To Save our Legacy

“...I’m sorry that I disappeared. I had no control over it. I know that it must have left a void in all of your lives, and for that, I… I…”

I what? Huh? What could I possibly say to excuse my acts? To justify what would happen in less than two weeks from now? What crap could I spout to mend the lame excuses, the dumbfuck behavior to my friends, the half-assed lies… Faust, AJ was just only another pathetic lie away from bucking my ribs inside out. The harmful jabs, the hush-hush within my trusted circle of friends and coworkers. The abrupt end of a years-long relationship with the mare I loved more than life itself!!

No control over it… What a load of bullshit…

I had to force myself to finish it. The longer I dragged it on, the bigger the need I felt to grind the crystal into dust and send it all to Tartarus.

“I… will feel guilty for the rest of my life.” The only truth in a sea of pleading and crybabying. I had to steel my voice and push back tears of shame to keep the recording somewhat professional. “But, I did carve out a life here… and I even found love for a time in this strange, strange land…”

Strange, for this was the understatement of the millennium. Faces, voices, memories. Friends old and new, a life away from my human life on Earth. Years of work, of progress. Moving forward, helping the ponies, and creatures from all around the world eventually. My accomplishments, the crown that no longer rested on my brow, the pendant that no longer hung from my neck…

All for what? For what?! To steal away the ponies' most precious gift because they can’t learn a simple fucking lesson! How many oh-so-evil villains had we trashed only to end up doing the exact, same, THING that they wanted to do!!

Is this what I get for changing the world?

Another long breath, a necessary pause to puzzle the next figment, even if I felt everything that came out of my trap was empty and meaningless. “I ask that you not be sad that I was taken from you, but instead remember the good times we had...” I sure would, even if the most likely outcome would be my family hating my guts and the ponies spitting my name for what I chose to do… What they’d think of me, whether they end up finding these messages or not.

A selfish thought popped into my mind, a crazy notion previously explored, yet without a feasible outcome arising from it. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll see each other again…” Because I just couldn't swallow my guilt and live through the storm that would follow. Because I had to be the bigger man and fix my fuck-up in a time where I wouldn’t be stopped by my loved ones. My soul would forever rot in Tartarus, as if the chances of seeing them again were slim enough already.

“... And, if you’re as crazy as my old friend… crazy enough to want to go searching for these crystals… good hunting.”

I could really use my old pal here. He gave the best advice and the best kick in the nuts, both of them working in tandem to clear someone's mind and cut the bullshit straight from the root.

‘Nah, mate. You don’t deserve to go through this. One human has already fucked things up enough to last these ponies a lifetime.’

I had nothing else to say, the peaceful ambiance of our little ol’ Ponyville conjuring no further inspiration in me. I had said what I needed to say, to whoever would find these recordings, pieces of my mind as well as dumpsters to vent my pent-up frustration and rage. I only asked that they leave me alone. What I had in mind to do was enough to send me straight into Ponyville’s asylum in a straitjacket, but I was far too invested to backpedal now. Anycreature stupid enough to stick their snout into my business could trump the plan and possibly send the future of ponykind to Tartarus on the side. I simply asked to be left alone while I slept for a thousand years. A thousand years I could easily wait out sitting in a corner until either the guilt and paranoia drove me off the edge, or Twilight found me to throw me off that cliff herself.

After that…

‘After that, we stick to the plan, get the shit done, and spend the rest of our immortal life seeking out a way to return and face the music with everyone else or die trying enough times for Harmony to grow bored and finally let go of us.’

The shimmer of the Mnemosyne Crystal I was holding began to dim as the mental connection to the gem was cut. On cue to my silence, the sound of hoofsteps clopping over a dirt path revealed an approaching Starlight, who’d waited in respectful silence under the shade of a tree near the bench where I’d initially begun recording the message.

Breathing hard and casting a lasting look around the unbothered, rural landscape of southern Ponyville, where the dirt roads and thatched roofs gave way to grassy hills and meandering streams, I remained silent until the clopping of hooves reached me, a nearby presence now filling my left side. Soft fur brushed against my side reassuringly, bringing me out of my daydreaming. A side glance saw the prodigious unicorn mare returning a concerned one back at me, forehooves shuffling in place and a hesitant grimace on her muzzle.

She’d been the only one, the only one to get it. To agree to help me see my plan through without calling me a lunatic. She understood why Ihad to do it.

Without the strength to address her with anything beyond a grunt, I simply handed her the crystal, not wanting to do anything with it after my part had been played. That would be the first of several I’d record per our agreement, although my mood spoke volumes of my reluctance and distaste for doing them.

Therapeutic, she’d called it. Whatever…

“Thank you,” Starlight mumbled, grasping the crystal in her levitation magic and storing it in her saddlebag without further ceremony. I caught her muzzle smacking as she wetted her lips, unsure of how to proceed, for the unfriendly aura I was radiating was more than enough to keep any other pony well away from my fuming self.

“Hmph,” I grunted back, still not tearing my eyes from the morning ponies trotting back and forth on the road, lost in their daily lives and early chores, unaware of the ticking time bomb that was soon to be set high in the capital city under their beloved Princess’s command. Soon, the Unity Crystals would be ready, and Twilight wouldn't miss a moment to activate them, spreading her lesson of friendship and unity to her beloved ponies at the cost of their magic. Magic-held items of all kinds, floating near smug-looking unicorns would soon cease to be a usual sight. Just like the pegasi conquering the skies with their daring moves, or the earth ponies’ strength shaping the land around them, as was their birthright. Ponies would become one and the same in the blink of an eye. ISIT, while at first conceived as an easier, more practical way of doing things, would soon become the only way.

That was not what I wanted.

“I, um…” Starlight tried a hesitant attempt, reeling back a bit from the sight of my clenching fists as dark clouds loomed over my head the more I thought about it. “I have another crystal ready for you if you want to…”

“Not now, Star.” I cut the mare off rudely, not even deigning to look at her, just… watching ponyvillean life pass unscathed. “Not now.”

“Okay.” With ears drooping down her scalp, Starlight got the message and cut the magical flow to the fresh Mnemosyne Crystal she was already holding, returning it to her opposite saddlebag. She remained rooted in place, lost as to how to approach me, running her eyes through the same path as mine alongside the rural landscape of the little town we called home.

A long time had passed since such tension had traveled between us. From the days I wanted nothing but to murder her for trapping me in that twisted, apocalyptic version of Equestria in her delusions of grandeur, to becoming one of the most important ponies in my life besides my pony family and little brother.

And now, the only one amongst our group of close ones to believe in me, to see the trouble on the horizon as I had, to be willing to help me in my endeavor, even at the terrible cost of being left behind like the rest of us.

And dealing with my bullshit whilst she was at it. That mare was a treasure. Somepony set on spending the rest of her life atoning for her sins. I could only take a page from her book and do the same once my mission was complete.

We both knew what would eventually happen once the Unity Crystals became active, her days as a villain granting her a perspective none of our friends shared. Now headmare of the School of Friendship, her life had turned an absolute one-eighty. And yet, she was leaving behind all the responsibilities she could spare to help me build the chamber where I would sleep for a thousand years.

The way back to the current time had been discussed already. As I’ve said, nothing had come out of that train of thought that wouldn’t break the continuum if attempted.

The only way left for me was forward.

Forward.

Always forward.

During the years I’d lived in Equestria, I’d grown used to the intruding sunlight becoming the one to drag me out of my sleep in the early mornings. That is, when I wasn't needed before sunrise to lend a hand at the lab like what tended to happen during particularly bad days. A far cry from the nuclear ringtone from my phone’s alarm clock, virtually the only thing I could trust to wake my lazy ass during my college years.

But there was no sunlight to cut through my dreams and blur them into a shapeless blob until my brain understood it was time to wake up and get a move on. My biological clock had simply kicked in, jutting me out of my rest in the same paranoid mess I’d been in when exhaustion had won over my senses going into overdrive, searching for any sight, sound, or even smell that would hint at the presence of a predator nearby that might sniff me out.

Blinking the cobwebs away, my hands went in an automatic search of the furry pillow that was my Sunny so as to escape the offending sun in her fluffiness. They only met wet grass and scattered foliage, jumpstarting my drowsy brain into realizing where I was, and most importantly, a quick reminder of what had happened yesterday.

“... Right…” I slurred in my half-awake state, rubbing the sleep away from my crusty eyes while recuperating on my butt, the uncomfortable feeling of wet trousers from the humid vegetation-turned-bed becoming the highlight of my awakening. Even after a couple of hours of precariously-achieved rest, I still felt as if I could simply pass out for a week, or a month if chances had it. And I was only on my fourth day in! I dreaded thinking about what state I’d arrive at the Hive in… even worse, what state I would make it back to my family in. They’d simply finish me off if I was lucky. Whatever it took for them to forgive me.

It was this accursed forest’s fault, for which it was well-known to do. It was driving me depressed, nuts, and paranoid beyond all words. I blamed the lack of vitamin D like what happened in the northern territories of Earth, even if it was obvious how too little time had passed under the ever-present cover for that to be the reason for my shitty mood. I was simply pissed at myself and the cards I’d been dealt.

The rest of the trip would thankfully land me in open fields and empty slopes if I played said cards well. I needed to get out of the woods before something nastier than yesterday’s manticore found me and then kick myself into high gear across the central territories of Westria until the scent of the sea welcomed my nostrils once again.

“But not before I eat something.” I shared out loud to the vegetation around me. With careful rationing, what I’d raided from the brighthouse’s kitchen would last me for a week and a half if I wasn't picky and didn't mind going to sleep hungry. But, if I wanted to keep up the pace of the trek to meet the promised schedule, I’d need a consistent meal of more than a couple of cold leftovers and whatever water I’d find to be safe to drink.

“Hmm,” I mulled between bites of some pizza leftovers, a high-calorie, morning injection to shut my protesting stomach up, yet chewy and tasteless against my gums. “Perhaps I can find some lumigrapes growing around, they should be easy to spot.”

Following that thought, I cast a look around with little hope. Sure enough, no twinkling, yellowish fruits appeared to adorn my limited field of vision from where I lay.

“Hmph, the nightborn grew them all over the place last time I checked.” As per my recommendation, since that particular brand of fruit was the only real substitute for blood in their diet that wouldn't carry any nasty side effects and, well, being taken from the living and talking. That and legumes; lots of iron, but there was too little light to grow them in the heart of the woods where their home lay, and no Equestria was left to import them from either.

I couldn't help a chuckle. The things a drastically different point of view (mine) can do for a so-called cursed race. Hundreds of years of failed magic-based cures and potions and rituals and crap to eradicate the curse that plagued thestralkind and those of mixed blood. And one day, all of a sudden, a weird, tall monkey from outer space comes and figures it out in less than a month. Figures.

“I’ve always been a smart guy. It came off as obvious.” I talked to myself after swallowing the last bit of pepperoni pizza. The remaining slice I’d save for a later time. “But it’s also always been easier for ponies to blame magic for what they can’t either fix or understand. What a spell can’t fix, cannot be fixed. Sorry, bat ponies, it’s better if you stay in your creepy woods and don't scare anypony else, even if the ones actually scared shitless of the world are your kind. Yeah, Luna is back, we can spare a couple of you to enroll in her newly established Night Guard, since you guys are so over the moon with her. Get it? Ha Ha. Just, stay out of our sight while you’re at it, ‘kay?”

With those thoughts and a half-empty stomach, I rose to my feet and stretched my limbs. My morning stretching was a poor choice of activity as I was rewarded with a stabbing pain spreading through my left shoulder, spreading down my side and arm from where the manticore had stung me. A particularly painful pang had torn me out of my precarious sleep during what I could more or less guess was early night, my wound screaming at me for some much-needed attention. My gauntlets had recharged enough for a strong healing spell, and the adrenaline-induced shaking had passed alongside the crash before passing out for the night, meaning I was in a slightly better state of mind to cast the spell. Healing spells were always less efficient if cast on yourself rather than on another being, but it would be enough to spare me from the worst until I returned to Maretime Bay for proper medical attention.

My clothes, on the other hand, weren't something I could mend at this time. The shirt had gone back in the bag and was replaced by a fresh one, but my jacket was gonna follow me to the grave even if all that remained of it was a ragged handful of cloth tied around my waist. I could ask Oddity to mend it when I visited the Heights, if Izzy didn't have my head for it before that. She’d made it very clear that any further clothing business was to be carried out with her. I’d cross that bridge when I got there.

My boots held on surprisingly well, on the other hand, having been custom-ordered alongside the rest of my clothes with the help of that pegasus guard who was all over my sneakers. Weird guy, but who was I to judge? Caked in mud and debris, their muffled steps brought me out of my sorry hiding spot and back into the thick of the forest.

Another pained hiss followed the trail of ants running through my skin from the wound on my shoulder, sharp stinging pains making my entire arm twitch every minute or so. While out of immediate risk, the scarred tissue would need special treatment to prevent new skin from healing incorrectly or becoming infected. I didn't want to end up with a permanent tugging sensation on my shoulder like that guard I met once in Canterlot. Or lose my left arm entirely in the worst-case scenario, like that other guard. Poor guy, he gave his everything for his country.

I’d planned to avoid the nightborn whilst on the initial leg of the trip, for they no doubt would pose a distraction, if not an outright threat if I couldn't convince them of my good intentions. Easely the most skittish of races without counting our underwater cousins, I couldn’t help but feel it was justified by centuries of oppression and rejection until the return of Luna; always depicted as the bad guys of foal’s stories, with the ‘thestralborn’ hybrids of thestrals and ponies only barely allowed amongst the common folk, yet a cautious eye was always spared towards a subrace that wanted nothing more than to belong.

And I had the nerve to act surprised when the three races turned against one another. It was under our noses all this time. We’d simply been too trusting and forgiving.

Now that I was there and then, I couldn't even imagine what seven centuries of silence might have done to them, but my wound needed treatment they surely would be able to spare, as well as directions and counsel to make the two or three remaining days left to cross the forest more… amenable, if outright skippable should they give me a lift.

I would take my chances with them… if there was even a single bat pony left that could help me to begin with. I’d have to bide my time and press on until I found them. Or until they found me, to be more precise.

“Welp, seeing as I can't screech in subsonic, I can't think of a better way to get their attention.” I thought out loud as I mulled over an idea, grabbing Binary from my back and pressing the sharp edge of the solar blade over the soft skin of my left palm. With a gentle slice, a superficial cut bled my life-giving blood onto the mossy ground below.

“That you guys no longer need to drink blood to survive doesn't mean you can’t still sniff it out like a Yankee seeking out fentanyl.”

Closing my fist to somewhat steady the loss of blood, I was left to simply wait and see, trekking my way deeper into the oppressive woods as I waited for the first rustle of leaves and snapping of twigs that hopefully would reveal their presence, assuming they hadn't found me already. If not, I gave them half an hour, tops. Thestrals were always very wary of strangers and fearsomely protective of their home. Visits were always conducted under special protocols and regulations, both in agreement with tradition and to avoid unnecessary ‘accidents’ on both sides.

Of course, a lost human snooping his way around their lands didn't exactly scream out ‘adherence to protocol’, meaning our encounter was looking out to be a hectic one as long as their curiosity reined down their abrasiveness.

It’s not like I wouldn’t have minded busting a fuzzy-eared head or two either. I could always use the exercise and stress relief, and sometimes it was the shortest way to get your point across with these guys, them being so jumpy and all.

*Snap*

‘Ah, here we go.’

Right on cue. Not even half an hour into my slow-paced walk dodging trees left and right, my eyes, already accustomed to the ever-lingering twilight, thought it caught a shadow jumping through the ancient canopy above our heads. It was just at the limit of my senses, but I’d danced with these guys before to know very well how they liked to play with new things.

It made sense in retrospect. Flying under such a density of vegetation was impractical, to say the least. Still, their flight and other magic-boosted abilities should’ve been left alone according to the original design of the Unity Crystals. Our sins weren't theirs to pay for, just as it wasn’t for the griffons, hippogriffs, changelings, and so on to pay for, either.

Another shadow dared to enter my peripheral vision, this time coming from the opposite side. They had surrounded me already, and would now wait to assess me and decide whether I was a threat, a treat, or not even worth their time.

I would be very angry with them if they went for the second option considering all the effort I’d poured into fixing their condition. Give a scientist’s work some credit!

“Guys, come on.” I tiredly called to the apparent nothingness surrounding me, twirling my blades around my fingers with my gauntlet’s magic lessening their weight and drag. “Let’s cut with the nonsense. I’m on a tight schedule and I could use some help.”

I had to stifle a laugh when my sudden remark caught one of the stalkers by surprise, making them lose their hoofing mid-jump, a cutie-mark-less rear and a scrawny tail peeking out from the impenetrable leafy cover for a moment before scurrying away behind the protection of the thick branches.

With their sneaky charade broken, a full-fifteen bat pony squad saw no reason to keep playing hide and seek, and they dropped down from the dense canopy above supporting them, forming a tight circle around me, their blood-red eyes slitted and unmoving as they measured me up without issue under the scarce illumination of what little sunlight breached the trees and the swirling glow of my readied blades. They wore light, leather armor, possibly animal in origin since these guys had less problem with the harsher sides of nature than their more sensitive cousins. One striking absence I noticed was any reference to Luna’s moon on their gear, a sigil they’d taken as their own in honor of their night princess. Their armor was dyed in colors matching their navy blue and gray coats, with their manes and tails following a similar pattern. Small glimmers of white sparkled alongside the rim of their flagged, bat-like wings, revealing their fearsome wingblades for which they were well known, tucked in their scabbards for the time being, but ready to be out and in my neck the second I made a wrong move to slit my throat open.

Cute little fangs, although big enough to scare your common pony all the way to grow these guys’ reputation, were bared at me from every single one of my new companions. Low, threatening hisses were shared amongst the Nightborn, accompanied by merely perceived clicks and chirps as they chatted in a frequency my human ears couldn’t hope to register.

That is, without a magic trick.

Leaving Binary in a one-handed grip and resting it against my knee, the other came to my left ear, pressing two fingers against the tender flesh under my lobe. Mumbling the required logic-breaker, I cast the spell, leaving a tiny rune embedded into my skin until I broke the enchantment. It tingled a bit; nothing that a couple of jaw stretches wouldn't fix.

The nightborn noticed my gesture, their postures lowering in preparation for any indication of aggression on my part.

All they got was a shrug. “Oh, no, don't mind me, please.” I waved the very same hand dismissively before returning it to the handle of my twinblades. “Keep talking in your special language which my poor, human ears absolutely cannot perceive with the spell I just cast.”

The subsonic chit-chattering came to a screeching halt (get it, screeching) as the bat ponies caught on with my buckets-worth of sarcasm. I was feeling like acting like a jackass, don't ask me why. I wasn't in the best state of mind.

Who I guessed was the leader of this little… dang, now I can’t remember what a group of bats is referred to in nature; this little squad of thestrals took a step forward and addressed me, clearly unamused by my aloof approach to their intimidating show of strength. Her apparent leadership was reflected in her more sophisticated armor, silver linings running its length both as decorative ornaments as well as offering studier protection over several weak spots without compromising mobility, for that was their key strength amongst their rich battle repertoire. No helmets rested over anythestral’s head, as it messed with their echolocation and hearing. Yeah, they got echolocation too. And pegasi thought they were the cooler birds. You can guess who said that.

“I see you speak the language of ponies.” She, by her deep, accent-rich, feminine voice, spoke with authority, pursing her fanged muzzle in contemplation as she took in my form once again. “It has been a while…”

I kept being a bit of an ass. “The pony in front of me speaks it too, who would’ve guessed?”

Oh, a thing you do NOT do if you value your life is call a thestral a pony, their far cousins who hated and feared them as a plague until the return of Luna, and still did to a degree afterward. But I was tired and angry and half-paranoid and I simply didn’t give a bunnycorn’s ass worth of a damn.

“I’d watch my tongue if I were you, stranger.” She spat out that last word, her patience quickly running dry with my behavior. “These are our woods, our ho-”

“Yes, yes.” I cut her off rudely, only further driving her up the proverbial tree. They lived in trees, see. “Look, I'm on a tight schedule, okay? And, if I’m being honest, I was really hoping not to stumble upon you guys.” I changed my weight to my other feet, absentmindedly rubbing a thumb over the smooth surface of the solar blade while the thestrals tensed their posture even more. “But I’ve just recently tumbled with a manticore and I could really use some help, and some directions wouldn't hurt either,” I concluded with a tiny dip of my head.

Her vexed features mellowed down somewhat, a tinge of thought sparkling in her prying, cat-like eyes as she mulled my words.

“A manticore, you say?” She purred reflexively, her deliberate scouting over her muzzle revealing a condescending disbelief regarding my feat. “I highly doubt a… creature such as yourself could face such a fearsome beast and leave no worse for wear…” Her slitted orbs narrowed in suspicion, the commander flicking her tail in a signal to her subordinates, a call to be ready for the moment she’d sniffed out my ruse.

“Uh…” I offered my best ‘are you serious?’ deadpanned look to the untrusting bat pony, tapping my head twice with my blades just in case this gloomy forest had rendered these ponies blind and they hadn't glimpsed the huge twinswords at the ready in my grasp.

Two clanks against my empty head were enough to drive my point home.

“I see...” The commander of the troop hummed in though. “That is quite an impressive weapon for a strange creature such as y-” Her eyes grew twice in size and her words ceased when coming across Luna’s crescent moon sigil in the cross guard of the lunar blade.

I followed her line of sight and a glimmer of hope built in my chest. If they remembered their beloved Mistress of the Night, there was a chance I could enlist their help without resorting to violence.

“Ah, yes.” I breathed out with a hint of nostalgia. “Luna herself forged this weapon with the help of her sister. I'm positive you guys at least remember who th-”

“TRAITOR!!!”

And there went what little hope I had left. Shutting my trap and lining my lips, I was rendered speechless by such a harsh rebuttal to what I’d hoped would be some common ground. If they weren't beforehand, the thestrals were absolutely pissed now, following their commander’s lead and hissing at me as if I’d just pulled a string of garlic from my bag. Get it? Garlic?

Fucking forest getting me making bad jokes all the time…

“Ummm…” I blurted out what little I could amass. “What in the actual fuck is going on?”

I kept up with the nonchalant tone, yet my body was quaking in preparation, still not fully recovered from yesterday's romp with the manticore and I was fighting to keep track of all the bat ponies around me with my inferior senses. Thestrals specialized in ambushes and hit n’ run tactics, quiet and graceful as the night they embraced as they made quick work of you.

“You bear the mark of the Sunspawn and the Traitor!!” The commander flashed her fangs in disgust and defiance. “You’ve come to exterminate us! Just like the ponies in times of old!!”

If she was talking about the unification of Equestria, where the first settlers thought of them as a threat before ‘peaceful’ relations could be established, this bat pony had a good memory, for that had happened thousands of years ago. If not that, I was clueless as to what she was referring to.

“Uh…” I was simply lost, feeling a lot of context being thrown at me and missed by my limited knowledge of past events. “Look. I, uh… I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just passing through, see? And in need of some help if you can spare it. Although, if you'd rather prefer being left alone, that's perfectly fi-”

The commander squeaked out a command that my enhanced hearing caught yet didn't understand. Words became unnecessary, however, when their meaning became crystal clear the moment the first thestral went for the pounce, his comrades ready to follow immediately after.

“... Hooves then.”

In a shake of a lamb’s tail, the bat ponies were beyond negotiation and tired of my bullshit. The Sunspawn trash I’d heard before, so that didn't come off as a surprise. But to call Luna a traitor? Her? Literally the only pony in Equestria to give two shits about this marginalized race?

True to their reputation, the attacking thestral was onto me in the blink of an eye, giving me no room to counter beyond using the broad side of the solar blade as shielding to fend off his slicing wingblades. Sparks flew the moment metal met metal, the heavier weight of my blade carrying enough drag to divert his trajectory and throw the smaller-framed pony from my back for the precious few moments I needed to prepare.

“Argh!!” I grunted in pain as the wound in my shoulder began to burn under the strain, the slice along my palm following suit. “I really, really can’t catch a fucking break, can I?!!” I cursed to the obscured heavens, mad at these thestrals for choosing the hard way when we could've simply just ignored each other for the rest of my journey out of their forsaken forest.

Powering my gauntlets, I cast a spell from my days of training with Shining Armor, bathing the twinblades in a shimmering, semi-translucent shield that would dull the deadly edges of my weapon into something more suitable for dealing out some serious headaches, and maybe a broken bone or two. But I wasn't gonna use lethal force with them. It was unnecessary, and I believed I’d already taken enough lives as it was.

I said it before and I will say it again. I hated and despised unnecessary violence such as this. It went against every belief I held.

Two thestrals came next from opposite sides of the enclosure, hoping to pin me down from both flanks and subdue me quickly. I was ready to meet them that time, drawing from previous experience in dealing with several attackers with defense-oriented techniques, which happened to make up most of my repertoire when it came to the blade.

Taking a step back and shifting my stance, I caught the left one with the solar blade, its now dulled edge sinking upwards into the bat pony’s exposed underside and sending him all the way beyond the circle of thestrals into the leafy blanket above us. His comrade had but a moment to act surprised before the lunar blade caught her on the back of her head, sending her straight into the ground where a tiny crater spewed moss and dirt in equal measure into the air.

Both were down for the time being, and the previously angered yet emboldened thestrals now felt a glimmer of doubt with their previously believed easy prey actually taking a stance. Hissing and snarling their revenge, the tables were set, and as one came down upon me.

Time to teach these bloodsuckers a lesson.

“Depulso!”

A wave of kinetic energy met their incoming assault, canceling their inertia, yet my spell was not strong enough to send them all flying to kingdom come. That was fine by me; I could pick them off one by one as they fell disoriented around me, starting with the one to blame.

I zeroed in on the commander from the midst of disoriented thestrals, her uniform ratting her out. Not allowed to regain her bearings, I struck with a horizontal swing, catapulting her off her hooves and into a nearby tree.

“Ufff!!” All the air came rushing out from her lungs. I was into her before she could catch her breath, feeling like sharing a word or two about my displeasure.

“I was having such a nice week, you know?” I growled, grabbing her mane and dragging her squirming form up to eye level. “Just chilling with my family, making progress with my mate, and bored to tears by my routine.”

The commander stretched a hoof, trying to get a hold of me and escape my vice-like grasp, the other one traveling up to pry my iron grip off of her hair. Painful mewls escaped her fanged muzzle as her soldiers regained their hoofing behind us. “I was having such a nice streak since the mess with the festival. Some very much deserved peace and quiet!”

I lost my grasp on her mane, granting her a momentary respite before the solar blade struck her right in her abdomen, wood breaking as I dug her deep into the trunk before the lunar blade caught her under the chin in its upward path, catapulting her straight into the canopy with her pal, several branches breaking in her wake as a small rain of leaves fell around me.

My attention went back to the assembling thestrals behind me, ready to respond yet unsure of how to do so since they’d never faced a threat such as me. The fact that I’d just trashed their leader wasn’t helping the now unorganized group. It was painfully evident how these bats had never seen actual conflict if their jerky reactions and lack of coordination were of any clue.

Fine by me. I was more than happy to deliver a crash course in hand-to-hoof combat.

“Just taking it one day at a time, rutting my Sunny’s brains out during estrus, and having the time of my life just hanging out with my friends. You know? Like I wasn't able to do the last few months before coming here!!”

Puffs of mist rushed out my nostrils, sending shivers down a thestral’s furry back or two. Angry stomps closed the distance between my would-be-attackers with an almost deadly purpose. The bat ponies scattered, whether scared out of their wits or wishing to engage me on several fronts, drawing strength from numbers. I couldn't care less. I was seeing red by that point.

“But nooooo. I just had to get a message on the phone of all places from that murderous BITCH!! She was supposed to be DEAD like the rest of them!!”

With a soft click, I separated both blades at their handles and smashed them together on a cross in front of me, sending another pulse of energy that caught several thestrals before they could scatter away. In their unsteady dizziness, I was over the nearest one in a lightning bolt. I rejoined the swords and built momentum with a spin behind my back, sending yet another pony flying with an upwards hit. Another targeted my legs, using his bat-like wings to propel himself low on the ground like a homing missile. I took advantage and accelerated his approach with my levitation magic. He thought he had me there, almost tasting sweet victory and the irresistible chance to brag in front of his teammates about how he was the one to fell the strange beast.

My knee is what he ended up tasting, straight into his open muzzle and bared fangs. The poor guy resembled a C when all the energy from his attack came back to bite him, sending his fuzzy-eared head up to meet his tail when the lunar blade struck on its downward path. A month’s worth of dirt and moss caked his muzzle and the better part of his face. Good luck getting rid of the taste, after waking up, that is.

I sent Binary into a deadly spin in front of me, fending off three thestrals going for the direct approach. They were forced into a last-second change of course, soaring right by my sides with their wing blades just barely avoiding painting red strikes on my unprotected arms. Two went through the left and another over the right. I targeted the lonely one, breaking my blades back in two and sending solar straight at her. I caught the bat pony in her right wing as she was about to seek cover behind a thick tree. With a wet *crack* and a blood-curdling scream, I knew she was down for the time being.

“And now?!! Here I am!!” I raged against the remaining bat ponies, who were now seriously rethinking their approach to me while more than one wore a look that screamed nothing but immediate retreat to the safety of their woods. Not on my watch they weren’t. These bloodsuckers were gonna stay and take it while I vented my pent-up frustrations on them. Call it therapeutic if you wish, I didn’t give a shit at that point. “Fighting a bunch of scrawny, overgrown ticks over a fucking misunderstanding ‘cause they only take a second to think things through before jumping at your fucking throat, huh?!!”

I was reining myself in, if only barely, from using my gauntlet’s magic beyond what helped me manipulate Binary. I’d keep my party tricks hidden for the time being in case I needed an edge as well as well as to preserve my stamina. That was the theory at least, but the battle was dragging on for quite a while while I hunted these buckers one by one, their superior speed and agility keeping them just out of my reach and limiting my widows of opportunity to strike.

A kinetic wave canceled the flying path of an approaching bat pony, staggering him mid-flight, deliciously open for a home-run-kick straight onto his noggin. Another thestral down. I’d lost count of how many remained, but I had to finish them quickly before they grew desperate enough to turn tail and call for reinforcements. I had no hope of tracking them if they decided to re-enter the thick of the forest. They’d lose me before I had even taken ten steps in pursuit.

I wasn't thinking straight, too many things crowding on top of me in the thick of the fight.

“Alone in the middle of this accursed forest!! Going mad from worry and the fucking silence of what should be a country filled with ponies!! Away from my family with the nerve of leaving the in the lurch without a proper reason beyond that of my being a fucking hypocrite and not wanting them to see me like this!!”

A side swing to upset his balance, an upwards hit on his underside, followed by a downward stroke on the middle of his back, and another thestral was on the floor without even knowing what had hit him. The longer the fight dragged on, the more tired I felt, even without casting any major spells. Keeping up with Binary took a lot out of me, my overwhelming defensive-oriented technique worked best to, well, overwhelm my foes and wrap things up quickly. Even with my human-patented stamina and training backing me up, I caught myself starting to gasp and pant mid-encounter.

I still had quite a bit to say, though.

“Ah… Ah… And the best thing? It’s that I can’t muster the balls to look at my mate, the mare I’d give my life for over and over if needed, and tell her that I fucking love her!! I leave her behind to chase ghosts back into the grave and I can’t even tell her how much I love her and how sorry I am for doing this to them!! Because my fucked-up head thinks it’s justified for the greater good! To keep them safe!! Is that it?!! Is that why I’m here?!!”

“Enough!!”

A sharp command, followed by a short shower of loose branches and leaves took my attention away from the cowering thestral stallion I’d corralled against the roots of a tree, the poor sap trembling while stretching a hoof in front of him in a vain defense, his wings bent in a weird angle at his sides and leaving him without a quick escape from my fury. This day was his lucky day, for the commander had woken up from her nap in the trees and had crashed down with the intent of finishing this fight.

She was foaming at the mouth, the sight of her angled and broken troops catapulting her into new heights of anger. Her narrowed slits spoke the challenge. It was between her and me now.

“Nightingale.” She addressed one of her troops, a somewhat younger bat pony compared to his comrades.

“C-Captain?” The poor sap squeaked out, having kept his distance while I trashed his mates all over the place.

‘So, a captain then?’ I mulled to myself, already dreading what she was going to ask of him.

“Go back to Hollow Shades and warn the Matriarch. Tell her we need reinforcements ASAP!”

‘How about no?’ I lowered my stance and readied my blades.

“A-At once, captain. I’ll fly as fast as I caAAGK!!”

No, he wasn't. My speeding blades striking him dead in the chest made sure of it. He was down like a sack of potatoes, clutching his breast and taking big gulps of air while his wings twitched awkwardly at his sides.

With a sharp snarl, the Captain’s attention was back on me just as Binary returned to my grasp.

“Curse you!!” She spat, unshading her wingblades and pawing the ground before her. “I’m gonna slice you open like the traitor you are!!”

“Traitor?” I countered, tired of whatever bullshit she was selling me. I hated pulling rank, but it never seemed to fail when it came to ponies. A little test to see if that was the case for thestrals was in order. “Do you know who I am?” I jabbed with no little amount of despotism, in more of a demand than a question.

The thestral did a condescending double take. “A Sunspawn and a Moon Worshiper for all I can see. I’d call you the full package!” The captain didn't waste another second and lunged at me, aiming her wing blades at my exposed sides. I had little margin to avoid her, sidestepping and bringing the blades to bear to counter her wake with partial success. A thin, red line began dripping life-giving blood down my right side and staining my shirt.

The captain wasn’t done. “You carry their sigils proudly on your weapon of death! You mock us and spurt nothing but lies! You harm my brothers and sisters and have the fangs to demand recognition!!”

Another pass by the angered bat pony, this time aiming for my legs. Metal clashed against metal when Binary cut her approach, sending her in a twirling spin as my body followed behind. My feet found ground again yet they failed to keep me steady, the spin sending me in a bit of a dizzy spell while the captain propelled herself against a tree, bared fangs coming straight at me to tear me a pair of new ones. I fell on one knee, gasping for air as I felt my exhaustion becoming too much for any further excitement.

“You will kneel before your Prince.” I was apoplectic in anger, feeling a familiar tug in my mind. I had to be careful.

“Wha-?”

I rolled over my body just shy of her approach landing, avoiding the silver death that marred the edges of her wings. I dug the blades into the humid ground and helped myself up again, glaring poisonous daggers at the thestral who was already circling around to try again.

“Prince? Have you gone maAAGH!!” My twinblades homed into her before she’d completed the lap, knocking her down with a hit to her muzzle and shutting up any further commentary from her.

With a magnetic hum, I recalled my blades into my grasp. Dragging my feet, I loomed over the downed thestral, struggling to shake herself awake after the nasty fall. My right gauntlet began powering up around the grip on Binary, my left hand covering my right side which by now had begun bleeding profusely.

I felt detached.

“Kneel.” I snarled, tired of their bullshit and knocking heads around. These leeches need to know their place.

‘I need to be careful. I can’t let it get inside…’

The captain was stupefied by the command, a bloodied muzzle with a chipped fang fumbling her words incoherently. The rest of her troops fared no better, lost as to what was unfolding before them, yet they were smart enough to not get in the middle of our duel.

“W-Wha-?”

“KNEEEEEEEELL!!!!!”

I’ve always said it’s psychological, a thing from their prey heritage perhaps. Whatever it was, the Canterlot Royal Voice never failed to straighten things out. A fair trick to possess if you ever needed to get your point across.

Whichever thestral that wasn't already knocked down promptly fell to the ground, covering their sensitive ears and quaking in their non-existent horseshoes as my booming command rustled trees and bushes alike, most likely heard all the way to their hidden home. The captain was on her knees before her mind could register her body's involuntary movements, her wings now sagging at her sides while her snout almost brushed the moss and lichen.

A show of strength and authority for the history books, if it hadn't been followed by me puking my lungs out, having surpassed my limits and I was now suffering from the aftereffects of magic overuse. Blobs of blood and bile painted the distance between us red, my wet coughing lurching my body forward to the point where I almost impaled myself with my blades, which fell limp from my grasp as I took a page from my own book and fell to my knees as my body suffered from the consequences of overdoing things out of rage and spite. The tug drilled my mind, seeking a weak point to breach though, yet I wouldn't allow it purchase, for the fight was over.

As I retched and struggled, an eerie silence fell over the small clearing in which they’d surrounded me. The remaining troops, losing a figment of their fear for their lives, dared take a look over their hunched positions to assess the state of their captain, alive and well, but remaining completely paralyzed before me.

“Nnnnngg, fuuuucking heeell…” I groaned after spitting out the last taste of iron in my mouth, grasping the undergrowth hard to steady my harsh breathing, ears ringing and eyes burning with the afterburn. It wouldn't knock me out, but there would be no more dancing for me that day. There were still a few thestrals remaining on the sidelines, as well as the captain, who would no doubt take the chance to tear my throat open.

I could only hope the Voice would at least make them think twice about that and cause them to lose that nerve that got them jumping at the first being to enter their forest unannounced. Something very bad must have happened to them to push their lack of trust that far. Yes, skittish and closed-up to the rest of ponykind they most certainly were, and ponies were more than happy for it.

This was irrational. I had to learn what drove them to this point and hopefully find a temporary fix, but I couldn't linger for too long. Chrysalis was waiting for me. That changeling was known for a lot of things. Her patience was not one of them.

But fixing the bonds between ponies, all kinds of ponies, was also on my to-do list. Might as well start here and clear the bad blood to prevent further issues from happening.

All that was fine, but I needed to regain my bearings first. The captain had spoken of a matriarch, hinting that their social structure had remained unchanged from the time I first knew of them. I needed to speak to that matriarch, seek the help I needed, and perhaps smack her once or twice for the little ‘misunderstanding’ I’d just been subjected to.

And learn why in the actual Tartarus they cursed Luna’s name now!! Of all the things I could come up with that might have changed in all these centuries, that one was far from crossing my mind.

Digging Binary into the ground and using it for support, I put on my grampa costume and dragged my aching bones into a somewhat standing position, falling closer to a drunken tumble as I dragged my feet toward the submissive captain. The mare noticed my approach and unstuck her muzzle from the ground to a less-hunched position, eyes wide in fear and wings pressed tightly against her sides, her deadly blades returning to their holsters with a *zing*.

I dragged the lunar blade through the ground, bringing it under her chin and forcing her sight to meet mine, the tip teasing her throat, making sure any unannounced or rushed movements would be her last, for the spell covering them had shattered alongside my concentration.

Now it truly was a weapon of death.

Swallowing a lump and wincing when the cold metal brushed against my Adam’s apple, the captain followed my lead, stiffly and fidgetedly, blinking hard as fear catapulted her out of the imposed trance the Canterlot Royal Voice had cast over her.

“P-Please…” She pleaded, sparing a quick glance towards the remaining thestrals who awaited at the sidelines, not needing an explanation about what would happen to their captain if they dared to move a single muscle. “Do not harm them. L-Let them go and you can do anything you want with me.”

I was deaf to her pleadings, feeling as if I was slowly losing myself. I was slipping. I needed to back off. Alarms went off when the haunting glow began enveloping my gauntlets, black sparks of magic flying off my gems as they slowly turned darker.

‘I need to breathe! Breathe for fucks sake!!!’

The captain could feel it too. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, thinking that her demise was at hand. Instead of winning a one-way ticket to the afterlife, the pressure in her throat miraculously disappeared as I pulled back. A different fight had begun inside me.

‘Kill them!!’

My grasp on the handles became harder, painting my knuckles white, the same white as my teeth clenching hard against each other, grinding as I pushed back against that which sought an entrance.

I took precautions, angling the solar blade to my neck.

Harmony’s voice was painful, a paralyzing fear that rendered me as helpless as a newborn. This new voice was different. Sticky, raspy, convincing… I needed to resist it. I needed Luna.

Another step back. The captain saw her chance and scurried away from me, rejoining her comrades and assembling a sorry defense against me at the opposite side of the clearing.

‘END THEM!!!’

‘I need to breathe… I need to breathe…’

I breathed. In and out. My pulse stabilized, my mind emptied itself, and the eerie glow from my gauntlets gave way to their natural, colorful shine. I felt myself slowly regaining control, the tip of the solar blade leaving my tender flesh and burying itself in the ground, parting moss and leaves alike until it was secured.

It clawed, it tore, it pulled… and it wanted in.

‘In and out… In and out…’

‘DESTROY THE-!!!’

“Shut up.”

Silence, blissful silence. That dreaded voice that had been driving me mad during my short journey through an empty Equestria I now welcomed with open arms. I sent my sight up, losing myself in the gentle sway of the canopy against the gentle breeze blowing from the mountains’ slope. Small, shifting glimmers of light breached the dense foliage as the leaves danced back and forth, almost like the stars in Luna’s night sky.

“C-Captain?” Nightingale, who had regained his hoofing and rejoined the meager defense, squeaked with a hint of pain in his heaving lungs. I had struck him hard.

The captain shushed him, giving me her full attention. She was both puzzled and fully alert, not knowing what to think of me anymore.

Tired puffs left my lips in rhythmic bouts, the adrenaline beginning to crash down for the second time in a short amount of time, leaving me beyond exhausted. I welcomed the gentle breath that ruffled my hair and reinvigorated the canopy’s hypnotic dance. From the chain of puffs and wheezes, a chuckle escaped unannounced.

Funny. I’d almost forgotten the feeling of the Nightmare digging at the back of my mind.