Number Seven: Power

Chapters

Reflection and refraction
Canterlot or Bust
Winding down
What Matters to You
Losing

Reflection and refraction

Present Day: Equestria

'This is my world.' Seven thought as he stood in Haven's topmost observation platform. The grey earth pony took in a deep breath, listening to the wind blow throughout the castle.

The cloud fortress didn't look like a fortress was expected to, but that was the point. Nopony would be able to find them out here. Not unless they really tried, and most that came this far out into the ocean never made it back to report what they saw.

'This is my world. And it does not belong to me.' Seven thought before turning and facing his bodyguard. "The month’s reports, Shyv. Please." Seven commanded of his bodyguard.

"Of course, my Lord." She said, reflexively curtseying.

"You don't have to do that, old friend." He spoke in what Shyv recognized as his gentle-but-firm tone. The tone she had been used to hearing for most of her life. "Please, you can call me by first name. I am no Lord. I am simply... me."

"Of course, my Lord." Shyv repeated once again before she could catch herself.

Seven sighed. "Just get the reports Shyvanna." She nodded, this time keeping her mouth shut as she hurried back inside the fortress to garner the Eyes' reports.

'I suppose it's in her nature...' Seven thought to himself. 'The dragon half of her brain is telling her to be submissive to the alpha, use titles. It's only natural for them. The pony half is probably the only reason she can talk normally with me...'

His thoughts were interrupted when his bodyguard returned with loud hoofsteps. "I have the reports, sir." She said.

Seven cracked a smile. "Anything good?"

"I wouldn't know sir. I haven't looked." Seven's smile faded a bit, but he didn't say anything. He simply nodded and reached out with the Flow.

‘Such curious power, the Flow. The only thing close to it being unicorn magic.’ Seven thought. With it, he was able to command raw energy. An extension of his will, but much more potent than that. He thought of what to do, and the Flow gave him the means to accomplish it.

The saddlebag carrying an assortment of thick scrolls was surrounded in his red aura, unbuttoning itself. He lifted one of the thick rolls of parchment out of the bag, levitating it out in front of him and unrolling it so he could read it.

"Our good friends Celestia and Luna..." Seven said as he scanned the paper. "Seems they're doing well for themselves... thought there would be more tension between them, considering it has only been a few years since her return... not to mention Celestia hiding Luna from her 'illegitimate' foals... 'Depressive episodes'? Bah. No need to do anything at the moment." Seven smirked and threw the parchment off the balcony, where it gently danced in the windy air before bursting into flames, wind scattering its ashes through the land below. He levitated another scroll out of the satchel, unrolling it like the other.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle." He read through the paper for a few seconds before chuckling. "Or should I say, Miss Shadow. Or Miss Shadow Sparkle? I wonder if she would take his name or replace hers with his or whatever..." He continued to read. "Things seem to be going well with those two. Hay, she's even getting out more 'cause of him. Maybe now she'll remember to eat before she gets lost in her stu-" He stopped for a moment, rereading the text just to make sure. "My, my, Miss Sparkle. That’s not something you would want to keep to yourself... If I wasn't reading it I wouldn't think it was possible, knowing what you don't." He chuckled again. "Ah. Young love. So right, and yet so blind."

Instead of igniting the scroll, Seven put it aside. "Maybe we could do something to help her out. But only if nothing more important pops up." He turned to his bodyguard, levitating the saddlebag off of her. "Shyv, you can leave. You don't need to stick around and listen to me think out loud." He said, wearing his usual mad grin.

"Uh... I don't really have anything better to do... sir." She said, with a slight hesitation.

Seven chuckled. "Alright, but you need to get a hobby." He paused before adding. "Other than keeping me in line, of course..." Seven had already begun reading the next report, but he could feel Shyv's smile creasing her face.

"Ah, my favorite little Nightmare, 'Nightmare Shade'! Oh how I love that the Eyes think they should write their full names. We're the only ones who know them, why bother with using names they don't acknowledge?" He said. "What has she been up to, I wonder?" He said, quickly glancing through the text. "For the most part, learning to be an adult. I was worried that things wouldn't work right, being a filly in a mare's body and all... been spending a lot of time at the apple orchard recently." He read on for a bit before bursting out laughing. "Wish I was there! Good thing that Eye wrote down a transcript.” He turned to face Shyv. “Which one do we have on Shade at the moment?"

"I believe it is Swift." Shyv said after a brief period of thought.

"Remind me to think of something to thank him with later. Listen to this!” Seven stopped and coughed in a theatrical way. “'Yew fancy unicorns wouldn't know a good days work if it fell on ya’!'" He said, mimicking Applejack's accent poorly. "'Watch this!' And of course she kicks the damn tree, all the apples fall down, yadda yadda yadda... Then Shade gets mad and kicks the tree next to it. That tree and all the trees in that row of the orchard fall over! The noise could have been heard for miles!" Seven said, stifling his laughter. Shyv didn't say anything, but secretly wondered if it would have been funnier to see it rather than hear about it.

"Seems she's stuck working for them to pay it all back. Shouldn't be too long considering she can just levitate all the apples down, though she might want to be a bit more careful about showing her... physical strength off like that. " He pushed forth to the end of the report. Something written near it caught his eye. "Interesting... but nothing important. Yet. At least the big lug knows what he's getting into." Once again, the scroll burst into flames and withered away.

"Y'know, Shyv, maybe you oughtta find a colt." He said, reverting to his usual playful tone. Shyvanna did her best to hide a slight blush. "After all, it might help you relieve some of that stress. It'd give you something to do on your off time other then read those damned-"

"Sir? There are two more left." She said, eager to sway the subject away from her personal life. Seven laughed and levitated the next scroll in front of him.

"I have a feeling I know who's next. Drum-roll please!" He said, making a game out of the scrolls that contained reports on the most important ponies in all of Equestria. He unfurled the next one. "And I was right! Miss Vinyl Scratch! Or DJ Pon3. Whichever you prefer... making enough money to live off of and more I see. Good, good..."

Shyvanna cleared her throat to catch his attention. "Some of the others are beginning to question why you are... uh... in their own words 'Wasting your time' watching over that mare." Seven froze. Shyv could see the difference in his demeanor, prompting herself to try to remedy her own words. "They are starting to circulate rumors-"

"My anger is not directed towards you, my friend..." He said, his tone darkening suddenly. "But please do put out word that if anypony speaks ill of her, or any I have chosen to watch over for that matter, I will deal with them personally. Understood?"

She managed to keep herself from swallowing out of nervousness and fear. "I understand, my Lor- friend."

Seven let himself smile. "I guess I should just move onto the last one. Make sure you keep Lucifer near her at all times. You know the drill."

"Understood, sir."

"And of course, the only pony left on the list... Nightmare Shadow. Again with the full names. Pfft." He read through. "Doing better, but needs to work towards acting like a normal pony... Seems happy with the way things are going with himself and that little marefriend of his. 'Reluctant to tell her his secret'..." Seven redirected his gaze towards the clouds, smiling.

"Y'know how I love to mess with other ponies’ affairs, Shyv. I know for a fact that he'd never tell a soul what he really looks like if he had the chance... I think it's time to meddle." He said, a wicked grin creasing his face.

'A chance to kill a few birds with one stone. Can't pass that up.'

"Nothing like a little stress in their lives. After all, stress make's secrets easier to tell..."

Shyv nodded. "I'll be ready wherever you need me. Just tell me when, sir."

"Good." Seven replied. "There is one matter though... a more personal one. I may be getting paranoid, but I have reason to believe that the Elements of Harmony are no longer safe in the Canterlotian palace."

"You want me to contact the princesses?" Shyv asked in a concerned tone.

"No. You know where they are hidden? I want you to find them and bring them back here. I trust you and specifically you with this task, as there are no others I feel I could ever trust. We will figure out what to do with them once we have them."

Shyv nodded, eager to take on such a difficult task... and proud that she was the only one Seven would trust to carry it out.

"You are dismissed then. Please, do take a break and relax a bit, hmm?" She didn't hear him as she trotted back inside the fortress.

Seven sighed. He was alone. Truly alone.

"I still remember when she was little..." He thought aloud. "So much sadder... but so much happier too. I don't know... sometimes I wish I could turn back the clock..." He chuckled a bit at the thought. "I guess I could if I wanted to. But time has to keep moving on. It's the rules."

Seven often wondered if he would ever let her out of her contract, the small piece of parchment that kept her with him for hundreds of thousands of years. He wondered if she would like that.

He wondered if he could do it. Cut ties with the only true friend he had ever known. She had changed, yes, but who wouldn't change after so long?

Seven wondered if he had changed. If, maybe, this world had changed him.

Hundreds of thousands of years earlier:

She had been galloping for a long time now. She galloped harder than she ever had during her relatively short existence. Her lungs ached and her muscles burned, begging her to stop, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She knew that they had killed her father because of her, and now it would be her turn. She couldn’t see or hear anything; her legs moving in a seemingly automatic way. But she knew that they were after her. She knew she was being hunted.

She felt her legs give up as the ground sped dangerously fast against her face. She couldn't keep running anymore. The adrenaline still burned inside of her, but her body vehemently refused every command the brain sent. She panted and huffed, eying the canopy with fear, keeping one eye on the sky just in case. The yellow slits scanned the area quickly. She felt safe... for now.

She looked around, trying to see where exactly she was, but trees and mountain peaks were the only things visible. She took her time and tried to calculate how much exactly had she run, but a dark shape loomed overhead. ‘They found me again!’ She let out a ragged yell and got up on her legs, much to their dismay. She dared a look back and panicked when she saw that the shape was much closer. It seemed to be diving for her. She knew that she couldn't outrun it, it was far too fast. She had to find a place to hide.

Her eyes shot up when a very small opening in a rocky mountain came into view. ‘There!’ It might be cold, but she hoped that the opening were small enough for them not to fit inside. ‘Maybe I’ll be safe!’ She thought and pushed her already sore muscles forward.

She turned sharply and galloped towards the cave, panting and groaning all the way there. She began to feel her legs give way, but managed to hold on long enough that when she did finally tumble, she rolled directly into the dark maw of the cavern. She looked up and met the eyes of the one she had tried so desperately to escape, except they were dangerously closer. She let out a terrified scream as the creature seized her in his claw; the talons lightly cutting through her skin. At that moment she knew that she was going to die there.

"Foolish little half-ling..." The creature snorted and small fires escaped its nostrils. She felt hot tears stream from her eyes as its grip became tighter and tighter. Less than two and already going to die. She didn't even have a name.

Seven gasped as he awoke from his unconscious state. "Okay... lungs... are working... that's... a good sign." He thought aloud, moving his hooves around his body to check for everything. His first few breaths were painful wheezes that quickly settled into the natural rhythm of breathing.

He hesitated before opening his eyes and was immediately blinded by sudden exposure to light. "Ow." He said as his eyes slammed shut again, a hoof covering both. He tried one more time, but slowly, to make sure that they acclimated to the bright light, which he now realized wasn't so bright, appropriately.

He suddenly realized how uncomfortable a position he was in, laying down on his back with his legs to his sides. He slowly rolled over onto his stomach and stood up on all fours. A quick look at his surroundings told him he was in a mountain valley. "Okay. Everything seems to be fine." He spotted a small pool of water, likely from a stream formed by the melting snow from the nearby mountains. "Let's see what we have here..."

He trotted over to the pool and studied his reflection. He was a grey earth pony with no mane, no tail, and bright red orbs for eyes. A suit covered where his cutie mark wasn't.

"Well... that might be a bit hard to explain." He looked back towards his flank. "I guess I can say that something ate my tail. The eyes... aren't so bad."

He frowned and stared back towards his reflection. "The lack of a mane, though..." A lightbulb went off in his head. He focused and soon enough, a red aura began to surround him. With a loud cracking noise, a top hat popped into existence from seemingly nothing. It landed on his head softly and he looked at his reflection once more, this time with a smile.

"Perfect!" He exclaimed.

He frowned at a sudden pain in his head, accompanied by a far too familiar feeling of weakness. "Great. This early on."

He looked up at the sky and grimaced at what he saw, the moon and the sun were eclipsed. The sky had a purple tinge to it. "Not quite as bright as I thought... that's right... not enough light for plants. Not enough for me." He looked through the forest, spotting a healthy looking tree among some that had started decaying. "That'll do, I guess."

Seven sighed as he walked up to the tree and reached out with the Flow again. As it touched the tree, its leaves began to wilt. He breathed in deeply. Suddenly, the tree withered and blackened as its life was literally ripped from it. It fell over, the shriveled remains of its trunk barely making a sound as it hit the ground. He whispered a silent apology to the unfortunate plant as he poked his hoof through a pocket on the suit. A blue gem levitated itself out of the pocket, glowing.

"Seven. Glad to see you made it alright." The voice emanating from the gem said in a feminine voice; one he recognized immediately. It sounded ethereal over the connection, but it was clear enough for him to tell who it was.

"Nice to hear from you too, Six. Mind telling me where they dropped me off?"

"One moment, brother." He smirked as various shuffling noises came from the crystal. "It seems you’re in dragon territory... just a few miles off from the Equestrian border."

Seven frowned. "I thought he was in Equestria... Why'd they put me here of all places?"

"I have no clue. The others wouldn't tell me anything. In any case, head west and you should reach the border by nightfa-" A loud roar echoed throughout the mountain valley, and was soon accompanied by a startled yelp.

Seven looked towards the source: A cave going into a nearby mountain. "I know that look. Brother don't-"

"I'll send word later, Six." He tapped the seer crystal with his hoof, cutting the connection before his sister could respond. Seven turned back to the cave and galloped towards it.

"I'll never understand what drove him to create... you." The elder dragon said in a disgusted way as he turned the filly over in his hand. She had her hooves over her eyes, frightfully waiting for the end. Her leathery wings were furled on the sides of her body, but were shaking with the rest of her. "But, I suppose you would have to be quite mad to violate such laws in our lands. Pity that. Your father was always one of the smarter ones." The grip on his claw became tighter, but another's voice caused him to pause.

"What has she done to deserve your wrath?" The voice spoken in his tongue boomed in the air, resonating against the cave’s walls. The dragon turned to meet the voice, expecting one of its kin, but instead met the unnaturally red eyes of a grey earth pony.

The dragon snorted in contempt. "I would simply kill you, but I am in a generous mood today, equine." The dragon said in perfect Equestrian. "Leave this place and I will not consume you... although I cannot say the same for the rest of my flight." It grinned at him. Seven had learned much about the inhabitants of this world before coming here. The dragon was at least a thousand times his size, extremely old, powerful, and knew it. It felt superior because it looked superior to everypony else. Everypony else except the stallion standing in the room with him.

"I shall not leave until you answer my question, drake." Seven spat back at him defiantly.

It simply shook its head. "If you must know, earthbound, this... hybrid was born from my flight. I am simply removing a weak link in the chain. An abomination to us both. Now, be gone!" The dragon roared and flapped his wings fiercely, creating a strong current that pushed against Seven. But he held his ground.

"You have renounced her from your clan?" The pony asked incredulously. The dragon glared at him. It's usually much shorter patience with equines was wearing thin.

"Yes, yes she is not considered of my kin, now be gone!" He looked back down to his hand, only to find the filly had vanished.

"Then I am claiming her as one of my own." The dragon looked towards the pony and found the filly cowering on the ground next to it, hooves still over her eyes, completely oblivious as to what was going on around her. "And according to the laws you helped to write, any attempt on her life is considered a direct insult to me."

The dragon chuckled. "You prove that you are well learned, earthbound, but are hopelessly naïve. Kindness will not get you far here. But since you are so eager to die for a stranger..." He inhaled deeply, and then exhaled sharply. A plum of fire erupted from the dragon's maw, enveloping the unfortunate earth pony. The dragon breathed in again, causing the fires to cease. He waited for the steamy clouds to dissipate, expecting to see the pony's charred corpse. He was surprised when he saw nothing.

"I don't think you understand, and for your arrogance your life is forfeit." The dragon felt a sharp pain in his side. He tried to turn his head to see the source of his pain, but found his neck and head unwilling to move. He felt the pain in his side go numb for a second before spreading to his whole body all at once in a single wave of agony, causing the once mighty dragon to cry out as he was flung across the cavern. The dragon caught a glimpse of what looked like red tinted lightning before hitting the wall with enough force to cause the cave to collapse around him.

Now outside of the cave, Seven lifted the pony off of his back and onto the ground gently.

"A hybrid... how interesting." He quickly scanned her features. 'Yellow dragon eyes, pale blue coat, red mane, leather wings. Just a normal, dragon-pony half-ling.'

He hadn't considered why he had saved the poor filly. There was no point in helping her, as it only prolonged the short life she would live as she was hunted down by dragons like the one he had left buried under the rubble of the cave.

And yet...

Like others of his kind, he could see things in others. Potential energy. They all simply guessed it was part of being a living battery. Like how they can use The Flow. When he looked at the little half-ling sleeping peacefully on the ground he saw... something.

'Potential?'

"I think I'm going to be glad I ran into you, little filly." He said aloud. To his surprise, the little pony jolted awake. She looked at the strange earth pony with a mixture of fear and wonderment.

"Hello, little one." He said, smiling. "I think we are going to be good friends, you and I."

Canterlot or Bust

Present Day: Equestria:

"Okay. Let's start off slowly today." Seven began as he levitated several small metal disks out of a bin made of cloud. Usually the training room was occupied by several guards bashing on training dummies or doing other such things. For the moment, those guards were either patrolling Haven, or deployed throughout Equestria.

Shyvanna had just returned to Haven after her mission. Seven didn't even have to ask to know she had been successful. Stealing the Elements of Harmony out from under the noses of the Princesses wasn't exactly the most noble of acts, but it was definitely one of the more impressive displays of her skills. The Elements now resided in the Haven vault until Seven deemed them safe to be returned, or transferred elsewhere. Shyvanna, of course, was beaming with pride.

"You know the drill." Seven said as he dropped one of the disks next to Shyv. It hit the cloud floor softly.

Shyvanna nodded and stared down a dummy modeled after a Pegasus. Bulls-eyes were painted on the head, legs, chest, and wings. She shut her eyes and began to focus. The disk was quickly surrounded in a red aura. Seven watched intently as it slowly rose up off the floor. Shyv grunted and the disk began to wobble slightly in the air.

"Focus... don't force it. You only need to put so much effort into holding it up." He calmly explained in a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb Shyv’s concentration further. She nodded quickly and took a deep breath. It had been a while since she had gotten to practice this strange power he had been trying to teach her. The disk's wobbling slowed and became less erratic until it became nothing more than a slight vibration, then was held in the air motionless.

"Very good." He continued to watch the disk, looking for any error in control. "You’re still putting too much unnecessary energy into it. It's just bleeding off the sides. Continue." The disk reared back for a bit and flung itself at the target dummy. It landed where the neck would be on a real Pegasus. Some splinters flew from where the disc firmly lodged itself.

"Excellent. You are improving." Seven allowed himself a small smile.

"Forgive me, my lord, but what is the point in this? Why should I learn to use what you do when you do not need any help?"

Seven chuckled. "Ever heard the saying: 'It is better to have and not need, then to need and not have?'" She scowled, causing him to sigh. "Trust me, okay? It'll all make sense to you one day."

She smiled a bit at his comment. "You always have some sort of master plan, don't you?"

"I try. Now let's continue. Please." She continued to carefully levitate discs and fling them towards other dummies, severing wooden heads, wings, legs and -- a feat which made Seven proud -- a horn. After a few minutes Seven ordered Shyv to stop. She was panting heavily from the strain it had put on her.

"Why... does this always hurt so much? It's like... it's like..." She trailed off.

"Flying for the first time? Flexing a muscle you never knew existed? That's exactly what it's supposed to feel like. It's not something you were aware of and it takes time to master it. Longer than the hundred years we've worked on it."

"How... how long did it take you?" She asked him in between breaths.

Seven's smile quickly turned to a frown. "I don't remember."

Shyvanna gave him a look of surprise. "You don't remember? Is that even possible?"

Seven nodded and looked at the training dummy solemnly. "Let's continue. This time with something a little heavier." A tired groan brought the smile back to his face. Shyv was motioning herself towards a pile of weapons when a guard burst through the door, his sky blue armor was painted with a shade of crimson. Seven and Shyv recognized immediately.

"Sir! There's been an incident..."

Past times:

"So, how did your little act of heroism work out?" The feminine voice of Six echoed through the crystal.

"Fine, actually. I think I made the right choice, anyway." Seven replied triumphantly smirking at the crystal.

"You shouldn't be expending your energy on such wastes of time." Six scolded, obviously irate. "This world has very little left, and you will need every bit you can get to track down Eight."

"Pfft. He can't do anything that I can't do better." He said, still smirking.

"That's where you’re wrong, Seven... He's been draining the inhabitants." The mention of this act caused Seven to grimace.

"How long?" The shift from his proud demeanor was clear.

"Too long." She replied. "It's probably the only reason they agreed to send you here. You can't fight him alone. Not the way you are now, at least..."

"You have a plan?"

"Of a sort... The Alicorn race in this world is extremely powerful. Immune to death by aging. Maybe you could band together with them... but finding them won't be easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Eight already anticipated we might seek them out. He's been wiping them out left and right. We've only got three confirmed that we know are still alive. The rest are either in hiding or dead... probably dead." She paused before adding. "One of the three we know about is trying to fight back. As stupid as that sounds, it may be useful to you. One ‘Queen Gaia'. She has apparently taken residence in a city known as 'Canterlot', in the middle of Equestria. Where are you currently?"

"We stopped seeing mountains a while ago, so I think we've crossed into Equine territory. Maybe we're on the border, but we should be in-"

"We?" Six cut him short, voice full of concern. Seven motioned to the dull-blue mass lying asleep on his back. "Why do you have a foal sleeping on your back?"

"You really didn't notice that until now? You need to pay more attention, sister." He playfully scolded her.

"And you didn't answer my question." Six retorted, annoyed.

Seven sighed. "This is the result of my heroism. She's one of those pony-hybrids. That yelling we heard was a dragon about to eat the poor filly. Figured since we're heading in the same direction it wouldn't be too much trouble to take her to Equestria. Maybe find somewhere she can stay over there."

"Growing a soft spot, are we now?" A soft chuckle came through the connection.

"Pfft. Whatever. So, Canterlot, right? And where would Eight be?"

"Give me a second... seems he's taken a castle from an Alicorn King by the name of Terra... it's hidden in a forest near a town called 'Ponyville'..."

Seven rolled his eyes. "They must be running out of names for cities."

"A name is a name and nothing more. You of all people should know that." Seven could feel her scowl as though she was actually there. "In any case, avoid that place for now. You were sent to kill him, not the other way around."

"Right." Seven replied with a slight shrug.

"And, Seven? Make sure you have your priorities straight. Stopping Eight comes first. Don't buck this up for yourself by letting your sympathy for some useless pony get in the way." She reprimanded him.

Seven's tone suddenly darkened. "Who I associate myself with is my concern alone. I'll get the job done. Good day, sister." Cutting the connection, he sighed and continued his trot through the forest. The forest was already showing signs of decay from the lack of sunlight; only a handful resilient trees and bushes still stood. Eight could be drawing energy from the sun, but instead was blocking it out for everypony else.

'Probably blocking it out for me.' He sighed again as the familiar feeling of weakness crept up on him. He found another healthy-looking tree and sapped away what small amounts of energy it had. He took no pleasure in robbing other living things of their lives to sustain his own form, but without the sun or the stars to draw fuel from, he had no choice.

The soft thud of the dead tree hitting the ground was enough to rouse the filly from her sleep. She looked around, curious as to why she was moving before remembering what had happened and jolting up. Seven looked back at the filly and smiled. "What's wrong, little one?"

She remained silent. She hadn't spoken a word to the strange pony since he had helped her.

"Still don't feel like talking? That's alright." He turned his gaze forward, resuming his trot through the forest. "With any luck you won't have to deal with me for too much longer."

She didn’t know what to make of that remark and remained silent for a few minutes until her curiosity finally won over her need to be silent.

"Wh- where are we going?" She asked, more out of fear than curiosity.

"Well. I thought we might stop by Canterlot and see if we can find somepony to take you in."

She was silent again for a moment. “Why are you helping me?" Her voice didn’t betray any feeling of thankfulness; this was out of curiosity.

"Because I'm already going in that direction. It wouldn't make any difference to me having you tag along." She frowned a bit, disappointed. She meant to ask him again, letting it clear that she was talking about the dragon incident when a loud grumble was heard, causing the filly to jump, startled.

"Sounds like somepony's hungry." Seven said with a tinge of his usual playfulness. He gently put the filly on the ground, and then focused. An apple fell onto the ground next to him. He levitated it over to the filly, who was too hungry to question how he made a fruit materialize out of thin air until after she had eaten it whole. "Very hungry indeed." Seven chuckled as another apple fell onto the ground. She began to eat that too, but then gave him a quizzical stare. "Something wrong with it?" Seven asked with a raised brow.

She shook her head. "Why aren't you eating anything?"

He chuckled again. "I already ate thanks for-"

The feeling of weakness returned, more quickly than he expected. 'Damnit.' He thought to himself. 'You idiot, you know you don't have the energy for that.'

The filly let out a startled yelp. Seven turned to face her, and managed to catch a glimpse of the ground in his peripheral vision. The grass around him was browning, and wilting. He was draining its energy without thinking about it.

'This is bad.' Seven thought to himself. He scanned the canopy again and found a pair of trees that looked reasonably alive. He closed his eyes and drained them dry. The weakness disappeared, albeit slowly.

'Going to have to watch for that. Wouldn't want to kill the first pony I see.' Seven turned back to the filly, who was staring at him fearfully.

"Sorry about that." He said. "I was a bit more hungry then I thought. That's how I eat, see?" She gave him a confused look, but didn't voice any questions. She resumed eating her already half-eaten apple. 'That's... not the reaction I thought I would get. Good.'

Seven hated being reduced to what was basically a pseudo-vampire, but reminded himself that without the sun or any reasonable source of radiant energy he had to in order to survive.

Seven began to take notice of the sounds of the forest. Things were extremely quiet. ‘Almost... too quiet.’ He turned around and faced the little filly.

"I think we should get moving, little one." The filly nodded and ate the rest of the apple in a single bite, eliciting another chuckle from Seven. He levitated the filly onto his back once more and continued in the same direction he started in; occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure the filly was still there.

Even under the strange eclipse, he could tell the world around him was becoming more colorful. That usually indicated that one was close to a more civilized area of Equestria. But as he continued on, he noticed the world becoming darker again, until it had suddenly become even darker than before.

"Something’s not right..." He thought aloud, bringing the little filly into ‘full-alert’ mode. Seven noticed that something moved. A shape, darting between the trees. It was soon joined by others, carefully creeping through the canopy towards the two. Seven turned to face the incoming attack.

"Cover your eyes little one." Seven told the filly, expecting the worst. She did as he asked as he levitated her close to his side. The first of the creatures stepped forward from the trees. It had the shape of a pony, but it wasn't trying to fool anypony. Its coat was black and seemed to be oozing off of its rotting flesh. It had horrible red orbs for eyes, which were not that much unlike Seven’s own. It moved with a limp as it shuffled into view.

"THE WORLD IS DYING." It said, it's voice booming omniously, causing the filly to shudder with fear. "BUT THE MASTER HAS SEEN THAT WE SHALL LIVE ON. WE SHALL GIVE YOU HIS PROTECTION."

"No thanks. We'll do just fine without it." Seven replied nonchalantly, giving a quick glance to the creatures silently circling behind him.

"YOU MISUNDERSTAND US. WE ARE NOT GIVING YOU A CHOICE."

One of the creatures leapt out from the side, sending them both flying just barely over the filly and landing on the ground, pinning Seven down. He casually kicked it away, sending it flying through the forest and causing it to hit a tree trunk. The impact was accompanied by a loud cracking noise as its skull collided with the tree. The creature writhed for a second in a most gruesome way before it stopped moving all-together. Seven noticed the other creatures stop and look at him with curiosity.

"What?" He asked, a sly grin creeping up on his face. "What did you expect, exactly?" They stared on for a few moments more before howling a guttural sound and continuing their lurching march from earlier.

Seven closed his eyes and focused. A red aura surrounded him and the little filly, causing the pony-things to hesitate for a moment. A red halo suddenly exploded outwards, sapping what little energy the undead ponies had and causing them to collapse in heaps of bones and flesh. The two remaining undead, fortunate enough to be just outside of the ring of energy, turned and lurched away, showing that despite everything they did have some measure of self-preservation instinct left within them.

"You can open your eyes now, little one." Somehow she had managed to resist the urge to open her eyes throughout the entire ordeal. She reluctantly obliged and when she did, she saw Seven staring at her, smiling. "Nothing to worry about." He reassured, reading her emotions.

"Wha- what were they?" She asked with a cracking voice.

Seven frowned. "I have no idea. But they're gone now, so you don't have to worry." To his surprise, she smiled. "Let's go on for a while, and then stop for the day, okay?" She nodded and felt the familiar vertigo of being levitated. She unceremoniously landed on Seven's back and soon drifted off to sleep, forgetting the day’s events entirely.

He waited until the filly was fast asleep before turning around and finding the corpse of one of the creatures. He summoned the blue crystal, which sparkled to life as his connection with Six was established.

"Didn't expect to hear from you again so soon." She said nonchalantly.

"Well, here I am. I've got something for you to take a look at." He held the crystal in front of the black heap on the ground.

"Ugh! Why are you showing me that?" She asked with a tinge of disgust in her voice.

"A group of them just tried to kill us. I was wondering if you could tell me what they are exactly?"

"They're undead. Isn't that obvious?" Six asked incredulously.

"But how? I know we can do some crazy things, but I didn't think bringing the dead back like this..."

"That's because it’s macabre, and not something we normally allow. It involves sucking the energy out of a sentient living thing and then putting a small amount back in. Just enough to run basic functions. Making them incredibly suggestible... not to mention vicious. They can hardly be considered alive, let alone ponies, and have a nasty habit of turning other ponies into them by draining them in a similar manner." Six said, her complete lack of emotion catching Seven off guard.

"That sounds... horrible."

"I'm surprised that's coming from you."

"And why is that?"

"Because you made them." She said nonchalantly.

Seven blinked a few times. "Am I getting some sort of interference?"

"No, you heard me right. You made them. Or at least, discovered the method to making them."

He shook his head. "I... don't remember everything from... before."

"Huh. Well, that's something to look into, but not now. At any rate, the worst they can do to you is provide you with a little snack. The filly though..."

"She'll be fine." Seven quickly cut her off, detecting the manipulative tone Six was taking.

Seven could hear her snort on the other end of the connection. "If you say so. Your choice of company is not my business after all."

"Nice bit of satire there." Seven replied with sarcasm of his own.

"Right, right. Okay, so it appears you are heading towards Ponyville... which you were supposed to be staying away from."

"I can't help it if I get lost! The forest get's dark after a while!"

He could hear Six sigh. "Just get back on track. Keep going in this direction, then when you see the town take a right. Simple enough for you?"

"Maybe. Can you draw a map?" Seven asked playfully.

"You're hopeless!" Six said angrily before cutting the connection. Seven let out a chuckle and trotted on a ways before the quiet voice of the filly interrupted his thoughts.

"Wh- who were you talking to?"

"No pony." He lied. "No pony at all." She looked at him curiously and was about to ask another question before Seven picked on. "And here we are!" He said gleefully. "Ponyville... I think..."

The filly stood up on Seven's back to get a better look, and gasped in horror at the sight. The town itself was in ruins. They could see some buildings on fire in the distance. Those that weren't, looked horribly decrepit. The smell of decay surrounded the settlement, screaming at any daring ponies to back away with all their lives could muster.

"Would make sense he'd wipe this town out first..." Seven thought aloud. He continued to walk towards the small town until both heard loud groans. Seven lowered himself a bit, prompting the filly to mimic. Black shapes were haggardly moving in the distance.

"I think we should skip this town, huh?" He asked the filly. She looked at him wide-eyed and nodded vigorously.

"Alrighty then!" He said as he levitated the filly onto his back once more. "Canterlot or bust!" He shouted, laughing as he galloped through the tree line.

Winding down

Present Day, Equestria:

Seven always held his guard at high standards. The majority of them were recruited from the few times Equestria had ever been at war, usually former soldiers or guardsmen from either side of said conflict. They were a mixture of various ponies and gryphons, and all had signed a contract with Seven guaranteeing protection from age as long as they served him. At any time, they could ask to be freed from their contract, at which point they would promptly die. He had never had a guard cancel a contract: he made sure they were well paid, they got to keep their own homes outside of Haven while having a room at the fortress ready for when they needed it, and were even occasionally given vacation time. All things considered, signing on with Seven was a pretty sweet deal for most of them. The fact that many of them were hundreds or thousands of years old helped Seven as well: he had a small army of well trained and highly experienced guardsmen ready at a moment’s notice. Because of this combination they don't usually die often. So when one of them winds up dead under mysterious circumstances, Seven does not take long to act.

"What happened?" Seven asked as he looked upon the corpse of one Lucifer Strider. He had been carried into one of the supply closets as to avoid rumors amongst his guards: discipline is another thing Seven held as a high priority.

"I'm not sure, sir." Swift said as he gazed at his comrade mournfully. "Me 'n Crackshot were just hanging around when he flew past us. We took flight after him and noticed that he was bleeding and crying. When we caught up with him, he was in a frantic state, saying he needed to see you immediately. After that he just... died. Right in front of us."

Seven closely examined the body. A single cut had grazed him somehow, staining his coat a crimson red, but otherwise he was completely unharmed.

"Shyvanna." He addressed his personal bodyguard sternly, prompting her to position herself in front of him immediately. "Get one of the unicorn medics to survey the damage. I want to know what exactly killed him. And while you’re there, set up a date with our good friend, the mortician. We aren't just gonna dig a hole in the ground and leave him without a headstone." Shyv nodded solemnly and trotted out the door, towards the infirmary.

"As for you, Congratulations. You and 'Shot just got promoted." Seven said, never letting his gaze escape the corpse before him.

"Sir?" Swift said in confusion.

"You two are going to be taking over Lucifer's old duties: Personal guards to one Vinyl Scratch." The young colt blinked a few times in bewilderment, not entirely sure of what was being asked of him.

Seven finally looked into Swift’s eyes before letting loose a sigh. "Just make sure she doesn't get hurt, okay? It’s that simple. I would assign just you, but given that we don't know what killed Strider yet, I want to make sure you have somepony watching your back. Your previous duties as an Eye have now been diverted towards Vinyl until I say otherwise, do you understand?” He asked Swift, leaning closer to get his point though. The stallion only nodded and Seven resumed. “Somepony else will take your place concerning your duties with Miss Shade."

Swift Wind gulped once from nervousness before solemnly saluting. Seven stifled his internal laughter. "You don't have anything to worry about." Seven assured the colt. "It was likely an accident, or a coincidence. I'm sure his demise had nothing to do with his position. You are dismissed to go and inform your friend of your new duties." After Seven nodded in permission, Swift turned around and galloped.

"Maybe they would be a bit more open to the idea of guarding her if you told them who she was?" Shyvanna suggested as she trotted slowly past the colt in the doorway, a pair of unicorns following her in. They levitated the body off the floor of the storage room before trotting back to the infirmary to begin their analysis.

"I would if I thought they would believe me, or if I thought it mattered."

"I would think it would give them a reason to put some effort into their work, if they knew the pony they were protecting was-"

"It doesn't matter, and we're leaving it at that!" Seven took a deep breath, realizing how angry he had become. ‘The implications of that guard's death... No...' He thought. 'That's stupid. There is just no way that anypony would ever figure *that** out on their own, and I've only ever told a few of my most trusted guards...*'

"Sir?" Seven looked up to see his bodyguard eying him with some measure of concern. He smiled at her, thankful for having as good a friend as her to spend eternity with.

"I'm fine, Shyv. Just... thinking I guess." He shook himself from his daze and adopted his 'serious' stance. "I assume you recovered the Elements?" She smiled and nodded. Just as he thought. "Good. I want you to put them in a nullifying container. Nothing too big, mind you. Something somepony could put off to the side and forget about." He said, gesticulating with his left forehoof.

"Might I ask why, sir?" She asked curiously.

Seven chuckled. "I thought of a great place to hide the Elements until they're safe at the castle again. Not to mention we get to visit two of my favoritest ponies in all of Equestria."

An hour and one trip through a red orb later, the two were outside Ponyville, on a dirt-road that looked suspiciously familiar to Shyv. Seven chuckled, remembering the road itself all too well. It was the exact spot they had been in when they first saw Ponyville all those years ago. Shyv mentally thanked that the town wasn’t burning and no zomponies were shuffling about instead of the ordinary ones.

"Smell that fresh air! Does a pony good to get out every once in a while, wouldn't you agree?" Seven asked, awaking her from her memories. Shyvanna grunted in response. Causing Seven to shake his head. "Lighten up a bit! Why does everypony seem to have a stick up their rump these days?" He said, chuckling a bit.

Seven paused for a moment before looking to something in the distance. "I think I know a pony that might help with that!" Before Shyvanna could pose a question, she suddenly found herself teleported into an apple tree, caught in its branches. Seven looked up at her from the ground and laughed heartily.

"Hello? Is somepony here?" A voice called out from behind him. Seven turned to meet the owner, who trotted into view a few seconds later, dragging an empty apple cart behind her.

The unicorn mare eyed them quizzically before realization overcame her. "Oh! You! You're that earth pony from before! Uh..." She rubbed her head with her hoof, trying to remember his name. "Starts with an 'S', right?"

Seven nodded, chuckling. "Nice to see you too, Shade. How have things been?" Nightshade gave Seven a warm smile, obviously delighted to see him despite the fact that she couldn't remember his name.

'Mental note: She's not wearing illusion glasses. Eyes are normal though...'

"Actually, things have been kind of nice. At first things were a little weird, since a lot of ponies seemed to know me already, but it's been okay! I was a bit confused when Shadow said we had to look like unicorns until I saw that book." Her smile turned to a frown at the memory of what she read. "I can see why now, I guess. At least I don't have to hide from everypony! Like Rainbow! She's fun. And Mac! I don't really know why he knew, but I don't mind! And Fluttershy! Even though she doesn't seem to like me very much..." She trailed off, her voice betrayed sadness.

Seven couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm. "Still a child at heart, I see?"

"That's weird, Mac said the same thing."

Seven raised an eye. "Oh, really now?"

"Yeah. He also-"

"Uh. Little help?" Shade and Seven looked up to the pony, still tangled in the branches. Shade let out a giggle as she used her magic to move the branches away, causing Shyv to fall to the ground head-first, connecting with a dry thump.

"Ow." Shyv glared at the two, who simply laughed to their hearts’ contents.

"Took you long enough to get down here!" Seven mocked her, eliciting a disgruntled snort from the mare. "Alright, that's enough of that." He turned to face Shade. "You know where your brother is at this time of day?"

"Nope. But he's probably at the library, helping Twilight organize something or doing something on 'magic' theory or whatever it is they do..." She said, visibly bored just by remembering the Shadow's recent enthusiasm towards the subject of magic.

"Have they been getting along well?"

"Yep! Shadow spends a lot of time with her! She says she's impressed at how good we are at magic and how Shadow showed her some things even she didn't know! She seems really smart, but she doesn't really talk to me much." She finished with a shrug.

'Child at heart indeed.'

"Okay Shade, it was fun talking with you, but Shyvanna and I have to get going, okay? Say hi to your brother for us in case we don't get to see him." He said, turning around and gesturing Shyv to follow.

Shade nodded and waved them off before she continued on with what she was doing, using her magic to separate the apples from the trees in the orchard. It was something trivial for somepony like her, whose abilities could probably be put to much better use, but Seven shrugged at the thought. They didn't have that responsibility. Not yet, at least. Whatever they did was fine as long as they were happy.

"I would think she would be done with this debt by now..." Shyvanna said as she looked back and saw Shade fill the large cart she had been dragging along with a tremendous amount of apples in a matter of seconds. She hummed a tuneless melody as she pulled the cart into a nearby barn effortlessly before coming back out again to get more.

"Technically she is." Seven commented as they trotted away.

"What?"

"Macintosh keeps budging the debt back a bit. She incurred the debt a month ago, and according to what the Eye's tallied, she's repaid it about four times over by now."

"Why would he do that?" Shyvanna asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Why do you think?" Seven shook his head. "Young love. Right and blind."

"You keep saying that whenever you talk about those two, but they're over a thousand years old!"

"You keep forgetting that I'm older than ‘millions of years old’." Seven retorted. "All love is young love to me." A smile crept across his face. "Besides, in Alicorn years, they're barely teenagers. Compared to Celly and Luna, that is."

Shyvanna shook her head and sighed. "Some days with you are more than just frustrating, you know that?" Seven was still smiling, only now he was smiling to himself. If even for just a moment, he had the informal, playful Shvyanna he knew and loved back. She reminded him of his sister.

Sadly, that moment came to an end all too soon as they arrived outside the library. Seven hadn't noticed the curious stares the pair had elicited from various ponies as they passed them in the street, and likely would not have cared.

"Quaint little place." Seven commented. "I don't think this tree was here last time we came to Ponyville, was it?"

"Not when we were both here, no, but when you sent me here on Nightmare Night I remember seeing it. I don't know how long it's been here, though."

Seven inspected the massive specimen. "Interesting. Maybe we could pick up a book or two about the tree itself while we're here?" He chuckled from the irony and knocked on the door.

A loud crash was heard from the inside. A long period of what was mostly silence followed, occasionally broken by a trio of voices muffled by the door. Shyvanna trotted closer Seven, thinking about all the possible ways as to how a trio of ponies might manage to attack them from behind the door. She positioned herself near to him and tensed as the door slowly opened. She relaxed a bit when a black unicorn appeared at the doorway, still looking towards the library’s interior.

"Sorry about that. Twilight's been sick and Spike is-"He trailed off when he saw Seven.

"Hello Shadow. Helping Twilight around the library?" Seven began as if his visit were a casual one.

Nightshadow tensed, barely recognizing the voice. He turned to meet the soulless red eyes of the earthpony. His face betrayed a variety of emotions before settling on a neutral glare. "Just a bit. Good to see you again." His tone of voice seemed to display more curiosity then actual gratitude, but Seven paid this no mind.

"I just came here to drop off a package for Miss Sparkle... As a favor for Celestia." He quickly added. Seven focused for a moment and soon a black case and a letter dropped to the ground next to him. He reached out with his aura and levitated them over to Nightshadow, who warily took the objects in his own magic. "So how have things been with Shade?" Seven asked, trying to hold a somewhat friendly conversation.

"She's... been better. Still crazy, but better. Thanks for that." That time there was real gratitude in Shadow's voice.

Seven's smile widened. "No need to thank me. Just don't get used to it."

"Right, right..." Shadow said, shrugging the memory from his mind.

"I noticed that you aren't wearing those glasses of yours anymore. Using something new to hide your eyes?" Seven asked innocently. Nightshadow gave him a confused look before he remembered exactly what he was talking about.

"No, and I don't know why, but they just stayed... like this." He said, motioning to his perfectly normal irises with his hoof."I thought maybe somehow the enchantment had affected our eyes in some way, but I'm not sure."

"Interesting... Well, make sure Twilight gets that stuff okay? And make sure she reads the letter first. From what the Princess told me, it would be bad if she opened the case. I'll let you two get back to whatever you were doing." Seven said, trying to seem as innocent as possible.

Shadow smiled a false smile and nodded, shutting the door. Seven and his bodyguard trotted away.

"What was that all about?" Shyv asked. "He didn't look too happy to see us."

"He's suspicious." Seven replied nonchalantly. "If I were in his shoes, I would be too."

"And the mare? Twilight? We heard yelling."

"She was genuinely ill. Nothing to worry about there." Shyvanna huffed, having just then fretted over her best friend’s life and then basically been told it was no big deal to him.

"Just relax, Shyv. I'd think you of all ponies would learn to lighten up by now."

"Right... right." Shyv said, ignoring the remark. "Where are we headed now?"

"The pastry shop." Seven replied nonchalantly. Shyvanna looked at him as though he were insane. "What? I like to eat every now and then! Besides, I figure a present for the guards wouldn't be so bad."

"What for? Nothing has happened, other than the death of Lucifer."

"Then we celebrate his life, as it once was." Seven frowned. "The guards don't die very often, Shyv. They get attached to one another. When one of them dies, it's like losing a sibling. Just a little something to cheer them up wouldn't be so bad."

She shook her head. How he had survived this long with his naivety, even with her help, was sometimes beyond her ability to reason. Regardless, she followed her charge to Sugarcube corner, where he haggled with a pink, overly enthusiastic mare and her employers over how much a shipment of muffins enough for over a hundred guardsponies would cost them.

Past times:

"You never told me your name, little one." Seven told the filly, trying to make small talk. It had been a few hours, and he couldn't tell if they were any closer to Canterlot or not. Or whether they would get there in time.

"I... I don't have a name yet..." She said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Seven stared blankly for a second before smacking his forehead with his hoof, silently berating himself. 'Dragon hatchling rituals.' He thought to himself. 'Most dragon younglings don't get names until after they 'sleep' for the first time. Idiot. How could you forget that?' He turned to the young filly and tried to change the subject. "That's alright. It won’t be long until we get to Canterlot... I think."**

Silence hung in the air for a while, prompting Seven to silently berate himself once more. Moments passed before the filly spoke up again. "You never told me why you helped me." She said with uneasiness; she didn’t want to seem ungrateful.

"Yes. I did." Seven cracked a smile. "You just weren't listening."

"Then why?"

"Because I could. It's as simple as that." Seven said and resumed trotting. She gave him a confused look, which suddenly darkened. A loud buzzing sound interrupted the chance for any further conversation. Seven sighed and levitated the blue crystal out of his pocket, which was sparkling impatiently. "What is it, Six? I'm already far away from-"

"Just shut up and listen! This is important!"

The filly looked at the crystal with a growing curiosity. Seven frowned. "I don't like your-"

"Listen to me! Eight has been looking for you! I don't know how, but he knows your in Equestria and he knows where you are now! You need to go now before he-" The crystal exploded, startling both the filly and Seven.

"Hello again, dear brother..." A voice manifested itself from all directions, as if it ominously hung on the wind itself. Seven held a defensive stance and stood ready, anticipating the absolute worst.

He felt something hit him in the side, hard. He stumbled over a bit, the filly tumbling off his back. When he got back on all four hooves, an arc of lightning came barreling towards him, which he dodged by mere inches. Seven turned to meet his attacker and had to fight to keep from grimacing. Piercing green eyes met his own gaze.

"You don't look particularly happy to see me..."

"Why would I?" He spat back at Eight. Eight simply laughed. It was a horrible, deep laughter that fit the 'evil villan' stereotype perfectly in Seven's mind.

"Because, we are kin, you and I!" He said. The forest seemed to get darker with each word he spoke. A few trees behind him fell over, dying from his mere presence. The ground seemed to dry up and crack with each step he took. "I would love to debate morality, how heartless a monster I am, and eventually come out ahead like we both know I would, but I'm afraid you and Equestria are out of time."

Seven heard a loud crumbling noise and suddenly found it very hard to breathe. When he tried to move his legs, he discovered to his horror that the earth itself had been raised up to his chest and had him locked in place, crushing the air from his lungs.

Eight cracked a wide smile. "Goodbye, brother. Let the rest of The First know what happens to those who-"

Eight felt a sudden burning feeling on the entire right half of his body. He yelped and broke his concentration, causing the ground that wrapped around Seven to lose its grip. Eight raised a leg to see what was burning him and saw what appeared to be liquid fire dripping from his coat. Seven looked to his brother and saw the filly standing not too far away. She was panting heavily. Eight took notice of the half-ling, and glared at it menacingly.

"You little *whelp!" He was prepared to erase the filly’s existence from the face of Equestria when she was suddenly surrounded in a red fog. The fog made it impossible to see as it seemed to dart through and around trees at a hurried pace, completely under it's own power. When Eight could finally get a good look at his surroundings, both Seven and the filly were gone.*

"And so the fun continues..."

"They will just have to wait their turn- Yes I am aware that they are- Tell the gryphons that- ENOUGH!" The Queen shouted over the bickering delegates, using the Royal Canterlot Voice to get their attention. "I think that is enough for today! We will resume court tomorrow where hopefully some of you will not be so impatient! Every matter is important in my eyes."

As the various delegates and advisers filed out, she found herself wondering why exactly she had this court put together. She let out a weary sigh and looked out the window.

Equestria was dying. Even the sky seemed to lose its powerful colors; although no clouds could be seen, it felt grayish. Ever since the Monster had overtaken Terra, the world around her was decaying. Wearing away. Many of her friends had died to the Monster, and she had not bothered to go into hiding with the rest. She held out the faint hope that perhaps she could overpower it somehow. It wasn't the soundest of plans, but it was all she could hope for underneath this perpetual eclipse of the sun and the moon.

She saw a red fog seeping in through a window at the far end of the room. She sighed and prepared herself for what was likely her death. The fog dissipated and left behind a grey earth pony who haggardly carried a strangely tinted blue foal on his back. The Queen looked at them with some measure of surprise. The earth pony opened his eyes, and upon gazing into his red orbs the Queen tensed.

'His eyes... They are like the Monster's... but different somehow. Could it be another? Or something like it?'

It looked at her with an expressionless stare, covered in cuts and bruises. It stuck a leg out and elegantly folded it inward, leaning forward in an attempt to bow before falling over and hitting the stone floor with a heavy thud.

What Matters to You

Present time:

Seven felt a twinge of guilt as he looked down at the lifeless body of Crackshot. Another had died, and this time they were sure it was not some random assault. To Seven, it meant that he had likely condemned the poor stallion to his death.

"Sir?" Shyvanna was giving him that concerned look again. He could not find the will to smile at her this time.

"The unicorns are sure of this?" He asked, eyes still fixed on the deceased stallion.

"Yes sir." She answered quickly. "They have confirmed that the same magical attack that killed Lucifer also killed this one." She said, pointing her hoof towards the stallion.

"And what has Swift to say? What is his version of events, since the dead can only tell oh-so-much?"

"He said that they were separated when it happened."

Seven got a glint in his eyes as Shyvanna finished that statement. "Shyv, you know this can't be a coincidence, right?" He asked, finally turning to meet her gaze.

She gulped in tension before nodding. "That means..."

"Somepony is targeting you. Or her." Seven said, more sternly than ever.

"That somepony would have to know about me. Know about Vinyl... know more than they should... Shyvanna." Seven snapped, to which, his bodyguard tensed. "Time to go hunting; and I think I know where to start."

"You needed to see me, sir?" Swift asked, trying his best to sound casual as he slowly trotted onto the observation platform. He knew this was Seven's personal viewing platform, and it was said he would use it to reflect on events that happened under his watch. The only ponies he knew that were allowed out here were Seven himself and his bodyguard. Being personally summoned here was not a common occurrence.

"Yes, I did. It's regarding what happened recently with your comrade." Swift visibly winced at the mention of the late Crackshot.

"I'm sorry, sir. It was stupid of us to separate, but he insisted that he saw something and told me to stay put in case something happened. I guess something did happen."

Seven raised an eye. "I didn't ask you a question." He turned to meet the colt, who faltered under the gaze of his blood red eyes. "But you felt you had to answer, didn't you?" The colt began to slowly back away in fear and bumped up into something soft. He turned to meet the draconic eyes of Seven's bodyguard, blocking the exit and gazing fiercely at him as well. "Have something to tell us, Swift?" Seven asked. "Come. Sit." He said, gesturing to a place before him. Before Swift could process the order, he found himself yanked from the ground by an unseen force and deposited in front of Seven, who glared down at him.

Swift fidgeted underneath his gaze. Sweat was dripping out of his every pore. Seven knew that Swift wasn’t telling him the truth, and Seven wouldn’t stop until he had heard it all. Hours seemed to pass before Swift finally cracked. "I didn't want to! They made-" He was cut out from the surprise of being yanked up off the ground, this time much more forcefully than before.

"Here's how this is going to work." Seven began, anger tinting his voice enough that Swift could almost see the venom dripping from his words. "I'm going to ask you a question. If you refuse to answer, or if the slightest tinge of doubt permeates my mind, I will personally clip your wings off with a searing white blade and throw you in the ocean. Have I made myself clear?" The colt nodded vigorously. "Good. First, why?"

Swift looked to the cloud floor, and sobbed as he spoke. "Wh- when I joined with you they sent me a letter saying they w- would k- kill my family if I d- didn't do what they w- wanted. I didn't believe them at first, b- but then a few years ago my great granddaughter and her husband died. They said that they killed her, and would kill her daughter as well if I didn't do what they told me to!" Swift said, holding his head in between his forehooves, crying loudly.

Seven loosened his grip, but only slightly. He couldn't be sure if this wasn't just a story he was telling to build sympathy. 'Mental note: Have Shyvanna check his story later.'

"Next question!” Seven said, shaking the stallion a bit. “Who are 'they' and how many of them are there?"

"I... I don't know." Seven's glare intensified. Swift felt himself being levitated off the balcony and began to squirm. "NO! I don't know, I swear! They've never contacted me directly except when I deliver them a report, and even then it's just one guy! I never talk to him! I don't know who they are! Please, don't-"

"Shut up!" Seven commanded the cowering Pegasus in a booming voice. 'Seems he's telling the truth... can't be sure though...' After letting him hang in place for a while, Seven levitated him back over the balcony. "I'll let that one slide. One more question. Why her?" Seven asked, tightening his grip. Swift's eyes widened.

"Why are they killing her guards?" Just as he muttered those words, Swift covered his mouth with his hooves. He knew he didn't have an answer to Seven’s question, so he just shut his eyes, waiting for Seven to lash out.

"Are they after her? What do they want?!" Seven’s patience was dangerously nearing an end, making even Shyvanna wince a bit. Swift didn't answer, still recoiled in fear.

Seven brought the stallion closer to him, so both were standing a few inches away from another. Seven looked into his eyes. "WHAT DO THEY WANT WITH MY DAUGHTER!?" Seven exploded, completely losing his pent-up rage on the unfortunate Pegasus. He shook violently in the air, nearly in tears.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Swift shouted back. "I just... I don't..." Swift hung his head, exhausted and defeated. Seven looked him over for a second before releasing his grip and allowing him to drop to the cloud floor.

"Your next appointment with them is when?"

"T- tomorrow... sir." Swift said with a cracked voice, still not feeling safe to raise himself from the cloud floor.

"Good. Tomorrow you are going to help us get your little...'contact'. Go back to your room, and be warned that Shyvanna will be standing outside your door tonight. If you try anything, I won't hold her back." Shyv gave the colt a wicked grin that made him stutter as he spoke.

"Y-y-y-y-yes sir!" He blurted out and rose to his four hooves before galloping back inside the cloud fortress.

Seven let loose a weary sigh. "He should have come to me with this. But no..." He began to shake his head. "He would've been afraid... afraid that we would go through what we just did."

"What are you going to do with him, sir?" Shyvanna asked.

"I... don't know. Yet. We'll see what happens after tomorrow."

Shyv nodded and turned around, trotting inside the cloud fortress. She stopped in mid-step, halfway through the giant door and turned to Seven. "Are you alright?" She asked him in a genuinely concerned tone.

Seven stared off into the ocean. "No. I am not alright. How did we miss this? How could we miss this? Whoever they are, they would’ve had been aware of us for a long time now. So how did we not notice?" Seven furrowed his brows in anger.

"Sir?"

"We know nothing about them! We don't even know if there is a 'them'! The only information we have is that the attacker had to have been a unicorn." Seven kept staring at the ocean. Shivanna noticed that the sea below seemed to agitate itself a little bit more.

"Sir-"

"We are supposed to know about these kind of things! A colt burns an ant to death with a magnifying glass and we know the exact time it died!" Seven said, raising his voice. Shivanna looked at the spot where Seven was looking. A giant maelstrom shook the ocean impetuously. Red lightning bolts flared from the sky, hitting it in its heart.

"Sir... you need to calm-"

"But we haven't even heard a whisper concerning 'them' before and we have the largest information network in all of Equestria! HOW DID WE NOT-"

"Seven!" Shivanna yelled at him, prompting Seven to turn and glare at her furiously. It was then that he saw his aura had spread to the entire balcony, threatening to tear it from the rest of the fortress. With effort, Seven calmed himself and the aura slowly receded.

Shyvanna turned to leave. "I'm sorry, sir. I shouldn't have asked, I-"

"Don't apologize." Seven cut her off. "You've done nothing wrong. I'm just... stressed." He sighed once more. "There are days I wonder if she would've been better off if I just ignored her completely. But how could I?" Seven hung his head and turned towards the sea again.

"You said it yourself. You couldn't have." Shyv said in the most comforting tone she could manage. This wasn't the first time they had talked about this subject, but it always seemed to leave Shyvanna in a lack of words.

"You've seen how strong she is. She didn't need me to push the odds in her favor. But I did it anyway." Shyvanna gave him a knowing look. "I know, I know. What if I had gone to the opposite extreme, though? She was still young... she had a lot of growing up left to do... and she had done so much with her mother... gone..."

"And, again, you have already said it before. She had her own life then, was making progress on her own. It wouldn't have been right to disrupt all of that. It would have been... selfish."

Seven chuckled a bit at the irony of the situation. "Just a few hours ago I was the one telling you to lighten up... here I am now, drowning myself with my own grief, and here you, are pulling me back up to the surface."

"It is what friends do, sir." Shyvanna smiled weakly at him.

"Friends..." He looked back towards his bodyguard with a smile of his own. "Thank you." Her smile widened and she nodded, heading back inside of Haven to make sure Swift wasn't planning his escape.

Past times:

Seven awoke and the first thing he noticed was the pain. It was infernal, as if his body had gone through a windmill grinder twice. He opened his eyes slowly before groaning a bit at the invading light. He stared up at the ceiling for a while. He felt his legs being oddly numb. He tried to move them and smiled weakly when he found he could, even though they felt broken. But that feeling was nothing compared to what he felt right now.

Everything hurt. Seven felt as if his own soul and timeline were screaming at him with anguish.

Even thinking managed to cause some measure of pain. He slowly sat up on the bed- yes that was what he was on. It was a plain bed, no covers or anything in particularly defining. Just a regular bed. As he sat up he took in the features of the room; the walls were ivory white, and a single torch on the wall lit the room dimly. As his eyes focused, he could see a mirror hung on one wall. When the door caught his eye, he didn’t know if he should feel surprised to acknowledge that it was more or less a jail door. Bars ran horizontally along the door-frame.

'Seems like this room's stuck between a hospital and a cell.'

As he got to all fours, he looked into the mirror and saw his eyes had lost their usual glow, an indication that he was a shadow of his former self in terms of strength. He needed energy. Badly. Looking around his room, he noticed that nothing besides the bed or the burning torch were there to keep him company. He groaned and reached out for the torch when suddenly the door opened.

A white Alicorn stood in the door way, glancing at him for a moment with a mask of neutrality before walking in. She had two guards follow her inside and shut the door behind them.

"Who are you?" She asked sternly, wasting no time.

"The filly I came in with. Where is she?" Seven asked.

"Safe. Who are you?" She repeated.

Seven smiled at the mare and let out a weak chuckle. "I'm kind of surprised you'd care so much..." He was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit. His lungs weren't healing properly, he could feel that much.

"Are you alright?" The Alicorn asked. Seven notice a bit of concern in her voice that contrasted with her regal pose.

Seven gave her a confused look. "Fine. Thanks. Seven."

"Seven what?" She asked, raising one of her brows.

Seven smiled again. "That's my name. Exactly like the number."

She gazed at him warily. "I am Gaia: Queen and ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria."

"I already figured that..." Seven began coughing again. "Can... Can we go outside, please? This 'dungeon air' is killing me."

She said nothing but Seven could almost feel the green glow around him. Suddenly he felt grass under his hooves. He looked around and found they were in a garden. Seven felt some of the pain recede. He found that if he looked at the Queen's mane long enough, it almost seemed to be an extension of the grass he stood on, except that her mane seemed to be stuck in a perpetual breeze.

The royal guard's legendary composure faltered as they saw the grass browning beneath Seven's hooves and gasped. With a pained effort, Seven managed to stop himself from killing the plant-life. "Sorry." He said, giving Gaia a half-smile.

Gaia managed to hide her own surprise. "What are you?"

Seven smiled again. "I would tell you, if I knew myself." His voice was slightly less raspy. He could tell by the look in the Queen's eyes that she was genuinely afraid of him.

"Very well. What are you doing here?" She commanded, intent with continuing her interrogation.

"I'm here... to find you." Seven simply said and looked at her. The Queen tensed a bit, but remained calm despite the urge to call more of her guard.

"Why?"

"Because... I need your help... with a mutual problem." The weakness was returning. The agony he felt made him want to scream, but he managed to reduce any vocalizations of his pain to grunts and winces.

"And what problem is that?"

"You’ve already guessed it."

Her eyes visibly widened. "The... monster?"

Seven laughed, although it was a weak, rasping one. "You're calling him 'monster'? I call him 'brother'."

The Queen once again tensed, but her countless years of leading Equestria told her not to make assumptions. "You're here to help us with the monster?"

"Yes and no... I'm here to replace him." He said, his wry grin never leaving his face. "He's not doing a very good job, is he?"

The Queen refused the urge to call for more guards once again. "Quit playing games! You're going to tell me why you're here. Now!" Her voice boomed as she raised one of her hooves. She brought it down hard on the floor, cracking it.

Seven's grin dropped. He squeezed his eyes shut and took in a deep breath. "Apparently I wasn't clear enough. Let me put it in a way you can understand." A red aura shot out from where the earth pony was standing. It covered the entire garden, causing the plants to wilt and die. The Queen and her guards recoiled, waiting for something to happen to them.

"My name is Seven. My brother, Eight, is a problem, so I am here to kill him. Clear enough for you?" The aura receded and Seven opened his eyes. They were glowing brightly. The weakness from before was gone now. He wasn't at full strength, but he hadn't been for the majority of his stay in Equestria anyway.

"Why? Why would you help us?"

"Because I get to take his job when I do."

"And that would be?" She asked quizzically, fearing his answer a bit.

Seven looked up at the sky, frowning at the eclipse. "Well, one of them is supposed to be moving the sun and moon. Other things are a bit too complicated to explain, but he's obviously not doing his job, so here I am."

She looked at him with curiosity mixed with fear. "If you are like him, then why do you need my help?"

"Because he's been draining your world’s people of their energy. Think of it like raw magic, but more potent. I always was a better fighter, so I could probably take him..." Seven frowned and sighed. "But I won't stoop to his level to do it. At the same time, I can't get energy like we normally do. The sun and the stars are all blocked out under this eclipse. So, I was hoping you and your friends would help me?" She looked at him with a saddened expression at the mention of the word 'friends'.

"I'm sorry. Everypony else like me is dead. Killed by... him."

"Not quite." She looked at him, confused. "Don't try to hide it. I know for a fact that you're likely harboring at least two others. Her eyes widened with realization. She quickly shook her head.

"No! I'm not involving them in any of this!" She said in an angered tone, causing Seven to raise an eye out of curiosity.

"And why would that be?"

Her posture relaxed a bit. "I... believe the two you are suggesting are... family."

Seven took the hint immediately. "Too young to fight, then?"

She nodded. Seven shook his head. "We're going to need more than just us. I'm too weak, and you're strong but not in the same ways I am. And even if you were, you still wouldn't be strong enough..."

"You make it seem as though there is no choice. That there are no options that wouldn't result in-"

"Us dying with the rest of Equestria." Seven inhaled, the air was somewhat rotten due to the stench of death that now permeated the garden. He hated that smell. "There is always a choice. There is always another option. I just... can't see it yet." Seven reached into the pocket on his suit for the crystal, only to remember that Eight had destroyed it. There was no way he could get another. He was on his own. The Queen saw the earth pony furiously stamp his hooves on the ground. "There has to..." His head sunk. "I can't... I..."

The Queen thought about what to do as well. An idea came to mind that made her shudder, but she still considered it. 'The lives of the ponies of Equestria depend on me... my children depend on me...'

"Your brother... maintains his strength through draining other ponies?"

Seven nodded. "Usually we are almost always at full strength because of the suns or the stars. Radiant sources that keep us going. But he blocked out most of the sun, which means that is the only way to get any substantial amount of..." Seven realized what she was thinking. "No!"

"What other choice do we have?" The Queen said with a low voice. She knew the implications of their actions.

"Anything else is better than that. I already told you, I won't stoop to his level." He snarled at her.

"You have no other choice. You already know that."

Seven glared at the Queen as hatefully as he could. "And what would you have me do? Go out onto the streets of Canterlot and kill half the population, just to have a chance?"

She shook her head. "Not half the population. Just me."

"No." Seven remained adamant, but his anger subdued.

"You said it yourself, there are things you can do that I can't. You can fight him. You can save Equestria!"

"I will not willingly kill some random pony just for that!"

"What would you kill somepony for?" She asked, to which Seven scowled. "Very well then, either you do what I ask, or that filly that came with you dies."

Seven looked at her as though she were mad. "You can't be serious."

"I am willing to go to any length to save my people. She is not one of my people." The Queen glared back at him.

"I can't believe this! You... you're asking me to make an impossible choice! How do you even know if she means anything to me?"

"She means nothing to you? Fine then. Guards!" She said, prompting the two to come near her, awaiting for orders.

"No!" Seven cried out. "I... I still can't believe you. Fine."

The Queen loosed a breath she did not realize she was holding in. "Good. There are a few... things I need to take care of first. Things I have to say. The Guards will take you to that filly, if you wish to see her. I believe the care-takers have taken to calling her after some ancient dragonness lord. Something along the lines of Shyvanna I believe..."

Before Seven could raise her any questions, she disappeared in a green flash. Two guardsponies flanked him.

"We are to lead you to-"

"Yeah yeah, I get it. Lead on."

Present time - The Twins' Castle:

Shadow looked down at the forest from atop the stony building. It looked beautiful to him under the night sky; the night dew reflected the light, shaping a deformed orb of ivory on top of the tree’s canopy. Everything seemed to look better to him under the cover of night. Turning his gaze towards the night sky, Nightshadow smiled. The white full-moon in contrast with the many glimmering stars that adorned the vast blackness beyond them somehow brought him peace and comfort.

"Hello, Nightshadow." Shadow suddenly jumped, and reflexively unfurling his wings, turned to meet the intruder. When he saw the dark blue Alicorn sitting beside him, he relaxed and sighed.

"Luna. What a... surprise." He wasn't sure if the word pleasant applied here, especially concerning what he thought that they were likely to talk about next.

"How is she?" Luna cut to the point.

Shadow immediately knew whom she was talking about. "Dash is taking things... in stride, so to speak."

"So she's hiding her sorrow."

"Pretty much." Shadow said, looking down in a bit of frustration before both Alicorns sighed in unison. "I feel... responsible." Shadow said after a long period of silence.

"It is not your fault. Events were beyond your control-"

"No. They were well within my control. I didn't have to help her in the forest that day. I didn't have to give her wings back to her." Shadow let loose another sigh. "And now I've effectively murdered the Element of Loyalty."

"You knew that she wouldn’t be able to live without her wings. They were her pride. Her dreams. Her life." Luna said in her most comforting voice.

"You don't know that. I thought I did at the time, but now..." Shadow frowned before trailing off.

"Even so, you tried to make things right."

"And neither of us could do anything. It doesn't matter that I tried to make things right. In the end, I couldn't. I... failed." Shadow hung his head once more, his expression drooping.

"No. I failed." Luna said, to which Nightshadow turned and gave her a scolding look, one she wasn’t able to see with her head also hung low. "I wasn't strong enough. You came to me and hoped I could help, and yet I wasn't strong enough to help her. I'm sorry."

Silence became long, and drawn out. Nightshadow noticed that the forest had grown silent as well; as though it too were sharing in their sorrow. "I noticed soon after meeting you that there were stars in the sky I didn't remember putting there before my banishment." Shadow remained silent, which Luna took as a cue to continue. "When I asked my sister about whether or not she had changed the night in any way, she claimed that she did not want to tarnish my creation."

"I'm sorry if we did." Shadow said, looking up at the sky. "Shade found out we could do it by accident, and we ended up changing the sky every once in a while out of... boredom. I'm sorry if we changed something in a way you didn't like, it’s just... we didn't expect you to come back." He winced a slight bit at what he said, not knowing how to put it in a more polite way.

Shadow had expected her to be mad, but instead she let out a chuckle. "That's quite alright. Ponies need something new to look at every once in a while. And I can easily change anything back if I want to." She paused before adding. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about anyway." Nightshadow raised an eye, but allowed her to continue.

"I was wondering if you and your sister would like to visit Canterlot in a few days? Celestia is having a chariot sent to Ponyville for another matter, and you could use the opportunity to get to know the city."

"We already know the city quite well, thanks. Besides, Shade accrued a debt at the apple orchard for property damage and is working until she can repay it."

"How did she- Nevermind. You've never actually been in the city streets though. Barring... well... You've just never really been there before, from what you've told me. Why not use the opportunity?"

"I don't know... wait. Twilight was called to Canterlot to visit Celestia a few days from n-" Shadow's eyes widened. "No. That is her time with her teacher." He caught himself almost saying ‘Even though Tia and I don’t see eye to eye on everything...’

Luna smiled on the inside. "Celestia wouldn't mind-"

"No, but it wouldn't be right. She rarely sees Twilight anymore. I wouldn't want to potentially take away from that time. Thank you anyway."

Her response was a quick nod. "Just one more matter... it's about the earth pony that helped us..."

"Seven...?" Shadow asked, just barely remembering the pony's name.

"Yes. I know from a guardspony that he visited you earlier today..." Shadow visibly winced, causing Luna to smile wryly. "I do not keep spies around, if that is what you are thinking. Anything you do on your personal time is not under my watch. What I came to tell you is... well... be careful around him. He has been a companion of my sister and I for as long as we have been in power. He has been... manipulative in the past." She paused for a moment, lost in thought.

"So don't trust him?" Shadow asked, matter-of-factly.

"I'm not saying you can't trust him. I'm saying... be careful how much trust you give him." Luna’s gaze was stern one.

"What exactly is he, Luna? He can't possibly be the earth pony he looks like..."

Luna sighed and turned her gaze to the forest. "Physically, he is the earth pony he appears to be... but there's something else. He never explained it to my sister or I. He always managed to avoid the question one way or another."

Luna looked at the falling moon. It would soon be time to finish its descent. "Just... be careful, Shadow. I don't know why he took an interest in you or your sister... but I don't like the implications..."

She disappeared in a puff of smoke, likely gone back to Canterlot to lower the moon for her sister. Shadow had previously decided that tonight would not be a night he allowed sleep to take him. Instead, he pondered the new questions raised by Luna's visit as he watched the moon’s lazy descent.

Losing

"He seems... nervous." Seven commented as they watched Swift from afar.

"I would think he should be... sir." Shyvanna replied. The two of them sat at what Seven liked to call 'A useless snooty upper class outdoors restaurant for ponies too full of themselves to eat their "fancy" food indoors.' Needless to say, they didn't plan on ordering anything. Across the street was Swift, leaning up against the building that the very DJ he was supposed to protect was playing at tonight.

Seven briefly wondered if the club ever attracted the ire of the ponies that ate at the restaurant, but those thoughts were squelched when he saw a hooded pony enter the crowd. They moved quickly, obviously not trying to attract too much attention. Seven could barely make out a bulge under his hood, just above his head.

"That's a unicorn alright." Seven motioned to his side. A few other pedestrians, sitting at their own tables, stood up and slowly moved over to the pair. "Are they set up?"

"Yes sir." One of the guardsponies said. "Our own unicorns have set up a field around the area. Nopony will be able to teleport away."

"Good. Wouldn't want them to run away to tell their friends, now would we? Still, assume they are a threat unless we learn otherwise. And I want them alive. Do not think exact your revenge upon them. We need them to tell us if there are others. Understand?" The group nodded. "Good. Let's go then."

The group dispersed, walking through the crowd on the street at odd angles. Anypony looking at them would quickly lose them in the crowd. The only one of them that moved with any intent was the grey earth pony heading towards the hooded unicorn. Swift's eyes widened as he saw Seven approaching. The hooded pony turned to face him, and, to his surprise, smiled. She was a green unicorn mare with orange eyes that almost seemed to burn on the inside.

"I'll ask you nicely to come quietly." Seven said, keeping his distance. The unicorn didn't respond, and instead closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow and Seven could feel the energy flowing outward. "You can't run and you can't teleport, so don't try. It would make things easier on both of us if you gave up." Even as Seven said the words his focus was elsewhere. He could tell there was something wrong with this mare.

The rest of the group began to converge on the three ponies. Shyvanna trotted next to her charge and whispered. "What is she doing?"

"Teleporting... but not away." The realization finally dawned on Seven. "She's not trying to run away, she's trying to bring something else here!" As he said the words a green orb appeared on the ground in front of them. It grew in size rapidly as it began to take shape. Seven's eyes widened when he saw the creature.

It was a two-legged creature that towered over the ponies. It had the consistency and appearance of a solid shadow, clawed hands and an almost Diamond Dog-like head that was more elongated than the creatures it resembled. It growled and snarled at them, staring directly at Seven.

'Shadowmarcher...' Seven was able to think before the creature broke into a sprint, hissing and growling as it reached out with its claws. Shyvanna and Seven dived out of the way as it ran past them, grazing Seven with its claws and launching itself into the crowd of terrified onlookers. Seven barely managed to catch it in his aura and pull it away from them. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the unicorn trotting away slowly.

"Stop her!" Seven yelled to his guards. They did as he asked, feverishly galloping after the mare. "Shyv, help me out here!" She nodded at him and galloped in front of the creature. She inhaled sharply and exhaled, covering the monster in a blue flame. It writhed and howled in pain, swiping at the air in front of it, trying desperately to reach the mare. A bolt of raw energy hit the back of its head, surprising it. It turned to face Seven, who shared its look of surprise.

'How is it not dead yet?' Seven thought. He realized it was becoming harder to keep the creature still, his power simply wasn't working. It only took a few more moments for his aura to fail completely. Seven concentrated, intending to utterly destroy the creature, when it let out an ear-shattering shriek.

This was different then the howls and groans it had made earlier. To Shyvanna, and those brave few ponies watching the spectacle, it was annoying and confusing, but an otherwise harmless sound. To Seven, it was agonizing. Seven pushed his ears over with his hooves, trying desperately to block out the sound, but it was almost like it reverberated within his own head: covering his ears seemed to just agitate the pain. Thinking was impossible; the pain produced from the piercing sound cut off all his thoughts. He was very loosely aware of the shadowmarcher stepping towards him, and Shyvanna galloping between them.

The monster looked down at the pony with what Shyvanna had to assume was a grin on its face. It took an aggressive posture, putting its arms out and to its sides and leaning down, letting out a canine growl that caused her to tense. The monster felt confident in his ability to handle a single pony. He did not expect said pony to run in a charging leap towards him, or to explode in a column of fire. As the column hit him, he could feel something very solid push him down, with the unmistakable sensation of claws digging into his shoulders as he was pinned to the ground.

The monster's eyes involuntarily widened at the sight of the creature, using one of its leathery wings to pin him down while the other was put to his throat, the claw on the end of it tightening its grip every time it struggled. The two monsters stared silently into each other’s eyes for what felt like hours until the wyvern let out a terrifying roar as it began to maul the unfortunate creature.

"Sir? Are you hurt?" Seven barely felt a nudge on his side. He opened his eyes and was met with the concerned look on his bodyguard's face.

"I... I'm gonna laugh if your face freezes up like that one day." Seven said wearily, a grin one might expect from a mad-mare resting itself on his features.

Shyvanna smiled at the comment. "I was... worried. What happened?"

"I... have no idea." He said, nonchalantly as he got back on all four legs. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours..." Shyvanna frowned. "I managed to kill the monster, but there have been some new developments..."

"Great. What's new?" Seven said, completely forgetting the fact that the creature easily made him unconscious.

"Well... for starters we managed to capture the unicorn... and several others." Seven raised an eye at this. "The unicorn apparently tried to lead us into what we thought at the time was a trap, but they didn't have the numbers. From what I was told, they didn't stand much of a chance. Now, we believe they were instead intent on distracting us. One was killed, the rest taken." Seven nodded, satisfied that the amount of life lost was minimal. He stood pensively for a moment until Shyvanna cleared her throat, interrupting him from any interjections. "There is one more matter... you aren't going to like it."

Seven let loose an aggravated sigh. "Great. What is it now?"

"Perhaps it would be best if you saw for yourself." Shyvanna motioned towards the entrance of the club where Vinyl was supposed to be DJing at tonight. He hadn't noticed it before, but a pair of royal guardsponies were flanking the door. Seven's eyes widened as realization came.

"Sir, wait-" Shyvanna's pleas fell on deaf ears as Seven pushed past her and towards the doors. The guards stiffened as he approached, and moved to block the exit.

"Move. Now." Seven commanded of them, but both guardsponies didn't even budge.

"We have orders from the Princess that this area is to be cordoned off until investigation of the crimes perpetrated here is finished."

Seven felt his eye involuntarily twitch. "See here now... you can either move now, or I'm going to have to-"

"Let him through." A regal voice spoke from behind him. Seven turned his head and met the gaze of Princess Celestia. She wore a blank expression as she motioned for the guards to step aside. Seven said nothing as he galloped past the guards and into the club.

He recoiled not from the sight -- he had seen his share of massacres -- but from the smell. The stench of death was never something he got used to, and never would. That's not to say the sight wasn't gruesome, for it was. Ponies seemed to have simply dropped dead where they were standing in bloody heaps. Seven could neither hear, nor see a single pony still standing.

Seven looked to a small booth, filled with a variety of equipment, meant to play and control music. He had seen it many times, and knew what each button and knob did.

'I... I have to be sure.'

Seven carefully trotted over the bloody messes and towards the DJ's booth, expecting the worst. He breathed a sigh of relief when he did not see the corpse he was expecting, but was confused when he saw that one of the larger speakers, usually integrated into the booth had been ripped out and smashed up against a wall.

Glancing at the floor, Seven noticed what looked like bloody hoofprints and that several of the corpses seemed to have been pushed aside or trampled over. The trail led to a room near the back of the club, past the 'bar area'. It had a sign over it that said 'Employees Only'.

Seven followed the bloody hoof-steps and opened the door with his aura when he reached it.

It took a moment for his mind to process what he saw. When he finally perceived what it was he was seeing, he took in a deep breath and slowly closed the door.

Four dead ponies, all wrapped in black cloaks very similar to the unicorn he had been hunting tonight, reduced to dust and bleach-white skeletons. Seven knew what had happened to them. The first time he had ever seen it happen had left the image plastered on the inside of his skull so that he would never forget. It was exactly what it looked like when the life was literally ripped out of somepony.

He managed to recreate the scenario in his head as he calmly trotted out of the club. Shyvanna was silently sitting next to Celestia, who looked rather nervous, but still regal.

"Where is she?" Seven asked his bodyguard.

"Safe. The guards found her unconscious and decided to take her to Haven. I told them to inform us when she awoke."

"Good... and Celestia? What do you have to say to me?"

Celestia's face scrunched up, as though she were trying to search for a way to ask her question. "What happened?" Was all she managed to come up with.

"Somepony is out to get me... or her. Likely me. We were attempting to capture one of them, and they used it as a distraction to try and kill or foalnap Vinyl. They just murdered eighty-five ponies to try to get to her. Vinyl... prematurely displayed abilities that are common in my species, killing them in turn."

"Equestria hasn't seen this much death all at once in thousands of years..." Celestia said, mournfully scratching the ground with her hoof. "I'm going to need to talk to Vinyl about this."

"No. You won't." He simply said, like a father forbidding his son from going out.

Celestia blinked, not quite sure she had heard Seven right. "Excuse me?"

"Celestia, if you talk to her about this... she isn't ready to learn about what she is. The knowledge could literally hurt her. It would be better if she chalked all this up to a nightmare..."

"Be that as it may, she is the only survivor of the worst catastrophe in Equestria's history since Nightmare Moon's release, and even then we didn't lose anypony to her..."

"As far as I, and the rest of the world should be concerned, Vinyl was never a part of this." Seven retorted, stamping his hoof on the ground to accentuate his point.

Celestia was getting visibly frustrated by this point. "As long as Ms. Scratch did not commit a crime, she will not be held accountable for-"

"Do you realize what you are doing? She can't just... This kind of thing is traumatic. She doesn't need this. Telling her what happened means telling her what she is. She isn't ready to have her whole life turned upside down."

"Be that as it may, I feel that-"

"Celly I am not in the mood to play around!" Seven yelled, making Celestia shudder a bit. A streak of red lightning hit the ground just between the two, causing Celestia to jump and Shyvanna to tense up. Seven tried in vain to calm himself as he went through with his demands. "Here's what happened. Evil unicorns schooled in dark magic came here and slaughtered the party-goers for reasons yet to be determined, reasons that never will be determined. Celestia, Princess and co-ruler of Equestria, was forced to end them in order to keep them from hurting anypony else. Thankfully for the DJ who was supposed to play, she was delayed and missed her appointment with them. Ponies will be sad. Ponies will grieve for loved ones. They might even erect a memorial. But they will forget about it in time."

Celestia stared wide-eyed at the earthpony. "You... You can't be serious."

"I'm. Dead. Serious." Seven replied, stressing each word.

"I can't do that. I can't lie to so many..."

"You've done it before."

"That was different. The world deserves to know what happened. Too many ponies lost their lives. Too many loved ones will be grieving. I can't just cover this up for you..."

"Why not?! What makes this any different?!"

"Ponies died. My citizens died!" Celestia and Seven glared at eachother. Shyvanna shifted uneasily, unsure of what she would do if a fight broke out between the two of them. "Others will demand that I tell them what happened and I cannot lie to them all. I'm sorry..."

"I can't believe this!" Seven shook his head as he trembled with anger. 'I can't stick around and argue with her all day... and I don't want to do something I'll regret...' Seven thought, rubbing his temples with both forehooves. "This is not over, Celly. I will not sit idly and let you ruin her life. If you decide to go through with this, we will push you back." Not giving her a chance to reply, Seven teleported himself and his bodyguard directly onto Haven.

"I assume that the package Swift gave to her was not on the unicorn?" Seven said, trying to take his mind off the situation as soon as he could. Taking a moment to compose herself, Shyvanna nodded in the affirmative. "Excellent. And the scrying?"

"The unicorns told me it is working. We can assemble to their location tomorrow-"

"No." Seven cut her off. "We cannot afford to lose any time or momentum we have gained. We are going to end this. Now."

"But sir, what of-"

"We can deal with her later, when I know she will be safe outside of Haven. Have the medics fabricate a story or when she wakes. Tell her... she was hurt at a concert and suffered a head injury. Something along those lines. Do not allow her to leave." Shyvanna nodded and began to take down his orders for the unicorn medics stationed at Haven. She paused for a moment, giving Seven an inquisitive look. "If you have a question, ask it."

"Sir... you never said she could be... like you."

Seven shook his head. "A part of me hoped she wouldn't be. We can talk about this later, in front of her if we have to. For now, I want to make sure the world is safe for me. For her. I'm done fighting with shadows. Time to bring them to the light."

Past times:

"Don't worry, little one." The teary eyed Alicorn addressed the filly. "Mother said he would be here, so he will. Just... wait."

The filly didn't respond, eliciting a sigh from the dark blue Alicorn. She didn't really understand what had happened a few moments ago. The Queen, as the filly had heard one of the guards call her, had come in, said a few things in private to the other two, who then came back crying. The Queen promised that her friend was alive, and that he would come and visit her as soon as they were done with something else. The filly hoped he would be here soon. Luna talked to her, but Celestia just looked out the window. It scarred her a bit to see the majestic pony so sad.

A loud rapping at the door interrupted her thoughts. The two sisters looked at each other with a shared expression of worry before Celestia took the initiative and trotted to the door, opening it. She sighed and trotted aside to let their visitor in. A grey earthpony trotted through the door, grinning widely.

"Hello, little one! I've been-" He was cut off as the filly launched herself forward, locking his foreleg in a tight embrace. "Uh... miss me?" Seven asked, rather surprised by her outburst. She seemed surprised as well as she let go of Seven and quickly shied away from him.

"S-Sorry... it's just... I thought... You looked really hurt. Luna kept telling me you would be alright, but..."

"You don't need to worry about me, little one. I had wanted to see you earlier, but the Queen kept me busy with something..." She had come back early from visiting the other two occupants in the room, claiming it would be better to get 'it' out of the way sooner rather than later. He could see Celestia and Luna glaring at him, dark lines running down their faces where tears once traveled.

'I don't blame you for hating me.' Seven said to them in his head. He shook his head and addressed the filly in front of him. "I wanted to see you again to tell you thank you..." The filly's smile almost crushed him. "...and goodbye."

Her smile quickly faded as she processed what she had just heard him say, replaced instead by a look of abject horror. "W- What?"

"I have to go, my little friend, and I don't think we'll see each other again..." The filly stared at him, wide-eyed.

"B- But..." She tried to plead.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come with me. It would be better if... you just forgot about me."

She could find no words to say as Seven solemnly trotted back out into the hall, but felt tears cloud her vision. She turned away from the door, pausing briefly before moving next to Celestia and gazing out the window, not noticing the dark blue Alicorn moving towards the door...

"Wait!" A voice cried out from behind Seven as he trotted down the hall. He turned to meet the young Alicorn -- as he recalled, who went by the name of Luna -- ready for anything she might do. He did just kill the Queen of Equestria. Her mother.

"What is it?" Seven asked, trying to keep the irritation from his voice.

"Really? Do you even have to ask that? You must be seven different shades of incompetent if you-"

"Enough!" His voice boomed, silencing her. "If you have something to say, then say it! I am not in the mood for being scolded by an adolescent!" She fumed, completely aware of the insult he had made, but with effort she kept herself from lashing out against the stallion.

"That filly told us of the past few days of her life... Her father dead! Lying in a pool of his own blood with his last words telling her to run! Nearly dying herself to the dragons... then you come along and show her a kindness only her father had shown her. You are the only one other than her father who has ever shown her kindness. You've only spent a few days with her and you're the closest thing she has to her father! And you just told her she'll never see you again. How do you think she feels right now?!" She finished with an angry glare that might have caused lesser ponies to crumble.

"It doesn't matter." The words felt like acid coming up his throat, burning them both as he said them.

"What?" Luna asked, completely caught off guard.

"It. Doesn't. Matter. There are more important matters than her... it won't matter what anypony thinks if they're all dead."

"You're heartless!" She yelled, trying to keep herself from maiming the earthpony.

'I am.' Seven almost replied but caught his words. "I have to be."

Seven turned away from her, shutting his eyes, intent on avoiding further conversation. 'I planned on going on hoof.' He thought to himself. 'But I want away from here as soon as possible...' He focused on his new energies as he readied himself to teleport. He heard voices, yells, maybe screams, but they all sounded muffled to him as all of his concentration was put on this single task. At the last moment, he felt a familiar weight on his back before a red flash left him standing outside of a ruined town, a nearly completely worn away sign read 'Ponyville'.