I did however arrange for her to be smuggled there.”

“And how did you manage that?” Gusty turned on her best suspicious glare, letting her sweetness start to die, perhaps a bit too quickly.

“Well you remember me when we first met. I was a little...crazy...and I had done some crazy things before the Cave, like recruiting an international legion of spies…” he grimaced with embarrassment rubbing the back of his head with his hoof.

“An international legion of spies? Are you just teasing me now?” Gusty rolled her eyes.

“Yes a legion. And no, I’m telling the truth. Turns out even after their reformation, Changelings really like adventure and spywork. Its sorta their thing, and between them and a number of individuals with a price...yeah…” he let his voice trail off momentarily. “I mean… waste not want not?” He froze in an awkward shrug unable to clean up the seedy element of his endeavors.

“So...you knew about Gabriella didn’t you?” she asked eyes narrowing in a building rage.

“Yes...I knew about everything...the Griffons...Gabriella’s betrayal...the advantages that it would bring Equestria and myself if we managed to botch their operation. Yeah, I knew about it all,” he answered steadily, showing little nerves, but clearly realizing he was in the hot seat.

“You could have stopped it all then! You could have had her captured and whisked away...she wouldn’t have died! Gertrude and her people could have been spared all that suffering! Why? Why didn’t you intervene sooner!?” Gusty let go over her restraint and flat yelled at him. He had no excuse for letting innocent creatures suffer, they both knew that. The thought made her blood boil.

“Because intervening would not give Equestria and myself the optimum results.” he sighed grimly. Gusty raised her top lip in pure revulsion, no matter the circumstance she could not justify the suffering she witnessed in the Baylands, not to mention her own.

“You are a horrible creature, Stormwalker. How do you live with yourself?” she glowered.

“Not very well, I can assure you. To compensate, I hold total faith that the end results will have been worth it. So long as I don’t screw up before I get there.” He answered turning his face away. He leaned his head down and his mane and brow worked together to darken the area around his eyes.

“I know you don’t understand why I do things. So I’ll just say this” he continued his voice losing its happy candor. “Nothing will stop me from getting what I want. And what I want is not something I can tell you about without hurting you. Severely. Something I will not do.”

Gusty noticed the very air seem to darken in the area around them and the fire start to dim. She hoped that was just because it needed more fuel and not something Stormwalker was doing. Levitating a few of the logs into the fire she looked away from him to gather her thoughts. She decided she was not done, he had more to answer for now that she had confirmed he was behind the Baylands’ suffering. However, something seemed peculiar about his presence here.

“If you were leading a deep espionage operation, how did you end up here in the Frozen North?” Gusty motioned to the icy landscape. Even for somepony literally on fire like Stormwalker the land was inhospitable.

“Oh, I wasn’t the one leading that op. Stiff Inspection was, alongside the liaison officer Celestia set along: the unfortunate Captain Garrison as you mentioned. I just organized it and set up the situation, everything else was for the soldiers and agents to perform without me writing the script.” He answered keeping his tone darker than before.

Gusty shivered from the thought of how much influence the demon stallion had. He was not even involved with the events beyond preparing the instance. She believed him, she just really wished he did not have such ample control the events around her. Assuming he had not staged even her arrival here, Gusty kept plying him with questions.

“Then if you weren’t monitoring your plan...how did you send that letter? Why are you here? I can’t figure it out, so tell me.” she demanded.

“The letter? Heh.” His dark mood broke. “That was just something I whipped up beforehoof for fun!” Stormwalker’s toothy smile widened to the point where Gusty almost stood up out of her warm bag and punched him. The cold air kept her snuggled up tight, instead she opted for scowling at him indignantly.

“Gotcha pretty good didn’t I?” He leaned toward her with is neck extended, begging to be chopped with her sword. Gusty facehoofed herself angrily, refusing to play his game.

“Don’t start with me now, Stormwalker. You already had me tell you about it, teasing won’t help either of us. Just tell me what you were doing up here,” She grumbled with her eyes closed. Chuckling, he agreed before clearing his throat and continuing.

“I was actually out here looking for you. Well, not you you, but you in the records of an ancient library. I managed to do both it seems. This book,” he patted the tome he had sitting out next to him, “is full of material regarding...uh...most simply...you.”

This perked Gusty’s interest. If what he searched for took priority over the Baylands Operation then it must have truly meant something to him. However, she was unaware of any civilization that existed in the Frozen North, save the Yaks. They were on the other side of the continent from here: where to demented magic of the Windegos was not as powerful. Likewise, it made little sense why she had flown out here, but she bet Stormwalker knew the answer.

“So you were out here…” she began, retracing her thought, “I flew out here...and now you are telling me there is an ancient library, with books about me in it. Seems pretty far fetched. Care to explain?” Gusty asked carefully. She wished to maintain her offensive, but this change of pace had made her lose some steam.

“Sure...Just don’t know where to begin…” he traced the scar over his eye absently as he spoke. A few seconds passed and his brow knitted together in thought, before he turned to look at the ground. Gusty took the opportunity to cast the her ‘truth’ spell on the fire so it would affect where they sat. If he was going to lie about anything it would be this, to make it seem less obvious she lifted another log into the fire as she waited patiently. Gusty was fairly confident he had not noticed her cast the specific magic. So long as he did not move she would get what she wanted. Of course the gamble was that now she also could not lie. While the spell had limited range when cast on the ground, she was not immune to her own magic and getting up and moving would certainly give her away.

“I believe the best summary is that we were both following the call of home.” Stormwalker finally answered her question. She just raised an eyebrow at him, she would have never considered this awful icy waste a home.

“Long, long ago, those ruins up in the mountains were home to the alicorns, back before the dark times of the Cirran Empire. Likely why you were flying towards them.” He took a breath and looked at her stoically.

“Likewise, once the old empire rose up, its dark lords claimed those halls for themselves. Filling the buildings with their trophies...their histories...and their ghastly remains. It’s why I was up here.” Stormwalker tapped the book again.

“It is also where many very terrible things happened to you, Gusty Twilight.” His nose pinched up some just after he stated the last bit, confusion evident on his face.

“So, this place wasn’t always so...desolate?” she asked, intentionally trying to divert the conversation to something he could speak more freely about without noticing his compromised position.

“Yes. It was once the most beautiful valley in the world,” He sighed for a brief pause.

“Those mountains,” He pointed to behind her. Gusty turned barely able to see dull grey lumps on the far horizon. She looked back at Stormwalker waiting for him to continue.

“Were the site of our collective ancestry. It was the most coveted place on this earth. These plains we sit on were the site of all ponykind’s origin. But now...all of it is buried beneath snow and ice, in no small part thanks to the demon’s from which I hail.”

“Oh, what fools those Shadow-kin were, too hellbent on revenge to understand what they could have possessed. Pfft, I’m no better. But thanks to you I managed to pull my head out of my ass before it was too late, barely.”

Tale complete Stormwalker sat in silence his gaze, again, looking through her. Gusty could feel his mind move about just outside of her own, lingering just outside the metaphorical gates like an errant knight too nervous to enter. She shot him a disapproving look with both her face and mind and the sensation stopped. Taking a long, steady, and a touch to audible breath Stormwalker turned to his book again, and opened it.

“That’s enough questions for now, Gusty. You probably need to rest more, before we get going. Maybe eat some more” He said lazily.

“Why couldn’t we get going now? I feel fine.” she looked at him indignantly.

“Because, after about three hours of flying we would only be a quarter of the way through the Crystal Mountains, and you’ll probably be too tired to continue. Thus, I would have to carry you because it is too dangerous to camp up there. It’s Ice Giant Territory in those valleys. After all you did just fly for two-and-half days straight so you may not feel tired but your body certainly will feel that way after a bit.” He turned a page slowly in his book, Gusty caught the sight of strangely familiar yet unintelligible runes. However, she was quickly distracted by a coy grin she could feel coming from Stormwalker, she looked at him tepidly.

“And...I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to have to carry you, right?” he asked innocently, meeting her eyes.

“Actually I wouldn’t mind at all, so long as you didn’t tease me. I love how soft your wings are.” As soon as she finished the sentence Gusty practically shoved a whole hoof into her mouth. A blush of self-loathing and embarrassment flashing to her face as she sat in horror of her own words.

“So that truth spell does work both ways, huh, sweetheart?”

Gusty refused to answer deciding to sulk whilst keeping her hoof in her mouth. She would just have to consider this round a draw. Stupid Stormwalker and his ability to sense magic was cheating anyway.

Act 3: Chapter 5 - Journeys

“The answer is two-hundred seventy-seven point four meters. Plus or minus ten meters based on weather conditions and stress of the caster. However, it is unlikely that a normal unicorn would be able to cast at that distance and if one was to encounter such a proficient curse thrower, it would be best to hide. Even world class sprinters couldn’t out pace the spells if said caster has any accuracy.”

-Amethyst, at school-

Chapter 5 - Journeys

“More height, port ten degrees!!” Zeccaran screamed as he turned from the deckrail. The wind howled in his ears as the Onyx rocked beneath him. The enviro-suit was proving much more useful than he had expected, even in this horrid weather he felt fairly comfortable.

A giant ball of snow flew past the edge of the vessel just as Bunker had finished the adjustments. The local population had proven hostile and even though they were a couple thousand feet above the valley floor, they were still very much in reach of the Ice Giant’s throws. Luckily they were not terribly accurate, but taking wide berths compared to getting hit with about a fifth of the vessel’s mass in snow was preferable.

Zeccaran leaned over the rail again as the most persistent of the creatures roared before bending to pick up more snow.

“Maintain altitude, forward full!” he bellowed standing upright again. The engines buzzed up to a fever pitch louder than the wind and the Onyx quickly gained speed. Peering towards the massive dark silhouette of the creature, Zeccaran was glad it was night. He felt like they were scary enough not seeing what they looked like.

A few seconds passed and out of the dark gloom into the bright light of the moon another snowball shot past the airship, not nearly as close as last time. Eyes trying to adjust to the lantern light on the ship, Zeccaran hedged over the deckrail to make sure the beast had given up. The black form stood off in the distance in a clearing between the giant trees, it moved some before slowly disappearing into the forest. After a few moments Zeccaran heard its heavy footfalls echo to him.

Trotting up to the helm, the zebra heaved a satisfied sigh. He got to Bunker and nodded in acknowledgement of job well done.

“They are gone?” the big stallion asked eagerly.

“Yep. And if I remember correctly you needed to use the facilities.” Zeccaran squinted at his friend.

“Da! Take wheel!” Bunker shot off almost before he finished.

Zeccaran took the wheel and shook his head. The other stallion had been holding it for the last two hours while they dodged back and forth across the narrow valley. He supposed that the worst of the journey was over. Nothing was throwing snowballs at them anymore at least. However, it was probably a poor thought, but he was getting tired of these repeated and extravagant obstacles in the search for Stormwalker.

While he waited for Bunker to return Zeccaran examined the area for the first time without being under duress. Directly above him peeking over the edge of the main balloon, he could see the full moon. Silently, he thanked Luna, he knew better than to think the Princess of the Night had nothing to do with how brightly her namesake shown through the cold. The icy wind blew roughly against his enviro-suit as the airship continued to gain speed from full gear. Deciding it was best to pull back the pressure and not over tax the boilers, Zeccaran cautiously reached up and moved the mechanism down to cruising speeds. It took a moment but the whine of the propellers churned to more of a grumble, the wind too, losing its fervor.

To his surprise, Zeccaran was left to pilot the Onyx for quite some time. However, now that they were not in immediate danger the task proved extremely pleasant. The sky was perfectly clear and being this high up in the valley meant he could see for miles, even in the dark of the night. However, as he gazed at his surroundings, it became evident that if they did not get past the massive shadow of Mount Everhoof, the valley would not be so picturesque. The giant hunk of rock loomed on his left and even now it seemed as if the moon was speeding towards the mountain’s peak.

If they were to get lost in the dark, it would make the journey all the more dangerous. To avoid hitting mountains they would be forced to land, and it was already clear that the local population were not fans of the great whirling airship. Examining the horizon again, Zeccaran noticed that there were clouds obscuring the sky a distance ahead of them. It appeared that the dark weather before them was pushing its way into the valley, otherwise blocked by the high peaks of the Middle Crystal Range. The clip-clop of Bunker’s heavy hooves made him look for his companion.

The other stallion was breaching the edge of the helm before turning around and looking at the gathering clouds. He faced Zeccaran a dark grimace on his face highlighted by the moon’s light.

“I don’t think we can land in the valley. Winds will be too strong.” He yelled a little to compensate for the thin air as he approached.

“I agree, not to mention the Ice Giants.” Zeccaran shouted back.

“Da.”

“What are we gonna do then when to strom gets here? I don’t fancy flying tino a mountain, or getting eaten.”

Bunker paused. He looked out towards the bow of the Onyx as if he was looking for something specific on the edge of the vessel. Suddenly, he gasped with a bit of anxious excitement.

“Flame weapon! We can use it to light our way in the storm!” Bunker nearly jumped he was so eager. However, Zeccaran already saw a problem with the idea.

“Sounds good. Except if the wind is blowing at us and then liquid death will be flying into our faces and on the deck of the ship,” he admonished.

“Then we get lucky. Go get weapon ready. I’ll fly for now.” The larger stallion slapped his hooves up onto the controls and nodded confidently. Zeccaran released the wheel and cast a sorrowful look down at the bow before trotting off to set up the weapon.

It took the better part of what felt like an hour to both find the fuel source and the hose. It was smooth sailing from then, he just had to drag the hose into position which while annoying was done quickly. After twisting its fitting onto the odd machine that projected the fuel and flame, he bustled back to the pump, deep down by the hose’s dispenser. Giving the machines pressure wheel a turn he watched as the flat canvas tube bulged before making his way up to the deck again.

As he pulled his head up above the boards he was almost knocked forward by the force of the wind. Catching his balance Zeccaran looked around the dark night sky and the grand airship finding the area much harder to see in than before. Eventually he managed to spy the small lantern that hung above the wheel as it rattled in the biting gusts, Bunker clutched desperately to the housing. Otherwise being unable to see from the flecks of ice being blow into his eyes as he looked stern, the zebra reloved that if they were going to light up the dark night now was the time, and he pushed towards the flamethrower’s aiming mechanism on the very front of the bow.

Narrowly staying upright before he reached the windbreak before the controls, Zeccaran clasped his hoofs onto the wheel like mechanism. Wind blew down over his back and it was all that he needed to start looking for the firing triggers, like Bunker said, it was time to be lucky and with the wind at his back it was the only time he was going to be. Finally finding the lever Zeccaran gave it a pull. Instantly, from the slot in the bow where the nozzle was just barely visible in the increasing torrent of snow, bright flame shot out in a long beam. Unfortunately, the heavy wind meant it did not do much in the way of providing light but it would tell them if anything was in front of them. As such at first it just angled away, the luminescent stream of fight falling away into a dark void. However after a few moments, Zeccaran could see the splashes of ponymade fire bouncing into puddles down below the bow, they were nearing one of the sides of the valley. The sight put him into overdrive, slapping the lever into the off position, he jumped up and shot up towards the helm, screaming about the danger of the incoming rocks and trees.

Bunker took notice as he crawled onto the helm, the wind howling louder than any voice. The big burgundy stallion heaved the wheel spoke by spoke with excruciating effort as Zeccaran watched from the floor. In the meantime as he drug himself towards the helm to help, the ship moaned as she turned more of her surface area into the wind. The whole vessel began to jerk violently and Zeccaran quickly found himself bounced over to the helm. He grabbed onto the tower and pulled himself up to the wheel next to his friend fighting the wind the whole way.

“Hold the wheel!” Bunker screamed. It was Zeccaran’s best interpretation of the vague unintelligible sounds coming out of the other stallion’s mouth. As soon as his hooves were secure in the spokes, Bunker reach up to the throttle control, wobbly attempting to keep his hoof and body steady as he pulled and pushed on the mechanism. The Onyx shuddered as her engines were told to reverse, but her inertia and the gales pushed her forward. Bunker leaned onto the wheel in the next instant, and began pushing the spokes further to starboard. They made decent progress moving the spokes twice as fast as before and the airship’s speed dropped as it fought the wind.

Abruptly, the deck left Zeccaran’s hooves and he had the sensation of being tossed to the left. He reached for Bunker’s neck but unfortunately too slow, and began flying past the stallion towards an open fall into the dark valley below. It was not certain whether or not his chest hitting the deckrail was fortunate or unfortunate. However, as the sharp pain of his body impacting the heavy wood nearly knocked him out sound seemed to return. A great clang, as if somepony had beat a pair of pans together echoed to his ears in his semi-conscious state. That was really an understatement, more like one-hundred paired pans had been smashed together in perfect synchronization. The noise deafened the wind and left a hard ringing in Zeccaran’s ears as he leaned up from the wooden ground.

The image of a strange stallion of burgundy at an equally strange contraption confused the zebra. The fellow stood gasping, shaking as he clung to the unfamiliar wheel. A sudden bit of jerking slid him over the deck of the...ship? The zebra could still only hear ringing as he came to a stop and attempted to stand. Slowly, the shrieking in his ears began and a strange sense of deja vu washed over Zeccaran. When it finally stopped and was replaced by the howling wind his mind realized what he had observed.

“Holy hell!” He shouted grabbing his head as it suddenly ached. It was hard to rationalize everything, but from what he could tell he was probably suffering from a concussion. Squeezing his eyes closed as the pain in his skull began to intensify.

“I guess we crashed? Bunker?!” He screamed both at his suffering and the loudness of the wind. He was only greeted by more shrieking gales and snow. After what seemed like a long forever, a heavy hoof placed itself onto his shoulder and Zeccaran squinted his eyes open as he continued to wither where he stood.

“Zebra! You are still on ship! Good! Ugh...godsdamnit. Let go inside. Can’t fly in this weather anyway.” Bunker patted him on the shoulder, before nearly dragging him along as he spoke. Zeccaran could only wince as his friend pulled him along, glad that he was able to both remember his name and recognize him. His companion grunted as he flat through him over his shoulder as they reached the helm’s stairs.

“You took blow to head, da?” Bunker asked as they reached the bottom of the flight.

“I’m not really sure. Just know that I kinda blacked-out and forgot who you were for a bit there,” Zeccaran answered closing his eyes again.

“Well, you are bleeding from your ears and are already bruising on left side.” A few hurried hoofalls somehow managed to echo over the wind and snow. Zeccaran felt Bunker shift beneath him and step forward again before a pivot nearly sent him off the stallion’s back and onto the floor. A bit of a hiss of air and the comforting clack of a door closing and latching made the corners of his mouth perk up in a smile and the world seem a little bit more distant. That was until something was shaking him rather rudely.

“Hey! Zebra! No sleeping! Head injury!” Bunker shouted in the relative quiet of the cabins. The words were just enough to snap him to conscious.

“Yep. Yep. You’re right.” He pulled himself out of Bunker’s grasp, “Just need you to stop shaking me.”

“Stand here den. I will go get snow. Will help reduce swelling.” With that statement, his friend about-faced and hopped back out the door to the deck with a purpose. The door slammed shut from the gusts trying to suck the warm air inside the cabins out. Taking to his companion’s command Zeccaran remained still, trying his best to make the sudden spinning of the world stop. He fell to his rump after a little while, an indiscernible amount of time passed as he clung to reality with the last vestiges of his will. A rush of cold pulled his eyes open again and the thumping of hooves raised his head from the floor of the hall.

Something perfectly soothing and icy pressed itself onto the side of his face and neck. He groaned as the mix of pleasure, pain, and relief washed over him. HIs vision decided it was time focus from the blur it had become. Before him Bunker stood close pensively looking at him, a hoof reaching to where he could feel the cold. The other stallion leaded around his side periodically looking back and forth between his face and the snow pack.

“How bad is it?” he was not too surprised at the pained, groggy sound of his voice but Bunker evidently was not ready. The stallion grimaced and locked him with a serious stare.

“Bad. I’ll do what I can. Some of that Guard training turned out to be more useful than I thought. Taught me how to care for wounded, but I don’t have pressure bandages, or medicines.” The burgandy stallion’s face briefly went blank, his expression turning thoughtful.

“This was military vessel, da? We did not unload it. Crew quarters should have at least a first aid box. Eh, is only plan I got,” he spoke more to himself than Zeccaran. “Hold ice for a moment, Zec.”

“Sure. Whatever. I don’t think I could tell you no at this point, my friend.” Zeccaran weakly reached up to the ice. It felt pretty good on his hoof, his body felt unreasonably hot, it was probably the concussion but frankly the zebra was having trouble caring.

No sooner as his hoof reached the ice did Bunker disappear around him. He faintly registered the sound of the trap door at the end of the hall opening and closing. Zeccaran tried to categorizing what he could remember while he waited. He knew that he got his on the back and head pretty hard, that one was easy, he was already extremely sore. Bunker proved hard to forget after a moment he had recalled the stallion’s name, but other than knowing those things and his own name things were fuzzy. He recalled the ship, but he could not remember her name or why they were on it in some frozen wasteland. It would come back to him but not before Bunker returned with the supplies he had mentioned.

“Okay, here take these.” The stallion passed Zeccaran several large pills. “They should help with pain and swelling...uh da. Water?”

Extending an open water bottle on the frog of his hoof, Bunker waited for him. Obliging Zeccaran tossed the medicine into his mouth before sticking his snout over the water bottle and proceeding to both swallow the pills with the help of the liquid and down the whole bottle.

“Now what?” He asked his burgundy companion.

“Ice packages and pressure bandages.” Bunker tossed a large box of first-aid from his back onto the ground. It popped open and one of the rolls of material jumped out and started to unfurl itself before the big stallion caught it with a hoof. He picked up the same rogue roll he had captured before lowering Zeccaran’s hoof that was holding the snow to his head.

Getting to work both quickly and uncomfortably, Bunker starting wrapping the material around his head, just above his eyes. The pressure slowly increased until it was more of a constant pain and Zeccaran glowered with upset understanding as Bunker sat back and looked over his work. Next came one of the fabled ice packs. As soon as his companion pulled the object out of the kit, Zeccaran realized it was the enchanted sort. The sight sent a momentary spike of memory to him and he recalled the military having a surplus of them that had gotten sold to various countries. That at least explained how the kit was on a Griffon vessel, unless of course the Special Guard had left it behind. The moment brought a little more clarity as he pondered.

“The Midnight Onyx,” he stated proudly. This was his ship, his pride and joy, the machine he had poured dozens of days into to make function.

“Ah...good.” Bunker nodded as he reached up with the ice pack, “You are starting to remember. That is good sign. What else do you remember? Know where we are?”

Zeccaran balked as his friend began attaching the ice pack with more wrap to his head. That information was still foggy but did not seem as far off. It was cold, horribly uncomfortable outside. There was only place on the planet like that, but that was not really remembering. It still made him feel better, however when he told Bunker that they were in the Frozen North the other stallion shook his head disapprovingly.

“Not good enough. Why are we here, Zec?” He asked as he tugged the last bit of the wrap into place before biting the material to tear it free from the roll. Quickly he tied the bandage tightly and gave Zeccaran a look with raised eyebrows as if he expected an answer. Unfortunately, the zebra did not have an answer nor could he fathom one, so he shrugged confusedly.

“LIsten. Until you can remember, I can’t let you rest. It would be bad to sleep with a still bleary mind, da? Concussions are bad like that.” Bunker closed up the first-aid kit as he spoke. Turning the bigger stallion pulled him to his hooves before motioning to one of the cabin doors. Zeccaran dutifully followed him to and through the door and into a rather posh room. Pointing to an oversized chair near a stack of books, Bunker walked past him and waited.

“Sit and remember. Then, we sleep;” he stated.

“Alright. How long could it take right?” Zeccaran agreed and trotted over to the chair, already feeling better. The pain in his head and down his neck had all but ceased and he felt significantly more comfortable with the temperature around him, no longer so feverish.

They sat there in silence for over an hour as the zebra puzzled over why and how they were in the Frozen North. Nothing seemed to make sense to him and it seemed the more he thought of it the harder it was to conceptualize reasons. However, finally after the long internal debate a sudden thought arose. Who was flying the Onyx? Nopony else was on the ship, right?

“Holy shit we crashed the Onyx into the side of a mountain!” He stood up in a panic starting to head for the door. Like a bolt Bunker was in front of him, pushing him back into the chair.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted at his friend. “I have see how bad the damage is! What if the Ice Giants find us? We need to get airbourne as soon as possible!”

“Da. What else?” Bunker asked eyes narrowed.

“If the Onyx is defunct we have to get away from her and find a safe warm place. Even with the enviro-suits Luna gave us if we don’t have shelter there’s no way we’ll last until Stormwalker finds us. If he even bothers looking, since he doesn’t know we are out here!”

Bunker nodded sagely he small smile on his face. “Good. You remember.”

“Of course! Why the hell are you so calm about it?! We are in danger!” Zeccaran shouted at his companion.

“Because. Wind is still too strong to get into the air. This storm is too dangerous even for Ice Giant. We stay here and wait till it passes. The Onyx’s engines were still working, but we will need to wait until morning and hopefully warmer air. Because even without potentially large hole in hull, the ballons don’t have enough lift in this messy weather.” The burgundy stallion folded his hooves as he stood up and away from the chair where he had pinned Zeccaran. He nodded curtly as he remained balanced on his two back legs for a moment.

“Is time for you to rest. You remember so it is safe.” Almost as the words hit his ears did a consistent pulse of jolting pain race from the back of Zeccaran’s head down his back on one of his forehooves.

“Okay. I think you are very right about that. Because I cannot fathom rational thought anymore. Too much pain,” he conceded to his companion. In a near drunken haze the zebra stumbled as he got out of the chair and went to examine the cabin for a bed.

Zeccaran found it quick enough even though it look for like an oblong blob rather than a reasonable shape. Fumbling his way up to the surface he threw himself onto its cloth, almost asleep before his body settled. It was going to be a long day tomorrow and he needed to try and sleep off the concussion headache if he was going to be able to help Bunker get the Onyx moving. A vague chuckle found its way to his ears from the other stallion, but after that the sweet bliss of unconsciousness removed him from the suffering he had been enduring.

A solid thirty seconds passed before Gusty started peering at Stormwalker out of the corner of her eyes. He smuggly continued reading the page he had turned to in the tome. The sight of the book suddenly struck her as familiar, a sort of terrifying familiar. On the furthest edge of her mind something told her to read it, to hold it, to smell it. The urge felt wrong, yet irresistible. Gusty did not understand why the abrupt onslaught of unreasonable demands began to echo into her more active thoughts, she closed her eyes and did her best to focus on anything else. However, it was not long before the too comfortable presence of the stallion across from her pressed into her mind. Opening her eyes with a shiver at the overload of her senses, Gusty looked up at him.

Stormwalker’s previous pleasant look had turned into an unsettling snarl as he looked at her. However, like it had been before he was not truly seeing her. Gazing somewhere else into her soul and mind he practically growled, unaware of her gaze. The urge to snatch the book from him suddenly increased in its fervor. A few moments passed like this until the sensation seemed to take hold of her active consciousness. Stormwalker’s focus shifted back to her, his look defeated as he muttered something under his breath. Feeling obstinate Gusty gave him a dramatic sigh.

“What's the matter, flyboy?” she taunted, “Not so easy to get a read on me since I relaxed?”

“Relaxed? More like started to pay attention,” Stormwalker gave her a cool look as he answered. Silence reigned supreme as they met eyes. Gusty felt a small blush from the intensity of the demon-stallion’s gaze, but this time she liked the feeling. Smiling deviously, she knew it was already time to press her luck again. Her little spell would run out soon anyway and it would be foolish to waste the unequivocated truth they currently shared.

“So are you gonna ask or what?” Stormwalker asked losing this particular staring contest.

“Of course, I was just milking the moment,” she answered. Her counterpart tilted his head and raised a brow provocatively, waiting.

“If that book is about me...you should let me read it.” Gusty tossed the rebellious portion of her mane behind her ear, the way she knew Stormwalker liked it. After all, their connection did work both ways.

“Mmm...no.” He crossed his hooves over the top of the tome. His voice losing its playful tone.

“And why not?” Gusty scooted closer to him in her bag. Fluttering her eyelashes she shifted her body to more directly face Stormwalker. In response he pulled himself further over the book and leaned towards her.

“Because it would hurt you. And like I said…” he paused adjusting his position over the book, “that's not something I'll allow.”

“What if I like it when something hurts me?” Gusty put on the best innocent look she had. Almost imperceptibly, a bit of rosy color welled up beneath Stormwalker’s eyes. A small shiver raced all the way through his body and then it was gone. However, Gusty knew she had struck a nerve. He knew that she could not lie, and a bit of honest flirting might just get him distracted enough to gain an advantage.

Stormwalker remained silent as their eyes locked again. His bright yellow irises becoming smaller as his pupils widened from slits into broad rounded diamonds. Though he sat a distance away from her still Gusty swore she could feel him nuzzling her face. The feeling increased as he relaxed the intensity of his stare down to an affectionate half-lidded gaze. It was clear that he knew the game she was playing, and planned to show her that he was better at it. Gusty, however, leaned into the blush and let her body naturally spread out a bit inside the sleeping bag. It had two purposes, to make her look more seductive, and to provide a better base for her end goal.

“Come on. Try me,” Stormwalker whispered softly. Gusty was not surprised he was still ahead of her plan. However, she knew he just was not ready to stop her, not while he was giving her those bedroom eyes. Wasting no time, Gusty secured her back hooves and sprang towards him. His eyes shot wide in slow motion and he was too slow to react, truly surprised that she went for a tackle.

His weight kept her from knocking him back, but she managed push him onto his side and away from the book. Swinging her rear hooves over the top of his chest in an attempt to pin him with her positioning, Gusty turned to levitate the freed book to herself. The attempt was stopped when Stormwalker pushed up from the ground with such force that it flipped her down onto the grass. She watched helplessly as he kicked the book away from where they were. Now standing over her, he slapped his forehooves onto her chest before lowering his head down to her face.

“I don’t think so,” he grinned smartly.

“Same to you!” Gusty sneered before activating her horn to teleport out from under him. The brief blackness of transportation placed her right next to the tome as planned. She reached a hoof out eagerly only to suddenly find herself being drug away from the book by the tail. Turning in anger she beheld the stallion, mouth clamped around her thick locks, a smile evident through his bite. He winked at her before rearing back and pulling her partially off the ground.

With some effort Gusty pumped magic into her horn again and teleported free. However when she could properly see again, she had only crossed half the distance to the book. Confused, she attempted again only to find that she could not cast magic at all. Dashing forward once she made her discovery, if by only instinct, she was nearly to the book when her hooves were knocked out from under her body. Her vision spun to the grey sky and then the olive green of the exposed grass before she came to an abrupt halt on something soft. The grey blur of Stormwalker filled her sight in the next instant as she rolled over reflexively.

He put a single hoof on the base of her neck, “Using magic is cheating you know.” he scolded playfully.

“So is shutting it off, you big jerk,” she retorted lips pouty. He flashed her a wide grin making his fangs glitch dully in the lack of direct sun. Gusty’s eyes began to travel down the length of his neck as she looked at his many scars and muscles. She was about halfway down his barrel shocked by some rather jagged markings when he suddenly dropped to the ground and pinned her down with his chest. Their faces nearly touching as he narrowed his eyes, daring her to try to move again.

“Come on, just a peak.” She begged softly to him.

“No.”

“Ohhhh, why not?

Stormwalker huffed and pushed his brow authoritatively against hers. Gusty blushed again before getting a hoof up to slap him. He did not flinch and instead sat stock still, his face serious but stoic. In an attempt to get him off, Gusty pulled her back legs up and kicked at his side. His response was to wrap her ankles in his wings and force her legs flat before slinging one of his rear legs over hers and holding them down.

“Let me go you creep!” she snarled at him at him, but not breaking eye contact.

“Not until you listen to me,” he answered quietly. Gusty blew a small raspberry, not willing to give in to such demands.

“Gusty. You have to trust me. That book...it’s dangerous. I can show you why: but only if you promise me you’ll take what I have to say seriously,” Stormwalker’s golden-yellow eyes sparkled yearningly, making his words even more potent. Moving to turn her face away, Gusty found the stallion’s forehooves holding her still.

Damn him and his strength. And damn his gorgeous eyes, and his soft wings! Damn him! She grumbled internally desperately trying to resist his decree but finding it a monumental task. Stormwalker had never needed anything other than himself to make her like/hate him. Unfortunately, he had other advantages besides his personality; the combination made her feel like she had no real choice but to listen to him.

“Alright, I’ll listen,” She mumbled.

“Promise me,” he said back not letting her up.

“What am I? A kid?” she spat back angrily, closing her eyes some.

“You’re acting like one,” Stormwalker did not mince words.

“Fiiiiine.” Gusty drew in a deep breath to steady herself, almost in disbelief that she was going to do this, “I promise. Now get off of me would you please?”

He immediately obliged, standing up and offering a hoof to her. She took his limb and pulled herself upright, turning her face away from his. Gusty was not yet ready to look at him in a serious light, the idea put butterflies in her chest and stomach, for reasons she did not understand. A previously ignorable pain near her temples sharpened and she scrunched her muzzle in a moment of suffering before accepting the headache. Taking her time to breath a particularly long sigh, she shifted her neck to look directly at him.

During her moment of brief respite, Stormwalker had picked the book up and sat down. He held it out away from himself in one hoof making it easy to see. As before, the feeling of longing, but with an unsettling wrongness found its way into her chest and throat. She kept her composure, however, not willing to give in and break the promise her demonic counterpart so clearly believed she did not have the capacity to keep.

“Well...here it is. Care to take a guess what’s wrong with this thing? Take a good look at it” he asked, starting his explanation. Gusty scrutinized the book again, noting its familiar brown-colored binding. The dull metal braces that secured the top and bottom were highly recognizable, made from the same steel as Stormwalker’s armor. Gusty found herself looking over the stallion again, wishing he had actually been wearing his gear. However, she suddenly realized she knew the brown binding, but it had never been on a book.

Her heart jumped into her throat and her stomach felt as if it did several backflips. Nausea much more intense than anything she had ever felt sent her head spinning and her mind racing in terror. She looked up to Stormwalker’s eyes, trying to use his face to remind herself not to cry.

“I-it’s b-bound in pony flesh,” she croaked after a moment.

“Yes. And not just any pony flesh it-”

“It’s alicorn pelt. An alicorn I once knew,” Gusty finished his sentence and added her own. The demon-stallion’s face shifted from educational, to sympathetic. He lowered his head for a moment, before returning to meet her gaze.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if you had realized, or remembered, who this cursed thing was made from. I was hoping you didn’t...just to spare you the heartache,” he stated sorrowfully.

It was Gusty’s turn to lower her head. Tears briefly blurred her vision, and she had to make a single sniffle before she was able to recover. Besides, if Stormwalker knew who’s pretty brown fur made the binding, he probably had the answer to another question that had been burning in her sense she had first seen her long-lost daughter in her dreams.

“What is her name? I can’t remember her name.” Gusty did not look up, she could not handle seeing him pity her. If she was forced to look at him for too long she felt like she might actually breakdown. Knowing Stormwalker, he would wrap her up in his wings and hold her against his chest and whisper pleasant little encouragements into her ears until she calmed down. Sadly, she would cherish the kindness, even if it was from a stallion she had a conflict with. Her thoughts gave way to a brief silence before she heard Stormwalker clear his throat.

“Amber Glass.”

The words echoed unnaturally and Gusty started to hear the voice of her long dead daughter. She laughed in her ears and said something suitably sarcastic for the youngest of her original brood of children those millennias ago. The moment perhaps took a second, but for Gusty it lasted an hour. She took in the last little bits of memory with a deep breath, narrowly stopping herself from an outright sob. Cautiously returning to look at the tome and Stormwalker, Gusty nodded for him to continue.

“I’ll be brief. The book is written in Abyssal Runes. The language is magical by nature and actually forces a reader to relive the events described. This particular book has been extremely amplified in its strength due to the origin of its creation,” He said quietly.

“Does..does it have more details about Amber in it?” Gusty asked. Giving into her curiosity was going to lead her to more hurt, but she could not ignore the need to know.

“It does. But you shouldn’t read it. Not here. Not now. Later. When we have pulled the majority of the magic out of it. When you are more stable and someplace we can help you,” Stormwalker admonished calmly.

Gusty scrunched up her snout in desperation. “Stormwalker, I need this.”

“I agree. But there is a time and place,” he answered. Her compulsiveness coupled with the pang of loss and regret, stoked a fire at his words. There was a time and a place, it was now, before she lost herself again. Gusty charged right at him her aching heart to great to ignore.

As she closed the short distance between him, Stormwalker lackadaisically tossed the book into the air on his right. Gusty instinctively dove towards it, spreading her wings to make sure she would glide far enough. However, even though she knew he would, she was still surprised when Stormwalker’s forehooves and chest snagged her out of the air. Quickly pulled off-balance and tossed like a cloth doll, Gusty was pinned to the ground, not quite as gently as before, but not enough to hurt either.

“Enough! I will not have you killing yourself! If yesterday wasn’t proof enough of that I’ll never know what is! You beautiful, obstinate, arrogant, madmare!” He hissed into her face as he held her hooves down. He missed one of her forehooves as he struggled with her.

“I think that’s the best compliment you’ve ever given me,” she snarked back up at him, using her free hoof to ruffle his mane loose from ts usual blown-back position. He frowned back at her a blush rising to his cheeks. Gusty smiled, certain she finally had gotten him properly distracted.

She fired a teleportation spell, aiming not for near the book, but instead the opposite side of the open grass amongst the ice. It worked, Gusty appeared looking out over the small area with Stormwalker pivoting to look at her in the same instant. With the drive to read the book consuming her completely she instantly formulated a plan. She starting running toward the book and her demonic companion moved to intercept her, his speed much greater than her own. Just as he was upon her Gusty teleported again. Hoping that he had not had time to refocus his abilities, she put every last bit of her will into the spell. It felt as if the magic took longer to activate than normal, in fact it did not complete until Stormwalker had wrapped his hooves around her.

Vision clearing she looked down and found her price. She snatched it up instantly, opening it to its first page and glaring intently on the runes of old. The soft feeling of familiar fur on her hooves sent its sensation to her brain, bring tears and an ocean of emotion with it. At the last moment before her eyes began to comprehend the foul text she looked up and found Stormwalker gaping in shock.

“Gusty, no! Don’t!” he lunged towards her, his speed faster than ever before. It did not matter, he could not outpace the speed of the magic in the pages.

Gusty fixed her eyes onto the page and the memory of the language filled in the rest. Immediately the sensation of falling overtook her as the world began to darken. Snapping her face away from the book with a colossal effort she saw Stormwalker. He was nearly on top of her, but as the moments drug on he slowly slipped away, the horror on his face intensifying as she plunged deeper. Soon he winked out of existence and everything she knew was only black emptiness. Gusty felt like she would fall forever in the darkness that now surrounded her. The last image of Stormwalker’s terrified face burned into her memory as a permanent reminder that she would always miss his kind, familiar presence in her mind. She was again alone, truly, and pure dread gripped her heart at that moment. Consciousness ceased, all was made nothing.

Act 3: Chapter 6 - Ice to Fire

Author's Note

Hello everyone,
I had a lot of trouble getting this chapter the way I wanted, and even after review with my pre-readers and consulting the site mods I felt it best to give you a slight warning.

While it is not described, or specifically detailed this chapter includes a little bit of "Non-con"

Because this chapter, and the next chapter will hint at this, and the majority of the writing has nothing to do with it, I'm leaving the tag off.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I still expect dislikes of course, because I write like crap, so proceed at your own risk.

Act 3: Chapter 6 - Ice to Fire

“Luna, my sister, I hate to admit it but I think we need to call an expert to get this griffon to talk. What was Discord’s mailing address again? Or perhaps we should get Pinkie Pie?”

-Celestia-

Chapter 6 - Ice to Fire

The shuddering of his own body caused Zeccaran to stir from his slumber. It was not the shake of a cold body, but instead of a sick one. He groggily opened his eyes to find the light of a nearby lamp stinging his retinas. Snapping them shut as the throbbing headache he had slept to avoid reminded him there was no escape. However, he was at least not nauseated any longer, and he sat up on the bed. After several minutes of heavy breathing and a fruitless attempt to meditate the pain away, Zeccaran slipped down to the floor. He hazarded a small peek through squinted eyes and found the light of the room no longer as unpleasant.

Turning towards the vague grey tendrils of sun poking their way through the windows of the cabin, Zeccaran stumbled to the sill. From what he could tell it was early morning, and the snow covered everything. More importantly, even through his headache the zebra noticed a curious lack of noise, an important noise. The boilers were silent, their essential heat lacking as simply as their rumble. Zeccaran put a hoof to his head as his stress worsened his headache. It was going to be a long day getting the Onyx flight worthy.

Cautiously exiting the cabin, doing his best to ignore his growling stomach, he bumped into Bunker.

“You are awake! Good.” The other stallion panted. He was sweating through his enviro-suit, which was probably the only reason he was sweating in the first place. The door to the main deck had unmelted snow set around its frame, so it was clearly not warm inside the ship.

“Yeah I’m up. And it seems like we have a lot of work to do,” Zeccaran answered sluggishly.

“Da. I have been clearing the snow off the deck, and the top ballon.” Bunker pointed to their respect locations beyond the walls of the cabin.

“I found a busted seam on the ballon. But, I can’t reach it. We would need a team of pegasi to fix,” the larger stallion heaved a deep breath as he finished his sentence. He started to point down to the floor, stuttering over his words, a few curses in his native tongue slipping through as well.

“The boilers are frozen?” Zeccaran answered for him.

“Yes! Forgive me, I slipped back into the Great Forest for a moment.” Bunker rubbed a cheek with the hoof he had been pointing with. “You can fix it, right?”

“But of course.” The zebra proudly smiled to his companion.

“Once you do, come help me move more snow. I know the ship will be too heavy if we don’t.” He paused as he turned to leave. “What about lower ballon? How long do you think it will take to reheat all the air?”

Zeccaran was surprised by the question. He had totally forgotten that Bunker actually knew quite a bit about the Midnight Onyx. He just wished the stallion had let him see the manual back in the Baylands when they had initially captured the ship. It would have made the repair process much easier.

“About two hours once the boilers are at full steam,” he answered finally. Bunker nodded affirmatively before stalking over to the snow-caked door and yanking it open. Wind blustered in for the brief moment before he closed the portal again and disappeared. For a brief moment Zeccaran stood still, his mind coming to grips with the situation too slowly for him to move.

When his brain finally hit proper processing speeds, the zebra groaned loudly. A frozen boiler likely had busted its lead pipes and possibly its main chamber. Grumbling curses as he descended down to the engine room Zeccaran prepared for the worst. He set about opening the secure door, pulling and turning the levers and knobs in a slow rhythmic way that briefly let his mind wonder if he had the spare parts to repair the vessel or if he and Bunker were now legitimately stranded. Hastily, he entered the locks combination and reactivated the two necessary levers.

With a mighty heave he wrenched the giant steel door open and turned to his left looking at the emergency engine supplies cabinet. He did not even bother to cast a glance at the boilers, knowing that it would only upset him more if he looked at the damage before his spare materials. Briskly trotting to the large container, Zeccaran gingerly turned the handle and let the door fall open on its own, a creak of the supplies inside echoed in the metal room. He dodge back reflexively as the cabinet shook and the materials inside began tumbling out in heaps. A whole tool box clambered to the floor from the top shelf, making the zebra quite glad he had realized things had probably gotten jumbled from the crash landing.

Standing over the pile of various patch pieces of metal and several sets of spare pipe Zecarran nodded approvingly. There was enough material to fix both boilers unless the damned things had completely exploded. He drew up a big breath and sighed as he turned to assess the damage. His first glance at the long pipes and grand tubs of the machine left him confused. There appeared to be nothing wrong, and as he approached they still did not look to have any popped bolts or folded plumbing. He opened the firebox door of the right engine to a harsh roar of flames, that sent him diving for the floor. Patting down his mane in panic, sure he had singed something he stood up from the floor in confusion.

Certain he had just experienced backdraft, Zeccaran leaned cautiously into the no longer exploding firebox. Down in the bottom of the pit sat low glowing embers of coal, just barely crackling.

“Wait a minute...if the firebox kicked out back draft but are still burning...that means only the feeds are frozen!” A broad smile spread his lips as she spoke to himself. This was an easy repair. They were not going to be stranded after all.

Zeccaran spent the next hour slowly building up each firebox with coal, attempting to melt the frozen air and water lines. He had almost given up when a long hiss of steam indicated that he had found success on the first engine. It was quickly followed by its twin making him nod at himself merrily. Though he could hear how sluggish the piston turnover sounded, that could only be overcome with time, so Zeccaran headed off to find Bunker and something to eat.

Both of his next tasks were quickly completed, his companion having found food when the zebra found him.

“It was time for a break. Had been cleaning snow for four hours!” the larger stallion declared as he approached. “But rations are a bit frozen, so we will use this lamp to warm them up.”

Zeccaran took the frozen package as Bunker instructed and held it over the lamp they huddled around. Where the lamp had been acquired the zebra did not know, nor did he particularly care. Once the ration had thawed he tore it open to find jerky and bread. They were Griffon rations after all, but that did not stop him. Ponies could eat meat too, most just did not like it. Afterall the jerky did taste like not starving to death in an icy grave, so he did not complain. Besides it was best to just eat it and never think about what it could have possibly been made of, and never let the thought come to pass again.

Once they completed their meal he stood up and stretched. “Okay, Bunker,” he started.

“The engines are still warming up and all I have to do if keep loading coal every now and again, how can I help with removing the snow?” Zeccaran asked.

“Bird form. The ladders to the top of the ballon are too slick for me to climb. Let’s go.” Bunker pointed up dramatically to the ceiling of the bunk room they were in. The zebra shook his head with a chuckle.

“We are still going to have to do something about that gash you found too,” he told his larger companion. “Even if that means just stamping some canvas over the whole.”

Bunker groaned, “And let me guess, I get to tack it up there with strange tool you’ll get me.”

“Now you get the idea.”

About three hours of carrying Bunker to problem areas Zeccaran was starting to feel dog-tired. Keeping the engines warm and been easy and almost as quickly as they had stapled a canvas patch over the breach in the top ballon great groan echoed in the frozen valley. However, it was not the sound of an Ice Giant but instead the sound of Midnight Onyx lifting up of the ground. Zeccaran landed quickly causing Bunker to shriek in surprise. He returned to his normal zebra complexion a proud smile spreading his lips. He dashed up to the helm, not waiting for Bunker.

At the controls, he shifted the throttle wheel back and forth then into neutral, to reset the topside controls. They were still a bit frozen being left out in the cold, but it could not be helped. Looking up he realized for the first time they had slid into a crook of sheer stone after having bounced off of a different mountain, which Zeccaran did not know. As the Onyx continued to gain altitude, he swapped the throttle control down to the first stage of reverse, both to help warm up the propellers and back them away from the rock. The creaking and shattering of ice like glass followed. The zebra turned to look at the ragged props to find them slowly spinning still trying to heat up from their dip in the frozen depths of the accursed valley.

Heavy hooffalls signified Bunker’s approach and Zeccaran turned to face his friend.

“We did good. Da?” he said with a big grin. “How long you think propellers need to warm up?”

“Not sure, you’ve driven this thing more than me. You know what they are supposed to sound like. Why don’t you take over and get us going as soon as they are ready?” Zeccaran responded.

Bunker nodded and moved to swap him out at the controls. Waving, the zebra motioned that he would be going down to check on the engines, to which his companion responded with a wink. With a spring in step Zeccaran eventually arrived at the engines. He heaved a few more shovel fulls of coal into each fire box from the bin and went about checking the pressure meters. The inspection took him some time and was quite distracting, so when he walked back out onto the deck into strong winds he yelled in surprise.

“Bunker!” he shouted as he pulled himself up. There was a vague response over the wind that he did not quite understand. Fighting the wind he started to make his way up to the helm when something odd caught his eye.

Out in the distance, in front of the airship, there glowed a bright orange light. Puzzled, Zeccaran remained transfixed as he watched in dumbstruck awe. A line of ground in the distance ripped open the snowy tundra and exposed steam and more orange glow. It took about another minute but a sharp piercing cracking reached his ears. It was the sound of earth and stone cracking and shattering, but still he remained confused. There were no known volcanoes or anything else that could do that this far out in the Frozen North. As the Onyx slowly began to clear the rest of the valley, Zeccaran traced the split in the earth to a center chasm.

Two more lines of cracked ground shot out from the chasm and the odd seconds before their sound reached the ship. This time however, the Onyx pitched with the force of the shockwave. Somewhere in the distance Bunker screamed in surprise, as Zeccaran kept focusing on what he was seeing. As they inched closer a deep brooding feeling began building deep in his stomach. The area between the splits in the ground fell in with something like an explosion accompanying the sight. Then the magic hit him.

The air exited his lungs and he stood shuddering as he tried to draw a new breath, but was too terrified to complete the task. He knew the magics that were being thrown about like great wrecking balls. Somewhere a part of his brain told him he should confirm what he was feeling, and breath reentered his lungs as he shapeshifted into an eagle again.

Using the bird body’s innate ability to peer long distances, Zeccaran looked over the center of the chasm again. Suspicions confirmed he sucked in more of the frozen alpine air as a gasp of horror.

Gusty Twilight and Stormwalker floated in tandem. Great pressure walls of magic surrounded and shot out from the former while the latter deflected the blasts of magic, his fiery wings beating in a blur as he tried to reach his quarry.

This was the big one. There was no turning the Onyx around, no stopping the events. They were going to be forced to watch the fight unfold and likely die once it was over. Zeccaran hated that thought, but there was nothing he could do. If he was being honest however, he did want to see this fight, maybe he would cheer Gusty on, not that it mattered. So the zebra-bird watched, helpless but intrigued.

Gusty’s eyes shot open and were immediately stung by a piercing light. Jerking reflexively she found her limbs and head held down tightly by cold iron. Below her, coarse wood grated uncomfortably against her fur and wings. They too were bond under harsh metal making a panicked sense of claustrophobia set itself in her gut. Slowly, as she attempted to keep herself from thrashing about on the rack her vision focused up.

Before her was an empty room, black as pitch. The place felt familiar, yet distant. As she tried to understand why she had been left on a table of torture to rot Gusty reasoned within her own mind.

I’ve been here, but feel different than before. Why? She questioned herself. She drew a deep breath, but felt as if it was not enough to breath. Everything feels muted, as if I have another concussion...but yet, I don’t hurt…

Muffled voices moved from her left to the right, as if their sound was echoing to her over a great distance. A flash of teal revealed her own features and disoriented her further. Gusty grunted in frustration and confusion trying to resolidify the world around her.

I hate this nonsense! It makes it impossible to tell if I’m dreaming or awake...or hallucinating! I’m so close to keeping control of it and then I lose it! She complained internally as she tried to shift her head down to a more balanced spot before the feeling of hard steel kept her in the awkward position. A casual, disturbing sound reached her ears in the next instant and the world pulled itself together upon her recognition.

Slow, confident hooffalls clopped towards her from the darkness beyond the little light she sat in. Her eyes caught the motion of something large and even blacker in color than the void it glided through. A creeping, sliding horror worked its ways from the bottom of her hoofs up to the top of her horn. Her horn!

Immediately, Gusty attempted to cast a teleport spell. It did not fire. Next on the list was an permeable spell, something that would allow her to phase out of her bounds and into freedom. Likewise the spell also did not complete, only this time it was accompanied by a painful pinching sensation near the base of her horn. She tried to look up only to see the strap of iron that held her head in place. It’s position prevented her from seeing the tip of her horn. Worse yet, the hooffalls had gotten much closer and her fear seemed to take hold of her instincts as she pulled on her bonds with all of her might. It was all in vain, and as she broke from the panic, huffing haggard breaths, the dark form of her captor stepped into the small of the light.

“You really are a lively little mare aren’t you?” came the familiar voice of a stallion.

“Stormwalker?! Release me at once!” Gusty ordered, not about to play whatever game this was.

“Interesting. I was unaware you knew my name….excuse me...our name.” The demon scooted closer, the shadow of his brow dissipating in the light as he leaned over her. Glowing red eyes and long shining fangs greeted her. However, something seemed off. It was if the features did not match the monster she knew, even though he looked positively identical. As if to confirm her thoughts a sharp glint in the malicious red eyes hardened to a point so fine it made her jerk away from him in fright. A hoof harder than steel pushed her cheeks back to stare at his face from the small bit of movement she had made. The beast was not the Stormwalker she knew, he was the thing she had been believing him to be. No, this thing was much, much worse than even her fears.

“My dear...what is the matter? You should be overjoyed, the first thing you woke to was me, instead of my father,” the creature cooed. “I was starting to worry if you would remain unconscious until he...roused you.”

“What do you want?” She squeaked out, almost surprised at her own words.

“Your assistance in a matter near and dear to my heart,” he chuckled. He gave the side of her muzzle a long lick up to her eye with a single efficient stroke. Gusty winced but refused to give him the satisfaction of a gasp or curse.

“Why would I help you?” she asked, a bit of anger having built up at his touch and presumption.

“Because it will ease your time spent here.” He met her eyes, the same awful predatory gaze piercing her soul like a knife. Glowing with ever increasing malice, his look served to worsen the moment. It reinforced that he held the power here, and that should he wish it, she would suffer, severely. Who was to say she was going to avoid it anyway? However, if perhaps it provided her more opportunity to coerce the monster, she would do ask he asked, at least that idea put logic into the decision.

“Tell me what to do,” she closed her eyes as she answered, unwilling to continue looking into his.

The demon tutted darkly as Gusty felt him pull away: “My father does sure know how to pick’em.”

A few cranks of chains and wood echoed in the small room before Gusty felt her weight shift forward. She opened her eyes to steady her mind as the rack swung forward to where she hung completely vertical and stopped. More mechanical clunking sounded and the faux-Stormwalker strode into her field of vision.

With a better view of him, Gusty confirmed that the creature before was a different monster all together. His body was sleeker, younger, his skeletal structure clearly designed for efficiency of movement. The grand wings were still present like in the modern version, and the looks, but something still felt off. Though he seemed much like his descendant, there was a primal presence about him that Gusty could feel in the air. As if his depravity, and his ruthlessness knew no bounds, and nothing in this mortal coil entertained him more than seeing her before him, bound and scared.

“I hate to inform you my sweet, but my father has taken a rather strong liking to you,” he spoke methodically.

“Why is that important?” Gusty questioned, a shiver of disgust snaking up her spine at the declaration. The demon chortled with a bit of classic Stormwalker clicking.

“Because that makes him weak, and vulnerable,” the monster’s voice grated harsh like nails over slate, “and that means his time as patriarch has come to an end.”

Gusty could not help but raise an eyebrow in confusion, “What does that have to do with me?”

“I need you to...enjoy him. If you reciprocate his passion it will make everyone’s lives easier.” A too wide a smile with too many teeth split Stormwalker Prime’s jaw. A hard rock of disgust and fear anchored itself in her throat. There was nothing about that statement that made her feel in control as she had believed it would or more comfortable as she had been told.

“You mean he is going to come in here and…” she let her voice trail off. Prime finished the sentence for her, “Violate you? Oh, yes.”

Gusty shuddered. The world around her seemed to shake alongside her as the moment she resided in started to shatter. However, just as she seemed to be free of the cursed place she found herself in and returned to the black void of before the scene rematerialized. However, as it did she experienced an odd double vision, as if she was seeing things from her own eyes and over her own shoulder.

“Just pretend it is your husband. It is not as if my father is incapable of satisfying you. In fact, I can confidently say that he will bring you more pleasure than your spouse,” Prime declared in a haughty fashion.

“M-my husband?” Gusty asked. It seemed suddenly like she had asked that question an uncountable number of times. She could not tell if she was inquiring about Bunker or the white hunk she had seen in her visions back in the Baylands. Then again, she was beginning to wonder what a Baylands and a Bunker were.

“Yes. That rather elusive snow-colored fellow. He is yours, no? Just consider my foolish father your mate for a few minutes. That should provide me the necessary ingredients to relieve you from my most loathed relation’s clutches.” The monster nodded confidently.

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” she moped. Letting her be bait was all a part of the creature’s plan. She was going to be taken against her will, and there was no way to fight back. If perhaps one of the accursed Shadow-kin was going to die while having his way with her, Prime was right, she should enjoy the pleasure of his advance and relish his death. Gusty curled a lip up at herself, is this how low she would go? Letting herself be raped by demons without a fight just to kill them? The thought left her numb and empty, trying to push her body to become more ready to be aroused by a monster. The only instinct to survive no matter the cost, at least that was what she internally rationalized.

“That’s the spirit, my dear! Always good to savor the moment!” Prime pulled her attention back to him. “Now, he will be along soon enough.”

The Shadow-Kin slipped back into the dark of the room. His form fading entirely as the confident clops of his hooves went silent. Gusty sat there in the eerie silence knowing he watched her from the black void of shade. She trembled, both in stress and terror. What plagued her more than the upcoming still unwanted breach of her body was the feeling of the unknown. Certainly Prime was not going to keep his promise, and even if he did, did that mean he would be the next beast in line to pleasure himself with her body? Gusty felt several long beads of sweat slip down her brow and chest. The blanket of emptiness around her and the unnatural starkness of the grey light shining down at her antagonisingly collectively increased her nerves.

By the time a set of clacks and cranks echoed from somewhere far in front of her, Gusty was happy for noise other than her own breathing. Ruddy orange torchlight flooded in from a large door, its color dim and muted compared to the unpleasant shadow and grey where she hung. A large silhouette blocked the light partially, before a long creaking of metal hinges slowly closed the rest of the outside light away. Louder, less precisely measured hooves marched their way through the black dark. Quickly a new Shadow-kin appeared before Gusty, his size more intimidating than his offspring.

“Oh, how I have waited for this moment,” he grinned. He moved up close to her drawing in a deep breath as he pressed his muzzle into her neck and mane. Gusty shivered, her mind starting to teeter dangerously away from the balance she had struck while waiting. The elder demon leaned back exhaling exuberantly and placing a hoof on either side of her head. His features more roguish, bolder, but just as appealing a his offspring. However, the sight of him compelled Gusty to well up a ball of phlegm and hock it directly into his face.

The spit hit his cheek below his right eye and a broad smile spread his lips. His long tongue snaked out of his mouth and lapped up the loogie like it was a rare chocolate. Gusty cringed in disgust as he leaned down and licked the side of her face, just like his son had. The demon paused after he had completed the motion.

“Strange. I taste the smell of my youngest son. It seems his capture of my prize has left its mark,” the monster grumbled. Gusty remained silent.

“No matter. You still have enough fight to make making you mine particularly ...enjoyable.”

Now more than willing to side with Prime’s plan end this scum, Gusty bit her lips closed. That was until the beast began slowly moving his muzzle down her chest and abdomen, rolling his tongue as he went. Her resolve began to shatter, and her urge to escape increased as he proceeded. It was not what she wanted and something she had never desired to relieve.

With a colossal effort Gusty fought the waking feelings and tried to break the enforced reality. Just as the memory reached a fever pitch and she started to feel the most preyed upon the sensations broke. Free from re-feeling her darkest moments, Gusty desperately closed her eyes in an attempt to remove the still moving, though shattered image of what was happening to her. Even the black prison of her mind however could not completely drown out the horridness of the past. Even the happy thoughts of her Amethyst, Bunker or Celestia did nothing. Her voice screamed and cursed at her assailant, hurling hatred and sadness at once. A disgusting feeling of pleasurable euphoria pulled at her edges and the screams turned to upset moans and insults that she did her best to ignore. The atrocity lasted for an unknown time until the grunts of the monster came to a sudden halt with an unsettling gurgle.

As a last insult she was saved from passing out as a final image forced itself into clarity keeping her awake in its iron grip. Prime stood next to her, face covered in blood and gore, on the end of his hoof the slack-jawed head of his father, face frozen in a twisted look best described as pure, satisfied infatuation. The younger beast opened his maw and revealed pieces of a heart making Gusty gag. He snapped his mouth shut into a wide terrible grin of bloody teeth, gummed with the flesh of his father. A desecrated body, its chest rent open and its organs devoured lay in a pool of black and crimson ooze.

Hot breaths slapped her cheeks as Prime moved up close and kissed her in a faux affection. Gusty quaked with true fear, remembering now the feeling of pure horror she had felt back in the Cave, when they had met again.

“Thanks for your help, sweety,” he laughed coyly. “Now that the old coot is out of the way...it’s my turn.”

Her screams and wails echoed even more fiercely than before. Their sounds and the moment dissolving into an inconsistent ricochets of betrayal and pain until her mind gave out again and she was returned to blackness. For now...

Act 3: Chapter 7 - Method to Our Madness

“Turning over a new leaf is not easy. Not by any measure. It took someone holding up a mirror to me, a pretty big one at that. Still, it can be done, sometimes you need help to do it. I just hope I can be that help when that moment comes for her.”

-Guardian Angel-

Chapter 7 - Method To Our Madness

Gusty’s eyes rolled open as she tried to stretch her stiff body. Her restraints kept her in place, bringing upon her a powerful aching sadness. She had stopped crying sometime ago, but had no idea when that had happened. Continual suffering plagued her waking moments, sleep being the only reprieve. Even that had proven to be a scarce commodity in this most trying of times. Speaking of time there had been no way to know how long she had been captured. Her incarceration mostly confined to the hard slab of wood where she still lay.

Occasionally, the young Stormwalker Prime would don his shiny steel armor, before binding her in chains to parade her around his demonic family’s villa. However, that had only ever happened at night. It was by far safer and more relaxing to stay in her cell, alone, even with as uncomfortable as her bed was. A definitive improvement compared to being held just out of reach from the clutches of numerous, ravenous hellspawn.

Fortunately, it had brought her new knowledge. She had come to understand how they restrained her magic: blood. Having been able to move her neck she had chanced a glance in a wall mirror, noticing on her horn black congealed material. At the time it had not made sense but combined with a single instance where she had jerked awake after being rendered unconscious from torture and sex, she had figured it out. Prime had stood over her, dripping blood onto her horn from a self-inflicted wound. Sadly even with its origins known, the foul substance had proven more than enough to keep her incapable of casting. He had been right to take such precaution, every day when he would leave her to rot she would try to break the seal.

The imprisonment seemed like a harsh red brush stroke across an otherwise blank canvas. Simple, yet foreboding of things that lay just beyond her memory. For now she had gotten accustomed to the increasingly carnal visits from Prime. He was skilled at what he was doing, and perhaps if he was not a demon he would have been a stallion worth his own weight in gold. Her addled mind wandered idly for a moment as she let that particular thought die. She felt more stable than before, and her ability to separate the experience had become more refined. A hard pit formed in her stomach, however, a reminder that she would need that strength soon. What was worse, she might only get one shot to keep herself together. When to break from the memory was key. For now she would have to wait, hoping that she would be able to choose the right time.

The long wispy creaking of the old door to her abode rebounded to her ears. The now too familiar hooffalls of her captor were easy to identify. It did not take long for Prime to appear out of the dark soup of nothingness and into the still painful grey light where she waited. He had gotten taller since her capture and broader too. Frankly, he was the best judge of time’s passage. From his changes it looked as if it had been a few years, but Gusty swore those years had only been a few months. One thing was certain, he had gotten more powerful, his presence easily felt before he even entered the room.

Striding up, his fangs shining from a wide grin, he licked her left cheek as was his custom. Gusty had gotten quite comfortable with his approach, regardless of his changes he no longer intimidated her. His actions could not bring her harm either, mental harm at least. There was little he could do that would truly upset her now. Her defiance had brought her hope, and with it an acceptance of his style and decisions. She could wait out his need for entertainment.

“You seem especially comfortable today, my dear,” he cooed before running his tongue down the length of her neck.

“Well, if I was chained to pillows instead of this wooden slab, I would think I was at a pleasure spa. After all you are only ever-ah!” Gusty was cut off by her own yelp of surprise. Stormwalker Prime had sank his teeth into the tender portion of her flesh just above where her neck reached her collarbone. Heavy suction pulled on the skin making her moan as the pain increased from more of her flesh being torn by teeth.

Gusty had come to relish the feeling of pain. It reminded her that she was still in control, still alive. And every lash, every hot poker, every beating and flaying of skin only sought to increase the rush of her adrenaline until she would blackout. When she would wake her body would be unharmed, making her wonder if Prime had even ever done anything, or if perhaps all of this was simply a potent illusion. However, something told her that was false, the reality was something horrifying she had yet to understand. Her captor pulled his mouth off of her neck his long tongue raking around the edge of his smiling fangs not letting a drop got to waste.

“Exquisite as always. Like a fine wine aged thirty years,” Prime commented. He leaned over the top of her angled rack and met her eyes, his pupils wide with mania. Gusty grimaced at his red eyes and stretched lips. The monster was truly unpleasant, his musk and his motions disconcerting by their nature and precision.

He turned away reaching for the rack’s controls. Making its usual racket as it moved, the board rotated backwards until she lay flat, forcing her to stare at the odd grey light from above. Unable to fully see Prime, Gusty could more feel him move towards her belly and groin with his muzzle. He went about his work, making her feel unreasonably bothered but equally gratified. It actually was something she rather enjoyed, if she was honest with herself. At this point the torture was avoiding making any noise or expression. She would not give the beast any indication of her pleasure, if it could be helped. Today, in particular it was proving difficult and Gusty decided that she needed to try to ruin his mood to avoid succumbing to her own urges..

“Y-you kn-know,” she stammered before calming her voice. “This doesn’t really bother me anymore, right?”

The demon gave her one last, hardy stroke from his tongue before removing himself from her nether regions. With a methodical slowness he moved to the torture controls and raised her coarse resting place up to full vertical, the most unpleasant of its positions. He trotted, almost merrily in front of her stopping directly before her and catching her eyes again with his moisture covered snout. Gusty gave him a provocative grin, in an attempt to distract him, it did not work.

“Oh, I know that it doesn’t bother you. In fact I’ve know it hasn’t bothered you for months.” His eyes pinched closed in a big toothy smile. She suddenly felt her small amount of control starting to slip away. Had he known the entire time? The internal question only served to unsettle her more. She briefly fought and conquered the sensation, for now.

“You are not nearly so convincing as you believe yourself to be, my dear. And judging by your persistent readiness I’d even think that you love my touch.” The smile turned too wide and Prime’s features grew even more fearsome than before. Little whispers of flame danced on the end of his dark mane and the long primaries of his wings, mirroring the churning of Gusty’s stomach.

“That’s a lie,” she answered steadily, even as she felt her own warmth trail down both her thighs.

“Come now. I did make you a promise that I would make your stay more enjoyable did I not? And as a demon I am bound by my promises.” He turned away as he waxed philosophical for a moment.

“Alas, our time as host and honored guest has come to a close,” he said facing away from her.

“You mean warden and prisoner?” Gusty shot back angrily. If he was planning on wasting his day on talk she would not entertain him kindly.

“I meant what I said,” he paused as his expression became different, a look she had never seen before, an almost terrifying neutral.

“But you are right. It is time we take our proper roles...and start the show.” As he ended his sentence his voice hard and cold. In a blinding flash of flame and twist of his frame his wings slapped across her stomach and cut into her flesh. The burning limbs felt like they continued to scorch her body even after he folded his wings, their flames ceasing as he stood away from her. Gusty gritted her teeth and hissed out many sharp breaths. It was her best attempt to deny him the pleasure of an outright scream of pain.

“This doesn’t...bother me either...scum!” she snapped through her clenched jaw and uneven breathing.

“You mistake my intent. I have been well aware that torturing you will do little to break you.” The icy glare of Prime momentarily became a dark little grin. Gusty shivered where she hung. She could already feel fear. The idea of what might happen giving her nausea and pain. If the Shadow-kin knew they could not undo her alone, then the lengths they would go to only spelt doom for anything she had ever cared about. At the thought Gusty’s heart began to race with terror. But she could not lose control yet, besides her family knew better than to seek her out. This was clearly another ploy by her captors, right? Of course right!

A knocking on the faraway door perked Prime’s head towards the sound. Gusty did not look up as the demon strode away into the darkness. Hearing the door open and close, she hazarded a glance once the sound of another set of hooves reached her ears. Out of the shadow surrounding her rack emerged a new form alongside Prime.

Thin and sleek, and whiter than snow a mare stood next to the monster. Her features were longer, but softer. Yellow eyes like her counterpart’s danced with eager malice behind a bright red mane, shinier than even freshest spilt blood. She defined the word beauty, but also the word dangerous. Like Prime, her mere presence was enough to know she was not a pony, but instead Shadow-kin. Gusty’s lips curled up in revulsion, whatever was going to happen she could already tell she would be having a repulsive experience.

“Dearest Gusty Twilight, I’d like to present to you, Lady Firasa Valkieria,” decreed Prime with a motion of a hoof and perk of his wings. The she-demon gave a haughty bow.

“Hello...prey.” Valkieria stepped up close, her eyes sparkling with rampant desire. Gusty spat a dry phlegmy goblet in her direction but did not manage to hit her. Pain exploded from the alicorn’s left foreleg in the next instant. She screamed in agony, unprepared for the eruption of suffering coming from her limb. Panting after a long set of wails Gusty’s eyes refocused on the female beast to find a large red chunk of flesh hanging in her mouth.

Chewing slowly a blush formed around her yellow eyes above the blood that soaked her muzzle. A pouring of what felt like hot water rolled down her leg and across her chest. She knew it was blood but even as she rolled her eyes as far to left as they could go, she could only barely see the red river. Meanwhile, Valkieria clicked and munched on the piece of leg she had torn off. The she-demon was just as foul as her male counterpart, and Gusty shuddered in her bounds. However, she would get through this, adding another torturer would not deter her will, she would not break. The moment of weakness passed without further incident as her two tormentors began to speak.

“Ohhh…” moaned Valkieria. “How have you not already devoured her? She’s even better than you described!” Her eyes were glossy, maddened by alicorn blood.

“With patience and will. She is not meant to die. She is our greatest work of art, a living relic to our power,” Stormwalker snarled darkly. Gusty’s skin shivered across her whole body at his words. She had little time to ponder the implications of the statement before she watched with surprise as Prime pounced on his counterpart and pinned her to the ground, his maw around her neck.

She struggled against him whimpering and kicking as her body atlit with blue-purple flame. Prime slammed his forehooves down into Valkieria’s chest and she gasped for air. The monster continued to press his weight into her not ever becoming engulfed, clearly the more powerful. He removed his jaw as she tentatively drew a few raspy breaths.

“Remember, sweetheart: you will control yourself.” He licked along her face, lapping up some of Gusty’s blood. “I chose you because I see in you potential. Until you have grown, understand: You. Are. Nothing.”

“Y-yes, milord,” the she-demon pitifully screeched as her superior continued to lick her face clean. Once he was finished the great beast stepped off of his selected mate and helped her up. She shook in fear as they strode toward Gusty, who just could not help but feel sorry for her. Valkieria was as much a prisoner as herself, at least that was how it was for now. A heavy silence followed as Prime stared at Gusty his gaze cold and calculating.

“I-I am surprised the rumors of your power are true. I had thought them all posturing,” his counterpart broke the quiet. Her voice and bearing having improved as they stood still.

“Interesting. I was unaware that there were rumors. It seems some amongst my family have loose lips. Or perhaps the servants are whispering again…” The demon-stallion mused with a sigh. His mouth parted in one of his trademark too-wide grins.

“Sweetheart, why don’t you keep Gusty company while I go and fetch our little surprise?” He motioned towards the door with his head.

“You trust m-me alone with her?”

“I trust your inclination for self-preservation.”

Valkieria nodded earnestly before bowing her head. Prime smiled devilishly, his eyes widening with the familiar look of manic malice, he placed a hoof and the back of her head gently and guided her back to full height. The demon then turned his attention up to Gusty before backing into the shadow, his golden eyes waxing red as he briefly disappeared. He returned with a whip, held in his mouth, and a set of swaddling bandages. Gusty waited stoically as he sauntered up to her restraints and released her injured leg.

Even as it blistered her skin and sent sharp pulses of pain up and down the limb she swung the free hoof in a punch. She hit his snout, and the suffering spread down to her hoof and up into her shoulder and collar. It had been as if she had punched a block of solid steel making her gasp from the impact. Prime chuckled through the whip, before tossing it behind himself to Valkieria.

“And here I thought you had learned your lesson about hitting me,” he laughed as he tightly wrapped her aching leg in the bandages. “Besides I figured you’d not want to bleed out, it is a rather sad way to go.”

“Any death is better than dealing with you, Stormwalker,” Gusty spat through clenched teeth as he tied the dressing in a stiff knot.

“I know. That’s why you are still alive, my dear,” he answered as he looked into her face. He carefully put her hoof back into its bonds and refastend the hard iron down tighter than before, clearly wanting it to chafe as she struggled. Stepping back the beast brought a hoof up to his face his expression dulling to a more thoughtful look. Blood from her wound coated his hoof as he abscently dabbed his tongue repeatedly into the icor.

“I must get going. But I shall return…” he paused looking over Firasa Valkieria who held the whip in her hooves, “That is her favorite toy Firasa, see that you use it well for her.”

“Yes, milord,” the lesser demon answered as the monster strode into the darkness and exited to the sound of scraping steel. There was a long pause as the she-beast looked down at the whip. Placing it in her mouth she gave it a few practice swings, not making a proper crack until her third try. Valkieria made several more successful attempts before turning and facing Gusty, a singular determination in her eyes.

She swung the whip and struck the portion of her abdomen Prime had burned before with his wings. Gusty clenched her teeth shut and exhaled a deep breath from her nose. Determined to weather this new storm, she played her best defense, spreading discord among her captors. Forced to wait until after Valkieria cracked the whip into one of her wings, she loosed an exasperated sigh.

“You don’t have to do this you know,” Gusty groaned after she recovered. Her words gave the she-demon pause and she dropped the whip into her hooves. She gave Gusty a long, silent look.

“I saw how he treats you. There is no reason to be Stormwalker’s slave.” It was her best argument, really it was the only argument. However, Valkieria surprised her with a roll of her eyes and a coy smile.

“You do not understand my lord and I’s relationship,” she said walking up closer to Gusty. “If it had been anyone else that took a bite of you without permission they’d have been devoured on the spot.”

“That’s ridiculous. What sort of fool would kill his underlings just for doing what they were bred for?” she shot back to Valkieria. The demon’s response was a hard slap across the face. It was more degrading than painful and served to redden Gusty’s cheeks but hardened her resolve.

“You shall not, insult his lordship in my presence,” she snarled into the alicorn’s face.

“I shall do as I please. I don’t take orders from brainwashed slaves! So you and your belovedly stupid master should go f-” Gusty was cut off by her own shrieks of pain. She had not be ready for Valkieria to take such sudden and drastic measures of torture. Between the whips and bites, however, Gusty was able to fall into a rhythm and the pain became more of a dance. It was not long before a sweet bliss of unconsciousness took over.

Unfortunately, the brief respite was ended abruptly as unreasonably cold water doused over her and Gusty awoke. She looked over what parts of her body she could see to find she lacked the injuries from the bludgeoning she had just been given. Whatever dark trick these Shadow-kin were using to restore her body brought a shiver to her spine that beat out even the frigid liquid that covered her. Eyes refocused Gusty found Valkiera standing before her, a sly dangerous smile making her fangs poke out of her lips.

“Good. You come around so easily,” mocked the she-demon. Gusty swallowed hard before testing out her voice.

“Dumb bitch,” she croaked.

“Funny. I’d think that would be a better descriptor of you,” Valkieria countered instantly. Gusty fell silent, unsure if her previous attempt to rile her tormentor had been successful. She thankfully did not need to wait long to find out.

“You still have not realized your significance have you?” the beast questioned. Gusty could only raise a brow in question. Whatever information came next would, at the very least, be interesting.

“You are the key to ending all alicorns,” stated Valkieria with a smile.

“W-what?” A great ball of dread formed in Gusty’s stomach as her brain flew through possible explanations.

“Yes. My lord has told me these things. That your suffering, your torment will slowly bring your kin to us. That in the end, you will be the last of your kind,” the demon proclaimed plainly.

“Ha! How would he know that? Alicorns are not so stupid to fall into such an obvious trap. He underestimates our resilience. Do not forget this war has been going on for nearly ten-thousand years,” she replied. Her assailant’s statement had left her more than a little heated. It was clearly told to Valkieria so she could repeat it. Stormwalker Prime proved yet again his guile, even if it was false he had already planned to make her feel that it was true.

“True. But that matters little. This scheme is nearly the same age. And it is with supreme care and caution that he executes this gambit,” the she-beast turned and gave a happy grin in thought of her master.

“What’s more, dear Gusty Twilight,” Valkieria continued, “is what he promises me. A promise of power, of a true continuation of my family’s bloodline. A new age of Shadow-kin made in our image!”

Inquisitively, the alicorn turned her head at much as her restraints allowed. She peered at the demon for a moment before it turned to look at her again. She had rather keep Valkieria talking, both for the information and for whatever lay ahead when Stormwalker returned.

“Anything else useless to say?” Gusty taunted, hoping for more.

“More?” the she-beast fitted the whip into her mouth and gave her several hardy floggs while Gusty remained silent. Valkieria finished once she noticed her calm demeanor.

“Amazing. Just like he said. You just don’t care about yourself. Truly, you are selfless.” she said after dropping the whip to the floor.

“Well since you are just such a good pet alicorn I’ll let you in on a little secret.” The beast moved up next to Gusty and pushed small hot breaths into her ear. “Because of you, the Shadow-kin will live forever. Because of you, my lord grows stronger by the day, and soon... so will I.”

Sadly, this was a story she had heard Prime tell her time and again. It merely came from a different mouth this day. She nipped at Firasa, unable to actually bite her from the restricted position. The she-demon laughed and caressed her face with a hoof. Scrunching up her nose in disgust, Gusty maintained her silence.

“You are so lucky to have tasted him. Did you know you are the only mare he has ever taken?” Valkieria grabbed the rest of the alicorn’s face and stared intently into her eyes. The demon’s own gaze turning nearly green from the sheer amount of envy rolling off of her.

“He goes out of his way to ensure he has proper access to your body,” she continued. “Even developed a way to keep you from getting pregnant, so he did not have to deal with the horrible little abominations your children would have become.”

“I guess that has something to do with how every time I wake up from being beaten unconscious I am mysteriously uninjured,” Gusty mumbled through her pressed cheeks.

“You’ll see. You’ll understand. Just as soon as my lord returns with our surprise. In fact...I sense he is quite nearby. He is taking his time of course, after all one cannot rush perfection,” answered the she-beast releasing her face.

Something about the vagueness in Valkieria’s words made the thought of Stormwalker Prime ache her chest. The feeling of these moments wracked her head with grief in a way she could not comprehend. Did she know what was coming? At the moment she had no means to tell. Reality seemed to break and shift as it had before, but came to an unsettling calm. Waiting had never been Gusty’s forte, and now with what felt like her whole world hanging in the balance, anxiety was an understatement. Watching Valkieria move in and out of the darkness collecting a random assortment of torture instruments was all she could do.

Eventually the long lonesome creaking of the metal door into the chamber screeched its way to Gusty’s ears. A familiar playful voice echoed the door with a long “oooh” before continuing.

“That was a big door, right? Tell me it was a big door!” declared Amber Glass, her youngest daughter.

Gusty gasped in shock, horror immediately coming to the realization of what was to happen. She drew a breath to scream for Amber to run but as soon as she did rough cloth was stuffed down her throat with a precision and force that left her timidly gagging. The white fur of Valkieria narrowly present on the edge of her vision as the gag was tied to her face. In the next instant a white hot lance of pain entered the area around Gusty’s eyes and as tears formed so increased the torment. Leaning into the pain she screamed as loud as she could into cloth.

“I’m not actually sure why I put that blindfold on you if you are going to figure out everywhere we walk by just by sound,” commented Stormwalker over the top of Gusty’s muffled wail. His voice sounded sickenly sweet and kind. Whatever ruse he had drawn Amber into, the elder alicorn knew its endgame already. However, he underestimated the lengths she would go to protect her daughter. Struggling with all her might, Gusty pulled on the restraints and screamed at her gag even though it caused horrific pain across her skull and her limbs. She could not break the bonds but her flailing rocked the whole rack making a loud set of bangs.

“What was that? Somebody hitting a board on the floor?” Amber questioned, as she and the demon emerge from the shadows of the room. She moved her head as if to see the area through her blindfold.

“Not quite, that is the sound of the surprise, my dear. She is very excited to see you,” Stormwalker answered as he carefully placed a a wing over the little brown alicorn.

“She? The surprise is a pony?” Amber questioned.

“Ah ah ah. That would be telling. Just walk up right here,” the demon pushed her along gently, his voice cheery and bubbly. They stopped directly in front of Gusty. The brief pause giving rise to a wave of nausea that hit her like a well-thrown brick. Tears welled-up in her eyes making the area in and around them again tingle and burn with their salt.

“Alright are you ready?” he asked, his smile widening to the fanged malicious grin Gusty had grown accustomed to.

“Mmmhmm!” Amber nodded with child-like playfulness. Prime reached up to the blindfold with a wing and pulled the slip knot apart.

Amber’s bright blue eyes came into focus and met Gusty’s. Every part of her screamed as loud as it could at her daughter to run, to teleport, to do anything to get away from here. Unfortunately, wonder washed over her daughter’s face followed by confusion, missing the all-important sparkle comprehension. Gusty could barely hear anything over the pounding of her own heart and the aching pain it caused.

“Mom?!” Amber proclaimed in surprise. “You’re alive! W-why are you tied to that rack?!” she paused turning to look at her host fear and confusion on her face. Gusty struggled against her bindings again, making the torture table vainly thump against the floor as she tried to communicate the danger.

“Lord Stormwalker, what is the meaning of th-iii!” Amber’s voice pitched high as the demon tackled her to the ground mouth already around her horn.

Sobbing regardless of the pain Gusty shuddered at the sound of breaking bone. The magical horn of an alicorn or unicorn made a particular shattering noise that could never be forgotten. Hearing your own daughter’s horn make that crumbling, breaking cacophony of falling rocks was enough to shake any mother to her core, regardless if that daughter was a full adult or not. Amber had never left the nest and though she was certainly no child, she was the elder alicorn’s baby, the child she had doted on the most. Nothing could be worse.

For Gusty to have this be this first thing she saw of another pony, especially a pony she especially cared about, was beyond description of pain. What was worse, as she attempted to close her eyes so she did not have to look at the pinned and crying Amber Glass was her inability to close her eyes. Whatever apparatus that was causing her pain on the sides of her head evidently was meant to keep her vision trained and focused on one spot. And that spot was going to be the place where her daughter was tortured.

All the words of the Shadow-kin became clear now. Even through her suffering and the wails of her wayward daughter caught in a well-laid trap, Gusty finally understood. They never intended to kill her. Stormwalker Prime was going to make her suffer, and he was going to do it in the one way she could not mitigate the pain. Other ponies. And they were going to start with her daughter.

Time seemed to skip a few beats as the horrible moment of realization ended. Sound lagged into her ears and the shrill shrieks of Amber’s screams pierced her heart. Her child clutched at the splintered stump of her horn beneath the body of Prime. The monster held the shattered remains in his smiling fangs. He turned his eyes up from his captive to Gusty, lapping his tongue across the swirls. The demon met her gaze, perfectly positioned where he stood. He slipped the rest of Amber’s horn into his mouth before biting down further, the crunching echoing louder than her daughter’s crying.

“Firasa dear, get the plants, would you please?” Prime murmured slyly after he finished chewing. Gusty barely registered his request, her mind racing still desperately trying to find a way to help Amber. Shuffling around outside of her vision eventually revealed Valkieria trotting up holding a long vine of familiar bright blue flowers.

Gusty knew those flora but not in this context. Both reason and disassociation hit Gusty with almost as much force as seeing her daughter getting tortured. The images and sound before her distorted and for a moment she was left to her thoughts alone.

Funny Bells, that’s what those flowers are. But I shouldn’t know that. Wait, is this memory? Or hallucination? Can’t I help Amber?

The shattered glass world around her shook and the metallicy sound of Stormwalker Prime’s voice snarled in his demonic language. A piercing headache gripped Gusty’s consciousness leaving her to wither for a moment.

.............................Extreme reactions…………................……..Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!...........................................
The past……………………………………………………She’s about to break the whole earth!……………………….How can I help her?
...............Snap out of it! Come on!..................................……...I’ve seen too much…………………...Mom!!...............
................................................................................This is it…………………..oh, sweet ignorance…..
..............what’s the matter, my dear?..................how much have I missed you?

The overwhelming explosion of voices and exclamations, left her consciousness reeling. There was no way to interpret who was speaking and when, or even what language was being used. For Gusty everything was a blur, an empty homage to who she once was and who she was to soon be. It hurt, knowing that she was powerless to stop the change, to stop what she saw before her in the dream of the past.

Sighing with powerful resignation the alicorn let the horror before her refocus. With nothing else to do, Gusty waited for the beast to continue his maladies. She knew how this played out. However, that did not mean the events were painless. No matter how many times she was forced to relive these darkest of moments, Amber’s corporal torture brought her only sorrow. And so it continued, unpaused from her last moment of clarity...

“Here, my little sweet, these should help with the pain,” Stormwalker wrenched open Amber’s mouth and shoved the Funny Bells past her tongue. To her credit, the young alicorn’s face twisted with defiance and she refused to chew.

“Feisty isn’t she? Here milord, allow me to help.” Firasa Valkieria placed both hooves over Amber’s nostrils, preventing her from drawing breath.

After a moment the small brown mare passed out. After Amber fell unconscious, Gusty watched as the two demons, laid her flat on her back, massaging her throat. She swallowed the narcotic petals quickly enough via their prompting. Slowly regaining consciousness afterward, the young alicorn groggily shook her head.

“Ugh...why do I feel so hot?” she complained blinking her eyes rapidly

“That’s just the medicine doing what it is supposed to,” answered Stormwalker.

Amber jerked back as he spoke, but her look of surprise and apprehension passed as quickly as it had come. Hot tears poured down Gusty’s face as she watched in an almost third-person state. She knew what happened next, how the demon’s jagged unnatural tongue stroked down the length of Amber’s neck.

“Why...why does that feel so good?” her daughter moaned.

“Because it’s my lord is very good at what he does. Your horn doesn’t hurt either, right?” Valkieria chimed in as her counterpart continued to make his way down Amber’s body.

“It doesn’t. I don’t understand...hey, stop it!” the little alicorn complained as her captor reached her lower abdomen. Pressing his tongue and lips to unfurred flesh and mammary, before working further. Amber released a yelp of both pleasure and disdain, but instead of struggling she reached a hoof down a pressed it into the black main of Stormwalker. A look of confused torment stuck on her face.

What felt like a raging waterfall of steam rolled over Gusty’s cheeks as the demons had their way with her daughter. Amber continued to mewl and moan, tears streaming down her face brightly shining until Valkieria positioned her backside over the alicorn’s face.

“Please...enough...I don’t...want this...but I can’t fight it. It...feels wrong...but I...want more...I shouldn’t...want more!” Amber complained after having her mouth freed, her words coming between thrusts of hips.

Dissolving into unintelligible grumbles, her words became rhythmic exclamations. Stormwalker kept at his station until Amber’s body buckled upwards in climax. Her eyes briefly rolled back, revealing simple white, before the beast owning her removed himself. A steady stream of filth flowed away from her daughter as Gusty watched on in both revulsion and helplessness. However, the worst was yet to come, and that made both the past Gusty and the present Gusty shake in fear, praying for the end of this misery to arrive quickly.

“Ahhh….that was enjoyable. Now for the best part.” Stormwalker clopped his forehooves together, “Firasa, the scalpel please.”

Nausea washed over Gusty as the lesser demon disappeared and reappeared with the tool. Prime took it in his hoof, before passing it to his mouth. He leaned over the still twitching Amber, slipping a wing beneath her head and neck, and lifting her up gently.

“You feel good?” he asked her the the knife, his voice not hiding his loathing.

“Wonderful,” her daughter breathed softly, clearly not noticing.

“Then shame on me for ruining the moment.” He stuck the thin blade into her neck, making a long incision across the flesh. It was not deep, Gusty could tell that from where she hung even as Amber momentarily flailed and screamed in pain.

Stormwalker leaned the alicorn’s neck forward and completed the shallow cut, around her neck. Amber lay breathing heavily, blood starting to slip through the thin wound.

“Why can’t I move?” she panted fearfully.

“Its an effect of the flowers: aphrodisia, hallucinations, decrease in mental autonomy, and possible paralysis. All things useful for taking advantage of unwitting victims, with the right dosage of course” answered the demon intelligently.

“But...but why...why would you do this?” Amber questioned.

In response, the demon smiled his trademark too-wide grin. He bent down and licked up some of the blood from the brown mare’s neck.

“LIke is said before: that would be telling, my sweet. But...you’ll learn.” he purred. He leaned up and looked to a place out of Gusty’s vision, the direction Firasa had disappeared to during the rape.

He cleared his throat before continuing, “Sweetheart. It’s time for the hooks and chains. Get them for me?”

Shuffling and fluttering of wings followed and in a few short moments Valkieria descended from the bright light above, holding in her hooves a set of six chains. Four of the iron links had dirty looking hooks on them, the other two a heavy collar. The two monsters quickly set to work fixing them to Amber. The hooks were slipped into her skin just below the incision at her neck, the collar above. A cranking of chains and gears, raised the small alicorn into the air higher than Gusty could readily see.

She did not have to wait long before the wooden rolling sound of her rack being readjusted put her staring at her suspended daughter, her face contorted in pain as the binds nearly choked her as they held her aloft.

“Wouldn’t want you to miss this part,” Prime cooed into her ear just as the sound of the metal gears started again.

Amber instantly started screaming, and Gusty immediately saw why. The hooks in her skin were beginning to pull down, slowly ripping her flesh from muscle. It only took a single minute, but as the monsters skinned her daughter, the elder alicorn felt a part of her die. Amber called out for help repeatedly, shrieking and crying like never before. Gusty could not answer, the gag, the horror, and the destruction of her soul too much to overcome. There was never anything worse than this moment. Her inability to help her offspring the perfect and unimaginable torture.

After her skin hung loose and was cut free, the Shadow-kin let Amber hang for a time, her raw muscle pulsing in pain at the air. Eventually, they dropped her down ungracefully, where she lay convulsing on the ground, the light slowly leaving her eyes. Gusty barely registered the splashing of strange red liquid over her daughter’s body simply because there was already too much red in her vision.

When what little of her mind regained some form of control she watched in absolute terror as the soft brown fur and skin of Amber slowly began to regrow. She could not tell how long it took but eventually, her daughter lay on the stone floor surrounded by a crimson stain, but otherwise unharmed, save her horn. Confusion washed over Gusty as Stormwalker filled her view, blocking her eyes from Amber.

“You seem befuddled, my dear,” he smirked as he leaned to meet her eyes. “However, I want you to know, so the dread might better marinate your soul.”

Gusty swallowed hard, more tears leaving her eyes, for what felt like no reason. She made a small affirmative noise indicating the monster should stop waiting to speak.

“It turns out that a certain theory of mine proved correct. Shadow-kin blood is what holds all of our magic. And should a Shadow-kin be powerful enough, the effect lasts for a while outside of their body. If you store the blood in a properly consecrated container it can last for quite some time. This allows you to stockpile its special qualities for later use,’ Stormwalker explained.

“I’m sure you’ve seen many of us regenerate whole limbs, even crushed faces. Of course you have. You’ve killed so many of us, my dear,” the beast laughed haughtily. “Fortunately, that trait allows us to...over-indulge in certain aspects of torture. Behold.”

Turning about Stormwalker Prime walked to where Amber lay. He reached down and carefully picked her up. The small brown mare’s eyes flickered open. It took a moment for her to realize who she was looking at.

“No! No! I should be dead! Stay away from me!” she screeched slapping him.

“Hahaha! Sorry sweetie. It’s time for round two!” the demon howled with a terrible laughter as he pinned Gusty’s daughter down again.

Gusty shut down completely after that. There was nothing more they could do to make her feel worse. Although they certainly tried for more, the Shadow-kin had already completed their task. Slowly more members of her family were brought before her, each of their tortures worse than the last. A terrible quiet darkness slowly built up around Gusty as she watched them each become mere husks of who they once were, their bodies and faces discolored and empty where once vibrate life shone. She had no idea how long it took, nor how she survived it. In truth, she was certain she had not. When the time came that no more alicorns were brought before her to be whittled down to nothing, the Shadow-kin gathered he grey remains of her kin around her in a circle.

See what you have wrought? Empty bodies, fruitless half-gods that have been ruined by simple demons. They have never deserved their power, and thus we take it from them. There is not need for chosen like them, nor you. There is only us, we reserve the right to such devices. You will listen to us, you will be craven to us, and you shall change this world as we see fit!

Throats were slit, and blood poured down bodies making a pattern through the groves of the floor. Gusty felt the magic of her kin being sucked out of what remained of them, pooling around her in a furious hurricane of power. The voice of not-her laughed with wanton joy, however, that little bit upset Gusty. She was still alive. That meant she could still win. She had to win. After all the Shadow-kin had done, she could not give in. She could not let her family’s death be in vain.

A mustering of incredible power, long dormant sprang forth. The almost burning sensation in her chest blasted up toward her horn and out of her hooves. The hard binding around her seemed to shatter and in that brief instant Gusty held control again. Light shone forth from her body and the dark of the room disappeared, even though the darkness fought back with unimaginable furosity. She knew she could not withstand the counter attack for long, but it was long enough to do what needed to be done. Throwing away everything save her motivation to see the world returned to balance, Gusty forgot as best she could. Magic exploded in a cacophony of color and power and the world went black. However, somehow she could still feel and hear, as if slowly the effect of her spell was kicking in, instead of in one instance.

“What was that?” came a female voice.

“I don’t know. But if it had stopped the ritual we’d all be dead,” said scrapingly familiar male tones. “No matter. It is done.”

She knew that voice. It was Stormwalker. She wondered how he would act during this next life. Would he be as kind as he had been recently? Hopefully better than his ancestor! A blanket of bliss pulled Gusty the rest of the way out of what little memory she had, assuring her that the next time she woke would be pleasant. Sleep enveloped her and Gusty smiled, the spell had worked again and the worry was no longer her problem. A new day awaited.

Act 3: Chapter 8 - Oh, so that's how it is?

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Act 3: Chapter 9 - Fully Awakened Alicorn Nonsense

“Staff Sergeant Anton, service number: 556028….Pie? Staff Sergeant Anton, service number: 556028...You want some….pie? Staff Sergeant Anton, servic-NO! I DON’T WANT PIE! WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND! FOR THE 556028TH TIME!! AGH! I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!”

-One sad, sad griffon and one happy, happy pony-

Chapter 9 - Fully Awakened Alicorn Nonsense

The image refused to come into focus. Blinking did not do much to rectify the issue either so the decision was made to keep her eyelids softly closed for a moment. Drawing a deep breath another attempt was made and this time it was successful. The sight became clear and wooden paneling stared back. It was an unfamiliar set of carvings, made to appear as regular square indentions in an otherwise smooth ceiling of dark oak.

Where she lay was a soft bed, but one she had never rested in before. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable underneath the heavy blankets and the soft sheets, but only a little. A yawn briefly over took her and her vocal cords squeaked in a cute little way that left her blushing even though she was the only pony present, she had thought.

“That’s another twenty bits Bunker owes me,” commented Stormwalker.

Gusty rolled her neck and looked towards where she heard his voice, her brow furrowing. She felt fairly certain that she should not remember him. The sense of calm she felt also seemed rather out of place. There were no voices, no impending sense of dread, she actually felt good. At first that sent warning signals right into the paranoid part of her brain but after a moment she was capable of pushing that feeling to the side as well. There was no reason to think that. All results had shown that Stormwalker wanted her to stay alive and safe, even if it was for possible nefarious means. There simply was no reason to feel uncomfortable around him, at least not while she felt this way.

“Your heart rate is a little lower than usual, do you feel well?” he turned to meet her gaze his sharp eyes scrutinizing her face.

“I feel pretty good actually, relaxed,” Gusty said. She noticed that the soft bedspread was actually one of his wings tucked below the comforter and held against her barrel. She wiggled against it intentionally, slowly rolling to face him without craning her neck. He sat in a large chair, meant more for griffons than ponies, his yellow irises keeping to her face, the faintest hint of a grin on his face.

“You just missed your husband. We switched watches not five minutes ago,” he commented. “I should probably go get him…”

He started to stand but was stopped when Gusty cleared her throat loudly. The stallion had some explaining to do. Starting with what had happened after she had passed out for the final time. Meanwhile as she picked her words internally, Stormwalker relaxed his legs and returned to fully sitting.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I remember you,” Gusty started. “I’m not supposed to remember you, Bunker, or Zeccaran, the fact that I know we are on the Midnight Onyx although I’ve never been in this cabin, or anything else for that matter. Explain.”

“You-you catch on quick,” he responded while clearing his throat.

Stormwalker carefully recounted the details of what led of to her reading the old book. He did not need to remind her of its contents, she had experienced it quite clearly, for what seemed like the thousandth time. The demon-stallion skirted around its subject matter knowingly, moving on to how her waking body had reacted. Gusty was more than a little taken aback by what she had done. Unfortunately, there was not much to be made right presently; on the brightside no pony had gotten hurt. It would have been catastrophic had something like this happened in Canterlot. After he explained what he had done to subdue her from continuing she was left jaw agape, amazed that the crazy fool had pulled it off. There was just one more question.

“Why? Why would you stop me from resetting? Wouldn’t have I been easier to handle if I didn’t remember you were a demon?” Gusty gave him a disbelieving look.

“Possibly. All things considered I was not practiculary in the mood to throw away nearly three years of research on the chance that your reset could completely change your personality,” he answered rather astutely.

Gusty caught a small twinkle in his eyes and took to starting at him. That explanation just did not quite fit. Stormwalker, while he tired to hide it, was a rather emotional stallion and the answer seemed too rehearsed. Additionally, she had not ever been this composed around him which made the difference even more obvious. Though previously she had always been looking for a tell, some little hint that she caught him in a lie, it had never taken priority over hitting him, until now. In a flash she already knew what to do to throw him further off-guard, so Gusty pushed her advantage a smart smile on her lips. This battle she had already won.

“You’re lying,” she stated.

“What?” Stormwalker balked squinting his eyes in confusion.

“I said: You. Are. Lying,” Gusty repeated.

“I am not!” he huffed leaning over closer to her.

Yes, you are.

The demon jumped in his chair with surprise. He had not ever expected her take initiative to speak through their mental link, much less use it as a weapon against him. However, this time Gusty had outmaneuvered him with his own tools of the trade.

You know I can feel you getting defensive, even if I can’t detect specific building thoughts like you can, flyboy, she taunted.

I’m just shocked you wanted to come say “hi” in my head, he snarked back silently.

You’re deflecting my assertion. She smiled at Stormwalker. Unbalancing him proved much easier than usual. Perhaps it was because she was taking the advantage of the simple fact that he liked her. Gusty was sure she could back him into a corner, he just needed a little more prodding.

So. Tell me the truth. She emphasized her words by wrapping a hoof around his still hostage wing. Nuzzling its unnaturally cushiony surface to further frustrate him, knowing that Stormwalker could feel that she was enjoying both his touch and how she could toy with him.

Gusty. She could nearly hear him sigh in his mind. This falls under the same category as the book. Not now, only in a controlled setting. Maybe never, unless you realize on your own.

And if I am not satisfied with that answer what am I to do? She continued her mental questions.

Develop some patience, perhaps? He quipped smartly.

Rather hypocritical, coming from you, Gusty replied, a little disappointed he had not given her any other detail. This battle of wits would just have to be marked as a draw.

Their minds quieted as their eyes met again. Stormwalker tightened his wing against her chest, the silken limb bending in a way that only it could. A rush of blood made Gusty a bit embarrassed as she looked at the demon. However, she refused to turn away until the same blush had found its way into her counterpart’s face. She smiled when he averted his eyes first. She was getting better at these staring contests.

A small thought made her start to giggle. Blazing cheeks still alight she turned back to Stormwalker to speak.

“Hey, do you remember when I first came to Canterlot?” she started.

“How could I forget? You were pretty much exclusively trying to make my life hard.” He shook his head recalling.

“Well, yeaaahh, you kinda deserved it, but anyway…when you were chasing me across the Palace roof, you missed the tackle to capture me, and you fell right through the roof!” Gusty began to laugh.

“Nothing went the way I wanted it to that day,” Stormwalker groaned, with a hint of a grin turning into a chuckle. “But I guess that was for the better really. We probably wouldn’t be laughing about it now if you hadn’t been so stubborn.”

“True. There were certain fringe benefits the experience brought that while unexpected, turned out to be quite enjoyable.” Gust tossed the other blanket off of herself. She was feeling hot and Stormwalker’s wing was enough to keep her cozy as he sat there in his chair.

You mean this one? He questioned internally, his surprise and appreciation becoming easier to feel on a whim.

Could be. But I’ll never tell. She tossed her mane haughtily knowing it would frustrate him. In truth, it felt great to be able to express emotion without the nagging sensation that what she was doing was wrong. Perhaps flirting with the demon was not the most appropriate thing to do, but it was only flirting right?

That would be more true if she had not been getting such a rise out of it herself. Gusty surmised that it would be best to change her tactics before things got out of hoof. The closeness of their bodies and consciousnesses made her feel good, too good. She could not really tell who’s desire controlled the sensation. What was worse, she did not particularly care. She only wanted to sate the curiosity and the urges. However, she was not the newer weak-willed Gusty from recent times. At least for now she held tightly onto the mare that had survived the worst possible things, and was steady with her hoof and her mind. Pushing the feelings down Gusty decided to test a theory about the shared space between she and Stormwalker’s mind. To see if perhaps the emotions were her own as she had once subjectively claimed they were not.

“Alright, flyboy.” She sat up and pushed his wing back over to him. “You’re initials are G.A., right?”

“Go on?” He leaned back into the chair raising the brow over his good eye.

“Well, that’s just it. That’s all I know. I’ve known you for what...two years and like ten months? And I still don’t know your name!” Gusty proclaimed.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright? I’m not sure what to do with this chipper, curious Gusty. Really throwing me through a loop here, sweetheart. Why don’t I go get Bunker?” He stood up to leave but she hopped up out of bed and got in his way.

“No. Sit down. This is between you and me. You can’t leave until I figure this out,” she scolded putting a hoof on his chest strongly.

“Figure what out?” Stormwalker retorted incredulously, brushing her hoof down. As he loomed over her, Gusty could feel about a dozen questions and concerns pop into his head at once. Unfortunately, curiosity about the two of them was not one of them.

Damn. She cursed internally knowing that he could hear her but probably had been too distracted by her outburst to figure out what she had just deduced. Luckily, she was met with only confusion coming from her counterpart

She genuinely liked him. The interest, the longing for more belonged to her. In a way it was upsetting to have answered her own question so quickly. Increasingly troubling was the nagging feeling to know even more. Gusty decided to roll with the name thing. It was the most minor of trifles but her only respite in the sudden and distressing culmination of emotions and nature. Gusty let her eyes look over him quickly, what was there to dislike? Hopefully, knowing who he was with a little more endearment would relieve the itching sensation in her chest.

“Your name, you big idiot, what else?” she sneered shifting her thoughts before he had a chance to analyze them.

“Hmmm.” He raised a hoof up to his chin and looked down into her eyes coyly, “I think you’ll just have to add that to the list of secrets you don’t get to know.”

Tightening her legs and slamming herself forward Gusty caught Stormwalker unawares and knocked him off his hooves and into the chair. She pushed her hooves into his chest seeking to keep him pinned.

“You can’t win this game,” She breathed some of her mane falling into their faces.

“Oh? Not holding back? I’m flattered,” he grinned mischievously.

Gusty felt his forehooves slide along her legs until he reached her barrel. Her body lifted up off the floor and he spun them towards the bed, a blush forming on her face before they even landed. Her wings flared out as Stormwalker pushed her into the cotton mattress his grin turning from trouble-making to lustful. Through their connection Gusty knew he was only doing such to upset her, even so: it was working.

“Your name, stupid, not a kiss!” she shouted. A few kicks from her back legs found their mark on his stomach, but the blows he could handle with ease.

“Don’t lie; you want both,” he smiled. “Besides if you want to know my first name why don’t you go digging it out of my head. It's not like you aren't already in there.”

“Hey, that’s my line!” Gusty pouted, as he released her.

“I didn’t hear the: ‘That’s not any fun’ response. So I guess that means you are gonna go for it?” He asked.

“No!” she huffed. She watched Stormwalker relax his posture as he slid off the bed the rest of the way. Narrowing her eyes, Gusty fixed him with a stare, trying to beat him to the next move. Her gaze fell on his flanks and she took her initiative.

“I bet I can guess what your name is by just looking at your Cutie Mark,” she declared.

“Huh. I’m shocked you have the interest to look, go for it, but I doubt you can manage it,” he replied adjusting his stance so she might more easily see the marking.

Gusty pulled herself up and sat close to the edge of the bed. Carefully examining the magical seal, she found several of its details strikingly familiar. The background field consisted of a rather square grey cloud with four lightning bolts extending away at the corners. That was the marking of a Stormwalker. She had seen it many times before, back during the final Demon War against the present stallion’s ancestors. It lent credence that Shadow-kin were born with a pony’s soul, albeit a twisted one. Gusty hated to give ground on that particular subject, but only ponies had Cutie Marks. While Shadow-kin were not specifically just pony, they had that natural magic within them too. Looking up at the bottom of her current quarry’s dark mane that was about even with her eyes she caught her mind drifting a little deeper into the past than she had intended.

By Origin he is tall, taller than even my first husband! She paused, her clear mind finally remembering her original spouse’s name. Radiant Dawn you would be jealous, I swear.

Returning her thoughts to what she was supposed to be attempting to do, Gusty immediately noticed a golden halo that stood out from the rest of Stormwalker’s Cutie Mark. She hummed to herself, taking note of how the detail felt out of place until she focused on the unique portion of the sigil on his flank. A two-tone shield with a sword set behind. White wings extended out from the shield, coupled with the halo it made a clear image. Angel. That certainly fit the second initial but Gusty remain puzzled by the rest of the marking. What type of angel uses a sword and shield? She pondered. An answer that fit came but It seemed too obvious, so she petitioned Stormwalker in hopes that he might accidentally give her a clue.

“Guardian Angel? That’s not it, right? That would be ridiculous,” she said noticing the incredulous look he gave her as she started talking.

“Heck, for all I know you might have one of those old Shadow-kin names. After all not all ponies’ names reflect their Cutie Mark,” Gusty continued as Stormwalker simply looked on in disbelief, before turning and making it impossible to see his flanks.

“Really?” he said brow pinched in apprehension.

“Really, what?” Gusty asked confused.

“You guess it right, on the first try no less, and you insult me in the same sentence! I don’t even know why I’m surprised.” He put a hoof up to his face.

“No way!” she proclaimed, already starting to laugh. “That’s hilarious!”

“How in the world have I missed this gem??” Stormwalker groaned underneath her words and giggles. “I mean it fits but its just-just so contradictory to your origins, your very being! A demon named Guardian Angel! Ha! Tartarus must have frozen over some time ago!”

Gusty kept cackling at the irony of the stallion before her. It was no wonder he did not want her to know his first name. It felt good to release all the tension in her heart through a laugh. Perhaps it was a touch rude to enjoy this much merriment and Guardian Angel’s expense but she knew he could take it. Through the shared space of their minds she could almost swear he liked to hear her this happy. In fact, he loved to hear her say his name, even if she was making fun of him

“Go on. Get it all out,” he grumbled his voice thick with sarcasm. “So very funny, I know.”

Slowly calming down, Gusty managed to keep her snickers contained to soft puffs of air. She had lain flat on the bed, slowly curling into a ball to grab her sides as she laughed. Now the mare looked up at the stallion a huge smile on her face as he contorted his jaw into a grimace, trying to hide his own grin.

“I’m going to tell Bunker and Zeccaran,” Gusty stated matter-of-factly.

“The hell you are!” Guardian Angel shouted, his scowl becoming genuine as he dove toward her. However, it was too late. It seemed the ponderous demon had forgotten that, she was the queen of mischief. One quick teleport later and Gusty stood on the helm next to her husband and friend.

The two stallions yelped in surprise. It took them a moment to recover as Gusty giggled at their shock.

“Wife, you are awake!” Bunker proclaimed regaining his composure first.

“Yeah, I know, now listen you guys I have something really funny to say: his name-isssreeearck!” the buckling and breaking of wood cut her off.

“Not another word!” Guardian Angel growled as he pulled himself through the hole in the deck he had made. Quickly hopping between her and the other two stallions the big demon glowered at her a hint of red building on his face.

“Hey, what’s the big idea? Gusty is just trying to tell a joke, and you explode through the floor of my ship!” Zeccaran complained, boldly stepping around him.

“Shut it, you striped idiot!” the larger fellow snarled making the zebra lose the bravado with the flash of his fangs and glint of steel in his eyes.

“I know his name, I know his name!” Gusty singsonged to break Guardian Angel’s momentum.

“Stormwalker? Da, we all know his name, dear. Why is this important?” Bunker asked from the wheel his eyebrows raised in concern.

“No, his first name,” she smiled

“Gusty…” the demon admonished with his voice. Meanwhile, both her husband and Zeccaran released long “oh’s” in comprehension. The alicorn could feel him start to bend his knees ready to pounce again. That was all part of her plan, however, she was in fine form after all and Guardian Angel had expended quite a bit of energy making it so she could feel this way. Even if he knew what she had planned, he could not outpace her today.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll try again in a second. I just need to get him distracted enough.” Gusty flipped her windblown mane back behind both ears.

“Distracted? You think that’s all it will tak-” She teleported before Guardian Angel could monologue.

Appearing down in the bunkroom in the bowels of the Onyx, Gusty released a deeply satisfied sigh. She had a few moments before Stormwalker would inevitably attempt to corner her here, but it would be all she needed. Since she had gotten excited many new ideas and spells had run through her head. This clarity made her feel beyond giddy, and it led Gusty to select an older magic trick she had developed. It seemed strange to suddenly have her mind together but she was not about to waste the opportunity to stick it to her favorite stallion.

Summoning up her power and pushing it into her horn Gusty cast a Temporary Copy Spell. It was a complex piece of magic, but one that she had created and mastered long ago. It had proven useful time and again during the struggles with the hordes of the Abyss. The image took form and with an eventual pop! another teal alicorn stood across from her, a playful smile on her lips. Momentarily, Gusty wondered if the spell had been copied, or if any spells of the old alicorns had been recorded. It seemed unlikely, especially with the Shadow-kin’s previous victory. In response to the thought, she made another Copy. Then another. And another.

In the matter of only about fifteen seconds, five identical mares stood giggling at each other. The four clones were not perfect. They could not cast magic nor last much longer than a few minutes, but they looked real and felt real, even sporting most of her memories. Most important of all, they could talk and tended to not have very strong inhibitions. Guardian Angel was in for one hell of a surprise. She looked between her illusionary companions listening to them chattering over what they were going to do the demon-stallion.

A few seconds and loud clops of hooves later and he arrived. He charged into the bunkroom only to slow to a stop his jaw agape. Guardian Angel looked between the gathered mares.

“Ooh!” “He’s even sexier in face-to-face!” "I love the scars." “I call dibs on his left wing!” The clones tittered advancing towards him. The stallion’s face just grew more concerned and befuddled.

“What the fuck,” he managed to mumble. Gusty could hardly contain her laughter as his eyes turned wide, their slitted pupils expanding to nearly take up all of his irises. The demon’s breaths quickened and he had already begun to sweat, experiencing the onslaught of not-quite-faux-estrogen.

The Copies made it to him and began grabbing various limbs, nuzzling their faces into him. One even slapped his face with her tail, leaving him to stand there dumbfounded, his face turning redder than a tomato. Gusty could not contain herself and she laughed madly. Guardian Angel snapped his eyes towards her, comprehension slowly dawning on his face before he was obscured by a different seafoam tail. Immediately, the big stallion went to move and was instantly tripped up by the Copies.

“Gotcha!” Gusty declared before teleporting back up to the helm.

The brief blur of planar phasing disappeared and she stood next to the helm. Bunker and Zeccaran were busy talking, not facing her and did not take notice.

“My guess is Gigantic Anus,” Zeccaran said with a grin in his voice.

“Da! That is good one!” Bunker laughed.

“It’s much better than that!” Gusty chirped jumping right into the conversation. Her husband and friend turned around not all that surprised by her reappearance.

“Got him distracted I take it?” the zebra asked.

“Yep. And here it goes,” she drew in a deep breath. “Guardian Angel.”

The two stallions craned their necks back. Looking at each other, they scrunched up their noses respectively.

“Really?” Bunker asked his eyes squinted.

“Yep! Wouldn’t believe it, right!?” Gusty started to laugh all over again.

“That is both girly yet oddly appropriate. No wonder he didn’t want you to tell us,” Zeccaran chimed in. “Then again, I have a feeling it would be best that I don’t use his name at all. Kinda prefer him to not beat the shit out of me.”

“He wouldn’t dare. You’re my friend and it would upset me if he hurt you. And upsetting me is not on his ‘to-do’ list I can assure you,” she commented back, turning to look out over the deck of the Onyx.

“Probably gonna avoid it anyway,” her friend said as her focus turned to where they were. Meanwhile, Zecarran and Bunker took to laughing in a nervous way behind her. Gusty turned her eyes up to see rock, it took a moment for her to realize what she saw.

Mountains. Huge mountains and frozen breezes. She had not noticed before but immediately took the precaution of casting a insulatory spell. Sauntering over to the deckrail, Gusty looked down into a pristine valley full of pines and ice. The sight took her breath away, it was gorgeous, a picturesque vista like she had not seen in several ages. She took her time to absorb the beautiful landscape and turned around to find a curious lack of Guardian Angel. Her clones must have really gotten the better of him. That stood to reason; his weakness was her, after all. More than one proved more than he could take.

However, just as quickly as she had the thought did the familiar sound of the stallion’s hooves reach her ears as they came up the staircase onto the helm. Gusty turned to face him to find the demon sporting a vacant look of defeat. In each of his wings he held one Copy hung in a tight wrap where she smiled merrily. The third laid across his back, playing with his mane. The fourth he held in a single hoof, suspended by his great strength and how he had her propped against his chest.

“I don’t think I have the stamina for that right now, ladies,” he stated with a dull emptiness to his voice.

“Awwh…” the Copies responded with a collective disappointment.

“Why do I have five wives???!!!” Bunker screamed suddenly having taken notice.

Gusty just started to cackle like a hyena as her husband stumbled over with his jaw attempting to fall off his face. Zeccaran was forced to grab the wheel as the Onyx began to pitch from Bunker releasing the controls. Guardian Angel stood still as the burgundy stallion briskly trotted up, looking over the Copies in shock.

“H-h-how do I know which o-one is real?!” he stammered. The entangled demon responded by lightly nodding his head in her direction.

“Okay! Real Gusty, explain!” her husband declared.

“They aren’t real. Just really good fakes,” she managed between more laughs.

“Really, really good fakes,” Guardian Angel said with a deep conviction. He attempted to hide his face in the mane of the Copy he held before his face turned red again, unsuccessfully.

Bunker looked on in disbelief, before a series of signature pops sounded. Gone as quickly they had been made all that remained of the Copies was sparkling air. Their hostage fell down on to his rump, his face distant as he sighed. Her husband stood still watching where her clones had been his face equally empty.

“You know, you got him distracted. But, I think you overdid it,” Zeccaran shouted from his further distance at the helm.

“You aren’t surprised, Zeccaran?” she yelled back.

“Not when it comes to you Gusty. I’m not ever surprised.” The zebra turned the wheel and the deck listed some. The other two stallions remained broken for the moment.

Gusty started to giggle, letting the joy of having outwitted her opponent so thoroughly boost her mood further. Eventually she settled down and Bunker came around. He gave her a hug and quite cheerfully endorsed her good health. While they idly spoke for a while as they continued in the valley on the airship. Guardian Angel cleared his throat and caught her attention.

“Gusty. Could you please refrain from using any more ancient and extravagant displays of magic until we get back to Canterlot. I don’t really think I can take it,” he requested.

“Well...alright, flyboy.” She gave him a wink. “How long is it till we get home?”

“About…” he turned slowly to look at their surroundings. “Twenty hours, unless we turn the engines up to full, then fifteen.”

“And what will you be doing those fifteen hours?” she asked.

“I’m going to go kill an Ice Giant. I need something to distract myself from that...experience.” He shook his head, still reeling.

“Ew. Why do you have to be so gross?”

“Da! Always eating such weird things, very strange, Guardian Angel.”

“Ughhh!” the demon groaned. Gusty, Bunker, and Zeccaran laughed at the sulking demon. It was going to be a good time having this to hold over his head. Gusty could not wait to gossip about it with Celestia. With any luck she did not have that long to wait either, and the comforts of a stable life in the Palace would at last be returned to her. She had a little prodigal daughter to dote on, a cozy bed, and a hot shower waiting for her and that sounded perfect. Almost as perfect as the endearing little smile Guardian Angel tossed over his shoulder to her as he dove off the deck of the Onyx. Gusty took a long drag of cold alpine air; as long as she felt this good, the future looked bright.

Author's Note

Hey, readers...

Will be closing up Act 3 here in the next chapter or two, depending on how I feel. After a chunk of outlining and rough drafting a while ago it appeared the content had better flow with an Act 4. Something I did not originally intend. However, now getting through all the details I'm glad I had not pre-wrote all of Act 3 yet even though it has been more work!

Hope you enjoyed the hi-jinx of one very OP alicorn. Not to worry. They won't last.

Act 3: Chapter 10 - A Blue Striped Moon

“I was unaware of the specific details Lieutenant and I appreciate you coming to inform me. Coupled with the information Miss Sparkle has provided I now have a better picture of the danger I put myself in. Shame I was too foolish to consider any unknown and outlying factors at the time. You should return to your regular assignments until I have some time to recuperate. We’ll discuss your promotion then. Oh, and remind me to slap the shit out of Zeccaran for you.”

-Guardian Angel-

Chapter 10 - A Blue Striped Moon

Luna huffed a long upset groan. A week had passed since the Midnight Onyx had safely returned to Canterlot. Things had become interesting. A vibrant, overtly exuberate mare had sprung from the ship and proceeded the make the Princess of the Night’s life a living hell. It would seem that for Equestria few necessary qualifications were needed to be a ruler. One must only be big, beautiful, and an alicorn and ponies would just do as you say. Frankly, it disturbed Luna how easily Gusty broke the thousand years of courtly tradition and tossed her physical and metaphorical weight around. While the mischievous mare’s ploys were always to fulfil something she or Celestia wanted out of the Council of Nobility, it still irritated her.

Perhaps this was because Gusty’s extravagance attracted the attention of her coltfriend rather exclusively. Jealousy was a powerful emotion that had always held a place in Luna’s heart, and she was no longer afraid to admit it. To enhance the disgruntlement, she had never intended to be directly competing with an female opponent to keep her relationship afloat. Gusty and her attitude had seemingly changed overnight and in no small part due to the stallion’s actions. It hurt worse that the first thing Guardian Angel had said upon his return was:

“Luna. I need a full mental diagnostic on Gusty as soon as possible.” Before stumbling off into the Palace to bathe and then sleep for two days straight.

He had been covered in blood and filth, and looked like he had not slept in half a month, but Luna had wanted attention. She would have let him take her then and there just to prove a point both to Guardian Angel and herself. However, the stallion’s will was difficult to dilute and after later hearing all that had transpired she understood his dour mood better. That did not excuse him shirking his promises but would allow him a time extension. Time enough to rest and prepare for more meaningful time together. Meanwhile she was left to help Celestia manage Gusty.

“You know Gusty it would best if you managed to use less...diplomatic force during Court,” Celestia commented.

“You are probably right. But you can’t argue with the results, ‘Tia.” Gusty chomped down on the celery she had on a levitating fork. After all, it was lunchtime in the throne room.

Luna looked down at her food while her sister and peer chattered on. Tea, a large medley of vegetables, and a salty pastry of rye stared up at her expectantly. It was a tasty meal, but she was feeling more peckish than usual, That was likely guilt, she had been a little lax on her dreamwalking duties this week, one of the many consequences of this new and improved Gusty.

“Sister, are you feeling well?” Celestia asked. “You haven’t touched your food.”

“Yeah. What’s the big deal Luna? You actually come to Morning Court for several days, hardly say a thing the whole time, and now you aren’t eating?” the other alicorn chimed in.

In response, she lifted up the the pile of vegetables not with her fork but with just her magic and stuffed the whole group into her mouth. She narrowed her eyes at the other two mares as she barely kept the food in her mouth whilst chewing. They were silent as she quickly finished the food.

“I feel fine. A little annoyed perhaps,” she stated waiting on their responses.

“Yes, but why?” Gusty questioned before Celestia.

“Stress…” Luna rubbed an itchy eye, “A general lack of sleep, and hormones.”

“The kind where a mare spends too much time away from her stallion?” her sister questioned with a coy grin. Luna cast a harsh scowl at Celestia who rolled her eyes playfully in response.

“I did not come here to discuss my relationship, sister,” she admonished. Her elder sibling nodded graciously before turning to look at Gusty.

“Yeah. What are you here for? Shouldn’t you be sleeping? I know how tiring dreamwalking can be!” The teal mare advised correctly. How she knew the specifics of traversing the Astral Plane, Luna decided to ignore.

“Quite. I came here to discuss things with you Gusty Twilight.” She bowed her head as she spoke warmly. This was important to her as much as it was Guardian Angel. Keeping the errant mare of unfathomable power properly coddled kept the citizens of Equestria safe. Her quarry raised an eyebrow in concern but waited for Luna to continue.

“It would seem,” she paused momentarily to clear her dry throat, “That the majority of the magic that had been affecting your mind has been removed. I’m sure you’ve noticed the improved memory capacity as well as your mood.”

“Well, of course!” Gusty swung her mane merrily. “I haven’t felt this great in literal millennias! I can remember just about everything, like you said, and I don’t have strange voices yelling at me anymore. While not every memory is especially happy, overall it’s like I’m a whole new mare. I don’t feel compelled to dwell on the Shadow-kin anymore either.”

Pausing, the ancient alicorn’s face pulled into a serious stare. Luna unconsciously swallowed the lump in her throat. Like Guardian Angel had described, she could feel the raw ability Gusty had inside of her. A mere glance from the teal mare felt like a knife held to one’s neck.

“But, I want to know why and how. I don’t understand what he did. The curse of his kin is not something easily broken nor the magic I placed on myself. It takes more than an iron will and the power he has to have done such,” Gusty commented, never breaking eye-contact with Luna.

“Speaking frankly, dear, what Stormy did nearly killed him. I’ve never seen him sleep this much, nor eat this much. And the few times Luna had me check on him he was pale and sickly.” Celestia placed a hoof on her friend’s back as she spoke.

Gusty’s gaze relaxed and she sat back in her chair. The oldest mare seemed lost in thought for a moment as she looked at no particular spot on the table. She remained silent while she looked back up, Luna took that as her cue to continue what her sister had started.

“Further, I said majority,” she emphasized. “It seems that he only destroyed the magic you created. The affliction his family gave you still lives.”

“Lives?” Gusty questioned with clear horror. She raised an eyebrow at her.

“I will not mince words, Gusty Twilight,” Luna stated evenly. “The Curse of the Shadow-kin, as we are calling it, is a sentient thing. Had it continued to assault your mind while he was shielding you, it would have killed itself, and most likely, Guardian Angel as well. But it stopped, with purpose. It is only a matter of time before it regains its strength and resumes its malignancy within your mind.”

The teal mare’s face lowered in deep concentration. Flattening her ears in apprehension the Princess of the Moon waited impatiently. She had no idea how Gusty would react or how the other mare was going to feel about this realization. Every little flick of her eyelashes made Luna feel more uncomfortable. Pressure slowly started to build in the mare of the night’s head until it was almost an audible thing, but Gusty finally broke her silence.

“How long will it take?” she murmured coldly still not looking up.

“We don’t know. Symptoms could start tomorrow, next mouth, next year maybe, could happen even now,” Celestia delivered the rest of the news. Her elder sister placed a wing around Gusty, slipping out of her chair to stand by her friend. The teal mare exhaled a long sigh in response and turned her head away from the two solar sisters.

“You know...I’m actually pretty okay with not knowing,” she started before turning back to look between them. “I’d rather it happen when it happens, I-I-I don’t think I could handle the anxiety of knowing when. I want to be able to enjoy this reprieve from centuries of suffering, as short or as long as it might be.”

A calm, but confining silence fell between them. Luna stood from her chair in order to elicit some form of noise over the quiet. It proved insufficient, so she let her hooves clop loudly as she went to take the opposite side of Gusty.

“To paraphrase my stallion, ‘We will be here for you, no matter what”” Luna placed a hoof on the other alicorn’s shoulder. Gusty looked down at her limb with an almost confused look on her face.

“Your stallion…” the teal mare paused before she gasped. “You two are the couple! Ohhh! It all makes sense now! I still have your scarf by the way.”

Luna cleared her throat authoritatively, at least as authoritatively as her smaller stature would allow. Gusty rambled on for a moment before Luna’s continued “authoritative” clearing of her throat got her attention.

“As I was saying, we are here to help rid you of this particularly resilient malady, but you must report any symptom changes before your condition worsens to the point where you are uncooperative,” Luna warned.

“That’s a scary thought...but not something I haven’t experienced…” Gusty replied slowly. Her brow knitted together in thought for a moment, before her face relaxed, but she remained silent.

“The important part is that you know your symptoms, and once they start you can inform us immediately. While Luna and I may not be able to replicate the magic you created originally, we can certainly make a few charms that will help deal with the associated anxiety and paranoia you experience,” her elder sister continued playing her part beautifully.

“A welcome relief I can assure you,” the teal mare nodded, “Otherwise I guess we just wait? I suppose I could find a way to entertain myself until things get worse...maybe I’ll go visit Guardian Angel...or drag Bunker to a musical...hmm, now that I can think there are just so many possibilities!”

They needed their quarry to understand the gravity of the situation. Having studied many of Gusty’s dreams, Luna felt certain that the mare was so determined to pretend she did not take things seriously that she sometimes waxed senile. However, no matter how hard she tried Gusty knew exactly the danger she posed to those around her, especially now that the layers and layers of mind altering magic had been removed. Luna pitied her because of such, twas a cruel existence to know that at any given moment you could snap and destroy half the planet. In reality, that was the true torture and suffering of the Curse of the Shadow-kin, the unknowing horror of what moment would be the last one you were in control.

Gusty had managed to survive the millennias of anguish, but now her armor had been stripped away. Having observed it deep in the mare’s subconscious, Luna knew that this made her afraid, terrified. Gusty would never admit that williningly though; a flaw of pride that a certain stallion had seen through immediately. However, it had become apparent that at least a portion of her recognized that she required help, the will to survive trumping the psychological crutch of hubris. It was to that end that Luna also needed to recruit an assistant.

“Unfortunately, I must be going. I have some work that needs doing,” she cut over the chatter of her elder sister and Gusty. It broke up their long theory chain of various and nefarious activities that could be participated in by the wayward mare.

“Work so soon? I honestly thought you would get at least a quick nap in before you started,” Celestia chriped with a hint of concern in her voice.

“I might yet, it depends on how lucky I am. Zeccaran could very well not be awake.” Luna shook her head at the likelihood of the striped stallion being asleep at lunchtime.

“Just kick the legs out from under his cot, or chair, depending, that always wakes him up,” Gusty smirked evilly.

“How rather crass. How have you two remained friends?” Luna questioned.

“He needs the abuse to keep him acting like a normal pony. So I provide the abuse. It's a very...ride or die relationship. Besides I own him for killing Gertrude’s daughter. Still not sure if I’m going to forgive him for that one.” Gusty gave a cold grimace in remembrance of the recent events. Luna decided that a different time would be best to direct blame to the proper party, and turned to leave.

“A fair assessment,” She said over her shoulder before pausing at the door to toss a general insult in the direction of her sister and rival. “Have a nice afternoon you two lazy louts!”

Instead of teleporting or walking, Luna opted to make a quick get away via magic smoke. It was her favorite mode of transportation, and scaring a noble or two with a shadow of sparkling blue-purple nothingness was always rather enjoyable. The transformation spell worked well to spy and eavesdrop as well, if she remembered to use it, afterall it was very difficult to contain a cloud of sentient smoke. Making her way down into the bowels of the Palace, Luna slipped into the ventilation ducts. She followed the narrow paths into the Advanced Research Division, circumventing the guards and checkpoints. Even the presence of small insects inside the vents would trigger alerts at the various security stations, but smoke did not hold the form needed to be detected making it impossible to stop her from coming and going as she pleased. It was a very minor security flaw, and one that very few magicians could exploit at that. Other than herself, Luna only knew of about five ponies that could manage casting the spell, three of whom were Equestrian Royalty.

Luna’s thoughts were stopped when she spilled out of the air duct into Zeccaran’s lab-abode and beheld the most interesting of sights. On the lounge sofa buried beneath a mare twice his size sat the stallion in question. The couple had not noticed her enter the facility and continued their game of tonsil hockey. Ending the smoke spell Luna retook her normal form and stood gaping in surprise. She had not even been aware that Zeccaran cared for the company of other ponies, to see him this compromised left her in shock. However, it was the particular pony that now pinned him to the sofa that was the most dangerous thing about this revelation.

Having gathered her composure, Luna quietly scooted back towards the door to the lab proper. She lifted a back hoof and swung it against the door frame’s hardy wood three times. Zeccaran and his girlfriend jumped in surprise, followed by a long irritated groan being emitted by the zebra.

“I knew it was a dream, I knew it!” he grumbled loudly, “I can’t ever have anything nice ever!” The red-maned mare raised an eyebrow at him before rolling her eyes and leaning against him silently.

Luna cocked her head to one side and laid her ears flat in anger. She would not have interrupted if this was not the waking world.

“I am afraid that this not a dream, dear Zeccaran. And to that effect, I must ask you: do you have a death wish?” she inquired.

“So...wait. This is real?! Oh, thank the stars and moon!” he leaned back in and kissed the mare again. She giggled smartly before pushing him away and motioning toward Luna.

“I guess you ignored the death wish part?” the mare rather graciously remarked.

“Yeah, but I can die happy now,” the zebra responded nuzzling his companion back. Luna stifled a gag, Zeccaran did not fit the description of lovey-dovey: Not even when his girlfriend mewled back appreciatively.

“Anyway. You do know who that is, correct?” she asked her acolyte.

Zeccaran paused from nuzzling and sat up properly as his mare leaned up to do the same. Luna caught her give a small worried look toward the zebra before a look of acceptance took over her features.

“Well...she’s my girlfriend, her name is Pixima, Pixie for short, she works in the A.R.D, and runs the Archives...What else is there to know?” Zeccaran questioned.

“Let us consider some broad features about her. She’s taller than myself. Outrageously attractive, yellow eyes, trademark enormous wings.” Luna put a hoof to her temple as she spoke. Hopefully it would not take much more for the zebra to understand the dire situation he had put himself into.

“You aren’t taller than Princess Luna, are you?” Zeccaran asked. In response Pixie stood up and trotted over next to her. The red-maned mare was just slightly taller than Gusty if Luna guessed correctly, which made her easily taller than her.

“I believe I am,” Pixie laughed pointing out the obvious.

“Okay...but I don’t understand the context of the other stuff. Maybe I’m just thinking the wrong things?” the zebra squinted with a lift in his voice.

Luna raised an eyebrow is a general disgruntlement. This was simple, and Zeccaran would be able to realize on his own if he perhaps decided to stare somewhere besides Pixie’s plot. Frankly, that would help him figure the issue out if he was not only looking at its shape. Continuing to wait, Luna let a frown come onto her face. If this was the level of cognitive thought she was going to be recruiting to her cause it might be better to just dreamwalk into Gusty’s mind alone.

A short empty gasp escaped Zeccaran and his black stripes seemingly turned the off-white grey of the rest of his coat. The connection had been made and with it the fear had set in as expected.

“Pixie….you aren’t a Stormwalker are you?” he questioned quietly, his throat tight.

“Well, he finally figured it out, Princess,” the mare turned her head to face Luna, “Better sooner than later I guess. I didn’t want to stress him out over it, but he would have had to be told some time.”

Zeccaran babbled incoherent curses and statements mentioning fear and death. Both the mare of the moon and the red-maned mistress folded their ears in dismay. They were forced to wait for several minutes as the zebra eventually calmed enough to gather himself. Still, he remained panting, just short of hyperventilating, as he looked between them with worry.

“L-like what are we going to do...if he finds out, G-guardian Angel will kill me!” he shrieked

“Oh, he won’t do that...but he’ll probably beat your stripes off...make you wish you were dead things like that.” Pixie seemingly enjoyed Zeccaran’s ability to torment himself via his imagination. Luna rolled her eyes at the other mare’s words. Meanwhile the zebra continued to fret even as his girlfriend left her side and joined him on the sofa again.

Luna took to examining the small lounge as Pixie attempted to calm her now even more irrational companion. It was a quaint little room, although it possessed many of the normal comforts. On the far side of the area a door led into a dim room marked by the flickering of a candle or lamp. Blankets and several stacks of notes and scrolls were scattered in wads in the doorway. Grimacing, Luna returned her attention to her soon to be helpers and waited with raised eyebrows before deciding to speak.

“Barring your self-destructive behavior: while you are still alive I require your assistance.” Luna tapped a hoof as a means to draw a little more attention towards her.

Zeccaran sighed with a hearty shake of worry and looked over at her with wide eyes. “What do you need, Princess?”

“Dreamwalking. I need you to come with me for a specific venture,” she informed him.

“But...I don’t really know what I’m doing...are you sure?” the stallion asked skeptically from the couch.

“I am certain. Your natural ability is greater than even my own. Though you might be inexperienced, I can easily help you focus your abilities. Besides, it’s to help Gusty,” Luna explained.

“Gusty..as in Gusty Twilight?” Pixie asked, Luna nodded to confirm. “Is my brother dating her yet? He was very determined the last time I spoke to him. It was two years ago now.”

Silence followed Pixie’s question. The Princess of the Moon and the zebra looked at one another a smile slowly spreading both of their lips. It was not long before they were laughing and then cackling. The red-maned mare looked between them question what was so funny, and if it was an inside joke she wished to know. This only made Luna and Zeccaran laugh even harder.

“So you haven’t even sent him any letters over the last two years?!” the zebra blathered. “He hasn’t sent you any either?! That’s hilarious!”

Luna had to sit down and lean onto the door frame that led into the room to avoid falling from her hooves. The head curator of the Royal Archives had mentioned in formal paperwork that she would be on an extended research venture. However, Luna did not realize that it had been so long. The idea of Gusty and Guardian Angel was not incomprehensible but with the current state of things it was hysterical that Pixie thought her brother had wooed the errant mare. Perhaps had he tossed his very being in between the curses of his kin and Gusty’s mind shortly after they had met it could have happened but it had taken almost three years for Guardian Angel to even know to do such. This only made it more enjoyable for Luna to laugh at; especially because she was the pony dating Pixie’s brother.

“Sorry to laugh at your expense,” Zeccaran said rubbing the back of his neck as they slowly stopped cackling.

“Yes, I don’t mean to seem pretentious,” Luna said to Pixie, “but your brother gave up on dating her about the time she got married to another stallion, turning his attention to a different mare.” She pointed at herself, to which the other mare’s eyes widened in surprise.

“He’s dating you!? Zeccaran, why didn’t you tell me Luna and Guardian Angel were a thing?” Pixie asked with a faux-incredulousness.

“Uh..because I didn’t know until just now?” he responded with a big lift in his voice.

“You’ll have to forgive Zeccaran, he has the romantic aptitude of a goblin,” Luna giggled.

“True. But thats why I like him.” Pixie slapped the zebra on the back with a hoof. An awkward moment passed before Luna let a sigh whisper out of her snout.

“Back to the subject at hoof. Zeccaran: We will be doing preliminary testing this evening. With the majority of the magic surrounding Gusty’s mind removed we should have an easy time making small incursions into her subconscious to ensure that the entity that has been affecting her remains dormant for as long as possible. Or at least until we find a safe way to remove it,” she explained.

“So this curse...it’s alive?” Pixie questioned instead of the zebra.

“Yes...though I did not mention that was what it was.” Luna tilted her head. It was surprising for the red-maned mare to know details. Especially when the information was on a need to know basis. However, even in her short explanation she had not given away specific details, but it was possible that Guardian Angel had informed his sister as she was a high ranking member of the A.R.D. Still that seemed suspicious, even for a meddling Stormwalker, and that was saying something.

“True. But I don’t have another word for the way my brother originally described it to me. You know me...left to think over what could possibly be causing such a large amount of psychological distress..an entire archive full of books and rare knowledge.Though correct me if I’m wrong,” Pixie gave a sly smile.

“You are not. And I must say your power of deduction is most disturbing.” Luna shivered a little. It was certainly a good thing the Stormwalkers were on Equestria’s side. She dare not think of the consequences should they decide they no longer desired peace. Gusty’s previous distrust would be more than justified if such a travesty occured.

“Well, Princess...I hate to sound selfish but if that’s all you needed do you mind if Pixie and I go back to what we were doing?” Zeccaran piped up with a blush growing on his face.

“I suppose. Although..” Luna paused and gave her stallion’s little sister a once over. “Perhaps I shall also enlist the help of miss Pixima in the ever-growing hyperbole of Gusty Twilight. Especially now that she knows more than I realized.”

Pixie raised her brows inquisitively, making her eyes sparkle a little too similarly to her brother’s “You could. It would keep me busy now that I’m on vacation. What do you have in mind?”

“Why don’t you happen to bump into Gusty sometime this week. Her demeanor is rather bubbly in comparison to how it has been, and I think that will rub off on you. Start up a friendship with her and monitor her behavior. I will get you some reference material so you can make more educated analysis of her actions,” Luna recommended. At this point any additional information could be helpful. Keeping Pixie involved with the investigation instead of outside it also seemed like a prudent idea.

“Soooo...spy on her by being her friend? Rather devious don’t you think?” the snowy mare teased.

“Perhaps. However, it will help keep you where I can see you as well.” Luna let just a touch of contempt enter her voice in an effort to play along.

“Alright..I’ll play your game, Luna. But, don’t expect me to play fair!” Pixie gave a bit of a dark chuckle.

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” Luna glanced between the zebra and his companion one last time, “I suppose I should leave you two lovebirds to it. See you this evening.”

Turning back into smoke, Luna made a hasty exit. She had some relaxing to do, and there was not a better place than the hooves of Guardian Angel. Hopefully he was still in her room sleeping and not off on a hunt. Luna made a mental note that she needed to squeeze a few extra moments in with him before things picked up again. Even if Gusty did not start experiencing symptoms until much later, her stallion would be busy trying to figure out a way to help the mare. Luna had always admired his determination to undo what had been done, but these days it just made her jealous. Still, it was not as if she and Guardian Angel’s relationship was poor, she just wished that it was more. Until Gusty was fully cleansed of the works of the Shadow-kin Luna severely doubted it could be. However, it was she that would be sleeping in the same bed as him and not Gusty, and that was enough to put a smile on her face. She just hoped that would last forever.

Author's Note

And so ends Act 3...

Edit: I just realized I used the wrong version of Pixie!

Act 4: Chapter 1 - A Day in the Life of a Mad-Stallion

“Twilight, I understand how dangerous the situation has become. And while I would love to utilize the Rainbow Power of the Elements, the probability of their reaction being to banish Gusty to some other plane of existence is too great. I do not to wish to re-enact what I was forced to do with Luna if possible. So until we reach the point where there is no other option we will continue to try our hardest to achieve our goal without them.

-Celestia-

Chapter 1 - A Day in the Life of a Mad-Stallion

Zeccaran woke up with a long yawn. Comfortably laid out in his new bed, Pixie’s wings held themselves wrapped around him. While it was unconventional, as the mare was quite literally twice his size, he was still the big spoon. He did not mind. Having the opportunity to sit snuggled inside the wings of a Stormwalker was a treat very few had the pleasure to experience. In a way he was almost annoyed he had woken up, he had not been getting much restful sleep for the last couple of days. With Luna amping up the exploration of Gusty’s mind he had been right alongside her for all of it. This amounted to getting little sleep that recharged the brain. Still, it was necessary, just as necessary as the repeated physical activity he had been engaging in with Pixie although he narrowly had the stamina to complete his tasks.

Carefully rolling over, Zeccaran took to staring at his desk from the bed. Momentarily, Pixie hummed. She rolled as well, slipping a hoof around him as her wings tightened around him, as if their feathery embrace was not complete without him. That did not distract him, however, from the strange nagging feeling that seemed to keep worming around in his cranium.

It was almost as if something was trying to talk to him. A something that he was infinitely familiar with, although said thing existing did not make sense. Laying still and keeping his breathing to a minimum Zeccaran listened to the fishy murmurs waiting for more. It seemed just as quickly as he had taken notice of them did they stop. Squinting at nothing, his suspicion remained directed at the ethereal sensation.

What the hay was that? He thought to himself. The internal commotion picked back up not a moment later. This time the sounds were clearer, but the words were unintelligible. However, it did not take but the smallest breadth of a moment for the language to send a chill of fear arching down his spine.

Shit! The curse, however, did not exit his lips as planned but instead remained locked in his mind as the sensation from before fully manifested. The thought long-dead connection reanimated and he was no longer quite so alone in his mind.

The dark feminine voice of the universe’s ultimate femme fatale grumbled another sentence in her native tongue before going quiet. Zeccaran could feel the creature of the night waiting for him to respond but with no idea what had been said he just sat there frozen in horror, wishing that Pixie would slap him awake from this nightmare.

I see that Luna has destroyed much of what my loyal followers once made. The voice of the Shade spoke in typical, but slow and seductive Equestrian.

What? Was all that Zeccaran could manage as his heart and mind raced to figure out a way to push himself out of bed and to find some high cliff to end both he and the Shade’s existence.

Your mind is not as it once was Conduit. You know not my tongue nor the undying devotion to my cause you once did. The young Princess saw to that. Fortunately, she did not destroy the part of you that made you a proper shelter for me. The Shade mulled through her words calmly, but there was a clear edge to them he could feel.

Begone, Shade! I have no business with you! He hissed internally. With an immense struggle he slid out of bed and onto the floor. It was a supremely long walk to the nearest tower high enough to kill him, and the dark beast’s presence in his mind was going to make every step all the more difficult.

So you do not even recall who I am? Nor any of the work that you did for me? I must say that I am rather miffed. A devotee such as you, my sweet zebra, deserved a honorable death compared to the existence you have been forced to suffer through. Zeccaran could sense the Shade shaking her head in dismay, metaphorically at least.

Hey, I’m not suffering! He argued back, In fact things are really starting to look up for me! And you showing up went and ruined it! Silently, he pointed a hoof at Pixie scowling angrily at the accusatory she-demon in his head. Zeccaran painfully took a few steps towards the door, doing his best to keep control of both his mind and body.

Your consort is...a dangerous choice. It was a Shadow-kin that brought me to this lowly state, and now you lay with one as if to spite me. It would seem that though your memory has been altered your personality has not changed, the Shade sighed.

Wait...she’s Shadow-kin?! Zeccaran’s mind practically did a backflip. Logically, it made perfect sense, she was the sister of Guardian Angel, and by all accounts Stormwalker genetics were clearly potent. He simply had not thought of it yet.

I see also that the Princess of the Moon has stunted your otherwise brilliant mind...or perhaps that...was your doing? This damage is hard to qualify. The shade mumbled more to herself than him.

Zeccaran took the moment to look over his girlfriend. She did not show any outward signs like her brother did, no fangs nor slitted pupils. She did fulfill the height and size requirements, however. She did not seem to be any stronger than expected for a mare of her stature nor possess the same endurance of her elder sibling. That could just be good acting, but it did not seem like it to Zeccaran. She might be Shadow-kin but she was markedly weaker in the demonic factors associated with them.

Hmm...she is indeed rather meek for her kind. The Shade mused to him, clearly one with his thoughts. But a true beauty to be sure, how did a small, ugly little fool like you manage to enrapture her interest.

Resisting the urge to comment on how she had free reign inside his head, Zeccaran started on a different topic.

You do know I aim to kill us right? He more easily made a trot over to the door from the bedroom to the lab lounge. So maybe insulting your host is not such a good idea.

I do know such, but I have no power to stop you besides words. I am but a fractured shadow of my former self. Your will is your own. Though I would prefer not to die twice. The Shade aired out her words as if she had folded her limbs in resolute acceptance.

Zeccaran paused when he reached to door that led out of his lab and into the hall. She had stopped talking just as he managed to reach it and her statement left him wary. Her re-manifestation had just caused him major discomfort and panic, not to mention locking him in place for a solid two minutes. He was going to take the opportunity of freedom to get to at least some guards, Stiff Inspection was right down the hall after all.

You are a mortal, Zeccaran. Any unwelcome intrusion into your mind would hurt. Did it not sting when Luna first used you for dreamwalking? The Shade commented as they made their way around the first corner of the labyrinth of labs. Biting his lip in frustration, he knew she was right. It had been just as unpleasant when his Princess had accidentally jumped into his semi-conscious mind those several years ago.

What does it matter, Shade? I still would rather take you with me in a blaze of glory than to have you stuck inside my head permanently. He glowered at the wall, as he could not visualize her dark form in his mind.

Nyx. I am Nyx. And you shall call me Nyx. I demand at least that vanity. She complained stiffly. Zeccaran stood stock still upon hearing her proclamation.

He knew the old stories. He knew the legends and tales: the details on Nyx and her purpose. She was the creature that Luna had sought out in her jealousy over a thousand years ago. She was the thing his once-comrades had claimed they sought to destroy. In truth all the rituals, all the death he had caused had been to summon Nyx, to be her next Conduit now that the Elements of Harmony had stripped her from the Princess. That had been what he learned that dark night those thirteen years ago, it was why he swore himself to Luna’s service. Yet, unwittingly he had completed all the processes in the Cave, not realizing it had been the final step. He had thought what had been brought forth was but another Shade, a mere echo of Nyx’s power, but now, he understood. His comprehension sent shivers through both Nyx herself and down his spine.

I do not require a reminder of what that beast did to me. Stormwalker is a malignancy of his own tier. A demon that eats magical energy. Ugghhh. Such atrocities were never meant to exist. Nyx moved about in his mind as if she was trying to hide. The feeling forced him to relax, the tension she was creating was more than he could take in conjunction with his own. It helped that she seemed to be legitimately afraid of the stallion, on that they could agree. Curiosity took him the next instant staying his hooves while he focused on his unexpected mental roommate.

How in the world are you even alive, anyway? He asked her.

You, my dear striped stallion. Nyx paused for a moment before continuing. A Conduit is in part a failsafe. Should my means to manifest outside of you be compromised I can always return to your connection to this plane, so I might not be sent back to my duties in the Abyss.

So that means when he struck you down, he gorged himself on your magic, making it impossible to reform. Zeccaran stated seeing if she would contradict her.

Astute as always, Conduit. And gorge he did, on my magic, my flesh, and my will. It took me three-hundred years to reform even this tiny trifle of a consciousness. And I believe this may be the most I can do. Nyx replied in her long, dramatic way.

Except it hasn’t been three-hundred years… the zebra corrected the voice in his head.

Time passes differently in the mind, and also in the realm between realms where I was trapped. Still, that prison is better than this fresh hell I have arrived in. Pah, I had assumed it would be my salvation. Sadly, I cannot go back. Nyx shuddered as she spoke.

Being in limbo was better than being alive? Zeccaran balked at the irony of the statement.

Yes. Now that I am once again tethered to the mortal plane I risk becoming discovered by the beast who put me in this position. If he finds me he will finish what he started, and destroy what little I can call myself permanently. There will be no return to the Abyss, only eternal suffering in a Void not meant for any creature, living, spirit, or otherwise. The once mighty devil sounded meek and scared as she spoke. Her host noted that the prospect of Stormwalker discovering her made his skin crawl. He could not begin to fathom what the demon would do to him.

Worse...I know not what to do. I...I-I feel things I’ve never felt before. Things I did not believe I possessed. Anxiety, fear, regret...these are the machinations of a weak soul! Have I truly fallen that far? Nyx’s voice had waxed self-indulgent and pitiful.

Well, you are trapped in the mind of the world’s biggest loser so...you are pretty far down the rabbit hole. He teased. In a way, Zeccaran enjoyed that the terrible dark beast that had so ruined his entire life was brought to this.

She deserved this punishment. As the old stories went, Nyx was supposed to guard the Infinite Abyss, a place lower than Tartarus. A place filled with demons, monsters, and pony and other sentient souls so evil they could not be held in Tartarus. Long had the dark sentinel yearned to escape her responsibilities, once preying on Luna’s jealousy, once on Zeccaran’s own ignorance. Her plotting and negligence had let the Shadow-kin escape into the mortal realm, let them be created after the ancient Demon Wars. To be stuck in his mind and brought to this level of existence was a just reward for her destruction of countless lives and societies. Not to mention tricking both he and Luna for the sake of shirking her duties.

Somewhere inside Nyx, Zeccaran felt a concentrated ball of sadness form. Shaking, she seemed to move around some in his mind until he figuratively stonewalled her. If she was truly powerless, he could kick her around in there. As cunning as she was, he knew her true weakness was pride. That was how Stormwalker had gotten his teeth into her, she drew out the fight into torture, unaware the beast she fought was a danger.

For the next few minutes he did just as he imagined: he insulted her, belittled her, and pushed every button his mind could fathom. Nyx writhed within his mind, screaming in pain at her soul being stressed to such a degree. Eventually, she took to begging, something an unbroken consort of darkness would never do. He relented, only after she had devolved into making mere mumbles of mercy.

So...I guess you truly can’t fight back. I suppose that means I’ll lay off for a while. He harrumphed. But give me even the slightest reason to start again and I will.

I-I-I under..understand. I understand so much now… Nyx trailed off as she stuttered. Zeccaran waited for her to finish, it took her some time to recover as he stood aimlessly in the hall.

I will not provide you any reason to do that again. I...I must admit that a comprehension of mortality has been awakened in me. Our lives are tied together too; I shall not do anything to disrupt either of them. I swear it! There was a genuine resolve to her words that the zebra found himself appreciating. Nyx was not stupid, she never had been, but she also had never been on an even playing field, much less a disadvantaged one. While he might be stuck with her forever, at least she would be a willing accomplice to the trials of life.

Good. I’m glad that’s settled. But since you so rudely interrupted my perfectly good cuddle time with Pixie I am going to go and pick up where I left off. He declared before turning about. Smiling with a bit of dark satisfaction, Zeccaran took a mental note of how good it felt to not be completely outclassed by an enemy. This must have been how Gusty and Stormwalker felt all the time. To actually be able to toss around just about anypony without even breaking a sweat fulfilled a part of him he did not realize he had.

Zeccaran took a moment to crush the pleasure out of the action. He refused to return to the haggard unfeeling asshole from before. Besides, if Nyx had the power to control him she would have done it already. Even if she needed to wait to gain power to make an attempt it was not as if she was not going to have him looking over her shoulder the whole time. If she stepped out of line he would keep his promise to thrash her about until she begged for death.

You are a cold stallion. No, more a thinking tool of destruction, not a pony. Nyx hissed meekly.

Save your breath, Nyx. We both already know that. That was how you wanted me wasn’t it? Zeccaran scrunched his nose in disgust before opening the door back into his home.

It was. And now I foolishly expect mercy. The balance of the universe seems to enjoy irony as a form of penitence. She sighed.

Join the club. Though I’m still working on a jacket design, He shot back smugly as he shut the door behind himself.

Nyx fell silent and a semblance of solitude returned to Zeccaran’s mind. The freedom made him want to relax and in an instant he was tired again. He plodded clumsily past the lab tables and the lounge and into the study-bedroom. Pixie had not moved, her breaths deep and quiet just shy of a snore. Quickly slipping back under the sheets Zeccaran cuddled up in between her wings again with a blink he was out.

He snapped open is eyes after what had seemed like a moment to find a lack of pleasant wings around him. He blinked a few times to see Pixie stretching like an oversized cat.

“Sorry didn’t mean to wake you,” she whispered as if he was still asleep.

“No big deal,” he responded to his lover waiting to see if Nyx would make a move, or if perhaps earlier had been a dream.

“I was planning on taking a shower...since you’re up I wouldn’t mind if you joined me. I have several...hard to reach places I’d love help with.” Pixie did not need to bite her lip to be playful but she did anyway. She stood up from her stretch with a shake of her hips leaving Zeccaran to pant involuntarily.

“I’ll..I’ll be right behind you in just a minute. Get the water the way you like,” he responded lingering on each word as it came to him. Pixie gave him a devious grin and a wink before strutting out of the room and onto the bath.

By my black heart...that mare is something else! Nyx commented with a trill. Zeccaran scowled, if interjections like this were going to be common his “guest” was going to be exceedingly annoying.

Do not assume I am aware of all of your experiences, Conduit. I’ve missed the length of time between my encounter with Stormwalker and now. And while you assume such with an insulting frequency, I can only hear your active thoughts and not any memories I haven’t personally experienced. Nyx pouted.

Groaning the zebra rubbed his temples. He barely had to think it before the once-Shade-of-Shades plied him with questions sensing his thoughts and emotions as fast as he had them.

Just how did you get her? Tell me. I must know: knowledge is all I have anymore, Nyx pleaded.

I don’t have time to explain it all, I would like to go ahead and enjoy the fact that I have her, he countered quickly standing up.

Your mind is powerful, we can have this entire conversation in the scant few seconds it takes you to walk to the bath. Focus and it will be easy. He could practically feel the ethereal creature tossing its non-mane over a shoulder.

Only if you promise to shut up for, like, the next four hours. Zeccaran took his first step as he responded.

A generous offer, my gracious host, I accept. Nyx acquiesced. Time slowed as he focused on her question and the sensation of his eager breaths. Concentrating harder the flow of seconds seemed to stop leaving Zeccaran almost surprised how easy it was for him to accomplish the feat. A rambunctious exasperation escaped his accomplice as if she could not believe he had not realized this ability sooner.

Hey. You're not the one who had three-quarters of your mind deleted so you didn’t go on a giant insanity murder rampage, he scolded.

A fair point, but please, to the current matter, Nyx goaded merrily, an emotion that did not suit her.

Well...I don’t know how to explain it. I saw her many times before we formally met. She actually was working in this lab at the same time I was assigned to it. She basically teased me from a distance for about six months before just disappearing altogether. Zeccaran started the story of he and Pixie. The spirit emitted waves of confusion but did not interject waiting for him to continue.

A couple years go by and I’m drug off on some foolhardy adventure and finally after I get back everything returns to normal. I wake after sleeping in my own cot for the first time in a month and she’s in the lab, finishing the project I had been working on for nearly a year. Closing his eyes he recalled the moment, sending it to Nyx as he explained. It was so surreal. Here I am this small little welp standing in front of this gorgeous mare, who I know is a fellow researcher. So she’s smart, and knows about my projects, which just makes me all the more nervous. And I don’t know what compelled her, whether it was simple hormones or because she was looking for a guy who couldn’t say no, but small talk lasted all but a few seconds.

That is strange indeed. However, I can only assume this means that you perform coitus quite adequately, a mare of her breeding is not easily satisfied, she commented playfully.

I’m not going to discuss the details. Point is she stayed and it stopped being casual sex and became a committed friends with benefits arrangement, but now we pretty much are dating. I planned to take her on an actual date today instead of doing another work date, but then you showed up. Because I was getting just slightly too happy I assume. Zeccaran glowered at Nyx.

Well, I am known for my excellent timing. Though I sense some apprehension about her on your mind now. What for? She is an excellent mate even if she is Shadow-kin, especially if she is as mentally and physically stimulating as you describe, the ghost questioned the budding thought that was quickly becoming a consistent dark reminder to Zeccaran.

There is one other thing about her that you need to know, he started, Pixie’s full name is Pixima Stormwalker.

What? Nyx murmured nearly impossible to hear even in his mind.

She’s his younger sister. Dangerous for us both, right? Zeccaran laughed in spite of himself as he let his focus go and his perception of time resumed its normal function.

How many are there!? I shan’t be bothering you nor your demonic lover for any reason unless we are going to die. Have your fun, Conduit! You crazy fool. Farewell! With that Nyx receded into the deepest part of his consciousness with her tail tucked between her legs. It was almost like her presence vanished entirely. If he did not know she was there, it would have been impossible to notice the vague empty shadow that seemed to match the waves of his consciousness perfectly.

It was time to move onto much more pleasant things, Zeccaran jogged to the bath on the other side of the lab proper, a confident smile on his lips that had not been there in years.

====================================================================

Several hours later, Zeccaran sat across from Pixie at a malt shop. They had spent some time mulling over what to do and had simply settled on snacking and chatting the morning and afternoon away.

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you: where did you go for the last two years?” the zebra asked the red-maned mare.

“Oh, yes,” Pixie mumbled through her straw before swallowing the malt she had in her mouth. “I was petitioned by an affluent young filly overseas to perform weapons research.”

“Damn, that’s pretty shady,” Zeccaran teased.

“Well...yeah It was,” lowering her voice she leaned in close to him. “It was mostly explosives and magically enhanced steel. But, most interestingly a device that could fling lead pellets with startling accuracy.”

Raising his eyebrows in surprise before positioning his snout parallel to hers he responded just as quietly, “I was kidding but it seems you Stormwalkers have your hooves in all sorts of dirty little places.”

“Skill in espionage and secrets has always been a family trait. Not the most desirable thing in my opinion.” Pixie retreated from her hover over the table her face pensive.

“You can’t pick your family,” Zeccaran tried to provide some solace for the increasingly disgusted mare. They sat quietly for a little while longer before making small talk over the busy day and bustle of many ponies. Pixie’s mood lifted quickly from the general conversation and a curious look, somewhere near a pout grew on her face.

“What about you Zeccaran?” she asked. “I know you are an informal servant of Luna’s but how did you land the job with the A.R.D.? Especially with how you somehow garnered my brother’s ire. Your skill at your craft is unmatched but that isn’t enough for him to overlook the…*ahem, flagrant rage.”

“Oh fuck, is that a loaded question...uhh…” he looked around the shop they were in, but determined any potential listeners was too many.

“I’ll tell you but, we should go home or like to a deserted graveyard...anywhere there are no ponies. It’s a pretty high-level state secret.” Zeccaran felt himself unconsciously twitching in fear.

“Ohhh, juicy. Alright let’s go, I know a place that’s very private and not nearly so dreary as a cemetary or as far removed as the lab.” Pixie stood up and rushed towards the counter to pay before he could object.

By the time he had slid out of the seat and caught her, she instantly put a wing around him. The larger mare ushered him out of the malt shop and onto the street where she stopped him and rushed around next to him.

“Alright, hop on!” she chirped an excited grin on her face as she bent her knees.

“Pixie!” Zeccaran stopped his scream mid-call of her name, whispering the rest in relative horror his stripes turned red and black. “We’re in public!?!”

“No, not that you dirty-minded zebra! I’m going to fly us there!” his marefriend grinned smartly. She even managed to reduce the tiny little blush he thought he had seen at first.

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” Clambering on as he finished, he waited for Pixie to stand up to test his balance. Once the two of them were certain he was secure she took to the sky, slowly beating her wings, flying towards an outcropping of heavy clouds.

Moving with a simple grace, Pixie skirted the edge of the fluffy water balloons. She selected a spot that faced away from the city where she swooped down into the bank and landed. Zeccaran moved to dismount but then realized a crucial issue.

“Uh...I can’t stand on these…” he let his voice trail off.

“You can just sit on me, it will be fine. Besides its nice and private here.” She motioned to the overhanging chunk of snowy cloud. Leaning down into the surface, Pixie hummed in a way that made Zeccaran just a little bit nervous.

His apprehension came with good reason too. Not a moment later, and with that precise movement of a Shadow-kin, Pixie bucked him off her back and into the air. Letting out a rather shameful sounding yelp, Zeccaran flailed his hooves about as his mind told him turn himself into an eagle. However, before the active part of his brain could follow the order he landed on his girlfriend’s stomach, legs perfectly wrapped around her barrel.

“Gotcha!” she declared merrily, her wings folding around him to make sure he could not fall.

“That was...unnecessary,” he shuddered out a haggard breath.

“Oh, you big baby. Even if I didn’t catch you you could have just turned into an bird or something,” she teased his fear.

“How did you know that?” Zeccaran paused surprised Pixie knew anything about his more magical abilities.

‘How do you think?” she countered immediately.

“Your brother.”

“Nailed it!”

Rolling his eyes while she laughed at him, the zebra relaxed some. Pixie had him held safely and it was time to get down to the real story. At least as much of it as he could remember that is.

His mare listened intently as he began to recount everything that had happened. They spent the better part of the afternoon like that; him sitting on her lower abdomen and she, eyes sparkling, listening as she laid out, occasionally stroking his hooves.

He explained how he had left his homeland in the far south. How the Cult of Nyx had taken him in as a pre-teen and convinced him of their plight. Things jumped to Luna and the rituals, the empty portions of his memories, and the shame he felt for the horrible things he had done. When Zeccaran recounted the first night in the Cave and what he had done to her brother, Pixie’s face darkened. She did not seem angry, but instead held an emotion that was a rough combination of disgust and captivation.

“You knew magics I could not begin to understand. Those circles...they really used the pain of the ponies’ souls?” she whispered an interruption.

“As far as I can recall, yes. I can not tell you more than that. The memories are just gone.” He grimaced.

“I understand. Not much you can do when Luna just removes most of your mind. She did a good job though. You are quite amicable these days,” she smiled trying to comfort him.

“Just because I don’t remember everything I did, doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilt,. Zeccaran folded his forehooves looking at the cloud instead of her face.

“Well then I will have to fight you over it. You are literally a different zebra, Zeccaran. You should not feel guilty at all. In fact, you’ve recently completed a device that will literally revolutionize communication, that’s amazing!” Pixie did not let up on her point of view. It was a fault of hers that he was beginning to recognize. Mostly her stubbornness was actually rather charming, it definitely proved to be a touch annoying in conversation, however.

“Good deeds do not purify such sins,” he admonished.

“You’re impossible.” This time Pixie turned her face away her brow knitting into a frustrated line.

The pair fell silent for a time, unable to gain distance without throwing the zebra from the clouds. They both pouted unwilling to argue but also unwilling to budge on their views. Eventually, however, Zeccaran idly pressed a hoof into Pixie’s ribs to which she giggled and complained. Tension broken she poked him back and before long they were shouting at each other to stop. They were forced to cease as Zeccaran nearly lost his balance as Pixie arched up her back in protest. After overcoming the moment the couple elected to save that debate for another time in favor of the continuation of the zebra’s story.

And continue he did. He recounted his life as a drifter, feeling like he had not fit in for some eleven years. He even got through meeting Gusty and the second soirée in the Cave. Pixie listened intently, absorbing the information as if she was analyzing every last detail. Zeccaran appreciated her attentiveness, it had been longer than he could remember since somepony took him seriously. However, the subject of the last-pony-who-had-listened quickly cropped up and the red-maned mare asked him who that was specifically.

“Chrysanthemum. She was the High Priestess of that group. I had almost forgotten to mention her,” he explained.

“So she was your last marefriend, kinda surprising.” Pixie gently prodded his snout as a means to tease him.

“In retrospect she wasn’t terribly nice. Nor was the relationship very healthy...but I was a devout follower of Nyx at the time and I didn’t even realize it so...I sorta treat it lightly,” Zeccaran explained. “In a way I had forgiven her for leaving me to die back then, and for manipulating me. She had been manipulated too after all. I saw it on her face the night your brother, Gusty, Bunker, and I stormed into her ritual.”

“Did she survive?” came the fateful question.

“She was captured by some of the troops that had accompanied Guardian Angel to Hallow Shades. I haven’t seen her since,” he admitted.

“Oh. If my brother headed her tribunal...I’m sorry,” Pixie apologized for something well out of her control.

“Not much to be done about it. To be honest, I can hardly blame him wanting revenge. We did ruin some ten years of work removing his Shadow-kin powers...and slowly murdered his fiancé right in front of him.” Zeccaran rubbed his mohawk nervously. Knowing what he had done was more than enough to upset him, even if he could not recall the details.

“Poor Sure Strike...she meant everything to him back then. It’s hard for me to even imagine you were the guy who did it,” his mare murmured.

“If only it were imaginary. But at least I have a name for the face that haunts my dreams…”

Their voices hushed to a uncomfortable quiet. Zeccaran felt the urge to cry build its fire on his cheeks and clench his throat. Opening up like this was not something he had ever done, not even for Gusty on the odd occasion she actually took him seriously. He blinked his eyes rapidly trying to fight the sensation, angry and disgusted with himself. There was no reason for him to be alive, no reason for Luna to take pity on him. Even Guardian Angel had let him live, and Zeccaran knew better than to think it was to make him suffer more. He had quite literally been having the time of his life since he had been assigned by the stallion to the Advance Research Division. Worse yet it had taken him two years to realize who his benefactor, G.A.S., had been the same stallion he had committed atrocities against. It would seem that the demon was much softer than whatever act he put on, not that it mattered at this point.

However, it was with that nihilism that the raging river of emotion he had dried up to a desert. He looked up at Pixie, she was about the only thing that mattered to him right now. Divulging most of his personal details that were otherwise state secrets to a mare he had only spoken to for the last two weeks seemed insane. Zeccaran just felt like it was unfair not to warn her that he was not worth more than the base functions of mechanics he could perform. That was all he was now, and even if she thought he was great the words still needed to be spoken. Now they had been uttered, hopefully the karma of the universe would not smack him into the ground about a dozen times like it usually did. There was one test he could use to find out.

Lightly placing a hoof against Pixie’s beautiful face, Zeccaran gently pushed her to face him fully. In a move that even made Nyx jump in surprise deep inside of him, he practically shoved his whole muzzle into her mouth and he went for a very deep kiss.

Pixie reacted by throwing her forehooves around his neck and meeting him with equal vigor. They stayed, lips locked for a long time. Long enough that Zeccaran swore that they would be struck by lightning and sent plummeting to their dooms, but somehow that did not happen. By the time he and Pixie paused for breath her cheeks were as red as her mane.

“That was...different…” she puffed, “did I unlock some sort of switch in your brain? Like where did that come from?”

“Who knows? Does it matter? You liked it-no, loved it didn’t you?” he responded, letting his desire drip into his voice. Pixie stared back at him with a brief vacancy before her pupils dilated quickly.

“Then take me big boy, I won’t bite...much.”

I had forgotten you were a mad-stallion, Conduit. Nyx whispered just barely at the edge of his mental perception.

Get used to it, I don’t have anything to live for anyway. I’m going to take all I can get. Zeccaran snarled at his roommate as he pressed his hooves into Pixie’s extended wings, making her moan.

Can I go back to being dead?

No! Now shut up, you are making it hard to enjoy myself!

Act 4: Chapter 2 - Better Left Forgotten

Author's Note

eyyyyy,
Happy two-year anniversary everybody!

Act 4: Chapter 2 - Better Left Forgotten

“I think I liked him better as a chocolate shake*snap* yeah. What do you think Pinkie?”

“I loved him as that big balloon griffon. But let’s hear what he thinks! *snap*”

“I’ll talk just...please...please stop.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

“I CROSS MY HEART HOPE TO DIE STICK A CUPCAKE IN MY EYE!! *sigh*please go get the Princesses, now. Before I change my mind or before I get turned back into food.”

-The conclusion of a rather unorthodox, and probably still pretty unethical interrogation-

Chapter 2 - Better Left Forgotten

The scene before him played out again with the slow crawl of a snail. Luna had been puzzling over these heinous acts hoping to find the clues she had been searching for in the mystery that was Gusty Twilight. Cautiously approaching the movements of the beasts before her, the mooney mare stared at the writing on the walls and floor. Yes, literal writing. The first couple of times Zeccaran had not noticed it, too distracted by the horror that took place. But now that he was more deadened to the scene he could easily see the carved runes, set in the dark stone, glowing a dull yellow. The memory moved from its lumbering legato movement to perfectly frozen as Luna huffed, pawing at the markings with a hoof.

“I have seen these glyphs before. I did not understand them then. I do not understand them now. But, I do know they were also used by a certain group of acolytes you once lead, Zeccaran.” Luna turned towards him after she finished speaking.

Zeccaran walked up next to her, ignoring the uncomfortable squirming Nyx was doing in his head. He leaned a little closer to the runes, nodding his head in agreement that they were familiar.

“Okay, I do remember seeing them before. How one would use them? I don’t know,” he answered Luna’s unspoken question.

“A vexing problem,” she mumbled, placing a hoof up to her snoot. It was too cute of a nose for Zeccaran to consider it a snout. He looked around the grizzly display of the Shadow-kin’s brutality for any hints that might unravel the mystery. Noticing the etchings seemed dim compared to later in the memory he paused looking at the little brown mare that was subject of their debauchery.

Other than the unmentionable that was happening to her, she was otherwise unharmed at the moment. Gusty, however, upon further examination, had rivers of tears rolling own her face, her eyes held open by some sort of device, forcing her to watch.

“Princess, could we perhaps skip forward to when they skin her?” he asked stoically.

“Certainly. If you have some greater purpose than to indulge a need to observe gore,” Luna retorted her voice harsh, not at him but the thought of the torture displayed.

“I do, so let us skip forward then.” No sooner had he spoken than did the scene go into overdrive, and in the breadth of a second reach the point he desired.

“You are getting quite good at traversing the Astral Plane,” his Princess complimented. You are getting quite good at traversing the Astral Plane, his roommate murmured in unison.

Zeccaran shook his head while internally glowering at Nyx. For an Eldritch being she sure did not know how to keep her mouth shut. He almost believed that she wanted to get caught, but with what the once-Shade-of-shades had described as a labored and boring existence before, he doubted it. More than likely the guardian of the Abyss was simply excited to be doing and observing anything. Looking up at Luna after moment he nodded appreciatively, before attempting to distract her from the voice he was certain she had heard.

“Now if only it wouldn’t scare me when it did what I wanted,” he chuckled.

“Agreed,” Luna smiled either playing dumb or surprisingly fooled by his misdirection, “So what are you looking for?”

“The runes, look at them. Look how much brighter they are.” Zeccaran pointed at the wall and then the floor. The Princess followed his hoof and nodded in surprise her eyes widening.

“What does this mean though? Unfortunately, we cannot feel the air as it was in this moment. But, my assumption is that this means there is more magic being gathered in these sigils,” she flicked her mane as she summarized her thoughts.

“My thought exactly.” Zeccaran leaned back onto his rump to sit and think, “It’s just...I feel like I know more but I can’t piece it together.”

“Oh how crystal clear is hindsight ,” Luna grumbled angrily, more to herself than him. He looked up at her confused by her sudden displeasure. Catching his glance, the Princess frowned yet deeper.

“You cannot remember because I destroyed that portion of your memories. I was hoping perhaps I had missed some of the ritual details. I see now that I had not.” The blue mare’s shoulders sagged.

“Could you restore them? I mean the specific ones we need?” Zeccaran asked curiously.

“Perhaps, if I knew what I was looking for. But, in your special case I was not as careful as I would have been if I had been trying to console a foal or an elderly fellow who lost his wife,” Luna responded dryly.

“Understandable. But, and correct me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure you have, at least, a general idea of where to look, right?” he asked. The zebra did hold faith that Luna was exceedingly good at her job, but her admonishing gaze turned neutral.

Within the subconscious, emotions could flow more easily between ponies. The Princess of the Moon had warned him during his training that it could cause the minds of the ponies to meld together and not in a romantic sort of way. Only individuals of extreme power or skill in manipulating their own subconscious could maintain their individual consciousness and not be driven mad by having their minds blended into a single entity.

Thus, it was with both great fear and great excitement that he felt Luna’s emotions swing back and forth. Her state shifted between regretful, but steadfast, and curious yet hopeful. However, the sensation of her emotions disappeared even quicker than they had appeared and Zeccaran was left exhaling an ethereal breath he had not realized he was holding. Joining minds with Luna had always been a sort of fantasy of his; after all the mare was his chosen goddess. Although the current consequences likely outweighed the pleasure he would get out of becoming one with his mistress of the night. There was Pixie, who was somehow retaining interest in him, and there was also her brother, who was dating Luna. The wrath of one Stormwalker was more than enough. Two made the word overkill seem like a shameful understatement.

Ruining either relationship would prove extremely foolhardy, said the logical part of his brain. So when Luna turned her face back no him, it was with genuine relief that he waited for her to speak with words and not with her thoughts.

It would get quite crowded in here if she were to join in. And hostile. Luna and I stopped being on good terms when I fully possessed her body, Nyx commented.

Shut up, Nyx, I’m well-aware of how Luna might react, you don’t need to keep reminding me, Zeccaran seethed internally, hoping the rage did not make it to his eyes.

“Are you well?” Luna asked interrupting the moment.

“No.” Zeccaran looked right into her eyes, doing his best to remain calm and suppress both he and Nyx’s panic. “I am not well, and I’m not sure if I have ever been well, especially right now.”

“A rather astute self-observation: Continuing,” the Princess gave a brief rest in her speech eyeing him suspiciously, “I would note that I did not examine your mind in great detail. I skimmed. Very. Lightly. Skimmed.”

“Oh,” he swallowed. If the blue mare had avoided specific looks at his mind he could confirm finally that the crimes he committed were beyond any form of redemption.

“However, I will say this. The debauchery of the Shadow-kin displayed before us,” she waved both her wings to emphasize the whole room, “you, likewise, participated in regularly.”

“But unlike these more stoic and pragmatic monsters you took a disturbing glee and merry reverie in your work. Not to say the Shadow-kin did not take pleasure in their defilement of others but, it was as if regardless of the validity of your beliefs you enjoyed what you did with the sick dedication of a creature truly enamored with the suffering of others,” Luna paused, her gaze turning dark.

“Isn’t that right, Nyx?” Lighting her horn, Zeccaran felt all of his limbs extend out from his body to the point of almost being dislodged from their joints. Squeaking feebly as the feeling of all the air being punched from his lungs met him in this mental realm, he looked up to Luna pleadingly. The Astral Plane was her domain, but he hoped to stop her from finishing what her colt-friend had started. In truth, even if he could not remember the ritual Nyx could, it was her rite in the first place. Worse, ending Nyx might also kill him, and that would make him quite useless to Luna, something he could not bear to think.

“You think to hide from me in plain sight? You think I had not noticed Zeccaran’s abilities growing so unnaturally? Shade-of-Shades, you have again underestimated me!” The Princess boomed in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

Luna’s horn and eyes took to glowing a bright white, as if somepony had flipped a lightswitch. Zeccaran tried to flail his hooves up to cover his face as his eyelids were not enough to shield him from the ever increasingly luminous display. Unfortunately he was unable to do so much as vaguely wriggle within the Princess’s mighty telekinetic grip. Pressure built in his skull and the light seemed to pierce into his brain no matter how hard he resisted.

White brilliance gave way to a feeling of numbness and Zeccaran opened his eyes to find the place he had been quite absent. Gone were the Shadow-Kin, the sights of his captured friend and even the sounds of Nyx in his head. The world he existed in now seemed broken and disjointed. Pictures of familiar places and the sound of friends danced about, but between them great rips and tears of pure blackness. Reflexively, Zeccaran trotted up to one of them, screams of pain echoed out from its inky depths.

“Hello?” he called out in concern as he began to look down.

“This place..” came Nyx’s voice. It did not come from within but instead reached his ears as if it came from a nearby mare. Turning away from the fissure, Zeccaran nearly spun completely around before realizing he could see the faint spectre of a creature.

About his size and height the blurry outline turned to face him, displaying green-yellow eyes that lacked any pupil. Though Nyx’s face was barely visible, the zebra could just make out lines of a snout and the green of her bright eyes.

“I had never managed to manifest this deeply into your mind. I can feel, no, taste the suffering you caused. But these voids...these are Luna’s doing.” The spectre waved a shadowy limb in the direction of the tears. “She sought to remove what you had done, but at the same time she destroyed nearly all of the connections you had to me.

“Is that what is going on here?” Zeccaran asked, “This is my mind?”

“Indeed. Though I cannot flourish as I once did these portals will at least sustain me,” Nyx commented, as she walked up to the rip where he stood.

“I don’t think I should let you, ‘sustain’ yourself.” He wrapped a hoof around her and pulled her away from the portal into the black abyss of his past.

“It is too late for that. I had been concerned that if you pursued a way to remove me you would be successful. I have already absorbed the negative energies making such an endeavor at least slightly inconvenient.” Zeccaran squinted at her his mind thinking of how to deal with this predicament. “Do not worry. I cannot become more powerful than l am now, but I can at least avoid destruction.”

Pain suddenly pulsed across the zebra’s temples and he instinctively grabbed his head.

“This better not be your doing!” he growled from the ground.

“She is coming for us,” Nyx breathed unsteadily.

Terror etched itself onto her face, a face too eerily similar to that of a normal pony’s. A loud crack of thunder snapped his eyes towards its source. He beheld the grey backdrop of this place rent, a moving colored cascade of blues and blacks spilled out from the tear. Poking cautiously through the portal, the silver gilded hoof of Princess Luna slowly found its way to the ashen ground.

The full body of the alicorn slipped into the realm not a moment later, her face twisted into a scowl of pure rage that did not suit her in Zeccaran’s opinion. She stomped towards them, her passage here closing behind her with another crack of sound, giving him a sudden painful headache, that felt unsettlingly familiar. It would seem Nyx was quite right about invasions into the mind. They hurt.

Once upon them Luna’s anger was slowly replaced with a cold menace. Next to him, Nyx slowly backed up, trying to put him between herself and the alicorn. Zeccaran shot her a disgusted glare. He stepped aside of Luna’s path, the spirit withered and stopped moving in response. Shuddering even more violently than her natural glimmer Nyx’s eyes displayed her fear. The hiss of angry magic buzzing filled Zeccaran’s ears and the royal blue aura of the Princess of the Moon lifted the Shade into the air and hovered her to the alicorn’s face. All the zebra could do was watch. He would not impede Luna’s judgement, even if that meant his mind would become a slaughterhouse.

“You are weak...fragile. As you are, I could shatter your essence into one million pieces and scatter you across the Astral Plane so loosely it would take you as many years to return to this state,” Luna snarled into the face of the ghostly mare.

“W-we both already know that. Why d-do you repeat it as if it has any bearing on this situation?” Nyx peeped with a stutter.

“Because…” The Princess of the Moon’s eyes pinched closed in fury, “As much as I despise myself for this: I, again, need your help, Nyx.”

“What?!” Both Zeccaran and the spectre shouted in shock.

“Princess, you can’t be serious!” he jogged over next to her at stared at her incredulously.

“I cannot restore your memories, Zeccaran.” She pointed at the lesions of darkness. “But...you were once Nyx’s consort. She has watched the world through your eyes. If anypony knows how that magic works. It will be her. Everypony else is dead,” Luna explained.

Realizing the truth in the statement he froze in realization. While he could not remember what had happened during his days as her Conduit, Nyx certainly could. She had even made mention that she remembered everything he had ever done when she had manifested within his mind once again. Falling onto his rump Zeccaran felt his vision blur out into an unfocused haze. It was a simple solution, but he could not imagine Nyx participating willingly. He shuddered where he sat, disturbed by the implications Luna’s statement.

“So I propose to you a deal, dear Nyx,” the alicorn growled, “I shall give you payment in the form of clemency. You provide me the information that I want, and I shall elect to not inform a certain Shadow-kin of your continued existence.”

“I am in no position to negotiate your terms. But, I will not agree to such deal while being held aloft like some misbehaved waif,” the Shade complained.

In response Luna very cautiously lowered Nyx back onto the grey backdrop of his mind: “You have not changed you prideful dullard. Hubris was your downfall, yet you cling to it still?”

“When there is nothing left but that, what other purpose do I have? I can no longer control magic, no longer control the minds of mortals. I am but an empty shadow, a blurry reflection of a distant storm through the thickest and cruelest of glass,” Nyx stated. It was not a complaint, as Zeccaran heard it, it was more a statement of fact. She merely put words to something he could not, he almost sympathized with her. Almost.

“I expect no guarantees from you. Nor will I trust your words. And should my tests prove you are lying…” Luna’s face twisted into a gleeful and terrible smile. “I’ll pleasure myself while I watch him rip you apart, again. And again. And again.”

Zeccaran found himself backing away from the Princess of the Night. He had never imagined she could be quite so terrifying, or spiteful. There were always exceptions to the grace any one pony had, and it would seem Luna was no exception. Smiling nervously, he gulped down the lump in his throat, his only thought that he was glad her ire was directed at his roommate and not him. At least his Princess chose a perfectly irredeemable monster to unload her fury into, but it did not comfort him as he watched her devilish smile nearly overtake her whole face. Zeccaran decided that maybe he did pity Nyx.

“Luna. I-I...I know what you wish. B-but you shall find my analysis as accurate as I can make it,” Nyx responded as she also retreated from Luna. To her credit the Shade kept her composure as strong as possible and her chest and head held high.

“A shame. It seems we all know which outcome I’d prefer,” the alicorn’s smile vanished as her eyes widened with a briefly and disturbingly visible mania. Nyx had made it to Zeccaran now, and she stepped behind him again, as if he was going to actually be able to shield her from Luna.

Relaxing, the Princess lit her horn with magic again and the tearing of canvas echoed over the now silent party. Seemingly spawning otherwise on its own, the same swirling mass of stars and azure, inky hues splattered into existence.

“Come. Your work starts now,’ Luna motioned. Nyx to her credit removed herself from behind him and slowly plodded up to the portal.

Looking up at the alicorn with uncertainty, the Shade slowly reached for the passage out of Zeccaran’s inner mind and back to the subconscious of Gusty Twilight. A brief moment of clarity hit him and Zeccaran felt dizzy. Luna had thrown him and Nyx fully into the deepest part of his equinety and had threatened the Shade with exposure to Guardian Angel. Working his jaw with anxiety the zebra felt himself start to hyperventilate, which was positively preposterous in a realm where he did not require breaths. However, that seemed the least of his worries as his mind raced through the possible ways he could be discovered and tormented by the Shadow-kin. Around him his thoughts sprang to life and the horrors slowly brought him to a different realization. His ability to dreamwalk, his new relationship with Pixie, these were simply ways for the universe to fuck with him. They were not gifts of time with his favorite Princess, or a mare that he was fairly certain was becoming the love of his life. No, those were simply the fringe benefits of being now permanently stuck in a state of anxiety and fear.

“Zeccaran!” Luna’s voice drug him out of the reflection with a sudden lurch, making him nauseous.

“Y-yes?” he croaked looking up from her as the visions of his worries dissipated.

“Before we continue: how long has she been in your mind? I must know.” She stomped a hoof authoritatively.

“A week at most. With how busy I have been, I haven’t been paying attention. Five days? I’ll go with five days,” he answered as best he could.

“I see.” Luna’s face momentarily turned dark, “Unfortunate that she is telling the truth then.”

“If she ever does anything out of line you’ll be the first to know, Princess.” Zeccaran meant those words with all his heart. Luna smiled with appreciation, her mood seeming to lift as if she had had an epiphany.

“Very good. Let us return to the scene before then, your input is still most welcome,” she responded.

“Of course...just having a moment there…” Zeccaran let his voice trail off.

“Understandable...I believe we both may have,” Luna answered. “Come, I wish to keep this as brief as possible.”

He merely nodded in agreement as he trotted swiftly up to the portal and pushed Nyx the rest of the way through. The Shade did not fight his touch and she slid forward with ease. As he touched the passage out the pinching pain in his temples flared up again, but as soon as he breached the threshold and opened his eyes it stopped. Safe again in the frozen moments of Gusty’s darkest hours Zeccaran heaved a sigh, then felt like kicking himself for taking comfort in his friend’s suffering.

Ahead of him Nyx was already looking over the runes. She hummed and bobbed, her ghastly form more hovering than walking as she moved. This puzzled Zeccaran, the Shade should not be outside of his waking consciousness, unlike inside his mind, they were to be as one.

“Not while Luna is in control of where I can go within the Astral Plane,” she answered his question as he started to move his tongue. “And yes I can still feel your thoughts as they occur. We are still one, my dear Conduit. She is giving me the meager condolence of separate sight...for now.”

“Then what is all this?” Zeccaran pointed down at the carvings, the real reason he was here now with Luna.

“Indeed. What are these sigils, oh, most knowledgeable of Shades?” the Princess about made him jump out of his stripes as she spoke seemingly from nowhere but everywhere at once.

“They are markings of demonic origin. Give me a few more moments to analyze them,” Nyx responded immediately and obediently. A few minutes passed by as the spectre walked diligently around the dark chamber her green-yellow eyes tracing over the whole circle of runes. She stopped where she started, a shiver tracing it way through her shimmering form.

“You are distressed, beast. What have you discovered?” Luna’s voice echoed unnaturally again.

“This..this is an epitaph to debauchery and suffering. Over my years guarding the Abyss, I watched as the demons used it on each other. It is an ancient magic. A terrible magic that feeds not only on the magical energies a being possesses but also their soul. It is a magic older than myself...” Nyx suddenly trailed off as her head flicked towards the center of the room, her eyes locked on the floor.

“By Origin they used four of them...in all my years I have never seen four used,” she shuddered. Zeccaran moved forward, and looked down to where Nyx indicated she spotted the fourth ring. Faintly etched into the dirt, he found simpler glyphs, they appeared as if they had been only cut deep enough to be seen by someone who knew they were there.

“What are these things you speak of?” the mare of the moon inquired.

“There are not words in this tongue to describe them. The best translation of their names is this: Circles of Pain,” Nyx croaked.

Zeccaran grimaced. The name struck a chord within him. Somewhere inside his mind he had known that was the name of these dark sigils. Growing steadily, a churning feeling of disgust overtook him and he blanched repeatedly at the thought and the scene around him. It had just become exponentially more disturbing than moments before.

“Correct me if I-I am wrong,” Zeccara began, his voice unsteady from the stress, “if I remember right, the words written in the circle dictate what the magic does once they are charged with enough.”

“Yes. That is how they work. And what is written here is...foul. Even when it comes to describe the rites of the Shadow-kin,” The Shade responded tepidly.

“Read them to me, so I can record them. I wish to have Guardian Angel translate them to compare your description, even the most fine of details must be acknowledged,” Luna commanded, her voice less harsh yet hungry, still coming from all places. Zeccaran looked around to see if he could find her, but there was no evidence to be found. It was likely the Princes of the Night was viewing this mental event from the outside.

“I will start with the outermost ring then. It is fairly repetitive,” Nyx turned her head around the room looking for Luna as she slowly reached the humming runes written on the wall, “Are you ready?”

“Yes, please begin,” came the moony mare’s voice.

“Suffering, suffering, suffering. By Yethsoor’s blood, by his Mother’s Betraying Name. Be held to the Dark Lord’s fire, and become one with its torture and flame,” the ghostly mare traced the length of the words, moving only a small portion of the distance around the room. Her form only visible because of the glow of the vile magic.

“I see. Another reference to Yethsoor and Origin. Delightful. Does this circle say more?” questioned the Princess.

“No. It repeats itself a total of eight times as it wraps around the room. Next one?” the Shade stepped forward towards the edge of the dias where Gusty was bound. She looked down at runes Zeccaran could not see from where he stood, forcing him to curiously back up to the edge to find them. As he looked down at these more orange colored glyphs, Luna instructed Nyx to read the set he watched.

“This sacrament of flesh and souls shall consecrate, a payment made to the black hearts in all creatures. Wither and misery, shall be your fate. Be ruined in your heart, not your features. It repeats that four times,” she answered.

A silence filled the room, a heavy uncomfortable silence. To Zeccaran it felt as if the atmosphere suddenly reeked with a barely noticeable, but still potent aura of tainted magic. That should not have been possible, this was not the real world, but a deep memory of his friend’s. Perhaps hearing the words spoken in a way he could understand simply made him acknowledge the true horror that the Shadow-kin had wrought. It was either that or somewhere in his mind he could recall writing similar curses in the same script he stared at now. He repressed that thought quickly, taking the initiative for the Princess instead.

“Move on to the next one, we should not dally on these words while in this realm,” he ordered. Luna mirrored his sentiment and Nyx moved to the next set of carvings, they displayed a burned hue of dying coals.

“You will listen to us. You will be craven to us, our desires your obligation. Our words will pierce your soul.The blood of your kin given its only worth with your subjugation.” The shimmering outline of the Shade pulsed briefly. “Like before, its repetition follows the pattern required of this ritual, eight, four, this one is two, the last line will only have a single phrase.”

Nyx stepped towards the scrawled runes the faint lines of her face grimacing in the unnatural grey light of the main dias. The platform was more ashen colored dirt compacted so harshly that it appeared stone. Zeccaran kept watching the spectre as she carefully followed the text around where Gusty hung on the rack. After she made the full circle Nyx stood still, her head bowed in a fearful reverence.

“Our greatest work of art, living relic to our power, never to grow old. You shall become that which you sought to destroy. Welcome, sister, to our fold.”

Zeccaran felt his skin wiggle unhappily on its own. The Curse of the Shadow-kin now known, brought him only discomfort. He could feel the hatred, the cold and terrible planning that had been done. All for the purpose of destroying Gusty’s mind and taking control of her soul. Turning his eyes towards his friend, he looked at the strain in her eyes, the metal apparatus on her head reddening her irises. There was a life in her gaze that Zeccaran had not noticed before, perhaps because he did not have the reference. That sparkle however, was faint, like a different mare deep inside the alicorn was dying, being smothered by the loathing and debauchery. Foolishly, he cast his eyes over the scene again, finding the sight of the little skinned mare as the memory began to move again.

Her muscles shivered and twitched their veins spraying little fountains of blood from their walls. The gore did not bother him, instead what caught the zebra’s attention was a numb pinching and burning that he could feel over most of his body. There was no pain, but instead a dark foreboding growing in his chest. They were being watched. Zeccaran could feel it like a pressure building up in his gut, he knew it was the truth.

“Princess, I think we should leave. We got what we came for,” he cautioned. Looking about he searched for Luna, hoping she had taken her physical form at some point.

“I’m..trying!” the mare of the moon’s voice was echoing and disjointed in pitch as if she was screaming through a tuba.

Zeccaran shook his head trying to overcome the sudden cold sweats and his aching head. Around him the memories played faster yet were still understandable, as if whoever was controlling the scene was beaming the moments into his brain directly. Immediately he thought of Nyx: this had to all be a trap.

“Damn you, Shade! If I survive I’ll kill us both for sure!” he shouted as he doubled over in pain, the sound of laughter reaching his ears.

“I-it i-isn’t m-me,” Nyx responded. He followed her words to find her curled up next to him, her dark form flicking between fully formed and just an empty space. His vision faded to dull brown lights and the world began to spin.

Zeccaran, wake up!

Zeccaran, Zeccaran!

“You have to wake up it’s the only way out! Hurry!” the little shadow pleaded in terror.

Something grabbed his shoulders and thrashed him about. He fought it as best he could, his body tiring almost instantly from the bashes to his chest and neck. All the while the unsettling cackling of something he did not recognized continued to grow in volume.

Zeccaran! You’re still asleep! Get! Up!

Icy cold washed over him and the dark world around him shattered. Flailing in surprise and anger the zebra flipped up from where he lay swinging his hooves like mad. He did not hit anything, but he barely noticed, his eyes blurry and his body shaky from the freezing water. He squinted around the room in a daze, realizing it was the room it should have been. The Princess’s personal planetarium where she did her dreamwalking. It seemed like a year had passed from when they had entered the world of dreams, even though he knew it not to be true. Groggily he struggled to pull himself into reality. By the time he composed himself he noticed Luna was not in much better shape.

“Now I know why you have these on standby, Princess,” Stiff Inspection nodded as he tossed bucket onto the floor with a clamor before placing towel over the soaked alicorn. The soldier took another moment before he gave one to the zebra, who took it readily, wrapping up as tight as he could.

“I didn’t expect to actually have to engage the failsafe protocol like you said, but the two minutes passed and I had to, sorry.” Stiff shrugged waiting for them to speak.

“That is quite alright, Captain.” Luna paused to shudder before more fervently wiping herself down with the cloth, “You did what needed doing.”

A coughing and gagging momentarily took over Zeccaran’s senses as Nyx dragged herself back into the waking world. She continued to splutter for more than felt necessary.

You make it, Nyx? He questioned ironically.

Barely, I’m going to rest for a good while, I suggest you do the same. The Shade’s voice seemed to fade out almost entirely as she finished her sentence. He looked up to his friend, rolling his jaw not really having anything to say, still trying to overcome what had just happened.

“So...did it go well? I am to record any of the incursion’s details,” Stiff Inspection remarked eagerly, but with a touch of apprehension in his voice.

“No,” Zeccaran groaned before Luna could.

“Indeed. But, it was not a fruitless journey. Allow us to explain while the memories are fresh,” the Princess piped up, her momentary lapse in grace long past.

The two dreamwalkers took the better part of two hours detailing what had happened. Luna took the lead, purposely avoiding Nyx’s discovery. Zeccaran played along, acquainted with the song and dance of half-truths. He preferred to remain alive after all, and he appreciated that his Princess wished the same for him. Meanwhile the pegasus, busily wrote with a combination of his wing and mouth, filling out a clipboard and taking notes simultaneously in an impressive display of dexterity. When they finished the young captain looked between them, bags seeming to form under his eyes as Zeccaran watched.

“That is some real fucked-up shit. Forgive me, Princess, for being so frank,” he shook his head, his face pulled taut in an expression somewhere between concentration and disgust.

“As crass as your words are, they are still the best description,” Luna responded heaving a long sigh and a yawn.

“How long did Guardian Angel say he would be away? I’m forgetting now that I have gone through that mess.” Zeccaran nodded in agreement at the alicorn’s words his eyes closing. Relief and exhaustion were proving a powerful combination.

“Until mid-evening today your majesty”

It seemed like it took a solid three minutes for Stiff Inspection to respond, but he barely noticed. His head pulsed with an unpleasant numbness across his forehead and behind his ears. Still resting his eyes Zeccaran took a long breath for an even longer yawn, his thoughts pacing over what could have caused the sudden instability in the dream, if it was not Nyx. The only explanation was that the Curse of the Shadow-kin had become aware of their intrusion into its domain. The idea would have sent a shiver up his spine had he not been so dog-tired.

“Good. I’m going to need that time to sleep.” Luna momentarily interrupted his settling mind but it did not matter, he barely heard Stiff respond.

“Very good, shall I take you downstairs Zec...oh. They both passed out. Well, they certainly need it. I’ll give them an hour.”

Act 4: Chapter 3 - The Small Differences between Friends and Enemies

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Act 4: Chapter 5 - The Varied Hearts of Monsters

“So...should we, maybe think about what I should do if you have some mental trouble? I have always felt a little useless when we try to help you. I don’t like that. You are my wife there must be something I can do to help. I mean for what other reason did you marry me?”

-Bunker-

Chapter 5 - The Varied Hearts of Monsters

Guardian Angel paced the floor of Luna’s lounge. He trotted about more as a means to count time than to calm his nerves. Until his mission was complete, stress was going to continue to be a very regular part of his life, and there was nothing he could do to alleviate its effects. Pausing in his rotation for a moment, he cast a glance out the dark vista of the picture window. Being nighttime most of the Palace and her grounds were a canvas of deep blues and faint purples. He vacantly wondered how ponies slept at night knowing that the Dragons were trying to petition them to join forces and go to war. He had bigger problems to be worried about than the country’s ignorance, for now anyway.

He rotated his wing up to reveal the little stopwatch he held in it. Zeccaran and Luna still had thirty seconds before the two minute mark. It was proving to be perhaps the most trying two minutes of his life. Breaking mental connection with Gusty for any length of time was getting more and more difficult. He could not tell if the mare did not want to lose the link or if her resident demons forced it to remain open. Either way, cutting ties was essential for Luna and Zeccaran to do their work. They could not risk his knowledge of the rituals of old and the horrors wrought by his kin injecting itself even deeper into Gusty’s mind via their connection while they examined her memories.

Wiping a line of sweat from his brow, Guardian Angel continued to watch the clock click down to the failsafe time. He breathed a long sigh trying to decide if he had gotten weaker or if Gusty had gotten stronger. Frankly, he hoped that he was still not fully recovered from the dreadful soiree in the Frozen North. Gusty’s inability to control her power as it began to spiral into a death spin was not something he relished the thought of, especially with the recent political events. It was a one way ticket to a war that might very well engulf the world. But, more than that he was nervous about how the wayward mare might react. He could hardly take the thought of her changing into a monster just after she had finally come around.

Five seconds remained on the stopwatch and Guardian Angel moved towards Luna’s planetarium dreamroom. A loud yawn and a grunt caught his ears as he walked into the room.

“That went well,” Zeccaran mumbled through another yawn.

“Indeed. Things seem to be quite normal still. A welcome relief, all things considered,” Luna agreed. She sat up from the lush pillow where she lay, spying him standing in the doorway.

“Were we right on time then? You look like you planned to get the buckets.” She stood on the cushion and stretched like a cat.

“I was looking forward to making you wet.” He smiled at his entendre. Both Luna and Zeccaran groaned making him laugh perhaps a little too hard.

“If I knew you were gonna make puns like that I would have rathered you just kill me,” the zebra complained.

“Careful what you wish for, you striped idiot. If you weren’t so important to helping Gusty, she and I would have teamed up to finish you off as soon as I heard the news about what you did to Gabriella.” Guardian Angel scowled at Zeccaran. He did still harbor quite the hatred for the fellow, given all that he had done, both recently and in the past. He was not about to let him forget it either. However, so long as he remained pleasant, dutiful, and useful, the zebra was in the clear. Petty vengeance on a stallion that did not even remember his sins served no purpose but pleasure anyway.

“Regardless. It would seem that we have passed another week without Gusty experiencing any relapse or symptoms. Welcome news for all of us,” Luna chimed in over the tension, clearly intent to break it.

Except the feeling remained, all the while the Princess of the Moon attempted to look relaxed and dignified. He did not remove his eyes from Zeccaran, suspicion welling up in his chest as he stared. Guardian Angel could not quite decide what he found more upsetting about the zebra recently. Ever since they had returned from the Frozen North the cretin had seemed more confident than before. The faintest hint of familiar smells of creatures that should not be in Canterlot always seemed to dance about Zeccaran, taunting him with their presence. It did not help the situation that the zebra would sweat buckets when he would examine him closely. Whatever Zeccaran was hiding, something, somewhere in his mind told him he did not need to find out, and he should not want to find out either.

“Guardian Angel, he’s a third your size. Even if you weren’t a demon you could crush him without a contest. Please, just let him alone. He hasn’t done anything,” Luna complained as he turned away from the other stallion.

“That’s the problem. He’s usually doing something. I don’t like it when he is all composed and idle. It’s uncharacteristic!” he shot right back at his lover.

“Oh yes, always soooo concerned with your investments. Have you no mind for anything else?!”Luna scowled with righteous indignation.

“At least let me throw Zeccaran out before we have this fight, would-ya please?” He closed his eyes as he heaved the resigned sigh of acceptance.

“Zeccaran, begone!” Luna shouted her voice nearly straining into the Royal Canterlot version. The zebra obeyed immediately, without so much as a response. It was as if his body willed itself out of the room and away before his mind could catch up to agree.

After he was gone, they stood silently for a time staring at one another as Luna’s look of anger dwindled to pinched concern. Guardian Angel pursed his lips and did his best to not get upset with her attitude.

“What is it, dear,” he struggled to sound calm.

“I’m jealous. I’m tired. And I am fed up with everything we have been doing.” She spat out every word as if it was trying to stay glued to her tongue.

“What? You mean with work? With Gusty? What do you mean?” Guardian Angel squinted at her, truly confused with her proclamation.

“All of it! It’s like I’m watching you walk down the same path I watched you go before. You throw your whole being into what you are trying to do. And while I have always admired you for that, you seem to be losing track of things that matter.” Luna explained broadly.

“You mean you? How in the world could I lose track of you?” he countered trying to force her to be more specific.

“Not just me, Guardian Angel, us. You haven’t been paying attention to our relationship hardly at all over the last two months. You’ve been on more missions, nearly died, twice! I just..it’s like before, how you were possessed with revenge.” She hearkened back to the darkest portion of his past.

Her words stung. Gritting his fangs he turned his face down to the floor. It might have been true that they had not been spending time together like they had before. This situation, however, was nothing like before. Nothing would ever be like this situation again, either. That was the thought he prayed to be true every spare moment he had.

“So you think that I should just...ignore the pressing matters of Gusty Twilight simply because, at the present moment, everything is nice, safe, and stable?” He was not capable of hiding his contempt from his voice.

“I’m saying you need a damn break! By the Hellish Layers of Tartarus I need a break! We haven’t seen each other for longer than two hours a day over the last month and before that you spent some five weeks cavorting about in that shithole of an ice palace, leaving me to worry about you day and night. Because if you forget my foolish stallion you are the one mind I cannot enter while you sleep!” Luna was flat shouting now. Guardian Angel closed his eyes and shook his head, keeping his angry sigh small but still noticeable.

His mare stomped past him into the lounge muttering curses under breath. Her words shook as she spoke in that way that signaled she was genuinely upset. Still, nothing was more important than keeping the world from imploding in on itself. Gusty Twilight, much to Luna’s chagrin was the mechanism that would start that monumental problem and the health of their relationship would matter little if they could not solve it.

“You know how important this is. We can’t relax. The moment we do we’ll lose our chance to fix it. It will slip past, quietly and then it’s over...there’s nothing left,” he said as he followed her into the other room.

“How do you know that?! Huh?!” Luna threw herself onto one of the couches, giving him a particularly sour stare. “You might be smart Guardian Angel but you aren’t omnipotent. Even though you’ve been acting like it more and more!”

“I have not!” He protested. Her words were just an attack on his quite reasonable concern that the action of his ancestors were a hair’s breadth from destroying everything he loved, Luna included. No expense or resource was spared in this quest to remove the Curse of his kin, the result was he did know much about it.

“You could have fooled me. Your constant obsessing on what path the future is going to take, all the theories, all the contingency plans? You fucking expect me to believe you aren’t doing what you started doing those thirteen years ago? You forget I was there. I might not have had the gumption to speak up before, but I certainly do now!” She snarled. It was more as an aside to herself, but it affected him nonetheless.

Pacing around the sofa where Luna lay he growled at the feelings of guilt that clawed at his will to keep up his vigil. He knew in his heart of hearts that he was going to cave to his mare, but she would have to drag him kicking and screaming. Otherwise he would not be able to deal with himself for shirking his post. Especially if they did miss their opportunity to set things right.

“That’s hardly an issue. The whole idea has always been my life for everypony else’s. That’s my job. Hell, it’s in my name. What exactly do you expect me-” he caught Luna’s face. She was crying. It was not a loud, dramatized display, but instead a silent, pained sort. He immediately nixed the idea of fighting as hard to prove his point.

“So…” she wiped her face with a hoof. “Go on, since this is clearly more important than us. Bigger than us. You’re right of course...but I just…”

Luna did not need to find more words to work on his heart. Guilt had never been an emotion he coped with easily. It was even worse when you suddenly have your moral compass kicked back into functionality by a rather spiteful demi-goddess. Thus, he scooted around the couch and lay down on the floor at its foot so he could be closer to Luna without crowding her.

“You will always be the most important thought on my mind, love. We are just so close...we right there...like the answer is just waiting behind the next clue and then everything can be...you know, actually normal! Without any looming threats to the world’s safety.” He murmured excitedly to her.

“You’d be a touch more convincing If perhaps I did not know what thoughts danced on Gusty’s mind. She knows full-well that any flirting now is not to aggravate her like it once was, nay your actions have always been earnest. How warm are her thoughts of you, Guardian Angel. I’ve seen everything there is to know about her in her dreams. And I know how things have been different between the two of you since the Frozen North. She fantasizes about you. ” Luna whispered back not looking at him.

Guardian Angel blushed, fully understanding her apprehension She felt like she was competing with a mare that dominated their work life and could literally beam her thoughts into his head. What Luna did not know was that there was not much competition. Before now she had kept the score of this game one-hundred to zero. Gusty had finally scored a few points after three years of playing and that was not near enough to even make him consider changing his choice of girlfriend. That thought made Guardian Angel smile at her, even though she did not turn to see it. She had always been a jealous-type and he loved it.

“Well since you haven’t had time to snoop yet tonight I’d been meaning to tell you that I convinced her that we need to talk about our behavior toward each other. Specifically, this Monday we intend to nip this little bit of flirting in the bud. As it’s pretty difficult for either of us to focus on other ponies when we can talk so freely across that damn link of ours.” He reassured her.

That was his ultimate intent. He liked Gusty after all, and keeping idle minds from being a threat was tough with her. Especially now that the crazy teal mare had enough of her wits to realize what was going on around her. Gusty was not the sort of pony to wait on things should she take fancy to them, if she wanted him, she would come get him. That was made all the more alluring because before Luna had finally confessed to him, he had his eyes set on the mare that had saved his life.

“Y-you are?” Luna continued their conversation. Her face shifted to curious and less hurt. “Strange. I picked Monday morning to try and help her stop thinking about you as much too.”

“We have always been good at working together whether or not we realized it.” He smiled at her.

“I’m just happy you knew what was going on and acted on before I even said anything. It makes me feel like you chose me all over again. Which is a much needed pick-me-up... It has been a hard month for me. After discovering the curse’s true nature, watching you be so withered and broken, seeing how vibrant and endearing Gusty actually is...then watching the two of you give eachother bedroom eyes every Court you’ve both been to: it has been a slog.” Luna gave a sort of relieved sigh.

“Well...that’s why you said we need a break. So...let’s have a break then!” He smiled standing up. He offered a hoof to her so he could help pull her off the sofa. She took it and stood on the couch instead of stepping down from it, peering down from her vantage point thoughtfully.

“You know I can’t help but like her, even if she intends to become my rival in a contest for your affections.” She wiped her tears and fixed him with a surprisingly playful look. “It’s a good thing you have me to help you with her because I don’t think you could handle her on your own, Guardian Angel.”

A little bit of his mare’s snarky attitude came out with that statement and he could not help but smile wider. In his opinion, Luna was an objective good that very few ponies got to enjoy. He was particularly pleased he had the opportunity, he mused to himself.

“I know that look, meddler!” his mare proclaimed drawing him out of his thoughts.

“So you don’t want to go on a break? I had such a magnificent evening planned out” he pouted back, trying to prey on her pride.

Luna pushed her nose towards the ceiling as if to say she was offended he would think of anything besides her. She held the pose until he reached a wing out to her neck and lightly raked it through her fur. Releasing a small squeak of surprise she turned her gaze back to him with faux-incredulousness.

“I guess I can always go hunting instead...I am kind of hungry,” he grinned through his fangs knowing she would break for the break.

“Cheater! I’m not about to pass up such an opportunity!” She played her part perfectly.

“Why don’t we go flying then? We haven’t had a quiet moment like that in almost twenty years. Then maybe go pick up some coffee at our favorite coffee shop down by the Market Square...maybe bring some friends, Ember and a few of the Nightwatch...yeah...then I could parade you through a couple bars, since I know you like the attention.” He watched gleefully as Luna tried to hide her smile.

“Only the bars where you know ponies. It is high time we make our relationship public.” She nodded curtly. The gesture was more to herself than him. After all, the call to keep things private had been hers, and rightly so, she was the Princess.

“Well, no shit! Are you sure that’s a good idea...to just spring out into public eye like that?” Guardian Angel proclaimed quite pleased that she had finally come to this decision with pride, but a little hesitant to help it along. It would not do to cause a civil uprising on the perchance the populous would be upset with their courtship.

“And why not? It is not as if I will take anypony’s criticism seriously. So, indeed. No shit!” Luna hiked her nose back up again.

“And wait until they hear you talk like an old tavern wench. Half of Equestria will laud you, the other half will faint in horror!” he started to laugh as he walked around the couch in a happy little trot

“I do not talk like a tavern wench, you vile inbred cur!” she hissed behind him. Guardian Angel did not need to see her face to know Luna was both blushing and trying her best to not giggle. Or she was mad, there was always that option.

“Come on, potty mouth let’s start this date,” he said after sticking his tongue out at her. Before she could respond he bounded over the couch in the lounge and out the door onto the balcony his wings carrying him up quickly. Luna cursed vehemently behind him, either to show that, in fact, she did talk like an old mare or because she was angry he was leaving her behind. It did not matter which, either option was the start of a good night.

==============================================================

Zeccaran sipped his coffee across from Pixie in the small little coffee shop. It was half past after midnight and a few hours since he had escaped the presence of his girlfriend’s older brother. It had been a wonderful evening so far. Pixie had been a little envious of his time in the dream realm with Luna and had insisted they do something in public. Which was perfectly fine with him; they did not have much to work on in the lab anyway and being seen as the stallion that landed the beauty across from him did make Zeccaran feel pretty phenomenal.

“What?” Pixie questioned noticing his half-lidded gaze.

“Nothing just enjoying myself. I’m just not used to it and it makes me daydreamy,” Zeccaran replied setting down his mug cautiously.

The ding of the store’s doorbell echoed barely audible over a rowdy crowd that entered the shop. Curious, the zebra leaned around his mate to look at who had come in the establishment. A dull purple dragon taller than Pixie stood next to a thestral mare of deep blue. Perplexed, Zeccaran scooted his chair around the table some making his snowy companion turn her head as well. Next in line was a cyan-colored dragoness, standing next to two stallions, one a big brown earther the other a lean looking unicorn. They chattered loudly about hoofball while the pair in front of them kept looking at one another then away from one another. However, it was the dulcet tones of Princess Luna and the dry sarcastic sounds of Guardian Angel that drew his attention. There they stood speaking to each other or shouting occasionally at the ever louder dragoness.

“This is it. I’m dead. He’s gonna see us and I’m dead!” he whimpered.

“Oh, settle down. He’s not gonna kill you in a public space!” Pixie turned around and fixed him with a stare that was somewhere between playful and predatory. “Besides, unless you start screaming or something stupid like that he probably won’t even notice. He’s a bit distracted if you can’t tell.”

Zeccaran did not believe her but peeked around her red-maned head cautious about seeing what she meant. The demon seemed to be rather fixated on the group with him. His eyes mostly kept to Luna, who he held, one of each of their forelegs twined together. Otherwise he seemed to monitor the cyan dragoness with a sort of fatherly gaze as if he wanted to make sure she stayed out of trouble.

He did not relax, but at least Pixie was not lying to him for sport. It was strange to have somepony like her both care for him but also enjoy his discomfort. Stranger still he rather liked the sensation. Meanwhile his ears caught the sound of Luna telling the party they should make their coffees to go, that all haste was to be made going to the taverns on the other side of town. The party all agreed rather quickly and they left nearly as fast has they had arrived.

However, as Zeccaran hazarded his first steady breath since the princess and the demon entered the shop. It was quickly cut into a gasp when the pair paused in the doorway. They graciously held the door open for their companions, the zebra staring on in horror. Luna who was closer to them turned about as the rest of her party departed and gave him a big wink and a mischievous grin like she had gotten away with something. That felt nice, she was trying to help him. The feeling was much to short-lived, the white hot gaze of Guardian Angel seemed to sear his neck, forcing him to look at the demon. Zeccaran withered at the sight of the harsh red eyes and the fangs large enough to split his ribs.

As quick as the moment had come and the contrast sent him into cold nervous sweats they were gone. Pixie took a sip of her cappuccino as she tried to contain her smile.

“I guess he noticed,” she stated more than questioned.

Zeccaran could only managed to nod shakily in response.

“Ahh. Don’t worry. He probably isn’t all that mad at you. I’m not exactly supposed to be in Canterlot. It probably came as a bit of a shock to him. Seeing you with me only it made it worse I’m sure,” Pixie explained matter-of-factly.

“Yeah…” he mumbled, “you didn’t have to look him in the eye when he did that thing he does.”

“Oh, the Stare? I can do that too. Probably not as good as him though.” She smiled.

“The what?” Zeccaran carefully reached for his coffee trying to not hyperventilate still recuperating from the fear.

“It’s an old Shadow-kin trait, they used it to intimidate ponies or other creatures. Evidently it’s not all that uncommon in your average pegasi, I’ve heard about a few that can do it here and there. Makes sense really, after all the old lords did do quite a bit of raping and pillaging. Not may ponies know what to do with it though so, it’s mostly gone unnoticed by regular society.” Pixie waxed philosophical over her ancestors’ influence on the modern world.

“Let’s just go to that late show you wanted to see, I can hide there and it’s still in public!”

His girlfriend laughed at him but agreed. Quickly finishing their well-cooled coffees, Zeccaran rushed them out of the shop and to the safety of the theater. However, the movie was not nearly as entertaining as they had planned. The process did successfully calm him down and when they decided to leave about halfway through the production he had a new idea.

“As dangerous as this seems to me….want to go grab a drink?” Zeccaran asked his girlfriend.

“Sure! I think my favorite bar has a special on mixers tonight, and they don’t close until three in the morning!” Pixie chirped merrily.

Zeccaran went to ask what time it was when the hearty old bell in the train station's clock began to chime. It cycled its tune and finished with only two tones. They had enough time for exactly what was planned. Pixie immediately prodded him on her back and in only a few minutes they hand flown over the dark streets to were where she wanted to go.

“I’m kinda surprised you want to be so bold, Zeccaran.” She commented as he scrambled down after she landed.

“Why not? I don’t have much to live for besides hanging out with you. We did have a conversation about that, remember?” He smiled at her. It was his whole reason for being out in the first place. Even if it increased his chances of bodily harm, Pixie was worth it.

“I know,” she leaned down and nuzzled him. “Let’s see how lucky you are then, huh?”

“Don’t bring luck into it. Every time I do it backfires spectacularly.” Zeccaran grimaced, taking the first steps into the old tavern.

He pushed open the ancient glass and wood door, it was covered in knife marks and graffiti. The sound of drinking ponies reached his ears almost instantly. Even at an hour to last call the place thrummed with activity. He could vaguely make out a large group who were right against the U-shaped bar, keeping the bartenders quite busy. The loud boisterous yells of Princess Luna called out for another drink, backed up by a chorus of cheers. Zeccaran’s smile slowly started to vanish as he realized he had walked into the lion’s den.

“Well, well, well...look who decided to join the party everybody.” Stormwalker’s voice seemed to crawl out of the great wooden pillars that suspended the roof.

As if sliding up behind them on the whims of the shadowy walls in the dingy bar Zeccaran felt him standing behind them.

“If it isn’t my sister and her coltfriend!” he declared more than questioned as per the turn of phrase. A hearty hoof as hard as iron pressed its surface into the area at the bottom of Zeccaran’s neck pushing him forward. The same was happening to Pixie as he looked over at her, her face twisted into an annoyed scowl. He dared not look back at the face of his assailant and he found a reason to resist curiosity; a clopping of hooves drew his gaze back towards the bar.

“Pixie, Zeccaran! I was ever so hoping you would join us!” Luna shouted as she charged into them. The alicorn wrapped them both in a tight hug giggling like mad.

She smelled strongly of alcohol. The dizzyingly stench powerful enough to make him gasp for breath instead of fawn over the fact she was hugging him. However, the Princess released her grip. He looked at her face, an uneven smile spread across her lips, her features relaxed and cheery. Zeccaran could not help but think that her appearance was even more gorgeous than normal. He looked back to Pixie to confirm his suspicions but his marefriend won the momentary mental contest, she had stopped scowling, which was akin to cheating for her.

“Come, let us get you drinks!” The Princess of the Moon started pulling while her significant other kept pushing. The result was he and Pixie nearly being forced to run up to the bar.

The most disheveled barkeep ever stood shuddering as they stopped before him. Zeccaran puzzled over the empty liquor bottles he saw on the lower shelves, and the curious lack of selection that was still available to drink.

“How about two beers...since what I was after has been drank by these two fools.” Pixie pointed at Luna and over her shoulder at her brother. The barkeep nodded and hustled to get what they wanted.

To Zeccaran’s surprise both instantly started to laugh. Even Guardian Angel’s laugh was surprisingly endearing, before he started muttering something barely intelligible to Luna. The pressure released from his neck and he turned around to look to find him advancing on the blue mare a gleeful smile on his face. The Princess had her mouth open as she panted, her face flushed enough that her blue fur was managing to turn a pink-red on her cheeks. The demon lunged forward, knocking her from her hooves and into his as he stood up on just his back legs.

Luna shrieked not in fear but merriment as he did. She threw her hooves around his neck, her wings flopping every which way, her intoxication clear. However, finally getting a good look at Guardian Angel, Zeccaran could see he looked red-faced too, but not quite as bad as Luna. Remembering the fifteen or so empty bottles Zeccaran shuddered. However, he trembled as the demon laid Luna out on the bar knocking empty glasses out of their way and disturbing the other patrons drinks. The barkeeper cried out in dismay and the other guests cursed loudly at them, drunk enough to not realize a crown princess and a demon lord were the culprits.

“I didn’t think we’d get a drink and a show!” Pixie laughed next to him. “I can’t believe him, he’s gonna make out with Luna in public!”

Pixie’s words calmed the chatter of the crowd. All eyes in the bar looked directly at the sloppy couple at the counter. They seemed not to notice, their muzzles pressed together and eyes locked. Guardian Angel broke the stare his gaze flicking over the broken glass and the angry, and enraptured patrons. A huge smile exposed his fangs, Zeccaran even noticed his slit-pupils appear.

“Luna, my love. Do you remember that present I arranged for the bar we closed down?” He asked the princess over the frozen ponies.

“Mmmhmm!” She nodded her head, her horn brightening before a snap! echoed over the room.

A huge cloth sack appeared next to them. A clattering of contained coins clambered its way into the rafters and the crowd collectively gasped, Zeccaran included. Lightly over the noise Pixie giggled, making him look at her in surprise.

“That should take care of things Mr. Bartender…” he looked down at Luna. “Now...where were we?”

Luna grabbed his face and they got busy. The crowd looked on in total shock. Everypony knew who the Princess was, even while drunk now that they had been reminded. If this did not make tomorrow’s paper Zeccaran would probably kill the editor. This was simply too much of a bungled mess for them to miss, it would have been a slight against all papers that thrived on gossip as news if they did.

Their beers arrived finally drawing his attention to them.

“It’s on the house,” the now very, very, very tired bartender remarked. “You folks might want to drink and run. We got dragons doing the same thing in here”

He pointed towards a booth off in a corner where the rest of Guardian Angel and Luna’s party from sat in various states of intoxicated, lips locked, or asleep.

“Noted.” Both he and Pixie quipped grabbing their respective beverages.

That they did. The couple was quickly running down the street away from the tavern not looking back. They ran all the way back to Palace, where Zeccaran had to stop, his cardio not as good as Pixie’s.

“That was dreadfully embarrassing.” She flipped her mane back to its normal position as he caught his breath, their pace slowed down to a walk as they climbed the stairs up to the main doors inside the Royal abode.

“I would have gone for terrifying, but sure.” Zeccaran groaned. “I’m just glad he somehow wasn’t trying to murder me.”

“That’s the least of your worries...I just can’t believe him. Walking around with his fangs out like that. Makes me so angry!” Pixie stomped a hoof breaking her stride.

The zebra raised a brow at her. He had yet to see his marefriend mad at anything. The guards at the front doors also looked at them curiously. One of them called out their names cautiously, acknowledging that they were cleared to enter the castle. Silently they did as instructed. Pixie’s brow remained furled in frustration while Zeccaran kept quiet not knowing the questions to ask on the long journey down into their lab.

“My brother…” Pixie sighed as they hit the basement lobby.

“What about him?...Specifically?” the zebra grasped at straws.

Slowing her pace, his mare’s face turned philosophical as she rolled her jaw. “He and I have a strong difference in opinion regarding our ancestry”

“Like..how you should act, or how they acted? I don’t really know what you are referencing, babe.” Zeccaran rubbed his mane watching her closely. It took her a minute to respond as they mosied aimlessly down the big hall that led further into the complex.

“It’s more a disagreement about what he and I should do, what ponies should know, how we interact with others,” Pixies finally said.

“That’s a pretty huge topic scale. Where do the two of you fall on it?” he asked, more than curious.

“Let’s just say, I’m of the opinion that lots of things don’t need to be told to the average laypony. Why do you think they are so happy these days? Most don’t even realize how close we’ve repeatedly come to destruction the last twenty years. It’s how Celestia has always run the country and I agree with it,” She explained

“Your brother?” Zeccaran hesitantly felt the words exit his mouth.

“He is opposite. He wants ponies to know about the the atrocities that have been happening around the world. How Equestria has been saved by a scant twenty individuals repeatedly throughout recent history. He thinks the populace needs to be ready to combat external threats, he believes they can do it without the help of our country’s heroes. In truth he’s not wrong...” Pixie paused, her face curling into a snarl that made her look ever so slightly more like her sibling, if perhaps without the sharp teeth.

“But, what upsets me is how he goes about it. He wears his fangs...his scars, his eyes like a badge of honor. He. Is. A. Monster. And he’s proud of it. He wants ponies to not be afraid of him, to be able live normally among them. He knows better. How could a Shadow-kin ever live normally alongside ponies? After everything we have done? It’s why I invent things...so I can make everypony’s life better. It’s why I agree with Celestia...regular folk need to have a break. They might have had one for a couple hundred years since the last international war, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to keep that facade in place as long as we can.” She stopped walking her eyes starting to water.

“Pixie…” Zeccaran tried to comfort her by placing a hoof on her shoulder. She looked at him her bright yellow eyes nearly glowing in the low light of the night time luminance of the Palace’s bowls.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offload all of that onto you.” She whispered. The zebra was starting to get the suspicion that Pixie had not been exclusively talking about her brother when she mentioned the monster part of her speech. Still, they had not been the originals. The guilt might be born in their blood but that did not make either of them equivalent of their ancestors. Zeccaran stood up a little taller, he was proud of her, and she needed to know it.

“Don’t worry. My baggage is not any better than yours. We all have our skeletons.” He smiled at her. It was at that moment that his heart reached out and took over his mouth.

“I love you all the same. And I’m very proud to be your stallion-friend” Came the words, and came the red to the white stripes of his face. His girlfriend’s face flushed just as red as the heat on his face felt before her upset eyes fluttered dreamy.

She leaned in and kissed him. “I love you too, Zeccaran. And I wouldn’t have it any other way either.”

They stood in the hall, kissing more as the moment overtook them. After a time, they got back to moving home. That was a strange word to Zeccaran. The lab, the trouble with Gusty, this new life: it was his home. As Pixie lay down on their big bed, beckoning him to nuzzle into her chest fluff his smile turned into true contentment. The only thing left was to make sure he could keep it this way. He faltered as he looked up at Pixie he face gentle and eager. A familiar voice emerging from her hiding spot.

So this is what happiness feels like, Conduit? I rather like it. Nyx metaphorically yawned.

It is. It’s been a while for me. I think you and I need to talk with Luna about the Gusty Project when we go to sleep. He responded his mind starting to drift from the present of his mate.

Oh! Aren’t we determined suddenly! She purred.

Just call it a hunch, but for now help me make sure my Pixie is most pleased with my endeavors. Zeccaran requested.

Nyx just rolled her tongue louder as he went in for the kill. It was quite a while before he fell asleep that night.

Act 4: Chapter 6 - It Starts at -1% Grade

“Dearest Emperor of Griffa, Heinrich. I write to you as a friend. I am deeply disturbed by recent events perpetuated by your military and diplomatic forces. I understand the dire situation of your Empire, but national unity cannot be sustained by the drums of war. There has been peace between our peoples for over three hundred years, and there shall continue to be peace. As per the agreement that went before your Council of Generals, Equestria will impose no sanctions nor make any international condemnations so long as the agreed reparations are paid to the Ovi of the Baylands. I urge you to accept this offer. On the honor of your parents, whom I held in highest regards, do not throw away everything they built, thusly I implore you.”

“Yours faithfully, Princess Celestia of Equestria”

Chapter 6 - Negative 1% Grade

Clutching her hooves to her temples, Gusty groaned. She opened her eyes and watched Guardian Angel pace across the floor of her apartment.

“Your pacing is only making this worse. Give it a rest,” she complained.

“Sorta the point, sweetheart. We are really close to closing all the paths across our minds. If you can maintain your focus past the bond and my annoying behavior we are in the clear,” he replied, continuing to slowly put a groove in the floor where he strode.

Trying again, Gusty fought the onslaught of a fresh migraine. It was difficult to think about, much less describe the torment of breaking their mental connection. It was like trying to peel a lemon with only your eyelids and one hoof. Possible? Sure. Easy? No! Painful? Yes. Something you should do? Gusty was thinking that perhaps not. She could feel the magical bond groaning under the metaphorical pressure she was applying to it. Its aura bent, refusing to break as if it was a rod of copper.

Bunker, who had been silently watching next to her on their sofa, rubbed her shoulders gently as she released another grunt. Guardian Angel had eagerly accepted her proposition to have her husband remain present for their meeting. It was a good change of pace, it felt nice to have a third party that was as invested in the situation as they were but for his own reasons. Simple reasons, specifically, that tempered the emotional tension between she and the demon. Suddenly the pressure between them broke and Gusty let loose a gasp, opening her reflexively closed eyes again.

“Was that it? Did we manage it?” she asked excitedly to Guardian Angel who had stopped pacing, his face thoughtful but distant. He did not answer.

Gusty reached out across their bond to find the raging river of thoughts and emotion naught but a dry stream. She could feel his magical presence, like she could when they first met but there were no stray thoughts, no little prods of interest. Shocked, and in a way, appalled, she stared slack-jawed as he turned to meet her eyes.

“Yes. I think we managed it.” He nodded and smiled.

“So that means no more late night conversations, da?” Bunker interjected.

“What?” Guardian Angel balked, confusion evident in his pinched brow. Meanwhile Gusty attempted to hold down a blush, while staring daggers at her husband.

“Oh. My mistake. Gusty just talks often in her sleep. It wakes me up sometimes. And you know...I just assumed with the whole,” he motioned between his and her skulls, “mind thing, was going on. I mean I don’t know how it works!”

Gusty exhaled a sigh of relief. Bunker had made a decent recovery. Even though the other stallion likely knew of her less than appropriate thoughts, she preferred nopony else blurted them out to confirm any of his suspicions.

“Anyway. It looks like we’ve had some success. However, it depends how long we can hold this.” Guardian Angel wiped his brow where a surprising amount of sweat had pooled. “And I notice you aren’t pulling your weight, which makes this really difficult.”

Gusty sucked in a breath through gritted teeth and attempted to force her mind still as she had been originally instructed. After a moment of struggle she managed to acquire the same feeling of balance she had achieved when the connection had been cut off just moments ago. It was working, now it was just a test to see how far they could keep things broken.

“Bunker, do something to try and distract me!” she cooed doing her best to remain collected. They had decided he was the perfect candidate to test their capabilities. He did not have any magic of his own so it only made sense for him to use his wit to try and break their concentration.

One of her husband’s hooves found its way to her soft underbelly and poked at the bottom of her ribs. Gusty loosed a squeaky yelp of surprise before meeting her partner’s eyes with pinched angry lips. However, it was not enough to negate their true objective.

“Not bad. Looks like it is going well over there. Me next,” Guardian Angel commanded from the otherside of the room.

Bunker grunted and with horror and pride Gusty watched him pull a stiletto out from under a couch cushion. When he had planted that she did not know, but it was perfect. He partially stood from his seat as if he was planning to make his way over to the other stallion, only to plant his back hooves and throw the skinny dagger at Guardian Angel. The blade found its mark, burying itself into the demon’s shoulder. He flinched in surprise, blood running down his front leg and towards the carpeted floor. Recovering, he stared back over at her husband in awe managing to give a small approving nod, his mouth remaining open.

“Damnit, Bunker! I just had that rug cleaned!” Gusty hissed at her husband as she watched Guardian Angel’s blood make it the rest of the way into the carpet. The ichor continued to splash over his dark hooves as he pulled the knife out of his muscle with a grunt. The alicorn noticed that despite having lost her focus momentarily, it was not nearly as difficult to return to the procedure.

“I...I think its working…” she whispered behind Bunker laughing at Guardian Angel.

“Da?” Her husband turned around to face her. “Then I’ll have to try harder!”

About an hour passed as Bunker continued to attempt to dilute she and Guardian’s focus. He came close a few times, like when he slapped the demon in the snout with his tail. Gusty was just glad her husband had a tail to speak of afterwards. Likewise, he had proven resourceful but not successful when he had tormented her with a choice feather selected from his unwitting assistant. She had survived the tickling and by the end of the hour Gusty felt quite confident that she could maintain this division between herself and G.A. quite easily and quite indefinitely.

“Well...I didn’t expect us to be so successful on the first try. But…” the demon-stallion eyed her with a mischievous grin, “I should have known better than to expect less from you.”

Gusty scowled at him. She did not need their mental bridge to know he was trying to ruffle her feathers. “Yes, and then trying to flirt with me is a great way to ruin all that progress. And right in front of Bunker too!”

“Oh, but I’d never do anything so promiscuous. No, this is merely to annoy you. Thus, I bid you adieu! After all, I have much hunting to do, very difficult to do while standing here trading insults with you!” he sniggered as he made his way to the Prench doors of the apartment’s balcony. He took his time, strutting with extra long strides as he went.

Gusty heard a small hiss of air come from Bunker. When she turned to look her husband was biting his lips closed, the edges of his mouth curled in a smile. He thought it was funny, Gusty would get him back for his insolence soon enough. She directed her attention back to the fool that drug his bloody hooves across her floor, fire in her eyes.

“So farewell, yon stubborn mare…” he started, a leg pushing open the door outside.

“Guardian Angel.” Gusty seethed.

“Trouble you no longer I would not dare.” The demon had pushed his luck too far.

“Stop rhyming, you gigantic asshole!” She shouted in rage. Bunker exploded in laughter next to her. She ignored him only because he could not escape, when she was done with her husband he was not going to be able to walk. Meanwhile, she heard Guardian giggle smartly.

“Oh...pish-posh don’t let it mess up your...mane!” He leaped forward out the door and front flipped over the balcony rail. He managed that feat before she could hurl her living room furniture at him, worse yet, he ruined the hair-brained cadence. Unsure if finishing the rhyme or ruining it as he had was worse Gusty was left muttering under breath in anger. Meanwhile, Bunker slowly recovered from having fallen over from a fit of giggles.

“Alright, you.” Gusty turned on him with a ravenous fury. “Bedroom...now.”

================================================================

Bunker still lay stoically in their bed several hours later, well after Gusty had returned home from retrieving Amethyst from school. His cheeks would occasionally puff out as he drew heavy, but regular breaths. Fluttering, his eyes moved towards her as she entered the room, his neck slowly craning to watch her. Gusty spread herself out on the bed’s edge, putting her body next to his. He released a calm groan not of pain but more of simple resignation.

“Every now and then...I am reminded that I am but a mere stallion. This is one of those times,” he said.

“Buck up, buttercup, you gotta get ready for the rest of your vacation,” she replied.

Bunker drew another big breath and exhaled it before putting his hooves over his eyes. With a loud grunt he sat upright and moved his body into a proper sitting position on the bed. He rolled out of the comfy, cushiony upholstery and gave a mediocre stretch as Gusty watched playfully.

“Da. Vacation. If that is what one could call it,” he yawned, “I am hungry, but what to cook?”

“Some of your famous stew?” She mused, her thoughts elsewhere. Specifically, Gusty found it rather convenient that her husband had vacation at the same time she was feeling as sensual as she did the last few weeks. Worse, the end of August was awfully late in season to be feeling the traditional female call to mate. She was fairly certain the culprit had flipped his merry way to freedom knowing full well what he had done.

“That is a great idea! Need to see if I have to go raid the Royal Storehouse...do we have carrots? Da. Onions?...” His voice became fainter as he walked down the hall.

Still laying flat on her bed, Gusty peered at the wooden headboard distractedly. She rolled onto her side so she might be more near the center of the bed. It was not terribly long before she had dozed off. Nothing like a late afternoon nap to keep her chipper until sometime after midnight. In truth she should have helped Bunker make dinner but it was too late to rise again once she had repositioned herself. By the time her husband woke her up for food she had nearly dreamed her way into the final tower of an old castle. Fighting back metaphorical monsters on her way nearly having saved the stranded princess, who so happened to be a very lazy Celestia in this dream. Gusty harrumphed as she opened her eyes to the sound of her husband’s voice and realized the little adventure had been only a fantasy of her mind.

“You are hungry, right?” Bunker asked with a raised brow from the foot of the bed.

“Yes. I was having a good dream.” She paused to yawn, her voice deeper as she recovered. “Then you ruined it by waking me up!”

“A good dream?!” he balked in surprise.

Silence overcame Gusty as she realized that she had just had a lucid dream that was not some terrible recollection of her past. A huge beaming smile crept onto her face and she hopped out of bed with enthusiasm. Nabbing Bunker in a tight hug she kissed him, catching him off guard entirely.

“Yep! A great dream...really!” she chirped. Gusty released her husband and prancing towards dinner.

As they ate and made small talk with Amethyst, she could not help but feel elated. Today had been nothing like she expected, and for once that was a pleasant surprise. A hearty warm feeling reached its way up to her chest, and it was not the toasty temperature of the delicious stew. Nothing could ruin this moment, as she looked between her daughter and husband Gusty knew no matter what happened she would never forget this simple but peaceful moment. Finishing her current bowl she reached for another, mind wandering over her mood, Amethyst’s schoolwork, and the possibility of meeting Ashijinir again. She gasped at the little reminder of things to be done this evening returning to her. Her family looked at her expectantly.

“Princess Luna wanted to go dreamwalking with me this evening. I just remembered.” She tossed her mane away from the food as she spoke.

“Ooooooh! Cool! Can I come?” Amethyst asked excitedly.

“Mmm..not for this one. If we do another one sometime on a weekend you can. You have to go to school tomorrow silly filly!” Gusty laughed at her daughter’s pouty face as she complained about having a bedtime. It was all for show anyway, the filly had always been an early to bed early to rise type of pony.

“Da. I would go but, tonight...I sleep like the dead.” Bunker gave a wide groan then yawn as he finished his sentence. Gusty caught his eye as he leaned back in his chair. She wiggled her eyebrows while biting her lip. He shuddered, but smiled confidently afterwards.

Supper came to a close once they had each eaten their second portion. They dispersed from the kitchen, Amethyst to read a book on the balcony, Bunker to eagerly do the dishes. Pausing to watch him, he informed Gusty that it was therapeutic, a closer to his usual long day of harassing new Guard recruits or helping her. All she could do was remark that her husband had been doing well to expand his vocabulary. Otherwise, as she went to the living room to lounge on the couch, her mind starting to wander again.

Gusty hated to admit it, but regardless of how fabulous the day had been she felt somewhat uneasy. Perhaps it was just irrational anxiety, spurred mainly by the simple fact that bad things usually came at the worst time, when you were relaxed and in good mood. Life always had a way of being a real bastard and Gusty had lived through a lot of life. Everything just seemed too surreal to continue as it stood. The warmth in her chest would vanish like a candle dosed by a barrel of icy water and she again would feel terrible.

She pushed those thoughts away, as she watched the sun slowly set behind her daughter’s hunched silhouette on the balcony. Amethyst’s mane would occasionally flair out from her head on the errant breezes of the Canterlot mountain air. It made Gusty smile to see the picture-perfect image. The clopping of her husband’s hooves turned her head towards him. He seemed to not notice her gaze and instead mosied slowly around the sofa and sat down next to her with a sigh.

They sat like that for hours, chatting and reminiscing over how they had met. It made Gusty feel rather sappy but all the same, she did intend to keep her husband around for as long as he would let her. They had yet to have the discussion of Bunker’s mortality, or what their future plans were for when the Curse was officially removed. Gusty realized this as they spoke, but the time for Amethyst to go to bed came and she was saved. It was a not-so-unconscious of an effort to keep putting the conversation off, but they had all of tomorrow while their daughter was at school to talk about it. Thus they made certain said daughter actually got into bed and stopped reading. Amethyst tried to find the right things to say to start a parley that would let her at least practice a few spells but to no avail. Gusty would have none of it, too interested in the chance at more private time to entertain her daughter’s idea.

It was much later that night, in the wee hours of the morning as her mind quieted finally for sleep, did the uncomfortable feeling return. There were many unknowns in the near future that depended on the Curse being destroyed. Gusty shivered as she fell into slumber, unhappy with the idea that, soon, her whole life might completely fall apart. Still, she had some very determined ponies to help her should that come to pass before a solution was reached. That thought calmed her fully into dreams. Her little adventure was quick to resume, the halls of the dark castle of yesteryear seemed to form around her in coarse stone. Ready to continue she dashed towards an animated suit of armor cutting it down with ease ready to save her friend of a sloth so great she could not be bothered to save herself. Gusty quite readily forgot the anxiety in favor of the fun before her. There was nothing she could do to prevent it anyway, so fretting did little.

Meanwhile, she had reached the top of the fabled tower. She opened the door of the highest chamber and instead of finding Celestia she found Luna. Well that was not quite right, this was more of a perversion of Luna. Gusty stood there confusedly as the apparition that bore the mooney mare’s cutie mark laughed maniacally. She yelled something about a night that lasted forever before the wayward Gusty recalled this alternate personality and the funny little story that came with it. The black beauty from the recent past was Nightmare Moon, a possessed Luna under the influence of the now dead Nyx. This was going to be fun.

The fight was on, and Gusty knew who was to be the victor. She tossed the other mare about, striking not to kill but to humiliate. Nightmare fought valiantly, shapeshifting and sending out powerful blasts of magic. Her opponent, unfortunately for the black mare, was several thousand years her senior in combat. Gusty dodged every attempt to subdue her laughing and quiping as she went. Finally she spanked the flat of her blade across Nightmare’s hooves and knocked her to the ground. Holding the blade to her quarry’s throat Gusty flipped her mane behind her ears, beaming with pride.

“Ha! I have defeated you, dark mistress of the night! Restore Luna and surrender to me, you need not fight on only to die!” she declared with gusto. However, in a horrid twist, the shocked face of Nightmare curled into a hideous grin.

Were it so easy to beat me you would have done it long ago. The voice made Gusty’s heart freeze. It was her voice, and it did not come from the image before her, but from all around the dreamscape.

Flicking her eyes to the walls of the ancient castle she had been in, the teal mare watched in terror. Her body stiff and frigid like an old stone statue, Gusty suddenly felt very, very alone as the light around her disappeared and was replaced with only darkness. Struggling to move even the smallest amount she began to shriek in desperation. Thankfully, her voice still worked and that was a small respite. However, it suddenly dawned on her that it was only so the Curse might hear her scream to satisfy its twisted desires.

Before her as if pulled directly from ancient times, a shadowy figure formed. Quietly, its phantom appendages clopped as it strutted towards her. This was the dream. The nightmare she always had, but somehow it was worse. Somehow the thing before her more horrifying than ever before. Perhaps it was the beast’s ocean-blue eyes, or the glint of its mangled teeth in the ashen light of the blankness around them. A smile spread its gnarled mouth making her panic. She looked about for her sword and found it where she had dropped it in surprise. Hefting the blade up between them with her levitation Gusty shuddered, almost too afraid to defend herself.

What a fool to leave you so alone. He should have thought more about your connection to him. The living ghost of the Curse spoke snidely. The words hurt Gusty’s entire body, making her yell in pain.

Now, you are mine. Your last desperate attempt to save yourself ruined by the piety of a blood-traitor. How delightfully ironic. Another wave of torture washed over her, her body convulsing on its own. It was accompanied by worries thoughts and delusion.

Who was manipulating who? Was he no less the monster she had originally seen him as? Or was it she that was the monster, using him to break herself of the Curse? Or worse: was the Curse using them both to break free of the magic she had used to contain it? The last option caused even more horrendous pain to rake its claws through her body, forcing her to drop her sword.

Ah. You were always a smart mare. A shame you realized too late my influence in your success this morning. Without that idiot to stabilize your mind, I can control every facet of your reality, even while I’m this weak. Now suffer! And suffer Gusty did. The memories played out again, the slaughter of her kin alive and well once more. Her mind tried to deafen itself from this onslaught. It proved unsuccessful, and as she writhed in the Curse’s grasp she hoped desperately somepony on the outside would save her. That was her last coherent thought for the night.

=======================================================

Luna sat on her sofa puzzled. It was a quarter after two in the morning and still Gusty had yet to fall asleep. Perhaps the nap the mare had taken earlier today was keeping her awake. It did not truly matter to the Princess of the Night, she did not exactly have a bedtime, but it was still somewhat disheartening. Truly, she had intended to keep her word to the teal mare and take her on a decent dreamwalk but that might not be happening. The little dream she had injected in the early afternoon would have been perfect to continue. She gave a sigh and took to waiting again, her thoughts idle and disappointed.

However, the pleasant silence of the night was quickly interrupted. Unsure if the smell or the heavy breathing reached her senses first, Luna turned her head with a jolt to her balcony. There, sweaty and panting like an overheating dog, sat Guardian Angel. His eyes burned with lust and his scent backed that up 120%. Luna shuddered and stood, not really in the mood for his shenanigans at the moment.

“Back from your hunt, stinkbait? If we are going to spend time together you are going to need to shower first,” she admonished.

“Ohhhh...I’m just surprised you’re awake-no. I’m overjoyed.” He strutted towards her with intent, his fangs dripping with drool as he moved.

“Ewgh! I’m supposed to be working, you slob! Hold onto your lions until I can confirm I’m not dreamwalking tonight at least!” Luna huffed angrily.

Guardian Angel’s posture relaxed, and the look of desire dulled but did not disappear. He strolled around the lounge and laid down on the floor, his chest rising and falling steadily.

“I can wait. I just assumed with you staying up…”

“That I was looking to have a smelly vagabond raid my modesty? I think not!”

“A shame. And here I had good news for you too. I was too hungry to tell you earlier before I went off to eat,” He breathed seductively. It was just good enough to catch Luna’s curiosity.

“What is it?” she questioned knowing she was playing a dangerous game. Not insisting he bathe was only increasing the effects of his pheromones, and she was too much of a sucker for him in the first place.

“This morning, Gusty and I successfully silenced that pesky mental connection between the two of us. We’ve even managed to keep it that way all day too. Never figured it would be so easy.” Guardian remarked triumphantly.

“You did...what?” Luna balked in disbelief instantly distraught by his words.

“Yeah. It’s been pretty nice. I never realized how much worry I was absorbing from her. I’m relaxed, excited, and ready to fight a war all by myself!” He continued smiling as if he did not hear the words he was saying as his mare stared on in mounting horror.

“You told me you were going to tell her that you couldn’t hang around each other so often and now you’ve done this! And you did not bother to ask me! The mare who has LITERALLY lived in her mind for the past three years!?” Luna’s voice went shrill, loud and unable to hide her trepidation any longer.

“Hey, I’ve lived in there too! And yeah, of course I did. I’m trying to date you not her, remember? We’ve had dozens of conversations about this! What’s the problem?”

“Guardian Angel. You broke the magic guarding her mind. The magic that you, yourself, correctly deduced had been keeping her stable for several eons. What do you think the problem could be!?”

Her stallion looked back at her, his eyes narrowing but his face not showing any realization, yet.

“You don’t understand. You have noooo idea what it’s like having her in your mind. Asking you questions at four in the morning while she dreams or how she fantasizes about making out with you when she thinks you can’t feel it-and you are standing two feet from her! Luna it was going to destroy our relationship, and I really didn’t want that to happen.” He defended his decision well, Luna had to give him that.

However, the glaring problem was quite simple. He would come to it just as soon as his hormone-addled mind settled down. She did not have to wait long. Slowly, a blank look overcame him. That was Luna’s time to strike.

“And perhaps, Guardian Angel, Zeccaran and I discovered, not two days ago if you could bother to recall, Gusty’s recent reliance on your connection was because the only remaining sense of stability in her mind was you and that very connection you shared,” she seethed.

“Oh. Oh, no. I’ve made a terrible mistake!” he remarked in dumbstruck terror finally understanding the consequences of his actions.

“Yes. Be certain to ask next time. Let us hope no damage has been done. And get to reestablishing that connection, as loathe as I am to say that,” Luna ordered with a grimace.

Instead of answering, Guardian Angel stood up from the ground like a shot. He rushed up to her putting his eyes level with hers. Fear sparkled in his slitted iries and suddenly Luna felt a tightness in her chest.

“Gusty’s Apartment. Now.” he whispered and bolted out of her abode in a streak of color and a wave of wind and heat.

She obeyed, teleporting instantly. Screams met her ears immediately, and Luna’s heart gripped fully with terror. They might already be too late.

Act 4: Chapter 7 - By Luna and her Guardian Angel

“Dear Princess Celestia, over the last few weeks I have been picking up some strange fluctuations on my Background Thaumatic Magic Monitor. After, proving that Discord was not the culprit, and testing the signal from a few different places outside of town, I was able to triangulate the disturbance’s location. It’s origin point is Canterlot. I hope everything is okay there. I know with Miss Gusty back in the city I shouldn’t be surprised to see unusual readings but I can’t help but be concerned. Given our recent correspondence, I again offer you my assistance, and my curiosity. Magic is my Element after all and I always enjoy learning about new forms of it. I know that you and Lord Stormwalker are set on helping her, and if I can again lend my expertise in any way it would make me feel better.”

“Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle”

Chapter 7 - By Luna and her Guardian Angel

The Princess rushed from the living room of the apartment towards Gusty’s wails. Rounding the corner of the door frame that led to the bedrooms she had to literally leap over Amethyst. Luna briefly caught a glimpse of the tired and distraught looking filly, who stared on in horror towards the sounds of her mother’s yells not even noticing the alicorn jump over her. As she skidded to a halt near the open door of Gusty’s chambers, Bunker stumbled out of the room, his face twisted in pain, blood running down his shoulder.

“What happened?!” Luna shouted to be heard. Closer to the source of the disturbance, she could hear that Gusty’s cries were being accompanied by a mighty rush of magical wind. She already knew the answer, but her mouth had asked before she could stop it. Guardian Angel needed to hurry.

“The magic...it is like what happened in the Frozen North.” Bunker clutched at the rough wound of disintegrated flesh. “She started screaming in her sleep, I tried to wake her but…”

“You did what you could. Make haste. Take Amethyst and get your wounds treated. Make certain the posted guards know what is going on,” Luna ordered, biting down her fear with words.

“The guards already know. I’ll be nearby. Injured or not, that is mine wife in there about to destroy the Palace. If you need help I’m going to help.” The burgundy fellow turned and quickly limped off to the front of the hall, scooping up the little unicorn as he went.

As he departed, Luna hazarded a glance into the bedroom. Floating in a hurling ball of gold and ice colored torrents, Gusty shrieked, clutching at herself. Her eyes were locked open, but unfocused on the world around her. Instead she stared at an unseen horror. The furniture in the room had been otherwise destroyed, only the objects in the furthest corners of the room remained intact. The bed and the vanity were nowhere to be seen and all that remained was a partially destroyed lamp that was more and more threatened by the unnatural winds. That all seemed inconsequential to Luna, however; it was at this moment she came to truly understand what Gusty could do. Even with his description Guardian Angel had not done her power justice. And yet even while the mare was under extreme duress, Luna could see that a part of her was attempting to contain her mad magic, though she was slowly failing Gusty fought on.

The moment of clarity passed and Luna charged up her horn, ready to jump directly into Gusty’s mind. She knew in her heart that fighting the Curse alone would result in her becoming permanently trapped in the dreamscape should she be forced to retreat. However, it was her life against the lives of the entire city of Canterlot. Frustratingly, her stallion was still not present. Gusty had to be stopped, and it was only a short matter of time before her condition worsened and the hundreds of thousands of ponies were affected.

Quick, precise hooffalls stayed her entry into the room. She jerked her head to catch the motion of Guardian Angel stalking his way into the hallway. Luna nearly jumped out of her fur in surprise, he was not bothering to hide his fangs, or the faintly glowing cracks in his flesh along his legs. That alone made her nervous. Behind him a pair of heavily armored unicorns marched in slowly with their horns aglow. They did not wear Royal Guard equipment, in fact Luna had never seen armor of such make, it seemed to be mostly composed of padding. This further proved them to be ponies of his personal employ, the demon was taking every precaution. That scared her even more; it meant he did not expect this desperate rescue operation to succeed. Neither had she, but it was different when he took things pessimistically.

“The emergency evacuation system has been activated,” He stated sharply taking up a position next to her.. “Should we fail to contain Gusty, ensuring the safety of Canterlot’s citizens should be relatively easy.”

“You work fast, my love. It has not been even a full minute, tell me, have you been playing dumb? Did you expect this to happen?” Luna asked with scathing suspicion in her voice. Though she was mostly trying to hide her fear, she would not put it past Guardian Angel to have set up the whole thing like he had in the Baylands.

“Not today. And not under these circumstances. None of this would be happening if I had bothered to stop and think. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have protocols ready for the situation” He paused as he walked up to the threshold of the door, seeing the blazing sphere of magic and staring sadly at the now whimpering Gusty. He cursed under his breath and faced her.

“Can you reach her mind with your magic? I know she isn’t asleep but with a trance that powerful it shouldn’t be much different right?” he questioned quickly.

“If I am honest, I don’t know for certain. But, I was about to try anyway. It depends on how powerful the Curse is.” She responded with the same haste. Time was of the essence, the quicker they applied a plan the quicker this would be settled.

“How long will it take you to charge the spell?” He looked up at her horn. “Not much longer right?”

“About twenty more seconds.”

“That will be pushing it on my end, but here it goes.”

Guardian Angel took a step into the fury of the magical wind. Luna lost her focus momentarily as all the flesh on the extended hoof was blown away in an instant leaving only bone and sinew. Her stallion loosed a low growl his face twisting in a perverse pleasure.

“It looks like I’m going to have to try like I mean it this time. Cast your spell once I reach Gusty.” He rolled the barely functional appendage around as it regrew to normal. Luna balked confusedly gawking at him as he smiled widely, mania sparking in his eyes..

“I’m getting pretty worked up tonight, so if we survive this-I figure I should let you know...I’m going to wreck your whole fucking world.” He stated such with the sort of carnal intent that made the alicorn nearly lose her balance from its implication.

Then he stepped into the whirlwind, blood splattering as he went, but his body held strong as it lit with flame. Luna stood there blushing, spell charged just after her coltfriend had fully entered the sphere. For a moment she was unsure of the details of what Guardian Angel had arranged but she recalled the emergency contingency as she came back to her senses. Simply the plan was to break the Curse’s grip on the mare. Then once the Curse was preoccupied, cast a number of the meager calming spells, she had come up with, on Gusty to give her some time to stabilize. Once that was done she was to use one of the mental defense spells she and Celestia had been practicing for the last month at Guardian Angel’s request. All the while he was supposed to be keeping the dark entity away from the fragile remains of Gusty’s mind.

In theory, it made sense but without any way to practice the plan or even metaphorically engage their minds in this duel against the odds, there was no way to know if it would work. Things in the Astral Realm were not so cut and dry as the contingency planned for, Luna knew this, so did Guardian Angel. Unfortunately, this was their only option. Worse, without the magical link that had been keeping Gusty stable the last two months there was no way of knowing if when they managed this far-fetched feat if it would even make a difference past this evening.

“Princess, be on your ready! As soon as you cast we must raise our shield! Our timing must be swift. Lord Stormwalker expects there to be a large magical reaction once he reaches Miss Gusty,” shouted the female unicorn behind her.

Luna only heard the mare enough to steel her nerves and focus on her stallion as he made his final approach. She had stopped counting seconds shortly before the unicorn’s proclamation. Guardian Angel took another step, the winds of the unleashed magic tearing at him ever more fiercely. Close to his quarry now, he slowly reached out a hoof, his eyes glowing red-hot from the exertion. Luna aimed her horn, looking down its length, timing when he would touch Gusty and attempt to enter her mind. She ignored the sudden onset of questions she had about that, if she lived through today then she could bother him about it.

Just as the tip of his hoof reached the fur on Gusty’s chest Luna cast her spell. It shot true, ignoring the blustery wind of the berserk mare and encasing her teal body with Luna’s more blue magic. As the world around her faded into darkness she could feel the magic from the errant mare erupt outward. The unicorns screamed with a determined fury, but slowly their voices faded away and she was not jostled back into the waking world from the magical burst she had felt coming. Success!

Arrayed before her as she opened her eyes was the blustery ocean of Gusty’s mind. In the deep waves below her danced vague images of the many past lives the mare had lived each flirting with spur of the moment desires. Only a few islands of cohesive thought and memory stood stagnant amongst the motion of the waves. Shimmering, cycling images of Zeccaran, Guardian Angel, Bunker and Amethyst, and curiously a new image. It was of Gusty herself smiling happily back at Luna with an surprisingly genuine splendor. Perhaps the mare had finally decided to live life instead of suffering through it. If that was the case, once the Curse was finally removed, Gusty would have lived the biggest comeback story ever written in all of Equestrian History.

However, what drew Luna’s attention the most was the severe lack of conscious action. Normally, even while sleeping a pony’s mind had some activity on the surface level, but this was much too desolate. Gusty was no exception and she was supposed to be awake. Though hallucinating her mind should have been able to focus on the torment that afflicted her currently. This current locale was only motion, never settling on any of the many and rapid thoughts. Luna came to realize in the moment that she had no idea what was truly happening to Gusty. Nothing was consistent, it was as if the mare had left her mind entirely.

And much to Luna’s chagrin, it made seeing the scars on the mare’s mind too easy. The seascape was marred by black icebergs once trapped in golden moorings now bounced about the waves. Their presence the mark of the Curse; tendrils that jumped about treacherously, threatening to overtake the waking thought-islands with their vile magic. Likewise the remnants of the ancient protection spell lie strewn about. The pieces of the piers shattered into large foggy yellow glass fragments that were jabbed into the seas at odd angles. Their positioning created whirlpools of unimaginable depth casting down deep into the belly of Gusty’s memory. From where Luna floated she could hear distant voices of ponies long dead, but they were pleasant memories. It made her wonder if perhaps breaking the protection spell had truly been the wrong decision.

“Hello?” she asked to the maelstrom after a time, wondering if perhaps Guardian Angel had been successful.

The sudden presence of power made Luna turn towards her left, towards the image of her significant other. Stepping out of the memory/urge of himself, her stallion slipped onto Gusty’s personal portion of the Astral Plane as if he had always belonged here.

“Strange...she’s...not present? No wonder I couldn’t get her to respond.” He looked around the area not noticing Luna or the boiling water as he walked atop it unhindered. “Though that’s what I get for inferring how this works…”

“Hey! Are you blind or something?” she chastised.

“Luna? Yeah I can’t really see. I really can only feel, sorta hear? I don’t exactly have the right magic to dreamwalk,” He explained, his face turning in her general direction.

“Realistically speaking you shouldn’t be able to project any of your magic outside of your body. You are able to with Gusty, I assume, because of whatever spell she cast to link your minds together. And the nature of that magic still eludes me to this day.” She floated up to him on her ethereal winds, not nearly so foolish as to touch the churning waves below.

“Well...anyway, I made it here. So let's take advantage of it. Can you locate the Curse? I can feel it, but it’s as if it is far away, deep below us,” He commented.

The Astral Plane did not actually contain any physical matter, only the magical projections of pony consciousness and subconsciousness. Dreamwalking was merely the ability to translate the happenings in the sleeping realm into something understandable. The concept of distance was not one of the things that translated easily. What Guardian Angel was doing now was a perversion of the process, much more force than finesse.

He was not wrong with his observation, however. Deep below them, past the oceans of thoughts and memories there was more to Gusty. Once hidden by both vile and fantastical magic, further down than any other pony than she had ever encountered, was a special portion of the mare’s subconscious. She could only describe the place as Gusty’s core. The last vestiges of a pony broken and harmed by everything she had onced loved. Luna had come close to reaching it recently, it was how she and Zeccaran had relieved the awful memories of the Shadow-kin. She had never dared to stride there, but Guardian Angel had. Shuddering again she looked at him with concern. He noticed her discomfort regardless of his blind eyes.

Luna could only assume through their combined will and proximity in the material world that fateful day he had seen it. Walking the shrouded halls of the teal mare’s mind and looking the Curse in the face. Though he had not known what it was at the time those actions had cemented his fate. It was where his determination to save her came from, and he would see it done against all odds. Because he met the true Gusty then and he had fallen in love.

“Do not fret.” She spoke more to distract herself from the thought of him with another mare than to instill confidence. “I am the master of these domains. I shall take us to the culprit.”

“I know. It just seems like a chore to find them. See? This is how you know I didn’t plan this!” he pursed his lips.

“Hush. I was only teasing before.” Luna pressed a hoof against him. He jumped in surprise before his eyes waxed dreamy.

“So this is what your mind feels like…I was right to resist the urge to reach out to you before,” he murmured. Almost in a compulsive motion he nuzzled his face against hers. Luna balked, heart nearly beating out of her chest as she finally caught but a brief glimpse of what he felt like. He was more than even she had imagined.

“Y-yes. I do hope I-I live up to your standards,” she stammered trying to recover. He always had a way of making her completely forget her jealousy. Luna had often felt the need to kick herself for not dreamwalking with him all those years ago when they had completed the cleansing rituals. She had been too ashamed from rejecting him to do it, reminding her she had been a fool on both counts. Still, the current little moment of togetherness might have just been worth it. Right now, his eyes and thoughts of love only dwelled on her.

“Your mind is very set in the past. Much more than I thought. But relax. Now is not the time for such thoughts of inadequacy and self-pity. We have a world to save. And I’d like to fulfill a few of those dreams...” He whispered into her ears, all too aware of her thoughts.

“Right.” She looked about still blushing as she considered the gravity of what they were about to do. “But, where to start...Going that deep into Gusty’s mind is going to be extremely dangerous.”

“Yes. We do stand a chance of becoming trapped. It will take our utmost focus to avoid losing ourselves in the depths of Gusty’s mind. However, the method of reaching our destination does not matter to me. I can force our way there, or you can trailblaze the best path for me and I will follow. Take your pick; this is your rodeo,” Guardian rolled his shoulders. His eyes hardened. Though they were unable to focus on the images she could see, the sharp glint in them made her pity the dark entity once he found it. He was tired of it interrupting his life.

Luna paused, considering her options. In the recent instances of exploration in Gusty’s mind she had found no strong evidence of the Curse. It had been subdued, retracted, waiting for a moment like today. Even its icebergs had been smaller and still, not moving about with malice as the were now. Their corruption danced its harsh chastisement across the seas of Gusty’s mind, its words upsetting even to Luna. When it had been in full power, the last few years it had been trapped within the golden ruins around them. The combination of reparation magic and curse magic had blocked her from exploring Gusty’s mind beyond the flitting desires at the surface level. Reaching the subconscious in any capacity had proved too dangerous or impossible.

However, with those obstacles removed her recent analysis of the entity’s previous behavior showed it had been trying to use Gusty’s deepest thoughts and conscious memories to subdue her. Its objective to subvert her existence by playing on her fears and sense of self-loathing. It was a magical and psychological embodiment of the suffering the Shadow-kin had inflicted upon her. That had been obvious the first time she had seen those memories. Then the path forward was clear, they had to go to that deep core collection of emotions that made up the mare, and apprehend the Curse at its source.

Turning and grabbing one of Guardian Angel’s hooves she started to cast her trademark spell again, to go even deeper. “I’ll lead the way.”

And down they fell, in the controlled fall that Luna had practiced to perfection. Next to her, her stallion remained silent, his thoughts and expression inwards. Memories of the dark times passed them by, screams of the dead wailing false accusations at Gusty. The mooney mare pulled herself close to her coltfriend, her mind trying to fray from the horror. She would never get used to the terrible things the unfortunate Gusty had experienced, nor how the curse had twisted them into a symphony of pain. Such things were not meant for the likes of any sane being, especially not the smells, or the fear, or the horror. When their hooves finally alit on the hard, dark surface of Gusty’s last bastion of subconsciousness it became obvious she had made the right choice, however.

“I can feel her. She’s here. It is here too.” Guardian moved away from her with purpose. Luna nearly lost him in the inky, dismal realm they now stood in. A cacophony of images briefly danced over her eyes before she could refocus, it caused sweat to pool on her brow.

“Wait!” She cried dashing after him in the darkness, words of worry and fear on Gusty’s voice drifting around them in a quiet chorus. “This place is delicate. Too many wrong moves and Gusty will not be able to recover.”

“Oh, I figure I used my one wrong decision already today. I won’t be doing any harm to Gusty I can assure you.” His voice was harsh, words nearly cutting away the darkness around them alone.

“What do you intend to do? We can’t see them. Even I can barely keep myself oriented in this soup.” Luna shuddered. A sudden bout of pain and fatigue had washed over her body. However, it was not her suffering, but another’s, and with it came the sickening presence of the Curse making her gasp.

“This.” Came Guardian Angel’s voice. Luna did not realize he was answering her question until a beam of white shot out from him like a the lense on a lighthouse.

The magic sped forward, erasing the the darkness where it went. As its trail dulled Luna spied vibrant colors, images of flowers and full fields of wheat. She tracked the projection wondering what he aimed his malice at, hearing voices of children and friends of eras long past reach her ears . Suddenly, the pleasantness of those memories was destroyed by a blood-curdling screech. The noise was followed by a harsh hiss and snarl, Guardian Angel’s magic had found its mark. The Curse knew they were here now, it seemed the first step of their plan had gone well. Luna just hoped they would keep it that way, she had many questions to ask once they were done.

=======================================================

Time had ceased. Light had ceased. And life? It was trying to end itself too, but found that its tormentor refused to grant it this mercy.

Pain. Pain. And more pain.

Who was she, again? Why did she allow this to happen? Wasn’t somepony supposed to come save her? Why did it matter to her? Why did it matter to her tormentor?

Hazarding a few haggard breaths the mare looked around herself again. The dark entity before her stood smiling with glee.

“Not so tough without your armor I see. You always were weak. If you were strong, you would have stopped me. Would have stopped them. Could have saved your kin.” It reared back, lunging putrid tentacles at her with hatred.

The blows hurt, but that was not the worst of it. Sharp piercing suffering stabbed its way into her temples. Whatever the beast had done to her, it went beyond simple slaps and torture, it was trying to destroy what was left of her mind. It wanted control, total control.

“That hurt you worse than I expected. How delightful! Your spirit erodes ever more swiftly, and soon you shall be mine!” It hissed with joy.

It was not allowed to win. The entity’s words fanning the tiny and shrinking flame in her heart. She just had to hold out. If she could gather her strength, and keep it on the ready, she could fight back no matter how hopeless it seemed. The mare knew that thought was pointless, but at this point spite was about the only thing she could still feel besides suffering.

The mare responded to the taunts of the creature by spitting in its general direction. The creature laughed at her haughtily, remarking how her defiance meant nothing, her fate was already sealed. The laughter gave way to a sudden shrieking and bright light danced across her vision. Shocked, the mare struggled to make sense of the situation. It seemed that the beast before her had been damaged by the interloping light. However, as soon as it had appeared the color and warmth disappeared, making her wonder if it had ever happened at all until her tormentor cursed aloud.

“The blood-traitor! He’s here! But this is too fast! Did he...did he do it all on purpose?! D-does he seek to trap me? The Curse stammered.

Another blast of blazing fire shot through the empty expanse, not hitting the entity directly, but still grazing her. She hissed in anger splattering spit from her uneven jowls as she did.

“Nae! He is just lucky and persistent! Then I shall take him by surprise. To me, you foul oath-breaker!” proclaimed not-her as it shifted its body back and forth in a dance.

The mare stared on in confusion. The area around her seemed to darken to such a degree that even the unnatural glow of the Curse’s eyes winked out.

Wait, the Curse...then this is… this is my mind! Gusty’s awareness came back in an instant. Now that the entity no longer focused on her the dire situation became clear. For now she had held out, and though she could hear Guardian Angel calling out to her, it still felt like he was screaming from across a great chasm..

Shit, how do I move? How do I get out of here? What do I do? Can I fight? No. Even I’m too hurt to move...But this is my mind i should be able to control things! But how? How do I break free?! I don’t know, I don’t know! Damnit, hurry up flyboy, I need you!

Oh, he’ll come my dear, he’ll come.

New pain erupted around one of Gusty’s lower ribs. The fiery suffering seemed to literally pull the air out of her lungs as it drug down towards her abdomen. She felt something break and the torment was too much for her to contain. Screaming and gasping against her will, unable to remain quiet. Gusty struggled against her binds in an attempt to hold pressure against whatever wound she had been given. Her efforts were futile, but as she struggled a new feeling found its way into her heart.

Rage.

Pure, unbridled, rage.

Gusty knew that rage belonged to Guardian Angel. He was no longer holding back, and the connection between their minds seemed to swell like a riverbank whose dam had burst. The pain seemed to dull and for a brief moment she relaxed, her mind swinging back into consciousness for only an instant. She saw her room, what was left of it, a hardy red shield bubble of magic and the silhouettes of ponies in the dark.

The moment was dashed when another shriek echoed into her skull. As her vision cleared the scene before danced with vague lights and scuffles of battle. After a moment she made sense of the two bodies. One of burning fire, lighting up the area around her, the other of dark ink, seeking to extinguish the light.

“Gusty focus!” Came Princess Luna’s voice. The elder alicorn turned to look at her.

“We have limited time. He can’t keep this up forever.” The mooney mare’s horn sent out several small light-blue beams of magic and Gusty felt her bonds loosen then disappear.

However, as she slipped down from the rack her heart still raced. None of this felt right. It was as if the world was crashing down on her and its weight was going to destroy her. Gusty felt her breaths shorten, her mind racing, forgetting, spinning, she did not understand. She looked between the beings around her, those that fought and the kind looking blue mare whose face pinched in concern.

“You must fight it, Gusty! Stay with us, please!” she cried to her, but the teal alicorn had become too distracted by the fight between the two entities of dark and light. She strode toward them ignoring her attendant unable to look away. What was she supposed to fight anyway?

Nowhere to run this time, beast! snarled the Light.

You are out of your league blood-traitor, I am this realm. The Dark hissed back.

Gusty clutched her temples her vision blurring.

Suddenly it was she that fought the Light. He whipped an attack at her, flaming wings slashing her stomach with ease. When she looked down she saw only the darkness.

What is happening?

“Vile beast! Release her!” the blue mare from before rushed over, drawing her attention, her horn firing spells into Gusty’s new body. Somehow this made her afraid, even though the magic did not hurt.

She’s his slave. Don’t listen to her. The blood-traitor’s wench tells you only lies! That voice that was not quite her own said into their most inner ear.

This isn't right. Why didn’t that hurt? This voice...it isn’t mine-is it?

“You’ve survived for over two-thousand years battling it alone. Its weak now and you have help. Don’t give in! Only a few more moments please!” the Light’s voice was muffled as it spoke. Meanwhile it looked on-no, Guardian Angel looked on, his hooves raised, ready to pounce, determination burning bright in his slitted eyes.

We are not separate, my dear. You and I. I and you. It is one and the same. They do not know how close we’ve become. Cooed the malicious voice. This time it became her voice.

Feelings of fear and anger suddenly gripped her heart. If it was her own or if it was her companions Gusty did not know. It did not matter either. It was enough to remind her that it was not over yet. The Curse might be free to move but it was still injured, still trying to seek every advantage. She could hold out until they found a way to remove it. She had to hold out.

No! I am not you! They are right, you won’t break me this easily! She snarled back. Gusty steeled her mind, holding fast to the image of the mooney mare and the inflamed demon standing before her in the dreamscape. Her thoughts traced to Amethyst, Bunker, Celestia, Pixie and Zeccaran, their happy faces strengthening her resolve. Instantly, the room lit with roaring flame as if candles had touched a gas cloud. Guardian Angel and Luna were silhouetted briefly before one of Luna’s spell pierced the inky shell that surrounded her. The entity that held her captive exploded away from her with a shrill squeak and a flash of white light that quieted the flames to a bright, but normal level.

Then there was pain like she had never felt and the world faded black. Her last sight the horrified faces of her two saviors. The laughter of the Curse ringing forever in her ears.

Act 4: Chapter 8 - The Depths

“On the subject of those two, I told you from the start what I thought. They are two dangerous halves of an even more dangerous whole. It is not natural how their minds are linked. I never truly understood what my brother was describing until I saw them together a few times. They use each other to justify their collective actions. In her case I can excuse the behavior simply because her mind has never been her own since the original incident. But, his? He needs to set his priorities straight or ruin everything he ever worked for, and all the promises he’s made. And to think he’d throw it all away for the sake of one mare.”

-Pixie-

Chapter 8 - The Depths

The sensation of falling snapped Gusty awake with a start. She flailed her hooves but they quickly found solid ground. Viciously shaking her head she blinked rapidly trying to get a grip on her surroundings. It was dark in her bedroom and strangely there was no bed, but lots of dust. However, she was quickly drawn to the strange sight of Guardian Angel. He stood perfectly still as if he had been turned to stone, a hoof was extended out towards her. His eyes were dull, their normally attentive luster quite absent.

For a few more moments she stood staring at him in confusion. It allowed her to see a soft red glow behind the big stallion, and as she leaned around him she noticed a magical barrier in place, its soft hum finally noticeable upon seeing it. Beyond it, the silhouette of ponies could be seen standing in the doorway to her room. This all seemed strikingly familiar.

Was I dreaming? What happened to my bed? Am I still dreaming? Gusty’s questioned her perceptions internally. She unfortunately could not make sense of it.

The overwhelming urge to touch one of Guardian Angel’s open eyes pressed its curiosity into her head. She could not help but act on the sensation.

Cautiously she extended a wing up to his face, the sensitive feathers more appropriate to feel the eye. Worse come to worse, he would flinch and probably smack her as he came out of whatever trance he was in, a worthy price in Gusty’s opinion. After all she was about to poke him in the eye because she was confused and curious.

However, when she finally jabbed a feather or three into the jelly-like organ he did not move. For some reason she could not explain, this upset her greatly. Actually, it made her scared, scared for what felt like to her no reason at all. To comfort herself she cupped his face in her hooves looking at his high cheeks and the scar over his other eye. It looked as if he had just calmed down from showing off his true form. Closing her eyes, Gusty tried to let the warmth of his skin anchor her in place. She swore she could hear him calling out to her, but what he yelled was unintelligible.

The smell of stallion hit her nose in the next instant with the force of a tidal wave. She was afflicted with both a blush and vertigo. Gusty released his face, coughing out of reflex and covering her nose, she did not need that to be an issue right now. She needed to figure out what was going on, not get excited from the thought of sex. Momentarily, she cursed her female body before being distracted by the fshwoop! of what sounded like the magical barrier deactivating.

“Milord? Is everything alright?” called the voice of an unfamiliar mare.

“Uhhh…” Gusty replied. She had no answer to that question.

“Miss Gusty? You’re awake?” The unicorn trotted into the room, her cumbersome armor goofily jostling as she did.

“I think?... What’s going on? He’s…I don’t know: stuck,” she explained.

“Yes, we noticed Princess Luna was like that too. Then we saw you moving around, and with no magical vortex threatening to destroy Canterlot we decided to check on the operation. I was hoping you had some insight into what was going on, I guess not.” The mare pursed her lips and looked distant as she finished speaking.

That sent about a dozen questions into Gusty’s mind. A few memories of her dreams creeped their way to clarity as her thoughts finally panned to the right stimuli. The Curse had made its move. The emptiness she felt was the broken, but healing connection between she and Guardian Angel’s minds. At the moment she could not recall the rest of the details of her subconscious, but that mattered little. Luna and Guardian and come to rescue her to stop her from losing control of her mind and magic. They had managed it, but now, they themselves had become trapped. Gusty started to panic.

“We need to get Celestia here, now!” She declared.

“Yes, you’re right, I’ll send a runner n-”

“No time!”

Gusty teleported, mind focused so hard on her friend she barely even tried to think about where she aimed to go. Luckily, it worked in her favor and she found the mare. Before even the glittering golden sparkles of her relocation had settled she wrapped a hoof around her big white counterpart.

“Come on!” Gusty cried reactivating her horn immediately. She offered no explanations to Celestia’s questions. She would understand once she saw what had happened. That was when things got weird.

=======================================================

Stroking the mane of the unconscious Gusty Twilight. Luna remained transfixed, having no idea what had happened a moment before. It was strange, as if the world around them had bent and melded into something else. She may have freed the teal mare from the grip of the Curse but it seemed that there were repercussions to be dealt with. This sent worried thoughts scurrying through her mind. Luna knew they had yet to wake from entering Gusty’s mind, yet the mare herself had collapsed. That alone was troubling.

It could only mean two things. Possibly, the teal mare had awoken and was unaware of the fight for her life inside her own mind. The other option being that she had been ejected into her own waking consciousness, the ocean above this black pit where they now resided.

Luna closed her eyes as another flash of light nearly blinded her. A vicious guttural roar escaped Guardian Angel’s jowls as she looked on at the battle again. He repeatedly hissed and shouted in his ancestral tongue, the phrases foreign to her. What she did understand was that he was angry. Extremely angry.

They were evenly matched. Her stallion unable to gain the advantage in this realm. The Curse cackled again, sending attacks at him though with little effect. Likewise, Guardian Angel’s raw will extended towards the beast crackling and burning the darkness it was comprised of, but ineffective at keeping it cauterized.

“You are lucky, Mytsn. If I could draw my powers into this realm I would suck your magic dry and let Gusty’s cheery attitude finish the job.” He suddenly switched into an understandable tongue. Luna immediately knew he was doing this on purpose, she watched him carefully.

“I am well aware of what you are capable of Spoiled One. I also know your weaknesses. The mare herself is one of them. And I am beginning to suspect that this child you’ve chosen as your mate is one too,” the Curse quipped with a disturbing levity, looking at her. Luna shuddered but remained silent. The mocking attitude on his face told her that her stallion had something planned and it was best not to ruin it.

“Oh, so she’s not my slave anymore?” Guardian Angel scoffed, “And she’s a child? You flatter me.”

“So you can hear what I say to Gusty. I had perhaps thought that business in the Baylands had been a fluke, a side effect of your time at my birthplace. I see now that I was wrong. If you could hear me all the way on the other side of the world before, of course you could hear me now. Damn that teal mare even in such a state she always has a new maneuver to pull.” The black blobbenly creature leaned back on its amalgamation of a posterior.

Momentarily, Luna was overcome with disgust while gazing at the monster. She had seen many horrors unimaginable across the many dreams and nightmares of Equestria’s citizens. However, this entity struck her because of one simple reason. Its eyes, its voice, its attitude, even its body, they were all a perversion of who Gusty was, it was a self-critical image taken to the extreme via magic and hatred. The beast went beyond scary and directly to brain-churning, nausea-inducing, cosmic horror without so much as breaking a sweat. Luna noticed a cold silence had fallen between the two other beings present. Both stared at her with an intent that was far from benign.

“Guardian Angel?” she questioned with concern.

He did not answer with words, instead he and the Curse strode towards her, thankfully he reached her first. He reached out and pulled her close to him, and as soon as his touch could be felt Luna lost all control.

He was all desire and power. His will superseded her own and she found herself throwing her body the rest of the way into his. It was everything she wanted, everything she needed. The only question that danced on her mind now was: why not sooner? She had been ready for this for years, it filled her with joy to finally, truly feel all of him. This intimacy was what she had always been so jealous of, and rightly so, however, the sensation dulled quickly.

It is a bluff. Play along. Came Guardian’s voice into her very soul just before he pulled away from her. Luna swooned.

He looked down at her, his eyes unfocused but blistering with contempt and lust.

“Tell this cur the truth, my pet,” he ordered and Luna instantly understood.

“But, master that will ruin your plans, are you sure I should?” she questioned back innocently, letting her voice sweeten to the point where she almost gagged herself. A surprised harumph overtook the Curse-the bitch. Mytsn meant bitch. The dwindling connection she shared with Guardian Angel nearly causing her to burst into laughter at the clairity it brought to the ancient tongue of the Shadow-kin.

“Color me impressed, Spoiled One. To be able to take control of an alicorn’s mind in a mere second is truly impressive. Perhaps you do deserve that title, oh Heir to the Shadows.” Mytsn nodded warily, her dark form stepping away from the stallion.

“Indeed. And like a proper heir, I intend to dismantle the pomps of my forefathers and create new, better ones,” Guardian hissed.

“Indeed,” it replied stoically.

“Do you still want me to tell her, master?” Luna peeped leaning onto her beloved to suck up a few more moments of him.

“No, no, no...If you did I’d have to hurt Pet. And Master does not have time to indulge his sadism. So I’ll tell Mytsn the truth instead.”

“Okay.”

The Curse’s face twisted in grim resignation. It looked between her and Guardian with equal parts fear and disgust. Evidently their acting was quite convincing, Luna found a bit of pride in that. In truth, she probably would have been quite pleased with whatever punishment she was dolled out. Then again, at this point, Luna was not sure whose fantasy was whose, instead stuck in the pleasure of the ideas.

“You have no need to tell me. You seek total dominion over the remaining alicorns. I know such from just this brief little example. You consider me an obstacle,” the entity glowered angrily.

“You have come to the correct conclusion. You are the key, the linchpin to my subjugation of Gusty. The last hold out before she falls sway to my charm and then...my will.” Her stallion stalked towards the Mytsn his tone turning cold and poisonous, leaving her to stand there alone. She narrowly kept herself from betraying her freedom-of-consciousness with a shiver of dread. Luna had momentarily been overcome with fear at the change in his words and presence, she could not tell if he was acting.

“And so you seek to undo the work of my creators to further your own designs. You did not mince words before. Unfortunately, I refuse to give up without a fight.” The curse turned away, shifting her attention away from them.

Immediately, Luna noticed Guardian Angel’s tail flick twice to his left. That was the signal. How she knew the signal she did not know for certain. Perhaps he had imparted more knowledge to her in that instant when their minds touched or perhaps he was controlling her. She did not know and she did not care at least not at the moment. If it lead to the destruction of the dark malice that kept her stallion so preoccupied she would see it done with a fervor. She began charging her horn, readying the mental protection spell again, but not to cast on the sleeping Gusty, and instead to cast on the Curse itself. Hopefully that would isolate it, separating it the rest of the way from the mare, into the waking world. Once that happened, Guardian Angel could consume it and it would be finally over!

“It is sad that you could not be brought to reason. I suppose I’ll have to leave and absorb your power in the waking world before you can escape this place.” Guardian Angel stamped a hoof dejectedly. The beast before him turned about, eyes narrowing in suspicion as she closed the distance to him. He remained still and inflamed his eyes never losing their mania and she put her face against his.

“You’d be foolish to do that, I would simply attach myself to the soul of your chosen mare. You would be sacrificing her mind and will just for the salvation of the teal harlot I occupy.”

“And why not? Her body will still live. Besides, she already fell prey to me. Even without her mind or soul I can still use her for whatever I like either way...and it gets you out of my way. ”

Luna’s heart caught in her throat. Before she had been unsure if this was acting. This time she knew he was serious. She could feel it. Those words were deadly powerful, as strong as the gravity they caused in her hooves. Unable to move she stood frozen, staring at the two creatures that were deciding her fate.

“My my, how rather ruthless of you…” The Curse’s eyes turned briefly from Guardian and met hers. A smile spread the beast’s jagged lips before the area was filled with coarse laughter.

“You almost had me convinced that you’d do it. But, you had her charge her spell just a bit too early. You almost had me!” It giggled with a terrible glee.

Guardian Angel loosed a particularly vicious growl. He lunged forward his mouth clamping down on Mytsn’s neck with startling efficiency. It did not seem to care and only laughed more.

“Go ahead, Luna. Shoot me! I’m ready for it. It will only send me into a different part of Gusty’s mind for me to wreck!” The beast mocked.

So she did. She blasted the Curse with her spell and all of her fear. It shrieked as the force of the blast tore some of its flesh off as it was pulled away from Guardian. Otherwise, save the dark kerchief of magic stuck in his fanged mouth it was expunged from Gusty’s subconscious for the time being. With its exit Luna studied her stallion who fumed from his failure, an uncomfortable silence between them.

Eventually she found the words she wished to speak. But, when she looked up at her lover she found them catch on her tongue. Never had she been filled with more doubt and apprehension about their relationship than this moment. Not even when she had watched him fly off towards the Cave, knowing he had not been himself in years. What had just happened felt so certain, so real that Luna felt tears on her eyes before she could think.

“You heard me when our minds touched right? Luna?” he asked softly, worriedly.

“Yes...but…” She whimpered in response. Guardian Angel crossed over to her and immediately wrapped his wings around her. Luna silently sobbed into them for a moment, hardly feeling their minds partially meld.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered into her ear. “I can feel your emotions. What I said felt real didn’t it?”

She could only nod in response. Their contact was doing little to comfort her. In fact, she was fairly certain it was making things worse. In a fit of fury she slammed her hooves against his chest her words returning to her.

“You bastard! You evil, no-good lying bastard!” she shrieked. He did not respond other than to hold her tighter.

“I’ve touched the minds of many ponies. I’ve learned much from my duties in the realm of dreams. And I know a part of you would have done it. You would have sacrificed me for her! And then just animated my empty body for your own carnal desires! You fucking monster!”

Luna could feel how deep her words cut him. She knew exactly what to say and how to say it to make him hurt. To make him hurt how the last few minutes had hurt her, that was what she wanted. The alicorn knew she should not blame him, that all of this was part of what they had agreed on moments before when their minds had linked. Sadly, Luna could not help but feel that he had manipulated her at that moment. At every moment, ever since they had started dating. However he had a response, she felt his words coming before they made his lips.

“That part of me is dead. It’s been dead since I linked minds with Gusty.”

“Well it seems to be alive and well to me!”

“Luna, you know what I say is true. I couldn’t continue like I had been. You know that.”

Perhaps she was being petty, or perhaps the stress of the fight had gotten her more fatigued than she realized: Luna did not believe him. She wanted to be sure, without a doubt, without him touching her, without the influence of his mind.

“Let go of me!” She demanded and he did. Standing up and moving away from her he looked down at the ground.

“I’m glad I can’t see your face, otherwise I’d feel even worse than I already do,” Guardian murmured. Luna pushed the momentary pity she felt away, determined to completely separate their beings from one another so she could properly judge what he said.

“Speak the truth,” she eventually commanded. Her emotions still rolled angrily underneath her logic, threatening to overtake her again. Luna wished the stakes were less dire. If he was sincere then only one great evil needed to be vanquished. If she could not find a reason to trust him then she had literally been sleeping with the world’s most horrible monster. A beast that was set on total domination of everything she cared about.

“In a different life...I would have done it. That’s the truth.” Guardian paused his face pinched and forlorn. “And that different life only ended three years ago. But, I could never make that sacrifice now...never. Luna you’re...I’m sorry.”

He fell silent. His eyes betraying his own self-loathing. Looking down at where the unconscious Gusty lay to his left, he heaved a hefty sigh. Luna waited for him to continue, holding her emotions in check. As hard as she had tried she could still feel what he felt and her heart screamed for mercy, but her mind demanded she ensure her safety.

“You’re right. I am a monster,” he whispered. “I always have been.”

“I’ve done such terrible things. Atrocities against dragons...murdered ponies, that while they many have deserved it, they had no way of defending themselves. The Griffons. All of it...that quest for vengeance… it reawakened a part of me that I had never truly dealt with. The hunger for power...for control. You were there for all of it, you never left my side and I was willing to throw you away because I felt like you had slighted me. Because I thought it was your job to tell me that I was wrong, and that you needed me. I was both cruel and a fool. I know I’ll always be a fool. Sometimes I think I still might be cruel too.”

He paused, his face looking much older for a brief moment. “I can make no excuses. And I don’t have the right to ask for forgiveness. I thought that plan would work and I failed. I hurt you. I failed Gusty. I failed the world. I didn’t mean to make you feel like this.”

“Please...even if you can’t forgive me. We still have work to do so there will be a world to go back to once we are finished.” Guardian Angel looked up at her his sharp slitted-pupils’ sheen just barely betraying his regret.

For a creature like her lover, this realm showed all, there was no hiding even the deepest thoughts or emotions. He could not see or truly hear. Guardian felt, absorbed, and emitted. The fact that he could fight the Curse to a draw was a miracle, a testament to his mental fortitude. Likewise this unliving experience proved the display of such compelling sentiments could not be faked. It was why she had believed his ruthless declaration in the first place. A part of him would have done it; that was why it had felt so real. Did he or did he not have intention of following through? Luna was no longer knew that answer.

Luna broke her stoicism and let her fear resurface, tears streaming down her face.

“We w-will have to revisit this,” she started, voice cracking. “I had thought you had made more substantial progress from those times.”

“For what it is worth: I thought I had too,” Guardian Angel replied not looking at her.

His words did not have the impact she thought they would. Her heart felt cold and tired, begging to have this nightmare end. However, as they sat there apart Luna pushed herself toward him begrudgingly. She was uncertain if it was a blessing or a curse, but she knew she still loved him, even in this moment. Luna blamed her soft heart, its romantic ideals, and her petty desire. There needed to be a discussion bigger than the two of them once they got Gusty stabilized. Leaning against him briefly, she let the silent but powerful message of her emotions reach him. She was still willing to try and make it work, but she no longer trusted him the way she had before. He would have to prove to her that he was more committed to amending his ways.

“We must make haste. There is no telling what that beast might do to Gusty’s waking mind. Especially since it is no longer bound by that containment magic,” She stated pulling away.

“Right. See you up there,” he replied. He looked at her but his face was an empty mask.

He blurred upward in flash his form more a silhouette than solid as he went. Luna charged up her horn, spell on the ready and she was quickly on her way as well. Unlike Guardian her movement was instant. As she cleared her eyes she again floated above the churning ocean of Gusty’s waking thoughts.

An icy pain pierced her heart and a dark chuckles filled her ears. What’s better than one broken alicorn? Two broken alicorns!

In a panic, Luna looked down at her chest to find a long tentacle extending out from it. The inky appendage snaked its way back to its owner who laughed madly. Fear engulfed the mooney mare and for a moment the whole of her perceptions darkened to black and chiding remarks of years long past echoed into her skull.

Oh Lulu, such a bad little pony. No wonder he favors you! Chuckled the Mytsn as it forced her through some of her memories.. Luna liked that name better. It suited the terrible creature. And it was that thought that steeled her nerves.

“You know nothing of my heart, beast,” she seethed. “You are nothing compared to the darkness I faced every night for over a millennia!

Horn and fury blazing Luna blasted spells at the black creature, eyes closed. It shrieked in surprise and pain. Slowly its grip on her lessened as she struggled against it. Suddenly as if it had been grabbed and tossed the Curse’s influence was cast away. She opened her eyes to find Guardian Angel’s fangs pinned into the creature as he drug it away.

“Was I dreaming? What happened to my bed? Am I still dreaming?” Came Gusty’s voice over the top of everything around them. Luna stifled a gasp. The mare was indeed awake, those words were her thoughts.

“Begone foul beast!” Her stallion shouted. Shifting her gaze to him, she watched as the amalgamation was thrown across the sea a mighty distance away, its body bouncing off the surface as if it was hard and not an evermoving mass. Recovering, it darted off, disappearing behind one of the great golden moorings that was not wholly destroyed.

“Gusty! Gusty, godsdamnit!” her stallion cried, ignoring the inky beast’s escape.

“It’s no use trying to get her to help. We will have to think of a way to contain the Mytsn on our own, before we try to make our escape. Let’s just hope she has enough wits to summon my sister.” Luna shouted out quickly.

“That’s not what I’m worried about!” he yelled back. “If the Curse is targeting you, then it won’t just do it in here.”

“What do you mean?” She galloped over to him as she spoke.

“I’m fully reconnected with Gusty at the moment, remember? I can feel what it intends to do, what it plans to use her for. The Mytsn is going to have a go at you in the real world using Gusty as her puppet!” Guardian Angel hissed angrily, more at himself than at any pony else

Luna looked up at the purply sky that made the ceiling of this realm. Images of the Palace flashed before her. The distorted but understandable sounds of pony’s talking reached her ears, Celestia stood in view her face worried, horn aglow. The whole realm around them darkened to black save the few floating memories, the golden, broken shards of Gusty’s magic and the light of what the mare could see. A low terrible, but delighted laughter rolled from seemingly everywhere, just like Gusty’s voice had before.

“Oooooh, you are just too good at this, my Lord. It’s too bad you have no way to stop me~!” The Curse singsonged.

Luna watched Gusty’s line of sight direct itself over her sister’s shoulder and towards a doorway. The view seemed to focus in on the portal and as it did a blue curl of fur and wings laying contentedly on the floor. Realizing she was looking at herself Luna momentarily balked at her sparkling mane and sleeping face. It had been an eternity since she had looked at herself through somepony else’s eyes, simply put each pony had their own view of the world. She felt both flattered and surprised that Gusty thought of her as beautiful as she did.

The moment was cut short by the hiss and hum of summoning magic. Now hanging closely in the image was Gusty’s old beat-up sword. The clopping of hooves and the laughter of both the mare’s waking body and the Mytsn echoed over the area. A vague distance away Luna could hear Guardian Angel cursing, the sound of something heavy being slammed against metal accompanying his every word. However, she was transfixed, locked in place as she watched her own death play out.

“No! What am I doing?!? Luna is my friend!...The Curse! It’s trying to control me! Not yet! Not yet! Come on you two, figure something out!” Gusty’s thoughts boomed commandingly. The motion of her sight stopped and her sword was cast aside.

The darkness faded to a light grey with patches of purple in between and the ocean of thoughts and emotions could be seen again. Luna released a breath she had been holding, her moment of helplessness over.

She turned her head towards the sound of a hoof-fight. There by the glowing mooring where it had disappeared the entity fought her stallion. They continued to wrestle as she bolted over, moving on instinct of survival alone.

Celestia! You have to bind me or something-do anything! I’m losing control, the Curse-it just made me try to kill Luna. It knows that they are trying to defeat it, it's like she said, it's alive! Damnit, I should have just believed her to begin with! Gusty’s words came to her as if she had spoken them herself. The sensation gave Luna the chills before warming her heart. The teal mare was managing to keep her safe even while she was losing it. She might just turn out to be worth all this trouble.

A snarl, a wail, the sound of flesh impacting stone: the accompaniment followed Guardian Angel and the Curse as they tumbled over one another, biting and kicking. Luna pushed herself and ran towards them faster. It seemed the great golden pillar of broken magic was much further away than she had anticipated. It grew and expanded into a mighty tower as she approached. As she slowly neared the two demons other voices could be heard murmuring.

“Mother, could you perhaps be more gentle with that comb? I prefer to keep my mane on my head and not scraped off on the ground,” complained the voice of a long dead alicorn filly.

“Well if you didn’t go running through the briars all the time I wouldn’t have to do this!” Gusty giggled over a few pained grunts of her ward.

Now close by, Luna realized the words were coming from the golden tower itself. Whatever Guardian Angel had done to break their magic continued to prove catastrophic. These memories belonged in the sea below her hooves, why they were now trapped inside the remnants of the mare’s spell was anypony’s guess. However, the moment gave Luna inspiration. If powerful memories had found their way into the moorings then perhaps the Curse could be temporarily held there as well. It would provide excellent support for she and Celestia’s stabilization spells. Not to mention give her a moment to escape back into the waking world without having to take a portion of the monstrosity with her into her mind.

“Guardian Angel, I have an idea!” she cried horn charging as she spoke.

“What is it?!” he hollered back between pinning and getting pinned by the black entity.

“Yes, do tell mooney mare!” The Curse barked in its momentary advantage.

That was all Luna needed to say. For all his faults, her stallion would be able to read what she had planned just by her body language. Quickly, as she dashed over to the great golden pillar searching for a way inside, to see the memories that she could hear within. Unfortunately, the cursory glance yielded no results, she would need an uninterrupted dreamwalk to find out the pillar’s mysteries. Something she would not be getting. Brute force would be the method used to trap the Curse inside the magical remnant. Scuffle behind her and a growl caused her to tense just enough to not be crushed by the sudden impact of the two combatants bouncing off her backside. Still it smooshed her nose into the structure before her, leaving her quite upset.

Good plan. I’ll keep the Mytsn distracted. Whispered Guardian Angel’s words into her soul as he slugged the other beast with a potent right hoof.

Luna went to yell at him for invading her privacy but realized that would give away her only advantage of surprise. “Watch it you big idiot, how’s my plan gonna work if you knock me out!” she shouted instead.

“Poor dumb-dumb. He’s going to ruin his only chance! Hahaha!” cackled the Curse. Meanwhile she countered the stallion’s overzealous attempt to give her a full buck with a tentacle lash to his front hooves that knocked him down.

“Pshh!” Luna spat. “He’s already gone and done that. Besides, I don’t understand why he’s holding back at this point. He wounded you quite severely back in the Frozen North. He should be able to do it again.” She moved around their fight, circling to put them between herself and the mooring.

“Maybe it's because this time I can’t focus my power on a single point!” Guardian Angel growled. He flipped up from the ground, neck and mouth moving like lightning. His fangs sank deeply into the Curse’s “neck” eliciting a yelp of pain. He drove her forward and into the pillar of gold, just like Luna had hoped he would.

However, before she could make her move the dark entity put up a desperate struggle before a chilling bout of giggles darkened the sky of Gusty’s mind again. Luna snapped her head towards the viewport to watch the movie of the material plane. At first Celestia was all that appeared there, her worried face looking directly at Gusty, her horn glowing with the pale-yellow that was her magic. With a stiff jerk, the mare’s eyes flicked over to Guardian Angel’s body, still rigid and standing in place. Her sword hefted in her levitation she strode towards the stallion. A sudden red shield-bubble blocked her path.

“You know. You might hold me by the throat in here, but two can play at that game!” The Mytsn proclaimed between pained squeaks.

In shock, Luna watched Gusty’s sword swing down and shatter the shield in a single blow. In the next motion the levitated blade whipped around wildly, but the mare did not move.

“My my, she’s fighting me much more fiercely than before. Too bad I have her strength gauged from when she saved you, Luna.” The monstrous blackness’s beady blue eyes sparkled with glee.

The mare of the moon’s blood turned cold. Her stallion’s words were the answer, albeit on the attack and not the defense. She would need to focus all of her magic in single burst, at a single point. There was no other way to temporarily banish the Curse into the ancient containment magic. Unfortunately, that would immediately drain her. She would be just as trapped as the dark entity until her strength recovered. Guardian Angel would have to guide her out, and that meant she would have to trust him to not possess her. Although right now, Luna was still pretty apprehensive of that choice. Yet, it was the only choice to make if they were going to solve this problem and they were so close already.

“Damnit!” Echoed Gusty’s voice across the rolling waves. “Damnit, no! He can take it but I mustn’t give in! It will be like going back before! I don’t want this! I can’t go back to my old self! Fuck! I’m so close to being actually happy!”

“Oh, sweet child, did you think you could trust him?” This time it was the Curse’s voice that boomed across the world. It toyed with Gusty as the scant second ticked by and Luna readied herself. Meanwhile the apparition Guardian Angel held just laughed more and more.

The Princess did not need to charge her horn to unleash raw magic. She did not hold back. She let the full force of her new sorrows and anger push her forward. The magic she released was a beam of pure white. It extended outward in a wide ray that hit both Guardian Angel and the Curse. While the stallion did not shriek, the entity certainly did. As her vision darkened Luna caught the end of the spell carrying the dark beast into the golden realm beyond Gusty’s waking mind. Gritting her teeth in a desperate attempt to retain consciousness Luna felt the press of wings against her barrel.

When her vision reached clarity again, Luna found the unfamiliar face of the unicorn mare from before. A splitting headache forced her eyes closed immediately and she groaned angrily.

“Princess Luna is back!” The mare’s hooves clopped excitedly away from where she lay curled in a pained ball. It had been an eternity since she experienced mana burn. She attempted to sit up but immediately found hot wet rush down her snout and onto her hooves.

“Sister!” Celestia’s hooves clipped over in a rush. “You really should be more careful. You’re bleeding form your ears and nose!”

“I’ve survived worse. Help me stand. There is still much to attend to,” Luna clutched at her temples as she spoke. Without much protest her sister helped her up, the hum of some muscle relaxing magic followed before she could request it. Her elder summoned a few cool cloths and wiped her face and ears, their soft touch almost better than the magic. She thanked Celestia and the two solar sisters carefully re-entered Gusty’s bedroom. Though Luna had been only laying out in the hall, the world inside the room seemed like a different place.

Most notably blood was pooled about the majority of the stone floor. In the midst of it, Gusty sat on her plot, breathing as if she had just run a marathon. The blood was clearly not her own, Luna knew the almost sweet smell of demon blood all too well. The thought made her heart ache. Even with recent revelations she did not want to see Guardian Angel hurt. After all he had not actually done anything, his words may have been vile, his emotions worse, but he did not act on them. It was the only reason Luna had not come out of the Dreamscape swinging

She found his face blank as he stood like a statue. From his neck and from his chest slow but quite steady flows of ichor continued to grow the pools at his hooves. It seemed that not until Luna had found herself in the waking world did Gusty come back into control of herself. The Princess of the Moon hesitated to ask if her teal counterpart felt well; it was fairly clear she did not. Besides it far more troubling was Guardian Angel’s continued absence from the material plane. If he had gotten trapped, then the magic that made up his body and soul was still focused there, and the wounds would not heal. Even for a beast as powerful as he, the blood loss he was taking would prove lethal in short order should he not regain consciousness.

Just as Luna was to suggest the beleaguered party of soldiers and alicorns do something to help him, he gasped loudly with a gurgle. Taking to a fit of coughing he spat out more blood, but the wounds on his body quickly closed. Eventually he retched out a large and rather disturbing clot making Luna blanch herself.

“You punctured and flooded a damn lung, Gusty!” he hoarsely declared. The mare did not notice his words, her face distraught and distant as she looked at him.

“Are you alright?” Celestia was the pony to ask.

“Yeah. Cut it pretty close though.” He cleared his throat and spat, his voice becoming more normal. “I’m just glad we managed to contain it. About everything else has gone wrong today.”

“That somehow is underselling it, don’t you think?” Luna snarked bitterly.

“Luna I…” Guardian Angel stopped speaking and just looked away. It was at least obvious he felt remorse. He began speaking to the armored mare from before.

“Sergeant.”

“Yes, Milord?”

“Signal the all clear and have the emergency portals deactivated. There is no need to start the evacuation, the situation has stabilized.”

“Of course. Do you need us for anything else?”

“Yes. Send in the magic transfer team. Luna could use a bit of a boost before we bother to place the extra failsafes.”

The unicorn nodded and quickly departed with her counterpart. The room fell silent as the immortals stood about, and in Gusty’s case, sat. Luna felt too hurt and tired to say anything. She wanted some way to know if Guardian Angel was controlling her. Any proof to show he as not would make her feel significantly more comfortable. Frankly, it would not take much, she wanted to believe the good part of him much more than the bad part. He would suffer all the same until she got what she needed to feel safe again.

Done with the quiet the stallion grunted. He motioned for Celestia to rouse Gusty from the floor. Her sister did as he requested and prodded the teal mare’s nose until she calmly stopped Celestia’s hoof.

“Sorry. I just don’t know how to deal with myself right now.” Gusty stood as she spoke.

“Not to worry. I believe Luna and G.A. were successful in their endeavors. Although I’m detecting a sour attitude coming from both of them,” Celestia commented before casing a wary glance between the two of them.

“You could say that.” Luna did not manage to bite her tongue nor control the venom in her voice.

“What happened between you two?” her sister’s voice was rife with concern. She could smell conflict and almost certainly wanted her say in it. Luckily for her, Luna was more than willing to oblige, she just had to wait on the transfer team to get her some magic back.

“I made some pretty idiotic mistakes...” Guardian Angel stopped speaking his nostrils flaring. “I smell blood.”

“Well, I mean-it’s kinda everywhere.” Gusty gestured to the room ironically. She beat both of the solar sisters to the punch.

“Alicorn blood.” His eyes moved over to Luna, scrutinizing carefully.

“You mana burned yourself? Godsdamnit. Why did you do that?!”

“I was angry. I’m still angry.”

“That’s no reason to hurt yourself!”

“Everypony else was doing it so I figured it must be fun!”

“It is most definitely not fun! I feel awful!”

“Oh, sure you do. Just wait until I explain to these two what you did.”

Guardian Angel frowned but remained quiet. He did not have a comeback for that and that put a selfish smile on her face. Meanwhile, Gusty and Celestia kept looking between them with worry on their faces. Neither made a move, presumably because they were trying to see if the fight would continue.

The magic transfer team arrived before they could continue bickering. The two dozen unicorns wasted no time setting up their channeled spell. Luna barely had time to ask questions about the procedure, she had not ever had ponies transfer magical energy into her before. Suffice to say the simple explanations she received did not satisfy her concern. The team displayed a great deal of apathy and just shot her with a strange beam that produced a low resonant tone. Her apprehension quickly disappeared, the magic immediately alleviating her headache and sore body. By the time they were done every last unicorn had fallen over in a deep slumber, but Luna herself felt only slightly fatigued, a vast improvement. She would have to thank them later.

“Gusty, Sister. You are coming with me. I need some ponies to vent to after we cast the additional containment magic. Guardian Angel, clean up your mess.” she waved a hoof at the strange state of the room.

“Going to the Northern Conference Room?” he asked.

“I was. Why? Do you plan to come defend yourself?” Luna nearly snarled.

“Better to face the music sooner than later...I’ll be along.” His voice was hollow as if his mind was locked on other thoughts that were somehow more upsetting than what had happened this morning.

“Let’s go.” With a teleport’s flash and a refusal to look back, Luna brought her small council of confidantes to her desired location. She drew a breath and started her angry tirade; hoping, perhaps, that hearing her own fury might justify the rage she felt. If not, hopefully it would lessen its effects and let logic prevail. Meanwhile her horn burned hot with the spells she had been practicing at the request of stallion she no longer trusted, her sister doing the same. Her rant continued as the magic flowed and started doing its job, evident by the slowly relaxing Gusty Twilight. Ultimately, as she described her story to her companions Luna ignored all else. She did not care which path would be presented to her, whichever presented itself first she would take. Guardian Angel was going to bear the brunt of her wrath either way.

.”

Act 4: Chapter 9 - Just Between You and Me

“Ember, fairest Daughter, Princess of Dragonkind, tell your Queen of the Alicorns’ decision. Do they see the desperation of this situation and seek to join us forthright? Or do they require more persuasion? Tell them: gold and twenty-thousand years of peace between our races is a small price to pay for the destruction of the Shadow-kin. Their aid is necessary, their magic essential to exposing the great demons. Do what must be done to secure their allegiance to our cause!

Most Fervently, The Queen of Fire, your Mother, Ashijinir”

-A recent fire letter-

Chapter 9 - Just Between You and Me

Stepping out of the conference room for a break Celestia heaved a heavy breath of fresh air. At this point she was unsure if the story she had been told was one she should be concerned with or not. She hated to ignore her sister’s emotions but there was not much she could do to change what had happened. Frankly, though she had kept it to herself, she did not find Guardian Angel’s actions to have been as severe as they had been described. Perhaps it was simply her inexperience in dream/planeswalking. After all she had only done such once or twice, and the Astral Plane, that land of dreams, simply was not the real world. Still, she ached for Luna, her sister’s lover should have been more considerate of what he was doing.

“No, that is not necessary.” The surprise of a stallion’s voice drew Celestia out of her thoughts.

“I told you already, Captain. I am not going to explain the details of my personal life to you.” The Princess spied Guardian Angel pacing back and forth across the wide hall that led into the Northern Conference Room. He held a wing to some sort of device that was in his ear, and seemingly talked to himself. Straining, Celestia could barely make out the murmurs of another pony’s voice. Presumably it came from the strange contraption: that made sense, at least if her memory of the recent reports on new inventions held up.

“No. I don’t care if my personal life could cause the end of the world. It’s still not your business until I say it is!” Celestia crept closer to Guardian Angel as he argued with whoever it was on the other side of the communicator.

“I know. I know. You’re only doing your job. I appreciate your concern, but right now this is something only I can handle. So please, continue to oversee the clean-up op.” The stallion rubbed his brow with a hoof, stopping mid-stride.

Continuing, the princess stopped trying to hide the sound of her hooffalls with the now absent but still somehow incessant pacing he had been doing. He looked up at her his eyes meeting hers before he rolled his slitted-irises in mock annoyance. At least Celestia thought it was a sarcastic gesture.

“Two quarts of Serum should work.” The voice interrupted him with several mumbles, his mouth staying open. “It’s a disintegration wound. He needs both if he’s going to make a full recovery.”

By the time Celestia had arrived next to him her ears were trained to listen in on the conversation between stallion and earpiece. There was not much to it at this point unfortunately.

“I guess I better then.” said the voice over the comm.

“Bunker will appreciate it. Thanks. Stormwalker out.” Guardian Angel lowered his wing before pivoting towards a different direction than the princess had expected. Specifically, away from her, “And you. What are you doing this early in the morning?”

Celestia leaned on the edge of her hooves to see around the big stallion. Before them stood a mare of slight build. Her off-pink, more of a faint peach, mane was pulled back into a tight, functional bun. It bobbed in tandem with her frilly maid’s uniform as she looked between the two giants before her.

“My lord...it was my turn to clean the Northern Conference Room, and I like to start early,” the mare hardly balked at Guardian Angel’s presence. Something about her seemed strikingly familiar perhaps it was her beige coat or the strikingly ice-blue eyes.

“You...I know you.” Celestia poured through the list of names and faces in her head trying to divine the correct pairing.

“Chrysanthemum?!” she proclaimed in shock. The thin mare shrugged and gave a small smile.

“That’s me. You don’t have to yell...Princess.” She kicked a hoof at the polished floor.

“I thought you had her executed?!” Celestia snapped up at Guardian Angel. She managed to turn her words softer but the expression was the sort of loud hoarse whisper that really was not quiet at all.

“No. I decided to go with my original arbitration from her first tribunal. You know, the first time we caught she and Zeccaran. A little after we started dating back in the day, if I remember right." He amended with an aside.

"It was to be indentured servitude to the state until such times that her debts are repaid,” He replied putting a hoof up to his face. “Look, we have other things to handle right now. Let’s just send her on her way and get this over with.”

“Get what over with? What on earth is going on in there? I’m supposed to clean it!” Chrysanthemum chirped rather dejectedly. Celestia paused looking between the two of them as her mind traced back to the continually rising emotions in the Northern Conference Room. However, she was mostly still shocked that the mare that had orchestrated much of Guardian Angel’s suffering over the last twenty years could stand before him with such brash confidence.

“You don’t want to go in there. It’s a madhouse.” Celestia warned before the stallion could make a crude remark.

“Well, that’s no fun how am I supposed to run up the rumor mill if I can’t figure out what the local demon-spawn and the three big alicorns are doing?” the ex-priestess giggled. Guardian Angel gave her a hard, rather hostile glare.

“Oh, not to worry, I'm sure you’ll get your scoop.” The Princess turned her head to the stallion in an effort to distract him. Just from his posture she could tell he was quite short on patience. He acknowledged her interest in him, tilting his head inquisitively.“All things considered it is fortunate that I found you so quickly.”

“Gusty and Luna are...for the lack of better terms, increasing each other’s potency in bed.” She explained. Chrysanthemum gasped and Guardian Angel groaned.

“Great. Now they are both horny and angry. The perfect combination! Ugh. It’s barely six in the morning and this day has already turned into a real bitch.” He commented with his usual pessimism when things did not go the way he planned. Celestia suppressed a giggle it was surprisingly pleasant to have him act so candidly. She was fairly certain she was starting to blush...

“Frankly, I’m just happy you showered. I actually ditched for a minute to get some fresh air under the pretense I was searching for you. And...well...not to intrude into your relationship but I’m not sure how Luna could be upset with you. You did give her plenty of fair warning. Speaking of which, since when can you just project your mind into other ponies’ consciousnesses? Oh-don’t-worry-about-that-right-now-I’m-getting-ahead-of-myself!” She just narrowly stopped the word vomit from continuing.

“Not you too, Tia.” Bags seemed to appear underneath Guardian Angel’s eyes as he spoke those words.

“I’m fine. Saved only by a thousand years of practice.” She cast a strong hormone reduction spell and then something to prevent her nose from picking up any more of his scent. “And magic, of course.”

A long excited gasp escaped Chrysanthemum. “Oh. My. Gosh. You have your own royal harem! I knew it! There’s no way a stallion like you could be satisfied by only one mare. I mean, you’re Shadow-kin, and a normal Shadow-kin has the sex drive of at least ten demons! But you also ate Nyx, and you were no slouch before that either! Oh! So much power and desire! I bet even these three even have trouble keeping you...tamed. Now, I wonder who will believe me? Oh I know! Mrs-”

“ENOUGH!” Guardian Angel bellowed in a burst of flame and anger. The small mare he directed his ire at lost all color in her fur and her eyes went wide with terror.

“I’m dating one mare! A mare who I cherish greatly, and deeply regret hurting. She has been an integral part of my life since I met her twenty-seven years ago and I will not have you spreading ridiculous rumors about my comings and goings! Luna has already had enough trouble for today. And, I don’t want to have her to start hearing ponies saying that I’ve: quote, ‘been bedding her sister and her rival!’ So why don’t you shut the fuck up and get the hell-out-of-my-sight!”

To her credit Chrysanthemum did not faint. She stood in place trembling in fear, unable to make her hooves move away from him. Celestia momentarily felt the urge to scold him for losing control, however that passed. His words were honest and fit the brevity one should have while addressing a mass murderer like the small frightened mare before him. While it was clear that Chrysanthemum had made some real progress and was very happy with herself because of it, it was equally certain that Guardian Angel had as well. Contrary to her sister’s beliefs, Celestia could see it. Where once one had been ripped out, a new heart filled the stallion with emotion something she had not seen in over a decade. A pang of regret made the Princess look at him more closely.

He did not move to strike Chrysanthemum, and as he stood before her, slowly his inflamed visage died down to nothingness. Stoically he lowered his head, heaving a calm, but overtly long sigh.

“Just go,” he murmured.

“Yes, my lord. I-I a-apologize my lord. I’ll clean that room later. I’m s-sorry. I had no idea anything serious was going on. Forgive me.” The thin mare bowed low and backed away from Guardian Angel as she stammered. Eventually she righted herself and made a hasty retreat down the hall. Silence took over as the clop of her hooves died down after she turned into a room and disappeared.

“I’m surprised,” Celestia stated after moment. She sought to strike while the iron was hot. “You must truly be worried you’ll lose Luna over this. Is there more to what happened than she is telling me?”

Guardian Angel turned and met her eyes, his look a tempest of self-contempt colored red. “I don’t know what she had told you. But, I can assure you she does not mince words or hide truths when she speaks of what happened.”

Celestia waited, letting her gaze do the yearning for more words for her.

“It would be different if it wasn’t the thing we always fight over. Maybe if it was something I’d done for the first time, or felt for the first time, it wouldn’t be a problem then, I guess,” he continued.

“You mean about Gusty?” she asked. With a slight tilt of her head she motioned for them to start moving back to the doors into the conference room.

“Yes. But, more so about how she's the consistent sticking point she has been in Luna and I’s relationship. Luna understands how important it is to keep Gusty stable, especially now but…” He trailed off for a moment turning his body to face the door at the end of the hall. “She does not appreciate the lengths I would go to ensure that this Curse is destroyed.”

“And why do you want to go so far as to sacrifice everything around you for the sake of a mare that besides the last two months has wanted to kill you? The answer eludes me as well,” Celestia questioned.

“Because I can’t-” He cut himself off with a quick click shut of his teeth. “This is an explanation that is owed to all of you. Let’s get inside the room.”

“What makes you think they haven’t been listening? Especially since you shouted. We both know my sister is a chronic eavesdropper.” She turned and gave him a wry smile.

“Oh, I know they’ve been listening in. But, this is something I should do face-to-face.” He opened his wings and with a quick little hop he became airborne silently gliding his way to the door of the conference hall and opening it.

Both Gusty and Luna tumbled out onto the marble floor. Each spat a series of choice curses as they stood, and each pulling a hoof back as if to slap him. Celestia laughed at them and it killed their collective angst leaving them to block the doorway out of spite.

“Just because you feel so bad doesn’t mean you are off the hook, big boy,” Luna snarled up at her stallion.

“Yeah! This explanation of yours had better be pretty good. I didn’t exactly give you permission to start digging around in my head especially if it's for some great big scheme to turn us into your own little alicorn herd!” Gusty shouted.

“Stop yelling that!” Guardian Angel hissed. “And if I had wanted to do that I would have already done it! But I’m not that sorta scumbag and as you most definitely just heard, I'm trying really hard not to be that sorta scumbag.”

“You had better! So enjoy this test of your restraint and good will, in the room. Now.” Luna ordered before stepping aside. Guardian grumbled his agreement and strode inside.

“I think you two need to settle down some. He hasn’t done anything that would warrant-” Celestia was stifled by a gag. The Northern Conference Room reeked of heat. It was the sort of concentrated aroma that could only come from mares in their prime; the kind that left weak stallions unable to escape their clutches.

Hopefully, Guardian Angel had his act together, she still wanted to hear what he had to say. Haphazardly, Celestia entered the room after Gusty. She quickly found a seat on the biggest chair and wrapped her tail underneath herself regardless if it was uncomfortable. Likewise she cast another nasal blocker and another hormone reducer spell on herself. Somepony here needed to keep their wits about them after all. Even with her magic, it was only a matter of time, until she would fall prey to the natural course of herd instincts. Guardian Angel needed to get his story over with and quick.

He had taken his usual spot on the giant sofa and laid out flat on his belly. He closed his eyes, his big wings partially unfolding. If he was being influenced by the smell of the room she could not tell. It felt sort of like years before, when he was her personal guard and she used to tape enchanted and moist panties inside his helmet. Celestia blushed hard at the thought, this might be harder for her than it was him!

“Alright, everypony comfortable?” he asked after Luna and Gusty had finally sat down.

“Yes. Now please. Continue with why I’m less important than Gusty,” Luna seethed.

“It’s never been about Gusty exclusively, Luna. She might be the catalyst to this whole thing but not my end goal. That you know. Or at least I thought you did.” He turned with his eyes wide, their pupils so expanded they split the color of his irises.

“That is what you have always said. And, recent events would suggest you aren’t lying. But, without the details on what you really want, how can we trust you?” Gusty took her turn to ply a question.

“Well. I’m trying to get to that. I just...I just don’t have all the right words, so this is going to sound like I’m talking out of my ass. Just listen to me okay? That’s all I can ask…” Celestia leaned forward in her seat as he finished that request. Both Luna and Gusty silently nodded after giving each other a long look.

“Thirteen years ago I had my life taken away from me. I lost everything. My fiance. Most of my closest friends. My heart. My equinity. It was a terrible moment that led into years of darkness and a hunger for revenge so powerful I threw away everything I once loved and cared about to instead seek what I ‘wanted.’ What I believed I wanted anyway.”

Guardian Angel paused. His brow pinched forward as sweat rolled down his cheeks. He pulled several haggard breaths, looking down at the floor his eyes showing a strange, painful emptiness. Celestia stayed her tongue waiting for him to finish his introduction, they had all heard this story before.

“And so I fell prey to the classic lust for power, using my suffering as an excuse. And so it came to pass that Gusty, on the fateful tenth anniversary of that night, chose to get in my way. It was like she held up a mirror to my face and I didn’t recognize the creature that stared back at me.” He fell silent again, his voice hoarse as he went quiet, but only for a moment. “And as Nyx dolled out punishment upon me, I realized that I didn’t want to die. Not particularly because I was afraid of death, but because I couldn’t stand the thought of dying a monster.”

“Guardian Angel...it took all of that for you to realize? I spent those ten years doing anything I could to help you! A-a-and you just ignored me! This time you aren’t but it’s the same thing. I don’t even know if you ever stopped walking down that path at all. Think about this from my perspective please!” Luna sniffed. She did well to hide her tears from her voice but could do nothing to stop them from rolling down her face.

Celestia furrowed her brow. Would any of this matter to Luna if their plans had proven successful this morning? She made her opinion known.

“Sister, I don’t want to demean your emotions, but would you care at all if what he did had worked and the Curse was destroyed? In this situation he did try to take into account how you felt, even before attempting the plan. Short though your contact was it’s not as if he’s ignored you. And in the end we all know he’d never trade you for Gusty. He might play tough but guilt is what motivates this stallion and he could not live with that sort of guilt. Especially if he was to devour your soul and leave your body alive in a permanent coma. On top of that he’d have me to contend with for doing such things!” The Princess of the Sun did not try to restrain her concern for her sister nor her desire to understand Luna’s true feelings.

“I don’t know sister! I just feel betrayed! He’d go that far for another mare?! I can’t tell if its jealousy or if maybe he’s just playing us all and I finally got a moment to think about it.” Luna stood up from her seat, beating her head back and forth as she spoke.

“You’d trust the machinations of a creature like the Curse over me? It was that thing that said those words Luna, not I. And why wouldn’t I agree with the most terrible thing it could divine? If I didn’t I couldn’t have fooled it as well as I did. You even played along for it. Your fear is ultimately what led us to failing. Why? Why would you ever think I would do that to you?!” Guardian Angel’s gravelly tone grew even rougher as he tried to restrain his voice and feelings.

“This isn't about how I feel, yet. Finish what you started first.” Luna sat back down and turned her gaze away from them all. Celestia looked at her sister in dismay. She was starting to understand why Guardian Angel was so concerned with what had happened. Her younger sister no longer trusted him for reasons that seemed petty. If only she knew more about this problem in their relationship and how it developed she might have more to say, but since she did not she remained silent.

“You lied, Guardian Angel. This is exclusively about me.” Gusty’s voice cut over the soft sobs of Luna and the eerie pressure of the stallion’s silence. Celestia looked at her friend waiting for her to continue.

“It’s not about romance, or who you would choose. It’s about control. That’s what it is, isn’t it? Why else won’t you give up on me? You want to see if you can resist the same temptation your ancestors fell prey to; this whole situation...you want...you want to prove to yourself that you’re in control, right?” She asked firmly. The question hung in the air grimly waiting for a response with the sort of presence an upset mother had for her misbehaving foals. Luna even made a more sizable sniffle and turned back to look at them her face shocked and still.

“You’ve always known that haven’t you? Ever since that day in this very room, those three years ago.” Guardian Angel stood up. He cast his gaze up at the ceiling and the crystal chandelier that resided there. Everypony waited for him to continue, this was the real material now.

“I took my chance and changed what I could. Our future is not yet written, but when I think of the past, everything I've done, I know I cannot go back to who I was. I have to fix what’s happened. I have to renounce all that my ancestors once did. I have to be better. I can’t let things be the way they are supposed to be, with me the villian and the world my oyster. If I do that, if I give into the same feelings my past lives fell prey to then the cycle will only continue.” He shook his head violently, hissing breaths out of his clenched fangs.

“It did not matter which one of you I chose as a mate, our children would inevitably consume me for the evil I was and assert their rule which in time would become as cruel as my own. And on, and on, and on, and on for all times!” Guardian Angel shouted his eyes waxing red again and his skin cracking to reveal the boiling magic in his body.

“The world can’t keep living through the constant bickering of its gods-or demi-gods. Whatever we should call ourselves! Just look at Equestria! Since Luna’s return nearly every year for the first decade she was back megalomaniacs spurred on by the ghosts of the past have nearly brought it to destruction! I could have done something about it but I never did. Celestia could have done something. Luna could have done something. But we all sat on our asses and argued with each other or took interest in less important things. We are supposed to be this world’s protectors!” He looked around at all of them.

Celestia could not help but feel a sense of both anger and guilt at his words. By the look on Luna’s face she felt the same way. None of them were omniscient but they did all certainly had the power to influence the world around them to a great effect. What would have happened had she not cursed herself with that memory-charm? Could she, Luna, and Guardian Angel have done something about Chrysalis or Sombra? She would have never had to ask Twilight Sparkle and her friends to endanger themselves. That made her feel particularly stupid.

“What are you saying?” Luna found her words first and pulled Celestia out of her self-pity.

“I’m saying that if I don’t see this through. If I can’t save Gusty then I’ll fall. And I’ll bring the whole world with me when I do. Then after regular folks rebuild the world just like they have after every generation of Shadow-kin has past, my descendants will do it all over again,” he replied with a certainty that made chills rush up and down Celestia’s spine.

“Such evil is a part of the world, a part of each of our souls Guardian Angel. You seek to change the very fabric of reality if you want to destroy that balance.” Gusty looked like she was about to sob right alongside Luna.

“True...but no such evil shall come from me or my blood. I’ll die before I let that happen. The Shadow-kin shall be a force for good in the future or they shall die with me.” No longer worked up, Guardian Angel’s voice was stern and even, a reflection of his conviction.

Gusty looked away. For the briefest moment before her mane covered her face from view, Celestia caught a glimpse of her reaction. She wore a sad smile, her cheeks bloomed with a blush and her eyes sparkled and then it was gone. The white alicorn was left wondering if Guardian Angel had seen it and if he had not why did Gusty feel like she needed to hide it from him. That was something that she would be getting to the bottom of quickly.

“You selfish bastard!” Luna leaped out of her chair at him. Throwing her hooves around his neck, she cried into his shoulder. “How I am supposed to forgive you for something so stupid!?”

“Hey, I’m not dead yet.” He nuzzled into her mane. “And that’s last resort remember, if we fuck up and there’s no other option to help Gusty besides kill her.”

“What!?” Celestia and her teal counterpart shouted in unison.

“What do you mean what? It’s a worse case scenario, can’t do anything else option. We still have like eleven other things to try before it comes to that!” He answered snidely.

“I’m upset it’s even an option!” Gusty cried.

“Are you...like are you really? You’d rather be a prisoner in your own mind for all eternity as you watch an alternate version of yourself murder innocent ponies and slowly bring about the destrcution of the world? Better that than death, huh?” Guardian Angel did not play ball. He never had. Celestia both admired that in him and was intimidated by it.

“Well when you put it that way…but still. I can’t believe you even thought of it,” she replied. “I mean you of all ponies, ya big softy, came up with that?”

Celestia cocked her head. Gusty had just called Guardian a pony. That was something she had never done. Much less blurted out in front of witnesses. However, she played along not wanting to spoil the advantage when she caught her friend outside the conference room.

“Indeed. Seems you are on a roll with these ruthless plans today. Come Gusty let’s let these two have a chance to continue in private. There’s nothing more for us to discuss anyway.” Celestia stood up from her chair and made for the door, passing by her sister in an effort to grab her friend and pulled her along.

Luna continued to whisper and whimper into Guardian Angel’s shoulder her face angry. She momentarily looked up from where she pushed her snout. Her teeth were gritted shut, and her eyes hard and hurt. For a moment they waxed sad and lonely, before they flicked towards Gusty with cold determination. Celestia nodded knowingly this one was not over yet. The main fight was between those two now, but she had been requested to gather intel for her sister. The Princess of the Sun continued her retreat wrapping a wing around Gusty as she maneuvered around the furniture.

“Don’t run too far off. I’ll be along shortly to make sure our patchwork is holding. I don’t want to be so rudely interrupted during my private time by you blowing up half the Palace in a repeat episode, Gusty.” Luna’s voice came strongly from behind them. Her tone determined.

“We’ll just be outside in the hall. Why don’t you two cuddle for a minute. It seems like you could use it,” Celestia commented over her shoulder.

“More like a big fancy dinner alone, and two weeks vacation without having anything come between us,” Guardian Angel replied, just as she opened the door and pushed Gusty on through.

Laughing to try and cover up her sister’s growl, she told him that it sounded like a good idea before slipping out and closing the door. Immediately, Celestia fired off a cautionary sound dampening spell just in case Luna could not hold Guardian Angel’s attention. Gusty looked at her in confusion before they met eyes in a squinty stare off that Gusty lost much quicker than she expected.

“What is it?” she squeaked sheepishly.

“What’s going on between you and Guardian Angel? I want to know, just to be certain that he’s not going to suddenly break Luna’s heart for you.” Celestia put a hoof on her friends chest. Gusty’s heart hammered against her hoof. However, after they stared at one another for a moment the teal mare’s face slowly became less flustered and her racing heart slowed down to normal levels.

“Nothing. And honestly, I think that’s my problem,” Gusty replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Since we got back from the Frozen North, I’ve felt differently about him. I’m not going to admit anything but over the last week or so he has been trying to put distance between us. Just yesterday he and I broke down the mental link that had bound us for so long. That’s what caused all this trouble, well at least that’s what I heard Luna say once...I think. Or maybe I just felt her think it...I don’t know. You try having multiple other beings in your head while you are still partially awake!”

Celestia paused trying to draw conclusions from everything that had happened and how Gusty had reacted before. There was surprisingly not much to work with as she quickly eliminated various pieces of evidence based on circumstances. However, after a moment it came to her.

“You miss him. It has barely been a day and you miss the mental bridge to a stallion you never liked in the first place.” Celestia raised a brow waiting for Gusty to respond. It was not a sarcastic remark, at this point she was really beginning to question how exactly the relationship between the two functioned.

“This stays with us and goes no further, I will never speak of it again. I’ve already screwed too much up.” Her friend leaned closer, her teeth gritted. “Everything we’ve been doing to see less of each other has only made it go from bad to worse. It's like I'm his little sister’s goofy friend, and I’ve had a crush on him since I was a little filly! And now we’re both all grown up and suddenly I don’t know how to act around boys! I feel so incredibly stupid!”

Celestia instantly burst into laughter. There was no holding her composure for something like Gusty’s admission of “feelings.” It was simply too hilarious. The poor mare should have known that was how she and Luna felt every single time a summer month’s heat cycled through. Gusty had spent a surprising amount of time far, far away from that stallion this year and suddenly Celestia was truly thinking that had been done on purpose. In fact the year before, he had taken Luna on a bit of an extended vacation. Before that, the first summer Gusty had spent in the Palace, with a few exceptions he spent every moment researching every last thing possible about the mare. He had kept himself cooped up libraries all over the country until mid-winter. The thought knocked her out of her laughter.

She grew more certain as she caught the furious blush on her friend’s face. He had not been pushing her away for just this last couple of days. It had been for almost half the year. It had been subtle, masked behind other events. Who had organized Gertrude’s extradition to Equestria? Guardian Angel had. Who had disappeared to the Frozen North for what was set to be for much longer than Gusty’s return? Guardian Angel had. And when Gusty just started to take the slightest interest in him, who broke that fated mind-to-mind connection? Guardian Angel had.

He had even convinced Gusty that it had been for her own good. That was what her friend had said just now as she struggled to describe her feelings. This morning would not have happened had he not made those decisions. And to think they came within inches of destroying the Curse as a secondary outcome. Celestia’s mind raced trying to understand the game he was playing. If he truly was not doing what Luna had previously accused him of, what could he be doing?

“Hey, you alright? At first you were laughing at me, but now you’re-you look super upset.” Gusty placed a hoof on her shoulder, the mare’s face was lined concern. Still, it was not enough to stop her out of control thoughts.

She could not stop her mind for one reason: she had to trust he was doing the right thing. That meant that Guardian Angel, a stallion with a special talent for saving others’ lives, was devoting his entire being into helping Gusty. If he was doing that he would do anything. That meant he would even sacrifice himself without so much as a thought. The halo and shield that adored his flanks seemed to flash before her eyes and her chest tightened. She now understood Luna’s frustration, only much more acutely.

“I’m fine. I just thought of something different.” The Princess put on her best diplomatic recovery smile. Gusty fixed her with a hard stare but did not say anything else.

“Don’t worry,” Celestia winked. “It wasn’t about you or how I could tease you about this for the next four months.”

“Tiaaaaa-aaaa!” her friend was quickly distracted by that idea and stamped her hoof. It gave her time to finish the thought and keep her rage under wraps.

Guardian Angel had once saved her life. Years ago, several years before even Luna had returned when he was a very green officer in her Royal Guard. The action had not been what struck her, it was how he did it. The perfect assassin, a Nyxian Cultist, was a mare who had masqueraded as a merchant for ten years. She was a pony Celestia had known, a pony she had trusted, a good friend. The mare had never been suspicious not even in the slightest. On one ordinary day she made a move one out of the blue in a short little private meeting.

For months Guardian Angel had insisted on accompanying her to such meetings. Like any other occasion she had denied her personal guard, citing that her guest was a loyal subject and well-vetted. But that day was different he ignored her orders and shadowed her into the meeting, unbeknownst to either her or the assassin. Had he not been there she would have died. It had been perfect, there was no dodging the throw of the short spear the mare had produced, her mind simply was not ready, not even the natural instinct to teleport had triggered. But he had put his body between them somehow nonetheless

Sorry for disobeying orders, Princess...I just couldn’t let it happen…never did trust her, he had whispered into her ear from atop her. Celestia shuddered at the memory of how hot his blood had felt as it fell onto her chest. For years she had felt responsible. He may not have died, though any other fool would have, but having a pony so willing to give up their life for her even after she had ordered them not to had shaken Celestia.

He had seen it coming months before it happened. This was no different. He knew something big was going to happen. Celestia almost suspected that he intended to force it. This morning would have been a good example of that. Perhaps that gave him too much credit, he was far too surprised by the turn of events. No, today was a fluke. But, would the next round be that way? Even if it was not, she knew he was willing to go further than he had before. Guardian Angel might just die for Gusty’s sake. However, unlike Luna who only suspected that idea, she knew he would. She had to tell him she knew. It might not stay his actions, but it was the only thing she could do. Telling Luna would only make her sister suffer.

“Gusty.”

“Y-yeah?”

“You should go get some Funny Belle’s for your husband. It might help him keep up with your little problem.”

“That’s not funny! And what are you gonna do? Spy on your sister while she makes out with Guardian Angel?!”

Celestia did not respond and instead just raised a disappointed eyebrow at her friend. She motioned sharply with a hoof that Gusty should leave. Her friend pouted.

“Oh don’t be such a baby. I’m not doing anything fun. I’m going in there to make us all do more work to help you. You’re that one that is going to be having fun!” She complained.

“Okay. Fair enough. I’ll see you at afternoon court.” Gusty quickly beat a retreat down the hall. Her friend did not look back, leaving Celestia to smile triumphantly.

Turning back to the conference room she whipped open the door and stepped past the point she had cast the sound dampener. Immediately, her ears were assaulted by Guardian Angel and Luna bickering. She was not surprised by their continued argument, but by their passion. Neither seemed to have budged on their line-of-thought and it was nearly a yelling match of yes/no. Neither even acknowledged her presence in the room as they stood right in front of one another.

“Look. I don’t know what you expect. I did what I had to do. In fact I think ‘Tia called it right earlier, if it had worked would we even be fighting? Or would we be having celebratory sex?” Guardian Angel hissed.

“I’d still be angry! I just...I just want you to recognize that you hurt me, Guardian Angel.” Luna pouted.

“I have like seven or eight times already. Luna how much worse do you want me to feel? Look...I-I-I don’t know what to say, how am I supposed to work with this?” he shot back.

“Work with what and how?! Don’t shirk your responsibilities as my lover!”

“What?”

“You can do what must be done while at the same time avoiding making me feel like I’m some sort of two-bit harlot that you’d throw away without regard!”

“And if there is no way to do what must be done without hurting you?”

“You’re you, Guardian Angel. Find a way. You always do. I’m done talking about this for now, the argument is going nowhere just like it always does. We both have work to do, I will speak with you later!”

Luna began to stomp right towards the door and only then did she notice her sister. The mooney mare jumped back a bit in surprise blinking rapidly. She cleared her throat about a dozen times before recovering.

“S-sister, were we taking too long?” Luna stammered.

“No. I just had to speak with Guardian Angel on a matter most important to today’s court and I figured I’d do that now before he runs off.” Celestia let herself slide with that little lie. It was mostly true anyway.

“Very good. I shall go seek out Zeccaran. Meet on Gusty’s balcony in two hours, we have much to do still.” She nodded affirmatively to her sister’s words.

Carefully, Luna flicked her eyes over her shoulder at Guardian and then over Celestia’s shoulder to the door. A motion to suggest anything important should be spoken now before the Mare of the Moon was to depart. Celestia gave her a shrug and a small shake of her head. There was nothing exterior going on as far as she could tell. Other than what she refused to tell her sister anyway. Luna nodded with a sort of grim and satisfied smile. She held her shoulders a little further back and stood up taller as she exited the chamber finally. Then she and Guardian Angel were alone.

“So...what’s actually wrong?” he asked instantly. Of course he had seen through her ploy, just as soon Luna had made her exit he had been focused solely on her. However, Celestia did not plan to answer him with words.

Taking a deep, calming breath she strode towards where he stood in the center of the room. She knew there was a decent chance that she was going to regret confronting him. Still, it was not within her being to back down, not now, not when it could make a difference. His words from before replayed in her head. She had the power, she should use it to the benefit of others. Reaching him Celestia paused, looking up into his eyes.

He searched her with his gaze. She could feel it. For years she had ignored the feeling of power that bloomed from him. These days it was so strong she could nearly see an aura of burning orange and shimmering yellow magic hanging around him. However, Celestia persisted, her heart set on a single motion and few words. Even if he discerned her intention he would not stop her, he was too stubborn to admit he had been searching her mind, even if it was unintentional.

So Celestia made her move. The muscles in her left leg complained as she pulled them back into position to punch. It had been several literal centuries since she had needed to make the motion and as she swung forward the taut tendons made the blow move like lightning. She struck him solidly on his right cheek just below his eye. Thankfully he rolled with the blow otherwise she probably would have broken her hoof. He remained facing away from her his breathing shallow but slow. A bit of red started to discolor the point she hit as she made her statement.

“I know what you are doing. Don’t be such a fool.” Even to Celestia herself her words were cold and stoic, without even the tiniest hint of emotion to them. A true warning for the stallion to heed.

Slowly he turned and met her eyes. His sharp pupils and the predatory glint of his will filed down to razors in an instant. He placed a hoof underneath her chin, reminding her with the body language she was not allowed to look elsewhere. Leaning in closer, Guardian Angel’s gaze darkened further as if he was attempting to crush her will through the icy glare of his yellow irises alone

“If it comes down to me or the world ‘Tia, I guess you have it all figured out already. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that,” he whispered.

“I just couldn’t just let you-I had to say something to you as soon as I realized. Don’t throw away your life again over something you can’t change,” she breathed back trying to not lose her composure. He moved his hoof and face away and broke his gaze, walking away from her. He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder at her.

“Thank you. I forget sometimes that I still have ponies that care about me,” he said with a tiny affectionate grin.

“I know. I only wish I could do more for you.” Celestia did her best to sound not as sappy as she felt.

“Yeah, me too,” he smiled. “Now go catch up with Luna. The next twelve hours will be critical and she’ll need your help even if it’s just as an extra power source and emotional support.”

“True. What else are big sisters for right?” she gave him a small but genuine giggle. Guardian Angel held open the door for her and let her go. The day was just getting started.

Act 4: Chapter 10 - Don't Rock the Boat

Author's Note

Hello readers,
I've been really struggling with the chapter and I might entirely rewrite it, but at this point I just need to publish it for posterity. If anyone has some feedback I'd welcome it. Closing out this bit of narrative has about driven me insane.

I'm probably going to go ahead and lay my ground work for the final act and try to get the first chapter out by the end of August...if I'm not too distracted with my life that is.

I'll rename this chapter if I make any major changes.
Thanks, everybody.
-Mird-

Act 4: Chapter 10 - Don't Rock the Boat

“Lieutenant, do you have those reports ready? His lordship his hoping to read them at eight-twenty.”

“Yes, Captain. With his schedule though, I don’t know how he’ll read them. They total several hundred pages long”

“Trust me, he’ll find a way. Even if that means he rips the fabric of time in half.”

“That’s unsettling to think of, sir.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

-An exchange between subordinates-

Chapter 10 - Don’t Rock the Boat

At random Gunther started barking. Opening his resting eyes to Luna’s starry night sky Zeccaran frowned at his dog for ruining the peaceful garden cuddling he and Pixie had been doing. Slowly falling from the sky the large silhouette of a pegasus touched down in silence making Gunther’s continued cries feel all the louder. The zebra knew the size and shape of the dark creature all too well and simply laid back against his girlfriend determined to enjoy his last moments with her to their fullest. Pixie groaned loudly sitting up from where they lay.

“What do you want, big brother? Can’t you see we are trying to have alone time?” she protested.

“And I suppose ignoring the evacuation orders given to the A.R.D. was something you just did for fun, hmm?” Stormwalker snarled.

Zeccaran could not think of him as anypony’s Guardian Angel, except maybe Gusty’s but even that had it caveats. Still he knew by the sharp intone of his voice that the elder Stormwalker was in no mood to deal with trivialities. Pixie huffed harder in wordless agreement and folded her hooves angrily.

“Zeccaran. Luna requires your presence. Now.” He strode forward and extended a leg towards the apprehensive zebra. In the low light, he could see the faint cracks in the demon’s hoof and the length of the limb as they glowed faintly orange. Evidently Stormwalker had been exerting himself. Zeccaran was glad it was dark, he would never feel comfortable seeing the stallion’s face when he became upset.

However, reservations aside, and they were some very reasonable reservations, if Luna called he had to answer. He looped his leg over Stormwalker’s hoof gingerly, hoping perhaps to not have his intestines gouged out of his abdomen and used as jump rope. All it would take would be for Nyx to start paying attention to the waking world. Unless specifically asked to participate, she usually would sit silently in his mind when he and Pixie shared private time together. She called it her “philosophizing time.” Zeccaran was pretty sure that was a euphemism. It meant that his mental flatmate was, though silently, intently watching the couple as they had sex. He tried not to think about what other things the previously other-worldly being did in her spare time while inside his mind.

A mighty heave pulled him off his rump and momentarily into the air, destroying any thought he had. Already praying when he landed on the demon’s broad back, Zeccaran swallowed the lump in his throat. Quickly, he adjusted himself to fit more snuggly against Stormwalker, assuming that they would be flying in only a matter of moments. Once set he concentrated on not hyperventilating.

“Hurry back, Zec. I don’t like to be kept waiting.” Pixie stood up from the ground. She made a small leap over against her brother’s side and gave the zebra a smooch before he could react.

“If he dies, I’ll be sure to compensate you.” Stormwalker rumbled beneath Zeccaran’s barrel. The zebra could not tell if this was an ill-timed attempt at humor or if the other stallion was serious, either way he did not find the idea entertaining.

“Well if you insist.” Pixie rolled with her brother’s words, “But I’d prefer he stays alive all the same.”

“Then you should tell Luna that.” Stormwalker’s wings extended and with the ease afforded only to him the air followed his command and carried the two of them up and away on only three wingbeats.

Clutching on for dear life, Zeccaran had to mostly close his eyes as the demon careened around the side of the Palaces before shooting over the roof of another section at a breakneck pace. He only slowed down as he reached the northern tower that housed the Royal guest apartments. Even in the partial light of the soon to be risen sun the zebra easily recognized the windows of Gusty’s residence and the familiar balcony where the very same stallion that carried him had once attacked him. Strange how the world changed.

“I know this is short notice, but you’ll be working on containing the Curse alongside Luna and Celestia,” Stormwalker stated as he gracefully glided down to the aforementioned platform.

“Why, what happened? Just two days ago Luna and I pretty much concluded that so long as you and Gusty’s minds were linked the Curse had no room to maneuver without you knowing it,” he questioned the stallion.

“I happened.” He gave a long sigh as he landed them on the marble tiles.

“That’s only vague enough to mean ten or more things. You were born? You ate somepony? You kicked Amethyst? The list goes on.” Zeccaran instantly scrambled off of his ride’s back before he was tossed off.

“First of all: I would never kick Amethyst.” Stormwalker jabbed a hard hoof into his chest. It hurt a lot, but the zebra held his footing.“Secondly, it turns out I’m waaaaay stupider than I thought I was.”

Stunned silence was the only thing that Zeccaran could emit after hearing that. He did not dare go for a joke, no matter how badly the urge bucked at his voice box. Instead he forced himself to take the high road. For as long as he could manage that feat anyway.

“Care to elaborate?” He held up a hoof, moving it in a lazy circle trying to not look too smug as he did it.

“Not particularly. All you need to know is I do stupid things for Luna. Very stupid things. Things I should consult her on. Things like breaking that mental link to get a little more Luna in my life and a lot less Gusty, specifically. That plan backfired spectacularly.” Stormwalker turned away and faced the Prench doors that led into his friend’s residence.

Even though he clenched his lips and teeth shut Zeccaran felt a smile start to perk up his cheeks. Worse, his whole body convulsed as he started to laugh at the stallion’s misfortune and romantic blunder. He had to keep it inside, he could not let Stormwalker realize he was enjoying his suffering.

What is that weird noise? Who’s making that sound? His thoughts got fuzzy as he tried to focus, realizing too late: Oh. It’s me. I’m laughing. Well, might as well enjoy it!

Zeccaran roared with delight. At any moment he expected death to swiftly come charging in but to his great surprise it did not. As he recovered and slowly wiped away the tears of joy he smiled up at Stormwalker still silently giggling. Curiously, the Prench door he had been facing was now open and the inquisitive face of Amethyst peered at him confusedly.

“What’s so funny?” she asked innocently.

“Oh, just something stupid I did. Now go get some breakfast you need to get going to school little filly,” Stormwalker replied.

“Awww! You’re not gonna tell me!?” Amethyst pouted giving the demon huge shiny puppy dog eyes. Zeccaran meanwhile let out several sharp bursts of air as he tried to control himself. The little pony was only going to cause him more trouble but he could not help himself. There was no way he was going to let this moment pass him up.

“Not if I can help it. At least not for now anyway. Come on, we’ll still have time to go flying if you hurry up.” Amethyst squeed and dashed off inside. Stormwalker followed her silently leaving Zeccaran suddenly not feeling so happy as before. He entered the apartment cautiously looking around spacious living space while quickly sitting down on a chair.

Luna stood facing down the hall that led to the bedrooms, while Celestia paced slowly around the perimeter of the furniture. Both of the Princesses’ faces were tired, but their eyes were focused, sparkling in the low light of the living room. Feeling the tension in the air, Zeccaran looked towards Stormwalker who scowled at him from the other side of the coffee table from the sofa.

“What’s going on?” the zebra tentatively asked.

“Let’s put it this way. No matter how badly I wanted to kick you in the dick with enough force to punt you clean off that balcony I’d rather you be unharmed so you can help at your fullest potential,” the stallion answered quietly. The softness of his voice did little to hide his anger.

“It’s that bad?” Zeccaran grimaced in disdain.

“Yeah.”

The room went silent beyond the slow hooffalls of Celestia’s pacing. The feeling of unease from before blossomed into full blown panic, though it remained a quiet thing. However, now the tension in the room made sense. The zebra’s heart rate increased with its ever more palpable pressure until the only thing he could hear was the pounding of the muscle against his ribs.

Goodness, what has you in such a state? Nyx interjected making his heart stop. Unfortunately for them both his resident ghost cared too much about his continued life to ignore the stress on his heart. Sadly, her attention may just kill them both yet.

Hide, Nyx, hide! He hissed internally as he clutched a hoof to his chest as his body narrowly avoided cardiac arrest. Terror overcame her as she saw the demon through his eyes and she listened without a word. Burying herself deep within him Zeccaran nearly lost all feeling of her presence, he hoped it would be enough.

“Did you say something?” Stormwalker looked up at him from where he had been staring at the coffee table.

“N-n-no,” Zeccaran stammered unconvincingly. The demon’s eyes narrowed as he scrutinized him.

“Mr. Stormwalker, I’m ready!” Amethyst hopped in from the kitchen and to his rescue. The other stallion turned his eyes towards the filly, all smiles. He never cast another look back at Zeccaran.

“Come on, punk,” he said, his words gentle. Directing his young ward toward the balcony with a wing, his face stayed soft and kind, seemingly ignorant of the zebra’s plight. Amethyst skipped along merrily with her oversized feathery guard humming a jaunty little tune with the occasional proclamation of: “I’m going flying!” sing-songed to her melody.

Thankfully, the big stallion kept all of his attention on the filly, not even turning around to say goodbye to Luna as the pair stepped out onto the balcony and then into the sky. Amethyst screamed with delight as they disappeared, her voice echoing over the Palace roof back into the living room. The brief rest in sound was instantly interrupted by a loud grunt from Princess Luna. Accompanied by the dying sounds of impressive magics that creaked and wobbled as they ended, the mooney mare loosed a long sigh.

“Finally. She’s down. It took two hours of channeling that sleep spell but she’s officially asleep,” Luna commented with a shake of her shoulders.

“Well done. Need a pick me up? I have plenty of energy to spare.” Celestia stopped her pacing and quickly trotted up to her sister. Luna briefly held up a hoof to keep them spaced apart accordingly.

“No need.That task was more annoying than it was draining. Come, Zeccaran and I will take up our stations on the sofas. I need you to monitor how long we…” The Princess of the Moon continued explaining what she needed from her sister. The safety procedures, how long they were to be doing each session, she breezed through the material for Celestia.

Meanwhile he laid back on the chair that he had chosen, considering its comfort for the upcoming adventure into Gusty’s mind. Finding it hard to focus on helping his friend with the slowly building anxiety whispering in his head, Zeccaran took a deep breath. His eyes remained closed as he took another. This was the way he usually prepared himself for anything gruesome or out of his control. A feeling deep in his stomach told him he would need to be ready, that whatever had happened previously had narrowly been contained. He knew for certain they would be forced to fight the Curse on even ground, a prospect that was simply unpleasant by design.

“Are you ready Zeccaran?” Luna’s voice pulled his eyes open. He nodded, unable to find words, his mind steeling for what lay ahead.

With the the same wordless determination, she laid out on the big couch where Stormwalker had been. Zeccaran closed his eyes again at the sound of her magic humming. The powerful pull of the Princess’s magic drug him down deep into a heavy sleep. Ever so slowly his eyes came to focus on the bland blue and purple backdrop of Luna’s Dreamwalking Spell. Looking about he found the navy mare standing still, her face scrunched, focused on something else.

Faint screaming echoed, first in his ears then across the plains of the Astral Realm. Zeccarn knew the voice and just as soon as he scowled did the headache come. Clutching his temples and looking at the area Luna stared at, he watched as Nyx took her ghostly form and stood before them. He wished the mooney mare had given him some warning, he wanted to curse as much as Nyx did.

“What the fuck! All you had to do was ask!” she bellowed in a mix of fear and rage, backing away from Luna. “Not fucking drag me from my hiding spot!”

“I lack the words to describe my long forgotten patience,” the princess replied coldly.

Zeccaran sat up. He gave his head a shake before trying to discern their objective. “What do you need us to do?” he asked forthright.

“Lend your magic and skill in trapping the Curse within the remains of Gusty’s sealed memories,” she ordered.

Luna meant what she commanded. The force in her voice was harsh and determined. Though this compelled him to obey without hesitation, he still needed to know how she expected he and Nyx to assist her. The Curse had foiled creatures of much more potent willpower than he and the once-great ghastly gal that stood next to him.

“Shall I hurl insults at it or do you have some form of plan? Keep in mind that even having encountered its magics, the nature of this...thing eludes me, so I will need some context if I am to help you develop a containment scheme,” Nyx asked more coarsely than he as going to inquire.

“It is not unlike you once were. Powerful, required to feed on negative emotions and trauma. It has an almost infinite supply of nourishment. It preys on the memories of its host, using them to control and manipulate her.” Luna’s horn lit as she spoke and the host of doors into sleeping minds spun by silently. It came to rest on the ancient stone portal that was Gusty’s.

“That does sound rather like me. Upsetting. Can it manifest a physical form? Maybe some type of ulterior magic you haven’t considered?” Nyx continued to question.

“No. The Curse is confined to only inside Gusty’s mind,” Zeccaran answered this question. With Luna’s impatience clearly growing from moment to moment he thought it better to handle Nyx’s concerns himself. He continued: “From what we’ve deduced its objective is to take control of her mind and body then use her magic to do as it wills. In essence it seeks to replace her soul with its own, and wreak havoc once it does.”

Nyx hummed as Luna nodded in agreement. For a moment they stood together silently as the ancient being of shadow pondered through her knowledge. The idle twinkling that seemed to pervade the background of the Princess of Dream’s spell became the central noise as the trio stood still. Zeccaran heaved a long breath in an attempt to make a different noise but found the sound he made inadequate.

“So our true purpose is to stop it from gaining more control, because Miss Gusty is a nearly all powerful being and would plunge the world into colossal amounts of chaos and destruction if she became wholly possessed.” Nyx turned from where she faced the stone portal to Gusty’s mind with a sarcastic grin. “I guess I could add ‘world saver’ to my list of titles.”

“Enough. Let us begin,” Luna scolded. Her horn hummed over the scraping of stone on stone and the door to Gusty’s dreams opened and sucked them all in.

The spinning sensation of passing through dreams and the subconscious of another being against his better judgement spun Zeccaran’s senses wild. The bright waves of an ocean passed by before suddenly he was falling into a great black pit. Something stopped him and by the time he made sense of his surroundings he became even more confused. Before him in the cold grey light he had gotten too familiar with, sat Gusty.

Unlike usual she was unbound, plainly slouched on her rump. Her mane blew in a wind Zeccaran could not feel. Luna approached ahead of he and Nyx as soon as she moved Gusty leaned her head up towards them.

“Hello, Luna, Zeccaran, and...somepony I don’t know,” she replied casually.

“Greetings, Gusty. Do you know why we are here?” Luna asked as her two accomplices caught up to her.

“Could be for any number of things really. The Curse, Guardian Angel, the world ending, heck I could be trapped in a coma and none of that even matters,” the teal alicorn said with a vacant smile.

“In some regard all of your answers are the correct answer.” Luna sat down next to the other mare, making Zeccaran feel awkward as he continued to stand.

Something was different about Gusty. This certainly did not feel like an ordinary dreamwalk. Then again, he had mostly been viewing memories, perhaps this was the true way Gusty dreamed, but something told him that was wrong. His friend was never this calm, and seeing her like this made him deeply concerned. He could only assume that without an active dream this was simply Gusty’s “resting mind” which meant even should they speak with her she would not remember any of it. At least that was what Luna and the several books on sleep psychology he had read told him.

“Really? How interesting. Then perhaps you can answer a question for me.” Luna nodded in response to Gusty’s words.

“Why do I feel so empty? What has become of me? I normally hear somepony else with me, what happened to them?” the mare asked. Zeccaran got chills just from the thought of the foul being that had for so long lived alongside Gusty in her deepest subconscious.

“This is what normal feels like, Gusty. This is peace: Let it become normal for you too. It will give you something to fight for when the time comes,” the mooney mare kindly warned.

“Peace...that is something to fight for...yes.” Gusty stopped looking at Luna and seemed to lose her focus entirely.

Without another word magic flared from the Princess’s horn and the sensation of flying made Zeccaran flail his hooves. He heard Nyx giggle next to his ear and cast a closed eye scowl in the direction of the sound until his legs came to rest on solid ground. He opened his eyes and snarled at his ghostly flatmate, making her wince. Luna cleared her throat stopping them from bickering.

“It seems that all the effort and suffering Guardian Angel and I went through early this morning has yielded at least a moderate reward,” she commented.

“What do you mean?” Zeccaran asked the question on both he and Nyx’s mind.

“For the moment, it appears that we successfully pulled the Curse off of Gusty’s core, freeing her subconscious to redevelop and cope with all her trauma. However…” Luna gestured to the twisted landscape around them.

The zebra gasped as he bore witness to terrible dark tendrils springing out from the strange ocean of blues and reds. If he was being honest, he did not understand what he was seeing. Memories spun before him of somepony else’s life. Some floated by on screens across the purple sky like moving canvases pushed by the wind. Others glowed between the dark lines of the cursed magic in the spinning ocean below. It was nearly too much information for him to handle. Blinking rapidly and pulling his face taut in a grimace, it took everything for Zeccaran to not be overwhelmed by the horror and wonder before him.

“Our progress may mean little if this continues to worsen,” Luna grumbled, as she kicked at a small gathering of tiny tentacles.

“By me! This is some shoddy work!” Nyx cried overshadowing the Princess’ mood. “What sort of creature wields such power but with such a ham-fist?”

The two ponies looked at the spectre, who seemed a little bit more solid than usual, with disgust and concern.

“What? I still remember being the Mistress of Darkness, and-and this Curse, this entity, the Shadow-kin quite clearly created it to be a mockery of my good name!” She huffed.

“Come on out, you coward! Where do you hide in this mare’s mind!?” Nyx angrily shouted to the busy mass of memory as she continued her triade. Luna and Zeccaran took to ignoring her.

“Where is this place in Gusty’s mind, I’ve never been here,” He guested cautiously, still dismayed by the scenery.

Luna took a moment to explain. Simply, because most of their endeavors had been either blocked by Gusty’s magic or the Curse itself, the full picture of all of the mare’s memories as it appeared now were unable to be seen. With the magic removed and the Curse trapped inside a memory for the time being, they could see the true damage, and what they had to remove. Worse, it was a now-or-never moment; if they could not make some headway now they might never get a second chance.

“Will you quit whining?” Zeccaran barked over Luna’s shoulder at their other companion once the Princess had finished. She dejectedly went quiet, floating back over to them.

“It is just disgusting to see the work of amateurs become such popular art out of the absence of the master,” Nyx commented with a haughty air. “The trouble is that such methods leave damage and not the neat, precise damage needed to truly usurp a mind. Unless an individual has a particularly weak will, I suppose, but Gusty is hardly such a pony.”

Floating up more on her hooves than wings, Luna glided by the pair of arguing fools. She looked around as if searching for a specific site, making Zeccaran and Nyx pay more attention to her than to each other. The Princess narrowed her eyes following the black icebergs as they grew in number towards the golden moor that still held the Curse captive. Inside the foggy structure a dark haze could be seen bouncing around. Zeccaran while he could not speak for Luna swore he could hear the beast screaming in rage. Regardless, it was clear that it was attempting to break free, but as of yet was doing a sloppy job of it. It seemed that in its weakened state the Curse simply lashed with its power at whatever it felt it could reach, unable to escape the portion of magic it had found itself entombed.

“We need to begin this diagnostic post-haste. The sooner I can apply magic, or return to the waking world and have Celestia do it, the better.” Luna waved a hoof at them to follow her over to the obelisk. Silently, they obeyed.

In his attempt to follow Luna’s lead and avoid walking across the solid, yet tumultus ground of Gusty’s mind, Zeccaran managed to float. Of course this was only after flying awkwardly upside down on accident as he momentarily panicked from his initial attempt. However, he successfully righted himself by the time he made it to the mooring. Expecting his companions to laugh, Zeccaran had grimaced sheepishly only to find them both serious and uninterested in his plight. Frankly, he found that the most unsettling of all things to happen so far.

“Tell me what you see, Nyx,” Luna commanded. “Zeccaran, consider containment ideas, while you might not be versed in the magic your ingenuity might give me an idea.”

Taking to pondering the zebra was interrupted when the ghastly mare loosed a long hum. No ideas had come to mind so he listened alongside the Princess.

“It seems to be aware that we are here, watching.” Nyx pointed a spectral hoof at the thick colored glass. Directing his eyes to where she indicated Zeccaran had to stop himself from shrieking in terror.

“What the hell are we looking at? Is that it’s...mouth? Or is...what the fuck!” he murmured. Behind the golden magic the Curse’s form whipped and changed, blocking the pleasant noise of children’s laughter that had been faintly echoing from the locked up memory chamber. Instead a sickening squelching and squishing sound followed the form as it became an enormous mass that took up nearly the entire wall they stood by, to an oval blob that was mostly shiny teeth, and finally to the form of a dilapidated pony.

“Come, closer, come closer, if you want to destroy me, Luna! Bring your little companions with you, I won’t bite!” Hissed a voice that was disturbingly identical to Gusty’s. The only difference as far as Zeccaran could tell was the feeling it gave him in his gut, fear.

“As a note, just in case you felt like taking the bait...do not get closer,” Nyx interjected as she took a healthy float backwards. The zebra followed suit.

“It seems desperate. Much different than before. Is there some connection between what types of memories it is around?” The Princess asked likewise putting distance between them and the beast.

“Let’s just say there is a reason that I only tried to come to this realm through nightmares and sites of terrible atrocity. Simply, positive emotions drive us crazy. If it was not for this magnificent magic that keeps that memory intact, this creature would have destroyed those thoughts from Gusty’s mind. It’s what I would have done. I can only assume it hasn’t because this containment structure...whatever it is, and whoever made it, are both incredibly powerful. How did it even break?” Nyx pondered aloud. Luna remained silent, and Zeccaran dared not to inform his internal renter the truth without her permission.

“In fact, there are more of these pillars.” The ghost pointed. “If combined all as one the Curse could have never escaped. But who possesses the power to shatter such stupendously strong magic? Surely not the Curse itself?” Nyx continued to mused, hitting nerves she had no idea were there.

“Trouble your mind only with the current situation, and not how we got here. There is little insight to be gleaned by judging the actions of a stallion with a guilty conscious,” Luna harrumphed.

“Context is important my dear, if I can understand how it broke perhaps I can--ahh!” With a surprised jump and a narrow miss, Nyx dodged the lash of a new tendril that sprang from the golden mooring. On reflex Zeccaran also hopped back, more so in disgust than from the danger.

The Princess scowled down where the tendril of pure darkness speared its way into the moving memory-ground. Meanwhile, Nyx slipped behind the zebra grumbling under her breath. Faintly, behind their action a soft malignant laugh whispered through the thick glass of the ancient spell.

“As unpleasant as that was.” The ghastly mare cleared her throat before continuing, “I think I at least understand what the beast is currently trying to do. Look at the tentacles how they all surround this magic.”

Staring down at the area around them, Zeccaran clearly noted that the pillar of gold was continually becoming more surrounded by the inky mess of the Curse. He looked between Luna and Nyx his apprehension tightening his voice but not squeezing it silent.

“Is it trying to rip the whole mooring out of Gusty’s mind? Tell me it isn’t,” he groaned with a squeak.

“That is exactly what that accursed monstrosity is attempting to do. Perfect.” Just by the sound of Luna’s voice did the whole world seemed to shimmer and quake. Her tone was harsh, and satisfied in the sort of vindictive way that suited a villain not Equestria’s best Princess. So Zeccaran thought anyway.

The thrum of intense magic overtook the whispering voices of ponies past on the air. Becoming a hearty buzzing like a throng of angry bees, bright blue and white magic exited Luna’s horn and spread out below them like a spilled river. Snipping and cutting of epic proportions followed, like the sound of a thousand scythes swinging down one after another in a wave of chinks and swishes. Dazzled, Zeccaran watched the many tendrils that connected the Curse to the portion of Gusty’s mind outside of the golden pillar were severed clean.

Emitting a confident bit of laughter the Princess turned towards them with a wide smile. Her expression slowly waxed manic and her giggles more pained before she heaved a sigh.

“Now to do that about ten more times!”Luna growled. Both the ghostly mare and the frightful zebra backed away.

“Nyx! I want you to copy that spell. You may not have any power of your own but Zeccaran has plenty of energy, assist him in casting. I must fetch my sister as I am not inclined to be mana burnt twice in one day!” She declared.

In a hiss and burst of magic, the Princess faded more into light and smoke and vanished from sight. Nyx looked at Zeccaran confusedly who, equally befuddled, stared back.

“Well...I don’t know what she meant exactly but...get on in there.” The zebra motioned with a hoof towards his temples. He shrugged, unsure about how to carry out Luna’s wishes.

“Not to worry, my fair host, I think I know what she wants...but copying her magic might be too much for us!” Nyx’s face turned all smiles and with a lunge she disappeared into his consciousness leaving Zeccaran to regret his very existence.

Once the usual pain passed he rubbed his eyes and scowled.

Let’s get this show on the road. Nyx chuckled from inside his head.

“Easy for you to say!” He peered at the broad magic that covered the ocean below his floating hooves, wondering how Luna had used it to sever the still present but writhing tentacles of ink.

“I don’t even know what sort of spell could do that. Plus you don’t have mental fatigue and anxiety! And-and-and all this other shit swimming around in your head!” Zeccaran made sure that his extra consciousness understood that she registered as part of the shit.

Oh, don’t cross your stripes, you big baby. I think I know what to do...it seems that Luna modified an isolation spell I once used on her, only instead of making the pony feel lonely it cuts off malignant exterior influences...very inventive! The dark mare chirped excitedly.

“I’ll get back to you on how I’m going to cast such magic without a horn or the know how…” the zebra let his voice trail off condescendingly.

Nonsense. You are naturally gifted in the magic necessary. You merely need a pilot to guide it. Thus, my purpose! Zeccaran felt Nyx reach into his brain and make his legs move on their own. Behold!

Stretching up against his will, he watched as the same white magic sprung out from his body. Unlike the Princess his magic was tinged a greeny-yellow. It moved out from him slowly, permeating the surface of the blue layer below it effectively, though monotonously, covering the same area and cutting away more of the darkness as Luna’s had. Eventually, once it was done, all of his energy was sucked out of him and he fell onto its surface, panting, no longer able to float.

Well done! Thirteen years out of practice and still able to output an alicorn level of magic. Nyx smiled triumphantly.

“I refer to my previous statement.” Zeccaran stood up with a grunt trying to steady his breathing. “That was...draining.”

Surely you can do another round? Prodded the playful voice in his head.

“You sound like my girlfriend,” the zebra commented back.

Mind over matter! Nyx laughed. Again!

By the time Luna returned, Zeccaran laid atop two more layers of protective magic. He barely maintained his senses enough to wave to his Princess. She even complimented their work, but he was too tired to smile. He took to mumbling to Nyx as with Luna’s arrival the hissing and cursing of the Curse within the golden mooring heightened to an annoying degree.

“How did I ever know all this magic to begin with?” he grumbled.

It comes naturally for you. And is literally what I am...so I’m not the best at explaining it’s qualities I’m afraid. But it does feel great to use it again, even if it is not my own, or by my own will. Nyx replied merrily.

“That’s conclusive.” He pushed himself up defiantly with his sarcasm. Desperately, Zeccaran rubbed his head trying to overcome his fatigue. He had a good, dare he say, deep, understanding of magic, but what was going on eluded him.

Black tentacles lashed out from where the beast remained trapped in the pillar of foggy glass with a slurping and buzzing sound. Zeccaran recoiled away in a shoddy attempt at jumping. The strike thankfully missed, impacting the plane of magical energy with a thump. The Curse shrieked in a mixture of pain and rage, its limb retracting back to its cage.

Briefly examining where the beast had hit the barrier, just vaguely Zeccaran could make out faint cracks in a spiderweb formation. It was no wonder Luna wanted ten layers. Their constant maintenance would be a full time job, but it would keep Gusty stable. That was the objective; still, even with the copious amount of magic used there was the potential it would not be enough. The thought of the monster trapped in its gilded prison escaping and taking total control of his friend’s mind sent a shudder up his spine. It did not help that his friend was to this day the single most magically powerful creature on the planet.

Looks like we have our work cut out for us, Nyx mused.

Zeccaran just raised an eyebrow as he watched the Princess cast another spell. He did not need to use words or hardly thoughts to prompt his internal companion to continue.

I am curious: this magical entity has attempted to strike at you and I twice…why? The philosophical ghost started. It has much more power than I do...or you...yet instead of focusing on Luna it is attempting to destroy us.

“Now that you mention it, it seems strange,” he whispered.

Yes. Let’s not give it the opportunity. I’d rather remain amongst the living.

“On that, Nyx. We are agreed.”

Act 5: Chapter 1 - It's Never That Simple

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Act 5: Chapter 2 - The Voices in Our Heads

“So I have three votes for Yes: Fully reconnect my mind with Gusty’s. One from Luna, one from Starlight, and one from Celestia. I only have two votes for No: Don’t reconnect my mind with Gusty’s. One from Starswirl and one from Twilight. I have the disposition to vote ‘no’ myself, but I can only tiebreak. The deciding vote is your’s Sunburst, the rest of this gathering has voted, we need your vote as well. Barring all other arguments and my personal feelings on the matter, I will follow the decision of the ponies gathered here. In fact your collective council has proven time and again to be better than my singular judgement. So please, Sunburst: your decision.”
-Guardian Angel-

Chapter 2 - Voices in Our Heads

Beaming with a merry spring in her step Gusty walked down the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. The events of the past two weeks had her in a stupendous mood. It felt strange to think it, but she had felt more like herself than she had in a very long time. And this time it was a feeling that was lasting.

Fishing a number bits from her saddlebags she wore, the teal alicorn pranced up to a small street stand selling candied apples. Not bothering to check the price she selected the treat she desired and plopped the volume of coins down onto the counter top via her magic. They clicked and clanked with the high-pitched rumble that was iconic of coins on wood as she traded the money for her snack in her levitation. She thanked the peddler and went on her way, taking a huge bite out of the caramel coated confection. A long strand of the creamy mixture trailed away from her mouth defiantly trying to avoid being eaten.

A feeling of amusement warmed her cheeks, the ethereal giggles making the warmth wax full blush. Failing as she tried to detach the caramel from her face Gusty looked around trying to find the spy that watched her with a playful scowl to cover up her smile. She found him peering down from a low cloud above the market, his sharp eyes sparkling in the mid-morning sun.

“Don’t have better things to do?!” she shouted up at Guardian Angel.

He popped the cloud with a soft poof that was just audible over the dull murmur of the busy square. Extending his wings the stallion simply fell in place, casually alighting just in front of where Gusty stood.

“Nah,” he replied as his hooves clopped on the pavement. “I’m actually filling in for one of my employees. His wife is due to give birth today or tomorrow.”

“You’ve had ponies spying on me? Why am I even surprised?” she continued to tease as she finally slurped up the caramel. “You aren’t a very good substitute. You gave away your position immediately.”

“Hard to keep secrets from you, sweetheart. With the whole shared mind thing going on.” He motioned lazily with his hoof.

“Well, that’s just how I like it. Somepony has to keep tabs on you after all, and I’m the only one up to the task!” She smiled arrogantly.

“Oh, is that so?” he questioned with a dark flair. He leaned towards her, rotating his good eye towards her face with a raised brow.

Chills raced up and down her spine. Gusty relished the familiarity they shared again. She had nearly suffered a heart attack when not three days after breaking down their connection Guardian Angel returned to fix it. Truthfully, she was grateful; secretly, she had missed him. The three days in between had left her surprisingly lonely and anxious. Especially with everything that had happened initially. Even with the ludicrous amount of magic and time Luna had put into making her feel "normal" Gusty had not ever felt 100%. The damage the Curse had done in that short time ailed her and to be back to the state of normalcy, that was sharing a portion of her mind relieved the stress. After everything that had happened in that short time having again the one thing that made her feel stable was some well-deserved comfort.

Regardless of her emotions on the matter he had said they needed to re-link their minds on a simpler notion: Monitoring her progression and mental state. Without him watching it was more than likely that the Curse’s influence would affect her more quickly. That was what Luna and Zeccaran had established just about six hours before the stallion had taken it upon himself to break their link, or so she had been told. And now because of that mistake it might not even matter if she had him to work with. It was a never imagined situation by both parties. How shocking was it that a demon had been the key, a Shadow-kin no less, the method of stopping his own family’s wrath. The very same demon-stallion she had once refused to believe could ever do any good.

Gusty loathed that thought. She oft wondered if perhaps had her own magics and the Curse not been in place when they met if things would have been different. Maybe she could have sensed his anger at the Cultists and sought the truth before everything went to hell. Such thoughts did not matter. She could not change the past or the current situation. Instead she was happy to have Guardian Angel by her side in this attempt to destroy his ancestors’ work. There was a deep solace that she had not truly recognized that came from his presence. It had became painfully obvious once it was missing for that brief period. Perhaps it was only been because she enjoyed teasing him. She could give him a proper hard time with the level of faux petty suspicion and not-so-faux flirting he deserved. Just because he needed to be kept on his guard and she was the only mare that could do that to him. After all when you spend half of everyday in another pony’s head you can figure out which buttons to press to rile them but not truly upset them. Gusty set about doing a little bit of that now.

“So certainly you didn’t come down from your cloud just to make small talk. What’s your real motive?” Gusty said briskly walking past him knowing he would follow her with haste.

“Honestly...I came to ask you about Ashijinir,” He replied hot on her heels then quickly against her side.

“What about her?” she answered slowing her pace as to not knock their heads together from her bouncy trott. Gusty met Guardian Angel’s eyes, he was concerned, but it certainly was not about his relationship with the Queen of Fire.

“How concerned should I be that the Queen of Fire desires my head served to her on a gilded platter garnished with my bones?” The stallion overindulged the concept perfectly. Gusty stuck her tongue out in faux disgust. It was an apt description of her scaly friend’s righteous rage.

“Not too worried. After all you have me on your side this time.” She gave Guardian a wink and a grin. Hoping that he might involuntarily reveal his true worry.

“That’s welcome news. I did not consider us accomplices in this coverup,” he mused. Though his voice was soft there was the telltale tone of excitement in his voice that probably only she and Luna could notice.

“Don’t get too worked up, flyboy. Only reason I’m helping is because you aren’t at fault for Torch’s death. In all accounts, even Ember’s, it was self-defense. And while I’m not particularly happy you ate his heart, you did it to survive, not out of malice. Kind of a big surprise especially at the time that it happened. You weren’t in a good place mentally.” Gusty hit him in the shoulder with a play punch. He shook his head in acceptance and murmured under his breath that he did not need to be reminded.

A crowd of adolescent colts and fillies chattered around them forcing Gusty to lean in close against Guardian Angel. Coming in waves, there was enough of them to make it seem like a whole grade level was playing hooky. Their irreverence for personal space almost made her press her still sticky cheek into his neck. To avoid that she was forced to maintain her balance by bracing her neck against his chest as they continued to bump into her sides and legs. Once they passed, she took a step back and rolled her eyes indignantly trying to pass off the redness on her face as anger. Her attendant stallion just laughed at her.

“Out done by your own vices I see.” He smirked

“Better mine than yours!” Gusty hissed as she turned about. She purposely hit him as she pivoted on her front hooves. Trying rather unsuccessfully to catch him off-balance and force him to stumble from the impact of her sternum and hips.

Laughing at her more the stallion started to walk through the market. Gusty sprung ahead of him. She was the one shopping after all not him and would not be lead about on her little mid-morning jaunt. So for a short bit they perused the market vendors. Gusty merrily struck up conversations with a few while Guardian Angel remained mostly silent only occasionally making commentary.

She wondered if perhaps he was purposely ignoring her just to get under her skin. While stopping at a stall that was selling hoofheld mirrors, as traveling mirror merchants were wont to do, or so the stall’s owner told her she used one to look over her shoulder at him. The particularly gaudy piece of glass and polished metal framed his face like an old portrait, making his face appear even more calm and contented than she had first noticed. It was almost as if he was daydreaming. Gusty started making faces at him in the mirror. He did not notice, even when the merchant started to laugh, and she began to huff.

Sending her pouty demand for attention along their connection Gusty pursed her lips. His eyes lit up with surprise just as soon as she did and as he focused they locked eyes in the mirror for a moment before he turned his gaze away with a sheepish look on his face.

“Sorry. My mind was elsewhere.” He gave his head a quick shake and a few flicks of his ears. The motion revealed a small black object attached to the bottom of his right ear.

“Hey, you’ve got something on the side of your head,” Gusty said. Inquisitively, she turned around pushed his jaw to his left, peering at the item.

With a prod of her other hoof the device fell out of Guardian Angel’s ear. Snapping it up in her levitation she peered at it in confusion. She had never seen anything like the little machine and did not know what to think of it.

“What is this thing?” she asked as she turned it over in her magic.

“It's called Magical Interface for Communications. Or a mic for short,” the stallion explained. “It is the first wireless transmitter of sound waves. This is one of the prototype models for mass production.”

“Whoa. So I can talk into it and other ponies can hear me? How do I do that?” Gusty felt her curiosity overtaking her mind. It was a healthy feeling this time, and she intended to make good of it.

“Here I'll show you, let’s step out of the way of this fine pony’s shop; he has customers.” Guardian stepped to the side and beckoned her to follow. From behind him a rather posh white unicorn mare stepped up to the stand. She immediately began admiring her own features beneath the brim of her overly large hat. Gusty turned away more interested in the device than the other pony.

Snagging the earpiece with his wing, the stallion rotated it to lay flat. Transitioning it to the frog of a hoof he pointed at it with a singular primary feather. The contraption featured a wide bud and a looped wire that extended from it . “You put the wire around your ear and the little bump inside you ear,” he explained.

Gusty followed his instructions. It was not the most comfortable of devices. A bit itchy, making her want to flick her ear, but otherwise acceptable. Most annoyingly a long bar unfolded and followed the line of her jaw with a tightness that just seemed unreasonable. However, she pushed the inconvenience aside in favor of her curiosity once again.

“Now let me just set the right frequency…’ Guardian pressed his hoof into the bar on the side of her face. A few clicks sounded loudly in that ear before he gave a smile.

“Okay. Hold down this thing,” he touched a portion of the device she had not felt before, pushing it into the edge of her mane, “You’ll hear some beeps and eventually the pony on the other end of the line will pick up and be able to talk to you. Just keep holding the button down.”

“Alright. Who am I calling?” she questioned raising both her brow and then her hoof to the appropriate location.

“Your husband. You’re using my mic so he’ll be pretty surprised.”

The beeping he mentioned followed his words. After a moment or two it stopped and was replaced by a hissing and crackling sound intermixed with the sounds of ponies grunting and shouting.

“What do you want, demonpants? I’m trying to work, not enjoy casual conversation,” Bunker grumbled over the other noise quite clearly.

“Is that any way to address your wife?” Gusty chuckled sarcastically.

“Wife? Gusty? What are you doing on his mic? Did you steal it or something? How did you know how to use the single call feature?!” her husband replied, totally baffled.

“I’m letting her borrow it, you big idiot!” Guardian Angel hissed with a snide grin towards the receiver.

Gusty did not question how he could hear Bunker, especially with the bud jammed as deeply into her ear as it was currently. He probably was just listening to her senses instead of his own. Anymore if he was in her presence she assumed he could tell exactly what she was thinking and why. Mostly because she could do the same to him unless he was specifically hiding his intentions such abilities worked both ways. If she had to pick a time, the feeling stopped being creepy back in the Baylands. It left a surreal sensation in her chest to be able to think that thought so clearly.

“Well, I’m glad he’s shown you how it works. But, unfortunately, now that this pleasant surprise is over I must get back to showing these recruits the fine arts of hoof-to-hoof combat. See you at dinner, dear. Love you!” Bunker cheerfully recovered.

“Love you too,” Gusty released her hoof, putting it back down on the ground. For a moment she stared at nothing, lost in blanket awe at the machine as she took it out of her ear and held it in her magic.

Guardian Angel waved a hoof in front of her face which made her flinch and drop the device. He caught it easily before placing it in his ear, getting even closer to her snout in the process. She swatted his leg down roughly, pursing her lips into a pout. He responded with a wiley chuckle before nodding his head towards a vendor that sold pie by the slice. Perking up out of her stupor, Gusty nearly skipped over to the stand. Her stomach growled in response to the sweet smells of roasted and sugared fruits inside the pastries. It was a good idea to get another snack anyway, it would keep her from devouring and extra meal today, that caramel apple had not been enough.

Just as soon as they got their pie something changed. It was something almost imperceptible. Yet, Gusty could feel it deep inside of herself. She knew the feeling as it raked its talons across her mind. The peace she had enjoyed for the short time she had had it seemed to shatter away into a distant memory.

Her eyes shifted to her slice of pie. How bland it tasted compared to only a second ago. How ugly and unrefined its slimy crust seemed to be, she could not believe she had dared to eat it. However, she refused to let the sensation overwhelm her so simply. Gusty would not go down without a fight.

You are mine…………………...Her stability is……………….fall!...........

…………..Gusty?.....................................you can’t trust him……..

I have to fight……………...the only one that-...........................’t save you…

With a grunt she grabbed her head with both hooves, forgetting her dessert. The pastry clattered to the ground next to her face, as she doubled over in pain. The whole world spun at the sound of the voices. Worse, it was as if every eye now in that carousell of a world watched her while it happened. A prodding, prickly presence touched her mind. She wanted to throw it away, but somehow it brought her comfort. She could not understand, but that did not matter, she had to do something.

“Hey. What’s going on? You gotta talk to me, sweetheart.” Guardian Angel’s voice reached her ears at the same time as she felt a hoof on her left cheek and then back of her neck. She slapped him away, standing up from her hunched position.

For a brief moment he looked hurt she had hit him, but his expression suddenly changed. A shadow overtook his eyes as he leaned his brow forward, the slitted pupils of his shiny yellow irises showing clearly even amongst the common ponies. Gusty snarled at him with disgust.

“It would be unwise to challenge me on my own turf, Mytsn,” he growled.

The name he called her gave her pause. She had heard it before, it was the term he used for the Curse. A derogatory, diminutive name that reflected his hatred for the legacy of his forefathers. Gusty wanted to smile, but felt her mouth turn down in a scowl. When her legs moved of her own accord, real fear made her heart pound, she was not in control of her body.

“You intend to harm your prize? In front of all these ponies? What a villain you are!” Not-her chuckled at him.

“Gusty can take it. She’s accustomed to pain. In fact I’m fairly certain she enjoys it. But you...oh Mytsn, I know you can’t stand it.” Guardian Angel circled where they stood. His wings extending to their full length. Ponies around them looked at them worriedly.

Even in her trapped state, Gusty could feel the magic gathering in the area. She would have to fight the Curse’s influence. No matter how wrong that felt, no matter how right it felt to accuse the demon before her she had to separate her desires from the malignancy in her mind. Her mind recited off a few spare prayers to Origin hoping beyond hope that she could manage it, if not for herself then for the sake of all the innocent bystanders that were about to get caught up in a fight between monsters.

“Vile cur! You’ll regret ever laying eyes on this mare!” Magic fired from Gusty’s horn as her sword was summoned to her magical grip from where it was supposed to be resting in her apartment.

No! I don’t want to fight him! She shouted internally. Applying as much pressure as she could. Not-her huffed angrily before something pushed back on Gusty. It did not hurt her instead it made everything seem duller, the sounds, the images before her, the urge to stop what her body was doing.

However, it had given Not-her pause. It was enough time for Guardian Angel to reach up to his ear, his eyes never leaving the center of her clouded vision.

“Priority one hail on all frequencies. We have a Code Red. I repeat: Code Red. I need three rapid response teams and at least one Princess to move to the North Market Square, immediately.” His voice was calm and clear, but as he spoke his fangs reached their relaxed position, hanging out of his mouth fully. His extended wings began to blur and shimmer with the heat of the fire that they still managed to hide. But in his eyes sparkled an emotion, primal and desperate. Gusty was probably the only pony in existence to even know what those feelings looked like on Guardian Angel, after all it was the original, the greatest motivator, it was fear.

“Oh, how embarrassing. The big bad stallion calling for help?” Not-her cackled haughtily, before abruptly stopping with a brief cone of silence coming over the crowd following laughter. “Die.”

With a lunge that turned into a teleport, the sword was swung at the back of the stallion’s neck. As it came within an inch of his mane he ducked forward spinning downward as more teleportation blurred her vision further. She spied rapidly accelerating back hooves flying towards her even before her sword could swing. Pain reared its ugly head across her gut and suddenly the world was brought back into clearer focus as Not-her was forced to make her body breathe regularly instead of repress Gusty. They tumbled end over end a few times before coming to rest. Even with her supernatural determination, her other half struggled to put the air back in their lungs.

Gusty! You must fight back. I can’t do this alone. All I’ll end up doing his hurting you! Guardian Angel’s voice came from inside her head. As Not-her rolled them over to look at him one of his hooves pressed down on their chest with enough force to knock the wind out of Gusty all over again.

“Monster!” escaped her lips as the last of the air exited. However, magic surged into her horn and she found herself standing on the other side of the square heaving.

Fight! Come on! Don’t just let it control you! The stallion’s voice came again and with it Gusty grit her teeth. She strained her neck and snapped her eyes closed, regaining some control.

Then the real pain came. It felt like something was splitting her skull open with a slow, twisting spacer. She could almost see it happening before her own eyes. It was a gory scene she had known in the past. Gusty cursed the memories and the Shadow-kin for what they had done. How ironic that this one wanted her salvation?

Their greatest work of art………..She’s insane!...................How far will I have to go?
…………….Run! Run! Run!...............................You will become one with me…..
….It is predestined…….Gusty!.........Grab the children and go!.......inevitable….
…...Mytsn, I swear I’ll send us both into the Abyss!.........................Try us, traitor!

When Gusty opened her eyes, the pain in her head ceased. The sound of the unfamiliar ponies’ as they screamed in terror, running from the monster before her. And within their chorus she knew his voice, speaking lies into her mind. The beast that had hounded her, tricked her, put her at his beck and call was now alone and vulnerable. Her little soft-spoken conscious told her it was time. He would fall here, before all these ponies and she would laugh.

Letting go of all restraint, Gusty’s magic caused thunder from its sheer force. Hovering on her wings she sent her sword dancing at the demon. To her delight he made no attempt to dodge. The weapon buried itself deeply into his chest, expertly slipped between his ribs. Cackling with victory she teleported behind him and followed up with a body slam from gravity and her assisted vector. To her shock she bounced off his back as if he was made of solid steel.

Gasping in pain while attempting to teleport, Gusty found herself hitting the cold stone on the ground instead. The pressure on her horn stung as she tried again. Then it dawned on her, the demon had done this before. However, she had no intention of holding back this time, she might not be able to teleport but simpler magic, levitation, kinetic blasts, she doubted he could stop those if she applied her all.

“So that’s how this is going to be huh?” he said turning to face her. His eyes glowed brightly with their nasty red even in the mind-morning sun.

“Maybe. You shouldn’t pretend you don’t know the answer,” Gusty glowered back. Her eyes watched the mouth grip of her sword as it bubbled over with his blood. She had to have hit his heart; too bad the damn abomination did not die that easily.

“Don’t…” he admonished too slowly.

Lunging up from the ground she managed to bite onto the grip of her weapon. Clinging on for dear life, she let the heavy blow from his hooves knock her down and pull the sword free of his chest. Blood flowed down his chest but for a moment, the wound had already disappeared as she reared back. The disgustingly sweet taste of his ichor splashed on the back of her throat and her tongue when she did. It’s vile flavor mixed with the spinning of her head from his strike sent her into a frenzy.

With all her adrenaline and natural instinct kicking in, Gusty slashed at his side. The demon dodged the blow by diving towards her ankles. The force of his whole body forced her to jump only to be toppled over by his forward momentum. They crashed into a cart, sending random objects flying. A yelp of terror escaped an unfamiliar pony’s mouth as they did. She turned to find a plain tan fellow cowering within the broken remains of his stall.

Immediately, Gusty pumped all of her magic into her horn and forced her levitation to work, tossing the unfortunate pony at the demon. To her surprise he caught the smaller stallion with grace, and set him down. Enraged for what suddenly felt like no reason to her Gusty hefted her blade and gave it a toss at the pony that ran away from she and the demon. With his unerring speed, the monster somehow put himself between the flying weapon and the flighting stallion. He successfully knocked her sword out of the air and onto the ground where it bounced and clanged, the blood it had been coated in flicking off

Why the fuck did I just do that? Was it to give myself room to cast or was I trying to clean my sword so I could use my magic on it again? No… that’s not… why did he protect that guy? I don’t...understand...Her thoughts trailed off as Guardian Angel dashed towards her.

He swung his mighty hooves towards her face, on reflex alone she put her own hooves up to soften the blow. As he hit she deflected his momentum, so she did not break her forelegs. With the same motion, she lurched forward. Intent on pinning him to the ground long enough to get a few good stabs in with her sword. Her horn struggled but pulsed out more magic, overcoming his natural ability to defeat spells. Gusty felt her magical grip tighten on the blade and send it flying toward her target just as they toppled atop one another. However, the demon rolled as soon as she contacted him, tossing her away and dodging her attempt to strike him in the same motion.

Her sword clattered by and caused another scream to come from a barrel where it lodged itself. Instead of trying to pull the blade free she simply levitated the combined objects over to herself. Ignoring the demon she peered inside the barrel once it reached her. Inside a tiny earthpony filly sat shuddering just below where the blade had slammed through the wooden container. On impulse she pulled the filly and the blade out of the barrel simultaneously. Grasped in her magic the child’s face streamed tears to the ground as she shook with fear.

How couldn’t she? There was a demon on the loose. A foolish demon. A demon that would… A dark epiphany turned her face to her quarry. He stood a short distance away face shocked.

Gusty held up the filly and gave her a high toss. The stallion snapped his head to her his wings pumping immediately. Her opening made, she struck him across the throat. Hot blood exploded out and hit her chest and face making her quake with pleasure. She wanted him to suffer, to feel the strikes, to hurt.

Unfortunately, he ignored her, and sailed up into the air, catching the little pony she had thrown. He glided back down and landed in front of her again, the wound on his neck nonexistent already.

“Gusty, get your act together!” he bellowed. The noise came both to her ears and inside her skull as he forced the words into her mind. It was jarring and painful but she ignored him. There was nothing she could not overcome when she felt like this.

“You call to her yet you’ll never reach her,” her voice said. Yet the words weren’t hers.

A terrible sinking feeling jumped up and down in her gut as she tried desperately to make sense of everything. Her magic ripped the filly from the stallion’s hooves making her scream in terror.

Wait…

She raised the blade up making it difficult for her quarry to intercept her. She would force him to give up. She turned the child to face her, her eyes were wide and fearful.

“Mr., help me, please!” the little filly cried trying to turn her head in the stiff levitation to look at the demon. How pitiful it was to be a pawn like the child.

She’s afraid...of me!

Gusty froze. Her heart pounded against her ribs, making her whole body rattle to its rhythm. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to make her move, to force the demon to act on his better nature. His better nature? Demons do not have better natures. Her eyes flicked to the stallion. He scooted slowly closer his voice muffled and distorted. The most she could understand was “calm”

New pain made her eyes wince shut as tears began clouding her vision.

Do it! Use your bait! An angry voice cried, who it belonged to she could not tell.

Its command sent more splitting agony across her temples and shooting down her legs like lines of boiling water. Gusty shook her head trying to maintain her focus. She refused to be subdued, seduced into this strange and horrible debauchery. She had endured much worse for far less important reasons, this pain would not be her downfall. That was until her body lurged on its own.

Blade hovering towards the filly Gusty shouted obscenities at herself internally. The more she refused the act the greater her suffering increased, but she would not give in. The little filly in her hooves reminded her of Amethyst. The cries from Guardian Angel like the ones she had made at him all those years ago in the Cave. He did not scream monster, but his tone was no less hurt and scared than hers had been.

“Enough! This is enough! You have to let her go! Don’t give in! Fight!” his voice came to her clearly even over the pain and the pitched screaming of something she could not quite describe.

Abruptly the pain intensified to the point that she could no longer levitate. Her sword dropped down to the cobblestone below with a clang and the filly started to fall before Guardian Angel caught her in a wing. Doubling over into a ball and sobbing as she clutched her head and side with different hooves, Gusty’s vision blurred again. All she knew was suffering, and eventually hysterics. Yet, it was as if she had been removed from her own body and she watched herself spasm as her attendant stallion stroked her mane. With a few seconds it passed. But it had seemed to her that those seconds had lasted hours, the moments endured suddenly sped away and she blinked away some tears.

“You back with us, sweetheart?” Guardian Angel asked softly as she looked up. The child in his wing flinched as Gusty’s gaze wandered to her.

Clarity washed over her and everything that had happened replayed in her mind in an instant. Overcome with grief and regret the heat of her own tears felt scalding compared to how cold her mind felt. She sat up, broken, but in control.

“I-I-I’m so sorry, child” she murmured awkwardly. She kept her eyes away from the filly, but tilted her head towards the small pony to make as much of a gesture of sincerity as possible.

The filly replied with several unintelligible words of her own. What those words were did not matter, Gusty simply hoped she cursed her as best as a child could. She felt she deserved no less. Her sobs turned more into a waterfall as again she caught a glimpse of herself in third person hold up the child in her levitation and threaten her. The look in her eyes was twisted, maddened. It was enough to make Gusty hang her head low behind her mane. Painfully, the soft whispers of the crowd of ponies that had been there to witness her mania reached her ears.

Guardian Angel mumbled something to his impromptu ward before the sounds of her little hooves dashed away. Gusty heard him partially stand before closing the remaining distance between them. She felt his wings touch her sides as he sat down directly in front of her. However, when his hooves reached around her withers Gusty could take no more. Whether it was pride or just left over adrenaline she did not know.

“N-No! Don’t touch me! Leave me alone!” She shrieked, her voice hoarse as she jammed her hooves repeatedly into his chest.

His only response was to growl and pull her closer with more force. Gusty complained swapping her hits from his chest to his belly but that did little to stop him. In frustration she looked up and spat on his face. He flinched only long enough for the spit to settle making their eyes meet.

In his eyes she saw a simple thing: understanding. It was not the sort of perfect empathy, novelists liked to write about. It was the look soldiers gave one another after surviving a terrible battle, a deeper comprehension of each others’ soul. A feeling that she could not put words to, only experience. It was enough. Enough to calm her, enough to bring new tears to her eyes as she returned his embrace, sobbing quietly onto his chest and legs.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, gently holding her head against himself. “Everything’s okay.”

Gusty clasped her hooves around him out of desperation. He was the last pony that should be cradling her, but he was the only one there. Absently she wondered how long it had been since he called for help on his mic. It felt like hours ago to her. Pressed against Guardian Angel she realized she could hear his heartbeat. Somehow through everything that had happened it was slow and steady and its pulse brought her comfort. She forced a full breath through her lungs and closed her eyes.

“You made it through it, today, sweetheart. You’re okay. None of it was your fault.” He started stroking her mane, wrapping his neck around the back of her head gracefully. “It’s okay, I promise.”

His words only made her feel more guilt. Gusty could hear the crowd murmuring their scared voices reaching her through his feathers and calming presence. In the end it proved too much for her. Panic stricken and lost in a sea of guilt and voices beyond the sound of the ponies of the market she shut down and broke down. She did not notice when Celestia and the Guard arrived. She did not realize when she was handed off to Bunker to sob onto him instead, she barely even knew she was awake.

There was magic, there were cries of unrest, of anger and righteousness. Somehow part of that gave her peace. As blurred as her vision was Gusty could not tell what happened as she was taken to someplace quiet. If she was honest she did not care either. All that mattered was the steady drum of a heartbeat in her ears and the simple feeling of companionship she had. With who that feeling she shared she could not answer for now. Perhaps after a nice nap and a tasty breakfast she would know. For now that was all she could hope for.

Act 5: Chapter 3 - Machinations of the Shadow-kin

“By the Royal Crown of Equestria, a special decree is made. The ponies of Canterlot shall herby adhere to a strict curfew from 9pm to 6am until further notice. We understand the inconvenience that this may cause for travelers and even workers. We will be issuing permits at public transportation stations, and the Palace for such instances. Loitering shall not be condoned and taken seriously by law enforcement. As soon as we can lift these restrictions we will.”

-Luna-

Chapter 3 - Machinations of the Shadow-Kin

A dreary and rainy afternoon crackled thunder over the city of Canterlot. The pegasi had not called for a storm but it seemed the mood of the city had drawn the weather in from the Everfree to reflect the attitude of the Palace’s inhabitants. In a hotel a short distance from the those gilded halls, two companions lay entwined on the king size bed. They were an odd sort, a pony and a dragon. Both were dutiful and loyal servants perhaps owing that entirely to their relationship. However, these times were dangerous and full of intrigue. Even as they shared their scant free time together neither were never not at work for their respective regents.

Midnight Blossom fluttered her eyelashes at her friend with benefits. The tall, purple drake known as Frostbite smiled nervously back. He was quite handsome for a creature with scales, and by Midnight’s opinion, a sucker for a pretty face. That was what she had been banking on, what all of this operation had been based on. The research her employer did had proven disturbingly accurate, but that was how the little thestral liked it. Such commitment from the Mistress was nearly unheard of within the organization and to have been selected to carry out the task her boss had personally done the casing for was a huge honor. It also meant that there was a distinct chance failure would result in death. Midnight Blossom smiled as she leaned a little closer to Frostbite, she liked the pressure.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I should go behind Ember’s back like that.” The drake reached a clawed hand down and ran it through her mane. Midnight mewled approvingly. “She doesn’t want the Queen to attack Equestria. And I’m partial to believe that her Royal Highness will do just that with this information.”

“Come on Frosty. I work for Princess Luna’s Guard. That’s how we met remember!” she pulled his claw down and held in in her hooves.

“Yeah. I know, I know. I just don’t understand why, say the Guard Captain didn’t tell me. I just seems weird that they let you do it. This matter is pretty serious. And...well...I don’t like the implications,” he said. He pursed his lips and sighed, shifting his gaze to some undisclosed space in the room.

“Listen. I’m only going to say this once.” Midnight squeezed his hand between her hooves breaking her lovey-dovey character. “Equestria is in grave danger and I need you to send the message to the Dragon Queen. You must! The Princesses went through some extreme lengths to make sure I could get you the message. Even now I don’t know if we are being watched. Please send it. We know that Ember has already been compromised and it won’t be long before the Princesses are too!”

Frostbite watched her with at first scepticism then deep concern. He searched her face for lies. Seemingly detecting none he grimaced in dismay. Barring his fangs he hissed out a small puff of icy vapor reflective of his name.

“Ember has b-been compromised too? H-how? You mean to tell me those beasts the Queen was so upset about-they have control of Equestria? Just what does this letter have in it?!” He stammered in shock.

Looking down away from him in sadness Midnight Blossom put her snoot against his arm, nuzzling it working up a cry. This had to be so completely convincing that he would never question her or himself.

“P-please, Frostbite. I-I can’t tell you what’s in it for fear they are listening in even now. I’ll do anything you want, you just have to send the letter,” she whimpered.

Being the kind soul that he was, the drake pulled her up close, kissing her cheek with his scaly lips. He rubbed her mane and gently held her for a moment.

“Well...at least I know why they had you ask. I can’t say no-I’ll send the letter. If its like you said, the Queen will commend me for my service. If it’s not, as you said, she’ll probably crush me to death but honestly...I believe you, and it's worth the risk. If all of dragon-kind and pony-kind are in danger I’d rather be wrong about my gut feeling than be the reason we all died!”

Midnight loved working with dragons. They had such simple yet powerful convictions. She channeled her pleasure into a pouting and relieved look. She grabbed the letter from the bedside table where she had placed it. Her counterpart took it from her and with a heavy exhale frost covered the envelope. Slowly as if he had then melted it, the letter disappeared into mist and was no more. Her Mistress would be most pleased.

“Done. I don’t want you to be right, but...something tells me you are…” He commented. “Now. For my reward my little pony…you said anything I want.”

Frostbite licked his lips with his forked-tongue. Midnight bit hers trying to suppress an eager moan. There were certain parts of her job that she relished them perhaps too much. Better yet her scaly companion tended to want to try things she already enjoyed. The Mistress receiving the good news was going to have to wait.

=======================================

Later that evening…

“Yeah I’m not really sure I understand.” Zeccaran folded his hooves while he looked at his marefriend.

“What’s not to understand?” Pixie pursed her lips and fixed him with a crumpled, frustrated brow.

“The part where you think this idea is the key to some perfect world. You know full-well I don’t really believe in redemption, we’ve had that discussion before. And what you’ve been talking about seems to get rid of the concept altogether...and...I don’t think that works, ponies need the concept of redemption whether or not I believe in it, it gives them hope,” the zebra explained.

The red-maned mare turned her face away, making the low light of the lab shine her yellow irises bright for a moment. She held her upset look for a moment before her features waxed philosophical.

“So you can’t perceive a reason why information needs to be mediated? What about you and your life? If your adopted mother and the Cult didn’t have access to those old texts would you have ever done anything you did? Zeccaran you could have been spared years of suffering and regret!” Pixie declared.

“Maybe. Maybe not. That doesn’t really matter. What matters is that not only I but also my ‘family’ chose to believe those lies. Even I, who never had experienced outside of the Cult, thought some of what I was doing felt wrong. I did what I did because it was convenient, because it was comfortable and familiar. Because somepony told me it was the right thing to do, and I didn’t act on my own will.”

Zeccaran went silent realizing his breathing was a little heavier than he meant it to be. Many of the memories he had of those dark times were so horrid it made him sweat with nerves and guilt and talking about it so plainly did not help. Pixie sighed and he turned his face to look at her. She stared back her eyes distant, as if she was looking far past him to someplace different.

“Then council me on my life Zeccaran. I’ve done things that are familiar, normal, felt good, yet none of it felt wrong...not even for a moment. As I grew to understand more about my body...about...being Shadow-kin.” For a moment Pixie paused then her eyes refocused and she peered at him intently. “Being a carrier of this blood is not something I enjoy. I still have the urges...the desires for...more. They don’t feel wrong, and they certainly don’t make me feel remorse. Yet I know acting on them is wrong, even though my conscious tells me it's okay. I guess I just don’t know how to parse your position on this. To me such a notion of total freedom of information, of body, mind...it’s always been antithetical to my existence. It’s a noble ideal really...but unrealistic.”

“Isn’t striving towards the way things should be better than streamlining the current world and ignoring the problems?” he questioned back after a moment.

“Pshh. You sound like my brother.” Pixie dismissed with a wave of her hoof.

Zeccaran balked. He could barely fathom that he and Stormwalker shared a common viewpoint. The zebra took a moment to reflect on himself, perhaps he was not such a reformed stallion as he once thought. After all reformed was not redeemed and such reformation had only come at the grace of Princess Luna. It felt strange to hold congruent opinions with his mortal enemy, it almost made him wonder if Pixie was wrong. If two diametrically opposed individuals could agree to the same thing, the same ideal, what did that say about her? Zeccaran shook his head in an attempt to avoid a headache. Truthfully, he reveled in these talks with her but that bit of information was too much.

“You mentioned something about him thinking that way before. Why does it upset you again?” he asked, earnestly shifting the conversation to his marefriend. Pixie had acted as if her brother had played some part in condemning the world to “the Truth.” Zeccaran still struggled to understand that, and he hoped he would get his answer.

“It-it-it’s…” Pixie tried and failed to start her explanation. “There are a lot of emotions for me to work through.”

“The best I can describe it is both jealousy and empathy. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense but...those are the sort of things I feel when it comes to my brother,” she stated with a slow nod.

“That seems...odd…” Zeccaran squinted.

“I know! Just...let me try to put this together,” His marefriend complained. He simply remained silent in agreement.

“I know what it’s like to feel like he does. To feel like everything you ever lived for, ever fought for, that it was all a lie, a beautiful dream stolen away from you. Yet that’s not really the core of the matter. As Shadow-kin we aren’t bound by the normal rules of life, or even society. The magic in our bodies is malignant, even when you twist it to your will as he has. And that’s where I covet him. He’s so powerful so in control, he could change the whole world in an instant if he chose. I mean he’s not even supposed to be alive! You don’t fight Nyx and then win!”

At the sound of her name, the little dark entity in his mind started paying attention to the conversation.

Is she trying to understand her brother’s motives? Or is this something different; I only just started paying attention. The ghost said.

Quiet. There’s a key point missing here. I’ve never told Pixie about you, about the cult, sure, but I never explained that the thing I summoned that night wasn’t just a Shade, but THE NYX. Neither has her brother. I’m certain of it. The information is so secret that I’m shocked she just blurted that out loud. Zeccaran grumbled internally.

Oh my! Now that is intriguing! I’ll hold my tongue. Nyx replied quickly.

“Pixie...how did you know what was summoned that night was Nyx?” the zebra was straightforward with his scepticism. His mare grimaced and looked away, folding her ears.

“I...well...I mean that was one of the first things I told you...I kind of like information...and espionage is in my blood, and...my brother isn’t the only one that does meddling.” She tried to smile but it was clearly very forced.

Zeccaran pursed his lips and let his displeasure show in his face. Pixie cringed in embarrassment.

“So what other things do you know that you aren’t supposed to know? I mean at this rate it makes me wonder why you want information controlled before it reaches ponies in the first place. You seem to take an uncommon delight in knowing things, is it perhaps because you know them and others do not?” he admonished with a rhetorical question.

“It is rather hypocritical isn’t it.” His marefriend stood up from the couch and gave a long stretch. “I guess I just can’t help myself, if I want to help keep ponies happy and safe I have to know more information than anypony else and that itself goes against my own arguments.”

“Yeah. That was kinda my point.” Zeccaran stood also, pacing up next to her when his stomach growled.

“I’m going to get some food from the cafeteria. You want a snack?”

Pixie shrugged and shook her head. She followed up with a bit of a frustrated twist of her lips.

“Just surprise me.”

He agreed and went on his way out of the lab abode. It was an easy trip, and uneventful. With the new guard postings and the department being slow he was able to get his food and two pieces of cake quickly. He was back in the lab department, past the guard checkpoint when a deep blue mare rounded the corner to the hall that went towards his home. She smiled at him and gave a tad too formal of a nod-and-or-bow and trotted away. Pausing after a step or two, Zeccaran turned to call out to her but found her long gone.

The zebra looked between the couple of doors that lined the hall. He bit a lip knowing he had not heard a single one of them open or close. Zeccaran had seen that mare before, recently even, but he could not put his hoof on the matter.

The night you went out with Pixie and you got the two of us almost killed. She was with Luna and the monster. Nyx commented on his confusion.

Thanks, extra brain. He grumbled back at her. That was most enlightening. Really made her whole disappearing act make sense.

Your sarcasm is palpable.

Shut up.

Disgusted momentarily with himself and his existence, Zeccaran pawed at the ground with a hoof. The thought of the cake he had on his back distracted him and he returned to his home with his surprise for Pixie. They carried on their conversation and he forgot about the chance encounter. As he figured that there was no value on such wild speculation and let his desire to understand his marefriend dominate his thoughts. There was not much he could do about the circumstance even if there was something significant to be gleaned from it anyway.

=======================================

Early, early the next morning, still in the dark of the night...

Guardian Angel stared at the ponequin where his armor sat. It was silent in his office deep in the bowels of the Palace. Yet to him it seemed like thousands of voices spoke to him at once. The quiet was their cries of desperation or death ringing in his ears usually only on the edge of his hearing but now in full without other sound to keep them at bay. He turned away from the metal, buckles, and leather and opened his closet door to gaze instead at his own visage in the dirty old mirror on the inside of the door.

He looked old, tired...and broken. It did not show on his face, but instead deeply in the glint of his eyes. Sighing he looked at the floor before facing his armor again. He strode towards it and began the long process of putting it on alone.

Ha. He was never alone, not truly. That had just been a fever dream.

Before, however, it had been pleasant to have that permanent companionship with a mare he adored. But now...now he despised it. Not because of her but because he was being watched, they both were.

The work of his ancestors filled him with rage and fury like he had never felt before. He wanted the Curse destroyed, eradicated. He wanted to be free of the watchful eyes, the cold calculating malice he could feel hanging on every antagonizing moment. How Gusty had survived as long as she had without going unsalvageably insane was beyond him. It had only been a little over two weeks and he wanted to kill ponies out of sheer spite. He would not dare to act on such urges but he would certainly have liked to. It would seem his companion felt the same way. The magic that he had broken in the Frozen North had been doing a much better job of keeping the teal mare safe than he had ever given it credit for.

He slapped himself in an attempt to steady his mind. But what else could I have done in that situation? Guardian Angel asked himself. His heart told him that was the only thing he could have allowed himself to do.

He never could have let Gusty forget who he was, even if it was for her own safety. His selfishness and his self-loathing could have never allowed it. Letting Gusty’s mind reset and stabilize would have only served to give him a fresh chance with her. A second first-meeting that he did not deserve. So he had chosen to protect her against all odds. The Curse and the mare’s magic might have both been destroyed in that instant if he had known what he was doing.

However, testing out the psychic powers he had absorbed from the Mistress of Darkness on ponies just did not seem proper. Especially after everything Gusty had put up with to help him see himself. The regrowth of a moral compass that had come with that strange week was not one he could ignore. He was better for it, a lot softer for it, but Guardian Angel would never admit that. For a moment he smiled at the thought of ponies realizing he was a push-over for the most part. Gusty had figured it out, of course, being free from her own magic certainly helped. Even the Curse had been contained by their combined mental presence, a surprising benefit that had been extremely enjoyable. Everything had been going great.

Right up until he had fucked it up. He shook his head, still feeling his chest tighten in embarrassment and hatred at himself. He bitterly regretted that decision. If he had not been so set on pushing the boundaries, of moving on from his infatuation with Gusty none of the current situation would have ever happened. If only he had just waited for Luna to tell him the results of her dreamwalk that morning instead of leaving early.

He paused. That was not true. He had done what was best with the information he had. His fiancé did not mention that anything had been out of the ordinary the night before when they cuddled up together. In fact she said everything was fine and there were no changes and that details could wait for later. And thus he had decided to trust his gut. That quickly proved to be the wrong decision, but at the moment he had severed the connection it had felt right. Being free from the current feeling of omnipresent hatred had been invigorating, mostly because Guardian Angel had interpreted it simply as the damage that had been done to Gusty’s mind over the years. He sighed, wishing he had understood what it had felt like before he had broken their bond. Nothing would ever be the same now.

He had been happy, he had felt so much better than he had in years and now it was starting to slip out of his grasp. Worse, other ponies were happy too. Gusty, Luna, Amethyst, hell even Zeccaran seemed to have really turned his life around. Now it was all going to fall apart. Yet a part of him liked the feeling of anxiety of loss. It still felt strange to feel pride for other ponies but it certainly was not a bad feeling. He smiled before his armor started being uncooperative.

Guardian Angel growled at the plate for his flanks and tail, forcing the uncooperative piece into place with strength alone. He could feel the metal tear his skin, but that did not matter. With a body and biology like his, armor only served to slow you down. It did not really provide any meaningful defense against things that could actually hurt him. Blades and magic were already useless against him; the mountain-pulverising power of an elder dragon’s fists were another matter. At this point he only was putting it on out of a sense of purpose. The ancient metal had borne the bodies of many of his kin for both good and ill for longer than records could prove. In a way, it was tradition for a Stormwalker to wear the armor, a sign that the business they were conducting was of the highest importance. Keeping his mettle and his life together certainly were the most imperative things to do and a little tradition went a long to making him at least feel that he could do it.

Moving onto the chest harness, Guardian Angel let his wings go full flame and pulled the breastplate into place. He let the ethereal limbs phase into the correct place after he used them to buckle the piece with them. He could feel a scowl growing on his face as his thoughts turned back to trying to manage the ever restless noise of thousands of voices in his head.

Gusty was having a nightmare. Even at this moment he and Luna fought to help the mare keep control. He provided the solid ground and his fiancé provided the physical reassurance within the Astral Plane. He snarled at the notion. They were trapped and at the Curse’s mercy. But, if somepony could find a way around this impasse his mooney mare would be the one to do it.

The Mytsn hid behind Gusty like a shield knowing full-well that none of the parties involved would hurt her just for the sake of destroying the malignancy. Tilting his head up, Guardian Angel pulled his neck plating on, the segmenting section fastening into the breastplate. Maybe that was not entirely true, but even now as dire as things had become they all clung to the hope that a solution could be reached without causing undue harm. He held onto that tiny little thought and went on slowly affixing the rest of his equipment. The scant hope of the impossible would have to be enough.

Once he was done he turned back and looked at himself in the mirror. He held up one of his hoof gauntlets. Flexing the leg muscle, the encased blade extended out of the armor and shined dimly in the low light of the office. He snorted out an angry grunt. His hard breath disturbing the dust on the surface of both the mirror and the back wall of the closet. He moved his eyes down to stare at the old floor instead. He was not ready for this. Nopony was ready for any of it, but it had to be done. That simple fact made him reachout with his mind with a purpose. Finding his quarry as it continued to fight off Luna’s magic he applied his own brand of pressure.

“You know Mytsn. You seem to have all the pieces,” he said aloud knowing the dark beast inside his closest friend could hear him. He swapped into the traditional tongue of demons to make it harder for her to ignore him as he continued.

“But the one thing you do not have is Gusty’s heart. That is mine.” As Guardian Angel spoke, the chorus of voices grew louder as if to try and drown him out. He ignored them, even as their shouts and cries pierced into his consciousness and made it seem as if he was hearing them within the room.

“I know her heart. I know it as intimately as I do my own. I know what Gusty wants.” He pulled his eyes back to the mirror. He watched with gritted teeth as his eyes waxed red in his rage at the Curse of his ancestors.

Behind him, reflected in the mirror were a host of ghastly faces. Ponies that blamed him for their deaths with their screams. They were correct in their accusations. Guardian Angel knew all of those faces, some had deserved their fate, others had not. He knew where the blame lay for their deaths. He had accepted that part of himself and had even managed to forgive himself. That was something he thought he would never be able to do and that self-acceptance gave him power. For a few years he had been comprised of many demons and vices far worse than the Mytsn. The guilt it attempted to use to manipulate him now meant nothing compared to the guilt he had for failing Gusty, for hurting Amethyst, and for every time he had made Luna cry over his actions. As if recognizing this, the spectres fell silent and were replaced by cries of those three blaming him for their woes to spite him

But those guilts were good guilts, if there was such a thing. Unlike poor Gusty who was always overcome with her paranoia, anxiety, and regret; Guardian Angel understood his purpose. There was no restraint, no worry, nor lust for more. He had what he wanted. Nothing could take it from him, not even death. The Curse and its pomps were mere distractions and they too would pass. He had to believe that. The alternative was too sad and dismal. Such thoughts were only a distraction just like his quarry’s attempts to upset him.

He grinned into the mirror. His fanged visage slowly turning into a too-wide-of-a-smile. He stared into his own eyes. Seeing a flicker of fear in the darkness of his pupils that was not his own. He clicked and purred with intent. It seemed that the Mytsn was now listening intently.

“Gusty wants you destroyed. No matter the cost. Even if that means she dies in the process. Soon, when we have you corned, when there is no escape. I’ll come for you.” he hissed at his reflection.

His expression waxed fully manic and the instant it did the heavy air seemed to break into a faint breeze. The Mytsn retreated back, deeper into Gusty’s mind until its presence was silent and still. It was no longer watching, at least for the moment it was concerned with only itself.

However, he was not done yet. Sucking in a deep breath he summoned all of his focus, all of the magic and all the ability Nyx had once possessed. Channeling his thoughts on a single notion: Hurt the Curse, make it feel unsafe. The rushing of an ethereal wind seemed to overtake the sound of his ears. It felt like he was rushing forward, he could feel the heat of a fiery wind, cries of ponies he did not recognize, and the hissing of beasts his mind could not picture.

Then there was silence and cold. He was in the right place.

Pushing harder, throwing everything he had into the psychic leap Guardian Angel grit his teeth. He felt it. The Mytsn. Try as it might to hide, he knew its presence, he could differentiate between it and the deeply broken, frozen breezes of Gusty’s subconscious. He pressed his hatred at it. He felt the blow strike true. The beast dashed away and hid itself entirely, not daring to give him even the smallest of leads. Satisfied he released his focus, his mind fell away from the deepest reaches of Gusty’s with her familiar smile seeming to cross into his vision, even though his eyes were closed.

With a slam Guardian Angel slumped down onto his rump. He breathed unsteadily, trying to not shriek as he started to sob with pain. Forcing his mind to project pure psychic damage into the Curse hurt. It hurt more than anything he had ever endured. More than being run through with a dozen swords, bitten in half by a dragon, or tortured with hot iron and whips, it was truly excruciating. Head swimming, he struggled to stand or focus, all of his effort had been put into that stray chance of making the Curse bleed. It had been better than the last two times he had tried but only practice would make it work. His mind went fuzzy for a moment as he sat on the floor.

Luna would be casting the mind shields by now and having an easy time of it too. That thought gave him strength. He brushed the remaining wet from his face to find blood had seeped out of his nose. With a grimace he exited his office, wiping the ichor on some of his exposed fur. His mooney mare would need tending to after this exhausting night and he intended to pamper her accordingly. Then he needed to eat. That much energy consumption made him ravenous.

Hopefully things would wait before getting worse. Guardian Angel wanted to break his own neck for that thought, but pushed onto the Royal Apartments ignoring the foreboding and the prickling sensation of his cutie mark that had persisted since he had reconnected his mind to Gusty’s. The concerns of his soothsaying body and mind would have to wait. Other ponies needed him.

Act 5: Chapter 4 - Complications

“So am I going to get to meet Ashijnir when you finally go see her? It’s not fair that you, Mom, always get to go cool places and I have to go to school. I used to do all sorts of crazy things, now I’m boring! I’m about to turn thirteen in two days! I shouldn’t be made to feel that I’m boring!”

-Amethyst-

Chapter 4 - Complications

Waking suddenly, Gusty held her breath. She flashed her eyes around her room trying to find anything out of place. She often did that now. It helped calm her down, it put things into...perspective. She released the trapped air in her lungs, but did not relax. Slowly, she sat up finding that Bunker shifted to match her.

“Good morning.” He gently reached a hoof to touch her neck.

On instinct, Gusty jerked away. She instantly regretted it. Unable to bring herself to look at her husband, instead she looked to the floor. For a moment the only sound in the room was her rough breathing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that,” she whispered.

“I know. You haven’t been yourself. I understand,” he assured her. Gusty, however, just felt like that he was lying. The logical part of her brain knew he wasn’t but her emotions and her fear ran rampant with theories and nonsense. Fighting off insanity, Gusty pushed herself out of the soft bed.

She could already feel a headache coming on, but elected to do her best to ignore it. As she and her husband moved into the kitchen of the apartment they remained silent. Gusty sighed almost every breath while they sat and ate a simple breakfast of oats. It was a solid thing, a tacit experience but in truth it helped her little.

“Maybe you should go lie back down. You look like you are having a terrible time,” Bunker suggested. It was a kind thought and one that got her to smile if but for a moment.

Do everything you can to try and take every day as a normal day. If you cannot, none of us can fault you. Luna’s words echoed in Gusty’s head from the night before, from every night since the events at the Market. The Princess was right. She needed to try the day, just like she had been. Shaking her head Gusty looked down at the last spoonful of oats, the many voices in her head trying to assert their dominance. She struggled to not be nauseated by the sensory overload.

“I’ll just be sure to come home early. What time is it?” Gusty redirected the conversation.

“Ehh..” Bunker turned and squinted at the wall clock that hung on the back wall of the kitchen. “About fifteen minutes after eight. You really think you can make court?”

“Better late than never.” She leaned across the table and kissed him.

He gave a short chuckle, teasingly brushing her off. “You go then. I’ll tag along after a bit. The Royal Court is not my...strong suit, I believe the saying goes.”

“And today it’s not mine either. See you soon.” Gusty nodded before standing to exit.

She had to get moving while her motivation lasted. It did not matter what she looked like, it did not matter how she felt beyond the urge to do what she could. That was the only thing she had and Gusty promised herself that she would cling to it no matter what.

Hallways passed her vision and ponies spoke to her. She had no idea if she even responded, just surviving the light of the sun coming through the stained glass of the halls was difficult. Hordes of sounds and voices plagued her, more real than the Palace, and to Gusty more real than herself. As she was about to have to turn back, overwhelmed by the insanity that she was plagued with when blessed, thankful reprieve came. That loudest of her inner demons commanded the others silent. Guardian Angel’s mental presence urged her forward for but a moment before the cacophony of tragedy in her ears resumed.

Gusty paused. There were ponies that were helping her. Not in the “supporting her emotionally” sense, but literally were capable of stopping what she was going through kind of help. The moment of realization perked her up immediately. In fact it spurred her to think of a good friend that she had yet to even thank. Zeccaran. She had not hassled him for some time and her gradually improving mood made her at least want to say hello.

Moving to turn around and take a detour, Gusty stopped in her tracks. Ahead of her she heard an all too familiar sigh of frustration. Smiling briefly, she moved towards the sarcastic remarks and indignation that signalled Zeccaran’s presence. She looked in the hall, with her newfound focus and found that she was about to the Declaration Hall. She had missed her turn toward the Throne Room entirely! Embarrassed but able to swallow the blush Gusty moved on towards her friend’s voice.

“No! You work for somepony I know it! Ponies just don’t disappear like that!” Zeccaran grumbled loudly.

Turning the corner at the end of the hall she found the zebra. With him was the thin purple drake that had accompanied Ember, he looked even paler and more uncomfortable than usual. A small thestral mare of a deep blue stood next to the dragon and was evidently the subject of Zeccaran’s ire. Finally, Pixie, who turned and noticed Gusty with a big smile and a wave was there too. The younger Stormwalker grimaced and eyed the zebra as if to say: “Help me with him, please.”

“Zeccaran, why are you bothering this mare?” Gusty said instantly jumping in.

“Bothering?! I’m trying to get to the bottom of a magical teleporting spy! I’m interrogating!” Her friend shouted. His face was manic like he had discovered some crazy truth.

“In the middle...of the hallway?” She put on the healthiest skepticism she could manage.

Her friend turned on his heels and glared at her. Zeccaran opened his mouth only to close it again with squinted eyes. Forming another scowl the zebra let his bravado die while he rubbed his face with a hoof.

“I’ll admit, it seems pretty insane.” He turned back to the thestral mare. “Sorry, I haven’t been getting much sleep recently.”

“It’s no trouble, Sir Zeccaran. And you’re right, I do work for somepony, Princess Luna, specifically. One of my duties is keeping an eye on you for your own safety.” The mare replied.

“Oh,” he replied sheepishly. Gusty got a good laugh out of it, Pixie joined in as well.

The moment was abruptly cut off by the purple drake releasing a loud blech. With his burp came a cloud of icy mist. He pounded his chest and groaned. Gusty grimaced as she actively watched him nearly turn more blue than his normal color. Whatever was wrong with him, she did not want to catch it. On reflex she took a step back.

“Sorry everyone...I really need to get...to the Princesses.” He hacked and coughed for a moment. “Her Royal Scaliness might reach through the Eternal Fire and kill me if I don't let her try immediate contact for much longer.”

Around the edges of his eyes bright flickers of orange flame flared up. On the edge of her hearing she could just make out a low, angry grumble of a dragon. It was not coming from the one in front of her, but instead as if it was emanating from the air itself. Instantly taken aback with righteous indignation, Gusty leaned into her emotions. This brief respite of regular functionality was not one she would waste. Whoever this drake was she had no intention of letting Ashijnir harm him.

“The Queen of Fire would not be so foolish as to shoot her own messenger.” She shook her head. The young drake before her winced as if to say he did not agree.

“Let her speak now. Ashijnir will not bring harm to you on my account,” Gusty ordered.

The purple fellow looked around at the small gathering. He twitched with obvious pain as his gaze settled on the small blue thestral that was with him. Silently a question was asked as they stared at one another before the mare spoke.

“Frostbite, it’s fine. Gusty is the High Margrave, remember? Plus, she knows the Queen. If it will help you stay alive, please do it,” the mare insisted.

Looking around between the ponies that watched him the drake shuddered. Frostbite must have had an amazing constitution to resist the will of the great green dragoness. More fire flashed over his scales and he wobbled where he stood.

“I don’t have much of a choice. Here-here she comes-agh!” He bleched.

His breath wisped together flame and ice. For a moment Gusty was concerned that the sticky blaze might hit Zeccaran. However, the strange blazing mixture of orange and blue stopped short of him. Deep within the strange writhing mass a pinprick of green slowly grew. After a moment the circular object came into clear focus. It was an eye. A deep emerald eye that Gusty recognized instantly as Ashijnir’s. Shocked, she watched as the strange fire magic of the matriarch of dragons expanded more and more, mixed with the icy breath of the aptly named Frostbite.

It stopped its growth once the eye was nearly as round as Gusty was tall. Once it reached that point, the deep seemingly bottomless pupil of the Ashijnir’s eye expanded then contracted into its classically curved slit with a sort of predatory grace. A deep groan that was similar to that of amusement came from the eye as it peered at Zeccaran.

“Mohhh-st curious. I was unaware that the Princesses kept a Zebra in their court.” The long tones of the Queen of Fire rumbled loudly through the halls of the Palace. Gusty hoped this was not supposed to be a meeting of secrets, Ashijnir certainly did not know how to whisper.

“No matter.” The dragon’s voice turned short and angry. “Zebra. Fetch me the alicorns. We have a matter to discuss most grave.”

“I-I Uhh…umm” Zeccaran stammered, his eyes locked on the single green orb.

“Make haste! I am not a dragon known for her patience!” She hissed angrily at the zebra. Gusty harrumphed behind him. “What was that? Who dares scoff at the Queen of Fire?!”

Evidently the magical sight could only extend a short distance. Meanwhile Zeccaran withered under the gaze of the great green dragon, looking anxiously between her eye and Gusty. Moving to take his place in Ashijnir’s gaze she pulled up her posture. Excitement danced waves of chills over her stomach, in a way she was nervous. It had been such a long time since she had spoken to the dragon Gusty was unsure how she would react.

The forces within her mind seemed to agree. Guardian Angel’s presence acutely focused on her and what was happening. If she was not misinterpreting his intentions, he had stopped whatever he was doing and was already on his way to this strange gathering. Likewise the Curse waited with wet jowls and a disturbingly delighted interest. The dark beast seemed to purr as it poured over memories she had of the Queen of Dragons. Gusty swallowed the lump in her throat doing her best to dispel the flashs of the past and the feeling of the creature inside her mind. Whatever the entity was planning, she healthily feared it. However, so long as it did not interrupt her exchange with Ashijnir everything would be fine.

She stopped her short journey directly next to Zeccaran. Her friend backed away as she fully extended her wings. In this moment it was to be only she and the dragon. Gusty fixed the green eye with as hard and disapproving glare as she could. A faint gasp echoed down the halls.

“C-can it be?” Ashijnir murmured. “No one would even know of your likeness..but...”

“I-is this a dream? I just-I just don’t believe it.” The great eye blinked repeatedly as if to try and see through the mare. Her exasperated voice shortened and softened as she mumbled indistinctly to herself.

Silence reigned as Gusty held her gaze. She did not need to say anything to the ancient dragon. If Ashijnir was still true to herself it would become clear that this was real. She was real. These days were real. All the world was in turmoil in no small part due to the dragons.

“Gusty Twilight. Tell me it is you. No. Tell me the truth: is this not the work of our enemies?” Ashijnir breathed hoarsely over her magic making her voice sound as if she spoke through a metal tube.

It had been some three millennia since she had last spoken to her scaly ward. Things were not the same as in the past, but for the briefest moments Gusty saw a glint of wonder and respect flicker in Ashijnir’s enormous eye. The sight made her smile a wide goofy grin. It had been far too long since she had shared the company of dragons and knowing that her companion was still herself made her giddy.

“It’s been a long time Big Mean Greenie,” Gusty winked devilishly.

“How dare you!” the dragon gasped in shock. “You promised me that you’d never call me that again! I was but a hatchling the last time anyone would have even…” Her voice trailed off.

“It truly is you! B-but how? We saw the Shadow-kin drag your body off...h-how did you survive?!” Ashijnir shrieked.

Around Gusty the rest of the party shifted uncomfortably as the shrill tones of the Queen of Fire rattled the stained glass at the end of the hall. Gusty gave a small chuckle at her friends before her smile dwindled down. As she opened her mouth to respond her words stopped in her throat. She could feel the Curse move about, it's dark influence ravenous and horrid. The air around her seemed to close in around her briefly and the hall was filled with a strange pinky-orange smoke. The moment passed and the fear and paranoia from breakfast returned as the world around her returned to normal.

“I..I’m still dealing with everything that happened...even now.” Gusty heard her voice almost as if it came from another pony. She shook her head determined to remain in control.

“I can see it...I can see that it-it cost you everything. My dear mother of alicorns...I regret with all my heart that I had thought you dead.” Ashijnir closed her eye. A great thrum of a heavy sigh thumped over the magic fire.

“You shouldn’t. Had you pursued me they would have killed you too. Just like...just like they did to the rest of my family.” Gusty’s voice was small as he sadly whispered out those terrible truths. She was happy that the Dragons, and particularly Ashijnir, had survived. It did not lower the burden of her kin’s demise, however.

“Speak not of such ills over this faux-semblance of conversation,” The Queen of Fire stated. “Come join me in my mountain-You must be the surprise the Princesses and my daughter spoke of! But why delay our reunion? Could it be that…”

“That was done upon my request.” Gusty cut Ashijnir off before the dragon had a chance to accuse anyone else of said plan, even though it was not exclusively her idea.

Something felt off about the great green lizard’s skepticism. She looked over at Pixie who only shrugged in response, her face neutral. As she spun back to face Ashijnir her suspicions only increased, Gusty spied a shocked maid hiding partially behind a statue further down the hall. It did not really matter who heard at this point anyway.

“I have been struggling with some of the scars of the past of late…” She spoke in response to the twinkle of confusion in the dragon’s eye. “I was afraid that speaking to you again would only make matters worse.”

“It seems that it has not,” replied Ashijnir a not-visible but evident smile creasing the lower lid of her eye.

“No. It has not. And as you request, I shall visit you at once. That way I may scold you for treating your messenger like some sort of traitor when he was desperately trying to fulfil your wishes. Yet your impatience…”

Ashijnir released the long rattling groan she always made when Gusty reprimanded her. The gathered group managed a nervous smile and a laugh while the alicorn held her stern, pursed lips at the eye.

“These have been trying times. You’ll have to forgive me. The Shadow-kin do not rest, my fair Matriarch. But, I shall try my best to retain the grace you once taught me.” The Dragon Queen paused. “I still had my doubts before but that little bit of scolding alone has me convinced you are indeed alive. How long will it take you to arrive?”

“I suspect a day..perhaps two at most.”

“Good. I eagerly await your arrival. I shall inform my dragons that Equestria is sending the most honored guest into our lands and call off our patrols. And Gusty...it’s wonderful to see you again. Please, be safe.”

The magic ended with a hiss and a whoosh. Frostbite collapsed forward, his jaw snapping shut with a click before Gusty sent her magic to catch his fall. The blue thestral mare slipped underneath the drake nodding for her to release the levitation.

“I’ll take him somewhere to rest and let the Princesses know what happened,” she said over the backdrop of Frostbite moaning in semi-consciousness.

Gusty nodded in agreement and watched as the odd couple departed. Pixie and Zeccaran stood next to one another, the zebra retaining the pensive look on his face. Gusty gave them a smile and a shrug only to be interrupted by the thumping of excited hooves. They were accented by a girlish squeal as Gusty tried to pivot to see the voice’s owner, catching only the blur of somepony dashing by. A deep, surprised grunt from Zeccaran pulled her head towards him.

“Good to see you, Big Z!” The maid from before declared. She nearly squeezed the life out of the zebra, his eyes bugging out from the hug.

Gusty raised her eyebrows in concern, looking between Pixie and the other two ponies in confusion. Her red-maned friend did the same, curling a lip up cantancously. Finally, the mare released Zeccaran and grinned wide at the group. Able to see her face, Gusty instantly recognized the curly pink mane and creme coat. They were darker than her daughter’s, but easy to remember.

“Chrysanthemum!?” Gusty balked in total shock. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected Guardian Angel to have spared the mare. She looked at Zeccaran and realized maybe that should not have been so surprising. Her resident stallion emitted at burst of grim amusement along their connection, he was still watching.

“Wait. Chrysanthemum is alive? And this pony is Chrysanthemum?!” Pixie put a hoof up to her head. Her face seemed to grow lines that did not belong there before vanishing away as if they had not even appeared for that moment at all.

Gusty just chuckled. It seemed somepony had a much softer heart than even she had realized. Bit of embarrassment made its way to her as well as a measure of intent. Guardian Angel was coming. A few butterflies later she returned her attention back to the ongoing conversation.

“Well of course I’m not interested in him now! It's been fourteen years! Sheesh. You Stormwalkers are all the same,” Chrysanthemum grumbled at Pixie.

“Interested in who?” Gusty asked hoping to have properly jump into the gossip.

“Zeccaran.” The ex-priestess rolled her eyes.

“Huh?” The alicorn looked up at the zebra to find Pixie had wrapped a wing around him. Balking as gears in turned, Gusty just stared open jawed until she realized the simple answer.

“Ohmygosh! You two are a couple!” She boomed. “I can’t believe it; my two best friends are dating!”

Practically tackling them, Gusty revelled in the dopamine hit the situation gave her. She was lost in the moment she gabbed rapidly, nearly shrieking with delight. To their credit, Zeccaran and Pixie politely put up with her antics. Gusty would never admit that their passive reaction only pushed her chatter more, but that was their problem, not hers.

“Well, at least it makes somepony happy,” Chrysanthemum interjected over her tirade. “Does his Lordship know of said scandalous arrangement?”

Gusty stopped her excessive squeezing of her friends to cast a wry look at the unicorn. The ex-priestess rolled her eyes once more, evidently not willing to indulge her attempt at humor. A tiny bit of speedy motion caught the alicorn’s eyes and she flicked her head to follow it and found the Lord of Cloudsdale waiting, gleaming in his full armor. He had slipped in as an addition to the sloppy circle of a gathering they had formed. The other ponies too focused on each other or themselves to notice.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Gusty questioned slyly.

“Oh, I already know, don’t worry.” Guardian Angel took his cue, his tone purposely darkened.

Even Pixie yelped in surprise as his voice took over the idle murmurs of their conversation. Gusty could not help but smile at him. For a moment she wondered if he had intended to get a chuckle out her at their shock. Maybe. He was the sort of stallion that would have done the same even if she had not been there to witness it.

“My Lord!” Chrysanthemum immediately bowed. Her rocking mane revealed a familiar device, a magic limiter, locked on the base of her horn. Gusty gave Guardian Angel a sour grimace; she knew who had put that little bit of excessive security there. It was a discussion for another time, however.

“Don’t grovel. I don’t have time for it,” he commanded. The creme-colored mare stood quickly, her face nervous. Gusty pursed her lips and waited. It was his show for now.

“How long have you been standing there?” Zeccaran ventured to ask instead of letting the hall fall silent.

“Not too long. Just making sure everyone was paying attention. And before you ask...yes, I heard everything that transpired.” The zebra lowered his raised hoof in response to Guardian’s words.

The gathering remained silent afterwards. Down the hall Gusty could see a group of Royal Guard slowly approaching. Something about the glint in the big stallion’s eyes put her on edge. It was as if there was some form of an unspoken conflict was being waged and she could do nothing about it. The realization ruined her good mood in almost an instant. A fresh headache growing to meet the inconvenience, she grumbled under her breath as she rubbed her temples.

At every small issue you fall apart! Get it together, Gusty! She mocked herself in her mind.

“I’m surprised you let Chrysanthemum live, brother. I’m proud of you, but still-shocked.” Pixie broke the silence and gave her something to focus on besides her continually writhing mind.

“Oh, please.” He puffed a hard breath out of his mouth. “You know me better than that. She’s only alive because I figured she’d suffer more if I let her live.”

“Just as cold as always,” the younger Stormwalker commented.

Guardian Angel turned away from his sister. He momentarily caught Gusty’s eyes and in that instant she understood. He was lying to Pixie. It seemed there was some sort of competition going on between the two siblings. If she had been anypony else she would have never understood that look in Guardian’s eyes. Perhaps their connection helped, but even as she extended a small psychic query she could tell that he was going to keep that information hidden. The brief interaction made her wonder if there was something more diabolical going on: bigger than herself and the damage she could do. Gusty stood still, her mind running through scenarios, knowing she would never know the answer until one of the two Stormwalkers wanted to tell her. She simply hoped Guardian Angel would tell her as soon as he could. It upset her that he already showed his unwillingness to do just that.

“So…” Zeccaran broke the silence. “I guess I should go talk to Princess Luna? Making dreamwalk preparations to visit the Queen of Fire wasn’t scheduled until next week…”

“Wait an hour-and-a-half. She is taking a nap.” Guardian Angel returned to face Zeccaran.

The zebra nodded and scooted closer to Pixie. In a bid to keep the gathering from getting any more awkward, Chrysanthemum began a regular clop of her hooves. The maid made sure her motion was prevalent and loud as she tilted back and forth from her left set of legs to her right. The hall seemed to again close in around Gusty as the Royal Guard that were approaching continued to take their time.

“I must get going. My supervisor will probably get mad if a dally any longer,” Chrysanthemum mumbled. She turned around and started to trot off.

“It was good to see you again, Zeccaran. Have fun saving the world,” she said over her shoulder before picking up her pace and not looking back. Her striped friend only waved, his mouth partially open before he looked at the floor.

“We should go see Celestia, Gusty.” Guardian Angel did not move his eyes from Pixie as he spoke. This only served to make the alicorn more nervous. She scooted close to him and let her mind do the answering. However, something still stuck out to her.

“Didn’t that mare say she was going to tell the, Princesses?” She asked.

“I doubt Midnight Blossom is going to do that on my behalf,” he replied, eyes still locked with his sister’s.

Though it was almost imperceptible, Gusty noticed Pixie’s demeanor change. The younger Stormwalker was suddenly very worried, the veins along her jaw just slightly enlarged compared to before. It was a tell that only the most seasoned veteran of politics would have noticed. Whatever significance Guardian’s words held she could only guess at.

“Ctik oihl faggrywd, Cyctal,” the stallion hissed in the tongue of the Shadow-kin his pupils flashing into their true slender state. He turned his body towards the Throne Room, before pulling his gaze away from his sibling.

Pixie nodded solemnly. Her confidence shattered in that instant.

Even more puzzled and concerned than before Gusty cast a glance at Zeccaran who only looked mildly panicked, perhaps more confused. Unlike him she did not need a translator to tell her what Guardian Angel had demanded. Simply, he wanted Pixie to stop meddling. The idea that the younger Stormwalker might be causing international political troubles made Gusty’s skin crawl. It seemed that the family talents came in many forms.

“Come on, there is a lot to get ready before tomorrow.” He placed a wing on her side, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“See you guys later!” Gusty smiled back at her friends. “Don’t do anything weird in my head later, Zeccaran!”

“After everything you’ve put me through I probably should do something weird in there.” He rolled his eyes before looking up towards his girlfriend. Pixie managed to smile back at him as Gusty turned her eyes away and went along with Guardian Angel.

They moved along down the hall to the clop of their hooves and the soft jingle of the stallion’s mail beneath his plate. The Royal Guard that had been approaching them stopped and waited for them to reach them. The troupe moved apart to fit the two larger ponies within their midst. They followed them to the great hall that led to Celestia, stopping to fill the corridor. The marble walls and pillars felt imposing as Gusty gazed at the stained glass that lined the bright sun-filled expanse. Guardian Angel nodded to the group before motioning that the two of them should continue to the Throne Room.

Worry racked Gusty’s mind as they drew closer to the doors. She slowed her pace consciously attempting to find traces of the Curse within her mind. It had gone silent upon Guardian Angel’s entrance and that simply did not sit well with her.

Nearly panicking when she could not locate her quarry she, forced her mind to comply. Gusty pressed on deeper feeling through her memories and emotions. It was unthinkable that the beast inside her could keep itself from her. The absence of its constantly prickly and plotting presence only served to cause her more paranoia. If it did not want her to feel it, that meant trouble, big trouble.

The harsh smell of irony blood and pressurized air suddenly filled the hall. Her vision blurred, the passageway’s windows showing not bright morning sun through their glass but instead a deep ruddy orange and red. Pain, starting as a pinprick and growing to encompass her whole skull, made its presence known.

Sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong…….. …….........................................…...Mom?.......................
...........………our moment of truth comes…… ...-ways been your favorite past time…..…… … ……………
….......Starting to think……...................You’ll catch your death,........Mytsn……………...Do you think we should have children? ……………………......…………….hey, focus………............................................................................…..Hey!..................

The indistinct chorus exploded away with a boom that was only heard in Gusty’s ears. She shook her head still reeling from the experience of that false reality. Her eyes wandered to Guardian Angel who patiently waited. His face remained calm and attentive as he removed his helmet. Gusty turned her eyes away from him unable to look him in the face without his helm covering his features.

“That’s getting a lot more common these days isn’t it?” He questioned.

“More than I’d care to admit, but you already know that.” She kept her face pointed towards the walls.

“I had to make some assumptions. It’s not as simple a read as it used to be. The Curse keeps getting stronger and with the damage I did to our connection three weeks ago…” Guardian Angel’s voice went soft, gentle, and apologetic.

Gusty scoffed. She was not upset with him or even his actions. The blame and the pain that everypony felt was squarely her doing. Even if she did not have total control of her actions or mind, she refused to shirk the responsibility. The trouble was if there was a way to pull herself out of the dark pit she had fallen into so long ago she would have done it. Her friends kept tossing her ropes but they always seemed to break at the last second and she would fall further into the black abyss a little deeper each time.

“Don’t sound so sad about trying to move on with your life, flyboy.” Gusty invoked her pet name for the stallion with a mixture of comfort and contempt that was branded just for him. She welled up enough focus to meet his gaze.

“Maybe if you didn’t act so pouty when I stopped flirting with you I wouldn’t feel so much guilt,” He replied with a cocky grin.

They laughed at each other for a moment. It was a welcome reprieve for the alicorn. Gusty calmed down first, smiling at the demon-stallion and rolling her eyes. Once he recovered Guardian motioned for her to follow him the short distance to the Throne Room doors. The great gilded gateway stood silent and still, bereft of its usual guards. With the blob of ponies at the front of the hall exterior door guards did seem a bit overkill but it stuck out as odd to Gusty.

The stallion in front of her reached the portal rolling his still removed helm through his wings and over his back like it was a ball. He casually raised a hoof to knock before an urge struck her. With a bit of a leap she crossed to the space between him and the doors. He mildly flinched, blinking rapidly before seemingly realizing she had something to say.

“I’ve had time to think over what you said before...about the worst case scenario,” she said. Her heart pounded, it was controlling her words more than her mind was. It took her everything to not cascade into incomprehensible word vomit.

“You have?” Guardian Angel raised a brow. “That’s not something positive to be thinking about.”

“Well, no. But because I was thinking about it, I came to a conclusion. An important conclusion that I needed to explain to you,” Gusty replied.

The stallion gave her a nervous look. He held his tongue, however, and did not stop her from continuing.

“I need you to promise me that if it comes to that, you will follow through,” she looked him dead in the eyes.

“Gusty…” he whispered back.

“I was upset before. But after what happened last week I...I need you to make sure it can’t happen again.” She put her forehooves up on his armored shoulders. Vaguely an annoyed grumble seemed to echo from the depths of her mind. Gusty ignored it. She had her mind and heart herself for the moment, and with everything that was happening she might not get another chance to tell her Guardian Angel what she wanted.

“You’re the only pony I can entrust with this. Hell, you’re the only pony that even could. Just...just don’t hesitate. I’m not worth the world,” she confessed.

“I’m not much of a pony, sweetheart.” His gaze was cold and distant.

“You are to me. After everything that much is certain, Guardian Angel.” She pulled herself closer in to hug him.

The metal of his plate armor was icy against her fur and seemed to chill even more as he did not return the gesture. After a moment of painful nonreaction, Gusty felt tears start to form on the inside of her tightly closed eyes. With a soft motion he hefted a heavy hoof over her back and wrapped his neck against hers releasing a long sigh as he did.

“There are other promises I made to you that come before this one. But, should it come to pass that I can’t fulfill those promises…” He shifted, pulling her neck away from his chest so he could meet her eyes. Gusty forced her breathing steady as he did. “I swear it will be done. Quick. Merciless. Pitiless.”

“Did you have to add that last bit? Seems a bit much.” She leaned away from him, returning her hooves to the ground.

“I did. Had to make sure my answer was tailored to fit the mare who asked the question.” He managed a small sad smile.

Gusty started to complain, her mouth open and her brow furrowed in anger. She stopped as his expression turned into one of genuine happiness. Stomping a hoof in a pout she could not help but feel a bit cheerier than before. The moment reminded her of better times.

With a brisk motion that made her raise her eyebrows, Guardian pivoted and bucked open the Throne Room doors. A few surprised cries came from the stationed guards on the other side. They recovered quickly their magic grabbing the doors. Celestia sat staring at them from her Royal Seat confusion written on her face.

“Get going. You should get the diplomatic things planned with Tia while I work on logistics,” he said nonchalantly.

Gusty gave him a nod before moving around him leisurely. She locked her head looking at him purposely passing as close to him as possible. He matched her gaze until their noses were nearly touching when she caught a flicker of regret in his eyes.

“More to say, flyboy?” she teased quietly.

“Yeah. But, the words don’t hold a lot of meaning anymore,” he replied. His voice was difficult to understand, almost as if he was hurt.

“Well, what if what you have to say matters to me?” Gusty posed the simple question.

“That’s what I’m afraid of, sweetheart.” He turned away at last, putting his helmet back on.

Gusty stood there puzzled over what exactly he meant by that. She watched him briskly disappear down the main hall and around the crowd of Royal Guard. Turning around she looked up at Celestia only to receive pensive look. It was not going to be a normal day but at least it was keeping her mind occupied. Especially with Guardian Angel’s cryptic exit she needed to think about something different. Fortunately, Ashijnir was plenty to handle.

=======================================

It had only taken ten minutes for Zeccaran to return to his lab with Pixie. However, the most recent five minutes seemed to have taken forever. His girlfriend sat on the opposite chair in the lounge without speaking for that entire duration. The silence had been overbearing since they had settled in and there was nothing he could think of that could have kept it at bay. Whatever her brother had told her in that language had her upset. With no other options, Zeccaran addressed the elephant in the room.

“Somethings wrong that I don’t understand. Tell me what it is?” He queried calmly.

Pixie huffed momentarily flicking her eyes up at him then back to the coffee table. She pulled all of her legs up on the chair and pitted her body against its inside corner, curling up like a filly. Zeccaran did not press the issue further. It was clear she did not want to talk about it. Unfortunately for the next hour and fifteen minutes had nowhere else to be other than with his girlfriend.

“There is a lot to explain and I don’t know where to start,” she mumbled after a time.

“What do you mean? Like I really don’t understand. I just know that all the sudden you stopped acting like yourself. You got...I apologize-strange, weird, nervous! Since when do you get nervous?” He was desperately trying to not sound like a jackass. Zeccaran suspected he was failing but there was not much he could about it.

“I know, I know. It’s just that...Look: there is a lot I haven’t told you.” Pixie took the criticism rather well.

“Like what?” he asked again.

“Like how I’m not the perfect pony researcher of your dreams...how I’m really similar to my brother not in body but in mind. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done with purpose. Even our relationship!” She seethed more to herself than to him.

Zeccaran only tilted his head. Nopony was perfect, but Pixie was certainly a close runner-up. Frankly, even if she was somehow manipulating him, he honestly did not care. He liked Pixie, hell he loved her; and he had told her that in earnest. There was more to this than that and he aimed to find out what.

“I guess I’m just not comprehending the issue. Of course waking up every day and not wanting to die is new to me too so...might have to cut me some slack. Besides, in my experience, this type of deflection is pretty typical of somepony that is trying to avoid talking about something. It’s something I do all the time,” he admonished. Honestly, he just wanted Pixie to open up about what her real problems were. No matter how many times they had argued she always seemed to just skirt away from her real issue.

“Wow. I guess I should have seen that coming.” His girlfriend’s tone shifted to dark, more serious notes. “Well. It’s impossible to hide from you anymore anyway. You’ve already come to suspect one of my agents anyway, and by sheer dumb luck to boot. I should just trust you.”

Zeccaran remained silent and raised a brow at the word agents. It had been pretty clear before, but now there was no doubt, Pixie was doing something devious.

“I played my cards too early. My brother figured it out, and now I have to go back to basics. Worse, I don’t even think he is even that concerned. The only thing he ever even thinks about is mares. It’s ridiculous!” She hissed.

“So there is something going on between you. Name it,” he demanded. The air got tense with his order. He had never directly challenged Pixie like this before. Unlike usual her emotions ran to her face and he could easily tell she was considering lying. Maybe it was just because he was finally paying her his full attention.

“There is a rivalry between my brother and I. A true rivalry: of ideology, of spies, of militaries, of spheres of influence,” Pixie finally explained.

A bit stunned Zeccaran stared at her. He had kind of suspected something like that. It was, after all, the nature of Shadow-kin to infight, but this seemed pretty extreme. It almost made him wonder if the Queen of Fire had been right all along that something truly sinister was being perpetuated by the siblings. He dismissed that thought a simple notion.

“I hate to say this, babe, but...I don’t really think that’s true,” he said while rubbing his mane.

“What?” Pixie just about jumped across the room and grabbed him by the throat with her contempt alone.

“Settle down.” Zeccaran gave his girlfriend an angry look.

“I meant about your brother,” he explained. “I don’t think he’s put that kind of thought into it. The only thing he cares about is stopping the world from imploding when Gusty finally loses it.”

“Bullshit. He’s countered my every move. Discovered my spies everytime I’m about to reach a critical point in my plan!” She shouted.

“Not going to be much of a secret if you keep yelling.” The zebra raised his brows both to scold and to condescend. “Listen:”

Pixie nodded her approval from him to continue.

“You’ve said it yourself before. Your brother and I are pretty similar in our line of thinking, right?” His girlfriend again nodded her head in response to his words, her lips drawn into a tight line.

“And the one thing that takes precedence over whatever argument you want to make about life, what or who’s right, it’s all pretty null and void compared to the literal end of the world. And I for one am only focused on trying to stop it. I know without a doubt Guardian Angel is too.” Zeccaran explained.

“Then all that’s happened have been coincidences? That seems fairly far fetched to me! Just now, he quoted Midnight Blossom’s name without having never, ever, seen or heard of her until that moment. He has to have some way of staying ahead of me if he did something like that. I guarantee he had no way of knowing who she was or even that she was lying.” Pixie stood and crossed the distance to him the look in her yellow eyes growing predatory. The bad kind of predatory.

“You know he can read minds, right?” he asked.

“N-no..certainly not...that...that’s REALLY not good if he can,” Pixie’s face turned a strange grey-white pallor that was rather sickening. Zecarran held his reservations about that in for a moment. He needed to make her understand how her brother was thinking. For a brief second he internally remarked on the irony of that thought.

“That’s not all that important. Let me just lay it out for you. If I was him, if I had this huge organization I could use to spy with, to further my goals with, the unlimited wealth, et cetera. I would be trying to use all of that to stop myself from having to kill Gusty Twilight. No matter what stood in my way. He’s just that simple of a guy. I know its weird but...it’s true.”

Pixie did not move for a moment. Her face seemed lost, her mind stuck on some unimaginable calculation of nihilism. After a long time of just staring at nothing, and making him supremely uncomfortable, his girlfriend looked down at him on the couch. She looked worried and flustered, very unlike herself.

“I think you are wrong. But at this point I can’t do anything about it. Might as well see where the current path leads before I do anything else.” Pixie let some her mane fall into her face as she spoke.

“I’m just glad I managed to talk you down. Whatever else you have going on, we need to talk about it too. But, I don’t have much time before I have to go get Luna. Whenever we have a spare moment again you have to tell me everything. Every detail, every plot, everything.” Zeccaran held her gaze with a furrowed brow.

“I promise. You deserve that much at least. I’m sorry for all the secrets.” She bent down into a hug, her face softening.

“I knew what I was getting into just as soon as I realized who you were. Don’t worry about it,” he mumbled into her mane.

“Love you too, you striped bum.”

And ever so quietly the room felt better. If only the feeling of relief had reached Zeccaran’s heart. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to fixate on the problems he and Pixie had. As he just said, the world was not going to save itself and lucky for him he was one of Guardian Angel’s assets in that quest to save their friend Gusty. Ha! Lucky. Not!

Act 5: Chapter 5 - Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

“Not to worry Duke Jetset, we have our best diplomats on mission to speak with the dragons, I’m certain the ten-year migration event will happen as usual. Plan your parties and enjoy yourself.”

-Celestia-

Chapter 5 - Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

“No, you’re not coming, that’s final!” Gusty scowled down at Amethyst.

Her tone shocked Zeccaran out of his mid-morning dozing. Sure he was standing up, and in broad daylight, but that was not going to stop his body from quitting. No sir! He rubbed his eyes, knowing he would not be recovering from last nights dreamwalk until later in the afternoon. They stood deep in the Royal Gardens by the lake that was nestled against the mountain. Behind them the Onyx sat on the water bustling with the activity of Royal Guard and Stormwalker troopers.

“Mom, please! I swear I’ll stow away if I have to!” Amethyst pouted.

“If I find you on this ship, I’ll ground you for a month! No flying with Guardian Angel, no staying after school with friends, and no reading!” The alicorn scornfully glared at her daughter.

Somehow the budding filly managed to not huff. She did not even seem to have any form of an emotional reaction at all. Zeccaran took it upon himself to sigh for Amethyst.

“Gusty, what’s it gonna hurt?” He grumbled trying to overcome his headache.

The teal mare turned and gave him a furious look. He just rolled his eyes in response. There was no reason for him to try and debate her logic. Gusty was in ‘mom’ mode and what she said was what was going to happen. However, It simply was not within him just let it go even though he had no real chance at defending the filly. All she wanted was to accompany her parents on what was supposed to be a safe, diplomatic mission. Zeccaran suddenly found Gusty’s reasoning much more sound. This was not going to be any of those things; he could feel it.

“What is all the yelling about? There is more luggage to bring, I’m not carrying it all.” Bunker sauntered up.

Nopony responded. Gusty, however, at least lifted up some of the suitcases in her magic. Zeccaran tried to give the other stallion a bit of a warning look, but he was focused on Amethyst.

“You’ll be good for Princess Celestia, da?” Bunker asked his surrogate daughter.

“Yes, sir,” she answered demoralized.

“It will be only a few days. We’ll be back before you know it!” the burgundy stallion replied before giving the filly a squeeze. Amethyst stifled a small smile with a wiggle of her lips. It seemed that, in fact, Bunker was rather on top of the situation.

Gusty motioned for them to head on up the gangway onto the Midnight Onyx. She turned and gave her daughter a peck on the cheek before the three of them slowly trotted toward the vessel. Amethyst did not follow them to the ship, not willing to risk sacrificing her leisure activities by pressing the moment. Zeccaran could not blame her, Gusty, when in her right mind, ran a tight ship.

As it was, his friend had everything in control. It had been with great trepidation that he and Luna had scoured Gusty’s mind. The process had taken what felt like years. He looked around, realizing they had made it onto the vessel without him noticing. Heaving a few haggard breaths Zeccaran yawned again unsure if he was in the real world or still trapped somewhere within the teal mare’s subconscious. Vaguely, he knew that he was free from that realm, but his own mind was too muddled to fully grasp the concept.

The nightmarish adventure had been no different than the other dreamwalks he and Luna had performed. However, it had drained not only him but also Nyx. His resident additional consciousness was already resting. Whatever the Curse was doing it was both powerful and dangerous. The eldritch beast had remained hiding, refusing to manifest its full form. Instead the magic it produced permeated all of Gusty’s mind, as if it was expanding its existence. When Luna had relayed that information to Stormwalker earlier that morning, his face had turned into a deep concerned frown. He looked no different now.

“Hey.” The big stallion approached him across the deck, sharply gleaming medals adorning his chest on the left of his black dress uniform. “Zeccaran!”

The zebra shook his head, it did little to clear the fog. He did manage to give Stormwalker acknowledgement.

“You need to get some sleep. We’ll need more monitoring tonight. Everything you two described this morning has been corroborated in the book. Her symptoms will only get worse from here,” Stormwalker ordered.

Zeccaran gazed up at him, eyes squinting from the sun. “What book?”

“Remember, Frozen North, Old Shadow-kin Archives, giant lava hole in the ground.” The demon pursed his lips. “You have no idea what I’m talking about.”

The zebra gave him a grimace, a shrug, and a shake of his head. Outside of Gusty ripping an enormous hole in the earth the most he could remember was both Stormwalker and Bunker having insisted he carry the luggage onto the Onyx that day. If there had been a book amongst the items he had gathered he had not noticed. He had just tossed all the scattered equipment into Gusty’s giant sleeping bag and drug it all to the ship.

“Anyway...the point is everything you and Luna have been doing the last month was to double corroborate the descriptions in the book. It’s going to make its move. Soon. We have to keep stressful stimuli to the minimum. The slightest change in pitch will completely unbalance Gusty. I’m certain of it, and we need to be ready. Luna is already pulling double duty as we speak. You need to sleep and pick up monitoring her mind in about seven hours. Got it?” the demon instructed.

Zeccaran stared back up at him. There was a hint of worry in the other stallion’s eyes that was never there before. In fact his whole posture was ridgid. It was usually pretty stiff, but this was like he was expecting to be hit without warning. The tension was palpable.

“I can do that. Right now any cot will do,” the zebra replied, trying to remain calm. Whenever Stormwalker got like this he could not help but feel uneasy.

“You have your own cabin. Captain.” His gaze turned predatory. “In fact, let me show you to your quarters.”

On his back the pressure of a wing declared its presence. Zeccaran cringed. “I assume I don’t have a choice, huh?”

“You know me soooooo well.” Stormwalker dramatized as he began pushing him along.

Anypony that was in their way quickly made room for them as they moved across the deck. It took no time for them to reach the doors that led into the cabins. Zeccaran looked for a possible escape as Stormwalker opened the door. He spied Gusty and Bunker but the latter seemed to be introducing his wife to a number of soldiers. The burgandy stallion talked loudly, smiling and joking as his evident friends bowed to Gusty. With a shove the sight of salvation disappeared as his escorting demon moved him inside the Onyx. Trying to keep his breathing even, Zeccaran let Stormwalker guide him to the left of the corridor and into the room at the end of the wide area. Then they were alone, the loud click of the door’s lock sounding as the demon turned to face the zebra in the small cabin.

“Tell me what you know,” Stormwalker demanded after a few seconds’ pause.

“That’s a loaded question. What I know about what?” Zeccaran made certain to be able to answer whatever question the demon-stallion had. It would not do to be murdered in the cabin of his own ship.

“My sister. What has she been doing? Why is she doing it? And why haven’t you told us?” He made his questions more specific.

Zeccaran heaved a sigh and grit his teeth. It was no surprise that Stormwalker had figured everything out already. That, however, was not something he found comforting, especially when it was striking so close to home.

“I don’t know what she’s been doing. The most I got out of her was that she does, in fact, have some sort of organization she uses to spy with. That she made her move to quote: ‘out-do you,’ but failed because you figured it out. At this point I’d think you’d know more than me,” he explained to the stallion. There was more to tell but frankly he wanted Stormwalker’s side of the story first.

“What? How would I know? I just found out yesterday on accident because that thestral mare basically screams her thoughts so loud I couldn’t tone her out. I only know that Pixie has something to do with the Queen of Fire knowing about me being alive and in Equestria. And that alone has me more than upset!” He was flustered. It was not an act. Zeccaran could feel his frustration and fear in the air like a thick acrid smoke. He paced about the cabin like a caged animal, rattling the glass in a small cupboard that was near the door.

“Why are you so upset?” the zebra blathered out before he could stop himself.

“Because!” Stormwalker stopped his pacing and strode up right next to him. Hot, heaving lungfuls of air nearly pulling the fur off of Zeccaran’s muzzle. “I have no control over this situation! And the last time I didn’t have control of a situation, a lot of good ponies died. Good ponies that were my friends. That I had known for years! Some that I loved. One, I loved more than anything in the world!”

He pulled away from Zeccaran his face lost and worried. He looked at the ground leaving the zebra to release the breath he was holding. Stormwalker hurriedly sucked in more air with tiny little bursts before blustering a long sigh.

“I can’t believe I just said all that...to you.” He paused his face stricken with torment that Zeccaran did not understand. “Listen: just tell me the rest. I know there is more.” The stallion’s face waxed tired, his slitted eyes losing their luster and focus.

“She said that you’ve stopped her agents, stopped her plans, and now she’s at your mercy. At least that is what she told me. She didn’t exactly divulge everything to me yesterday, considering you had me spirited away to help Princess Luna pretty quickly,” Zeccaran replied.

The room fell silent as the bigger stallion turned to gaze out the picture window that faced the Palace. It was actually a rather posh cabin. A queen-sized bed was nestled against the wall, the foot looking out the glass. There were also a bookshelf and a few nightstands adorned with oil lamps. If it not for the circumstances the quaint little lodging would have been very welcoming.

“It would seem by sheer circumstance my sister and I have been playing two different games and I accidently won hers,” Stormwalker commented as he stared out the window.

Zeccaran remained silent. He gazed at the demon-stallion with apprehension, wishing he understood what was going on between the two siblings. The quiet drip of fear rolled a single bead of sweat down his neck. He had been occupied enough to not have his mind run through the reality of the situation. Everything hinged on what could happen when Gusty met with the Queen of Fire. The realization put Zeccaran even more on edge than he had been, the uncertainty striking him as egregious. It was like Stormwalker said: good ponies would die and there was nothing they could do about it until it happened.

“I should sleep like you said.” He gestured towards the rather comfortable looking bed.

“Yes,” Stormwalker answered. His words carried no weight, as if his body had answered while his mind remained focused elsewhere. His eyes refocused and he turned to meet Zeccaran’s gaze.

“Be very careful this evening. There is no telling what the Curse has planned. None of this feels right.” He drew a breath before continuing, “And if possible, report any new information my sister tells you to Luna this evening.”

“I understand. It’s not like I have much of a choice at this point,” Zeccaran commented.

Stormwalker snorted and moved to leave. He paused only to garner the zebra’s attention long enough to toss him the key to the room. Only narrowly, and rather clumsily, catching the large ringed object in his hooves. Zeccaran followed the other stallion to the door with the intention of locking it. The demon stopped in its threshold facing into the hall as he opened the portal.

“My lord, we have been looking for you, what would you like us to do with your armor?” an unfamiliar male voice questioned.

Shuffling up next to Stormwalker, Zeccarn stood on the ends of his hooves to barely see a team of ponies guiding a cart that held the enormous gear. The stallion twisted his head to the side before folding his ears making Zeccaran grimace as he remained silent.

“Sir?” the same stallion from before questioned.

“Shhsh! Not another word about what you see,” Stormwalker hissed quietly. In a deft motion, he took a quick step forward and reached inside the harness of the platemail with a hoof.

A short, girly gasp came from inside the armor. A wing followed his hoof and with a bit of a scuffle a small pony was pulled from the metal hiding spot. To his surprise Amethyst and her curly pink mane was said pony that appeared wrapped in his wing. Standing with his jaw agape Zeccaran let Stormwalker scoot him back into the cabin just by sheer force of his weight alone. The stallion commanded the attendants to take his armor to his cabin in a rather course manner. The door closed and the three of them stood, and in Amethyst’s case stuck in a wing, leaving Zeccaran to stare on in shock. The filly pouted quietly, her eyes flicking around the cabin, unable to settle on anything.

However, it was a surprise when Stormwalker sat Amethyst down with a warm smile and gave her a wink. The sadness on her face vanished and was replaced with a confusion that Zeccaran felt like he should be wearing instead of the filly. The demon-stallion turned to leave prompting the zebra to speak.

“Hey! What the heck are you doing just walking off?!” he interrupted.

“Huh? Is there some sort of problem I missed?”” Stormwalker asked looking over his shoulder casually. Zeccaran pointed at Amethyst with a hoof, the look on his face most assuredly a scowl.

“Yes. That is Amethyst,” the other stallion replied plainly. Just barely, the edges of his mouth curled into a smile. This only upset the zebra more, making him wish he did not understand that subtle task that had been gifted to him.

“You know this is flying right in the face of what Gusty wants right?” Zeccaran struck at the only nerve he knew could potentially bother the stallion.

“Sometimes things are...just that important.” Stormwalker turned and faced them, his smile widening. “And Amethyst joining us on this quest is one of them, even as dangerous as that may seem.”

Zeccaran was left curling his lip while Amethyst did a small victory dance. There was not much he could about this decision except go along with it. It was not as if he could just turn Amethyst over to Gusty after what he had heard. Nor could he keep the filly hidden without unpleasant consequences. He choose to move the conversation forward.

“I guess you’ll come get her when Gusty won’t see her?” Zeccaran presumed Stormwalker’s plan. The demon-stallion nodded calmly in response.

“I can handle smoothing things over, too. Just make sure Amethyst is entertained and you shouldn’t have any trouble. Although that does go against you getting sleep doesn’t it?” Stormwalker pondered his contradictions aloud.

“I don’t need to be entertained. I can find something in here to keep me busy for a few hours, it’s no problem,” the filly interjected. She hopped up towards her giant counterpart.

“I know you can, punk. I just like to give Zeccaran lots of trouble.” He smiled at Amethyst before giving her mane a small ruffle. The filly hummed approvingly making Zeccaran himself simply purse his lips in frustration.

“I need to get back to overseeing the load up, as to not raise suspicion. I’ll be back once we are in the air.” Stormwalker turned and quietly opened the door, smiling over his shoulder at Amethyst.

The filly watched as the door closed, not moving for a time, as if she had become transfixed by the stallion’s departure. This made Zeccaran turn and gaze longingly at the bed. Amethyst turned about and pranced by him, making him feel somewhat old and small. The filly was getting closer to his size. He was not really the largest of ponies, especially as a zebra, so that did not help any. He watched her as she peered around the room, examining the woodwork and the bookshelf. Slowly, Amethyst’s gaze settled on him, her sharp ice-blue eyes a little too much like her mother’s.

“Uncle Z, how have you been? You look like how I feel.” Her tone was soft and tired. Her words that of an adult’s, as was Amethyst’s clear understanding of the situation. That sent a chill up Zeccaran’s spine, a chill of sympathy and regret.

“I’ve been better, kid. Your friend there has me strung out.” Zeccaran gave a yawn as he finished speaking.

Amethyst cocked her head to the side. Her youthful nature giving her eyes a curious squint. Relaxing her face the filly let him pass by and slowly pull himself onto the bed. She stood in silence as he mulled the numerous blankets and pillows into the position he desired. Zeccaran did not mind her watching, it gave him a moment to watch her back. He could almost physically see the gears turning in her head as she picked the words and tone to ask whatever question she so clearly wanted to ask.

“Do you remember that book you loaned me? The one about the theory of thaumatic magic?” She questioned finally.

“Of course I do. Why do you ask?” he replied with his own question.

“Well…” Amethyst took a short running leap and landed in the center to the bed. She looked up at him before continuing, “The material in it is...theory, right?”

“Yes and no. But you know that if you read it. Like the laws of magic conversion and storage,” Zeccaran answered. He eagerly waited to see what more his surrogate niece had to say. Amethyst was smart, and lacked the binds of an adult mind, there was always the chance she had an idea that had real merit that none of them had thought of yet.

“It’s just...It just makes me wonder. Maybe some of the rules can be broken. Just think about my mom. She should technically explode from how much magic she has in her. Same goes for Mr. Stormwalker. Maybe this all comes down to the will of a pony...I don’t know, none of it makes sense. But, if that is how magic is actually controlled, doesn’t that mean there is a way for mom or-or-or anybody to overcome what’s happening? Just so long as they have the determination, right?” Amethyst questioned.

The filly looked right through him. Her gaze seemed to penetrate into a different time and place. For a while his niece remained frozen in place, the twinkle in her eyes fading and growing with each passing moment as if thousands of thoughts and ideas passed through her mind in each instant. It seemed surreal for Zeccaran. In an instant emotion and memory flooded over him. Chrysanthemum had once shared her daughter’s sheer intensity of wonder. The specifics of that moment did not matter only the feeling. The contagious hope and desperation, it was fresh in his mind like it had been so many years ago. It lent color to the moment in his mind and the one before him now. It felt good, it made him feel right.

Then it was gone and the tired look on the filly’s face returned and with it the clarity of the sight. All was again made grey and muted like the numb feeling in his heart. However, like the first time it had happened a spark remained ignited in his chest. Zeccaran extended a hoof to touch Amethyst on her shoulder.

“It's only impossible if we deem it so. If you I can teach nothing else; learn that please.” He gave her a strong nod.

Amethyst sprouted a small smile and returned the nod, her mood seeming to lighten just in the slightest. It was enough to make Zeccaran feel better at least.

“I said I was going to read but do you mind if I take a nap too? I haven’t been sleeping well recently…” She spoke sheepishly, a face blushing a little.

“I totally understand. Take your choice of pillow.” Zeccaran snagged the fluff filled cushion behind him and slung it at Amethyst with a grin.

Caught off guard the pillow completely wrapped around her face. A muffled explanation of surprise came shortly afterward. Once she had removed the bedding, the embarrassed red on her cheeks and been long since replaced with a brighter more indignant shade that only caused the zebra to laugh at her. She tossed the pillow back to him with her magic and haphazardly pulled herself towards the other side of the large bed grumbling under her breath. She lay on her side and faced away from Zeccaran once she reached her desired spot.

“You know I’m going to get you back for that, right, Uncle Z?” She said over her shoulder haughtily.

“You wouldn’t be my niece if I didn’t expect you to. But just remember I’ve managed to survive your mother’s pranks so you best come up with something particularly good to get past my guard,” he warned, his smile reaching his voice.

“I’ll just dream up the idea when I’m asleep then, and you’ll be none the wiser.” Amethyst yawned as she finished. Zeccaran gave her a simple affirmative grunt as he also felt his mouth open in a similarly long exclamation of breath. It was good to rest.

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A warm nose pressed itself into Zeccaran’s neck and the comfortable blackness that he was hoping he would never leave vanished at its touch. It was a familiar sensation, and one that was itself at least tied with the heavy blanket of relief that natural sleep brought him. The addition of teeth and a short hip, however, proved quite surprising and it took everything for him to not toss himself out of bed with a yelp. The heavy sultry breaths of Pixie kept him in place allowing him to slowly open his eyes.

“Cheating on me with your niece? How naughty, Zeccaran,” she breathed into his ear. Her eye that he could see looked right back into his own with a playful sparkle.

“Oh don’t start,” he grumbled back while fighting a yawn.

A curious hum and vibration caught his attention and made him sit up and look out the window. Wide plains extended below, yellow and olive in the late summer afternoon. A hearty casting of trees and a wide river was just visible on the horizon. The sky was cast a yellow from the glare of the still hovering sun against the clouds that the Onyx flew between. A rough judgement of the landmarks below them, they looked to be just crossing into the southern part of the country. The vibration still had not dissipated when he turned to focus on Pixie again giving the zebra the itch to inspect the engines.

“So what are we going to do with her? I already got an earful from Gusty about how she isn’t supposed to be on the ship,” his girlfriend whispered with a nod at the still dozing filly.

“Does she know?” Zeccaran hesitantly asked.

“Nope. And I don’t know how my brother is going to weasel his way out of her freaking out on him either.” Pixie slipped off the bed and offered him a hoof so he might also descend without making noise. He took it and stepped down cautiously.

“He’s always had her number, Pixie. Now more than ever honestly.” Zeccaran huffed something between and sign and a scoff. “Gods, the trouble those two would cause if they actually worked together on something.”

“That’s a thought that makes me terrified,” she grimaced.

“Why’s that? More illicit dealings?” He murmured with a motion that they should take their conversation either to the hall or wherever else Pixie felt comfortable. There was no reason to wake the resting Amethyst.

“No. It’s that two nearly all-powerful beings with their sheer stubborn notions would be able to enforce their world view on the rest of us.” Pixie slowly opened the door. She let him pass as he pursed his lips in disapproval.

“You figure they’ll cut into your game?” He asked sharply. Pixie grunted behind him but did not say anything else. They fell silent as the door closed quietly behind them.

A few ponies milled about the hearty hall that set outside the other cabins. A pair of Royal Guard in royal-blue-colored armor stood near the largest cabin door, the one that was directly across from the door to the deck. It was safe to assume that Princess Luna was inside, asleep. Zeccaran ignored them and decided that the persistent awkward vibration of the engines he noticed earlier needed to be fixed. There was no way he could continue to ignore it. Motioning casually for Pixie to follow him down to his allotted destination they got moving. It was a prudent thought, the room would grant privacy to continue their conversation as well as give him something to focus his mind to avoid the looming feeling of stress pounding on the back of his skull.

Reaching the engine room from the cabins proved interesting. A small stairwell towards the end of the opposite end of the hall now existed instead of the trap door and ladder. Below, the stairs led directly down into a wide state room adored with tables maps and all manner of books and logistical records. That was a new sight for Zeccaran. It had been months since the Onyx had docked placidly on the pond in the Royal Gardens and it should have come as no surprise that there had been remodeling done. Conveniently over each of the two doors lead out of the room hung a sign. One was labeled Engines, the other: Gun Deck. If this was truly his ship perhaps Stormwalker should have asked before applying these changes. Zeccaran scoffed at himself for thinking his opinion mattered to the stallion.

He and Pixie quickly found their way into the engine room. A few mechanics resided inside arranged around a small table that had been added to the room. After a bit of small talk they got the picture that they were not needed and left without any objection. Alone, Pixie allowed Zeccaran to start examining the engines and tinker with a few tools before she heaved a long sigh.

“I don’t know where to start,” she said plainly.

“How about starting with telling me your real motive. You always seem to leave pieces of it out every time we’ve talked about your problems with your brother.” Zeccaran did not look at her as he spoke instead focusing on the wrench he had chosen to tighten any pesky nuts and bolts.

“I probably should…” Pixie fell silent for a moment. “Even that is hard to explain to someone outside of the original situation.”

“All I ask is that you try.” Zeccaran met her eyes this time. There was a vacant pause that lasted as Pixie decided on what she was going to say. Eventually she came around.

“Oaths and bloodlines. I’ll start there. A long time ago, my brother and I swore that we would find a way to move the world past this stagnation, this teetering from one near-disaster to the next. If our individual plans conflicted we simply agreed to outdo one another by how many ponies we could recruit to our respective causes,” Pixie explained.

Zeccaran furrowed his brow. This all sounded too strange, too convenient to him. He would have to ask Stormwalker if what his sister was saying was true. She continued.

“But it goes beyond that childish rivalry. Part of it is because I simply can’t stop myself, it’s bred into me. Once I had the taste of control..of power over ponies...I-I liked it. Even to this day that has never sat well with me. And it's so hard to ignore! After all look what it did to Guardian Angel, it completely consumed him. If you and Gusty had not been there at the right place and right time, I can’t imagine the sort of beast he would be now.” Pixie grimaced as she started to pace across the small area.

Zeccaran still remained silent. He could not add anything to her story; other than what was already obvious at this stage. Instead, he noted that the coal doors and the blowers were scrubbed to such a radical level of clean that it seemed faked by illusion magic. The vibration he had noticed before echoed down the maintenance catwalk clearly coming from the left engine’s boiler chamber. He slipped down the path looking for what was loose by checking every fitting. Pixie paced after him her face a mixture of pain and embarrassed.

“I’m here to listen, babe. I want to know but I need to keep my mind occupied so I don’t interrupt you. I’m paying attention, I promise,” he told her with a glance over his shoulder while testing a bolt.

“I know. It-it’s just a lot. I’ve kept most of this a secret for so long...rehearsed saying it in my head so many times that now it just doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel real that my brother doesn’t even care about it either. Everything that I’ve observed in the last two to three years makes much more sense when thinking of it like he did care,” Pixie answered. Her voice waxed desperate and pleading.

Zeccaran put his attention back on his marefriend. He scooted closer to her and placed his hooves on her withers, pulling himself up to meet her face easier. “You seem to be having quite of bit of trouble accepting that too. Why?” He asked, letting his concern reach both his voice and face.

“B-because!” Pixie’s face flushed red with anger before her lips went pouty and she turned her face away from his. “This is the same stallion that holds all the power now. He’s apprehended my agents, whether it was wittingly or unwittingly, he can read minds, and the only thing missing in letting him run totally rampant is Gusty Twilight! And depending on how this little adventure goes she might become his closest ally. Why do you think I intervened by telling the Queen of Fire that he was alive. Fed her information about where her mate’s killer lived, that he held Celestia and Luna hostage. It was all a gambit to get her face to face with Gusty with the hopes that she could hopefully talk some sense into her.”

The small flicker of determination in his gut from before suddenly swelled. At his core he took extreme exception with what Pixie had done. She had acted out of selfishness, not doing any of the research and thinking that he so treasured her for. Zeccaran just did not understand why she never asked him more questions, he would have happily told her. They had talked over dreamwalking before and what he and Luna had been doing to help Gusty but apparently it seemed to his marefriend that it was all some scheme controlled by her brother. And here she was telling him that she had been behind the Dragon Queen suddenly sending emissaries to Equestria to find information on the Shadow-kin.

“You. You are the pony behind all this?! You set the stage for the whole thing?!” Zeccaran growled through gritted teeth.

“I was wrong, Zeccaran, that has been more than abundantly clear. But, there is nothing I can do to fix it now. I acted on impulse and now we all pay the price.” Pixie’s voice lost more and more of its emotion as she said each word. Zeccaran could only respond by putting a hoof on his temple. His body shuddered with a fury he had not felt in decades.

“Pixie!” he hissed before trying to calm down. He let himself down from her bodice unable to keep touching her.

There was no reason to yell. As she had said there was nothing to be done about this situation now other than mitigate the damage. He resolved however to make her understand the gravity of what she had done. Everything in the last few months had revolved around the arrival of Ember and her escorts. From Guardian Angel foolishly trying to put some distance between himself and Gusty to Gusty’s continued instability from acquiring more and more memories that she just was not supposed to have. Things had been stable, mendible before that, and not hinged on additional stress and complexity.

“You are disregarding two very important pieces of information. One: Gusty is so stubborn that no one short of the dead gods she worships coming down from the heavens could change her mind. Even the Shadow-kin of old, your very ancestors, failed to do that.” Zeccaran pursed his lips angrily. Pixie was very much allowed to have worries and anxiety but she was falling into full on sociopathic emotional shutdown and that he would not condone.

“Well..what is the second piece?” She asked slowly regaining some emotion in her voice. Clearly she had picked up on his tone and body language without any issue.

“The second is...the damage that they did do has only been amplified by you and your brother’s existence. Both of you have meddled in her life. And while I’m not one for prophecies or fates anymore, not by a long shot...” Zeccaran shook his head at himself. “But, when the two monsters in her memories look exactly like you and him I can only assume that there is something much bigger going on. At least Guardian Angel took responsibility for messing around in her mind, all you did was push her off a cliff and say: ‘oops.’”

“You doomed her,” he breathed after a pause. Hearing his own voice say those words hurt him more than he could have ever expected them to. It took everything to not break down. He shuddered where he stood, seeing defiance, bright in his marefriend’s eyes.

“I mean, come on, Pixie, seriously, do you know what it takes for her to be friends with you and him? How strong and willful she has been for thousands of years just to deny the very faces of her greatest nightmares as enemies? Gusty would sooner die than give into that thing inside of her. And worse I’ve talked to you about this, long before the dragons showed up!” He shook as he spoke. He did not want it to hurt her but it was the simple truth. “It wasn’t in any great detail but it was enough for you to know what is at stake here and yet you acted on some hunch?”

“It wasn’t some hunch! It was based on clear evidence my brother was manipulating not only Gusty but Celestia and Luna as well!” Pixie cried.

Her shrill exclamation bothered him even more than the still present vibration of the engine. The machine’s continued whine only served to amplify the tension making Zeccaran wonder if perhaps the Onyx itself had sensed this conflict was inevitable and had drawn them here where their voices could not be distinguished from the rattles of the engines. Then again, perhaps Pixie had set it all up; Zeccaran could not decide on what to believe at the moment.

“He’s already completely rewired the magic in her mind! I don’t know much about that magic but you don’t have to be a genius to figure out that ponies with their mind locked under spells so powerful it makes the whole planet seem insignificant don’t suddenly have total 180’s in personalities without someone being able to tamper with said magic!” Pixie’s face flushed fuller red than before, her near paranoid hysteria seeming to take over her. The zebra blustered a snort through his nose.

“Worse, he’s completely brainwashed Luna into being his otherwise slave. Celestia isn’t much better, being ready and willing to defend him in front of ponies like the Pillars and other heads of government! He’s the one in control, that’s what every paper trail and every observation pointed me towards. I don’t know whether it was just sheer bad luck that I was wrong on this but...I was...I was and…” Pixie trailed off, tears streaming down her face as she grit her teeth. “I don’t understand how I was wrong!”

In her frustration the mare’s control waned and Zeccaran saw that perhaps she had every reason to be afraid of becoming like her brother. The trademark slitted pupils of House Stormwalker became visible along with her fangs. The change lasted for but a moment, leaving Zeccaran somehow more concerned with its rapid disappearance. He had long known that just by simple relation that Pixie had every potential to not only look the part but play it too. It was simply in her nature. He could not fault her for it. But, the rise up to frenzy only to be cooled with a frozen adherence to some other logic unsettled him.

“This is not a matter of opinion Zeccaran, but a matter of fact. My brother has successfully put himself in the most powerful position imaginable. Just because his motives are not what I thought they were does not change that,” Pixie declared conclusively.

“Nor does it change your actions.” Zeccaran had no ground to give so he did not.

“I screwed up...I really, really screwed up. I know I did, bigger than I ever have before and I don’t know how to deal with it! Even if everything turns out okay in the end my brother will never trust me again. Hell, I doubt Gusty will either. I’m sure once she has her wits about her she’ll figure it out. This was a most grievous error on my part.” Pixie continued.

“I’m surprised you think there’s some sort of light at the end of the tunnel,” he whispered back.

“It’s Guardian Angel, Zeccaran. He’ll find a way to get what he wants. He always does.” She leaned away from him. The zebra returned the motion. They sat in silence as the cold and angry look on his marefriend’s face slowly disappeared.

Still, he was not quite satisfied with just letting this go. The gears in mind spun at a rate he could barely control, but it led to a simple conclusion. Pixie would not be able to do anything of import until she had calmed down some. And the best way he could think of was helping him make the still persistent whine of the machines around them stop.

“Help me with this before your brother shows up and makes me do dreamwalking.” He passed her the wrench and pointed at one of the loose fittings he had found that was a little too high for him to reach comfortably.

Pixie nodded and took the tool, leaning up to do as he asked. They spent precious little time working on the equipment afterwards. Zeccaran gauged it to have been about an hour of simple cooperation and companionship. To his delight after checking everything one last time the improper vibrations from the left engine dissipated to a normal revolving rumble. He gave Pixie a smile pleased with their work. She gave him a small grin in return. Her eyes still betrayed her inner conflict, but that look of frustration and desperation had shrunk down to a much more manageable level, and that was enough for him to feel like he could move forward.

“You should help him, even if all you can do is offer an extra set of eyes,” Zeccaran told her.

“You’re probably right. I just can’t imagine my brother would accept my advice.” Pixie looked at him before her head suddenly jerked towards the door to the engine room. Zeccaran did not need to turn around to know what had made her flinch that hard.

“You’d be surprised. I’d welcome the change of pace.” The elder Stormwalker’s dark tones rumbled from behind him. Like usual, his voice the first indication of sound he was even there.

Pixie only nodded in response, the zebra turned to face the stallion, still wearing his black uniform.

“It’s time to get to work, Zeccaran.” He tilted his head back to look down his snout at the zebra.

Zeccaran bid his significant other goodbye with a quick hug and followed Stormwalker. The day already seemed terribly long and it was not even half over. He heaved a sigh vacantly pondering what sort of setup Luna had designed for these dreamwalks. It did not particularly matter what the Princess had decided but he desired to think of anything but the look of defeat Pixie had shown him. It was going to be one of the things permanently burned into his mind but for now he could ignore it.

Nyx! Nyx, wake up! He shouted internally, not caring if the other stallion might divine his thoughts. He already felt like dying anyway.

Huh? What is it? His mental roommate yawned.

We have work to do.

Good. I was getting bored of sleeping.

Act 5: Chapter 6 - The Melding In The Sky

Author's Note

3/3/2020
Hey, all.
I realized I kinda posted the wrong edit of this chapter. Its nothing major, just the last paragraph was incorrect. Little tone change that's all. Sorry about any confusion

Act 5: Chapter 6 - The Melding In The Sky

“My Emperor I implore you to not take these terms as a slight. Their Royal Majesties Celestia and Luna made it abundantly clear that they had no intention of escalating the situation. Their insistences to provide the much needed food that the Baylands lacks is simple recompense for the problem we have caused. We cannot maintain our goals by slighting Equestria now, that will have to come much later I am afraid...if we are to be successful.”

-Senior Griffon Diplomate Faulkes-

Chapter 6 - The Melding In The Sky

From the helm Guardian Angel stared down at the deck of the Onyx. Most of the crew had moved into the vessel some time ago. He could hardly blame them. At cruising altitude and speed it was rather chilly on the surface of the ship. There was no reason to look up or worry about their heading, the ponies that had been trained to drive the Onyx did so with a high degree of skill. He cast a quick glance at the bundled up helmspony with her goggles and scarf, before returning to gaze at the wooden planking his mind free to wander and think. The last thing he wanted it to be able to do. In his mind, there was not a beautiful orange sun slowly descending from the sky. There were no happy, puffy blue clouds that floated by the ship as they traveled. There were only twitchy reactions to anxiety and fear. The feeling pitched deeply in a black void that threatened to overtake his waking vision.

It’s only there if I let it be there. That is how it always worked. Why I gave into it before he reminded himself. Closing his eyes Guardian Angel let that darkness enveloped him. Every fiber of his being cried out in anger and fury. The haunted screams of dozens of ponies pierced his sense of sound. Their long-dead voices making him want to swat at his ears. The stench of ozone and burnt fur hit his nose again as if he had traveled back in time to that night so long ago when he had lost his world.

But, I rebuilt, I survived, even my own vengeance and arrogance. I have a purpose to fulfill, I’ve lived through everything for a reason. And it’s to undo what my family did. No matter what. I know it is. That thought almost made him smile.

He drew a fresh breath and the smells, the sounds, and the overwhelming urge to let his full-power go berserk dissipated. A sense of calm washed over him for a moment as it always did when he found his control, his zone. He had to maintain it no matter what if there was any hope to reach for when the time came. If only his dour mood could be cured as easily as his demonic urges.

“Dude, you’re so stressed out you’re stressing me out, by just looking at you.” The raspy voice of the dragon princess forced his right ear to turn towards her. She was difficult to hear over the buffeting of the wind.

“Me? Stressed? Never,” he remarked with thick sarcasm.

“You’re lucky I enjoy your sarcasm or I would get really tired of your bad attitude,” Ember huffed. “Besides, mom has no idea you are you. There won’t be any trouble unless you march up to her and announce that you killed Torch.”

“Trouble has a habit of doing stupid stuff like that for me, Ember,” Guardian Angel answered. He turned his head enough to see her with his peripheral vision. The heavy wind pushed hard enough that the soft edges of the dragoness’s lower spines bent.

“Still, I’ve seen you fight and you can handle mom. She might be fierce but, my gold is on you. Just don’t kill her, alright? She’s not my dad.” Ember’s scaly brow folded down low, a visual representation of her apprehension. Guardian Angel understood that feeling too well.

“I wouldn’t even dream of it. Besides, she’s not what has me concerned,” he replied.

“Is Gusty really that dangerous? She seems pretty normal for pony standards to me.” Ember stopped leaning on the deck rail and clacked her way over next to him. The lithe lizard’s face seemed lost in thought. After a moment she pointed a claw at his chest, Guardian Angel had long since ditched his dress uniform. She indicated the wide scar that crossed the center of his ribcage, the one he had gotten from her father.

“If you can survive that, you can handle her. I mean come on, aren’t stallions the dominant ones in relationships anyway,” she commented.

“Who the hell told you that?” he raised a brow at her in amused disbelief.

“Nobody, I always figured that was the way ponies were, seeing how Spike was always trying to take control of any given situation if he thinks he can manage it,” Ember answered casually.

Guardian Angel could not help but laugh. The notion was rather ridiculous and it broke the tension in his mind with its whimsy. Perhaps he cackled a little too fully at it in an attempt to cover up how wrong it felt to find any joy at this moment but Ember probably did not notice. The dragoness just stared at him in confusion not quite understanding the complexity of pony dating culture.

“Well,” he managed between another chuckle. “I’ll be the first to tell you that you aren’t always wrong about that, but in these modern times the relationships between lovers and friends are usually pretty mutual. It’s a good thing really.”

“Yeah, I always forget ponies don’t really do the hierarchy thing we dragons do. Anyway, even if it is mutual, why don’t you take some initiative and check on Gusty, before she comes up here and bumbles around the deck before challenging me to a race.” Ember folded her arms.

“Probably a good idea. Still need to explain to her that I smuggled her daughter on board too,” he answered.

“You what?” The dragoness’s face scales flushed red and then white with worry.

Guardian Angel gave her a smugly fanged smile and trotted off the helm and down the stairs. Ember remained where he had left her, her gaze following him with a look of shock and horror that simply said: That stallion is crazy!

He slipped down the stairs and turned the hairpin corner towards the door that led to the cabins. Unlike cold deck the warm voices of his staff could be heard echoing up from the stateroom below the cabins. They seemed to be explaining the details of one of the contingency plans to somepony. Presumably that pony was Gusty, or perhaps one of Ember’s escorts. Probably that big mouthed Frostbite fellow. Under normal circumstances he would have just overheard both with his life-sense and ears but he was feeling more direct today.

He sauntered down the stairs to cut the explanation short, making quite a bit of noise as the wooden steps protested from his weight. However, as his eyes cleared the edge of the ceiling the pony who Captain Stiff Inspection was speaking to was Amethyst. Guardian Angel balked, shocked the filly had decided to so brazenly sit out in the open. Gusty could walk right in at any moment. He extended his connection to Gusty to find where exactly the mare was on the ship. The ping returned a simple unconscious acknowledgement. The teal alicorn was asleep in her cabin. He breathed a sigh of relief for Amethyst. He did not want the filly to take the fall for his call to keep her on the ship, and hide her.

Slipping silently up to the stool that Amethyst was perched upon, only Stiff Inspection noticed him. The captain gave him a small nod and a smart grin. Carefully extending a singular feather, he gently tapped the filly on the shoulder. She spun her head around quickly, too quickly for his plan of stepping to the side to work. Instead he was left feeling somewhat idiotic as he realized that even had Amethyst not reacted so speedily he was too large to step to one side without hitting the nearby table.

“Mr. Stormwalker, you scared me!” The filly murmured from her stool.

“Well I had to try and give you some trouble for running around the ship unsupervised. It’s good that the gallant Captain here had managed to hold your attention.” He motioned to Stiff Inspection smartly. His underling let a sly smile and a nod be his only response.

“Your sister told me to find something to do after I woke up from my nap, she told me mom had fallen asleep,” Amethyst replied calmly. “I found my way here and well, the Captain was explaining to me one of the contingency plans…” She looked away, her mood souring as she spoke.

Guardian Angel narrowed his eyes at Stiff Inspection. However, he noticed on the small drawing board behind the captain that the subject matter was not something that was off-limits for Amethyst. He did maintain his apprehensions, simply because the filly grew more upset as she sat here. It seemed the faux-scolding had upset her which had not been his intent. It did not help that Pixie seemed to be included in Amethyst’s venture outside of the safety of one of the cabins. The situation made him twitchy and remorseful.

“I want to be with mom. I’m still super upset she didn’t want me to come,” The filly moped. Apparently his assessment of her mood had been both wrong and also less severe than imagined. Amethyst sniffled some, clearly on the verge of tears.

Stiff Inspection grimaced. The young captain met his eyes, clearly pleading for help out of the situation. Fortunately, for him, Guardian Angel was not about to let Amethyst sit there and feel terrible.

“Come here, punk.” He extended a hoof out to pick the filly up.

She silently took the gesture and let him guide her onto his back with both the limb and a wing. Amethyst remained silent as he started to leave the area. Stiff Inspection followed him to the door.

“Is there any other surprises you have for me, sir?” The captain asked with a long droll.

“Not if I can avoid them. Just make sure this hunk of iron gets us to where we’re going. I understand Zeccaran had to do some maintenance to one of the engines,” he stated.

“I’ll have a crew double-check them and see if there are any preventative measures we can take. Things had been perfect before take off. So I’m upset he found something wrong to fix.” Stiff Inspection nodded.

Guardian Angel returned the motion. The captain let him go after that, Amethyst staying quiet as he walked through the vessel. With only a destination but not a particular path in mind he strolled through the gundeck. He felt Amethyst shifting on his back to look at the various weapons and ponies that they passed. She remained silent as they moved, her silence troubling Guardian Angel. He only hoped that Gusty received the filly well, it was probably the only thing that was going to help Amethyst feel better.

“Where are we going?” she asked, seemingly aware of his thoughts.

“For a walk before we go tell your mother you are here and staying because I say so,” he replied with a bit of forced cheer. He just hoped the filly did not notice his mood was fake.

“Really? You’re just gonna barge into her room and show me off like some sort of prize?” Amethyst replied. She was more skeptical of his plan than his attitude thankfully. Her description made him smile, both at the irony of how accurate it was and how reminiscent it was when they had all met.

“Yep. It should keep her from getting too upset, I think.” He turned towards the stairs that led down into the crew quarters down below. A few ponies of his employ whom milled about near their top snapped to attention as they saw him.

Rolling his eyes and ignoring their salutes, he waved them “free.” The group was mostly composed of new recruits who hadn’t acclimated to his improved attitude. Not that he could blame them for taking the precaution. Guardian Angel was all too aware of his reputation amongst the Royal Guard, his main recruiting pool, and fresh admissions held onto their fear. He silently supposed that was what he got for sitting at number one on the list of national security threats that the Guard put together for an odd ten years.

It should probably be more upsetting that until three years ago I very much deserved that designation. I know I’m never going to get away from what I’ve done. But it would be nice if ponies I don’t really know weren’t afraid of me. He scowled to himself,

The crew quarters were fairly well populated as they walked through. A few ponies looked up from various card games or weapon maintenance kits were mostly officers. One, the engineering commander, waved at Amethyst with a wide smile on her face. The filly giggled and wriggled around on his back, presumably waving back. Otherwise, the normal soldiers were too occupied with fighting the boredom of travel. That would change soon, they had entered international waters and airspace. There was no telling if Griffa would hold to its treaty or if they would not stumble upon other dangers like pirates or raiders.

“There are so many. I didn’t realize how many ponies were on the ship!” His ward proclaimed.

“Well it is a diplomatic mission with two crown royals on the ship.” He rotated his head to catch a glimpse of Amethyst with his good eye as they left the quarters.

“Yeah, sometimes I forget mom is technically an Official Representative of the Equestrian Royal Court...That’s what it’s called right?” The filly asked for confirmation.

He nodded pleasantly, a small grin on his face. A real one this time. Oh, how such a simple interaction could uplift his mood. It did not last.

They now stood in a wide corridor. It was mostly occupied by the stairwell that led back up to the gundeck or down to the engine room. Some sacks of dried food were stuffed into tight bundles and stacked neatly opposite of the stairs. Idly taking a wide circled path towards the way up. There was no real rush. Gusty was asleep. However, a quiet blanket of unease had settled over him as they began their little jaunt through the ship. Amethyst felt it too. Guardian Angel could feel her shifting about on his back again, pressing her face into his right wing, trying to get comfortable. Of course, there was no comfort for them. Every second seemed to take a minute to pass and every minute an hour. The attitude of the distracted crew was a reflection of how time had slowed to a crawl. Finally, he took his first step up the stairs.

Each plank creaked with the slow fall of his hooves as he ascended. A burst of wind, hissing and rushing, made the whole ship moan and list before the helmspony corrected it. The lack of noise in the narrow space of the stairs made the feeling of the tilting vessel erie. It was almost a soulless motion and noise that was meant to reflect his mood. Guardian Angel rolled his neck and pushed the feeling away. He reached out with his mind to see if Gusty was, in fact, still napping. The only thing he felt from the mare was a vague static. It reminded him of the sound of his ears popping from altitude changes. Whatever Luna and Zeccaran were doing was allowing her to sleep like a normal pony.

As they drew closer to the next floor the murmur of ponies in the Strategy Room. They kept speaking, ignoring him and Amethyst as they passed into and out of the chamber. That was a bit of a shock, but at the moment Guardian Angel was happy to be unnoticed. Soon enough, he stood at the top of the next set of stairs and stared at the three large cabins. He stepped towards the center one, there was no reason to shock Luna out of the dreamwalk by suddenly walking Gusty.

“So how does dreamwalking work, anyway?” Amethyst piped up as he reached for the handle.

“You’d have to ask Luna,” he smiled. “I only have a vague idea myself. I know how it's supposed to work, but details? Forget it.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I guess I’ll get to ask her now. If she has the time.” The filly stood up from where she had been resting against his wing. Her hooves pressed into his back, making him reflexively unfurl his wings some.

“She’ll have time. Just got to wake her up first.” Guardian Angel turned the handle and strode into the room.

Everything was calm, Luna layed tucked neatly into the large bed in the center of the room. Zeccaran, was leaned into the corner of the large chair that was next to it. The usual attendant had been excused because the two mind-trekkers were only supposed to be monitoring Gusty. Such had always been their standard procedure.That was when the smell hit him. It was faint, like it came to him from across a great distance. He knew that smell: the stench of a specific magic. It was Nyx.

“What’s wrong?” Amethyst asked from over his shoulder.

“I-I...I’m not sure.” His mouth answered on its own accord as his mind flew through the possibilities

Nyx existing made no sense. Of all the creatures across the planes, he knew how specifically her spirit had been cast into the Void. Then his prejudice reminded him a certain striped idiot had served as the Great Shade’s vessel. If she had somehow escaped her rightful prison then she had managed a first. And Zeccaran had helped her, although it was probably unwittingly. Probably. Stifling a growl he stode closer to Luna and the zebra. Amethyst hopped down from his back as he approached with a bit of a loud thump.

Neither pony stirred at the sound, but that was to be expected. Their efforts were more trance than sleep and not so easily disturbed. Yet, somehow their motionless frames upset him. More magic made its presence known, muddling its scent and feeling of warmth on him in an instant. Amethyst, too, felt it. The filly froze in her tracks, slowly turning her head to catch his gaze, worry sparkling in her eyes.

“What is that?” she whispered after a moment.

“Something bad-” The pressure of the Curse manipulating the power that hung in the air made him draw a sharp breath of terror. “Something I have to stop!”

Immediately, Guardian Angel focused his mind on the magic, ready to summon the full force of what he had stolen from Nyx. Breathing it in as it hung thickly on the air, he absorbed the stench internalizing. It was a strange mixture of all of the other creatures’ magic. Their presence and power all wrapped into a single blob of danger. He moved on instinct. The prickly feeling of incoming death and dismemberment for everypony on the ship nearly beating him in the back of the neck with its pulse. Already crossed over to where Luna lay in the bed he let his own power, the force of will that so greatly defined being Shadow-kin, spring forth. There was no restraint, no regret. Reaching out he cut into the tangled mess of consciousnesses like a hot blade.

He grabbed the largest portion that he could reasonably claim as Luna and pulled. To his relief she came unbound, at least that was the feeling his mind’s eye gave him and as his sight focused back up on the physical world so did his fiance. Then a sense of dread overcame him as he realized it was far too easy to pull her out. It was like something was trying to throw her to him.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Luna hissed into his face as she tossed her covers off. “She’s going critical I need to be in there!”

“If this is the end then, you aren’t going with her!” he snapped back with a loud snarl. Guardian Angel had made his decision a month ago. He would choose Luna every time if there was no way to save Gusty, and as this was that moment, he had no scruples.

“No, you don’t understand! The Curse, it's going to absorb Nyx! I know I haven’t told you abou-” Guardian Angel put a hoof to her lips and cut her off.

“I just figured out that Nyx is alive, I don’t care how and I don’t care why. You’re out here, and safe, Zeccaran will have to help his patron on his own.” His brow nearly furrowed over his eyes and he could hear his voice turn metal and coarse. Unfortunately, his deteriorating mood made him care little. All that matter was Luna was safe, for now at least.

His mare remained silent as she looked at him her cheeks flushing with fury. Her emotions ran rampant over her features for a few more seconds before she turned her gaze down to Amethyst who stood between the alicorn and Zeccaran. Luna’s frustration left her in an instant and was replaced with worry.

“How many problems are you trying to cause on this ship, Guardian Angel?” She gestured to the filly.

“I came of my own accord, thank you!” Amethyst chirped with a bit of a bite in her tone. Her face instantly grew truly upset, it was mirrored in her voice,“What’s this business with Nyx?”

Her question hung on the air, matching the ominous pulse of the magic. Guardian Angel had no answer for her and neither did Luna. The pungent stench of the ancient sorcery seemed to grow with intensity for every passing moment. Dread pulled at his heart and mind as he stood idly not knowing what to do. Everything about the moment held him anchored in place, lost, and fighting several different gut reactions. The entirety of his being screamed at him to just reach into the dangling mess of ethereal consciousnesses and pull Zeccaran and his precious Shade free of the Curse’s grip.

“We...we have to wake him, pull their collective consciousness out of that hellscape. But it will take me too long to-” That was all that the stallion needed to hear of Luna’s explanation. If she thought the same

With the same burst of power and ferocity, Guardian Angel inserted himself into the metaphysical battle of wills and magic. As always he could not see, only feel, his vision waxing into nothingness. Fortunately, the powers of the Shadow-kin were not limited to the physical realm and his ability to sense life came with him. His mind touched Zeccaran’s and he latched onto it. With the colossal force of his desperation he willed the zebra into the waking world. Yet, something felt wrong. He only had one mind with him when he exited the Astral Plane

As his vision became clear again, he beheld a strange sight. A small shadow sat before him on the ground. Had he blinked he would have missed it as it shot right at Amethyst who softly gasped in response. The filly made no other response.

“Wait, I felt a consciousness become awake, but...Zeccaran is still asleep.” Luna looked between Guardian Angel and the zebra in confusion.

The stallion turned his own eyes to Amethyst. The filly maintained a misty-eyed gaze at nothing. Her face was relaxed, and calm as if she had forgotten all about the moment she resided in.

With a rush of wind and rustle of grass did time stop for Amethyst. She saw Mr. Stormwalker looking at her with a simple blank shock. If he had noticed what had happened he made no showing of it. In fact, the whole room seemed fuzzy to the filly as she struggled with the feeling that someone else was watching her. Then it became clear as the fizzling of the air became an understandable voice. That was when it all made sense. Amethyst knew that voice. She had heard it in her dreams since she was little, she wanted to gasp in horror and morbid curiosity but found her body stuck.

My, my my. Your mind is even sharper than Zeccaran’s! cried Nyx into her head.

Still frozen and unsure what to do, Amethyst simply waited. The personage of Nightmare Moon, the everything she once had believed in gave her the feeling of ashamed amusement. The mixture of emotions served only to confuse the filly more.

I am not the same as I was before, dearest child. I’m not sure if I am better than I was or if this new perspective has merely made me more aware of my surroundings. You hold all the cards here within your mind. I am merely a visitor. You were the best option to avoid my swift and vile end. Nyx monologue to her.

What do you mean? Amethyst asked with her mind, the way she always had when the Great Shade had visited her in her dreams.

Your Guardian Angel, Amethyst felt Nyx gesture towards Stormwalker and the filly slowly met the stallion’s gaze. He would never harm you, even if I was in possession of your mind. And though that is something I can no longer do in my condition, better safe than sorry should he decide to end me.

Was I seeing things? His pondered thoughts reached Amethyst for only for the briefest of moments, yet it was as if he spoke aloud to her.

Did I just hear him think!? She gasped at Nyx.

You did. You are quite powerful, truly. Your mind reminds me of Zeccaran’s, honestly. Yet it is better, broader, even than when he was in his prime. There’s even that darkside- Amethyst cut Nyx off, she had come to a conclusion.

Wait, weren’t you helping Uncle Z? What’s going on? She asked urgently.

Yes. And you seem to have realized my next request, even as I was thinking it -you are so powerful- I must get back into the Astral Realm or the will of the Shadow-kin will destroy Zeccaran. And from there on the entire world will suffer the consequences! Nyx declared.

But how? Amethyst question.

Just do it. You have the raw ability. WIll me into Zeccaran’s mind.

But-

Do it!

Nyx’s presence was suddenly overridden by welling magic deep inside Amethyst. Guardian Angel started to balk but was stopped as the filly’s ice-blue eyes sparkled with a simple yet powerful force, comprehension. Time snapped back into focus and the stallion was none the wiser, other than Nyx was inside Amethyst, and a lot of rage was building deep in his chest. However, his young ward’s words held his fury off as she nearly danced in place.

“Nyx! She’s in my head!” She cried. A grin broke her lips which quickly spread to a wide smile.

“How do I get her back to Zeccaran!? She keeps telling me I have to right now! And she keeps saying that I can just do it, but I don’t understand what she means!”

Luna loosed a shriek that made both the stallion and the filly jump. She rushed over to Amethyst her breathing loud and uneven, making him grimace in dismay. With a flash of light and the hiss of magic Luna picked up Amethyst and touched their horns together. It happened fast enough that Guardian Angel had no reaction. He could only vaguely suspect that his fiance intended to cast the magic via the filly’s horn, by simply touching. It was a common practice in combined spellcasting so he did not think much of it. Another flash another hiss and a beam light shot forth and connected to Zeccaran.

As fast as it happened so too did it pass and the light and the magic subsided. Likewise the pooling power of the Curse dissipated, receding into Gusty’s mind. Guardian Angel chased the beast with his own power and touched the teal mare’s mind. Somehow she remained asleep, and undisturbed. Thankful, he returned all of his energy to his body slowly calming the fervor he had been building as the sudden outburst had produced.

A sharp puff of air and an audible wince turned his attention back to the room where he stood. Zeccaran sat up in his chair, disheveled but free. Guardian Angel put a hoof up to his face, closing his eyes as he loosed a long sigh of released tension. For a long blissful second he enjoyed it, as he focused only internally at that moment. His fury, returned, only having built in his stomach where he stored it. He opened his eyes. There were answers he required.

Act 5: Chapter 7 - First Line of Defense

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Act 5: Chapter 8 - Ancients' Reunion

“The best we can do is wait. I need time to recuperate before attempting to rescue Zeccaran. Further, we need to get Nyx into a state where she can again prove useful. Besides, Gusty will be safe with her Royal Flames. Even the magic of your ancestors will have to bide its time in the presence of such a powerful dragon.”

-Luna-

Chapter 8 - Ancients’ Reunion

Gusty stood next to Ember with pursed lips. The deck of the Onyx sprawled out before them, bustling with nervous ponies. Around the airship a squadron of young dragons circled. They were large creatures, each about the size of a large cottage and sported their own color. They were splendid orange, yellow and bronze, others cool blue, and shimmering pearlescent purples or amber. Their translucent wings revealed spiny veins and brilliant windows of color as they flew about. The deck of the Onyx could perhaps house one of them at a time but those young lizards were small compared to the giants that flew alongside the vessel.

An enormous red fellow with long orange spines and oversized fangs of the same stained color flanked them on their left. His huge maw nearly the size of the bow alone. Two or three ponies could have easily fit in between his great jaws and still have room to dance. He was silent and flapped his wings with a steady grace. His shield-sized eyes were a similar pale yellowy-gold to that of Celestia’s magic. Their ultra-thin pupil blacker than night, surrounded by the ocean of twinkling jewels of iridic irregularities that were trademark of a dragon’s eyes.

His opposite, on their right, hummed an extremely low and bumbling tune. She was equally large, but her body was stockier and less serpent-like making her seem bigger. Her spines were short, blunt, and numerous, coating her back almost like a shell. They sparkled a curious robin’s eggshell of blue, in stark contrast to the patchwork of deep brown and olive scales on her body. Of her glimmering blue eyes, the one that faced the Onyx, watched the ponies on deck curiously as she floated unevenly along. Her jaunty attitude made her feel as if she was a particularly large and discolored bumblebee. The dragon’s head slowly swivelled up towards the helm where Gusty and Ember stood.

“Young Princess.” Her voice was so deep that she sounded like a teenage pony male whose voice was trying not to break as he spoke.

“Don’t call me that unless my mom is around. How many times do I have to tell you?” Ember grimaced. Her tone was not harsh but more annoyed.

The elder dragon emitted a gravelly chuckle. A smile rose to her great sapphire eyes and she wagged her head dangerously close to the deck.

“Young Princess. I am no expert on pony custom. Their lives are just so...fleeting. It is too hard to memorize all of their changing attitudes. But the last delegation was hosted by your father and the ponies did not come in some strange metal contraption filled with soldiers,” observed the giant female.

That point had not been lost on either Ember or Gusty. However, with the operation being run by Guardian Angel neither of them had the final say. However, there was a simple explanation. One that…

“They are for our protection...as in for the dragons’ protection,” Ember answered.

Gusty wanted to facehoof. The young cyan dragoness knew better than to say something so ridiculous. The dragons did not need the ponies’ protection. In fact the only real reason this great gathering was even here was to give Guardian Angel the cover needed to come along. The “protection” argument was just a euphemism for hiding himself. Evidently that bit of wordplay was lost on Ember. Or perhaps she simply was too lazy to come up with a different excuse.

“Hummm. Strange. The ponies have never been concerned about us before. Why would they change their minds? Pony magic is quite powerful, but I do not believe dragons need to be worried.” The elder female answered with grace. It was a pleasant surprise. Gusty had expected to be mocked.

“Don’t be so foolish,” rumbled the even lower tones of her compatriot in red. Disdain was evident in his voice,“Ponies gather in groups when they are scared.”

His words brought silence to the conversation. It was easy to watch the ponies on the decks grip their spears and crossbows. The dragons had no idea these soldiers were not Royal Guard, and it needed to be kept that way. A curious clop of small hooves caught Gusty’s attention and so appeared the curly pink mane of Amethyst. The teal mare scowled with disapproval. It was a look in great contrast to her daughter's gaze of awe as she peered at the dragons in wonder. Slowly the filly tore her eyes away from the great flying lizards and hopped up the stairs to the helm.

“Hey mom!” she chirped, happy regardless of her recent punishments. “How did you sleep by the way?”

Gusty stared at Amethyst in horror. She had not slept well. Her daughter had never asked that before. Her simple concern sadly confirmed what Guardian Angel and Luna had told her. Amethyst knew about her condition. The churning of her stomach solidified the realization in a cold and terrible way.

Now you see.

That terrible little voice once again echoed in her head and the numb feeling of terror that had plagued her entire night of sleep now returned. Nearly breaking into a cold sweat Gusty desperately tried to tune out the Curse’s laughter. She had thought knowing who possessed the cold, angry voice in her head would help. Somehow since she had found out the few months ago it had made it worse. Those months had drug into years and those years into centuries. Time had no meaning when her entire world was stuck in a dark spiral she had no control over.

“Mom?” Amethyst prodded her legs and broke her momentary lapse into frozen fear.

“Sorry. I was...no. No, I did not sleep well,” Gusty finally answered. She did her best to calm her features but I was obvious Amethyst was not fooled.

“Well it’s not all bad, you get to see Ashijinir again! That has to be pretty exciting! I mean I can't even imagine! Look at these two dragons, they're huge!” The filly bounced as she spoke. Her exuberance managed to make Gusty smile.

Suddenly an angry growl came from their left, echoing across the skies. An enormous snort shot smoke and soot into the air only to be whisked away by the Onyx’s propellers. However, the point was made long before the great red dragon spoke.

“Did that hatching dare to speak her Majesty’s name?!” he snarled.

The tenseness in her muscles reached a fever pitch. Gusty released a growl of her own and jumped into the air, the fear of flight converted to the fear of fight. Magic sparked from her horn before she even realized what she was doing. Her glimmering golden grip of telekinesis hit the red lizard’s throat just as she extended her wings to fly at his face. A loud slapping of wet flesh signalled his airways snapping shut as she landed on his nose. He clawed at his long neck, his eyes watering with huge tears and sparkling with surprise.

“You shall not render judgement on my daughter, hatchling.” The venom in her last word seemed to strike a chord. His eyes fixed upon her and suddenly flashed with fear.

Her voice felt distorted and strange. Gusty vaguely could hear the ponies on the deck calling out to her anxiously, asking her to stop. The world seemed to snap back into clarity and she immediately released the dragon.

“I-I...I’m sorry,” she stammered out before teleporting herself back to the deck.

Give in. Just give in. You already use me. Give in.

With a hoarse cough and a short burst of flame, her victim heaved an even breath of relief. Then the ship fell silent again. All the ponies on deck watched the dragons anxiously. Especially the one she had just assaulted. Amethyst stared at her worriedly and Ember took several steps away from her. Gusty could not blame them. After all, with the way she felt, the world was just one short mishap or slip in judgement away from catastrophe. It caused her to turn her eyes to the wooden ground below her.

“Forgive me, Great Matriarch. My memory is not as long as our Queen’s. I was fresh from the egg when Her Royal Flames lamented your passing. I did not believe you real…Did not believe you could strike such fear into the heart of a dragon.”

He paused for a moment. The tension in the air settled as he sighed. Long trails of steam exited his nostrils as he did.

“I retract my previous statement, Grellista,” he turned his head towards his counterpart on the right of the Onyx. “These ponies are not gathered out of fear of us.”

The brown, green, blue, and ugly dragon slowly started to laugh in response. She kept laughing until eventually most of the soldiers around them laughed too. Even Amethyst and Ember joined in. Gusty did not. She stood mortified, feeling supremely alone and disconnected from the situation.

The scene slowly calmed to where it was before. Boredom overtook the group and idle chatter resumed as they approached the great island and mountain that housed Ashijinir. Amethyst and Ember talked lazily in the background as Gusty stared at the ever growing mass of land wondering how much long she had until they were alighted on its surface. It took everything to just stand on the deck and not shake from her adrenaline and fear.

“Hey!” Ember’s coarse voice pulled her out of her self-loathing.

Gusty met her orange eyes with surprise.

“Why didn’t you show me some of that aggressiveness back in Canterlot? I have to agree with Rubicrix. I was still pretty skeptical of you being some sort of big badass!” the dragoness croned with pride.

“Well, It wouldn’t be fair to treat you like I did him, Ember. I would have actually hurt you!” Gusty replied with a smile.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure!” the dragoness harrumphed with smiling sarcasm.

Somehow the cyan lizard’s jolly attitude had snapped her into a better mood. Silently, she cursed the swings in her demeanor. The excitement and happiness she felt now was her real self. But, it seemed so fleeting and transient compared to the sensation of the Curse crawling around in her head, waiting to pick its moment. Same with the dread and depression, it was by far more persistent than the feelings she wanted to feel. Furrowing her brow she swore to herself that if she survived the only thing she would feel were those good things. Even with her long life, no more time would be devoted to suffering the ravages of trauma, her mind simply could take it no longer. There was a life waiting for her, she just had to reach it. That thought alone might just save her so Gusty saved it in her memory. For as long as she could make it last anyway.

“Yeeeessss,” blustered Grellista slowly, her hearty voice rumbling like distant thunder. Her brown scales rustled as she hastily made a few short flaps of her giant wings to keep her face even with the deck.

“Her majesty will be quite pleased you have aged better than the lot of us,” The great dragoness smiled.

“I still think that might be up for debate, but it will be good to see her. She was much smaller than either of you when I last saw her,” Gusty replied.

“That is difficult to picture.” Rubicrix yawned, a clear smile in his voice where there had not been one before. “Command your guards to start the descent. We are close enough now.”

Gusty did not have to say anything. As soon as the last word had exited the red giants lips did a hiss of steam and air echo across the sky. Slowly, the Onyx began to fall with a slow, controlled grace.

“Mom, come on, let's go out on the bow and take a better look at the island!” Amethyst declared giving Gusty a nudge.

She agreed with a smiling nod and followed her daughter down from the helm. Ember accompanied them, her claws clacking pleasantly on the wood. The soldiers still looked between the attending scaly flotilla suspiciously but stood out of their way as they advanced. Amethyst chose the starboard side of the vessel and quickly hopped up on her back legs, looping her front pair over the deck rail. A brief flutter of fear for her daughter’s safety took Gusty. She pushed it aside. Even if Amethyst fell the filly probably could have simply levitated herself back onto the deck. And that was if somehow she did not snag her with her golden magic herself. It was a good little worry that made Gusty feel better. Then she beheld the mountain.

For some time, the edges of sand and green had poked out against the horizon, growing with their slow pace through the sky. However, it became quite clear that the smooth ground near the ocean had been causing an optical illusion. What she had thought to be mountains in the distance was actually the enormous rock itself. She had not realized the staggering width and height of the great throne of the dragons. The size was so incredibly vast Gusty could hardly comprehend it. This was made all the more dizzying by her realization that the few clouds she had thought she had seen behind the Onyx’s balloon was actually the ice upon the massive mountain’s top. Around its tall thresholds, mist and steam pulled up into the sky in great waves. It gave the gargantuan stone an artificial life, its consistent puffs of smoke moving like the unsettled breaths of something alive.

A long girly inhale came from Amethyst. Her eyes sparkling with delight and wonder, she smiled. Gusty could not but smile too.

“It’s huge! Well, I guess it would have to be if the Queen of the Dragons can fit inside of it!” She chattered excitedly.

“Eh...Mom’s big, but the mountain is waaaaaaayyy bigger,” Ember interjected. “The great volcano is big enough to pretty comfortably fit most of the dragons inside at the same time.”

“Whoa…”

They marvelled for a long time. The speed of the Onyx did not seem to make the mountain approach any quicker and to a degree that was concerning. However, their steady descent began to make a dent in the distance, with the small talk and the pleasant hums of Grellista the trip was pleasant. The world seemed to freeze in that bright sunny moment. The harsh wind’s wild lament against the airship eased like pressure released from a valve. The faint smells of sulfur and the rich salt of the sea wafted up from below as they grew closer to the ground.

Gusty’s smile widened. The whimsical nature of the beauty before her had her bewitched. The vibrant greens of the jungle plants danced as she raked her gaze across them eagerly. The contrast of grey and black of volcanic rock, that dazzled like stained-glass in the sun reminded her of dreams that she no longer had. Amethyst jumped onto her back and plagued her with a myriad of questions about Ashijinir that she answered absent-mindedly. The relaxed feeling in her heart sang one last final note before a sudden pang of darkness swallowed her mind. The terrible orange smoke she had seen in the Palace back in Canterlot returned.

Angrily she shook it away. Paying no mind to the rest of the floating gathering, Gusty found herself lost in thought. She wished to remember more about Ashijinir than she did. The feelings in her heart told her she had cherished her great green scaly friend, like she was not only a daughter but a regent. With the great dragoness assuming such a role there was a chance for some of the old world order to be restored. Now the so-decreed hatchling Queen was no longer a babe. Over a millenia had passed since those simpler times and the realization made Gusty feel the pull of the Curse again. She grit her teeth. She was not ready to give in. She could not lose now after all this time. Everyone she cared about: the dragons, Amethyst, Guardian Angel, Bunker, Luna, Celestia, and all of ponydom were being threatened still. Threatened by her. If she was going to go she wanted them all to be preserved in her loss.

Liar.

The orange smoke did not return this time, but the voice of the Curse rang in her ears loud and clear.

Liar. Liar. Liiiiiiiar!~

Electing to ignore the song the voice made, she looked back over the deck. Her gaze settled on the open passage to the cabins. Now that the dragons had taken to escorting the Onyx, Guardian Angel had remained locked away in his cabin. The magic between them cut off and quiet, his presence known to her only because she knew he still remained on board.

He can’t help you. Just like you can’t help yourself. Liar.

Shut up. Gusty internally commanded the voice finally, her frustration forcing her to break her composure

You want to live. You’re a coward. You want the world to go back to the way it was. You know that I can get what you want. You know that you’ll love all of it. You just have to cooperate with me.

Now who is the liar? Gusty retorted to her own voice.

Oh, how she hated the sound of her Curse, how it used her own voice. She hated it almost as much as she hated herself. She nearly broke into tears at that moment but refused. She was in control, surrounded by ponies and dragons that would do everything to protect her. She did not need what the Curse offered. She never had, not even when she would repeatedly lose her memories.

Centuries had passed that way. She would see many more pass that way as well. Never would she return upon the world what the ancient Shadow-kin had put upon her. Vaguely she realized her breathing had grown short and rapid, even as the air thickened with the smell of jungle and humidity.

I do not lie. My creators knew you would forgive them, and survive all of the tragedy they heaped into your soul. But...but...my sweet, sweet alicorn you could never forgive yourself. And eventually, no matter the circumstance, it would break you. And oh how wondrous it is to feel you realize that now.

Gusty went to retort in anger but her inner voice refused to move. Her mind rattled through dozens and dozens of thoughts, none helping her. The laughter of the Curse, of her own voice, echoed for an eternity before leaving her. Gusty panted for a moment as the world seemed to focus again. The desire to scream welled- up in her chest only to dissipate into sorrowful resignation. When she looked again at the great mountain and island her eyes did not notice the colors this time, but only the crawling signs of desperate life. Dragons fought and sparred on the beaches and trees. The volcano spewed waves of thick black smoke that tinged the whole air with an acrid smoke. The whole of the beauty she had seen had disappeared as if it never existed. Even though she had just seen it, Gusty sickeningly felt that it had all been an illusion and that left her again lost in her mind trying to sort reality from fiction.

“Mom!” Amethyst hit her on the back of the neck.

It was perhaps the third time she called out to Gusty and had received no response. The elder mare jumped in surprise, only now remembering her surrogate daughter had hopped on her back. Her comprehension of time returned and she apologized leaving Amethyst to look at her warily. That only forced another icy knife of guilt into her heart. Her daughter knew how tenuous her situation, and that only made Gusty feel worse.

“Are you okay?” the filly asked.

Before Gusty could respond a deep rumble that sounded like a chuckle overtook her. Grellista turned her head to look at them. A smile played in her eyes, though it could not be seen through her fangs.

“She’s just doing a bit of...musing. It is something that anyone with such an ancient mind would do, pony hatchling. I find myself doing the same from time to time,” the great brown dragoness stated amicably.

“Oh. Okay.” Amethyst replied.

However, her eyes betrayed that she did not believe Grellista. That brought a measure of pride to Gusty. To not hop on the nearest excuse for an easy answer was something she was happy the filly had learned.

“I’m fine, punk. Little disappointed that you aren’t excited to fly with me to Ashijinir though,” Gusty recovered. She invoked Guardian Angel’s nickname for the filly with a sly grin.

“Hey! I am excited! And you can’t call me a punk! That’s…” Amethyst’s voice fell still and she leaned up into Gusty’s ear with a scowl on her face. “That’s Mr. Stormwalker’s nickname only!”

Gusty just started to laugh. Everyone present just looked at her in surprise. Her voice carried over the rustling water of the shores and waving trees like a ringing bell. Both in her earnesty and her child-like secrecy Amethyst had managed to relax her again. As she calmed the alicorn looked at the dragons around her with a wry, smile. The Onyx released a long, groaning hiss of steam as it came to a stop over the beaches as she did. The deck crew started moving about, bustling with hushed voices. They were finally there. Close to the great stone halls and hordes of gold that harbored the Queen of Fire. Somehow against all odds, she was ready. Gusty turned her eyes towards Ember and narrowed her gaze in a challenge.

“Princess, shall you show me the way to your Queen? Perhaps in a race?” She asked coyly.

The two elder dragons gasped in surprise. To her credit the cyan dragoness only rolled her eyes. Ember tapped a clawed paw on the deck making a loud set of clicks that drew the attention of one the armored ponies that milled about. He turned towards the helm and quickly nodded. Silently, a small group of golden clad Royal Guard filtered out of the crowd with a familiar face at their head. Captain Stiff Inspection and the four guardsponies stood before them in short order. The young captain bowed to Ember, before continuing to approach. This elicited an approving rumble from the red Rubicrix which compelled Gusty to turn and scowl at him. He let a wide toothy smile encompass the whole length of his long snout in response.

Stiff Inspection wasted no time. He quickly parsed through formalities and addressed the situation at hand. He offered the Royal Guard behind him as escorts to which Ember refused. Likewise, he asked Gusty who turned her head to one side in confusion. She had no need for escorting ponies. What good were they if they were to come along anyway? She could not expect them to handle her if suddenly the end came, they would just become casualties. To her at least, such was unacceptable and she informed the captain as such.

“I understand. His Lordship wished me to ask. He is preoccupied and apologies for this formal departure,” Inspection replied calmly. However, the glint in his eyes told Gusty that he maintained a healthy amount of worry in his heart. It was as if he had been instructed to follow them into the great halls of the Queen of Fire regardless.

Thus, it was to her great surprise that when Ember took to the sky that the captain remained on the deck, unmoved. Even as Gusty herself extended her wings and felt Amethyst grip to her neck tightly he stood still, willing only to dwell on the floating wood and go no further. This left the teal alicorn to wonder in silence: what in the world was Guardian Angel doing that kept him from coming to see them off? She kept thinking of the peculiarity even as she followed Ember into a dive and Amethyst loosed a long cooing howl of delight as they picked up speed.

Her daughter commented on how much she loved the increase in speed from falling flight. Gusty smiled at her, turning her head enough for the filly to catch the grin in her eyes, but enough for the alicorn to keep watching where Ember flew. And beyond the first loud yell, Amethyst remained fairly quiet afterwards. The flight was pleasant, the thick, warm air ease to fly in, they made good time towards some of the glittering rockface. Young dragons, similar in size to Ember looked up as they passed over them prompting Gusty to initiate a barrel-roll. It was unnecessary but certainly made her feel like she had some actual happiness. It helped that Amethyst squealed with delight, and perhaps a bit of fear as she did.

“I almost wasn’t ready for that!” she cried when Gusty righted herself.

She chuckled at her daughter and kept on flying, adding occasional tricks to fight boredom and an idle mind. The distance they were traveling was unknown to the alicorn, although it was not necessary information. The most important thing was moving forward and thus she continued on, the beat of her wings soft and repetitive. She watched Ember as the dragoness changed pitch in flight and started heading more directly towards a distance rockface. Beyond her sparkling scales Gusty could see a gap in the mighty purple and charcoal volcanic rock. It did not seem too large, however, as a few more minutes passed as they journeyed towards it the size seemed to grow, so did the mass of the mountain. Frankly, the scale of the volcano was difficult to comprehend. The closer she got to it, the larger it seemed to get and the smaller everything else felt.

Fortunately, their time in the sky was not wasted. Though it was slow, they finally neared the massive hole in the rockface and their descent increased. Gusty’s hooves landed on the stone with a hardy clop regardless of her controlled glide. With the sun casting its light over her shoulder, long shadows of her legs and body stretched into the darkness of the cave. As she felt Amethyst bounce a few times before jumping down to the ground herself, Gusty watched their silhouettes mirror their motion in exaggerated length. Likewise, Ember’s outline walked towards where she stood, but Gusty did not look up to meet the dragon princess’s eyes. She remained gazing at the black shapes and contours momentarily lost in her absorption of the scene.

“Well...she’s at the end of this cave, right in the heart of the volcano, that's where the horde room is,” Ember stated.

For anyone else her voice was confident, but Gusty was too accustomed to her own facade of confidence to ignore the catch in Ember’s voice. She was nervous, just as Gusty was nervous. There was enough at stake to make the alicorn want to turn around and leave. Unfortunately, she did not have that option. Thus, they moved on ahead, silently.

Slowly, the light of the sun disappeared as their shadows were absorbed by the darkness of the cave. For a little while the area was absorbed by the shadow of the cave. However, a new source of light became visible as they went further. The distant ceiling of rock sparkled with gems of hundreds of colors. Their glittering lights like stars in foreign skies, beautiful but somewhat terrifying in their unfamiliarity. The sheer volume of the gemstones allowed the distant and indirect light of the sun to fill the grand passageway with dim, but colorful reflections that lit their path through the cavern. The rainbows made Ember’s cyan scales change hues and mirror the vibrant lights that shimmered around them.

Amethyst cooed and murmured her wonder at the effect. Her awe provided a sense of child-like simplicity to the otherwise tense situation. Gusty suddenly was very happy her daughter had decided to stow away. Her presence was a strong stabilizing factor for her mind. Such remained deathly important, her ears still perked at the whispers of the Curse. The beast waited, choosing the next moment to strike her with pain and regrets. Gusty shuddered as she moved.

She shifted her thoughts to Ashijinir. The great green dragon queen made her nervous. If perhaps her mind had stored more memories beyond a nickname, and a sense of loss this would be easier. Gertrude had been easier. The memories are much stronger and much warmer compared to the cold lump that came into Gusty’s mind. However, not every sensation within her memories were sad and fearful. She remembered how Torch and Ashijinir once played in the skies. Those had been fun times, simpler times. When tackling and pinning down her scally ward was not much trouble. Ashijinir was not much larger than Ember at the time. Gusty marveled for a moment as the pace of her hooves slowed. How many thousands of years ago was that now?

If her knowledge of dragon growth rates remained accurate; to be the size of Grellista and Rubicrix meant that it was at least four thousand years. However, those two were freshly hatched when she had been captured by the Shadow-kin. Ashijinir had grown, not huge but at least large at that time. Suddenly, the terror of that battle that had seen her suffer returned to Gusty. The cries of the dying dragons stopped her in her tracks, and the shrill shrieks of the very dragon she now walked to meet came to her ears. The green dragoness had desperately come to her aid, but Gusty had told her to run, to save her species. Then she had been swallowed by darkness.

The voice of the Curse hissed with joy as she writhed in one of her most terrible memories. The moment lasted for much longer than she would have liked. She saw the red eyes of her captors as if they surrounded her once again. Out of the crowd, the silhouette of the prodigal Primivus Stormwalker and his sheer fury brought tears to her eyes and more laughter from the Curse. Dettered but not beaten, Gusty lifted her hooves and made haste towards Amethyst and Ember who had gotten ahead of her while she stopped.

Such good memories, are they not, my sweet? Hummed the Curse with malicious delight.

Leave me alone. Gusty commanded. She was hurt, but there was no comfort to be taken, so she persisted on, catching her daughter and the dragon princess.

For now….for now....

The terrible voice and its presence died away as she returned her thoughts to the present. The air inside the long chamber suddenly got warmer. Gusty turned to look over her shoulder to find their original entrance not visible. Perhaps they had turned or the slope down was simply too shallow to notice. It did not matter, the heat of the tunnel meant that they were much closer to Ashijinir.

A low grumble seemed to slowly make its way through the tunnel. Its power making Gusty wobble from the force of the vibrating air. After the rumbling wore down a great cascade of metal upon metal, clinking and clanking in a massive waterfall of coins. The sound sent butterflies spiraling their Gusty’s stomach. They were this close now and her nerves made her clinch her muscles in apprehension.

“She is on her way here? Did you see her then? Is she as I described?” The long and raspy voice of the ancient Ashijinir echoed down the stone hall.

The very rocks shook with her tones. Her powerful voice was a gift Gusty had long forgotten the Queen of Fire possessed. She never could whisper. The vague memories and the feeling of love suddenly returned to her and the alicorn again froze where she was. She did not remember Ashijinir as she was now, but she remembered how much she cared for the dragon. The awful nightmares of the battle that separated them seemed like a frivolous affair by comparison. The feeling of companionship and the chance to see a creature she cherished so put Gusty at her strongest.

Without a second thought she broke into a trot, then a gallop. Another set of hooves down and she pushed up from the stone floor and unfurled her wings. With all the speed she could muster she zipped past Amethyst and Ember and towards the growing orange light at the end of the dim tunnel of jewels. She only vaguely heard them shriek in surprise as the air she displaced hit them. Sweat formed on her brow from the humid air and her sudden exertion. It flipped off her face as she pitched her wings to allow her to turn into the chamber she could just barely feel at the end of the passage.

Then she crested the threshold of the cave and entered the grand expanse of the heart of the volcano was before her. She slammed her legs out to halt her rapid approach towards the center and quickly found the ground. She gaped. Her eyes almost unable to see all the gold and jewels that laid in a great mountain within the mountain. The reddened and wine-colored stone that appeared in layers went up and up and up in the shape of a colossal egg. And in the center of the great vaulted expanse sat Ashijinir. Her lime and emerald scales sparkling as marvelously as the pile of coin and diamond she lay on. The hiss of steam and rumble of bubbling lava that back lit the Queen of the Dragons seems to fall silent as Ashijinir looked towards her.

Without a word the great green dragon began dislodging herself from the ocean of wealth. The clacking and cluttering of millions and millions of metal pieces sounded like a chorus of tuned sand. No rhythm, only short bells and clicks. Finally, as her long tail emerged from the depths of the pile, Gusty beheld her old friend in all her splendor. While she was not as stout as Grellista she made up for it in long, extensive, lithe muscle and scale. Her size made Gusty feel unimaginably small: like a mite compared to a pony.

Slowly, and with a clear deliberateness, Ashijinir closed the distance between them before slowly encompassing Gusty in her length. Her long powerful legs and broad wings wrapped around where she stood. The alicorn did not flinch, waiting for her strange kin to settle. Once her body formed a full circle, the Queen of Fire turned her narrow skull toward her, both eyes peering at Gusty intensely. The shimmering emerald orbs betrayed heaps of worry, apprehension, and...hope. Finally lowering her head down to be as even with the alicorn as possible the dragon pulled a wing over them, casting their visages in pale green light.

With a mighty inward heave, Ashijinir drew a breath. The force of the suction of air pulled at Gusty’s fur. An equally powerful wave of hot exhale nearly pushed her mane off her head. Blinking with surprise Gusty gave the dragon a bit of a balking stare, unsure of the purpose of such a dramatic upheaval of breathing.

“I did not truly believe it,” Ashijinir suddenly and softly spoke. Her eyes seemed to twinkle with an indescribable amount of joy.

“You still smell the same. You don’t even look different, not a single sign of age.”

Gusty wanted to answer but was interrupted by an instant and disturbing action of the dragoness’ tongue. The muscle was easily twice her size and left a long sticky spit rope attached to her side where Ashijinir had violated her.

“You even taste the same!”

The giddiness could not be hidden in her voice. Ashijinir moved her wing and the ruddy light of the hot chamber hit Gusty again. The great dragon bobbed her head back and forth a deep happy hum emanating from her gullet, and rings of smoke puffing from her nostrils. However, furiously indignant did not adequately describe how Gusty felt at being licked for a taste test. What was it supposed to accomplish other than mat her fur?

“What the hell was that for!? You haven’t licked me since you were literally fresh from the egg! I had thought that perhaps some time on your own would have matured you, but I can see that that assumption was wrong! Gusty boomed with a seething hiss.

Ashijinir only responded by closing her eyes and loosing the pure ringing laughter of her deep voice. Her chuckle rattled the chamber and made the mountain of gold coins sift and fall some. Marching up to the nearest portion of the dragoness snout and rubbed her side ferociously onto it. She was sure to smear the spittle off of herself and exclusively onto the soft scales at the front of her assailant’s face. This only made Ashijinir chuckle more. She lifted up her head and slowly took to standing only on her front legs. Her chest towered over Gusty, easily fifty feet above her before the length of her neck got involved with distancing the dragon’s face from her position. Still miffed Gusty opened her wings and rapidly climbed to meet the Queen of Fire face to face again.

“You even act the same! If it, not for my size I would think that no time had passed at all! A truly joyous occasion this is!” She cheered directly into Gusty’s face in response.

Once the ringing in her ears stopped the alicorn scowled at her. The laughter that followed was stunted by the cheeky perk of the dragon’s lips locked into a closed smile. Still the rumbling merriment was at her expense and Gusty was not one for being the but of the joke. However, Ashijinir raised up a massive scaly set of claws and held it beneath Gusty for her to land on. Begrudgingly she obliged and stopped her hover.

“Ashijinir,” Gusty stated through raised and upset lips.

“Forgive me. I...I still am lost in joy and disbelief.” The green dragoness turned her head away for a moment. “I have oft dreamt of this day. I had told myself it was folly. That it were only dreams…that you were dead...that…”

The grand chamber fell silent. Gusty had no words for her friend. She understood the hurt of the heartache and the happiness she felt now. Tears rolled over her eyelashes that reflected the pitch and tumble of her emotions. She drew a sniffle and smiled at the dragon. Being with her felt like home. That alone made Gusty’s smile turn into a horsey beam even as she silently weeped. To her surprise, Ashijinir gently nosed her in response. They held the pose for a long time, and Gusty raised a hoof and wing to touch more of the emerald snout.

With a gentle purpose Ashijinir withdrew and extended her long arm away from her body. Gusty watched as the rush of air momentarily overtook her ears as she waited for her friend to speak.

“Behold, all dragon kind! Gusty Twilight. Fair Matriarch of Alicorns and Dragons alike! Back among us again!” Her voice echoed differently than before.

There was magic behind her words. It was clear that all the dragons heard their Queen’s words. A distant but great roar went up and found its way into the chamber. The whole mountain seemed to shake as the chorus struck a hearty chord. Ashijinir added her own voice and Gusty quickly added a small shield bubble around her head to keep her eardrums from completely shattering. She desperately hoped Amethyst had managed the same. From her perch Gusty looked down to find her daughter and Ember gaping at Ashijinir, a similar bit of magic around the filly’s whole body. Evidently, Amethyst had thought of the possibility long before the chorus had rang out.

“Daughter-Ember!” Ashijinir cried. The great green mass of scales moved towards the entrance where the two other beings stood and Gusty went with them, crouching down to keep from inadvertently flying off of her clawed perch.

“Of what good fortune are you comprised, sparkling princess of dragons?” the Queen spoke with jubilation to her daughter.

“Uhh…” Ember responded her face twisting into pure confusion. It was clear that she had never seen her mother be happy. That kicked a bitter pang of sadness into Gusty, but there was not much she could do for it.

“A merry and momentous occasion is upon us, Ember. Go and fetch the Elders. And tell them to bring as many Foolla Fruit as they can carry!” Ashijinir declared.

“Foolla Fruit?! Are you serious?! Are you the same Mom I had before I left?!” Ember asked hysterically. She was totally flustered. Not that Gusty could blame her. Ashijinir’s merriment had even rendered Amethyst devoid of a reaction. That was no small feat.

“Of course I am! And I declare a celebration! For at least today. Business, Gusty and I may have but I will not waste the first feeling of joy I’ve experienced in over a decade!”

Ember looked at her enormous mother for a few moments more. Her face seemed to search for any betrayal of reality. However, she did not find any and only turned her head down in defeat. She cast one last thousand yard gaze at Gusty who only shrugged and motioned for her to carry on with Ashijinir’s instruction.

“Okay. I’ll be back soon,” Ember finally replied. She turned and left without looking back.

“Make haste with your return, you shall be joining us!” the great green dragoness crowed after her daughter.

The chamber fell into a brief silence that was dashed quickly by Ashijinir. Dipping her head and rolling her long neck she hummed and cooed as if she was a giant cat. Also bringing Gusty up close to where she coordinated herself, it became obvious that Ashijinir’s focus was now on Amethyst. Gusty quickly extended her telekinesis and picked her daughter up and floated her to herself. This elicited a soft surprised ‘oh’ from the dragon who adjusted her head and claw to view them both with one of her gargantuan emerald eyes.

“Is this a relation of your’s Gusty? I did not know that any besides Princess Luna would be joining you on your visit.” Ashijinir rumbled cheerily.

Within her hoof Amethyst remained limp. However, after a moment the filly shook her head and adjusted her view towards the dragoness. She shuddered with awe and made a weak attempt at clearing her throat. Gusty hummed and gave Amethyst a nudge with her snout. It seemed to shock the budding filly out of her stupor.

“I-I’m Amethyst, I’m Gusty’s daughter,” she shakily managed. While she spoke her eyes remained locked onto the eye Ashijinir provided for them to look at.

“Quite so. A pleasure to meet you little pony. Although I am surprised you are not an alicorn.” The great green dragoness’ smile perked up the edge of her scaly eyelids and made her wagon wheel sized eye sparkle with joy.

“She is my daughter by choice, not by birth. And I couldn’t be happier with her.” Gusty sat Amethyst down.

The filly stared down at their green platform. She lifted her hooves in a random sequence raising and setting them down on Ashijinir’s claws. She seemed locked in wonder. The ancient matriarch of dragons watched her with amusement and Gusty mirrored her daughter’s movements just to see if Amethyst would notice. She did not and that made her chuckle. There was at least still a little bit of child wonder in her daughter and it made Gusty beam. They stood like this for a few moments longer before Amethyst suddenly perked up and looked at Ashijinir’s face.

“What the heck are Foolla Fruit?” the filly asked.

“Melons. Huge melons. Nearly as large as Gusty herself little filly.” Ashijinir hummed amusedly. “They are savory, sweet, and succulently juicy. However, and most importantly, they ferment.”

Amethyst’s eyes widened with comprehension. Likewise Gusty felt heat rise in her stomach. Unintentionally, her wings unfurled some and she felt dizzy. The idea of partying with all the elder dragons became quickly something that made her both anxious and excited. Worried for what might happen with her Curse. Excited for the possibility that the distraction would be powerful enough to keep anything that could happen at bay and she could be happy.

“This looks to be quite the event.” The smile in Ashijinir’s voice was palpable. The great green dragoness adjusted her long neck to look towards the great cave entrance.

The now familiar face of Grellista appeared from the dark of the cavern. In each wing she held six of the gigantic yellow and pink striped melons. She proudly strutted her thick legs and heavy body up to where they were and sat the fruit down with a bow. Ashijinir roared a pleasant greeting. Grellista returned it.

A great clamor turned Gusty’s eyes back to the entrance tunnel. Motion in the darkness showed the silhouette forms of more dragons. And from the shadows, they sprang forth marching out in lines. Most were only half of Ashijinir’s size. Some, like Grellista rivaling her in girth or length. The poured in, more and more, until Gusty spied the ruby scales of Rubicrix. Their bodies packed in close and the heat of the chamber increased leaving Gusty to sweat as if it was a sauna.

Silently, Ashijinir lowered her face in front of Gusty’s. The playful look of yesteryear was sparkled in the ancient lizard’s eyes. She waited calmly for the pony’s call to start the festivities. Gusty cast one look at the pile of melons, nearly the size of the grand throne of gold where Ashijinir still partially rested.

“Let the party begin!” Gusty declared to her dragon cohort.

A unison roar rang forth accompanied by breaths of fire and ice. The explosion of different unique colors of dragon breath held her transfixed for a time. The raucous rumble of conversation and munching of fruit overtook her ears. Ashijinir tilted her claw and prompted Gusty and Amethyst to slide down onto the rock below. Her scaly fingers quickly returned. Two of the Foolla Fruit in hand. She set one before the ponies and the other remained in her claw before being bitten by her pillar-like teeth.

“S-so...do I get to eat some of this?” Amethyst shouted her question over the growing festivities.

“Maybe.”

Act 5: Chapter 9 - Secrets

Author's Note

sorry for the long chapter delays. writing the material has proven difficult and time-consuming

Act 5: Chapter 9 - Secrets

“I am under the impression that the most I can do is support the operation. I do not have magic. I do not have strange mystical powers. In fact, I barely know her, and I’m married to her! But...but I must do what I can. Because I adore her, because she is wonderful, because she depends on me to be there no matter what. And that is enough for me.”

-Bunker to Captain Stiff Inspection-

Chapter 9 - Secrets

The worried sleep that had kept Luna collapsed gave way to semi-consciousness. In dismay she rolled over in the bed, her sides sore. Desperately, she kept her eyes pinched shut, clinging to the hope that she could drift back into full unconsciousness. Luna pined for that few extra minutes of sleep. To her dismay, through the distant wall the familiar voice of Guardian Angel rumbled enough to catch her ears and she knew she could no longer return to resting. Her fiance seemed to still be interrogating Nyx, his tone harsh and short even through the walls of the cabins. With a stretch of her back and wings Luna slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bed. Her mind drifted to the comforts of the Palace she had grown accustomed to. How she wished again for the hot baths, the copious volumes of food and her traditional morning banana peel. None of them were readily available here on the Midnight Onyx. But, that was how it had to be.

Heaving a heavy sigh she accepted the losses. As much as Luna missed the conveniences they were not necessary. There was much to do, nutrition and focus were more important than taste and ritual distraction. Thus, she slipped out of the small bed, giving her haunches a light roll as she did. The galley kitchen would suffice and provide an end to her growling stomach and so she made her way to the door of the room. To her great surprise as she opened it two guards turned and looked at her with wide eyes. They turned to face each other for a moment and one of the pair dashed off without a word. He shot towards the stairwell that led to the kitchen and was gone before Luna could even open her mouth. Likewise the remaining guard filled the silence.

“Your Majesty, please,” He started, pausing for a short breath. “Please continue to rest. His Lordship has already had meal plans made and we will be delivering them to you shortly.”

While Luna mostly ignored his statement she could not ignore his positioning. Even as she made a few cautious steps around him, he blocked her.

“I insist.” He took another step to continue to keep her from leaving the room.

Luna rolled her eyes. She did not need to be waited upon. She had just overcome the urge not two seconds before. She gave the guard a cool look. He withered for a moment but returned to being resolute.

“As you wish,” she frowned.

Slowly she ducked back into the room. Even as determined as she was Luna did not possess the energy to argue and make the guards go against her fiance’s orders. Back in the cabin she could still hear Guardian Angel speaking to Nyx. She was beginning to get concerned for him. The stallion had not even considered sleep since Ashijinir had contacted Gusty back in Canterlot three days ago now. The potent headache that she had been retaining for most of yesterday returned and reared its ugly self across her forehead at the thought of Gusty Twilight. Her headache graduated from a general pain across her forehead to a piercing terrible in her temples. Such was the power of the thought of the Queen of Fire and Gusty Twilight being acquaintances. Since she had realized the connection, Luna had been dreading the collective meeting. This was made all the more relevant by the dubious state of the mare’s mind.

The adjacent cabin door creaked as it was roughly opened. Heavy stomping of hooves followed and the door to her cabin opened with the same fervor. Guardian Angel strutted in, a deep scowl etched onto his face. He shut the door behind him with a bang, not looking at her. Finally, after stalking over to the large chair he turned his gaze to her and his grimace turned tired and worn.

“Are you alright?” Luna asked reflexively.

He smiled. His fangs and slitted eyes present he shook his head no, but evidently with a lifted mood thanks to her words alone. Guardian Angel gave a long stretch and sigh from his chair.

“Did you feel anything from Zeccaran while you slept?” he questioned. The beleaguered face he had shown before having disappeared.

She had not, and this time it was Luna’s turn to shake her head. They remained silent for a time. She did not mind. Luna deeply enjoyed Guardian Angel’s presence alone. Somehow, against all odds he managed to be calm and collected and that made her smile. This was stopped by a sudden growl from her stomach.

“Have there been any changes since I fell asleep?” she petitioned for conversation. Even with her comfort with her fiance, she still did not like the idea of her body making undue noises so readily.

“Nothing specific. It seems that the Curse is trying to extract information from Zeccaran.” He paused, his face waxing philosophical. “Or she is trying to kill him. Either way that’s the price we will pay to keep that beast busy.”

“I’d prefer that we intervene before either happens,” Luna admonished.

Before they could discuss more a knock came to the door. Guardian Angel ordered the guests to come inside before she could object. And these guests were Royal Guard, laden with trays and trays of food. To Luna’s surprise, most of these trays were filled with fresh meat. The sight of bloody flesh started to make her gag before she could catch herself. Her discomfort seemed to be lost on her fiance as he immediately snagged a tray and hungrily tore into the meat. Such was his lot. It did not make the pile of pancakes, bananas, peaches, potato fries, orange juice, and coffee that came in piles and pitchers upon two trays appetizing, however. Thus, she stayed still, waiting as their attendants set up a folding table for her, grimacing as Guardian Angel moved onto his next tray with gusto. The guards shared her sentiment. One of them turning green and quickly exiting the room.

The rest of the staff left just as soon as they sat her food before her bed. The little folding table they set up wobbling from their hasty exit. Luna warily watched Guardian Angel as blood splashed up against his face. What type of meat he devoured was not something she cared to think of but it was hard to not wonder as he moved to the third tray.

“So. As you were saying.” He paused to swallow the bite he was chewing as he spoke.

“It would be good to stop this business. And I had an idea. One that you’ve used.” Luna continued. With a bit of bile coming to the back of her throat at the site of him continuing to devour meat she reached for a fork with her telekinesis. Anything to pull her eyes away from Guardian Angel eating like he had never been to etiquette school.

“Do you recall three nights ago, just before Ashijinir made contact with Gusty?” she asked.

“Yes, I do. It was the last time we had any breathing room,” Guardian Angel replied through another mouthful. Luna peeled a banana in the meantime and ate her favorite part, coupled with a bite of pancake. Though it was a bit of a forced exchange. Her appetite has since left her.

“You did something to hurt the Curse that night. And I was wondering if that is something you can reproduce. It certainly gave us a solid day of stability. Up until this business with Zeccaran...which makes me think that maybe if we work together, I can pull him back into this realm with that distraction.” Luna turned her gaze back to her fiance. His eyes narrowed. It was obvious he did not approve of the idea.

“No. It won’t work.” His voice was cold and steady. “ It has already experienced that vulnerability. It won’t leave its guard down this time.”

Luna frowned at Guardian Angel as he padded his bloody face with a towel that apparently had come with his food. He met her eyes for a second and a flicker of anger played across the depths of his pupils and Luna turned back to her food dejectedly.

They sat in silence as she ate. It was a moment’s peace in an otherwise chaotic hell. It felt wonderful to actually share a brief respite alone together. The sweet syrup on her pancakes and the smell of coffee made it almost seem that they were actually a regular couple enjoying a late Saturday morning breakfast. Then the thoughts of the day came back to her.

“We can’t just leave him there.” She could hear the scowl in her own voice.

“We can and we will. Going in to save him is exactly what the Mytsn wants us to do,” he replied with venom.

“You would know wouldn’t you. The two of you are quite alike. It is a wonder that you aren’t actually conspiring together!” Luna hissed back.

She met his eyes as the last word in her accusation exited her mouth. His perfect confidence shattered in an instant. The calm face and relaxed posture transformed into a look of betrayal and hurt that Luna had only seen once before. And just as she was to feel regret for her words the look in his eyes went feral and furious. The air in the room went cold yet her fur and skin felt too hot to wear. An immense amount of angry magical pressure filled the space and she was rendered scared and speechless.

“Don’t you dare compare me to that thing again. I’m not like that. Not anymore and never again!” His voice was quiet as he spoke. But, it was as if he screamed it into her very mind. Luna writhed uncomfortably in the bed.

His fury subsided and he turned his face from her; sparkling light in his eyes as if he was on the verge of tears. Still unable to speak, Luna remained transfixed. She had not meant to strike a nerve. He had not lashed out yer his power alone was frightening enough to make the point. However, just like her own frustration she could feel his, not just with her comment but with the whole situation.

“Damn Curse. It can sit and literally do nothing and still win,” he murmured harshly.

“This is what it wants. It knows that it can sow discord between us just by holding Zeccaran, or anyone for that matter. I should be glad that it did not take Amethyst. Hell, I should be happy that dumb zebra is getting what he deserves but I’m not! It's just so…” His voice broke for a moment as he wiped his eyes. “Every little thing makes this all the more difficult.”

More than anything at the moment, Luna understood how he felt. She was not ready to go in front of the Queen of Fire. She was not ready to pretend everything was fine. She was barely ready to keep watch on Gusty when her turn came this evening. Who was watching now? Luna held the question. Her voice had returned and she had other things to say first.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I should not have said that. It is not true.”

“It’s fine. After all, I am a demon aren’t I? Look how scared i just made you.” He dismissed his own feelings with such cool efficiency that Luna left blinking in disbelief. It made her feel terrible because he had recognized that he made her fearful of his possible actions. Worse, she knew not to be scared, he had, and continued to be, the living action of redemption, he would never hurt her.

Luna slipped out of the bed and strode over to Guardian Angel and his chair. She placed a hoof against his chest. He responded by pulling her off her hooves and into his lap. The chair did not fit them both but his wings served to support her legs and back as he tilted her to match his position in the chair.

“Who is watching Gusty now?” she asked softly. There was no point dwelling on the feelings of remorse. If they moved forward together and forgave each other then they would make it.

“Nyx, actually.” Guardian Angel moved some of her mane out of her face with a hoof. He was much calmer now, his previous confidence returning.

“You trust her?”

“I trust her to not want to die twice.”

“You are so harsh.”

Luna smiled and shook her head. He kissed her before she could kiss him. They shared a tender moment. Stating their regrets and apologies, rocking back and forth together as they did. One thing was certain that if the Curse intended to drive a wedge between them, Guardian Angel would not let it happen. Even if that meant he would get mean and refuse to rescue Zeccaran. Luna could deal with it for now, and they both knew that.

“They have been partying for quite a while now,” He said, starting up a new discussion on the situation.

“Partying? Who is partying?” Luna questioned

“Gusty and Ashijinir.”

Luna’s jaw dropped. There were no words to describe the impossibility of such a claim. She knew it was no lie. Yet, every part of her being wanted to object to such an absurdity. It just went to prove that Gusty truly was the greatest of all anomalies. Luna decided to let it go. It hurt her head too much to try and think about it rationally. A knock came to the door and they both turned to the front of the cabin in confusion. Guardian Angel shrugged and she called for whoever it was to enter.

Pixima Stormwalker walked in, her eyes narrowed and accusatory. Luna slipped off of Guardian Angel sheepishly. Pixie stomped as she walked, not hiding her anger in the least. Her pretty face contorted into a deeply lined scowl.

“It's been over 6 hours since the shift switch. Where is Zeccaran?” she questioned between sharp breaths.

“Locked up, away from you,” Guardian Angel replied without missing a beat. He flopped out of his chair with a loud clop and stood with the two mares calmly.

“Why?” She asked incredulously.

“None of your business, that’s why. It’s on a need to know basis, and you must not know. You’ll only cause trouble if you do. He’s not in any danger. As of yet. And we will keep it that way.” The stallion remained steadfast in his words.

“I know he is in the room next door. I can just break in,” Pixie retorted smartly.

Luna had seen enough of the two siblings argue and jumped in before her fiance could say more. It was best that she practiced a bit of a diplomatic tongue anyway.

“Guardian Angel is being dramatic. Zeccaran is just a little sick. Please, refrain from seeing him. He is not himself,” she said. It was not quite a lie. Pixie’s expression signaled that she seemed to take it for full truth. That was why her words surprised Luna.

“Just tell me the truth,” she hissed to the alicorn.

Luna looked over to her fiance. His face was colored with suspicion and distrust. She knew that Guardian Angel did not trust his sister, especially with Gusty on the line. Frankly, Luna was finally starting to see why: Pixie seemed to only care about what interested her and the success of the operation was not one of them.

“Luna said it best. Zeccaran is not himself. No matter what he’ll go back to normal with time. How long that will be is unknown. He’s locked up for everypony’s safety, including yours, okay?” Guardian Angel stated.

His reasoning was hopefully the actual reason Nyx was locked in Gusty’s cabin. Luna had yet to ask what the plan was for the super-imposed ghastly creature within the zebra’s body. All she knew was that somehow Guardian Angel had convinced Nyx to use Zeccaran’s magic to observe Gusty’s mind.

“Alright. But, I don’t like it.” Pixie responded slowly. She turned around and left as quickly as she had come.

“I’m going to triple the guards outside the cabin.” Her fiance said the instant the door was closed.

“I think that is a good idea. I have to figure out how to approach this party in the meantime.”

Guardian Angel nodded and departed leaving her alone in the cabin. Luna heaved a sigh. It was back to business as usual.

=======================================

The cabin was silent over the soft sounds of Zeccaran’s body breathing. The stallion that resided in the room with the resident possessed corpse stared out the window set that looked out over the jungles of the dragons’ isle. His shoulders hurt from the sheer stress he felt. That feeling paled in comparison to what he would have given for a day that he could call regular: which was anything. Bunker turned his gaze back to his prisoner. He had heard the voice that had exited the zebra’s lips, he had seen the eyes. They were not his friend’s. He shuddered with disgust and dismay.

But who could blame him for his sour mood? His other friend had spent the better part of an hour berating the beast within Zeccaran’s flesh to behave. For Stormwalker to personally come and chastise something was a signal that this little adventure Zeccaran had been taken on was not one of relaxation. What ate at him more than anything else was that he could do no more. Even though his pegasus companion had requested him to keep watching the cabin as the last line of defense between hell and what have you, he felt useless. What was he supposed to do if something was capable of slipping past all the guards or worse defeating them all in combat. He was beginning to think that Stormwalker thought him a much finer warrior than he was.

Bunker heaved a long sigh and momentarily watched a set of large and colorful birds take wing over the canopy of trees. They were pretty things and held his attention for the moment. However, his momentary distraction was not enough to make him unable to notice the sudden pressure of magic behind him.

Spinning about quickly, Bunker witnessed a most peculiar site. A snap-hiss of a teleportation spell sounded and with a flash of light appeared Princess Luna. He balked in confusion. There was positively no reason that the alicorn needed to teleport into the room. The guards would have let her pass. She was not on the restricted list. Not even close.

“Princess of the Moon,” he quipped her title like he usually did. “What is with such a display? You know that your fiance does not want any magic being used frivolously at the moment.”

Before Luna could answer the hum of static and beeping prickled his left ear. He instinctively twitched it. The exterior guard lieutenant hailed him over the communication earpiece. Luna took notice of his twitchy ear and even more of his fast moving hoof. He pressed the answer button.

“We just saw a flash and have magic cast indicators flashing. What’s going on in there, Bunker?” The posh voice of the lieutenant asked into his ear.

“Princess Luna just teleported into the room,” he replied. He watched the mare and gave her a roll of his eyes. An exception could easily be made for her. After all, she was one of the Dream Watchers, it was important she have easy access to one of her squadmates.

“Can we see her? Have her walk up to the window,” came the soldier's voice again.

“They want to confirm it's you, go up to the window,” he told her.

“Of course. How silly of me, I forgot about the magic rule. I did not sleep well.” She started to stroll up towards the glass as she spoke.

Curiously, she wore a pendant that Bunker had never seen before. She also carried a bag that he had seen somewhere before, but not within Luna’s possession. Puzzled, the stallion stood still and picked his own brain. He watched in thought as she placed the bag down on the floor and flipped her mane back. The sun caught her features, making her teal eyes sparkle with the sort of luster Bunker would usually attribute to Gusty’s fur instead.

“Alright, that checks out. Boss says that it doesn’t matter if she did that. She’s good to teleport back out.” The reply came finally after a few extra seconds of waiting.

Bunker nodded up to the cloud where he knew the lieutenant hid with a pair of binoculars. A glint of light sparked twice from the position. It was a silent confirmation, but necessary nonetheless. He turned to Luna still thinking over where he had seen the bag.

“Come to visit the flesh-prison, Princess?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” Luna’s face twisted into confusion.

“Sorry, that was a bad joke.”

The Princess nodded plainly and hopped over towards Zeccaran. She seemed to lack her usual careful grace, then again with the severity of the times perhaps being momentarily taken by whimsy was not so bad. Bunker watched her curiously his mind finally snapping to a realization. The bag belonged to Zeccaran. It had been one of the items the zebra had brought onto the Midnight Onyx. But why did the Princess have it now?

“Has he had any trouble dreamwalking?” Luna asked. Her voice seemed cautious as if she was picking her words carefully. This simply added to Bunker’s growing suspicions. Not to mention the question was too broad to be one Luna would even ask

“No problems as far as I can tell,” he lied.

The faux-zebra had repeatedly complained about the issues with casting the appropriate magic. Bunker had stood in this room and heard it said in front of Guardian Angel. The same stallion who would have told Luna such a report. Something was not right but he could not put his hoof on it. There were too many simple explanations to accuse a Royal Pony of being an imposter.

Meanwhile, the Princess rummaged through her pilfered bag with a wing. As she did a sudden and sharp beeping made him reach up and smack his MIC out of his ear. He knew the sound, it was the special warning hail that signified a low power crystal. The MIC tumbled down to the ground where its high-pitched whine could be heard in the room. It drew Luna’s attention as well. She looked at the device on the floor with concern then up at Bunker.

“I have a few replacements from Zeccaran’s personal stash in here.” She motioned at the bag. “You’d have to calibrate it though.”

“That’s easy. I’d have to do that even if you recharged that one. I’ll take it, please,” he replied in kind.

It was a bit convenient that Luna had acquired the bag and the equipment but perhaps the moony mare had simply been preparing the material for when she was to leave and visit the Queen of Dragons. It was an excellent piece of equipment after all. The Princess reached into the bag with her mouth and produced a new MIC and gave it a toss instead of using her telekinesis. Bunker caught it and went about putting it on. He slipped the earpiece in and undid and placed the forehead band that kept the gear in place.

Once it was there Bunker blinked. His head felt strange. It was like he had taken several large shots of whiskey in quick succession and his perceptions were just starting to tilt into drunkenness. He fought the sensation. There was no reason for him to be feeling the way he did and he needed to be hyper attentive. If something was to happen to Zeccaran’s body Gusty and Guardian Angel would probably be quite cross with him. Focusing, Bunker reached up to the device again and turned it on, he then sent the broad hail with a push of a different button. Still the feeling did not pass. He cast a glance at Princess Luna who stood watching him closely. However, when he looked at her the sensation passed.

“Feeling okay?” She questioned with a smile.

“Yes, whatever it was has passed. Is there anything you need Princess?” Bunker asked back.

“Just keep watch at that window and pay no attention to me or anything out of the ordinary you may hear. And let the lieutenant know that your MIC suddenly lost charge and I recharged it for you.” Luna smiled widely with a sort of strange satisfaction he did not recognize as hers.

“Of course.” Bunker thought it odd that he was accepting Luna’s advice to lie but he did not think of much else.

The attending officer hailed the stallion as was required to re-link the device. He turned away from the Princess and forgot she was there. In fact Bunker could not even remember the last few moments. Not that he minded. It was like a great weight had been lifted off of his back and that was enough for him. He told his officer what he was told to say and only received general resigned acceptance of the fact. It seemed so quiet in the room now, but that was good. Bunker liked it quiet.

Behind him, far from the eyes that looked into the windows, Luna reached up to her pendant and pulled it off. A small whoosh murmured in the room and Bunker did not notice, just like he was not supposed to. The image of the Princess of the Moon disappeared and was replaced by the real pony that had worn the magic pendant. Pixie Stormwalker grinned slyly to herself. While it was a rather egregious waste of her resources to impersonate a Royal and infiltrate a locked chamber, she considered it worth it.

Of course the only reason it worked out in the end was the enchanted items she used. A little illusion magic on a pendant, a potent bit of persuasion magic on the MIC she had given Bunker, and a stored teleport spell. The most important however, was something of her own invention. A small device she liked to call the M.E.W.T.(Magic Erasing Wave Transmitter). She had activated the machine when she had fiddled in the bag right in front of Bunker. The results had been perfect, only disrupting the magic in the room and not the detection spells outside of it. Pixie was quite proud of herself for it and could not wait to show off the device to Zeccaran now that she was sure it worked.

In the end everything had gone according to her improvised plan. No one would be the wiser for at least half a day. The only issue Pixie could perceive was that Bunker had told exterior guards who had then told her brother that Luna had teleported into the room. The guise had been necessary to ensure whatever interior security was fooled. Pixie was happy that she had taken the precaution. Perhaps even happier that she had managed to smuggle the equipment on board without getting it confiscated by her elder brother. However, Luna’s sudden appearance in the room was something that Guardian Angel was sure to ask his fiance about. Especially because it broke the recently enforced orders on frivolous and extraneous use of magic on the Midnight Onyx. Still, the quickest he could likely put the information together would be about an hour, probably right about the time the actual Luna was leaving to go speak with the dragons. That gave her time to get the information she wanted out of Zeccaran. Whatever that information that was, remained to be seen.

Without another moment’s pause Pixie hopped over to her boyfriend and looked him over. He sat on a small chair, his body leaned into one of the corners. She did not bother to wake him. He lay in magical sleep doing his duty to monitor Gusty Twilight. Pixie did not dare interrupt such endeavors no matter how badly she wanted to know what Zeccaran had to say. There was no reason to put the two of them in danger by alerting Guardian Angel prematurely. So she waited.

Finally, after a long set of minutes a sharp bell rang. It came from a manual alarm clock that sat just behind Zeccaran’s chair on a shelf. Pixie did not move as Bunker turned around and observed them. As instructed he made no issue with her presence, not so much as looking at her. He walked over and turned the alarm off watching Zeccaran as he came around. The zebra slowly woke up, blinking his eyes rapidly and not focusing on the world around them. Bunker dutifully reported that Zeccaran was awake and on break. The stallion returned to the window and stood there silently. Pixie waited eagerly for her boyfriend to realize she was in the room.

“Zec!” she whispered excitedly to him.

His eyes snapped to her, his pupils dilating. Pixie bit her own lip before instantly pressing her lips into his. He tried to return the gesture but his mouth mostly flailed about uselessly. She released him only to find his face colored with fear and confusion.

“Zec-” She looked him over just to be sure, “-what’s the matter?”

“N-nothing...I just uh...um…” Her boyfriend trailed off his eyes looking around the room worriedly.

He called out to Bunker who did not turn around. Pixie quickly shushed him with a wing, grimacing in sad betrayal. It would seem that Luna’s words were true. He clearly was not feeling himself. He was at least safe and not in the danger she had thought him to be in. She caught his eyes and he froze. Almost imperceptibly she saw a flicker of topaz color the inner ring of his purple irises. With it came a strange feeling, a feeling that the eyes she looked at were not her lovers. It made her mind spin, made her question even the feeling of the fur on the frog of her hoof. Whatever was going on she knew it was beyond her control and that sent shivers up and down her spine. Pixie loathed being unable to affect her fate. And now, perhaps for the first time ever, she felt her chest ache far worse for the fate of another. Gritting her teeth she fought the urge to spit, to scream, to fight. She deeply despised the idea of Zeccaran’s safety being out of her control. However, freaking out right now while she was compromised was not in her or her boyfriend’s interest. What was important was finding out as much as she could from whoever this imposter was in front of her.

“You are not Zeccaran. Who are you?” She seethed quietly.

“Uh..I’m uh…” the zebra stammered futilely.

Pixie raised her hoof and slammed it into the imposter’s chest. The body of her boyfriend yelped in pain like he would but somehow managed to sound wrong as if it did not know what it was supposed to feel when harmed. In her subconscious she could feel her mind flay from the stress. The feeling of total juxtaposition of her entire life was crushing her. She felt as if she was leaning over the edge of a cliff with no wings.

“Who. Are. You.” Pixie twisted her face into a wicked smile.

“I-I’m Nyx.”

The smile turned into a scowl. That answer made no sense. In a flurry her mind raced through answers. None of them were right and she knew it. What was more she was both furious at and impressed with her brother’s ability to convince so many ponies close to her, including Zeccaran, to keep secrets from her. If things were ever to return to normal for her, studying her elder sibling’s ability to manipulate would be the first thing she did. There were still more questions.

“The Nyx?”

The faux-zebra nodded warily. It looked as if it was ready to scream for help actively. However, Pixie kept its attention on her alone and not on any thoughts of escape or help.

“So...barring all the other questions like: ‘how did you survive getting eaten?’ and ‘why are you in my boyfriend?’ or other things like that…..how about:” Pixie shuddered with each extra breath she took before continuing, “Where is Zeccaran?”

For a brief moment Nyx’s face waxed thoughtful. It returned to its confused and frightened state quickly. Pixie needed this information. Somehow, she suspected the monster impersonating her lover knew that. It made her even more frayed than before.

“Well...well he’s trapped inside Gusty’s mind,” it answered.

“Dreamwalking complication I assume? What else don’t I know?” She hissed back at the paltry imitation of the beast that was supposed to be the Mistress of Fear.

Nyx visibly weighed her options. Pixie made it abundantly clear that the only thing Nyx had to fear right now was her. She slapped the creature across the face. This time, it understood that what was done hurt. Though it did not cry out, comprehension dawned on the faux-zebra’s features. It vacantly reached up and rubbed the place where she had struck it.

“There...there are too many details to relay efficiently,” Nyx mumbled dejectedly.

“Enlighten me. We only have limited time before my brother catches me.” Pixie leaned up close, pressing her nose into the creature.

Nyx kept it short and simple. She spoke of the quick details, the core of the principle of what was happening. Pixie had her repeat it. She did not believe her ears. She could not comprehend the process, the danger, the insolence. Once she heard it for the second time she leaned back away from the creature that inhabited her Zeccaran’s body. Her mind ground to halt. There were only more questions. More worry, and more depravity reared their beautiful heads in her mind’s eye. She turned a twisted and unsettled grin back to Nyx. Vacantly, she could feel her sense of the world start to come apart. That did not matter, not quite yet. Still, she wanted to make sure she understood what she had been told.

“So. Let me rehearse this for you. My brother, my soon to be sister-in-law, my best friend, and my boyfriend, have all been successfully keeping from me, the information-” Pixie paused to draw a calming breath. It did not work. “-the information that Gusty has an interdimensional monster, not unlike you once were, inside her mind.”

Nyx nodded.

“And on top of that. Zeccaran, my boyfriend, you know, my one thing I have going for me right now, not only was in on the secret, but he is now trapped inside Gusty’s mind with that unspeakable horror and no one was going to tell me about it. Aaaand no one is going to rescue him.”

“That is correct.”

Pixie looked directly into Nyx’s eyes. The creature withered. That was the right description. Creature, abomination, usurper: Stealer of her lover and latchkey accomplice. Her mind flashed to her brother, how dare he destroy all her work and act lazy about it! How dare he pretend she was insignificant compared to this! The betrayal, the hurt, the insecurity, the inability to control and analyze the situation, it all came crashing down onto Pixie in one fell swoop. She grit her teeth again preventing her from screaming as her mind moved from a flurry into a blizzard. This was not it, this was not the end of her control, not just yet, she refused to give in. The urge to lash out grew closer than before, but things still did not add up, there was still more to analyze.

Zeccaran would not willingly keep a secret from her unless Guardian Angel was involved. That was a certainty as surely as Celestia and Luna would raise the sun and moon. Likewise, her boyfriend had told her much of how the process of Dreamwalking worked, and what Nyx had told her backed that up.

“You seem troubled,” the faux-zebra said as she sat there contemplating whether or not to freak out.

“Quiet. I’m trying to figure out how this all fits together and how it all works!” she growled at the creature.

“You know I feel the same way. Like I’ve had this dryness in the back of my mouth? Throat? And my abdomen kind of hurts and it's been making noises…”

Biting her tongue and drawing blood she narrowly avoided falling into a fit of rage at having Nyx describe hunger. Pixie hissed a vicious breath through her clenched and now blood-stained teeth. She forced herself to take a few breaths, making sure they were even and reasonable. Her veins pumped fervently like the ichor within them was boiling. Unfortunately, the attempt at calming herself did nothing. She continued to seethe as Nyx looked at her with more and more concern, probably unaware that she portrayed emotion at all on Zeccaran’s face.

“Something that I need to know, you freak of nature, is how Zeccaran got stuck, and why no one is going to get him, right now, something I would believe is in everypony’s best interest,” Pixie made it more of a statement than a question. Which it was of course. She needed to know, desperately deep within her heart of hearts. Because if there was even the slightest chance she could regain some semblance of control it would hinge on Nyx’s next words.

“Y-your b-b-brother.” The beast swallowed hard after stuttering words that made Pixie’s hot blood go cold.

“Your brother thinks that the Curse is trying to bait us. Bait us into making the attempt. His hypothesis is that if Luna and I, and possibly himself, tried to reach the portion of Gusty’s mind we have the Curse trapped in, where it is holding Zeccaran, it will take the opportunity to break free. A-and if it does that, it gains control of Gusty.”

“And that would take an alicorn level of threat up to a full blown world ending event,” Pixie finished the thought and Nyx nodded in agreement.

Anxiety took her in that moment. She could feel the tears welling up on her face. Shaking, she tried to think of anything that could help her anything but going to her brother. There was nothing. She tried again, and like a calculator she quickly returned the same answer in her head. Frustration and fury took her and Pixie no longer held in her hurt, her anger, and her fear. From her lips rose at a booming bellow that seemed to echo around the room and then out of it. Bunker did not move just as he was to remain making Nyx look between them in apprehension. Pixie snarled at the usurper of her beloved’s body and stomped about the room. She needed more time, she needed to try again. There had to be another way.

Outside the cabin she could hear guards realizing that she was inside. She no longer cared. It no longer mattered. Hastily, she went about collecting her equipment, even the special MIC she had given Bunker. As soon as everything was in the bag she burst out of the room. The guards all stood with their spears ready, her brother stood in their center. He cocked his head at her but did not move to stop her as she marched past. The ponies attending him did the same and she easily returned to her cabin, the cursed cabin that smelled like Zeccaran and slammed the door shut behind her. The lock latched with the force of the vicious shutting. Determined beyond all things, Pixie opened books and notes and scratch paper in the cabin, writing out logic trains and the situation many times. It was the only thing holding her together now.

Knocking followed and calls for her name too. Pixie ignored them. She was far too engrossed in figuring out her plan, something, anything, for her to do to get Zeccaran back.

Outside the room, Guardian Angel and a pair of his soldiers stood silently. All of them could hear the younger Stormwalker muttering loudly to herself. With a grim face the leading stallion let his wing lose some of its form and he pushed it into the lock. Just like the door to the lab that his sister and Zeccaran used he let his unnatural body pick the lock. He jerked his head, motioning for one of his attendants to peak inside. The soldier did so without hesitation. After a few long moments he turned and faced Guardian Angel again. His face was pale and his eyes wide with fear.

“Seems like everything is fine!” he barked unevenly.

Guardian Angel did not need his psychic abilities to tell the pony was lying. However, with the briefest venture he felt, more that heard, the stallion’s apprehension and disturbance. Images of papers stuck to walls, flashed across is his mind’s eye. More than anything the manic look locked into his sister’s eyes was the most telling. Everything was not fine. Guardian Angel grimaced. He had warned her she was not supposed to know, but since when had Pixie ever listened to him?

“I’m going to go patrol the forward cargo hold!” the same soldier from before yelled. He yelled more to himself than anypony else if those present were being honest.

“There’s no patrols scheduled there though…” the more fortunate of the two said.

“There is now!” proclaimed the first fellow.

He dashed off leaving the demon-stallion to tell his cohort to follow the pony who had left. Alone, Guardian Angel stood outside his sister’s cabin for a time. He debated if defusing this particular bomb at this particular moment was best. Not to mention figuring out how she had managed to infiltrate the room and fool Bunker. Just before he made his decision a sudden piercing pain hit his head. What came with it were the wails of a weak and foolish zebra that was finally getting the punishment he deserved. The Curse had made its move. The bait was Zeccaran and it was going to make him deal with the stallion’s screams, just so he could worry about what it planned to do with them. Evidently Gusty was too drunk to notice. Something told Guardian Angel that was why the Curse acted now.

Fettered by the experience, he struggled to leave the cabin area. However, though his progress was slow, he made his way to the very front of the Midnight Onyx’s prow. There he stood. Torn between reveling in Zeccaran’s well-deserved fate, and worrying over what the Curse had in store for them next and the loss of his second most important Dreamwalking asset. The sun set as he remained there unaware of what more happened in Pixie’s cabin.

In that small room, the younger Stormwalker plotted fervently. She had not felt this way ever, but in a way it was liberating. Her mind flew through ideas both good and bad, faster than ever before. The room tasted funny and her dilapidated state was palpable even to her. Her papers became scattered and the walls were stained with pen, pencil, paint, and marker. Nothing and everything worked, nothing and everything failed. Again and again she tried to find other options, other ways. In the end there was not a way out of the situation. Still she tried again, hours passing as the chime of the room’s clock banged angrily in the background of her mind.

Eventually she found herself laying on the floor sobbing. This was her breaking point, her very core shattering. She had relied on luck, she had planned on controversy. Pixie even had let things outside of her control play out. She was never surprised. She liked it that way. She needed it that way. That was what made this moment antithetical to her very existence. Her muscles pulsed, contracting and twitching on their own. Pixie looked around the room, her blurry eyes seeing things that were not there. None of it mattered beyond the overwhelming fear she had now. Her game had been upended and she could scarce stomach the consequences of following through. Because the one critical issue with her quandary was who this all relied on.

She already knew his answer. She knew how it would play out. But no matter what happened she had to play this part. For herself, for Zeccaran. That was the only thing that mattered now. That determination to set things right urged her to stand. Her mind’s demand for normalcy, for extricating the situation from her brother’s control a paramount endeavor. She desired above all, freedom from this circumstance. Thus, she moved, fleeting out of her cabin and around the ship.

Pixie searched the Onyx. After what felt like an extra hour of walking around the vessel she found her brother. Out on the deck, near the furthest point of the bow, he waited alone. When she reached him Pixie realized he stood wide-eyed and vacant. His face was pale and his eyes locked on another place. With the two of them completely alone emotion and instinct took her.

Pixie reared up on her hindlegs and punched him with all her might. She might not be as strong as him but she was much stronger than the average pony. However, she could feel the blow crack her hoof as it ricocheted off of his face. It was like she had punched a mountain. Fortunately, Pixie did not notice the pain. The only pain she could feel right now was the hurt in her heart.

Guardian Angel’s eyes snapped to focus and as he looked at her the glow of the ship’s lights made the sweat shine on his face and neck.

“Fix this! Fix this, please!” she shouted over distant sounds of happy dragon roars.

Guardian Angel did not respond as she stood before him. Pixie shuddered, barely able to hold herself together. His face flashed with rage making some of the sweat on his brow steam off as his fangs grew long and his eyes turned red. Then, he groaned in pain for a moment, his look becoming unfocused. It was not her that had hurt him, it was something else. She pondered what it could be, the possible answers only making her even more upset. Finally, when he looked up again and met her eyes, his gaze looked into her soul. The red color of their ancestors’ bloody irises reflected her face and Pixie became transfixed as he spoke.

“So. This is what does it for you, huh? Zeccaran is what makes you lose it?” He questioned softly.

“Yes. In the game of chess I've been playing by myself he’s the most important piece.” Pixie was hit with the gravity of what she was saying. She truly had gone beyond her comfort zone, beyond all logic.

“It’s him, I know, but yes. I need him I-I-I...I can’t do this without him,” she stammered.

The softness of her voice caused the quiet of the deck to reach her ears. None of the ponies under her sibling’s command came to them. It was as if it was meant to be this way. Idly, Pixie judged the height of the moon, noticing it was mid-evening and realizing how much time had passed since she had been in the cabin. That was a distraction and she let it go. Defiantly, she returned her gaze to Guardian Angel and strengthened her stance before her brother, tears on her eyes, feeling supremely not herself. This adversity was not one she had overcome not by any means. So when Guardian Angel snarled and his face waxed angry she suddenly was gripped by fear and loss like never before. Like it was years ago when she was young, like she had just finally understood what it meant to carry Shadow-kin blood, only much, much worse.

“You are only giving me more reasons to leave him in there. Even if we somehow keep Gusty safe,” He snarked and snarled.

“Please. Please help me,” she pleaded angrily. Her pride was more than bruised, but Zeccaran mattered that much to her.

For a moment or two, her brother’s eyes unfocused again. His breathing quickened and his face grew pale. Pixie stared at him with concern, even moving a hoof in front of his face.

“What the hell is going on?” she asked. Guardian Angel came back to her as she spoke. He gave his head a shake.

“The Mytsn is having her way with your boyfriend,” he replied quietly.

A fury boiled suddenly inside Pixie that she could not control. She reared up to punch him again but was stopped as he batted her hooves away with little effort. With speed that she could not see, only feel, her back hooves were knocked in the air and she was forced to her rump.

“You said he was safe! You vile, inbred monster! You fucking liar!” She hissed at her brother.

“I said he was safe, As. Of. Yet. Besides, it's not like this is going to mess him up anymore than he already is.” His nonchalant dismissal made her even more upset.

Pixie blathered out more insults. She could not hardly tell what she was saying. Her mind, her soul, had been worked into such a frenzy that she let them fly. She stood up again trying to punch him once more.

“Enough!” He boomed.

The deck shook beneath her hooves. Then she felt it: the magic pressure. She had never truly felt what her brother could do. His mane and wings burst into flame, and his anger and hate glowed in his eyes like the brightness of the sun. Pixie could feel only terror in her heart, making her freeze. She had never even been playing a game against him and yet suddenly she felt like she had lost. She knew his powers, but never experienced them, not like this. It made shivers run all over her body, like frozen wind constantly beating against her. However, as soon as he made his outburst did his anger disappear. His face suddenly went sad, a comprehension that made his brow heavy accompanying the melancholy that danced in his eyes. Slowly, he released a long sigh, from deep within his chest.

“You have no idea how truly I understand how you feel. From the deepest part of me, my absolute core, do I understand your feelings right now. Not for Zeccaran, of course. But…yeah,” He said. His voice was colored with a sadness she had never heard come from him. Uneasy, Pixie waited for him to continue. “Still…”

“I can’t have you get in the way right now.”

The world spun and Pixie could not focus. Had he hit her? Had she simply collapsed? Was it both? What was so sharp on her neck? Why did his voice hurt her head when he spoke? She did not know.

“You will give me two days. Then you can have two weeks, hell, two months! Freak out as much as you like then. But, until then, dear sister...you’ll be staying in your cabin.”

His voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Pixie looked up at him from where she lay on the deck. Then she was hoisted up roughly and carried off. She did not care. It did not matter. She was bound to his will now. She just needed Zeccaran back, she needed some type of release. She was tossed into her piles of paper and she skidded across the blurry room and her notes. Pixie waited there, broken. She waited until someone finally came to visit. Unfamiliar eyes on her favorite face. With a twisted grin, she knew how she could survive the next two days. There would be plenty of entertainment. And even thought she knew it all would be lies, it still felt better than her brother’s lies.

Act 5: Chapter 10 - Descent

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Act 5: Chapter 11 - The Shadows Lengthen

Author's Note

Hello. Sorry for the long delay. Life really tried to get me last November...and December...and January. ANYWAY.
So there have been lots of writing and re-writing and I am going to be slowly publishing the rest of the story to its completion slowly over the next month or so. Enjoy!

Act 5: Chapter 11 - The Shadows Lengthen

Chapter 11 - The Shadows Lengthen

Gusty awoke calmly. She did not remember how she got into her cabin but that was not a particularly big concern. Something told her that Luna had brought her back. It was a distant and unimportant memory. Just like the screams of Zeccaran or the pain she had felt come from Guardian Angel. Oh, how she felt so good!

Sitting up in bed, she cautiously reached for the edge. Amethyst had been curled up next to her when she woke and it was best to keep the filly asleep. There was no sense in frightening anyone, no need to upset her suitors and friends. The only thing that mattered was reveling in the feeling of no voices, of completeness. Once all hooves were on the floor Gusty stretched like a cat, relishing the sound of her ankles and vertebrae popping. Her body felt amazing. It was as if all of her pain and worries had been turned into pleasures and assurances. A clearing of a throat nearly caused her to jump.

“Are you feeling alright?” Bunker asked her. He sat in a nearby chair, his face concerned.

Gusty trotted over to him and got close to his face. Her husband blushed as her muzzle touched his. She nuzzled into his face as she pushed her snout up to his ear.

“I feel great,” she whispered. The heat on Bunker’s face only increased.

Before he could react Gusty slipped back and plunged her lips into his. Her body pulsed with new feelings of ecstacy. Is this what she had been missing? She could not tell. All that mattered that she was whole, there was nothing else.

“I figured you would be hungover,” Bunker finally managed to comment when she pulled away for breath. Gusty did not hold back, and she forced their lips to meet again.

However, as they parted the second time he stopped her advance with a hoof. He looked at her curiously, his blush having faded from his burgundy cheeks. They met eyes, and for the briefest of moments, Bunker gazed on at her in wonder. Then as if a new spark of recognition was lit deep within him, his brow furrowed down and his smile and vacant awe disappeared behind a scowl.

“You are not yourself,” he stated as he rose. Gusty let him.

He was wrong of course. She was more herself than she ever had been. Although it did prove that he was quite the smart little pawn. Gusty had always liked that about Bunker. She gave him a playful chuckle and left the cabin in search of food. Her husband would be far too busy ensuring Amethyst’s safety or trying to warn Guardian Angel of the events. It was too late. She was already too comfortable.

The ship bustled with ponies. The cabins’ hallway was populated with a large group of unicorns that were slowly being ushered into Guardian Angel and Luna’s cabin. They were probably there to attend to the wayward princess. Gusty doubted that the Mistress of the Night would be bothering her again any time soon. Served her right for having been digging around in her head where she did not belong.

Turning away she ventured towards the stairs down into the stateroom below. A few of the guards waved to her pleasantly. Gusty returned the gestures with a giddy smile. Everything felt perfect. Moving on, she followed her nose. The mess hall was deeper in the vessel and she quickly slipped into it. The greasy hiss of frying hay and potatoes made her mouth water before she could even get through the door.

She was not disabled by the smell of the food, however. The cafeteria style eatery was easy to navigate and with a quick bit of telekinesis a tray was in her company. She joined the small line of ponies that were grabbing food. They passed through together as the kitchen staff was quite speedy in their placement of food onto the tray. The aroma was divine and she quickly found a table to sit alone. Gusty was pleased to tuck into the food. It was like she had never properly experienced eating until now. The ponies around her slowly took notice of her presence. And possibly the flakes of flying food that were able to escape her hunger. Several of the stallions watched on, not bothering to hide their wandering eyes. She surmised it was her new confidence, her cozy demeanor.

To her surprise however, no pony approached her. Even as she waved and beckoned them closer, the soldiers stayed at bay. A thin earther nodded kindly at her and started the usual slow small talk a thirsty stallion might from across the room. His heart was not in it. If Gusty was to stop and think about it, the ponies in the mess had probably been ordered to watch her. Either way, Gusty sucked up the attention as voraciously as she had her food. Of course it was all a ploy, a mere appetizer. The main course slowly approached from above. His intent was too easy to read and too fun to stop. This must be like how he felt all the time, so in control!

Guardian Angel entered the mess and Gusty looked right at him. His face was calm, almost serene. He met her eyes. Fire rushed to her cheeks and her nethers. No longer inhibited by such things as scruples or restraint she could show him how she felt. The group of ponies that had held her attention realized what had drawn her gaze. They all looked at him and then back to her. Watching in wonder, the alicorn’s breath caught in her throat.

The slight possibility of something truly devious wormed its way into Gusty’s skull and she nearly squealed with delight. She had not considered it since he had botched the reveal a month before. Her mind raced as he approached, time seeming to slow. It had been a test. A production, a plot, a performance of his ability to deceive, and her ability to recognize what he desired. Gusty had understood his intent at the time, but had not connected the dots because of Luna’s reaction. Thus it was not until this very moment when she could feel his longing in full force. He wanted her.

“Hey,” she called out to him softly.

His pupils dilated like mad and his nostrils flared. He recognized her call. She could hardly believe it was possible. It should have been impossible, but here he stood, his feelings on full display, their minds nearly melding into one. Gusty swooned gently with a hum.

“Hey,” he replied with equal tenderness.

The crowd around them seemed to suddenly lose their cheerful demeanor. That did not matter. It was probably wise to stay out of Guardian Angel’s way. Getting between a Shadow-kin and what he desired tended to have deadly results.

One of his silken wings rolled over back. It took her everything to not openly moan like a whore. Gusty bit her bottom lip and caught his gaze.

“Let’s go somewhere more private,” she murmured. He silently agreed.

His mind seemed to press itself into hers. There was no mistaking his intention. This was for pleasure and release. To calm himself, to calm her too, Gusty could not wait. She let Guardian Angel take the lead pulling her along with his jaunty pace and his scent. It was finally happening. A door opened, he ushered her into a room. The musty smell of cured meats and old grain hit her nose and she nearly prostrated herself then and there.

His hooves pushed her up onto a series of wide barrels. Their breaths were heavy and rapid. Their eyes betraying their intentions. He leaned his face closer to hers and her eyes fluttered closed, his entire essence overwhelming her. It was as she imagined it time and time again.

Then the passion suddenly vanished. Air caught in her throat and snapped her eyes open. It was like she had been transported into a dark dungeon. A terrible presence pressed its power into her mind. Desperately she tugged at the ropes at her throat, finding them disturbingly warm. Whatever grasped her and made her vision blurry was flesh. In an instant she fired up her horn to try and free herself. To her horror the magic did not come. She could feel the ache of suppressed power pounding in her skull as a response to being called but being unable to be released.

“I am surprised you can feel pain and fear, Mytsn.” Guardian Angel’s boomed as if he spoke on a loudspeaker. His grip on her neck tightened, but afforded her just enough room to remain conscious.

She was hurt that he would call her by the cursed name of her affliction. Did he not understand what had happened? Was he truly throwing away this chance?

“You are a fool to think I would make an exception for you just because you wear Gusty’s skin,” he hissed with a deep fury.

His face appeared before her. She gasped. He was no longer beautiful. His anger, his very thoughts nearly writing words upon his flesh as scars and fire. His terrible will seemed to permeate the air that just narrowly seeped into her lungs. She knew that her hopes had died. He would never accept her as she was. He wanted her weak and free from the chains of his ancestors. Gusty could not fathom why, she was perfect for him now. There was nothing stopping them from becoming one, from making all the dreams of the Masters come true. They were the most powerful of Alicorns and the most powerful of Shadow-kin, their descendents would be gods. The world would fall under their sway forever, untouchable by the mortal ponies, the griffons, even the dragons. That was the endgame, yet he was throwing it all away.

“You are the fool!” she gasped over the noose on her neck.

Righteous fury built in her chest. He had betrayed his family. He had forgotten his purpose. He had misled her. He had ruined her. She would have her vengeance for it. Then she would do as she was designed to do. The Masters’ work must be completed.

A terrible pain overcame her senses just as she welled-up the will to summon the magic necessary to escape his grasp. It felt like her whole body had been dipped into lava. Everything burned. Her soul cried for mercy. She could not stop it. She did not want to be destroyed without purpose. She could not bear the thought. The sheer desperation of her mind allowed her to cling on to her life. It felt as if her very soul was being ripped out.

Then, like it had never happened, the suffering ceased. Around her grew a familiar dull grey light and she was alone. The empty expanse of darkness around her little dias slowly faded away and the store room came into view. The Usurper stood there his eyes aflame with a cruelty and hatred she did not know he had within him.

“Get off my ship before I decide Amethyst can handle seeing her mother’s corpse first thing in the morning.” He turned away, expecting her to follow his orders.

When Gusty tried to stand it suddenly felt like the weight of ten Ashijinirs had found their way onto her back. However, after a moment she managed to struggle to her hooves. It was only then she realized the gravity of what had happened. She could not feel his thoughts. Instead of the usual warmth that populated her mind and gave her balance she could only feel cold. A deep penetrating ice that lanced into her chest. He had done it again. Their minds were separate, but this time, she knew it was permanent. Tears came to her eyes but they were not sad tears. No, the saltwater that ran down her cheeks were those of fury. The ice in her heart melted and was replaced by angry fire.

She fired her horn. A flash, a crack, and a dazzle and she was no longer on the Onyx. Gusty let her mind take her where it will. There was no reason to choose a specific point. The first image that appeared in her mind was the entrance to the cave that led to Ashijinir. All of this happened in the same instant of her teleportation spell and when she opened her eyes, angry tears still flying down her face, that was where she stood.

“If he wants a fight, then I’ll give it to him,” she huffed. “He could have used this body as he wished and we all could have been happy. Brazen, jealous, fool!”

Stomping into the long cave, she tried to regain her bearings. The happy fuzzy feelings from before had been replaced by pragmatic calculations. If Guardian Angel would not take her as she was, if he would not do as he was designed, then she, Gusty Twilight would fulfill the fate set before the stallion. There was no avoiding it. Not since the day she met him could have this been forestalled. The instant their minds had touched the magics that had restricted her ascension had begun deteriorating. This was the end result. All the posturing and crying about wanting to remain her old self were lies. It was always such a shame that only Guardian Angel had known. He had even tried to show her that they did not have to be lies. It was too late for such thoughts now, however.

She began the long walk to her dragon-daughter. Her mind flying through all the ways she might need to persuade the great green lizard. With each new thought her pace increased. She had to hurry. The traitor would soon be on his way to apprehend her. The howling absence of his presence momentarily pierced her skull with a painful shock. Whatever he had done was worse than she had realized. Bending down to her belly she forced air through her lungs trying desperately to make the migraine disappear. The pain spurred on new theories. Brought her old memories too. And it was in that moment of suffering she recalled Ashijinirs hatred. Her fury at the loss of her mate would be invaluable. She felt rather stupid for not thinking of it first.

However, the realization renewed her strength and she stood up. The battle had already begun. She just needed to-

“Gusty! My wife!” Bunker’s voice echoed through the cave.

Its origin came from ahead of her. No sooner had looked up from the rock of the cavefloor did she spot him. Flanked by a unicorn and a pegasus, her burgundy lover stood defiantly in her way. Gusty broke into a grin. They could not stop her, not with the ability to teleport. But, such pawns were loyal and devoted fools and she would just have to give them the time of day. A flash of thoughts reached her and her magic fired almost before she realized it. Being in control made making whims reality that much easier. Either way, the armor she knew so well was now resting on her body, her sword floated in her magical grip.

“I can’t let you do this. Please, think about what you are doing!” Bunker cried.

“And what if I have thought it over ten-thousand times?” Gusty laughed back at him. She loved his fire. She had seen it all those years ago, it was why she had married him.

“Bunker is right. You can stop this, we know you can!” Stiff Inspection’s voice came from the armored pegasus.

Gusty did not even recognize him. He was far too insignificant to keep as a warm memory like her husband. The last stallion did not speak, his face pale with fear. He was the only one of the three that understood.

A flash of magic and she was behind them in the air, wings beating before she had even appeared. Her sword zipped past her head like lightning. Bunker grabbed his companions’ necks and tackled them all to the ground. He had seen her fight before, and that was what saved them as the strike arched through where their necks had been. Gusty chuckled loudly. Could she just rip them apart with telekinesis? Yes. But she could not do that with Guardian Angel. They were a good warm-up. A perfect stretch for the upcoming battle.

Bunker recovered first. Springing to his hooves and readying his axe. His face flashed with fear and betrayal. It seemed he now understood, too. Stiff made up for it. Having locked eyes with her husband Gusty, only barely caught sight of him as he attempted to flank her. His wing blades flashed but she dodged. Then the sting of a magic missile brought a raw yell to her throat. The blast knocked her into a wall. Enraged, she regained her balance and loosed furious bolts of her own magic.

The culprit unicorn took both shots. The first hit and shattered a shield spell she had not seen him cast. The second hit his face and flung him into the opposite wall of the cave. His impact was violent. He crumpled when he initially hit the stone, sending up dust and little splinters of rock. When he bounced and tumbled towards the ground he was limp. His armor was pressed hard against his body, and cracked. Underneath the flesh moved at wrong angles.

However, by then Bunker was upon her. His axe slipped from out of his mouth as he reared up on his back legs and grabbed it with his forelimbs. She had to teleport her sword back in front of her in order to block the blow. Steel and steel clashed together loudly, but even with all his strength, her husband could not rip her sword from her magical grip. Gusty swallowed hard. He had aimed to kill. He did not understand. He trusted the Usurper over her. Instantly enraged, the mare pumped such massive amounts of magic into her horn that it glowed white. Bunker squinted, but that would save him from seeing what was to happen.

Her magic gripped his weapon and rent it to cinders and dust from the sheer power of her grip. As it disintegrated, she flung her blade in a blistering thrust, ready to pierce his heart and be done with him. To her shock the clang of steel reached her ears, then a meaty whump, and a hoarse grunt. Whoever had blocked had not managed to stop the momentum of her blade but instead only divert it into himself.

With the glow of her horn dissipating, Gusty pulled her sword from the unwitting victim of her attack. She beheld Stiff Inspection. Blood poured down the front of his armor harness. The wound came at the base of his neck, bubbling up his ichor. From its position she knew she had not hit his heart, at least not directly. He drew a breath and the blood sucked into the hole and the pegasus coughed, a lung hit. He was dead, it was only a matter of time. As if knowing her thoughts, Stiff Inspection slumped down onto his rump, forcing Bunker to catch him.

With a perfect flick of her telekinesis, Gusty made her sword gleam like new before returning it to its scabbard. She took to strolling off back down the cave way, satisfied with her warm up. Her blood still boiled over betrayed status, but Bunker could do nothing without his axe, and he was much better alive. A series of galloping hoof falls caught her ears but in her confidence Gusty was slow to react.

The hiss and whine of a concussion overtook her senses. Angry, she forced her sword back into the air, swinging it in a wide arch. She hit nothing. As she blinked and tried to steady her vision a huge burgundy hoof swung into her field of view. On reflexes alone she deflected the blow. However, something hard hit her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Panting, but able to see thanks to fresh adrenaline, the mare willed her sword into her attacker. A fleshy whip of blade hitting limbs came as she focused on her husband. Hot blood splattered against her lower legs but he did not react. He fell away, but he still swung his hooves at her face, flailing as he fell.

Landing on the stone ground in a heap Bunker looked up at her incredulously. Gusty hopped away as he tried to grapple her hooves. She gazed down at him. A wretched, traitorous two-legged husband he had become. Smiling devilishly, she raised her blade and swung it down. A pony missing their back legs was doomed to a life of suffering anyway. Before the blow was struck a blur took Bunker’s place. Again metal rang with its familiar whine and to her shock her blade was wrenched from her magical grip. Stiff Inspection, dashed towards her, his eyes furious like only a deadpony’s could portray.

Her magic flared and her sword was before her again. A pinch on her face and clutter of hooves and metal and the wayward pegasus fell to the ground. He heaved coughing up even more blood, turning paler than his ivory fur. He did not look up at her, instead, grasping at his chest trying to stop a fresh spurt of blood from fountaining from his body.

“Why?!” Bunker shouted up at her as he tried to crawl towards her.

He made no glance at his maimed state. The bitter sadness and determination on his face was all that seemed to matter to the stallion.

“Why won’t you fight it?!” he shrieked.

Gusty turned away and strolled at her leisure. Her husband’s words could no longer inhibit her. His moans and shouts were meaningless. As she began analyzing their fight in her head, something warm drew her hoof to her face. Blood. Stiff Inspection had managed to graze her cheek. She was out of practice. Still, the crazy stallions had probably saved her life. All they had against her was determination. Yet they had stalled her, and even hurt her. Bunker, and his crew would have nothing on Guardian Angel.

Breaking into a quick canter, Gusty shot healing magic all over her body. She would need to magically augment her body to even stand a chance against the unholy monster that now pursued her. However, that could be done at leisure, all the while bringing Ashijinir onto her side. She smiled darkly, loving the terrible echoing of her hooves down the stone corridor. They would never know it, but the three foolish pawns had just saved her life. Had she gone into the fight with Guardian Angel thusly unaware he would have killed her easily.

The light ahead of her gleamed brighter and Gusty took to the air, no longer willing to wait on the possibility that the Usurper might catch her. Into the grand cavern that was Ashijinir’s throne, Gusty caught the warm air and let it float her up above her massive sleeping dragon-daughter.

“Rise, Ashijinir! I have brought our enemies to your doorstep!” she boomed, her voice amplified by both the stone and magic.

With a rolling jolt the huge green lizard perked awake. Her eyes quickly focused on the flying alicorn. Her scales rippled with a shudder of confusion and fear.

“Mother...what-what do you mean?” she asked.

“The last of the Shadow-kin. Their greatest. He is here.” Gusty flapped her wings as she spoke.

“T-the...the letter was true?!” Ashijinir gasped. Her voice was quite hushed especially for a creature of her bulk.

“Yes. Secrecy and deception was essential. He had already took control of Luna and Celestia when I came to Equestria. With my help they managed to fight back, if but for a moment. Now, he will be coming for me. To kill me. But together, we will crush him! We will win the war!”

Ashijinir balked. She shook her head in shock. A mighty clawed hand rubbed her eyes and she blinked at Gusty, almost angrily. She heaved a hefty breath, flame pouring from her nostrils in a great, bassy hiss. The dragon’s expression hardened. Slowly, the fury Gusty knew she had came to her face, her body curling, her wings extending in a show of ferocity.

“He is the one that killed Torch, isn’t he?” she asked, her voice still quiet.

“Yes, he is. The monster even wears a garment of his scales and skin below his armor!”

It was a lie, she had no idea how Guardian Angel’s arming clothes were constructed. Ashijinir would believe her and that was all that mattered. Besides, the Usurper did have a leather jacket made of Torch’s hide. It was probably true!

A mighty roar suddenly escaped Ashijinir’s maw. She shot green and orange flame into the ceiling of the mighty chamber. Her call was a call of war, of battle, of death. Perfect.

Act 5: Chapter 12 - Grace Not Included

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Act 5: Chapter 13 - Zeccaran's Gambit

Chapter 13 - Zeccaran’s Gambit

It took a while for Zeccaran to find himself inside the Astral Realm. Too long. Sure the familiar rush of dream magic was there, so too was the feeling of weightlessness. However, the plane-between-planes that he commanded was a black, starless night. For the briefest of moments he expected Nyx to suddenly spring from the void he stared at and chastise him for taking so long to find her.

When she did not appear a vacant loneliness pierced his heart. The sensation lasted for but a moment. A trifle really, nothing he could not handle, not when he had work to do that was for certain. Regardless of his resolution Zeccaran could feel his physical body shake. That was not supposed to happen. He fell to his flanks looking around the vacant void, his emotions causing explosions of red and yellows to suddenly appear about him.

“Ahhhrrgg! I can’t believe I’m fucking doing this!” The zebra yelled to himself.

A part of him simply could not believe that deep down underneath all the posturing and anger Guardian Angel was a broken, sad, soft, foolish stallion. It drove Zeccaran mad. Maybe the demon had not come out and said what he felt, or why he struggled to think or act, but he knew. Zeccaran knew, Zeccaran understood. However, now was not the time. Gusty needed Guardian Angel to act just like he always did, hell the whole world needed it. He would, but it frightened the zebra to see the situation bring forth such raw emotions from his counterpart. It left him numb and furious trying to focus his mind enough to pull the myriad of doors to himself.

After a few moments Zeccaran centered himself and a grand parade of minds poured by him. Slowly, the procession came to a halt upon an unfamiliar portal. He had summoned Gusty’s mind, but this? This was not it. At least he hoped it was the wrong door.

The normal ancient and mossy stone gateway was replaced with a dark void. It was still roughly shaped like a door, but it seemed to ooze and pulse with some sort of malignant power making Zeccaran recoil on reflex.

Equally appalled and curious the zebra stood up from where he had fallen on his rump. He had to go to the evil portal. There was no choice. It was time he played his part, whatever that would entail.

Zeccaran pressed a hoof into the undulating mass of dark fleshy stone once that he was close enough. It obeyed his commands rapidly, as if it expected him to attempt to enter the disheveled mind of the alicorn mare. It was a trap, he was certain of it. Just like the last time the Curse had captured him. He had quite the score to settle with the Shade. She would be just as trapped as him this time. Then down he fell. Sucked deep into the void of nothingness and shadow that was now Gusty’s mind.

When his hooves touched the floor of the mindscape Zeccaran had to force his lungs to work. He did not truly need to breathe in the Astral Realm, but the vileness of this place made him require the sensation. He could feel it on the very fabric of the mind-land. It was completely corrupted. The breathing was to steady himself against the terrible alien nature of what was once Gusty’s mind.

“Damnit, Nyx! Where are you when I actually need you?” He hissed to himself.

Before Zeccaran stretched the ocean of memories and pillars of protected memories that was Gusty’s mind. However, there were no vibrant blues and shiny golds. Everything was cast in dark colors of the deepest purple, blue, or black. The great pyramids and eddies of friendly voices now were a malignant bramble of strange trees and crumbled, terrible ruins. An alien miasma of dark grey smoke seemed to move around the area in front of Zeccaran and occasionally obscure the different pulsing trees and other filth.

He could make no sense of this awful place. There was nothing he recognized. If this was truly Gusty’s mind Zeccaran had no idea where to even start to look. The sight left him numb. He felt more scorned by the moment, slowly turning from listless to worried. It was better than being dead, but that was all that the zebra could confidently confirm.

Awkwardly, he stumbled forward across the oscillating ground, coming to a stop every few steps. It was necessary. The world, this mindscape, was unnatural to the point it took most of his willpower to remain steady. However, as he slowly pushed forward towards the dark forest he gained his bearings. His hooffalls cast an echo that would mute itself after a single ring. It kept him unsettled even if he could properly navigate this foul realm.

As he moved the grey mist followed. Its presence almost seemed benign. A prickly, mostly stupid, section of his mind mused that perhaps he had seen it before. When Zeccaran paused to examine it to alleviate the thought he recognized that the stray thought was correct. It was the same muffled grey light that always occupied the deepest of Gusty’s subconscious. As he realized this the fog rushed towards him causing him to gasp and shut his eyes. It felt cold and lonely within the wet cloud, leaving him to shiver.

The sensation passed quickly, prompting him to open his eyes. Zeccaran did not see the mist. He looked around and found nothing. It was a strange moment. With a final glance around the little clearing and finding only the baleful trees he moved on.

Cautiously, Zeccaran cast several protective spells. His green magic formed a soft glow around his striped body. A low wind whipped across the dark forest and he paused.

Then he heard it. A quiet whimper, just on the edge of his hearing. It seemed to resound across the vast corrupted woods. The grey mist returned, but was spread out all over, gathering in little eddies that populated the spaces between its branches. In a sudden rush of wind the sound of desperate voices speaking too rapidly to be understood burst into his ears, angrily assaulting Zeccaran’s skull.

On instinct he fired more protective spells Luna and Nyx had drilled him to cast. The voices’ volume lessened but did not go fully away. The grey light around him slowly manifested into a single form, moving towards Zeccaran. The zebra turned and ran away from the form. Hopping over slimy branches and dodging great moaning shadows, hoping the next eddie of grey light would hold Gusty upon the all too familiar grey dias.

A long and lonely groan rumbled behind him, and Zeccaran could not stop himself from looking over his shoulder. A pair of glowing eyes had formed within the angry grey mass of voices. It overcame him shooting past him and colliding into the many dark trees. There it disappeared, the area where it impacted quavering as if it was affected by a frozen wind.

“Searching for the dead in this land of twilight?” The Curse’s voice echoed calmly around him, causing the zebra to stop in his tracks. At least it did not sound like Gusty anymore.

New eyes, many pairs of them appeared within the mass of one of the black tree trunks and scrutinized him. Each he could recognize, their irises the colors of everypony he cared about. Eagerly, the disembodied eyes stared into his soul. It filled Zeccaran with a boiling rage. Turning away he refused to look at the illusion. It was only there to manipulate him, to cause a reaction, a negative one at that. The Curse would feed on him then, just like it had fed on Gusty for over a millenia. He would not allow that to happen. Not like last time.

“I know she is not dead. Where is she?” He asked angrily. It was more to distract himself from the feeling of failure that tugged at his heart.

“Am I not good enough?” the Curse answered.

Slowly, the myriad of eyes pulled together into a single, terrible, baleful pair. Then as if prompted by their assembly, the pulsing shadows around them started to push and pull out of the strange tree where they lay. Assembling into a single shape, they pulled away from the dark forest in a great blob. The shapeless form slowly took on legs and wings. A horn poked from a growing head and quickly a mane and tail donned the top and back of the shape. Disgustingly, the creature vibrated with rancid magic and began to change color. Eventually it settled on the teal fur and the seafoam hair of his friend. Thus a broken form of Gusty stood before him, but it was like it wore a veil. Her face was frozen in a false-smile, like she was using a theater mask. The Curse slithered up to where he stood making Zeccaran recoil.

With an instinctual burst of his magic the zebra created a barrier between himself and the beast that wore the alicorn’s face. It tutted in Gusty’s voice in response, exploding around him in an inky coordin, obscuring Zeccaran’s view from the ruined mind-scape.

“I will find her,” He snarled. “I don’t have a choice.”

“But, I’m right here, Zec!” The Curse replied with a long cackle.

An idea came to Zeccaran at that instant. What if the Shadow-kin’s Mytsn was telling the truth? What if it and Gusty were truly one? The dark magic he possessed flared up as soon as he had the epiphany. It nearly acted on its own, responding to his musing thoughts more than his will to take action.

It was insane. A stupid and ridiculous idea that relied on the Curse telling the truth. Who else but Zeccaran would believe such a thing? The zebra reveled in the moment. Around him another mind-dive spell gathered its power. The evil beast saw what he was doing, but it was too late. The spell fired.

The magic shot directly into the Mytsn’s chest. Around him the dark forest faded away and he was tossed down. But he did not hit the ground, instead he went deeper. The strange warped reality he had been in disappearing completely replaced by only the roaring sound of wind. Amongst the voices and raging weather Zeccaran heard Guardian Angel scream at the Queen of Fire. He scoffed at himself. The demon was right. He was too lucky for his own good. The sensation of falling took him and Zeccaran nearly passed out.

In the edges of his consciousness he felt the dark Shade approach him. When her power had fully gathered near him, she attacked him. The Curse assaulted all of his senses and his mind frayed at the edges. The winds of the Astral plane rumbled and the sheer stress of the situation left him immobile as he disappeared into the deepest reaches of the abyss that was Gusty and the Curse’s mindscape. Then suddenly, as if his opponent could no longer attack him, the pain in his head ceased and was replaced by a simple numb void and he kept descending unabated.

Hours seemed to pass as Zeccaran fell forever. The blackness of the environment slowly turned grey, then white. He had no idea how far he kept falling. He only knew that when he could comprehend himself again the world was pure white. Looking around, the zebra was certain he had died until he again heard Guardian Angel’s voice.

“Gusty! Please! Wake up!” The voice came from somewhere in front of him.

Squinting, Zeccaran looked for its source. He saw what he thought was a pony, but it was not the demon-stallion. He had no idea if what he saw was real or if this was indeed the subconscious of Gusty Twilight. At least the cries of desperation from Guardian Angel felt real, real enough that it might have been the stallion trying to force a psychic attack in the real world. Zeccaran could not be sure, however.

Desiring an answer the zebra broke into a full sprint towards the pony he thought he saw. It was as if the ground below him did not move and he did not get closer. In frustration he fired his magic and in an instant he was right next to his quarry. With a gasp he realized who he had found. Gusty.

The alicorn did not turn towards him. She panned over screens that he had not seen at the distance, searching through them. The white void around them and the zebra’s presence was of no consequence to her and she flicked through the images and sounds with a strange purpose. It was much like Luna often did before they would interact with Gusty’s subconscious. Now the mare was doing it to herself? That should not have been possible. Shocked, Zeccaran just watched. His friend paused on a vaguely familiar scene as he did.

“Mom, is it really important that I get married so soon? We are all immortals around here.”

It was the voice of Amber Glass, Gusty’s youngest daughter from before the war with the Shadow-kin. The brown alicorn appeared on the memory screen, sauntering around a pillared room. Her soft tones sent an unpleasant shiver along Zeccaran’s spine. How many times had he heard that mare scream in agony? With a shake of his head he took a few steps forward. Before him the grand screens rumbled past and Gusty shifted away from her long lost daughter.

There were other ponies and many memories that Zeccaran did not recognize as the alicorn would stop for about one second per image. Her mind was far more familiar with the myriad of faces and voices that passed before her eyes than he. However, the zebra did recognize Ashijinir, although the dragon was no bigger than Gusty in the memories.

Disturbingly, he did not see the present. The sheer volume of the record that was Gusty’s mind could have easily prevented Zeccaran from spying the recent years. However, their strange absence was wrong. Gusty had constantly obsessed over the last three years. He had learned that simply from working in her mind. But he did not see Bunker, Amethyst, Celestia, Luna, himself, Stiff Inspection, Gertrude, Gabriella. None of the major players in their lives since Zeccaran had met Gusty appeared. The only one he had any evidence of was Guardian Angel, and he had only heard him not seen him in the images. Honestly, he now thought it for certain the stallion was actively trying to call out to Gusty, right now, as he fought her darkside.

It's just because she’s looking at the past. Calm down. He thought to himself, again.

He did not convince himself.

“Gusty! Please! Wake up!” Came Guardian Angel again.

The reel of images paused on an inflamed demon. Zeccaran instantly recognized where. The Frozen North, the gaping lava pit, he would never forget the horror of watching Gusty destroy tens of kilometers of the planet's surface. The disturbing sight perked up his hopes. Perhaps Gusty was not as damaged as he had worried.

Still silent, Zeccaran watched as his accomplice streaked through the sky, dodging massive blasts of magic from Gusty’s perspective. The memory wavered its clarity. On the edges of his hearing the zebra could hear the Curse. It angrily demanded the demon be killed. The alicorn in the memory obliged with more explosions and more cracked ground. The sting of sulfur hit Zeccaran’s nose. Smells were always the strongest part of any memory. The Gusty before him simply hummed, seemingly confused.

As they continued to watch, Guardian Angel slowly reached Gusty. He kept calling out, first pleading then demanding she survive. His eyes glowed red with his dark power and the image completely tottered out of clarity and was simply a dull brown and grey gradient of nothing. The voices of the Curse quieted too. Before him the mare of the subconscious relaxed her shoulders, leaning back as the memory made the soft sound of a heartbeat. From his angle to one of her sides, Zeccaran could see her smile.

“You are going to be the death of me, you know that?” the demon-stallion murmured gently over the sound of the heart, his voice calm and happy.

Zeccaran could hardly believe how soft and comforting Guardian Angel sounded. He paused as Gusty rewatched the moment again. Dread filled the zebra, but he realized now was the time to speak. If the Curse had damaged her, this moment would be the only one she could retain. It was the moment she and Guardian Angel’s mind had briefly, but completely, become a single entity. And Zeccaran had every confidence that angered the dark Shade. Even if she continued to torment all of them, even if she won, the happiness that Gusty had for that fleeting moment was permanent. If only that tiny piece of the demon-stallion was stuck within her subconscious, it did not matter. So how lucky was he? Could he do the same and cement Gusty in the present long enough for Guardian Angel to help pull them into the waking world? His voice wavered as she spoke.

“H-hey?” he asked for his friend's attention.

The alicorn mare hummed and turned to look at him. She squinted confusedly.

“Who are you?” she asked, plainly.

Zeccaran’s stomach went cold. Suspicions confirmed he swallowed the lump in his throat. As much as he wanted to ignore the evidence. This Gusty was not who he had seen so many times in this very subconscious.

“I-I’m Zeccaran...we’re friends.” He stammered in a combination of sadness and fury. It must have been what Guardian Angel had been feeling. The combination of defeat but determination handle the unthinkable, Zeccaran understood now.

A vacant expression overtook the alicorn’s face. She tilted her head slightly, as her brow came together and then returned to neutral.

“I-I don’t remember you.” She answered. Her face was sad but ultimately she became reserved and calm. Turning around, Gusty resumed her viewings.

Unsure what to do, Zeccaran stood frozen. Vaguely he could even feel his actual body buck from the emotional blow. If he had been powerful enough to fight the Curse of the Shadow-kin the dark beast he would have made it wish it had killed him when it had the chance. This was unacceptable. He had to tell Guardian Angel that they could win. Even if that meant they would suffer. The zebra stopped his mind from sparing a thought for Amethyst. Zeccaran seethed regardless. Slowly, he began gathering the magic and the thoughts necessary to send out some sort of mental beacon. Nyx had once said he had the gift to do anything in the realm of the mind. Now he was going to try, no matter what happened to him as a result.

“Do you know who he is?” Gusty suddenly asked, drawing him out of his concentration.

“Who?” Zeccaran asked numbly.

“This stallion. This...demon? Why would he save me?” The mare pointed at the memory of Guardian Angel again.

“I know him, yes.” The zebra looked down at his hooves. He could not look at his friend for the moment.

“And why would a demon, your sworn enemy, save you? That answer is complicated.”

Gusty hummed but did not question him further. Lost and feeling alone even in the presence of his friend Zeccaran watched the alicorn for a moment more. The silence was heavy and he struggled to focus on trying to summon up the magic he had felt only a few moments before.

“Can you simplify it for me?” Gusty asked without turning around.

The zebra bit his lip before responding. Not that his answer would do her any good.

“He is bound to you. His fate is tied to yours.” It was the most Zeccaran could say. He did not understand the strange mental bond the two immortals shared. Not even Luna did.

Again Gusty merely grunted in thought, returning to her silence and scrutiny of memories.

With a sigh, Zeccaran made his attempt again. A little determination, the image of a flare high in the sky. The dark magic he had gained long ago in his past life answered his call. A beacon he would have, Guardian Angel would know where to go. It was not a certainty, but it was now all faith and luck. And he was lucky right?

The power pulsed in his body and the sensation of floating overtook Zeccaran for a moment. The green force of magic created a shell around his body and he was ready to both signal his accomplice and escape this place.

That was when a cacophony of angry whispers crescendoed out of the silence and drew both he and Gusty’s attention. As they both looked towards the random white space where they were the loudest a terrible ripping and sawing of canvas replaced them.

A black seam appeared in the mindscape before rapidly expanding into a round portal. With it came dark tentacles of foul magic. The Curse had found him. It would seem that his beacon was working

“There you are, little zebra!” trilled the Shade as it strode into the realm of its own mind.

“You can’t hide from me. And talking to her will do you no good either. She sees and hears only what I wish her to. After all…”

The horrid dark shadow morphed and formed into Gusty. With a shake of its head and an audible crack of its neck she grin hungrily at him.

“We are one in the same. There will be no changes to our memories. And your little distraction has failed too. The Usurper will prove no match before our combined might!”

“Yes, good to see you too, my friend!” Gusty sprang up from her spot and gave her false-self a hug.

Whatever the Curse had fed her ears was not what Zeccaran had just heard, that was for certain. Frankly, the zebra felt a powerful nausea come to his stomach that threatened to derail his attempt to escape. He realized what it was: Fear.

If the Cursed Shade of the Shadow-kin had such control as to apprehend his invasion at the same time as fight Guardian Angel it was over. The only chance they had now was the other stallion throwing everything he had into one last mental attack. It had been their last resort too many times. Somewhere in his soul the zebra knew it would not truly work. And on top of all of this he still had to reveal that Gusty was still alive inside this dark prison.

A lash of black slammed forward and grabbed Zeccaran before another thought could cross his mind. The Curse laughed merrily, its grip tossing him into the floor of the mindscape and stunning him. With his mind addled the only thing left in Zeccaran was a white hot rage that he could not control. On instinct his own magic flared, pulsing with vibrant verdant light that caused the Curse to recoil and release him with a snarl.

However instead of registering the pain itself, Gusty shrieked on a bit of delay. Confused, Zeccaran flitted his eyes between the two of his quarries. He did not have time to puzzle out what had just happened. It was a problem he would have to deal with later.

With a furious flash of green he released the dark power that was held within him, he fired off his beacon. This time both the Shade and Gusty herself screamed in pain. The subconscious realm began to crack and howl as his magic pierced through their collective minds. He had no idea how successful he had been but there was something else he wanted to do before he was completely sucked back into the realm of the living.

Zeccaran jumped towards the evil faux-Gusty. His head pulsed in pain as he did. It did not matter, no matter how much it hurt no matter what happened now, Zeccaran wanted it to hurt. He wanted the Curse to hurt like his heart hurt. It was then that something inside the zebra broke. He felt it nearly shatter him out of existence entirely.

Deep in his soul, he knew this: Even Luna’s words would not be able to order him to stop from hurting the ancient and terrible Curse. He knew he was not supposed to have such free will. It infuriated him more. Zeccaran slashed at the Curse with his magic to fulfill the urge, to forget this lapse in control and judgement. The blow struck true but even with the collective screaming of the Shade and Gusty herself he could not tell if it had done anything. Then the dream world started to fade away.

The dark magic of the Curse collided with him again as he passed the barrier around Gusty’s subconscious. Its attacks were unfocused this time. That was a positive sign he thought to himself as he started to lose consciousness. The mindscape fully shattered and the feeling of being flung into the air took him.

About him broken pieces of glass showed images of Gusty’s mind. It had never done that before. He wondered if it mattered. A sharp pain hit his skull and he screamed trying to compensate for the suffering. Tears came as his vision quickly faded black. Somehow, the terrible entity had pushed him past his limits. He wanted to die. Sadly, for Zeccaran, that was not his path and he knew it. One way or another he would survive, he just hoped Gusty would too, so at least his break in principle could possibly be claimed as worth it. Even so he would hate himself forever for being willing to go so far.

Then there was a simple nothingness much to his surprise. Zeccaran did not question this respite. His routine was over.

Act 5: Chapter 14 - No Second Chances

Chapter 14 - No Second Chances

A beam of pure energy pulsed from Gusty’s horn. The fury of the disintegration ray caused deafening cracks of thunder to shake the Queen of Fire’s throne room. In their wake, great holes were bored through the mountain, sending rock and lava spewing everywhere. The magic could not hurt him, but the snap-back of the air, and the crash of rocks generated by its vacuum definitely could.

Guardian Angel let his momentum carry him into a rockface where his legs sprung down from absorbing his speed. In a single instant they unwound, sending him rocketing towards the afflicted mare. She teleported. His whole body tingled with danger and he spun wildly in the air, knowing that both Gusty and Ashijinir were trying to smash him with various objects in the grand cavern.

More thunder, this time of shattering stone and changing gravity, exploded. Craning his head, as his speed increased the demon stallion spied Gusty floating behind her giant scaly ward. On instinct alone he dove down towards the now ascending waves of gold and trinkets. Peppered with tons of material he broke through the painful thicket and found the stone floor only to watch it all come crashing towards him. This was madness. He could not even pause to think. Gusty and the Curse combined proved creative and powerful beyond his comprehension. He had been right. He could not hold back. But at this point, Guardian Angel was not even sure if it mattered. His quarry was on a different level. He would be surviving on guile and timing today. If he survived at all. He would. That grit of confidence was all he had now.

The challenge made his heart race. To truly cut loose without the worry of hurting somepony spurred Guardian Angel into a frenzy. The fire of his demonic body flashed white, brighter than even Gusty’s horn. The falling avalanche of gold melted around him as it neared him. The torrent of liquid metal did nothing. It dripped off his body and armor as he stared up from the mounds of wealth at an indignant alicorn mare.

A jump and flap put him in the air right next to her. Gusty’s magic flared but moved slower than before. The demon smiled, his fangs glinting in the fury of his flames. Ashijinir roared, a swing of a paw and claws drew his eyes away from the mare as she teleported away. Guardian Angel caught the great dragon’s hand with his forehooves, and their extended blades. She pushed him downward in the air but retracted her paw quickly. Her mewling growls fearful. She had not even moved him from where he hovered in the air. Her age and power proved meaningless, the Queen of Fire was not ready to help Gusty and the Curse.

Something hit him and for a moment Guardian Angel’s vision flashed fully into his life-sense. It was Gusty. Surprised, but pleased the mare had chosen to tackle him, his power raged out. With a wing he grasped her horn and instantly the hybrid-monster-friend-mare gasped and tried to activate her magic. It did not work. Unable to teleport, she glowered at him, her teeth gritted so tight together he could hear them creak under pressure even in the hail of roars, rushing wind, and magic.

A disintegration beam far greater than any Gusty cast before knocked his wing away and impacted his face. What a calculated risk! He thought to himself. The blow was tremendous, his vision again flickering out of regular sight. It hurt this time. The sheer force of the slamming air and the breaking of normal physics tore away his helmet and his chest harness and turned them to dust. Their millennias of beings washed in Shadow-kin blood useless compared to Gusty. As the metal disappeared he was catapulted into something solid and unyielding. Guardian Angel could take the punishment but it would be better to avoid a blow like that again. He hopped up quickly, his eyes regaining their sight over his life-sense as he did. Gusty was already upon him.

He blocked her sword with his gauntlets, as it came teleporting in at her behest. The protection and blades had thankfully survived the deadly ray, having been just far enough away. Gusty snarled. Her eyes waxed over into fully black orbs. For a brief instant Guardian Angel was transfixed with horror. The Curse slipped his blades, taking its advantage and buried Gusty’s sword deep in his chest, piercing lung and heart alike. Spitting up blood as the beast resummoned its pilfered weapon, he roared in a perfect rage. It repaired the damage.

However, the pain and the blow was not what infuriated Guardian Angel. The site of the Curse manifesting upon Gusty’s face spurred a new wave of power and his instincts took him. With a lurch forward, Guardian Angel successfully grabbed her horn again with one wing and her forelimbs with the other. His own hooves wrapped around her chest and his maw went plunging into her neck. He did not taste her blood. A part of him was thankful for that, he had no idea what Gusty’s magic-laiden ichor would have done to his ability to control himself. With a roar more terrifying than her dragon's, Gusty caused an explosion.

The blast sent him slamming against rocks and coins. With a cough, once he could stand, the demon found more of his own blood rolling out of his mouth. Even at full power, he could not keep this up. He needed to make a surgical strike to end this or he would die. What the fuck was Zeccaran doing in there?

When he looked up he saw Gusty flapping a hover some distance away. A score of scavenged weapons from Ashijinir’s horde held firmly in her magic. In a single rush they came flying at him in a massive, combined attack. The mare herself flew after the horde of weapons, her horn firing out more magic. He had not fully recovered yet. Regenerating internal injuries of such severity did take an amount of time it was not instant. However, he did not have that small amount of time, he needed to dodge. In that infinitesimally small moment of time he had such thoughts. Then his body acted and his mind shut off.

A wave of weapons crashed by as he barrel-rolled through them. Beams of magic missed and exploded with powerful compressed air. Another wave and he was closer to Gusty now, the glow of the lava and the gleam of Ashijinir’s emerald scales casting the mare’s face in red and green light. Finally, just as he went to attempt to zip through the last hail of blades there was a blinding flash of green. Gusty herself slowed her flight, the remaining weapons in her telekinesis, save her sword, fell down to the ground. She hovered right next to him, the black ink that had covered her eyes disappearing.

The alicorn looked upon the demon in confusion. It was clear, the intelligence that sparkled in her ocean blue eyes did not comprehend what she was seeing. Gusty tilted her head, before raising a hoof up to it. Her eyes pinched shut in pain. With a groan she shook her head. The groan turned into a growl and her eyes waxed pure white with magic and then faded into the terrible dark voids they had been before.

“You are lucky, Usurper.” Rattled the fake tones of the Curse. It shook its head some more.

A scant few thoughts sped through Guardian Angel’s mind. Green magic. Zeccaran. The vacant and curious look of his Gusty Twilight. Then he felt it. She was alive.

“There seem to be more beings besides yourself that desire Gusty restored to who she was before. But we are perfect as we are. There is no going back.” It said, the beast raised up Gusty’s sword.

Guardian Angel felt a cold and cruel laugh rise in his throat. He let it spill out of his lips and the Curse took a step back as he rose up from the ground. This battle had just changed its nature. Gusty was alive in there. Tears nearly rolled over his cheeks at the relief. The vaunted trust he had put in Zeccaran had not been ill-placed. There was a chance. Guardian Angel would take it. He would win, even if he would not see his victory.

Lunging forward he slashed at the body of his opponent with his gauntlet blades. He could feel his demonic magic run hot and the Curse failed to teleport, her horn sparking with spells that lacked the power to escape. However, Gusty’s natural agility saved her possessor from suffering a debilitating wound. He still hit her chest, rending her armor like it was not there. The blow sent them tumbling away, pushing her far enough away from the epicenter of his anti-magic field that she managed to cast. The demon watched as the combination-mare winced as she narrowly managed to force enough magic out of her horn to patch the wound. With all his speed in the air Guardian Angel put himself above her and upon her as she finished. He was quite unwilling to let the momentum of the fight shift from his favor. He only needed her still long enough to concentrate and not just twitch with instinct and reaction time. Just a moment to center his mind and throw his everything into an attempt at invading her mind.

Gusty and the Curse seemed to take notice of his intentions, slow but successful teleportation spells firing at random as he zipped about the cavernous throne room. Ashijinir for her part tossed rock and breathed fire at him vainly. Trusting his instincts Guardian Angel stopped trying to predict where she might appear and sped up instead, making no attempt to maneuver to her. Feeling her magic swell, the demon veered towards the sensation. To his eyes it was in slow-motion, Gusty appeared before him. Her eyes widening as his body collided with hers. Anypony else would have been dead instantly from the impact of his weight, but she twisted and rolled with the blow with such grace that she nearly escaped his hooves.

Now conjoined in a midair grapple Guardian Angel purposely stabbed his left wing’s thickest bit of ectoplasm onto her horn. The magic flesh rent and some of his blood coated the spike. Then they started to fall. Gusty’s wings did not have the strength to keep them both aloft, he was far too heavy for her. So down they fell regardless of how angrily her wings beat. To its credit the Curse with its black eyes, pummeled him with its hooves. Simultaneously shrieking with anger as it tried and failed to cast more magic, the blood on its horn blackening and cracking, but not allowing spells to complete, for now.

Unwilling to let the fall crush her, Guardian Angel pivoted so that he would hit the rock first. Then it was time. The scant half-a-second they had before they hit the ground was all he had to make his move. He drew a deep breath. All of his magic, all of his hurt, all of his desire: all of it pooled deep in his lungs in that one moment. Then, just as he felt his back start to touch the rock, Guardian Angel released the power. His one goal, the only reason for existing now: find Gusty. Find her and separate her from the Curse. Only he could do it, and Guardian Angel would.

His vision faded to black, only to return as brilliant currents of magic. He could see Gusty, radiant and glorious. He could see himself too, equally vibrant and pulsing with living magic. Then he saw it. The black heart of the Shadow-kin Curse. The Mytsn. She was coiled up deep within the alicorn mare. With his will alone, Guardian Angel sped towards it. As his essense touched Gusty’s the vile ink inside of her recoiled tossing them all about but he would not be assuaged. He reached the strange center of darkness and suddenly was overwhelmed.

Screaming, cursing, voices of ponies and dragons he did not recognize completely overcame his senses. Focusing only on maintaining himself, Guardian Angel leaned into the sensation of falling he had acquired. It was like Luna often described, it had to be what she meant. He smiled grimly. He had retained his sight. That was new for him upon entering the realm of minds. Vacantly, as he fell further and the magic of the waking world faded away into empty void, leaving him to wonder if he had died. Had he overstretched his abilities, was this it? If it was, death was just as pleasant as he had always imagined it. A simple finality where there was only thought and himself. The whole realm of the endless void at his command to fill himself with pleasures and pains until he would become utterly content.

However, it was not so. His body felt like it had impacted a great pit of cotton candy and his descent slowed rapidly. Finding some form of footing, Guardian Angel stood. There was nothing in this place. It was a plain grey, empty and naked. Unsure what to do, the demon stallion stood still, analyzing what he was seeing. There was no trace of his quarry. The dark entity seemed to have no access to the environment as of yet. Subtly, he could feel the location ungulate, no, breathe. Then where was he?

A rush of wind and water propelled him forward as his mind’s every slight thought changed the environment. Unable to calm his thoughts he instead focused on a single question: where is Gusty? Immediately, he was rocketed forrard, the land about him becoming paler and whiter slowly as images and noises of life seemed to breeze into and out of existence. Then he saw her.

Before him, Gusty Twilight sat facing away. She made no notice of him as his hooves clopped down on the soft surface of the ivory ground. Instead she simply kept watching strange windows that looked into different worlds. Guardian Angel’s mind nearly froze with the number of possibilities and number of scenarios the mare had to offer. The line of the images went on beyond his sight. However, as he grunted vacantly staring out along the line of memories he heard her gasp.

“It's you! She said you would come here! What are you doing here?” The demon-stallion turned to find the alicorn balking at him in a mixture of shock and curiosity.

Before he could answer her an angry hiss drew his eyes towards its source. As if squeezing through a tiny hole, a black amalgamation that was the Curse slowly pulled itself into existence. Guardian Angel wasted no time. He had every advantage and he intended to use it. With a single leap he sunk his teeth into the dark mass. The Mytsn shrieked in surprise, its voice echoing as if it came from everywhere. However, it was not the only voice that yelled. Gusty screamed in a cry of terrible pain. His mare’s tone increased in desperation as he tore off a piece of the evil entity and swallowed it. Guardian Angel ignored it. If he had such power to exist in this mindscape then he would ‘consume’ as much of the Curse’s magic as he could, even if it hurt Gusty. They had both already agreed that was what he should do anyway.

A burst of something flashed his vision into his life-sense and tossed him across the area. It hurt. He had not felt pain like it since he had devoured Nyx.

“Why did you do that?! We are connected! That hurt!” Gusty cried.

Befuddled, Guardian Angel looked at the intricate white light that was the alicorn. Her vibrant blue eyes showed only confusion and hurt. He was doing what he promised. Gusty had to know that. Low, delighted laughter came from the Mytsn as she was given the opportunity to properly form in this strange realm. Primal fury filled Guardian Angel. He did not know why Gusty attacked him, but he knew the Curse was the reason it had happened. He galloped towards his quarry once again, intent on destroying it.

They collided in a grapple. The fire from his wings and the strikes of his hooves caused the dark entity to snarl with cold delight. Gusty screamed again. There was another pulse of powerful mental fury and Guardian Angel was tossed across the area. He did not rapidly regain his footing like last time, instead bouncing along the hard ground in pain. When he stood and looked back over to Gusty, her light stood in front of the black shadow of the Mytsn. The alicorn was ready to protect the monster. This was wrong. Guardian Angel felt fear pull a lump into his throat. Had Zeccaran been wrong?

It was just like the Market Square in Canterlot. Only this time he was alone, so very alone. The stallion shuddered. He stared past Gusty defiantly, looking directly at the dark shadow of the Curse. He could see its tendrils. Terrible black tentacles of magic lacing into Gusty. If he could sever them he could win. But did the Curse know he could see them?

“You cannot win, demon,” the beast said.

Gusty huffed and stomped a hoof in agreement.

“We are bound. We are friends. You cannot separate us. Even in this realm!” The Mytsn shouted at him. Then, as if sworn to move by the statement, Gusty rushed at him. Her powerful will already causing him harm just by proximity.

That was when Guardian Angel understood. The Mytsn had tied itself to the deepest parts of Gusty. No matter what he did, even if he succeeded in killing it, the Curse would destroy Gusty with it. Frozen in place, the stallion’s thoughts ceased and time seemed to grind to a halt. He was terrified. He could not move. He had lost. Everyone had lost. The world had lost. It was over...

Gusty suddenly impacted him and he felt like his whole body exploded. Even his life-sense winked out and all he could see was darkness. When he finally stopped tumbling and thrashing about he tried to stand but found only pain and a lack of mental control. Growling and scraping at the ground with ethereal hooves, he pushed past the pain. However, his inability to stand was not a matter of will, but a matter of power. His magic was being disrupted just as much as he was running out of magic to use.

Worse, he could not defeat Gusty’s will. He knew that. He had tried back all those years ago in Canterlot when she had taken pity on him. Finally now that enough of his power had piled within him, he struggled up, blind and unable to do more. He could hear the mare pacing around before him. This was like it had been when he had joined Luna several months ago. Just flailing around in a void, searching for tastes of magic.

“Stop this. I do not want to kill you. Please, we can work together!” Gusty called out to him

“Yes, Usurper. Like I told you. Together!” The Curse echoed her sentiment with a sickly sweet tone.

Guardian Angel did not respond. Instead, he just focused on trying to collect his mind. Even if he had lost, he would take the Mytsn with him, he needed to be able to see to do it. Slowly, his life-sense returned. Gusty stood before him, her horn aglow, her face twisted in pain and fury. He huffed, tired. He was actually reaching his limit. The alicorn was sending him above and beyond what he could do. It brought a smile to his face. She was the only one that could. He stared at her, watching the pulses of magic ripple over her body here in this subconscious realm.

That was when he saw it. Deep within Gusty, there was a flicker of sadness in her eyes. Truly, he felt it more than he saw it. It was the simple kinship of suffering that had once bound them together. That was what had kept the two of them alive then, if only it were that easy this time. She did not even recognize him. It infuriated him to a degree. Everything he and Amethyst, and Luna, and Bunker, and Celestia, and yes even Zeccaran had worked for had been destroyed. This was not the Gusty they all loved. She was no longer the same mare, but her power, her determination, the core parts of her that made her so unstoppable remained.

A flash of a thought washed over his mind’s eye.That was the key. He had not beaten Gusty back in Canterlot, but he had survived. He had redirected her power. The tendrils, the Curse! Oh, what a helluva to die!

This renewal of will caused his chest to swell in sensations of power and magic.. So long as there was a chance he had to try. When he turned his gaze to look at her directly. Gusty snarled incredulously as if she knew what he was thinking. That was just like her. How many times had she tried to hit him and now finally succeeded? It was unimportant. He had a singular purpose now. After all this was the dream realm. Imagination and will were all that mattered, and what he lacked in willpower against Gusty, he easily made up for with creativity. For in this realm, he too could use magic. Here there were no restrictions. How had Luna described teleportation?

A flash of light and crack of thunder and he was beside the Mytsn. Shocked and horrified, the beast slashed at him. He allowed it to hit him. The injuries it caused he could feel rend his flesh in the waking world. He was running out of time, his will and power already at their breaking point. He had perhaps the most fleeting of moments left. It would be all he needed, Guardian Angel swore that to himself.

Wrapping up the tendrils that connected the monster to Gusty with a wing, he promptly stuck the dark flesh into his mouth. He clamped down with all his force, all his will, his everything. He may not be able to stop Gusty from ejecting him from this realm and burning up all his energy, but the Curse could not withstand his desire. He could only hope it would work.

With an angry shriek of pain Gusty appeared before the two monsters. Guardian Angel bit through the tentacles and sucked as much of the Curse into his maw as he could. This was it.

“No, let me go! Gusty wait!” The Mytsn cried.

For a brief moment, the alicorn faltered. It was as if the severed connection between Gusty and the terrible Shade remained. Her face hardened. It was as if she had truly awoken in that moment. Her horn blazed. Her determination to blast him far greater than whatever power his ancestors’ Curse possessed over her. Guardian Angel clamped down harder on her tendrils. His hunger was nearly as powerful as his desire to win.

An irate horde of bees and light overcame his senses in the next instant. The sensation of being thrown high into the air took Guardian Angel. However, he could still feel the Mytsn struggling in his mouth. He would not let go. He would die first. He would keep his jaw clenched even after death. All that mattered was that the beast came with him into the physical plane.

Once there it would be over. He would consume it just as he was always meant to do. All the scattered pieces of the Shadow-kin would be united and it would be over. They would die together. There would be no regenerating today. He could feel how sapped of magic he had become. How did Luna do this all the time?

A brief respite of blackness gave way to ruddy light. The demon’s senses kicked back in with the transition.

Guardian Angel could feel warm stone against his back. The Curse shrieked angrily in the olden tongue of his ancestors. The demon-stallion kept his jaw shut but sucked in more of the creature’s body and magic. It provided no sustenance.

That drove him more. It angered the demon greatly that something so weak, so devoid of magic of its own, had caused so much heartache and pain. It would suffer for it. Even in his determination his vision faded. He pulled more on the Mytsn, but no life-sense-sight replaced his sight this time. The damnedable beast in his mouth still struggled though it was more than half-eaten. There were voices and shouting. He did not recognize them.

Terrible pain erupted in his stomach. Even as she was ended the Mytsn was still fighting, stabbing him with its free flesh. He bit for more, sucking down the monster. It begged, but he did not hear it. He only ate more. He hated it. He loathed the dark entity more than himself and more than any of his failures. The realization gave him power. Enough to finish the job. He sucked down the last tentacle and the screaming went silent. The pain in his chest and belly slowly numbed. There was no more Curse.

Overjoyed he rolled to his hooves. Quickly, his empty vision became currents of magic. He looked up and found Gusty. She stood above him, her face cast in a thousand yard stare. That was when Guardian Angel’s whole body tingled. The sort of tingle that had gotten him his name. The creeping, appalling feeling of his special talent, his Cutie Mark. It had not been activated in over ten years. Something was frightfully wrong.

All he could hear was Gusty’s breathing. In the vision he had her features slowly eroded away. The light and magic around her condensed and pulsed. It was just like what he had felt in the Frozen North, but now he could see it happen. That made it so much worse, the warning serving only to make more anxiety.

The rumble of cracking stone and whistles of superheated wind and rock came. A sun of pure magic energy howled where he could still feel Gusty. Its epicenter slowly expanding in a vicious and angry torrent of unstoppable force. She had gone berserk. This time, he did not have the power to stop her, much less help retain her memories.

A burst of air pushed him along the smooth stone of the cavern. Worriedly, he looked away from the blinding ball of light that was Gusty, and found Ashijinir’s slender form. The dragon was a pale tube of illumination in comparison.

“Queen of Fire! Run!” He yelled.

For as well as he could scream, she likely did not hear him. In fact, no one would be hearing anything beyond the howls of the wind that Gusty now commanded. Huh, what a bit of cruel irony. Gusty Twilight. A windy end. Another explosion of magic went off, it spurred him back into reality from his exhausted mental dissociation. It also knocked Guardian Angel from his hooves. In pain he stood back up, tired. The hard irony made him sick. To think her name was how he was going to die!

Despite his desperate situation, the demon-stallion noticed the emerald dragon slink away. She disappeared through some grey outline of nothingness. He could only assume that was the cave that had led to the gilded throne room. Thus, he turned his eyes back towards Gusty’s gleaming sun. She was already hovering on nothing. The grey and black rock that had been below her was replaced by a black nothing. The tendrils of magic that she sucked in and spat the only thing that supported her.

He had to stop her. Guardian Angel just did not know how he could. He could barely stand the wind and magic she tossed about. He was exhausted. His whole body hurt, and the headache he had probably would have killed even Luna. His breaths were heavy, and he could taste iron. Brute force like the Frozen North Incident would not work, but he did not have anything else. He was the only one that could even survive this storm. And right now, he probably would not.

Sadness drew tears to his eyes. They were quickly whipped away and into the air. This was the last step. He just had to knock her out and it was done. It was too bad the last leg of the journey was always the hardest.

His wings moved on their own. His body, his practice, all the preparation moved him more than his desire or will did. Guardian Angel’s mind drifted. Each flash of air made him ache. A slash into his legs, a bludgeon to his wings and he lost the ground he had gained toward her.

Perhaps a choke hold? He considered. A bite to the lower neck could cause shock and put her down too. Would she survive that?

Guardian Angel did not know. He could do more than puzzle over what to do as he approached again. Huge disintegration explosions went off around him as he moved. A third hit him and his vision went black. However, he was not knocked out. He could still feel his body and hear the wind. He could feel her mind, and taste her location on the air. He would reach her. He just was not going to be making it in one piece.

More wing pumps and more explosions. What was the point of all this? His mind wondered. A simple answer came to him from some still functional part of his brain.

Her. Amethyst. Luna. The World. What wasn’t it for?

Huge geysers of lava flew up around the alicorn and the demon. They were only a short distance away now. Guardian Angel felt old. HIs hooves hurt, but even as they were exploded off by the intensity of Gusty’s constant barrage, they grew back all the same. Each wingbeat was starting to cause him excruciating pain. He reached out for her. Vaguely, a little flicker of light appeared in the blank void that was his sight. It was just before his snout.

With a final lunge he wrapped his hooves around that spot. Magic grabbed his body and tried to toss him off. Joints and bones snapped in response but his will kept the demon in place. He could do nothing else. To let go, to give up now, it was to admit he was nothing, and that all the death and destruction that had led them here was in vain.

His regeneration failed. He could feel his lungs and heart struggling to keep good blood flowing. This was it.

With a brief motion he could again feel what had to be Gusty’s neck. This was his final option, there would be no second chances, he had to do this right. Opening his maw he jammed his teeth down as hard as he could. He did not even pierce her skin. Guardian Angel clamped down in defeat, his maw wrapping around soft flesh and compressing. It was all that was left. It reminded him of when he had fought Nyx all those years ago. Just like then he was reduced to nothing, his existence just pure defiance in the wake of utter defeat. He could not breathe, blood bubbled out of his nose. Then it all faded black. His last thought was simple contentment that even in death, his jaws would remain locked, and just maybe they would slowly make Gusty pass out from lack of oxygen.

Act 5: Chapter 15 - The Fire's Out

Chapter 15 - The Fire's Out

As soon as the violent winds subsided Ashijinir rushed her bulk back into her throne room. The ancient dragon spied the two immortals. Knit together at the neck they fell from the air. Acting before balking, she maneuvered a wing out as she stepped into the vast, churring pit of lava that had once been her cavern. Rocks slid and crumbled as she did. The mountain was erupting.

In the next moment Gusty and the Shadow-kin landed in her wing. She did not have time to assess them more and Ashijinir chose haste. Quickly rolling the leathery appendage she pulled the wing below her belly and began exiting the mighty chamber.

Once out, she clawed down stone and covered her exit as best she could. It would not hold if the whole volcano went, but it would decidedly buy her mother time as Ashijinir carried her to safety. After all, lava was not going to harm the dragon or the demon.

So down the tunnel the Queen of Fire stalked. Her mind was running wild at what she had witnessed. The flashes of power, the battle of wills she only detected in the briefest of instants. The strange dark creature that the Shadow-kin had devoured. The horrifying realization that once it was eaten the evil presence she had felt since Gusty had arrived disappeared. Ashijinir did not understand. In all her years she had never seen or even heard of anything like it. A loud gasp of a pony in front of her drew her attention.

It was a zebra, an earth pony, and a pegasus. They were huddled together against a wall. With pause, the Queen of fire grabbed them all with a paw, gently placing them in her free wing. They were witnesses, agents of Gusty or the Shadow-kin. She had questions -demands- that she needed answered.

She quickly came upon another pony. Even Ashijinir could tell he was dead. Even so she grabbed him up and put him in the wing with the other three that had been in the tunnel. Then when she finally broke into the sun, with all her size and grand emerald scales she heaved a breath. Her only regret was that the Shadow-kin had locked his jaws onto Gusty, if he had not she would have left him to be crushed by the mountain.

She turned and faced her once forever bed. Smoke and hot gas flew up from its mantled peaks. They were more a collection of smashed points now than the single collection of mighty stone they had been. With a careful grace Ashijinir walked away from the sight, the cave-tunnel to her golden throne starting to glow behind her. While it would take most creatures, even other dragons, quite some time to reach the place where her fellow elders circled the sky, clawing their way over trees and along rocks, it was a trifle to the Queen of Fire. Her superior size and length made the journey easy.

As she slithered and grabbed her way to the basalt plateau that had been chosen for the ponies to land on, Ashijinir huffed a smokey sigh. Her pony passengers had not moved and this troubled her. Finally she was there, several of her attendants landing near her, circling the strange vessel that sat on the dark stone.

Her subordinates started to approach the so-called “airship.” However, the vessel was surrounded by what was best described by a potent bit of shield magic. With a nod she coaxed her kin away from the Midnight Onyx, the ceasefire was official now. The Shadow-kin possessed no threat, if he had survived. Gusty had done quite the number on him. Ashijjinir still wanted to crush him. However, this came first.

“Princess Luna. Are you alive in there?” She boomed. Her voice rattled the shield bubble and skybarge like she had shaken a snowglobe.

There came no response. In the meantime the Queen of Dragons slowly extracted her carried ponies. The Zebra and the earth pony started actively quivering as she began to move and set them down. They were no bigger than the smallest of her claws, they had every right to be scared. Ashijinir had not exited her throne in over a thousand years. Beholding her glory in Celestia’s sun struck fear into anyone save a Shadow-kin or Alicorn. The bowed head of her kin proved such.

Finally, she gingerly lay Gusty and the Shadow-kin out on the platform before her. The beast that clung to her surrogate mother, had his jaw attached to the lower half of Gusty’s neck. It would not have been effective as a killing blow. This begged the question why. Most of his actions had made her ask the same question. Ashijinir had initially thought that he had sought to capture Gusty as his kin once had done so long ago. After what she had seen she was not so sure. Her eyes wandered to the other ponies and the unicorn’s body.

The great dragon noticed that the pegasus she had grabbed was motionless. No longer distracted by the chance of losing Gusty, she saw blood on his armor near his little chest. He too was dead. The Earther was missing his rear legs. Only the zebra seemed physically unharmed. However, he lay on his stomach shivering uncontrollably. It was an unnatural illness that shook him, that was all Ashijinr knew.

“Please, Princess Luna. There are ponies that need medicine. We cannot provide it.” She called out again.

This time there was a response, but it did not come from the airship. A hoarse gasp drew her attention to Gusty and the Shadow-kin.

The alicorn slowly pulled herself free from the demon’s maw. She stood up quickly, rubbing her neck. There were no injuries. Confused, Ashijnir only watched as Gusty took a series of double-takes, her head snapping around quickly as she absorbed her environment. However, her gaze settled on the dragon queen herself.

“Ashijinir! Ashijinir you’re huge! When did you get so huge!?”

The mighty dragon-daughter froze. What had happened to Gusty’s memory? It had never been this bad. Perhaps she had taken a blow to the head that Ashijinir had not seen.

“Mother? What do you mean when?” She answered.

For a long moment Gusty started up at her. The mare’s face was a perfect look of confusion. Then the befuddlement vanished and the alicorn turned a surprising neutral. Ashijinir nearly gasped in surprise. Gusty had not looked that reserved since the dragon queen had been a hatchling.

“Nevermind, that’s not all that important. What’s going on here? Did we come under attack? Are there more Shadow-kin than this one?” The alicorn rattled off the questions too fast for Ashijinir to answer.

How could she answer? Gusty should know these things. The only answer Ashijinir could think of: what she had witnessed in the throne room. And what had transpired did not a simple answer make.

Out of her power and out of her sorts, the Queen of Fire had witnessed magic so ancient and unsettling she had frozen. Vanity was a dragon and only she would ever know she had balked so severely. Ashijinir was thankful for that. However, the Shadow-kin that now lay dejectedly on the ground near Gusty had done something. She had seen it. Recklessly he had ripped some dark piece of disgustingly evil, Nyxian magic out of her mother. The emerald dragon had thought such a sight an illusion. Surely her eyes had been fooled. Her mind could not believe that the monster that had stormed into her chambers and so soundly declared himself dark lord had removed something that ailed Gusty.

His action had caused her inaction. It was why she did not crush him out of existence now that her surrogate mare-mother was free of him. This Shadow-kin was something different. He had proved himself far more powerful and more dangerous than any of his forebears. To have such control over the dark arts was unfathomable.

She had thought his intentions were to send Gusty into the berserk rage that had destroyed her room and gold. When he stopped her, his body withering and decaying before her eyes as he did, Ashijinir had again frozen. It pained her mind to even consider her failure. But somehow, regardless of her inability to protect her mother, the dragon queen now sat staring at the very mare she had once lost so many years ago. At least she had managed to move to grab Gusty from falling into the lava. That triumph she would have to relish in, if only to make the fear she had felt in the moment seem a distant memory.

However, that bit of arrogance returned to Ashijinir her grudge. This Shadow-kin had killed her mate. This was likely her only chance to take revenge. Without ceremony the Queen of Fire raised a paw in the air above his body ready to strike. There came a yell of protest from her mother but she ignored it.

“Don’t make me say it!” Gusty’s tone suddenly shifted.

Ashijinir looked down at the alicorn. Her brow was folded in the most scolding of manners. There was only one thing that Gusty could have meant by her exclamation. The Queen of Fire did not dare move her paw down. She was no Big Green Meanie. The rest of her kin would not be told she was, under no circumstances.

“You may not kill him. I have questions for him...if he’s still alive.”

Ashijinir only nodded. It stung to be cowed so effectively. But the burn was worth it to save face.

“Listen to me. Something happened. I don’t know how to explain it. My mind is-is-is...it's jumbled.” Gusty stammered trying to explain.

“Who are these ponies? At least tell me that.”

The dragon was unable to answer. She did not recognize the two that were alive, the zebra and the burgundy earther. A calm shrug was Ashijinir’s response.

“That poor fellow is missing his back legs! What in the world is going on around here?!” Gusty cried.

The hum of magic filled the air. The earther initially struggled as her magic took him, but he went limp when he saw her properly. Then Gusty got to work. Ashijinir marveled as her mother’s prowess went on full display. Less than a minute later, the pony stood on all fours fresh rear legs looking like they had always been there.

“There you go! Good as new!” Gusty chirped happily, deed complete. The earther just stared at her in awe, vaguely shaking his repaired appendages.

“And you curious mind-zebra, you’re actually real?”

He nodded his head, jaw agape. No one but Gusty knew what she was talking about. Even as unfamiliar with pony body language as she was, Ashijinir understood the vacant stares. They were as lost as her.

“Zeccaran? That’s your name right?” Gusty tried to confirm to the zebra

He nodded again.

Gusty continued on, asking the two the same questions she had asked Ashijinir. It felt pointless somehow. It did not matter who they were, not when there was still a Shadow-kin alive. The Queen of Fire could just narrowly sense his breathing, shallow and weak. He was broken, she could see it. Slowly, new holes against his ribs opened up and oozed a putrid black substance. Likewise his face tightened, his features were lined and harsh, made worse by his open jaw and darkly yellowed teeth. However, Ashijinir held back the urge to smash him. He would be dead soon. She just needed to wait on Gusty to focus.

The dragon still did not fully comprehend what had happened to her mother. Her musings on such things were stopped when a shout arose from the two stallions Gusty’s chattered at. Together they tackled the alicorn to the ground. Confused but gracious, Gusty accepted the dogpile of a hug. The big fellow openly cried, while Zeccaran kept repeating: “We did it!” It was strange, a part of Ashijinir told her it was wonderful that they were happy. Where the feeling came from she could not tell.

“That’s enough! I get it you’re happy I’m alive, boys. But I don’t know why that’s so significant right now.” Gusty hefted the two stallions off of her with her magic.

They went silent at her words. Ashijinir agreed with their silence. However, now was her time to speak.

“Gusty. There was a dark magic upon you. I know not its origins, only its touch. If you are confused I would believe that its removal has caused damage to your mind.” The dragon queen answered.

“What? What are you talking about….wait then who removed it?”

Extending a long dark green claw, Ashijinir pointed at the Shadow-kin. Gusty balked in shock. She gestured as if to confirm that the dragon was not lying. Ashijinir nodded.

“Then the memories…but even so why would he...”

“My question exactly.” The Queen of Fire rattled. She did not bother to conceal her contempt for the monster.

“Look, that's a really long story and honestly he should be the one to tell it to you.” The zebra piped up.

Gusty and Ashijinir looked at him. The striped pony looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. The only thing that seemed to keep him standing was an intense conviction that glimmered in his eyes.

“So are you gonna help him or what?” Zeccaran asked with a nod towards the Shadow-kin.

A long squeak sounded, interrupting any answer. At completion of the sound the airship's shield suddenly disappeared. The snap-splash! of a teleport spell went off and before the gathering of dragons and ponies Amethyst appeared. Ashijinir rustled her scales involuntarily. The young pony was sure to see the dead. Out of a motherly instinct she carefully placed a paw over the bodies. Thankfully, the filly was transfixed with Gusty.

“M-mom?” Amethyst questioned.

The alicorn cocked her head.

“What?” her voice was too questioning to be aware of the truth he filly spoke.

Ashijinir puffed out new smoke. The Shadow-kin had much to answer for, surely Gusty would allow her to kill him for making her forget Amethyst. However, it did not seem to matter to Amethyst. Her horn blazed with surprisingly powerful but visually ineffectual magic. All that Ashijinir could perceive was a vague sparkling around Gusty’s body. A look of bitter determination washed over the filly’s face, her horn glowing as bright as her mother’s had during her fight with the Shadow-kin.

Then her magic ceased. The wind it caused blew the mane out of Amethyst’s eyes. They sparkled with wonder and joy. A huge smile broke across the filly’s face and she rushed into Gusty. She buried her face into the alicorn’s chest fur, hugging up to her elder’s neck.

To her credit the confused alicorn wrapped a hoof around her and cast a worried look up at Ashijinir. The dragon attempted to non-verbally tell her patron that Amethyst was right, she was in fact the filly’s mother. Gusty did not understand. Instead, her face moved down to the dying Shadow-kin. Her brow furrowed. With an affectionate motion she wrapped her neck around Amethyst for a moment.

“I’m going to wake him.” Gusty’s words were directed at Ashijinir.

Finally, the time had come. As if possessed by the alicorn’s will, Amethyst slowly released her and stepped aside.

“H-he’s withered and...he looks dead.” The filly commented, her face drooped with horror.

“Not yet. Just injured severely. But, lucky for him I have just the thing to bring him around.” The alicorn responded.

“What’s that?” Amethyst was as inquisitive as ever.

“Alicorn blood.”

The phrase Ashijinir’s scales ripple again. It brought with it dark memories and the screams and death wails of far too many good ponies and dragons. Thankfully, it was without more ceremony Gusty strode over to the Shadow-kin. A glow on her horn and the sharp hum of compressing air pulled a magic blade into existence.

Weapon summoned, Gusty held it to the side of her neck where its base reached her chest. With an elegant draw the sword whistled and the alicorn did not flinch. She lay down next to the monster and gently lifted his head up with her hooves. The sight set a gout of flame belching out of Ashijinir’s nostrils. It was unintentional. The dragon simply could not stand her mare-mother giving the terrible beast such mercy. She even snarled when Gusty carefully closed the Shadow-kin’s mouth most of the way, and placed it against herself. As soon as she did, a line of blood began to run down her chest and right into his nose and partially open maw.

Though her ichor flowed onto his tongue, it took sometime before the Shadow-kin moved. First he moved his hooves towards Gusty, and then his mouth moved. His fleshy tongue raced along the open wound. Ashijinir growled.

“Do not worry, my emerald ward. If he bites me I will teleport away and you can crush him.” Gusty winked at her.

“He’s not gonna bite you, mom. Well...unless you asked him to.” Amethyst interjected. There was a blush there.

Gusty cast a disapproving look at the filly. However, they all were quickly distracted by a low groan. The Shadow-kin woke. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. His pupils were greyed. In fact much of him was grey, sickly. The usual black mane had streaks of salt and ash down it. Ashijinir had merely thought this his natural state, the creature being a warped abomination afterall. However, now that Amethyst had mentioned it, he looked terrible. It matched his demeanor which seemed tired and reserved.

His previous calm was suddenly shattered. His eyes focused. Even greyed and milked over by the signs of age there was a clear and unbridled determination in him. Ashijinir raised her claws up ready to strike. Surely he would bite Gusty in the next moment. However, her matriarch did not flinch as the demon greedily pressed his whole mouth over her cut. Her confidence was admirable, even if it did make the great green dragon nervous.

Then, as if possessed by some unseen force, the Shadow-kin ripped himself off of Gusty and pushed himself up to meet her gaze. His blind eyes did not inhibit him in the least. That was when Ashijinir felt it. The sudden return of powerful magic, his magic. It may have not been the vile gut-churning darkness that had been there before but the dragon queen was not taking chances. A puff of angry flame shot out of her nostrils and a shout rose to her throat. However, Gusty raised a hoof. The simple but controlling gesture held Ashijinir in place.

There they sat, the Alicorn and the Shadow-kin, staring into each other’s souls. The moment transfixed itself and even the wind stilled. There was no rumble of the volcano behind them, no breath was taken. Every single creature present froze. The clash of invisible magic between the two immortal beings was all that decided the fate of existence itself. Ashijinir did not know what to make of this. In fact she could barely think. All that the Queen of Fire could perceive was the mass conflux of magic. Two pools of power that danced together before her. The sensation against her scales and the picture of the exchange in her mind’s eye were equally real. It stilled her thoughts as she realized how insignificant she was compared to what transpired just outside of her perception...

It was with all his might that Guardian Angel reached out with his mind. Admittedly that meant very little strength but he had to try. Gusty's mind had always been open and willing, that was what gave him his chance. The confusion on her face would give way to comprehension. She would know herself once more.

The magic surrounding them bent to his will. Gusty reacted in kind, her spirit reaching out and meeting Guardian Angel. He let the power of her consciousness wash over him. He relished the feeling. The dormant connection between their minds activated at full force in the next instant. The demon-stallion pushed that momentary feeling of bliss away. He could not maintain the connection for longer than the paralyzed moment that had taken over his every sense. He had to convey everything in that microsecond.

Guardian Angel held nothing back, pushing forward into the abyss. He could not only hear Gusty’s thoughts but could feel the cold touch of his own skin against hers. Then there was no gap between them. The link was complete and his whole mind pressed into the alicorn’s. Desperately, he hoped it would give her all the context she needed, the memories she required to look upon Amethyst and Bunker with love. Gusty needed to know she had surmounted impossible obstacles and survived the darkest of hours and most vile of poisons. She deserved the happiness he had once promised himself he would give her. Gusty would know, maybe she would even remember all that the Mytsn had taken from her. Shock washed over him but it was not his own. It did not matter, his time was up.

Guardian Angel’s breath caught and the knot that bound their minds together fell apart. It was enough for him. For it had been in that finite infinity of the tiniest spaces of time that not even electrons move through that he had grasped victory from the belly of defeat. Thus, he relaxed...

Time lurched suddenly forward and Ashijinir blinked rapidly. She watched as the Shadow-kin slumped forward. Gusty instantly wrapped her hooves around him. The sight made the dragon stifle a gag. Her mother was both too bold and too merciful for her own good.

“Guardian Angel! Guardian Angel, stay with me!” Gusty cried.

The great dragon exhaled. Why was her mother upset? Shouldn’t she be happy that the monster was dying? Even if she had questions, they mattered little compared to the death of a Shadow-kin. The alicorn shouted out for her warding spirits again and that was when Ashijinir realized just who she called for. It was unmistakable.

Guardian Angel was the Shadow-kin’s name.

Gusty cradled his head. She desperately tried to slap him awake. Out of obligation Ashijinir examined his body. The wounds on his side had grown, she could see what she assumed was supposed to be ribs. Around them his flesh seemed to melt, becoming an inky and unsettling substance as he died in Gusty’s hooves. It had to have been excruciating for him.

“Mother, what is the meaning of this?!” She shouted finally, her frustration boiling over at having felt a scant amount of sympathy for the Shadow-kin.

“I-I-I-I don’t have time to explain...he-I-we...There’s so much he just showed me!” Gusty shouted desperately. Her concern left the dragon tasting bile.

Their shouting, to Ashijinir’s shock, roused the monster from his death’s doorstep. He gave a long whining groan and Gusty pulled his face up to meet her own. Likewise, her distance away, Amethyst scooted closer. Ashijinir lowered her head too, so she might hear his last words. If only for her own closure.

“You remembered my name.” He murmured.

His voice was kind and soft. He sounded nothing like how he had in her throne room. Gone was the bluster and anger. Somehow this quiet tone felt more genuine. The sensation held back her anger and piqued her curiosity. With her head right next to them, Ashijinir kept the eye she had facing them glued to his lips and waited.

“Don’t speak. You need to eat more, I won’t lose you!” Gusty replied desperately.

Just what had he shown her!?

That was the only thought the Queen of Fire had. It just kept repeating itself in her head, demanding an answer.

“Sweetheart. It's too late for that. I just made it too late.” Guardian Angel gazed up at Gusty as he spoke. With some effort he moved a portion of the alicorn’s mane behind her ears.

“What the hell does that mean?!” Gusty questioned her eyes beginning to water.

The demon gave a short chuckle. More of the black ink rolled out of his lips as he did. Gusty wiped it from his face fervently. She lowered her still bleeding neck to his mouth with reckless abandon. To the dragon queen’s shock, the demon nosed her mother’s ichor away.

“I’m not going to eat you, Luna, and Ashijinir, just to have a vague chance of surviving. It's over-”

He started to cough. His whole body convulsed as he did. It was an unnatural trembling that made Gusty stammer, her face whitening in horror. She desperately wanted to do something, it was clear, but it was obvious that she could not offer him aid. The sight tore at the Queen of Fire’s heart. How dare he make her mother feel such remorse over him.

“I...I couldn’t just let you forget everything...I...I had-had to make sure you were still in there. I made-made sure you’d...you’d be…” His voice trailed off. His eyes defocused as he pawed at her chest with a hoof.

“Be everything you remember me to be.” Gusty finished his thought.

Guardian Angel grinned contentedly. That was what he had done. He had shown her his memories. The currents of magic and the frozen moment of time. Their minds had touched. Ashijinir understood.

“Why?! You could have lived had you just let me forget!” The alicorn half-snarled half-sobbed. She carefully held his face in her hooves.

His grin turned into a wide smile that spread his features and for a brief moment he looked healthy and young within her grasp. Then the light faded from his eyes and his cheeks drooped. It was his end. Ashijinir could not even feel his magic. Still a small grin creased his face.

“Well...I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that sweetheart.”

His grin stayed but his eyelids relaxed. The unsteady pace of his breathing went still. He was gone. The last of the Shadow-kin died there within Gusty Twilight’s hooves.

Ashijinir wanted to roar in triumph. She had her vengeance. She had seen to the destruction of the greatest threat to all living things on the planet. Yet she could not. She could not cry forth a great beacon of fire and joy. All she could do was watch her mother-mare hold him.

Gusty kept stroking his mane, whispering ‘no’ repeatedly. She would call him occasionally, tears streaking down her face. Amethyst joined the alicorn and they both stared at his still features. Neither moving or becoming hysterical, they simply laid there as if they could not believe it.

The sight stirred a great sadness within Ashijinir. Her victory was hollow and she did not know why. The dragon queen could not fathom any reason that Gusty would sob over the loss of the demon, but seeing it happen hurt her. She felt as if she was some pawn in a much bigger game that she had not known was being played. And like a pawn the Queen of Fire sat waiting to be called upon. Whatever Gusty needed she would provide it. That was the least she could do.

Epilogue

It had been a week. Luna had been completely inconsolable since Gusty had helped wake her on the first day.The elder alicorn agreed with the Princess’s sentiment. However, after the first day, Gusty’s tears had stopped. They had been replaced by a terrible immutable sense of emptiness that she knew was supposed to be filled with Guardian Angel’s presence. That unmovable void taunted Gusty Twilight.

Damn that stallion for leaving her when she wanted him most. Damn him for making Luna and Amethyst cry. Damn him for being so stubborn. Damn him for leaving them all! Damn him for making her feel like this! Damn him for-

Fresh tears suddenly found their way to Gusty’s eyes. A hot fire that welled-up from her chest and seemed to consume her head. The vicious heartache felt just as terrible as it had when she had held Guardian Angel in her hooves as he died. Her only solace was her present position: alone atop the Midnight Onyx.

It had been easy to slip away from the shared bed she, Amethyst, and Bunker had been using. A little ethereal magic and a hard determination to be left to sulk alone helped too. It was not that she was ashamed of her tears, far from it. However, for the first time in her life, Gusty wanted to be alone. A simple solitude to wallow in her sadness and truly regret. The staff that had been on Guardian Angel’s payroll made that nearly impossible. All of them insisted that they cater to her every whim, their previous boss had probably ordered them to do so. Even now Gusty could see the faint glint of a spy glass of one of the pegasi that monitored her location. She considered blasting the cloud with a wave of stun magic but let urge pass.

There was no point in spreading the hurt she suffered. The other ponies wer probably upset about what had happened too. With a long sigh Gusty wiped some of her tears away. She took to staring at her hooves sniffling and taking slow steady breaths. It would not become her to fall apart over the death of a stallion, even one so…

Gusty paused and gave a short chortle. She did not have a good word to describe him. Perhaps he was best labeled: Difficult.

It suited him. He probably would have laughed had she ever managed to tell him something quite as philosophical. A few bittersweet tears rolled down her face and Gusty smiled. A few hefty thumbs and crashes of great scales upon rock turned her head to their sound. Ashijinir was easy to see in the daylight. Her glimmering emerald mass moved with purpose towards the airship. Even at the distance that separated them, the alicorn could tell the dragon was looking at her. She would be coming to talk about the future. Their diplomatic situation still had yet to be resolved. It would remain in limbo until Luna had gathered her composure. That did not restrict the Queen of Fire from coming to visit and chat with Gusty, however.

It did not take long for the huge dragoness to reach her perch upon the Onyx. Ashijinir was easily large enough to comfortably sit and have her head be even with the top of the armored balloon. So as she settled down and carefully laid her neck against the aerial warship, Gusty waited.

“I do not grow impatient. I grow worried. Will Luna be able to speak with me today?” The dragon queen asked once she was comfortably positioned.

The alicorn had no answer. She simply stared back at Ashijinir, trying to convey what it felt like to lose Guardian Angel with her eyes alone. Surely the dragoness had not forgotten what it had felt like to lose Torch? Gusty could only assume that her scaly companion’s lack of celebration was the most sympathy she could muster. It was enough. She did not expect Ashijinir to have pity for the demon-stallion. Some grudges just went too deep. Gusty understood that better than anyone else. Truthfully, the only reason she had dared to care about Guardian Angel was because he had refused to accept her mercy. How many times had he openly admitted that he did not deserve the chance she had given him? It had even been one of the last things he had said.

Remembering the moment made Gusty swallow hard. She had nearly gagged and broken into new sobs. It could not be helped. Never had she felt so powerless as the moment he had smiled at her and did everything but tell her he loved her. It infuriated Gusty to some degree. He was always completely cryptic when she spoke to him. Damn that Guardian Angel for not just saying what he so clearly felt! Gusty shuddered out a sigh and tried to clear her throat. If he had told her that, she would have been as truly inconsolable as Luna.

“Mother...What did he do? Why do you mourn him?” Ashijinir pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Nothing. He was just as terrible as the monsters you remember.” Gusty gave the honest answer before she even realized she was speaking.

The Queen of Fire flinched as if she had been struck on the nose.

“What?! Why?! Why do you care then?! Why did you give him mercy?!” She hissed. Her voice was not loud, but filled with a venom so powerful it threatened to melt the steel of the Onyx’s armor.

Gusty looked away from her dragon. This time she wanted to be as clear as possible, without sounding like she had done everything on a whim. Even if perhaps she had made her decisions regarding Guardian Angel in a momentary lapse of judgement based primarily in pity. Thought arranged she replied.

“It was a choice, a chance, that I gave him. If he was to survive my wrath, to prove his worth, then he had to stay the course. He did not waste my pity and mercy. That is why I mourn him. Because in a moment of honest weakness I sent a good stallion to his death because I dared to give him a chance. He was not truly redeemed but he certainly did not die the monster I first met. He did all of this for me.”

Her answer twisted Ashijinir’s features into a scowl then a pout. Finally she settled on an open-mawed grimace of disgust. Her breathing produced smoke and the occasional burst of flame slipped against her huge teeth and out of her nostrils. Gusty merely raised an eyebrow. A few moments passed as the great dragon calmed. She blinked her huge eyes, they audibly made clicks as her lids slapped together.

“He..that dark magic...wait!”

Ashijinir suddenly froze. Her gaze focused and she looked at Gusty with a terrified fire.

“Who sent me the letter saying that the Royal Court of Alicorn’s was compromised by him? Was it you?”

“Huh?”

“Yes, I received a secret communication from one of my representatives that went to Canterlot. Frostbite, a small purple drake, he sent it.”

“What-what are you talking about?”

Gusty was suddenly on edge. Who had known to say such things to Ashijnir? Who would want to make their jobs harder by making the Queen of Fire more hostile towards the diplomatic party that was to visit her? The alicorn had no answers. But she did know for a fact that Guardian Angel would not have sent it, and he was the only one with the contacts to convince a dragon representative to send clandestine messages.

“It is clear to me now that he did not have Ember, Luna, Celestia, and the rest of the pony military under his sway. That is what the letter described. I had thought it was a warning from you. It even instructed me to wait until the diplomatic party arrived, to play along. Even after discovering you were there in Canterlot it was the only thing that made sense. That you had sent the letter, that is.” Ashijinir explained.

The alicorn panted as her mind flew explanations. Whoever had sent the letter had every intention of putting Guardian Angel in the most difficult position possible. It worked too. He was out of the country and in what was effectively enemy territory. Worse it had made a controlled situation regarding Gusty herself impossible. The only ponies that were supposed to know all the information to make such a ploy were herself, Zeccaran, Luna and Celestia. She did not believe anypony else could have done it. It was possible that in some strange fit of dark magic inspired mischief Gusty had done it, but she had no memory of such a deed. She had remembered everything else thanks to Guardian Angel, she would have remembered that too. That meant it was someone she did not know, or someone that knew too much.

Then it dawned on her. Zeccaran had accused a random mare of sabotage and stalking back in Canterlot. That had happened right before the impromptu meeting with Ashijinir that Frostbite had facilitated. That mare!

“I’ll be right back!” Gusty shouted. She did not wait for her scaly companion to respond.

A flash of a teleport spell put her in Zeccaran and Pixie’s cabin. Both shouted, but were powerless to stop her from pouncing on the zebra and teleport him and herself back up to the top of the Onyx’s balloon.

“What the fuck are you doing!? You know what. I don’t even know why I’m surprised, what do you want?” Zeccaran flew through about a dozen emotions as he spoke.

“That thestral mare! Did you ever confirm that she worked for Luna?” Gusty asked hurriedly.

Her friend’s face froze. His pause was almost comical, as his eyes sparkled, his jaw slack. After that brief respite he snapped to complete focus.

“No. I didn’t. I’m surprised you remember.” Zeccaran answered.

“I remember everything thanks to that crazy stallion. We need to ask Luna about her.” Gusty replied.

Ashijinir rumbled. It was her version of a thoughtful hum. The zebra flinched, evidently he had not noticed the dragon’s head until she made noise. However, the dragon queen quickly explained the letter to Zeccaran. Her voice was kept soft, hard to understand as her deep tones were nearly overtaken by the clack of her jaws. However, the striped stallion seemed to grow worried as he took everything Ashijinir had to say.

“I...I think I know who would have sent it.” Zeccaran whispered.

Both Gusty and the Queen of Fire waited on his answer expectantly.

He said something but neither of them could hear him. Gusty instantly walked up against him and insisted he say the name again. He leaned her head down right next to his mouth.

Pixie.

Confused, Gusty stayed her anger. That could not be. She could fathom no reason the younger Stormwalker would do something like this. However, just like she remembered Midnight Blossom, so too did she remember the momentary pause between Guardian Angel and his sister.

“Ctik oihl faggrywd, Cyctal”

“Stop your meddling, Sister”

He had known about the letter!

Gusty drew a sharp breath. The recalled statement made her certain. Pixie had been the one to propel events to where they were now. But if she had done all of this, what was the purpose? She seemed genuinely sad that Guardian Angel was dead. It was not an act, the younger Stormwalker seemed lost. Even when Gusty had snatched Zeccaran away she had hardly reacted, her eyes distant and in anguish.

This time the answers did not matter. A primal, righteous fury burned in the alicorn’s chest. She would have the truth. The pony responsible for Guardian Angel’s death was his own sister, and Gusty was going to find out why.

Her magic sprang from her horn, anger guiding her. She reached out with a combination telekinesis and teleport spell, searching for Pixie in her cabin. The younger Stormwalker had not moved and Gusty grasped her in her magic, pulling her through time and space to be judged before the small gathering.

When Pixie appeared her face waxed fearful. She rapidly blinked her eyes before starting to gag. Gusty was the culprit. She forced her telekinesis tight around the mare’s neck before knocking her over onto her back with a hard shove. Placing a hoof on her exposed chest, the alicorn glowered down at Pixie.

“Why did you send that letter to Ashijinir?”

Gusty’s voice was soft. It did not belie her fury, her anguish. In fact her quiet tone made her sound as if the only thing that was going to keep Pixie alive was the complete truth. The younger Stormwalker may have answered if she was not getting the life choked out of her, but the alicorn wanted her to feel fear. She had no power here. She was not her brother. How dare Pixie betray their friendship and how dare she betray Guardian Angel!

“Gusty you’re gonna fucking kill her! Let her go!” Zeccaran pushed her with his hooves. He did not budge her. However, she did relax her grip on Pixie’s throat.

The mare coughed and spluttered, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her recovery was accentuated by hard puffs of angry smoke from Ashijinir’s nostrils. Gusty was glad her dragon daughter was willing to give her support. It could make all the difference now. To everyone’s surprise, Pixie did not answer once she stopped hacking up breaths. Instead she just hung her head, sobbing softly.

Gusty did not know what to make of this behavior. Her tears were beginning to feel like an act to the alicorn. That was bias at work, but Gusty already knew whatever answer the younger Stormwalker gave her would be insufficient. Pixie angled her head towards Zeccaran but he did not move to comfort her. In fact, he completely ignored the body language, beyond a twisted look of horror and sadness. Whatever was going through the zebra’s head Gusty could not divine. However, just when she was going to give Pixie another throttling the mare pulled her head up.

“I did it so I might mire his plans. That I might glean new information about his connection to you and the other alicorns.” She stated seriously.

“You mean that thing...that everything that you told me was about seeing which of you was better?” Zeccaran beat Gusty to responding. His voice was colored with a healthy disgust.

“Yes. Yes, that is what it was about. And it seems we found our answer.” Pixie hung her head again.

Gusty and Ashijinir swapped their gazes between the two lovers. The elder beings did not have the intel necessary to understand just what Pixie meant by that answer. Regardless, one of Ashijinir’s huge paws found its way up to the top of the Onyx and moved close to Pixie. A great angry rumble sounded from the dragon’s belly.

“Just what do you mean by that? Do you carry that dark curse as well?” She growled. The dragon queen’s claws inched ever closer to the red-maned mare.

Pixie cast a wary glance at her position, but she resolutely nodded. Immediately, Ashijinir’s claws closed and grasped the younger Stormwalker in her paw. The mare did not react beyond a simple grimace. Gusty allowed it to happen. She did not want Pixie trying to escape.

“You were trying to kill him the entire time weren’t you!?” Zeccaran shouted, taking the words right from Gusty’s mouth.

“No!” Pixie shouted back from her scaly prison.

“Like I told you before: it was a matter of philosophy. A game, a-a-a contest! I had no idea this would happen. By Tartarus, Guardian Angel didn’t even know I was plotting until last week. He never considered what I had meant, I don’t think he even remembers that conversation we had all those decades ago!” Pixie sobbed.

Gusty had never seen her “friend” lose her cool like this before. She may not have known Pixie for much more than a few months but the mare was unflappable. It was clear. For Faust’s sake she was dating Zeccaran! You had to be accepting and graceful to the highest degree to manage that. Something remained, however, and Pixie had just done a poor job of dancing around it.

“What exactly did you mean? What was this conversation?” Gusty seethed.

The mare hung her head, her chin pressing against Ashijnir’s digits. She raked out haggard breaths that made her whole body shudder. Her voice echoed with something between a sob and a wail of anger. Pixie murmured unintelligibly to herself as she cried and shook. Finally, after what felt like several hours she calmed down to sniffles and slow, whimpering breaths. She looked up, her eyes blood-shot from crying.

“I cannot explain it, not truly. Know that I engaged in a conspiracy to restrict the world's access to knowledge. All of it was to exert control over normal creatures, to keep them ignorant of how tenuous the safety of this world is. Guardian Angel...my brother...he put a stop to it. He didn’t even realize he had done it. The letter-it-it...it was a test, a measure of revenge, to see if he could continue to outplay me in a game he did not even know he was playing.”

She paused and drew a spluttering breath.

“I didn’t believe it, I swear I didn’t. I never believed how serious this all was. I never believed that the entirety of all existence was dependent on him being able to stop you from going critical. I had heard rumors of what had happened in the Frozen North. I didn’t believe them. I saw you rip apart a volcano on a whim, even so I didn’t believe it. It wasn’t until I saw his corpse. I thought it was some ruse to get me to drop my guard. I should have listened, I should have cared about what was happening.. I...I was wrong….I was wrong about everything...”

Gusty could only look on in disbelief. She knew now that Pixima Stormwalker was broken, a mockery. No, it was untrue. Even as her eyes registered Pixie just slump forward against Ashijinir’s scales, Gusty could not make herself accept it. The red-maned mare knew better. There simply was no scenario that allowed for her to fall prey to something quite so obvious.

The alicorn wanted to throttle her previous friend. The thought sent shivers down her spine. It was rare that she would ever consider somepony no longer her friend. Of all the ponies she had ever met, Gusty was certain Pixie deserved to be discounted. It was with great disdain that she motioned for Ashijinir to release the younger Stormwalker. The great dragon obliged albeit slowly and with several puffs of hot ash and fire.

Pixie slumped down once she was free. She made no attempt to escape, no attempt to act. All she did was quietly sniffle and continue to cry. Gusty felt her own tears. Those hot salt water droplets were of hurt, betrayal, and loss, but the alicorn could no longer stop them. As much as she wanted to revile the white mare for her selfish stupidity, it would not bring Guardian Angel back. And if it was a genuine mistake, even as much as Gusty’s blood ran hot, she did not dare to add to the situation. He would not have approved. Thus, she stood there crying, until Zeccaran cleared his throat.

“So everything you’ve been upset about over the last few days. It's been that you were wrong.” He said.

Pixie glumly nodded. She did not look up at him. Something about how Zeccaran phrased the statement made Gusty angry. She realized it was because he left out Guardian Angel. In a fury she bit her tongue to keep from interrupting the zebra.

“Do you miss him?” Zeccaran asked.

At that Pixie looked up. Her eyes were wide with fear and uncertainty. She seemed to not be able to answer but after a moment the anxiety faded from her face and the mare again hung her head.

“He promised me you. A-and he delivered.” Pixie murmured.

“I was a fool for ever thinking my idealistic brother would do anything less than ensure everyone’s survival except his own. I was blinded by the idea of a worthy opponent, of a big dark boogieman to play my cards against. I never took into account his insatiable desire for equinity.” Her voice became clearer and less sad as she spoke.

“Yes. I miss him. I miss his bad attitude and his ability to push my buttons. But that stallion...I had thought died long ago. When you, Zeccaran, robbed him of everything he had ever wanted. Killed it. But, I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.”

Pixie laid forward and covered her face with her forehooves. She heaved heavy breaths and loudly wept. She sat up, clenching her jaw and trying to remain controlled enough to speak.

“I-I wish I could use everything I h-have to make this right, b-but I can’t.” She blubbered through gritted teeth.

Pixie then broke down into snivels and whines. Zeccaran turned to Gusty as if to ask her permission to comfort the mare. Their eyes met for a time and a strange sadness seemed to well-up within the zebra. The alicorn nodded. Her striped friend needed some kind of closure, and she would not deny him it. Even if that meant he took to comforting Pixie. Zeccaran did so of course, but what else was there at this point?

Gusty slumped down onto her rump and closed her eyes. A few sad tears slipped past her lashes as she sat there wondering what she was to do now. Luna would kill Pixie if she knew. There had been enough death. The moony mare would have to learn the truth later.

Gusty decided that she had enough of the drama that she had foolishly summoned to her sanctuary. Rising up to her full height she cast a somber glance at Ashijinir. The great dragon’s emerald eye blinked and folded in a respectful if sorrowful manner. The alicorn made her way to her companion’s snout and hugged the hard scales. Ashijinir hummed a long, low sigh in appreciation.

“I’m going to see him.” She told her scaly ward. A gentle nod that moved the whole airship was the response.

With a flash of a teleport spell, Gusty left her friends. Her heart was numb and tired. Pixie had been a fool, a jealous, nearly-evil fool. Ashijinir had been caught up in her righteous anger. Zeccaran at least had been himself, but that was not saying much. That was why when she opened her eyes after her spell had completed and she beheld Guardian Angel she started to sob again. There were far too many regrets to list.

However, after the initial shock Gusty realized she was not alone. Behind her, she heard a familiar sniffle. Luna.

Turning she met the blue alicorn’s eyes. Silence reigned between them, and there was nothing more than staring into the sparkling voids that were each other’s pupils. Gusty revelled in the sensation. It was like being pulled into the Astral Realm without sleeping. The simplicity of their interaction, conveyed in that long moment more than words ever could have. Luna was not angry at her, to Gusty’s surprise. No, Luna only wished that her Guardian Angel had survived. They agreed on that. The younger alicorn seemed to take notice of her concurrence. Sadly, there was no fixing what had happened, he had chosen this path. And once Guardian Angel made his mind up about something that something had a tendency to happen, sooner or later. Gusty would have willingly traded anything to stave off the inevitable for even a few more seconds of him in her mind. She had been happy, truly. For those few scant seconds where they were one it had been all that had mattered. Now all she had was a broken and empty nostalgia that was more regret that it was pleasant.

That was her lot, however. It always had been. Always to forge ahead, forgoing the past because she could not change it. The void, the ever-changing future it was now in her control. No longer was she haunted by the screams of dead ponies. No, instead she remembered fondly all the happiness her many families had brought her. The thought brough fresh tears to her eyes. She no longer saw Luna, Gusty was back there again in the past, playing through memories. The cocky look on his face when they had first met. It made her smile. It would be forever hers. That was how it was to be, the fate of the world was in the hooves of the alicorns and the dragons, free from the dark influence of the Shadow-kin. That fact swelled her heart with joy, and there was exactly one reason that had come to pass.

Gusty turned and looked at her fallen friend. Confidently she took a few steps to him, and stroked his mane. He was that reason. She wished desperately to tell him how much it meant to her even though she could not.

“Did you love him?” Luna suddenly asked, breaking her from her internal musings.

“From the moment I met him.” Gusty answered truthfully. It felt a bit weird to say, but that was from repressing the factuality of the admission for so long.

“It’s time we take him home.” She continued.

Luna tearfully nodded. Gusty nearly did the same. There were far too many emotions for her. After being dominated for so long by anger and hatred she barely knew how to process the mix of melancholy, joy, regret, yet contentedness. Not to mention how much there was to do in the wake of everything that happened. A new determination came over Gusty and it was with purpose that she moved to speak to Ashijinir again, this time as a formal representative of Equestria. It would be a struggle to maintain the ability to feel. She knew that. She knew that he would have expected her to continue to improve too. A momentary sentiment of pleased agreement touched her mind.

Gusty paused at the door to the room, and spun to look at him. It must have just been her imagination. A false memory left in her mind by him. She took solace in the thought. A part of him was inside of her mind now, and it would remain that way forever.

And that made Gusty smile. A calm, bittersweet smile, that made her eyes water. With a final breath the alicorn turned away and left the room. There would be more tears, there would be more mourning. That was how it was meant to be, because she could handle the pain. She would persevere and set things right. That damned fool Guardian Angel could not. And that perhaps was the best decision he had ever made. A demon could never have led the world to peace. It was too bad it had not been a demon that had died.

If that is what you chose to believe, sweetheart.

Author's Note

Well. Its been over four years but its done.
It feels good to have accomplished it.
Thanks for being here everyone, means a lot!
The goal was to see if at least one other person liked it and i think i maybe had like 5?
500% return?! That's amazing!

Thanks again

Prologue: One Normal Day

Author's Note

Heeeeeyyyyy. I lied about Act 1 updates it seems. Anyway, after some serious discussion with my special critic it was decided some context was needed to actually make things work for any new readers. (and honestly older veteran's of my bad writing too.)

Enjoy!

Prologue: One Normal Day

The stallion found himself no longer able to rest so he rose from his bed. He vaguely looked around his room, it's posh elegant decor feeling well done but somewhat needless. He still was not sure what had led him to this point, how this immense sense of longing and purpose had taken over his life. Even with all the wealth and power that he possessed and the ponies he could command with it he felt empty save for his new routine of research, meetings, and discussions with the Princesses. Sometimes life had a funny way of changing your perspectives in the barest hint of an instant, not that he minded, the stallion had not been this happy in over a decade.

Leaving his room he mosied slowly to his kitchen casting his gaze out the big windows of the penthouse he lived in. The view was spectacular, this portion of the highrise home faced south capturing all of downtown Canterlot, the Palace, and the broad expanse of the Equestrian middle plains. The sun was peeking its head up above the far horizon on his left, the golden rays casting a blurry light on all that it touched. Canterlot itself was still covered mostly in darkness as the day had not grown enough to cast away all the shadows of the Palace that stood high up on its crested hill next to the mountain’s main spire. He turned from the blissful morning picture and poured water for his coffee.

Within a few minutes he had successfully boiled and dripped coffee to his liking. He stared down at the pitch-colored liquid before reaching into a cupboard for creamer. The stallion vacantly thought that he did not need the coffee but enjoyed the taste nonetheless. The steam rose up and away from the mug in tiny breezy tendrils as he watched idly. The thin milky see-through wisps danced as he breathed lightly. They moved away and towards him twisting and shattering as they were stretched too far. He heaved a final sigh and began drinking deciding he would enjoy the brew instead of becoming hasty and making breakfast. He remained there watching the sunrise, pleased with the morning, slowly sipping his beverage.

Once finished the stallion stood from his kitchen table and walked out onto his balcony. He then jumped from the position with nary a care. The stallion was a pegasus after all and a bit of a fall was not at all dangerous when you had wings. He fell about four floors before snapping his wings out and flying towards the Palace mentally preparing himself to deal with this week’s meeting of nobles. Such was his duty to attend and his formal wear was kept in the Palace much to the chagrin of many of his peers. None of them besides Lord Fancypants had as close a relationship with the Princesses that they could leave their regalia in the Palace without it being thrown away.

It took him just a few minutes to lazily glide to the Declaration Hall that hung over the main city square. Most ponies would not dare just fly directly into a secure area of the Palace air space but the stallion was more than aware of the limits he could push when it came to the Royal Guard. He breezed down with a light unison clop of his hooves and started trotting towards the stairs down into the main hall. He grinned wryly at the sentries stationed at the doors of the open-air hall as he left.

Canterlot Palace had always been his second home since he was small. His father had often brought him there when he had attended weekly meetings like the stallion did now. He was still nursing when the Weather Workers’ Union took up a strike against the Farming Consortium. The strike had decentralized all the weather production across the whole of Equestria and broke up all the large scale farming operations that had held the WWU responsible for low crop yields, and thus lowered their pay. It had been a rough year for his parents and the rest of Equestria, causing his cozy kin to leave him in the care of Celestia herself for a the majority of the strike. A vague sense of dysphoria wash over him as he walked down the white marble halls remembering his childhood and the hours he spent in the Palace. Back then everything had been much simpler making the stallion wonder how he had come to take his father’s place at the table of governance, especially since he loathed the necessity of politics.

Passing through the State Offices section of the Palace he turned towards the front Entrance Hall. He took a plain little door on his right, seemingly out of place in the immaculate Palace and opened it taking his usual way to his in house office. The room therein was a utility location filled with various equipment and carts for hospitality purposes. Unlike the extravagance of the Main Hall the room was a functional blue and white, bustling with the many servants that the Princesses employed. A few of the more veteran workers waved him hello and good morning as he passed by them. He smiled in return, nodding and expressing his thanks, before depressing the down button for the elevator. The mechanism beeped instantly and he strode into the small moving room before selecting the basement button. The doors opened and closed with a soft clingk as he rode and exited the elevator.

The stallion picked up his pace breezing past many researchers and various royal agents that populated the halls of the Palace’s bowels. He quickly skirted through the bustle and into the section of the complex where his office resided. All the ponies he passed saluted or bowed at him causing the stallion to roll his eyes and wave them to ease with his hooves. There was simply no reason for everypony to address him formally, frankly that was the reason he hated the weekly meeting. Sighing deeply upon reaching his little cubby-in-the-Palace, the stallion pushed open the door to his office. The dusty room spared little in the way of comfort or space having only a desk, an armor display, and a closet. The closet was, of course, his target; hiding away inside his regalia needed to be donned before he went to Court.

Door thrown open to the small enclosure, the stallion gazed at the traditional attire. The main body of the ensemble was comprised of an ancient uniform complete with a baldric, shoulder tassels, and medals. The formal wear was a dark midnight blue not unlike the color of Princess Luna’s fur and its accents were done in white and gold. Attached to this atrocity of modern fashion was a thick black cape that was only half length, meant specifically for Pegasi to wear which was only fitting, certainly. Finally, an iron and silver wreath was placed on his head to complete the eminence of his lordship. Perhaps it had been the way he was raised but the stallion was annoyed by the attempted oligarchy the rest of the Equestrian Nobility tried to enforce. Fully dressed he looked into the dingy little mirror on the inside of the closet door. He looked good, better than he had in years. He vacantly surmised that was because of his smile, something he had been lacking for some time. The unwilling lord turned around and left his dusty office and made his way to the Throne Room.

He made it, pleasantly uninterrupted, to the last section of the main hall before he was accosted by other ponies.

“Lord Cloudsdale!” shouted a group of mares-in-waiting. They popped out from various pillars and suits of armor that adorned the hall near the Throne Room. The stallion looked down at the collection of pretty faces and bouncing bodices. He smiled warmly at them, more than ready for this song and dance. Snapping his wings out from his back he relaxed his posture and changed his smile to a provocative gaze.

“Anything I can do for you, ladies?” he sighed internally at his own smooze. Anymore he responded merely to humor them, wealth and nobility attracted mates, being tall helped too. However, even if their intentions were pure, regular mares like these had lost their luster to him. It was no fault of their own that was why he at least pretended to be interested. He looked over them with a faux care and picked a timid little mare who was clearly rather nervous. He pushed past the other ‘ladies’ who parted with quiet giggles.

“Miss, what is your name?” he asked her. She stood twitching and shaking as the peers around her gasped at his choice. She probably got bullied by the others fairly regularly, and that was why he chose her.

“M-m-m-my name...my name! Is...Gala Prance!” she stammered. The stallion bent down in a bow, lowering himself to her height. It was a practiced theatrical move he had been working on since he had been coming to court meetings. Gala Prance swooned at the motion but somehow managed to have the wherewithal to extend a hoof to him as formal greeting etiquette required.

He took her hoof in both of his gently caressing the well polished shoe and soft fetlocks. The little mare shivered the entire time until he looked up at her and met her eyes. She froze, pupils dilated to the extreme and a blush rising redder and redder to her cheeks by the moment. He delicately placed his lips on her hoof and kissed it never breaking eye-contact. Gala Prance’s mouth hung open as she breathed hard to try and control herself, her eyes half closed.

“Dearest, Gala Prance, there is just so much more you could be instead of mare-in-waiting. Perhaps something with me?” he breathed the line with perfect pacing. Gala Prance sighed deeply in a rush of blushing and promptly fainted in response. He swiftly snagged her in his wings and stood up much to the shock and awe of the other mares around him who shrieked like they had seen a ghost. Miss Prance was quite petite and she fit snuggly inside one of his big wings where he grinned slyly at her sleeping face, thinking up his next line.

“Alas, a shame. I shall just have to take her into court with me…” he said as extravagantly as possible. He did just that leaving the other mares to gawk incredulously. He slowly made his way towards the Throne Room’s doors listening carefully to the posse

“Can you believe he just did that!” one said.

“Yes! But why her! She isn’t anything special at all! She’s just a Earth Pony!” another scathed. A murmuring of agreement arose at the statement the mare made.

“Even if he chose her, doesn’t mean she will know what to do! You know how awkward she is! I doubt she even understands what a lady-in-waiting is supposed to be about!” the first one said her voice all venom. The stallion made a mental note that he would have to do something a little extra for Gala Prance. Something she could use to thoroughly lord over those vile mares he had thankfully left behind. He smiled thinking of their faces when Gala Prance returned the next day with her “evidence” in tow, for now though he had more important matters to attend to, like chastising Celestia before the meeting started.

The golden plated Royal Guard stood up a little bit tighter as he reached the door. They opened it up for him without need to cast so much as an inquisitive glance their way. He stepped into the purple and gold clad chamber admiring the new Crystal Kingdom crafted crystal chandelier that had been installed. Large and opulent the decoration reflected dozens and dozens of his face back at him in a rather disorienting fashion. Ignoring the sparkling distraction the stallion gazed around the room quickly spotting Fancypants, his chief ally in these meetings and an old family friend.

“Good morning, eff-pee.” he said to the elder noble. Fancypants turned with a quick start and raised the eyebrow above his monocle. He was aging well, grey highlights over his ears and a thicker mustache suited his friend.

“Good morning, dear boy. I say, utilizing the informal greetings today, I see?” Fancypants responded with a pleased smile.

“Of course! You think I’m going to greet my friend with ‘good day, sir Archduke of Canterlot!’?” he pantomimed back at his friend with a sarcastic tone. Fancypants gave a chuckle and shook his head in both agreement and relief.

“Well, I am glad you are in a good mood, old sport. The Princess was just informing me of your new change in appearance, and I say, you wear it well.” Fancypants commented with a short nod. The stallion rolled his eyes, he supposed he looked different but at this point it did not weigh heavily on his mind.

“Thank you,” he started, mulling over how he was going to approach Celestia’s loose lips. He decided it was best to go straight for it, she used to appreciate that. “So ’Tia... what rumors have you been spreading about me?” he asked turning his gaze up to where the regent of the day sat on her golden throne.

“Why do you have a mare in your wings?” Celestia questioned back. Although dodging his question, she looked genuinely concerned with her discovery. The stallion pursed his lips and fixed Celestia with a questioning glare; it was like her to move onto the newest possible subject and ignore the present.

“I thought you had a particular mare in mind…I am surprised.” The Princess of the Sun answered his unspoken question with grace. Countless meetings and long developed political shrewdness greatly helped her navigate he and her’s new relationship, not that she needed to be that careful. He shifted his tone realizing that Celestia was not ready to banter so casually as they once did.

“Don’t be. While I do certainly have a particular mare I am interested in; this one was having a bad day so I thought I would help her escape those dirty biddies outside.” he calmly responded. Grabbing the plush pillow of his that was meant for the meeting he lowered Gala Prance out of his wing. She only vaguely stirred reflexively curling herself on her side as she lay in the cushion.

“Indeed. That is not something you have done in years…” Celestia trailed off before diverting the line of thought, “How did she become unconscious?”

“Well, I put on a good show of theatrics, kissed her hoof, flirted with her...and she fainted.” he smiled. “The other mares-in-waiting about threw a fit when I picked her up and brought her in here too. I plan on writing a personal letter and giving her one of my feathers. It should rile those vile creatures quite well.”

Fancypants burst into outright laughter cutting off an open mouthed Celestia. He was slow to recover, wiping tears away from his face with a kerchief from inside his suit. After a bit of clearing his throat he spoke: “I withdraw my earlier statement lad. You are not in a good mood; you are in a stupendous mood. I just hope you carry it through this upcoming borish affair.”

The door to the Throne Room swung open and the remaining horde of nobles cantered into the chamber. They spoke loudly, tossing out various high brow insults to each other. A lesser duke by the name of Jetset was at the head of the group acting especially snotty as he and his wife made their way to their spot in the room. Upper Crust, his wife, the Countess of Baltimare, actually held the higher rank but had the misfortune of possessing extremely low intelligence and naivety letting her husband do the business dealings of their household. She sat across from him now a look of disgust on her face.

“My word! Whatever happened to you, Lord Cloudsdale!?” she shouted rudely.The whole room of nobles went silent and suddenly they all looked directly at him. The stallion gravely stared back at them doing his best to not snarl at their gaping mouths.

“Something on my face?” he knowingly snarked purposely rubbing his left eye as he spoke. These ponies made their lives on their image and poise; it made him sick. The way they gawked and grimaced at what real loyalty and service looked like made him wish he was anywhere else.

“Enough. Lord Cloudsdale is to be commended for acquiring that marking, and we are lucky he is still alive to tell the tale of how he got it.” Celestia’s voice cut over the crowd's murmurs. He looked up at her in surprise, he had not expected her to stand up for him. Then again, it had been a great deal of time since Celestia actually acted how he knew she could during Court. He smiled proudly at her glad that the mare he had known was finally, truly herself and back on the throne.

“I say old sport, how did you get that anyway?” Fancypants politely asked next to him.

“That is para-level one information, Archduke. And I will not be declassifying at this time.” the Princess responded tepidly. Fancypants nodded sagely accepting her answer without any objection whatsoever. The rest of the Court murmured suspiciously and gave him scared, humiliated looks.

“Now. The weekly meeting of the Equestrian Commonwealth Nobility will come to order. I, Princess Celestia, make a motion to skip last week’s minutes so we may proceed to discuss the newest member of the Royal House.” she quipped dryly.

“Second!” The Lord of Cloudsdale raised his hoof quickly. Finally, they were getting on to the topic he was most interested in, Gusty Twilight, the mare he had a particular interest in…

“So this new alicorn...you sayin’ ya found her just wandering around?” The Duke of Vanhoover questioned. Being the only Earth Pony in the room of nobles, he cut away the whispers of the early leavers with his drawl. Celestia had called the meeting formally adjourned a few minutes ago, leaving him, Vanhoover, and Fancypants to continue.

“Yes. Quite literally.” Celestia responded evenly, “And as a reference Lord Cloudsdale was the one who found her. She has not been in Equestria for at least a century that much is clear. Many of the customs of modern courtesy are quite lost on her.” Vanhoover raised his eyebrows in response before adjusting his hat, casually motioning for the Princess to continue. Celestia waited until the door was closed to the Throne Room as the mash of nobles finally exited, before she continued.

“That is the reason behind keeping her in the Palace. It is for both her safety and the citizens’ safety. We are currently investigating her...juxtaposed behavioral habits. That doesn’t leave this room, dear Duke.” she gave him a hard glare as she finished.

“Of course your majesty.” Vanhoover bowed fully, his chest touching the floor. “Thank you for indulging my curiosity.” he said while standing. Celestia nodded with a small smile on her face in return, approving his fealty. Vanhoover made another tuck of his head before turning to leave.

The stallion looked over at Fancypants who smiled back at him. “Shall you join me for lunch, lad? It has been sometime since we raided the Market Square.” he chuckled at Lord Cloudsdale.

“Sadly, no. I have business to attend to here in the Palace, let’s do next week.” he answered his friend trying his best to not sound rude.

“That sounds like an excellent plan, my friend. I shall definitely be clearing that day’s afternoon schedule.” Fancypants grinned with a waggle of his mustache and eyebrows. The stallion chuckled and waved him goodbye, leaving him alone with Celestia in the room. She rolled her eyes at him before pointing over at Gala Prance who was starting to stir.

He had written the letter of “confirmation” during one of the noble’s low winded complaint that Celestia had inducted some no name pony into the Royal Family instead of one of his many children. He needed just to give the letter to Gala Prance along with a primary feather and word of warning before he could send her on her way. Wasting no time the stallion trotted over to the little mare and set the letter down on the ground before slipping his wings underneath her. He picked her up and completely wrapped her body in the appendages, trying to make even her smell indicate they had spent the day together. After being jostled about in his wings Gala Prance yawned and woke up about the time he was sitting her down.

“L-lord Cloudsdale?” she blinked up at him.

“Hello!” he responded cheerily.

“W-what happened? Did I faint? Oh, how embarrassing.” Gala Prance blushed, looking away from him. Her eyes widened as she looked past him towards the throne.

“Princess Celestia!” she cried. Jumping up and away from the pillow she landed in a practiced low curtsy before the Princess. Gala Prance rattled off about a dozen greetings and apologies, clearly drilled into her by an etiquette school. Celestia stood up from her throne and strolled down the raised dais before reaching down to the pitiful mare-in-waiting and kissing her on the forehead.

“Relax, my little pony. You are among friends.” Celestia said with comfort in her voice. She pulled Gala Prance up off the floor, her horned glowed yellow and the letter he had left on the ground floated over to the two mares. “Lord Cloudsdale would like to present you with a gift.” the Princess told her small compatriot.

Gala Prance took the letter in her hooves and started reading it immediately. Her face began changing from cream color to a deep, deep red. From over her shoulder Celestia snickered as she examined the letter herself. Cloudsdale looked over his right wing and selected one of his finest primaries before giving it a pluck with his mouth. He did not have a purpose for a single feather, even one that did not “regrow.” A gasp from Gala Prance caused him to look up, the feather hanging his mouth dumbly.

“Milord you don’t have to do this! Well...you already...I…” the timid mare stared at him in shock. Her face slowly turning back to a normal color she became vacant, eyes unfocused as she looked at him. Celestia re-levitated the letter and moved it back and forth in front of Prance who did not even flinch.

“It would seem that you are still quite the charmer, my prodigal stallion.” Celestia commented. She barely finished before Gala Prance shot over to him and almost knocked him off balance from her flying hug. She nuzzled her whole face into his chest desperately, as if she was trying to unbutton his uniform and suffocate herself in his fur.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she cooed over and over. “Uh...no problem Miss Prance,” he started, rather surprised at her sudden confidence. He tucked the feather he had taken into her blonde mane next to left ear. She just responded by humming and sighing and squeezing herself tighter to his chest. Gala Prance made another gasp before speaking up.

“You have no idea how much this means to me! Now those dreadful bullies outside will really have something to think about!” she mumbled from his chest. He barely heard her, the stallion had become distracted by a welcome and familiar presence approaching the Throne Room. He peered over to Celestia who appeared to have just narrowly hidden a jealous pout and made eye contact with her.

“‘Tia, would you be as so kind as to move Miss Prance for a moment.” he said to her sharply.

“What? Why what’s wrong?” Celestia questioned looking confused.

“Quickly!” he commanded. The Princess instantly levitated Gala Prance away from him her action prompted by her recognition of his tone. Not a moment later the distinct hum of Gusty’s golden magic made him reflexively dodge back. He narrowly missed having his neck become cloven by the banged-up-old blade of the errant mare in question. Somewhere behind the throne itself came an annoyed grunt and the floating sword danced towards him with angry speed.

The element of surprise lost, he deftly dodged the disembodied strikes with ease. The levitating bastard blade sped up faster and their rhythm bounced together in a waltz of death. It was moments like this that he lived for, to be truly challenged by another being. Gusty’s raw skill and talent were a barrier none but he could climb and avoiding her strikes without a weapon to parry with was exhilarating. And true to form Gusty jumped from behind throne her face twisted in anger and determination as she fired a volley of spells at him. The mare knew such an attempt would only stoke his fires more but she was too stubborn to relent. She combined the spells with several swings of her sword towards his flanks. This forced him to dodge forward in a roll and then take to the air with a leap. He met her eyes as he hovered in the center of the Throne Room she scowled as he smiled down at her. She swung her head angrily and the hum of her blade grew instantly deafening as her blade flew towards him with frightening speed. However, this was where he would end the dance.

Dodging with as little movement as possible while airborne, the stallion let the blade tug at the fur on his neck. He rotated his body with the motion of the blade so his rear legs faced it as Gusty slowed it down to swing at him in a different direction. Just as it slowed to its minimum, he snapped his back legs in a floating buck as hard as he could. He caught the flat of the weapon and sent it sailing out of Gusty’s magical grip with a clatter and clang. It bounced and slid across the chamber as he glided down to the floor staring right at Gusty the whole time while she visibly fumed at her lack of success.

“Still too slow, Gusty.” he taunted her for his own sport. He adored her when she got frustrated, she would blush and throw her nose in the air to try to cover it up. Instantly she did as he expected.

“Don’t talk to me you vile stallion!” she grumbled, eyes to the ceiling. He was fairly certain he heard Gala Prance gasp at the statement but the little mare did not understand he and Gusty’s relationship.

“Nonsense.” he continued speaking to the teal alicorn, “What are you doing here so early, anyway?”

“That’s none of your business, cretin.” Gusty spat. She moved slowly towards Celestia and Gala Prance keeping her body facing him. She continued to grumble as she fumbled with her cobalt skirt that she always wore.

“I convinced her to have lunch with me.” Celestia chimed in answering for her friend.

“‘Tiaaaa! You weren’t supposed to tell him, just like that!” Gusty complained.

“Why not? He has things to do today, don’t you?” The Princess turned to ask him. He nodded in return, “Yes. I have other investments to check in on before doing some studying on little miss ambush over there.” he pointed to Gusty with a wing and a chuckle. The mare scrunched up her nose in that upset way she had about her. He could not help but enjoy pushing her buttons, after all she was the reason he had turned over a new leaf, so she got to deal with the results. Most mares would probably love to have him take such a vested interested in them, Gala Prance being a grand example, but he would keep that conceited thought to himself.

“Well, get going then!” Gusty reproachfully proclaimed. “And take this poor mare you have been misleading.” He gave Celestia a knowing look raising a brow at her to see if she would humor him. The Princess nodded in agreement and stopped Gala Prance with a hoof from walking towards him.

“Actually I think it would be appropriate, that Miss Prance eats with us as well today.” She said to Gusty. The teal mare looked over her new creme colored guest rubbing her chin with a hoof. She gave a short nod as if coming to an internal conclusion.

“Alright, she seems cool.” Gusty deemed curtly. Gala Prance bounced up and down on her hooves squeaking with joy. She ran in a quick circle and beamed with pride.

“Taken on a ‘date’ with a high ranking Lord and a lunch with Princess Celestia! Today has been a great day for this mare! What are we going to eat?” The petite mare cheered merrily. She waited eagerly, an extremely wide smile on her face. The stallion grinned pleased with his one good deed for the day. That would allow him to move forward with the rest of his day without the nagging sensation of needed karma.

“Have a good lunch you three.” he spoke casually with a wave. Gusty blew a raspberry at him while Celestia gave a small chuckle at Gala Prance’s enthusiastic waving. He turned and strode towards the doors where the inside pair of guards waited horns aglow to open the portal for him. He passed through the threshold without even breaking stride on his way to check in on his other investment.

The stallion moved towards the Entrance Hall again following his earlier path down into the basement complex. However, instead of taking the hall to his office he continued down the main corridor towards the deeper, grander portion of the concealed complex. The masonry and finishings gradually changed from polished and publicly appealing to drab and functional. He could hardly walk down these halls without having ponies wave, blush, or salute. Doing his best to ignore the notoriety despite himself, the stallion arrived at the entrance to the section he was seeking.

A security checkpoint was manned by a pair of guards, their armor a not golden but a combination of shined iron and bronze finishes. They both stood at attention immediately knocking their respective chairs to the floor. Silently they waved him through the location’s security measures and recorded the identity confirmation. The prompt and stoic service was to be expected they were on his payroll although he would rather they at least say “hello.” He continued past them and went further into the facility. He took his time following the crooked path to his destination arriving finally at a heavy metal door with a number of locks on it.

Grasping the handle and the many locks in a wing he pulled the door open with a harsh creak. No lock could keep him out of a room, it would be better if there was not a door, but then again that did not necessarily mean anything to him. He entered the dark dingy feeling chamber knowing exactly where to step to avoid the room’s many hazards. Such hazards included a growing pile of broken glass and brittle polymers coming from the room’s resident as they were discarded without a care. The acrid smell of a chemical burn filled the lab and the tinkerer kept coughing regularly not realizing he was too close to his experiment.

Having slipped in unnoticed by the pony he was intent on berating he cleared his throat. The tinkerer remained too engrossed in his work to even notice the loud grunt as he tossed another glass apparatus over his shoulder as if keeping it would cause bad luck. Unfortunately, for the busy pony bad luck had just strolled in the door.

“Well, well, well...just as dirty as last time I see.” the stallion declared aloud.

“Ahh! What-the-hell! Please gods, no!” the tinkerer screamed incoherently. He practically front flipped behind the table he was working at shaking with fright. Staring back at him with pure terror in his eyes and soot all over his face the experimenter balked, breathing hard.

“Boo.” The stallion replied with a sneer.

“Wha-what did you come here for?! To finish the job?!” The tinkerer questioned hurriedly. He barely got the shrill inquiries out, still heaving in air like it was the only physical action he could take.

“No...just checking in. Making sure you are still here...and enjoying watching you squirm and scream like a little... baby... school...filly.” The stallion mocked savoring every word and its venom. Shameful perhaps, but the unwitting subject of his displeasure certainly did deserve the trouble, regardless of how incredibly pitiful he behaved when pushed. Princess Luna would have scolded him for chastising her only possible “helper.” Perhaps she would have less empathy for the tinkerer if she knew who was sponsoring his reformation, she had always been aloof to the emotions of that pony, if he was even a pony anymore.

“I-I’m fine...I’m not going anywhere..I like..just leave me to work, p-please.” the fool pleaded to the stallion. The stallion snorted incredulously in response, he would leave he supposed.

“Just remember...make your deadlines.” he admonished before turning and leaving the messy lab. Behind him the tinkerer forced a massive sigh of relief and began muttering to himself.

“How did he even get in here the door was lock-Wait....what did he just say about deadlines?” came his panicked voice echoing down the hall as the stallion left. He felt a dark ironic laugh coming on so he let it ring down through the facility. There were no deadlines, but that did not mean that the turd back in his personal lab needed to know that. Besides it was significantly more pleasurable to let him torture himself.

Mission of torment complete the stallion made his way back towards his office. His intent was to return his regalia to its closet to rid himself of the persistent itch it caused on his shoulders. It was only a few minutes before he was pleasantly stretching his wings, free of his uniform and enjoying the musky smell of his office. As tradition dictated, before he started any researching in the Archives the stallion pulled open the bottom draw of his desk.

There, nestled between a pair of dingy little cloths sat a jar of corn alcohol better known as moonshine. It had been provided to him by a certain small entrepreneur from Ponyville as both a gift and a trial run for the new product. It was another of his investments, gritty tasting and full of wheat and corn starch flavor the beverage had an amazing clean crisp apple finish. It was by far one of the finest alcohols ever produced, trouble was finding a market to sell it in. Equestria’s tight liquor law environment made it difficult to sell much beyond cider and wine. Nonetheless he would enjoy this jar to himself.

Exiting his office the stallion tucked his jar under a wing and made his way up to the main floor of the Palace. Being only mid afternoon, ponies bustled back and forth through the halls dodging past him ignoring him on their way. It was a welcome reproach from his usual notoriety to walk through a crowd without being stopped every ten paces. It allowed him to pass through the State Hall and make his way towards the Archives quickly.

He stood before the small entrance to the collection of ancient texts and scrolls. Unlike other portions of the Palace these guards maintained their relaxed postured, each lowering their spears across the doorway. The guard on the left extended a hoof in a gesture to indicating he required proper credentials before he allowed anypony to enter. The stallion reached for the lanyard he had donned back down in his office and passed the attached identification card to the impatient fellow. Examining the glorified library card with extreme scrutiny it took a while for the sentry to return the lanyard. He did so with a quick nod of his head, refusing to speak at all.

Spears removed from his path, the stallion pushed open the doors into the Archives intent on making progress on the riddle that was Gusty Twilight. He figured that it was best to cross reference a number of documents he had already marked as potentially valuable sources of information. He navigated the immense towers of the main stacks with ease; the Archives and their many sections and labels had become very familiar over the last couple of months. Finding the “Histories and Legends of the Dragons” section he began scanning the materials searching for lists and details of previous draconic leaders. He found some relevant materials relatively quickly and took his several books and a single scroll over to his favorite table within the Archives.

Fssshooptop! Echoed through the otherwise silent collection of knowledge. It had come just about the time he had sat down and opened the first book.

“What are you reading?” Came the curious voice of Princess Luna.

“What are you doing awake?” the stallion questioned right back. Luna had a tendency to be rather distracting whenever he was actually doing important work. He often wondered why should did not bother to follow him around when it was more convenient for the both of them.

“Well...just because I am the Princess of the Night does not mean I sleep all of the day. You know that. Seems particularly silly you would ask me something like that.” She responded. Perhaps she was simply trying to cover her true intentions, not that she was any good at that. To make it worse for Luna, the stallion knew exactly what she was attempting to accomplish, she had never been terribly subtle. Unfortunately, he had lost interest in that type of relationship with her some time ago; he still liked her quite a bit but Gusty consumed nearly all of his thoughts at any given time. Luna would need to prove that her interest was genuine beyond all forms of doubt before he could deal with such an entanglement with her.

“I suppose. Then again…” he started mulling over the last couple of thoughts he had had before continuing, “I would think that you had better things to do than watch me read.”

“Not really. You asked me to help you with Gusty after all, I could review one of the texts if you like?” Luna suggested pointing tentatively at one of the unopened books.

“You know what you are looking for?” The stallion eyed her enthusiasm with doubt.

“Well...no. I really don’t.” She admitted.

“What about that idea you had planned for Zeccaran?” he asked her. Luna pursed her lips clearly surprised that he would ask such a question. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again before a spark of inspiration gleamed in her eyes.

“You’re right! I should look into that right now!” she declared. This was promptly followed by another, Fssshooptop!as she teleported away from the stallion. This left him to sit there and blink in surprise.

“That was a lot easier than usual.” he said aloud. The strange occurance made him reach for the jar of moonshine he had placed on the table before searching for the books. He took a big gulp before twisting the lid back onto the jar. The liquor burned and made him shiver with its raw potency alone. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes trying to make sure Luna had actually left him to study and after a few minutes it became clear that she had.

He looked down at the old ponish text and began reading translating it in his head as he went.

Dragons. Dragons once ruled the lands long ago. They warred with the the great empire of the Pegasi, hunted the farms of the Earth Ponies, and set many a Unicorn mage down the path of desolation. But, it would seem that one day the dragons began to disappear, where did they go? Who could have caused such a grand disappearance of the world's mightiest creatures? None know, but there are tales amongst the Pegasi in these days of the Pillars that tell of terrible deeds wrought by their ancestors…

“Ahh.” the stallion mused to himself. Everything had just gotten a little bit clearer, truth be told. The cross-reference he was using may not be mentioning specific details, but it was already referencing the events of the Cirra-Dracca Wars. That was the time frame he was most interested in, and maybe, just maybe he might finally find some details that would lead him to uncovering what had happened to Gusty Twilight. He hoped that something would explain why the dark aura surrounding her mind felt so incredibly familiar, and why the mare herself was too. But for now all he could do was read on...

Act 2: Chapter 2 - The High Road

“Get up! You lazy zebra!” shouted the shrill of a certain teal mare’s voice into his ear.

Zeccaran rolled out of his chair in a total stupor. He wasn’t due for a Gusty invasion for another two weeks. Her presence now only raised questions in his still mostly asleep mind. He slipped and fell onto his stomach with a moan.

“Do I have to? Can’t I just lay here?” he complained keeping his eyes closed against the bright light of her horn.

He got lifted up in Gusty’s telekinetic grip. Her hooves were quickly placed on his shoulders and he was shaken more awake. He yelled in surprise his eyes snapping open to see a broad smile on his friend’s lips.

“Okay, okay! I’m awake!” he said slapping her hooves away.

Gusty squeed and looked at him eagerly. “Get your bag, we must get going at once!” she declared. Zeccaran looked at her realizing he was dreaming, his door and all its upgraded security measures had been left untouched.

“How did you even get in here?” He questioned.

“I walked in!” she smiled slyly.

“What, through the wall? You clearly didn’t use the door.” he countered.

Zeccaran squinted his eyes suspiciously. This was a particularly weird dream, typically by now Gusty would have just opened the door, magically avoiding all his locks and mechanisms.

“Yep! Check it out!” she giddily bounced.

Gusty turned a rather dark-gray color and strode directly through the stone as if it wasn’t there. Zeccaran stood there with a terrible sinking feeling.

“I’ve been meaning to try it out. It’s called Meld into Stone! I wanted to see what you thought of it.” Gusty’s now gray face poking through the wall again smiled at him.

“Ohhhhohoho noooo….” Zeccaran griped dismally.

He started putting some of his scrolls in his bag. Grabbing his emergency smoke and concussion grenades he had made from the bottom drawer in his desk while he continued to groan. His sickle was stashed there too, he tossed it in with the other supplies. Zeccaran turned around to see Gusty’s head protruding from the wall still eagerly waiting. He moaned again. It wasn’t a dream.

He had known the day would come, but he really wished it could have waited maybe a few more hours, no days, no weeks, years! Zeccaran had rathered it never arrive.

“Let’s go.” He said slowly trotting over to Gusty.

She loosed a gasp and grabbed him with a suddenly extending hoof. Zeccaran felt fairly strange the instant she touched him. Gusty’s hoof reached around his shoulder and she hefted him up off of his hooves. She plopped him on her back. Zeccaran then could see through to either side of the wall and down the thick wall to the end of the hall.

“How...how are you doing this?” he stammered.

“Well the language is rather specific, I have to be carrying you and all other objects or the spell doesn’t work!” Gusty giggled.

“What?!” he gaped at her confused.

“I don’t know, did I say something? I kinda spaced out there.” she remarked back at him, convincingly equal in confusion.

Zeccaran wanted to complain but found that deducing how Gusty’s brain worked was not his job. Maybe he knew better, maybe it was cruel fate egged on by some dark all-powerful malevolent god, he didn’t know. Gusty pulled him the rest of the way through the wall and proceeded to sprint down the hall unabashedly carrying him.

“Where are we going?” he asked as they rounded the corner to the security checkpoint. Curiously, the security ponies were absent. Such was Gusty’s good luck, Zeccaran again found himself wanting to complain but knew he was only preaching to the choir.

“To the Baylands!” Gusty chirped excitedly. “I already arranged for Celestia to babysit Amethyst, Bunker is already at the departure point, and I cannot wait!” she yelled as she ran.

Zeccaran, realized he had asked the wrong question.

“Why are we going?” he petitioned.

Gusty kept on running, ignoring him as she rounded the corner to the main hall and shot towards the center corridor that led to the Residents’ apartments. She practically took to the air as she sped down the hall. Ponies dodged out of her way without so much as a single cry of surprise. Zeccaran supposed that was because they were used to Gusty running amok.

“Because, their leader, the Golden Dame is my friend.” she finally responded with huffs as rounded the corner to the left.

“Is that it? Wait, like you know her from before?” he questioned, concerned. If Gusty was starting to remember things the world had just become a much more dangerous place. Zeccaran knew that much for certain.

“Well, yes. But it was Celestia, and grubby old Stormwind, that said I should go to try and recover more of my memories.” Gusty answered between heaving breaths.

“I hope they know what they are doing then!’ He shouted in surprise as Gusty began bounding up the stairs at the end of the residence halls.

It had been a time since Zeccaran had been to this portion of the castle. He actually had been under the impression that the area they entered from the basement was restricted to military personnel only. It probably was, but given everyone’s understanding that Gusty was not a mare to be trifled with they weren’t stopped. Then again, the officers and guardsponies they passed were quite literally diving out of the way. Judging by the speed of the passing windows, if Zeccaran fell off his current transporter it would be an exceedingly painful experience. He held on tight as Gusty zipped around the corners of the halls and entered the main lobby of the Office of Military Intelligence

Gusty kept sprinting, going up the lobby’s patillo like stairs. He desperately wished to get down from Gusty’s tall back. Such an idea was pointless until she stopped, unless he really felt like breaking his legs which he didn’t. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth hoping this farce would be over soon.

“Wait! Why am I running?!” Gusty suddenly cried.

Schwiishhh-pop! Came the sound of teleporting, accompanied by the usual sense of nausea at being sucked through time and space.

Zeccaran open his eyes to see a set of two golden air-chariots. They were positively the most elaborate carriages he had ever seen. They had full-covers arching over their raised fronts giving them somewhat ball shaped appearance. They had full windows without a pane to be seen that slipped up from the floor to the hard metal cover. Inside there were seats, cushions, and curtains visible through the glass. The back featured an elaborate hatched door and what looked to be a small private chamber.

The great sky-wagons sat atop the main battlements of the Wall, the main defensive barrier that surrounded the Palace’s back and gardens. Around the chariots armed ponies swarmed about, they weren’t Royal Guards. Instead the ponies, almost all of them pegasi, wore dark-grey steel armor adorned with an strangely familiar crest depicting a cloud shooting lightning away from it. He couldn’t recall where he had seen it before. It did not matter Zeccaran was quickly distracted by a loud female voice.

“Late as usual, eh Gusty, lass?” somepony brogued from the crowd.

Zeccaran looked up to his right towards the early morning sky. He only needed to look at the image for the briefest moment for his brain to kick the rest of the way on. It wasn’t somepony, it was somesheep. He facehoofed remembering what peoples lived in the Baylands.

“I’m not late. I arrived precisely when I wanted to.” Gusty responded coyly. Zeccaran took the moment to hop of her back while he had the chance to no break bones. He looked into the crowd of bodies again to see a pair of heavily armed and armored rams escorting a small golden ewe towards them.

“Well, what have we here, eh? Ye moost be Zeccarah-ah-an” the ewe bleated with a smile.

“Hi.” he waved lost to her thick accent, and trying his best not to smile.

The ewe crossed the distance to him in the blink of his eyes.

“Hullo, laddie! Any friend o’ Gusty’s is a friend o’ mine!” she purred as she hugged him. Zeccaran assumed she was actually trying to crush his sternum. He had no idea how the little, very old, ewe was so strong, he just wanted her to stop.

“Nice to meet...you...too!” he eked out with the last bit of air in his lungs. She released him just before he blacked out. He stood there panting as Gusty and the Golden Dame laughed at him. The Dame caught herself after a moment and offered a formal curtsy.

“Th’ name’s Gerturde, sir zebra an’ Gusty tell me that ye be a ex-” The ewe was cut off.

“Alright ya featherbrains, mount up the chariots!” came the booming voice of Stormwalker. Zeccaran barely had to look over the crowd to see the enormous stallion. Around him the milling mercenaries immediately began readying the craft for flight. Meanwhile Stormwalker himself began personally fastening a fiercely blushing female flyer to the near chariot mount. A pair of mercs brought a clearly surprised Bunker over to them and stood there stoically as their compatriots bustled to get things ready.

Dame Gertrude’s guards along with a pair of unicorns clad in leather hopped onto the far carriage. One of the mercenaries guarding them turned at the sound a of a whistle before waving the group over with a hoof. The pair helped each of them up onto the large raised platform of the chariot, Zeccaran went in first. He beheld a large assortment of traveling bags and a few packs he recognized as Gusty’s. They had been hidden by the craft’s raised front paneling and two rows of seats. He took the leftmost position in the front row and turned to watch as Gusty, Bunke,r and Dame Gertrude got on before selecting their seats. Bunker sat next to him while Gusty and the Dame took the right pair of chairs, loudly gabbing on about the trip.

Stormwalker thumped his armored front legs up on the hatch threshold drawing everyone else’s attention.

“Are the accommodations adequate, Lady Dame?” he spoke in a silken tone.

“Aye, lad! They are most comfortable! Thank ye!” Gertrude responded with a bounce and a grin.

“Gusty?” He prodded further, leaning into the carriage.

“This meets the bare minimum of travel comfort for a mare of my stature.” Gusty responded tepidly, nose in the air. Zeccaran noticed she still kept one eye trained on the stallion regardless.

“I suppose I will have to try harder next time.” He responded with small bow of his head. “Have a safe trip.” he added with a sly smile and a wink, before closing the hatch.

Zeccaran could have sworn he could hear a chorus of mares shrieking in a desperate harmony of attention-seeking high-pitched screams. Zeccaran just rolled his eyes. That stallion was the heaven's’ gift to mares to be sure, but he didn’t have to flaunt that he knew such like some petty piece of shit.

A static buzzing suddenly filled the cabin. A buzzing Zeccaran recognized as an invention he had made. He had only recently finished the design and its first fully functional prototype. It was a total mystery to him how Stormwalker had acquired the technology, much less had it installed into a chariot.

“Hello? Is this thing on?” came the gratey voice of a stallion.

The group collectively confirmed the device was working.

“Alright good. I’m the lead driver of your carriage...uh. We will be taking off presently….uh. There will be no stops on the trip...uh, if you need to relieve yourself please see to the private room at the back of the wagon.” the nameless fellow drolled on through a series of pauses.

“Food has been readied and placed underneath your seats. That will be all.” he concluded. Zeccaran leaned his head down to find several sealed thin cardboard boxes stacked neatly under him.

Through the small front viewing window the five pegasi attached to the chariot began beating their wings. The craft shook lightly as its wheels were lifted off the ground. Zeccaran found himself subconsciously clutching to the seat as best as he could with his hooves. On his left one of the tall battlements fell below the edge of the viewport. Once they were level with the tower’s flat top they stopped ascending with a harsh jolt causing Bunker to groan uncomfortably next to him. The pegasi shifted their wing beats to unison downstrokes and the craft began to rattle as the started moving forward.

Zeccaran hazarded a look at his earther friend. Bunker was practically wrapped around his seat. “Shit, shit, shit, shit.” the stallion murmured his eyes wide.

With a grand decrescendo the shaking came to a stop as they flew over the city. Zeccaran watched as they slowly picked up speed, the ground breezing by ever faster. The were out over the open air of the Equestrian Plains some huge distance from the ground. He released the breath he had been holding. He was certain the flight was going to have no trouble now that his nerves had settled.

“How long is this trip to your homeland, Dame Gertrude?” he asked leaning past the still rather petrified Bunker.

“Hum. Methinks it be ‘bouts a two day trip from Canterlot.” The golden ewe responded with a thoughtful look. “Boot, wit’ this mighty carriage, I be betting we get there’s in only a day-an’-a-haf. We shan't be landing ‘til the ‘morrow’s afternoon.”

Zeccaran nodded in agreement. He had no need for words at this point. He was actually starting to feel sleepy. He was fairly certain that he had only recently fallen asleep earlier in the morning. He yawned, deciding there was no real reason to be awake he slouched back in his chair and was quickly asleep.

Zeccaran awoke to an argument.

“I just don’ understan’ lass. Why wouldn’ta ye not indulge da’ stallion if he showed interest in ye?” Gertrude was questioning in tone somewhere between accusatory and desperate.

“There are not words enough to describe what is wrong with him, Gerty.” Gusty answered with a near growl.

Zeccaran reached below his seat and grabbed one of the food packages. He noticed Bunker stretched out on the rows of seats behind them asleep. He smiled at the red fool and his ability to sleep through the females’ near yelling. He began eating, absently listening as he looked out towards the setting sun.

“Oh come now! We be the closest o’ friends, aye? Tell ole’ Gerty why.” the ewe schmoozed.

Gusty loosed a long melodramatic sigh. “He’s rude, arrogant, and a damned demonic scoundrel.” she spat bitterly.

“An’ tha’ haff stopped ye before? Nay, me says. Th’ mare I kennt taken such males as a challenge!” Gertrude responded sharply.

“Well, he’s not worth the trouble, nor the challenge.” Gusty scoffed.

“Never would such a day ere’ pass, I had thinked. Alas, I be wrong. Well, no harm meant den, lass.” the Dame apologized.

“Don’t mention it.” Gusty graciously accepted.

Zeccaran could finally make out the edge of the ocean glinting in the sun’s last rays by the time they stopped. He kept peering out the glass enjoying the new silence, admiring the beauty of the earth. He slowly picked at his meal as the sun slipped the rest of the way below the horizon causing all the sky to turn a vibrant pink-orange. The packaged food consisted primarily of granola and oats in a copious volume. A pile of sun and spice dry hay was a decent side along with an apple and a pear. The traveling food even had a heavy pound cake for a dessert, wrapped tightly in a wax paper. He felt quite satisfied by the time he had finished eating.

A curious set of bleats made Zeccaran turn around to find Dame Gertrude asleep, wadded up on one of the seats. The small ewe was just barely visible beneath Gusty and her mane, who was using her friend as a pillow, both snored lightly the Dame’s bleats merely new to his ears. They were an odd pair of friends Zeccaran remarked silently, but he supposed they were no more strange than he. The motion of a shadow on the far side of the carriage made him look up sharply. The strange apparition had flashed in and out behind the dark clouds on the right of their vehicle.

He stared in that direction waiting to see any movement between the fluffy waves of the quickly darkening clouds. He was starting to turn away and ignore what he had thought he saw when the shadow appeared again. The spectre broke the bank of the aerial moisture, banking away from the carriage in an evident effort to make it to the next wall of clouds. A strong unease settled on him as the silhouette disappeared again leaving him to scrutinize the darkening sky. He waited for at least ten minutes before the shadow popped out of the thick sky-soup this time flying up and eventually above their ride. Lightning flashed in his eyes as he continued to try and track the shape, the explosion of brightness caused him to lose it.

There was a softened but growing moan as the deluxe chariot changed directions in a gradual turn. Winds began to buffet the wagon as the scratchy voice of the pull leader came over the comm.

“We are diverting course around this storm. We have a really strong tail wind so we aren’t expecting any delays. You can expect some light bumps from the turbulence coming of this storm. Good luck sleeping through it.” he said dryly over the hiss of wind.

“Yeah, no problem.” Zeccaran responded over the snores of his companions. Tonight was going to be long unpleasant experience. More flashes this time accompanied by low rumbles of thunder shook the frame of the chariot. No one else stirred, Zeccaran bit his lip in frustration wondering why he had to be plagued with this nonsense weather. He turned his view back outside hoping to see some remains of the sun’s light only to be disappointed. However, the curious feeling of being monitored returned as did the mysterious silhouette.

This time he was able to gage the size of the thing following them. It was roughly thrice his size. The black outline’s near proximity to the carriage allowed him to better look over the dark creature. It moved with a sharp grace that made it hard to distinguish its body structure, not that he had much time to do that anyway. As if the shadow had noticed he was watching, it picked up an immense burst of speed and zipped away through the weather leaving them far behind. He followed it as it became a speck against the increasing number of lightning flashes, his sense of foreboding growing endlessly.

Stressed and dead tired from the length of focus he put into following the spectre Zeccaran barely registered the clouds clearing away hours later. He stared anxiously out the window, blinking as fast as his hurting eyes would allow him. The first yellows of dawn broke to the east as he continually flashed his eyes back and forth trying to follow the shadow as it hid in the clouds. He grimaced his eyes in pain as the dark speck tailed their path through their air, whoever or whatever the entity was it had no interest in being spotted with any clarity, yet it was determined to follow them. At this point had he not been actively searching for it all night he would not have believed it was even real, he was fairly certain no one else with him would believe the situation. Finally, his face warming from the sun Zeccaran shut his eyes slowly trying desperately to relax.

He yawned, trying to force his eyes back open but failed miserably. He slouched down into his chair his back relaxing from its straight position for the first time in what felt like days. He quickly passed into a worried sleep, it was almost as if he was back in Canterlot concerned about one of his projects. A smile spread his lips at the thought and a fuller sleep plunged him into complete darkness and relaxation.

“Zeccaran, get up!” “Zeckie boy, rise!” shouted Gusty and Gertrude in tandem.

Zeccaran flew out of his chair propelled by the magical power of being suddenly woken. His back uncoiled, catching against his chair and flinging him into the air in that way that sudden wakefulness could. He landed uncomfortably on the deck of the carriage with a heavy Thwump! and lay there angrily, knowing Gusty they were not waking him for anything particularly important. He gradually rolled over and look back at the two females who had scared him with a glare that could melt glaciers. However, Gusty and Gerty missed his stare, instead they rolled on the floor laughing loudly. They continued to mock him in that perfectly chastising way that only girls could, he ignored them as he stood up and looked about the carriage noticing something missing.

“Hey, where is Bunker?” he croaked, his voice a rasp. Gusty recovered upon hearing his question. She looked around the space they occupied and gave a confused shrug. “I..I don’t know.” she said with a dumb look. Sudden racket turned their attention towards the private chamber. A great spluttering and coughing came from the small room as the group outside recognized the unmistakable sound of someone retching. The sounds persisted for a few minutes as everyone outside looked to various parts of the carriage not wanting to see each others’ looks of disgust. The noise came to an abrupt stop with a primal grunt and the door swung open to reveal a less-burgandy more sick-green Bunker.

“Ack, I think pear was rotten.” He blubbered as he moved towards the seats. He flopped down haphazardly, before turning his gaze over to Gusty. “Wife you say we are close to place we are going?” he asked with a heavy, sickly sigh. Gusty instantly perked up.

“Yes! Zeccaran look!” She exclaimed rushing over to him. She snagged him with her hooves and nearly slammed his face into the glass. Below them lumpy hills jutted up out of the sea like someone punching into a sheet from below. The land expanding in various wads and fjords for a short while before he could see the sea slapping against white limestone sea stacks the size of needle heads at this distance. The island was a dark forest green on the near coast and down in the valleys and lakes. The jagged hills were closer to an olive with various grey outcroppings of harsh rock and cliff, it was a majestic land to be sure.

As they slowly began to descend a clearing became evident atop a cliffed section of the southern coast. Little yellowish dots of thatched roofing began popping into focus marking a rather large settlement. A rectangular grey outline surrounded the dozens and dozens of homes and became clear, appearing as a thick stone wall. Near the forested hill that dropped into a valley a great grey castle-like mansion faded in as well, its slit windows and few stained-glasses glowed with active light even during the midday sun.

“Ahhh! ‘Tis a wonderful sight. Home.” Gertrude cooed behind him. “First things first lads and lasses, when we land, a great banquet shall be had! Mmm...Muh haggis, Ah’ can’t wait!” Zeccaran actively resisted the urge to vomit upon hearing the word haggis, he had read enough books to know exactly what that horrid stuffed atrocity was like. He rolled his tongue around his mouth in an attempt to taste anything but the idea of haggis.

“I can’t wait either! Ooooo! I am so excited to help! To be back with good old-fashioned folks!” Gusty chimed in practically dancing as she nearly shook him out of his hooves. He swatted her grip away successfully as she became distracted by Gertrude. Zeccaran loosed a sigh of relief as they continued to land. It perhaps took them another fifteen minutes before the wheels of the chariot sank into the soft ground outside the manor walls. Gusty and Gertrude had chattered like chickens the whole way down and just as soon as they had stopped moving the two of them bounded out the back hatch and into the grass.

Zeccaran cast a long look at Bunker and then over to their luggage. “Females.” the stallion offered with a roll of his eyes. They gathered up the bags and piled them up outside the carriage before loading them onto each other's’ backs. The stallions moved around the front of the wagon to find all the pegasi mounted to the contraption asleep. Zeccaran approached the lead driver and clapped his hooves together next to the stallion’s ears.

“Ah! What!” he woke with a start. “Oh...hey….see you around some time Zec, we gotta sleep for now…” he blathered eyes barely open. Zeccaran gaped, he recognized this pony now that he saw his face. “Stiff Inspection? Is that you?” he asked the usual checkpoint pegasus. He was shocked that the fellow had left the palace, at least now it explained why he hadn’t been at his station. “Yeah...sorry...I gotta…” the stallion instantly started snoring his body limp in the chariot harness.

“Is small world.” Bunker said having stood waiting for Zeccaran. He remarked that his friend had accurately described the strange coincidence. Overall, with the two teams of pegasi passed out from nearly thirty-six hours of flight there was no one to talk to and nothing to do besides follow the two unlikely friends of a ewe and an alicorn inside. Zeccaran absently motioned for Bunker to walk with him to follow them towards the manner. The Ram Guards from the other wagon had finally reached Gertrude a pair now flanked the females in front of them and another pair flanked he and Bunker.

They began advancing to the gate which opened with a long eerie creak that wrought iron and wood is known for. Their slow-as-molasses pace allowed Zeccaran to hear a strange sound over the top Gusty and Gertrude’s chattering. It was something close to a hiss but sounded more chemical. The sharp smell of smokey pewter hit his nose in the next instant and he stopped walking, the guard nearest to him did the same, casting his gaze at the center of the wall. Bright fire erupted from the bricks and the world went dark as the body of the ram was slammed into his own.

Sharp ringing woke him up from the darkness. He rolled over to his side trying to find any sense of balance as something hot and sticky feeling poured down his head. It was a thick crimson flow of blood, but his skull didn’t hurt in anyway he thought. He sat up to see the shattered remains of the Ram Guard who had slammed into him. His upper torso had been blow apart in a foul manner that exposed his ribs and skull. The flesh seemingly had been sheared away in a vicious instant as portions of lungs and stomach still attempted to pump and breathe inside the broken ribs and spine. Zeccaran did not feel any form at disgust at the sight, the ringing in his ears rendering him unable to under comprehend the terror he should have felt. The poor ram flopped about somehow still alive his bone and sinew only front legs clutching futilely at his face.

He finally flopped down, his face, what was left of it, looking directly at Zeccaran. All the surrounding tissue of the creature’s features and been seared away leaving only bloody bone and scorched horns. Somehow, the ram’s bright blue eyes had survived the explosion and goring of his face. They remained transfixed in his skull twitching violently as their light slowly faded to a dull stillness. Head still reeling the zebra wondered if he had met a similar fate and couldn’t feel it. The stillness of sleep and the black void overtook him, it was a joyous release from all his trials, his only hope was that it would last.

Act 2: Chapter 8 - Battle of Castle-upon-Barra

Chapter 8 - Battle of Castle-Upon-Barra

Gusty growled angrily up at the pirate ship. A cold vicious fury settled itself down in her chest threatening to stir her into a violent outburst. She had too many questions to answer and the why of the brigands’ appearance now the first and foremost. Gabriella’s arrival, the most awful nightmares she had had in a lifetime, that pesky voice, the suffering of innocents, and the massive disadvantage her kindred folk now faced: it was shaping up to be a catalytic fight. For the first time since watching Stormwalker cut off Amethyst’s horn Gusty felt righteous; and that would be the undoing of her enemies.

She had to find a way to stop the pirates, but the opening volley was certainly just a warning before they targeted the Castle Manor. Gusty closed her eyes knowing that their survival and the survival of the townsfolk fell solely on her. She had not cast a shield spell over such a large area in ages, but giving it her all was her best chance of helping. Concentrating with a gruelling angst, Gusty felt her horn buzz to life at her command. She pushed her perceptions out, testing the furthest she could throw the barrier. Gusty, reaching her peak at an indiscernible distance, cast the spell and frantically opened her eyes.

From her horn sprang a grand golden beam that hissed towards the airship above. It came to a instant stop below the keel of the floating vessel before erratically spreading out from the point is globby extensions. Slowly but surely the sparkling barrier enclosed the town and the castle and not a moment too soon. The bellow of another volley belched from the airship in a torrent of flame and smoke. The hurling explosives and cannonballs shattering or bouncing of the shield. Gusty heaved a quick sigh of relief before turning to the crowd of gathered rams and ewes.

“That barrier will only buy us a little time! Hurry, fix the weapons and get as many of the townsfolk into the Castle Manor as we can! Children and their mothers first! Now go!” she ordered to the Ovis. They obliged her with a brisk hustle, all of them dispersing to follow her commands.

“Aye, I said it before lass, but ye hath not change one bit!” Gertrude interjected with a proud look on her face. Gusty nodded, her hooves giving her the urge to bounce eagerly. “Come.” her old companion said with a knowing look. She motioned them back inside, “I can’t be lettin’ me own mum fight in not but ‘er skin, let’s go get yeh dressed!”

Gusty followed Gertrude back inside. The ram guards that had been absent during the morning’s discussion reappeared and pushed her, along with Bunker and Zeccaran close against Gertrude as they navigated the building. Their overcation made Gusty wary of every corner even more than usual. She constantly peered around herself knowing that no one loyal to Gertrude would have disabled the harpoons, and whoever they were; they were probably still in the castle.

As they turned down into the hall that led to her room, something struck Gusty. Gabriella had been with them when the guards had collapsed on them, but she was suddenly absent. How she had slipped away from the entourage was a mystery that Gusty resolved to unravel as soon as the pirates were dealt with.

However, with what Gusty attributed to luck, they reached the hall that led to her room, the full guard taking up the entire space. They allowed the full party with Gertrude in tow to enter the temporary residence. Gertrude rushed over towards the two armor stands as soon as they passed into the gloam of the room.

“Hauberk.” she said. She tossed the untied mail jacket to Gusty almost too fast. Still, she caught the armor and lipped it over her head and neck, starting to tie it with her levitation as she pulled it in place.

“You two quit standin’ about, shite! Get tha’ stallion in he’s platemail.” Gertrude barked at the guards standing in the open door. “Skirt. Frilly buh’ stylish.” The favored cloth tumbled towards Gusty, who gladly caught it in turn, slipping it over her hips and onto her flanks. Gertrude sped up her pace throwing various things about the room before finding Gusty’s sword in one of her suitcases.

“Ah...dah old blade o’ the mother ‘erself.” Gertrude quietly slurred as she walked it up to her. She loosened the strap and with a quick hop managed to slip the scabbard and fastener around Gusty’s neck. She took the sword and belt in her magic levitating it into place before tightening it. A long shiver traced its way down her spine, and persisted across her body afterwards. Gusty came the realization that she was nervous, her adrenaline did not make her feel cold like this shaking did. She looked around the room her eyes flicking to anything and everything for only a few brief seconds. Gusty felt already tired and she had not even begun fighting, she could not tell if that was from the massive shield spell she had cast or the general lack of sleep.

...............................................................are you ready? Mother?.................................................try me...

There are........................................................................................................just relax….
strike through their hearts…
...................................................................................................................................................................hey there, sweetheart.

“Gusty! Shite! Snap out of it!” Something slapped her across the face and Gusty found herself looking at Gertrude. She rubbed her head instinctively, a headache trying to rear itself up to hamper her further. Still reeling from whatever that had been she looked down in a mild terror at her surrogate daughter. How many of those did she have anyway?

“Listen ta’ me.” Gertrude hopped up and pulled her face down low holding eye contact with Gusty. “We be needin’ ya, an’ tha’ means ya can’t let them dirty cunts up in their fancy ship to scare ya!” Gusty had no way to respond besides a few blubbers. Everything happening today was the worst case scenario for her. Days of disturbing nightmares, the attack, more voices, she was falling apart and no matter how hard she tried to hold herself together it was getting worse. No anchoring plan, no staying in the moment had been helping since she had met Gertrude. It was a secret that she had not had been successful in keeping. Still there was a margin of comfort coming from the ewe’s bright eyes, just enough to keep her on topic, for now.

“We haff a plan. Ye’s shield made it certain to succeed. Kennt tha’ even should we lose dis’ city to dem pirate bastards, we be able to save the townsfolk and call on Equestria fer aid. The pirates jus’ fired on their resident diplomat. You.” Gertrude beamed with pride. She had clearly been plotting the events in advance. Even though it would take Celestia time to mobilize and arrive, the pirates were finished. All they had to do now was minimize the damage. Gusty released a relaxing sigh and drew in an even more soothing breath.

“You’re right.” she said. Gusty ran a hoof through her mane still feeling out her mood. “But, we still have to stop them from attacking the town. I can’t believe my shield has held as long as it has. I’m going to go up there to distract them for as long as I can. If you have anyone that can come up to help send them as soon as you can.”

“Aye. Soon as we finish buildin’ tha’ giant ladder I’ve been dreamin’ of.” Gertrude snarked.

“Ha ha. Very funny.” she retorted. It sounded meaner than she intended but Gusty did not have time to parcel out the conversation further. She snapped her head around until she found Zeccaran and Gunther. She narrowed her eyes at her zebra friend, sizing up what he could do for her in the coming fight, perhaps ferry a few Ovis. She rathered Zeccaran not engage in direct combat; he had a tendency to get himself into dire situations. Who was she kidding, this already was a dire situation. She motioned him over so she might abate the sensation of needlessly yelling across the small room.

“Can you carry reinforcements up to the airship with any speed?” She asked.

“Well, I figured I would just disable the ship if you cou-” Gusty cut him off.

“I’m trying to be realistic here. Not make some sort of hair-brained scheme. Can you, or can’t you, carry up soldiers to help board the airship?” she asked again.

“I’d be slow, but I could get them up there.” He paused before casting a sidelong look at her. “What in the world are you planning on doing? Capturing it?” Zeccaran continued giving her a immensely concerned look.

“Ready!” Bunker broke the staring contest with an powerful rolled “r.” Glimmering in the torchlight, his armor made him look even bigger than usual its spiked plating intimidating, but in a good way. Gusty nodded approvingly to him, before returning here eyes to Zeccaran. The zebra heaved a weary sigh in response.

“Alright. But for the record I don’t think this is a good idea.” he grumbled as he made his way for the door. All the gathered Ovis began rustling in place as Gusty and her companions made ready to leave.

“Move it, ya bunch o’ rotten sons o’ trollips!” Gertrude yelled seeing them trying to push through the crowd. The soldiers parted allowing them to continue moving. A familiar object, soft but heavy landed on Gusty’s back and the Dame Ewe returned to barking orders from her perch. They were quickly on the outside of Castle Manor, the golden dome of the shield still holding despite the fresh wave of cannonfire exploding on its outer surface. A nagging sensation in her mind made her recall something missing.

“Hey, where is Gabriella?” she asked over her shoulder to Gertrude. Bouncing up closer her neck kindred lamb pointed towards a crowd that was moving towards the government building. At the lead of the worried group of townsheep was the prodigal heiress.

“There! Leadin’ follks to safety. Smilin’ all the way, no less!” Gertrude further emphasized. Gabriella certainly did beam with a radiance as imperishable as her wool. Gusty was pleased to see her following up on the plan. It made the scruples she had disappear, knowing that nothing besides the obvious was out of place further readied her for what was about to transpire.

She cast her magic around Gertrude and lowered her to the ground gingerly. Giving a quick glance to Zeccaran she directed her ire to the pirates above.

“Bring Bunker and Gunther first. Then whoever else you can scrape up.” she said never taking her eyes off the airship. Drawing her blade, Gusty unfurled her wings and started her ascent. The airship began maneuvering making her waste no time trying to build as much speed as she could. She had no idea if it was moving to react to her or for some other reason, at this point there was not much time to think at all.

The answer came in the form of flames. Great billowing waves of bright yellow and orange erupted from the bow of the vessel just below its attack ram. The liquid fire, at first, flew in an arch before impacting the shield where it blossomed in an out-of-place display of beauty. It was at that moment that the grand dome Gusty had cast shattered with the disturbing silence only shield magic could. Falling away with an ethereal grace, the barrier’s protection gave way as flame belched through the initial opening. The quiet of the open air was replaced by a deafening roar not unlike that of a dragon’s.

She did not have time to cast a shield on herself. There was barely any time to maneuver to dodge the beam of unnatural flame spewing from the airship’s bow. Her body strained as the attempt was made with little success. Burning, truly a searing pain erupted along her flanks and wings. She did not get hit with the liquid itself, but the amalgamation of chemistry and magic ignited the very air with its intensity. Driven only on by pure force of will did Gusty stay in the air, beating her wings down hard in an attempt to choke the certain fire that burned on them.

Instinct took over and Gusty cast her old sacred healing spell on herself. As soon as the spell started she could tell she was out of practice. Having projected an enormous shield not fifteen minutes before further reduced her magical effectiveness. Worry tightened her muscles as she beat her wings down and kicked her legs to see how sore she was going to be before even seeing an enemy. To her delight, the burning had completely subsided, and she actually felt good enough to fight. She hazarded a glance over her backside her nerves making it even harder to see her body as she flew. Her skirt was burned off along with some fur on her flanks and back legs but was otherwise unharmed back there. Her wings, however, were scorched severely. By the looks of things she had prevented the majority of any permanent damage and only her secondary feathers had been burned, but a number of her primaries on her right wing were missing. The secondaries would grow back but flying had just become a bigger workout.

Shocked by the speed she was still maintaining, Gusty heaved a sigh. Somehow her sword had remained in her telekinesis through it all. That made her just barely capable of engaging her enemies. That was then that Gusty’s mind began racing. How was what she doing going to help? Could she stop the ship from firing on the town? Even if she boarded the vessel, how would she fight the crew at such a disadvantage? How could she distract them? What was their objective? Just how organized were they?

Gusty ran out of time to think, her flight path had passed above the deck of the airship. The armored vessel’s main platform swarmed with a multitude of creatures. Reflexive panic welled-up in her throat as all their eyes slowly swung towards her. The instant passed and she was sailing past the grand contraption’s main ballon. The momentary horror had cleared her mind just enough for the sight to make her realize something important. A section of the balloon right in front of her had a loose armor plate that hung welcomingly. It glinted dully in the midday sun as if was flashing her a mischeivous grin.

It was rare for such a golden opportunity to present itself in the heat of combat, but Gusty would dare not waste it. Beating her beleaguered wings at an angle she made the hard turn right at the exposed rubber. Shooting pain from her scorched wings rocketed down into her shoulders and back, threatening to make her drop her sword all over again. In the back of her mind she was already kicking herself for how sore she was going to be for continuing to fight. But if she stopped to think about what she was doing, Gusty knew she would probably fall right out of the sky. That would instantly make her a liability for Gertrude and the rest of the Ovis below, and that was something she could not allow. So she pressed on, against all reason and thought flying directly at the chink in their armor.

Just before she was to impact the exposed balloon Gusty slashed it viciously with her sword. The flexible material was stronger than it looked forcing her blade to tumble as she tried to force it into the balloon being only partially successful in cutting a seam before it was inside the structure. However, her body did the rest and a great shifting and ripping could be felt as Gusty tumbled into the balloon’s superstructure.

It was hot inside the pitch dark chamber. Sweltering perhaps was a better description. Gusty felt sweat instantly start pouring down her neck and haunches, making her feel weak and disoriented from just the sheer change in temperature. She ignited her horn wtih a light spell to try and regain her bearing. The interior of the structure appeared not more than she expected, large, oblong, and dull grey. Gusty could see where she had entered from, but the balloon was not losing air as fast as she wanted. In a near panic she looked around the desensitized chamber for anything that looked useful for furthering the air pocket’s dispersion. Finding nothing a feeling of dread started to well up in her chest as she cursed to herself.

“Dammit all! I just fucking get here and then I can’t do anything!” She growled through her stress and sweat. “Wait a minute-”

A terrible thought had come to Gusty. While she was in an enclosed structure had access to the outside, she was even able to see sunlight through the hole she had made. She had not used it since the train almost three years ago but it would have to do, no matter how hard it would stress her body. Gusty concentrated, drawing all her magic into her body preparing to cast her trusty Cloud Master. The spell was going to hurt her more than it would the balloon but in this moment disabling the airship mattered more than anything else. The channel complete, Gusty fired the spell.

Hissing and shrieking of wind and magic overwhelmed all of Gusty’s senses. The energy stored in her body burst forth with angry force. It sent stinging tendrils of aching pain deep into her hooves and chest and head. She was just shy of her limit, and her vision momentarily flickered to black. A low growing groaning of metal brought her vision back, beholding for her a beautiful sight. The small hole where she had enter the balloon was a gaping breach whose dust and smoke showed the rapid pull of the exiting air.

“Yes!” Gusty shouted in joy. Her exclamation made her relax her flight posture and she was sucked out the superstructure. She released an overtly girly scream when she lost control, tumbling through the air as she stressed her wings more than necessary. Gusty finally righted herself and after a quick shake of her head to try and clear her mind she looked down on the ship’s deck.

Below Gunther and Bunker stood in two seperate encirclements. Dozens and dozens of various types of pirates surrounded them both, each pressed against the deck rail. Seemingly the only reason neither of them had not been killed were their elevated positions away from the center of the decking. It was lower than the areas near the railing, designed to give deckhands cover for when the cannonade came flying. Gusty gave a quick glance over the rest of the deck, to see it still swarming with pirates, many carrying repair tools into a steel scaffolding that lead up to the main balloon. Sharp squawking drew her attention towards the stern of the vessel, and its elevated wheelhouse.

“Throw ‘dem borders overboard, lads!” shrieked a massive griffon his claws sunk into the ship’s wheel. Gusty held in a shiver at the sight of him, he had a certain menace about him that made her cast her malicious intention spell.

Her vision was briefly overwhelmed by the black and white image the spell projected into her mind. Sure enough, the griffon was as black as the darkest ink, almost as black as Stormwalker was on the first day she met him. Stormwalker? She had not thought of him in almost a month, a welcome reprieve no doubt, but now his mere name made her feel disoriented. They were hopelessly outnumbered up here and he certainly would be useful. She slapped herself trying to regain control of her thoughts, it did not help.

Oh, him?..............................................................................................................................Come on, focus!
..................................................................the key to win..............................................................
Mom, can I go outside to play?................................................................................................................Stop it! Stop it, please!
......................................................................................................................you like it............................................
...................Silly filly, you can’t do…..........................................................................................................give in.

Gusty screamed. She kept screaming too, as she grabbed her own head in agony. The feeling of being so completely overwhelmed overturning all her senses. She hated this. Gusty knew she had felt this pain before. She could not remember when, or how many times, but it always brought her to a screeching halt with a splitting pinch in her temples. However, in her shrieks of painful epiphany she did remember the one thing that mattered. The only way to make the terror and the suffering stop was to lean into the sensation.

Good, girl.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the pirate captain through her migraine. Primal fury turned the edges of Gusty’s vision into a hazy red. She beat her wings down to end her hover and shot towards the griffon. It was a break neck dive faster than she had flown in an age. She was still yelling from before and that was not lost on the pirate. He jerked his hooked beak in her direction and reached for his broad cutlass.

Gusty hit him before he could get the blade halfway from its scabbard. She had not bothered to use her sword, opting to just jam her forehooves and body into his chest and head. He loosed a mighty squawk, unbefitting a captain, when she impacted him. A sharp spluttering of spit covered her face as the bludgeon of her hooves and weight of her body exhausted all the air from the griffon’s lungs. She kept pumping her wings and pushed the pirate up into the air and over the deck rail before she slowed to let him fall. He could fly of course but it would take him some time to recover and return to the airship. That was what Gusty was hoping at least.

Turning sharply, Gusty was stopped in her flight by a rummaging sound followed by a sharp, crack! of wood slamming into wood. She snapped her head towards the sound to see the ship’s wheel bouncing tightly against its furthest port turn position. Instantly, a sharp moan of metal and wood bending to compensate for the sudden change in direction bellowed from the airship’s body. The whole of the vessel jerked to the left and a combined yell of surprise from all those onboard resonated like a growl of breaking glass. Every creature on the deck including Gunther and Bunker was tossed to the deck, Gusty was happy she was still flying glad to avoid the harsh decking.

Zipping over the fallen pirates, Gusty made haste to her husband and canine companion. She momentarily sheathed her still dutifully levitating blade as she passed over her enemies. The ship being jostled looked to have actually saved them both from being captured. She landed next to Bunker and immediately throw her hooves underneath him and pulled him upright.

“About time you show up!” he grumbled. “Was getting lonely, beating pirates by self.”

She opened her mouth to respond when a throwing axe whistled right past her nose and embedded itself into the deck rail. Hopping automatically in surprise, Gusty landed staring right at the horde of recovered pirates. Internally, she immediately began berating herself for putting her sword away. Externally, she was desperately trying to draw her blade and not get hit by a charging goat of all things. Only successful in the former, Gusty grimaced from the impact, certain the cloven-hoofed devil had broken a few ribs as he slammed her into the deck rail. The attack had left her ears ringing but put the goat the disadvantageous position of being in striking distance of Bunker and his axe.

“Yeeeearrrrggh!” her husband bellowed as the axe came hurtling down on the diminutive pirate. It struck true and hot blood splattered up onto her face. Bunker’s trademark axe was nearly as big as the goat and rent the pirate in twain, leaving his innards to gurgle over the sudden and eerie silence of those in the fight. Gusty wiped her face clean before growling angrily towards the band before her. She was matched by Gunther who had slipped his way over to them. The pirates looked up from their felled comrade each readying weapons of various rapport, from cutlasses to clubs.

There they stood against a mixed group of parrots, griffons, ponies, and goats. They certainly were a ragtag band, but they looked hardened, vicious. A lump swelled up in Gusty’s throat as that momentary pause of time happened before any fight. This was going to be a bad one.

A raw yell came from the first six pirates breaking the lapse of clarity. Charging with a crazed intent the brigands bounded up stairs to the platform where they stood. Gusty surmised that was going to be her party’s only advantage. They were backed against the elevated catwalk and deck rail toward the most forward portion of the bow, meaning the pirates could only run uphill right at them. That moment of confidence was ruined when the row of griffons behind the deck bound pirates took to flight and swung out and around where they stood. It would take them a moment to swing back in to attack; Gusty just hoped that was all the time she would need to beat back the ones running at her.

The fastest of the group was a pony, a short stout fellow that held a cutlass in his mouth. He was missing an eye but moved with the confidence of someone with three. He slashed at her as he jumped up to her position. She was forced to dodge, her levitating blade not in position to parry, but was successful. However, the pirate was not done he pivoted as he missed aiming a full buck at her. Gusty knew this was already wasting too much time, and in her fury and desperation she slashed down her blade at his kicking legs with all her mental strength.

Hard metal hit soft flesh and he howled in pain as both his rear legs toppled harmlessly to the deck. Even in this moment she did not want to just maim her quarry when it was causing such suffering. The pirate rolled back and forth on the deck his dark red blood already pooling rapidly from his stumps. Gusty did not finish him, she did not have the time, a parrot spinning a heavy iron chain swung it towards her.

Falling flat by instinct alone, Gusty managed to not take the apparatus across the head and neck. It would have killed her had she failed to move, the thought propelled her onward. She sent her sword flying toward the parrot, he cawed angrily batting it away with the spinning chain. That was his demise however, Gusty jerked her head to emphasize the harsh flick of her blade. The chain swung around her sword as planned and wrenched itself from the parrot’s claws. In the next moment, Gusty swung the blade in the opposite direction, unravelling the chain and sending flying directly towards its owner’s head. The strike rang true and the foul flightless bird-creature was suddenly without a head. His neck erupted in a fountain of gore as his body hopelessly continued to flail for several moment before flopping down to the deck.

Gusty picked herself up to see Gunther, eating. He was eating one of the goats that had charged, growling demonically at the other pony that had charged. Blood dripped down from his big teeth and his eyes glowed with a swirling malice that held the poor colt before him in place. The foul stench of a burst bowel instantly hit Gusty’s nose when Gunther dug his muzzle back down into the felled pirate.

“Please...no...I don’t want to be...dog food!” the pony whimpered. Gusty turned to see Bunker toss a pirate over the deck rail, the fellow that had been tossed begging much like the colt. In the same motion her husband spun in a full circle swing and cut his other opponent in half at the waist. Gusty swung her head around looking for the griffons knowing that they would be attacking in the next moment.

She came to with a massive griffon standing above her. A kudgel gripped in both talons, raised high above his head, he snarled angrily. Gusty instantly started to struggled to do anything to escape, but as soon as she moved sharp pain erupted along her flanks and belly. The griffon had her pinned with his lion claws and weight, her motion digging them deep into her flesh. She had no idea where her sword and gotten to: even if she had it was not going to be fast enough to help her. She did not even have time to cast a stunbolt. She raised up her front hooves ready to try and deflect the blow when a shriek of an eagle gave her pause.

Fizzing and popping of magic filled the air and the griffon that pinned her was knocked away by a beam of dark green kinesis. A pair of heavy whahumps! rocked the deck and before Gusty could even roll to see who had just landed a Royal Ram Guard bounded over her and into the wad of pirates. His big armored body throwing his smaller foes away as he gored, and kicked with fury. Dark green kinesis blasts catapulted from his horns to any unfortunate enough to stand still, Gusty smiled, quite happy to pick herself up carefully. A flash of green light made her jump and scream instinctively.

“Hey are you alright?!” Zeccaran’s voice pulled her out of the battle stupor. He was suddenly picking her up.

“I-I-I think so.” She heaved trying to calm herself. Her head suddenly had begun hurting again, along with a persistent bit of agony on her belly near the inside of one of her flanks.

“Yeah right. You are bleeding from you head and stomach. Come on, you need to get out of here.” Zeccaran scolded pulling her towards the deck rail. He kept looking back over his shoulder in a way that made Gusty very nervous. She probably had not chance to actually get off the ship at the moment and her fool of friend was just going to toss her against her will.

“Look, I’m going to try to patch myself up first.” She said stopping him. An angry bellow louder than the roar of battle drew Gusty to look back down to the main of the deck. Blood and bodies covered most of the surface, but they were still outnumbered. The yell apparently had come from one of the rams, a cutlass stuck out of one of his shoulders, but it had only succeeded in sending him into a greater frenzy.

Gusty took the moment to channel what healing magics she had left. She cast the small ritual on herself and immediately felt better. The pain on her stomach ceased and her head was clearing. Healing magic was the best. She always appreciated that simple gift of Origin. It came in handy from the most dire of circumstances to the most mundane of occurrences. Using it gave Gusty a second wind, that even she knew was a foolhardy feeling but puffed up her chest nonetheless.

“Come on, we have to help!” She proclaimed starting to move.

“Are you crazy?!” Zeccaran shouted behind her.

“Probably cause I’m already spent!”

Gusty bounded across the deck towards the Royal Guards, who were slowly getting backed against the wheelhouse. There were still a sizeable number of pirates and by the looks of things they had gotten over their initial shock and awe of the Guards’ entrance. A familiar yell turned her vision to see Bunker swinging his axe in a mad spin surrounded by a smaller but equally full group of hostiles.

However, she was now flanking the both collections of pirates, and even without her sword, that was going to prove to be extremely useful. Starting a low flight, Gusty sped towards the nearest pirate by the wheelhouse trusting her husband to be fine, while also ignore Zeccaran’s panicked yells. She bowled over her quarry with her flying charge, letting her instincts carry her into a bit of a zen. A nearby fellow noticed her but was quickly punched in the mouth with her right hoof, before having his sabre stolen with her magic. She used the scavenged blade to impale a rather fat parrot that was not facing her and who also let out a long shrieking alarm squawk. The group of brigands all immediately turned to face her.

Gazing over the crowd Gusty saw the Royal Guards each jump in a single leap up atop the wheelhouse, shattering the guardrail there with their horns, taking advantage of her distraction. Unfortunately this put her in a bit of a bind as all the pirates stared at an unarmed and injured mare.

“Ye rotten cunts coulda ne’er won a fair fight!” Shouted the male brogue of one of the guards.

“Aye! An’ ye might lose this rigged ‘un too, ya bunch a clumsy bastards!” the other taunted too.

They both laughed like maniacs from their heightened position. The pirates all stood looking about in confusion. They started to pack closer together their eyes all searching the area for the one griffon that should have been on the helm. Gusty grinned and laughed too, having knocked the captain off the ship had proved useful after all. Especially after the pirates began muttering about not seeing him and what should they do without him.

A piercing whistle hushed the crowd and all eyes looked up towards the sky from whence it came. Gusty had been beginning to wonder when he would show back up and the captain did not disappoint. Hovering alongside four equally large and intimidating griffons, each of them wielding a large crossbow, the Pirate King scowled.

“Abandon ship ye, filthy lubbers! We fight a different day!” he shrieked. Immediately, all the pirates rushed towards the side of the ship where he and his lieutenants hung in the air. They dove over the deck rail, without concern for the fall. A bit of thumping and the sound of wood against bodies made Gusty realized they had some form of aerial lifeboat.

The whir of said craft’s engine peaked to a high pitched ringing as the last of the pirates cleared the deck. Gusty sat confused, unable to react as the pirates ran away. She was not done with this fight, and even if they were pirates, they had to have some honor in battle. Gusty ran toward the deck rail ready to pursue her routed enemies.

“Get back here you cowards!” she screamed just starting to take flight. White hot iron found its way into her neck and chest, taking the breath from her lungs. She fell against the deck rail unable to make noise beyond a small squeak. It was pure agony to move, but Gusty twisted her neck enough to look down at the top of her mail. A crossbow bolt sat deeply embedded into her neck and chest, and judging by the difficulty she was having breathing a lung.

“Stay back, filthy pony. I shan’t be havin’ ye ruin another a’ me plans.” chuckled the Pirate King. At the sound of his voice the last vestiges of Gusty’s adrenaline and magic dropped into her bloodstream. She did not feel pain as she sprang up from the deck, nor the strain on her horn as she fired as many stunbolts as she could at the five griffons. Nothing mattered beyond felling them and ending their tyranny.

Unable to comprehend if she was being even slightly successful. Gusty was in full flight before another bolt was fired at her. It missed, so she persisted. Another, a miss, she persisted. A third, another fouled shot. She was almost to the Pirate King another stunbolt readied on her horn. Trauma inflamed her left wing forcing back against her side. Losing all flight all flight speed she began to fall. But to Gusty there was nothing to see or fear except the voices from before. It dawned on her that she had no idea if she was alive or dead, but in this hell did it matter?

Act 2: Chapter 11 - Breaking Points

“There comes a point when even the most controlled individuals will break. I have seen it more times than I care to admit, especially because in the past I have been the one causing them to fall apart. The issue is of course: how far will the broken body go? I find it is further than either of the two parties want it to.”

-Zeccaran-

Chapter 11 - Breaking Points

It was the day after she had awoken and Gusty lay in her bed next to Bunker feeling pleasantly bloated. Having not eaten during her brief coma had taken its toll on her inhibitions and she had gorged until passing out. The swelling would go away by the end of the day of course, but the best side effect was the continued relief from that extreme hunger. Slipping out of the straw cot, Gusty pushed her front hooves out away from herself in a stretch. After overcoming the regular morning stiffness she trotted around the edge of the bed to prod Bunker awake.

Her husband groggily rolled onto the ground with a thump and laid spread eagle on his stomach. He mumbled incoherently from his position on the ground. His was a pitiful sight and Gusty chose to leave him lay. There was no sense in dragging a half-conscious stallion around Castle Manor when all she was going to do was talk with Gertrude. Exiting the room Gusty unsuccessfully fought off a yawn before turning to go towards the Long Hall.

It only took here a few moments to arrive at the Hall and only one more before she reached Gertrude. The Long Hall still remained a hub of activity as ponies and sheep conversed and ate.

“Good morning, Gertrude!” she called from behind the ever-vigilant wall of guards. They parted after she had spoken, and allowed her into the raised dais of charts and schemes. Walking up to where Gertrude stood next to Jarl MacGerson, she gave her past-daugther a curious look.

“Mmm.” Gertrude responded barely turning her face to her. Since Gusty had remade their acquaintance this was the least cheery and the oldest the Dame Ewe had ever looked. Taken aback, Gusty stood there unable to speak for a time. She found her words again, only by the concern she had for her friend.

“Gerty.” Gusty scooted close to the ewe and whispered into her ear with a lean, “What’s going on? You look terrible and are acting like somepony died.” she said. The Dame Ewe sighed deeply before placing a hoof on Gusty’s head and lowering her further down so she spoke into her ear.

“Aye if only lass. An investigation turned up most foul news.” she murmured before grunting despondently. “The anti-airship cannons that were sabotaged...were broken using Ovis magics. An’ only one other mage kennt where I hid them.” Gertrude finished. Gusty leaned up cast a disturbed look down to the Dame.

“A-and w-who was that?” she asked shakily.

“I already told ye who it be.” Gertrude’s words were broken and hollow. Gusty could see now that what she had attributed to stress and a bad mood was actually disbelief and sadness. Her past-daughter had always been a good actress when it came to hiding her emotions, and this time was no exception. It left Gusty feeling particularly unsettled, Gertrude had told her who was the last subject on the list. At this point it looked like open conflict could no longer be avoided leaving Gusty to sit silently, empathetically feeling the remorse of a mother torn between decisions.

Alongside her friend Gusty watched as MacGerson thought aloud over logistics and when it was best to strike the pirate stronghold. He was a smart ram, suggesting distraction and an attempt to lure out the brigands to negate the need for a siege. Nearing the end of his planning Zeccaran and Bunker finally appeared amongst the planners.

“So what’s going on today? Any new plans to get rid of the griffons?” Zeccaran asked striding up to them. Gusty looked her friend over consciously remembering how out of place the striped zebra was here in the Baylands and everywhere else for that matter.

“Nay.” Gertrude interrupted her thoughts. “The plan remain the same. I be thinkin’ over when to execute it.”

“Oh. I see. Well, whenever you give the word Lady Dame, we’ll see it through.” he responded with a kind solemness. Gusty wondered if Zeccaran had figured out the scheme. He probably had, for all his shortcomings and awkwardness, her zebra friend was extremely intelligent and seer-like. Zeccaran bowed before stepping aside remaining quiet as Bunker stepped up to give her a nuzzle. He gave the Dame a rather gruff good morning but otherwise remained looking at Gusty.

“You feel alright, da?” he asked with concern in his face. He said placing a hoof on the side of her neck. Gusty cleared her throat trying to overcome the foreboding sense tugging at her nerves.

“I’m doing well, thank you.” she said rubbing his hoof with her own. He nodded with an approving smirk and lowered his limb down. He stood aside and peered over to MacGerson who was still in his game of charades against the country map. A bit of a bustling turned Gusty’s attention to the ring of guards who were letting a small precession through into the planning dais.

In the center surrounded by four upset looking Ram Guards was Gabriella. She nearly growled as she walked, her face as stressed and angry as her mother’s. Making her way directly towards them she and her attendants stopped before Gertrude. Gusty watched on in silence as the heiress ewe stood still, staring at her mother. A part of Gusty had always known it would come to this moment. From the moment Gertrude had uttered that it was a family member she had known that a confrontation between her daughter and her spawn was inevitable. Gusty had done her best to ride out the waves of danger and conflict, hoping desperately for a different solution when she knew there was not one. But, one thing still held her aspirations for a peaceful solution, and that was Gabriella had no move left to make besides directly, in front of everyone gathered, attacking her own mother. Gusty prayed that the younger ewe’s sense of kin had not eroded entirely and in this next few moments she would placidly accept her fate.

Gabriella mumbled something incoherent. All gathered pursed their lips unable to hear what she had said. “Speak up daughter.” Gertrude interjected. “No need to whisper.”

“I said…” Gabriella paused, drawing a deep haggard breath, “Why do you keep me here in such company mother? You have already won.” Gertrude harrumphed and looked down from her throne at her daughter in pain.

“I know not what ye be talkin’ about, dear daughter lass.” she replied. She sounded confident but Gusty could see in her past-kin’s eyes the deep, crushing sadness of a suddenly childless mother.

“You don’t?! Pah!” Gabriella shrieked. “You play coy with me even now? Why?! I’m a damned traitor and you won’t do what you must?! Were all those things you taught me...lies?!”

A brief gasp finished its light echo and Gusty could sense all the eyes in the whole of the Long Hall looking at Gabriella and Gertrude and their golden fleece. The words being said were only a portion of the electricity riding through air and everyone present was ready to jump at the slightest motion. Gusty knew she was no better than the rest, her adrenaline sat precariously on a cliff’s edge ready to drop. The moment was only amplified by the silent head down response Gertrude was now offering.

“What would ye have me do?” Gertrude finally replied with a heavy sigh.

“Your job.” Gabriella gritted her teeth, her eyes bulging with her strain and anger.

“I can’t, my sweet little lamb. I could a’never perform such a punishment on ye.” the elder ewe responded her face even more strained than before. Gusty swallowed hard as Gabriella stomped her front hooves and lowered her head.

“Then there is nothin’ left. I’ll have to make you claim the victory you already have!” The heiress lowered her body further into a broad stance. A sharp pitched hissing filled the air in an instant, and bright light tinged a forest green radiated from Gabriella. Straining her eyes Gusty watched as the younger ewe aimed herself at Gertrude.

A beam of sparkling energy, mirrored with a swirling blob of shadow streaked towards the elder ewe. The magic itself seemed to suck the light out of the room as it traveled forward its clear malevolence drawing all eyes. In a strange contrast to the frozen room, Gusty marveled at the movement of Jarl MacGerson. Besides the ray of destruction he was the only other thing with the apparent ability to react. Even now as her mind tried to process the moment Gusty stood immobile, unready for the ultimate betrayal of Gabriella. Time itself seemed to agree with her and the instance would be forever cemented as one of the longest ever known.

MacGerson intercepted the beam and was knocked into Gertrude. The clatter of a ram and ewe being tossed into the wooden throne was overtaken as the room erupted into an instant fight. Two of the four guards that had been accompanying Gabriella had started firing kinetic bolts into the Ram Guard around the throne. Meanwhile all of the pony soldiers that were unicorns sent a wave of red stunbolts flying into everything. The explosion of color would have been rather beautiful and Hearth’s Warming themed had a great melee not started knocking over tables and bodies.

Gusty fixed her eyes on where Gabriella had been standing only to find a horde of ponies swarming with spears and magic swinging towards a retreating group of rams. Unable to even think about anything besides detaining the wayward ewe princess, Gusty cast a shield on herself. It was not a simple bubble instead a skin covering like the one she had used to fight MacGerson. Charging into the crowd a guttural below left her throat, her fury manifesting itself of its own accord. Some of the outlying soldiers dodged her charge but the rest were bowled over by her shield and her weight. She caught the barest hit of Gabriella nestled between a group of rams.

Their eyes met for the briefest hint of a moment. Gusty watched as the ewe realised that she was going to be chased until caught. Gabriella screamed something to her cohorts and all the rams she had guarding her looked up to Gusty. Beams of energy started flying towards her and bouncing off her shield. Somehow this only made her more determined to press forward, even though she was without her sword or armor.

The group of rebels broke the encirclement of Stormwalker’s troops when what could only be described as a bomb exploded. Even though her shielding Gusty was knocked to the ground and almost had her lungs emptied of air by the blast. Recovering quicker than anyone else Gusty stood up to see only two rams and Gabriella slinking away from piles of unconscious bodies. Whatever had been triggered evidently was not meant to be lethal only exceedingly disorienting and it had worked, except it had not disabled her. She would prove that failure their undoing.

Gusty cast a fresh shield and dashed after the small band of rebels. Gabriella and her rams took notice as they turned to slip through a door. The two guards practically ripped the hinges out of the wall, one pushing Gabriella through the door and closing as he went. The other braced his legs and waited as she charged at him. In Gusty’s opinion it was a fool’s errand the ram could not slow down an alicorn, even one that was too upset to try and teleport.

Firing a stunbolt as she approached Gusty pushed off the ground with her legs. She flipped her wings out to keep the airborne from her jump. The ram meanwhile deflected the stunbolt, distracted by his own desire to remain conscious. Gusty swung her legs out twisting her body to let her weight and flight angle hit the unprepared guard. Her hooves hit his neck and face and he crumpled grasping at the affected areas. Now standing atop the fallen ram, Gusty blasted the door open with her horn, not bothering to waste time opening it. Through the portal she beheld a familiar hall, one that she had refrained from entering.

Memories of Gertrude’s childhood came flooding back and the pain of today’s events intensified all the more. Ahead turning towards the little room that was the residence’s private kitchen, Gabriella and her guards slowed to corner.

“Gabriella!” she shrieked as she charged after them. Gusty had to stop the younger ewe, if she escaped then full-blow war would start between the Ovis of the Baylands. That was what had always been at stake. She had known such, but until this moment it had not struck her with the same urgency until the threat of being unable to help reared its ugly head. Pressing forward she fought the urge to turn a look at the rooms she had once called home....

Home. This was her home. She knew it, every corner of it, and had slaved alongside like-minded kin to build it. Gusty had thought all of the rebellious Jarls had sided with her plan, that a single government would serve them all better. It had allowed trade to be established with Germane and Prance. But now it seemed that they had thrown that idea away. Gusty knew assassins or kidnappers had taken Gertrude...it was Gertrude she was chasing after right? Even if she was wrong the alicorn’s paranoia would not allow her stand idly at let the events come to pass.

Her heart pounded in her chest, everything she had worked for would amount to nothing if she could not reach Gertrude. A rebel ram stood in her way as she entered the kitchen, jumping she full on roundhoused him in the face. She could not hold back anymore the little golden darling ewe was the key to helping all the scatter folk of the Baylands. She charged forward through the kitchen her previous meal she had started long forgotten. Gusty pushed open the door that lead into the private garden of the residence. There amongst the other flowers Gertrude was held hostage by a pair of rams.

The two brigands charged at her, their horns lowered, but Gusty held her ground. Bracing herself she let the two fool’s bounce off her shield with heavy thumps. The one on her right recovered quicker and she made a sweeping kick with her back legs knocking him over as she spun. Wasting no time she jumped on his stomach, pounding him with her hooves and weight. She heard several ribs break and all the air exit the bastard’s lungs.

A roar made her look up to see the remaining ram charging her. She had just enough time to activate her telekinesis and stop him from hitting her. She lifted him up as he scowled and struggled, cursing her name and purpose. With a hardy spin and toss she flung the errant ram against the freshly built structure of the Castle Manor, his body going limp as he hit the stone. With nothing stopping her she rushed over to Gertrude and pulled her into a hug, exclaiming her joy.

“Get off me, ye crazy mare!” Gertrude proclaimed before giving her a solid punch with cloven hoof. Stunned by her daughter’s vile outburst she dropped her reflexively.

“How dare yeh call me by that name!” the little Gertrude continued to shriek, “I’ll ne’er be called a mother who betrays her oaths!”

Frighten and confused, Gusty looked at her young kin with as much pleading as she could. A bright flash of emerald light sprang from Gertrude and smashed into her, knocking her from her hooves. A brief blackness and suddenly the world refocused from the rusty edge memory. She rolled onto her side at stared pitifully at not her daughter, but Gabriella.

It had been another hallucination, leaving Gusty writhing in a deep emotional pain and fury. She had just managed to capture Gabriella, had stopped everything from happened, but now lay disabled, crying a the lost time and the defiant ewe’s words.

“It’s yer fault ya know!” she yelled at Gusty her own brogue shining through. “She’s treats me like a babe because of you!” Gabriella’s voice was not but a snarl, around her unnatural winds of magic began to spin as she lowered her head long enough to darken her face even further.

“Yeh, know how long I’ve been acting out? How long I’ve been trying to make her treat me like a normal ewe...a regular grown ewe with consequences? Ten years!” the heiress screamed, the magic around her intensifying. “An’ now after everything. The Griffons, the murder of dozens of innocent traders, an attack on our very capital, and me directly attack her. She sends you!” Pausing to heave angry raspy breaths, Gabriella cleared her throat in a lamentable cough. She had begun crying, out of anger or out of despair Gusty did not know.

“Because even now she would rather me be captured an’ slapped on the hooves, than to do what she should have done long ago, and punish me!” The hiss of the rushing air hit a fever pitch and Gabriella’s voice became more of a sharp wail than a yell. “Now begone! And let me leave this land and the ewe I once called mother!”

Standing up her fury and heartbreak for gertrude pulling her up Gusty ran towards Gabriella. Mind racing with thoughts on how to stop Gabriella from teleporting did the first thing that could work, a stunbolt. She fired the red sparkling spell only to watch it reflect off the shifting waves of magic around the rebel princess. Regardless of its ineffectiveness, Gusty had closed all the way to tackling distance and lunged. Just as she neared her quarry her body suddenly stopped mid-jump. She looked at Gabriella in total confusion, the young ewe glowing white hot from her magic. In an instant she disappeared and Gusty felt a massive concussion wave hit her floating body and toss her towards the castle.

Spinning and unable to control where she was being flung Gusty closed her eyes and tried to relax her body. It was her only remaining defense, especially because she would rather break a rib or two than a wing. Breaking wings was just that much worse. The thought was knocked out of her as she slammed against hard stone. Breath left her lungs but other than that moment of horror the blow seemed to have been mostly glancing. She nearly blacked out again however, as she felt gravity take hold and pull her downwards. Unfortunately, there was little she could do, as just trying to calm her brain and lungs from the lack of air took all of her control.

Sound returned after she hit the ground. Sharp pain in her side made her gasp hard enough to return her to normal breathing. Springing up, her rage building to a nearly uncontrollable level, she looked around. Stomping her hooves into the dirt with righteous anger, Gusty cursed her own mental weakness and Gabriella for her false words on Gertrude. A clamoring behind her made Gusty turn to look back at the door into the building. Zeccaran and Bunker alongside a mixed squad of ponies burst out of the door.

“Darling wife!” Bunker nearly growled as he sprinted up to her. “You go running off like banshee!” He looked her over with heavy scrutiny, interested in every out of place hair on her body. Gusty pushed him back from her lightly. She was no longer in the mood to be fawned over, even by her husband.

“I’m fine. How’s everything inside?” she asked shortly.

“Miss, we need to get back inside to help. You ran off before the area was secure, my squad was the only group that managed to follow.” One of the golden-clad stallion’s spoke up.

“Then let’s go!” Gusty shoved past the group of idle ponies and started a quick trot back through Castle Manor. They passed through the guest wing and stood peering into the Long hall quickly. There was still a decent amount of fighting, but with her blood boiling over Gabriella’s betrayal, she was about to put an end to it. Her ears caught slew of slurring and cursing, from atop her toppled throne Gertrude hurled spells into the melee below her. Her fury erupted and she started a charge before even commanding the soldiers to follow.

No longer measuring her strikes Gusty repeatedly charged and fired her horn as she ran towards the crowd. It seemed that more than the initial few turncoats that helped Gabriella escape, were now present. In fact the only Ovis that were not actively fighting the Equestrian Special Force were trying to desperately pull Gertrude down from her perch and into cover. This simply made Gusty’s charge all the easier and brutal.

Her first blast connected with a large ram and sent him flying, blood and broken bones spattering his nearby compatriots. The other shots from Gusty’s first volley went high, just over the heads of the crowd.. She had reached the fight now, but did not slow to punch or kick. Instead Gusty snapped her wings out and entered shallow flight stepping on as many traitors’ necks as she could on her ascent. It put a few more combatants out of commission. Turning to levitate as many of the poor fools as she could with her magic, Gusty watched the party that had come to fetch her slam into the fight.

The stallions in the mixed group refused to use lethal force, striking with stunbolts, batons, or sapps. Gusty did not understand their mercy, but they were not under her command. Seizing the opportunity, she let a copious amount of magic well up in her horn before flinging out the iron psychic grip of her telekinesis. She managed to snap up every Ovis that still stood, pulling them up to her height in the air. The collection of ewes and rams, those that could look at her in their frozen stasis, had their eyes widen to an extreme.

They had realized their folly too late, however, and with a flick of her head she sent them flying into a wall. There exploded a chorus of screams and shrieks of agony, accompanied by the disgusting sound of flesh being lacerated and bones breaking. But, Gusty was not done, and her fury was not yet quenched, so she still held the unlucky host hostage. Another flick of her neck this time to the opposite wall caused another wave of disturbing proclamations of minds and bodies. Finally, pulling her quarry back into the center of the Long Hall she flung them down to the ground, their screams much subdued on their third impact.

Gliding down and landing amongst the ponies, Gusty drew in a deep breath. Around her the Equestrian Special Force all slowly backed away from her, their eyes betraying their fear. Three of them stood their ground, and with her rage subsiding, Gusty recognized the faces of Bunker, Zeccaran, and Stiff Inspection. The adrenaline broke and she was suddenly panting and kneeling, her husband and friend next to her. She pushed them away, the heat from their bodies aggravating her.

“M-move.” she stammered, nearly in tears. She had to reach Gertrude to make sure she was still safe, her paranoia insatiable. Forcing Gusty to partially believe that somehow between her outburst and when she had seen the Dame Ewe atop her throne something more had happened. Both Zeccaran and Bunker followed her past the bodies of moaning Ovis, their hooves tracking the wanton blood.

Behind them Stiff Inspection began barking out shaky orders. The bustle of hooves sloshing through the gore made her stomach churn. “T-Tend to the wounded! Equestria will not allow the death of any Ovis i-if it can be h-helped!” the young stallion ordered, his voice getting grittier as he spoke. She knew what she had just done, at least in the logical part of her brain, but it proved difficult for her emotions, even with all the evidence behind her. She had not unleashed her fury in such a manner since she had met Stormwalker. He, however, was significantly more durable than the poor folk she had mained. The thought froze her in her tracks, as she desperately worked to regain control of her stomach and her mind.

“Gusty, are you alright?” Bunker asked cautiously. He rarely spoke her name, out of respect or some sort of language tick. However, when he did, it meant he was saying was imperative to both her and himself. She shook her head in response, unable to answer with words. Bunker nodded back to show that he understood. Her husband was smart; he knew what was best ways to help her, and right now that meant staying silent and supporting her.

Finally able to move again, Gusty stalked up onto the raised dias and over to the overturned throne. Royal Guard stood behind the broken structure huddled around the sounds of crying. Rounding the chair, Gusty placed a hoof on the nearest ram, he turned to face her briefly, pain and confusion evident in his face. Stepping aside once he saw her, he let Gusty and her party into the tight circle. There, cradling the broken body of a very dead Jarl MacGerson, sat Gertrude the Golden, face covered in tears. Gusty released a deep sigh of relief. All that mattered was that her old daughter was safe, and that the threat had been eliminated.

She slipped down to her kin and wrapped the small ewe in her wings. It was the best comfort she could give Gertrude. For this level of betrayal, all Gusty could offer was her presence and the occasional hoof stroke of Gertrude’s fleece. The Dame Ewe remained sobbing into MacGerson’s remains and her wings for a length of time Gusty could not describe. The feeling of hollowness in her chest increasing she held Gertrude tighter hoping to have at even the smallest portion of her emotions return. Eventually, her past daughter slowed her sniffling and tears. The sound of hooves pulled Gusty’s attention up to the gathering of guards.

Stiff Inspection stood at attention before the Rams and her companions, looking down to Dame Gertrude with heavy bags under his eyes. He removed his helmet respectfully before clearing his throat enough to where Gusty felt the ewe in her wings shift to look at him.

“Lady Dame…” the pegasus paused, “While it is certainly not the best time, I am required to inform you that due to this attack from within your own court, Equestria will no longer be able to keep this force stationed here.” he stated gravely.

“W-what are ye sayin’ lad? Wha’ happen’d to Captain Garrison?” Gertrude hoarsely questioned.

“My apologies, Your Eminence. Captain Garrison is amongst the slain. I am the next in command, Lieutenant Stiff Inspection, ma’am,” the stallion replied stoically.

“Oh.” was all the Gertrude managed to respond with.

“I was informing you that this special forces unit: The Equestrian Special Guard Service, must return home, as this is no longer strictly a Griffon Empire plot. And as to not display a high level of hypocrisy on the international level, the unit will board the Midnight Onyx, and await her departure once our negotiators, Gusty Twilight and the vessel’s private captain, Zeccaran, conclude their business. This unit will no longer be able to offer you protection as a result. I’m sorry,” He answered with a deep bow of his head.

“Ack. Begone then. And tell Celestia I understand her position,” Gertrude retorted meekly somewhere between a grumble and a sob. She leaned against Gusty’s wing a few stronger sniffles coming out as she did.

“An’ begone with the rest of ye too! I want nobody present save the Equestrian Diplomats!” Gertrude suddenly squeaked from her position. Around her Gusty watched her guards give each other nervous looks before retreating from the dias and forming a loose barrier a good distance from them. Stiff Inspection flapped his way further down the hall to where a number of ponies had formed ranks. Bunker and Zeccaran stayed nearby as they had been ordered.

“A bubble if ye would, mum.” the golden ewe murmured. “Like before all this happened…” Gusty obliged her daughter’s request without a word. Once the sound shield was up Gertrude released a rattling sigh and stood up from where she was nestled.

“Mine friends…” she looked to each of the ponies around her. “Mother…” Gertrude paused for a while looking down.

“I hath a simple request. A t-t-t-terrible request…” she broke into a few haggard sobs and stopped herself from stuttering.

“Gerty…” Gusty stood to snap up her kin in a hug again but was halted by the ewe when she raised a hoof.

“I must ask ye to enact the laws of the Baylands...I cannot fathom the deed mineself.” She paused and looked at Gusty, rather she looked through her. The Dame’s face was of a hard, sad ewe that had seen too much hardship, a leader broken upon the ideals she so desperately clung to. Gertrude cleared her throat one last time.

“Find mine daughter, mine...mine ex-daughter, and end her. Spare her and her pirate crew no mercy, no quarter. See that this civil war never happens. I-I...I cannot ask this of anyone else...an’...an’ I cannot speak of it again. I-it hurts mine heart too great.” Words spoken the Golden Dame turned her face to the floor to stare at Jarl MacGerson. A new waterfall of tears fell from her face and she plodded daintily up to the slain body of the ram that had saved her and placed her face against his side.

Gusty had heard her past-daughter’s words but could not accept them. Already seeing the pain in Gertrude now was more than enough the reason to try and redeem the wayward Princess of the Baylands. Gusty swore to herself she would find a way, even though she did not like the idea of helping someone who was willing to kill her own mother. The alicorn looked up at her companions briefly. Zeccaran’s face was dark with a grim determination Gusty could not place. She turned to her husband to see his face sad and empathetic, he motioned for her to comfort Gertrude some more, a notion she agreed with.

She sat back down with a bit of an ungraceful thump and leaned down next to Gertrude. She placed a hoof on to Gertrude’s back and gently asked if she would not mind having the shield lowered. Her daughter shook her head smally.

“No, mum, leave it up. I’m not ready yet.” she whispered to Gusty. Remaining silent she just kept her hoof on Gertrude’s back trying to find something to say. Eventually, her curiosity go the better of her and Gusty asked a question she knew was loaded with emotion, if only to help Gertrude cry out her bottled feeling more and help her relax.

“You are awfully torn up about losing him, Gerty, why?” she asked quietly. Gertrude stiffened briefly, and a few powerful jerks of her neck from forced heavy breaths followed, but she managed to answer..

“He was...j-just...just a friend. A good friend” Gertrude bleated. Her soft voice and sad face broke Gusty’s heart. She bent down and cradled her daughter again. The ewe hugged onto her and her fallen companion.

“He died….he died because of me!” she shrieked, breaking down into even more pitiful fits of tears.

“No, Gertrude. Don’t say that. He did what he did for the greater good. Even with your fleece had Gabriella hit you it wou-” Gusty was cut off.

“No! Tha’s a lie! He died in vain! In vain! Because...b-because Gabriella is right… I can’t do mine job.” Gertrude stammered uncontrollably. Gusty felt her chest tighten. She had not believed the rebellious heiress. She could not have believed her, neither she could believe what Gertrude was saying now.

“Gerty…” she murmured with a horror in her voice.

“I c-could’a never...n-never done what I was supposed to...to have it buildin’ all these years…” Gertrude paused long enough to cough and draw new haggard breaths. “I never earned this crown ye gave me, mother! I n-never deserved it….I learned everything about family and rulin’ from you. But I never learned why ye were harsh when I misbehaved...w-why...tha’ consequences make a ruler….a leader. It took me losin’ everythin’ to understand...an’ now...now she’s gone... forever…I can’t take back what mus’ be done now...I-it’s too late...I haff to do it now...I haff taho rule...and reap what I sowed….an’ everything will have been my fault….MacGerson...the Griffons...mine own daughter…” The Dame Ewe broke down into unintelligible blathers as Gusty squeezed her against her chest.

But, Gertrude was wrong. If she had never understood the importance of consequence, of sacrifice, between a monarch and a mother, the it was she, Gusty that had failed. She began to cry with Gertrude instead of just trying to comfort her. This loss, Gusty felt it deep in her soul, that she had had something beautiful, but had unwittingly ruined it long ago. And now, her actions in the past had destroyed the lives of two otherwise wonderful ewes.

Her current companions looked on in sorrowful confusion, ignorant of her true emotions. Neither would have been able to help if they had known. Even If Celestia was here, all she would have told her that she had no control of what had happened to her and how it affected her behavior.. Luna would have said it too, ready to pull up an number of numerous examples. Stormwalker would have said nothing and just tried to cuddle her with his wings regardless if she bit him. How terrible it was that even the other immortal beings of the world could not begin to comprehend the pain, even though one of them managed to know what to do. The thought made her tears become sobs, because in the end, it was Gusty Twilight that was one that was broken on the will of others and the loss of all the family she once had. This tragedy was merely a potent reminder. She just hoped the sound barrier would hold long enough for her to recover.

Act 4: Chapter 4 - Of Shadow-kin and Dragons

“Mr. Stormwalker...do you like my mom? I-i won’t say anything...I just want to know”

-Amethyst, about a week ago-

Chapter 4 - Of Shadow-kin and Dragons

Swooping down towards a lonely cloud up above Canterlot Gusty alighted on its pillowy surface. As was her new afternoon tradition before picking up Amethyst after school with Guardian Angel, she settled in for a nap. The monthly meeting for the joint departments of the government was to take place this evening instead of the normal Evening Court at six. The meetings were usually dreadfully boring, full of smart, cooperative ponies that worked as administrators for things like agriculture, civil works, and banking.

Celestia had developed a well-oiled machine that handled the delegation of various tasks extremely well. Gusty supposed that was to be expected of somepony as entertained by regulations and paperwork as her friend was. Either way, when the proper ponies were in place things went perfectly albeit uneventfully, only once had the meeting been even slightly entertaining. The pony in question that had provided the entertainment had quickly lost his position as Minister of Natural Resources. While she had not agreed with his policies, his staunchly fanatical backing of his ideas was deeply amusing. Unfortunately, her royal counterpart had not thought the same and had him carted out of the conference before sacking him a week later.

That was about the last thought Gusty had as she started to fall into her midday slumber when the cloud she was on disintegrated. She fell an undisclosed distance before realizing that she was, in fact, plummeting to her death and not just having that momentary sensation of falling she sometimes got when falling asleep. Her eyes and mouth snapping open in horror Gusty loosed a shriek of surprise as she tried desperately to use her wings to control her fall. By the look of the rapidly approaching streets she would survive the fall but it was not going to be pleasant. And try as she might, the sudden shock had scared her enough to prevent her from gaining control of her reflexes as she groggily sunk towards the city streets.

Just before she was to breach the height of the buildings a pair of hooves hooked around her barrel and slowed her down. No longer in a tailspin, Gusty felt lift come beneath her wings as she flapped them and the hooves on her body release just long enough for them to grab her shoulder and spin her around to face her savior.

“Ohmygosh I’m so sorry! Are you alright?!” a red-maned pegasus-mare questioned hysterically.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” she answered unsteadily, as she raised a hoof to rub the base of her mane.

The mare and her snow-white fur bobbed anxiously, continuing to apologize. Gusty was pretty confused why the pony that just saved her kept asking for forgiveness, but was unable to interrupt until she had fully gained her bearings.

“Why are you apologizing?” she eventually asked

“I knocked you out of that cloud. I was just absentmindedly kicking a few as I went along and I didn’t even realize you were there until you screamed!” The mare released her, a very sad blush on her face.

Gusty backed up to examine her a bit. Her accidental assassin seemed quite earnest and truly embarrassed. Like the alicorn she was quite tall, her body more slender and her features longer but yet still soft. She looked familiar to Gusty, but lots of ponies had the same color schemes, and it was not always easy to tell the difference between them without clothing or some other trademark. Her eyes traced over to the mare’s cutie mark causing her to draw a sharp breath.

An Erlenmare flask was flanked by a pair of three-quarters-folded red wings. But most importantly, the distinguishing marking sat on a squarish grey cloud with four lightning bolts coming from its rounded corners. Their meeting was no accident.

Gusty narrowed her eyes making the mare tilt her head curiously. While trying not to let prejudice take over, the alicorn calmly exhaled the gasp she had held in. Locking eyes with her counterpart, she made sure to emphasize her distrust with her whole being.

“You are a Stormwalker.” Gusty folded her hooves as she hovered.

The mare’s eyes widened in surprise but there was no change to her mood otherwise.

“Wow!”You really are quick to figure things out.” The mare smiled devilishly

“I do have plenty of experience with Guardian Angel. I’m more upset he didn’t mention he had a big family.” Gusty looked over the mare again.

She definitely fit the bill, the big wings and the beauty clear indicators. It did not help that still less than a month ago she had been rather ineloquently reminded how a she-demon might appear. Staring on, Gusty internally remarked that this Stormwalker mare met all the requirements. Now to ferret out her true demeanor.

“First name basis, huh? And here he told me that he didn’t have a chance with you,” the mare giggled.

“How are you related to him?” Gusty questioned seriously. It was better to ignore the playful sniggering of this newcomer

“He’s my brother. He probably would have introduced me if I hadn’t been out of country just as soon as you first showed up,” she responded cordially.

The alicorn leaned her neck back skeptically. Squinting, she did see the resemblance; being armed with the historical images made it easy to believe. But this mare was a Stormwalker, and Stormwalkers always had more to them than met the eye.

“I’m sensing you don’t trust me. Fair enough. I did just knock you off that cloud on purpose. Goes to show me, amirite?” she laughed nervously. “Figured you could fly though…”

“A rather poor first impression, Miss Stormwalker,” Gusty scowled.

“It’s Pixie. Short for Pixima. I am very sorry. It was just supposed to be a prank, not you falling and getting hurt,” Pixie explained.

The alicorn’s scowl soften to pursed lips and a raised eyebrow. She had no reason to not believe her. If Pixie had intended to hurt her she would not have bothered to help once she was falling. It just so happened that the goofy mare in question also happened to share blood with a demon. A demon that, until recently, she had been certain harbored naught but ill-will towards her and the rest of the world. That managed to make her just suspicious enough to over-analyze the red-maned mare’s actions.

“Listen, let me make it up to you. Let’s stop hovering here and go get a coffee and a snack, my treat!” she smiled.

“Alright. At least you are nicer than your brother when I met him.” Gusty nodded agreeing to Pixie’s terms.

“Well that doesn’t take much, come on, I know a place!” she motioned with wave.

Gusty cocked her head to the side as Pixie glided down towards the city streets. As far she could tell from that brief interaction, she had no reason not to follow. The mare did not have the same aura as the stallion she claimed as her brother. However, calm and trusting as she may be, Gusty was no fool. Guardian Angel had managed to mask his true intentions when she had first met him, would one of his closest kin be no different? She did not believe so, as such a healthy bit of caution seeped into her mind as she followed the red-maned mare down to the ground. Of course it was not as if the she-demon could attack her in broad daylight. There were too many witnesses and a brother that would not take such action kindly. That meant that Gusty would play along with whatever game Pixie wished, for now at least.

Landing next to her snowy counterpart, the alicorn followed the other mare along the street silently. Pixie hummed as they went along, cutting quite the figure over the other ponies, her long legs making her as tall as Gusty. After a few moments they reached a small little brick shop, the aromatic smells of roasting beans wafting out its open door and windows.

“Mmm! That’s one of my favorite smells.” Pixie drew another hearty breath.

“So how do you like your coffee?” Gusty started small-talk as they trotted up to the counter.

“A strong dark roast that I can add plenty of cream to without ruining its strength. You?” she smiled.

“Blacker than night, hotter than lava, and with a spoonful of sugar,” the alicorn replied.

Meanwhile the barista took their order seamlessly as they described what they wanted. She worked fast and the two mugs were placed on a tray. Gusty levitated it up to take with them, the she-demon paid, producing a coin purse from inside her long mane.

“So, are we describing our preference in stallions or the coffee?” Pixie raised her brows with giggle and grin as they walked to a table in the far corner of the small shop.

The innuendos in her own description hit her and Gusty found herself unable to stop from snickering. At least this Stormwalker was funny in the diplomatic setting. Guardian Angel tended to be quite serious, his humor dark and less promiscuous when in the presence of the rest of the nobles. And she was going to get a healthy dose of it this evening, for now it was time to get to the subject at hoof. Just how Shadow-kin was Pixie?

Gusty fixed the mare across from her with a serious stare. She was not going to need her Truth Spell this time. As long as she kept feeling this good, discerning lies was both easy and enjoyable. It was very much like a game of charades.

“Are you like Guardian Angel? Have you eaten other demons?” she questioned.

“No, and no.” Pixie took a sip of her beverage, commenting, “I may have Shadow-kin blood but I am nothing like my brother.”

“How so?” Gusty thought she felt a deception, however there was not any power to be felt in the air like there had been with Guardian Angel.

“Well you have to feed the beast to become one. Besides from what I can tell from the family history books I’ve got; traditional Shadow-kin breeding usually results with the first born being the strongest. Could I be like him if I tried...possibly? But I’m definitely not trying. On top of the fact that while the stars may have aligned for him to be born with the full set of powers our parents are both half-breeds.” Pixie explained.

“What do you mean: your parents are both half-breeds? I had always been under the impression that they were the real deal, and were dead...because he probably ate them!” the alicorn shuddered as she spoke.

“Simply put it was a union of two ponies that was never meant to be, if Mom hadn’t been orphaned at such a young age my brother might be pretty normal, save his dazzling personality.” Pixie rolled her eyes at her own sarcasm before continuing.

“She met Dad because our great grandfather didn’t have record of her birth. Clan Stormwalker had for years carefully groomed and arranged marriages for their children because they were trying to avoid making creatures like my brother. By the time that old colt had figured it out, Mom was already pregnant with me, and Guardian Angel was already four years old.”

Gusty nodded, remaining quiet. She had never dug too deeply into the stallion’s past, but what she had picked up over the last couple of years matched up. Celestia had described some of Guardian Angel’s childhood and, in great detail, his latter youth. It was consistent with the Princess’s information, though it was much more specific than her friend’s rendition. Albeit, everything just felt too convenient for Gusty. What a ridiculous starcrossed situation this was: perhaps that was why she was not yet satisfied with the younger Stormwalker.

“Pretty crazy how that all happened,” she mumbled over her mug not really looking at the red-maned mare.

“Yep. But truth is much stranger than fiction in my experience.” Pixie replied, with a brief pause. “What about you? You went from happy-go-lucky to deadly serious once you recognized me as a Stormwalker.”

Gusty took another sip of the coffee, enjoying the just-the-way-she-liked-it taste. She would have to come back a few more times so she could generously tip the barista. A stray thought made her smile and it seemed that it proved a rather playful answer to Pixie’s question.

“Please forgive my distrust. It is just surprising to find my enemies have assets I was unaware of, we are at war after all.” Gusty stated matter-of-factly. Her counterpart cocked her head in confusion.

“What?” she balked.

“Well, yeah...the timeless war of Alicorn vs. Shadow-kin. Sure we’ve had a cease fire for the last couple thousand years. Doesn’t mean the fighting’s over, though. Never did make formal accords…” Gusty nodded sagely as she took another sip.

“You...you-you’re messing with me!” Pixie pursed her lips and folded her forehooves playfully.

“Maybe...maybe not…” she responded tepidly, making an extra bit of noise as she took her taste of coffee. She smiled internally knowing that a calm face would only pressure the mare further, Celestia’s courtly behavior had been rubbing off on her.

“It could be that you fulfilled that ritual Luna has mentioned Guardian Angel did...that one that reduces the amount of magic in your blood, lets you be closer to a pony...or it could be that you are better at hiding your true nature that your brother.” Gusty sat the mug down waiting for Pixie’s smile to break.

“I thought you were messing with me, but now I’m concerned.” Her cheeks sagging into a fearful grimace her thin brow pinching with concern. However, the alicorn could not discern if her reaction was not acting. There was one thing she could not fake, and that was her resistance to magic.

Letting her gaze drift lazily, Gusty charged her horn and extended her magic to take hold of Pixie’s left wing. The telekinetic grip fastened normally, and though it was slightly heavier than she expected, Gusty had no real trouble unfurling the feathered limb making her counterpart look confusedly between the hum of her golden aura on her wing and Gusty herself.

“It seems I should apologize for my prejudices...but I don’t think I will,” The alicorn stated coyly.

“Indeed, indeed, you most difficult of mares.” Pixie pulled her wing free of the light grip with a hearty tug.

“But, while we are on the topic.” The pony shook her head making her red mane shimmer in the low light of the shop, “It would behoove you to know that not all Shadow-kin get the ‘trademark’ abilities. A number are like me...simply carriers of the genes and magic.”

“Well then I do apologize for my ignorance. I’ve only ever dealt with the ones that are sporting malice in their soul and a love for murder in their hearts. Well...save two I guess.” Gusty gave a nod a small smile growing on her face.

For some time they sat quietly, enjoying their beverages. Relaxing, the alicorn let loose a shallow sigh, simply watching Pixie for a moment. She was quite happy that controlling her suspicions was quite easy. Of course after all the things she had experienced Gusty had every right to be skeptical of the statements made by a Shadow-kin. However, having the ability to logic herself away from the leery thoughts felt nice regardless. Pixie had no reason to lie to her, especially if she was Guardian Angel’s sister, she probably was just meeting the mare that took up so much of her brother’s thoughts. Gusty felt a blush start up at that thought. Luckily, her practice seemed to be paying off, and just as soon as the thought came was she able to distract her wandering thoughts by instead focusing on Pixie.

Noticing, the red-maned mare cleared her throat, before taking another sip of coffee.

“I guess since you apologized I’ll let you in on a bit of a secret,” she smiled devilishly.

“Oh?” Gusty scooted forward in her cushioned seat and leaned over the small table.

“Watching my brother mature, made me very scared. I didn’t want to end up like him so I did all sorts of things to avoid ‘catching fire’ as I thought of it back then. The result was that I have no idea if I have those same powers, I basically suppressed everything. I don’t even eat fish out of fear it will make me...well...like him.” Pixie explained.

“True. But if that Shadow-kin magic was active, even a little, I wouldn’t have been able to grab your wing with my magic. As somepony who has fought an...unreasonable number of your relatives I can assure you, you’re fine. You could eat fish if you wanted to without any issue, besides all pegasi have always been known to like fish,” Gusty commented.

Her counterpart gave a long sigh and leaned back in her chair, “That is...That is amazing to hear. It has always been one of those things in the back of my mind, ya know?”

“Better than you could ever imagine.” She took a drink of her slowly cooling coffee. “But enough of the sad serious stuff! What do you like to do for fun?”

“Wow! That’s one brash transition! Okay, fine: Chemistry.” Pixie replied snapping through several emotions.

“Chemistry? Where do you get to do chemistry for fun?” Gusty could not help but sound skeptical and somewhat disgusted. Who in the world did combined math and physics for fun? Probably, Zeccaran: And evidently her new companion enjoyed it too.

“Well, I do a lot of work for the A.R.D. so...I have my own lab, all my own equipment…” Pixie described.

“The what?” she questioned back.

“Ohhhmygosh! I have soooooo much to tell you!” With that the conversation was off to the races. Gusty could not help but smile, this was probably the start of a great new friendship. And if not, it was at least a way to get under Guardian Angel’s skin.

=====================================================

Struggling to get the short sleeve of the gown to flatten Gusty huffed into the mirror. Behind her Amethyst stood on Bunker’s back braiding her mane into two long loops. For some reason she had decided to come dressed more formally to the Joint Government meeting than usual and now she was running late. She had been almost been late getting to tag along with her daughter and Guardian Angel after school had it not been for a quick teleport and about ten apologizes to Pixie.

They had gotten carried away with their conversation, not noticing how quickly time was passing. Suffice to say, Gusty was quite excited to get some more free time with the Stormwalker mare. Pixie was extremely intelligent and had a deep understanding of many different magics and histories. Not to mention she was hilarious, good with puns and quick with a quip. Gusty looked forward to a less tense time when she did not suspect her new companion was of the same breed as her brother. A sharp tug on her scalp made her lose her telekinetic grip on the back half of the formal gown.

“Ouch! Be careful, Amethyst, you are making it hard to fluff these pleats!”

“Sorry, mom…” the filly mumbled. She was quite focused tucking the braids down and around her mother’s neck. Her daughter moved on to combing the top of her mane to part centrally around her horn instead of to one side like usual.

Gusty went back to pulling on the navy blue outfit, just wanting to get it to sit right on her haunches. Getting the straps and the sleeves on had been easy, settling into the back hooves’ hose and crinoline had not. She could tell by the way the cloth and harness felt on her back that it was the reason she could not get the front of the garment to do as she wanted. Another tug and suddenly success! Gusty let loose a happy squee looking over the gown pleased with what she saw, but a touch confused when she noticed Bunker holding her sides

“Ha! I told you I could help!” Bunker declared lowering himself down with a smile.

“Mmmhmm,” she nodded appreciatively

The two combs that her daughter wielded moved a few more hairs and snapped together with a distinctive click! Gusty turned her eyes into the mirror to give herself a final look over. The braids looked great, laying pleasantly in the high collar of the dress. Grabbing her silver necklace and her marriage legband, she slipped them on before a huge smile crept over her features. Gusty backed up and stood to the side to get a full look and her ensemble before making quick pose.

“I guess I do manage to look pretty good sometimes,” she said.

“Da!” “Yeah!” Bunker and Amethyst cooed in response.

“Thanks, you two!” Gusty turned around and gave the pair a group hug. It took both her husband and daughter by surprise. She gave them both a quick nuzzle, to which Bunker giggled with an air of embarrassment and Amethyst loudly complained “mawwwwmmm!”

“Alright. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” And with that Gusty pumped some magic into her horn and teleported.

=============================================

The brief blur of striding between the planes cleared away and she stood outside of the Throne Room. Glowing lightly with the pale yellow aura of Celestia’s magic, the doors seemed all the more intimidating. However, as she pondered the most elegant way to enter the vaunted hall hushed voices caught her ear. Gusty wheeled around to see the whole of the Nobility and the Executive Officers standing behind her. Just as she did a familiar clearing of a throat and an inquisitive presence turned her towards it.

“Don’t you look extra nice,” Guardian Angel stated, a playful glint in his eye.

“I do try on occasion...am I not late? I thought I was late…” she replied, not taking his bait just yet. Gusty looked him over seeing his traditional regalia but also his wingblades. Their shiny lengths matched the iron wreath on his head and the medals on his jacket. Their presence, however, was something certainly unusual for a Joint Departments’ meeting.

“No, you’re late. But as you can see...Celestia and Luna have yet to let us all inside. An unexpected guest arrived about five minutes before the meeting was to start,” he explained with a gesture of a hoof.

“Who is it? I hope it’s not Gertrude, I don’t know what I’m going to say to her,” Gusty shuddered, remorse still strong in her heart.

“You and me both.” Guardian Angel shook his head. “I actually didn’t get a look at them. Happened to be running late myself and when I got here the doors were already closed.”

“Oh. I see.” Gusty watched his eyes as she spoke. Just for an instant they flicked over the crowd of nobles and government officials. She noticed a number of them watch them with quiet intensity, waiting to hear what they had to say. A feeling of annoyance worked its way over to her from the stallion across from her.

Not the correct company for you to say more, I take it? She reached out to him with her thoughts.

You are getting better at reading me, my teal menace, he stated as she turned to meet his eyes.

It’s not that hard when you are trying to let me read. Anyway..who is it? Gusty smirked at him. It seemed hard to believe, but although they were opposites they worked well together.

Guardian Angel heaved a long sigh, his small grin turning to that stern look of concern. Her name is Ember. She’s a dragon. Torch’s daughter.

Oh. By Origin...that isn’t good at all! Does she know it was you? She asked worriedly. Knowing her face betrayed her emotion, Gusty turned her head away from the gathered ponies and faced the Throne Room doors.

She was there when we fought. She was trying to stop him too. Ember is the Dragon Lord...well I should say was… He explained.

What do you mean was? And...what is the Dragon Lord? The alicorn questioned unable to not turn and look at him with a more than vague amount of terror.

It was how the dragons run a sorta strange set of government. Evidently a magical stone was crafted about the same time as Equestria was founded. It was meant to unite the dragons in times of importance. Whatever dragon controls it has sway over their collective involvement with world politics. However, her mother seems to have crushed the all-important scepter that held the gem and claimed her status matriarch as the proper title to rule the dragons...by force. Guardian Angel shook his head as he spoke, evidently not embarrassed to look insane in front of his peers. Then again, Gusty thought to herself, the only peers he had were her and the Princesses.

Amusement jumped from his mind to hers and Gusty narrowly escaped laughing. She took a deep breath and calmed her nerves. If Ember’s mother was as reasonable as she had been in the past, then she could easily calm her down. Regardless it would be both endearing and mystifying to see the great green hatchling again, though she might be more ancient than fresh from the egg. Turning her attention back to Guardian Angel Gusty continued the silent conversation.

And I suppose you know all these things because of your international legion of spies? She teased.

You know me… just doing some of that Stormwalker meddling. He sighed.

Yeah, but your meddling is why I lik- “I hate to interrupt your game of silent charades, madam” interrupted the refined tones of a stallion. Gusty swiveled her neck to find the owner of the voice. Finding an older stallion with a monocle, she tilted her head.

“But I simply had to compliment you on your choice of dress.” He cleared his throat as he leaned in. His voice a coarse, hushed tone, “I’ve been waiting for years for you to take your position with some seriousness. Damnabled courtly tradition has kept me at bay.”

“Umm...who are you exactly?” Gusty smiled nervously. Guardian Angel started to snicker. Resisting the urge to turn and scowl, she instead let her prickly response reach him the silent way.

Meanwhile, the old gentlecolt had taken being miffed rather well. He seemed to be just on the verge of laughing himself. Truth be told, Gusty knew that he was some sort of government official, but had never attempted to remember his name, or position.

“My, my, haven’t even so much as cast a glance in my direction. Ever the more intriguing you are, madam Margrave.” The monocled fellow bowed, his smile breaching the edges of his mustache. Guardian Angel cut in as Gusty stood awkwardly, confused as to who this pony was mistaking her for.

“Gusty, this is Fancypants. Archduke of Canterlot, Prime Minister of Equestria. He’s a friend of mine; as rooted in traditional politics as he may be,” he explained cordially.

The alicorn paused, casting a look at her demon counterpart, before looking back over the small crowd in the hall. All of the watched, many feigning different levels of interest. The realization sent a bit of a chill up her spine, it was not nerves but more a recognition that ponies were judging her. Gusty did not like that. However, she was quite good at playing this type of game, they were about to get her best show.

“Forgive me, good sir, I have a tendency to live a little too much in the here-and-now. It is a pleasure to learn your name.” She lifted a hoof to start a formal greeting.

Fancypants did not miss a beat. He elegantly accepted the gesture and took her hoof in his own. Bowing his head down to her fetlocks he stopped just short of touching his snout to the hard of hr hoof. He leaned back up and met her eyes, in return Gusty gave him a small curtsey.

“My dear, I think you just made me lose a bet.” He chuckled, releasing her hoof. “But, in a way that makes me quite happy. Tell me, did you finally learn of your importance on the Court? Or perhaps Lord Stormwalker has bribed you to jape me?”

“Uh...I’m not sure?” she answered with a very high lift in her voice, turning back to Guardian Angel.

“Okay...I kinda get you not knowing F.P. but you don’t know your title? There was a whole ceremony and everything!” He balked at her, mouth open betraying his fangs to the open air.

Gusty cringed, struggling to recall. There had been some sort of welcoming party where most of the nobility had been present. However, she had been a little preoccupied with getting a hit in on Guardian Angel and the whole thing had turned into a fiasco. Celestia and Luna actually had to teamup to calm her down if she remembered correctly. But for the life of her she had not and did not know why the event had seemed so formal. Didn’t it have something to do with being accepted into the Royal Court, or something? Gusty facehoofed in the next instant, just enough of the memory coming back to bite her.

“I’ve been acting a fool for some two years all while being a member of the Royal House!” She seethed more to herself than anypony else. “It never really hit me until right now; I can’t believe myself!”

Fancypants started a loud chuckle that was somehow comforting instead of insulting, “Not to worry milady, we all have our moments, and I think an alicorn is allowed a more than few years to play court jester. You should hear the old rumor-stories of Celestia when she was fresh on the throne!”

“Perhaps I could get her to admit to them!” Gusty smiled back, feeling better from the Archduke’s pleasant demeanor. The three of them laughed at the thought, and for the moment the little nagging worry in the back of Gusty’s mind disappeared.

It returned the same instant that the door to the Throne Room opened with a slam. Silencing the idle chatter of the officials around them, the loud clamour drew everypony to look into the chamber. Immediately, Gusty, and she was sure everypony else too, was drawn to the pale-sapphire scaled dragon that stood between a pair of larger less vibrant drakes one colored a dull brown, the other a dingy purple.

“Ministers, Chiefs of Staff, and fair Nobles: welcome, our Joint Government meeting will begin now,” Celestia stated, her voice seeming to warm up with every word.

“Our guests are the official envoys of a new nation. The Kingdom of Jörmungandr
. Among them the young Princess Ember. we ask that you treat her and her assistants with respect, and allow them to observe our meeting. A sign of good faith between our peoples.” Luna waved a beckoning hoof as she spoke, attempting to pull the cautious ponies into the room.

Noticing nopony was moving Gusty flared out her wings and stood up a little taller. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Guardian Angel doing the same. She attempted to send a sly smile of emotion to him to find the connection rather blocked. Turning fully to catch his face, she noticed his features had softened to the point where she almost did not recognize him, the sharp glint in his eyes gone and the plain shape of his jaw out of place. Realization struck her, he was purposely putting on a show. If Ember had been there when he had fought Torch it was likely she would recognize him just by his face, but then again dragons had never been good at telling ponies apart simply by looks. However, Gusty knew that the average wyvern could easily discern differences in individuals with mere magical presence alone. It was no wonder Guardian Angel was going through the trouble. Still to mask his aura so thoroughly was impressive and Gusty could not help but feel amazed at his control.

The sudden lack of their connection made her feel rather listless, but as she faced back into the Throne Room she held her head high. She knew Guardian Angel intimately, she did not need his mind to tell her what he would do. The three straight years of studying his body language and mannerisms would be her guide now. She took a step forward at the same time she felt like he would. Like it was a coordinated dance, their hooves clopped down in unison. Gusty did not break stride, surging forward as she suppressed her smile, doing her best to remain formal as she and her opposite strode up towards the young dragon.

“The High Margrave of the Royal Court and the Lord of Cloudsdale,” Celestia declared once they reached Ember. Gusty raised her brow in momentary surprise, comprehending her title in Equestria for the first time.

A slight nudge of one of Guardian Angel’s wings let her know it was time to bow. As she righted herself, Gusty took just a fraction of a second to examine Ember closely. She reflected as she and her demonic escort turned to make way for the rest of the staff.

Gusty could have sworn Ashijinir had dyed herself that fine cyan-sapphire and stood before them. If it had not been for the presence of Torch’s heavy horns and his fierce orange eyes on Ember, she might have actually believed that. However, it was clear that Ember was her ancient companion’s offspring. She puzzled to herself for a moment after she and Guardian Angel turned about and waited for the rest of the gathering to be introduced.

Like her own name, the grieving matriarch Ashijinir had given her nation an old name. A name that stretched far back before the reign of the Shadow-kin and the Cirran Empire. Jörmungandr was more of a turn of phrase than a name in truth, simply it meant ‘all encompassing’ or ‘surrounding everything.’ Gusty could not remember, it had been far too long ago and the language of the ancient dragons lost in her oldest memories. There they would remain, waiting for someone else to jog them back into relevance.

“Looks like she didn’t recognize me…” Guardian Angel whispered, pulling Gusty from her thoughts.

“That’s what you were trying to accomplish right?” She leaned up towards his ear to respond doing her best to remain quiet as well.

“Yep. Just didn’t expect it to work so well.” He adjusted his neck so she might no be forced to stretch as much.

“So Plan B was fight her?” Gusty traced a hoof along his still extend wing and touched the blade that was fastened to its outer edge.

“Not quite. They are to help make a show of being the wrong stallion. I didn’t have them when I fought her dad so if I fought with them now, and didn’t use any other abilities she would be more easily convinced that I’m not who I am,” Guardian Angel explained.

“Sly. Devious. I’d expect nothing less from you, demon,” she teased into his ear before pressing her lifted hoof into his silken wing. Giving her an admonishing look he straightened his neck before rolling his eyes when she did not move her limb. She did, however, move it when Luna loudly cleared her throat over the murmurs of the ponies around them.

“Role call has been taken, all department heads are present and a quorum of elected ministers is present,” The Princess of the Moon proclaimed.

“Then this meeting of the Equestrian Commonwealth’s Joint Government is called to order. Please stand to your fullest and let us recite our oaths of loyalty.” Prime Minister Fancypants called out in his regal tone.

Gusty noted that simply by having met that stallion, the meeting was already more interesting. It was still going to be pretty boring, but at least she knew a little more about the players in the world’s most anticlimactic production ever.

===================================================

With the meeting over Gusty let loose a sigh in relief. While it had still been a drag, being able to pay attention to the process of Equestrian government had been enlightening. Many tenets of the country depended on providing for the citizens. While Equestria produced food on a colossal scale, many fine goods were actually imported. This meant that keeping a balance between what foreign country received food in exchange for goods and services changed often. The different departments of the government saw to maintaining the artificial growing seasons, international trade, and construction of both routes and vessels to move the goods. It impressed Gusty but by no means was she thrilled with the nitty-gritty of trading raw materials for finished products.

The rest of the ponies quickly filtered out of the Throne Room. The only fellow brave enough to say was Fancypants who came and chatted briefly before bidding she and Guardian Angel goodnight. As he trotted off Gusty was forced again to meet Ember’s eyes. At first the alicorn had thought that the young dragon had seen through Guardian Angel’s attempt to be less...himself. But throughout the course of the meeting the newly christened Princess of Scales had distinctly been looking at her. It was not a look of anger, but one of intense curiosity powerful enough to make Gusty feel, frankly, quite uncomfortable.

Thus, it came as no surprise that as soon as Fancypants cleared the threshold to the Throne Room were the doors closed by the likewise exiting guards, both of tge pony and dragon sort. A short echo of the metal doors’ clamour stopped and left the group of beings to stand in silence. Ember almost instantly broke the quiet, her claws clacking on the marble floor as she walked up to Gusty leaving her attendants to gawk in surprise.

“I guess you must be Gusty Twilight,” she rasped before clearing her throat.

“I am,” she nodded with a smile. The young dragon might have fooled the nobles, but Gusty could tell she was nervous. The discomfort from before vanished and the alicorn felt a perhaps a little too giddy.

“The Princesses say that you are pretty old, that you know my mother. That maybe you could help calm her down…” Ember looked way, her face not betraying her embarrassment but her voice doing the job.

It took a lot out of a dragon’s pride to ask for help. Gusty knew that, but for Ember to make that as her first move sent nervous butterflies through her stomach. Simply it meant that the situation might be even worse than she had imagined.

“I would love to. I just want to be certain about what has her upset.” Ember’s posture visibly relaxed the tightened back up as Gusty spoke

“Well...that’s a bit of a crazy story.” The cyan dragon looked up at Guardian Angel, who was just slightly taller than her, “I thought I was going to get some help explaining it but this isn’t the stallion that was there. I don’t know what Celestia and Luna were talking about.”

Gusty turned to the demon, noticing the Princesses approaching with the two other drakes. “Oh, I think he’s the right guy, he’s just hiding it.”

“What do you mean by…” Ember’s words trailed off to be explained instead by her face.

Guardian Angel’s magical presence nearly exploded outward. His features relaxed to the angles and fangs she was accustomed to, and their mental connection opened back up like a broken dam. The sensation nearly lifted her off her hooves, but Gusty fought it, this was all apart of his show after all.

Was that really necessary? She chastised him quickly.

Necessary? No. Did I want to? Yes. He responded without looking over to her instead focused on the cringing Ember.

You’re such a drama king. Gusty rolled her eyes.

Oh, I know, sweetheart. I know. He laughed smartly. Meanwhile Ember recovered from the rather rude surprise. Gusty resolved to make an attempt to stab the disrespectful stallion later, he needed to be kept on the tips of his hooves anyway.

“Yep, you’re right. Definitely him. Even worse than the first time we met, demon.” Ember winced.

“Don’t let him get under your scales, fair dragon. It’s all a cheap sideshow performance to him.” The alicorn moved from her cozy spot next to her Abyssal companion and entered Ember’s personal space. She turned about and leaned against the young lizard, squinting her eyes at Guardian Angel.

“Hey! I’m not a sideshow!” he managed before she took to ignoring him. Her attention favored the still bewildered Ember, and the now confused and concerned Princesses.

“So I missed all the stuff you talked about with our wonderful Equestrian Regents, and I have to ask….how’s your mom been, other than shit-for-brains over there killing her mate?” she asked the dragon nearly snout to snout as she indicated Guardian Angel.

Ember placed a claw on her shoulder, her face hard, as if she intended to shove Gusty away. But the moment broke, and the slim juvenile's nerves broke with it. She roared with laughter tilting her head up and releasing a jet of flame.

“Well alright, now we’re talking!” she chortled smoke still pouring from her nostrils. “And here I thought you were gonna be some regular old prissy pony! When I saw you dressed up like that I thought: ohh great! She’s a froo-froo princess type! How’s she supposed to help?”

“No offense. It’s just a dragon thing.” Ember turned over her shoulder and apologized to the Princesses. As much as a dragon could apologize for being a dragon, anyway.

“We know…” they both sighed. Gusty had to hold back laughter as she watched their ears fold.

“And to start...I don’t really know how to answer your question.” Ember continued, her voice a little less raspy and more confident.

“Should we try charades?” The cyan dragon rolled her eyes at Gusty in the way her mother would have at such a poorly timed joke.

“Let me just start with this; Unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it. That demon-monster-thing…” Ember cast a claw in a steady point towards Guardian Angel. “I think he did the right thing taking my dad down. You can’t just go killing other creatures...even if you are a dragon. Contrary to what I used to believe might does not make right.”

A huge grin broke over Gusty’s face and she pulled the young lizard into a bear hug. Those words were the words of a just and honorable dragon. Ember came from good stock, her parents, having both started off just the same way all those years ago. The moment of joy collapsed as a pang of sorrow wedged its way into her heart. How poorly had the two ancient dragons aged, their idealism clearly quite dead these days. Releasing her grip on Ember, the alicron met the dragon’s eyes, staring into them fiercely enough to make her flinch after a moment.

“I don’t ask this lightly: What has your mother done to take control of your kin? She might be among the oldest, but there are other dragons close to her age if not her strength.” Gusty questioned sharply.

“You mean the other Elders? She-” Ember paused her scaled brow furrowing. “She called up some old oath they had taken together. I don’t really know much about it, other than they do what she says without question.”

“I don’t remember anything like that.” Gusty put a chin up to her hoof trying to remember the years of the Great Hunt and she and her family’s attempt to save the Dragons from the Cirran Empire.

“It is possible that after you were captured by the Shadow-kin that they took that oath. I know for a fact the Dragons helped defeat the Old Lords during the Cirran Civil War. It’s entirely possible that it is a blood-oath. A special tribute they agreed must be honored during times of war,” Guardian Angel cut in.

Ember’s eyes lit up as he spoke, she held her tongue long enough for him to finish: “Shadow-kin. Mother mentioned that it was one of those things that killed dad. It’s why she’s so upset. She is preparing for war. We are here to enlist Equestria’s help because she believes that they are hiding here.”

The small gathering all looked at each other. Luna looked directly at her stallion friend with a deep concern etched into her face. More stoic Celestia flicked her gaze between the party, but Gusty could tell she was slowly getting more upset.

“You aren’t really Shadow-kin are you?” Ember broke the silence, her focus locked onto the only stallion in the room.

“You might have strange powers I don't understand, even have the weird a magical presence. But you are nothing like the stories the Elders used to tell us when we were hatchlings. You’re calm...approachable...and you did everything you could to not fight my dad. You’re no vicious killer without sanity.” The young dragon took a step forward her body language suggesting she had come to an internal conclusion.

“I just hide it well.” Guardian Angel turned his face away, his voice soft. “I’m every bit the same as the monsters you heard about as a child.”

A new quiet overcame the meeting. Gusty felt the stress of the situation suddenly catch up with her. It did not help that, whether he intended it or not, she could feel the painful self-loathing Guardian Angel was going through. It was a familiar feeling for her, just not one she ever expected to feel from him. There was no faking that kind of internal strife. However, this moment too passed as Celestia cleared her throat.

“Well, Princess Ember. What would you like us to do? We are harboring the fugitive you seek.” The white alicorn cut straight to the point.

“Well...I know that...but my mother doesn’t. So we will do nothing….for now at least,” Ember nodded more to herself than Celestia.

“What an...unexpected choice. We will help you any way we can in delaying the Queen of Fire’s decision. Hopefully, our trump card will be the key to this all,” Luna looked over at Gusty as she spoke. Ember’s face perked up almost instantly as she followed the Princess of the Moon’s gaze.

“That’s right! Gusty...do you really know my mom?! Like I just don’t believe it!” the cyan dragon literally shouted with glee.

“Well...it’s probably more accurate to say that I did, know Ashijinir. And to be honest my memory’s a little fuzzy…” she tried to recover from the sudden change of pace.

“Nonsense! Tell me everything! I can’t wait to tease her about it once this whole thing breezes over!”

===================================================

Gusty yawned as she turned away from the vault sized door that led into the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot. Ember and her attendants shouted praises to their hosts as they jumped from cluster to cluster of gems, sampling the stones with their teeth. She was not quite sure how long it had taken to get through her stories, but eventually their guests had relaxed and the meeting had ended. Now, she, Celestia, Luna and Guardian Angel stod in a hallway much too narrow for the group of them. They tread down the small halls of the Nightwatch barracks that protected the entrance to the vast underground chamber, each taking turns yawning.

“That went quite well...I need to get some sleep, sun doesn’t raise itself after all. Good night everypony!” Celestia finished her sentence with a teleport.

“I have to catch up on some evening work.” Luna blew a lazy raspberry. “Coming, Guardian Angel?”

“I’ll be along as soon as I’m done with a briefing I have to give to some Nightwatch agents,” he responded.

The remaining three paused in the single-file space, momentarily. The stallion slipped into another hallway before leaning around the corner.

“Be about an hour, I figure,” he stated before he disappeared, leaving Luna and Gusty to stare at each other. They stood awkwardly, neither sure how to make conversation now that they were not at odds over the nature of said stallion.

“You have been sleeping better I’ve noticed,” Luna started.

“Yep. It’s been pretty nice this last month. Really different than what I had been used to,” she replied. Gusty got the sinking feeling that the Princess knew more about her sleeping than she would say aloud.

“Indeed. It may do us some good to go on a few dreamwalks together, to continue keeping your mind distracted,” the Mare of Dreams emphasized. It was not particularly subtle, and especially prude in its implication but Gusty understood her meaning.

“That would actually be quite helpful. Please, the next time you get the chance.” The teal alicorn found herself blushing harder the more she tried to repress the thoughts of her dreams. It was more than a little embarrassing to be reminded that Luna knew all about her fantasies.

However, the stern, stoic look of the Princess softened. Nodding pleasantly, her voice much more relaxed she continued: “Monday evening, then. Have a good night Gusty Twilight.”

With that Luna faded into blue smoke and drifted seemingly out of existence. Gusty slowly began to plod her way out of the facility, struggling to remember the way out. Eventually, a thestral patrol guard found her and escorted her out of the Nightwatch’s department. Unfortunately, she had a long way to go back to her apartment on the other side of the Palace. She could teleport, but her mind was too busy with the tenuous situation that had befallen Equestria.

“Well look who it is!” cried a familiar voice.

Gusty turned her head up from the floor and found Pixie walking towards her. A tub of ice cream cradled in a hoof and a large spoon in each wing.

“What are you doing up so late?” the red-maned mare asked with a smile.

“Politics,” she grumbled to her new friend.

“Ohh. I was wondering why you looked so down….Ice cream?” Pixie offered one of the spoons on an outstretched wing. Gusty stared at the utensil for a brief moment before snatching it in her magic while simultaneously popping open the paper tub’’s lid.

“I think you just became my new bess’ frien’” she mumbled whilst shoving a huge bite into her mouth.

Pixie just laughed and grabbed her own bite. The pair of mares slipped off into an empty conference room. Gusty gladly spent the rest of the night discussing everything with the younger Stormwalker. She needed a moment with a female friend she was not in competition with, and Pixie was the perfect companion. By the time they had finished up talking and Gusty had teleported back to her home the sun was already coming up. She shook her head at herself, she loved sleep too much to be doing things like this but at least this way Luna would not be able to spy this time. And that made her both blush and smile.