//------------------------------// // CHAPTER FOUR: FIRE // Story: Mind Over Might // by SilentSky //------------------------------// --- It was a few hours before he woke up again, and it was still the dead of night. Knight Sky awoke to the sound of a savage growl. He bolted himself upright, much to his body’s protest. His rib stabbed him with pain, and he clutched it again. He looked up to see a hideous creature standing before him. It was some sort of chimera; a huge lion with bat wings and a scorpion’s tail. He didn’t fight off the armored guards, he ran from them and outsmarted them. He was within striking distance of this chimera. If he had more time and distance, maybe he could have found a way to outsmart it and run from it too. He was still having a hard time moving from his injuries, and the chimera had already reared back and raised its front claws to strike. Knight Sky closed his eyes and braced for his end, thinking once again of Adra, thankful he’d remembered her in time for his death. A sickening crack echoed through the air, and Knight Sky felt a searing pain slice across his face. Blood oozing into his right eye, he opened his left eye to see the chimera lying dead on the ground, its neck snapped, and a claw having delivered a glancing swipe to his face as it fell. He was just about to wonder what killed it when he looked up and saw his answer. It was a pony, a much larger pony than any he’d previously met. Her eyes looked down upon him with an imperious glare. She had broad wings which were spread wide, as well as a long, sharp horn. Her mane and tail were a dark blue aurora that sparkled like the night sky, and her coat was a very deep midnight blue. About her neck was a black metallic torc that bore a moon crest. The horn glowed slightly, as did the twisted neck of the chimera. In his condition, he barely escaped the guards and could not have fought off the chimera. This pony’s very presence radiated power. He knew just from seeing her that even if he was in perfect shape, she could swat him aside with ease. Now, with a stabbing pain in his side, one eye blinded with blood, and the throbbing laceration over his face, he felt the same fear he did when he lay helpless during his first encounter with Twilight Sparkle. Knight Sky, both from fear and sudden blood loss, collapsed to the ground. He did not pass out, but he may as well have: all the fight had left him before so powerful a being. With his one good eye, he looked up at her. She slowly walked towards him with her intimidating gaze fixed upon him. He began, “…please, don’t kill-” She interrupted him, “Silence.” There was no fury in her voice, only a commanding tone that he dared not argue with. “You are the alien who has somehow taken the form of a pegasus, is this correct?” “Yes…that’s correct.” “We are one of the princesses who preside over this land; many of our subjects are very suspicious of you, they feel you have come to bring evil to our peaceful land. Are they correct?” He was offended at this, and summoned some strength to defend himself, shakily standing up as he said, “Absolutely not.” “Do you deny that your people are capable of bringing great harm to us? Believe us when we say that we have observed humanity, and we do not like what we have seen.” That struck deep. However she knew he was originally a human, and however she managed to glimpse humanity, she could not have seen anything good. He remembered the senseless bloodshed of the third Faction conquest, the apparent glee it brought to other members of the Faction... “I can see that the memories cause you pain.” Her tone was a bit less harsh, and her glare less intimidating, perhaps even a bit sympathetic. He replied, “My race is a violent race…I don’t deny it. I remember very little since crash-landing on your planet, but I know there were those of us who would do anything to protect what mattered to us.” He paused and sighed heavily with closed eyes, hoping that his next statement would not spell his end. “If you don’t believe I’m worthy of remaining here for even a moment longer, then please, send me away. I don’t want to bring the horrors of my race to your world.” She stepped closer. “Lower your head.” He looked at her with his sad, and now confused, eye. “Lower your head; I will enter your dreams and search your memories. You seem to regret the bloody ways of your race, but I will determine for myself what your true character is.” Knight Sky obeyed, her horn touched his head, and he immediately fell asleep. --- When he awoke, Knight Sky felt no more pain in his ribs. He could see out of both eyes, and felt no wound on his face. He looked around to find himself back in the bed at Fluttershy’s cottage. It was still night time. Knight Sky looked around to his other side. He found the midnight blue mare standing over him, and his fear returned. Panicked, he let out a raspy yelp from his dry throat, and pushed himself back, falling off the edge of the bed. Frowning, and feeling slightly hurt, she enveloped him in a dark blue aura and levitated him gently back onto the bed. “Please, be still. There is nothing to fear, I will not harm you,” she assured him. “I am Princess Luna, guardian of the night. Do you remember me from our encounter in the forest?” “I…yes. I remember you.” She walked over to a nearby cushion and seated herself before continuing. “As the Princess of the Night, I have the power to enter dreams. That is why I sent you into a deep sleep. Once you had crossed the borders of wakefulness, I looked into your mind and saw your memories, many of which have not yet returned to you. I expected to find a violent human who killed for pleasure.” “Is that what you found?” Knight Sky asked fearfully. She closed her eyes as if to hide sadness. “I found the memories of one who has seen much evil, has suffered greatly, and has even killed. But I can see that every time you killed, it was the most painful experience of your life, and you regretted it every time. There are those of your race who would kill to conquer; you killed to stop them. You have much anguish ahead of you, for I found as yet unrecovered memories that I do not wish to see again. There will be more suffering in your future as you remember who you were, but you will do it here with the friends you’ve made. It is my judgment that you be allowed to remain here.” Knight Sky was overwhelmed. He did not know what to ask first, so he settled on the most pressing question he could think of: “Adra…I don’t remember how I lost her.” A hint of a tear formed in Luna’s eye. “Are you…certain you want to know just yet? It is quite possibly the most painful memory I found in all of your consciousness.” “I have to know, I’ve had this suspicion for a while…did I kill her?” Luna let a tear fall. “You loved her deeply. You could not stand to let her suffer as she was.” He fell backwards onto the bed, and lay on his back, softly crying. “I did it then. I loved her and I was the one who ended her life.” A silver-clad hoof touched his shoulder, “You were the one who freed her from the greatest torment imaginable. Knight Sky, there is something you must know.” He looked over to Luna. No longer did she look imposing; she looked almost fearful. “I found something else in your mind; it was not a traumatic memory, but something much worse. A beast dwells within your consciousness. It bides its time and waits for the right moment; it wants to devour your mind, your memories, your personality, your entire awareness, until only it remains. A similar beast is what took Adra from you. Given what you had at your disposal, ending her suffering was the only way to help her. You could not have stopped it, and there was nothing else you could have done for her.” He looked questioningly at her. “If there is no way to stop it, then why let me live here?” “There is a way.” Luna sighed heavily; she appeared to have been dreading this part of the conversation. “I’ve seen beasts like this one before hidden deep within innocent minds. The only way to defeat it is for me to help you destroy it. First, you must allow it to consume your mind. Only then is it exposed enough to destroy. You will regain your full awareness, and the beast will be forever vanquished, but you must draw it out of hiding. That may be more pain than you can bear.” He paused for a moment. In order to defeat the beast that had been trying to overtake him, he had to first succumb to it. He wondered what the pain would be like; if it would be fear, panic, anger, or something unknowable as of yet. With all the questions spinning around his head, one surfaced that demanded attention first: “Where’s Fluttershy?” Luna began, “I know she was able to stop it before, but when the beast reaches full power, she won’t-” “Where is Fluttershy?!” he insisted. Shocked at his sudden outburst, Luna quickly realized what he meant, and nodded understandingly. Her horn glowed for a split second. “What did you do?” he asked. “I summoned the guards who are currently protecting her. They will be here momentarily.” As soon as she finished, the door to the cottage opened and the clatter of armor entered the home. Two pegasus guards entered, whom he recognized as part of the group that had attempted to subdue him just hours earlier. They were escorting Fluttershy, who he’d never seen more afraid. However, the moment she saw Knight Sky, she lit up and flew straight over to his side. Before he could speak, he was smothered in a wash of yellow and pink. “I was so worried! The guards showed up out of nowhere and they took me and said you were dangerous! They said you came to hurt us and you’d be put in a dungeon! It was all so confusing and…” her voice trailed off. He stroked her mane much like she had done for him in his moments of terror. “There’s nothing to worry about now,” he lied. After a moment of their embrace, Luna smiled and said, “While you slept, I informed Fluttershy of…well, most of what has transpired. She was indeed very concerned for you.” “Thank you,” he said to Luna. “Please, withhold your gratitude. There is still much she must be informed of.” Luna explained to Fluttershy everything she found within Knight Sky’s mind, including the slumbering beast within, and how it must be destroyed. As Luna began, Fluttershy appeared nervous of what was coming, but as the explanation continued, her expression set into one of determination, and she finally said, “I won’t let this happen unless I can be there for him.” “Are you certain, Fluttershy? For several minutes, he will lose himself entirely. He may say things that hurt, and may do horrible things. Though his body will live, his mind will be killed. It is up to me to ensure it is returned. Your presence is not required, and the ordeal may be painful for you as well.” Luna asked her. “I-I’m certain. If that’s alright.” Luna nodded and looked back to Knight Sky. “The final key to freeing the beast is your original name. Discover it, relearn it, and tell it to no one but me, and then we will free your beast that we may destroy it, and return your mind to you. It is essential that I am the only one alive who knows your original name.” --- It took a week of trial and error, but Twilight and Knight Sky managed to bring the main flight computer on the crashed space fighter back to life. The idea was Twilight’s, and it truly did credit to her intellect. She had been the one to deduce that there had to be some sort of data processing machine on-board to assist with interstellar navigation. The hope was that it would contain flight records which may include his original name and lots of other useful data. Knight Sky noticed that every time they worked on the fighter, a different suspicious-looking creature seemed to be watching. Today, it was a rat. If he didn’t have more pressing concerns, it would have merited his full attention. “Twilight, has anyone ever told you that you’re an absolute genius?” Knight Sky asked her. Truthfully, if given time, he would likely have remembered the existence of the computer, and how to operate it. However, after a mere few minutes sitting in the cockpit, Twilight simply figured it out. She blushed at the compliment. “Oh, stop it, Knight Sky. It’s just simple logic.” “Give yourself some credit, you figured out the central operations of an alien spacecraft after only a few minutes of looking at it,” he insisted, putting an encouraging hoof on her shoulder. She simply shrugged, “Thanks, but let’s try to focus here. Besides, save some compliments for Fluttershy.” Knight Sky’s enthusiasm turned to slight embarrassment. Fearing the answer, he asked, “What do you mean?” “Let’s just say she’s far more trusting of you than she is of most stallions,” Twilight said with a knowing grin. He had his suspicions on Fluttershy’s feelings for him, but wasn’t sure how to respond. He used to be human, but now he was a pegasus in body and was rapidly becoming so in mind. Knight Sky had just rediscovered the wounds he had sustained in losing Adra, and they were still healing. Everything he could remember of her only brought his mind back to losing her, and so many more terrible memories, that merely thinking about her had become painful. Meanwhile, thinking of Fluttershy seemed to have an almost therapeutic effect. Truth be told, he was becoming very fond of her; perhaps if he survived the ordeal he now faced, he could find happiness after all. Stammering, he said, “L-let’s just try to find some flight records.” “Sure thing,” Twilight chuckled, moving her focus back to their project. Searching through the digital archives of the fighter’s onboard computer, they came across a technical readout of its mothership. “That’s...that was my ship, that’s a schematic of the Deus ex Machina.” he told her. “Incredible, alien starship engineering right here. I have to take this down.” She eagerly began writing down notes when something caught Knight Sky’s eye. It was the inventory of standard weaponry carried by a Dragon-class starship. He opened up the weapons inventory and read it off, “16 hull mounted heavy plasma cannons, 32 defense turrets, 4 directed EMP generators, and two bow-mounted ballistic projectile launchers each supplied with 140 kinetic projectiles, 75 incendiary projectiles, and 15 thermonuclear warheads...” He was about to continue the list when the words ‘thermonuclear warheads’ stuck in his mind. “Please continue, I was- Knight Sky, are you alright?” Twilight asked, concern in her voice. He was staring off into nothingness and responding with only a look of horror. A memory had returned to him. “What’s wrong?” Twilight questioned. “I just remembered what we did to our home planet.” --- [soundtrack] Knight Sky and Twilight Sparkle sat in her library. As soon as she realized the gravity of what the stallion had just remembered, she used her magic to teleport both of them straight there. “Are you ready to tell me what happened?” she asked insistently. “No, and you’re not ready to hear it. This world is too beautiful and peaceful to know what we did, to comprehend the unforgivable crimes my race has committed,” he replied, turning for the door. “But how can we hope to avoid the mistakes of your race if we don’t even know them?!” Twilight retorted, cutting him off before he could leave. Shocked at the inescapable logic of her statement, Knight Sky stopped in his tracks and said, “A brilliant mind like yours could have ended the war in a week. Alright, I’ll tell you. You have to promise me that you will be very careful who this gets to.” “Don’t worry, you can trust me with this.” she assured him. With a heavy sigh, he began. “59 years ago, my home planet was locked in a war than had been raging for years.” “The last real war we had in Equestria was almost 1,500 years ago...” Twilight mused sadly, before realizing she had once again cut him off and forced herself to be silent. Briefly doubting if he should be telling her this, he continued, “We now call it the War of the Great Burning. Our world was made up of nearly three hundred different nations, alliances were fragile at best, and hatred reigned supreme.” Knight Sky paused when he heard the scratching of a quill. Twilight had begun taking notes. After a bit of hesitation, he continued. “There was a super-weapon developed on our planet, Earth, over a thousand years ago. It’s a bomb so powerful that just one of them can blow away an entire city in a single shot. The first one ever used in war vaporized more than half of the target city and ended more than a hundred thousand lives within minutes.” Twilight already looked horrified at the idea of a weapon like that. He decided not to tell her the rest of what had happened in that war. “Believe me, when you compare it to what some of the other nations were doing, it’s almost merciful... almost.” She buried her horror and continued writing. He sighed and looked out the nearby window. “In that war long ago, only one nation was armed with that weapon. By the time of the Great Burning, the weapon was held by nearly all of the three hundred or so nations on Earth. It had also evolved by hundreds of years, and was that much more devastating.” The violet unicorn looked to be on the verge of tears from the sheer shock that something like this could actually be real, but he pushed on. She was right, the best way to prevent such tragedies from repeating themselves was to learn about them, however hard it was to hear. In his distaste at the memory, Knight Sky became more descriptive than he’d intended. “No one really knows who used the first one, or the last one. There was nothing left to find out. Once one nation used the bomb, it became a frenzy. Within weeks, the planet was dead. Complete nuclear holocaust. Before the war, Earth looked shockingly similar to your beautiful world: green fields, clear blue skies, teeming with life. Now, the Earth is a dead hunk of charred rock with a toxic ocean, an unbreathable atmosphere hot enough to melt lead, and a hazy sky the color of blood.” Twilight’s horror had descended into despair, she was crying. Perhaps he had been a bit too vivid in his description of the Great Burning. He went over to comfort her, but she pushed him away fiercely. “H-how...how could you do that to your planet? Your own world?!” she shouted suddenly, in a wash of fury and tears. He had never been blamed for the Great Burning, his parents weren’t even born yet when it happened, but it stung. “Maybe I was right about you the first time I saw you. I shouldn’t have helped you, Fluttershy shouldn’t have helped you... you’re just a monster,” she sobbed. It was like a dagger to the heart, “I...” “Just get out. Leave. I don’t care where you go.” --- It was sunset. Knight Sky wandered through the slowly darkening streets. Ponies gave him suspicious sideways glances and kept their distance, but otherwise did not disturb him. He walked aimlessly, not caring where his hooves carried him. Twilight was right, humans had turned into monsters by the time of the Great Burning. Perhaps they deserved their fate. His hooves eventually carried him to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Night was falling, but he continued onward, deep into the forest, no longer caring if he lived or died. Twilight’s words continued to ring through his head. She’s right, I’m a monster, just like every other human... I’m no better than that Faction soldier... He wandered deep into the forest for hours without caring where he went. It was well after midnight when Knight Sky collapsed from hunger and fatigue. His dreams were vivid and horrific. He watched humanity tear itself apart and destroy its own planet. He watched again, and again, and again...until he felt a familiar presence. At first, he feared it, but then it reassured him, and he remembered who it was. The presence watched his dreams with him and comforted him. It tried to get him to wake, to remember that not all was lost and that there was hope. Knight Sky awoke some time later to the sounds of shouts and the clatter of armor. “Your majesty! We’ve found him!” a gruff voice called out. He weakly opened an eye to find it was still night, standing over him were two Lunar Guards. Coincidentally, one of them was the guard that had attempted to subdue him with a cudgel in their previous encounter. Noticing the movement below, the guard set his draconic eyes onto Knight Sky, who then closed his own eyes and braced for the vengeance he was too weak, and now too apathetic to fight. The guard must have caught on. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. Knight Sky said nothing, the guard continued. “Don’t be afraid, we’re here to help you.” A more familiar voice greeted them, “Excellent work, Sergeant Iron Feather, form up the Night Guard outside of Fluttershy’s residence.” The armored pegasi took flight and left the two of them alone. “I...had hoped to be present when you found that memory,” she said with a tone of slight disappointment. “Why?” he asked weakly. Luna looked away momentarily. “I believe I could have helped to make it less traumatic.” “That’s not what I meant.” “I see...” Luna replied. “I did not believe the recall of that memory would be so damaging. Perhaps we should continue this conversation in Fluttershy’s home.” “She should never have to see a monster like me again. Just leave me here to die, it’s for the best.” “I grow impatient,” Luna said, and before he could form a response, he opened his eyes to see her horn flash; an instant later, they were both in Fluttershy’s cottage. --- “Is my race really worth saving? What if we do to the new worlds we colonize what we did to Earth? Do we even deserve to survive?” Knight Sky had been teleported straight from where he lay in the forest to a seat at a table in the main room of the cottage. Luna sat across from him, and had fully informed Fluttershy, who took the news shockingly well. She was simply offering comfort to the stallion, her wing draped over his back as he slumped forward in his seat, leaning heavily on the table. He consoled himself in the warmth of her body up against his own after shivering on the cold ground of the forest for hours. “I speak from personal experience when I say that all beings deserve a second chance. It is true that your forbears committed unforgivable crimes, but members of your race age far quicker than members of ours, of which you are now a part, I might add. The generation responsible for those crimes is likely entirely gone,” the alicorn assured him. “But what if we... they make the same mistakes again? What if billions die again because someone, somewhere, did not heed history’s lesson?” “Have faith, Knight Sky. Your race was intelligent enough to develop faster-than-light travel. I believe they will learn. Do not assume the worst of anyone, or anything.” After a pensive moment, he said, “I have a request.” Luna nodded, “Being?” “I’d like the chance to apologize to Twilight Sparkle. She was the first to know what happened as soon as I remembered it. She took the news...poorly.” “I will ask her to come here personally. Please wait for me, I shall return soon.” Luna dissolved into a twinkling dark blue mist, and ghosted out the window off in the direction of Ponyville. --- Luna arrived at Twilight’s library and residence to find her in a restless sleep. Her dreams were chaotic and filled with remorse of harshly spoken words. This gave the Princess of the Night a better idea of what had happened. She suspected something had gone awry; though she didn’t expect her sister’s prized student to be at fault, it now appeared that way. The alicorn reached out to the dreams of the sleeping mare. “Twilight Sparkle,” she whispered into her mind, “it is I, Luna. You must awaken. There is much we have to discuss.” Luna gave her a moment to wake before entering the library through a window and rematerializing in the main room. A sleep-bedraggled Twilight walked down the stairs to meet her. Luna nodded politely to the librarian. “Good evening Twilight Sparkle, I apologize for interrupting your rest.” Twilight shook the sleep from her mind to properly address her. “Not at all, Princess. What brings you here at this hour?” “Something unfortunate has happened, and I must speak with you.” Luna gave Twilight a weighted look. Moments later, the two of them sat down, steaming tea in front of them. After a brief moment, Luna sipped her tea and finally said, “I’ve come here seeking information, Twilight.” Twilight looked around as if to gesture to the multitude of old tomes that filled her shelves, “Well, this is a library, I’ve got plenty of that here. What happened?” “The information I seek lies not in a book; rather, it is within you. I believe you may have an idea as to why some of my Lunar Guard and I just found Knight Sky alone in the Everfree Forest asking for death,” she said with just a hint of impatience in her tone. A pained look flashed over Twilight’s features and was quickly replaced by one of shame as her ears flattened to her head. “I’m sorry, I think that might be my fault.” Luna simply nodded. “There are some facts you must be made aware of. Members of his race, called humans, live far shorter lives than ponies. 59 years ago, when his race destroyed its own planet, it is more than likely that his parents were not even born yet. He had nothing to do with the destruction, and he did not choose his current situation.” “So...I blamed him for something he had absolutely nothing to do with?” her look of shame deepened. Luna softened her demeanor, noticing that Twilight recognized her mistake. “You are correct. I have looked into Knight Sky’s mind and I have seen his memories. In his former life, though he was fighting a war, he was doing so to save lives, not end them. He is truly good at heart, and has suffered greatly. Fluttershy has referred to him as a knight; that may be so, but knight or not, he is a broken soldier. You must be more careful of what you say to him. Please be aware, much of what I am about to tell you includes memories even he has not yet recovered.” Luna told her everything she had seen in Knight Sky’s mind, including his defection from the Faction and why he did it, life onboard the Deus ex Machina and in the civil war that gripped the human race, his romance with Adra, and what he was inevitably forced to do when she was rewritten. Through it all, Twilight listened intently, not quite knowing what to make of it just yet. “I...I had no idea he’d suffered so much.” she said sadly. “And he has only recovered about half of those memories. He will suffer them again when they return to him. Whether we like it or not, he has come to us from afar and is now one of us. We must treat him as such.” “I’m so sorry, Princess, I’ve made a huge mistake. Is there anything I can do to fix it?” Twilight asked. “I am not the one to whom you should be apologizing. Though I accept it, none are infallible. I recommend that you use the powers you’ve learned so much about in your time here in Ponyville.” “What powers would those be?” she asked, sounding hopeful. Luna smiled. “I believe it is high time for Knight Sky to have friends.” --- Luna rejoined Knight Sky and Fluttershy in the cottage. Before either of them could speak, she stepped aside to reveal a very apologetic-looking Twilight. She hesitated until Luna spoke up. “Twilight Sparkle, I believe there is something you intended to say to Knight Sky.” Knight Sky looked up from the table where he had his head down to see who had arrived. Twilight flinched at the miserable look he wore. “Knight Sky...words fail me completely...” the magnitude of what she’d done dawning on her, Twilight began to lose her composure, “I said some horrible things. I had no idea what you’ve been through, and I jumped to conclusions. After what I said, I shouldn’t be asking this, but can you find it in your heart to forgive me?” “Can you imagine what it’s like, Twilight?” he asked in a quiet voice. She hesitated. “Imagine what what’s like?” “To be forced to put to death someone you love. To tell them you love them, and beg forgiveness as you put a bullet through their heart.” Twilight could only stand in tears as Knight Sky went on. “Ever since I remembered that, I’ve wished I could forget it again. Every time I think about it, I try to convince myself that there was no other way, that I was freeing her from torment beyond imagining. As I remember more and more of my former life, the days get harder and harder, and I...” now he too was in tears. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. How can I be expected to even want to continue living when there’s so much I don’t even want to remember about my life?” Twilight looked as though she were about to say that she had no idea how, until she suddenly walked around to Knight Sky’s side opposite from Fluttershy, who still had her wing draped over his back. Twilight put a foreleg over him and tried to comfort him as well, and said, “You’ll be able to live on because you’ll have lots of friends to help you through it no matter what. I’ll make sure of that.” He looked at her sadly, and she only returned a genuine smile. “I promise you right here and now, you’ll never have to stand alone again. Not if I can help it.” After a moment of the two mares just helping him through his despair, Knight Sky finally spoke. “I forgive you, Twilight. You made a mistake and I forgive you for it.” Satisfied, Luna smiled and said, “I must return to Canterlot, royal duties call. I shall inform my sister of Equestria’s new citizen.” After another hour or so, Twilight left the cottage, asking both he and Fluttershy to come to her library in the afternoon the next day, rather than meet her at the storage shed at sunrise. Why she said this, he couldn’t be sure, but he wasn’t going to argue. After an emotional roller coaster of a day and half of a night, the two pegasi were beyond exhausted. They headed upstairs to the guest room as soon as Twilight left. As Knight Sky walked to the guest bed, Fluttershy spoke up, “Um...Knight Sky, I know you’ve been through a lot, and I know how much it helps to have somepony close by in times like this, so I was wondering...um...would you maybe want to, um, share a bed, i-if that’s okay?” she asked, blushing. He couldn’t help but smile, and think, I guess Twilight wasn’t joking... Just as he thought that, Adra’s voice surfaced in his subconscious, “Go for it, lover-boy; you need her and she needs you.” He smiled at the mare, and simply nodded his agreement. For the first time in weeks, Knight Sky slept utterly without nightmares. --- Though Knight Sky had forgiven her, she had a hard time forgiving herself for what she had inadvertently done to him. She couldn’t stop herself from imagining the poor stallion lying on the forest floor asking Luna to kill him. Twilight shuddered at the very thought. That’s my fault...I have to make it up to him somehow. She didn’t leave Fluttershy’s home until she had thought of a way. As soon as she did, however, she insisted he visit her the next day. A certain pink mare would have her work cut out for her, but she’d succeeded with harder tasks than this. As she walked, she formed a mental checklist for her plan to succeed. Guess I’d better start by cleaning up the library tonight...