Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 27: Falling Inside The Black

I watched in horror as my best friend aimed down his scope pointing it right at me. I couldn’t even move; my brain couldn’t comprehend the thought of Stardust taking aim at me. The muzzle of his rifle flashed, the crack filled the air, I heard Aura screaming my name telling me to move. I would’ve if I could, but it was too late…then something moved in front of me, and blood flew through the air.

The next thing I knew, Aura was flying back from the impact of the bullet hitting her. We both landed hard, but Aura wasn’t going down that easily. She flipped around took hold of me and flew off avoiding another shot from Stardust. I saw blood flowing from her shoulder as she flew toward the tree where I found mom’s Pip-Buck, Wingnut and Wind Thrasher not far behind. We almost made it to the top of the small hill when something slammed into Aura forcing both of us to crash into the ground.

When we hit I rolled then got back to my hooves pulling out my Plasma rifle pointing it right at Stardust who was doing the same with his newly acquired rifle. Aura was getting back to her feet as well, her Spear already in her talons, it’s tip glowing with green energy. I had no idea what was going on with Stardust, but the look in his eyes told me something was wrong. I entered S.A.T.S. and targeted his rifle, I don’t know why he shot at me, but I wasn’t gonna just out right kill my friend. I fired.

At the same time Stardust fired his rifle, our shots collided and a small explosion erupted between the two of us. We were both blown back, but I was able to stay on my hooves. Stardust flapped his wings and took to the air, aiming down at me again. He didn’t have a chance to get another shot off though because Aura came charging at him, her energy spear aching through the air. Stardust dodged the slash, he brought his rifle around and slammed the stock into her bloody shoulder. She screamed and fell away, his rifle spun around again pointing it right at her. Then out of nowhere Syn fell onto Stardust, her talons grabbed the rifle and twisted it out of his grip and threw it toward the ground.

He twisted in the air and slammed his rear hooves into one of her wings then pulled out of her grip. He bucked her in the face and she fell following his rifle on its way down to the hard ground. His eyes fell on me and dove in my direction, I dove to one side, but he predicted the move. He followed my dodge and tackled me. His hoof bucked me in the face as I skidded across the ground. I tasted blood in my muzzle and saw stars for a moment.

“It’s time you died Shadow Star,” he said as his hoof connected with my nose again.

I moved my rear hooves under him and kicked hard, throwing him off me, “Get the fuck off me Stardust!” I jumped back to my hooves and ran toward him bucking him in the face as he started to get back to his hooves.

He cursed then flapped his wings taking to the air again. He looked down at me, hatred written on his face. He dove at me again, but Wind Thrasher landed in front of me, opened her muzzle and screamed. For a second, I thought it was going to work, but he moved out of the way of the blast of her voice, banked hard to the other side and came in to attack her. She jumped out of the way as he flew by, but he did a quick back flip and darted toward me again. I wasn’t going to fall for it this time, I ducked then rolled as he flew over. When I came out of the roll I darted toward my dropped Plasma Rifle.

I just took hold of it with my magic, flipped around, and pointed it right at Stardust. He stopped a few inches away looking down the barrel, “You think you’re fast enough to stop me Shadow Star?”

Aura ran over to me Syn right behind her both of them ready to take down the pegasus who wasn’t acting like himself, “I want to know why you’re acting like this Stardust.”

He started to laugh, “I don’t know how you know my old name, but it won’t matter you’ll be dead soon and The Enclave will finally be rid of you.”

“What are you talking about? I’m your friend, we have been for a while now,” I said backing away from him just a little, the Plasma rifle shaking in my magical grip, “You’re Stardust Night, the pegasus who helped me after I attacked the raider camp outside Cartwheel.”

His smile grew and a bit of madness entered his eyes, “Stardust Night? That name isn’t mine anymore, when I was chosen to succeed Pride after you killed him.”

“Shadow, I don’t think that’s Stardust,” Aura said.

A light chuckle came from down the hill and Cloak started to make her way toward us, “You’re correct Griffon, he’s not Stardust. At least not anymore he isn’t,” she looked over at Stardust, “Tell them who you are, let them know the name of the pony who finally took down The Courier Mare.”

“As you command Cloak,” he said his grin still growing, “I’m Pride the Arrogant, Second Member of the Seven Sins of Equinity and the new leader.”

My eyes went wide, “That’s a lie. I don’t believe you, that’s Envy isn’t it? You’re just trying to screw with my head, because there’s no way Stardust would ever attack me like this.”

I could see her smile under the hood, “Are you sure about that Courier? What do you really know about him?”

I glared over at her, “What the hell did you do to him?”

“She didn’t do anything to me,” he looked back toward Cloak, not seeming to care about the rifle pointed right at him, “Can I kill her yet Cloak?”

“Not yet,” she said looking at me and my friends, “I can make this real simple and easy for you Courier. Give me the Mark II, if you do I’ll let your friends live.”

Aura moved closer to me and whispered, “You can’t give in to her Shadow. It’s just him and her, we can take them.”

“Aura, it’s Stardust, we can’t just kill him and you saw how he fought. I don’t think any of us can even compare to him in a fight,” I retorted.

“That’s enough of that,” Cloak said, “Give it to me or you all die.”

I looked down at my Mark II, all of this crap over this stupid thing left for me by mom. Was any of this worth it? Was it worth my friends lives? No, it wasn’t, nothing was. What would happen if I just gave her this? I looked back at her, “Why do you even want it?”

“Because it’s mine! You have no idea what you have on your foreleg, it wasn’t meant for a pony like you,” she shouted getting seemingly angrier, “Now give it to me! I won’t ask again!”

“Even if I was willing to give you my Pip-Buck, I can’t do it. I don’t have the means to remove it,” I said lifting the Mark II and grinning over it at her, “If you want the Mark II you’ll have to take it off my cold dead body.”

Aura’s spear lit up again as she readied it for another attack, “And you’ll have to get through us to do that.”

She sighed “I swear you’re all a bunch of idiots. Pride kill them all, don’t hold back.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Stardust said and without another warning he jumped toward me. His hoof came up knocking the Plasma rifle out of my magical grip. His other hoof came around, connecting with my face. I flew back with a gasp, blood flying from my mouth as I felt a tooth rip loose. Before I even hit the ground, Stardust was over me his hoof coming down again for another attack, but before he could Aura was there.

She tackled him to the ground bringing all of her weight down on top of him. He kicked her off and back flipped back onto his hooves, then lunged toward her. He ducked under a slash she aimed for his head, his rifle came out and slammed into her still injured shoulder. She screamed again, but seemed to push passed the pain, her talon tightened on her spear and she brought it around and slashed again. He tried to dodge, but her spear slashed across his chest, scorching his armor and leaving a long gash.

“Aura, whatever you do, don’t kill him. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but we need to take him alive,” I said looking around for Cloak, whatever was going on with Stardust it had something to do with her.

She dodged another strike then a shot from Stardust yelling, “No shit Shadow, you have anything else that’s obvious you wanna point out.”

I ignored her and kept my eye out for Cloak, where did she get off too? Then I saw her making her way up toward the tree where Wingnut was. I ran for it yelling behind myself, “I’m going after Cloak, Wind Thrasher or Syn get Wingnut out of here!”

Cloak heard my shout and turned toward me magic glowing from under her hood, “I’m not letting you interfere anymore Courier!” Magic Circles showed up around her head followed by a blast of dark blue magical energy.

I Teleported and reappeared not behind her but to her left. As I expected, she turned around readying to fire another blast of energy behind herself right where she thought I’d show up. I grinned, pulling out my Plasma Rifle and firing.

She screamed as she flew back from the force of the blast, part of her cloak melting away in an instant revealing dark purple combat armor underneath. I didn’t waste any time, entering S.A.T.S. I took aim at her body and fired three blasts into it. I was rewarded with another scream of pain from the bitch who took my best friend away from me. Her body flew back slamming into the dead tree then fell to the ground unmoving.

“Nice shot Shadow!” I heard Syn say coming to land next to me.

“Thanks, where’s Wingnut and Wind Thrasher?” I asked.

“Wind Thrasher grabbed him and they flew down the path, I think she was trying to get him away from the fight,” she said looking back toward where Aura was still fighting Stardust.

“Damn she’s amazing,” I said watching as Aura took to the air her spear glowing brilliantly as she slashed and stabbed, ducking under his blows and shots, “I’m not sure how long she can keep this up though, she took a nasty shot to that shoulder.”

Syn grinned, “Don’t worry about Aura, she can handle herself against a pegasus like him. Don’t worry about her injury either, she’s been trained to ignore the pain from that kind of wound. Right now, we need to worry about that unicorn, she’s the key to all of this.”

I turned to look at Cloak who was still laying there unmoving, “Is she still alive?”

“Looks like it, that armor is strong,”

Keeping the Plasma rifle lifted I moved closer and using my magic I flipped her onto her back. She groaned then said, “Damn you Courier, I’m not going to die by your hooves the same way you killed my brother.”

I pointed the rifle right at her hidden face, “Your brother got what he deserved after all the pain and misery he brought to The Wasteland. Now I think it’s time you start answering questions, first tell me who you are and why you want my Pip-Buck.”

Her voice grew angry, “It’s MINE, it was stolen from me and hid away by that BITCH from the Steel Rangers. I’ve tried to find it for years and right when I thought I finally got my hooves on it again, you show up already wearing it!”

“Liar! This Pip-Buck once belonged to the ponies from Trotston where it was stolen, it was left for me by that pony you called a Bitch, my mother made sure I got it and she’s the only pony I’ll give it to,” I said rage filling me as I pressed the barrel right up to her chin, “Who are you!?”

To my amazement Cloak started to laugh, “Who am I? Who am I you ask!? I’m nopony, I’m just the shadow that hides in plain sight, the mare who controls everything from under this hood. I’m the true leader of the special forces of The Enclave, the pony that the Sins call their boss, I am nopony. They call me cloak because no matter what happens no pony will ever find out who I am, not even you Courier. Even if you saw my face I’d still be no pony to you. I’d just be another unicorn, another face among a crowd, I blend in and no pony ever knows the true danger that hides behind who I really am. The better question is, who are you Courier, why does that thing on your foreleg mean so much to you?”

“I’m just a mare who got stuck with it, a pawn of my mothers. Just like your brother was the pawn of your beloved Enclave, a tool they used to kill ponies they didn’t like or who got in their way.”

“Don’t talk about him like you know him Courier! You don’t know the pain he felt every day of his life, what he had to do to try and earn forgiveness for his sin. You don’t know how hard he had to fight to hide his true feelings from the ones who call themselves The Council. He was a better pony than you could ever hope to be. He took on the role of Pride for ME, not The Enclave. He took on the disgrace and pain of that title for his FAMILY. To show me how sorry he was for what he DID!” she screamed.

“Shadow we can’t just sit here like this, Aura’s gonna need help soon and if she’s the one controlling Stardust we need to kill her now before he hurts anypony else,” Syn interrupted.

I shook my head, “No, go help your sister with Stardust, just buy me some time.”

For a moment it looked like Syn was going to argue then she just sighed, “You did pay for the contract to help get him back, so I’ll follow your orders, but I’m also gonna put out a distress signal for my teammates so they can find us, don’t take too long. There’s no way to know if more Sins are around here.”

I nodded then looked back down at Cloak who was shaking with rage, but she didn’t try to move or cast a spell, “Tell me, what did Oricalcos do that he felt like he needed to do all that?”

“He killed my daughter! And don’t call him that, you don’t have the RIGHT to call him by his true name.” she hissed, anger rolling off every word.

As she said that, one of the memories from Pride flew into my mind like a flood…

I could see everything around me as if I was living the memory as Pride himself, his thoughts, his emotions, his power came to me like it was my own. It was like living an even more realistic memory orb. Pride was looking down at dozens of scattered notes and two books, one in old Zebra the other King Sombra’s Journal.

“So, a power like this needs to be used by combining both dark magic from around me and my own power. I thought that was only something that could be done by few ponies like Twilight or the princesses, I haven’t even been able to something like that yet and I’m the most powerful Unicorn around here. But after reading King Sombra’s notes and mixing them with my own, I think I can get this first spell to work,” he said scratching at his chin.

A sound echoed from behind him and he turned toward what looked like a crib. He moved away from his desk and walked closer to it, as he did I noticed that everything around him was clean, it was like he wasn’t in The Wasteland at all, but a place that wasn’t ever hit by the war. Once he reached the crib, I felt his lips pull into a smile as he looked over the side and at the tiny filly inside. She looked so tiny and fragile, but I could feel through Pride that she was powerful.

Her horn was glowing a dull red and she was making her blanket and pillow float above her. She was still sleeping though, he chucked and his own magic pushed it back down, “So much power for such a small thing, I think that one day you’re going to be just as powerful as your uncle,” A hoof came out and he brushed it along her jet black mane, “At first I was angry that your mother made me watch you when I had so much work to get done, but come to think of it, it’s nice to have an excuse to slack off a little.”

She just made a little snore as she rolled over and her horn started to glow again. He chuckled, “What are you dreaming about that has you using your magic even in your sleep? Well I’ll let you sleep a little longer, Uncle needs to finish one last thing then I’ll get you something to eat, a growing filly like you needs to keep her strength up.”

He covered her again with the blanket then turned back toward his desk, “Now, where was I?” he said as he started looking over the spell again, “I know I can get it this time, I’ve taken all the necessary steps.” he started to pull on his magic, as he did he also started chanting in a language I didn’t understand. In front of him a black ball of magic started to form.

Whatever it was it was strong, I could feel his body getting weaker, but he kept it up until the black magic pulled itself together forming a perfect sphere, then it flashed and seemed to solidify into something solid, “Yes, finally I was able to form it into something, with this one spell alone I can do so much for our kind,” the pull on his magic was great, but Pride seemed not to notice, “I’ll show everypony now that I’m the most gifted unicorn in The Enclave. I alone can show the rest of The Enclave that Nimbus and The Crystal Empire are more than just a bunch of oddballs.”

Something crashed behind him followed by a child’s cry, he turned and saw that the crib was surrounded by a red magical aura, the filly had knocked it over and was now laying on the ground crying loudly, “Oh shit Sis is going to kill me!” he took hold of the small filly with his magic trying to lift her into the air and put her back into the crib, but something happened. As soon as his magic touched the filly, something seemed to snap inside his mind. His control on his magic faltered for just a moment.

“No, I forgot about the other spell!” he said as the ball of black magic that had been floating behind him only a few moments before shot around his head, followed the magic that he cast on the filly and slammed into her, “NO!” he screamed as an explosion of darkness erupted where the filly had been, and she vanished in it’s dark light.

When it ended Pride was looking at what was left, the crib was gone, the floor was blown apart, and in the center of it all was the still form of the filly. She was such a tiny thing, her coat seemed to shine while sitting in the middle of the dark spot left over by the blast. She didn’t move as Pride rushed over, one of his golden hooves moving down to slowly pull her limp form into his arms, “No…no please don’t be dead, I didn’t mean to do it, it was an accident.”

He hugged her form close to his chest and sobbed, “Don’t take her way, please she’s just a foal. She was perfect, she was beautiful, I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

Then to his amazement he felt a small flutter from the filly, it was faint but she was still breathing. He set her down then pressed an ear up to her chest and listened closely. Her heart was still beating, but it was weak and getting weaker with each passing second, “I…I can still fix this, I just need to find a counter spell, there has to be something in my notes.”

He didn’t have time, something slammed into him from behind throwing him into the far wall followed by a deep voice, “What the fuck did you do in here Oricalcos!”

Pride looked up and saw a Pegasus in dark power armor, he was as tall as Night Stalker, his voice just as deep, and he gave off an aura of danger. He had blades on the wings of his Power Armor that glowed with a silvery light, his visor was a deep red and his tail ended in a sharp point like most power armor The Enclave had. His mane dark blue, with one streak of pure white running down the center of it, what was visible of his coat looked to be deep black much like my own.

“It…it was an accident, I don’t know what happened.”

The pegasus looked down at the small filly and said, “She’s still breathing, I have to get her to her mother before it’s too late.”

“I’ll come with you, I’m sure I can help.”

“Don’t you dare, you stay away from my daughter. Do you hear me Oricalcos? You’ve done enough. You better pray she doesn’t die because if she does you’ll have more than just me to worry about. Even if she doesn’t I swear I’ll make sure you’re executed for this!”

Pride put up a hoof trying to say something, but the Pegasus lifted the little filly in his hooves and took off into the air flying out the door as quick as he could. Pride let his hoof drop as he whispered to himself, “I’m sorry sis, you know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. I didn’t mean to, all I wanted was to find a new magic that could show everypony that our family isn’t useless.”

The memory faded away slowly and soon I found myself looking back at Cloak who was still on her back looking up at me from under that shadowed hood. I pulled my rifle back just a little and asked, “He used a dark curse that killed your daughter, didn’t he?”

“He did, that’s why he did what he did after. He didn’t want to let the leaders in Stratus kill him over a stupid mistake. He gave up his body to become the pony you knew as Pride, cast away his name, family and rights, just for me. Because even though my daughter lived for a while after that night, she still passed away from the damage that was done to her heart by that spell,” she said.

“What does any of this have to do with me or with the Mark II, it’s not like anything on this thing could’ve saved her life,” I said, still making sure to keep the rifle trained on her face.

“It has everything to do with that. If it hadn’t been stolen away from me after I got it, I could’ve saved her.”

“How? What could a simple Pip-Buck no matter how different have changed her fate?”

She glared at me, “I could’ve unlocked Falling Shadows and obtained the power I needed to FIX HER! I don’t blame my brother for my daughter’s death, I blame the ponies in this forsaken Wasteland who took away my one chance to save her!”

“Then if she’s dead why do you want it now!” I yelled.

“Because, if I can’t have my daughter back, then I’ll still take all the power I can get from Falling Shadows and I’ll use it to make sure no pony ever has to go through what I did. Don’t you see Courier? I’m doing this to save ponies, with the information that’s locked away on that thing and the key to unlock the project, I would be able to be as powerful as both princesses combined. I could use my magic to heal the sick, to stop evil, and to destroy the powers of our shitty world once and for all, so that finally Equestria can rise again! I couldn’t get EC1101 in Hoofington so that Pip-Buck is the only thing that can unlock Falling Shadows. See I’m not the bad mare here Courier, ponies like YOU ARE!”

“So, you’re doing this all for power?” I asked.

“Of course I am, what else is there in this world but power, only with power can I right the wrongs of this land!” she bucked me throwing my rifle to one side as she shot a blast of energy toward me, but I was already moving.

I felt the blast of magic miss me by only an inch or two, then I took aim with my rifle and fired at Cloak who was jumping to her hooves. She dodged the shot just in time then she ducked behind the tree laughing, “You should’ve killed me when you had the chance Courier, now it’s too late!”

A crack of gunfire erupted in the distance, and a bullet slammed into my barding almost punching through. I screamed then jumped back as two more shots rang out followed by the voice of a pony I was starting to really hate, it was Wrath, “Long time no see Courier, how about you stay still now and let me blow your brains out.”

“Fuck you Wrath!” I yelled as I ran toward the tree that Cloak was using for cover, but Stardust landed in front of me, his rifle raised.

“Not so fast Shadow Star,” he said about to pull the trigger, “I’m not letting you get that close to the boss again.”

I didn’t slow, I teleported right as he took his shot, reappearing behind him. I ran on going for Cloak who I could see was trying to make a run for it. I wonder why she wasn’t teleporting away, I know she had the ability to do that before. Unless, it wasn’t Cloak.

Switching to Dream Walker I hit S.A.T.S. and fired, my two shots blew into Cloaks side blowing her off her hooves and sending her rolling along the ground, by the time she came to a stop I saw that her body had changed, getting to his Hooves Envy dusted himself off and grinned, “Figured it out a lot faster this time Shrimp, too bad you’re still too late just like before. Now it’s my turn to make you pay for what you did to the old Pride!”

“Sorry, but I’ve got a date with a cloaked mare, let’s try again next week maybe around seven, or whenever you’re free,” I said with a smile Teleporting away again, reappearing at the bottom of the hill and right in the path of Cloak who stopped dead in her tracks.

I looked up and saw that Stardust was flying toward me his rifle raised, but in came Aura and Syn again, he must’ve run from them to try and help Cloak. Knowing they could take care of themselves, I looked back at Cloak and grinned as she stuttered, “How did you know the way I was running?”

“Lucky guess,” I said my horn glowing bright red as I walked toward her, “So Cloak where’s all your fancy magic like you were using before? Did the Alicorns spell damage your horn or something? Because the last time I fought you, you put up a better fight than this.”

“Fuck you Courier,” she said her own horn glowing icy blue from under the hood, “I was saving my strength, I didn’t think I needed to use it with The Sins here to help and with how weak you are.”

“Oh, I’m not as weak as you think I am Cloak, you see I have my own special talent, let’s call her a gift. A creature that is so powerful that she was able to take on Pride and almost win, because of her my own power has gotten stronger. I can feel it coursing through my veins, and the more I look at my friend fighting for you under some kind of spell, the more I hate you Cloak. The more I hate you, the more powerful my magic seems to get.”

“You’re lying, there isn’t anything in this world that can use magic like that, I’m not scared of your threats or your lies. Now you’re going to pay for what you did to my brother and when you’re gone, I’m going to take the Pip-Buck off your foreleg.”

“Let’s see you try!” I fired a spell at her, one that I learned from the fight with Pride while I was using Aquila’s power. Without her power to back it up, it wasn’t as powerful as it could’ve been, but with my anger fueling it, the blast was more than enough to blow past whatever spell Cloak was trying to use. It blew her off her hooves and sent her skidding across the ground.

I walked toward her, she looked up at me her cloak almost all the way gone, but her hood still remained, “I’ll end you Courier!”

I reached her and slammed my hoof into her face throwing her back to the ground. She moaned and spat out some blood as she breathed slowly. I knelt down and took hold of her hood with my magic at the same time lifting Dream Walker to push it through the shadows of her hood, “Now let’s take a look at who you really are. I want to see the look in your eyes before I send you to the flaming pits of hell.”

Before she could say anything else I ripped the cloak and hood off her tossing it away, letting the dim light shine down on the mare’s face. I was going to pull the trigger as soon as it was gone, but what I saw, froze me in place. I started to shake as I looked down at the mare who made my life hell for the past couple of weeks, the mare who took Stardust away, the mare who sent the Sins after me, the mare who killed so many to get what she wanted.

What I saw was a middle-aged mare with a light blue coat, dark grey eyes and a short grey mane that had one silver streak left in it. Around her neck was a voice modulator and in the cracks of her armor I could see her cutie mark, a brown spell book with a ribbon running through it and a Zebra glyph on the cover. Dream Walker shook in my mental grasp as I looked down into the eyes of the pony I’ve been looking for ever since I left Stable 28, the mare who left all those clues for me to follow, the mare who gave me the Mark II to keep it safe until I found her. The face was older, the eyes filled with hatred not love, and her body looked tired more than I’d ever seen it before, but there was no mistaking who this was.

“No…you can’t be her,” I said taking a step back as my mother got to her hooves her horn glowing slightly.

“What are you talking about Courier? So now what are you going to do now that you saw my face? Going to shoot me with that pistol or are you going to give me what’s mine and let me end you finally, because after that last attack I don’t think you can manage another,” My mother said taking another step toward me.

“Mom?” I said my mind not able to handle what my eyes were seeing, “It’s me, it’s you’re little Star.” First Stardust, now my mother? What the fuck was going on here?

She froze, but instead of recognition, she looked ready to end me, “Don’t ever call me that, and don’t ever use that name DO YOU HEAR ME? My little Star is dead, she died ten years ago, how dare you even try and use her name against me Courier.”

“Mom, how could you not know who I am? You left me in Stable 28 when you ran off, you gave me the Mark II. I didn’t die, you did something to save me, then hid me away in the stable. You changed my name to Shadow Star to help keep who I was hidden.”

“SHUT UP! I know what happened to my daughter, Pride told me everything after…” she stopped and shook her head, “No you don’t need to know that information, I don’t know you, you can’t fool me into thinking you’re my beautiful Star!” her horn started to glow magic circles appearing around it.

I readied my own spell taking a couple steps back, “You’re Grimoire Spell aren’t you?”

Her eyes grew wide, “I don’t know how you figured out so much about me Courier, but I’ll make sure that information dies with you,” she let out her spell.

I dodged to the side and cast my own blasting her off her hooves again. She flew back and rolled along the ground coming to a halt, before she could get back up I pressed Dream Walker against her temple, my body shaking, “What happened to you Mom? What made you like this?”

She glared up at me, “The Wasteland, this horrible place that we used to call Equestria did this to me Courier. I used to be a good mare, I used to be a good wife, I was a good MOTHER! All of that was taken away from me the day I left my home searching for some way to help my Little Star, even she was taken away. All I had left was the hatred I felt for this land, the ponies in it, Oricalcos, and then he was taken away from me by you!” her voice filled with rage, “All I have left is the hate and I’m going to make this world pay for everything!”

She got back to her hooves, I let her, there was no way I could’ve shot her. I felt like crying, like screaming, like demanding the answers I knew she owed me, but that was the old Shadow Star. I had to ask myself what would the Courier Mare do? The sad thing was it’s simple, it didn’t matter who she was, she was a threat to The Wasteland, a threat to the place I now called home. I pulled back on the hammer, “You may look like my mother, but whoever you are now, you aren’t her. You don’t have to believe me about who I am or not, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m sorry Mom, but I can’t let you live.”

I pulled the trigger, the hammer came down, the pistol barked, but before I could kill my mother, or rather the shell of my mother, she vanished. The bullet slammed into the ground right where she’d been only a second ago, “Where the hell did she go?” I turned looking for her, but it was like she just vanished. I turned my head slowly looking for any sign of where she could’ve gone. Then something hit me, she hadn’t teleported, she just vanished.

I twisted back around right as my mother came back into view, she moved just to the side of where I shot. It looked like she was tossing a Stealth Buck to one side as her horn started to glow, a triumphant look on her face, “I told you before Courier, you can’t win against a pony like me.”

I pointed Dream Walker entered S.A.T.S. took aim at her head. With a tear rolling down my face, I activated the spell, and fired. Dream Walker Barked, fire erupted from the barrel as the bullet flew toward her. I watched as time seemed to slow down, the bullet about to pierce her flesh, a black glow surrounding it. Then there was a flash of grey and blue as Stardust tackled her to the ground, the bullet scraping along the top of his combat armor.

Time fully resumed, Stardust rolled away from mom as she came back to her hooves and a blast of magic flew into me. I felt pain rack my body as I was thrown back skidding across the ground. I rolled then came to a stop, I looked up toward my mother, she was flanked by Stardust and Envy who was grinning at me from her other side. Turning my head, I looked for Aura or Syn, but I couldn’t see my friends, Wind Thrasher ran off with Wingnut. I was alone, I couldn’t count on them this time.

I closed my eyes and tried to think, “I could really use your help right now Aquila,” I said quietly, but there wasn’t any answer, even she was gone. I pushed myself to my hooves doing my best to hide my shaking legs. I smiled and pulled out something I knew would give me an edge. I pointed Solar Flare’s Range Finder at all three of them, “Don’t take another step toward me.”

“Or what?” Mom said.

“Or I’ll do to you the same thing I did to Appleton.”

All three-looked scared, even Envy. Stardust asked, “You wouldn’t dare do anything like that, if you did you’d get caught in the blast too.”

I smiled with bloody teeth, “Do you think I care about what happens to me? All I care about is stopping her” I pointed at my mom, “if I have to die to accomplish that then so be it.”

She glared at me and it took everything I had to hide the hurt I felt at seeing that look on my mother’s face, “Even if we leave and you live another day, what makes you think I won’t come after you again?”

“Because I was already able to take you on MOM, I won, whatever power you think you have is nothing but a sham. I’m getting more powerful as each day passes, my magical skills are growing, and I have an ace up my sleeve,” I said taking one step back to increase the distance between us. As I did I felt one of my hooves slip and I almost tripped into empty space. I must be backed against the edge of a cliff.

“What are you talking about? You mean that superweapon you used on Appleton to kill the old Pride?” Envy asked, his big smile showing on his face, “That thing can’t work everywhere, what will you do when we catch you underground, or inside a building, or just after you used the weapon?”

I snickered, “Oh you think I mean this thing?” I waved the Range Finder at them, “No, what I have is way different. You see MOM, thanks to you I have something living inside of me, something powerful and dark. Right now I have her kept on a short leash, but if my life is in danger she’ll come out and she makes your power look like foals play. I’m sure deep down you remember the day you took me someplace and used whatever you were looking for to save my life. It worked, but something got into me, something you were scared of so much that you caged her in the farthest depths of my mind.”

“I don’t remember anything like that, stop your lying Courier, I won’t warn you again,” she said taking another step toward me her horn glowing.

I saw something moving behind them, a quick flutter of wings. It had to be Aura, I just needed to keep them talking, “I tell only truth, but if you don’t believe me fine. Maybe you should look into something called Aquila, that’s the name of the thing that’s living inside me. Maybe that’ll help you remember who I am.”

“Fuck you…” she started to yell, but then with a screech and a flash of light Aura blasted into the air just behind them her spear glowing like the sun itself.

With a quick slash, a blast of thin energy flew toward all three. Envy moved first, his body jumping out of the way as he twisted in the air, his wings flapping so he could intercept the griffon. Stardust did a backflip, his rifle coming off his back to aim up at Aura. Mom however used this moment to strike. She bolted forward, her hoof coming up to push the Range Finder aside, her other hoof slamming into my face. She collided with me a moment later and we both flew back over the edge of the cliff. I grabbed at anything I could, my hooves grabbed hold of the edge of the cliff, mom holding onto my body as we dangled over the precipice, nothing but darkness below us.

I heard a couple of shots then I saw Envy go flying over me his body slamming into the other side of the cliff then it fell into the darkness below. My hooves started to slip and I did whatever I could to get a better grip, but it was hard with Mom’s weight added to my own.

“Fuck!” mom said her grip tightening,

“Why are you so worried I’m sure you could teleport yourself back to the top,” I said as my forelegs started to shake.

“Not right now I can’t, I used too much power with that last attack. How about you pull us both up.”

“Yeah right, because I have that much strength,” I said my hooves slipping more, “Fuck, if you don’t let go we’re both going down.”

She was about to say something when my hooves finally gave, we both fell for only a second before a talon took hold of my foreleg stopping us, I looked up into Aura’s eyes. She was grinning down at me, “How’s that for ‘just in the nick of time’?”

“Shut up and pull us up Aura. Both of us,”

I may not like what happened to my mom, but with the rage seeming to have left me after the fall, I really didn’t want her dead anymore. I wanted to understand what was going on here. I felt the griffon pulling and our bodies started to lift back toward the edge. A moment later both of us were back on solid ground.

“What happened to Stardust and Envy?” I asked as Aura moved over to Mom and pressed the tip of her spear to her neck.

“Syn managed to bring Stardust down with a sneak attack, she’s keeping him pinned right there,” she said pointing with her free talon toward her sister who was holding Stardust down, the tip of a blade pressed to the back of his head, “Envy didn’t expect that attack and I was able to dodge his first strike and he took a nice kick to the face. He was flying down that hole I just pulled you both out of. I don’t think he’ll be much of a problem now.”

As she spoke I pulled out one of my last healing potions and downed it before looking over at Grim, “Now how about you tell me what you did to Stardust.”

“I don’t know what you mean, I didn’t do anything to him just ask him yourself,” she said her eyes looking at my friend who glared at me, “Isn’t that right Pride?”

“She’s my boss, she recruited me from my Stable just last week after Pride was killed. I don’t know why you think you know me Shadow Star, but you don’t. I’ve never met you before in my life.”

“See nothing wrong with him, he knows exactly who he is.”

I moved forward and slammed my hoof into her face sending little flecks of blood to the ground, “You’re lying! Now tell me what kind of spell you used on him to make him forget who he is.”

She laughed again which slowly transformed into a short cackle, her face looking more psychotic, with a smile her own blood covering some of her teeth, her voice lowering to a whisper that only Aura and I could hear, “No magic was used on him, no he doesn’t remember who you are because he was re-educated. It’s a process that Stable 97 uses to keep their soldiers in line. Stardust was one of the best ponies there, his training perfect, his skills with hoof to hoof combat were unlike anything seen before, his ability with ranged weapons were better than most veterans. He was the perfect soldier, but he lacked the ability to take any command given to him, he was scheduled to be re-educated before he escaped, but his stupid friend snuck into a restricted area of the stable and found out the truth behind what was going on and he helped him escape. All we did when we captured him was make sure he was fixed. He only sees The Enclave as his family now and the only thing he cares about protecting.”

I looked back toward my friend, “I don’t believe it. He has to still be in there somewhere.”

“He’s not, we wiped everything from his mind, everything about his time outside the stable and replaced the memories with new ones. As far as he knows, he never met you.”

I kept my eyes on Stardust’s as I said, “Is that true Stardust, you don’t remember who I am?”

He spat blood onto the ground before answering, “Like I said, I’ve never met you before today.”

“How could you forget me Stardust? You have to remember how you saved me from the raider boss, or how you chased down Aura to free me. Did you really forget the times we spent traveling, or the day we saved Wingnut who you treated like a little brother? How could all of that be gone?” I asked.

At Wingnut’s name, something seemed to change inside those pink orbs, they softened a little, “Wingnut? Why does that name sound familiar?” his eyes closed as if he was trying to think hard.

I saw more wings coming toward us, it was Wind Thrasher and Wingnut, they both landed a little ways away, the colt jumping off her back and walking slowly toward Stardust who was still pinned by Syn, “Syn why are you holding down Stardust?”

The Stallions eyes snapped open as Wingnut spoke and he looked over at the blue colt, “Have I seen you somewhere before kid?”

Wingnut looked over at me confused, “What’s wrong with him Shadow?”

“He’s been brainwashed, he doesn’t remember us, but something about you seems to be snapping him out of it, keep talking to him.”

Grim tried to say something but Aura pressed the blade of her spear harder against her neck saying, “Keep quiet before I slice open your wind pipe and let you drown in your own blood.”

The colt turned his attention toward Stardust, “You’re my best friend Stardust.”

“That’s not my name kid, I’m Pride,” he said but he didn’t sound as convinced as he had before.

“No you’re not, you’re Stardust Night the pony who showed me how to be a Stallion. You helped save me from Cazadores and made me feel better when I was scared at night,” he said taking a step toward him.

“I…remember a colt, but it was like a dream, something with bugs and there was a filly with him too. He was kind of a snot, but he was cool too. You look like him, but how could that be?”

“Because it was real Stardust, that is Wingnut, I’m Shadow Star you’re best friend. Come on somewhere deep inside you remember us,” I said, trying to get through his thick skull.

His eyes hardened again, “The Courier Mare Shadow Star is the enemy of Stratus and Nimbus, she’s a liar and will mess with ponies to get them on her side. She can’t be trusted the same goes for the ponies who follow her.”

He was slipping away from us again, I had to figure out a way to get him to remember. Then a story he told me about his escape came to mind, “Stardust, do you remember what happened to your friend Hail Storm?”

His hard glare fell on me again, “How do you know about him!?”

“I know because you told me what happened to him, you told me how he tried to help you escape, and he died when the stable door closed on him. He died so you could get away. He did that so you could make a new life for yourself, find real friends and make a name for yourself.”

Grim started to laugh from behind me, “Hahahaha, nice idea bringing up his dead friend, but we already thought about that.”

What did she mean? I got my answer quickly, because I saw rage fill his eyes as he yelled, “Don’t you say a word about Hail Storm! They were right, you do spread lies about ponies. Hail Strom was killed by you weeks ago when he was out here doing recon. That story you told me about me helping you with the Raider Camp, from what I learned the pony who helped you was my best friend Hail Storm, he was just trying to help ponies, then you killed him after he saved your life! That’s why I took the role of Pride, because when I found out who killed him I swore that I’d get revenge on the mare who killed a pony who just wanted to help!”

“No Stardust, that’s not true, you were the pony who helped me not Hail Storm, I didn’t kill him,” I tried to say, but it was too late.

With a quick twist, he pulled his head to one side, rolled around and threw Syn off him. His hoof came around and slammed into the side of her head, knocking her out cold. He flapped his wings and dove right for Aura who was stunned as she watched her sister go down. His hoof slammed into her throwing her off Grim. He picked her up and lifted her away from both of us. Once he was out of reach he twisted and said down to me, “This isn’t over Shadow Star, I’ll find you again and when I do, you won’t have as much warning as you did this time. Next time I see you, you’re dead!”

“Stardust don’t go please, you have to realize that they’re lying to you,” I tried to say, but he ignored me.

He tapped a gem on his armor and said, “All Sins report back to base, it’s time to regroup,” then he left, leaving us behind again, like we meant nothing to him at all.

Aura picked herself up then flew over to her sister, “Syndi are you okay?”

The other griffon moaned then opened her eyes, “I told mom I wasn’t the right griffon for this job, I’m not that great of a fighter.”

Aura looked relieved, “You held your own pretty well against them, I’d be happy to have your help in a fight any day.”

“Thanks sis, but I think I’ll stick to medical work and intel, it’s less dangerous.”

Wingnut came over to me while Aura checked on Syn, the look on his face almost broke my heart, “What’s wrong with him?”

I pulled him into a tight hug, “I don’t know, but don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get him back.”

He pulled away, “I hope so.”

“Look on the bright side, at least we know he’s alive, he may not remember us, but he’s alive.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s one good thing, but I still don’t understand what’s going on with him, and who was that mare?” he asked.

“That was that hooded mare Cloak…my…mom.” My voice faded away with that last word.

Everyone froze and went quiet, it was Aura who finally spoke up, “I thought I heard you say something about that, but are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course I’m sure, I’d know my own mom. Something’s wrong with her though. I know what I’ve been hearing about her, but something changed. She didn’t even know who I was.”

“Well it’s been eight years since she’s seen you, you’ve grown up. Not to mention she’s getting up there in years, memory might not be what it once was.” Wind Thrasher said.

“No, I don’t look that different from how I did years ago, I’m just a little taller. Mom should have known it was me, plus I have the Mark II which she left for me. She doesn’t know who I am, she thinks her daughter died. It’s just like Stardust, somepony in the Enclave is messing with ponies memories. Also she’s not that old Wind Thrasher… I think.”

“Are you sure about that?” Wind Thrasher asked.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Then something hit me, Pride calling mom Sis, did that mean that Pride was…my Uncle, or was that just part of the memory manipulation…no I remembered that memory of Pride’s, the Filly he hurt, it was me, “Oh my Goddesses!”

“What?” Aura asked looking back at me.

“I think Pride was…my uncle.”

“Pfft, so what, he was a monster. Don’t go beating yourself up over his death,” Aura said.

“I guess you’re right, but still it’s not an easy thing to hear. If he’s my uncle that means I’m from The Enclave!” I started breathing heavily, “This whole time, I’ve been fighting ponies from The Enclave. The Sins have been trying to kill me and the whole time I’ve been one of them.” My breathing hastened

Syn limped over to me saying, “Hey calm down Shadow, you’re starting to hyperventilate. Take a few deep breathes and calm down.”

I nodded and did what she told me to as Aura said, “You might be right, but that doesn’t mean you’re one of them Shadow. Home is where you grew up, for you that’s Stable 28. You’re a stable pony no matter where you started out. Plus every family has their dark secrets. So you killed your uncle… Syn secretly thinks one of my other sisters is a slut, I won’t say which one.”

I took another minute to slow my breathing before I said, “This is just a lot to take in. I knew that finding out where I was from wouldn’t be great, but still The Enclave? Also…now I’m curious about which sister it is.”

Aura moved over to me patted my shoulder, “Come on Shadow we don’t know how long they’ll be gone. We should get out of here while we can.”

“You’re right,” I said wincing as my body protested at its newly acquired bruises. I moved toward Syn, “Why did you come out here to find us?”

“We got the intel on Stardust last night, I went to Freedom where we thought you’d still be, but The Queen said you headed off toward Trotston. I just managed to spot you,” she replied.

“What intel did you get on him?” I asked.

She looked sad for a moment, “A pony we know who works with The Enclave heard something about a new Pride. He told us the description of this pony and it matched Stardust right down to his eyes. We figured that if he was the new Pride there had to be a reason for it, so Gigi told me to find you and give you the information and to watch out for him just in case something like this happened.”

“Yeah, I guess that would’ve been nice to know before we got into this situation. I still plan on trying to help him, even if he doesn’t remember what happened. If I need you will the Red Talons still help me?”

She nodded, “You paid for us to help you find him and get him back, so far we’ve only helped find him so the contract isn’t fulfilled yet, though I’m going to request that another griffon take over in my place. Like I told Aura, I’m not much of a fighter.”

Aura laughed then winced putting a talon up to her still injured shoulder, “I still think you’re a good fighter Syndi, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have been able to hold my own against them.”

Syn glared over at her sister, “I’m not as good as Fletch or you, I never will be, that’s why I stick to medicine. Speaking of which let me look at that shoulder before you head out.”

Aura grumbled but let her sister look at her shoulder, as she did Wind Thrasher came over to me asking, “What do we do now?”

I sighed, “There isn’t much we can do until we can think of a way to capture Stardust. I’ll leave a message with Syn to bring to Sargent Doorstop before she goes, he probably knows what happened with him if it involves their old stable. While we wait on that I’m gonna continue on to Spitfire’s Flight Academy. I’m also going to see if I can somehow get ahold of Watcher, he might know what this Falling Shadows thing is mom was talking about.”

She looked confused, “Who’s Watcher?”

“It’s a long story, let’s just say he’s a pony that seems to know more about The Wasteland than most, if he doesn’t I could also ask Nexus,” I said, knowing the ghoul would most likely know more about what I was talking about.

“Then we should start heading that way,” she said.

“I still think you’re nuts,” Aura said pulling away from her sister, her shoulder already looking better, “But if that’s where we can find out what we need to know then so be it.”

“You said you had a message for me to bring to Doorstop?” Syn said coming back toward me.

“Yeah, let him know what happened with Stardust, tell him that from the intel we found out, something happened at Stable 97 that messed with his head and I want to know if he knows what it could be,” I said.

“No problem, I’ll swing by Frosty Summit on my way back, is there anything else you’ll need before I go?”

“Not unless you have a few healing potions you can spare.”

“No sadly, I didn’t bring much with me and I used the last of my healing and restoration potions on Aura and myself.”

“Can’t be helped, well then just be careful out there. The Sins could still be around here and I remember Wrath taking a shot at me earlier, he may still be watching us.”

She smiled at me, “Don’t worry about me Shadow, I’m not much of a fighter, but I can still dodge a sniper. Stay safe all of you,” and with that she took to the skies.

Aura chuckled, “I know she doesn’t like field work, but I’m glad Gigi sent Syndi, she’s the one griffon that doesn’t seem to care one way or another about what I did.”

We started to walk north again down the path, “She seems to be a lot nicer than the rest of your family. Is she the one who taught you some of the medical stuff you know?”

“Yeah, when I was younger I wanted to be a medical griffon like her. I used to look up to Syndi when I was young, she’s the oldest of us and always had so much respect. Me being the youngest I wanted to have what she did, so she took me under her wing and showed me everything I know. Later my Aunt saw how much of a natural I was with a spear and started teaching me how to fight.”

“So, you changed your mind on being a medical griffon?” Wingnut asked.

“I didn’t change my mind, I just did both. Gigi was the one who started sending me on missions when I got older and helped me set up my own contracts. I don’t mind though, I’m still good at medical stuff, maybe not as much Syndi, but I’m still proud of what I know. Plus, it’s not like it matters anymore, I’m no longer a talon. Who cares what the rest of them think about me?”

“I’m glad you’re not a Red Talon Aura,” I said.

She gave me a funny look, “Why?”

“Because if you were, you wouldn’t have ever come looking for me to prove yourself to them. I wouldn’t have ever met you and I’m happy I did.”

“Yeah we all are,” Wingnut added, beaming up at her.

She blushed a little then looked away, “Oh shut up, both of you.”

“It’s all beside the point Aura, life is just better with you around,” I said smiling a little.

She ignored me and kept walking, Wingnut came closer and asked, “Shadow, what are you gonna do if we can’t fix what’s wrong with Stardust?”

“I don’t know Wingnut, I really don’t.”

Aura paused and said, “If we can’t fix what’s wrong with him, you know what’ll have to be done, both of you do.”

I knew she was right, but I didn’t want to admit it, “I’m not sure I could do that Aura, I feel like if we killed him, it’d be like giving up on him.”

“I know, and I don’t like the idea any more than you do Shadow, but think about it this way. Would Stardust really want to be like that? Would he want to be going around killing his friends, or innocent ponies?”

“No he wouldn’t, but he wouldn’t want to be killed over something he can’t control either,” I retorted.

She stopped and looked back at us, “Let’s think about it this way then Shadow. What would you want us to do to you if Aquila took over your mind and there was no way we could ever fix you? While she has control of you, she’s going around killing ponies, ponies you want to help.”

“Then I’d want you to stop her any way you could even if you had to kill the both of us doing so. I understand what you mean.”

“I won’t do it, no matter what happens I know we can help him. Somewhere deep inside, Stardust is still there and I’m not giving up on him.” Wingnut said.

“He’s in a dark place right now Boss, what if he was trying to kill Shadow, or me? What if he was going after Wind Thrasher, what would you do then?”

“I’d find a way to help without killing him. He would do the same thing for us, and you both know it,” he said glaring at the both of us, “Aura, I’m ordering you not to kill him unless I say otherwise.”

Aura looked worried as she said, “Boss, you can’t give me an order like that. If he is trying to hurt you I can’t obey that order.”

“You can help me or our friends without killing him, I know that for a fact. No killing Stardust unless I give the order, and that goes for you too Shadow.”

“Wingnut, I’m the leader here not you. You can give orders to Aura, but you can’t tell me what to do. I won’t try and kill him, but if it comes between my friend’s lives and Stardust, I’ll do what I have to.”

Wind Thrasher moved closer to me and put a hoof on my shoulder, “I hope it doesn’t come to that Shadow. Remember though that you don’t always have to resort to killing, there are many different ways to stop an enemy without killing them.”

“You think so, but you’re wrong. Sometimes killing somepony is the only way to stop them. You should know that better than anypony, look at Dr. Cell,” It was a cruel thing to say, but I knew I was right. I hated the idea of having to kill my friend if it came down to it. The sad part was that may be the only way to stop him.

Her eyes fell at the comment and she walked past me saying, “You didn’t have to go there Shadow. Stardust isn’t Dr. Cell.”

Wingnut followed her, the two of them leaving Aura and I behind. She sighed, “Maybe I said too much.”

I shook my head, “No, it’s just the truth and they don’t like it. The truth hurts, that’s just the way of life in general. It’s not like I want to do it, but if I have no choice then I will.”

“Does that go for your mother too?” she asked.

“Yes it does, though with her I’m not sure if she’s gone completely insane or what. All I know is that if this is who she is now, then I can’t let her live, not after what she’s done. The more I hear about her the worse it gets, I know for a fact now that I won’t be giving her this Pip-Buck.”

“Well that’s a given, but I still think you should find out why she wanted it,” Aura said.

“I plan to, I have a feeling that we might just get that info when we get to Spitfire’s Flight Academy.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, when I was out of it back at Frosty Summit the voice I heard that told me to come here sounded a lot like The Stranger’s. He keeps showing up whenever I’m in trouble, it’s like he’s watching over me and I think he wants me to know what’s really going on. I also have a feeling he knows the pony who was hunting my mom.”

“What gave you that idea?” she asked.

“I saw it in mom’s Memory orb. She met with a pony named Nightshade and he was looking for me, though I’m not too sure why. He told mom that he’d look after me and if he couldn’t then he had a friend who would. Mr. Tops told me about Nightshade and he sounds too busy to be watching me all the time so I think it’s this friend he was talking about. If he knew what mom was doing, he may want me to know what’s going on,” I replied.

“This Nightshade, maybe the reason he was looking for you is because he’s your family. You told me you don’t know who your dad is, what if it’s Nightshade.”

I smiled, “That’s a nice thought, but mom told me he died when I was a foal. All I know about him is that he was a soldier and he died in a fight with some faction.”

“How do you know that’s not another lie?”

“Because of the way mom talked about it, she was always in so much pain whenever he came up. I saw the hurt there and I know she was telling me the truth, my father’s dead. Though this pony might’ve known him. That’d explain why he wanted to find me.”

“It’s very possible, though I still think we should be careful. We still don’t know who this pony is, even if he did help you, that doesn’t mean you can trust him,” Aura said.

“I know, but that’s why I have you with me.”

She cracked a smile, “You know I never can figure out how you’re able to smile so easily even after finding out what you did.”

I shrugged, “It’s the way I was raised, Auntie always told me that no matter what, I had to look at the good things in life. If I dwell on the bad things in life then I’ll never be happy.”

“Let me guess, she started telling you that after your mother left didn’t she?”

“Yeah, it did help, though I did have my days when I’d let life get me down.”

“We all have those trust me.”

I smiled then changed the subject, “Tell me what you know about The Annihilators.”

We kept walking for a little bit, Aura taking that time to think. Finally, after ten minutes passed and I was about to say something she said, “I know that before Trip Wire met me, she was infatuated with a mare that lived there for a few months. I’m not sure how this mare felt about her, but she used to send messages to her.”

“Did the two of them ever meet?”

“They did once, the mare snuck out of Spitfire’s Flight Academy and they met on the road back to New Pegasus.”

“What does this have to do with The Annihilators?” I asked.

“I’m getting to that,” she said rolling her eyes, “From what I heard from Trip Wire, the two of them spent most of the night and next day together getting to know each other. What she said was that this mare told her that The Annihilators were very secretive, even to most of the citizens. She was a young mare and wanted more than anything to get away from the town and be free of their leaders. Most of it I didn’t care about, but one thing she told Trip Wire was that the fact that they blow up anyone who goes near them isn’t really true, or so she said.”

“What does that mean for us?”

“That we may not have to worry much about getting blown to tiny chunks if we get too close.”

“Do you really believe that?” I asked.

“Honestly, I don’t, but also I can’t see how they could have that much weaponry after all these years. No matter which is true, I still think we should be careful when we get close.”

“I wish there was a way I could get a message to them without getting too close.”

“I’ve been thinking about that for a little while now, and I think I have an idea.”

“Mind sharing it with me?”

She gave me a crooked smile, “I will, in a few, first we should catch up to Wind Thrasher and Wingnut.”

“Why?” I asked.

She pointed at a radar tower in the distance with a long runway and three hangers all surrounded by a chain-link fence. All around the base were deep craters in the earth and the remains of what must’ve been barracks just outside of the fence. The only road that lead up to the gate went right through the destruction. We were on the top of a hill looking down toward it, and I could also see guard towers by the gate and on each corner of the fence. At the end of the runway was a broken-down airship. It was almost as large as Cartwheel, it was hard to believe that something so large was able to fly. Ponies were walking along the fence-line, most were wearing battle saddles with rocket launchers.

Wingnut and Wind Thrasher were waiting for us at the top of the hill looking down at the old air base. Aura smiled, “That’s why.”

“That used to be a Flight Academy?” I asked

“Before the war got bad, they used to train young flyers for the air forces there. It was named after Spitfire the leader of The Wonder Bolts who died in a raid on Rome. When the war escalated and the call for more soldiers came, the base was revamped to be used as a military base, but they did still train flyers there, just not as much as they used it for a strategic base,” Aura replied.

Wingnut was watching the ponies who were walking around the fence-line, “They look well-armed, are you sure we can get close enough to let them know why we’re here?”

Aura smiled, “Oh I’m sure we can.”

“How do you propose we do that?” Wind Thrasher asked.

“Easy, we send Wingnut down there with a message for their leader that The Courier Mare wants to meet with them.”

Wingnut spun around his eyes wide as saucers, “Why me!?”

“Because, from all the stories I’ve heard about them blowing up ponies who get close, it’s always been Steel Rangers, Raiders, Fiends, Ghouls, and Stupid Ponies who had an ulterior motive, but I’ve never heard once about them blowing up colts or fillies. I have a feeling that if you go up to their gate they’ll let you get close enough to relay the message,” Aura said smugly.

“And what if you’re wrong?” I asked.

She Shrugged, “He’s a small target and quick, I’m sure he can get away fast enough.”

“No way, I’m not doing it!” Wingnut said backing away from the griffon.

“C’mon boss, do you really want to look like a tiny little scaredy-wuss in front of Shadow?” Aura said with a sly grin.

He paused then glared at her, “Oh you’re so mean Aura!”

She chuckled, “Wingnut do you really think I’d send you down there if I wasn’t sure you’d be okay?”

“Well…no, but that doesn’t mean you’re right.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, now we’ll wait here and you head down toward the gate, tell them that Shadow has a message for their leader and it’s important.”

He muttered to himself as he turned and slowly started to walk down the path, he paused then looked back at Aura, “You’re gonna pay for this.”

She grinned, “Whatever you say boss.”

He started walking again his hooves starting to shake violently with each step. He reached the bottom of the hill and just entered the destroyed barracks, when he did Aura started to chuckle to herself. Wind Thrasher gave her a puzzled look and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Oh… you’ll see. Watch this,” she brought her talons up to her beak and yelled down at Wingnut, “BOOM!”

The colt jumped so high into the air, it looked like he almost took flight. When he landed he dove behind a broken piece of concrete looking around for a missile blast. After a moment he looked back toward Aura, who was laughing so hard she couldn’t stay standing.

“That was just plain mean Aura,” Wind Thrasher said her ears drooping as Wingnut started walking down the path again.

When her fits of laughter died down she said, “This was the plan from the beginning. He needs a dose of reality now and then, and it was funny.”

I couldn’t help laughing too since I was still irritated with him for interrupting my chat with Aura earlier. I mean yes, he had a good reason, but still couldn’t he have waited thirty more seconds. So what if Aura scared the little shit, it was nice to see him jump for once.

As he made his way closer to the gate and the two guards noticed him I moved next to Aura and asked, “So what happened with that mare Trip Wire liked?”

“Not much really, later that day one of The Annihilators found them and forced her to go back home. Trip Wire said she never saw her again after that, at least not face to face, though she did used to spy her now and then helping around one of the hangers. I met her not long after that so I think she forgot about her feelings for the mare she couldn’t get to.”

“Or she just fell for you and didn’t need to worry about that mare anymore,” I said with a small smile.

Aura just shrugged, “Either way, I still got her in the end.”

Wind Thrasher smiled as we talked, “It would be nice to find a Stallion that loved me as much as you loved Trip Wire Aura or you with Silver, Shadow.”

“What do you mean? I’m sure you’ll find somepony one day Wind Thrasher, you’re sweet,” I said.

“That might be true, but what Stallion is going to be able to see past this?” she said gesturing to her scales and bat wings.

Aura chuckled, “Looks aren’t everything Wind Thrasher, I mean look at Shadow, Silver fell for her even though she looks like a twelve-year-old. You’d be surprised at some of the weird fetishes you find that ponies and griffons have in The Wasteland, like crunchy old lady ghoul sex.”

“I do not!” I said.

“Yeah Aura don’t be so mean to Shadow, she could at least pass for thirteen,” Wind Thrasher said, smiling over at me with her rare creepy toothy smile.

I shivered then looked away, “You’re both jerks. At least I’m not batty or repeat things by proxy.”

The two of them kept laughing as I went back to watching Wingnut, he did manage to make it to the gate and one of the guards was talking to him. He didn’t look as scared as he did before. At least Aura was right about him not getting fired at. I saw him point up at the hill toward us. The guard talked to him for another moment then he turned and waved for us to come down.

“See that wasn’t so hard now was it?” Aura said getting up and starting to walk toward the gate, “And by the way griffons aren’t part parrot, moron.”

I followed keeping my eyes on the ponies who guarded the air base. I saw one run off toward the hangers as more guards came to watch as the three of us joined up with Wingnut. When we finally reached him he said, “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be.”

“Hey kid is the short one the mare you were talking about?” A mare asked from the other side of the gate.

“Yeah, this is Shadow Star, The Courier. She’s the one who needs to meet with your leader.”

“I always figured The Courier would be taller and older,” The Guard said to the other guard, “How’d a mare like you get such a reputation?”

I glared at her, “You really don’t want to know.”

She just shrugged, “If you say so, tell me why did you send the kid all the way down here just to ask to see our leader?”

“Because we didn’t want to get blown to bits, we figured you wouldn’t fire at a kid,” I replied.

She grinned, “Damn that’s cold, sending the kid in to do your dirty work huh. Well I’m glad to see our reputation is still holding strong in The Wasteland.”

“Yeah, it is, so are you going to let us in or not?” Aura asked.

She laughed, “No pony gets in here unless Javelin says so. She should be here soon. I wouldn’t get your hopes up though, I haven’t seen her let any pony in here for years.”

“Three years and two months,” A mare said walking up to the gate, she was old, with a mostly grey and black mane with a turquoise coat. She looked at us and said, “Smokescreen who are these ponies and why are they standing outside our gate?”

The mare who’d been talking to us gave the older mare a small bow saying, “The kid there came up here on his own saying that The Courier from the radio wanted to talk to you. She’s the short one.”

She looked at me her frown deepening, “Are you really the Courier? To me it looks like you’re a member of the NLR, though I’ve never seen a member so young that wears Veteran Ranger armor.”

“I am her, and this armor was made for me by a friend,” I said walking right up to the gate.

“Hmmm, well if you say so. I’m Javelin the leader of The Annihilators. Why are you here? And please don’t tell me you came to try and barter for peace with Trotston.”

“Why would I be here on behalf of Trotston?” I asked.

“We keep ourselves tuned-in to Mr. New Pegasus, he just reported that you were heading this way after leaving our old home. The only thing I could think of for you coming here was to try and get us to leave that town alone. I do hope that isn’t the reason because if it is, you can turn around and leave right now.”

“No, it’s not. I’m here because I was asked to come here by somepony. He told me that I had to ask to see the leader and give her a pass phrase.”

“Oh really and what would that be?”

“The night still runs free,” I said, smiling a little as the look on the mare’s face went from mildly annoyed to shocked.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me, the night still runs free, that’s what I was supposed to tell you.”

Javelin looked at the guard mare called Smokescreen, “Let them in.”

“Wait, what!?” she asked.

“Do it now!” Javelin shouted. She kinda reminded me of someone just now… I hope she’s not a total cunt like Fletch.

She nodded then pressed a button near the fence. The gate slid open and we all walked in, “Thank you for that.”

“We don’t have time, follow me to my office, if the pony who sent you is the pony I’m thinking of we have a lot to talk about,” Javelin said walking off.

We followed her as she led us past most of the guard ponies and toward a small building that was set up next to one of the large hangers closest to the gate. She opened the door and waited for all of us to enter before following herself. The office was small, but set up nicely, it had a small desk with a terminal on it a couple of couches with a coffee table set up between them.

Once the door was shut she moved over to her desk and got on the terminal, “Give me a moment I’ll be right with you.”

Aura moved over to one of the couches and sat down Wingnut following her. Wind Thrasher just stayed next to me, staying quiet as the older mare typed something on her terminal. As she did I asked, “I was told that you’d be able to help me with getting answers.”

She finished what she was doing then turned to look at me, “That all depends on what you need help with. That pass phrase was something that was passed on to me when I took over here. I was told that whoever gave it to me was to be allowed in and when I did I was supposed to send a message to somepony through my terminal which I just did.”

“Do you know who this pony is?” I asked.

“Personally, no I don’t, but I do know he’s a pegasus, one that’s been in here a few times over the past few years.”

“A pegasus, you mean you all work with The Enclave?” great just what I needed right now.

She laughed, “The Enclave? Pfft, hell no, we don’t work with those scum. This pegasus keeps his face hidden all the time, but he hates The Enclave more than almost any other pony in The Wasteland. We think he’s a Dashite with a grudge, but we can’t be sure.”

“If this place is so against other ponies getting in here, then why would you let him in here?” Aura asked.

“Because from what I was told, he was the one who let my ponies move in here, the only thing we had to agree on was to make sure he could come and go whenever he wanted and to let in anypony who gave us the pass phrase,” she replied.

The more I learned about this pony the less I wanted to meet him. Though I had a feeling I knew who this pony was, “This is all beside the point, what I want to know is why I was told to come here. I was told I could get answers, so far I haven’t seen anything that says otherwise.”

Javelin snickered, “The pony who’ll be helping you with that isn’t me. This pegasus will be on his way soon to meet with you. While you wait for him, you can all rest up here in my office.”

“Is there any way we could walk around? It’d be nice to check this place out,” I asked.

“Let’s wait until you meet with this pegasus before you do that. I personally don’t mind you being here, but the others here get nervous with ponies who aren’t from around here wandering around. While you wait, I’m going to talk with the other ponies here and let them know who you are. When you’re all finished, I’ll have you meet with the other leaders of The Annihilators.”

“You know, I find it funny that you’re all called The Annihilators, you don’t seem to do much annihilating,” Wingnut blurted out like the immature kid he is.

She snickered again, “Truth be told, it’s a name that we came up with to keep ponies away from here. In the past we’ve used the artillery here to keep ponies away, but not to the extent that most ponies think. We like our privacy and the story about us keeps most ponies away.”

“So you let other ponies think you’re all a bunch of nut jobs just to keep them away? How do you keep this town running if you don’t let anypony in?” Aura asked.

“We do trade with some ponies in The Wasteland, but only outside of our walls.”

“It seems like a lonely life to me? But you all used to be Stable ponies so I guess I understand it, Trotston is pretty much the same and I’m sure my own Stable would be like that too if they ever left.”

She frowned, “Please don’t bring Trotston up here. Remember you’re a guest here right now. I don’t feel like talking about them, and would prefer if you keep them out of any conversations here.”

I put my hooves up, “Sorry, I forgot that your towns don’t get along. It won’t happen again.”

“Please see that it doesn’t,” she said heading toward the door, “Now you four relax for now, I’ll be sure to let you know when your friend gets here.”

When she left Aura looked over at me, “I don’t like this Shadow, what if this was all a set up for The Sins?”

“Then it’s a well thought out one, no I think this was something The Stranger set up. So far we’ve been able to trust him and I don’t see any reason why he’d betray us now,” I said walking over to sit on the couch next to her.

“That’s true, but I still don’t like it.”

Wind Thrasher went and sat next to Wingnut, she pulled a book out of her saddle bags and opened it saying, “Look on the bright side, if this is a trap we can fly out of here quick enough.”

“I guess, you’re right,” Aura said, I just wish we didn’t have to sit around here waiting.”

“This is why you should always keep a couple of books on you,” Wind Thrasher said as she read her own.

“Do you have one I can read?” Wingnut asked.

“Look in my saddle bags, if you find one you like have at it,” Wind Thrasher said not even looking up from her book, I saw it was titled ‘Path of the Lonely Pegasus by Squiggle Quill’

“Is that a romance book?” Aura asked.

Wind Thrasher looked up then nodded, “The Author wrote a few novels during the war, but nopony ever knew who they were. All of Squiggle Quill’s works revolves around history and romance mixing them into one. I’ve loved their work for a long time. I had every copy in the Stable, but never had time to read them all. Do you want to read one?”

“I’ll pass, reading mushy stuff like that isn’t really my thing.”

“Same here, maybe I’ll jump into a memory orb while we wait,” I said looking through my inventory seeing what other ones I had that I still hadn’t seen, apart from the other two mom gave me.

“Great now I’m going to be bored and I’ll have no one to talk to,” Aura said.

I giggled and laid down resting my head on her front talons looking up at her, “You can watch over me while I’m in the orb if you want.”

“Or you could look through some of the magazines I’ve collected over the past few days. Some of them aren’t really to my liking, I was meaning to toss them, but if you want them you can look them over.”

Aura blushed as my head rested on her talons, but she tried to hide it as she said, “I guess I’ll see what you have,” she reached over and took Wind Thrasher’s saddle bags pulling her talons out from under my head. She started to dig then her eyes went wide, “Why did you pick these up Batty? They don’t seem like your kind of reading material.”

I couldn’t see what Aura pulled out but I saw Wind Thrasher blushing, “I didn’t know what they were when I picked them up, those were the ones I was meaning to throw out.”

“What are they?” I asked trying to look up at what Aura had in her talon.

She looked down at me, “Don’t you have a memory orb to look into?”

I frowned and stuck my tongue out at her, “Fine, be that way,” I rested my head back onto her talon getting comfortable, and pulling one of the orbs out of my saddle bags, “But I’m using you as a pillow.”

Before she could protest I concentrated my magic on the orb, it was the one Nexus told Violet to give me. I figured it was a Night Stalker one and I wanted to know more about him. The connection was made and right as Aura started to say something, the world melted away…

Now I was expecting to be in that Stallion who had so much mystery around him. I was in a pegasus that was obvious right away, but this was a mare, and not just any pegasus mare, it was Rainbow Dash herself. I knew that right away because the memory started with her looking into a mirror.

She looked older than the posters I’d seen around Equestria showed her. A little grey was showing in her rainbow-colored mane and quite a few lines were showing up under her eyes. She sighed, “Why do you need me here for this anyway Princess? I have plenty of ponies in my ministry that can handle a meeting about adding new ponies to our ranks.”

She turned and I saw I was once again in the presence of Princess Celestia, she was sitting on a pillow looking out at the beautiful blue sky and the sun that was still high in the sky. I was almost lost by the sight of it, the princess of the sun herself looking so beautiful and regal. When I saw her before she was stressed and a battle had broken out, the tent she was in at the time wasn’t like seeing her bathed in the bright light of the sun coming through the open door to her balcony.

She didn’t look back at Rainbow Dash but I could see her lips pulling up as she said, “Rainbow Dash this meeting I’m having today is something that I will only entrust to one of The Ministry Mares, I can’t have any of this getting out and I only trust you six.”

“I can understand that, but why me? I have enough to do with keeping the Shadowbolts organized and the SPP keeps having snags that need my attention. Why not have Twilight help you with this?

She laughed and finally looked back at my host, “I have a feeling Twilight will be a part of this later on, but she has a lot on her plate as it is, and even if she didn’t the pony we’re meeting with today is somepony you know.”

I felt my host smile, “Oh really? Who is it?”

“A pegasus that’s been slowly making a name for himself over the past couple of years. He should be here any minute,” as she spoke somepony knocked on the door.

A guard poked his head inside, “Princess there’s a pony here to see you, but he’s refusing to give us a name he said you’d know who it was.”

“Ah yes, let him in,” Celestia said, getting off her pillow and moving to sit at a desk on the other side of the large room I now saw we were in.

The guard left and a moment later Night Stalker walked in followed by Greta. It was an odd sight, seeing him out of the armor I was used to seeing him in. He only wore what I guessed was a soldier’s uniform, the same goes for Greta. He had no weapons on him, and he was smiling, that was just as odd of a sight as seeing him without armor. He still had the scar over his left eye, but it wasn’t as notable, it was like his happy face and sparkling green eyes hid it somehow.

When the door shut behind him he bowed low along with Greta as he said, “Princess Celestia it’s an honor to meet you,” then he turned toward my host, “Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash, it’s good to see you again.”

My host smiled wider, “Well now this is a surprise, I haven’t seen you in a while kid.”

Celestia laughed a little, a large smile on her face, “Thank you for coming Ab…”

Night Stalker interrupted the Princess, “Please Princess, don’t call me by my old name, in case you haven’t heard yet, I’m going by Night Stalker now and I’d prefer if you called me by that.”

“My apologies Celestia, he’s very insistent on ponies calling him by this new name,” Greta said glaring over at the pegasus.

To my surprise Celestia just kept smiling, “It’s okay, I don’t mind calling him by this new name. From what I heard after your last big battle it’s a well-deserved name, wouldn’t you agree Rainbow Dash?”

“Using the night sky and clouds, sneaking into enemy territory to take down three high ranking zebras to stop their advance. Yeah, I’d say it’s fitting, but names aside why is the griffon here? I thought we were meeting with just Night Stalker?”

Greta glared at my host, “I go where he goes.”

Night Stalker nodded, “Greta’s my oldest friend and my most trusted ally, I didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t join me. I thought this was just something to do with me disobeying orders during my last fight, though I wasn’t sure why I was meeting with you Princess.”

Celestia waved a hoof like it didn’t matter, “It’s fine Night Stalker, you aren’t here about that, from what I read in the report you set in, if it wasn’t for you and Greta we would’ve lost a lot of ponies in that fight.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed, “His Commanding officer wouldn’t agree. Though, I still don’t understand why anypony put Thunderlane in charge of a group of ponies, he’s not suited for that kind of thing.”

“Second Lieutenant Thunderlane is a good pony, he just thinks he knows more than anypony else and it makes him make bad decisions,” Night Stalker said.

Celestia smiled wider, “I saw that in the report you made as well Night Stalker, tell me what would you have done? Thunderlane had three pegasi two earth ponies, a unicorn and Greta. You were facing a force of over one hundred Zebras. You were just a simple scouting party, Thunderlane wanted you all to retreat and get word back to the main force to stop them.”

Night Stalker looked at Greta, she nodded at him almost like an unspoken conversation had gone on between them. Then he looked back at my host and Celestia, “It’s true that he wanted us to retreat, but the Zebras were heading toward a small mining town, even with our fastest flyer we couldn’t have gotten a message to the main force in time for them to save the town. I told him that if we took out the three leaders of the force it would stop the advance while they figured out who should take over. It could’ve even forced them to turn back since most of the Zebras were green to war and wouldn’t know what to do without their veteran zebra leaders.”

My host grinned, “That’s a good point, it’s a dangerous route to take, but if it was successful it could work.”

“It was dangerous, but if it was done right one or two ponies could slip in and out before the rest of the force knew what happened. They were camped in a small valley and the Zebras didn’t think they had to worry about anypony since they were so far away from where most of the main battlegrounds. When I told Thunderlane about this, he told me to keep my mouth shut and to follow the orders I was given. He ordered the retreat, but I knew if we left they would kill the ponies in the town that was only a couple miles away,” he said.

“So you disobeyed orders and took it upon yourself to go in with Greta and attempt your plan?” Rainbow asked.

“Mostly yes, I told Greta to stay behind though.”

Greta spoke up next, “I figured if he was going to do something so stupid I was going to follow him and make sure he stayed safe.”

Night Stalker nodded, “Yes, and she did end up helping me too. The plan worked and the rest of the forces did leave once their leaders fell.”

“And your actions saved the lives of a lot of ponies. Even though you knew you’d face possible charges of insubordination, you still disobeyed,” Celestia said her grin never leaving her face.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat Princess, even if you were to exile me from Equestria.”

The Princess started to laugh, “I wouldn’t think of it, even if I could. You know that Luna leads the country now not me. I just help oversee small things nowadays. Night Stalker as much as I loved hearing why you did what you did at that last battle, that isn’t why you’re here.”

He looked shocked, “Then why am I here?”

The Princess looked over at Greta ignoring Night Stalker and asked, “Greta, from what I hear, you aren’t using a contract to work for the Military like most of your kin has started doing over the past few years. Why is that?”

Greta just shrugged, “I haven’t lived in Griffonstone since the war started, I see Equestria as my home more than where I was born. They want to stay out of this war as much as they can unless there’s a profit to be made. I fight because Night Stalker does, and I love this land as much as any pony does. I want to protect it.”

“I’m glad to hear that, so I take it you’ll go wherever Night Stalker does?”

She nodded, “Like he said, we’ve been friends since we were young. I’ll protect him till the day I die.”

“The same goes for me,” Night Stalker said proudly, “I owe Greta my life, without her I wouldn’t be here today.”

Celestia smiled again and nodded, “It’s nice to see friends sticking together like that. From what I understand, you grew up in Griffonstone too didn’t you Night Stalker.”

“I did, my parents died when I was very young. Greta and her grandmother found me in the mountains near Griffonstone and they raised me.”

“But from your military records I see that you grew up in Cloudsdale with a family that took you in. It says that you have a Sister who works with Stable-Tec. Is that not true?” Celestia asked.

“It’s true, I was a young colt when the ponies who adopted me met me in Griffonstone. Granny is the one who said I should go back with them and get to know the land I was born in. I didn’t want to go at first since I didn’t know much about Equestria back then, but Greta decided to go with me too and that helped. They took me in and raised me until I was grown.”

Greta nodded adding, “I stayed with them for a couple years too until my Gran got sick and I had to go back to Griffonstone, but the two of us stayed in contact. I moved back to Equestria when I was older and the war was just starting to break out.”

“That is fascinating. You seem like a pony who has a good head on your shoulders Night Stalker. You’re smart and willing to do whatever it takes to help your friends and this country. You’re also honest and I like that in a pony.”

He bowed again blushing a little, “Thank you Princess, I’d never lie to you or anypony I respected like you and Rainbow Dash.”

“Kiss-ass,” Rainbow said snickering, “At least that hasn’t changed since your days in training.”

He smiled, “Glad to see you’re still just as cocky as ever Rainbow.”

“Night Stalker the reason I had you come all the way here to Canterlot to meet with us is because I’ve been reading up on you. I noticed that over the last four years you’ve done a few things that have gotten you moved around the military and kicked out of a lot of companies. If it wasn’t for that you would’ve been an officer by now. For most ponies they would’ve been discharged a long time ago, but everything you have done has been for the better of Equestria and not yourself. I see something special in you and this is why I want you to be promoted to a new rank and take on a special mission.”

“A Special mission? What do you mean Princess, and I thought you didn’t make decisions on things like this anymore?”

“I have my ways of making sure things get done. As of today Night Stalker you will no longer be in Thunderlane’s scouting company. I’ve already spoken to a few ponies and you’ve been promoted to the rank of Captain you’ll be leading a new…secret group of ponies that will be under the Ministry of Awesome.”

He looked like somepony just slapped him, “Wait a minute, Captain? I just made Sergeant, I don’t know if I can handle that kind of responsibility yet.”

Greta however smiled and said, “Sure you can Night Stalker, you’re smart, quick on your hooves, and always have a plan. You can do this, I know you can.”

“But why work with the Ministry of Awesome? I thought they didn’t really do much of anything…sorry Rainbow,” he said bowing his head a little toward my host.

She just laughed again, “I see what you are up to Celestia, so this is why you wanted me here.”

“It is. Night Stalker, the Ministry of Awesome puts on a front to make the ponies in Equestria think the MOA aren’t doing much of anything. The truth is, they are the ponies Luna uses for spies and more. Rainbow Dash herself is the only pony in her ministry that knows who is a spy working for us and who isn’t.”

“So you want me to become a spy?”

My host turned and asked the Princess, “Are you thinking about starting up…that group? You know the one you told me about a couple weeks ago?”

Celestia nodded, “I am,” then her focus went back to Night Stalker and Greta, “Night Stalker, a long time ago before my sister became Nightmare Moon, she took on a few ponies that had been orphaned and raised them herself. Later these ponies became warriors that dedicated their lives to protecting my sister. They took on a name calling themselves The Children of the Night. They set up a headquarters in the top of the mountain here in Canterlot years before the city was ever created. When my sister rebelled and was banished, they all refused to leave their home and instead became the first protectors of the new capital. They never let anypony join them once Luna was gone and they all died out after a while, but their traditions were never forgotten and much of them are still used to this day in the royal guard. Their old headquarters are still in the top of this mountain and over the past few months I’ve had it set up with new tech so Luna could start them up again. With this war getting as bad as it is we’ll need ponies like them again to help protect her and this land. I want you to be their new leader.”

The look on Night Stalker’s face was priceless, I didn’t even know he could look so shocked. It took him a good five minutes to find his voice and when he did it was low and quiet, “You want me to lead this group, and do what? Spy on the Zebras or get intel so we can know where and when the Zebras will move?”

My host stepped forward saying, “That kind of thing would help us with this war a lot yes, but that’s not what she means.”

Celestia nodded, “That’s right, you see The Children of the Night did protect my sister, but they were also her private group of assassins, they worked in the shadows and made sure that Equestria never had to see what had to be done to keep a land like ours safe. Back in those days the word war wasn’t even known to ponykind. That’s because of ponies like The Children, they did the dirty work so the normal ponies didn’t have to.”

It took another few minutes for Night Stalker to say anything. Instead of shock he looked thoughtful, “If I did this, would you let me set up my own team? How much freedom would I have to do what I needed? Who do I answer to, and how do I keep this secret from others?”

“You can choose your own ponies that won’t be a problem, as for freedoms you’ll be allowed to do whatever needs to be done. You’ll report to Rainbow Dash and myself or Luna once she’s been informed about all of this. As for how you’ll keep this secret, we’re going to put you down on paper as the captain of Luna’s personal guard. You’ll have a month to find at least six ponies to join you, you can have as many as nine or ten if you need, but you’ll need at least six to make this work,” Celestia said.

A smile came to Night Stalkers face as he said, “This sounds fun. Well if that’s all then I’ll do it, I even know two ponies I’d like to have join me first.”

My host laughed, “Oh, and who would that be?”

His grin grew, “Second Lieutenant Thunderlane and a mare named Babs Seed, both are good soldiers and loyal to Equestria.”

My host frowned, “Why Thunderlane, he’s the pony who thinks too highly of himself, I can’t see him taking orders from you.”

“He will, he understands chain of command and he’s a good scout, he may not always make the right decisions but I think if he doesn’t have to worry so much about looking good to the higher up’s he’ll be able to do an even better job. As for Babs, she’s one of the strongest ponies I’ve met and perfect as a heavy infantry pony. I’m going to need a pony like her if you want this to work,” he said.

“I remember Babs Seed, she’s Applebloom’s cousin from Manehattan isn’t she? I didn’t know she was in the military,” Rainbow Dash said.

Night Stalker laughed, “She’s not, she tried to join six times and got denied because they said she has an attitude problem, but she really doesn’t she’s just misunderstood.”

“How do you know this mare?” Celestia asked.

“She works at a salon in Manehattan, she’s the mare who cuts Night Stalkers mane. She also joins in on some sport he likes to do on his days off, trust me she’s a tough mare and will be a good addition,” Greta said.

“I said you can add who you wanted. I trust your judgement on this Captain Night Stalker. You’ll have to be the one to go find them and bring them in on this, I also suggest that you make sure to find a couple of unicorns. Magic is something that will help you out a lot, if you go talk to Twilight Sparkle or Spike her assistant in Manehattan, they might be able to help you find the right ones,” Celestia said.

He bowed low, “I’ll get started right away, but there’s one more Mare I’d like to have join, but for the life of me I have no idea where she is now.”

My host was the one to respond, “Who’s that Night Stalker?”

“She’s a pegasus who used to live in an old shack outside of New Pegasus. She ran away from home with some lover of hers back when the war first started, the last I heard she was working with the Shadowbolts, but under a new name. I never found out what she changed it to, but before she joined the Shadowbolts she was the mare who taught me how to sneak and hide, also how to keep quiet while in flight,” he said.

“Are you talking about Pink Rose?” Greta asked him.

“Yeah, but like I said I heard she changed her name when her buckfriend died,” he replied.

My host jumped at that, “That sounds like the mare who runs my Scouts, her name’s Cloudy Nights now, but I know she used to be called Pink Rose. Is she a light pink pegasus with a green mane, has a cutie mark of three roses?”

“Yeah that’s her, I’m not surprised that she’s running as a scout now, it’s the perfect job for her. I’d like her to join up too, if she’s willing,” he said.

My host took a moment to think, “Last time I talked with her, she said she was having problems with a couple of the stallions in her unit and wanted to transfer, I think she’d like this. I’ll meet with her today and give her the details, you should hear back from me about it by tomorrow.”

He smiled wide, “That’s a good start,”

“Well since we have this all settled, how about you head out and get to work, come see me in a week and I’ll get you set up in the old headquarters,” Celestia said.

Greta and Night Stalker both bowed low saying in unison, “Thank you Princess,” then they both left.

When they were gone my host looked back at Celestia and asked, “Are you sure this was a good idea? From what I remember about The Children of the Night, Luna never wanted them brought back. At least that’s what you told me.”

Celestia’s smile fell, “She did say that, but give me a few days and I’ll be able to change her mind. She doesn’t like to be reminded of those days, she feels like she’ll end up going back to what she used to be.”

“Are you sure you can convince her?”

“Rainbow Dash, if there’s one thing I’m good at when it comes to Luna, it’s making her see things my way. Now head out and make sure nopony hears about this meeting.”

My host smiled and bowed low, “I have no idea what you’re talking about Princess, I’m just the dumb athlete who landed herself into running a Ministry that doesn’t do anything. Just a lazy mare whose head is always in the clouds remember? What do I know about what’s going on with royalty?”

Celestia didn’t laugh at the pun, “Rainbow, this is bigger than you know. From now on, we can’t let any of your friends know about any of this apart from Twilight. When you’re done with talking to Cloudy Nights you’ll need to go find her and learn all you can about The Children of the Night. There’s more to them than I said earlier.”

She bowed again, “I’ll head out now, oh and Celestia.”

“Yes Rainbow?”

“I hope you made the right choice with Night Stalker, if you really read all of his history like you said, you know what he’s capable of.”

“I do, that’s the reason I chose him,” Celestia said her face looking a little scared, “Sometimes to win a war, you need ponies like him, ponies that will go further than anypony else. He will be the monster in the night that will help save Equestria, or die trying.”

The memory started to fade, as she spoke the desperate look in her eyes chilling me to the bone…

oooOOOooo

I came out of the memory orb finding myself still laying against Aura’s talon. I felt something on my chest and looking down I saw an open magazine there, Aura looming over me reading it. She was using me as some kind of makeshift table. I was about to say something about it when my eyes fell on what she was reading.

“Is that a Wing Boner Magazine Aura?” I whispered, doing my best not to laugh.

Her eyes fell on mine and she blushed as she shut it, “Shut up, I like the articles, it’s funny to read about the things ponies back in the day thought mattered.”

I got up and chuckled, “Sure Aura, you keep telling yourself that…how long was I out?”

“Couple hours, Wingnut passed out an hour or so ago with a book, and Wind Thrasher’s still nose deep in her own,” she said tossing the magazine to the side.

“Shhhh, I’m almost finished with this chapter,” Wind Thrasher said from the other couch her eyes still fixed on her book, a small blush on her face, “Oh my, there’s no way she’d fall for a line like that!” she said flipping the page, “She DID! How stupid are you? He’s just going to break your heart!”

Aura sighed, “She’s been doing that every few pages, it’s getting annoying.”

Before I could say anything, a pony cleared his throat from the doorway. I jumped to my hooves pulling Dream Walker from its holster ready to fire on whoever had just broken into the office. Then my eyes fell on the dark trench coat, black desperado hat, and bandaged face of The Stranger. He was leaning against the doorframe his green eyes scanning the room. Those eyes looked so much like Night Stalkers that if I hadn’t known he died over a hundred years ago, I would’ve sworn it was him.

“I see you’re finally awake Shadow Star, I’ve been waiting,” he said with his slightly altered voice.

Aura bristled, “How long have you been standing there? I didn’t even hear you come in!”

He chuckled, “Five minutes or so, but to be fair you were a little occupied with whatever you were reading Aura Bloodtalon,” his gaze fell back on mine, “Shadow Star, I’m glad you made it here in one piece.”

“Was it you that was telling me to come here when I was unconscious back at Frosty Summit?” I asked, holstering Dream Walker.

“It was, I think it’s time you found out what your mother and The Enclave really want with that Pip-Buck,”

“I take it you know more about all of this huh?” Aura said.

“I do.”

“How can we really trust you? You won’t even show us your real face,” Aura said.

“I can’t show you my face, not yet, my identity could get me into a lot of trouble if the wrong ponies ever found it out. You can trust me though, I’ve done everything I can to keep Shadow and the rest of you safe.”

“Shhhhh, I’m almost done.” Wind Thrasher said again, not even seeming to care about the other pony in the room, “You can trust him Aura, he’s not lying, I can hear his heart beat from here and trust me, he’s telling the truth.”

“You can hear my heart from all the way over there?” The Stranger asked, his voice sounding shocked.

She looked up over her book twitching one of her large ears, “What part of part bat don’t other ponies seem to understand, I swear I’m getting sick of explaining this to everypony I meet,” then she went back to reading.

We all just looked at her like she was crazy, then I turned back to the Stranger and said, “Fine, what do you want to tell me, and why did I have to come all the way out here to find it out?”

He turned and started to head out the door, “It’s not something I can just tell you Shadow, it’s something you have to see.”

I got up to follow him, “Well then let’s get this over with. Aura get Wingnut up, and Wind Thrasher put the book away, we have work to do.”

The Stranger turned back toward me and said, “Only you Shadow.”

“No way, you might’ve saved me a couple times in the past, but that doesn’t mean much to me right now. With what I’ve had to deal with, I’m not gonna just leave my friends behind and go off alone, not again.”

He sighed, “Fine, but only Aura can come.”

“All my friends or I’m just gonna leave and head back to New Pegasus, I have a lot more work to do and I need to find a way to get my friend back,” I said as Wind Thrasher put her book away looking sad.

He chuckled, “I’m not saying they can’t come because I don’t trust them Shadow, the problem is where we’re going they won’t be able to go.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Aura can come because of who she is, her bloodline could make it so she can get into where we’re headed, the rest won’t be able to,” he said still chuckling.

“I don’t understand.”

Aura put a talon on my shoulder, “I think I do Shadow, let’s let Wingnut Sleep and Wind Thrasher can go back to her book. I have a feeling that whatever he wants to show you, it’s not something that’s going to hurt either of us.”

I finally gave in, “Fine, but don’t you need to stay with Wingnut?”

“He’ll be fine with Wind Thrasher, and he did order me to keep an eye on you when he can’t. I’m just doing what I was told.”

“Okay, Wind Thrasher you can stay here, we should be back a little later.”

She beamed at me, “That’s great, I really wanted to find out what was going to happen next,” she jumped back onto the couch and pulled her book out again.

I chuckled and sighed looking back at The Stranger, “Okay, lead the way Stranger.”

As we walked out the door Aura asked, “So what do you think he’s hiding under those bandages? I’ll bet it’s something embarrassing, like bucked teeth…”

Magical Accuracy: Your ability with your energy weaponry has greatly improved since you’ve acquired it. Your chance to hit any body part in S.A.T.S. increases slightly with each subsequent hit on that body part.