Gem sat in a shed as she hammered a pin into an arrow that locked the metal arrow head onto the shaft. As she focused on the sharp edges of the arrow head, she could hear sounds from her own memories as they slowly made themselves known, “Hold the line!- They are coming sir!- GO, GO, GO!!!”
As the sounds of her memories got louder in her mind clouding out what she was doing, a voice interrupted as it caught her off guard, “um… Ms. Stone?”
Although she was caught off guard, it barely showed as the hammer missed the pin entirely and hit the shaft of the arrow with enough force to snap it.
Hiding the mistake, Gem kept her expression as she turned to Cirrus and replied, “Yes?...”
Cirrus saw the mistake but ignored it as he replied, “I’m… not doing so well. Could you come out here and give me a pointer… or five?”
Sighing in an annoyed way, Gem Stone placed the arrow in a nearby trashcan as she picked up her bow and trotted outside the shed to see his target. When she got outside, she saw Zine meditating next to the sleeping Spike as her glance went past them to Cirrus’s archery target that was sitting about ten feet away from the ready line. As Gem Stone looked at the target she could see one arrow embedded in the very edge with the rest of the quiver’s arrows scattered in front and behind the stationary target.
Looking at the almost bare target, Gem Stone spoke, “Well… at least you got one.”
Cirrus sighed, “No… I didn’t. That was Zine seeing if he could do it… Apparently he can, better than me anyways.”
Gem nodded, “yea maybe the bow isn’t your weapon of choice… So what else would you like to try?”
Zine replied in his meditative state, “might I make a suggestion?”
Gem Stone looked at him as she replied, “If you have to.”
Zine opened his eyes as he stood up and replied, “Your focus seems to be mainly offense. Perhaps you could try something a little… defensive.”
Gem Stone gave Zine a curious look, “defensive… like… a spear?”
Zine nodded his head, “sure… but better make it a staff. A spear blade is considered offensive.”
Cirrus was suspicious, “What do you mean defensive… are you hiding something from us?... again?”
Zine shrugged his shoulders, “plenty… but that’s not the point. Fact of the matter is; you are the Third Commander. The very commander said to bring peace to the kingdom as prophesized.”
Cirrus was confused, “okay… all I hear is this Third Commander stuff… but exactly who foresaw this?”
Zine smiled, “ever heard of the name Zera?”
Both Cirrus and Gem Stone gave him a clueless look as Spike sat up and replied, “Zera was a fortune teller who was born in the Everfree forest. If she foresaw it, it came true, from the changeling extinction, to the fall of the Cristal Empire… she even predicted Thundaga’s rise to power. Although she kept that one to herself.”
Cirrus replied, “Rise to power? So she’s a pony from before Thundaga’s reign.”
Zine shook his head, “not at all… Zera was a zebra.”
Both Gem and Cirrus were confused, “A zebra?”
Zine chuckled, “yes… a zebra. Born right here in Equestria to a zebra and a changeling no-less. She was one of my ancestors. Daughter to Zecora the enchantress of the Everfree, and her husband Zeil of the Black Sand.”
Gem Stone replied, “Of the black what?”
Spike replied, “It was the name of the kingdom changeling colonies used to be in. So it was given to him when he presented himself to Princess Celestia.”
Cirrus nodded, “okay… noted. So what does this have to do with me?”
Spike continued, “Before leaving Equestria, Zera wrote down a number of predictions that she wanted me to keep safe. But she gave only one rule, I must never interfere with anything on the list. Meaning that even when I saw something I didn’t like… and I did… I couldn’t try to change it. And from that day forward, I’ve been marking the things off one by one. But… shortly after the conflict between the dragon and ponies began, a royal guard found the list and gave it to Thundaga. And after that, Thundaga’s guards started spreading the contents of that same list through the rumor chain all over Equestria. Luckily there were only four things left on that list.”
Cirrus gestured that he wanted Spike to continue, “And they are?...”
Spike replied, “The will of the past, shall make itself known. A Great Spirit will awaken. The Third Commander will wake the Thunder Grounds and bring peace. And a dark entity will return with the power of the pegasi.”
Cirrus and Gem looked at each other in confusion as Gem asked, “those are pretty vague, any idea of what they mean?”
Zine replied, “The will of the past, are the visions I’ve been getting from my ancestors. And I can only guess the spirit is the Lightning Orb in Cirrus.”
Gem nodded, “okay and the commander of peace is Cirrus… but what about the last part. What is the dark entity that will return? Is that Thundaga’s rise to power?”
Spike shook his head, “see for many years I thought that it was… but something was off. When I went down the list of events, I found out that they were all in order. Everything, from the wars started outside of Equestria and their results, to the execution of the changeling Queens, even the Cerberus puppies. All in order. But… that dark entity prediction was the last thing on the list. So it can’t be Thundaga. And… that’s not the worst part.”
Cirrus asked, “Really?... what’s the worst part?”
Zine answered, “That last thing on the list, is the last thing on the list.”
Cirrus was confused, “meaning?...”
Gem sighed, “Meaning that the dark entity… could very well be the end of the world as we know it. Right?”
Spike shrugged his shoulders, “yea… that or she may have had no visions of anything after that one. I’m hoping that she just ran out of things to write down. But even still… I’ve never been able to find out what that dark entity is. All I know, is that it says return. So it was here before.”
Gem replied, “I have an idea… you think Nightmare Moon might return?”
Hearing this made Cirrus feel nervous as Zine shook his head, “I was thinking more of a changeling queen returning for revenge or something. Who knows? Even I couldn’t figure out what it was. And dark magic is literally my specialty.”
Cirrus felt a little more nervous now, but not as much as when Spike nervously added, “you don’t think… that The Dark Alicorn might come back… do you?”
Now Cirrus was so nervous, he had to take a seat as Zine shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Well right now that doesn’t matter… what matters is that we get this commander ready for the first obstacle.”
Cirrus gave Zine a confused look, “Obstacle… what obstacle?”
Zine smiled, “Thundaga, of course.”
Cirrus shook his head, “Ms. Stone is teaching me to defend myself in case I get attacked again. She isn’t trying to get me ready to fight a war…” Hesitating in thought, Cirrus looked at Gem Stone in curiosity, “Wait… are you?”
Gem Stone sighed, “I was… but I’m not so sure now.”
Cirrus replied in anger, “Seriously! After everything I said you’re still trying to get me to go against her?”
Gem nodded her head, “Zine suggested it, but since we have yet to discover your fighting skill, I’m starting to have even more doubts than before.”
Cirrus became even angrier, “WELL GOOD!!! I told you before I don’t want to have anything to do with this quarrel between you and Thundaga. Choosing to stand against her is certain death.”
Gem Stone smiled in a smug way, “Oh, I see… you’re afraid of her aren’t you?”
Cirrus shook his head, “No, I just know what she is capable of.”
Gem turned away, “it’s alright to be afraid you know. Everypony is afraid of something.”
Zine cleared his throat loudly as Gem added, “Well… except Zine.”
Zine smiled “Thank you Ms. Stone.”
Defending himself Cirrus replied, “I’m not afraid of her! You just don’t know her like I do.”
Gem sighed “Yea, yea… she killed your parents. You know, that that’s not a good enough reason to be afraid. Look at me, a dragon killed my parents and you don’t see me running and making excuses to avoid Spike. In fact, he happens to be the best friend I have.”
Getting her attention Zine cleared his throat loudly again as Gem gave him a hopeless look, “Like I said… the best friend I have.”
Zine gave her an appalled expression as Spike chuckled and replied, “Thank you Gem, I’m happy to have a friend like you too. Aside from all the other weirdos I know.”
Zine replied with an annoyed tone, “Ouch, my ego… actually, that one is kinda true. Touché Spike.”
Cirrus replied to Gems words, “Look, I may be nervous around her, but I’m not afraid of her.”
Gem Stone shook her head as she trotted away, “Whatever… if you’re not afraid… then why don’t we try something else for training.”
Cirrus felt skeptic, “What exactly are we going to try?”
Gem Stone opened her wings as she jumped into the air and started hovering, “Come with me and you will find out.”
With that Gem Stone started flying away from the training ground as Cirrus quickly took off to catch up with her.
After the two were gone, Spike looked down at Zine, “So… is there anything about the prophecies that you didn’t want to mention to Cirrus or Gem Stone?”
Zine gave him a skeptic look, “no… why would you think that there was?”
Spike shrugged his shoulders, “Because you are who you are. You keep so many secrets, I can’t even tell what is or isn’t true with you anymore.”
Zine smiled, “granted I do keep my secrets… however, the prophecies are most certainly true, but… even I don’t know anything about them. Never the less, the First Commander of Unity, and the Second Commander of Courage are very difficult role models for the Third Commander of Peace to live up to. But if we are lucky, this thing won’t end in a horrifying death. Possibly some maiming, but not a death to speak of.”
Spike gave him a dull look, “your optimism is inspiring.”
Zine shrugged his shoulders, “I do what I can.”
Later out in the middle of an empty grass field, Cirrus stood looking over the grass and he asked, “Ok I understand what you want me to try… but why are we here?”
Gem replied as she trotted away from him, “This area is clear enough that we don’t have to worry about forest fires. That and if you succeed, the royal guards won’t be lured to my house.”
Cirrus nodded his head as he replied, “oh I see. And that’s why you got the bucket of water too right?”
Gem nodded her head, “yep. Now do what I said and start focusing on what you need to do. Clear your mind and focus on channeling all your energy into your hooves.”
Cirrus nodded his head as he replied, “Okay… here goes.”
With that, Cirrus looked at an archery target that sat almost one hundred feet from where he was standing as he started to concentrate.
So he placed all of his focus on the target and what he wanted to do, Cirrus started feeling a strange yet familiar feeling. The bottom of his hooves started to tingle as if his hooves were falling asleep, however as they did, he could also feel them getting really warm as if he were standing on a sheet of metal that was being heated from beneath himself. As he started to feel this, Cirrus looked at his hooves in confusion to the strange feeling. However as he did, the feeling quickly vanished as he lifted one of his hooves to look at the bottom. As he did Gem sighed, “You broke your concentration… what are you doing?”
Cirrus replied, “Sorry… I felt something weird on my hooves.”
Gem sighed, “That’s the electricity storing on your hooves. You need to stay focused or you won’t be able to channel it.”
Cirrus sighed, “why are we doing this?... I told you already, I can’t do the Lightning Orb. Only alicorn can d-“
Before he finished his sentence, Cirrus paused when a cloud in the sky covered the sun and casted a shadow over the landscape. When he saw this, Cirrus looked into the sky at the approaching of cloud cover as Gem replied, “As much as I want to believe you, I did see the lightning orb the other day. So if Zine says you created it, then I can only assume that to be the truth. So as much as I don’t like it, I need to teach you how c-”
Cirrus interrupted, “yea… um… how long is this supposed to take?...”
Gem Stone couldn’t believe how Cirrus interrupted her as she replied with an annoyed tone, “Um… excuse me?”
Cirrus continued, “I was just wondering because it looks like it’s going to rain soon.”
“What?” Gem looked into the distance at the approaching rain clouds as she replied, “yea… so… what of it?”
Cirrus tried to think of an excuse, “Well… um… if it rains… then how am I supposed to control the lighting orb? Wouldn’t the falling rain interfere with it?”
Gem sighed, “Well… sure maybe. But I recall Commander Bolt using it in the rain a few times so it should be fine.”
Further arguing, Cirrus replied, “Yea but… well… when it rains… it thunders right?”
Gem gave him a funny look, “probably… so?”
Cirrus replied, “well if there is lightning in the area… then how are we supposed to know if its mine or if it’s just the storm?... we can’t determine my progress if I can’t tell what lightning is mine… right?”
Gem thought to herself as she replied, “I… I guess so… but that doesn’t mean that-”
Cirrus smiled, “Good, then it’s settled. We will head back to the cabin for the rest of the day and wait out the storm. Then tomorrow if it’s all clear we can come back and try again. Okay?-Okay lets go.”
Moving too fast for Gem to respond, Cirrus flew into the air and landed next to the archery target as he picked it up and got it ready to move. Seeing this, Gem felt skeptic as she flew to him as he mumbled carelessly, “We can’t leave this here right now, otherwise we will have to come back for it later.”
Seeing his suspicious activity, Gem asked, “Cirrus?... are you okay?”
Without even looking at her, Cirrus continued getting the target ready as he replied, “I’m fine… we just can’t leave this here is all.”
Throwing the target and stand over his back, Cirrus spoke, “well, I’m ready to go.”
Although Gem wanted to put a stop to what he was doing, she instead went along with it since something about the way he was acting made her curious. Usually he was always accepting enough to go along with whatever was happening, but for some reason, he was going against the flow. So despite her intentions to continue the lesson, she just decided to follow closely as Cirrus carried the heavy archery target and flew back to Dragon Mountain with no explanation of his change in attitude.
Back at the cabin, Zine was watching as Spike practiced hovering with his wings without tossing everything in the area away by the gusts created. As he watched Zine spoke, “how long has it been this time?”
Spike replied as he continued hovering, “About an hour. You were right about upping the dosage. The last time we tested it my wings were gone within half an hour.”
Zine smiled “your wings?... You talk as if it’s going to be permanent.”
Spike replied, “I know it won’t be… but… could you make it?”
Zine nodded his head, “I'll see what I can do.”
Spike smiled, “Thanks, I'd be pretty cool if it could alwa-”
Before he could finish his sentence, Spike’s wings started to evaporate as Spike fell from the twenty feet in the air and crashed onto the ground.
After hitting the ground, Spike sat up and rubbed his head as he spoke, “ouch… that hurt.”
Zine chuckled, “Well, one hour it is. Next time we’ll up the dosage. I would like to see if I can bump it up to at least three hours. What do you think?”
Spike smiled “sure, you won’t hear any complaints from me… but… why that long?”
Zine shrugged his shoulders, “Well if we had to, I'd like you to be able to make a round trip from here to Canterlot and back. You never know when it could be helpful.”
Spike was skeptic, “Really? Are you sure you won’t ever know when it will be helpful?”
Zine shrugged his shoulder, “Well… I do have an idea of when we may do that… but till then, I would just like to be prepared.”
Before Spike could reply, Cirrus and Gem landed in the area as Cirrus looked at Gem and asked, “Okay where do you store this thing?”
Still trying to figure him out, Gem pointed towards a tool shed that sat outside her cabin as he replied “kay, I'll put this up.”
As Cirrus trotted to the shed to put away the target, Gem with her perplexed expression watched him as Zine asked, “So… how did it go?”
Gem Replied, “I’m… not sure.”
Spike and Zine gave her a confused look as Spike replied, “Really?... then why are you two back so soon?”
Zine agreed, “Yea… I expected you to train him into the late hours of the night.”
Gem shook her head, “I intended to… but… something is odd. He started mentioning the approaching rain and just… withdrew.”
Knowing something she didn’t, Zine smiled, “Oh… really… why do you suppose he did that?”
Feeling odd that Zine was hiding Cirrus’ secret, Spike held his silence as Gem replied “I’m not sure… but I guess for a civilian like him, now is as good a time to call it a day as any. Commander Bolt literally beat my training into me… I thought about doing the same… but… Commander Bolt could see that I had fight in me. But I don’t see even the slightest hint that Cirrus would even try to defend himself. And I don’t have the heart to beat up somepony who isn’t willing to fight back, eventually.”
With that Gem Turned away from Zine and started trotted back into her cabin as Zine smiled, “Perhaps he needs more time then.”
Gem Sighed as she continued, “Yea, maybe.”
Smiling at what he knew, Zine watched Gem go inside as Cirrus returned from the shed and asked, “So, what have you two been up to today?”
Spike replied, “Just testing the wings potion again. Luckily we are getting more time out of it then yesterday.
Cirrus nodded his head, “that’s good, at least you’re making progress.”
Zine smiled in a joking manner, “yes, and judging from your early return, you haven’t made any have you? Yesterday it was learning to carry a sword, and fire a bow. And today it was continuing archery failure and… whatever it was you two were up to, which I assume was also a failure.”
Cirrus replied, “Yea, well… I guess I need a little more practice at… well… everything. Honestly I’m just not cut out for this sort of thing. I understand she is teaching me to defend myself in case I’m attacked by one side or the other… but, I’m just not the type to start or finish a fight.”
Zine nodded his head, “well I'd expect no less from the commander of peace.”
Cirrus sighed, “Can you please cut out the commander stuff… its getting really old fast.”
Zine smiled sarcastically, “I'll stop saying it once it’s proven false. Till then just keep at it.”
Cirrus sighed as he waved his hoof dismissively and started trotting towards the cabin, “Yea yea…”
As Cirrus went inside, Spike watched him with an unsure expression as Zine saw this and spoke, “what’s on your mind Spike?... starting to doubt him?”
Spike replied, “I’m not sure… I saw the lightning orb from the distance so I do think he did it… but, considering everything that’s happened since… it’s getting a little hard to believe it.”
Zine nodded his head, “true… but as of yet, he still hasn’t fully become the commander we need to change this world. But he is right about something.”
Spike looked at Zine, “really? And what’s that?”
Zine smiled, “there is a storm on the way. So you better get to shelter before it gets here.”
Later that afternoon, Cirrus was in the kitchen cooking as Gem trotted in and asked, “you’re cooking?... I didn’t think you knew how to cook?”
Cirrus smiled as he stirred the food, “Yep, taking care of as many foals as I have you learn to make things that can feed large groups. I may not hold my own in battle, but cook a decent meal, I can do.”
Gem asked, “So what are you making?”
Cirrus smiled, “vegetable stew, sorry I borrowed a few vegies from your garden out back.”
Gem smiled as she sat at the dining room table as spoke, “its fine, I never learned to cook, that was my mother’s talent. And, she died before I could learn.”
Knowing that this wasn’t a subject that anypony would want to talk about, Cirrus replied, “oh… well, maybe I can show you sometime. In… exchange for your fighting lessons.”
Gem Stone smiled, “Sure.” Her smile faded, “Can I ask you something?”
Cirrus felt nervous in the sudden change in expression as he replied, “um… sure, go ahead.”
Gem Continued, “When we were trying to use the lightning orb, you paused. Can I ask why?”
Cirrus tried to stall, “I paused… what do you mean?”
“You looked at your hooves and broke your concentration.”
Feeling a little relieved that she wasn’t talking about his unusual attempt to avoid the rain, he replied, “oh, well I was feeling something weird in my hooves.”
“Weird?”
“It felt like I was standing on a storm cloud”
Gem nodded her head, “you mean the tingling feeling?”
Cirrus nodded, “yea… but it was weird. Afterwards I started feeling a warming sensation, on the bottom of my hooves.”
Although she didn’t know anything about that, she still nodded her head, “The lightning orb heats water in the soil. I’m sure that’s what you were feeling.”
Cirrus nodded as he replied, “I guess.”
Gem continued, “Well… if that’s what you felt then I can only assume you were close.”
“Close?... to using the lightning orb?”
Gem Stone nodded, “yea, you seemed to be on the right track to actually pulling it off. Although it still doesn’t prove that you actually can. Not until you use it. But we left too soon.”
Cirrus started to reply, “Yea because of th-”
Before he could finish, the loud sound of heavy rain started emulating from the ceiling as both of them looked up. Looking at where the sound was coming from, Gem replied, “yea… the rain.”
At that moment there was a loud boom from lightning outside as Cirrus nervously trotted away from his cooking stew and spoke, “Ok looks like it’s done for the most part, whenever you’re ready just pour you a bowl. I’m going to get a… thing… so you have an attic, or a basement or something?”
Not knowing what a quote-unquote thing was, Gem replied, “no… but what are you looking for I think I can find it fo-”
Another boom was heard as Cirrus nervously interrupted, “no problem I think I can find it myself.”
With that, Cirrus quickly trotted into the living room as he found the closest door to him before trotting inside and closing it behind him. After the door was shut, Gem turned off the unattended stove as she trotted into the living room and looked at the door in confusion. After a brief and awkward silence from both sides of the door, Zine trotted in from outside dripping wet as he mumbled in frustration, “Well… at least it’s better than the alternative. I thought I was having a wet meditation for the first time. Boy would that have been embarrassing.”
As Zine shook the water off himself, Gem asked, “Um Zine… do you know anything about this?”
She gestured to the door Cirrus was behind as he replied, “What?... the broom closet?”
Gem shook her head, “No, the pony hiding in the broom closet.”
Zine smiled, “Ah, I assume this pony is the commander right? Let’s just say it has something to do with what you two talked about earlier. As for me, something smells good so I’m gonna get me some of whatever’s cooking.”
With that said, Zine made his way passed Gem and into the kitchen. At first, Gem didn’t understand what he meant about an earlier conversation, but then as another boom was heard from the thunder outside, she could hear a lot of shuffling in the closet that Cirrus was hiding in as if he were pushing everything inside away from him in fear. After hearing this, Gem sighed as she knocked on the door, “Cirrus? You okay?”
Cirrus replied, “yea I’m just um looking for the thing… for the um… stew.”
Gem spoke, “yea, but I don’t think there is anything in there for the stew… just some old brooms and coats from winter.”
Cirrus hesitated before replying, “yea… but I’m um… well you see I ne-”
Before he could finish, another loud boom shook the house as Gem heard what could only be a slight yelp in his sentence as he quickly silenced himself from the sound of the lighting. Hearing this, Gem sighed as she replied, “Cirrus?...”
“Um… yea?”
“You’re afraid of lightning… aren’t you?”
Cirrus hesitated before replying in an ashamed and angry tone, “Fine!… I’m afraid of lightning, Okay! Go ahead and make fun of the one pegasus who is scared of lightning. We control storms, clouds, and rain… and here I am, too afraid to do what our species are meant to do. I’m the only pegasus in the world who is scared of our own storms. The only one who’s… not meant to do what he’s here for.”
Knowing how hard it was for him to admit it, Gem sighed again as she sat down and leaned against the door, “I'd hate to do this to you… but I’m gonna have to one-up you again.”
“wh-what?...”
Gem replied, “I mentioned that everypony accept Zine is afraid of something… well… I’m afraid of the sunrise. Or… something like that.”
Confused, Cirrus asked, “the sunrise?...”
Gem sighed, “Every morning… since I have returned. I’ve not missed a single sunrise. I can’t say entirely why I still watch them… but. Every time I see it. I’m afraid.”
Cirrus replied, “Afraid?... of what?”
Gem sighed, “I’m afraid, that… The moon will rise behind it. And… Blot it out.”
Cirrus hesitated, “blot it out… you mean, like an eclipse.”
Although he couldn’t see it, Gem nodded as she replied, “Exactly an eclipse. You see, when I finally left the orphanage, the world was already shrouded in an eclipse. And almost immediately after that… I joined the Nightmare Legion and… became Commander Bolt’s trainee. Although, war wasn’t in anyway something I enjoyed, it was still the best decision I had ever made. Commander Bolt… he taught me so much that I grew attached to his guidance. He and my comrades; Storm, Snow, Drib, and Viscous. They were all the best part of my life. Because… they were my family. So, in a way, I’m afraid of the sunrise because I’m worried that the moon will eclipse it… but at the same time, I’m hoping it will. Because… the Nightmare Eclipse… was the one time in my life, that I felt… happy.”
Cirrus didn’t know how to respond, so he held his silence as Gem continued, “I think… that my greatest fear… is forgetting those times. I worry that, one day I'll wake up and find that, I’ve forgotten Commander Bolt entirely. The way he looked, the way he talked, even the sound of his voice.”
Tears started building up in her eyes as she continued, “he… was literally the best part of my life… and when I died, his training was all I had to be proud of. But… when Zine brought me back… he… he… wasn’t here. I had been dead for almost sixteen centuries… and when I returned, Commander Bolt was nothing more than a memory. And not just him, Storm, Snow, Drib, Viscous even Roza, Rafi, and Orem… They’re gone… they’re not here and… I wonder if… I should even be here too? Sometimes… I think… I don’t even belong in this world. Like, I don’t have a reason to live.”
Hearing the sadness in her voice, Cirrus leaned against his side of the door as he replied, “You have a goal… and that’s more than I can say about me. If anything… you have more reason to be here than even me.”
Although it cheered her up a little to hear that, she still smiled as she replied, “Not according to Zine… but you know what? You need to prove that to me before I start to believe it. Till then… you can stay in there as long as you like and when you’re done, you can get started on proving me wrong.”
With that, Gem stood up as she started to trot into the kitchen, however before she got too fare, Cirrus stopped her, “Ms. Stone?...”
She paused, “yea?”
Cirrus asked, “You mentioned everypony is afraid of something?”
Gem nodded, “yea?”
He asked, “What’s Spike afraid of?”
Gem smiled, “from what I understand, zombies.”
Cirrus replied, “oh… and is it true that Zine isn’t afraid of anything?”
She nodded her head as her smile faded, “yea… it’s true.”
Cirrus asked, “how is that possible?...”
Gem sighed as she replied, “Cirrus… We all experience hardships, and some of us worse than others. But Zine… he managed to block a number of his memories from me, but the memories I saw… I wouldn’t wish it on any of my enemies. Not even Thundaga.”
With nothing more to say on the subject, Gem turned and continued into the kitchen before Cirrus had the chance to reply.
As Gem Stone entered the kitchen, she saw Zine sitting at the table eating the stew as he smiled, “Better make you a bowl, this stuff won’t last long.”
Gem nodded her head, “are you sure he’s the one? You do realize that he will be risking not just his life, but the lives of all who decide to follow him.”
Zine nodded his head, “I don’t write fate… I just abide by it. Why?”
Gem replied, “No reason, I just don’t want him to risk his life if he isn’t involved.”
With that, Gem trotted past him and started preparing herself a bowl of the stew as Zine smiled and replied, “in other words… you’re getting attached.”
Gem paused as she looked at him and blushed, “attached? I’m only trying to keep those who aren’t involved from getting hurt.”
Zine smiled as he stirred his food, “this won’t change your mind… will it?”
Gem shook her head, “Of course not… Thundaga mu- will be defeated. But… what about Cirrus?”
Zine sighed, “As the Third Commander, we must keep him safe… if he isn’t ready, then I would suggest postponing your plan.”
Gem Stone finished making herself a bowl as she trotted back to the table, sat down, and replied, “I can’t do that… the longer we wait the more civilians will suffer. We must stop Thundaga as soon as we can… and the only way I can do that is to go to her myself.”
Zine sighed, “If you must, then I would suggest taking the commander with you.”
Gem shook her head, “no… if he isn’t ready then he will stay here. Like you said he must be kept sa-”
Zine interrupted, “he won’t be kept safe if we both are dead…”
Pausing at the seriousness of his tone, Gem Stone watched as Zine’s expression went from serious to a confident smile, “If we both die… who will train him? No, if you go to Thundaga… you must take him with you. Then, you might have a chance of surviving.” He started stirring his stew as he continued, “Cirrus may not be ready for a fight, and perhaps a fight is something he will never be ready for. However, he is still the Third Commander, and Thundaga knows it. By taking him with you, you are giving Thundaga a reason to meet with you. And if he speaks on your behalf, you might be able to get close to her. So, as I said, it would be in your best interest… to take him with you.”
With that Zine continued eating his stew as Gem sighed, “if you say so… then I'll consider it. But only, only… if he can prove to me that he really is the Third Commander. If he can, then I’ll take him with me. But if not… then I'll send him away. I know you like him… but I couldn’t live with myself if I sent somepony into battle who was such a… a-”
Zine smiled, “Civilian?”
Gem shook her head, “no…a foal.”
Zine nodded his head as he stood up to put his bowl away, “foal or not, we need him if we are going to bring peace to the kingdom.”
Gem sighed, “you say he will bring peace to the kingdom… how is he supposed to do that?”
Zine placed his bowl in the sink as he replied, “Zecora failed to mention exactly how. She didn’t even tell me if it meant killing Thundaga or not… but make no mistake, when you go to Canterlot, you can do whatever you want… but I will explore that you refrain from harming the ingredient. Cuz as I said before.”
Zine started to leave the room as he smiled in an evil way, “the ingredient… is mine!”