The Blank Flank Adventurer

by Sapare

All is well that ends well

Panting from exhaustion Dream Feather found himself quite challenged to keep going as his tired body was struck all over from the Everfree's leaves and branches. They caused him to flinch and involuntarily slow down, requiring him to glance over the other ponies running alongside him, taking in their various wounds and letting their strength inspire him to takethat one more step.

At least nothing has tried to stop us since we reached that hideout... almost questionable that the villain would give up on us.. but maybe Twilight is indeed keeping him distracted. I just hope the beacon of light is a sign of her leftover strength... and not her desperation.

His thoughts came to a halt and vanished into the depth of his mind when more pressing things arose. The group had hauled because infront of them shone now a bright wall of energy. Dream Feather's assumption was that it had to be Twilight's shield spell. Quickly moving closer to the energy wall each of the ponies tried to look onto the other side, succeeding only to have their dearest hopes ruined. On the other side lay Twilight, besides the light emitting from her horn there were no signs of her consciousness. cradled in her legs was Spike, the way his body was shaking and his glare glued on the unicorn standing infront of him made it obvious he was much more awake then his companion. The unicorn he was so focused on looked familiar to Dream Feather, it was ofcourse the same which had the blame for all terrible recent events. Seemingly he had noticed their arrival, slowly turning toward them and flashing a smile that made Dream Feather shudder with a freezing feeling.

"Ahhh, I see you have found me. I am sorry though, the light is only shinned by my wish, not hers."

As if to prove his point the light extinguished in an instant, leaving everything looking much grimmer and darker. Dream Feather was still doing his best to shake off the brainfreezing effect of the unicorns voice when Rainbow Dash came into sight. Seemingly her resolve unshaken she had strided toward the wall of energy and flashed a smirk of her own, her body no longer limping though Dream Feather believed to be able to see blood still dripping from her sides.

"You have a lot to answer for... and I am here to make you do so, so get ready for the beating of your life!"

The mare lept toward the energy wall, her determination and lack for self preservation an inspiring sight. Dream Feather had half expected the wall of energy to keep the mare out, but it did not and let her pass without any sign of complaint. The other elements and Dream Feather quickly followed in her charge. Unlike what Dream Feather had expected however Rainbow Dash did not continue her charge, instead turning back toward her friends. This alone gave Dream Feather a moment of though, his step and body halting while he was just a hoofs distance from the field of energy. He saw the others step through but instead of taking another step he focused on the unicorn on the other side.

He had always been hidden, why would he show himself so clearly now? Not to mention that Spike seems strangely... motionless, there is something that just feels off about this...

In a flash of a motion Dream Feather spun his body around, looking straight into the villain's face. The unicorn had a wide smirk and chuckled threateningly as he gave a push at Dream Feather, forcing him through the field of energy and onto the other side.

The surprised pegasus pony managed not to lose his footing as he stumbled backwards, reflexively voicing a snarl and trying to strike at the pony, which never came to connect due to being fully stopped by the magical field he had just been pushed through.

The unicorn's chuckle turned now into a laugh, his eyes feeling like poisoned daggers to Dream Feather as he made contact with them, before said unicorn turned away from him and spoke with a voice loud enough to address all of them.

"Ohhh, so simple and yet efficient... Have you all understood yet what just happened? No? Hmmm...."

His question was still ringing in through the forest air as the magical halfsphere suddenly began to shrink inward, slowly but consistently leaving less and less space in the inside. All of the ponies inside had now understood for sure, Rainbow Dash and Applejack trying to break through the field, but it did not budge or halt.

Staring outside with a murderous intent Dream Feather now also spotted what he assumed to be the real Twilight and Spike, both of them laying right to the side of the villianous unicorn. They were moving and Dream Feather even saw the lavender mare's eyes open. Coming back to consciousness the mare tried to stand back up, but weither by magic or just exhaustion she failed to do so. Dream Feather's observation of the mare came to a stop when his body once more made contact with the magical forcefield it having progress enough in its shrinking to force him further toward the middle.

Quickly shifting his glances all around himself he saw various ponies trying to break free from, or at least halt, the advancing forcefield. Feeling a surge or terror rise in his mind Dream Feather tried to calm himself, finally focusing on the events which had brought him here. Thinking about the past days it became clear to him that his current position had been caused to a great amount by actions taken out of fear and the most basic instinct, survival.

Survival is what drove me to make many of my mistakes... ruin plans and be manipulated. And it didn't always have to be my survival... sometimes other things can too seem vital to our survival... Even a pony like him has to value something...

His inner monologue came to a halt, giving way to action. While he was not even sure he really understood why he was doing them he still knew he had to be quick about it.As the leaned against the slow moving wall he turned his head toward his side, using his teeth to open the old saddlebag he had recently acquired. With a hint of a grin he pulled out the book and turned toward the male unicorn outside the field. He placed the book down on the forest floor and started to open it to a random page, reading out loud.

Today the godess introduced me to a new pony. She said that this pony had proven to be quite brilliant and show the same signs of potential I have, that she hoped I would help her where needed and act as a tutor. By the description Celestia gave this pony was still rather young and unguided. While I wondered if another ponies presence could distract me from my work I eagerly agreed, I am confident this will only help in gaining the godesses respect.

The pegasus looked up, a grin across his face as he stared right into the unicorns rather surprised expression. The two stared at each other for just a moment before a glow surrounded the book, but it did not move as Dream Feather put his whole weight on it, causing the page to rip slightly. Both ponies were hurt by the idea of this but the unicorn let go first, snarling as he yelled out.

"I could kill you right now and take this book back... what are you really trying to do?!"

Dream Feather did not break the eye contact, his soft grin turning into a smirk as he gave a glance to the ponies around him, all but Applejack and Rainbow Dash having momentarily halted their search for an escape to instead focus on the duel of words which was happening infront of them.

"You probably quite easily could, but you have five other ponies who would love to see you suffer for what you did to them... all of which have now just heard your threat and are at this very moment considering ripping this book into tiny pieces. Do you want that?"

With this the pegasus roughly flipped through a few pages of the book, his practices eyes scanning it with a readers glare before placing his hoof at a new passage. The text in this passage was much less orderly written, the lines drawn with too much pressure and conveyed an emotion of anger.

The stupid filly ruined everything! This is what I am given for trying to help and educate her? Teach her my knowledge, tricks and ideas. And now Celestia has called her..

At this point there was smeared ink instead of further words, till further down the page were words written once more in an orderly and somewhat monotone fashion.

Today Celestia called me over to speak with me in private. With a feeling of pride and respect I went to talk to her. The news she gave me however were not quite what I had expected. She said that she was ready to take the filly Twilight Sparkle as her personal prodigy and I was freed up from my duties of teaching her and could once more focus on my studies. It is obvious that this is some kind of trick she is playing, trying to make me feel a competitive need to get ahead and work for the attention I desire. I will do as my godess ordered.

The page ended there and the whole world hung in silence for a moment, non of the ponies wishing to interrupt the heavy air that had formed. The force field at this point had driving the ponies inside close enough together to make them slightly push against each other, but it had stopped there. Looking up Dream Feather saw the mysterious evil unicorns eyes stare into seemingly nothingness. The silence was shattered by Twilight, who had heard everything which had been read.

"You... Starshine? Bu...but... you loved me... taught me..."

The air around Dream Feather suddenly felt cold and he was unable to keep his eyes on the two ponies infront of him, instead turning more pages as he quickly skimmed them. Hoping to find an answer for Twilight, and himself.

I have tried everything and even succeeded to find answer's to many of the questions I had about my field of magic... and yet I feel only further away from my goals. After revealing my finds to Celestia she eagerly told me I was well on my way to great fame and bringing progress to all ponies of Equestria, and then once more left me... her graceful spirit yet again withdrawn from my sight. This was not helped by the young mare Twilight Sparkle, who constantly stayed at my queen's side, greeting me as if I was some old friend. It was obvious she was trying to tease me, to shatter my resolve and show me how she had succeeded in stealing my godess... If she was not here...

There was a short break of text and Dream Feather used it to look around himself, seeing that even Rainbow Dash and Applejack had halted their attempts of escape to listen to what he was reading, their interest peaked. Looking back at the book the Pegasus continued with the text further down the same page.

I know that you should no longer be in my possession, but I just could not bring myself to leave you, I am not ready for her to read the words said in his book. Now however, I fear she might never hear them. I have ungracefully been excluded from the Canterlot University for Magically Gifted Unicorns. All because of that demonic filly at Celestia's side. All I had to do was to get her away from my godess, and now I am the one expelled. This is however not over, I will return to my godess soon, and show her how wrong she was to trust in Twilight's 'potential'.

And there Dream Feather closed the book, having read enough to comprehend the general idea of what had brought all of them here, and what he had to say.

"And so you are here to show Celestia that she was wrong? Killing Twilight is your idea of proving your superiority? And this book, the one thing you saved for yoursef so many years ago? Some sort of prove of who you are, and why you had to do all these things? So nopony will paint you a crazed unicorn who couldn't handle the pressure of the magical stepladder but instead a dedicated hero who went to unbelievable length to show his godess that he was a worthy prodigy? Do you still truly believe this will work?"

Starshine seemed to have finally broken from his trance, staring over to Twilight and then Dream Feather he tried to force a smile. He however possessed little of his normally threatening aura.

"Ofcourse it will! My godess set me up for this, this test of ultimate competition between her students! And as for the book... I can always rewrite it!"

This left the two ponies to stare at each other with thoughtful eyes, as if both of them were trying to gauge the strength within the other, giving a soft smirk Dream Feather replied.

"Come on, Starshine, I saw that stare of yours... your expression of reliving a terrible memory. You had long forgotten why you were doing this. Everypony wants and tries to forget things they can no longer carry, and your studies in illusion magic has allowed you to influence ponies memories and thoughts. You did that to me and Rainbow Dash... and Twilight. But you also did it to yourself, to forget. But now that you see all parts of the puzzle laid out infront of you, does it really still look structurally sound?"

Starshine and Dream Feather continued to have eyes locked, till finally the unicorn broke the gaze. He instead turned around, looking down at Twilight and then up at the shining moon.

"She was the first to try to kill these ponies... and her actions forced with it my own actions. If it had been any other pony I would have accepted it... but Twilight, the pony I had helped become what she was today... who had stolen my godesses attention and admiration. She had become something mumbled about only in thousand year old legends, and I knew that it proved Celestia right... the filly's potential had been proven."

The stallion looked now at the floor, a tear dripping on the forest floor.

"I had invested my whole childhood into gaining one ponies admiration, and then this filly comes in and ruins all of my plans... only for me to invest the rest of my life, and then be outdone again. To murder Twilight would have meant nothing, but to twist the bonds of the elements and make them husks of what they are meant to be.... power even Discord had not possessed... but neither did I"

He turned back, giving each of the ponies representing an element a curious glance.

"I do not know if it is impossible to break the bond all of you share... but it is most certainly not within my power, I understand that now."

And then finally he focused on Dream Feather.

"But you Dream Feather, you are just as breakable as I was... and I apologize for this, but if my godess finds out what I have become I want her to be able to understand that it was not a fault of my own but a fault of my fate."

With this the unicorns horn glowed bright and Dream Feather felt his body shift, him being slowly pulled out of the energy field, Rarity instantly using her magic to pick up the book but not yet beginning destruction of it. Dream Feather's body came to halt infront of Starshine, who looked him into the eyes.

"You have gone throuh so much already, so often shown signs of your own insanity... but the godess won't understand unless I explain it to her in a method she can't ignore... an example."

As he said that his horn glowed again, the magical field he was holding starting once more to shrink down. The ponies inside did not waste a moment, Applejack and Rainbow Dash instinctively pushing themself against the field, trying to halt it. Rarity's horn began to glow, trying to form a magical barrier to protect herself and the other ponies.

"We both know you are the only pony able to save them... I want you to kill me Dream Feather, you will go down the same road of insanity I was forced on, and then show my goddess that insanity... how it can make any pony its slave!"

With this the field began to shrink at increasing speed, Dream Feather giving a stunned look backwards as the yelps and grunts from the other ponies drew his attention. Beside him Twilight tried to stand up but her exhausted and tired body was quickly thrown against a tree. Glaring back at Starshine he tackled the pony, pining him to the floor and striking the unicorns face. He was trying to break the ponies concentration and not kill him but Starshine held onto his deadly spell with a feral grip. Dream Feather dared only a fraction of a moment to glance at the shield and ponies inside, he believed to be able to see the field flicker but continue to hold and shrink.

He looked into the face of the unciron beneath him, who grinned madly as the first panicked screams ringed through Dream Feather's ears. It was too much for him and he let himself be overcome by the most basic instincts of survival. Instead of hitting the unicorn with his hoofs he used them to pick up Starshine's head and smash it onto the hard floor. He did not waste a moment to look back and see if the spell had vanished. Dream Feather only heard faint screams as he smashed the head into the floor once more, followed by pounding his hard hoofs onto the pony below him, blood seeped over his hoofs and into his fur. He had become completely numb to his own actions by the time reality grabbed him in the form of a cyan mare who pulled him from the bloody mess that used to be Starshine. He felt himself be surrounded and hugged by the pony and saw glimpses of cyan fur but his mind was frozen, and his body shaking.

As he half sat and half lay there, in the hoofs of the mare he had spend so many grosume moments with, he barley caught a glimpse of the events happening around him. He believed himself to see Twilight, up and trotting around, and Spike. Somewhere he saw a green flame and heard hustled conversations but the only thing his mind really focused on was the bloody mess he could see in the corner of his eyes. Rainbow Dash had turned him away from it, thinking he could no longer see it but being too distracted to notice he had shifted his head exactly so he could. The pegasus felt he could find answers in that bloody mess, answers to questions he had yet to ask himself.

At some point he could no longer take it and closed this eyes, with disgust turning himself over and rolling out of the mare's hoofs and onto the floor, only for his face to grimace from the pain that directly followed as his broken wing was squeezed between the forest floor and his own weight.

While the pain helped to sober him up the whimper coming from him had also drawn other ponies attention, Rainbow Dash shifting to rest her head at his side. She spoke with a much softer and shyer voice then he was used from her, Dream Feather was unsure if she was trying to be soothing, or just simply afraid of him.

"Hey there... just stay calm. We'll be... through all of this very soon."

Seeing Twilight walk over the pegasus tried to shift his head to look at her, but his eyes could not focus, only seeing a blur of purple as he broke down in tears.

"I killed him! I wanted to kill him all this time... and now I ended up doing it on his will! Twilight... tell me he was wrong."

There was a somber silence after this, non of the ponies speaking but Dream Feather being able to feel all of their eyes on him, his bloody body. Dream Feather heard a muttering, he believed to hear Rainbow Dash's voice but could not make out the words and then finally Twilight responded.

"Starshine is.... was obviously quite insane, it was not your fault that he made you do... this."

While Dream Feather could not quite make out why but he felt unpersuaded by her responds. But it was followed by Dash's voice, which sounded at least like she was trying to be her old self, and lighten his mood.

"What Twilight is trying to say is that unicorn was..." There was a short silence, Dream Feather assumed Rainbow Dash had turned to look back at the bloody mess. "completely wrong about you. You are not... like him at all."

Before anything ells could be said there suddenly was a flash of light that caused Dream Feather to shy away from it, before he was restrained by a comforting hug from Rainbow Dash. After the light had passed Dream Feather's eyes were no longer resting on Twilight or Rainbow Dash but instead the large white alicorn he had hear so much about. The stallion instantly tried to pick himself up and bow to the mare, but having half stood up he crumbled under his own exhaustion,burring his muzzle and body in the dirt.

The in armor adorned goddess and queen seemed to have noticed this, turning her attention toward the pony. While she had a smile on her expression the blood covered pony could feel her questioning and powerful eyes burn into his soul and mind. His mind raced with worries and thoughts about what she must be thinking, finding him covered in blood like this. He began to speak, stuttering as he does.

"M...my highness... I am sorry for..."

The distraught pegasus could not continue, sobbing once more as he glanced over at the bloody mess. He had to do it, or so his mind wants to insist, but he had still taken another ponies life. To his surprised it was Twilight who jumped in for him, trotting over to the princess and bowing to her as she spoke.

"He... he has gone through a lot as of late. I beg you do not bring judgment before having heard everything that has happened."

Seemingly this was enough for the queen of the sun shift her focus to her prime student and other elements of friendship. Her eyes graced each of them, her expression a somber but unreadable facade as her perfect eyes took note of each of their injuries and the likely hardships they had endured.

"Twilight, I need a full report on what occurred... but for now I believe all of you need some rest."

Celestia's voice seemed fully unique to Dream Feather, it had such authority he could never consider disobeying it, but there was also a loving warms, as if it was clear she would be there for anypony, and do her best to treat them as a friend rather then subject.

There was another flash of light and suddenly Dream Feather found the cold and harsh forest floor replaced with warm and embracing marble stone.

While it did not help banish the recent events it allowed him to breath in deeply and conjure the strength to look up at the other ponies. To Now that all of them were finally save, that they no longer had to worry about a missing friend, they finally showed their exhaustion and injuries.

The exhausted stallion did his best to pick up his body. However, once he was standing up his body shuddered and his mind wondered if the feeling of warms was not from the marble but the blood that was covering him. There was no conversation being held and looking up Dream Feather found himself looking straight into the eyes of Celestia. He locked eyes with her for just a moment before crumbling under her stare and looking away. Only a few moment's later a group of guards entered the room and took their places all around the sudden visitors.

The guards looked shocked and confused but still stood respectfully still. Dream Feather inspected them the best he could, feeling uneasy under their stare, feeling as if the blood covering him was becoming hotter and wetter.

Suddenly one of the ponies began to speak, even though the large white stallion looked like the guard leader he stood less steady then his companions, his voice shaky as he spoke.

"My queen, I... I insist to know what happened with my... with these ponies."

Celestia gave an understanding nod before replying, her voice seeming even softer than before.
"I do not know yet, nor is it my place to tell. I wish you to see them to some medical attention before bringing them back for a feast."

The guard captain nodded, and motioned for the other ponies to follow him, seemingly not able to overcome what ever was worrying him enough to keep him quite. To Dream Feather's surprise Rainbow Dash trotted to his side as they made their way to wherever they were being led. She looked at him with a painful smile, but he avoided the eye contact an instead looked onto the marble floor.

"Whatever they might think about you... they are wrong. They were not there, it will be difficult for them to.... understand."

Dream Feather looked at the warm marble floor, nervously shifting his good wing as he picked up the moment of hesitation in Rainbow Dash's speech. It was not that she did not understand what he had to do, but that she found it difficult to accept it. Murder was not a thing any of these ponies ever came close to even consider, much less to accept someone who had done so, no matter the conditions.

Dream Feather's attention was drawn away from this thought by seeing Twilight and the head guard walking alongside each other. Twilight seemed to be limping but he was more concerned with the two whispering.

Maybe... maybe I have just grown paranoid over the past days, but I can not help but feel like they are talking about me... who is that pony?

The pegasus stallion found that he surprised himself as he suddenly broke his own silence, speaking hoarsely as he repeated the question.

"Who is that pony?"

He could feel the nervous shake of Rainbow Dash beside him, seemingly she knew more then he did.

"That's Twilight's big brother, Shining Armor. He is nice, but rather protective of Twilight. He might question you, about... recent events."

The cyan mare physically flinched as she said "recent events" and it drew up Dream Feather's eyes, a worrying thought creeping into his mind.

I have never seen her do that before.... I understand that they are unpleasant memories, but I was there and I don't react like... that. As if something outright struck her everytime she...

He did not get to finish that thought as suddenly guard ponies hushed him into a room, away from Spike and the elements of friendship. He looked around distraught but did his best to calm himself when Shining Armor walked in, his expression a mask that hid any strong emotions he might have had.

"Dream Feather, yes?"

Even though the pegasus had done his best to calm, the authority in the unicorns voice made him nervous, losing most of his control. He looked away from the stallion and down at his bloody body, shifting as he tried to hide his obvious guilt.

"Ye..yes."

Shining Armor backed away just a little from Dream Feather and it only helped unnerve the pegasus further.

"Miss Twilight says that she finds it painful to think about you, and is unable to clearly tell me what happened back there. Considering it is my duty to make sure that everypony stays safe I hope you can more clearly paint me a picture of those events."

Unable to tell him what happened? She was right there! I had no choice... he could not have... his magic didn't work on... he really wants me to go insane.

With that rather threatening realization Dream Feather tried to gather his thoughts, focusing on bringing across the most respectable answer he could give, all the while torturing himself through yet so recent and disturbing memories. He focused his eyes on the unicorn, trying to understand his stance, but in responds only got focused on himself.

"There was a pony who hunted and attacked us. Starshine, I believe you might know him from being Twilight's mentor at a time in her earlier years."

The guard captain listened with honest curiosity, hiding any impact these statements could have behind a veil of professionalism. He replied matter of factually.

"And you killed him? Did you surprise him?"

The pegasus stallion shook softly, trying to keep a steady voice.

"He forced me to kill him, he was insane... he wanted to break the magical bond of the Elements and show that he could outdo even Discord. I... I made him understand how far he had gone, and how pointless everything was... then he forced me to kill him."

After Dream Feather had finished his purposely short explanation he felt himself under the studying eyes of Shining Armor, he felt a strange sort of fear that had not been there even in the deadly grasp of Starshine, a fear that he could end just as badly. Finally the silence was broken by the unicorn, who put on a somewhat unsteady smile.

"This whole thing is very questionable... Twilight not remember something and you telling me he forced you to kill him. But, I made mistakes before... and I don't wish to judge you on something I don't yet understand, stay here and I'll make sure you will get some medical attention."

Dream Feather nodded gratefully, knowing that this was the best he could have hoped for. However, as Shining Armor walked out he gave what seemed a last nervous glance back at Dream Feather, or more exact the area he would have cutie mark, if he had one. As he waited for the promise attention his mind continued to ran amok, trying to figure out the best solution before things could become worse.

They don't remember what happened... but there is no way Starshine had time to cast his magic for very long, the memories must be there somewhere. Dash helped me even though she must have had the same problems as Twilight... maybe she will understand.

As promised a pony with a bandaged broken bone for a cutie-mark walked in only moments after Shining Armor had left. With him also entered two guards and some ponies which looked like nurses. The pony with the broken bone cutie mark looked to be a well standing doctor, a unicorn carrying himself with confidence and grace as he laid eyes on Dream Feather, and looked rather horrified at his condition quickly telling his assistants to clean Dream Feather and allow him to look over the real extent of the wounds.

Dream Feather could not help but yelp as his broken wing was touched, but after a not too long time the doctor spoke up, his voice strong but not threatening.

"Your wing has multiple fractures and is broken at two places. I would say you are rather lucky Celestia agreed to pay for any medical attention you might need, the operation and attention required to fix this will take many months."

Before he turned to walk out he also added. "She also insisted this would be handled quickly, I plan to have everything ready by later today. And don't worry, it should not be very painful."

With that Dream Feather was left alone, though only for a moment before Shining Armor walked in once more. He seemed a bit more prepared then the last time they had talked.

"I asked the other ponies who seemed to have been present at the time of Starshine's... death. All of them seem to have the same symptoms of just not remembering very well, all but you. Wish to tell me anything more?"

The pegasus did his best to keep eye contact with the unicorn, shifting only slightly as he spoke.

"Their memories were.. altered... or at least obstructed. Starshine had a thing for doing that... if you don't believe me you can read in his diary. I already told you what he wanted me to do, I need to talk to Rainbow Dash."

Shining seemed to react to this, he motioned for Dream Feather to follow him and he did, the two leaving the room as Shining Armor replied.

"Why Rainbow Dash exactly? She asked to speak to you too."

"She and I were separated and on our own for much of the past few days in that forest, if anypony can remember what happened... anypony but me, it is her."

Soon Dream Feather found himself in a impressive sized hall with a large dinning table, all of the Elements and Celestia were present. Dream Feather gave nervous glances to the ponies he had spend life and death situation with, most of them had not noticed him or chosen to ignore him, only Twilight giving a quick glance and Rainbow Dash a weak smile.

Being guided over to Rainbow Dash Shining Armor let Dream Feather take a seat, making sure to take his own seat right beside him. He gave a weary nod at Dream Feather, making sure it was obvious he had his eyes on him. Rainbow Dash however was the first to speak.

"I accept what you did... I had toyed with the thought to...to... kill him, myself... but I am surprise--"

Dream Feather cut her off with the most sincerer voice he could muster, almost sounding like he was begging.

"Dash, stop. You have to listen to me and do as I say..." hearing a shifting from Shining Armor's side he lets out a sigh, continuing "please... Try to remember what happened when he died... YOU were there, what I did was not by my own choice but forced on me."

There was a silence, Rainbow Dash staring thoughtfully into Dream Feather's face. Her eyes closed and her face contracted with pain, seeing this Dream Feather began to speak once more.

"The energy field... the trap, Starshine's Diary... I talked him out of killing us."

There was a continued silence, and finally Dream Feather reached out with a hoof.

"Remember what you said... I aint like him, I'll never be..."

Finally the cyan mare opened her eyes, taking Dream Feather's hoof and staring at him thoughtfully.

"Of...ofcourse you'll never be like him... he was a monster and I already told you I understand what you did. You don't have to justify it to me."

Silence continued to hang as Dream Feather could not help but feel anger inside his heart rise. Forgiveness had not been his goal, forgiveness implied having something he
had to be forgiven for. Unable to reply but also unable to withdraw himself he just sat there for the moment, before Rainbow Dash was called away by Twilight.

As the other ponies took their bites and held their discussions about past events Dream Feather just sat there, on one side Shining Armor keeping a watchful eye on him and on his other side a vacant seat owned by the mare he had trusted never to abondem him. At one point he stood up and walked out to the closest balcony. Shining Armor had as expected gotten up to follow him, but once Dream Feather had stepped outside he saw no sight of him anymore, ignoring the lack of the unicorns presence he instead focused on the garden infront of him. In a better time he would have found it quite soothing, now it just served to remind him how far from home he was, both in a physical and mental state.

This musing however was interupted by a voice he had not expected to hear, Spike.

"Dream Feather?"

This was the second time he had been talked to in such a shy manner, but he found it quite pleasant to have anyone speak to him at this time, turning his head he nodded at the dragon to continue.

"Twilight had mentioned what you said about my kidnapping... said about what you did."

Dream Feather shuddered to think back to that day, not only did it seem so very far gone, but the memory also felt painful and dark to think about. Very painful and dark to think about. Not giving it any more thought he nodded quickly, letting Spike continue once more.

"I was there, you didn't attack me at all... You lied, without knowing you did. What he did to you back there, and now no-pony is able to tell me what happened to Starshine while I as unconscious... they tell me you murdered him."

Voicing a sigh the pegasus turned back to look at the garden, feeling much to weak to argue. To his surprise the baby dragon was not done yet.

"They are lying to me, without knowing they are. That unicorn was the most violent pony I had ever seen, and considering how he made you lie about yourself... I don't see why he couldn't have made them lie about you too."

The pegasuses ears picked up a shuffling before hearing a few final words.

"Thankyou, for whatever you did back there... I know it was necessary to keep Twilight safe."

Turning his head it a sense of awe at the little dragons ability to piece together the truth he could see that Spike had once again disappeared inside, currently hugged tight against Twilight's tired looking body. Dream Feather smiled softly before being once more caught off guard by somepony.

"Spike is quite deductive, he picked it up from the smartest unicorn I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and teaching."

Dream Feather turned toward the voice, finding himself looking at Celestia, being quick to respectfully bow to her. She waved a hoof, commanding him to be at ease.

"It is by my apology for the troubles you had to face, and now still have to face. While I was not present myself I have payed close attention to your actions and words, and Spike's testimony only concluded my assumption that you have been framed. And while I can not change my student's or any of her friend's mind, I assure you that are not to be unfairly judged by the state of Equestria or the godes's you so rightfully serve."

This was rather much for the pegasus to accept, he had been struggling to prove his innocents, only for the most powerful pony in Equestria to pardon him without any of the prove he had been trying to find. He could not help but let some of the tension from his body escape, giving a grateful bow as he let the sungodes continue.

"And if I may inquire for it, I wish to hear your full retelling of the events Twilight and her friends seem to be unable to recall."

Dream Feather smiled and nodded eagerly, daring to turn away and look back out at the garden as he replied. Thanking her he began his recounting of the past events, in more depth then to Shining Armor as he felt less of a rush to bring things to their right.

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By the time Dream Feather's retelling of the most recent events had finished the time had grown late, Celestia having started the setting of the sun while he had continued. Having waited for him to finish she turned toward him and smiled, this time being the pony to give a respectful bow.

"What happened back there was terrible, and will not be without its scars upon you. But I knew Starhine for many of my years, and you are not him nor will you ever be him."

As she said the next sentence her face seemed to distort in sadness and disappointment.

"Sadly however, even I can not return Twilight or her friends their memory, this is a art of magic only Starlight had ever truly broken, and it seems he decided to take it into his grave with him. Unless his diary has notes on it, but I fear my glances through it revealed non of such nature."

Dream Feather had somewhat assumed this would be the case, nodding somberly he replied.

"I understand... Could I however have permission to borrow the book? I might be able to find something of interest in it... even if only to the help with the struggles I might yet face."

Celestia seemed to consider this for only a fraction of a moment before nodding and smiling back once more.

"Ofcourse, I was planning to offer you your stay here for the time being as it is. While I have one of the bests working on your wing and am confident he will fix it with expert precision , it is not a thing of haste and you'll be grounded for a while still. "

Turning to look at the now rising moon and smile softly Dream Feather nods, letting the burdens of the recent events leave his mind for this one moment.

"Thankyou my goddess. I am sure that within these walls I will recover quickly. And while I do so, I will study Starshine's diary and inform you if I find anything of interest."

Author's Note:

Here it is, the final chapter of Blank Flank Adventurer. It is not technically finished as it never got edited and it was supposed to have a rewrite(there are some plotpoints that don't add up and there was a scene I meant to write in). But because my whole life got turned upside down and I lost my editor and a bunch of other stuff back when I was originally writing this chapter I had never got to finishing it. I actually have not touched this in approximately a year and it was written before I ever even came up with 'Lunar war'.

I consider this story my magnum opus and I am 100% proud of it, I reread it about two months ago and it still holds up. Sure it has its problems and mistakes, but it upholds what I value in a story, that is a coherent plotline that doesn't fall on 'because' reasoning to explain events and actions.

There was a squeal planned for this story, it was supposed to focus on Dream Feather's study of the diary and his struggling with the events that had befallen him in this story, currently no plans to write it and the little I had gotten done has since been lost.

Either way, my hope is that someday in the future I can come back to this chapter and rewrite it to be up to par.
But till then, thank you for having read the Blank Flank Adventurer, I hope you enjoyed the journey.
-Sapare