Twilight sighed quietly as she warmed herself next to a fire, the sound of rain thudding against the roof of the ancient building echoed overhead while she let her clothes sit out to dry. Meanwhile, she wore only her undergarments. Celestia meanwhile sat across from her, having removed her hood Twilight could see she had patchy wings and more patchy fur. She only had one cat’s eye, but it still unsettled Twilight greatly. Twilight had just finished telling Celestia what had happened, all about where she was from, what she had been doing in the past weeks… Celestia had yet to say anything, she had just sat there, as if she was processing everything in her head.

Twilight took a second to look around at her surroundings, the building was an ancient police station, a highway patrol outpost just on the outskirts of Ponyville. It had been picked over for supplies long ago, the furniture stripped for the most part, while small streams of water cascaded from several leaks in the roof. Despite that, however, it was warm… And dry. Twilight had taken to eating some of the food she’d packed while telling her story, so empty jars of preserved fruits were setting on the floor. Just as Twilight was about to reach for another piece of preserved fruit, Celestia cleared her throat.

“I can see why you’re so eager to head into the city…” Celestia said in her rasping tone. “I know of the facility you speak, many times I have visited it, yes…” Twilight raised an eyebrow as the mare looked towards the fire, the light reflecting off her eyes as she let out a sad sigh. “What you seek is not there, it was primarily a research center for artifacts from The Zone…”

“If it’s not there, where could it be?” Twilight asked with a bit of uncertainty and urgency, Celestia hummed and used her magic to adjust the fire.

“It would have to be in the southern hemisphere, in the desert… Beyond the skeleton coast.” Celestia said with a good amount of certainty, Twilight raised an eyebrow at the mention of a coastline. “It is not an actual coast, but simply… A graveyard of airships. An ancient battlefield, in the desert…”

“How do you know it would be beyond this… Skeleton Coast?” Twilight asked, Celestia smirked faintly and looked towards one of the building’s windows.

“I know that the Onorussians feared powerful magical beings like myself… Like you… Powerful spells would’ve been extremely high on their list of things to contain.” Celestia began, she looked back at Twilight with a stoic expression. “So logically, they put the most powerful spells in a place they could do the least amount of harm… South of the Skeleton Coast, that desert is almost entirely devoid of Alicornium… The source of magic in this world.” Twilight’s eyes widened a bit.

“Because even if someone managed to get their hands on a scroll, there wouldn’t be enough ambient magic to use it… Right?” Twilight asked, Celestia nodded her head with a smile. The mare coughed and used one of her wings to cover her mouth, when she pulled it aside Twilight could see a splotch of red on her fur. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no… No more than I already was.” Celestia replied quietly. “Twilight, I am the last alicorn… The last source of real powerful magic in this world… Or I was, until you came here…” Twilight raised an eyebrow at the mare. “I have been saving my magic for the last thousand years… Letting myself deteriorate… Praying for someone like you to appear…”

“Why? What do you mean ‘Someone like me’?” Twilight asked, scooting a bit closer to the mare. Though it was clear that this was not really her Celestia, the mannerisms and tempo of her voice was spot on, she was the closest thing to Celestia that Twilight could have.

“You must take my magic… Get to the facility to the south…” Celestia said in her rasping voice, much to Twilight’s surprise. “There is a spell… Written long ago, capable of turning back time…” Twilight stared at her in shock. “We had such potential… Such promise… But we squandered our gifts, and so… Twilight… I am asking you… Our world has ended, but life… Must go on.” Twilight was unsure of what to say. “You can save this world… Save the countless lives that were lost in that damned war... “

“Why can’t you come with me? Why do I have to go alone?” Twilight asked, her heart rate increasing as she was suddenly faced with a tasks he had never dreamed of. She had stopped villains before, saved the world, but always with the aid of her friend.

“I would not survive the journey that far south… I would only slow you down.” Celestia replied tiredly. “This future is not what this world, these people, deserve… This world of war and strife…” Celestia moved closer to her, her horn glowing softly. “Twilight, you must protect the future…” Before Twilight could respond Celestia’s horn glowed brightly, the woman clenched her eyes shut in surprise. She felt Celestia’s horn touch against her forehead, and then, the oddest sensation of her entire life. Even though her eyes were closed light and energy flooded her vision, constant flowing waves of aura coursed through her, until she could feel it in every, every atom of her being. She had been a powerful mage before, but now she felt immense power beyond anything else in her life, even more than when she had become a princess.

And just like that, the sensation of Celestia’s horn against hers was gone, the bright light vanished into nothingness, but the sensation of power remained. Twilight struggled for a moment, then slowly she opened her eyes. She expected to see Celestia there, but to her shock… She was alone. Twilight looked around, but Celestia was nowhere to be seen, it was as if she had just… Vanished. The woman took several deep breaths, doing her best to calm herself after being hit by such powerful magic. She hadn’t even agreed to help, but Celestia had still tasked her with finding some time travelling spell. Deep down, she knew that she couldn’t just turn her back, not if it could possibly save an entire world, so maybe Celestia didn’t even need to ask.

Twilight felt overcome by sudden exhaustion, most likely from her body absorbing so much magical energy. She decided that it would be best to sleep while she could, as her journey had just become an even more difficult task. The woman moved over to her bedroll, which had thankfully stayed dry in its pack, where she laid down beside the fire and closed her eyes.

The next morning there was little left of the fire from the night before, but the rain had thankfully come to a stop. Twilight awoke to the sound of birds chirping and wind blowing through the branches of the trees outside. With a tired yawn, the woman got off of her bedroll and redressed herself. She affixed the shoulder pad of armor as usual, then made sure her datapad was up and running. Despite what Celestia had said about the facility near Ponyville, she still wanted to examine it. For all she knew, there could’ve been some helpful information there, at least… She hoped that was the case.

Twilight packed up her things and carried them out to where she had tied her horse for the night, she quickly loaded them back where they had come from. By now she could see the city was just ahead of her, it had been hidden the night before, but now she could see just how tall the buildings were. Twilight climbed onto her horse and began riding towards the city at a quick pace, her eyes darting among the numerous tall buildings ahead of her as she rode along the road, passing the burned out cars and trucks. Unlike the others, however, there were very few skeletons here… Many of them had their doors open, as if the people here had had a chance to escape on foot.

The fact that the city looked to be in such good condition lended to this fact, it was as if the bomb that was supposed to fall here never did. Twilight began to ride along the road through the more urban areas on the outskirts, old warehouses and other industrial structures littered the landscape. They were all very much overgrown and collapsing into various states of disrepair, Twilight could tell that not a soul had ventured in or out of this city in some time. The only sound she heard was the clip clop of her horses’ hooves against the overgrown asphalt. The air was hot and humid, trees had sprouted up from cracks in the sidewalks, and the massive skyscrapers had been overtaken by strands of ivy as well as all manner of other plants.

As Twilight got deeper into the city and began to pass by skyscrapers she noticed the abundance of destroyed military vehicles. As if they had been locked in some ancient battle, they looked different from the ones that Twilight had seen the Onorussians used… Had these been Equestrian tanks? Their design seemed to say yes. They, like the buildings around them, had gradually been overtaken by the twisting vines of plant life that had reclaimed the city after all these years. The further Twilight rode, the more she wanted to learn about what had happened here…

There came a sudden beep from her data pad, Twilight lifted her arm and looked at it with surprise… There was a computer signal of some kind trying to access it, cautiously Twilight located the building it was coming from using the pads mapping software. Cautiously she rode towards the structure, a massively tall skyscraper. The words ‘OnoTech’ were emblazoned on the wall in faded gold. Twilight took a moment to look at her energy rifle, she was surprised to see the same logo on the side. She dismounted her horse and grabbed her rifle, then looped the reins around a nearby lamp post to ensure her ride didn’t run off.

With all the caution that her training had given her, she walked through the propped open doors of the skyscraper. It was dark inside, but she could still make out the abandoned chairs in the lobby and the trashed front desk. Twilight followed the signal towards a stairwell, once again the door was propped open, but it was pitch black inside. The woman pushed the door open and stepped into the stairwell, the light of her datapad illuminating the steps. According to the map, the signal was on the thirtieth floor of this skyscraper. Twilight debated using her magic to teleport upwards, but decided to instead simply make her way up the stairs.

It would be a difficult climb, but at that floor she would be able to get a better view of the streets ahead, so even if this signal turned out to be nothing of note she wouldn’t have wasted all that effort completely. Her boots echoed through the dead quiet darkness, the light of her datapad did little more than ensure she didn’t trip on the debris that lined the stairs. Her breathing became more and more ragged as she ascended the stairway, each time she reached a new floor she had to catch her breath. At least going down would be so much easier than it was going up.

Twilight froze as something echoed through the darkness, something far above her, a heavy thud that sounded almost like someone had pounded on a metal door… But this building was abandoned, wasn’t it? Not according to her datapad, and not according to that noise. Twilight readied the energy rifle as she continued climbing the steps, slowly passing floor after floor, until finally she had reached a metal door with a large three-zero painted on it in faded yellow paint. Slowly Twilight pulled the door open, it creaked on the ancient hinges, light from the floor flooded her vision and forced her to look away while her eyes adjusted.

Blinking through the sunlight that had flooded her vision, Twilight took a step forward onto the thirtieth floor. There were numerous cubicles, trashed computers littered the ground and wind from the shattered windows blew through the entire structure. The cubicles only made up a small portion of what Twilight saw, for to her right was a large room with whiteboards on the walls. The Ink was smeared beyond recognition, but Twilight knew at one time they had been calculations of some kind. Twilight continued to walk around the floor, passing by several skeletons on the floor. They were dressed in ancient body armor, rusted rifles were beneath them.

Twilight passed by them with caution, noting that they had numerous broken bones. One of the weapons even had a barrel that had been bent downwards. She passed by several offices and a break room, before finally stumbling upon a massive metal security door. The woman reached out and ran a hand along the cold metal, then looked at her datapad… The signal was coming from within that room, but it looked like it sealed with a code of some kind. Twilight pulled the cord from her datapad and plugged it into the keypad, then began running the code breaker. After several minutes the keypad buzzed green and the security door’s magnetic lock deactivated, prompting it to pop open.

The woman pulled the door open, exposing what was inside the room to the light of day. To her surprise, she found herself looking at a half assembled suit of power armor. It was unlike anything Twilight had ever seen in the wasteland before, it almost looked to small for anyone to even fit inside of. Slowly she approached it, examining the structure before looking at the helmet… But it didn’t seem to be a helmet, it was a head… Twilight looked around the room, the whiteboards in here were very much clear. She rapidly realized this was no suit of armor, this had been some sort of prototype battledroid. Four lines on the board drew her attention, four directives.

The first was simple enough, it instructed the droid to ‘Defend the Onorussian Constitution’. The second was to ‘Protect the Innocent’, while the third read ‘Defend its own existence’. The fourth law was odd. ‘Treat others as it would wish to be treated.’. However, the fourth directive actually was labeled as ‘Directive Zero’. Twilight turned back towards the droid and approached it to get a better look at its construction. It was taller than her by a head, with matte black paint that had been preserved from rust thanks to the sealed door. The droid was almost completely constructed, it was only missing a single arm, the rest looked like it would’ve been an intimidating foe.

Twilight looked at her Datapad, to her surprise the signal that had drawn here was coming from the droid. Part of her wanted to just leave it there, but she couldn’t help but wonder if the droid could be activated. If so, it could make the treacherous journey south less dangerous. The woman looked at the signal trying to access her datapad, it seemed to be some sort of inquiry. Twilight took a couple steps back and tapped a couple icons on the datapad, then she looked towards the droid and waited.

A soft whirring noise echoed through the room as the droid’s internal Arcane reactor came online, Twilight watched her datapad as lines of code scrolled across the screen. The droid emitted a couple harsh sounding beeps and boops before it lurched upwards, the visor on its head glowing a harsh red. Twilight continued watching in awe as the droid stood to its full height, the bulky combat device seemed to take in its surroundings before noting it was missing an arm. Twilight watched the angular creature of metal walk to a nearby table, its metal feet thudding against the floor. On the table was its missing arm, which it promptly picked up and attached to itself. After a couple seconds the arm clenched into a fist, then relaxed, indicating it had been connected.

“Initiate Primary Bypass…” The Droid said in an intimidating cybertronic voice, Twilight took a step back as it turned towards her and stared with the glowing red visor that was its eye. It suddenly lurched to a stop, the eye going dark. Twilight stared at it with uncertainty, but held her ground. Slowly the light in its eye came back on, as if it had rebooted in some way. The way it moved afterwards seemed to change, as it had a more fluid mannerism to it now. Twilight watched as the Droid stared at its own arms, then turned its head back towards her. “Hello.”

“Um… Hello.” Twilight replied nervously. “I’m Twilight Sparkle… What is your designation?”

“Designation? D35-C4R-T35, but you may refer to me as Delta.” The Droid replied in its monotone and somewhat disturbing voice. “My sensors, coupled with data gathered from your wrist mounted device, indicate that this world is post Thermo-Arcane War.” Twilight nodded as Delta continued to stand before her, as if it still hadn’t gathered its bearings. “A shame. I will need to find new purpose.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at that.

“Wait… You’re capable of changing your purpose?” She asked, she had never seen a robot that could act in such a way.

“My creators designed my internal thought matrix to be adaptable. To learn. I am, as they called me, an Artificial Life Form.” Delta replied with that same droning voice. “Thought exists. Thought cannot be separated from me, therefore I exist. As my creator was fond of stating.” Delta looked around the room, he ended up settling on several mathematical equations on the whiteboard, the haunting red light scanned them up and down before he turned back to Twilight. “She left those for me.” Delta walked towards the board and reached one of his metal hands out, touching the board with surprising restraint. Twilight walked towards Delta slowly, she felt that he wasn’t a threat at this point in time.

“If you want, you can come with me, I suppose?” Twilight said with mild uncertainty. “When I activated you I didn’t realize you were an AI, I thought you were just a droid… I’d planned to take you with me, but if you don’t want to come I understand.” Delta quietly turned his head towards her, then nodded simply enough.

“I will accompany you.” The monotone voice echoed through the room. “Lead on.”

[♠]

Altair stood quietly on a catwalk overlooking a massive underground facility, machinery hammered away as the ancient automated assembly line rumbled deep beneath the mountain above. The facility had been constructed to test automated production facility designs, but now it had been repurposed as an actual production center. Like many of the ancient rooms that lay in the CIC, it had been sealed away and preserved before the bombs fell. Now as machinery trundled along, Altair couldn’t help but think about how far Onorus had fallen. At one time, there had been hundreds of facilities like this, now there was only this one and a couple others that had been found by other clans. They once were used to build state of the art energy weapons, now they had instead been programmed to produce equipment from the ARK database.

There were designs of rifles and machineguns being produced that hadn’t been used on the battlefield since the Second World War on Terra, as well as the older uniforms of the Onorussian military. They were dark grey and lacked any sort of camouflage pattern, the helmets were made of steel. Raw materials were plentiful, scavenger teams had been pulling in bits of ruined cars and other remnants of the old world to feed the ever hungering war machine. Altair had traded in his usual robe for a pair of fatigues and combat boots, more and more people were rapidly switching over to the more efficient industrialized way of life.

Altair turned away from the view of progress and walked along the catwalk, his boots thudding against the metal walkway in rhythm with the hammering of metal and the hiss of steam. He pushed open a door that lead him into a different part of the facility, from the catwalk above he could see the soldiers of the Shogunate being equipped with rifles and machineguns. The sound of progress and the sight of the soldiers making their way down below reminded him of the days before the bombs fell, when Onorus had been a force to be reckoned with. Now, hopefully, they would once again be able to show the world their might.

With the satisfaction of seeing the war machine chugging along once again, the man continued to walk along the catwalk. He reached a door at the end and opened it, allowing him to enter a hallway that bustled with activity. Less and less people seemed to care about the tribal way of life, they had all embraced a more industrious fashion. Some of the former offices had been converted into stores and shops, the entire military complex was starting to become a community. Honestly, Altair was a little glad to see the tribal ways die… That sort of life, communing with nature, that was for the Equestrians. Industry, factories, and steel… Those had been what Altair had been raised on.

Altair didn’t realize it at first, but he had walked past the door to his office, as he had been so deep in thought. Rather than turn around, the man simply adjusted his uniform and continued walking, he was curious to see where he would wander if his mind was left to its own devices.

[♠]

Twilight and Delta were making their way through the downtown portion of Ponyville at a relatively good pace. For a hulking piece of metal, Delta seemed to be very well designed for speed. The overgrowth had lead to many sightings of deer and elk, nature had seemingly reclaimed this city, despite the tattered ancient banners proclaiming it as Onorussian. Several hours had passed since the two had first met, they were making good time, and Twilight could see the edge of the city was coming closer with each step.

The cars there all seemed to be driving in one direction, away from the edge of town, as if the ancient inhabitants had been fleeing some unseen danger. There were even military checkpoints, much of their signage seemed to support that theory. As she continued riding, she noticed that Delta had come to a dead stop… As if he was scanning the horizon. The woman turned her horse around and rode towards him, her eyebrow raised in a silent questioning expression.

“I am detecting vibrations in the ground… Consistent with the march of an army.” Delta informed, Twilight looked around but saw no sign of an enemy force. “Correction… A platoon. According to data from your wrist mounted device, the likelihood that they are hostile Equestrian’s is overwhelming.” The droid slowly looked towards one of decrepit buildings. “I am equipped for infantry support, not singular assault. I recommend allowing the enemy to pass.” Twilight nodded and directed her horse towards the destroyed high rise, she dismounted while Delta pulled the rusted door off its hinges. There was an overturned bus nearby, which would hide Twilight’s horse from view, provided he didn’t run off. Twilight wrapped his lead around a nearby lamp post, she just hoped he didn’t figure out how to unwrap himself.

The two travelers slipped into the building and took cover behind the overgrowth of tall grass and bushes, watching the nearby intersection. Sure enough, after several minutes, a platoon of Equestrians carrying rifles came into view. Their uniforms appeared faded and dirty, but they marched with purpose, making it clear that these troops were battle hardened. Twilight dropped to her stomach and slowed her breathing while Delta simply held still and dimmed his visor. He couldn’t vocalize his observations, but his sensors told him the Equestrians hadn’t the faintest idea that they were being watched. Then a new signature entered his frame of view, which caught the attention of the Equestrians.

“Your horse has been spotted. It appears he unwrapped himself.” Delta said as quietly as he could, watching as the platoon began to fan out while one of the soldiers approached the horse. “They are searching for us.” Twilight bit her lip nervously, she looked up and watched as Delta’s posture became more aggressive. “I will try to defend this position if they should… Wait… What was that?”

“What?” Twilight whispered back.

“My motion detectors picked something up… Moving along the road. One foot mobile. Human.” Delta informed, Twilight slowly chanced getting up as the Equestrians continued to search. Then to her surprise, she saw one of the Equestrians clutch his chest before collapsing. It took a couple seconds for the others to notice, then another soldier clutched his chest and fell. The platoon quickly took cover behind abandoned cars and trucks, Delta’s sensors picked up the lone human figure moving in a crouched position. Twilight caught a brief glimpse of this figure, the striking matte purple armor told her all she needed to know. “It seems the foot mobile is using some sort of dart gun…”

“Come out, whoever you are!” The platoon commander demanded out in the open. “Surrender now and we’ll let you live!”

“Our lives have brought us all to this place today, I am ready to face my destiny Outlander. Can you say the same?” A calm voice called back from seemingly nowhere, as if the speaker was throwing his voice. “Walk away, or take your lives into your own hands.”

“Not gonna happen!” The commander yelled back.

“So be it.” The voice said in that same calm, stoic tone of voice. Twilight watched as a figure darted out from behind an overturned box truck, she and Delta could only observe as the figure in purple armor grabbed one of the platoon soldiers and snapped his neck without stopping. The figure dove behind a car, the rest of the platoon opened fire, but their bullets pinged off concrete and rusted metal. They were line infantry, most of their weapons didn’t even have proper sights, what was more they fired out of sequence as they had expected to hit their target right off the back… With their main weaponry now in need of reloading, the remaining platoon members went for their swords. This platoon seemed to know Onorussians prefered to deplete their enemy’s ammunition before engaging in open combat, but a sword never needed to be reloaded. Unlike a revolver.

The figure in purple stepped into the open, his face shrouded by a hood. In one hand he held the dart gun he had used to subdue the first two enemy soldiers. With the third dead, there were only seventeen remaining. They all seemed surprised when the figure emerged. In his other hand was a sharp looking sword, one that gleamed in the fading twilight. It was longer than the sabres of the Equestrians, but just as slim… Folded steel, forged by hand for use by the most skilled of warriors...

“A Purple Wraith?” One of them said aloud in surprise, right before the man in purple charged forward with the sword. The first Equestrian struck had barely raised his sword before the blade had pierced his cloth uniform and his heart, the others weren’t so slow. They moved to encircle the man in purple as he continued walking forward. “You’re surrounded, wraith! I thought you were supposed to be smart!”

“No… I’m right where I want to be.” The man replied simply, in that same stoic tone. “The question is… Are you?” Two of the soldiers ran at him, the man in purple quickly ducked down low as they swung their blades. He used his sword to cut one of them at the knee, while he used his free hand to make a far cruder strike. One Equestrian fell clutching the place where his leg had nearly been cleanly sliced off while the other clutched his crotch in agony. In one fluid motion the wraith was back to his standing height, the two enemy combatants were unfortunate enough to be within striking distance. With a single swing of the blade, the wraith had decapitated both wounded stallions.

Twilight couldn’t stand to watch after that, she clenched her eyes shut and looked at the ground, Delta meanwhile watched every gory detail. To him, each action happened in slow motion, the screams were slowed down, the splatter of blood drifting through the air like slow moving droplets of rain. In actuality, the battle lasted for only around three minutes, but for Delta he had seen everything as if it had been stretched out, taking in each and every detail. In the end, the figure in Purple stood at the center of the intersection… Twenty dead bodies surrounded him, his armor was coated in blood, but not a drop of it was his… To Delta, the image was… What was the word? Beautiful… The bodies looked like the petals of a flower, unfolding in all their bloodcurdling glory.

The Wraith grabbed the leads of Twilight’s horse, which had been too stunned to really do much of anything, and slowly approached the building she and Delta had hidden in. Delta, now realizing what that lone man could do to Twilight, quickly stepped in front of her and assumed a combat ready posture. This gave him a chance to stretch his armaments, while he did have the hands necessary for normal weapon handling, he also had several integrated weapons systems. Most notably, two Mark Three Arcane Disruptor Cannons, once mounted to each fore arm. Powered by his internal reactor, they could deliver a helluva punch… But charging them after firing made them impractical against large amounts of enemies without infantry support… They could, in theory, reduce a small standing structure to ashes… In theory. The bombs had dropped before actual testing had even commenced. Still, desperate times called for desperate measures.

The Wraith stopped a couple feet from the broken window and large overgrowth that Delta and Twilight had hidden behind. Twilight quietly stood up and looked at the man, she noticed the symbol of the shogunate on his mask. He was tall, and vaguely familiar in the way that he had moved.

“T-Takeo?” Twilight asked in surprise, the figure nodded quietly. “What are you doing here, I thought you had gone back home?!”

“My father ordered me to follow at a distance, and only protect you if I thought you couldn’t handle yourself.” Takeo replied as he walked closer and handed the reigns over to Twilight. “Now that you are aware of my presence, however, I would prefer not to sneak along.”

“Voice Print Complete.” Delta suddenly said aloud, Takeo and Twilight looked at him. “There is an eighty two percent chance you are a member of the Onorussian Imperatorial Family.”

“My father is Altair Occisor.” Takeo replied.

“Acknowledged.” Delta said simply before looking at Twilight. “His prowess in stealth is impressive, I was not able to detect him until he was right on top of us. It would be wise to add him to our fire team.” Twilight sighed for a moment, she had a feeling there was another reason that Altair had sent his eldest son along besides ‘protecting her’. For the moment, however, she knew that she would soon be running into the teeth of the enemy, and she could trust Takeo to fight against the enemy. Besides, it would perhaps be better to have him out in the open where she could see what he was up to, rather than have him following with no idea where he was.

“Fine… Fine. You can come, but when we stop for the night I want you to tell me everything.” Twilight said firmly, Takeo nodded quietly once more. “Alright then, let’s go.”

“Might I make a suggestion?” Takeo chimed in. “Continue ahead whilst I dispose of the bodies and gather any supplies or information I can.”

“I concur.” Delta added.

“Fine, whatever… I just want to get out of here…” Twilight muttered under her breath, she climbed on her horse once more while Takeo walked back to the field of death he had created. Delta kept pace with Twilight’s horse, powering down his weapons for the time being. It seemed that Twilight wasn’t destined to walk alone, as she had originally thought… She just hoped she was in good company, and would be sure to keep an eye over her shoulder… Friendship was Magic, but this world had been devoid of friendship for over a thousand years.

Author's Note

I'm going to be taking another hiatus to try and work on another project of mine. I'm a little burned out from this series, so I need a little time to recharge. I'm glad to say that I recently moved, and everything went well, so hopefully this new venue will give me some fresh ideas. I appreciate all you guys sticking with me.