My Little Pony: An Unexpected Return

Moonshadow sat on the balcony, looking over Canterlot. Not having to sleep at night did have its perks - no need to switch watch on a mission - but it gave him too much time to think. And right now, the only thing on his mind was the conversation from earlier.

Brisk...Why did you have to go?

He looked over his body, relieved to see the color fully returned to his ear flap and hair tip. Moonshadow was shocked to discover his purple fading away when he was feeling depressed, and left the area immediately upon noticing. He went to his room and began to lose consciousness, and woke up about fifteen minutes ago, the color slowly returning.

"Moonshadow? Are ya good?"

He looked over to see Applejack standing by the door. she looked slightly tired, but there was no ignoring the worry in her eyes.

"Hey, Applejack," Moonshadow turned his attention back towards the view. 'It's hard, hearing her name after so long."

"Ah know it hurts, but why don't ya talk about it? Bottlin' it up ain't gonna make it any better, ya know."

"I'm not sure it's that easy..." Despite this, he couldn't hide the scratchiness in his voice, and soon he was panicked to find his color fading again.

"WHY THE BUCK IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!?!" He cried, and collapsed to the ground, sobbing his heart out.

He continued to cry, drowning himself in his depression. Just take me away...he thought. Leave me alone to die...

Suddenly, he felt pressure on all sides, and opened his tear-streaked eyes to discover his friends surrounding him in a hug. The love surrounding him brought the color back quickly. Wiping he nose, he sniffed. "Thanks, you guys. I really appreciate this."

"It's nothing, darling, really," Rarity said sincerely.

"After all, that's what friends are for," Twilight said, looking at everypony else. "Right, guys?"

Their agreement echoed through the night, causing Moonshadow to burst in laughter.

"Okay, okay," he managed to say through strained breaths, but suddenly he stopped, his eyes turning grey again. 'But still..."

"Applejack's right, dude," Rainbow Dash stated as a reminder. "You can't hold it in forever."

The dragon-pony looked at the group in front of him. They deserve to know about it, he thought to himself.

He sighed. "Alright. Take a seat, though; things could get a little rocky."

...

"From the Luna had me in front line, it was rare for me to return to the Dragon Lands," Moonshadow began. 'I was always having to go all across Equestria, fighting in Canterlot's name, yet i did have the one-weekend-a-month off to spend at home.

'"However, as time drew on, the weekend soon became one day a month, then every two months. It was hard, but even more so for Brisk. Not only was I her best friend, but I was practically her brother as well. We were so close to each other, it was almost as if we could read each other's mind... Well, I literally could read her mind, but that doesn't matter... Anyways, me not around was tough on us both, but at least we could still write each other letters - then we spent my whole day off catching up.

"What happened next, however, I never would have predicted.

"I was packing my belongings for my day off, which I was leaving for the following day, when there was a knock on my window. As i looked up in confusion, a young dragon came flying through the window, completely shattering it. The dragon was Brisk's younger brother, Tsunami. I was about to ask him what was wrong, but then I noticed the tear streaks on his scaly cheeks. He began to sob again upon seeing me, then hugged me tightly.

"Through gasps, he told me these words:

"'The Dragon Gang... They took Brisk...T-Tortured her...She was hurt, crying for help...C-Crying for you... And then...They-They-They...' He couldn't say anymore, due to him starting to cry again, but I knew what had happened. When I had saved brisk the first time, the gang told us they would finish the job when they got the chance to..."

"Oh, my gosh, Moonshadow. I'm so sorry," Fluttershy gasped, beginning to tear up as well.

"When I realized this, my vision got all fuzzy, and then..." Moonshadow stopped, a look of confusion overcoming his face. "It's hard to describe, but I lost focus. I let my emotions take over, and I didn't know what I was doing anymore. I remember hearing a lot of screaming, and a sort of pleasure in causing their pain... Until I regained my conscience. When I could see normally again, I gazed in fright as I saw Canterlot obliterated, one half completely gone, and the other side still burning.

"I was completely traumatized by the damage I saw...the damage I caused... I did the only thing I could think of: I fled. And to be honest, had Celestia not been battling Nightmare Moon, she would have been on my reptilian tail immediately. Instead, she came home after a victory to see her home completely destroyed...by...by me..."

Moonshadow went silent, trying to regain his breath as he began to fade again. "I...I can't say anymore. I'm sorry."

"We understand. Thanks for telling us what you did," Twilight said tenderly.

"If there's anything you need, just let us know," Starlight noted. "In cased you didn't know, I also happened to have been a villain in my past."

"Besides, it wasn't really your fault," Applejack reassured.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash agreed. "Anypony would've gotten upset if they lost an old friend."

"That's it, though," Moonshadow sighed. "It was my fault..."

The mares looked at each other in pity, then hugged Moonshadow one more time before walking back to their rooms, leaving the dark Prince to look back at his actions.

Moonshadow looked at the open sky. "Why did I have to be like this?"

As if in response, a comet flew through the sky, which made him look at his own Cutie mark - a ash-gray meteor with a blazing purple trail.

The comet seemed to have answered his question quite obviously:

This is who you were destined to be, young one. Embrace it.

But what was there to embrace?