The Ghost of Coltistrano: Phantom Eulogy

by EthanClark

Rating: teen
Tags: Gilda, Princess Luna, Thriller, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rarity, Romance, Adventure, Shining Armor
Length: 90554

He is a hero. He's looked to as a shadowy example of fortitude, honor, and courage in the face of true evil, but all souls have their limits. Tonight, the wrath of his greatest foe will either break him, or make him something more. Something worse.

The horrors of the Crystal Empire are behind them, when a tenuous peace maintained by thin bonds unraveled at the mere mention of age-old pains, but the world has fallen silent. Every rumor, every whisper, pulls Silver Spade along the trail of his own mistakes, guided by his guilt, into a trap not even he can prepare for, leaving those around him to ask the most terrifying question: can ghosts die?

The kindling has been set. A flame of vengeance stands at the ready. The blaze will swallow all our heroes have built unless they can stop it. It's the end of Equestria's haunting legend, and the birth of something more.

-----------------------------------------

This is it, the final installment of The Ghost of Coltostrano! What a ride this series has been, and one I never expected to make it this far. I want to give a special thanks to Odd_Sarge for supporting the series since the beginning, and to the ever-talented Siansaar for their work on the cover art.

Thank you, all!

Published 2023-03-19 00:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-03-20 14:09:56 UTC

Chapter 2: “Right when ‘Equestria’s Most Wanted’ rear their ugly heads again."

He slammed against an unaware pegasus as he bounded around the street corner. Indignant curses followed him, but his frantic hooves were more concerned with the thundering crowd of plate armor and fierce glares pursuing him. The bolt of blue magic he released from his horn swung wide thanks to the light of the afternoon sun and did little more than stoke the guards’ ire, barrelling ever closer to their fleeing target. His cargo jostled upon his back with each step. ‘Property of Lord Aristo, Coltistrano Governor’ was sprawled across the polished wood of the chest, soon to join the rest of the crates in the possession of his comrades ahead.

“I got it! I got the last one!”

“Then climb on, we gotta move!”

The unicorn clambered onto the wagon, and with a mighty grunt the earth pony hauling it began his charge through the market district of Coltistrano, their entourage closed in tight formation around their stolen goods. Futile commands from the guards flew almost as fast as the hooves of the criminals they pursued. All around them, the citizens of Coltistrano dove for cover to save themselves from the rampaging crowd and the cargo threatening to spill from the wagon on each dangerous turn it made. In all their focus on escape, no one noticed the shape above them.

More spouts of blue magic, joined by green and orange, flew from the gang of thieves, this time forcing a wedge in the once tight formation of the guard. The wagon wheels tore through the tight market stalls of the city’s main street. Ponies fled, some even hurled objects at the city’s attackers, but the thieves took cover when the guard fired back with magic of their own. A pegasus lept from the wagon with an orb of cloth and wood in his hoof, fire spurting from the top. Keen eyes spied the heart of the guards’ formation and willed his limb to release the bomb into them, only to spy his hoof empty upon trying. He fluttered in the air for a second, staring at his own limb, before coming face to face with the very thing he feared. His cry was the only warning they would receive.

A figure strode beside them, atop the many buildings, keeping his threatening pace alongside the fleeing ponies and locked his gaze with the earth pony at the head. With a smirk the figure dove from the rooftops as a graceful length of black, inciting the cheers of ponies who had come to recognize such stunts. Hooves in black boots connected with the wagon before connecting with the face of any thief who stepped forward to protect their cargo. As the brawl raged on behind him, the desperate pony at the helm took a wild turn left and into a narrow alleyway, launching the pony in black from the wagon.

He dared to peer back and revel in losing their masked pursuer, but the brief moment of victory was squashed by the image of a black streak in the corner of his eye. This time, the masked pony came for him directly, causing him to buck wildly in a desperate attempt to free himself. There was a crack and a hiss, and before the earth pony knew it the yoke he was tied to had come undone and the wagon now trailing behind on its own, soon to be overrun by the city guard. All four hooves slammed the earth.

A quick stop and a graceful roll from his attacker finally gave him a clear picture. The yoke, discarded at his hooves, had its metal bolts eaten through by a bubbling concoction, its source from within the flowing black cloak of a pony who now stood before him. All around, the citizens of Coltistrano gathered to witness yet another public display of their resident guardian, and the cloaked pony smiled.

“Enjoying your tour of Coltistrano? Our next stop is the city jail, as I’m sure you guessed.”

“H-How did… you’re not supposed to be out during the day!” The earth pony shuddered where he stood.

“It’s a pleasure to disappoint.”

With the sound of clattering plate armor from behind and the enraptured audience of ponies around him, the lone thief reluctantly looked to the famed crusader as his only means of escape and threw a fierce hoof for his masked target. The blow was dodged, and the form of black stepped to his side, pivoting to roll over the thief’s back and throw him to the earth, a move signaled by a chorus of praise from the onlookers. Even as the thief tried to recover he was met by the flash of black cloth that swept across his jaw like a whip before collapsing into unconsciousness. The Ghost approached, prodding the limp attacker and rolling him over to reveal a small sigil pinned to his saddlebag. Two spears, crossed behind a shield.

He grimaced, letting the pony fall once more to the ground as the clanking of plate signaled the guards’ arrival. With a grin, the pony in black bowed to the ponies around him chanting his name and was hoisted into the air by the cloak. Chanting carried his heart like the wind as he glided on the breeze towards a more secluded rooftop and strode towards the distant plume of smoke and blaring whistles. Eyes of passengers below never had a chance to catch him leaping across the gap towards the train station. There, standing alone on the secluded end of the platform stood his next target, and the Ghost began his slow prowl along the station’s roof before softly descending along a strand of his cloak. Gloved hooves reached out from the shade and snaked around her sides to pull her in.

“Ooh! You made it,” Rarity said as she spun to meet her stealthy suitor. “With all the commotion I feared you’d forgotten about me.”

“Never.” The Ghost drew her into his embrace, lips meeting hers.

“Mmm, so bold, what if somepony saw you? Imagine the scandal.”

“‘Lady Rarity, in the grasp of Equestria’s most paranormal paramour.’ Ooh, somebody stop the presses.” He placed a second chaste kiss against her cheek, and a giggle signaled her retaliation of affection. “Thank you for coming this weekend.”

“Oh darling, of course, I visit often enough it’s become a second home… but…” Azure eyes lost their sensuous spark as they drifted down his frame. “Maybe one day, one day soon, we could make it more… permanent?”

He didn’t notice his hoof touch hers, or the almost goofy grin that soon dominated his expression, but Rarity’s violet mane jostled at his sudden move to take her in a hug, and for a moment they sank into each other’s embrace. That was, until the blaring train whistle cried out. They tried to ignore it, almost desperately, but it was a call neither could ignore.

“I’ll be back, my love… soon,” Rarity declared, cradling his cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you, Rarity.”

A final kiss signaled their separation as Rarity boarded the train back home to Ponyville. The Ghost watched from the shadows as the roaring hulk of steel and wheels lurched along the tracks away from Coltistrano, all the while her eyes locked onto him until she was far out of sight. The light of day began to fade, and he began his evening ritual.

It was routine at this point. He would find a rooftop far from the commotion of his latest caper, jog his way across the buildings as a final patrol, then leap from the cliff his home rested upon to glide into the open mouth of his lair, carved into the cliff face, a sequence he once again performed with great familiarity. He pulled the mask from his face, pausing only to take in the warmth of the sun on its final steps across the horizon. Twilight had come, signaling the moment the lord of Coltistrano would return to his true guise, but not before taking great care to stow his cherished uniform and bounding up the stairs of his undercroft to enter the manor.

“Hello,” he called out. “Is anyone still here? That mess downtown has been resolved, same goons from last week.”

Silver pulled a plain maroon tailcoat from one of the sofas of the lavish study to draw it over his frame. Rich, warm wooden walls framed his journey past the tall bookshelves and into the manor proper with lamp light dancing along their polished faces, but Silver found a tension in his brow. There was no answer to his question. Familiar voices of his home were gone and Silver found his hooves quickening their pace as he began to dutifully pull open each door he passed.

The kitchen was untended, manor passages devoid of traffic, and even the carefully tended garden behind the house sat empty in the warm night air. Another call left his mouth, firmer and followed by each pounding step that led him to the west wing of the mansion, and before the tall and ornate doors closing off what he knew as the lounge he forcefully slammed his front hooves against them, uncaring of the damage he may cause as their weight was shoved back. Two figures inside the room lurched forward at the surprise arrival.

“Silver!” The chestnut mare shook in her seat, whipping her brown and graying mane across her face. “What’s happened, is everything alright?”

The other pony, a unicorn, stood at the sudden entry, nearly knocking over the table between him and his host and spilling the tray of refreshments upon it, but soon produced a smile at the sight of Silver’s own growing grin, finally recognizing them both.

“Mom, sorry, I called out and no one responded… I was nervous,” he said approaching Honey Hearts, patting her shoulder. “Shining, good to see you still haven’t learned to knock.”

“You’re one to talk,” Shining quipped.

“Well, Silver, you scared me half to death. Remember the last time somepony went rampaging through your house.” Honey pushed Silver’s hoof away firmly, but never lost the soft tremble in her voice. “Shining arrived while you were out on business. All the way from the Crystal Empire, too. Forgive me, Shining, were you staying long?”

“I guess that depends on if Silver’s up for more ‘business’.”

The statement made Honey and Silver share a look, wordlessly prompting Honey to collect the tray before them and allow the two friends some privacy. Shining wasted no time in returning to his seat, and Silver found himself falling into the lush sofa just opposite the prince, releasing the last bits of his tension in a ragged, breathy chuckle.

“Sorry about that.”

“No big deal, I heard you’ve been jumpy these last few months,” Shining said. “Anything going on? Leads on Abby, maybe?”

“Were I so lucky… no, just the usual cadre of local criminals. Today’s train robbery was the latest of their devious designs.”

“Do you always speak in alliteration?”

“Do I?” Silver’s cocked head and furled brow brought a smirk from Shining, chuckling as Silver ran over the words again, silently.

“Do you need any help with them? From the sound of it, they’ve been a problem for a while.”

“What? Oh no, no, just leftovers from Serenade’s old cohorts and organized gangs in the region. I’ve been running into them ever since I drove him out of town, years ago, but they’ve scattered across Equestria from what I’ve gathered. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“They’re not Shield’s goons, are they?”

“Well… I’m not sure. Today’s batch were wearing his symbol, and to think he’s just sat idly while we track him down is unlikely, I’d say, but there’s also been no word of him since the Crystal Empire. If they are, though, it seems they’re easily thwarted.”

“I saw some of that on my way in, a lot of leaping and gliding on that cape of yours.” Shining raised a foreleg across his muzzle, giving his eyes a contorted, menacing glare as a quivering vibrato rose from his lips. “Oooooh, beware the Ghost of Coltistrano, for now he sets his sight upon you!”

Silver’s hoof flails out towards Shining, a warm and sharp laugh the only applause for Shining’s mockery. “The ponies love a show, Shining, don’t act so envious because you lack my natural charisma.”

“It’s still hard to believe you were ever a soldier.”

“The uniform never really fit me, you know that. Lots of lectures from old Sergeant Ironsides. You remember him?”

“Pfft, how could I forget? He threw us both on midnight patrol for a week straight when we drilled in Appleloosa. I still have nightmares about him, enough to keep even Luna awake.”

Between the chuckles both stallions shared, Silver found himself lingering on each word that passed between them. They warmed him. In just the seat across from him sat a pony he, in only recent memory, was terrified to approach with the truth, but with each new exchange Silver felt his worry evaporate.

“But what about you, Shining? Do all unicorn princes migrate south for summer, or is it just the ugly ones?”

“I think you’ve been wearing that mask too tightly,” Shining shot back, his smile slowly slipping into a thin, somber line on his face. “I’m not here for long. There’s a situation back in the Crystal Empire. Of everypony tied to it, I figured you and your friends should be the first ones to know.”

“What happened?”

“Well… let me start off by saying we found Alate. Took us a while, and a lot of scared patrols in the mountains, but we found her. She’d been hiding out in the White Wastes for a few weeks after the battle. Not sure how she survived, but I’d bet the horn on her head had something to do with it. She was… well, it wasn’t a pretty sight when we brought her back. Barely put up a fight.”

“That would’ve been months ago,” Silver stated. “Almost a full year.”

“Yeah, yeah it was.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“Believe it or not we did. Think about it, I mean. Cadence and I wanted to ask if Alate could be safely moved here instead of being held at the palace, but Alate wasn’t our primary target. We hadn’t found any sign of them… Abby and-”

“Shield Wall.” The name brought a chill to them both, joined by memories of the assault on the Crystal Palace, horrors they still held scars from.

“Right. So long as he was at large we couldn’t risk moving Alate. The Crystal Corsairs know the empire well, but you know how Shield operates. Nothing’s ever easy with him.”

“I know… but I don’t suppose you traveled half of Equestria to confess in person, right? Something happened.”

“Yeah,” Shining drew out. “Alate had been working for us as a spy, serving her sentence searching the empire in ways we never could. With her help we made heaps of progress in finding where the remnants of the defected Night Guard were hiding, until a few days ago. The palace was invaded and Alate was attacked. The horn was stolen and, according to Alate, Glint took it.”

A hoof pressed against the bridge of Silver’s muzzle. Shining avoided eye contact with the pony across from him, electing to look out through the window and into the night sky, patiently waiting for his friend to process both the influx of information and whatever emotion summoned his low, rumbling groan.

“I think now you can say ‘I told you so’.”

“No, no, it wouldn’t have mattered,” Silver declared, waving his hoof. “The protection of a princess is as good as it gets. Do you have any leads?”

“There are a few rumors floating around the Equestria-Empire border of bat ponies once loyal to Luna crossing illegally, using the old mining shafts from Sombra’s days, but Glint resurfacing is what concerns me most. He’s their commander, after all.”

“With Glint in play that means something big might be happening, but my last encounter with Shield’s forces was four months ago, in Cloudsdale. Strange they would resurface now.”

“Maybe they got tired of the humiliation I hear you’d been giving them?”

“They talk about that in the Crystal Empire?”

“Are you kidding? The Ghost is all some ponies talk about up north. Like it or not, buddy, you’ve become something of a celebrity.”

“Fantastic,” Silver scoffed. “Right when ‘Equestria’s Most Wanted’ rear their ugly heads again. Can they use the horn?”

“From what our court wizard Sunburst tells us, no, or at least he doesn’t think so. I doubt Shield would willingly stick it to his own head, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still dangerous. You saw what it did to Alate.”

“And Gilda. I won’t risk that kind of power out there in the world, again.”

“What power is that?” Honey asked, announcing her return with the gentle clattering of a tray in her hooves, decorated with sweets and cups of tea that deftly landed on the table between them before taking back her seat at the head.

“There was an attack at the palace.”

“What? Shining, you didn’t think to mention that? You boys will give me a heart attack one of these days, I swear to Celestia.”

“Cadence and I are fine, Ms. Hearts, I promise. I just need Silver’s help finding the culprit.”

“Oh, another grand escapade? Equestria has the EUP for a reason.”

“This could help us find Abby, mom.”

Honey’s teacup froze in place at the mention of the name, her eyes falling upon the stern face of Silver. “I see… what awful business.”

“They’re the same ponies who attacked the empire, if we find them we find-”

“I understand, Shining, but…” Honey shook in place, but after a brief pause managed to contain her nerves and take a slow, deep breath. “You had best alert the others, then. Come on, you two can treat me to a slice of cake for all the worrying you put me through.”

Shining and Silver both shared a look as Honey gulped down her tea and led the stallions out into the fresh summer air of Coltistrano by night. The city glimmered with the light of street lamps and the ponies that walked along their gentle rays. Starlight from above poked through the veil of darkness and filled Silver with a gentle, calming stillness, a sensation he had become increasingly familiar with. Many ponies nodded to their governor, and he in return, occasionally chatting about the happenings of the day as they passed the final remnants of the afternoon’s dramatic chase yet to be cleaned from the city streets. In the distance hung a black sign with a familiar golden ‘G’ signage upon it.

The Golden Goods bakery played host to ponies of all sorts, drinking and eating and socializing with loved ones as the trio entered. Silver could spot a few familiar faces among the guard ponies in one corner booth from his earlier outing. Ponies inside began to take notice of the aristocratic assembly about them and stood to show their respect. All except the source the indignant commentary Silver had come to adore more than all the respect in Coltistrano.

“Whassa matter, raghead? Your fat ass can’t handle the food, so you bring the pretty boy as backup?”

Gilda’s sharp words could cut the fresh pie she held in her talons, soon to be boxed and passed off to the expectant pony at the bar with a surprisingly genuine smile from the gryphon. Coming from behind the bar she and Silver landed in an embrace, ending in a firm slap to each other’s backs.

“I only brought him to help rescue your waistline, Gilda. You eat so much of your own stuff I can’t do it alone.” A dramatic hoof touched Silver’s chest, and his mockery cracked a smile on Gilda’s face.

“Yo, Ms. Hearts, anything you want off the menu is my treat, okay? Hey, bat boy! VIPs!”

A second figure emerged from the bakery’s kitchen, a stark white and stained apron contrasting his deep, royal blue fur and fluttering wings. The slit-shaped eyes locked onto the new visitors as Kindle trotted across the floor to join his comrades.

“Two of the most dangerous people in Coltistrano, both working in a bakery,” Shining said incredulously.

“A lot better than working in a palace, at least here the food is good,” Gilda snarked, slapping Shining on the shoulder. “Well sit down already, nerds. Order something so I can put it on Silver’s tab.”

“You wound me, Gilda. Kindle, she hasn’t torn you apart yet, I see?”

“Some days it sure feels like it,” Kindle chuckled, looking to her with a softness only Silver detected. “But who knows, maybe she’s lightened up?”

“Brave words from the guy who’s gotta clean tonight.”

“I, for one, and happy with how Kindle turned out,” Honey declared. “Silver, you should start taking him on your patrols. Would save my heart a mountain of worry, especially with recent events.”

“Really?” Kindle beamed, forcing a chuckle from Silver. “That’d be awesome! I’ve always wanted to know how to do all those flips. We could patrol if those thieves ever want a rematch.”

Shining chuckled, nudging Silver beside him. “Looks like you got yourself a sidekick. You’re not going to dress him up in a cape, too, huh?”

“Dude, Kindle and I saw it and you kicked ass today! I saw those bastards crash when you jumped them the first time. They nearly carved up the front of my store. What were they even after?”

“Money… my money, a few donations I made to Canterlot and surrounding towns.”

“Why did they want that?” Kindle asked before receiving a firm slap to his shoulder.

“Because thieves like money, duh, and raghead here’s got a lot of it.”

“Wow, all those bits and you still live with your mom, huh?” Kindle’s sass summoned bolts of sharp laughter from Gilda’s beak, smacking his hoof against her claw in celebration while Silver cocked an eyebrow.

“You got a mouth Kindle, we’ll fix that on my next patrol, but for now…” Silver’s words drew Gilda and Kindle’s eyes to him, expectantly, as he leaned against the bar and spoke. “The Crystal Palace was invaded, Alate’s alive, and the horn was stolen… by Glint.”

“Glint?” Kindle perked up at the name. “What happened? Was he captured?”

“They escaped with the horn,” Shining said. “I’m here informing Silver of what happened before I return to the Empire, who knows if he’ll return. If you’re all able, I’m asking you to keep an eye out in Equestria for you-know-who.”

“Shit, I’m in,” Gilda butted in.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Kindle said, also. “Any chance to bust that psycho.”

“We’ll leave tomorrow, then. Gilda, you’ll helm the Tornado and take us to Ponyville.”

“What’s in Ponyville?” Shining asked.

“Oh, you know what’s in Ponyville,” said Gilda with a wicked grin. “He wants to pick up his marefriend.”

“My marefriend is the best sleuth we know,” Silver shot back.

“Uh-huh, I bet you like it when she ‘solves your mystery’, huh? ‘It was Silver and me, in the library, with everything and then some’.”

“Oh, I can’t listen to this,” Honey said through a smile as she raised her hoof to Gilda’s beak. “Just go be heroes and come back alive, please. There’ll be plenty of teasing when the fate of Equestria doesn’t hang in the balance. Now Gilda, you mentioned Silver’s tab…”

As Gilda eagerly covered each item on the menu with Honey, occasionally giving a dignified wave of her claw to emphasize an item’s quality, Silver glanced around the room. Ponies of all kinds bonded together over drinks and food, embracing each other, singing songs and casting their chorus of laughter well beyond the confines of the bakery, far out into the night beyond. Occasionally, Silver would lock eyes with a pony. They would nod or wave with a grin, even raise a glass to the pony they knew as their governor and allow Silver to fully absorb the scene around him. A dream come true. A home restored.

Gilda’s signature cackle snagged his attention. Plates of delectable sweets were passed out and shared amongst the small group as they laughed into the late hours of the night of whatever came to mind, far from the cloud of worry that followed them here. Worries that, as far as they were concerned, could wait until tomorrow to haunt them.

Chapter 3: “You face it.”

“Yo, Kindle! Ease of the throttle, will ya? We wanna land, not crash.”

“Got it!”

Kindle flapped his wings and leaped towards the airship’s central engine, wrapping his hooves around one of its many levers and pulling slightly. The powerful jet of flame diminished. As Gilda looked over the raining to the world below she could see the rows and rows of thatch housing and sparse towers of crystal. Empty fields served as her airport, hardly a concern for her expert claws as they gripped the wheel and gently guided the vessel along the perimeter of the city, finding an especially flat patch. Then, with a grin, she spun hard. Kindle held on for dear life as his captain sent their ship into a tailspin that sent loose crates sliding to the railings with a firm thud, but with tensed muscles and a jerk of the wheel, the Tornado slid to a halt right atop the field, facing towards the city.

“Wa-... was that necessary?” Kindle never released his hold on the engine, panting hard.

“What? You don’t like a little fun?” Gilda teased, strutting down from the helm as the captain’s cabin opened.

Kindle wobbled on his hooves and shook his head once. “I… whoa, never been in a maneuver like that.”

“You get used to it,” Silver stated as he emerged from the captain's cabin, perfectly poised and smiling at Gilda. “Having fun scaring the newbie, feather face?”

Gilda squealed out a laugh, reaching over to one of the discarded crates and lifting a bag from it, throwing it over her shoulder. “Just a little hazing, guys. Thought you military types would be used to it.”

“Not like that,” Kindle mumbled, prying his hooves from his support, but once his senses finally caught up with the spinning in his skull his ears perked up. From beyond the ship he spotted a crowd beginning to form, filled with smiling ponies and a few city guard. “Hey, Silver? I think we’ve got company.”

Silver followed the noise to the railing. Once he was revealed, the ponies below began to wave and cheer, and the guard began to form a pathway as the Tornado’s gangplank came down onto the grass.

“Good morning, sir!” One gray-haired mare piped up. “We saw the spectacular entrance and had to come see. Is this really the Tornado? The Ghost’s vessel?”

Gilda nudged Silver in the ribs, smiling, as he cleared his throat. “Well, yeah, that’s the ship’s name. Was there something we could help-”

“Why don’t we help secure your ship? Will you be staying long?” The pony waved some of the guards over, grabbing the ropes to moor the ship. “I’m sorry for being a little forward, but, well, you don’t get to meet heroes everyday, right?”

“Heroes?”

“For saving Princess Twilight. It was all over the news, how those traitors broke into her palace and the Ghost fought them off. On behalf of Ponyville, I want to say how grateful we are to all of you, and to him.

Kindle finally made it to the railing, sighing sharply, as he shot a sideways glance at Silver. “Guess you have some fans.”

Silver gave a breathy chuckle. With a wave of his hoof, he ushered the crowd of ponies forward to help secure the ship, all the while bombarded with statements of thanks and questions about himself, the vessel, and the whereabouts of the Ghost, all of which Silver laughed off as the three were led through the field and towards Ponyville proper, touching down on the stone road as a wave of bustling sound hit them. Two of the guards carved a path through the crowds as the onlookers began to take notice. Smiles, hushed whispers, long stares.

A bright pink filly stared up at Silver as he passed, her long and lopsided black cape catching his attention. She pushed through the crowd towards him. When she finally made it, just steps away from Silver, her large sky blue eyes trapped him in a gaze of pure joy, one that even Silver couldn’t help but smile at as he pressed the tip of his hoof to his lips and gave a gentle shush. She beamed, watching the group pass down the street towards a familiar pink and powder blue building. The Carousel Boutique was in sight. Silver brought his hoof to the door three times as he approached, and once the door opened the boutique’s occupant was greeted by not only Silver’s grinning face, but by a gathered crowd of ponies lingering around them.

“Hey,” he chirped.

“Darling, you didn’t happen to bring the entire town, did you?” Rarity stood on the tips of her hooves to glance over the many ponies outside her home.

“Just the excited ones,” he returned, looking at Gilda with a nod.

“Alright, fanboys, wrap it up!” She squawked. “This isn’t a live show, so scram, we’re here for work not pleasure. Well, he might be.”

Successful as her cry was in dispersing the crowd around them, Gilda still felt Silver’s stare upon her as he huffed silently, summoning Gilda’s signature coarse laugh as she followed him inside, joined by Kindle. Once the door was shut and the eyes of the city were no longer upon them, the company allowed themselves to fall into the nearest seats available, surrounding a large coffee table in Rarity’s kitchen as a platter of cups gently clacked onto the surface between them.

“I hadn’t expected a visit so soon, but I’m hardly complaining,” Rarity stated, floating a cup to herself.

“You can blame the pretty boy, Shining,” Gilda said, slurping her tea. “Came all the way from the Crystal Empire to give us bad news.”

“What? Do you mean… oh, this is work, isn’t it?”

“There’s been an incident in the palace, Rarity,” Silver began. “Enemy agents invaded and stole King Sombra’s horn. You remember it?”

“Yes, I remember the vile thing, and I assume he was housing Alate, too? It would’ve been prudent of him to inform us.”

“She was working for him and Cadence in finding where the Night Guard ran to after the battle.”

Kindle collected his own tea as he spoke. “Glint’s involved, took the horn right off of Alate’s head. And wherever Glint goes…”

“Right,” Rarity huffed. “Did they leave anything behind? Any evidence of their next move?”

“Nothing. Disappeared as quickly as they came.”

“Of course. Well, if that’s the case, then we know they’re willing to expose themselves, which means they have a plan.” Rarity sighed, drawing heavily from her cup and sitting beside Silver. “It’s the first real lead we’ve had, isn’t it?”

“Regrettably,” he replied. “But if we’re fast enough we can find Glint and recover the horn before anything happens. This won’t be another wild chase like with the Ragged Mare.”

“Goodness, I hope not, but I fear it will without proper direction.”

“We can probably find some here,” Silver suggested. “We’ll head over to Twilight’s palace and inform her, see if she knows anything. Considering what happened last time I want her to be prepared.”

“Silver, we should at least do a sweep of the city. I think if-” Kindle’s words were silenced by Gilda’s powerful foreleg around his neck, pulling him away from the table.

“Nah, I’ll go on recon with you. These two need their kissy time, isn’t that right?”

“Still jealous because a headlock is the only way you can keep a guy around, huh?” Silver shot back, with stifled laughter rising from the others as Gilda’s feathers ruffled, shooting him the middle digit of her claw before ducking out of the kitchen.

Trained ears followed the steps of his companions out the door, and in a moment Silver and Rarity were left alone in the boutique. His hoof was still on hers. Gentle breaths graced her neck as he slowly leaned in to kiss her cheek, tensing in a smile at his touch while she stroked his shoulder. Their tenderness, however, soon dissolved.

“You’re worried,” he stated.

“When am I not, especially with your gallant nature?” She placed the tea onto the table and turned to face him. “I want to ask something, but I’m scared you… I’m scared you’ll hate me for it.”

Silver paused. He shifted his full body towards her, taking her other hoof in his and kissing it gently, giving her space in the silence to prepare the words building in her chest. Silent breaths escaped as she mumbled, but with each failed word Rarity summoned more and more of her resolve, comforted by Silver’s soft expression.

“When we… when we find them, and him, what will you do?” She lingered on the silence, desperately peering into Silver’s eyes as his face grew firm. “I’m sorry, maybe that was-”

“No. No, you… you’re right.” Silver’s firm timber hid a slight tremble. “I’ve been thinking about it, too. I know with him, and me, nothing is simple, but… well, it has to end. I want to move on, move on with you, but I can’t just…”

“And I wouldn’t ask you to, but I want to move on, too.” She placed a hoof to his cheek. “Doing this is who you are, I won’t rob you of that, but every time he shows himself he nearly robs me of you, and I’m scared one day he’ll do it. I… I want him stopped, my love, for good. I don’t want to wake up alone.”

He could feel the welling tears behind his cheeks, but Silver pushed through and brought his lips to hers. “I promise you won’t, especially tonight.”

A chorus of giggles escaped Rarity’s throat as he kissed her again, rapid-fire along her neck as she pawed at him in feigned terror. There they rested for a while, taking time to confide their fears in one another through hushed words as the world turned dark with the nighttime sky.

Along the glimmering starways above Ponyville fluttered a pair of leather wings, accompanied by piercing yellow eyes scanning the world below. Ponies walking the darkened streets were oblivious to his presence. Indigo fur and a dark mane blended perfectly with the night sky as he soared. Eventually, though, he was assaulted by a powerful yawn. He fluttered down, skimming along the radiating light of torches and streetlamps towards the Ponyville clock tower, touching down just within the bell chamber above the clock face. Again, he yawned. With a weary gait he sauntered over to the ledge and sat upon it, gazing out over the city, and he keen eyes spotted another flying shape in the night, this one broad and powerful with its wings.

Kindle watched Gilda from afar, in awe of the way she spiraled and curved in the air, effortlessly resisting nature with each beat of her mighty wings. Then, he turned his sight to the boutique, off from the center of town. Two familiar ponies danced around each other as they approached the towering shop, violet curls bobbing with each step as her partner playfully chased her, rushing towards the door before being trapped within his forelegs. They kissed and shared words imperceptible to Kindle. He watched as she entered the boutique, leaving her suitor alone in the night, but to Kindle’s surprise he turned his gaze towards the clock tower, directly at him.

Kindle jolted and blinked, but in the precious moment of lost contact the pony was gone, vanished without a trace. Kindle’s head swiveled from left to right in search of him, smiling and shaking at the same time. It was only a few moments before his ears detected the subtle sounds of fluttering cloth. Before Kindle could turn, a shadow loomed over him, even in the darkness.

“Whoa!” Kindle lept where he stood, grasping his chest at the sight of flowing limbs of shade. “Okay, you gotta teach me how you do that!”

The shade stepped into the failing light around the clock tower, revealing Silver’s smiling face. “It’s called cardio, Kindle. Darrox would have me run laps around the island for hours.”

“Uh-huh, and the magic cape has nothing to do with it, right?”

“Oh, it has plenty to do with it,” he chuckled, sitting beside Kindle. “You’d be surprised how much speed this thing can pick up. Nearly wiped out a few times.”

Kindle laughed at the thought, imagining the terrifying shadow he’d heard legends of face planting into the dirt, but soon the silence of the night returned to them both as they looked out across Ponyville.

“So, uh, you two are pretty serious, huh?”

“Ah, a voyeur, I see?”

“W-What? No! I was just doing recon, you know?”

Silver erupted into laughter. “I know, Kindle, it’s fine.”

“Right.” Kindle let his own staggered laughter join Silver’s, echoing through the night. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“This, the whole three lives thing. Aristo is filthy rich and donates to charities, the Ghost fights evil, Silver Spade gets the girl, and no matter what you always do the right thing. Make the right call.”

“I don’t know about that one,” Silver stated with a snort. “Aristo is just a name on a check, and if anything he’s the only real mask I wear. The Ghost is… he’s what I became. Like an instinct, but it’s all still me, Kindle. There’s no ‘three lives’ about it, anymore.”

“Just second nature, huh?”

“Believe me, it wasn’t easy in the beginning, but over time you get the hang of it, living with those urges. Always watching, ready to move at the drop of a hat.”

“I wish I were more like you.”

Kindle’s words made Silver pause, peering over to the sullen bat pony on the ledge as he continued. “I spent years trying to do good in the Night Guard, but when Glint told us all how wrong we were and how Shield was the one to follow, I just fell right into it. Bought it like half-off oats. The best thing I ever did was betray my unit.”

“The best thing you ever did was help save a nation, Kindle,” Silver corrected.

“But my comrades, my friends, most of them are now gone or arrested, and Glint… I can’t believe I just left him behind.” Kindle peered down the tower, a slow sigh escaping his nose. “If I were smarter, or stronger, maybe I could’ve helped him see how crazy Shield was before it was too late.”

“Being like me doesn’t help, Kindle. The Ghost couldn’t save Abby from Shield Wall, and the Ghost wouldn’t be enough to save Glint, either. Only we can do that. Silver and Kindle.”

“Then why don’t I feel it?”

Silver smiled, looking upon Kindle’s forlorn expression, nudging him firmly towards the soaring gryphon in the distance. “Look up there, at Gilda. What do you think of her?”

“Come on, Silver, it’s not-” Kindle’s voice hushed as Silver peered into his eyes, and he sighed. “She’s pretty cool. Never known anyone to be as fearless, or just plain crazy, as her. She’s rough, but she’s got my back.”

“There was a time when she wanted nothing to do with me, you know? Her only concern was a clean bed and a bag of bits as pay. She didn’t want anyone. No friends, no family, no one, but now look at her. From mean and cold to strong and free, never afraid to speak her mind. She’s taught me more about who I am than I ever learned on that island. She taught me it’s not the cloak who saves people, it’s me, and it’s you, too.” Silver placed a hoof on a smiling Kindle’s shoulder, who chuckled as he spoke.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just…” Kindle’s gaze trailed downwards, his voice low and cold. “Shield Wall’s taken a lot from me. I’m a traitor, Silver, so are all my friends, and it’s all his fault. He lied to us, killed us, and… what do I do, Silver? What do I do when I’m filled with hate?”

Silver froze. Chilling nighttime air brushed along his fur as he gazed at Kindle, following each minute change in his expression. His words echoed in his mind and evoked images of another night, long ago, and Silver felt a tremor begin to surge through his limbs at the thought, but instead he smiled.

“You face it,” he said. “Just like you are now.”

—

His steps were illuminated by the glimmering rays of sunlight, beaming down from the afternoon sky as a wave of light across pearlescent towers and pristine streets. Behind him, following close behind as they trailed through the streets, walked a blonde pony with spectacles, hovering sheafs of paper and all manner of baubles with him. The lead pony nodded to passersby. The city around his was a buzz of activity, with ponies coming out in droves to enjoy another night of finery and jubilation in the finest city in Equestria. Canterlot was slowly coming alive.

Fancy Pants led the pony through Canterlot’s famous Restaurant Row, assaulted by all manner of scents from sticky sweet to savory and everything in between, but much to the disappointment of his rumbling stomach, the poor assistant was force to maintain his pace as Fancy trotted through the bustling thoroughfare towards the estates, beyond the city center. Here, they approached a tall, gated mansion. The gate bore his cutie mark, and with a clap of his hooves it swung open and welcomed the two onto the grounds. Tall oaken doors were their only barrier to the home, and when pushed aside they were met with the eyes of others inside the lobby.

“Ah! Ms. Twist, Lord Donnahugh, how lovely to see everyone’s made it. Nimble, do fetch the housemaid and tell her we’re ready.”

Panting, struggling to stand, the blonde unicorn by his side gently deposited his load onto a side table before rushing off, leaving his master alone with a dozen more ponies as dapper as he was, save for a few. Fancy pushed past the majority of the crowd to a turquoise pegasus mare with a firm expression. He bowed, offering his hoof.

“Vice General Stratos,” he stated. “I’m glad to see you’ve come.”

“You wouldn’t stop pestering me about an invite, but I suppose this is for a good cause. You’re running your assistant ragged, though.”

“Ah, Nimble Quill is far more capable than he appears, and I wouldn’t think of you to begrudge me a little firm experience for the boy, yes?”

Stratos scoffed, allowing herself the smallest semblance of a grin. “I hope you have something substantial for us, tonight. Racer over there’s been losing his patience.”

“Yes, I’m well aware, but tonight we… ah, Nimble! Excellent timing. Everyone, shall we begin?”

The crowd of noble ponies discarded their conversations in favor of following Fancy through one of the large hallways flanking the lobby, lined with paintings on one side and a large row of windows along the other. Through expertly carved doors they entered a study, decorated with a welcoming glow of red carpets and dark wood bookshelves. He directed everyone around a large round table in the middle. Just as everyone took their seats, the housemaid entered and deposited tea and snacks for everyone present as Nimble took a seat beside Fancy. With a wave of his horn the curtains were drawn shut.

“Yes, excellent. I would like to begin by addressing a legitimate concern by apologizing. Our previous meetings have been somewhat lacking in any real material to discuss, ever since the events in the Crystal Empire, but tonight there are truly delicate things we must discuss.”

“I hope so,” a crimson pegasus piped up.

“Yes, Racer, and I trust we have all brought our ledgers?” At Fancy’s request, each member produced a small red ledger and placed it upon the table. “Excellent, then take note of this: there was a break-in at the Crystal Palace not a few days ago. My agents believe the former Night Guard commander was involved, which means so, too, is another.”

“What was the target?” Stratos asked.

“A dark artifact from within the palace. The horn of King Sombra, dug up from the frozen earth and placed into the hooves of the Ragged Mare. I trust you all remember her.”

Affirmative nods and grunts rose from the table as Fancy continued. “As well, we know Prince Shining Armor has made an appearance in Coltistrano recently. I suspect he’s on the hunt for the commander and his compatriots.”

“Is the Ragged Mare involved?” An aged, yellow mare spoke up.

“It is difficult to say at this time. Our last reports from within the Crystal Palace assured us she was in Princess Cadence’s custody, or care, depending on how you see it. For now she seems indisposed.”

“And what of the mastermind? Has there been any sighting of him, too?”

“I regret, the deceased Midnight Gavel held the proper insight into his particular movements and strategies, but for now we are confident he is still beyond Canterlot.”

“But for how long?” Stratos turned to Fancy. “We all know enough to suspect he’ll try to infiltrate the capital if he’s plotting something. We should alert the princesses.”

“I agree. It’s safe to assume Princess Twilight has already been made aware of the situation, but once we have adjourned for this evening a missive should be sent to Celestia and Luna promptly. Are we in agreement?”

A round of unanimous affirmations was given and Fancy nodded to Nimble Quill, who began to scribe the message upon parchment.

“What of the Ghost?” A stallion in blue asked, sipping his tea. “This mysterious crusader seems to always appear when our enemy does, too. Can we not at least entertain the notion they may be in cahoots?”

“Again, Lord Grey, no,” Fancy declared harshly.

“Taking the side of a masked vigilante is unbecoming of you, Fancy. We are all grateful he saved your life, but you must admit the coincidence is striking.”

“Fancy, have you looked into the Ghost’s identity?” Stratos asked, watching as Fancy averted his gaze.

“It’s not something I wish to pry into. The Ghost has done more to thwart Shield Wall than any of us have in our lives, and that, alone, should grant him at least some credit.”

A knocking came from beyond the door. Fancy took the opportunity to escape the tension of the room by walking over and opening the door a crack, met with the face of the housemaid.

“Sir, I’m sorry to intrude, but a final member of the meeting has just arrived.”

“A final… but, we’re all here. Who are you-”

In an instant she was ripped away as powerful hooves kicked open the door and knocked Fancy down. Everyone inside shot up from their seats, spilling their drinks across the floor as four tall, burly soldiers entered the room, corralling the members of the table. They shouted back at their aggressors, until the eyes of the room fell upon a fifth pony. Poised stride, red hair, and a face like ice whose glare dug into all who looked upon her. Fancy froze as he locked eyes with her.

“Countess?”

“A secret cabal? Really?”

Lord Grey stepped forward, puffing out his chest. “I demand to know just who these hooligans are! And you, countess, how dare you show your face here in Canterlot. By the powers that be, your aunt-”

A powerful blow from one of Abby’s escorts sent Lord Grey tumbling against the floor. She looked away, instead following Fancy as he recovered and returned to his seat before addressing the crowd before her.

“Since you already know who I am, and apparently much more than that, I’ll make this as simple as I can: your authority now serves me. Refusal is not acceptable.”

She spoke with a firm, but diminished tone, something Fancy could detect through the pumping of his own blood to his skull. Members of the table mumbled to themselves while others held their tongues, but Fancy took a deep breath and braved the harsh stares from Abby’s bodyguards.

“I’m relieved to see you alive,” he began. “When we heard what happened in the Crystal Empire we feared the worst, though I must admit, this is hardly the warm return we all hoped for.”

“Please, Fancy, spare me the charisma.”

“It is uncharacteristic, though, this display of force. It’s far more akin to another, wouldn’t you agree?”

“If you already know, then you know what happens if you refuse.”

Fancy peered around the table, locking eyes with Stratos. “Yes, I’m keenly aware.”

“Then make this easy and submit, for everyone’s sake.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Stratos barked, her teeth bared. “If you’re working for him then you’re no more than a traitor, and I won’t bow to him again.”

“I am working for him,” Abby confessed. “And I’m the only thing saving all of you from a far worse fate than bruised dignity. Please, I can’t ask again.”

Stratos’ lips were sealed, but beside her Fancy looked on in deep contemplation, sizing up the unicorn mare holding everyone’s attention hostage. Her posture was flawless, but her gaze would flutter downwards. Subtle bags hung beneath her eyes. The commands she sent to her followers were made wearily, a dainty wave the only effort she gave, allowing the brutes to do the rest. Exhausted. The only word to enter Fancy’s racing mind as the silence of the room began to grow, and the soldiers slowly closed in. With a deep breath Fancy made his move.

“Fine, we submit. Tell us what you want.”

Chapter 4: “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Rustling branches sent their melodies across the breeze blanketing the city. As clouds above slowly rolled across the sky, the homes and buildings below became bathed in the light of a new day, warm rays dancing along the horizon and pouring through Ponyville’s streets like gentle streams. Birdsong soon rose to announce the morning. One by one, street lamps were extinguished by tired ponies who waved to the early risers they met on their way home. The city was waking up, filling the air with their soft greetings.

Along the paths of warm streets stood the Carousel Boutique. Sunlight crashed against its windows, protected by heavy curtains along the top most level, to shield its occupants and grant them a spare moment more of precious sleep. The room within was dark. Across the floor were scattered rolls of fabric, abandoned sketches of intricate designs, and the few pieces of clothing regularly worn by the slowly shifting shapes hidden beneath the mound of bedding in the center. A veil of curtains surrounded the bed, pierced by only the occasional beam of light from beyond their many layers of protection. The bedding shifted slowly. Fumbling hooves reached out to pull the curtain shut, but as time went on the rays now peaking into the room refused to be ignored, dancing across the closed lids of the unicorn inside.

She slowly opened her eyes. Dainty grunts announced each sluggish movement, weak and aimless, peaking cautiously over the lip of the comforter towards the clock at her side, until something grabbed her. Memories of similar events flooded her mind with warmth as she grasped the hoof around her waist. A larger shape rested behind her, soft breaths brushing against her bedraggled mane. Little whispers flew from his lips. She allowed herself a moment to simply exist in his embrace, feeling the rise of his chest with each breath, but soon her tired thoughts were drawn to the image of something warm, bitter, and served in a porcelain mug. Gently, she drew open the blinds.

“Guh…” Her companion groaned at the sudden arrival of morning into their sanctum.

“I’m sorry, love, but it’s time to get up.”

A string of indecipherable muttering followed her as she stood from the warm confines of the bed, stretching her limbs and avoiding the early-morning horror of her own reflection in the tall vanity mirror as she crossed the floor towards the bathroom. Finally, the other pony found the courage to open his eyes. Sunlight upon the horizon was an almost foreign image. Nighttime, starlight, darkened streets and alleys, these were his natural habitat. As he rose, though, stretching his limbs and scarred back to a chorus of pops and clicks, he found himself lingering in the fresh rays spilling into the room. Languid steps carried him to the window, where he fully welcomed the morning sun.

Silver spent his morning in a haze. With a flutter in his chest, he followed Rarity along each stop of her morning routine, mesmerized by her careful precision. To Rarity, between the curls and makeup and countless brush strokes through her mane, it was all a necessary sequence of tasks, unworthy of any admiration. To Silver, it was beautiful. He had long since cleaned himself up and prepared coffee for them both when she finally joined him in the kitchen. A mug landed gently beside her with a small stack of mail, joined by a kiss to her cheek as Silver sat beside her, Rarity’s blue eyes following him all the way. One letter stood out, lined in gold leaf and made from hefty parchment.

“A letter from Twilight,” Rarity announced, slowly opening and reading the fine missive. “Looks like she was able to come up with a plan. She wants to meet at city hall.”

“I don’t suppose it’s a lunchtime meeting, is it?” Silver asked, leaning over to kiss Rarity’s shoulder.

“More of the ‘as soon as possible’ sort. You can’t save the world with romance, my love,” she said, kissing his muzzle.

“Not with that attitude.”

Rarity rolled her eyes as Silver placed another kiss on her cheek, pushing him away with a chuckle. “Go get your coat and head down there, will you? I’ll catch up with you at the ship once I’ve packed a bag… silly colt.”

Per her instruction, Silver sauntered over to the rack carrying his maroon tailcoat, a sturdy garment that fit well across his shoulders as he pulled it over the tapestry of striking, yet fading scars. She waved behind him as the door shut and Silver stepped out into the sunny streets of Ponyville at dawn.

Trotting through streets chirping with activity filled him with warmth, buzzing within his chest and along his limbs and pushing his hooves ever onward. Smiles and waves greeted him. A few ponies stopped in their tracks, searching for proper greetings amongst the stuttering words they uttered, but he smiled at each approach. Along the open streets, lined with thatch houses and brick businesses, he could see city hall towering over all others. This time, he was greeted by a familiar face.

“About time you made it. Here I thought I was the nocturnal one.”

“Just like service all over again,” Silver laughed, gently jabbing Kindle in the side. “Good to see you again, Kindle. Gilda letting you take notes for her, huh?”

“She’s getting the ship ready to head out.” His statement was met with a cocked eyebrow from Silver, followed by a smile. “Yeah, I’m taking notes.”

Silver laughed, patting Kindle’s shoulder. “Between the two of us, I’m sure we can handle a simple meeting without breaking something.”

“Here’s hoping,” he said with a smirk. With a push on the door the two stepped into the wide open lobby of the Ponyville City Hall, lined with stone busts of mayors past and old diagrams of the city itself along the walls. Its warm amber color ended in the hallway before them, branching upwards into two identical stairways, and at the bottom stood a pegasus.

“Hello! You’re here to meet Princess Twilight? She’s just upstairs with Mayor Mare, I’ll lead you up.”

“She’s here already?” Kindle asked. “I just came from the palace.”

“Flew in like a hurricane, sir. That’s our Princess Twilight.”

Together, the three made their way up past the second and third levels, glancing occasionally into the branching hallways and the offices of busy ponies rushing to and from each room, until they finally landed upon the final step before a large pair of double doors carved with the reliefs of six ponies, a pair for each of the species. The pegasus pushed the door open a crack.

“Just head on in. If there’s anything you need, I’m sure they’ll be able to handle you. Have a good day!”

He stepped around the group and retreated down the stairs, all the while followed by Silver’s gaze. A nudge from Kindle, though, convinced him to follow them through the threshold and into the spacious office of the mayor, framing a large window overlooking the entire city and flanked by many more, smaller ones. The polished desk before them, however, sat empty.

“Hello? Twilight?” Kindle’s call echoed slightly in the office, the only voice heard, and Kindle stepped around and peered out the windows. “There’s no one here? We can’t be early, can we?”

While Kindle investigated the empty office, the ears of Silver’s head swiveled behind him. Barely detectable above the faint bustle of the outside world was a soft patter coming closer. It grew louder with each second, and as Kindle turned to notice what Silver had long recognized, the argent pony began to scan the inside of his coat, patting down pockets and sleeves before calmly returning to his original pose.

“First lesson, Kindle,” Silver said, eyes on the door. “How to survive being taken hostage.”

Right on que, the door burst open. A crowd of eight ponies of all types, armed and armored, stormed across the floor. The unicorns stood by the door and aimed their horns forward while the pegasi hovered just above their targets. Two earth ponies with grim faces closed in, with a scowling bat pony carrying a gray-maned mare in his foreleg, pressing a knife to her throat.

“Resist and the mayor becomes a stain on this beautiful floor. You two, make sure her guests stay put. Contain the others.”

Kindle almost growled as he was shoved to the floor of the office, while two pegasi hovered over Silver, ready to fulfill their orders. The mayor’s captor released his grip on her and shoved her towards the desk, sending her against the wood.

“Alright,” he grunted, walking towards her with thunderous steps as he patted his saddlebag. “Finance reports, trade routes, treasury funds. All of it on the desk now.”

“After nearly snapping my neck dragging me into my own office? Whoever you work for has another thing coming if-”

“Lady, either you do as we say, or there won’t be anything ‘nearly’ done with your neck, got it?”

Mayor Mare’s lips sealed themselves, trembling at his cold words as she slowly began rummaging through her desk. While this went on, Silver sat on his knees watching the brute with keen eyes. Tall, black mane, deep brown fur, with a scar down the back of his neck, and as Silver followed the mark he spied something on the front of his saddle bag. A sigil, one that made Silver squint. A shield with two spears.

“Come on, Silver,” Kindle whispered. “You’ve got a plan, right? We jump the two above us and move in?”

Silver remained silent, scanning the room slowly, taking in the details of each stone cold expression their attackers wore, before he cracked a small smile. “Just watch, you might learn something.”

“Hurry up.” The brute was almost standing over the mayor now, his hot breath against her neck.

“I-It’s not all here, some of it will be down in records,” Mayor Mare stammered, avoiding the brute’s gaze.

“You’re not making this difficult for me, are you?”

The mayor could hardly stutter out a response before the sound of hard panting overpowered any sound she could make, followed by a light wheeze from the pony in his maroon tailcoat. His eyes darted around the room, each jerky movement punctuated by a slight whimper. “P-Please, I’m of no importance to you, just let me go!”

“Shut it,” their leader ordered, but Silver’s chest began to heave at the sudden command.

“I-I can pay, I promise! Gold, property, anything, j-just please let me go and you can have it all!” His limbs shook as he spoke, with all eyes of the room falling squarely upon him. Even Kindle tilted his head in bewilderment of the display his friend made.

“Will you shut him up?”

“No, no! I knew this would happen one day, and I… I… no! Not like this!”

As one of the pegasi reached down to swipe at Silver’s head he flailed against him, the sudden jerk sending the pegasus against the wall. The other latched onto him. Silver flailed against his grasp, hollering as the other assailants moved to intervene, but when his hold was finally released Silver turned his frantic attention towards the closest thing resembling an exit, leaving everyone to watch in awe as his dove head first through the closed window with a terrible crash. The pegasus scrambled to reach the window, poking his head out and searching for a falling body, but pulling his head in only revealed a face of shock.

“He… he’s gone.”

Beyond the shattered window, Silver clung to the outside of the building with tense hooves. Carefully, he reached his right sleeve to his mouth, catching the small tab of a zipper hidden beneath the cuff in his mouth as he pulled back, allowing a length of dark fabric to shoot out from within the coat. More and more of the cloak and costume emerged from within the tailcoat as Silver carried himself upwards, perched just above the largest window.

Inside, tension faded around the room. Each of the brigands slacked in their posture, staring perplexed at each other. One even shared a confused glance with Kindle, but their leader stomped over to the broken window. Throwing his head out of it, he found a crowd of ponies gathering at the base of the building and beginning to circle outside. Soon, guards followed behind them. He returned his attention to the mayor, fury in his eyes and sharp words prepared for launch behind thin, clenched lips, but as soon as he closed in on the desk with the cowering mare behind it the light from outside began to dim. Shade cast itself across the large window before him, and very soon he was trapped by the shadow’s deep, piercing eyes.

Glass blasted forth from the window with a thundering crash. Everyone took cover, ducking to escape the hail of sharp debris scattering itself across the ground. When they looked up, they found the billowing shape of darkness standing atop the deck, separating the mayor from her tormentor, and the cloak he wore began to spill over the desk like rivers of blackness. He crouched, a smirk on his lips.

No time was wasted as he leapt over the large pony before him, casting the ends of the cloak around his midsection and sending him flying towards the door on the downswing. The unicorns opened fire, but their volley of magical power did little against the impervious ebon hide now charging towards them. Quick strikes to the neck, a sweep behind the forelegs, and well-practiced knee to the chin dispatched one as the other jumped onto him, forelegs locked around the shade’s throat, but he held firm. A tendril shot to the rafters above, and with a yank they both flew up into the air and spun hard. The unicorn’s grip broke as he fell right on top of a charging pegasus. With their number down by three, the other captives made their move.

Kindle gave a powerful beat of his wings and flipped, sending his hind leg up into the chin of another pegasus. The crash against the wall announced his charge towards the mayor, scooping her up in his hold and carrying her out through the open window, but not before driving another powerful kick into the head of Kindle’s captor. With a nod and a grin, Kindle’s wings beat hard and sent him rocketing across the floor to crash into the hooves of any who stood near him. Spinning in the air, Kindle crashed against one’s spine and joined the Ghost’s side.

Both Kindle and the Ghost held their five foes at bay with powerful blows and artful maneuvering, deftly avoiding any violent intentions sent their way, but their leader stood a greater challenge. He plowed towards Kindle, ramming hard against the bat pony to cast him against the wall with a hard thud. Dark snickers left his mouth until the world went dark. A length of the cloak snapped around his head, trapping his eyes in darkness as the Ghost pulled with all his strength, hoisting his target off his hooves and flat onto his back, landing with a pained shout. The cloak snaked back to him as the other four timidly followed it back to their owner, who smiled as he spoke.

“First one to surrender gets to stay conscious. So…” The Ghost squared up, head low and ready to pounce. “Any takers?”

One, trembling with a hoof raised to his head, let out a yell and charged the Ghost, followed by the rest of his allies, but soon his vision was filled with flashes of black hooves battering against him. The Ghost unleashed a flurry against him before sidestepping and hoisting him upwards, with the cloak around his belly, to slam against the floor. An earth pony took a swing at the shade, catching only air as the Ghost lept and mounted his shoulders. One hoof slammed into his muzzle as the other sent the cloak out to ensnare the forelegs of another earth pony. Yanking and thrashing against its hold was futile, the grip tightening with each second he struggled, and he helplessly watched as the Ghost soared from his freshly-bloodied perch and down onto him.

Their leader groaned. He limply dragged his hooves across the floor, searching for purchase along the smooth tile, turning his hazy vision towards the sounds of battle behind him just in time to witness his final conscious memory. The Ghost’s hoof was bound in the cloak. With a lunge, he drove the empowered limb across his target’s cheek and sent him sliding back against the wall, a final groan punctuating the loss of his resolve as he fell limp.

“Holy smokes, that was cool,” Kindle said, standing from the floor and stepping over the slumbering ponies around him. “I never got to see you work back in the Empire, but… look out!”

Kindle grasped the Ghost’s shoulder and pivoted on his hooves. A knife sailed overtop them both, just barely grazing the top of their heads as a final pegasus, panting and barely standing, retracted his throwing hoof and beat his wings hard, peeling out through the open window. With haggard breath he forces his wings to flap, but his muscles almost froze solid as he dared to look behind him. The Ghost dove from the window. Inertia carried him as the cloak reached out to grasp one of the many flagpoles lining the building, swinging hard enough to launch himself like a black bullet through the air, eyes trained on the panicking pegasus. He beat his wings, faster and faster, his heart about to burst from the strain and fear.

But something else came for him, fast and hard and bearing the glint of dark knives. A violent caw announced the blur as it snatched the fleeing pegasus from the air and slammed against the ground, kicking up dust that fell at the hooves of the few stumbling onlookers surrounding the scene. Gilda stood over him, eyes wicked.

“Alright, creep, spill! Numbers, employer, hideout, and whatever else you think might convince me not to gut you.” Jet black talons made themselves known, glinting in the eyes of their prey as Gilda turned towards the landing shadow behind her. “I leave you alone for two minutes…”

“But then your morning wouldn’t be exciting. I’m looking out for you.” The Ghost smirked, causing Gilda to roll her eyes and return to the cowering pegasus in the dirt. A firm shake of her claw sent his lips babbling.

“I-I don’t know much, but w-we came under orders to get trade schedules for the city. We were gonna set up heists along the roads leading into town.”

“Orders from who, dweeb?!”

“O-Oh, no… if I tell you, he-”

“Shield Wall.” The Ghost’s staunch declaration snagged the pegasus’ attention, mouth quivering as he shook.

“How… h-how do you know that?” Such a question caused the Ghost’s eyebrow to hike up. Two steps forward and he slowly closed in on the pony, trapped as much by his glare as he was by the silence, until the Ghost finally spoke.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” He placed a hoof gingerly against the pony’s throat. “So tell me where he is… now.”

“Canterlot! He’s in Canterlot, b-but I don’t know where. We got our orders from a dead drop, honest!”

“And what about her?”

“U-Uh… who?”

Gilda’s firm grip was overpowered by the sudden yank against it as the pegasus was pulled from the earth. The Ghost slammed him against the wall of the nearest building. “Abundant Glow. Where is she?!”

“I’ve never seen her before, honest!”

“I don’t believe you.”

Fear turned to panic in his eyes as the Ghost’s words announced his sudden flight from the mouth of a nearby alleyway and down onto the shaded stone, hard. He skidded a ways before stopping, coughing, before turning his weary attention towards the growing shadow closing in on him. Limp hooves tried to scramble away but black hooves were already upon him.

“Tell me,” the Ghost seethed.

“P-Please, I don’t… I swear I don’t know.”

Specs of red dotted the ground at the first strike, falling from his lips as the Ghost struck him and growled. “Where?”

“Dude,” Gilda’s words followed the firm claw placed upon the Ghost’s shoulder. “Cool it. There’s ponies watching.”

The Ghost stayed still. Squinting amber eyes pierced his prey’s resolve, as if digging behind his mind for whatever lie might lurk within, but his grip slackened.

One moment the pegasus watched the Ghost’s hoof move away, and the next he felt the sudden force of his last strike rake across his jaw, sending him straight into unconsciousness. Not far away, they could hear the clunking armor of the city guards spreading away from city hall and directly towards them. When they arrived, though, all they found was the sleeping pegasus, the scene now watched over from the rooftops by the duo as their dispatched foe was dragged away. Behind him, Gilda tapped her claw against the roof.

“What was that?”

“An interrogation.”

“Looked like the start of torture to me.” Her words landed weakly against the firm posture of the Ghost. “Don’t give me the broody silence, dude, we talked about this. What’s wrong?”

Long, staggered breaths escaped from his chest as a hoof reached up to pull the dark fabric from his face, peering over his shoulder to her. “It’s the first real lead, the first chance I’ve had to find her.”

“You know he can’t talk if you turn his jaw to mashed potatoes, right?”

“I wasn’t…” Silver sighed, facing Gilda before sitting down on the rooftop. “It’s my fault, G. She needed me, and I wasn’t there.”

“There you go, blaming yourself again. You can’t control what she does, dude, you know that.” Gilda’s face was unchanged, but her voice softened as she sat beside Silver.

“But you saw her, how angry she was. I was so busy trying to keep everyone safe that I never let myself see it, and now she…” Silver looked out to the horizon and the outline of a city resting against the far mountains. “I can’t stop thinking about it. What he might be doing to her. She’s trapped with him because I wasn’t there, until it was too late.”

His words hung in the air for a moment, drifting between them as Gilda gave a sigh. “Shit, dude, maybe, but what’s it matter? You wanna make it better and that’s all that counts, whether it’s your fault or not. You’re enough, dude, remember that.”

The corners of his mouth curled as she spoke, and Silver found himself placing a foreleg over her broad shoulders and feeling her return the gesture. “You got better at this.”

“I’m a natural,” she snarked, laughing alongside Silver as they stood.

With a warm smile, Silver placed his gloved hoof onto Gilda’s claw, patting it twice. The same hoof beckoned her to follow, and the two lept from the roof to begin their course through the city. Silver swung from buildings and glided across long, open streets, with Gilda hovering above him the entire way, her sharp eyes spying the air balloon of the Tornado off in the distance.

Chapter 5: "Weirdness comes with the whole cloak and cowl territory.”

Flawless masonry stood as the signature of Canterlot’s imposing cityscape. Pristine white walls, rooftops of varying shades of violet, all lining the cobblestone streets to house ponies and businesses of every type, only growing taller and denser towards the city center. Concentric rings of streets marked each district of Canterlot’s downtown, serving as arteries for traffic and pedestrians traversing the marble metropolis. One such street led from the city center towards the imposing fortress of splendor resting along the edge of the city. Canterlot Castle loomed over the city, in direct eyesight of the company making their way towards it.

All around them, the city was abuzz with activity as they passed, dodging crowds of ponies and vendors hauling their goods towards the outer grounds of the palace. Upon the walls hung brilliant standards dressed with the sun’s icon. The company watched as a fairground was constructed around them, with teams of pegasi soaring overhead and carrying their banners. On their approach towards the inner gate, the guards straightened their posture.

All it took was one look at the pony leading the pack and they readily stepped aside, pulling open the gates and bidding them enter. The palace grounds were neat, organized, tended to by dozens of caretakers found wherever the group turned. Soon, the group crossed the threshold into the palace, proper, the lobby decorated with the brilliant light of stained glass windows along the walls, dancing across the floor as a chorus of color, but across the lobby stood a pony. She held a dour expression, and her leathery wings held tight to her side. She first met Silver’s gaze, but for a second flicked her eyes towards the only other bat pony amongst them, clearing her throat as she spoke.

“Lord Aristo,” she declared, giving a bow. “I am Night Captain Indigo. On behalf of Princess Luna, I welcome you to Canterlot.”

Silver bowed in return. “I’m hoping she isn’t currently busy. There’s a situation we need to inform her of, her ears only.”

“Of course, she’s expecting you. Follow me.” She beckoned the party with a hoof, her sight lingering on Kindle for a moment before turning down one of the branching hallways. Through polished hallways they traveled until coming upon a large door, adorned with reliefs of the phases of the moon. Indigo waved a small stone sigil in front of it, the door coming to life with a soft pop and glow of blue runes as it swung open, leading to a twisting staircase leading upwards towards the palace’s north tower. Once at the top, Indigo stood before the party.

“Guests, I introduce to you Princess Luna, Mistress of the Moon, Dreamwalker, She Who Soars Over Seas Of Stars. Your majesty…”

Before them all sat the alicorn Indigo so highly praised. She stood from her seat upon the balcony, her swirling mane a curtain of night against the brilliance of day, and with cerulean eyes she scanned the four who stood before her. Kindle stepped forward and bowed, so low he touched the floor. Luna tilted her head at the gesture. He could hear the soft click of her regal horseshoes against the onyx floor, but the throbbing in his head warned him against meeting whatever harsh expression he envisioned upon her face, until a hoof reached down and touched his cheek, slowly tilting him upwards to meet her.

“Prithee, thou art Kindle, yes?” Her voice was a cool, silken tone. “One of the Night Guard who defected?”

Kindle fought against his own trembling lips, searching for even the breath to respond, but Luna spoke again. “Fret not, wayward one, for to be in Silver’s company is to be held in trust. We welcome you back.”

As her hoof left his face, Kindle felt his legs buckle, almost dropping himself onto the floor before recovering and stepping aside, allowing Princess Luna to approach the rest of the party. Silver stepped forward.

“Princess Luna, we’ve come from Ponyville with important news, given to us by Prince Shining Armor. There was a break-in at the Crystal Palace. A known fugitive and armed assailants infiltrated and stole an object of importance. The horn of King Sombra.”

“Pray tell, when did this occur?” Luna’s eyes were firm.

“Only a week ago. Their commander was identified as Glint, and he was no doubt working under orders.”

Luna’s brow pinched together, a stiff sigh following. “By him, of course… and what of Alate? Hast Cadence’s healers aided her recovery?”

“Nothing gets by you, huh?” Silver smirked, his question answered only by Luna’s own muffled chuckling.

“Are we not the keeper of dreams? T’would behoove one to remember our power reaches not to ponies, alone. Tell me, are there signs of his treachery?”

“We suspect so. We’ve been encountering a band of criminals on our travels to Canterlot. First in Coltistrano, where they tried to rob Lord Aristo’s donations to the city, and again in Ponyville. This all happened in the span of a few days.”

“Curious, wouldst thou not agree, noble rogue? Befallen by such blackguards so frequently?”

“It’s not a pleasant thought, but we can’t be sure of his plan so soon. All we’ve found his agents doing is searching for opportunities for bits. Heists, or roadside robbery. It’s possible we have the drop on him, for once.”

“Do not be so sure, for one such crime has already been committed here, in the palace.” Luna’s confession brought forth a rise of murmurs from the group, before her hoof raised and urged them to silence. “T’was only yesterday, where our personal stores ransacked, a series of instruments and artifacts the thieves’ prize, though their value meager. Perhaps our blights are intertwined?”

“Perhaps, indeed, but we’ll need to be sure. I hate to imply, but… does he have any agents in the castle we know of?” Silver’s question was directed at Luna, but his eyes floated over to the Night Captain, watching him with a scowl.

“We blame thee not for such suspicion, but be at ease. Indigo is one of the traitorous legion, true, but loyalty and duty hast bid her return to our side, much like many others, including Kindle.” Luna sent Silver a small smirk.

“Of course, but you know how complicated things are with him. We can never be too sure.” Silver turned to Indigo, bowing his head. “Forgive me.”

Indigo nodded in return, her muscles losing only some of their tension from Silver’s gesture, and beside her, Princess Luna addressed the entire company. “Whilst in each other’s company, perchance we may work together? You, your hunt for a villain, and we, the recovery of royal treasures.”

“It would be a pleasure, Princess,” Rarity chirped, stepping forward towards Luna. “To not only serve royalty, but in the grandeur of the palace itself? Well, it’s irresistible.”

Silver rolled his eyes with a smile, earning a firm slap to his shoulder from the unicorn. Luna, however, simply chuckled at the exchange. “Wondrous. Night Captain, escort our guests to rooms within the palace where they may rest. Lady Rarity, we shall call upon thee once an investigation is prepared.”

At once, the four visitors bowed and were escorted out of the chamber by Indigo, with Rarity shooting Silver a smile before crossing through the doors. Their steps echoed in the spacious and imposing halls. Silver’s eyes flicked from paintings lining the walls to the pony silently guiding them, and cleared his throat to speak.

“Indigo, right? I didn’t mean to make things awkward back there, but we both know how dangerous Shield Wall can be.”

“None offense taken.” Her response was cold as she continued walking ahead of them, but not enough to deter Silver from continuing.

“If it’s alright to ask, do you know anything about where he might be? I know a number of former Night Guard fled the Empire, and if you do-”

“I don’t see why a noble like yourself is so concerned with matters of security. The disgraced vice general is our responsibility, unless you’re asking for your city’s mascot.”

“You mean the Ghost?” Silver cocked an eyebrow.

“He isn’t called The Ghost of Las Pegasus,” she snipped. “And if he’d done his job back in the Empire, then everything could go back to normal.”

“You mean kill Shield Wall?”

“He let an enemy of the state escape, with Countess Glow as a hostage. Kill him or not, he should’ve done his job.”

Silver’s teeth clenched, the tension of which could be seen along his jaw and, otherwise, unphased expression. Kindle, however, saw the shift immediately.

“It’s been a while, Indigo,” he blurted out. “I haven’t been able to catch up with the unit, not since all the hearings. I’m glad you got out.”

“We both have different definitions of ‘got out’, Kindle, judging by your new post.”

“What? You mean…” Kindle peered over his shoulder to Silver with a sheepish chuckle. “Right. Not quite the same as returning to active duty, is it?”

“No, but for what it’s worth you did good by us, helping Princess Cadence defend the palace.” Indigo’s stern tone softened as she spoke, now locking eyes with him.

Kindle grinned, his gaze dancing around Indigo as he fought his growing blush. “I hope Luna is treating you all well. I can’t tell you how glad I am that everyone’s back.”

Indigo sent a small smile over her shoulder. “She is, thanks. You ever think about rejoining the fold?”

“Eventually, yeah, there’s just some… things I need to do, first.”

From behind the group, Kindle sensed the patter of hooves coming for them. The brisk pace belonged to a tall unicorn, trailed by another blonde-maned assistant, maintaining his posture as he closed the distance. Silver turned and was met with a smile from their visitor.

“Ah! Hello, Lord Aristo, everyone. I trust you all remember me. Fancy Pants, and this is my assistant, Nimble Quill.” Fancy gave a slight nod to Nimble before immediately continuing. “I was so surprised to hear you were back in the city, but it is a pleasure. Night Captain, I do apologize for this sudden intrusion, but I trust you won’t mind if I borrow Aristo for a moment, yes?”

Fancy barely waited for a response from Indigo before Silver felt his foreleg firmly pulled away from the group and down the hall a ways. They tucked themselves between two pillars lining the windows, Fancy stood straight and adjusted his monocle.

“Lord Aristo,” he began. “It is a pleasure to have you back.”

“As you’ve said,” Silver said, shaking Fancy’s hoof.

“Ah! Ha, yes, and I wanted to catch you before you went off on whatever business you were attending. I hear you’re in government now, yes? In Coltistrano?”

“Yes, a somewhat recent post.” Silver looked over his shoulder towards the group, until Fancy placed a firm hoof on his side.

“Splendid! You’ll fit right in. Nimble, please update the guest list to include our friend here.”

“I… say what?”

“Oh, forgive my haste. You no doubt saw all the preparation for the Summer Sun Festival outside tomorrow, yes? I will be hosting a party at my estate, something of a reception to all the festivities, and it is of the utmost importance you arrive, and don’t forget a plus one. I saw the beautiful Lady Rarity follow you here, you rapscallion.” Fancy nudged Silver in the ribs, but the gesture was deflected by its intended target.

“Fancy, it’s a kind offer, but I’m not here for leisure. This is a business trip.”

“Yes, business, I understand, and I understand some of that business may include a certain… friend of yours, yes? Our mutual, nocturnal acquaintance?”

At this, Silver locked eyes with Fancy, and in his gaze he found the jubilance from before had melted away to reveal a stone-cold stare. “My estate, tomorrow. Eight o’clock. Plus one… well, plus two.”

In a flash his enthusiasm returned. He bowed to Silver, waved to the party just down the hall, and walked back the way he came with the very same pep he arrived with, leaving Silver to stand beside the window in wonderment. He slowly turned to rejoin the group, but Fancy’s sudden shift of tone stuck to his memory. Silver spent the rest of the walk in silence.

—

“P-Please! I’ve already told you where my guys are. I got nothing else!”

“I’m not looking for your ‘guys’. I’m looking for him.”

“You think I know where that psychopath is?”

“Don’t you?”

Blood rushed to the tips of her maroon ears, a consequence of her current precarious predicament, clinging to a limb of shadowy cloth for dear life with the city lights spinning down below. Her horn fizzled once, the stuttering glow a reflection of the panic drawn across her face as she resisted the urge to look in either her inverted up or down. In one path was the pavement, six stories up and hauntingly inviting. In the other, something far more haunting. It drew in closer.

“You’re lucky I mostly keep out of your business. You and your gangs aren’t in my busy schedule, but I’m feeling rather generous with my time, so let’s try this again: Where is he?”

The maroon unicorn tried to stammer out a response, her attention split between her captor and her looming destination. “W-We… we don’t hear much, okay? It’s not like anyone’s crazy enough to work with him, not after Manehatten.”

“But you have heard something, yes?”

“Just whispers, you know? Last I heard, he’d been riling up trouble in Las Pega-” A sudden jerk forced her voice out in a scream, biting her tongue. “He’s been here! Sweet Celestia, we’ve seen him around, but we never worked with him, honest!”

“Seen him where?”

“Couple of burnt out hideaways, old Night Guard stuff Princess Luna owns. I swear, I don’t know any more, just please let me down!”

The last thing she saw was the small smirk across his lips before gravity took over. Screaming followed her plummeting body, spinning once in the air, catching flashes of the barrier of streetlamps below, then she jerked. Timid eyes opened. Mere inches separated her from the pavement, and the strand of cloth securing her torso soon retreated back upwards towards the cloudy night sky. Atop the building, the Ghost chuckled as she ran, digging into one of his pouches and placing something in his ear.

“I’m sorry, you were saying?” He tapped the sending stone once, rune springing to life.

“With the amount of care you take in pursuing the scum and villainy of the world, I’m curious who your true love really is.”

“I could tie you up, too, you know?” He said with a pur in his throat, and her silence from the other end only encouraged his grin.

“That’s not what I meant.”

A laugh followed him as the Ghost leapt from his perch, shooting out the cloak and swinging through the city streets, just above the streetlamps as Rarity continued. “As I was saying, Luna’s given me perhaps the cleanest crime scene I’ve ever stepped hoof in. There’s very little to go off of here.”

“Did you learn what exactly was stolen?” The Ghost perched atop an archway, watching the ponies below.

“A few things. Luna’s reliquary is full of old devices and objects of questionable ability, or value. There’s a strange residue on the walls, though, with a tinge of green. It looks familiar…”

The Ghost hung on for a moment, silently waiting for Rarity’s follow up. “I am in suspense, Rarity.”

“Oh! Forgive me, it’s fire. These burns are almost identical to the ones Alate left with Sombra’s horn, and Glint must’ve used it to get through the vault door. Or, Shield Wall did.”

“So, why take a bunch of ancient, mildly interesting junk? Breaking into the palace is something you do for an assassination, not thrift shopping.”

“I’ll have to request a full catalog to know what each object did, maybe send it to Twilight and see if she can figure it out.” She went silent, the shift in tone filling the Ghost’s chest with a trembling tension, slowly bringing his gloved hoof to his ear.

“Rarity?”

“Yes, I’m still here,” she sighed. “Could we talk? About what I said back at home?”

“About moving on, right?” He stood from his perch and began to walk along the edge of the row of buildings, following familiar streets.

“Among other things. I… this is difficult to talk about in a crime scene.”

“At least there aren’t any victims this time, right?” He laughed, receiving a scoff from the other end.

“And that’s what I mean,” Rarity chuckled. “Does it never bother you just how normal this has become for us? I mean, most other ponies consider date night dinner and stargazing.”

“We do dinner. As I recall, I cooked last time I was in Ponyville while you lounged about in that puffy purple robe of yours.”

“While we disarmed a bomb.” Silver cleared his throat at Rarity’s sudden objection. “Romantic and delightful as it was, there’s a question of safety and sanity. It’s hard to set the mood when one is concerned about a literal explosive finish.”

“Okay, point taken, no rogue explosives on date night, but you know there’s very little about me that’s normal, right? Weirdness comes with the whole cloak and cowl territory.”

“Don’t I know it?” They laughed together before silence returned, and Rarity gave a soft sigh. “I guess… do you mean what you said? About wanting to move on, too?”

Silver paused at the end of his jump, landing deftly atop a derelict, burned building bearing a crescent moon sigil upon the door. “I do. I’m tired of fighting him, of waking up to flashes of all he’s done.”

“What happens, then? When we find him?”

The Ghost flipped over the edge, shooting his cloak out to a broken piece of wood and swinging inside through a broken window. “When we find him, it’ll be the last.”

“I hope so, and… Silver, thank you for-”

“Hold on.” The Ghost grasped his cloak, pulling it across himself as his eyes scanned the broken room around him. Charred debris and shattered glass littered the scene. His ears, though, twitched at every tiny sound the decrepit building made, latching on to one, in particular. He wrapped a hoof in the cloak and pressed it to the floor, clowning his eyes.

Thrumming entered his mind. He could feel the space below him, following the building’s failing support beams down to the first level, shooting out across the structure until the entire building painted itself in his senses. The slightest movement, the tiniest crack, the cloak fed him every detail of the outpost he stood in. He was alone, until he sensed something behind him.

A vicious limb swung at his head as he rolled forward, spinning around to see a unicorn lunge for him with a knee. He continued his assault against the impervious cloak before grabbing it and pulling. The Ghost stumbled. A well-placed hoof found purchase along his muzzle and brought him back to the floor, but the assailant still held the cloak in his hoof. It tensed, with an audible crunch as the pony’s foreleg began to twist, but a desperate series of strikes forced the Ghost on the defensive, relinquishing his hold. A firm kick knocked him back and the Ghost stood, facing down his foe.

They traded blows for a moment. The Ghost swiped with the cloak, tripping his opponent before somersaulting into a wheel kick, cracking the wood with its force but missing his nimble target. Again, he was grabbed by the cloak. This time, the Ghost grabbed the loose end and leapt over the unicorn, wrapping the cloak around his neck and pulling hard. The unicorn flailed, limply slapping the Ghost. As this happened, the Ghost watched as the unicorn’s skin began to shift, ripple under the pressure of his hold, and in his distraction he was fed a solid strike from the back of the unicorn’s skull, releasing him. The Ghost tried to recover, but his target soon lept from the window and into the darkness of Canterlot.

He rushed over and threw his head out of the window, with no trace of the attacker to be found, only the empty street below. The Ghost stepped back, rubbing his muzzle. A hoof reached over and tapped the sending stone in his ear.

“Hey,” he panted. “Do you have anything to wear to a party? Something sharp, but just a little casual?

“A lady is nothing if not prepared, darling. I must have, at least, three such dresses at my shop in town. Why?”

“I think I’d like to take you dancing.”

“Dancing? Oh, Silver, it’s been ages since… oh, wait, what’re you planning?”

Chapter 6: “I’m sure I’ll surprise you.”

The Summer Sun Festival never ceases to amaze me. Anywhere else, it’s a spectacle, but in Canterlot it’s a genuine royal event. Everyone from the Princesses to the nobility attended today’s ceremony, not to mention the throngs of ponies lining the streets. Why, if it weren’t for Princess Luna, we most certainly would’ve drowned in the crowd flooding the palace’s outer grounds, but to watch Celestia raise the sun in person? Simply nothing can compare.

It gave me a moment to, at least, distract myself from Luna’s request. Last night’s investigation was fruitless, save for a few scraps of information. Her reliquary is a trove of ancient objects whose uses have been lost to time, not to mention the dust. I’m still brushing it off my mane. Unsurprisingly, she was very cooperative with me and my questioning, even going so far as to give me a personal tour and reveal what the stolen objects were used for, as much as she could remember. My conclusion: they’re all junk. Aging arcane baubles from a time long gone. Sets of lenses and carved brass frames, crystal tubes that harmonize with the air, and a dozen other items that have long lost their magic and rested dormant for centuries. I haven’t the mind to determine their value, but Shield Wall wants them, and that frightens me.

My darling Silver, however, couldn’t be in better spirits. Maybe the celebration is what he needed, just to take a break from the world and lose himself for a moment. He works so hard. I know one day he’ll come home without a brand new score of bruises, but I’m content knowing we’ll actually have a home together, once all this is behind us. For now, however, he seems happy to leer at me from across the carriage.

Rarity peeked over the edge of her journal. A pair of low-lidded amber eyes followed her, underlined by the signature smirk she had come to know so well. They rocked together as the ornate carriage carried them across the neat, cobblestone streets of Canterlot, one of many in a procession heading towards the far side of the city’s uptown. Lantern light peaked through the windows as they passed by. It was enough to illuminate the sparkling navy gown hugging Rarity’s frame, accented by the equally sparkling bun of violet locks atop her head and providing the perfect contrast to Silver’s robust ensemble of rich crimson and accents of gold. An aura of blue appeared around his cream cravat and pulled gently.

“Wait until we’re home,” he purred.

“Pfft, I’m straightening it.” Her final adjustment bumped the knot against Silver’s throat, stunning him as she chuckled. “You’ll survive. Now, why don’t you tell me what you’ve gotten us into. It’s impossible for you to be so charming and not in danger at the same time.”

Silver cocked an eyebrow, pausing before he spoke. “Fancy invited me to a party, and he was rather rushed about it. Something tells me there’s more happening in this town than we thought.”

“Oh, and we’re here to lure that something out, hm?”

“You’re the detective.”

“I seem to recall us discussing something regarding normal date nights, but I suppose it’s for the good of Canterlot… and we’ve never danced before.” Her cheeks grew red, even beneath her blush, as she stowed the journal in a small purse. “We expect to find Shield Wall here, yes?”

“Fancy and I have few mutual friends, and considering the testimonies from last night, I’m almost sure of it.”

“Then we’ll need to alert the guard, but what about Gilda and Kindle? I didn’t see them in the procession.”

“Oh, I can’t ruin the surprise. You’re going to be so proud of her.”

At this, Rarity’s face perked up, just in time for the carriage to lurch forward and halt. After a few seconds the door rattled and was pulled open by an older stallion, extending his hoof to bid them exit. Silver stepped out first and was met by the blinding barrage of camera flares from crowds of ponies desperate to see the celebrity coming out of the procession. His hoof reached forward to Rarity’s, helping her down as a second volley of flashes burst forth as they made their way towards the tall mansion before them, stepping through the open gates and into the sanctuary of the inner grounds. Before the cameras took their last flashes, Silver leaned in and kissed Rarity on the cheek. She nearly screamed.

“Silver!” She slapped his shoulder with her purse. “Not in front of the press!”

He laughed as they stepped inside the imposing home, checking in with the posh pony at the door and crossing over into the main lobby. It was packed. Dozens of heads cast their voices across the dark wood and marble of the house, leading all the way down the hall towards the ballroom that glowed with a dull bronze color along the floor, beckoning Silver and Rarity. Some of the guests nodded and greeted them as they passed, but in a brief moment of relative seclusion Rarity returned his favor, planting her lips firmly against his cheek.

“You’re such a foal sometimes.” A cloth floated up from her purse and rubbed at the lipstick print left behind. “We must truly be in trouble tonight with you as playful as you are.”

“You know me so well.”

Rarity blew a few mocking kisses towards him, sighing as she scanned the crowd. “What about Gilda and Kindle? They’re here, right?”

“The Tornado is parked at the private airport, outside. They should be… whoa.”

Both sets of eyes turned towards the wide double doors leading out from the ballroom towards the private airport, and from the crowd of esteemed guests entering through came a pair they barely recognized. The bat pony stood tall, with his mane swept back to match his similarly clean dress blues. A breast of service ribbons decorated his jacket, his horseshoes glinted with fresh polish, and on his foreleg rested the more spectacular of the two.

The claw held a simple gold band upon a digit. Similar bands of gold filigree dotted her wings like glowing teardrops. Eyes of citrine, framed by striking eyeshadow, pierced the veil of her side swept fringe, pulled to one side along pressed and neatly laid feathers, with each step she took followed by the swaying of her equally adorned tail beneath her amethyst gown, held snugly against her toned frame. The gryphon pulled the attention of any who saw her as she approached the group. Many lingered in their stares, some even whispered amongst themselves, mouths agape as she passed with poise and a confident grace. Rarity squealed.

“Oooh! Gilda, darling, you look absolutely stunning! My goodness, it fits you so well. Don’t tell me you did this all on your own?”

“Heh, uh… yeah.” Her feathers would ruffle were it not for their obvious grooming.

“You are stunning, love. I could’ve hardly done better, myself.” She leaned in for a hug, gently working her hooves around the gown. “And you look sharp as ever, Kindle. Very proper.”

Kindle brushed a hoof against his tie, fighting the goofy grin growing across his face. “Glad it works, I wasn’t able to get anything else on short notice. Which, Silver, why are we here, again? You didn’t really mention what this lead of yours was.”

“For the normal reasons, Kindle: drinks, company, and impending doom. Fancy’s invitation was far more distressing than I’m comfortable with. I think he’s in danger.”

“In danger of burning his wallet?” Gilda huffed, peering over her shoulder at the immaculate spread at the far end of the room. “Seems like the guy can never attend a party without someone wanting to snuff out his light.”

“Not if Shield’s in town. Kindle, can you check the perimeter and make sure security’s tight?”

“I made a sweep before I walked in. It’s light, but enough to help if something happens. You don’t think Shield would stage something here, do you? In public?”

“He’s done it before…” Across the heads of guests Silver caught the faint glimmer of light against the single rim of a monocle scanning the crowd. “And there he is. Everyone, try to blend in, work the crowd.”

With a reassuring pat to Rarity’s shoulder, Silver broke off from the group. His path was marked by small conversations with talkative, oblivious guests as he passed, but he kept Fancy in his sight at all times. On deft hooves he dodged one of the waiters, snagging a glass of sparkling liquid, a peace offering to the pensive unicorn who finally discovered him approaching through the wall of ponies surrounding him, giving a sigh as his aura enveloped the glass.

“Lord Aristo, I’m relieved to see you here.” He took a sip and savored the sting in his throat.

“Your invitation certainly called for my attention, but I’m relieved I didn’t miss out on such a party.” Silver stood beside him, scanning the crowd. “My plus one is here.”

Fancy nearly choked on his second sip, wiping the dribble of champagne on his sleeve. “He is? Heavens, is he here, in this room? I haven’t seen-”

“And you wouldn’t. Fancy, it’d be best if you actually told me what you needed him for.”

“Yes… yes, well…” A third and final sip of his liquid courage passed his lips and Fancy gave a stern huff. “There are things I can’t tell you, for the safety of others and myself, but… it’s Shield Wall.”

Silver leaned in as Fancy whispered, looking around the room for any pair of wandering eyes amongst the thick crowd of nobility, but in their secluded corner of the ballroom they seemed hidden enough.

“That’s why I was as gracious as I was, yesterday. I know the Ghost shares a personal vendetta with Shield Wall, and if anyone can help me out of this nightmarish situation, it must be him.”

“Then you must’ve seen him, right? What does he want?”

“I haven’t seen him, no, but I’ve seen his agents, and-” Fancy sealed his lips as a waiter passed by, eyes following the pony until they were out of earshot once more. “I have reason to suspect they’ll be here tonight.”

“Based on what, Fancy?”

“Well… because I invited you.” Silver’s jaw clenched as he turned towards Fancy, a heat rising through his body as Fancy’s hooves shot up between them both. “N-Not to trap you! On my honor, I swear I’m on your side, but having the Ghost and his allies here is the best defense in case he does arrive, and you can handle him, yes?”

Silver held his tongue for a moment, allowing his scowl to hold Fancy in place before he spoke. “We expected to, but if you know anything about what he’s planning, this is your chance to tell me.”

“You know how he operates. If he discovers I’ve told you even this much, he’ll strike at what’s most precious to me. You understand, yes?” Deep breaths slowed Silver’s heart, giving a small nod to Fancy. “Thank you, friend, but for now I fear I’ve been away too long. Let your company know.”

With that, Fancy downed the last of the bubbling glass and disappeared into the crowd. Silver gave a long sigh as he stood along, patting the breast and sleeves of his tailcoat to ensure the presence of his cloak, a reassurance to keep his nerves in check. Soon, his hooves carried him across the bronze ballroom floor as the swelling notes of strings and chimes floated over the crowd. Guests struck out in smiles, tugging and pulling on their partners and making their way towards the center of the room, the notes melding into growing music, led by the sound of a brass horn. One guest walked alone and gently guided Silver with her hoof on his.

“Just in time,” Rarity cooed, coiling her foreleg around his neck. “I trust you actually know how to dance, yes?”

“I’m sure I’ll surprise you.”

She gasped at his touch, running his hoof across her waist as they slowly twirled into the crowd of dancing ponies. With measured strength Silver lead. As the music picked up pace, so too did they, spinning along to the beat and in synchronicity with the rest of the crowd. Their hooves held each other, but Silvers soon snagged the back of Rarity’s. She felt her mane flow beside her face as she twirled on her hooves, her back pressing against Silver’s chest. Then, his lips found her neck. Rarity’s resolve waned, her only hope of escape being a quick reversal of her own, throwing her hooves over his head as she spun and pushed her leg up his, brushing his lips with hers.

“Consider me surprised. Wherever did you learn?” In her grip she felt him squirm slightly, his blush summoning a small grin from Rarity as she whispered in his ear. “It was Darrox, wasn’t it?”

“It was.” He laughed first, chuckling at the absurdity of the image in his mind as Rarity joined in.

“Now that is a story for later, my love. For now, get ready to switch.”

A lighter tune signaled the key change, prompting the partners of the dance floor to separate, floating towards strangers across from them. Silver and Rarity were pulled apart, following the flow of the ballroom across partners as the band played on, until Silver found himself face to face with the firm brow of a gryphon.

“Gilda, have I told you how gorgeous you look?”

“Buck you.”

Hearty laughter trailed from Silver as they spun together with the swaying dancers around them. “Come on, featherface, don’t act like you aren’t having fun.”

“Just tell me you have a plan.” Gilda groaned as she twirled under Silver’s foreleg, bending back for a dip.

“Fancy thinks someone’s on to him. If they strike, we’ll be here to stop it.” Silver pulled Gilda back up to meet at eye level. “If not, then we’ll have him in our protection to answer questions. Win win.”

“Good, can’t wait to get back to the ship.”

“Why the rush? Not a fan of showing up the snobby ponies?”

She rolled her eyes as the makings of a grin crept across her beak, errant feathers poking up through her well-maintained fringe. “Save it for Rarity… dweeb.”

Firm digits pushed against Silver’s face as they separated, Gilda rolling back into the crowd as partners were exchanged again. Silver held out for a moment longer as he searched for the familiar curtain of violet curls. When he found an older, portly stallion working his way towards her, Silver spun and provided just enough leverage with a hoof to trip the suitor, freeing Rarity’s embrace for him to secure.

“I didn’t know you were the jealous type,” she said as they rejoined the dance.

“A stallion like that’s no good for you. Dense, pompous, more bits than sense. You deserve someone with flair. Charm.”

“An unceasing flirt, perhaps?”

“With immaculate taste.”

“Taste in what, hmm?”

“Fashion, venues… mares.”

“How corny,” she chuckled as her eyes fluttered closed, a wide smile dressing her face as she leaned into his chest. “We needed this. Impending doom be damned, you’ve no idea how much this means to me. Can we… can we just enjoy it? For tonight?”

Silver leaned in, placing a kiss on her cheek and whispering in her ear. “Every night.”

There they swayed amongst the swirling tides of colorful gowns and melodious strings, heads touching each other as the world melted away around them. Movement was all they focused on. Of each other, of the crowd, of their hearts guiding their limbs. Silver opened his eyes to see hers closed, a smile on her face. Carefully he ventured downwards toward it, romancing her lips with his own, once more closing his eyes with the fluttering sensation of relief rising up along his spine. The moment was broken, though, by the disappointed scoffs of dancers around them whose paths to new partners they blocked.

Silver and Rarity snapped from their trance, giggling to each other before obliging the crowd, and with a final twirl they parted to opposite ends of the dancing sea. Rarity was scooped up by a well-to-do pegasus, and Silver jubilantly spun on his own into the embrace of his new partner. His heart froze.

Creamy yellow hooves rested in his alabaster ones. A hollow gaze filled with seafoam greeted him from behind its curtain of ruby hairs, tucked behind her ears. The unicorn held him firmly as they swayed. Silver fought the urge to escape, to pull free from the haunting visage of the mare, but instead quelled the tremor in his chest as she spoke.

“Hello, Silver.”

“Abby.”

“I should say I’m surprised to see you here.” She fell into his spin, the skirt of her emerald gown flowing behind. “You’ve gotten better.”

“The wonders of proper tutelage… you’re alive.”

“Surprised?” She quipped.

“Relieved, considering your current company.” He pulled her close, forcefully. “You know, I never stopped looking for you, even after all that happened.”

“How touching, I’m surprised you care.”

“Why?” Silver was met with an icy glare, his voice frozen in his throat.

“Because you loved me.”

Gentle strings overtook the silence between them. Their eyes dodged each other, ending when he finally found his voice and spoke. “I never wanted this to happen, Abby, to push you away.”

“Then you would’ve abandoned the cloak instead of choosing it over me.”

“Like how you’ve chosen him?” His words caused her to stumble, enough for him to begin leading their dance. “You didn’t seriously think siding with Shield Wall was the answer, did you?”

“If it means killing the Ghost, then yes.”

“I don’t believe you.” In response, Abby poked her hoof into Silver’s side, summoning pain and bitter memories, causing him to wince.

“Is that evidence enough? Right between the padding, as I recall.”

“You aren’t the first friend to have drawn blood from me.” He took her hoof in his with an unyielding grip, boring holes into her with his stare. “And you aren’t the first person Shield Wall’s used against me. You know how he works, how he manipulates. He’s turning my mistakes against us.”

Abby pursed her lips and pushed against his lead. “It’s good to know you admit it. Had you done it earlier, I might not be a fugitive from my own home.”

“Tell me why you’re here, and you no longer will be.” Silver regained his stance and twirled her under his hoof.

“As if you could redeem me, after all that’s happened.” She leaned her back against his chest, floating her foreleg along his. “Someone will have to answer for my crimes.”

“Celestia will be lenient, you know she will.”

“Not after what he’s done. Who he’s… it’s too late, Silver.”

“Only if you don’t help me. Please, Abby, we can stop him, together.”

“Ha! Together? I hardly felt we were ‘together’ when you vilified me in front of the entire Empire, or when you shattered my heart with three, little words. Forgive me if I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

“You know you can trust me. I’m not giving up on you.”

Abby spun back to face him, a thin and weary grin on her face. “Oh Silver, you’d be waiting ages for that, I’m afraid.”

“And I would wait ages more.”

Abby pulled away. He could feel her muscles tense, lurching beneath her skin in every direction away from him, yet she stayed where she stood. Her once chilling eyes fell into a fluttering and distracted glare across the dance floor. An island in the middle of the swirling crowd, Silver pressed his hoof to her cheek, trying to meet her gaze.

Azure eyes spotted them from across the room. Rarity swirled with her partner as her attention lingered and immediately took off towards them when the music queued a partner change, but something stopped her, soon finding herself spun around by another. Her prepared responses were dashed when she laid eyes upon him. Tall, gray mane, dressed in a pressed navy tailcoat and with piercing golden eyes bearing down on her. Rarity almost screamed as she fought his grip, finding just enough leverage to pull herself away and rushed towards Silver. She hid within his embrace as he followed her trail to the source of her fear, ensnaring them in a gaze of liquid gold.

Chapter 7: “His name is Silver Spade!”

Tides of vibrant gowns and polished tailcoats swirled along the edges of their vision, orchestrated by the gentle strumming of heavenly strings, but in the churning sea of color and joy sat an island of tension. Four ponies, locked in a death stare. Only one smiled.

“A pleasure to see you again, Silver. Enjoying yourself?”

“Not anymore,” he said coolly.

“Pity, after all the work I put in to bring you here.” Shield glared across the crowd, following a dapper unicorn with a monocle. “Did you enjoy my invitation?”

“You planted him.”

“No, fool, I used him. It took very little to deduce he might contact the Ghost once my darling Abundant invaded his private meeting, all I needed was to wait.” Shield gently stroked Abby’s cheek with his hoof as she froze and looked away.

“Breadcrumbs,” Silver stated. “The robbery in Coltistrano, the extortion of Ponyville’s mayor, the break-in at Luna’s reliquary, and now this party, all to lure us into a trap. I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“I suppose I have become somewhat predictable, have I not?”

“As predictable as the ending to this new scheme.”

Shield began to chuckle, a deep rumble slowly crescendoing with the music into a boisterous cackle. “Not as predictable as I feared, then. Scheme, Silver? As fun as you make that sound, I must fortunately disappoint you, for what else could I possibly gain from this little stunt?”

“A quick and villainous monologue would be useful,” Silver snarked. “You’ve always been good at boring speeches.”

“A more naive me, perhaps, one who still held some hope for a better world, but as you can see I hold no such illusions.”

The group took notice of the crowd around them. Eyes of guests slowly fell upon them, pulling their attention from the dancing to stare down between Silver and Shield. Whispers and murmurs floated between them. Shield, however, scoffed.

“Do you think they recognize me, or you? Perhaps they are beginning to wonder just who would be seen standing so bravely against a criminal like myself.”

“They sure do,” Silver said as familiar faces emerged from the crowd. Kindle and Gilda stepped out and began orbiting the group, eyes fixed on the imposing unicorn.

“Yes, the lackeys,” Shield snorted. “A pity you failed to perish in the Empire. I cherish the thought of the bird’s hide as a rug.”

“Tell it to a concrete cell, Tightwad, that’s the only way you’re making it out of here.” Gilda leaned in with her glinting claw twitching at her side.

“The ever irreverent Gilda,” Shield spat. “I always hated you. Were circumstances different I would kill you first, but my goals here are bigger than you.”

All eyes were on Shield’s hoof as it rose. Gracefully at first, as if to compliment the haught expression on his face, but the limb extended to the side, pointing past the crowd towards the wide double doors leading outside. Silver could barely see the small protrusion from within the golden cuff of his coat, not until it was too late.

Shield’s face twisted into a wicked grin as emerald light exploded from the concealed weapon within his coat, slicing through the air and out into the world. Guests screamed at the sudden burst. Silver pushed Rarity to the ground, guarding her from the sheer heat of the blast, and once color returned to the roof he found where the beam landed, far beyond them towards the airport. Shattered windows framed the growing blaze across the familiar hulk of wood and steel, licking at the hulls of other vessels in a brilliant curtain of flame swallowing the airport.

Panic took the room as emerald flames spilled across the airport, followed by a dozen of the same brigands storming the grounds towards the one obelisk they all knew, resting in the open air as a hulk of steel and wood. Panic washed over Gilda, following the thieves climbing over the rigging and into the Tornado. Back and forth, she snapped her sight between her enemy and her vessel, finding Silver’s eyes along the same path, but as the screams of ponies drowned them they both knew their next move, silently passing commands to each other.

He leapt from the floor and grabbed Shield’s foreleg as she knocked out his legs with her tail. Shield tumbled onto his back, but thrust the horn into the air to spew dark, sickly flame around him, but Gilda wove through the gaps in the blaze to bring her claw down onto the sparkling barrier overtop his heart. Their struggle signaled the others to attack, but before they got close the sickly green glow returned, and from the hidden horn spewed cursed fire in a circle before them.

“Kindle, get everyone out of the party. The-” Power wreathed around his throat, forcefully pulling him onto his back as the others watched.

“We are far from done, Silver!”

“Kindle, do it, and find the ship when you’re done!” Gilda hollered from within the ring, and Kindle wasted no time in collecting Rarity.

“No, Kindle, we have to help them!” Rarity pleaded, fighting his hold on her, but the last thing she saw were Silver’s eyes and the haunting fire as she was pulled into the panicked crowd.

“Shame you lack your cloak, otherwise it might be a fair fight!” Shield’s words earned a firm hoof to the jaw, and as Silver rolled back and rose to his hooves a burst of thick smoke filled the ring of fire. Thin streams of emerald power flew through the fog from Shield, chasing the growing shadow before the curtain of darkness flared across his vision. The Ghost, in full garb, sent a powerful kick into his foe, sending him dangerously close to the flame.

“I’m taking his legs, you get the horn,” Gilda growled, squaring up beside the Ghost.

“The barrier’s weakest along the abdomen, hit him there.”

Shield rose to his hooves, wiping fresh blood from his lip with a sinister smile, both sources of magic flashing with renewed power as Gilda and the Ghost charged. She dove for his hind legs to throw a firm strike against her target. Crinkling magic signaled a direct hit, distracting Shield just long enough for a bolt of shadow to ensnare his hoof. Shield howled, forcing his resolve into burst after burst of cursed power that fell uselessly against the horn’s prison, and soon he felt two powerful claws squeeze tightly around his torso.

He moved on instinct. Gilda’s neck was snagged by twisting hindlegs forcing her to the floor in a choke, but pain visited Shield’s mind when the Ghost gave a good, hard yank of the cloak with his hoof still inside. A familiar pop in his shoulder brought a sharp cry from within. Gilda’s flailing claws chipped away at the barrier, even as she lost strength and air, and with each agonizing second Shield steeled himself, throwing a kick against the gryphon’s face as he lunged from the floor to charge the Ghost, tackling him.

The slack on the cloak freed his more dangerous hoof and the limp foreleg attached to it. He swung it across the Ghost’s face, the poisonous magic giving him enough time to force his arm back into place with a hiss before allowing rage to fuel the next strike. Though the Ghost took the blow, both ends of the cloak reached up to pull Shield from atop him and onto his back. A golden aura pushed Shield up, so when he met the Ghost he forced the jagged horn directly against his chest, its searing tip gnawing at the armor beneath.

“You wanted a scheme? Some spiteful plot? All I care for is your death!” Shield pushed harder, forcing the Ghost onto his knees. “But the worst is yet to come, Silver. The Ghost dies tonight!”

The Ghost glared at his foe. A firm kick to the gut rolled Shield overtop him, freeing him from the searing power of the horn as he clutched the fresh hole in his suit, but as he recovered a new flash of power greeted him. Thin, flickering lines sliced the air, pulled apart by the horn’s master to reveal a swirling void within. Bolts of the cloak flew to Shield, caught by his empty hoof with a grin. Then, Shield simply fell back.

The void took him, and the force of the portal began to pull the Ghost in, too. His final sights of the ballroom were of Gilda as she rushed to catch his outstretched hoof, but even with all her speed the void wanted him more, and he was plunged into a cold, ear-piercing shade grating against all his senses. Daggers against his skin, the reek of venom, then the harsh welcome of a solid floor against his face. Aching muscles screamed as he tried to rise.

Familiar streets framed familiar buildings. Far away, the glimmering city of Canterlot twinkled against the night sky like its own star, far beyond the city nestled against the cliff, where his home stood. Coltistrano was silent. Flickering lamp light was all illuminating the slumbering city, giving just enough visibility for the Ghost to scan for his target. He found nothing, but something found him.

Screeching through the air, the beam flew just past his face, crashing against the mansion behind him with a roar that shook his body, erupting in a plume of flame and dark smoke, littering the streets with its charred debris. His world went silent. The Ghost rushed towards the wreckage with a single person on his mind, but a second shadow intercepted his desperate charge and cast him against the stone. Wing beats echoed again. The Ghost stood with forelegs wrapped in the cloak to catch the nimble terror hunting him, but the emerald power returned to collide against his back, signaling the silent assailant to strike as the Ghost stumbled, but the cloak still found its mark.

Both upon the ground, the Ghost looked up to his new opponent. “Glint?”

Glint recovered first, stomping forward with a flurry of blows against the ebon curtain. The Ghost struggled to stand beneath the onslaught, but a quick whip of the cloak caught Glint’s ankle and yanked him down. With the cloak busy, though, he was left exposed. A final verdant blast landed hard with a metallic crack as he hit the ground with a thud. Vision failed him, but something emerged from the darkness beyond, joined by the very same wrongdoers who tormented the Ghost before.

“Everything’s ready,” one said, a pegasus with a bruised and bandaged face, passing a sending stone to his employer before glaring at the Ghost.

Strength failed the Ghost. The near dozen grunts before him encircled their master, his piercing golden eyes holding his foe in their grasp with the stone resting in his hoof. There was a pause. All stood with tension coursing through their limbs, no one daring to so much as flinch while Shield and the Ghost remained still, as if daring the other to act, but with each second passed the Ghost’s pained grimace slowly melted away into a vacant gasp. The city, the stone, he finally knew why he was there. The unicorn pressed the stone.

One by one, across all the Ghost could see, bursts of flame emerged from buildings and homes, followed by ear-shattering cracks of terror. The sudden shockwave decimated the skyline as a chorus of deafening destruction. Screams arose to finally pierce the veil of silence as flaming debris rained down from a blackened sky of stars and thick smoke, and the Ghost was forced to watch as ponies clambered away from the fresh rubble, like a tapestry of horror painted around the one pony who made no movements. Who held his gaze completely on him.

Legs fought to act, his heart rebelled against his chest, his eyes cursed to drink in the growing inferno. Again and again the frightful booms scarred the city and his mind. He could see the silhouettes of ponies in the distance, clamoring away from fresh wreckage, clinging desperately to each other. Some fought the flames. Citizens smothered what they could and dug into the debris, following muted screams from within, until being swallowed themselves. The Ghost trembled, but the unicorn stood unphased. Flanked by his lackeys, his golden eyes shone with the light of the carnage around him, his glimmering horn providing protection from flames that came too close, and the only betrayal of his composure was a grin, growing slowly, that soon spread across his face like a gash.

“Silver.”

It was a word dipped in venom. Those who stood guard around him twitched in place, lurching forward like dogs on leashes, sending obscenities towards the pony in black.

“Silver Spade.”

With a clap of his hooves they were unleashed, charging the Ghost with all the fervor and spite the city now burned with. One after another met him, facing the wrath of gloved strikes and oppressive swipes of the cloak, casting each aside like the distractions they were, all the while the unicorn stepped closer with measured pace.

One thug produced a dagger. The metal glided through the air, soon knocked from his hoof by the Ghost’s practiced form, but not before the Ghost tasted a metal-clad hoof against his mouth. Wing beats reached his ears as a familiar face swooped down upon him. Glint, flanked by two others, pulled the cloak upwards as if to hang the Ghost by it, lifting his hindlegs from the earth as the thugs took turns beating him. The Ghost unclasped his belt, hurling the collection of potions and bombs onto the ground in a display of lights, gas, and sounds that dazzled them, but Glint remained firm. He yanked on the cloak so hard it was wrested from Silver’s shoulders, collapsing onto the ground.

They closed in around Silver. He howled, grunted, and yelled with each strike he landed, each one drawing a crack from within his attackers, slowly thinning the crowd, and those who didn’t limp away found themselves whimpering on the ground. Glint landed beside his commander and passed him the cloak. The unicorn eyed it, but elected to march towards Silver as he tore through the last villain, collecting the knife as he walked. Silver panted and huffed, eyes frenzied by the pain and flame, and lunged at the sight of the pony behind the blade but was met with a terrible sting in his belly, right between the broken armor. It twisted within him.

“Silver. Spade.”

Silver let out a cry that caught in his throat, and the only sound he heard was the deep, sinister laughter of the pony before him, watching him slump to the ground with the knife still inside until he felt his mane yanked, dragging him across the dirt and ash below. Across the still burning wood of the house, flames licking his flesh as he screamed, flames that bounced harmlessly off the other pony’s forcefield.

The garden of the manor was gone. Ruined. Nothing but charred stone and shards of glass remained as Silver was tossed out towards the cliff, rolling just before the ledge. At the pony’s command two thugs forced Silver to his knees.

“Bring her.”

Weary tears welled in his eyes as he watched Honey Hearts, fur stained by ash and soot, dragged much like he was and cast to the stone of her cherished garden, but at the sight of her son, bloodied and beaten, she broke.

“Do not look away, somepony needs to witness this… do not look away!” The unicorn wrenched Honey’s head from the ground, pulling her entire person to her knees with a careless yank of her mane, directing her red and dirty face to Silver as he stepped forward.

“You wanted to hear his name, all those years ago. The name of the one who returned from the ocean. The one who burned everything I worked for!” The unicorn sent a ferocious hoof scraping along Silver’s jaw. “His name is Silver Spade!”

The beating went on. Every time Silver reached to defend himself, a quick hoof came down to strike the knife embedded in his gut, a cycle that would continue until Silver collapsed, but Shield Wall pulled him up again, locking eyes with the pony that sputtered on his failing, desperate breaths.

“And you will die, Silver, knowing your precious legacy dies with you.”

“Stop it!” Honey fell to Shield’s hooves. “P-Please… stop.”

Without even looking Shield whipped his hindleg across Honey’s face, causing Silver, now fierce and wild, to shoot up from the ground and grab Shield while failing strikes landed against him, but the unicorn merely drove the knife in deeper to break the furious hold, wrenching the blade from Silver’s belly. Silver landed on his knees and could feel cool wind kiss his hooves at the edge of the cliff, the distant sound of water below the rocks.

“Get up.” Shield’s command was met with a defiant glare until the stained steel was pressed to Honey’s neck. “Stand, or she dies.”

With trembling hooves Silver managed to stand, before a powerful right hoof collided with his jaw. “Get up! I will bleed her dry if you do not stand!”

This cycle continued. The unicorn shouted his demand each time Silver fell, but each time his foe recovered, blood dripping at his hooves as the soldiers around them laughed and cheered, all except Glint. A sick glee filled Glint to see the Ghost kneeling, but each vicious strike and each of Honey’s cries slowly soured the display until all he felt was tightness in his gut and a fog in his mind. Brutality was all he saw now. Gross, indulgent brutality.

“Get up, Ghost,” Shield mocked in a sing-song tone, the pony before him soaked in his own blood with his head hung low. “Fine, since you seem so incapable of doing so-”

Shield froze when the pony before him twitched. Legs trembled as he touched the ashen earth, a staggered breathing filled his chest, and soon Shield was faced with the haunting gaze of two amber eyes rising to meet him, framed by dark blood. They burned with the fires of Coltistrano around them, a glare whose will overpowered even Shield’s most spiteful desires. Glint’s mouth slowly hung open in awe. Those thugs left to witness stumbled back, some even falling to the ground as the obelisk of blood and silent fury stood to its full height, shrouded in the darkness of night behind him. Their master, however, finally grit his teeth and summoned each ounce of hatred he once laid against Silver into a final thundering kick to his chest.

A wail escaped from within Honey as Shield’s final strike sent Silver over the edge. The final vestiges of consciousness left him as he felt himself tumble over backwards, the coolness of the night air kissing his burns and wounds as he picked up speed. The last thing he saw was the fading light of the city above before he was embraced by the river below, drowning his vision in the darkness.

From above, Shield followed the shrinking image of Silver’s body as it disappeared into the blackness below. Honey wailed behind him as Glint approached, cloak in hoof, and Shield held out his own to accept the ash-covered garment.

“Sir,” Glint choked out, eyes downward. “The mission’s complete.”

Shield froze. The cloak felt heavy in his hoof, clinging to where it draped along the ground, as if resisting its new owner, but Shield’s spite overpowered its magic as he retreated back through the flame and dragged the cloak behind him, drawing a tremor from within Glint’s chest.

On the other side of the flame, a crowd of desperate ash-covered ponies slowly formed to witness his emergence. Then, they saw the cloak, crumpled and filthy. Gold eyes glared at them as their hopeful smiles sank, fixated on the jagged horn leveled against them, faces illuminated by sickening emerald.

Only screams and flames filled the darkness.

Chapter 8: “I gave you a choice, and you chose me!”

Tapping against polished, near-pristine wood was a common sound in the dimly-lit office of his home. It was a rhythm to him, one to follow when the day became tiring and he, pacing about the posh room nestled against the glorious view from Mount Canterlot, needed even the tiniest distraction from it to continue working, and once he saw the sun set through the large windows along the wall he would pack up his work, give a nod to his assistant, pass through the door bearing his name and cutie mark, and leave everything behind a closed door. A routine the unicorn cherished. Today, however, his routine was broken.

His hoof tapped relentlessly against the wood, threatening to crack it. A tensed brow pinched his monocle in place as he peered out across Canterlot at nighttime. To his right, at a desk noticeably smaller than his own and perhaps twice as loaded, sat a blonde pony with his muzzle deep in papers, but quivering hooves betrayed his vacant expression. Scent of charred wood still lingered in the air. Between veiled excuses to his many guests for the havoc and his blatant lies to the guard investigation, Fancy almost lost track of how the home beyond the office door became a battleground, until he was pulled back to reality by an empty pair of sea green irises glaring at him from across the desk.

She sat there silently, patiently, tall in her chair. On either side of her were ponies clad in dark garb, known to everyone in the room as the attire of deserters. Their fierce eyes never left the unicorn, now stroking his thin blue mustache, even as he turned to face his guest and her domineering entourage.

“There must be limits, miss, even for the whims of your master.”

“‘Countess’.”

“Not anymore.” Fancy Pants was quick with his words, quick enough to prompt a response from the two bat ponies before a dainty hoof from the mare stopped them. “It was a miracle I was able to call off the guard and prevent a further investigation, anymore and I’ll be held for questioning, then where will your master be, miss?”

“Call me what you like, Fancy, but you know the consequences of failure.”

“Oh, I am intimately aware,” he said as his eyes flashed to the picture of a pink unicorn framed on his desk. “But you ask too much. My office doesn’t have the authority to manipulate the news, not in the way you ask, and no amount of threats will change that.”

Abby ignored both the comment and rising heat in her face, allowing the curt words to fizzle away in the back of her mind as she refocused. “You assured me this project would be complete upon my last visit.”

“And you assured me of discretion, now my home is in tatters thanks to his bloodlust, leaving me with the near-impossible task of lying to both the press and the crown.”

“But you can complete our request.”

“‘Request’ is a loose term… for the sake of Fleur, I will try.”

“Only success can keep her safe, Fancy, that is the deal.”

His hooves tapped together loudly, lips pursed, swift eyes darting from the disgraced countess to her bodyguards and back again, before a sharp snort signaled his next words: “Nimble Quill, gentlecolts, would you three excuse us, please? The miss and I need to discuss this in private.”

Fancy’s assistant, Nimble, wasted no time in shooting straight up from his chair and allowing his papers to scatter across his desk as he hurriedly stepped into the flanking filing room, closing the door and disappearing from behind the frosted glass. The two Night Guard, however, remained rooted. One glared at Fancy, with eyes that almost glowed in the dim light of his office, and as soon as he made a single threatening step forward Abby’s hoof rose to stop him. Wordlessly, she commanded them with a gesture towards the front door. It wasn’t long before they were alone.

“Abby,” Fancy began to whisper. “I know you understand what you’re asking of me, and you aren’t so foolish as to give in to his demands. If you are a prisoner as well then please tell me.”

“I can call them back in.”

Empty words left Fancy’s mouth as he gasped, forcefully rubbing his face with his hoof. “I am… compliant, but you have been missing for months, and only a few days ago you appeared in my home and began to make demands. His demands, and now this chaos with the Ghost, and that weapon of Shield’s. What happened? What has he done to you?”

“I’m not here to discuss that,” she said with a hint of a sigh, but Fancy continued.

“I know what happened in the Crystal Empire. Not many ponies do, but I know you left with him, all I want to know is why. What did he threaten you with? Please, I can help.”

The earnestness of Fancy’s plea stifled Abby’s automatic response. Her sea green eyes blinked as they looked to the desk between her and Fancy, faint mumbling escaping her, but even after she managed to draw a slow breath to regain her composure it had already been an uncomfortable number of seconds passed and Fancy’s expression gazed right through her.

“There are things, Fancy, mistakes that I cannot begin to… to justify to you. Just know I am here to ensure both his and your needs are met.”

“Yes, I suppose he would’ve simply killed Fleur by now, wouldn’t he? So that’s it, then? I am to believe you are here for my benefit?”

“Until he releases you, yes.”

At this, Fancy managed to chuckle, bringing a hoof to his mouth as each vibrato laugh forced Abby’s stomach deeper and deeper into her gut. “Shield Wall never leaves loose ends, Abby. You know this. If you won’t tell me why you are with him, and you won’t let me help you, then please consider this: You are as close to him now as Midnight Gavel was. You know the nature of his plans. At any time, you can be the one to tell the EUP, or your aunt Celestia, or even the Ghost. I saw you with Lord Aristo tonight, perhaps he could-”

“Do you have what he requested or not?” She sprang from her chair, voice firm enough to pin Fancy to the back of his own, witness to a harshness in her he had never seen before.

“Yes… yes, it can be done. It will take time, but it will happen.” Fancy’s gaze hovered for a moment on Abby, who turned away. “Will you promise me something? If he hurts you, or goes too far, or… well, will you at least consider my request? Please?”

“... Yes.” Her voice was soft, barely enough for Fancy to hear, but he sighed at her response.

“Thank you, I suspect things will be difficult from here on out, especially now considering his latest move after he crashed my party.”

The stiffness of her brow softened. Abby took a step towards Fancy’s desk. “What?”

“Please, don’t play coy,” Fancy huffed, shuffling documents in and out of drawers. “You master’s latest stroke of villainy. That small city on the edge of Rambling Rock Ridge. Carti… Capistra-”

“Coltistrano.”

“That’s it… or was. Word arrived via the reorganized Night Guard, those still loyal to Luna. The city is no more.”

Fancy sent one last glare towards Abby as he indignantly passed the sheaf of documents to her, but she didn’t accept them. She swam in a rising sea of worry that flooded her mind, the nervousness guiding her hooves from his desk and out the office door. The two bat ponies positioned there jolted at her abrupt exit and were barely able to follow her through the palace without fear of being spotted. Abby, though, held no such fear. The palace was known to her, with many years spent trotting through the very halls she knew fled through, her hooves making little noise as she followed her memory, frantic as it now was, of all the pathways guards scarcely patrolled.

Cool mountain air touched her mane. Ruby hairs flowed along the breeze, bobbing with each step toward the center of the city, uncaring of the few passersby who may spot, or even recognize her. Abby’s thoughts were elsewhere, and her eyes locked with a prime example of noble living: The Clocktower Auberge. It was posh, clean, and illuminated against the night sky as the hands of the clock face struck two. Two bellhops at the front door, ponies only Abby would recognize as agents, gave her a firm gaze before stepping aside to let her into the tower lobby, with a third set of eyes following her from an equally familiar receptionist and up the stairs. It wasn’t long before she found herself at the door to the auberge's most expensive suite, paid for by the dwindling funds of her family’s squandered wealth.

But the room was empty when she entered, save a lone bat pony standing beside a long dining table of delectables. He peered out of the clockface windows.

“Glint,” Abby huffed. “Where is he? Where… what happened to you?”

He barely responded. As he turned Abby saw the patches of dirt and soot lining his uniform, with smudges of ash contrasting his deep navy fur, but when she saw his face she could tell his mind was far away. She dared to approach him, until something else caught her eye. At the head of the table, draped over the back of a chair, was a long and dark garment she knew too well, now stained with ash, and with some effort she could even see hints of red. Then came the deep chime of dark magic.

He emerged from a green line of power that sliced through the open air, the portal widening just enough for the unicorn to enter the room, dressed in a uniform stained with splotches of dusty white. He approached the table without looking at either of them, setting the familiar severed horn to the side, drawing out the chair and sitting across from the cloaked obelisk. What sickened her most was his smile.

“Ah, my dear, would you care to join me?”

“What did you do?” Abby’s voice was low and hoarse.

“I ordered dinner… and invited a guest,” Shield hissed gleefully, motioning to the cloak across from him.

“You… y-you went… this isn’t what you promised me.”

“Is it not? You would give me access to your funds and resources, and in return I would kill the Ghost.”

“To demoralize him! To sow confusion and discourse against the Ghost’s name, things you’re known for.”

“All of which I have done, to great effect I might add. Now none will dare think to follow in his hoofsteps, and we, my dear, are now free.”

“You used my money, my family’s money, to fund this slaughter!”

“We have raided Spade’s treasure stores and bolstered our reserves. Less than half what I sailed out with long ago, but enough to compensate you, you need not worry.”

“This isn’t what you promised me!” Abby’s outburst shook Glint from his trance, finally noticing her as she stomped to the table. “You told me you could return Silver to me. You told me you would free him.”

“I lied.”

His deadpan response stunned her. Abby gasped at words that hung outside the realm of thought, eyes darting between the cloak, Glint, and the vicious golden eyes that followed her every move with a small smile. When she finally made her way over to the vacant garment she collapsed. Her sobs were stifled by the tarnished fabric, and all the while Glint felt a twinge of pity begin to well up in him, until the sharp and stony words of his commander made themselves known.

“How many tears have you shed for him? How many were wasted?” Shield rolled his eyes as his magic enraptured a glass of brandy and pulled it to his lips.

“You leech! You bastard! This isn't how it was supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to… supposed to-”

“To what? Kill him? Drive a dagger into his gut and twist? To beat him down with his filthy dirtborn mother as witness as I cast him from the cliff?” Each word brought forth a soft scream from within Abby. “He was my enemy, trained by my enemy, set to war against me. I did what had to be done.”

“‘What had to be done’? What did you do, how far did you go?”

“I made a grave of his home and buried his people in it, with him as the headstone.” Shield raised his glass high above his head. “Here lies Silver Spade, first among the bones of Coltistrano, may he be denied peaceful rest.”

Abby’s mouth hung agape at the morbid declaration, her eyes turning to Glint. “Glint, please, tell me this isn’t true. Tell me he’s mad.”

“The commander understands the value of a conquered enemy,” Shield interrupted, cutting off Glint's attempt to speak. “The city was a den of filth and wretches.”

“Lies! There were good ponies in Coltistrano!”

“And now there are not. If the lives of strangers mean so much to you, then you would do well to remember you chose me. I gave you a choice, and you chose me! And if you truly miss your beloved whelp so much, you are free to pull him from the rocks I cast him upon, once the vultures have their fill.”

It was all she could stand. Abby felt lightheadedness come upon her, rescued only by her quick escape across the room and out onto the balcony. From inside, Shield and Glint could hear her wretch over the railing, causing Shield to once more roll his eyes and groan at the display.

“Sir, should we… contact her? She’ll want to know.”

The veil of satisfaction fell from Shield’s face, following behind the ragged sigh he gave to Glint’s statement. “Yes, I suppose she would.”

Emerald power flew from the jagged horn, returned to Shield’s hoof, summoning a fiery green orb before him that erupted in black and violet smoke. Visions of a magical maelstrom swirled within the orb. Soon, its wisps of power formed into a shape, a visage announced by a chorus of chittering and horrid screeching that caused even Shield to wince. With a final spurt of flame from the horn the silhouette became clear and spoke to him with a fanged scowl.

“Finally,” it cooed with a sickening, feminine timber. “Did you enjoy your sport?”

“The city is no more, your soldiers did far more than I anticipated. I daresay there is scant little left for the princesses to investigate.” Shield’s face was firm, humorless in his delivery.

“Excellent, then my end of the bargain is upheld. I trust you are prepared to deliver on yours?”

“Herding the nobility is like herding cats, I fear, there is a process to-”

“But you will deliver.”

“Of course, but in time. Our business arrangement is delicate, and therefore the resolution of such needs careful contemplation and-”

Piercing eyes revealed themselves against the silhouette in the orb, eyes that held even Shield Wall in his seat as the flaming orb grew ever brighter in a sudden burst of power. “Don’t forget who came to whom, little pony! It was I who revealed the dark secrets of the very horn you used to raze Coltistrano. My army is what secured your victory over the traitor’s apprentice. Were it not for me, you and your fledging little gang would be back in prison or worse. This isn’t a ‘business arrangement’, you are an investment. You work for me, Shield Wall!”

The gaze which held him overpowered the trembling rage coursing through his limbs as a stream of hot blood, teeth clenched like an iron trap to restrain the flood of fury threatening to escape from him. Glint’s gaze was fixed on Shield. He watched the unicorn shake in his seat, watched the twitch of his upper lip and his hooves push harder against the chair that barely contained him, but the fear of his master was dwarfed only by the fear of whatever force could control him, so Glint stood still. Long, silent seconds preceded Shield’s retort, delivered as a clenched and shaky hiss.

“I will address the nobility… personally.”

“See? Was that so hard? To think I would be more honorable than a unicorn, especially one of your reputation, but this is proof even you can change.” The silhouette gave a wide, fanged grin, punctuated by a haughty laugh. “Now go, be a good pony and fulfill your promise.”

Sputtering green flames fell from the orb, fizzling out against the table as the orb slowly dissipated. Glint finally allowed himself to breathe. Shield glared across the table, deep into the eye holes of the ash-covered cloak staring back at him, but with each passing second he found himself growing limp, his limbs falling slack against the chair, his frustrations melting away in the memories of death. “You are dismissed, commander.”

Glint tried to respond but found himself unable, instead making his way out onto the balcony and rested against the railing. He shivered. The lights of the city below flickered in his hazed vision, resembling the fires of the buildings he ignited not a few hours earlier, and he shut his eyes tight. A mantra repeated in his mind, silently spoken upon his lips.

They brought him no comfort, and memories of the Crystal Palace played out in his head, of the chaos and battle and orders he threw to the many comrades wounded and lost in the fight. Flashes of black struck him, his battle with the Ghost at the forefront. The cloaked pony’s words sank deeper into his memory. As he went through his painful reminiscence, a faint mumbling reached his trained ears from the far side of the balcony where he found Abby, crumpled into a ball, resting between the floor and the railing.

“What have we done, Glint?”

Her eyes, wet with tears, did him no favors in maintaining his composure, but he managed to stay firm. “We were following orders.”

“We didn’t have to.”

Glint peered over his shoulder, through the window. Shield Wall sat inside, ranting boisterously to the cloak across from him as he sucked down more brandy, and as far as Glint could tell his horn wasn’t alight.

“What else could we have done? He said it himself, we chose him.”

“Then we chose wrong.” Abby, still woozy, managed to pull her gaze to Glint. “You’re shaking.”

“No I’m not.”

“And you’re a terrible liar.”

“You must be intimate with lies by now.”

“Of course, I work with… him.”

Night wind touched her, stinging her tearful eyes and forcing her to look away from the twinkling lights of Canterlot around her, and after the long silence between them Glint carefully stepped towards her and spoke. “Why did you do it?”

“Oh please, like you’ve ever cared.” Her dismissal earned a huff from Glint, who glared over the railing until she finally relented. “I was in love.”

“R-Really, with who? With… him?”

“Oh, heavens no,” she said with a coarse chuckle, daring to grin through the tears. “No, with the stallion behind the mask, with the Ghost. I knew him before he haunted Equestria.”

“Intel said he had no romantic attachments.”

“Pfft, ‘intel’ from the same stallion that ordered you to burn a city, right? No, he and I were very much in love… before Shield Wall tried to kill him. Then he was gone for years. I’m sure you can imagine my shock when he returned.”

“Why didn’t he stay with you?”

“Why do you think?” Abby gave Glint a playful tilt of her brow. “He wanted to keep being the hero, traipsing about Equestria and fighting all manner of villainy, and suddenly every headline about the Ghost became painful. Seeing him, living his life, a life without me. And like all things, Shield found a way to twist it to his advantage… he really never told you this?”

“No,” Glint said passively. “Probably never saw the use in it.”

“Or he didn’t want you to know the Ghost was once a soldier under his command. A soldier he tried to kill for his ‘insubordination’, almost like your friend Kindle.” Glint’s teeth clenched at the name, memories of the cave flooding into him as Abby continued. “He probably didn’t want you to know what was coming. I can tell you’re his most loyal conspirator.”

“I joined him to protect Equestria.”

“So did many others, and now you’re his right hoof, doing whatever he pleases whenever he demands it, second thoughts be damned. But he’s not protecting Equestria anymore, is he?”

Glint’s muscles tensed in the silence, prompting a light scoff from Abby. “No, nowadays you’re dealing with our new friends, creatures without dignity who kill for pleasure. And you do it without question.”

“This is all big talk for somepony with the blood of my comrades on her hooves,” Glint snapped. “My comrades all deserted Shield Wall before they became monsters, but not you. All you need is a broken heart.”

“Scary, isn’t it? How little it takes before we’re all just rabid dogs? But in the end, he’s the one pulling the leash.”

“I’m no dog.”

“Sure you aren’t, you were just following orders.”

His voice hitched in his throat. Before him sat the mare who directed the instrument of his fellow soldiers’ demise, the images of their bubbling remains still fresh in his mind, even so long after, but the only thing stopping him from reaching out and striking her was a small pang deep in his chest. It reminded him of Kindle, and the cave. He stood there, trembling in all his fury, forcing it all back down into the same dark place he put everything, until something touched him.

“We don’t have to do this anymore, Glint,” Abby said softly, now standing with a hoof on his shoulder. “We might not be able to stop him, but we can at least save ourselves. Try to do some good in the face of all we’ve done.”

“Desertion is unforgivable.”

“So is betraying a friend.”

Her words settled deep in Glint’s mind. Even after she had slowly pulled her hoof away and walked into the suite, and even after she long disappeared from his sight, those same words played again in his mind, just as loud as when she first uttered them. The city lights began to go out, leaving just enough to illuminate the clocktower. Glint could only peer over the edge in a dazed meditation on all he had committed. Upon reflection, it didn’t sit right with him. Nothing did, now.

So Glint lept from the tower and flew toward the balcony of his own room in the auberge, retiring for the evening, but never once free of Abby’s words, whispering to him in his mind as he drifted off into a fearful, anxious sleep.

Chapter 9: "He gave everything for this city."

She heard the story hours after she escaped the party. Guards all around her walked with whispers on their lips, repeating the same story soon to be printed in the early morning edition of the Canterlot Chronicle, now clutched desperately in her hooves. It took every bargain, offer, and threat she could muster to force herself onto the train, and a little more to convince the engineer to leave for the city immediately, all the while lost in the frantic haze filling her skull like smoke. Ponies barely had time to exit before the chariot of steel and wood lurched back along the tracks, eastward toward gray clouds not even the rising sun could pierce. Rarity fidgeted in her seat the whole way. She sat as close as she could to the engine, eyes fixed through the window on the familiar gap in the mountains from where she just came, every now and then checking the surrounding sky for familiar wings of sharp bronze feathers, but as the hours passed in silent agony she could see something else rise from the horizon, thin and foreboding. They weren’t clouds at all.

Kindle saw it first, sharp eyes twitching as they approached, and wordlessly he threw himself from the window of the train car, his wings carrying him faster than steel ever could towards the site, leaving Rarity to sit in her seat and nurse the growing ball of worry in her gut. The train’s whistle blared out across the stormy dawn. Rarity threw her head out from the window to better see the plume of smoke spilling across the grassy land like slow gusts of cold breath when something landed in the corner of her eye. A hoof gently rubbed the spot and Rarity found a splotch of crumbling gray stained on her fur. More fell like winter’s first snow to litter the field with a somber white. It took little effort to identify the substance: ash. Following the falling specs she finally bore witness to her destination, and all she could do was stare.

It was a ruin, raw and fresh in its desolation. The train whistle cried out again, and again for any response from the town’s soot covered station, but none was returned. A squealing screech of metal brought the train to a halt just outside the town, but Rarity was already on her hooves and leaping from the passenger car before it ever stopped, galloping across the stained field toward the city. She nearly slipped when she arrived at the station, ash covering the building and falling along the ruined streets from buildings with entire walls blown out and towers half standing. Rubble lay against the houses lining Colistrano’s outer neighborhoods and trailed into even larger scenes of wreckage as she slowly traveled the faint outline of the main street, its once boisterous market now a silent memory.

Then, she saw movement. Ponies slowly emerged from broken homes and destroyed businesses. They were weary, stumbling, lost in the thickening cloud of ash from the ruined structures that were once their lives, but what drew the first tear from Rarity was how they looked at her with desperate eyes peering from stained faces. Some recognized her, some even stepped forward, but none could summon the strength to approach, let alone speak to her. Instead, they wandered aimlessly about the town, and from their meandering was revealed a familiar shape in the distance, sitting on its haunches. It was broad, head low, bloody talons gripping the earth with a strength that cracked the stone. Rarity ran to her.

“Gilda!” She cried to the gryphon, earning no response, until her following embrace snapped Gilda from her trance and powerful claws reached out to grab her, narrow eyes fixed on hers.

“Rarity?” Gilda whispered, her grip retreating.

“Gilda, I came back as soon as I heard. What happened? Where is every-...” Her questions fled when she saw what sat before them. The sight of the blown out wall revealed broken chairs, tables, and a dark sign inscribed with a faded golden ‘G’ barely held together by a few splinters.

“Him,” Gilda piped up, wiping ash from her matted fur. “He pulled Silver through that… thing. Saw the fires on the horizon not long after. He stole the Tornado.”

“Shield? But how? How could he possibly muster all this?”

Gilda opened her beak to respond, but caught an approaching bat pony in her teary vision. No warning, no restraint, and no time for Rarity to stop her as Gilda stomped towards Kindle and lifted him from his hooves with a powerful grip around his throat that slammed him against the wall.

“And where have you been, huh?!” Gilda demanded as she squeezed.

“I-I was at the party, you saw me!””

“Sure, right after giving your boss the signal to attack, right?”

“Gilda, let him go,” Rarity pleaded, earning a sharp glare in response.

“He was one of them! We get lured away from town, and now there’s no town left! He got you playing the long game, huh?! I’ll spill you right here, you damn-”

“Gilda, that's quite enough!” Rarity’s grip was enough to pull the wrathful and weary gryphon away as Kindle coughed out a fresh breath. “Kindle, are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine,” Kindle whispered, avoiding her eyes. “We gotta find Silver. He might be around here somewhere.”

“Maybe he chased after Shield,” Rarity offered.

“That was hours ago, Rares, he would’ve been back by now.”

“Has anyone checked with Honey?”

Rarity’s question was met with a series of gaunt expressions. Slowly, each one of her company turned their gaze down the remains of the main street, towards the smoldering hole not even the carrion birds would dare approach. Rarity made her way towards it, followed by Gilda and Kindle.

The governor’s mansion, or what little remained, was charred and splintered, its twisted wood still burning with the withering green flame that sent chills through Rarity’s companions. Shattered glass made the approach treacherous, but soon they were able to pass beyond the gnarled gate and onto the property, scorched and ruined. Rarity’s eyes were hard at work trying to take in every little detail of the scene she could, from the impressions of hooves along the dirt to the noxious odor permeating the air, but she could find scant little. The ash had piled too high.

Until, through the rubble, they could see a single figure kneeling in the back courtyard. They rushed to meet her, crossing over the toppled remains of the west wing to join the mare, but their reception was a silent one. Honey’s eyes had fallen over the edge of the cliff and peered into the rushing water below. All around her Rarity could see dark splotches standing out against the thick layer of white, a red color trailing from the tormented house behind them and ended right where Honey now sat.

“Honey?”

Nothing. Even her touch was met with silence, but Rarity dared to gently turn Honey’s face toward her, painted in an expression which froze Rarity where she knelt. Honey stared right through her with bloodshot eyes. The crimson marks across her face disappeared beneath her disheveled mane.

“Honey,” Rarity whispered again. “Honey, what happened? Where’s Silver?”

Her eyes finally locked on to Rarity and began to quiver, and soft huffs of stuttering breath barely touched Rarity’s face as she watched Honey slowly return her gaze to the plummeting height of the cliff they sat on, taking her only a moment to put the scene together. The trail of red wasn’t Honey’s. The others shot glances around the desolation hoping their observations could answer what Honey’s attempts at speech could not, but Rarity could already feel her limp composure shatter. A single wet streak fell from her eye, drawing a thin line of black mascara down her cheek.

“He made me watch,” Honey finally muttered.

“Watch what? What?! Honey, don’t say it, don’t say he’s...” Gilda pushed past Rarity and grasped Honey in her claws, and only now could the unicorn spy damp patches of fur and feathers trailing from her eyes, a subtle chatter from Gilda’s beak as she silently pleaded with Honey, but the only comfort she received was the vacant gaze of her friend’s mother.

Gilda shot to her full height. Her voice rang out across the chasm, so loud it cracked and echoed back the name she desperately wailed until it faded into silence. With a pained grunt Gilda threw herself from the cliff, wings spread to catch herself before meeting the rocks below. She stumbled on her landing upon one of the more forgiving stones, damp with the mist of the flowing river, and peered out across the bank for a sign, any sign, but her breath hitched when she finally found a fluttering piece of cloth snagged on a fallen tree limb. It was dark, smooth to the touch, and a texture she had seen many times before. When she finally returned to the top of the cliff she passed the shred to Rarity.

As soon as it landed in her hoof she knew. No further deductions, no hopeful queries, no missing details. It was a shred of his uniform, evidence enough of her deepest fears. The thousands of theories once rushing through her frantic mind were silenced by the staggered whimper escaping her lips that bubbled into a harrowing cry as she fell to her knees, pressing the shred to her chest. Her voice filled the silence of a dead city.

Kindle slowly approached her, placing a hoof to her shoulder. “Rarity… Rarity, we need a plan.”

“Give her some space,” Gilda growled, wiping away her own tears.

“We can’t stay here, Gilda, with no shelter and no provisions the ponies here are exposed.”

“Then give us a minute. Come on Honey, let’s get you outta here.” Gilda gently guided Honey to her hooves.

“We don’t have a minute,” Kindle protested. “There might still be survivors out there, and something that powerful can’t be allowed out in the world. We need to act.”

“Tough,” said Gilda with piercing eyes as she carefully led Honey through the rubble.

“He might come back!”

“Why?” Gilda returned. “So he can kill him again?”

“The train.” Rarity’s weak voice snapped the two from their anger. “It can take everyone to Ponyville, then we can warn Twilight of what really happened here. So please, stop fighting.”

She walked slowly past them and followed Gilda as the procession carefully made its way around the ruined house and back into the greater field of ash blanketing the city. More ponies had finally emerged from the wreckage and into the drowned light of day, but no one looked to the party gathered before them. Rarity stumbled as she turned, holding back a sob as her fluttering power reached from her horn and to an intact crate to pull it before her, stepping atop it to get a better view.

“E-Everypony,” she tried to announce. “C-Could I have your attention, please?”

Some ponies turned to face her, face stained and mane now unkempt. “Some of you may recognize me, b-but I want to get everyone together before we formulate a plan. Does anyone need help? Has anyone else sur-... else survived?”

Rarity could almost see their attention wither, pulled away by the reminder of the piles of ash who once lived mere hours ago, and those who listened began to wander away.

“P-Please, I know how terrible this all is, but if we can come together and-”

“Where is the governor?” Rarity’s attention was pulled to a unicorn mare, her red fur matted and splotched with white. “Where’s Silver?”

The question struck Rarity harder than she thought. Tremors returned to her lip as she found herself struggling to remain on the wooden crate, and the renewed interest from the gathering crowd of desperate faces did little to steady her. Kindle fidgeted where he stood, waiting for a response from Rarity as more questions about the governor’s safety were hurled their way. Gilda clamped her eyes shut and tried to drown out the noise until her attention was drawn to the mare beside her, straightening up and stepping out to the crowd.

“Everyone,” Honey announced with a firm but hoarse voice. “Everyone. You all know who I am, so believe me when I tell you we aren’t safe here anymore. I want everypony who can to help those who are injured. Miss Rarity has brought a train to take us to Ponyville. Princess Twilight can help us.”

“He won’t come back, will he?”

“Miss Hearts, where is the governor? Did they kill him, too?”

“What about the Ghost? Why has he abandoned us?”

“My son is dead!” Her declaration silenced the crowd before her. “He was beaten and thrown from the cliff, and I was forced to watch! But he would not want us to languish here while we’re still at risk. He gave everything for this city, so please do his memory justice and prepare what you can to leave. Kindle, alert the conductor with Rarity while Gilda and I gather everyone. Gilda, if you please.”

Gilda readily took Honey’s hoof and steadied her as they followed Kindle’s lead in rounding up the crowd. Rarity took a final look over the town before following Kindle toward the train station and the blaring whistle that summoned them, still cradling the tattered cloth in her hoof. Though she couldn’t see it, Kindle had peered over to her, watching her ministrations.

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Rarity snapped from her trance, quickly stowing the cloth.

“About… I know you two were getting serious. I can’t imagine losing somepony so close to you.”

It took effort and a bitten tongue to hold her tears at bay when Kindle spoke, and as they stepped onto the platform her mind returned to the day before, flooded again with the sensation of being held and so gently kissed in the shadows. She tried to think of a response, but was interrupted by the distraught train conductor.

“Miss Rarity, I did-... how could… what happened? And… it’s horrible…” The conductor stumbled when he landed on the platform as Rarity spoke.

“We have refugees and wounded deeper in the city, and it will take a little time to gather everyone together. Is there enough room?”

“O-Oh, well, the passenger cars can hold about forty ponies each. Are there more than six cars worth, ma’am?”

“No.”

Rarity’s single, stoic word was punctuated by a breeze that reminded them and everyone in Coltistrano just how much of the city had been lost to the blaze, the ash traveling westward along the train tracks. With a gulp and a nod of his cap, the conductor stepped back up to the engine and blared the whistle to catch the attention of the citizens who shuffled towards them. Gilda landed on the platform, claws stark white.

“We’ve gathered as many as we could find, there’s… well, this is who’s left.”

“Thanks, Gilda,” Kindle said, but his hoof gently caught Gilda as she turned away. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, reddened eyes meeting him with a gentle gaze. “Me too. Silver wouldn’t have liked that and… he trusted you.”

Gilda huffed, patting Kindle on the shoulder and sharing a small smile, but the scene was behind Rarity as she silently entered the first train car and traveled down the rows. Once she reclaimed the same seat she arrived in a blue aura pulled at the saddlebag in the overhead compartment. Her journal and quill trembled in the air along their journey to her lap, and though she opened its violet cover and gazed upon the page, quill pressed against it, no thoughts came to move it. She tried again, producing only a single scratch against the page.

She strained, but finally the hissing of her breath gave way uneven gasps that filled the cabin of the train car. The page below her was dotted, one by one, by what tears Rarity had left within her, and she returned her attention to the scrap of cloth she so tightly clung to. With a flick of her horn the cloth wrapped itself around her foreleg and tied tightly. Its embrace was enough for the moment as a second scratch was made across the stained page.

I left Coltistrano only a few days ago. Silver had caught me before I left, greeting me in his usual ways. I finally worked up the courage to tell him what had been eating away at me for many weeks now, that I wanted us to live together, to finally be together. Never had I seen such a wide and silly grin from him in all the years I’d known him. He held me, kissed me, told me he loved me and I promised to return soon. Last night, we shared what must’ve been a dream. We twirled together with music and hopes for the future, a future together. Again, he kissed me, and he teased me.

Today, I return to find my love is dead. The city has come under attack by a vicious, cowardly, vile, black-hearted…

Rarity took a deep breath, scratching out some of her tirade before continuing.

By a villain you know as Shield Wall. The destruction is beyond words, and the ponies here have their spirits in shambles. Gilda, Kindle, and Miss Hearts all survived, thank heavens, but to say they are crushed would be a disservice. Honey is broken. She tells us she was forced to witness Silver’s murder, that he was thrown from the cliff surrounding his home. Gilda searched the riverbank below but found nothing to convince us the worst hadn't come to pass.

Speaking of the poor dear, Gilda’s been left to pick up the pieces of what’s happened. Her bakery was burned with the rest of the city, her best friend is gone, and it’s clear to everyone who sees her she’s itching to blame someone. I don’t know how to help her. Silver always knew how to approach her, to deflect her frustration with humor or frank compassion. Perhaps that’s why they were such good friends.

Which brings me to Kindle. The poor boy has been through much in the last year, and in the short time I’ve known him he’s proven to be as dependable as he is dedicated, always there to help Silver when he needed it. Kindle admired him, but I can scarcely think what dark thoughts are swirling in his mind after all that’s happened.

For now, we will make our way to Ponyville. We will meet with Twilight and hope to arrange shelter for Coltistrano’s survivors, and perhaps even put into motion plans that will bring justice to that monster. I know Silver would tell me to be focused and calm, but that’s so much harder without him here with us. With me.

A final blare of the whistle signaled the many ponies to board the train, directed by Gilda and Kindle, just barely filling half of the seats before the engine lurched forward. Rarity looked one final time to the page.

Abby, should you ever read this, I finally know your pain.

Chapter 10: “All you have survived are failures.”

“This is a crisis.”

Eyes of the room were fixed on her radiant visage. Many squirmed in their seats, others fiddled with pens or papers, scattered before them during the emergency meeting, but not a single soul dared remove their gaze from the towering white alicorn trapping them in hers. Those who did met the other’s eyes. Beside her stood a second alicorn of a deep royal azure, with a face as grim and firm as the words of her sister. Together, the two princesses stood at the head of the table, towering over the seated nobility.

“An attack on Equestrian soil of this magnitude, not to mention cruelty, is unthinkable. Our forward scouts report the city is gone… gone. Completely.” Celestia motioned to the many sheafs of paper passed out to each pony. “An investigation is already underway. The EUP has mobilized to secure the region. With luck, we should soon know the source of such a heartless act and bring them to justice… but this isn’t why we’ve called you here.”

To her side stood Luna, stepping forward and placing a single hoof upon the table as her piercing gaze ensnared the full attention of the room. “Many a pony here once served the whims of a vile blackguard, a pony of such ill repute we still see him in your nightmares. Such a tragedy beareth his cowardly, barbarous stench upon it. Dear sister wishes to grant thee solace from him, but we will not without recompense.”

Quiet rumbling shook the room. Tapestries billowed against an unseen wind, ponies held tight to their seats, and all the light pouring in from the outside world drowned in a whirlwind of darkness spilling forth from the very air, trapping the trembling ponies in her veil as Luna spoke in a low, terrible voice.

“We, as your Princess of the Night, command thee reveal what secrets you yet hold, what treasonous knowledge still festers in your minds, or in the name of mothers and children set to flame, by the stars, we will force it from you.”

Even Celestia was silent. Luna’s eyes darted to every pony before her, each possible suspect, never once losing the tension in her muscles, her wings flared at her sides to accentuate her already powerful silhouette. The nobles frantically mumbled amongst themselves. Towards the end of the table, the only pony still possessed of his wits, was Fancy Pants, his hoof held tightly by a pale pink mare beside him.

“Mi amore,” Fleur whispered. “She means the horrible unicorn who nearly murdered you, no? You aren’t involved in that again, are you?”

Fancy said nothing, electing instead to watch the composure of his colleagues quickly crumble under the princesses’ pressure, and a trained eye caught Luna glaring at him directly. She held him for longer than was comfortable. Fancy dared break eye contact to find another pony, an aged blue pegasus who shared his look of concern. After a small sigh he finally stood from his chair, with Stratos following suit.

“Your majesties,” Stratos began, nodding to Fancy. “We have information.”

Fancy adjusted his monocle as he spoke. “Princesses, we all share vivid memories of the plot in Manehatten, it was a tragedy nothing could’ve prepared us for. The very notion this nobility, those present, could be coerced into such treason is something I wish could remain a bad dream, yet here we are.”

“The point, Fancy Pants,” Luna interrupted.

“Of course. I have it on good authority, namely myself, that not only is Shield Wall active within Canterlot, but the shamed Countess Abundant Glow is in his company.”

“What?” Celestia stepped forward. “She’s in the city? Have you seen her?”

“Only when she desires to be seen, yes, and never without armed escort. More than once she’s visited me to ensure my cooperation in past events. These visits can be corroborated by my assistant. The vice general, here, has received similar visits.”

“Death threats, blackmail, threats of violence against innocents, these are the depths Shield Wall has stooped to.” Stratos spat at the mention of his name. “He came to me demanding access to the eastern regions, around Coltistrano, but he just wanted the roads cleared. We don’t know how or where he’s gotten so many soldiers. Any attempt to gain intel ends in another dead soldier from the recon corps.”

“How long has this been happening?”

“Only a few weeks,” Fancy answered. “Quite disturbing, but nothing is ever simple with him.”

“We will decide that,” Luna said. “You both shall join us for interrogation. Whatever plots yet linger shall be rooted out.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, princess.” All eyes, even Stratos, landed on Fancy as he slowly pulled the monocle from his face, stroking Fluer’s hoof with his own. “A terrible little secret not even Stratos knows is what’s coming next… oh, don’t look at me like that. You can’t deal with Shield Wall without expecting a few surprises.”

“What hast thou wrought, Fancy?” Luna’s horn flickered.

“I take no joy in this, and I pray you may all forgive me, but if there’s any consolation, know you won’t be killed. It’s… oh, goodness, it’s time.”

A second rumbling struck the room, this time from beneath the nobles seated at the table as each chair slowly shifted and churned in a cloud of green magic, slowly peeling away the visage to reveal black chitin within. Screams filled the room. The omnipresent buzz of furious wings pierced their ears as more objects from within the room shifted into a new nightmare. Paintings, sconces, vases, the entire room served as the perfect cover for the swarm of pale eyes and fangs. Celestia and Luna, together, erupted in a display of brilliant magic sent crashing against the attackers. For a while it worked, until a flash of green struck the larger alicorn. Luna’s gaze shot up to the ceiling to find the largest of the threatening brood, her hiss-filled cackle filling the room.

Queen Chrysalis, mistress of the changelings, descended upon the lone alicorn in a bubble of green magic. Her display was powerful but not enough to outmaneuver Luna’s nimble wings, who fired a sharp, brilliant beam at the changeling queen. Despite her power, though, the numbers facing Luna only hastened the end as dozens of drones added their power to their ruler’s, and in a final blast of emerald magic Luna was cast against the wall with a crack.

“Fancy! Fancy, mi amore, what is happening?”

“Please, Fleur, don’t think about it and run!” He pulled Fleur’s hoof to him and led her to the door, but when he went to pull it was forced open by a pony Fancy knew well. Shield Wall, humorless and firm, pushed back against Fancy to witness the chaotic display before him.

“I suppose even you have your uses,” he sneered.

“Save your poisonous wit. I’ve done your bidding, our arrangement is over!”

“No, not yet.” With a wave of his hoof, Shield Wall commanded two changeling drones to flank Fancy, prying Fleur away from him.

“No! No, you bastard, we had an agreement! You gave your word you would leave her be.”

Shield paused, passing an incredulous glance to the fuming unicorn before him, stifling his own chuckle. “Have you ever known me to uphold my word?”

“Curr! I’ll see to it the ponies know, and it won’t be long before he finds you!”

“He will be hard pressed to find anyone… as a corpse.”

Words failed Fancy, hardly noticing the drones snatching him up and taking him from the room, leaving Shield Wall to slowly approach the table. He was surrounded by changelings terrorizing the nobility, and before him he found the princesses held in slick binds of ichor and their mouths bound. He knew their glares all too well. The eyes of the changeling queen, however, loomed over them, peering through the curtains of her thin, matted mane.

Chrysalis placed the finishing touches on the slick cocoons, fully entrapping the princesses before they were hauled off by her drones, followed by the still panicking nobility. Shield stood alone in the room, surrounded by changeling soldiers and the queen, herself.

“Finally,” Chrysalis cried out with a laugh, joined by her drones. “You see, Shield Wall, this is how you repay a debt, and look how easy it was! Now…” A deep, chittering purr echoed in the meeting room, contrasted by the chorus of violent hissing rising from the drones, erupting into verdant flames that took the forms of the now-imprisoned aristocracy. “Send the city into lock down, I want every pony under our control and our agents inside the EUP. As for you, Wall, while my subjects would relish the opportunity to finish the Ghost’s legacy, there is far more delicate work to be done.”

“They know of him?” Shield managed to ask through the wall of disgust in his voice.

“We don’t tolerate traitors, and Darrox is an exceptional specimen at that, but his protege…” The queen looked on with squinting eyes, a snarl forming in her upper lip. “We hivefolk have names for him, none you could understand with your basic pony speech. ‘Shadewalker’, ‘Phantom of the Web’, my subjects might hate him as much as you, but with him in ashes we’re free to continue our little game.”

“This concludes our business, then?” Shield announced.

“‘Concludes’? Who said anything about ending this wonderful little arrangement we have, hm?”

The hissing laughter of the changelings dug into his mind like talons as he stomped forward. “This was the agreement. Soldiers for information. Munitions for submission. I have granted you Equestria on a silver platter, and you seek to undermine me?”

“Oh, but you did so well, didn’t you? And as my drones impersonate the nobility, directing the country however I see fit, you will be in charge of what comes next: the complete subjugation of any pony who dares stand against me.”

“I am not your puppet!”

“Aren’t you? Your victory in Coltistrano was only possible because of me, my drones have been passing you the information I want you to have, and this entire meeting was devised by you, because I ordered you to.”

“Do not make an enemy of me, witch.” Shield produced the long, black horn from within his coat, snapping the drones from their jubilations. Chrysalis, however, laughed.

“A pretty toy, but have you forgotten what real power looks like? The power to command, the power to intimidate. Oh, you were so fearsome before, weren’t you? But now… well, now you’re little more than a cheap trick.”

“Mock me at your peril, I have killed dozens of you filth.”

“Oh yes, I have no doubt you could kill many here, maybe even escape, but what about her?” The queen’s icy words paralyzed Shield. “All alone in that beautiful suite, the building guarded by soldiers, my drones in disguise, ready to kill at my command. Hide it all you want, but I smell it on you, a putrid scent but there’s no mistaking it. You care for her.”

Shield held firm. He held her in his sights, right down the length of the horn, and every ounce of his now wrathful being urged him to release the power against her, every ounce except one. It sickened him, churning in the pit of his stomach like tar. The thought of her, though, broken and twisted on the floor was more than enough to sap any strength from his limbs as the horn lowered. His hoof retreated, but his anger pushed hard against the action, just barely restrained.

“What… do you… require,” he whispered through clenched teeth.

“Hm, much better. With my drones replacing the nobility and the princesses, we will begin issuing orders to the EUP, and with the recent attack you so deliciously executed we have all the excuse we need to mobilize. But enough foreplay, let’s discuss more delectable topics.”

Shield froze. The changeling monarch before him licked her lips, tracing the long, forked tongue along razor sharp fangs as ragged breaths preceded her words.

“Rarity. Gilda. Kindle. The Ghost’s allies, and the ones who have so comically bested you at every turn, now’s your chance to even the score. So long as his allies are free to roam they are a threat to this operation’s security, and with Rarity dead the rest of the Elements will be crippled. You will take the drones I’ve given you to Ponyville and not return until they’re dead. It’s what you want, yes? Vengeance?”

Even with decades of training and an iron will, Shield could only just contain his wrath as he shook in place, each muscle tensed and begging for an excuse to pounce, with the only thing halting the tempest of threats building within being his tightly clenched teeth. Chrysalis traced his shuddering body with languid eyes. Soft layers of chitin shifted and parted to make way for a growing smile as the silence between them grew, devoid of any true resistance from her unicorn servant, until an almost imperceptible nod from Shield allowed her release before he turned to leave.

Wicked laughter followed him out the door, his eyes locked onto the floor as he walked from the destroyed meeting room and into the halls of the palace, echoing with the screams of servants and staff as the omnipresent buzz of drones followed him. He paid it no mind. He was burning from ears to hooves, every part of him screamed for violence, stoked by the sight of black chitin, but the queen’s threat held him at bay, so he kept walking. Even with all the fury his body could muster, all the rage and bloodthirst a soul was capable of, he kept walking.

—

“Welcome back, sir,” Glint declared.

Shield was silent upon entering the Auberge suite. He looked around at the other guards, following him with empty eyes as he took a seat at the table, decorated with fine food. Beside him sat Abby, who ate quietly. Shield peered over to her, glaring at her near-pristine meal. “You have barely eaten.”

“You went to the palace today, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“Then it’s done, I take it?”

“You speak as if you understand what is at play,” he said, firmly.

“I understand death threats and blackmail well.”

“Then you understand now we are free!” His sudden outburst caused Abby to flinch, her eyes fixed on her plate, but Shield released a ragged sigh. “They would just as easily kill you, Abundant, so I do what I must to survive.”

“All you have survived are failures,” Abby snapped.

Heat rose within Shield’s skull, threatening to singe his own mane, but he stopped. Wrinkles lining Abby’s tense brow and piercing eyes seemed to hold his own rage at bay. Seconds passed in silence between them, long enough for Abby to huff and return to prodding at her meal, desperate to summon some appetite while Shield was left trapped in the echoes of his raging thoughts, eyes darting around the scene until he finally made his move and reached out to her with an uncharacteristic gentleness.

“What are you doing?” Abby firmly deflected his hoof.

“You have been tense since the night I returned. I thought perhaps-”

Abby shot up from her seat. She stomped away from the table and across the suite floor, slamming the door to one of the bedrooms behind her with enough force to rattle the glass of the windows. Shield lingered on her seat, then crashed his hoof against the table, threatening to spill the open bottles of wine.

“A simple gesture. All I offer is a simple gesture and I am crucified!”

Glint watched as Shield continued muttering to himself, but soon his attention was caught by a soldier entering the suite and crossing the room to him, whispering in his ear. “Sir, the rest of the Coltistrano refugees have settled in Ponyville. The Ghost’s allies are amongst them.”

“Finally, good news.” Shield threw his legs aside and lifted himself from the chair. “And now they are on the run, correct? That is what you have come to relay to me?”

“Correct, sir,” Glint nearly hissed through clenched teeth.

“Good, now they are desperate. Their primary goal will be to survive, and perhaps even serve as a distraction.”

“Distraction, sir?” Glint trembled at the suggestion in Shield’s words.

“Chrysalis suspects me, perhaps even plans to kill me as we speak, but the queen is intimately familiar with Silver and his master. She hates the old bug, almost as much as I. Silver’s allies, however, could prove a suitable distraction so we may make our move against her, which is why you will join me as we travel to Ponyville.”

Glint’s ears stood up, eyes locked onto the almost passive expression of the unicorn before him. “Sir, you’re a wanted felon. The drones might not try to arrest you, but they won’t protect you from any guards or EUP in the region.”

“Hardly concerning, I assure you. They will not tread far from the city. Finding them should prove simple enough, and when we do they will be hard pressed to refuse my offer to them.”

“Offer… sir, they would never work with us. Not after everything that’s happened.”

“I disagree. The princesses are imprisoned, changelings scour the land, and the Ghost is dead.” Shield sent Glint a wry, sinister grin. “They will have no choice. We are their last hope.”

“... To save Equestria?” The slightest hints of a smile began to form at the corners of Glint’s mouth.

“They will be compelled. In Silver’s honor they would do anything to save the nation he died defending. We will use them as a diversion to lure Chrysalis’ attention away from ourselves, Glint, if only for a moment. Then we will have our chance to strike. To burn her new hive before she even finishes it, then bury her in it.”

Shield’s words smothered Glint’s hopeful smile, his chest now heavy with the singe of smoke, blinded by the memory of flames. “Sir, the new hive is in the palace, and not everyone is… we take orders from her. Her spies are everywhere.”

“That is exactly why.” His voice was harsh. “The game has changed. The Ghost is dead, Chrysalis rules Equestria from the shadows, and in order for us to survive whatever wicked designs the changeling queen has planned we need to escape from under her fetid hoof.”

“We are talking about Equestrian citizens. We can’t just-”

“We can, commander, if we must. If she thinks I will remain her… puppet…” Shield spat at the word. “Then she is mistaken. I will burn her new hive to ashes, much like I did Silver’s home, even if all of Canterlot burns with it.”

The silence weighed on Glint, a pressure suffocating his composure, until he raised his head and, with firm eyes and a trembling lip, spoke. “Sending a message isn’t worth the lives of Canterlot.”

“It is not your place to decide!” Shield’s thundering retort snatched away Glint’s voice. “Do not think your seditious thoughts have gone unnoticed, commander. Much like the disgraced countess, you made a choice to follow me, knowing full well my reputation, and if that wretched swarm of Chrysalis’- nay, if Equestria itself needs reminding who is in control, who holds true power, then by the stars they will be reminded!”

“I joined you to save Equestria!” Glint snapped, casting forth heavy breaths. “I joined you to save ponies who couldn’t save themselves, and all we’ve done is hurt them! This isn’t the Equestria you promised!”

“This is not about saving anything!”

“Dammit, why not?!”

Shield’s harrowing gaze softened at Glint’s words, and slowly he eased away from him and returned to his place at the railing. The floating glass returned to him one last time and emptied itself over the ledge. Humor, frustration, all emotions drained from Shield’s face. The silence continued for only a few moments, long enough for Glint to gather his composure as Shield remained frozen, peering listlessly into space.

“Because ponies like us cannot save the world, it is only saved from us” Hot puffs of breath landed against a shuddering, yet stoic Glint as Shield took a moment to withdraw his aggression. “I hope you are comfortable with your station, Glint, because in our precious world of do-gooders and would-be heroes… we are the villains.”

Glint found clouds forming at the corners of his vision, his head buzzing with Shield’s somber confession, almost unaware as his master straightened his posture and sighed. “Remain here, survey the palace, then join me in Ponyville. We will begin the final phase.”

Slicing across empty air, the horn tore open a path for Shield to travel, boldly stomping through the portal, rank and the scent of embers making itself known before the gash stitched itself up and disappeared. Eventually, though, Glint stood alone in the suite.

A heavy sigh left him. Legs weary from standing all day finally began to sway as he threw himself into his master’s seat, taking bits of the delectable meal before him as impromptu payment for his discipline and he melted into the chair at the first taste of the banquet. He took his time sampling everything he could, uncaring if the mess he made would arouse suspicion. After he downed the first glass of wine he froze.

The absence of his rhythmic chewing allowed new sensations to enter his mind, and their arrival tightened his jaw. Screaming ponies and their friends fleeing through broken streets, under toppled walls and over rubble from bombs falling like meteors, their cries competing with his own thoughts. All the noise arose as a chorus of pain. The song drew a ragged breath from him, but what gripped him most was the heat of his own memory. A fire. Images dancing through his mind were framed by a rising tempest of flame and malice flooding the streets of the city that swept the tormented faces howling at him away, leaving only his own peering back with scorched eyes, and he threw himself away from it. Panting, he rose from the waking nightmare to see his reflection in the Auberge’s clock face window, joined by another.

“M-Miss Glow…” Glint barely managed to stand as she bid him stop with a faint gesture.

“Don’t, Glint, you’ve stood around long enough.” She crossed the room to one of the empty seats beside him, taking it for herself. “You’re shaking again.”

Glint was silent, straining his muscles in an attempt to quell the tremor in his foreleg, but the wine rippled in its glass all the same. “Perceptive.”

“I like to think it’s empathy,” she said with a smirk, pulling some of the spread to her plate. “Have you been able to sleep since?”

Glint avoided her gaze, instead locking his sight onto the pristine white carpet below. “Sometimes, never for long, but maybe we should just blame the wine, huh?.”

“If only all things could be blamed on wine… you don’t have to be so formal around me.” Abby’s voice was cold as she began to delicately enjoy her meal, but she did notice Glint sneaking glances at her.

“Of course.” Silence hung between them as they ate. “I’m sorry about the other night, when I implied you were a monster.”

“Oh, please, think nothing of it. With all that’s happened, it isn’t far from the truth.”

“Well, after I heard it was you who beat the Ghost in the Crystal Palace, I’m sure it isn’t.”

Abby shot him a quick, sidelong smile. “You have a peculiar sense of flattery, Glint.”

“I’m out of practice,” he chuckled. “Not many chances to talk to beautiful mares when you’re… doing what we do.”

“Hmm, yes, it’s rather hard to socialize when you’re a prisoner. But these moments are nice, aren’t they? Just us, away from him?”

“It’s like I’ve sneaked a girl into my parents' house.”

Red wine dribbled from her mouth as she restrained her sharp laughter, threatening to burst through her sealed lips. Glint was quick to offer his napkin to her before her resolve was lost. “It is, isn’t it? Goodness, I don’t think I’ve been that daring since…”

“Since Silver?” Glint suggested, detecting her hesitation.

“Yes, I suppose, but that was long ago,” she said, dismissively. “Take it from me, Glint, it’s not wise to linger on long dead emotions. The Crystal Empire taught me that.”

“Ever since… I mean, when we came back… how’re you feeling?”

Abby paused, eyes fixed onto the open space before her. “Coltistrano was a second home to me for many years, and one of the best ponies I’ve ever known burned along with it. I’m… full of hate, beyond any rage I could imagine, but powerless to stop the nightmare I helped create. All I can do is… have you considered what we talked about? On the balcony?”

“You know what happens if we’re caught. I…” Trembling returned to his foreleg, but after a long drink of his wine Glint slowly placed his hoof on hers. “You’ve only ever been kind to me, and I can’t stand the thought of him hurting you.”

“Oh please, what else could he do to me he hasn’t already done? For all his violence and malice Shield is nothing without something to threaten you with.”

“But you’ll be betraying him, and he cares about you.” Kindle watched as Abby chuckled into her wine.

“Mm, no, no, your master doesn’t care about me. He cares about possessing me. It’s all he’s ever wanted.”

“Was that why he tried to kill Silver? Back when he was a soldier?”

“Among other reasons,” she mused through a sip of wine. “But knowing him it was to satisfy some deep, unknowable madness.”

“Be careful he doesn’t hear you talk like that. Don’t you fear him?”

“I fear what he’ll do, and how many more might suffer because of what I did.”

Her words were like a lullaby to his worries, unraveling in his chest with each second he watched her. The fluttering of her eyes distracted him from images of suffering ponies, her ruby mane supplanting the flames once tearing through his mind, and the rattling hoof holding his wine glass finally calmed itself enough for him to take another sip, one that filled him with a sliver of courage.

“He doesn’t deserve you,” he blurted out.

“Oh? You only just figured that out?”

“I mean it. The Vice General is… has his methods, but I know he’s only ever tried to control you.”

“Bold for his trusted commander to criticize him like that,” Abby chuckled. “You might find yourself in Midnight Gavel’s place one of these days.”

“I think it’d be worth it,” Glint said through another, larger sip. “After all, it’s all he knows, right? Violence and malice, like you said.”

Glint suddenly downed the rest of his glass, his hoof firmly pulling the bottle to him as he poured another. “It’s all Equestria knows him for, really. A monster, a traitor, a damn hypocrite!”

“Glint…”

“You know, you aren’t born a bat pony, you become one. It’s a deal you make with Princess Luna as a sign of loyalty. Of trust. You’re the best, bar none, and only the best can handle the jobs the Night Guard take on. Sure would take a lot to break that kind of devotion, right?”

“Glint, slow down, you-”

“He sold us on ‘saving Equestria’ like that wasn’t already our job. We were made into monsters to fight monsters, but then he shows up, convinces us the real monsters are hiding in the government, and turns us against ourselves. I mean… I mean how screwed up is that? Now he’s out there fighting… killing…”

Abby placed a hoof on Glint’s shoulder as his speech slurred. “Glint, please, give me the glass.”

“And he got you, too, huh? He got all of us. Every last one of us fell for the threads of bullshit and promises he laid out, like a bait and hook, just waiting for any poor sucker to take and… and I… Luna’s sky, Abby, my brothers joined Shield because I asked them to. Then he… he burned Coltistrano, and I let him! I let him… the ponies… I can still hear them.”

His somber muttering was all that could be heard as the wine glass toppled from his hoof, spilling onto the floor. Falling back into his chair he covered his face with a hoof. When Abby approached he shrunk into the seat, but her hooves were gentle as they slowly cradled his head into her chest, careful not to speak as silent tears rolled from his eyes to her dress.

Together they sat, surrounded by peerless ill-gotten fineries. Convincing lies to hide their prison as the clock tolled its haunting chime once more.

Chapter 11: “This is a nightmare.”

A bundle of letters crashed against a pile of similar envelopes. Three days of mail lay within, three days of newspapers and postcards. Blue magic swirled around one envelope, however, lined in gold and of hefty parchment. The expensive paper barrier fell before Rarity’s eager hooves pulled it apart, hurriedly discarding the remains and forcing the letter inside to reveal its contents, but as her eyes scanned the document they fell into half-lidded orbs mirroring her frustration.

Rarity,

I don’t think I can wait any longer. It’s been three days since Coltistrano was attacked, and no one knows what to make of it. I’ve already sent a letter to the rest of the girls: Spike and I are going to Canterlot to try to stop this.

While I’m gone, I need you to keep an eye out for ‘you know who’. If the reports from Canterlot are true then who knows what he might do next. I know you and Silver were close, I’m sorry. This is getting more dangerous with each day he’s loose. Please, be careful.

Your friend,
Twilight

Tired eyes drifted to the ceiling. Rarity fell against the back of her chaise lounge and let out a long, shuddering sigh unraveling from the twisted knot occupying her stomach, but whatever pressure was relieved soon returned when her eyes closed. Ashen streets, broken ponies, memories of amber eyes.

She jolted up and grasped her head, cursing the images robbing her of much needed sleep. It was the same each night. A few hours of restless sleep, only to be woken by the choking scent of charred wood and the cries of filth-laden ponies, then nothing but her own confusion to occupy her thoughts until the sun finally peeked over the horizon, much like today. Once her composure was gathered she peered out across the showroom she rested in, the first floor of her home-turned-business. A pleasant smell of coffee drew her attention to the kitchen, a lure she lacked the strength to ignore. The letter fell from her hoof without any reaction from Rarity as she crossed the floor to the back kitchen.

“Good morning, Kindle.”

Ears perked up at her voice, and a small smile greeted Rarity as she stepped to the counter beside him. “Morning. I hope you don’t mind, I was just helping myself to some coffee. I made some more, too, you… well, you look like you need it.”

“Pfft, is it obvious?”

A steady stream of the dark elixir filled Rarity’s mug, giving Kindle time to take stock of the tired mare in front of him, her lazy gaze fixed on the beverage. He hesitated to speak, but the urge overtook him. “Any news?”

“Yes…” Rarity began, floating a small pitcher of cream over her drink. “Twilight’s gone to Canterlot to seek aid from the princesses.”

“Wait, she left? With all the refugees, a-and Shield Wall on the loose, and-”

“She has her duties, Kindle, as do we. Don’t fault her for that.”

Kindle’s words were plugged like a leaking hose, and after a few seconds he fell back against the counter and huffed. “Well, that’s… great. What are we supposed to do now? She was our only help out here, and with her gone we’re stuck with no leads.”

“There’s always a clue, Kindle, we… we just need to find it.”

A cold expression betrayed her hopeful words, turning from the counter and trotting sluggishly back out into the main showroom with Kindle in tow. The two seated around the chaise lounge. Beside him, Kindle found the discarded letter, slowly reaching over to read it as Rarity took a long sip of her coffee, desperately searching for whatever buzz could replace her lack of sleep. Kindle scoffed at the letter. He cast it once more to the floor and sipped from his own drink, hunched in his chair, pressing a hoof firmly against his forehead.

“This is a nightmare.”

“Worse, Kindle, it’s real.”

“How are you holding up?” His probing elicited a meager response from the unicorn. “Gilda won’t talk to me about it, and you seem like you’re at least keeping it together. I-I mean, unless you’re not, in which case… I’m here to talk if you need it.”

The silence was answer enough, her hoof stroking the black shred of fabric tied around her wrist. After a few seconds and dejected sighs from Kindle, Rarity found it impossible to not smirk and reach out to him, patting his shoulder. “Thank you. It means a lot, I promise.”

Before either of them could continue the front door flew open. A loud thud followed as it hit the wall, clearing the path for a single, matted, wet gryphon to step through the threshold, her eyes locked onto the middle-distance, but soon she was captured by a competing glare from Rarity. Gilda stopped, returned to the outside, and wiped her paws and claws clean before entering once more. Kindle sat up to face her.

“You’re back! You’ve been gone since yesterday, are you alright?”

“Fine.” Gilda wasted no time in crossing the showroom, snagging the coffee pot from the kitchen and returning to the two while greedily drinking from the vessel.

“Gilda, have you at least eaten?” Rarity asked.

“No. Saw Twilight leaving the city an hour ago. Take it she’s not buying our story?”

“She sent a letter this morning.”

“Whatever. Shouldn’t have relied on her, anyway.” A low growl escaped her beak. “I found a few stragglers from home heading east through Rambling Rock Ridge. I’m going back out to follow up.”

“You should at least rest, we can go into town and get some breakfast.”

“I’ll eat on the road.”

Gilda’s slow turn towards the door was announced by the thud of the coffee pot landing against the floor as she placed it down, the sound of clacking talons scraping away Rarity’s patience with each step the cold gryphon took. Kindle followed her with a lingering gaze and a subtle nudge forward to follow, one his legs hadn’t yet found the strength to perform. Rarity cradled her mug in her hooves. Finally, breaking the somber silence suffocating the roof, she called out to Gilda.

“Shield leads us into a trap, to lure us to Canterlot so he could separate us, that means he must have some presence in the city. If that’s true we can start there… if we have a plan.”

The final word managed to halt Gilda’s leave. A talon tapped against the floor rhythmically, rolling the word around in her mind for a few moments before taking one lethargic step after another back into the room to stand beside Rarity and Kindle in silence.

“Thank you,” Rarity continued. “I’d say it’s obvious the longer he’s out there the greater the risk of another attack. The authorities are searching for him, so we have a chance to work together to find Shield.”

“Well that’s a start, right?” Kindle’s small burst of enthusiasm brought a smile to Rarity.

“It is, but Shield has no agents to follow, no support. Even the criminals he sent to lure us to Canterlot have disappeared, and there is still the matter of the horn. Shining said it was stolen by Glint, and I can’t think of any other object capable of the destruction that’s been caused, and who knows what else he can do with it. Gilda, dear, have you seen any sign it’s been used again?”

“Nah. The thing doesn’t burn like normal fire,” she said, pointing to the fading scar on her back. “It cuts through buildings like paper. We’d know if he used it again.”

“Thank heavens, then we still have time.”

“Time until Twilight gets smoked, too.”

“She’s a princess, Gilda, Shield wouldn’t…”

The annoyed gaze from Gilda corrected Rarity’s memory, with images of falling glass and a ruined library returning to her like the nightmares of nights passed. “We need a plan.”

“Simple. We follow the trail, find him, and skin him. Let the princesses figure out the rest.”

“That’s not good enough, Gilda, he has to be brought down properly. Silver would’ve-”

“Silver isn’t here.” Gilda gave a low growl, never losing her cold stare.

“We can’t give up on what he believed in, Gilda, please. We’re all hurting.”

“No you’re not.”

Any restraint Rarity still held drained from her face, and Gilda wasted no time in turning from the group and retracing her steps to the front door, but something pulled her back. A ribbon of blue power coiled around her tail and yanked. She hissed at the resistance, giving small flaps of her wings to try and break free, but Rarity was already stomping towards her with tears welling in her eyes as the magic yanked one more time, this time hard enough to pull the gryphon back to the unicorn.

“What did you say?” Rarity seethed.

“Let go of me, Rarity!”

“No! You don’t get to abuse my hospitality, my generosity, only to trample over my heart just because you’re hurt, too.”

“I can do whatever I damn well please. I don’t see you out there trying to do anything about what happened. Oh no! You’d rather sit in your fancy doll house and make plans. Well, some of us can’t settle for that!”

“You act like you’re the only one who lost someone,” Rarity shouted, pushing her muzzle against Gilda’s beak. “He was as much a friend to you as he was to me, and he loved me. Do you understand, Gilda? He loved me!”

“Well, you got a piss poor way of showing you loved him back!”

The shock on Rarity’s face gave Gilda the opening she needed. She violently grasped Rarity’s hoof, wrenching the tied scrap of black fabric away and shoving off any attempt to reclaim it. “If you want this back, show me you loved him and pack a bag. I leave in ten.”

The door slammed shut quicker than it opened, leaving Rarity to collapse into a huffing, tearful mess on the floor. Kindle rushed to her side, doing whatever he could to comfort her, but his mind replayed the scene, over and over, the venom of Gilda’s words leaking into his brain until the burning itch could no longer be ignored as he bolted out the front door. Slit yellow eyes scanned the ground for her tracks, and not too far away he spotted her.

Gilda crouched into a stance when Kindle swooped down in front of her, leathery wings spread and sporting a grim expression. His speed surprised her enough to raise a claw in defense. All she received, though, was a glare frigid enough to freeze her blood.

“What, dweeb? You here to defend her honor, or something?”

“What is wrong with you? I thought you were all friends, and you go and do this to her? It was cruel.”

“So what? She’s too scared to take the fight to Shield? Fine, I get it, but she doesn’t get to pull that shitty sob story and make my hurt go away! She wants to make plans. I want to end this.”

“But you can’t do it alone! None of us can, we need to stick together if we want to have any chance of even finding Shield, let alone beating him.”

“Listen, bat boy-”

“No, you listen!” Kindle’s shout forced Gilda to step back. “I had to watch as Shield Wall twisted my regiment, all of my friends, into murderers and traitors to use like tools. He made Glint try to kill me! I’ve watched dozens of the ponies I served with be thrown in prison because they were lied to by the same bastard who killed Silver, the guy who I tried to kill and ended up trusting me. Me.

“And you are ruining that! You’re stomping all over everything he showed us about working together and trusting each other, all because you’re mad. And I’m mad, too! I am so bucking angry I want to strangle that bastard until he turns white, but… but I won’t. I don’t want to be what he forced me to be, not again. I can’t go back, Gilda! You’re all my friends and you trusted me to be better, Silver trusted me, so please don’t become another friend I lose to this nightmare. Please, just… just…”

His vision began to haze as tears ran from his cheeks to the ground. Trembling hooves still stood defiant against the now silent gryphon, whose body remained statuesque, her beak hanging slightly open to release silent words. Her breaths quickened. Talons dug deep into the ground, feathers around her neck ruffled, her tail slowly fell between her legs. Kindle, however, could stand no more of the silence, wiping his face and turning away, until Gilda threw her full weight against him, to be engulfed in feathers and a bone-crushing embrace. She shook violently.

Soft sniffles became bellowing wails echoing through the town. Her claws pulled Kindle in closer, ever-searching for a deeper embrace to smother the knot of anguish within her gut. With considerable strength Kindle managed to move his forelegs around her. Together, in the early morning, they sat in the road as Gilda bared her very soul to him. This went on for several minutes, long enough for Kindle to spot another pony approaching them.

“Rarity?”

Kindle’s voice alerted Gilda to the sad and stumbling image of Rarity, who abandoned her hold on him and raced over to the weary unicorn, falling at her hooves. “I’m sorry! I did… he… I’m such a b-bastard. I m-miss him so much, I… I’m sorry!”

“Gilda, dear,” Rarity whispered, pulling her into an embrace.

“He saved me! He s-saved me… and now he’s gone!”

Onlookers and whispered words meant nothing to either of them, resting against each other in a lingering embrace, and Kindle could only smile at the sight. Then he noticed Rarity’s hoof. It waved to him, urging him forward to them both, and when Kindle heeded her summons he was pulled into the embrace and surrendered to the warmth, feeling Gilda’s wing and foreleg slowly snake around his back. Soon the shuddering finally ceased and the three pulled away. Gilda, though, gently took Rarity’s hoof and slid the tied scrap back over it.

“This was… it was a rotten thing to do. Guh, I can’t believe I… I’m so sorry.”

Rarity’s forgiveness shined through her smile, warm and pushing back against the fallen tears across her cheeks, but just as she touched Gilda’s shoulder a clamor of metal made itself known. The trio turned to face it, their eyes met with the image of steel armor, twelve strong, marching in formation sporting Equestrian colors. At the head stood a guard in golden armor, his auburn mane poking through the helmet, and spoke with a booming voice.

“Greetings, Miss Rarity, I am Sergeant Major Lighthoof of the EUP. In light of the recent attack in Coltistrano, and the reports of an armed and dangerous fugitive loose in the region, Princess Celestia has ordered us as a vanguard force to investigate the region for signs of the perpetrator. Do you have a moment for questions?”

Rarity’s mouth hung open for a moment, snapped shut when she finally caught up with her own thoughts. “Oh, w-well, I’ve already passed all I know onto Twilight. Has she made it to Canterlot yet?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss the location of the princesses in such times, you understand, but I promise we’re here for your safety. As you can see, we’ve already ordered our vessel to patrol the outskirts for any signs of the enemy, but they’ll have a much easier time with your cooperation.”

Rarity, Gilda and Kindle followed Lighthoof’s gaze upwards. Something large approached the city, large and with a profile the three slowly began to recognize, but Gilda’s keen eyes saw it first, her once quivering talons digging deep into the earth as she growled. High above the city, a fully equipped airship trailed across Ponyville’s skyline. The hull was lined in a darkened steel, and the Equestrian coat of arms proudly rested along the broad balloon carrying the menacing aircraft along the breeze, recent additions to the body of an aged ship the trio knew well. Broadside cannons lurched towards the city below. The Tornado, a revived corpse of wood and steel, loomed over Ponyville.

“That son of a-”

Gilda’s insult was hushed by a hoof from Rarity, pulling her aside with Kindle in tow. “Sergeant Major, I will be more than willing to aid in any way I can, but would you allow a lady to prepare herself, first? This is all happening so fast. You understand, yes?”

She fluttered her eyes twice, earning only Lighthoof’s silent babbles in response. The three made their way back to the boutique as silently as soon as he waved his hoof in silent compliance, moving quickly to outpace the soldiers fanning out across the street, and as the front door came into view Kindle nimbly opened it for the others to enter, keen eyes peering across the street as he slowly closed them off from the rest of the world. With the click of the door came Gilda restrained fury.

“That little shit! He’s brought the damn army on us, after he… he… argh!” Gilda beat the floor with her claw, rattling the windows as she did.

“Now what are we supposed to do?!” Rarity stomped over to the discarded coffee pot and held it in a death grip. “They’ll arrest us, and so long as we’re held in a lockup there’ll be no one left to hunt Shield Wall.”

Kindle, however, pulled the two together with a smile on his face. “But do you know what this means? They’re using the Tornado, and that means something is happening in Canterlot. Shield must be pulling the strings.”

“Sounds like that asswipe,” Gilda huffed. “ Now he’s rubbing it in! First chance we get, we’re gonna bust outta here. Fly out after dark and head straight for Canterlot.”

“They’ll have patrols in the sky. If we try flying out a pegasi squad will catch us, for sure.” Kindle turned to Rarity, expectantly, watching as she bit her hoof and glared at the floor.

“Of all the days I’d hoped to be wrong,” Rarity sighed. “Kindle, you worked with Shield, you must know something about what he’d do. What’s he planning? How would he be controlling the EUP? How could he?”

“After the Empire? I’d be surprised if he was even controlling what’s left of the Night Guard, but I’d bet he’s using someone else to issue orders to the EUP. Those soldiers out there look like standard troops, nothing unusual.”

“Fancy,” Rarity declared. “Shield and Abby got to Fancy. They must be forcing him and his office to promote this investigation, but Fancy doesn’t control the EUP, so there must be more than just him.”

Gilda spat at Rarity’s conclusion. “How many tartar sucking weirdos does he hang out with? If Shield got to one, you know he got to them all. Five bits says Lighthoof out there is a plant Shield’s using to box us in.”

“Then why hasn’t he killed us yet? He has every reason to do so, and the perfect cover.” Rarity’s question drew a ponderous sigh from Kindle, who stared at the ground in contemplation. She pulled away, crossing the shop floor and carrying the coffee pot back to its resting place in the kitchen. When she returned, she did so with firm steps and a tense brow.

“That settles it. We know he’s planning something, and if he isn’t going to kill us then we still have a chance to stop him before things get worse.” Rarity settled herself in front of the others and gave a sharp huff. “We’re going to Canterlot.”

Chapter 13: “They don’t know what fear is… not yet.”

Darkness. Swirling walls of viscous black surrounded him, suspending him above and within its oppressive sphere. Color was a faded memory here. All he knew in this place were the strands of blood, slowly dancing upwards, and the paralytic pain they so desperately fled from. He was cold. The darkness held him in an icy grip coiling his entire form with a pressure so great it forced his breath from him in gusts, but no air replaced it. Bubbled escaped his lips, and when his frantic gaze locked onto them he followed them upwards to their destination.

Glimmering light peeked through the roof of his prison. It was faint, fleeting, but beckoned from within him whatever heat the abyss had not yet stolen. His legs flailed in defiance. Fear was his fuel, fear of the crushing void below and how it clung to him, and every kick pushed him higher towards the glittering surface above, but the light never changed. The same faint, ever-present glimmer mocked him as it pulled away. His next gasp brought the void into him.

Choking, sputtering, flailing weakly against the viscous world of darkness holding the light at bay, limbs shaking from the chill. But something drew his flooded gaze. A dark bolt pierced the veil of light above and sailed towards him, bringing with it a gentle warmth to ward away the darkness, and as his eyes surrendered to the power of his prison he could feel the light above begin to grow as he rushed upwards, his waking eyes fluttering.

His hoof was the first thing to move, waving languidly above him as if searching for something to connect with, his legs following suit as they traveled from side to side. Birdsong filled his ears along with the sound of rushing water, and a scent of greenery was about him. Finally, his eyes pulled open to take in the sudden details of the world around him, his vision foggy and uneven, and he shuffled in his place in some vain attempt to lift himself from the bedding when it hit him. He gave a throaty groan.

The once traveling hoof snapped to his midsection, a mistake he soon regretted when the rushed contact brought a second singe of pain through his body. Once he recovered his senses he found himself to be naked. All he could call clothes were the plain and worn bandages around his midsection and various other wounds now making their presence known. Memory failed him, but through careful positioning of his weary limbs and a bit of determination he managed to sit upright on his simple bedding.

He was greeted with the sight of lush forestry, framed by the mouth of the shallow cave he resided in. Sunlight danced across the fluttering leaves, managing to calm him as he continued his review of his surroundings, finding evidence of a small camp all around him. Light plumes of smoke rose from the smoldering fire just in front of him. The serenity encouraged him to, carefully, take the first motions to stand.

“Don’t.”

The voice broke his concentration and sent him right back onto the bedding with a light, but painful thud. “You’ve healed, but only just. Take it slow.”

His mouth could still open. Breath could still move through his lungs and out through his throat, but he struggled to utter more than strained grunts and gasps of breath to address the stranger, though once the figure made its way around the campsite to sit before him the powers of speech made their inevitable return.

“A-... Alate?”

“Hello, Silver.”

Soft, pale eyes contrasted a body of jet black chitin, chipped and scared, topped with what Silver could only describe as a clean ring of emerald flesh resting atop her head. Adjusting again drew a chuckle from the changeling as she closed the distance. Firm hooves pushed Silver back down to the bedding, trailing down to tighten any gauze his haste may have loosened, though a convincing slap to an old wound dissuaded him from rising again.

“I h-... heard you were north.”

“And I heard you were dead.” Alate’s declaration froze Silver where he lay. “Ponies have been talking about what happened, and nothing good. They say the Ghost is gone.”

Silver stammered, desperate to translate his racing mind, but Alate continued. “Soldiers are moving around Equestria, some sort of investigation. Even Ponyville-”

“S-Slow down… just…” Silver looked back to his aching wounds, inspecting them carefully with trembling hooves. “How long has it been?”

“Coltistrano was hit six days ago.”

He nearly fainted. The rush of Alate’s words brought a maelstrom of pain to his skull, and a fog followed it, forcing Silver to grasp his face with his hooves in a weary confusion. Light mumblings rose from him, and Alate allowed him a moment’s silence before continuing.

“I found some soldiers moving in and out of the old ruins. They’re trying to understand what happened there, but you can imagine how little evidence there is. Besides, we both know who did it, don’t we?”

Even Silver’s failing perceptions were still keen enough to detect the hint of sarcasm in her voice, giving him an anchor to return from his haze. “How many made it out?”

“Couple dozen.”

“What about Gilda, and Kindle, a-and Rarity… please-” His panic was hushed by Alate’s sharp interjection.

“Your friends are alive. They moved to Ponyville with that unicorn friend of yours.”

“Why… how has it been… Alate, where are we?”

“Bottom of Rambling Rock ridge, a few miles south of Coltistrano. I’ve been lying low since I found you.”

“But why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You fell from the city all the way into the river,” Alate deadpanned. “You were bleeding, bruised, and barely breathing. Honestly, Silver, I’m surprised you woke up, at all. Have you ever tried to stitch wounds without magic?”

Silver’s eyes connected with the scarred stump on Alate’s head as she fumbled with the campfire. “Shining told me what happened.”

“I’m sure he did,” she said, casting a few broken branches into the flame. “That Glint is a real piece of work.”

“He also told me you’d been working with them.”

“For them, I’m not interested in being some royal spy, but…”

“Prisoners don’t really have a choice, right?” Silver managed to quip.

“Oh, they gave me a choice. I could work for them, find evidence of Shield Wall inside the Empire, and they would forgive my crimes, or I would rot in prison.”

“Why did you accept?”

Alate slowed her ministrations to the fire, giving Silver a sideways glance. “Because maybe Darrox would’ve liked it. Maybe it’d make him proud.”

Muscles twitched along his face, and Silver weakly managed his first small smile since awakening, quickly dashed when he stirred in his bed and dared to rise once more. Alate looked over her shoulder, silently groaning at the display. Despite her best efforts to stay apathetic she still turned to assist him in sitting on his haunches and held him tightly, careful not to break anything as his eyes locked with hers.

“Can you tell me what happened? How you found me?”

“Well… I wasn’t in the best condition, either,” she began. “I was recovering in the Crystal Empire after Glint attacked. Sunburst let slip that Shining had left, but was coy with the details. So, I pressed him.”

“Did you hurt him?” Silver asked with a firm gaze.

“I’m not like that… anymore. Sunburst was helping remove Sombra’s horn safely. He’s a friend, I suppose, and not annoying enough for this old changeling to want to hurt, but he’s soft. It didn’t take much to learn Shining left to find you. I managed to escape later that night and followed him all the way to Coltistrano, but I was a day behind. I didn’t make it here until the fires had just stopped burning. That was when I found you.”

A hoof covered Silver’s face, followed by a deep and ragged sigh as she continued. “I found a camp, though, after we made camp here. Soldiers, no colors I recognize, but I knew the smell. Hard to miss when you grew up around it.”

“What do you mean?” Silver watched a firm tension cover her brow, rolling her next words around in her mind.

“I’ve been finding them all across this region, Silver. Can’t say for sure how long they’ve been operating here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were who struck Coltistrano, and in the shape of EUP, too.”

“Changelings,” Silver whispered. “But why would they attack Coltistrano, and with Shield, no less? He’s never been a friend to the hive folk.”

“He’s not. The changelings wouldn’t dare work with him. We despise him for his campaigns against the hives, and for the hatchlings who choked to death in the flames.” She spat onto the soil in disgust. “Queen Chrysalis would sooner eat him than help him, yet her drones were looking for us.”

“‘Were’?”

“They’re dead, if that’s what you mean. Attacked me as soon as I approached. They ran recon on Coltistrano for the initial attack.”

“Didn’t you just say you changed?”

“I have, but the ‘Ragged Mare’ still has her uses,” she said with a humorless smirk. “They would’ve found us if I hadn’t, or worse alerted Shield. Do you know where he could’ve gone?”

“No. Last time I saw him he stabbed me. Ganged up on me and… did my mom survive?”

“She’s with Rarity and the others in Ponyville… Silver, how did he do it? EUP have bombed our hives, but never have I seen such complete destruction like that.”

“Well, he took back the horn, right? He must’ve found some way to weaponize it. It’s the same fire you burned Gilda with.”

“I… remember. I should apologize for all that.”

“I agree, but when this is over.” He held his hoof out for hers, using it for support as he shakily rose to his hooves and stood. Alate was careful to keep him steady but eventually Silver managed a few small steps forwards into the sunlight. “Have you heard anything about Abby?”

“Nothing, though if I had to guess she’s probably at the mercy of Shield Wall’s demands. Whatever gave him control over a force that large, I’m sure she had something to do with it.”

“I hate how you may be right.” The statement left a putrid taste in Silver’s mouth, the discomfort of the thought held back by the warm grace of the sun along his tarnished fur. With a shaking hoof he felt along his side searching for every new scrape and bruise, taking stock of the damage to remind himself just how lucky he felt.

“Silver,” Alate almost whispered. “Bad things have been happening, all across Equestria. If you know anything I need you to tell me.”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Silver chuckled. “Cadence must’ve really turned you around if you care so much.”

“I’m not a monster, Silver, but I’ve… I’m too old for vengeance.” The last few words lazily leaked from her mouth, but were soon replaced with a small gasp when Silver turned and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“I’m glad to hear that, and believe it or not I’m glad we’re working together. Now, I’d like to go back.”

Alate shot him an annoyed glance. “‘Back’?”

“To Coltistrano,” he replied coldly. “I need to see it. Please.”

“Silver, it’s a ruin, nothing worth exposing ourselves for.”

“Please.”

His persistence staggered her, trapped in the firm gaze of amber irises, a stare she only ever knew from behind a dark mask. She knew from experience it was futile to defy the stallion.

“Fine, fine, we’ll go. But you follow me, understand?”

“Thank you. There’ll be supplies we can use at the manor. Once we’re there, if we take time to compare notes we should be able to come up with a plan that doesn’t-”

Silver’s words were overtaken by the monstrous growl of his stomach and a wide, fang-filled grin found itself plastered across Alate’s muzzle while Silver choked out a laugh of his own. She stepped over to a series of bags and satchels beside the camp, producing hooffuls of fresh fruit. Alate casually tossed a peach to Silver. Quick as ever, though dulled by the stiffness of his muscles, the fruit evaded Silver’s keen reflexes and smacked firmly against his chest. Laughter and pained grunts joined together as he recovered his first solid meal, joining Alate.

—

Restraint failed him. His hooves dug deep into the mounds of ash and broken wood littering the streets, discarded belongings hanging from shattered windows, long dried stains of deep maroon just barely peeking out from the darker areas he feared to find. Even in pain his legs slowly lowered him to sit in the ruins of his childhood. The very home he returned to protect, the very home he once saved. A shredded canvas of white painted violently across the colorful memories of his life. He rested there, silent drops striking the sheet of ash. The ashes of Coltistrano.

“You were right.”

“What?” Alate peered over to Silver, knees in the dirt.

“When we fought in Twilight’s Castle, with Shield Wall. You said I failed Darrox.” His words faded as he gazed across the barren streets. “I’ve failed so many more than just him.”

Alate digested his words with a firm sigh through her nose. “You aren’t the only one, but no one could live up to him. Not even you.”

She took her time in scanning the ruin around her, having only now taken in the scene. Emotion was a scent as familiar to her as the wind, a sensation at the core of her memory, but in the jagged buildings and shattered stone she found nothing. No love, or misery, or even the quick sensation of pain she had become so accustomed to. She stood in horror at the utter blankness of the city, stripped of even its very identity.

But her rumination was broken when Silver finally moved, softly limping towards the broken house at the edge of the cliff, soon joining him as they traced the scene of his defeat. His gaze followed a maroon streak trailing towards the house. All he loved, lost. Silver’s somber ruminations ended when he placed his hoof upon the door. Shaky breaths were all he had to push himself against his instincts and advance, leading Alate to the blown open door frame of his once beautiful home. Once inside, they traced the path leading to the study.

Crackling sounds came to him as he entered. Silver looked down to find his careful steps had landed on top of a charred picture frame, revealing a face he did not expect as he moved his hoof away. The sketch of Darrox. He lifted the drawing to his face, taking in the details of his master, a small form of solace hiding in the desolate ruin, and motioned out to Alate as she searched the demolished study.

“Hey… I think you should have this.”

At first dismissive eyes soon locked onto the image of the changeling on the paper, and for a moment Silver saw the quiver of her lip as she took it in both hooves. “This… you drew this?”

“Rarity drew it, she’s far better than I am, but I think you need him a little more than I do, right now.”

Soft beads of tears welled up along the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill down her chitin-covered face, but she quickly recovered her composure and gently placed the drawing in her saddlebag as Silver stepped to where the fireplace once was. The wall before him was half destroyed with plenty of room for even a wounded pony to squeeze through. With some dedication, and a few pained grunts, he was on the other side and staring down a long, dark staircase before beckoning Alate to join him.

Their journey into the dark was a short one, for when Silver stepped onto the familiar stone magical braziers sprang to life, illuminating the undercroft. Some containers were knocked over and pieces of equipment had been scattered across the stone floor. The empty display case had toppled over, leaving shards of glass strewn about, but Silver wasted no time in finding a nearby broom to clear some workspace for both him and Alate, who up until this point could only stare in awe.

“Well, here’s my home away from home,” Silver said sheepishly.

“And here I thought you were just some kid in a mask.”

“I was for a bit,” he chuckled. “But when enough people keep nagging you about little things like ‘preparedness’ and ‘personal safety’, it pays to keep them happy.”

Alate scoffed at his wit, watching as he dusted off a large table to cover it in what boxes of supplies remained intact.

“Alright,” Silver began. “It looks like the undercroft is mostly unscathed. Must not have found it, thank Celestia. I have enough alchemical components to restock some of my bombs and tools, but they’ll have to be rationed, and I saw the vault under the lobby floor was blown into, meaning they’ve stolen my money. Thankfully, most of it is down here.”

“He robbed you?”

“Out of spite, if nothing else, but even Abby’s wealth has its limits. Shield needs to restock somehow. Here, take one of these.” Silver tossed her a smooth object, slightly warm and adorned with a glowing blue sigil, humming with power. “That sending stone will help us stay in contact if we’re separated. Now, you’ve been out in the world, how bad is it out there?”

“Soldiers are moving all across the country conducting an investigation. Ponyville, Cloudsdale, anywhere that could be at risk, and a lot of ponies are scared.”

“What about these changelings, the ones you encountered? What did they look like?”

“Plain, standard issue, not even gold like the Canterlot guard. There are only a hoofful of them out there, but they’re always in commanding positions. Definitely trying to blend in with the standard military. They’re young, though, undisciplined, but they attacked me on sight. Must have orders to kill me, too.”

“If that’s true it’ll make moving around Equestria difficult. I’m sure the entire country is in chaos.”

“I haven’t been too far beyond Ponyville, but I know ponies are scared, and these soldiers are moving freely on public roads. The real EUP passes them by so long as they control themselves, but I’ve seen what the changelings do when no one’s looking. They’re thugs.”

“Damn him,” Silver spat. “So, we have an occupying force inside Equestria, one the EUP will do nothing about, but can hide enough ponies and munitions to destroy a city with no notice. This is Shield’s work, for sure, but something doesn’t add up.”

“Does it need to?”

“How is he doing it? That’s the real question. We’re talking about an alliance with changelings, changelings who would rather kill him yet are supposedly under his control, but also undetected by the EUP. Abby couldn’t authorize something like that, only the General’s Board could.”

“Bribery and force are his trademarks, Silver, you know this.”

“Yes, but by what means? Let’s assume Shield found some way to appeal to the changelings, or at least enough of them to help in his scheme, he would need something to offer them. Some opportunity, but what? You can’t bribe or threaten the changeling hives, and disloyalty is even less likely, so there must be something more…”

Alate gave a long sigh at Silver’s display, walking over to shoot him a warm smile. “You’re so much like him.”

“Who?”

“Darrox, all your thinking and pondering. You have no idea how often he’d be on the hunt for a mystery, acting just like you are. It’s… comforting, knowing he isn’t really gone.”

Silver smiled, placing his hoof over hers. “It’s good to hear, especially now, but we won’t learn anything hiding in this cave, and I’m hardly a Ghost without the cloak. You don’t happen to know where it is, do you?”

“My guess is Shield took it. It’s a trophy, too valuable to just discard.”

“So we find Shield, find the source of this nightmare, and find the cloak.”

“We should start by tailing the recon groups scattered throughout this area, squeeze enough of them and they'll lead us to Shield.”

“Not too hard, though, right?” Silver’s smile slowly fell. “They aren’t the ones to blame.”

“You really believe that, even after limping through the crater that was your home? Those soldiers will just hurt more ponies if we don’t put them down.”

“You have had your fill of killing,” he growled. Even wounded and without a mask, Silver still managed to force the changeling back a step, his amber eyes catching the light of the dancing fires around them.

“Then what happens when we find him? He’s gone too far this time. The queen must be helping him, and she bends to no one. Are you ready to do what truly matters?”

This made Silver falter. For him, the raging battle was only yesterday, and the ache of the wound in his gut still burned within him, forever carved into his memory by the wicked grin of his enemy. Silver’s harsh stare slowly waned as he returned to the table while Alate, with a gentler tone, continued.

“I’ll do things your way, because I owe you, but you know better than I what Shield Wall has done. You know the faces that go with the ashes outside. When we find him, find her, and we have them cornered, what are you going to do? Fear isn’t enough anymore.”

Silver stared into the middle distance, losing focus. Alate’s words dug into his mind like needles with as much pain as each step he took across the broken city just above them both. He felt ill. The very notion Alate suggested, after all he worked for, was a betrayal of his own spirit, hovered around his head like a vengeful phantasm, the sum total of a life of pain and struggle. Shudders coursed through him as his mind still grasped at hard fought principles, but the ash still clung tight to his hooves, and he could feel it sink deeper and deeper into some dark, hidden pit of his own screaming soul, let loose by the wound in his belly. When he finally breathed he laughed. Cold, dark, sharp, rising up from the broken part of his soul and echoing throughout the ruined undercroft.

“They don’t know what fear is… not yet.”

Chapter 14: "Fine. Lead the way, hero."

Vibrant green foliage gave way to a trio of ponies barreling through the brush. Eyes darted in every direction, labored breathing matching their hurried hooves as they struggled to keep pace with each other, forcing an extra bit of speed from their trembling legs at the slightest sound. One was limping, but the stinging pain he occasionally announced to the woods in small yelps was paltry compared to his most recent memories. The pony at the head barely maintained any semblance of a course while leading her soldiers on a wild zig-zag fueled by fear. She never looked back, the cries of those behind them were warning enough. They were twelve strong when they arrived.

The wounded pony felt a grip on his hind leg. Rope coiled up and around the limb, the only warning of his departure from the earth below a choked yelp as he disappeared into the canopy above. The third pony saw the whole event and screamed.

“We can’t stay here! This place is cursed!”

“Shut it and keep running,” his commander barked, pulling him to her side. “We’ll never make it to the other squad if you keep screaming like that.”

A shadow shot across her vision. With a slap to her subordinate’s shoulder he released a flash of magic from his horn, followed by a focused volley that tore the leaves apart like knives through paper. Brushes of sunlight peeked through the dense canopy above, parting to the shadow’s movements, and everywhere there was light the soldier fired another volley of blasts until the brush was left a smoldering patch of black. The forest stood still.

“W-We got it… right?”

“Quiet,” she hissed, her irritation giving a flash of green, revealing pale eyes beneath her visage. Just steps away from her came the call of a second party, eight ponies led by a towering figure before them.

“Hail,” called the burly pony in gray armor. “We heard the excitement, could smell the smoke all the way at the treeline.”

“T-There’s a monster after us! It got Clypeus. Could it be him? Shadewa-”

“It’s not him,” the commander interjected, slamming a hoof against her subordinate. “Someone ambushed us as we crossed into the Foal Mountains. They’ve been chasing us for hours… and knew we were changelings.”

The burly pony stiffened. With a loud snort he stepped forward, a flash of green revealing worn chitin and a dark violet fringe, standing tall against the invisible terror lurking in the trees. The soldiers followed his lead, their disguises melting away in bursts of green flame, but such a commanding presence had little effect on the phantasmal pursuer as the trees surrounding them merely swayed in the breeze.

“Coward!” The looming changeling bellowed and beat his chest. “I am Sulcus, master of the warrior-cast! Reveal yourself to me, or I will drag you from this cursed forest by your ears and feast on your pride!”

Birds fluttered away from the terrible roar his voice gave, with his followers huddling closer to him as if his threat was a shield. Then, something flew from beyond the trees. Spherical, metallic, and crowned with a flickering fuse the device hurtled towards the space before Sulcus’ hooves. Without a word the company dove for cover, even toppling over each other as the hissing flame trailed down the fuse. After a few tense moments, though, there was nothing.

Sulcus raised his head from the earth. A smirk grew with each step he took towards the device, laying dully on the ground with its fuze burnt out. When he held it in his hoof he gave a laugh. The chorus of hissing and mockery from his company joined his own hysteria as he cast his laughter out across the foliage, as if to embarrass their attacker through sheer contempt. He didn’t even notice the fuze had sprung back to life, not before it was too late.

Brighter than the sun, a blast of light sprang forth from the bomb in his hoof and cast him onto his back. His hoof burned, but all he could perceive was the blaring ringing in his ears. Muted screams and grunts were lost to the overpowering pain coursing through his senses. When he rolled over to shield his eyes from the already blinding sun above Sulcus, dizzy and teary-eyed, was able to make out the hazy image of his soldiers scrambling over themselves, followed closely by something in black, and when he staggered to his knees his vision cleared enough to see what monster pursued them.

The pony had just brought the commander down onto her back with graceful execution. Her panicking comrade tried to run, but the pony pulled a stone from the forest floor, swinging his foreleg hard enough for the rock to sail through the air and collide with the back of the changeling’s knee. Two more tried to flank him with a display of their buzzing wings. When one found forelegs wrapped around their neck, though, he was bent to the will of the pony’s impressive strength as he swung like a flail against his friend before meeting the ground with a thud.

Sulcus endured enough. Even with the singe of pain in his hoof, he rose to his hooves and charged the pony, buzzing wings propelling him forward with force enough to knock the pony back against a tree. The argent mane flew back and Silver was faced with an encroaching wall of solid changeling fury charging for him. A hoof whipped out in front of him, allowing the realization he was less than dressed for the occasion to hit him before Sulcus had his chance. He braced himself and was, once more, thrown against the ground.

“Right… right,” he groaned, kicking his leg out to dodge the following slam Sulcus gave to the site of his landing.

“A pony? A single pony terrorized my drones?!”

“The stench of evil makes for easy prey.”

Silver’s menace was punctuated by the quick toss of a second sphere, glass and swirling with steam. Sulcus managed to spike the bauble down, but the sudden impact was just what it needed to burst open and spew a cloud of putrid, choking gas around him. He swiped around him, furiously seeking his target with desperate strikes. Silver stepped alongside him and lept from a nearby stone to drive his knee deep into Sulcus’ shoulder blade, right in between the chitin plates, causing Sulcus to yell before blindly spinning and snagging Silver where he landed, now knowing exactly where he was.

His head landed only inches away from a jagged stump, a small mercy before the hulking changeling leapt into the air and fell against Silver once more, this time pinning him beneath his weight. Breath escaped from Silver’s chest, fleeing the onslaught Sulcus delivered unto him. Even in his armored uniform his body shook with each blow. With hooves up and rolling with each strike Silver felt his defenses diminish, but the next strike lingered just one second too long, and Silver drove his gloved hoof across the errant limb, digging into Sulcus’ pale eye which summoned a scream.

But Sulcus’ rage was only stoked, and after a moment he cast Silver from beneath him all the way across the charred battleground. “You resort to tricks and cheap tactics! Honorless, like any pony.”

Soft vibrations thrummed through Silver’s brain and robbed him of his powers of speech. His sight, however, was more than capable enough to see the armored brute charge one last time towards him, but was stopped by a second shadow latching itself to his back. Sulcus thrashed against this new threat, the silhouette maintaining its calm. It landed two quick strikes against his head and cartwheeled off, landing next to Silver and pulling him to his hooves.

“Your idea of an ambush needs work,” Alate droned to Silver.

“So does your idea of timing.”

“Traitor! The last of the filthy, treasonous brood. Your brother brought shame to the hive for his insurrection!” Sulcus’ jaw clenched at the sight of Alate, and was soon joined by the remainder of his squad. “A changeling serving ponies is no better than a pony, itself!”

“Breathe another word of Darrox and it’ll be your last.” Her chilling threat froze the lesser drones in place, but Sulcus merely laughed.

“Little Alate, the runt of her brood. I culled your brother, Labrum, and he was of my kin, a true challenge! You don’t even have your horn.”

Mockery turned to silent gasps as flashes of green light danced across the field. The amputated stump of horn atop Alate’s crown bled, but her wild magic landed cuts against some of the drones before them in a swift display of power. It was enough for her to get in close. Backed up by Silver, Alate danced around the drones, landing blows against their freshly-opened wounds, watching them buckle and fall before she lunged for Sulcus, but his hooves were too fast. A stiff foreleg snagged her from the air and caster her away. Recovering, she grunted as her horn ignited again, shifting her into a snarling timber wolf that lunged forward. A bite drew forth green blood from him, but Sulcus shifted as well, and the hand of a towering minotaur caught Alate’s new tail, spun her like a flail, and slammed her into the floor, shattering her disguise. The minotaur, horns long and tipped in red, aimed to drive them straight into the scrambling Alate.

A smack of Silver’s rear hoof against Sulcus’ head drove him off course, plunging instead into the earth, where Silver wasted no time in landing a flurry of blows against the incapacitated changeling. Two of the soldiers tried to pull Silver away, but they were met by Alate’s quick hooves to their jaws. Silver, too, was cast aside by Sulcus’ speedy transformation back to his true form as he drove his head into Silver’s chest. More and more soldiers began to recover. With available space growing thin, and Silver and Alate pinned against each other, Silver pulled a final vial from his belt and slammed it down. The erupting pillar of smoke concealed them, choking all who dared enter. At the sound of buzzing wings, the pillar slowly dissipated, only to reveal the spot they once stood was now empty. Sulcus huffed, wiping the blood from his wound.

“Find them! Bring them to me alive, so I can kill them myself. Go!”

The changelings fanned out into the woods, scouring every conceivable direction. Buzzing and hissing, the sounds of invading soldiers, slowly disappeared into the treeline, and atop one of the tallest branches a ripple of power fluttered, faster and faster, until it melted away to reveal the dup hiding behind the painful illusion. Alate clutched her horn, pulling a rag from her satchel and dabbing against the fresh sores. Silver wasted no time in administering aid to her.

“Nice save,” he whispered. “That was my last smoke bomb, though.”

Alate groaned, hissing at the presence of burning alcohol on her horn.“At least we have our lives.”

“That’s the third time we’ve run into that Sulcus guy. Even out here, this deep in the Everfree, there’s no way he could keep finding us.”

“Sulcus is one of Chrysalis’ best drones, he lives and breathes the hive. I’d bet he’s patrolling this region twice as long as any other drone, and with all the noise we’ve been making…”

Silver pulled Alate close to his chest, a hoof on her mouth, as a squadron of buzzing changelings whizzed by beneath them, gone as soon as they came. “We can’t keep doing this, Alate. We’re getting nowhere.”

“I know, and now it seems like they’re hunting us… don’t screw up like that again.”

“Right, “ Silver said, looking at the tender stump of her horn. “For an old changeling, I’m surprised you can still fight, at all.”

“Wasn’t a problem for Darrox, and I remember giving you a hard time when we first met.” Her cold delivery did little to mask her staggered breathing, but Silver chuckled still.

“If only it were enough for Sulcus and his goons. I feel like a moron out there without the cloak.”

“And you look like one, too. If you don’t get used to it, Sulcus and whoever else we meet is going to run you through before we find a clue to Shield’s location. And no matter how rusty you are, I’m not fighting him alone.”

Silver leaned forward on the branch, a hoof to his lips. “We need to make a move, then. The drones we’re fighting either won’t talk or won’t surrender. We need to go to Canterlot.”

“Canterlot? Really?” Alate raised an indignant eyebrow.

“Well, we’re not making any progress out here! We’ve been out in these woods for days, clobbering every guard patrol we come across, and more often than not they clobber back. I’d be surprised if my lungs weren’t shoved into my stomach each time Sulcus tramples me. They must have some help in Canterlot to help cover up their operation, so if we find who’s in charge they’ll lead us to Shield.”

“Fabulous plan, if I could still hold a disguise. We wouldn’t make it past the gates.”

“I’m working on that. I’ll need to get a better view of what the city looks like before I’m sure, but there’s more than one way to get into Canterlot.”

“If you’re right, and there is something in Canterlot, we may run into more changelings. They’ll pick us out in a crowd and kill us on the spot.” Alate gave her horn one final dab, satisfied with the clotted blood it returned. “We’re not exactly what you’d call a dynamic duo.”

“More like a headache waiting to happen,” Silver quipped, chuckling. “But it's worth a shot, and if nothing else it’ll get us away from Sulcus and our next inevitable beating.”

Creases formed at the corners of her mouth, a gesture betraying the stoic indifference Alate tried to embody. She sighed. “Fine. Lead the way, hero.”

—

Personal space was a distant memory lost in the throngs of ponies outside the city’s first of many checkpoints. Shoulder to shoulder, the crowd was ushered by less than cheerful suits of armor, waving their forelegs in tired, long-repeated motions. The plinking of raindrops against their metal helms chirped through the air. Those fortunate enough hid themselves beneath umbrellas, while the rest of the mass of ponies either huddled under blankets or tarps. The rest suffered. Dark clouds emptied, little by little, but each passed checkpoint signaled the rain to fall just a little bit harder.

Silver and Alate were two such unfortunate souls. Worn gray robes covered nearly every inch of Alate, blending in with the ponies around her, while Silver took the full force of the rainfall. He pushed strands of his damp mane from his face. Vision was becoming a burden in the encroaching storm, but he could make out the several guard stations established along the main road, up through the two great gates of Canterlot and into the city proper, the plumes of guard helmets poking out above the ducked heads of ponies desperate to stay dry, huddled together, shivering under the downpour. It made him sick.

“You need identification ready for the second gate!” A pegasus guard yelled, hovering above the crowd. “Belongings will be checked at gate one! Failure to produce identification will result in temporary holding!”

Silver’s eyes followed the horizon of ponies as he and Alate approached the first gate. “They’re not going to let us in.”

“Brilliant deduction,” Alate whispered. “I told you this wouldn’t work.”

“No, no, no, these checkpoints are meant for security, not much else, but once we get to the main gate that’s when we’ll be in trouble. Guard patrols are lighter than normal, though. And with this rain, we might just be able to slip through. We just need something to avoid detection.”

Peering through the curtain of rainfall was difficult, but just to the right was one of the checkpoints, stationed by four ponies around a large tent. One stood out front, directing the crowd through the first gate, while two pegasi hovered, but a unicorn stepped deeper into the tent, prompting Silver to pull Alate through the crowd. Their pace was slow so long as the eyes of the guards above kept watch, but soon they trotted along the edge of the path.

“I trust you have a plan,”Alate declared, under her breath.

Silver was silent, instead crouching under the crowd and breaking off along the small patch of field leading up towards the checkpoint. Together, they tucked themselves against the tent, out of sight. Silver peeked inside. Alone sat a unicorn, doffed of his helmet and writing in a small journal. Silver merely gave Alate a nod, and the two slid into the tent and were upon the unicorn in an instant, faster than his screams could leave him.

“Alright, I’ll get this on,” Silver said, peeling his wet uniform from his body. “Guh, he’s a little small but… dammit, he’s a unicorn. This isn’t an earth pony helmet.”

“So?” Alate’s question was half-hearted, her attention on the journal of the now sleeping guard.

“It’ll stand out, but I’ll make it work. With a mane this long I think I can tuck some through for the fringe. Find anything useful?”

“Unless you count scribbles in a ledger as useful, no.” Alate crossed the tent and lifted a large saddlebag to Silver. “For your uniform.”

As soon as the precious vestments had been stowed the two were off through the tent, back into the now rapid downpour. Thunder roared in the distance. Ponies in the crowd became restless as they pushed and hurried themselves through line to enter the city, if not in search of someplace dry to stand, and the rising tension served as the perfect cover for Silver and Alate. Here and there, a guard would peer over to Silver, but a firm glare back from him was enough to dissuade any onlookers. Alate, however, stuck close. Her gray robes were drenched, but the armor plated profile of her companion worked well enough to hide her from the ponies around them as they trotted up the road, past checkpoints and to the second gate, the mouth of Canterlot. Here, they saw the full extent of Equestria’s panic.

Canterlot’s portcullis hovered before the lines leading in, half raised, resting like black fangs overtop soldiers standing firm and ready, their eyes like a collective lens over the wet, desperate ponies passing across the bridge leading to the entrance. Unicorns stood to the side with their horns alight, focused on citizens. Atop the walls stood a solid row of pegasi with eyes sharp as steel and wings twitching at their sides. Many soldiers held no frings atop their helmets, but Silver recognized the colors of commanding officers amongst them. These sergeants marched through the area in a form familiar to him, one he tried imitating on his approach, and as the front of the crowd came into view Silver broke through the edge.

“If you screw this up, we’re dead,” she hissed, a quiver in her tone.

“I know, I know! Are you sure you can’t hold a disguise?”

“Not unless you want me bleeding everywhere.”

A sharp sigh cut through the rain falling before his face, followed by a puff of hot breath. Silver rocked in place, eyes darting over every element of the imposing city gate, from the squads of guards scrutinizing each new admittance to the soldiers checking identification. The walls of Canterlot were towering, slick with rain. A hoof traced along the saddlebag, nervously, cataloging the many bombs and implements within, but Silver pulled away.

“Can you tell who here is a changeling?”

Alate cocked an eyebrow at the question. “Yes? I can smell them… why?”

“Find me the one in charge. Can you do that?”

The rain did very little to hinder Alate’s keen senses. Pale eyes dulled for a moment, followed by a gentle green glow from beneath her hood. For a second flashes of the Ragged Mare returned to Silver’s mind as Alate searched the crowd with small, yet jerking movements, hissing beneath her robes. Her mind was flooded with the signature of changeling magics. They lit up in her mind like beacons revealing their true selves, and up towards the portcullis stood the brightest light of them all. Tall, with a slender horn and glittering wings protruding from its carapace.

“Found him.” Alate carefully pointed to a Pegasus lieutenant chewing out the earth pony guards at the gate. “His scent is the strongest. You trying to expose him?”

“Just play along.”

A firm hoof yanked Alate forward, and Silver made his way up to the guards ahead with a grim authority. Alate thrashed against his hold, but in time the two found themselves before the lieutenant, who turned to them with a prickly expression, allowing the soldier he had been berating to escape.

“What is this? Soldier, state your purpose and regiment! And who is this sad creature?”

Silver, with cold eyes and unflinching movement, leaned into the lieutenant's ear. “I’m under orders from the vice general. The ‘sad creature’ is for his… entertainment.”

The lieutenant scowled, but as he leaned past Silver and placed a hoof under the lip of Alate’s hood, slowly pulling it up, his eye snapped open and back to Silver, who held his frigid gaze.

“One of Glint’s agents, then? The lackey of a lackey. Couldn’t even get the helmet right.” He spat at Silver’s hooves, glowering, allowing two long fangs to show. “You are lucky the puppet has such privileges, or I would drain you for even showing me her cursed face.”

“Too bad this puppet has orders, and if you want me to omit you keeping me from delivering Shield Wall’s prisoner to him from my report then let me pass.”

“I don’t fear the unicorn, or you!”

“How about Sulcus? It’s his order.”

Every ounce of hostility once resting in the lieutenant's expression evaporated at the name. Choked breaths trickled from his mouth as he stammered, but Silver merely cocked an eyebrow, giving a dismissive gesture to urge the changeling to hurry.

“Fine!” Specs of saliva splashed against Silver’s helmet from the forceful word. “Deliver your prize to the puppet, but don’t get comfortable. You know what happens next…”

Silver wasted no time in yanking Alate forward through the gate, ignoring the weight of the changelings stare against his back. A few moments more and they were finally in the city center, witnesses to the marching squads of guards and all manner of military presence, joined by a pair of large, violet airships in the distance scanning the outer walls. Few citizens were out on the street, and the few who were had military escorts leading them through predetermined pathways and checkpoints. Silver led them across the street towards an alleyway, empty and shaded from the overhead patrols. Canterlot was completely locked down.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Alate declared.

“Neither can I!” Silver gave a loud, ragged sigh, clutching his gut. “I only gave Sulcus’ name because I was scraping for ideas. We already knew there were changelings in the military, but I never thought Canterlot itself wascompromised.”

Alate gave a wry smirk. “It’s what we do. Now, come on, you know Canterlot better than I do. Where do we find Shield’s support in all this?”

“We could try the palace, but this looks like martial law. Complete lockdown. Even if we got close, they’d have records of everyone going in and out, which is bad news for a deadpony and a changeling. Truth be told, I’m not sure where to even begin.”

“We’re not wasting this opportunity, Silver. With luck, Shield could even be here in the city, and if there really is someone helping him like you suggested then they have to be here, somewhere.”

Silver removed the stolen helmet, placing it gently onto the stone road below. “What do you make of that lieutenant? He was acting pretty… superior to us. I thought he would’ve been working for Shield.”

“He called Shield a puppet, but I don’t know why. Do you think…” Alate pursed her lips, meditating on her next words. “Shield has killed dozens of Changelings and is no friend to the hive, but… do you think he’s working for them?”

“Shield? Work for someone?” Silver’s indignant face made his answer clear, but Alate persisted.

“Silver, changelings don’t just infiltrate for fun. It’s possible some blackmailed noble could get a few into the city and impersonate a few guards, that lieutenant, the one barking orders to ponies, is a changeling, and I’d bet the goons Shield used to burn Coltistrano were, too, and there’s only one person in Equestria who can command this many changelings at once.”

“Alate,” Silver began, slowly. “You’re suggesting that Shield Wall, the racist, murderous, treacherous sack of filth who has ruined the lives of not just you and me but hundreds of ponies all across Equestria, who would sooner run a grieving earth pony couple, my parents, out of their home here in Canterlot than just ignore them because he saw them as lesser, would willingly work for someone, something, other than his own crazed ambitions?”

“What happened at the top of the Crystal Palace? When Abby betrayed you?”

Her words put a pause in Silver’s, who slowly dipped his head away from Alate’s gaze as he spoke. “Shield said he would kill the Ghost. That he wanted a world without me.”

“And he got it. Cadence told me he twisted Abby against you, but do you really think a desperate psychopath and one distraught countess could do all of this? Shield got what he wanted: a world without the Ghost, but there’s no way he did it alone. He made a deal, Silver. He’s working for her.”

Silver’s face fell, but her words struck a chord within him, and all he could do was nod in solemn agreement. “I know someone in town. Fancy Pants. Shield used him to lure me and the rest into a trap, but he’s no servant to him. If anyone in Canterlot knows where Shield might be, it’s him.”

“You trust someone who ignorantly led you into a trap? The trap that nearly killed you?”

“I’ve trusted worse,” Silver quipped, giving her a sly smile.

Chapter 15: “It always did suit you.”

Empty street corners were a foreign sight to him. He often made this trek from the palace, where crowds of smiling and colorful faces dotted his vision in every direction, bustling towards whatever unknowable goals they held, leaving him to sometimes wonder what might become of them. Even in his own busy world, following the faces of his fellow citizens was a cherished indulgence. He’d been denied this for days.

Fancy Pants walked alone down the rainy streets of Canterlot. The black veil of an umbrella shielded him from the downpour, but not from the graying sight of the buildings leading to his home, lined with more soldiers than citizens. Restaurant Row was desolate. Even the gates to his own mansion failed to spark any measure of joy from him as he pushed the squealing bars open and crossed the stone towards the door. Warmth from within, however, gave him some contentment.

“Nimble? I do hope you’re still working through those schedules… not like it truly matters.” The final words leaked from his lips in a whisper as Fancy discarded his umbrella in the rack beside him. An ear turned out to the open lobby. Silence.

“Nimble?” Fancy’s tone became withdrawn, measured, his eyes squinting as he walked through the hallway flanked with large paintings towards a familiar set of doors. Rain pattered against the glass windows. Confronted by the large oaken wood forced Fancy to pause but, with a deep breath and a few silent words of encouragement, he pressed his hoof firmly against the door to peer inside. At the large, familiar table, Fancy found Nimble Quill, staring at him wide-eyed and with a wire thin clench of his lips, while across the room, sitting at his own desk, was an argent-maned pony.

“Who are you?” Fancy leapt to the side, setting himself between Nimble and the stranger in black. “Are you one of his agents? Answer me!”

The pony raised his hooves in surrender, daring to test Fancy’s nerves by standing from the chair and rounding the desk. “I’m not with Shield Wall.”

“Neither were many others, and even they were… my goodness. Aristo? You survived?”

“And I need your help.” Fancy’s nerves got the better of him as Silver stepped forward, flinching on his approach, but Silver held his pace. “He got to you before the party, right? Has you doing his bidding?”

“If only you knew, but how did you survive? Everyone knows how Coltistrano was destroyed, and the Ghost, did he… is he truly dead?”

“Maybe not. That’s why I’m here. Shield Wall has a safehouse here in Canterlot, and I need to get inside. If he’s still there I’ll be able to put an end to this nightmare for good.”

“Were it only so simple,” Fancy finally lowered his guard, stumbling back to the round table behind him. “There’s more at play here than just that mad bastard. It started with a few agents around the country, but now they’re inside the highest seat of government.”

“The changelings, and Chrysalis,” Silver stated, drawing an airy laugh from Fancy.

“So you know, then? Good, at least someone does, but then you also know Shield is only a small part in the queen’s game. She’s planting her drones in key positions, commanding soldiers and officials, and they do it without suspicion.”

“Just following orders.” Silver’s expression hardened at the familiar mantra. “But we can find Shield and use what he knows to stop her. There aren’t enough changelings yet to overwhelm the EUP, I just need to know where he is.”

Fancy paused, scanning Silver with a discerning monocle-clad eye before smiling. “I’ve been cut off from my usual contacts in the Investigations Bureau, but a contact of mine suggests something peculiar is happening inside the Clocktower Auberge. If I were you, that’s where I’d start.”

“The Clocktower Auberge,” Silver returned, chuckling to himself. “Who would’ve thought? I’ll head over there immediately. Will you be safe on your own?”

“Don’t worry about me, Shield’s more concerned with humiliating me than murdering me. Besides, I have… Nimble?”

Both ponies turned to the blonde pony at the other end of the table, trembling and dripping with a slime from his teeth. Fancy looked on in horror as the familiar visage of his apprentice melted away in a verdant wave of power, revealing the chitin-covered carapace of a changeling drone as it let out an ear-piercing hiss. He lunged, and just as Silver stepped in front of Fancy to catch the wild foe a flash of black and rags swiped along its back, raking against the softer spots between his wings and sending him downwards, his chin slamming against the floor. Fancy recoiled at the sight of the other guest, standing atop the table.

“A-Aristo, you… that’s… you know who that is, yes?” He peered into Alate’s pale eyes, shaking at her presence. “Don’t tell me you’re working with this villain. After all she-”

“Fancy, take a look around and tell me how many allies we really have.”

Fancy glared at Silver, then peered down to the true and unconscious form of Nimble Quill, swallowing hard on the solemn realization Silver’s words brought him. “These are desperate times, aren’t they?”

“They are,” Silver returned, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “We’ll make this right, but I need to ask you to keep an eye on things in the city, there’s a good chance we’ll be back. Can I trust you to do that?”

“Of course.” With Fancy’s affirmations, Silver nodded to Alate, hopping down from the table as he hoisted Nimble over his back. She joined him on his way out the oaken doors of the study. Breath caught in his throat a few times, but by the time he finally found the courage in his stilted breath his saviors were gone, leaving him alone in the grand study.

—

All the back alleys of Canterlot blended together as time went on. Silver was careful ducking between passing patrols and the occasional pegasi overhead as they cut through the loading dock behind Canterlot’s empty Restaurant Row. Silver’s hoof shot up as they reached the mouth of the alley. Together, they froze. Two soldiers dashed up and down the street before them and into some of the buildings lining it, with a few crossing dangerously close to the duo’s hiding spot. Moments passed before Silver was confident enough to lower his hoof.

“Do you think Fancy knew about the attack on Coltistrano?” Alate asked. “How much does he really know about what’s going on?”

“Shield never lets his plans slip, not even to gloat. I’d bet we actually know more than Fancy does, at this point.”

“And Shield, too,” Alate interrupted. “This is her doing. There’s no one else it could be, Silver.”

“Of all the nightmares…” Silver returned, but before he could continue he found the towering clocktower standing along the city’s skyline. “There it is, the Clocktower Auberge. Can you make out how occupied it is from here?”

“It’s not so easy from this distance, but there’s still a strong scent. No ponies, I think, but definitely changelings inside.”

“Of course,” Silver said with a firm groan. “Okay… so, I remember enough of the inside from when Darrox and I used it as a safehouse. It’s your run of the mill, super fancy, and far too expensive hotel with only passable room service. I’ll take a wild guess and say the two guards out front are changelings, right?”

Alate squinted as she spoke. “Yup, and a little extra.”

“How much ‘extra’?”

Alate scanned the building. Her mind flooded with the high pitched sounds of chittering, her senses completely flooded by a slurry of vile, forceful emotions leeching her resolve, but the sensations weakened as she scanned upwards. It was around the clock face where she regained her composure. She could feel a single presence there, not a changeling, concealed by the Auberge’s uppermost suite, but radiating with a sense of passion Alate locked onto like a hawk.

“The whole building, with a pony at the top.”

“The… whole building?” Silver gave the tower a scan of his own, whistling at the thought. “Is it Shield up there?”

“Not sure. No other building is like this, though, so whoever’s up there must at least know something about him.”

Silver smirked, giving a contented sigh. “Well, if it is him then it’s a fitting place for a last stand.”

“Silver, slow down. If the entire building is hostile then we need to think this through. There’s got to be another way in, or some way we can scale-”

“If you can sense the occupants of that tower from over here, then they’ll definitely be able to sniff out a pony and a traitor who both don’t belong.”

“So, what, we just go in through the front door and work our way up?”

His smirk was the last thing she needed. For the next few seconds her mouth hung open, eyes darting between Silver and the looming gauntlet that was the Auberge, until finally she leaned her back against the alley wall and groaned. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

Silver gently patted her shoulder. “Not if I can help it. Is Sulcus up there?”

“No. Doesn’t look like the queen gave Shield the best security she could’ve. Not surprising, though, she’s probably hoping someone finds him.”

“They deserve each other, then,” Silver chuckled, gloomily. “So… shall we?”

Both stood from their hiding place. Silver took time to don his uniform, placed snugly beneath the armor around his midsection, and passed the helmet to Alate, drawing her hood overtop to protect her scarred horn. Once Silver’s satchel of bombs was secured to his side, they trotted side by side towards the tower. Two bellhops stepped aside to let them pass, never once breaking eye contact as the duo crossed over into the ornate lobby of the Clocktower Auberge. Twin staircases lead up to the first floor of amenities the Auberge offered, lined in a twirling golden leaf and framing the wire metal clock face just above the front desk, ticking away the seconds.

Silver and Alate found themselves flanked by a number of fancy and well-to-do ponies dressed in Canterlot’s latest fineries, against which they stood out. This crowd, however, followed their path past them and the row of elevators towards the lobby desk as a bubbly purple pony emerged from the back room. With energetic steps she hopped before them both.

“Hello! Welcome sir, and madam, to the Clocktower Auberge. We thank you for selecting us as your favored refuge in this difficult time. Are you looking for a room for two? Despite the lockdowns, we still have happy hour available until eight in the evening.”

“Fabulous,” Silver said with a certain haught in his voice. “My friend and I were hoping for one of your finer rooms. On my last stay, we were fortunate enough to book the Time Keeper Suite. Top floor, lovely view, and a bottle of champagne, please?”

While Silver taunted the hostess, Alate’s chitin shivered from the oppressive stares of the crowd around her. She clenched her jaw at the sight of fangs and dripping ichor emerging from the hotel guests, prompting her to nudge Silver.

“I’m sorry sir,” the hostess laughed. “But the Time Keeper Suite has already been booked. Could-”

“By Shield Wall, right?” Silver declared, glaring into her very soul, and the hostess found herself on the back hoof, stunned by his forwardness. Her shock soon became a chilling whisper that drew the crowd closer to them.

“You won’t make it out alive,” she hissed.

“As if death could stop me… or save you.”

Silver moved before the swarm did, pulling a swirling vial of pink mist from his satchel and hurling it overhead. It crashed against the face of the closest attacker before bursting into a wide, thin cloud, leaving all trapped inside a coughing, sputtering mess. As their hisses became slurred and their movements languid, the hostess leaped from behind the desk towards the argent pony. Alate took the opportunity to test her speed. She snagged the changeling mid-transformation, fangs inches away from Silver’s face, and redirected her momentum through the front of the desk, head plunged through the woodwork.

It wasn’t long before more changelings joined from the second floor. Silver and Alate were careful to conserve their energy, striking only when needed and ducking through the growing crowd towards the elevators. Alate entered first, with Silver allowing his extra protection to bear the brunt of the attackers aggression while Alate fumbled with the lever. She yanked him in and slammed the lever all the way, smashing the gate onto the face of one changeling as the small car traveled upwards.

“Did you have to taunt them?” Alate barked.

“I got them in range… you’re welcome.”

Tremors shook through the elevator car. Through the wire windows on the sides, Silver could see the snarling faces of changelings crawling up the walls, weighing it down. Silver took the opportunity to jump up and knock open the maintenance hatch above. He pulled himself through and began kicking changelings from the car and into the darkened shaft below, but for every one he felled more seemed to appear, until Alate buzzed upwards and joined the fray.

Silver’s attention was pulled away by the same hissing, this time coming from above, higher into the shaft. Pale eyes cut through the darkness and barrelled towards them. Green bolts fired down upon them, singing the car and slicing one of Silver’s legs along the armor, knocking him to his knees. They could neither hear or see, trapped in the bubble of violent intent smothering them with each passing second.

“Hold onto me!” Alate’s order was confirmed by a pair of hooves firmly wrapping themselves around her midsection. Alate reached out into the swarm, grabbing hold of a changeling, horn alight with power, and pulling him in to do what she could not: firing a blast into the elevator’s counterweight. With a snap and a grunt, Alate and Silver both desperately held onto the cable as they were yanked upwards like a missile, zooming through the cloud of changelings, bringing them to a pair of doors beside them, as high as the elevator would go. Silver pulled from his satchel and threw a sphere that burst on impact, allowing them to swing to the smoldering hole and enter the floor.

“Wait, this isn’t the top!” Alate’s head swung back and forth, ever alert for more enemies.

“We have to go around to the other side. It’s an older building, the elevators only go up so far.”

“Are you kidding?!”

Alate’s yelling was cut short by a loud thud from beyond the dark shaft they came from, and a quick glance over the edge revealed the plummeting abyss was filled with pale, vicious eyes slowly crawling their way up. At that, she sprinted away first. Silver produced a slim, metallic vial from his satchel and cast it into the darkness before following suit, the familiar pop of light and sharp ringing announcing his departure down the hallway, speeding past the rows of doors and well-lit windows overlooking the gloomy city beyond. A few doors opened to investigate the commotion, with each occupant transfiguring into their true guise with a snarl before lunging at the duo.

Silver kicked one of the doors hard, trapping a changeling’s tail inside. A second hoof rapped against his chin and sent him to sleep. Alate moved quickly to dodge the swipes of a changeling crawling at her from the ceiling, followed by a vicious mouthful of fangs clamping on her face, but the attacker recoiled with a screech. Glinting metal of her helmet showed itself beneath her hood when Alate wound up and threw a devastating strike into the changeling’s already damaged jaw with a thunderous crack. He slid down the wall beside him, quivering.

From behind, however, the swarm made itself known once more, and Silver’s attempts to produce another death-defying effect from his satchel came up fruitless. Fearful eyes looked to Alate, a message she wholeheartedly agreed with. They slammed the floor in a desperate sprint. More changelings emerged from flanking rooms, snarling and with glowing horns of dripping power, joining the buzzing mass of violence fast approaching them with each second, but the second set of elevators were finally within view.

“Why do you ponies need four elevators to the same floor?!”

“I don’t know! Use that first one!”

The satchel was becoming very light. Sparkling bursts and noxious fumes held the swarm at bay, but only just, and as a final act Silver ignited one of the last few bombs inside the bag, allowing the satchel to catch fire, and threw the full collection at the swarm. The changelings had become well trained to the pain resting within that bag, so much so they squirmed and scattered as it soared through the air before erupting into a spectacular display of every effect Silver had not yet used. Smoke, choking gas, red sparks, a chorus of alchemical awe illuminated the hallway and singed changeling chitin with its brilliance. Even Silver cracked a smile at the display. Alate, though, yanked him into the elevator by his collar and pushed the lever as far as it could go.

“You’re crazy, you know that? Absolutely crazy! That noise is going to attract attention.” Alate removed her helmet and rubbed the aching spot along her head, panting heavily.

“I suppose you’re right… but… boy, was it cool!”

“You could’ve saved some. We’ve only got so much time before they make it up to the suite, and I don’t want them interrupting our business up there.”

“This elevator is the only way into the suite. It’s supposed to be ‘sophisticated’.” Silver took a deep breath, steadying himself. “We’ll block off the door. The changelings won’t expose themselves just to catch us.”

“Not unless they look like EUP.”

“Well, then… we’ll have a few minutes.”

The churning of the elevator’s cables began to slow, and Alate turned to Silver with a softer gaze. “Are you ready for this? You know what happens next.”

“It’ll be the last.”

A loud clunk halted the elevator, the doors slowly opening for the two as they stepped out into the small hallway ending at a single door. Silver and Alate took the stolen guard's armor and crammed its metal plates into the various points of the elevator door to jam it shut. All around them, the phantom sounds of the clocktower’s ticking and whirring of gears followed their slow, measured approach, each step taken with absolute care. Both Silver and Alate felt their muscles twitch. Even tired, their bodies anticipated what came next. Silver placed his hoof onto the door and slowly pushed his way into the familiar suite.

The room was immaculate. Silver stepped around the central furniture in wonderment, tracing the paths he remembered taking on his last visit. The massive clock face loomed over the room, revealing how the clouds outside had grown darker as the storm continued with a flash of distant lightning, but Alate’s attention slowly traveled the perimeter of the suite, and each moment that passed raised her snarling upper lip a bit higher until her senses caught something. Passionate, strong, but with a new scent permeating the aura. Now that Alate was closer she recoiled at the very familiar sensation, whipping her head around the room searching for its source.

“Silver,” she said with a stammer. “It’s not him, but… it’s angry, and in pain.”

Silver, however, had his eyes locked onto the dining table, ignoring Alate’s ministrations as he took his small, timid steps forward. Even the dim light of the stormy world pouring through the clock face was enough to illuminate it. Resting there, pristine, placed upon the stone bust of a pony, seated at the head of the table flowed a shadow. His shadow. When his hoof traveled towards it, he could almost feel the fibers of the cloak reach towards him, too, and the sensation filled him entirely. He savored the feeling as he drew the cloak over him, embracing him once more. Slipping his head through, allowing it to fall square over his shoulders, flowing gracefully along his form. Its comfortable weight spilled over him until Silver released his first contented sigh in months.

“It always did suit you.”

Silver locked eyes with a pair of sea green orbs, gazing at him from across the room. Alate stood ready, crouched low and following her every step, but the unicorn approached unhindered as Silver joined her in the middle of the suite floor. The warm smile she sent him was framed by gentle tears rolling down her cheeks, tears Silver was quick to wipe away with a hoof.

“Has he hurt you?” Silver’s voice was low, barely above a whisper.

“No, don’t worry about me, it’s you I…” Abby stopped her hoof from traveling any farther towards his face, breaking eye contact. “I’m so sorry. The things he’s done, I helped him. Like a fool, I helped him, but I had no idea he would do something so horrid.”

“How could you? You know he only ever wanted to use you.”

“I-I know, I know that now. How is Honey, and the others? Are they safe?”

“This is a trap, Silver,” Alate growled.

“I promise it’s not,” Abby pleaded, softly. “But neither will you find Shield Wall here. He’s left the city, and without him around I’ve been able to work on stopping this madness.”

Silver showed a flash of pride in his small smirk. “You’re Fancy’s contact, aren’t you? That’s how he knew to point us here. You’ve been busy.”

A gentle, genuine smile graced Abby’s lips. “It’s the least I can do to help you, and maybe clear my conscience a bit.”

“Then you can start by telling us where Shield went,” Alate said, flanking Abby.

“Ponyville,” she said, plainly. “Your friends have been undermining his plans in the city for days, now. Chrysalis has ordered him to stop it.”

“Then we’ll head there now. I won’t allow him to turn another city into a crater, and with the princesses-”

“Wait!” Abby latched herself to Silver’s foreleg. “Glint is with him, forced to carry out his orders. You need to save him.”

“Glint?” Alate spat. “He’s the one who carved up what’s left of my horn, and you’re asking us to save him?”

“Please, he’s as much a prisoner as I am, you don’t know what Shield Wall’s put him through. Silver, he’s not a monster. If you can save him, I beg you to give him that chance.”

Silver paused, stunned by Abby’s passionate outburst, but soon violent banging echoed from down the hall. Silver’s foreleg moved on its own, wrapping itself in the cloak and pressing down against the pristine floor, and with a slow exhale of breath he reached out to feel the vibrations shooting up from the blocked off elevator shaft. Dozens of chittering, hissing figures waited inside. They took turns striking the jammed door as it buckled against its restraints.

“They’re coming up through the shaft, we don’t have much time.” A quick nod to Alate urged her to make her way to the balcony before he joined Abby. “Come with us.”

“I can’t, not yet. If I leave now there’ll be no one to warn Fancy, and those changelings will tear me apart, if Shield doesn’t, first.”

“Please… I’ve been looking for you for months.”

“Silver, let me do this.” She peered up at him, face firm with resolve. “I did such… I betrayed you. Too many are dead because of me, my fear of losing you, and I hurt you too, didn’t I? Not a day goes by I don’t regret-”

A second loud bang cut her off, prompting Silver to pull her close. “You can’t ask me to leave you here.”

“I’m not asking,” she said as she caressed his cheek. “I wish there was more I could do. After everything I did, you deserve more, but I swear this is for the best. So please, let me do this, at least.”

Alate shouted after Silver, urging him to her, but he took a moment instead to reach out and kiss Abby’s forehead before wordlessly pulling away. Her eyes trailed behind him as he ran. Shadowy, billowing folds of the cloak enveloped him, rushing besides Alate.

“If Shield Wall isn’t here, then you need to find him in Ponyville,” Alate demanded. “I can stay here if he escapes.”

“The whole city will be looking for you. They hate you more than Shield does.”

“Then they’ll care more about finding me than protecting him.”

“Will you be alright alone?” Silver’s worry was quickly dismissed by Alate’s wry grin, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

“I’m not really alone anymore, am I?”

She stepped back, throwing herself from the building with buzzing wings to guide her descent into the buildings alone. Silver looked back only once, locking eyes with the smiling unicorn before perching himself onto the railing of the balcony. When the third bang rang out, ending in a crash, he reached over his head and drew the cowl down over his face, a sensation long forgotten rushing through him once more, and in an instant he leapt from the clock tower.

Muscle memory guided his limbs to whip the ends of the cloak out to either side. Strong wind caught beneath him, carrying him out across Canterlot’s skyline like a looming omen, slicing through the rain. Ponies shrieked at the sight. Guards called others into formations. Changelings in disguise shuddered and hissed as he passed, their fear threatening to undo their magical guises, and the eyes of all who saw the figure followed him out beyond the Canterlot airport and into the open air, where he dove down with a speed rivaling the very rain. Silver smiled at the chilling damp lining his entire frame and the rush of wind against his eyes. When he unfurled the cloak again and the sensations settled in his chest once more, he knew it for sure.

The Ghost had returned.

Chapter 17: “You’re my home.”

Blood and rain spilled over the floor, followed by a body falling through the green tear. Colliding with the floor made him groan. He laid there for a moment, taking in the fresh pain, barely noticing the jagged horn had slipped from his grasp, sliding just beyond the reach of his limp forelegs. From outside, the storm rumbled in the distance. Fresh rays of the setting sun pierced through what remained of the storm clouds to dance across the windows, bespeckled with rain and casting its warm glow over the room as the arc of green magic finally sealed itself, leaning the pony alone.

Shield forced himself to move. One hoof at a time, he pressed against the floor of his familiar safehouse to a seated position, still resting in the thin puddle of damp and red. He ignored the sting in his leg as he rose to all fours. It was once he fully stood did Shield take account of the suite, immaculate as it seemed, as tired eyes traced the border to discover scrapes on the walls, scuff marks trailing from the entrance, tiny specs of glass illuminated by the setting sun hiding beneath the seating, but the growing knot in his chest reached its full tightness when his gaze landed on the table. The cloak was gone.

“You’re getting the carpet wet.”

The familiar tone of her voice made him slowly turn, and from the other side of the room he was assaulted by the firm, dispassionate gaze of Abby. His mind raced. Fighting against the pressure of her stare and the tremble surging through his spine, Shield snapped his head back to the now empty chair where the cloak once hung.

“So you aren’t answering me, now?” Abby scoffed, crossing the floor towards the cupboards, pulling a pear from within. “You’re bleeding. Something happen?”

“You… did you notice…” Words failed him as his mind flooded with images of darkness, of amber eyes burning themselves into his memory.

“I noticed the gash in your leg. You know where the kit is.” Her dismissive tone was enough to keep him grounded in the moment as he watched her eat from her pear, eyes focused on the window.

“The cloak is gone.”

Abby turned to Shield, languidly, witnessing his pitiful form in the setting sun. Wet, trembling, blood dripping freely from his leg, and two weary golden eyes fighting to keep their sights on her as they threatened to drift off into open space. Shield straightened his posture, but was met with her lightest scoff.

“There are marks along the walls,” he stated, resisting a stutter. “The scraping of unwashed hooves is trailing from the entrance. There is glass on the floor. Something happened while I was away, yes? Something you refuse to tell me.”

Still, she gave him nothing. He stepped forward, drawing the thin trail of blood across the floor, fighting the hiss in his throat with each painful step. He spoke in a deep growl. “Someone came here for the cloak. Who was it?”

“Who do you think?”

Abby’s tone was sharp, yet soft enough for Shield to entertain the idea she had never spoken at all, but her thin smile broke the illusion. All the power left within him began to rise like steam. His hoof twitched as Abby grinned, a dare across her face urging him to act. Though Shield felt his hoof rise from the floor he stopped as another face came to the forefront of his mind, wild and piercing, with a scowl to quell the building force in him as if it were a tiny flame smothered by the raging storm beyond the windows.

“I… I want to know who. Some agent, or a rogue drone, or-”

“You came from Ponyville, didn’t you?”

Shield stayed silent. Abby, finishing and tossing away her pear, simply walked past the unicorn towards the front door, and from one of the flanking bedrooms a saddlebag gently floated towards her. His attention was split between the phantoms in his mind and the gentle hoofsteps beside him, but Shield finally summoned the strength to speak.

“Where are you going? You are not permitted to leave!”

Golden magic ensnared her hoof as he limped towards her, but in his skull he could feel a far greater force push against his own power as Abby’s horn lit up, her teal magic pushing against his own and shattering the spell. Again he tried, grunting as he did, but each time he was matched by her formidable will, each attempt draining what power he had left, all the while trapped in her fierce gaze. A gaze like his. Shield broke his own spell. Golden sparks fizzled in the open air as Abby held her ground, horn still alight and waiting for his next move. It never came, only his voice.

“You made a choice.”

“And I’m making one now.”

She stepped out of view. He could hear her walk to the end of the hall, hear the creaking of the elevator door as it opened, and in a few moments Shield was left alone in the suite, the pressure of silence oppressing his ears. The urge to shout welled up within him, the faces silenced him. An instinct to strike the nearby wall began to trigger, but the voice restrained him. A single visage enslaved his thoughts. Shield was left to simply stand in place as any response he would dare to consider was scattered in the face of the looming shadow as the light of the outside slipped over the horizon.

There, in the darkness, he stood alone.

—

Glimmering rays of light twinkled in the small dew drops along the windowsill, a final gift from the long passed storm, and cast their thin rays of color into the darkened room within. They illuminated the path leading from the entrance inwards. A thrown open door, mud-caked boots, damp towels, and all manner of discarded garments leading across the already messy floor and towards the island in the center. Drapes lined the perimeter, allowing only thin rays to peek through the narrow opening. One pierced the veil to dance along the mounds of lavender cloth and provide only the slightest illumination as the distant sounds of birds announced themselves, until the drape was pulled shut.

The mounds of cloth shifted on the bed. The world within the drapery was dark, radiating with warmth trapped between its two occupants, one of whom slowly returned to their impression in the pillow, moving as silently as their neighbor’s breath. Birdsong continued. Her half lidded eyes drowsily traced the face of the other, still sleeping, hair and limbs spread across the bed towards her. An invitation, one she slowly, yet greedily, accepted.

Trembling puffs of air trickled from her lips as she settled into his unconscious embrace, giving a second stutter as his limbs moved to close around her. Warmth surged in her again and threatened to return her to sleep. Even after several minutes of quiet pleading, though, her eyes refused to yield, even to such long-missed pleasures. Instead, she resigned herself to quiet admiration of her partner. Tracing the creases of his face with her eyes, basking in the rhythm of his softly beating heart, allowing a daring hoof to pass along the inside of the covers to touch him. He was real. From the long strands of argent hairs trailing from his mane, to the freshly healed gash along his belly. Before her lay the object of her most tortured nights, returned to grant her long needed, blissful sleep. Everything as she hoped, everything as she remembered.

Just as she made contact with the more tender parts of him he mumbled. His eyes lazily opened. Gentle darkness surrounding him almost convinced him he yet slumbered, but the chirps and trills of the world beyond pulled him into the waking world. Weary limbs waved in the air before he felt something catch on them. Strands of silk, a texture that dragged along his hoof as he felt his way up towards their source, landing along the warm cheek of his silent companion. Even in the darkness, their eyes caught each other.

Silver and Rarity laid entwined together. Her foreleg wrapped itself around his chest, while he found himself cradling her head, and somewhere along the way their manes fell together as a tapestry of regal color across the bedding. A leg traced its way up along his, with him slowly bringing himself deeper into the blankets to meet her at eye level. A hoof grazed her cheek and traced down to her chin. It traveled along her neck to stroke her messy mane, slowly pulling her closer. The corners of her mouth curled ever so slightly as she returned his tender gesture. Drawn drapes encircling them could no longer keep out the light of morning, dressing them both in its glow.

“We should’ve done this earlier.”

His whisper sent a flurry of sleepy giggles through her, slowly resting her face into the crook of his neck. “Now we always can.”

For a few minutes more they lay there, entombed by blankets with each other's warmth as fuel for their hazy euphoria, tired limbs securing them both in place. Eventually, he dared to press against the pillow and push himself up. His first attempt failed with a soft grunt, aching muscles yearning for the warm confines of his cocoon, but another attempt managed to at least lift him from the pillow.

“No.” She moved slowly, but faster than he was ready for, pressing his shoulder and bringing him back to her. “Not yet.”

“So you don’t want breakfast in bed?”

“Please…”

Silver’s smirk faded. She looked to him with an open and stoic face, but the quiver of her lip and tremble in her hooves betrayed her. He relented, eagerly pushing into her embrace, placing tender kisses along her fur and allowing her a moment of presence, held together by a strength which grew with each minute since they had awoken together. The bed began to rumble softly, and Silver could feel tears fall against his face.

“I’m here…” Despite his words of comfort, her display was more than enough to tip him over the edge as well, falling deeper into her and holding on tight.

“You were dead… y-you… never leave me again.”

With teary eyes he pulled away to look at her. Pinpricks of light shone through her mane, illuminating her face and the streaks that framed it, and he felt her gaze nestle itself deep into his very soul as azure eyes held him in place, never once looking away. It was then he kissed her. As he had done many times before, he closed his eyes and relished in the touch of her affection. Their lips grazed and pressed against each other softly as proof they were still there, sensations as evidence their dreamy state was more than fantasy, that it was real, and they were together.

“What’s this?” His absentminded hoof traveled down her form, brushing against something tied to her wrist.

“It’s part of your uniform. Gilda found it where you… at the bottom of the cliff. Have you seen the city yet?”

“I have.”

“We can talk, if you want. It was your home, and after every-” Rarity’s words were silenced by his advance, stealing a kiss and once more convincing her to sink deep into their shared embrace, and her eyes fluttered open when he pulled away.

“You’re my home.”

There was a pause, and soon the tender atmosphere was shattered by her involuntary chortle, chuckling as Silver joined in. “Dirty charmer, always such a tease. I missed it.”

“I missed you.” A final, chaste kiss landed on her cheek, and Silver turned onto his back. “There’s still ash from home in my clothes, and on the cloak. No matter how many times I wash it. It doesn’t feel real.”

“To think it ever happened at all. After all these weeks we never even would have guessed the depths he’d sunk to. All for what, revenge? Petty, base vengeance?”

“I'm more scared of what happens now,” Silver whispered. “He’s failed. If he reports back, Chrysalis and the changelings might do anything to take this city back, or worse, but… let’s not talk about it now. How are you?”

“Better than I’ve been in a long time, especially now knowing I won’t need a new bed. We fit well, don’t we?”

“Oh, are you sure? You won’t want any space for yourself?”

“I have no plans on letting you even an inch out of reach,” she chirped, pecking his muzzle. “But I’ll settle with pushing you to the edge if you get too clingy.

“Now who’s the tease?” Azure eyes taunted him, with a power alluring enough to pull him onto her, assaulting her face and neck with gentle kisses, relishing the soft rumble in her chest as she giggled.

“Oh! Wait, wait, I want to show you something.” She rolled over and cast a subtle spell towards the desk at the far wall, summoning a violet book to her.

“It’s your journal,” Silver stated.

“I remembered how excited Twilight was to meet you, with all the old stories written about Darrox during his time. So, for a while now, I’ve been keeping a record of our times together. You’ll have to fill in some of the blanks, though. I started back before we first met in Canterlot, so your time on the island and some of the adventures you’ve had without me will be up to you, but if you’d like to go over it with me we could make something truly special, I think.”

Rarity watched his face shift, a small smile forming across his lips, followed by the smallest traces of a tear. His renewed grip on her was more than enough of an answer for her as he leaned in. “Can we read some now?”

A grin broke out across her face. Wasting no time, she shifted herself against his shoulder and pulled open the journal with her magic, and there the two sat in silence as she bared the pages of her world to him, and Silver never once looked away. The sunlight beyond the drapes illuminated them just enough to read as morning birdsong slowly changed to the bustle of Ponyville outside, but to them, coiled together in pleasant warmth and silence, it was little more than distant noise.

“‘Of course, being the generous soul I am, I graciously offered him’...” Silver cocked an eyebrow at Rarity, whose slowly flushing cheeks were amplified by the silence between them.

“You weren’t supposed to read that part,” she mumbled.

“You literally dragged me to that spa.”

“Oh, but you needed it, darling. Gangly and matted, fetlocks as long as your mane, ugh!”

“Yet gorgeous enough to earn my place in your bed.”

“And whosoever do we thank for such delicate care and attention, hm?”

Silver gave an exaggerated sigh and leaned down as Rarity offered an expectant cheek, gifted with a long and firm kiss. “Your spools of thread will forever be remembered for holding this aching body together, my love.”

“That’s more like it.”

The drapes surrounding the bed had long been drawn back, finally allowing the sun access to their sanctum, and before long the journal was closed and replaced with steaming cups of coffee as Silver and Rarity slowly emerged from the bedroom. They would sway together to the songs of birds as they prepared breakfast. Silver hummed as he ate, looking out between the window panes to the first bright morning in recent memory. When their fruit was consumed and coffee drained Rarity followed him to the door. Her hoof, however, stopped him before he reached the doorknob, with a tender caress of the twisted scars exposed along his bare back. He did hesitate, but the smile she received filled her with his confidence.

Sunlight greeted them on the outside. Ponyville was bustling with countless groups of ponies rushing between streets and homes, carrying supplies and joined by the EUP patrolling the camps of changeling prisoners. An auburn mane sat amongst them, and at first glance Lighthoof gave them a nasty snarl. Rarity returned it with a smug grin. Splitting off from the road, the two walked down one of the major thoroughfares, dodging the ponies at work and waving to those who greeted them. Despite the wreckage around them, they chatted and laughed like two ponies in love.

Then came the familiar hulk of wood and steel, nestled across the street and pressing against a building with its impressive frame. Citizens and soldiers alike were hard at work yanking on ropes to move the downed airship while others worked to repair the gash in the balloon. One or two stopped to wave at Silver and Rarity, catching the attention of their tall and feathered overseer, who peered at them with yellow eyes and a sly smirk.

“I’d tell you to get a room, but I know you’d still be all over each other.”

“Yup, down and prone like your ship happens to be. Didn’t Gorn teach you how to park?”

“And how not to shoot the balloon. Just proof he liked me more than you.”

“Liking you is a chore, featherface, he just hated you least.”

Gilda paused for a moment before shooting Silver the widest, sharpest grin ever to grace her beak, lunging in for a powerful hug. Rarity giggled as they squeezed and patted each other, but their embrace continued even after their bravado passed. Gilda dug her face into his neck. They held each other up, uncaring to the busy world around them, pulling away only when they decided it was time, a comfort long missed.

“You’re such a dick, dude,” Gilda choked, fighting her tears. “Could’ve just come to us, ya know? Not pull that caped crusader crap and show up when it’s the most dramatic.”

“But you have to admit, it was pretty cool.” Silver’s laugh was cut short by a firm slap from Gilda, right onto his shoulder.

“Buck you, asshole, you even said the stupid line.” She failed to hide her smile, even as she slapped him again. “Hey, um… Rares, could you go check… check the balloon? These klutzes couldn’t-”

“I’ll give you some space,” Rarity chuckled, stroking Gilda’s shoulder before taking off towards the wreckage.

“You doing alright, G?” Silver’s words forced her feathers to ruffle.

“Y-Yeah, um… can we just talk? Just… yeah.” She led him over to the side of the street, seating herself on the sidewalk.

“Is everything alright? You’re making me nervous.”

“No… I-I mean, yeah! I just… I’m such shit at this.” Her empty claw was soon filled by Silver’s hoof, the gesture filling her with warmth and renewed breath. “I thought you were dead. You were dead, and it… it dragged a lot out of me. Nasty parts I thought were long behind me. I kinda talked about it with Kindle, and Rarity I… well, I hope she forgives me. Jeez, I just went full survival mode, ya know? I didn’t sleep, spent all my time looking for Shield for what he did to you, and… l-look, I’m just trying to say-”

A foreleg around her neck silenced her nerves, and Silver pulled her into a warm embrace. “I missed you, featherface.”

“Y-You too, raghead,” Gilda stammered, once more falling into him with her full weight, trying to preserve her barely repaired composure as tears threatened to fall. “So… changelings, huh?”

“Yeah, changelings.” Silver chuckled, looking out across the road where they rested. “But from the look of things we’ve got a shot. We know they’re operating out of Canterlot, just need to find out where.”

“Working for the head bitch, from what I heard, right? That Queen Chrysi-missi-something.”

“Chrysalis.”

“Nah, she’s Queen Bitch from now on.”

Silver laughed through a bright, toothy grin, shooting Gilda an joyful look before she, too, joined in, allowing their laughter to echo throughout the street before Silver finally collected himself. “Well, if you pull a stunt on her like you did Shield yesterday, there’s no way we can’t take her.”

“And I would’ve blown him to high tartarus if your ugly mug didn’t distract me. Nasty, long-maned looking colt, can’t your marefriend get you a haircut?”

“Says the walking, talking rug. Your fur looks more matted than a diamond dog after a rainstorm.”

“That’s cuz you nearly took my head off when you shot my ship out of the air with your piss-poor aim. Why don’t you try some glasses, doofus.”

“You could’ve ducked, but I guess that would’ve flown over your head, too.”

“Not unless… ooh…” Gilda squinted and wagged a claw in front of Silver’s smug face, soon to meet the back of his head in a firm slap. “Call me stupid, will ya?”

“With how loud you talk, I’m surprised you’d ever hear me.”

Another swipe shot for Silver head, who ducked and gently bopped Gilda on the beak, signaling the start of an all out slap fight between the two. Rarity peaked up from her dutiful ministrations on the bisected balloon, looking over with a sigh to watch as the two fully grown and respectable heroes of Ponyville rolled over each other while shooting their insults. Several ponies watched, some even cheered. Their brawl soon came to an end when the shadow of a unicorn loomed over them. Gilda looked up, pinning Silver flat on his back, to the amused expression painting Rarity’s face as she leaned over to the prone pony beneath her.

“Having fun, my love? Do you need any help?”

“Please, Rarity, you know bottom is my strongest position.”

Rarity’s cheeks went beet red, with a look of playful shock across her face and huffed at the boldness of his words. “Gilda, darling, my ever-so-subtle stallion hasn’t fully healed beneath his left ribs. Jab him for me, will you?”

Silver’s eyes went from half-lidden to dinner plates in the split second it took for Gilda to drive her claws into her target, producing a sadistic cackle as Silver squirmed beneath her.

“Have you learned your lesson, love?” Rarity leaned down to Silver’s pained face.

“That you make a nasty team up,” he grimaced, finally allowed to stand as he cradled his left side, but something caught his eye.

Overhead, just visible above the roofs of Ponyville, soared a shape as white as clouds, smooth and sleek and sailing towards the outskirts of the city. Silver rushed off first, followed by Gilda and Rarity as they dashed through the streets. The more they ran, the more of the visiting object they could identify, oblong and traced with golden streaks in a pattern Silver recognized and collected into a gleaming crest along the face of an air balloon, carrying the slender and equally white hull of an airship. Red streaks whipped around at the bow.

As they ran, Silver spotted two shapes flying in from the left. Carried on leathery wings. His hooves beat a little faster when he recognized one of the shapes as Kindle touching down just a few meters from the airship. The other, though, hobbled when he landed. The streaks of red jogged from the bow to the gangplank, waiting eagerly for it to lower just as Silver, Gilda and Rarity.

“Silver? Silver!” Kindle spun on his hooves and rushed to the earth pony, taking his hoof. “I can’t believe you’re alive! We… holy smokes, you have no idea how rough it’s been.”

“I’m just glad you’re alive, you and…” Silver trailed off as he met the sideways glance of the other pony, trying to avert his slit-shaped eyes.

“Silver,” Glint mumbled.

He began his march toward the aloof bat pony, but was halted when the same red mane came rushing towards them both, veering towards the latter. “Glint! I came as soon as I could.”

“You made it out? You escaped?”

“He was in no shape to stop me. Goodness, I can only imagine what put him in such a state.”

Silver merely watched as Abby wrapped her forelegs around Glint, who stood in shock before shakily returning the gesture. His eyelids twitched, his hoof shook, and a peculiar heat made its slow climb to his skull. Then she looked at him. In the moment he found her sea green eyes all rising tension disappeared, emerging as only a long, staggered sigh. Abby pulled away from Glint and moved to Silver, trapping him in the same embrace.

“You did it,” she whispered.

“Not alone.” Silver summoned a smile, pulling down her foreleg and holding her hoof. “So… you two are… friends?”

“Of a sort, the kind you make while interred with Shield Wall. Please, Silver, I trust him.”

Silver moved his gaze back to Glint. The bat pony never faced him directly, but found himself backing up a few steps as Silver finally parted from Abby and closed the distance. They met at eye level, and Silver held firm. Every inch of Glint’s otherwise stoic visage risked collapsing under the scrutinizing pressure Silver put him under, saying nothing, holding him in his gaze, never so much as flinching. Glint could feel his own sweat along his brow.

“You’ve been taking care of her?” Silver finally said, breaking the silence.

“Y-Yes.”

“You’ve been protecting her? From Shield?”

“More like she’s protecting me.”

“Are you loyal to her?”

He looked to the ground, as if searching for an answer next to his hooves, but gave a quick sigh and locked eyes once more. “Yes. Where she goes, I go.”

Silver looked back to Abby, who gave him a warm smile. Then he looked to Kindle. Kindle fumbled with his hooves, biting a lip and watching the exchange with rapt attention, never settling as he stepped in place to focus his nerves. Then, Silver pulled himself close to Glint’s ear.

“Abby has asked me to give you a chance,” he began. “Let me say that again: Abby has asked me to give you a chance. And I will give you that because I trust her, because I trust Kindle, but that doesn’t mean I trust you.”

“With all due respect, I don’t trust you either, Ghost,” Glint shot back, his voice just above a whisper. “But if Abby wants us to work together, then we’ll work together. We can kill each other after.”

“Agreed.” Silver pulled away, giving Glint one final evil eye before extending his hoof to Glint, who took it in a firm bump before Silver turned away. “Abby, do you need anything?”

“Only something to drink, then I would like to help, if I can.”

“There are wounded gathered in the main square,” Rarity piped up, stepping to her side. “They could always do with another nurse.”

“R-Rarity…” Abby shifted in place, dodging Rarity’s soft gaze. “If you’ll have me, it’s the least I can… of course, please show me the way. If it’s not an improper time I’m very sorry about-”

“Yes, yes, we’ll talk about that later, won’t we? Silver, love, you play nice with him.”

As Rarity and Abby talked amongst themselves, Silver spied Kindle’s distressed expression from the corner of his eye. He placed a hoof on his shoulder. “We’ll talk about this later. I’m just glad you’re still here.”

“Me too, I… I did everything I could to help them, I just wish it was more.”

“You helped keep them alive, Kindle. I would never ask for anything more.”

“Silver!”

The familiar voice filled Silver’s hooves with swift purpose, turning away from the airship to meet the source of it, only to be met by something which paralyzed him. A hundred eyes of shocked faces laid upon him. The crowd filled the street with their number, ponies of all types and ages, silent and fixated on the one stallion they had come to see with their own eyes, and from the front line walked a mare. Kindle helped her forward until she stood face to face with Silver. They said nothing. Rarity and Gilda looked on with baited breath, slaves to the tension of the moment. Kindle’s gentle grin began to diminish as the seconds ticked by. Silver made the first move.

Together, Silver and Honey Hearts fell into an embrace. Silent tears were shared as they clung to each other and Honey stifled her emotions just enough to choke out a few words. “I didn’t believe… I can’t…”

Silver held his tongue, but his eyes looked beyond Honey’s grayed mane and to the ponies of Coltistrano who gathered around them. His grip on her loosened. Approaching them required a strength his legs were unprepared for, and holding his gaze with them burdened his head with a weight unlike any he had known, but he marched forward, until he paused to stand before their expecting eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Silver’s breath was strangled, with tears the only outlet for his shame. “I’m sorry I’m still alive… when you’ve lost so much. I’m… I…”

He collapsed. The refugees of Coltistrano looked on as he dug his hooves into the dirt, and with each moment that passed their faces became a gallery of different emotions, some even joining him in shedding their tears while others shot looks of disgust. Some ponies stared at him with frightening glares. Seeing this, Gilda stepped to Silver’s side and wrapped him in a wing as if to shield him as she returned the glares with her own piercing scowl.

“Bet that feels good, doesn’t it?” A bronze pony hollered from within the crowd. “Friends, still alive to protect you.”

“Breeze, that’s enough,” a mare beside him said.

“No! Your brother is under a pile of ash and wood while he gets to keep playing dress up!”

“My son is still missing! Why do you get to survive, instead?” Shouted a red pegasus.

“Shield Wall was your problem, your enemy, and you let us pay for it!”

A younger colt shoved the shouting unicorn. “He didn’t know! Coltistrano would’ve burned down long ago if he never came around and you know it.”

“P-Please, I-” Silver’s hushed stuttering was drowned by a rising tide of yelling the mob crashed against him, frozen as Gilda joined in with insults of her own, lost in the noise.

“Don’t you dare insult my son after all he sacrificed, you ungrateful, thankless fool,” Honey snapped, managing to slightly hush the crowd. “Shield Wall hurt us long before Silver ever returned, so don’t you put this on him!”

“Then he should’ve put him down before he made it our problem, too!”

“Leave him alone!”

A bright pink filly pushed past the forest of legs the crowd made. She weaved between the ponies and broke through the front line to witness Silver, trembling in the dirt, stepping forward to meet his watery gaze. Her presence was almost enough to bring a smile to his face, and around her neck he spotted a long, tarnished piece of black cloth, flapping gently in the low breeze, but when she moved his breath hitched in his chest. She removed the scrap, straining to reach and tie it around his neck.

Every muscle in his body tightened, now straining to control the flood of emotion let loose as the filly shared a wide smile. Silver shut his eyes tight, tipped his head back, and let out a long and ragged sigh before he found the strength to not only restrain himself, but to return her smile with a grin of his own. The display covered the crowd in a blanket of utter quiet. Some turned and left, spitting hushed curses while the rest of the ponies of Coltistrano gathered around Silver and the filly, kneeling down beside them. Honey Hearts pressed a hoof to her mouth to contain her own emotions, while Rarity and Gilda approached to join Kindle, watching as Silver sat in the street with his people at his side, the makeshift cape still on his neck. Then, the filly spoke.

“Princess Twilight says good friends don’t always do well, but that doesn’t mean they don't care. And you’re the Ghost, so you care more than anyone, right?”

Waves of emotion crashed against the inside of his chest, but Silver’s resolve held firm as he found the strength to reply. “More than you know.”

“Could you tell me the story? About how you became the Ghost?”

Silver looked back to Rarity with a bashful stare, but she chuckled warmly, urging him with a subtle wave of her hoof as Silver collected the excited filly in his lap.

“It starts with an island…”

Chapter 18: “I want to learn how to be you.”

Under the veil of moonlight, the Foal Mountains stood as a desolate field of stoney pillars, stretching as far east as the sea and silent as the night. Stars twinkled above, unobscured by cloud or shade. Within its westernmost peaks, however, rested another light, flickering against the gray stone and white-capped peaks. The flame danced in the gentle wind. It rested along a ridge crossing down from the mountain, a plummeting distance above the world. Flanking it were two large shapes, craft built of sturdy wood and hovering just inches above the ledge and moored to the stones. Twin ships. One, a lithe and pearlescent vessel, rested along the stone while the other lingered just beyond the ledge, a gangplank leading down from its deck. Blackened steel remained fastened to the hull of the Tornado to blend into the night sky. Though the deck stood still, lights flickered from within the captain’s cabin.

Within stood a company. Six hovered around the round table in deep contemplation, pondering the various scrolls, reports, and sheafs of information left behind by the vessel’s temporary owners, one of which pressed a hoof to a particularly large packet of parchment inked with the royal seal. His companions watched his movements closely, the mare to his side resting a gentle hoof against his shoulder. Without returning so much as a glance he pushed the packet before the rest of the group, and all eyes followed it.

“All of these missives are encrypted,” Glint began. “I’m sure Silver is familiar with the Investigation Bureau’s methods, but in times of warfare the crown will deliver coded orders to regional commanders. I, believe it or not, was not that commander.”

“It was that twerp, Lighthoof, right?” Gilda huffed.

“Yeah. Regular orders sent by legitimate EUP were sent to Lighthoof, but the queen’s orders were relayed by personal messenger directly to him. Thankfully, the changeling’s aren’t so clever in their encryptions.” Glint pointed to a particularly dense portion of the missive. “Lighthoof’s orders were to, specifically, contain the population of Ponyville until construction of a new hive in Canterlot was completed, then prepare them for assimilation.”

“Good heavens,” Rarity shuddered, clutching the stallion beside her.

“But how did the EUP never find out?” Kindle piped up. “I mean, controlling the nobility is one thing, but the military is too big. Someone, anyone, had to suspect something.”

“Some did. They aren’t with us anymore.” Glint’s casual statement earned a stern glare from the stallion across from him, clad in black.

“Glint’s mission wasn’t to make dissenters disappear, he only ever aided Shield’s tasks,” Abby interrupted.

“Not much better,” Silver declared, firmly. “While Shield was luring us to Canterlot, you were the one organizing the assault on Coltistrano, weren’t you?”

“It… yes.” Glint spoke as clearly as before, but failed to meet Silver’s glare. “It was only possible through Chrysalis’ support, she’s the one who showed him how to use the horn, but when she refused to free Shield Wall from her service he started to resist her.”

“That’s why he offered a truce with me, so he wouldn’t have to fight alone,” Rarity said.

Gilda spat at the comment. “Buck that. Tightwad and Queen Bitch deserve each other, there’s no way we’d back him up.”

“Of course not,” Glint said with a slight smile. “But he was convinced he could use you as a distraction while he infiltrated the palace and destroyed the new hive they’re building.”

“Honestly, are there no depths to which he won’t stoop?” Rarity pulled the sheaf to her, scanning it discerningly. “What about the city itself? What Silver’s told us, it’s locked down entirely, but if the changelings are truly in charge then you must know a way in.”

“I do,” Abby stated. “I was able to escape the city through Fancy Pants’ private airport, on the southwest side of the city. It wasn’t clean, mind you, but a single vessel can take the risk.”

“So what about when we get inside? Glint, is there anyone left from the Night Guard who would help us?” Kindle’s question was met with a dour expression.

“None, they… they’re all gone, left after what happened in Coltistrano.”

“Good riddance,” Gilda whispered, prompting Abby to speak.

“But Fancy Pants may know something that could help. He’s remained free and is still loyal to the crown. We have options.”

“Well, that’s a start,” Kindle mused, pulling a map of Canterlot from across the table. “But we have no idea what Chrysalis has done since losing Ponyville, maybe she’s stepped up security. Silver, was the city in bad shape when you were there?”

“Terrible. Hard to go any tighter on security than lines of ponies in the rain seeking sanctuary. Once we get there, though, we can link up with Alate. She’s still in the city, she’ll know more.”

Glint’s teeth clenched at her name, and his back straightened, but Abby turned to him with a gentle tone in her voice. “She’s on our side, don’t worry.”

“But she’s not happy about it,” Silver interjected, earning an unamused glance from Abby.

“Great, bringing the psycho into the squad definitely helps this plan make sense,” Gilda grumbled. “This whole situation makes my brain ache. Look, if we’ve got a way into the city, great, but the real party’s in the palace, so how do we get in. Rarity, raghead, any ideas?”

“The only entrance I’ve ever acquainted myself with was the front door, or the occasional window,” Rarity returned.

“I thought you were tight with those rich airheads and went to all their weird parties and junk. You never heard of, like, a secret entrance or something?”

“Au contraire, Gilda, they’re my clients, and if any of the palace’s parties dared to include ‘secret entrances’ I may actually be excited to go.”

“But there’s gotta be a way, right?”

“There simply must be, even if we must make our own,” Abby declared. “But, at this point, it may be best to wait until we’ve infiltrated the city. We only have so much information and the changelings are everywhere.”

Abby’s suggestion earned a round of affirmative nods and sighing, prompting the group to slowly break from the table. Silver, however, stood still. He watched as Abby led Glint from the captain’s cabin and out onto the deck, and from his side Rarity sent him a knowing look, as if granting permission for his deft hooves to follow after them. But as Silver crossed the threshold into the cold mountain air, Kindle snapped to attention and followed him out.

A chilled breeze bit his muzzle. Keen eyes scanned the deck for the flowing form of black, finding Silver making his way down the gangplank behind the other two, all heading towards the second airship along the cliffside. Kindle rushed towards him, and towards the still burning bonfire’s warmth. Silver barely acknowledged him as he held his gaze on the mare.

“Abby,” he called, ensnaring her attention as ruby hairs whipped aside at his beckoning. “I hope you aren’t retiring just yet.”

“In a few moments, yes, but… o-oh! Yes, I suppose we should, shouldn’t we?”

“Should what?” Glint whispered before Kindle’s gaze drew an even sharper chill from within him, his hoof beginning to tug at her foreleg. “Abby, please-”

He was cut off by a gentle hoof on his cheek, and a pair of warm lips against his other. “You’re strong enough for this. I won’t be long.”

With that, Abby took her leave and walked to Silver, holding out his hoof and nodding to Kindle before leading her towards the bonfire. Crackling of wood and brush permeated the silence between them. Silver, despite standing tall in his garb, fumbled over the words in his head, mouthing a dozen different responses while stealing glances at Abby, who fiddled with her mane while staring into the bright flame.

“So… Glint, huh?” Silver finally said.

“Yes, well, friends are rare when interred under Shield Wall, and Glint has proven more than just a mindless servant.”

“Yeah, but… just friends?” Silver’s words prompted Abby to peer over her shoulder to the dark bat pony beyond before releasing a sigh.

“It isn’t like that, he just… it wasn’t always like that, I suppose. Things have been hard since Coltistrano, and you haven’t seen him like I have, but I trust you wouldn’t judge me if I decided to move on.” Her last words struck Silver as they flew towards him.

“No! No, of course not. I just didn’t expect it, is all.”

“Neither did I,” Abby said with a soft smile. “But he’s stood up for me against Shield Wall, and despite my best efforts I can’t help but pity him. He’s endured far worse than I.”

“I’m glad you made it out.”

“As am I. You haven’t any idea how awful it is to live under Shield’s rule.”

“Well, he was my CO once, and it’s not like he was ever nice.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Abby chuckled, relishing the levity. “Silver… I’m sorry. I-I know words aren’t near enough to make up for… but I hope… you must’ve known things weren’t right between us, yes? After everything?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I should never have abandoned you like that. Pushed you away like you never mattered to me, when no one else mattered more. You were the whole reason I came back.”

“And why I held on for so long. Oh, Silver, why did this have to happen? Why couldn’t things be like how they were in that tavern, years ago? Do you remember? That dingy place, sitting across from your parents. No ghosts, no nightmares, just us.”

Silver grinned, chuckling at the memory. “I’ll never forget that night. Things were… simpler then. You were just a rich mare with good taste, and I didn’t speak in alliteration so much.”

“I swear, I would’ve died in that booth after your father’s blunt comments about us. It’s no wonder where your boldness comes from… I miss him.”

“So do I, but he always liked you, if that’s any consolation. He chided me for an hour that night about when I would finally pop the question. ‘A girl like that’s got a platoon’s-worth of stallions chomping at the bit to be where you are, so lock it down before they get competitive.’” Silver and Abby laughed together, a single tear glistening against his cheek. “Prophetic, huh?”

“Sadly, and everything that came after… well, I’m afraid I’ve disappointed him, haven’t I?”

“Me, too.” Silver looked down, taking her hoof in his as he let out a long sigh. “I hurt you, didn’t I? You needed me, if only to tell you I hadn’t left for good, but I never let you get close, or I didn’t know how to let you. I didn’t mean to be so guarded, Abby, I promise. It just… you meant everything to me. Hurting you was the last thing I wanted.”

“Oh, Silver. Not a day goes by I don’t regret all the horrible choices I made, but… yes, I wish you had been there. That house felt so empty until you visited, and even then you were hardly there. It frightened me. To think you, of all ponies, were so ready to wash your hooves of me after everything, after all the pain and joy we shared. Maybe things would’ve been different if… no, that isn’t fair.”

“If I had stayed with you,” Silver finished.

“Yes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, almost dwarfed by the crackling flame beside them. Despite the chill hovering between them Silver cracked a smile.

“Why do you think I haven’t taken a vacation? Six-year long stint on an all-expense-paid deserted island and look what happened to me. Came back with all the style and none of the common sense, least of all to know how good I had it.”

Abby snorted, chuckling at the little smirk Silver shot her. “Well, at least you admit it, and better late than never. Poor Darrox all but ruined you, didn’t he?”

“Call it a case of hero worship,” Silver shrugged. “No one told me there was a line between ‘inspiration’ and ‘emulation’.”

“But you have so much fun with it, don’t you? I’ve never seen a pony so excited to leap from a building, even after one as dreadful as myself.”

“I had to.” His quick, stern response stifled the flutter in her chest as he spoke. “Even after everything that happened, and for what he was doing to you, I would’ve done so much more.”

“You… but I betrayed you. You and everyone here, not to mention all I allowed Alate to do, and you still forgive me?”

“Yes. I’m just tired, Abby, tired of seeing the world through the eyes of this cloak, the way Darrox did. I let you suffer alone, and in return you betrayed me, but look at us now. We’re here. Talking together like none of the nightmares ever happened, and I want to keep it that way.”

“You can’t just ignore what happened, Silver, you know that.”

“But I can choose whether or not it breaks us apart.” Silver touched her shoulder, gazing into her with illuminated eyes. “We drifted apart, we got hurt, and it took far too long to reach this moment, but you are not my enemy, Abby, and I don’t want to be yours.”

Frozen in his gaze, a tear rolled down her cheek, flush from the chilled mountain air, and in the next second she fell into his embrace, sobbing softly against his shoulder as Silver wrapped his forelegs around her. They held each other in the light of the bonfire. Languid, dribbling words tried to form in between her gasps of breath, but failed. Instead, she continued to hold him. After a moment, Silver wiped the glistening drops of his own away and faced Abby.

Silver sent her a warm smile as he stroked her hooves, until he gave an airy chuckle. “But this whole Glint thing… that’s gonna take some getting used to.”

While the two laughed beside the crackling fire, Kindle and Glint shared a somber silence. One would peer over the edge of the cliff, sneaking a glance while the other wasn’t looking, only to turn away again. Kindle fidgeted uneasily in the cold air. Glint, however, stood as if he were a part of the mountains at his hooves, wings tight to his sides and keeping his eyes down, aside, anywhere except towards the bad memory before him. Then, Kindle dared to step forward. Glint’s chest began to heave, breath trembling. He glanced across the ground towards Abby, too enraptured by her conversation with Silver to notice how he shook where he stood.

“So, uh… how are you?” Kindle’s first words offended him, sending a sting through his throat.

He finally found the courage to move, turning back and away from Kindle, but his chilling response to Kindle’s advances did nothing to deter him, and soon he found a careful hoof making its way into his peripheral.

“Glint, I know…” Kindle sighed, straightening himself before his friend. “I don’t blame you for what happened. Shield Wall is crazy. Heck, this whole situation is crazy, and we were all too scared to do anything about it, but I know you were only doing what you believed in. What he made you believe in. So, what I want to say is it wasn’t your fault.”

Kindle waited a moment for a reaction, any sign his words penetrated the veil of Glint’s stoicism, before he continued. “You remember back when we invaded Aristo’s house? You told me about the Ghost for the first time? When he cornered us in the house, you threw yourself at him to save us. I could tell how scared you were but you did it anyway. Shield would’ve never done that for us grunts. You did, because you care, and that’s why I stuck around for so long. I knew you were just as loyal to us as we were to you.”

Kindle watched for the slightest hint of a reaction in Glint’s face, but all he received was the solid gaze he held against the ground. A few remaining words trickled out alongside puffs of hot breath, but he relented. Kindle turned away.

“Kindle.”

He snapped around so fast he nearly tripped, finding Glint had finally mustered the strength to look him dead in the face, and with a burst of courage Kindle trotted to his side.

“I’m here, commander,” Kindle said with a smile.

“No. I don’t deserve this, Kindle.”

“Maybe not, but you stuck your neck out for me more than once. What happened in the cave doesn’t matter.”

“I lead the attack, Kindle. I planned the assault patterns on a non-hostile city. Even if you forgive the cave, you can’t forgive Coltistrano.” Gluten paused, his vision wavering. “I can’t forgive it.”

“But we’re gonna figure it out. You’re my commander, and my friend, and I don’t want to see you and Shield share a cell, or worse.”

“That doesn’t… Kindle… I can still hear them, Kindle.”

Glint’s stoic expression, along with all his trained resolve, began to crumble. The corners of his mouth twitched. Slowly, Kindle could see welling tears threaten to fall against his face as Glint clenched his teeth in desperation to contain what little of his composure remained.

“I’m not a good person, Kindle,” he choked out. “I’m just a soldier, and I chose the wrong side.”

“I know you did, but you aren’t the only one. I mean, look at them.” Kindle threw his foreleg to the side, pointing at Silver and Abby. “Silver never talked about Abby like she’d done something wrong, but like she was a victim. I mean, damn, she stabbed him in the back and twisted, you know? But he never wanted to hurt her. He wanted to talk to her, and he wanted me to talk to you, too.”

“Dozens are dead because of me,” Glint declared, shakily. “How can I expect you to forgive that?”

“It’s not about forgiveness, Glint. What happened, what you did… yeah, it was pretty awful, but it’s eating you up inside, right? I know you regret it because you’re actually talking to me, so let’s just start there, okay? Let’s try to make things right.”

Glint’s voice had left him, lost to the winds circling the campsite, and in that moment the final scraps of composure escaped as well. Glint collapsed against Kindle. Silent sobs and firm forelegs were all Kindle experienced as he patted his back, peering over to see Silver and Abby watching just a few steps away. When Glint noticed, as well, he quickly straightened himself up, wiping away any stray tears and clearing his throat with a firm cough. Abby chuckled, walking to him. Laying her hoof against his shoulder, she could feel his muscles slowly relax, and Abby looked to Kindle with a warm smile and slight nod of her head. Glint held Kindle's shoulder, smiling.

Then, Abby slowly pulled Glint away and led him back to her ship, tracing their way up the gangplank. She shared one final glance with Silver before her red curls disappeared from sight. Silver sighed.

“So,” Kindle drew out. “How’d it go on your end?”

“It was good. It… I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time.”

“Me too.”

Kindle stared out across the mountain range with Silver beside him, but as the seconds passed between them his smile faded into a pair of thin, pursed lips. A hoof tapped the ground. Silver peered over to him, but Kindle moved first, turning to face the pony in black but freezing just before anything managed to escape his mouth. He tried again, Silver waiting patiently.

“Things were bad before you came back, Silver,” he began, fidgeting. “And I don't think we would’ve made it out if you hadn’t.”

“Kindle, you don’t need me to-”

“We do.” Kindle’s words were quick, sharp, but he recoiled as soon as he spoke. “You always know what to do, and no matter how bad it gets you’ve always got a plan, and me I’m just… I felt powerless. A lot of ponies were hurt and I can’t help but think if… I mean, I’ve had training, but…”

“Kindle?” Silver watched the bat pony carefully as he swayed from side to side, fiddling with his own hooves, before Kindle finally gave a strong huff and looked to Silver with lethal intensity.

“Will you teach me? I want to learn how to be you.”

The wind kicked up. Silver stood silent, the cloak whipping around him like wild limbs, and Kindle standing defiant against the chill of the mountain air. The words echoed in his mind, louder each time. Were it not for Kindle’s fierce gaze holding him in place, the knot in Silver’s chest would have sundered his will. Instead, he spoke in a slow, measured tone.

“I can teach you some things.”

Kindle gave a wide smile, responding to Silver’s polite grin by thanking him, rushing back to the Tornado. Silver stood on the cliff, alone. Once Kindle was out of sight the wind kicked up again. Silver chuckled at each forceful gust of air, turning to gaze at the night time horizon and the field of stars above.

“I know you’re there, old friend,” he said to the wind. “I can feel you, and I’m sure you must be disappointed in me, huh? After all, it’s hard to find anyone crazy enough to want to do what we do.”

Again, the wind struck him, but Silver’s gloved hooves dug into the stone as he relished the chill of a familiar night, a comfort in recent days filled with turmoil.

“I could, you know? Pass the torch, teach him all I know, spend my days with Rarity knowing someone else is taking the risk, and I know he could do it, too. Kindle is strong. He knows right from wrong, and he knows what he wants. He wants to protect ponies. He wants to stop Shield Wall. He wants a lot of what I wanted, and what you wanted, too, but he’s capable of so much more beyond us, beyond me. Beyond the Ghost.”

Again, the chill returned, forcing a smile from Silver. “I never had a choice, did I? I needed a way to fight back, a way to protect those I loved. You gave me all of that, and in return all you asked was that I continue the fight, because after losing so much how could I refuse? I needed something to follow, something to be. I needed a purpose, but you never told me what it would cost to be this monument to justice, never once thinking about everything we’d lose along the way, everything you gave up. Everything I fought to get back.

“Kindle doesn’t deserve that. Kindle has friends, joy, and the comfort of knowing he isn’t alone in the world. All the talk about the discourse, that was your life, happily sacrificing everything to uphold some moral victory over the world’s evils, even your own family. You abandoned Alate, Darrox. I abandoned Abby, and it took Gorn’s death to show me just how wrong we were. No lofty ideal is worth the lives we’ve lost. A moral victory is worthless amongst graves.”

His breath emerged as hot puffs of breath against the darkness of night, free to form their own little clouds as the wind halted, waiting for his next words.

“I won’t train him.”

Flames behind him began to flicker against the gale threatening to knock Silver to the ground, but he held firm against the ferocious gusts until calm returned to the camp.

“You’re going to have to deal with it, old friend,” Silver declared. “I’m keeping my promise to you. For as long as I live, and for as long as ponies need me, I’ll carry this cloak against anything that threatens them, but it’ll be me. Not him, not you. Me, fighting for the ones who burned so your moral victory could be achieved. No more. One day the Ghost, like me, will die, and when that day comes we’ll return to what the Ghost always should’ve been: a story. One to inspire others to fight, without losing sight of what they’re fighting for.”

At once, the wind stood still. Silver lingered where he stood for a moment, ears trained for the slightest phantasmal response from a soul long gone, lingering somewhere along the range of ash-white peaks. He smiled. Ripples of black cloth flowed behind him as Silver turned towards the Tornado, sated with silence. His eyes trained on the glimmer flowing from the captain’s cabin, and with one final look across the deck he allowed the memories of an old mentor and his burgeoning pupil play out before him, the withered smile greeting him once more.

Chapter 19: “We’re all taking a chance tonight.”

From where he sat, Canterlot was a sea of little lights and gentle streams of torches, carried by ponies and soldiers whose armor glimmered like failing embers traveling their well-worn routes. Nighttime sent the city into a stillness, a solace he lacked in the day. From dodging soldiers to his own waking nightmares, the proper stallion yearned for the silence and solitude of his own home, and the blanket of stars above only added that extra bit of security. A distraction from the truth. His hoof traveled from a hovering tea cup to his breast pocket and produced a pocket watch. Eleven o’five was the time, and the unicorn gave a long huff as he returned to the shining show of lights dancing beyond his window. They were his only light, hidden by the darkness of a room dressed with fineries and objects of class. Comforts, hardly comforting their owner as he drew a tepid sip from the tea.

Fancy Pants allowed his eyes to travel to his side. Along the mantle of an impressive fireplace rested a picture, framed in ivory, of a mare whose gentle smile squeezed Fancy’s throat as he stared, stifling his breath. Shuddering, he pulled away, instead downing the rest of his lukewarm beverage. Upon standing he pressed his hooves into the flesh above his hips and pushed, allowing a cascade of pops to announce the return of his posture before slowly strolling away from the haunting picture and into the dark hallways of his home. Paintings to his left greeted him with passive smiles and drowned colors, washed in the lights of Canterlot from the large windows to his right, and Fancy sluggishly peered out again as he walked. Every now and then, he found pale eyes. Such haunting images followed him into the lobby, and he cupped his head in his hoof as if his memory weighed against his neck. He remembered the screams. He remembered his colleagues. He remembered her.

But something rescued him from the demons of his mind. Beyond the darkened lobby, down a branching hallway, came the flicker of lights he could not recall. A monocle was pulled from his pocket and placed over his eye, renewed vision encouraging him to take his first steps towards the unknown glow. Along this hallway stood suits of armor. As the glow grew, so too did the shadows of these suits along the walls, almost moving as Fancy creeped closer, gut tensed and blood pumping in his skull, until at last he arrived at the threshold to a large den. Crackling flame echoed within. As he clung to the shadowed corner he took a long and silent breath to calm his trembling limbs, but when he finally crossed into the light he was greeted with far more than his fears expected.

Five figures, sprawled across the lush furniture, enjoying the freshly lit fire. Two Fancy recognized as a pair of unicorn mares, while two more he learned to fear on reputation, alone, bat ponies who glared at him from across the room, but the presence of the fifth was all it took to bring a wash of relief across his nerve-wracked body as he released a stuttering sigh.

“How long have you been sitting there?” Fancy asked, looking to the pony in black.

“Long enough to know your food sucks.”

A sixth figure emerged from the other side of the room. The gryphon held in her claws a collection of treats and snacks Fancy recognized immediately, slowly eating from the assortment with little consideration for their original owner. The pony in black stood.

“Abby informed us your private airport was lightly guarded. I hope we aren’t putting you at risk.”

“No, no. Truth be told, I feel more safe now than ever, except for that fellow, there.” Fancy pointed to Glint, resting on a vibrant red loveseat with Abby.

“Glint’s proven to be useful, and I know you already trust Abby. What’s good enough for her is good enough for us.”

“Yes, well, what strange days these are.” Fancy stumbled over to a large armchair beside the fireplace, falling into it. “Forgive me, Ghost, I’m relieved you’ve come… and are alive.”

“My resurrection will mean nothing if we fail to find Shield Wall and Chrysalis.”

Fancy adjusted his monocle for clarity, a wide grin spreading cheek to cheek. “But it makes this all the sweeter. To think, Shield Wall’s nemesis, the very pony he sacrificed so much to destroy, returned from the grip of death itself to end him, instead. It’s… well, it’s marvelous. Irony in its most vengeful form.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re enjoying this.”

“Then you don’t, for you have no idea how long I’ve yearned for a chance to finally make things right. I trust Miss Glow has told you the story, yes? Of how Canterlot fell?”

“And how Shield is responsible.”

“Then we’re in agreement,” Fancy sighed. “Something needs to be done, and soon, otherwise the whole of Canterlot will be at risk, and Equestria. Have you any information we can use?”

“I have my own source in town, I just need to catch up with her.”

“Yes… I remember her from when Aristo visited me earlier. The changeling traitor. Miss Glow’s former associate.”

Abby squirmed in her seat under the pressure of Fancy’s stare, but the Ghost’s firm tone pulled the unwanted attention back to him. “Alate has done enough to prove she’s at least committed to stopping Shield Wall. She’s the reason I’m here, and if there’s anything we can use against Chrysalis and her forces, Alate will know.”

“You have such strange friends, but I’m hardly one to talk,” he chuckled somberly. “Dare I even ask about your plans? If there’s something I can do to help you need only ask.”

“We were hoping you’d have some information about the palace,” Rarity spoke up. “From what we can tell, all of Chrysalis’ operations focus there, but without any knowledge of her forces we can’t hope to overthrow her.”

“And her hive,” Glint declared.

“Hive?” Fancy’s question came with a stutter, a faltering expression that beckoned Glint to continue.

“The vice general spoke about a new hive Chrysalis is building within the city. It’s large, fortified, and hidden in the heart of the palace: the throne room. That’s where the princesses are being held.”

“This is nightmarish news, but I’m sorry. The palace is the finest fortress in the region. To take it yourselves, with the queen opposing you, would be suicide.”

“We don’t need to.” The Ghost’s words drew all eyes to him.

“What do you mean, darling?”

“The princesses are being held in the throne room, that means we cut a path to them at any cost, even fighting Chrysalis herself. Freeing them is our top priority until reinforcements arrive.”

Rarity bit her lip with a concerned tension in her brow. “Love, please, that would mean fighting dozens, maybe hundreds on our own.”

“Oh, heck yeah,” Gilda blurted out. “I’m down for it, let’s hit ‘em good. I’ve got the perfect stick for beating piñatas like them.”

“Your friend is quite colorful,” Fancy said, fighting to hide a slight tremble in his voice. “But you’ve forgotten one key element. Have you any idea where Shield Wall may be?”

“I do.”

Fancy leapt from his chair at the sudden intrusive voice. From the entrance stepped Alate, still wreathed in her cloak and drawing all eyes to her, except for Abby. The two shared a quick glance before the changeling turned her head and approached the Ghost.

“What have you found?” The Ghost asked.

“Shield’s been seen leaving the Auberge, summoned by Chrysalis. If we hurry we can intercept him before he leaves the palace.”

“You expect us to trust you?” Glint sat forward, a hoof grazing Abby’s as he shot daggers towards Alate.

“No more than you, commander. We’re all taking a chance tonight.”

“Enough,” the Ghost ordered. “If Shield is in the palace then this is our chance. Gilda, Rarity, we’ll head out in ten minutes. We’ll stay in contact through the sending stones once we’re there.”

Alate snapped her attention to the Ghost. “You aren’t leaving me out of this. Shield Wall is mine.”

“Not until we’re finished with him. Once he’s been captured then you can have your fill.” He turned back to the group, speaking softly to Abby. “We’ll need you to join Fancy and reach his contacts in the Investigations Bureau, get whatever help from the EUP you can. If we can’t make it, they’ll be able to contain the situation once we free the princesses.”

“We’ll get it done, I promise.” Abby gave him a warm smile as the Ghost turned his gaze to the expectant bat pony beside him.

“Kindle, I’m trusting you to protect them. Lead the EUP to capture any changelings fleeing from the palace.”

“You got it, Glint and I won’t let you down… right?”

Glint was silent as Kindle waited for his answer, allowing a firm nod to speak for him as Fancy raised a hoof to interject. “Then… may I ask a favor? The day the princesses were overthrown, Shield took someone of mine. My darling Fleur was captured, and I haven’t the slightest where she’s gone. Will you find her for me?”

Rarity gasped, one hoof shooting to her mouth and the other grasping the Ghost’s, who caressed it and returned Fancy’s request. “We will.”

“Then you are all welcome to stay here. The soldiers hardly come by here, and there is ample room for you all. This is the second time I owe you, isn’t it, Ghost?”

He smirked, watching as Fancy stood from his chair and cordially directed the room’s occupants towards the main lobby, but Rarity stayed behind, her hoof still on his. Once the others were gone and the crackling of the fire was their only companion, Rarity turned to the Ghost with a solemn look on her face, gently pulling back his mask. Firelight danced across them. After a few moments of silence, Silver placed a gloved hoof to her cheek, listening to the gentle sigh elicited from his touch.

“This is dangerous,” she finally said.

“Isn’t it always?”

“Don’t joke. This is different. Fighting Shield in Ponyville is one thing, where everyone is rallied against him, but here we’re outnumbered, and the last time he caught you off guard he…” Breath hitched in her throat, and her vision spiraled downwards as she fell into his chest.

“I’m scared too, Rarity,” Silver whispered. “But I don’t see a better way.”

“I don’t want you to go alone. If he has something planned, or set a trap, or even is just sitting back waiting for you, I need to know you’ll be safe, okay? Please, for my sake, don’t be a hero this time.”

“As you wish,” he said, kissing her cheek. “And to think, I was ready to swoop down and rescue you once more from his devious designs.”

“I said don’t joke,” Rarity muttered through the curling corners of her mouth.

“The elegant and illustrious Lady Rarity, cornered by cretins of such cancerous countenance.”

“Oh, for Celestia’s sake.”

“Bereft of hope, yet bolstered in spirit, to see such blighted brigands beset upon by billowing binds of shade. Her heart would quiver as he laid his eyes upon her.”

“You enjoy this far too much,” she giggled, blushing hard and pushing Silver’s smiling face away.

“For this shadowy sentinel would silence any sinister snake sent to sunder her search-”

Silver’s lips were sealed shut by a firm kiss, feeling the vibrations of Rarity’s strained laughter within his skull as he fell into her. Once they both threatened to fall limp against the sofa she pulled away. “You’re completely incorrigible.”

“But you like incorrigible, don’t you?”

Gentle hooves stroked his mane, and slowly Silver indulged in her touch, allowing his eyes to flutter closed as she spoke. “At least you have a plan.”

“I knew you’d be proud of me.” His lips gently struck hers as he stood, offering his hoof to help her rise. “One of these days, I’ll convince you I’m not completely crazy.”

“Only if this plan involves some actual forethought. We’ve not been here for an hour, and you’re already prepared to fly off into the night like the lovable maniac you are. You don’t even fully know what we’re up against.”

“No, I don’t,” Silver hummed. “But when has that ever stopped me?”

—

Cold crept up his neck. Street lamps along the empty roads, the city’s veins, served as his only companions. Heavy hoofsteps landed upon well kept cobblestone and echoed into the night, down dark and solemn alleyways and along empty windows. Canterlot, the shining jewel of Equestria, was dead silent. With a huff he released a puff of hot breath. It danced along the limits of his vision and twirled with the soft breeze until it, like the memory of bustling nightlife, was swallowed by the void. He shivered again. With a firm snap of his hooves he pulled the collar of his long coat around the back of his head, catching his gray mane along with it.

Shield Wall trotted alone through the streets of Canterlot. No escort, no contingent of soldiers, only the long trek from the Auberge to the one building peeking almost as high as the mountain the city rested on. Canterlot Castle. On the outside it was as he remembered, earlescent towers and flowing standards along its outer walls bearing the symbol of the Twin Sisters, a crest Shield dryly scoffed at. Even at night, the palace’s lights twinkled like the tapestry of stars it stood before, cheap comforts to the ponies indoors for curfew while the streets were populated by soldiers. With every new street he passed, Shield Wall found new shapes floating in the darkness following him, stalking him. Steadily, he walked past, never so much as turning his head, but allowing himself a deep breath of the crisp mountain air, relishing the freedom to merely walk about his home city without fear.

But he was in fear. Prickling chills shot up his spine at the sight of moving shadows, creeping phantoms at the corner of his vision as he passed empty street corners and crossed darkened alleyways. The only warmth in his body was the raging pumps of blood to his brain lifting his perceptions to wild levels. Everywhere were shadows, everywhere was him. The image of a blood soaked face struck him, framed by fire, a haunting gaze from within his own mind Shield was powerless to escape, and he could feel it dig into his very soul as his hooves quickened their pace to the nearest streetlamp, its light his salvation. An island of safety amongst a sea of darkness. A sea he cast him to so long ago.

The palace was growing in the distance, coming closer with each slow, timid step he took. He knew the horrors that lay within. Faces peered out from hidden alleyways, and Shield could almost make out the hints of toothy smirks on their faces, their soft chuckles following him as Shield crossed the threshold into the palace, but he was unphased. Their crooked smiles paled in comparison to the memory of him, towering over him in the freezing rain. Shield could still hear his laughter.

Pristine floors, immaculate architecture, and the wafting scent of lavender assaulted him with a wash of satisfaction he had long forgotten, feeling the lightness in his chest grow when he stepped deeper into the lobby. Adventurous hooves moved on their own through the hallways of the palace. Just beyond the lobby stood the grand staircase leading up to two towering doors Shield held his gaze upon, pressing against them to reveal a large, brilliantly polished ballroom. He lingered for a moment, staring up towards the chandelier before moving up one of the flanking staircases. Then, he came to a long, gilded hallway facing west.

Shield diverted for only a moment to venture deeper down the hallway. The path leading to the palace’s West Wing was a venture carved into his mind like a scar, and his hooves traced the well worn pathways of his mind to carry him into a far less regal section of the castle. Trophy cases and murals lined the comparatively plain walls, and farther down Shield could see them. Dozens of pony-high silhouettes, each with their own plaque, painted along the hallway as final vestiges of fallen soldiers, many of whose names Shield began to mutter silently to himself, until his reminiscence lured him to one silhouette that gripped him with its presence.

Sergeant Silver Spade, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment. Betrayed in life, avenged in death.

His jaw clenched as he read the plaque again and again, the words burning themselves into his mind like a hot brand, a searing insult to his already damaged pride. A click in the darkness made him leap. He clutched his chest, feeling for the cursed horn hidden away in his coat and scanning the shadows for movement of any kind. His vision shot to the silhouette. He lingered on it for some time, raising a trembling hoof to slowly reach out and touch the cool surface of the wall. The familiar shadow was still, lifeless. Nevertheless, he backed away and returned to the entrance of the West Wing, still locked onto the silhouette before summoning the courage to turn himself towards his long avoided destination.

Returning to the stairs, following them up to their peak, Shield Wall found himself before the entrance to the palace’s throne room. A quick look told him the door was locked, and with slow movements he pressed his ear to the smooth surface of the door. Something, many things, chittered away inside. He sighed. Whatever fear Shield carried with him was left behind in the West Wing with the haunting memories of a life long past, but he knew what devilry lurked behind the expertly crafted wooden doors, the only barrier between him and her. Placing a hoof to the outline of the horn in his coat once more Shield steadied himself before giving three long, forceful knocks to the door, his brow firm as the scraping of metal announced his entrance, pushing past the doors into a living, breathing nightmare.

Darkness. Stagnant air was filled with a sticky humidity, and the lingering aromas wafting towards Shield’s already recoiling muzzle, stinging his eyes. As he stepped deeper into the throne room light from the entrance cast itself into the void, and along the walls Shield could see the full extent of new structures, black and viscous, jutting up towards the ceiling like spires of slick tar and covering the formerly spotless stained glass windows. Only small pieces could still be seen at the highest point, a necessary to illuminate the tomb he entered. With each step his hoof sank, squelching as he walked.

But something followed him as he traveled deeper. Echos of clicking reverberated in the blackened hall and encircled him. His golden eyes shot around the room, over his shoulder and across the organic floor he had yet to cross, until the staccato chorus reached its apex and Shield dared to send his vision upwards, revealing the writhing, slithering mural above. Bodies crawled over each other, hissing and chittering. Dozens of changelings moved in tandem and across the tarnished ceiling, fang filled mouths sputtering with ichor for the climbing spires of black as mortar for their colossal constructs. Pale eyes would occasionally look at him from above and snarl before returning to work. Shield, however, gave no such response. Instead, he braved a few more steps before a flash of green shone out from the darkest depths of the throne room, and what greeted Shield froze him solid.

Queen Chrysalis sat upon one of the dual thrones, holding her head high and chittering to the guards beside her. He gave no signs of movement, save for the subtle rise and fall of his chest against his dripping binds of changeling ichor holding him against the other throne. Beside her stood two others, one who Shield recognized as Lighthoof without his disguise, and the other a towering mass of chitin with purple fringe. Chrysalis’ eyes shifted to her guest.

“So, my little pet finally comes down from his ivory tower,” she snarked. “I trust you have useful news, this time?”

Chrysalis tapped her hoof firmly against the throne, the only solid surface left, and her expression twisted from playful to punitive. “Well?”

Shield’s posture strengthened as he turned to face the queen. “I thought it would behoove you to know the situation in Ponyville has become… uncontainable.”

“Speak plain, pet.”

“The citizenry has resisted. My agent in the city has been without contact, and your soldiers are routed, no doubt fleeing the city as we speak, or worse.”

“And from what Lighthoof has told me, the loss of the city is your doing,” she hissed, earning a cocked eyebrow from Shield.

“Perhaps he failed to mention he had become lax in his patrols of the city, allowing the very same enemy agents I informed you of months ago to slip by undetected. Complacency is as deadly as any toxin, your highness.”

Shield’s last words leaked from between his lips like venom, with bite enough to turn the irritated Chrysalis into a fuming blur of fangs and magic, hurling herself towards the stoic unicorn. As she slammed her hooves down before him and bathed him in the glow of her power, Shield stood firm, a cold stare his only response.

“They were organized!”

“They were a repairable nuisance.”

“My drones were led into a trap by your agent.”

“My agent, unlike the whole of your, quote-unquote, army, followed my orders to find the Ghost’s remaining allies. Lighthoof’s idiocy is his own undoing.”

“You lie!” Chrysalis seethed, staring down the apathetic unicorn. “My drones have watched you closely, Shield Wall, and given the sorry state you’ve returned to the city in, there’s more you aren’t telling, isn’t there?”

“Save the fact I am perpetually surrounded by incompetence.”

“Someone stopped you!”

Shield’s stance remained firm, but his words were forced back into his throat as Chrysalis began to circle him with a twisted grin. “Sulcus is my finest tracker. For weeks, he and his soldiers have been pursued by something in the eastern forests. A pony, and a changeling traitor. Then, my drones stationed within the Auberge reported a break in. A pony, and a changeling, fighting through the drones I selected to keep you imprisoned in your own tower, and then… vanishing.”

“I am not to blame for the lack of discipline in your ranks.”

“No, the scum Darrox is, but you are responsible for the traitor’s companion. The same pony you came to me, begged me, to help you kill. The one you created.” Shield’s eyes held firm in front of him as Chrysalis closed in, her fangs dripping hot ichor onto his coat.

“The Ghost is alive.”

Chittering shapes writhing along the walls soon fell still. Lighthoof looked on with disdain, still nursing his bruised and chipped chitin, while Sulcus inhaled sharply at the name, puffing his chest with a wicked scowl. Shield strained to hold his composure as Chrysalis’ scalding hot breath fell upon him with each word.

“Lighthoof told me everything,” she continued, standing to her full, towering height. “You treat my kind as vermin, yet you can’t even manage to kill a single, little pony. The very reason you fell into my service and you failed!”

“You act as if-”

“Do not speak. Tools don’t speak, they are cast aside when they wear, and you have shown just how dull you’ve become. Normally, I would simply kill you where you stand, but as far as I’m concerned our ‘business arrangement’, as you put it, has concluded. It’s a pity you have such little love to give, but now...”

Suddenly, the walls illuminated with a thousand pale eyes, all glaring at the unicorn standing in the center of the blackened room. Lighthoof shot him a nasty grin, while Chrysalis slowly returned to her seat on the stolen throne and watched the tide slowly close in around their prey. Her smile was wide and wicked, with sharp fangs that chattered with her laughter. Shield, however, stood still. Even beneath languid lids, his golden eyes were sharp as they traveled the room, counting the number of changelings slowly emerging from the darkness, limbs firm where they stood and the subtle tingle of power rising through his horn.

“Concluded, you say?”

Her laughter was silenced by a thin, golden bolt. Too fast, too bright, and far too powerful for Lighthoof’s damaged chitin to resist as it bore through his head and dug into the far wall with the force to shatter the stone. The body slumped to the floor and the whole room fell silent. He grinned.

“Damn bug.”

From every corner, from every shadow, arose the ear piercing screech of every changeling in the room, led in concert by Chrysalis’ own thunderous cry, her hoof directing her swarm towards the lone, defenseless prey. Wings of pale tissue soared like buzzing wasps in a whirlwind around him. Sulcus unleashed his terrible roar, thrumming with a staccato hiss. Shield Wall stood firm.

“Kill him! Leave his bones as a warning!”

But when the swarm finally descended they crashed against the spot Shield once stood, the unicorn lunging with his forelegs raised through the cloud of chitin. Sulcus moved to intercept him as he rolled, raising his hoof to slam onto Shield, but instead the hoof only connected with the glimmering barrier Shield projected, and like a swarm of its own it spread to Sulcus’ foreleg. The hulking changeling writhed under its power, flexing to resist the bone-shattering leverage the spell now possessed. Instead, he howled for his allies.

Shield spun on his back hoof and began to fire his blinding volley of magic into the swarm. Some fell to the floor, many more were fended off, and in the rush of power flowing through his horn Shield unleashed a deep, violent roar, his restraints shattered like the chitin of his fallen enemies. Before Sulcus could recover and strike, Shield was primed to catch the limb rocketing towards him.

“By the hive, I’ll see you ground into paste!”

“Do not address your betters, filth!”

Shield, with a burst of agility, hoisted his hindlegs upwards and around Sulcus’ neck. Then, he began to pummel. Blow after blow landed against Sulcus’ defenseless face, around the jaw and behind the skull, everywhere Shield’s decades of experience told him hurt the most. In a desperate effort he slammed the unicorn onto the ground, and with a grunt Sulcus ripped the pony from him and cast him aside.

Shield hobbled to his hooves, dazed. Dozens of changelings began to charge him one row at a time. Combining precise bolts of magic and firm strikes to keep as many at bay as possible. Shield became a machine, muscles twitching and hurling his limbs in all the ways they remembered, and each blow struck harder than the last as he continued his sick onslaught. Two rushed him, desperate to silence their wild enemy. A foreleg found itself around one’s neck and twisted, granting Shield a new weapon to manipulate with his magic as he hurled one changeling into another, with two more charging from above. He snagged one from the air and threw his hind leg into the other’s throat. With his new hostage, his aura twisted and snapped the horn from the changeling’s head before hurling it into the eye of another in the crowd. Each fallen foe added more cover from incoming fire.

“I warned you! You all know what I am, and you still seek to cross me. Me!” With one under his foreleg, Shield fired a bolt through the chest of a charging changeling. “Your fetid dynasty ends here, witch. Your kind will be a memory!”

He charged. Thundering hooves slammed through the crowd, and not even the towering Sulcus could hope to deter his pace. Then, Chrysalis took a deep breath. As she released, so too did a fearsome trail of power, verdant and vile, crashing against the already failing barrier protecting Shield. He dug in, fighting to resist. Each second that passed allowed Chrysalis’ own cackle to ring through the throne room and summon the remaining changelings to her side. Shield felt his knees hit the floor. His trembling hoof slowly reached into his coat.

Flame spit forth from the jagged horn he produced, matching the queen’s own power with a torrent of violet magic. The heat of their struggle set even Sulcus back a step. While Shield strained to concentrate, funneling the final vestiges of his power through the cursed horn, Chrysalis held her position beside the throne, unmoved by even the jagged lighting their clash created as it struck the walls.

“Trouble, pet? Not enough bite to back up the bark?” While Chrysalis and her minions laughed, Shield grit his teeth.

With a roar and strobing magics from his horn his beam began to gain ground, murdering Chrysalis’ jubilance. She pushed back, eeking more power into her beam that was once more matched by Shield’s violent outburst, but the queen simply dug in, flared her wings, and with a screech her entire form began to twist and ripple, contorting her every facet in a final, bestial push that sent Shield Wall flying through the ichor-built walls around the windows. Hard stone met his body as he bounced along the palace’s roofs, clinging to one of the buttresses.

Desperate exertions pulled him from the ledge, placing him face to face with the pale eyes of drones emerging from the shattered window. First two, then twelve. Panting, Shield hobbled on his hooves and limply raised the horn to them, his vision blurring from the throbbing in his skull. Whatever line existed between hissing and laughter blurred with each step his chitin-covered predators advanced. Then the laughter grew darker. Shield froze.

The changelings whipped around to the image of a flanking tower. At the top sat the ebon shape, mocking them. They snarled as they stepped into formation, but their once sturdy hooves buckled when the shadow grew three times its size, spreading its dark tendrils into fluttering stretches of black carrying it on the wind, landing silently in front of the wounded unicorn. Hissing continued, weakly, smothered with each passing second when the shade captured them in its gaze.

“He’s mine.”

Chapter 20: “Is it still you under there?”

His chiling growl snapped like a whip. Each changeling continued with their fervent threats, gnashing and biting towards him, but never coming too close. One dared, quickly met with the black flash of the cloak across his muzzle, drawing a thin line of blood across the roof, a reminder the Ghost’s reach far exceeded theirs. Some stepped away, others held their ground, but the Ghost turned to face the unicorn behind him, shrinking where he lay. Shield could only gasp when he felt the bolt of black ensnare his torso, and the world turned into a blur when he was pulled from the roof and dangled from the cloak.

The Ghost launched himself into the night and sent the other end of the cloak out to catch the tower’s ledge. He swung, with Shield in tow, across the palace walls with the rush of wind beating hard against them both as a familiar tower of the West Wing came into view. Landing on the ledge caused the window to shake, but those waiting inside pulled the Ghost and his prisoner across the threshold and into an empty office Shield recognized. Mahogany shelves, sparse decoration, with the decorations of its new owner across the walls, but there was no mistaking his old office. Familiar faces surrounded him as he was deposited harshly onto the floor.

“Well, that’s one thing out of the way,” the white unicorn declared.

“Just gotta bust his knee so he won’t run, unless the twerp wants to make this hard.”

The Ghost stepped in front of the armor-plated gryphon, fiery eyes bearing down on Shield. He flinched as the shadow approached. “The changelings have taken over the throne room. Prisoners are being held there. How do we stop them?”

“Y-You…” Shield stammered. “You are here for them?”

“We’re here to correct your insidious indulgences. Now, tell me, how?”

Shield fought with all his strength to share the Ghost’s gaze, no matter how his mind screamed to look away. “There are… many still in the palace. Entering the throne room without an invitation is nigh-impossible.”

“Except for scum,” Gilda spat. “Looks like your boss gave you the pink slip, so maybe she’ll let us in if we give her you.”

“Alate will be furious, though,” Rarity stated. “She’s dying to make him squirm.”

Shield gave a weary laugh. “Your attempts at intimidation are precious. If-”

All humor was sucked away at the dark tendrils of the cloak coiling around his limbs, carelessly choking and digging into his flesh as the Ghost pulled him from the floor. He almost screamed. Once he felt his back slam against the corner of the desk’s surface he fell silent, and the Ghost held a gloved hoof to his throat.

“Consider this an undeserved mercy, Shield Wall,” his grim voice echoed. “The next few moments of your sickening life will be spent aiding us in saving this city from your errors. You will tell us what we want to know, or I will give you what you deserve.”

Shield’s lip quivered at the sharp, sinister words the Ghost laid upon him, crawling under his skin like needles as he endured the haunting gaze of a dead pony. His composure finally bent. Trembling hooves came before him, raised for the Ghost to see.

“There are many drones, led by the brute, Sulcus. I have thinned their number, but the queen sits at the heart of her new hive. You may get in, but escape will be…” He paused at his next word, reminded just who held him at his mercy. “Their bonds are weak. Freeing the prisoners should be simple, assuming you provide an ample distraction.”

The Ghost was silent, squinting at the unicorn fighting to hold his composure. He reached into his jacket, drawing the dark, jagged horn from within and carelessly dropping Shield against the floor before passing it to Rarity, stowed away in her saddlebag.

“You’re going to stay here. The EUP will soon surround us and the princesses will be freed. You can’t escape.”

“You think me a petty-”

His final words were cut off as the Ghost lunged for him, placing his face dangerously close to Shield’s as the latter turned away. Weakly, pathetically, he peered out the corner of his eye to watch the trio turn and exit the office, leaving him alone to quaver in the darkness, the click of the lock a seal on his fate. Beyond the door, Gilda nudged the Ghost as they trekked the hallways.

“I’ve never seen Tightwad nearly shit himself like that.”

“A long time coming. For now, we know what to expect but we don’t know how to get into the throne room. Alate, however…” On queue, a tangle of rags fell from the ceiling beside Rarity, causing her to jump.

“He wasn’t lying,” Alate began. “There are dozens of drones in the throne room, and Chrysalis is definitely among them, but the changelings use tunnels to move in and out without detection. That’s our way in.”

“Good work. You and Rarity will take the tunnels and move in behind them, while Gilda and I distract them.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity gave him a confused, almost nervous look. “We’ll be crawling through changeling tunnels, deep into a hive, with Celestia knows what waiting for us?”

“Your magic will make quick work of the cocoons,” Alate suggested, doing little to subdue Rarity’s disgust.

“Ugh, I suppose, but… oh, the things I do for Equestria.”

Alate led them deeper through the hallways, stopping just shy of the stairs leading down towards the central lobby. She hovered in the air for a moment, taking the bevy of silent sensations around her.

“Sulcus is getting them ready. They suspect an attack.”

“Then that’s what they’re gonna get,” Gilda said, pounding her claws together.

“We need to be smart about this.” The Ghost brought everyone around him. “Gilda and I can hold off Sulcus and the changelings, but you two won’t be safe to engage until Chrysalis is lured out, as well, that’s when you move in. Alate, can you give the signal?”

Alate nodded, but Rarity pressed her hoof to the Ghost’s shoulder. “Love, even for you this is dangerous. How do you expect to defeat so many, even with Gilda’s help.”

“We don’t need to defeat them, just distract them. Gilda and I are more than able to stay a pain in their flanks while you two free the princesses. With luck, we won’t have to wait for the EUP long, and Chrysalis will have nowhere to run.”

“Oh, this is gonna be so bucking awesome.” Gilda’s gushing was lost upon Rarity, who pulled the Ghost aside.

“You remember, yes? Don’t be a hero.”

“I remember.”

“And you’ll be careful?”

“I will.” He leaned in, gently placing a hoof to her cheek and catching her lips with his. “We’ll keep them off you.”

“You two ready?” Alate’s cold inquiry drew their attention to her. “They won’t wait forever.”

With a final stroke of her cheek, the Ghost pulled away and split off from the group with Gilda by his side. They marched down the stairs like two soldiers, passing the hall of silhouettes, with one familiar shape standing out to him. He averted his gaze. Instead, he deftly checked each of his pouches as Gilda adjusted her armor. The exit fast approached them.

“Dude?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re getting pretty scary, you know?”

“It’s useful.”

“No,” Gilda said, quickly and quietly. “I mean, really scary.”

The Ghost froze, peering over his shoulder to Gilda as she slowly approached, silent as she placed her claws gently on both sides of his face. “Is it still you under there?”

A sudden tremble hit him, spurred by her soft words. “Mostly.”

“Are you thinking about it?” Gilda hardly needed a reaction to know his thoughts, watching his eyes dim and drift away. “You’ve been hanging out with Alate too long. Just… I know it hurts. Losing you was… I became a bad person, did bad things to people I love, and I’m seeing that in you, too.”

Her claws shifted to his shoulders as his posture sank. “Whatever happens down there, however bad it gets, don’t lose yourself, okay? I can’t… I can’t lose you again.”

It took him a moment, stifling his breath as Gilda’s sorrowful gaze washed over him, but he grasped her shoulder and gave a firm nod. They guided each other the rest of the way to the lobby, orchestrated by a chorus of chittering snarls. Gilda peered around her with one claw ready at her side. The Ghost kept his gaze forward, turning only to follow the central staircase upwards to the hulking mass of chitin sending him a snarl. Soon, the two landed in the center of the lobby, flanked by throngs of changelings dripping down the columns around them, and with a firm stomp of his hoof Sulcus spoke aloud.

“You! The cowardly pony in the forests, who fought with the traitor, who resists death itself. The queen demands your fealty, now bow!”

“The fetid fruit of evil doesn’t fall far, Sulcus, and you are as rotten as any other.”

“You insult the queen in her place of power? Death is the price of your sacrilege!”

“Up yours, shit for brains. Come and get us!”

Sulcus reared his head back and a horrid screech rang out, enough to force Gilda and the Ghost to cover their ears as the rest of the horde joined in the chorus. The first wave advanced. Drones covered in thorny plates of slick armor charged the duo in a wild pattern and buzzed around them in all directions, but the Ghost moved too quickly. One length of the cloak covered his eyes, the other Gilda’s, and a brilliant flash burned into each changeling’s eyes, announcing the furious onslaught delivered by their prey.

Gilda swiped viciously in front of her. Each drag of her claws caught chitin, flesh, and the very floor they stood on as her foes stumbled back. Two flanked her left side, horns ready and aimed for her torso. Their mistake was flying too slowly. One found their neck caught within her elbow, while the other took a facefull of her hind paw in a powerful kick. He spun out of control, an easy target for the whip of shadow reaching out to catch him, transforming the panicking drone into a flail against which his brethren fell with each stomach-turning spin.

The Ghost discarded his weapon into the thickest part of the crowd, but even so they advanced. A punch to the throat, a kick between the ribs, swipes of the cloak along exposed flesh and failing armor, but no matter the tactic the Ghost found himself drowning in the changeling swarm overtaking him. Even submerged, the Ghost braced himself. A wrapped hoof sent the peak of the mound upwards, with a second strike of his empowered limb scattering the rest, and when the cloak returned to its billowing form he snapped to the right. It caught around the column and served as his new perch.

Gilda knew his next move. She found the nearest changeling and grabbed his legs, battering his allies with the poor drone to clear a path. Two beats of her mighty wings not only sent stragglers back but sent her to the Ghost’s level. She was his signal. Leaping from the column, he dropped a barrage of capsules and potions from his belt, a firestorm of flashes, bangs, and searing pain let loose upon the scattering soldiers below. He threw his hooves out to be caught by Gilda, who spun twice before firing the Ghost like a cloaked missile towards the drones’ leader.

A crack rang out when the Ghost collided with Sulcus, his hoof raking along the hardened chitin enough to sunder it. Chips of it fell from his face. Fangs chattering, limbs shaking, Sulcus roared at the vulgar offense, hurling his meaty limb towards the shadowy specter who danced around him with unnatural grace. The cloak propelled him, pulling and pushing him to drudge each swipe. Sulcus, however, found his opening with a bone-bending kick to the Ghost’s chest. He crashed hard against the far column.

“The Ghost of Coltistrano. Protector of a dead city. Tell me, Shadewalker, do you now wish you had joined them? I will give you the privilege of begging their forgiveness in person!”

The Ghost injected his fury into a single strike, a cloak-covered blow against Sulcus’ throat sending him into a sputtering mess. Two smokey capsules flew into the crowd and summoned a wall of fog before the Ghost snapped the cloak forwards. Both ends wrapped around Sulcus’ head, forcing themselves across his mouth like a bit as the Ghost held him back. The changeling hulk thrashed against his bonds, until the piercing caw sapped his muscles of strength, and Gilda soared through the wall of smoke with an outstretched claw. Chitin surrendered to her, flesh broke and twisted, and Gilda’s firm fist was soon joined by another, and another, until Sulcus released a howl of pain, muffled by the ebon cloak restraining him. One final blow and Sulcus finally collapsed. Groaning, heaving breaths were the only efforts he could make as the Ghost filled his vision, sending a final strike to send Sulcus into unconsciousness.

The smoke wall fell. Drones bore witness to the sight of Gilda and the Ghost standing atop their commander, and with too many of their number wounded or fled they trampled each other in their desperate retreat. Gilda let out a ragged sigh, looking over to the panting Ghost.

“So, that’s supposed to be the easy part, right?”

“Right,” he said, clutching his chest.

“Holy smokes. So, how you wanna play this? The throne room sounds like a shooting gallery, with Queen Bitch at the very end.”

The Ghost peered around the battlefield, giving special attention to the slumbering Sulcus at his hooves. Then, a cloak-covered hoof pressed against the door, closing his eyes to feel the room beyond and all its occupants. With a smile he unclasped his belt and passed to a perplexed Gilda. His smile, however, told her everything she needed to know, and she added her own wicked grin.

Inside the throne room stood rows of stalwart centurions. Grim faces locked onto the towering door, glaring through plated helmets of a sickly faded green, muscles twitching at the slightest noise from beyond the threshold. She sat behind them, tall in her stolen throne. Sounds of battle still rang in her ears, howls of pain and broken resolve fresh memories for the queen, but a firm huff reassured herself and her soldiers of their superiority, no matter what terror waited behind the door. That was, until it opened.

Creaking wood and polished hinges rang out across the empty space of the throne room, stirring its entombed victims in their cocoons. Darkness rested beyond the veil. Streams of smoke from extinguished torchlight drifted through the door as a wispy frame of tendrils. Drones inched forward as anxious seconds passed, with one brave soul taking point, rallying others to investigate the stillness, but the reward for his courage came in the form of a dark shape ejected from the shadows, landing with a metallic clink. The drone dared touch the rope of pouches, too late to hear the hissing within.

Queen Chrysalis shielded her eyes from the resulting explosion of colors and flames. Noxious fumes filled the floor to invade the unprepared lungs of all within reach, the rest flailing against the sting settling in their eyes, and only when she cast a swirling spell around her form to disperse the assault did she see what came next. His violet fringe fluttered as he flew, limply cast from the darkened doorway to crash between the struggling drones. The queen flinched at the sight of Sulcus lying on the floor of her hive, with only his heaving chest proof he still lived.

“M-My queen… ru-...run.”

Sulcus’ final words before slipping into unconsciousness stoked the flames of her next violent outburst. Something else spoke first.

“Though you escape from judgment’s view…”

The drones still holding their senses frantically scanned the room. Echoing laughter filled their ears from all directions, as if the very palace mocked their presence, continuing as more and more drones fell out of formation, some casting bolts of power into the darkness. Even Chrysalis flinched at the voice. She cried out to her warriors with a rallying hiss and managed to summon some to her side, but only too late did she find the source of the dark cackle, following the timber upwards. There, nestled between dangling cocoons, brilliant amber eyes glared back at her.

“The Ghost now sets his haunt upon you!”

She couldn’t even gasp. Instead, her horn charged as the Ghost fell from above, but it was the screech of a gryphon that threw her off balance, even before the powerful fist slammed into her shoulder. Gilda rocketed from the darkness and soared over the disorganized drones towards her target. Where the queen once stood, the Ghost landed with the cloak stretched across the throne before leaping from his elevated position into the crowd of drones. Chittering and gnashing of fangs were the most they could muster as many fled their posts. Some, however, led the charge against the shadow before them.

Two flew ahead of the others, snagged in the limbs of the cloak and spun behind the Ghost as wild projectiles towards their cherished monarch, barely recovered from the feathered onslaught as they crashed together. Gilda soared across the room before sliding to a halt at the rear of the remaining drones, mercilessly swiping until she met the Ghost in the middle.

“When are the others getting here?” Gilda barked, tossing a drone aside.

“They’re on their way, just keep going.”

One by one they fell, armored piles of trembling soldiers falling behind them as the rising queen found the duo mere steps away from her.

“My drones, sent running by a gryphon and a walking carpet? I’ll see you both are drained and fed to my subjects until you beg for death.”

“This devilish deception ends, Chrysalis. Surrender, or prepare for justice.”

“Bah, I control all of Canterlot! Not even Shield Wall with his pretty little trinket could defeat me, what chance do you have?” As Chrysalis boasted, the Ghost could see glimmers of azure magic in the distance.

“No more chances, Chrysalis. For all those set to flame at your order, you will surrender!”

Her body rippled, shifting her chitin and sending the churning muscle into a spasm as Chrysalis released a shriek that shook the walls, trembling stained glass windows threatening to sunder from the pressure before the queen launched herself towards Gilda and the Ghost. She collided with him first, uncaring of the flailing lengths of cloth around her. Gilda spun and charged with anxious claws outstretched, but the queen’s chitin withstood her barrage, so much so the queen merely bucked her back hooves square into the gryphon’s chest. Her attention returned to the Ghost. Snarling, dripping fangs emerged from the ever-widening mouth glimmering with the sick magic falling from her horn. He struck wherever was available, but the same blows which felled Sulcus merely tickled Chrysalis, fueling her wicked grin.

But everything turned to a blur when a free length of the cloak shot up from his hoof around her exposed throat, twisting enough to make her gag. Newfound leverage and a swift strike to her eye was his escape from the charging power on her horn. She lurched back, firing the incomplete spell into a broken bloom tearing across the floor, nearly slicing into Gilda’s tail as she rolled to the side, but she took her chance to engage. With the sudden weight of Gilda on her back and the unyielding pressure of the cloak around her limbs, Chrysalis almost didn’t notice the clashing shimmer of magic at the edge of the room, followed by white fur.

“Gah!” Insectoid wings ejected from her back and beat furiously against the air, pulling herself and her enemies into the open air before spinning, casting them both aside. From above her eyes locked onto Rarity, who pressed herself against the cocoons.

“I see you, Rarity! You thought this distraction would be enough to protect you?” On command flew piercing bolts of green from her horn, uncaring if they struck the captured ponies beside their target. The show of force made her laugh, until her breath was stolen by darkness. Shadowy limbs held her head as the Ghost and Gilda strained against the queen’s powerful wings. Her balance was stolen with a final yank and brought her crashing against the floor.

“Rarity,” the Ghost cried. “You and Alate hurry up! Get the princesses before-”

Breath left him as the cloak was pulled, with him along with it, along the floor towards the fuming Chrysalis. “I’ll see you as food for my subjects! If my tools cannot end the traitor’s legacy, I will!”

“End this, bitch!” This was the strike that cut deep, Gilda’s claws catching between the plates of her carapace. The queen howled and crumpled under the pain. While the battle raged between the three, Rarity lurked from behind cover to the largest of the cocoons. Within, she found the foggy forms of two royal alicorns, and one lavender one. Glimmering swipes of her horn sliced across the ichor and summoned a gush of fluid from within, but she failed to hear the labored hiss from behind.

Before Rarity could face the drone it was caught in a tangle of rags, pulled from its hooves and cast to the ground before Rarity. “All things considered, Alate, your timing is impeccable.”

Alate nodded as she knelt beside Rarity, digging her hooves into the cocoon to free the Princess of the Night from her bonds. Luna mumbled, unresponsive to the world around her, but still breathing.

“Thank goodness. Alate, can you help move them out? I need to free the others before Chrysalis stops us.”

“Then hurry, Silver and Gilda won’t last much longer.”

Alate spared no time in pulling the slumbering princess from the throne room, but the scene Rarity witnessed filled her with dread. The queen stood over the Ghost, who shielded Gilda from the onslaught of magical fire with the cloak. Trading blows and moving in unison only took the duo so far against their foe. Her strength resisted Gilda’s attempts to overpower, her speed more than enough to evade even the Ghost’s fastest strikes, and with the bottomless well of magical power unleashed upon them Chrysalis was a flood of unbridled violence. It tormented Rarity to watch, and her thoughts wandered to the slender object protruding from her saddlebag with each moment Chrysalis loomed over her friends.

“You thought to overthrow me? You should’ve killed Shield Wall when you could, now all of Equestria will bow before their true queen, and not even-... augh!”

The Ghost dared to peek over the edge of the cloak, following the fresh, twisted wound along Chrysalis’ side to find the white unicorn standing across from them with her hooves clutching the dark horn. Rarity struggled to stand while her magic was pulled from her as fuel for the curse she fired, her eyes turning pale and framed by the horn’s sizzling aura. Seeing this, the Ghost summoned all his strength and the power of the cloak into one bone-shattering blow against the fresh wound, sending the queen into a painful spiral against the wall.

“Gilda, get to her!” His command was immediately acknowledged as Gilda sped off, leaving him alone to face the changeling queen as she rose to her hooves, seething, beating her wings with a hum to launch herself towards him, fury on her face.

Breath escaped his lungs as the Ghost was lifted from the world in a violent charge. He felt glass shatter on his back, wind whip across his face, and the night sky above spun as the queen pivoted in the air and brought them both back down onto the roof of the palace, shattering the tile. The Ghost groaned, dizzy from the hit, his attention pulled to the simmering green glow above him as its source charged with power. Upon release, the Ghost reached up and ensnared the queen’s neck under his leg, slamming her muzzle into the roof and rolling away, dodging the wild swipes and magical runoff of Chrysalis’ spell. She growled as she stood.

Shards of the roof were caught in wreaths of power, rising around her prey, and with no way out the Ghost pulled the cloak over his entire person as the shards closed in on him. They broke with each strike, transforming into a magically-fueled cloud of blades chasing him as a swarm. Their chase continued across the roof, each new swipe leaving its mark on the Ghost’s failing armor, hungry for blood, pushing him to the teetering edge of the palace’s main structure and the plummeting fall below, but the Ghost wasted no time. To the queen’s surprise he leaped over the edge, and as she followed his trail downwards she barely caught the lengths of the cloak cast from him: one onto a windowsill, and one onto her. Chrysalis howled and thrashed against the tendril’s bind, but her balance was compromised with the Ghost’s weight pulling her down.

Beyond the palace, rows of armor-plated soldiers clashed with changeling drones. Some of the guards looked up to see the two tumble from the palace walls, the pony in black driving his legs into the changeling queen’s stomach and bringing her down onto the balcony with a crash, drawing the attention of the battle below. A towering stained glass window framed their final bout, with all eyes on the two as magic traded with precise strikes in a dance of death. Once Chrysalis found the Ghost’s chest exposed, she charged a thin, piercing bolt with a wicked grin, until dripping blood announced the fresh cut along the base of her horn, screaming as her magic faded away. The cloak whipped back to its master with a snap.

“Y-You… you dare!” She dragged her hoof across her blood-stained forehead. “Countless more will pay for this transgression! I will see this, and every city in Equestria burn just as I burned your home!”

“I am done with threats and speeches. This terror ends tonight!”

“Putrid little worm! You are-”

“I am the living phantom! The monster who hunts loathsome villains like you! You cannot escape me, you cannot kill me, and if you won’t heed the cry of those put to flame then you will heed the pitiless judgement of the Ghost!”

It was all they needed to throw themselves at each other one final time, meeting in a clash of might and magic. She bolted around him in all directions with streams of power flying from her horn, but one well-placed swipe of the cloak was all he needed, adding to the gruesome length of the dripping wound on her side. She howled, still throwing her strength into smothering the shadow assaulting her. A blow to the chin, a swipe at the legs, the singe of fire, wounds slowly covered the two with each blow they landed, but finally Chrysalis unleashed the same shriek from before, this time shattering the weakened windows of the palace and raining their glass onto them all. Power dripped from her horn, illuminating the unnatural scowl, pointing her horn directly towards the Ghost. Fire flew forth.

One leap was all he had in his weary legs, the cloak pulling him forward into the path of the blast. Then, with the cloak in hoof, he met the bolt of power with all his remaining strength. Searing heat and crackling fury surged behind the blast as it pushed against his resolve, and the Ghost felt his very flesh begin to give way under its might, until he pivoted. He angled his hoof downward, rolling the spell along the length of his protected limb, allowing the flowing motion of his foreleg to capture its momentum and launch it back along his hoof with a pained shout. Chrysalis couldn’t move, she barely saw it coming.

A scream announced the burst of power sent to engulf her, casting her across the floor as a chittering, searing shape, toppling through the window behind her and plunging into the ruined lobby of the palace, crashing as a smoldering shape amongst her fallen drones. When the Ghost landed beside her he nearly collapsed. Heavy breaths fell from his lips as he clutched his foreleg, hissing through his teeth at the contact, but never averting his eyes from the fumbling queen. Smoke arose from her chitin as she writhed before him. She would cast him a glare, sending threats with her eyes and feeble glimmers of her horn, but soon she surrendered to the pain surging through her body, releasing the Ghost from his vigil as he hobbled to Gilda and Rarity, standing in the doorway to the throne room. Rarity looked to him with tired eyes, a thin smile upon her face.

He snapped at the sound of hissing from beyond the walls, grabbing his cloak with weary hooves and preparing for the worst, but from the lobby doorway came the shouts of not just changelings, but soldiers pouring into the royal hall, spreading out to witness the shocking end of the battle. The queen lay defeated, at the hooves of the Ghost. As more and more of the prisoners emerged from their casings, the Ghost watched a familiar face emerge from the growing crowd of soldiers filling the throne room, gliding towards him and skidding to a halt across the tarnished floor.

“Ghost!” Kindle shouted. “We need to move. He’s escaped.”

Strength surged through him once more. The bolt of shadow tore through the crowd and out the throne room door, following Kindle closely as the two rounded the corner and burst out from the palace. Kindle hovered above him to scan the surrounding scene, not noticing the Ghost whip a length of the cloak up towards a flag pole and pull himself to a new vantage, eyes falling on a distant shape hobbling away. Soldiers and frightened citizens drawn by the sounds of battle followed his arcing leap across the night sky, a chorus of gasps rising from below as he spread the cloak to glide towards his desperate prey.

Chapter 21: "You… what are you?

The unicorn cut down an alleyway, disappearing from view, betrayed by the small drops of blood trailing behind his limp. Amber eyes followed from the rooftops. Stumbling, crashing against the walls, Shield crossed an empty street into a dark building the Ghost recognized. He touched down on the street, studying the exterior of the tavern with a piercing glare. Gentle creaks of the wooden door echoed in the air as he slowly, carefully, approached the end of the trail.

Worn wood floors and barstools were his only company. Drops fell from his bottle, a struggle for his trembling hooves to even hold it straight, let alone pour his much needed comfort into a murky, half-cleaned glass. Clinking against the cup’s lip echoed through the empty tavern. With his precious fluid captured he placed the bottle onto the table carelessly, kicking up a cloud of dust flowing along a gentle breeze from the open door beyond his booth. It was the same at every booth, showing days of neglect he now sat in, but for the weary unicorn a little dirt was a comfort compared to what lurked behind shaken eyes, aimlessly following the imaginary trails of his own thoughts before him.

The glass pressed to his lips. No magic carried it, for the ache of the night’s battle still buzzed within his skull. It was a chore to push the generous glass of brandy up enough to pass its contents to him but by desire or spite he managed and gulped greedily before pressing the glass to his forehead to soothe his pain. It failed to help, but the silence was enough for him to loosen his muscles. The slightest sound of creaking wood, however, snapped his spine straight to scan the room. All he found were memories. Beside him stood the images of two unicorns, proper gentlecolts of distinguished rank and authority, addressing a white earth pony sitting in the other seat of the booth. Red curls flowed past his hazy vision on their way out the door, stoking the vestiges of some dying ember in him before the next scene smothered it entirely.

“‘The seas are dangerous…’”

Final words for painful thoughts as he elected to drown in his next drink instead of witnessing what he knew came next, casting the frenzied visions away and leaving him to his solitude, but something made a noise. This time he froze in place. Methodical hoofsteps trailed across the floor towards him, steady breaths reached his ears, and finally the unicorn could see his visitor in the corner of his vision, lurking just beyond sight as he always did. The bottle rose. Shield’s trembling subsided just enough for his sudden burst of hospitality, but the shape refused, stepping towards the seat across from him.

Specs of blood dotted his face, the parts the mask never covered. A noticeable limp carried him as the pony slid into the booth, wincing slightly as his hoof eased him down, but always keeping the unicorn in his sights. Contended sighs escaped his mouth as he settled in his seat. Weariness turned to contempt as amber eyes he knew so well settled on him. They said nothing. For a few minutes they merely shared the silence and subtle notes of fruit rising from the bottle, a cloudy sensation holding no sway over his visitor. In time, though, he reached up to remove the shadow covering his face, gazing across the table to the only other patron in their darkened tavern of memory.

“Of all places,” Silver muttered. “You could’ve ran anywhere, and you chose here.”

“An exercise in futility. You would have found me, regardless.”

“I would’ve,” Silver said with a thin smile.

Shield chuckled softly, pulling once more from the glass. “I suppose congratulations are in order, yes? The queen is dead?”

“Defeated.”

“Well, ‘Long Live the Queen’, and all that,” Shield mumbled. “A particularly degrading part of my history, now passed.”

“I’m surprised you ever considered.”

“As am I,” Shield said, with Silver catching the barest hint of a quivering lip behind his false smile.

“Then why did you do it? Of all people, for all possible reasons, why?”

“Oh, do not act as if you are ignorant to hatred. After everything between us, how could I not? I wanted… needed control again. Control of the game.”

“‘Game’? All the murder and terror, summed up in the most harmless word you could use. To think, I asked Gavel to save you.”

Shield let out a laugh, thick with the scent of booze. “Better luck would have been had asking the changeling, or her brother, than Gavel.”

“You’re right, seeing as you killed him, too.”

Shield paused, his mind digesting Silver’s words slowly. Whatever smile graced his lips dissolved into silent muttering directed towards the liquid held in his glass.

“Was it worth it?”

“I… do not know.”

Silver gave a deep sigh through his nose, staring down at the dusty table. “This is the same table I sat at with Abby and my parents, the night you came to send me to disciplinary service. Before you sent me to die.”

“It is. Did you ever think we would make it this far?”

“I prayed we wouldn’t,” Silver mused, somberly, but Shield huffed at his words, drinking again.

“I always wondered whether or not I would win, to rescue the world from things like you.”

Silver gave a drowsy scoff. “Things like me… you made me.”

“I did, did I not? Now, I have spent so much time trying to unmake you, and… well, here you are.” Shield had foregone the glass and pulled straight from the bottle. “For every endeavor I imagined, there was always you to consider. You needed to die.”

“I gave you every chance to surrender.”

“Every chance to submit, you mean,” Shield hissed.

“You’ve killed dozens out of pride, and ruined the lives of countless more, including your own.”

“You ruined me!” Shield’s teeth were bared, leaning over the table where the reek of booze could almost strike Silver. “All you had to do was follow orders. If you only did then I would still have my station, and the world would be as it should be, but you… you…”

Shield fell back against the booth, chuckling as he peered into the bottle. “Darrox would never have been so direct. He and I were proper enemies. Respectful, ruthless, with an appreciation for the game. The ‘discourse’, as he would say. You, however… you have changed.”

“Killing those I love has that effect.”

“No, no. I killed your father, your mentor, your captain, and you maintained your impetuous morality, but something has broken in you. Darrox’s principles, you no longer believe in them, do you? You are now something new, something to truly haunt me, and you just won’t... die.”

Silver watched as Shield took a long pull from the bottle, slamming it down onto the wood as once-glossy eyes turned fierce. “I killed you, Silver Spade. I dragged you out to that stretch of empty sea and let you drown. Wounded you in ways no one else can, with a malice few have ever known, but despite everything you… there is your ‘why’. Why I have fought you for this long, because no matter what I did you would simply not die.

“I thought you merely some whelp to be culled like any other sick dog, an obstacle, but… then you returned, and when I thought you dead in Manehatten you returned again. Again, and again, until finally I knew I had you with no way out. Trapped in a burning city, mortally wounded, cornered and beaten beyond recognition, you fell from the cliff and I was finally free. Then…”

Shield froze, eyes looking up from the beverage to Silver, jaw trembling with the weight of his next words. “That day in the rain told me everything. You never survived the ocean, or Manehatten, or the cliff. How could you? I killed you long before I swore any hopes of vengeance, yet here you are. You… what are you?”

Silence was the last thing Shield’s rising nerves needed. The drink finally took hold in his mind as he slammed his hoof against the table towards the stoic pony before him, seething and feeling his grip on his emotions slip with each quiet second. Again, he shouted.

“You cannot be real! Some specter of my mind, left there from the madness of these schemes, decades of sinister dealings while the rest of the world passed by. Something there to taunt me as my life, my dignity slips away with each new game played, pushing me to such base lows as this, cowering in some squalid hole. Have I been trying to kill a ghost? Tell me!”

Silver only watched the display unfold before him, stoking Shield’s ire. “I still hear your cursed laughter in my mind, and nothing I do can calm it. Your shadow follows my every step, your eyes my every move. I am cursed! Cursed by the low-born whelp who always stood in the wrong place at the right time, but for sanity’s sake you cannot be alive! What are you, what…”

Shield fell back in his seat, the glass falling from his hoof and crashing against the floor. The only power still available to him were the puffs of breath and aimless eyes wandering around the room, every now and then landing on the motionless Silver, and each time Shield would clench his teeth and threaten to rear up to face him, but never did. Instead, he stayed limp where he sat.

Finally, Silver moved, slowly closing the distance to Shield’s face as he neared, watching the once-furious unicorn recoil at the proximity. He shuddered under Silver’s presence. Watching his trembling lip, the tension in his brow, a thousand words flooded Silver’s mind as the defiant grumble slowly turned to a whimper rising from Shield’s voice, and Silver could feel the same sensation he saw that day in the rain, the same thing his nemesis now reeked with: fear.

Silence was his only answer. As softly as he came, Silver pulled himself from the booth and made his way across the floor, gaze locked onto a particularly shadowy corner where two pale eyes waited. He nodded to her, gone before she ever emerged. The stillness of Canterlot’s streets welcomed him with a gentle breeze kissing his wounds and rolling through his loose mane. No soldiers patrolled, and the sounds of battle were long over, leading Silver to make his leisurely way down the street towards the only other figure in the night. Violet curls bobbed in the wind, shifting to reveal weary azure eyes twinkling in the lamplight above her as Silver relinquished all tension left in his aching limbs, following the invisible trail into her embrace.

Chapter 22: “Are you ready to go?”

Peeking over the horizon were the first vestiges of light gracing the new day, touching the length of shaking steel as it rattled towards what remained of Coltistrano’s train station. Dozens of eyes within caught the city in their gaze. As each one stepped off the train, huddled close to friends and family, they slowly crossed the platform and out onto the cracked streets of their former home. One, a pink filly, stared across the main thoroughfare to find it cleared of ash and debris, meticulously cleaned by a shaded figure far beyond them, closer to the ruins of a mansion by the cliff. As they approached they heard his heavy grunts.

There he labored. Pushing against piles of stone, scraping away at the streets, uncovering the tarnished glory of a home they all lost one shattered brick at a time, and the filly smiled. The argent pony held his gaze to the barren earth, clenching his shovel as the crowd approached.

“Just one more.”

Sweat bubbled up around his brow. Rubble split apart as the shovel head came down, reflecting golden rays on an ashen field. Much of the city had been cleaned, however much the ruin could be, unveiling fragments of identity hidden beneath the rubble of one terrible night. With his final stroke the main thoroughfare was cleared, allowing the dozens of other ponies passage through the tarnished streets of their home like a gallery of nightmares.

Many gazed around the remnants of their home aimlessly. Others comforted each other, relatives shaking and shedding tears at the sight. Some, at the sight of the pony before them, wore their disgust on their faces, but they were all treated to the stoic expression of the stallion they once called governor. Behind him stood his allies, faces the townsfolk all knew well, and beyond stood their leaders. Royal alicorns flanked the somber ceremony with their guard beside them. Only the wind spoke, kicking up remaining specs of their terror until the stallion finally addressed the crowd.

“There are no words I can give to make this right,” Silver began. “There are no excuses I can make to justify everything you’ve lost. Our home is in ashes, and no matter what I’ve done to bring its violator to justice, it can never bring back the ones we’ve lost. Never fill the empty chairs where they once sat. Please, hear me when I say this: I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry I brought so much pain onto you, who had already carried so much. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this before it happened. I’m sorry… I’m sorry I didn’t die, that I still live while your friends and families are gone. All I ever wanted was to have my home back, but I took it from you all, instead.”

The crowd followed Silver’s every word, even as his voice caught in his throat and threatened to break. “That’s why I’m leaving. There will be no ‘Ghost of Coltistrano’ anymore. In my place I’m leaving someone who you trust, who cares more than I ever could, and what remains of my fortune will be left with her to rebuild, brick by brick, until this city grows and achieves all I failed to give it.”

Silver motioned to his left, ignoring the dumbfounded stares of the ponies before him, urging Honey Hearts to step forward. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck, stepping past him to address the crowd.

“Everyone, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to rise out of this misery, and it may not be the last, but today we have a chance to finally put this nightmare behind us. With Silver’s money and the princesses’ aid we can make this city a home again, and we can do it together.”

There was an applause, but not one Silver witnessed as he stepped away from Honey and the crowd, leading his allies towards where the princesses stood. Celestia laid her eyes upon the ruby mane of her niece, containing the shiver in her chest as she, instead, addressed Silver.

“That was the most noble thing I think you could’ve done, Silver. I promise, we’ll be there to provide whatever aid is needed to help reverse this damage. I’m just sorry it had to be like this.”

“So am I,” he said, softly, glancing beside him towards Abby. “I have a request, though, about Abby.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow as he spoke. “Abby was instrumental in defeating Shield and overthrowing Chrysalis, not to mention her… friend, here. Considering everything that’s happened, I think she deserves some leniency.”

“You know what you’re asking me, yes? Abby, this tragedy is by no means your fault, but I can’t simply ignore everything that transpired before.”

Abby squirmed where she stood, eyes drifting from Celestia’s frame. “I-I understand, auntie, I will oblige by the courts to-”

“I won’t,” Silver interrupted, snatching their attention. “Princess, let me take charge of them. After all the lies and manipulations Shield Wall put them through they don’t deserve a place in the dungeons.”

“And what of Alate, the Ragged Mare? Many ponies lost their lives to her rampage, one I’m told Abby supported. What should one say to the victims’ families?”

“Alate is already serving her sentence in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor assured me.”

“Glint was Shield Wall’s confidant,” Celestia stated, harshly. “He coordinated the attack on Coltistrano and has admitted as much.”

“Exile, then! Exile, or reparations, anything other than locking them away in the dark. Please, consider it a favor, one I’ll readily repay. She’s been through enough.”

Celestia paused at the boldness of the pony before her. Before her stood him and her niece, both peering up to her with firm, expectant stares, while Luna beside her watched silently. She could feel the weight of the silence around her, and after a moment released a long, ragged sigh.

“We can consider your request. You’re right… there’s been enough anguish.”

“Oh, oh goodness, I… Silver!” Abby threw herself around him, crushing his bruised body with shaking hooves. “You didn’t… I-I don’t deserve this.”

“I don’t want us to be enemies, Abby.” Silver gave her a warm smile, eyes darting over her shoulder to return Glint’s firm nod to him. “There’s a house in Silver Shoals. No relation, I promise, but it’s yours, you and… you and Glint. No one will recognize you out there, you’ll have a chance at a new life.”

Abby covered her mouth with her hooves, eyes darting from Silver to Glint and back again. Celestia watched the scene unfold with a tremble in her lip, ignoring the smirk Luna gave her before finding Abby standing in front of her, beaming as she offered her hoof. A quiet escape granted them privacy from the others, and Luna turned her smile to Silver.

“Well won, Silver, nary one could boast of thyselves to convince dear sister of such a path, but thou hast earned our applause. What will you do now in your self-exile?”

“Probably the same thing I’ve always done. Lord Aristo, officially, is dead and there’s no reason to resurrect him now that he’s not in charge of Coltistrano, anymore.”

“Silver Spade is to return to the world, then?”

“In my own way,” Silver said, peering over to Rarity beside him. Luna let a light giggle escape her lips at the sight. “Do you think Celestia will agree?”

“Dear sister is nothing without her mercy. In time, she will find truth in words of thine, and we shall be there to remind her should she grow of dour countenance, though expect to make do on thine pledge. Many evils still lurk in the world, and we would see them remedied by one we trust.”

Silver gave a slight bow of his head, earning one from Luna in return. “For what it is worth, then, you will always be welcome in Canterlot. In the meantime, we are curious as to your plans, Kindle. The Guard could use you.”

“That’s… actually something I have to talk to Silver about, first.” He and Silver shared a look before Kindle bowed to Princess Luna. “There’s still some things I need to handle.”

“Then come to us when thou art ready. We await your return.” Luna returned with a slight bow before turning to join Celestia. Kindle followed her with his eyes until she was out of earshot, walking over to Silver and pulling him away from Rarity and Gilda, each step silent.

“It wasn’t some heat of the moment thing,” he finally said, standing before Silver. “Learning from you, the training, being you? I meant what I said.”

“So did I, once,” Silver chuckled. “You know what this means, though? What you’ll have to do?”

Kindle nodded firmly, and Silver felt his heart fall at his friend’s resolve, but with a quick sigh he placed his foreleg around Kindle’s shoulders. Together, they turned towards the ruins of the city.

“Then there’s something I want you to do, first. When I returned from the island with Darrox I didn’t really want to be the Ghost. I didn’t want to give so much of myself after everything I’d already lost. What I wanted was my life back. I wanted to be with Abby, see my parents again, maybe even get back into the guard, but fate, I guess, had other plans. It’s been eight years since the ocean, Kindle, and I’ve only just now been able to use my real name.”

“Silver I know what you’ve done, and I’m ready to-”

“I want you to take a moment,” Silver interrupted, looking deep into Kindle’s eyes with a firm glare. “Take a moment and think of all the things that are important to you. The Guard, Glint, us, then ask yourself how much you want to hold onto those things, and which of those things you’re willing to sacrifice, because that’s the cost, Kindle. I never got to see my father again. I sacrificed my relationship with Abby. My home is gone. There may be dozens of stories about me and that cloak but none of them can return what The Ghost has taken from me, and I don’t want that for you unless you are absolutely sure.”

Kindle was silent. His lips parted with silent words as he switched his gaze from Silver to the sight of ruins around them, and back again. He looked over his shoulder to Princess Luna. A knot tightened in his chest at the memories of Indigo in the palace, of his comrades who still served, and of the haunting words still ringing in his mind as he made a silent gulp and turned once more to Silver.

“Then why do it? I mean… after everything?”

“Because someone has to, Kindle, but it doesn’t have to be you.” Silver’s face softened and sent Kindle a small smile. “Join the guard for a while, serve with your friends, and if you truly still want this you’ll know where to find me.”

“I-I can’t just do that, Silver, not after everything they’ve lost. I mean…” Kindle caught the ruins in his sight, and his final words were lost in his throat. Silver smiled. With silent encouragement, he nudged him towards the princess and stood back as Kindle, occasionally peering over his shoulder at him, did as he instructed, leaving Silver alone to drink in the rays of sun climbing up the morning sky.

“Let him down easy, huh?” Gilda stepped to Silver’s side, a claw across his shoulders.

“Yep. Maybe one day.”

“Pity,” said Rarity with a light huff. “Looks my spare thread is in for continued pillaging. The poor dear looks rather crestfallen, though.”

Gilda shrugged. “Eh, Kindle’s tough, he’ll be fine. Pretty ballsy move cashing out for the town, dude. Here I thought you’d at least keep some for yourself.”

“Hey, I’m not completely broke. They deserve it, though, after everything.”

“Enough to pay your share around the house, I trust.” Rarity batted a playful hoof against him, smirking. “Even one such as moi can only be so generous with my home.”

“And your bed,” Gilda snarked, earning a beat-red scowl from Rarity as the gryphon cackled. “I can see it now. Two love birds, couple of kids, and the ship parked out back like you're a regular family. Pfft, as if!”

“That’s a good point Gilda, ‘cause, uh…” Silver’s droning ended in a smile across his muzzle, the kind that pulled Gilda from her jubilance. She stared at him, then beyond the town towards the very shape of wood and metal in question, back and forth and accompanied by a limp claw fighting to keep up with her shock.

“Wha… you mean… no. No way. No… really?!”

“Gorn always liked you best. You deserve it.”

“Holy… holy shit, Silver!”

In between a hug and a tackle, Gilda threw herself against the still aching stallion and squeezed far harder than his aching muscles agreed with, swinging him carelessly until finally letting go to pump her claws into the air with a triumphant caw. Rarity laughed, pulling Silver to his hooves.

“Silver’s been talking about it for some time, and considering how protective you’ve been of the ship it’s a perfect fit. Gilda, darling, it’s wonderful you-”

“You kidding! It’s bucking awesome! Oh, I’mma do so much to that tub. Bigger guns, bigger galley, and a crew that actually knows how to cook. We… oh! Bakery on the ship! Silver, we’re taking this bitch on tour!”

Gilda’s string of excited hollering fueled Silver’s smile. A few more spins and elegant curses led Gilda back to his side as the three looked out across the ruined city. Silence draped over them, a breeze joining the gentle birdsong rising over the forests beyond, soaking into Silver with each new ray of sunlight dancing across his tired frame.

“This is good,” he whispered. “This feels right.”

“The fact they have something now, anything, is because of you, darling.” Rarity brushed his mane from his face, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Kinda sucks you now got nothing for yourself, though,” Gilda shrugged. “But you two’ll sort it out.”

Silver’s eyes followed Gilda as she slowly sauntered away. “Where are you going?”

“To check out my ship, though it was always kinda mine, wasn’t it?” Her crass sarcasm cracked a grin across her face as powerful wings carried her up and over the expanse of the town, leaving Silver and Rarity alone. Together, in companionable silence, he turned to face her.

“So…”

“So…” Azure eyes fluttered as she spoke, watching him closely. “Is my romantic revanant getting cold hooves?”

“So harsh, and I thought you couldn’t wait to get me back home.”

“As if you have any other option, my love.” Her words lingered, smiling as she rolled over one in her mind. “‘Home’. Is that it, then? We go home?”

“We’ll finish here, then… yeah. We go home.”

Rarity smiled, taking his foreleg around her shoulders as they walked through the streets towards the billowing stack of smoke, a whistle beckoning them to the train station. She placed her head against his shoulder with a sigh.

“I take it this means you aren’t retiring, hm?”

Silver chuckled, ducking his head with a blush. “No, I guess not.”

“Kindle looked devastated when you told him. He wants it almost as much as you did, once. Did you ever actually consider letting him take over?”

“Yes… and no,” Silver said, pensively. “Kindle still has a life and I want him to live it, at least long enough to know what he’d be missing if he still wanted the cloak.”

“Darrox would’ve been overjoyed, were he alive, and my dashing rogue would finally have time to spend on little old me.” Rarity’s childish pout was met with Silver’s smirk, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“You just want me all to yourself, don’t you?”

“How could I not?” Rarity placed an offended hoof on her chest, her voice feigning shock. “Always skulking about in the shadows, throwing yourself at the most vile cretins Equestria has to offer. Why, I’d daresay you prefer them to moi.”

“They excite me, Rarity, you simply don’t have that same spark anymore,” he teased, watching Rarity throw a hoof across her forehead with a wail.

“My love belongs to the night! To back alley brawls and violent desires. Why, oh why? Was I not enough? Was I wrong to fall for a bitless boor such as he?”

“Okay, now you’re just being mean.” But her performance failed to end as they stepped onto the platform, Silver groaning as she continued.

“I should’ve listened to mother and married a doctor, or a scholar, not some blighted bandit who would so easily forget about me. Maybe then I-”

She was silenced. Firm lips ensnared her own as she was pulled in by needy hooves, pressing against his body with all the strength she had come to know him for, and her theatrics melted away as each second passed, mindlessly searching for his lips when Silver pulled away.

“Never,” he cooed, a slight shiver in his tone as he nuzzled into her neck.

“Good, because we have work to do when we get home.” The train whistle called over them as Rarity looked to Silver. “Are you ready to go?”

Silver paused, turning to stare across the city. Memories mingled with the ash kicked up by a gentle breeze, glimmering in the sunlight as the survivors and many others began their work to restore all they lost, and Silver sighed. He watched the Tornado rise into the sky. Its captain spun the wheel and guided the vessel out along the cliffside, sending one final snarky grin his way, and not far behind her flew a formation of ponies in dark armor. They moved as one, unbroken, but a pair of eyes found him as they broke off towards Canterlot in the distance, a firm salute his final parting gift as they faded into the distance. Through the buildings he found one more, flanked by the towering alicorns hanging on her every word. The chestnut mare caught Silver’s gaze and held it. Tears, followed by a smile, dressed her face before an urging hoof shooed him away, and Silver begrudgingly obliged her.

All that was left was her, the brilliant unicorn standing beside him. Her knowing gaze was all he needed to push back the wave of emotion welling within him, her gentle touch giving him courage to step across the platform, guiding her with his hoof, to board the train, taking a last look at Coltistrano before the whistle blared out one final time.

Epilogue: “Read to me, Silver. Read me our story.”

“Is that all?”

Beady little eyes pierced through the ever-dropping veil of tensed eyebrows, a small pout punctuating her exasperation. She followed the fluttering pages of the storybook as, one by one, they fell onto each other and closed within the firm leather binding. A whine barely escaped her throat. She was grumbling, twisting the bright pink bed sheets with tiny hooves, wriggling in place as the unicorn beside her chuckled. Gentle pats of her hoof touched the child’s cheek, gently comforting the unrelenting grimace.

“My darling treasure, it’s already so late.”

“But you have soooo many stories. Can’t we just read one, tiny one? Please?”

“Morning Glory, ‘no’ means ‘no’. You have school tomorrow.”

“But mama!” Tiny hooves flailed above her head, landing limply at her sides as she let out a huff, her pale azure mane stretching across the pillow. “Daddy would tell me stories all night. He doesn’t care about sleep.”

Her mother giggled as she crossed the distance towards her defeated daughter. “Daddy is hardly an example of a proper sleep schedule. You, however, are a growing filly who needs her rest.”

“Guh, fine.” Morning Glory unleashed a rumbling sigh, lethargically pulling the covers over her with both hooves and flickering sparks of her magic, content to make a show of her disappointment as her mother looked on with a smirk. Dramatic seconds passed, and the frustrated filly was finally tucked into the hoarded clump of blankets she called a bed, sinking into the mattress as her cheek came under assault by pure affection.

“Goodnight, Glory. I love you.”

A gentle puff of air extinguished the lamp beside her. Morning Glory peered over her shoulder to watch the shadowed figure of her mother rise from the bed and step into the doorframe, but something seemed to tug at her voice. With a squeak, she spoke.

“Mama? Will there be more stories?”

She gave a soft sigh, but met Glory with a smile. “We’ll read another one tomorrow, but be-”

“No, I mean… what happens when there aren’t any more to tell?”

Her mother froze. The gentle, ice-blue eyes peering up at her carefully watched as she gathered herself and returned to the bed, a hoof placed against her daughter’s cheek.

“Then there won’t be any more, but that won’t mean he’s gone. Even if someday he does go away, and the Ghost is gone for good, the stories will stay. He’ll live on in all who read about him.”

“Even in me?” Her tiny voice summoned a warm smile from her mother.

“Especially in you.”

Just as she reached down to kiss Glory’s forehead, their ears detected the slightest flutter from beyond the window. Glory’s eyes shot open, her face dominated by a wide grin, as the nearly imperceptible patter of hoofsteps traced across the roof above them, trailing off along the outer wall and just beyond the room next to hers, where she knew her parents slept. At this point, she was practically giddy. When faced with the bright, expecting eyes before her, her mother sighed, relenting one final time and watching the filly scurry out from under her mountain of warmth and out into the dimly lit hallway.

Glory’s ears swiveled on her tiny head. Every sound, every sensation of the world around her fed into her senses to pinpoint the exact location of the house’s familiar intruder, and with careful steps she crept along the wall towards the room all children are forbidden from entering, her mother’s smirking silence permission enough. She already knew the best ways to enter unheard, but this time the occupant was wide awake.

No creak came from the door as she squeezed through the slightest opening and stepped onto the plush carpeting of her parent’s bedroom. There, before her, stood an obelisk of shadow. She knew not what rummaged beneath it’s umbral skin, and she didn’t care, staying low to the ground and creeping one step at a time, eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness around her until she was within range. The shadow removed its hide to reveal familiar features, confirming the target of her impending assault. She leapt.

In a swipe of shade she was snagged from the air by quick hooves. Tumbling around, lost in the darkness of the room as her orientation fled her, Glory was adrift in a sea of blackness as her victim-turned-captor swung her around with ease and a deep laugh. With every ounce of her strength she fought. It wasn’t until the light from the hallway spilled into the room did her mother bear witness to the sight. With a spark of her magic, the room’s lamps ignited, revealing not the terrible battle to the death Glory envisioned, but another crushing defeat by her eternal nemesis.

“Daddy! I’m supposed to get you! I’ve been waiting hours to do that.”

“You almost did, but you need just a little more practice,” he chuckled, slinging the filly over his shoulders as the mare across from him approached. “She keeping you up late again?”

“More like you are. She’s dying to hear more stories.”

“Mama won’t let me stay up late! I told her you don’t sleep, so it’s okay!”

“Sweetie, I am not a good example of a proper sleep schedule. You need to sleep.”

The loud, indignant groan brought both parents to laughter as they walked from one bedroom to the other, depositing the filly back into her cocoon of comfort. Try as she might, the oppressive wave of kisses and goodnight wishes forced her into a state of coziness she could never hope to escape from, giving the adults the chance they needed to quietly exit. They returned to their bedroom, where the remains of his garb were slowly pulled from his frame and deposited onto the floor.

“No new wounds, even without the armor. It seems you finally learned.”

“‘Learned’ is a strong word, Rarity. The damage is internal, I assure you.”

“Oh, you,” Rarity chuckled, gently tracing her hoof across his abdomen. “You’re back so soon. You only left a few hours ago, and I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow morning. How is everyone?”

“Good. They want to come out to visit. I told them you had a show to prepare this weekend, and Gilda’s offered to watch Glory while we’re out.” His statement was met with silence, forcing him to place a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “She’ll behave, I promise.”

“It’s not Gilda I’m worried about. Those two will spell doom for all of Ponyville, if left unsupervised.”

He laughed, placing a kiss on her forehead before pulling her to him. There they swayed. Gentle silence filled the room, fueled by the nighttime beyond their sanctuary, and Rarity found herself dozing off in his embrace. He pulled a hoof through her mane and the sparse gray hairs lining it as her own rested against the back of his neck, playing with a long-faded scar as she craned her neck up to look at him.

“Read to me, Silver. Read me our story.”

Silver smiled. Guiding the lazy Rarity to their bed, he left her to wash the traces of battle from his body, before returning and following her into the warm embrace of covers. A tome glided to them. Rarity pushed her cheek against his chest as her eyes began to droop, listening to the pages flip to the bookmark and feeling the rumble of his soft, warm voice as the first words left his lips like whispers in her mind.

“The air was a stiff mixture of salt and wind, with the sound of creaking boards and sloshing water along the hull. Even in the dead of night, the waters of the Celestial Sea churned with the same vigor one would expect the ocean border to have, as if knowingly protecting Equestria…”

Chapter 1: “I’m old, Cadence, I don’t want to be remembered as a murderer."

The scorch marks weren’t far from the city center. Much of the debris had been cleared, buildings patched, streets swept clean of the rubble, but every now and then she would find a new mark in some dark corner of the city staring back at her. A smudge of darkness against pristine crystal streets. A reminder.

Even so, the light of another setting sun would soon fade, and the reminder would slip into the obscurity of night. It was a comfort as she continued down the road, past the gleaming denizens of the city. A pair of green eyes scanned the many smiling, drifting, almost distracted faces as she steadily passed them by. On occasion, she would catch the attention of a foal beside their parents staring up at her. It was a struggle not to grimace, and at the first opportunity she would duck behind a thicker part of the bustling streets, bringing her head lower as if to dodge some phantom gaze. Try as she might, it was hard for her not to stand out.

Her coat was more dull than others. She sported a messy mane and stood half a head taller than most of the stallions around her, a fact that nagged at her whenever she dodged her own reflection, but it had its perks. She could see the palace better this way.

The glimmering tower at the heart of the city. Sunlight danced along its western face like waves of the aurora the Empire was so well known for and served as her beacon, the signal her long shift was soon to end. She leveraged her height to carefully watch both sides of the main road before crossing over to the main gate.

“Halt! Citizen, present your identification.” The guard dutifully followed her hooves as they answered his request. “Hmm… Ah, I see. Proceed.”

He and his fellow guardspony moved in trained unison, allowing her to pass the threshold into the palace proper, her vision swallowed evermore by the lobby of the Crystal Palace. It was a familiar sight. Muscle memory guided her hooves across the floor, adorned by the sigil of the Crystal Heart, and through the spiraling hallways of the palace. There were faces she recognized, even some that smiled at her as she passed. Even so, all she could manage was a subtle wave and mouthed greeting as she came closer to her destination: a pair of two artfully carved doors. As they opened, she spotted another scorch mark within the doorframe.

But her gaze was ensnared by the glorious image of one pink alicorn, sat upon her pearlescent throne and peering down upon her with a warm smile. Her hooves nearly stumbled at the image. The princess beckoned her.

“Welcome back.” Cadence urged her forward. “You’ve been gone for days. We were concerned something happened.”

The sound of the double doors closing boomed behind her, signaling her chance to relinquish the dull disguise in a wreath of sputtering green flame, dancing along her legs and across the pristine floor as her true visage was revealed.

“Princess,” Alate said with a slight bow, slowly approaching the throne.

“I’m glad to see you’re unharmed. Have you found anything?”

“There are rumors, but the trail went cold months ago. Finding anything concrete now will mean heading south… to Equestria.”

Cadence pondered the changeling's words, caressing her mouth with a hoof. “Our friends to the south have come up empty, as well, though I suppose they don’t have you to aid them.”

“Does this mean… you’ll send me there?”

“It’s possible.” Cadence rose from the throne and approached. “But in your condition, any time away from the palace is a risk. How are you feeling?”

Her words signaled a stinging sensation from the crown of Alate’s head. The horn was twisted, standing as a darker, matte limb where her original horn once stood, green light emanating from between barely healed wounds along its shape, an image only hidden when shapeshifted into somepony else.

“I manage.”

“Alate, despite what you may think, I am worried. You’re due for an appointment with Sunburst and our healers.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be on the hunt, instead?”

“Not while it’s doing that.” Cadence’s manicured hoof pointed firmly to the green smoke rising from the grafted horn. “It’s the only way you’ll get better.”

“Right… right…” Alate’s gaze drifted to the side, earning a chuckle from the alicorn beside her.

“Why don’t I walk you, okay? Maybe you can tell me what’s bothering you.”

Such an offer stunned the changeling as Cadence gently pulled her along, into a side passage off of the throne room. Alate recognized it as a corridor for servants, one she knew too well, but to walk through it with royalty gave her a strange sense of ease. The bobbing curls of Cadence’s spring pink mane firmly contrasted her dark and worn carapace, a starkness that brought a small smile to her lips.

“So, you started clamming up back there, is it because I mentioned Equestria?”

“No, it’s… yes.”

“You don’t have to worry Alate, you know that.”

“But how can you say that? After all the things I’ve done? We’re walking through the very halls I used to try to kill your friends.”

“And you are serving your sentence by working for me.”

“But it should be much worse, and you haven’t even told them.”

“I’m the princess, I decide if it should be worse, and I decide that by serving me in secret we’ll have the advantage over Shield Wall, should he return.”

“But how could you, or they, ever forgive me?”

“You underestimate the forgiveness of Silver Spade,” Cadence chuckled. “Alate, it was months ago. You confessed your crimes and are making amends, even if it doesn’t feel like it.”

“Princess, they won’t…” Alate released a sigh. “I’m old, Cadence, I don’t want to be remembered as a murderer. Not by him.”

“I know, and what’s better is I know you mean it.”

Finally, the corridor opened into a domed room. The stained-glass skylight depicted the very princess who stood beside Alate, shimmering above them with the final threads of the day’s light, replaced by the lantern light of the calm scenery before them. A group of ponies were busy making preparations around a cushioned table Alate knew well. Beside it stood an orange unicorn, fumbling through the pages of a musty tome drawn from within his ornate blue robe, fixing his glasses as the duo approached.

“Ah, Alate, it’s good to see you aga- oh dear, that is a nasty build up of dark magic seeping out from there. Please, make yourself comfortable on the table and we’ll begin. I think I’ve uncovered a new method for treating the horn’s poisoning of your magic.”

With a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, Alate was guided to the table by the hoofmaidens that always tended to her. Bare carapace met plush fabric as she sank into them, discovering a weariness she had ignored since she returned to the Empire. Crystal magic gently coiled along the length of the foreign horn and pulled from it the smoking green fumes. Sweet clarity was her reward for compliance. Her entire body tingled as Sunburst prepared the second phase of his treatment. Words lifted softly from his lips and a piercing ray of light flew from his horn to hers. She flinched, squirmed, and suddenly the welcoming caress of the cushions became that of needles scratching against tender flesh.

A whimper dared leave her before relief returned. The smoke ceased. Whatever green light shone from the horn soon dimmed to an almost imperceptible emerald, and Sunburst shot a smile to Cadence and excitedly made his way to Alate’s side.

“Fascinating. The horn’s responded well to the treatment, and even… I hesitate to say, Alate, but perhaps a few more treatments will even render it totally inert. It’s not long now.”

The effect of Sunburst’s words was visible across her face. The culmination of months of service to the Crystal Empire, the very nation she once threatened, was something so simple as relief. She felt her entire form relax. She only barely noticed Cadence called to the main door by a guard, and only heard scant bits of their conversation as she tried to crane her head around.

“Find Captain Shining Armor, any reports should be fed to him, directly.”

“The captain is occupied with another situation, your highness, this couldn’t wait.”

“There is a chain of command for a reason,” Cadence stated sharply.

“Your highness, if you could only-”

Alate’s ears perked up, signaling the escape of all calmness within her body as her eyes slowly made their way back to the skylight above her. There was a tapping of something. Heavy, measured, and multiple. She looked back to Cadence arguing with the single guard in the open door and she fought against her own relaxed muscles to rise from the table. A louder crack was heard from above as a small piece of glass fell at Sunbursts hooves. Alate froze. She was trapped in a scene she recognized. She knew the style well.

Before she could cry out to Cadence, the skylight burst apart in a triumphant rain of glass and metal that fell upon the room’s occupants. Cadence whipped around with her horn aglow before being fiercely shoved out of the room by the guard, slamming the door behind her. Six masked figures fell from above. Their ropes encircled Alate as they surrounded her, allowing a seventh to slam her back against the soft table and pin her down.

“Target secure. Lock down the door and prep for surgery.”

“What?” Alate barely had time to react before two sets of hooves restrained her head to the table. Spurts of green flame managed to emerge from the horn, but their fervor was spent, a result of Sunburst’s treatment. She thrashed and writhed against them before she felt the prick of something sharp against her. Then, it went deeper.

The howl that crossed Alate’s lips shook the very walls, felt even by the furious princess assaulting the door, now barricaded by four of the invaders. Crashes of magical might could be heard pounding against the doors to the healing chamber, each one threatening to unsteady the knife slowly cutting across fused flesh. Even as her own blood flooded her eyes Alate struck back against one of her captors, casting him aside, allowing her to throw a wild strike to the one above who responded by simply falling into her and driving the knife out the other end of the scar tissue. He twisted, both to restrain the seething changeling and to separate the flesh, and with the smallest bit of leverage the horn was released from her head, dripping with blood and ichor.

“Horn is secure. We’re out of here.”

But the stranger had not counted on Alate’s grip to retain its strength as she threw him from the table and onto the stone floor. She struck her other captor as she rose, her quivering hoof fueled by rage and pain, laying him out before leaping onto the current wielder of the cursed horn. He was concerned with keeping the horn from her, but Alate saw only his masked face as her target. Blow after blow landed against him, but it wasn’t long before the dizziness of blood loss robbed her of her strength. Limp hooves grabbed his mask as hind legs kicked her from him, propelled by the force of two ebon wings. She slid away, the floor slick with her own blood, locking her withering gaze with a pair of slit-shaped eyes.

“G-Glint…”

The invaders regrouped, though he was the only one to rise into the air under his own power, fusing with the dark of the night sky as Cadence finally broke through the doors of the chamber and rushed to Alate’s side. Muffled orders reached her ears, but her limbs began to grow cold. Agony finally overtook her as her breath slowed. Her weary gaze drifted before locking onto something small, just beneath the table upon which she once rested. Dark, tucked just beside one of the corners, the last thing she saw as she threatened to slip into unconsciousness: another scorch mark. Another reminder.

“Sunburst, tend to her!” Cadence rushed to the ailing changeling, hoof searching for a pulse. “She’s still alive. Hurry!”

Just behind her came the thundering of metal-clad hooves, led by brilliant violet light atop the head of their crowned prince. Shining Armor wordlessly directed his soldiers to fan out, sweep the room, and secure all exits, orders the crystal warriors followed without hesitation.

“Cadence… Cadence, what happened? What’s the situation?”

“I-I don’t know, I was speaking to a guard at the door before… before this happened.” Her magic held a length of gauze to Alate’s horn, successfully staunching the bleeding.

“They came in from above,” Sunburst announced through quivering breaths. “Six of them, I think, b-but it happened so fast I didn’t have time to see who they were.”

Shining Armor took stock of the scene before him, the ruined skylight and its shattered remains now surrounding them, eyes mechanically following the destruction to its most concentrated point. The padded table was stained with blood and coated in tiny shards of glass. His mind worked fast, and the prince gave a forceful huff as it came to a conclusion.

“They came for the horn.”

“But how could they have known? How could they have even slipped past us? We’ve been searching for them for months.”

“If I had to guess, this might’ve been part of their plan.” He stared over Alate’s weary form, dripping with her own blood. “Maybe they never left, at all.”

“Then we have to let them know,” Cadence said as she urged one of the hoofmaidens, rising to her hooves and leading Shining through the same corridor back to the throne room.

“We should’ve told them a long time ago.”

“I know, I know, but with Shield Wall escaped we had to be discrete. You don’t think Silver will be mad, do you?”

Shining chuckled at the question. “Silver, better than anypony, knows the value of secrecy, don’t you think? But I suppose we have to risk communication.”

They hurriedly made their way to the throne, opening a hidden compartment within the magnificent chair to produce a quill and parchment. The enchanted feather glowed, burning its message upon the paper with magical guidance. Cadence wasted no time in drafting her missive as the parchment was hurriedly rolled up and sealed with her wax insignia.

“We can’t risk this being intercepted,” she stated. “If his agents are still in the Empire, we need a way to deliver this safely.”

“Told you we should’ve hired a dragon,” Shining teased. “I have a way to get through the country undetected, but it may take some time… will Alate make it that long?”

“I have no doubt.” But Cadence’s eyes strayed out the window beyond the throne, a frame of the twinkling night sky blanketing the nation beyond in its embrace. “I only hope we make it in time.”

Chapter 12: “They’re afraid of the storm.”

It drifted defiantly in the air. Ever sailing, ever vigilant, a looming mass of authority against a tapestry of encroaching thunder to the north. Two soldiers stood on the deck to peer across Ponyville by night, muttering to themselves and sharing swigs from flasks. Chuckles masked hoofsteps behind them. The cabin door silently hung open for a shadow to slither through and travel along the ship’s railing. He was careful, focused, wings just barely extended to preserve his balance, and with a tight grip on his prize he fell back off the vessel, watching it shrink in the distance.

Torchlight danced across the face of a bat pony as he silently glided from the stern of the Tornado, speeding across thatch-roofed buildings and the endless rows of blackened windows adorning their sides, with no one left on the street but himself and guards sternly patrolling the shadowed alleyways. He skidded to a halt at the corner of a house to peer out across the open street. Once he was certain he was alone, and hidden by the darkness, he rushed out again clutching to the small package tucked beneath his wing. The faster he ran the more the city showed its scars to him.

Running along practiced routes the bat pony nimbly carved his way through the barren streets of Ponyville and towards a smaller gathering of buildings and canvas tents and flickering candlelight. Here he returned to the refugees from Coltistrano, stranded in the tent city of tarps and torches. Once he came within range he dove into a patch of grass just barely tall enough to hide himself, and crawled across the imaginary line the city guard patrolled around the camp, waiting patiently for his opening to cross. His hooves slammed against the earth on his approach, barreling towards a crowd of small ponies crowded around an aged, chestnut mare he recognized.

“Kindle, my goodness you scared the breath out of me!” Honey Hearts pressed a hoof to her chest, recoiling at the small dust cloud he kicked up.

“Sorry, Ms. Hearts, if I flew any slower they would’ve caught me.”

“Fine, fine, you colts and your stunts. Did you at least get it?”

“You bet I did.” Kindle patted the outline of something beneath his wing before the group of foals began to crowd and gawk, prompting him to lean down to the group, greeting a bright pink filly with a warm smile. “Are you guys okay? Did any of the guards come this way?”

“No way! I’ve read all the Ghost stories, they’d never find me,”she taunted, flipping and twirling a long scrap of black cloth tied around her neck before turning to the others. “I could give you all some lessons, you’re gonna need them.”

Kindle could only laugh at the tenacious filly, but his attention returned to the only one among them immune to her excitement. “Ms. Hearts…”

“Oh, please, don’t worry about me.”

Her graying mane loosened from its bun as she shook her head, and Kindle could make out dark circles below her eyes. Her lips pursed as she took one step away, but Kindle pushed past the group of foals around him and caught up to her, but when she turned to look to him he was almost frozen by her true visage, one with drooping eyelids and a gave that drifted along with her precarious balance on shaking legs. He held tight to her shoulder.

“Ms. Hearts, you need sleep.”

“Is it so obvious? Well, I can’t yet, not until everyone is back and accounted for, and if-”

“No one will blame you for getting some sleep, okay? You do more than you need to as it is, any more and you might keel over.”

“Well… if I do, at least I wouldn’t be alone.”

Her dry words pulled the humor from his face, but Honey managed to summon a smile before heeding his requests, slowly walking away as Kindle’s gaze lingered. Once out of sight he produced the package from beneath his wing. He slowly opened it, flipping through pages of what he recognized as an operations service report, stepping away to scan the document for any information he could use as his slit-shaped eyes carefully read each word in each box filling out the shipping manifest on one of the pages he held. Time stamps and invoice numbers were listed on one side, with scheduled routes to Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and a dozen other cities on the other. Kindle, however, cared little for the contents of the shipments, only their destinations.

His focus was broken by the sound of rattling plate armor. He stashed the scroll under his own wing and slowly creeped around the rows of tents to find two guards, marching across the perimeter, prodigy into the canvas coverings and opening crates. Kindle nearly stepped out, but he was stopped by the silhouette of someone much larger than himself floating to the ground before them.

“Get lost,” Gilda growled.

“A gryphon? Command didn’t say anything about… we’re looking for Miss Rarity. She’s been missing since this morning, despite orders to meet with the sergeant major.”

“And any unicorn your boss sends you to find will do, right? You boys must be spoiled for choice.”

“We’re under orders,” the other guard snapped, pointing his torch to her scowling face.

“Orders to be clowns?” She scoffed. “Last time you deadbeats came here ‘investigating’ you gave that unicorn over there a concussion, and he wasn’t even awake. Take a hike.”

“I’ll have you know obstruction of military investigation is an offense punishable by imprisonment.”

“And who’s gonna cuff me, squirt, you?”

The guard stepped forward, craning his neck to meet Gilda’s sharp beak and eyes. “Are you threatening a soldier, citizen?”

“You don’t threaten dinner.”

Her low, gravelly delivery was more than enough to force the guard back a step, with a following snap of her beak the final push they needed to collect themselves and return, quickly, back the direction they came. It was a small victory, enough to paint a small smile on Gilda’s face.

“How long you gonna hide back there, huh?”

Kindle stepped out from his cover. “You can be really scary when you want to be, you know that? Bet he thought you’d actually eat him.”

“Who’s to say I wouldn’t?” The silence her words conjured summoned a laugh from deep within the gryphon as Gilda slapped Kindle’s shoulder. “See you nabbed it, huh?”

“I think so,” Kindle stated, revealing the scroll. “I want to get it to Rarity first, after we run recon. We can look it over together and make our decision then.”

Gilda nodded, and before long the two launched from the ground and flew high, high enough to be well beyond the eyes of the gunship as they arched up above the thin clouds of night, and once they reached the apex of their practiced curve the two jerked backwards and spun back down towards the world below. Gusts of fierce wind shot around them like a corkscrew of nature’s strength. Heavy fog, wet droplets splashing against his face, these and the thumping of blood through his skull reminded Kindle just how dangerous the stunt was, but his partner never faltered. Large brown wings released powerful flaps to keep her aloft. Feathers laid flat against her toned body to remove any hint of drag as she flew. Her beak, her neck, down to her tail, each and every part of her trained form held straight like a lance of muscle and purpose, tearing through the massive thundercloud. Squinting, he was finally able to catch up to her side.

Gilda hardly acknowledged the bat pony, instead craning her neck downwards with a piercing gaze. The movement cost her speed and pushed her downwards to the very bottom of the rumbling fog enclosing them. It was a thin veil between her and the city below. Ever shifting, omniscient eyes of fierce yellow scanned the rooftops of Ponyville and all its surrounding area as she soared, but after a while her attention began to fade. Every now and then, Gilda would dare to break her form to peer through and around the growing thunderstorm, expectantly. Kindle never noticed. He, instead, spent all of his energy merely keeping pace with the gryphon.

Silently, she waved a claw. This was something Kindle recognized, a signal to form up close and begin their descent, but for the two daredevils in the storm this meant a swift, plummeting fall onto the nearest secluded rooftop. In unison their wings jutted out to save them from a painful fall.

“You… phew, you’re a heck of a flier, Gilda,” Kindle panted, crouching low against the rooftop. “I didn’t know a gryphon could move like that.”

“I get that a lot,” she said, slyly.

Kindle chuckled, raspy and staggered as his breathing was, until he finally caught enough of his breath to speak with some clarity. “O-Okay, well, there’s a lot more guards coming in from the train station, probably for more security, but otherwise… damn, you’re not even tired, are you?”

“Nah, but while you were too busy watching my tail I noticed something weird.”

“I-I wasn’t-... what was it?”

Gilda snorted, slapping Kindle on the shoulder before speaking. “That storm’s coming down from Canterlot, but we were the only ones in it. We’ve seen EUP pegasi stake out inside clouds before, given they can walk on them, but I know pegasi who’d fly through this storm like it’s a sunny day, and none of them are even trained.”

“I don’t get it. When I was Night Guard, our procedure was to use still clouds as lookouts.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got a butt-load of security in this town, already. There’s gotta be at least something up there. Recon, Wonderbolts, something… like they’re scared to go up there. They’re afraid of the storm.” Gilda’s eyes were glued to the dark, foreboding sky, while Kindle, too, snuck a look upwards.

“Why don’t we let Rarity know when we get back,” he suggested with a comforting smile.

Gilda simply grunted in response, eventually joining Kindle in pacing along the row of buildings they landed on. The two scanned the city streets in silence, with the guard patrols and looming airship in the distance the only source of activity for blocks ahead. Kindle shot a glance towards Gilda and found her gaze fixed upon the hovering mass of metal.

“You doing good, Gilda?”

“We’re on recon, remember?”

“I know, just… it’s been a while since we talked about Coltistrano and Silver. Things are looking pretty bad, right now, and if you’re as nervous as I am-”

“I’m fine.”

Kindle’s resolve retreated back down his throat as he clamped his mouth shut. A few more moments of silence, though, brought a long sigh from Gilda.

“Look, it’s… it’s not easy for me to be… open,” she stammered. “Silver was, like… he was my friend, even when I didn’t want him to be. He told dumb jokes and never gave up on me, and with him gone I don’t know… I mean… I feel alone.”

“You got me and Rarity,” Kindle offered.

“But he’s the reason I’m still here. Silver saved me, dude. He saved me from being a washed up, salty gryphon who’s just looking for her next job, and he gave me something more, you know? I had the bakery, and you and Rarity and Ms. Hearts are all my friends, but Silver gave all that to me. He… ah, shit, I’m crying.”

Her wing came down to wipe the errant tear from her feathered cheek. “What I’m saying is he was always there for me, and that’s why I’ve stuck with him through all this. So without him it's like… it’s like I lost a wing.”

Kindle was silent. All he could do was simply reach out to Gilda and place a gentle hoof upon her shoulder. “I wish I knew him better. Sounds like he gave second chances everywhere he went.”

“Yeah, like a dumbass,” she chuckled, pulling Kindle’s extended foreleg along with her to an adjacent rooftop. “But, he never gave up on anyone. Not me, you, or even someone as crazy as the Ragged Mare.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna need the story on that one,” Kindle said with a soft laugh, peering out over the edge of the thatched roof he rested on.

“Ah, shit, you don’t know about Darrox, do you? He was the one who taught Silver how to be the Ghost. He was the first.”

“Wait, like… before Silver? You mean the old stories? They’re real?”

“Pretty crazy, huh? I only knew him for a few months, but even for an old changeling he could kick serious ass. I’ll fill you in if we make it out of this.” With that, Gilda leapt from the final building in the row. Carousel Boutique was within sight, as well as the impromptu landing pad made out on the balcony. Powerful muscles tensed to hold their strained wings in place, landing as silently as they could before entering.

Beyond the threshold of Rarity’s workroom laid the definition of organized chaos. Unraveled bolts of fabric threatened to overtake the carpet, joined by dozens of half completed diagrams and sketches of new outfits, both functional and fashionable. A thin layer of dust, however, betrayed the age of the mess. Gilda paid the piles no mind as she led Kindle through the room and down into the main showroom, converted into a larger living quarters for the three. Rarity shot up from her seat to greet the two.

“Oh, thank goodness you’ve made it.” The signature bounce of her mane was nowhere to be found as she rushed towards them. “Please tell me you found it.”

“Yeah, deliveries by train every twelve hours, there’s a full schedule here.” Kindle leaned over Rarity and flipped to the page in question. “They’re coming from all over, though, and leaving in just as many directions. Are you thinking about hopping a train out of here?”

“What choice do we have? According to what you recovered, there’s a train leaving for Canterlot but… it leaves tonight.”

As Rarity, dutifully read over the documents Kindle shared a look with Gilda. “Could that work? I mean, there has to be something we can do here. We can’t just leave Ms. Hearts and everyone.”

“We can’t waste any time, Kindle,” she stated, harshly. “I don’t know what Shield has planned. I don’t know why the EUP is here and I don’t know what to do next. All I know is the longer we stay here waiting the closer we get to another attack, and I don’t think we can stop it. Canterlot is the only lead we have.”

“But the refugees need us, too. Look, we’ve got to do something about Shield and whatever he’s planning, but the others are desperate. Gilda scared away two more soldiers before we came here.”

“Kindle’s right, Rares,” Gilda said. “I wanna skin Shield as badly as you, but we can’t leave without making sure the city’s safe.”

Rarity huffed and rubbed her temples, pressing deep as she carried the hefty document in a wreath of magic to her seat, falling into her chair and leaning over a table with the papers splayed out before her. Absent eyes vacantly scanned each page with little enthusiasm until they fell upon the black shred of fabric tied to her wrist.

“I can’t believe this,” she huffed. “There’s just too much going on. These soldiers, Silver, and now this. There… there’s just not enough of us, anymore, is there?”

Gilda crossed the floor to join Rarity, placing a claw on her shoulder, anything to bring the unicorn solace from her dark thoughts. Kindle, meanwhile, stood in deep contemplation. Nocturnal eyes shot from side to side, onto the table where the documents laid, to the windows of the boutique painted black with night, and in his ministrations he felt a tingle of relief wash over him as he too joined the others at the table.

“You’re right, we can’t just sit here. If we can’t even figure out what Shield is up to then how are we supposed to protect everyone from it, right? We can take the train, snoop around in Canterlot for a few days, and catch the next one back.”

“They wouldn’t even know we were gone,” Gilda offered, wearing a mischievous grin.

“And we’d at least find some answers, right?” Kindle’s optimism managed to summon a smile on Rarity’s face, who turned to read the pages.

“If we’re fast enough, we could make it onto the train with no one noticing… and it’s the only plan we’ve got.”

“Just don’t cram a week's worth of clothes in your bag and we’ll be fine,” Gilda quipped. “C’mon, let’s hit the lights and get over there.

The rest did as Gilda instructed. Tools, parchment, the report for evidence, only the essentials were packed before Gilda, Rarity, and Kindle slowly crept out of the darkened boutique and carefully made their way around the darker, less traveled parts of Ponyville. Dodging the torchlight was easy enough, even when carried by yawning guards. Passing through one of the alleyways gave the trio a clear shot across Ponyville’s main square. Kindle gazed upwards, squinting to focus, but the threat of encroaching patrols convinced the trio to continue moving instead, using whatever cover they could to cross the square and carefully make their way to the station, plumes of smoke billowing from the train engine. They crouched low along the platform, out of sight of the guards.

“We want one of the back cars. That section there is meant for troop transport, no place for stowaways to hide.” Kindle peered over the top of the platform to follow the guards’ patrols.

“Of course Lighthoof shows up,” Gilda groaned. “Must be out here every night looking for us.”

“It must be why he’s here,” Rarity piped up. “But we can’t worry about that now. Kindle, lead us to the proper car and we’ll follow. Gilda, keep an eye out, especially above us.”

Gilda gave a quick nod and took up the rear, her eyes trained to the heavens for any sign of wings, feathered or otherwise. Kindle scanned each car they passed. Each car was smooth metal with no visible entrances other than thick paned windows, but the sixth down from the smoking engine sat a plain car of wood and bolted steel, and Kindle delicately placed a hoof on the handle and lifted, careful not to rattle the metal lock as he removed the pins and slowly pulled the door open. Within was a series of boxes stacked floor to ceiling on either side with just enough room for them to enter. Kindle helped Rarity up, then offered a second hoof to Gilda. The second she took it was announced by a bolt of magic crackling against the wooden wall beside her.

“Halt!” The unicorn soldier was followed by a dozen more soldiers, clad in plain armor and closing in around the train car. “Make another move and the next one hits.”

More guards began to encircle the scene, led by the auburn-maned Lighthoof, who shouted to them. “Soldiers, check the other cars, make sure there are no more stowaways. I expected this of common rabble, Miss Rarity, but not from you.”

“Lighthoof, you’re being played!” Kindle shouted from the car, drawing the piercing glares of the surrounding soldiers. “You’ve got to know who Shield Wall is. He’s the one behind all this, and if you take us in we won’t be able to stop him.”

“If you have information about that attack or any current threat, you and your friends will be debriefed while in detainment,” Lighthoof stated, dismissively, giving a wave of his hoof for the guards to close in.

“Lighthoof, please,” Rarity begged. “If you know me, then you know I’m no enemy. You have to believe I’m doing this for a reason.”

“I’m under orders, ma’am, and this isn’t a request.”

Soldiers slowly closed around them, glares as sharp as knives forcing them against the walls of the train car. Above the plates of armor glimmering in the moonlight, though, Kindle spied a piercing set of eyes he knew well perched atop the closest building. Golden eyes. He froze in place, and for only a second they shared a glance, prompting Kindle to step back towards the others.

“He’s up there,” he whispered. “Shield… he’s… oh, we’re screwed.”

Sure enough, when Rarity and Gilda craned their sight upwards they were greeted by the vacant, haunting face of Shield Wall against the pale moonlight, following them with a scowl. When they snapped back to the soldiers, however, Rarity caught the barest hint of Lighthoof looking over his shoulder, and a nod from the unicorn above.

“Lighthoof,” Rarity drew out. “If you’re with him, please. Please don’t do this.”

The sergeant major paused for a moment. His troops inched forward in anticipation as he chewed on his tongue, mulling over Rarity’s words, but what frightened her most was his smile. Long, thin, with dagger-like points just barely passing his lips, his eyes shone a quick flash of green and sent Rarity’s last vestiges of hope screaming into the abyss. He waved his hoof forward.

“We’re not gonna be able to take ‘em all,” Gilda growled, leaning over into a fighting stance. “Shit, what would Silver do?”

Rarity took only a moment to scan the scene before her, the marching crowd of guards slowly swallowing her vision, and after a pause in the action she took a deep breath before an ever-growing brilliance swallowed her horn.

“Something stupid.” Rarity’s words released the spell.

“Magic! Magic on the field!”

Lighthoof’s sensitive vision was bombarded by a shrieking blast of pure, white light, blasting forth from the train car. He doubled over onto the ground, felled by the sharp ringing in his ears while his limbs searched for their lost stability as he managed to pull himself up. Craning his head around, his vision slowly returned to reveal the trio had vanished. Scorch marks dotted the frame of the car door and he could even spy trails of disturbed earth crossing over the still languishing soldiers around him. Looking up, the other had vanished, as well.

“Over there!” One of the soldiers pointed away from the platform, at a trio of shadows rushing into the backstreets. “Form up! Cut them off at the main square!”

Rarity rushed as fast as her hooves would carry her, leagues ahead of the floundering guards behind her, but the narrow alleyways slowed her down. Heavy breaths punctuated each step she took. Her winged companions trailed behind, and Gilda’s sharp eyes caught glimpses of pegasi clamoring through the gap between the buildings. With a lunge Gilda pushed herself, Rarity and Kindle through the alley opening and out into a waiting crowd of soldiers. They peeled out to the right, threatening to topple over each other in their haste, all the while a dark flyer loomed overhead. Soldiers shouted after them, with more and more joining the pursuit.

“You’re under arrest! Stop them!” The call summoned a squad of soldiers from the shadows of the city’s homes.

Rarity ran on adrenaline alone. She wouldn’t dare look back. A dozen soldiers chased to catch her as the trio rushed down a long thoroughfare. When they approached the bridge leading out of Ponyville they found a lone pony standing in the moonlight.

Kindle skidded to a halt, trapped in the unicorn’s chilling stare. “You two need to get out of here, I’ll stall him for as long as I can.”

“No way, we’re taking him together!” But Gilda’s resolve melted away when she met his eyes, heavy and pleading. “You can’t ask me to let you get killed.”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

Kindle turned to face Shield Wall, only feeling the powerful beat of Gilda’s wings as she carried Rarity up and away from the city, the shouting of guards behind them. Shield didn’t even follow their trail. Instead, he remained fixed on the pony before him, a walking memory from a cave in the north.

“You took the bait, then?” He asked with a firm voice.

“I guess I did,” Kindle said, taking a timid step forward. “Take it this was your plan? Trap us in Ponyville and get us all at once?”

“In truth, you still hold some use to me, but perhaps I will simply kill you one by one, each a compelling argument to never resist me again. I see, however, Silver’s seditious influence has long outlived him, and you still seek to defy me.”

“We have to try. After what you did to Coltistrano, how could we not?” Kindle found a twitch in Shield’s eye, but continued. “That camp of refugees? They’re all that’s left. I barely know them, but after what happened… after what you did, I can’t abandon them. I won’t.”

“A fitting epitaph for a traitor like yourself,” Shield hissed through clenched teeth. “Killing you will be most satisfying.”

“Stop talking about it and do it,” Kindle chided with a burst of courage. “I don’t have all night.”

Shield’s shock twisted into fury, launching a golden bolt that beat Kindle back against the railing. Shield’s forelegs moved like spears and thrusted outward against the recovered and flowing shape of his enemy. They danced around each other, eyes glimmering like stars and never losing each other’s gaze. Kindle sweeped with a hind leg. Shield’s force field was more than enough to resist the errant limb, but his lungs nearly collapsed when Kindle’s wings beat once and threw his back into Shield’s exposed stomach, only to use his new point of leverage to spread his limbs over Kindle’s back and force him onto the bridge, pinning him.

His strikes were measured and superficial, fishing for a gap in Kindle’s raised guard around his face, and a snagged foreleg would be the price for his caution. Kindle twisted on the ground to shoot both his hind legs upward. They ensnared Shield Wall’s throat as they squeezed, forcing him over as he grimaced at the growing sting in his joints, with each passing second draining the vision from his eyes. Kindle fished for full leverage over the limb, but something whispered in the back of his ears, signaling the glimmering gold wreath he long feared coiling around him as he looked to the seething unicorn on the other end.

He was wrenched from his foreleg. One strike, a second, and third, again and again Kindle collided against the wood of the bridge, forcing him to huddle as best he could to absorb the abuse, not expecting the sudden sting of the railing’s corner in his ribs as Shield flung him aside. Kindle was dazed, woozy, barely able to keep a clear vision of Shield Wall as he stomped towards him. Golden light illuminated his face. Kindle held out a weary hoof, dangling between them both.

“P-Please… not like this, I can’t…”

The blast cared not for his plea, firing at Kindle and sending him rolling over the railing towards the river below. Shield stopped and took a deep breath. Peering over the railing, his eyes shot open to see the water below sat undisturbed. No blood, no body, nothing. With all his frantic searching, Shield reacted too late. Swooping out from underneath the bridge and flying straight for him, Kindle raked his hoof against Shield’s jaw in a thunderous crack that sent him toppling over the railing just as he did, saved only by the thin golden barrier breaking his fall, shooting Kindle a glare that chilled his very heart. Escape was now all he could think of. Volley’s of golden fire chased after Kindle, zig-zagging through the night sky, dodging a hit or two past his legs before rising into the void. Shield Wall, however, took his time with the final shot.

It cut deep. Kindle yelled out at the warm splash of blood along his belly, stumbling in the sky. With hissing resolve Kindle held his momentum forward, eating all the pain his fresh wound gave him as fuel for his weary wings. On the ground, Shield’s eyes followed Kindle until he was little more than another star in the tapestry of night. He stepped away from the river.

Trained eyes surveyed the darkened world around him. A hoof prodded the tough earth at the river bank, ears perking up to the familiar beating of leathery wings. Glint silently landed along the railing of the bridge. They said nothing, and a gentle spell from Shield’s horn scanned the ground as the sounds of armor returned to the city, and Shield kneeled beside the reward for his humiliation.

Blood. A trail of blood.

Chapter 16: “Though you escape from judgment’s view…”

The morning was dark, storming, and thick with patrolling soldiers, forcing the duo to duck and weave through backstreets, underneath bridges, and any other desperate path to avoid detection as they carefully trekked across town. Before long they were beyond the far perimeter of Ponyville and headed towards a familiar building. A large farmhouse, framed by endless rows of vibrant apple trees, standing tall and brilliant against the coming storm, excellent cover from soldiers flying overhead and free of patrolling guards, allowing Gilda the freedom to run full sprint towards the big house on the hill. Kindle, however, shivered on her back. Her claw slammed against the door, drawing a gasp from the ponies in the adjacent kitchen as Gilda barged in.

“Where is she? Rarity!” Gilda’s call was hushed by a firm hoof from the orange pony before her, shooting her a stern glare.

“Keep yer gab shut, Gilda,” Applejack grumbled. “You’ll bring the whole damn army with that racket.”

“Right, right, sorry. Is she still here? Not like there’s anywhere else she could’ve gone.”

Her words summoned the bobbing mane of violet curls, rushing down the wooden staircase, her hurried steps threatening to knock the family photos from their perches on the wall. Rarity nearly skidded across the floor into the kitchen to face Gilda. “You’re back! Are you two alright?”

“Kindle’s hit, he’s bleeding bad.”

Gilda’s words struck Rarity like an arrow, sending her into a magic-fueled frenzy to summon what thread and ointment were convenient, laying him out on the nearby sofa. With a trembling lip she finally spoke. “What happened? Did Shield Wall do this?”

“I-It’s not so bad,” Kindle piped up, hissing at the sudden entrance of a needle. “Gave him the slip not long after you did, but… I think I saw Glint.”

Applejack turned to Rarity, leading everyone into the living room as the unicorn addressed her. “This is getting too dangerous, Applejack. If Shield Wall is onto us, then the three of us will leave as soon as possible, for you and your family’s safety.”

“Nuh-uh, y’all are staying put,” the earth pony declared with a stomp of her hoof. “Ain’t no place safer for y’all than here, and I will not throw you to the wolves. ‘Sides, no way them jarheads would risk a tiff with me. Who else’s crop are they gonna eat, the greedy hogs.”

“I’m with AJ, we can’t just split. If we leave with Tightwad lurking around, we can kiss the refugees and Ponyville goodbye.” Gilda crossed the room to Rarity. “We need a plan.”

Rarity locked her eyes onto the wooden floor. Around her wrist sat the scrap of black cloth, and she gave it a gentle rub as her thoughts collected in her mind. “If Shield Wall is here, then this is our chance to get answers. It may be a trap to draw us out, or even kill us, but we’ll have to spring it if we want to capture him.”

“What about the Tornado?” Gilda shot Rarity a worried stare. “The second anything happens to him, you know he’ll order it to fire on the city.”

“We can take it, I can still fly,” Kindle sputtered, painfully sitting on his elbow.

“And die trying, dumbass,” Gilda nearly shouted.

“You both will need to take control of it,” Rarity declared. “Meanwhile, I can go out and find him, myself. With luck, he’ll find me.”

“Whoa, whoa, what?! You’re gonna face down Tightwad, alone?”

“It’ll be crazy enough to throw him off balance, enough for you two to back me up. I learned from the best.” Rarity gave the scrap an affectionate caress.

“Rarity, everything you’ve told me about that unicorn tells me he’s a right filthy bastard in need of a hanging, but this don’t sound anywhere near safe.” Applejack placed a gentle hoof on Rarity’s shoulder, her voice low and heavy with worry. “You don’t gotta do it alone. Say the word, and the girls and I will wrangle up the whole town to help you.”

“I could never ask you to risk your lives, Applejack. You don’t-”

“It’s what friends do, ya hear?” Applejack’s smile filled Rarity with a gentle warmth, filling her completely as Applejack patted her cheek. “That beau of yours must’ve been one-of-a-kind, getting yer hooves dirty on his account.”

Rarity chuckled, but the moment of calm was broken by the young filly who bounced down the stairs, red mane streaking behind her. “They’re comin’! They’re comin’!”

Applejack wasted no time in ushering the three upstairs and cramming them all into a spare bedroom before shutting the door and returning to the first floor. Kindle crossed the room and dared peek out the lone window. What he saw froze his very soul. Beyond the pane of glass he saw a dozen soldiers, some holding lit torches, led by the unmistakable image of Glint. He could barely hear the words barked at Applejack, but the soldiers surrounding them twitched and fidgeted in place, inching their flames ever closer to the house and its stalwart owner.

Two rows of six, standing in formation, began to spread out across the front yard of the ranch house atop the hill, encircling its owner like carrion birds. Glint stood front and center. Piercing, yellow eyes held the mare before him in their gaze, but the intensity of her expression threatened to overpower him. She was tall, firm, with a presence stronger than the thickest trunks of the trees of the orchard around them, enhanced by the grimace across her face. Even the soldiers kept their distance as they moved around her. Always watching, always shifting in place, but never taking the first step.

Applejack held firm. Staring down a dozen armed soldiers, encroaching upon her home, stoked the dull embers within her into a flame, one that grew with each snide glare the soldiers shot her. Finally, her attention was focused entirely upon the bat pony who dared take that first step forward. Glint was careful to move slowly, measured steps following each other, until he stood a respectable distance away from the mare and her home, more than close enough for a conversation. The one thing protecting him from the lord of this land.

“Ma’am, under the authority of the Royal Court of Canterlot and Equestria, we are here-”

“You boys got a lotta nerve stompin’ up here,” Applejack said grimly, cutting him off.

Glint paused to compose himself, blinking a few times and looking to the other soldiers. “... Here to investigate possible enemies to the throne. Two fugitives headed this way and we’re looking for them.”

“Well, you can look somewhere else. You assured me you jarheads wouldn’t so much as breathe towards my property without permission, and you yo-yos charge up here like yer lookin’ for a fight.”

The soldiers began to twitch, a few daring to inch forward while Applejack was distracted. Glint, however, never stopped watching. “Ma’am, please, the sooner we get this over with, the better it is for everyone.”

“What’s best is for y’all to clear out, ya hear? Fifteen percent of my crop not enough for bullying the ponies in town?”

“Miss Applejack, please forgive the commander, he’s from Canterlot,” Lighthoof chirped, stepping forward before halting at Applejack’s renewed scowl. “W-We still honor the agreement we made with you, and we’ll be gone before you know it, but these fugitives are linked to the attack in Coltistrano. They’re enemies of Equestria.”

“Well, there ain’t no ‘enemies of Equestria’ here, so yer more than welcome to search from outside my fence as we agreed.”

Lighthoof peered sideways to Glint before giving a sharp sigh. “Ma’am, these are criminals. We are under orders to find them and arrest them. We followed their trail to this house, so if they are on this property, and you don’t let us conduct our search, then you’ll be arrested alongside them.”

“Is that a threat, short stuff?”

“Enough,” Glint demanded, wedging himself between the two. “Lighthoof, stand down and return to the troops. I’ll handle this.”

“We have the authority-”

“I’ll handle this!” Lighthoof was forced into silence, instinctually leaning away from a near-seething Glint before taking his chance to join the other soldiers. Glint huffed. He stretched his neck and slowly turned back to an unphased Applejack, taking a moment to recompose himself, receiving only a stern eyebrow from the orange mare. Glint stepped closer and spoke in a hushed voice.

“Applejack, right? The sergeant major isn’t as nice as he appears but he’s right, the sooner we’re allowed to make a search the sooner we’ll be gone. It’ll be better for you in the long run.”

“Better to let you fellas know I’m fine with you breaking a deal? In yer dreams. Fifteen percent.”

“Ma’am, please, this isn’t what you think.”

“Hurry up, commander!” Lighthoof shouted from the sidelines, the perimeter of soldiers having inched even closer.

“Sis?” Applejack whipped around to see a young, yellow filly peeking through the open front door. “Is everything alright out here? There’s a lot of shoutin’.”

“Applebloom! I told you to stay inside.”

Glint’s heart sank. He watched Applejack embrace her sister, an opportunity the soldiers took to advance even more towards the house. Applejack spun on her hooves to face them. “What did I tell you fools?! Get off my land!”

“Your hostility towards soldiers of Equestria has been noted and you are being arrested for obstruction of justice,” Lighthoof declared, dismissively, glaring at Glint. “Way to muck that up. At least we won’t have to break the door down.”

“Lighthoof, I’m ordering you to stop!” Glint shouted, earning a snort from the sergeant major.

“You’re the puppet’s agent, not mine, and unlike you I can actually get the job done.”

“Sis, what’re they doin’? That’s our house!” Applebloom was shoved back through the door as the soldiers advanced on the front porch, Applejack standing her ground and shouting as loud as her lung could conjure.

“This is their home, you can’t-” Glint’s plea was ignored with a yawn from Lighthoof.

“The queen’s orders are not to be ignored. We know they’re inside, and if not then we’ll burn it to be sure.”

“Burn it…” Glint’s mind went numb, and in that moment he was no longer in Ponyville. The rainy sky above turned dark. Tilled earth and rows of trees became ash-laiden plains of desolation, filled with the screams of faceless ponies kept alive only in memory. In the haze he never noticed his eyes trail upwards, landing on the second floor window and the silhouette of someone inside. Another bat pony.

Kindle peered out. Locked in their shared moment, the gaunt expression Kindle wore pulled Glint back from the miasma of ash and fire. It gripped him. Though Glint could hear shouting and struggling, the screams of the filly, and the muffled yells of others inside the house, he and Kindle never broke their gaze, as if Glint could hear his pleas through thought, alone. He heard a quick crack. In front of him one of the soldiers, a unicorn, had lit a flame on the tip of his horn, earning Lighthoof’s fanged grin.

Then, Lighthoof flew past the soldiers, crashing against the sturdy house walls like a sack of dirt before sliding onto the ground, coughing. The unicorn turned to meet a hoof that slammed into his jaw. With each strike thrown, more furious than the last, the soldiers slowly took notice as Glint threw himself into a frenzy, tearing through whoever approached the house. Two jumped towards him in unison, but Glint’s powerful wings made him far faster. He locked the neck of one beneath his foreleg, beating once and spinning the captured soldier into the other with a crack. Precise and powerful jabs landed against another soldier as Applejack looked on. She cradled Applebloom’s head against her chest, taking the opportunity to rush inside and leave Glint to his rampage.

“Y-You’re betraying us?!” Lighthoof sputtered. “We’re following orders! The queen-”

Glint struck the sergeant major’s head like a ball, sending the sergeant major even farther from the house, but one terrifying strike was all he could deliver before the platoon rushed him. Lifted from the ground, cursing wildly, Glint flailed and beat his wings. Their eyes shifted to shades of sickening pale green. A chorus of wicked hissing filled his ears as he was pulled back down under them, breaking his balance and subjecting him to a ferocious beating, but Glint steadied himself. Four hooves slammed against the ground with a loud bang and Glint was rooted in place, whipping his head side to side and lashing out against the nearest changeling to him. One slipped in, sinking its fangs deep into his hind leg.

His howl was joined by a crash, glass shards raining down on the group. Beating leather wings soared around them, picking off the stragglers farthest away, while the echoing caw of a gryphon pierced their ears. Gilda and Kindle swooped in and crashed against the collected soldiers.

Now scattered across the dirt, Gilda took her chance to point a claw to Glint. “Kindle, get your idiot inside, make sure the Apples are safe. Rares and I got this.”

She held her gaze on the recovering soldiers, their disguises dripping away from them like bubbling oil to reveal their true faces. With a smirk as the signal, three strands of shimmering blue light fired off from the broken window, landing square against their targets. Rarity could see the entire battlefield from her vantage point, her horn blazing hot with azure power. Lighthoof rose to his hooves, his chest heaving, releasing a loud, shuttering hiss urging his soldiers to attack.

Synchronized beats of her mighty wings and swipes from her claws turned Gilda into a vortex of violence as she zipped across the ground, crashing against changelings two at a time. One managed to leap onto her back and coiled its legs around her neck. She bucked and reared back, until a loud pop and scent of sizzling chitin reached Gilda’s senses, casting the changeling off with a burn of blue flame upon its hide.

“Do be more careful, darling!” Rarity shouted from the second floor, firing off another shot.

A few of the changelings took the chance to form up and launch their own volley of magic, green blasts that soared and pierced the outside of the house, desperately searching for their unicorn target. Rarity squeezed through the broken window, erecting a diamond shaped shield as cover and rushed along the awning of the house. One changeling snickered as he lined up his shot, until the vice grip of a claw clasped around his horn, the other landing square against his jaw.

Lighthoof took his chance and fired, colliding with the shield and shattering it into a spray of glittering sparks and knocking Rarity onto the ground. She barely had enough time to roll away from Lighthoof’s knee as it struck the dirt beside her. When she stood, eyes locked with Lighthoof, she was immediately beset upon by a flurry of quick strikes, forcing her to cover up. She held her forelegs around her head, firing off bolts wherever she could. Each one glanced off Lighthoof’ chitin until one sliced through the soft meat beneath his foreleg as he reared back to strike again. He howled at the pain and Rarity, moving on pure instinct, lunged forward to ensnare the wounded leg, buck her hips, and send the sergeant major tumbling over her back and crashing against the dirt. Lighthoof sputtered on the ground, writhing as his soldiers frantically ran from Gilda and the straggler she hurled against a tree, huffing and turning to Rarity.

“Damn, Rares,” Gilda said with a whistle, giving the wounded Lighthoof a quick kick. “Never seen you get so dirty before. Who knew you had it in you?”

“I-I… oh, dear… this is why I let Silver do the heavy lifting,” Rarity said between pants.

Gilda’s gravelly chuckle soon dissipated, turning to the house to spy the two bat ponies in the doorway. Kindle carried Glint’s weight against him and lead him into the yard, keeping a gentle pace to avoid spilling any more blood from the hastily bandaged wound on his leg, but Glint’s momentary respite was snatched away when he became trapped in Glida’s powerful claws, lifting him from the ground.

“You son of a bitch, you followed us here! Gimme one reason not to bust your brains right here and now!”

“Gilda, easy! He’s wounded.” Kindle latched onto her outstretched claws, but like sturdy branches of fur and muscle Gilda refused to budge.

“That bite’ll be the least of his problems if he doesn’t talk. Now, bat boy! Spill or be spilled.”

“Do it!”

The endless catalog of threats within Gilda’s mind scattered like leaves at Glint’s outburst. He shuddered in her grip, the hot breath and tears meeting her tensed talons joined by a weary, hollow expression staring back at her. Again, he begged. The wordless chattering of his teeth managed to draw out a quiver in her beak as the final push to release the grip upon his fur, sending Glint tumbling against the dirt below, releasing a sputtering, whimpering cough.

“The heck’s your deal?”

Gilda’s comment was lost to the patter of raindrops around them, following Kindle with confused eyes as he sat beside him. “Glint… commander?”

“No! Not that, never again.” Glint recoiled at Kindle’s very words before collapsing at his hooves. “Luna’s sky, Kindle, you were right. You… please, Kindle, just kill me. You don’t know what I’ve done, what he’s ordered me to do.”

“Glint, what’s happening? Equestria is falling apart and no one knows why. Is Shield behind this?”

“No… they are.” A shaky hoof pointed to the wounded Lighthoof, his true form on display, crawling away in retreat. “They’re everywhere. Shield’s only working for her, payment for helping him attack Coltistrano. For burning… they were going to burn the house, Kindle. With all of you inside.”

“Wait, ‘her’? Kindle, you buying this shit? Who’s so scary they’ve got Shield Wall working for them?”

“Queen Chrysalis,” Rarity stated, joining the group with reclaimed breath and meeting the nervous glance Gilda sent her.

“Seriously? You think the queen of the changelings gave Shield an army for funsies? There’s no way they’re changelings, not even if…” Gilda paused, the last of her silent words leaking from her beak as she pondered them, casting a solemn gaze upwards to the dark, cloudy sky. “They’re afraid of the storm.”

“The soldiers in Ponyville,” Rarity began, leaning down to Glint and speaking in a chilling tone. “The changelings are in charge, aren’t they? That’s why they’ve attacked the citizens, why you’re allowed to roam free. Something’s happened. Glint, we need you to tell us.”

Despite being stunned by her revelation, Gilda still spoke up. “If we can even trust this asshole. He attacked the Empire, tried to kill Silver in his own house, not to mention nearly killed Kindle. Truth or not, this reeks of a trap.”

“It’s not, I swear.” Glint hobbled onto his uninjured hoofs, still clinging to Kindle. “The changelings wanted you killed, but I was sent by Shield. He… wants you to join him.”

Gilda’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, but it was Rarity who stepped before the wounded bat pony to strike him across the face, drawing blood. “Join him?! I would sooner throw myself from Coltistrano’s cliffs than serve him!”

“H-He wants to overthrow Chrysalis,” Glint said through a sore jaw. “She’s taken the princesses, with the entire EUP under her control. Even between me and Abby we don’t know how to stop her.”

“Wait, Abby’s alive?” Gilda asked, the fire within her dimming.

“She’s as much of a victim as Silver was, used for her money and connections, but even with her help we can’t find a way to defeat Shield, let alone Chrysalis.”

“There was a way, but your mongrel of a master murdered him!” Rarity yelled, baring her teeth.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to-”

“‘Sorry’? Shield Wall burned a city to the ground! You’re asking for forgiveness when you created orphans?!”

“I didn’t want to!” Glint’s yell was soon drowned by a renewed flood of tears, streaking down his face as he grit his teeth, his foreleg trembling. Rarity held her vicious scowl for a few moments more, but the sight of Glint crumbling before her, gasping for air with his head hung low, soon dulled her rage. She slowly crouched beside him.

“You were following orders, right?” Rarity’s words snatched the breath from his throat and he nodded. When she looked to Kindle she could see the worry painted on his face. “What do you think, Kindle?”

He wiped a welling tear from his cheek and looked around, taking stock of the battlefield. “Well, I’d say we’ve only got a few more minutes before reinforcements come. Some of the changelings ran into the trees. They’ll come for the Apples if we don’t do something.”

“Then we have to move. We’ll need a distraction, something to lure both the changelings and Shield away from here.”

“Don’t forget about the Tornado,” Kindle stated. “It’s been making patrols around the city perimeter. If the changelings are as bloodthirsty as Glint says, they’ll fire on the city the first chance they get.”

Gilda stepped forward and scoffed. “We can take it. If Kindle and I get the drop from above then there’s no way they’ll see us coming.”

“I can help.” Glint’s voice trembled. “They’ll still think I’m one of them, and if we move fast enough they might not yet know what happened here.”

“Yeah, no. Despite the thrashing you took, jury’s still out on the ‘trusting you’ thing.” But Gilda felt the grip of Rarity’s stare, who walked to her.

“We need every advantage we can get, Gilda. If Shield Wall is here in the city then this is our chance to capture him. To find out what he knows.”

“Rarity, you know who this guy is. We can’t let him pull a fast one on us.”

“No, but Kindle trusts him, and that counts for something.”

Gilda gave a ragged huff, dragging her claw down her face. “Same plan as before? We go get the Tornado and you run blindly into the jaws of death?”

“That’s the plan.” Rarity murmured, a quiver in her voice.

“Then you’re as crazy as Silver.” Gilda placed a claw around Rarity, a gentle gesture that drew a warm smile from the unicorn. “Use that sending stone. If things get nasty, I’ll be there.”

Rarity sent her a warm smile, and after a pause she flung herself into Gilda’s chest. Gilda was stunned. Her forelegs slowly wrapped around Rarity as she allowed herself to return the gesture, but the moment was fleeting. Before Gilda’s eyes opened once more she felt Rarity’s warmth pull away and watched her rush off into the treeline, the chill of rain threatening to return. She turned back to Kindle and Glint and, with a quick gesture of her head, gathered them to her sides and led the charge into the sky, wings spread against the storm as they climbed higher over the city.

As Rarity ran, thick drops crashed against the stone streets, with rippling puddles dotting her winding path through the city, darting in and out of alleyways and across battered streets as if death itself were at her heels. Soldiers on patrol would see flashes of her violet mane and turn to follow. Some would even hear her hurried hooves splash against fresh rainfall, alerting them to their primary target. Dozens were drawn to her. Like lightning from the storm itself, Rarity sprinted through Ponyville, a lone mare with all eyes of the enemy upon her.

Two chased closely behind her, gnashing and hissing as their truer selfs emerged, but Rarity pressed on. Azure bolts flew from her horn and crashed against loose tile and thatching above her. Rain was joined by heavy straw and slate to crash upon the soldiers, trapping them against the wet earth with only their curses and growls to continue the chase. She had no time to revel. Three more swarmed in as she emerged onto the larger street, drawing the attention of soaked passersby to the skirmish. Rarity produced a flash from her horn with a yell, its piercing light blinding the soldiers before her and allowing her to slip between them, dodging their desperate swipes as she did. The citizens called after her.

But the excitement brought more attention to her. From above flew a squadron of three, and Rarity fast approached a blockade at the end of the street. An urge to stop welled up within her but she resisted, more fearful of her fate if they caught her, and with renewed vigor Rarity fired another blast at the formation before her, but instead of bursting into sparks the spell expanded, shifting into a familiar diamond shaped barrier that hovered above the ground, waiting patiently as Rarity bounded towards it and slammed her hooves onto it with all her might. Soldiers below stood in awe as her leap soared right over them.

Her elevation, however, put her right in line with the squadron, reaching down and snagging Rarity by the tail. She yelped in pain. The sudden yank disoriented her as she swung in their grasp, but once she felt herself rising higher into the sky she took drastic action. Another flash. The squadron frantically covered their eyes, fighting the overwhelming assault on their senses as their prey fell, and Rarity crashed against the stone below, skidding along the street until she finally rolled into one of the growing puddles. She felt pain, not yet noticing the puddle growing red from her own blood. When she finally rose she was met with the growing number of soldiers forming around her. No matter where she looked, another menacing figure blocked her potential escape. Poneis watched from behind windows and along sidewalks. Some twitched and stepped forward, while others tried to restrain them, but all could see the scene unfold before them. From the crowd a disguised Lighthoof emerged, hobbling from his fresh wounds towards Rarity with two soldiers in tow.

“For breaking the authority of the crown, for assaulting royal soldiers, and for being a complete pain in my flank, you are under-”

Rarity’s hoof rocketed through his chin. He wobbled for a second before Lighthoof completely succumbed to the power of gravity as his entire body fell limp, shocking the soldiers beside him so much they flinched as Rarity readied herself. Once they found the courage to attack the dainty and scowling unicorn, though, they were forced to the ground by two other ponies, rushing from the sidelines. More and more began to join them in the street and shouted towards the crowd of soldiers who soon became swallowed by the growing mob.

With furious hooves she sprinted away, darting into one of the flanking alleyways while the shouting from behind faded, but beyond the narrow passage something stood, waiting. Tall, made immune to the rain by its power, glaring at her with golden eyes. More figures emerged. The limited space of the alley was soon filled by six soldiers at her front and rear, forcing Rarity to skid on her heels and nearly topple over into the mud. Hot clouds of breath fogged her vision as the figure approached.

“Beautiful execution on the sergeant major, Miss Rarity.”

Not even the chill of the rain cooled the searing heat building in Rarity’s chest, her cheeks flush with anger. “Touch me, and I’ll give you one, too.”

“My, how crass you have become, no doubt Silver’s influence. Perhaps-”

“Don’t you dare say his name!”

“A little too close to the fallen hero?” Shield said, chuckling at her outburst. “He always was soft with you, and like any other respectable mare you took the bait.”

Rarity sought to make due on her threat, stepping forward with a malicious throw of her hoof before her vision was filled with glimmers of gold. Gasping and flailing, she was pulled against the ground. Shield’s barrier held her firmly, a vice grip of aurous power, and he dared close the distance.

“I trust Glint has failed his 'official' mission to eliminate your friends, but did he manage to deliver my request?”

“And I would rather die,” Rarity spat, straining against his influence on her.

“Truly? On the run, without direction, and with all of Equestria becoming slowly infested by these shapeshifting vermin, you would refuse the means to make things right?” Shield’s comments drew perplexed looks from the guards around him, but he ignored them. “What good can you do alone? You have been cornered and I barely did anything at all.”

“But we found you, didn’t we?”

Shield paused, allowing himself a moment before releasing a deep, coarse laugh that echoed through the narrow alleyway. “Indeed, you did, Miss Rarity. Truly, smarter than your contemporaries, and for that I will give you a choice: you can either help me remove this growing tumor from Equestria, together, or you can die in the mud, alone.”

Without a moment’s hesitation she spat at him. Shield recoiled at the indecent assault and wiped the spit from his face with a low growl before leaning to one of the soldiers beside the restrained mare. “Take your time with it.”

Hissing filled Rarity’s ears as the soldiers closed in around her, their faces melting away to reveal the chitinous layer beneath. She writhed beneath the golden force keeping her pressed to the mud, its source resigning himself to watch the scene unfold, without so much as a smile to betray whatever dark emotion lurked beneath his stern visage, and within seconds the changelings were upon her. Then came a pop.

Rarity’s world went white. Her ears rang and wracked her skull with a deep pain, but she could feel her limbs move once more. Blindly, she tried to scan the ground with outstretched hooves, but all her withered senses could detect was the sound of muted thuds and distorted cries. Even as her vision returned she struggled to see through welling tears brought on by the flash. Soon, the patter of rain was all she heard. Wiping her eyes and shaking her head, she whipped her damp main aside and tried to take in the refocusing world. What she saw were bodies.

The six changelings who held her life in their hooves, bereft of their disguises, lay prone in the mud, barely breathing, and Rarity could see a single trail of hoofprints racing away from where Shield once stood. At her hooves she found a small shard. When she leaned over to inspect it she immediately shot back up, the hairs on her neck stiff as the sound of billowing fabric announced itself. Her peripheral barely detected the edges of black as she choked out a shaky breath. Then, gently, gloved hooves caressed her.

“Run with me.”

His hooves pulled away. Wildly, Rarity spun around to meet the face she prayed the voice belonged to, but all she found was the empty alley behind her, until she looked up to the rooftop to see the last glimpse of flowing black cloth slipping out of sight. Tears joined the raindrops upon her cheeks, and with a broad smile and renewed spirit she spun on her heels and dashed out of the alley to follow the trail while a leaping bolt of black followed overhead.

Like thunder, they rolled through the rainy streets of Ponyville, Rarity’s pace invigorated by the shadow following her. Then came the shouting of soldiers. Two sped up behind her, blaring a horn to summon others, and moved to wedge the unicorn between them. Rarity looked straight ahead, smiling as two limbs of darkness coiled around the soldiers and pulled them into the air above. She rounded a corner to race down Ponyville’s main thoroughfare, eyes locked onto the heavy hoofprints left by her quarry, but occasionally her attention was caught by a pony on the sidewalk looking up, pointing, screaming, transfixed even as more soldiers raced down the street.

Rarity pulled left. In the dead end alleyway four more soldiers approached her, no longer caring to disguise themselves as they stepped forward, ichor dripping from their fangs, pale and cloudy eyes locking her in place, but still she smirked. A yelp from behind alerted them, and their number was down to three. Turning back to Rarity the changelings found her gone, left alone in the alleyway, looking in every direction for the vanishing pony. Another cry brought them to two. They pressed against each other, trembling in the cold rain, scared to look toward the mouth of the alley when they heard the feminine chuckle of their target. Rarity had reappeared. When she pointed behind them, though, their bodies moved faster than their minds to face the silent stalker who reaped them like wheat, but what they were met with drew from them a piercing cry as it leaped to consume them in its darkness.

Onlookers gasped, some cheered, as Rarity emerged unscathed from the alleyway to continue her hunt. At the end of the thoroughfare stood the Ponyville City Hall, and around it stood a dozen other soldiers and one tall, graying unicorn addressing them. As Shield Wall turned to face Rarity he scowled. Without warning he fired a bolt of gold, just whizzing past Rarity’s head as she slid through the mud and hugged one of the buildings, taking cover from the volley of blasts which followed.

“You have friends in this city, it seems. Would you dare raise them against me, knowing full well what I can do? What I will do?!”

His taunting fell on deaf ears. In the cover of the falling rain, Rarity was obscured enough to fire her own azure bolt without detection, missing Shield Wall by a hair and flying into one of his soldiers. The volley returned and tore through her limited cover, dwindling by the second. Shield let loose a cackle at Rarity’s growing desperation and reveled in the reckless violence. With so much noise below, he failed to detect the wisp of fluttering wings, and was instead greeted by a clinking metal capsule dropped at his hooves.

A flash burst in his face, too quick for the barrier he failed to erect, forcing him to shove his hooves into his eyes to remedy the searing pain. Soldiers around him shouted orders he could barely understand. With all his trained senses and practiced technique, the shots he blindly fired veered off into open air as his horn frantically followed the muted sounds of fighting his ringing ears struggled to make out, but the noises of battle were growing softer by the second. A deep breath and a forceful shake of his head and Shield once more could see the world around him, as well as the bodies. His dozen soldiers, trained and vicious drones of the hive, lay beaten around him as effigies to the presence he could not find but could almost sense, like a phantom on the edge of his vision. Rarity walked forward as he gawked.

“So much for dying in the mud.”

Shield snarled, but his fury evaporated as the rumble of dark laughter echoed across the storm. “No… no, no, no, no!”

It taunted him. With clenched teeth and wild eyes he charged Rarity, only for a shadowy limb to steal his momentum just as he was upon her, yanked back to tumble through the mud as he rolled to the hooves of another pony. The source of the cackle. His fierce stare twisted with terror as he fell back to lay eyes upon the shape he knew, the shape he feared. Dark, tall, clinging to the side of City Hall with one end of its shadowy form in one hoof and peering into him with striking amber eyes. Lightning pierced the sky.

“Though you escape from judgment’s view…”

The darkness spoke in a timber colder than the rain. Shield could only tremble as it slithered to the ground before him.

“The Ghost now sets his haunt upon you!”

The darkened face of the shade was pulled back by a gloved hoof, and from within a pony glared back at the shivering unicorn in the mud. His lip quivered, his brow sunken into his eyes, and the waves of long, argent locks framed his amber eyes which burned with the fires of one night. A night they both knew.

“A trick… a ploy, I… I killed you…”

By whatever resolve still lurked within him Shield stood, but he shuffled back. When his enemy approached he threw a strike, then another, both easily deflected as a hoof drove straight into his side. Another sliced across his brow. Shield was bleeding, strands of red mixing with the rain and filling his eyes as he came under assault by strikes and practiced kicks. A wild swing was enough to buy Shield some space as he reached into his coat to produce a slender and jagged icon, aiming it at his opponent. With a yell, he dove under the cursed horn and grappled the limb holding it, pushing it up, and from its tip a pulsating stream of verdant, sickening magic split the storm above them.

They fought over the horn, Shield, his vision returning, could more easily drive his hooves underneath the flowing cloak and strike its wielder, putting him on the defensive as they continued to trade blows. He swung with the horn like a knife, smacked aside by precise hooves. Then, from above, the hovering mass of wood and metal Ponyville feared descended upon them, turning to point its starboard rows of long guns directly at the duel below.

“One wrong move and you’re buried!” Gilda’s cry shook both combatants with its fury, but Shield wasted no time in responding.

A second wave flew from the horn, aimed for the gryphon, but the cloaked pony fought and overpowered Shield, forcing the beam upwards and slicing through the airship’s balloon, instead. For that, he drove a hoof straight into Shield’s muzzle. Though he fought for control of the horn, twisting and yanking with all his might, Shield defiantly howled and pushed against him, raising his barrier as a final means of overpowering the wrathful wraith, enough to land one good strike and backstep away. They paused, waiting for the other to make a move. After long, agonizing seconds, enduring the burning eyes of his resurrected foe, Shield swiped along the empty air with the horn. From the side, Rarity fired a final blast of magic to rip through his barrier. It cut deep, sending him toppling through the portal, sizzling as the rip began to disappear.

The city became silent. Damp, shivering, but never once looking away, Rarity stepped towards the figure before her, returning her gaze. From the wreckage of the airship came Gilda, freezing at the peak of the hull. Kindle, followed by Glint, forced their way out from one of the gunports to look across the main square, and the welling cheer within Kindle’s chest was quelled by his own awe. They, and the citizens of Ponyville, slowly approached. Rarity pressed a hoof to his cheek.

“Silver?”