“Do you know how hard it is to sneak this much stuff passed the security ponies in your old stable?”

I looked at Milkshake like I misheard what she just told me. I had to, because there’s no way she could be banishing me from my home. I laughed a little as I looked into her eyes, “That’s a good one Milkshake, you almost had me there.”

My oldest friend didn’t laugh, she didn’t smile, she just looked back into my eyes and sighed deeply, “I’m not joking Shadow.”

“What do you mean you’re not joking? You have to be. Why would you banish me from Stable 28? This is my home, the place I grew up in,” I yelled.

“No Shadow it’s not your home, not anymore, honestly it never was. You lived here for ten years, you made a couple friends, but you know that you never belonged here. I don’t want to say or do this, but it’s for the best,” she said, I could see that it was hurting her to say this, almost as much as it was for me to hear it.

“That’s bullshit, this is just as much my home as it is yours!” I exclaimed.

She moved forward then pulled me into a hug, she ignored my outburst, ignored my attempts to push her away, she just held onto me, “Your home isn’t here, this place was a prison. I don’t want to let you go, you’re my best friend and I love you so much, but you can’t keep looking back. Stop thinking about Stable 28 and start worrying about yourself and your friends.”

I pushed her away finally, “Milkshake, I can’t just let Stable 28 go. If it wasn’t for this place I wouldn’t be the pony I am now.”

“I know that, but now it’s time to grow up and move on. I’ve heard about the things you’ve done while you were out there. Some of them are scary and horrible, but most of the things you’ve done are good and you did it for the betterment of pony kind. Stable 28 is just a crutch for you to lean on when you feel like sinking back into your past. I’m not letting you do that anymore, there are ponies out there that need a symbol of hope. You’re the symbol they need, you’re the pony that can give them hope. I’m doing this because you need somepony to push you toward your destiny and Stable 28 needs to heal. That can’t happen with the pony who had a small part in hurting it, even if it was unintentional.”

“But, if I can’t ever come back, I won’t see you again,” I said, quieter this time.

“I never said that Shadow. No matter what, I’m not losing you again. Just because you can’t come back to the stable doesn’t mean you won’t see me or Balefire again. I plan on making this place part of The Wasteland, it’s the only way we can survive.”

“No, it’s not, but that’s the way life is,” she retorted walking around me to look me in the eyes again, “This isn’t ‘goodbye,’ it’s ‘I’ll see you later.’ As for Stable 28, it’s time for you to forget about it, it’s not your responsibility anymore.”

I walked past The New Overmare with a hard edge in my voice, “As you wish Madam Overmare, I’ll get my friends and we’ll head out. I wouldn’t want us dirty Wastelanders to scare the populace more than we already have.”

“No…don’t, just don’t,” I said turning again to keep on walking going back toward Vervain’s room.

I started looking through my saddle bags, trying to find my barding and duster, as I did she asked, “What’s wrong?”

I threw my saddle bags against the wall, “Milkshake just told me that I’m banished from the Stable. I’m getting my friends and leaving.”

“I don’t know go ask the new Overmare, she said something about me needing to move on and put this place behind me. Also, my friends and I scare the poor weak stable ponies. Fuck em’, I don’t even know why I bothered coming back here in the first place. I should’ve let this place destroy itself, some thanks I get for fucking helping,” I knew I was just lashing out, but I didn’t care anymore.

Vervain walked over to me and slapped me…hard, “Listen here Shadow, I don’t care how angry you are right now, but I don’t ever want to hear you say something like that again, do you understand me?”

I took a step back, my anger boiling over, “Why the fuck not? Why should I care one bit about the ponies here huh? Even after Saving them, they still want me gone. They can’t stand me because I’m different, even worse now, they’re scared of me. I saved their worthless lives and this is how I’m treated. Fuck Stable 28, I hope the place collapses in on itself.”

That got me to shut up, Vervain never yelled at me, not like that. I took a minute to breath then in a calmer tone I said, “Why does she want me to leave? What did I do wrong?”

“Did you even stop to think that maybe she’s doing this for your own good? Did you think that maybe this hurts her just as much as it hurts you?”

“Milkshake has to think about what’s best for everypony in here, that goes for you too. She knows just as much as I do that you don’t belong here, not because of who you used to be or what you did here, but because the stable doesn’t need you, The Wasteland does.”

She was right, I know she’s right, I just didn’t like it. I sighed, moved over to my saddle bags, picking them up, “I know…I just don’t like it. Once I leave, I won’t have anywhere to call home.”

She smiled, “Shadow, home is wherever your family is. For you that’s your friends, as long as you’re with them you’re always home.”

I couldn’t help smiling a little, “Thanks Auntie Vervain, I don’t know how you’re always able to calm me down.”

“I raised you, it took years of practice,” she said simply, “Now let’s go find your friends, and you owe Milkshake an apology.”

She winked, “I know you, I’m sure you said something hurtful when you walked away, let’s go.”

When I arrived with Vervain back in the atrium, I saw that Wind Thrasher and Wingnut were both waiting with Milkshake. As I walked in Milkshake looked down at her hooves trying not to meet my eyes. I moved over to her, used a hoof to lift her head so I could look at her, “As much as I don’t like what you decided, I realized that it’s for the best. I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

She smiled then pulled me into a tight hug, “I’m sorry too, I don’t like the decision I made either, but it had to be done.”

I hugged my oldest friend back, “Remember to let me know when you have that foal okay.”

She pulled away then nodded, “I’ll be sure to get a message to you don’t worry.”

“You take care of Balefire too, he has a lot to get used to with his new life. Don’t let him use his injury as an excuse to slack off either.”

She wiped at her eyes, “That won’t be a problem, he’s already trying find new ways of training security. He wants to take over as head of security since Silver Badge didn’t make it through the fight.”

“How will he be able to do that? Didn’t he lose a leg?” Wind Thrasher asked.

“He did, but that won’t stop him. We’re planning on looking more into cybernetics, but with more restrictions on how we do it. I didn’t like what The Old Overmare was doing down in R&D, but with the right ponies and information, I’m sure we can do something without having to test them out on retried ponies,” Milkshake replied.

“As long as you don’t go back to what they were doing before, then I don’t see a problem with it,” I said.

Vervain smiled and nodded, “I don’t think you have to worry about The Overmare doing what the others did before her.”

“Yeah, as soon as I figure out where my Barding went,” I said looking through my Pip-Buck trying to figure out where it was in my saddle bags, “I know I put them in my saddle bags yesterday.”

“I took them,” Wingnut said digging in his own saddle bags and pulling out my duster and barding, “It was really dirty and full of holes. I figured that since I had free access to R&D that I’d use my free time to fix what I could for you.”

I took the barding and duster and looked them over. The protective plate that ran up to cover my neck had been replaced and reinforced, on the front of it the words Equestrian Express had been painted in bright red to match my eyes. The black barding that I wore under the duster was also fixed, the padding inside replaced, the leather straps that ran over the chest now had metal studs. The leg coverings were also reinforced. Last was the duster, the shoulder pads were now metal, my own cutie mark had been repainted on the left. On the right where it used to have the number 28, was now the words E.E. Courier. New holsters were looped around just inside the duster so I could keep a couple of my weapons within reach, and one last one that looped around the back of it for my plasma rifle.

“You did all this yourself Kiddo?” I asked in awe as I started to put on the barding then then duster.

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were safe out there, just like Silver. When I was looking it over I found a few things I was able to improve upon so I did, I hope you don’t mind,” Wingnut said, blushing a little.

“I love it Wingnut, thank you for fixing it. Also I never mind with things like this. If you have any new ideas for my barding, all you gotta do is tell me and I’ll let you tinker away.”

“You mean you found time to do something else while you were working on this?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said reaching behind him and pulling out a rifle, it looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure from where. It was a lever action rifle with upgraded sights, silver and gold markings running up down each side and inscribed in emerald green lettering it said ‘Equestrian Express’.

He cocked an eyebrow, “It’s Ol’ Festus, I was finally able to find all the parts I needed to fix it. I needed a new stock and firing mechanism. I found the firing mechanism at Match and Tariff’s the first day we got to Freedom, the stock was harder to find. Even worse was once I started taking it apart, I found that the firing chamber was also damaged so I had to find more parts. I was almost ready to scrap it until we got to Spitfires Flight Academy. While you were with The Stranger, I talked with one of the ponies there and he had a lot of parts for older Repeaters. I had time while we were here and I was finally able to repair it and improve it.”

I noticed that where the metal of the barrel met the wooden stock, the old metal piece with the word ‘Ol’ Festus’ was screwed into it. I smiled and pulled the rifle close to me, “It’s beautiful Wingnut, how did you know how to do this?”

“It’s my special talent, I’m good at fixing things and making them better. I thought that you’d like to have it back, you used to love that rifle,” he said happily.

I looked at the rifle happily, he wasn’t wrong, I loved Ol’ Festus. It was the first good weapon I’d been given by anypony, it was also the last thing I had from Box Tape, now that my older duster was destroyed. Then my eyes fell on Wingnut, he was wearing a newer set of combat armor that looked like he altered to fit his colt frame, his revolver was holstered on one side. The whole time we’d been traveling together, that was the only thing he’d ever used. It was worn and weathered, but he was an expert with it, still it took time to reload and it was his only weapon.

“You know what kiddo? You’re right I DO love this rifle, it means a lot to me, but so do you,” I gave the rifle back to him, “I want you to keep Ol’ Festus, I have enough weaponry and you can get better use from it than I can.”

“I know you are, but I’d rather you be safe while we’re out there fighting. Ol’ Festus is a great rifle and I think you need something with more firepower and something that’s easier to reload. Also, it never hurts to have more than one gun.”

He took the rifle and smiled as he looked over the beautiful finish, “I’ll make sure to cherish it like I do with my revolver. Thank you, Shadow.”

“No problem kiddo,” I said looking down at his revolver, “I’ve been meaning to ask, where did you get that old thing.”

“My Revolver? My dad gave it to me not long before he died, he said it used to belong to his father and he wanted me to have it to keep me safe,” Wingnut replied.

“Yeah, but maybe you should let Wind Thrasher have it, she doesn’t have a rifle at all,” he said looking over at her.

She giggled, “I don’t need a gun Wingnut, I have my fangs, speed, and my scream. Also, I’m not very good with that kind of weapon.”

“I’ll be fine Wingnut, you should keep it,” Wind Thrasher said with a smile.

“We’ll swing by Cartwheel first then after that we’re heading to Saint’s Parish.”

“We’re gonna find Stable 97 so we can find a way to get Stardust back. I think it’s about time we saved him.”

“How do you know he’ll even be at Stable 97? If he’s the new Pride, wouldn’t he be staying around New Pegasus?” Wind Thrasher asked.

“Yeah, normally, but The Sins are hell bent on killing me or at least getting a hold of me. I figured if we found a way to let them know we’re heading to Saint’s Parish, then he’ll follow. Stable 97 is where they fucked with his mind and memories, they gotta have a way to fix it.”

“So, were gonna head into another Stable? An active stable mind you, and take over just to save Stardust?” Wingnut asked.

“Yeah…and it’s not like going into Stable 28. From what Stardust told me when we played that one joke that was really funny and fucked up, The Enclave killed the former occupants, then took over. This’ll just be us breaking into Enclave territory.”

“And fighting a whole lot of Pegasi,” Wind Thrasher interrupted, “That could be more dangerous than YOUR stable.”

“I say we do it. I don’t care what we have to do, I want our friend back,” Wingnut said.

Wind Thrasher blushed a little, “I’d like to be able to thank him properly for helping save me from Stable 9. I guess if we have a good plan going in then I’m okay with it.”

He gave me a stern look, “You do know that she’s MY bodyguard, not your personal errand griffon, right?”

He walked over and poked me in the chest, “Ask me next time, she’s under contract with me now, not you. That’ll be fifty caps.”

I frowned then rolled my eyes and tossed the caps in his face, “Fine, sorry, can we go now?”

My two friends nodded then turned to head toward the stable door. Milkshake and Vervain followed us until we arrived at the open gear shaped door. When we came up to the panel that controlled the door, I hooked the Mark II into it and took off the block keeping the door unlocked. Once that was done I turned back toward Vervain and Milkshake, “I guess this is goodbye.”

Milkshake smiled and hugged me, “We’ll see each other again, don’t worry.”

“She’s right Shadow, Stable 28 may no longer be your home, but we will always be a part of you and we’re still your family. Don’t ever forget that,” Vervain said.

“I know, but I just have a feeling that I’m not going to see either of you again or Balefire. I can’t see The Overmare leaving the stable. Even if the doors are open, you’ll have too much to do here, and Vervain has her own duties.”

“Shadow, all you have to do is get a message to me that you want to see me and I’ll make time to go see you in Cartwheel. Vervain plans on showing me the town in a couple of weeks once things have settled down here. I’m not gonna let what happened here keep me from seeing my best friend.”

I hugged her again, “Remember, I asked you to tell me when you’re having the foal. I can’t wait to find out what you’re having.”

“You’ll be the first to know after Balefire, I promise you that,” Milkshake said, “Now go out there and do what you were meant to do.”

I nodded then turned to Vervain and hugged her, “I’ll let you know as soon as I find a way to help mom.”

“Be sure that you do, I know that somewhere deep down, she’s still in there,” Vervain said, “Also make sure you don’t let anything happen to the Mark II, there isn’t any protection on it anymore.”

“I was gonna ask you about that, how did you get that protection program on there and get it to stay when the Mark II was set up for a new user?”

She laughed, I had the program ready to go on my own Pip-Buck just in case something like what happened to you happened. Don’t you remember me hooking up my Pip-Buck to yours when I was talking to you in medical?”

“No, I uploaded the program then and there. I had to do it quick just in case Doc came back.”

“Oh, okay. Speaking of that day, what happened with Tender Whip anyway? I remember Doc getting a call that he was crashing?”

She blushed, “Glimmer Shot wanted to help you get out too after what happened. She told me she was willing to do whatever she had to, so I told her I needed a distraction. She…injected him with a lethal dose of Med-X.”

“No, I didn’t tell her to do that, I told her I needed a distraction. She killed him all on her own, when I asked her about it later she told me that he was planning on killing you when he was out of the clinic. She felt bad for what happened and she hated him, so she just killed him,” Vervain said.

I took a moment to think about that asshole security pony that made life hell for me whenever he could, “Honestly I don’t see a problem with it, he was just as bad as Wildfire.”

“I agree with you, though I wish she would’ve let me deal with him, before that she hadn’t ever killed a pony. The guilt ate at her for a while after that.”

“Speaking of Glimmer, I haven’t seen her since the battle ended, I know she survived. Where did she go?” I asked.

“When I last spoke to her, she decided to leave Stable 28 and go with The Steel Rangers. She wanted to get away from here as fast as she could. I think she’ll do well with them, she’s skilled in a fight and knows her way around the more high-tech things The Steel Rangers like to go after.”

I smiled, happy to hear that she was doing something different, “I’ll have to go see her the next time I’m at the bunker.”

“You make sure you tell her I said hi and tell her thank you for helping me with so much,” Vervain said hugging me again, “You be safe out there Sweetie.”

“I will, you keep an eye on Box Tape when you can. Sure he’s old but from the time I spent with him, he still gets into mischief.”

With that I turned and walked out the stable door, rejoining my friends who were waiting for me on the other side. As soon as I was through, the door started to shut behind me. This time I did look back, my eyes met with Vervain and Milkshake’s as the door closed. I wanted that image of Stable 28 to be my last, a better one than the last time I left.

“Yeah, let’s go find Aura, and then Stardust,” I replied walking past them and into the dark tunnel, leaving the stable I used to call home far behind.

When we reached entrance to the tunnel, I found a note from Aura waiting for us, ‘Meet us in Cartwheel’ that was all it said. So, we started the long walk back to Cartwheel. As we walked the three of us talked about small things. Wingnut told us more about his parents and the places they used to go when he was younger. Wind Thrasher admitted she loved reading her romance novels because she secretly fantasized about one day falling in love the same way the mares in her stories did. Wingnut and I both had a long laugh about that one, until she bore her very sharp fangs at us and asked in the sweetest voice she could, “Do you have a problem with that?”

We both shut up and changed the subject to planning on how we should get a message to The Sins about where we were going. My first thought was to try and get ahold of Greed, if anypony could get a message to them it would be him. Then Wingnut pointed out that he could blow his cover if he did that. So, we kept on planning until later in the day we finally made it to Cartwheel.

Box Tape met us in the center of town where a smaller sky carriage was waiting for us with Aura, Doorstop, and Laser Light. When I saw the grey pegasus in her black flight jacket meant to keep her wings hidden, I was surprised, “Laser? Why are you here?”

She gave me a big smile, “Nexus was disappointed that you didn’t tell him you were heading to Stable 28. When he heard Doorstop was going to bring you to Stable 97, he figured it would be a good excuse to send me with you to see what happened in that dreadful place.”

“Easy, The Enclave killed everypony, that’s what Stardust said. Why are you really here?” I asked.

She sighed and shrugged, “I told Nexus I could join you so I could learn more about Stable 97, though I don’t plan on going there myself. I just wanted an excuse to get away for a while. He doesn’t need me much while he’s in Frosty Summit and I need a vacation. Besides, I can only take that whiney voice of his for so long. He’s always talking about how he will have to start a new file on his, oh what did he call them? Games. Honestly I can never figure out how a pony his age can waste so much time on those things, and with a brain, or what hasn’t already withered away, like his too.”

Aura rolled her eyes, “I asked her why she’d be coming at all if she’s not goin’ to the stable to help us, but she wouldn’t answer me.”

“I’m guessing that you don’t want a pony from that area to recognize you.”

She nodded, “That’s part of it, but also I heard something about a settlement just outside of The Enclave controlled area that takes in Dashite’s and ponies who are trying to get away from The Enclave’s control. I wanna look into it and see if there is anypony there that I know and can maybe talk into going to Frosty Summit. Violet needs more ponies to help make the old lodge feel more like a town.”

“You know I could use all the help I can get, are you sure you can’t help us with the Stable?” I asked.

“I’m confused, why would anypony from that area know who Laser is?” Wingnut asked.

She rolled her eyes, looked around to make sure nopony was listening then said, “Because I’m a pegasus who should’ve died twelve years ago. I’ll do whatever I can to keep the fact that I’m alive secret. It’s bad enough that Doorstop figured it out so quick.”

He boomed out a laugh, “I may be a loud mouthed Sergeant, but I ain’t stupid! I know a former Enclave solider when I see one!”

“Did you have to yell that so loud?” she asked, looking over at the former Drill Sergeant.

“That’s all well and good, but can we get to the reason we’re all here?” Aura asked, when everypony stopped talking she continued, “I’ve already talked with Laser Light and Sergeant Doorstop about where we’re going. They both know what the Wasteland is like outside of New Pegasus, you three don’t.”

“Ha! Far from it! The New Pegasus area is nothing compared to what you’ll see when we go east. For one, you’ll have to watch out for radiation more than we do here, the monsters you’ll see are bigger, meaner, and deadly as hell. You’ll see things like hellhounds more often. You’ve seen what Rawr could do and he was only one hellhound, a big fucking hellhound, but still he was just one. If we run into a pack of them we don’t stop to fight them, we run, simple as that. Also, alicorns, they’re nothing like Violet. We will be a lot closer to where the so-called Goddess is said to live, her alicorns might be a problem. We have to do anything we can to avoid running into them. If you see one, tell me right away so we can get away.”

Laser followed, “We also need to watch out for taint, you don’t see it much out here, but the closer we get to the Midwest, the more it’ll be a problem. If you see anything that looks like a liquid Rainbow, DON’T TOUCH IT!”

“Good point,” Aura said, “Lastly, we’re heading into a city where everything is controlled by The Enclave. Whinnieapolis and Saint’s Parish also known as The Twin Cities to the ponies from that area, will be crawling with Enclave soldiers and spies. We have to do our best to keep a low profile. Traders and caravans are allowed into the cities at any time, but they check everypony who comes in. We’ll have to think of a plan to get in and around the cities without getting caught.”

“We’ll do that while we travel,” I said, “Right now we need to make sure we’re fully stocked up with food, meds, and ammo before we leave.”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll go get the medical stuff we’ll need. Wingnut and Doorstop should go get us the ammo. I’ll leave the food to Laser and Wind Thrasher,” Aura said.

“You’re comin’ with me while they get things ready,” Box Tape said finally speaking up, “I need to go over a few things with ya before ya’ll head out.”

We both went back to Equestrian Express, and as we walked in I took in the old building. When I was last here I was still new to The Wasteland, a young mare with big ideas on going out to find her mother. Now I was experienced, I knew what I was doing, and how fucked up The Wasteland could be. Going back into Equestrian Express I almost felt like I was walking back into that old version of myself. For a moment I wished it was true, maybe with what I knew now, I could change things. Stop Silver from dying, keep Appleton safe, there was so much I wished I could change, but it was just a dream.

“Ya look like you’ve seen a ghost Shadow,” Box Tape said as he shut the door behind himself.

“Not a ghost, just thinking about all the stuff that’s happened since the last time I was in here.”

“I know whatcha mean, there’s plenty of times that I wish I could change things I’ve done in the past,” he said walking around the counter and sitting on a stool.

He sighed, “Oh things like being a better father to my children, never joinin’ the Steel Rangers, not takin’ the role as Elder…Lettin’ White Oak go out on her own for that last mission.”

“No, ya can’t, but we’re ponies. We can’t help thinkin’ to ourselves, what if I could just fix that one thing, then everything would be different. The sad part is even if ya could change the past, it doesn’t mean things would be better. Ya have to learn from your past and use that knowledge to do better,” he said giving me a tired smile.

I sat next to him on the other side of the counter leaning against the wall, “Silver Snip’s…”

His face grew somber and I saw sorrow in his eyes, “I got a report from one of the Red Talons a few days ago. I’ve been keepin’ an eye on you and your friends either through the Talon’s or the radio. I told her not to go to you know.”

“She wanted to start up her mother’s old tradin’ contracts and she was hopin’ she’d run into you again. You were all she talked about after ya left, she’s wanted to find ya for a while. When I found out she did, I told her not to go because it was dangerous, I wasn’t wrong either. In the end though I’m glad she did, even if she did pass away. She finally got out of this town and got to do what she wanted.”

He smiled, “I did, when her mother died I kinda took her under my wing and kept an eye on her. I think deep down, I wanted to be the father figure to her that I never was for my own daughter. The funny thing is, just like Vervain, she left too and ignored my advice.”

I reached in my saddle bags and pulled out the recording she left for me and gave it to Box Tape, “She left this for me before she died, hearing it helped me cope with her death, at least a little. I want you to have it.”

He looked down at the recording, “Are ya sure ya don’t wanna keep this? She meant it to be for you.”

I nodded, “I heard it already and I remember every word. I’d rather you have it so you can understand how she felt even when she was gonna die.”

He set the Recording down and sniffed then wiped his eyes, “I’ll treasure it for the rest of my days, thank you.”

For a long moment I didn’t say anything, my eyes were locked on a single board that was slightly raised compared to the rest. I used my magic to pull it up, revealing a small area where a worn-out note was resting over something covered in a cloth, “It’s still here.”

Box Tape looked down at the note that had the words ‘For my Little Star’ on it, “Holy Damn girl, how did’ja know that was there?”

“Memory orb of my mom’s. The day she came to talk to you about sending something to Wolfsbane, you went off to get some sparkle cola. When you did, she lifted this board up and put this here for me,” I replied lifting the note and cloth out of it slowly. At first, I thought it’d be another memory orb, tucked away so I could find it one day, but it wasn’t. When I pulled the cloth off the item I saw it was another one of the Ministry Mare Statuettes, A purple unicorn with a single hoof raised and a message on the base reading ‘Be Smart’.

I didn’t answer him right away, as soon as my magic wrapped around it, I felt the same kind of feeling I did with the other two. Only this one made me feel like my mind opened up. Things seemed to become clearer to me, almost like the Statuette of Twilight made me feel a bit smarter (Something I definitely needed right now), “Yeah it is, I wonder why she left this for me.”

“I’ve heard about em’ before, but never in all my years have I ever come across one.”

He looked at me with shock, “Three!? Damn, I knew you were lucky, just not that lucky.”

“I don’t know about that, but I feel like they’re calling to each other. It’s like The Ministry Mares wanna be together again,” I said.

If you found this, then you made it out of the stable safe and sound, at least I hope you did. I’m not sure when you’ll find this or what you know so far about what I was working on. I’m leaving this for you just after leaving Stable 28, if by some chance the old post master found this and gave it to you then you should know a couple of things. I’m safe and alive, I’m heading back to the Steel Rangers bunker in Hidden Sands. I have a few more things that I need to finish before I can continue on with my quest.

I won’t be staying there forever, by the time you’re out of the stable I’m sure I’ll be long gone by then. Finding me isn’t going to be easy, but I’m trying to leave you as many clues as I can. If I set everything right, you should’ve gotten your memories back when you found the Mark II. If not then they’ll start coming back as you go around The Wasteland. Don’t worry you’ll understand sooner or later, just give it time.

Now I’m sure you’re wondering why I left you this statuette of Twilight Sparkle. Well it’s because when I was younger I found it in an old library, not far from where I grew up. Twilight was a pony that I always looked up to and wanted to be like. You may find it hard to believe, but I was terrible at magic when I was a filly. I was so bad that my own parents treated me like I was scum. I tried everything I could to learn magic, but every teacher I tried to learn from never helped. It wasn’t until I found this statuette of Twilight that I started reading spell books on my own and learning on my own. That’s how I got my cutie mark. I couldn’t just watch another unicorn use a spell and learn how to do it. I needed to learn how the spell was structured, how it flowed, and what made the spell work. When I started learning from the books, magic became easy. It was all because of Twilight.

I’m giving her to you in the hope that she’ll help you like she helped me, maybe not in magic, but hopefully in intellect. You’re no longer a stable pony my Little Star, you’re a Wastelander and you have to think like one, but you’ll also need to be smarter than the ponies in The Wasteland. You’re smarter than you know, don’t be scared to show others who you are. I have faith in you, I always have.

I know that one day you may end up meeting the branch of The Steel Rangers that we used to live with. If you do, the Elder may not believe you’re my daughter. You do look different from how you did when we left, and I’ll be telling them you died. It’s the only way to keep you safe for now, but when you do meet them and if they try to tell you that you aren’t my daughter, don’t believe them. You’ve always been my Little Star, my Morning Star, my Shadow Star. Don’t let anypony tell you otherwise.

The Twilight I’m giving you is from a set of six, I was only ever able to find just this one, but if you can, keep an eye out for the rest. If anypony can find them all, it’s you Little Star. The last thing I need to warn you about, if you run into a pony going by the name Nightshade, stay away from him. He’ll try telling you things to get you to trust him, but don’t believe him. He’s been hunting us for years, and he’ll do anything to take you away from me. Now go out there and make me proud, I can’t wait to see the pony you’ve become. I love you.

When I finished the note, I smiled then placed it in my saddle bags, “So, what did you really want to talk to me about?”

He sighed, “Apart from helpin’ Stardust, why’re ya goin’ to Saint’s Parish?”

“I know thatcha got that Sky Carriage from one of the Steel Rangers. What does Wolfsbane want ya to do?” he asked, his tone getting serious.

“He wants me to put an end to what they’re doing in Stable 97 for good, he said something about an abuse of technology,” I replied.

“Yeah that’s what all Steel Rangers say before they take that technology for themselves. You’d best be careful, ya can’t let that kind of tech fall into Wolfsbane’s hooves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a proud Sentinel, but I ain’t no technology hoarder. Wolfsbane might seem like he’s doin’ The Wasteland a favor, but I’m sure he’s got somethin’ planned for what’s inside Stable 97,” he said.

Everything is so Goddesses damned complicated all the time. Don’t trust THIS pony, don’t kill THAT pony, life sucks, “What am I supposed to do then? If I destroy the machine or whatever the fuck it is, he’ll suspect something. What I mean is, if I destroy the machine he’ll be angry and probably do something, and if I don’t destroy it he could use that technology to do something ten times worse. Of course what the hell could he use it for other than screwing with somepony’s head?”

He looked lost in thought for a moment, “I heard somethin’ about Los Alicorn havin’ a synth problem, he could use the machine to detect synths in his ranks if he used it the right way. I agree that the creation of an artificial pony like The Ministry does, is just plain stupid and malicious, but in all my years I’ve learned to put myself in somepony else’s horseshoes. If he does have synths among his ranks and they don’t know what they are, it could start makin’ everypony in his garrison not trust each other. Why would he want to cause mass paranoia though, that’s the real question if that’s what he’s plannin’.”

“Interesting, but it’s gotta be more complex than that. He asked me if I wanted to join him in The Steel Rangers and I refused. What if he wants to use the technology in Stable 97 to rewrite the memories of civilians and forcefully make them join so he has more firepower to fight against The Ministry?” I suggested.

He rubbed at his chin, “Hmm, that’d make some sense, but he’s a tried-and-true Steel Ranger, he wouldn’t go against their core values like that. In The Steel Rangers, if ya abuse technology the way your enemies do, then ya might as well be your own worst enemy. That’s a quote from our founder.”

“Yup, he’s tried-and-true alright. By the way, what does ad victorium mean?” I asked, remembering that thing Wolfsbane and some of the Hidden Sands Steel Rangers do.

“Bah!” he waived his hoof, “That’s just some gimmick he picked up from old Steel Ranger records, it’s supposed to mean ‘To Victory’, but to me it seems like more of a half-assed salute created by an old Ranger with too much time on his hooves,” he replied.

Shit, he heard me, “No, no, I’m not, promise. It’s just that they’re always so enthusiastic about it all the time.”

He smiled, “Yeah I guess you’re right. Anyhow I should probably tell ya about the dangers of The Wasteland beyond the Marejave.”

I interrupted, “My friends already told me about taint and there being more radiation, not to mention monsters.”

“Did they tell ya about enervation? If ya ever find yourself in The Hoof, you’ll need to know about it,” he asked.

Great, more dangerous stuff, like The Wasteland couldn’t get any worse, “No, they didn’t say anything about it. What is it?” I responded.

He rested his hooves on the counter and sighed, “Well, it’s a bit difficult to explain, somethin’ about a high concentration of energy draining fields that can literally liquefy a pony if it’s concentrated enough.”

“Didn’t sound that difficult to explain. Basically, something that turns ponies into a pile of mushy goo, because The Wasteland just isn’t bad enough,” I said.

“It ain’t that simple, it could be anywhere. Ya’ll could walk into an enervation field without even knowin’ it until it’s too late and you’re the perfect fillin’ for a meat pie,” he explained.

Meat pie? Gross! “Sometimes your euphemisms are both disgusting and disturbing. Who the fuck eats pony MEAT?”

“There’s some ponies out there that’ll eat other ponies, most of the time it’s raiders, but sometimes ponies cannibalize to survive and get addicted to it like a drug,” he replied.

He waved his hoof, “Nah, mostly just with raiders. There is somethin’ I heard about recently though, out in The Hoof. It’s some sort of disease that causes ponies to go mad and turn cannibal. Let’s just say The Hoof is a dangerous place and ya’ll should never go there unless ya have to.”

“I’ll take your word on that. Anyway, I should get going unless there’s something else you wanted to tell me,” I said getting up.

“There is ONE thing. None of the factions you know from around here settle in that area except for maybe a few Steel Rangers. There’s a lot of Enclave though, the whole area is controlled by em’. It’s not like a major Enclave settlement so they won’t be everywhere, but there will be quite a few patrols around the more metropolitan parts of the cities there, especially close to the lock-in dam,” he said in a more serious tone.

He rubbed his forehead with a hoof, “There’s a river that goes from northern to southern Equestria that separates Whinnieapolis and Saint’s Parish. On that river is a dam that generates power, and attached to it is a chamber that boats go into when they get to the dam and need to get further down the river. They enter the chamber at one side of the dam and the doors close, then the water rises or lowers to bring the boat up or down so they can keep goin’. There ain’t any easier way to explain it, but that place is a major source of energy for The Enclave and they’ll do anything to protect it.”

“Oh, okay then. That’s interesting I guess, can’t believe I didn’t know what that was,” I responded.

“You youngins don’t know nothin’ half the time, I’m used to it. Ya wouldn’t believe the things Vervain didn’t know when she was younger,” he remarked.

They can wait a few more minutes, this could be embarrassing to Vervain and I’ll have something to hold over her, “Like what?”

Dammit! I just had to say I needed to leave, “Alright, until next time then. Don’t get into anything you can’t handle, you’re not as young as you think you are, or at least that’s what Vervain says.”

He scoffed, “I’ll be fine, and she’s full of it. Anyhow, safe travels Shadow, I’ll see about gettin’ some jobs lined up for ya when ya get back.”

I returned to the Sky Carriage to find that Doorstop wasn’t wearing his armor, “Where’d your armor go Doorstop?”

He turned to face me and gave me a look, “That’s Sergeant Doorstop to you, and the Runt took it. Said he’s gonna do things to it. I swear if he bedazzles that armor, I WILL skin him alive!”

“Uh, I don’t think he’d do something like that. If anything he’ll make the armor better, like he did with mine,” I retorted.

“He’s a kid, kids do stupid stuff, but if he really does improve it he’ll be upgraded from Runt to Grunt! Y’know, while training some Cadets in the stable I caught two of em’ that snuck off tryin’ to spark up some sissy-stogies next to some barrels of GUNPOWDER!” he said.

“Kay, putting all that aside… is everyone ready to get out of here?” I asked.

“As long as the Runt’s done tinkering with my armor then no problem,” Doorstop said.

Wingnut poked his head out from the Sky Carriage, “I’ll be finished with it later!”

Wingnut stuck his tongue out at the old Drill Sergeant then slammed the door to the carriage. I laughed, “Don’t worry, you’ll get it back soon, right now we need to figure out who’s pulling the Sky Carriage.”

“Can I pull a Sky Carriage? Who do you think you’re talking to?” he asked with an offended look, “I can pull that thing from here to Manehattan and back!”

“Works for me, let’s get going. I don’t wanna wait longer than I have to,” I said walking to the Sky Carriage.

“Before we go, I have one question,” Wind Thrasher said before I could step into the Sky Carriage.

“Easy, I’m sure one of the Radio ponies will say where I’m going in the next day or two.”

“Trust me, they’ll find us, they always seem to know where I am.” I said getting into the Sky Carriage. Laser Light, Aura, and Wind Thrasher followed me in. Doorstop hooked up to the front of it opened his wings and we were off.

“Aura give it back!” Wingnut yelled trying and failing to take back one of his screwdrivers.

“Too bad, I’m not answering that question for you. If you really wanna know, then ask another griffon, or pick up a FUCKING BOOK!” she said moving across the Sky Carriage to sit next to me.

“She just doesn’t wanna answer because she won’t ever have a kid of her own,” Wingnut said glaring over at her.

She threw the Screwdriver at him. It hit him in the side getting a satisfying yelp of pain from the little shit, “Hey, that hurt!”

“Pain is the price you pay for asking where griffon babies come from!” she yelled.

“You didn’t have to throw that at me, and I know where Pony foals come from, just not griffon babies,” he said then looked over at Wind Thrasher, “Do you know?”

“Why couldn’t you answer his question then!?” Aura asked, her glare falling on Wind Thrasher.

Laser Light was giggling softly from her side of the Sky Carriage looking out and down the window assumedly watching the ground zoom past resting on her hoof, “Do all of you do this a lot?”

This kind of thing has been going on for hours now. Wingnut would say or do something offensive, Aura or I would get pissed off and fight. Normally ending with Aura taking something from Wingnut, because there’s nothing funnier than watching the colt beg to get his tools back.

“I wouldn’t say we do this a lot, but yes it happens from time to time. When my friends and I have down time, we get bored and start picking on each other. It was a lot worse when Stardust was still with us,” I replied.

“Hmm,” she looked thoughtful for a moment still keeping her gaze out the window, “you know, I’ve had to hide my wings for so long Shadow, I’ve forgotten what the ground looks like from the sky. If you can get past most of the sickly green haze, the landscape is actually quite a beautiful sight. Care to see?”

I just shook my head “You know what Laser, that actually sounds like a good idea.” I walked over to where Laser Light was sitting, she moved aside and allowed me to see out the window. Laser was right, underneath that haze there was beauty. I saw mountains that seemed endless, rivers cutting through the mountains, years of chiseling through rock creating massive canyons, and years of rainfall creating lakes either before the megaspells or craters made from megaspells. Upon looking at the landscape I felt at peace for once in my life. Turning around looking at Laser Light I smiled “Thank you for showing that to me Laser it really put my mind at ease, if only for a moment.”

Laser smiled back “It’s really no trouble Shadow it’s always best to take time to find a way to relax.”

Aura started poking me with a talon. “Stop that, I HATE being poked,” I said angrily.

“Okay I will.” I said digging in my saddle bags, pulling out the box with mom’s memory orbs, “I’m going to watch one of these and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“At least it won’t bother me, poke away,” I said concentrating my magic on the second orb in the box…before my friends could respond, the world melted away…

My host was easy to identify, I was getting used to what mom’s body felt like by now…that sounds a little weird now that I think about it...she was walking down the street of…a cloud city? She was standing on a cloud looking at a large city above the clouds, pegasi were flying around the buildings and a couple of unicorns were chatting with each other just outside one of the structures, also standing on the clouds like it was normal.

It was odd because mom felt younger than her other memories. Was this before she left The Enclave then? I guess I’d find out, she was looking around at some of the flying pegasi almost like she was looking for somepony.

“He said to meet him at noon. What could be taking him so long?” she said as she waited next to a store.

“Excuse me ma’am, but you look like your lost,” A sort of charming voice said from above her.

Mom looked up at a Pegasus who was flying just above her, he was very hansom with an aquamarine coat and light brown mane that was kept short and flipped back. His eyes…they were emerald green just like The Stranger. She smiled and blushed a little, “Striker do you really have to tease me like that?”

He flew down and kissed her for a long moment, my mom melting into the kiss, (Ewwww…gross, why would you show me a memory like THIS mom) When she pulled away he laughed, “I love surprising you Grim, I just couldn’t help myself.”

I could feel my mom blushing more as she giggled and looked at her hooves, “But what if somepony saw us? You know what they’d say.”

“I don’t care what other ponies say, let them talk,” he replied pulling her into a gentle embrace.

She took a moment then finally hugged him back, her smile growing, “I know that, but my family isn’t liked up here in Nimbus. Normally I couldn’t even come up here unless I was working on something with the research team.”

“Well not today. Today you get to see the city without having to worry about work. That’s why I had you come join me,” he said wrapping a wing around her and leading her down the street.

Mom was looking at the buildings as they walked, “I’ve always loved how beautiful this city is, and it’s also nice to see the sun.”

I had to agree, even though this was in a memory from a long time ago, seeing the sun after the war was just beautiful. The sight of it also made me hate The Enclave even more for hiding away such beauty from the rest of The Wasteland. I also realized something as they talked, Striker, he was the Dashite mom went to find in Hoofington. Vervain also said he was my Uncle…Ewwww. Not only did I have to kiss some random stallion in my mom’s body, he was my UNCLE…or was he? Fuck, mom, why can’t you just give it to me straight!?

“You know I love spending time with you on your days off, but why did you have me come all the way up to Nimbus?” she asked as they kept walking down the street.

He grinned at her, “Do you remember the other day when you were telling me about the information you found in that old Library?”

“Yes, the one about The Children of the Night and some of the projects they were working on before the war ended. What about it?”

“Well I figured I’d show you something that no other pony in The Enclave knows about.”

He laughed hardily, “I love you Grim, you know that. I’d trust you with my life, in fact I’m doing just that by showing you what I have.”

They turned a corner down an alley, Striker bringing them to a door that was mostly hidden in the darkness. There was a keypad next to it and he quickly typed in some numbers before mom could reach him. When she did, he opened the door and waved her inside, “What’s with all the secrecy anyway? What’s the big deal with information you found out about The Children, most of the stories about them are greatly exaggerated.”

He shut the door behind them, locking it as soon as the door clicked. The room wasn’t very big and it was filled with papers. The room had one terminal on an overcrowded desk and a matrass on the floor with a few scraps of clothing laying around, “That’s the thing Grim,” he said as he walked passed her to log into the terminal, “I don’t think they were, I believe that the stories we know about them are only half-truths and lies. What I’ve been finding out about them, it looks like they were even worse than the stories say they were.”

Mom walked over to look at the terminal as Striker started bringing up files, “What I read in the old reports I found in the library we discovered said something about them being led by an Equestrian Military Captain called Night Stalker. When I looked him up in the archives all I could find was that he was one of the ponies who helped start The Enclave back in the day. There were also a few things about him starting the Dashite program and a few other small things. They also said he went crazy and was branded himself, he vanished after that never to be heard from again.”

Striker stopped then looked back at mom, “That’s all true, but the records were wiped or classified on the rest. He did lead The Children, as you said, not much is told about them apart from some crap about them being a guard unit. The truth I’ve found from some old memory orbs and records that were missed, it looked like his team was under only Princess Luna herself. They started a few projects before the war ended, one of which is still a closely held secret by the top members of The Council.”

Mom shrugged, “So what? We all know they keep a lot of things secret from the rest of the populace. They do it because most ponies can’t handle that kind of information.”

“Grim, you don’t understand. The thing they’ve been hiding from us isn’t just some knowledge about some of the bad things ponies did before the war. This is some kind of super weapon, at least I think it is,” he said pulling up a schematic.

Mom looked at the screen and started to study it. I didn’t understand a single thing she was looking at, most of it was just strange looking drawings with numbers and charts, but one thing in the corner of the schematic popped out at me ‘Project Stargazer’, when her eyes fell on that part she gasped, “This can’t be real. What’s the point in trying to pull power from a star? It’s like some kind of Zebra mythology being put down into a spell. Stars are just hot balls of flame burning gas lightyears away from Equis. They don’t have magic.”

“According to the notes I found from a mare called Minuette, that’s what she thought it was too. But she started to dig deep into Zebra lore and she found some interesting things. What she was able to discover lead to this project, they tried to use it a few years before the bombs. The project was put down as a failure, but in her notes she wrote down that they made something down in this lab, something evil and powerful. They locked it up and hid it away from the rest of Equestria, but they didn’t end their project there, they just changed it. They wanted to use what they learned to weaponize this power to use against the Zebras.”

Mom kept on looking at the schematics, “If they did, then why did we lose the war?”

“I…don’t know yet, I’m not done looking into this, but just seeing this it proves that there’s something bigger going on. Minuette was one of the members of The Children, she worked for Night Stalker and Luna. What if they did finish this project, but not in time to stop the Zebra attack?” he asked.

“If they did, then wouldn’t The Enclave have used it by now to put an end to the shit going on down below the clouds? If this thing is so bad then why’d they let groups like The Steel Rangers exist?” she asked looking away from the terminal and into his emerald green eyes.

He waved a hoof in the air then looked away, “I don’t know! It still needs to be looked into.”

Mom sighed then pulled him close to her, hugging him tight, “Why are you so bothered by this? I wanted to know more about The Children of the Night, not the projects they were working on. If this thing was really out there, then they would’ve used it by now, don’t let it get to you so much.”

He took a minute to breathe before he finally hugged mom back, “I know Grim, but it scares me. I found other notes on the project and one of them said something about bringing back Nightmare Moon. What kind of pony would even think that was a good idea!?”

“Desperate ponies who just wanted to save Equestria. You should know by now that theories are just that,” she replied.

“Sometimes theories turn out to be true, I mean look at you. You told ponies for years that with the right kind of magic, unicorns could mix their own magic with that of Zebra’s, making them more powerful. They all laughed at you until you proved them wrong,” he said finally pulling out of her embrace.

“That was different, I worked hard to make that kind of magic work right for me, and I’m still the only unicorn who can do it. That could be because my special talent was arcane spell-craft. I’ve always had trouble with simple spells, but when I mix them with other things, I can make things that should be easy or hard, look like it’s as simple as breathing. All of that was just hard work, a smokescreen to hide my true ability with magic, which as you know, isn’t that great,” she retorted.

“Say what you will, but I know for a fact that you’re a great unicorn. Even if the other unicorns down in The Crystal Empire say it’s all tricks and gimmicks,” he said with a smile.

Mom blushed even more then started to look around the small room at all the papers and even a few memory orbs sitting next to a strange looking device that looked like it was meant to be worn on a pony’s head. It had a place on it that looked like it’d fit a memory orb perfectly, “Where did you get all this anyway?”

He nodded, “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Even showing you this could get me into deep shit with my father. He’s already threatened to disown me if I kept looking deeper into The Children. That’s why I’m keeping all of this here.”

“You know how my father is, he’s already disappointed that I ended up as a researcher instead of a solider like my brother.”

Mom sighed and I could feel her ears droop a little, “Why is it such a big deal anyway? You’re better at research than you are at fighting. If it wasn’t for you changing careers like you did I wouldn’t have ever met you. A mare like me from The Empire wouldn’t ever have been able to see such beautiful things like Nimbus if it wasn’t for you either. I’m glad you’re the pony you are.”

He smiled again, “I wish my father saw it that way, he’s always going on about the things my brother does. How good he is in combat training, the pony he’ll become one day. It’s like I don’t even exist.”

“Oh yeah I almost forgot about Oricalcos, but at least you two get along,” he said.

“That’s true, but my brother is a kind stallion, not like your brother. We were in class together in school, he was always a hard headed ass.”

“Did you know that when I told him I was working with you, he told me to stay away?” Striker said with a laugh.

“I think he had a crush on you or something. I tried to ask him about it, but he hit me and ran away,” he replied.

“Like what?” he asked looking clueless. He can’t really be that dumb can he?

He moved close and kissed her again, “Well, how could we? You’re a special mare Grim, you always will be. I just happened to win you over first.” He blushingly smiled

Mom laughed, “Special enough to tell me more about this family secret of yours?”

He pulled away again then started to run a hoof over his mane, “I don’t know Grim. Like I said, if my father found out he’d be more than pissed.”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t find out,” she said mischievously.

He sighed, “How do you do that? Fine…but you have to promise me you won’t say ANYTHING to anypony. I mean that Grim, he’ll be pissed if he finds out. I’m not kidding.”

“No Grim, he’ll kill both of us to keep this secret from getting out,” he said solemnly.

“That’s silly, he may be an asshole, but he wouldn’t resort to murder,” she said in disbelief.

Striker didn’t smile, “He killed his brother and his sister when they found out, they were going to tell others about it. I mean it Grim, if you really wanna know, it has to stay between us.”

“No, I’m not. I love you Grim, I don’t wanna see you get hurt. I also know that you won’t stop digging until you get the answers you’re looking for, that’s why I’ll tell you, but it has to stay between us.”

“Okay, I won’t tell a soul, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” she said. Hah I can’t believe my mother knew that kind of promise, I still think it’s ridiculous, but it looked like Striker calmed down from that. Guess it really is serious.

He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath then let it out slowly, “It all started a little after the war, when The Enclave was still being started…”

As Striker started to tell my mom about whatever it was that his family kept secret, the Memory started to fade…

I came out of the memory orb and opened my eyes slowly looking around the Sky Carriage. Nopony was in it and we weren’t flying anymore, I stretched then got up. I poked my head out the door and saw Wind Thrasher sitting next to the Sky Carriage, “Where is everypony?”

She looked up at me, “Wingnut’s under the Sky Carriage replacing the Spark Battery, you’ve been out for a little while and it was starting to run low. The others are scouting the area looking for what we can scavenge from this old building we landed on.”

“I told them it wouldn’t take me long to change out this battery!” Wingnut yelled from under us.

I stretched again and sighed moving to sit next to her, “Where are we anyway?”

“Doorstop said we were in a pre-war city that’s never been resettled, he said we’re still quite a distance from our destination.”

“At least you can go into those memory orbs to help pass the time. Think about what it’s like for the rest of us.”

“True, but I’m finding out that sometimes it’s not fun to relive memory orbs. The one I was just in…” I said shuddering, “I had to be inside my mom’s body while she made out with an old flame of hers who I believe was my Uncle. A memory orb she LEFT for me to watch. That’s all kinds of twisted. I’m not gonna forget that for a long ass time.”

Wind Thrasher laughed a little, “I’ve heard of worse things and read worse things.”

“One of my books is a taboo story between two lovers who were step siblings, or so they thought. It turned out that they were in-fact half siblings that fell in love and try to hide it from the world.”

“It’s just a story and a little exciting at the same time. There’s something about forbidden love that’s just so interesting to read and impossible to put down once you start,” she said, looking as if she had a tiny twinkle in his eye.

“Eeww, can you please stop talking about your dirty porn novels please!?” Wingnut said from under the sky carriage.

She blushed, “Sorry Wingnut. So anyway, if your mom was with your uncle back then, how did she end up with your father?”

“I’m not sure, for all I know this Striker fella could be my father. Vervain was the one who told me he was my uncle, but she also told me a lot of other lies over the years too. It’s even possible that mom told Vervain that he was my uncle, I have no idea.”

“If he’s the Striker I know, then he can’t be your father Shadow,” I heard Laser Light say. She landed next to us, pulling her wings back under her flight jacket.

“What do you mean, it’d make sense. From what I saw, my mom and him were in love,” I said.

She sat down next to me, “That may’ve been true, but Striker became a dashite before you were born. I remember because they made a big deal about the whole thing. They said that he killed his father one day after they both had a fight, then he fled to New Pegasus. He was hunted down and branded as a traitor instead of being executed. He told me a few things about what happened when I saw him a few years ago.”

“I remember you saying something about him before, didn’t you say he died?” I asked.

“Yeah, I was helping him with some mission he was on a little south of Manehattan. We got into a nasty fight with some Steel Rangers, kind of ironic for me honestly considering I was fighting an old faction I was a part of, then again this was back east, he took a bad shot to the wing and couldn’t fly. I tried to help him get away, but he told me to run. I didn’t want to, but he was a hard pony to refuse. I just got away before he was caught in a bad explosion.”

Something came to me as I starting to put somethings together, “Are you sure he died?”

She gave me a serious look, “Shadow, he was in the middle of an explosion. You don’t live through things like that.”

My ears drooped, “I guess you’re right, it’s just that when I saw him in that memory orb, his eyes looked just like the ones on The Stranger.”

“Oh yeah I forgot you were knocked out during most of the fight in Frosty Summit.”

Laser looked away for a moment her face read a mix of disappointment and embarrassment “Thanks for reminding me about that Shadow, that stupid bitch with a cloak caught me off guard.”

I shook my head looking away as well “Sorry Laser, sometimes my mouth runs faster than my mind.”

Wingnut chimed in from under the sky carriage “It’s true she calls me a ‘little shit’ sometimes without thinking about my feelings.”

My eyes narrowed at Wingnut despite him not seeing it. “Anyways, He’s a pony that keeps showing up to help me, I think he knew my mom and he swore to protect me for some reason. He’s always wearing a trench coat and a desperado hat, his body covered from head to hoof in bandages. The only part of him I’ve seen is his emerald green eyes,” I explained.

“He’s not the only pony that has green eyes y’know,” Wind Thrasher said.

“I know that, but I’ve never seen eyes like his before,” I said scratching my head, “What if The Stranger is Striker? It would make sense. Who else would be protecting me for my mom?”

Laser Light put a hoof on my shoulder, “I saw him get caught up in that explosion, he couldn’t have survived that nopony could. I know you wanna know more about what’s going on around you Shadow. You can’t just guess though, you have to find out the truth, as for Striker, he’s dead. It took me a long time to accept that.

“I guess I just hoped that some part of my family was still alive, even if he was branded and sent away from his home,” I said, feeling a bit let down.

I smiled back and hugged her, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks Wind Thrasher.”

Wingnut pulled himself out from under the sky carriage then looked at us, his coat was filthy from whatever he was doing under there, “Why…are you always…so…GIRLY!?”

“Oh shut up,” I said poking him with a hoof then smiling, “You’re filthy kid.”

He looked down at himself then shrugged, “Oh well, can’t do anything about it right now.”

I giggled then looked past him as I saw Aura and Doorstop flying back, “Looks like the others are back. Are we good to go Wingnut?”

“Yeah, the other spark battery wasn’t fully charged when we left, that’s why it didn’t last as long as it should’ve. Box Tape gave us a few fully charged ones before we left, the new one should get us all the way to Saint’s Parish or at least close,” he replied putting the rest of his tools away.

“Hey kiddo, where did you get all those tools anyway? I don’t remember you having those before,” I asked.

“Stole them from Stable 28’s R&D department before we left, they had plenty,” he said simply.

I face hoofed, “I don’t know if I should be shocked, disappointed, or impressed. You’re not only a perve, but a thief too. What a great role model I am.”

He walked passed me to walk into the sky carriage, “Impressed would be what I’d go with. Do you know how hard it is to sneak this much stuff passed the security ponies in your old stable?”

Yes I did, but I wasn’t gonna tell him that. Instead I waited for Aura and Doorstop to land. I asked them what they found and they both told me they didn’t find much apart from some spare ammo and meds we could use, and maybe a few scraps we could sell later. Doorstop hooked up to the sky carriage and we were off again. We all took some time to eat and try to plan what to do next once we arrived at our destination. After some time went by I was starting to get bored again.

“I think I’m gonna go into another orb. I need to catch up on the amount of memory orbs we’ve allotted. I had a feeling this was gonna be a long flight.” I said.

Laser Light Sighed a little “I never could understand what those memory orbs are all about. Ran into a few of them, but never could use them, nothing beats a good recording in my opinion.”

“I probably have some in my saddle bags that I can give you, but you would have to give me time to look around, most of my stuff I left with Nexus.” She took a moment to think, “Oh I know. While you are in the next memory orb I can scrounge around for them.”

“That’s great to know, Laser thank you. I think I’ll go ahead and jump into the next one now.”

“Feel free, I’m gonna try and read through one of Wind Thrasher’s books,” Aura said casually, “or take a nap. Whatever comes first.”

“You know a book would be a nice change of pace, not that I don’t mind looking down at the ground wizzing underneath us, but I can only look at it for so long.” Laser added

“Why don’t you try flying this thing instead of being a LAZY ASS GRIFFON!?” Doorstop boomed from the front of the sky carriage, “And where’s my armor RUNT!?”

We ignored him, Aura looking over at me and asking, “Are you gonna watch the last one your mother left for you?”

“No, she said it was very long and I don’t wanna be stuck in one if something happens, I’ll try watching one of the ones we got from The Stranger, or the one I stole from Mr. Tops.”

“Yeah, well I don’t see why he’d need an old memory orb,” I said defending myself.

“And you’re still alive? How the fuck did you get away with that?” he asked looking at me like I was some kind of great thief.

“It wasn’t as hard as you think kiddo,” I said pulling out the green and silver orb I snatched from Mr. Tops’ office, “I just hope this isn’t a disgusting one.”

“I do, it’ll be funny to watch you while you view it,” Aura said snickering.

I just rolled my eyes and concentrated my magic on the orb. I felt a connection, but the world didn’t melt away like the others. Instead I heard the voice of Night Stalker in my head, “What is my Name?”

“Huh?” this was the first time a memory orb talked to me, “Name? Night Stalker?”

The others looked at me like I was crazy, “What did you say Shadow?” Laser asked.

Before I could answer I heard Night Stalkers voice again, “Wrong!” a jolt of electricity ran from my horn and through my body throwing me back into the side of the sky carriage.

“Holy shit! What the fuck was that!?” Wingnut asked coming over to help me back to my hooves.

“Ow…I don’t know. When I tried to view the orb it asked me a question. It was the voice of Night Stalker, he asked what his name was,” I replied as I moved back to look at the green orb.

“It’s protected. Whatever’s in that memory orb, it looks like Night Stalker wanted to make sure nopony got into it unless they knew him well enough,” Aura said.

“But I didn’t answer it wrong, his name is Night Stalker,” I said confused.

Aura shook her head, “No it’s not, from what I’ve learned from Tonto about him, that was a name he chose for himself. Most ponies didn’t know his real name, he hated being called by it and made sure everyone called him Night Stalker.”

I remembered something like that when he met with Celestia, “Oh yeah, I think I remember his sister calling him Moony, but I thought that was a nickname because of his Cutie Mark.”

“Don’t try and force it, it can kill you if you try too hard,” Aura warned.

I nodded then concentrated again, “I’ll be careful,” again the voice of Night Stalker filled my head, “What is my Name?” I took in a deep breath then said, “Moony.”

For a moment I thought I got it right, then his voice echoed again in my head, “Wrong!”, at least this time I was ready for the shock. When I got back to my hooves with the help of Wingnut, Aura was laughing so hard she’d fallen off her seat, “Do it again!”

Ignoring her I cursed then put the memory orb back into my saddle bags, “Fuck that, I’ll try one of the others. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get my answer in one of them.”

“Or it’ll be protected too and you’ll keep getting shocked,” Aura said still rolling around on her back.

I pulled one of the memory orbs that we took from the control room back at the hidden project at Spitfire’s Flight Academy, “If this one doesn’t work, I’m taking a nap instead,” I made the connection, this time no voice filled my head. Then the world melted away…

Holy crap, what the hell kind of body am I in? This mare was taller than any other I’ve been in before, even Night Stalker wasn’t this tall. Also, not only could I feel a horn, my host also had wings…Goddesses, I’m in a memory of one of the Goddesses (Squee). The question was which one of them was I in? More than likely it was Celestia, so far I hadn’t found a single memory orb that showed the Goddess of the night. I got my answer quickly when I saw not a white hoof come up but a dark blue one. I was in Luna (Double Squee) she lifted her hoof and rubbed the side of her head slowly before a pony dressed in a fancy tux and what looked like his marefriend dressed in a beautiful dress walked up to bow before her.

“It’s an honor Princess Luna,” he said then turned slightly and did the same to the pony on my host’s right, “And to you as well Princess Celestia.”

He walked off with his date, before another pony could walk up to what looked like the beginning of a grand staircase. My host turned her head to look at her sister, “Tia, do I really have to greet every new pony that walks in?”

She chuckled slightly, “I wouldn’t call what you’ve been doing greeting, but at least you’re being respectful. I don’t know what the problem is, you’ve done all this before.”

Luna sighed, “I know sister, but with how hard this war has gotten, I don’t know what to say to some of them. It seems every other pony wants me to answer something about how the war effort is going.”

“You’re doing fine Luna, just keep on smiling and try to give quick short answers,” Celestia said reassuring her.

“Sister, can’t YOU greet the ponies? You know I’m not a fan of the Grand Galloping Gala, especially with everything going on. I’m not good at this kind of thing,” Luna said.

A pony to my host’s left cleared his throat. Luna looked over at Night Stalker who was dressed in black and blue armor, his eyes scanning the crowd of ponies as they slowly walked in the doors that lead into the palace, “Princess if I may, you are the leader of Equestria now, if you don’t want to sit here greeting ponies you don’t have to.”

“Thank you, Night Stalker, but if I don’t it would look bad. I can’t have my subjects thinking I don’t care about the war or the ponies dying on the frontlines,” Luna said.

“That may be true, but throwing a party in the middle of everything that’s happened as of late also gives off the same impression to the ponies who aren’t part of the upper class. To them it just looks like you want to throw parties and forget about them,” he said his eyes still on the crowd.

Celestia opted in on the conversation, “Night Stalker you should remember your place.”

“My place is making sure my princess is safe, what I’m saying counts. With so many ponies getting in and out of the Palace, it’s hard for my team to watch everypony.”

Luna sighed and rubbed her head again, “Either way, all this meet and greet is giving me a headache,” I could tell she was lying, her head felt fine.

Celestia groaned, “Fine, if you have to go then do so, I’ll finish up with the ponies here. Just don’t wander off too far, you still need to show yourself now and then.”

Luna got up from her sitting position and smiled a little, “I will, I’m going to go meet with the Ministry Mares, they should be in the main hall. Just call if you need me Tia.”

“I will,” Celestia said moving over to where Luna had just been and readying herself to greet another guest that was making his way up to them.

Luna turned her attention on Night Stalker, “Would you mind accompanying me Night Stalker?”

They both moved down the steps, as they did two more guards moved to take the captain’s place, both watching over Princess Celestia. Luna said a few polite ‘hellos’ to a few ponies as she passed by heading toward another set of large doors. As the two walked she said, “Night Stalker are you sure you’re okay? You look more displeased with things than you normally do.”

She stopped walking, “Night Stalker, you know you can call me Luna when it’s just the two of us.”

He stopped as well, looked around to see if anypony was within ear-shot, then he let his guard down a little and slumped, “Honestly Luna, I’m having a hard time dealing with things. After Phoenix Heart was killed during that last stealth mission, my team’s morale is way down. Now we have intel that The M.O.M. is looking into the death of that traitor. My team has nowhere to live in Las Pegasus. That alone is making it hard for us to plan, we have no base to operate out of.”

“I’m sorry about Phoenix Heart, I heard you two knew each other back before you joined the Military.”

“What about that Zebra you captured, are you going to be turning him over to Pinkie?” Luna asked.

He shook his head, “No, Zaphan has honestly been a well of information. We have him held with us at our temporary base outside of Las Pegasus. I’m not sure why, but he seems to want to help us fight his father. I keep telling myself he’s tricking me, but the longer we hold him, the less I believe that. He really hates his father and his brothers.”

“He was the one who killed a member of your own team, can you really trust someone like him?” Luna asked.

“Half the time I don’t even trust my own team, so I’m not sure. I’ve never been much of a trusting pony. I’m just so confused on what to do,” he replied, again looking around to make sure no pony was listening in.

“Maybe, I’ve always trusted Griffons over ponies, though I do put all my trust into some ponies like you, Twilight, Rainbow, Minuette, and Lightning Dust,” he said with a small smile.

“You can always trust me Night Stalker. I’ll always be here for you no matter what happens.”

“Thank you, Luna, now shouldn’t we go check on how the party is getting along?” he said.

My host giggled, “I’m sure Pinkie is making a fuss about how much better she could’ve made this Gala. Twilight is most likely trying to ignore Pinkie Pie and is probably trying to find a way to get away from this so she can get back to whatever project she’s working on. Rarity most likely is chatting up everypony of note while she can and the others are probably trying to hide from the ponies who just want to meet Ministry Mares.”

“At least on the bright side, maybe everypony else will be too busy talking to them to worry about you,” he said with a quick laugh, but the smile he gave was fake. I’m not sure if Luna could see it, but Night Stalker looked tired, stressed, and ready to break.

“How about we make this quick, then I’ll call it a night. I think you could use a break,” she said as she turned to head through the grand doors.

As soon as they walked in ponies started to bow or clop their hooves on the ground. Luna bowed her head a little at them all and walked past making her way to a set of ponies I knew all too well from my classes. Four of the Ministry Mares were standing around a small table talking to each other. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

Luna walked over to them with Night Stalker not far behind. When she reached their table the four friends stopped talking, Twilight bowing low, “Princess Luna, I didn’t expect you to be in the grand hall yet.”

“I had enough of greeting ponies and decided to take a walk and see how you are all doing,” Luna said looking around, “Where’s Pinkie Pie?”

“Who cares?” Twilight asked, “I mean…we haven’t seen her in a while.”

“No, Twilight is still angry with her,” Rarity said, “If you ask me, it’s all silly.”

Twilight got to her hooves, “I have some work to get done, I’ll see you all later.”

“Twilight don’t go, we haven’t seen you in a long time,” Fluttershy said.

Rarity sighed, “Let’s go talk to her Fluttershy. Would you please excuse us princess Luna?”

“It’s no problem at all,” Luna replied as they followed the purple unicorn to what looked like the gardens.

Rainbow Dash watched them leave then sighed, “I wish Twilight would get over herself. She doesn’t see that how she’s acting toward Pinkie Pie isn’t helping her get better, only making her worse.”

“Does she still think I don’t know about Pinkie Pie’s problem with those Party Time Mint-als?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, she doesn’t wanna keep covering for her, so she thinks it’s better to ignore Pinkie instead of trying to cover for her,” Rainbow replied.

“I wish she’d just talk to me about it, but Twilight and I don’t have the same kind of relationship that her and my sister do,” Luna said with a sigh, moving to sit next to Rainbow, Night Stalker moving around to stand behind her.

Rainbow looked around then whispered behind her hoof, “Is there any word on what’s going on with the Zebras in Las Pegasus?”

Night Stalker moved closer and said quietly, “Not yet, but we’re getting close. Zaphan has been helping us track his brother’s movements, but so far they haven’t shown themselves.”

“The real question is, can we trust the info we have about this whole Zebra battalion moving closer to the city?” Luna asked.

“The information we have is solid,” Rainbow said, “Give it time, The Children have just started working in that area.”

“We can talk about this later,” Night Stalker said nodding his head toward a pony who was making her way toward them, “Looks like Pinkie Pie found us.”

The pink pony had a huge smile on her face as she bounced toward my host and the other two, her mane was stripped with grey, making her mane look like a pink candy cane. Her eyes were dilated and when she spoke she sounded like she was a little drunk or high on something, but she was still extremely energetic when she spoke, “Lookie what we have here, it’s princess Luna! Who’s the solider buck you got with ya huh princess?”

“Hello Pinkie Pie, you look like you’ve been having a good time,” Luna said her smile mostly forced.

“I wouldn’t call this gala a fun party at all princess, it’s almost as boring as the first one my friends and I went to so many years ago. I was trying to get some of the ponies in the band to play a more upbeat song, but they said, ‘Go away you freak! Do they even know who I am!?”

“I’m sure they’re too busy to worry about requests tonight Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Dashy come on, you know that the two of us could liven up this party if we tried hard enough. OH, maybe Princess Luna could help, maybe give a decree that everypony has to dance until they DROP!” Pinkie Pie said jumping up and down.

Night Stalker moved around to the other side of Luna and whispered in her ear, “I don’t like being this close to her. She’s making me feel REALLY uncomfortable with how uppity she is.”

Pinkie Pie stopped in mid-air then slowly fell back to the floor, (How the fuck did she do that?), “What are you whispering, Mr. Whispering McWhisperer!? Remember, Pinkie Pie is watching you FOREVER! It says so on the posters.”

Night Stalker looked baffled as the pink pony got inches away from his face. He pushed her back slowly with a single hoof, “It’s none of your business Ministry Mare.”

She got even closer to him, “You’re hiding something from me, I can feel it,” as she said this an ear twitched, her nose scrunched and her eyes blinked three times, she backed up a little, “No way!”

All three of the ponies around the table looked at her in confusion, Luna asking, “What’s wrong Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie backed up more her eyes glued on Night Stalker, her tail started to shake, one of her knees looked like it was vibrating, and her left eye twitched, as she said, “Somepony needs to call the guards.”

My host’s eyes went wide as Rainbow Dash asked in a concerned voice, “What’s wrong Pinkie Pie, did you’re Pinkie sense tell you something?”

Her eyes never left Night Stalker’s who stared right back into hers, her hoof came up as she pointed at him, “He’s Evil, he’s going to kill us all.”

“Ms. Pie, I think you’ve had a little too much to drink,” Night Stalker said moving toward her, “Maybe somepony should bring you back to your room so you can rest up.”

“Stay away from me!” she said a little too loudly, “You’re the nameless pony, the shadow that walks, you’re going to kill us all.”

“Night Stalker stand down,” Princess Luna said as she looked at Pinkie Pie, “Pinkie, Night Stalker is my personal guard and a trusted solider.”

“Princess Luna, he’s not the pony he says he is. Night Stalker isn’t even his real name,” her eyes fell back on Night Stalker who had stopped walking toward her, his face still calm. Her eyes got wider, “Project Stargazer!” she started to scream.

Night Stalker moved quickly, he blasted forward. A hoof came up and around hitting her in the temple, knocking her out cold. Pinkie Pie fell like a sack of potatoes. Ponies were starting to look over to where the pink mare was laying and started to whisper to each other. Night Stalker ignored it all, he pressed a gem on his chest and said, “I need a couple of Guards to show Ms. Pie back to her room, she had a little too much to drink and is causing a scene.”

When that was done my host stood, “It’s okay everypony, one of our guests just drank a little too much, please go back to what you were doing.”

It took a minute or two for the ponies to turn away from the fallen mare, once they had, a couple of royal guards flew in and started to pick up the still unconscious Pinkie Pie. As they did Rainbow Dash moved closer to Luna asking, “What was that all about? I thought we were the only three who knew about that project?”

Luna shook her head, “We are, but you know that when it comes to Pinkie Pie things never make sense. You should go with the guards and be there when she wakes up. You’re better at dealing with her when she gets like this, do whatever you can to make her forget about this.”

“No problem, Minuette is in the castle I’ll have her pull this memory from Pinkie’s head.” Rainbow Dash said as she went to follow the two guards, “I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

When they were gone Night Stalker moved back to my host, he didn’t look as calm as he had before, “This is why I didn’t want to be around her.”

The two of them pushed past ponies, some trying to ask the Princess what was going on, or what she had planned for the war effort. Night Stalker pushed each one aside, not giving any explanation apart from a quick ‘Move or I’ll move you.’

Soon the two of them were past all the guests and walking down a hall in one of the upper areas of the castle. Neither of them spoke until they reached a room with large dark blue doors and a crescent Moon on it, guarded by two royal guards with bat wings. Both guards bowed low as my host and Night Stalker came walking down the hall, “You may both leave for now, Night Stalker will be enough to protect me.”

They both looked at each other then back at my host, bowed again then left. My host pushed the door open walking into a large dark room with an open balcony overlooking a large courtyard and Canterlot. As soon as the door’s shut behind Night Stalker, all of his professional demeanor vanished. He cursed loudly and kicked one of the tall wardrobes over, “DAMMIT! FUCK! SON OF A BITCH!”

“How did she KNOW!?” he asked starting to pace the room, “All the planning, the secrecy, the time we’ve put into working on this project and still Pinkie Pie found out!”

“Night Stalker CALM DOWN!” Luna demanded, her horn glowing and a flash of light rolling over the tall grey pegasus.

He stopped as the light washed over him, he blinked a couple of times then let out a long breath, “Sorry Luna, I shouldn’t let myself get like that.”

My host moved closer to him, “Night Stalker, talk to me without yelling. Tell me what’s bothering you…please.”

“I don’t understand how she could’ve known about Stargazer, Minuette is still working on the details for it. We’ve been so careful,” he said.

“Pinkie Pie has a gift, sometimes she just knows things that even she doesn’t understand. I’m not sure how she knew the name Stargazer, but I don’t think she knows what it does.”

Night Stalker gave her a look, “She said I was evil, that I was going to kill everypony. Why would she say that? I’m not evil…I’m not.”

To my shock, the big stallion had tears in his eyes, the moonlight flowing in from the balcony made them look like little stars rolling down his cheeks. Luna moved even closer, then using a wing, she dried his cheek, “Why did you let that get to you? I’ve known you for so long and you’ve never let anypony’s words get to you like that before.”

He looked away, “It’s not so much what she said, it’s the fact that most ponies look at me the way she did. When I kill, when I have to protect you, when I’m doing what I have to do to keep my friends safe. They all look at me like I’m evil, like I’m a monster. It’s been like that ever since I first came back to Equestria. When I was in Griffonstone, they never treated me differently.”

“I didn’t always, I had to become what I am now. It was the only way I could protect the ponies I cared for,” he said solemnly, “It doesn’t matter, right now I’m more worried about Stargazer.”

“Don’t worry about it, Rainbow will make sure Pinkie Pie forgets about it. She knows that no pony can find out about that project.”

“That’s good,” he said taking in a deep breath then letting it out in a long sigh.

My host moved to the other side of her room and started to pull off the frilly dress she was wearing, “Are you sure this project will work Night Stalker?”

“From what Minuette’s been telling me, I believe so, the question is if you’re willing to go through with it?” he replied.

She didn’t answer right away, she used the time to hang the dress up, “It scares me, I’ll admit that. The last time I did this, I lost myself to the power.”

She turned to look at Night Stalker who was watching her intently, “This will work, we’re making sure that you don’t become her this time.”

My host smiled, “I have total trust in my Children of the Night, even if my sister was the one who decided to bring them back. Especially after I told her I didn’t want her to.”

My host moved closer to Night Stalker, her face inches away from his own, “I changed my mind once I met you.”

My host ignored him and pulled his face back to look at her. Her muzzle moved down and she kissed him slowly. Night Stalker went stiff for a moment. They stayed like that for a long moment then when she pulled away she giggled at the look on his face, “What, haven’t you ever kissed a mare before?”

Luna moved over to her large bed and laid down, “That I am, and didn’t you swear to serve me in all ways with your whole heart and mind?”

“I did, but I’m not sure that was part of the oath,” he replied his eyes glued onto her outstretched body.

She smiled at him, “I say otherwise, now get out of that armor. Let me show the Captain of my Children of the Night how to really relax after a stressful night.”

“Yes, your highness,” Night Stalker said, he started to pull off his armor, not rushing like you’d expect a stallion who was just invited to the bed of a Princess would. More like a stallion that wasn’t sure if this was a trap or a dream.

As he started to remove his armor Luna asked, “Night Stalker…that scar over your eye, how did you get that? Was it in one of your battles?”

He stopped and let a hoof run over his left eye, “No…I’ve had this since I was a colt. I got into a bad fight with a couple griffins who were picking on Greta. I got in the way and this was the reward I got for getting in the middle of two fighting griffon.”

“It was a close thing, I couldn’t see out of it for a few months, and when I could it took another month or so before I got my full vision back,” he said finishing removing his armor and walking over to the bed to look down at my host, “Are you sure about this?”

She reached up and pulled him to her close. I could feel Night Stalker’s body relax as she held onto him, “I’m not sure about anything anymore, but for tonight all I want is somepony to hold me, to love me, to pretend for one night that I’m just a mare and not the ruler of Equestria. Can you do that for me?”

His green eyes met hers, “I’ll do anything for you Luna,” his muzzle came up and he kissed her deeply…

I came out of the memory orb finding the Sky Carriage flying faster than before I started watching the memory. I took the orb and put it back into my saddle bags then looked over at Aura who was holding onto the seat for dear life as the Sky Carriage turned sharply then dove, “What the fuck’s going on?”

“Why is Doorstop flying like this?” I yelled as the Carriage lurched to one side almost throwing me to the floor.

Aura and the others held on until the carriage leveled off again, “We’re under attack, Doorstop’s trying to lose him.”

My eyes went wide and I looked out the back window of our Sky Carriage. Following close behind was a large green and black dragon. It had to be as big as the Lucky Horseshoe. It’s dark purple eyes were locked onto us as we dove again, barreling toward the ground, “What did we do to piss that thing off!?”

“No idea, it just showed up out of nowhere. One minute we were flying along, next thing we knew that thing was trying to kill us,” Aura replied still bracing herself, “We’re lucky it hasn’t breathed fire on us yet or we’d be goners.”

I looked back again at the creature as it dove after us, pulling up sharply as Doorstop tried to lose it with a quick maneuver around a cliff. I watched as it banked hard then tried to follow us through an even tighter space, its back just scraping the cliff as it flew by, “Doorstop, try to lead it through a space too small for it to fit!”

“What do you think I’m trying to find!?” he yelled back at me as the Sky Carriage turned sharply, making my stomach feel like it was doing flips.

I looked out the front window and saw him leading us toward a small pass between two cliffs, one that was almost too small for us to fit through. The dragon wouldn’t even come close to getting through it. I looked back as the dragon grew closer it’s largemouth opening wide to snap shut on us, then we passed through the small opening. For a moment I thought we got away, the dragon swooped up and flew off, just missing the cliff.

Doorstop complied and came to a halt, “We can’t hide in here forever and I can’t outrun that thing.”

I ignored him and watched as the dragon flew back, turned and raced for the cavern, “What is it doing?” I asked as it built up speed. Was it going to try and break through the thick rock? Right before it slammed into the small space, there was a bright green glow and the dragon vanished, it was replaced by a green and black griffon holding a long spear and still heading straight for us, “GET US OUT OF HERE!”

Doorstop started to fly off again as the griffon zipped toward us with his spear raised high and a wide smile on his face. Those purple eyes locked onto my red ones. Aura and my other friends watched as he got closer, “What the fuck is that thing!?”

Those eyes looked so familiar…, “No fucking way…It’s Envy…IT’S ENVY!”

The griffon changed again, into the pegasus with the dreadlocks I knew all too well, “Good job Small Fry, it’s time to pay the piper for killing PRIDE!”

I pulled Stardust’s rifle off my back and took aim. I wasn’t anywhere near as good of a shot as he was, but I had more ammo for this than I did my Plasma Rifle. I opened fire on the green pegasus, so did Laser Light, Wingnut, and Aura. Envy just laughed and started to dodge and weave as bullets and magical energy flew past him. He started to laugh like a mad pony as he drew closer to us.

“How the fuck do you shoot this guy!?” Aura yelled as she reloaded and opened fire again.

“Not sure, but he’s the best fighter The Sins have!” I yelled still trying to shoot the fucker.

“What’s wrong Courier half pint? I thought you were the savior of the Marejave,” Envy said flapping his wings harder increasing his speed.

“Somepony do something, I can’t keep up this pace for too long!” Doorstop yelled as we came out the other side of the narrow pass.

He was right, if we didn’t take him down soon, Envy was going to catch us and most likely rip us all to shreds. I put the rifle back on my back, focused my magic, stuck my horn out the window and yelled, “Say Cheese!” a massive blast of magic flew toward Envy.

He cursed and flew higher just avoiding my spell, at the same time Doorstop dove, trying to get us as far away from the strange pegasus as he could. It was the worst idea he could come up with, Envy dove once again changing into the massive dragon. He smiled and roared at us, “Time to DIE!”

“DOORSTOP HE’S COMING!” I yelled as the dragon came flying down at us with tremendous speed. Doorstop screamed as he pulled the Sky Carriage out of the dive as hard as he could, turning us to one side right as Envy flew past. For a moment it looked like we avoided him, but as he passed by his massive tail swung around and slammed into the side of the Sky Carriage throwing us into an uncontrolled dive.

“Hold on, were comin’ in for a bad landing!” Doorstop yelled right before we slammed into the hard ground, the Sky Carriage rolling and flipping throwing us around inside.

I tried to take hold of the Sky Carriage with my magic as it rolled trying to stop it, but all that did was make my magic almost backfire on me. I screamed as my body slammed into one of the hard seats, my head flew up and hit a wall, then my foreleg slammed through one of the windows. My body followed and I was thrown from the crashing Carriage. My body slammed into the ground and rolled a few more times before it came to a skidding stop a few feet away from the Sky Carriage.

I moaned as pain throbbed and my horn sparked and sizzled from the spell I tried to use to stop the crash. My head felt as if Stardust bucked it with all his strength. Luckily, I was still alive, even if I did feel like shit. I looked up through tear filled eyes and saw the Sky Carriage laying on its side. A moment later Doorstop landed next to me, “You alright Shorty?”

“The Carriage has an emergency latch in case somethin’ like that happens,” he replied.

I heard Wingnut yell from the battered Sky Carriage, “We’re all alive. Can we not ever try that again?”

I would’ve laughed and thanked the Goddesses if I could’ve, but right then Envy landed next to us, a maniacal grin planted on his face, “Hello Shadow Star…and goodbye.”

His hoof came up like he was going to smash my head like a melon when out of nowhere a bullet slammed into his armor. Envy cursed as he flew back, a smooth voice echoed from behind me, “You better leave monster, before my next shot takes off your head.”

I looked back and saw a tall pegasus with deep amber eyes who was wearing makeshift armor standing on a ledge. He was holding a long sniper rifle, his muzzle and face mostly covered by a scarf, but his muzzle was held down on the bit ready to fire again. Envy started to laugh, “Who the fuck’re you and why do you give two shits about them? All they are is just another Wasteland casualty, no need to interfere.”

“I won’t warn you again, leave before I make you. I won’t let anypony hurt ponies that’re traveling within the jurisdiction of The Kingdom.”

“Oh really? And how do you plan on making me? That mare killed two of my comrades and she’s an enemy of The Grand Pegasus Enclave, we don’t give a fuck about The Kingdom or their so called borders and rules,” Envy yelled.

The Pegasus just shook his head, lowered the rifle and pulled a small silver whistle out from a pocket, “You’re Envy right, first member of The Seven Sins of Equity out of Stratus?”

Envy grinned and cackled “Heh heh heh, Indeed I am, if you know us, then you know it’s pretty stupid to try to fight any of us alone, especially me!” Envy replied.

“For most ponies maybe, but I’m not most ponies,” he said putting the whistle to his muzzle and blowing. It didn’t make any kind of noise that I could hear, but whatever it was. It was doing something to Envy.

His eyes got wide and he started to scream his hooves coming up to cover his ears as he started to roll around on the ground in agony, “STOP IT!”

The Pegasus didn’t stop, he blew harder on the whistle and Envy screamed louder, his form starting to glow like it did when he was about to transform again. Only this time it looked like his form was melting away. Before the pegasus could hurt him more with whatever kind of weapon that whistle was, Envy screamed louder, then jumped into the air, flying away from us as fast as he could.

Once he was out of sight, he stopped blowing on the whistle and moved over toward me, “I hope you’re alright miss.”

I winced as fresh waves of pain rolled through my body, “I wouldn’t say alright, but I’ll live.”

His chuckled, “You’re lucky you survived that fall, and you’re doubly lucky my team and I were flying nearby.”

“I can’t disagree,” I said as I saw my friends pull themselves out of the wrecked Sky Carriage, “Though I wish we didn’t crash at all, we needed that to get to the Saint’s Parish.”

“Who’s this?” Aura asked as she pressed a torn piece of cloth against a cut on her forehead.

They all looked as bad as I felt, but at least my friends were alive. I looked back at the pony who had just saved us, “Thanks for your help, but what was that thing you used to make Envy fly away?”

“Nothing much, just a high frequency whistle we use to keep some of the nastier bugs away while we scavenge. Zapwings are a big problem around here.”

I looked at him confused, “That’s all? How did you know it would work on Envy?”

He chuckled, “I don’t know why it works, but that’s not the first time we’ve dealt with him. The Sins make trouble for The Kingdom now and then when they don’t have others to hunt down. Found out a few years back that for some reason Envy can’t stand the sound our bug whistles make.”

“Damn, I need to get my hooves on one of those,” I said wincing again as I did my best to get back to my hooves.

He reached into a bag he had slung over his shoulder and he gave me a restoration potion, “Here, this should help, I have plenty for all your friends.”

They all came over and took a bottle. As we all drank them down, Aura looked at him, “Did I hear you say you’re from The Kingdom?”

The pony who kept his face covered by that scarf looked at her and nodded, “Yes I am, I run the scavenging ponies from the main city. I take it you’ve met with us before.”

“Once yeah, my friend Trip Wire used to have a trade agreement with a pony in your town,” she answered.

“Um…Aura what’s The Kingdom?” I asked as my body started to heal slowly.

“It’s a massive settlement that takes in all kinds. From banished Griffons, to branded Dashite’s, or runaway slaves or zebras. The pony who rules them is a good stallion. You can trust anypony from The Kingdom,” she replied.

The Pegasus laughed, “He definitely is and yes we do help ponies in need when we can. Did you say you’re trying to get to the Saint’s Parish?”

“Well you’re in luck then, The Kingdome isn’t very far from there. Why don’t you come back with my team and maybe meet with our Emperor? I’m sure he’d love to meet ponies like yourselves, who are being hunted by The Sins, he loves criminals. Ponies considered criminals to The Enclave anyway,” the scarfed pony said.

He looked over at Wingnut and laughed, “I wouldn’t say I’m hiding it, we just get a lot of storms around here and it helps keep the dust and dirt out of my face while I’m flying,” he reached up and pulled the scarf off his face.

He had a peach coat that went well with his amber eyes, he also had a couple of scars running over his muzzle. He reached up and pulled off his cap reveling his short cut orange and yellow mane.

“I was expecting something more exciting,” Wind Thrasher said, then she blushed, “Sorry I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“That’s Wind Thrasher, don’t mind her, she’s really shy sometimes,” I said.

He shrugged, “It’s okay, I just didn’t know batponies were real. I’ve heard stories about them before, but never put much thought into the stories.”

“Sometimes too kind,” Aura said stepping to the side so Wind Thrasher couldn’t keep hiding, “Stop using me like a shield.”

“Sorry Aura, I just don’t like being stared at,” Wind Thrasher said quietly.

He Chuckled again, “Sorry about that, I’ll try not to in the future. I’m Cutter, it’s nice to meet you all.”

I introduced the rest of my friends and myself then asked, “So this Kingdom you were talking about, is there anypony there that could help us fix our sky carriage?”

“There is as a matter of fact, I can introduce you to one when we get to the main city. First, I need to ask you all something before we head out,” he replied.

“Why in Celestia’s name would you want to go to Saint’s Parish of all places?”

[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]

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Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 32: Breaking Me Down