Peace Hunters

by NA_SolarEclipse

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 69228

Two treasure hunters get more than they bargain for when they are called to the service of the royal princesses

Nero and Arkay used to be simple treasure hunters. Living day-to-day on finding old and valuable things in various locations. Things change however, when they are called to into the service of royalty to change the land of Equestria forever.

Published 2013-02-20 16:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-22 03:31:41 UTC

Chapter 1: Politics, and other games of Lies

-Sometimes, Honesty is knowing when not to tell it.-

“You do know that this thing is obviously going to be trapped right?” Arkay said cautiously as Nero made his way over to the pedestal that the two of them had been searching to find for the past few, however long they had been searching.

“Yeah, I know, the trick is getting out as fast as we possibly can when the trap activates. Now, are you going to just sit there, or are you going to get ready to run?” Nero responded in his usual way of disregarding any signs of warning from his partner.

“I swear Nero, you and your antics are going to be the death of me.” Arkay voiced to himself as the two hunters made their way across the open chamber. The walls were adorned with strange glyphs and nonsensical symbols aligned in such a fashion that even a zebra would have trouble deciphering it.

As the hunters reached the pedestal at the end of the rather large and imposing chamber, there were the sounds of claws against stone somewhere within. Arkay heard it and looked around suspiciously, but Nero however was too entranced by the very, very old looking brace. Nero eyed the brace with an only slightly sadistic look that Arkay knew all too well. Arkay however was more interested in that scratching noise that he heard, the ceiling however was too dark to see anything that could be hiding, so the search proved hopeless.

Nero, not being at all careful, grabbed the old brace and triumphantly placed it on his non-prosthetic hoof. “Ha-ha! Now let’s see what these old zebras have up their ancient sleeves!” Nero screamed victoriously as the two of them waited for everything to go wrong.

However, there was nothing that went wrong. Nero shrugged and started toward the large open door at the other end of the chamber. Arkay however, looked up and froze. Nero looked back and called, “Hey, you gonna get out of here or should I just leave you to these glyphs and walls?”

“No, but I don’t think you should have been so loud.” Arkay responded and gestured up toward the ceiling. Up above where before was nothing but black ceiling, were now hundreds of sets of yellow glistening eyes looking down at the two hunters. A few unearthly yawns and gnashing of teeth sounded. “Run.” was all Arkay said as he rushed by his partner; and so they did.

“You know, I don’t think taking that musty old brace is going to do us much good if we don’t GET AWAY FROM THESE CRAZY THINGS!” Arkay screamed at Nero as the two of them ran from the ruins opening. The creatures on the ceiling turned out to be some sort of cross between a bat and a lizard and were quite fast and were slowly gaining on the two pegasus.

Nero simply laughed in response and continued “Yeah, but if we do, this musty old brace is going to make us some serious bits!” The two make it out of the jungle-like forest around the ruins, allowing the two hunters to see that it is a rather cloudy and foggy day. This did not seem to discourage their rather large, scaled, and probably starving friends from chasing them down the muddy path towards the beach.

“I told you we should have just left this island and this job alone, even Naburu told us that nothing good can come from these ruins!” Arkay yelled as he narrowly avoided the teeth of a very hungry bat-lizard crawler, its lunge caused it to be trampled by the others.

Nero took flight, flapping his wings quickly to gain speed. He again laughed, but triumphantly this time, “Ha-ha! But we did get this!” he boasted as he again showed Arkay the ridiculously dusty brace with a single green gem in it. Arkay just groaned and continueed galloping for his life.

“Naburu! Start the boat, NOW!” Arkay yelled through the clearing as the two treasure hunters reached the beach. But there was no Naburu, only a note left on one of the posts of the makeshift dock. Nero took it and read it aloud.

“Told ya two ya should have jus left this cursed place alon. I won’t be stayin and waitin for ya, too many danjas in thes here parts. Was nice while it lasted tho, perhaps we will meet again in another life and ting.”

Arkay groaned. “ Ugh, his writing is as broken as his speaking.” With no boat back, the two hunters turned back to face the creatures once more. “Maybe we should have tried treasure hunting on a deserted island a bit closer to, oh, I don’t know, CIVILIZATION!?”

As the two backed up on the makeshift dock, Nero responded. “Oh shut it, we can just fly away, it may take a day or two, but we could make it to a city or town and rest up and peddle this old thing to a merchant.” The two reached the end of the dock. Arkay just gave Nero a look.

“That might work if they didn’t have freaking WINGS!” Arkay yelled. The bat lizards had both Arkay and Nero cornered and slowly closed in on them as they had their last conversation.

“Well, say your prayers to Celestia, or whatever it is you do when you are about to die.” Nero sarcastically suggested.

Arkay responded rather pointed. “I said mine before we even arrived; I just knew this forsaken spit of land would be the death of me.” Suddenly, one of them lunged at the two hunters. They just cringed, waiting for the cold talons of death to take them.

But they never came. Both Arkay and Nero looked to see the strange grotesque bat lizard frozen in a field of light blue magic, and the rest held down in a field of yellow. Arkay heard the sweet and calm voice of their leader in his head, “The two of you were meant for great things, and you will not meet your ends here little ponies. However you must act quickly, as we cannot hold them off forever”

Nero heard the voice of her little sister. “These creatures cannot stand the sunlight and will flee if exposed to it, the two of you must clear the skies of clouds to that the sun can shine through and repel these vile beasts.” Nero just noded and took to the sky busting up the thick clouds and clearing the fog. Confused, Arkay just shruged and joined in the cloud busting and fog clearing.

“I hope the princess is right about this.” Nero said uncertain as the two finished clearing the skies. A powerful ray of sunshine flowed onto the small island as the two descend in exhaustion. With the magic fields gone, the bat lizards hissed and clawed at the sun as they retreated to the cover of the dense jungle forest canopy. Arkay and Nero just stared in astonishment. The princess’s plan had worked and they were not dead.

Arkay slumped to the beach from exhaustion. “Remind me to never doubt you, or your plans.” He said as Nero sat on the now warm beach.

“I can’t take all the credit; it was the princess who thought of that one.” Nero responded.

The hunters again heard the sweet voice of Celestia in their minds, “That was excellent work ponies, Luna was right about you. We require an audience with you two, there are things that we all need to discuss. Meet us in Canterlot after you are rested, this is a matter of utmost importance; we shall see you soon.”

Bewildered, the two hunters looked at each other. “Okay Arkay, you can call me crazy, I just heard the voice of the princess in my head, again, go ahead call me crazy alright?” Nero laughed as he laid down on the sand.

Arkay just shook his head and responded. “No, I heard it too, what do you think it means?”

To that Nero got up and yelled at the sky above him to no one in particular, “Not a clue, but I’m sure it would mean more if we could GET OFF THIS DAMNED ISLAND!”

There was a calm and authoritative response, “That, sirs, is where we can help.” The two hunters turned to see a white and golden chariot with two white pegasus wearing golden armor strapped in to pull it. Next to that was a black and silver chariot with two dark blue pegasus with silver armor. But, instead of wings with feathers, they had leathery bat wings.

Nero couldn't stop from blurting out, “And just who are you supposed to be?”

The two staunch white guards responded a bit indignant. "We are the royal guards of princess Luna, and princess Celestia, we were sent to get the two of you off this island.” Too exhausted to object, the two hunters got onto the two chariots and let the guards fly them to Canterlot.

The ride back was pleasant enough, but Nero couldn't get comfortable with the two bat-pegasus flapping their wings constantly. They were let off in front of the royal Canterlot castle. The two hunters had seen it plenty of times being in Canterlot frequently, but never up close. The architecture was incredible, magnificent, and any other adjective that you could think of to describe greatness if it was before you. The guards left wordlessly and the two hunters were invited inside the castle by a few well dressed butler ponies.

There they were in the main foyer, in all their glory. The two princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, standing atop the stairs awaiting the two hunters’ arrival. Luna was the first to speak,” Welcome back, we cannot-” but she was interrupted by her older sister.

“Welcome back little ponies; I trust that your return was unhindered?” Arkay dropped to a respectful bow as Luna looked indignantly up at her sister and Nero stayed standing.

“Yeah, I guess it was alright, but could you have sent those guards a little earlier? We almost died back on that island!” Arkay just gave Nero a very serious look as Celestia motioned for him to get up.

Celestia responded very calmly, “Yes, but we needed to see if you had the will and focus to continue on even when faced with uncertain odds. It was a test to see if the two of you were truly as impressive as my sister made you out to be, she tells me that both of you have very unique and important aspects and skills that are significant to our interests.”

Arkay responded respectfully,”Of course your majesty.”

Nero just snorted. ”Still could have done something earlier.”

Luna this time spoke up. “Yes we could have, but had we not contacted you when we did, you would be dead. However, we both require your talents and cannot just leave ponies to their fates when they ask for help.” Arkay gave Nero a ‘told you so’ look.

Celestia continued. “Yes, it was a test not of prowess, but of courage and composure. We simply needed to see if you had the ability to stay calm in unimaginable odds, now I am certain you two are very tired, you shall sleep in one of the finest hotels here in Canterlot free of charge. We shall speak more in the morning. Now, off to rest you two, I need mine as well.” Celestia began walking to her bedchamber while Luna stayed and watched her leave.

When she is out of earshot, Luna spoke to Nero and Arkay. “Yes, we shall speak in the morning, when I am the one who is exhausted. You two, when we do speak tomorrow, I want your support in the matters we discuss. After all, it was my idea to clear the clouds so the two of you would survive, instead of waiting for the guards to arrive. Can I expect your support hunters?”

Arkay and Nero exchanged a concerned look, but it is Nero who responded. “Of course, uhh, your highness. You have our support. We would be dead if not for your idea.” She simply nodded and walked up the stairs to her tower and flew off into the night sky.

Subsequently, the two hunters are escorted by two butler ponies to the hotel Celestia was talking about. Much simpler in design than the royal castle. Then again, what was to be expected? It wasn't the royal castle. The two hunters entered ‘The Crystal Jewel’ a rather redundant name for a hotel, and spoke to the pink unicorn mare at the front check in desk. Nero, being the better barter, spoke first. “Well hello miss pink, beautiful and high class. I am told that the two of us are staying here tonight, but will we be getting rooms of our own? Or am I staying with you tonight?” Arkay gave Nero an astonished look. How could he be flirting while being so exhausted? The mare at the desk however, didn't look impressed at all.

“I have a name, its Cherri, but you would know that if those two different colored eyes of yours weren't staring at my flank just now instead of reading the name tag. And as far as the two of you staying here, I would have the two of you thrown out into the dumpster if I were not required by the royal princess’s request to keep you here for the night. Follow me to your rooms sirs, and could you please get this grey one to stop staring Mr. green pegasus?”

Arkay chuckled and responded. “Of course ma’am, and sorry for Nero’s behavior, he has this deal where he can’t keep is thoughts to himself when he sees a pretty mare. Please, lead the way.” Cherri seemed unimpressed with his excuse, but took it anyway to get the two of them out of her hair. She led the two to their rooms that happened to be across from each other.

“You will be getting an early wake up call to speak with the princesses tomorrow, enjoy your stay sirs. And… Nero was it? Way to be discrete with those wings.” Cherri said and began walking back down the carpeted hallway.

Nero disregarded her comment and whistled to Arkay. “Oh they sure do know how to make a pretty mare in Canterlot huh?”

Arkay just sighed in response. “Not going to disagree Nero. What do you think the princesses want to talk about tomorrow anyway?”

Nero shrugged and replied tiredly. “Not a clue, but I am beat. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” He then slowly trotted into his room and fell onto the bed within. Arkay didn't fare much better, and went into his room as well; being sure to close the door. Within the rather showy room was a small closet, no doubt for an extra change of clothes for overnight stays, a small devotional book, by requirement of the church, and around the corner was a small but tidy bathroom made almost entirely of what Arkay could only suspect to be either crystal or a pretty close substitute. In the center of the left wall was a rather out of place portrait of some fruit in a bowl. Under that was a very large bed with several pillows and at least three layers of sheets. Arkay tentatively rolled them back and made himself comfortable. It was the softest place he had laid down on in a long time. Soon after Arkay was fast asleep.

After the best sleep he had in a long time, Arkay showered in the very expensive crystal bathroom and quickly made his way to the check out desk before hotel services had to shoo him out. The check in area was completely deserted beside a silent earth pony sitting across from the green pegasus. “Well hello there sir uhh, how are you this morning?” Arkay tried to make polite conversation to no avail. The grey earth pony just remained silent.

After about an hour of waiting, Cherri, the unicorn that checked the two hunters in last night, walked up to the front desk and promptly started reading from a newspaper. Arkay trotted up to the desk. Perhaps she would be more willing to converse? He stood there for a little while with a smile, but his hopes that she would start conversation were dashed after standing there for about a half minuet. “Hello there.” Arkay said.

The response was very delayed. “Yes, hello. Are you going to hit on me too or just stand there by yourself?” Cherri said sarcastically, not even looking up from her newspaper article. Arkay turned around to see that the grey earth pony was not there, no sign of him. The door didn’t open nor did he even hear the pony leave. Arkay just blamed it on being early in the morning.

“No, ma’am, I’m not going to do anything like that. I was just going to engage in conversation until my lazy partner gets here. How are you?” Arkay said, trying to be as friendly as possible.

Cherri just looked up at Arkay with a bored expression then looked back down at the article. “There is a fine line I have for my standards of who I associate with, and unfortunately, your associate crossed that last night.”

Arkay sighed and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I’m really sorry about him. Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

Cherri seemed to perk up immensely at that. “Really? I’m so used to stallions coming onto me. I didn’t think you were being legitimate. Well, the two of you are treasure hunters right?”

Arkay didn’t know how to react to her sudden mood change. “Yeah, um, well more like private contractors, but yeah. We are treasure hunters. We travel the lands, and recently the seas, of Equestria searching for valuables that can be sold on the black-erm. Well we sell them to our buyer.” Arkay didn’t want to let out that Shinny wasn’t exactly the most legal or credible job provider, so beating around the bush was probably better. ‘The less that know, the better.’ Shinny would always say to them after completing a job.

Cherri gave him a confused look, but continued. “Well, whatever, I’m looking for a way out of this dead end job. The hours suck, the pay is terrible considering, and, well, let’s just say your friend isn’t the first one to hit on me. It’s exhausting. If you ever find a job that needs magical expertise, could you come by and tell me. I’m sure almost anything is better than this glorified dump.”

Arkay considered her request for a bit. “Yeah, sure thing Cherri. I’ll keep an eye out.” He replied. Cherri gave Arkay a friendly smile. Almost on cue, Nero entered the main room.

“Hey Arkay, I see your checking out. I’m guessing we are going to leave soon?” Nero said. But Cherri didn’t seem too happy about his arrival.

“No, you two are leaving now before I lose my mind listening to you. Good day.” And with that, she set up a ‘back in 5 minuets’ sign and walked into the back room again. She shot Arkay a pleading look before slamming the door.

“Jeez, what has her jimmies so rustled? You ready to go Arkay?” Nero said as if he never said anything wrong to her. Arkay just sighed and nodded. The two of them made their way out the main entrance to find a chariot waiting on the cobblestone road with two of the white royal guards pulling it. The guards didn’t say a word, but just waited for the two hunters to get into the glorified cart. As soon as they were in, the chariot started moving down the road to the royal castle.

A feeling of both anticipation and dread fell over the two hunters. They unsure as to what exactly to expect, and what Luna needed their support in. Why did she need their support when she had her all powerful magic? Not to mention her older sister. As the chariot stopped in front of the royal castle, the doors opened. This seemed to be well rehearsed and well planned to impress visitors from other cities. It most certainly was working to impress the two hunters as they stepped down and made their way inside, being escorted by several butler ponies again. It seemed that no one could enter or exit the castle without them showing the way. Again in the ridiculously huge castle, the two hunters made their way toward the dining room as instructed by the ever-present butlers. Within the dining room, the two hunters saw both Luna and Celestia sitting down to eat, silently. However, at their arrival, Celestia greeted them.

“Good morning you two, how was your sleep?” As she spoke, Arkay fell into a respectful bow. Nero again just stayed standing.

“Alright princess, now that we are sufficiently in your debt, what is it you want us to do? Whatever it is, I‘m sure there are ponies more qualified than two treasure hunters.” Nero responded, almost ignoring her greeting.

Celestia chuckled, “There is no need to worry about debt my little ponies, but you two are actually exactly what we need. There are many other species and lands that border Equestria, and we need….ambassadors of sorts to make peaceful relations with them so not to seem threatening. As well as to mend the relations with others that see us as unreasonable.”

That elected a laugh from Arkay. “Ha-ha-ha really? So let me get this straight princess. You think that the pegasus who doesn’t even trust other pony races, not to mention his prosthetic hoof, and his part-time assistant in treasure hunting are more qualified to ensure good peaceful relations with other species than the most diplomatic speakers of your high class citizens here in Canterlot? Forgive me, but I don’t believe that for a second princess.” This time it is Nero that gave the surprised look to Arkay, not expecting that kind of outburst.

Celestia however, responded to Arkay without missing a beat. “Yes, actually the two of you are more qualified than any other ponies we have met. Arkay, your special talent is keeping the peace in a situation. You could turn even a confrontation into a peaceful negotiation. Nero, you are a prime example of the courage and loyalty of the ponies of Equestria, having you along with Arkay will show that we aren't afraid to stand up for one another.”

The two hunters exchange a baffled look, but couldn't formulate an argument. Celestia then continued “We have maintained the minimum level of communication with other species for long enough. We must begin to contact our neighbors while they still consider us to be non-hostile.”

Not entirely sure how to respond, Arkay spoke up again. “Well princess, you certainly put up a good argument. But how many extra bits are we talking? Need to see how much you value this ‘important job’.”

Celestia reacted almost immediately. “More than that old brace is worth ten times over.”

“We are in!” Nero chirped as quickly as Celestia reacted.

Arkay just sighs and nods. “It certainly is better job security than treasure hunting, we accept princess.”

With the meeting with the royal sisters out of the way, Nero and Arkay were given the rest of the day to recuperate for tomorrow’s assignment. Instead of walking the streets of the primarily unicorn centered city, the two wondered around the castle. They were several times shooed away by more butler ponies. But with the better part of the day over, Arkay and Nero made their way to the dining room to partake in some of the food Celestia promised. However, instead of butler ponies, they are greeted by an argument.

“There are plenty of ponies who are active at night sister! Just look at one of the concert halls in Canterlot, most events are during the night!” That had to be Luna.

“Yes sister but remember, without night there is no day. If there was no time to rest, how would any pony be able to work or live? Sleep is a very important part of living.” That was definitely Celestia. The two seemed to be arguing on a subject they had discussed before.

Arkay opened the door and spoke up. “Uhh, is this a bad time?” Nero gave him a disapproving look.

To that, Luna smiled. “No, actually your timing is perfect,” she gestured to Celestia. “I believe dear sister it is time that I rule in a way that the ponies see fit. No more of your simple rule! Ponies can think for themselves! We no longer need the ways of the old!” Celestia somehow kept composure through her sister’s seemingly ludicrous claims. Luna continued. “Let the ponies decide who shall rule sister!”

Celestia simply replied calmly. “I think you are right Luna.”

Taken aback, Luna stammered over her words. “Y-yes, that is right sister, a system of voting should be put into place so that ponies can choose who-”

“No Luna,” Celestia interrupted her. “Either the ponies can stay under the system of rule that they have thrived in for years, or they can buy into your claims of freedom through democracy. I will not allow you to disrupt every pony’s lives for your own chance to rule.”

Luna contemplated that for a few moments, but then replied with a smile. “So be it. Nero! Arkay! There is much to do, and I need dependable ponies at my side, will you join me? I expect your support.”

Surprised, the two hunters exchange a concerned look. They then remembered that they did indeed pledge to support her. “Of course your majesty, just let us gather our things. Where will you need us to go?” Nero replied respectfully for once.

Luna again smiled to herself. “There is a new library of the small village of Ponyville; we will set up everything we need there. We will see you there.” Luna then took her leave. The room fell deathly silent for a while, but Arkay broke it.

“You didn’t need us to be ambassadors did you princess?”

Celestia nodded sorrowfully and replied, somehow always calm. "You are absolutely right, this is no new topic for us. She has ruled equally with me for decade. But in recent years, she has desired to rule by herself under the promise of freedom from the ‘tyranny we have suffered through long enough’. This is not how things should be, but she doesn’t see that what we have right now is too good to throw away for ideals such as her own.”

“So,” Nero cut in. “what did you really want us to do if you didn’t need us to be ambassadors or whatever?”

Celestia just responds calmly still. “I need you to assist Luna in her aspirations to rule her own way and gain her trust. Give her no reason to doubt you are loyal to her cause. But all the while, I need you two to be informants in this republic she plans to make. I need to know what she is up to and what she sends you to do. I especially need to know if she has you retrieve something.”

Nero gave Arkay a confused look, so he explained. “The princess wants us to be double agents for her. Spies that keep her informed of what Luna is doing and not being found out by Luna herself.”

“Exactly.” Celestia confirmed.

“What is in for us, maybe we think Luna has the right idea. What do we stand to gain from this?” Nero, always with the bartering.

Celestia chuckled. “If it is money you desire, I am sure we can come to an agreement, but it has to be inconspicuous enough so that Luna does not find out.”

“We can discus payment at a later time princess,” Arkay broke in. “I am sure Luna will be suspicious of us if we do not get to that library soon. We will be back when we can, or we will contact you when we can.” To which Celestia nodded knowingly.

“If you need contact with me, look for a dragon named Thorn. He is loyal to me, even if he is rather obnoxious. Now be on your way.” Celestia said, ever calm.

The two hunters nodded and turned to leave “Good luck; you will need it Peace Hunters.”

Author's Note

Yay, first content relevant to the story you guys.
If you have comments, suggestions, or just feel like you need to be heard, by all means do.
All constructive criticism or suggestions welcome.

*Fixed the repeating copy pasta-noodle-problem that mine computer caused, sorry for that guys!*

Chapter 2: A Push in the Left Direction

-Fresh Starts are Reserved for the Undeserving-

Being pegasus, the journey down to Ponyville was rather easy for Nero and Arkay. Taking the steam engine would be too expensive and time consuming. Another reason was that the two hunters had still not gotten used to the rumble and rocking of the still relatively new mode of transportation. Flying was much easier and convenient for them. The cool night air had overcome the warm sunlit afternoon and coupled with the relatively strong breeze, made for a chilly journey down from the lofty heights of Canterlot. Neither of them spoke, the two of them were rather stressed about the direction their lives had taken recently. Going from not necessarily legal treasure hunters to supposed ambassadors in service of royalty to double agents and informants was quite a wild ride to be taken on in a little less than two days, even for pegasus. The two hunters were both very nervous about being discovered by Luna and what kind of work they would be assigned to perform, but neither of them would admit it.

“So, run it by me again?” Nero asked Arkay. He had never been one to deceive comfortably.

“Basically, we are in the service of Princess Luna. We do as she says, and we don’t ask why. However, we need to inform Celestia of anything she has us do. We need to do this as carefully as possible so not to arise suspicion of our true motives. Make more sense the fourth time of explanation?” Arkay had grown tired of explaining things to Nero.

“Rather sarcastic, just like the last two times Arkay. Its not that I don’t understand, it’s just that I am still trying to make myself okay with deceiving royalty, in the service of royalty. How does that make any sense?” Nero had always been relatively honest throughout his life, but this was a different kind of wrong.

Arkay could only nod in response. “It’s alright Nero I can’t just be okay with this either, but Celestia did say this was important. I think we should trust her like we should have been for all these years. And who knows, maybe this is a way for us to both pay and make amends for the wrongs we have committed.” Arkay said rather solemnly. The small town of Ponyville was now coming into better view. There were several windows that were lit with soft candle light. The chilly breeze kept the citizens inside their warm houses. At the center of the town was a fairly large tree to which Luna was standing next to. The two hunters descended and landed next to her to stare at the unremarkable tree.

“Apparently this is where the new library is supposed to be built. I cannot be forced to wait until it is finished to begin operations.” Luna announced to Nero and Arkay.

“What exactly do you plan on doing about that Princess?” Nero asked rather curiously.

“I am going to make a library out of this tree.” Luna proclaimed rather triumphantly. Nero and Arkay exchanged a confused look and took a few steps back. Luna intently focused on the tree; a light blue glow enveloped both her horn and the tree. The tree started shaking lightly, but then more violently as an over glow enveloped Luna’s horn. The clouds above seemed to swirl over the tree rather menacingly as it began to grow.

The two hunters stared astounded as they watched the tree grow at an alarming rate, even for magic. As quickly as it had started growing, the tree suddenly stopped expanding. Luna smiled rather triumphantly at her creation as the two hunters regarded the new library with mouths agape with awe. “I guess you can make a library with just one tree.” Arkay said as the princess gave the two hunters a snide look.

“You should not doubt your princess subjects, I am quite able to perform all kinds of powerful magic.” Luna said as she regarded the new tree house proudly. She then stepped toward the tree house and opened the door, Nero and Arkay followed her into the interior of it. The inside of the tree house was much more impressive than your average tree house. In the center of the entrance foyer was a round table that seemed to be a stump still attached to the actual tree, there were several empty bookshelves that seemed to just beg the two hunters to go out and find books to place onto them. Off to the side was the entrance to what seemed to be a small kitchen, next to that were stairs that spiraled up the wall into another level. The princess led Nero and Arkay up these stairs to find an observatory, a balcony and a bedroom with two beds. “You will sleep here for tonight hunters, it’s not the royal castle, but I believe you will find these quarters to be sufficient enough to live in for the time being. There is an important assignment I need for you two to perform tomorrow and it would be best if you were well rested for it.” Luna informed the two hunters with little emotion into the words at all.

“Um, alright Princess, what exactly is that assignment?” Arkay asked quite curious of the nature of this job.

“I will tell you in the morning, now sleep.” Luna replied almost irritated. Suddenly, the two hunters felt the exhaustion of two days ago resurface and weigh them down. Nero and Arkay marched to the two beds and fell into them immediately. Nero attempted one last time before drifting to sleep to stay awake, and saw only the glow of Luna’s horn as he again shut his eyelids and fell asleep.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Nero opened his eyes quickly as he awoke panting and sweating. He looked around and was not entirely sure how to react. In stead of the comfortable fluffy bed of the new tree house, Nero felt cold mud under his back. Getting up onto his hooves, he found that he was indeed no longer in the tree house at all. The sturdy reassuring walls were replaced with a seemingly endless horizon of grey flat ground that met with a slightly darker grey cloud cover that was oppressive and threatening. The warm air of the tree house was replaced in stead by the thick, cold, moist air that seemed to fit the depressing shade of grey that covered everything. Looking down, Nero found that the ground was not just mud; there was a sparse attempt of grass trying to grow into the cold mud, but all of the patches of it were yellow and dead. Everything in this field could be described in one word; lifeless. There was however, one landmark prevailing in the distance. A pitiful and dead tree towered above the rest of the mud almost as a mockery for any chance for life to begin again. Nero trotted up to the tree and stared at it for a moment. It was blackened and shriveled compared to any living tree, and had only one limb protruding from the trunk, upon that limb were five brown leaves. The tree almost seemed sad, and seeing it made Nero want to cry. There was a quite shuffling behind Nero. In reaction to the noise, Nero spun around to face the source of it.

Nero yelled triumphantly “Ha! Thought you could sneak up on me did y-” but he stopped as he saw the cause of the noise. There before him was small grey Pegasus colt with a dark black and blue mane sitting on his haunches and staring toward the endless horizon of grey. The small colt turned to Nero with a whimper. The colt had two blue eyes, filled with tears. They pleaded Nero to make everything alright for the little grey colt, but he was uncertain as to how exactly he could help.

“Please.” The colt begged Nero, “make them go away.” Nero was taken aback from this.

“What do you mean little one? Who are they?” Nero asked, desperate to try and cheer up this little colt. The colt however did not answer; he simply got up and started to walk away. Nero just watched for a moment and looked down at his own hooves, one a mechanical prosthetic attempt at replacing a real hoof and his real still attached hoof. Which was also grey. Nero looked again at the colt and realized, it was him. All but the eyes and the prosthetic hoof were exactly the same. “Hey, wait!” Nero shouted to his younger self, but he did not stop. The younger Nero continued walking toward the endless horizon of grey, tears occasionally dripping from his muzzle.

“Ah, to be young again, such a sweet sentiment isn't it Nero?” A voice called from behind Nero. He whipped around to face the voice, but there was no pony there. Nero looked back to where the younger him had been, but he was gone.

Nero trotted next to the dead tree and called out. “Where are you and what did you do to the young one? Come out! Show yourself!”

There was simply an evil chuckle. “Look down.” The disembodied voice said. Nero looked down to see his reflection in a puddle, but this reflection was not him. The reflected Nero had several scars around the muzzle, no prosthetic hoof, and somewhat of an unkempt mane. The most unsettling difference however were the two red eyes that stared back into Nero’s own with an intense hatred that seemed to burn into his soul. “Hello Nero, good to see you again.” The reflection said on its own.

“No, not you. Where did you come from?” Nero stammered as he backpedaled from the evil reflection. This did no good however, because the reflection simply stepped out of the puddle and pulled himself onto the cold mud that Nero fell back on.

“Why with the easy questions Nero? I am you. I’ve always been here Nero; you just haven’t been looking hard enough. Shame really, it’s been rather boring with you shutting me out like you have been. There is no pony to talk to in this desolate abyss of a subconscious mind.” The now standing reflection replied.

“I know what you are, but how did you get out? I thought I locked you away forever, I don’t need you trying to ruin every thought I have.” Nero attacked the reflection with accusations, but it simply stayed calm and collected.

“Oh, come now Nero, why do you keep referring to me as if I am some sort of monster? I do believe you even gave me a name so as to not confuse my, ha, suggestions with your thoughts.” The reflection replied, completely ignoring the hostility in Nero’s voice.

Nero fumed. “Yes, and I wish I could have locked it away with you Orian.”

“Ah, so you do remember me, good. I don’t think I could continue existing if you forgot it. Then again, how could you forget?” Orian replied without missing a beat. “Good talking to you Nero always was. Now, you have got some waking up to do sleepy head. That annoying Mr. goody horseshoes friend of yours is going to wake you up for that assignment you’re supposed to go on. Happy hunting buddy.”

Nero tried to respond, but Orian, the grey mud and horizon, and the sad dead tree all disappeared before he could.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

There was a jabbing at Nero’s side. “Nero, wake up. The princess expected us to be ready about an hour ago.” Arkay urged him to get up with more jabs in the side. “Wake up!”

Nero got up finally and half opened his eyes. “Ugh, fine Arkay I‘ll get up. I don’t see what you have against sleep. Did sleep steal your lunch money once and you resent it for that one time?” Nero never really did like waking up early, but Arkay always did keep him in line and out of trouble when he slept in.

Arkay frowned down at Nero. “No, but you were tossing and turning this morning. Also, I don’t think that panting and sweating are exactly normal when sleeping in a generally cool room. I was just a little worried that you were sick or something, we can’t have you being sick if we are going to travel.” Arkay said concerned. Nero replies with a sigh and gets up out of bed. “Now come on,” Arkay continued, “Luna expects us downstairs soon, let’s go.”

Sitting down at the center table, Princess Luna’s horn glowed a light blue as she stacked several books onto the new bookshelves. Coming down the stairs, Nero and Arkay regarded her with confused looks. In response she gave them a dignified look. “Well, if we have the space, I see no sense in not using it.” Nero just shrugged as he reached the bottom.

Arkay however, gave Luna a query. “Why did you make this tree a library anyway princess? I didn’t think we would need space to store books.”

Luna smiled at that. “Well you see, it wouldn’t feel right making this area something it was never meant to be. So instead of cutting down the tree so they could build a library in its place, I made it a library.”

Nero just gave Luna a quizzical look. “Well that seems a little bit of a leap, but anyway Luna. What kind of assignment did you need us for?”

At that Luna rolled her eyes but responded with authority. “I need you to do exactly as Celestia instructed you to do.”

Immediately, both Nero and Array’s spirits dropped and fell into a hole in the ground, then dug a mine deeper into the hole and began mining for ore, then subsequently caused an intentional cave in on the mine, burying them deep beneath the ground.

Arkay responded slowly and carefully. “Uh, what exactly do you mean by that princess?” If Luna knew that he and Nero were informants for Celestia, this serving royalty thing would be rather short and painful. The two of them were pretty sure that espionage, no matter how short it was in order, was illegal, especially when it was royalty they were dealing with.

Luna regarded the two with a rather confused look, but responded with strength and valor. “I need you to be ambassadors to different species and the different pony races. However, instead of asking them to mend political relations with Celestia, I want you to convince them to join a new rule for the good of all species. I plan to unite the various nations under a republic. We will rebel against the tyranny of my sister and overthrow her rule! This will not be easy, but with the two of you as ambassadors, I am certain we will find success.”

Nero and Arkay immediately started digging to rescue their spirits. In the mean time, Arkay responded to the assignment. “Of course princess, that is exactly what we are thinking. Every plan needs a first step however, so where will we be going first?”

Luna nodded and brought out a map of Equestria and its neighboring nations, and set it on the table. “See this small settlement out to the east?” She pointed at a small dot a quite a distance from the capital city of Canterlot. “This is a community that has resisted Celestia’s rules for quite a while. If we can gain their support, we may be able to get a proper foothold on securing the support of other nations and communities. In this sense, you are right Arkay, we must start somewhere. There will be a steam engine going out to this settlement from Canterlot later this evening, make your way there and board the steam engine with these royal passes.” Luna brought out two black cards with the royal seal upon them; the two hunters took them and nodded.

“What exactly is this settlement called Luna?” Nero asked legitimately curious.

Luna sighed and responded with a shrug. “The locals have taken to simply calling the settlement ‘The Outpost’ or simply ‘Outpost’. Within the Outpost, there is an earth pony that has taken to being both the settlement’s mayor and law enforcement. I am sad to say that I do not know what this pony’s name is for certain, however I do know it starts with a ‘J’. It is almost common knowledge that the Outpost is not friends with the local buffalo. Easing the tension between the buffalo and the citizens of the Outpost peacefully and gaining support from both would be the best case scenario, but if things do not go as planned, I trust you will make the right decisions. When you have completed your assignment, return to the library and report your results to me.”

The two hunters exchanged a look and nodded. They began to make their way out the door, but Luna stopped them. “Oh, and if you are interested, I have a proposition for you as well.” This stopped them and grabbed their interest. Turning around, Luna continued, “Since the two of you are indeed treasure hunters, there is a gem I am interested in retrieving.”

Nero’s eyes lit up immediately. “Gemstone?” He couldn’t have responded any more like a diamond dog if he tried.

Luna chuckled. “Yes Nero. Gemstone indeed. I am looking for a very valuable gemstone. I know it is in the area around Outpost. Unfortunately, I know not exactly where it is or how far it is but-”

Nero interrupted Luna, “Say no more Luna, we are on it. We have gone on much worse information before. We will find this gemstone and return with it for you princess!” Nero always did get rather excited when the words ‘gem’, ’valuable’, or really any word that hinted to money.

“Thank you Nero, trust me, you will know it when you see it.” Luna responded to a rather excited looking grey pegasus. “Now be off hunters, there is much that must be done. Best of luck to you two.” And with that, the two hunters made their way out the door and into the town of Ponyville, and toward the station.

Now with free passes, Nero and Arkay decided that taking the steam engine back to Canterlot would be ‘fun’. Arkay insisted on it as they were going to be riding the steam engines a lot to get to the Outpost, they might as well get used to it. There was a small crowd of ponies going up to Canterlot on the steam engine; most of them were earth ponies of various color and emotion. However, there were a few unicorns onboard as well. Even stranger, these were not returning visitors from Canterlot. They were not dressed in the highest fashion or the latest accessories. Perhaps unicorns born in Ponyville trying to make it big in the capital city? Either way, every pony was eyeing the two hunters suspiciously. Clearly, they were not used to having pegasi who were willing to ride along with them in stead of simply flying around. Arkay simply ignored it while Nero returned the suspicious looks.

“Why are we even stopping in Canterlot? I’d really rather get started on this gem hunt, I mean political mission, as soon as possible! I don’t think we could stop by the castle and not have Luna find out about it. What do we need there?”

Arkay rolled his eyes and sighed, but gave a response anyway. “I have a promise I need to fulfill with a certain unicorn, and you can get that old brace still on your leg to Shinny. You can’t have forgotten that thing was still on you, can’t be comfortable can it?”

Nero beamed and looked down at the brace again. It was indeed still there right where he had left it. Still smiling like a mad pony, he laughed insanely. All of the passengers turned and looked at the crazy pegasus until he quieted down. Arkay continued, “So that is why we are stopping in Canterlot, we still need to get paid for that last treasure hunt, and I am going to get some ‘magical expertise’. We don’t know if we will need it or not.” Nero just responds with a sigh and looks out the window, watching Canterlot as it approaches from the horizon.

With Nero off getting the bits for that old brace, Arkay focused on how exactly he was going to explain this to Cherri. Assistant ambassador? No, political advisor? Definitely not. There didn’t seem to be a job title that fit with helping him and Nero sway the allegiance of an entire community. Perhaps secondary speaking assistant and part-time treasure hunter would have to do. All thoughts stopped however when he saw Cherri at the entrance of ‘The Crystal Jewel’ yelling at what he could only assume was her boss.

“Get back here Cherri; you can’t just walk out of here! Any pony would be honored to work here! Just come on back and maybe I can overlook that insult to our hotel.” The rather scary sounding boss yelled to her from inside.

“I don’t have to take that kind of treatment from you, and I definitely don’t have to have every goddess damned stallion and colt hitting on me or trying to get me into bed with them! I quit!” With that, she stormed off toward Arkay, she almost passed him but stopped when she saw the concerned look on his face. “Don’t even say anything you-oh. Hey uh, Arkay, sorry you had to see that. Just, heh, quitting. I guess I will be getting a different job to do until I get tired of the crap. That is, if I can. How are you?” She stumbled over her words worse than he did when he was nervous.

“I am well actually. In fact, I may have the answer to your prayers. I am going off on royal business and I was wondering if you would be interested in a little political reformation and treasure hunting. You do have ‘magical expertise’ correct? I don’t think there could be any better need for magic than when dealing with the unknown. What do you say?” Arkay tried to make it sound as inviting as possible, however there was no easy way to ask her.

Cherri scrunched her face a bit at that request. “Uh, political what now?”

Arkay sighed. “Well, it’s rather a long story, and I could explain on the way, but basically, we are going to gain the alliance of the Outpost for Princess Luna. I remembered that you wanted a new job, and I am pretty sure that working for royalty will pay better than what you can get here. Interested?”

Cherri stared off into the distance for a while. After almost a minuet like that, she finally responded. “Alright.” Simple response.

“Really?” Arkay asked surprised. “It’s that easy?”

“Yes, I can’t stand this city or its citizens anymore, and royal business beats unemployment quite easily. I’ll accept your offer under one condition.” She responded, regaining her composure.

Arkay let go of a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding and replied. “Sure, what is that?”

Cherri smiled. “You have to keep that grey friend of yours on a short leash. If he can’t keep from constantly trying to woo me, this is going to be a very short partnership.”

“Don’t worry,” Arkay started. “He only does that once, usually. But if he does it again, I’ll be sure to stop him. Or at least try to. Now, let’s go collect that grey friend from the market before he gets into too much trouble.” With that Cherri nodded and the two of them made their way to the market district. Arkay couldn’t help but feel a lot better with that request over with.

The market of Canterlot was as crowded as ever, not surprisingly by mostly unicorns. Cherri kept mostly quiet while she and Arkay made their way through the busy crowd. Other than the occasional ‘Excuse me’ or ‘How rude’, the two of them didn’t speak much. Arkay knew exactly where to find Nero, so they arrived at their destination quickly. In the busy market street there was one stall that was completely empty. ‘Closed for renovation’ a small sign said on the table. To this, Cherri sighed and spoke over the crowd to Arkay, “Is this the place we are supposed to find him?”

Arkay just walked into the stall and knocked the sign over. “There will never be any renovations, come on. There is a secret entrance.” He said. Cherri looked around suspiciously, but entered the stall as well. “Well, when I say secret entrance, I really mean this is just the store front. Back here, the real business happens.” Arkay said as he gestured to the back curtain flap, he pulled it away to reveal a small, but not uncomfortable house. Cherri marveled at the change from market stall to house as Arkay trotted into the next room, she followed and they were met with the arguing of Nero and Shinny.

“You have to be kidding me! You said it was worth 550!” Nero had obviously lost his cool over this payment.

“No, no, no. I promised that to my two best hunters.” Shinny somehow remained calm in the onslaught of Nero’s yelling. “I did not promise that price to some government pony.” Arkay saw where this had taken a wrong turn.

“Look,” Nero started, “we are still treasure hunters, and nothing has changed in that stance. Just, now we are in the service of royalty as a side job. Now come on, we have been working like this for years Shinny. You really want to throw all that away over something like a simple misunderstanding?”

“Ugh, not this again Nero. Fine! I will give you original payment. But this is the last time Nero! I don’t work with royal agents; too much word getting out would get me arrested, and that means you too. Now take your bits and leave me.” Shinny really did not like the fact that they were now working for royalty apparently.

Nero turned around with his bag of bits and saw Arkay and Cherri standing, the latter looked confused while the former simply looked concerned. Nero shot Arkay a pleading look, while Cherri broke the awkward silence. “So this is what you do Arkay? Huh, no wonder you wanted to keep it hush-hush.” She then turned around and trotted out, Nero and Arkay exchanged a look then followed.

When the three of them were back in the crowded market street, Cherri again decided to speak. “I did not know that you could pawn off ancient treasure like that, so much for being ‘private contractors’ hmm?”

Nero shot Arkay a displeased glare. Arkay tried to fix the situation. “Well, yeah. I can’t lie. We are treasure hunters, or at least we were. Now however, we work for the princess.” He tried to puff out his chest triumphantly, but ended up looking rather silly.

Cherri chuckled. “Right, regular secret agents huh?”
Nero let up on his glare as he put on a rather confident and charming look. “That’s right my sweet little cherry, big bad secret agents on a mission to save the country.” Cherri’s good mood deflated immediately as Nero continued. “I’ll tell you what else too, we-” he busted out laughing “Ha-ha-ha, oh-okay. Sorry, I couldn’t say that without laughing. I’m just kidding; I couldn’t hit on my partner’s crush like that.”

Arkay tensed up so tightly that his neck popped and blushed a bright red that contrasted horribly with his green coat. Nero just chuckled as he trotted away, leaving Arkay and Cherri behind. Arkay looked over to Cherri and gave a sheepish grin. “I-I promise it’s not like that, I just uh, I respect you and, stuff.”

Cherri giggled and responded to Arkay’s stammering. “Oh it’s not like that hmm? Oh darn, I was really hoping to find a stallion that would ‘respect’ me, but since it’s ‘not like that’ I guess I’ll just have to keep looking hmm?” Arkay didn’t know that she could be that evil, and could only respond with more stammering and tripping over his words as he followed Cherri who was following Nero to the steam engine station.

The station was now quiet and almost deserted, there were a few unicorns lingering around. The engine conductor was lazily looking over the crowd. As the three of them boarded, none of them exchanged words. The two hunters flashed their royal passes, and Cherri paid the fare to the last stop: Outpost.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Flat. The land, the rails, the plateaus; all flat. Everything past the eastern mountains of Canterlot was flat. Despite the endless flat, the steam engine still managed to be as bumpy as ever. Within the steam engine passenger car were Cherri, Arkay, and Nero sitting near the back. The rest of the car was empty beside an orange unicorn mare that refused to associate with the three of them. She in stead kept to herself and read a book. Conversation between Nero, Arkay, and Cherri had become less interesting as the scenery changed. Apparently Nero had dropped the whole ‘crush’ thing after the initial laugh over it.

“So, let me get this straight. The two of you are former treasure hunters now employed by Princess Luna to bring the nations together to overthrow the rule of princess Celestia?” Cherri still didn’t seem to believe that they could be in the service of royalty.

“Yeah, just drop the ‘former’ part on the treasure hunting. We still do that. In fact, we are looking for a gemstone that Luna said was somewhere around these parts.” Nero responded to her disbelief with a smile and a proud look. It seemed that the two of them were on better terms now that Nero had stopped hitting on her.

Cherri just rolled her eyes as Arkay continued Nero’s thought. “Well, we are here to get the support of the citizens of Outpost first, remember that Nero. I don’t even think we are going to find this gemstone. Do you know how many gems are in a wasteland-desert?”

Before Nero could answer, there was thump in the engine room. The engine began to slow down quite rapidly. Nero, Arkay, and Cherri exchanged a look and started toward the door to the engine room. As Nero opened the door, the three of them saw a large buffalo blindfolding the conductor. The buffalo looked up and sighed. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry.” The buffalo barely finished that statement before more buffalo snuck up on the three of them and knocked them over the head with what they could only guess were boards.

“They could be useful, duck ponies not so common in these parts.”

“No, they not. That exactly why they almost worthless, invaders only regular ponies.”

“Yes, but the horned one could be worth more, invaders always need them.” Arkay awoke to the sounds of three gruff voices that he could only suspect were the buffalo that knocked them out earlier. He didn’t dare give any sign that he was awake; otherwise they may feel inclined to knock him out again. Arkay attempted to open his eyes, but then realized that he was blindfolded. This realization was short lived however, because it was ripped away roughly, revealing the cold morning sunlight on the horizon. How long had they been out?

“You! Green one. What you doing so far from home? There no need for you to be here. So tell me now, you here to meddle. Invade what you do?” The rather large, and smelly, grey buffalo was giving Arkay no room to breath as he fired off questions he had no answer for, so he tried lying.

“Uh, well me and my colleagues here were just on vacation. Yeah that’s it. Vacation. We were just love taking the steam engine around for enjoyment, and we haven’t been to the lovely eastern desert wastelands yet, so we decided to…you’re not buying this are you?” Arkay never was good at lying. Terrible really.

The large grey buffalo just snorted and turned away to join the rest of his heard a short trot away. Each wore their own unique necklace made of different rocks, stones, and the occasional gemstone. They all turned to face him, tied up on the ground. Arkay turned to see that Nero, Cherri, and the conductor were also tied up on the ground and blindfolded. The orange unicorn mare was no where to be found however. Looking back to the buffalo, Arkay saw they seemed to be preparing to charge at them with thick spears in their mouths and horns ready.

The buffalo readied their weapons and horns for the charge. Before they did however, was the sound of thunder. The sudden loud boom caused Arkay to flinch. When he looked again, one of the buffalo was on his side, bleeding. His head had a sizable hole in it and flowed a dark crimson into the dirt around him. The rest of the buffalo immediately turned tail and ran. They all ran in different directions, very unorganized. Arkay looked over to see where the thunder came from, but was greeted however by a gruff looking earth pony carrying a metal tube with wooden around the bottom and the back. He holstered the device on his back and slowly trotted over to the group of tied up ponies.

“Well, this most certainly is a sight. What is this? Two flyin’ freaks, a witch, and a scrawny little regular one huh? It’s like the start of a bad joke.” The gruff earth pony certainly didn’t seem to be the nicest individual. But Arkay couldn’t help but be thankful that he did save the three of them and the conductor. He had a grey vest over a yellow-tan collared shirt and a red bandana around his neck, on his belt was a holster for a smaller version of the metal thunder tube on his back holster. Upon his head was a grey-black hat that was adorned with a small belt and a tiny white feather. Arkay just hoped that he wouldn’t decide to use the thunder tube on his belt. The loud bang had woken up Cherri, Nero, and the conductor as well.

Nero and the conductor struggled against the binds around their hooves and legs while Cherri simply removed them with magic. She looked at the brown earth pony in the vest and tilted her head. “This ruffian is the one who saved us? Well who exactly are you supposed to be?” She didn’t seem as awestruck as Arkay by the gruff savior in their midst.

“Huh, they didn’t teach you much about something called manners up in your high class city did they? But to answer your question, I am the law around these parts. I have a name, but most ponies don’t bother with it anymore. It’s Joseph, Joseph Marshal. Most folks just call me Marshal though.” Marshal said with a small nod. Arkay looked up as soon as he heard the name Joseph; this was the mayor and law pony that they were supposed to meet!

“Well thank you Mr. Marshal, we appreciate your gesture of kindness. I am Cherri, this grey one over here is Nero, and the green one is Arkay. Don’t know the conductor, but I am sure he is grateful as well.” Cherri seemed dangerously sarcastic for the situation they were in. Marshal just smirked and nodded again.

Cherri got the binds off of Nero, who then spoke up. “Well then Marshal, we are looking for a place called Outpost, since you are the law pony around here, mind pointing us in the right direction?”

Marshal chuckled. “Well, seeing as I am the law pony of Outpost I can point you there, but why should I? All you have done is cost me a bullet and some more buffalo hate. Not that I care for ‘em too much.”

“Well actually,” Arkay started, “me and Nero here are looking for you. We were sent by the princess to speak with you. Could we find a place in Outpost to do so?” He wanted to get to see the town they had almost died to find. Perhaps politics were this pony’s forte?

“Bunch’ a government boys, should’ a known these chicken ponies were no good.” Marshal said under his breath, but loud enough to be heard. “Well, not exactly the best I could’ a hoped for, but fine. Let’s go, I’m sure the ‘professor’ would like to see you.” He didn’t seem very into the gesture though. However, Arkay was very glad that Marshal did half-heartedly invite them to the town. Perhaps this mission would end up in success after all.

“One question though,” Nero cut in, “who is this ‘professor’ you’re talking about? Why would he be interested in meeting us?”

Marshal just sat and contemplated that question for a moment. Then another. After a minute or so, Marshal finally answered. “He’s not really a ‘professor’ as to say, as much as he is simply more intelligent than the rest of the town ponies. He thinks; which is more than a lot of the ponies bother to do. However sometimes thinking can be dangerous, he thinks that we can reason with these buffalo; claims that they aren’t really like this. He tells me that they are just following a bad example, I like to think the same thing, but I can’t exactly back that theory up without meeting this so called bad example and putting him down. So, until the professor can prove his little theory, I keep those buffalo out of my town.”

That was a rather violent ultimatum; then again, Marshal never really came off as one to be soft or compassionate. Cherri gave Arkay a concerned look. He wasn’t sure there was any way he could comfort her in the situation they were currently in. There was nothing safe or reassuring about following the ruffian law pony back to the Outpost, so he simply returned the concern with a similar look. Marshal turned and started off in a direction that seemed almost at random and called back to Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and the conductor, (who had stayed completely silent during the entire interaction) “You comin’ or not government boys?” Arkay and Nero exchanged a quizzical look and followed; not entirely sure how the rest of the mission was going to turn out.

Outpost was rather unremarkable in its appearance, but it was the answer to Arkay’s prayers. The five of them, Nero, Arkay, Cherri, Marshal, and the conductor, had been trotting in the hot sun for the better part of the day. All of them but Marshal were exhausted from the sheer distance coupled with the heat. The lack of water definitely didn’t help either. Neither Nero nor Arkay flew the entire trip, flying with no rest or water was dangerous. It really was rather lucky that Marshal came by when he did; otherwise there would be no way that any of them could have found their way here.

Outpost seemed to be tired as well. There were only a few ponies out and about. The rest of them must have been either in their homes or within the few stores and saloons that made up the main street of Outpost. Now on this main street, Nero could see that there wasn’t much else to the town than that. At the end of the dirt road was the train station they were supposed to have reached. On one side were general stores with various trinkets and things within. On the other seemed to be all of the saloons. Well, at least they were organized in that sense. Marshal made his way to the last saloon on the row and entered. Nero went ahead and followed, with Arkay and Cherri close behind him. The conductor left the group as soon as they had entered the limits of Outpost.

The inside of the saloon was much more alive with activity than the outside. There were several tables with various earth ponies around them. In the back of the room, near some stairs was a somewhat well-dressed stallion playing a piano. Nearby was the bar proper, a long table with various bottles, both empty and full along it. Marshal trotted up and slammed his hooves on the bar table. “Good to see you boys again, where can I get a strong apple whiskey at a time like this?” Arkay was appalled by this action, but every pony else simply continued their business as usual. Obviously, Marshal did this often. The bartender simply nodded and brought out a bottle filled with red-orange apple whiskey and a smaller glass, and filled it. Marshal took the smaller glass off the table in his hoof and downed it in one swig. “What? Ain’t you ever seen apple whiskey before?” Marshal seemed a bit standoffish at Arkay’s concerned look.

“Well no actually, apple whiskey is not served in Canterlot.” Cherri replied
“Course they don’t,” Marshal continued. “They don’t know how to have a good time in that stuck up city. If you unicorns could get you heads and horns out of the clouds, maybe we could talk like reasonable ponies. Then again there ain’t no place for us ‘lowly mud ponies’ up on the Canterlot cliffs huh?” Marshal seemed to be a bit more hostile about the unicorn’s lack of friendly relations than Nero. Cherri gave a frustrated grunt.

This was going swell for the mission. “Well, I myself am not too fond of the capital either, that is why we have come here. If you haven’t been informed, there has been a shift in the ruling of our land. Princess Luna has broken away from the rule of Celestia, and decided to make her own republic. We are here to see if you and the Outpost were willing to rebel against the ‘tyranny of Celestia’ and join the republic of Luna. We are planning to bring ponies and other species to gather to bring a new order of things to Equestria and its neighboring nations. Would you be willing to help us?” Arkay tried to make rebellion sound as inviting as possible. Certainly Marshal’s hate for the capital city alone would be enough to get his support. If not, perhaps breaking away from the rule that did not give them true freedom would.

Marshal did as usual and thought for a while. The bustle of the rest of the saloon quieted down for a moment; they seemed to be waiting for his answer as well. Marshal downed another small glass of apple whiskey and finally replied. “So, you’re not government ponies proper. You’re here to ask for my help?” Arkay gave an assertive nod. Nero simply sat at the table and stared at the apple whiskey. Cherri seemed to be waiting as well. Marshal continued, “Well, as much as I jus’ love to have rules and such shoveled out my way to ‘help’, I think I am gonna along with this crazy idea of yours.” The rest of the bar cheered in response, Arkay was right there with them, on the inside. “But,” Marshal again continued, Arkay’s hopes of an easy return were doused in one simple word. “I don’t help a pony unless you can help us first.” Of course, there was always a catch.

Nero broke in from his staring at the bottle. “What could you have us do that you couldn’t do yourself?” Arkay had a feeling he knew.
Marshal smirked. “Let’s go see the professor, he can tell you more.”

“Here it is.” Marshal said simply as he led Nero, Arkay, and Cherri to the small house a short trot from the saloon. It was sight to see. There were several wheels and gizmos on the outside of the structure; the roof was made entirely of metal instead of regular roofing or wood. The windows were rather small. This, coupled with the wheels made it a rather interesting structure to look at. Nero seemed unimpressed by it, but knocked at the door. Within, there was a loud bang, as if some pony fell off of a stool, followed by the sounds of the resident approaching the door.

A rather serious, sophisticated-looking white earth pony stallion answered the door. He looked over the four of them until his gaze fell on Marshal, he then lightened up. “Ah, Marshal good to see you again. Who are these gentle ponies and lady at my door? More importantly, have you seen my three-quarter inch cog anywhere? I haven’t the slightest clue where it could have rolled off to.”

Marshal just shook his head. “I don’t know where your cog is, but these are a group a’ government ponies that want to have our support in overthrowing royalty, but I thought they could help with the buffalo problem we’ve been havin’. Would you kindly point them in the right direction?” That confirmed Arkay’s suspicion about what the task they were going to have to deal with.

The white stallion answered without so much as missing a beat. “Overthrowing royalty? Well, I am sure that there are parts of this that I am not getting, so perhaps you can explain?”
“Strange, you seem to be the only one that isn’t absolutely on board with this rebellion thing. Who are you anyway?” Nero inquired quickly.

The white stallion nodded. “Of course, where are my manners? Most ponies around here simply call me ‘professor’, but my name is Nikola. I am an inventor of sorts, and oversee how we handle the buffalo.”
Arkay’s hope of finding an intellectual in this den of ruffians was finally realized. “So, you are a sort of scientist and a politician? It’s good to find another thinker so far from civilization. We are actually representatives from Princess Luna. She believes that it is Celestia’s rule that is keeping all of the races and species apart. She plans to change this by uniting all that she can and overthrowing the old and outdated rule of Celestia. Luna also thinks that once the rebellion has gained enough power, the ponies and other species will be ready for a more representative system of rule. If you can support our cause, we will ensure that your efforts will not be in vain.” It seemed that the more that Arkay advertised this republic idea, the more he himself believed in it. He had to remember that they were to serve Celestia in the end, uniting the races is just to get Luna’s trust.

“Ah, and there’s the part I was missing. Now it seems so much clearer. Nothing personal to Celestia, but this idea of a republic sounds like a great one! There is so much potential in the implications of representative government. Furthermore, uniting the species to gather could be a the right way to go, we could stop focusing so much on how different we are and start working toward a brighter future! Indeed, this is the most interesting thing I have heard from royalty in a long time! However, every plan needs a first step, and the buffalo are definitely where we can start. Before we continue, could I get your names? I have to admit I am a bit in the dark on the three of you.” Nikola didn’t seem to know the meaning of thinking silently.

Nero took the honor of introducing the three of them, being impulsive. “Of course, where are our manners? The green one is Arkay, Cherri is the unicorn, and I am Nero.” Nero held out his prosthetic hoof for a hoof bump, but never got one. Nikola was simply staring at his prosthetic hoof intently.

“Where did you get that?” Nikola stated simply.

Nero looked down at his hoof; metal, he had grown so used to it that he forgot that other ponies didn’t usually have a replacement hoof. “I had a, uh, accident at an early age. I have pretty much always had this thing. Why?”
Nikola continued to stare. “That is my design. I invented prosthetics many years ago, but the lack of a need for then caused me to move onto something else. Tell me, did you get this from a Pegasus named ‘Rainy Days’?” Nikola seemed to be both happy and sad at the sight of Nero’s metal hoof.

“Yeah, I think that was his name. Are you telling me that you came up with the idea for replacement hooves? I was told Rainy Days came up with it on the spot.” Nero defended the old Pegasus doctor; he did after all save Nero’s life with this prosthetic hoof.

Nikola simply chuckled. “Oh how they lie to the young. No, I invented this technology. However it was claimed to be an unneeded device, so I never got to publish the idea properly. What you have is an old prototype of my design. I figured that something was suspicious when he left ‘for no reason’. Crafty devil must have run off with my design. Tell you what. If you would allow it, I would like to give you my more updated design. It isn’t doing me any good just sitting around my workshop, and this could give you the chance to show off the original inventor’s work instead of thinking that it was made by some thief.”

That gave Nero a lot to think about. How long had he believed that Pegasus engineering saved his life, when all along it was actually the work of a mud pony living in a run-down settlement far from civilization? Nero wanted to deny that he was saved by an earth pony’s design, but when Nikola brought out a new prosthetic hoof with an updated frame, he couldn’t think of any other solution other than that Nikola was telling the truth. After a few moments of thinking and reorganizing his thoughts, Nero gave Nikola an answer. “Yeah, sure professor. I’ll take you’re your offer. No sense in using an outdated old hunk of metal yes?” Nikola seemed to brighten up at that. How could he not? He was going to replace a lie with the truth.
Marshal seemed unmoved by the act before him. “Well, if you ponies are done living in your mechanical lives, I’m gonna go back to the real world, and get myself a few drinks.” With that he left to inventor’s house and trotted to the main street of Outpost.

The workshop of Nikola’s house was a larger room with all sorts of inventions and failures strewn about. If there was any organizational system for this room, it was on a different level of thinking than Nero, Arkay, or Cherri could comprehend. After rummaging through many other pieces of metal, or machines, the others couldn’t really tell, Nikola pulled out a device that looked like a screwdriver, but not. It seemed that it didn’t exactly know what tool it wanted to be, so it instead chose to be every tool. “All you have to do is sit relatively still for a moment and I will get you all set up.” Nikola spoke easy, as if having your hoof replaced was an everyday thing.

Nero was a bit apprehensive about letting go of his old hoof, but gave in and let Nikola go to work. “So, you invent stuff? What is your focus or reason for this?” Nero wanted to make this at least a little more like a regular interaction. However there could be no words that would make replacing a hoof seem like a normal interaction.

“Well actually,” apparently Nikola was used to talking while working, or perhaps he was just ‘thinking out loud’ when he was, “I find that pony kind could do so much more than just exist. Why not live instead of simply getting by? So in an effort to help ponies, I invent new ideas to advance our ways of thinking and doing. Why pull a plow when you can simply have a machine do it for you? Why contact others by letters when you can use the telegraph to send your messages over long distances? I have many thoughts of how to improve the lives of ponies, but most of them end up being failures. I do however have an idea that is sure to work. If we could harness it, lightning could power many, many things. I am finding ways to harness the electricity from lightning to power devices. One of these I call the light bulb.” Nikola really was an earth pony through and through. He looked past the fact that unicorns could light rooms and places or that Pegasus could harness lightening easily, and created things for the betterment of other earth ponies. He had good intentions, but it was no wonder that he lived so far from civilization. “There we go! Good as new Nero.”

Nero looked down; surprised that Nikola had worked so quickly, and couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of his new hoof. It was a bit of a heavier frame, but this new hoof was much sturdier than the old one. It was much smoother in design, and had two wires along the side of it, but overall was comfortable. Nero gave it a few kicks and stomps, and it held up perfectly well. Nikola looked upon it somewhat proudly and, like a father would look upon his colt when he got his cutie mark. “Well, now that that business is out of the way, shall we discuss the buffalo?”

Back in the main room of Nikola’s house, Nero, (still getting used to the new hoof) Arkay, Cherri, and Nikola sat down and enjoyed some nice cool water. None of them realized how thirsty they were until the offer of water was made. Cherri seemed much more receptive to conversation now that she was properly hydrated. “Well, I have to say that this town is much more pleasant than the unicorns of Canterlot make it out to be. There aren’t mad ponies running around crazy, and there certainly is water. I can’t understand why the high class unicorns of that city have to put down other cities to make theirs seem so much better than others.”

“Oh, there are crazy ponies. You just haven’t had the chance to meet any of them. Also, water is a very precious commodity out here. We need to be careful or we could run dry. If that happens, we are all too far from any other town to effectively get helped soon enough to stop ponies from dying. Marshal keeps most of these things in order, but one pony can only do so much.” Nikola said calmly. Cherri gave him a surprised look, certainly there was a joke somewhere in that, but she could find none. He was being serious.

“Well anyway,” Arkay wanted to get things back on track, “what exactly do you need us to do to help the buffalo situation out here? You said you had a plan or something?”

Nikola nodded. “Yes, I do indeed have a plan. Theses buffalo are not naturally violent and disagreeable. They are following a leader that is a bad influence on them. I know this because there is a buffalo I normally do business with named Rock that is a rather pleasant and normal individual. He has told me that one chief has taken many of his brothers and sisters into a life of violence because it is ‘what they were called to do.’ I would like to believe that this is true. If you could take out the bad chief, then the buffalo would fall back into the docile and peaceful beings they naturally are.”
Arkay remembered Rock; he was the buffalo that pointed Nero and him to where Naburu the boat zebra was in the town of Brandonbuck. “Alright, how do you purpose we remove this bad chief from influencing these buffalo Nikola?” Arkay asked. It was the burning question on his and Nero’s mind.

“I have organized a pow-wow, a sort of meeting of the minds, with Rock and some of his brothers tomorrow in the morning. If you could get them to help, it would be easy to get that chief out of power. I need to stay here and finish working on some of my new wiring for electric powered fans, and Marshal said he would too busy dealing with outlaws and such to make time for buffalo. So would you be willing to go in our place to try and fix this situation. I am sure that Marshal could get the rest of the towns support in joining your republic if you could get this buffalo problem fixed.” Nikola explained. His plan was fair and equitable to Arkay’s view point.

After a moment of thought and a look from both Nero and Cherri, Arkay gave his answer. “We accept Nikola. We will go to this pow-wow and try to sway the peaceful buffalo to our side. We will need to sleep here for the night and leave in the morning, would that be agreeable to you?” Nikola could not have brightened up more at that.

“Of course friends, we can’t have your tired for the pow-wow. The three of you can sleep in my workshop. I usually have a few matrasses or pillows in there; I fall asleep when I work sometimes. You may sleep there and then leave in the morning to meet with Rock.” Nikola had a strange way of living indeed, but Nero and Arkay couldn’t complain.

Cherri on the other hand could. “Me? Sleeping in the same room as these two? In a workshop? You must be crazy. Certainly you have some quarters more suited to a lady?”

Nikola just answered easily. “Nope, take it or leave it dear, I don’t usually entertain guests, so I don’t see the need to have an extra room for them. Sleep well friends and see you in the morning!” And with that, he led them to the workshop and left without another word.

Nero had no trouble finding a place to sleep. He pulled a rather large pillow out from under a round metal pipe and fell right asleep in a very unceremonious position. Arkay and Cherri however were both very hesitant to do the same. Arkay pulled out a rather lumpy mattress from under a table and nudged Cherri. “Here, you sleep here. I’ll find something else to sleep on, doesn’t seem to be any more pillows. Um, I’ll just sleep on the floor, uh, goodnight Cherri.” Sure, Arkay could talk his way out of law enforcement, convince a manticore not to eat him, and even get Nero to stop being rude to different races most of the time, but when it came to talking to Cherri alone, he was less than useless. He couldn’t help but trip over his words, especially after last time when she ended up teasing him for half an hour.

Cherri just looked at the mattress, then back to Arkay. “Thanks Arkay.” She lay down upon the bed and got comfortable while Arkay found a nice cold piece of floor to lie on. After a few minutes, Cherri spoke up again, almost to herself. “Really are different Arkay.” Arkay couldn’t help but smile as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The dirt lands were as inviting as ever as Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and the two buffalo leading them in the morning sun to the pow-wow with Rock and his brothers. The buffalo only gave grunts of response to any question Arkay could ask, so conversation died down quickly in the group. They were to meet Rock and his brothers near a ring of cactus where the sands began, or at least that’s how Nikola described it as they were led away from his house. Nero was having some trust issues having to be led through the desert by buffalo, and Cherri did her best not to complain about the heat. After what seemed like hours of trotting in one direction, Arkay could make out the shapes of several buffalo off in the distance next to several cacti. They had arrived

As the group approached the circle of cacti, the buffalo leading the group finally spoke. “Stand in the circle ponies.” Simple directions enough. So Nero, Arkay, and Cherri did as they were told.

Once in the center of the cacti circle a rather important looking buffalo with several necklaces and a head dress spoke to the three of them. “Ponies, you have come to speak of peace between the buffalo and the citizens of Outpost. This is a very important leap into good relations between our races, and we thank you.” As this buffalo continued to speak, Nero couldn’t help but notice the sand creeping up on his legs. Cherri and Arkay were too stressed about the speaking with the buffalo to notice. “However, there is something I must confess to you friends.” Arkay and Cherri began to notice the sand as well as it crept over their upper legs. “You will not be around to speak of peace at all.” The speaking buffalo threw off his head dress and tore off his necklaces. “Because the three of you will be taking a long sand nap.” It was a trap! They were being buried in quick sand.

Arkay and Nero tried at once to flap their wings, but it was too late, their wings were already buried in sand. Cherri struggled against the sand to no avail. Nero suddenly yelled at the buffalo several obscenities that even Arkay was surprised by. Arkay himself could only ask, “Who are you and why are you doing this?”

The buffalo now wearing a bandana around his neck lined with turquoise chuckled. “I suppose the dead should know. I am ‘chief Rolling Thunder’ to those damnable betrayers, but you can call me by my real name. Name’s just Thunder, and when you see that damn idiot Joseph Marshal in the afterlife, could you say ‘hello’ for me. He’ll remember. See ya’ invaders, never should have gotten involved in what you don’t understand.”

Arkay tried to respond to Thunder’s constant talking, but couldn’t. His head was already under the sand. Nero, Arkay, and Cherri were all pulled under the sand. Arkay couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, and couldn’t move as he slipped further and further into the sand. His last thoughts drifted to his friends as he started to lose consciousness. “Nero, you were right all along,” he thought, “and Cherri, I’m sorry.” All of his senses shut down as he drifted into his final rest.

Nero himself was still struggling against the sand that surrounded him. However no movement he tried made any change in the sand that continually filled in any space around him. Panic slowly set in when Nero finally accepted that he could not change the fact that he was going to die in this miserable sand pit. He didn’t dare open his eyes or speak; no need to accelerate the process of suffocation. In the empty silence of the sand, Nero could make out the whisper of a voice in the back of his mind. “That buffalo was right you know, really shouldn’t have got involved Nero.” Honestly Nero couldn’t disagree with the voice either.

Cherri tried to focus her magic on moving the sand she was sinking in, but it was rather difficult to focus on magic while you slowly lost any sense of feeling, sight, or sound. “Well,” she thought to herself, “look where following those two has gotten you. Would have been better off begging on the streets in Canterlot than dying in the sand with two Pegasus you hardly know. Maybe next time you would do good to remember that? Oh wait, there won’t be a next time will there?”

Author's Note

Well, I for one certainly enjoyed writting this chapter, hope you guys enjoyed reading

Again, if you have any comments or suggestions, by all means post them. I always want to improve

(Also, sorry for the wait. The next chapter will hopefully be done sooner than a month)
(Now with tab problem fixed, yay copypasta)

Chapter 3: Innovation is the Key to our own Demise

-If at first you don’t succeed give up, you’re probably not supposed to do that-

Nero opened his eyes to find that he was not dead. He again found himself sitting on grey mud and looking at a horizon of grey that stretched out forever. This was the lifeless plain he had been on in his dream; that could only mean one thing. “Orian!” Nero called out into the grey. “Stop hiding and show yourself!”

To Nero’s surprise, Orian did show himself. He stepped out from behind the dead tree and smiled. “Hello again Nero. Good to see you.” He said in a calm voice that Nero found quite unsettling. Orian stared into Nero’s eyes with those red eyes that he could swear burned his soul.

“Why am I here? Am I dead? More importantly, why are you here?” Nero asked

“Well no you’re not dead, and you tell me why I am here. This is your subconscious mind. As for why you are here, you are unconscious and I guess you go here when you are not.” Orian had a way of explaining things in a way that infuriated Nero. Orian continued anyway. “This most certainly is a predicament you have gotten yourself into isn’t it? Let me tell you, most ponies don’t usually survive sinking in quicksand.”

“Wait, how do you know about that?” Nero stammered.

“It’s not like I can’t see what you do and hear what you hear. I am you after all remember? I just don’t really exist, but to you I do.” Orian explained in his calm voice that somehow made things all that much worse.

“Well ok then. What do you think about this predicament?” Nero wanted to try and catch Orian off guard this time.

Orian however was not impressed. “I think that your ‘friend’ Arkay is just trying to get you killed. He drags you out to the desert to convince some self-appointed law pony to join this republic that Luna has in mind. Ever think that he is just bringing you along so that he can betray you? He never really has your best intentions in mind does he? More importantly, why do you allow him to control you?” Orian seemed to know just how to twist his opinions to seem as though they were the truth.

Nero pondered this for a moment. On one hoof, Orian was completely right in all he had said. Nero never really thought about why he just went along with Arkay’s plan. Perhaps it was just that he had never had a reason to doubt Arkay’s actions, maybe it was about time he did. On the other hoof Arkay had never steered him wrong. In fact, Arkay always did make sure that he took Nero’s opinion into consideration and made sure that the two of them were alright. All in all, there was a lot to consider.

Orian just knew that Nero was thinking intensely. “What’s the matter Nero? Having to reconsider your lifestyle? Don’t do that now. It’s just one non-existent pony’s opinion. You have been ignoring me and shutting me out for years, why pay attention now hmm?” Orian taunted sarcastically.

“I hate that you are both right and wrong on so many things Orian, and honestly I missed that. You are absolutely right; I shouldn’t suddenly listen to you again now that you are back. You are also wrong though. Arkay isn’t going to betray me. He never has, and he never will. Actually tell you what, the day that he does betray me you can laugh in my face and say ‘I told you so.’ Now how about you be useful and tell me what has happened since I have been out? Or does your knowing of outside my mind have its limits?” Nero wanted to stay on the offense of this discussion but with Orian, there was no winning.

Orian just nodded and thought for a moment. “Fine, we can play your way. Yes, even though you’re not conscious, I can still see and hear things that go on ‘outside’. From what I can gather you got very lucky Nero. You and your silly little friends sunk your way right into the underground civilization that the deer have created under the sand. These deer are real clever they have everything they need down there. To top it all off, they even have working farms. Maybe when you come too you can marvel at it all yourself. Anyway none of you are dead... yet. As for how I feel about the whole buffalo predicament, I think that you should get your way out of this underground utopia and ask that Marshal fellow about Thunder. Obviously the two of them have a bit of history. Perhaps you could get them to talk it out, or fight it out. Whichever works to the favor of your oh so important ‘mission’. I still can’t understand your motive for going along with this royal business, mind sharing? Well, actually I know exactly what your motives are; I just want to know what you like to tell yourself.” Orian seemed to enjoy hearing himself give speeches to Nero.

Nero was not at all comfortable with knowing that Orian could know what he was thinking, but he complied anyway. “I am doing this royal business with Arkay because having one of the princesses in your debt could be very handy. Remember, we are actually working for Celestia. If she owes us, we could be set anywhere we go. We would never have to work or treasure hunt again in our lives. How could you not want that?”

“But do you really want that? Do you really want to give up adventure?” Orian asked quickly. Nero had to think about that for a while. Did he really want to be well off? For all of his life, Nero had been on uncertain terms. Could he even deal with the lack of challenge? “That’s what I thought” Orian took Nero’s silence as a yes. “Don’t lie to yourself; that is the worst thing that you could do.”

Nero didn’t know what to think about that. Here was Orian analyzing his actions and thoughts, and giving both legitimate and terrible advice about what to do. Nero honestly didn’t know whether or not to heed this advice. There were still several questions that he had for Orian, but didn’t necessarily want the answers from him. However he still did want to know one thing in particular. “Why did you suddenly come back Orian? Why are you here?”

Orian just smiled and answered again in that unsettling calm voice. “Well when your benevolent ruler’s sister put you to sleep, she went rooting around in your memories and thoughts. See that door over there?” Orian gestured to a door that suddenly appeared behind Nero. “That lovely little thing has been containing all of your repressed memories and thoughts within its confines, and along with it me. When she took a peek inside, I was released again upon your thoughts. Which explains the dream you had that night. So, I am here because Luna let me out on accident. Answer your question?”

Nero was unsure how exactly to take that. He had no idea that he had repressed memories along with Orian. Perhaps he should take a look inside his thoughts more often. Nero took a few steps toward the door, and peeked around the door frame. On the other side was nothing. It was just a free standing door. “Don’t get too curious now Nero. You don’t remember what is behind there for a reason. Perhaps the forgotten should stay that way?” Orian strangely sounded genuine in his concern in that remark. Maybe Orian did have his best interests at heart sometimes. Nero then felt very silly to think such a thing.

“Well sleepyhead, time to wake up now. Your cute pink friend is going to get you back to reality pretty soon.” It was strange that Orian knew these things before they even happened.

“Wait!” Nero started, but never got a chance to finish.

Orian continued as if Nero had said nothing. “A bit of advice before you wake up; ask about the deer’s source of sunlight. It is important to know your history. See you around Nero.” Nero wanted to ask what Orian had meant by that but the grey plains, the dead tree, Orian himself, and the memory door faded away before he could.

Splash! Nero woke up to the cold and very wet feeling of a bucket of water being poured over him. “See?” Nero in his confusion and sleepiness could make out the voice of Cherri and the chuckles of Arkay. “Told you that water was all we needed to wake him up.”

“I would have gotten up eventually!” Nero defended. “Not many ponies are forced to wake up after dying in quicksand.” Nero looked about his surroundings to find a small room with three figures in it. One pink was obviously Cherri, the green had to be Arkay, but the third light brown one was a mystery to him.

“Greetings from the land of the living.” An unfamiliar and light voice said. Now that his eyes were more in focus, Nero could see that the brown figure was a small pony-like creature with a distinct feather on a small headband. It had very thin legs, and stood just a little bit shorter than Arkay and Cherri next to it.

“Uh, hey. It’s good to be in the land of the living again. Who are you?” Nero asked, still a little bit asleep.

The small thing chuckled. “Well I would ask the same thing had your friends not filled me in on whom you are. To answer your question, I am Falling Leaves, the leader of the deer. Welcome to Oasis.”

“Oasa-what now?” Nero asked in confusion. Had Orian actually told him the truth?

“Oasis Nero. This is an underground civilization of deer. According to Falling Leaves, we sunk so far into the sand that we ended up in an underground river that led to here. None of us were conscious for any of that but hey, we are alive.” Arkay explained. That seemed a little far-fetched to Nero, but he didn’t really feel like exploring the situation very much.

Nero got up off the bed he had been laying on and surveyed the room a bit closer. All of the walls, the ceiling, and the floor were made of a light brown stony material. In the room were three other beds and a few tables, which were all made of the same material. A wooden door graced the entrance and restricted Nero’s view beyond it. “Well, Falling Leaves, mind if we take a stroll around? I would like to get a better grasp on what exactly this place is.” Nero decided to heed Orian’s advice about knowing more about history or whatever.

Falling Leaves smiled “Of course young one, we will show you everything there is to see here.” Falling Leaves then turned to the door and started out. Nero glanced at Arkay and Cherri; they had not yet started following the deer.

“Arkay, Cherri! Can you believe it? We are alive! We survived that buffalo’s quicksand!” Nero couldn’t contain how excited he was to be alive from the two of them.

Arkay smiled. “Yeah. I can’t believe it either, but here we are. I have to apologize to you guys about getting you into this situation. If it weren’t for extremely lucky circumstances, my trust in strangers would have gotten us all killed. I am going to continue with my mission for Luna but if the two of you don’t want to come along, I would completely understand.” Arkay hung his head low in shame. Apparently he was rather embarrassed about almost getting his friends and he killed.

Nero just burst out laughing. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Really? Arkay, how many times have we almost gotten killed on our incursions? Honesty adding one more isn’t going to hurt. Of course I am going to finish this mission with you. I wouldn’t bail on my partner because of a little sand.” Arkay looked up and smiled to Nero.

“Well, I for one am surprised at your actions Arkay.” Arkay’s hopes couldn’t have dropped more terribly at Cherri’s words. “Going off and getting you and me almost killed like that. Not exactly what you told me this political stuff was going to be.”

‘Well, it was fun while it lasted’ Arkay thought to himself,

“However.” Cherri continued “The two of you have proven that whatever adventures you go on are indeed more exciting than any old boring job that I could get in Canterlot. Also, I haven’t quite figured either of you out and you are both intriguing to me. So, taking all things into consideration, I will stay with you on this so called ‘mission’. Just don’t get me killed please? I rather do enjoy living.” ‘Why does she always have to put me through an emotional roller coaster?’ Arkay thought.

“Thank you, both of you. I promise I’ll try to get the both of you out of this alive and well. Thank you” Arkay was so very relieved that they decided to stay with him. He didn’t think that he could get this mission done without them. With that, the three of them followed after Falling Leaves to survey the civilization of Oasis.

Oasis was everything that Nero, Arkay, and Cherri could hope for and more. Outside of the small room they had been in was another huge room that seemed to sing to them. Rivers cascaded throughout the entire place, carried by stone riverbeds and aqueducts. There were tall stone structures that reached all the way to the ceiling that seemed to overlook the entire room. At the top of one stone spire in particular was a huge ball of light. The three of them mistook it for the sun, resembling it so closely. Falling Leaves somehow just knew the sense of awe that crept over the three of them. “This is our entire livelihood.” She said simply. “This is the gift of Celestia’s sun, given to us by the Princess herself. It absorbs sunlight through a small skylight and provides real sunlight down here in our underground city. Without this, we would be forced from our safety and thrown into the hash world we have hidden from for all these years.”

Cherri scoffed at that. “Really now? So if what you say is true, your race has lived underground for years. Why is it that no pony has ever heard of you? More importantly, what are you?” Arkay shared Cherri’s suspicion. Perhaps there were those that had known, but living underground for years seemed a little farfetched to him. Then again, being in an enclosed space was uncomfortable to any Pegasus.

Falling Leaves simply chuckled. “Well young ones, let me tell you that there is nothing but truth in my statement. The princess of the sun, Celestia, gave us this gift so that we could live underground until the land is ready for peace to flourish. Out of respect, we patiently wait until the day that we will return to the surface so that we may return this gift. We do not necessarily look forward to the day but when the princess calls upon us to return her gift, we shall. As for what we are, it is quite simple. We are deer. Being smaller than your race, and especially the buffalo, we have evolved to be farmers of sorts rather than gatherers. We revel in the calm and serene working of the land rather than the search for food. This has however, led to our race being forgotten or repressed. Some from the younger generation believe that we cannot shut the world out forever, and that we need to let it in just a little. The elders however believe that we must stay in the safety of the underground until we are called to return. So we have argued amongst ourselves for years, always concluding that it is safer to stick to tradition and remain underground than risk braving the surface.” Falling Leaves couldn't hide that she was concerned for the safety of her family. However she also seemed to believe in the ideas of the ‘younger generation’ as well.

Nero was unmoved by this predicament. “Yeah that’s nice. Now how about you tell us where the exit is so that my friends and I here can get out of here. We have some unfinished business with a certain buffalo and a town of rebels we need to attend to. It was great to meet you and everything.” Nero already had the bit of history that Orian had mentioned he gets it wasn’t very interesting. So he wanted to get out of the ground and exact some revenge on Thunder and his band of jolly followers.

Arkay however was not interested in jumping so quickly into the hooves of a crazed buffalo chief. “Hold on a minuet Nero, we can’t just jump right back out of this. I for one am exhausted, passing out while sinking in the sand cannot be healthy. Perhaps we should stay here for a while and get to know the deer and their lifestyle better. Maybe we could all learn something from this, like ‘let’s not rush into something without knowing what is in store for us.’ Plus,” Arkay pulled Nero close and whispered into his ear, “Maybe this sunlight gift is the gemstone that Luna was telling us about. She did say ‘we would know it when we saw it’.” Arkay trotted away from Nero a short distance. “Furthermore I would like some more information from the deer; perhaps they could tell me something about the buffalo that could help us.”

Nero thought this over for a moment. He really didn’t want to stay underground for that long, but then again maybe Arkay was right. The deer have been living underground for years, and apparently knew more about the buffalo than him or Arkay knew. “Hmm, perhaps you’re right Arkay. Fine we can stay down here for a while, but we are leaving in the morning... whenever that is. Alright Arkay?”

Arkay let out a breath of relief. Now he could have the time he wanted to ask for any other information about the deer in the past and how they got that source of sunlight underground. Furthermore, he wanted to know if Nikola’s theory was right about the buffalo. There could be a chance of diplomacy if Nikola was right about the buffalo following this bad leader. If there was one, it had to be Thunder. “However.” Nero just couldn’t let Arkay have a sigh of relief without making him panic shortly after. “I will not be joining you in this information hunt. I have better things to do.”

Well that didn’t really put a stop to any of Arkay’s plans, so it was alright anyway. “Whatever Nero just don’t do anything stupid like get lost, or offend anyone. We will meet up tomorrow morning and go back to Outpost alright?” Arkay purposed calmly, he didn’t want any more emotional roller coaster rides today. Nero simply gave a short nod and trotted off. Arkay continued. “Well, now how...” Arkay was about to ask Falling Leaves about the sunlight, but she was gone. “Huh, I guess deer don’t know how exactly to warn others before they just leave.”

“Actually, we do. You just weren’t looking hard enough.” Arkay was not prepared for the sudden speaking from behind him. He jumped several feet into the air and hovered in fright for a moment. He then looked down to see that Falling Leaves was just standing next to Cherri with no discernible facial expression. Arkay hovered back down, a little bit embarrassed. It’s not every day that he dealt with disappearing ninja deer.

Cherri was giving Arkay a sly look as he touched down and started speaking again. “Anyway I do have a lot of questions about this place and the buffalo, is there any place we could go for a while to speak? And please don’t do that again. I’m not exactly the most receptive pony for surprises.”

Falling Leaves again gave him and Cherri her simple chuckle and answered. “Well, we could go to my den. I almost never have guests over, but that could work. As long as it just the two of you, the grey one seems a bit too energetic and unfocused. I can only hope that you did not release a disaster upon us. Shall we?” Falling Leaves then walked away, expecting Arkay and Cherri to follow. Cherri just gave Arkay a sheepish look. She was not quite as excited as he was to learn about the deer.

Oasis was a sleepy and calm place. The few deer that were walking the dirt trails of the underground city gave Nero almost no mind as they trotted by. The few that did simply gave a respectful nod or friendly greeting. Nero was not used to such reactions to him being a Pegasus. Most of the time, those that passed by would either stare at him with contempt or grumble at his presence. Here in Oasis, the deer did no such thing. He was surprised that they say something about him being the only one around that was not a deer, but there were only nods and gracious smiles.

‘These deer are just too friendly’ Nero thought to himself. ‘There is no reason to be so happy about living underground.’ He continued his trot around the city when he came to a realization. “There’s no market around here.” Nero said to himself out loud.

“Well of course there isn’t a market Nero, they don’t need one.” Nero whipped around to see who was speaking to him to find a grey Pegasus with red eyes, but no scars. “They have it all figured out down here you know.” Orian said almost arrogantly.

Nero couldn’t help but back pedal at Orian’s sudden appearance, right into a wall. “What? How? You’re only supposed to be in my mind!” Nero tried to disprove Orian’s existence outside of his mind, but couldn’t.

“Well, usually yes I do only exist within your subconscious mind. I thought I might as well come out and enjoy the nice underground air of the outside world for once. And before you ask, no I am not really here.” Orian said, still in a tone of voice that made him feel superior to Nero.

Nero contemplated that for a while. How could Orian be there, standing right in front of him, and not actually be there? He wasn’t really real of course, but he was real to Nero. “So am I just talking to myself?” Nero asked.

Orian face-hooved and sighed. “No, you are talking to me; I am a figment of your imagination. Still following me? Good. To answer your question, yes and no. You are talking to me but to those around you, you are just talking to yourself. Others can’t see me.” Orian tried his best to explain this to Nero, but there was no way to explain speaking to your imaginary friend without confusing some pony.

Nero just shook his head. “Anyway whatever, why are you out of my subconscious or wherever that place is?”

Orian chuckled at that. “Well, you know that annoying green friend of yours? I absolutely cannot stand him. Being all nice, and intelligent, and- and goddess damn it! He is just too accepting! I cannot stand him because he has no lack of empathy for anything! He just makes me want to vomit!” Orian sighed and composed himself. “Your friend Arkay is just too damn nice for his own good and yours. He will end up getting the two of you killed if you aren’t careful you know.” Orian obviously didn’t like Arkay. However, most of his reasons sounded like excuses to Nero.

“Well, whatever.” Nero wanted to get back on track. “Now that I know a bit about the deer’s history, what am I supposed to do with that?”

Orian seemed to want to get back on track as well. “Well, that one deer didn’t exactly tell us what we wanted to hear; perhaps we should go around and ask what the others think?” Orian said calm again.

Nero nodded. “Alright, what exactly do we want to hear from the deer?” He said cautiously.

“We want to hear more about that fabricated sunlight that they have down here. Or did you forget about the gemstone Luna wanted you to get already?” Orian hinted arrogant again.

At the word ‘gemstone’ Nero perked up immediately. Never before had he actually forgotten about treasure hunting. “Of course! Are you telling me that the sun thing down here is that gemstone that Luna wanted us to get?” Nero again had that crazy look in his eye as he questioned his imaginary friend. Orian on the other hoof simply stayed calm and shrugged. At that Nero galloped down the dirt road, on a mission to find out more about the underground sun. He didn’t care if Orian followed or not. Then again, it’s rather difficult to out run some pony that’s not real.

“And that, my guests, is how our race has become what we are.” Falling Leaves finished her explanation ,which had taken a few hours, and smiled easy. “Any questions?” She asked, as if the history of her race was a simple thing to understand.

Arkay and Cherri, who were sitting on their haunches throughout the explanation, sat there with their mouths agape in awe. “So let me get this straight Falling Leaves. The deer used to run the plains in the days of old, but that all changed when the Princess gave you the one of the Elements of Harmony as a gift. You then found that it could absorb and expel sunlight, so you crafted your entire civilization around it to avoid the violence and disharmony of the surface. That’s great and all, but did you really need to give us the history of every chief and leader before this happened?” Arkay asked with caution. He didn’t want to offend his host, but did want to make a point that all of their history before becoming an underground civilization was quite unnecessary.

Falling Leaves smiled graciously. “Of course my dear, you did ask for the history of our race. I just wanted to comply with your question. Perhaps that will teach you a lesson in being specific yes?” Arkay gave a tired frown at that.

Cherri on the other hoof was completely entranced by the deer’s story. “Arkay, how could you not absolutely love that story? Such a history! And the teachers of Canterlot denied the deer’s existence. There is so much that we as a race could learn from the deer. I just wish that we knew about them earlier.” Cherri seemed to absolutely love the deer for whatever reason. All Arkay knew was that he was secretly jealous that she didn’t look at him with such admiration.

Falling Leaves chuckled again. For whatever reason, she found every reaction from Arkay and Cherri to be funny. “Well, thank you dear, that flatters an old deer very much. Now it is getting quite late, and I must tend the fields tomorrow morning. The two of you can just find a comfortable pile of leaves to lie upon. We do not waste what we have down here, so we use the fallen leaves to stuff our bedding. Sleep well ponies. It was pleasant to have you over. If you leave earlier than I do, I look forward to our next meeting.” And with that Falling Leaves exited the main room of her house-den. She was rather gracious to them seeing as they were strangers in her city.

As soon as Falling Leaves left the room, Cherri’s smile fell to a bored expression. “Finally, I don’t think that I could have kept up that act for very much longer. A lady can only pretend for so long.” Cherri said with exasperation. Arkay was baffled by this sudden change in her attitude. Cherri put on a pouty face. “What? Certainly you didn’t believe my ruse?”

Arkay couldn’t find the words he wanted, and managed only some stuttering. “Well-I. Uhm, yea-no. Maybe?” Cherri just giggled at this mish-mash of words. Arkay managed to pull himself together for once to speak to Cherri. “Well, I haven’t really had a chance to get to know you very well, and I don’t know what you do and do not find interesting. Forgive me if I took your ‘acting’ seriously.” Arkay wanted to salvage any respect that Cherri might still have for him at the very least.

Cherri simply smiled at that. “Seems that we are on the same playing field then Mr.treasurehunter. I don’t really know much about you either, other than the fact that you seem to take the non-violent approach and that you are a terrible liar.” Cherri said calmly. Arkay could detect a hint of sarcasm in her words, but she did seem sincere otherwise. She continued. “Perhaps you could tell me more about the life of Arkay, so that I may get a better understanding of who you are.”

Arkay’s mind just stopped for a moment. Certainly he had some interesting things to talk about, but couldn’t think of them on the spot. He had to buy some time to think, but he was also curious about Cherri’s life as well. He thought of one way that could get him out of this situation, and learn more about the pink unicorn. “Ladies first.” He said with respect.

Cherri gave another pouty face. “Well, alright then sir.” Arkay let out a mental sigh of relief while Cherri continued. “I wasn’t born in Canterlot like most unicorns, I was born in Ponyville. My parents were two earth ponies who ran a small cherry orchard, so it was baffling to them as to why they had a Unicorn daughter. My mother wanted me to help around the orchard in a more efficient way than the other earth ponies that lived there could. My father on the other hoof saw potential in my being a unicorn. My father wanted me to go out into the city of Canterlot to make a better life for myself than I could have in Ponyville. I had to take some time to consider these options, I mean; this was the rest of my life that I was deciding on. While I tossed these options around in my head, I decided to help my mother with some cooking one day. We were baking some cherry pie for the neighbors that day, and my mother decided that I should try my hoof at making one all by myself. Being a young filly, I absolutely jumped at the idea of doing something on my own. So, I did just as my mother instructed me, and made a cherry pie. It really was a lot easier than my mother made it sound; when I finished filling the pie with the cherries however, I found these cherries as my cutie mark. My mother kind of freaked out and concluded that I was destined to work on the cherry orchard for the rest of my life. I didn’t want anything to do with that honestly, so I ran.” Cherri choked up at that last statement. Arkay wanted to find the acting in that statement, but he couldn’t

“You just ran?” Arkay asked surprised.

Cherri sniffled, regained her composure, and continued. “Yes, I ran. I ran from my parents’ orchard and took a chariot to Canterlot, back then there was no steam engine for convenience. I ran and never looked back. I didn’t want to be stuck as a cherry farmer for the rest of my life, so I did what my father wanted me to do. Going to Canterlot seemed to be the best idea at the time. Once there, I was taken in by a nice older mare that agreed to let me work with her in her flower store. It was nice for a few years, but one morning she never woke up. I was older, and could take care of myself, but losing her still hurt quite a bit. She was more understanding than my mother was. Anyway, her death put the flower store in my name. One problem though, there were a lot of laws for ownership in place that I was not aware of. I ended up losing the flower store, and was forced to sell it at a rather unfair rate. From there, I was forced to search for another job. From my pink coat and bright blue and white stripped mane, a lot of the Unicorns in the ‘entertainment’ business were interested in me to be their ‘show mare’. I didn’t want to be a show mare at some back end club, so I never did take such a job. Eventually, while I was working at a newspaper press, I found a headline from Ponyville. ‘Cherry Orchard Burned to the Ground, No Survivors.’ I couldn’t believe it, my old home was nothing but ashes. I even took the trip down to Ponyville to make sure; there really was nothing but ashes. That was the saddest day of my life; finding that there was nothing left of my parents’ orchard. I couldn’t believe it, but there the ashes were.” Cherri took a moment and cried in deep sorrow. Arkay ventured out with a hug to make her feel better, and to his surprise she returned the hug and continued. “After I paid my respects to what was left of the orchard, I returned to Canterlot to move on with my life. I took to studying magic proper for a few years. However, without the crucial beginning years of magic training, it took a lot more time than I wanted it to. Eventually I got the hang of even rather difficult magic, only to find that there was no real need for such advanced spells in the practical world. A few months after the end of my magic training, I got a job at the oh-so illustrious ‘Crystal Jewel’ that you found me at. And now I’m running around with the two of you on some ‘political mission’. That’s pretty much my life up to this point.” Cherri concluded, now a lot calmer than before.

Arkay nodded. “So when did you learn to act?” He asked.

Cherri giggled at that. “I had to be able to act well to seem like a helpless little mare in the big city of Canterlot so that I could get a job Arkay. I mean, wouldn’t you hire on a despite mare over another stallion?” Cherri questioned in a voice that sounded indeed helpless. “Anyway,” she continued, “how about you? What was your life like?”

Arkay took another mental sigh. He really didn’t want to bore Cherri with his life story, but she had told him her story, so it was only polite. “Well, let’s see. Being a Pegasus, I was obviously born in the clouds. My parents were both Pegasus, my mother was a teacher, and my father was a member of the military. Growing up, I always had my mother there to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong, and my father around to punish me if I did. My mother believed that enrolling me in violin lessons could improve my intelligence level, so music became my life for the years leading up to being put into school. Since my mother was a teacher, she always made sure I did my homework, and that I was practicing my violin. All the while, my father would always spout about how great the Pegasus race was by comparison of the mischievous Unicorns and the lowly earth ponies. I never really did buy into his preaching though. My early schooling days were not the brightest. If the others weren’t making fun of me for my violin, they were teasing me about being the teacher’s son. My father told me that ‘this was the sort of thing that builds character in a good proud Pegasus’. I absolutely hated him for justifying the bullies like that. With no actual friends to speak of, I took to practicing constantly. Maybe if I could play over the teasing and the jokes, I could be happy all by myself. Since I put all that time into practicing the violin, I never really got the hang of flying. One particular day changed my life though. It was like any other day; I was practicing my violin in the school gym before school. On this day however, a certain grey Pegasus was trotting by and complemented me on my playing. There were unfortunately, others that decided to taunt me about my playing and my inability to fly. One thing led to another, and they pushed my off the clouds toward the ground. They saw it as ‘trying to help’ with my flying, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get the wind under my wings to fly. So I plummeted toward the ground, sure that I was going to die, but I never hit the ground. That grey Pegasus saved my life, for no reason. He flew the two of us back to the school cloud and explained to the principle what had happened. The three bullies that had pushed me off the cloud were to be expelled for life, but I didn’t want any pony to suffer, even those rotten bullies. So I convinced the principle to not expel the bullies. After that situation was dealt with, I found out that the grey Pegasus’ name was Nero and that the both of us had gotten our cutie marks that day. Mine was a sign of peace, and his were three flames in a strange orientation. From that day forward, we were best friends.” Arkay finished on a high note, hoping that could cheer up Cherri from her memories of her lost parents.

Cherri did seem to be in a happier mood than before. “Well I never really thought that you could be a violinist. Perhaps you could play me a song sometime hmm? Other than that, how did you become a treasure hunter?” Cherri asked.

Arkay forgot to include that in his story. “Oh yes, well Nero was always fascinated with collecting valuable objects. So one day I decided to help him, and another, and another. Pretty soon, that was all that we did. We had our own business partner, and we were good at what we did. Yes, it really is as simple as that.” There really weren’t any details that he could add to make the decision sound more interesting.

Cherri shrugged. “Well, alright then. I suppose that is enough to go off of, for now. I really do want to know more about what happened with you parents and about how Nero got his prosthetic hoof in the first place, but it is getting rather late, and I need my beauty rest. Now, would you mind letting go of me?” Arkay didn’t even realize that he was still hugging her. He quickly released her and trotted over to another leaf-filled cushion, trying to hide his blushing from her as much as possible. “Thanks, sleep tight Arkay, perhaps we will have more luck with this buffalo situation tomorrow.” Cherri said before getting comfortable.

‘I hope you are right Cherri, for all of our sakes.’ Arkay thought as he too drifted off to sleep.

“Okay Thanks.” Nero said as he left the deer he was talking to for the past few minutes. He didn’t really feel that thankful, but at least tried to seem like it. Nero had been up for most of what the deer described as the ‘time for rest’. He couldn’t actually tell if it was late or not however, as the sun stone in the center of the underground settlement kept everything quite well lit, even if there was no light coming in through the ‘solar pocket’ that was basically just a hole in the ceiling. Nero had spent this time to ask around about the sun stone and could only confirm what Falling Leaves had told him about it. Orian had been present during this information search, but had almost no comments on the situation at all. He simply followed whenever Nero moved on to another deer to question.

“Well that was a waste of time.” Nero concluded after contemplating all the information he had received. Most of it wasn’t even about the sun stone; it was just about the deer’s history and boring things like that. Orian just chuckled at Nero’s words. “Oh shut up. It’s not like this information search was your idea to begin with Orian.” Nero said rather annoyed.

Orian apparently found this hilarious and busted out laughing. Confused, Nero just waited for him to finish. “Okay, hold on a second. The information search was my idea?” Orian asked, to which Nero nodded. “And, you think it was a waste of time?” Again Nero nodded. These questions were easy. “Hmm, but remember that I am just a figment of your imagination. So if I came up with an idea, wasn’t it really yours to start out with?” Orian had that arrogant tone in his voice again, the same tone that Nero hated.

“Again, shut up. I don’t have time to think about stupid things like that. I have to think about how to get that gemstone up there.” Nero said confidently.

Orian shrugged. “Well, alright whatever. Listen, it’s been real fun running around questioning deer with you, but I have to go.” He said with almost no feeling in his words at all.

Nero didn’t know what to think about that. “What? Why? I thought you could be around outside my subconscious.”

Orian started trotting away, but no matter how far he got, his voice was still right in Nero’s mind. “Yeah this is true, but I don’t feel like being around that annoying do-gooder that you call a friend. Don’t worry, I’ll still be listening. See you around Nero.” And with that, he vanished.

“Wait!” Nero called out, but to no avail, Orian was already gone.

Arkay and Cherri approached tentatively. “Uhh, Nero. You okay in there?” Arkay asked after a short moment of silence. It was not normal for Nero to just yell at nothing. It may have happened a few times, but it still wasn’t normal.

Nero turned around and started to gesture toward where Orian had gone, but then remembered that the other two couldn’t see Orian at all. “Uh, yeah I am fine. Did either of you find out anything interesting about this boring place?” Nero asked calmly, no need to seem crazier to his friends.

Arkay shrugged. “Unless you count the history of the deer’s chiefs and elders to be interesting, no. Really wasn’t much that Falling Leaves told us about that giant gemstone that she hadn’t already said earlier. However it really did seem to be a gift from princess Celestia to them. Anyway, it is much too big for us to carry around with us, so perhaps we should come back for it when we are all done with Thunder and the buffalo?” Arkay didn’t forget about the way that Thunder had tricked them, and wanted to set things straight for the citizens of Outpost.

Nero really didn’t want to leave such a huge treasure here, but revenge did sound like a nice idea as well. “Yeah, I guess we can always come back for it when we are done. Now how about we get out of this glorified tombstone; this place gives me the creeps.”

Cherri nodded quite pointedly. “Indeed I believe that we should leave this place, being underground isn’t exactly the most reassuring of aspects. Now do either of you know the way out?” Cherri asked with as much dignity as possible.

Arkay didn’t. Nero on the other hoof did. “Follow me, I have been trying to find information from these deer, and found the exit myself. Come on I’ll show you where it is.” Nero dashed off down the dirt trail. Arkay and Cherri exchanged a look, and then dashed off after him.

The exit and otherwise entrance to Oasis was quite obvious if you knew what to look for. If one knew that the rather large hill had the cave entrance to a secret underground civilization of deer, it would be worth investigating. There was literally nothing else in view on the flat plains that surrounded Outpost, and a hill this tall would be easy to find again.

On the other hoof, Outpost was easy to spot from the cave entrance, being the only interesting land mark in the seemingly endless expanse of flat. So deciding on a direction to go was easy. Even more surprising was the fact that Outpost was just two miles or so from the underground city of Oasis. If only those ponies knew that the access to several underground rivers was so close, water would never be a problem for them. Then again, maybe it was better that they didn’t know. Who knew what the rather rowdy citizens of Outpost would do with the extremely peaceful deer of Oasis if they knew about the water and the sun gem. To that end, Nero, Arkay, and Cherri promised they wouldn’t bring up Oasis unless it was absolutely necessary. No need for unneeded conflict. The three of them started on their way to the town of Outpost, unfortunately on hoof. It was a short distance, but it felt much longer due to the sun beating down on them relentlessly.

Cherri in found the sun to be particularly offensive. “Why is it that the heat is so much worse out here in the desert than in the city of Canterlot? Is the sun just that much meaner to these poor ponies that live out here in this heat?” She asked to no pony in particular. The contrast from cool underground to blazing sands was not to her liking at all apparently.

Arkay, being a Pegasus actually knew the answer. “Well you see,” he started, “The clouds and the colder air from the north actually keep the area around Canterlot and Ponyville rather cool, the heat is so unbearable out here because there are no clouds to cool it down or any cold wind from the north to keep it from getting this way. If the Pegasus put a little effort into it, we could keep it cooler out here, and maybe even make this dirt wasteland a good place to grow food. They never will though. The Pegasus would never approve of a weather team coming out here and making things better for earth ponies.” Arkay said with a cold honesty. The Pegasus believed that there was no better race than them, and refused to help those that were lesser.

Cherri looked to Nero in hopes that he had an argument to Arkay’s statement about the Pegasus, but Nero just remained silent. The three of them continued trotting in the unrelenting expanse of dirt and heat in silence for the remainder of the trip.

Outpost was quiet when Nero, Arkay, and Cherri arrived. The journey from Oasis had only been half an hour at the most, but trotting in the heat that the sun so graciously provided was definitely not a walk in the park. “Alright, we need to tell Nikola about what happened with the supposed pow-wow. He needs to know that he was right about his theory of there being a bad chief the buffalo were following. Perhaps he has a solution to how we can proceed.” Arkay said carefully.

Nero however was not going to have that. “No, we need to go and talk with Marshal. Obviously, that Thunder buffalo and Marshal have a history, so we need to learn how we can take care of this situation by asking him about what to do.” Nero countered. He actually wanted to follow Orian’s advice on this. If they could learn from the past, they could be better prepared with knowledge to confront the situation. Or at least that’s how Nero saw it.

Arkay shook his head in surprise. “Whoa there Nero, we need to get Nikola’s input on this first. Marshal isn’t exactly the most level-headed pony from what I can gather. Maybe it would be better to get a more educated opinion on the situation so that we can make the smart decision.” Arkay argued his point quite well.

Cherri then cut into their arguing. “How about we go ask them both?” She asked, gesturing to both Marshal and Nikola entering the corner bar. Arkay and Nero exchanged a look and grumbled in agreement. There was no sense in making this any more difficult than it needed to be. The three of them then started off toward the bar as well. Sufficiently proud of herself, Cherri added, “Maybe we could even get some water while we are there? I for one am quite parched.” Arkay and Nero could only nod in agreement, turns out that they were quite thirsty as well.

The bar seemed to be even more rowdy than what Nero, Arkay, and Cherri remembered. There were ponies sitting at all of the tables, the main bar table, around the piano where the well-dressed earth pony played an upbeat and catchy tune, and even around the entrance and the back door where a unicorn stallion played a similarly upbeat fiddle tune on a violin. Apparently any pony who was of the age and mindset spent their time at this bar in particular. The three of them could only imagine how empty the other two or three bars were since this one seemed to drum up the most business. “We need to find Marshal and Nikola.” Arkay said to Nero.

Nero however didn’t hear him. “What?” Was all he could ask.

“We Need To Find Marshal And Nikola!” Arkay said a bit louder

“Be loud!” Nero almost yelled back to Arkay.

“Hey.” Arkay tried.

“Ugh, I’m not going to hear you if you speak like that. Louder.” Nero retorted

“Hey.”

“Louder!”

“Hey!”

“LOUDER!” Nero screamed back.

Arkay drew in a long breath, taking in as much air as possible and…..”Heeyy.” He let out a rather pathetic sound. Arkay never was good at being loud. Plus, he wanted to be considerate to those around him, even if they didn’t return the favor.

Nero and Arkay yelled back and forth, not exactly hearing each other. Cherri on the other hoof had a plan. She focused her magic on the violin that the other unicorn was playing across the room, and then slowly and carefully floated it and the bow over to her. “Hey Arkay, play this.” She said simply. Arkay however didn’t hear her. Flustered, she cantered over to him and jabbed him with her horn hard enough to not be ignored. Arkay let out a surprised yelp and turned to her. Now that she had his attention, she tried speaking again. “You know Arkay, these ponies are all more or less drunk, perhaps you could get them to calm down with some sad or slow music, and then it would be a lot easier to find Marshal and Nikola.”

Arkay thought about that for a moment. Perhaps she was right, drunken ponies might be easier to influence with sad music. On the other hoof, it had been a while since he had last played the violin. “Is this just your way of having me play the violin like you wanted me to?” Arkay asked, figuring that he already knew the answer. Cherri just gave a sheepish smile, and then nodded. Arkay sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll try it.”

Cherri absolutely bounced in place at that, Arkay just sighed again. Arkay took the violin from Cherri’s magic and sized it up. Remembering his practice and teachings, he stood up on his hind legs, splayed out his wings for balance as his teacher Moreheart taught him, and checked the tuning of the violin. The rather rugged thing hadn’t been tuned in weeks at least, but took very little effort on Arkay’s part to get it accurately in tune. A few of the ponies around him stopped their conversations to hear him simply tune the instrument.

Arkay took a deep breath and dragged the bow across the strings slowly, letting out a pale, straight A into the loud room. Then D, G, and finally a high E. Sufficiently pleased with the feel of the violin, Arkay looked into his mind for something sad to play. He didn't remember anything he had learned that was slow and sad from all his years of musical learning, so he remembered what Moreheart told him.

‘You have to feel what you are playing, as it is better to play music from the heart than the mind. If we as ponies looked to our logic to live out our everyday lives, we wouldn’t really be living, we would only be existing.’

“Play from the heart.” Arkay said to himself quietly, the loud banter of the rest of the bar kept any pony else from hearing him though. Arkay remembered the quicksand. He remembered the feeling of hopelessness in himself, and the even stronger feeling of sorrow that came from the thought of losing Nero and Cherri. This brought a slight tear to Arkay’s eye as he dragged the bow across the strings of the violin. In response, the violin cried out into the loud bar. The heavy, slow notes at first were completely drowned out by the rest of the crowd. However, as more of the rowdy ponies stopped what they were doing and listened to the melancholy, sad music, the room noise fell to a whisper, then to silence.
Every pony was staring and listening to the green Pegasus play the violin as he cried softly. Nero sat on his haunches surprised that Cherri’s plan had worked. Cherri smiled, tears falling from her eyes as Arkay finished his performance, putting the violin and bow on one of the closer tables. Arkay let himself down on all fours again, and looked out upon the crowd of now silent ponies, some of them crying.

Nero came up next to him and called out into the crowd. “Hey! We are looking for Marshal and Nikola, any pony know where they are in here?” As Nero finished his question, both Marshal and Nikola got up from their table and stepped forward. Nikola had a sorrowful look in his eyes, while Marshal, if anything, looked concerned. Nero guessed that there was just no moving this earth pony’s heart.

Arkay, no longer teary eyed, was the first to speak. “We have some things we need to discuss, would it be possible to speak in Nikola’s workshop?” He wanted to get right to the point after the whole quicksand incident.

Marshal was about to speak, but Nikola cut him off. “Yes, of course we could. Let us not waste time.” And with that, he pushed the swinging doors open and started toward his house.

Marshal looked to Nero. “What is it exactly that we have to discuss? Haven’t we already got an arrangement planned?” He said a tad bit of disposition in his voice.

Nero slowly nodded. “Yeah, we do. The name Thunder ring any bells Marshal?”

Marshal froze at the name ‘Thunder’ and nodded as well. “I see, so then, shall we?” Marshal then followed Nikola out the doors and to his house. Nero followed as well, close behind the gruff earth pony.

Cherri watched them leave and turned to Arkay, sitting on his haunches with his bandana off of his head and in his hooves, staring at it. Cherri nudged him lightly. “Hey, Arkay. You in there?”

Arkay kept staring at his bandana for a moment longer, then shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Arkay said as he got up and put the peace and love bandana back on his head. “Sorry about that, I get really sentimental when I play music like that. Let’s go, shall we?” Arkay started out the door and to Nikola’s house as well. Cherri stood there in the bar for a moment, a bit concerned, but shrugged and followed him out.

Nikola’s house was much the same as it was before. It felt small for the rather large group inside of it, all of them sitting on the rather unkempt carpet in Nikola’s living room. As soon as all of them were comfortable, the discussion began. “So tell me how exactly you know the name Thunder, would you please feathers?” Marshal asked, still sounding a tad irritated.

Nero bristled at that last comment. He really didn’t like the unnecessary name ‘feathers’, but answered anyway. “We went to that pow-wow that Nikola organized, but it was a trap. Thunder led us into a quicksand trap and we almost died. He told me to tell you ‘hi’ in the afterlife, but I don’t really feel like waiting until then to tell you. You obviously knew this buffalo, so would you mind telling us how?” Nero asked, taking the same aggravated tone of voice that Marshal had used.

Marshal, in his usual fashion, took a moment to think. He then answered. “Well, if you gotta know; me, Thunder, a snappy mule, and another earth pony named Williamson used to run these here dirt lands under Thunder’s leadership. We were unstoppable out here. No pony would keep us from robbing trains, harassing the locals, or even stealing, because there was no law. It was great for a good long time; we had a sort of corrupt kindness about us. We would steal from the rich and give to the poor, the poor being ourselves and those that were with us. It all came to an end though, Thunder lost it; went crazy about some ideal of ruling the entire train system east of Canterlot. I didn’t too much like that, so I let him know that I didn’t support the idea. But when Williamson and the mule Ja’varro wanted to support him, I did what any uneducated pony would do. I started shooting. The others hardly had the time to react, and were dead before they even hit the ground. Thunder however, was ready for my stupidity. Shot me right in the heart and ran off into the desert. I would have probably died had there not been for the fact that he missed my heart altogether, and a little filly named Lou Stella watching the whole thing from behind a rock; she felt sorry for me and dragged me all the way back to Outpost, the town I used to terrorize. She got me to Nikola over there and he fixed me up over the course of a few days. When I was well enough again, every pony wanted to put me out in the desert to die, an act of justice on all of my crimes and transgressions against the town. Every one of them but Nikola agreed on that too, until the little filly Lou Stella spoke up. She said ‘Stop it. This is exactly the sort of thing that separates us from the rest of the world. Instead of throwing him out into the desert to die, we should give him another chance. A chance at redemption.’ After that, none of them wanted to throw me out anymore. Instead, they wanted to teach me a sort of lesson in humility. They appointed the criminal they had grown to hate as the law of the town. I guess they figured it took the life of a bandit to know how to enforce the law properly. I have stayed here ever since, been waiting for old Thunder to show up again actually. I figure it’s about time I show him some redemption myself.”

Nero, Arkay, and Cherri had no idea that the gruff earth pony had such a past. Marshal had a reason for his behavior, and now they knew it. He had lived the life of a criminal and wanted to get those that he could on the right path again; for those that he couldn’t, Nero suspected that he ended their lives before they could continue their crime spree further. “What happened to the filly?” Nero asked Marshal tentatively.

Marshal, the gruff, almost emotionless law pony of the town of Outpost, shed a tear at that question. The action surprised Nero so much that he was almost concerned that he broke the law pony. Marshal however, answered anyway. “There was a train robbery going on near the southern border of Mexicolt, so I went out to stop it, she wanted to come with me, so I let her. I was in the process of putting the thieves out of their misery, when the last one grabbed her and, with a knife, slit her throat clean, and without hesitation. I turned around only to see that son of a bitch killing her. I drew out my mouth-held revolver and shot him, a lot. He was dead after the first bullet, right between his eyes, but I kept shooting. When my revolver was out of bullets, I threw the damned thing at him and checked on Lou Stella. There was no saving her though. She tried to keep the wound closed, but she knew she was dead. On her last dying breath she told me: ‘Marshal, don’t worry about me, I’m nothing special. Be the good pony I know you can be. Always strive for that redemption, even if it is the redemption of others. Whatever you do, don’t lose sight of why you became what you are. Goodbye.’ Those words still haunt me, and drive me to do what I can for those that I am supposed to. I owe the ponies of this town a lot for giving me a second chance, but I owed Lou Stella more for giving me a chance at redemption.”

Nero’s heart rang out for Marshal. “I know that feeling Marshal. That feeling that all you ever knew was just wiped away, lost forever. I’ve been there.” Nero said, solemnly. Marshal just nodded his understanding.

While the two of them shared a nice little moment, Arkay tried to focus the group back on the reason that they were all there. “Anyway, Nikola you were absolutely right. This buffalo, Thunder, seems to be that bad chief that you had a theory about. The other buffalo, Thunder, seems to be that bad chief that you had a theory about. The other buffalo seemed to be more or less passive of our presence. If we can get rid of him, perhaps the buffalo would leave the town alone more. Best case scenario, we can get them to be friendly to Outpost.” Arkay said confidently.

Nikola, who was not really all that invested in the discussion between Marshal and Nero, responded quite quickly. “Ah, yes good. Good to know that I was right once again. Since this Thunder is leading these buffalo, we could just get rid of him and we would have no trouble with the buffalo anymore. Or at least in theory.” Nikola said in an upbeat tone. Arkay smiled at that, perhaps they could finally catch a break with this mission. However those hopes were smashed when Nikola continued. “This all does not matter in the slightest however. Earlier today, we received a letter from a chief, who left his name out, which claimed he was going to make us leave his lands. We can only guess that this chief is Thunder. Also, by letter, we mean there was a beaten and battered pony with the letter speared into his hooves. At any rate, this message read as follows.” Nikola pulled out a letter from his shirt and read it aloud. “Ahem, ‘we have dealt with your kind being on our land for long enough. This is a final warning; tomorrow we will level your precious town of Outpost and run every worthless pony that stays within. Whether you stay or go, we are happy to tell you farewell ponies.’ We can only guess that this could be from Mr. Marshal’s old friend Thunder. So even if this Thunder is the only thing that is making the buffalo act violently, he still has enough of them convinced that destroying Outpost is the best course of action.”

All the while Nikola was explaining this, Marshal seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. “Well if they want to come here and destroy us, let them try.” Arkay and Cherri looked at Marshal as if he was crazy, but Nero just smiled. “I ain’t gonna just let this town go to hell, if you government boys want to leave I’d understand, but I’m stayin’ here and defending it. I’d be betraying Lou Stella if I left.” Marshal said with determination.

Arkay was about to argue a more logical point, but Nero interrupted him. “Well, don’t worry Marshal; we plan on helping you out here. After all, your town can’t very well join our republic if it’s gone can it?” Arkay then understood the point to Nero was making. Marshal gave a surprised, but somewhat proud look to Nero.

Nikola seemed to perk up at this. “This is perfect Marshal! This gives you a perfect opportunity to test out my latest weapon. Follow me, quickly.” And with that he dashed into his workshop. The rest of them followed shortly after.

Nikola was sorting through several things when Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Marshal entered the workshop. When he found what it was he was looking for, he put it on the table in front of them. The thing was a rectangular box. Nikola opened said box and reveled the thing to the rest of the group. It was something like the thunder stick that Marshal had, except it was slimmer, and had a round lever mechanism around the trigger of it. Nikola picked it up out of the case and handed to Marshal. “This is my latest improvement on the rifle design. Instead of having to reload after every shot fired, you can simply work the lever action to eject the spent bullet and push the next one into the chamber for firing. The trigger is against the stock, so you can fire it, work the lever action, and be ready to fire again. As you can see, the sights are quite clear; also they are effective out to 300 yards. The bullet is a quite a bit smaller than the bullets of your older rifle, but I am sure that if you place your shot right, you can still put down a buffalo. You can load the bullets into the side of the rifle on the side there on the right side; however you would do good to end it quickly. If you get caught without any bullets, you might as well be holding a metal stick until you can reload all of the bullets necessary.” Nikola brought out a bag, and dumped the contents onto the table as well. Unsurprisingly, it was several of the bullets that he mentioned. “These are the bullets; lead with brass casing and 44 units of black powder. Don’t ask me what a unit of black powder is, because I don’t really know. I made it up. They should rip through your target with enough velocity to deal some unpleasant damage to either discourage further offenses or stop them altogether. I am certain that this will help us in our defense of Outpost.”
Nero gave Nikola a concerned look. “Our? Really? You are going to help?” Nero asked in an unbelieving tone.

Nikola returned Nero’s concerned look. “Yes of course winged one, this is my home. I plan on defending it with my life, if necessary. I have several other weapons that I could use after all.” Nikola said with almost as much dignity Cherri.

Arkay nodded. “We will indeed help you in this defense. I wouldn’t feel right leaving ponies to their fates. What is the plan Marshal?” Arkay said with vigor. He wasn’t really all that into fighting others, but sometimes necessary steps needed to be taken.

Cherri had to get in on the conversation as well. “As barbaric as the idea of fighting is, I guess it is the only way we work out this conflict. I am sure that some of my lessons in magic school can help out, but I refuse to ‘help’ more than necessary. So I agree with Arkay’s question. What is the plan Marshal?” Cherri asked him.
Marshal smiled at that. “Even got the fancy Unicorn in on it huh? Well I’ll be damned. Alright then. These buffalo tell us that they plan to run into our town tomorrow, I know Thunder will stay true to his word, so we have a few hours to prepare. So let’s get started as soon as possible.” Marshal said again determined.

“Prepare what?” Arkay asked.

Marshal smiled. “Every pony, even you three.”

Dawn.

Dawn in Outpost did not shimmer. Dawn in Outpost did not shine. It may have been the upcoming battle between the buffalo and the ponies defending their town and their lives, or it may have been the perpetual cover of dust and sand that blew over the place. Either way, a line of buffalo stood a ways away from the town with Thunder at the front of the pack. They simply stood there, waiting. Within the town were the defending earth ponies and their visitors, Nero, Arkay, and Cherri, led by Marshal. Both groups had been standing since the sun rose, but neither moved. Marshal slowly nodded to Arkay, which of whom trotted toward the buffalo slowly. In a like manner, a buffalo next to Thunder lumbered toward the approaching pony to meet him. The two of them did not quicken pace in the slightest, making for a very tense few moments before they met at the midpoint of their lines of respective offense and defense. As they met however, they remained silent for another moment.

Arkay was the first to break the silence. “This doesn’t have to happen.” He said tentatively.

The buffalo gave a slow nod, and responded with a low, rumbling voice. “Indeed silly chicken pony, if you and your earth-bound companions leave, we will give you one last chance to leave our lands in peace. We suggest that you take it.”

Arkay was afraid this was going to happen, but proceeded with the signal and splayed out his wings. Marshal agreed that the wings would be the signal that there was no way to avoid conflict. Arkay tried to continue talking while the others got ready for the charge. “There’s no reason for this kind of conflict, maybe we can come to some sort of understanding. There doesn’t have to be any bloodshed over this.” The ponies started a trot toward the buffalo, and in turn the buffalo lumbered toward the ponies. Arkay started getting rather nervous with the two groups got closer to each other. “Well, I guess this is how it is huh?” He asked the buffalo quietly

The buffalo brought out a rather large spear from the holster on his back, and with his low rumbling voice responded again. “Seems to look that way chicken pony.” The two groups got dangerously close to each other. “I have question for you.” The ponies stopped, except Marshal and Cherri, they continued their trot toward the buffalo. “What do you plan on achieving here today?”

The buffalo were not expecting this and stopped. Thunder however, being at the front of the group, did not see and kept on moving. The rest of the buffalo started murmuring nervously to each other. Arkay thought for a moment. “I plan on getting out of the line of fire.” With that, Arkay crouched down, ready to take off.

The buffalo however, was expecting that. With a practiced accuracy, the buffalo threw the spear at Arkay and speared right through his left wing. Arkay cried out in pain, not expecting there to be any stopping him. Not focused on the buffalo, Arkay didn’t notice it rushing up to him. The buffalo grabbed the spear in his mouth and twisted it forward. Arkay’s wing let out a series of several sickening crunches as he screamed in absolute terror and pain.

Cherri leapt into action and focused her magic on the buffalo and pulled him away from Arkay. “Duck Arkay! Now!” She yelled at him. Arkay simply dropped to the ground. The buffalo tried to get back at Arkay, but Cherri kept him down; keeping the line of sight clear for Marshal.

Marshal took aim, standing on his hind legs, lining up the sights on Thunder, and fired. The rifle cracked out into the morning light, echoing for a few moments. Thunder stopped. He looked down at the ground, and saw the drops of blood forming a red puddle on the ground. Thunder, blood pouring from the wound in his neck, looked back up at the group of ponies to see Marshal in front of him. He could slowly feel his life slipping away. “Huh, glad you’ve got better aim than I do Marshal.” Thunder fell to his haunches. “Is this what you wanted Marshal?” Marshal nodded slowly to Thunder. “Then, I won’t….stop you….I’m glad it was you Marshal. Otherwise…I wouldn’t…feel right.” Thunder laid his head down and closed his eyes one last time.

The group of buffalo ran. They didn’t know what to do without their fearless leader. Marshal turned around and started trotting to the buffalo held down by Cherri’s magic. He held the rifle to the buffalo’s head. “Run, if you know what’s good for ya.” Cherri let up on the magic and the buffalo got up and ran away toward the others. Marshal holstered the rifle and knelt down to Arkay and pulled the spear out of his wing. Arkay again screamed in pain. “Ya did good today. I think that we can all agree that any republic with a crazy pony like you in its leadership is worth joinin’.” Arkay looked up and smiled, tears streaming down his face. “Now let’s get you some medical attention there, not sure wings are supposed to bend like that.” Marshal said with a grimace.

Cherri and Nero galloped to Arkay and helped him back on his hooves. As soon as Nero saw Arkay’s wing he winced. “Whoa Arkay, that looks freakin’ terrible. Let’s get you to the clinic quick, we don’t have any time to lose.” Nero said legitimately concerned. The three of them helped Arkay back into the town of Outpost, which was already filled with the cheering of every citizen within.

“Well that should just about wrap things up, no pun intended.” The nurse that worked at the Outpost clinic was very gracious indeed, but had a terrible sense of humor. “It’s not every day that little old me gets to work on both a Pegasus and a war hero.”

Arkay kept a pained expression as she finished dressing his wounded wing in bandages. “I am no hero, there was no war, and I won’t be much of a Pegasus for quite a while, but thanks anyway. It’s good that you could get the bone set right with Nero’s help, otherwise I might as well of had the thing amputated. Also, thanks for dropping the charge; I am sure that medical treatment is rather important out here.” Arkay said with gratitude. He really didn’t do much; Marshal was the hero if any pony was. Arkay got off the operating table and looked at his wounded wing. It actually didn’t look too bad for a wing that, a few hours ago, was speared by, well, a spear. The nurse’s bandages were a bit loose, so as to not constrict him, but tight enough to stay in place while moving at a quick pace.

The nurse cantered up to Arkay slowly. “You know hero, my shift ends pretty soon, wanna stick around?”
Arkay backed away from the earth pony nurse and was about to make an excuse, but Cherri interrupted him. “Sorry, he won’t be able to stick around. We have some important… things to… go to. Now we are leaving good day madam.” Cherri said defensively. Arkay nodded a silent ‘thank you’ to her as the two of them left.

Nero stayed for a moment and waved at the nurse. “It was nice to meet you miss. Have a good day.” He said in a generic friendly tone. He then trotted out the door with his friends.

Nero trotted out of the clinic, which happened to be right across from the favorite bar and found Arkay and Cherri talking to one another.

“Thanks for getting rid of her; I really didn’t want to find out what she had in mind.”
“It really was no trouble at all really. I am just sorry that I didn’t react fast enough to stop that buffalo from spearing your wing.”

“Don’t worry about it, without that kind of distraction, I don’t think Marshal could have had that clear shot at Thunder.”

Nero sighed. “You two are painful to listen to ya’ know? Now, where is Marshal? I kinda want to get out of this town as soon as possible. I’ve had enough of the sand in my mane in the past few days to last me my whole life.” He said honestly. Nero wanted to get back to thinking of ideas to get that solar gem from the deer as soon as possible, now that the buffalo problem was (hopefully) fixed for a while.

Arkay thought for a moment. “Oh yes, Marshal said he wanted to meet us in his favorite bar after I got done being patched up.”

Nero perked up. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Nero said as he dashed toward the bar and entered the door. Arkay shook his head and cantered over to the door with Cherri by his side.

The bar was louder than ever when Arkay and Cherri entered. Their arrival was met with an uproar of applause and cheering. A somewhat drunk Marshal trotted up to them as they approached his table. “We were going to wait for the two of ya’s, but when your friend came in, we cheered and did all the surprise party stuff. We didn’t really have time to prepare and get every pony calmed down though. So, here’s to you Arkay and you Cherri. Without you and your friend Nero, we wouldn’t be celebratin’ like we are now. Thanks from all of us to you guys. Apple whiskey?” Marshal offered.

Arkay shook his head. “No, I am fine. I’ll have water and then leave, I am supposed refrain from over activity for a few days. I am pretty sure partying and the like is pretty active.” Arkay said calmly, but loud enough to be heard.
Cherri interjected. “Perhaps I will have one or two for the road. I have to keep an eye on this one while he recovers, but what harm could it do? I haven’t had apple whiskey before, and I would like to try it.”

Marshal smiled, a bit tipsy. “Now this girl knows how to party. Here ya’ go missy.” Marshal hooved over an entire bottle of the stuff. Cherri, a little cautiously, took the bottle and nodded, and was about to say her thanks, but apparently Marshal wasn’t finished. “Ya’ know, it might just be the whiskey talking, but I think that the two of you would make a good couple.”
Arkay blushed that terrible shade of red again, but got it under control and responded. “Thanks, uh, we are just gonna go now yeah? I really am quite tired and would like to get some rest. I will see you tomorrow so that we can discuss things when you are a little less drunk. Sound good? Good, now bye.” With that, Arkay quickly left the bar. Cherri looked between the two for a moment, but just smiled at Marshal and followed Arkay out the door.

Marshal shrugged and took a swig of the bottle of apple whiskey in his hooves. There was not a drop in the bottle, because he had given the bottle to Cherri. Marshal just shrugged yet again and trotted up to the long bar table. “I’ll have another bottle of apple whiskey Ricky.” He said to the bar tender.

The bar tender turned around, rolled his eyes, and brought out another bottle. “The name isn’t Ricky, it’s Rusty.” Rusty said with dignity, but to no avail. Marshal had already left the table.

Marshal started over toward the back stairs where Nero was, but never made it. He passed out a few feet from the bottom, leaving the bottle of apple whiskey unopened. Nero looked at this bottle and thought for a moment. ‘Should I really drink this?’ He thought to himself.

“It’s all your decision Nero.” Nero’s smile faded upon hearing Orian’s voice. He looked over to see Orian sitting at the top of the stairs looking down at the crowd of drunken ponies partying below. Orian slowly made his way down as he continued. “Usually ponies drink to forget, other times they drink to have more fun than they already are. The good times are not without consequence however, but then again, a lot of ponies would have never been born had it not been the influence of alcohol.” Orian now stood next to Nero at the bottom step. “Would you mix yourself into this crowd of ponies having a great time? Or would you remain in control of your mind and your faculties?”

“You really know just what to say to make all of my options sound like both good and bad ideas you know that?” Nero said a bit rudely. “Why are you even here? Do you just show up anytime Arkay isn’t around?” He asked unpleasantly.
Orian simply chuckled in his normal fashion. “Well, what can I say? It is rather nice not having his green face around. As for you first question, yes. I always used to when you were younger. Back then of course, you were a little more appreciative of my statements. When did you become such a downer?” Orian said almost hurt.

Nero sighed. “When I started making my own decisions. Now why are you still here?” He asked a little irritated.
“Just here to make sure that you make all the right choices. I’ll be around.” Orian said quietly.

Nero was going to retort, but when he turned to Orian again, he was gone. “Well whatever. I can make my own decisions Orian. Let’s see what this tastes like.” Nero thought aloud, and then downed a swig of apple whiskey. Nero backed away from the bottle after the first drink, as it burned his throat on the way down. “I’m sure it gets better.” Nero assured himself as he took another drink. And another, and another….

Within the shadows of the night, one voice could be heard arguing with a nonexistent one.

“Are you sure Nero?”

“Positive.”

“You know that this sounds ridiculous to even me. Right?”

“Don’t care.” Nero and Orian were arguing all the while he decided to gallop off into the desert.

“There is no way that you can find anything out here in your state Nero. Honestly, you would be better off if you just stayed at the bar and drowned yourself in your own choices.” Orian always had a sarcastic comment for whatever Nero said.

“Shadup.” He said in response. “If I don’t find it soon, it will be gone.”

Orian face-hooved. “Nero, there is no treasure in the desert.”

Nero scoffed. “Not with that attitude. Now let’s go…”Nero said no more, as he just simply passed out on the rather soft and cool sand.

Orian looked over Nero with a bored expression. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. I guess you certainly did make your own decision Nero.” Orian stopped and looked back, and smiled. “So I guess that’s how he is going to meet her again, fascinating.”

Pain, headaches, groggy vision, and more pain. It had been a while since Nero woke up to such unpleasant feelings. “Ugh, sweet Celestia never again. I am never listening to Orian again.” Nero looked about his surroundings, and frowned. “When did I get here?” Instead of waking up to the bar, the last thing he remembered, he woke up to unfamiliar walls, a dusty floor, sunlight peeking through holes in the walls, and a rather uncomfortable lumpy mattress. There was a soft yawn from behind Nero. His eyes shot open in surprise. He slowly looked behind himself to see that he was not alone.

“Whaahh!” Nero cried out as he quickly got up, the other Pegasus woke up as well. “Oh, uh, hi.” Nero stumbled over his words as badly as Arkay when he talked to Cherri, but managed to gather his thoughts. “Uh, who are you, what is this place? And how did I get here?” He asked quickly. Then added, “And I am so sorry for whatever happened last night, it was the apple whiskey.”

The light blue Pegasus yawed and sat up to look at Nero with a rather hurt expression. “Well, this is my temporary living arrangement. I found you in the desert wondering around, so when you passed out, I collected you and brought you here. Oh, and nothing happened last night”

Nero nodded, and assured himself to never again drink apple whisky. “Wait a minute!” Nero said out loud, and thought for a minute. ‘Light blue coat, black and white stripped mane and tail, and those blue eyes.’ Nero gasped. “I remember who you are!”

Author's Note

Well, we certainly had a lot of fun writing this chapter, as always.
Also as always, give us your feedback on how we can improve, any suggestions you may have, or if you just feel like writing a comment.

"Have nice day"

Chapter 4: If only Time could Heal all Wounds

-Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you didn’t know-

Shock.

There were no words that came to Nero. Shock turned to hurt as he remembered who this Pegasus was. How she hurt him, and the pain that followed. This hurt then turned into confusion as he asked himself several questions all at once. ’Why would she show up now? Where has she been all of these years? Why did she leave? Can things just go back to the way they were? Did she miss me as much as I missed her?’

These questions raced through Nero’s mind all at once. What made things worse was the racing of his heart and the throbbing in his head; definitely didn’t make thinking of something to say to the light blue Pegasus any easier. Nero could hear a very insistent voice in his mind. ‘Come on you idiot say something! Tell her you missed her or something. Get her to smile, make her laugh, yell at her. Anything is better than just sitting there like a dumb mule.’ Orian certainly did choose the best times to make dumb suggestions.

“Aurora…” Nero said softly. The Pegasus mare smiled at that.

‘Well it’s something I guess.’ Orian could never let Nero have the small victories.

Regardless of the sarcastic retorts from Orian, Nero’s eyes started to tear up. Here she was, his colt hood friend, standing right in front of him. His mind raced faster. He couldn’t deal with this. There were too many memories, and too much pain. Nero took a step back from her. “It’s been a long, long time hasn’t it?” Aurora said with a small smile on her muzzle. Nero however just turned and pressed his hooves against the heavy door. Aurora’s smile faded. “Where are you going Nero?” She asked. But Nero was already pushing on the heavy door. It gave a loud creak of resistance as he pushed the door open. It was ‘that kind of creak that would annoy the hell out of most ponies’, and certainly did so to Nero as he stumbled out of the doorway into the bright sunlight that graced the desert sand.
He surveyed his surroundings, nothing but flats and sand. Except there, off in the distance were mountains. Mountains could mean water, and water would mean rehydration. The excess of alcohol the night before and the lack of water all morning left Nero’s mind begging for water. Nero galloped towards the mountains and took flight, trying to put as much distance between him and the Pegasus mare. However he was betrayed by his own intentions and blurred vision, and crashed down into the sand soon after getting off the ground. Nero slowly got back to his hooves and made all efforts to trot toward the mountains, still trying to gather his thoughts while Orian argued all manner of things into Nero’s mind.

“You idiot! Why are you running from her? Is it because she left you? Is that why you can’t even face her? How much of an idiot are you Nero?” Nero had heard all sorts of sarcasm, sadness, and even anger from Orian, but never all at once. “You spent months looking for her Nero! Maybe even years! Why is it that now that you have actually found her that you are running away from her?” Orian had yelled at Nero before, but never with so much vigor and tenacity.

Nero’s mind was still at a loss, but slightly less so. “I don’t know? When I saw her, my chest started hurting and my eyes started to sweat! I don’t want her to see me like this!”

“NERO!!” Aurora yelled as she caught up with him. “There you are, oh… why are you crying?” Nero took some steps back, and then turned to galloped away with all his energy. Aurora stopped for a moment. “Darn that pony. Why does he keep running away from me?” She said to herself in frustration.

Orian stuck around for a moment, if only for another sarcastic comment to himself. “Maybe he just can’t face you at the moment. Just give him some time. He will be fine.” It wasn’t like she could hear him anyway.

“Do you really think so?” Aurora asked.

Orian was dumbfounded. “Y-you can see me? I’m just a figment of Nero’s imagination! How can you see me?”

Aurora shrugged and responded calmly. “Well, just because I was born a Pegasus doesn’t mean that is the extent of what makes me special. I can see things that others cannot so easily, like you for example. From what I can gather you are just a figment of Nero’s imagination, but you seem to have so much self-will that you do somewhat exist outside of his mind. Except I guess most others just can’t see you.”

Orian just shrugged. “Hmm, well that doesn’t make any sense. And here I thought I was real, boo-hoo.” Always with the sarcastic responses.

Aurora however was not paying too much attention. “Well, that is nice and all but I have to catch up to Nero.” She then galloped off after Nero.

The cruel sands gave way to a cool, somewhat lush savanna as Nero got closer to the mountains he had been galloping toward. Instead of warm sands, there were patches of cool grass. At the base of the mountains was tall grass, tall enough to hide in. The winds rolling down the mountains gave Nero a relaxing chill. ‘Why am I running from her?’ Nero thought as he slowed his gallop to a trot. ‘She is trying to catch up to me, and I am just running.’ He slowed to a canter. ‘Where is Orian when I need him?’ Nero finally stopped and fell to his haunches in the tall grass.

“Nero!” Aurora yelled as she tackled him to the ground, pinning his shoulders to the ground to keep him from running off again. “Nero, why are you running away from me? Are you not glad to see me?” Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her face, dripping off of her muzzle.

Nero was trying to struggle out of her hold, but felt her tears dripping on him and looked up to see her face filled with such sorrow. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment. Then sat up to face each other properly. They stared like that for a moment longer, so Nero broke the awkward silence. “I know I should be glad to see you, but I’m hurt more than anything else…”

Aurora sniffled and wiped away her tears. “Why?” She asked.

Nero thought for a moment, remembering all those years ago. “You left. Everything was going great for us the way it was, then you just left. No warning. Not even so much as a goodbye.” The tears started coming back. “When you left everything fell apart. I had to run away from that place, had to get away from the hurt. That old city had nothing for me once you were gone Aurora. My parents didn’t even care that I left either.” Nero somehow kept his words together as tears streamed down his face onto the grass.

Aurora looked down, anywhere but directly at Nero. “I wish I could have Nero. I wish I could have said goodbye, or at least left you a note as to why.” She again looked Nero in the eyes. “But you don’t know what I did. If you knew, you would understand.” Aurora said quietly.

“If I knew what Aurora? What could possibly justify leaving your best friend alone in that wretched city?” Nero snapped back at her. Aurora tried to make a statement in her defense, but Nero wasn’t done. “You were the only one that really cared for me Aurora. The only one in that entire city.”

“There was a reason for that Nero, just listen to me.” Aurora said as calm as one could possibly be on the verge of tears.

“No.” Nero said in a venomous tone. Aurora backed up from him. “I’ve been listening for all this time. Listening and waiting for you to come back, but you never did.” The venom turned to pain. “I looked for you Aurora. I looked for months to find where you had gone, but you weren’t anywhere to be found. I lost you. I lost everything worth remembering about that damned city. But no matter where I looked; in cities, towns, or villages you weren’t there. So I gave up. I was done, and decided to try and move on. But I couldn’t. I was allowed into and orphanage around the Citadel, it was supposed to be an establishment of hope for colts and fillies, but for me it was like a prison. Every day was the same routine; wake up, eat, do chores, free time around the local school, eat again, and then sleep. Never changing, never stopping. I always tried to leave during the so called ‘free time’ by the school, but they would always catch me. Eventually they broke me, and I gave up on ever finding you again. I lost all sense of hope, and just gave up. When they did break me though, I was different. I started having this voice in my head that made me desire survival. I wouldn’t have eaten the orphanage’s food if it wasn’t for this voice. So I named this voice and he became a sort of friend for me. He became my hope when I had nothing to hope for. So when you tell me there was a reason to all of my suffering and pain, it better be a goddess damned good one Aurora.”

Aurora marveled at the hate in Nero’s voice. Never had she thought that so much hurt could be in one pony. She wiped away her tears. “Nero, the reason I left… was because the oracles were going to kill us.” She said in sorrow.

Silence choked the field they were sitting in. Nero just stared, so Aurora continued. “The oracles foresaw a prophecy that you and your friends were to be the end of the temple, and the end of Amphitrite. They were going to have us killed to avoid the destruction of their city. My sister worked as one of the oracle’s scribes, and she knew soon after they made the decision. That night she told me everything, and made me leave with her so that she could protect my life. She kept me from telling you before we left, because she knew the only way that you would for certain leave the city would be for me to disappear without a trace. She made sure to cover our tracks as soon as we left any once we were on the move. I protested because I wanted to leave something for you to have a lead on. Anything would have done, but she didn’t let me. I was on the run with her, because a scribe’s punishment for leaving Amphitrite was death, and she knew that if there was any indication as to where we were, it would be the end for both of us. However, they found her anyway. One night, they came to the inn we were staying at and dragged her off. She knew they were coming and warned me. She told me to run and never look back. I promised I would, and she let them drag her away to her death. She gave everything she had, even her life, to save the two of us Nero. She believed that we were better than the old ways, and so she went against them to keep us alive.” Aurora finished her story off in proud tears.

Nero was about to respond to her, but it was Aurora’s turn to be assertive. “And don’t you think for one goddess damned moment that you were the only one that did their share of looking for the other. I spent every moment after my sister’s leave trying to find you. It’s been years, but I finally found you Nero. Things can finally be the way they were. We can start over, make things work.” Somehow her tone went from aggravated to warm in a heartbeat.

Nero tossed this new information around his head a while. Sure his life had been pretty difficult to live, and it was certainly better than dying. But was there really no way that she could have just told him what was going on? Then again if what she said was the truth, she actually spent more time looking for him than he did looking for her. “So, you inadvertently caused me years of pain and guilt to save my life?” Nero asked quietly.

A smile again crept onto Aurora’s muzzle. “Yes, if you want to look at it that way.” She said in a sweet, somewhat warm tone.

For once, Orian was nowhere to be found in Nero’s mind. There were no snide remarks, no sarcasm, and no bits of advice from the imaginary pony. There was silence within Nero’s mind, and he was okay with that. It gave him some time to think on his own about the situation before him. After such uninterrupted thought, Nero finally responded. “Alright.” This was simple enough of a response.

For the first time all morning there were no tense feelings in the air, and the two Pegasus smiled at each other. A cool wind blew down from the mountain, rustling their manes. Aurora was the first to speak in this new calmer feeling about both of them. “So tell me Nero, what exactly have you been doing all of these years?”

Nero gave a confident smile. “Well, I hope you have time because that isn’t something I can just answer in a sentence.” He said just as confident as his smile.

“I’ve got plenty of time, go ahead and tell me.” Aurora said with a smile.

There was a rusty stench in the air. As she flittered her eyes open, Cherri found the walls and various work benches of Nikola’s workshop. She was again on the small and lumpy mattress that she slept on previously. This would be reassuring in any normal sense for her, if there was not a major missing detail. She didn’t remember how she got there at all. This lack of memory was coupled with a pounding headache could only mean one thing. “Ugh, I am never drinking apple whiskey again.” She said wiping the rest of the sleep out of her eyes.

“Well that most certainly would be preferable.” Arkay said as he entered the workshop.

Cherri’s heart dropped immediately. “Oh my, uh hello Arkay. Um did you sleep well?”

Arkay somehow had an expression that was both coy and disappointed. “Well, let’s see. I am going to go ahead and say no. After getting back to Nikola’s house from the ‘party’ that Marshal threw for the town, I was then graced with you drinking that entire bottle of apple whiskey. I couldn’t help but notice that as the bottle emptied, the alcohol started playing keep away with your intelligence. There was no lack of you making rather lewd suggestions, and I do believe you told me ‘I am a princess, bow to me.’ I think the worst of it though was you lying on that lumpy little mattress asking me if ‘I wanted to feel like a stallion’. If I were you, I’d be glad that I am above taking advantage of a mare in such a condition. So yes, it would be preferable if you didn’t ever drink apple whiskey again.”

As Arkay listed increasingly embarrassing transgressions that she had no recollection of, Cherri could feel herself blushing more and more. The more she blushed, the farther her heart sank. ‘He probably has absolutely no respect for me anymore.’ She thought to herself as Arkay looked upon her with an expression she never saw him make to her. It was one that seemed to just scream ‘I told you so’ and made her feel like a foal.

Cherri looked down to avoid Arkay’s eyes. She was so ashamed. In all her years of living in Canterlot, she had been to plenty of wine tastings, parties (as a caterer), and other gatherings in which wine was served. This apple whiskey however was a different beast entirely. “Well what happens now?” She asked tentatively. She wanted to salvage any respect Arkay still had for her at all.

Arkay gave her a very serious stare for a few moments, but then let out an exasperated sigh. “I can’t stay mad at you. I am sure there are worse things that could have happened than you just being obnoxious and suggestive. So I forgive you.” Arkay said regaining his composure. At this Cherri let out a sigh of relief. “However.” Cherri frowned at this. Didn’t he already forgive her? Did he really need to torture her like that? Arkay just smiled, obviously enjoying this. “If something like this happens again, I will be forced to punish you.”

Cherri felt herself blushing again. “Wait, whatever is that supposed to mean?”

Arkay let out a small chuckle. “It means what it means, now let’s go meet with the others, Marshal and Nikola are here and we need to negotiate certain things on how exactly Outpost can assist our ‘little rebellion’ as Marshal calls it. I would feel better if Nero was here to listen in on things as well, but he is missing. I wouldn’t worry about him too much; he can handle himself fairly well. That is if he isn’t too busy talking to himself. Anyway we have some political negotiations to make, shall we princess?” Arkay opened the workshop door for Cherri to exit.

“Of course.” Cherri replied with a clearly fabricated smile. ‘When did he learn to be so evil? More importantly who taught him?’ Cherri asked herself as she exited the workshop. Then it hit her. ‘Oh yeah, I sort of did.’

“I’m not sayin that there’s anythin wrong with the new rifle ya done gave me, I’m just sayin that it has a bit less of a crack to it.”

“Yes, this is true. The new lever action design in indeed a smaller caliber and therefore a bit less deadly than older design, but this comes with many advantages. With this new design, you can follow up shots on the target very easy. This means that if you really want to kill what you are aiming at, all you need do is work the lever. However this also means that if you just want to give warning shot to target, you can do so with less chance of removing their legs.”

“Yeah that’s fine and dandy and all, but I have a feelin that there’s more of a fear factor to a rifle that cracks like the older one than one that jus’ pops like this new one.” Marshal and Nikola were discussing the ups and downs of rifle design as Arkay and Cherri entered the living room. A rather strange precursor to political negotiation but then again, Marshal wasn’t the everyday political leader if he was one at all.

“Are you two still going on about this rifle business?” Arkay asked as he and Cherri entered the room.

Marshal smiled at Cherri’s entrance of the living room and ignored Arkay’s question altogether. “Well now, if it isn’t our little ‘princess’. Have fun last night you two?” Arkay and Cherri looked away from each other blushing.

“Ah yes, to be young.” Apparently Nikola was going to jump aboard the ‘make fun of Arkay and Cherri’ express as well. “I remember, mind you not all that clearly, of a night I spent with a beautiful young mare in my previous workshop. Let me just say that she was not as beautiful and young in the morning as she was the night before. It was a bit of a fiasco, but everything was relatively smoothed over afterwards. At any rate, I am glad that you two got to experience the shame of bad decisions now. Perhaps you will look back at this someday and-“

“Okay, just stop. Nothing happened between us last night, alright? I am sure there were things on my mind at the time that would not normally be on my mind, but nothing happened. So you can stop poking fun at us for whatever reason.” Cherri had just about enough of this morning and would rather have gone back to sleep. But as they say, political negotiations before comfort.

Nikola and Marshal exchanged a look, and both shrugged. “Fine, whatever you say ‘princess’. Just remember next time that you don’t mess with apple whiskey, because if you can’t handle it you will end up gettin bucked one way or the other.” Marshal could not have chosen worse words to piss off Cherri, but she managed to keep her cool and swore there was some way she was going to get back at him for poking fun at her over such a sensitive topic.

“Well if every pony is done talking about the guns and the consequences of alcohol, I’d like to get started on those political negotiations.” Arkay interjected in an attempt to get things back on track.

Marshal chuckled. “Oh I could go on for days about this, but I guess you are right Arkay. Let’s talk fancy.”

Arkay was taken aback at this. Never before had Marshal actually called him by his name. Perhaps taking a spear in the wing was worthy of respect in this town? At any rate, it was progress. “Right, let’s talk fancy. Now that we have assisted you in your buffalo situation how exactly do you plan on lending us your support?” Arkay asked outright. No need to beat around the bush.

There it was again. Marshal took a moment to think. For a gruff law pony out east of Canterlot, Marshal definitely took his time to think situations over. This could be either good a very bad for negotiating. Arkay started to look around the room to distract him from the silence, but Marshal finally responded. “Well I don’t imagine I’ll help much at all.” Arkay’s hopes for a thoughtful discussion were dashed right then and there. “What in blazes have you done to help us? Yeah, you almost got killed by buffalo, but you haven’t done nothin that we couldn’t have done ourselves. The buffalo charged on out town anyway, and I killed their leader like I would have done anyway. In your time here, all you have managed to do is get trapped, get speared, and get drunk. To me, you seem like pretty worthless allies.”

Arkay was at a loss for words. Sure he had almost died twice for the ponies of Outpost, but Marshal had a very valid point. Had the situation been left as it was, the same outcome would have probably occurred. The only difference Arkay could imagine was perhaps more buffalo would have been killed, but he didn’t think Marshal cared about that. After all Arkay had watched Marshal as he killed two buffalo in the time he had known the law pony. Both times there was no hesitation, just a trained focus. Who knew how many buffalo he had killed up to this point? It was rather depressing to the green Pegasus that all of his collective efforts with his friends to help these ponies could so easily be brushed off as unimportant and unnecessary.

Arkay was about to voice a response, but he stopped. Was Marshal… smiling? The gruff law pony burst out laughing. This was not a fake laughter either; Marshal completely lost his serious expression and fell to the floor laughing. “Okay, what in Celestia’s name is going on?” Arkay asked a bit aggravated.

Marshal finally regained his composure and picked himself up from the floor. “Ha-Ha! Oh, you do not know how long it has been since I have laughed like that. You shoulda seen the looks on your faces; priceless. I’m just jokin around with ya Arkay. You and your little rebellion have the support of every pony in Outpost. You got a lotta guts, and you are gonna need ‘em if you plan on standin up to Celestia herself. Of course, it don’t hurt to have firepower on your side either. Me an’ Nikola here are gonna make sure that our ponies and whoever else you are gonna get on your side have the kind of firepower necessary to take out however many of Celestia’s legion of toy soldiers you are gonna need to.” Arkay could do without the jokes and self-doubt that Marshal played on him, but couldn’t be happier about his decision.

“Thank you so much Marshal. You don’t know how much your support means to our republic. Hopefully it won’t come to ‘taking out toy soldiers’, but thank you.” Arkay said. It wasn’t a full sized city, but a first step is a first step. Now that he knew that this idea of a republic could crawl, he set his hopes on getting this republic to run. With luck things would continue a bit more peacefully, but there was no such thing as luck for Arkay.

With the political negotiations over, Arkay could focus his thoughts on the second objective of the day. Finding Nero. Arkay and Cherri had exited Nikola’s house and left Marshal and ‘the professor’ to discuss exciting things like black powder. The train station was a quiet place to sit and think, so they sat and thought there.

“If I were Nero, where would I be?” Cherri asked out loud. Hopefully an idea would pop into her or Arkay’s head.

“I would guess the bar trying to get one of the unicorn ‘show mares’ to ‘show him some magic’, but I know he isn’t because we already checked all four of the bars here.” Arkay answered half-joking, half-serious.

Cherri shrugged. “You would probably be right.” She said matter-of-factly. The two sat in silence and thought for a moment, but Cherri decided to break it. “I know what makes those ‘show mares’ so special. It’s not the makeup, and it’s not just the skimpy dresses they wear. It’s magic.” Arkay looked at Cherri with a confused expression. “A lot of those mares are using an illusion spell to look younger since make up can only go so far. Simple to spot really, if you know what to look for. As for the overly excited yips and ye-haws that come from the back room, definitely magic. I don’t think ponies normally get that excited about-“

“That’s enough Cherri. I’d hate to find out where you were going with that thought.” Arkay wanted to stop this before it got to an extremely uncomfortable level. “Two questions if you please. Why do you know this? More importantly, why are you telling me?”

Cherri smiled. “Well when I was learning magic in Canterlot, I was young and had a pretty strong crush on one of the other students. She was a white unicorn with a-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. She?” Arkay asked quickly.

“Yes Arkay. She. Don’t judge. Anyway, I had this thought in my head that maybe I could ask her for dinner sometime or maybe go to a musical. Something to do as friends. I then hoped that we could be more than friends. So I learned some things that might be important or fun later. She ended up with some stuck up conductor of one of the orchestras that performed at Canterlot Hall. So I gave up hope on that endeavor and ended up giving up on mares in general." Cherri said sounding a bit reminiscent.

Arkay was, for the second time that day, at a loss for words for a moment. “Didn’t answer my second question Cherri. Why are you telling me?” He asked with a concerned frown.

Cherri chuckled at him. “Oh, I don’t think there is a reason in particular. It just means what it means.” Arkay saw what she did there, and hated that she could be so evil. Then again, he may have deserved that one.

“This is just so sweet.” A voice from behind Cherri and Arkay said almost quietly. The two of them whipped around to find the source to see an older stallion earth pony wearing a conductor’s hat behind the open windows of the train station. “I have seen a lot of different ponies comin’ and a goin’ through this here town since its establishment. I don’ think I’ve seen a pair as strange as the two of yous though.”

Embarrassment washed over both Arkay and Cherri. “Um, how long exactly have you been standing there?” Cherri asked tentatively.

The old tan stallion chuckled and brushed through his grey mane. “Well, let’s just say that when I got here, this mane was blond and in a lot better shape. You two remind me of the way things used to be; young, full of energy, with a ‘never say die’ attitude. Those were the days I tell ya.” The old stallion seemed awfully reminiscent about ‘those days’.

Arkay exchanged an uncomfortable look with Cherri. Then he ventured out for conversation rather than story time. “Um sir that’s nice and all, but what-“

“Back then, this little town used to be a minin town.” Apparently it was going to be story time. “The landlords all told us there was nothin out here. Told us there was no point in startin a town where there is nothing but sand and dirt. We knew though. We knew there was gold out here. The mountains were where it was hidin. Took a little to find out, but when we did this place became the talk of all of Equestria. The miners and minin company got so rich from all the gold we done found that lots of the younglings wanted to get in on the profit. When they showed up however, the mines stopped givin. Some say it was a curse, others say it was jus’ misfortune. Either way, this here town is now in its twilight days. Only thing that brings in any money is the bars and the station. This place is just a shadow of its former glory as an establishment of fortune seekers. I would say I miss all the energy that’s been missing, but I too am running out of time. Just like this town. Only bit of energy I’ve seen recently is in that Marshal fellow, you two, and that crazy Pegasus talking to himself last night.”

That got Arkay’s attention immediately. “Wait, did you say there was a Pegasus that was talking to himself?” He asked quickly. Since he was at Nikola’s house last night, this other Pegasus had to be Nero. It wasn’t much, but this old stallion’s word was a better lead than Arkay and Cherri had all day.

The old stallion nodded a few times. “Yeah, he was goin’ on and on about how he was gonna go and find some treasure out in the desert…”

The old stallion went on to talk about something else, but Arkay was already gone. He galloped out of the main street of Outpost toward the cave of Oasis with Cherri right behind him. “Where are you going Arkay? There is an entire desert to search for that Pegasus.”

Arkay laughed in response. “Yeah you’re right, but there’s only one place that has a treasure that Nero would be after that he knows about. He has got to be in Oasis. You may not remember it, but I remember the look he was giving that sun stone. He has got to be there if he is anywhere in this desert.” Cherri could see a lot of flaws in Arkay’s logic, but she didn’t have another idea as to where he could possibly be.

Meanwhile, in the middle of said desert.

“And they just ran away?” Aurora asked almost entranced.

“That’s right; sunlight repelled them just like that. They ran for the trees to get away from it.” Nero said confidently. The two of them had been cantering through the dust lands while Nero told Aurora about some of the more successful treasure hunting excursions that he and Arkay had been on. “After that we were summoned to speak with the princesses themselves!” He exclaimed proudly.

Aurora gave a doubtful smirk. “Okay, now I know you are making this up. When have those two ever shown an interest in anything that was outside of their ‘wonderful city’?” Aurora asked with somewhat cruel honesty. “It’s not like they ever had to go through being hunted by crazy ponies.”

Nero could only shrug in response. “I don’t know, but they did ask to see us. More importantly, they had a task for us. Well more specifically Luna had a task for us. She rebelled against her sister Celestia and decided to start a republic or something. At any rate, she wants me and Arkay to go around and convince towns and different races to become a part of the Lunar republic. Not sure how exactly things are going back at Outpost, but I am sure that Arkay is taking care of it. More importantly she also wants us to find a really rare gem. Even better, I know exactly where this gem is. I just don’t know how exactly that I am going to get it.” Somehow, Nero had a tone in his voice that was both excited and disappointed.

Aurora put on another doubtful smirk. This time however, it was Orian that responded. “Shouldn’t it be easy for you Mr. Treasure hunter? How hard could it be to carry a small sun back to your oh-so-benevolent princess Luna? Even more fun would be watching how you would do that without melting the train you would ride or seeing you and your silly little friends burn their hooves trying to carry it for miles.” He said with a chuckle.

Nero just gave his imaginary companion a scowl. Aurora on the other had did more. “That’s really rather unnecessary don’t you think? Maybe Nero hasn’t gotten that far yet, which isn’t that surprising since he has to deal with you following him around all the time. Don’t you have anything else better to do that make dumb jokes?” She had an accusing tone in her voice that sounded like a mother reprimanding her foal for taking the last of the last of the cookies.

Nero stopped and stared at Aurora. She too stopped and looked back at Nero confused. “You… can see Orian?” He asked almost scared.

Aurora smiled and nodded. “Yup, I can see him. It’s kind of complicated though. I found that I can see the aura of conscious beings. There could be any reason as to why. It might be one of my ancestors being a Unicorn, or could be a magic accident when I was young. I don’t really know for sure. At any rate, I can see your friend Orian. He isn’t as defined as a regular pony, but he definitely still is there. I can hear him too, but his voice is a little less clear than normal voices.” She said casually. As if being able to see a figment of a pony’s imagination was an everyday thing.

Nero looked at Orian with a confused look. Orian just shrugged and vanished, apparently at a loss for sarcastic comments this time. Nero again looked at Aurora. “So, you can see the aura of conscious beings?” He asked carefully. “What does mine look like?”

The two of them stopped in their tracks. Aurora stared at Nero, directly into his eyes. He could imagine she was literally looking into his soul; somewhat of a scary thought. Aurora scrunched up her face in a way that seemed rather silly to him, but he kept himself from laughing. They stood there for what seemed like hours to Nero. Aurora un-scrunched her face and then put on a concerned look. “Well it really is tough to say with your aura and your friend’s aura mixed together. I could normally give a better description, but at the moment it’s just a mish-mash of red and blue flames around you. I can only guess that the red belongs to your friend, and the blue is your own. Then again I have been wrong before.” She said nonchalantly.

Nero thought about this for a moment, but could only come up with one question. “Does it get annoying?”

Aurora gave him a confused look “What do you mean?”

“All that aura stuff you see. Does it get annoying to see it all the time?” Nero asked.

“Oh that.” Aurora giggled quietly. “Well, I only see it if I focus on it. I can’t see it if I don’t look for it. So in a way, I can turn it off. So no; seeing the aura doesn’t get annoying. However, I do make a point to look at the aura of every pony that I meet. Gives me sort of an idea of what that pony is like before I even meet them.” That explained most of Nero’s curiosities about this ‘aura’ business.

Aurora again started off in the direction that the two of them were heading. Nero caught up with her quickly. “Where do you think you are going?” He asked with a laugh.

Aurora kept going however. “I’m going this way obviously. We were going this way after all and the only thing worth seeing off in the distance is that small mountain and the town of Outpost. Plus I don’t think we are going to find any treasure like what you and your friend described in a little town like that.” She said confidently.

Nero couldn’t think of a good comeback to that logic. So instead he went along with it. “Well, yeah you are right. We are going to the underground civilization of Oasis. There is a population of deer that live there because of a magic sun stone. I plan on getting it for Luna. She did say that I would know it if I saw it, so I am going to go ahead and guess that the sun stone is what she wanted us to get. I just can’t exactly tell why she would want it. If anything, wouldn’t she want a gem that emulated the moon?” Nero thought out loud. Maybe Nikola’s inability to think to himself was rubbing off on him.

Aurora smiled. “Well then, what are we waiting around here for? Race ya!” She said quickly and immediately galloped toward the cave that Nero knew was the entrance to Oasis.

Nero sped up to a gallop to match Aurora’s. “Bring it on then!” He yelled as he caught up to her quickly. “I don’t think that running in the desert is exactly safe, but I never turn down a challenge.” With the both of them galloping toward it, the distance to Oasis was closing fast for the two Pegasus.

The underground city of Oasis was just as it was left the previous day; calm. The trees that grew all around the village were softly swaying in the wind that neither Arkay nor Cherri could find the origin to. They looked around for a moment to realize that it had to be the ‘skylight’ that was creating a cross breeze with the winding tunnel that was the entrance. The several underground rivers that converged in Oasis were trickling softly into the deer’s sophisticated aqueducts and together formed a symphony of flowing tranquility. This place truly was apart from the rest of the world’s turmoil. Too bad Arkay would have to be the one to ask if he and Nero could take all of this peace away from its denizens.

Arkay stopped marveling at the perfection of Oasis and asked aloud. “Alright, where is Falling Leaves?”

“Right here young one.” A small voice behind Arkay sounded, sending him again leaping into the air. This time however, he did not have both wings to keep him afloat and fell back to the ground with a thud. Cherri couldn’t help but giggle.

Arkay got back up to his hooves. “Please stop doing that Falling Leaves. With all that has happened this morning, I don’t think I can take any more surprises.” He said sullen.

Falling Leaves cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Do what? I was standing here the whole time.” She said innocently.

Arkay rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever you say ninja deer. I have returned to ask you a very important question Falling Leaves.” He started in a dower tone.

Falling Leaves simply nodded in response. “I knew you did. Why else would you come back to Oasis? You have after all completed your mission of vengeance toward the buffalo haven’t you? That could only mean that you wish to take our sun stone away from us.”

Arkay froze for a moment. “Wait a second. How did you know exactly why we returned? Has Nero been back here yet?” He asked carefully.

Falling Leaves sighed quietly. “Well it could be the only reason you returned. There is nothing down here for a Pegasus who loves the freedom of the open skies. I doubt you could stay down here for more than a few hours before getting jittery and desiring the outside, regardless of your new handicap. As for your unicorn companion, there is nothing down here that she could not easily acquire through the means of magic. She could easily spring forth water even in the desert, or force the growth of a plant to eat. Furthermore, both of you were blatantly staring at it the most since you entered. There could be no other solution.” For an old deer chief, Falling Leaves sure knew how to read ponies like a book. Arkay and Cherri exchanged a pleading look, but neither could formulate an argument. So to save time they just nodded. No need to dance around the topic apparently. Falling Leaves sighed again. “To be honest, nothing would make me happier.”
Both Arkay and Cherri perked right back up at that “Really?” Cherri asked with a squeak in her voice.

Falling Leaves, for the third time, sighed. Apparently this was exhausting for her. Then again, it was the lively hood of her village she was giving away. “Yes. Celestia’s gift has been good for our race for many years but that just it. We have been selfish with this gift. It is time for it to move on and be used for a higher purpose. We will prepare to leave soon.” A great many things ran through Arkay’s head all at once. Was this really the right thing to do? What kind of consequences would follow this act? Why was she so okay with him and Nero taking their gift away? It really did bother him. While he was contemplating all of these things, Falling Leaves continued her statement. “There is one thing however that must be true for you to be able to take the sun stone. You must have been chosen to be the bearer of the Element of Honesty. For Honesty was the element that, many seasons ago, our race received from the goddess of the sun herself Celestia. The chiefs of the old age were chosen to lead us to a new way of life, and here we have stayed. There have been few of us that have attempted to move or steal the element before, but these malcontents were punished for their actions. The element took the form of a small sun when the chiefs of the old utilized it and as such the false ones were burned for their attempts to steal what was not theirs to take. It is told that the element changes with the one who touches it, but this cannot be for certain. If you truly and honestly intend to use this element for a higher purpose, then you will do so. If you are however a liar and intend to use it only for personal gain, you will be burned like the rest of the thieves and liars who have attempted to steal or take it. As such in our traditions, we will not be able to help you if you are burned by Celestia’s fire for your actions. On the alternative if you are successful, we will continue on with our lives as the days of the old and again roam the lands above. Is this something you truly wish to go through with?”

Arkay just could not catch a break with these hard choices today. Now there was another option on the table; death. What were the chances that he would be ‘chosen to bear the element of honesty’? If he wasn’t, then he was going to die. There was no reason to risk his life for Luna if she could come by and retrieve the element herself. This was a miniature sun they were talking about after all. Certainly it was something that was never meant to be touched by the hooves of a mortal pony. Then again if the chiefs of the old age were able to harness it, perhaps there was more to this than Arkay thought. After all it was here. How else could it have gotten here? Arkay took a deep breath and made his decision. “I will try to harness the element Falling Leaves. Tell the deer to get ready to leave. I imagine it is going to get very dark in here once the sun goes out.” Never before had Arkay put so much on the line for the sake of a single decision. He just hoped he made the right one.

Falling Leaves nodded once more. It seemed like that was her reaction to most decisions pertaining to the good of her race. “Good, because I saw your grey friend running up the stairs with another light blue pony just a little bit ago. You should probably go stop them.” She said, somehow still being calm.
Arkay and Cherri snapped their view to the stairs leading up to the highest tower where the element resided. Sure enough, there was a grey Pegasus galloping up the stairs and another light blue Pegasus right behind him. Cherri waved a hoof in front of Arkay’s face. “Come on Arkay! We have to stop them now! I don’t think they know they will be burned to death if they touch it! Let’s GO!” She yelled and galloped toward the same set of stairs Nero and his new friend were on. Arkay shook head to get back to reality and galloped after her.

Aurora and Nero approached the sun at the top of the tower and gazed upon it in awe. This was the reason the deer had disappeared from every pony’s view and knowledge. There was so much given and taken away by this one object. There was so much potential untapped, and so much relying on it. And Nero was going to take it without a second thought, or try to anyway.

“So this thing is the treasure that you are supposed to find for Luna or whatever?” Aurora asked with a noticeable lack of awe in her voice.

Nero nodded. “Yup, this is it. Now the only question is how I am going to manage to get this thing back to the princess. Orian did make a good point; this thing is far too big to carry around. Also, it is kind of on fire. That couldn’t be comfortable to carry for miles at all. You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas would you?” He asked, at a loss for any good ideas for how to carry a miniature sun around with him.

“I have a few.” Of course Orian couldn’t help but say something smart. “How about we ask Celestia if she could carry it back to Luna? She raises the sun every day after all. How little effort would it be for her to come and carry something much, much smaller back to that little library in Ponyville?”

There went Nero’s good mood. “That has to be the dumbest idea I have heard from you in a while Orian. If we did that then Luna would know for sure that we were working for Celestia and would probably ruin our chances of ever getting her trust.” Nero retorted in aggravation.

Orian put on a concerned face. “Well then what exactly are you going to do about your little big problem here? Lift this thing and fly all the way back to Ponyville?” He asked sarcastically.

Nero puffed out his chest. “Yes, I’m gonna move this thing myself. The sun is just light and heat anyway, how heavy could this thing be?” He laughed in the face of Orian’s sarcasm and moved toward the sun stone.

Aurora gave Nero a cautious look. “This can’t be a good idea Nero. I just found you after these years. Do you really want to throw this away to try and prove a figment of your imagination wrong?” She pleaded.

Nero nodded. “I am just about done with his crap. If I don’t do something to get him off my back I will never get rid of him. This time, we do things my way. My way!” Nero yelled as he lifted his hooves to the sun stone to try and lift it.

“No stop!” Arkay and Cherri finally reached the top of the tower, only to see Nero with his hooves on the Element of Honesty. “Oh Celestia damn us, we got here too late.” Arkay whispered in fear.

Nothing happened. Nero smiled as he felt the sun stone carefully. It wasn’t even warm, yet it was exuding heat everywhere else but on itself. He looked back to see Arkay and Cherri at the top of the stairs. “Oh, so glad you could join us. I was just getting this sun stone to carry it back to Ponyville. Want to help?” He asked as if there was nothing wrong with trying to carry a sun with him.

Arkay trotted closer. “Nero you have to let go of that now. That isn’t just a gem or a stone. It is one of the Elements of Harmony. Only those that are chosen can touch it, all others are burned.” He explained quickly, urging Nero to let go.

Aurora gave the green Pegasus with a broken wing a confused look. Nero on the other hoof laughed. “Ha-ha-ha! Do you really think that this could be one of the legendary elements that Luna and Celestia used to imprison Discord all those years ago? It doesn’t even look like it could be used to imprison anything. More importantly, it isn’t even hot. I don’t think it is going to burn me any time soon.” And just like that, Nero burst into flames. His eyes shot open in surprise. “I do appear to be on fire,” was all he could mutter before running around in circles trying to put out said fire.

Aurora and Arkay immediately started trying to help put out their flaming friend as well, but there was no getting close to him as he flailed about in attempts to put out the flames. Cherri on the other hand tried using a bit of wind magic, to no avail. Every one of them were yelling and arguing on how they could save their friend before he became a very toasty pony. They all stopped and backed up however when the flames literally walked right off of Nero. He was left staring at his hooves in confusion. “Wasn’t I on fire?” He asked, clearly the question on all of their minds.

The four of them looked at the flames still in the shape of a pony and saw something terrifying. The flames were smiling. The flames flickered and swayed in the slight breeze, but it was still a rather clear shape of a pony; just out of flames. Then the worst of it all occurred. The flame pony spoke. “Yes, you were on fire idiot. Only thing is, you weren’t burning. Your soul was. Those were magic flames from the Element of Honesty.” Its voice was nothing but unsettling to the four of the witnessing ponies.

It was unsettling for all except for one. “Is that you Orian?” Aurora asked.

To every pony’s surprise, the flames nodded. “Yeah, it’s me. How could you tell? Was it my dashing good looks? Oh no, I know. It had to be my unmistakable voice. Then again, I don’t know. It could be my looks. I am pretty hot at the moment.” Nero’s face scrunched up in anger. Orian, to Nero’s dismay, continued. “What’s the matter Nero? You see me all the time. Surly this can’t be too different from the norm.”

Arkay and Cherri both gave Nero a concerned look. Nero however just stared daggers at Orian in his new fiery form. “No, it’s not any different. I still can’t help but get angry at your appearance, and hate every word you say.” He spat venomously.

It was hard to tell, but Orian put on a hurt expression. “Aw I’m so sorry. Would you like for your soul to be on fire again? I am sure that would be a lot better than having to look at me like you normally do.” He said in a fabricated whining tone.

Arkay couldn’t take it anymore and just had to ask. “Okay, every pony just calm down. What exactly is going on here?”

Orian turned his attention to Arkay and gave a nefarious grin. “Oh, nothing much is going on Arkay. I’m just saving your friend’s life.” Arkay was about to put up an argument, but Orian continued. “Then again, you wouldn’t be okay with that would you? You just have to save the day every time don’t you? You have to put your own life in danger so that others can be in relative safety. Let me tell you something ‘hero.’ Putting yourself in danger doesn’t make you a hero. And don’t you even argue that you don’t want to be a hero either you self-righteous prick. You are the first to jump in the way of a spear, you are the one who wanted to keep Nero from touching the element so that you could take the risk for him, and you are the idiot who agreed to this stupid political crap in the first place. Beating yourself up and getting yourself torn to bits doesn’t make you a hero in any right. So stop thinking that you are some knight of right and give up on trying to make things better. You make me sick.” Arkay felt progressively worse as the flaming Orian went on and on about him. Could this hateful pony really be right about him?

Cherri however wasn’t going to have any of this. “Hey, you leave Arkay alone. He only does all of those things because he wants to make things better for every pony. He may not be perfect, but he is for sure better than some flame pony who just shows up and-“

“Oh you are so misguided Cherri.” Orian interrupted. “You follow this false example of goodness only because he tries to be everything you aren’t. You canter around thinking that you are some would-be example of perfection when in reality your morals have more holes in them than a beggar’s cloak.” It seemed that he was intent on ripping every one of them up emotionally.

Nero, still angry, broke all this moral talk with an angry question. “If those flames were supposedly burning my soul, why are you not in pain?”

Orian chuckled at that. “Well, it may be because living in your mind burns me every day.”

Arkay took a few steps toward the element. If there was a chance that he was indeed chosen to bear the Element of Honesty, there was no better time to try than now. Maybe if he could harness it, this flame pony would disappear. Orian however, didn’t let that slide. “Where do you think you are going ‘hero?” It asked with such arrogance it pained Arkay to listen. The flames moved to stop Arkay, but Nero moved in front of them. Orian took a step back and calculated Nero for a moment. “Really? I saved you from serious eternal burning of the soul, and you want to stop me? I tell you what Nero. You stop me now and I will give your burn back. By all means, take these flames back.” Nero just stood his ground firm. “Fine then, be that way.” Orian concluded and reared back to pounce on Nero and engulf him in flames. Aurora however, jumped to protect Nero from the flames. At this, Orian stopped. “Okay little girl look. I don’t have any reason to hate you yet, and you are giving me one. Seeing as you are one of the only ones that can see me other than Nero himself, I don’t want that to happen. Now would you kindly move to the side before that self-righteous hero touches the…” But it was too late. Arkay was already touching the element. Orian looked down at his hooves of fire, then to Arkay. He started galloping toward the green Pegasus, jumping right over Nero and Aurora, and proceeded to lunge at Arkay.

The element however made a resounding sound that echoed throughout the cave that was Oasis. Orian stopped in mid-air and stared at Arkay. The element slowly started glowing brighter and brighter. As it did, Orian found himself dissipating before them all. The flames were wiped away as if they were blown away by the wind. When the element reached a bright white, it stopped and collapsed into a much smaller shape. This new shape was that of a medium sized ring, just big enough to fit around the head of a pony. The ring floated down to Arkay’s hooves and stared to dim. When the brightness reached a viewable level, all four ponies saw a silver ring with a green gem peace sign in the center. Arkay lifted it and looked it over closely. “Did that really just happen?” He asked in disbelief. He looked it over again and noticed a chain latch on one side of the band, and observed the segmented silver. It wasn’t just a headband. “It’s a bandana.” He said quietly.

Aurora gave a confused look. “It’s what now? She asked.

Arkay pointed at the bandana he was currently wearing. “It’s a bandana, one of these things. The element changed to its bearer. And that bearer is me.” Arkay looked to Nero. “What do you think it means?” He asked carefully.

None of them spoke for the longest time, then Aurora broke in. “I know! It means that we can get this thing back to the princess a lot easier now. Isn’t that right Nero?” She nudged Nero, but he didn’t say anything.

Arkay slowly removed his old bandana and placed the element in its place, being sure to latch the chain in the back. The segmented metal fit around his head perfectly. Not so loose that it would fall off, but tight enough for it to stay on his head without any effort on his part. Cherri giggled and picked up the old bandana with her magic. “Well, I don’t know what it means exactly. But I do know that Luna owes you two a proper explanation as to why she wanted you to retrieve something as valuable as one of the Elements of Harmony. Now I don’t know about you, but I’d rather get out of here now. Without that sun to keep this place lit, it is pitch-black down here beside that skylight.” The others looked around to see she was absolutely right. Cherri lit up her horn with magic. “I can lead the way with some light, now shall we leave this glorified tomb for the second time? Hopefully now we won’t have to come back for anything.” With that, she started down the long flight of stairs that lead down to the base of the tower. Arkay followed quickly, but Nero and Aurora stayed behind.

“So, is that the Arkay and Cherri that you spoke of?” She asked.

Nero nodded. “Yeah, that’s them.” He said simply.

“Your best friend and your newest friend?” Nero nodded. “Then what does that make me?” Aurora asked. “Your oldest friend?”

Nero smirked. “Perhaps. Then again maybe not.” He said. “Remember when we were just a little colt and a little filly?

Aurora scrunched up her face. “Yeah, I think that would put me up in the running for being your oldest friend. Wouldn’t you think?” She asked.

Nero nodded, but continued his previous thought. “Remember when our parents had us set up to get married at a young age?”

Aurora thought for a moment, looking back at her foal hood in the city of Amphitrite. “Yeah, we were going to have a nice dinner and that stupid ceremonial dance. What about it? That was years and years ago. Why are you asking me this now?” This was the first time Nero brought up anything from Amphitrite that he didn’t seem to absolutely hate.

Nero shrugged. “I don’t know, but we should probably get going. I don’t think they are going to waste any time getting out of here. Let’s go.” And with that he leapt off of the side of the ledge and glided down to follow the light from Cherri’s horn. Aurora watched his dark form for a moment and followed.

A cool evening breeze blew through the town of Outpost. Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora were standing at the train station with a small crowd of ponies. Among them were Marshal and Nikola. “In all my years of keepin’ this town in… relative order, I’d have never thought I’d be sad to see a group of non-earth ponies leave. I think that of all the Pegasus and unicorns I know, I’m gonna miss you guys the most.” Marshal was being surprisingly sentimental at the sight of his new Pegasus and unicorn friends leaving. The crowd had an unreadable feel about it. Nero couldn’t tell if they were either sad to see them leave, or happy that they were.

Cherri giggled at the law pony. “Oh really now Marshal? How many other Pegasus and unicorns do you know exactly?” She asked with a playful sarcasm.

Marshal smiled at this. “Well, I could answer that princess, but I think I’ll let your mind wonder on it instead. I really have ta’ thank you all for comin’ in and disruptin’ my town like you did. I don’t think things would have ended so well for any of us if you didn’t. Maybe Pegasus and unicorns ain’t so bad after all.” He pondered out loud.

Nikola stepped forward as well. “You ponies have been interesting to work with, maybe you think you could come by sometime? I am sure there could always be something that you could do around here. Also Nero, keep that hoof in good shape. I do want you to show off the original creator’s work, but I don’t want the thing to end up as garbage.” Nikola said sounding like a father telling his child to be careful with a new toy.

Nero nodded his affirmation. “Don’t worry I’ll do my best to take care of it. I’ll be sure to come by and get a tune up if it gets too messed up.” He said confidently.

“Well every pony, all aboard who’s goin’ aboard!” The old conductor pony yelled out to the crowd. The steam engine started up, preparing to transport the four of Outpost’s newest foreigners back to Canterlot.

Arkay was quite glad that the steam engine had found its way back to the station after that incident when it got hijacked and left in the dust lands. He didn’t think that he could very well get back to Canterlot or Ponyville without assistance. Turns out, losing the use of his wing caused him to feel quite limited. “Well Marshal, Nikola, and every pony in Outpost I have to admit. It has been real, and it has been fun. However, it hasn’t been real fun. Thank you all for your support of the republic, I think now we can be taken a little bit more seriously since we have all of you on our side.” He announced to the crowd. There was no reason to leave without first telling them that their help would be appreciated.

The well-dressed unicorn stallion from the bar stepped forward. He had a violin case strapped to his back. “Before you go, I want you to have this.” He said as he floated the case to Arkay. “I never saw a pony play this thing good as you did. I think that it is going to be in much more capable hooves if you have it instead of me.”

Arkay held the case in his hooves and nodded to the stallion. “Thanks, I don’t know what else to say. I am going to have to come back and give Outpost a concert for this. Thank you so much.” He said graciously as he pulled the case on his back, using the strap to secure it. The steam engine let out a loud hiss; letting the four soon to be passengers know that they would be leaving soon, so they all got aboard. Arkay looked out to the ponies of Outpost one last time. “Farewell every pony and thank you again!” He yelled out to them as the steam engine started to chug down the tracks toward the mountains of Canterlot.

“I’m just saying that it’s rather confusing. How is it that putting on skimpy outfits makes them appear to be more attractive?”

“Well, I can’t really give you a reason Cherri. In Canterlot and other high profile cities, clothes are considered a sign of high status. Most other places don’t worry with clothing.”

“Yeah, that’s true Arkay, but it’s still confusing though. Why would putting on clothes make a mare sexier?”

“I don’t know Cherri, maybe status is sexy?”

“Enough, that’s enough already you two! If I hear another word about this crap, I am going to lose my mind!” Aurora screamed at the two of them. Arkay and Cherri had been discussing prostitutes for the past hour, and Aurora was just about tired of it.

Arkay shrugged. “I agree could we please change the subject?” He asked almost indignantly.

There was silence in the cabin of the steam engine. Nero was looking out the window thoughtfully, resting his head on his normal hoof and letting his prosthetic hoof lay on the table between the two facing sets of seats. Aurora looked down at it and got an idea. “Oh I know! How did Nero get his metal hoof? I think ever pony wants to know.” She exclaimed happily.

At that, Arkay and Nero exchanged a look. It was true that they hadn’t told their new companions about that story yet. Nero just gave a shrug, so Arkay decided to be the one to explain. “Well back in the day when Nero and I were just colts in school, we had a really boring class. Well, at least for Nero it was boring. The class was about flight safety, and being the best flier in the class made it very boring for him. One day in this class-“

“One day in this class.” Nero broke in, because apparently Arkay wasn’t telling the story right. “While the teacher was going on and on about how not to descend too quickly, I was so incredibly bored. All of the other students were listening intently, and some were even taking notes. Arkay was among them because he was a nerd. Anyway, I was bored as usual in this class and happened to look out the window. There were open skies out there. I could have flown away right then and there and they couldn’t stop me for at least ten minutes. I decided not to however. Otherwise the authorities would put another infraction on my record, and I couldn’t have that happen or I would be forced to repeat the grade. That’s beside the point however, upon this window sill was an interesting bottle. I had to really squint to see the letters, but it was totally worth it. The bottle read ‘magical unicorn adhesive-made with REAL unicorn magic.’ I didn’t know what to think of this bottle at first, but after another ten minutes of listening to mister boring talker I got a hilarious idea. One that would be so funny, they would have to put it in the Pegasus newspaper. I looked over to Arkay to see if he was suspecting anything, but he was just writing away about how dangerous it is to fly in a tornado without a buddy. He was totally unsuspecting of the hilarious prank that would befall him later. When the class let out for lunch, I zipped by and swiped the magical adhesive without any pony noticing it was even gone. The rest of the day after lunch was so long. The minutes dragged on and on and on. So while time was being as slow as an old geezer, I formulated my plan. I was going to put a bunch of this adhesive on my hoof, and get Arkay to get his hoof stuck on mine. It was going to be awesome. I would occasionally chuckle audibly enough to draw attention to my plan, but the others just blew it off as if I wasn’t planning the most diabolical and hilarious plan ever thought of in flight grade school. When the class finally ended for the students to go back home, I zoomed out of that glorified cloud prison to wait outside the entrance to wait for a certain unsuspecting green Pegasus.

Once outside in the warm spring air, I looked about the empty cloud. I couldn’t be too close to the entrance or my target would suspect something. I couldn’t be too far away either, or he might not even see me. Then I decided on the perfect place to wait. I would wait by the west edge of the cloud like I always would for Arkay at the end of the school day. Good thing I decided when I did too, because the students were starting to exit the building like the tools that they were. I didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to myself, so instead of galloping to my destination I just trotted casually. Once there I searched my school bag for the adhesive. It was exactly where I put it, at the bottom of the bag. I then opened it carefully, because it was magic after all. The goopy stuff sort of glowed a bit in the sunlight, and smelled a lot like old cheese. I looked over at the school entrance and started to panic a little. My target was exiting and started to canter over to me. I turned around quickly and slathered my right hoof in the goopy magical adhesive. I then carefully closed the bottle and returned it to my bag, which was rather hard to do with only my left hoof. I was just in time though. Arkay had just gotten close to be within earshot and started talking about something like ‘oh, that there tornado class was sure exciting’ or ‘I feel so much more informed on the safety of blah, blah, blah’. I had to sit there through it for a moment, waiting for the perfect time to strike. There was some more boring conversation, but then the perfect chance presented itself to me. Arkay was just getting done about some dumb school talk, and ended with asking me ‘how dumb is that?’ I thought for just a moment and gave the stock response to such a query. ‘Yeah, that’s totally dumb.’ I then started the long and drawn out process of psychological warfare necessary to get this completely unsuspecting colt to fall right into my hilarious trap. ‘Bro hoof?’ I asked him confidently. He thought this over for a second, but that second was blistering for me. Could he have suspected my plan? Did he look down just slightly enough to see the slightly glowing goop on my hoof? Was this plan going to go down in flames terribly? All of this raced through my mind in an instant, but it didn’t have to. Arkay brought up his hoof to bump with mine. I smiled on the outside, but I was laughing and celebrating on the inside. It was going to work after all. Then there was that sweet moment that my plan came together. Literally, because we bumped our hooves together and the magic adhesive bonded them. After the second or two of a good bro hoof was over, Arkay tried to pull away. He couldn’t though. I started chuckling while he kept trying to pull his hoof from mine, but it didn’t work. When he finally asked ‘Nero, what is going on?’ I burst out laughing. It was then that he began to suspect something was wrong. So I decided to let him know about the trap that he fell into. I told him ‘I put magical adhesive on my hoof and got your hoof stuck to mine!’ At this, Arkay started getting all logical and asking stupid questions like ‘how are we gonna get our hooves unstuck?’ I thought for a moment and realized I hadn’t thought that far myself. After some serious consideration, I had an answer. ‘We pull.’ I told him with confidence. Arkay didn’t like that too much, but he complied. We started pulling and pulling, but that magical adhesive was putting up a serious fight. After some painful minutes of trying to pull our hooves apart, Arkay suggested that we go to the hospital for some medical help. I was about to give up as well, but I wanted to try one last time. So we pulled with everything we were worth. To both of our surprises there was a loud and gloppy pop, after which we were no longer stuck together. I laughed triumphantly at our victory, but Arkay was just horrified. I looked at his hoof and realized why. Our hooves weren’t unstuck at all, because my hoof was still on his. I looked down at my own foreleg and saw that there was nothing there from my ankle down.
At this point I think I went into shock and passed out, because the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and seeing the sterile cloud walls of an operating room. I wanted to ask where I was, but before I could they stuck a needle in me and injected what I could only suspect was something to put me back to sleep. I fell back into the numb feeling of sleep and didn’t wake until I was in another room altogether. This time I could ask where I was though, because there was a nurse in the room with me. She told me that I was very lucky to be alive, and that my friend was a very good one to bring me in when he did because otherwise I would have been dead. The most prolific thing she said to me was ‘hope you enjoy your new hoof. It was an invention by our very own Rainy Days.’ After which she left the room without another word. I took that time to un-wrap the bandages around it and saw a horrifying and amazing prosthetic hoof that replaced my natural one. It was overall astounding, and terrifying at the same time. I couldn’t feel anything in my right fore-hoof, from my ankle down it was numb. While I was marveling at my new hoof, they allowed Arkay into the room. I waved around my new hoof, showing off how cool it was. Unfortunately, Arkay was being all dumb and boring about it though. He was all like ‘when you have a bad idea like that again, don’t do it. I got the doctors to get your hoof unstuck from mine. So, this could have been avoided.’ I was too busy being excited about having a hoof made out of metal, or whatever it was made out of. And that my friends, if how I lost my hoof.” Nero ended his story quite abruptly.

There was silence within the cabin of the steam engine, beside from the chug of the engine itself and the click-clack of the metal wheels against the rails. The four passengers sat in their seats silently, until Aurora decided to break it. “So, you lost your hoof over an impractical joke?” She deadpanned. The others looked to Nero for confirmation or denial, he however just sat with a frozen look on his face. “Awesome.” Aurora said, almost as an amazed whisper.

Nero smiled at her in gratitude. “Yeah may not have been the best of ideas, but what’s done is done. No need to dwell on the past right? So, what’s the plan for when we return to our little base of operations in Ponyville?” Nero asked looking directly at Arkay, as if he had any idea.

Arkay thought for a moment. This next move would be important after all. Telling Luna of their success was the top manner at hoof, but there was one problem with the other objective one their plate. “Well.” He started. “Should be straightforward telling Luna that Outpost will support the republic, but the complicated thing will be telling Celestia that Luna had us get this.” Arkay pointed at the Element of Honesty that adorned his head. “She said that she needed to know if Luna had us collect anything. Perhaps she knew Luna would be going after the elements all along? At any rate, how would we go about letting her know without Luna catching wind of it?” He asked to no pony in particular.

There it was again, silence. This time however it steamed from none of the passengers having any good plan as to how they could sneak a message to royalty without royalty knowing. The silence was again broken by Aurora. “OH! Why don’t we send her a letter?” She asked rather loudly.

Cherri scoffed at this idea. “Really now? How would you manage to get such a letter directly to the princess without some pony who is not supposed to have it to get their hooves on such valuable information? The post office? I think not.” Aurora didn’t even deflate at her idea being shot down in the slightest.

Then an idea hit Arkay and he perked up immediately. “That actually isn’t a bad idea Aurora.” The pony in question stuck out her tongue to the pick unicorn. “Nero, remember when Celestia said that there was a dragon we could contact in Ponyville when we needed to send her a message? I think his name was…Thorn or something. If we could get him to take a letter to Celestia, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it being seen by prying eyes or Luna.” Arkay said confidently.

The rest of Arkay’s companions however didn’t seem too confident about his idea. “What if this dragon doesn’t deliver?” Cherri asked, uncertainty heavy in her voice.

“What happens if this dragon also works for Luna and gives the letter to her?” Aurora asked, playing the devil’s advocate.

Arkay looked over to Nero, waiting expectantly for an excuse or reason from his long-time treasure hunting partner. Nero just gave him a shrug though. “There are so many holes in your plan that if I listed them for you, it would take longer than the remainder of this ride back to cover them all. Let me just say it’s a bad idea Arkay.” He said grimly.

Arkay gave a heavy sigh. “Alright if my plan is so wrong, why don’t you come up with your own plans for how this will work out?” Again silence. Arkay looked to Nero, who just stared out the cabin window. He then looked to Aurora, who stared right back without flinching. Arkay then dared a glance at Cherri who returned the glance for a moment, but then became incredibly interested in the marbling on the ceiling panels. Sighing again, Arkay continued. “I know it’s not the best plan, but what else do we have? I don’t think we could just go up to Celestia and tell her that Luna had us go and get an Element of Harmony. It’s never that easy.” Arkay really didn’t like the idea of trusting a dragon none of them knew with a message to Celestia that could ruin everything for himself and Nero. He removed the Element of Honesty from his head and looked into the green peace sign gem that adorned the center.

Silence again choked the four lone passengers of the steam engine. As afternoon gave way to evening and the once-distant mountains of Canterlot were approaching, the old conductor stallion peaked in on the passengers. Arkay prayed that he didn’t have another story to tell. “We won’t be stoppin’ in Canterlot, Marshal done told me that yous were goin’ straight to Ponyville.” He announced to the four of them, who nodded eagerly in response. “Well then, full steam ahead to Ponyville! I remember back when I was a little colt. This was before I moved out to the good ol’ Outpost and it’s a bit fuzzy, but there was a time when I was…”

Nero, Arkay, and Cherri blocked out the old stallion as he went into soap box mode. Aurora on the other hoof listened intently to story time as the city of Canterlot came into view.

The small town of Ponyville was asleep. This was to be expected though, it was night time. The steam engine chugged in loud as ever, probably disrupting many ponies from their peaceful night’s sleep. Nero didn’t care however, the only thing he had on his mind was getting off the steam engine as soon as possible. Story time was still in full swing as the engine came to a screeching halt in the station of Ponyville.

“…And that’s why you should never ask a mule if he has a toupee.” The old stallion was just finishing a story about some grumpy old mule he tried to cheer up, which lacked any interesting qualities at all. Aurora was still listening though, with a smile on her face no less. The old stallion opened his mouth again. Nero was ready to attempt committing suicide with his metal hoof, but was relieved to hear the words the old stallion was saying. “Well unfortunately, I gotta say goodbye for now young lady. Marshal told me to come right back after I got done transportin you four here.” He said almost solemnly, his passengers however didn’t share the sentiment at all and got right off of the steam engine onto the boarding platform of the Ponyville station. All except Aurora who stuck by long enough to say goodbye to the old stallion.

As she stepped onto the platform, she looked up to see the glares of Nero, Arkay, and Cherri. “Why did you have to encourage him?” Arkay pleaded her.

Aurora just beamed at the green Pegasus. “He used to live on a farm. A FARM Arkay! Earth ponies make food on those things! Food that Pegasus eat! It’s fascinating that our livelihood depends on them so heavily, and yet we never come down and visit or ask if we can help. Why is that? How come we Pegasus never come down here? Do you know what it must be like to grow actual food? Do earth ponies wish that they could fly?” Aurora fired off questions so quickly, there was no hope in answering any one of them before there was more to replace it.

Nero on the other hoof, was not so impressed. “Yeah, they make food. Fascinating, except not at all.” He said with a tad bit of scorn. “Let’s just get to the library please. I’d like to get this done already.” And with that they followed Nero to the treehouse library, which was quickly coming into view.

Cherri was star struck by the structure. “Wow! Was this built like this? No, this was grown with magic! That is some powerful magic right there. Who is the magnificent pony who grew this library?” She fired off all at once.

The four ponies approached the door of the magical treehouse library. Nero knocked at the door loudly and stepped back just a bit to join the others in giving the door some clearance. Said door swung open with a swoosh to reveal the Princess of the Night, Luna, standing at the door with a half-eaten apple enveloped in her light blue field of magic. Graceful and magnificent indeed. She swallowed the apple bits she was chewing on and smiled brightly to her subjects. Arkay and Cherri fell into a bow while Nero and Aurora just stayed standing. “Ah, it is good to see that you were not killed in the desert and are…relatively unharmed. I also see that you brought friends to join the cause. Most wonderful.” She motioned for the green Pegasus and pink unicorn to get up, wincing at the bandages on Arkay’s wing. “Come in! I must hear how things went for you.” She said eagerly as she retired into the main room of the treehouse library.

Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora followed her inside and closed the door behind themselves. Nero gave a quick look around the room to notice full book shelves. Luna must have been busy collecting books while they were gone, the last time they were here the shelves were all empty and begged to be filled with books. It looked like the non-sentient shelves wishes came true at last. Arkay stepped forward to Luna “Princess we bring good news. After a misguided chief was dealt with by Marshal the law pony, it looked like that buffalo gave up on tormenting the ponies of Outpost. Furthermore, said ponies of Outpost pledge to assist and become a part of the republic. We now have a hoof in the door of breaking away from your sister completely.” Luna smiled at this news, but was clearly waiting for something else.
So Cherri picked up the discussion and stepped forward as well. “On a different note Princess, we retrieved this.” She said as Arkay removed the Element of Honesty from his head once more and hooved it over to Luna. She gazed down at it with an approving smile, Cherri wanted answers though. “This is the Element of Honesty. Why did you have Nero and Arkay go after something like this and not tell them what it was?”

Luna gazed away from the group of ponies in front of her, formulating some kind of explanation. “Well you see many years ago, Celestia and myself imprisoned the spirit of chaos Discord in stone using the Elements of Harmony. The Elements hold great power, and I was thinking that perhaps I could use them to get Celestia give up altogether. However, there is a problem with this plan. The Elements only work against those that represent an evil that is against all that is harmonious. Celestia knows this as well, so there is no way that we could win this over with the Elements so easily. Still they could be useful in solidifying our position as an independent republic. If our republic had all of the Elements of Harmony and Celestia had none we would have a sort of Writ of Harmony and would be the rightful choice of who is the true ruler of Equestria. I do apologize for sending you after something without telling you what exactly it was, but would you have gone after it if you knew it was one of the Elements?” She asked, almost prodding.

Nero, overhearing the conversation between Luna and his two brightly colored companions, considered this for a moment. She did have a point. Something as important as an Element of Harmony was priceless, and would never be bought anywhere. In all honesty he probably would have still gone after it, if only to have something to blackmail the princesses for one reason or another. Nero would have said as much, but there was no reason to bring up an ugly topic like blackmail when things were going rather smoothly anyway. That and the fact that he was too lazy to bring such things up, Arkay and Cherri were already doing the talking for him anyway.

Arkay too seemed to consider such things. “Well, you are probably right Princess. I don’t think that I would have been totally on board with retrieving something as unpredictable as one of the Elements of Harmony. If I may ask another question though, why was it with an underground civilization of deer? They claimed it was a gift from Celestia Is this true?” He asked carefully. It was one of the many things that bothered him about retrieving it.

Luna rolled her eyes at this question. “Yes, it was a gift in a way. After we imprisoned Discord in stone, many of the nations and species were still volatile and untrustworthy. So to ease tensions on the fact that Celestia and I had possession of ancient relics that could be dangerous, she found it best to entrust them to a select groups of individuals. I only know where two of them went however, I was not present for the entirety of the meeting. I know that one was given to the deer, this was Honesty. Another was given to the temple city of Amphitrite, they were given Loyalty. I am not aware of the whereabouts of where the other Elements are held. They were seen as less of a threat when they were apart from each other, as their true potential is unlocked only when they are used together for the greater good. They do not work for those with selfish and evil desires in their hearts. Unfortunately, Celestia isn’t exactly chaotic or a symbol of disharmony so I don’t think that combining all of the Elements would work on her. However it wouldn’t hurt to have them on our side just in case.” Luna seemed to be in the speeches and lore mood today. Then again, Arkay did ask about lore and such so what could he expect.

Aurora thought over this for a moment and decided to join in. “Alright, but now that we have this Element what do we do with it? It can’t be safe to keep such a thing around a library, even if we had it guarded all the time. How would we make sure that no pony but you get to it?” Aurora asked. There would be no way that a treehouse library could stand against some pony who knew what was there and really, really wanted it.

A sly smile curled up on Luna’s muzzle. “Well, actually I have an idea. Are you aware that I can enter a pony’s dream as if it were an actual place?” She asked, as if that were a normal question. Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora gave her a collective confused expression.
Nero on the other hoof felt a cold sweat on the back of his neck that he knew as the uncomfortable presence of Orian. If Arkay weren’t here, he was sure Orian would have some snide remark like ‘I told you so.’ Luna took their silence as a no and continued. “Well, I am able to enter the dreams of a pony and interact with them as if it were on a material plane of existence. It really is too much to explain, and would take hours that I do not feel like taking to do so. Bottom line, I could store the Element within one of your dreams and come back to it for later retrieval. This would keep every pony but me unable to get their hooves on it, and any pony else from knowing its whereabouts. Solves two problems with one solution.” Luna was practically beaming at her idea for safe storage of the Element. It was strange to see her so upbeat. Nero, observing this entire interaction from a relative distance couldn’t help but smile along with her. He hadn’t thought of it before, but a smile suited Luna much better than the face of concern or sorrow that he had previously seen her in. She looked almost…cute. Nero quickly stowed such thoughts, as she could read dreams. That could only end badly.

Aurora nodded in agreement. “You are right Luna that does seem to solve both problems with one solution, but would it be painful? I mean, having a magical artifact in your head can’t be comfortable can it?” She asked, a little bit concerned.

Cherri too shared her opinion. “I’d hate to have something like that stuck in my head for an undetermined amount of time. Certainly couldn’t be good for one’s cognitive functions.” She said elegantly.

These concerns did not sway Luna in the slightest. “No, it would be painless. You may not be able to comprehend it, but dream worlds are quite real to those that have them. They might as well be actual places for the dreamer themselves. Same goes for me when I enter a pony’s dream, just not on the same level. So I could take the Element with me into one of your dream’s and give it to you for safe keeping in your dream, and it would stay there until the time comes for it to be needed. At which point I could simply go back into said dream world and retrieve the Element. Simple really, if you don’t put too much thought into it.” She explained to the four ponies staring at her as if she were crazy.

“Alright fine then if it is so simple. The only question now is whose dream world the Element should go to.” Arkay said blatantly. He still didn’t see how any of this was possible, but went along with it anyway.

Luna’s sly smile returned. “You of course my green friend.” Arkay looked side to side nervously. Of course he would be the test subject. “Who’s dream world better to store it in than the pony who the Element clearly chose? Also, I am a bit concerned on how it would behave if it were stored in the mind of some pony who was not chosen to wield this Element. So it must be you Arkay.” She announced to the green Pegasus.

Said test subject was not at all comfortable with the turn of events, but didn’t want to endanger his friends with a dream brain burn. Was that even possible? “Fine Luna. I accept.” There was no need for fancy words in this situation. Just acceptance.

Luna smiled yet again. “It is settled then Arkay. When you sleep later, I will enter your dream and give you the Element to keep safe. Just don’t think about it and everything will be fine. Now, it is rather late, and I am sure that you ponies are exhausted from the recent events you had to face. So you will rest for tonight. I will take tomorrow to figure what our next move is, so tomorrow will be your first ‘day off’ as ambassadors to the republic. Now I will retire to the observatory! The Princess of the Night still has to check on things every so often. Good night ponies!” She exclaimed quite loudly.

As she ascended the stairs to the observatory Arkay motioned for Cherri, Aurora, and Nero to gather closely. “Alright. That is one thing out of the way. The Element should be safe….in my dreams according to Luna. So now all we have to worry about is sending a letter to Celestia to tell her about what Luna had us do, and most important tell her about the Element. Now who wants to go with me to search for a dragon that may or may not actually be here?”

Aurora yawned loudly. “Yeah, that sounds really boring. So I am going to get some shut eye if you don’t mind. Also I would like to catch up some more with Nero, it has been a long time after all.” Even when she was tired her words moved quickly.

Arkay shrugged and looked to Nero. “Well, I can’t exactly get caught up with Aurora if I’m not here huh? So I am going to go ahead and stay here too. Maybe look for some pillows to use for more sleeping arrangements or something, there is four of us now after all.” Arkay rolled his eyes at Nero’s excuse. He knew that his fellow double-agent-political-advisor was just tired. Then again, he had no idea how it was to miss an early foal-hood friend for so many years.

“Certainly, I’d love to go and help you look for a dragon.” Cherri interjected. “After all, it is rather dark and I could help light your way. Shall we?” She started toward the door. Arkay sighed in relief that he was not going out into the night alone. Then again, it was with Cherri. The last conversation they had was about prostitutes. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. Facing the cold, dark, somewhat frightening streets of Ponyville without lighting still sounded worse though. “Coming Arkay?” Cherri asked at the door. She had a piece of parchment, a feather pen, and an inkwell in her field of magic. Arkay tossed all his thoughts out the window and trotted out the door with her.

“So, does he usually come by when Arkay is gone?” Aurora asked Nero a bit concerned.

Nero rolled his eyes. “Yeah, except this time. I guess it may have something to do with that whole Element soul burning stuff he was talking about. What a baby.” Nero really was confused, Orian had usually shown up by now in a situation like this. Quite frankly, his lack of appearance was making Nero nervous.

“You might be right.” Aurora replied easy. “Nero I have a question for you. Why did you bring up when we were set up to be married?” She asked innocently.

Nero sighed. Of course the day was not done with the questions and thinking. “Well, the only good memories I have of that place are of you. I really did hate my parents, and the city was a hole. I am glad that you did leave, because there was nothing there for me. I know that is a mean thing to say, but it really is the truth. I hated that place aside from you.” Nero said quietly. He didn’t even like talking about Amphitrite.

Aurora shuddered a bit. “To be honest, I am glad I left too. They would have killed you if you stayed. I never wanted to leave you behind, but I did want to leave that place. Too many profits with too much to argue over. I could never understand why the ponies just followed the oracles without thinking.”

“Maybe they did think, but didn’t want to be killed for their lack of compliance. Maybe we might have the chance to go back sometime and see how things have played out for them and their predicting.” Nero said sarcastically.

Aurora felt her spirits raise a bit at Nero’s joking. He always was a jokester back in Amphitrite, and she did quite miss that about him. She giggled as she once did all those years ago. It felt refreshing. “Well, that sounds like a great plan if they weren’t almost a cult that believed they were always right. I still can’t believe it. I search for you for all these years and I end up finding you drunk in the desert that I just happened to be in. What are the odds that I would be there at the right time?” She asked amazed. After all, the odds of that happening were ridiculous.

Nero too considered this. “You are right there Aurora. The odds are ridiculous. Too ridiculous.” Nero paused for a moment, and knew what was next. “Come on out Orian, it’s about time that you showed up.” He said annoyed.

On cue, the grey figment of Nero’s imagination walked down the stairs leading down from the upstairs rooms and the observatory. “Oh, figured it out did you? I was hoping that you would be a little more thankful.” Orian said as he reached the bottom of said stairs.

Nero again wore an angry face that Orian knew all too well. “There is no way that you could have known that Aurora was in the desert. You only know what I know, and I didn’t know she was there. So there is no way that you could have known!” Nero almost yelled at his imaginary friend.

Orian of course was not even phased. “Oh, you are so silly Nero. Of course I know what you know. I also knew about your little friend’s aura eyes long before you did. I just played dumb so that you wouldn’t explore the topic too much. Ponies with abilities like her eyes give off a very unique energy wavelength, if you know what to look for it is easy to spot. It was easy for me to find her, because I have been locked away with all those memories you refused to let out. So you are welcome.”

“I don’t feel like dealing with your games Orian.” Nero spat.

“Oh, what games? The only thing I play with is your thoughts, which really is boring you know.”

“Is everything a joke to you?”

“No, just everything you do.”

Aurora decided it was time to step in. “Enough, both of you!” She screamed to the Pegasus arguing with himself. “Nero, he has a point. If he knew where I was and went out of his way to try and reunite us, there is no reason to be mad at him for doing so. Orian, quit being such a jerk. Nero tried his best with what he is given, and he never asked for you. You just kind of showed up. So leave him be about him about your ‘games’ please. There is no reason for so much hate between a pony and himself.” She tried to find the best words to say to her friend and his mind.

Orian gave a slow look to Nero. “You know, I was going to say no and keep on about games and such. Then she said please, and please is a powerful word. See you two later, I got some non-existence to do.” And with a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Nero let out a long sigh of relief. “Thanks Aurora. I don’t think I could deal with him any longer. Too much has happened today, and I just want it to be over. I need to sleep and eat, but mostly sleep. Maybe I can find something in town to get tomorrow. Where is the bed again?”

Aurora pointed up the stairs. “Up there I think, why are you asking me? You should know more about this place than me. Whoa don’t fall.” Aurora caught Nero before he fell over the first step. “Take it easy now.” She said quietly as they ascended the stairs.

The bedroom was right where it was last time, with the two beds exactly where they were left, across the hall was the observatory where Luna went to go...observe. However she was not there anymore when Aurora and Nero entered the opposite room. Aurora helped the lazy grey Pegasus into the warmth of said mattress and stepped back to allow him to get comfortable. Except he didn’t move at all, apparently he was comfortable right where she put him. “Um, well goodnight Nero.” Aurora said tentatively.

Nero yawned loudly in response. “Yeah, goodnight Aurora. I’ll see you in the morning and stuff.” He buried his face in the pillow. There would be more things to think about later and definitely more things to talk about later, but Nero was too tired to think about such things. The night sang its song through an open window, coaxing Nero to dream world softly. ‘In the morning’ Nero thought. ‘In the morning things will be clearer.’

The streets of Ponyville weren’t so dark and scary. Cherri had no idea why Arkay was so scared of going out here by himself. “I don’t see why you are so afraid of the dark Arkay.” She said out of the blue as the two of them were crossing a bridge.

Arkay stomped his hooves on the middle of the bridge. Which considering its size, made no observable difference in the bridge’s structural integrity. “I am not afraid of the dark!” Arkay said rather loud and defensively.

Cherri positively beamed at his remark. This was going to be fun for her. “Oh, is that so? Then why are you shaking?”

“I’m not shaking, it’s the bridge.”

“Right, this sturdy bridge is shaking. Because it’s got a chicken like you shaking on it.”

“I am not a chicken!”

“Let’s see here, feathers and scared. Only thing you’re missing is a beak and you would be a bona-fide chicken.”

This was quickly getting personal for Arkay. “Okay, I might be a bit scared. It’s dark out here and there is a dragon that we are supposed to find. Tell me you aren’t just a little scared of getting eaten alive by a dragon.” Arkay said quickly. No need for any more embarrassment on his part.

Cherri was taken aback. “Oh, come on Arkay. I was just joking. I myself am a bit afraid of the dark sometimes. Plus, you are right I am also scared of being eaten by a dragon but I don’t think that Celestia would allow a dragon of that sort of size to stay in Ponyville. And hey, it may be dark but at least I got you around.” She said sweetly.

Arkay tried to smile, but couldn’t make himself do it. “I know that you are trying to be nice and I do appreciate it, but looking for a dragon is kind of stressful. Who knows where that thing could be?” He asked nervously.

“Right behind you.” A low voice rumbled from behind the two ponies. Both were paralyzed, but managed to slowly turn and face what they were certain was their doom. However, they did not find the twenty-foot towering mass of scales and claws that they expected. Instead they saw almost pony-sized reptile that was red and had yellow-orange eyes that gleamed in the moonlight. The dragon coughed out warm smoke that stung Arkay and Cherri’s eyes slightly. “I don’t know if you know, but some of us actually like sleep. What, did sleep take your lunch money or something as a colt and you still hold a grudge?” After the coughing, the dragon’s voice was much lighter and less rumbling.

Arkay took a step forward. “No, actually we were looking for you. Are you Thorn?” He asked tentatively.

The dragon sighed. “Yeah, who’s asking?” Rather obnoxious, just like Celestia said.

Cherri giggled slightly. “Well, I am Cherri and this is Arkay. We were wondering if we could have you send a letter to Celestia for us. We need to get some information to her right away.” She explained in an almost silly voice that a mother would use to talk to her foal.

Thorn however didn’t take too much humor at her tone. “Shut it pink. Yes, I can get a message to Celestia for you. Why should I? What’s it in for me?”

Arkay was not prepared for this. He had no idea that the dragon would be into bargaining. “Um, I don’t really have that I could trade on me. How about I come by later and play you some music on my violin? I left it back at my-“

“Violin music is stupid.” The dragon interrupted.

Arkay’s eye twitched slightly. He started formulating all kinds of arguments against such an opinion, but Cherri beat him to the speaking. “I do see your point. Perhaps there is something else that we can get for you? Arkay here is a treasure hunter, perhaps some…crystals?” She asked sweetly. Cherri certainly knew how to make anything sound sweet.

Upon hearing this, Thorn was suddenly very invested in the conversation. “Crystals?” He asked, not at all sounding like a certain grey Pegasus they both knew.

Cherri smiled a sly smile. “Yes, we find all sorts of crystals all the time. Red crystals, green crystals, even purple crystals sometimes. How does that sound?” Thorn was positively drooling by the time Cherri got to purple crystals. She knew that she had him now. “How about this, next time we find a score you get the biggest crystal we find? Sound good?”

Thorn nodded many, many times in agreement. Arkay was just dumbfounded. How was it that she could so easily manipulate guys with what they wanted? He didn’t look too much into it though, there was a letter to write. Cherri hooved over the feather pen and ink to write, and the parchment to write on. She held it in her magic so that it could be written on easily. Arkay started writing very carefully with the feather pen in his mouth.

‘Dear Princess Celestia,

Luna has us stationed in the library that she made out of a tree. Furthermore, she had us go to the small settlement of Outpost to secure their support. We were successful. More important however, she had us retrieve one of the Elements of Harmony that was in the possession of reclusive deer. I don’t know what it means, but apparently the Element chose me and didn’t burn me to death. On a side note, we have employed the help of a unicorn from Canterlot named Cherri and an old Pegasus friend of Nero’s named Aurora. We will keep you posted on more events as we can.

Sincerely, the Peace Hunters.’

When Arkay was done writing, he nodded to Cherri to roll it up and give it to Thorn. The red dragon stopped drooling and took the letter in his claws. “You two are going to love this. Watch.” Thorn said as he prepared whatever it is he was going to do. To Arkay and Cherri’s horror, the dragon blew a tiny flame at the letter and burned it to smoke which was carried away by the wind.

“What the heck did you do that for? That was supposed to go to Celestia!” Arkay yelled at the red dragon. Cherri just wore an expression of scorn.

Thorn sighed once again. “You don’t understand dragon magic do you? Let me explain. Dragons can send letters and stuff like that through flame. The smoke goes straight to the recipient, and the object reconstitutes right before them. Make more sense why I just burned your letter?” He asked snidely.

Arkay nodded slowly. “Okay, can the Princess write back?” He asked, trying to keep calm.

Thorn sighed once more. “Yes, do you always ask such stupid questions? The princess sends a letter, and I cough it up like smoke. If I get one for you I’ll find you and give it to you. Just remember to get me that crystal, I am starting a collection. Now go away, I want to get at least a little sleep.” Thorn said sourly and retreated under the bridge. Apparently he lived there.

Arkay and Cherri exchanged a look. “Well, I guess that’s taken care of. Shall we go back to the library? I too am quite tired.” Cherri said with a yawn. Arkay nodded his agreement and the two of them started their way back to the library. The night air was cool and gave the two of them a chill. “Hey, mind keeping a girl warm with that good wing you got?” She asked sweetly.

Arkay was glad that the darkness somewhat covered his blushing. “Uh, sure Cherri.” He said as he wrapped her in his right wing, reminding him of the pain that the other had went through. The two cantered through town slowly, not entirely going straight to the library. Arkay decided to take this time of all times to ask a dumb question. “Do you go out of your way to make me blush Cherri?”

Cherri just giggled as usual. “Sometimes.”

Chapter 5: No Such Thing as Time Off

-When your life becomes difficult don’t ask to be stronger ponies, ask why your life is so hard-

The sun rose over the mountains and lit the lush green plains hiding behind them. It was spring, and all of the joyous animals were awakening to face another day of sunshine and rainbows. The field practically sang to Cherri as she cantered down the dirt road path in the warmth of spring. She smiled out to the birds as they sang their song, and nodded to the bees as they searched around the flowers for fresh pollen. Everything was as happy as it could possibly be for the bright pink unicorn, until she saw the flames.

At the end of the dirt path she cantered down was an orchard and its farmhouse. She found herself galloping toward it in desperation to see if she could find anything, but when she arrived it only became worse. Two burning skeletons stumbled out of the farmhouse and right before Cherri, where they fell to pieces on the ground. Worse yet, they spoke. “Why? Why didn’t you come earlier? You could have saved us, but you did nothing. Why Cherri? Why?”
Cherri felt herself start to cry as she watched the skeletons burn to ash with the rest of the farmhouse and orchard. The ash swirled around her and covered everything from one horizon to the other. A buffalo and a ring of cactus rose from the ashes. “Really shouldn’t have gotten involved in what you don’t understand.” Thunder said as Cherri sank into the ash that was now sand.

Darkness obscured her vision. Cherri looked all around until she found the skylight. She looked back down to see the pony of fire grinning at her and staring with burning red eyes. “You only follow him because he tries to be everything you aren’t.” It spat venomously. Cherri tried to back away. She tried to escape but she turned to see a disappointed Arkay, he simply sat there and gave her a long look of disgust and turned away.

Cherri tried to chase after him, but his slow canter out ran her gallop. “Arkay stop!” She called out to him, but he didn’t. Cherri stopped and fell to her haunches, and cried. “Why?” She asked as tears rolled down her muzzle and to the non-existent black ground. With a rush of feathers and wind, the black ground dissipated and revealed the classroom she had spent hours in daily learning magic.

The classroom was empty, but Cherri somehow didn’t feel alone. She looked to the back of the class, then back to the front and gasped. Out of nowhere, Luna sat in the front of the classroom with a very concerned look in her eyes, her light blue mane softly swaying in wind that wasn’t really there. “Cherri you kept falling deeper and deeper into your own nightmares. I kept trying to intervene, but things just kept getting worse. So, I tried bringing you somewhere a bit more pleasant. You seemed to have some fond memories in this classroom, so I brought you here. Are you okay?” She asked concerned.

Cherri wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to regain her composure. “Yes, of course princess. I just… no. I’m not okay. I always have a reoccurring nightmare about my family’s old cherry orchard, but these new nightmares are just that. New. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a reminder of what all has happened recently, or if it’s a warning of some sort. All I can be sure of is that it is definitely not normal. What should I do Princess Luna?” Cherri felt the tears coming back.

Luna looked over the crying pink unicorn with a sad, and definitely concerned expression. “You have a lot you shut away Cherri. You never express your fears or feelings to any pony sincerely. I think this might be the cause of your fears running rampant through your dreams and turning them into nightmares. You can’t just hide away all of your fears forever Cherri. If you do, they never really go away. They just sit within your mind and fester like this, into an inescapable maze of terror and fear. You need to let these out and keep them from becoming any worse than they already are.” Luna explained calmly.

Cherri mulled over this for a moment. There was no reason for her to plague her new friends with her fears was there? “I’ve always found that sharing how I feel with others never really goes as well as planned. The last time I did that, I ended up in worse shape than before. I don’t want my new friends to go through all that stuff again.” Cherri said sadly. Most of those nightmares had been shared with the others, there was no need to bring up that it was a scary moment for her.

Luna chuckled a bit. “But you are wrong Cherri, remember when you talked to Arkay about your parents? He didn’t judge you. In fact, didn’t he try to comfort you? There isn’t any reason for you to be afraid to share your fears with others. Even if they don’t try as much to comfort you, at least you will get it off your conscience. There isn’t any need for you to dwell on the past, instead you should focus on the moment. Live for the day or night, whatever time it happens to be.”

Luna’s words ran though Cherri’s mind and gave her some solace. Perhaps there wasn’t any reason to keep all her fears to herself. Fear is a natural emotion, and shouldn’t be hidden away to dwell on. Cherri nodded to Luna, a little bit more cheerful. “Good.” Luna said. “Now, you should wake up soon. I am sure that you have a lot to talk about with your friends.” Luna started out the door of the classroom, but stopped. “Oh, and definitely have a talk with Arkay. I gave him the element in his dream, but he has some stuff he needs to get over too.”

Cherri tilted her head slightly. “Like what?” She asked.

Luna chuckled again. “He has some issues with falling that you may want to look into.”

Cherri’s heart dropped. “What do you mean by that Lun…a?” The princess of the night was already gone before she could even ask. “Oh horseshoes. Why does she have to leave at the wrong time?”

Cherri’s eyelids again twitched in her sleep. It seemed that whatever she was dreaming about was either upsetting or confusing to her. Aurora stood over her and stared at the pink unicorn’s closed eyes. She was looking for some way that she could see past those closed eyes and view her dreams with her. She wanted to see what was getting the once member of high class so concerned, but couldn’t nail down anything from her twitching eyes. No matter how much she looked about the unicorn’s aura, Aurora couldn’t find anything about whatever her subject was dreaming about. Eventually curiosity got the better of the Pegasus with magical eyes and she decided to take action. “Wake up sleepy head.” Aurora whispered in said sleeping unicorn’s ear, to no avail. She simply turned over to her other side. A flustered frown crossed Aurora’s muzzle. The desired result didn’t happen, so she ruffled her wings and tried again. “Wake up sleepy head.” She said, louder than before. However, this just made Cherri yawn in a rather out of character fashion. At this point, Aurora had enough. “Wake Up Sleepy Head!” She yelled to the sleeping unicorn, whom of which was suddenly very awake.

“Hazza-whut? Fifteen! Wait, where am I?” Cherri looked into the eyes of the Pegasus standing over her. She blushed slightly and giggled quietly. “Hah, um I think I remember a dream like this once. Aurora, would you do both of us a favor and give me some breathing room?”

Aurora stared into the pink unicorn’s eyes for a moment longer, calculating her with a very serious expression. It didn’t hold for long though. With a blink, Aurora was smiling and looking down at Cherri with nothing but cheer in her eyes. “Alright. Sorry I woke you up.” She said cheerfully and jumped off of the bed Cherri was sleeping in. “The other two woke up a while ago and Arkay was all like ‘uh, we should stay quiet because Cherri is still asleep.’ And Nero was all like ‘no…’ but he was anyway. At any rate, they went downstairs to look for something to do and I decided to stay up here and watch you sleep.” The smile on Aurora’s face told Cherri that she believed there was nothing wrong with this.

Cherri shook her head and sighed. She didn’t really know a lot about this perky Pegasus, so she decided to try to. “So, how is it that you know Nero?” She asked as she got out of bed and fixed her mane with magic. It was a simple magic, but it was such a great time saver for messy mane mornings.

Aurora positively beamed at this question. “Oh that’s easy! I grew up with him when we were young. He was my closest friend. We had to leave though, because they were going to kill us. But I found him and I am staying with him from now on. I’m glad I did too, it took forever to find him.” When Aurora was asked a question, she certainly answered it…and any others you might have about anything to do with that answer. “How did you meet him?”

Cherri’s mind was still spinning from the flood of information so quickly given. “Oh, um we met when the princess made him stay at the hotel I was working at. Kind of got off to a rough start, but I think that we have a better understanding now.” Cherri remembered the way that Nero so casually hit on her. Definitely wasn’t the best of introductions.

“Ha-ha that’s funny. How could you have gotten off to a rough start? Nero wouldn’t do anything egregiously out of line.” Aurora said easy with a wave of her hoof.

Cherri wore a board expression. “He hit on me.”

Aurora simply giggled. “Oh that’s silly. Why would any pony hit you? You seem nice enough.”

Cherri sighed loudly. “No, he hit on me as in he wanted to… never mind. The bottom line is that he has a problem with talking to mares alright? Just keep that in mind.” Cherri really didn’t take kindly to the various suggestive comments she used to receive on a fairly regular basis. At first, it was flattering. Then it became irritating. Nero had ‘crossed a line’ by almost being in this group of inconsiderate stallions, but they had come to an understanding now.

Aurora either didn’t understand what Cherri meant, or was blinded by her perspective to mind the pink unicorn’s comment. “You are being really silly about Nero. How could he have a problem with talking to mares? I am sure he talks to them all the time.”

Cherri sighed heavily at the blue Pegasus’ voluntary ignorance. “You don’t understand, that is the problem. He does talk to them all the-hey!” Aurora didn’t hear the rest of Cherri’s rant as she was already out of the room and on her way downstairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs and in the entrance room of the treehouse library, Aurora saw the two other Pegasus of the group sitting at the stump table talking.

“Why do you let your mane grow out so long Arkay? It seems a bit…unmanageable.” Nero asked, almost prodding.

Arkay sighed in exasperation. “I let it grow out because I like it long. How many times do you have to ask?” Clearly the two had discussed this before.

“Yeah, but doesn’t it get in the way when you fly? It can’t be that aerodynamic. Come on now Arkay, cut your mane. How long has it been since you have had a serious hair cut?” Nero said getting out of his wooden seat.

Arkay gave his long-time partner a stern stare. “You aren’t taking me out to get a haircut Nero.”

“Come on.” Nero was clearly going to attempt to wear his friend down.

Arkay however was not going to have any of this, and got up from his seat as well. “No Nero. I am not going to get a haircut and that is final.” He turned to storm out of the room, but was face-to-face with the piercing eyes of Aurora. “Oh, hello there. I was just leaving.” He stepped around her and continued toward the stairs, where he was again stopped by Cherri coming down the stairs.

“Oh hello there Arkay, where were you going? Upstairs?” Cherri asked curiously as the Pegasus in question stopped in his tracks. Arkay spun around to face the open front door of the library. He was clearly not in the mood to speak to any pony this morning. “Wait, Arkay I have a question for you. It’s kind of serious.” Cherri called out.

Almost out of the door, Arkay stopped and turned to face his three companions. “Alright then, what is it Cherri?” He wanted to at least humor her.

“I heard that you have a problem with falling. Is that true?” Cherri asked easy.

Arkay froze at this, his eye occasionally twitching involuntarily. Cherri was about to try and break him out of his incoherent state, but he managed to himself. “I’m not afraid of falling, that is ridiculous. I am a Pegasus Cherri, I’m not supposed to have a problem with falling. That’s what flying is, falling with style and occasional ascension. Who told you that?”

Cherri breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly it was not as she had feared. Fortunately for her, Arkay was a really terrible liar. With the way that Luna said it in her dream, she was afraid that the poor Pegasus had fallen for her. “So, you don’t have a problem with falling to the ground?”

Nero lifted the green Pegasus up and dropped him just far enough to scare the daylights out of him and laughed. “Oh absolutely. He has hated falling with a passion ever since he was a colt in flight school and I saved his butt from the oh-so-terrifying ground.” Nero was sure to dramatize the last part of his statement to make it seem like a foolish fear.

The two standing Pegasus shared a chuckle as Arkay got up from his ungraceful and short fit with gravity. “Okay fine, you happy now? Yes, I hate falling because I almost DIED from falling as a colt. I don’t have to impress you ponies, so that’s right I hate and fear falling. It’s not like my new injury makes it worse or anything, so go ahead and laugh it up.” Arkay snorted indignantly.

The chuckling stopped and was replaced with uncomfortable silence. Arkay looked about the room to see if any of his friends would make a counter comment. “Just playing around, jeez. No need to get so serious on us Arkay.” Of course Nero would have a remark.

Arkay was gearing up for an argument with his old friend, but Cherri interrupted it altogether. “Well, I am afraid of being buried alive. If that’s any consolation. I never liked how you had to bury seeds to get them to grow, because I never wanted that to happen to me. So I never did accompany my mother in planting the new cherry trees for the season.” She said wistfully, almost as if looking back at it made her both regret and enjoy it at the same time.

Sensing the shift of the mood in the room, Aurora too spoke up. “I hate the idea of losing those close to me. I lost Nero long ago, and hated it for so long. I tend to not make any personal relations with any other ponies as much because I’m afraid that they will go someplace and I won’t be able to go with them. I mean, I do like having friends by my side. I just don’t want to say goodbye.” The sad mare with the magic eyes began to tear up slightly.

Arkay and Nero looked to the two mares and decided to stop their fighting…for now. There was no need for them to continue something that was clearly going to be a problem if they did. “Well, I’m not afraid of anything.” Nero proclaimed proudly. Arkay simply gave his treasuring hunting partner a look that he knew all too well. Disbelief.

Aurora, suddenly not on the verge of tears, giggled at this. “Oh come on Nero, there has to be something that you are afraid of. Don’t you know it isn’t healthy to keep stuff like that all bottled up?” She asked with considerably high spirits. Cherri nodded her agreement.

Nero looked side to side about the group and smiled. “Nope, nothing. Bears, Manticores, Dragons, even the dreaded Hydra; I’m not afraid of a single one. Whenever I find something that I’m actually afraid of, I’ll be sure to let you know.” He claimed proudly.

Arkay knew better and was about to voice the case, but there was a loud and abrupt knock on the door. All four ponies inside looked to the door, then each other. Was any of the expecting a visitor? Cherri opened the door with her magic and saw a small piece of parchment, rolled up and placed neatly on the treehouse’s doorstep. They again shared a look. “Who is this from?” Asked a legitimately confused Nero.

Cherri picked up the mystery letter and observed it closely. “It has the royal seal on it!” She exclaimed as she showed it to the others. With her magic, she unrolled the parchment and read the message aloud to her companions. “Can’t communicate like this anymore. Dragons can’t be trusted. Come to Canterlot castle at your earliest convenience. Signed Princess Celestia.” She looked about the now bewildered ponies in the room. “That can’t be good.”

Aurora gasped suddenly. “Oh no! What if those mean old dragons ate Celestia and she could only send us one letter pleading for help, but she couldn’t actually put what situation she is in on the letter and she needs us to save her or EQUESTRIA WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF THE SUN AGAIN!”

Nero, Arkay, and Cherri could barely keep up with how fast their new (old in Nero’s case) friend could speak. It almost was a jumble of words and dramatic gestures to the three listening ponies, but her message processed from her exclamation a moment later. “Um, Aurora I don’t think that Celestia would be in danger like that and not do anything about it.” Cherri stated flatly. “Furthermore, I think she just wants to see us in Canterlot…for what I do not know. It sounds important however, so I believe we should get up there post haste.” Cherri suggested calmly, downplaying Aurora’s ludicrous word jumble.

Nero wore a hurt expression. “But, but I was going to make Arkay cut his hair.”

“You weren’t going to do that at all Nero.” Arkay huffed.

“Okay, let’s all just go up to Canterlot before some of us say or do something that we all regret. Shall we go to the station?” Cherri wanted to end this argument at least for the day.

The two stallions gave each other a long stare, but caved. “Okay, fine we can go to Canterlot. But this isn’t over Arkay. One of these days you are going to wake up without a mane.” Nero warned as he walked out the door.

Arkay simply gave a long sigh. “Yeah sure, and you will forget about it as soon as you see a big gemstone or a pretty mare.” He grumbled as he too exited the library to go to the Ponyville station.

With the male half of the group gone, Cherri and Aurora shared another look. “Those two sure know how to argue huh?” The ladder said with her perpetual upbeat tone and trotted out the door with almost a bounce to her step. Cherri followed behind the cheery mare and closed the treehouse door behind herself with her magic.

The train station of Canterlot was as it usually was in the late morning hours: deserted. Apparently any pony that was important was not out and about yet, as the streets were mostly empty. Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora found themselves moving through the disturbingly uncrowded streets of the Canterlot market. None of them spoke in fear of startling the ghosts that were probably not even there. On the deserted streets were a few ponies out and about, but they moved quickly and avoided eye contact. At the end of the not busy market street was the Canterlot castle in all of its glory. The massive fortress sprawled out off the side of the Canterlot cliffs and braced itself against the higher mountains that were too high to bother building on. Clearly, the architect responsible for the massive structure wanted it to be a magnificent backdrop to the capital city of Equestria.

As the four summoned ponies approached the door, it opened slowly and on its own. Nero and Arkay knew that it was the butler ponies working behind the scenes, but Cherri and Aurora were awestruck by the way that the doors simply opened when they were needed. To them the well-practiced service was amazing, but Nero and Arkay had already seen this all before. “It must be amazing to live in the castle. It most certainly would be nice to come home to doors that you don’t even have to open.” Cherri voiced her admiration while Aurora simply stayed relatively quiet, only softly gasping at the magic doors.

“They just have some of the butlers open the doors for those that are expected. It’s not magic or anything. So don’t think too much of it.” Nero deadpanned as they progressed through the entrance another set of doors that led to the main foyer. These doors too opened as soon as the four stood in front of them, aided by unseen butler ponies.

Within the foyer, at the top of the glorious stairs of marble, was the princess of the sun waiting for their arrival. Her pink mane blew in a wind that was nonexistent, and her muzzle wore an expression of joy as the four entered the foyer with a dazzled Cherri leading. “Welcome my little ponies, I see that there are indeed more of you. I am sure that we will have the chance to meet properly in a moment, but there is something important that has come up.” Even under duress, Celestia’s voice danced about the room and graced all that had the opportunity to hear it.

Nero was not entranced however. “Yeah, there are some concerning things that we need to discuss. How about we start with the Elements of Harmony?” He asked with a certain amount of bitterness.

Celestia sighed at this. “All of your questions can be answered in due time. However, first you need to know more about the dragons. Their behavior… concerns me. That is why I cannot receive letters from or send letters to my informant Thorn anymore. He has decided to go to his fellow dragons and assist them. However, I cannot really say what the dragons are doing and this concerns me. Could I ask that you go and check in on them?”

Arkay thought over Celestia’s words as she was asking of them. Sure this was informative and by all means a request, but there was a detectable tone in her voice that was unnatural. Almost as if she were putting forth a front. Aurora however, didn’t look into it as much. “Sure Princess! We can go over and see how those dragons are doing and tell you why they are-um, what are they doing again? Well, I don’t know they are dragons. Oh! Wait, we can’t because we are gonna be busy with that one thing at the place for the raisins.” Aurora’s thoughts were difficult for any pony in the room to follow, except her of course.

Celestia rolled her eyes and retrieved some parchment and an ink pen from a nearby desk with her magic. She then wrote on it while she descended the stairs. “Oh, I see. If you are too busy running simple errands for…raisins, then I will stop wasting my time. Clearly there are better ponies for the job than the four of you.” She stopped writing and crumpled up the paper and tossed it at Nero, the paper simply fell at his hooves. “Now, there are other things that I need to attend to. Good day to you ponies.” Celestia said pointedly, then ascended the stairs out of her four guest’s view and to another room in the castle.

Nero picked up the crumpled paper and gave it a quick look over, not even un-crumpling it. He then threw the wad of trash away from him, landing next to Cherri. “Alright whatever. I’ve been to worse social gatherings, but that was just strange. Anyway, I’m going back to the station. I don’t think that there is anything here for me.” Nero then started cantering out of the foyer. He was right, there wasn’t any reason to stay here.

Cherri too picked up the wadded up paper, but took the time to smooth it out and read it. As she finished it, she shot a look to Aurora and Arkay. “Well, you are right Nero. Let’s get going shall we? You two may have been right about the glamour of this castle. Not exactly a lasting feeling.” She then quickly made her way after Nero in exiting said castle. Arkay was curious about her look and followed her closely. Aurora on the other hoof stayed in the empty foyer, giggled to herself, then followed her companions out. She didn’t want to give Nero a chance to get too far away again.

On the outside of the castle, Cherri looked around the empty streets. Nero was already on his way to the station but she pulled him back with her magic. “Hey! What the hay are you doing?” The grey Pegasus protested.

Cherri shushed him and motioned for the other two to gather round. “That paper that Celestia crumpled up was her real message for us. She only said what she did as an act. Here, this is what she wrote.” She said quietly to the three Pegasus.

Cherri then hooved over the letter to Arkay. However, it was intercepted by a very eager Aurora, who took it in her hooves and read it in a fabricated voice of sophistication. “Peace Hunters, I cannot speak to you face-to-face or by letter. If you go to the church of the Sun, you will find a very zealous priest. Talk to him and no matter he says, keep listening. He will give you a necklace. Have the unicorn, Cherri, say his short prayer to it while you are all around. We will speak more after that.” Aurora turned the letter upside down, and in every direction in an attempt to find deeper meaning. “Well, that’s dumb. Who the hay are the Peace Hunters? More importantly, why is there a church of the sun? Seems like the Princess has a bit too much pride in her work if you ask me.”

“Ugh, did you really have to read that out loud? Who knows who could have heard that?” Cherri chided with a cross look on her face. “At any rate, I think Celestia was being wary of listening ears and said what she did to throw off whoever might be listening. Why else would she enclose a completely different message in a letter?”

Nero thought this over for a moment. One thing bothered him though. “I’m not going to some church to hear some priest say some dumb prayer. Prayer doesn’t work, and there isn’t a need for religion.” He huffed.

Arkay was surprised that Nero could even sound indignant. “Either way Nero, we are going to do as the princess asks. Obviously there is a reason to-Hey!” Arkay didn’t even get to finish his statement before Nero ran off into the gardens.

As Nero galloped away, Aurora chased after him. Cherri too joined in the Nero chasing, but looked back at Arkay. “You going to come along and help us get your friend?” She asked only a little rushed.

Arkay sighed heavily and nodded. “Alright, might as well before he terrorizes the town. Let’s go.” The flustered Pegasus said as he and Cherri then followed in pursuit of Nero.

The Canterlot gardens were a somewhat exotic representation of the Equestrian wildlife and vegetation. There were of course rabbits and birds present, but there were also a set of Toucans and even a chameleon hiding in the grass. The two ladder animals were obviously imported, as they were out of place and definitely not native to the land. Furthermore, there was a lot of exciting plant life. Large colorful flowers grew around and on vine-adorned trees that looked ancient. There was a certain amount of peace to the gardens that was not achieved so easily in the normally busy streets of Canterlot.

This peace however was ruined by a flustered Nero escaping his three pursuers in an attempt to outrun their insistence on going to church. “I’m not going to that stupid church just because that note said so! You are being ridiculous! All of you! Ridiculous!” Nero yelled back to his companions as they were slowly outrun by the fleeing grey Pegasus.

However, the chase was now over. Nero had taken a wrong turn and ended up cornered just by the three of his friends and a very large tree. Cherri in particular was panting at the physical exhaustion. Sprinting after a Pegasus wasn’t easy for those that were not used to a consistent exertion like flying. “Okay-hah. Don’t keep on-hah running away Nero. There’s no-hah reason to be so-hah so unreasonable about going to a stupid church.” She couldn’t quite get all of her words out evenly, but managed to get her point across.

“She’s right you know.” Arkay chimed in. “We are just going there so that we can get a simple little necklace for whatever Celestia has in mind. It can’t be that bad.”

Nero however was not swayed. “Yeah, maybe they can tell you your future too? Religions might have different denominations, but they are all the same at the core. They all just want you to ‘give to their own divine purposes’ so that they can use your money to fund things that don’t need it. Why would any family need to give a church their money so that they can use it to fix a leaky pipe in the building, or pay some workhorse to mow the lawn of the chapel? Religion is just a glorified charity that doesn’t really care for its funders.” Nero spat at his listeners.

Aurora nodded to her old friend. “I have to be with Nero on this one. Nothing good ever comes from religion. Sure they praise and worship their idols, but is that really something worth fighting over? Why would it ever be logical to fight over which imaginary deity could save more than another? It’s ridiculous!” She exclaimed bitterly as she cantered next to the cornered Nero.

Arkay and Cherri suddenly felt very much outnumbered, even if the two opposing sides were equal as far as numbers go. It wasn’t like the two of them were incredibly religious, but neither of them felt it necessary to fight over religious standing. Cherri stepped forward to the two now not so cornered Pegasus. “Alright, tell you what. You don’t have to come with us to get the necklace. You can canter around Canterlot until we get that necklace. Sound better?” She said as calmly as possible. She had no idea this would become a serious debate over faith because of something as simple as a necklace. Whatever had them so up in arms was obviously going to be best dealt with later.

Nero gave the two brightly colored ponies a long stare. With his one red eye, it felt rather frightening to stare back to Cherri. It reminded her of the evil flame pony that haunted her nightmares, but she stood her ground and stared back into Nero’s eyes just as aggressively as he stared into hers.

A light breeze blew through the gardens that had so easily fallen silent. Nero finally broke into a big smile, breaking the uneasy tension that fell over the divided group. “Hah, alright then Cherri. I’ll take you up on that. I don’t care if you two convert to some weird sun religion or whatever it is, just as long as you don’t ask me to join in. So, you have fun going to church and giving your life away to some cult. Me and Aurora are gonna go ahead and ‘canter around Canterlot.’ Sound good?” Nero had enough of religion when he left the old city, and he didn’t want to have anything else to do with a group that claimed that some deity was powerful enough to save a pony from crimes that may or may not exist. Aurora simply gave Arkay and Cherri a big smile. Much more pleasant than a venomous stare.

Aurora then started laughing at the silliness of the situation. It started as a giggle, then became a chuckle. Soon the four ponies dropped the anger and laughed together, even if it was a somewhat nervous laugh. Cherri finally let out a breath she didn’t even realize that she was holding in with her laughter. It was easy to let laughter take the opposition out of a situation so easily. “Alright then it’s settled.” Arkay said loudly in the laughter. “I’ll go with Cherri to a church that may or may not kill us, and you two can have fun walking around a city that is absolutely suspicious of Pegasus in general. I promise that nothing can go wrong with this plan.”

“Hey what’s that?” Nero asked, completely ignoring Arkay’s nervous bantering. The three others turned to where Nero was looking. There around the statue of the imprisoned Discord, the very embodiment of chaos, were several dark hooded forms. Amongst the dark hooded forms were candles and strange shapes burned into the grass. The hooded shapes seemed a little large to be ponies. Nero started prowling toward the group of hoods “Come on, they look that they are up to no good.” He said determined.

“Wait Nero, we can’t just assume that they are… never mind you aren’t even listening to me.” Arkay said shaking his head. He then looked to Cherri and Aurora. “Let’s follow the leader shall we?” The ponies in question simply nodded and joined in on the prowling that Nero led.

Nero was the first to arrive next to the chanting circle. The voices of the hooded shapes were definitely not pony, they were low and growling. “Hey, what are you guys doing?” Nero asked blatantly to them. However, he got no answer. They simply went on chanting.

Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora joined Nero next to the circle around Discord’s statue. “So, any luck there?” Arkay asked after standing next to his Pegasus friend for a few seconds. Nero simply shook his head sharply. The four ponies continued staring at the group of four somewhat large hooded figures for a moment longer. “Alright, enough of this.” Arkay said agitated. He then stepped forward and reached out a hoof to touch one of the hooded figures.

However, the hooded figure wasn’t going to have any of this. It quickly turned around and faced Arkay, whom of which backed away upon seeing what was under the hood of the figure. Its face was not the colorful coat and mane that the green Pegasus had expected. Instead, the figure had a wooden face and glowing green eyes coupled with sharp rows of wooden teeth. These were timber wolves, but how could they be doing anything but simply hunting? “Oh, um sorry there. Didn’t mean to interrupt anything. I’ll just go over here and leave you alone.” Arkay stammered as he backed away from the woodland predator in fear. He hadn’t been this close to one such beast in a while and was quite uncomfortable being so close to something that could easily tear him to shreds in a matter of seconds. The timber wolf turned around and went back to chanting with the others.

Nero stepped forward. “Well, whatever these things are doing it can’t be good. Come on, we have to stop them!” He yelled to his companions as he ran around to the other side of the circle. Aurora too immediately sprang into action and went around to one of the side wolves. Arkay and Cherri exchanged a look then joined in on attacking the hooded timber wolves. Nero sunk in a good punch with his prosthetic hoof into the wooden head of his target, shattering it into splinters and causing the owner of said head to collapse to the ground. “Hah! I don’t know why you things are considered a threat, you break easily.” The victorious grey Pegasus gave a proud laugh of triumph over his fallen foe.

Cherri found herself at a loss for how to go about stopping the timber wolf before her. She had tried some magic, but whatever symbol they had burned into the grass surrounding them was stopping her. This was some serious magic at play if it canceled out hers. “Well then, looks like I’m going to have to get my hooves dirty this time.” She said determined. The pink unicorn turned around to give the noticeably unmoving wooden wolf a strong kick to the chest, but the beast anticipated her move and dodged to the side far enough to get out of her range. The timber wolf then lashed out at Cherri, wooden claws ready to bear down on the surprised unicorn. However, it was now out of the circle. “Bad move wolfy.” Cherri muttered as she caught the writhing beast in a field of purple-red magic. “Oh, what to do? Hmm, maybe throw you against a wall? Nope, no walls here. Oh, idea! How about a nice trip down the Canterlot cliffs? No, that would take too long. Or, I could just start pulling those little wooden legs apart.” With some effort, she managed to pull off the beast’s left hind leg. In response the timber wolf let out an unearthly screech of pain.

However, the howl was cut short as Aurora flew in and pinned the previously floating timber wolf to the ground. “You really take your time with this sort of thing don’t you Cherri?” The unfathomably cheery Pegasus giggled as she playfully, and quite brutally trampled the poor thing into the ground with a series of excited steps and stomps. The timber wolf was quickly reduced to nothing but twigs by the time she was done. “I wanted to play tag with the other one, but it kind of fell apart after I tagged it into a tree.” Aurora chirped while Cherri simply gave her a concerned look.

Arkay stared into the glowing green eyes of the final timber wolf, both slowly circling each other in an attempt to get the optimal chance to strike. “You know, we can just work this out. You can just walk away and get back to the forest of something. There isn’t any reason for you to be in the Canterlot gardens anyway.” The timber wolf simply gave a choppy wooden growl. “I don’t think you can really understand me, but at least I gave you the chance.” Arkay said almost sad that things couldn’t be handled without violence. The timber wolf lunged forward to the peace-loving Pegasus, who dodged quite easily. However, this wolf wasn’t simply a one-trick-show. Before the timber wolf even touched down to the ground, it shifted around in the air to swipe at its target. Arkay, not expecting this, was surprised to feel the painfully sharp wooden claws rake across his neck and right shoulder. However, Arkay didn’t let this stop him. The injured Pegasus turned and gave the timber wolf a sharp kick in the face, shattering it into twigs and dust. “Last time I let a piece of lumber get a chance at killing me.” He said mockingly to the now immobile timber wolf.

Nero trotted over to his friend. “Hey, you alright? That doesn’t look all that comfortable.” He asked somewhat concerned. The two of them may not have always agreed on methods and situations, but they always looked out for each other.

Arkay touched the wound on his neck tentatively, flinching away at the stinging that followed. “Ugh, yeah I’m not dead if that’s what you’re asking. I do think that I need to get it covered or treated soon though, can’t be good to have a timber wolf wound open and exposed for too long.” Arkay again chanced a touch at the wound, but shied away from the pain that resulted.

Aurora flew over to join the two Pegasus in observing Arkay’s wound. Aurora of course had to input on the situation “Oh! That makes you look tough, maybe a little stupid for letting it happen, but trust me the scars will make good party chat. You sure do know how to get beat up though Arkay. If you keep this up you are going to be a pile of mush by the time that we get back to Ponyville.” She wasn’t even phased by the blood that matted up Arkay’s green coat. The result was an ugly dark color that just looked unhealthy.

Last on the scene was Cherri. As soon as she saw the wound on Arkay’s neck, she flinched away and put on a fabricated smile. “Oh my, um it doesn’t look that bad. Just a bit of gauss and you will be good as new in a matter of days.” Her smile dropped, she couldn’t keep up her act this time. “Alright in all reality Arkay, that is a pretty serious wound. Especially if it was from a timber wolf. Who knows what kind of bacteria or disease you could get from that if it goes on unchecked for too long. Before we go to any church or get any necklace, we have got to get that looked at by a medical professional.” While she seemed legitimately concerned for Arkay’s health, she couldn’t have sounded more like a mother chiding their foal for getting a scrape on the knee.

While the four ponies were fretting over Arkay’s neck, a loud growl sounded throughout the gardens. Unable to discern where exactly it came from, they looked around for the source erratically. Nero was the first to spot the large black wolf prowling toward the burned spell circle and pointed his friends to it. They quickly got into a defensive position, ready for the wolf to pounce. However, it did not. Instead it spoke. “Ugh I can’t even turn around for five minutes without you useless pieces of timber falling apart, can I?”

Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora gave the black wolf a confused and bewildered look. A wolf that spoke their language? This was most certainly odd. Nero on the other hoof kept on his defensive expression. “What are you doing here at Discord’s statue? More importantly, what are you exactly? There isn’t a reason for wolves to run with their wooden counterparts.” Nero inquired apprehensively.

The large black wolf chuckled, but with the growling in his voice it definitely didn’t sound jolly. “Well, you have a point there. These wooden creatures are really not worth my time, but their magic was necessary. You see, I needed something that had been around for a long time for this. Timber wolves are like trees and can live for many years longer than regular wolves, furthermore they have an innate magic about them that in necessary to my task anyway. So basically they are only useful for their age and magic alone, not their fighting skills. However, looks to me from your wimp friend over there that they were dangerous enough for you.” The wolf growled. It spoke in understandable words, but they were constantly distorted by the low growl to its voice.

Cherri felt a sinking in her chest. “Who are you and what exactly are you trying to do here?” She asked cautiously, even though she was afraid she already knew the answer to the second question. Almost as if on cue for bad omens, clouds began to gather overhead.

The black wolf sighed, rather out of place for a vicious predator. “Not surprising that you don’t know me ponies, all but one of you anyway. After all, who would think that wolves have any system of organization? To answer your first question, I am Domitian the leader of the Chaos wolf pack. As for your second question, a story. Back before the sealing, chaos reigned supreme throughout the land. There was no order, nothing that could stop our hunt, and none of the ponies knew well enough to band together. It was great for our pack. There was always enough food for all of the pups and other packs would back down because of our numbers. We were unstoppable.” The black wolf Domitian gave a sad sigh. “But then we were stopped. When the sealing happened, things became bleak. Our regular prey, the ponies, were organized and stopped our hunting in its tracks. Without ponies under chaos, they were well off enough to drive us out and force us to hunt other prey. This went well enough for a while, but even then the greedy ponies would stop us from hunting the lesser animals. They ‘protected’ these smaller animals from us, and in turn caused us to lose our food source.” As Domitian spoke, the ‘dead’ timber wolves reassembled and stood by the large black wolf. “With order in the daily working of things, we slowly started to die out. Every one of us died out over the years, except me. I was the last born of the Chaos pack, and I intend to ensure that our lifeline doesn’t end with me! My ancestors thrived on the chaos that the Imprisoned wrecked across the land, and I intend to bring it back. You ponies are selfish really. You don’t know how much you affect the rest of nature when you take away the prey of hunters. It is a natural working of things, and without it there is an imbalance of nature that results in dead forests and stripped grasslands. It may not be apparent now, but every action has a consequence. You ponies are just too blinded by your order to see it.”

The four ponies exchanged a look, but neither could think of anything to say. Except Nero that is. “Well, if chaos is so important then why didn’t you stay around to make sure that whatever voodoo ritual you have set up here went on without a snag?”

The black wolf, Domitian, smiled a toothy smile. “Well, I was just going out to get a sacrifice for the summoning. Needed the souls of a few animals willing to die for the good of nature. Looks like I found them.” Arkay gave his friend a look that he knew all too well, one that simply shouted ‘really?’

The four timber wolves, now not broken to pieces, once again lunged toward the four colorful ponies. Cherri split one apart with strong telekinesis while Aurora again ‘played tag’ with the wolf closest to her. Arkay managed to not get scratched again before crunching the wooden ribs of his target and Nero grabbed his offending timber wolf, flew into the air, and dropped the beast to the ground where it shattered into twigs and wood chips. However, this did not last long. The timber wolves quickly put themselves back together and cornered Aurora, Arkay, and Cherri against a tree. Nero rushed down to the timber wolves to save them, but the voice of Domitian stopped him. “You there! I have a proposition for you Nero. The wooden ones won’t attack unless I tell them too, so I suggest you listen while I still have patients.”

Nero thought for a moment. If this wolf was looking for a position of power to use as leverage, he had found it. Of course his friends could easily take care of the timber wolves, but one thing bothered him. “How exactly do you know my name?” He asked blatantly.

Domitian gave a low rumbling laugh. “Oh, so you really don’t remember huh? Am I really so easily forgotten?” He asked with an almost sarcastic tone.

Nero shook his head. “Nope, sorry. I only remember important stuff. If I saw you before, you didn’t leave a very lasting impression on me.” Perhaps if he really had met this wolf before, the memory was still behind that door in his mind that Orian cautioned him not to look into.

Domitian lunged at the contemplating Pegasus with claws and teeth bared, but Nero dodged away from the wolf to put some distance between himself and this sentient predator. The two began to slowly circle around each other, keeping their distance. “You had just left your home to go searching for something, and you were lost in the forest. I found you aimlessly looking around and ended up talking to you. It was hard to use the same words as you, but you understood enough.” Domitian said calmly. These words were only to distract Nero however, as the black wolf again tried to dig into his target with claws and teeth. Instead of dodging though Nero turned and gave the wolf a strong kick to the chest, sending the surprised Domitian flying into a nearby tree. Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora could clearly hear some bones snapping from where they were. However Domitian got right back up, almost not even phased by the blow. “Hah, still a fighter I see. You were all alone and so was I for the moment, but we decided that it was better to have a companion than continue on being lone wolves. We were both young, and didn’t understand a lot of how the world worked. We didn’t even think twice about how odd it was for a pony and a wolf to travel together.” Domitian growled, again approaching Nero slowly.

“Look, I don’t care how much you say that I knew you wolf. I don’t remember, and I only remember important things.” Nero retorted quickly. This time it was Nero who made the offensive, taking off and flying straight at Domitian.

The black wolf laughed and jumped to the side to avoid the speeding Pegasus projectile, but Nero foresaw this and kicked off of the tree Domitian had hit, sending himself again toward the wolf at high speed. Prosthetic and natural hooves sunk into Domitian’s side, sending the two combatants sliding for a short distance. Domitian gave out a pained growl as Nero flew away from the attack, touching down a few feet from the wolf. “We searched the entire forest for whatever it was you were looking for.” Domitian continued as he got back up onto his feet and stared at Nero intensely. “We made it a game to see who could cover more ground faster. It was ultimately won by your wings, but it was fun. After that you said we could be friends.” Domitian growled at the word. “Friends Nero. We were friends. All I ever had was my dying family, and here you were saying we were friends.”

Nero racked his mind for what this supposed friend was talking about, but came up blank. “Sorry, I think I would have remembered being friends with a wolf. How can you be so certain it was me? I mean, this was a while ago apparently. Couldn’t you be thinking of some other grey Pegasus?” He asked uncertain and defensive.

Domitian gave a steady shake of his head. “No. I don’t know any other pony that has two different eye colors. That’s how I knew it was you Nero. Now, enough of this talk. I need a sacrifice to bring back the chaos that once reined, and you are going to be that sacrifice.” Domitian snarled. Nero took a few steps back, looking to his captive friends. Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora were still unharmed. However, they seemed to be planning something. Whatever it was wasn’t worth worrying about for the grey Pegasus, he was fighting off a wolf. A wolf that was now running directly at him with terrifying speed. Domitian went for another lunge, too close for Nero to get out of the way properly.

So instead of dodging, Nero simply blocked with his metal prosthetic hoof. Domitian chomped down on the hard metal casing of Nikola’s heavier model of hoof replacing prosthetics, but this did not dissuade the wolf from trying to chew it apart. “Hey, quit it.” Nero chided, trying to shake off the large wolf from his metal hoof. “Alright, that’s enough of this.” Nero yanked his metal hoof from Domitian’s mouth and gave him a strong kick to the face, which audibly cracked from the impact. Domitian fell to the ground, and then attempted to clutch his face and back away at the same time. It was a rather silly maneuver.

Aurora cheered from the distance, causing the timber wolves to give her a growl. She gave them a sour look, but didn’t move otherwise. Domitian got back to his feet, blood oozing from the wound on his face. “Nero, we can still work this out you know. We can use one of your other friends for a sacrifice or something. I doesn’t have to be you. Maybe...” Domitian never finished his begging. A bolt of lightning struck down on the black wolf with a deafening crash.

Nero took a surprised leap back from the now very toasty wolf. “Did that really? Damn it!” Nero yelled out to the sky. “I could have remembered something eventually, if it was important enough.” He looked down to the ground in anguish as it started to rain. “I need to find out if he was right.”

The timber wolves abandoned their captives and ran to the side of the now fallen Domitian. Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora gave the normally emotionless wolves’ confused looks, then ran to Nero. “That was super cool Nero! You were like whoosh! And the wolf was like ‘grr’, but then you were like BAM! I especially liked the part where you made the lightning cook him up all toasty.” Quite clearly, this was a more of a show to Aurora than a fight. Especially since it was Nero who had won.

Nero shook his head. “I didn’t make the lightning strike, it was a freak of nature. Lighting is supposed to strike from the tallest object around, and the statue of Discord was close enough to divert it. Why didn’t it?” He asked to no pony in particular.

None of them had a good answer. “I really have no idea, but we should go. It’s raining and it looks like it can only get worse.” Arkay spoke up in the confusion. “Let’s get out of this and to a clinic or something. I want to get some bandages on this wound before I die of an infection or something.” He started off toward the exit of the gardens, soon joined by Cherri.

Nero and Aurora stayed behind for a moment. “Hey, come on. Let’s make sure your friend doesn’t have to get a neck replacement.” Aurora kidded. “I don’t think a metal neck could be nearly as cool as a metal hoof though.” Nero gave her a small smile and the two started toward the exit as well. After a few paces, Aurora stopped. “Hey, we should probably get rid of those annoying timber wolves.”

The two gave each other a firm nod and turned back to the statue of Discord. Just as they got turned around however, another bolt of lightning struck; this time on Discord’s outstretched talon hand. “There, see? Lightning is supposed to do that.” Nero pointed out. However, three more bolts of lightning struck the statue soon after. “Okay, not like that though.” He corrected himself.

Arkay and Cherri came running back. “We saw a bunch of flashing, what is going on?” Cherri asked concerned. Nero and Aurora shook their heads, but pointed with their hooves to the statue of Discord. It was no longer being struck by lightning, but now a small tornado was spiraling downward toward the charred remains of Domitian.

The four ponies turned tail and ran away from the wind storm. “Why the hay are the Pegasus programming such destructive weather today?” Arkay yelled to Nero as they fought the wind to move forward.

Nero managed to hug a tree to keep himself on the ground. “I don’t think it’s the Pegasus doing this! It has to have something to do with that spell circle Domitian had burned into the ground. I think he got his sacrifice.” Nero was fighting to speak over the strong gust that was attempting to pull the four ponies into the now black tornado.

Arkay held onto another tree while Aurora found refuge behind a rock. Cherri on the other hoof was struggling to keep herself on the ground with her magic. “Well, whatever the cause, I hope it ends soon. I don’t think I can hold this spell too much longer.” Cherri huffed, but her voice was lost in the wind.

“Don’t stop that spell Cherri!” Arkay yelled over to her.

“Oh, thanks Arkay! I probably would have let go if you told me otherwise! I’m doing the best I can, but magic can only go so far you know!” She yelled back.

Only a moment later, the wind stopped. It was not a natural steady slowing and the wind either, it simply stopped as if turned off by a switch. Nero and Arkay let go of their respective trees. “And you said that tree hugging would never save your life.” Arkay poked at his friend. Nero simply gave a tired huff in response. Aurora got out from behind her rock and regrouped with the other three ponies.

After making sure they were all okay, they looked over to where the black tornado had once been. However, they wished that they hadn’t. There, standing where was once a powerful and unnatural wind storm, was a much larger black wolf. It had glowing yellow eyes that pierced through the oppressive black mist that obscured the surrounding area of the wolf. It slowly looked around itself and saw the statue that was Discord, then to the comparatively tiny timber wolves not surprisingly intact. The wolf gave a great, terrifying roar and dragged its massive claws through the timber wolves as well as a portion of the ground they were standing on. The victims of the slash did not break apart as they should have, instead they turned to ash as the giant black wolf’s claws cleaved through them. Cherri and Arkay gasped at this. Timber wolves were supposed to be hard to truly destroy, it had to be done with fire. But this giant wolf simply turned them to ash with its claws.

Nero stepped forward. “Domitian!”

The giant wolf in question slowly gave the grey Pegasus its attention. It blinked its yellow gleaming eyes slowly. Again, it sounded a loud and frightening roar throughout the gardens. But this time it was somehow confused. “Domitian, this isn’t you! I think you were right!” Nero again yelled to the great wolf. Domitian turned its massive head and stared at the statue, Discord. It then spoke incomparable words to the statue, and then to Nero. None of the ponies could tell what this wolf was saying this time. Domitian then howled to the sky and evaporated into the black mist that surrounded him. This black mist then slithered away, toward the edge of the garden leading off to the cliffs.

Nero stared at the place where the transformed Domitian once stood. Aurora was the first to approach him. “What was that about Nero? Why did you try to talk to it?” She asked innocently. Nero simply stared though, not responding.

“That was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.” Arkay said as he and Cherri approached the two Pegasus. “I don’t think that whatever ritual he had planned out went exactly as it should have. Otherwise, I think that Discord would be moving again.”

Nero turned to his green friend. “You may be right Arkay but I think something just as bad, if not worse has happened. First of all, I think that whatever power Domitian meant to bring back is now his. Worse though is that I think he was right about my knowing him.”

Cherri tilted her head in confusion. “Why is that worse? I think that a now chaotically powerful wolf running around Equestria is a bit more of a big deal than weather or not you remember said wolf from your colt hood.”

Nero took a step toward her. “My memory is none of your business, I remember what’s important… most of the time. I still don’t know if it’s just the suggestion that I may have or not.” He took a step back from her.

There was silence for a moment. The four ponies looked to each other, trying to see if any of them had something to say about this. So Arkay broke the silence. “Alright then, now we really have to get that necklace from the church and tell Celestia about this. Since she won’t talk to us face to face, we will just have to comply with her request.”

Cherri nodded in agreement, but Aurora and Nero shrugged almost in unison. “Alright whatever Arkay. I’m still not going to some dumb church though. You two are on your own. Come on Aurora, let’s go see if we can’t find something to eat. All this danger and gloom has gotten me starving!” Nero said with a noticeable amount of vigor.

‘Well, at least he’s not going to go searching for that damn wolf on his own.’ Arkay thought. Aurora and Nero started toward the garden exit at a quick trot. Arkay and Cherri watched as they made their exit. “So, what’s your take on all this?” Arkay asked the pink unicorn.

Cherri gave a small laugh, noticeably not the usual giggle. “Just because I’m a unicorn doesn’t mean I have all the answers Arkay. I don’t know what to think really. I guess it’s good that thing didn’t bring back Discord, or we would have a serious problem. However, it’s still a bit unsettling though. Now, on top of political negotiating, we have to worry about a magical wolf that will probably kill us. It may be a bit difficult for communities and cities to band together under a new republic when there is a giant magical wolf running about.” She looked around suspiciously. “Come on Arkay, we should clear out too. With stuff like this happening so close to the princess, there’s no doubt the royal guards will be here soon. I don’t think Lunar Republican negotiators should be at the scene of something like magical tornados and spell circles.” She urged. Arkay nodded sternly, no need to tell him twice. The two brightly colored ponies galloped toward the garden exit as quickly as possible.

The market district was now alive with busy ponies. They were either on their way to some fashion store, or trotting about aimlessly. Nero found no order to this mess of well-maintained hooves and terrible fashion. He and Aurora were sitting in the outside dining area of one of the many ridiculously expensive restaurants on the market street. “I can’t believe this city! It’s everything I dreamed it would be!” Aurora exclaimed excitedly between munches of the tiny salad she had ordered.

Nero simply had a bored look on his face, upheld by his bionic metal hoof leaned on the glass table the two were sitting at. “Expensive? Uptight? Full of itself?” He listed sarcastically.

Aurora gulped down the last bite of her salad. “Exactly! These ponies have so much money that they can waste it on things like expensive necklaces and fancy giant hats! Look at that one there.” Nero hardly looked up at all, but saw what he could suspect she was pointing out. “That mare has so many frills and bows on her hat that she could probably clothe three foals with that thing. So many other places are struggling just to get things like clean water and good food, but these ponies waste all their time and money with fashion and expensive versions of normal meals. It’s amazing! I didn’t think I’d ever get to see this place, ever.” Aurora somehow sounded perfectly legitimate with her amazement while listing the ridiculous transgressions of the city of Canterlot.

Nero gave a bored sigh. “Yeah, I love paying seventy-something bits for a tiny plate of salad that is probably less flavorful than the grass outside of the city. Why did you want to eat here anyway?” He asked confused. He honestly hated it here in Canterlot, but the price and noise of the market district was better than a cult based around the sun.

Aurora gave a sly giggle. “No reason to be here in particular. But I thought it would be fun if we… went shopping!”

Nero slowly turned his head to face the bright blue Pegasus sitting across from him. He stared into her eyes and expression, trying to find the joke she was assuredly hiding. But there was no trace of one. “Do you even know me?”

Aurora blinked a few times. “Well, it’s not like we would have to buy anything. It’s just that there’s one thing that I want to see.” She hinted with a small smile on her muzzle. Nero stared again, waiting for what horrors were about to befall him. “Remember when we picked out those fancy clothes for that wedding we were supposed to have?”

Nero’s gaze narrowed dangerously while he stopped supporting his head on his hoof.

Aurora gave him another sly smile. “We never got to. So I was thinking...” However she was now talking to a cloud of dust. Nero had taken off, quite literally, and was now flying above the market street away the restaurant Aurora was still sitting at. “Oh, you always know how to make this fun Nero.” She said to herself and took off after him, calling his name in a sort of taunt.

The church of the sun was not at all discreet. The front of the cathedral had a giant stain glass window of the sun rising green hills, spreading light all about the empty glass world of green planes it sat upon. This stain glass masterpiece was set on the great grey stone walls that rose above the other surrounding buildings around it. Leading up to the entrance of this somewhat massive building were matching grey steps filled with ponies eager to have salvation preached to them. Arkay and Cherri found themselves in the front of this crowd.

“…And this my fellow brothers and sisters is why we must always give the sun our prayers! Life is freely given by her and her grace! Not only does the great spirit of The Sun, Amaterasu, give life to us all. She gives it FREELY my brothers and sister! FREELY!” The priest pony pacing at the top of the stairs received a resounding ‘praise the sun’ from the crowd of ponies before him. The yellow stallion smiled. “Here we stand today my brothers and sisters, weak and blind. But one day…. One day, we will trot humbly with the giver of life and death, the beginning and the end, the light in the darkness! One day we will all join The Sun in her warm embrace!” Another ‘praise the sun’ sounded among the crowd.

Arkay and Cherri exchanged a concerned look. Was this pony really the priest Celestia had talked about in her quickly scrawled letter? He was certainly zealous, but he had not once mentioned Celestia by name or even by reference. Cherri stepped forward from the crowd suddenly. “How do we know that we will?” Suddenly, the crowd and the priest fell eerily quiet. So she continued. “I mean you are giving promises of a life after this one, but where is the proof? And why have you not mentioned Celestia at all? Surely the one who raises the sun is noteworthy in your sermon, or whatever this is.”

The priest shook his head with an odd chuckle. “Here we see my brothers and sisters a seeker! She seeks the answers because she wishes to find more than an answer. She wishes to find SALVATION! Only in Amaterasu do we gain our salvation. Only in Amaterasu! You say that Celestia raises The Sun, Amaterasu, but where is your proof?”

Cherri suddenly felt the eyes of the entire crowd upon her. She gave an uncomfortable look to Arkay, who simply returned it. She turned back to the priest unsure. “Umm, we don’t have proof. But for years unicorns had raised the sun with magic to give life to the...”

“To GIVE LIFE my brothers and sisters! TO GIVE LIIIFE!” The priest interrupted. “My sister, you are right though. Without our martyr Celestia, we would be nothing but slaves of our faith! The unicorns of old dedicated their Entire Lives to prayer to the sun. They never stopped so that ponies like us could relish in the life given by Amaterasu. Faith was not a choice for them, they were called to serve. But faith is a choice for US my brothers and sisters! Faith Is A CHOICE!” The priest received another resounding ‘praise the sun’. “Now we have the choice to be faithful my brothers and sisters! Those who are unfaithful will be left when the rapture comes and takes the faithful to the side of Amaterasu. They will stay here and wither away to nothing when our great Amaterasu takes us to her side! Salvation will be ours, and the unfaithful will be weeded out to make room for another beginning for the world. And when all the demons and the unfaithful have been burned from the land, the land will be ready to once again receive the life that Amaterasu gives to us all! We will be born again in newness of life and receive everlasting salvation with our savior Celestia and our lord Amaterasu!”

Cherri tried to step back into her place in the crowd, but the priest stopped her. “You my sister have received this message today. I tell you assuredly that your sins, your transgressions, your flaws have all been forgiven this day before Amaterasu herself!” The priest pulled the sun necklace around his neck off and put it on Cherri, whom of which simply wore a scared look. “Wear this necklace from this day forward, and the world will know that you are saved! Spread this message that you have received and your salvation with Amaterasu will be sealed! Praise the Sun!” The crowd responded with yet another ‘praise the sun’ as the priest turned around and entered the large cathedral. Much of the crowd followed him and the others left, leaving Arkay and Cherri on the steps alone.

“That was perhaps one of the worst social gatherings I have ever participated in.” A confused Cherri uttered walking down the stairs. “Nero and Aurora were absolutely right about this church, it might as well be a self-serving cult.”

Arkay followed the pink unicorn down the grey stone steps. “Well I can see the point of being grateful for the sun giving life to plants and animals, but this is just ridiculous. Sure Celestia raises the sun, but I don’t think she sees herself as a martyr. I don’t know what her whole story is, but I can be certain that she didn’t sacrifice everything to do what she does. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be here to raise the sun.” As the two of them reached the bottom of the stairs, Arkay continued. “Well, now that we have what we need we can find Nero and Aurora and go back to the library. I think we should at least tell Luna about Domitian.”

The two ponies were making their way down the market street again, except this time there were many ponies out and about. There was still enough room to get around, so their movement was not impeded much. “Well, be that as it may we have to be careful. We need to think of a good excuse as to why we were in Canterlot in the first place. I don’t think Luna would feel too good about our being around her sister in any way. Plus, if she doesn’t believe us she could simply enter our dreams and figure otherwise.” Cherri pointed out.

Arkay scrunched up his face thoughtfully, but nothing came to his mind. The two walked in silence toward the train station, until an idea dawned on the green Pegasus. “Oh! I know the perfect solution.” He exclaimed suddenly, perking Cherri’s interest. “We just need to have an embarrassing reason to be here.”

Cherri gave him a skeptical look. “Whatever do you mean by that? Why would that work?”

Arkay chuckled as the two passed a well-dressed and well-aged mare. “Have you ever doubted some pony if they had a story that made them look silly? You wouldn’t have to because you have no reason to doubt something that is embarrassing. So all we need to do is think of something embarrassing to tell Luna, and she won’t give our being here a second thought.” Arkay couldn’t have sounded more out of his mind.

“You really think that if we come up with some stupid embarrassing reason we were here that Luna won’t think about it? If you think that is a legitimate way to lie, you aren’t as smart as you like to portray that you are.” Cherri deadpanned as they neared the station.

Arkay huffed indignant. “Well, I don’t see you coming up with any plans as to how we can tell her that we witnessed a wolf getting some kind of magic power in the Canterlot gardens without giving her a reason to explain why we were there in the first place.”

“Easy, we just tell her that we came here to relax and take it easy. We ended up going to the gardens and saw a wolf get zapped by some lightning and turn into black mist. We say he might be a threat and move on to our assignment we start on tomorrow.” Cherri sighed heavily. “So much for getting time off.”

Arkay wore a frustrated expression as they arrived at the station. After paying for the fare back down to Ponyville, the two of them turned the corner to the boarding platform. However, they froze in their tracks from the sight they beheld before them. “Oh my goodness, Aurora! What are your wearing?” Cherri absolutely gushed.

The pony in question looked over and gave a sweet smile. “Well…we went shopping. And not to have a big head or anything, but I make this look good.” Aurora was wearing a beautiful black and blue dress that seemed to sparkle as much as her eyes, even her mane was done up in a braid. Nero, right next to her on the platform was wearing a black suit jacket with a dark blue button down shirt adorned by a black formal tie. Both of the Pegasus’ wings were covered but their clothing, and they seemed to mind quite a bit about it. Nevertheless, Nero wore his best confident smile and Aurora simply beamed.

Aurora popped her head out from her well-dressed Pegasus friend and shared her smile with Cherri and Arkay. “One does not simply go to Canterlot and not buy some of the best fashion in Equestria. I didn’t quite have enough for it myself, but sweet Nero here went and got it for me. And while we were at it, I decided that Nero should match! So I managed to get him into what you see here.”

Arkay and Cherri exchanged a look, but only the bright pink unicorn had anything to say. “Well, I think that the two of you are absolutely fetching. You see Arkay? This is what clothes are useful for. Looking drop-dead amazing.” In the distance the wail of the steam engine horn sounded and the squeal of the brakes could be heard, announcing its arrival to the soon to be passengers. “Hey Arkay.” Cherri spoke up as the steam engine neared the station. “I think I just thought up of a good reason to be in Canterlot.”

The evening was giving way to nighttime as the steam engine passed the last curve of the mountainous path down from Canterlot. There was a calming silence in the twilit hours of the day, if one didn’t count the noisy steam engine disrupting that altogether. That same silence was present in the single passenger car of the steam engine as well. Once again having Pegasus aboard caused the rest of the passengers to remain silent.

“So if your butt mark is a cherry and you’re good at making cherry pies and stuff, why don’t you?” Except for said Pegasus of course. Nero hadn’t heard Cherri’s story about her foal hood and simply had to ask now that they had some time to talk about it.

“Really, butt mark? Anyway yes I got my Cutie Mark when I helped my mother make a cherry pie once, but I felt like I could go beyond just making pies and growing cherries.” Cherri was sure to enunciate the proper term to Nero in particular. “So I went to magic school to learn what I could to further myself as a unicorn. I have to admit it was really rather difficult to learn more advanced magic after I got the basics out of the way, but with a certain amount of perseverance and self-discipline I managed to pull through.” She said, quite proud of herself.

Silence gripped the passenger car once again, but not for more than a moment. “Well, where did you go to learn about this advanced magic? Nero and I were flying around Canterlot for a while earlier today, and I didn’t see any magic schools. Did you Nero?” The well-dressed stallion shook his head in agreement. “See? No magic schools.”

The question made Cherri immensely uncomfortable. She hadn’t realized it, but it was actually making her sweat a little. “Uh…. Oh! Oh my Arkay, that cut on your neck really isn’t looking good at all. I don’t think that’s a healthy color for blood to be at all.”

Nero narrowed his eyes slowly. Aurora on the other hoof simply went along with it, perhaps another time. “Oh, you’re right. We need to get you to some medical treatment as soon as possible. Why didn’t you get that looked at in Canterlot?”

Arkay sighed heavily. “I really, really didn’t feel like going to a doctor in Canterlot. Everything is expensive in Canterlot you know – food, water, hotels, and especially health care. Those uptight doctors think that they are a gift to the world with their knowledge of what kind of ‘magical bandage’ they put on a scrape or cut. I’d hate to see the bill for a cut like this, so I’d rather we go to a much cheaper clinic or something in Ponyville. As for the brown-ish color, that’s just what color blood turns when it dries.” The green Pegasus laughed to himself. “You were right though Aurora, I do know how to get injured. Another bandage and I’ll look like my father did when he would come back from a skirmish.”

Cherri saw the opportunity to shift attention away from herself and decided to take it. “Skirmish? What exactly did your father do Arkay?” She asked in such an innocent and sweet voice.

Once again, that horrible blush graced Arkay’s face. And here he was thinking he had gotten over something so foolish, but he collected himself to answer the question. “Well as you know my father was, and I can only suspect that he still is, a part of the Pegasus military. Pegasus in general have usually kept to themselves throughout the years, that’s why Nero and I usually get the odd looks and such when we go places. Most other Pegasus believe themselves to be both literally, and figuratively above the other races of ponies. Anyway, that’s tangential. The Pegasus always keep a private force of loyal soldiers available in the case of invasion or in the need of an assault, and my father is a part of this. There was never a big need for the soldiers, but from time to time we would have a disagreement with the griffons; anywhere from skyline border disputes to what the weather should be like. This is where the skirmishes come in. My father would always be on the front lines of these stupid disagreements, and would sometimes come home injured by either griffon weapons or claws. He believed that ‘there ain’t no race like the Pegasus’ and that anything else was beneath him and his race. He often tried to get me to buy into such thinking, if only he knew that’s what was pushing me away. Anyway, the last time I heard from him he had landed some cushy job in the Citadel. Not that I care that much though.”

While Cherri took in all that Arkay had said, Nero decided to chime in. “Pegasus really aren’t all their cracked up to be. A lot of us fly around a think that we are better than every pony else simply because we can fly and the others have to stay grounded. I’m pretty sure Pegasus are solely responsible for the earth ponies being called ‘mud ponies’ and the rumors about unicorn curses don’t start themselves. I only trust three Pegasus in all of Equestria; Arkay, Aurora, and myself. The rest are either loyalist or cultists.”

The squeal of the brakes sounded, announcing that the passengers would soon arrive in Ponyville. Cherri let out a sigh of relief as the passengers were told to make preparations to leave. Aurora was the first to get up, then Arkay, then herself. Nero, got up last and pulled Cherri close to whisper in her ear. “I know you’re hiding something. You may have Arkay eating out of your hoof, but I don’t buy it. If you have some kind of agenda, I will find out.” He then moved forward and made his way off the steam engine, but not before shooting the slightly frightened unicorn a suspicious look. Not knowing what to think of this, Cherri simply shook her head and followed the way out of the passenger car.

The town of Ponyville was again dark and somewhat foreboding, at least to Arkay anyway. “So, I think that we should at least see about getting some bandages for that cut of yours. I’m getting tired of seeing such an ugly color on you.” Cherri said in an almost pointed tone.

Aurora rolled her eyes at Cherri belaying the point. “Alright, we are going to the clinic now to have his neck looked at. Then we are going straight to the library. We have a job we need to hear about after all.” Neither Nero nor Arkay could come up with a good argument. It was probably best after all, even if Arkay’s wound was already scabbing up. “Now, which way is the clinic?” Aurora asked plainly.

Cherri perked up a bit. “Oh, I know where it is. I saw it yesterday night when Arkay and I were out looking for dragons. Follow me!” She galloped off in a seemingly random direction but her lead was better than none, so the three Pegasus followed the light purple and red-ish glow of Cherri’s magic.

The Ponyville clinic lobby was less than appealing. The four cold, plain white walls made Nero, Aurora, and Cherri feel quite boxed in and trapped. There was, of course, the exit on one side of the room that any of them could have used to get out but none of them really felt it necessary. On the other side of the room, behind a small reception desk, were the doors to the treatment ward. All of them wore bored expressions while waiting for Arkay to get back from the supposedly short treatment, but it had already been more than thirty minutes. Perhaps it was just the fact of the waiting, but it most certainly felt like more to Nero, Cherri, and Aurora.

After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was simply five more minutes, Arkay and the doctor stepped out of the doors behind the reception desk. “Alright Arkay, just keep that covered for a day or so and you should be fine. As far as that wing goes, whoever bandaged it up did terribly. As far as the cost of your visit,” the orange doctor mare looked over some papers again, “Looks like you will be paying about 52 bits for the bandages and check-up.”

Arkay shrugged, it seemed fair enough to him. As he brought out the proper amount, Nero, Aurora, and Cherri stepped forward to join him. The doctor simply looked up at the three others with the same bored expression they had worn a few minutes before. “You two just get married or something?” She asked regarding Nero and Aurora, whom of which were still wearing their Canterlot fashion.

Aurora sighed wistfully. “No, just did some shopping.”

Finished with his paying, Arkay laughed to himself quietly and began on his way out. “I don’t think that any mare could tie Nero down.” He said as he passed the two Pegasus. Nero and Aurora exchanged a thoughtful look, but didn’t say anything to one another. Cherri passed by during this thoughtful look, trying to avoid drawing too much attention to herself, and followed Arkay out the door. Not wanting to be left behind, Nero and Aurora too followed and left the building. Apparently no pony wanted to be in the clinic more than necessary.

The library was somehow not as homely as it had been before, instead of feeling at ease there was a feeling that Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora couldn’t shake; almost like none of them should be there. Wasn’t this supposed to be like home? It certainly didn’t feel safe to the four ponies standing at the door. Why was it that political and royal espionage had to make things so complicated? “Alright, so just to get our stories straight: We went to Canterlot to spend our day out shopping. I was mugged and got this cut on my neck, then we tried to catch the thug but he got away into the gardens. When we got there we witnessed….whatever that wolf’s name was getting turned into a larger more magical wolf. We ran as fast as we could to get away from it and tell the guard, but got roped into being given a necklace and from there we came back. Right?” Arkay wanted to make sure that he covered everything so that there was no unnecessary slips that could get all of them banished.

Cherri, Nero, and Aurora just gave him a strange look. “You know, I don’t think we have to have an explanation for everything Arkay. It was our day off, we could do whatever we wanted. If she asks for the reason for something, we tell her. It’s not like we did anything terribly out of line today.” Nero assured his friend. “After all, why bring Domitian up at all? Luna is bound to figure out about him anyway.”

Arkay huffed indignant. “Well fine, don’t come crying to me when you get banished to some island infested by lizard bats. Remember how fun those guys were to deal with?” Nero’s gaze narrowed at that. He most certainly had not forgotten about them, but retaliating wasn’t going to solve anything so he kept quiet.

Cherri rolled her eyes, uninterested in the subtle disagreement going on between the two Pegasus. “Alright, are we ready to go already? It’s getting late and I’d like to get some sleep before we head out on whatever it is we are going to do tomorrow.” Arkay and Nero simply shrugged. “Good.” Cherri knocked on the door loudly. No response. The pink unicorn gave the door an angry look. “Hello? Any pony home?” She yelled while knocking harder on the door, but this time the door slowly opened. Within the library there was darkness, none of the usual candles were lit; causing the normally homely tree house library to harbor a sense of uncertainty.

The four ponies stepped in carefully. This was not normal at all. The last time they had returned, it was lit and Luna was waiting for them. Cherri used her magic to light the main room. “Any pony home?” Aurora called up the stairs. Almost in response, a gust of wind blew down said stairs and slammed the door shut. “Whoa!” Aurora squealed, being sent back down the stairs from the gust. Nero sprang into action and managed to catch her before she hit the floor though, still fairly quick even without his wings readily available. She gave her savior a thankful smile but Nero couldn’t see it, it was too dark.

A ghostly voice filled the library. “Foolish trespassers! Leave this place now or face the wrath of the night!” Cherri and Arkay looked around, trying to find the source of the voice to no avail.

Nero recognized the voice immediately though. “Alright Luna, it’s just us. You can come out now.” Suddenly the candles relit themselves, lighting the room and revealing Luna standing at the door.

“Well, it is most certainly good to see you again too.” She almost complained. “You could have at least acted surprised by the ghost of the night.” Luna wore an expression that could only be described as pouting, but she quickly switched to her usual frown. “I see that two of you went shopping. And you” She regarded Arkay almost suspiciously. “Why do you always insist on getting injured?”

Arkay looked around a bit, but none of the others offered any words. “Um, got mugged in one of the alleys in Canterlot. Little ruffian had a knife that got me pretty bad, but it’s nothing serious. Won’t slow me down in the slightest.” He tried his best to sound confident like Nero did from time to time, but ended up looking and sounding silly.

Luna chuckled quietly. “Well don’t hurt yourself too much Arkay. I need you alive for what we are trying to accomplish.” She then looked to Cherri. “What is that?”

Cherri shifted uncomfortably, and quickly formulated an excuse. “Um, it’s a necklace I got in Canterlot while Nero and Aurora were shopping and Arkay was getting patched up. I was thinking that it could be useful as a sort of cover up for our being political spies. If we happen to be in a town that sympathizes with Celestia, I think we will be questioned less with me wearing this necklace.”

Luna narrowed her eyes a bit, but accepted her reason and nodded. “Excellent thinking Cherri. With Outpost on our side, it’s no doubt that Celestia is going to try and solidify her loyalty from some of the cities and towns around Equestria. We will have to prove that our republic is the more logical choice of the two to these towns to get them on our side.” Luna cantered over to the center table and motioned for Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora to gather around. “Alright, I think that our next course of action should be getting another one of the Elements of Harmony.” She unrolled a map of the known world; this being Equestria, the Crystal empire to the north, Mexicolt and to the south, the Griffon kingdom to the northwest, the Stradivarius islands far to the east off the coast, the mountainous lands to the west belonging to the dragons, the massive lands of the zebra across the ocean, and a small section of sea circled off to the south east where there was no defining land mass nearby. Luna pointed at the circle. “Here is the last known location of Amphitrite.”

Nero bristled at the mention of his home. “Amphitrite?” Cherri asked curiously.

“Yes, this is the last known location of the Element of Loyalty. From what I know, the city is one of highly religious Pegasus who used the Element to make their city fly. It was a city quite loyal to me and Celestia when we were ruling together, but something went wrong. After some kind of schism in the beliefs of those in charge and those under rule, rioting caused the citizens to tear each other apart. No pony has heard from them since, we can only assume that there were no survivors.” Nero and Aurora exchanged a look, but neither said anything. “They had some kind of belief that the stars held the answers to all questions, but could only be read by those who understood. Needless to say, when the ponies under rule didn’t like what the rulers where telling them they tried to take over. At any rate, if there even were any survivors we aren’t interested in getting help from fanatically religious ponies anyway. All we need from Amphitrite is the Element of Loyalty. If what I was told still holds true, it should be in the highest chamber of the main temple. The only ponies with the ability to get to Amphitrite are the Pegasus of the Citadel. While I doubt that those militaristic hounds would have interest in something magical like an Element of Harmony, we should still be prepared in case they did retrieve it. If that were the case however, Amphitrite wouldn’t be flying at all. So if what my night guard have told me is true, it should still be there.” Luna stepped back from the table and began cantering around it slowly. “I fear that those fanatics in Amphitrite have placed traps in order to keep their precious Element safe from those that would try to steal it, so expect the unexpected.”

Arkay raised his hoof as if he were in school. “Um, how will we get to this place if it’s floating? I don’t think I’m in any shape to fly, and I don’t think that Nero and Aurora could carry me and Cherri miles to get to it.”

Luna nodded. “Tomorrow, you four will take the first steam engine to Brandonbuck. From there I will have some of my night guard waiting with a chariot to transport you to Amphitrite. No passports should be necessary since you won’t be passing through Mexicolt to get to Brandonbuck, so the trip will be the simple part. Once you are within Amphitrite, be on guard at all times. If there are any survivors, they will be hostile. If you should you need some weapons to protect yourself, buy them from Brandonbuck. Any questions?” She looked to all four of the listening ponies individually, one by one. Luna took the silence as a no. “Alright then, sleep well tonight ponies. There will be much to watch for tomorrow. Now if you will excuse me, I must fulfill my duties as Princess of the Night.” Luna sounded almost labored by her title, but she took her leave out the front door anyway.

Once Luna was gone, Cherri yawned loudly. “Well, I am beat. Is there anything we have to discuss?” She asked, however she wasn’t hoping for an answer.

Arkay looked to Nero, then Aurora. Neither of them looked like they had anything on their mind. “Well, I… never mind. Not important. I guess it’s off to Amphitrite tomorrow. Shall we?”

Quite exhausted, Nero, Arkay, Cherri, and Aurora made their way up to the bedrooms. They were pleasantly surprised to find that there were two extra beds across the hall from the original two. Accommodations from Luna. “I suppose the two of us will be in this room. You two boys can share the old room.” Cherri did not know how relieved Arkay was with her suggestion. He hadn’t slept on an actual bed in a few days.

“Aw, I felt so safe with Nero sleeping by my bed the other night. Oh well, I’ll see you in the morning guys.” Aurora trotted into the second room, after giving a last wink to Nero. The recipient of which rolled his eyes and entered his own room without a word.

Arkay started to follow Nero, but was stopped by a nudge from Cherri. “Hey, what were you going to say before?” She asked concerned.

Instead of blushing, Arkay found himself almost sad. Almost. “It was really nothing Cherri. I just…. I was going to ask if I could sleep on a bed tonight instead of on the floor, but I guess that didn’t really matter since we have our own beds this time.” Arkay forced himself into a smile, as much as he hated forcing such things. “Now, I’m going to get some sleep. Treasure hunting isn’t safe for a tired mind. You should too….see you tomorrow Cherri.” He then trotted into his room quickly, wanting to avoid more questions. Even after the door to Nero and Arkay’s room closed, Cherri remained in the hallway. After a few moments, she too retired to the room for her and Aurora.

The moonlight shined down on the town of Ponyville brightly. On a night like this, when the moon was full, one could easily see the roadways throughout town without any sort of assistance. With her magical eyes, Aurora saw the different auras within the various houses. They were calm, innocent even. From the balcony of the library, she could see all the way to Canterlot and even down the steam engine tracks leading to the mountain path up to the elaborate city. The bright blue mare sighed into the night, why couldn’t she find this sort of peace?

“You know, we’re supposed to be sleeping. I don’t think staying up and looking wistfully at the stars will help us tomorrow in our search of that supposedly floating city.” Aurora looked back to see the purple eyes of Cherri, whom of which cantered alongside her and looked over the town as well.

“I don’t see you sleeping either, what’s got you up?” She asked quickly.

Cherri giggled quietly, apparently finding some mirth in how quickly Aurora was to defend herself. “Well, the last time I tried sleeping I ended up having nightmares. Needless that encourages me to stay awake as much as possible. How about you? Why are you up still?”

Aurora sighed again, looking over Ponyville once more. “I used to have a set schedule for sleeping while I was searching for Nero. My sister and I tried as much as we could to limit how long we slept in one place, we had to keep our tracks covered as much as possible for years. We were on the run from….well I guess our past really.”

Cherri looked over to the frowning Pegasus. “What could possibly keep you on the run for years?” However Aurora didn’t even look up. “Tell you what, I’ll tell you a little bit and then you can tell me a little bit. I don’t know a lot about this mare that has been searching for a stallion like Nero, and I’d like to.” Still no reaction. “I ran from my own home too, right here in Ponyville. I may have told you that earlier on the passenger car, but there’s more to it.” Cherri paused for a moment. “I….you were right. There aren’t any magic schools in Canterlot.” Aurora looked over, now interested in the conversation. “I wondered for a while. I didn’t have any direction to go. I inevitably found some trouble in a small little town far south, near Mexicolt. Some rough-and-tumble ponies wanted to ‘see if I tasted like my name’. They had me cornered, and I was sure that I was going to die or get violated horribly.”

Aurora cringed at the thought. “What happened? They didn’t…”

Cherri wore a small smile. “No. I was saved both of those fates by a mule by the name of Crow. He had some of his gang friends with him and he beat those ruffians out of town. He told me that such a mare like me shouldn’t be anywhere like where I was, but I told him I wanted to be away from the rest of the world. After I saw my family’s orchard burned to the ground, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be treated well. I guess I was looking for trouble like I found. At any rate, he told me he had somewhere I could go. So I went with him back to Mexicolt to see what this offer was. Anything was better than being in Equestria. Turns out, Crow owned a little bar near the border and he needed a good cook. I guess having cherries as your cutie mark was a pretty good sign that I could manage cooking treats. So I stayed there for a while, cooking cherry pies and such for drunken mules and ponies who watched the show mare Alexis sing. She had the most beautiful voice, and I found myself singing along with her eventually. When he heard that, Crow asked me why he let a singer like me cook. I really didn’t know all that much about singing before I saw Alexis perform on a daily basis though. When Crow asked if Alexis minded if she had a singing partner, she couldn’t have been happier. So then I made a living singing in that tiny bar in Mexicolt for a few years. Not exactly glamorous, but I felt like I had direction there.”

Aurora again looked over Ponyville, no longer concentrating on seeing the aura of its inhabitants. She was instead thinking over Cherri’s story. “Alright now your turn.” The pink unicorn insisted.

“But wait, I wanted to hear what happened after you started singing.” Aurora defended.

Cherri giggled once more. “Oh no. You are going to tell me about what you were doing in your search for Nero. Also, I want to hear about your sister. What was she like?”

Aurora pouted, but gave in. “Well fine. My sister was, in a few ways, like you….but only in a few ways. She was a unicorn, like you, and had a knack for getting other ponies to see things her way. It was strange how she was a unicorn. Most other ponies in Amphitrite were Pegasus.”

“You used to live in Amphitrite?” Cherri asked, almost appalled by the notion.

Aurora nodded. “Yeah, Nero and I used to live in Amphitrite. It was a nice place too. Every pony was nice to each other, and we had our little place in the sky all to ourselves. Hardly had any visitors though. Just some Pegasus from the Citadel that would occasionally come by and ask if we wanted to join the ranks, we always denied them though. Anyway, since Amphitrite was made of stone we couldn’t really grow anything in the city and clouds weren’t an option either. So, every day fishing parties would go out and get fish from the ocean.”

“Wait, you ate fish? Like…fish-fish?” Cherri felt herself almost throwing up at the thought.

“Yeah.” Aurora brushed off the question as if it were nothing. “We ate fish. We always had. Some of the ponies even developed fangs to better tear into the scales, like Nero. I never did though, guess it wasn’t in the genes.”

Cherri tilted her head thoughtfully. “Really? I never noticed him having fangs.”

Aurora simply shrugged. “Well next time you get the chance, look. Nero and I were best friends growing up. Any time I fell, he was there to help pick me up. We hardly ever left each other’s sides. It was simple back when we were young. Anyway, my sister was the only unicorn in the entire city. That immediately got her a place in the oracles, the ruling power in Amphitrite. They looked to and recorded signs from the stars. The oracles found that most questions from the past, and most questions being asked could be found in the stars if you knew where to look. They recorded all their findings on The Wall – a sort of record of the past and glimpse into the future. My sister knew all of its secrets, and told some of them to me. Most of it was boring, but one stood out. According to The Wall, the pony with two different eyes and his allies would be Amphitrite’s downfall. The only pony in all of Amphitrite with two different eyes was Nero, and I was kind of his only friend. He didn’t trust any pony else. I didn’t get it at first, but my sister told me that the oracles were going to kill her, Nero, and me to save the city. We had to leave, I wanted to tell Nero but sister wouldn’t let me. She said the only way he would leave and be safe was if he didn’t know where we went. So we got a little sky chariot that night and I flew my sister away from Amphitrite. I wanted to stay back somewhere and wait for Nero, but my sister didn’t let me. She said the oracles were surely after us, and we couldn’t afford to wait anywhere longer than necessary. For years, we were on the run. Never sleeping in the same town, never making any ties with any pony. A routine that I still follow today. Until now anyway.”

Aurora was on the verge of tears, Cherri didn’t want her to cry though. “Here, let me tell you about how I learned magic.” The sad Pegasus blinked away her tears and listened in. “While singing with Alexis was fun and all, I felt pretty worthless. A unicorn who can cook and sing? Not really that impressive. I had made a point to Crow that I wanted to go to school and learn some real magic, not just telekinesis. But for years he told me not to worry about it, all I needed was my voice and my cooking to make a living according to him. He wasn’t wrong, but I hated him for it. Anyway, Crow and Alexis surprised me one day. They gave me a large sum of bits and told me to go to school. They even arranged for me transportation up north to the Arcana, where some of the best unicorns taught and perfected magic. I wanted to tell them no. I wanted to tell them that what they did was too much, but they forced me to go. I hated to leave them, but I respected their wishes and complied. On the long trip to Arcana, I heard why they sent me off. Some pony burned down Crow’s bar and killed him and Alexis. When I heard that, I wanted to break down and stop. But they wanted me to leave and better myself for a reason, so I did as they asked. I hate to say it, but Crow and Alexis were better parents to me that my own parents. Crow never tried anything with me, and Alexis was completely clean. They were a good, honest pair just barely making it in the world. They didn’t deserve what they got, I should have burned instead of them.” Cherri felt herself begin to cry, she couldn’t catch her breath.

Aurora nudged the sobbing unicorn. “Hey, Alcina- I mean Cherri don’t cry.”

Cherri finally caught her breath at that. “Alcina?”

Aurora cringed a little. “Yeah, Alcina. My sister. She used to cry over our home. I was too young to understand what it meant to her, but she loved her home in Amphitrite. She had no reason to do what she did for me and Nero, but she still gave everything she had for us- even her life. In one of the towns we were staying in, we were found by the oracles. She knew they were coming, and gave herself to them so that I could escape. Sometimes I wish she hadn’t, but she wanted me to have a future. You shouldn’t feel sad about Crow and Alexis. They believed in you enough to give everything they had so you could live on. Surely they knew it was going to happen, so they made their choice to help you.”

Cherri gave a sad little laugh. “You’re right Aurora. Thanks.”

Aurora smiled big. “So…what did you learn in magic school?”

Cherri couldn’t help but match the cheery Pegasus’ smile. “Oh so many things, but maybe another time. We really should get to sleep now, we have a flying city to explore tomorrow.”

As Cherri started toward the interior of the library and down the hall, Aurora sighed. “I just hope I’m ready to go home.”

“You don’t have to be, you are home. Here….sister.” Cherri replied quietly.

Prologue

Prologue

Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there was peace and tranquility throughout the land. There was no such thing as unhappiness or distrust, and the royal sisters princess Celestia and princess Luna ruled over the ponies in peace and harmony. The economy was in great shape, and the ponies were fair and equitable to each other. Violence was a thing of the past and there was no disagreement too terrible to be alleviated with words. Everyone and everything was happy.

However, this is not that time. This is a time when peace was merely an idea rather than something that was practiced between ponies and especially different species. The ponies were not happy. They may smile after a transaction in the market, but they were not authentic. If you were not careful with such transactions, you probably were swindled for either too much or too little. The royal sisters, supposed idols of all that was virtuous, were often heard arguing over a many things; hardly the harmony they were supposed to encompass to the ponies. The economy was in terrible shape. Most of the population outside of the capital city of Canterlot was either in a state close to poverty, struggling to stay above it, or just barely making it. If a market transaction was fair, you were probably in a position of power or simply blackmailing the recipient. If you couldn't solve a problem with violence it could be solved with corrupt politics. Everyone was not happy. No one was earnest. Not entirely the most friendly of places to be.

Being fair was not in the daily order of things. The worst was the not so subtle racism between every race and species. The unicorns of Canterlot and other high class cities were not to be trusted by any but their own. Who knew if they were secretly cursing you with their arcane and forbidden magic? The pegasus were reclusive and militaristic. They had not changed their order from the army-ruled norm they had always been under. The earth ponies were given the worst; they were seen as a lesser race. Even though they produced most of the food for the other races within the immediate area of both Canterlot and the affectionately deemed “Mud Ponyville”. Other than the three pony races, the different species such as griffons, buffalo, zebras, Minotaur, and other such different animal types hardly spoke to each other; much less interacted.

Things were not all that great, and every pony and everyone was just waiting for the other metaphorical horseshoe to drop. The political a ruling powers were at each other’s throats, and this did not sit well with the royal sisters of Equestria. However they were too caught up in their own arguments to even consider starting to ease political turmoil.

This is the way things were for many years; they were unhappy, distrustful, and overall fairly miserable. Furthermore, they didn’t change until they got much, much worse. It would be two unassuming, and unexpected heroes to change things for the better; in their own way. A great many things depended on them, and such things wouldn't change until they were they were called upon and they made their choices.

Introduction

-When we remembered Equestria-

“And you’re sure that this is where the brace is supposed to be?”

“Absolutely! Have I ever steered my two best hunters wrong?” Mr. Shinny gave the two a smile that even they knew was forced.

“Well, there was that time that you promised us that there was a crystal source under that rock farm; I am still paying for the damages Shinny.” Shinny shied away from Arkay at that.

“He-hey now, that was one time now Arkay!” The white unicorn retorted defensively.

“Yeah, sure.” Nero said as sarcastically as possible. “The dead end in the forest didn't count, and neither did that buried treasure on the beach. Oh, are we also not counting the time we almost got arrested for stealing that vase from that supposedly uninhabited house?” The grey pegasus with a black mane eyed Shinny hard as he just avoided eye contact.

“Fine we can count those, but only if you don’t need this job my friends. So, I would choose what does and does not count carefully.” Shinny said with a cocky smile. Nero just sighed and shook his head in exasperation.

“Alright Shinny. Unfortunately, you have the two of us in a bit of a bind. Between the accidental property damage, and the arrest bails, we cannot afford to take it personally. Will you please get off your high saddle and just tell us where this supposedly valuable brace is?” Arkay played Shinny’s game simply because the petty unicorn was both his and Nero’s best lead on any kind of job that they could possibly get in a unicorn-centric city like Canterlot.

“That’s what I thought. To answer your earlier question before I was so rudely interrupted, yes. The emerald brace is most definitely on that island. The lore speaks of its use in the zebra’s ceremonial rain dances. I am willing to bet the life of my two best hunters that it is there.” Shinny gave the two hunters another forced smile.

“We will go ahead and try to take that as both a compliment and a warning of how dangerous this will be. So shove it and thank you, respectably.” Arkay, always careful with words.

“Of course my friends, here is the necessary bits and passports needed for the trip.” Shinny hooved over two crude, but credible passports. Obviously these were for travel to the zebra owned islands that dotted the sea between Equestria and the zebra lands. As well as a small pouch of bits. It seemed that the two of them would have to be making up the difference themselves. “Did I ever steer you wrong? Eh, don’t answer that. Now off you go! I have a lot of business to attend to. Happy hunting my friends!” The two hunters accepted their rather rushed and informal job brief and left the white unicorn to whatever it is that he actually did.

“I just hope that this isn't illegal or something.” Arkay voiced as he and Nero got off the steam engine.

“What? The possible trespassing, the shifty fake passports, or the less than credible source? Oh! I know, it’s probably the ruins that may or may not actually be there when we arrive, yeah?” Nero was being even more cynical than usual after the brief with Shinny.

“How about all of the above? Shinny doesn't always have our best interests in mind. However, this just seems, outlandish and perhaps more dangerous than usual. Perhaps he has finally found a job that will kill us?” Arkay said. He couldn't bring himself to believe that their one and only non-pegasus friend would actually bring them to their deaths. They had been working together for too long to just do away with the partnership.

“Not a clue, but this is our best lead after all. No use in questioning it if it ends up being a worthwhile trip. So, let’s give Shinny the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it won’t be a letdown or a trap this time.” Nero responded sounding a little hopeful for the first time that day.

Arkay knew that Nero was not being sincere with that optimism, but at least he was willing to try. If Nero could keep his head up through the doubt in his mind, so could he. With slightly lifted spirits, the two hunters made their way to the docks of Brandenbuck.

The city-town of Brandenbuck was a rather upbeat place to be in contrast to the high class drone of Canterlot. The dirt streets and roads were alive with voices and the sound of the nearby port. Being one of the major port towns in Equestria, Brandenbuck was the home of many different races and species. The main population was earth ponies, but among them were a few unicorns who actually didn't stick their nose and themselves so far above the normal crowd. Among them were a few mules, no doubt trading their goods from Mexicolt. There were however, no other pegasus within the crowded market streets, and the two hunters found themselves being eyed carefully by the crowd.

“Good to see that I am not the only one here that is a foreigner.” The steady but sure voice startled the hunters from their marveling of the bustling market. As they looked to the origin, they saw what looked like a rather large version of an earth pony, but with horns, a low face, and very stout limbs.

Startled, Nero spoke for both of the hunters. “Whoa! What, um. What exactly are…yo-“But Nero was too entranced by the necklace he found on the figure’s neck.

The large rather round figure chuckled, “Never seen a buffalo before hmm? Not surprising, I myself have seen a many things, but an earth pony with the wings of a fowl is not one of them.”

“A rather sarcastic answer for what was actually a sincere question don’t you think?’” Arkay responded while Nero simply sat there staring at the buffalo’s turquoise necklace, no doubt trying to put a price on it.

“Of course, where are my manners? I am a buffalo by the name of Tu Rock-Muck Ta, you however may call me Rock; most others seem to.” The buffalo responded.

“Right, well we are here looking for a zebra named, uh, Naburu. Have you heard of him?” Nero said, trying to get the search back on track. “We are told he can take us where we need to go.”

“Of course friends, he is the one of whom I associate with the most in this town, Naburu is down by the docks.” Rock’s mood seemed to brighten at the mention of Naburu. “I wish you good luck on whatever it is you are doing friendly chicken ponies.”

Both Arkay and Nero bristled at that comment, but just waved goodbye to the buffalo. Perhaps he really didn't know any better. So the two hunters left Rock’s market stand without another word; they really had to get going to their destination.

The docks were a drab change from the excited market street. Here there was no diversity beside the occasional mule working on small canoe-looking water craft. At the end of the dock was the strangest being the two hunters had ever seen. He had a Mohawk and several auspicious and obviously tribal pieces of jewelry pierced into his ears. Along his neck were golden rings and around his hooves were, not surprisingly, more gold rings and braces. It was as if this stranger was just asking to be robbed. The most unique trait about him was his coat; striped grey and white in confusing lines and a strange cutie-mark-esque marking on his flank. This was clearly the zebra contact Shinny had mentioned.

“Hello there friend, we are searching for a Naburu. Are you who we are looking for?” Arkay said, wanting to be the first to start conversation so that Nero couldn't offend him before he could give them a rude first impression.

Naburu however, did not seem all that eager to respond, “Depends, you with Shinny?”

“Yes.” Nero responded quickly.”we need passage to a small island called, uh...”

Naburu interrupted him before he could finish.” Ya I know the place, but this will not be safe place to be. Shinny said you could handle you selves though. So, I take him word for it.”

“Good to know that Shinny actually pulled through on this.” Arkay muttered as the two hunters climbed onto the strange zebra’s boat. Naburu went to the motor to start their journey to who knows where. The two hunters couldn't help but feel that this was going to end badly.