Where Loyalty Lies

Countless Years ago the story told of two Princesses who would rule the land, then one fateful day one fell to the darkness and jealousy, causing deviation and creating chaos. This Princess of the light had no other option but to banish her dark sister to the moon, to bring peace back to the forsaken land and once more allow it to prosper under the rule of the Princess of light. This is how the story is told, though only one who knows the dark secrets behind the tale.

Darkness fell over the land as storm clouds rolled in from the vast oceans. High velocity winds splintered and tore branches clear off of the trees outside of the everfree forest. An old oak tree in the densest part of the woods aged and scarred from countless battles and weathering finally gave it. Branches broke; the trunk creaked and split as the tree was brought down by the mighty gust. Within the hollowed trunk, a metal cylinder, aged and rusted from the countless years of imprisonment inside the massive tree.

Hours past as the storm finally calmed, winds subsiding and curious ponies peaked out at the devastation, pegasai flew over head clearing the clouds from the sky helping clean up after the chaos of the storm. One lone Pegasus flew over the everfree forest taking notice to the large tree that had fallen and swooped down to examine the destruction. Upon landing the rainbow maned Pegasus’ eyes opened wide gazing at the metal cylinder lodged into the stump of the large oak. Having no knowledge of the object she flew off to retrieve aid from a friend, a pony of vast knowledge.

--------------------------------This is where the Truth begins--------------------------

The Pegasus Returned to the metal container followed by five other ponies and a young dragon. Not even the smartest among the group could say what the container was, nor did she know what it had held. No legend had told of it and no pony had spoke of it. The small dragon approached the container inquisitively and knocked on the metal. Moments passed in silence as they all observed before a loud clank in reply to the knocking. Each pony was startled by the loud noise emitting from the container.

Instantly the capsule sides released a hiss of gas, front hatch dropping to the ground like a ramp. The gas cleared gradually and a figure stumbled out of the mist, gasping as it collapsed onto the ground before the ponies. Each of them gazed upon the colorless pony that lay motionless on the grass. On his flank, a pair of spread eagle wings. The group started to mumble around him as the rainbow maned pony, approached the seemingly lifeless figure and nudged it. There was a sharp inhale from the pony as the head lifted up with a frantic shake and instantly stood with and staggered back.

Color slowly flowed over the pony’s mane, length of it turning black with tips of white and body fading into a pure white. The mare fumbled a bit dropping to her knees as wings spread from her sides “Thou Shall not take thy princess whilst thy still stands to fight thee!” said the Pegasus in a howl of anger.

Each of the six looked at each other before gazing back at the ghostly white pony. “We are not here to harm you. Who are you?” inquired the purple unicorn.

Still Startled and unaware of where she was the white Pegasus flapped her wings rearing up and taking an aggressive stance, “Thou shall not fool thee, thou art republic guards.”

Once more the group looked at each other confused the accusation towards them. “We are not guards at all and you are not near enough to the castle to encounter any guards out here,” Said the purple unicorn once more.

The mare shook her head eyes darting from tree to tree unsure of where she had been. “No this cannot be.. where hath I been taken to.. Who art thou? Why hast thou brought me to this place?”

Speaking once more for the group the purple unicorn spoke “We found you trapped here, we had nothing to do with you coming here. We are friends of the Princess. I am Twilight Sparkle,” she points to the rainbow maned Pegasus “That is Rainbow Dash,” she would point to each pony as she continued “Fluttershy, Rarity, AppleJack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike.”

White wings would fold back to the sides of the Pegasus “Friends of the princess?” she thought to herself questioning the statement “I am Ghost Wing, loyal guard of thy Princess. How far hath the war been taken?”

The group looked at each other once more questioningly before looking back at the Pegasus which stood in the middle of them. “There have not been any wars for hundreds of years,” Twilight mentioned as she thought back upon equestrian history.

The Pegasus laughed with a roll of her eyes, “Surely thou jests, and there hath been war for years. Hath thou not seen nor heard this?”

Twilight would speak once more from the group “The last war was over a thousand years ago.”

The white Pegasus looked around, “That is not possible, I had been leading thy princess’ forces to victory, and the war cannot have ended. I was.. . there…“ there was a pause as Ghost looked up to the sky “Princess Luna.. Is thy princess safe?”

Twilight would walk over to Ghost with a tilt of her head looking over the Pegasus “You were trapped in that container for over a thousand years, that is amazing.. How did you survive that long? How did you get stuck in there? There have been so many stories about this, and so much research with no success, we must study this, know how you did it..”

A hoof interrupted Twilight’s ramble, “Both of the Princesses are safe sugar cube no need to stress yerself none,” Replied AppleJack.

Ghost tilted her head rather perplex with the statement and her wings fell limp to her sides. “So.. the war hath ended? Thy Princess must be most furious with thee, having abandoning her in war.” Ghost said lowering her head and sighing.

As Ghost sighed Pinkie Pie was the first to respond, bouncing over to the depressed pony with a smile began to sing a song about friends and forgiveness. A smile would make its way across the white pony’s face as the rest of the group joined in on the song. Shortly after the song would come to an end and Pinkie would take Ghost by the hoof and drag her in the direction of Ponyville. “Come on Ghost, There is so much you must see, you were gone so long. Everything is fantastic and there are so many ponies for you to meet! I must have a party for you, it is like your birthday,” exclaimed the pink pony in a joyous manner.

Drug by the hoof, Ghost would tilt her head and giggle a bit “Thou art too kind, but I must see the Princess.” She would explain flapping her wing in protest.

“You can do that in the morning, it is almost dark. You must tell me all you know about what happened, it is amazing that you basically time traveled with no magic of your own.” Twilight said as she followed the ghostly pony towards town.

“If you were a flyer then.. Were you one of the royal flyers? Is it true that the wonderbolts were rogues of the Flyers?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously with almost a squeal.

A barrage of questions fell upon Ghost along the walk to town. “Thou cannot answer so many questions at once.. I do not know what hath happened to me to cause me to be here. My memory is a bit fuzzy up to my capture, and I am the captain of the Royal Flyers.. or was, and the Wonderbolts? I hath not heard of thy group, though is similar to the group I created to train to be a Flyer.” The White mare explained with a flap of her wings. “I could not hear all thy questions though, I apologize.”

----------------------------------------Hours later----------------------------------------

The group made their way into Ponyville stopping shy of the town square as the moon started to rise over the horizon behind the gradually cloud filling sky. “It is getting late girls, Ghost you can stay with me, if you would like it. You would have shelter from the coming storm,” spoke Twilight looking at the other in the group.

Rarity would interrupt, “No no no dearie.. You must come stay with me, your mane is a mess and those silver horseshoes are much to tarnish for you to wear. You must let me find something less hideous for you to wear Ghost.”

Ghost looked down at her hooves at the dented and split metal that covered her hooves and then to the metal harness around her chest with a blush and looked back up at Rarity. “I suppose thou art right, my attire hath seen much more glorious days,” Ghost mention with a bit of a chuckle.

The two would trot off after giving a farewell to the rest of the group they trotted to Rarity’s home. Rarity at once opened the door to her home with a smile greeting the Pegasus to her home. “You are welcome to stay in my guest room it is the last room down the hall. We can work on your mane in the morning, for now get some rest, there is a shower in the bathroom. I have a lot of work to do if you would kindly leave me your shoes,” she said with a smile to the mare.

Ghost would blush a bit to herself as she kicked off the metal shoes with a smile before nodding “A shower?” she thought to herself. “Thank thee very much thou art most generous, I shall take my rest now then, good evening Miss Rarity,” Ghost spoke softly headed down the hall to the room. Once in the room she gazed around at the furniture, she had not seen anything quite so elegant even in the castle itself. Surely the Pegasus felt out of place in the home, being only a hard working guard and nothing of royalty.

The mare would trot into the bathroom to find this shower that she had heard of. She did not know what it was exactly; the knobs on the wall clearly were to be turned. “What would happen?” she thought to herself as she gave a twist of the knob with her hoof. Water sprayed down from the spout above and she tilted her head with a smile taking a step forward under the water. This world was strange but much more glorious than her time had been. What other marvels could she encounter she would wonder.

Water flowed down over the feathers on the spread wings of the Pegasus and splashed onto the floor, as a loud crack could be heard just outside the small port window near the ceiling of the room. The Pegasus jumped and covered herself with her wings preparing herself for the worst. She would stand on her hind hooves to peer out the window to look for the cause. A small purple dragon could be seen running off into the distance and Ghost would smirk a bit, having only seen one dragon since her arrival.

Maybe it was safe once again, and no one sought to harm her any more. She relaxed a bit finishing her shower with a sigh before turning the knob to turn off the water. She wrapped a towel around herself and trotted to the bed nearby. Upon lying on the silken bed, her eyes closed, quickly she slipped into slumber. Little did the Pegasus know guards had been roaming the same streets that night in attempts to capture her.

Chimes could be heard from the center of town as midnight hit. A jolt would rush though Ghost’s leg, causing her to jerk a bit and roll of to the side of the bed and drop to the floor below. She rose with a groggy mumble and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof before glancing out of the window. Suddenly a familiar figure flew across the sky, casting a shadow in front of the moon. “Luna..” Ghost spoke softly before opening the window and whistling a tune to hopefully attract the attention of the figure.

Unsurprisingly enough, the high pitched noise caught the ear of the figure which reared up and changed its flight course. One swoop of the figures wings and it landed in the streets, it was much to tall to be the princess that she sought. “Celestia, has to be” she spoke softly to herself and took underneath the bed.

The figure trotted by and peered through the window as it moved by, the soft glow of a candle revealing the hunter. Surely enough it was Princess Celestia, no doubt seeking to find the long lost pony.