Unforgiven Memories

Chapters

1.2 Unexpected Guest (Revised)
1.3 Personal Problem
1.5 Respect and Trust
1.6 Not a Cakewalk Served Up on a Silver Spoon
1.7 Over the Rainbow
1.8 Valiant stand
1.9 All Over But the Shouting
2.1 Undying
2.2 The Scars We Don't See
2.3 Resistance
2.4 One Thousand Apologies
2.5 Less Than Nothing
2.6 Annihilate the Corrupt
2.7 Someone to Hate
2.8 Science of Lies
2.9 What is Left
2.10 Closing In
2.11 Fire To My Soul
3.1 The Start of Something New
3.2 Spring Cleaning, Streak Style
3.3 School, Lies, and Those Words
3.4 Monster
3.5 Shrinking Problem
4.1 A Change In Methods
4.2 Girl on Fire
4.3 The Start of Something New, Redux
4.4 Mark of the War Mage
4.5 Oh Pagemaster, My Pagemaster
4.6 Infestation
1.1 Streak's Entrance
1.4 Everything I Learned, I Learned in War
3.6 Because Life Just Wasn't Hard Enough Already

1.2 Unexpected Guest (Revised)

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Two:
Unexpected Guest

Streak was panicking.

The forest around him was dark, the dense canopy casting shadows so thick it was almost pitch black. It was far too similar to the ordeal he had gone through scarcely a week ago with the Void. His fear shamed him; he'd been trained to fight worse than this! Hell, he’d gone through worse than the Everfree could ever throw at him! Still, the darkness seemed to follow him, waiting for its chance to devour his essence. Streak shivered at the thought before turning his attention back to his path. Traveling in the Everfree was dangerous during the day, sure, but he could handle himself. He was still wary. After all he didn't want to get into any fights he didn't have to, especially if the locals might be nearby. Any attention was bad attention at this point.

In his attempt to be stealthy, Streak cringed at every leaf he crunched, and every twig that snapped made him jump and whirl to look at what was all too often nothing. He was going to be fine. He'd traveled through the Everfree before, and the worst he saw was a timberwolf. There was no soul ravaging horror hiding just out of his vision, waiting for him to see safety before pouncing. With that thought, he checked again for anything of interest. A clearing, an exit, hell, he’d go for a cave at this point, anything to break the monotony of this unusually long trip. He knew about how long it took to cross the Everfree. It took a half hour less time than he was in the forest, though, and it would help if he knew where the trail was. That was always good.

The foliage in the Everfree was dense enough it made it so dark he could hardly see his trembling hoof in front of his face. While trying to calm his shaking, Streak chuckled at the fact that this was the first time in his life that he was actually glad for his coloring. His grey coat helped him blend in better with his unfortunately dark surroundings, and his black mane would have helped if not for the rainbow streak down the center that was his namesake. Even with mud infused in his coat and mane, you could still easily point out the streak in his mane. He made sure to smear a bunch of mud onto his cutie mark to hide it from sight. It was imperfect, you could still see the shield and stars if you looked hard enough, but it would have to do.

A distant howl reminded him to keep his eyes on the 'trail.' Timberwolves, poison joke, and apparently manticores stalked the woods here. Streak scooted around a patch of unassuming blue flowers that served as a hazard to any trailblazer. Poison joke always seemed to have an ironic or amusing symptom. Such as turning a pegasus's wings backwards. Best to keep your distance. A lot of it.

Suddenly he heard something moving behind him. He froze, listening for any clues as to what kind of soul sucking monstrosity was stalking him.

—*~*~*—

Books and Branches, the local library in Ponyville, was in complete disarray at the moment. Books were piled up, forming a maze across the floor with wooden floors and literary walls. Novels glowing purple flew through the air, organizing and reorganizing themselves, all the while a baby purple dragon ran as fast as his stubby little legs could take him to put them in their places before his companion, a rather pretty lavender unicorn mare, could magic them away into the next organizational method.

“SPIKE!” the lavender unicorn yelled, her voice echoing around the library she was in. “Where's the 'Foal's Guide to Plot Lines' by Helping Hoof supposed to go?”

It seemed that she decided to actually put something away this time. Her baby dragon assistant, Spike, sighed, “Third shelf from the right, fourth row, third book—” he paused to sprint and grab a book before it was picked back up, “—the same place it was when you asked last time, Twilight.”

“Hehe... thanks Spike,” Twilight sheepishly replied. “Where would I be without you?”

“Doing your own work and remembering things?” Spike grumbled.

“What was that?” Twilight snapped.

“NOTHING!” Spike hastily answered.

The library the two were in was not that large for a library. It had only one floor, if you discounted the second floor due to its nature as the sleeping quarters of the duo, but that one floor was filled with books. Literally, at this moment, since it was Tuesday. Tuesday was re-shelving day, the day that fixed all the errors caused by ponies putting books in the wrong place. They had spent all day pulling books off the shelves and putting them back, usually into the same spot they came out of, sometimes twice. Twilight, of course, spent her time organizing and reorganizing everything. The books are alphabetical by title. Oh, wait, now by author. Oh, wait, now they’re organized by genre. And now they’re in the Dewhoof Decimal System.

A faint roaring sound drifted into the library from an open window. Spike momentarily stopped his frantic sprinting around and looked at the window.

His pause was long enough for Twilight to finish her reorganization. She realized that none of the books had been put away for about ten seconds so she decided to bring Spike’s attention back to the matter at hoof. “Spike! We need to have this done by sundown or you'll miss your bedtime!” Twilight scolded, obviously oblivious to her ‘help’ being detrimental to the speed of his work.

“Erm... Twilight?” Spike began carefully. “That was a manticore.”

“Your point?” she asked. “It's nothing to worry about, it's inside the Everfree.”

“That's why I'm worrying. That roar sounded like pain,” Spike said, visibly shaken. “And we heard it from easily a mile away.”

Twilight's eyes widened, what happened to that manticore to make it roar so loud?

—*~*~*—

Streak ducked around a tree, causing the creature following him to ram through it. The splinters dug into its flesh, causing it to roar again. Streak desperately wanted to get away from this monstrosity. This was the third tree the monster had rammed through in a row and it kept roaring louder each time.

The beast was hot on his heels, though. Terrifyingly, even with smashing through trees, it had managed to keep up with him fairly easily. He refused to speed up faster than he was moving now, though, because he would not be able to keep up that speed for nearly as long. When he got tired, the thing would actually end up catching him faster, ironically.

“Faust, I know I have never been really devout, but if you can hear me, I need help,” Streak called out. “Send some kind of sign.”

Like magic he heard a rushing, crashing sound from all around him. That was the sound of a waterfall. Water! There was water nearby! That was. . . absolutely useless to him right now. He sighed, he was royally screwed. He turned to run away from where he thought he heard the waterfall; it would prove to be an impassable wall.

He was proved right mere seconds later when he realized he had turned the wrong way. He had misjudged the direction the sound came from, putting him at the top of a waterfall. Perfect, that was exactly what he needed; a fast flowing river and a waterfall blocking his way.

The monster came tearing through the foliage Streak had just dodged through seconds ago, splintering the trunk of another tree. Blood flowed down its face freely from hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny cuts and punctures all over its face. There was nowhere for him to go but down.

He got a good look at the monster that had been chasing him. It was massive, with the top of his head barely making it to the creature’s shoulder. It was hard to make out in the shadows, but it was obviously darkly colored. It seemed to have darkness radiating from its face, which seemed to consist of two hungry, red eyes and a mouth full of fangs the size of unicorn horns. Leathery dragonesque wings were attached to its back.

The beast seemed to sense both his fear and what he was about to do, because it roared and charged, raising a paw the size of a full grown stallion to annihilate Streak, claws extended. He grinned like a madman as a mask over his terror and jumped backwards.

—*~*~*—

The scene by town hall was interesting to say the least. Twilight Sparkle was attempting to explain her plan to a bored looking pegasus, who looked like she just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. The pegasus she was talking to was easy to spot in a crowd with her sky blue coat and a mane encompassing the full spectrum of a rainbow. Even her cutie mark was colorful, being a tri-colored lightning bolt coming out of a pure white cloud.

“Why are you worrying, Twilight?” the prismatic pegasus pried her panicked pal. “It’s in the Everfree, and we’re not! No problem.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said again – slower so Rainbow might get it this time. “We don’t usually hear manticores from all the way in the Everfree. We never hear manticores from all the way in the Everfree roaring in pain. Something is wrong, very wrong.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Fine, I’ll bring AJ to town hall so we can go hunt whatever could kick the flank of a manticore. That sounds like a great idea.” With that last statement, Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings and sprung into the air, speeding off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

“When she puts it that way...” Twilight mused.

A few minutes later Rainbow Dash returned with a very peeved looking orange mare following behind her.

“What’s this ah hear about goin’ into tha Everfree?” Applejack inquired of her lavender companion, arching an eyebrow.

“Something’s wrong,” Twilight began. “I heard a manticore cry out in pain all the way from my library.”

“Now wait just one apple pickin’ minute. If this thing is hurtin’ manticores, why are we runnin’ toward ‘stead of away from it?” Applejack demanded.

“That’s what I was asking!” Rainbow butted in.

“We’re stopping at Fluttershy’s place first,” Twilight said, choosing to ignore her loud companion. “She has experience with woodland creatures—”

“She’s literally afraid of her own shadow,” Rainbow deadpanned.

“—and I think with us around she’ll be willing to go into the Everfree to find out what’s wrong,” Twilight continued, ignoring Rainbow again.

“Twi, sugar cube, this is Shy we’re talkin’ about. Are ya sure she’s gonna be the best pony to bring along into tha Everfree?” Applejack asked.

“She stared down a dragon,” it was Twilight’s turn to deadpan this time.

Applejack sat there for a few seconds before replying, “Oh, yea. Well, if yer dead set on goin’ into tha Everfree, ah ain’t stoppin’ ya. Best if we try and bring ‘Shy along as well, you were right when ya said that she’d be a good choice if ya can get her past her fear.”

—*~*~*—

Streak barely felt the air being driven out of his lungs as he hit the water at the bottom of the waterfall. Pain shot through his head and his vision blurred momentarily as a rock scored a glancing blow on his head, before he compartmentalized the pain and felt it fade slightly.

At least there are no sharp rocks at the bottom, he thought to himself, regular rocks hurt enough. Looking down at his body he sighed. At least the rocks left him conscious and all his legs intact.

After a few seconds of drifting, err... bouncing himself off of rocks, in the rapids at the bottom of the waterfall, things seemed to be getting quieter. Streak looked up at the top of the waterfall, wanting to see the creature one last time before he escaped. He was confused when he didn’t see it up there. He felt disappointed. Surely it didn’t leave already?

His question was answered, albeit in a roundabout fashion, by a splashing sound to the rear of him. Spinning swiftly, Streak fought off a round of dizziness. Through his blurry vision, he saw what could only be that fanged horror from above floating along behind him. The monstrosity roared in his face, splashing him with blood from its injuries.

“Faust damn it, nothing is ever easy is it?” Streak asked rhetorically. The monster responded with another roar. “Nope. Damn it.”

Streak was silent for a moment, before asking, “How the hell did you even get down here without hurting yourself?”

The monster, showing a moment of intelligence unseen to this point, cocked its head and flapped its wings, grinning with those massive teeth of its.

Streak smacked himself in the face with his hoof, making the world spin again. Should have remembered that.

—*~*~*—

Twilight sat in front of a cottage that looked to be built around a tree. She was in front of a closed and locked door with her hoof firmly planted on her face. The sound of at least five locks clicking closed and a bar being laid over the door were heard from the inside.

“Told ya,” Rainbow giggled.

“Fluttershy, this is important,” Twilight tried to reason with her timid friend.

There was a flash of pink and yellow in one of the windows. “No,” Fluttershy replied through that window before boarding it up with a hammer. Rainbow burst out laughing.

“Ya have no problem goin’ in there for yer little critters.” Applejack tried this time. “Why not go in now?”

“No,” Fluttershy replied again, through a different window this time. Twilight heard the sounds of power tools being used to block entry through this window. At this point Rainbow was rolling on the ground, because she was laughing too hard to remain on her hooves.

“Why not?” Twilight asked.

“Because only two things can hurt manticores: ursas and—” Fluttershy paused to shudder, “—dragons.”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight sighed, “If there’s trouble, we can handle it.”

“And if we can’t?” Fluttershy asked from inside her house, the sound of a welder on full blast floated from inside the now fortress-like cottage.

“You can fly, can’t you?” Applejack asked.

“So can dragons,” She replied, accompanied by the sound of tape being ripped for use.

Twilight realized that Rainbow was braced to launch at any moment, no longer laughing.

“What, Rainbow, are we not entertaining anymore?” Twilight asked sarcastically.

“No, you still are, don’t worry,” Rainbow replied. “But the manticore chasing a pony down the stream to Fluttershy’s house is MUCH more interesting.”

—*~*~*—

The monster bellowed as it chased after Streak. He had to admit, the tenacity of the creature was to be admired, even if it would potentially mean his death. He was sprinting as fast as he could from the eldritch abomination. He had thought of fighting it, but now with a concussion, he wasn’t going to be able to hold his own against even a foal. He stumbled down what was left of the distributary he had diverted down, little more than a stream at this point.

Had he been able to see straight, he would have realized that he was running toward a very attractive lavender unicorn with a look of horror on her face, but that was not to be, Streak was lucky to see a blur as the world moved around him, acting purely on instinct. He relegated every brain process needed to keep away from the hungry jaws of the manticore to instinct, choosing instead to focus all of his conscious brain power into keeping himself awake and on his hooves. Granted, the latter activities kind of fell into the former category, but you understand.

Now with all that in mind, imagine the panic Streak felt when his hooves didn’t hit the ground when they were supposed to. Also imagine how he felt when he started moving upwards without having wings or flapping them. His mind instantly went into overdrive, taking in as much information as he could to figure out exactly what was happening to him.

The first thing he realized is that he was surrounded by a very pretty shade of purple. Everything else just kind of didn’t matter anymore as he just stared at the purple aura pulling him upwards and onwards.

—*~*~*—

Twilight easily could have just grabbed the strange stallion and yanked him out of the reach of the manticore, but he was obviously hurt, most likely a concussion from the stumbling and lump on his head, and she didn’t want to make it worse. Granted, the manticore was now more intent on catching its prey than before, spreading its wings to take off after its now airborne meal.

It never got the chance to get off the ground. Rainbow smashed into the hunting cat’s back, driving it into the ground. Twilight pulled the stallion to herself as fast as she dared. The manticore jumped back up and lunged at Rainbow, just to be bucked in the side by the orange farm-mare that it hadn’t noticed until just then, knocking it off balance. It launched itself at Applejack, only to be hit by the prismatic pegasus, driving it to the ground again. The manticore bellowed as it spun for Rainbow, spraying blood on both the mares it was fighting.

“That had better be yours!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, disgusted.

“How dare you?” a timid voice near whispered, somehow with enough force to carry to the melee occurring just outside of her home. “How dare you?”

Fluttershy flew up next to the manticore—somehow getting through her dragon-proofed house—and started telling it off, ”Listen here, mister. Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully. You may have huge teeth, and sharp claws, and you may be hungry. But you do not—I repeat—you do not! Hurt! My! Friends!” The manticore shied back from fury incarnate. “You got that?” she asked, getting right in its face. The formerly terrifying manticore couldn’t move from fear.

“Well?” she asked.

The manticore growled, “Grr grah rahgrah rrr grr grah.”

Fluttershy continued as if nothing was amiss, “And I am very sorry about that. But you're bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know better than to try and eat ponies. That’s not nice.”

“Grr gra—” The manticore tried to explain.

“Don't you 'but I' me, mister,” Fluttershy interrupted, “Now what do you have to say for yourself?” The manticore didn’t respond at first, so she repeated, “I said, what do you have to say for yourself?”

The manticore shied back for a second before bursting out crying

“There, there. No need to cry. You're not a bad manticore, you just made a bad decision. Now go back into the Everfree and think over what you have done,” Fluttershy consoled in a motherly tone.

Everypony was completely silent as the manticore walked back to the Everfree forest, head hung low. Eventually the silence was broken as Streak, who was feeling more than a little loopy at the moment, interjected with, “Look!”

The mares all turned to look at him, to find him flailing around one of his forelegs.

“When I move my leg, the glowy follows it!” he exclaimed with obvious glee.

“Uh, Twilight?” Rainbow said, voicing everypony’s thoughts. “Maybe we should get him to the hospital.”

—*~*~*—

Princess Celestia sat on her throne, plotting world domination.

Not really being terribly serious about it, mind you. She had enough on her plate with just Equestria, she would never find any time for herself if she took over more territory than she had, not to mention the millions of griffons declaring blood feud on her for breaking the treaty that had been set up a thousand years ago. No, she was plotting world domination because she was bored as hell and had nothing better to do.

At least until now. A scroll materialized in front of her. Ah, another letter from Twilight. Celestia smiled. These were always the highlight of her day. She unrolled the letter and began to read.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Twilight’s at it again. Something is causing issues with a local manticore in the Everfree Forest and she went to fix it. She wouldn’t listen when I told her to just drop it. Could you please get down here to talk her out of it before she gets into trouble she doesn’t know how to get out of?

Your Faithful Student’s Number One Assistant,
Spike

Celestia slapped a hoof to her face. Damn it. At least her day was about to get more interesting.

“Bright Aegis!” She called out. “Cancel my appointments for an undetermined amount of time; I need to fix something Twilight’s done. Again.”

—*~*~*—

Streak noticed a few things. He had a massive headache, which he had to admit was fairly standard for near-fatal levels of rock to the head. Adding to that standard ‘day after’ list was his sudden and violent need to beat the hell out of anything that supplied light or sound around him, trouble thinking straight, blurred vision, and memory issues. Everything was pretty standard. What wasn’t standard brain bludgeon aftereffect was that constant beeping noise that was driving him insane.

Acting on the previously mentioned violent need to beat the hell out of anything that made noise, he immediately swung his hoof at the source of the noise, hearing a satisfying crack and then. . . nothing. Everything was quiet.

For a grand total of three seconds. He heard a door slam open nearby, stabbing pain into his head with the efficiency of a railroad spike and leading his pain flooded mind to deduce that the door to his room was opened, and quite violently.

“What is wrong with your. . . You broke it,” he heard a concerned voice speak up before ending in a deadpan.

“It made noise,” Streak gritted his teeth. “I have a headache.”

“You broke your heart monitor because it made noise?” the voice deadpanned again.

“Yes, now let me sleep, my head hurts,” Streak said rolling over.

—*~*~*—

Nurse Redheart walked out of the strange stallion’s room shaking her head and muttering something about “Stallions and breaking things just because they’re inconvenient.”

Twilight stood up when the nurse walked out. “Is he alright?”

“Fine,” Redheart replied. “His head trauma gave him a headache, so he broke his heart monitor. I’m getting some restraints to keep him from breaking the next one we bring in.”

Twilight watched the nurse walk away with questions about stallions and things being broken filling her mind. She filed them into a folder labeled “ask later” and walked into the stallion’s room.

“Hey,” she asked softly, so not to aggravate his headache. “How are you feeling?”

“Hrrrmph,” he said into a pillow.

“Good to hear that,” Twilight said just as quietly as before. “What’s your name?”

“Why do you want to—” Streak snapped, spinning around to look at his converser. Upon seeing who he was talking to, he fell silent.

Twilight was more confused as to why he stopped mid-sentence than insulted that he had snapped at her, “Why do I want to what?” she asked, encouraging him to continue.

Streak, for his part, was speechless. Here, standing in front of him, was the most gorgeous mare he had ever laid his eyes on. Not only that, but she was worried about him. AND he had snapped at her. His mind reeled as he tried to figure out exactly how he was going to get himself out of this situation.

Twilight sat with an awkward smile on her face as she waited for the stallion to continue with what he was saying. Behind that smile, though, was a swirling maelstrom of thoughts. Some were thoughts better left to Rarity, some were ones she thought belonged to Rainbow Dash, and a few she thought could only belong to Pinkie. Is there something on my face? Rarity. Am I just too much for him? Rainbow Dash. Did I forget to do my hair this morning? Rarity again. Does he like muffins? Pinkie. The last thought through her head before she shut them out was undoubtedly her own; Oh, sweet Celestia, I didn’t realize he was this CUTE before.

Streak was still puzzling on how to salvage any possible first impression from this encounter when he noticed the blush on the mare’s face. Now Streak was not a simple stallion. He graduated top of his class in Canterlot High. Actually, therein lies the problem. Streak was always slaving away at something, so much that he never had too much time for mares. He only had one relationship in his life, and he preferred not to talk about it. All things said and done, Streak had about as much experience with relationships as Spike. Hence, awkwardness.

“Erm. . .” Our protagonist everypony! “My name’s Streak. What’s yours?”

And you managed not to make yourself out to be a total creep, he thought, proud of himself.

“Uhm...” Twilight mumbled, all previous confidence stolen by that one errant thought, “I’m Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

“Alright Miss Sparkle, or is it Mrs?” Streak asked. Smooth Casanova, couldn’t be more subtle?

“You don’t have to use formalities with me, Streak. Just call me Twilight,” she said with a giggle.

Alright, Twilight, you have got this! This was chapter one in Helping Hoof’s book, Stallions: The Guide. How to get them, how to keep them, and how they think, Now that I think about it, it didn’t go past that whole keep them part.

Oh FAUST that giggle! Is she trying to kill me? Streak thought. Out loud he said, “Alright Twilight. What brings you to my fine abode today?”

Twilight giggled at his foreleg flourish with the last sentence, “Well I kind of saved you from the manticore that was chasing you, so I had to make sure you were okay.”

“Oh,” Streak said, dropping his hoof and rubbing the back of his neck. That’s what that was. Faust damn it! I’m so stupid. He continued, “You were there for that, huh?”

“You don’t remember?” Twilight asked.

“Err... I remember running from the manticore, jumping off of a waterfall to avoid said manticore.” He saw the look Twilight was giving him. That one woman look, you know the one. “I never said I was smart, did I? Anyway, I remember hitting my head at the bottom of the waterfall. Rocks hurt, by the way. I wouldn’t recommend it. The last thing I remember is after diving down a distributary of the river, I saw this really... pretty purple. I can’t recall anything else, sorry.”

Suddenly Streak realized what he just said. Oh, damn it, he thought, There goes my “not creep” status.

Twilight’s face flushed bright red, “Yeah, that’s about what you said.”

“Hmm?” Streak asked, wanting further clarification, but at the same time not.

“You were pretty out of it, and while we were walking over here you said I was ‘Really pretty, like a princess but better.’ ”

Streak buried his face in his hooves, “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Nope, why?” Twilight asked with a sudden mischievous smile. “You want to take that back?”

“No, but—” Streak blurted out before realizing what he just said. DAMN IT! “Er... I mean. Uh. Er.”

Again, our protagonist, everypony.

Twilight’s face was more red than purple at this point, “Er...” Not sure what I intended with that...

—*~*~*—

Spike was finishing up reshelving his second shelf since he had sent that letter to Celestia when he heard a knock at the door. Spike waddled his way over, giving the door a nice tug open. He couldn’t decide if what he saw surprised him or not. Standing just outside the door to the library was a pony of white and gold. She could have been a statue, if not for the ethereal, billowing, tri-colored mane and tail attached to her. The Princess herself had arrived.

“Hello Spike,” Celestia said with a motherly smile. “You said Twilight was headed to the Everfree?”

“Uh, yeah,” Spike said, rubbing the back of his head. “Though she hasn’t gotten back yet.”

“Do you know where she entered?” she asked.

Spike answered without hesitation. Not only was the mare in front of him the Princess—a Princess, Spike reminded himself, Luna was back now—but she was like a surrogate grandmother. Even if that wasn’t enough, she seemed to emanate trust. “She was headed in the general direction of Fluttershy’s place, if I remember correctly,” he supplied.

“Thank you, Spike,” she said. “That will be all. I’ll stop by when I have Twilight and we’ll try some of your cooking that she raves about,” and with a wink, Celestia had left.

—*~*~*—

Nurse Redheart loved her job, honestly. She loved taking care of hurt ponies. If you’ll pardon the pun, nursing them back to health was her favorite part of the day. There were days when she got cards from foals, thanking her. There were days she got a hug from a particularly emotional stallion or mare.

Then there were days like today.

Nurse Redheart walked into room 343 only to leave two blushing and fidgeting ponies not even thirty seconds later. Not a filly and colt, mind you, but full grown mare and stallion. She walked into the room with a bundle of rope on her back, fully intent on tying down the errant stallion, only for him to quip, “Shouldn’t you at least let me buy you dinner first?” This made the mare blush more than she already was, if that was possible. As if realizing what he just said and who he said it in front of, the stallion froze up with a face red as the cross on Redheart’s flank.

Today was going to be a long day, she could tell.

—*~*~*—

A soft knocking sound interrupted Fluttershy’s thoughts.

“Sorry Twilight,” she ‘yelled,’ which for Fluttershy was a moderate talking volume, “Like I told Angel Bunny, orders are nobody can see me! Not nobody, not nohow!”

“Not even me, my little pony?” a calm voice asked from the other side of the door.

“Oh, Celestia!,” Fluttershy exclaimed, “Let me get the door!”

“Oh, that’s fine, Fluttershy,” Celestia said, stopping Fluttershy on the third lock. “Did you happen to see Twilight recently? Spike said she was on her way over here.”

“Oh, yes. She was on her way to the hospital with a strange stallion that we saved from a manticore.”

“A manticore?” Celestia asked. “Wow, she really has grown. Is the poor dear okay?”

“Yes, I sent it back into the Everfree with a light scolding,” Fluttershy remarked, not understanding.

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat, your door is only a little bit locked,” Celestia teased “I should also make sure Twilight’s okay, both physically and mentally.”

Celestia started walking away before she paused, “Fluttershy?”

“Hmm?”

“What did this stallion look like?” Celestia asked.

Author's Note

Note 1 - A distributary is the opposite of a tributary, it's a river or stream branching out of a larger river. Look it up if you don't believe me, I even included the link.

Chapter 1.2 v1.3
—Better grammar!
—Upgraded word choice!
—More content!*
—Removed Herobrine!
—Fixed bugs!
—Kicked ass!

-HB

* By about ninety-five words. Every little bit counts, damn it!

1.3 Personal Problem

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Three:
Personal Problem

"My champion, you can do so much more than you ever thought possible. You can do more than I thought possible."

It had taken a few minutes, but Streak and Twilight had finally gotten to just chatting rather than sitting around awkwardly. Streak listened intently as Twilight recalled the adventures she had with her friends over the past two or so years since she met them. He could tell she enjoyed her time with them by the twinkle in her eye she got as she recalled one event or another. He reacted to all the right parts; laughing at Pinkie’s antics, gasping when the smoke over Ponyville was revealed to be a dragon, he even included a ‘really man?’ look when she was notified of her brother’s wedding by mail. Eventually, she began to wind down. At the end of her last story, she asked the question Streak was dreading.

“So Streak, what are your friends like? You seem like the kind of guy that has lots of adventures, if the manticore was any indication,” she teased.

Streak debated telling her the truth. He could see it now: Well, let’s see. Brick is dead, Ironhoof is dead too, Wonderbolt had Faust-knows-what happen to him, Sombra went batshit insane and took over an empire in a military coup, Then there's— NO! He was not going to think about her!

Twilight took his brooding silence as a bad omen and opened her mouth to apologize for asking when Streak spoke up.

“My whole life I never had a lot of friends. When I was growing up, the rainbow streak in my hair had other foals branding me as a freak. When I wasn’t getting beaten up to ‘remove the demon,’ I was getting put down by ponies that thought they were better than me. When I finally made it out of my own personal Tartarus, I found that the working world was no good either. Ponies were still treating me like I was inferior just because I looked different. I ended up joining the Guard since I had nowhere else to go. I made some friends in basic that lasted for a long time,” Twilight drank every word Streak said like it was fine wine. “Brick and Ironhoof were both earth ponies and two of the most loyal stallions I have ever met.

“There were six of us, total. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns. We made a good team. The earth ponies were strong, tough, and durable. They started and didn’t stop until they dropped or got dropped, and they didn’t get dropped often. The pegasi were swift and agile. Even when constrained to the ground they could dodge anything thrown at them, both figuratively and literally. The unicorns, however, were the most dangerous part of the group. With the earth ponies stopping enemies on the move, and the pegasi guarding the air, the unicorns were safe to cast the big spells. I personally watched the more powerful of the two rip the scales off of a dragon and impale it with them,” Twilight shuddered at the mental image that gave her. “Yeah, I had that reaction too, I still have nightmares. He wasn’t the most stable of ponies. The other unicorn focused on messing with minds. He learned how to bend them to his will, how to fight them, how to trick them. The two were unstoppable, but as I said, only because they were safe with us around. When they had to focus on keeping things off of them, they were next to worthless to the overall battle.”

“You keep talking in past-tense,” Twilight mentioned. “Why is that?”

“Look around the room and tell me what you see.”

Twilight swept her head back and forth, examining the hospital room for anything out of the ordinary that Streak could be pointing out to her. “I see a stereotypical hospital room, what about it?” Twilight said, confused.

“I see a pony in the hospital, alone save for somepony who he just met earlier that day,” Streak said somberly.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she caught the implications of what he just said. She was about to say something when a knocking sound was heard from the door.

“My faithful student, are you in here?” a motherly voice asked.

“Shit.”

* * *

Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT!

Streak had never run as fast as he was running now. He’d run for his life on multiple occasions and for multiple reasons, but never before had he had to run from four pissed off mares.

Tartarus hath no fury like a mare.

Not the time, weird inner voice thing! Streak berated, Time to be running!

Streak dodged around ponies walking outside, going about their daily lives. He spun around a blue unicorn with a mane and tail split between darker blue and a pale blue. Running around the corner, he jumped over an inebriated looking berry-red pony laying on the ground.

Looking back, Streak saw that the orange mare was still chasing him.

How did this all go to hell so fast?

Where to begin?

* * *

“My faithful student, are you in here?” a motherly voice asked.

Streak's eyes jumped so wide Twilight was worried they would fall out of his head. He involuntarily let out a sentence, “Shit.”

I never said it was an eloquent sentence.

Twilight looked at him quizzically, before turning to the door and calling out, “Yes, Princess. I’ve been keeping Streak company while he recovers.”

The doorknob was enveloped by a yellow glow, turning agonizingly slowly. Streak jumped up toward a window that was left open in his room.

Convenient, he thought.

The door opened, revealing not only Celestia, but all of Twilight’s other friends, as well. They had different expressions on their faces. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both had looks of annoyance on their faces, Rarity and Fluttershy looked like they had seen a ghost, and Pinkie was... Well this is Pinkie, she was wearing a party hat. She’s unquantifiable.

Celestia stepped into the room, before seeing Streak. The motherly smile that she was never seen without instantly fell off her face as she turned to face him.

“Streak,” she said in a strangely casual tone of voice, not fitting the severe expression on her face.

“Celestia,” Streak replied, emotion likewise hidden behind a mask of faux familiarity.

“You know him, Princess?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Yes, Twilight I do. Streak,” Celestia said, still staring at the stallion in question. "You are under arrest.”

* * *

That works as a beginning, wouldn’t you say?

Streak sprinted away from Applejack, but she was gaining on him. Looking away from the orange farm pony, he looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying overhead, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take him out.

He dove into a nearby alleyway, barely missing a yellow earth pony mare with an orange mane. Rainbow Dash was forced to fly close to the ground to avoid losing Streak in the narrow confines of the alley.

Speeding down the alley as she was, Rainbow missed when Streak dove to the side.

This next part is interesting.

* * *

“Yes, Twilight I do. Streak,” Celestia said, still staring at the stallion in question. "You are under arrest.”

Twilight gasped, “What for?”

“Last time you tried this you went with treason, attempted murder, inciting rebellion, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, arson, and attempted murder of the Crown,” Streak listed off. "Did I miss anything?”

Twilight felt faint, “What? Streak, what are you talking about?”

“You missed resisting arrest, escaping from prison, I need to ask how you did that, by the way, vandalism, and disturbing the peace,” Celestia

“Ah how could I forget those, they are so major in the grand scheme of things,” Streak snarked. "and I think I’ll keep my escape route to myself, thank you very much.”

“Are you going to come quietly?” Celestia asked.

“Nah, I’m good. I like being free,” Streak replied, tensing up his legs. "Sorry to cut our conversation short, Twilight, but an old friend has started causing problems, and I must take my leave.” He saluted and dove out the window.

“Bring that traitor to me, dead or alive!” Celestia yelled. "He needs to face justice!”

A tiny voice answered through the window. "Oh, is that what you call it?”

* * *

“She’s waking up!” Rainbow heard a voice call out.

I knew I nap a lot but—Rainbow began thinking, before the chase rushed back to her, she looked around at her friends. She didn’t know what happened. One second she was chasing the stallion her Princess had called a traitor, the next she was laid out on a bed, her friends crowded around her with worried looks on their faces.

“Uh... what did I miss?” she asked, embarrassed.

“You don’t remember?” Twilight asked, worriedly.

“Nope,” Rainbow said, nonchalantly. She noticed where she was. The blue walls. The purple sheets. The lamp on the side table. The disgusting pile of monochrome slush they call food. Yep, she knew exactly where she was. "Somepony want to tell me why I’m back in the hospital?”

“You really don’t remember,” Twilight said, more a statement than a question.

“No,” Rainbow said, getting irritated. "I don’t. Wanna fill me in?”

“Well, Streak was hidin’ in wait for ya when ya came barrelin’ down the alley full tilt,” Applejack said, causing Rainbow to blush. "He jumped out at you and ah’m assuming hit a pressure point on yer wing, because it locked straight up and ya smashed head first into a wall. He got away while ah was makin’ sure you were okay.”

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy looked decidedly uncomfortable. Twilight arched a brow at the pair. “I take it you know what happened?”

“Ye–Yeah,” Rainbow stuttered awkwardly.

A few moments passed before Twilight tried again, “Care to elaborate?”

“N–No. Not really.”

It was Twilight’s turn to be irritated, “And why is that?”

“It’s, erm, well...” Rainbow began, still fumbling uncharacteristically with her words.

An interjection came from the most unlikely source possible, “Oh, just tell her,” Fluttershy half-mumbled.

Rainbow took a deep breath, “There’s an... intimate spot on every pegasus’s wing which causes a wing priapism when hit.” Seeing that Twilight, bless her brain, was still not getting what she was trying to say, even with the fancy words, she snapped in irritation, “He hit my fun button and I popped a wingie, okay?!”

“Oh,” Twilight said, sitting her rump on the ground.

“Yeah, it’s the most intimate spot on a pegasus’s body,” Fluttershy explained. Seeing Twilight’s look she elaborated, “Yes Twilight, even more than there. Pegasi live in the clouds and it can make a wing non-functional for hours if you know what you’re doing. Not–not that I’d know,” She added quickly.

“I’m going to knock his head in when I see him next!” Rainbow fumed, anger washing away any and all embarrassment she felt earlier. "How’d he even know about it? It’s not the kind of topic that pops up in casual conversation!”

“Maybe he dated a pegasus?” Twilight suggested.

“Maybe if that pegasus was a complete whore,” Rainbow scoffed. "I’ve had plenty of coltfriends and have made damn sure they knew that if they got near my wings it was over faster than my leg in between theirs. You only tell that to a non-pegasus if you’re going to stay with them for the rest of your life”

“Oh! Our Dashie with a coltfriend? Do tell me more! The passion, the romance, the—”

“Sex,” Rainbow interrupted with a smirk. “Don’t forget the sex, I know I haven’t.”

Rainbow’s friends all reacted differently to her statement. Rarity gasped dramatically, Fluttershy gave an ‘eep’ and froze, Applejack looked at Rainbow with a raised eyebrow, Twilight went from purple to bright red, and Pinkie... How did she get a cake with “Congrats on the sex” written on it so fast?

Twilight reacted the fastest, “Thenursewantedtoknowwhenyouwokeupandyou’reawake- nowsoI’mgoingtotellherthatyou’reawakebye!” A flash of light signaled the exit of the flustered unicorn.

Twilight reappeared right outside of the door. She fought her blush away as best as she could, managing to return to just maroon rather than crimson. When that was complete, she trotted down the hallway to the nurse’s station. When the nurse saw her she nearly had a seizure.

“Oh, Celestia, you need to keep to your room, you look like you’re in absolutely no condition to be walking around!” She fussed.

“Actually—” Twilight began.

“Oh, this simply won’t do!” The nurse interrupted again. "You must get to your room! Let me walk you back. What room are you in deary?”

“Actually you wanted me to tell you when Rainbow Dash was awake,” Twilight said.

The nurse, who Twilight remembered was named Redheart, was still for a second, “I didn’t realize that brain damage could be contagious, so I guess you didn’t catch something off her.”

“Erm, no. Just an awkward conversation,” Twilight offered sheepishly.

“Can’t be worse than the one you were having with that one handsome stallion. What was his name, again?”

Twilight’s ears drooped, “Streak.”

“Left you high and dry, hmm? Stallions, I swear,” Nurse Redheart mumbled.

“Er, no. Celestia showed up,” Twilight tried to explain.

“Went straight for the Princess, did he? Don’t tell her I said so, but his loss. Besides,” Redheart added with a conspiratorial whisper. "I hear the Princess has been around the block so many times she has mapped most of Canterlot, If you catch my meaning.”

“N–No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Did not want to hear that! He was a traitor and a murderer. Celestia personally ordered him to be brought to her. He’s the first bounty in Equestria to read ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’ Always the nice ones,” Twilight said, muttering the last sentence under her breath.

Redheart was quiet for a moment, “Did she say what he did besides treason? Any specifics?”

“No, and she avoided specifics when I asked her about them,” Twilight answered morosely.

“Then don’t believe it,” Redheart said simply.

Twilight’s brain broke and she stood in the hallway, trying as hard as she could to process what was just said.

The best she got was: “What?”

Redheart looked her in the eyes, “What does your brain say?”

“He’s a traitor and a scoundrel,” Twilight answered slowly.

“What does your heart say?” Redheart asked simply.

“I... I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. "Part of me wants to just believe Celestia, but part of me says that I need to understand more about what happened. I know I should just go with what Celestia says—”

“No,” Redheart interrupted, “You shouldn’t. That’s the problem with Equestria, everypony lets the Princesses do the thinking for them. Think for yourself, learn what this Streak did that was so bad that he had the ‘Dead or’ tacked on to his 'Alive.' There’s a reason she’s not telling you what he did. Maybe he’s actually not what she says he is and is an escaped sex slave looking for a new mistress,” she added with a wink.

“I didn’t realize that hooves could blush,” Redheart commented with amusement.

* * *

Twilight sat in the corner. She just couldn’t win. No matter who she talked to they always managed to tease her about her redness. Even Fluttershy suggested sunblock.

"But honestly dear," Rarity was saying. "what even caused this new bust of embarrassment? Did you see a cute stallion on the walk over?"

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed, exasperated,

"What? Rainbow can't seriously be the only one of us to actually have some fun!" Rarity pouted. "That's not any fun. So Twilight, any stallions in your life?"

"Not anymore," Twilight grumbled to herself.

Rarity heard, much to Twilight's chagrin, "and where is this mystery stallion that was in your life and why have I not met him?"

"He's on the run for treason and murder," Twilight mumbled.

Rarity was shocked, "The stallion that tried to kill one of the Princesses?"

"I didn't exactly know that at the time!" Twilight snapped. "He seemed like a decent guy up until the whole Celestia incident," she sighed. "And I'm confused as to why Celestia won't even tell me what he did besides evasions and excuses! It's frustrating."

"Attempted murder of the crown not enough for you, Twi?" Rainbow asked.

"If that was all he did she should have no problem telling me because I knew already instead of giving me this 'state secret, stop asking' thing she's been doing."

"We could always ask him," Pinkie interjected.

"Where would we find him? He seems smart enough to not hide out in an obvious spot like the alley we lost him in," Rainbow mentioned.

* * *

Streak scratched his head, maybe hiding in the alley they had seen him in last was not a good idea. He stood up and slunk back along his earlier escape route, going the opposite direction when he hit the inebriated mare still laying on the ground. He looked around for a place to hide for the night, before something caught his eye.

The Everfree would work swimmingly.

* * *

"There is no ‘we’, Rainbow Dash. You're staying in the hospital overnight," Nurse Redheart interjected with a tone eliciting no argument.

Obviously that didn't stop the prismatic mare, "Yeah, no. If my friends are going after a murderer, I'm not letting them go without me."

"And would getting your friends in trouble for pursuing state secrets after being ordered to let them drop help them at all?" Redheart asked.

Rainbow froze, "You wouldn't."

"I take the safety of my patients very seriously, Rainbow Dash. I would.”

Rainbow sighed, “I guess you guys are going on without me,” she grumbled. “not that I like it. Maybe you’ll get lucky and he’ll be afraid of the dark or something.”

“Rainbow Dash! The stallion who attempted to kill one of the Princesses will not be afraid of the dark! That is absolutely ridiculous!” Rarity chastised.

* * *

Streak trembled in a clearing, covering his head with his hooves. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! He had forgotten how the dark had affected him, embarrassingly enough.

Heh, Streak thought. Wonder what Twilight would think of me if she could see me now?

Suddenly he heard talking.

She wouldn’t be laughing at you, the voice said. She’d understand.

Streak froze. That was not his usual inner voice talking. This voice was not masculine and sexy, it was genderless and sorta creepy. Who was this?

Call me the Librarian, the voice responded. And don’t worry, I’m here to help you.

Help me do what? Streak asked.

You’ll be told in due time, the Librarian replied. For now, make sure to tell Twilight.

Streak waited for the end of the sentence, but it never came. Tell her what? he prompted.

Everything.

* * *

Check the forest that accepts no chains, you will find him there.

That was it. No preamble, no staying after to chat. While by the edge of town, Twilight felt a foreign presence invade her mind, causing her to have a minor heart attack. It said one sentence, then it left.

“Twilight, dear?” Rarity’s voice broke through her thoughts. “He’s not in Ponyville, or if he is, he’s well hidden.”

“The forest that accepts no chains,” Twilight murmured, “If you’re chained you’re not free. If you have no chains you’re always free. Always free. Always... Forever! The forest that is forever free! The Everfree Forest!” Twilight whirled around to look at Rarity, “He’s in the Everfree Forest!”

“Twilight, what are you talking about?” Rarity asked, confused.

“No time!” Twilight started running for the forest, “Grab the girls and find me!”

“Twilight! Stop and think!” Rarity tried in vain to stop her friend, but she was already gone into the dark of the Everfree forest.

* * *

Streak calmed himself enough to look around at his clearing. The foreboding trees were encircling a picturesque meadow. The meadow itself surrounded a strange rock. It was taller than Celestia at the tip of her horn and coated in intricate engravings.

As he walked closer to the strange rock, he noticed that the engravings were of a unicorn. This unicorn was depicted vanquishing armies of monsters single handedly while a small army of non-unicorns cowered behind him. It showed him banishing a strange being that looked like someone sewed together many different animals. In another part, this unicorn was pictured sealing away a shadowy unicorn that had other ponies in chains.

Every subsequent picture was like following a history. It ended with this unicorn opening a glowing hole in the fabric of the universe, and disappearing.

Streak glared at the rock, knowing full well who was depicted. He also knew that this rat bastard deserved nothing of what he got.

Cease your reminiscing, she approaches, the Librarian scolded. Although she is not alone.

The Librarian’s words were accompanied by the sound of panicked panting and crashing. Streak turned to face the cacophony to see Twilight’s clearly panicked flight from a timberwolf.

Five minutes, Streak thought. Just five minutes without something happening.

* * *

Run.

That one word dominated Twilight’s mind. There was no ‘fight or’, there was just flight. Her hooves carried her as fast as she could go, but she knew that she would tire soon. Why didn’t she wait for her friends? All of the sudden she felt a presence muscle its way through the wards around her mind again.

Worry not, Mare of Magic, you are useful to me yet.

And with that, the voice left again.

“What... is the point... of having wards... around... your brain... if somepony can just... waltz in like it’s... nothing?” Twilight panted rhetorically. A snapping sound from behind reminded her that there was a tangible threat behind her trying to catch hold of her and eat her. With a terrified ‘eep!’ she redoubled her escape efforts.

Unfortunately, she missed the roots on the ground, causing her to stumble. In that instant she knew she was dead. There was no way she could get out of this. She felt something slam into her side, heard the tearing of flesh as she flew through the air. She landed not five feet from where she was last standing, and was surprised to feel the pain ebb away into nothing quickly.

Shock doesn’t mess around, does it? she asked herself.

Look again, Mare of Magic.

Again the presence left as fast as it came, leaving her confused. Deciding to follow instructions, she looked back at the timberwolf. Shock did not describe her emotions strongly enough when she processed what she saw.

Streak, blood running down his side, stood between her and the timberwolf.

* * *

What the hell are you doing? Streak’s mind screamed at him, She’s the student of Celestia herself! She’ll turn us in in a heartbeat!

So be it, he calmly told himself. I’ll not have more innocent blood on my hooves.

Have it your way, his mind sneered. I’m not going to assist this time. You’re on your own.

With those ominous words, the voice spoke no more.

Streak turned his attention back to the timberwolf and locked eyes with the beast. They both stood there for what felt like minutes, but could have only been seconds, before the wooden monstrosity charged. Streak quickly twisted his body, barely evading a massive bite meant to snap him in half like a twig. Continuing his spin, Streak brought his forehoof up into the timberwolf’s head, using its own momentum to knock it up and to the side. Before it could regain its balance, Streak jumped on its back. It shook like a wet mutt, trying to dislodge him, but he held tight, grinning like a madstallion. Ah, he’d missed this!

Twilight sat to the side, terrified. This stallion, she could believe tried to kill the Princess. The large grin on his face was out of place for the violence he was committing. No matter how hard she tried, she could not avert her eyes.

Streak waited for the timberwolf to stop shaking, then he slammed his hoof into the back of its neck as hard as he could. The timberwolf let out a whimper of pain to go with the resounding crack heard throughout the immediate area. Streak’s grin only widened as he brought his hoof down on the weakened spot on the timberwolf’s neck again and again, only stopping when a thud announced the separation of the monster’s head from its body. Jumping off the toppling body, streak called out, laughing, “Timber!” As the body that was formerly a timberwolf hit the ground near the head both the head and the corpse started twitching.

“No you don’t!” Streak cackled, punting the head into the surrounding forest. The twitching didn’t stop. He turned to see how Twilight was, and his smile fell at the look of horror on her face.

“Twilight—” he was interrupted with a slap to the face. “I guess I deserved that.”

“What was that?!” Twilight screamed at him. “Did you honestly enjoy killing that timberwolf?!”

Streak was still rubbing his face, “It’s not dead, just disabled. Knock off the head, and it will have to—” This time he was punched full on in the face.

“You talk about it so casually! What is wrong with you?” Twilight screamed in his face. “That was a living being! I heard the pain you caused it! How sadistic do you have to be to enjoy dealing that much pain to any creature?”

“Well—” Another slap. Streak was getting tired of these.

“That was rhetorical, and I’m not done yet!” Twilight interrupted.

“I am,” Streak said. This time, when Twilight swung at him, he dodged and caught it. Twilight’s eyes widened. She didn’t even get close. He was letting her hit him.

Almost makes you wonder if he’s more of a sadist or a masochist.

“Twilight, we can talk about this later, but for now? Get in the clearing.”

Twilight was stunned by this sudden show of assertiveness. Every conversation they’d had before, he let her take the lead. Now suddenly he was both deadly serious and in control. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

* * *

“She what?” Applejack yelled. “And ya didn’t stop ‘er?”

“I tried! We have to hurry! That forest is absolutely dreadful, not to mention that Streak fellow,” Rarity moaned, dancing on her hooves in impatience.

Pinkie Pie was uncharacteristically quiet, she just sat there as if listening to something. Suddenly she got a huge grin. “Come on, girls! She’s safe, and I know how to find her.

* * *

In a meadow in the forest, sits a monument to one undeserving. In this clearing sits the Mare of Magic and her guardian. Travel swiftly, Mare of Laughter, for there are terrible dangers that masquerade as friendly faces. I have tuned your foresight to allow you to get your group there in one piece. I can offer no more assistance. The rest it up to you.

* * *

“Whatever do you mean darling?” Rarity seemed stumped. This was not normal odd for Pinkie.

“Yeah, how d’ya know?” Applejack inquired.

“Pinkie sense!” Pinkie giggled. “Let’s go!” With that Pinkie bounced off in the direction of the Everfree.

Applejack and Rarity shared a look before shrugging. Might as well. It was, after, all better than nothing.

Fluttershy sat in the road, forgotten as usual, “Uhm, girls?” She tried to get their attention. Realizing that they didn’t hear her, Fluttershy whimpered and followed closely behind her friends.

* * *

Twilight gasped when she realized where they were. This was the long lost burial place of Starswirl the Bearded! Well, sort of a burial site, as there was no body recovered. She bounced like an excited filly, turning to face Streak. “Do you know where we are?” She bounced around. “This is the Starswirl Memorial! Nopony’s seen it in one hundred years!”

Streak looked at her bouncing around and snorted. He turned to the memorial and spat. “I’d have preferred if it was lost for another century.”

Twilight stopped her bouncing, looking at Streak in horror. “What?” she half whispered. “Starswirl the Bearded was the greatest unicorn to ever live!” Her volume raised as she continued. “He came up with hundreds of spells by himself, not to mention his work with dimensional theory alone shaped the way entire we use magic!”

“Starswirl was a sadistic bastard who was very good at acting,” Streak looked her in the eye. “He enjoyed causing pain more than anyone I have ever met.”

“You talk as if you knew him!” Twilight accused. “Starswirl the Bearded died nearly a thousand years ago trying to traverse dimensions!”

“I spent a thousand Faust damn years in one of those alternate dimensions because of that rat bastard!” Streak snapped. “Do you know how it feels to have your very soul get torn to shreds over a thousand years? Do you want to know what it feels like beg for death or insanity every damn second of every damn day? Do you want to know what this supposedly great unicorn did to me? To all of us? Brick and Ironhoof?”

Twilight looked at him in horror again. “I don’t believe you!” she exclaimed. “That’s impossible!”

Streak tapped his head, “Want to get a good look into my head, Twilight? Want to see that I’m telling the truth? Go ahead.”

Twilight froze. Invading the mind of another pony was the most illegal thing that a unicorn could do. If done without permission, the unicorn loses their magic and is exiled from Equestria. “Do you understand what you’re offering?”

“I Streak of Canterlot, unrepentant rebel, hereby give permission for Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and personal protege of Princess Celestia, Guardian of the Sun, to read my damn mind already.”

* * *

Walking up to the clearing at that exact moment were three mares. Rarity froze at that statement, “Girls, we need to hurry.”

“What, tha whole mind fiddlin’ thing? Twi won’t need our help,” Applejack said confidently, trusting the ability of her unicorn companion.

“Rarity, it’s only illegal if he’s not willing,” Fluttershy muttered.

Pinkie remained silent.

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Rarity fretted. “She feels what he felt, sees what he sees. For all intents and purposes, she is living his memories.”

Applejack’s eyes shot open. Fluttershy let out a characteristic ‘eep!’. Pinkie, however, didn’t react.

“Pinkie darling, are you there?” Rarity asked, worried.

“Three,” was all she said in reply.

“Three?” Fluttershy asked, confused.

“Two.”

“Wait just a minute, what are you counting down for?”

“One.”

“Pinkie—” Rarity began.

“Now,” Pinkie’s voice preceded Twilight’s scream of terror, pain, and betrayal by fractions of a second.

“Damn it, Twilight! I told you not to look at those!”

Twilight looked up at Streak through tear filled eyes. She uttered one word, “Celestia?”

Streak merely nodded.

Twilight shakily stood. She looked Streak in the eye, “You used to be a pegasus.”

Author's Note

Cliffhanger! Muahahaha!

But no, seriously, it took me long enough. Six months to write a chapter. I'm pitiful. Hope this chapter at least pretends to show six months of work.

-HB

1.5 Respect and Trust

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Five:
Respect and Trust

“I can see it. You’re broken. There were pieces of you that I couldn’t restore. Pieces of you that I didn’t restore. Yet, in your brokenness, you are whole. You are better. You. Are. Mine.”

It took me weeks, so many boring weeks, to recover. My friends tried to make my weeks more bearable, but after Celestia’s visit, I was allowed no visitors. It’s not my fault that Faust-damned Nurse Redcross walked in! ‘No stressful activities’ my ass!

Anyway, the nurse told me that Luna wanted to see me when I was being released. This confused me, I’ll admit, but I went straight to where Luna was. That is, I followed six different conflicting directions from guards until I eventually wandered into her.

* * *

Streak’s retelling was interrupted by a voice.

Streak heard bellowed into his mind, There’s someone at the door!

Everypony in the room heard the door opening. He immediately settled into a combat stance, while the girls all froze, expecting the worst.

What they got instead was Nurse Redheart. She walked in with some papers held in her mouth. “Rainbow Dash, you still have to sign out. You know—” She shook her head, sighing, “—you can’t just leave out the window. We’ve told you this before!”

The girls stared at Redheart in disbelief. Streak just chuckled, “You remind me of Redcross. Nothing seems to faze you. I do have to ask, however, why you aren’t reacting and what are you going to do?”

Redheart laughed, “Oh, Streak. If you had any idea what I’ve done for you already, you wouldn’t be asking that.” She turned to Twilight, suddenly serious. “What was it I said? ‘That’s the problem with Equestria, everypony lets the Princesses do the thinking for them. Think for yourself, learn what this Streak did that was so bad that he had the ‘Dead or’ tacked on to his 'Alive.' There’s a reason she’s not telling you what he did.’ Glad to see you’re following my advice.“

She then added in a stage whisper, “Was I right about why?”

Twilight flushed bright red to her neck before managing to sputter out, “Wha–uh. No! No no no!”

Redheart smirked, “To answer the second part of your question, Streak. I know what you’re planning on doing, and I intend to help you.”

Streak laughed at her, “You have no idea what I’m planning on doing. Nopony knows what I’m planning.”

Redheart never lost her smirk as she leaned in close to his ear and whispered. The girls watched Streak’s face go from amused, to flat, to frowning, to troubled.

“How in Faust’s name do you know that?” He exploded. “How could you know any of that?”

Redheart patted him on the withers, “I know many things I shouldn’t be able to.”

Streak heard the overpowering voice again, pounding on the inside of his skull, Kill her. She knows too much.

Streak growled mentally, No. If Celestia doesn’t know already, she’s on our side. If Celestia knows, then it doesn’t matter. At this point, we need all the help we can get.

Outside of Streak’s head, the conversation was continuing. “Yes Pinkie, even that,” Redheart chuckled

Pinkie’s eyes widened, “I didn’t even ask! How did you know?” Her eyes narrowed, “Did you look ahead in the chapter? Do I say it later?”

Redheart shot a confused and concerned look at Pinkie, “Does she make sense to anypony else?”

“Nope.”

“Nuh uh.”

“Not one bit.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Um... no.”

Just kill the pink one now and save us the trouble.

“Nopie dopie!”

“Pinkie, did you just... nevermind,” Streak said rubbing his temples, “She’s giving me a headache.”

Redheart smiled fondly at Pinkie before turning her gaze back to Streak, “Why don’t you continue from where you left off? We don’t have long until Celestia mobilizes the guard, I can be caught up later.”

Streak looked at her, confused. “How did you—”

“As I said, I know many things I shouldn’t.”

* * *

Luna turned to me, “We have a bit of a diplomatic issue.”

I nodded, not quite sure how that involved me.

“The sentient creatures of Discord’s army approached us with a plea for a place to stay. Apparently Discord destroyed their old homes, and was giving them parts of Equestria in return for helping. The minotaurs took the land we gave them without complaint, as it was rich in various metals. We negotiated a lease of our land in return for their services as smiths,” she sighed. “The dragons were more than willing to accept living in the gem-rich mountains in return for shipments of gems, along with one egg of each clutch being raised in Equestria.” She held up a hoof to stall my protest, “This was their condition, not ours, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer. I think they mean it as a show of solidarity.”

“The issue we have now is the griffons. They have a very militant and honor-bound culture, and their leader, Emperor Gil, is afraid of the repercussions if we don’t handle this well.”

“What repercussions are we talking about?” I asked.

“If we mess up too badly, the entirety of the griffon race will declare a blood feud against ponies. This will create a war with only one end. Genocide. They will fight until there are no ponies left to kill, or until there are no griffons left to continue this feud. Even if it doesn’t come to that, neither the griffons nor the ponies can take another war at this point. In no uncertain terms, if we hadn’t won that last battle as we did, we would have lost.”

“So we need to negotiate a treaty that doesn’t break down into another war with a people that we were summarily killing not a month ago?” I summed up.

“Precisely,” Luna nodded.

“So how does this involve me?” I asked.

Luna sighed before beginning, “Well, you see—”

Another voice boomed across the room, “We saw your attack of the ursa to save your friend.The griffon peoples have come to see you as a representation of everything griffon in pony society. With something as powerful as the public opinion backing you, you are the best, if not only, choice we have for a negotiator.”

I turned to look at where a figure was entering the room we were in. This figure happened to be a griffon easily the size of Celestia. He looked fairly similar to the griffons I had seen before, but with some noticeable differences. Most griffons had fur that was greyscale or brown, and generally lighter grey or white feathers, and he was no exception. His brown fur reached his shoulders before being overtaken by feathers white as snow. But while most griffons had crest feathers that faded to purple, brown, grey, or green, this griffon had a crest that faded to red.

The second I saw him, I settled into a combat stance, wings flared. I sat there waiting for him to make a move.

Instead, he laughed, “Cautious enough to detect that I might be a threat, but wise enough to hold yourself from charging, realizing that I might not be. I see that my griffons have chosen well.”

“I take it you’re Gil?” I asked, paranoia rightfully seeping into my tone.

Luna gasped, “Streak! Be respectful! He is an Emperor!.”

The Emperor chuckled, waving off Luna’s concern, “No, no, I don’t mind. Respect and trust are both earned, and I have done nothing to earn either from him yet.”

I nodded, still tensed, “So what you’re telling me is that if I don’t do the negotiations, we have no deal?”

Gil sighed, “A griffon is only emperor as long as he can keep power. When a challenge is called, another griffon is literally declaring themselves Emperor. Due to our laws, there can only be one Emperor alive at a time, and the only way for an Emperor to retire is to die. This means that one of the two will die, and the other will take over. The more positive public opinion an Emperor has, the less challengers he gets, and the more time he has to both run the country when we get one, and to rest and recuperate before the next battle.”

“And you’re afraid that if I’m not the negotiator, majority opinion will turn against you,” I concluded.

“Exactly,” he smiled.

“And why do you tell me this? I could just use it against you,” I pointed out.

“Two reasons,” he held up his talon. “One: you seem like a wise pony.” I snorted. “Don’t discount yourself. You are more wise than you think, you just need some refinement. With as wise as you are, you could see the benefits of a partnership between our races, so learning the inner workings of our politics would have happened anyway.”

His second talon went up, “Two: I wish to earn your trust. By opening myself up and showing that my intentions, no matter how noble, are also in a way selfish, I cease to attempt to be the perfect pillar that most leaders think they have to be. No being that lives today is perfect, this war has shown us this. Even one of the Guardians, placed here by the Weaver himself, has turned against us. We need to work together. Both to rebuild, and so that we can stand and fight in the event another Guardian turns.” He looked at Luna, “No offence.”

Luna shook her head, “None taken. As sad as it is to say, it is a legitimate concern in this day and age.”

Gil smiled before continuing, “I intend to be as transparent as I can in the facilitation of this goal, and I ask that you do the same.”

* * *

I groaned in frustration, “How the hell are we supposed to negotiate if neither of us is willing to compromise?”

Gil rolled his eyes, “I’m more than willing to compromise, you’re just being stubborn!”

“Look, there needs to be some sort of limit on cross-border travel!” I exclaimed. “If either of our nations experiences a drastic downturn in their economy, we can’t burden our sister nation with what amounts to economical refugees!”

“And if the opposite happens?” He pointed out. “What if your Equestria experiences an economic boost? Are you going to shut out griffons who wish to take advantage of a new job market?”

“If it protects my Equestrians? YES!” I slammed my hoof on the table, “If there is not enough jobs for both Equestrians and your griffons, I am more than willing. My first thoughts are on Equestria, your griffons come second.”

Gil growled, “I thought that we were trying to be your allies, not your satellite nation!”

I growled back, “I am treating you as allies, you are trying to make us one damn nation! I offered that at the very damn beginning, and you said no!”

“My griffons want to rule themselves, not be subjected to rule by your Princesses!” Gil roared.

“And I’m trying to protect the interests of my damn citizens!” I yelled back at him. “Neither of us can afford another war, you agree to this!”

“Yes I do, which is why I wonder at your willingness to start another one!”

“And how the hell am I doing that?”

“You insult us with your terms!” he exploded at me. “You talk of peace and equality, but you keep trying to shove the griffons down!”

“Any of my terms apply to Equestrian griffons as much as they apply to Equestrian ponies!” I reiterate for what must be the eighth time. “I’ve said this!”

“Perhaps we can adjourn and come back to the table after our tempers have cooled down?” Celestia suggested, walking into the room. “This is the third time that Luna and I have heard you two shouting from halfway across the castle.”

Gil stared at Celestia for a second, before slamming his head into the table. I burst into laughter at both his reaction and Celestia's confused face. Gil picked his face up off the table and glared at me before joining in on the laughter. Celestia just got more and more confused as we kept laughing. Eventually we calmed down.

“I lost fair and square, looks like we have border constraints,” Gil wiped a tear from his eye. “I was sure Luna was going to be the one to come in!”

I grinned, “I grew up with these two around and sleep with one on a regular basis, I know them.”

“Could you please explain what is going on?” Celestia asked.

“We reached a standstill on immigration and emigration policies,” I explained. “And after our second argument on that topic, Gil proposed a competition.”

Gil took over, “You see, we were at an impasse. I wouldn’t have any more and he wouldn’t have any less. Streak suggested getting an outside force to decide for us. I proposed that, since griffon negotiations don’t allow for a third party to intervene, we would play a game of chance. We would argue again, but we wouldn’t stop until either you or your sister intervened. If you came in we would use Streak’s policies. If Luna came in, however, I would win and my policies would go into effect.”

Still grinning, I finished it off, “Since he let me choose, I picked the two of you more likely to come over.”

Celestia just stared at us, jaw opening and closing as if she was looking for the right words to explain our genius. What we got instead was incredulous surprise, “You based our border policy with a neighboring country on a game of chance?”

Gil and I looked at each other before responding at the same time, “Yes.”

Celestia shook her head while leaving, muttering generalizations about ‘males.’

It was a good day.

* * *

Streak stared off into the distance, seemingly looking for the right place to continue the story. Unknown to the mares, there was an argument raging inside Streak’s head.

You are delaying, the overpowering voice growled. You are afraid.

What the hell do you mean? This is important! Streak retaliated.

Important to history is different from important to the task at hand, the voice answered. Your fear is causing delays. Delays we cannot afford.

And what would you suggest I do, oh wise one? Streak asked.

Don’t get smart with me, I am a part of you. A part that wants us to get the revenge we so rightly deserve.

What even are you?

Do you not listen? I am a piece of you.

I’m calling bull on that. To the best of my knowledge, I am not schizophrenic.

You are not. I am... The voice trailed off.

Now who’s afraid? I didn’t take you for a coward.

WHO ARE YOU TO INSULT ME? WHO ARE YOU TO CALL ME COWARD? WHO ALLOWED US TO SURVIVE THE VOID? YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW, DO YOU? I DID! ME! YOU SAT THERE FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF, AND WITH EACH PIECE PULLED OFF OF YOU, I FOUGHT HARDER! I KEPT YOUR CORE SELF SAFE WHILE YOU SAT THERE SNIVELING ABOUT YOUR FATE! I AM STRONGER THAN THE VOID YOU SO FEAR, I AM STRONGER THAN YOU!

If you’re so damn important, tell me what the hell you are!

I AM WHAT MAKES YOU IMMORTAL!

Streak’s brain broke. Immortal? No, not even the Guardians were immortal. Their death was foretold in the Tapestry.

I told you he wasn’t ready.

I don’t care about you or what you think. He needs to know, and if you won’t be the one to tell him, it might as well be me.

You may make him immortal, but you are wrong about being stronger than the Void. The countless swarms of the demons that inhabit the Void are only bolstered with each passing day. You would have been overrun within the next century. Do. Not. Test. Me.

Could one of you two shut the hell up and explain what you’re talking about?

There was quiet before the Librarian spoke up, It is getting late and the mares need to get home.

Streak’s immortality spoke up again, We will meet in person, or as close as we can get, when you next sleep.

Streak was pulled out of his internal conversation by a poke to his shoulder. He snapped back to reality to see Twilight’s worried face.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Streak smiled and looked out the window. It was nearly dark. “Just getting tired, it is getting late. Perhaps we could adjourn and begin anew tomorrow morning?”

His suggestion was met with grumbling approval and yawns.

* * *

Streak opened his eyes to see books. Shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books. He looked around, but the row of books he was in seemed to go on forever. He looked up and couldn’t see the top of the shelves. Looking at one of the thick bound books on the shelf he saw words written on the spine. They read:

Sunny Smiles, Day 9826, Hours 0–12

Curiosity overcame him and he pulled that book out. Placing it on the ground, he opened it to a random page about halfway through. It appeared to be a very detailed accounting of Sunny eating cereal for breakfast while tapping his rear hoof.

Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Lips part three-fifths of an inch. Jaw down two inches.. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Right forehoof up seven inches, left half an inch, and back seven inches. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Lips close two-fifths of an inch. Right forehoof forward two inches. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Rear right hoof up one inch. Jaw up two inches. Jaw down an inch. Right rear hoof down. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Jaw up an inch. Right rear hoof up one inch. Jaw down an inch. Heart beat in. Right rear hoof down one inch. Heart beat out.

Flipping a few pages later, Streak found that it was written like that for nearly a dozen pages. Who could have the patience to write something like this?

“Me, not that I have a choice,” the Librarian said from behind him. He turned around to see a white alicorn with crimson hair and mane, and blue eyes. Her horn was lit with a crimson aura as if casting some spell eternally. His eyes widened and he dropped to the floor in reverence. He was in the presence of Faust.

The Librarian scoffed, “Do not prostrate yourself, your kind are below my notice. My form is inconceivable to the likes of you, so I take the form of the being that is the closest to it, no matter how false they may be. Griffons see me as a pure black griffon, diamond dogs see me as the Allmother. Your ‘Faust’,” she spit the word out in disgust, “is but another form to me. Another skin that I wear to interact with lesser beings such as yourself.”

“Ah, get off your high horse,” the immortal voice responded. Streak whipped his head to look at the speaker. What he saw surprised him. What he saw was what appeared to be what he would look like as a hole in the universe. The immortal was black as the void, and no light seemed to affect him. He seemed to radiate a translucent aura of darkness. “You need him, you need us.”

The Librarian scoffed, “There are thousands more like him in the Void that I could grab.”

“None that are good enough to do what needs to be done, especially not now,” the pony of nothingness growled. “And none that can counter your balancing agent. Face it, Librarian; you’re stuck with us.”

“I thought this was me getting some damn answers!” Streak exploded. “Don’t give me more questions until I have had a chance to ask the questions I have!”

The Librarian turned to him with a look of cold fury. She opened her mouth to berate him when the Void pony interrupted, “You have a valid point. Ask, and we will answer what we can.”

“First,” Streak began, pointing at the pony of darkness, “What and who are you?”

The pony sighed, “I am a demon of the Void. Most of us were created by the Librarian and the Weaver when this realm was Woven, but in the last thousand years, the number of demons has swelled due to mortal interference. I think you know why.” Streak cringed. “Yeah, thought so. These demons are usually the result of a pony losing their sense of self, their identity, to the Void. Demons are eternally hungry for spent magics, and this includes life magics.”

“And you hitched onto my soul for free meals in return for protecting me?”

“Nothing so parasitic. As I said, I am you. Something about the magics Celestia threw onto you to keep you from dying while in the Void allowed you to both become a demon and keep your identity. This is unheard of, from what the Librarian has told me. This is why she has picked us.”

“Okay, question three.” Streak turned to the Librarian, “You said you don’t have a choice whether you write these or not. Why is that?”

The Librarian looked stunned for a second before recovering. “I am bound to the fate of this realm, and cannot leave until it has ended. My job is to record the present and past of this realm for review. This allows us to correct mistakes for the next realm we create.”

“You don’t sound happy about this arrangement,” Streak noted.

“It has been approximately one-hundred and seventy-five million, one-hundred and sixty-four, eighty-nine point eight five three three one seven seven one six eight three three five seven three nine hours since this realm was created. There is a book for every single living thing, from the largest dragon to the smallest amoeba. I am tired of writing the miniscule details of the lives of lifeforms that mean literally nothing.”

Streak was silent for a second. “Well that—”

“That number, if you didn’t know, comes out to almost twenty thousand years. Do the math.”

“Don’t, she already did.”

“Okay, question four.” He turned to the demon, “What is your name?”

The demon was silent for a moment, “I have none.”

Streak raised an eyebrow, “Really? None?”

“He is a part of you, not his own individual being, Besides demons don’t have names,” the Librarian said smugly.

Streak looked at the demon. His nature made it impossible to read his facial expression, but from body language, Streak could tell that having no name bothered him. “Nihility.”

“Nihility?” the demon asked.

“Your name,” Streak smiled. “Nihility means the state or condition of being nothing. I think it fits you. Everyone should have a name, regardless of what they are.”

If he could Nihility would be smiling.

“Question five, why me?”

“I was expecting this to be the first one. Short answer? Me. Long answer? Because you died, we are no longer attached to the Tapestry of Fate. Our lives are our own. Every single action we take makes another piece of the Tapestry invalid. Her hope is that when the Tapestry no longer shows the future, that the Weaver will return, spirit her away to somewhere new, and she will no longer be stuck with this realm for the next eight-hundred thousand years.”

Streak’s jaw dropped, “What if they just decide to axe the realm totally?”

“The Tapestry only deals with the big things. Important people and events, deaths of major figures, wars, famine, the like. The small things, like the death of one insignificant gnat of a pony? That can be changed by what I write. I control the world, and I can kill those you love when they are no longer attached to the Tapestry. The Elements have only one more use with their current bearers Woven, and after that” her voice grew threatening, “the Mare of Magic is fair game.”

* * *

“So let me get this straight, you want me to do... something? Just exist?” Streak asked, incredulous.

“Precisely,” the Librarian nodded, “Just acting, no matter what you do, will change the fate of the world. You are in a unique situation. Just don’t fail me and die early.”

“Or Twilight joins me in an early grave, I know,” Streak growled. “I do this for me and for her, not for you.”

“It matters not why you do it, just that it gets done.” And with that, she was gone.

“Bitch.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Streak left the Librarian’s realm with a new understanding of his demon half.

* * *

Streak opened his eyes to see his candle had burnt out during the night, leaving him surrounded by darkness. His eyes widened in panic, and he curled up in his corner.

Streak, Nihility tried to get through to him. You have nothing to fear.

This did nothing to change Streak’s mood. He remained oblivious to Nihility’s voice as he shook in his corner, abjectly terrified. Eventually the door at the top of the stairs opened up, allowing light to spill down. Streak practically bolted up the stairs, nearly bowling over Twilight, who had come to wake him up. He grinned sheepishly at her, “I, uh, don’t do well in dark places anymore.”

She shook her head, smiling, “What will we ever do with you? The girls are here.”

Streak looked to see the group assembled for his story to continue, including Redheart. Rainbow Dash was smirking at him. “Big bad soldier’s afraid of the dark?” she mocked.

He deadpanned at her, “You spend a thousand damn years in the Void and we’ll see how well you fare, Rainbow Dash.”

“Just... Continue with the story please, Streak,” Twilight sighed.

Streak was silent for a moment.

Do it. Tell them.

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, suddenly nervous.

Streak, have some courage, Nihility said. You have to tell them eventually, it might as well be now.

Again, Streak opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“Streak?” Twilight asked, “Are you okay?”

Streak sighed, “I’ve been stalling.”

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow, “Well duh, you’ve started and stopped twice already.”

“No, I mean with everything. Telling about the war, telling about the diplomacy, everything I’ve said has been a stall tactic. I just realised that last night,” Streak shook his head. “What comes next, well,” he trailed off. “It’s not something I want to relive. Bear with me here.”

Pinkie sat with a look of absolute horror on her face.

Twilight nodded understandingly, “I know, I saw it, remember?”

Streak shook his head, “You saw bits and pieces. You didn’t get to the bad stuff before breaking down.” He shook his head violently. “I’m stalling again. We’re starting. Now.”

* * *

It all started with a book. That’s it. A small, bound book with no title.

I had gone into Celestia’s room looking for her, hoping that she wasn’t off repelling the remnants of Discord’s army from some hamlet somewhere, when for some reason this book caught my eye. I opened it to find pages of names crossed out. Some I recognised as soldiers, others were obviously griffon, minotaur, and even dragon names. Some thirty pages in, I got to names that weren’t crossed out. Written in the margin was:

Black Forest site full. Old Capital site full. Hasten Void experimentation.

Looking at some of the names, I realised that they were names brought before me by Luna. Missing persons. I took a copy of some of the names as fast as I could before returning the book as to not raise suspicions.

Taking my list of a couple dozen pony and griffon names, I checked missing persons records. Of thirty-one names, twenty-nine of them were reported missing since the end of the war.

This troubled me. Why would Celestia keep a record of the names of missing persons? And what did she mean by ‘Black Forest site full’? Knowing fully that I would regret not asking her and going behind her back, I went to Starswirl.

“Starswirl,” I nudged his sleeping form. He’d fallen asleep doing research again. “Starswirl, wake up!”

Starswirl groaned and looked at me, “What? Celestia’s got all the researchers working on some kind of portal to the Void and I need all the sleep I can get.”

My blood ran cold. “Starswirl?” I began hesitantly.

“You’ve got bad news for me, haven’t you, my friend?”

I nodded, handing him the copy of the names and the note. His eyes looked over them one by one before looking at that last note. “What is this?”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” I said flatly. “I found it in Celestia’s room. That is one page out of over thirty. Each name was scratched out, and all but two are reported missing.”

Starswirl grimaced, “That is not good news, have you talked with her?”

I shook my head, “It’s probably nothing bad. Probably taking names of ponies she found and moving them to refugee camps,” I could see that Starswirl didn’t believe that at all, and I knew I didn’t either. “On the off chance that it really is something, I don’t want her to know that I know.”

“But she’s your—” Starswirl began.

“What did I say before the Battle of Canterlot?” I interrupted.

“ ‘Doubly then,’ “ Starswirl said grimly.

“ ‘Doubly then,’ “ I repeated. “What exactly is the Void?”

Starswirl brightened up with the chance to change the subject, let alone talk about his work. “Well you see, the Void appears to be a plane of nothingness! Nothing is there, as far as we can detect!”

I looked at him incredulously, “You’re saying that the Void is a perfect vacuum?”

He grinned like a foal in a candy shop, “It appears so! Now, opening a portal to the Void is not a problem. Opening a portal to the Void that doesn’t suck in everything around it is. On top of that, the portal needs to have a permeable barrier so things can get thrown into it. The researchers are thinking of creating a stabilized self sustaining version and using it as waste disposal once research is done.”

I froze. “ ‘Things can get thrown into it’?” I asked.

Starswirl nodded, “The Princess’s exact wording.” I looked at the list and back at Starswirl. His face fell, “Oh. Well.”

“Shit.”

* * *

I left Starswirl to do his experimentation, knowing that pulling him off would arouse suspicion. My next stop was Wonderbolt. I was hoping to go out to the old capital on the guise of improving my flight. Plus, Wonderbolt was one of the best people I could think to spend a two hour flight with.

“This is grim news,” Wonderbolt said after he was caught up. “You know that you’ll need more evidence before you can bring this to Luna or Chance.”

I nodded, “She mentioned an Old Capital site. I figure that that is much more specific than somewhere in the Black Woods.”

Wonderbolt looked at me sideways, “Everfree is in the Black Woods.”

“Ah, but Canterlot is not officially the capital yet, it’s still Everfree. The capital used to be farther West on the coast before a tsunami destroyed it. Damn near wiped out the population too. That area of the coast was deemed too dangerous to live in nearly two-hundred years ago,” I grimaced. “I have a feeling that that’s where she hid the bodies, if that’s what’s going on.”

Wonderbolt nodded solemnly, “The ruins of Equus are nearly two hours away at your top speed.”

I nodded, “Let’s make it in one.”

Two hours later, I caught up with a thoroughly appalled Wonderbolt. I collapsed on the ground, and pulled myself up to walk even with him. What I saw sickens me to this day.

Bodies. Bodies, everywhere. Most of them are ponies, with some griffons thrown in, a spattering of minotaur here and there, and what I think might have been a dragon at some point based on an intact scale here and there and bone chunks that were large enough to be identifiable.

Wonderbolt looked at me, green in the face, “I think Luna has to see this.”

I silently nodded, appalled by what Celestia had done.

* * *

The girls all had looks of shock on their faces. Rarity was the first to make a comment. “Well, I can see why this is a difficult topic for you.”

Pinkie shuddered, “I’m never reading ahead in the chapter again.” Her eyes widened, “Now I’m really not reading ahead in the chapter! It gets worse!”

Streak smiled sadly, “It does, indeed, Pinkie. It gets much worse.”

* * *

Luna sat, looking at the devastation in horror. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as she struggled to find the words to express what she was feeling. Eventually, she settled for just interrogating us. “How did you find this?”

I silently threw the list at her. “These were taken from a journal in Celestia’s room. There were easily thirty times that many names written down and scratched out, and half that many names not scratched out. That note about the sites being full was in the margin.”

Luna looked at me in shock, but I didn’t relent, “It says to hasten Void experimentation, and in the orders she gave the researchers, she clearly states that the barrier between the Void and our plane needs to be permeable, so things can be thrown through. All this on top of the fact that there has been a steady increase in monster activity since the end of the war, and as such a steady increase of dead and missing persons. Celestia personally attends to each and every one of these reports, leaving her out of the castle for what can amount to weeks at a time.” I pointed to the mass grave, “Do you see those scales?”

Luna looked green. I kept hammering it in, “Yeah, that is at least one dragon. I’m not sure, because it was flayed alive, ripped apart violently, then its bones were shattered. All of this was after all the ponies its pieces rest on top of were already dead. Presumably by Celestia’s hoof or direct order. Most likely each of these ponies, griffons, minotaurs, and dragon-slash-dragons were killed personally, one at a time.”

“How could she have had time to do this?” Luna asked with tears in her eyes, clearly looking to prove her sister innocent. Hell, I hoped she did it too, but the evidence was damning.

“Luna, how fast could you snap a neck?” Luna’s eyes widened in shock at the odd line of questioning. “It would take you a fraction of a second.” I kept going, “How fast could you make a magic dampening cage? It would take you minutes, if not seconds.” My eyes were misting. It hurt to make these accusations. It hurt more to know they were likely true. “How difficult would it be to incite Discord’s old army to attack a village? Easy, I could do it. How hard would it be for you to teleport some ponies into those cages while you’re fighting off the attack that you orchestrated as a distraction?”

Luna finished for me, quietly, “Effortless.”

Tears were falling down my face, “I’ve been working with Gil so that our races would be ready for another Guardian betraying us. I just didn’t think it would happen in my lifetime, let alone so soon after Discord.” I choked up, “And I had hoped to any kind of divine being listening, whether it was Faust, the Allmother, the Weaver, or whoever, that it wouldn’t be Celestia that turned.

“I guess you don’t always get what you want.”

* * *

We returned to the castle to find that Celestia had yet to return. Small miracles. I gathered all our old squad. They all reacted to what Luna, Wonderbolt, and I had to report as could be expected. Brick sat with no facial expression, but I could catch twitches of fury and despair in his eyes now and then. Poor Ironhoof broke. Just collapsed on the ground and started bawling. Sombra had to be restrained by Starswirl so that he didn’t go hunt down Celestia. Starswirl already suspected, but getting conformation nearly put him down with Ironhoof. I think having to restrain Sombra was what kept him up.

I returned to Celestia’s room to grab the book while Starswirl went down to get the official orders for pushing Void research. The book was not hard to find, having been right where I left it earlier in the day. When I turned around, I saw Starswirl standing in the doorway.

“Starswirl? What are you doing? You’re supposed to be in the labs!” I exclaimed.

Starswirl looked at me sadly, “I’m sorry, my friend.”

I was confused for only a second before there was a golden flash from behind me and everything went black.

* * *

I woke to see the last pony I wanted to see right then. Celestia. I tried to move, but I was strapped back-up down on a table.

“I hope the accommodations are satisfactory?” Celestia asked.

I just glared.

“Listen, you need to understand my side of this,” Celestia pleaded, giving me the sad eyed pout that used to make me cave instantly.

“What good side can there be to murdering hundreds, potentially thousands?” I snapped. “How can you put a positive spin on mass murder?”

She genuinely looked hurt at my accusations, “It was for a good reason—”

“I’m going to stop you right there. Don’t you dare try to pretend you’re the same Celestia I fell in love with. You are a fucking monster, and shall be treated as such.”

Celestia looked taken aback for a second before smiling. “You always were smart. Such a useful tool. A mental nudge there, a glance there, and you fell so hard for me.” She laughed. “You would trip over yourself to make me happy. You were the best tool I think I’ve had the pleasure of using.” Her grin turned wicked, “But with the hammer and the saw, every good tool reaches a point where it has to be replaced. You have just reached that point.”

“Go ahead, then. Replace me,” I spat. “There’s Wonderbolt–oh, wait, he was with me when I found your mass grave as Equus. Oh, but maybe Brick–nevermind, he knows too. Ironhoof–no, he knows too. Sombra could be a good choice, but we had to restrain him from hunting you down. Maybe Starswirl–but oh, I know him. He wouldn’t work with a monster now that he knows what you truly are.”

Celestia grinned again, “Who do you think told me you knew? I already have another tool. You don’t buy a hammer after the last one breaks, you keep a spare in the cabinet for quick access. Starswirl is mine, Streak. He’s always been mine, he just didn’t know it yet.

“I can see it now, my lover betrays me and corrupts my sister against me. Good thing Starswirl was there to stop the vile monster Streak, who had been hiding in plain sight all along. Too bad for Luna, poor dear’s sealed on the moon.” At my look of horror, Celestia grins even more. “I forgot to mention that, didn’t I? I used the same technique I used on Discord to drive him insane on Luna. Oops, did I let that slip?” Her grin was wider than any I’d ever seen on her before. “I thought that I’d leave you awake to watch the punishments of your fellow conspirators. Unfortunately, whatever method you used to corrupt them is irreversible with the level of magic we have today.” She looked out of a window in the side of the room. “Too bad for the mortal ponies, I just had to put them down. Too dangerous to keep them alive, you know. Sorrow and regret and such.”

“You bitch!” I exclaimed. “Why do you do this?”

She turned her grin back to me, “Why does any sadist do what they do? Power, control. I don’t care who I have to walk on to get power, I just want it. You enabled my removal of Discord and provided me with a method to remove my sister from the equation, leaving only one player left to oppose me.”

“Chance.”

“Precisely, but he’ll go down soon enough. With you singing your lord praises and bragging about the power he granted you before you went down. Too bad you refused to surrender, or we might have saved your friends.”

I glared at her, but she just left the room laughing. In the doorway was Starswirl with a look of sorrow on his face. The level of hurt I was feeling must have spilled over into my face, because he opened his mouth. “Streak—”

“Fuck off, Starswirl.”

“But—"

“Fuck. Off.”

Starswirl hung his head before following his new mistress, leaving me to my thoughts.

* * *

On the other side of that window was another room. It was fairly plain, being merely a twenty foot long and ten foot wide cobblestone box. There were three-hundred thirty-six stones on the back wall. I triple-checked. The floor and ceiling were the same cobble, and the whole room was lit with magical torches. They make no smoke or heat, you know.

It was on my fourth count of the cobblestones on the far wall that the door to that room opened. Starswirl walked in with Celestia, who hadn’t lost her grin since I last saw her. The sadistic glint in her eye was new, however, which was probably a bad sign.

My hunch was proved right when there was a golden flash, depositing a thoroughly confused looking Wonderbolt onto the floor.

“Let’s begin with an easy one. Splitting into multiple,” Celestia began. Her horn glowed, surrounding a panicked Wonderbolt in golden glow. The glow intensified until you couldn’t see him anymore. “Alright, I’m supplying the power and the failsafe. Don’t be afraid to mess up, all it will do is cause pain, not damage. In fact, make many mistakes, you learn from them, I hear.”

Starswirl stepped up cautiously before adding his own aura to Celestia’s. From Wonderbolt’s cries of agony, Starswirl wasn’t getting his spell right on the first try. The golden mass shifted, growing wider and thinner, taller and shorter, and contorting into all sorts of odd shapes. Eventually the mass split into two nearly identical masses of similar shape and size from the original one. As Celestia’s aura receded, two pegasai were revealed. One was obviously male and looked like Wonderbolt with his mane and coat dyed dark blue and sky blue, respectively. Even his cutie mark was the same winged lightning bolt. The other pegasus, however was female with Wonderbolt’s colors. Her coat was orangish-yellow, and her mane and tail looked like fire. Her cutie mark was a bastardization of Wonderbolt’s: a flaming lightning bolt.

“Good. These two have no memories of who they once were. This is one way to deal with dissenters, and it gives you an extra functioning member of society each. However there are more ways to deal with them.” With a flash, the ponies that used to be Wonderbolt disappeared and were replaced with Sombra. “In the case of a powerful magic user, you could corrupt their minds, driving them to, say, take over northern Equestria and declare it an independant Empire based off of slavery. This allows you to defeat this ‘menace’ and makes the public love you. Try this now, I know that mind magic was never really your forte.”

Within minutes, Sombra’s eyes were green with a red iris and slitted pupil. Purple smoke was trailing out of the sides of his eyes, a sure sign that he was filled with dark magics. Damn it, Starswirl! I wanted to scream, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

“Slaves,” Sombra growled.

With a flash, Sombra was gone and replaced with Brick and Ironhoof. They looked around in confusion before settling on Starswirl and Celestia. Brick stood up and said the longest sentence I had ever heard him say, “I knew it was ya, Starswirl. Go ahead. Do it. I bet ya can’t look a stallion in the eyes when you kill ‘im.”

A tear fell down my cheek. Defiant to the last. Outmaneuvered, out manned, and overpowered, and Brick could still look that bastard in the eye and give him a tongue lashing.

“Actually, that’s what I want you to do,” Ironhoof looked at Celestia in surprise. “Kill them both. I don’t care how. This is the easiest way to deal with dissenters and rebels. I would know, I’ve killed easily a thousand since the war ended a year ago.”

Wonderbolt closed his eyes, bracing himself for what he was going to do. That rat bastard knows what he’s doing is evil. He doesn’t even want to do it! He’s forcing himself to torture and murder his friends!

The room was filled with fire as Starswirl unleashed his magic. When the smoke cleared, Celestia and him were behind a blue barrier. He looked like he was about to throw up.

Celestia never lost the grin

* * *

Starswirl came to me one last time. “Streak, you have to join her.”

“No.”

“Streak, please! There are things happening that are bigger than our circle of friends! Bigger than Equestria! Join me, and help make things right!” He pleaded.

“She’s a fucking monster, Starswirl. And so are you. Get out of my sight.”

“Streak—”

“What part of go the fuck away do you not understand, you bastard? Did you think that some damned sob story is going to make me change my mind about you after watching you torture and murder my friends?”

“They were my friends too, damnit!”

“If they were ever your fucking friends, then you wouldn’t have done what you have done.”

“I had no choice! The realm—”

“Can go fuck itself. And so can you.”

Celestia joined in, “Looks like he’s not coming back. Starswirl, be a dear and step out of the room. This is personal.”

Starswirl gave me one last look of sorrow before walking out of the room.

Celestia grinned, “I could make this long and drawn out, but I think I’ll make it short and sweet. And painful.” She placed a hoof on my back, holding me down. “Try not to scream too loud, I like it when my victims try and be defiant. Breaking them is... almost orgasmic.” Suddenly I felt a tugging at my left wing. No. NO!

“Tug, tug. pull, twist, wrench, yank, toss~! One wing down~!” Celestia singsonged when I managed to not scream when she tore off my wing. “You’re good at this game! Let’s try round two!”

She went much slower with this wing, dislocating every joint, breaking every bone, and tearing the pieces out one by one. I felt her shiver when I started screaming. I think the ‘almost’ was an underexaggeration. Before long my wing was laying on the ground next my other one, and tears were running down my face.

“Now comes the fun part! Can’t have you bleeding to death just yet!” she exclaimed with childish glee. She teleported a red-hot fire poker from somewhere in the castle and began to cauterize the wounds. Very slowly. Very sloppily. I my screams elicited another shiver from her. She was really enjoying this, wasn’t she?

Celestia left the room, I swear, skipping with joy. Starswirl came in and used some kind of soothing magic to make everything not hurt as much. I think it was a healing spell, but I can’t quite be sure. I did, however, manage to groan out at Starswirl, “Bastard.”

After Starswirl left, Celestia returned, her vicious grin returning to replace her happy one she had when she left. I’m not sure how long it took for her to come back, or why, but it wasn’t going to be anything good.

Her horn fired up and a disk of blackness opened up in front of me. It appeared to be a hole in the universe. The hole was blacker than night, and no light seemed to affect it. It seemed to radiate a translucent aura of darkness. Nothing good could come from this.

“You’ll never guess what Starswirl made~! It’s a void portal with a permeable membrane~!” Celestia sing songed. You get to be the first living thing to visit the Void!” She clopped her hooves together repeatedly in joy. I was, unsurprisingly, less than enthused. Her horn glowed as she layered spell after spell on me. “One of these,” she explained, “should keep you alive to experience every second of the rest of time in the void! Ooh, I’m so excited! I might even drag you out in a few thousand years to see how you did!”

Her grin turned malicious, “Starswirl, if you’d do the honors?”

Starswirl looked at me with immense sorrow, “I’m sorry, my friend.”

“You’re not my fucking friend,” I spat out as I was surrounded in blue. Then everything was pain.

Author's Note

So, yeah. I already typed this out once, but me being an idiot kinda ruined it. Hopefully I don't forget to hit save this time. This is being submitted from my phone and without being sent to proofreaders, so please point out any errors you see and when I get to a computer in a few days I'll correct them.

On a completely unrelated note, has anybody else played the CCG yet? So awesome! /)^3^(\ Managed to nab both decks, and even played a round against Ponlver! My life is complete.

Now to your regularly scheduled chapter notes:

Alternate title: Suddenly, Politics.

I mean, seriously. Do you realize how much work was put into making the griffon political system? it seems like the kind of thing that would be made in a day, but I spent months building that damn thing. Fortunately for me, this system of theirs becomes a major plot point way way wwwwaaaaaaaaayyyyyy in the future if everything turns out the way I want it to.

Sweet merciful gods, it takes so much self control to not start spouting every single idea running through my head to anyone who will listen. How do people do this for a living? I'd release so many spoilers that there would be like a chapter that was new content per book.

Also, I love Pinkie HI! to death, but she takes way too much energy to write, especially after running the Warrior Dash. My poor legs.

-HB

1.6 Not a Cakewalk Served Up on a Silver Spoon

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Six:
Not a Cakewalk Served Up on a Silver Spoon

Something something dark side. Something something ultimate power.

There was not a single sound in the room as Streak finished his story. Nopony moved. Shock and horror were prevalent features on the faces of the mares, and poor Fluttershy had fainted partway through his retelling of the dungeon. Eventually someone spoke up.

“I understand now,” Redheart said simply, quietly.

“Understand?” Streak asked.

“Why it is you’re going to do what you’re going to do.”

She doesn’t understand. She thinks she does. She doesn’t know us, doesn’t know our life. Our pain.

Let me be the first to point out how cliche that was. Also, let her think what she will, she said she’d help us and she will.

She could be useful, but something about her feels... off. I cannot sense her.

That could be good or bad.

Explain how this could be good.

If it pisses you off, it’s enough for me.

Exactly.

If I didn’t need you—

Save your idle threats for someone who is afraid of them, will you?

Just let me do me, and you get your fate tangles.

“Streak,” Redheart started cautiously, “are you okay?”

He shook his head, snapping back into reality. “As okay as I can be. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be more than okay when we’re done.”

“You were staring into space. Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked.

Streak put on his best fake smile, “Fine.”

It didn’t seem to fool her, but she dropped the subject, which was good enough for him. Looking to the rest of the room, they were beginning to recover. Rainbow just stared at his sides, where his wings used to be, her own wings tucked tightly against her side protectively. Twilight had a look of absolute horror on her face, staring at nothing. Fluttershy was being woken by a somber Pinkie Pie. Rarity was slowly shaking her head in denial. Eventually Applejack spoke up.

“So what are we doin’ ‘bout this whole thing? Redheart keeps mentioning a plan ya have.”

“ ‘We’ aren’t doing anything. I am heading to Canterlot to confront Celestia,” Streak said.

“You expect us to let you face that monster by yourself?” she countered. “She has stayed in power for over a thousand years, a few o’ those years with Luna co-ruling. If she could fool us all for that long, then do you expect to topple her regime with a single pony?”

“I don’t intend to topple the regime, just the pony,” Streak smiled sadistically.

Twilight didn’t look amused. “If you think you’re going anywhere without us, and with your side like that, you’re wrong.”

“This isn’t an option, Twilight,” Streak swiped his forehoof through the air in a clear act of dismissal. “Every day I spend that she is not dead is one more day for her to throw more into the Void. It’s another day she can prepare for my arrival. Do you think she doesn’t know what I plan? Do you think she’s just going to sit there and do nothing for a month while I ‘get ready’ and rest up?”

Surprisingly Fluttershy was the next one to speak up, and forcibly, “You are not going anywhere until your side is healed up. That is final.”

Streak turned to look at her to see her staring intently into his eyes. Something about her stare was frightening, and he grew uneasy to feel it turned on him. He felt a compulsion to obey her, to stay until he was healed.

Not on my watch.

Streak felt a surge of warmth from his chest spread throughout his body. All of the mares but Fluttershy looked on in fear as his eyes literally darkened, going pitch black. After his eyes, his fur and mane, save his rainbow streak, darkened a few shades. He growled, “Do you think you scare me? Do you seek to intimidate me into playing along with your little game?”

Streak’s body seemed to ripple, getting not larger, but more muscular. His voice changed with his body, becoming deeper and resonating throughout the library, “I have survived hell itself, and you seek to cow me into submission?”

Fluttershy couldn’t look away, she had frozen in fear, as had most of the mares. Redheart walked up to Streak’s changed form and gave him a good shove. “Get out.”

Streak yelped as he toppled over, his natural form and coloring returning before he even hit the ground. He grimaced as his injured side landed on the ground. He picked himself up and grabbed his head, hissing.

“Tell your friend to not do that too much yet. That causes headaches and muscle soreness until you get used to it,” Redheart switched into lecture mode. “You’ll need a few weeks training to be able to use that form with any regularity with no side effects.”

Streak grimaced, “Nihility, stay in my damn head, please.”

I thought it was hilarious.

As if I didn’t need another reason to not do that again.

Twilight looked between the two with a confused expression, “Could someone please tell me what’s going on?”

“This one stays with Streak, I’m afraid,” Redheart stated simply. “It’s not the kind of thing that anyone should know, not even you girls. Suffice to say, we found our reason to keep him here for a while.”

Streak growled, “Not that I like it any.”

* * *

Within the last few days, Streak had moved to be in Fluttershy’s cottage. It was closer to the Everfree, and she was constantly there to tend to his wounded side.

He had found a path leading to a clearing on the second day, and since then it had become his. He woke up before dawn every day and practiced his transformations until Fluttershy came to get him for breakfast. Between breakfast and lunch, he would help her feed her animals. He refused to live in her house as a freeloader. After lunch, he would return to his clearing to practice his fighting. Fluttershy supervised, of course, to make sure he didn’t pull his side too much. He would never admit it, but he was glad to have the company after nearly a thousand years alone. After dinner, he would bathe in the creek. This was the one event where he was embarrassed to have Fluttershy attend. She did it for a completely chaste reason, of course, and used the time to clean his wound and replace his bandages. Still, he would always blush when she joined him in the creek to wash, and made sure to avert his eyes. He was a gentleman, damnit! After he was clean, he would go to bed.

And so he settled into a regular regime. Wake up, practice transformations, eat, work, eat, practice, eat, clean, blush, bed, repeat. It was simple and allowed him to take his mind off things. At least, it was. After about two weeks, things changed.

It was just after lunch. He was in his glade doing warm ups, when Fluttershy gasped. He turned to look, and saw Rainbow Dash walking up calmly. He had been around the brash pegasus enough to realise that something was up. First, she wasn’t flying. Second, she seemed to lack her confidant, almost arrogant, demeanor.

“Rainbow Dash,” Streak called out. “Something is troubling you.”

She hesitated for a second before blurting out, “I need your help!” Her cheeks erupted in red afterwards, obviously embarrassed at having to ask for help.

Streak’s eyebrow rose slightly, “You don’t seem like the type to ask for favors idly. What is it you need?”

She seemed ready to back down, but, with a comforting nudge from Fluttershy, she continued. “You beat me twice. Easily. I want to learn to fight. Not the wimpy self defense stuff they teach in Canterlot, but real, war tested fighting.”

“You realise that this is a daily commitment, Rainbow Dash?” Streak asked. “I’m not going to allow you to skip out, no matter the circumstances, no matter how sore you are. I will walk straight into the center of Ponyville shouting your name, if it comes to that. Are you okay with that?”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open, realizing what an event like that would cause. She hesitantly nodded her head.

Streak smiled a small smile, “Okay, step one: warming up.”

* * *

Books and Branches, the local library in Ponyville, was in complete disarray at the moment. Books were piled up, forming a maze across the floor with wooden floors and literary walls. Novels glowing purple flew through the air, organizing and reorganizing themselves, all the while a baby purple dragon ran as fast as his stubby little legs could take him to put them in their places before his companion, a rather pretty unicorn mare, could magic them away into the next organizational method.

It was a normal Tuesday afternoon for the duo.

A knock at the door interrupted the reorganization efforts, much to Spike’s relief. Twilight smiled at her little assistant’s reaction before opening the door. What met her on the other side nearly bowled her over.

“Shiny!” Twilight exclaimed in glee, giving her older brother a flying tackle-hug. Shining Armor yelped as he was knocked flat, much to his wife’s amusement. Cadance giggled at her sister-in-law’s reaction.

Shining Armor groaned, “Good to see you too, sis.”

This caused Cadance’s giggles to turn to flat out laughter. Twilight finally noticed her old foalsitter, and changed her target.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

Both Twilight and Cadance toppled over in laughter as they completed their ritual. Shining Armor chuckled, “Good to see that my wife is up to date on her flank shaking skills.” This earned him a magical swat from both his sister and wife, causing him to yelp.

“What are you guys doing here?” Twilight asked, smiling.

“What, I’m not allowed a vacay?” Shining Armor asked.

“Vacay?” Twilight cocked her head.

“Shining,” Cadance groaned. “He means to say vacation.”

“What? All the cool kids are saying it!” Shining Armor turned his muzzle up in mock indignation, causing the mares to laugh.

However, Twilight couldn’t keep up the happy attitude, not in light of the revelations just three weeks ago. The random bouts of crying and depression had stopped, at least.

Shining Armor noticed her somber demeanor, “What’s wrong, sis?”

Cadance got a smirk on her face, “Does it have to do with a stallion?”

Twilight blushed to her neck, “N–No! No!”

“That sounds like denial~!” Cadance singsonged.

“No! My issue doesn’t directly involve a stallion!” Twilight exclaimed.

“But it does involve one indirectly,” Shining Armor surmised.

Twilight sighed, resigning herself to her fate. “It’s easiest to just show you. Shiny, you remember the memory spell?”

He looked at her sideways, “Of course I do. It’s one of the main ways we gain evidence from witnesses.”

Twilight facehoofed, “Of course, stupid question.”

“Why do you ask, Twily?” he asked.

“You’re going to need it and a bit of an open mind soon.”

* * *

“Alright, you’re going to need to stay here,” Twilight said, standing outside a certain pegasus’s cottage.

“Go ahead, Twilight,” Cadance said before smirking. “But don’t take too long, who knows what Shiny and I could get up to if we get bored.”

Twilight burned bright scarlet as Shining Armor’s ears perked up in interest. Twilight hurried into Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Fluttershy?” she called out quietly. It was about noon, so she knew Streak was either back or on his way back for lunch.

“Oh, Twilight! Are you here to see Streak?” Fluttershy’s timid voice called from the kitchen.

Twilight smiled and walked in, “Yeah, is he feeding animals still?”

Looking around, Fluttershy’s kitchen was fairly normal. It had a table for small meals, ample counter space, some culinary detritus spread out, blenders and such, and a knife block with a knife missing.

Fluttershy shook her head, “Oh, no. We finished early today. Rainbow Dash showed up early and helped us finish with chores. He’s upstairs.”

“Why’s there a knife missing?” Twilight inquired of her companion.

“Streak asked if he could borrow it. He likes to keep it nearby, it makes him feel safer.”

“That makes sense. What about Rainbow? Where is she?” Twilight asked.

“She said something about hanging out at Sweet Apple Acres to get free food from Applejack,” Fluttershy smiled demurely.

Twilight shook her head, “Some ponies never change. I’m heading upstairs to grab Streak, Shining Armor and Cadance are—” Her words were broken off by a thumping sound coming from the front door. She heard Cadance yelp in suprise and angry shouting from Shining Armor. Twilight nearly ripped the door off opening it in her panic, and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

Streak was holding a terrified Cadance between him and Shining Armor, who’s horn was glowing. Streak was pressing a knife up to her neck. “Alright, Twilight. You have five seconds, exactly five fucking seconds to explain why you brought an alicorn to my door, or we see if an alicorn bleeds like the rest of us.”

* * *

Streak shook his head as Rainbow Dash flew off to Sweet Apple Acres. Some ponies never change. He turned his attention to his other pegasus companion, “So, need any help with food?”

Fluttershy smiled, “Oh, no. You already do so much around here. Feeding the animals used to be an all day thing.”

She had gotten comfortable around him, probably from the shared baths. Her comfort caused her to talk louder and more frequently as time went on, and now she was talking at her regular volume on a consistent basis around him.

Streak smiled, “Alright, I’ll just bring the animals upstairs their food and be down for lunch.”

Fluttershy nodded and walked into the kitchen, leaving Streak to complete his self-appointed task. He loaded the feed on his back and started filling bowls that Fluttershy had conveniently left at the base of each animal’s house.

Right as he was finishing, he heard Twilight’s voice, “Alright, you’re going to need to stay here.” He looked out the window to see Twilight with a stallion he had never seen before.

A voice he had never heard before spoke with much amusement, “Go ahead, Twilight. But don’t take too long, who knows what Shiny and I could get up to if we get bored.”

Streak’s eyes widened as he saw the speaker. She had wings and a horn, which meant only one thing. Damnit there are three of them.

He walked silently to his room and grabbed his knife. After that it was a simple matter to sneak back to the window and open it without the two hearing him. He paused at the window, going over his options.

Okay, so we have two choices. Unicorn, or alicorn.

My first thought would be alicorn, but that unicorn is allowed to travel with a Princess alone. He is either weak and trusted, or he is both very powerful and very trusted. This complicates things.

Twilight obviously knows the alicorn on a personal basis, and I have a feeling that ‘Shiny’ is not the name that someone like him would go with on a day-to-day basis. She brought her boy-toy?

That seems a likely option, but irrelevant.

Not so, she might surrender if I grab her lover.

Or she could throw him to the wolves and retreat with our location, endangering ourselves and the girls.

This morality thing sucks. Alright, I say we hit the boy-toy and grab the alicorn. All in favor say ‘yea’.

Just do it.

Good enough!

That conversation took place in seconds.

Springing into action, Streak launched himself out the window. He landed next to the unicorn, and gave him a solid buck to the side. Taking advantage of his disbalance, Streak spun and hit him on the horn, fizzling out the spell he was casting reflexively and stopping casting for a few seconds.

Quickly, Streak spun around and smacked the pink alicorn on the horn, disabling her spellcasting as well. He quickly knocked her on her flank and threw the knife up to her throat. He spun in such a way that the unicorn had to redirect his blast or hit her.

Fluttershy’s door was almost ripped off its hinges by a purple aura as Twilight burst out of the cottage, confusion and panic written on her face. He was hurt by her actions, but kept it down in favor of anger. “Alright, Twilight. You have five seconds, exactly five fucking seconds to explain why you brought an alicorn to my door, or we see if an alicorn bleeds like the rest of us.”

Recognition came to the unicorn’s face, “You’re Streak, aren’t you? Let my damned wife go.”

Oh, hell no.

“I don’t think so,” he pressed the knife up higher, causing Cadance to lift her head as much as possible to prevent getting cut. “Tick tock, Twilight.”

Twilight’s thoughts were racing. How could this have gone so wrong so fast?

“You’re hurting, aren’t you?” Cadance asked.

“Shut up,” Streak growled.

“It’s not the physical hurt, but the mental hurt. The emotional hurt.” She continued.

“Shut up!” he snapped.

Do it, she’s trying to talk you down! She’s trying to make you weak!

No, no she’s trying to help!

Don’t be fooled. Nihility is right.

Get out of my head!

“Cadance, what are you doing? Don’t try and reason with him, he’s a monster!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“I’m doing my job,” was her simple reply. “Someone hurt you, didn’t they?”

“You know nothing of pain,” Streak growled in her ear, “Not yet.”

“Streak, I’m Shining Armor, captain of the guard! Let her go!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, That was the exact wrong thing to say.

“You brought the captain of the fucking guard here?” Streak exploded, “What the FUCK, Twilight? I trusted you!”

Slit the alicorn’s throat first, then throw the knife at the unicorn as a distraction from there—

No, damnit! She had a good reason!

Don’t fool yourself. Slit Cadance’s throat and run straight to Canterlot.

Shut up!

“Damn it, Shining Armor!” Twilight snapped, causing both Shining Armor and Cadance to jolt in surprise. “We need him to calm down, and you pull this!” She turned to Streak, “I was trying to get him on our side!”

“What do you mean, ‘our side’, Twily?” Shining Armor asked, confused.

Cadance spoke up again, “Talk to me, Streak. Ignore them. Who was it?”

I can’t ignore them, they’re in my damn head!

You know I’m right.

“None of your damn business!” Streak snapped again.

“Celestia,” Twilight answered for him.

Shining Armor stared at his sister in shock. “You can’t seriously believe that! Why would Celestia of all ponies cause this kind of reaction?”

Streak felt a growl bubble up out of his throat, but was cut off by Cadance, “Ignore them, Streak. What did she do?”

“She ruined my damn life, now SHUT UP!” Streak pressed the knife tighter into Cadance’s throat, drawing blood. It was red, same as everybody else’s.

You keep making them LOUDER!

Release me! We’ve been training for a month for this reason.

NO! Stay in my head!

“You bastard! Let her go!” Shining Armor exploded at seeing the blood.

Cadance ignored both stallions, “That’s a good start, but I can feel more from you. You radiate hurt. She didn’t just ruin your life, did she? No, she did worse. She ruined your heart.”

Just one quick movement, and she’ll be quiet.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Streak was near tears, Shining Armor could see that. He was getting desperate.

“You need to talk, to tell someone,” Cadance spoke calmly, in direct violation to the panic she felt inside.

“I’ve talked! I’ve told! It doesn’t help! I tell someone and they bring the fucking guard captain on my head!” Streak was speaking in frantic tones at this point, and the hoof holding the knife was shaking.

Shining Armor looked at his sister in shock.

Cadance let out a small gasp of pain before continuing, “That’s because you haven’t left it behind you, Streak. You hold on to your pain, I can feel that.”

“I HAVE NOTHING ELSE!” He exploded before growling, “There are three voices in my head telling me to do different things and only one of them is me.”

Twilight was in shock. Streak was insane? That... was not good.

“Then listen to yourself. Tune them out.”

Kill her. Release me.

“NO!” Streak roared, dropping the knife and pushing Cadance at her husband. “STAY THE FUCK IN MY HEAD!”

Shining Armor took a second to make sure his wife was alright before lunging at Streak. He was simultaneously stopped by a blue barrier, a purple barrier, and a prismatic bodyslam.

Rainbow Dash sat on Shining Armor’s back with a smirk. “Geez, Twilight. I’m not gone twenty minutes and you cause a breakdown.”

Streak sat on the ground with his head in his hooves, shaking slightly.

Fluttershy spoke up from where she was bandaging Cadance’s wound, “Actually, it was Princess Cadance.”

Cadance blushed as she let her horn fade, dismissing the barrier she put between her husband and the distraught stallion, “I could tell he was hurt, but psychosis is a little more than I thought.”

Streak stood up, suddenly having no problems. He pointed at Shining Armor, “You, we’re talking. Alone.” And with that he started walking toward his glade.

“If you think I’m going with you, you’re crazy!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“I thought I just demonstrated that I was. Don’t make me drag you.”

“Try me.”

* * *

A few minutes of indignant shouting and walking into every root seen on the ground, the duo made their way to Streak’s glade. Streak spit out Shining Armor’s tail and sat down. “Now listen here, you miserable shit. I’m done playing around. I have much to do. A monster to reveal, a friend to redeem, an alicorn to murder, and you’re just complicating things.”

“Alicorn to murder? What are you talking about?” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“I’m talking about murdering an alicorn. Isn’t intelligence a trait looked for in the military anymore?” Streak mocked.

“Now listen here—”

“No. You listen here,” Streak had made his transformation in a fraction of a second. As far as Shining Armor knew, one instant he was talking to the most wanted stallion in Equestria, and the next he was talking to a monster. “I already said I’m done playing around. You’re in the guard, you have that memory spell. You are going to use it, and I’m going to guide you to the right memories. If you even think of trying to grab a memory that you shouldn’t be seeing, I’ll kill you. Understand?”

“And if I don’t?” Shining Armor sneered, “What then?”

“Simple. Then you die.”

* * *

Shining Armor walked back from the clearing with a vacant look on his face. Cadance ran to him, worried. “What happened Shiny?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the words to express what’s in his head. Instead, he just closed it.

“He showed you the memories didn’t he?” Twilight asked.

“Memories?” Cadance asked while Shining Armor just nodded his head.

“I’ll fill you in inside, but be warned, it’s not pretty,” Twilight began walking inside.

Shining Armor paused from going inside and looked at Rainbow. “I’m to tell you ‘no matter the circumstances’. I assume you know what that means.” And with that, he was inside.

Rainbow Dash got a huge grin on her face and shot through the air aiming for the glade. When she landed, Streak was back to his regular self, mentally and physically.

“Ready to train, Rainbow Dash?” Streak asked.

“Am I?” Rainbow’s smile hadn’t faded in the least.

Streak smiled his trademark small smile and settled into a combat stance. “Let’s start with a quick warmup spar.”

Rainbow grinned wider. “Get ready!” she shouted, launching into the air.

Taking to the air. She’s utilizing her largest strength, her speed and agility. I need to keep a three-hundred-sixty degree watch, she could come in from any direction. Streak quickly rolled to the right, dodging Rainbow’s swipe by inches. She went left first, patterns indicate she’ll attack right next, then left swiftly, followed by another left for confusion of pattern. He dove to the left, before kicking back to the right before she could compensate for his new location. She’s getting faster, if that’s even possible. She’ll be able to beat me soon if she continues at this rate. He rolled farther to the right, dodging her next attack. Alright time to go on the offensive.

Streak had backed himself up to a tree. Rainbow smirked, obviously thinking she had him this time. She launched herself at him, but was surprised when he didn’t dodge. Instead he kicked off of the tree, knocking her to the ground. Grappling was never her strong suit, as Applejack could attest. Quickly, she kicked him off and got ready for his retaliatory charge.

It never came, instead she got a hoof lightly bumping her nose. “Boop,” Streak grinned, taking advantage of her surprised lockup to push her over like a prismatic statue.

“Not fair,” she whined.

“The only rule to war, Rainbow Dash, is that there are none,” Streak smirked.

“Alright rematch!” Rainbow announced, settling into charging stance.

Streak braced himself for her charge, but it never came. Instead what he felt was something warm on his lips. He froze, his mind not being able to comprehend what he was feeling. His eyes were saying that there was a cyan mare on the end of his muzzle, but his brain wasn’t capable of comprehending that fact. Rainbow Dash smirked and pushed over a locked up Streak in a close facsimile of his earlier feat.

Rainbow Dash laughed at his unfocused eyes and blank look before realizing what she had just done. She immediately flushed bright red. Ohmygosh, ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! What did I just do? I don’t even–Why did I just—

“Did you just—” Rainbow heard a voice from behind her. Turning slowly, Rainbow saw Fluttershy sitting on the trail with a confused look on her face, “Rainbow, is there something you want to tell me?”

Rainbow Dash was so embarrassed she could just crawl into a hole and die. She tried to spread her wings to escape, but found that they were already spread. Blushing even harder now, she wrestled her wings into working condition. Fluttershy just sat there, looking at the shellshocked Streak laying on the ground with concern.

Eventually Rainbow Dash was able to fly away, and fly away she did. A wobbly rainbow trail followed after her. Fluttershy looked from Streak, to Rainbow’s fading streak, back to Streak, before speaking up, “I think that’s enough practice for today.”

Streak merely nodded.

* * *

Rainbow Dash was sitting in her room, pacing back and forth. You idiot! Why did you have to go and kiss him! You don’t even like him like that! Stop being a silly filly!

Her mental tirade was broken by a knock at the door. “Sorry Shy, not accepting guests right now!” Rainbow called out.

“Not even me? I’m hurt, RD!” she heard a familiar voice call back. Her eyes widened.

This was not good. Cloud Chaser. Not that she didn’t like Cloud Chaser, but Rainbow Dash had been friends with Cloud Chaser since flight school, so that meant that there was no way that she wasn’t going to pick up that something was wrong. Rainbow facehoofed and resigned herself to her fate. “Come in.”

Cloud Chaser was already inside, the knock being a bit of courtesy to cover up the rudeness of her walking in. She lay down on the cloud couch and sighed happily. “I have no idea how you make clouds even more comfortable. I mean, they’re clouds. Beds are ranked by how close they can get to clouds. You just–” she sighed in pleasure “—improve them. Clouds aren’t good enough for Rainbow Dash.”

She looked at her conversational partner, expecting to hear a reply. What she got instead was flustered silence. She looked at her longtime friend with a cocked eyebrow before smirking. Rainbow blushed, knowing where this was going. Chaser grinned suggestively, “My, my. Little Dashie found herself a colt, didn’t she?”

Rainbow blushed harder. Even knowing it was futile, she denied, “No!”

“Ah, the sound of denial,” Chaser giggled, faking swooning. “The first step of young love.”

“Chaser, stop,” Rainbow tried to sound intimidating, but it was hard to squeak intimidatingly.

Chaser laughed at Rainbow’s predicament. “You silly filly! You know me better than that!”

Rainbow groaned and slumped over the back of the couch. “Alright, hit me,” she sighed, closing her eyes.

She was met with silence. She opened her eyes in confusion to see Chaser wasn’t there. Rainbow felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment. Suddenly she felt a swat at her cutie mark, causing her to yelp in surprise. She spun around to see Chaser with a suggestive look in her eyes.

“No, Chaser,” Rainbow said slowly. Chaser just walked closer, slowly. “Chaser! No, Chaser–Chaser! No—”

Chaser growled and tackled the mare onto the floor, beginning to tickle her relentlessly. Rainbow laughed and laughed, feebly trying to push away her tormentor. Chaser just grinned more, hitting all the spots that she knew from experience were most ticklish. After a few minutes, Chaser stopped, leaving a hiccuping mare with tears streaking down her face. “Feel better?”

“Cloud Chaser. If you wer—” Rainbow was cut off by a hiccup, causing her to blush. Cloud Chaser sat for about two seconds before succoming to her laughter. The two tried to talk for the next few minutes, but Rainbow was always caught in the middle of a word by a hiccup, causing Chaser to laugh. After a few minutes, Rainbow’s hiccups were finally gone.

“Alright, let’s try again. Who is this stallion who’s got you pacing your floor in worry?” Chaser asked.

“Well, he’s not the problem,” Rainbow started.”It’s kinda me.”

“Rainbow Miriam Dash! Puh-lease. You’re talented, pulchritudinous, and loyal! I don’t think any stallion in Ponyville would have a problem with you!” Cloud Chaser interrupted.

“Pulchritudinous?” Rainbow inquired. “What does that mean, and where did you learn it?”

“I got me one of those fancy word-a-day calendars, it means beautiful,” Chaser grinned.

“I think you just made it up,” Rainbow shot. Unfortunately for her, Chaser didn’t take the bait.

“You’re trying to change the subject. Who could have a problem with you? It’s not those rumors about being the ‘fastest mare’ again, is it?”

“Wha–no! Cloud Chaser!” Rainbow blushed.

“Just making sure,” Chaser held her forehooves up in mock surrender. “But really, tell me.”

Rainbow blushed, and muttered something at ‘Fluttershy meeting new pony’ volume, ”I sorta kissed him.”

“Say again, Fluttershy?” Chaser grinned.

Rainbow blushed even more, before saying ”I kissed him.”

Chaser’s grin grew exponentially, it was kind of creepy, honestly. “My little Dashie finally kissed a colt?”

Rainbow’s blush didn’t recede, “Well, I wasn’t thinking, and I just kinda, did it.”

Chaser laughed, “And how is that a problem?”

Rainbow shuffled her hooves, “Twilight kind of has her eye on him, and he’s shown interest in her too.”

“You’re worried about being a bad friend, aren’t you?” Chaser asked compassionately, giving Fluttershy a run for her money.

“I’m worried about betraying her. We all know she’s interested, we even got her to admit it! We’ve all worked so hard for her to be honest with herself and just go for it, and here I am thinking about ruining it for my own benefit.”

“Alright, this is a simple fix,” Chaser smiled, “I need one bit.”

Rainbow deadpanned, “I’m not paying you for relationship advice.”

Chaser giggled, “Of course not, you’ll keep it. Just get it.”

Rainbow looked at her sideways, but did as she asked. Chaser took the coin and looked her in the eyes. She flipped it between her hooves, showing the sun on one side and the moon on the opposite one. “Sun, you go for it. Moon you leave him to Twilight. Sound like a plan?” Rainbow nodded. Chaser flipped the coin into the air and said, “Quick! Do you want it to land on sun or moon?”

Rainbow didn’t even think about it, “Sun.”

“Then there’s your answer,” Chaser said softly, putting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Come on, I’ll take you for a flight. Just a slow one, like we used to do when I needed help with endurance flying.”

Rainbow smiled, “I’d like that.”

The duo took off out the front door, making a good pace for a circuit around Ponyville. Neither of them was going fast enough to leave a trail, instead enjoying each others’ company for the flight ahead.

Neither looked back to see the moon face up.

Author's Note

So this was unexpected. Using advice from Pen Stroke (don't quote me on this) I just went where it felt right to send the character, even if it didn't fit my story arc. That means that this is as much a surprise to me as it is to you. Side note: The coin scene is my absolute favorite scene in the history of anything.

Also, I have developer chapter names, like this one was 'N-Something, I'll Figure It Out'. Didn't even notice until now that the next chapter is developer titled 'Over the Rainbow'. I have to keep it now.

Also, Rainbow flying with wingboners:

-HB

1.7 Over the Rainbow

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Seven:
Over the Rainbow

This is an interesting development. Let’s see where this leads us. Are you still going to go down the path you have set yourself on, or will one of the two mares pull you back from the abyss before you’ve gone too far?

Rarity couldn’t believe her eyes. Rainbow Dash was flying at a leisurely pace. Rainbow Dash, who seemed to detest doing anything but her fastest in the air. Flying next to her was a content looking Cloud Chaser. Rarity just had to know what was going on!

“Rainbow Dash?” she called up. “Is something wrong?”

Cloud Chaser answered for Rainbow, “Nah, just the opposite! She’s got herself a crush!”

Rainbow Dash blushed furiously and shoved Chaser, who caught herself after a few feet, laughing at Rainbow’s distress.

“Oh, really?” Rarity arched an eyebrow. “How is this the source of such embarrassment?”

Cloud Chaser giggled, “You kidding me? Dashie’s never—” Rainbow shoved her again, causing a new bout of laughter.

Rarity, however was not to be dissuaded, “Never, what?”

Chaser landed next to Rarity and stage whispered, “She’s never had a coltfriend.”

Rarity’s expression turned mischievous, while Rainbow’s blush magnified. “Oh reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaly now? I’m so glad you brag about how many coltfriends you’ve had, Rainbow Dash.”

Chaser burst out laughing, “She–Ohmygosh, she actually–That is hilarious!”

Rainbow wanted to crawl into a hole and die for the second time that day. She squeaked, “Could we not talk about this in the middle of the street?”

“Oh, by all means, Rainbow Dash. Let us step into my boutique and have a nice conversation about your love life,” Rarity’s impish grin said everything.

Rainbow groaned, it was not her day today.

* * *

Cadance had a look of horror on her face. The same look that had been plastered on her face since the story went to Equus. Twilight and Shining Armor were just finishing up telling her about Celestia’s ‘punishments’ when Fluttershy led a still shocked Streak inside. Nopony said anything as the duo walked upstairs.

Cadance looked at the stairs, “That poor stallion. To think he had to go through that, and to think that auntie—” a sob cut off her words. Within an instant, Shining Armor was there comforting his wife. She buried her head into his shoulder, “Oh, auntie. Why?”

Twilight knew that nothing she could do would matter at the moment, so she quietly removed herself and went upstairs. She caught the last part of Streak and Fluttershy’s conversation. “Really, Fluttershy, I’m okay!”

“If you’re sure,” Fluttershy hesitantly stated.

Twilight walked into the room, “What happened?”

Streak shuffled around uncomfortably, and Fluttershy sighed, “Well, Streak and Rainbow were training like usual, when Streak caught her off guard and tapped her nose. He took advantage of the surprise to just... topple Rainbow.”

Twilight winced, “That couldn’t have been good for her pride.”

Streak took over. “It wasn’t. She immediately called a rematch. She looked like she was getting ready for a charge, but then,” he trailed off, suddenly unsure of himself.

After a moment, Fluttershy finished for him, “She kissed him.”

Twilight blinked, “Did I just hear you right? Rainbow Dash kissed him?”

Fluttershy nodded. Twilight planted her hoof into her face, and moaned, “Rainbow.” She straightened, “Alright, knowing her, she’s freaking out right now. We need to find her and talk to her before she makes a big deal about this.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, “Rainbow freaking out over this? She was bragging just three weeks ago about her extensive, uhm, experience?”

Twilight flushed red, “Beside the point.”

Streak looked at Twilight, “She acted like a foal getting caught with her hoof in the cookie jar, almost like she was guilty. Why would that be?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply when Twillight cut her off quickly, “No reason.”

Streak looked at her sideways, but said nothing as they left to find Rainbow Dash.

* * *

“No, Rarity.” Rainbow reiterated for the eighth time.

“But Raaaaiiiiiiiinbooooooow!” Rarity whined, “Why not?”

“Don’t feel bad, she won’t even tell me,” Chaser muttered.

“You never asked,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Alright, I’m asking. Who is this stallion?” Chaser asked.

“Uh-uh,” Rainbow grinned, “Too late!”

Chaser groaned and planted her hoof in her face, “At least tell me what led up to you kissing him!”

Rarity’s eyes got really wide and her pupils dilated. Rainbow shifted nervously, afraid of what was going to happen next. All of the sudden, Rarity let out the most high pitched noise ever, “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Rainbow and Chaser dropped to the ground, covering their ears.

“Rarity!” Chaser groaned. “I need to be able to hear!”

“Oh now you must tell me! You must! I cannot not know now!” Rarity was a bundle of energy, dancing on her hooves in excitement.

Rainbow’s face fell. “Alright,” she groaned, resigned to her fate, “Well we were practicing like normal and—”

“RAINBOW!” Rarity exclaimed loudly, causing Chaser to drop and cover again. “You know how hard we worked to set him up with Twilight!”

Chaser moaned from the ground, “And you also know pretty much how hard I had to work to get her to try.”

“Cloud Chaser,” Rarity chided. “You should be ashamed of yourself, setting poor Rainbow up to steal Twilight’s colt!”

Cloud Chaser glared at Rarity, now angry, “No, you should be ashamed of yourself. Stop and think for a second! You’re asking Rainbow to sacrifice her own chance at happiness just so that Twilight can have hers. The same Twilight who, mind you, has likely had quite a while to talk to this mystery colt if she really wanted him.”

Rarity shot back, “So you’re asking Rainbow to betray her friend?”

“I’m asking Rainbow to be selfish for once in her life!” Chaser shouted. “She deserves some bit of selfishness, doesn’t she? She was always the one to play wingmare to me, always the one to soften up the mares and stallions that my sister was always chasing for one night stands. Rainbow Dash has almost always put herself second behind her friends and I’m getting sick of it!”

“Rainbow is one of the biggest braggarts in town!” Rarity shouted. “She’s always talking about how awesome she is, and how much better she is than anypony else! She lords every possible thing she can over every single pony she knows and does anything to attract attention! How is that not being selfish? She isn’t willing to share her spotlight!”

Chaser was silent for a moment, “If you honestly can’t see her past that, then you’re not as good of a friend to her as I thought you were. You’re not worth my time arguing with. When you’ve finally got your head out of your ass and can see Rainbow Dash for who she actually is, you know where to find me.”

She turned to Rainbow, “I’m leaving, and you’re welcome to join me.” Rainbow nodded and the two left a gaping fashionista to think about what was just said.

Neither looked back.

* * *

“Yeah, I saw her. She was with Rarity and Cloud Chaser,” Berry Punch was saying. “They said something about going to Rarity’s boutique.”

Twilight smiled, “Thanks, Berry.”

Berry Punch smiled back, “No problem, Twilight. Tell Rainbow I said hi when you see her, would you?”

After their goodbyes, Twilight and Fluttershy made their way to the boutique. Streak had wisely decided to stay behind, considering his face was posted every other street corner by this point. They arrived to see the door open. Twilight looked worriedly at Fluttershy, who returned the look.

Slowly Twilight walked into the boutique to see a flabbergasted Rarity staring at the door. She walked up slowly, seeing no reaction from Rarity. Twilight poked her in the shoulder, finally getting a reaction.

“Twilight, am I a bad friend?” Rarity’s voice sounded almost broken.

Twilight gasped, “Of course not! Why would you think you are?”

“Cloud Chaser accused me of not being a good friend, and said that when I’ve finally got my head out of my ass and can see Rainbow Dash for who she actually is, I’ll know where to find her.”

Fluttershy let out a soft gasp, “Oh, Rarity. You’re not a bad friend!”

“Oh but I am! I accused Rainbow Dash of being a selfish, stuck up, attention hog!” Rarity bawled.

Twilight thought about what she knew of the brash pegasus, and that description seemed to fit her fairly well on her bad days. “But what did Chaser mean about seeing ‘Rainbow Dash for who she actually is’?”

Rarity sobbed, “I don’t know! I don’t even have a clue! I’m so pathetic!”

Twilight smiled, “It’s okay, Rarity. We’ll figure this out together.”

* * *

The next day Twilight was woken up by a knock on her door. She mumbled into her pillow for Spike to get the door. Spike, grumbling got out of his basket. He opened the door to see Fluttershy. “Muh, yeah?”

“Um, I need Twilight for a second,” Fluttershy was barely audible. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

“Just a sec’,” Spike mumbled, staggering back upstairs. “Twi, Shy.” And he collapsed back into his bed.

Twilight lifted her head and moaned, “It’s too early for a visit.” Looking at the clock she saw that it was nearly one o’clock. Her eyes widened and she bolted downstairs, suddenly wide awake. “Sorry, Shy! I totally slept in today!”

Fluttershy smiled demurely, “Oh, it’s no problem at all, he just needs you for a few minutes.”

Twilight knew immediately who ‘he’ was. She nodded and followed the pegasus back to her cottage. Streak was waiting just outside, and gave his usual small smile. “I need to ask a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” Twilight asked.

“I need you to change what I look like. To whom doesn’t matter, as long as they aren’t a Ponyville resident or regular.”

“Whatever could you need that for?” Twilight asked, confused.

Streak smirked, “I have a reason to go into town, and I don’t want to bring the guard down on our heads.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at him for a second before slowly nodding. Her horn glowed and there was a flash of purple.

* * *

“RAINBOW DASH!” the entirety of Ponyville was staring at this strange pony they had never seen before. His coat was cyan, and he had a white mane. His cutie mark was a horseshoe, which was ironic because he seemed to have no luck finding the mare in question. Again, the strange stallion shouted, “RAINBOW DASH!”

This time, however he got a reply, “WHAT?” Rainbow Dash stuck her head down and out the bottom of the cloud she was resting on.

He shouted back up, “RAINBOW DASH GET YOUR LAZY ASS DOWN FROM THERE!” The assembled Ponyvillians gasped at his language and attitude.

Rainbow growled and launched herself to stand by the strange stallion. “I’m down,” she said dangerously. “Now what do you want?”

“Again I find the need to remind you; ‘no matter the circumstances.’ “ He gestured around himself and town square. “I said I’d even walk into the center of town yelling your name if it took it, and looks like it did.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped. She had thought he sounded familiar. She squealed in mostly contained glee and gave him a tackle-hug. The now-revealed, at least to her, Streak grunted as his back hit the ground. He chuckled and whispered into her ear, “Be careful, Rainbow Dash. Rumors spread like wildfire in small towns.” Taking advantage of his position, he quickly nipped her ear.

Rainbow jumped back from Streak’s prone form, fighting to keep her wings down and a blush off of her cheeks. He had to push down a laugh at her reaction, she was cute when she was flustered.

“Come on,” Streak chuckled. “We have the whole day ahead of us.”

* * *

Rainbow was panting with exhaustion. How does he keep going?

The stallion in question was dodging every single one of her attacks with what seemed like ease, and probably was.

“Try varying your attacks more, Rainbow Dash. If you always use sweeping charges, it makes you easy to predict,” Streak lectured.

After a few more minutes of training, Streak shook his head, “This isn’t working. Let’s try something different. How would you fight with a broken wing, Rainbow Dash? Or even—” he gestured to his sides, “—no wings at all?”

Rainbow panted, “Well, I wouldn’t do good.”

“Well. You wouldn’t do well,” Streak corrected, “but as I was saying, you need to learn how to fight without wings as well or even better than with.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “I’m sorry for messing up in grammar class, Cheerilee.”

Streak looked at her with confused eyes, “What does my demeanor have anything to do with this conversation?”

Rainbow giggled, “Cheerilee is the local schoolteacher.”

“That makes much more sense, but back to what I was saying, Rainbow Dash. You—” Streak was interrupted.

“Why do you use my full name all the time? I don’t hear any ‘Rainbow’s or ‘Dash’s when you’re talking to me. Not even a ‘Dashie’ here and there,” that last part was added almost as a whisper.

“Professionalism is needed to maintain a teaching atmosphere,” Streak started, “If I were to use familiar language it could compromise the whole experience, leading to less learning and enjoyment to all involved. Equestrian Army Drillmaster basics.”

Rainbow butted in, “Yesterday wasn’t very professional, but I know I sure as hell enjoyed it.”

She had a little giggle as she saw his brain stop working for a second at her words. He was eventually able to steer their conversation back to training, much to Rainbow’s disappointment.

“Now you need to learn to be as quick on your hooves as you are on wing,” Streak grinned as he walked over to the edge of the glade. “Now I know how hard it is for pegasi to not use their wings instinctually, especially one so naturally talented, so I brought something to help speed along the process.”

Rainbow looked over to where he was and saw a bundle of rope. “Oh, no. No, you don’t,” She said backing up and flaring her wings. “There is no way you’ll ever get me bound like that!”

Barely two minutes later, Streak sat on top of a very embarrassed and very bound pegasus. Streak had ropes around her barrel holding down her wings, but he also had more than that. He had ropes binding all four of her legs, he even managed to get a close facsimile of a bridle using a knot to form a gag in the ‘bit’.

“Are you ready to begin, or are you going to keep resisting?” Streak asked.

“Oh, my,” a quiet voice spoke up from the trail, “You work, uhm, fast. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Uh, I’ll just, go.”

Streak turned to see Fluttershy with a blush on her face that was quickly copied onto Rainbow’s. Streak looked from the bound mare to Fluttershy, who seemed to be having trouble leaving like she said she was going to. “Well, I agree that this looks pretty suggestive.”

After a short explanation of what had happened, and untying Rainbow’s legs, of course, Fluttershy was much less flustered. Rainbow, however, was unamused at Streak’s insistence that the gag be left in.

“Um, maybe you should take off the bridle. If that’s, you know, okay with you,” Fluttershy mentioned.

“I should,” Streak grinned, “and this is going to get me more trouble than it’s worth, but I think I’ll leave it in.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she shook her head swiftly, clearly indicating displeasure with the current line of thought.

“Why?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, for a few reasons. First, that thing was a bitch to get in there, and I want it to get some mileage before removing it. Second, look at her!” Streak squished her cheeks together, “She is adorable when flustered!” Rainbow batted the unusually playful Streak’s hooves away, blushing furiously. “Third, I think that she enjoys it.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened again as her blush deepened. Her head shook more vigorously this time, and she took a step back.

“Streak,” Fluttershy put on her ‘motherly voice’.

He sighed, “Fine. But the wings stay bound until I say they can come off, even if that isn’t until we’re done training. Completely.” Rainbow Dash glared daggers at him, and he smirked, “Or you could leave the bridle in today and get the bind taken off when we’re not practicing.”

Fluttershy looked at him in shock, “How could you even suggest such a thing! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Rainbow, however, was mulling over her options silently as Fluttershy berated Streak for what he did. Eventually she blushed the deepest crimson she ever had and nodded.

Streak grinned and took off the bridle. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a trace of disappointment in her eyes for a second. “I was just teasing you, Rainbow Dash. I’d never do something like that to you.”

Fluttershy stared at him in shock, “Why go through all that effort for nothing, then?”

Streak smirked at her as Rainbow replied for him, “He didn’t get nothing. Why do you think me and Pinkie do so much pranking if it gives us nothing?”

Fluttershy deflated a little, her anger abated for then, “Oh.”

Streak looked Rainbow up and down. She wasn’t sure if she was uncomfortable with his circling as he seemed to take in every single strand of fur on her body. Eventually he seemed satisfied, nodding, “You’ll do.”

“Wha—” Rainbow quickly had to dodge a jab from the stallion. “Streak what are y—” she was interrupted by another jab. “Streak!” she whined.

“Defend yourself, Rainbow Dash!” the pegasus named barely managed to dodge another attack. “Every hit I land on you is an hour more you have to wear the bind!”

“Streak!” Fluttershy admonished.

Rainbow grinned, launching her own barrage, “Then every hit I land on you gets me one less hour wearing it!”

Streak roared with laughter, “That’s the spirit, Rainbow Dash! I’ll make a proper soldier out of you yet!”

“Only if you have any bones left in your body when I’m done with you!”

The duo exchanged blows and playful insults and banter for the next few hours while Fluttershy sat on the sidelines reminding them to be careful and scolding them for a particularly cruel barb. Eventually, Fluttershy called a stop to the fighting. The two combatants laughed together while they walked back towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

Streak chuckled, groaning a bit from a nice hit Rainbow got in on his side, “At the rate you’re progressing, you’ll be able to fill the captain of the guard station if you wanted to!”

Rainbow giggled, also grunting a little more than a bit from more than one nice hit Streak had pumped into her side, “Nah, I’m not looking to be in the guard, anyway.”

Fluttershy butted in, “Where do you two think you’re going?”

Rainbow looked at her with a blank expression, “Uh, to the cottage? To food?”

“Fighting works up quite the appetite, especially when it’s like that one,” Streak added.

“Without washing up?” Fluttershy reminded.

Rainbow blushed as Streak sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, “Uh, no?”

“I thought not,” Fluttershy said with a smile as she walked toward the stream.

Rainbow turned to Streak and grinned, “I guess this means you have to untie me now, knot boy.”

“Knot boy?” Streak asked.

“Hey, it’s the best nickname I have for you right now, and I’m gonna use it, damnit.”

Streak shook his head, moving to untie Rainbow’s wings when he paused, an idea flashing through his head. I’m going to get into so much trouble if this doesn’t work in the right way, he thought.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” he said, “before I untie you—”

“Do. Not. Bring. Up. The. Bridle.” Rainbow growled, reminding him swiftly that the hit on his side was received shortly after cracking a joke about said bridle.

“Nothing of the sort, I just don’t want you flying off immediately like usual,” Streak said, holding his hooves up in mock surrender.

Rainbow nodded and, true to her word, did little more than stretch her cramped wings. She looked at Streak with curiosity in her eyes. “Any specific reason you want me to stay around, or is it just because I’m awesome?”

“When was the last time you truly cleaned yourself?” Streak asked bluntly.

Rainbow flinched as if struck, “Streak, I clean every day, you know this!”

“I know you fly through a few clouds and let the moisture clean you off. When was the last time you actually sat in water and scrubbed yourself clean?”

“Uh—” Rainbow tried to respond.

“And further, when was the last time you preened?” Rainbow blushed furiously at the personal nature of that question. “Yes, I know it is improper to ask that question, but look at your wings!” His hoof hovered over multiple spots in quick succession, “Loose feather, broken shaft, old feather, another loose feather, a third one here. That was all with a cursory glance! There is no way you could have wings in this condition if you preened regularly.”

Rainbow stuttered for a second before responding quietly, “Uh, well, I never really, uhm, have that much time to preen. Weather duty and all.”

“I’ve seen you do your weather work. The only way you would have no time to preen properly is if you had to do weather for half of Equestria! It’s almost as if you didn’t learn to preen!” At Rainbow’s flinch, Streak looked at her sideways, “Didn’t learn to preen? Rainbow Dash, you do know how to preen, don’t you?”

“Of course!” she answered too quickly. At Streak’s disbelieving glance, she bristled. “What does it matter to you?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Streak started, “preening is–You know what? I’m going to drop this topic.” Rainbow sighed in relief before stiffening at his next words, “On one condition.”

“I swear, Streak, if you even mention the bridle, I will castrate you,” her threat was spoken with so much venom that Streak had to resist the urge to cover and protect himself in case she followed through.

“Nothing of the sort. My condition is simple. Come to the stream with Fluttershy and me after we spar and to preen at least once a week.” When Rainbow’s glare didn’t lessen he continued, “I’m not asking you to preen yourself in front of me, Rainbow Dash. That would be improper. I’m also not asking you to let Fluttershy or me do it for you. I’m asking you to make sure it is done. If you truly don’t know, ask a close friend to teach you.”

“Like you?” Rainbow said with only a hint of venom. That hint was enough of a warning for Streak even though he was planning on replying the way he did anyway.

“Like Fluttershy, or even Twilight. You know she has read up on the subject at least once,” he replied. “Do not ask me, I won’t do it.” Rainbow couldn’t tell if she was supposed to be relieved or disappointed at the news.

Streak continued, sticking out a hoof, “Do you accept my terms, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow stared at the offered hoof for a few seconds before shaking his hoof. Streak smiled and reminded her, “Remember, Rainbow Dash, I can tell if you have been preening. Don’t think you can slip past me.” He got real close to her face, causing her to flush. “Also,” he trailed off as Rainbow’s heartbeat sped up exponentially. She started leaning toward his face, closing her eyes, only to yelp and jump back as he blew in her ear. “Remember to get behind your ears!” she heard the suddenly playful again stallion chuckle as he ran for the stream like his life depended on it.

The way Rainbow was feeling right now? It did.

Unfortunately for Streak, Rainbow was fast in the air. She slammed into him, tumbling down a hill as a mass of limbs, eventually coming to a stop by the shore of the stream. Streak ended up on top, so he smiled, digging his hooves into Rainbow’s belly. She squealed and thrashed, trying to get away from her relentless tickler, but to no avail. Her giggles and thrashing left her tired and out of breath, and therefore in no condition to throw Streak off from his position straddling her midsection.

Eventually she was able to call out through the laughter, “Alright! I give! I give! Uncle!” Streak redoubled his efforts, causing Rainbow to howl with laughter. “STREAK!” she whined. Eventually he stopped but retained his place on top of her. When she caught her breath, she gave him a playful glare, “That wasn’t very nice, mister! How would you like it if I did that to yOU!” The end of her sentence ended unusually high due to Streak tickling her one last time before dismounting.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t resist!” Streak chuckled.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Rainbow pouted.

“You never told me to stop, so it couldn’t have bothered you that much, Rainbow Dash,” Streak smirked.

Rainbow deadpanned at him before letting out a little giggle, “Nothing I ever say or do is going to make you not use my full name, will it?”

Streak gave her the widest grin she had seen on him yet, “Nope!”

Rainbow sighed and looked at her coat, now with twigs and leaves stuck in it. “This is going to take forever,” she moaned.

Streak grinned, “Trust me, it will be faster than you think. Step one, get in the water.”

Rainbow was about to start walking to the stream when Streak, utilizing a trick he learned from Applejack, ducked under Rainbow’s barrel and threw her on his back. “Hey!” she yelled indignantly.

“You’re going to let me do this my way the first time,” Streak commented.

“Aw, come on!” Rainbow pouted at him again.

“Warning, it’s cold,” Streak smirked.

“Wha—” Rainbow was cut off by being bodily chucked into the stream. She surfaced quickly, quite rightly upset with the stallion. “Streak!”

The stallion in question chuckled as he walked into the stream himself. He dove under and Rainbow lost sight of him. She twisted back and forth, waiting to see where he’d resurface. She yelped in surprise as the stallion started picking out debris from the part of her coat that was submerged and her tail. After nearly two minutes, the stallion resurfaced for a breath.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow yelled at him.

He smirked, “Cleaning you, Rainbow Dash, what does it look like?” Before she could reply he was back under.

“Streak,” she pouted, knowing that he had no way of hearing or seeing her.

“He’s unusually playful,” a quiet voice spoke up from the bank. “I think he likes you.”

Rainbow ceased to be a cyan pegasus, and instead turned into a bright red earth pony with stiff, fake wings strapped to her back. Fluttershy had her usual demure smile on her face as Rainbow tried unsuccessfully to ignore the stallion that was combing through her tail at the moment.

When Streak resurfaced a second time, he saw how red Rainbow had become. He immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion, “Oh, no. I was being careful and everything. I am so sorry! I thought I was being good!”

Rainbow looked at him in confusion before realizing what he was implying. She turned even redder and squeaked before pointing at Fluttershy. Streak looked at where she was pointing and let out a relieved sigh, “Not adding ‘sexual assault’ to my long list of offences. That is good.”

“Just, finish up already,” Rainbow muttered

Streak grinned mischievously before teasing, “Why, Rainbow Dash, one could think that you’re enjoying this!”

“Streak,” Fluttershy scolded.

Streak sighed, “Fine, fine. Ruin my fun, why don’t you?” With that he was back under, combing through Rainbow’s tail again, this time undoing as many knots as he could. He was finished before he surfaced for another breath. His next words chilled Rainbow’s blood, “Time to clean your mane. Dunk under, and don’t be afraid to surface for breath whenever you feel the need.”

She swallowed before taking a huge breath and dunking her head under the water. She opened her eyes to be staring right into Streak’s. She had never really taken the time to look at his eyes. They were a rather dull brown, of all colors. It seemed to Rainbow that nature had taken all of his vibrancy and thrown it all into the one strip of color in his mane.

Streak’s face slowly contorted into a smile as he pecked her on the nose before moving to a position that he could pull the detritus that their earlier tumble and tickle fight, however one sided, had thrown into her own mane. She would never, ever admit it, but she had not really brushed out her mane or tail in years, instead preferring the messy, windswept look she had naturally. It was easy, and frankly she thought it looked about as good as she got. However, the look on Streak’s face when she came up for breath led her to believe that she was mistaken.

Streak was dumbfounded. He had said when he first arrived that Twilight was the most beautiful mare he had ever seen, but when Rainbow put any kind of effort into her appearance, she outshone Twilight easily. With her hair no longer knotted and tangled, it was longer than it looked previously and hung straighter. She have him a shy smile more at place on Fluttershy’s face than hers before looking up at her bangs, “It’s not that much of a difference, is it?”

(Ignore the socks. For the love of everything holy, ignore the socks.)

“Ah, uh. Uhm,” that was all Streak could get out at the moment. Rainbow blushed at his reaction before quickly inhaling and diving back under. This snapped Streak out of his stupor and he joined her back underneath to finish cleaning her mane with her.

Fluttershy sat on the shore with a broad smile on her face, for once glad to be forgotten.

* * *

Streak had called a meeting of the Elements of Harmony, and they all knew what that meant. Time for things to get serious. The six mares were inside Fluttershy’s cottage awaiting Streak’s arrival. Inside the cottage with them was Shining Armor, and Cadance, the two having stayed at Twilight’s library for the last day and refused to not be a part of what’s happening.

Finally, Streak walked in. “We have a lot of planning to do, a lot of unknown variables, and a lot that can and will go wrong.”

Twilight nodded, “I think that our first course of action would be to use the Elements on Celestia.”

Streak scoffed, “I won’t go after her with a gentle hand. If I have her at my mercy, she will be dead.”

“Everypony deserves a second chance, Streak,” Twilight sighed. “Would you not like to have your Celestia back?”

Streak growled at her, and Rainbow Dash scolded her, “Low blow, Twi, low blow.”

“It is, however, a valid point,” Shining Armor pointed out. “What if she was affected with some kind of curse or malady, or even some kind of magical monstrosity like Nightmare Moon was believed to be? Would you kill her knowing that there was some kind of way to have your Celestia back?”

“Shining Armor,” Streak continued as if they hadn’t spoken, “You need to remove the guards before I get into the throne room. Spread those memories around to as many guards as you can get your hooves on. The more people know, the harder it is to remove the knowledge.”

Shining Armor nodded. Streak turned to the Elements, “You girls, if you really think the Elements will work, will need to get to the throne room with them before Celestia is dead if you want them used.”

Twilight and Rainbow nodded, while the other four just looked horrified.

Streak looked out the window at the summer forest with a grim look on his face. “It’s time.”

Author's Note

Wet mane Rainbow Dash. For, ahem, refrence.

Note to self, turn on safe search before typing in something as suggestive as 'wet Rainbow Dash'. Nothing against cloppers and not trying to hat, mind you, it's just not my cup of tea.

Also, shoutout to Black Sun Eclipse. This dude rhymes like it's nothing. Knighty, make a Zecora emote, just for this guy.

A guardian turned
and everyone burned
forever with hate
that only her death would sate
And now I want more
with the next chapter, you'll soar
for now I must wait
for more of Streak the Great
-Eclipse

Also, I can't resist. Look out for another chapter up within the next day or two. I'm currently working on book two, and just don't have the willpower to resist posting chapters like crazy. You're welcome.

1.8 Valiant stand

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Eight:
Valiant Stand

Don’t get too confident. I could rip your victory from your hooves at the last possible second and deprive you of something you didn’t know you wanted until now. You may be untouchable, but they are not. Just as the Mare of Magic is fair game, so is the Mare of Loyalty. It seems you need a reminder of who exactly is in charge, here.

Streak had eschewed a disguise, instead choosing to board the train in his own normal form. Leaving the train, however, he would be disguised, this time by Shining Armor. Celestia would use resources trying to find where he was since he was undoubtedly spotted getting on the train to Canterlot, while the Elements, Shining, and Cadance would escort ‘Change’, the moniker his disguised form from before was to be known as.

On the ride, there was precious little conversation. Most of it was Streak explaining last minute details to Cadance about her part. Eventually, however, Rainbow Dash walked over to him.

“Hey, Streak,” she began nervously, “do you think we’ll really win?”

Streak looked her in the eyes, “It’s all that I can do, Rainbow Dash. If I thought otherwise then I would have failed long ago.”

Rainbow looked at him uncertainly. He knew her well enough to know she had a question she wanted to ask, but was unsure of asking it. Knowing that nothing he did would speed up her decision, he sat quietly until she spoke up. “Do you think you’ll survive winning?”

Streak sighed, “I can only hope so, but I most likely will not.”

Rainbow looked at him in horror before joining him in his seat. She scooted until her whole side was pressed against him. He felt her lean into him, and he smiled. Across the train car, Twilight was watching the two with jealousy in her eyes.

You are foolish to think you can outwit me.

I’m not trying to outwit you. I’m trying to survive and live a quiet life.

The Librarian returned to wherever she was when not bothering Streak. Nihility spoke up.

Do you have some kind of plan set up, or are you just winging it?

Were you sleeping for the last twelve hours? I just went over our plan. Twice.

Not our plan for getting to Celestia, or even our plan for beating her. I heard you talk to Cacance. Do you have a plan for actually killing her?

I assume that 'smack a bitch' doesn't count?

No.

I'll figure something out. You'll probably just come and save my ass.

Not while trapped in the Void.

Wait, trapped in the Void? What do you mean, trapped in the damn Void?

Nihility was silent. Not a sound was heard from him.

Nihility, what do you mean? I thought you were a part of me.

I am. It is... complicated. I shall explain when we get back to Ponyville.

You imbecile! He was not to know!

I think I have a damn right to be informed of things involving me.

I said I would tell you when we got back, and I will.

Streak felt a wave of fury wash over him that vanished as fast as it began. That was not good.

Rainbow felt Streak shiver. "Hey, you okay?"

Streak put on his best fake smile, "Fine."

"Then what's up with the shiver?" Rainbow asked.

"And the fake smile, and the lyin’," Applejack commented.

“Really, Rainbow Dash, I’m fine.”

Rainbow glared at him, and he caved. “Alright, alright. I think I might have pissed off the Librarian.”

Rainbow arched an eyebrow, “And that’s that much of an issue? What can she do, besides hop into our heads and talk?”

“She controls everything. She could cause a sudden shift of wind to blow you off course at high speeds and cause you to crash, potentially killing you. She could cause a rat to bump into a rock, starting a rockslide that hits this train, potentially killing us all. I just pissed off literally the most powerful being in known existence enough that I felt it through the mental link,” Streak sighed.

“What about Celestia? Or Discord?” Twilight asked.

Streak looked at Twilight, “She made them.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. After nearly an hour of staring out of the window and enjoying Rainbow Dash’s closeness, Streak’s train of thought was broken.

“What did you do?” Rainbow asked quietly, so that only he could hear. “What could piss off something that has lived as long as her that much.”

“That’s the part that scares me the most, Rainbow Dash. I just don’t know.”

The rest of the train ride was in silence.

Everything went exactly according to plan. Streak left the train with the seven mares and Shining Armor, and nopony the wiser. Nopony stopped the group, due to only one of them not having significant political power in every breath they uttered. A cursory glance by the castle gate guards later, and Streak was inside the power base of the most dangerous threat to Equestria ever; Celestia herself.

“Alright, everypony remember the plan?” Streak asked for the final time.

“Yes,” Shining Armor nodded, Cadance next to him seconding the motion.

“Of course we do,” Rainbow complained, “We only went over it like, a million times!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight admonished. “Behave!”

Streak would have chuckled at the cyan mare should the situation have let him. He offhandedly noticed that she had kept her hair brushed, a fact not left unnoticed by Rarity.

Streak nodded at them, “Then let us proceed.”

After the six Elements had left, Cadance put a hoof on his shoulder, “Are you sure you don’t want them to know what you really plan? You probably won’t survive.”

Streak looked forward with determination, “I know that, and so does Rainbow Dash, which means the rest of them probably know that I’m probably going to die already. Celestia will fall this day, by my hand or not.”

Cadance went to say something else, but Shining Armor put a hoof on her withers, shaking his head. Streak’s mind was made up.

The overly large doors to the throne room sat open at the very beginning of Day Court. Even with the search for the most wanted criminal in Equestria, the day-to-day functions of Equestria still had to function. This, however, made it the perfect time to strike against Celestia’s reputation.

Shining Armor walked past the line of petitioners in full captain armor. When he got to the front of the line, he shouted using a magically amplified voice. “Guard, front and center!”

The guards were confused to their order, but obeyed nonetheless. With all the royal guards in the throne room in front of him, Shining Armor started his speech. “According to precedents set by Princess Celestia herself over a thousand years ago, an alicorn can be removed from office if they are deemed a threat to the nation.” Nobody seemed to know where this was going, not even Celestia at this point. “I stand here with a signed petition from all six Elements of Harmony, one of the three alicorn Princesses, and the captain of the guard. This petition is for the removal of one of our very own Princesses.”

Hushed murmuring was heard throughout the courtroom, but was swiftly cut off by Shining Armor. “She has been found guilty of over a thousand counts of murder, hundreds of counts of torture, mind control, slavery by proxy, and one count of attempted murder. This alicorn abused her position for the entire time she has had it, and even was caught once.” All in the room, save Celestia, were thinking Luna. Celestia had an idea of what was going on now. “For these crimes she has been deemed a threat to the nation, and with nearly every major power in the Equestrian government backing our cause, the unicorns Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Shining Armor, the pegasi Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, the earth ponies Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and the alicorn Princess Mi Amore Cadenza hereby strip Princess Celestia from her rank and her seat.” A gasp was heard from all, even the ever-stoic royal guards. “Day court is cancelled for an unknown amount of time. Guards, escort the petitioners to their homes and spread the word.”

Celestia stood up off her throne, “Guards! Belay that order! Shining Armor, what is the meaning of this?”

“Guards, she has been stripped of her title. Continue as you were,” Shining Armor replied.

“You’ve been found out, Celly dearest,” Streak announced as he walked into the room.

Celestia looked at him in shock. This is not how things were supposed to go! “You!”

Streak grinned, “Miss me, Celestia?”

“Guards, seize him!”

“Continue as you were,” Shining Armor commanded calmly.

The guard was torn between loyalty to the Princess and loyalty to Equestria. Eventually one of them made his choice. He turned to the petitioners, “Move along, citizens. You heard the man, day court’s closed. Let’s get you home.”

That one stallion was enough to get the rest of the guard to hesitantly follow the orders of their commanding officer. The first stallion looked at the shocked look on the Princess’s face, “This is not an accusation to be made lightly. If you’re innocent, you’ll prove it. If you’re guilty, they’ll prove it. One way or the other, we will know for certain.” And he left with the rest of the guards and petitioners, leaving only Celestia and Streak in the room.

“You,” Celestia seethed, “You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since the day you returned. Wasting resources looking for you, having to listen to idiots report that they’ve found nothing from all corners of Equestria. I should have just killed you like I made Starswirl kill Brick and Ironhoof.”

“Go ahead, Celestia. You know why I’m here,” Streak taunted.

Celestia grinned, “You’re here to kill me, of course. I made you into what you are, and that’s a killing machine. You probably didn’t even see different courses of action, did you? There’s always revealing me to the public, but they would never believe you. There’s hitting me with the Elements and hoping that works, but they’re locked behind a door only I could open. Then there’s killing me, which leaves only one issue. Actually killing me. You think you can kill a Guardian? With the combined might of three of us, we were able to imprison one. I hit Luna by surprise, and I don’t like relying on luck.” Her grin turned vicious. “Face it, Streak. You’ve lost. I can undo everything you’ve done. Your death will just be a footnote tacked on to my tally. It will read, ‘Streak, number two-thousand and twenty-four and number four-thousand and three.’ ”

“Oh really?” Streak grinned widely. “You can undo my giving your captain of the guard the memories of what you did. You can undo me giving half of them to Twilight. You can even undo all the people who have had the story explained to them, but do you really think that you can undo a spell that is projecting this conversation, both audio and video, onto every flat surface in every city in Equestria?”

* * *

Cloud Chaser was sitting in her house when everything went wrong. Everywhere she looked, she saw the throne room. She stood up, “What’s going on here?”

Her jaw dropped slowly as she both saw and heard Shining Armor’s speech. “No, no this can’t be happening! She can’t be!”

She was still trying to figure out what was going on as Celestia started talking, “I should have just killed you like I made Starswirl kill Brick and Ironhoof.”

Cloud Chaser was shaking, tears running down her face. No, this was Celestia, the beloved ruler of Equestria. She couldn’t have done what they’re accusing her of.

* * *

In Baltimare, a stallion named Star Hunter hugged his wife and kids. “It’s all right,” he said, trying to mask the shaking in his voice. He had to be strong. “We’ll figure everything out. We’ll be alright.”

* * *

In the streets of Los Pegasus, ponies were wailing in despair. The light that had guided them for generations was just revealed to be evil, by her own words, no less! Where would Equestria be without Celestia?

* * *

Sitting in a bar in the Crystal Empire, a griffon was having a fine day drinking her sorrows away. She had been tossed aside like trash, and even years later it still hurt. Suddenly the walls of the bar were replaced with a large, fancy room. She blinked slowly and turned to the bartender, “I think I’ll close my tab. I’ve had enough.”

The bartender had a look of shock on his face, “Lady, you’ve had two drinks. Plus I think we’re all seeing this. I don’t think there’s enough booze in the world to cause this.”

The griffon stared at the walls as the confrontation inside played out, her face slowly getting harder and angrier. She glanced at the appalled face of the bartender, “I’m closing my tab, I have places to be.”

* * *

Celestia’s smile fell, “What have you done, Streak?”

“I’ve exposed you for the monster that you really are, Celestia. Every single pony in Equestria just heard you admit to killing over four-thousand ponies. That’s murder, Celestia, and punishable by death,” Streak taunted. “Not so confident now, are you?”

Celestia growled, “If I’m going down, so are you.”

Streak laughed, “Do you honestly think I came into this city expecting to leave? How stupid are you? My part is played. I have had my revenge, and I have protected Twilight from forces that you don’t even know are using you as a puppet, at least for now. I am content to die.”

* * *

Twilight’s and Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. He wasn’t even planning on surviving? Not even going to try? They quickly sped up to be the front of the group. Twilight wondered, however, about what the power Streak protected her from was.

* * *

Celestia narrowed her eyes at me, “You dare call me a puppet?”

“I call it as I see it,” Streak mocked. “It’s over, Celestia. It doesn’t matter if Twilight and the girls come back with the Elements to attempt to purify you at this point. At least, not to me. As I said, I have played my part, and you have played yours beautifully. Now it is time for Equestria to play hers.”

Celestia’s carefully monitored rage boiled over at being called a puppet. Celestia screeched in anger, “I shall flay the flesh from your bones! I shall tear you apart piece by piece and feed your remains to rats! I shall visit horrors upon you the likes of which the world has not seen! I have not been defeated, merely delayed! Things will be slower with me in the open, but I will have it all!”

“Celestia, I hear voices and you’re crazier than me,” Streak shook his head. “Go ahead, you get one free shot. Flay my flesh! Tear me apart! Bringeth the horrors! I have beaten the Void, you don’t scare me anymore!”

* * *

Unknown to him, a tear traveled down Star Hunter’s face. His defiance had brought some small comfort to his family, and there was no way he could properly be repaid.

* * *

“I shall scare you soon, Streak! I shall scare them all! No more benevolent Celestia! From now on, I shall slay all that stand in my way, starting with you!” Celestia’s horn glowed, opening massive portals to the Void. They took up the walls, the windows, the ceiling, and most of the floor, save where he and Celestia were standing. “I have created an immortal army out of those I have slain! Their souls feed my army, growing more powerful with each enemy slain!”

Celestia’s horn got a layer of overglow, and somehow Streak saw shapes flying through the air. Shapes that were exactly the same as the Void behind them. Celestia was commanding the demons of the Void. The war wasn’t over, it was only truly beginning.

“Now DIE! Die you insolent gnat! Feed, my children! Tear him apart piece by piece! Make him suffer!” Celestia yelled maniacally. She had finally gone off the deep end. It was about now that Streak figured that Cadance had turned her spell off and gotten the hell out of dodge.

Streak felt himself be surrounded by the denizens of the Void, felt their confusion. Where was the mortal they were supposed to destroy?

“I think this is where I step in,” a familiar voice called out, wiping out all the portals save one that had opened midair. From this portal stepped Nihility. “Miss me, Streak?”

Streak grinned, “Nihility, you bastard! I knew you’d come through for me.”

Another demon walked up to Nihility, “Sir, what do we do? The Creator demands we kill a mortal, but then directs us at the Woken One.”

“This is an easy fix, ignore her. The Woken One is our new Master. Voidborn, attack! Death to the Creator!” Nihility exuded an aura of dominance and respect. He was the strongest, and damned be the fool that challenged him.

The other demon saluted Nihility. The hordes that Celestia had summoned to kill Streak suddenly whirled and attacked her. The raised platform that Celestia and her throne were on was soon covered in an irregular and seemingly shimmering dome of black made of the newly dubbed ‘Voidborn’ demons. Through the black flashes of light could be seen as beams of pure magic tore through the demons. Walls cracked, blackened, wherever the beams hit. Pillars that held up the ceiling crumbled as sections just disappeared.

Streak turned to Nihility, “You realise that there is no way you’re backing out of explaining this now, right?”

Nihility smirked, Streak had no idea how he knew, but he did, “I expected nothing less.”

The door of the throne room was thrown open by a purple aura with a slam. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and their friends ran into the room.

“What is going on?” Rainbow shouted in surprise.

“It’s simple, Rainbow Dash,” Nihility replied gesturing to the dome of demons, “Celestia tried to turn our brothers against us.”

Twilight’s horn started glowing, “Who are you?”

“His name is Nihility. He is me, and I am him,” Streak turned to him. “At least, that’s what I have been told.”

“Do not doubt me, Streak,” Nihility chuckled. “I am as much a part of you as your left hoof.”

“And my wings?” Streak shot back. “If you’re a part of me, you can be removed.”

Nihility was silent. The whole room was silent. Rainbow and Fluttershy had looks of horror on their faces, and to a lesser extent so did the other Elements.

“And your soul,” Nihility responded after a second. “You can still remove that, but you will die. I am a piece of that.”

Rainbow piped in. “This is well and good and all, but what are we going to do about Celestia? She’s not dead, and the Elements are here. So,” she trailed off.

Streak swept his hoof towards Celestia, “Feel free.”

“Wait.” Nihility held up a hoof, “Let me get my brothers out of the way.”

“Celestia isn’t going to just let the Elements be used on her, Nihility,” Streak deadpanned.

“Watch and learn, newbie,” Nihility grinned. “Voidborn! Bind her! Bind her magic! Bind her wings! Bind every bit of magic in her body save the barest sliver of what she needs to live!”

The Voidborn from before, how Streak knew this he’ll never know, flew from the dome and saluted. As one the Voidborn charged, absorbing themselves into Celestia wherever they touched.

“What–NO! Get out!” Celestia started firing more rapidly, hoping to stop the Voidborn’s advance. “Stay away!”

Her bolts slowly lost power, to the point that they barely scorched the walls, and then stopped. When no more Voidborn were visible, she collapsed, no strength left in her limbs.

“What did you do?” Streak asked.

“Everything you do is magic. Breathing, walking, sleeping, even just existing costs magic, since it is a vital part of mitosis. We demons feed on magic. We are just eating it first, stopping it from getting from the Wellspring to her.”

“Clever, I’ll admit,” Rainbow pointed out, “But this room is about to fall apart. We need to use the Elements now, or they will never be used.”

Streak stepped out of their way, gesturing again at Celestia’s now-prone form.

Twilight nodded and the Element of Magic started glowing. Slowly, the other Elements added their glow to the lead Element’s. Right as it seemed that everything was going to work, Streak heard a voice.

You seem to forget yourself, Streak. Don’t think your job is finished. It never will be.

What do you mean?

I mean that you seem to forget your place. Allow me to show you why crossing me is not a good idea, insect.

Streak felt the wave of anger again, and his eyes widened at a cracking sound. He watched as a huge chunk of the ceiling fell in what seemed like slow motion. He traced the trajectory and saw it was heading right for Rainbow, the only mare whose Element had yet to add its glow to the others’. He sprung into action, diving into the oblivious Rainbow. The duo landed where they were not under the chunk of ceiling, but as Rainbow landed, her head hit a piece of rubble, knocking her out.

Streak looked at the remaining Elements, their channeling leaving them lost to the world around them. He couldn’t let them fail. He had to help them. He took Rainbow’s Element off her neck, kissed her on the forehead, put the Element around his neck and joined the other five in their positions. He closed his eyes and let the Element take over. He felt surprise that was not his own, before determination. As the Element glowed, he felt a tug on his consciousness.

* * *

Streak looked around. He was a pitch black void. He could see nothing around him. His breathing began to pick up. Damn it. He was back in the Void, wasn’t he? Any second now, he would feel a familiar agony as he was pulled apart piece by piece.

“Peace, Streak. You are in the realm between realms. You are safe,” a soothing voice called out throughout the vastness.

“Kindness, this is not the time for pleasantries. We had thought you dead a thousand years ago. How do you still live?” another voice demanded.

“Honestly, Honesty! You’re no fun!!” a third voice giggled. “He has no clue what’s going on right now, you can’t be mean!”

Streak whipped his head around, searching for any source for the voices. His panic kept rising, despite the words of Kindness.

“Streak,” a somehow familiar voice thundered, “I grieved for you when she killed you. You have no clue how it feels to see you again.” It was a voice he had never heard before, yet at the same time he knew it.

An authoritative voice spoke over the other voices, “Quiet.”

There was instant silence. This silence did little to calm Streak’s nerves. He was in the dark, he was confused, and he was panicking.

“Mortal, I am Magic, leader of the Elements,” the authoritative voice rang out, “I do not know how you still live a thousand years after Loyalty watched you die, nor do I particularly care. What I do know, is that you are using the Element of Loyalty, an Element that already has a Bearer.”

The familiar voice rang out again, “Magic, he could have not known our laws. Do not punish him in his ignorance”

Streak spoke up quietly, “Ignorance of the law does not mean immunity to the law.”

Honesty chuckled, “I like this mortal.”

Magic continued, “His ignorance allows us to give him a lesser sentence, Loyalty, not give him immunity. He broke our laws, and must be punished. Even he knows this.”

“What punishment would you give him, then?” Loyalty asked. “Dissolution into the Void? He’s already had that, and I will not let you do that to him again.”

Honesty growled, “Know your place, Loyalty.”

Magic was silent for a while. Streak feared the worst, that they would just leave him in this place. After what felt like hours, Magic spoke up again, “We cannot afford to have the Elements of Harmony in conflict with itself, not with the world in the condition it is in. We will cut off his connection to the Elements, preventing another incident.”

“No.” A simple word spoken without inflection. A single word that carried the weight of whole realms behind it when spoken.

Magic was shocked into silence for a second, before responding, “This is not a suggestion, Loyalty. It will be done for the greater good of the realm.”

Loyalty spoke in a flat tone, “I lost Streak for a thousand years. I refuse to lose him again if I can help it. Fuck the realm.”

“You have another Bearer,” Kindness tried to play damage control. “Isn’t she enough for you?”

“Don’t you dare accuse me of betraying my Bearer, Kindness. Do not think I have forgotten that you were one of Luna’s Elements,” Loyalty growled.

“Enough, the mortal—” Magic began.

“He has a damned name, Magic,” Loyalty snapped, “Use it.”

There was another silence. Magic finally spoke up, “We will deal with this privately, Loyalty. I will send Streak back, but don’t think this will be the last you see of us, mortal. I will call for you later, and I wouldn’t want to be you if you don’t heed the call.”

Before everything faded, Streak heard Loyalty’s voice once more, ”Streak, remember this: You and your friends were supposed to be the Bearers, not Celestia and Luna. She knew that. Right our wrong, fix our mistake, however you have to do it.”

”LOYALTY!” Magic roared. ”I’m sending him back. Now. You and I will have some things to discuss.”

* * *

Streak saw words floating in red. They read:

Loyalty

Streak
Laughter

Ironhoof
Generosity

Wonderbolt
Honesty

Sombra
Kindness

Brick
Magic

Starswirl

–Loyalty

* * *

Streak opened his eyes to a rainbow beam shooting into Celestia. He watched as the prismatic beam washed over the terrified Princess. When the light faded, he felt himself returning to the ground, and realized that while talking with the Elements he had floated into the air. A quick check showed the other Elements—Bearers, Streak reminded himself—returning to their senses and looking at the world around them. Rarity was the first to see him standing there, Element of Loyalty around his neck.

“Wha–Streak? How?” she stuttered.

Twilight turned around with confusion. “What about—” she was struck speechless,

Nihility looked at him, “I’ll be damned.”

Streak looked from mare to mare as they all looked in shock between him and the unconscious Rainbow Dash at his hooves before saying the first thing to pop to his head, “I honestly didn’t expect that to work.”

Applejack got in his face, “Why is RD knocked out? Why are you wearin’ her Element?”

Streak got inches away from her nose, “The Librarian decided to be a bitch and drop a damn ceiling on her, and I got her out of the way. She was knocked out, so I picked up her Element and prayed. Any more questions?”

“Just one,” Pinkie said, “No, wait, two. Maybe one, maybe three, potentially more, based on the answers, so I’ll go with two for now.”

“Pinkie,” Streak groaned.

“Did it work?”

Streak looked over at Celestia before asking Nihility, “First priority is my brothers. How many of the Voidborn survived the Elements?”

“All of them. This does not bode well for the Elements’ cleansing having worked,”

“How so?” Twilight asked.

“The Voidborn should have been seen as invaders into her body and been purged. At the best they should have been shoved out of her body, and at worst they would have been destroyed.”

“That’s horrible! The Elements are not weapons, they are tools!” Rarity exclaimed.

“A hammer is a tool, so is a saw,” Streak reminded, “and a wrench, and the knife that Fluttershy let me borrow back at her cottage. They can be used to kill, but weapons are just more efficient at it.”

“Plus the Voidborn are not alive in any form of the word. They do not pull magic from the Wellspring. They do not breathe, eat, drink, or sleep. They do not age, do not die by natural causes. They are, at best, semi-living parasites.”

“This all doesn’t answer my question,” Pinkie reminded. “Nor does it inform me how many more questions I have to ask.”

The group walked over to the prone form of Celestia. Streak looked into her panicked eyes. She knew that her fate was to be decided in this moment.

“Voidborn, allow her to speak,” Streak said. “Allow her a chance to prove that she is truly redeemed.”

“Thank you, Streak!” Celestia gasped out, moving her body to try and hug him. “It was horrible, being trapped inside my own body for over a thousand years, unable to do anything!” Streak batted her away, she gasped, “Streak, it’s me! It’s Celestia.”

“That is yet to be determined,” Streak said levelly. “Even if that is true, don’t expect that a light show and an apology will have me forgive you.” Streak gave her a level stare, “Name the Bearer of the Element of Magic one thousand years ago.”

Celestia looked at him confused, “That was me, Streak.”

“Name who it was supposed to be.”

“Streak I don’t know—” she was interrupted by a slap.

“Don’t lie. Who was the Bearer of Loyalty?”

“Streak, she can’t have known! The Elements weren’t used by anypony but her for the last thousand years until us!” Twilight exclaimed.

“She knew. She knew damned well, and made sure we were all dead!” Streak stomped on the ground. He looked at Celestia, “Ironhoof was Laughter’s Bearer. Wonderbolt was Generosity’s Bearer. Honesty chose Sombra. Kindness found Brick for a Bearer. Magic picked Starswirl. Loyalty chose me. You removed us all from the equation the second you couldn’t manipulate us!”

Celestia’s eyes widened, “How did you–how do you—”

Streak growled, “Do you think that any Element will work for any-fucking-body that wears it? Why do you think that I’m wearing Rainbow Dash’s Element?”

Celestia tried to speak, but no words came out.

“Pinkie, this answers your question. She has not been fixed. Not even close,” he turned to the modern Element Bearers. “My suggestion is to just slit her throat and get it over with, but I leave the decision up to you.”

The Bearers were speechless as he walked over to Rainbow Dash, loaded her onto his back, and walked out of the room.

Nihility watched his other half walk out of the room with sad eyes. “Looks like it’s time for me to leave. My advice, however, is the same. She has caused much pain over the last thousand years, and if you give her the opportunity she will do it again.” He waved his hoof at Celestia and a few Voidborn left her body. “In case you decide to let her live, I have returned her mobility to her. She won’t be able to run for long, or fly, and she definitely won’t be able to use her magic, but she can move around by herself unaided.”

Nihility got close to Celestia’s face, “Do not mistake this for weakness. If you are ever in my presence again, Celestia, I will not hesitate to butcher you where you stand, reformed or not.”

Celestia struggled to her hooves, panting from exertion, as Nihility left with not a glance backwards, portal closing behind him.

Author's Note

As promised, another chapter!

Not really much to say here, besides DAMN VOID, YOU SCARY.

1.9 All Over But the Shouting

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Nine:
All Over But the Shouting

Two days later, and Streak was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow had been found in a local hospital, and the other Bearers were visiting her.

“You’re probably looking for Streak.” Those were her opening words.

Fluttershy spoke up, “No, Rainbow. We came to see if you’re okay.”

Rainbow scoffed, “And if I just happen to know where Streak is, then it’s ‘oh, happy coincidence’?”

“You are being incredibly rude, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity scolded.

“Well excuse me. I’ll remember to react better next time someone invalidates a large portion of my life in an afternoon’s work,” Rainbow snapped.

Twilight looked at her sideways,"What do you mean?"

"I mean that my life was two things, Wonderbolts and Element of Loyalty. What do I have now?"

"You still have both of them, Rainbow," Fluttershy tried to console the pegasus.

“Oh, do I? Did you hear Streak’s description of the ponies Wonderbolt was turned into? They fit Spitfire and Soarin perfectly. The Wonderbolts are fake, and my idols are too.”

“You’re still the Element of Loyalty,” Rarity tried.

“And so is Streak,” Rainbow snapped back.

Twilight sighed, “Girls, let’s just go. We’ll be back when you feel like talking.”

The other Bearers filed out of the hospital room one by one, until only Twilight was in the room. She locked eyes with Rainbow. “We honestly came here for you, Rainbow. We are your friends before the friends of somepony we’ve known for a month.”

Rainbow didn’t even look at her, “Yeah, come back and say that again when it’s not your boy-toy they’re looking for.”

Twilight flinched at her friend’s tone. She sighed, “We’ll be back later, Rainbow.”

Rainbow listened to Twilight’s receding hoofsteps, trying to keep the tears from her eyes. She thought back to Streak’s ‘visit.’

* * *

Streak was watching her from a seat in the corner, waiting for her to wake up. She was awake already, obviously, but she didn’t want him to know that yet. She saw the Element in his hooves, and didn’t want to hear about how she failed her friends again, how she failed her Princess again. The prismatic mare didn’t think she could suffer through another failure.

Suddenly Streak stood up. Did she move, did he know she was awake? How could he have known? She was being careful!

All he did was plant a kiss on her forehead, causing her to force herself not to stiffen and alert him to her woken status. He then put her Element around her neck. “Have peace, Rainbow Dash, your work was not for naught. The Elements seemed to think that I was good enough to be a temporary replacement,” he paused for a second, chuckling, before adding somberly, “I am pained that it didn’t work, but knowing you’re okay makes it hurt less. I hope you wake up soon, your friends will be looking for you.” She felt a drop of something wet hit her cheek, and she realised he was crying.

When Rainbow opened her eyes, Streak was gone, leaving just an empty pit in her stomach. She was replaced?

* * *

Streak felt cold, which, thinking about it, wasn’t that odd for his predicament. He could barely feel his legs, and his vision was fading. It wasn’t bad enough that he couldn’t see the other stallion over his body, wiping his blood off of a knife.

It’s funny, when you think about it. I made it all this way, I survived facing down Celestia in her own throne room, only to die now, alone in a ditch. I believe that this is what they call ‘irony’ in some circles.

“It’s funny, really,” the other stallion chuckled, “how easy it was to get you to drop your guard. Just had to tell you that I was from the hospital your mare is staying at and you were all ears. Just a flick of the pastern later, you’re sitting in a ditch with a line in your throat.

“Maybe I’ll head to your mare when I’m done carving up your corpse into itty bitty pieces,” Streak’s murderer chuckled. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had some fun.”

Streak felt the last of his strength surge into his body. There was no way in hell that this bastard was getting anywhere near Rainbow Dash. His murderer kept talking, though, either too arrogant or too stupid to realise that Streak was a threat again, “And to think that you thought you could cross our beloved leader without consequences. She’ll be overjoyed to hear that you went down with the first pony she sent after you. Didn’t even put up a fight.”

What fitting last words, Streak thought to himself as he propelled off the ground. Using the his last bit of strength, he slammed his hoof into his murderer’s throat. He heard choking and gasping as his attacker dropped to the ground, trachea collapsed.

Streak grinned as his vision finally faded faded to black, all energy spent. At least he’d gotten the bastard.

* * *

“Welcome back to the Void.”

Streak looked around in panic, expecting to feel the familiar agony that he had learned over a thousand years in this very place.

“The Void does not attack its own, Premier.”

“Where, where am I?” Streak asked, then jumped. “What happened to my voice?”

Streak felt, more than saw, his conversational partner start walking, “As I said, you’re in the Void. Come with me.”

Streak stood still, defiant, “No! I’m tired of going through on someone else’s plan! I’m tired of not knowing things that anybody else in my situation would know! I’m owed some damn answers!”

The other demon stopped moving. “I guess I do owe you some answers. Very well then, Premier. Ask away.”

* * *

It had been two weeks since anypony had last seen Streak. Rainbow had gotten out of the hospital and was scouring the countryside as far away as Los Pegasus, refusing to believe that Streak was really gone. The other bearers, however, were a different story.

“Rainbow, you’re wasting your time. He’s gone!” Rarity tried to reason with her friend.

“That’s what you think? You think he’s not coming back?” Rainbow growled through clenched teeth.

“RD, don’t lose yer temper with Rares, she’s right,” Applejack said less delicately. “He got what he wanted out of us, and he’s not comin’ back, you have to face that.”

Rainbow whirled at her friend, “You think he won’t come back to m–us?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as caught her friend’s slip up, but decided that she’d confront her later.

“That’s exactly what I’m sayin’, RD!” Applejack exploded. “He told us to kill Celestia, and when we didn’t he left!”

“Do you think this is all about us, AJ?” Rainbow shouted, “How do you think he feels about this?”

“Probably pretty darn good!” Applejack shot back. “He seems to have no problem just leaving us to ourselves!”

“Have you ever seen him cry?”

Applejack scoffed, “He cried alright, he cried when he found the mass grave.”

“Have you actually seen tears fall from his face?”

“I have,” Twilight spoke up quietly.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Really? When?”

“That first day he was telling his story, when we were downstairs for two hours, he cried pretty much the whole time.” Twilight rubbed her poll awkwardly.

Rainbow looked at her sideways, “That’s once. Once. He cried once around us until two weeks ago.”

Applejack groaned, “Why does that even matter?”

Rainbow ground her teeth together again at her friend’s dismissive tone. “He cried because the Elements couldn’t fix Celestia, does that not mean anything?”

Twilight put her hoof on Rainbow’s withers, “Rainbow, we’re not going to find him, we need to move on.”

Rainbow growled at Twilight, “I thought that you, of all ponies, would want him back.”

Twilight flinched back, “What does that mean?”

“How long did it take for us to get you to admit that you liked him? How little did that end up being worth?”

“Hey! Wait just one—”

“I wasn’t finished,” Rainbow interrupted. “You’re pitiful, Twilight. That’s what it boils down to. You fall for the witty Streak, stay for the angry Streak, but you leave as soon as things get difficult?”

“Pitiful? Leave as soon as things get difficult? I helped him take on Celestia, who was like a second mother to me! Don’t say that wasn’t difficult!”

“Then you get competition and he disappears, and suddenly we have to move on?” Rainbow flipped her now-brushed hair.

“Girls,” Rarity tried to interject into the conversation.

“Get competition?” Twilight scoffed, ignoring Rarity. “You couldn’t compete with me if you wanted to!”

“Girls, that’s enough,” Rarity chastised.

“You’re right! All I have to do is wait and he’ll come crawling to me from your unstable ass!” Rainbow continued, ignoring Rarity.

Twilight gasped, “Petty insults is it? Two can play that game, Miss Breakdown!”

“Oh, the hypocrisy! Twilight the Freakout is calling me Miss Breakdown!”

“Twilight the Freakout?” Twilight sneered. “Do you not have creativity in that head of yours? Check under the thick skull!”

“GIRLS!” Rarity shouted. “I expect better from both of you! You know better than to argue like this, especially with a friend!”

Rainbow snorted, “You’re right, Rarity. I should try to have some kind of class when arguing with a friend. Twilight, if you try to speak with me again I will break all your legs completely in half and use the bones to stab your eyes out, then reach down your throat and pull our your intestines to tie you up with so you can’t escape as I burn you alive and bury you in a patch of Poison Joke. I hope that was creative enough for you.”

Rarity and Twilight stared with wide eyes as Rainbow promptly turned around and took off into the air.

* * *

Twilight and Rarity were sitting in the front room of Carousel Boutique, enjoying some tea and conversation about recent events. “Can you even believe that the griffons still refuse to open their borders to ponies?” Rarity was saying. “That seems excessive, and nopony even knows why they closed the borders in the first place!”

“That does seem like the kind of thing that they would tell us,” Twilight mused.

Rarity looked at the clock. 7:03. Late, as usual. Right as she thought this, there was a knock at the door frame as a prismatic pegasus practically bounced inside in excitement.

“Hey, Rares, I have a day or two before I head back out, you said something about a sleepov–oh, her,” Rainbow began bright and excited, and ended glaring at Twilight.

“What’s she doing here, Rarity?” Twilight scowled.

“Really, girls! It’s been two years, you think that you’d stand to be in the same room with each other! You used to be such good friends.” Rarity chastised, sighing at her friends’ attitudes.

“Like I need to be friends with a useless egghead like her,” Rainbow scoffed.

Twilight glowered at Rainbow, “At least I’m not a worthless blockhead who spends all my time looking for somepony who obviously doesn’t want to be found. Even if he does, it’s obviously not by you.”

Rainbow’s jaw locked as she ground her teeth. Her entire body stiffened as her eyes lowered into a hateful glare. A primal growl burbled out of the enraged pegasus’s throat.

“Oh, did I hit a sore spot, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight gave a smug smile, which was quickly wiped off her face as a hoof slammed into her muzzle.

Rarity looked at Rainbow in shock. In two years, she hadn’t lifted a hoof against Twilight, no matter how heated the argument got.

Twilight grinned, blood running from her nose, “That all you got, Rainbow?”

The taunt did its job, as Twilight was pressed against the inside wall of Carousel Boutique by the throat. The smug look in her eyes was quickly replaced with fear when she looked into the other mare’s eyes. She saw primal rage and hatred, nothing but rage and hatred. Her horn lit up immediately, but Rainbow’s hoof slammed into it, knocking the glow off of it and giving Twilight an even worse headache. After giving the unicorn’s nose a good smack with her forehead, Rainbow brought her hoof down again, right into Twilight’s muzzle. Then again. And again. And again.

Rarity looked in horror as Rainbow Dash beat the ever-living hell out of somepony who used to be her best friend. She bolted out the door, calling for Applejack, who was hopefully nearby at the market and not packed up on her way home.

Rainbow bodily pulled Twilight away from the wall before slamming her into it, knocking the back of her head against it. She repeated the motion again and again, somehow not knocking out Twilight. She pulled Twilight once more from the wall, before launching her through the half-open door.

Outside in ponyville, Cloud Chaser was standing by the Boutique, looking toward the market in confusion. There was a thumping sound from the building after Rarity had left, and Chaser was about to investigate as a thoroughly bloodied Twilight came flying out the door.

The pegasus was about to run to check on her friend when Rainbow Dash walked calmly out of the Boutique. Scratch that, calmly was not the right word. Her nostrils were flaring, her eyebrows were knit, her jaw was locked, and her eyes were filled with hate. Chaser didn’t have to look at Rainbow’s bloody hooves and forehead to know who was the cause of Twilight’s current condition.

Chaser watched in horror as Rainbow drug Twilight by the mane back towards the Boutique. Twilight groaned, “Rainbow… sorry… so…”

“NOW YOU’RE SORRY?” Rainbow screamed at the helpless mare in her hooves, slamming her against the paneling of Rarity’s place of business. “YOU WEREN’T SORRY BEFORE, BITCH! NOW THAT YOU’VE PUSHED ME TOO FAR, NOW YOU’RE SORRY?”

“Rainbow—” Chaser called out, running up to the duo, trying desperately to stop what she knew was going to happen.

“There are so many people I want to hurt, Twilight Sparkle. You, for trying to get me to abandon my friend and for abandoning him yourself. Streak for leaving in the first fucking place. My dad for being an asshole while raising me. You are in the lucky position of being my outlet.” Rainbow slammed Twilight into the wall with each name she listed.

“Rainbow, stop! You’ll hurt her!” Chaser pulled at Rainbow’s shoulder, trying to pull her away from her victim.

“That’s the point,” Rainbow growled, slamming another hoof into Twilight’s horn as she tried to teleport again. “Don’t you fucking leave yet!”

“Rainbow Dash, stop!” Applejack called out, running from market. She had obviously left in a hurry since she was missing her trademark stetson. She was prepared, however, with a bundle of rope.

Rainbow didn’t even notice her friend, focused as she was on the target of her aggression. She raised another hoof to slam into Twilight again, but found it held back by Cloud Chaser. She merely reversed the direction she swung the hoof and backhoofed Chaser in the face, knocking her away. Turning back to Twilight, she brought a hoof into her chest, knocking the wind out of her.

“Rainbow!” Applejack yelled, finally reaching the two. She tackled the enraged mare to the ground. “Stop this now!”

“She’s still moving!” Rainbow struggled against her, trying to reach Twilight, who was laying on the ground, coughing up blood.

Rarity was by Twilight in an instant and helping her stand. “Come on, let’s get you to the hospital,” Rarity said, ducking under Twilight and lifting her onto her back. Rainbow struggled futilely against Applejack’s superior strength, yelling every name under the sun at Twilight’s receding form.

Chaser sat down on the ground in disbelief, one forehoof pressed over the red mark on her cheek. Rainbow had hit her. She never hit ponies, but she had hit her.

Applejack was busy tying Rainbow up in the rope she had brought with a disappointed look on her face. She muttered to Rainbow, “You’re better than this, RD.”

Rainbow just snarled.

Author's Note

End of book one.

I'm feeling generous today, and since it's a holiday I decided to just give you chapter nine. You're welcome.

Fair warning, right off the bat book two deals with controversial topics such as homosexuality and domestic abuse, and has the potential to touch onto even touchier topics. Let me put this out now: I have not been abused. I grew up with a wonderful family that is supportive of my life choices. I am also a supporter of gay rights, but I am not gay myself.

Please avoid any comments along any topic that can be seen as offensive, even if it is agreeing with me, since I will remove them all. This includes, but is not limited to, comments on being abandoned at birth, abuse, suicide, homosexuality, self harm, or anything else that I might add or is related to something I might add. Unfortunately, this does include personal anecdotes involving your own experiences with these things as well as opinionated statements, since I refuse to attempt to pass judgement on your comments. Please don't make me click on that delete button, I enjoy getting comments, and really don't want to have to get rid of any of them.

2.1 Undying

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter One:
Wake

Two years ago…

* * *

“I guess I do owe you some answers. Very well then, Premier. Ask away.”

“Let’s start with the obvious one; what am I?” I looked at my forelegs. “I’m obviously not a regular pony.”

My companion laughed, “No, Premier. You are so much more than that. You are the Voidborn Premier. A demon of the Void born of a mortal shell.”

I looked over myself. I definitely looked like a demon. My coat was the same flat black that the Void was notable for, my mane joined in the color scheme, save that one rebellious streak of rainbow. “Question two: why do I still have the streak in my mane?”

The other demon shook his head. “I do not know. Maybe it is because you kept your identity after changing, maybe it was a side effect of one of Celestia’s spells.”

Something in my brain clicked. “You said I was the Voidborn Premier. What does that mean?”

“You are the leader of the Voidborn, just as Nihility was before you.”

“Nihility! Where is that bastard, he promised me answers!”

“Nihility is no more. You now occupy the vessel he was contained in.”

I was struck momentarily speechless. Nihility was dead? Once I recovered, I asked my next question. “He said he was stuck in the Void. What did that mean?”

“You are lucky that Nihility saw this possibility before you died and told me what you need to know.” The demon sighed. “You are the product of two planes, an oddity. The Librarian needed someone that was not attached to the Weave to go and mess everything up. When she checked the Void, she found you, a being with the body and soul of a demon but the mind of a mortal. It would not have been long before you lost your identity to the Void, like the rest of us, so she pulled you out and fixed you.

“She did not need a demon, however, she needed a pony. So, when she saved you, she built a new body for you to inhabit and created Nihility to care for your body. This allowed her to speak with you and people around you, and provided her with a ‘booster’ of sorts for her reality warping abilities. She would have never been able to drop that chunk of ceiling at Rainbow Dash if you hadn’t been there. She also built in a kill switch, so that when she was done with you, you would be sent back here, to the Void.

“Nihility knew this, and the Librarian wanted this knowledge kept from you at all costs. He also knew that if he died, so would you. Permanently. If you had not died that day, she would have thrown the kill switch anyway in an attempt to wipe Nihility from existence before his knowledge could be a danger to her plans.

“When you returned to the Void, you replaced the ‘Nihility’ intelligence that she created to inhabit your true body. Welcome to your new home, Premier.”

* * *

Modern day...

* * *

“The theory right now is that your body is actually a body, and therefore physical. That means that you could, hypothetically, return to the Material Plane for an extended period of time without a host.”

I looked at the nearby portal. “Worst that could happen is that I’m a regular demon and not corporeal. I’m going for it.”

My companion, whom I had learned was named Teller, nodded, “I cannot stop you, Premier.”

I sighed, “How many times must I tell you that we don’t need titles, Teller?”

“How many times must I remind you that our titles are our names?” Teller muttered to himself.

I chose to ignore him, instead stepping through the portal. On the other side was a clearing in the woods. I closed my eyes and inhaled eagerly the smells of the forest.

“Are you a demon, mister?” a small voice interrupted my rediscovery of the world. I opened my eyes and turned toward the source of the voice. What I saw made me do a double take.

A filly, she couldn’t have been more than thirteen years old, was looking at me with hopeful, vibrant orange eyes. The tip of her blue horn barely came up to my chin as it poked from her short white mane. Her tail was done in a similar short fashion, and her cutie mark was hidden behind a pair of saddlebags.

“Mister?” she repeated. “Can you talk?”

“I can,” I replied. I looked around for another pony, one who could have opened the portal that I stepped through. It was just me, the filly, and the portal.

The filly bounced in excitement, “Yes yes yes yes yes yes! They told me I couldn’t do it!”

I held up a hoof, “Wait a second, are you saying that you opened this portal?”

Nodding, the filly didn’t stop bouncing.

“Young one, where did you learn how to open it? Furthermore, how do you have enough magic in your body to even open it?”

The filly shrugged, “Dunno. Don’t care. It worked!” Her grin widened. “Now you can beat up the bullies so they will leave me alone!”

I backed up a step. “You opened a portal to the most dangerous place in known existence to beat up a bully?”

The filly stopped bouncing, nodding hesitantly.

“Why didn’t you just tell an adult?” I asked.

She got tears in her eyes, “I did! I told the matron, but she just made fun of me too!”

My eyes softened, “Why do they make fun of you, young one?”

“I’m… different,” she replied hesitantly.

“I will not make fun of you, I promise. You can tell me.”

“I–I don’t like colts,” she mumbled. “I’m interested in fillies.”

I put a hoof under her chin, pushing her eyes to meet where mine should have been, “That is not something to be ashamed of, young one. That is something to be embraced. I’m sure a cute little filly like you won’t be alone for long.”

Her tears of despair quickly switched to tears of joy as she latched onto me. It seemed that all she wanted was for someone, anyone, to accept her as she was. I clutched her back, smiling. Eventually, however, she spoke. “You feel cold, mister.”

I chuckled, “You don’t have to be so formal, young one. My name is Streak.”

Her eyes widened and she pulled back to be looking at my face, “Are you the Streak? The one that fought against Celestia?”

I fidgeted, “Well, yes, I am. Why do you ask, young one?”

She fished around in her saddlebags for a moment before pulling out a newspaper. She spread it open, placed it on the ground, and pointed to the headline.

Elements in Disharmony?

I know you all know the Elements of Harmony. Who doesn’t? They are the six that provide our nation’s last line of defense against an outside force. What we haven’t known, however, is that they have not been united in years.

According to an inside source, the schism started two years ago, when Rainbow Dash started to regret their unanimous decision to give Celestia another chance, fearing it had driven away their new friend, Streak. After two weeks of searching, all the other Elements had given up hope of finding him. This caused a falling out between Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, whom Rainbow allegedly accused of abandoning him.

Everything seemed to get better for a while, but the two reportedly still could not stand to even be in the same room as one another, going as far as walking out of group functions purely because the other was there too.

You might wonder why this story is coming to light two years after it should have. The reason is that Rainbow Dash was just admitted yesterday into Ponyville Jail awaiting a court date for a charge of aggravated assault with intent to murder and one charge of assault. Her victims have not been released, but according to another source, the same afternoon Twilight Sparkle was admitted into Ponyville General with cracked ribs and horn, internal bleeding, a broken nose, and a concussion.

This reporter thinks there is a connection, but for now it is just speculation with a lot of evidence.

I planted my hoof firmly into my face. “Rainbow,” I groaned before sighing. “Alright young one, we’ll deal with your bully problem first. Mine doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere soon.”

Her eyes widened, “You’re really going to help me?”

“If I am in a position to help someone in trouble and don’t take it, what does that say about me? Also, if you were willing to reach into the Void once, who says you won’t be able to do it again? Next time, however, you might not be so lucky.” My gaze turned stern. “The Void is a dangerous place, young one, and you are not to experiment with it again.”

She hung her head, “Yes mister Streak.”

I nudged her as I settled onto the ground, “Now hop on and direct me to where you need to go.”

She squealed in excitement, hopping onto my back, “My name’s Star, by the way. Star Swirl.”

I froze for a second at the name, eyes widening in shock. She noticed, “Are you okay, mister Streak?”

“Fine,” I replied. “That name just brought back memories.”

“They don’t look like good ones,” she frowned.

I sighed, “I knew someone with that name. It is unimportant now.”

“You don’t treat it as unimportant.” I didn’t reply to that, but Star didn’t care. “I heard Celestia talk about Starswirl that day, you know.” I looked back at her. “Everyone did. I don’t know who Brick and Ironhoof were, but I assume they were important to you.”

“They were friends, like I thought Starswirl was.”

She was silent for a minute, so I looked back forwards and kept walking. Suddenly she spoke up, “That’s not my real name, you know.”

I raised my eyebrow, looking back at her. She blushed, explaining, “Star Swirl. When I was really young, I didn’t really know my name. All I knew is that I was good at magic, and the matron said I was going to be the next Starswirl.” She looked upwards. “I’m not as proud of that as I used to be.”

I chuckled at her reaction, “Starswirl was good at what he did. Don’t let one aspect of his life color your opinion of a complement. You are really talented. I personally have only known four people, not counting you, that had the potential to open a portal to the Void.”

She smiled sheepishly at me, “Just call me Star, though. I don’t much like anything that I’ve heard about Starswirl recently.”

“You have quite the advanced vocabulary, Star. You are quite intelligent for your age.” I remarked.

She blushed, “I spend my spare time in the orphanage’s library.” She got quiet. “They leave me alone there.”

I nudged her with my nose, “Hey, you won’t have to worry about them soon.” My voice got mock-serious. “Don’t get all pouty on me, young lady.”

She giggled, “Okay, Mister Streak.”

I chuckled, “Just Streak.” We remained silent, save for her directing me to her orphanage. It was weird, not having a voice in my head to talk to. I missed Nihility. I only knew him for a month two years ago, but he was literally always there whenever I needed advice, or even to just talk.

We reached the orphanage around sundown. As we passed by a sign labeled ‘Tall Tale Orphanage’, I looked back at Star. “Now I need you to head up there. You’re not going to be able to see me, but I find that ponies say things that they wouldn’t say around outsiders.” Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded in understanding. I smiled reassuringly at her, even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “I’ll be nearby at all times. You’ll be okay.” She nodded and walked up toward the orphanage.

I melded into the shadows, doing my best to hide the rainbow splash of color from being visible. I was only partially successful. Star walked with hesitance, head twitching to the side occasionally. I could tell she wanted to look back, if only for the reassurance that I was still there, but she resisted the urge.

An older-looking green mare was sitting by the front door, “There’s the queer. I was beginning to think you had finally run off. Unfortunately, you decided to come back. Go to your bunk, no supper for you.”

“Yes, matron.” Star said, walking toward the door, head hanging low.

I was stunned. I had expected I would have had to wait for at least a few minutes to catch her red-hoofed. “Well that was fortunate. I honestly expected you to have a shred of decency in you.”

The matron’s eyes widened as she looked around frantically for the source of the voice. She eventually looked at Star with an angry look on her face. “I don’t know how you did that or what, exactly, you did, but you will regret that.” The matron raised her hoof to hit the filly, only to find her hoof blocked by a leg of purest black.

“Boo,” I said, holding the mare as she tried to jump and run away. “Star, get your stuff. Your matron and I are going to have words.”

Star got a huge grin on her face and hugged me before she sprinted into the orphanage. I turned my attention to the matron. “What is your name?”

She sputtered, “Wha–what?”

“It is really a simple question. What. Is. Your. Name?”

“Tender–Tender Hoof.”

“Good. Now what is your job?”

“I care for the fillies and foals at the orphanage.”

“Good. Now can you tell me where you screwed up?”

“I–I,” Tender Hoof’s eyes dashed back and forth as she searched her brain for what she could have done wrong. “I don’t know!”

“Wrong answer. You helped isolate that poor filly.”

“You’re here because of that useless freak?” The look of disgust on Tender Hoof’s face was audible in her voice.

I felt my heartbeat speed up as I curled my hoof around hers tighter and tighter. Her face went from disgust, to confusion, then panic, and finally pain as my hoof tightened. She cried out and dropped, held up only by the hoof I was crushing in my own. I spoke as calmly as I could, which, honestly, wasn’t very. “Wrong. Answer.”

She gasped out, “Why are you doing this?”

“Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? You call a filly who was able to open a portal to the Void useless, and you ask me why. You call her a freak because of how she was born, and you ask me why?” My voice raised as I was talking, until I was nearly shouting. I was losing control quickly. I took a deep breath. “Now I’m taking Star with me, and you aren’t stopping me, do you understand?” She quickly nodded. “If I’m ever back here, I will not hesitate to end you, should you have not ended your current practice. Find another vocation, Tender Hoof. You will find the denizens of the Void to be less than merciful. You won’t get off with a sore hoof next time.” I dropped the mare’s hoof, and she quickly got up and limped inside.

About thirty seconds after Tender Hoof reentered her orphanage, a smiling Star came out the door, her saddlebags looking barely any more filled than they were before she went in. I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that everything?”

She nodded, “I had pretty much everything packed when I met you anyway, so I just grabbed some nonessentials and got out of there.”

As the two of us walked away, someone called out for us to stop. I turned around, raising an eyebrow. A colt that couldn’t be more than two years older than Star came running out. Star’s lip turned up in disgust. “What do you want, Hail Mary? Come to get one last shot in at the queer before she’s gone and you have to find another target?”

The colt, named Hail Mary, it seemed, smiled sheepishly before reaching into his saddlebags. He pulled out a sack filled with something, placed it on the ground, and walked back inside.

Star looked at the sack in confusion, before nudging it with her hoof. I half expected it to explode into some kind of foul-smelling concoction, but instead all that happened was the bag clinked. Star looked at me, and I gave her an encouraging nudge. She used her magic to open the sack, and gasped at what was inside.

She quickly pulled out a note in her orange aura, beginning to read it quietly. I walked up to see what the fuss was about, and gasped myself. Inside the sack was bits. Lots and lots of bits. Star just sat there, staring at the note, so I walked up behind her and read it over her shoulder. It was hastily scrawled, and the grammar was atrocious, but it was one of the most touching gestures I have seen.

star swirl

i wanted to apolagize for how we treeted you. in the bag is mony for train ride some where nice too live. i know its not enough but there is mony for to train ride’s so that you can go on train with you’re new dad.

hail mary

I looked at the sack of bits. “That’s more than two train rides’ worth of bits.”

A tear ran down Star’s cheek. “Math never was Hail Mary’s strong suit.”

I chuckled, “Neither was Equestrian, but he turned out alright anyway.”

She looked up at me, hopeful, but hesitant, smile on her face. “Is what he said right? Are you my new dad?”

I paused. I had never really thought about that. I couldn’t very well leave her on her own, now could I? At the same time, could I drag along an innocent filly in my quest to actually kill Celestia? I saw her hopeful smile start to fall, and my answer was found. “I guess it is, Star.”

I don’t think she could have smiled wider. Frankly, I don’t think I could have, either.

2.2 The Scars We Don't See

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Two:

The Scars We Don't See

“So,” I said, as we approached the train station. We had sat in companionable silence for most of the walk, and I decided to take the initiative and create a conversation. I had to learn about my new adopted daughter after all. By Faust, however fake she might have turned out to be, that was weird to say. “Who exactly was Hail Mary?”

Star sighed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. “He was one of the bullies that always made fun of me. He wasn’t the worst, not by a long shot, and he never started one of their bouts of teasing, but he was still one of them.” She looked at me from behind those bangs with troubled eyes. “I’m not sure if I forgive him or not.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “Star, I don’t expect you to forgive him, not yet. But remember, he is only a child, as are you. He has great potential if he can learn to act on his heart, rather than his peers. He showed that today.”

She sat in brooding silence as I came up to the ticket window. The mare behind the counter seemed oblivious to the two of us, filing her hooves. When we got to the window, I cleared my throat. The mare didn’t even look up at me. “All trains tonight are sold out, come back tomorrow.”

I scoffed, “Is it tourist season, Star? This town doesn’t seem large enough to fill the train if everypony living here got on board.”

“No, it’s not tourist season,” Star sighed, playing along, “There should be at least two open spots on the train.”

I nodded, “So by that logic, she’s just being lazy and turning away paying customers?”

“Ooh, her boss is not going to like hearing that,” Star winked at me as we started walking off.

The mare’s head shot up, eyes wide. “WAIT! I missed some seats! Where do you need to go?”

I smirked, “We need two tickets to Ponyville.”

Two hours later, Star and I were on our way to Ponyville in our own personal train car. It was at a huge discount, too. What a coincidence.

Star practically melted into the plush red seat, sighing in contentment. I chuckled from my place by the door. “Comfortable?”

“You have… no idea,” Star moaned as she rolled onto her back, sticking all four of her legs into the air.

I smiled at her antics, before frowning as dark topics started flashing across my mind. “Star,” I began, “I’m going to ask you to do something you aren’t going to like.”

Star frowned at me, spinning back upright. “You’re going to pawn me off on the first household that will take care of me, aren’t you?”

I sighed, “I don’t like it any more than you.”

“Then why are you going to do it?” she accused me.

“I have no choice. I’m going to be doing dangerous things, things I have no right bringing a filly along on.” I sighed heavily looking out the window. “I’m going to be breaking laws, Star. Not only that, but I’m going to do the most dangerous thing I have ever done.”

Star glared at me with those piercing orange eyes. “It can’t be that dangerous.”

I looked her in the eyes, however futile the gesture was, me having no discernable eyes. “Last time I did this, Star, I died.”

A look of shock swept over her face, quickly replacing the look of anger that was previously held there. “That’s more reason for me to come, dad!”

“The more reason to keep you safe in case I don’t make it. I’m sorry, my mind is made up.” I used a tone of finality, letting her know that this conversation was over with.

She didn’t much care. She’s a lot like Rainbow Dash, in that regard. “No! I’m coming with you! I don’t care what laws you’re breaking, I don’t care how dangerous it is. I have never had a family, and I’m not about to lose my dad right after I get him if there is anything I can do!”

She was panting after exploding like that, glaring daggers at me. Something she said resonated with me. I could see where she was coming from, I really could. Unfortunately for her, we were coming from the same direction. “Star, I grew up on the streets of Canterlot one thousand years ago, before it was the capital of Equestria. I never knew my parents, I don’t know if I ever had siblings, and if you were to look inside my house the day I died the first time, you would have found a ring waiting for the perfect moment.” I let out a shuddering sigh. “I never got to have parents at all, and, until now, I never got to have a child. My lover betrayed me in the worst way possible right as I was getting ready to move to the next stage of my life. Now I have the chance to actually do something worthwhile. To create something rather than to destroy it. I would rather die a thousand deaths than let you get hurt.”

Star looked up at me with tear filled eyes for a moment, before launching herself at me in a flying hug. As she buried her face into my fur, I could just barely hear her whisper, “Which is why I’m never letting you be alone again.”

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes before I finally sighed. I’d been doing that a lot, probably not a good sign. “Okay, you can come along.” I interrupted Star’s excited bouncing with a raised hoof. “There are some conditions.” She looked at me attentively. “Condition one: if I tell you to run and you don’t, I don’t care if your staying saved my life, you’re going somewhere safe.” She nodded hesitantly. “Condition two is that under no circumstances is anyone to know that Streak is alive.” She looked up at me in confusion. “My death caused all kinds of problems that are still not resolved. Until they are solved, I need to keep myself out of the equation. A generic demon, even a Voidborn, will draw less attention.”

“What about that?” Star asked, pointing to the rainbow streak cutting through my mane like a prismatic river through a desert of black sands. It was probably just as noticeable. “That is pretty noticeable.”

I paused. That was a very good question. “How good are you with illusion magic?”

“How good are you at breathing?” she smirked.

Just minutes later, I was streak-less. Star assured me that the spell was self-sustaining, and that if I really needed to end it without her, I could just eat the magic holding the spell together and unravel it. However, she did bring up another valid point. “What name are you going to be using, if Streak is off limits?”

I hummed in thought, “Demons are named by their title, since we know instinctively which demon we’re talking to. I’m thinking Premier, since that’s my title while in the Void. What do you think?”

She stuck out her tongue at me, “Kinda lame, but we don’t want a name that is so awesome it blinds nearby ponies and deafens the lame with its mere utterance, do we?”

I revise my earlier statement. A lot like Rainbow Dash in many ways. “You’re going to get along well with one of my friends, I can tell.”

“Which one? Is it Rainbow Dash? I know what the newspaper said about her, but she’s too awesome to try to kill somepony. Isn’t she?”

“I’m hoping so, because the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony need to be in harmony for the Elements to work. The world is worse off with my return if I cannot re-unify the Bearers.”

“Well how do we do that, if what the newspaper said is true?”

I stared out the window for a few seconds, noting the almost palpable silence. It seems that there are some questions that I can’t quite answer yet. After an hour, I heard Star start to snore. I looked to where she lay, and had to stifle an ‘aww’ at how adorable she looked.

She was half off of the plush seat, her cornflower blue fur meshing fairly well, somehow, with the red cushion she had taken for a bed and pillow. She was breathing lightly and regularly, her chest rising and falling in some unheard rhythm. Her breath caused her shock-white bangs to float forward with each exhale, only to return to place during her inhales like some kind of strange yo-yo. Her tail twitched in her sleep as she buried her face into the plush cushion. She started murmuring something unintelligible.

Suddenly her murmuring switched to moaning. Her tail started swinging back and forth faster and farther. Her breath sped up to the point that I was worried about hyperventilation. Her legs started twitching, at first slowly, but quickly picked up pace. I hesitantly walked over to her, having absolutely no idea what to do. Celestia had never had a nightmare, and while I know why now, that didn’t change the fact that I have absolutely no experience dealing with them.

I nudged her, softly calling out her name. Her moaning got louder, and I could make out some scattered words here and there. Nothing that sounded good. I shook her, trying to wake her before her nightmare got worse. I called her name as her words became louder and more frequent.

At this point I was panicking, I couldn’t wake her up. My mind flashed back to a time before the story I told the Bearers. During one of my first battles. To that poor filly who just wanted her mommy to wake up. I could still hear her words, to this day. “Mommy, it’s not funny anymore. Mommy, just wake up. Mister, can you wake mommy for me? She won’t wake up. Wha-no! MOMMY! NO MOMMY COME BACK!” I practically shouted Star’s name as I shook her, desperately needing her to wake up. To pull me from the past that I so desperately needed to escape as much as to pull her from her own nightmare.

Star yelled as she jolted awake. I sighed in relief and sat down as she started breathing heavily. She looked around in panic, her eyes darting quickly around the car. It reminded me too much of prey watching for a hidden predator that was just right there not two seconds ago. Her eyes widened and jumped into my chest when she saw me sitting there. I just sat there and held her for a minute, letting her sob silently.

My attention was called to the door of the car opening and one of the other passengers tentatively walked inside. “Are you okay in here?” she called out.

I smiled. It seemed that not everypony was content to just let things happen around them. I spoke quietly as to not startle this kind mare. “It was just a nightmare. She’ll be fine.”

The mare’s eyes widened for a moment when she saw me, but, surprisingly, she seemed to accept the presence of a pony seemingly made of shadow fairly quickly. “Do you want me to get you a glass of water? She’ll be thirsty.”

I nodded in thanks, and the mare took it as her cue to leave. Star sobbed again against my chest, and I hugged her tighter, shushing her. “You’ll be okay, Star. It’s over now.”

“You won’t leave me too, will you dad?” she sobbed into my chest.

I tightened my grip in a reassuring embrace. “Not ever. You’re family, Star, and only the worst kind of people abandon family when they have a choice.”

“What about those that have no choice?” she asked me with a small voice.

“They don’t abandon their family. They die trying to get them back.” I pulled her eyes to match mine. “Do you understand me, Star? There is always a choice. I’ll die before I ever leave you.”

She smiled at me with wavering eyes before burying her face back into my chest. We stayed like that until the mare came back with the promised glass of water for Star, who accepted it with a gracious ‘thank you,’ finally letting go of me.

The mare sat beside me, sighing in relaxation. I turned to her, noting that she was an earth pony. I also noticed a hint of the fragrance of flowers that seemed to settle around her. It seemed fitting, given that she looked very much like a walking flower with her pale leaf green coat and rose red mane and eyes. Not the pinkish red that everyone seems to think is rose, but the actual vibrant, almost ruby red of an actual rose. Her cutie mark was a trio of roses, and I had a feeling that her name was flowery, if you pardon the pun.

“My name is Sure Touch,” she said by way of introduction. Nevermind, not flowery. “I know this is a personal car, but I wanted someone to talk to, and the other car is filled with stuck up jerks. I hope you don’t mind me being here.”

I chuckled, “I go by Premier, and it’s fine as long as you don’t mind sharing the car with a magical parasite.”

Her eyes widened slightly, before Star ruined my fun, “Dad, don’t tease the nice mare.”

I sighed in mock surrender. “Alright. But only for you, Star.”

Star giggled, obviously feeling better. Suddenly she seemed to remember that there was someone else in the car with us and shrunk into herself. Sure Touch giggled at Star’s reaction.

“Guess she’s a bit shy.” I chuckled.

Sure looked at me like I had grown a second head, “Shouldn’t this be something you’d know as the filly’s father?”

“Adoptive father. Just picked her up today,” I corrected. “Heck, I just got onto this plane of existance today.”

“How do you adopt a daughter within a day of being in Equestria?” Sure asked me.

“She was having problems with bullies, which included the matron at the local orphanage. It got bad enough that she reached into the Void for help. I answered.” At Sure’s disbelieving look, I added, “The adoption was not exactly legal.”

She planted a hoof into her face and sighed. Thankfully, she dropped the topic. We started chatting about various things. Turns out Sure was from Ponyville, and just visiting family in Tall Tale. She had a house just outside the town borders. When I learned that, I breached an uncomfortable topic.

“Absolutely not.” I was shocked by her immediate and harsh dismissal. I figured that she would take to the idea of having Star around in a heartbeat. “She’s not even going to come with you. I don’t care what you’re doing, but if it is dangerous for a trans-dimensional being like you, you aren’t going to take a little filly along with you.” Oh.

“Hey!” Star harrumphed indignantly. “I’m twelve. And a half. I’m not little.”

Sure looked at me, “You’re taking a twelve year old along with you on something dangerous?”

I sighed, “Look, I understand your concern—”

“I’m convinced you don’t!” Sure interrupted me, quite rudely, I might add. “You’re taking a filly into danger! Do you understand how idiotic that is?”

“I can take care of myself,” Star mumbled under her breath in the corner.

“I’m allowing a filly who was able to open a portal to the Void at the age of twelve along with me,” I responded.

Her response was cut short by a shrill whistle that seemed to cut through everything. The train was arriving at the station. She gave me a look. “This is not over.”

I smirked, “Yes it is. We have things to do in Ponyville, and won’t be staying for long.”

Sure gave me a measured look before deflating with a sigh. “Fine,” she said, “I’ll take Star in if you send her. Maybe she will get some semblance of a normal life in my house.”

As she walked off, I called out, “Thank you.”

She looked back with what could have been amusement in her eyes. “You take care of yourself, Premier. And Star.”

I shook my head. Sometimes mares confused me. Other times, they baffled me. There was no inbetween.

Star looked at me, “So, where to?”

“Well, first we need a place to stay,” I mused out loud. “Then I’m going to go talk with Twilight, get an idea of what damage has been caused by Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m—” Star was interrupted by a yawn, “—coming with you.”

I shook my head, “You’re tired, and need to sleep.”

She tried to deny it, “No I’m no—” She was interrupted again by another yawn.

“Star,” I tried to put on my best ‘dad’ voice.

Star sighed, “Fine.”

Turns out that Ponyville had become a tourist destination since I was last there. Not a huge one, mind you, but they averaged about a dozen tourists a day. Besides that, however, little had changed.

Oh, sure, some new businesses popped up to pull money from the tourists. Some new shops, a hotel or two, some more stalls, and the like. I also heard there is a memorial to the Bearers of my time being built in the glade I spent so much time training in. I’m not quite sure how I felt about that.

Our first stop was one of the new hotels to buy a room for Star to stay in while I did my thing. Good thing Hail Mary supplied us as much as he did. After buying a relatively cheap room and making sure Star was actually asleep, I walked to the hospital.

At first, the nurse tried to stop me from going to Twilight’s room. It was the middle of the night, after all, and visiting hours weren’t until the afternoon. She changed her tune, however, when I made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that I was going in whether she liked it or not, and if I didn’t have directions to where I wanted to go, I would start throwing open doors. I knew I had only about ten minutes before the guard she undoubtedly is heading to alert got here.

I pushed open the door to see a lavender mare laying peacefully under the covers of her bed. I sat on the chair and cleared my throat. She stretched, groaning as it put pressure on her ribs, and picked her head up to look around the room. At first, she looked right over me. She looked around again, and again missed me. I guess it was dark, and she was tired, but still! She was blind as a bat.

“I’m here for answers, Miss Sparkle,” I said, catching her attention.

“Wh–who are you?” Twilight asked, starting to get nervous.

“They call me Premier, Miss Sparkle. I’m here to ask you some questions regarding Rainbow Dash.”

Her eyes narrowed as she searched the room for me, “I don’t see anyone, and if you’re here for her, you can just leave.”

I stood up, looking down at her as her eyes widened. She mouthed “Demon.” I nodded. “I want to know how you went from being best friends to being hated enemies in only a few weeks.”

Twilight sighed, “Honestly? It was over something stupid. A stallion, actually. We were both being stubborn, and I let jealousy color my actions.” She let out a snort. “It took me pushing her to violence to realise exactly what had happened between us. If she hadn’t tried to kill me, well, who knows? We would have probably been friends again. At least, I was willing to try. Now, however…”

“What would it take for you to forgive her?”

“I honestly don’t know anymore,” she sighed again, shaking her head. “I would love to just erase the last two years and start over, but both you and I know that’s not happening. Everything would have been perfectly fine, too, if we had found a body or a note or something. Instead, he just disappeared without a trace.”

“Who?”

“Streak. That’s who the argument was really about, no matter what we were saying. I had a crush on him, and Rainbow swooped in and nabbed him before I did." She chuckled, "It was my own fault, though. I waited too long, and she saw the opening."

"I'm to assume that you thought him dead, and she disagreed?" I asked her.

"No, I thought he had abandoned us and didn't want to be found. She thought that my acceptance that he had left was giving up on him, which I guess it was."

I winced as her casual, accepting tone. She truly thought I had abandoned them. "Thank you, Miss Sparkle. I'll let you get to your rest."

"No, Premier. thank you. You helped me work through my own feelings on this subject." She smiled at me. "I hope I see you again."

"This is not the last you shall see of me, Miss Sparkle. You might not like our other meetings as much, however" Before she could ask what I meant, i was gone.

Next stop: Ponyville Jail.

2.3 Resistance

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Three:
Resistance

This was the hard part. Getting into the hospital had been incredibly easy, but the jail would be a different story, even with some of the guards searching the hospital for me.

Luckily it was designed to keep ponies in, and therefore had few defenses to an outside intrusion. Like me. A cursory walk-around showed me no open windows, and all of those windows were barred. There were no back doors, and no easy way onto the roof. Most likely no way in through the roof, anyway, but it’s good to check just in case.

I examined the front door. It was a sturdy wood, nearly impossible to kick down with one pony. Just to add insult to injury, steel supports were running both horizontally and vertically. It opened inwards, so I gave it a shove. It swung open silently, despite the size, on obviously well-oiled hinges.

I sighed, the door wasn't locked, even at this time of night, allowing me easy entry to the front room. I saw a door that was half open, and cells beyond that. Maybe this wasn't the hard part.

Cue proving me wrong. "Stop right there!" a guard yelled in alarm. I turned to look at him, and he backed up a step. He was a dull red, and standing at the front of a small squad of guards. My appearance startled him. Good. He recovered quickly. "This is a restricted area. I’m going to have to ask you to leave."

My eyes bored through him and the guy behind him, and I spoke up quietly. "You don't know what you're doing, and you’re just trying to do your job, so I feel you deserve a warning. Don't get in my way, and you won't get hurt."

The fool, ever loyal to his cause, remained in my way. The men behind him fidgeted, looking unsure for a second, before following the example of their leader. “I said this is a restricted area. If you don’t leave we’ll be forced to arrest you for trespassing.”

I sighed, "You had your chance."

One of the guards thought it would be a good idea to try and throw a sleep spell on me. It was a good idea, if I didn't eat magic it would have even worked. As it was it just pissed me off.

I launched myself at the surprised guards, aiming for the one who tried to enspell me. I smacked him on the horn before spinning around to block reflexive attacks from the two guards behind me. I spun myself around, blocking another swing from behind me. I bucked my legs, knocking the unicorn, for there was indeed only one of them in that group, straight into the wall. I heard a crack as he slammed his head into the wall.

I spun back to the other three, all earth ponies, as they charged. I knew much of how they fought and how to counter it, since standard guard training had apparently not changed in a thousand years, but it was still three on one. I ducked under the coordinated efforts of the outside two, taking a glancing hit to my left leg from the center guard, the one who had spoken earlier. I spun and kicked the left guard in the chest causing him to stumble. I quickly turned my attention back to the other two. I was barely not quick enough to dodge one of them, so I took another glancing blow to my leg. I managed to get a few quick, light blows against the center guard, who was obviously better trained than the other two.

I spun just in time to catch the left guard’s swing in the crook of my knee. Twisting him around, I managed to toss the guard across myself to take a hit from the red guard. The unicorn groaned and tried to stand through the headache he quite likely had. I tossed the guard I was holding onto the unicorn guard, stunning both of them and buying me some time. I needed to take out the red one, he was dangerous.

Speak of the devil, the red guard slammed into my chest, launching both of us into a wall. I got the worst of it, being between the wall and him, but I managed to twist and slam a hoof into his chest as we hit, knocking him off of me and knocking the wind out of him. I had no respite, since these were trained soldiers. The remaining opponent was quick behind his superior, but whether that was in just skill or in rank too was irrelevant. He cried out in anger as he swung at me, and for my part I just dodged each swing. Left, right, left, right, he had no variance in his attack pattern. I jumped inside one of his swings and he realised, too late, his mistake as a pitch black hoof slammed him in the nose.

Definitely his superior in skill.

As that guard crumpled, obviously unconscious, I turned to intercept the red guard. He had not quite caught his breath. His formerly stunned companion limped to his side, and the unicorn was out for the count. I grinned, though I knew they couldn’t see it. “Surrender, I have no quarrel with you.”

The red guard gasped out, “Never!”

I sighed, I had a feeling that would be the answer, “Then do me one favor.” He looked at me sideways. “The guard still does the ‘name rank and serial number’ thing, right?” He glared at me. “Just humor me, guardsman. I’m giving you a break to catch your breath.”

He still just glared at me, eventually saying, “Bright Aegis, Sergeant of the First Equestrian. Serial number echo-one-echo-sierra-foxtrot-seven-three-zero.”

I nodded at him, “You can call me Premier. I hope we meet again in a more favorable condition than this.”

“You seem like such a nice guy.” Bright Aegis layered the sarcasm on thick.

“Well, that’s enough diplomacy for one fight. Back at it?” I asked.

He didn’t bother saying anything in response, instead launching himself at me in the most enthusiastic yes I’d seen in my lives. I had anticipated his charge, however, and sidestepped. He twisted quickly, before I could exploit my new opening, and almost got a solid hit to my head. I managed to duck under his swing and hit him under the chin. He dropped to the ground in a heap.

I turned to his companion, who hadn’t moved. He was obviously favoring his left foreleg, it was probably broken. I stared into his eyes. “I need the keys.”

Within a few minutes, I had the keys in hoof and the fourth guard was knocked out. I trotted down a dark hallway. I mean, really? Do they have no imagination? Long, dark hallway flanked by cells. I made it down to the one occupied cell, sighing at the sight of the occupant. Rainbow Dash was curled up in a ball in the corner.

“Rainbow Dash,” I called out softly, inserting the key into the lock.

She didn’t even look up. “What?”

“You don’t look very happy for somepony who’s about to be a free mare again,” I said, turning the key.

Click. Creeeeeeeeeeak.

Her head whipped up to look at me in confusion. “Who are you?”

“A friend.” I turned to leave. “Come quickly, I don’t know how long it will take for the rest of the guards to return.”

She shook her head, standing up. “Woah, woah, woah. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who, and what, you are!”

I looked back at her, “You are, of course, free to stay in your cell until the guard returns to lock you back up. Or you could come with me.”

She didn’t even have to think about it, coming to walk right next to me as we walked out of the hallway. She paused as we exited the cell block, looking at the heaped guards with trepidation. “What have I got myself into?”

“Absolutely nothing. Everything is purely voluntary.” I chuckled at her disbelieving look. “I am here to break you out and attempt to recruit you, nothing more.”

“Recruit me?” she snapped.

“I’ll explain later, for now we need to move. We don’t exactly blend in with a crowd.”

She grumbled under her breath, but couldn’t deny what I said. We quickly exited the jail and snuck to the hotel. We got caught within seconds by a cloaked pony, but he just raised his purple hoof in salute and walked off. Even with this, it hadn’t been very long since I was last at the hotel, so Star was still groggy when she came to open the door, but we got inside fairly easily. Star was back on the bed within a few seconds, and I turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, you have questions. Ask them, and I’ll do my best to answer.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, “Oh, do I. Let’s start off nice and easy. Who and what are you?”

“I am a demon of the Void called Premier. I am in charge of the Voidborn demons, those of us who were, at some point, living beings and therefore have definite shape.”

“Premier? That’s a lame name,” she scoffed.

Star mumbled from her bed, “That’s what I said, but no…”

“Star, go to bed.”

She sighed, “Fine.”

I turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Before we continue, I have some questions that need answering.”

“Nuh uh, you can wait.” She was having none of it. “I have a ton of questions that you already agreed to answer.”

“There are many questions that need answered, I understand. I also understand that I agreed to answer your questions. However, most of my answers rely on your answers to these few questions.”

“Fine,” she grumphed at me, obviously not happy. “Ask your stupid questions.”

“First question.” I pulled the newspaper out of Star’s saddlebags. “How much of this.” I tossed her the newspaper. “Is true?”

She spent a few seconds reading the article, before sinking slowly to the ground. She hung her head and started shuddering. She curled up much like what I had seen in the cell. I was immediately at her side, holding her as she let out shuddering mutters that sounded a lot like, “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

So I sat in a hotel that didn’t exist two days ago for me, holding onto a sobbing mare that had seemed rock solid last I had seen her. I said nothing, just held onto her much like Twilight had held me two years ago when I needed someone.

Eventually she removed herself from my embrace, not gently, but not overly rudely, and settled onto the carpet. Her wings were twitching slightly and she refused to look directly at me in obvious signs of discomfort.

I ignored the last few minutes as I continued, for which she shot me a thankful glance. “Is it?”

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “Yeah. I’m not sure why, but I did.”

I heard Star gasp from the bed, but I think we all chose to ignore her little outburst. “Let’s get to the bottom of why, then. What happened that night, from your perspective?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Well, it had started pretty normally for a day in my life recently. I had decided that I was taking a break from looking for Streak for a few days over the weekend. Rarity took the opportunity to invite me to a sleepover. She didn’t tell me that Twilight was there, too.

“You see, Rarity had been trying to get me to forgive Twilight for abandoning Streak, and thought that if she brought us together enough that we would be friends again. It… didn’t work very well. Twilight, as usual, immediately started pushing my buttons. She always knew just which ones to push to get a certain reaction, but she’s not perfect. She went too far, and I snapped. You know the rest.”

“What caused you to go from best friends to, well, that?” I asked.

She scoffed, “We were both being idiots and making things a bigger deal than they needed to be. She thought that Streak was dead and we should stop looking for him, and I refused to believe that he was gone. That rolled over into everything we did. Our friendship was probably salvageable, but now? I’ll be lucky to be able to show my face in Equestria ever again.”

I grinned, “If that’s the case, why don’t we go out with a bang?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Go on.”

I explained why I was here. Celestia hadn’t stopped throwing things into the Void two years ago like everyone thought. Somehow, she was still opening portals with no magic and little political power. I explained, as well, how I got here. Her eyes widened momentarily when I mentioned that I got Star out of the Tall Tale orphanage. She waved me off when I asked her about it, saying she had mistaken the name I gave her for a second. I hesitantly agreed to drop the topic, then spent the next few minutes explaining my plan to kill Celestia, once and for all. It boiled down to “Find the bitch and kill her. Then run.”

"That's it? That's your plan?" Rainbow Dash exploded. “Last time we did this, the plan had twelve different parts working simultaneously, and three different things we could do to keep going the way we were supposed to go!”

"I’m sure you exaggerate, but do you have a better plan?" I asked. "There are a ridiculous number of unknowns we have to contend with. There's only so much I can do."

"You could at least know where we need to go!" she sighed in exasperation. "Her location is considered a state secret so that nopony, or more likely a griffon, tries to exact revenge for her actions. It's hard to kill what you can't find."

"Canterlot."

"What?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “What about Canterlot?”

“That’s where Celestia is going to be. I can guarantee it.”

“And how do you know this? How do you, who has only been on this plane of existence for days, already know what nopony else knows?”

“Portals. I could feel each one she opened, and I saw her every time she threw someone through. She’s in the castle, high in a tower.”

“Alright, then you sit back while I fly up there and give her a smackdown!” Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and started flying toward a window. She couldn’t get far with her tail in my mouth, but she did manage to drag me about a foot before sighing and landing.

“Patience is a virtue, Rainbow Dash,” I scolded. “One it seems you sorely lack.”

She groaned, “Oh, come on! I want to get this over with already!”

I pointed at Star, who was stirring slightly in her sleep. “I’m not leaving without Star, and once the alarm goes out—” I was interrupted by shouting as guards combed the streets. “—like now, you’re not going anywhere without a disguise. Star does illusion magic.”

“So you’re saying that I’m stuck with you?” she snarled. “What happened to purely voluntary?”

“You’re stuck until Star wakes up, Rainbow Dash.” I scolded. “I won’t keep you longer than necessary.”

“Alright. Fine. I’ll stay and help you,” she muttered. Her ears perked up and she looked at me suddenly. “What is Star to you, anyway?”

“She’s my daughter.”

“Ah, okay,” Rainbow Dash nodded and started walking towards the bed for a second before what I said sunk in. She whirled around and exclaimed, “Wait, WHAT?”

“I said I got her from the orphanage, Rainbow Dash,” I said. “Why is it so surprising that I adopted her?”

“You—you’re not a pony, that’s why!” she sputtered. “You’re not even really alive! You’re just a magical parasite!” I saw the blood drain from her face and her eyes widen after she said that. My eyes narrowed slowly. “No, wait. I didn’t—”

“Are you insinuating that I’d ever hurt Star, Rainbow Dash?” I growled. “Are you saying that I’d ever, ever, hurt my daughter?”

“No, I didn’t mean—”

“Did I make a mistake going out of my way to get you out of jail?” my voice was rising. “Did I—”

“Dad, quiet down. I’m trying to sleep,” Star grumbled from the bed. “She didn’t mean it as an insult, she’s just blunt.”

I noticed that I was much closer to the wall than I was last time I checked. Poor Rainbow Dash was cowering in the three foot space between me and the corner. I took a deep breath and stepped back. “You’re right, Star. Sorry, Rainbow Dash.”

“Don’t. Do. That. Again,” Rainbow Dash hissed at me. I stared at her for a second before she snorted and walked to the bed. “Hey, squirt. Scoot over, we need to fit three on here.”

I chuckled as Star stretched and shifted out of the center of the large bed. “Two. Demons don’t sleep, remember? Plus, you don’t seem like the type to climb into a bed with some random stallion because he did you a favor.”

Rainbow Dash’s cheeks flared red. “Premier! There’s a kid here!”

Star looked between the two of us in confusion. “It’s just innuendo. I heard those all the time in the orphanage.” She shrank into herself. “Usually about me, though.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes softened as she gave Star a hug. “Hey, don’t listen to them. Bullies will be bullies only if you let them, okay?”

Star sniffled, “But—”

“Okay?” Rainbow Dash interrupted Star’s complaint.

“Okay.” Star smiled, returning the hug.

“You’re good with foals, Rainbow Dash.” I commented.

She smiled, “Yeah, I’ve always really been good with ‘em. I’ve wanted my own since—” Her face fell and she held onto Star tighter.

“Since?” I asked.

“Nothing. It’s unimportant,” Rainbow Dash replied too quickly.

“Rainbow Dash,” I put my ‘dad voice’ on again since it seemed to work on Star. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

She snorted, “Don’t try putting the dad voice on, Premier. It won’t work on me.”

I sighed, “Alright, but you need to tell someone so that it’s not stewing up in your head. It’s obviously bothering you, and keeping something like that to yourself is not good for you.”

She scoffed, “Like you’d know. Don’t demons lose their identities?”

I shrugged, giving a noncommittal grunt. Rainbow Dash took it as the end of the conversation. “Alright, Star. Time for bed.”

Star groaned, face in the pillow, “Finally. Night Dad.”

"Goodnight, Star."

Author's Note

So I did some editing in previous chapters. Mostly just changing hyphens to en dashes (–) em dashes (—) where applicable. Also removing references to characters that got removed since writing in their foreshadowing.

Also, foreshadowing Rainbow's past!

2.4 One Thousand Apologies

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Four:
One Thousand Apologies

“Move move move!” someone shouted from not too far away. “The whole damned building is coming down, and you don’t want to be under it when it does!”

From somewhere else someone shouted, “DRAGONS!” There was a sound of an explosion, then silence save for the creaking and cracking of the falling building.

I dove past a falling chunk of rock. “Sergeant, which way do we go?”

I heard a grunt as my sergeant just shrugged off a rock half the size of the one I had dodged. “You got wings, boy! Use them!”

I shook my head, “I’m getting you out of here, sir!”

He hobbled on three legs, his fourth one having been lamed not too long ago by a damned griffon ambush. Three griffons was not a fair trade for sergeant Snowflake’s leg. “I’m not making it out of here on this leg, boy! Just go!”

“Sir, no sir,” I grunted as I loaded up Snowflake on my back. “I said I’m getting you out of this.”

“For the love of Faust, boy! Use your head!” he yelled at me as I ducked and wove around falling chunks of rock. Someone screamed in agony in the distance. “You won’t make it out of here with dead weight!”

“So be it, sir.” I jumped over a split in the apartment complex we were clearing. “I refuse to tell your wife that I didn’t do all I could to save you.”

He groaned in annoyance, “Boy, Sunny knows I’m likely to die! We’ve come to terms with it! Just leave me!”

I sprinted down the stairs as fast as I could with the sergeant on my back. I could tell that I wouldn’t make it, not weighed down. Snowflake was right. I still refused to give up, putting my all into getting out the door. Right as the building began to crumble, I got a huge burst of speed, rocketing out the door right before I would have been crushed. As it was, a large piece of rubble slammed into my leg, knocking me down.

I snorted, “See, sir? I told you…”

Snowflake wasn’t on my back. He wasn’t anywhere around.

My eyes widened as I dove at the rubble as best as I could with my wounded leg. “No. No, no, no.” I started shoving debris out of the way, coughing from the dust that had yet to settle. Somewhere, someone was calling out, looking for survivors.

I finally shoved a large chunk of building aside and saw a white hoof poking up from the rubble. “No. NO!” I dug furiously, refusing to believe that the stallion who had become like my father was under that massive pile of rubble.

I dug out a face, and Snowflake smiled at me. “Told you—” he coughed, “—you wouldn’t make it with me weighing you down.”

“I’m sorry sir! I didn’t mean to drop you! I–I can make it better. You’ll make it, right? You’ve been through worse!” I hurriedly dug at the rubble, trying to pull my segreant from the ruins of the building. Tears started falling down my face. This was my fault. “I can fix this, I swear! MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC OVER HERE!”

“Don’t be stupid, boy,” he wheezed out. “You didn’t—” he coughed again, staining his lips red, “—didn’t drop me. I dropped myself.”

I stopped digging in surprise. “Wh–why? Sir, we could have made it!”

“I thought I said to not be stupid.” He coughed even more violently. “Make sure it’s you they send to tell Sunny, alright boy? It’ll be less of a sting that way.”

“You’re going to tell her yourself, you understand me, you stubborn geezer?” I said, resuming digging. I was ignoring the spike of bloody rebar through his stomach.

“Boy, stop denying things. I’m dying—” he coughed again, spraying me with droplets of blood. A little trail of blood ran out of the side of his mouth and his words had begun burbling. He turned his head and spit out the blood in his mouth. “Sorry. I’m dying, boy. Accept it and let me die like a soldier.”

He chuckled, “Also, one last request. From geezer to boy.”

“Anything, if only so I can rub your face in your survival,” I choked out through tears.

“Go and take a chance with Celestia,” he chuckled. “With as much as you talk about her, you should have a chance. She probably already knows you by name.”

I was pulled away by a pony, who I assumed was the medic. I sat a small distance away, guarding against any member of the invading army getting to my sergeant. Fortunately for me, even if it didn’t feel that way, no hostile creatures came into sight before the medic returned.

“I’m sorry, Streak,” she said in a gentle, soothing voice. “There’s nothing I could do.”

I collapsed to the ground, all strength having left my legs instantly. I started sobbing at the feet of a mare I didn’t know. She said something, but it didn’t register. It didn’t get past the filter of pain. Nothing would. There was a golden flash, and I drifted, blissfully, into an uneventful sleep.

I opened my eyes in panic, only to find a strange room greeting me. I looked around for Snowflake, or even the medic, but found neither of them. Instead, I saw Rainbow Dash looking at me with some concern from the bed. “I thought you said demons don’t sleep?”

I frowned, I was asleep? That was a hell of a nightmare. “I thought we didn’t,” I said truthfully.

“That looked like a hell of a dream,” she commented. “What makes a snowflake cause that reaction?”

“I–I don’t know,” I said. “It was a memory.”

“You mean the thing that demons don’t have?” Rainbow Dash accused me. “Are you even what you say you are?”

I sighed, “I don’t even know, anymore.” I looked at the clock. Three in the morning. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Get some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

She shook her head, “I was awake anyway. You’re talking about it. You don’t have a choice. It’s bad for you, remember?”

“I’ll talk if you do.”

She took a hissing intake of breath. “Maybe not.”

“You’ll have to talk eventually, Rainbow Dash,” I reminded.

“I’ve held onto it for almost thirteen years, I think I’ll be fine for a few more.”

I sighed again, “Fine. We all have our secrets.”

She smirked, “That’s what I thought.”

Star batted Rainbow Dash, “Shut up, ‘m trying to sleep.”

My thoughts turned inwards. Why was I reliving Snowflake’s death? Didn’t dreams usually have some significance? Some deeper meaning your mind was trying to process? What purpose could be achieved by reliving my first failure?

I had no answer to those questions, and still had no answer when, an hour later, I closed my eyes only to open them to a hospital room. I felt my leg strapped to my barrel and saw Princess Celestia herself sitting in a chair nearby. I quickly stumbled out of the bed on my three good legs and dropped into a bow. I felt a hoof on my shoulder.

“There is no need for that, Streak,” she said. “I’m afraid that I’m to be the bearer of bad news. Sergeant Snowflake didn’t make it. He was dead soon after I got to him.”

“Ma’am?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, you must not have noticed. I was the one who tried to heal him.” She lowered her gaze, “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

My stomach fell out from under me. Princess Celestia was there at the battle. She was there to see my failure.

“However, I have something to give to you,” she continued. “I talked with Snowflake for a few moments, long enough to tell me how you risked your life to try to save his. You did a brave thing, Streak, something most soldiers wouldn’t have.”

“I did what I had to,” I mumbled. “I couldn’t face Sunny knowing I let her husband die, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t try.”

“That is what makes you a hero.” The princess nodded. “You didn’t even have to think about it, you just did it. And so, for going above and beyond the call of duty, I present to you the Equestrian Service Medal.” She pulled out a medal in the shape of an alicorn in flight and placed it around my neck. “And for being injured in the service of another, I present to you the Purple Wing.” She pulled out another medal and put it around my neck as well, this one was self-explanatory. It was a wing that was purple. “I know it’s not much compared to Snowflake’s life, and not much of a ceremony either, but I hope that this is the start of an improvement in your life.”

She started to leave, so I called out, “Princess?”

“Yes?” she stopped and turned to face me.

“Has Sunny already been notified of Snowflake’s death?” I asked her.

“Sunny?” She cocked an eyebrow.

I blushed, “Sorry, ma’am. Rainy Day, Snowflake’s widow. We always called her Sunny since she was always so happy and her name never seemed to fit.” I hung my head. “Until now.”

“Ah, no, she hasn’t. I was on my way to do that now.”

Princess Celestia was personally delivering the news of Snowflake’s death to his wife? “Can–can I come along? Snowflake asked me to tell her.”

Her eyes softened, “Of course. I’ll be right behind you the whole time.”

I nodded, “We’re in Everfree, right?” At her nod, I continued, “I know how to get to th–her house.”

She nodded again, “Lead on, Streak.”

I hobbled through the hospital, stumbling occasionally. I always caught myself, however. It was hard to walk with one less leg than usual. On multiple occasions Princess Celestia moved to catch me, but I just waved her off. I would walk there by myself, damn it.

I got many stares from the civilians as I walked through town. I guess it was unusual for a stallion to have two of the highest military honors around his neck while stumbling through the streets on three legs. The princess being right behind me, poised to catch me if I fell, probably didn’t help. Much to my chagrin, most of the stares were looks of pity. I didn’t need pity, I needed to hurt something. That’s the only way I knew to make the pain go away.

Unfortunately for me, there was nothing around for me to hurt, so I locked it as deep as I could. I had managed to get a passive face right as I walked up to Sunny’s house. I turned around and looked at Princess Celestia. She nodded at me.

I took a deep breath, bracing myself as I walked up to the door. I reared up to knock with my good foreleg, nearly toppling over in the process. Within a minute, the door opened.

Sunny answered the door, “Oh, Streak! I didn’t know you were—” Her eyes trailed past me to Princess Celestia. “No. No, no, no, no.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, very sorry,” I said. She dropped to her knees, but slapped me away when I tried to help her back up.

“It should have been you,” she growled, making me flinch. “He was on his way out. He was almost done!”

“Sunny—” I tried, on the verge of tears, only to get interrupted again.

“Don’t talk to me like we’re damned friends, Streak. We’re not,” Sunny seethed. “You let him die!”

“Mrs. Day!” the princess snapped. “That is more than enough!”

“You!” Sunny shouted at Princess Celestia. “What was he to you? A number? A body to be thrown at the enemy?”

“Mrs. Day, I personally attended to his first aid, and there was nothing to be done. By his own words he was dead anyway, and he wasn’t dragging anyone down with him. You cheapen your husband’s sacrifice and memory by acting in this juvenile matter!” Princess Celestia scolded Sunny. “Snowflake made it quite clear to me that it was his own decision that led to his loss.

“This poor colt you accuse of letting your husband die carried your wounded husband through a collapsing building, knowing full well it would mean his death! When Snowflake jumped off Streak’s back to let him live, he was buried under that very building. Streak then dug through the rubble with a crippled leg, all the while calling for a medic in the middle of an active war zone. I am ashamed of you, acting as you are. Nothing, not even me, could have saved your husband, and Streak, knowing this, nearly died trying to anyway!”

Sunny glared at me, “If he’s still alive, he didn’t try hard enough.”

SLAM!

I sat on my haunches, staring at a now-closed door. I felt tears running down my face as she revealed my failure right in front of the princess. I knew I deserved it, but it hurt, nonetheless. I sighed as I started limping away from the house.

I immediately started to topple. At this point, I wouldn’t have stopped it if I could have. I did not, however, hit the ground like I expected. I felt myself floating through the air and placed on something warm, soft, and solid.

I looked around to see that Princess Celestia had started hugging me in the middle of the road. “Shh, just let it out.”

“It’s not fair!” I wailed, no longer caring that I was face-to-face with the co-ruler of Equestria. “Why did I make it, but he didn’t?”

She held me there, sobbing, until I passed out. Probably not the best first impression.

“PREMIER!” I jolted awake to Rainbow Dash shaking me. “Finally! We’ve been trying to wake you up for the last two minutes!”

I panted, “Why?”

“Why? Why what? Why have we been trying to wake you up?” Rainbow Dash cocked her head.

“No, why am I suddenly dreaming, and why is it memories?” I sighed. “I will never understand myself, will I?”

“Look, if you want to talk about it, we’ll have to talk on the road. Star’s awake, and you seem to have some kind of plan. I’ll stick with you, for now. At least until Celestia’s dead.”

I nodded, looking to Star. “What’s the plan for hiding Rainbow Dash?”

“Frankly, I think we could get away with just changing her mane and tail. And the cutie mark, of course, that much is obvious,” she reported.

I turned to Rainbow Dash, giving her a once-over. “Yeah, you look. First one’s free.” I shot her a look, then glanced at Star, who had turned beet-red. I turned back to Rainbow Dash to find her the same color. Hmm, that could work.

“I’m thinking red,” I told Star. “It would be similar, but different enough.”

FLASH.

Rainbow Dash was a little less rainbow than she was yesterday. Her mane, I just noticed that she kept it brushed, was a bright red of a flower in bloom. Her tail followed her like the trailing end of a sash of bright red velvet, or maybe silk.

“Not bad,” I nodded. “I like it.”

“Don’t get used to it, buddy,” Rainbow Dash grumphed. “I’m changing it back to normal as soon as possible.”

“Still got the cutie mark,” Star reminded. “Gotta be something flying related.”

“Red lightning bolt,” both Rainbow Dash and I said at the same time. She narrowed her eyes at me in suspicion.

“Red mane, lightning’s fast,” I explained, not wanting her to know I was using Loyalty’s symbol. That was probably not common knowledge.

She stared at me for a second, before slowly nodding. With a flash, her tri-colored lightning bolt was replaced with a bolt like a finely cut ruby.

"I like it, it's not quite 'you,' but it looks good."

“It’s the symbol of my Element,” she quite conveniently explained. “Might as well use it if it’s there.”

“Sound thinking,” I complemented. Not to mention that that was one more thing I didn’t have to remember to not know. I turned to Star. “Now I need some way to walk through town. Think you’re up to it?”

Star smirked, “Oh yeah.”

FLASH!

I stood in the room, suddenly colorful. I had a stark, pure black coat, just slightly less intense than the Void itself, topped off with a mane the solid yellowish orange of pure gold. I turned my head to get a good look at my cutie mark. It was a solid white scale, one side weighed down with a pure gold feather. I brought up a hoof in contemplation, before starting at the pure white band extending about five, maybe six, inches from the bottom of my hoof. Further examination placed it only on my front right hoof.

I cocked an eyebrow at Star, who flushed immediately. “I–If you don’t like it, I can change it!”

“No, it’s no problem,” I assured. “I just wonder why you added the white stripe on my hoof.”

“It’s sorta a historical thing. The book I found in the library with the means to open the Void portal also had some history thrown in. It mentioned that after the fall of Luna, Celestia created a special group to fight against inside threats. She called them the ‘Justicars,’ and they were noted by a white stripe on their front right hoof.”

I raised my eyebrow, but Rainbow Dash beat me to what I was going to say. “Some irony, and perhaps some poetic justice. I like how you think, squirt.”

She blushed again, “I also did your colors based on meaning. Black, obviously, is death, but can also mean power and mystery, so I made it the main color. Gold is seen as justice, wisdom, and joy. You can’t see it, but your eyes are normal-looking red eyes, for reinforcement of the idea of strength and power. The white and gold in the cutie mark both reinforce the concept of justice, while contrasting white and black motif can be a sign... of... vengeance..." Star trailed off at the amused look on my face, a reaction no doubt reinforced in no small part by the inevitable smirk that showed up upon Rainbow Dash’s face as well.

“Do go on, Star. It’s good to hear you talking about something you enjoy,” I prodded, hoping to draw her farther out of her shell.

No such luck. She only shrunk further into herself. I sighed, turning to Rainbow Dash. “There’s enough money to buy tickets for all three of us on a train to Canterlot.”

“I could just fly,” she suggested, tossing her mane. “Ya know, meet you there.”

“Or,” I said heavily, seeing a hint of sadness in Star’s eyes at the suggestion, “we could buy three tickets and head there together.”

“Or we could buy some tickets and get on the train,” Rainbow Dash sighed. Star sprouted a grin, something I know didn’t go unnoticed by Rainbow Dash.

Star was so excited that she forgot to grab the pouch with all the money. ran out of the hotel room to buy us tickets. I watched Rainbow Dash’s face as she watched Star, seeing happiness with a flash of guilt and sorrow. She quickly, however, noticed me watching and turned away sharply. It seems that I was not the only one with a past they would rather see remain buried.

Her past, however, involved my daughter. I would be damned if I didn’t know what she knew about Star that even the filly herself didn’t.

Author's Note

I literally just finished this not even a half hour ago. There are bound to be mistakes galore, so point them out.

On another note, it is mighty hard to have a story titled Flight From Memories without at least two memories to be running from. Each main character* has at least that many, let's see if you can figure them out. One free internet point to anyone who can figure them out before I flat out say them. That means no, "I knew it all along!" because, let's be serious, most of those people didn't.

Also:

That is all.

-HB

*Rainbow Dash has three, Streak has two, and Star has two

2.5 Less Than Nothing

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Five:
Less Than Nothing

The three of us had boarded the train with no problem. They didn’t even check for illusion magic, which would have been the first thing I would have done if the only criminal in jail had just been broken out by a trans-dimensional being. Maybe it was because we were heading straight toward the last place an escaped criminal wanted to go, since I saw them doing random checks on other trains.

Sloppy. Undisciplined. Lazy.

Currently I sat next to Star and right across from Rainbow Dash. She looked quite uncomfortable sitting next to her seat partner, who I assume she knew at least in passing. It was odd seeing the usually brash pegasus reduced to complete muteness, even if it was by necessity.

I really needed to talk to Rainbow Dash, but if she knew the pony next to her, having her talk could be an issue.

Actually, I had an idea. I winked at Rainbow Dash. "Hey, babe. Why don't we head to the nearest secluded corner to... Talk?"

I really hoped that she was going to understand what I was going for. Star spoke up, lip raised in disgust, "Eew! Dad! You couldn't have at least waited until you two got to the hotel room?"

Now it was just time for Rainbow Dash to play her part. After a brief pause, she lowered her eyebrows in the most sensual stare I've ever seen, and I saw the looks the alicorn of love threw at her husband on the train to Canterlot two years ago. She stood up, beckoned to me, and walked with just the right amount of sway in her hips to keep me from looking anywhere else. I sat there, staring, until Star coughed. I turned to the pony sitting across from her, "You don't mind looking after Star for a little bit, do you? Thanks."

"What? But I-" By that point I was gone. I heard him faintly sigh, "Fine."

I walked up to Rainbow Dash, who was glaring at me. "What?" she demanded curtly.

"We're talking. You know something about Star, and I'm going to figure out what."

Her glare intensified exponentially, and her lip rose in a growl, "My past is my own business, not yours."

I held my ground, "it became my business the second it involved my daughter. What do you know that she doesn't?"

Rainbow Dash moved to push past me, "That's my own damn business."

I felt my hooves start to shake and my heart beat harder in my chest. My hoof shot out an inch in front of her, slamming into the wall and blocking her path.

She growled at me, “This is my past, a past that I am all too happy to forget. I’m not going to tell you a damn thing.”

"I'm not fucking around, Rainbow Dash!" I shouted.Both of us froze. We stared at each other for a second, then stared at the ponies around us. They stared back at us. I spoke up, "We'll meet you there?"

She nodded, spread her wings, and dove out the nearest window. I quickly went back to where we were sitting. Star had that look on her face that women get when you do something stupid. You know the one. Our companion looked at us with wide blue eyes.

“That was Rainbow Dash?” he spoke up. “I thought she was in jail!”

“Was being the operative word,” I quipped. “She’s not anywhere around anymore, so don’t get any ideas.”

He shook his head, making the dark brown mane on his head get even messier. “Oh, no. Never that.” He brought a hoof up and pushed his mane back into place. “It just surprised me that she would break out of jail and head straight to Canterlot.”

I shrugged, “It was more of a ‘I broke her out of jail and she just went along with it’ type of deal.”

“You seem fairly open with this information,” the stallion mused. “How much of it is true?”

“Curious one, aren’t you?” I asked. “Why do you have so many questions?”

“Suspicion is good. I like you, so I’ll answer. Understanding the enemy is the first step in defeating them.” He grinned. “You seem like you’d be a worthy adversary for my queen and our new ally.”

My eyes narrowed. “Explain yourself. Now.”

His grin widened. “Now why would I do that? It is much more fun to keep you guessing, and to keep changing the board around you while you flounder around, struggling to learn the rules.”

My hoof went to his throat, slamming him against the wall behind him. Star’s horn lit up, but I glanced at her. “Why don’t you go get something to drink. You look thirsty.”

She powered down her horn. “If you want me gone, just say so,” she grumbled, leaving the train car.

“Now,” I growl, “get talking.”

The stallion let out a burbling laugh. His eyes flashed green before being replaced with pure blue pools. “A good agent doesn’t reveal all of his secrets. Just enough to get you cooperating.”

A growl rumbled in my throat as I slammed him into the wall. His smile just widened, and he even started laughing. “If you can hurt me like that, I’ll tell you everything.”

I wasn’t playing his game. I was tired as hell of being a pawn in the schemes of one superpower or another. I picked him up, and smashed his head through the window. When I pulled him back, though, he didn’t even have a scratch on him. He still had that insufferable grin on his face. “I see that you were a good choice. I’ll tell my queen immediately that some ponies in Equestria still have spines on them and are willing to put up a fight.”

“You aren’t going to tell her anything, about me or otherwise.”

“She already knows. In addition, wherever you go, I will follow, like it or not,” he chuckled. “You have been chosen. You will never be out of our sight.”

My hoof slammed into his forehead. Damn that was tough. He laughed at me, “You just don’t get it, do you? You can’t hurt me, not with our ally’s spells protecting me. It would be easier to kill Celestia herself.”

There was a green flash, and the stallion was no longer under my hoof. He saluted me, eyes back to their normal appearance. “Do have fun, now. We will always be watching.” His piece said, he calmly walked out of the compartment.

I quickly moved to follow him, only to find nothing. There was nowhere for him to have gone. I sighed as I walked back into the compartment to sit down. I needed to hit something, or maybe get a drink. Yeah, a drink sounded great at the moment. I started heading to where Star was, since even though the train doesn’t supply alcohol, it was something to do.

“Always,” the smug bastard said from behind me. I whirled around, only to see nothing. Yeah, I really needed that drink.

I spent the rest of the ride sitting with Star. Neither of us talked, me because I had nothing to say, and her because she could tell I was thinking. What was that stallion? He was tough, but he said that was because of a spell. Also, I had never heard about a queen of anything, and on that topic, who was this “new ally” he talked about?

I wasn’t going to get any answers as I was, sitting on my ass. I sighed in relief as the train pulled into the station.

“We need to move fast. Head straight for the castle, and lie our way in?”

“That could work. Hopefully, Dash catches up with us on the way.”

Plan decided, we put our hooves on the road and walked towards the palace with purpose. Halfway there, Rainbow Dash landed next to us. "You're not hard to pick out of a crowd, Premier."

"Good. So far the plan is to bullshit our way into the castle and go on from there."

"Do you ever have a developed plan in place, or do you always just wing it?" she deadpanned.

"I don't do too much winging, Rainbow Dash," I chuckled. "But you're right. I rarely use some complicated plan with dozens of moving parts. The simpler the plan, the easier to adapt."

She sighed, "Fine. We'll go in and bullshit a plan. Worked great for the changelings."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Changelings?"

"Nasty bug creatures. They take the form of somepony you love and gain power by feeding off your love for them," she said, lip turned up in disgust.

"Truly? Odd."

“Yeah. They invaded a few years back. Almost won, too. Shining Armor managed to get off a spell charged by Cadance that threw all of the changelings out of Canterlot. Security was pretty tight for about a year.”

We approached the castle without incident. As we walked up, I sized up the guards in case we needed to fight our way in. There were four guards visible, two on each side of the door. Most likely there was at least double that number inside, if what Rainbow Dash told me about an invasion was true. Each guard wore gilded armor that seemed more for show than protection or intimidation. Two of them were earth ponies, and they wielded spears. They appeared to be of a ceremonial nature, however, and lacked a tip that could punch into anything tougher than paper. One guard, a unicorn, had a sword strapped to his side, and carried himself as if he knew how to use it. Swords, if I recalled correctly, were reserved for unicorn use since they were nearly impossible to use without magic. The final guard, being a pegasus, had no visible weaponry. However, I knew from experience that blades could be hidden inside the plumage of your wings, and with the right training could be thrown at incredible accuracy at nigh-impossible range for any other weapon type.

One guard, the unicorn, hailed us as we approached. “State your business.”

I made sure to keep eye contact as I spoke up, “We are here to report to the Princess.”

He looked at Star for a second before looking back to me. “She seems a little young to be in the service of Her Majesty.”

I decided to lie in truths, a difficult prospect for anyone, “She is more talented than any I have seen before in matters of magic.”

He nodded slowly before indicating Rainbow Dash. “And her?”

“Listen, I don’t have the time to engage in idle chit-chat. This needs to get done ASAP, and I need to get back out of the city. You’re in the way of my business.”

“Now listen here—” the guard began, before the pegasus walked up to his side and whispered into his ear. He pointed at my foreleg before whispering something else. The unicorn nodded, and the pegasus stepped back. “Welcome to the castle, Justicar. I apologize for the interruption. Nopony has seen one of your kind in nearly a decade.”

I nodded, “Understandable.” I turned back to my companions. “Red,”—Rainbow looked up—“I need you to carry Star and check the castle exterior. Guard,”—I turned back to the unicorn guardsman—“I need to be directed to a waiting room of some kind. Make sure they are directed to me as soon as they return.”

“Now wait a second, what do you need them doing that for?” the guard exclaimed. “There are no assassins waiting on the outside of the castle!”

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him, “There have been unconfirmed sightings of changelings around Canterlot. Given what happened last time, it is safe to say that I’m taking precautions.” I turned to the other two. “Check for any targets. Look on the walls, through windows, inside towers, whatever you feel you need to do.”

Looking back to the guards as Rainbow Dash and Star took off, I continued. “Luna is not to be informed of my arrival here. This is strictly my business.”

They looked at me skeptically, “Why not inform Princess Luna of your being here if you are going to talk with her?”

I brushed past him and through the gates, “Because I’m here to talk with the Princess, not Luna.”

A look of confusion passed over the guardsman’s face before one of the earth ponies shook his head. I heard him say lowly, “Justicar business is not ours. He’s got the stripe, so we’re not to question him.”

The unicorn guard sighed, walking up to me, “This way sir.”

I was directed into a waiting room of some kind, where I was for the next two or so minutes before they brought in Rainbow Dash and Star. They nodded at me, and the guards left.

"I can get us there," Rainbow Dash said, indicating a door behind me. "It's this way. Follow me."

We walked down many hallways that, frankly, looked all the same. Thankfully, none of the guards thought it prudent to stop us and ask our business.

We approached a reinforced door with a multitude of guards outside. Rainbow Dash nodded and stepped back in a clear sign that it was my turn to take the lead.

"Halt and state your business," the lead guard stepped forward. Ah, I knew this one.

"Shining Armor, stand aside. I have business with the Princess."

"Then check the throne room, that's where she would be this time of day."

"We both know who's up in this tower, captain." I said, trying to walk past him.

A pink wall popped up in front of me. Shining Armor glared at me from the other side of the wall. "This is a restricted area. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

I tapped the wall, and it shattered as I ate the magic holding it together. "I have business with Princess Celestia. Don't stand in my way."

He stepped back in surprise at the ease I collapsed his shield. I could feel the strength in the matrix as it collapsed. He was impressive, to say the least.

The three of us walked past the guards with no problem. However, half way up the tower, alarm bells started ringing. From below, I heard someone start yelling, "Shining Armor, sir! Rainbow Dash is inside the castle! She's got an unknown stallion and a filly with her."

The three of us sped up our ascent. "Wait, does she have a red mane and travel with a black stallion?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Shit. Guards, get up there now! First priority is Cadance, then Celestia."

I turned to the other two as we reached the door at the top of the stairs. Hooves could be heard advancing up the stairs.. "You need to hold off the guards while I kill Celestia."

Star nodded. Her horn flashed, coating the stairs in a shiny substance. "Grease spell."

"Stay out here. Both of you," I instructed. "As soon as I'm done, Rainbow Dash, fly Star away from here. If it's safe, come back for me. If not, go to the Griffin Empire and beg for asylum."

I stepped into the room to find two alicorns. Cadance stood protectively in front of her aunt. "Stay back."

"Celestia, your time has come," I said stepping forward. "For too long your crimes have gone unpunished. I'm here to ratify that mistake"

"Unpunished?" Cadance scoffed. "She has been stripped of the use of her wings and magic, as well as her position. How is that unpunished?"

"Are you not going to defend yourself, Celly?" I asked mockingly.

There was a pause before she asked quietly, "Streak?"

I removed Star's second spell, taking extra care to keep the spell hiding the rainbow stripe in my mane concealed. I heard Cadance gasp as I reverted mostly to my natural coloration. "Streak died two years ago, Celestia. He was slain by your assassin. My name is Premier."

"So you've come to finish your job, then? You're here to kill me."

"Yes."

I winced as Cadance growled, "Over my dead body. You’ve caused enough pain already."

"Cadance, let him past." Celestia waved her hoof in a dismissive gesture. "Grab him a knife from the kitchenette." Cadance's jaw dropped. "Come on now, Cadance. He doesn't have all day."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. She was up to something. This wasn't a case of guilt, she had no conscience.

A knife floated over to me wrapped in a blue aura. As soon as it was in my hoof, the aura dissipated.

Within a fraction of a second the knife was pressed up against Celestia's throat. It would be so easy to end it all now. Just a twitch of the leg, and Celestia was dead. My friends would be avenged. I would have justice.

So why couldn't I do it?

Celestia smirked. "There's still a part of you, buried deep, deep down, that still loves me, Streak. That's why you can't just end it. That's why I win."

My hoof started shaking. I brought my hoof back, and grunted as I swing the knife forward, only to stop at the last second. I tried again, to the same result.

I sighed as I dropped the knife, "You're right."

Author's Note

I'm a rat bastard. I had this cliffhanger planned for three chapters. Tell me what you think is going to happen. If you get it right, you get an internet cookie.

Also, I almost didn't get this chapter finished in time, so there will be some problems with grammar and word choice. Please point them out in the comments so that I can fix them. That is all.

-HB

2.6 Annihilate the Corrupt

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Six:
Annihilate the Corrupt

“There is still a part of me that loves you, Celestia.” She didn’t lose that grin. The one that tells you she knows she won.

Oh how wrong she was.

“The rest of me, however, isn’t stupid enough to fall for an enchanted knife.” Her eyes widened as I spun and bucked her in the chest. I grabbed the knife, swiftly devouring the enchantment on it keeping her from being hurt by it, and threw it straight into her throat.

“Sic semper tyrannis, Celestia. Thus, always, to tyrants,” I growled. “I don’t need you anymore. I found someone else. Someone who would die for me as fast as I would die for her.” Celestia, for her part, opened and closed her mouth, trying to speak. No words came out, only a trickle of red as she drowned in her own blood.

Cadance stared in horror as her aunt stumbled backwards, unable to recover from the combined effects of the surprise buck to the chest and me throwing a knife into her throat. “Goodbye and good riddance.” I turned around and planted my hooves into her chest once more, knocking her into a balcony. There was a creak as she lay against the railing. Time seemed to stop as there was a CRACK, and Celestia disappeared underneath the balcony.

“Try to come back from that, I dare you,” I smirked. “The days of Celestia are over, finally. Rainbow Dash! Get Star out of here.”

I heard a thwack from the other side of the door. “Bit of a problem, here! Shining Armor has a barrier on the door!”

Cadance’s jaw dropped. “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?”

Star’s voice piped up from the other side of the door, “Right now, or in general?”

“Who–I don’t–Streak!” Cadance stammered.

“That is not my name,” I said loudly enough that the two behind the door could hear. I added, quietly enough for just Cadance to hear, “Streak died two years ago. There are issues caused by that death that are not yet resolved. Let him stay dead, for now.” I walked to the door, opening it. There was a nearly-solid wall of pink in front of me. With a tap, the wall collapsed, falling apart into rapidly-dissolving pink chunks.

“The wall’s down! Hurry up and get up there!” Shining Armor said in a pained voice. He must have put a lot of magic into that barrier, with the strength it had. I don’t think an ursa could break through it if it tried. Rainbow Dash and Star hurriedly headed towards the balcony. I noticed offhandedly that my daughter had dispelled the illusion over the older mare.

“We’re trying, sir! Our pegasi are the only ones who have a chance of getting past that grease, and Rainbow Dash is stopping that from working!”

I stopped Rainbow Dash for a second as she passed by. “Get Star out of here, or you will not be able to run far enough to stop me from finding you.”

“Damn it! Keep pushing! Cadance is up there!”

She saluted me. “You got it, boss! I’ll be back for you.”

“Not if there is the slightest difficulty. Star is the first priority.”

Rainbow Dash hesitated for a second, before resignedly grabbing Star. Star glared at me, “We’re coming back for you, Dad. You don’t have a choice.” Rainbow Dash nodded before jumping off.

Cadance stared at me with an open mouth and wide eyes as I braced myself against the door. There was a thump as the guards finally made it to the door. The slower the guards make it up to the room, the slower they figure out that Rainbow Dash and Star left.

“ ‘Dad’?” Cadance whispered just loudly enough for me to hear.

Actually, why haven’t the guard sent pegasi through the open door to the balcony? That was a severe lack of discipline, there.—There was another, stronger attempt to open the door, using magic this time. It managed to get a good inch open before I ate the spell and managed to push it back.—A full two-thirds of their government was in this room. Well, one-third, now, but it’s the thought that counts.

Speak of the devil, a pegasus landed on the balcony. My hooves started sliding as the door began to open through pure brute force. He quickly moved to the door and helped me brace it, shoving it closed with more strength than any pegasus had the right to have. I stared at him in shock. He got an insufferable grin on his face as his eyes flashed green momentarily. “I said I’m always watching.”

Cadance hissed, “Changeling.” Her horn lit up and she fired a light blue bolt of mana at him. Her aim was thrown off as a brightly colored pegasus slammed into the ground in front of her, causing her to flinch.

“Come on, Premier!” Rainbow Dash shouted at me. “The faster you get over here, the faster we get gone.”

The changeling spoke up from the door, “The guard could only be delayed so much. There will be pegasi in the air when you get out there. Be careful.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, either knowing who he was, or more likely didn’t care since he was helpful. I felt gravity lose its hold on me as she snatched me into the air.

The changeling was not kidding about there being pegasi in the air. There were dozens of dozens. Rainbow Dash yelled at me over the wind, “Was it really necessary to kick her off the balcony?”

“No, but it made me feel better!” I shouted back as we swerved around a charging pegasus.

“I can’t believe you!” she yelled again. “This is so much harder now that there are pegasi in the air. Half of these ponies aren’t even in uniform!”

Doing a double take, I noticed she was right. They were either off-duty guardsmen or civilians. The former was actually better than the latter, since I felt less guilt about potentially hurting a guard than a civilian.

“They wouldn’t even be in the air if it weren’t for you!” She swerved around another group of pegasi.

“Shit! Wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as some blue-clad pegasi shot into the sky. “I can’t stay in the air with them up, not while carrying you! I’m putting us down. We’re going on hoof!”

We practically slammed into the ground as she landed, both of us going into a sprint. News of an attack on one of the princesses must have spread, because there was a veritable swarm of pegasi in the air above us.

“There they are!” somepony shouted from above us. I smashed through a door, scattering wood slivers into the room. Someone screamed in terror as I shot past her, diving out a window.

I didn’t have to look behind me to see that Rainbow Dash was still there. “To the left!” she shouted.

I took a left without hesitation. Within seconds, I heard shouted from above, “There! They’re going through buildings!”

“Right!”

Gritting my teeth, I took a sharp right, plowing through a pony who thought to stop us on the ground. There were easily a dozen more ponies, most in armor, blocking further ahead.

“Going over!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she grabbed my barrel. She managed to get me just high enough to get over the sharp points of the spears they jabbed at us. I was immediately dropped and resumed running after a negligible pause.

The next few minutes were like that. Rainbow Dash called out directions and got us over barricades, while we dove through buildings and back alleys to try to dodge our pursuit. At some point we had gained pursuit on hoof as well as in the air, as squads of guards, bolstered by civilians, ran hot on our heels.

Eventually, just as the wall got in sight, there was a flash as the Wonderbolts slammed in front of us. Guards poured out of the alleyways, forming a circle around us. The lead Wonderbolt, an orange mare with a fiery mare, shouted, “Rainbow Dash! What is wrong with you?”

The mare in question growled, “I’m doing what should be done, Spitfire! What you would do in my situation!”

Spitfire shook her head, “You’ve gone crazy, Rainbow. This is for your own good. Wonderbolts! Take down the stallion, I can handle Rainbow Dash.”

Four masked faces turned towards me, glaring. I braced myself for a fight. Within seconds, they charged in sync. No matter what I did, there was no way I was stopping all four of them. They were too good and too fast. Next thing I knew, I was pinned to the ground.

Rainbow Dash fared better against this Spitfire character. Currently, they were moving in a blur. I think that Spitfire was just slightly slower than her opponent, but that’s where her disadvantages ended. She was stronger, she was better trained, and she was determined. I could barely see the fight through the bodies surrounding me. There were easily a dozen spears pointed at my face as the two kept getting faster and faster. Eventually, however, I heard something that chilled my blood. There was a loud CRACK, and a cry of pain.

From Rainbow Dash.

I watched in horror as the flier dropped down the side of the building she had just slammed into. My vision turned red as I heard a sound I thought I'd never hear from Rainbow Dash. A sob. I barely saw the orange pegasus land next to her.

I didn't even question how I got it, or how I got out from under the guardsmen, but in a moment driven by pure rage, I threw a spear at Spitfire as hard as I could. I watched as it pierced her upper foreleg and didn't stop until it was buried half a meter into the wall behind her.

There was no sound save the pitiful sobbing of the cyan mare. Spitfire stared at the spear for a moment, then looked at me. "Nice throw," she complimented, before passing out.

The next few hours were a blur of desperation and rage, filled with shouts and sobs. My next coherent memory was around sundown.

"Are you back, Dad?" Star asked me.

I shook my head, clearing the last of the fog from my mind. "Yeah. What happened?"

"Rainbow got hurt, and you snapped. I don't think anyone died, but there will be a lot of business for the local hospitals."

I nodded slowly, looking over at the sleeping mare. "How is she?"

"She's got a broken wing, but besides setting the bone and putting it in a sling, which you did, by the way, there's nothing we can do."

I looked around, noting the miles and miles of plains stretching on all sides of us. I sighed, "How long have we been on the plain?"

"About six hours. Only two or three hours of walking time, though."

"We're close to griffon territory, then. Keep an eye to the sky, they could swoop in at any time."

"Would they attack us?" she asked me.

“I don’t know,” I sighed again. “A thousand years ago we would be welcomed with open arms, especially if I revealed who I was. Now though? The border is closed, something that has never happened before as far as I know, so anything is up for grabs. However, I don’t think we’ll be attacked.”

“Quite right of you. However, we do have to ask you to turn around and continue back the direction you came from.” I heard a voice from above. Looking up, there were two griffons in what looked like leather armor, holding very sharp looking swords. Legionaries. One was the splitting image of Gil, save with a more average light purple crest, rather than Gil’s red. She was nothing special, maybe considered pretty by griffon standards, going off of what Gil told me during our “guy talks”, but nothing unusual. The other griffon wasn’t different either, being a fairly standard grey body, with a white head and crest fading to a dull green.

Rainbow Dash stirred and spoke up weakly, “Gilda? When did you start speaking fancy?”

The griffon that talked paused for a moment midair, “Rainbow Dash?”

“You two know each other?” I asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded, “Junior Speedsters in Cloudsdale.”

Gilda smirked, landing next to us. “Yeah, I was the only one who would accept the new kid. Finally stop hanging around with those lame-o ponies?”

“It was less of a choice and more of a necessity,” I explained. The cyan mare went to speak again, but I cut her off. “Rainbow Dash, you’re hurt. Rest, I’ll talk with them.”

She grumbled something unintelligible, before turning back over.

The other griffon, a male, from the sound of it, landed as well. “Look, even if you’re a friend, we can’t let you through. We have explicit orders to turn away all non-griffons from the borders.”

“We’re political refugees.” I cracked my neck, stretching. “I was hoping that the Griffon Empire would accept us.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter why, the border is closed to all non-griffons. I know it’s xenophobic, so don’t try arguing that way, either.”

“Why are the borders closed?” Star asked.

“We’re not allowed to tell ponies,” Gilda spoke up.

“Good. I’m not a pony.”

The male griffon raised his eyebrow, “Then what are you?”

Gilda answered that question for me, “He’s a demon.” She turned to me. “You are a demon, aren’t you? Not some lame pony that looks like one?”

“Yes.”

Gilda held a claw out at her companion, “Pay up, Murphy.”

“Damn it,” Murphy groaned, reaching into a pouch hanging off his armor.

“You were betting on what I was, weren’t you?” I asked, stating the obvious.

“And I just won.” Gilda grinned as Murphy placed five coins in her outstretched claw.

“Five denarians, just as asked,” Murphy sighed. “You always beat me at these bets, why do I still take them?”

“This is amusing and all,” I cut in, “but we’re on the topic of why you aren’t letting us in?”

“Emperor Gil-Throm has announced a closing of the borders due to Celestia’s many crimes,” Murphy explained. “Gilda here was one of the ones to bring him the news.”

“At first, I thought I was just really, really drunk, but when there were other reports exactly like mine, the decision was made. If she had been slain, this could probably have been avoided,” the griffon in question elaborated.

I arched an eyebrow, “So you’re saying that the borders are closed because of Celestia’s continued survival and place in the Equestrian government?”

“In essence, yes.” Murphy nodded.

I smiled at Star, “Well, looks like we’re going to the Griffon Empire after all.”

Gilda narrowed her eyes, “Explain yourself.”

I laughed, “Celestia just took a long drop and a sudden stop with a knife in her throat earlier today.”

The griffons were silent for a moment, before Murphy smirked, “ ‘Political refugees’ my ass! You’re on the run for killing Celestia!”

I nodded. “She was overconfident. She won’t be a problem again.”

“Well, then,” Gilda finally spoke up, “I think the Emperor will want to hear this. Welcome to the Griffon Empire—err what are your guys’ names?”

“You know Rainbow Dash, she has a broken wing, by the way. My name is Premier”—

Murphy grumbled quiet enough that only I heard him, “You’re a horrible liar.”

—“and this is my daughter, Star.” I shot Murphy a look for his comment. He gave me a smile filled with false innocence.

“You brought your daughter, a little filly, with you to potentially hostile territory?” Gilda asked, flabbergasted.

“Hey! I helped hold off the guard while Dad killed that bitch Celestia!” Star exclaimed.

“Feisty one,” Murphy commented.

“Don’t get any ideas, Casanova. She’s no older than eleven,” Gilda shot him a glare. He held his claws up in mock surrender.

“I’m twelve and a half!” Star pouted.

“Still too young for me,” Murphy said with mock resignation. Gilda smacked him playfully on the arm. Suddenly her eyes widened.

“Wait, Rainbow’s wing is broken?” she exclaimed loudly.

I rubbed my ear, shooting her an annoyed glare. She got similar glares from Murphy, Star, and Rainbow Dash. She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. “Yeah, got broken when the Wonderbolts cornered us during our escape,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You escaped from the Wonderbolts?” Gilda asked with more than a little surprise.

“Yeah, I’m not quite sure how, though,” I said, suddenly sheepish.

“Whenever somepony tried to get close to you, they just fell over. Pegasi weren’t affected, however you just smashed them into the ground,” Star elaborated. “Rainbow Dash wasn’t affected either.”

Murphy gave me a scrutinizing gaze, letting out a thoughtful hum. Gilda just looked at me in shock. “How did you do that?”

“Honestly? No idea.” At the looks on their faces, I continued. “Once I saw Rainbow Dash get hurt, I just snapped. I don’t remember much, just blurs and flashes, between then and a few minutes before you guys showed up.”

Murphy let out another thoughtful hum, examining Rainbow Dash’s broken wing. “Sling looks good. Did you set the bone, or do we need to do that?”

“He set it.” Star shivered. “Wings aren’t supposed to move in that way.”

“Good,” he continued his humming as he poked and prodded the broken wing. “Well, griffons don’t do much for broken wings. We’ll probably have to euthanize.”

It took less than a second for him to be pinned to the ground. I had a hoof pressed against his throat and my face was centimeters from his wide eyes as I growled, “On your damn life.”

He gasped as he had difficulty breathing past my hoof. I felt claws grab me from behind and yank me off of him. Gilda turned me to face her with an incredulous look on her face, “Sure, the joke was in poor taste—” she shot Murphy a stern glare. “—but that reaction seemed like a little much.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up from her prone position, “Gilda, what do you know of demons?”

Gilda cocked an eyebrow, putting me down as she answered, “Just that they come from the Void. Celestia didn’t say much more than that. There was that one thing about them being ‘semi-living parasites’ or something, but I don’t remember much, I was drunk.”

The cyan pegasus nodded slowly, “Premier, why don’t you explain how a pony becomes a demon.”

“First, a living pony, or griffon, dragon, minotaur, etcetera, but we’ll go with a pony, gets thrown into the Void. Over the next few years, anywhere from two to a thousand, the pony is converted. Their soul is torn apart and the pieces are replaced with Void. When there is nothing left of the pony, physically or mentally, their conversion is complete and they are a demon,” I lectured. “Usually the mind is the last part to go. The most telling sign that the conversion is complete is when the screaming ends.”

Gilda shivered, shaking out her wings. “Geez, that sounds pleasant.”

“Image going through it,” I sigh. “Luckily, the memories of being torn apart are removed, so no demon remembers the pain. Just the screams of the others being converted.”

“That explains that reaction,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “He thought Murphy was being serious.”

“Well,” my favorite griffon coughed, “that’s definitely no good. Good thing Celestia is gone, right? That means no more demons being made.”

“Wrong.”

All around turned to me with befuddled looks on their faces, so I continued, “Someone, possibly Luna or Cadance, was opening portals to the Void to allow Celestia to keep throwing her victims in for the last two years. After the loss of Nihility, it was left to me to stop her.”

“Well, she’s stopped. Why haven’t you gone back yet?” Gilda asked. “What’s keeping you here?”

The grey griffon spoke up, “More like ‘who’ is keeping him here.”

Gilda shot him an annoyed glance as I spoke up, “I refuse to leave my daughter.”

“If that’s what you’re telling yourself,” Murphy chuckled.

“Murphy!” Gilda snapped. He held his talons up in his usual position of surrender to the more aggressive female.

“You two are mates, aren’t you?” I asked.

Gilda’s face instantly turned red as she locked up, while Murphy looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. “No, just friends.” I saw the way Gilda reacted to that, and from the look on her face, Rainbow Dash saw it too. This must happen a lot, because she is really good at hiding her disappointment.

“Hey, it’s relatively dark right now, so why don’t we be good neighbors and share a campfire?” I suggested.

“Look we really need to get back and—” Gilda started saying, before Murphy jumped in.

“Sure. Sounds wonderful.” If looks could kill, we’d need a squeegee to take Murphy with us to the Empire.

“Alright. You two can set up the fire, I’m going to try my hand at finding some food for us all.”

Murphy grabbed a pouch from his belt and threw it on the ground. Opening it, I found dried fruit and some smoked meat from an unknown source. When I picked one of the meats up, it was brittle, thin, and dry. I popped a piece in and gave it a thoughtful chew. “Beef jerky. Nice choice.”

I saw the horrified gapes from Rainbow Dash and Star, as well as the astonished looks from the griffons as they shook their heads and looked at me again. “What? Oh, please don’t tell me you guys are some of them. I hate vegetarians.”

“No, we’re confused because you’re a pony. Ponies are herbivores,” Murphy slowly said.

“You’re shitting me. That’s the bullshit that Celestia decides to pass off as true?” I was incredulous as I popped another piece of jerky. What? It was good! “It is physically impossible for a species to develop the level of intelligence ponies enjoy while only eating plants. You don’t get the right nutrients.”

“And you know this, how, Mr. No Memories?” Gilda accused me.

“I’m pretty sure that my conversion wasn’t complete. I’ve been regaining memories of my past life for the past day or so. They’re about a thousand years out of date, however, so some things will be very wrong.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up, “That’s enough talking about heavy stuff. Let’s talk about something more lighthearted. So Gilda, anyone in your life got your loins on fire?”

Gilda let out a very un-predatory squeak as she quickly became a very red griffon. I shuffled my hooves, uncomfortable. Murphy spoke up, “Yeah, how about St-Premier and I go grab some wood for the fire while you talk about female things? Good? Good.” The two of us beat a hasty retreat while Rainbow Dash and Star laughed. Gilda just sat, frozen like a statue.

When we were out of hearing rage of the womenfolk, he turned to me. “First off, I’m not fooled, Streak. You may have everyone else fooled, but not me.”

“I don’t have Cadance fooled, but I think I convinced her to be silent. What I want to know is how you know.”

“I know many things I shouldn’t be able to.”

My eye twitched. That was word-for-word what Redheart said to me when I asked how she knew I was going to kill Celestia. “I’ve heard that before.”

“Really? From whom?”

“One of the local Ponyville nurses,” I looked at him, waiting for a reaction.

I didn’t get nearly what I wanted. “Yeah, I got nothing. What is interesting, however, is since I know you know that the Griffon Empire frowns upon euthanizing a rational being, why you reacted so extremely to my little joke.”

“Rainbow Dash is my friend, of course I’m going to react poorly to that ‘joke’ of yours.”

“There’s reacting poorly, and there’s reacting as you did. I’m serious, you need to get your head out of your ass and—” Murphy was interrupted by the sound of crunching grass. We turned to see Star walking up to us.

“They’re talking about grownup mare things, so I thought that I’d head over here and talk with the guys.”

“Well, I was just about to start talking with your father about why he attacked me, since it seems he doesn’t know.”

Star gave me that woman look again. Welp, I dun goofed. There was something painfully obvious that I missed, here. “Really, Dad?”

“Really. He honestly doesn’t know,” Murphy smirked.

“Well, why don’t you two enlighten me?” I harumphed.

“You broke her out of jail, were willing to potentially die to save her, flipped when she got hurt, and you did what amounted to fighting an entire city worth of ponies, and winning, to get her to safety. Do you seriously not know?” Murphy asked me.

At my silence, Star sighed, “Dad, you love Rainbow Dash.”

I locked up for a good thirty seconds. Love? Did I love her? To be honest, I cared for her, I would die for her, I would kill for her, as evidenced, but no, I didn’t love her. Not like they said I did, at least. “Be really careful with the big four letter L-word,” I advised. “That gets thrown around way too much from my experience. I would have done the same thing for Wonderbolt, Brick, and the others.”

“Your ‘experience’ amounts to Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Celestia, Streak.” Star stiffened as Murphy used my real name. “Keep that in mind as well. And make sure that you don’t spend so long keeping yourself hidden that she moves on. She’s waited two years already. Don’t make her wait more if she doesn’t have to.”

“Alright, before you even start lecturing me about relationships, how about I point out something you missed?”

“You mean the massive crush that Gilda has on me? I am well aware.”

I growled at the nonchalant way he said that. “You’d better explain yourself.”

“I have my reasons. Trust me when I say that they are good reasons.”

Star interjected, “Good enough to string along that poor woman?”

“Yes.” No hesitation, no thought, no doubt. He was one-hundred percent certain that he had a valid reason for putting Gilda into the friendzone for years.

“Care to share?” I asked.

“No.”

That was the end of conversation, at least from our end. After we had found some material to use for the fire, we returned to camp. Well, mostly returned to camp. As we approached, Murphy held up a claw, signaling for us to be slow and stealthy. When we got close, I could hear the two womenfolk talking.

“I just don’t know, Gilda. I’ve been looking for two years, and nothing. If he wanted to be found, I would have already.”

Murphy gave me a look that somehow communicated “You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do later.”

“Don’t give up. He’s out there somewhere, and when you do find him, beat the shit out of him for me, for putting you through this.”

“It’s just that, well, Premier is just like him. It’s uncanny how similar they are. If you took Streak and removed the playful flirting, you would have Premier. He’s essentially a less fun Streak.”

I flinched hearing that. Boy was I going to have a talk with Rainbow Dash when—if—I reveal myself.

“And what he did, fending off a city full of militia and trained guards, just to get me to safety. I don’t know what to think anymore. Part of me says to keep looking for Streak, that he’s out there, somewhere. The other part tells me that I’m being an idiot, and that Premier is not only just as good—if not better—but he’s right here, right now.”

“Don’t make a decision like this lightly, Rainbow,” Gilda advised. “Spend the time to think about it.”

“Trust me, I know all about making bad decisions rashly,” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

“Hmm?”

“It was before Cloudsdale.”

Gilda nodded, “Then I’ll drop it. I know how much you hate talking about your past. But RD, you’ll have to tell someone eventually.”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Premier—”

“ 'I’ve held onto it for almost thirteen years, I think I’ll be fine for a few more.' Is that the one?" I asked, walking back into camp with supplies, Murphy and Star close behind.

She jumped. "Premier! How much did you hear?"

"Not much," I replied truthfully. I had only been listening for twenty seconds, after all. I turned to the griffons. "It's less than a day's walk to the border of the Empire, right?"

"It's only two hours by air, so about that," Gilda replied. "Why?"

"Because I like knowing when I'll arrive. Tell me something about this Emperor Gil-Throm."

Murphy sighed, "Where to start? He's a sociopathic, machiavellian, egotistical asshole."

"Murphy!" Gilda scolded. "Show some respect."

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Respect and trust are both earned, and it sounds like this Gil-Throm has done nothing to earn either from Murphy."

The griffon nodded. "Precisely. He's slowly been destroying the Empire from within with his incompetence."

"Says you," Gilda snapped.

"Gilda, you've heard the guy talk. He's been hyping the public up with fear of everything not griffon!"

"And he's been right about all of them! Celestia was in charge of Equestria, the minotaurs have been stocking up weapons, and dragons have never been trusted by any race—"

"I'm going to stop you right there with a reminder that the Griffon Empire has been allied with the dragon race for longer than it has even existed," I interjected myself into the conversation.

"Nobody asked you," Gilda snapped.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, grabbing all the attention. "Back off, Gilda."

Gilda stared at the cyan mare for a minute with an unreadable expression, before saying, “So you still choose your lame pony friends over me, after everything.” Spreading her wings, she took off into the night.

“No–Gilda, wait!” the lamed mare tried to catch up with her airborne friend, but found she couldn’t. She hung her head, watching her longtime friend fly off.

Murphy placed a claw on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “I’ll talk to her, she’s just being stubborn.”

She gave him a thankful look as he took off. I walked up and sat next to her. After a minute of sitting, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Is it not too much to ask to have at least one friendship left untouched by the end of the day?”

“What do you mean?”

“Twilight, Gilda, Cloud Chaser, hell, probably even the rest of the Bearers don’t want to be my friend right now.”

“There was a misunderstanding with Twilight and Gilda. I don’t know anything about Cloud Chaser, but it can’t be that bad. And, really? You’re worried about your friendships with the other Bearers? After all you’ve been through?”

She sighed, choosing leaning against my side to responding. I chose letting her over complaining. We sat like that for a while, Star giving me a look from just inside my range of vision telling me to stop leading on the flier.

I promptly ignored it.

Some hours later, our griffon escorts returned. Nobody talked about what had happened, and Gilda and Rainbow Dash couldn’t look each other in the eyes. We all pretended to not see how red Gilda’s eyes were.

It was late, so we decided to head to sleep. I was out the second my head hit the ground. Thankfully, my sleep was not interrupted by dreams of memories. However that doesn’t mean that it was a restful sleep. Sometime about halfway through the night, I was woken by silently arguing griffons.

“Why didn’t you tell them?” Gilda hissed.

“Because they don’t need to know,” Murphy responded quietly. “Their arrival will negate his need to.”

“And if it doesn’t? What then?” she asked, obviously not happy about it.

“We’ll deal with that bridge when we get to it,” he said.

“But he’s trying to—” Gilda tried to say.

“And it won’t work.” Murphy had a level of confidence and certainty in his voice unusual for the submissive griffon. “Trust me.”

“But what if it’s already done when we get there?” she asked.

“He won’t be.”

“Would you be willing to bet on it?”

With no hesitation in his voice, he replied, “I’d win.”

“You never win,” she said in disbelief.

“I will this time.”

They quieted down, settling onto the ground to finish out the night. I sat awake for a few more minutes. What were they talking about? Who were they talking about? Was it Emperor Gil-Throm? If so, what was he planning? Knowing I’d get no answers from either myself or the griffons, I returned to sleep.

That morning, we moved with minimal talking. The griffons split us up between them, Gilda taking Rainbow Dash, and Murphy taking Star and me, being the stronger flier. It seemed they wanted to fly there as fast as they could. We couldn’t move too fast due to Rainbow Dash’s broken wing, and the flight there was quiet, since the rushing winds caught your voice right as it left your mouth and threw it far enough back that nobody could hear you.

It didn’t take us long to reach the foothills of the Eyries of the Empire, only an hour and a half or so. Settled inside that mountain range were dozens of cities and villages, including Eyrie, the capital of the Griffon Empire.

As we flew, I saw houses, farms, ranches, and more carved into the sides of the mountains. There were no griffons in these buildings, however, lending the entire flight through the Eyries an eerie air.

I saw Gilda pause for a second when we drifted around the next mountain. I didn’t blame her. Eyrie was an even more impressive sight than it was a thousand years ago. It was much larger than Canterlot by an order of magnitude. Massive stone buildings jutted from all over the side of a large mountain, from the foot to the peak. On top of that, there were uncountable numbers of dark forms flying all around. Something big was about to go down, I called it.

Our escorts sped up, angling for the largest building in the city. Massive, jagged towers that took function over form to a new extreme caused it looked like someone had broken the jaw off of a gargantuan stone monstrosity and placed it around the peak of the mountain. That was the Castle of Eyrie. I let out a low whistle of appreciation, it hadn’t been nearly that large last time Gil had shown me how the city was progressing, just days before I caught Celestia.

As we approached the city, a griffon intercepted us. He cut an intimidating figure with his pure black feathers and piercing golden eyes. The armor he wore was metal, unlike what most griffons seemed to be wearing. Our griffons hovered as the much better armored griffon glared at them with skill only a predator could have. "Gilda! Murphy! What is the meaning of this? I should have you flogged in front of the legion! Not only are you late, but you come bearing ponies into our land?"

"First off, them being late was my fault." I said.

"You speak when spoken to, worm," the griffon growled.

"This is how you treat visitors?" I asked rhetorically. "Threats and insults?"

"Premier," Murphy scolded. He turned to the other male griffon, "Sir, these ponies bring joyous news for our most beloved Emperor."

"Then they can tell me and be on their way," he growled. "The borders of the Griffon Empire are closed by royal order."

"He'll see me. Unless griffons have gotten cowardly enough in the last thousand years for their Emperor to be one, too."

There was a sharp intake of breath as Gilda tried to patch up what she could, "What he means, centurion, is that—"

The older griffon growled, "Are you calling me a coward, worm?"

"I don't know, am I, or are you going to let me see your Emperor?"

He was torn between getting insulted and attacking me, and thus acknowledging that he thought the Emperor was a coward, and letting me past, and thus being forced to swallow his pride.

There was a palpable silence as the centurion stared at me with a look that could kill. Eventually he grunted, “Go.”

As we flew toward the castle, Murphy scolded me, “Are you stupid? You could have died!”

“I’ve died twice already, and I’m in no hurry to add to that tally. Dying sucks,” I commented. “I know his type. He didn’t have nearly as much authority as he was trying to exert, and he knew it.”

“Actually, he did. That was Kaiesar, the first spear of the First Eyrie Legion.”

“I just pissed of a powerful griffon, didn’t I?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Excelent. Well this bodes well for the meeting with your Emperor.”

“Kaiesar is powerful, yes, but he doesn’t have the ear of the Emperor. As Exploratores, Gilda and I have the authority to report straight to the Emperor if we deem it necessary.”

That was. . . convenient, to say the least. We landed on a platform on the highest tower. A spindly pale griffon hurried to us from a nearby doorway set into the tower. “Who comes with business with our most beloved Emperor Gil-Throm?”

“I do,” I hopped off Murphy’s back. I bowed to the griffon. “My name is Premier, and I bring word for your Emperor.”

“I see, I see,” he said, nodding his head slowly. “What business is this? Our most beloved Emperor is a busy griffon, you know.”

“Business for the Emperor and the Emperor alone,” Murphy answered. “Step aside, Senator Sicarius, lest the Emperor be informed of your breach of protocol.”

“Oh, never that,” Sicarius backed away, lowering himself towards the ground. We passed him without incident. For some reason I felt compelled to look back, catching the Senator’s malicious glare. We locked eyes for a second, before he snorted and spread his wings, taking off into the city.

That one was going to be trouble.

But a trouble for another day. We had no sooner gotten past the shady Senator, when Praetorians blocked our path. One nearly identical to Gilda spoke up, “Halt. State your name and your business.”

“How many freaking griffons are going to hop in front of us today?” I pondered out loud.

The Praetorian that had spoken didn’t take kindly to my attitude. He slowly drew his gladius, placing the point inches away from my eyes. “State your name and your business.”

Gilda stepped forward, using a single claw to push the gladius down. “Stand down, Custos. They’re with me.”

He sheathed his sword. “Yes, Filia Gilda. The Emperor is about to start his speech.”

“He’s on the balcony, correct?” she asked.

Custos nodded. “If you want to catch him, you need to move fast. Your friends will stay where they are until further notice.”

“Understood,” she turned to us. “You better behave yourselves, my brother is not the most forgiving when it comes to punishments.”

“You have a brother?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Later,” Custos interrupted. “Go, Gilda.”

Gilda nodded, disappearing behind a doorway. Custos sat between us and where the Emperor was, keeping us in his sight at all times.

Rainbow Dash sighed, “It’s Twilight all over again.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean that Twilight didn’t tell us she had a brother until she received the invitation to his wedding,” she explained. “I’ve known Gilda for twice as long, and am now just finding out that not only does she have a brother, but he’s a Praetorian.”

“A Praetorian prefect, actually,” Murphy mentioned. “He’s one of the leaders of the Praetorians.”

“Even better!” she exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air in frustration.

“Nopony wants to question why she’s allowed to just see the Emperor with no prior notice?” Star spoke up.

“And what does ‘Filia’ mean?” I asked.

“ ‘Daughter’,” Custos spoke up. “I’m Gilda’s twin brother. She doesn’t like to talk much about me because she views me as the favored sibling, staying in the Empire to become a soldier while she got sent to Cloudsdale to hone her flying abilities with the greatest fliers in Equestria.”

“Daughter? Why is her title Daughter Gilda?” I mused.

“She’s the Emperor’s daughter,” Murphy spoke up.

If I had been drinking, I would have done a spit-take. ‘Good reasons’ is right! I would avoid anything romantic with someone if their father was in charge of an entire nation that rivaled the economical strength of Equestria, while blowing it away in military strength.

“The Emperor let his daughter go to Cloudsdale without an armed guard?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“He’s only been the Emperor for two years,” Murphy explained. “His base of his entire rule is founded on hatred and fear of Celestia.”

“There are other reasons, but mainly just those two,” the Praetorian agreed. “Not the best place to be, if you ask me. But you didn’t, because I wouldn’t say any of that.” He glared at the three of us. I nodded, and he relaxed.

“Griffons of the Griffon Empire, I thank you for making your way to Eyrie!” a magically projected voice echoed throughout the hallways. “I know it was a long and arduous journey for some of you, so I’ll endeavor to keep this short.”

Gilda whipped around the corner. “I couldn’t stop him! He’s going to do it!” she shouted at us.

“Damn it!” Murphy swore. He turned to me. “Get in there now and stop him! The balcony is enchanted to project your voice over all of Eyrie!”

Custos stepped into the doorway Gilda had just come through, “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

“Like hell,” Murphy growled, tackling the much-larger Praetorian. “Your damn father is about to destroy the Empire!”

I saw the opening and took it. As I ran past the grappling duo, the voice rang out again, “For too long have we been submissive to Equestria! For too long have they languished in their corruption and filth, treating us as pests! As RODENTS!”

I quickly made it to a lavishly appointed room, and just as quickly dashed out the door on the other side of the room.

“For two years, we have waited for Equestria to do something about Celestia! Do punish her for her crimes! It seems they have seen fit to start restoring her position, and so it has finally become time for us to do something!”

I slammed into the wall as I took a corner too fast. Not even registering the slight ache that gave me, I sprinted for the now-visible door to the balcony. I saw a very Gilda-like griffon with a crown wrought with stone and iron.

Right as I passed through the door, he got to the climax of his speech, eliciting a tremendous cheer. “It is time to forcibly remove Celestia and all those who have facilitated her attempt to return to power! It is time to declare Blood Feud on Equestria!”

Vision going red at the cheering of the crowd, I shouted with all the fury of an enraged deity, “Like fuck it is!”

Author's Note

Uh oh!

So there's going to be at least three more chapters before book three, and the beginning of the main plot line. That's right, I wrote two full books worth of information just for what amounts to a prologue. It would not make sense if I started with all that has happened so far having already happened, would it? It would be like "Oh and Celestia was evil and stuff so she was killed" and you would be like:

So I made it easy on you. You're welcome.

Also, there are going to be two main antagonists in books three onwards. I've introduced both of them at some point in the story. Guess who they are.

-HB

2.7 Someone to Hate

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Seven:
Someone to Hate

“Who the hell are you?” Gil-Throm exclaimed.

“The stallion keeping you from making the biggest mistake of your life,” I called out as much to the assembled griffons as to him. “I come bearing wondrous news for the Griffon Empire, nay, the world! What do I arrive to?” I spun to the Emperor. “Some fuck in a crown about to fuck up everything!”

“Guards, he’s one of Celestia’s pets!” Gil-Throm exclaimed, seeing my demon nature. “Remove him at once, lest he slay me for his master’s plots!”

I started laughing, “That’s rich, you know that, right? That is one of the funniest things I have ever heard! The demons of the Void have not answered Celestia’s call for two years now, instead serving ourselves, like any self-respecting race.”

“What proof do you have to this fact?” he accused.

“I am the Voidborn Premier. I speak for all the demons created by Celestia and those like her.”

He swiped his claw in a dismissive motion. “Irrelevant. Celestia is still in power, and deserves to be slain!” The crowd burst into cheers at his words.

They were quickly silenced by mine, “She has been.”

He stared at me for a second, before snarling, “This is a trick! Don’t believe him, my brothers!”

“I buried a knife in her throat and kicked her off a tower.”

“She flies!”

“You are desperately grasping at straws as your plans fall apart around you, Gil-Throm.”

There was a sound of a scuffle coming from the doorway behind us. Sounds like Custos was on his way.

“What is there for you to have your Blood Feud? Give up this folly!”

The Emperor growled at me, “By what right do you seek to challenge me?”

I sighed. Some people were just so stupid. The Rights were set up by Gil as a method of keeping the throne room from being flooded with petitioners. To petition the Emperor directly, you had to have completed a Right. The Right of Strength is slaying a strong beast or some such, the Right of Birth is one free petition to any noble-born griffon, and the Right of Politica is what allows foreign dignitaries to speak with him. “By the Right of Strength. I have slain Celestia, and therefore am allowed to speak.”

“The unproven Right of Strength, you mean. You have no evidence of your claim!”

I snapped, not thinking, “I did not spend as long as I did building this damn Empire just to let some fuck in a pointy hat fuck everything up!”

He narrowed his eyes at me, “Explain yourself.”

I groaned inwardly. Nice move, Streak. I devoured the enchantment keeping the rainbow stripe in my hair disguised. “My name is Streak. One thousand years ago, I assisted Gil in building this great Empire on the ideals of equality and brotherhood. Brotherhood with not only other griffons, but with your neighbor nations!

“This nation was formed in the aftermath of Discord’s unprovoked assault on Equestria. The very land you stand on was given to you by the very ponies you now plot to destroy, so that they would have an ally if another being of Discord’s strength, such as Celestia or Luna, were to declare war, knowing full well that if you were to be attacked, they would come to your defense as well. You have betrayed the very ideal your Empire was formed on, Throm. You don’t deserve the title of Emperor, nor do you deserve to have any association with my friend.”

Throm was fuming. He slammed his claw on the balcony. “I will not be spoken to as such, not from the likes of you!”

“And with that sentence, you attempt to elevate yourself above Gil. Above your very subjects. The Emperor is in power because the people let him, not because he has power.”

“The people are still on my side!” he yelled.

“Let’s test that. All in favor of keeping Throm in charge, and thus declaring Blood Feud on Equestria, speak up now. Make some noise in support of your Emperor!” I challenged the crowd.

Not a single voice cheered.

“There it is. You have lost popular support. Hell, you have lost all support.”

“I call for a meeting of the Senate!” Custos yelled, jumping onto the balcony. Close behind him was a raggedy-looking Murphy, Star with that look she seems to have perfected, and an annoyed Gilda. Oh, and a pissed off Rainbow Dash. Oops.

“Who seconds this?” Gilda asked.

“Sure. The hell not?” I said.

Throm smirked at me, giving me the feeling I had just made a huge mistake. “The Senate shall meet in a day’s time, at high sun. Don’t be late, Streak.”

I smirked back, covering the nervousness I now felt. He was way too confidant for someone in his position. “I look forward to it, Throm.”

As I walked back into the room, there was a flash of cyan in front of me. “What the hell?” she shouted.

“We’ll talk elsewhere,” I said, stepping around the crippled flier.

She stepped right back in front of me. “No, we’re talking here and now. Where the hell were you for the last two years?”

“Dead.” I used the moment of surprise to walk around her and head for the landing pad we had landed on.

She quickly caught up with me, walking right next to me. I could hear the other four, Star, Gilda, Murphy, and Custos, walking along silently behind us. “What do you mean, ‘dead’?”

“I mean I was dead,” I said nonchalantly. “It’s quite simple, actually. Celestia sent an assassin two years ago, and I got my throat slit.”

“Then where was the body?” she asked in an accusing tone.

“Never technically there. Look, this is a complicated topic, and not for some ears.” I turned my head to look at the four behind us. Murphy started whistling and looking in another direction. Smooth.

“You aren’t getting out of speaking about this,” she growled at me.

“And I don’t intend to, but in return you have to talk about your past. Nothing major,” I held up my hooves as she snarled, “but something.”

“My past is my own,” she said, repeating what seemed like a mantra for her.

“And my past is my own.” I smirked. “I’m maintaining the status quo. Tête-à-tête. Nothing you say will leave my confidence, but I’m not giving out handouts.”

She groaned, “Fine, fine. When we get to. . . wherever we’re going, I’ll talk.” I smiled, that was easier than I thought it would be. “But you’re talking first.”

Damn it. “You’re not weaseling your way out of this, Rainbow Dash.”

“Damn it.”

—*~*~*—

Throm had been kind enough to provide us with rooms in the palace, the cheeky bastard. I was sharing my room with Star, Rainbow Dash and Gilda shared the latter’s room, and the guys had their own rooms around the city.

The room was pretty standard for a fancy room. It had a large bed built for two griffons sitting along the middle of one wall. There was a small table on each side of the bed with a candle on it. There was a walk-in closet on the opposite side of the room from the doorway in, and there was a balcony attached to the open wall.

“Alright, spill.” Those were the first words I heard when the door was closed. Rainbow Dash had followed me back to my room, dumping Star off on Gilda. Neither of them were happy about it.

“I said status quo, Rainbow Dash,” I reminded. “You know my entire history, at least the important parts of it.”

“Yeah, I do,” the flier said. “So what? You owe me some answers.”

“Yes, I do. However, you owe me some explanations as well,” I said sternly. “What about your past bothers you so much?”

She sighed, laying down on the bed. “Look, I don’t like talking about it. It was a painful part of my life.”

“So was what I told you,” I reminded softly, laying down next to her. “I won’t ridicule you for it, even—no, especially—if it is worthy of it. How’s that?”

She snorted, getting a fleeting miniscule smile on her face. Good enough. It quickly fell, however. “Fine,” she sighed again. “Might as well get into it. We’re going to have a lot of backstory to this, I warn you.” Seeing I wasn’t driven off, she sighed.

“So first of all, I never knew who my mom was. Dad never talked about her; I didn’t even know I was supposed to have a mom until I entered school. When I came home and asked him about why I didn’t have a mom, he just smacked me across the face and told me never to bring it up again. I was six.” She saw me tense up at her words, and gave me a grimace. “You sure you want to hear this? You look like you want to hit something.”

“I do, on both counts,” I said. “Keep going.”

She took a deep breath before continuing. “This was the beginning of something horrible. Dad had been neglectful before. I was commonly living on a meal every other day, and never ate a school since I didn’t have money to buy it with. It wasn’t all bad, though. By that point I was used to it, and didn’t think anything of it. After that night, though, he got worse. Whenever he got mad, he would hit me. If I wasn’t nearby, he’d look for me. If I hid, he’d beat me worse when he found me for hiding from him. After each time, he would threaten to kill me if I told anyone. I went to the hospital about once a year.

“The kids at school made fun of me for my hair and lack of a mom. Eventually, it wasn’t just teases and stealing my stuff. I started getting in fights every day, and when I’d come home, Dad would beat me for making him have to deal with the school when they called him. The teachers looked at me, saw the bruises, and went on their way.” She spat on the ground, off the side of the bed. “It wasn’t their job, so they didn’t care.

“When I started flying for fun, Dad found something he could use me for. I was pushed into flying fast and often. If I didn’t fly fast enough, he would hit me and tell me to do it again. If I didn’t follow his instructions perfectly, he would hit me. If I did well, he would hit me, just less, saying it helped ‘toughen me up’ to what he wanted me to be. I slowly got faster and faster, but I was never good enough for him. Always just too slow. He was never proud of me, even when I was the fastest flier in the town. That’s all I wanted, in the end. He was an abusive and neglectful ass, but I still wanted him to be proud of me. To not look at me like his biggest mistake.

“Then came middle school. There was this boy who was quiet and evaded attention. Really cute, to boot. Well, to make a long story short, he was my first friend. He was the only one to not make fun of me. One day, he covered for me when I got into a fight that wasn’t my fault, taking the blame for it. When I asked him about it later, he only said that it was the right thing to do.

“We would hang out at his house, away from my dad. I was never allowed to spend the night, of course, so I still got beat every night. Dad didn’t care where I was, obviously, but the boy’s parents did. His name was First Down. He was a star on the hoofball team, yet still managed to be unnoticed and very, very single. I couldn’t let that stand, now could I?

“We started dating in eighth grade. He was—” she paused, looking at something in the distance only she could see, “—amazing. Kind, intelligent, courteous, everything I thought I wanted in a guy. I felt like I didn’t have to put on a mask of ‘awesome’ around him, just being myself. To top it off, he was one of the best fliers in town. We would race, and sometimes I would let him win. Of course, that ended when Dad found out I was letting someone beat me. A week later, I was out of the hospital. The story was that I crashed while practicing. The doctors knew, of course, but like the town, they just ignored it. The whole town was in collective denial. There couldn’t be an abusive father in Tall Tale, this was a good town to live in. A perfect damn town.

“When I got out, First was the one to pick me up. I was thirteen at the time, and I had been into the hospital almost a dozen times. The staff knew me by name, and vice versa. The nearest hospital was the next town over at the time. Back to First, though. He confronted me about my Dad, and I couldn’t admit I was being abused. It was a weakness, and I couldn’t afford to be weak.

“However, that was the first night I didn’t return home. I was convinced I was in love, and that it would never end, so I gave him a proposition. We’d race to a nearby hilltop, and whoever won would have the other as a slave for the rest of the night. Obviously, I won. I don’t remember much of that night, just screams, pulls, and moans. The next morning we woke up covered in more than sweat.

“We made this a weekly tradition. Every friday, the loser of the last week’s challenge chose that week’s challenge, and whoever lost became the slave for the night. Those nights never ended until the sun came up, and I loved every damn second of them.

“Then one month, I missed my period.” She sighed, settling her head on her hooves. “I kept it from both First and my dad, and everything continued as normal. By the end of the month, I knew something was wrong. The next month, I had the same problem. I brought it up with First, and he freaked. We were fourteen, for crying out loud, neither of us were ready to be parents.

“We stopped our sessions, and I went to a doctor. By the end of the day, it was positive. I was pregnant. My world seemed to fall apart at that point. The doctor told me that, by law, he had to tell my dad. I freaked out, causing a scene. I couldn’t let him tell my dad, he would kill me. Eventually, the doctor relented. When I got home, Dad had his belt in his hands. That bastard doctor had waited until I had left, and called my dad.

“I was beaten severely by my dad, not because I was pregnant, but because my pregnancy was an inconvenience to him. By the end of the day, I was back at the hospital. The baby survived the beating, somehow. Fast forward another seven months, and I had a newborn baby girl. First was nowhere to be found, and had been for four months. Turns out he moved to live with his aunt and uncle in Canterlot. Didn’t have the balls to stay and live with his mistake.

“The doctor brought a nice stallion in a suit in, who explained that my dad had filed the paperwork to put my daughter through the adoption system. Since I was a dependant, I wasn’t allowed to appeal their decision. My daughter was taken out of my hooves right as I got her. I didn’t plan for her before hoof, but I still loved her. She was a part of me, and that bastard gave her away because she was an inconvenience to him.

“When I got home, Dad told me we were moving to Cloudsdale. Turns out he wanted me nowhere near that baby. He threw me into the Junior Speedsters, the high school form of the premier academy for flying in Equestria. Within a year, I had made friends with Flutters and Gilda, and earned my cutie mark. I went on only one date there. When Dad found out about it, I was back into the hospital.

“The second I was eighteen, I dropped out of the academy and moved. Dad had told me that the baby was adopted, he even had the paperwork giving her to some couple in a small town called Ponyville, so I had no reason to go back to Tall Tale. I moved to the town that held my child, hoping to see her. To watch her grow up, even if it was from the outside. I never saw her.

"So now you know," she said. "Now you know why I didn't want to tell you. Nopony knows this, not Flutters, not Gilda, not even Chaser. Just you, me, and my dad." When she told her tale, she looked both exhausted and relieved at the same time. Like someone who had just carried a heavy weight for years and was allowed to drop it if they could throw it over a wall. That is actually pretty accurate description. Psychological weight can seem physical at times, and talking about your issues can be very difficult. In the end, however, you felt much better for the effort.

That being said, I had none of these thoughts in my head. I was shaking with rage, grinding my teeth hard enough that the flier was looking at me with worry. My vision was red, and a quiet growl burbled out of my throat involuntarily, not that I would have stopped it if I could have. I knew one thing at that point: Rainbow Dash’s dad had to die.

Author's Note

Sorry for the lackluster update, especially after the length of the last one. The next one is longer, I promise. I did write almost 40k words on the new story I'm trying to get out, however. Whenever Skeeter gets the prereading done, it should be posted. There will be a good six chapters of prologue amounting to 20k words posted at once.

But onto this update. I had this chapter mostly finished, and when I got block I decided to just finish it. The end.

-HB

2.8 Science of Lies

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Eight:
The Science of Lies

“Streak,” Rainbow Dash said, tentatively lifting her head off of her hooves, “are you okay?”

I took a deep breath, letting it out faster than I intended in a snort. “Okay? No, Rainbow Dash, I’m not okay. I want to kill something right now, but the real question is: are you okay?”

“I’ve had near thirteen years to get okay, I’m about as okay as I get,” she replied. “Come on, these are my problems, let them stay mine.”

I took another deep breath, this one held better, allowing me to calm down. I counted backwards from twenty, letting the breath out at zero. “Better,” I said. “These are not just your problems, though. I’m here to help you through them, if you need it. Know this, though: if I ever see your father, I’m putting his head through a wall.”

“Last I heard, he was living in Cloudsdale. Most of the walls there are cloud,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “It wouldn’t hurt much.”

“Then I’ll bring him somewhere with metal walls and hit him against one until he goes through,” I growled. “That is not how you treat anyone, let alone a child.”

“It’s what it is,” she said. “I came to terms with it long ago.”

“You shouldn’t have had to,” I said, sighing. “That was just. . . wrong.”

She scoffed, “You tell me. I lived it.”

I just sat there, processing what she had just told me. As the tale she had spun like a spider spinning a web unraveled in my head, bits and pieces coming to the forefront before returning to the tumultuous mess that was my brain. Eventually, I started to sort things chronologically. I said, “Let me get this right. You were neglected, then abused, then got pregnant, your coltfriend headed for the hills, your daughter was taken away, and you were forced to move to another town.”

“Yep, that sums that up nicely,” she replied. Right as she said that, I felt something warm and furry press against me. A quick glance showed me bright cyan fur pressed into my side. I heard the crippled flier mumble, “You’re warm.”

“I am,” I said, confused.

“I didn’t expect you to be this warm,” she murmured. “I like it.”

I didn’t respond. Within five minutes, I heard her start snoring softly. It was a long day, I had to admit, and we were both tired. I decided to just relax and let her use me as a cushion. Closing my eyes, I felt the heat radiate off of her as her fur meshed with my own. She really was comfortable. Right as I started to drift off, I remembered that I had to get Star.

I slowly extracted myself from the sleeping flier so as to not wake her. I quietly slid across the bed, taking extra care to not shake Rainbow Dash. Right as I thought I had gotten away, I felt hooves grab onto my back leg.

I looked back to see Rainbow Dash with a pleading look in her eyes. “Stay, just for tonight?” she asked.

I hesitated, and she puffed out her lower lip in an adorable pout. Her eyes got huge and watery, and she made sure to make that bottom lip quiver. With a groan, I slid back to the center of the bed. Rainbow Dash gave off an uncharacteristically girly squeal of excitement and pounced on me as soon as I had gotten into position. Within a few seconds, she had her back pressed into my chest. We were laying on top of the sheets, not even bothering to pull them over us.

Again, I was interrupted right as I was about to fall asleep. The door creaked open, and I saw the comparatively large form of Gilda behind my daughter. Star walked into the room with a purpose, before being pulled back by the griffon.

“Hey,” Star exclaimed softly.

“Look at them,” Gilda said softly. “They’re adorable. Let them stay there.”

“She’s in my bed,” my daughter deadpanned. “I want to sleep.”

“Come to my room,” the griffon said. “I have an extra bed for you to use.”

Star sighed before leaving for the griffon’s room. Gilda lingered at the door, unaware of my ability to see her. I barely heard her say, “I’m glad you found someone, Rainbow.” After she had said her piece, she closed the door silently.

—*~*~*—

“We gather here to remember Snowflake,” the pony at the podium droned. He didn’t care. He was bored. This was his job. Just another day at the damn office.

“Snowflake was an exceptional individual. . . .” I stopped listening at this point. I knew all of this. I looked around with my eyes, but being in the front row didn’t lend itself to a good view of the room. I was able to see the ponies sitting on the same bench as I was. They were some of the locals. I’d heard that they came to every soldier’s funeral to pay their respects.

On the other side of the isle, Snowflake’s friends and family sat. I wasn’t over there because Sunny was there, shooting daggers at me. I didn’t want to cause a scene, especially at Snowflake’s funeral, so I stayed on the other side of the room.

Standing next to the preaching pony was Celestia in all her radiance. She had a solemn expression on her face, as was fitting for the situation. She didn’t seem to be faking it, though, like I would have expected before yesterday.

The funeral was fast and closed-casket, like all other soldier funerals. The mortician said some words, and the casket was thrown into the back room to be buried at a later time. We were in and out within fifteen minutes.

As we were exiting, I saw Sunny walking over to me with purposeful strides. Her glare intensified as she got closer. “You have some nerve coming here, Streak,” she said loudly. All eyes turned to us.

I didn’t reply, just kept walking towards the exit. She jumped in front of me, blocking my path. “I said you have some nerve coming here, Streak,” she reiterated.

I sighed, “Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t save him, but I have to leave. We’re holding up the line.”

“Why are you here?” she asked in an accusatory tone.

“To pay my respects," I replied simply. "The same reason everyone else is here."

She opened her mouth to say something, and by the look on her face it wasn't flattering. However, before she could say something she was interrupted. "Miss Day," Celestia said from behind me, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave Streak alone."

"Or what?" Sunny growled.

"Or you'll spend a few days in prison. Consider this a restraining order."

Suddenly everyone around me stopped moving. Colors faded to greyscale, and the air seemed to still itself, as though it didn’t want to offend something. Or someone. Looking down at myself, I was back to my regular demon self. Something was wrong.

“So this is how it began,” a voice echoed throughout the building.

“Show yourself!” I shouted, spinning around frantically to look for the speaker.

“Be calm, Streak,” the voice said to me. “I am a friend.”

“Friends don’t leave friends in the dark,” I said, looking around again, to no avail.

The scene around me faded into a hazy dark silver fog. Inside this fog was thousands of thousands of tiny sparkles floating around in erratic patterns. The fog parted as I was put face-to-face with an alicorn. I immediately recognized her blue fur and ethereal mane of dark blue, studded with miniature representations of the stars.

“Luna,” I said, glaring at her. “What do you want?”

“Such hostility!” she exclaimed, looking hurt. “What have I done to deserve this from you?”

“I can’t trust anyone of power in Canterlot right now,” I said, glare not diminishing. “Celestia had a helper, therefore my work is not done.”

Luna sighed, settling down on the ground. “I should have known it was you, Streak.”

“Say again?” I asked.

“That killed Celestia. Cadance was trying to convince me that it was you, but I didn’t believe her,” the alicorn of the moon said. “I understand it needed to be done and why, but she was still my sister.”

I nodded, “You still loved her, no matter what she had done. I was the same.”

“How did you do it, then?” she asked me. “If you loved her, how did you find the strength to put a dagger into her throat?”

“I reminded myself that she wasn’t the Celestia that I fell in love with, and that that Celestia would want me to kill this one,” I said truthfully, settling down near—but not next to—Luna.

We were both silent for a few minutes before the diarch said, “Come back to Equestria, Streak.”

“No,” I said simply.

“No?” she asked, confused. “Why not?”

“I just told you that I can’t trust you, Luna. I can’t trust anyone but Rainbow Dash and Star right now, even if I were in Equestria.”

“Your daughter,” Luna said more than asked.

“Yes.”

“So you will remain in the Empire until. . . what?” she asked. “What is there for you to stay?”

“Deposing of an idiot Emperor,” I said. “I got here just in time. He was about to get the Empire to declare Blood Feud on Equestria.”

Luna shook her head, “Whatever for? Celestia?”

“That is what he said, although I suspect he has another reason,” I replied. “I just need to figure out what.”

“You’re being very forward for someone who supposedly doesn’t trust me,” Luna said.

“You’re in Equestria, I’m in the Empire. There are currently three ponies in the entire Empire, Luna. If you enter we will know, and you won’t find me.”

“I could if I wanted,” she said simply.

“Try me,” I challenged.

“You are currently on the fourth floor of the castle at Eyrie. You are on the right side of the bed, and are the big spoon to Rainbow Dash’s little spoon. I’d congratulate you on your achievement, but nothing untoward has happened—which is an achievement on its own, in a way. Star is three rooms down sharing a room with Gilda, and. . . .” She trailed off, before saying, more to herself than to me, “I haven’t seen that essence in a long time. So that’s where you have been hiding.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, confused. “First off, how could you know this, and second off, what essence?”

“I am one of the Guardians, Streak,” Luna said smirking. “I have magic on my side. To answer your second question, your friend Murphy is more than he seems. That is all I’ll say.”

“More cryptic bullshit,” I grumbled. “Why can’t I ever get a straight answer?”

“Because you are in way over your head,” Luna answered. “You have been since the war. First there was the war itself, then Celestia, then you died. After that, you exposed Celestia again, then died again, then killed Celestia. So far all of your activities have revolved around the Guardians. That is a lot for a mortal to have to deal with, especially since we keep so much to ourselves.”

“Not to mention the damn Librarian,” I mumbled.

“I don’t like her more than you do,” she said, “but she’s a necessity of our world. She shouldn’t have interfered as she did, but what’s done is done. Fixing what she broke would take the Weaver himself.”

“The Weaver?” I asked. “I’ve heard the name, but not much about him besides the fact he made everything with the Librarian.”

“That’s pretty much it,” Luna said. “There is more to it, but I cannot tell you. I hope you understand.”

“Understand?” I growled. “I haven’t done anything but be left in the dark for the last thousand damn years!”

“I cannot tell you, on the Weaver’s orders,” Luna said. “I would if I could.”

“Whatever,” I waved her off. “I don’t know why I even expected answers from anyone at this point, especially you.”

“I’m sorry, Streak,” she said and it sounded like it was truthful. I had dealt with Celestia, however, and know just because it seems like something doesn’t mean it is anywhere remotely close. She looked up, seemingly looking past the fog above us. “Someone is trying to wake you up. You should heed her call.”

—*~*~*—

“Streak,” I heard in my half-delirious state. “Streak, wake up.”

“Muh,” I said eloquently.

“Streak,” the voice said again, “I understand that I’m comfortable and that I let you be the big spoon, but I’m not a teddy bear.”

“Huh?” I said, opening my eyes. My first sight was dark pink. I blinked in surprise, slowly expanding my vision to see cyan around the pink. With a sigh, I pulled my head back to take in all of Rainbow Dash’s face. She had a playful glare aimed at me. That was about the time I noticed that I was wrapped around her like a blanket in winter, and she couldn’t move.

I let go of her with a small blush, not that she could see it anyway. “Hehe, my bad,” I said.

She stood up and flexed her uninjured wing. "Gilda came by about five minutes ago, but you were pretty conked out," she said, hopping off the bed

I rose and joined her on the floor. "Luna talked to me through a dream," I informed her. "She wants us to go back to Equestria."

"Hot damn!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, jumping into the air. "Let's get this done fast so we can go home!"

"I'm not going," I said.

She whirled on me. "What.”

"Celestia had a helper," I explained. "There are a grand total of six beings I have met who I know have the strength to open a portal to the Void. Celestia, Discord, Chance, Twilight, Star, Starswirl, and Luna."

"And you think it was Luna," Rainbow Dash stated.

"Who else could it have been?" I asked. "Celestia had no magic, Discord is sealed in stone, Chance has been missing, and Star has been in Tall Tale. That leaves two options: Twilight or Luna."

"Twilight hasn't gone to Canterlot in months," she reported.

"That leaves us with only one option. Luna," I said. "Plus, Luna had been co-ruling Equestria for years with Celestia after finding out what she had done."

"So you think it's a trap?" she asked.

"I don't think," I said, "I know."

"Hey lovebirds!" Murphy called from the hallway. "We have to leave soon, so if you'd get out of bed, that would be nice."

I shot a glare at the door, knowing that he wouldn't see it. Sighing, I moved into the hallway. Murphy was waiting right outside the door with a smug grin on his face. I wiped it right off with one sentence. "Luna says 'hi' "

"It's going to be one of these days," he mumbled as he walked off.

"What was that?" the crippled flier asked, walking up from behind me.

"Luna knows Murphy," I said. "She said that he's more than he seems."

"Isn’t everything nowadays?" she mused to herself.

"C'mon, Streak!" Murphy called. "You don't want to be late."

—*~*~*—

Senator Sicarius was waiting for us at the doorway. He had a blood-red robe on over his light grey feathers, and had placed a golden circlet on his brow. "I assume you're ready, then?" he asked.

"Let's do this," I said with much more confidence than I felt.

"Now there are some things you should know about Senate meetings," he said as we walked into an entry room. "These are proud traditions that haven't changed in a thousand years."

"Then I know not only the letter, but the spirit of them," I said.

"Yes, your alleged help in founding the Empire," he waved a claw in dismissal. We stopped by the door inside, and he kept talking, "First, the speaker role passes from the right side of the room to the left. You don't speak out of turn unless the Emperor gives you permission."

"Yes, yes. This is all fine and dandy, but I don't give a damn," I said. "I want in that room, and you're in the way."

"You could try to be nicer," my bunk-mate said. "He's trying to be helpful."

"He's trying to make us late," Star piped up.

Sicarius held up his claws in between himself and us, saying, "I would never. If you want in, go in."

I brushed past him, attempting to pull open the door. It didn't even budge. I felt some magic radiating off of the offending portal, and—after a moment of resistance—devoured the locking enchantment. Once that was done, I ripped open the door. turning to the senator. I saw that his jaw had dropped. "I have no time for your games, senator."

Turning into the room, I could tell this door had not been opened in a long time. There was a thick layer of dust over everything that must have taken centuries to accumulate. I saw a modestly sized plain coffin made of a plain white stone. It was flat on all sides, with a single message carved on the top. I walked up to it, leaving tracks of displaced dust in my wake, and, with a single wipe of my hoof, revealed the message.

Here lies Gil

First and greatest Emperor of the Griffon Empire.

May his rest be ever peaceful.

I felt my eyes mist up when I saw there was another, smaller coffin right next to his. A shaky swipe later, It read:

Here lies Streak

A great stallion taken too early.

May he rest in the Empire he helped build in spirit, even if not in body.

You are missed.

The senator tried to say something, but it came out more like, “I–what?” than anything intelligible.

Rainbow Dash walked up from behind me, leaving a second set of hoofprints in the dust. She paused a moment, reading the coffins. I sat for a moment in awe. “You never think that you will be reading the engraving on your own coffin, but here I am,” I said quietly.

“Look at the wall, Dad,” Star said, pointing at a point behind me. I hadn’t even noticed her walking into the room, too.

I looked back and saw a hastily carved message written in erratic, fast writing marring the wall behind me. It read:

If you’re reading this, then you have earned the trust of the last true Guardian, for only his magic could open the door. Open Streak’s sarcophagus and retrieve the armor he wore during the Discord war. It has been enchanted by the last true Guardian. Even if you can’t use it, find one who can. One you trust explicitly.

She has finally come for me. I will die fighting, if only because Streak surely did, too. There is not much fight left in me after these eighty years, though.

I will see you soon, friend.

-Gil

“How did you open that door?” the senator exclaimed. “It was sealed a thousand years ago, and not even Celestia could open it!”

I ignored him. Walking tentatively up to my grave—that was so weird to say—I looked it over. It was a fairly simple coffin, looking to be in two pieces. The lid looked like it was designed to slide right off. With a shove, I did just that.

There was a loud thud that echoed throughout the room. A plume of dust shot into the air as the lid displaced the air over it in a rush of wind. I heard the other three start coughing to clear their lungs of the invasive dust, but I just ignored it. I only breathed out of habit at this point, so I just stopped. Even if I hadn’t stopped voluntarily, I would have when I saw the contents of the sarcophagus. The armor I was given as a general a thousand years ago was now staring me in the face in all of its modest glory.

It wasn’t bright gold, like the armor of the modern royal guard. It was a tarnished silver, having been made of steel enchanted to not rust and not gilded to make it look fancy. It was plain, being designed to lay flat over my body, providing the fewest possible additional points for an enemy to grab. The helmet was as unadorned as the rest, having not horns nor plumes.

I reached in and grabbed the helmet in my hooves. As I touched it, faint blue runes in some language I couldn’t understand flashed across the surface of the entire suit of armor, before fading to black, and finally vanishing altogether. I looked at the others, and they had looks of confusion on their faces. I put the helmet on, and that’s when it happened.

The entire suit somehow glowed a midnight black and picked itself up out of the coffin. The pieces of armor whipped through the air around me. I stayed perfectly still, not wanting to mess up whatever they were doing. The first piece to break the dance was the breastplate. It whipped at me from the front, slamming into my chest with a paradoxically simultaneously heavy and light hit. It felt as though I had been bodyslammed by a dragon—not for the first time—while at the same time, I didn’t move, nor did it hurt. It was just pressure, then a feeling of rightness. The rest of the armor attached itself to me in the same way. The whole process took mere seconds, but felt like hours.

As soon as the last piece attached itself to me, the entire suit faded into nothingness. All that was left was a small amulet in the shape of a black heater shield with a rainbow stripe bisecting it, just like my cutie mark.

“Woah,” Rainbow Dash near-whispered, sounding unnaturally loud in the silent room.

“Yeah,” Star said in agreement.

“That was new,” I muttered. I turned to the senator. “Now, to the real senate room, if you would?”

He nodded dumbly, eyes wide. He swiftly turned around and led us right to the proper door. There was a clock right outside reading 11:58. Right on time. I threw open the doors, shouting, “I have had enough political games to last me another lifetime!”

Throm jumped into the air in surprise at my sudden entrance. “Ah! Streak!” He exclaimed. After a moment he cleared his throat and began again, “Ah, Streak. You weren’t late. Good.”

“Not for lack of trying,” the rainbow maned pony mumbled, glaring at Sicarius as he passed.

The shifty senator whispered into the Emperor’s ear, and I watched Throm’s eyes widen considerably as he went along. “I. . . see. This is a complication,” the Emperor said after Sicarius finished his tale. After a slight pause, the griffon said, “No matter, we will address this later. For now, we must start the meeting. Senator Incipiens, if you would?”

An older-looking griffon stood up from the group surrounding Throm. He cleared his throat before beginning. “This pony claims to be one of the founders of our great Empire, but nowhere in our records do we have a mention of a pony until the near-war with Equestria nearly eight-hundred years ago.”

Another griffon, likely a member of his entourage, spoke up timidly from behind the senator, “Uh, sir? In the west wing—”

“Is the history of our Emperors, isn’t that right?” the senator said sharply.

“Ye–yes sir,” the page said, shrinking into himself. So that is how this is going to go.

The next senator stood up, “There is no mention of a ‘Streak’ in Gil’s personal journals, either, nor is there a mention of a war with Discord.”

I just smirked, already seeing the holes in their lies. One massive hole behind a sealed door.

“I have found no evidence of a war with Discord in our historical records, nor any mention of the name ‘Streak’, either modern or ancient.”

“There is not a single use of the word ‘Streak’ as a name in the great library, save one story labeled under ‘Fiction’. Daring Doo and the Rainbow Racer.”

I decided to break protocol. " 'Here lies Streak A great stallion taken too early. May he rest in the Empire he helped build in spirit, even if not in body. You are missed.' "

"You dare speak out of turn?" Sicarius exclaimed.

I ignored him. "That is the engraving on my sarcophagus. You can find it right next to Gil's."

Throm scoffed, "We all know that door was locked. Not even Celestia could open the door."

"It really wasn't that hard," I said. "I left it unlocked, if you want to look for yourself."

The assembled senators started murmuring amongst themselves. Throm exploded from his seat and shouted, "Now you add another lie to your crimes! First you claim to have been a founder of the Empire, a fact impossible due to your lack of being over a thousand years old!"

"I'm going to stop you there and remind you of something. I'm damned undying. I don't age, I don't deteriorate. I am eternal. Yes, I'm over a thousand damned years old."

"You claimed to have known Gil personally—" he said next.

"Buried right next to him," I said. "Written on my grave is a nice message about being missed."

"—and now you claim to have opened the unopenable door and seen Emperor Gil's grave."

"I'm serious about the whole 'leaving the door open' thing, I'll have you know."

"We have heard enough to reach a verdict," Throm announced. "His charge is lying to the Emperor on a matter of national security."

Senator Incipiens stood up. "Guilty." After he said his piece, he sat back down.

I see.

"Guilty," the next senator announced the same way.

That's is how it's going to be.

"Guilty."

Well, I'm not about to stand for this.

"Guilty."

Bullshit.

"Guilty."

More bullshit.

"Guilty."

That smug son of a bitch knew this was going to happen.

"Guilty."

That's why he wasn't worried.

"Guilty."

He owns the senate.

"Guilty."

"Alright, you son of a bitch," I growled, "let me get one damned thing straight. You aren’t as in control as you think you are.”

“Really?” Throm said. “I look pretty in control here, if I do say so myself.”

I saw the nervous page stand up from behind the senator. Choosing to ignore him, I continued the conversation. “You don’t have control, you have influence. They are massively different.”

“And how so?” he asked me smugly.

The page spoke up, “Because we can still choose not to follow your directions, if we wish to.” He turned to me with a smirk, eyes flashing green. “I told you we are always watching.” That smug bastard. The changeling smug bastard, not the griffon smug bastard.

I need new words to describe people.

But I digress. There was a bright green flash where the now-revealed changeling was standing, accompanied by a near-simultaneous flash right by where my two companions and I were standing. The changeling—now out of his griffon disguise and back in his pony one—stood next to me as he projected a translucent green hemisphere reminiscent of the barriers Shining Armor used back in Canterlot around the four of us.

There was a burst of bright blue in the center of the room as a pony appeared. He was a dark purple, but that’s all I could tell at the moment. He was covered head to tail in a brown cloak, allowing only the tip of his horn to stick out of his cowl. He said not a single word, choosing instead to let his actions speak for him. And what they said.

Throm stood up in anger. “What is the meaning of—”

That’s as far as he got before a beam of bright blue speared through his chest. His eyes widened as he looked at the new feature in his anatomy, then crumpled forwards without a sound. One of the other griffons stood up, and suffered the same fate.

At this point, all of the assembled griffons—seven dozen, conservatively—launched into the air and charged. With two more blinding flares of light, nearly a third of the congregated senators and aides were dusted. By the time their ashes floated to the ground, there was one more massive ball of light that expanded from the mysterious cloaked pony, engulfing the surviving griffons. When the blue light hit the green dome, I heard the changeling grunt in exertion. Cracks riddled the surface of the shield, and I was worried for a moment that our only protection was about to fail.

The glow faded, and there was nothing left of the griffons, not even dust. Five seconds after the first spell was cast, there was not a single living being—or even formerly living being—left in the entire senate, save the four inside the dome and the one in the middle.

He turned to me, giving me a salute. I hesitantly returned it, and with a quick flash, he was gone. Not a second later, there was another burst of light next to us, and the changeling disappeared.

I stared at the now-empty room. “What the hell just happened?”

2.9 What is Left

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Nine:
What is Left

There was a loud bang as the door slammed open. Murphy skidded into the room, eyes massive. “What the fuck was that?” he shouted.

“I have no idea,” I said, sitting down on my rump. Rainbow Dash and Star sat next to me shortly, all three of us being put into shock by the display that unfolded in front of us.

Gilda walked into the room behind Murphy. “What are you shouting about?” she asked. “I didn’t hear—” She stopped, looking around. “Where is everyone?”

“Gone,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. Some part deep inside me noticed that when her hair was messy, she looked absolutely delicious. The rest of me, however, was preoccupied with the slaughter of the entire Griffon Empire government in a few short seconds that had unfolded not even a minute ago.

“What do you mean, gone?” Gilda asked. “Like, they left the room? Why did all of them leave?”

“They were murdered,” I said, staring at nothing. I didn’t like any of them, but that was incredibly brutal and mostly unwarranted. I hadn’t seen war magic used that proficiently or liberally since Starswirl turned a dragon into ribbons with its own scales during the war.

“Then where are the bodies?” Murphy asked. “There is no way that anyone could have possibly killed seven dozen griffons in under five seconds and not have left a single body.”

“Dust,” Star said, standing up. “A pony teleported in and turned them to dust, then destroyed that dust.”

“Someone had an issue with your dad’s government, Gilda,” I said, following my daughter’s example. I turned, offering a hoof to the cyan mare behind me. She took it wordlessly, her expression relaying her thanks.

“I felt a massive amount of magic being used,” the male griffon said. “More than I had felt in. . . a long time.”

“What are you talking about?” Gilda asked, turning to him. “How do you ‘feel’ magic?”

“Murphy, we’re talking,” I said. “Right here, right now. No cryptic bullshit like I know your kind are fond of, and no evasions. I want some damned answers, and I’ll get them.”

“ ‘Your kind’? What is that supposed to—” Gilda exploded, launching herself into the air to charge at me. Her assault was halted before it began as the other griffon grabbed her tail.

“Gilda, he meant no insult,” he said. “And he is right, my kind are rather fond of being cryptic. It comes from living a long damn time, we get bored.”

“Wha—” she started, being cut off again.

“About this,” he interrupted, “we won’t find a more private spot to speak for the next few days, will we?”

“No, we won’t,” I growled. “Now talk, who are you, really?”

“It is a long tale that does not take long to tell,” Murphy said. “This tale spans over a thousand years, so you might want to sit down.”

“Talk fast.”

“As you wish. My name is not Murphy, as you probably guessed. I recognized you on the fields because I had met you before. My name is Chance.” He paused, waiting for me to interrupt. When I didn’t, he continued, “After Celestia used you and your friends as a weapon against me, I knew I had to leave. Nowhere in Equestria was I safe from her.

“I fled to the Empire and told Gil everything I knew, which was more than Celestia thought I did. He offered me amnesty from her false crimes and a place to live for as long as I needed it. I accepted his gracious offer, integrating myself into griffon society. It was not unusual for a griffon to not know anyone around him so soon after the war, after all.

“Fifty years later, I was called to Gil’s side. He had discovered a plot by Celestia to kill him and plant a figurehead, thus bringing the Empire under her full control. He asked me to enchant your armor and the room where he had built your sarcophagi. When I was done with that, he shared his vision of what he thought the Empire should be with me and asked that I keep his Empire as close to it as I could. It was the least I could do after all he had done for me.

“After Gil died, he appointed my disguise as his successor, thus denying Celestia her easy entry into the Empire. I ruled for twenty years, before faking my death on the eve of my twenty-first anniversary to allow another to take over. Whenever Celestia tried to put a puppet on the throne, I took it from her for at least a decade. Easily one in six emperors were actually me, I just haven’t done the math yet.

“Fast forward to the modern day. For the last thousand years—and even when I masqueraded as emperor—I remained celibate. Being immortal has its perks, but it is more outweighed by the downsides, the main one being watching everyone you know and love die slowly while you don’t age. This life, I faked being a griffon born in the farthest reaches of Equestria and integrated myself into the military. I got close to one of the scouts, just returned from Equestria. I couldn’t let myself become attached to her, but every request for a transfer was denied. We were too good a team to break up. Just a day after the forty-second denial of my request for transfer, we ran into you.

“Imagine my surprise when you told me that Luna knew where I was. I suspect that we have the same suspicions about her, so I’ll leave them unsaid. Within hours, I was surprised again when I felt you trying to eat the enchantment I had built onto the door nearly a thousand years ago. As soon as I had verified that it was indeed you, I broke the enchantment, allowing you to eat it. Within an hour, I had grabbed Gilda and we were waiting just outside the door for the trial to end so we could hear the results. I felt a massive amount of magic being used inside the door, and burst in. I assume I was only seconds too late to see who it was?” he ended with a question aimed at me.

“Moments. I had time to say a single sentence before you burst in,” I told him.

“Do you have any indication of who it could have been?” he asked.

“Now wait a single damn second!” Gilda burst into the conversation. She turned to Murphy/Chance. “What the hell was all that?”

“The truth, my dear Gilda,” he said with enough suave to bring entire crowds of women to their knees. Rainbow Dash and Star looked at him like he was crazy, which he honestly was by our standards—being a near-deity of chaos, and all.

GIlda, for her part, just glared at him. “You applied to be transferred forty-two times so you wouldn’t be attached? We’ve been partners for four years, Murphy!”

“Gilda, if we could continue this conversation in private?” he suggested.

“Nothing you say to me can’t be said in front of them, damn it!” she snapped. “No evasions.”

“What about that time you got drunk?” he asked.

“What time? There were a lot of times I got drunk!” Gilda exclaimed.

“The time that you threw yourself at me,” he replied.

“I wouldn’t–I wouldn’t do that!” she said, reddening.

“I distinctly remember you begging me to rut you ‘like an animal’, and that you were ‘feeling like going wild’ that night,” he said simply.

Gilda’s face was red as a tomato, and I was worried about her passing out from all the blood in her head. “I would not!”

“You even promised to get out your box of toys and use them in front of me for as long as I wanted,” he continued.

“How do you even know about—”

“And, soon before you passed out, you shoved my claw in your crotch, saying that I just didn’t know how much you wanted me,” he finished.

“Why are you saying this in front of them!” Gilda shouted, pointing mostly at Star. “There’s a twelve year old kid there!”

Star mumbled, "Twelve and a half. . . ."

“Because anything I can say to you can be said in front of them,” he replied, “so I did. Does that not make you happy?”

“We’re talking privately!” she hissed, turning and walking out of the room. When he didn’t follow her immediately, she stuck her head back into the room. “Murphy, any time now!”

He jumped at her re-entry, bolting after her. I laughed at his antics. He was an undying being of almost limitless power, and he was submissive to a regular, run-of-the-mill griffon.

Rainbow Dash looked at me, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. “I’m not sure if I should be turned on or disturbed.”

“Eww!” Star exclaimed. “Save that for when I’m not around!”

I looked over at the crippled flier, before smirking at her. “Looks like you’re both, Rainbow Dash.”

She groaned. “You’re never using a nickname, are you?”

“Nope!” I exclaimed with an impish grin. I suddenly turned serious. “We’re going to have to tell Custos that his father’s dead, aren’t we?”

“Gilda seemed to handle it well,” Star pointed out.

“She was distracted. It hasn’t settled in, yet,” I said. "Give it a few hours, a day at most."

"This won't be fun," Rainbow Dash said.

"No, but it will be necessary," I said. "We might as well get it over with."

We walked in silence through the palace. The part we were in was a thousand years old, so I sort of knew my way around. It still took nearly an hour for us to reach the emperor's quarters. When we did, though, Custos was there in his usual spot by the door.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Custos," I opened.

"I assume you were found innocent?" He snarked.

"Were that the knews I had to deliver," I said. "I'm afraid your father was murdered by an unknown assailant during the senate meeting, as were the entire senate."

He stared at me sideways. "He told me you were a liar, I just didn't realize how bad you were at it."

"He's not lying, Custos," Star said. "The entire senate and all their aides were dusted, then the dust was destroyed."

He looked at her, before turning back to me. "Your spawn has inherited your skill at lying."

"She's adopted," the cyan flier piped up.

"Look," I said, "we aren't lying. What purpose would we have to lie?"

"Get me to declare myself Emperor and facilitate my father's death."

"You don't have to worry about that, I promise you. Murphy and Gilda were right outside when it happened. Ask them."

"I think I'll do just that," he said, brushing past me. "I look forward to destroying you for your lies."

We watched him leave in a huff. I looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Angry child.”

“Very,” she agreed.

“He has issues,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” she replied.

“Want to head back to the bunk?” I asked.

“Cuddle?” she asked back.

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied, walking back down the hallway. We walked side-by-side, with Star just behind us. My daughter jumped into the room she shared with Gilda as we passed it, while Rainbow Dash and I kept going until we reached the room we bunked in.

As soon as the door closed behind us, I started shaking. I sunk slowly to the ground, letting out a shaky breath. Rainbow Dash looked at me in worry. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Holy shit,” I replied. “Holy shit.”

“Streak,” she said, walking to my side, “you need to calm down.”

“Calm down? Rainbow, you almost died!” I exclaimed. Neither of us noticed until later the lack of her full name.

“I understand that you’re freaking out, I’m freaking out too. You almost died, you have an excuse to freak out,” she tried to soothe me.

“I don’t give a damn if I die,” I said. “I’ve died twice already and crawled back from them with relative ease. What I’m worried about is you and Star. Dying sucks, and there is no guarantee that you two could come back from it.”

She sighed, laying down next to me. “Just don’t think about it. Talk to me, what are your plans?”

I latched onto the opportunity for a distraction. “We can’t stay in the Empire. Custos won’t be happy with us, and Luna has a bead on us.”

“Then what do we do?” she asked me. “We can’t go back to Equestria.”

“There are three places left for us that I know of. The minotaur clans, the dragon lands, and the Everfree Forest,” I said. “In order of preference.”

“Why is the Everfree Forest at the bottom of that list?” she asked me, draping her uninjured wing across my back. “Wouldn’t it be less dangerous than the dragon lands?”

“Proximity to Canterlot,” I explained. “If we’re less than a day’s travel from the capital of Equestria, that’s no good.”

“You do have a point,” she said before standing up. “Hey, let’s move to the bed, it’s much more comfortable.”

I nodded dumbly, standing up with her. We climbed onto the bed, lying down next to one another. She gave me a nudge, saying, “Hey, I left something out yesterday.”

“Hmm?” I asked.

“This isn’t the kind of thing I’d normally tell you, but you deserve to know. I want you to keep this to yourself, alright?” she said.

“Alright,” I replied.

“Promise me,” she said. “This is the kind of thing I want to tell by myself.”

“I promise,” I said. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

She gave me a face. “ ‘Hope to die’?” she asked. “That’s not how it goes.”

I cocked my head slightly to the right. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye if I lie.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she corrected, doing some strange ritual involving pantomiming sticking a cupcake into your eye. “It’s a Pinkie Promise. You don’t break those.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because losing a friend’s trust is the best way to lose that friend,” she said in a voice that suggested that she was quoting a phrase oft-said by another.

“FOREVER!” Pinkie shouted with an exaggerated angry face, popping out of the drawer on the bedside table closest to us. She looked over at me and her face morphed into a smile. “Oh, Hi Streak! We miss you!” With that, she dropped swiftly back into the drawer. Right as she was no longer visible, it slammed closed.

I scratched my head, opening the drawer. I was half expecting to see a flat pink party pony, but instead all I got was an empty drawer. “Wha—”

“Don’t try to understand Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash cautioned. “She’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

“But—” I tried again.

“Twilight tried to understand one facet of her craziness and nearly got eaten by a hydra,” she deadpanned.

“I guess that I’ll. . . just leave that alone,” I said slowly, closing the drawer. I looked back to her. “You were saying?” I prompted.

“Right, I want you to Pinkie Promise that you won’t tell anyone,” she said completely serious.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked. She just stared right into where my eyes would be if they were visible. I saw no trace of jest in her gaze. Sighing, I said, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“You have to do the motions,” she said.

I rolled my eyes, saying it again with the motions attached.

She smiled as I finished, before bursting out laughing. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you actually did it!” she roared in laughter. “Oh, my sides!”

I deadpanned at her as she rolled around on the bed. "Are you about done?" I asked.

"Oh, man. I needed that before moving on," she said, suddenly sobering up. "Remember how I said my dad showed me the papers telling me that my kid was adopted in Ponyville?"

"You mentioned them," I said.

"Well, they were faked. My daughter was never in Ponyville."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "It's possible that she was and you just didn't run into each other."

"I lived in Ponyville for nearly a decade, Streak," she said. "It's a small town, small enough that Pinkie knows the names, faces, birthdays, and anniversaries of every single resident."

"Then how are you so certain?" I asked. "How do you know they didn't move before you got there?"

“Because I found my kid,” she said looking down.

"That's great news!" I said.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "Excellent news."

"There's something you aren't telling me," I said, looking directly at her. "What are you leaving out?"

"I found her days ago in a hotel room after being broken out of jail," she said, tearing up. "Streak, Star is my daughter."

2.10 Closing In

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Ten:
Closing

I stared at my azure companion with what could only be described as shock. “I’m sorry, say again?”

“I distinctly remember my daughter, Streak,” she said. “She was a blue unicorn, with a white mane and tail, and her eyes were the color of a vibrant fire opal. I may have only seen her for a few moments, but I never forgot what she looked like.”

I paused in contemplation. “You have to tell her, Rainbow Dash,” I said. “She deserves to know, and to hear it from you.”

“I know, I know,” she said, frowning. “It’s just that I’m worried she’ll hate me. What if she resents me for what she went through in the orphanage?”

“None of that was your fault,” I consoled, draping a leg over her withers. “If you could have stopped it, would you have?”

“In a heartbeat,” she said without hesitation.

“That’s what matters,” I said with confidence. “I think she’ll love you, Rainbow.”

“Hey, you didn’t use my full name that time,” she teased.

“Maybe because I feel comfortable around you,” I said, nuzzling her softly.

She blushed bright red, but didn’t retreat. In fact, she took it a step further when I pulled back, and planted her lips on mine in a quick, chaste kiss. She giggled as I locked up, pushing me over with a single hoof. “Just like last time,” she said.

I chuckled from my prone form, “I think this has been the worst first date in the history of first dates.”

She cocked her head, asking, “What do you mean?”

“Think about it. We toppled the governments of two major nations, one on accident, just days apart, and almost died,” I said. “There was a saying when I was in high school: ‘A good date ends with dinner, a great date ends with breakfast.’ What kind of date changes the face of the world irrevocably?”

“An excellent one,” she said, smirking.

I smiled at her. “How about I get you that dinner when we get wherever we’re going, and we’ll talk about breakfast?”

She snuggled up next to me. “That sounds great,” she said, winking.

That crafty minx.

We stayed there, just enjoying each others’ company for the next hour or so. After that hour was up, we heard a knocking at the door. I looked up to see a deflated Custos was standing in the doorway. “You were right,” he said quietly. “He’s dead.”

“Look, I don’t know what you’re going through—” I started, sitting up.

He held up a claw, silencing me. “Just don’t, Streak. I have arranged so that you have free transportation wherever you wish. Just know this, as the leader of a non-allied nation, I have seen it fit to assign you some ambassadors.”

“That’s not necessary," I said, frowning.

"I know," the griffon said. "They'll be waiting for you at the train station first thing tomorrow." His piece said, he walked out of the room.

"Angry child," I reiterated.

“Very,” Rainbow said again, snuggling closer to me. I looked back at her in time to see her lower her eyes to half mast, giving me a smoldering look. “So we have a whole day to ourselves.”

I swallowed, “Uh, yeah, we do.”

She slid slowly up my side, keeping her eyes locked on mine. Right as I felt sweat start to bead on my forehead, she lifted a hoof, pushing me back onto my side. She quickly straddled me, pressing her lips into mine with fervor. I returned the surprising gesture with passion. As we lay on the bed, I ran my hooves around her upper body, getting a lay of the land, if you know what I mean.

Right as I felt her hooves dragging down my stomach, I heard a voice. "Hey, Dad, how did–SHIT! Warn me. Put a sock on the door, or something! Geez!" The door slammed closed.

Rainbow and I looked at each other for a moment, both flushed bright red. "That was getting pretty physical," she muttered.

"Yeah," I agreed.

We stared at each other for a few more moments, before bursting out laughing. "Oh, man. I don't think you saw how big her eyes were!"

"At least she didn't walk in five minutes later," I chuckled.

"And why is that?" she asked, sidling up next to me. "Are you saying things here were about to get. . . steamy?"

"I don't know, was it?" I asked, bumping her nose gently with my hoof.

She grinned slyly, saying, "I don't know, let's see." I felt her hoof pushing me back onto the bed. Right as I felt my back hit the bed, I quickly grabbed her and rolled, coming up stradling her prone form. I gave her a grin as she gave of an uncharacteristically girly squeal.

It was a great day.

*~*~*

I woke up in the best mood I'd been in in. . . years. Centuries, even. I think Rainbow shared the sentiment, since she was almost skipping on the walk to the train station. Star was muttering as we walked, glancing up at either Rainbow or me occasionally.

"I see you're in a good mood this morning," a familiar voice said from behind us once we'd reached the station. I turned around, getting a massive smile on my face when I saw who it was.

"Murphy!" I said, giving the griffon a brotherly hug, suddenly even happier that I had taken a shower this morning. Then another one after that, but uninterrupted that time. "You here to see us off?"

"Ah, in a way," he said. "Emperor Custos has assigned us as ambassadors to the Void."

"Us?" my fillyfriend asked. "Who is 'us'?"

"MURPHY!" I heard another voice yell. "I am not happy about this!"

I turned to face the source, seeing Gilda scowling as she walked up. She was in full armor and being 'escorted' by my favorite griffon. I say 'escorted' because Kaiesar was bodily dragging her down the road. "I'm not any happier about this," he growled. "But an Emperor is an Emperor, and I don't disobey my Emperor."

Rainbow stepped forward. "Let go of her," she growled.

The centurion scoffed, "Or what, little crippled pony? You'll beat my ass?"

"No, I'll count it as an act of war," I said, "as any nation would treat an attack against a foreign ambassador under their protection."

Kaiesar glared at me for a moment, before shoving Gilda forward. She stumbled a bit before catching herself. He growled, "How about we settle this?"

"Settle what, your wounded pride?" I asked. "There is no issue between us, just your issue with me. Now I suggest leaving before I actually take a disliking to you."

He glared at me as a whistle announced the arrival of the train from Equestria. I heard a voice, most likely the conductor's, call out, "Next stop, McLeod Clanhold!"

Murphy looked between the two of us, before saying, "We'll tell the train to hold. Come on Gilda, Rainbow, Star." They hesitantly walked off toward the engine at the front of the pony-run train.

The staredown continued for a few more moments before I heard a disturbingly familiar voice behind me. "Well, today's starting to look up, isn't it?"

I scoffed, breaking eye contact with Kaiesar to look at the newcomer. "Shining Armor, how wonderful to see you here."

He grinned a malicious grin. "I thought being suspended and sent on a diplomatic mission wasn't going to end well."

"If you're here to see Throm, it won't," I said. "There isn't even dust left."

He shrugged. "No skin off my back," he said. "I still get to fight you."

I chuckled. "Actually, you don't. I have places to be, and that train won't wait forever."

"Well, that would be a damn shame, but it doesn't have to," he growled, stamping a foot on the ground and snorting, lowering his head into a charging stance. "This won't take long!"

I jumped to the side as he tried to gore me with his horn. "WOAH!" I yelled, shit-eating grin pasted to my face. "Watch that thing, it's sharp!"

"Stand still and take it like a stallion!" he yelled, whipping around.

"Look, out of respect for your wife and sister," I said, dodging another charge, "I won't kill you, how does that sound?"

"Shut up and fight me!" he shouted.

"As you wish," I said. My face instantly fell, becoming serious. The next time he charged, a hoof flew into the right side of his face, snapping his head left and deflecting his attack. He spit blood on the ground, snarled, and whipped around, ready for another round. A hoof smashed the other side of his face, knocking him a few feet backwards.

He leveled his eyes at me. At first they were filled with burning hate, then they widened in abject terror as I came at him again. He whipped up a milky pink shield, but with the first hint of a touch, it shattered into a million fast dissolving shards without slowing me. He started backing up, matching my speed while keeping his eyes on me. His eyes widened even more when he felt something solid at his back. His back was to a wall. Nowhere for him to run.

I pressed my newfound advantage to the full extent. I whipped hoof after hoof into his face, smacking his horn each time he tried to cast a spell. None of my hits were hard enough to damage him, but they were enough to hurt. Right as I was about to get one good hit in on him and finish it, I felt a piercing agony in my foreleg.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled. I yanked the unicorn’s horn out of my leg. I gripped it with both my forelegs, swinging him into the wall will all the strength I could muster. There was a loud CRUNCH as Shining Armor slammed into the solid barrier, and he dropped to the ground, moaning. I panted, limping on my injured leg up to his prone form. After laying a hoof on him, I noticed something I had missed all the other times I hit him.

A second later, a confused Shining Armor looked up at me. “Streak?” he asked. He blinked, then groaned, “Ah, my damn head!”

“Have a talk with Luna when you get back to Equestria,” I said. “Ask why she had an emotion amplification enchantment on you.” With that, I limped to the train. I jumped through the doors right as they closed. I shook the injured leg, testing its range of movement. I needed to eat some magic soon to repair it, since whoever had designed demons gave us no damn way to store eaten magic for later use. If they did that, I would be set.

“Streak,” Rainbow yelled, running up to me, “you’re hurt!”

I waved my hoof dismissively, “I just need to eat some magic, then I’ll be fine.”

“Streak,” she said softly, “you’re bleeding.”

I scoffed, “Please, demons don’t—” I lifted my hoof and was taken aback by the abundance of red running down my leg. “I don’t–I don’t understand,” I said, stumbling from the shock. “I don’t have–Rainbow, I can’t bleed, I don’t have blood! I don’t have blood!”

She put a hoof on my shoulder, shaking me lightly. “Listen to yourself! You’re freaking out, knot boy! We’ll get you some bandages, and worry about this later. One step at a time, alright?”

“Alright,” I said, “alright.” I allowed myself to be pulled through the train to where our griffon friends and my daughter were waiting. I didn’t notice the stares as we walked through cars, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have cared.

“Dad!” Star exclaimed. “Can you please go a day without getting in a fight? For me?”

I chuckled lightly. “I’ll try. At this rate, I’ll be dead again by next Tuesday.”

“Streak,” my fillyfriend scolded. “Sit down and shut up while I get these bandages on you.”

“Fine,” I said, giving her an affectionate nuzzle. “Just for you.”

She rolled her eyes, grabbing the roll of bandages that Murphy held out to her. She wrapped it tight around my leg, and I watched in fascination as the white cloth started getting tainted with both red and black. “What the hell?” she wondered half-silently.

“Watch the black,” I said, “it doesn’t stay for long.”

She looked closer, watching as tendrils of black seemed to writhe in the bloodstained bandage. “What the hell?” she asked louder.

“That’s magic,” I said. “Magic in its purest form.”

“Pure magic is black?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Why does that surprise you?” I asked.

“Because when unicorns use it, it’s colored,” Gilda said. “How do they add color to black?”

“They don’t” I said.

“They remove parts of it,” Murphy clarified.

“That’s. . . really damn weird,” Star said.

I turned to her. “We haven’t had the chance to talk about your language yet, young lady,” I said.

“Please,” she said, rolling her eyes, “it was ‘damn’. It isn’t even really a curse word.”

“I remember a ‘shit’ from last night,” I said, giving her my best ‘dad’ look.

“I walked in on you two rutting!” she exclaimed. “Do you blame me?”

Gilda and Murphy looked over at the two of us, eyebrows raised. I thanked my lack of visible facial features, otherwise I would have been just as red as Rainbow next to me was. “We weren’t rutting, Star,” I said.

“Yet,” she replied. “Twenty bits says that it took you less than a minute to start after I left.” I coughed lightly into my hoof, looking slightly down and to the left, not making eye contact with my daughter. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Well, this is interesting and all, and I will definitely be speaking with the two of you later,” Murphy said, “but I think we should drop this topic for now, before Rainbow Dash dies of embarrassment.”

I turned to my fillyfriend, seeing her face was as bright as the red in her hair. I gave her a quick nuzzle, before turning back to the rest of the group. “Alright. So, minotaurs.”

“Minotaurs,” Murphy said.

“Minotaurs,” I reiterated again.

“What about minotaurs?” Rainbow asked.

“We’re heading to their largest clan’s clanhold,” Gilda said. “There isn’t really much to it, honestly. They like drinking almost as much as I do, and they run at each other with claymores to see who’s strongest. Their entire culture is defined by ceremonial warfare between the clans. Killing is discouraged, but not forbidden, and casualties aren’t mourned, but celebrated, even by family. If we’re staying there for any length of time, we’ll fight at least one of them.”

“One minotaur?” I asked.

“One clan,” Murphy said. “The only ones of us who really have to worry about fighting right now is Gilda and me.”

“Why?” Rainbow asked.

“Because Star’s a child, and the two of you are injured,” Gilda explained. “All of you are not worth any honor for beating until you beat someone first.”

"Give Streak five minutes," Rainbow muttered.

"Thank you for having so much faith in me," I grumbled.

She turned to me, "How about this: it's Friday. This week's challenge is to not get into an avoidable fight that isn't for the protection of another. How does that sound?"

"It's one of those Friday challenges, isn't it?" I asked.

"One of them," she confirmed. "And I'll follow through with it, too."

I nuzzled her. "You know how to motivate a stallion."

Star scrunched her face, muttering something unintelligible.

"You're getting nuzzly," Rainbow commented, smirking.

I shrugged. "You're soft."

She giggled, pressing her lips against mine momentarily. We spent the next hour of the ride making small talk about nothing. After that hour was up, Murphy put a claw on my shoulder. "I mentioned I wanted to talk."

I stood up, following him out of the room. As soon as we were relatively in private, I felt him weave magic around the two of us. At my questioning look, he explained, "So there are no prying ears."

I nodded. "Alright, you brought me over here to talk, so talk."

"You don't die," he said bluntly. "You don't age. You can't get sick, you can't be poisoned, you live off of cannibalized magic. The path you are traveling down is one of pain."

"No matter what I do, there will be pain," I replied. "If I don't do it, I will regret it for the rest of my life. If I do, I'll have to watch her age and die in front of me, and there won't be a damn thing I can do about it. However, unlike you, I am not a coward. I won't avoid commitment because it will hurt."

"You're calling me a coward?" he asked.

"I thought that was clear," I growled. "Celestia fucked up both our lives, but what did you do about it? Hide until someone else fixed your fucking problem for you. I fucking died twice because of that bitch, and I still came back to bury a knife deep into her throat."

"Yeah, that's not the only thing you shoved in her throat, is it?" he asked. "You two were rutting for years, and you coldly buried a knife in her throat. How long will it take for you to bore of Rainbow? How long until you hurt her too?"

I was silent, glaring into his eyes. I recognized the look he wore—he had different eyes, but it was still Chance—it was a challenging look. He was daring me to agree with him, to play along. However, at that moment, I was also incredibly pissed, and Shining Armor wasn't all that good for blowing off steam. Before I knew what I was doing, I had punched the demigod in the face.

He staggered back, clutching his cheek with a claw in surprise. I tangentially noticed the stares that my little outburst accrued, but I didn't care. "You fucking think I'll abuse her? You even fucking suggest that I'm an abusive coltfriend to your pet fucking cat, and I'll fucking rip out your skull, Guardian or not. I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck, do you understand me, fucker?"

"That was a much stronger reaction than I expected," he muttered. He turned to face me fully. "I just wanted to make sure you really cared for her, and weren't getting into this for the wrong reasons. I'm her friend, I'd hope, and yours too. I don't want to see either of you hurt."

I spat at his feet. "You're no damn friend of mine, Chance, and I can guarantee that when I tell her about this conversation, she'll want nothing to do with you either."

"I'm sorry, Streak," he said.

"Yeah, fuck you," I said, walking away. I wandered back into the correct car, sitting down next to Rainbow and Star. I must have not looked happy, because I was getting looks from the three women.

"Is he alive, at least?" Gilda asked.

"Against my better judgement," I growled. Okay, so I didn't look happy because I wasn't.

"What did you do to him?" Rainbow asked.

“Not much, I socked him in the face,” I said. I could still feel my hoof shaking, both from anger and from terror. That man had enough magic in him that he was trusted with controlling a quarter of the world, he was one scary bastard.

“You punched Murphy in the face?” Gilda asked. “Why would you do that?”

“He equated my killing of Celestia with future abuse of Rainbow, so I punched him in his fucking face,” I growled. “I wanted to kill him, but I restrained.” I turned to Rainbow. “That doesn’t count as a fight, he didn’t hit back, and I only hit once.”

She shook her head, “Streak, I would have kicked his ass if he said that to me.” She slid to be pressing up to me. “I think I’ll reward your restraint.”

That’s it, ladies and gentlemen. If you behave, you get tail. Hand me the lawbook. “Well, if you have to,” I said, nuzzling her again. I looked out the window, sighing as I saw a large city on the horizon. “No matter how much I don’t like him, I need him right now.”

“Why?” Rainbow asked.

“He’s expecting a damned trap,” Star said. “We all should be.”

“Yes, I am,” I said. “Also, do as I say, not as I do, Star. Just because I swear doesn’t mean you should.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Dad.”

“I mean it,” I said. “A parent’s job is to make sure that at the end, their child is better than they were in some way, shape, or form.” Star didn’t notice the small nudge I gave to Rainbow at my remark. “Tell her,” I mouthed.

“Later,” she mouthed. I nodded. Didn’t want to rush it, did we?

“But we digress. I fully expect that we’ll run into Equestrian military, maybe even Luna herself. She’s a crafty mare, for sure.”

“So you want Murphy to hold her off?” Gilda asked.

“That’s ridiculous,” Star scoffed. “From what I’ve seen, Chance is the weakest of the three remaining Guardians—Celestia being the exception in that count, of course. Celestia was afraid of Luna, and it took all three Guardians to take down Discord. Where does that leave Chance?”

“At the bottom of the ladder,” I said. “We were taught that he was the youngest of the four. That’s not what I need him for.”

“You want to run,” Rainbow said.

“He wants us to run,” Star corrected. “Isn’t that right, Dad?”

“It’s me they want,” I said, predicting inclement weather.

I was proven right immediately. My muzzle slammed into the bench in the space between Star and me, and my vision got clouded by flashing, staticky stars. I brought a hoof up to my nose, before noticing the much larger pain on the back of my head. “What the hell, Streak!” Rainbow shouted. “I looked for you for two damned years, I’m not just letting you die again!”

“If you don’t leave him, none of you will escape,” I heard my absolute favorite person’s voice say. “As it is, even with me helping, you most likely will die next to him, if Luna wishes it. It would be different if your wing worked.”

I looked up to see Rainbow whirl on the demigod-turned-griffon. She stalked right up into the larger predator’s face. “Well then, can’t you just magic it better?”

“My magic deals with the subtleties of chaos, Rainbow Dash,” he said, unphased by the angry mare less than two feet away from him. “I can’t do it, because you expect it.”

“That is the biggest bullshit I have ever heard!” Star exclaimed. I gave her a look, and got a sheepish look in response. She continued, “You’re afraid, aren’t you?”

“Coward,” I reminded him.

He was unphased. “I have lived for countless centuries, Streak. I think I can take some schoolyard tactics from your everyday bully.”

“Bully?” an unexpected source exploded. “What the hell do you mean by that? Bullies pick on the weak, the helpless, the outcast! He’s attacking a being that has more power in a feather than your average unicorn!” After Star’s outburst, I felt a little prouder of her. Both for what she said, and for it being mostly clean. She learns.

“Yet what I do has restrictions,” he said. “I have laws I have to abide by. One such law is that I must remain the lighter—in both usage and subtlety—use of chaos to balance Discord.”

“That bastard’s in stone, and his magic is doing nothing,” I mentioned. “Just do what you can, I don’t give a damn about the specifics or what happens to you after, just do it.”

“Since you asked so nicely,” he muttered, walking back out of the car. Gilda gave me a look of disapproval before following the chastised deity.

“I don’t like him right now either, but you could at least have pretended to not hate his guts since we need him,” Rainbow said.

I sighed, “I guess you’re right.”

I didn’t see Murphy for the last half hour of the train ride. There was a whistling noise as the train pulled up to the station, and the girls and I disembarked. We walked for all of three steps before being hailed. “Hail!” I turned to the speaker. He was a massive blue minotaur, one of the types that looks like they have more muscle than brains. However, appearances can be deceiving, I reminded myself as I looked down at the necklace around my neck.

“Hail to you, friend. How can we help you?” I asked.

“What you should be asking is what Iron Will can do for you!” he exclaimed. I cocked an eyebrow at his use of third-person, but let it slide.

Rainbow, however, seemed to know him. “Hey, I know you!” she exclaimed.

He grinned widely, flexing his not-inconsiderate muscles. “Of course you know Iron Will! Iron Will is famous across Equestria!”

“You turned my best friend into a bitch,” she said, brow furrowing.

“Er, that wouldn’t have happened to be Miss Fluttershy, would it have?” he asked, suddenly deflating.

“There is no way in hell. It would take a special kind of asshole to turn that fluffy pegasus into even a cranky waker,” I said, scoffing. “She couldn’t hurt a fly, she couldn’t even yell at it for long without apologising.”

“That’s why I’m not this guy’s biggest fan. He managed to turn her from Fluttershy to—” Rainbow started.

“Flutter-ASSERTIVE!” he said, going back into his flexing pose.

“Flutterbitch,” Rainbow corrected. He deflated again.

“Look, Iron Will is done with the whole assertiveness seminar thing,” he said. “After teaching ‘no means no’, Iron Will lost all profits. Now Iron WIll is an assistant to the ambassador from Clan McLeod to Equestria. Iron Will greets the new ponies and shows them around town.”

I shot a look at Rainbow, mouthing, “It’s time.”

She nodded, mouthing back, “Let’s do this.”

“Annoy?”

“Make him stab his ears out.”

“Alright Mr. Will, or should I call you Iron? No that’s way too familiar, and we have a business relationship,” I started talking as I walked behind him. “You wouldn’t have happened to meet any of the alicorns recently during your job as ambassador’s assistant? I heard that just being in their presence is like sex. Would you agree, Rainbow? Is being around an alicorn like sex?”

“Depends on the pony,” she said, smirking as Iron’s ears turned red. We couldn’t see it, but I’m pretty sure that his face followed. “Some are better than others.”

“Oh, that’s a valid point,” I said. “Hey, Iron–sorry, Mr Will. If being near an alicorn is like sex, what would having sex with one feel like?” I got a look from Rainbow that caused me to wince. Damn it.

“Iron Will couldn’t say,” he said slowly, keeping his eyes forward. While he wasn’t looking, Rainbow, Star, and I were looking around for either the griffons or the trap that Luna had set. “Iron Will hasn’t thought about it.”

I took a calculated risk. “Oh please, there are few in the world that could compare to one of the Princesses. I mean, have you seen that Cadance? Ten out of ten! You can’t tell me you haven’t had a single fantasy?”

“Iron Will can’t say he has,” our minotaur guide said, turning down a street.

“Please, you’ve never even thought of having Luna jump your bones?” I asked. “I think every single straight male would tap that.” That earned me another look from my fillyfriend. I would have a lot of making up to do, that was for sure.

“Uh, well—” he started.

“I’m pretty sure any other male would still tap that. Hell, some of them would even let her tap them,” I continued. “On top of that, there would be a not inconsiderate amount of women of all races that would still tap that. Even with all this, you’re saying you haven’t had even a single stray thought?”

“Uh, no?” he asked more than said. I caught a flicker of movement down one of the alleys that was too short to be a minotaur. Gotcha.

I bumped into Rainbow to get her attention. “Alleys,” I mouthed. “Ponies.”

“You sure?” she mouthed back. I nodded.

“Hey, how many ponies do you have on average in this Clanhold?” I asked. “I’ve seen a lot of movement in the alleyways that looks much too short to be minotaurs.”

“Minotaur children like to practice for the battlefield by hunting each other through the alleyways,” Iron Will said, glad for any distraction from our previous topic. I noticed Star walk over to Rainbow and the two started a silent conversation.

I tsked, making a show of staring at one of the obviously pony-shaped forms in one of the alleys as we passed. “I bet that even minotaur youths have fantasies involving the Princesses,” I said. Iron Will groaned quietly.

“What’s your fixation with the Princesses?” Rainbow asked suddenly. “Aren’t I good enough for you?” Star gave me a smirk, walking away from my fillyfriend.

“Of course you are, Rainbow,” I said. I would be talking with Star soon for putting me in this situation. “You can’t say you never had a thought about that strapping young lad, Shining Armor?” Rainbow flushed bright red, looking away. “Thoughts mean nothing as long as they stay thoughts. You wouldn’t go running off with Shining Armor, I’d hope. Especially since I smashed his stupid ass into a building earlier today.” Rainbow gave me a look, before rolling her eyes and going back to watching for ambushers. I smirked back at Star as she gave me a scowl. I don’t think she liked me talking about sex openly around her.

I turned back to our guide. “So, Mr. Will, if you had to pick one being on this planet to rut tonight, who would it be?”

He sputtered, “W–what?”

“It’s a simple question. Pick one living creature. I don’t care if it’s Celestia, Discord, your pet cat, or even my daughter—okay that’s a lie, if you answer my daughter, I’ll put you in the hospital. But besides my daughter or my fillyfriend, who would you rut?”

“Iron Will wouldn’t. . . ergh, ‘rut’ a lady without establishing a prior relationship. As Iron Will is single, that means nobody,” he said with a proud smile for his cleverness in avoiding answering.

“Okay, so if you could pick a single living creature to have a long term, loving relationship with, who would it be?” Rainbow asked. “A relationship that just happened to involve rutting tonight.”

He muttered to himself in a language I didn’t understand, before answering too softly for us to understand.

“Say again?” I said, getting closer.

He answered again. All I caught was “F—er—y”

“Buttery?” Rainbow asked. “Who’s Buttery?”

“No, that first letter was an F,” I said.

Iron Will groaned, “Fluttershy, okay?”

Rainbow stopped walking, just staring at the row-red minotaur, jaw dropped and eyes wide open. I turned to look at the minotaur in similar shock. “Any reason why?”

“She started off just like any other pony that had used Iron Will’s assertiveness seminars, she took control and drug life onto the path she thought she wanted it on. Then she realized that the life Iron Will taught her to live was not the life she wanted to live, and she changed on her own. She became assertive, without being aggressive. Iron WIll didn’t think that was possible after so long in the minotaur lands,” he said. “She opened Iron Will’s eyes.”

“How about this, if you ever end up in Ponyville—and I ever go back—I’ll put in a good word for you,” Rainbow said. “We’ve been friends for over a decade, after all.”

“You’d do that for Iron Will?” he asked, perking up in hope.

“Sure. I haven’t known her as long, but she let me crash at her place when I needed a place to stay,” I piped up. “I can throw in an endorsement for you.”

“I’ve never even met her,” Star grumbled, momentarily forgotten in our surprise.

“Please, you think she’d ignore a good word from such a cute kid?” Gilda asked, walking up. She mouthed to me, “Two dozen waiting on roof. Next intersection.”

“Murphy ready to grab the girls?” I asked silently.

“As he will be.”

“Good. Treat him well,” I mouthed. She nodded.

“Gilda!” Star groaned. “I’m not a little filly!”

We started walking again. I counted hoofsteps to the next intersection. Right as we walked in, I asked, “So when were you going to tell us about the ambush planned at this intersection, Iron?”

He stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Please,” I scoffed, “do you think that I talk about sex and boning alicorns on a regular basis? Keeping you embarrassed kept you looking forward while we watched your pony friends get ready. We got you, Iron Will, and your pony allies, too.”

“He was acting on my orders,” I heard a much too familiar voice say, “and the soldiers are merely a precaution. I have learned from my sister’s mistakes.” I turned to look back the way we came. Behind Gilda was the last person I wanted to see.at that moment. The ethereal mane, the midnight blue coat, the brilliant sapphire eyes boring into your soul from that beautiful face. There was only one pony it could possibly be.

“Hello, Luna.”

2.11 Fire To My Soul

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Eleven:
Fire To My Soul

I stared at the alicorn as she stared back, her eyes seemingly trying to bore into my skull. "So," I said, "how is this going down?"

"That is entirely up to you," she said. "If you try and kill me, you will die."

"Good thing we started this off on a good hoof," I snarked.

"I am trying to make sure that you understand the basics. You can't kill all your problems," she said.

"I haven't killed them all, Shining Armor just has some broken bones," I pointed out.

"Since when?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

"Since he attacked me earlier today," I said, waving my injured hoof. "Don't you teach unicorns not to stab their horns into their enemies anymore?"

"He what," she deadpanned with no inflection to indicate it was a question.

"But hell, I would have done the same if I had an incredibly strong emotion amplification spell on me," I continued, ignoring her question. Hurry up, Murphy. I can't stall for long.

"Where would he have gotten such a thing?" she asked as if she didn't know.

"A spell of the level placed on him? It turned minor annoyance into murderous rage, Luna. That takes an insane amount of magic," I said. "A level reached by only four beings in the world." Hurry the hell up.

"I don't like your implications," the alicorn growled. "I wouldn't resort to such underhoofed tactics."

"Wouldn't you? I can feel about seven spells radiating off of you from here, six of them are—” I stopped, staring at her. So that’s what it was. I walked directly up to her and stared her in the eyes.

"Do you want something?" she asked, lowering her head to keep her eyes level with mine.

"Murphy, now would be a great time!" I yelled. I saw a flash from behind me, indicating that something was going down. I assumed that it was something good and jumped up, clamping my teeth on the diarch's horn. She whinnied, whipping her head back and forth in an attempt to dislodge me. Every movement was agony as it ground my teeth into her horn.

It is difficult to describe what was going on at the moment if you can't experience devouring magic, but I shall endeavor to be as accurate as I could be. Let’s step into the metaphysical world, where nothing I say is literal, but is the best way for you to understand what I’m saying. Imagine Luna's mind as a castle. This castle has many buildings, these store her memory and personality. What you would have seen from my position amounts to a huge, glowing, pale gold dome blocking entry or exit from the castle. There was a fake castle made of a similar material to the dome right next to it. This castle was nearly identical to the real one, save for a few changed buildings.

I had to remove both the dome and the fake castle to remove Celestia's influence on her little sister.

Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to destroy a castle by yourself, but you can't just walk up to it and start hitting it with a hammer. You have to be precise in your strikes, and hit hard. Combine that with the fact that the enchantment was designed to defend itself, it was a daunting task. Steeling myself, I took my first metaphysical step forward. The world around me seemed to stretch momentarily, before snapping back into place, putting me at my destination: the gates of the false castle. Distance was not a constant here.

Within moments, faceless apparitions pulled themselves out of the ground to attack me. Jumping back, I avoiding their beginning swings. I launched myself forward, getting a solid hit on one of the three constructs. It shattered, sinking back into the ground. Two more strikes wiped out the other creatures, allowing me access to the front gate. With a single buck, they crumpled inwards. Cracks formed with each step and the color of the ground faded slightly as I damaged the enchantment with my mere presence.

"You cannot win," the last voice I wanted to hear called out from all around me as I walked through the now-open gate. "You will fail."

"Celestia," I growled. "I killed you."

"You did, and that wasn't very nice of you. After all the years we knew each other, after all the times I lifted my tail for you, you buried a knife in my throat."

She was trying to distract me. I kept looking around as I wandered through the town surrounding the keep, watching for more apparitions. "You betrayed me, Celestia. You betrayed all of us."

"Please, I did what any ruler would have in my place. I had something and I wanted more, so I took more.”

“How much of you is left?” I asked.

“So you can destroy it all?” her voice echoed as she chuckled. “I don’t think so. Keep in mind that what you have found is a tiny fraction of me, just enough to keep Luna compliant.”

“You’re a bitch,” I said, walking down a wide, empty street. It was weird, seeing so many well-kept buildings and roads, but not a single resident.

“You wound me, Streak!” she said with obviously false hurt. “I thought you would be overjoyed by your chance to fix me again!”

“The only thing I will be fixing is accidentally leaving a tiny shred of you alive,” I growled. The keep was in sight now.

“So be it,” Celestia growled. “You will never be safe from me again. You have proven that you won’t be a tool again. I don’t get my favorite toy back.”

“Rainbow Dash is the only one who can play with me, thank you very much,” I said, taking a step on the road.

“I don’t think so,” she said quietly. Hundreds of automatons melted up out of the ground and off of walls to stand in my way. “I have more than one way of playing. Only one is enjoyable for you, but you don’t get that anymore.”

“Please, you think that was enjoyable?” I said, getting angry. I think this was her plan, and if it was, it was a stupid plan. “Now that I have something to compare it to, it was—frankly—boring, unoriginal, and tedious.”

“Tedious?” she shouted, causing the entire spell to shake. The constructs seemed to be robbed of their sustaining enchantments and crumbled.

“That’s what I said, or are you getting hard of hearing in your advanced age?” I asked. “I wouldn’t put it past you, after all.”

“I will destroy your life,” she growled. “I will kill all you love, destroy all you hold dear, and obliterate everything you care for. Then, and only then, will I kill you.”

“Aww,” I said, “is someone getting cranky? Is it time for little Celly to have a nap?”

“I am a Guardian!” she shouted again, shaking the spell to its foundations. Cracks formed as the enchantment started to break apart. This was working better than I thought it would. “I am thousands of years old! I influence the course of generations when I so much as blink! I have been working magic beyond the likes of you for millennia! I. Do. Not. Need. A. Nap!”

“With how childish you’re being, I couldn’t possibly see how you work the magics you claim to work.” The cracks started to get wider as everything continued to shudder.

“Maybe I’ll show you,” she growled. “When you join me in hell!” The ground went from cracking to full on shattering as the castle in the center exploded. She let out a shriek of frustration and anger as her spell failed, causing a tremor in the spell as I bolted, barely in front of the fast vanishing ground and barely able to keep my step due to the ground bucking like a wild bull.

As soon as my hooves cleared the barrier between the metaphysical world and the real one, I unclenched my jaw, letting go of Luna’s horn. I was immediately sent flying through the air, landing none-too-gracefully in a heap on the ground. The whole event—from entering the metaphysical to landing on the ground—took less than three seconds, real-time. “Damn, that bitch is resilient,” I moaned aloud. “What does it take to kill her?”

A spear pressed lightly into my throat. “A little more than that, asshole,” a strangely familiar red guard at the non-pointy end of the stick growled.

“Release him,” Luna said, walking up to us.

“But—” the guard tried to complain.

“Release. Him,” she reiterated, her tone implying that there would be no disobedience.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, lifting his spear up and stepping back.

I stood up, stretching. “That was a most interesting experience, I must say. How much of that did you see?” I asked.

“All of it, and I must say, that was a clever way of removing an enchantment,” she replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone dispel something by pissing off the owner of it.”

“This is all fine and dandy,” Murphy said, “but can we be released, too?”

I chuckled when I saw how pitiful the four of them looked. Star was just standing there with a magic-inhibiting ring on her horn, sullen. Murphy was on his back with no fewer than four spears sticking at his head, chest, and groin. Gilda was in the same predicament as Murphy, just without the groin spears. Rainbow, however, was tied up for some reason. “Just like old times, Rainbow?” I asked.

“Shut up,” she muttered, blushing.

Luna giggled at our antics. “Guard, release them, as well.”

“Nah, leave Rainbow all tied up,” I chuckled.

Luna and Rainbow gave me looks at that, and were there not a guard blocking my view or my daughter, I would have seen her look, too. “Untie Rainbow Dash,” Luna said with deliberate slowness. As soon as the flier was untied, she walked over to me and smacked me upside the head.

“Be careful about hitting me,” I warned. “I hit back.”

“You couldn’t hit a girl,” Rainbow said. “It’s against the guy code.”

“Self defense works for murder, I think it words for a breach in the guy code,” I reasoned. “If someone’s hitting me, I’ll hit them back.”

“Ah, but what if that someone’s the one that controls your ability to get tail?” she asked. The guards around us snickered as she walked around me, dragging her tail across my face. She gave me a smirk as I got flustered before walking off . I’ll never admit to looking, but her hips were swaying a little—okay, a lot—more than they needed to for her motions. Damn!

“I hate to interrupt this conversation, I really do, but I had you brought here to speak with you,” Luna said. “Given recent developments, I think I should readjust what I was going to say. So instead of ‘This is for murdering my sister’, I’ll say ‘Welcome back to Equestria with a full pardon for all offences.’ “

“But what about—” I started.

“This is for all of you, Rainbow Dash included,” Luna said. “As soon as Twilight is better, this whole debacle is over, as far as the government is concerned. You’ll still have to work things between yourselves, of course.”

“Of course,” Rainbow said, walking up next to me again. “I assume we’re on the next train out?” she asked.

“Yes,” the diarch said. “The next train actually leaves soon, so if we want to make it, we need to move.”

To make a short story even shorter, we made it. Soon after we were all seated—Rainbow and Star next to me, of course, and Murphy, Gilda, and Luna on the other side of the personal car Luna got for us—the train started to move.

I didn’t get more than a moment’s respite, however. “Okay, what the hell was that?” Rainbow asked. “You attacked the Princess, even after I tried my hardest to get you to avoid a fight!”

“That wasn’t for the defense of another,” I reminded. “Attacking Luna was for her own defense.”

“How could—” she started, being cut off.

“Because my mind wasn’t my own at that time,” Luna interrupted. “Celestia was crafty, and placed behavior modifying spells on those most likely to help her.”

“Behavior modification?” Star asked. “I realize that you guys are on a different level than the rest of us, but isn’t that ridiculously difficult to do?”

“Especially with no magic,” my fillyfriend added.

“She planted them before I returned,” I deduced. “That’s why you didn’t expose her immediately when you returned. She got you with a spell right as you came back.”

“She planted two on me before banishing me,” she corrected. “One that was designed to hide from the Elements and keep me compliant to her, and one that turned me into Nightmare Moon that was designed to be so obvious that the Elements wouldn’t look past it to find the other one.”

“Clever, I’ll admit,” I said, “but all that means is that my work isn’t over. I need to find every last shred of her and destroy them all.”

“Check those that aren’t mortal first,” Murphy said. “Enchantments like this are nearly impossible to transfer from one—” he paused in thought, ” ‘host’, we’ll say—to another. Once the pony she enchanted had died, the spell will fail, giving her a limited time to live once we remove the long-lasting enchantments.”

I nodded. I paused for a moment, thinking. “Hey, Murphy,” I asked.

“Hmm?” he asked, looking at me.

“How did you get taken down so easily? There couldn’t have been nearly enough guards there to stop you, especially as fast as they did.”

“Because I knew the second I saw Luna what was going on, and I trusted in you to win,” was his reply.

I narrowed my eyes, “You put my family in danger because you thought I could win?”

“You aren’t winning any points here,” Rainbow said to the demigod, “with this so soon after the abuse remark.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” he said. Gilda smacked him on the back of the head, making him exclaim quietly in pain. He rubbed the back of his head, saying, “Okay, not my smartest move.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I said. “Granted, it wasn’t your dumbest move, either, so there’s that.”

“Abuse remark?” Luna asked.

“He basically said that since Dad and Celestia were lovers and he killed her, that he would hurt Rainbow Dash, too,” Star said.

Luna leveled a glare at him, “You are the dumbest smart person I have ever met.”

“Yeah?” he said. “Well you’re the dumbest. . . dumb person I have ever met!” His childlike grin of pride perfectly fit the childish nature of the comeback. We all stared at him for a moment, before shaking our heads and dropping the matter.

“So are we returning directly to Ponyville?” I asked. “I can imagine that would not blow over very well, no matter what Pinkie might have to say about it.”

“What does—” Luna started. At our ‘don’t question Pinkie Pie’ glances, she changed topics, “No, we will be stopping off at Canterlot for a few days so that the news of your pardons to spread.” She sighed, shaking her head before saying, “The news of your crimes have not finished spreading yet, and I’m already talking about pardons.”

“Considering the crimes, that makes sense,” I said. “I have, what? Four counts of assault, breaking Rainbow out of prison, regicide, one count of attempted murder, who knows how many counts of assault on my way out of Canterlot, and another count of assault in the Griffon Empire.”

“That,” Luna began, pausing, “is quite the impressive rap sheet.”

“And then you remember that he’s the good guy,” Star said those last two words with more than a hint of sarcasm, leading me to believe she doesn’t approve of my life choices, “and you wonder who the bad guy had to be to be worse.”

“Someone with over four thousand counts of murder, and someone guilty of attempted genocide,” I said without skipping a beat.

“There is that on his side, he’s the lesser of two evils” Rainbow said, nuzzling me. “It doesn’t hurt that he’s also incredibly hot.” Star stuck her tongue out as I sighed. Some people never change.

“He’s a necessary evil,” Gilda said. “Equestria has needed someone who’s willing to get their hooves dirty for a while.”

“Speaking of, I need to make a stop before we go to Ponyville,” I said.

“Talk to me once we’re in Canterlot and I’ll arrange your transport there and back,” Luna said. She added in a tone of voice usually reserved for giving orders on the battlefield, “I don’t need to know what you’re doing while there, so keep that to yourself. I’m putting a lot of trust in you here, Streak. If any of my little ponies turn up dead wherever you went, I will not hesitate to send you to the darkest depths of Tartarus.”

“Understood, ma’am,” I said, giving her a small salute. I blushed invisibly as I drug my hoof back down. “Sorry, old habits die hard, I guess,” I said.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Luna said, chuckling. “It’s flattering.”

“Why don’t you call me ma’am?” Rainbow asked teasingly.

“Because so far I’ve been on top?” I suggested, poking her in the ribs.

“I will be after your little trip,” Rainbow reminded, “no fighting, remember?”

“It won’t be a fight, it will be a massacre,” I growled. You know you’re more than slightly upset when there was a stone cold predator looking at you with a worried expression.

“That sounds like something I’d pay to see.” On the other hand, you know your idea is insane when it has the approval of a demigod of chaos. “Twelve bits,” he said, holding out his talon, twelve shiny gold coins cupped in his palm.

“No, Murphy,” Gilda said, sighing. “You aren’t going to pay Streak to watch him beat the ever-living hell out of somepony.”

The rest of the trip passed in relative silence after that conversation. This was a fairly heavy hitting day for anyone, let alone being at the end of a long chain of such days. The sun was still relatively high in the sky when the train pulled into the station.

“You know, a little longer than two years ago, I would have believed that when Celestia died, the sun stopped moving,” Rainbow commented as we walked through the crowded streets. The crowds respectfully parted around what I’m sure they believed was the guard escorting the Princess and some prisoners.

“I would have believed that only a few days ago,” Star added. “I never really thought about it before now, though.”

“I still can’t believe that she convinced people she honestly moved the sun,” I mentioned. “If she tried that during my time, it would have failed and landed her a reputation as a laughingstock.”

“It took her centuries,” Murphy said.

"That just makes you think what she could have done had she not been stopped," Rainbow said.

We approached the castle as I replied, "Much worse. Much, much worse."

"I don't want to think about it either," Luna said. We ended on that sobering note, walking in silence to the castle. By the time we arrived, my limp had become pronounced, getting me worried looks from Rainbow, Star, and Gilda. Frankly I think that neither Murphy nor Luna noticed anything because they were having freaky mind-conversations about things us mortals couldn’t comprehend, like the actual rules to Monopoly.

My poor leg was saved by a passing pony with a cross on her flank. She immediately yanked me out of the group, spouting something about “police brutality” and how it was a major thorn in her side. Before any of the guards could stop her, she grabbed onto Rainbow and pulled us both through hallways to a medical room. By the time my eyes stopped spinning, she had cleaned, stitched, and dressed my stab wound. Before I could say anything about the enchantment I felt on the bandages, she had Rainbow’s wing out of the makeshift bandages I had put it in and into a cast radiating magic. Right as I opened my mouth, she trotted right out of the room.

“What. The. Hell?” Rainbow asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said in way of reply. “I’m thinking that she thought the guards roughed us up during our arrest, and is now having stern words with Luna.”

“That makes a surprising amount of sense,” she replied. “That also explains why the door is locked magically.”

“How do you know that?” I asked. “I can’t feel anything from over there, and I can feel strong magics from a fair distance.”

“She had a badge on her uniform that glowed for a moment when she walked through the doorway,” she pointed out. “That must have something to do with keeping us in here, since we don’t have badges.”

“Ah, but we have a master key,” I said, getting up. I was reminded of the bandages as I walked up to the door, and decided to check them for possible enchantments. All I found was a continuous healing spell woven into the cloth itself, baffling me as to how they make this stuff. Then again, I was the soldier, not the mage. With a single tap against the doorframe, both Rainbow and I were able to leave the room unhindered.

Rainbow knew her way to the throne room from where we were, which didn’t do much for my confidence in her ability to not hurt herself often. We arrived in time to see an angry nurse chewing out Luna, who sat there by her throne, shellshocked about the whole thing.

“—and again, why do I constantly have to heal ponies that didn’t need to be healed before your royal guard got to them?” she was saying. “I am constantly fixing broken bones and wounds obviously caused by a weapon, but I think healing a horn wound was a new one—even for me.”

“I must say,” I interrupted, “it is mighty impressive to see Luna so afraid of a normal, mortal pony.”

The nurse whirled around. “How did you get out of that room? It had magic negating enchantments on it and everything!”

“I eat magic for breakfast, literally,” I said. “Your door tasted of licorice and lemons. Not the best combination, and the sour taste in my mouth points to Celestia as being the one to cast the spell.”

“Streak, take this seriously,” Rainbow chastised me. “You are already in enough trouble for your remarks to Iron Will at the Clanhold.”

I groaned. Luna sat down, placing her head in her hooves. "He's not a prisoner, and the guards weren't the cause of their injuries."

"Those guards, at least," I commented. "I'm fairly sure that you can blame the guard for both our injuries when you look back at it."

“Streak, shut up,” Rainbow said smacking me on the shoulder with her uninjured wing. “You aren’t helping.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be,” I said, ducking under her next swing.

“Wait, he’s not a prisoner?” the nurse asked, tilting her head. “Isn’t he the second pony charged with murder in. . . ever?”

“There were extenuating circumstances,” Luna said. “He has been given a full pardon, something I have to get ready to announce to the public.”

“If you’re going to give a nice big speech, let me get up on the podium for a few seconds,” I said.

“Streak—” Luna began.

“There is a pony I want to find,” I said. “I ran into him while changing the government of the Griffon Empire.”

The nurse looked back and forth between us, growing more and more confused as we went on. Obviously not Redheart, as she would have joined in and pointed out something someone missed by now. Luna noticed the poor mare’s distress, and dismissed her. When the thankful nurse left the room, we continued our conversation.

“Why do you want to find this pony?” Luna asked me.

“How many details do you know about the massacre of the Senate?” I asked.

“Not many,” she admitted, “I wasn’t looking when it happened. That was a huge amount of magic being used.”

“It was also a pony,” Rainbow mentioned. “A single pony, using amounts of magic described by immortals as ‘huge’.”

“And I want to find him,” I said. “If he’s an ally, then he’ll be great to have along. If he’s an enemy, I need to kill him fast, before he flattens a city.”

Luna was silent for a moment, thinking. Even her ever-flowing mane seemed to slow down its movements while she thought. I saw that both Rainbow and I were leaning forward, awaiting a response. “Fine,” she finally said, much to my relief, “you can have your few minutes. I owe you that much.”

“The advantage of dying for your country twice,” I said, smirking. Star and Rainbow shot me looks, showing their disapproval of my choice of words. Picky, picky. “Also,” I continued, “I need to speak with you privately.”

Luna nodded. “We can meet in my quarters.”

I didn’t even have to look at my fillyfriend to know that was a bad idea, especially after my comments to Iron Will. “How about the archives?” I suggested. “What I need will be found there, anyway.”

Luna looked at me sideways, nodding slowly. “Okay,” she said cautiously, “when?”

“We could head there now, depending on when your speech will be,” I said.

“It will be in two days, to give the public time to be able to attend,” she replied.

“What are you going to be doing?” Rainbow asked me.

“Something you wouldn’t approve of,” was my reply. “Trust me when I say I won’t get in a fight, nor will I kill anyone.”

“But you’re going to do something I don’t approve of,” she said, as if asking for confirmation.

“Yes,” I said. I turned back to Luna. “Ready?”

She sighed, rubbing her temples. “Yes, I guess we might as well get this out of the way.”

I turned to Murphy. “And don’t you go listening in on us, Chance.” He held his hands up defensively. The two of us walked in silence to the archives. As soon as we got there, she whirled on me.

“What do you need from the archives that requires me being here?” she asked in an accusatory tone.

“I need to access the family records of Ponyville,” I said. “After that, I need the list of names and addresses for Cloudsdale. After I have what I need, I’ll get out of your mane on a quick jaunt to Cloudsdale.”

“You can’t walk on clouds,” Luna said, “only pegasi can.”

“I was a pegasus before your sister ripped my wings off, remember?” I reminded. “If it doesn’t work, I need you to give someone a royal summons.”

“There is a limit to what I will do, even with the services you’ve rendered to Equestria,” Luna said. “Remember that.”

“Of course,” I said. “There are very few things I need done, and I don’t need them done at the same time. Nor are they as disruptive as this task.”

Luna nodded, accepting what I was telling her. Within seconds, I had the Ponyville census in my hooves. Running down the list, I found the name I was looking for. “Gotcha, you son of a bitch,” I growled. I ran through the address book of Cloudsdale, finding that he hadn’t moved in over a decade. I smiled a malicious smile as I walked up to Luna, giving her the address that I needed to be delivered to.

As an afterthought, I searched through the Canterlot address book. I took note of the address I was looking for and ran to catch up with the alicorn.

—*~*~*—

I heard the door open just before sundown. There were a few clops on the hardened cloud floor as my target walked inside, before I heard the door close. He walked obliviously into the dark room I was standing in. I could see from here that his hair was red and yellow, with tinges of orange in it. His coat was the strange color you get when you mix a bit of orange into sky blue, like that of a sky at the edge of dusk. He paused at the darkness—I had shut the lights off when I hid, and I assumed he left them an at all times—but shrugged it off and walked over to the lightswitch. When he flicked it, nothing happened.

“Hello, Aurora Blast,” I said.

The such-named stallion jumped, whirling to look at the darkness. “Who–who’s there?” he asked, whipping his head back and forth. “Show yourself!”

I didn’t comply with his wishes. In the darkness I was completely invisible, since I had Luna apply an illusion that hid my rainbow streak from view. I was the darkness. I said, “You have a lovely daughter.”

“You can have her,” he yelled in panic, “just leave me alone!”

I growled, “I don’t think you understand. I’m not here for you, I’m here for her.”

“Wha—” he started, but didn’t get any farther than that before I began.

I slammed a hoof into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground. He groaned as I let him sit for a moment, before resting a hoof onto his upper left foreleg. “I care quite greatly for your daughter, you bastard. I don’t take kindly to abusive assholes like you.” I ground my hoof down just slightly not hard enough to break the bone, but enough that it bent quite painfully. I had learned of this sweet spot during the war, when I needed to get information out of an unwilling captive, but couldn’t leave any lasting damage on them.

“St–stop!” he whimpered. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll be a good stallion! I’ll be a good father! I’ll make up for my mistakes! I’m sorry!”

I stared down coldly at him, feeling disgust well up inside me at his worthlessness. “Too late.”

CRUNCH!

He screamed in agony as my hoof snapped his leg, jutting bone out the other side. He cried out, tears running down his face as he sobbed. “That was for being negligent when she was young,” I said. “She was your responsibility, and you ignored her.” I lifted my hoof, planting it on his other foreleg.

“N–no, please!” he blubbered pitifully as I slowly increased the pressure I put onto the bone. “Don’t! I’ll do anything!”

CRACK!

“That was for abusing her at your leisure. She is not a toy, not a punching bag. She was a child, and you beat her.”

“I–I–I—” he stuttered as he writhed in utter agony. I walked to his hindlegs, and began the process again. I put my hoof down on his hindleg, and started pushing. He blubbered incoherently, and I could tell from the smell that he had long ago wet himself.

SNAP!

His third scream of agony was ripped out of his mouth as I broke another of his bones. “That was for forcing her to abandon her child because it was an inconvenience to you, you bastard,” I growled in his ear. I don’t even think he heard me through the haze of pain I knew was over his mind at that moment.

I chose to ignore his lack of a response, slowly pressing onto his last unbroken leg. I heard his whimpers intensify as I pushed harder and harder before, just as the last ones, this leg gave out.

CRUNCH!

He cried out again as I broke his last leg. I watched him writhe on the ground as every move antagonised his legs, causing him to writhe more. I felt nothing watching him. This wasn’t for me, this wasn’t about him. It was the principle. He put her in the hospital with broken bones a dozen times, and I was here now, breaking his bones right damn back. “This is what it feels like to break a bone, Aurora,” I said. “This is what Rainbow Dash felt each time you put her in the hospital. This is justice.”

I walked so that I was standing at his back. I hesitated as I placed my hoof over his wing, remembering what Celestia had done a thousand years ago. I felt a flash of remorse at what I had done, but quickly pushed it back down. He deserved worse. Much worse. This was mercy. I reared up, lifting both my hooves above my head. I used my downwards momentum to increase the strength of my swing.

SNAP!

CRACK!

His screams were worse than before. The wings were the most sensitive parts of a pegasi’s body, and I had just obliterated part of this stallion’s. I stared coldly down at the mutilated stallion. My eyes were drawn to the knife rack in the next room, and I felt my rage flare. This bastard was a monster, and I would make sure everyone knew.

—*~*~*—

The guards didn’t even question what had happened when I had walked up to them, especially since I removed Luna's enchantment as soon as I got into the carriage. I could tell by their body language that they wanted to know, but this was something I would take to my grave. It would be obvious that it was me, but I would never admit to it. I spent the return trip in silence, mulling over what I had done. Perhaps I had gone too far.

I had a genuine smile on my face as we flew into the carriage hangar. Rainbow was there waiting for me to come back, and I pretended that it was because she had missed me. "What did you do?" she asked as soon as I walked onto the floor.

"A little much," I replied, starting to walk to the rooms Luna had assigned us, "but I got what I needed to do done."

"And what was that?" she asked.

"Not a fight," I replied.

"Streak, tell me what you did," she said crossly.

I stopped moving and she stopped right beside her. I pressed my lips into hers, surprising her. "Trust me, you're better not knowing."

She sighed, "Fine. I'll drop it. Don't expect me to be happy about it, though."

"Ah, but you were already mad at me," I said. "This just adds one more thing to the list of things I have to make up to you."

She gave me a look. Not one of the woman looks that tells you you said the wrong thing or did something stupid, but one of the looks that at first glance was totally innocent, but when you really look at it is promising a wild night.

And how wild it was, let me tell you.

*~*~*

"Citizens of Canterlot, lend me your ears!" Luna projected her voice across the assembled ponies. "Just days ago, I brought you news that Celestia had been slain during her rehabilitation. Today I bring you news again! Streak, the stallion responsible for exposing her and, later, slaying her, is in Canterlot right now!

"However, I have to say that the nation owes him for saving it from destruction on more than one occasion. First, when he commanded the armies that enabled Celestia, Chance, and I to imprison Discord over a thousand years ago. Once more when he exposed Celestia not once, but twice, dying twice in the process. Once more when he came back from his second death to slay Celestia and remove enchantments she had woven over me keeping me her pawn. And one more time when he stopped the Emperor of the Griffon Empire from attempting genocide of the pony species.

"In light of these, and in light that any and all of his crimes were committed during the process of one of these, I have extended a full pardon of any and all crimes to Streak and his companions, the ponies Rainbow Dash and Star, and the griffons Gilda and Murphy, and to supply the five with homes wherever they wish to live." The crowd burst into noise, some positive and some negative. Luna quieted the assembled ponies with a raised hoof. "Streak wishes to speak to the assembled ponies, and I have granted that wish. Streak, if you will?"

I stepped forward as she cast a voice amplification spell on me. I cleared my throat to make sure the spell worked a it should. When it did, I began, "There is one of you that I wish to speak with. When I was on trial in the Empire for false charges, a stallion teleported in and saved not just my life, but the lives of Rainbow Dash and my daughter. I wish to see you again, to shake your hoof and get to know you. To make sure you know that I owe you for saving those I care about most. Thank you.” I stepped back and walked off as Luna started to be bombarded with questions.

I spent the rest of the day with my daughter, since I felt I had been ignoring her. Luckily, Luna gave me a card that told ponies to bill the royal treasury for any expenses. A wonderful little card that let me give my daughter free reign of the local bookstores. She ran around like a kid in a candy shop, grabbing this book and that. By the end of a three-hour shopping spree, she had amassed a personal library containing books about everything. Her science books ranged from astronomy to zoology, she actually got excited about buying a full set of encyclopedias, and she had a book penned by Starswirl the Bearded himself about advanced magic topics. She was nervous about that last choice, I have to say. When she brought it up with me, the conversation went as so.

“And,” she paused, hesitating to place her order for the last book to the shellshocked store owner. She looked at me, and pointed at a book in a glass case. “That one.”

I looked at the book. It was a thick volume, easily being twice the size of any of the other books. The cover was plain, as well as being written—not printed—and read:

Advanced Magic Techniques Part One:
Spell Modification
By: Starswirl the Bearded

The owner of the store, a slightly overweight middle-aged blue mare, dropped her jaw. “That’s a first edition of Advanced Magic Techniques! That was personally penned by Starswirl the Bearded!”

I could tell Star was watching my reaction with trepidation. I think she was worried about me not letting her get the book because of my dislike of the author. Never being one to purposely let personal differences influence anothers’ education, I promptly said, “So it is. You wouldn’t know how many parts there are to that series, would you?”

“Uh, six,” she said. “I think we have all of them in print in the back of the store.”

“You wouldn’t know where I could acquire the rest of these, would you?” I asked. “And not the printed ones.” Star’s jaw was the one to drop this time. I had almost literally said that I was going to find her a complete first edition set of magic books she could use, penned by the author himself. An author whose guts I hated.

“The rest of them are owned by private collectors,” she said, “and not likely to give up their copies for any price.”

“I’ll find a way,” I said cryptically. I gave Star a smile. “I should have the next one within a few months.”

“Luna won’t let us keep these cards forever,” Star advised, “especially after this shopping spree.”

“I know,” I said. “I have other plans.”

Star seemed to accept that, and happily finished placing her order. It was going to be delayed by a few days, both because of our current lack of a house and because of the vast quantity of the books. That didn’t seem to bother the bibliophilic teenager in the slightest, and she grabbed some magic books to carry in her saddlebags. Not the ridiculously expensive first edition one, though. I spent the rest of the day with her, just letting her be a filly. An odd, antisocial, incredibly intelligent filly, but a filly nonetheless.

The next day, it was announced that we would be heading to Ponyville on train, and that the town had been alerted. By sunup, the five of us—since each one of us, save Rainbow, requested a house in Ponyville—were loaded on the train and on the way. As usual, I shared a car with Rainbow and my daughter. Murphy and Gilda were sharing their own car right next to ours.

Luckily for me, I did a good enough job the nights prior that Rainbow wasn’t mad at me anymore. That fact was not lost by Star, who rolled her eyes every time one of us nuzzled the other. About halfway through the trip, Rainbow brought up a good point. “So how do you think the other Bearers will respond to our arrival?”

“I hope they don’t respond negatively,” Star said. She added in a tone that indicated that she was teasing, “They seem like nice ponies, and I don’t want dad to hurt one of them.”

“I don’t deal with all my problems with violence,” I played along.

“Name one problem that wasn’t a minor annoyance that you didn’t beat against a wall until it wasn’t a problem, or threaten to do so,” Rainbow said.

I opened my mouth for a moment, before closing it. “Valid. I promise that I won’t hurt them for hating us, how’s that?”

“Good,” Star said, smiling.

“Seriously, though,” I said, “I think that we will only have to worry about Twilight.”

“Why’s that?” Star asked.

“Because I kinda tried to kill her. That’s why I was in prison,” Rainbow said sheepishly.

Star was silent for a moment, before deadpanning, “You two are perfect for each other.” The two of us looked at each other and burst out laughing. We kinda did deal with things the same way, didn’t we?

We kept talking about small things as we pulled into the station. When we stepped out, the streets were deserted. Rainbow looked around and muttered, “This either means that they’re afraid of us, or Pinkie is throwing us a surprise party.”

“Shocking, on both counts,” I sarcastically replied.

A faint voice floated over the wind, sounding an awful lot like “Oh, come on!”

“I think the Crusaders were involved,” my fillyfriend giggled.

“No point delaying,” I said, walking towards the town hall.

When we arrived, there was nobody there. Not even the mayor, which only minorly surprised me. I turned around to leave to be met with a massive wall of pink. “HIYOU’REBACKOHMYGOSHIT’SSOGOODTOSEEYOUANDWE’REGONNAHAVESOMUCHFUNANDWE’LLBEBESFRIENDSANDEVERYONEWILLLOVEEACHOTHERAGAINANDTWILIGHTWILLSTOPBEINGAMEANIEPANTSABOUTDASHIEANDSWEETIEWILLHAVEANEWFRIENDTHATUNDERSTANDSANDDASHIE’SBACKAND - You have a daughter!

I’m not sure what impressed me more, the fact that she said that all in one breath, or that she knew to aim that last comment at both Rainbow and me. “Dashie?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. “There’s not something going on here that I should be aware of, is there Rainbow?”

Rainbow blushed, “Just Pinkie being Pinkie.”

I looked back at the pink enigma, only to find that she wasn’t where I thought she was. A squeal of alarm from my daughter brought my eyes over instantly, to find Pinkie on her back legs holding Star up with her forehooves. “Hmm, unicorn, twelve and a half years old, proficient at magic, and has a huge talent for it. To Twilight we go!” There was a pink and blue blur as the party pony zipped off with my daughter, leaving me staring at where they were standing in shock.

“Wha?” I muttered, trying to puzzle out what had just happened.

"What did I say about Pinkie?" Rainbow asked. "Don't try to understand her."

I shrugged. "Guess I just have to walk you home, then."

Rainbow chuckled, doing a pretty good fake swoon, "What a gentlecolt!"

We laughed as we walked through the abandoned town all the way to where a floating house of clouds sat. "This it?" I asked.

"Yep," she replied. "I might have to install a ramp, since you don't have wings."

"We could just meet at my place," I suggested.

"Ah, but do you remember how comfortable clouds are?" she asked.

"Of course," I replied. "Why?"

She leaned over to whisper into my ear, her breath making it twitch as it ran across. "Imagine what it feels to rut on one." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped into the air, spreading her wings and flying up to her house. "Maybe you'll get to experience that, knot boy!" she shouted, before vanishing to where I couldn't see her.

I turned around to run directly into Rarity. "Knot boy?" she asked with a smirk.

"It's from years ago," I explained, flustered. "Ask Fluttershy.”

“Ooh, you got innocent Fluttershy in on your debauchery too?” she asked, smirking. “I didn’t think she was like that.”

I gave Rarity a deadpan look. “What do you want, Rarity?”

“Am I not allowed to see a friend after having him be missing for two years?” she asked, sounding honestly hurt.

I sighed. Damn it. “Sorry, it’s just been a long week.”

“You’ll have to tell me sometime,” she said, “but things haven’t been all quiet on the homefront.”

“You don’t say?” I asked.

“Yeah. Just yesterday in Cloudsdale a stallion was admitted into the hospital, severely beaten,” she said. “The doctor they interviewed said that it was the worst thing he had ever seen, and he worked in the hospital closest to the rainbow factory for five years.”

“I assume there are a lot of accidents in this factory?” I asked, hoping to deflect the conversation away from my dirty deed.

“Oh, many,” she said. “None that broke quite as many bones. The doctors say he’ll be lucky to walk again, let alone fly, even with the advances healing has taken.”

“Sounds brutal,” I said, starting to walk back into town. Unfortunately, Rarity came along right next to me, intent on talking with me.

“”Put him into a coma, it did,” she said. “They said it was a combination of blood loss and shock, and that he might not wake up.”

“I hope he does,” I replied. So that he will have to live the rest of his life with my punishment, if for no other reason.

“They said that it was Rainbow’s father,” she continued, unaware of my thoughts. “I was on my way to tell her when I saw you. I thought I’d give her a few minutes to settle back in before giving her the news. Maybe you’d like to give it to her?”

“I think it would be better coming from you,” I said. “I don’t know what happened besides the tidbits you told me.”

“Ah, tut tut,” she said. “Come with me, I still have the article in the Boutique.”

I sighed, having no real choice but to follow her. We walked through the town, and I was again confused as to why it was so empty. “Is Pinkie throwing a party?” I asked. “The streets are eerie this empty at this time of day.”

“She is,” she said. “It wasn’t my kind of thing, so I didn’t stay for long. The poor dear needs to learn that we can’t throw a ‘It’s Getting Close to Winter so Start Thinking Warm Thoughts’ party every November.”

“It’s innocent enough,” I said, “and everyone seems to enjoy it, so what’s the harm?”

“I guess you’re right,” she said as we walked up to the doors of her place of business. The doors were all closed, and the windows all drawn. “It’s just inside,” she said. I nodded, moving to walk in. As I did, I didn’t notice the foal’s toy on the deck, causing me to slip. During my stumble, I bumped into Rarity. Neither of us fell, thankfully, and she didn’t seem to be insulted or disgusted that I had touched her. However, I did notice something that shouldn’t have been there. I furrowed my brow, placing my hoof on her shoulder. I felt magic.

Transformation magic.

She smiled at me maliciously. “Go ahead, Streak. The table is right inside, you couldn’t miss it.” I felt panic rise in my throat, choosing to ignore whatever the hell she was to rip open the door. Light flooded into the building, illuminating the entry room. What I saw made my blood boil.

Rarity was sitting on the floor, bound and gagged. She looked disheveled, and her mane was what she would describe as “no condition to go out in.” I could tell from the tears sliding down her face and her wide eyes that she was in full panic mode. As soon as I looked away from her to the rest of the room, I understood why.

Standing around her were three ponified bugs. That was the only way to really describe them. They were covered in black chitin, with eyes of pure blue. They had wickedly curving horns and holes in their legs that looked anything but natural. Each one of them looked exactly identical, and were grinning at me in victory.

The door behind me closed. “This is a message from our Queen: there are always worse monsters.” I whipped around to behold Rarity in her regular beauty. With a flash of green fire, she turned into the pony I was used to dealing with. So that is what a changeling looked like. “I decided to add on my own: we are always watching, and we know who you care for.”

I growled and lunged forward to punch his smug face in, but he dodged. “Uh, uh. A word from me, and that house of clouds turns to steam, and that beautiful daughter of yours gains another smile. Right. Under. Her. Chin.” He moved his hoof across his throat to emphasize his point. “Now we’re going to disappear, and there will be no trace of our visit. This is just another step in a plan you won’t understand until it’s over.”

“If I ever see your queen—or any of your kind, for that matter—I will leave less than a stain on the ground,” I growled.

The changeling smirked at me. “You won’t see us unless we want to be seen, Streak. Did you think we would do something as stupid as invading Canterlot and announcing our presence to the public without a point?” Without a single word or twitch on his part, the other three changelings left the room in unison. He got in a parting shot before leaving, “He wanted us to not hurt you or anyone you care about. This was a message to him as much as you. We don’t need him, it’s just nice to have him.”

I was torn between bolting after them and helping Rarity, but a pitiful sob made my mind up for me. I quickly ran over to the terrified mare’s prone form, having her untied in seconds. She immediately latched onto me, sobbing in terror. She kept trying to talk through her sobs, but couldn’t.

“It’ll be okay, Rarity,” I said, hugging her back. No transformation magic. “They’re gone.”

“They have Sweetie Belle!” she cried out. “They have my little sister!”

My eyes hardened as I looked into hers. “Where?”

She sniffled. “They brought her by to keep me compliant. They were keeping her upstairs.”

“I’ll make sure she’s okay,” I said, bolting for the stairs. I avoided tripping as I sprinted three steps at a time, not even noticing when I bounced off a wall. I tore doors open, looking for a little filly. Right as I was losing hope, I opened the last door.

Inside was a young filly of Star’s age. She looked more confused and startled than scared when I burst through the door. I sighed in relief at the sight of her, before thinking. I walked up to her, watching as her confusion morphed into nervousness. She nearly ran when I placed a hoof on her shoulder. No transformation magic. She was clean. “Sweetie Belle?”

“Y—yes?” she asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

I sighed in relief again, sitting down on the ground. “Thank god. I don’t even care which one at this point.”

“What are you talking about, mister?” she asked, her curious nature showing through her caution of the stranger that knew her name.

“Come downstairs,” I said, walking towards the hallway.

“Rarity says that I shouldn’t listen to strangers anymore,” Sweetie said. “She says that even if they say I’m in danger or she’s hurt that I should not go with them.”

“Sweetie, you’re in your own house. If I was trying to abduct or hurt you, there wouldn’t be a thing you could do about it at this point,” I said. “Your sister really needs to see you downstairs.”

“I guess you have a point,” she said. “What happened? You looked panicked when you opened the door.”

“Rarity could tell you more than I could,” I said. “I just showed up for the end of it.” The two of us walked downstairs together. “She’s okay, Rarity. She didn’t even know what was going on.”

The panicked mare tackle-hugged her little sister. “Oh, Sweetie! I thought you were hurt!”

“Rarity!” Sweetie groaned. “Don’t! You’re embarrassing me in front of a guest!”

I smiled at the display, before my face fell. “Shit! Star!” The two looked at me as I moved swiftly for the door. I practically tore the portal off its hinges as I sprinted outside. I quickly realized I had no damned idea where I was going. I ran back to the doorway before the duo even looked away. “Is Pinkie having a party?” I asked.

“Sugarcube Corner,” Sweetie said. “It’s just down the street to the right. You can’t miss it.”

I nodded and resumed my sprinting. I tore through the empty streets, thankful that my nature allowed me to not get winded as I ran. I saw a massive gingerbread house that looked like a single bite would cause diabeetus. I assumed this was Sugarcube Corner. I burst through the door like a bat out of hell, caring not for the surprised faces of the ponies standing near the door. I whipped my head around, looking for Star.

I found her in the most likely place; she was hiding in the corner, being antisocial.

Pinkie was right next to her, trying to get her to join in the party. I had my suspicions about the pink party pony at the moment, to be honest. I ran over to them, placing my hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. No transformation magic. “Pinkie, did anyone leave the party in the last minute or so?”

“No,” she said. “Why?”

“Because—” I paused, seeing we had attracted the attention of some of the ponies around us. We took a few steps away and Pinkie shooed them away with her hooves. I began again, quieter this time, “Because I just had a changeling threaten to kill Rainbow and Star.”

“What?” she gasped. She looked in the distance for a moment, before frowning. She started mouthing words to herself, and I caught “—that house of clouds turns to steam, and that beautiful daughter of yours gains another smile. Right. Under. Her. Chin.” Her eyes widened. “You weren’t kidding! This is what happens when I stop reading ahead in the chapter, I get left behind!”

“Pinkie, now is not the time to be Pinkie,” I said. “Now is the time to find some changelings so I can disembowel them.”

“Why are we killing changelings?” Star asked, walking up to us.

“Because they’re being not nice ponies,” Pinkie said, “so your dad wants to hunt them down.”

My daughter gave me a look. “They threatened you and Rainbow, Star,” I said quietly. “I can’t let them get away with this.”

“Then we alert the guard,” Star said, “and live as normal a life as we can.”

I stared down at her and finally realized that this is what she really wanted. She wanted a normal life. No orphanage, no being the target, no government-collapsing adventures. She just wanted to be normal. Mundane. Average. She wanted to live a life like the other kids do. I sighed, “Alright, Star. We’ll do things your way.” She got a huge grin on her face as I said that, and I said, “But if I run into one, I’m ripping its throat out.”

“Fair compromise,” she reluctantly said, “but you have to be one-hundred-percent sure that it’s a changeling before you even touch them.”

“Touch is how I make sure it’s not a changeling,” I mentioned, “but I get what you’re saying.”

She nodded. “I saw a pony I assume is the mayor, if her demeanor is nothing to go by. She said something about our house being the one with the sold sign right next to the Boutique.”

“Then let’s go,” I said as I walked with my daughter out of the store-turned-party. “We can check on Rarity as we go.”

“Wait, check on Rarity?” Pinkie somehow silently exploded next to me. “What happened?”

“You know those changelings I was talking about? One of them was disguised as Rarity and led me to the Boutique,” I said. “They had the real Rarity, and were holding Sweetie Belle hostage for good behavior.”

Star gasped and Pinkie nodded solemnly. “So you’re saying that changelings held a hostage? Why? To send us a message?”

“We weren’t even the target,” I said. “They have some kind of ally—I assume that it was the pony that saved us in the Empire—and he doesn’t want them to hurt me for some reason. This extends to those I care about. This was to show him that they didn’t give a damn what he wanted.”

“That’s–that’s not smart,” Star said. “I mean, you saw what he could do.”

“That meant that their Queen is at least that strong,” I said. “They keep talking about a plan that I can’t follow. It’s a point of pride for the prick that has been following me around. I think it’s much more likely that they can keep him in line with force than they are just stupid.”

“That is a much scarier option,” Pinkie said. “Let’s see. . . oh, come on! ‘Reply hazy, ask again?’ “

“Pinkie, what are you– Nevermind, I don’t want to know,” I said, pausing to rub my temples for a moment as she put a strange black orb away wherever she kept things for whenever she needed them. “Let’s just get moving.”

We walked up to Rarity’s place of business together. I knocked on the door to get the attention of the owner. “Sorry, dear,” I heard her call out. “We’re closed.”

“Aw, but it’s the middle of the day!” I mock-whined. There was a pause before the door opened. Rarity looked much better—it looked like she had spent some time freshening up—and happy to see me. “I even brought you a Pinkie to make you feel better.”

Pinkie was very solemn, with only a small smile. “Hiya Rares,” she said. “I heard about your bug problem.”

Rarity smiled and stepped aside to let us in. “Sweetie feels bad that she had no idea what was going on,” she said. “All she knows it that I was arguing with four customers before she went upstairs.”

“Hey, Star,” I said, “she’s about your age. I think you have a better chance of getting through to her than we do.”

“But—” she started.

“But nothing, missy!” Pinkie insisted more seriously than I had ever seen her before. “She’s hurt and sad and you can help her, so you will.”

“I—” she tried to say.

“She’s right, you know,” Rarity said.

“Fine,” she sighed in defeat. “Where is she?”

“Just in the next room,” the unicorn said. Star started walking to the doorway, and the three of us shared a look that said “we’re watching this.” We stood in the doorway as she walked up to the dejected filly. I saw my daughter stop when she beheld Sweetie, and I swear she had to pick her jaw up off the floor. Rarity nudged me in the ribs, whispering in my ear, “I haven’t seen a reaction like that yet, even from colts.”

“Let me tell you the story of how I adopted Star sometime,” I said. “That will explain everything.” We resumed watching. as Star sat down next to Sweetie Belle.

“H–hey,” she said.

Sweetie didn’t even look up at her. “Oh, hi,” she said without interest.

“We’re going to get them,” Star said.

“Hmm?” Rarity’s sister asked.

“The changelings,” Star clarified. “If the guard isn’t enough to get them, then I’ll sick my dad on them.”

“If the guard can’t find them, I fail to see what one stallion could do,” the other filly muttered.

“If Dad can kill Celestia and stop a war between Equestria and the Griffon Empire, I think he can find a few oversized bugs,” my daughter said, showing a surprising amount of support for my particular talents and achievements.

Sweetie finally looked up to behold a blushing Star. I saw a small flush start in the filly’s cheeks. “You sure he’ll get them?”

“You just tell him if you want them extra-crispy or not,” Star said. “He’ll find them.”

“I don’t want them dead,” Sweetie said, frowning slightly. “They didn’t hurt her. They scared her, sure, and they invaded Canterlot a few years ago, but I still don’t want them dead.”

Star smiled at the other filly. ”Maybe we could get you to talk with him,” she suggested. “His first response to a problem is to hit it. If that doesn’t work, he hits it again.”

The fillies shared a chuckle together. Sweetie caused my daughter’s blush to intensify when she said, “Hey, you’re pretty cool. Want to come hang out with the other Crusaders and me sometime?”

“ ‘Crusaders’?” Star asked. “What’s that?”

Sweetie brightened at the chance to talk about something she loved to talk about. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders! We’re crusading for our cutie marks!”

Star blushed even more as she dropped her ever-present saddlebags, revealing her own blank flanks. I blinked. That was surprising. “Can I join?” she asked.

Sweetie swept her up in a huge hug. Just when I thought she couldn’t get any redder. Looks like someone has a crush. “Of course!” Sweetie said. “Anyone without a cutie mark is free to join!”

My daughter returned the hug with gusto. “When do we meet?”

“Every day after school,” the older Crusader said. That reminded me, talk to the teacher about enrolling Star in school. She didn’t need it, but it was likely part of her normal life she wanted.

“I’ll be sure to come,” Star said. “I think I need to get going soon, though. Dad and I wanted to check out our new house.”

“Where do you live? Sweetie asked. “Each Crusader has to host sleepovers at least once a month.” That was a bullshit rule, but then again I was the parent, not the kid.

Star smirked. “Right next door.”

Sweetie’s smile threatened to split her face. “Then we can hang out even when the other Crusaders can’t, or when Rarity says it’s too late to go all the way to Sweet Apple Acres!”

They started to excitedly talk about what they were going to do to get their cutie marks. Frankly, it was the most energized I had ever seen her, and she had just met the other filly minutes ago. We decided to let the fillies have their talk amongst themselves, and returned to the other room. “So,” Rarity said, “you said something about an interesting adoption story?”

“It’s actually pretty simple,” I said. “I threatened the matron with death and left with her.”

Rarity rightly gave me an odd look, but Pinkie ruined my fun. “Tell the rest of it, Streak.”

I sighed. “She was in the orphanage in Tall Tale, and was being bullied constantly. It got so bad that she experimented with opening a portal to the Void. When she succeeded, I came through. Turned out that she was gay, and the matron not only encouraged the kids to bully Star, but engaged in it as well. I told the matron that if she was still running the orphanage when I got back, I would kill her.”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. She latched onto the wrong part of the sentence, however. “Your daughter’s gay?”

“That’s the part you heard?” I exploded. “I mentioned bullying, abuse, magical experimentation, and murder, but you latched onto the word ‘gay’?”

Rarity stuttered. “U–uh, ye–yes?”

I scoffed. “You disappoint me, Rarity,” I said. “I expected better from you.”

“I–I didn’t mean to be insensitive, it just surprised me,” she said. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Streak.”

“She really didn’t,” Pinkie piped in. “It just wasn’t what she expected to hear.”

I stared Rarity in the eyes and saw no sign of deceit in them. “Okay,” I said. “I guess I just overreacted.”

“We all do,” Rarity said.

“No you didn’t,” Pinkie said at the same time. I gave her a look, so she continued, “Think about it. I think everyone in your family has some kind of suck in their past, and Rarity stumbled ass over teakettle into the dirt in your daughter’s. You had a right to get upset.”

“When you put it so indelicately,” Rarity muttered.

“When I put it so accurately,” Pinkie said. “Not everything that comes out of my mouth is confusing or gibberish. Just most of it.”

“Thank you, Pinkie,” I said, smiling. At that moment two giggling fillies, both bright red, came through the doorway. I had the distinct feeling we had missed something important.

“That was fun!” Sweetie squeaked. “We should do it again!”

“Yeah,” Star said, “that would be awesome!”

I smiled at their antics. “Come on, Star. We should go check out our house.”

“Okay Dad!” she said, practically skipping for the door. I haven’t seen someone so happy since. . . last night. Nevermind. As I moved to follow her, I noticed something. A newspaper was sitting on the table, right where the changeling-Rarity said it was. I looked at the headlines. “Streak Given Pardon?” was one of them. The one underneath it, however caught my attention.

Brutal Assault In Cloudsdale

Earlier today, the Cloudsdale General Hospital reported a brutal beating of local Aurora Blast. They didn’t report specifics, but it is known that he is in intensive care from multiple broken bones. The doctors refuse to specify beyond that, stating doctor-patient confidentiality, but an anonymous source came through, reporting that every one of his legs was broken, and that both his wings were shattered near the base.

This brutal beating was discovered when Cloud Wing, a neighbor of Blast’s, was approached by a pony that he claimed was “made of darkness and evil” that told him that Blast was inside and badly wounded. “He urged me to get Aurora to the hospital as fast as I could,” Cloud claimed. “When I got there, I was sickened. He had bones sticking out of places bones shouldn’t be seen in, and had a bloody mess on his forehead.”

That same anonymous source that confirmed the broken limbs, the unknown perpetrator had carved [continued on page A2]

I quickly flipped the page over to finish the article.

the word “MONSTER” into his forehead with a kitchen knife. Investigators scoff at the description of the only known possible witness. “There is no such thing as a shadow pony,” guard investigator Bright Dirk reported. “This is all nonsense and distracting us from the real perp.”

This reporter wants to be the first to inform you that the demons of the Void still do exist, and that they match the description later given by a calmed-down Cloud. “He was like a hole in the world. Like, he not only didn’t exist, but he caused everything behind him to not exist either. Something about him felt malevolent, but it wasn’t aimed at me, if you know what I’m trying to say.”

So while it’s too early to say anything conclusive, this reporter believes that there is a demon walking the mortal world. Why he chose Blast, nopony can say for now, but with some research, we discovered that Blast is the father of Rainbow Dash, our very own Element of Loyalty. Princess Luna could not be reached for comment, but she has promised that she will explain all that she can.

“Dad!” Star called from out the door. “Come on!”

I looked up from the article. News spreads fast, it seems. “Coming, Star!” I called out. I turned to Rarity and Sweetie. “If either of you needs anything, even three months from now, come and see me. We’re neighbors now, and neighbors take care of each other.” The duo smiled and nodded as I left the building.

My new house was nothing special, honestly. It was a three bedroom house, with just enough room for ponies living in those three bedrooms. It came pre-furnished, which was good. I had literally no money since Luna took away my card. First order of business: get a job.

Star looked around the house. “Now all we need is for you to get a job.”

“And you to start going to school,” I said. Star groaned. “Hey, you legally have to go to school, no matter how boring it is.”

“Fine, fine.”

—*~*~*—

It had been three weeks since I had finally moved in. The guard had been notified by Spike of changeling activity. Twilight had gotten out of the hospital, and had avoided Rainbow, Star, and me like the plague. All the Bearers had stopped by to talk at least once. Rainbow came second only to Rarity in frequency of visits. Every sleepover that Star had at another Crusader’s house coincided with a sleepover involving Rainbow and me.

It was a Friday, and like any other Friday, Rainbow and I had a dinner plan. So far, we’d gone out to a fancy restaurant, had stopped by Sugarcube Corner, and had stayed in and had Rainbow cook a meal. I was comfortable saying that that wasn’t happening again, and she agreed with me. How do you burn cheese sandwiches, I’ll never know. I suspect she was trying to make grilled cheese.

I was in the shower at that moment, preparing for Rainbow’s arrival. We both agreed that we needed at least one more guaranteed good meal before I tried my hoof at cooking. Star and I had been treated to home cooked meals for the entire last week. I had almost made them edible.

But I digress. Shower. I had just gotten, when I heard the door open. “Sorry, Rainbow,” I said, fully expecting my fillyfriend, “Solo shower this time.”

“Eww, eww, and eww,” my daughter answered instead. “Just. . . eww. There’s somepony at the door for you.”

“Tell them they can wait for me to be out of the shower,” I said. “I’ll be down in a couple seconds.”

I heard the door close. I quickly finished my shower and spent thirty seconds to make sure I was presentable. No need to be messy for a guest, when thirty seconds of work is all it took to appear nice. As I was walking down the stairs, I heard a voice that tickled the back of my mind.

“Is that so?” he said. “I much prefer his multiverse theory.”

“Please,” Star scoffed. “It’s like he just made things up and called it a theory. Just because he was right about the Void means nothing. Starswirl was a smart man, but his multiverse theory just doesn’t fit!”

“He couldn’t have been all that bright if he made such a nonsensical theory, as you call it,” the stallion said. I neared the end of the stairs. “What if he knew more than anyone thought? What if he knew, and decided to teach?”

Star spoke up as we reached the bottom of the stairs, “If that’s true, then how come he was so readily disproved on his time travel theorem? When ponies actually looked at it, it was filled with so many holes it couldn’t be used to pan for gold in the gold rush!”

I finally saw the pony that my daughter was talking with. “Well—” that’s as far as he got before he was pressed to a wall by the throat.

“Stay the fuck away from my daughter, you fucking son of a bitch,” I growled.

He strained to get a sentence out through his nearly-closed throat. “Hello, my friend.”

3.1 The Start of Something New

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Recurring Memories Chapter One:
The Start of Something New

“Dad! What are you doing?” Star shouted.

“Star, go upstairs,” I said.

“But Dad—” she started.

“Now, Star. That’s an order.” I didn’t even look at my daughter as she sighed and meandered upstairs. I shifted my attention back on my visitor, letting up on his throat just enough to let him speak. “I don’t know how or why you’re here, Starswirl, but you stay the fuck away.”

“This is the welcome I get after a thousand years?” he asked. “We were more than brothers.”

“Which is what made your betrayal hurt even more,” I growled.

“Streak, I had no choice!” he argued. “I needed to—”

“I don’t give a fuck!” I shouted. “Keep your fucking excuses to yourself. The only reason I haven’t killed you yet is because Star would frown upon me.”

“Star?” he asked.

“My daughter. The one your changeling friends threatened weeks ago,” I said.

“They what?” he shouted, confirming my suspicions. “What the hell?”

“Because she’s sick and tired of me killing every fucking thing between me and where I want to go, I’ll let you live,” I continued. “Don’t take this as mercy or forgiveness. If I see you again, I will turn your fucking skull concave.”

“Streak—” he started again.

“No,” I growled. “Don’t fucking try and reason with me. Just leave.” I dropped to the ground, letting him go—against my better judgement. He looked at me with sad eyes.

“Streak, just let me—” he started for a third time.

“You are directly responsible for the deaths of at least two thousand ponies,” I said. “I am only letting you go once so I can have some semblance of a normal life for my daughter. So if you would kindly fuck off?”

He sighed, walking to the door as it opened. Rarity walked in quickly. "I hear something about you about to kill somepony?" she said.

"I'm not. And he was just leaving." He opened his mouth to say something. "Now."

"Alright," he sighed, walking through the doorway. He stuck a hoof in the door as I closed it. "You have a beautiful daughter," he said.

"If you ever come near her again, there will be nothing left for them to identify you with," I growled, shoving his hoof out of the way and slamming the door. I sighed as I rubbed my temples. Starswirl. Somehow he was still alive, and he was talking with my daughter.

Rarity looked at me with worry. "Who was that?" she asked.

"Starswirl the Bearded," I groaned. "He died a thousand years ago."

"So did you," she reminded me. "I guess that's why Star was worried you were going to kill him."

"I wanted to. So bad," I said. "I would have been perfectly happy to kick his face in right then."

"Why didn't you?" she asked.

"Star," I said. "She just wants a normal life and for me to be less violent, and having your father arrested for murder isn't all that normal or peaceful."

"You let the stallion that murdered your friends live because you didn't want to upset your daughter?" Rarity asked. "Streak, you're a better pony than I am."

I scoffed, thinking of what I did to Aurora. "Then you must be a horrible pony, Rarity. I know I am."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," she said. "Nothing you did was not for the good of the many."

That's bullshit, but whatever. "Sure," I said. “We’ll go with that.”

Rarity just sighed and shook her head. “You need to stop being hypercritical of yourself. Forgive yourself once in a while.”

“I’ll forgive myself when I have done something worth forgiving,” I said. “I need to talk with Twilight, no matter how much she may think differently.”

“Streak, you—” she started.

“Could you make sure Star isn’t too mad at me?” I asked, ignoring her. “I would do it myself, but I need to talk with Twilight.”

“FIne,” she sighed, frowning.

“Thank you, Rarity,” I said softly. As soon as I walked out of my house, a mare was waiting expectantly right outside. She was a light purple, a softer hue than Twilight, and had a spiky ice-blue mane that almost seemed to shine in the light.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“I’m afraid I’m unaware of who you are,” I said politely.

“I’m Cloud Chaser,” she said. “I’m one of Rainbow’s friends. I think.”

“I’m heading to the library, we can talk while we walk,” I said as I started walking, caring not whether she fell into step or not.

She did, to my utmost unsurprise. “Look, I’ve been avoiding Rainbow since you guys got back,” she opened.

“Not to be rude, but this seems like something you should be talking with her about,” I said.

“You’re her coltfriend,” she said.

“I am,” I said.

“So you can talk to her for me,” she said.

“Nope,” I said.

“What?” she exclaimed. “But–but—”

“First, tell me what’s wrong,” I said. “I can’t promise more than an ear to listen, but I might be able to help.”

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “When she attacked Twilight, I tried to stop her.”

“I can’t see that having worked well,” I commented.

“It didn’t,” she said. “I got smacked across the face.”

“Ouch,” I said, wincing. Rainbow had a mean right hook. “You okay?”

“Physically, yes,” she answered. “Mentally? I don’t know. I’ve never seen her lash out in anger before.”

“What was she thinking at the moment?” I asked. “That makes a world of a difference.”

“She said something about being mad. Mad at Twilight for abandoning you, mad at you for leaving, and mad at her dad for being an asshole when she was a filly,” she listed. “She said something about Twilight being her outlet.”

“And there you go,” I said. “Nothing anypony could have said or done was getting between her and Twilight.”

“Why not?” Chaser asked as they turned a corner.

“How much do you know of her past?” I asked.

“Nothing pre-Cloudsdale,” she replied.

“Talk to her,” I suggested. “See if you can get her to open up. If she does, then you will understand. If she doesn’t, then it is not my place to do it for her.”

“She talked to you about her past?” Chaser asked me, obviously skeptical.

“I won’t pretend to know every detail,” I said, “but I like to think that I have the big picture. I know the important details, at least.”

“How did you do it?” she asked. “How did you get her to open up?”

“By not giving her a choice,” I said as we walked up to the library. “Now I hate to cut our conversation short, but we have arrived at our destination.”

“So we have,” she said. “I’ll think on what you have said.”

“Do more than think,” I said, pushing open the door. I stepped up to her and tapped her on the forehead with a hoof. “Act.”

“Hello?” a young and very male voice called out from inside the library. “I’m not trying to be rude, but could you close the door?”

I nodded at the mare as I turned and walked into the library. “Sorry, Spike.”

“Oh,” he said. “You. Twilight’s out.”

I arched an eyebrow at his greeting. “ ‘You’?” I asked. “I thought you said you weren’t trying to be rude.”

He sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to be, but something that you did hurt Twilight.”

“I can guarantee it was accidental,” I said. “I would never hurt her.”

He groaned, "I know, I know. Something you did hurt her on some level, though."

"We can figure it out later. For now we have more pressing matters," I said.

"Like what?" He asked. "I can't think of anything more important."

"Starswirl's back, and he's working with changelings," I said. "Luna needs to be informed, and I had hoped to talk with Twilight."

“Why would you need to talk to Twilight?” he asked me.

“Because she’s been avoiding me,” I said. “I’m worried about her.”

“She’s just hurt,” Spike reiterated. “By. . . something. I don’t really know. I do know that when you and Rainbow returned, she cried for a few nights.”

I groaned. Great. "When she gets back, tell her I want to talk to her."

A devious look passed over his face. "Sure. Twilight! Someone's here to see you!"

"Be right down!" I heard an unmistakably Twilight voice call out.

"I thought you said she wasn't here," I said, arching an eyebrow.

"She's avoiding you, remember?" he asked me. "I have standing orders to tell you she's out."

The sound of hooves clopping at the top of the staircase drew my attention. I saw a bedraggled Twilight staring, eyes wide in horror. "Hello, Twilight," I said. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh, good?" she asked more than said. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a visit from our friendly neighborhood Starswirl, and ran out of excuses to not confront you," I said.

“Confront me? About what?” she asked, playing dumb.

“Twilight, you’re too smart to play dumb,” I said. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

She sighed. “Fine, I’ve been avoiding you and Rainbow.”

“I understand avoiding Rainbow,” I interrupted. “She tried to kill you in a fit of rage a month ago. What I don’t understand is your avoidance of me. I thought we were friends, and I swear whatever I did that changed that was not on purpose.”

She shook her head, walking down the stairs to stand in front of me. “It’s nothing like that,” she said as she got into position.

“No?” I asked. “Then what? Throw me a bone, here.”

“It’s. . . no, I can’t say,” Twilight blushed and started to walk back upstairs. Streak whipped a hoof forward to catch her tail before she could get away.

“Twilight,” I said, frowning.

She sighed. “Fine. I don’t like it at all, though.”

“Noted. Now wha—” That’s as far as I got before I was silenced by a pair of lips pressing over my own. I’m pretty sure my brain broke at that moment, because next thing I knew, I was sitting on my ass and Twilight was beet red. “I can’t say I predicted that,” I finally said after a long pause.

“I can’t say I did, either,” Spike spoke up from his position next to the two of us, reminding us of his existence.

“Spike!” Twilight squeaked. With a flash, she vanished.

The two of us were silent for the next minute, before I spoke up, "Mares, man."

"I know, right?" Spike concurred. "Welp, have fun with your new issue. I'll get that letter fired off soon as possible."

"Thanks," I said. "I'm going to head home, if Twilight wants to find me."

"I'll be sure to tell her you said no hanky panky," Spike said with a smirk.

"Right now that's reserved for a sexy, sexy pegasus," I said with a massive grin. "If she wants in, it goes through Rainbow."

"Wait, you're seriously okay with having a threesome if Rainbow is?" Spike asked.

"Have you ever tried to stop Rainbow after she makes up her mind?" I asked. "At that point, it wouldn't really matter what I think."

"You have a valid point," he said. "Well, have fun, uh. . . having fun."

"You are far too young to make that joke," I said, shaking my head. "I'm out."

"Dude, I'm sixteen!" Spike said as I walked out the front doors.

A short walk later, I was back home. Rarity was still over, and she was in the entry room with Star and Sweetie. "Got the letter off to Luna," I said. "Won't be long before it's widely known that Starswirl is back."

"Why didn't you kill him?" Star asked, tilting her head slightly.

I arched an eyebrow. "Was I supposed to?"

"No, but it surprised me that you didn't," she replied.

"It surprised all of us, darling," Rarity said. "With how extreme you can get, and all."

"You don't know the half of it," I muttered, thinking about Aurora. That got me some odd looks, but I ignored them. "He's not my problem anymore, as long as he stays away from my home and my family."

"You still didn't answer Star's question," Sweetie spoke up from her position next to my daughter.

"Because she wouldn't have wanted me to," I said, "and because murder, no matter how justified, is not the start of a normal life."

Rarity gave a huff as she tilted her nose upwards. "I told you that was why, but you didn't believe me, did you?"

Sweetie hung her head. "Sorry, Rarity."

Star reached a hoof over and pushed the other filly's head up into position. "Don't be hard on yourself, Sweetie. I didn't believe her either, if you recall."

I piped up, "I'm going to head into town, if nobody needs me." When all three indicated that I wasn't needed, I turned around and walked into town.

If I was going to live in this town, it was high time that I made some connections.

3.2 Spring Cleaning, Streak Style

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Recurring Memories Chapter Two:
Spring Cleaning, Streak Style

Now where the hell was I going to make connections? I’m a soldier, damn it. I don’t do diplomacy.

I sighed as I sat in the local park two hours later. I didn’t do walking up to strangers and making friends. I did walking up to strangers and beating the hell out of them. This whole ‘socializing’ thing was hard!

“Streak?” I heard a voice ask.

”Hmm?” I said, looking up to see Fluttershy standing not even two feet away from me. ”Oh, hey Fluttershy,” I said. ”Have you been there long?”

“No,” she said. “I just saw you sitting there looking sad and thought I’d come over and see if I could make you feel better.”

I sighed, cracking my neck. She winced at the sharp report. Guess somepony didn’t like cracking joints. ”I’m going to be living here, but I haven’t the foggiest who I'm supposed to talk to or what I’m supposed to do,” I said. ”I am a soldier, Fluttershy. I kill people. It’s not pretty, but it was at one time necessary, and has come in handy for my entire life up to now.” I threw my hooves up as I said, ”I have no useful skills! I can’t just throw a paper on the announcement board saying ‘Local soldier for hire. Want somepony dead? Give me a call.’ “

She sighed at my words, settling down on the seat beside me. “Streak, you’re looking at this from the wrong way.”

”How?” I asked.

“I was getting to that,” she said, giving me a look. “Now first things first, are you scared to talk to ponies?”

”I have no idea where to start,” I said. ”What would I say? ‘Hi, I’m the guy that committed regicide, how’s that coffee taste this morning?’ “

“You’re scared,” she summarized succinctly. “You don’t want to say the wrong thing, so you say nothing.”

”Yes,” I said.

“You know what you need to do?” she asked me.

I sighed, ”I have no idea. That’s why I’ve been sitting on a park bench doing nothing for the last two hours.”

“You need to stallion up and stop being a coward,” she said matter-of-factly. “Now go out there and talk to somepony.”

I stared at her with eyes wide in surprise. I was not expecting that from her, to say the least.

The effect was ruined a second later when she blushed and backed out. “Oh, that was rude. I’m so sorry. Please don’t hate me.”

”Hate you?” I said. ”Fluttershy, that was brilliant! Could have been worded better, but brilliant!”

"But it was so rude," she whined.

"Fluttershy, I needed a kick in the ass, and you happily supplied it," I said.

"That sounds mean," she said. "Why would I kick somepony?"

I paused a moment before replying. "Not a literal kick in the ass, Flutters," I said. "Necessary, nonetheless. Try that some more."

“Uh,” Fluttershy thought as she scanned the crowd. She noticed a pony that seemed to not want to talk to anypony around him, and decided that I could make a friend in need. “That pony. Make friends with him.” I could tell she wanted to apologise for her commanding tone, but she didn’t. She was learning.

I walked up to the stallion. He was a medium build, with fairly average coloring. He had an pale green coat and dark blue hair, and I was sure that if he had been social, Fluttershy’s eyes would have passed right over him.

”Good morning!” I called out with false cheer.

He seemed surprised that I was talking to him. “Uh, hello,” he said, looking me in the eye.

”Beautiful morning, isn’t it?” I said. I saw something in his eyes. It was faint, and most likely suppressed, but I saw it nonetheless. Hunger. Primal hunger with no outlet.

“I suppose,” he said, breaking eye contact. He knew I saw.

”You got an itch you can’t quite scratch, don’t you?” I asked.

“Wha–are you coming on to me?” he asked. “I mean, I’m flattered but I don’t swing that way.”

“It could have been awkward if you did,” I said. ”Especially since that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked me.

”Don’t insult me by pretending not to know,” I said. ”I feel it too. What kind of hunger is it for you? Sex? Drugs? Murder? That last one is fairly rare here in Equestria.”

“Hey, man! Not so loud!” he scolded quietly. He sighed, and I knew that I had him. “Sex. It’s sex, alright?”

“I’m sure you can find some mare willing to jump your bones,” I said.

“I’m not exactly satisfied with the. . . consensual kind,” he admitted.

”So you want to force a mare to jump your bones that in no way wants to?” I asked. I apparently hid my disgust well, since he didn’t pick up on it.

“Exactly,” he said. “I’m out here looking for one. I’m not exactly the strongest of stallions, so I need to find a small mare. Plus, the petite ones are cuter,"

"I think I can help you," I said. "Look at the park bench. Do you see the mare sitting there?" He started to turn his head, but I put my hoof on his shoulder. "Look with your eyes, not your head" I advised. I saw his eyes drift over to Fluttershy. "She's still there, right? Yellow mare, pink mane?"

"I see her," he said, licking his lips. "She's a cutie, alright."

"She lives on the border of the Everfree, so you'll have as much privacy as you need," I said. "She's also a tiny mare. I think you'd have no problem overpowering her."

He chuckled darkly. "I like you. Name's Gridiron."

"Streak," I said, and my companion’s eyes widened. "Oh, please. If I wanted to turn you in, I would have already. I'm here to help you."

"Alright. If you were going to turn me in, you have more than enough evidence to get me," he said.

"Exactly," I said. "Like I said, I'm here to help you. Her house is right off the path to the Everfree."

"Why are you helping me?" he asked. "I'm not the kind of pony that normal ponies want to associate with."

"I know what it feels like to have a hunger," I said. "What kind of pony would I be if I didn't help another with theirs?"

We said goodbye right after I got an agreement from the stallion to try tonight. I walked back to Fluttershy with a smile on my face. She smiled back at me. "I trust it went well?"

"Better than you can imagine," I said. "Let's put you to the test this time. Tonight sounds like a great night for a sleepover."

"But nopony has brought it up yet," she said.

"Then bring it ip," I said. "You're a hermit, Fluttershy. You need to get out of your house. Tonight."

"Why tonight?" she asked.

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” I declared.

“So is tomorrow,” she reminded.

”Fluttershy, be assertive,” I said. ”You were doing a great job of kicking ass earlier, what happened to that?”

She sighed, “Alright. So besides you, me, and the girls, who else should I invite?”

”Not me,” I said.

“Streak,” she said. “You are our friend. You need to actually do things with ponies that aren’t Rainbow Dash.”

”You’re asking me to come to a sleepover where my sexy, frisky marefriend will also be,” I reminded. ”We buck like funnies, and we’re shameless. You girls won’t sleep a wink.”

Fluttershy blushed a deep crimson and squeaked.

”You should invite Star,” I said. ”It would be good for her to hang out with some older mares.”

“Are you calling me old, Streak?” Fluttershy asked, frowning at me.

I sighed. It was going to be one of those days.

*~*~*

Fluttershy had left her doors unlocked, as she always did. I had taken the initiative to move inside the house and prepare for my visitor. The house was dark, save for a single lit room—Fluttershy’s. Her animals were outside because of her absence, so that was another thing I didn’t have to worry about.

About an hour after the shy mare had left and gone to the sleepover she set up, he showed. His green hooves tapped softly against the floor quietly enough that if I wasn’t explicitly listening for it, I would have never heard it. He had an anticipatory grin on his face and he crept through the house, most likely thinking of how this would work out for him. He probably thought it would work well.

I proved him wrong the second he threw open the door to the mare’s room and found it empty. “Wha–?” he asked, scratching the back of his head.

”She’s at a friend’s for a sleepover tonight,” I said from my position behind him. He whirled around to look at me only to be met with manic eyes. It had been far too long since I had a chance to hurt something. ”That leaves just you and me here.”

“I thought you were helping me!” he exclaimed. “Is this the part where the guard swoops in and takes me to prison?”

”Nope,” I said, grinning. ”This is the part where I sate my hunger.”

“I knew you were gay,” he groaned. “I’ll scream. Somepony will hear.”

“Oh, yes you will scream,” I growled. ”I will make sure of it, and nobody will hear you this close to the Everfree.”

“Dude, I knew I should have stayed home today,” he said. “Now instead of raping, I’m being raped. I wouldn’t have had the courage to even come out here if it weren’t for you, so thank you.”

”I’m afraid you have me wrong,” I said. ”My hunger is different from yours. I don’t want sexual release. I have that. No, what I want is something my marefriend can’t supply. I want to cause you pain.” My grin widened in anticipation as I lifted my hoof, revealing the kitchen knife I held in it. I don’t think I was ever that excited to hurt something. “I want to hear you scream as I tear your life out of you inch by inch.”

“You–you have issues man!” Gridiron said as he backed up.

I ignored him. ”But we don’t want to leave a mess all over Miss Fluttershy’s house, do we?” I asked rhetorically. “No, we can’t have that.” My eyes drifted over to a branch I had drug into the room from outside in preparation of this moment. I swiftly grabbed it in my forehooves and swung it. The stallion couldn’t dodge, and I hit him directly in the head.

With minimal effort, I dragged the stunned stallion—and the branch, of course—outside and into the Everfree. I decided that the location of Starswirl’s old memorial, where they are building the memorial for all six of the ancient Bearers. It was a thing of beauty, I had to admit. When it was done, it would be each of us in a battle pose, frozen together for all eternity. While it was only half done, it was finished enough for my purposes. Starswirl’s statue—being smaller than the rest, as it should be—was already finished and installed.

I splashed some water over the face of the stunned stallion woke him up nicely. ”Okay, this is how this will work,” I said, tossing the knife from hoof to hoof. “You try and hurt my friends, I hurt you right back.”

“I didn’t hurt her!” he exclaimed, backing up against the statue. “I didn’t!”

“But you wanted to,” I said. ”If she was home, you would have raped her. You would have violated her in the worst way imaginable and filled her with your corrupt seed, potentially creating vile copies of you.”

“I wouldn’t have,” he tried to lie. “I wasn’t going to!”

I pressed a hoof into this shoulder, pinning him against the memorial. ”This is almost what she would have felt,” I said. ”This feeling of terror, of pain.” I accented the last word with a stab to his leg near his groin. He cried out and tears started falling down his face. ”Knowing that things won’t work out in the end, but hoping they will anyway. You know the difference between what you’re feeling and what she would feel?” When I didn’t get an answer from the sniveling stallion, I twisted the knife. He cried out again, and I repeated my question. ”Do you know the difference?”

“No!” he shouted, writhing his body in an attempt to escape from the pain my knife supplied.

”She would have known that she had to live the rest of her life with the guilt and shame of having been violated by a bastard like you. She would realize that she had a good chance of having to suffer the physical consequences of your despicable act for the next nine months while you walked off feeling none the worse,” I growled. ”But you didn’t care about that, did you? You only cared about how you felt. You needed relief, and willing partners couldn’t give it to you, so you decided to just take it by force.” I removed the knife and quickly slashed his other back leg by the hoof, rendering it useless. ”I’m here to take you off the streets of my country, and to provide a warning to all that would follow your path. I will not suffer your kind in my nation, even if I can only enforce in one town.”

“I didn’t–I didn’t,” Gridiron gasped out.

”There are things that are legal to do to you,” I said, ”then there are the things you deserve to have happen to you. I’m here to supply the latter.” He whimpered as my hoof went to his groin. With a painful grasp, I tugged his balls away from his body. ”This is part one,” I said, raising the knife in my hooves.

“No! Wait!” he shouted as I dropped the knife, severing his sack from the rest of his body. He wailed in agony unimaginable as I casually tossed the now-useless hunks of flesh away.

”If we were to be discovered right now, justice would have been served,” I said as I looked down at his twisting body. ”Since fate isn’t so kind to you, I get to have more fun.”

I drug the dull side of the knife over his forehead. ”These make such good canvasses. The perfect space to write a short message.” I shifted the angle so that the tip of the knife drew a line across his forehead. He whimpered as blood ran down the vertical cut. ”Part two,” I whispered in his ear. ”Do you want to know what yours will be?” At his whimper, I dug a semicircle at the top of the line. ”I’m thinking RAPIST will work quite well,” I said calmly, wiping off the blood that was obscuring my view of my workspace. With a smirk and a quick slash, I added the diagonal line that finished off the ‘R’. It took not more than a minute for me to finish my message.

He whimpered as I picked him up in my hooves, standing on my back legs. He squirmed weakly as his blood drained out of his three lower wounds and down his mutilated face. ”I’m not quite yet done with you, rapist. Part three.” I eyed the pointed horn of the Starswirl statue with interest. This was almost the most important part of the whole thing. ”Let’s see if I can get this on the first try, eh?”

He whimpered more as I heaved his body up and at the statue. I wasn’t quite sure from his cry of surprise and pain if I had hit or not. I let go, and the stallion didn’t fall, instead sliding down the horn slowly while his whimpers got louder. That could be good, or it could be bad. A quick climb onto the platform the statues were to be placed on revealed that I was completely on target. I smirked. ”This is the closest I will get to making you feel like she would have felt.”

“I get it,” he wailed. “I get it, man! Get me off of this thing!”

”You don’t want it?” I asked innocently.

“You know I don’t!” he shouted.

”Good,” I said. I stared at him for a moment before humming thoughtfully. ”It’ll take too long for you to bleed out,” I decided. “Someone might show up and get my name before you die.”

“Let me go man, I won’t tell anypony!” he pleaded, looking at me with wide, tear-filled eyes.

”I’m not that stupid,” I said. ”Even if you keep your side of the bargain, what’s to stop Luna from digging into your mind and finding me? No, I need to finish this now.” I tossed the knife up three times, checking its weight. Satisfied, I whipped my hoof around, hearing the satisfying sound of muscle and skin parting. When I looked up at him next, his stomach was split from side to side, showing the myriad of shapes, sizes, and colors inside his body. He feebly grabbed at his gaping stomach, trying to keep his internal organs where they belonged.

I left him to his struggle, turning around and leaving an eviscerated, gelded, and mutilated rapist impaled up the ass with the horn of a statue of Starswirl the Bearded. I think that sent a proper message to that bastard, and a message to the poor sap’s ilk, as well.

*~*~*

My act was the talk of the town the next day. The poor mare that showed up first to work on the memorial threw up and fainted, as did the next two ponies. By the time the guard was contacted, nearly half the town had been to the site of the murder.

I arrived soon after the first pony told me it existed. Everyone there, including the guards attempting to clear out everypony, looked physically sickened at their proximity. I pushed my way to the front to speak to the guards. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked.

"We can't give ongoing investigation details to a civilian," one of the guards said without looking at me. "Return to your home for now."

The other guard dug his elbow into his companion's side. "Are you crazy? That's Streak you just blew off!"

"It is?" the first guard asked quickly. He looked up at me. "Ah, hell. It is."

"You were doing your job," I waved his concern off. "What does it look like?"

"I'd say murder, but you already know that," the first guard said. "It looks like somepony really didn't like this guy."

"What's that on the victim's forehead?" I asked.

"Perp carved RAPIST into his forehead," the second guard said, shuddering. "It wasn't pretty, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't fast."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Besides the fact the perp took the time to describe the victim's alleged crime with a knife?" the second guard said. "There's the fact that until a few minutes ago he was, erm. . . impaled on the statue's horn and eviscerated."

"Not to mention gelded," the first guard said. They both seemed uneasy about this whole thing. "How do you take this so well?"

"When I was a rookie, I had to watch my commanding officer and friend bleed to death with a chunk of rebar through his gut," I said. "Not months after that, I had to explain to a filly with a broken leg that her mommy wasn't going to wake up. It only got worse from there. I'm accustomed to death."

"But not even a blink at evisceration?" the first guard asked.

"Starswirl once ripped the scales off of a dragon in flight and cut it to ribbons with them before it hit the ground," I said. The guards appeared green, so I changed topics. "How much of this is getting out to the public, officially?"

"As little as possible," they said in sync. The first guard took over. "Whatever we need to to make the media happy."

"Make sure to mention the carved word," I said.

"That's on our list of things not to tell the press," the second guard commented. "Right under 'evisceration' and 'sodomised by statue'."

"This looks like a message to me," I said. "Not spreading that message will only anger the murderer. If he wasn't planning on killing again, it might drive him to it, and if he was, it might speed up how fast he kills again."

"So you're telling us that we need to tell the public how this poor sod was mutilated or it might happen again?" the first guard reasoned.

"Exactly." I lied. There was no way I wasn't getting that detail out. "If you find another victim, call me up. I'm not going to suffer scum on Equestrian soil."

Author's Note

God, I have been waiting for this chapter to come out since I started writing book one. Read the description again, and you'll understand why.

I originally cut out this whole shtick and had some other random ass thing, but this way the ending of books three and four have even more meaning. Me gusta, so it stayed.

-HB

3.3 School, Lies, and Those Words

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Recurring Memories Chapter Three:
School, Lies, and Those Words

It was a beautiful morning, if you’ll excuse the cliche. The weather was just starting to turn towards winter, so the air was the barest bit crisp. The leaves had not long ago started turning, so they were beginning to put on their coats of color in celebration of a summer gone well. School had come into session days ago, making the streets and houses eerily empty during the day.

In an unusual twist, I was awoken by my daughter early in the morning instead of the other way around. She looked at me with a frown. “There’s some ponies here for you, Dad,” she said. “They said that they ‘found another’, whatever that means.”

I groaned and rubbed my eyes, slipping out from under the covers. “Thank you, Star,” I said. “Could you tell them I’m on my way down?”

“Sure thing,” she said, “I have to go out that way anyway.”

I nodded. “Have fun at school.”

“Yeah,” she snorted. “Fun.”

I ignored her sarcasm as she walked out of the room and downstairs. I needed to talk to Rainbow after this. Star still didn’t know about her parentage, even two months after our arrival in Ponyville. What excuse did she have?

Pushing out those thoughts, I walked into the bathroom and splashed water into my face. I was getting soft. I used to be able to wake at a moment’s notice. I wiped my face with a towel, thinking back to the activities of the night before. I was up fairly late, maybe that’s why I was so tired.

As I was about to step onto the stairs, Star brushed past me. “Hey, what about school?” I asked. I didn't think that she wanted to go, but she legally had to. I wasn't going to break any laws I didn't have to.

Besides the obvious exceptions, of course.

She looked over her shoulder. “Closed until further notice.” She looked forward and continued straight to her room. Most likely grabbing a book.

I blinked. Oh, yeah. I left the body pinned to the school. I completely forgot that detail. Meh, whatever. I headed downstairs, seeing the two guards from my first murder scene a month ago. Guard one—or was he guard two?—was standing in front of guard two, waiting for me to come downstairs. “I’m assuming this guy is at the school?”

Guard one narrowed his eyes. “How did you know that?”

Guard two smacked his companion in the back of the head. “You just sent his daughter upstairs because school is cancelled, idiot.”

Guard one rubbed the back of his head, glaring at the other guard. “Yeah, yeah. Didn’t need to hit me.”

“It made him feel better,” I said, getting a nod from guard two. “Okay, let’s head out. Fill me in on the way.”

The guards started walking, and I fell into step between them. Guard one spoke up, “We found this guy pinned to the schoolhouse by a sharpened branch.”

“Ouch,” I said. “The branch was through him and into the school? That must have taken strength.” I was mad, what can I say? I didn't take a pedophile watching my daughter with grace and dignity. Sue me.

“An incredible amount,” guard two said. I needed to learn their names at some point. “It was the same perp again, I’d bet my job on it.”

“Why would you say that?” I asked. Besides the fact that I carved into his forehead, of course. That was always a nice touch.

“He had the word PEDO carved into his forehead,” guard two said. “It seems that Equestria has a serial killer.”

“We have a term for this?” I asked as we rounded the last corner in our trek. After this point, it was a straight shot to the schoolhouse. “I would think that this is a new thing.”

“Griffons have them from time to time,” guard one said. “They are incredibly rare, though, and Equestria has never had to deal with one before. Serial rapists, sure, just not murderers.”

“Even more imperative that we find this guy as fast as we can, right?” I asked. That wasn’t happening. I wasn’t getting caught at this point. “Let’s list what we know. So far we have two killings in Ponyville. Both of them where the killer thought they had committed, or were thinking of committing, a crime. I’m not sure which.” I glanced at guard two. “I'm assuming that we have no cases of molestation reported?"

"None. Just like we had no reports of rape when the alleged rapist was murdered," guard one said.

"Okay, so we'll assume that the perp snatches ponies before they can commit a crime," I said. "That makes finding him hard."

"Why?" guard two asked.

Because he’s functioning as your boss. "We have no idea when he will he will strike," I said instead. "If he was grabbing accused criminals, we could predict him. As it is, we don't even know why he does what he does. He could do it to remove those he sees as threats, he could do it because he feels he needs to, or it could even be both."

Guard one spoke up as we neared the schoolhouse, "You seem to know a lot about this guy."

"If you're going to make an accusation, make it. Don't pussyfoot around it," I said, levelling a glare at him. He might be a problem if I can't train him properly.

"I'm just saying," he said, backing off.

"Guys," guard two said. "We forgot about the first victim."

"No we didn't," I said. "He was sodomised by the statue, remember?"

"No, Aurora Blast," he said. "Found beaten, bloody and with the word MONSTER carved in his forehead in his home in Cloudsdale."

"Similar, but it doesn't fit," I said. This could be awkward if I didn't clear it up.

"How not?" guard one asked.

"First," I said as we walked up to the schoolhouse and stopped. "Monster isn't a criminal, like rapist or pedophile. Second, that bastard had already committed his crimes, so it wasn’t a preemptive strike. Third, he was left alive instead of being murdered. Finally, I know who did that one."

"Who?" the guards asked in stereo.

"Me," I said, taking a gamble. During the shocked silence I walked around the corner to see the fruits of last night's work. A blue and yellow stallion was speared through the chest with a three inch branch. That was a bitch and a half to do, I have to say.

"What do you mean you did it?" guard two exclaimed as the duo followed me around the corner.

"I broke each of his legs, both his wings, and carved monster into his forehead," I said. "It was more than deserved."

"What did he do that required such an extreme reaction?" guard one asked me.

"That is a private matter," I said. "Don't push it."

"That is a crime!" guard one exclaimed.

"We can't charge him, man," guard two said.

"Like hell," guard one growled. "Streak, you're under arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon."

"No i'm not," I said calmly. This was working out about as well as I figures it would, but it might throw them off my trail.

"He's right. He was given a full pardon for any and all crimes committed," guard two said. "We can't touch him on it."

"Back on topic," I said. "I believe this killer is emulating my crime. A copycat."

"Why would somepony copy a vile act like that?" Guard one's face scrunched up in distaste.

"Admiration?" I said with sarcasm. I continued more seriously, "Maybe because it gave them a point to base themself off of? Whatever the reason, Aurora's assault is unconnected to the murders." I was lying through my damn teeth at that point. Glad Applejack wasn't there.

"I guess it takes a criminal to catch a criminal," guard one muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "So what can you get from this?"

I looked over at the body. "I saw this stallion before. He was always hanging around the schoolyard with a camera. I never thought anything about it."

A third guard came up and saluted guards one and two. "Sirs, we finished examining his house." Guard three looked over at me with worry.

"Report, guard. He's assisting," guard two said.

"We found pictures, sir," guard three said.

"There's more than that, spit it out," I said.

"They were all pictures of fillies," he said. “They focused on the four fillies locals call the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Easily two-thirds of the pictures were of one of them." My brow furrowed as he continued. "There is no doubt in my mind that he was going to molest one of the fillies."

"So it was like we thought," guard two said. "Murder to prevent lesser crimes."

"Which one?" I asked guard three.

"As best as we can tell, his first target was the blue filly with white hair. We're still working on getting their names," he said.

I didn't hear half of what he just said, since I was busy stomping over to the corpse. I killed him too quickly. My throat burbled as I approached, and I immediately started to slam my hooves into the dead pony's face. Repeatedly.

"What are you doing?" guard three exclaimed, jumping at me. Only to be blocked by guards one and two.

"Let him do his thing," guard two said.

“What? Why?” the new guard said. “Why should he be allowed to despoil a body like that?”

“Blue filly with white hair,” guard to said. “Isn’t that—”

CRACK

The guards looked over to find the bastard’s face caved in. I sat over his cold corpse, panting with exertion. The siding of the school was cracked behind his head from where I hit it. I took a few steps back before spitting on the body. I turned around. “Much better now.”

“Wha–better?” guard three asked. “You just destroyed evidence, let alone desecrating a corpse like you just did!”

“Blue filly with white hair,” I said, walking back to the group. I had a surprising lack of blood and brain matter on my hooves, probably because he was dead before I started swinging. “That’s my daughter. My only regret is that some other bastard killed this one, so that I couldn’t.”

“You just—” guard three started.

“Don’t try it, kid,” guard two said. “We already learned that if Streak wants to do something, it’ll be done.”

“But–but—” guard three tried again.

“Geez, it took you guys this long?” a familiar voice asked from above me. I looked up to see a certain sexy cyan pegasus floating. She landed and locked eyes with me with a smirk. “I figured that out pretty fast.”

“That’s funny,” I said, smirking right back. “I say the same thing about you.”

“Miss Dash, I’m afraid you have to leave,” guard one said. “This is an active crime scene, and we cannot legally allow civilians to be here right now.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Streak is right there. What about him?”

“He’s what we call a ‘civilian contractor’,” guard two said. “He’s not a member of the guard, but he helps out on a specific case.”

I shrugged as my marefriend looked over at me. “I volunteered at the last crime scene,” I explained. “This won’t be a constant thing.”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed, scanning the four of us. “What kind of crime scene is this?” she asked. I pointed behind her, and she slowly turned around. The blood drained from her face as she beheld the stallion. I’m not sure if the caved in face or the branch through his chest bothered her more, and I wasn’t going to ask. “Oh. My,” she paused, looking at me green in the face. “What kind of god would be listening right now?”

“I think I’m just going to start using them all at once,” I said, walking up beside her and draping a foreleg over her withers. I started walking, guiding her away from the gruesome corpse. “Thinking of using the exclamation, ‘oh my gods’. What do you think about that?” I shot a look at the guards, and they understood. The crime scene would be there in an hour, but I couldn’t ignore Rainbow.

“That sounds like a good idea,” she said unusually quietly. “It’s better than ‘oh my Celestia’.”

“Anything is better than ‘oh my Celestia’,” I said with a small smile. “Especially with you as jealous as you are.”

“I’m not jealous,” she said, getting louder and closer to her usual self, “I’m protective. There’s a difference.”

I gave her a small nuzzle, “I’d love you either way.”

She locked up, cheeks becoming a bright red, and would have toppled over if I wasn’t holding her up. As it was, we stopped in the middle of the road and attracted a little bit of attention. Damn it, I said those words, didn’t I?

“Do you?” she asked, looking me in the eyes.

“Love you?” I asked. She nodded, and I looked back at what we had been through and what we had done. Then double checked what we had done—especially to each other—just course. After a moment of silence I found my answer. I leaned forward and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Of course.”

She had a stupid grin on her face as we kept walking. Eventually, her smile fell. “I still haven’t told Star,” she said.

“I know,” I said. “I will say that I am disappointed, but I understand.”

“It’s just so hard to do!” she exclaimed as we walked through town. “I have so many ponies I need to talk with, but I haven’t, even after two months. I need to try and patch things up with Twilight, I need to apologise to Cloud Chaser, and I need to talk to Star.”

“Cloud Chaser hasn’t spoken with you?” I asked, confused. “She came to me about a month after we arrived—the same day I ran into Starswirl, actually—to ask me advice on how to patch things up with you. I told her to come talk to you.”

“Why would she feel the need to ask to know to talk with me?” Rainbow asked. “We’ve been best friends since Cloudsdale.”

“You hit her,” I explained. “You lashed out in anger and hurt her more than physically.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I really need to get around to doing things, don’t I?”

I smiled at her. “I won’t say no, but I also have some ponies I need to talk with, and I’ve been putting it off too.”

“Who would those ponies be?” she asked.

“I asked Luna two weeks ago if she could get another of those Starswirl books for Star,” I said. “I also have to talk to Twilight.”

My marefriend tilted her head slightly as we walked. “What about?”

“I went to talk with her about why she was avoiding me a month ago,” I said. “When I didn’t give her a choice besides answering, she kissed me.”

Rainbow deadpanned at me. “And you didn’t tell me before now why?”

“Because it wasn’t a big deal,” I said. “At least, it’s not something that needed to get out.”

“How was that not a big deal, Streak?” she exclaimed, slipping out from under my leg. “She freaking kissed you and you didn’t tell me for a month!”

We were starting to attract attention from the ponies around us. “I didn’t tell you, because it meant nothing to me,” I said. “I didn’t tell you, because it didn’t change anything besides make being around Twilight more awkward.”

“You still should have told me,” she grumbled, frowning.

I sighed. Damn it, she was right. “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “You’re right.”

She smirked. “Of course I’m right,” she said, sticking her nose up in the air. “I’m perfect.”

I chuckled, swinging a leg back over her withers. “How about we head home?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows. “They aren’t expecting me back yet.”

She looked over at me with a half-lidded look. “I have a better idea,” she said with a smoldering voice. I felt the fur on my body stick up as an electric current passed through me from nose to tail.

“What would that be?” I asked, suddenly even more excited.

She licked my muzzle from the tip to base slowly, drawing out giving her answer. “I have rope,” she whispered in my ear after she finished, “and a house where we don’t have to be quiet.”

My ears perked up immediately. I was suddenly incredibly excited.

—*~*~*—

I’ll say one thing, she was right about the cloud thing. I was feeling great. I had just had some fun with my marefriend on the comfiest damn substance in existence, it was a beautiful day, and I had killed someone brutally yesterday. I didn’t think that day could get any better.

I was, of course, proved wrong when I returned to the crime scene. Guard two was snickering. “Had fun?”

“You have no idea,” I said, grinning.

“Oh, I think we have a good idea,” guard one frowned. “You realize that clouds don’t block sound at all, right?”

My mouth froze open. The whole town had heard Rainbow and me, every sound. Even when I made her beg and scream. That was. . . awesome! I grinned more. Rainbow would get a kick out of that. I was pretty sure both of us had at least a minor exhebitionism fettish, so that just made my day even better. “Good,” I said.

“Do you have no shame?” guard two asked, shaking his head.

“Not one bit,” I said. “Back to the case, however.”

“There’s not much more for us to do here,” guard one said. “We pried the body off of the wall, and put in an order to fix the siding. Luckily, nothing was damaged inside the wall, so it’ll be an easy fix.”

“Could you talk to Luna for me?” I asked. “Tell her I’m still waiting for an answer, and that I would take it as a personal favor if she could pass me some bits for working on this case while looking for a job.”

Guard two cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t have a job?” he asked. ”I didn’t know that was possible in a town of this size.”

“No cutie mark,” I said, turning so he could see my flank. Every inch of it was pitch black, as it was since I changed. I turned back to looking directly at them. “Without a cutie mark, I can’t get hired. I’m looking, but so far I have nothing.”

“I wish you the best,” guard two said. “We’ll make sure to talk with the Princess for you.”

“Thank you,” I said, nodding at him. I turned to guard one. “I don’t want to hear more half accusations from you, do you understand? If you’re going to say something, say it.”

He glared at me. “Fine,” he said. I got the impression he didn’t like me.

I turned around and walked into town, just enjoying my walk as I went. It was cool enough to be slightly chilly, but warm enough that it wasn’t uncomfortably so. I watched foals and fillies run through the streets, chasing each other playing games only they knew the rules to. I felt better knowing that they were safer after I removed that damn pedophile off the streets. It made the whole thing worth it, honestly. Killing wasn’t something I took pleasure in—even though torture was a guilty pleasure of mine—so I liked knowing that I didn’t kill for no reason besides keeping my secret.

It took no more than a few minutes to walk to the library. I don’t know what drew me there, but I decided it would be a good idea. I needed to borrow her balloon anyway, so it all worked out. I opened the door and called out, “Twilight Sparkle, I am in need of transportation!”

The mare in question stuck her head out of the doorway at the top of the stairs. She glared at me playfully. “You have hooves,” she said. “Aren’t they transportation?”

“They don’t get me up to Rainbow’s house,” I said.

“Why don’t you just have her fly you up?” she asked seriously. “That way I don’t have to go through the whole shebang of getting the balloon out for you.”

I grinned. “She’s a little tied up at the moment.”

3.4 Monster

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Recurring Memories Chapter Four:
Monster

Today was the day, I had no other choice. I was feeling it again. The hunger was unbearable.

I should start from where we left off, shouldn’t I? It had been over six months since my second murder. Cloud Chaser had talked with Rainbow, and the two of them were fixing their relationship. I had talked with Twilight, and the two of us were attempting to salvage our friendship our of the burning wreckage it had become when I started dating Rainbow. Star had started hanging out with Sweetie much more than she had previously. To top it all off, I had been killing faster than before.

Brutal, bloody murders.

Pretty much each one was closer to the last than the one before it. The break between the first two—as you know—was about a month. Between the second and third? Three weeks. Eighth and ninth? Three days. There were breaks where I didn’t feel the need to kill, fortunately. The break between the ninth and tenth was over a month and a half. That brought us up to today. I had over a dozen victims, and the guard was still none the wiser. Guard one still suspected me though, I think.

I still didn’t know their names.

Yesterday I had flayed a mare that overcharged Fluttershy. I carved CHEAT into her forehead. This was worrisome. I was running out of victims that truly deserved to be killed, and it didn’t bother me. That bothered me. Even the guard was noticing both the decline of the quality of the victims, and my own mental health.

Guard two even stopped looking at me like I was normal.

He even suggested that I was starting to admire the killer for being hard to capture.

And he was right.

I feel like it isn’t even me when I kill. It’s like I’m another pony, one that only cares about causing pain. It’s like I have an alter ego, one that is as sick and twisted—as sadistic—as I have ever been, just without the little problem I have with morality and guilt. I find him victims and point him at them, and what he does, he does. I admire him, in a way. He isn’t weak. He could do what needs to be done.

But as I said, the hunger was growing. I needed to hurt something. Something about me had been changing as the hunger got worse. Fluttershy stopped hanging out with me, and when I asked her why, she said I scared her and she didn’t know why, Rarity was nervous around me, and Rainbow gave me looks for some things I said. I was starting to get worried. I needed to stop killing. It was destroying me.

But it felt so good. So. . . right. I needed to, don’t you understand?

Am I a bad pony?

Does it matter?

Do I care?

I walked through town, watching for a pony that needed to be killed. A pony that begged for me to skin them alive, for me to remove each and every single one of their ribs while they wailed before feeding their internal organs to a manticore and hanging them up by the entrance to the Everfree. No, I had already done that. I needed something new.

The guard didn’t even know about half of my victims. The Everfree got to them first.

My eyes scanned the crowds. I watched for a thief, a cheat, a monster. The only monster I found was myself, but I couldn’t. I knew I should, but I couldn’t. I had to protect my friends. I had to kill to protect them as much as I needed to sate the hunger.

My eyes landed on a pony in the crowd that looked suspicious. I needed a quick kill. Not a long, drawn out kill. No, I needed a quick and silent kill in the middle of town, and leave none the wiser that I did it.

The mare called out for a pony and started running through the crowd. I started to shadow her, heart racing in anticipation. After a few moments, she caught up to her target, and I sighed. She was with a filly, one that had been lost, if the tears and happy hugs were any indication. I couldn’t. She wasn’t a monster. Not like me.

I returned home in disappointment to find Rainbow in the entry room. ”Rainbow,” I said. ”I wasn’t expecting you yet. I would have cleaned.”

“Something is wrong with you, Streak,” she said. “You’re changing, and not for the good.”

”I’m fine,” I said, even though I knew she was right. ”Just tired.”

“If it was only recently, I would believe you,” she said. I didn’t like to see her frown. I wanted to see her smile. My mind drifted to knives. With the right application, she would never have to frown again. No! Bad thoughts. That was Rainbow, not some victim. “There, right there!” she exclaimed. “That right there. That look that passes over your face. You weren’t looking at me like your marefriend. I don’t know what you were looking at me like, but it wasn’t you.”

”Of course it’s me,” I said. ”I did it, didn’t I?”

“It shouldn’t be you,” she said. “You’re scaring me, Streak. Sometimes when we lay next to each other, I feel like you’re planning on hurting me. I feel like I’m back in Tall Tale, waiting for my dad to feel the need to beat me, and that terrifies me. I’m supposed to feel safe around you. You’re my coltfriend, you’ve saved my life, and I’m afraid of you.”

You should be. Run. Run far and fast. ”You’re being silly, Rainbow,” I said, brushing past her. ”I’ll be fine after a couple of days. The case must be getting to me. I’ll tell the guys to not call me for a few weeks.”

“Damn it, Streak!” she exclaimed, grabbing me and turning me to face her. “This is—” She was interrupted in the middle of her sentence.

She stared at me in horror, and I stared right back, mirroring her expression. ”Rainbow,” I started. ”I didn’t mean–I didn’t want–I–you—”

Monster.

She slowly raised a hoof up to her cheek, placing it on the newly formed red spot. “You—”

That’s what you are.

“I didn’t mean to, Rainbow!” I exclaimed. “I’m sorry!”

You’re a monster.

I saw tears well up in her eyes. “I thought you wouldn’t hurt me,” she said. “I thought you weren’t like him. Like them.”

Reprobate.

”I’m not!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t–I swear I—”

Abuser.

“I need to be alone right now,” my marefriend said, turning around. “I need–I need something. I don’t know what I need.”

Fiend.

”Rainbow!” I exclaimed as she flew away, running out the door in a futile attempt to catch her. ”I didn’t mean to! Rainbow!”

She didn’t return. Didn’t even look at me.

Murderer.

I let out a scream of anger and anguish as I returned to the inside my house. I started grabbing things and throwing them. I didn’t even care how expensive it was. Paintings flew across the room after I ripped them off the walls. A couch flipped over from the force of the kitchen chair I threw at it. Doors were ripped off their hinges and windows were shattered as things flew through them. None of it made me feel better. None of it was living. None of it hurt so that I didn't have to.

"Dad?" a small voice asked with trepidation. "Are you okay?"

I looked up at my daughter, tears streaming down my face as I sat in the destroyed room. The only room I had spared had been Star's room. That was hers, not mine. I sniffed. "Okay?" I asked. "No, Star. I'm not okay. I'm as far from okay as I've ever been."

She shook her head. "I doubt that. You've had a fucked up life."

She gaped when I didn't even attempt a passing remark about her language. "I fucked up, Star," I said, voice fluctuating. "I fucked up bad."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I didn't mean to," I said. "I swear I didn't mean to."

“Dad, calm down and talk to me,” she said, being calm. Trying to give me something to grab onto and steady myself.

It didn’t work. ”I didn’t mean to. Oh, gods, I didn’t–I didn’t mean to.”

"Dad!" Star shouted at me. She wasn’t any better at the whole ‘calm’ thing than I was. "Snap out of it! What did you do?"

"Oh, gods, Star," I said. "I hit her. I didn't mean to, but I hit her!"

“Who?” she asked, eyes widening. “Who did you hit?”

”Rainbow!” I exclaimed. ”I tried to walk past her and she grabbed me and I just–I got so angry.” I looked down at my hooves. At this moment I noticed that I was shaking, and not just from the sobs. ”I’ve never gotten angry at her before, Star. Not at her. Not ever. She could kill someone and I would still love her, and I just–I lashed out at her!”

Star rubbed the bridge of her nose with a hoof, sighing. I think she realised exactly what she had just walked into. “Okay, we need to think about this rationally. You need to calm down, I’ll go grab Rainbow, and we’ll talk about this as rational adults, okay?”

I nodded. That sounded like an idea. My daughter smiled at me before walking out the front door to grab my marefriend. They would come back, and we would work this out. Together. Like families should.

Monster.

I sighed. Who was I kidding? I didn’t deserve forgiveness. I deserved what I gave my victims, what I knew I should give myself. A slow, brutal death. A death that dangled hope right in front of my nose all the way until my death.

Why do you try?

I snuck out the back door, not trusting Star to not be watching the front door for a few minutes. That would be the thing she would do. She knew me, even if I didn’t know myself.

You try and try, but you never learn.

I ran far, and I ran fast. I didn’t stop moving until my hooves hit the dirt of the Everfree Forest. My hooves itched. I still hadn’t sated the hunger.

You blame it all on me.

It wasn’t me that hit Rainbow. It was him. He was angry with me. He wanted more victims. He wanted to kill. Not me. Him.

You blame it all on me when it is you.

I sighed as I slowed to a walk. I wasn't even winded. I trotted through the forest, ignoring the leaves falling around me. There was a very slim chance that somepony was just walking through the Everfree, and I liked Zecora. I didn’t want to kill her.

That's the hard truth.

I wandered the forest for what seemed like hours. The sun began to set, and I had yet to sate my hunger. I was about to head further inside to search for the zebra hermit when I heard a branch snap.

I am you, and you are me.

A mare was behind me. She hadn't seen me yet, due to how dark it was and my coloring. I didn't even think. I saw a pony I didn't know in the forest—alone—and struck. She dropped without making a noise.

You can't escape me because there is nothing to escape.

I hit her. I pounded my hooves into her face over and over, attempting to release my pent-up frustrations. Even as she stopped bleeding, I kept hitting her. I didn't feel better. Why didn't the hurt go away? I stood up and paced nearby the body on bloody hooves. What was I doing wrong? Why did I still hurt?

You are a monster.

"Mommy?" a small voice called out.

No.

Monster.

The little filly from the market earlier today walked down a path toward the body of the mare I just murdered. Her eyes skipped over me. I looked like another part of the forest. However, they widened considerably when she beheld her mother. "Mommy!"

Gods no.

Monster.

She tripped as she ran, skidding to a stop next to the murdered mare. The little filly started shaking the cooling corpse of the older mare. "Mommy, this isn't funny. Wake up Mommy! You said you'd always wake up! You promised you wouldn't sleep like Daddy! You promised!"

Monster.

The poor filly didn't notice me as I slowly backed up. Oh, gods. What kind of monster was I? Why did I do that? Why?

I turned and ran, leaving the filly to her mourning. I ran out as I ran in, hard and fast. I eventually collapsed into a bench in the park situated close to the Everfree. I don't know how long I sat there, staring at nothing before Star and Rainbow found me.

“What the hell, Streak?” Rainbow shouted. “Star told you to stay in the house. We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

I looked up at her and she gasped. I guess I must have looked pretty bad. I hadn’t washed, I didn’t sleep, and I’m pretty sure I had blood on my face. Yeah, it was the blood on my face. I raised my hooves, similarly bloody. ”I—” I started. ”I just keep doing it. I don’t want to, but I do.”

“Oh, gods,” Rainbow said breathily. “It’s been you?”

”I don’t want to,” I said. ”I don’t want to, but I have to. It hurts if I don’t.”

Star sighed and settled down onto her haunches. “Have they all been you?”

”Since Aurora,” I said, hanging my head. Rainbow gasped again at that reveal. ”I just. . . couldn’t–couldn’t let him get away with what he had done. He needed–needed to be punished, and only three ponies knew what he had done..”

“So you took his punishment into your own hooves?” Star asked. She was being much calmer about learning her father was Equestria’s only serial killer better than I thought she would. Maybe she was faking taking it well.

I nodded. ”He couldn’t get away with it. He wouldn’t punish himself. Rainbow wouldn’t hurt him. That left me.”

“What did he do?” Star asked. “They all did something wrong, right?”

I nodded again. ”Mhm.”

“What did he do?” she asked.

”Private,” was my reply.

“You need to give me something, Dad,” Star said, frowning. “Get it all off your chest.”

”Not my place to tell,” I stubbornly insisted.

“He beat me,” Rainbow said suddenly. “Regularly and viciously. I have more broken bones than I care to count from that stallion.”

My daughter nodded in understanding. “That explains why both of you reacted like you did when he hit you.”

I moaned, ”I’m a monster.”

“You have a problem,” Star corrected. “You have a serious problem that festered until it got to this point. This is not in solely your hooves.”

Rainbow sighed. “I’ll send a letter through Spike to Luna, have her come down. If anypony knows anything about this, she will. If she doesn’t, she’ll know who does.”

“That’s a good idea,” Star said. “Make sure he knows it’s a priority message. Be vague so he doesn’t know what we need her for.”

Rainbow saluted, spread her wings, and stopped. She walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek, somehow avoiding getting blood on her. “I don’t get what you did, I don’t pretend to understand why you did it, but I’ll stick with you until either you’re better, or one of us dies.“ With that, she took off in the direction of the center of town.

Star and I watched her shrinking form as it carved an unusually straight rainbow trail across the sky straight for the library. “She’s an amazing mare,” Star said. “Others would be freaking out and getting as far away from you as they can, but she just told you she’s staying with you.”

I smiled sadly. ”I don’t deserve her,” I said.

“No you don’t,” Star said bluntly. “You’re a vulgar, perverse murderer.” My ears flattened at hearing my daughter’s voice describe me so aptly. “That’s why we’re fixing you. So that you become a stallion worthy of her.” Her eyes locked with mine, and I saw seriousness I hadn’t seen in ages in them. “This means no swearing, toning down the libido, and no more killing. Are we clear?”

I looked at my daughter, then at the fading trail floating in the air. Was it worth it? Could I do it?

For Rainbow? I’d do anything. ”Of course.”

Author's Note

So merry Christmas? I think? This probably is not what you guys want to see for a Christmas gift, is it? Hooray for happy endings, I guess.

Small blessings and whatnot.

Also, if you think this chapter is choppy, rushed, and/or undetailed, guess what? You're right! I tried to not put in a ton of detail about things, attempted to use shorter sentences strung together, and endeavored to skip around a little bit. This all reflects the mindset of the first person narrator—Streak—at the time (i.e. not-so-slowly dropping into insanity). Luckily, they caught him before he could fall too far to be fixed.

Or did they?

-HB

3.5 Shrinking Problem

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Recurring Memories Chapter Five:
Shrinking Problem

My daughter and I sat in a dark park, waiting for Rainbow to return or for Luna to arrive. Neither happened. We constantly looked towards Canterlot, awaiting the chariot or carriage that would announce the arrival of my help. It never came. After half an hour, one of us lost patience.

It would surprise you who.

“She should be back already,” Star muttered as she paced a line into the grass. I sat calmly—relatively—on the bench nearby. I was finally out of panic mode, and had resigned myself to my fate. I fully expected to be killed for what I did, and I knew I deserved it.

”You don’t think that there’s an issue, do you?” I asked.

“How can you be so calm right now?” she asked me, stopping her pacing and facing me. “You are about to face the Princess as Equestria’s only serial killer ever and you’re calmer than you were an hour ago.”

”Because I know I deserve whatever I get,” I said. ”Back to Rainbow, you think there might have been an issue at the library? Maybe Spike is sick, or Twilight went on a spontaneous trip to see Luna and took him with her.”

Star shook her head. “Rainbow would have come back and told us. I don’t know what’s holding that mare.”

We waited for another ten or so minutes before Star finally lost her patience. “We’re heading to the river by the statues and washing you off,” she declared. “Then, while you aren’t coated in blood, we’re going to the library.”

I looked at myself. Only my hooves were coated, the rest of me was speckled. There’s a difference. I sighed as my daughter shot me a look. She knew exactly what I was thinking. I followed her closely as we walked through the forest and constantly thought happy thoughts. Bunnies and mice and butterflies and bears eating them a—Bunnies and mice and butterflies. Bunnies and mice and butterflies.

That might not seem like much to you, but to me, it was a start.

I had a small smile on my face as we reached the water. I got in and started scrubbing without needing to be told. I was a grown stallion, damn it—dang it. Dang it. Damn is a bad word now. I can’t slip already.

It took me less than two minutes to be free of blood. I didn’t waste any time, not with Star as impatient as she was. She learned more than a little from me, it seems. The two of us walked through Ponyville after sundown, letting me air dry. We didn’t run into anyone as we traveled, reaching the library after passing through an eerie silence. The library was the exact opposite of the town, however.

“—don’t know who you think you are, but Spike isn’t your personal mail service!” Twilight was yelling. The dragon in question was sitting outside, covering his ears and leaning against the wall next to the door. I felt my eyebrow raise.

“I told you,” my marefriend yelled right back, “this isn’t for me! It’s for Streak!”

“And you won’t tell me what you need this letter for!” Twilight argued. The duo faded to background noise as Spike noticed Star and me and ran up.

“You guys are here because Rainbow was supposed to send that letter an hour ago, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Has this been going on for the whole hour?” Star asked, cocking an eyebrow.

The dragon nodded. “Twi is convinced that Rainbow isn’t sending the letter for you,” he said. “She thinks that your marefriend is doing it for herself.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose with a hoof. ”Twilight,” I groaned.

“But an hour?” Star asked. “I can understand, like, five minutes, maybe even twenty, but an hour?”

“It goes off to different topics once in a while,” Spike said. “Then it comes right back to the letter. It seems important, since Rainbow hasn’t dropped it for an hour.”

“It is,” Star said. She eyed the door. “I’m going in there. You two come with me.”

Spike looked at me, minor surprise written on his face that Star was taking the lead here. I nodded at him and followed my daughter, who at that point had started walking inside. The arguing mares didn’t even see the three of us as we stood five feet away from them. Star cleared her throat. When that didn’t get their attention, she opted for a more direct route. “Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, shut up!”

The shocked mares immediately stopped talking, jaws dropping as their attention turned to Star. Spike sighed in relief at the silence. “Thank you,” my daughter said. “Now, Spike. Take a letter.”

The dragon dutifully grabbed paper and a quill. When he was properly supplied he sat ready to write the letter he had been waiting to write for an hour.

“Thank you,” she said. She cleared her throat. “Dear Princess Luna.

“I come to you with a request for your immediate presence in Ponyville. Events of note have happened that require your presence.”

“Very specific,” Twilight said sarcastically.

“We’re being vague on purpose,” Rainbow said with a glare. “The fewer people that know what we need her for, the better.”

“Oh, and I’m not one of the ones that needs to know?” Twilight asked, turning to face my marefriend. This was about to restart the argument.

”No,” I said. Twilight gaped at me in surprise. ”Nothing against you, but you don’t need to know.”

Twilight harumphed, looking away from us. Star was looking over at us. “Can I finish?” she asked. When none of us indicated a wish for her to do otherwise, she continued. "This is to be of the highest priority. No disrespect intended, but this is a drop everything and come now notice.

"Also, this letter was supposed to reach you an hour ago, but Twilight decided to be difficult. If you could get here an hour ago, it would be appreciated.

"A worried daughter,

"Star."

"Now wait a second," Twilight exclaimed. "I was not being—"

"Dah-ter," Spike said as he finished, "Star. Good to go!"

"Spike, don't you dare—" Twilight started. She was interrupted by a puff of green fire. The letter incinerated, and the smoky remnants floated out the window. "Why did you send that?"

"Because that's what Star wanted on her letter," he said with a shrug. "I'm not going to change the content of a letter because I don't like what it says, and you shouldn't either."

Twilight groaned in exasperation. "She was being rude to the Princess, Spike, she isn't supp—"

There was a flash, and a voice rang out through the library. "I came as soon as I got your letter," Luna said. "What was so important that it required you to interrupt Night Court?"

"I need your help," I said.

"I am to assume that this cannot wait?" the Princess asked.

"No," Star said. "It also cannot be discussed around those two." She indicated Twilight and Spike.

Luna nodded. "Shall we return to your house, then? We could have privacy there."

"If you don't mind that it's messy," Rainbow said.

—*~*~*—

"When you said 'messy', I didn't picture this," the lunar monarch said. We were standing in the living room of my house, and everything was trashed. The couch was upside down, the lamp was broken and over in the corner. And over there. And over there. And–actually, it was pretty much everywhere. The wood for the fireplace was around the room in various places, and I’m pretty sure at least one log went through the now-broken window. There was also a loveseat in the doorway that we had to move to enter. "What happened? Is this why you need me?"

"Part of it," Rainbow said. "Streak threw a temper tantrum."

"I would describe it as a 'complete meltdown', myself," I said.

"Make some sense," Luna demanded. "Why does any of this require my immediate presence?"

"Dad is a serial killer," Star said.

Luna was silent, looking down in thought. I couldn't see her face—hiding behind her mane as it was—but I could almost feel her conflict. Eventually she looked up at us with sad eyes. "What do you want me to do?" she asked. "What can I do?"

"You can kill me," I said. "Gods know I have wanted to for the past eight months."

"What?" Rainbow exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We aren't killing you," Luna interrupted. "We gave Celestia a second chance, so we owe you one as well."

"More than I deserve," I said.

"But less than we owe you," Luna said. "If it weren't for you, Celestia would be in power or the griffons would have attacked. The least we can do is wipe your slate clean."

"That's the least of what he needs," Star said. "He is seriously sick. His mental state has been deteriorating since he started killing, and he said that if he doesn't kill, it hurts him."

Luna looked over at me, and I nodded. "It was never the killing that did anything for me. I have to make something else hurt, or I do instead."

"Which is why the killings were so brutal," Luna reasoned. "It was about the torture, not the killing." I nodded. She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I have a psychiatrist that specialises in guards that are forced to kill on the job. This is usually animals," she cautioned, "so it won't be perfect. That's the best I can do for you."

"I think that a shrink would be more than good,” Rainbow said. “If we include Star and me, we’ll get him better in no time.”

—*~*~*—

I was sitting in a room. It was a simple room, mind you. It was more of an office, to be honest, You want me to go on, don’t you? Okay. It was about ten feet square, and bland. The room had a desk and four chairs—three on my side, one on the other. White walls, oak trim, I think the desk was oak as well, but I’m not a woodsy kind of guy. We were on the side with three chairs. Star was seated on a chair to my left, and Rainbow to my right. Across the desk from us was a pony as bland as the room around us with some papers in front of him. He was beige, with a brown mane. And I thought my coloration was boring before I changed.

“So,” he said, “my name is Mind Mender. I already know your names, but why don’t you introduce yourselves anyway?”

Star spoke up, “I assume you were also informed why we are here?”

“Of course,” he said. “The Princess filled me in with as much information as she felt I needed.”

That seemed to placate her. “My name is Star, and I’m his daughter.”

The shrink nodded, looking at Rainbow. “Name’s Rainbow Dash,” she said. “I’m his marefriend, the Element of Loyalty, and apparently the duchess of Everfree.” I cocked an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged. “Luna came up to me literally yesterday and handed me the deed to the whole forest. Makes it our jurisdiction, I think.”

Smart mare. Every single one of my crimes was committed in or around the Everfree. I noticed the shrink looking at me, breaking me out of my musing. It wasn’t an expectant look, though. It managed to just be a look, with no motives hidden behind his eyes. Maybe I could pry them out and check, just in case.

“Streak,” Rainbow cautioned. “You’ve got the face again.”

I shook my head. Bad thoughts. Bad, bad thoughts. I cleared my throat. ”My name is Streak.” That was it. Nothing fancy, no titles, no nothing. Just a name.

Mind nodded. “Now when you said ‘the face’, Miss Dash, I assume he’s made it before?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “It’s the ‘thinking about hurting something’ face, I think.”

Mind nodded slowly, turning to face me again. “What were you thinking right before Miss Dash interrupted your thoughts?”

”That I couldn’t see any motives hidden in your eyes,” I said.

“And that’s a bad thing?” he asked. “I’m not saying it is or isn’t, but do you think that a stallion with no hidden motives is a bad thing?”

”Yes,” I said.

“Why?” he asked. I knew already that I was going to hate that word by the end of our sessions, if they ended.

”It means they hide them really well,” I said. ”It means that they can be trusted less than a stallion that writes murder in his eyes every time the thought comes to his head. I am predictable, you are an unknown.”

“Okay,” he said, scratching down some notes on a piece of paper. “What exactly were you thinking about. More specific than the lack of hidden motivation.”

”That I should rip out your eyes,” I replied calmly. I saw a flash of worry break through his facade of calm already. He quickly wrestled his countenance back into position, again assuming a slightly positive facial expression. This was going to be interesting.

“Why?” he asked, writing a few more notes.

”So that I knew you weren’t hiding anything behind them,” I replied. It was fairly obvious. Why else would I?

He hummed thoughtfully before asking, “What do you want to do with your life, Streak?”

I paused, mouth open. What did I want with my life? ”Well, I want to make sure that Star is happy,” I started. ”After that, I want Rainbow to have whatever her heart desires. Then, I want to brutally torture and murder ponies. That’s kind of why I’m here.”

“Not what do you feel the urge to do,” Mind said calmly. “What I asked is what do you want to do? Do you want to be an author? A royal guard? A blue-blooded noble?”

“I want to protect,” I said. ”I want to protect more than anything. That’s why I directed my crimes towards victims that were going to hurt someone.”

“I have a colleague in the Empire,” Mind said, “who says that a killer with a conscience is a rare gift and is something to be treasured. Not left to their own devices, but not scorned. That applies to you.” He looked me nose to tail—as best as he could with the desk in the way, at least. “Where do you want to be, mentally, in five years?”

“I don’t want the urges,” I said. ”I also want to be a better pony in general. A pony worthy of having Rainbow.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked.

”I am a vulgar, perverted murderer, Rainbow,” I said. Star gave me a look for stealing her description of me. ”I’m not winning any awards any time soon.”

“Ah, but you’re my vulgar, perverted murderer,” she said, nuzzling me.

”That’s why I’m fixing myself,” I said. ”You deserve better than me, and I’m too selfish to give you to another.”

The shrink gently interjected himself into the conversation. "Do you care more for these two than yourself?"

"Besides the fact that he asked Luna to kill him and said he's been suicidal for the past eight months?" Rainbow asked sarcasticly.

He blinked. "Why?" he asked, turning to me. This was getting frustrating, I had to admit.

"I kill people. Is that the kind of pony that deserves to live?" I asked.

"No," he replied, to the shock of the mares. "That's why we're changing you. We're fixing you. Turning you into a stallion worthy of the second chance you've been given."

"I don't care about being worthy of that," I said. "I want to be worthy of being Star's father and Rainbow's coltfriend. That's all.

Mind nodded. "I understand where you're coming from. I'll do my best to make you better."

"I hope so," Rainbow said. "If you don't give it your all, we'll have problems."

“I want him better as much as you do, Miss Dash,” Mind said. “He saved the entire country at least twice. That is a debt I am eager to begin to repay.” He turned to me. “I have what I need for now. Come back at the same time next week, and we’ll continue.”

4.1 A Change In Methods

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

In His Memory Chapter One:
A Change In Methods

I stared at the city of Manehattan as the guard swooped in, combing the rubble for survivors. Rainbow had gone down there, insisting that he survived and was somewhere in the city. I desperately hoped she was right. I hoped that he was alive.

I knew in my heart she was wrong.

The massive skyscrapers that once dominated the landscape lay in ruins. The former titans of steel and glass lay now on the ground, twisted and shattered. Flashes of color could be seen throughout the city as guards and civilians alike searched for survivors. I could see Rainbow circling the city, occasionally shooting down to shift some rubble in her vain attempt to find my father.

I heard hoofsteps from behind me, signaling somepony walking up to speak with me. I kept staring forward as my peripheral vision was filled with white and purple. Rarity it was, then.

“Star,” she began, “I can’t begin to understand how you feel—”

“Then don’t,” I interrupted. She flinched as if struck by my words. “All I wanted was to be normal. To have a normal house, a normal job, a normal family. Now it seems that I will never have that.” I turned to face her, staring her directly in her blue eyes. “I no longer care about being normal. It’s time for a change in methods.”

“Don’t do something rash, darling,” Rarity said. “He did it on his own free will.”

“You told me that he saw it as his penance,” I growled. “Well, someone else needs their own penance. It’s high time I stopped being afraid. Afraid of myself, and what I can do.” I stood up and started walking to where I knew Twilight would be.

“What are you talking about?” Rarity asked, speeding up to walk next to me.

“It’s long past time Starswirl paid for his crimes,” I said simply. “It’s just left to me to make him pay for them.”

“Star, think about what you’re saying!” Rarity exclaimed. “How can we find him, let alone beat him? You saw how much magic he had to build up to cast that spell.” Her face somehow got more somber. “However he turned life into magic, it cost nearly two hundred ponies their lives.”

“Then that is two hundred more deaths he will pay for,” I growled. “I will find him, and I will kill him.”

“Listen to yourself!” Rarity snapped, spinning me to face her with her magic. It took every ounce of my willpower to not lash out at her then and there. At this point we were a stone’s throw from where Twilight was standing. I saw the lavender mare’s ears swivel towards the two of us while she tried—and failed—to look nonchalant. Smooth. “For all your talk about how Streak had the wrong idea about killing, now you want to go down his path?”

“Wait, what?” Twilight exclaimed, snapping her head to look at us. She had a look of shock written across her face, from her perked ears to her dropped jaw.

I snorted, walking up to her. I saw Rarity shake her head in my peripheral vision before she started following me. It took me seconds to stand in front of Twilight. “Magic can kill,” I stated.

“So it can,” she rebutted. “That doesn’t mean it should.”

“Teach me to kill,” I ordered.

“No,” Twilight said simply.

I felt a growl burble out of my throat. “Why the fuck not?”

Twilight sighed. “Look, there are a million and a half intricacies in magic. War Magic requires the ability to fine-tune dozens of these intricacies on the fly, and thus requires years of study. I haven’t even started working on it, so how could I teach it to you?”

I levelled a glare at her. “Find me someone who can, then.”

“Star, you are in no mindset to be making decisions like this,” She announced. “We’re heading back to Ponyville, and if you still want to learn War Magic in a month or two, I’ll find you a teacher.” With her piece said, she turned around to round up her friends.

Over my dead body. A solid wall of orange erupted out of the ground in front of her nose, halting all forward momentum. Twilight’s eyes turned back at me as she cocked an eyebrow. I felt the tingling in my horn—the feeling associated with using magic—fade as I powered down the wall. “I am not waiting a month. Starswirl gets farther each instant I wait. Within a month, he could be impossible to find.”

“Within a month, you could drop this petty need for revenge,” Twilight countered.

I felt my heartbeat speed up. Petty? That stallion murdered my father and she called it a ‘petty need for revenge’? “Twilight Sparkle,” I said slowly, trying to keep my temper under control. “I am learning War Magic. If you refuse to help me, I will teach myself.”

“You would die,” she said with confidence. “Spell modification is one of the most advanced topics taught in the University. Even I had to wait until my sophomore year of high school before Celestia let me touch upon it. It is just too dangerous.”

I kept my glare focused on her. My horn lit up with my own orange light, before being replaced with the natural orange glow of fire. The heatless flame spread like, well, wildfire across my body, until I was coated in dancing, lukewarm plasma. “Candle lighting spell. Harmonic/dissonance ratio switched from one to half, sigil pattern of interlocking squares, and a charging pattern of one. Heatless fire that can be spread over flammable materials like oil over water, all without burning anything.” I flicked a hoof, launching tiny droplets of fire off my body. They landed harmlessly on Twilight’s coat, causing her to flail in instinctive panic. After she spasmed for a few seconds, I powered down my horn. Bereft of its fuel, the fire faded to nothing, leaving not so much as a mark on Twilight or me. “Now, teach me to kill with magic, or I’ll teach myself.”

The two mares stared at me in disbelief. Eventually, Twilight spoke up, “Where did you learn that?”

“Advanced Magic Techniques Part One: Spell Modification by Starswirl the Bearded,” I said simply. “It was very enlightening. I didn’t even know that I was changing sigils when I cast various spells.”

“Most don’t,” Rarity said, coming to her senses. “In fact, I couldn’t tell you the sigil used for levitation.”

“Feather,” Twilight and I responded at the same time. This gave her an idea. She took over for the next part. “Rarity, give us spells, and I’ll test her knowledge on spell theory. If she passes my test, I’ll find her a teacher.”

“If I fail, I’ll experiment,” I said simply. “Lay it on me.”

“Gem finding,” Rarity said.

“Sigil,” Twilight instructed.

“Trick question. It all depends on the type of gem,” I said. “Those with the rare ability to cast a general gem finding spell use a triple diamond sigil unusable to the rest of unicorns.”

“Harmonic to dissonance ratio,” Twilight said.

“Two harmonic per one dissonance,” I said. “In layman’s terms, harmonic/dissonance ratio of two.”

“Another spell, Rarity,” she said.

“Uh.” Rarity thought for a moment. “Invisibility.”

“Sigil traditionally referred to as the ‘cloak and dagger’ modified with a diamond with a horizontal slash through the middle commonly compared to as a closed eye. Harmonic/dissonance ratio of two, and a charging factor of three,” I rattled off.

And so it went. We stayed at it to hit upon spells I had never cast before, and for Twilight’s friends—sans Rainbow, of course—showed up. They sat and watched us, some in interest and others in amusement. We touched upon many topics. Candle lighting? Check. Levitation? Yep. World shattering spells that could make what happened to Manehattan pale when compared to their effects? Of course. Eventually, Rarity and Twilight ran out of spells to throw at me.

“And of course, if you have a high enough charging factor, any spell can become devastating,” I said. “However, I don’t want to have to charge every one of my spells.”

Twilight was silent, staring at me. I think she expected me to fail her little test. Fat chance of that. I spent most of my life in the library, reading up on magic. Even she studied other things as she grew up. Eventually, she spoke up. “Fine, Star. I’ll find you a teacher.” At my victorious grin, she added, “It might take a while. There aren’t many War Magic teachers.”

“Don’t think you can stall, Twilight,” I cautioned. “I’ll give you a week before I start figuring it out for myself.”

“Wait, wait wait wait wait,” Applejack interjected. “What’s this ah hear about War Magic? And what is this War Magic?”

“War Magic is magic specially designed to kill,” I said. “Twilight just agreed to find me a teacher.”

The orange mare turned to look at her lavender companion, face carefully composed neutrally. “Twi?” she asked slowly.

Twilight sighed. “Look, finding her a teacher is safer than letting her experiment on her own,” she reasoned. “She has shown me that she knows enough about magic to prove a danger to herself and those around her if left to her own devices.”

Applejack opened her mouth to retort before being cut off by a small voice. “Uh, hello?" it asked hesitantly.

My head swiveled to look at the newcomer, as did those of the mares around me. A bug trying to pass itself off as a pony was standing at the edge of the former node with a floating object enshrouded in a green aura mirrored around her horn. I felt my brows knit as my heart started pounding in my chest. Changeling.

Before I knew what happened, a ball of pure orange mana bounced off of a purple wall that was suddenly erected in front of the insect. I felt a growl burble up through my throat. “Let me squash it,” I snarled, glaring at Twilight and stepping forward.

Twilight leveled a disappointed look at me that was somehow enhanced due to the shadows created by her horn glowing purple. “Star,” she said, “it’s holding a white flag.”

I snapped my head to look at it. The object enshrouded in green was in fact a white flag once you saw through the emerald glow. My gaze returned to Twilight. “So it is. Let me squash it.”

Applejack frowned. “Tha’ would be a might bit dishonorable, don’t you think?” she asked. “How about we hear it out before we decide its fate?”

“I agree wholeheartedly,” Rarity agreed wholeheartedly. “Let’s at least hear the dear out before we let you. . . ugh, ‘squash it’.”

“My—uh—my name is Mimic,” it said, shifting its hooves in an obvious show of nervousness. “I have something for some ponies from the False One.”

“False One?” Twilight asked. “I’ve never heard of anypony called the ‘False One’ before.” At this point, I was getting bored. I didn’t care about bug culture. Who cares if an ant has a god? It’s an ant. A bug. An insect. It doesn’t matter in the long run, especially when they will all be flattened under the horseshoes of Equestria eventually.

“The False One is a pretender to the Deathless One’s position.” A look of sadness passed over its face. “If only the Queen had listened to our hive, much death could have been avoided.”

“Explain yourself succinctly, bug,” I threatened it. “It will take me but a moment to remove your stain from this world.”

“Star,” Fluttershy scolded softly. “Be polite.”

I snorted, but remained silent, allowing the bug precious moments of my time to explain itself. “The Deathless One,” it began, “is one of our gods. He is a mortal who cannot die of unnatural causes, and will always arrive to help when he is most needed. He will save the world in its darkest hour.”

I scoffed. “Please, do you expect me to believe that one of your gods is mortal, and actually exists? I helped tear down one that placed herself upon that pedestal once already, and I am prepared to do it again.”

“Star,” Pinkie sighed, shaking her head. “Please, don’t.”

“I don’t expect you to believe, none but my hive do,” it said. I narrowed my eyes. This thing was wasting my time. Seeming to pick up on my intention for it to hurry up, it continued. “The False One gave me a message for one named ‘Star’. Do you know where I might find her?”

It was slammed into the ground and held there by an orange glow. I walked up to it before growling in its face. “What do you want with me, bug?”

“Star!” Twilight snapped. Her horn flashed, and the thing vanished from under my spell with a cloned flash. Another burst of light informed me that Twilight had not come to her senses and erased any and all traces of this creature from existence, and instead teleported it. “Assaulting a diplomatic envoy is a serious crime. I won’t turn a blind eye again, do you understand me?” When I didn’t respond, she yanked my head to force me to look into her eyes. “Do. You. Understand?”

“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll avoid smashing this one bug, if it makes you feel that much better about yourself.” I looked back at it. “You said you had a message from your false god for me?”

It nodded. “He wanted you to know that he loves you, and doesn’t want you to hold any grudges for his death.”

Only Twilight’s perfectly timed teleportation saved the bug from being flattened. I turned to its new location and growled, “Don’t you dare fucking speak for or about my father again, pest.”

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Applejack said, holding up a hoof to stop whatever was going to happen. “Yer tellin’ me that Streak is one of your gods?”

It nodded. “As I said, he is a pretender to the Deathless One’s title. He fakes many deaths, when in reality he is immortal. In the end, he seeks to bring the world to its knees, to be controlled or destroyed how he sees fit.”

I snarled at her speaking about my dad like that, but Twilight stepped in front of me. “And who is this ‘Deathless One’?”

“You know him as Starswirl the Bearded,” it said. “He seeks to reset a fundamental imbalance with the universe, and we intend to help him.

“Explain,” I demanded.

It obliged me gleefully, as it should. You should always make sure your superiors were happy so they didn’t crush you like the bug you are. “The Deathless One is there to stop death, doom, and destruction from befalling the world. The False One pretends to be the Deathless One in order to bring about the collapse of the world society. It was prophesied that Equestria would be the first to fall under the False One unless the Deathless One was able to stop him.” The solid blue eyes of the creature drifted to the ruins of Manehattan. “The False One has already begun stopping things that are needed for the greater good.”

"That's all well and good," I said, getting frustrated again. "But what does that have to do with anything? You could just be spouting nonsense at us."

“I don’t ask for your trust,” it said. “I know I won’t have that for a long time, if at all.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the insect. “You have something wrapped in that flag, don’t you?” she asked suddenly.

The bug nodded. “I was instructed to give it to the one named Rainbow Dash,” it said. “I was told I would know who she was when I saw her.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond when suddenly the bug wasn’t in front of her. She blinked twice before looking to her left, where Rainbow was standing above the thing she had just tackled. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she growled at it. “Stay away from my friends.”

“Rainbow Dash, I assume?” it coughed. “I was given something for you.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed, pulling her friend off of the bug. “I just had to explain this to Star. Assaulting a diplomatic envoy is a serious crime!”

“It’s a bug,” Rainbow said, deadpan. “They lie, they hide, they observe, then they hit you when you least expect it.” She turned to the insect. “Isn’t that right? That’s how your kind act.”

“We act as we wish, Rainbow Dash,” it replied calmly. “We are creatures, just like ponies and griffons.” The cloth being used as a white flag started to unwrap inside its magic, slowly growing in size. And growing. And growing.

“Is that. . . a tablecloth?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“That looks like a tablecloth,” Rarity confirmed.

The bug seemed to blush, shrinking in on itself. “It was the only thing that I could use as a flag that I found on the way over.”

As it said that, it finished unwrapping the tablecloth, dropping it and pulling out the object inside. She floated it over to Rainbow, who took it in her hooves and just stared at it. After a moment, a sob forced itself out of her throat, and she spread her wings and flew off. The rest of us stared at her retreating form for a moment in confusion.

I took that moment to take a shot at the back of the bug’s head.

Its eyes rolled to the back of its head as it dropped, unconscious. The group stared at me in shock at my deed, and I just shrugged. “What can I say? It dropped the flag.”

Author's Note

Damn, I've had this sitting here for months. I have one more chapter built up after this, but I have not done jack shit with this story in like, six months. I just can't bring myself to write anymore, and when I do, it's shit. I've started and abandoned so many stories that it isn't funny. To those of you that want to get the rest of this story, it's only about halfway done, but I will finish it eventually. This story is my pride and joy, my baby. Even if I decide to leave the fandom for whatever reason, I won't leave this undone.

-HB

4.2 Girl on Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

In His Memory Chapter Two:
The Girl on Fire

“I can’t believe you threw me in jail.” I pouted as Twilight escorted me out of the Canterlot Juvenile Penitentiary the next morning.

“I threw you in juvenile detention,” she corrected. “By all rights, you should be in there until you turn eighteen.”

“I hit a bug, what’s the big deal?” I asked. “Nothing important was hurt.” It took me a few seconds to notice that she had stopped walking. I turned around and cocked an eyebrow at her sad look. “What’s that look for?”

“You,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe that there is so much hate inside someone so young.”

“I’m thirteen,” I said, “gay, and spent most of the last four years being constantly bullied for the latter. You’d be surprised what children are capable of.”

“You’re right,” she replied. “I would be. It’s been many years since I was as young as you.”

I scoffed. “Nobody’s getting any younger, Twilight,” I said. “Foals change. Just like last generation’s adults are different from this generation’s, the children of yesterday are different from the children of today. They’ve become vicious, nasty things.”

“Maybe in Tall Tale,” she said. “In Ponyville, they’re kind and respectful.”

“The side you see,” I replied. “What do you think about Diamond Tiara?”

“She can be a bit bratty, but she’s a good filly,” Twilight responded, confused. “Rarity and Applejack hear a lot of complaints about her, but it sounds like any foalhood feud, so what she does is probably trumped up.”

“She’s a sadistic bitch that enjoys making the other kids obey her unquestioningly,” I corrected. “If the other foals aren’t afraid of her, they’re kissing up to her.”

"That doesn't sound like the filly I've met," she said slowly.

"She's the only daughter of the richest stallion in town," I reminded. "A single father, I might add, with a job that requires him to travel. Because daddy gives her whatever she wants to make up for his absence, she is a spoiled brat that believes she is entitled to whatever she wants, and she wants obedience."

"Okay, then which are you?" Twilight asked. "Do you fear her, or are you sucking up?"

"Neither," I said, grinning. "She is afraid of me. As long as she leaves the Crusaders and me alone, I don't have an issue with her."

"How did you get her afraid of you, then?" she shot. She was grasping at straws, and we both knew it.

"I summoned myself a dad from another dimension," I shot back. "She's a small time schoolyard bully. I would win if she ever pushed too hard."

"Would you ever hurt her?" she asked.

"If she pushed, I would push back," I said. "I wouldn't kill her, at least."

"Small favors," Twilight muttered.

A quick train ride was all it took to get home. Whatever 'home' meant without Dad. I guess Rainbow became my de facto guardian, since she was pretty much my mom, already. I know one thing: if the matron sent someone from the orphanage to collect me, I'd go along.

Then I'd hitch a ride back after burning the bitch alive.

It was a liberating feeling, not fretting about being angry. I didn't have to worry about controlling my emotions anymore; all I had to do was express what I felt. It felt right. It felt. . . normal.

And isn't that what I wanted all along?

It was too late to do pretty much anything when we arrived in Ponyville, so I sat in my room and cried. When Sunday morning arrived, I didn't feel much better. I did, however, feel the need to go to school. For once in my life, I wanted to go to Cheerilee's class. It was strange, but I was just getting in the habit of listening to my gut instead of my head, and it would be a bad idea to fail already.

Most of Sunday was spent waiting for Rainbow. Hell, I'd even have appreciated a visit from Twilight at that moment, but it was not to be. I was left alone the whole day, and probably because they thought I wanted to be.

I have to say, though, the look on Rarity's face was priceless that next morning when I left the house early to join Sweetie on the walk to school. "What are you doing?" Rarity exclaimed.

I looked at her like she was crazy. "Going to school? Am I not allowed to do that anymore?"

"You–your father died days ago!" she exclaimed. "We haven't even seen Rainbow since she left, and you're going to school like nothing's happened."

"Maybe she wants to pretend," Sweetie said, glaring at her sister. "She wants to live her life as normal as possible and pretend that nothing's wrong. What's so bad about that?"

I nodded. "The faster I move on, the better."

"You aren't even going to grieve?" she asked softly.

"I can do that in private," I said. "With friends." She flinched as I said that, and I knew that I got my displeasure from being abandoned the day before across. "Now I'm going to go to school." I turned and started walking down the road. I didn't have to look back to know it was Sweetie that caught up with me after a momentary pause.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"As okay as I'll ever be," I replied. "At least for a while."

She sighed, looking forward. "She worries about you, you know," she said. “They all do. She won’t tell me anything, but she’s worried about you.”

“Probably because sometime within the next week, Twilight’s finding me a War Magic teacher,” I said nonchalantly.

“War Magic?” she asked innocently.

“Magic to kill with,” I replied. Once again, I noticed that my conversational partner had stopped moving while I wasn’t paying attention. She had a look of horror on her face when I looked back at her. “What’s with the face?” I asked as I stopped, getting a major feeling of deja vu.

“Kill?!” she squeaked. “Why would you want to do that?”

I sighed. I knew she wouldn’t understand. “Sweetie, Starswirl murdered over two hundred ponies two days ago, one of which was my father. He deserves justice, and nobody else will give it to him.”

She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. “Alright. I get where you’re coming from. I don’t agree, but I understand.”

“That’s all I can ask,” I said with a small smile. She did her best to return it.

After a pause of a minute or so, she added on, “Just make sure that it is truly justice you are fighting for, and not vengeance.”

The rest of the walk to school was filled with an awkward silence.

If Rarity’s reaction was good, Cheerilee’s reaction was amazing. Within two seconds of me walking into the room I was back outside and being drug back towards my house. Sweetie and the other Crusaders were at her heels while my neighbor tried fruitlessly to convince her to drop me and let me come to school. As we neared my house—I don't know how she knew where I lived—she stopped and looked at me. "Who has been taking care of you for the last few days?" she asked.

"Myself," I replied. "I kind of don't have parents again."

Her gaze softened. "I heard," she said. "That's why I don't think you're in any way ready to come back to school so soon."

I shrugged. "I actually want to be in your class for once in my life, and you're kicking me out?"

She sighed. "Look, just take the next few days off, would you please?"

"And do what?" I asked. "Cry? Retreat into myself and brood? Lash out in anguish and wreck the house?"

"No," she sighed again. "Just give it a day before you come to school. Let the news spread."

"One of Equestria's largest cities was reduced to rubble days ago," I reminded. "Thousands died. If they don't know already, one day isn't going to change anything."

"I'm not changing your mind, am I?" Cheerilee asked.

"I'll follow you back to the school unless you tie me down, then we would have a whole new host of issues," I said. "That would either be abuse or more kinky than I am comfortable with."

That earned me a look from all four of the ponies around me. "What the heck?" Scootaloo asked. "That was the exact opposite of what you would have said a few days ago."

I shrugged. "People change."

"Yer a pony, not a people," Apple Bloom said.

"Ponies are people," Sweetie corrected. " 'People' is a species-neutral term."

"Sweetie being a word nerd aside," I steered the conversation back on topic, "I want you to give me one chance. If you still think I'm not ready after today, I'll stay home for however long you want me to."

"I just don't know," Cheerilee said.

Time to bring out the big guns. "Please," I said. "It's all I ask for."

That was all it took. I watched as her stern teacher facade cracked and crumbled, revealing the child-loving mare inside. "Okay," she said. "But one day."

It took us double the time to get back to the school that it took us to get to my house. She had been moving like a bat out of hell on the way over, it seems.

We were greeted at the school by Featherweight. "Miss Cheerilee!" he exclaimed. His eyes widened upon seeing me. "Star?" He shook his head. "Not the time to question my luck! We need your help!"

"Help?" Cheerilee asked, ears perking up in alarm. "Why?"

"Diamond Tiara instated herself as the leader of the classroom when you left," he explained. "She rules with an iron hoof, I barely escaped, and she terrifies me."

She shook her head. "She tries to help, but always goes around it the wrong way, doesn't she?"

"Miss Cheerilee—" Featherweight started.

"Not now," Cheerilee interrupted. "I have to take control of my classroom back.

In short order, Cheerilee was reinstated as the ruler of the classroom. Diamond Tiara got thanked for her 'help' because all adults are blind. That spoiled brat looked at me with the most smug face I've seen on her since she first tried to push me around.

That should have been my first sign.

All in all, the little escapade took a quarter of the school day. Thankfully, lunch—and therefore recess—came twice as fast because of that.

Unfortunately, with recess came Diamond Tiara.

"Look who it is," her rage-inducing voice said from behind me while I was hanging with Sweetie. Bloom and Scoot had decided they needed to race to determine who was the more athletic—or something like that—so they weren't around. "If it isn't two of our favorite blank flanks."

"We have a deal, Diamond," I said without turning around. "You leave us alone, we return the favor."

"I don't think so," she said. I looked back at her with a cocked eyebrow.

Silver Spoon was at her side, as always. What was different about today was the nervous shuffling. "This isn't a good idea, DT," she said.

"Of course it is," Diamond Tiara said, brushing off her friend. She turned back to me. "So what will it be, blank flank? Do you feel like groveling now?"

"Should I get Miss Cheerilee?" Sweetie asked with more than an edge of worry.

I snorted. "Don't waste your time. They aren't worth it."

"Excuse me?" Diamond snarled. "Care to say that again?"

"You are a spoiled, insignificant brat that thinks because Daddy has money she has power," I said.

Diamond snarled as Silver Spoon started backing up. "I knew this was a bad idea," she muttered. "Bad, stupid, horrible idea."

"At least I have a dad," Diamond growled.

I jumped to my hooves. "Say again?" I snarled. "Say that one more fucking time, I fucking dare you."

"Your father was so useless that he couldn't even avoid getting killed with a city that he wasn't even inside," she said with a smirk.

That must have been what Dad talked about. That lack of emotion that drove his kills. "Sweetie, go get Cheerilee." I didn't even have to look to know she was sprinting towards the school.

"Getting the teacher?" Diamond kept pushing. "I can't blame you, since you can't run to Daddy anymore."

"That wasn't for me," I said flatly. "I just didn't want Sweetie to see what I'm about to do to you."

"Ooh, scary," she chuckled. "What are you going to do? Hit me?"

"No," I said. "I'm going to incinerate you." As I finished my sentence, my horn flashed orange.

Silver screamed, "DT! Your tail!"

The brat whipped her head to stare behind her and screamed. The tip of her tail was adorned with a dancing flame, and it was slowly crawling closer towards her flesh.

"What is–Diamond Tiara!" Cheerilee yelled as she ran out of the school. “What happened?”

"Star lit me on fire!" Diamond screamed. "Star lit me on fire!"

“Someone put her out!” Silver bawled. “Get a bucket of water or something!”

“Next time, keep your fucking mouth closed!” I yelled at Diamond as she ran in circles around the playground.

—*~*~*—

“I can’t believe you actually threw me in jail this time.” I pouted as Twilight escorted me out of the Canterlot Penitentiary the next morning.

“You lit someone on fire!” she snapped. “Did you learn nothing from the last time you were in detention? Hurting ponies is never an okay thing to do!” She stared forward as we walked down the street towards the courthouse. “You’re lucky the Princess pulled some strings, or you could have been in that cell for months before going on trial.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” I yawned. “It’s like any foalhood feud, isn’t it?”

“Foalhood feuds don’t involve attempted murder!” she growled sharply, keeping her voice low. “What were you thinking?”

“That I really, really wanted to light her on fire, but I didn’t want to kill her,” I said simply. “If I wanted to kill her, she’d be dead, and if I wanted, so would half the town. There are some lines you just don't cross, and she danced across one with glee.”

Twilight’s gaze softened. “I understand how you feel—”

“No, you don’t,” I interrupted. “You understand jack shit.”

“Excuse me?” Her eyes hardened to their previous state. We were approaching the steps of the courthouse, and would soon not be able to talk for quite some time. You know, assault trial and all.

“You sit in your library and act like you know things, like you understand the rhyme and reason behind things,” I said. “All you do is read. You don’t experience. Maybe that’s why you let my dad slip right past you and into Rainbow’s hooves, isn’t it? You didn’t know what to do. Your books were blank.”

“Shut up,” she said softly.

“There is no title on how to seduce a stallion away from your best friend, is there?” I continued. “No informational text on how to keep a friendship going when a stallion gets in the way.” I paused in a fake pondering pose. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be good at? Friendship?”

“Shut. Up,” she snarled.

“Then you can watch passively as he dies, holding the mare he chose over you onto the ground to keep her from following him,” I said. I could see her eye twitching as she struggled to keep herself contained. “That was the best part, wasn’t it? Finally being able to keep Rainbow away from him. Finally knowing that he’ll no longer end every single day in her hooves, with a big smile on his face. What book gave you that piece of advice?”

“SHUT UP!” she screamed, her horn lighting up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

I stared at her for a few moments as she panted. Eventually she powered down her horn, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “You know what separates us, Twilight?" I asked, shaking my head. "It’s not skill; you have much more of that than I do. It’s definitely not talent, since you have an overabundance of that. You learn faster than I do, you cast better than I do, and you definitely have more power to draw from than I do. Despite this, you will never, never be better than me. Better than Starswirl. Do you know why?”

“Shut up,” she snarled once more.

“We have the will to use it,” I said. “We not only can use magic, we do. Mull on that for a while and see if you can find where you went wrong.” I turned to a random guard in armor. “Which way to courtroom six?”

He pointed down the hallway I had just been walking down. “Take the second right. It’ll be the first door on your left.”

“Thank you,” I said as I started walking. I cared not if Twilight followed me or not.

“Represent yourself,” Twilight called after me. “I was doing this out of the kindness of my heart, but I find good will to be lacking.”

“Then I’ll just find Rainbow,” I retorted. “She seems to know how to apply the comparatively miniscule amount of knowledge she has better than you.”

She had no response to that.

The courtroom was fairly bland, truth be told. They should fire their decorator. Bad choice of words, given why I was here, but still. It was a flat, matte off-white over the entire room, and the chairs were unstained and probably just as cheap as they could get them and still keep up their image. Tacky drapes covered the walls, and I had been spending too much time with Rarity. 'Tacky.' I don't say tacky.

“Are you ready?” a voice barely holding back a tinge of nervousness said from beside me, pulling me from my mulling.

I turned to face Luna, who had walked up while I was examining the room. “What is there to get ready for? I set her on fire. Case closed.”

“Do you not regret it?” Luna asked. “Not at all?”

“I only regret that I saw the look Sweetie gave me when she saw what I had done,” I said.

“Next time, keep your fucking mouth closed!” I yelled at Diamond as she ran in circles around the playground.

“Star!” Cheerilee yelled at me. “Put it out at once!”

“Hey, it’s real fire,” I defended myself. “I’m not sustaining it in any way, shape, or form.” My eyes drifted to the school—for whatever reason—and felt the first shred of remorse for my actions. Sweetie was looking out the window, a look of complete disappointment written across her face. Her sad eyes shone with unshed tears, and she mouthed a single word to me.

”Why?

“But not the action?” Luna’s words drug me out of my thoughts.

“Why should I?” I asked. “I did what I thought was right, and here I am. Do you want me to lie? Do you want me to tell them that this was all a misunderstanding, and that I was expelled from school for some other fire-related event? Are you going to pull some strings and get this case thrown out?”

“There are only so many strings I can pull out of respect for your father’s memory,” she said. “After this, I’m afraid you’re on your own. I cannot keep bailing you out each time you get in trouble. That’s twice I’ve had you removed from prison after only a single day.” She looked around the room. “Where is Twilight Sparkle?”

“I’m representing myself,” I said. “She pulled out at the last second. Something about her not knowing how to actually apply any of the knowledge she spent her life gathering.”

Luna sighed. “Somehow, I sense there was a disagreement between the two of you.” She waved her hoof. “No matter. Take your place, court is about to start.”

It was going to be a long day

Author's Note

Look! I remembered to post this chapter! I've got the next one and about half of the one after that waiting as well, so hopefully I keep up on this and don't have to go into another hiatus for quite some time. Also, I feel the need to put one of these Author's Notes on every chapter of this story since there's been one on every chapter before and I hate breaking patterns.

I'm a strange man.

-HB

4.3 The Start of Something New, Redux

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

In His Memory Chapter Three:
The Start of Something New, Redux

“Fetch me some mandrake root,” my master instructed me. “It should be with the rest of the components.”

“I fail to see how this applies to teaching me War Magic,” I observed, like I did every time.

His reply was the same as ever. “I am the master, and you the apprentice,” he said. “The day that you understand why you have done as I am having you do is the day that you can move on.”

I grumbled to myself but did as he told me. Two floors down in his massive windowless tower was his storeroom. As I opened unlabeled drawer after unlabeled drawer looking for mandrake root, I reflected upon the trial days ago.

”It is the ruling of this court that—” the judge began, being cut off by the door slamming open. “What is the meaning of this?”

”Excuse me, pardon me,” a stallion said. I turned to look at him. He was a pale blue, with an orange mane and light red eyes. He continued apologising as he pushed his way through the small crowd of nobles that had formed in the courtroom. It wasn’t every day that the daughter of a national hero is on trial for lighting someone on fire, after all. This was the event of the decade. “Pardon, I’m sorry, I need to get through here.”

“Who are you,” the judge asked, “and what are you doing?”

“Name’s Sure Strike,” he said. “I’m here for the girl.”

”I should think not!” one of the three royal guards standing next to me—one to each side, one behind—scoffed. “There are proper legal channels for this kind of thing.”

”You think that I wouldn’t use the proper legal channels and just try to waltz in here and take her? No, that would be silly. I used them,” Sure Strike said happily. His horn lit up pale red as he pulled a small badge and a small sheaf of paper out of his saddlebag. “Captain Shining Armor’s orders,” he said. “Due to a threat in national security, Star is the newest recruit of the Warmage Division, effective immediately.” He put the papers and badge on the desk in front of the judge. “I am to take her to the tower and begin her training as soon as possible. I’m afraid having her locked up will be a bit of an issue.”

When I found the root, I was very careful to not break off any pieces of the root as I picked it up with my mouth. It wouldn’t do to accidentally break it before it got to my master or ingest anything mandrake. The root itself acts as a hallucinogenic and hypnotic, which means that it makes you see and hear things then pass out. Plus it can cause diarrhea, which is not something I want to deal with ever, let alone now, when I’m so close to being able to pursue Starswirl.

It was another two floors up to my master’s room where he was preparing. . . something. I’m not quite sure what. The room was fairly large, for a room in a tower. It was twenty foot square, made of stone, and had bookshelves everywhere. There were two doorways, the one I had come in through and the one leading to the other half of the floor: Warnage Sure Strike’s room. The stallion himself was standing by a table filled with over a dozen things he had me bring him over the past few days. Honeycombs sat next to petrified roots, and those both sat next to pickled cocatraice eyes. Those tasted nasty, let me tell you. He smiled when I walked into the room. “Ah, Star. You were faster this time,” he said. “I take it you’re getting the hang of that room, then?”

I placed the root on the table next to him. “It would be much easier if I was able to use my magic,” I said, tapping the ring of blue metal around my horn. If I used my magic at all, it would turn red, same as if I tried to take it off. “I don’t understand how not using it makes me so much better at using it. It seems contradictory.”

“You are an independently minded filly, aren’t you?” he asked. “You question everything and aren’t afraid to say your opinions.”

“Because being meek and shy caused me to lose my father,” I said, sitting down in front of him. “Give me my next task, so we can move on to something important.”

“You still haven’t learned,” he sighed. “How many times do we have to do this, Star? Time is of the essence, but—”

“No buts,” I interrupted. “Every day we wait is another day that Starswirl has to hide and escape. The faster I learn how to use War Magic, the better.”

“No matter how good you are,” he said, “you will never become a Warmage if you don’t have patience. That’s what I have been trying to get you to see!” He shook his head. “Your next task is to stay up on the roof all night. No books, no company, and no magic.” He stared in my eyes. “I want you to sit in the middle for the entire night. Don’t sleep, don’t stargaze, just sit. Think. We’ll talk at dawn.”

I scoffed. “This is useless. What is the point of this?”

“Star!” he exclaimed. “I am normally a patient man, but time is of the essence. We don’t have time to argue. Go up to the roof and meditate for the night.”

I sat for a second. “Yes master,” I spat.

As I was walking out, I heard him mumble. “If she could just learn.” He sighed. “What would you do, Moonlight?”

The night was a beautiful one. The moon was full and there was nary a cloud for miles. The weather ponies did a good job, I was forced to admit. Remembering Master Strike’s instructions, I turned my eyes away from the stars. My hooves clacked against the stone of the roof as I walked to the middle. I wasn’t directly in the center, but there was only so much I could do without magically measuring the distances, and I couldn’t use magic.

Deciding to humor Master Strike, I started thinking. I opened my mind and just let thoughts spill out. Many memories started to surface in an instant.

”You’re a fag? Ew! Get away from me, fag!”

“I will not make fun of you, I promise. You can tell me.”

“There’s the queer. I was beginning to think you had finally run off. Unfortunately, you decided to come back. Go to your bunk, no supper for you.

“Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? You call a filly who was able to open a portal to the Void useless, and you ask me why. You call her a freak because of how she was born, and you ask me why? Now I’m taking Star with me, and you aren’t stopping me, do you understand? If I’m ever back here, I will not hesitate to end you, should you have not ended your current practice. Find another vocation, Tender Hoof. You will find the denizens of the Void to be less than merciful. You won’t get off with a sore hoof next time.”

"You don't need an excuse to come and hang out, Star. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Stay here, I'm getting Premier out of that city, no matter what."

"There is one of you that I wish to speak with. When I was on trial in the Empire for false charges, a stallion teleported in and saved not just my life, but the lives of Rainbow Dash and my daughter. I wish to see you again, to shake your hoof and get to know you. To make sure you know that I owe you for saving those I care about most. Thank you.”

"Ah was sure this would get us our cutie marks, girls."

"So Star, as you get older, your body changes—"

"I already know this."

"Thank gods."

"Do–do you have tonight's homework?"

“I would rather die a thousand deaths than let you get hurt.”

The dawn greeted me, not judging me for the twinkling tears running down my face. He would have gladly died to keep me from getting hurt, but what if him dying is what hurt me? What then, Dad?

"You're ready," Master Strike said from behind me. "Let's head to the field."

—*~*~*—

The smell of smoke and earth hung in my nostrils as I stood in the center of a desolated landscape. A muted red aura held trees high in the air, their roots dangling like fingers trying to grasp the charred grass and dirt that spread across the ground. The trees creaked in the air and clumps of dirt thumped onto the ground as they freed themselves from their perches in the roots. Fire danced gleefully across the branches of one of the trees, consuming the wooden giant from the top down.

“Maybe we should take this a little slower,” I said hesitantly as I stared at my crimson-clad master. He had put on his War Mage robe on the way out. Well, “robe” isn’t the right word for what he was wearing. The closest description I can think of is a simple red shawl with magical sigils stitched into it with gold thread, all held in place with a replica of his cutie mark—a fire sigil.

He glanced up at the trees. “Hmm,” he hummed in thought. “Maybe they’re a little much for a first timer.” The ground shook in sync with a loud crash as he just let them go, letting them fall into a tangled pile on the ground.

I barely dove out of the way of a chunk of ice as it flew at me from the side. I rolled clumsily to my feet, exclaiming, “What the hell?”

My maneuver earned me only a clod of dirt to the face. “We’re starting with the five basic elements,” he said, ignoring the best death glare I’ve ever given a living being. “And before you say anything, forget whatever you learned, no matter where you learned it. We don’t let even the very basics of Modern War Magic make it out to the general public."

Another chunk of dirt was thrown my way. I jumped to the side, avoiding it narrowly enough to still get hit with a spray of grit. "Lesson one: everything is magic." The dirt curved around, smacking into the back of my head. "Everything. Dirt, fire, light, ponies. It's all held together with magic. Manipulate it.

"Lesson two: sigils hold you back," he said as a flash of my magic cleaned me off. His own flash conjured a ball of fire. "Learn to work with raw magic, and the world will be in your reach." My eyes widened as it was launched my direction. I vanished, appearing on the other side of him, only to be met with another clod to the face.

"Lesson three:" his lecture continued, nonchalant, "predict the enemy's moves, and bend them to your advantage." I levitated four clods of my own, throwing them at him from different directions. The charred dirt around him shot up into a dome, not only blocking my attacks but absorbing them, making his defense stronger.

"Lesson four: versatility," he said from within the dome, still fully audible. "Don't be afraid to make your defense an offence." My eyes were forced open again as his dirt armor exploded outward. I teleported with a flash, appearing next to him and avoiding his impromptu attack.

With a cry of frustration, I launched myself at him bodily. He didn't fight back magically like I thought he would, instead he matched me blow for blow, blocking my strikes, but not dealing his own in return. After a few seconds of this, he—infuriatingly enough without breaking stride—continued talking, "Lesson five: unpredictability. If the enemy can anticipate your next move and you can't return the favor, you lose." I was launched backwards as he exploded into scattering dirt. The real him used a small shield to keep clean as he let his his invisibility fade.

"Lesson si—" he started, but I didn't let him finish. With a growl of anger, I threw raw magic at him to make him go away, not caring enough to shape it into a sigil first. A ball of what looked like pure light sunk into his chest as it sent him flying. I grinned as I collapsed, exhausted from the magic use and battle. I was left with nothing but a vague sense of tired satisfaction and the taste of dirt from the stubborn grits still in my mouth.

An indeterminate amount of time later, I felt a hoof on my shoulder. Energy flowed into my body, and I felt my heavy eyelids rise. I turned my head to see my Master smiling, his mane slightly singed. "Glad you did that when you did," he said. "I had run out of lessons after the second one, and had been winging it." I groaned in response as I tried to stand up on shaky legs. His eyes flicked to my flank for a second, and I shot him a glare. I was still thirteen, damnit. "Congratulations, your training as a War Mage has come to an end. Recomend us to all your friends."

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed.

"Well, if you send more ponies our way," he started with a smirk.

"What do you mean I'm done?!" I shouted, interrupting in the space he left for that exact reason. "You hardly taught me anything, and you're already shipping me off as a washout?!"

He stared at me for a second before chuckling. "You misunderstand me," he said. "Your training isn't just over, it's complete."

"Didn't you say something about five elements?" I asked. "What happened to that?"

"Frankly, that was to confuse and annoy you," he admitted. "Same with the lessons and the duel."

"So you're telling me that everything we just did was to annoy me?"

"The logical mind can't let go of the sigils it's spent its life learning," he explained. "It spends energy that could be used elsewhere finding some way to have what you want it to do make sense, and gives it up as impossible if it can't. I just made you mad enough that you forgot you were supposed to be using them.” He cracked his neck one way, then the other, sighing as he relaxed. “Without sigils, magic does what you want it to do, not what you tell it to do.”

“So fetching your reagents?”

“Annoying.”

“The lecture on patience?”

“Annoying.”

“Your hypocrisy on patience?”

“I’ve never been the most patient, but it was also to annoy you.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

—*~*~*—

It was much later in the day when we next spoke. It was less that I was annoyed with him—that was true, but not the main reason—it was more that we didn’t have anything to say to each other. I spent most of that time learning to apply my new magic.

Taking his first two lessons to heart was the easiest way to go about this. I was still breaking my mind of the habit of using sigils, but now that I knew that I didn’t need them, it wasn’t impossible to do. Manipulating raw magic was definitely a different experience from using sigils. I it was both easier and harder. It’s hard to explain, exactly. Maybe an example would be a better idea.

Take the fire we were sitting by. It was in a fireplace in Master’s study, casting the bookshelves and chairs around the room in a dull glow. I stared at the fire, slowly letting some magic flow into it. Magic with no intention grabs the first job, per se, that it runs into. Because of that, most of the magic I sent at the fire was grabbed by the air between me and it. The small amount that made it was absorbed into the flames, the momentary addition of energy causing it to flare. The next burst was sent with the intention of having that happen again. The purposed magic passed through the air unmolested, so when it hit the fire it flared much more than I expected, shooting halfway up the chimney, if what I saw from my vantage point was correct.

Master Strike—Sure Strike, he wasn’t my teacher anymore—glanced up from his book at me for a moment before returning to his story. I ignored him, deciding to see if I could shape the fire itself. I melded the fire into many shapes. I first made a dragon, because why not? It’s fire. After a phoenix and a hellhound, I started to do non-standard creatures. Butterflies flapped around amung sparks, and a dolphin playfully launched itself out of a sea of fire.

"If you light the tower on fire, I'll make you wear a dress," Strike said, not looking up from his book.

"That's not so—"

"It'll be pink and frilly," he continued his threat, cutting me off, "and you'll be so adorable we'll have to parade you around Canterlot so as many people as possible can see you in it."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What if I want a new dress?"

He smirked. "Fine. Then I'll buy you the dress anyway and burn it in front of you, before dressing you up in a garish lime green and neon purple pantsuit and parade you around in that, instead."

"So don't burn down the tower," I said. "Got it."

After a pause, I asked, "What do I do now? Where do I go?"

"I figured that you would want to head after Starswirl as soon as possible," he said, putting a ribbon in his book and closing it. He placed it on the stand next to the chair he was lounging on.

"I do," I said. "However, I doubt that Luna would look upon a thirteen year old scouring the countryside for the most dangerous mortal in living memory—counting hers—with favor."

He was silent for a moment. "I didn't want to tell you this until the morning, but I've spent the last few nights cutting through red tape."

I blinked. "And?"

He teleported a scroll in front of me. "Read it."

I shot him a look before unrolling the scroll. My eyes drifted across the page, taking in each line of the formal language. One of my eyebrows slowly rose until I got to the end, when its twin joined it. "Application for extension of guardianship?" I exclaimed.

"I take it I'm not being too forward?" he asked. "I had some friends do some digging around in Ponyville, and Rainbow is still in no condition to be taking care of herself, let alone a filly." He smirked. "Plus, you're a War Mage now, you have responsibilities."

I kicked the ground. "Now I'm never finding Starswirl."

"I'm loathe to admit it, but Starswirl was impossible to find from the moment he teleported away from Manehattan," Strike said. "So instead of looking for him and wasting resources, we're creating a response team to investigate claims of Starswirl sightings."

"Who's on this team?" I asked.

"As of now? The two of us," he replied. "We'll probably grab another one or two War Mages, maybe a pegasus. Barring that, we'll be on our own. Are you up for it, Mage Star?"

I grinned. "Of course."

Author's Note

Good news and bad news. We'll go with the good news first: I actually got this chapter out on time! Huzzah! The bad news? I'm not even half done with the next chapter. I got sidetracked by two things: I hit a wall and haven't been able to figure out what to write since last Tuesday, and I found myself a catastrophic number of chapters behind on Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons. I have yet to fix the latter, but I promise to do my best to fix the former by next Sunday. I've got momentum, and I don't want to lose it again.

I have a confession. I don't even know if I should put this here, but screw it. I'm terrified. All around me, the fandom is crumbling. Everyone that I knew in person that was a brony has stopped being one, even people in pony-related groups have started to fade. I haven't be able to watch the show for months, and even then I'm stuck in the middle of season three. I can feel myself fading, and I don't want to go. The worst part is that I'm afraid that if I reach out further into the fandom, I'll find the same thing all over, and because of this fear, I'm willing to just fade complacently. It's such a stupid thing to be worried over, but I have actually lost sleep over this.

-HB

4.4 Mark of the War Mage

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

In His Memory Chapter Four:
Mark of the War Mage

“You’re shitting me,” I deadpanned.

“I wish they were,” Strike sighed in response.

We were standing in the middle of the War Mage practice field—where we had our duel scant few days ago—and were meeting the third and, as of yet, final member of our group. We were on our way out when we got a message from Luna informing us of the addition to our group. While we weren’t told who it would be, we had showed up a half hour early to make sure that we were there when she showed up. Fifteen minutes before the time we were told our new member would show up, there was the flash of a teleportation spell, depositing the most unlikely War Mage in our midst.

One without training.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Twilight shrugged. “I know more about sigils and on-the-fly modifications than any other two unicorns put together.”

“Being a War Mage is about more than sigils, Miss Sparkle,” Strike said. An understatement if I ever heard one.

“I understand,” she replied, not knowing her lie. “However, I was asked by the princess herself to assist you two in your hunt, so here I am.” She turned away from Strike to face me. “I assume that you will behave yourself better now that you’ve had a little discipline?”

“Miss Sparkle, you are the visitor here,” Strike interjected. “If anyone has to watch their behavior, it’s you.”

It took every fiber of maturity in my body to keep from sticking my tongue at her when her jaw dropped. “What?" She exclaimed, turning away from me. "I have proven myself to be mature! She sticks her tongue out at you when she thinks you can’t see her!”

I pulled my tongue back into my mouth. “Being a War Mage isn’t about magic or maturity, Twilight. It’s about the mindset, one that you don’t share with us.”

“If you learned it in a week, it couldn’t have been that hard,” she snarked.

“She arrived already almost in the mindset required,” Strike said, “and as such required little coaxing to tip over the edge and into our territory. You on the other hand. . . aren’t. It will take you years to learn War Magic, if it’s even possible for you.”

She glared at him. “I hardly think that I’ll have a problem with learning your fancy magic, Mage Strike.”

He just grinned. “With all due respect, I think that she will be better at it than you ever will.”

Twilight snorted. “And why do you say that?”

“Because War Magic is her special talent.”

“What?!” Twilight and I exclaimed at the same time, looking to my flank in unison.

To say that I was annoyed at Strike was an understatement. Stamped against my flanks was the image of a flaming butterfly behind a pentacle—the symbol of control over the forces of magic. “And how long, exactly, has that been there?” I asked him, my annoyance clearly seeping into my voice.

“Wait, you didn’t know?” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s your cutie mark!”

“Just how often do you look at your own ass, Twilight?” I asked. She just grumbled in response. "That's what I thought."

When he was sure that we were done talking, Strike said, “When you passed out after your first casting of War Magic. By the time I made it back to you, it was there.”

“And you didn’t tell me until days later, why?” I asked.

"I was waiting for you to see it yourself," he replied. Huh. Good enough. Annoying, but good. "But we waste time we don't have. We were on our way out when we got the message that you were on the way. Starswirl's been sighted in Ponyville."

Twilight chuckled. "I just came from Ponyville. If he were there, I would have known.”

"Twilight," I sighed, "I think that we're going to go with the report of the professional guard that's been watching for Starswirl rather than yours." Suppressing a smirk at her indignant look, I turned to Strike. "Ready, Mage Strike?"

"Ready, Mage Star," he said. He looked at Twilight. "Ready, Miss Sparkle?" Neither of us missed his. . . subtle emphasis on Twilight's lack of a title.

Twilight frowned. "Ready."

And with a flash, we were off.

We appeared on the road down from my house. Ponyville was exactly as I left it, peaceful, but anticipating chaos and misfortune. As far as I could see, ponies walked around on their business under a clear sky. They spared us a startled glance before going back to what they were doing, seeing Twilight and two ponies in the robes of a War Mage. I yawned, not bothering to even attempt to stifle it. “So, where to first?” I asked, following as Strike started walking down the street. “I doubt he’s still here, since we had to wait for Twilight.”

She gave an indignant snort from behind me as Strike said, “First, we need to talk with the witness. A local mare said her sister claimed to see a pony matching Starswirl’s description leaving flowers, of all things, at her neighbor’s house.”

“What’s this mare look like?” I asked.

“The guard said it was Miss Rarity,” he said.

I stopped mid-stride, causing Twilight to nearly run into me. “Sweetie was near him?” I exclaimed, vanishing with a flash. Twilight would know where Rarity’s house was.

I’d love to say that I teleported myself perfectly to divebomb Sweetie unsuspectedly into a tackle-hug, but I can’t. I actually messed up my teleport due to my inexperience with my new magic and found myself standing on the ceiling, of all places. Of course, gravity worked the same as ever, no matter what Spike might tell me of Twilight reversing it for a while in the Crystal Empire, and I fell, shouting and flailing, to the ground. Luckily for me, there was a cushion. Unluckily for me—or probably more luckily for me—that cushion was a squealing Sweetie Belle.

“Hi Star,” her muffled voice said from under me. “Good to see you too.”

I quickly extracted myself from the impromptu pile, lifting the other member up in my magic and scanning her for injuries. "He didn't hurt you, are he?"

"Why would he have?" she asked obliviously. "I saw that Starswirl guy drop a few flowers off at your house and vanish, I didn't challenge him to a duel."

"What's going–Star, put my sister down," Rarity commanded as she walked in from the back. "That hardly seems necessary." I looked between the two sisters, deciding following orders would be a good idea. Sweetie squeaked in surprise as my magic temporarily dug into her ribs, sending her into a laughing fit while I put her down.

Now that I knew Sweetie was okay, my serious mood melted into a more playful one. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she saw my grin. "Star, don't you dare—" I cut her off with a magical tickle assault. She dropped onto the ground, convulsing on her side as laughter tore itself out of her throat and tears ran down her face.

“I hope she isn’t being too much of a problem,” Strike said from the doorway as I stood victoriously over my thrashing opponent.

“Sta–Star! Stop!” she gasped out between her laughs. “Can’t–can’t breathe!” When it became clear that I wasn’t going to have mercy on her, she changed her target. “Rarity! Help!”

“This is all par for the course,” Rarity said, waving a hoof dismissively at her sister’s plight. “I’ve actually been missing having Sweetie’s friends over all the time, oddly enough. It’s been too quiet with her moping around.”

“Moping?” Twilight asked. “The only time I’ve even heard of a Crusader moping is after they got a lecture from Cheerilee for releasing Discord.”

“Wait, they what?” Strike asked, whipping his head to face Twilight.

“Ah, but one of her friends—her best friend, if I dare say—got arrested and disappeared for a week,” Rarity said, ignoring him. "Even with your falling out, you weren’t happy about Rainbow’s continued disappearance, are you?”

“What was that about releasing Discord?” Strike tried to interject into the conversation.

“No, I guess I wasn't,” Twilight replied, frowning. “I think I see where you’re coming from.”

“Don’t ignore me!” he exclaimed. “This is important!”

"If it was important, we would be talking about it," Rarity dismissed, immediately turning her attention back to Twilight as his jaw dropped. "They're quite fond of one another, you know."

I finally took mercy on the convulsing Sweetie, ending my attack and holding out a hoof to help her up. After a moment of pause, she hooked her hoof around mine and let me yank her to her hooves. I gave her a smile that she didn't return, which hurt more than a little. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

I can honestly say that my flanks hitting the ground surprised me almost as much as her hoof smacking across my face. "What's wrong?" she exclaimed, trying her damnedest to sound angry with her voice squeaking adorably. "You lit Diamond Tiara on fire, Star. On fire. Then you get arrested and vanished and now you're here and you're okay and–and—" she sputtered before glomping me, "—don't do this to me again."

With her face pressed into my shoulder, I could tell that not all of her tears were because of laughter. I wrapped my legs around her. "Sorry, Sweetie. I'll make sure to tell you the next time I leave."

She sniffled. "I guess I can accept that."

"D'aww," Strike cooed.

I rolled my eyes. "Way to kill the moment, Strike." I sent some magic at him, and he yelped as he felt a swat on his rump.

"Star," he whined.

"That's for threatening to parade me around in a dress," I said.

Two seconds later, the look in Rarity's eyes told me I made a serious mistake. By the glance she shared with her sister, I wasn't in for anything good.

—*~*~*—

"Your death will be slow and agonizing," I said, pumping as much cheer into it as I could.

"That's nice darling," Rarity said, her tone indicating that she both stopped listening to me and caring what I said. I yelped as she poked me in the side with a needle. She put her head next to mine as she pretended to inspect some part of the dress she was building around me and growled softly enough that Sweetie couldn't hear, "Make her cry like that again, and I will end you." Louder, she added, "If you didn't struggle so much, I wouldn't be poking you." I ignored her advice, instead struggling harder against the silk prison surrounding me.

"I think you look pretty," Sweetie said from the sideline, making me blush.

"I'm not supposed to be pretty," I grumbled. "I'm supposed to be a badass killing machine."

"If Celestia took the time to look pretty, then you have no right to complain about a little makeover," the older mare said. "She was a highly efficient killing machine, after all."

I latched onto the distraction of the door opening behind me. "Strike?"

The response I got was a familiar indignant sniff, followed by, "Of course, she would be looking for her new friend, and not us."

"Ah, shut it Scoot," a familiar drawl chastised. "This Strike fella's probably the guy out there runnin' around like a headless hog."

"Isn't it usually a chicken?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah didn't want t' offend yer kind like that," a very smug Apple Bloom replied.

From the growl I heard, a brawl would have definitely broken out if not for Rarity. "Behave yourselves, you two. Don't make me get AJ and Rainbow."

My ears perked at that. "How is she, by the way? Last I heard she was still AWOL."

"She's come back to town," Rarity replied. "She's even started working on the weather again, but I hear it’s only because she was told that she had to put in an application for leave to be gone any longer.” She shook her head. “She is always so proud of never having taken a day off of work. Always said that the only thing that would keep her out of the sky is maternity leave.” She put a hoof up to her chin. "Actually, she always seemed to be jealous of the mares that had foals, now that I think of it."

For some reason my ear started itching. Stupid dress. “Do you have any idea what that bug gave to her?” I asked.

Sweetie gave me a flat look. “The changeling,” she corrected, “and as far as I know, no.”

Rarity shook her head. “Sorry, Star. She just sticks in her house and doesn’t talk with anyone.”

“Who?” a voice I was very happy to hear said from the doorway.

“Strike!” I exclaimed.

“No, Rainbow,” Rarity said with a smirk.

“Ah,” he said. “Well, turns out there wasn’t anything really funky going on. I looked all over the flowers, but there was no magic on them. I tracked down the mare that sold them a daunting feat, I dare say—”

“You looked for the mare counting her bits over and over,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Er, well yes. Turns out that Starswirl handed her a massive bag of bits and asked for a bouquet of flowers to give to a filly who lost her father. Didn’t even take his change back.” He shook his head. “There’s nothing special about the bits. They aren’t fake, they aren’t magical. Someone supplied him, but bits are all identical, so there’s no way to track it.”

“What did you teach me about War Magic?” I asked him.

“Uh, it’s not nearly as limited as normal magic?” he asked.

“Exactly,” I said. With a flash, I teleported next to him. One wipe of magic later and all of the. . . ugh, makeup that Rarity had put on me was gone. “Let’s see if we can’t get something out of those coins, shall we?”

“Star, we aren’t done!” Rarity exclaimed as she used magic to put the half-finished dress on a mannequin. I cocked my eyebrow as I looked at the six other mannequins with similarly-sized dresses on them, causing her to blush. “Er, maybe we’ve gotten enough dresses for you for now.”

“If you really want to make something that I’ll actually wear, don’t do any of that frou-frou stuff. No lace, no giant powdered wigs”—I glanced at one of the mannequins that had a white mass of fake hair bigger than my head perched on top of it—“no frills. Just something simple that looks nice without being all flashy.”

Rarity pouted at me. She even stuck out her bottom lip when she saw that I wasn’t crumbling. “Rarity,” Sweetie said. “You have that used against you, you don’t use it yourself. It just doesn’t work.”

The older mare huffed as she levitated some paper over to her. “Fine. I’ll get working on that, I think I have enough of your measurements to work with.” Her eyes flicked to the other dresses as her magic started to sketch out a plan.

“If there’s a single frill on it I’m lighting it on fire,” I cautioned.

“Of course, what kind of mare do you take me as?” she asked as she crumpled the paper, tossing it onto a large pile of such balls and pulling a clean sheet over to her. “What you ask for is what you get, darling.”

“Make sure it is,” I said, shaking my head as I trotted out the door.

I heard Sweetie from inside, “Rarity, that’s a frill.”

“What? Would I do that when she clearly asked for nothing of the kind?” she asked as I heard the sound of crumpling paper again. Right before I got out of hearing range, I heard her sigh, “This is harder than I thought it would be.”

Some ponies, I swear.

Thankfully, the flower-seller hadn’t left yet. This was doubly thankful, since it was the middle of the day. “Good afternoon!” I greeted as I walked up.

“Ah, Star!” she said, making me feel bad for not knowing her name. Apparently that reached my face, because she quickly added, “I’m Roseluck. We haven’t met yet, but after all that’s happened, pretty much the entire town knows you, if only by sight and reputation.”

I smiled in thanks. “So, I heard that Starswirl bought some flowers from you.”

“Strangest dang thing that’s ever happened in my life,” she said. “I was sure that it wasn’t actually him until your friend there came to ask me about the flowers I sold. Gave me enough money to pay for my whole stock, buy a new stand, and pay for three months of my house, all for a dozen roses, he did.”

“Can I see one of the bits he gave you?” I asked.

She shrugged, grabbing a bit from one of the two bags she had. “Not that I don’t trust you or your friend, but I’m keeping these separate until I can get them tested up in Canterlot. Got to make sure they’re safe and all.”

I nodded, staring at the coin. "Strike, I'm going to need some extra spellpower for this so I don't get burned out."

He stepped forward, placing his hoof on my shoulder. I nearly jumped as a hoof touched my other shoulder. I looked back to see a hesitant Twilight mimicking Strike. "So, how does this work? Which sigil do I use?"

"No disrespect intended, but if you don't know, you can't do it," Strike replied.

Twilight stepped back with an indignant scowl. "I see, you don't want me to be able to do your fancy magic."

"More like telling anyone that isn't a War Mage or in training to be one is high treason," he replied. Twilight's shock allowed him to turn his attention back to me. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast so we can leave."

I nodded, feeling like a bobblehead. Focus on the intention of the magic, not the how or the what, but the why. With my end goal clearly in sight, I pushed as much magic as I could into that one coin. I ignored Roseluck's yelp as her bag of bits tipped over, spilling the rest of Starswirl’s bits on the ground. Slowly, starting with one, then two, then five, the other coins rolled out of the bag to join their brother, making a fairly sized pile of bits. Slowly it began to take on a shape. What started as a distorted banana-esque mass had eyes carve themselves out, the excess forming ears. A mouth opened itself up, the displaced coins moving to form a beard. Twilight took in a hissing intake of breath as she recognized the figure. "Starswirl," I said, hoping this worked the way I wanted it to.

Poor Roseluck fainted when he replied, "Young Star! This is some impressive spellwork. I have yet to come across a sigil that lets you do this." His every word and movement caused the bits to clink and scrape across each other, copying his actions as well as huge chunks of gold could.

"Give up, Starswirl," I demanded as I felt my magic running low. Only Strike made this possible, and not for long. "We're after you, and everyone around you will pay when we find you. Do this the easy way."

"Easy rarely means right," he replied with a heavy sigh. "I take it you got my flowers?"

"You came to my house to gloat after killing my father, you bastard," I snarled, being as intimidating as I could be with unsure legs. This was taking a ton more magic than I would have liked.

"Star," Strike’s shaky voice cautioned as I felt his magic slow to a trickle.

"If you truly wish to do the right thing, then meet me by Discord’s statue tomorrow at noon,” I finished. “We’ll see you there, you’ll surrender for your crimes, and you may be shown mercy. If you aren’t there, then I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth and beyond and give you the death you deserve.”

He regarded me sadly. “Good luck, little one. I truly mean it.”

I hissed in frustration as my magic ran out, causing the pile of bits to collapse back into a. . . well, a pile of bits. I dropped back, leaning against Strike as he leaned into me, keeping us both from falling. I sighed, knowing how well and truly screwed any chance of finding him would be if Starswirl did what we all expected and decided to not show up.

I looked around at the ponies around me. Strike was keeping me up more than I was him, even if he was more tired than I was. Twilight stared at me with open shock, bringing a smile to my lips. Roseluck was laying on the ground behind her stall; we’d have to wake her up soon. A crowd had amassed around us, shock, awe, and—in some eyes—fear. They were murmuring amongst each other, and as they stared on it started getting more intimidating. All it would take is one scared pony targeting us for the whole crowd to turn into a mob, and of the three of us that could get out of here, two were absolutely exhausted.

“Fuck.”

Author's Note

Sorry about this being late. The weekend was a ton of work, and I just collapsed exhausted when I wasn't up and about. I did remember to put this out for you guys today, so keep the pitchforks down, damnit.

As far as the fandom goes, I'm going to stay in for at least as long as it takes me to finish this story. I've heard great things about the season four finale, and that might actually motivate me to watch the rest of the show, so cross your fingers.

-HB

4.5 Oh Pagemaster, My Pagemaster

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

In His Memory Chapter Five:
Oh Pagemaster, My Pagemaster

To say that conditions were unfavorable was a severe understatement. A glance behind me showed me that I really shouldn’t be doing experimental magic during rush hour. A crowd easily the size of the one in front of me had gathered there, and they hardly looked any happier. “Strike,” I said, “I don’t know how we’re getting out of this if they don’t leave soon.”

“We aren’t,” he said simply. “I don’t have the strength to teleport one of us if things get ugly, let alone both.” His eyes swept the crowd. “C’mon, get bored and wander off. Go. Shoo.”

Twilight stepped forwards. “Just some experimental magic, nothing to be worried about. Please, go about your business.” That seemed to have done the trick and the crowd began to disperse.

Until a voice yelled out, “You were Celestia’s right hoof! Why should we trust you?” I couldn't quite place it, but I recognized it. The crowd stopped moving and began to speak up, some in confusion, the rest in anger.

“Hey, he’s right!”

“She’s lived here for years!”

“That just makes it worse!”

The crowd very quickly turned into a mob as it started advancing. They became an undulating mass of colors and voices that only seemed to grow with each passing second. I don't know which one of them thought rocks were a good idea, but I was barely able to deflect it. "Not good," I decided. "Not good at all."

Right as the first of the mob started to run at us, a blur slammed down into the ground, knocking him back and causing the rest of them to falter. Rainbow stood next to us while growling at the assembled ponies. "What is wrong with you?" she shouted. "Look at yourselves! That's Twilight, right there. Sure, I don't like her and we've had our share of fights, but she has been one of us for years." She pointed at Strike and me. "And there! That's Star! She's not only one of your neighbors, she's Streak's daughter. Is what he did for us worth so little that we're going to assault her out of fear of things we don't understand just a week after he sacrificed himself to save thousands?" She looked at Strike, thinking for a second. "And I don't know this guy, but based on the whole getup and the company he keeps, he's one of the good guys."

Her eyes twitched to the side just long enough for her to catch a rock that someone threw at us, her hoof whipping in one solid motion to catch it and return it, bouncing it off of the thrower's head. "Put your rocks down, and stop panicking over someone trying to help us!"

The mob calmed down, having the decency to look ashamed at what they were about to do. "Why should we trust her? She was one of the ones to let Celestia go the first time!" the same pony called out, trying to rile up the crowd once more.

An attempt that backfired as everyone backed away from him, staring warily. Rainbow's eyes narrowed as I tried to place the brown stallion that now stood alone. She tackled him to the ground fast enough to leave an afterimage, and she growled, "Get the hell out of my town, you changeling bastard."

He sighed as I recognized the favorite disguise of the changeling that I first met on the train to Canterlot. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."

Four of the assembled ponies were consumed in green fire, leaving black chitined bugs in their place. That started a panic. Most of the ponies started screaming as they ran in the direction of “right the fuck away”. However, a few of the ponies set their hooves and prepared to kick some ass. Rainbow immediately picked up the disguised insect underneath her and threw him into a building, turning and tackling another as it tried to pass her. I leaned my back into Strike as we did our best to look intimidating. We were screwed the second one of the bugs got to us, and we knew it. Twilight popped a shield around the three of us, glaring at the two bugs hovering around us.

Wait, there was supposed to be one more.

The final bug was getting its ass handed to it. There was no other way to put this. Big Mac had its tail in his mouth and threw it directly down into the ground. As it tried to stand up, he whipped around faster than I thought possible and bucked it in the chest with unerring precision. The thunderous crack of chitin splitting around his hooves was music to my ears as it flew across the street. The two Twilight were fending off were giving him glances as he trotted over slowly.

“Ignore him! We’re here for the filly,” the leader said as it picked itself up off the ground, casually dusting off its shoulders, leaving it unmarked from its unplanned flight. “I can deal with the big one.” It launched itself into the air, being consumed with emerald fire as it charged.

“Nope,” Mac said, bracing himself and stopping the charging bug with a grunt.

“Heh, you’re good,” the bug said.

“Eeyup,” the large stallion said, swinging one of his hooves around at it. The insect was sent tumbling to the ground with a crack.

It lifted one hoof up to its cheek, feeling the slight crack that appeared. It seemed stunned that it could even be hurt. “Retreat!” it exclaimed, launching itself backwards. “Leave the wounded and get out of here!”

The two bugs looked at each other, shrugged, and vanished with their leader in a flash. Rainbow drug over the cracked and unconscious bug she had been fighting, meaning that we had an account of all of them.

Rainbow nodded to Mac. “Thanks for showing up. I didn’t expect to have to use you to fight changelings, but it was good to have you.”

“Eeyup,” he said with a nod, turning around to go plod back to his stall and keep selling Sweet Apple Acres’ harvest.

“Well that was exciting,” Strike quipped. “Let’s not do that again, if that’s okay with everyone.”

“More than.” Twilight sighed. “They picked the most inopportune moment possible, didn’t they?”

“If you want to kill someone, you don’t hit them when they’re at their strongest,” I said. “You wait and watch, striking the second they’re vulnerable.” I cleared my throat. “Now if you don’t mind, the War Mages need to take a rest or three.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “It’s not all that far to your house. I can make up. . . the extra bed for Strike.”

I could see the hurt in her eyes, a hurt I knew well. My house had two bedrooms in it, so only Dad's bed could be extra. Strike must have seen the pain on our faces, because he quickly said, "I can take a couch, or even a patch of floor that's more comfortable than the others. There's no reason to go through the trouble just for me."

"I said I was going to do it. Are you calling me a liar?" Rainbow stepped forward. He raised his hooves in surrender, nearly falling over. I just avoided being knocked down with him when I braced him.

"It looks like someone used too much magic," someone said. I nearly tripped over nothing as I looked over at her. A white pony, pink hair pulled into a bun, was standing in the road. A red cross adorned her flanks, making me think she was a doctor or nurse of some kind. She had a knowing smirk on her face. "Looks like two someones. I'm afraid I missed the excitement."

"Just a few bugs," I said, indicating the bug that Rainbow had beat up. "Nothing overly hard."

"As long as you don't use all your magic before running into them, I would agree." She shook her head. "But that's not why I'm here." Her eyes locked onto Rainbow. "You have a check up scheduled in a half hour that I bet you forgot about. When you're done getting him tucked in and comfortable, come on down to the hospital."

Rainbow frowned. "I just had my yearly checkup three months ago. I should be good for the next nine months."

Redheart shrugged. "You've had this check up scheduled for those three months. I get the feeling that it'll be important, so I wouldn't skip it if I were you."

Rainbow opened her mouth to reply, but I cut her off with, "Rainbow, she's the nurse that knows things she shouldn't. If she says to go, go."

She sighed. "Fine. I'll go to your little check up. I don't know why you don't just tell me now what you would have found and just get it over with rather than going through the motions."

"You wouldn't want me telling these three," Redheart said. "Plus, you wouldn't believe me without a thousand and a half tests. We'll be in there quite a while."

Rainbow gave her a look, but went along with it. I have to say, my first encounter with the nigh-omniscient nurse wasn’t nearly as strange as I thought it would have been. “Anything major involving the rest of us, or can we go to sleep soon?” I asked.

“Just Rainbow,” Redheart replied. She turned to Twilight. “Your yearly is coming up in a month, though I doubt I have to tell you that. We’ve got the dragon specialist from the frontier along the dragon lands coming then as well, so Spike can start having his own check ups.”

“Thank you,” the unicorn said. “He’s not going to be happy about it, but the rest of us will.”

The nurse looked at Strike. “Hey, I ain’t in your books.”

“Correct,” she said. “However, your next check up is tomorrow.” He winced as she mentioned it. “At noon.”

“Okay, how do you know about this?” he exclaimed.

She went with her usual reply. “I know many things I shouldn’t be able to.”

“Let’s just get some rest,” I suggested.

Not too long later, I was listening to Rainbow and Strike making the first noises that room has had in a week. . . Not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter.

Pervert.

"Will you need anything else?" Rainbow asked.

"No, I'm more than fine," Strike replied. "The real question is are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" There was a pause. "Okay, stupid question."

"There are no stupid questions."

"Except for that one."

". . . Except for that one," he conceded.

"I'll be fine," she said. "It's just. . . I miss him. He was always right there when I needed him, but now? Not anymore."

"You can't hide from everyone. It isn't fair to them. Especially Star."

I could almost feel her wince through the walls. "I know, I know. It took Cloud Chaser threatening me to get me out of the house, at first."

There was another pause, this one much more palpable. "I don't think anyone else saw that, somehow."

"I fully expected them to. I guess mobs and changeling attacks aren't conducive to observing those around you."

"It's beautiful craftsmanship."

"I don't care about that. It was his. That's what matters to me."

Once more, a silence reigned. "You should get going. Don't want to be late. We should be getting to sleep anyway."

—*~*~*—

I opened my eyes to see books. Shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books. I looked around, but the row of books I was in seemed to go on forever. I looked up and couldn’t see the top of the shelves. Looking at one of the thick bound tomes on the shelf, I saw words written on the spine. They read:

Sunny Smiles, Day 9826, Hours 0–12

Curiosity overcame me and I pulled that book out. Placing it on the ground, I opened it to a random page about halfway through. It appeared to be a very detailed accounting of Sunny eating cereal for breakfast while tapping his rear hoof.

Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Lips part three-fifths of an inch. Jaw down two inches. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Right forehoof up seven inches, left half an inch, and back seven inches. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Lips close two-fifths of an inch. Right forehoof forward two inches. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Rear right hoof up one inch. Jaw up two inches. Jaw down an inch. Right rear hoof down. Heart beat in. Heart beat out. Jaw up an inch. Right rear hoof up one inch. Jaw down an inch. Heart beat in. Right rear hoof down one inch. Heart beat out.

Flipping a few pages later, I found that it was written like that for nearly a dozen pages. Who could have the patience to write something like this?

“Me, not that I have a choice,” a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a white alicorn with crimson hair and mane, and blue eyes. Her horn was lit with an aura to match her mane as if casting some spell eternally. "You mortals would call this deja vu, I believe."

"Who are you?" I asked. "And where am I?"

"I have had many names. The Allmother, Faust, meddling bitch. I prefer my given name: the Librarian."

"Your name is a title? Forgive me for saying so, but that seems hard to believe."

She waved a hoof dismissively. "I care not what you think. I brought your mind here because it has been too long since I had a direct hoof in the goings on of the world, and I now see what a mistake that was."

"What do you mean?"

"Of the many pieces. I placed on the board these thousands of years, two have been able to go against the Tapestry of Fate," she continued, not caring that it was the exact opposite of explaining, "your adoptive father and Starswirl. With one of them dead, I'm forced to break the rules."

"All you're doing is confusing me further," I said.

"The success of my plan does not hinge on you understanding it," she dismissed. "What does matter is that you don't kill Starswirl."

"Fuck no."

"This isn't a request. If you don't give up your hunt for Starswirl, you will regret it. He is worth more than an infinite number of you."

"How about this counterargument? Take a massive dildo, roll it in glue, then put it in sand. Shove that up your ass, and let it dry before yanking it out."

All I got for my troubles was a cocked eyebrow. "Angry, irreverent, and stubborn. Just like your mother." She cut off any reply I might have made by turning around and walking. "Follow me, we don't have much time."

I narrowed my eyes at her but followed instructions. We walked not even ten feet through the seemingly-endless aisle way before she turned and walked right through the books. I trotted forward quickly, only to be floored as an intersection I couldn't see before appeared before my eyes. I cautiously stepped in, only to jump as I felt something press up against my rump and push. I whipped my head around to see a bookshelf advancing behind me with no intention to stop just because I was there. "I said we don't have much time," the Librarian said from ahead of me.

When I caught up, she was standing before a massive wall with no books on it. It was a scintillating, prismatic thing, and looking at it hurt my head and eyes. Threads of color twisted and turned around each other and—in rare cases—themselves. "It's such a shame that something so beautiful causes so much pain," she said wistfully.

"What is it?" I asked.

"This is the Tapestry of Fate. Every major event from the creation of this universe to its destruction is in there somewhere." She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "Do you want to see your part in it?"

"Something tells me this offer isn't out of the kindness of your heart, but why not?"

Her smirk is all the answer I needed. "In this entire plan, you show up all of zero times, and none that do are required to be one of your descendants. You are easily replaceable, as far as the universe is concerned."

"Which will make it all the more embarrassing when I kill your little pawn." I shrugged. "You said that Starswirl and Dad could go against this fancy carpet, and I bet you that things that were supposed to have happened didn't already. They've been changing things for two and a half years, after all." Her grin fell, and the ensuing silence said more than words ever could. "This means that fate is mutable for now, doesn't it? That's why you're trying to scare me off."

"If threats against you don't work, maybe threatening those you love will prove more fruitful." Her smirk returned, this time with a hint of malicious intent. "A loosened scooter wheel, a crack in a support beam in a barn." The hint of maliciousness became much more than a hint. "All it would take is an awkwardly placed piece of cereal for me to kill someone. I might start with your neighbor's sister and go from there."

Fire washed across a pale red shield as I lashed out at her. Her grin widened as I stumbled. "Low on magic, dear?" she mocked. "Not that it matters, you wouldn't be able to—" My next blast cut her off as it washed through her shield, engulfing her in fire. My vision spun and faded to the pleasant backing of her screaming as I passed out.

"Take that, bitch," I muttered right before everything went black.

—*~*~*—

"Star," Strike said, shaking my shoulder. "Time to wake up."

I waved my hooves, pushing him off of me. "Five more minutes, I just lit a bitch on fire."

"You have strange dreams," he commented, replacing his hooves and shaking me again. “Wake up. It’s nearly noon already.”

I groaned, rolling off the side of the bed and onto my hooves. I levitated a glass of water over to me, wincing at the pain in my horn as I did so. So it looks like that whole thing with the Librarian actually happened, then.

“Are you okay?” Strike asked. “You shouldn’t be that low on magic after a night’s rest.”

“Like I said, I lit a bitch on fire,” I said, stretching. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the Librarian, would you?”

“I’ve heard the name before, but I know nothing of him,” he replied.

“Her,” I corrected. “She decided to have a conversation with me. A bit of threatening me, a bit of threatening those around me, a bit of demanding. She’s not all that good at asking nicely.” I looked at the clock. Ten minutes til noon. “Well, I’ve got a meeting to attend, and you’ve got a doctor’s visit to get to.”

Strike groaned. “You’re just like my mother, you know that, right?”

Author's Note

So was frustrated that I couldn't give you a chapter when I should have and I forgot that I had this. Awkward. Here ya go. Have this gift from me. Huzzah!

In other news, I've tentatively restarted work on this story. Muses are a fickle thing.

-HB

4.6 Infestation

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

In His Memory Chapter Six:
Infestation

The Canterlot Royal Gardens were a beautiful place, I was reluctantly forced to admit. Reds, yellows, blues, violets, and every color between danced and weaved across a backdrop of vibrant green. Hedges cut into the air, forming twisting passages that you could get lost in for hours without going through the same place twice. Expertly carved statues reached into the sky, depicting scenes of heroism and bravery.

And in the center of it all was a prison of stone, holding the second-most dangerous enemy the Equestrian people have ever had.

“A strange place to meet,” Luna commented as she landed next to me. The guards that surrounded us pointedly ignored our conversation, starting their own. My meeting with Luna was to a backtrack of rumors ranging from which noble slept with who to a strange stallion some say claims to be a thousand years old. “I would have gone with his statue in the Everfree.”

“What better place to have your enemy surrender but the location of another enemy’s prison?” I asked. “Also, Canterlot is heavily populated. I doubt he’ll try anything when an entire city is just outside the door. Not the same kinds of things that he would do in the middle of the most dangerous forest in the world.” Plus, Dad's statue was there, and I couldn't bear to see that damaged.

“I didn’t say it was a stupid place to meet,” she said. “Just strange.” Her eyes locked onto Discord’s statue. “And to think that all this time, he was a victim, not an enemy.”

“We all roll the dice,” I said. “His just happened to turn up bad. There’s always that chance.”

Luna tapped her chin. “Chance. I haven’t seen him for quite a while. What’s he been up to?”

“Last I heard? He was heading into the Everfree with Gilda. That was before Dad started. . . his thing. They haven’t come out yet. Whether that’s due to them being dead, to fucking busy, or vice versa is yet to be determined.”

“We should send a group into the forest, find them and inform them of what happened.”

“I highly doubt that Murphy doesn’t know about Manehattan. There was a ton of magic being used, more than was used to kill the Senate. If he wanted to help, he could have.”

She shook her head. “We all have limits on what we can do, Star. He can’t—”

Our very pleasant conversation was interrupted by a flash of light. Starswirl stood right next to Discord, two of the most dangerous threats to the nation in close proximity. He stared at us for a few seconds before saying, “I was expecting to have been hit with a spell already.”

“I used most of my magic yesterday casting that spell,” I explained. “Then I lit your puppeteer on fire. I’m a busy mare, Starswirl, and you aren’t special enough to warrant conserving my magic.”

“My puppeteer?” He arched an eyebrow. “There is nobody tugging my strings, Star.”

“You know what’s funny? Celestia said the same thing. The Librarian reaches far and grasps much.”

He froze. “You know of the Librarian?”

“ ‘Know of’ her? I just told you I set her bitch ass on fire.” His eyes widened. "What, you two buddy-buddy? Got some freaky mind-realm dream-rutting happening?"

"Do you realize what you've done?" he exclaimed. "You met the entity responsible for the creation of Celestia, Luna, Discord, and Chance—as well as the entire universe—and lit her on fire!"

"She threatened me." I shrugged. "When that didn't get her what she wanted, she threatened those around me. So I set her on fire." I paused for a second. "She seemed enamored with that Tapestry thing. Maybe I should have lit that on fire instead."

"You are lucky you didn't," Luna said. "The destruction of the Tapestry of Fate means the destruction of our entire universe. At its basest level, the Tapestry is your mind trying to comprehend fate."

"She showed you the Tapestry?" Starswirl asked quietly. He shook where he stood, face carefully composed neutrally. "I am supposed to have been the first mortal to see it. I am supposed to be her right hand. Me!"

Just as things started to get interesting, the screams began from the city around us. For his credit, the murdering bastard had the decency to look surprised. I whipped my head around to see black forms in the sky, swooping down to grab, attack, or even just terrorize the ponies on the ground. Pegasi were doing their best to keep the bugs away from their friends and family, but they were outnumbered.

"No, this wasn't the plan!" Starswirl growled. He barked at one of the insects as it landed. "What's going on here? Chrysalis ordered no attack!"

"Chrysalis is an idealistic fool," it replied. My eyes widened as I saw the crack on its face. This fucker. "And you are the outdated product of a bygone age." It grinned as it swung its head to look at me. "How nice of you to get three of the ponies most dangerous to my plans all together in one place." A shadow fell over us as hundreds of bugs swarmed into the garden. "Tear them apart. Slowly." The swarm descended as the leader vanished in a flash.

I was much less surprised than them as the insects slammed into a translucent blue shield. What did surprise me is that their constant barrage started to cause cracks to form. Luna winced as the barrier started to pull more magic than usual, no doubt causing a headache that wouldn't go away soon. A flash signaled the arrival of my teacher. “This is why I shouldn’t leave you alone for five minutes!”

"Strike, get Star out of here,” Luna ordered. “Something's wrong, they shouldn't be doing this much damage to my shields."

“No. I’m not running from a few bugs,” I insisted.

A shield of lighter blue pressed up against Luna’s. Starswirl grunted inside of it as spiderwebs started to race across it, letting us know that either he was actually under attack, or just a good actor. For half a second, a small hole opened in the barrier. “Get out of here,” he growled as he shot a beam of magic out through the hole, shutting it quickly. Any damage he may or may not have caused to the swarm was repaired near-instantaneously. “And take Star with you! My actions killed her father, I won’t let her die because of them too.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed in sync with mine, though for different reasons. “What do you mean, ‘her too’?”

“There’s no time to explain!” he snapped. “Take her to the old capital. The old, old capital.”

“What’s wrong with Everfree?”

“It was my escape vector if things went south,” he replied. “There is no way that they aren’t waiting for me there. We’ll talk more when we’re safe.”

Luna’s glare never faded. “What are you planning?”

“Just get out of here,” he growled, grunting as his shield started to crack and splinter. “We don’t have the time to argue about this!”

Luna snarled as her barrier started to bend inwards. ”Back, insects!” she yelled loud enough to hurt my ears as a wave of magic washed away from her, knocking the bugs back and letting her reform her shield. ”Begone!”

“Get out of here!” Starswirl snapped. “I can’t get rid of them until you’re gone!”

Luna gave me a look that told me everything I needed to know. “Don’t you dare—”

My world was replaced with crumbling towers and buildings half-buried in the sands. I stood on a circular platform, raised just enough that it didn’t have any sand left on it save that stuck in the cracks and weathered lines. A quick look around showed me two things. One: I was on the coast with the city stretching out until the waves carried over them, and two: Luna and Strike were right next to me.

“What the shit?” I shouted. “We’re ponies, we don’t run from bugs!”

“When the bugs are our size, outnumber us by easily three hundred to one, and drain our magic more than anything we’ve ever seen, then yes, we run,” Strike said. “Don’t let blind hatred keep you from seeing the best way in a situation.”

There was a faint “pumph” sound from the direction away from the ocean.

“What was that?” I asked, whipping my head to look in that direction. “Was that Starswirl?”

Luna’s eyes lost focus for a moment. Then they lost focus for a bit more than a moment. “He didn’t,” she said.

“Didn’t what?” Strike asked, beating me to the punch. “Stop them, betray us, or something else?”

“He destroyed half of Canterlot.”

—*~*~*—

After a few hours had passed, I grew bored with kicking decrepit walls in impotent fury. Luna and Strike had set up a small camp; I recalled something about letting me rest until my magic came back, or something along those lines. I didn’t much care. I had failed. I failed Canterlot by letting Starswirl destroy half of it. I failed my people by letting hundreds, possibly thousands of them die. I failed myself by failing my father.

Was I destined to always be a failure?

I didn’t even notice that we were moving until we passed a small town. Everywhere, insects piled ponies into carts, preparing to transport them to gods-know-where. It took seconds for every damn bug to be disintegrated, leaving behind dust and grateful villagers. Luna made noises about me needing another day of rest to get my magic back, but I still didn’t care.

With an alicorn and a War Mage pulling me along, the trip from the sunken city to Ponyville took barely five days. Luna said that she didn’t dare teleport us again, not knowing what else the bugs had done to our magic. Whatever.

To my relief, Ponyville seemed to have held off the infestation better than the village we passed earlier. A few black shapes flitted around on the horizon, but no other bugs were to be seen.

However, we were challenged the second we came to the attention of whoever was watching the road. “Halt! Who are you?” a mare asked, stepping out onto the road.

“I think it’s pretty obvious who I am,” Luna said.

“You’d think so, but with changelings invading everywhere, we can’t be too sure,” the mare said. “I need some proof that you’re who you say you are.”

Luna sheepishly looked back at us. She got two stares in return, one blank and one confused. “The fun has been doubled,” she said, blushing obviously, even through her dark coat.

A smile threatened to split the mare’s face. “Princess! Good to see you. Twilight instructed me to send any of you her way when you arrived.” Her smile fell. “She said to send you to her before Rainbow Dash. Rainbow said the opposite.”

No. I'm not dealing with this shit. “Send a message to both of them,” I growled. “Tell them to meet us at my house, but don’t tell them the other is coming too. I’m not dealing with this anymore.”

The mare blinked. “Alright.”

As she wandered off, Strike asked me, “What do you plan to do?”

“Knock some sense into them,” I said. “I don’t care if they like each other or not, they can’t be actively working against each other. Not when we can be taken out with a single well-placed changeling. We don’t know how many other cities have avoided being taken over, and we need to keep Ponyville as a base of operations to cleanse Equestria.”

—*~*~*—

"You said you wanted to–you," Twilight growled as she walked into my living room, catching sight of Rainbow Dash on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah, good," I said, pumping as much cheer into my voice as I could, "now we can start."

"What do you—" Rainbow started.

A wave of magic picked her up off the couch and slammed her into the wall. Twilight followed closely. I held the two in place, despite their best attempts at escaping.

"The fuck, Star?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I'm not as nice as Rarity," I said. "She tried to rekindle your friendship to get you working together. I'm not even going to make the attempt. Frankly, I could care less. Hate each other as much as you want. Just don't let your hate fuck up what I'm doing." I let some fire—real fire, not the heatless stuff I usually make—spread in the air in front of the two. They squirmed, but between the wall at their backs and my magic holding them in place, they couldn't escape. "Your feud already cost me the life of my father, if you fuck up anything like that again, I'll leave nothing of you but ashes. Understood?"

Their lack of a reply annoyed me. Twilight's whimper of fear annoyed me more. I flashed the fire bigger and hotter as I shouted, "Understood?"

"Yes!" Rainbow shouted. "Okay? We'll work together!"

I looked over at Twilight. "Just let me down!" She cowered. "I'll do it!"

A smile worked its way onto my face. "Good."

—*~*~*—

I spent the next while building a wall around most of Ponyville with Strike and a few of the locals. It helped me keep my mind off of the events in Canterlot, even if it was nigh-on useless against our flying enemies.

I finally grew bored of moving dirt around on day four. Strike caught on instantly, and pulled me off to the side.

“I know you,” he said. “I know how dangerous it is for you to be bored right now.” He looked around, relaxing as he didn’t see what he was looking for. “I’ve been scrying the area around us, and while it’s not my strong suit, I think I found the general area of a changeling nest.”

My ears perked up. “Then let’s burn it to the ground,” I growled, stomping a hoof on the ground.

“For once, I agree with your aggression,” he said. “Luna wants to adopt a ‘wait and see’ policy. She said we don’t have the strength to go on the offensive unless absolutely necessary. They’re too close for caution. What we need now is action, and you’re the only one I am willing to bring along with me.”

“And when do we leave?” I asked.

“Now.”

Author's Note

IT'S ALIVE!

Has it been a year since I last updated this? Many apologies. With college starting and me getting a job, life got busy, and an entire year flew by. The next update will be much sooner and less lackluster, promise.

Next chapter is an action chapter!

-HB

1.1 Streak's Entrance

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter One:

Streak's Entrance

Who was he? Where was he? He could not remember. All he knew was the Void.

He floated, blackness, all around him. His hooves flailing and hitting nothing. His eyes straining and not even seeing his muzzle in front of his face. The cold made his fur stand on end. It smothered him, choked him, blinded him. It was nowhere, but you could not escape from it. It was nothing, but was still real. It was empty, but encompassed all of his sight. It was intangible, but its touch was worse than agony. Time meant nothing, it didn't exist in the Void. An instant could be an instant, or it could be a hundred years. The sheer weight of the nothingness around him pressed into him. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

Did he have friends before? Did he have a family?

But the Void was not alone. Some parts of this void were lighter, being just black rather than a pitch black void that sucked all being out of you for just being near it. These black parts he started calling the Ebon. Was the Ebon was left by a friend, to keep him from being consumed completely by the Void? Was it a natural feature of the Void? His every move was agony inside the Void. Bits and pieces of him were torn off by the Void with agonizing patience. It was ravenous, merciless, pitiless, and he seemed like the only thing around for it to eat. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

Why was he here? What exactly was this strange place? What purpose did it serve?

The Void hungered. It ripped at his essence, ravenously devouring every bit of him that it could tear from him. Every passing second in the Void and he grew weaker. Every passing second in the Void and it grew stronger. The Void swallowed everything. Memories, feelings, thoughts, the Void did not care. This was his punishment for a crime he could no longer recall. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

What did he do to deserve the Void? Better yet, what could he have done to deserve the Void?

The Void ate the Ebon, just like it ate him. The Ebon slowly dissolved back into the Void it emerged from. The Ebon was his only ally in this strange place. He was eaten, the Ebon was eaten. He was in pain, the Ebon was in pain. The Ebon knew what he went through, since it went through it itself. The Void was hungry, and they both were food.

Did he have allies out of the Void? Had he always been alone?

He floated into a piece of the Ebon. The Void had been tearing into him for too long. He forgot what it felt like to not be continually consumed. The Ebon strengthened him. The mere absence of pain was a drug so potent that it made the return plunge into the Void all the worse. This was its gravest sin against him. The Ebon was not left by a friend, it was left by his worst enemy. The Ebon felt so good it hurt, then made the Void hurt more. The Ebon was false hope of redemption, and the Void reminded him of that fact. Painfully. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

Why did he not remember anything? Was he going mad? Was he already mad?

The Ebon tricked him every time. He would arrive inside the borders and rejoice, for the pain was gone. The Ebon had not abandoned him. He cried out in agony when he inevitably drifted back out of his 'savior' and back to the Void. Or rather, he tried to. The Void had no sound but a conglomeration of voices, constantly whispering to him with maddening half understood syllables. No feeling but excruciating pain of being torn to pieces by a unyielding ravager. No taste but the copper of his own blood. No sight but the eternal emptiness of the Void. No smell but that of his own death. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

What could he remember? Start with that.

The Void returned, assaulting his essence with an avaricious, insatiable desire for his being. It clove off fragments of his soul, hungrily consuming him alive. The agony was too much to bear and, were it not for the enchantments put on him ages since, he would have fallen into madness long ago. The void tore at everything he was, and only her spells kept his intact enough to function. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

“Her.” He remembered a female. Woman? Mare? Heifer?

Madness would be preferable to sanity in the Void. The mad don't register pain, don't feel the agony of being slowly detached, piece by piece. Her spells kept him alive and sane. They were in the way. He wanted insanity. He wanted death. He wanted some kind of escape. He needed to remember. The Void was hungry, and he was food.

She was a mare. He remembered the sun. The moon. A battle between the two, ending with his imprisonment here. With a sudden final cry that echoed throughout the Void, he felt his memories returning to him. Something both warm and cold simultaneously spread through his limbs, pushing out the pain that had been there for ages. He watched in wonder as the pieces of him riven by the Void were replaced by a red glow. He sat mesmerized in awe as the holes in his chest and shoulders, holes that had taken his whole time in the Void to appear, suddenly disappeared. As the spread down his back, he saw all the wounds there evaporate as if the flesh that was missing was just hiding under a layer of nothingness.

As his left fore-hoof returned to him, he remembered a monster, a mare, a friend, and a betrayal. Pain, not the physical kind he had dealt with for years in the Void, but the kind you only get from the betrayal of someone extremely close to you. He remembered battles as his right back hoof regenerated, two victorious, one lost. The enchantments placed on him by her faded as he regained his being. He felt the void retreating from him, quivering from him in terror and dismay as he grew in strength. The Void could no longer hurt him. Now he had the power, and the Void was afraid. The Ebon, devoid of its sustaining enchantments, shattered into thousands of shards that were practically inhaled by the Void, now devoid of its food source and lashing out for anything else. The Void was hungry, and the Void be damned!

He remembered the aftermath of that lost battle with his right fore-hoof, the distinct lack of death. Not one of his stallions had died. Death wasn't bad enough for their 'crimes,' they deserved far worse. He had gotten worse, and he had beaten it, maybe the others had too. He forced himself to take a breath, air slowly filling his lungs. He felt grass start to appear under his hooves. There was a faint breeze that he could barely feel that slowly built up in speed. He focused on not forgetting anything. He mentally nailed down his foalhood, he tied down his years in the guard, he grasped desperately on his “death,” needing something to hold on to. He gained strength from the righteous fury he drew from his manifold companions who betrayed him and the return of his final limb. He focused on his name, making sure to never forget it again. He forced his thick tongue to move. He needed to hear it.

“Streak,” he breathed out thick and hoarsely, and finally opened his eyes, spreading an explosion of red light to everything that could see him. His body fully reformed inside that light, and Streak knew his reformation was complete. He was back, and he had a mission. He cared none about her power. He cared none about her influence over entire generations of ponies. He knew he had one reason to be alive. He had to kill her.

Or die trying.

Author's Note

Alright, I'm re-uploading this chapter with some changes, some foreshadowing that did not exist the first time I wrote this part (Which was a while ago), as well as some changes to flow and pacing that I think make it better. Less fragments, even where I used them on purpose, which is an improvement. Hopefully the revision of chapter 2 goes as well, and I'll be able to finish chapter 3 a lot faster than I have been working on it so far.

Peace out girl scout
-HB

1.4 Everything I Learned, I Learned in War

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Four:
Everything I Learned, I Learned in War

“This is troublesome. It appears that the Weaver of Fates seeks to find you and snuff you out before you can complete your work. No matter, he is already too late. The strands of fate are already tangling.”

Fluttershy couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She just stared. And stared. And screamed. Oh, did she scream. And scream. And scream. That one sentence played through her head. Over and over. “You used to be a pegasus.” At first she had sat down in disbelief. No, this stallion had no wings. He had no scars on his side from wings. Then Twilight had dispelled the illusion hiding Streak’s scars. There was a thick, long scar along his side, running from shoulder to hip. His wings weren’t just removed, they were torn off, and violently.

And Fluttershy had screamed. And screamed. And screamed.

No, Streak couldn’t be a pegasus. Pegasai have wings. They have wings. Her vision narrowed until she was just looking at the scar across his side. This didn’t happen. Not in Equestria. Finally, mercifully, her vision blackened.

* * *

Streak looked at Fluttershy’s unconscious form with a sad expression on his face. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to drag innocents into his fight. He wanted the fight to be between him and her, but instead Twilight and her friends were drug into this whole mess. Already, he had mentally scarred one of them, possibly for life.

“We need to get her back to Ponyville,” Streak said, breaking the silence that had descended in the absence of Fluttershy’s terrified wailing. “Get her out of this forest.”

“Dear,” Rarity disagreed. “Our first priority is getting something to cover that nasty gash. As much as it pains me to say it, Fluttershy can wait. You can’t.”

As if by magic, Streak felt a stinging in his side. He shrugged, “I have about five minutes of adrenaline left, and we have nothing to use as bandages.”

Applejack butted into the conversation, “Weren’t we going to find this feller for the Princess? Shouldn’t returning him to prison be the first priority?”

Pinkie spoke up, “I don’t think we’re turning him in, are we Twilight?”

By this time, Twilight had returned from being sick in the forest just outside of the clearing. She looked at Pinkie in surprise, “How did you know?”

“I read ahead in the chapter, silly!” Pinkie replied.

Streak, choosing to ignore Pinkie’s Pinkieness, hoofed Twilight a fair sized branch. “I’m going to be useless in about four minutes, so if we run into trouble, hit it with this.”

Rarity looked appalled, “We will do no such thing! That is so—” She trailed off when Twilight picked it up in her magic and gave it a test swing. “—uncouth,” she finished lamely. “Really, darling?”

“There is much worse coming than hitting a timberwolf with a stick,” Streak remarked.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry, Rarity,” Twilight replied.

“Are you going to be okay?” Streak asked her. “I know what you saw, and it isn’t pretty.”

“I’ll have time for a mental breakdown later,” Twilight replied calmly. “For now, I’m just focused on getting us out of the forest.” Streak looked at her sadly. “Rarity, could you put Fluttershy on your back?”

“Ah think I’m goin’ to be a little better at that than Rares, no offence,” Applejack commented.

“You’ll be needed to carry Streak. He’s a little heavier than Fluttershy,” Twilight said. At Applejack’s glare she continued; “I know you don’t like or trust him, but just go with it.”

“The fact ya think he’ll be carried is what worries me,” Applejack snapped at her.

“Applejack,” Twilight scolded, “He jumped between me and a timberwolf’s claws. I think he deserves a little bit of trust.”

Applejack grumbled, “Still don’t like ‘im.”

Even with her complaints, she agreed to carry him, but only if he couldn’t walk himself. After about five minutes of travel through the Everfree, Streak grunted and stumbled. When Twilight tried to figure out what was wrong, he just waved it off as nothing. After about two minutes of watching him grit his teeth and force himself to walk, Applejack had enough.

“Alright, partner! Up you go!” Applejack called out.

“What do you—” Streak started to ask. Applejack cut him off by ducking under his barrel and lifting him off the ground. “Wha–hey! Put me down!”

“No can do,” she replied. “Yer in no condition to be walkin' right now.”

The rest of the trip to Fluttershy’s cottage was filled with indignant grumbling.

* * *

Fluttershy opened her eyes to see that she was still in her cottage. She sighed in relief. That was all just a nightmare. She’d have to talk with Rarity about it. It felt so... real.

She her bedroom door open. This was unusual. She heard somepony walk in, and turned her head to see Rarity walking in with a wet rag.

“Oh, Fluttershy! You’re awake!” Rarity exclaimed. “How do you feel?”

Fluttershy stared at Rarity in horror. Finally she answered Rarity’s question with her own quiet one, “That wasn’t a nightmare, was it?”

“I’m afraid not, dear,” Rarity draped the cool rag over Fluttershy’s forehead. “We’ve only been at your cottage for not five minutes. Streak’s about to start his story, if you want to join us.”

No. No. No. No no no no no. Say no! “Sure, I’ll be right out.” WHY?

Rarity smiled kindly, “I’ll tell them to wait for you.”

* * *

Dear Princess Celestia,

Spike again. Twilight’s at it again. She and her friends are tearing the town apart looking for Streak, although I personally suspect he skipped town. I’m worried, however, if they do find him, what would he do to them?

Your Faithful Student’s Number One Assistant,
Spike

* * *

Streak smiled encouragingly as Fluttershy joined the semicircle that had formed in front of his prone form. Twilight had taken this rest period to study him, now that she had the opportunity to. His coat was the grey of charcoal, while his mane was black as night. The exception to this was the rainbow streak running down the center of it.

His cutie mark, however, was definitely interesting. It looked almost exactly like Shining Armor’s in shape, but in color it varied widely. It was a black shield with a rainbow stripe running down the center. Over the shield were three stars, one yellow, one red, and one blue.

Rarity, however, noticed her staring. “Darling, you know it is impolite to stare,” she chided.

Twilight turned bright red, “I wasn’t staring! This is the first opportunity I have had to actually see what he looked like!”

Rarity chuckled, “Sure, dear. We believe you.” She turned her attention to Streak. “That is an interesting cutie mark, however. We know someone who has almost the same one.”

“I wouldn’t expect that in the next thousand years there won’t be at least one more pony with a cutie mark similar to mine,” Streak replied. “There really isn’t that many shapes you can make with one.”

Fluttershy spoke up next, “What do the stars represent?”

“Have you heard the saying ‘Service above all’? The yellow star is the exact color of Celestia’s magic. The blue one is for Luna,” Streak shifted on the floor to offer a better view of his cutie mark.

Pinkie walked into the room with snacks, back closer to her more bubbly side. She spoke up, “What about the red one?”

Streak looked at her sideways, “Faust.”

“Who?” Pinkie asked.

Streak froze in place. He stared at Pinkie for a second, then looked to the other girls. Seeing them all clueless, he exclaimed, “That bitch!”

Twilight flattened her ears, “Who are you talking about?”

Streak growled, “Celestia. Has she even mentioned Faust to you, Twilight?”

“Not once.”

“Have any of you even heard of Faust?” he asked.

No answer. Streak was at a loss for words. How could none of them even have heard of Faust?

“How about you start by explaining from the beginning?” Applejack suggested.

* * *

Faust and her Father were traveling in the realm between realms when She had an idea.

“Father,” She said. “Could I make a new world?”

Now her Father, who had made all the other worlds, was pleasantly surprised that his Daughter wanted to follow in his hoofsteps. He agreed, as long as She let Him help, and stuck the first world she made till its end. Faust readily agreed, excited at making a new world with her Father.

They gathered up Threads of Fate to Weave into a new world, which is the world we now know. They worked together to set up the fate of the world. This fate was written in the Tapestry of Fate.

To keep this realm on track, Faust and her Father created four Guardians. Celestia was the first, and was the Guardian of the light, but overt, side of Order. Discord was made next as the Guardian of the dark and overt side of Chaos. Luna was made next to counter Celestia’s overt control on Order, and as such was given control over the dark, subtle side of Order. Finally, Faust and her Father created Chance. Chance was the last bit to balance the others. He worked with Celestia to counter the darkness of the other two, with Discord to counter the Order of the Sisters, and with Luna to balance the overt control the eldest two Guardians had over their elements. These four were tasked with keeping the world going according to the Tapestry, and to keep the Harmony between Terra and the other realms.

Faust, true to her word to her Father, stayed in the realm. She keeps the sun and moon in their cycles, and keeps a record of everything that has ever been done or is currently being done.

* * *

That is an adequate, if in some areas false, accounting of that story.

The whole room, besides Streak, jumped and looked around. Twilight and Fluttershy gave simultaneous adorable ‘eep!’s

“You all hear her too?” he asked.

“Who is that, and how does she keep getting past my wards?” Twilight exclaimed.

I am the Librarian, and my power is greater than even your Princess’s. Your wards are nothing before me.

“Alright, all bragging aside, the Librarian has informed me that I have to tell all you girls everything,” Streak mentioned.

Just the Mare of Magic, the others are unnecessary.

“As I said, ‘all you girls’,” Streak shot at the Librarian.

Mortals. I will bring you further instructions later.

“Yes, Pinkie?”

“Start from the beginning, and tell us everything!”

* * *

One thousand years ago...

* * *

I sat on top of Canterlot’s walls, watching the approaching army. This was no normal army, it was Discord’s army. Stretching farther than the horizon were monstrous creatures not seen before the Chaos War. Manticores and cockatraices, dragons and minotaurs, even griffons and hydras.

* * *

“So what you’re telling me is that manticores, cockatraices, dragons, minotaurs, hydras, and giffons are all creations of Discord?” Twilight asked, obviously disbelieving.

“To be honest? We’re not sure,” Streak chuckled at Twilight’s perplexed face at that comment. “I said we’d never seen them, not that they didn’t exist. We believe he made manticores, cockatraices, and hydras, but dragons, minotaurs, and griffons are sentient. To the best of our knowledge, sentience is out of Discord’s reach.”

“Let him continue with the story!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’s just about to get good!”

* * *

“Looks like they’re bringing in dragons first!” I called out. “Ready the battlemages! Starswirl, where are you?”

“Look behind you, my friend,” a deep voice resounded behind me.

“Ah, there you are,” I turned around. Starswirl had been my friend for years. He was a deep purple, with light grey hair, neither of which were generally considered attractive. Stop pouting, Twilight. I said deep purple, not lavender. Stop laughing, Pinkie. He tended to be mildly sociopathic, honestly having trouble understanding most emotions, but he was quickly accepted into my circle of friends. “How many of your battlemages can deal with a dragon?”

“Any of them can deal with a small dragon, but once they get big, we’re down to a few dozen,” Starswirl replied.

“That’s a few dozen more than we had last time we tried to repel him,” I acted more confidently than I felt. Honestly, I was terrified. We lost the capital at Everfree without much of a fight, and now we had to defend the only large city remaining in Terra. We were down to the one city I had hoped would never be attacked. I had grown up in the Canterlotian streets, and it pained me to think of losing the city.

Starswirl put his hoof on my withers, “Do not let your emotions cloud your judgement, my friend. If the city is lost, we must abandon it. There is no other choice.”

“If we have to abandon Canterlot, then more than the city is lost,” I adjusted my posture. “Space the dragon worthy battlemages equidistant along the wall, and have the lesser battlemages reinforce the lines. We cannot afford to let cockatraices slip past while we deal with the dragons. The panic alone will kill thousands.”

Starswirl nodded, “It shall be done, my friend.”

‘My friend’. That was Starswirl’s name for me, more than anything. He used it all the time when talking with me, but never referred to anyone else using it. He first started using it during basic training, when I was the only recruit to even talk to him. Judgemental bastards.

“Brick, Ironhoof, reporting for orders!” Ironhoof said in his usual jovial tone. I turned to face them. Brick and Ironhoof were in charge of our Earthwalkers, our earth pony brethren. Brick was aptly named, with his coat the color of bricks and mane the color of mortar. He even had the outwards personality of a brick. Looks are deceiving, however, he was one of the most kind stallions I have ever met. Ironhoof, however, was outwardly his opposite. His coat was a bright white, and his mane was a pale yellow. He seemed to bounce wherever he went, bringing a smile the faces of any soldier he passed by.

I couldn’t help myself, I smiled, “Brick, your soldiers are needed on the wall. We have battlemages that are in need of protection.”

Starswirl cut in, “I have given the battlemages that are capable of taking down dragons red scarves,” at Ironhoof’s sly look, he deadpanned. “It’s the best we have on hoof.”

I decided to intervene before this became one of their regular arguments, “Make sure that the battlemages with red scarves are given priority, but don’t just leave the others hanging. In addition, make sure you reinforce the group at the gate regularly so that the land forces can’t get through”

Brick nodded, “Eeyup. Not my first rodeo.”

“Ironhoof, your soldiers will be in the city, prepared for if Brick and Starswirl’s forces cannot hold the wall. I want Surprise and Blossom to be the first on the evacuation caravans if it comes to that,” I dictated.

Both Brick and Ironhoof gave me a nod of thanks. Surprise was Ironhoof’s daughter, and Blossom was Brick’s. Even though they didn’t show it, I knew they were worried. Both their wives were killed during the fall of Everfree.

“Where are we evacuating to?” Ironhoof asked, in one of his rare serious moments.

As much as it pains me to say it, we need to leave Equestria, “Take them past the western mountains. If Discord takes Canterlot, we need to withdraw completely from Equestria. Start somewhere new and prepare for the betrayal of another Guardian.”

That statement was met with somber faces. Nopony wanted to believe that it could happen, most of all me, but we had to be prepared. Discord was wreaking havoc even while being opposed by Celestia, Luna, and Chance. I shuddered to think what would happen if Chance decided to join his older brother.

Starswirl was the first to speak, “What if it’s—”

“Doubly then. You have your orders, I’m going to check in with the Sisters.” With that, I turned around and left.

* * *

Streak yawned, “It’s getting late, and I’m getting tired. I’ll continue this tomorrow.”

Twilight nodded understandingly, “I can teleport us to my library. I have a spare bed in the basement that you could use.”

Applejack looked at Twilight crossways, “And what if Celestia pays Ponyville a visit? She don’t seem as fond of Streak as ya are, Twi.”

“The last place she’d look for him is in the house of her student,” Twilight responded.

“And when she does look? What then?” Applejack snapped.

Streak stepped between the two, turning to face Applejack, “I understand your hesitance. Where would you like me to sleep? I’m open to pretty much everything.”

“Ah have a barn ya can sleep in,” she replied. “It’s not nearly as comfy as a bed, but it’s out of the way.”

“That would be the first place I would look, and by extension, Celestia would check there first,” Streak replied. “If it’s as you say, it is fairly out of the way and would be the perfect place to hide out for a night.”

Applejack grumbled, “Fine. Go to the stinking library.”

Twilight said goodbye to her friends, fired up her horn, and she and Streak vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

“Rainbow Dash,” Nurse Redheart tried again. “It’s time to wake up.”

Just like last time, Rainbow Dash mumbled something probably rude, snuggled into her bed, and fell asleep.

“Rainbow Dash,” Redheart said again. “You’re allowed out of the hospital now. Wake up!”

Rainbow’s head shot up. “I’m allowed to leave?”

Redheart nodded. “We conducted magical scans throughout the night, you healed fine. I already did all the paperwork. You’re free to go.”

Rainbow shot out the window that Redheart had thoughtfully left open with a shouted ‘I’m FREE!’

Redheart sighed. It was going to be another one of those days.

* * *

Spike woke up with a start. He had fallen asleep writing a letter to the Princess, and had forgotten to send it! He looked around panicked for the letter, checking on top of the table, under the table, on the floor, behind Twilight, on the other table. Wait...

“Twilight!” Spike yelled, hugging the lavender mare. “You’re okay!”

“Of course I am!” she giggled.

“I had thought something horrible had happened to you!” Spike spoke into her fur. “I’m glad he didn’t find you!”

“No, Spike. He didn’t find me,” Twilight began hesitantly.

Spike pulled his head back, “Twiiiiilight?”

“Is the little guy awake yet? I want to get this over with as fast as possible,” a voice called out from the next room over.

“That isn’t... You didn’t,” Spike couldn’t believe it. “TWILIGHT!”

Twilight mumbled, “That could have been better timed.”

“That could have been better timed,” Streak grumbled as he walked into the main room of the library.

Spike looked from Twilight, to Streak, to Twilight again. He wore his confusion plain on his face.

“All will be explained,” Streak began. “But first we have to wait for your other friends to get here.”

* * *

Rainbow looked around in confusion. Fluttershy wasn’t at her cottage, nor anywhere in the general vicinity. Rarity was not at the Boutique. Pinkie wasn’t at Sugarcube Corner. Now Big Macintosh was telling her that Applejack had gone to a get together with her friends at Twilight’s.

“Just missed ‘er. Finished her chores and left not ten minutes ago.” That was as much as he said on that subject, continuing to buck apple trees.

Maybe I can catch up to her if I fly fast, Rainbow thought. Heh, ‘if’.

Within a minute, Rainbow had caught up with Applejack. She had a devious idea. She flew silently until she was right behind an oblivious Applejack.

“Hey AJ, why is everyone gathering without me?” Rainbow shouted right into Applejack’s ear.

Applejack bucked Rainbow right in the shoulder, downing the brash pegasus. “RAINBOW DASH!” Applejack yelled. “Do not startle me like that! Are ya okay?”

Rainbow pulled herself up gingerly, “Geez AJ, someone’s on edge today.”

Applejack looked at her ashamedly, “Sorry, it’s just that Twi’s got us a good conversation we got to have. You’ll want to be there.”

“Well, then we should go,” Rainbow said before taking off. She grunted and landed within seconds, “Guess I’m not flying for a little bit.”

“Sorry, RD,” Applejack appologized. Maybe this is a good thing, she’s gonna charge Streak the second she sees ‘im.

* * *

The second Rainbow saw Streak, she charged. However, he was ready for this. Pegasus met former pegasus, and within seconds, Rainbow was pinned beneath a pile of books.

“Was that really necessary?” Rarity eyed the prismatic pegasus trapped beneath a literary mountain.

“Did you see it ending any other way?” Streak asked.

“Are you okay, Rainbow? Speak to us. Uhm... if that’s okay with you...” Fluttershy sat by the pile.

Spike grumbled, “Gonna hafta put those back in place again.”

Twilight scolded, “Spike, grammar!”

Spike rolled his eyes, “I’m going to have to place those books in a logical fashion on the shelves where they belong.”

Pinkie jumped into the air, yelling, “QUIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEET!”

The whole room stared at the pink party pony.

“Better, it was so confusing reading this chapter when everypony kept doing things at the same time,” Pinkie ignored the stares that comment brought. “First, we address the Rainbow issue, then we get back to the story!”

Rainbow groaned.

Within minutes, Rainbow was caught up with where everyone else was, story wise. She agreed to not attack Streak, if only for now. She was still sore about the wing thing. Then they got to the whammy.

“He was a WHAT?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Streak unwound his bandage to show her the scars on his side. Rainbow took this surprisingly well.“And how did we not see those before?” she asked.

“He had an illusion placed over them to keep them from being seen,” Twilight started to explain. “Wait... Where did that come from?”

Streak shrugged, “I helped a mare repair a cart, and in return she cast that illusion.”

That was a high quality illusion, Twilight thought, I’ll have to find out who that was after this is all over.

“I guess that explains how you knew about,” Rainbow trailed off with a hoof wave to her wing. “That,” she finished lamely. “I can’t believe that you’d even do that!”

Streak grinned, “The only rule to war is that there are none. History is written by the victors, and I intend to be the one writing history this time.”

* * *

I landed in the courtyard of the mansion that had been repurposed into a command headquarters. I returned the salutes of the guards around me before walking into the main hall. Inside the lavish home was the last five members of our command structure. Celestia stood over a map of Canterlot and the surrounding area, listening to Wonderbolt’s scouting reports.

* * *

“Wait, wait, wait,” Rainbow interrupted. “Wonderbolt scouting reports, as in the Wonderbolts? As in the best flyers in Equestria Wonderbolts?”

Streak gave her a blank look, “His name was Wonderbolt.”

Rainbow deflated, “Oh, I had hoped you had met the Wonderbolts.”

“Rainbow Dash, he’s a thousand years displaced, remember?” Twilight reminded.

Rainbow blushed, “Er, of course I remembered!” At her friends knowing glances, her blush intensified, “Just continue with the story already!”

* * *

“As you can see,” I heard Wonderbolt telling Celestia, “there is no true central command. They’re ordered where to attack, and they do it on their own.”

Celestia pondered this for a moment, “This is to our advantage. They may have superior numbers, but we have tactics and training. We have a chance.”

A figure from the shadowy corner piped up, “We’d have more than a chance if you just let the three of us attack my brother’s army.”

“Chance, we all know that the second we do that, Discord will reveal himself. If that happens, the battle is lost,” Celestia replied.

“I don’t think you understand my brother,” Chance said stepping into the light. This was the first real time I had the chance to see him, and was he strange. He stood just shy of six feet tall, he was a pale cream color, with almost no fur on his body. The only fur that I could see was a mat of greying brown not even an inch long on top of his head. His face was smushed flat, and his blue eyes had a mischievous glint in them that never seemed to go away, no matter how serious he was being. “He revels in doing what is unexpected.”

“Which is why we should plan for him to do what is expected, because that would be the last thing he would do,” Celestia tried to reason.

“This is why it is impossible to plan against Discord,” Chance exploded in exasperation. “He does what is unexpected, so we plan for him to do that, but then what is expected is what we’re not expecting, so we plan for that. Then we realize that if we’re expecting him to do what is expected, therefore he must be doing something unexpected. This cycle will never end as long as you try to rationalize my brother’s brain.”

I cleared my throat, “I believe that Chance is correct,” I interjected. “We cannot plan against Discord, so we won’t. We take a chance,”—I grinned at my wordplay,—“that whatever we set up can push back Discord. Wonderbolt, are the pegasai prepared to combat the griffons?”

“As prepared as they can be right now. As long as the battlemages deal with the dragons and cockatraices, they’ll be fine,” Wonderbolt reported.

“As soon as we have aerial superiority, I need you to start dive bombing the land army. All we need is to push them back enough to go on the offensive,” I told him. I turned to Celestia, who was pouting, probably because I hadn’t taken her side in her argument. I walked up and nuzzled her, “I’ll make it up to you, Celly. Promise.”

Celestia got a predatory grin on her face, “Oh yes you will.”

* * *

Twilight sat staring at Streak, who grinned. “Might have left that part out.”

Her friends (minus Pinkie) wore faces of shock to match hers. Rarity was the first to recover, “Applejack?”

“He ain’t lyin’,” the orange farm mare said in disbelief.

“Girls,” Pinkie interjected, “I think he broke Twilight and Fluttershy.”

After a few minutes spent bringing Twilight and Fluttershy back from their statue impersonations, Streak continued.

* * *

“Sister,” Luna called out from the next room, “If you’re done flirting, we need your opinion on something.

Celestia blushed, but walked into the other room. I followed behind her, wanting to see what the other team had come up with.

Luna sat at another table, going over a different set of reports with a pony that could have been my brother. He had the same charcoal coat and black mane, but while I was a pegasus, he was a unicorn.

“Ah, what news from our spies, Sombra?” Celestia asked.

* * *

“SOMBRA?!” The six ponies and one dragon vocally assaulted Streak.

Streak rubbed his poor ears, “I take it you know of him?”

Spike spoke up, “Know of him? We beat him hard!”

Rainbow snickered, “Yeah, I don’t think he’s coming back this time.”

Twilight saw how fast Streak’s face went flat, and realized her friends’ mistake. She tried to run damage control, but was too late.

“Is he dead?” That was Streak’s simple question.

Rarity shuddered, “After what happened to him? I hope so.”

Streak stood up, “This will continue later. I need to be alone.” He walked over to the stairs down, “Call me whenever food is ready, Twilight.”

Twilight listened as the door closed, and his hoofsteps faded as he walked down the stairs. She turned to look at her friends, deciding to run belated damage control, “From now on, when he masks his emotions like he did, we stop going down that conversation path, yes? Now, I’m going to go downstairs,” THUNK. “Right now. You girls think before you speak, okay? You too Spike.” THUNK.

Twilight left her dumbfounded friends in her living room and went down the stairs, accompanied by the thunking sound. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, her hunch about the source was proved right. Streak was punching one of the walls where there were no books or machinery to damage.

“Streak?” Twilight cautiously called out. “Are you okay?”

Streak kept punching the wall, “Okay? Am I okay? No Twilight,” THUNK. “I’m not okay.”

“Hurting yourself won’t help anything,” Twilight reasoned with him. “Talk. Tell me what’s wrong. I want to help you.”

THUNK. “Every single one of them, Twilight,” Streak said with a level voice. “Every.” THUNK. “Damn.” THUNK. “One.” THUNK. “Of.” THUNK. “THEM!” CRACK.

Twilight jumped over to where Streak had his hoof a centimeter into the wall. She looked at him with worried eyes, quickly noticing the wet blood running down her wall. She wordlessly grabbed her first aid kit and bandaged his hoof. Streak, for his part, just sat there with a vacant look on his face. Twilight looked into his eyes, and his mask cracked. He grabbed Twilight and held on to her desperately, crying like a foal who wants his mother. Twilight held onto him while he cried into her shoulder, letting out a thousand years of pent up pain. Eventually, Streak’s sobs subsided, and he reluctantly pulled away.

“Thank you, Twilight,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

“Feeling better?” she asked him.

“Much,” Streak gave her a red eyed half-grin. Twilight counted that as a victory in her books.

* * *

“What do you think is going on down there?” Rarity asked for the thousandth. “He stopped hitting things two hours ago, but they’re still not up.”

Spike just stared at the wall, like he had been for the last two hours. He had disappointed Twilight. He didn’t know what to do. He’d never disappointed her before. He was just... lost.

“I still think they’re banging,” Rainbow reiterated for the thousandth time. “Why else would they be down there for so long? Hugging it out and letting him cry? Come on, he’s more of a stallion than that!”

“Rainbow, sometimes it’s more brave to let your emotions show around ponies than it is to bottle them up and ignore them,” Fluttershy commented.

“Besides, the focus of the story just came on to us and this isn’t a clopfic, so obviously they couldn’t have been doing the dirty. Duh!” Pinkie bounced around the room.

Rainbow stared at her, “Pinkie Pie, you’re so random!”

“Besides this is a scene transition, we won’t be back until—”

* * *

“I think I’m ready to continue telling my story,” Streak said at length.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Twilight asked, worried for him.

Streak grinned, “I am talking about it, it’s just much later in the story.”

Twilight shook her head, “Alright, let’s head upstairs.”

Twilight’s friends’ heads swung to the door when they heard it open. “—now” Pinkie finished.

Rainbow saw their disheveled look and smirked, “Told you. Banging.”

Twilight flushed bright red and started stuttering, “Wha–no, no! I didn’t! We didn’t! RAINBOW!”

Streak chuckled, “I guess this does look incriminating.”

Rainbow’s face fell, “Damn it.”

Pinkie interrupted, “This chapter is already getting long, and we’re not even half way through the first plotline of your story! Chop chop!”

Streak gave her a look before continuing.

* * *

Sombra looked up from his map, “Discord seems to be taking over or distorting the minds of ponies, turning him to his side. Every report but the last talks of a greying of the mane, tail, eyes, and coat on all ponies in Discord’s armies. The latest report speaks of a few ponies here and there that are not ‘greyed out’. We believe that as the morale of the populace of Equestria falls, ponies are joining Discord willingly out of desperation. There appear to be pockets of order inside Discord controlled areas where towns are being built, indicating that he’s providing housing for the families of those who join him.”

“That is the last thing I would have expected him to do,” Celestia mused.

“Which is why he did it,” I thought out loud, “Damn it, he’s smarter than we give him credit for. He’s not staying back on the attack, he’s disguised. He’ll be at the wall in a matter of hours.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Luna said, “What reason would he have to be at the battle today?”

I ignored her, “Wonderbolt, find Brick, Ironhoof, and Starswirl. Tell them to be watching out for gaps in the army. Discord’s out there, I know it.”

Wonderbolt saluted me and flew out the nearby window. I turned to the Sisters, “All of our scouts have been searching for where Discord is hiding. We’ve expended resources getting past the army for weeks while it advanced, looking for his position.”

Chance picked up on my line of thinking, “What better place to hide than the place that’s so obvious that nobody will bother checking?”

Wonderbolt crashed into the room again, “STREAK! You’re going to want to see this!”

I ran to the window and paled. Right in front of the gates was Discord, and he was riding something out of a nightmare. A giant, translucent purple bear, easily three times the size of the walls protecting Canterlot was sitting in a place where it had no business being on such short notice.

“OH CELLY! I HAVE A NEW FRIEND FOR YOUR GENERAL TO PLAY WITH!” Discord’s cackling voice fell through Canterlot like a wave of madness. I narrowed my eyes, that was my name for her. The dragons had stopped just barely out of reach of the battlemages, and were now circling around Canterlot. “LET’S SEE WHAT ORDER’S BEST CAN DO AGAINST MY NEW PET!”

Celestia walked up next to me and frowned, “Well. I certainly didn’t expect that.”

“Or he could be there. Doing that,” I deadpanned. “Damn it, I couldn’t have been right this time? Wonderbolt, gather up the others,” he saluted, again, and left, again. “Celly, Luna, Chance, now is the time to strike at Discord. The six of us will distract that creature until you can defeat him.”

Celestia looked at me with sad eyes, “Be careful.”

I grinned, “I don’t plan on dying yet.”

* * *

“You’re saying that you took on an Ursa Major, probably the most dangerous creature to ever exist, with six ponies and lived?” Rarity asked skeptically.

“Yes, he did,” Twilight answered for him. At her friend’s looks, she explained, “I saw his memories in the clearing, remember?”

While the rest of her friends just nodded and waited for them to continue, Rainbow blushed. “Of course!” she blurted out again. At her friends amused glances, her blush intensified and she muttered, “Just get on with it.”

* * *

I shook my head before standing up. Damn, that bear could hit hard. Wonderbolt was distracting it by flying around its head, while Brick, Ironhoof, and Sombra worked with soldiers to push back the advancing army. Starswirl stood above me, a worried look in his eyes. His horn was glowing blue, charging a megaspell that should be able to, if not kill the ursa outright, at least push it off the mountain. It would land on the advancing army, simultaneously giving us a breather.

“Are you okay, my friend?” he asked.

“I’m just lucky I hit a weak wooden wall, rather than a strong or stone one, or I’d have been liquified,” I responded, shaking the aches out of my wings. “Nothing important’s broken. I’ll be fine until after the battle. Just keep focusing on that spell.” I walked out of the hole my entrance put into the wall. I spread my wings, but was stopped by a hoof to my shoulder. I looked back to see Starswirl with a concerned expression on his face.

“Don’t get yourself killed,” he said. “The army couldn’t take a hit like that.”

I smirked. I knew him well enough to know that he was worried about me, and just didn’t know how to express it correctly. “As I told sunbutt, I don’t plan on dying yet,” I took off to rejoin the fight against the ursa.

* * *

“Sunbutt?” Twilight asked.

“Later!” Pinkie yelled.

* * *

I pulled myself out from another building, “Damn, this thing is tenacious!” I spread my wings, feeling a twinge, but nothing serious. I took a step, and my leg buckled with a grunt. “Damn leg. Damn ursa. Damn Discord!”

“My friend, you’re hurt!” Starswirl ran up to me.

“Spell! I can still fly!” I yelled back as I flew off. I turned forward just in time to dodge a purple paw the size of a house. “WOAH!” I was knocked spiraling by the current of air following the ursa’s paw. I managed to stabilize before slamming into the ground or another house, thankfully. Those things hurt.

I watched as the ursa returned its attention to Wonderbolt, who was having no problems dodging the ursa’s cumbersome attacks. This was one of the moments where I wished I was faster in the air. If the ursa wasn’t so damn big, it would be a lot easier to dodge as I was. I noticed, however, that Wonderbolt was tiring. It was only a matter of time before it got a good hit in, and I was a lot tougher than he was. He might not survive getting hit by this thing, let alone get up.

Starswirl always said I was part earth pony. ‘Tough, and stubborn,’ he’d said.

I watched Wonderbolt, tracking his slowing movements. Right as the ursa was about to swing the swipe that would hit, I struck. My bodyslam to the side of its head surprised it more than it hurt it, and I managed to delay its attack long enough for Wonderbolt to avoid it. We weren’t going to get any more swings without one of us being taken out.

I looked at the exhausted Wonderbolt, and made my decision. I flew up, and dove at the ursa’s eye. It seemed amused by my brashness, and swiped a paw at me. I collided with a massive wall of purple and was sent reeling. I tried to slow my descent, but the hit had left my right wing at an odd angle. I cried out in pain.

Suddenly, my vision was filled with blue. Starswirl had launched his megaspell.

* * *

“One more interruption, what spell did he use that actually hurt an ursa?” Twilight asked hopefully, quill and parchment out already.

“He just used a focused convection beam, switching the harmonic/dissonance ratio from three to four, and arranged the sigil in a braced hexagonal diagram. This caused it to be hotter and faster, combined with the charging factor of seven turning it from a class B utility spell capable of melting rock into a class A offensive spell that launched superheated plasma hot enough to burn through an ursa,” Streak listed off in his head. “If I got my calculations right.”

Twilight and Rarity stared at him in shock, and Rainbow yawned, “Yep, I understood some of those words.”

“You know spell theory?” Twilight asked, excitedly.

“Why does that surprise you? Every single soldier in the army has to learn basic spell theory!” Streak exclaimed.

Twilight scoffed, “Not anymore, they don’t. Most unicorns don’t even know how their magic works, let alone the fine details of it.”

Streak planted his face into his hoof and was about to speak up when Pinkie interrupted, “Everything we need to know from this conversation is learned. Now could we please. Move. On?”

* * *

I woke up much later to the sound of beeping. When I opened my eyes, all I saw was white. Great. A hospital.

“Oh, you’re awake!” I heard a voice call out. “Now don’t try and move, you have two broken legs, a broken wing, broken ribs, a few lacerations, and second and third degree burns across the right side of your body.”

“I should have aimed that spell better. I apologise, my friend,” I heard Starswirl’s sheepish voice.

I looked at him and groaned, “Better have killed the damn thing.”

Starswirl shook his head, “I put a sizable hole in its chest, and it fled.”

I could hear it in the way he said it. He was leaving out something, and I wanted to know what. “Starswirl..?”

He sighed, “There’s also a sizable hole in the night sky.”

I was silent. The sheer audacity of that statement hit me like a ton of bricks. “Starswirl, how the hell did you put a hole in the Faust-damned sky?”

“Luna believes that Discord tied the ursa to the night sky, and any damage dealt to the ursa will damage the sky accordingly. We’ll know when the ursa is healed because the sky will be too.”

“About Discord, what happened?” I asked, almost fearful of his response.

“Celestia, Luna, and Chance were able to contain him. He’s currently petrified in magical stasis.” I did a double take at that. We stopped Discord?

“So that means we won,” I said in relief. “The Chaos War is over.”

Starswirl’s reply was cryptic, “Yes, and now the hard part begins.”

* * *

“The hard part?” Rainbow asked. “How is what comes next the hard part? We had to fight Discord once, and it was way harder to fight him than it was to deal with the aftermath.”

Streak chuckled, “Think about this, you never really fought him. You got lucky while he was toying with you. If he had wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

Author's Note

This chapter... took too long. I actually completely rewrote the Ursa scene about three times because I didn't like it. Hopefully the next chapter takes less time.

I'll say. I got bored waiting for you to start writing me again! And you know what a bored Pinkie is like!

...Save me.

Also, could someone please explain what caused the sudden surge of upvotes? It wasn't a chapter update, but somehow in between chapters, this story went from 6 and 3 to 13 and 3. I'm not complaining, mind you. Just confused.

-HB

3.6 Because Life Just Wasn't Hard Enough Already

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Recurring Memories Chapter Six:
Because Life Just Wasn’t Hard Enough Already.

“And why do you feel that way?” Mind asked.

I felt my eye twitch. He hadn’t said anything else since we started this session. We sat in his room, the four of us. Rainbow was again to my right. Star was to my left yet again. I had been at this for a month, and Mind Mender had asked pretty much only one damn question, even during the super-secret-totally-didn’t-happen sessions I had with him when Star was at school some days. I used those private sessions to explain the urges I felt around Rainbow.

Not those kinds, pervert.

Eventually, however, the overuse of that one damn question to make me think would backfire. Today was not that day. “Because the curtains were fucking blue!” I shouted. Everyone looked at me during a moment of silence, half because I shouted, and half because my answer had no relevance to the question being asked.

“Language, Dad,” Star admonished quietly.

“Streak, I asked why you wanted to push Flitter off a cliff. I said nothing about curtains,” Mind said calmly.

I took a deep breath, held it, then released. Satisfied with how much calmer I was, I explained. “When I was in school, the teacher had a bone on for symbolism. Everything in any book we read had to mean something, otherwise, why would the author have put it into the book? One day she asked why the author said the curtains were blue. I got suspended for that exact same outburst immediately afterwards.”

“Repressed anger at authority figures that you feel wronged you,” Mind muttered, scribbling something on a pad of paper.

”Plus she’s a pegasus,” I said. ”I wouldn’t have enjoyed it because she could catch herself.”

“Back on Flitter?” Star asked.

“Duh,” Rainbow teased. “C’mon Star, I thought you were smart.”

“Miss Dash, that is more than enough,” Mind said. “We need to be united, or this won’t work properly and he’ll deteriorate right back to where he was.”

”Thanks for the vote of confidence, doc,” I muttered. ”Very encouraging.”

The door slammed open, making the four of us jump out of our coats. Mind snapped at the pony that the three of us non-psychiatrists didn’t see yet. “I am with a client!”

“I know,” an all-too-familiar voice said.

I turned my head to see a dull red pony in the full guard’s getup. “Bright Aegis. How nice to see you without the tip of your spear on my throat.”

“Princess Luna wishes your immediate presence,” he said without ceremony and with a heavily implied ‘and I don’t know why’ tacked on the end. He really, really didn’t like me. “She is waiting outside.”

I stood up to walk outside, and my family did the same. Bright held up a hoof. “No, only Streak.”

I instantly sat back down, turning to face Mind. ”That was a waste of time. So where were we?”

“You were just on your way outside,” Bright growled threateningly.

”You know, it’s funny,” I said, turning to look at the guard. ”I don’t remember that at all.”

“Go outside or I will bring you out,” he said. Ooh, threatening me. Not a smart move.

I turned and looked at Rainbow. ”Not a Friday,” I said. She sighed in resignation as Bright’s eyebrow cocked. That raised brow provided the perfect target as my hoof swung up and smacked him in the face.

He stumbled backwards, a small dent in the side of his helmet from where my hoof contacted. He snarled before launching himself at me. His hoof came in from the left. I easily dodged, using his momentum and emotional state to deflect him off balance. A quick buck to the side later, he was crashing through Mind’s door. Good thing it swung outwards, or that would have been even more annoying.

The guard picked himself up off the ground and tried the same tactic again. I smirked. Time seemed to slow as I planned my counter-assault—one of the perks of my time as a serial killer. First, I would smack him around a little until we reached the corner. After that, it was a straight shot to the exit, where Luna would be waiting. His hoof sped up and flew for my face, and I easily dodged it.

With a quick jab to his chest, he stumbled backwards. Another was supplied as soon as he caught his balance, then another. Soon we reached the corner. I edged around the outer wall of the curve, setting him up to follow my preset path. His eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what I was doing. I launched an assault directly at him, rapid-fire jabs and swings pushing him backwards quickly. Right as he looked like he was going to try to go on the offensive, I feinted. This allowed me to give him a nice, big punch in the side of the face, setting him up for one last buck to the side.

Splinters peppered anything directly outside Mind’s practice. I slowly walked out, smirking as a stunned Bright. ”Hey, you were right. Look where we ended up! You brought me right out. Thank you for your diligence.” I could have some fun with him later. As it was, I turned my face to an unamused alicorn who was lowering the barrier she erected in front of herself and her entourage. ”Ah, Luna! Good to see you. Said you wanted to talk?”

Mind shook his head from the now-demolished door. “You’re paying for this, Streak.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No he isn’t,” she said. “I am. He doesn’t have a job.”

Star sighed. “Could you go a few months without fighting something?”

That last one hit me where it hurt. My daughter sounded disappointed in me, something I never wanted her to be. I wanted to be a good Dad, one she was proud to have at all times. This was not how to do that. I sighed. “Sorry, Star.”

“As much as it pains me to say it, this is exactly why we need you,” Luna said. “We’ve been tracking a magical anomaly that seemed to be centered around Manehattan.”

“That sounds like Twilight’s kind of job,” I mentioned. “What does this have to do with me?”

“Twilight was involved,” Luna said. “We found the source of the anomaly. There were a huge number of changelings concentrated around four areas. They were spaced equidistantly around the city. We believe them to be spell nodes.” She took a deep breath, letting it go in a long-suffering sigh. “The reason we need you is that Starswirl the Bearded was spotted moving between the nodes. There is also captive ponies segregated from those drugged into being food supplies. We don’t know why they are there, especially since the recon team we sent in a week ago hasn’t responded.” She looked me in the eyes. “Yesterday, they were seen with the segregated captives.”

”And what do you want me to do?” I snapped. ”Do you want me to go rip off some heads? Do you want me to kill? If so, count me the fuck out. I’ve had enough killing for a thousand lifetimes. I just want to get better and live as normal a life as I can.”

“The magical radiation is nearly the exact opposite of that emitted when a portal to the Void is opened,” Luna said calmly. “He’s doing something. Something big. The only pony I can send in is you.”

”And I already told you where to shove it, Luna” I said, getting a glare from Luna’s guards. ”I have done enough for this country. It is high time it did something for me in return. I’m retired.”

“Then you leave me no choice,” Luna said somberly. “In accordance with Equestrian Statute 612.34.2A, I am reinstating you as the head of the United Equestrian Armies. Failure to comply with a direct order from a superior will result in a violation of Statute 612.34.6C.”

I stared her in the eyes. She looked honestly pained to have felt the need to pull this on me, but I really didn’t give a damn at that moment. I looked down at Bright, who had decided that a nap was a great idea while he was getting pulled along the ground by a stretcher. My eyes locked again with Luna’s. ”Ooh, a violation of statute numbers-letter. I’m so scared. As was the popular Canterlot vernacular growing up, ‘bring it, bitch.’ I’m retired.“

The guard bristled behind the Princess. I kept my face neutral as Luna gazed down at me with an impartial and pitiless gaze. “Streak, I hereby charge you with a violation of a direct order in a time of war, and therefore high treason. Do you have anything to say?”

I cleared my throat. “Bring it, bitch.”

Luna sighed. “Bring in all three of them.”

Next thing I knew, I had a sword in my hooves and pressed against Luna’s throat. I heard someone screaming behind me, “Get it out! Get it out!” I chose to ignore it.

“Say that again,” I growled, not knowing what else to say. I was still puzzled by where I got the sword, honestly.

I felt a hoof on my shoulder, and I had to stop myself from bringing the sword around against the pony behind me. Lucky that I didn’t. Rainbow was right behind me. “Streak, this is not you getting better. This is you getting worse.”

I looked past her and had to sigh. Guards were laying in heaps in the yard, and one of them—the screaming one, of course—had a spear through his leg. I’m not quite sure what I did, but it looks like I had another moment just like the one when Rainbow got hurt in Canterlot. Luckily, it was shorter this time. ”This again? I sighed.

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. “Again?”

“He flipped when you got hurt at Canterlot,” Star mentioned. “I thought we told you.”

My marefriend looked around at the carnage. “So you’re telling me that this is him getting better,” she deadpanned.

“Yes,” Luna said, rubbing her throat. “Streak, we need you.”

”I already wasn’t helping,” I said. ”After that shit you just pulled? I’m out for good.”

“I’ll do it,” Rainbow said. “Tell me what you need done.”

“You can’t be serious,” I said, looking at her in disbelief.

She looked at me. “She knows, Streak. She knows what you are recovering from and she came anyway to ask for your help. When you said no, she tried to force you.” Rainbow looked over at Luna. “She is desperate.”

“There is a good chance that he plans to flatten the city, and I cannot risk the panic that an evacuation would cause,” Luna said. “I don’t know why he would destroy Manehattan, but then again, I don’t understand why Chrysalis attacked Canterlot like she did either, and they have insinuated that she planned the assault knowing it would be a failure.”

”Is there enough magic flowing around between those nodes to flatten the city?” I asked. ”Because if not—” I stopped mid-sentence looking over near where Canterlot Mountain stood. ”By the gods,” I said slowly. My head whipped around to look at Luna. I pointed my hoof at where I was looking seconds previous. ”Is that where Manehattan is?”

Luna nodded. “It is. Why do you say—”

”We’re leaving. Now,” I said in a tone brokering no argument. ”Grab the Bearers and the Elements. We’ll need them.”

—*~*~*—

I stood on a hill overlooking one of the nodes. According to Luna’s sources, this was where Starswirl was at the moment. I saw flashes of movement as changelings moved through the magically-camouflaged area around this particular node. Just like when I was in Ponyville, I felt a sudden and massive spike of magic. I looked at Rainbow. The guard is at their nodes, right?" I asked.

"All three of them are covered," my marefriend said. She lowered her voice to ask me, "Did we really need to bring Twilight along?"

"If we need to use the Elements, we'll need either Twilight or Starswirl to channel Magic," I said quietly. "We can't afford to discriminate between who we let help."

Rainbow sighed. "I get it, but I don't like it. I don't want to have to rely on her at all."

"Harmony, Rainbow," I advised. "Try and work with her, at least for now."

I felt another spike. They had been going steadily since we left Ponyville, each one adding to the background magic. Right now, I could probably feel the magic in the air alone from the far side of the Empire. Each node was a distinct entity that I could almost touch, if my magic sensing abilities translate well.

"If he's moving, it's soon," I declared. "There is easily enough magic in even one of these nodes to flatten the city in seconds. Whatever he's after, it's big. Bigger than big."

Rainbow nodded. "I'll tell the girls that we're moving in."

"Enter from the far side," I instructed. "Don't wait for me; use me as a distraction."

My marefriend saluted quickly before taking to wing, speeding to where the rest of the Bearers waited.

I turned my attention to the crude illusions masking the node. They were just enough to deflect straying eyes. Luckily, my eyes weren't wandering. They were focused on the location of my onetime brother. I took large, quick strides to carry myself into the node as fast as I could go. As soon as I passed the illusion's event horizon, the small camp was revealed to me.

Changelings stopped their milling around, staring intently at me. Prisoners were tied up in two groups. The first group all had glassy eyes, staring at nothing yet seeing something. The second group bothered me, however. Half of them were struggling against bonds holding them in place, pleading with a purple stallion. The other half?

Laying on the ground with glassy eyes; looking at nothing and seeing nothing.

I watched as Starswirl—who had yet to see me—fired a needle of blue through the chest of one of the struggling captives. The mare's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped. Her death was accompanied by a large spike of magic. My vision turned red at the sight. "Have you not had enough with murder, you bastard?" I shouted. "Have you become so accustomed to killing that you seek to continue?"

Starswirl started and turned to face me. "Streak! What are you doing here, my friend?"

"Stopping whatever you are doing," I growled. "Step back from the prisoners and I'll kill you quickly."

"You know not what I am doing," Starswirl said. His horn lit up, sending another spike into another prisoner. "What I do is for the greater good."

I took a step forward, only for changelings to step between the two of us. He continued, "I am almost finished. Don't you understand, my friend? This is what Brick and Ironhoof died for. This is what you died for. This is the culmination of a thousand years of planning, decades of work, and hundreds of lives."

"All your work will be for naught," I growled. "I care not for your reasoning, nor your rationalization of hundreds of murders. I care only that Luna asked me nicely to turn your head inside out, and I'm going to oblige her."

"If you came here to stop me, you are far too late, my friend," he said.

I smirked as I saw the Bearers getting set up to hit him with the Elements. "No, I am right on time."

The Bearers lit up into a multitude of colors, drawing the attention of all around. Starswirl’s eyebrow cocked as he watched the display with slight curiosity. Each of the mares lit up one by one, until the only one not glowing was Rainbow. As soon as she lit up red, both her aura and Twilight’s faltered, sputtered, and died. The other mares followed suit as the Elements powered down.

“You forget that they are the Elements of Harmony,” Starswirl said, shaking his head. “They do not work while the Bearers are out of harmony with each other. All you have done is prove that my work needs to be sped up.” He sighed as he looked at me. “Everything works much better if I do this one at a time, but I clearly cannot afford any delays.”

His horn lit up, and a multitude of blue spears shot out of his horn, impaling all the captive ponies. The resulting rush of magic was intense enough to drop me to my knees as it washed over me. I barely registered Starswirl continuing to speak. “It is easier to add the magic one at a time, but I can do many at once.”

I grit my teeth as I felt my daughter against my side, stabilizing me enough for me to get on my hooves. ”All I have to do is kill you before you can cast your spell,” I said, taking a staggering step forwards.

My onetime friend shook his head again at my stubborn insistence on my chosen course. “As I have said many times, my friend. You have earthwalker in you. Tough as a rock and stubborn to a fault.” He turned around and looked at the city, barely visible through a small valley formed by two hills—the very hills that when combined with minor enchantments protected this node from detection. “I will do what must be done to correct the mistakes of the past.”

I felt a weight lift off of me—only about a third of the total magic gathered—as Starswirl released the spell held in the four nodes. Some of the skyscrapers and towers cracked and toppled as the ground shook and rumbled from the magical release. The sky itself expressed its unhappiness with the situation by seeming to crack. Luminescence seeped through these cracks as they started to widen, making it seem as if Starswirl created a miniature, two dimensional star above Manehattan. ”What have you done?” I shouted over the sounds of destruction. ”What madness is this that you unleash against Equestria?”

He stared at me, and I saw the glint of insanity in his eyes as he replied just loud enough to be heard. “The culmination of my work! My magnum opus! Your salvation!”

“You are mad!” Star screamed.

“Mad? Mad? You know nothing of madness, my dear,” Starswirl said. “Madness is what this world is falling down into, and I! Will! Save! It!”

With his last word, his horn lit up. He expended the last of the magic bottled up in the nodes. The ground seemed to crack along invisible lines connecting the nodes. As suddenly as everything started, it moved to the next stage. The city itself and the land around it jolted out of the ground, and started floating towards the glowing disk.

Starswirl was destroying the city.

“This sacrifice will not be in vain!” Starswirl announced. “I do not condemn an entire city to the Wellspring without knowing what they will go through. I condemn a city to the Wellspring for the greater good of the entire universe!” Starswirl was converting Manehattan to angels.

Starswirl was converting Manehattan to angels.

Over my dead body.

I lunged forward only for my adversary to vanish in a flash of light. My hooves swung through empty air, causing me to stumble. I growled, appraising the situation. Nothing looked good, and there was only the slimmest chance we could save the city. The spell would remain as long as any of the four nodes remained active. ”Star, grab the girls. Find Starswirl and round up the changelings,” I ordered. ”I’m grabbing Luna. We’re saving as many as we can.” I stared her in the eyes. ”I do not want to see you on that platform, do you hear me?”

“Yes, Dad,” Star said. “You come back, okay? Don’t do anything dangerous.”

”Okay,” I lied to my daughter’s face. ”Go now. The girls will need your help if you are to catch Starswirl.”

Star gave me a quick hug. “I’ll see you after this is over.”

”I promise you will,” I said, pushing my daughter slightly after returning the hug. ”Go, go. The longer we linger the farther he runs.”

My daughter ran to catch up with the older mares, and I sighed. When I turned around to see Rarity right behind me. “You aren’t coming back from this, are you?”

”No, I’m not,” I said.

“What are you going to do?” she asked me. “What can you do?”

"Enough," I said simply. "Tell Rainbow and Star that this is my penance. They'll know what I mean."

"Why must you die again?" Rarity asked. "Why must you die right as your life is coming together?"

"Because life just wasn't hard enough already."

—*~*~*—

Perspective change: Star

—*~*~*—

I watched in horror as I was held down to the ground. RaInbow was thrashing on the ground next to me, screaming every insult that passed through her head. My eyes remained locked onto the reason we were so constrained.

Streak—the first pony that had ever accepted me, the stallion the world had to thank several times over, my father—passed through the event horizon of the strange portal that Starswirl summoned. At that moment, he was far beyond our ability to help.

Sweat traveled down Twilight's lavender brow as she held the spasming Rainbow Dash on the ground, keeping her from flying directly into the portal after him. Rarity was having no problem holding me down, due to my relative calmness.

He had promised me.

Promised.

From my vantage point, I could see the city's silhouette pressed against the paradoxically too bright to look at and somehow still painless enough to watch light. From behind the city, the light seemed to crumble. What looked like a hole in reality spread and grew. A massive pair of wings seemed to unfurl from the pit of darkness. It seemed that Dad didn't want to go quietly.

With a powerful flap of those gargantuan wings, the city was propelled back through the portal right as the sustaining energy ran out. The tops of the tallest remaining structures barely passed through the portal before it collapsed.

It didn't close fast enough. I heard a scream of anguish from Rainbow right as I felt one be ripped out of my own throat. Right before the portal closed, we both saw something we would never forget. The giant pair of wings disintegrated into tiny flecks of shadow. He finally got what he wanted.

Dad was dead.

Author's Note

Life has been a bitch, and I haven't been able to write much. My backups allowed me to update stories for a few weeks, but I have literally nothing else written on this story. Also, there is no worse stopping point besides this one. Therefore, I'm taking it and rolling with it. Chapter updates will resume whenever they resume, and stuff.

-HB