When Sunny came to, she was warm, extremely warm. It was the type of warm you feel under the blanket when it's the perfect temperature. But she also felt a pair of arms around her and a muzzle in her mane. Looking down and rubbing her eyes, she saw it was Hitch's arms around her. He was fast asleep, spooning her from behind and holding her close to him. Smiling, Sunny gently wiggled out of his grasp and sat up, stretching. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was using an extremely powerful magic spell against the ponies attacking Maretime Bay. Oh shit, the others! Sunny fell out of bed in her haste to find her friends.

"Ow.." She groaned, rubbing her side and sitting up.

"Now now, stay in bed sugarcube. Ah'll be right back with some ice fer yer bruises and what-not," said a very country sounding voice.

"Sugarcube? What?" Sunny mumbled, looking up at the pony talking to her. She was a red earth pony mare with sparkling green eyes and a long brown mane. On her head perched a very very very very old and worn cowmare hat. Her cutie mark was an apple that was sliced into pieces.

"W-who are you??" Sunny asked, getting back up into the bed. The earth pony extended a hoof.

"Names Appleslice, please tah make your acquaintance. You must be Sunneh" Sunny took Appleslice's hoof and shook it.

"Yeah, my names Sunny. Nice to meet you Appleslice."

The earth pony tipped her hat kindly and trotted to the platform that led to the first floor.

"Hey, wait."

Appleslice turned around, "Hm?"

"Your cutie mark... are you an.. Apple?" Sunny asked, her face lighting up. The mare smiled and reared up on her hind legs.

"YEEEEEHAW!! Ah sure am, Apple to the core," she said with pride. Sunny beamed.

"That's so cool!! You must have known Applejack then, right?? Oh.. wait.. that was before your time, wasn't it?" Sunny asked, her smile vanishing just as fast as it appeared. Appleslice nodded.

"Yeahhh.. she was around many many many many many MANY moons ago. In fact, she was mah great great great great great great great great grandmare. Many a story about her, lemme tell you," said Appleslice chuckling.

"Like?" Asked Sunny, now intrigued by this pony.

"Well now, let's see..." Appleslice rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Oh! I know. There was this one time according to meh grandmare, that Applejack had Rainbow Dash watch Granny Smith and her friends when they went to Los Pegasus. She was afraid they'd hurt themselves by doing too many strenuous things. Boy did granny Applejack learn her lesson," Appleslice chuckled. "Ah could probably go on for HOURS telling stories about meh famileh. But you need to rest fer now. Ah'm gonna go get you some ice fer those bruises." Appleslice tipped her hat politely and disappeared down the lift into the kitchen.

Turning over, Sunny gently shook Hitch awake.

"Hitch, Hitch!" She whispered. The stallion opened his eyes groggily and smiled.

"Well hello there Sunny," he said, kissing her head softly. "You okay?" Sunny nodded.

"Yeah, thanks to you," Sunny said, smiling and burying her muzzle in his mane.

"I take it you met Appleslice?" He asked. The apricot mare nodded.

"Yeah, she's uh.."

"Wacky?" Hitch filled in for her.

"Yeah, wacky. But, in a nice way. You know she's a descendant of Applejack?" Sunny said.

"Really? She didn't tell me that," said Hitch.

"Apparently so, she told me a story about Applejack. It seems she was pretty protective over her Granny Smith, but... why is Appleslice here?"

Hitch looked out the window at Maretime Bay. Ponies were trotting around, surveying the damage and making repair plans.

"She arrived as I was taking you inside your house. From off the main trail out of town. She offered help, and Izzy and the others thought it'd be a good idea to have somepony like her to help take care of you." Hitch said.

"Alright, but do you know who is behind the attack on Maretime Bay? Why would anypony want to capture our town?" Sunny asked, a hint of sadness trailing in her voice.

"I do not... ponies are still pretty shocked by what happened. We're lucky nopony was hurt, or killed." Said Hitch, holding Sunny close to him. Sunny closed her eyes and yawned.

"What happened though? Before I passed out, I remember becoming extremely angry... but I didn't want to hurt anypony. I just wanted them to leave me and our town alone." Sunny said softly.

"You used a magic spell to literally throw the bad guys out of town. I've never seen anything like it before Sunny."

Sunny smiled, teetering on the edge of sleep.

"Heh.. my dad always said I was destined for something much bigger."

Hitch nuzzled her chest softly and smiled.

"He was right, about everything. Including what an amazing mare you are..." Silence followed his statement. "Sunny?"

The only answer he got was a soft snore from above his head.

~~~~~~~~~

"RAHHHHH" Screamed Gust, bucking the wooden table in front of him across the room and into a wall, where it exploded into a million splintery pieces. "How the FUCK, did they repel our attack!!!??" He yelled, looking at the cowering guards in the doorway to the war-room. One of the guards spoke up.

"T-t-they had help from a m-mare. And a-alicorn mare."

Gust teleported over to the guard and got in his face.

"Impossible, I AM the last alicorn! There can be no other alicorns!!! I SAW Luna fade away IN MY ARMS!!" He screamed, bucking the closest wall, and creating a massive hole in it. One of the guards spoke up.

"Um.. s-sir? Luna isn't gone. Our scouts spotted her on a hill overlooking the battle and-"

Gust grabbed the guard by the neck with his magic pulled him close, his eyes turning completely red as flames erupted from his mane.

"How long ago," he asked in a deep sinister voice.

"F-f-f-f-f-four-four-"

"SPEAK MOTHERFUCKER!! DONT STUTTER!" Winter yelled, panting softly.

"Fourty minutes ago s-sir."

Lord Gust released the guard and turned away. Clearing his throat he let out a deep sigh.

"I need to be alone now, leave me..."

"But sir shouldn't we attack aga-"

"No, pull the troops back. Leave the Bay alone. We don't need it to conquer this land," he said softly. The guard nodded.

"Yes sir" and with that, the guards left and shut the door behind them.

Gust trotted over to a window and looked out at the city. He had a spectacular view of Zephyr Heights, but that was the last thing on his mind. Closing his eyes, tears began to run freely down his face as he reached into his cloak and pulled out a picture. Opening his eyes, Gust looked down at the faded, worn, and water damaged picture of him and Luna in their wedding clothes. Smiles on both their faces.

"I miss you..." he whispered softly, holding the picture close to his heart as he cried quietly.

~~~~~~~~

"Luna is it possible you had your memory tampered with too?" Asked Discord, looking out at the ocean. The Draconequus and princess were sitting on a bench overlooking the calm bay as the Sun set below the horizon. Luna looked at him.

"Its possible yes, anyone's memories could have been effected by the artifact," she said.

"Well don't you remember him?" Discord asked. Luna looked at him.

"Who?"

"Your husband."

Luna looked quite shocked by this and shifted on the bench.

"I have a husband?" She asked, racking her brain for any memory she might have.

"You do, before Twilight activated the artifact you gave me this when you left to find your sister in Los Pegasus." Discord pulled out an extremely old looking picture of Luna and an all white alicorn stallion. They were both smiling as Luna kissed his cheek in the picture. The princess looked at the picture.

"You said that if anything happened to you to hold onto this," Discord said, handing the photo to Luna. Luna took it.

"We look happy," she said softly.

"You were happy. You were the happiest couple I've ever met. Perfect for one another. I have a theory this attack is by him."

Luna looked up at the draconequus.

"How do you know?" She asked. Discord sighed sadly and snapped his fingers, a live view of Gust in his room appearing before them. He was crying, curled up on a bed clutching a very worn picture. Luna watched quietly.

"Can he see us?" She asked.

"No, this is a one way portal. However if you stuck your hoof through it will appear and he'll probably see it."

Luna hesitantly reached a hoof toward the portal when discord stopped her.

"Here, drink this, it'll help with the memory loss." The draconequus handed her a small vial of purple liquid. Luna took it and sniffed it for a second before gulping it down.

"Thank you Discord," she said, smiling softly and standing up.

"Anything for an old friend."

Taking a deep breath, Luna stepped forward and through the portal. She looked around at her new surroundings and then down at Gust. Trying to remember his full name and more about their past.

"Luna... I miss you so much..." he said, sniffling and shivering softly. "Where are you...."

"I am here, my love."

Gust shot his head up and wiped his tears away.

"L..... Luna?"

"Winter Gust," she said smiling softly as more memories flooded back to her.

"I am home honey."

Author's Note

Hey everyone, hope you're liking the chapters. Can't wait to write the next one so stay tuned!